UPDATED:

And the Awesomest Idea of the Week award goes to Metal Injection, who have now created the Tom Araya Scream button. It’s a relatively simple concept, sure — you click a button like the one pictured below, and Tom Araya’s legendary scream from “Angel of Death” blasts at full volume — but isn’t genius the obvious idea that somehow no one has ever thought of before?

Click here to check out the Tom Araya Scream. It feels great if you have some aggression to burn.

ORIGINAL POST:

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The highlight of last week’s Big Four show at Yankee Stadium was Slayer, and with all due respect to Kerry King, Tom Araya, Jeff Hanneman, and, in this instance, guest guitarist Gary Holt, the highlight of any Slayer show is Dave Lombardo. Never mind that, at the age of 46, he hasn’t slowed down a bit, and is still ten time better than most drummers half his age — he’s so good he has the ability to make Slayer songs on which he did not originally play, like “Disciple,” sound better. And I say that being a fan of Paul Bostaph, who recorded “Disciple” originally.

So, while I’m as sick as discussing of the Big Four as anybody, I just HAD to post these drum cam videos of Lombardo at the concert, ’cause you can’t celebrate that dude’s excellence too much. Also, because they offer the best perspective of just how many people (41,451!) were at this damn show.

Here’s “Disciple”…

…and you can check out “Post Mortem,” “Hate Worldwide,” and “War Ensemble” after the jump.

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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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¿¡Q-VO, CULEROS?! Te gustan EL MOSH?! Pienso que sí! Escuchame si te quiero EL MOSH tambien!!!

As you can tell from my terrible Spanish, I’m just a dumb güero who can barely tell a tamale from a taqueria. I might not be the master of foreign languages, but I do know that Latinos always been a big part of metal/punk/hardcore (even though nobody ever talks about it). Not only that, but Latinos might be a driving force in the future of the genre — in fact, I think the next big thing will be middle-class white kids jocking Mexicans!

In this post, I will discuss the past, present and future of Latinos in metal/hardcore/etc. Whether you’re a pinche white person like me or a Latino, tell me if you see things the same as I do. Feel free to tell me I’m an idiot/racist/troll if you want, but I would prefer legitimate discussion since I am genuinely interested in this topic.

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At age five, Tom Araya left Chile with his family to come to America. Fifteen years after that, he joined the then-fledgling band Slayer. Thirty years after that (i.e., now), Slayer enjoys acclaim only shared by Iron Maiden in consistency and intensity. And as Maiden is fronted by the greatest metal singer of all time, Slayer has Araya, metal’s most compelling, visceral screamer. Two notes are all he needs. I’d attend NASCAR if he were the announcer; if he were a salesman, I’d buy used toilets from the dude.

Word of Araya’s skillz (and cuddly-bear disposition) seems to have reached authorities in Chile, as Friday he was granted the key to the city of Viña del Mar, his birthplace. Araya said:

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SHAME ON ME! I almost forgot that today is June 6, a.k.a. “The Internatinal Day of Slayer,” until our friend Zena Metal reminded me (and by “me,” I mean “anyone who reads her website”). In any case, if you’re looking for a good excuse to drink Jäger until you puke and/or get right up in the face of some random person on the street and shout “SSSSLLLLAAAYYYYEEERRR!!!!“, well, now you have one. Just tell your boss you’re going home early because it’s a religious holiday. It’s cool, I’m sure he’ll understand.

To help you celebrate, here’s some video of the band in 1991, when Tom Araya could still headbang and Kerry King still had hair. WEIRD!!!

-AR

Am I crazy or does World Painted Blood suck? Is Slayer moving forward or caving to the post-Slipknot shitty production trend? Am I a fossil who can’t deal with a classic band’s evolution? I love serial killers and hate religion, so what’s the deal? Why did critics splooge all over this record, and do fans agree?

During a recent plane trip, I played about four hours of Slayer pinball on my mobile tablet device — to the dismay of my westerly neighbor, who frowned from behind her religious-themed novel presumably at the game’s huge glowing pentagram — and it got me thinking about World Painted Blood. Like 2006′s mehtastic Christ Illusion, the 2009 record arrived amid a rush of acclaim — as though a spiteful metal media corps had a chance to bestow retroactive cheers upon a critically spurned but iconic band. Or maybe the album is awesome, and therefore deserving of warm reception even from fancy music writers at The Onion and All Music Guide. But I don’t think so.

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Max Cavalera is a name you’ve probably heard recently. His band, Cavalera Conspiracy, has been making waves in the metal world with their latest release, Blunt Force Trauma, and are currently on tour in the U.S. But here’s something you might not have known: he’s been at this for decades.

Max, along with his esteemed colleague and brother, Igor, made some of the most beastly and innovative thrash in the mid 80’s and 90’s in the highly influential, underground metal outlet, Sepultura (Portuguese for “grave”). Unfortunately personal differences in ’96 drew him away from the band. Upon relocating to the States, he focused his talents on a new project, the still-running Soulfly (English for “Mighty-Spirit-Mosquito”).

For years Max worked tirelessly with the group, releasing seven studio album’s and gradually building a cult following in the process. Now with a new band and his brother back at his side, the world is finally taking notice.

I recently had the opportunity to speak with the bearded bellower to get the skinny on the new album and see what he makes of his recent success.

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My dad had kidney stones once when I was a kid and I remember him being in all kinds of agony. So please understand that I am not making fun of him for playing a show despite suffering from this particular malady, because that is very admirable. The set at this gig was apparently abbreviated, for obvious reasons, but for him to do what he did for the fans deserves a big pat on the back.

I am, however, making fun of him for being pompous, and for thinking that he was healed by the power of prayer.

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Slayer is already down one member, what with guitarist Jeff Hanneman currently recovering from surgery on his arm while Exodus’ Gary Holt fills in for him — or, rather, is supposed to fill in for him. ‘Cause the band got to play exactly one show with Holt before canceling their scheduled appearance at Australia’s Soundwave Festival after vocalist/bassist Tom Araya found himself in the hospital.

Lotsa folks, including us, suspected that the culprit must have been the same the same back issues that forced him to cancel touring plans last year, but this is apparently not the case. From Slayer fan site Slayerized:

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Poor Slayer. First they had to recruit Exodus’ Gary Holt to sit in for Jeff Hannenman while the guitarist recovers from surgery on his arm; then they got all the way to Australia, played one gig with Holt… and promptly had to cancel their next show, as part of the Soundwave Festival, because Tom Araya was sent to the hospital for an undisclosed malady. (Although it’s fair to speculate that the front man is once again suffering from the same back issues that took him out of commission last year.)

Holy shit, what is happening to these poor dudes? It’s starting to get to the point where if an Acme safe mysteriously falls from the sky and lands on Kerry King, no one should be surprised. Just watch: Slayer will finally break up due to old age, but Metallica will go on and on and on well into their 80s. Only the good die young I guess.

While we wait to hear if Araya is okay and if Slayer will be able to continue this Australian tour at all, enjoy this first — and possibly last — video of the band performing with Holt. He moves around more on stage in three minutes than Hanneman has in thirty years, so, uh, yeah.

-AR

[via Metal Injection]

So, apparently Jeff Hanneman was hospitalized last month, and underwent emergency surgery for a serious infection in his right arm, which he may or may not have contracted from a spider bite. (Not to be insensitive, but I think it would actually be kinda funny if he contracted the infection from, I dunno, jerking off too much, or opening a jar of pickles, or something like that, and the band is just saying it was a spider bite because that sounds so much more metal.)

Hanneman is expected to make a full recovery, but he’s obviously not gonna be picking up his axe anytime soon, and the band has an Australian tour coming up… so they’re gonna do the tour anyway, with a yet-to-be-announced fill-in guitarist.

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I remember a time when if a singer couldn’t sing, they either a) did not get to have a career, or b) fronted a really dirty-sounding band so that it didn’t matter that they sounded kinda, uh, off. I mean, Tom Araya was never exactly Ronnie James Dio, and no one gave a shit. It’s rock n’ roll, man! It’s not s’posed to sound perfect!

This tradition of “Fuck it if the singer doesn’t sound amazing” barely seems to exist anymore. And for that reason alone, I have to tip my hat to Duff McKagan. His band Loaded have a new album, The Taking, coming out in the spring, and they’ve released a bunch of new songs from that album. None of them are great songs by any stretch of the imagination, but I kind of admire the fact that McKagan’s vocals more or less sound like crap. I mean, they’re not modern-day Dave Mustaine bad, but they’re still really bad. He could have auto-tuned the fuck out’ve ‘em, but, no, the guy comes from a punk rock tradition, and clearly just does not give a shit about trying to convince the world that he’s any better than he is.

Check out some new tracks from The Taking after the jump to get a sense of what I mean…

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I remember a time when if a singer couldn’t sing, they either a) did not get to have a career, or b) fronted a really dirty-sounding band so that it didn’t matter that they sounded kinda, uh, off. I mean, Tom Araya was never exactly Ronnie James Dio, and no one gave a shit. It’s rock n’ roll, man! It’s not s’posed to sound perfect!

This tradition of “Fuck it if the singer doesn’t sound amazing” barely seems to exist anymore. And for that reason alone, I have to tip my hat to Duff McKagan. His band Loaded have a new album, The Taking, coming out in the spring, and they’ve released a bunch of new songs from that album. None of them are great songs by any stretch of the imagination, but I kind of admire the fact that McKagan’s vocals more or less sound like crap. I mean, they’re not modern-day Dave Mustaine bad, but they’re still really bad. He could have auto-tuned the fuck out’ve ‘em, but, no, the guy comes from a punk rock tradition, and clearly just does not give a shit about trying to convince the world that he’s any better than he is.

Check out some new tracks from The Taking after the jump to get a sense of what I mean…

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Maybe this has been around for awhile and it’s just now coming to my attention, but I saw the below on Zena Metal Wants to Conquer the World last week, and it elicited one long, giant head scratch from me:

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Crustcake posted this incredible video of Slayer performing “Hell Awaits” in 1985 at Studio 54. This is both weird and notable, and not just because it serves as a reminder that once upon a time, Kerry King had hair and Tom Araya could move his neck.

No, it’s weird ’cause Studio 54 — in case you’re young and don’t know — was a disco. A very famous disco, where lots of celebrities hung out — folks like Andy Warhol, Debbie Harry, Mick Jagger, etc. Y’know, the Hiltons and Kardashians of their day. (That was a joke.) The club closed in 1980 after a couple of its owners were caught embezzling profits, and today, it’s used as a Broadway theater.

Yep. Bernadette Peters and Jeff Hanneman have played the same venue. Amazing.

This clip apparently comes from an old VHS collection, Ultimate Revenge for Disco, and Exodus and Venom were also on the bill. But it’s new to me, and hopefully, to you as well.

-AR

As any metal fan with functioning ears and discerning taste knows, Slayer are one of the most overrated bands of all time. Sure, they have some great songs, but the vast majority of their catalog is boring, generic filler. For example, I am not sure why Reign in Blood is considered such a classic when there are only two good songs on it. I mean, if “Angel of Death” and “Raining Blood” were released as the two sides of a 7″, it would probably be the best record ever released, but they decided to sandwich a bunch of crappy, lifeless songs between them for some unfortunate reason. And don’t even get me started on how tepid and uninteresting their next few records are… In fact, looking back over the past 25 years or so, it is clear to me that Slayer’s best album is a tossup between two of their mid/late 90s releases that go largely unnoticed: Divine Intervention and Undisputed Attitude.

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So unless you live under a rock in a cave beneath the ocean, you’re aware that the Big Four did some shows together this past June; at the time, I suggested that it would be cool if they all came out and jammed together, and then they did all come out and jam together (video above courtesy Metal Injection), and it wasn’t really that cool. ‘Cause when I made that suggestion, I guess I forgot that this was all the Big Four bands now, not the Big Four bands in 1990.

So I was actually a little relieved — although not at all surprised — that 75% of Slayer did not participate in the jam (the exception being Dave Lombardo, natch). ‘Cause Slayer have always been and will always be “Cooler Than Thou.”

As it turns out, though, Kerry King would have liked to have participated, but had to do the work his lazy and decrepit band mates wouldn’t do. From a recent Revolver interview:

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If Horatio Alger were alive today, he’d be tempted to write about Slayer. Defying logic, popular fads and the moral majority, the band is an American thrash-to-riches story, having not just survived, but thrived on a regimen of non-compromise. Future musicologists will no doubt struggle to explain how four guys from Huntington Park forced Reign in Blood down the world’s collective throat, then went on to sell millions of records, win two Grammys, and amass a huge, rabid fanbase. And does any other band have a holiday dedicated to them?

As the curtain closes on their third decade in the music business, Slayer’s Dave Lombardo was good enough to shoot the proverbial shit with MetalSucks when the American Carnage Tour stopped in St. Paul, MN. Read the full transcript of our chat after the jump.

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We might not be getting a full-on sequel to D.X. Ferris’ amazing book (which now has a Facebook page!!!) about both the making and meaning of Slayer’s Reign in Blood, but writing for Cleveland Scene, he did recently get to sit down with one Mr. Tom Araya and get a track-by-track breakdown of Seasons in the Abyss, the album that I know many consider to be superior to Reign, and which Slayer is now performing in its entirety as part of the American Carnage tour they’re doing with Megadeth and Testament. (I don’t mind telling you that Seasons was actually the first Slayer album I ever owned; an older kid lent it to me by way of saying “This is the first Slayer album you should check out, noob,” and I never returned it.)

Here’s an excerpt… this is Araya discussing “Hallowed Point,” a song that still demands I stop and headbang every time I hear it:

“That’s a kind of bullet — hollow points. It’s about a gun and what guns do to a body. It can turn flesh into confetti. It’s about the motivations to use a gun. People ask, ‘Is it an anti-gun song?’ No. ‘Is it a pro-gun song?’ No. Guns are dangerous. But I’m not an anti-gun [advocate]. I’m a gun owner.”

If you love Seasons in the Abyss as much as any carbon-based lifeform ought to, you need to read the rest of this interview. Check it out here.

-AR