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