Aborted are one of those bands I honestly have never listened to enough to have an opinion about their music, but the fact that their upcoming release, Global Flatline, features guest appearances from the likes of The Black Dahlia Murder’s Trevor Strnad, Misery Index’s Jason Netherton, and Rotten Sound’s Keiijo Niinima means that my interest is now piqued. And the new, totally disgusting and NSFW trailer for the album ain’t hurtin’ any.

No joke — if you ever wished that the killer in the Saw movies was a pretty lady instead of an old dude, you are going to love this.

Aborted’s Global Flatline comes out January 24 via Century Media; the title track will be released as a single next week.

-AR

What makes The Black Dahlia Murder the cream of metal’s crop is that, while never abandoning their face-ripping ways, they refuse to just spin their wheels from album to album. The dudes started out good, and they keep getting better. No amount of flowery verbiage myself could back that statement up more than just one listen to Ritual will. Because just one listen is all The Black Dahlia Murder needs to grab you by the throat, beat you senseless, and leave you lying on the pavement like some ninety-pound moron who just picked a fight with Georges St-Pierre. But, being the sadistic little fuck you are, you’re gonna pop right back up and listen again, aren’t you? Damn right you are, because this is hands down one of the most vicious slabs of metal we’ll get this year.

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I’m sick. Not in a scary way; more in a “Went to the doctor yesterday and got on antibiotics and didn’t do any posting or checking of e-mail” kinda way. Consequently, the limited amount of posting I’m going to do today will probably be even more ineloquent and vitriolic than usual. (I’ve already responded to several e-mails this morning with the rudest possible reply I could concoct.) My apologies in advance.

Some e-mails that won’t be getting any misplaced rage caused by my current condition: the approximately 18,000 messages alerting us to the fact that Nergal has, at last, found an appropriate bone marrow donor. This is great news for a guy who really is sick in a scary way, and I couldn’t be happier. Here’s an official statement from the man himself:

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What the hell, dude? First Marduk front dude Mortuus hit a kid who jumped on stage to try and hug him, then The Black Dahlia Murder’s Trevor Strnad followed suit; now some guy jumped on stage during a recent Kittie performance and tried to kiss front lady Morgan Lander… and she cracks him in the balls! So for once, a fan got a beat down and he actually deserved it.

Only problem is, it’s not a fan this time – it’s Tyler Whore, bassist for Sucked by a Sucking Suck. He’s apparently friends with the band. Guess Lander didn’t recognize him? Either that, or it was, uh, a Freudian slip, I guess.

Here’s video of the incident, courtest Hardtime.ca:

Thanks to the always-helpful Saul Hudson for the tip…

-AR

Why would Trevor Strnad punch this kid in the face? That’s the only thing I can keep asking myself after viewing the below video, which The PRP posted last night:

I mean, it doesn’t seem like the kid did anything that warrants a punch, other than touch Strnad. But Strnad’s the lead singer of a metal band – he must be used to kids reaching out and touching him while he’s on stage all the time, right? So was Strnad just startled, and his karate action punch mechanism kicked in on instinct? When we interviewed him last year, he seemed like the most laid-back dude in the world. But that was a ten minute interview – it’s not like I know the guy. So maybe I’m just making excuses for him ’cause I wanna like him.

In any case, watch for The Black Dahlia Murder to tour with Marduk sometime soon.

-AR

‘Cause the muthafuckin’ man himself, Trevor “Heartburn” Strnad, is going to call in. He’ll be discussing BDM’s excellent new album, Deflorate (in stores now!), taking questions from other callers, and participating in MI’s patented “Death or No Death” game, where you try to guess which death metal band names are real, and which ones are fake. The last time Rob Pasbani and the gang played that game, it was with The Red Chord’s Gunface, and he won. Can one Metal Blade artist who likes to act silly out perform another Metal Blade artist who likes to act silly? You’ll have to tune in to find out!

The show starts at 8 pm EST tonight; you can listen by going here. The Metal Injection Livecast is on Wednesday nights now, not Fridays, so you’re shit out of excuses to miss it!!!

-AR

It’s Labor Day weekend here in the U.S., which means we’re shuttering the Mansion early this week, and won’t be back ’til Tuesday. We’re sure you’ll find some way to live without us.

Here’s some shit that happened this week:

• We debuted a new track from Salome.
• Sigh’s Mirai Kawashima sent in his final guest-blog from the studio, and revealed the track listing for the band’s upcoming album, Scenes from Hell.
• We chatted with Trivium’s Matt Heafy, The Black Dahlia Murder’s Trevor Strnad, Job for a Cowboy’s Brent Riggs, and All That Remains’ Phil LaBonte.
• We celebrated the triumphant return of Beavis & Butt-Head, and decided that in their particular relationship, Vince is the Beavis to Axl’s Butt-Head.
• Tom Araya thinks Dave Mustaine is a dick, Kerry King thinks Dave Mustaine is a dick, Scott Ian thinks Kerry King is a dick, and everyone in Dimmu Borgir thinks that everyone else in Dimmu Borgir is a dick.

Alright. I’m going to enjoy a little sunshine while I still can. See ya Tuesday!

-AR

Job for a Cowboy bassist Brent Riggs ended up being one of the most fun interviews we did at this year’s Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival. For one thing, it may or may not come across in this transcript, but the dude has a really dry sense of humor that matches our own. For another thing, it seemed as though the dude barely wanted to talk about JFAC – he must have to talk about JFAC all the time, so it’s hard to blame him – but when the topics of weed and weightlifting arose, his eyes lit up like a little kid on Christmas, and he suddenly became quite garrulous. A man after our own heart.

JFAC’s new album, Ruination, is out now on Metal Blade. After the jump, check out our full chat with Brent Riggs.

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Between their music videos, goofy photo shoots, and Majesty DVD, one gets the impression that even if the members of The Black Dahlia Murder take their music seriously, they don’t take themselves too seriously. The portrait that’s been painted of this band over the years is not that of a brooding death metal band, but that of a group of dudes who want to have fun (remember fun?) while making the most brutal death metal possible.

So we weren’t surprised to find that vocalist Trevor Strnad is a pretty chill fella. Speaking to Axl and Vince backstage at the Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival, Strand was only too happy to openly and honestly discuss the band’s new album, Deflorate (out September 15 on Metal Blade), the differences between new guitarist Ryan Knight and old guitarist John Kempainen, the joys of big band music, and the worst puke he’s ever smelled. Check out our full conversation after the jump.

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Yesterday Metal Blade sent out a digital sampler containing four of the ten songs which will appear on The Black Dahlia Murder’s upcoming Deflorate (out September 15). While this obviously isn’t nearly enough to write any sort of credible review, I did want to give my thoughts on what we’ve now heard.

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UPDATE: According to Lambgoat, this story is bunk. Oh well.

Is this summer’s Rockstar Mayhem Festival trek the nail in Marilyn Manson’s coffin? Manson appears to be fucked up beyond belief in the press he’s done this year, and by all accounts his headlining stage show is a complete wreck night after night (we didn’t even watch). And now this: Manson has threatened to “rape” Black Dahlia Murder frontman Trevor Strnad’s face at a recent fan meet-and-greet in Florida.

Reports the New Zealand Herald:

The incident erupted as Marilyn was signing autographs for fans at a meet-and-greet in Florida, US, when Strnad shouted: “Welcome to the freak show,” prompting Marilyn to write “I hate those ****s” on the tablecloth in front of a fan.

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Well, we are just drowning in new metal this fine Tuesday.

Revolver is hosting a stream a new song by The Black Dahlia Murder, “A Selection Unnatural,” off the band’s forthcoming Deflorate, which Metal Blade will release on September 15. Vocalist Trevor Strnad gives some background on the track:

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John Kempainen’s awesome guitar solos were major part of the appeal of The Black Dahlia Murder, at least for me. That being said, his replacement, former Arsis axeman Ryan Knight, is no slouch, so I’m definitely down to hear whatever the band comes up with next.

Our pals at Metal Injection captured some lo-fi footage of BDM doing a new song, “Necropolis,” and although it’s hard to hear much besides Trevor Strnad’s vocals, the track sounds heavy as a hippo (And I’ll even forgive the fact that The Absence, as well about as a gajillion other bands, already have a song called “Necropolis.”). Check it out:

Meanwhile, Blabbermouth posted footage of Vader doing a new song, “Rise of the Undead,” which will appear on their new album, entitled… Necropolis. Jesus H. Christ death metal bands, get some new fucking ideas already.

Check out the Vader video after the jump. Their Necropolis drops September 22.

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John Kempainen, lead guitar player for The Black Dahlia Murder, has quit the band just days before the start of their tour with Misery Index and Soilent Green. The band will still do the tour, only as a four piece. I’m glad that BDM care enough about their fans to soldier on, but the idea of that band as a four piece totally bums me out; for one thing, half the fun of listening to BDM is in the interplay between Kempainen and co-guitarist Brian Eschbach, and for another thing, I always really loved Kempainen’s guitar solos (which I assume Eschbach will now play in at least some capacity.). In fact, I’ve written a love letter to this guitar duo in the past.

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