Jeff Loomis has been teasing a new solo album since July of last year, with increasingly juicy bits of information slipping out all the time — like the fact that it will feature guest appearances from multiple former Megadeth guitarists (namely, Marty Friedman and Chris Poland), PLUS Tony MacAlpine, PLUS, oh yeah, some dude named Ihsahn.

Now here’s the most important tidbit yet: the album will be called Plains of Oblivion, and will be out on April 10. That’s the cover art below, and it looks appropriately epic to me.

One more thing: the track list for the album has also been released. I generally find track lists boring and not-newsworthy (“Ooh! There’s a song called ‘Escape Velocity!’” Okay, whatever, let me know when I can actually hear the damn song.), but in this particular instance, I think the track list actually is kinda newsworthy, for one simple reason: it lets us know that Attila Vörös, who was a live co-guitarist for Loomis in Nevermore, is also on the album. So, y’know, more reasons to get excited.

April 10 cannot come soon enough…

-AR

It’s pretty cool that we live in a time where it’s once again cool to be able to play your instrument, like, really well. Even five years ago a dude like ex-Nevermore guitar god Jeff Loomis would never have had a chance for his instrumental shred solo album to be celebrated in the media; shit, it probably would’ve just been outright ignored outside of instrumental guitar metal circles and guitar magazines. I mean, even with widespread appreciation for instrumental metal in 2012 it’s not like Pitchfork, Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan or NPR are suddenly gonna start jocking Jeff Loomis — being really good at an instrument is still uncool in those places and will be forever uncool (“it’s, like, totally soulless, man!”) until it’s ironic and meta to shred — but hey, differing opinions make the world go ’round, those metal outlets are all great at what they do, and fortunately for you we happen to be of the opinion that playing a million notes a minute fucking rules.

So: Loomis has been teasing his second solo album ever since quitting Nevermore and we’re finally starting to see what that album might look and sound like. Last week we learned that Marty Friedman, Tony MacAlpine and Chris Poland have all done guest solos for the album — how’s that for a legendary triumvirate? — and today we come to find out via a press release that the mighty IHSAHN — formerly of Emperor, currently of his own absolutely phenomenal solo band — will be lending his trademark black/death metal snarl to one track. Sez Loomis on how the collabo came together:

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Former Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman has posted the following end-of-year message on his official web site. And even though these kinds of things are usually boring as hell, the video includes some new music he’s been working on, so it’s definitely worth a look. Check it out:

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Would you like have any and all future listenings of Rust in Peace and Countdown to Extinction ruined for you? Then, by all means, please check out “Fantastic Love,” the debut video from the Fanta band, featuring Marty Friedman on lead guitars.

Of course, this is not the first time that Mr. Friedman has worked with Fanta, but it is way, way more likely to create sufferers of PTSD than his previous commercial for the soda brand. Fanta must know it, too — they’ve disabled commenting from the YouTube page on which the spot appears. ‘CAUSE DON’T YOU SAY NUTHIN’ BAD ABOUT FANTA!!!

-AR

Thanks to Chris for the tip!

So, apparently Jeff Hanneman was hospitalized last month, and underwent emergency surgery for a serious infection in his right arm, which he may or may not have contracted from a spider bite. (Not to be insensitive, but I think it would actually be kinda funny if he contracted the infection from, I dunno, jerking off too much, or opening a jar of pickles, or something like that, and the band is just saying it was a spider bite because that sounds so much more metal.)

Hanneman is expected to make a full recovery, but he’s obviously not gonna be picking up his axe anytime soon, and the band has an Australian tour coming up… so they’re gonna do the tour anyway, with a yet-to-be-announced fill-in guitarist.

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No one is better at keeping track of album release anniversaries than Cosmo Lee. So we need to thank him for pointing out that Megadeth’s Rust in Peace — still their best album, if you ask me — came out twenty years ago today.

Cosmo has an extensive essay up at Invisible Oranges, and I’m not even gonna try and compete with his insights. I am, however, going to steal the below video of Marty Friedman auditioning for Megadeth — ’cause I ain’t never seen it before, and it’s a part of metal history. With all due respect to Chrises Poland and Broderick and all the other talented dudes who have been in Dave Mustaine’s glorified solo band over the years, Friedman has been, is, and will continue to be the definitive Megadeth lead guitarist in my mind. Too bad he left the band to turn Japanese.

Head over to Invisible Oranges to read all of Cosmo’s thoughts on RiP‘s big day.

-AR

So I feel like we’ve been talking about this Slayer/Megadeth tour FOR-EV-ER, and last night I finally got to see it. And despite my usual cynical instincts telling me that it might very well end up being a major disappointment, I gotta say… I had a really, really fun time.

Testament were great. That’s not really a surprise or anything — Testament have been great, Testament will be great, and if all else failed, I never really doubted for a second that they’d put on a killer show. If I don’t have much else to say about them, it’s because there was never really any suspense with regards to whether or not they’d be good. (But be advised: they went on shortly before 7 pm, so get to the venue early to make sure you don’t miss ‘em. There were far too many people not yet at the venue when they played, which was a damn shame.)

Megadeth… well, there’s really only one problem with Megadeth: Mustaine’s voice sucks. Like, at a James Hetfield level of suckitude — actually, he might sound worse than Hetfield, who can at least stay on-key or close-enough for 60% of the time. (Mustaine was almost on-key during an encore of “A Tout Le Monde,” and that was about it.) I seriously had to tune out Mustaine’s voice just to enjoy the music. He can still play guitar like nobody’s business, it’s great to have Ellefson back, and if we’re not gonna have Marty Friedman and Nick Menza in the band, than Shawn Drover and Chris Broderick are about as good as it’s gonna get, replacement-wise. But Mustaine’s vocals… it’s just embarrassing, man.

And then there was Slayer.

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I’ve always hated top-whatever lists. Best guitarist, best band, best blowjob, best double anal with a horse, whatever. I think that those lists are pretty much all slanted by politics, or bought and paid for. I first got that idea in my head when Titanic won as many Oscars as it did. There were so many movies that year that were far more deserving of the title that my faith in the award system died.

Jump forward about ten years. I just got back in town from the Revolver Golden God Awards. I’ll just say that I’m stoked they exist. Metal needs that in the U.S. I have no issue with their nominees and obviously you can’t pick everyone so this is definitely not directed at them. Again, THIS IS NOT DIRECTED AT REVOLVER MAGAZINE, but the concept of picking “best shredder” or “shredder of the year “is just one of those things you can’t accurately do with the amount of talent that’s out there. You want to nominate Zack Wylde or Dave Mustaine? Okay. That’s cool. Those guys have earned it. But when you leave the circle of greats and legends, how exactly do you pick a BEST shredder? I mean am I alone in thinking that when so many amazing guitarists are overlooked that the award itself loses its meaning? What guitarists am I talking about? Okay… I’ll name a few. In my opinion these guys should be winning all the awards. If I left someone out, it’s because either I haven’t heard of them, I’ve heard them and I don’t think they’re among the very best, I forgot to mention them, or I’ve heard them and I know for a fact that what you think is shredding is just studio trickery.

So here it is. My personal list of whom I think should be winning all the metal guitar awards. Am I biased? Maybe. But I’d like to also think that considering what I do for a living that I’m a good judge of competency in the field. This is in no particular order. These guys all rule for different reasons. (DISCLAIMER: Sorry that there aren’t videos for every dude I mention, but sometimes finding quality footage is tough.)

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I’ve known for some time that Marty Friedman’s career primarily revolves around Japan these days, but I figured that’s because Japan is like Las Vegas or a VH1 reality show, where anyone who was ever even kind of a celebrity will continue to be famous forever and ever and ever, and can therefore still have a career. It’s only recently come to my attention that Friedman actually lives in Japan, like, all the time now. Jews are, stereotypically speaking, pretty short, so maybe Friedman just wanted to live somewhere he could actually be considered of above-average height.

ANYWAY, Metal Injection posted the below video of Friedman doing a commercial for the soft drink Fanta. I’ve had Fanta on two continents, and it definitely tastes better in Europe, where they don’t use corn syrup (’cause there’s no corn!), than it does here in the States – but I have no idea how Japanese Fanta tastes. In other words, I can’t quite endorse Friedman’s endorsement right now, but I can laugh at him for this:

-AR

Thanks to longtime MS supporter and Mister Booze proprietor Hibernum for this shocking discovery. Have you ever seen Marty Friedman and Kenny G together? I think not. As further evidence, Hibernum posits that some of Friedman’s solo material is suspiciously Kenny G-ish. Not sure if I really hear it but I suppose there’s a case to be made there.

-VN

No one can fault Dave Mustaine for putting together a tour in lieu of the stillborn American Carnage trek. But as always the Megadeth frontman aims for maximum annoyance and as such his new tour is a brazen approximation of Carnage minus Slayer. As a member of Slayer, Kerry King must be distressed to find that there’s a nearly identical alternative to his tour on the market — complete with Testament and Exodus, for a total of three thrash metal greats, just like Carnage — that’s sure to distract ticket-buyers and cool walk-up sales. And in light of the recent King-Mustaine cuddlefest at T.G.I.Friday’s, one could argue it’s yet another of Mustaine’s unconscionable and self-destructive backstabbings, at which he is only second to Eddie Van Halen in proficiency. (Unlike lead guitar playing, at which Mustaine is second in proficiency to dozens. Cheap shot alert!)

To make matters worse, ‘Staine and Megadeth will use the new tour to celebrate their last great record, Rust In Peace, y’know, to add a sack-tap to this already historic cockblock. So it was already getting silly by the time the announcement came yesterday that Megadeth’s only other real member, the embittered former Mustaine bum chum David Ellefson, he of history’s greatest metal bass performance and reams of anti-Mustaine bitching, would return to the pasty creases of the Mus-taint for bass duties on the big tour. Yet more juice for the non-Slayer shows. What’s next, the return of RiP guitarist Marty Friedman? (Um please?)

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Okay, so for some of you young ‘uns who will forever think of Chris Broderick as Megadeth’s guitarist, you should know that before Broderick there were some other dudes in the band, and before them there was this guy Marty Friedman, and before him there were, again, some other dudes.

But this is a story about Marty Friedman, so let’s just stick to him for a sec.

See, after Marty quit the band in 2000, presumably because he couldn’t look at himself in the mirror anymore after actively participating in the creation of “Crush ‘Em,” he moved to Japan, where everyone who was ever famous will stay famous forever. (Seriously, it’s like the Never Never Land of famous people over there.) At least, I think that’s what happened – all I really know is that Friedman was in Megadeth, and then he wasn’t, and then Blabbermouth started posting fifteen stories a day about Friedman and Japan. I’d do the research to get the full story but I don’t care that much.

So, why did I bring this up? ‘Cause Friedman’s latest Asian endeavor is a collaboration with Gary Suarez’s favorite musician of all time, Andrew W.K. (Who, reader Porkspam tells me, seems to be having fun with the rumors that there are multiple Andrew W.K.s And there’s a video for this collaboration, entitled “Kiba,” which I believe is Japanese for “Really strange and terrible song that makes you kinda glad that Marty Friedman isn’t in Megadeth anymore.” (It may or may not also mean “Fang.”) But what’s really weird – I mean just beside how FUCKING STRANGE the song is – is that the video is animated, and portrays a cartoon Andrew W.K. maxin’ and relaxin’ with a cartoon… Dave Mustaine.

I’m serious. Check it out:

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So I’m sure you’re all aware of this major lineup change for Dimmu Borgir. I’ve been a fan of that band since ’98, and I’ve liked every single one of their records except For All Tid. My favorite lineup of theirs was the Puritanical and Deathcult lineup. For me as a fan, the music those dudes made together is what really sealed the deal for me with that band. I still enjoyed some later stuff, but for me those two records are where it’s at.

I’m sure they’ll find some amazing people and continue to put out great records, but the band that I became a fan of is now altered. And that got me thinking. How many times has this happened, and when does it really matter?

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MEGADETH, RUST IN PEACE

Ok, I was like, what, eleven when this shit came out? More like thirteen when I discovered it. Back then, Dave Mustaine was almost like a political figure as far as metal goes. Who knows how I’d look at his role now, but back then, he was a hero.

And then there was the songwriting. Nobody was writing music as creative as them. Listen to the guitar breaks in songs like “Five Magics” or the entire masterpiece, “Rust in Peace.” Nobody was writing stuff like that, and for the time, I felt like the lyrics actually meant something. And the solos – try playing a Marty Friedman solo when you’re thirteen. Try playing one now. The dude is/was/ and will forever be untouchable.

This band meant the world to me back then. I’m not crazy about the new directions the band has gone in, but that doesn’t diminish that they changed my life back when I was younger. I always felt like their rival bands were playing it safe, and that Megadeth was taking all the musical risks. I definitely think that this would be the musician’s choice for those of us who are and were still into real metal with real songs. Not just shred wankery.

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Fuck me naked with a spoon.

Last night we got what looked like a mass e-mail from someone claiming to be Wes Borland, announcing that he was, once again, out of Limp Bizkit. Upset that Fred Durst has apparently committed to direct another movie in August instead of touring North America with Bizkit, sissy cry baby face Borland complained in the e-mail that “Fred has once again proven that he does not view Limp Bizkit as a legitimate artistic endeavor but, rather, as a commodity… I will spend my summer touring with Marilyn Manson instead.”

We dismissed this e-mail as a terrible April Fool’s joke, as I’m assuming any other media outlets that received it have as well, as it I’ve yet to see it reported anywhere. And I wouldn’t have thought twice about it… if not for this series of tweets from one Mr. Frederick Durst:

wes couldn’t hang… out with the old, in with the new. 8:10 PM yesterday from TwitterBerry

new guitarist is da bomb! 9:29 PM yesterday from TwitterBerry

ever wonder what break stuff sounds like with an awesome shred solo? 10:26 PM yesterday from TwitterBerry

let the countdown to egstinction [sic] begin! 11:05 PM yesterday from TwitterBerry

1st rehearsal over… time to go home n rust in peace 1:19 AM today from TwitterBerry

Well, Durst’s horrific spelling aside, I was now more than a little nervous about all the classic Megadeth references and talk of “shred solos.” Since we get a press release every time the Japanese go ape shit because Marty Friedman farted or whatever, I shot his publicist an e-mail basically asking if she knew what the hell was going on. I honestly thought I’d get an e-mail back telling me she had no idea what the crap Durst was talking about and my pot-addled brain was reading way too much into the mindless ramblings of the mentally deficient.

But here is the absolutely horrifying response I got instead:

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A big big thanks to MetalSucks Maniac* TedTedPoleyPoley for sending us this clip of Slayer’s Kerry King and ex-Megadeth axe master Marty Friedman jamming on some classic riffs for a Japanese television show.

I know there’s a certain amount of Kerry King backlash amongst our readship as of late, but, c’mon, you gotta admit: this is pretty cool. Also, Friedman remains my favorite lead guitarist for Megadeth. And not just ’cause he’s Jewish.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/5n9fpNRGFyw" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

-AR

*Like that? I just came up with it. Seriously. Some people say I should be a writer.