MetalSucks

[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.]

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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.

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In 2004, the Painkiller-era Judas Priest line-up reunited and blew Black Sabbath off the stage at Ozzfest, so I supposed it’s only fair that in 2008, Sabbath should return the favor on the Metal Masters tour.

Of course, swapping out Ozzy Osbourne for Ronnie James Dio didn’t hurt.

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In 2004, Judas Priest went on before Black Sabbath at Ozzfest and pretty much decimated Ozzy and his cohorts; a year later, Iron Maiden did the same, and Sharon Osbourne got so pissy about it that she resorted to not-so-friendly “pranks” like having “X”s drawn through Maiden’s name on Ozzfest merch, cutting the band’s sound mid-song, and recruiting second stage musicians to help her throw eggs at Bruce Dickinson and company. Classy.

Now Sharon reportedly wants AC/DC to co-headline next year’s Ozzfest, when the festival will allegedly return to its status as a tour instead of a one-off gig, because they’re her “favorite band” (I’m sure Ozzy takes no offense at that statement).

The last time AC/DC toured the U.S., the only other band on the bill was Slash’s Snakepit (Version 2.0), and they were still selling out football stadiums. In other words, I think Ozzy probably needs AC/DC more than AC/DC needs Ozzy; I really just can’t imagine them wanting to go on before Ozzy to play an abbreviated set.

Still, maybe they will play Ozzfest. If they do, look for Sharon to be throwing eggs at them sometime in summer ‘09.

-AR

Maybe the CD isn’t a dying format after all. Actually, fuck that, the CD is definitely in its death throes. But at least for one week the inevitable has been delayed, and some rock records actually moved serious tonnage. Motley Crue and Shinedown both debuted in the Top 10, Disturbed continued their inevitable march towards gold (and then platinum) at #9, and Kid Rock continued his rampage back up the charts to reach #12. Some abbreviated Soundscan numbers and positions after the jump:

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Kind of like those Amazon CD recommendations, YouTube’s recommendation engine nailed it again this afternoon when it suggested Queensryche’s “Eyes of a Stranger” for my viewing pleasure (how do they know???!!). Somehow I’d never seen this video before, but it’s got everything you’d want out of a Queensryche video; Geoff Tate’s poofy mullet, cymbals hanging from chains, and a song from Operation fucking Mindcrime! Hey Judas Priest; you watching? This is how you do a concept album.

-VN

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I will never forget the time Vince and I went to see Maiden and they played the entire A Matter of Life and Death album from front to back. Not in “I’ll never forget the first time I touched a girl’s titty” kinda way; more in a “I’ll never forget the time I went to Mexico, drank the water, and got Montezuma’s Revenge” kinda way. Literally the only good part of the entire night was when the band played “2 Minutes to Midnight” for the encore; for those six glorious minutes, we actually got our money’s worth.

So maybe Judas Priest had already announced plans to play their latest album, Nostradamus, from start to finish in a series of “special” shows, but I hadn’t heard of any such gigs until I saw this JAM! Music interview with Rob Halford posted on Blabbermouth:

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Today is the longest day of the year. Why are you sitting there reading this summary of the meaningless events that took place in the metal world this week? Go outside, asshole.

• Nine supposedly mixed and mastered Guns N’ Roses tracks from the 14-years in the making Chinese Democracy leaked. Sites posted, lawyers threatened to sue, more sites posted, lawyers threatened to sue.
• Kid Rock released a “PSA” telling all of his fans “I’m Rich!” and to steal his music… check that, to steal everything.
• A new Slipknot track leaks and then they decide to “release” it for “free.” Me smells a conspiracy, but smart business.
• Dallas writes an open letter to Light This City; Lambgoat members write an open letter to Dallas.
• MetalSucks readers declare new Judas Priest record Nostradamus a big fat “meh.”
• Mastodon play three new songs at Bonnaroo which are captured on film but promptly removed from the Internet (though we’re sure you can find ‘em if you have a brain).
• Metallica did nothing of note.

Until next time, this is Vince Neilstein saying “until next time.”

-VN

So Judas Priest release their new double-disc concept record Nostradamus today in the U.S. (yesterday in the rest of the world), and we’ve barely talked about it here at the MetalSucks Mansion. Why? I’m not really sure. Frankly, I haven’t even listened to the whole thing yet. For some reason, I just can’t motivate myself to be interested.

Iann Robinson had great things to say. Metal-Temple.com loved it. Axl said to me yesterday that “it sounds like a Judas Priest record, as opposed to Angel of Retribution,” but ultimately seemed to have a luke-warm reaction.

So what do we think? Is it a masterpiece or a for-fans-only sprawling lullaby?

-VN

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

I hereby promise this will be the last of an unprecedented run of three posts about Yngwie Malmsteen within the past week; but unscrupulously ousted ex-Iced Earth singer Tim “Ripper” Owens has been tapped to front the band of the fur-coat-wearing, orchestra-conducting King of shred, Yngwie himself. After being ditched by Iced Earth late in 2007 in favor of original singer Matt Barlow at a point when the band seemed poised for a great comeback run, Owens was left down and out. Keep in mind this is the same dude who recorded and toured with his favorite metal band of all time, only to have his life bastardized and turned into a really shitty movie — AND be fired when that lead singer, some dude named Rob Halford, wanted to come back to his old band too. So needless to say, the dude deserved a break.

And he’s gotten it. While a gig with Yngwie may not be as cool as the Anthrax gig Axl suggested, it’s certainly something. No word yet on whether fur coats will become part of Owens’ repertoire.

-VN

Vince has never seen Judas Priest live before, but hopefully he will this summer; like the dudes in Maiden, the boys in Priest have certainly gotten older, but you wouldn’t really know it to watch them in concert.

So here’s a classic clip of the band performing “Victim of Changes.” Eat your heart out, Vince.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://youtube.com/v/hXqb_3fR6Ok" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

-AR

Two years ago, when we heard that Tool, Metallica, and Axl Rose would all be headlining the annual Download Festival (aka Donnington), we bought our plane tickets and hauled ass as fast as we could. Last year, when we heard that the headliners were Iron Maiden with – ugh – Linkin Park and My Chemical Romance we decided to pass. Later, of course, we felt like schmucks; there are three or four stages at Download, all of which are staggered, so if you don’t like the headliner, there’s always someone else to watch (For example, we could have skipped Linkin Park and watched Motley Crue. Hey, it’s something.)

So hopefully the fact that The Offspring and Lostprophets – two bands we literally could not care any less about – have been announced as the first two headliners for the fest won’t deter us from going this year – after all, Judas Priest and HIM will also be there. I mean, I don’t know what kind of a world we live in where Lostprophets are headliners of a festival attended by 70,000+ people and Judas Priest aren’t – in fucking England, no less – but, hey, what can you do?

Anyway, it’s rumored that Kiss will be the third headliner. I feel no particular desire to see Kiss live ever again, but hopefully Opeth or whoever will be hitting the second stage right around the same time. And even if they aren’t, so many other awesome bands play this thing every year, taking a nap right around the time Gene Simmons kicks into “Calling Dr. Love” probably won’t be the least appealing thing in the world.

-AR

At the risk of sounding condescending to a dude who got to fulfill his childhood dream of recording and touring with his favorite metal band of all time and had his life bastardized and turned into a really shitty movie starring an Oscar nominee and a sitcom star, I gotta say: I feel really bad for Tim “Ripper” Owens.

I mean, things seemed to be going so well for Iced Earth: their latest album, Framing Armageddon: Something Wicked was getting rave reviews, it was selling surprisingly well, and while the video for the lead single, “Ten Thousand Strong,” is just about the silliest, cheapest piece of dung I’ve ever seen (see below), Headbanger’s Ball showed it at least three weeks in a row, which is really all the success you can wish for for a metal video these days.

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