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Alas, this has already been taken down, but here’s a screen cap if you wanna check it out. Note Mr. Hetfield’s occupation as listed below:
Pretty brilliant, right? I can’t believe Wikipedia changed it!
-AR
[via The Metal of Honor]
Earlier this week, Metallica performed a previously unreleased song from the Death Magnetic sessions, “Hate Train,” as part of their four-night thirtieth anniversary celebration at the Fillmore in San Francisco, and then e-mailed their fan club a rough mix of that song; now they’ve done the same for another tune that didn’t make the Death cut, this one called “Just a Bullet Away.” And, holy shit, they are making this too easy. Why don’t they just call a song “Everyone Hate Us Now?”
ANYWAY, I actually think this song is… not terrible. Don’t get me wrong, it has serious problems — namely, James Hetfield’s ongoing obsession with being the worst vocalist in the world, the incredibly crappy chorus, the bloated running time, and the lyric “suck, suck ’til it’s dry” — but the main riff is actually pretty catchy, and doesn’t immediately call to mind any other Metallica riffs. I even kinda like the slow, Gothenburg-y section. So congratulations to Metallica, it looks like another slightly-above-mediocre song was written and recorded for Death Magnetic. I wonder why this one didn’t make the cut?
By the way, if you haven’t been paying attention, ‘Tallica have been having all sorts of special guests at these shows, ranging from Jason Newsted (I can’t believe he had time to fit it into his busy schedule!) to John Bush to Scott Ian to Marianne Faithful to… Lou Reed. Yes, they performed songs from Lulu. I’m too lazy/don’t care enough to write about all that shit, but Metal Insider has plenty of coverage if you’re interested.
-AR
Hate is a train
That thunders aimless through my head
And hate is the fame
Chained to the wheel until I’m dead
And with these words, so begins “Hate Train,” a previously unreleased song from the Death Magnetic sessions that the band performed last night as part of their four-night thirtieth anniversary celebration at the Fillmore in San Francisco, and a rough mix of which has subsequently been e-mailed to Metallica fan club members (audio below). They’re the most achingly poetic, not-at-all trite lyrics the band has penned since “My lifestyle determines my deathstyle.” And I don’t care what anyone says, the main riff is absolutely not just a recycled version of the one from “Fuel,” the song from the Load albums that everyone tolerates because at least it’s not “Unforgiven II.” Furthermore, “Hate Train”‘s seven-minute-plus runtime is the very definition of “warranted,” and I’m really sick of people giving James Hetfield’s vocals a hard time, because, hey, can your dog sing this well? No? Then shut up.
I guess what I’m saying is, this song is so perfect in every way that I just can’t believe it didn’t end up on Death Magnetic. Surely, it was blessed by the hand of Cliff Burton himself.
-AR
[via Blabbermouth]
We at MetalSucks have dealt with the paradoxes involved with conducting a poll to determine great guitar players (read our 25 Best Modern Metal Guitarists poll here)! So we get that in a unweighted vote, the top-ranked axemen may just represent those liked by the largest number of voters; i.e. a dude who we agree is pretty good may score higher than each of our individual favorite dudes.
So when Rolling Stone magazine enlisted a who’s-who of classic rock personalities for their 100 Greatest Guitarists Of All Time cover story, we prepared for some wacky aberrations. Let’s check out a few of the RS list’s inconsistencies:
Thanks to HunterMC for the LULZy pic.
Three years ago we celebrated acknowledged the release of Metallica’s Death Magnetic by re-christening MetalSucks as “MetallicaSucks” for the day, and asking the entire MS staff (and some our guest bloggers) to review the album. We did not wanna do that for Lulu, the new collaboration between Metallica and Lou Reed, because, well, a) it’s not a proper Metallica album, and b) seriously are you fucking kidding us with this shit?
That being said, we do love to represent multiple points of view here at MetalSucks, and we wanted to make sure that every one of our writers had a fair shot at expressing his or her thoughts on Lulu. And so, after the jump, read reviews by the seven sad bastards who all volunteered for the assignment. At the very least, you should enjoy these musings more than you did Lulu itself…
Is Lulu just the world’s greatest troll? Even if it wasn’t, if I were a member of Loutallica, I’d probably start telling people that it is. It would really be the only logical explanation for anyone thinking that crap was listenable.
And the below video suggests that at least one member of Metallica really might have intended it as a troll. I’m not entirely clear on how recent the clip of James Hetfield fucking with a security guard was filmed. But it just may be Hetfield’s best work this century.
In other Metallica news, Rob Trujillo — who, as everyone knows, is the real big man calling the shots behind-the-scenes in Metallica — recently told GulfNews.com that “the writing process for the new Metallica album has begun,” according to NME. Reading from a memo sent to him by Lars Ulrich’s assistant, the bassist announced that “We’ve been in the studio with Rick Rubin, working on a couple of things, and we’re going to be recording during the most of next year.” I can’t remember the last time Metallica spent less than two years in the studio, so I’m think we should have a fresh new disappointment to make fun of sometime around 2013/2014.
-AR
Thanks to Csantos and J.A.M. for the tips!
As you hopefully know by now, we teamed up with our very good friend, Mr. Rodney Githens of Vertebrae 33 and Metal Band Art, to host a booth at New York Comic Con last weekend. And we had a blast! We can’t wait to do it again next year.
And now we have a video run-down of the event from our other very good friends over at Metal Injection, which you can and should check out below. They interviewed the great Richard Christy, metal artist extraordinaire Chuck BB, and, oh yeah, they got me offering to give James Hetfield a rusty trombone. Check it out:
-AR
Holy shit, this is at least the second funniest thing I’ve seen all day. I have no idea where these old interviews are from or exactly what year they were conducted (I mean clearly it’s the early 90s sometime but I don’t know the precise dates or anything), but they are absolutely priceless, and definitely a must-watch. Highlights include:
Seriously, drop what you’re doing and watch this, you will not regret it.
-AR
Major props to Shane Gillis for sending this in!!!
I don’t know why anyone would trust anything Metallica has to say these days. Every time they have a new album coming out, they start talking smack on their last album, which is doubly offensive. “St. Anger is gonna blow Load out of the water!” “Okay we know St. Anger sucked, but seriously, Death Magnetic is gonna be amazing!!!” All they’re really doing is just continuously spitting in the faces of fans who actually take them at their word.
But in a new interview with Rolling Stone, Lars Ulrich really does go one step too far: He says that Lulu, the band’s upcoming collaboration with Lou Reed, “makes… And Justice for All sound like the first Ramones album.”
Loutallica, left to right: Rob Trujillo, Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Lou Reed
I said I was over it with this Metallicrap when we first heard a thirty second sample of “The View,” the first single off their upcoming collaboration with Lou Reed, Lulu; I’m still over with it this Metallicrap. I have finally come to a good place in my life, a place where I realize that the only thing which will ever remind me of why I used to so worship Metallica is listening to the old Metallica albums that made me fall in love with them back in the day. They are not ever going to release something new and good again.
But let’s face it, MetalSucks ain’t a news site, exactly, but it is a site that discusses the news, and the fact that the full song has now been released is news, so, y’know, I’m posting it. I really have nothing to say about it, other than the fact that the song shares a title with a television show in which four old ladies and one obligatory young woman sit around and talk about nothing of interest seems totally appropriate. Also, I think Whoopi Goldberg and Lars Ulrich have both shtupped Frank Langella, so there’s that.
ANYWAY, the full song is after the jump if you wanna hear it. Lulu comes out November 1 on Warner Bros.
We have successfully arrived at Yankee Stadium and are sitting in the press box. We feel so professional!
We’re gonna put the live blog after the jump so it doesn’t eat up the entire page. You’ll hafta refresh to get updates. Sorry.
And now, enjoy the snark…
To help promote their upcoming tour, on October 11 Judas Priest will release The Chosen Few, their umpteenth career retrospective, and one which does not feature any new material. The Chosen Few does have a hook, though — I mean, beyond the fact that the band members appear on the cover only as silhouettes, I assume at least in part to downplay the fact that a certain key member is no longer in the group.
No, the hook (and this is actually a neat idea) is that the band has let a lot of other celebrity musicians — including Ozzy, Lemmy, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kerry King, Slash, and Vinnie Paul – choose which songs would appear on the collection. And, yeah, it’s interesting to know that Zakk Wylde is way into “Grinder,” and and that Randy Blythe and David Coverdale might actually have something to talk about at a cocktail party, and that Joe Satriani likes his Priest heavier than I might have suspected.
But like I said, there’s no new material here, so I can’t quite imagine why anyone would want this album anyway. The coolest thing about The Chosen Few is seeing which dude chose which song, and you can do that after the jump. So, look, we just saved you ten bucks.
The official website for the upcoming Metallica/Lou Reed collaboration has launched, although right now there is absolutely nothing of interest there save for this picture of the old bass player for Suicidal Tendencies and four terminal cancer patients.
Still, I thought you might wanna know that the project is moving forward; presumably the next step is either to release some actual music, or a photo of Trujillo with a bunch of burn victims.
-AR
No. No he is not.
Mustaine’s latest declaration sure to elicit responses only of “Okay, sssssuuurrre, Dave, whatever you say,” from all rational people was delivered to a Dallas Radio station earlier this week:
“I’ve talked to Lars and James about me and David [Ellefson] doing a supergroup record with Lars and James. Well, James said ‘no,’ but it’s still kind of out there in the air. I’m gonna keep hammering on him. It’s on my bucket list.”
Sorry to post at such an odd hour, but this is such a bizarre story, and the number of e-mails that are flooding my inbox are so great, that I just had to get this story up now.
Remember back in February, when Kirk Hammett said that Metallica were working on a “secret recording project?” Well, in case the headline didn’t give it away, that secret recording project is an album with Lou Reed.
Yes, that Lou Reed.
No, I am not making this up. Here’s a photo from the band’s official website:
After the jump, read the band’s full statement on the matter. Following that are all my thoughts on this project.
When I was a kid, Monopoly was always known as “That game we’ll never have time to finish.” Like, if we needed something to do, we might see what board games we had (Do kids even still play board games? I know that’s a ridiculous question, but, seriously… do they?), and someone would be like “Monopoly?”, and everyone else would be all “It takes too long, we’ll never finish it!” The result is that the game actually almost never got played. Everyone owned it, but it only got broken out like once in a blue moon. What a colossal waste of money.
And now it will be a waste of money that is even more colossalier: Metallica have announced on Facebook that they’re going to be releasing their own edition of the game next week on their webstore. Because nothing is more metal than buying and selling real estate. (Except for maybe zoning issues.)
The demos for Metallica’s …And Justice for All have found their way online. I can’t imagine they have done so legally, so you best go download them right quick, before the Metallawyers have them yanked down.
I first discovered these demos via Invisible Oranges, where, as is so often the case, Cosmo Lee has made some pretty interesting observations. For example:
“What fascinates me the most about these demos is Hetfield’s incomplete lyrics. We get a peek at his work process: he comes up with vocal patterns before lyrics…. ‘Harvester of Sorrow’ has basically just its title words. But even though Hetfield hasn’t found ‘Harvester’’s words yet, he sings their placeholders with utter conviction. His language is literally infantile – ‘Wa-na-na-na-na-na’ – which, in a way, sounds even more enraged.”
| BLACKENED CATFISH (CAJUN STYLE) | |
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1 tsp. lemon-pepper seasoning
1 tsp. white pepper 1 tsp. creole seasoning 1 tsp. blackened fish seasoning 2 tbsp. lemon juice 4 catfish fillets (1-1/3 lb.) vegetable cooking spray garnishes: lemon wedges, celery tops Combine first 4 ingredients in a small bowl. Sprinkle lemon juice and seasoning mixture on both sides of fish.Spray a wire fish basket with cooking spray; place fish in basket.
Grill fish, covered, over medium coals (400°F) for 7 to 10 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Remove fish and garnish, if desired. Yield: 4 servings. |
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I wonder if Lars could follow such a recipe…..his drumming and general je ne sais quoi has me thinking he’s pretty much mentally retarded, but could that perhaps translate to wizardry in the kitchen?
I’m guessing Hetfield mans the grill at any band barbecues…
-KW
Ever wondered if there someone who could make James Hetfield’s vocals on “Enter Sandman” sound like a godsend? If there was someone who could just take the whole song and make it sound that much, y’know, Bob Rockier?
Ladies and gents, Mr. Adam Lambert:
I don’t hate this because it’s “not metal.” I mean, I sorta do. But, really, I hate this because it sucks. It sucks really, really bad.
-AR
Blame Hetal Bhatt for telling us about this.
Remember how that slowed-down Justin Bieber track inspired our very good friend D.X. Ferris to slow down C.O.C. and D.R.I.? Well, now Cosmic Hearse have, rather brilliantly, slowed Metallica’s Ride the Lightning down to 33rpm. And guess what? It actually sounds AWESOME. Like, I’m listening to “For Whom the Bell Tolls” right now, and it’s blowing my mind.
It’s so awesome that it makes wonder what other Metallica albums would sound good at this pace. Having heard this, I wouldn’t be surprised if all the pre-Black Albums releases sounded good this way, but wouldn’t it be crazy if Death Magnetic suddenly sounded killer at 33rpm?
This is seriously really, really good, and you should go download it from Cosmic Hearse before Lars Ulrich makes them take it down.
-AR
Thanks to Pick-Axe Bobby for the tip!!!
