Guys, Vince and I have to get on a plane in a couple of hours, which means we have to leave for the airport now, which means I don’t really have time to write anything about this. (Everything you read today will have been pre-programmed; Anso is running the site while we’re away Thursday and Friday.) But I know if we don’t post the news there will be a thousand cranky reader e-mails when we land. So today I’m going to pretend that I work for Blabbermouth, and just cut and paste the press release announcing Marc Hudson as the new singer of Dragonforce. Please accept my most sincere apologies for my total lack of creativity.

But in case you don’t wanna read the press release, the short version is: Marc Hudson is not famous from some other band. He’s a 23 year-old who Dragonforce plucked from obscurity. So, there ya have it.

And now that press release:

Click to read more…

I don’t think anyone’s ever proclaimed that Dragonforce are a bastion of creativity, but this 10-second ditty posted on Heavy Blog is Heavy drives the point home. Still, I can get down with The Force from time to time in the name of fun. What are you, some kind of fun hater??

Here’s to hoping ZP Theart’s replacement is a bit more creative in the lyrics department.

-VN

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So Vince is now out of town. Again. Luckily, we really do take after our namesakes; he loves to be out there among the people, partying like he might die tomorrow, and I am a grumpy, mean-spirited recluse. So expect lots of Axl crankiness next week.

In the meantime, here are some things that happened this week:

• Genetic’s Dallas Coyle discussed the importance of positive thinking, As I Lay Dying’s Nick Hipa pondered the various timelines on L O S T, Intronaut’s Sacha Dunable listed the five raddest sets of teeth in metal, Eyal Levi from Daath and Levi/Werstler wondered if anyone cares about guitar solos, and adult film actress Bobbi Starr told us the ten metal bands she wishes would gangbang her.
• We debuted new music by The Dillinger Escape Plan, Landmine Marathon, and Jucifer.
• MetalSucks readers interviewed Dark Tranquillity’s Mikael Stanne and Vince interviewed Sevendust’s Clint Lowery.
• Sammy O’Hagar reviewed Ov Hell’s The Underworld Regime.
• Is Nergal from Behemoth going to jail for destroying a Bible?
• The singer from DragonForce is available for a White Lion reunion.
• We raged against “Rage.”

And that’s it! Next week will see the debut of our irritating new list, as well as some other fun shit. Have a nice weekend…

-AR

DragnForce have parted ways with vocalist ZP Theart “due to insurmountable differences of musical opinion.” I’m not sure what qualifies as “insurmountable differences of musical opinion” in DragonForceland; did Theart want the music to get even faster? Slower? More keyboards? Fewer guitar solos? A horn section?

Who knows, and, more to the point, who cares? Metalheads seem to fall into one of two categories: people who hate DragonForce with every ounce of their very being, and people who don’t give a shit about ZP Theart. The singer in DF could not be a less important element of their music if his name were “James LaBrie.” Any eunuch can sing about wizards and video games and dying a virgin; what matters in this band is the ridiculousness of their musicianship, not the transvestite standing near the front of the stage.

In other words: I think DragonForce are gonna make it through this, kids.

-AR