Actually, I don’t know the folks in Turisas, so maybe they are batshit crazy. I mean you probably do hafta to be a little wonky in the brain to say “Okay, let’s dress like that.” But I’ve never heard them say anything about Jews being responsible for all the wars of the world, or women being raped by packs of, uh, people with high levels of melanin content, or that What Women Want was a good idea for a movie, so for now, I’ll assume they’re relatively sane.

So what’s the real Mel Gibson connection here? Well, Turisas’ new video, “Stand Up and Fight,” is more-than-paying homage to the Mad Max films, which, in case you somehow don’t know, were directed by George Miller and starred Gibson. (The franchise is getting rebooted with Inception‘s Tom Hardy in the title role next year, because now everything gets rebooted.) In fact, it’s the Mad Max parts of the video that really work — the performance footage stuff is pretty standard. I’m sure budget was an issue, but it’s hard not to wish that this entire video was nothing but post-apocalyptic mayhem.

“Stand Up and Fight” is the title track from Turisas’ latest release, which is now on Century Media.

-AR

[via Bloody Disgusting]

Like my artistic forebearer and Jewish friend, Mel Gibson, I have a hard time telling the difference between the Mayans and the Aztecs, even though they were both subjects of my junior high school social studies class. (Gibson’s film Apocalypto depicts the Mayans, but ends with the arrival of the Spanish a good five hundred years before they were due.)

But I retained enough about both cultures to be 110% certain of this fact: neither the Mayans nor the Aztecs were white.

So. I don’t know if the new Blind Guardian video, “A Voice in the Dark,” is supposed to be portraying the Mayans or the Aztecs, but I do know that the dudes in Blind Guardian apparently don’t know anyone descended from either culture, or even anyone with a decent sun tan. This video is incredibly epic, and good for Blind Guardian and all that, but it really takes you out of it when it looks like the band hired their Uncle Helmut and Cousin Werner to play the high priest and human sacrifice, y’know?

“A Voice in the Dark” comes off of Blind Guardian’s latest album, At the Edge of Time, which comes out August 24 on Nuclear Blast.

-AR

I’m still not entirely convinced this whole Mel Gibson rant thing isn’t a publicity stunt. Mel Gibson is just too animated… it’s almost as if he’s acting. And, ya know, he is an actor. But everyone including Axl tells me I’m wrong and that his career is over. I guess we’ll see!

Anyhoo, this isn’t the first Mel Gibson / metal mash-up I’ve heard (see: the Metal Injection Livecast on which Axl and I were guests) and it certainly won’t be the last, but it’s pretty good. I appreciate the brevity of it, that all parts with lyrics have been edited out, and that there’s actually been some attention paid to the timing of it instead of just random clips pasted over top of a song. Props to Troy from the Opie & Anthony show for putting this together.

-VN

At this point I don’t think it’s news that Courtney Love is a mental case who’s in severe need of being flattened by a truck, but her latest stunt might really take the cake. In the new issue of Heeb magazine (which is a pretty funny publication, in case any of my fellow Jews aren’t aware of its existence), Love – who claims that she’s a) sober (uh-huh) and b) part Jewish (“I’m a Buddhist, but I do identify with Judaism in the sense that it’s in my bloodline,” she proclaims) – has this to say about the Chosen People:

Click to read more…

HOLY FUCKING SHIT, have you guys read the liner notes for this fucking thing? “Produced by Axl Rose and Caram Costanzo. Mixed by Andy Wallace, Caram Costanzo and Axl Rose. Final Mixing: Caram Costanzo and Axl Rose.” “Additional production and preproduction by Roy Thomas Baker.” “Additional Production: Sean Beaven.” “Additional and/or initial Engineering.” Those are just the whole album credits. Each song gets its own “initial production” credit, too, and, in one instance, an “initial arrangement by” shout out. The phrase “reamped, edited and engineered” appears at least twice. Fourteen recording studios are listed, spread out over four cities on two continents. There’s no fewer than five guitarists (six if you count Rose himself), two keyboard players (three if you count Rose), two drummers, and two composer/orchestrators cited (The fact that only one bass player, Tommy Stinson consistently plays on the album seems like something of a marvel… oh, wait, that Chris Pitman dude everyone calls “Mother Goose” for some reason plays bass on “If the World.” Nevvvvvvermind.). Donatella Versace, Kid Rock, Lars Ulrich, and Mickey Rourke are all thanked, alongside guys with names like “Mookie” and “Worm.” THERE’S A CREDIT FOR “LOGIC.” I DON’T EVEN UNDERSTAND WHAT THE FUCK THAT MEANS. IS THERE A COMPUTER PROGRAM CALLED “LOGIC” OR ARE PEOPLE ACTUALLY BEING CREDITED WITH SUPPLYING SOME LOGIC????????

I’m not making this shit up. I couldn’t make this shit up. Oh, to be a fly on the wall during the recording of Chinese Democracy! It must have made the production of Apocalypse Now seem like a long weekend on Fire Island.

But here’s the thing: as incredibly, insanely, undeniably fascinating as all that shit is, it really has nothing to with any critical analysis of the album.

Click to read more…

Well, well, well.. at least one person thought Apocalypto was a good movie, and his name is Max Cavalera.

The below, Gibson-esque video is for “Unleash,” the new single from Cavalera’s Soulfly, which will be the former Sepultura main man’s second release this year, after Cavalera Conspiracy’s Inflikted. It features guest vocals by Pantera’s Phil Anselmo Throwdown’s Dave Peters, and while I think it’s an okay song, it lacks that Sepultura-ness that made Inflikted such a nice surprise.

Check out the video and then weigh in in our comments section. Soulfly’s new album, Conquer, drops July 29 on Roadrunner.

-AR