Earlier this month Scott Ian uploaded some videos of him recording the new, seemingly forever-in-the-making Anthrax album, Worship Music. I didn’t write anything about it at the time ’cause in the videos he was working on the song “Fight ‘Em ‘Til You Can’t,” which we’ve already heard live seemingly a gajillion times, and with two different singers at that (Dan Nelson, Joey Belladonna). So the clips didn’t seem like news, ’cause the band didn’t prove that Worship Music really exists so much as they proved that that one song really exists.

But now Ian has uploaded another video — and this one has a riff we haven’t heard before! And it’s a good riff, too. I know it’s not the most innovative thing ever written, but it’s heavy, it’s catchy, it’s fun… it makes me wanna hear the rest of the song ASAP. It would be really really awesome if Worship Music turned out to be really really awesome.

Worship Music is allegedly FINALLY coming out in September via Megaforce.

-AR

[via Metal Insider]

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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Welcome to “Question of the Week,” a (sometimes) weekly debate amongst the MetalSucks staff regarding a recent hot button issue.

This week’s query was suggested by a reader identifying himself simply as “Andy” –

WHICH MODEL OF GUITAR IS THE MOST METAL?

The MS staff’s answers after the jump.

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I like music videos. I don’t mean just lame concert footage videos either. (I get it, Band, you can play your instruments like, really well. In front of people!) No, I mean the amazing, overblown, explosions and nonsensical storylines, holy shit is that a cameo by jailbait Keri Russell in bra?!, looks like it was directed by Michael Bay, epic mini-movies. In fact, Meat Loaf’s, “I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That),” has pretty much all of the aforementioned, except one. I won’t say which one, just look it up*. It is the most amazing seven minutes ever.  Except for the part where he prays to the god of, “Sex, and drums, and rock’n’roll.” Come on, now, you’re not fooling anyone.

The other night I couldn’t sleep. So I ended up watching music videos until the sun came up. I did not have a good day that day. Of course, I watched metal videos. (Okay fine, like half were Meat Loaf videos. He kind of hovers on the periphery of metal, right? He was in Rocky Horror Picture Show, he played a totally awesome biker named Eddie! Isn’t his daughter married to Scott Ian? Fringes, he’s on the fringes. Shut up, Meat Loaf is awesome. Even more so when I can’t type and write “Meat Load.” Good job proof-reading at 5:40 a.m.)

Videos were my first introduction to many bands. They were like trailers for records, and the more confusing and “deep” they were, the more interested I got. I’m not saying there are no good videos anymore, but I just can’t believe we live in a time where it’s no longer cool to shred shirtless on a cliff while your bandmate gets married but then it starts raining and the bride is dead and Axl Rose is swimming with dolphins while Stephanie Seymour beats up a girl in a bar. I mean, maybe it’s a good thing bands don’t go bankrupt after videos anymore. and the Guns N’ Roses trilogy more than borders on the ridiculous (Hi Shannon Hoon! I see you, there on the roof!) but let’s take a look at some that kind of stuck with me.

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I didn’t read any of the Lobo comics Scott Ian wrote last year, so I can’t speak to his talents as a comic book writer. I’ve also never read The Demon, the Jack Kirby-created DC series about  – you guessed it! — a demon from hell named Etrigan who apparently spends a significant amount of time speaking in rhyme. (Hey, that rhymed! Maybe I’m a demon!) So I have no idea whether or not the news that Scott Ian will now be writing The Demon is good or bad for comic fans, or Scott Ian fans, or fans of yellow monster men in little red tights.

But it sure seems like a good fit for Ian, for the following reasons:

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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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We haven’t had any real Anthrax drama in a few months, so I guess we were due. This might be the most ridiculous round yet, though, ’cause it’s really all just about Scott Ian having a lousy memory.

So here’s what happened. As you should be aware, after Anthrax re-fired Joey Belladonna and found themselves unable to re-hire John Bush, they brought on an entirely new singer, Dan Nelson. They even recorded an album with the guy, called Worship Music. One of the songs on Worship Music was called “Fight ‘Em ‘Til You Can’t.” Here’s Anthrax with Dan Nelson performing the song in Chicago in May of 2008:

Then for whatever reason Dan Nelson was either fired from or quit Anthrax, and Worship Music sat on the shelf. And then John Bush was back in the band, and then he wasn’t, at least in part, it seems, because he didn’t just wanna re-record Nelson’s parts from Worship Music.

And so Anthrax re-re-hired Joey Belladonna, who made it clear that he was amenable to re-recording Nelson’s Worship Music performance. And while we’re still waiting for Worship Music (or whatever the hell it ends up being called) to be released, this latest incarnation of Anthrax is currently touring with Slayer and Megadeth, and have even started playing “Fight ‘Em ‘Til You Can’t” with Belladonna on vocals. Here’s a video of that happening  in Uniondale this past Friday night:

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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

Hey Suckfaces, the Big Four live in Sofia, Bulgaria concert/movie thingy has encore showings tomorrow in select markets and you should totally go! It’s the most fun ever. Even if you’re lukewarm on a band/the bands, the theater-going experience is novel and pretty easy to like. It’s communal (like a concert) and comfortable (good for old people who listen to the Big Four). Plus, the little things: set breaks are excised; the audio is that Live Aid quality which disguises not even the smallest flub or shortcut, almost sickeningly real; close-ups of guitar shredding abound; and mosh pits are way more fun in a movie theater.

But if you just can’t make it to this exciting cinema-concert event cuz you’re in jail still from the Lakers celebration parade or you’re a piteously ugly John Bush fan or whatever, here’s what you’ll miss:

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A band that once appeared to be having a lot of fun, Anthrax has been no laughing matter for a long time now. Fronting the quintet – a position held by four people a total of seven times – is officially the least enviable job not involving Dave Mustaine or handling hot shit. Like, one day Scott Ian’s raving about you, the next day your name is his toilet paper. And even if an odor lingers from their 2005 reunion, Anthrax’s second recall of Joey Belladonna may have been an inevitability. It only became possible at all when Belladonna’s replacement’s much-hyped replacement didn’t pan out, and the product of their short union, Worship Music, was shelved. Of course, post-millennial Anthrax is most predictable in the commerce department, so it didn’t take a crystal ball to foresee their imminent attempts to be enshrined among the genre’s legacy acts; obviously, this is best achieved by the classic line-up, no matter what Bush-boosters may desire.

So for the moment, Belladonna is part of Anthrax’s quest for thrash metal immortality. Still, it was no shock that the singer filled our interview with the verbal equivalent of looking over each shoulder. He spoke with reservation and almost entirely in generalities. Not once did he mention a fellow Anthraxer by name, with the odd exception of John Bush. Even so, Belladonna sounds happy to be home, even if all the furniture has been rearranged and the locks changed. There’s fun to be had anyway; after all, Anthrax was a much bigger band with Belladonna at the helm (and occasionally at the drum kit). I’m no mathematician, but that means he’s got the numbers fan-wise and Big Four nostalgia can only help. I guess we’ll all see.

A week before the first Big Four show, the effusive Belladonna talked to MetalSucks about changing expectations, the fate of Worship Music, musical identity, and the humor of Anthrax.

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Fuck taking a photo together. What we all really wanna see is The Big Four jam, dude. For one thing, it would just be cool to see all those dudes rocking out together, maybe on a jam of some old metal classic that everyone could find mutually agreeable (if ever there was a time to pay tribute to Dio…). For another thing, since the number of people in the world who ever actually got to see Mustaine play with Metallica or Kerry King play with Megadeth is roughly equivalent to the number of people who actually paid to see Jonah Hex this weekend (e.g., almost no one), it would be terrific wish fulfillment.

Of course, it will probably never happen, because God forbid everyone put their egos and bullshit aside to do anything too cool. So for now, we’ll have to settle for Scott Ian helping to sing one chorus of “Peace Sells” with ‘Deth. ‘Cause, y’know. When I think great singing, I think Scott Ian.

Skip to the 2:40 mark for fifteen whole seconds of crossover dreams come true.

-AR

[via Blabbermouth]

An actual screen-cap.

The Big Four Comedy Tour rolls on!

Scott Ian gave a video interview to zee German edition of Metal Hammer earlier this month, and when pressed about Joey Belladonna’s status in the band, he was, well… let’s just say “non-committal.” I can’t embed the video, but here are some choice quotes…

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So we had a lot of fun laughing about that Big Four photo yesterday, and then last night on the Metal Injection Livecast (download it here), we had a good chuckle over this second picture, in which Dave Mustaine makes his feelings about James Hetfield perfectly clear:

But I guess some clever publicist or manager was on-hand for this shoot, and saw this picture being taken and was all, “Fuck, this could be a real problem, we better make sure that we get another one where it doesn’t look like these two hate each other.” And that publicist or manager was correct. If Mustaine can play nice with Kerry King, he should be able to suck it up and play nice with Hetfield, too. (And let’s not forget that Scott Ian is no Mustaine fan, either.)

Thus, we also get this picture, which is better insofar as Hetfield is not standing so far away from the rest of the group, but is not better insofar as it is still hilariously awkward:

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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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Since Anthrax announced last week that they’re bringing Joey Belladonna into the fold, we’ve had one burning question at the forefront of our minds: What the fuck went wrong with John Bush? Scott Ian said “we needed a total commitment to Anthrax, and [Bush] knew that wasn’t what he wanted,” but that’s fairly vague. The rumor was that he didn’t want to tour anymore, but we also recklessly speculated that he didn’t wanna be just a session musician and re-recorded Dan Nelson’s parts for Worship Music – which is perfectly understandable.

Now Blabbermouth’s Ryan Ogle has scored the interview of the week by hunting down Bush and getting his perspective on things. And as it turns out, the rumors and reckless speculation were both kinda true.

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Through amazing mind-reading technology created by the MetalSucks Mansion Monkey affectionately known as “You Worthless Retard,” MetalSucks was exclusively able to listen-in on Joey Belladonna’s most private thoughts while he contemplated whether or not to return to Anthrax.* What follows is a transcript of those thoughts…

Okay, Joey. Now, let’s be rational. Let’s think this all the way through. Let’s not make any brash decisions this time.

I mean, these dudes have not been cool to me. Remember when they fired me in 1992 for no apparent reason? And they hired me back to do that reunion tour. And then they, uh, y’know. Fired me again. And this time, I found out about it over the internet. They weren’t even good enough to give me a phone call! And then Scott and Charlie talked an awful lot of shit about me in the press, and said that I should “Grow up and be a man. Take responsibility for your life.” And I had, like, no idea what they were talking about. Just a couple of months ago, Scott made fun of me on television! I kinda think it might be because the reunion was less financially successful than we’d hoped. But I don’t really know, ’cause I never actually spoke to them about it.

And now they wanna hire me back! Again! And they want me to sing some other dude’s parts on a new album, without actually contributing anything myself! And the guy is some kid they hired because when John Bush showed a little backbone and refused to come back to the band after I was re-fired, they decided they’d rather work with pretty much anyone but me. Actually, they decided they’d rather work with Corey Taylor than me. But Corey’s business manager had more sense than that, and then they decided they’d rather work with pretty much anyone but me. The nerve!

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