“Scheduling has been a nightmare for a long time,” says guitarist Rob Caggiano about Temple Of The Black Moon. That seems like hyperbole, but gosh maybe not: TotBM drummer John Tempesta has been dashing between The Cult and Testament tours; singer Dani Filth’s full time job is Cradle Of Filth; Caggiano is bound to Anthrax’s rigorous itinerary, and his TotBM writing partner, Tom Cato Visnes, has been involved with Sahg, I, Gorgoroth, and Ov Hell outings in just the last five years.

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We have successfully arrived at Yankee Stadium and are sitting in the press box. We feel so professional!

We’re gonna put the live blog after the jump so it doesn’t eat up the entire page. You’ll hafta refresh to get updates. Sorry.

And now, enjoy the snark…

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Few records could be as intrinsically polarizing as Anthrax’s Worship Music, the thirteen-song set whose release tomorrow ends a maddening period of band tumult while launching a new era with singer Joey Belladonna. It’s an album with history, having been completed with a new vocalist, imperiled by the new vocalist, shelved, shuffled, completed again by Belladonna and producer Jay Ruston, and now, at least, unveiled for the world to hear. In other words, Worship Music has arrived with baggage; how much of it will fit in your trunk?

Representing at least two attitudes toward Anthrax 2011, our MetalSucks official roundtable review of Worship Music is co-authored by a John Bush era devotee (MS Co-Editor-In-Chief Axl Rosenberg) and a long-suffering Belladonna booster (MS Senior Editor Anso DF). On the fence about Worship Music? Sick of one-sided, insight-free criticism? Bemused by the way MetalSucks disagrees with itself? Then join Axl and Anso as they grapple with the meaning of this year’s most dangerous album.

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Say, are you one of the three people in the world who not only thought that metal needed another supergroup, but also thought that metal needed another supergroup featuring Anthrax/The Damned Things guitarist Rob Caggiano? If so, have we got a band for you!

They’re called Temple of the Black Moon, and in addition to Caggiano, the group features Cradle of Filth vocalist Dani Filth, former Gorgoroth bassist King ov Hell, and drummer John Tempesta, who has played a gajillion different bands, including both White Zombie and Rob Zombie’s solo group, Exodus, Testament, The Cult, and Helmet. It seems safe to assume that Caggiano played a significant role in putting this project together — not only did he produce two Cradle of Filth releases (2004′s Nymphetamine and 2006′s Thornography), but Tempesta has also worked as a drum tech for ‘Thrax — but between the two bands he’s already in and the producing he does, I can’t believe he felt like he had too much free time. Maybe Worship Music is seriously never coming out.

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I thought it was pretty clear that our “review” of Anthrax’s yet-to-be-released Worship Music was an April Fools’ prank — I mean, I know I give Anthrax a lot of shit, but “Bring the 21st Century Noize?” Seriously? Even I don’t think they’d pull that shit.

But I guess we fooled Metal Injection’s Rob Pasbani, ’cause he asked Anthrax about it when he interviewed them on the Black Carpet at the Revolver Golden Gods Awards last week. And I guess they didn’t think it was funny. Actually, Frankie Bello seems to have a pretty good sense of humor about it, and Scott Ian seems mildly entertained (and I stress the word “mildly”), but Charlie Benante does not seem amused. Rob Caggiano ain’t smiling, either, but he never smiles and I’m not even sure if the band lets him talk, so that’s just par for the course. Joey Belladonna apparently wasn’t even invited to the show or something so who knows what he thought of it.

ANYWAY, here’s the interview, where the band also reveals that Worship Music will FINALLY come out in September. At which point I’ll do a real review, which may amuse the band even less.

You can, and should, check out all of Metal Injection’s interviews from the Black Carpet here — they spoke to anyone and everyone who was there (except Wayne Static ’cause fuck that guy) and got lots of excellent stuff!

-AR

The possibly-not-final cover art for Anthrax’s Worship Music

So I have a friend who works closely with Camp Anthrax. I obviously can’t tell you the friend’s name, but I can tell you that he once told me that the Dan Nelson version of Worship Music was awesome, and that I’ve been begging him to let me hear it ever since. Thing is, he doesn’t actually own a copy, and has never been able to get his hands on one. Security around the album was tight before the Nelson debacle, but after, he told me, “It was like Scott and Charlie were going door-to-door personally checking people’s hard drives to make sure everyone had deleted it.”

And so last night I got a text from this friend, I guess trying to make amends for the fact that he never did come through with that Dan Nelson record: “Just got the Belladonna version of Worship Music. U wanna hear it?”

I responded simply, “Be there in 20.” And I got my ass on the subway and I went over to his place.

And I gotta tell you, guys… it’s a weird record, and there are two MASSIVE, and massively tragic, missteps… but it’s pretty great overrall. It’s not really like any metal record I’ve ever heard before. Whatever else you wanna say about Anthrax, you can’t accuse them of refusing to experiment — this album is a huge, huge risk, often welding together vastly different styles and textures of not just metal but often other genres of music, too. I don’t know if people will go for this record or not, but I think it’s kinda brilliant.

(By the way, the above album cover is a carry-over from the Dan Nelson version of the record; apparently it may be scrapped in favor of something that “feels more like the album cover of one of the old Belladonna albums.” Which would be a weird decision, because, a few songs aside, this record doesn’t sound anything like any other Anthrax album.)

And so here it is — my track-by-track breakdown of what I heard.

You guys aren’t gonna believe this shit.

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Fans who read the headline might be hoping that this is another Elseworlds-style temporary supergroup-thing, like Gary Holt touring with Slayer or Doc Coyle touring with Lamb of God, but, alas, the above photo — taken at the 2005 Roadrunner United concert — is not to be re-created live anytime soon.

Nope. See, Scott Ian got his wife, Meat Loaf’s Daughter, preggers, and he’s staying home for a bit in order to be present for the birth of the baby. So the Sepultura guitarist will be filling in for him for eight ‘Thrax shows in July (including at least one Big 4 show), according to this tweet from Kisser, which an anonymous Portugese-speaking reader assures me says what I just told you it said.

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Yes, I know it’s goofy. No, I don’t love the song. But it was directed by Brendon Small, and it seems like these dudes were all having a lot of fun when they made it, and I found myself grinning as I watched. So, like, blow me, okay?

The Damned Things’ debut, Ironiclast, comes out December 14 on Island/Def Jam.

-AR

I can see that The Damned Things are gonna be the next point of contention here at the MetalSucks Mansion. Vince likes ‘em, but they just sound like more more boring corporate rock to my ears. And a new track streaming on the band’s Facebook page, “Friday Night (Going Down In Flames),” isn’t doing much to change my mind. I don’t think the band is terrible or anything; I just feel really meh about them. (Although I definitely like the Foo Fighters-style of this song better than their last track, “We’ve Got a Situation Here.”) If they weren’t a supergroup, would anyone care? Why does already being famous earn you the right to now be mediocre?

Meanwhile, the group has unveiled the cover art for their debut, Ironiclast. And I’m looking at this thing, and I’m thinking, “Gee, this looks familiar.”

And then it hit me! Remember Damnocracy, that very short-lived supergroup from that stupid VH1 reality show Scott Ian did with Sebastian Bach, Ted Nugent, Evan Seinfeld, and Jason Bonham? Of course you do… how could you ever forget? Well, remember what that band’s logo was? Here, I’ll remind you:

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OMFGz!!!! Members of Anthrax and Every Time I Die are sullying their cred by palling around with dudes from Fall Out Boy!!! What ever will we do?!?!

Listen to the new track “We’ve Got a Situation Here,” of course, which is not nearly the catastrophe all the readers who sent us outraged emails when The Damned Things supergroup was announced seemed to think it would be. Seeing as the band’s two guitarist are Anthrax’s two guitarists, it sounds plenty metal. Seeing as Keith Buckley is the singer, it’s got plenty of rock n’ roll swagger. And seeing as dudes from Fall Out Boy are in the band, yeah, it’s catchy. Shocking, I know, that a band actually equals the sum of its parts. But this is not a bad thing. If this song appeared on a new Anthrax album and had John Bush’s vocals (not Belladonna’s… yuck) I’d probably love it. And so would you. What’s not to like? It’s a good song.

There goes my cred… oh well! I never had any cred anyway; I’ve been raving about “shitty” bands you all hate since we started this site back in December of 2006, only back then no one seemed to care.

Stream “We’ve Got a Situation Here” at Metal Insider, then come back here and tell us what you think.

-VN

Tonight is the first of the European Big Four shows, and sixteen of the seventeen musicians that now comprise those bands all gathered in one room and put their differences aside long enough to snap this picture (click on it to make it enlarge… heh heh, he said “enlarge”):

Should we over-analyze the reasons why certain people are standing near one another, or far apart, or how they’re standing? Well, this is MetalSucks, ain’t it?

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The Damned Things have been a source of gossip and interest ever since their formation was announced, even though no one had heard any actual music – ’cause when you have a band with members of Anthrax (Scott Ian and Rob Caggiano), Every Time I Die (Keith Buckley and now Josh Newton), and fucking Fall Out Boy (Joe Trohman and Andy Hurley), well, you’re gonna get people’s attention.

It seems that the band are finally ready to unveil themselves to the world right proper, though, as they’ve posted rough-mixes of two tracks, “We’ve Got a Situation Here” and “Ironiclast,” on their MySpace page in advance of kicking off a mini-tour tonight at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn.

So what’s the verdict?

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Well, this was some shitty news to get first thing in the morning.

Just last week we heard rumors that Anthrax was swapping out John Bush for Joey Belladonna again – and now those rumors are fact. Belladonna will play the “Big Four” shows Sonisphere Festival shows and a handful of other gigs with the band starting next month; immediately thereafter, according to the official press release, “the band will fly back to the U.S. and begin writing and rehearsing for a new album that’s expected to be out in early 2011.”

(And in case you’re wondering, Dan Spitz isn’t returning to the fold, because I guess he’s too busy changing the face of music forever with his revolutionary new project, DeuxMonkey. So, at least for now, Rob Caggiano’s job is safe.)

I hate just cutting and pasting press releases, but for the sake of us all having the same amount of information before I start my little rant, I’m going to re-print a portion of said release after the jump. My holier-than-thou ramblings will follow.

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Scott Ian will do just about anything for a buck. It all started with those VH1 talking head appearances and Anthrax’s “reunion” tour with Joey Belladonna… since then he’s lent his face to the failed Nonelouder.com, wrote a comic book, and God knows what else. If nothing else, you’ve got to respect our favorite Big Four Jew for staying motivated.

But this is the last straw. Ian, along with fellow Anthrax guitarist Rob Caggiano, has teamed up with Fall Out Boy guitarist Joe Trohman and drummer Andy Hurley, and Every Time I Die’s Keith Buckley and bassist David Karon to form the new supergroup The Damned Things. Groan…

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Obviously, my headline is a little sensationalistic. We waited a decade and a half for Chinese Democracy; it’s only been six (almost seven) years since the last Anthrax studio album, We’ve Come for You All. And wile CD apparently cost somewhere in neighborhood of $13 million dollars… well, I don’t know what the budget was/is on Worship Music, but I’m guessing Anthrax wouldn’t know $13 million dollars if it pooped in their eye.

Still, Chinese Democracy – which was finally released almost exactly one year ago – is the closest corollary I can think of to Worship Music, which is starting to reach mythological status.

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Just last week Vince called for John Bush and Anthrax to stop pussyfooting around and just announce that Bush is 100% back in the band already; now it seems clear that that announcement hasn’t come because absolutely no one in the Anthrax camp has any fucking clue what the fucking fuck is going on with their band.

Let’s look at some quotes from just the past three days, shall we?

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I am increasingly convinced that the new Anthrax album, Worship Music, is going to suck. It’s just a weird gut feeling I get… like I’m gearing up for disappointment. Everyone knows the record is coming out, but no one really seems to care. Like that G.I. Joe movie or some shit.

Here’s the band covering Refused’s “New Noise,” and, uhhh, it doesn’t do anything to squash that icky feeling I have. I want so badly to be wrong, but fear so very much that I am right.

By the way, I love that Rob Caggiano now has more hair than Robin Williams, and yet still refuses to headbang. Super.

-AR

[via The Deciblog]

Vince and I were this close to going to see the latest incarnation of Anthrax play last night at some Red Bull snowboarding event. It didn’t quite work out, and knowing now that I would have been freezing my nuts off watching the band play in the coldest fucking weather imaginable, I can’t say I’m exactly filled with regret.

Luckily, Blabbermouth has some video footage of the event – including a performance of “Bring the Noise” with Public Enemy’s Chuck D – so I can at least get a sense of what we missed. The band seems lively enough and this Dan Nelson fellow seems fit for the job, so really, I just have one question: what the fuck is going on with Rob Caggiano?

-AR

Over the past decade and a half, few bands have attracted as much controversy, inside and out of the metal community, as Cradle of Filth. With the release of each album, the popularity of these British black metallers just grows and grows, and their increased success is always followed by a cloud of angry school marms and tr00 kvltists who think COF have betrayed the cause.

The band’s forthcoming new album, Godspeed on the Devil’s Thunder (Oct. 28, Roadrunner) isn’t likely to change any of that. A symphonic concept album about Gilles de Rais, the peer of Joan of Arc who went on to do unimaginably terrible things to literally hundreds of children, is easily the fastest, heaviest album the band has released in years, and seems destined to stir the pot once again.

We recently got the chance to sit down with COF vocalist, namesake and general mastermind Dani Filth to chat about a wide range of topics. Jet lagged though he was, we found Dani to be a smart, funny, articulate, and a very passionate guy. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, Cradle of Filth aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, and their work demands your attention. Read Dani’s thoughts on the new album, the controversy surrounding the band, and his forthcoming book, The Gospel of Filth, after the jump.

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So just the other day I was wondered aloud, “Who will play lead guitar on the new Anthrax album?” Now the band has a released a press statement officially announcing virtual unknown Dan Nelson as their new singer (actually, it’s the second official announcement), and while the release is full of the usual hype – “I can’t wait for all these people who think Anthrax is done to be proven wrong,” “The naysayers are gonna be shut down,” “My cock is much bigger than yours,” yadda yadda – the following two sections did provoke my interest:

“I was actually looking for a band,” commented Nelson. “Long Island, NY is a pretty dead scene. I was in Unbroken, and through that I met Rob a couple
years ago. I had gone through some stuff on a personal side where I took
time off from the music. When I got back to the scene, I couldn’t find a
band, so I contacted Rob through MySpace and offered my services. We sent
music back and forth, got together, and jammed for 10 hours straight. After 10 hours, he said, ‘I think you’d be right for Anthrax.’”

AND:

“Anthrax, featuring Nelson on vocals, guitarists Ian and Rob Caggiano,
bassist Frankie Bello, and drummer Benante, is currently working on all-new
material.”

Say WHAT? Caggiano has re-joined Anthrax, and is even the man responsible for the band finding its new front man, and this is how they tell the public – by burying that info in a press release with no fanfare, as though Caggiano had never left the band? Doesn’t that seem a little, y’know, weird? I understand Caggiano’s no Zakk Wylde or whatever, but let’s show the dude some respect: he was kicked out of the band to make way for some crappy reunion, just like John Bush.

Still, just the fact that Caggiano is back in the fold makes me wonder: is there a snowball’s chance in hell that this album will actually be good? We’ve got 4/5ths of the We’ve Come for You All line-up back together; as far as I can tell, this Nelson dude just needs not to turn out to be a total tool for this thing to work.

-AR