Man — MetalSucks photographer Miikka Skaffari has really outdone himself this time! His photos always kick ass, but these latest shots, of Down performing in San Francisco last week, are a whole other kind of epic, epic, awesome, epic. See that shot above? That’s just a small taste of the killerness (killerocity?) of this batch of pics. Jump ahead to see the rest — they are really, ridiculously great!

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Last summer, D.X. Ferris interviewed Corrosion of Conformity’s guitarist Woodroe “Woody” Weatherman for us about the band’s Animosity-era line-up reunion, and, of course, the issue of whether or not Pepper Keenan would ever return to the fold was one of the topics of conversation. Here’s what Weatherman had to say about the subject:

“It’s kind of a weird way it came about. It was Pepper that stirred everybody’s bones back into motion. He had brought us up, doing some things in Europe this summer. Then with Mullin coming back in, being the original guy or whatever, that kind of fell through. Our cages had been rattled.

“Mullin came out of the shadows, so we kept on going with it. When the time is right, when Pepper is willing and everybody else is willing, we’ll probably do more four-piece stuff later on.”

Well, hey, guess what? Keenan recently joined the band onstage during a gig in Bilbao, Spain. Here’s some fan-filmed video:

Of course, this doesn’t mean that Keenan is back in the band for good — he seems to be pretty busy with Down at the moment — but it is one step closer to getting that four-piece reunion going. So I’ll take it, and happily.

-AR

[via Metal Insider]

Rex Brown is not participating in Down’s current tour, and this interview seems to suggest that he’s never coming back to the band. And so, in an effort to get some clarification, The Delaware County Daily Times, your leading source for rock and metal news, decided to ask Down’s Pepper Keenan outright whether or not Brown is still Down. His answer?

“I don’t know what to really say on that; he’s not out of the band, but he’s not playing with us live.”

Well, that’s reassuring!

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Kirk Windstein is one of metal’s busiest men; between his three bands — Crowbar, Down and Kingdom of Sorrow — dude’s got his hands full churning out down-tuned, gut-rumbling bad-assery constantly, and according to him that’s just the way he likes it. Unfortunately for Kirk his alcohol abuse problem forced him to take a break this summer as he sat out Kingdom of Sorrow’s 7-date Ozzfest tour to get healthy and sober.

Kirk’s recovery was the first topic we tackled in my phone interview with him last week; it turns out that Kirk did not enter rehab as reported but decided to lay off the booze on his own volition with the help of AA meetings and the assistance of his many bandmembers that’ve been through the process already. As of the day we chatted he was 48 days sober, sounding optimistic and energized about the prospect of turning himself around. We also chatted about all three of his bands, naturally: Kingdom of Sorrow are working on putting together a U.K. tour; Kirk was on his way to jam with Pepper Keenan on new material later that same day, and the band’s DVD chronicling their 2006 reunion run will finally see the light of day tomorrow; and last but certainly not least, Crowbar have a brand new record coming out soon through E1, and a live CD to follow closely after on Phil Anselmo’s Housecore label. Kirk also shed a little light (I said “a little”) on the reasons behind the Down DVD’s many delays, and shared his thoughts on the pride he feels when Crowbar are cited as an influence by today’s young metal bands.

Read the interview after the hop and skip.

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From left to right: Weatherman, Mullin, and Dean. Pic courtesy C.O.C.

C.O.C. is not only one of the best bands to come out of the old-school 1980s hardcore movement; technically, it’s at least five of the best groups to emerge from the scene. Over 28 years, every release – and later, every other album – has found the veterans with a new lineup and an all-new sound.

The band launched in North Carolina in 1982 as Corrosion of Conformity. In its first incarnation, the band played crusty, heavy, speedy hardcore. In 1984, the Eye for an Eye LP introduced the punk world to the group’s spiky skull mascot, one of the great extreme-music icons.

The lineup and sound reshuffled by 1985’s Animosity LP. The crossover disc was released on Metal Blade imprint Death Records, where they held their own against labelmates D.R.I. and the Ugly Americans. (The latter band featured singer Simon “Simon Bob Sinister” Bob, who would step as vocalist for C.O.C.’s 1987 Technocracy EP.)

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Our Bro-test the Heroes over at Crustcake posted the video for a personal favorite of mine, Down’s “Stone the Crow.” Sure, it was Down’s most popular song but it earned that distinction for a reason, namely that it’s fucking great.

I love the interplay between Pepper Keenan and Kirk Windstein’s guitars in the intro/main riff… each guitar is playing a completely different line that perfectly compliments the other. Metal bands just don’t write riffs like that anymore… any time there are two guitars they’re playing the same damn thing (or close). Also, Phil Anselmo is second only to Layne Staley in the constantly-changing-hair-styles-and-overall-looks department, and I love observing his constant metamorphosis throughout the years. In this video he’s sporting a ’50s Greaser kind of look from the neck up and an early-mid ’90s neo-grunge rocker (flannel and camo shorts) from the waist down… an odd combination, but with Philip it works.

-VN

So Ozzy is apparently gonna make another record… and it seems like just yesterday that I listened to Black Rain once and decided I never needed to listen to it again. Since the Oz Man hasn’t really recorded anything worth anyone’s time since 1991′s No More Tears, I thought I’d offer my expertise (read: complete fucking arrogance) and make some suggestions to ensure that this new album doesn’t make me long for the day when I read the headline that Jack Osbourne finally offed his entire family.

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