So rumor has it that Wolfmother are done. Which is fine by me – I always thought that band sucked anyway. Hipsters will have one less metal band to worship I guess, but, hey, The Sword are still going strong.

Here’s the now infamous video of a certain Monsieur Michael Patton expressing an opinion not dissimilar from my own:

I knew there was a reason I worship Mike Patton…

-AR

So while it was rumored for awhile that this year’s edition of Ozzfest would be a two day event – but it has now been announced that it’ll be just one single day, on Saturday, August 9, at at Pizza Hut Park* in Dallas, Texas. The line-up will be as follows:

Main Stage
OZZY OSBOURNE
METALLICA
SERJ TANKIAN
HELLYEAH
JONATHAN DAVIS
CAVALERA CONSPIRACY
SHADOWS FALL
APOCALYPTICA
IN THIS MOMENT
All-Star Tribute To “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott

Second Stage
SEVENDUST
DEVILDRIVER
KINGDOM OF SORROW
SOILENT GREEN
WITCHCRAFT
GOATWHORE

Texas (Third) Stage
THE SWORD
DROWNING POOL
RIGOR MORTIS

Actually, that is, by no means, a terrible line-up; if the stages are staggered at all (and I imagine they will be), it would be plenty easy to keep oneself occupied during sets from In This Moment, Jonathan Davis, and HellNo. And I guess it’s honorable of Metallica to let Ozzy play last, even though, at this point, a) they’re much bigger than Ozzy and b) Ozzy has to be in bed by 8 pm. I mean, if I was Ozzy, and I’d spent recent Ozzfests getting blown off the stage by the likes of Maiden and Priest, I certainly wouldn’t wanna follow Metallica. But, y’know, nice of Ulrich and Hetfield to step aside for one night and let the Ozzman cometh.

Click to read more…

Another fine metal Tuesday of new releases is upon us.

The most talked-about release today is In Flames’ controversial new album A Sense of Purpose. Does it represent a step towards current trends or the next logical evolution of the band? Read Vince’s Sunday Spotlight feature on In Flames for a career retrospective of the band up until this point.

Sevendust release their seventh record Chapter VII: Hope & Sorrow today, less than a week after announcing the return of original guitarist Clint Lowery, making this album kind of irrelevant. It’s the third Clint-less album, and hence the third to sound exactly the same. But it’s Sevendust, and there are a few gems within. Read Vince’s long review and short review.

Dream Theater release the aptly titled Greatest Hit and 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs 2-disc retrospective set. Ironically, the one “greatest hit” has been remixed and robbed of its originality.

Retro-Sabbathian metallers The Sword release their new one Gods of the Earth today; Kip W. will have a full review shortly, but preliminary reactions have been so-so.

Elsewhere, Ministry finally release their covers album Cover Up after embarking on their farewell C U LaTour with Meshuggah. Apparently Joe Satriani has a new album out, and though we haven’t heard it we’re pretty sure we know what it sounds like. And experimental art metallers Nadja have a new one too; color me interested to hear it.

So hit your local record store (at least one city, Seattle, still has an awesome one called Everyday Music that I visited this weekend), iTunes, or your favorite torrent legal music download service and get these new jams.

According to The Syndicate (and other sources), The Sword played an entire set under the name The Zombie Eaters, performing Faith No More’s classic album The Real Thing in its entirety.

The band, who’s amazing album Gods Of The Earth is dropping on April 1, took the stage wearing 80s-themed shirts and commenced playing most of FNM’s third album, The Real Thng [sic]. What they missed in dead-on musicianship, they made up for in enthusiasm. Great way to start off the convention!

Whatwith Faith No More being broken up and a reunion seeming unlikely due to callaborations with members of Korn and Limp Bizkit and pumpkin farming, this probably would’ve been the closest I could get to seeing those songs performed live (perennial cover favorite “Epic” notwithstanding). Oh well… we can always hope.

-VN

Personally I’m not so psyched about Gods of the Earth, the new album by The Sword — granted, I’ve only listened to it a couple times, but it immediately felt like a rehash of their awesome debut Age of Winters, and I for one was hoping for some semblance of evolution. The tunes are fine, but nothing spectacular as I was expecting.

That said, if you’re aching to get your Sword fix on, you can check out this track right heah…

“Fire Lances of the Ancient Hyperzephyrians” at Black Balloon

-KW