MetalSucks

“Bark at the Moon” is to Shadows Fall as “Holy Diver” is to Killswitch Engage. They’re both covers of classic solo tracks by former Sabbath vocalists, and both songs were released in their original incarnation in 1983. (The connection between the two songs gets even weirder if you consider that Vinny Appice played drums on “Diver,” while his brother, Carmine, appears in the original “Moon” video even though he didn’t play on the recording.) And just as I imagine that it’ll be some time before KSE ever play another set without doing “Diver,” so it seems that “Moon” is now a staple of the Shads’ live show.

The band recently played the song in Toronto, with a special guest appearance from Alex Skolnick on guitars. The influence of Testament on Shadows Fall has always seemed pretty clear, so it’s cool to watch them get to jam with one of their heroes. Bonus: you can imagine an alternate world where Skolnick left Testament in 1992 and became Ozzy’s guitar player. It would have been post-No More Tears, the last truly worthwhile Ozzy album; Skolnick might have saved us from another seventeen years of sub-par material and guitar squeals!

-AR

[via Metal Insider]

The MetalSucks co-sponsoders Prosthetic Records SXSW showcase is tomorrow, March 17 at Club Mohawk in Austin. And as if performances by Scale the Summit, Landmine Marathon, Withered, Book of Black Earth, The Funeral Pyre, Clinging to the Trees of a Forest Fire and Lions of Tsavo weren’t a good enough reason to attend, one lucky attendee will win an Epiphone Prophecy Les Paul EX guitar signed by the all the bands.

But if you’re not in Austin and can’t get to the show, don’t fret: a second signed Epiphone guitar — a Prophecy Futura Custom EX, to be exact — has been posted for auction on eBay, with all proceeds benefitting the T.J. Martell Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports research for cancer, AIDS and leukemia. The T.J. Martell Foundation came to Prosthetic’s attention after a recommendation from management for the legendary, unfuckwithable Ronnie James Dio, who was diagnosed with stomach cancer this past November. Says Dio himself:

Click to read more…

Where the hell does the time go? The year is more than half over already! Sheesh.

ANYWAY, here are, in alphabetical order, albums that have really knocked my socks off so far this year…

Click to read more…

Coheed & Cambria skinsman Chris Pennie has taken some time out of his day to record a quick video segment with us in which he shares the metal albums he’s currently spinning. Without spilling the beans so you don’t have to click that play button, we’ll just say this: he’s got awesome taste in metal! No surprise, given the guy played drums for The Dillinger Escape Plan for an entire decade.

Catch Coheed & Cambria on the peanut-butter-and-jelly-like combination tour with Heaven & Hell starting this Friday. Full list of dates after the jump.

Click to read more…

While Anthrax, Testament, Heaven and Hell and motherfucking Motorhead are among the most anticipated bands that metal pilgrims are converging on western Germany to see, it would appear that my favored people, those crafty Norwegians, also have a few things planned for the mayhem. While Enslaved will be appearing (and hopefully represented on a good stage, because you know they fucking deserve it) some others are teaming up with foreigners in combinations that are hard to ignore.

Click to read more…

Let’s cut right to the quick: Noise Creep is streaming “Bible Black,” the new single from the artists formerly known as Black Sabbath . It comes off their new album, The Devil You Know, and I really don’t have much to say about it, other than it rocks every bit as much as I hoped it would. Listen to it now and see if you agree.

The Devil You Know drops April 28.

-AR

Look: I don’t want to play into any kind of imaginary, percevied rivalry between Ozzy Osbourne and Dio-Sabbath Heaven and Hell. They are two separate entities. There’s no reason one has to be “better” than the other. Who cares, right? I mean, all parties involved are getting older and closer to death, which means that people will kinda naturally start to talk about their legacies, but so what if Ozzy’s next big project is some terrible sub-This is Howie Do It variety show on Fox while Black Sabbath are making what I’m 99.9% sure is going to be an album so rocking you’ll have no choice but to rape the neighbors’ cat? I mean, it’s totally irrelevant to the conversation, right?

Anyway, here’s the album cover for H+H Music Factory’s The Devil You Know. Yes, that giant eyeless demon appears to be holding someone who was not only crucified but stuck with hundrerds of additional nails. Yes, somewhere Kerry King and Larry Carroll are pissed they didn’t think of it, first.

The Devil You Know will be released on April 28. A first single, “Bible Black,” should be coming soon.

-AR

The short version: this is an excellent mash-up someone made of Ozzy and Dio singing “War Pigs” as a duet. There’s not much I can say about it, other than as the rare person who holds Ozzy-era Sabbath and Dio-era Sabbath in equal regard, I find it lotsa fun.

Thanks to MetalSucks Maniac Adam Meyers for sending us the link!

-AR

(Rolling Stone ballot filled out by James Hetfield of Metallica.)

I just finished reading the latest issue of Rolling Stone (#1066/11.27.08) which has a cover story entitled “The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.” Not surprisingly, the metal contingent representation is dismal. Oh sure, they tapped several genre luminaries to place their votes including Ian Astbury, Sebastian Bach, Alice Cooper, Chris Cornell, Ronnie James Dio, Sammy Hagar, James Hetfield, Tony Iommi, Maynard James Keenan, Geddy Lee, Peter Mensch (Q Prime Mgmt – Metallica, Queensryche), Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop, and Scott Weiland, but what about the actual list? How many metalheads (or at least “rockers”) made the final cut?

Here are the pathetic results:

Click to read more…

[MetalSucks contributor, resident old fart and best-selling author Corey Mitchell recently attended the San Antonio stop of this summer's Metal Masters tour featuring Judas Priest, Heaven and Hell, Motorhead and Testament. Before the show he caught up with Testament wunkerkind guitarist Alex Skolnick and asked him questions about the band's formation, the steps leading to their reunion, his work with his own jazz trio and his experience being in New York when the twin towers fell on September 11th. Read Corey's review of the show and of course check out his interview with Skolnick after the jump.]

Click to read more…

Being a metal master isn’t easy; that skullet certainly doesn’t take care of itself. That’s why we decided to track down Ronnie James Dio* of Heaven and Hell to find out the secrets behind rocking metal’s most metal hair-do, the almighty skullet. Ronnie was kind enough to share his tips and tricks behind his luscious locks with other aspiring skulleteers for the benefit of metal and mankind.

Click to read more…

The biggest metal tour of 2008 rolled through San Antonio at the Verizon Wireless this past Sunday with Testament, Motorhead, Heaven and Hell, and Judas Priest in tow. It was Heavy Metal Parking Lot come to life, only with several more “special” parking spaces for the decidedly older crowd.

Click to read more…

The title track from the new Judas Priet album, Nostradamas, is available for free download from the widget below. You can also pre-order the album in a variety of super-deluxe packages.

Now, personally, I was left feeling a little cold by Angel of Retibution. Maybe that’s just ’cause my expectations were too high, I dunno. But this song kicks some serious ass, if you ask me. I got chills the second that intro started, and I am now seriously stoked to hear the whole album.

Download the song and debate amongst yourselves. As you’ve probably heard by now, Priest will spend their summer touring with Heaven and Hell, Motorhead and Testament, which has to be one of the hottest tickets of the year.

-AR

Billboard.com [via SMNnews.com] is reporting that Judas Priest will release their 16th studio album Nostradamus on June 17th in North America (a day earlier internationally) via Epic Records.

Yes, folks… a NEW JUDAS PRIEST RECORD!

Supposedly the record will be a conceptual piece about the 16th century prophet Michel de Nostredame (aka Nostradamus). An announcement that the band will tour the U.S. this summer with Heaven and Hell and Motorhead is imminent.

Sounds pretty awesome, yeah? Well… I can’t decide.

Maiden records of late haven’t been too much to talk about (save 2000’s spectacular comeback Brave New World), so what reason do we have to believe a new Priest record will be great? Don’t get me wrong, I certainly hope it will be. But I fear it could be just another Priest record that sounds like… just another Priest record.

Your thoughts?

-VN