I’m gonna tell you right now – I don’t usually get all “fan-girl” and nervous talking to people, even those I greatly admire on an artistic level. When I was told I was going to be interviewing Rex Brown, the fact that I was going to be talking to someone who helped mold my musical tastes as a kid didn’t hit me until probably an hour or so beforehand, and that’s when, admittedly, I started to get a bit weak in the knees. I started to remember so vividly hearing Pantera’s “Floods” for the first time on a family road trip to the Midwest, how it chilled me like nothing else ever had, and those days speeding down 95 in my first car blasting Cowboys from Hell. As one of the founding members of Pantera – up until their unfortunate end – he helped open the gates for a great deal of us to the world of metal. With his involvement in Down, as well as Crowbar, that love for many of us was kept alive.

Of course, with his recent departure from Down, some may have been wondering what else, if anything, Rex had next up his sleeves. Thankfully, there’s plenty.

As soon as I answered the phone, one of the first things Rex said to me (with a laugh) was that he’d been “giving interviews all day.” That in itself I thought was a true testament to someone who, even after over two decades working at it, is not looking to give up anytime soon – a fact that’s emphasized by his enthusiastic involvement with his new band Kill Devil Hill. The new project, featuring Vinny Appice (Heaven and Hell, Dio, Black Sabbath) on drums, Mark Zavon (Ratt, 40 Cycle Hum) on guitar and Jason “Dewey” Bragg (Pissing Razors) on vocals, is currently on tour and looking forward to releasing their yet-to-be-named debut album early next year on SPV/Steamhammer Records.

Talking with Rex was not only an experience in that he’s someone I have long admired; it was something getting to speak with someone so excited and hopeful about his current conquest. After over two decades playing music – through the triumphs as well as the hardships – to be as enthusiastic and passionate is not an incredibly common thing. I think that’s something that all of us can not only appreciate, but hopefully aspire to.

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Of course when you set out to make a list like, say, the one we’re doing right now, of The Top 25 Modern Metal Guitarists, you are bound to piss a lot of people off — that just comes with the job.

But I always find it hilarious HOW those people get pissed off. For example, this week I saw a lot of complaints that the guitar players we’ve been selecting aren’t “modern.” And I can’t believe we have to fucking define the word “modern” for some of you idiots, but apparently we do. So:

So… which one of you jackasses would like to call up Alex Skolnick or Vernon Reid or Adam Jones and let them know they’re antiquated and obsolete? ‘Cause I saw Testament and Living Colour and Tool live just last year, and I would not want to make that call. Just because those dudes have been playing this game for awhile doesn’t mean their best days are behind them.

My point simply being: I don’t care if you hate our choices. That’s fine. But at least try to hate our choices based on an argument that makes sense, y’know?

And on that note, here are other ways we entertained ourselves this week:

• We debuted new music from A Pale Horse Named Death and Oakhelm.
• We checked out the latest releases from From Exile, Godstopper, and Cruachan.
• We wondered which is better, old music or new music?
• We philosophized about Google’s new cloud service.
• We fretted that metal may soon be blamed for terrorism.
• We got excited about The Faceless’ new demo.
• We bemoaned the current state of In Flames.
• We wept because Dave Grohl is not going to be on the new Mastodon album after all.
• We enjoyed a vegetarian cooking lesson from a dude in corpse paint.
• We questioned the logic of the new Avenged Sevenfold video.

Next week we unveil numbers fifteen through eleven on our guitar player list; the average age of those five musicians is thirty-one, whereas the average age of this week’s selections was forty-two. So maybe you can go back to being upset because you think they suck, not because you think they’re too old to be “modern.”

-AR

MetalSucks recently polled its staff to determine who are The Top 25 Modern Metal Guitarists, and after an incredible amount of arguing, name calling, and physical violence, we have finalized that list! The only requirements to be eligible for the list were that the musician in question had to a) play metal (duh), b) play guitar (double-duh), and c) have recorded something in the past five years. Today we continue our countdown with Alice in Chains’ Jerry Cantrell…

I held off on listening to Alice in Chains for a really long time. Mainly because all the ‘90s grungy metal I’d heard previously made me go meh, and that’s the genre with which I associated AiC. But when countless people told me I was stupid for thinking so and all but bullied me into listening to them, I thought maybe I should stop making assumptions. Hey, I can admit when I’m wrong.

Jerry Cantrell played a big part in changing my mind. His style is what distinguishes Alice in Chains from just another grunge band. In his words, “We’re a lot of different things… I don’t quite know what the mixture is, but there’s definitely metal, blues, rock and roll, maybe a touch of punk. The metal part will never leave, and I never want it to,” and it’s those extra elements that make Alice in Chains such a, I hesitate to say this but really there’s no better word, unique band. His riffs are often punishing, loud, and harsh but expand into slower moodier grinds that blend so well with the dual harmonizing vocals. The dark, almost nihilistic themes are always present even in the seemingly simple acoustic numbers.

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No guitar pedal is more well-known and widely used (or over-used if you’re Kirk Hammett) than the Cry Baby wah-wah. If you’ve got some time, dig into this new hour-long documentary on the Wah that started it all and its lasting effect on music, which our Brohemoths at Metal Injection posted over the weekend. Interviews with Eddie Van Halen, Jerry Cantrell, Slash, Kirk Hammett and Zakk Wylde should make it interesting for staunch metalheads while interviews with dozens of other guitar luminaries will delight your inner guitar-nerd.

Oh, what’s that? You’re not made of time? Make sure you at least watch the 2-minute intro sequence in which grown men do their best to vocally imitate the sound of the pedal. Because nothing says “metal” like a 65 year-old dude making funny noises with his mouth. Also, Eddie Van Halen officially sounds like he’s 153 years old.

After the jump, the official description of the documentary:

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Mike Starr, the original bass player for Alice in Chains, has been found dead, TMZ reports. He was just a month away from his 45th birthday.

Starr left Alice in Chains in 1993 after appearing on the albums Facelift and Dirt, as well as the Sap EP. Like the other members of the band, his struggles with drug addiction have been legendary — he even appeared on Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew in 2009 (a show his former AIC bandmates Jerry Cantrell and Sean Kinney have called “disgusting”). Apparently his efforts to kick his habit were to no avail, however, as in February he was arrested for possession. So while the cause of Starr’s death has yet to be announced, one could reasonably assume that this is another tragic loss of a talented artist to drugs.

Assuming that’s correct, Starr would, of course, be the second founding member of Alice in Chains to fall to substance abuse, after vocalist Layne Staley. Lamentable though is, there is something undeniable about the fact that the band’s actual addictions are part of what gave them their power during their heyday — the textures and lyrics of those albums feel authentic because they are authentic. Unfortunately, it seems as though Starr and Staley were never able to get away from all that.

Our thoughts are with Starr’s family and friends. Here’s “Rain When I Die” — a song he co-wrote, and which features one of his most famous bass lines — in his honor. I wish it didn’t suddenly seem eerily fitting.

-AR

At the Golden Gods thing back in April, I really perked up when Alice In Chains’ Jerry Cantrell came down the press line. It was surprising and weird because I was not aware that his band remained significant to me. But there I was, rudely turning away from Zakk Wylde in mid-sentence to beam fanatically at Cantrell and bassist Mike Inez. The two seemed spot-lit and energetic; there was a sense of relief that the band had returned from the brink, and with a fucking awesome album to boot. I couldn’t take my eyes off them the whole night, not least of all during their innumerable trips to the stage to collect awards for Black Gives Way To Blue before a roomful of applause and well wishes. So deserved. Awesome.

This is a big turnaround for me after a decade of intense AIC fatigue, during which I suffered actual nausea from the harmonies of “Heaven Beside You,” and the opening chords of “Rooster” triggered an immediate lunge for the radio dial. (The latter is partially my fault, ‘cuz I remember a beer blast at which I stood guard over the stereo as that song stayed on repeat for like two hours.) I’ll never tire of Cantrell’s masterful solo in “Man In The Box” or the majesty of “Down In A Hole,” but otherwise it seemed that by 2000 we’d all gotten enough Alice In Chains for a lifetime. Not to mention the proliferate AIC clones complete with insta-Laynes — which really riled me cuz if anyone, it’s Cantrell whom a smart band would replicate. And, sadly, Staley himself was pretty much a super-bummer on two legs before long. Semi-consciously, I began to ignore their existence. Me and Alice In Chains were over. Such a great band, such a shame.

But, yes, some time apart and a tardiculous new album have healed the oft-rocky relationship between AIC and my ears. We’re back together, stronger than ever, and it’s no exagerration to state that I still can’t stop listening to BGW2B, a pop-doom metal masterpiece that finally brings some closure to the Staley situation (and it even impacted the new Soilwork record). Actually, I always think of Type O Negative’s Peter Steele when I hear the album’s big finale, “Private Hell.” Maybe you do, too.

-ADF

Alice In Chains embarks on the BlackDiamondSkye tour with Deftones and Mastodon starting September 16. Get dates here.

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Welcome to “Question of the Week,” a (sometimes) weekly debate amongst the MetalSucks staff regarding a recent hot button issue.

There weren’t any real hot button topics this week, so we decided to just play a fun game that used to keep Vince and Axl occupied for many a lunch period when they were kids:

The MS staff’s answers after the jump.

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When you tune into the premiere broadcast of The Second Annual Revolver Golden Gods Awards tomorrow night on VH1 classic, you’ll see the final public appearance of our beloved Ronnie James Dio. You’ll also see Jerry Cantrell and Mike Inez of Alice In Chains, winner of roughly half of the meaningful awards, enjoying the metal community’s validation of their potentially dicey comeback effort, the magnificent Black Gives Way To Blue. You’ll see metal codgers like Rob Halford, Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne, and Lemmy bathe in much-deserved adulation. You’ll also see potentially ho-hum performances pumped up by mega-drummers: Rob Zombie with Joey Jordison (in his debut performance), Fear Factory with Gene Hoglan, Brian Posehn with John Tempesta (and Brett Anderson girl call me srsly) and Slash with Dave Grohl.

But at a mere 60 minutes, the broadcast can’t capture all of the April 8 event’s super moments and silly gaffes. Here’s a few things you won’t see:

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Soundgarden reunion rumors have been flying around almost as long as Soundgarden have been broken up. (And in case you lost count, this Friday will be the thirteenth anniversary of the break-up. Someone will have been born and bar mitzvahed in the time since Soundgarden were last together! Egads!) Chris Cornell pretty much let the cat out of the bag that the band is reuniting back in January, and now they’ve announced that they’re headlining Lollapalooza in August. (Unfortunately, the rest of the line-up for that festival is pretty blech, especially from a fan of half-way decent rock; there’s Social Distortion and, uh, that’s it. If the artist on the bill I’d be most excited to see that isn’t Soundgarden is Erykah Badu, well, that’s a festival I won’t be attending.)

And, as usual, my enthusiasm is tempered with cynicism.

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When Vince and I saw Alice in Chains last month, there was a lot of hub-bub in the crowd ’cause Scott Ian and his wife, Pearl “Meatloaf’s Daughter” Aday, were very visibly sitting in the VIP section of the balcony. But seeing Scott Ian at a New York metal show isn’t really that unusual, so I didn’t think much of it at the time.

As it turns out, though, Ian and AIC’s Jerry Cantrell are, indeed, friends – and now business partners. So says a press release:

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Are you sick of hearing about the new Alice in Chains album, Black Gives Way to Blue, yet? I know we – and pretty much every other metal and heavy rock media outlet – have been talking about it non-stop, but that’s because it’s a great record, and very likely marks the comeback of the decade. (Although Christian Hoard at Rolling Stone only gave it 2 1/2 stars out of a possible five. Three cheers for Rolling Stone once again going out of its way to prove its irrelevance to anyone other than yuppies, old men who are nostalgic for a heyday that never really existed the way they say it did, and bored people in waiting rooms.)

Here’s the band performing the new track “Your Decision” on Jimmy Kimmel last night. It’s a beautiful performance of one my favorite songs on the album. It’s hard not to interpet the lyrics – to this or most of the other songs on Blue – as being about Layne Staley, but regardless of whatever Jerry Cantrell and the rest of the band intended, it’s an excellent tune.

Black Gives Way to Blue is out now, and is apparently selling very well, at least by current standards. That makes me very, very happy.

-AR

This video is from ’94, but still… I’d never seen it before and found it, well, not funny, but, uh, interesting? Let’s say interesting.

I guess Cantrell and company weren’t too offended, though, ’cause in 2006, they performed with Hetfield:

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I think that William DuVall is ready for his close-up. Black Gives Way to Blue kills, and proves that Alice in Chains have done what even the most cynical of us (namely, me) thought was impossible: this band can carry on without Layne Staley. And, yes, Jerry Cantrell deserves a BJ or twelve for that fact, but this would be just a glorified make-over for Cantrell’s solo band if DuVall wasn’t a killer front man.

So. MetalSucks Maniac Amanda Dobbs has tipped us off to the fact that DuVall has made a list of ten songs that “blow him away” for AOL. And while there’s a goodly amount of rock on the list, it’s probably not what you expect. I don’t wanna spoil it here, but… the most recent song on the list was recorded in 1971. So if you were hoping for some metal… stop.

But they’re all great songs, and give some real insight into where DuVall is coming from. Check out the list here.

-AR

The first words you hear on Facelift are “Scary’s on the wall/ Scary’s on his way.” The first words you hear on Dirt are “I believe them bones are me/Some say we’re born into the grave.”

The first words you’ll hear on Black Gives Way to Blue are “Hope, a new beginning/Time, time to start living.”

I’m saying this band has had a major shift in life-philosophy.

Here’s an album sampler. It’s a too-brief taste of what the band has in store for you when the record is released on September 29.

After the jump, check out Jerry Cantrell doing an acoustic performance of the title track, which is the last song on the album. I’d urge you to pay attention to the lyrics if you can. And don’t forget that Elton John plays piano on the studio version of the song.

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I had kind of a stunning realization last night as I watched Alice in Chains blow the roof off Irving Plaza/The Fillmore/whatever the fuck it’s called now. It was during the second song of the band’s ninety minute set, “Again.” (The show opener was “Rain When I Die,” in case you’re curious.) New vocalist William DuVall (well at this point he’s not really new anymore, but I guess he’s new-ish) didn’t just sing the phrase “Again and again and again” – he belted it, jumping up onto the monitors to give himself just a little extra boost in the rockstar god department. Then, as it came time for him to grunt and signal the start of the “Doo-doo, doo-doo” sing-along section (and sing along the crowd did), DuVall lept off the monitor and started pumping his fist in the air, prompting the audience to do the same. As he finally turned to face drummer Sean Kinney, Kinney started grinning; and then the grin spread across the stage like an infectious disease, and by the end of the song, guitarist Jerry Cantrell and bassist Mike Inez were smiling, too.

And that’s when it hit me. It was kind of a morbid epiphany, especially for someone who held deceased vocalist Layne Staley in as high regard as I did, but it was an important epiphany for a fan who hopes to follow this band into their future. Here it is:

Layne Staley did not want to be with us here tonight.

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This is Alice in Chains performing “A Looking in View” live in Detroit last week. Note that not only does the band sound great, but that William DuVall and Jerry Cantrell both sound more or less the way they do on the recording of the track. In other words: they can actually sing. Without autotune. Amazing, right?

And the moral of the story is: if you can’t do it live, don’t do it on record. Because I’ll just make fun of you later. I’m talking to you, Brandon Saller. Get it together.

If you haven’t already read Vince’s track-by-track breakdown of the new AIC album, Black Gives Way to Blue, well, you should really check it out now.

-AR

[via Blabbermouth]

So there’s this new Alice in Chains song, and this morning I wrote and posted this whole long critique, and now shitty computer issue mean it’s gone forever, and I’m way too lazy to re-write it all. So here are the highlights of that now-departed piece:

• No one will ever be able to replace Layne Staley, but William DuVall does a good job and his harmonies Jerry Cantrell are great.
• The band brought the heavy, which makes me happy.
• At seven-plus minutes, I think it’s too long, especially since it’s kind of redundant.
• I’m excited to hear the whole record.
• Fuck Godsmack.
• Download the whole song for free here.
• Weigh in with your thoughts below.

-AR

So Ozzy is apparently gonna make another record… and it seems like just yesterday that I listened to Black Rain once and decided I never needed to listen to it again. Since the Oz Man hasn’t really recorded anything worth anyone’s time since 1991′s No More Tears, I thought I’d offer my expertise (read: complete fucking arrogance) and make some suggestions to ensure that this new album doesn’t make me long for the day when I read the headline that Jack Osbourne finally offed his entire family.

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