MetalSucks

So unless you spent your summer someplace where there’s no internet or any way to get metal news, you should be aware that Zakk Wylde a) has been replaced by Firewind’s Gus G. as Ozzy’s new guitarist and b) got the news when Ozzy did an interview announcing he was parting ways from his longtime axe-slinger, because apparently Ozzy and Sharon are too chickenshit to actually pick up the phone and make a difficult call. And so it would be completely within reason for Zakk to have nothing but terrible things to say about all parties involved – in fact, I kinda expected him to do just that. This is the man, after all, who threatened to kill Dave Grohl just for writing some riffs for Ozzy, and who basically attacked a journalist who repeated a rumor that Wylde’s pal Mike “Metal Mets” Piazza might be a homosexual.

But Wylde is actually taking the news really well, or, at least, he’s putting on a good face. From a recent interview with MusicRadar.com (via Blabbermouth):

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First, let’s just talk about how we arrived at this place we currently find ourselves:

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I wasn’t even gonna report on this because, at this point, it’s barely news – I mean, we’ve known for awhile now that Gus G. from Firewind is Ozzy’s new guitarist. But so many of you e-mailed us this morning that I guess I have to write about this.

Randall Amps has jumped the gun somewhat by announcing that, yes, Gus G. is Ozzy’s new guitar player, and, yes, he will make his debut with Ozzy tomorrow at Blizzcon. Here are some random, uncollected thoughts:

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It’s 4 pm, and right about now we’re either interviewing someone or other or watching Job for a Cowboy. Either way, I hope we’re having a fun time.

Here’s what happened in MetalSucks Land this week:

• We’re streaming Iron Age’s The Sleeping Eye in its entirety!
• Current Coheed & Cambria/former Dillinger Escape Plan drummer Chris Pennie discussed metal with us.
• Daath’s Eyal Levi is home for tour and very busy blogging for us.
• Our girl Grim Kim visited Birmingham, England, the birthplace of metal.
• We checked out the latest releases from Assjack and Dysrhythmia.
• It looks Ozzy has hired Firewind’s Gus G. to replace Zakk Wylde. And that got us thinking about the legacies of former Ozzy axe slingers Jake E. Lee and Joe Holmes.

Have a good weekend, everybody. I know I will.

-AR

Several of you justifiably called out Axl yesterday for dissing Jake E. Lee in his post about Ozzy’s probable new guitar player, Firewind’s Gus G. Lee could definitely shred, and although his  contribution to the Ozzy legacy ultimately doesn’t stack up against Rhoads or Wylde, he did write the killer riff for “Bark at the Moon” which is actually one of my favorite Ozzy riffs ever.

So whilst making sure I had my historical facts straight here, I managed to turn up this nugget from the Wikipedia page for Badlands, the band Jake E. Lee formed after being fired by Ozzy:

After touring with Ozzy Osbourne in support of the Ultimate Sin album, Lee was fired in a telegram from Sharon Osborne while working on one of his muscle cars back in Los Angeles. Lee was completely caught off guard at the time of his firing and was under the impression he had a solid working gig with the Osborne camp.

Heyo! Sound familiar? Maybe Sharon will officially lay the gauntlet down on Wylde via Twitter. That’d be classy.

Here are Badlands performing “Highwire” live. Lee shreds. And that’s Ray Gillen on the mic, who’d just been let go from Black Sabbath upon forming Badlands with Lee.

-VN

Here’s something else Zakk Wylde can hear about for the first time over the internet.

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High school Vince Neilstein would’ve loved Edguy if only he’d known about Edguy. Your Motley Crue-monikered editor took a break from metal during his high school years let down by the demise of the hair bands and the invasion of the nu-metal dunder-heads, completely oblivious to all the great music our European friends were creating on the other side of the pond. But when I discovered Iron Maiden my senior year it was all over, and so began my long, but deep descent into the world of metal (egged on by one Axl Rosenberg, to be sure). Tickle your funny bones with this one: summer after Senior year I went all by my lonesome to see Iron Maiden at Madison Square Garden — ’cause no one else I knew gave two shits about metal — with a rolled joint ready to rock in my wallet. Needless to say, it was life-changing.

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There seems to be some kind of bug going around lately amongst European power metal bands that causes them to cover ’80s pop songs, and Firewind seem to have been bitten (see also: Raintime, Hammerfall, lots of others). But Firewind are a damn good band (see my review of their recent album The Premonition) and their serviceable cover of Michael Sembello’s classic “Maniac” is amusing — but not as amusing as this awesome video that some zealous fan put together. If you like ass, dancing, and asses dancing, check it out!

-VN

It’s a good day to be a metalhead. Cavalera Conspiracy’s Inflikted, the long-awaited reunion of Max and Iggor Cavalera of Sepultura, finally comes out today, though it’s been on the Internet for months receiving critical acclaim (read Axl’s review). Firewind and Mercenary release a dual-shot of epic, European power-prog in the form of their new albums The Premonition (read Vince’s review) and Architect of Lies, respectively. Jucifer’s L-Autrichienne combines metal of, well, pretty much every sort for this excellent release (read Axl’s preview and Iann Robinson’s rave). Korpklaani’s folk-metal explosion Korven Kuningas also hits the shelves, which we can best describe as Tetris-metal.

Not a bad day to be a metalhead, best next week promises to be even better with new releases from In Flames, Joe Satriani, Sevendust, Nadja and The Sword.

-VN

If only American bands made power metal this awesome and bombastic Century Media might not have had to go all the way to Greece to import the likes of Firewind, whose fifth proper studio album The Premonition comes out today (March 25th). Firewind combine the ferocity, speed, prowess and production of modern power metal with a distinctly ’80s pop-metal aesthetic, making their songs both immediate and undeniable. Firewind isn’t for everyone; if you have an aversion to cheese, this ain’t for you, but if you can appreciate the nuance and juicy goodness in that slab of feta then grab a knife and a cracker and sit down for a tasty snack.

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Gotta love these cool package tours. As you may have heard by now, Arch Enemy will be doing a North American headlining run in the spring, and if the chance to see these cats live isn’t enough to get you excited, well, they’ve thrown in melodic death metal heavyweights Dark Tranquillity, Dino Cazares’ Divine Heresy (read our interview with the band here), and one of our favorite power metal acts, Firewind. In other words, this is going to be an awesome show.Check out a complete tour itinerary after the jump.

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Come on, you know exactly what this band sounds like just from their name, don’t you? Epic, bombastic, soaring European power metal, but not necessarily of the “extreme” non-stop 164th-note Dragonforce nature. Lots of delicious keyboards, big sounding drums, shredding, guitar harmonies, and soaring vocals that leave you utterly helpless against the overwhelming urge to raise your fist to the sky. And yeah, it’s cheesy as all hell, just the way we like it.

Guitar whiz-kid and primary songwriter Gus G. and the rest of his Greek bandmates are back with a new song called “Mercenary Man” on their MySpace page (no relation to the Danish metal band Mercenary — though that would certainly make for a killer tour combo). Firewind’s new album The Premonition comes out March 24th via Century Media (Europe), and they’ll be promoting the new record with a lengthy European tour throughout April and May (with festival appearances to follow, we hope. hint hint, Download Festival).

-VN