Slayer have the title track of their new album World Painted Blood up for streaming on their MySpace page.

Conclusion: it sounds like Slayer.

EXCEPT: the guitar solo. Lots of folks slag Kerry King for his one-solo-fits-all style of shred… and really, I can’t say that they’re wrong. Until now. This solo is not only different from King’s usual fare, but it’s slooooowwwwww. This solo probably has as many notes in the entire thing as most of King’s solos do in one phrase. And for that it’s seriously fucking awesome! Hanneman’s riffing and Lombardo’s drumming underneath lock in for a groove that compliments it perfectly, emphasizing the nuance of King’s solo all the more.

World Painted Blood drops November 3rd.

-VN

I was seriously worried about the fate of Demiricous, and with good reason, I’d say. The best band ever to sound exactly like Slayer that aren’t actually Slayer, the Hoosier quartet made two killer albums on Metal Blade (produced by Zeuss and ERIK FUCKING RUTAN, respectively) and were endorsed by no less a figure than Mr. Kerry King himself. But then they were, at least as I understand it, more or less completely ripped-off by their then-manager, and they finally parted ways with Metal Blade last year. No one could blame them if they broke up. Bands break up over much less these days.

But now Lambgoat is reporting that Demiricous is, in fact, alive and well, and will enter the studio in November to record a new five-song demo with Gates of Slumber drummer “Iron” Bob Fouts. They still don’t have a label and “will issue the material themselves.” That part confuses me a bit – I mean, I’m thrilled to get to hear new Demiricous music, but is it a demo to try and land them a new label, or is it a self-released EP…? Whatever. Why look a gift horse in the mouth?

Here’s the band’s video for “Vagrant Idol.” Holy shit, this song is heavy.

-AR

It was a mere two weeks ago that I was feeling pretty cynical about the prospects of a rumored Big Four tour becoming a reality. It just seems like there’s too much bad blood between too many of the bands for everyone to hit the road together.

But there’s also a lot of money to be made there, and in 2009 money wins every fight, even in the world of metal.

So here comes Robert Trujillo to get the rumor pot a-stirrin’ again. In a recent interview, the man/crab hybrid had this to say:

Click to read more…

Our friends over at Noisecreep have an interesting new interview with former Killswitch Engage front dude Jesse Leach. The gist of the interview is that he doesn’t regret quitting the band seven years ago, just before they were launched into the metal stratosphere, and much prefers making less money and being in bands no one seems to care about. (Okay, I made that last part up. But still.) Here’s the quote I found really interesting:

“I look at the band now, and I don’t even think twice. There’s no way in my brain I could fathom being on stage, doing what they’re doing. Maybe if it were on my own terms, but from what I’ve seen them do, they’ve kind of taken a goofier route with Adam D… I love it, I get it, I respect it … it’s very punk rock and tongue-in-cheek, but that’s not who I am.”

Of course I love Alive or Just Breathing, but really did not enjoy Leach’s Seemless project. Not even a little bit, not even when I was stoned. So, whatever.

He  is now apparently fronting a band called Empire Shall Fall, which is literally a one-word change from one of Leach’s lyrics for “Numbered Days.” Maybe Leach can recruit Kerry King to play guitar for that band, and they can be happily un-goofy together.

-AR

When he isn’t busy feuding with Dave Mustaine, Scott Ian or any given member of Metallica, Kerry King sometimes likes to take shots at the younger generation of metal musicians. Because, well,  Most recently, while touring with Killswitch Engage as part of the 2009 edition of Mayhem Fest, King claimed that he’s “offended by the silliness” of KSE guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz, whom King also alleged “puts his foot in his mouth all the time and says stupid shit.”

Well, it only took two months, but a member of KSE has finally responded.

Click to read more…

It’s Labor Day weekend here in the U.S., which means we’re shuttering the Mansion early this week, and won’t be back ’til Tuesday. We’re sure you’ll find some way to live without us.

Here’s some shit that happened this week:

• We debuted a new track from Salome.
• Sigh’s Mirai Kawashima sent in his final guest-blog from the studio, and revealed the track listing for the band’s upcoming album, Scenes from Hell.
• We chatted with Trivium’s Matt Heafy, The Black Dahlia Murder’s Trevor Strnad, Job for a Cowboy’s Brent Riggs, and All That Remains’ Phil LaBonte.
• We celebrated the triumphant return of Beavis & Butt-Head, and decided that in their particular relationship, Vince is the Beavis to Axl’s Butt-Head.
• Tom Araya thinks Dave Mustaine is a dick, Kerry King thinks Dave Mustaine is a dick, Scott Ian thinks Kerry King is a dick, and everyone in Dimmu Borgir thinks that everyone else in Dimmu Borgir is a dick.

Alright. I’m going to enjoy a little sunshine while I still can. See ya Tuesday!

-AR

When we interviewed Tom Araya a few weeks back, I asked him if the Megadeth/Slayer tour that hit Canada earlier this year and will now make its way to Australia and New Zealand is ever coming to the States. His response?

“You know, [Dave Mustaine is] lucky we did the Canadian dates.”

Araya chuckled when he said it – the dude is too chill to really get angry angry, or at least that was my impression of him – but there was obviously some bad blood there. Shit-stirrer that I am, I made a feeble attempt to draw more ire out of Araya, with no love.

So kudos to Mark Eglinton from The Quietus, who Blabbermouth tells me got this little exchange out of Araya:

Click to read more…

Yesterday, Scott Ian tweeted a response to Kerry King’s accusation that Anthrax have “been in pieces for quite some time.” The tweet pointed towards a recent, possible one-off reunion show with John Bush; I eagerly hoped it was a sign that Bush is coming back to the band for good.

Well, we still don’t know if he is or not. But we do know that he’s gonna do another gig with the ‘Thrax, this time at the Loud Park festival in Japan this October. (Interestingly enough, Slayer and Megadeth are also on the bill.)

I take that as a good sign that Bush is, indeed, negotiating (or something) to re-join Anthrax. But obviously we need to wait for some kind of official confirmation from the group.

Fingers crossed…

-AR

Presumably in response to Kerry King’s claim that “There’s better options than Anthrax [for a tour mate] and that’s nothing against Anthrax, but they’ve just been in pieces for quite some time and that doesn’t make as much sense to me,” Ian tweets:

“Guess Kerry missed Sonisphere”

Does that mean John Bush is back for good? Pretty please with a cherry on top?

This tour is never fucking happening.

-AR

If any two of the big four bands tour together, I think it’d be a pretty sweet show. Any three? Fucking amazing. But all four? That would have to be some kind of miracle, right? I mean, half these dudes hate each other. King and Mustaine practically make their living talking shit about Metallica – and one another, for that matter. So it’ll never happen, right?

Well, King now tells Metal Hammer otherwise. Sort of.

Click to read more…

So maybe the Megadeth/Slayer tour won’t be coming to the States after all.

After successfully completing a very short Canadian run together, it looked like the two thrash giants had finally kissed and made-up. (The long-standing King/Mustaine feud is infamous.) Then Mustaine had to go and be a dick.

Well, now it seems that Kerry King has responded, albeit indirectly. Blabbermouth, transcribing from a video from a site called Metal Sickness, reports that King said the following at a press conference in Paris on Monday:

Click to read more…

MetalSucks Maniac Matt Fields sent us the below video with this simple message:

“I really do not see what credential this man has to criticize Limp Bizkit.”

Click to read more…

Oh, snap. We’re used to Slayer’s Kerry King picking fights in the press. But now Gwar’s Oderus Urungus, perhaps eager to throw down with the legendary guitar player, has brought the mountain to Mohammad by talking some shit of his own.

In an exclusive video interview with Dave “I’m Not Really Just Oderus Without the Mask” Brockie for NoiseCreep, Oderus has this to say about Mr. King:

“He’s fat and ugly and stupid. Y’know, I’ve supported Slayer my whole life, they’re probably the greatest metal band ever. In fact, I personally gave Kerry King, fat little bald Napoleon with swagger that he is, The [Metal Hammer] Golden Gods Award for Most Awesome Metal Artist, and I didn’t even anally violate him, and he still couldn’t find it in himself to acknowledge.”

Ouch. Harsh words. If you know me but at all, you know I can’t wait to hear King’s retort. I’m sure it will have something to do with costumes. Which would be kinda ironic.

Here’s the video of Oderus smacking King with the proverbial glove:

Speaking of Oderus: you can still ask him a question right here. Hopefully he’ll answer a few more in the coming weeks.

-AR

[via SMN]

Now the nausea’s
In my guts
And I’m wrestling with doubt
The kind you get when your heroes
Sell you out
And as I watch the drawbridge come down
There’s mass extinction
On my mind
Human cruelty stains my thoughts jet black
I’ve got this feeling
Like things have gone too far and now we can’t get back

Here’s more fun shit that happened in the world of metal this week:

• We debuted new videos from Cradle of Filth and Arsonists Get All the Girls.
• We got exclusive tour blogs from Bison B.C.’s Dan And and Woe of Tyrants’ Chris Catanzaro.
• We spoke to members of Winds of Plague, Decrepit Birth and Born of Osiris.
• I counted down 50 things I love about Pig Destroyer, and then added a 51st.
• Ulrich Vs. Mustaine Vs. Ian and Zakk Vs. Ozzy made us laugh with glee.
• Kerry King Vs. Killswitch Engage was pretty funny, too.
• Dallas Coyle answered more of your questions.

Vince gets back from vacation tonight right around the time Repulsion take the stage, and then tomorrow, hopefully, Craig’s List will lead us to some Tool tickets. See ya Monday!

-AR

CORRECTION: PRATO’S QUESTION COMES FROM HERE. MY APOLOGIES TO PRATO. NO APOLOGIES TO MUSTAINE.THANKS TO BORIVOJ AT BLABBERMOUTH FOR SHOWING ME THE ERROR OF MY WAYS.

It has been a fantastic summer for feuds. Just, really top notch. Isis is mad at Revolver and I’m fairly certain that Revolver is mad at MetalSucks. Fear Factory would be like the new Van Halen, if Van Halen wasn’t still the new Van Halen. And I think it’s safe to say at this point that, pretty much no matter how this whole Dan Nelson/John Bush drama plays out, no one will ever take Anthrax seriously again (assuming they were still taking Anthrax seriously at all).

And now this. Ladies and gentleman, key founding members of three of the Big Four are now all ready to throw down. This is a clusterfuck of epic proportions. I wish you could all see my face right now, ’cause rarely am I this happy.

It’s a long story, and, as is so often the case, I am really just playing The Daily Show to Blabbermouth‘s CNN. Here we go:

Click to read more…

Oh boy. Here we go again.

Kerry King loves to talk shit. He loves to talk shit so much you’d think he writes for MetalSucks (Kerry, if you’re reading this, please come write for MetalSucks.). The man just cannot be stopped. Dave Mustaine, Machine Head, Metallica – all have been victims of his razor-sharp tongue.

His latest casualty: Killswitch Engage, who are out on the road with Slayer right now as part of Mayhem.

Click to read more…

Let’s cut right to the quick: there’s a new Slayer song, the snappily titled “Hate Worldwide,” which you can listen to here. My first impression of the track, which was written by Kerry King, is that it’s an awfully good Slayer song, although not as good as “Psychopathy Red,” which blew the fucking flesh off of my face the very first time I heard it. Still, that’s an evil fucking riff in this new track, so it even if I think its the inferior of the two, it doesn’t exactly take the wind out of my sails in terms of my high, high hopes for the new Slayer album, World Painted Blood.

Click to read more…

I just read this on the ol’ Bmouth:

SLAYER guitarist Kerry King, a close friend of the late “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott (PANTERA, DAMAGELAN), had the legendary axeman’s guitar in the studio during the recording process for SLAYER‘s new album, “World Painted Blood” (although he didn’t use it it during the sessions), still with the same strings that were on it the last time Dimebag played it. “The one thing that made me look at my lead playing a little differently was when Dimebag passed away,” revealed King. “Not that I’m going to fill Dime‘s shoes because nobody can do that, but I paid more attention to my leads while recording this album. I wanted to make them more memorable in memory of Dime.”

Click to read more…

This Dave Mustaine talking about Megadeth’s recent tour with Slayer. I’ve added some emphasis:

“I’ve gotta tell you, the tour with Slayer was really, really cool. I saw Kerry [King]. Kerry was out watching us last night on two separate occasions, and although I didn’t get a chance to see [Slayer], it was really good to know that the ice is melting. I sent them over a couple of peace offerings on the way from Edmonton to Calgary and those guys had a nice trip on the way down in the bus — we flew.“

Click to read more…

Speaking of tough metal dudes and adorable puppies: Kerry King reveals in the August issue of Decibel that he used to show Akitas:

“I used to have the best Akitas on the West Coast for a while,” [King] enthuses. “I had a female that couldn’t  be beat for a six-week period. She just won everything. But I had the hardest time getting those bred, man. The female, I just couldn’t get her knocked up. I had her go to the best male in the country on two different heat cycles and just couldn’t get her pregnant. They’d breed; it just wouldn’t take. We tried artificial and everything.”

I had no idea you could artificially inseminate a dog. Kind of makes you wonder why there’s no Slayer lyrics about that.

In other news, I officially feel better about owning a bichon.

-AR