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.

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So Metal Insider tells me that “On March 3, guitar virtuoso Steve Vai and Berkleemusic (Berklee College Of Music’s Online Continuing Education Division) will attempt to set the Guinness World Record for the largest online guitar lesson.” I have no idea why Steve Vai would want to do this, other than to remind people who don’t read Guitar Geek Monthly that he’s still around, and he’s not the dude in Chickenfoot.

ANYWAY, as you can probably tell, I don’t really care about that, but I do care about anything Spinal Tap-related. So: Tap’s axemaster, Nigel Tufnel (really actor/filmmaker/hermaphrodite lover Christopher Guest, who doesn’t look a day over dead), has done this commercial on behalf of Vai’s endeavor. It’s actually not THAT funny, but it does exist, so, uh, yeah. Enjoy. Or don’t. I really have no emotional investment in your reaction either way. Anyone got a sandwich?

-AR

So this normally where we write some fairly meaningless bullshit as an intro to our weekly recap, but reader Sean Williams sent us a link to the below video update from one Mr. Devin Townsend, and we really can’t think of a better way to kick-off the weekend. As Sean put it, “Deconstruction AND Ghost as a double record? Holy fucking shit!” And it gets “Holy shittier” when we get to hear a little bit of new music…

Here are some other fun things that happened at MetalSucks this week:

• We debuted Joe Satriani’s first Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards webisode and new music by Sweet Cobra.
• Gwar’s Oderus Urungus answered more of your idiotic questions, The Red Chord’s Greg Weeks got unnecessarily rough, Daath’s Eyal Levi pondered the meaning of sacrifice, and Rumpelstiltskin Grinder’s Shawn Riley taught us how to make delicious hot wings.
• We spoke to producer/engineer/mixer extraordinaire Mark Lewis, The Contortionist’s Jon Carpenter, and Shred Sean from Blessed by a Broken Heart.
• We checked out new releases from Dawnbringer and Merkaba.
• We helped A Day to Remember struggle with young adulthood.
• We gave Jason Newsted a shoulder to cry on.
• We got excited that Byzantine are making a new record.
• The kid of the dude from the E-Street Band is out of Madball.
• We’ve decided that when we die, we want our ashes to be pressed into vinyl.
• Can you please help us find Elote 5?

Until Monday… don’t get alcohol poisoning…

-AR

Last week we told you about Joe Satriani’s new album Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards, which comes out October 5th on Epic. Now’s your chance to hear about it from the maestro himself.

In Part 1 of Satriani’s webisode series, released exclusively to MetalSucks, Satch shares how he came up with the album’s bizarre title, talks a bit about the studio in which it was recorded, what it’s been like for him working with his new band, and last but not least some fun footage of said new band jamming on a few tunes.

Love him or hate him, there are few rock or metal guitarists in the world as accomplished and respected as Satriani, and this webisode is a cool glimpse into the mind of a true master.

[This exclusive has now ended.]

What year is this? Last night Axl and I went to see Slash, tonight we’re going to see Billy Idol (with mutual man-crush Steve “Jewy Jewowitz” Stevens on guitar!!) and now I’m posting about a new song by Joe Satriani. Sergeant D overslept today or else I’m sure he’d be kicking our asses and making us listen to way cooler music from the ’80s and ’90s like, I don’t know, Leeway or Black Army Jacket, but your Uncles Axl and Vince weren’t nearly so cool back in the day.

So for now it’s Satch, and ya know what? Cheesy Chickenfoot project included, dude can still play his balls off although Satch ought-ten is way more restrained than Satch nineteen-ninety. It’s like Satch realized a long time ago that he can’t keep up with today’s kids by out-shredding the shredders so he took a conscious step back from the speed in favor of a calmer, bluesier, dare I say loungier version of himself. Which was a good decision if you ask me, because the key to longevity in music is finding a way to slide gracefully from your youth into whatever follows. If only Slash would be so prudent and make a straight blues album (or five) instead of still trying to rock, man! we know it’d absolutely smoke faces, instead of Slash’s recent solo album which is perfectly ok but… tries just a little to hard to rock, man!

Hear neo-Satch on his brand new track “Light Years Away.” It’s available for free and comes from his forthcoming jam Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards, out October 5th on Epic Records.

-VN

Despite everything that’s gone on politically in America since 2001, the voice of Zack de la Rocha has been noticeably absent from the public debate. His less-than-amicable departure from Rage Against The Machine in 2000 halted that group for several years, and other than an EP from his One Day As A Lion project he has not released new music. Thankfully, his lack of creative output is not indicative of his dedication to human rights and civil rights, as his commitment to a new endeavor called The Sound Strike makes clear.

A reaction to Arizona’s odious, fearmongering and (in this writer’s opinion) racist legislation SB 1070, The Sound Strike is an effort to organize artists in a civil non-violent action against that state. What it amounts to is a boycott of Arizona by musicians, who vow not to perform in those states. A full list of the artists that have joined this can be found here, but the names that will matter to readers of this site include Nine Inch Nails, Rise Against and Joe Satriani as well as Rage Against The Machine and related projects like Street Sweeper Social Club. Now obviously this is a contentious issue, and I suspect more than a few of you prefer to keep your music and your politics separate. Still, these artists are taking a stand against what they see as an injustice, and even if you disagree with their positions or their choosing to boycott Arizona, you ought to respect their reasons. I encourage you to check out the above video, in which Señor de la Rocha explains his stance. Then, sign the petition and–if you’re in a band–you can add yourself to the list of artists participating in the Arizona boycott.

-GS

Last week this guy became an interwebz sensation, when everyone seemed to collectively realize all at once that he’s clearly the best drummer in the history of the instrument:

Now the investigative journalists at Metal Injection tell me that this God amongst men is named Steve Moore, and that he was recently interviewed by City Pages, who learned that – no surprise – he started out as a metal drummer:

Click to read more…

Last week we posted a call for questions to ask Metalocalypse creator / Dethklok frontman Brendon Small, and you all gave us your best questions in the comments. Later that day we hand-picked our favorite ones and got on the phone with Brendon to pass them along. Your questions his answers, below.

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This video of Rhett Butler covering Joe Satriani is pretty f’n mindblowing. The guy is so dextrous and precise that he can tap out leads with both hands at the same time… how does he do that? In some respect I guess it’s not all that different than what a piano player does, but it’s still really fucking cool.

-VN

[Apologies for not crediting whoever sent this in... it's not personal, I just can't find the email.]

So, Chickenfoot released a new video last week. Chickenfoot of Hagar, Anthony, Satriani and Smith fame. Chickenfoot of selling over 49,000 albums (!!) during their album’s first week on the charts fame. Chickenfoot, recipients of a collective MetalSucks Haterade Mafia shrug. The video is basically just a collection of candid, studio, live performance and “goofing around” shots, which given the band’s makeup and selling points makes a whole lot of sense. And the fact that it’s so low budget is kind of refreshing, playing down the celebrity status of the band’s members. The perfect video for a ho-hum but serviceable rock song.

In other news, Eddie Van Halen is probably still saying Michael Anthony quit Van Halen and Michael Anthony is probably still saying he was kicked out. Same shit different day.

-VN

In case you’ve missed all 24,567 Blabbermouth posts over the past year and a half about them, Chickenfoot are a new supergroup featuring Joe Satriani, Michael Anthony, Sammy Hagar and Chad Smith. Looks cool on paper, but supergroups never seem to pan out they way they ought to, amirite? The problem always seems to be that supergroups are really going for it and trying to be taken seriously, a problem from which Chickenfoot shouldn’t suffer at all since each band member is a millionaire several times over from their respective day jobs. In other words, none of them need this; it’s just for shits and kicks.

So is it any good?

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Joe Satriani is apparently suing yuppie popsters Coldplay because he believes their recent hit, “Viva La Vida,” is actually a rip-off of his song “If I Could Fly.”

Take it from Vince and myself: having someone – especially someone successful – steal your work sucks. It’s just really, really disheartening, depressing, and infuriating. And as hard as it is for me to imagine Coldplay having anything more than a passing awareness of Satch’s work, this clip shows that the two songs are eerily similar…

What do you all think?

-AR

[Via Blabbermouth. Thanks to David for the tip!]

My first Fuck Rolling Stone post on metal singers was such a hit I thought I’d dig back into the RS archives and stir up some more shit. So, I decided to re-read their summertime list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time (also here).

Thankfully, there are a few metallic (but mostly rockish) noteworthy icons; however, extreme metal is woefully ignored. Nonetheless, the list did include Jimi Hendrix (#1), Jimmy Page (#9), Kirk Hammett (#11), Kurt Cobain (#12), Johnny Ramone (#16), Tom Morello (#26), Thurston Moore/Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) (#33/#34), Joe Perry (#48), Ritchie Blackmore (#55), Vernon Reid (#66), Eddie Van Halen (#70), Adam Jones (Tool) (#75), D. Boon (The Minutemen) (#89), Glen Buxton (Alice Cooper) (#90), Wayne Kramer/Fred “Sonic” Smith (MC5) (#92/#93), Kevin Shields (My Bloody Valentine) (#95), Angus Young (#96), Leigh Stephens (Blue Cheer) (#98), Greg Ginn (Black Flag) (#99), and Kim Thayil (Soundgarden) (#100).

And, yet another reason why we here at the MetalSucks Mansion like to say “Fuck Rolling Stone!” — coming in at #86, TOMMY Iommi…yes, “TOMMY.” How the fuck do you not know the first name of one of the true legends of not only metal, but of rock guitars? Hmmmmmmmm….Please, clue me in.

IT’S TONY, YOU FUCKS!!!

Anyway, here is my stab at the best Metal Guitarists of All Time — and for a point of reference, my Old Fartness will be shining through here, as will my love for rhythm guitarists:

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So a couple of weeks ago Michael Anthony spilled that beans that he and former Van Halen cohort Sammy Hagar “are working on a new project with a couple of good friends.” At the time, I joked that perhaps they were teaming up with Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum to form Velvet Hagarevolver, a force more powerful than Voltron or, at the very least, Toto.

In point of fact, the reality is much, much worse.

Blabbermouth has now confirmed the rumor we’ve all been hearing from the get-go, which is that the other members of the group are Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith and Joe Satriani. And they’ve settled on the band moniker “Chickenfoot.”

Click to read more…