When I first saw this headline on SMN News I got all excited; new Dub War music? Could it be? Well, not quite; Benji Webbe is still doing Skindred and I’m not quite sure what the other two dudes who make up the UK ragga-metal pioneers are up to these days. But on September 13th, the band’s longtime label Earache will release a compilation called The Dub, The War, and The Ugly.

Precious little information is easily available about the compilation on any news sites or the band’s official site (no mention), but I’ve done some Internet sleuthing to take away the guess work for you. The comp is available for pre-order in Earache’s webstore, and here’s what they have to say about it there:

Click to read more…

Benji Webbe is like the Mike Patton of reggae metal… or something. Many bands followed in the footsteps of Dub War but none approached the creative genius of that band. He’s a total badass and strikes me as kind of a weird/interesting dude, too.

So Benji’s new(er) band Skindred have a new mini-album Shark Bites and Dog Fights out September 22, and a video for the first single “Stand for Something” came out last week. It’s predictably pretty solid and positive in tone… par for the course for Skindred. One day perhaps this band will go on tour in the U.S. with bands that don’t suck and I will finally get to see them live.

-VN

Obviously Skindred aren’t the first band to infuse reggae into metal (see Bad Brains, Living Colour, and I’m sure many others), but Dub War — featuring Benji Webbe from Skindred — may have been the first to inject a dose of straight dub. Dub War put out four records on the legendary Earache label between 1995 and 1998. Enjoy this video for the title track of 1996′s Enemy Maker — dig those dubbed out guitars, snare echoes, and ragga vocals. Way ahead of its time.

Skindred’s new album Roots Rock Riot came out yesterday (Oct. 23) on Bieler Bros. records.

-VN

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