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

Anthrax were playing at the Club Nokia in Los Angeles this past weekend when a fan jumped up on-stage, and a security guard who is also a major, major John Bush supporter decided to use said fan-on-stage as an excuse to tackle Joey Belladonna. Check out the video below; the incident in question happens at roughly the 1:36 mark.

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Last year, Armored Saint reunited to release an incredibly awesome comeback album, La Raza — but it was a bittersweet return, ’cause the band didn’t tour behind it, save for a couple of shows on the West Coast and in Germany. When I interviewed him for the album’s release, vocalist John Bush told me that “The idea of doing shows, although it’s something I want to do, I also want to do it on my terms… we spent many a show playing to forty fans and various bartenders and cocktail waitresses and club owners and opening bands and their crew…I don’t want to do that again, quite frankly.” And that’s totally understandable and I can’t fault Bush for feeling that way. But, unfortunately, it meant all us East Coast fans were totally screwed.

But no longer! For the band has announced three dates in this part of the country, including their first show in NYC in two decades. And while that’s obviously not a full tour, it will still make it far easier for some of us who live in states with actual seasons to go see the band live. And, better still, these are some intimate venues, so you’ll get to see Armored Saint do their thing from very, very close-up.

And it gets cooler still! According to bassist Joey Vera, the band will be taking requests… mid-show:

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Few records could be as intrinsically polarizing as Anthrax’s Worship Music, the thirteen-song set whose release tomorrow ends a maddening period of band tumult while launching a new era with singer Joey Belladonna. It’s an album with history, having been completed with a new vocalist, imperiled by the new vocalist, shelved, shuffled, completed again by Belladonna and producer Jay Ruston, and now, at least, unveiled for the world to hear. In other words, Worship Music has arrived with baggage; how much of it will fit in your trunk?

Representing at least two attitudes toward Anthrax 2011, our MetalSucks official roundtable review of Worship Music is co-authored by a John Bush era devotee (MS Co-Editor-In-Chief Axl Rosenberg) and a long-suffering Belladonna booster (MS Senior Editor Anso DF). On the fence about Worship Music? Sick of one-sided, insight-free criticism? Bemused by the way MetalSucks disagrees with itself? Then join Axl and Anso as they grapple with the meaning of this year’s most dangerous album.

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Here’s the thing about new Anthrax, in my opinion (and opinions among the various MS staffers differ greatly): it’s pretty good! Sure, I would rather be hearing John Bush’s (or even Dan Nelson’s) low, gruff snarl instead of Joey Bellardini’s high-pitched wail; a lot of Worship Music sounds like it was written for Bush/Nelson and subsequently re-tooled for Bellardini, and recent interviews with the band have confirmed that. But the songs themselves are pretty great, and Bellardini (with help from vocal producer Jay Ruston, I assume) actually did a good job penning vocal melodies to fit the already-written music. The performances are solid all around, and in the end isn’t an album’s awesomeness vs. suckiness-factor about the strength of the songs? Bellardini’s vocals sound weird / very produced at times, but his overall performance is good enough and doesn’t distract from the songs at all. Most importantly, the songs rock.

SO. With that in mind listen to “The Devil You Know” over at GuitarWorld.com; it’s the latest track to be released from Worship Music and it’s one of my favorites from the album. This is definitely one of those songs that falls into the “these riffs are begging for John Bush’s voice” category, but it’s still pretty fuckin’ headbangable if you ask me!

-VN

Hey, so remember when just last week Chuck Billy said there was gonna be a tour this fall with Anthrax, Testament, Overkill, and Death Angel?

Well, yeah, turns out Overkill ain’t doing that tour.

From Metal Insider:

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Well, it’s been a long, long, long time coming, but Anthrax’s Worship Music is apparently FINALLY coming out on September 13. And now the studio version of the first single, “Fight ‘Em ‘Til You Can’t” — a song the band has been playing live for three years, since Dan Nelson’s brief tenure as their vocalist — is available for download here. (And, oh yeah, you hafta give up your e-mail address to get it.)

Not counting that “Ball of Confusion” cover Joey Belladonna recorded with John Bush for 1999′s Return of the Killer A’s, this is the first new Anthrax song with Belladonna in more than two decades. And it’s no secret that I’m not a Belladonna fan, but I’ll be curious to see if anyone defends his vocal performance here; I think it’s especially awful, and further demonstrates that, even if you are a Belladonna fan, his voice has not aged well. (And whoever decided he should whisper “I will end you” in sync with the drums before the second verse made a poor choice. SO CHEESY.)

But I also think the band made some weird choices in the production of the song, and those choices undermine its power. I don’t know if those guitars or keyboards under the chorus, for example, which is a bad sign; whatever they are, they make the track feel way too poppy. In fact, I’d say the whole song seems to be lacking any real edge.

But maybe it will grow on me. We’ll see.

Headbang here, then debate the quality of the song in the comments section below.

-AR

Thanks to Aleksander Sobecki for the tip!

The possibly-not-final cover art for Anthrax’s Worship Music

So I have a friend who works closely with Camp Anthrax. I obviously can’t tell you the friend’s name, but I can tell you that he once told me that the Dan Nelson version of Worship Music was awesome, and that I’ve been begging him to let me hear it ever since. Thing is, he doesn’t actually own a copy, and has never been able to get his hands on one. Security around the album was tight before the Nelson debacle, but after, he told me, “It was like Scott and Charlie were going door-to-door personally checking people’s hard drives to make sure everyone had deleted it.”

And so last night I got a text from this friend, I guess trying to make amends for the fact that he never did come through with that Dan Nelson record: “Just got the Belladonna version of Worship Music. U wanna hear it?”

I responded simply, “Be there in 20.” And I got my ass on the subway and I went over to his place.

And I gotta tell you, guys… it’s a weird record, and there are two MASSIVE, and massively tragic, missteps… but it’s pretty great overrall. It’s not really like any metal record I’ve ever heard before. Whatever else you wanna say about Anthrax, you can’t accuse them of refusing to experiment — this album is a huge, huge risk, often welding together vastly different styles and textures of not just metal but often other genres of music, too. I don’t know if people will go for this record or not, but I think it’s kinda brilliant.

(By the way, the above album cover is a carry-over from the Dan Nelson version of the record; apparently it may be scrapped in favor of something that “feels more like the album cover of one of the old Belladonna albums.” Which would be a weird decision, because, a few songs aside, this record doesn’t sound anything like any other Anthrax album.)

And so here it is — my track-by-track breakdown of what I heard.

You guys aren’t gonna believe this shit.

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Anyone who was unfortunate enough to have well-meaning-yet-clueless relatives knows the feeling of disappointment. After weeks of anticipation, staring at the shiny boxes under the Christmas tree and wondering what’s inside, you eagerly tear open your presents. What lies inside? GI Joes? Transformers?? A BB gun? A new Nintendo?!? Mind racing and adrenaline pumping, you open the first box and are brutally assaulted by reality: your hippie uncle got you some handmade, wooden train from his recent trip to Chile. And it only gets worse — grandma gave you a subscription to Highlights, and mom got you enough socks and underwear to last you through high school. Dejected, you retreat to your bedroom and pout while thinking about all the awesome presents the other kids must have gotten.

This is the same feeling I got all too often as a young metal fan in the late 80s/early 90s. Back then, without the internet, finding new bands was a real crapshoot — you really never knew what you were in for when you bought a new record unless you manged to catch them on Headbanger’s Ball. You did the best you could with what you had, but it wasn’t much to go on. Time and time again I was tricked by a cool logo, sweet cover art, or a name that sounded brutal — what I thought was going to be ass-ripping thrash or hardcore turned out to be dreadful hard rock, third-rate speed metal, or limp-wristed art rock. I tried so hard to be positive and enjoy the album that I had squandered my $8 on, but I just couldn’t do it.

In no particular order, here are a few of the dozens upon dozens of bands who I tried to like, but simply could not. What are yours??

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We haven’t had any real Anthrax drama in a few months, so I guess we were due. This might be the most ridiculous round yet, though, ’cause it’s really all just about Scott Ian having a lousy memory.

So here’s what happened. As you should be aware, after Anthrax re-fired Joey Belladonna and found themselves unable to re-hire John Bush, they brought on an entirely new singer, Dan Nelson. They even recorded an album with the guy, called Worship Music. One of the songs on Worship Music was called “Fight ‘Em ‘Til You Can’t.” Here’s Anthrax with Dan Nelson performing the song in Chicago in May of 2008:

Then for whatever reason Dan Nelson was either fired from or quit Anthrax, and Worship Music sat on the shelf. And then John Bush was back in the band, and then he wasn’t, at least in part, it seems, because he didn’t just wanna re-record Nelson’s parts from Worship Music.

And so Anthrax re-re-hired Joey Belladonna, who made it clear that he was amenable to re-recording Nelson’s Worship Music performance. And while we’re still waiting for Worship Music (or whatever the hell it ends up being called) to be released, this latest incarnation of Anthrax is currently touring with Slayer and Megadeth, and have even started playing “Fight ‘Em ‘Til You Can’t” with Belladonna on vocals. Here’s a video of that happening  in Uniondale this past Friday night:

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“Underdogs,” filmed on the Headbanger’s Ball Hell on Wheels Tour  in October 1987 at First Ave. in Minneapolis MN. The band is totally on fire, the crowd is beyond psyched, John Bush sounds great (and has hair). Awesome video — thanks to Christopher G. Palacios for sending it in.

-VN

Amidst all this talk of Joey Belladonna bending over and taking it from Anthrax, it’s been easy to lose site of the fact that Armored Saint released a pretty decent comeback album this year in La Raza. I was never as big of a Saint fan as I was of Anthrax, but there’s been enough cross-polination between the members that the presence of Bush’s voice on top of La Raza‘s already good songs almost makes it sound as if you’re listening to a Bush-era Anthrax record… almost. “Little Monkey” is my favorite track on the album and in my opinion the most Anthrax-y, both musically and lyrically. Check it out above and pick up La Raza here from Metal Blade if you like.

I also completely forgot about John Bush’s guest appearance on the Nuclear Blast All-Stars Out of the Dark project in 2007 helmed by ex-[at the time]-Soilwork guitarist Peter Wichers. The album was incredibly solid through and through, and “Paper Trail” was one of the bestest songs on it. I find it fascinating that Wichers took on the task of writing a more “rock” oriented song, did a fantastic job with it, and how Bush’s voice really brought it home.

What can I say… I love John Bush’s voice. Enjoysies.

-VN

Anyone who reads this site knows well our unabashed fandom of John Bush as the pre-eminent singer of Anthrax (Anso DF excepted… that assclown!). And, unless you’ve skipped over them (likely), that I’ll rant about the environment from time to time. But combine the two? Well shit, then we’re getting into Joe-jira territory. Which is precisely the level to which this latest video of John Bush talking being green elevates my opinion of the man.

This is no David Draiman whining about our world’s dependence on oil while living in a huge California mansion with expensive, gas-guzzling cars and a lavish back yard. This is no Korn boycotting BP to appear green, despite it being a complete bullshit PR tactic. This is the real deal. Saving unused shower water to water your plants? Holy shit, that’s brilliant. That’s exactly what I’m talking about when I say we all need to seriously re-think the way we use our resources. I love you, John Bush.

Watch the brief clip below. Armored Saint’s La Raza is out now on Metal Blade.

-VN

A band that once appeared to be having a lot of fun, Anthrax has been no laughing matter for a long time now. Fronting the quintet – a position held by four people a total of seven times – is officially the least enviable job not involving Dave Mustaine or handling hot shit. Like, one day Scott Ian’s raving about you, the next day your name is his toilet paper. And even if an odor lingers from their 2005 reunion, Anthrax’s second recall of Joey Belladonna may have been an inevitability. It only became possible at all when Belladonna’s replacement’s much-hyped replacement didn’t pan out, and the product of their short union, Worship Music, was shelved. Of course, post-millennial Anthrax is most predictable in the commerce department, so it didn’t take a crystal ball to foresee their imminent attempts to be enshrined among the genre’s legacy acts; obviously, this is best achieved by the classic line-up, no matter what Bush-boosters may desire.

So for the moment, Belladonna is part of Anthrax’s quest for thrash metal immortality. Still, it was no shock that the singer filled our interview with the verbal equivalent of looking over each shoulder. He spoke with reservation and almost entirely in generalities. Not once did he mention a fellow Anthraxer by name, with the odd exception of John Bush. Even so, Belladonna sounds happy to be home, even if all the furniture has been rearranged and the locks changed. There’s fun to be had anyway; after all, Anthrax was a much bigger band with Belladonna at the helm (and occasionally at the drum kit). I’m no mathematician, but that means he’s got the numbers fan-wise and Big Four nostalgia can only help. I guess we’ll all see.

A week before the first Big Four show, the effusive Belladonna talked to MetalSucks about changing expectations, the fate of Worship Music, musical identity, and the humor of Anthrax.

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An actual screen-cap.

The Big Four Comedy Tour rolls on!

Scott Ian gave a video interview to zee German edition of Metal Hammer earlier this month, and when pressed about Joey Belladonna’s status in the band, he was, well… let’s just say “non-committal.” I can’t embed the video, but here are some choice quotes…

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After John Bush left Anthrax (again) in May, he had this to say on the topic of Joey Belladonna possibly performing Bushthrax material:

Hopefully they’ll start playing some of the songs I sang on. I think it’s time for Joey to step up and play some songs from my era. I played songs from the whole catalog, including Neil Turbin’s stuff. I think fans should still get to hear songs like “Inside Out”, “Room For One More” or “Only.” There are lots of amazing songs and they should play them. It would be weird if they didn’t, quite frankly.

I thought the idea of Belladonna singing Bushthrax songs was a little odd, but I was willing to give it a shot; then again, I never really thought it would happen, ’cause, well, so often when an original member of a band re-joins said band, all the material that was written and recorded without him goes right out the window. Obviously there are exceptions – like Dave Lombardo playing “Disciple” at pretty much every Slayer concert since he came back to the fold – but that’s the exception, not the rule. Anyone see David Lee Roth sing “Right Now” on the Van Halen reunion tour? No. What about Ace Frehley doing “Lick it Up?” Never happened. If Axl and Slash ever kiss and make-up, do you think we’ll suddenly see the original GN’R line-up playing tunes off of Chinese Democracy? It’s not likely. This is just the way things go.

But now those Sonisphere Big Four shows have started, and, lo and behold!, Anthrax did, indeed, play “Only” – probably the most famous Bushthrax song – with Belladonna belting it out. Now, I know there are people who think that Belladonna could raise the dead and I’d still find a reason to complain, but, seriously. He cut the balls right the fuck off this song. Just snipped ‘em right off. This bootleg isn’t even very good quality, and I still think it sounds weird as fuck:

Pretty funky, right? And there are parts where he sounds kinda winded, too, although I’m willing to forgive that somewhat, ’cause, y’know. It happens sometimes.

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Dio died. Isis broke-up. Bret Michaels is back in the hospital. And I just used Dio, Isis, and Bret Michaels in one thought-stream, which, I’m sure, offended somebody.

Luckily, we did manage to have some fun this week:

• Sick of it All’s Lou Koller is counting down his top ten hardcore albums, As I Lay Dying’s Nick Hipa is counting down to the end of L O S T, Batillus’ Fade Kainer is counting down ’til the band can get the fuck outta the studio, Agenda of Swine’s Pete Benumb is counting down to MDF, and Cynic’s Paul Masvidal is counting down to achieving a higher level of being.
• We spoke to Steve Joh from Century Media, Tara Johnson from Disembodied, Emil Werstler from Daath and Levi/Werstler, and Travis Stever from Coheed & Cambria.
• We checked out the latest release from Rosetta.
• Sergeant D. has new slamz 4 u.
• The best music video ever of the week is by… Goldfrapp?
• There are plenty of things we’d rather do than listen to a new Attack Attack! song.
• Endorsement of the new Avenged Sevenfold single = flame war.
• You guys are still arguing about my Korn review. Seriously?
• I’m still upset about John Bush leaving Anthrax again. Seriously.
• We used to love Sweden, but we had to kill it.

And hopefully no one awesome will die or break-up next week.

-AR

Since Anthrax announced last week that they’re bringing Joey Belladonna into the fold, we’ve had one burning question at the forefront of our minds: What the fuck went wrong with John Bush? Scott Ian said “we needed a total commitment to Anthrax, and [Bush] knew that wasn’t what he wanted,” but that’s fairly vague. The rumor was that he didn’t want to tour anymore, but we also recklessly speculated that he didn’t wanna be just a session musician and re-recorded Dan Nelson’s parts for Worship Music – which is perfectly understandable.

Now Blabbermouth’s Ryan Ogle has scored the interview of the week by hunting down Bush and getting his perspective on things. And as it turns out, the rumors and reckless speculation were both kinda true.

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Yep, we talked a lot of smack on Joey Belladonna this week, much to the chagrin of, well, an awful lot of you. I think we’re done for a little while… but I can’t make any promises. Our job at MetalSucks is to amuse ourselves first and foremost, and, well, we thought it was pretty damned funny. So ppppfffftttt.

Here’s what else went down this week:

• We debuted the title track from Nachtmystium’s new album, Addicts.
• Genetic’s Dallas Coyle called us “influential,” Disfear’s Tomas Lindberg shared some Maryland Deathfest memories, The Austerity Program’s Justin Foley unveiled his top four Taco Riffs, Cynic’s Paul Masvidal got burglarized, As I Lay Dying’s Nick Hipa made some new revelations about L O S T, God Forbid’s Doc Coyle worried about turning into an old geezer, Daath’s Eyal Levi gave us a lesson in stage etiquette, and Batillus’ Geoff Summers gave us a new studio update.
• We spoke to The Melvins’ Buzz Osborne, Periphery’s Misha “Bulb” Mansoor, Testament’s Chuck Billy, and Sick of it All’s Lou Koller.
• We checked out new releases by Korn and Ufomammut and Year of No Light.
• Is Mastodon’s Brent Hinds a Mastodick?
• Sergeant D sez Cunthunt777 are your new favorite band.
• Don’t worry, baby, Dr. Danzig gonna cure what ails you.
• Hot chick loves Nergal, hates the Bible.
• Boy oh boy, do we love the new Limp Bizkit cover art!
• If you’re looking for new band members, don’t do this.

Alright. We’re gonna go get drunk and crank We’ve Come For You All in John Bush’s honor. Have a great weekend, everyone.

-AR

We stand by our assessment that re-hiring Joey Belladonna is a desperate move by Anthrax, as well as major artistic step-backwards for Anthrax. Who would have been a better fit for the band? Almost anyone. Herewith, our list of possible candidates that should have superseded Belladonna…

Click to read more…