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MEGADETH:Dave Mustaine Interviewed On 'Hangar 19'


Cutter of Envision Radio Networks' "Hangar 19" recently conducted an interview with MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine. You can now listen to the chat using the audio player below.

MEGADETH's new album, "Super Collider", sold 29,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 6 on The Billboard 200 chart. The record arrived in stores on June 4 via Mustaine's new label, Tradecraft, distributed by Universal Music Enterprises (UMe). The disc follows up "TH1RT3EN", which opened with 42,000 units back in November 2011 to enter the chart at No. 11. The band's 2009 CD, "Endgame", premiered with 45,000 copies to debut at No. 9. This was slightly less than the 54,000 first-week tally registered by 2007's "United Abominations", which entered the chart at No. 8. 2004's "The System Has Failed" premiered with 46,000 copies (No. 18) while 2001's "The World Needs A Hero" moved 61,000 units in its first week (No. 16).

The album is available as a limited-edition CD with 3-D cover and bonus tracks, regular CD, regular LP, limited LP plus a bonus colored seven-inch single with two bonus tracks, and a download voucher.

The track "Super Collider", which was premiered on Full Metal Jackie's nationally syndicated radio metal show on April 20, was released digitally on April 23 via iTunes.

"That song kind of came from that 'Symphony Of Destruction' corner of my mind," Mustaine told Guitar World magazine. "You can't always play aggressive, thrashy stuff. Sometimes those aren't even songs; they're like musical rams. But because I'm not a pop guy, I'm also not really comfortable playing sing-along songs. To me, 'Super Collider' made sense like a normal song — a verse-chorus-verse-chorus kind of thing. It's written the way a real songwriter would write the song, instead of just taking all these musical twists and turns."

"Super Collider" is MEGADETH's first release since the band's recent split with Roadrunner Records.

MEGADETH filmed a video for the "Super Collider" title track on May 10 in the Los Angeles area. California-based model, actress, singer and songwriter Hunter Elizabeth was cast in the lead role in the clip, which she says is "about a high-school couple still loving each other after all the years after graduation, and at the 10-year reunion, both characters find themselves successful (a model and a mathematician) and still very in love."

Jared MacEachern announced as new Machine Head bassist


Machine Head have found their new bassist! After the group parted ways with longtime bassist Adam Duce, Machine Head allowed the public to audition for a chance to act as the band’s touring bassist for the entire duration of the 2013 Mayhem Festival. After months of searching, bassist Jared MacEachern has finally been given the gig.

Soon after Duce’s exit from Machine Head was announced, frontman Robb Flynn posted a long and emotional statement, revealing that Duce had been fired. Although Duce put in 21 years of service into Machine Head, Flynn claims that Duce was mentally checked out for a long period of time. The decision was painful for Flynn, but after much pondering, he did what needed to be done. Thus, Machine Head began the search for a new bassist.

Jared MacEachern, formerly of Sanctity, will man the low end for Machine Head during Mayhem 2013. Not only will MacEachern perform live with Machine Head, but the bassist will also head into the studio with the band to begin pre-production on Machine Head’s eight studio album.

Machine Head announced the decision on their official website earlier today (June 24):

"It is with great pride and excitement that Machine Head announce Jared MacEachern as their new bass player. Jared has already begun rehearsals for the upcoming Rockstar Mayhem U.S. summer festival tour and will soon relocate from North Carolina to Northern California to begin pre-production for Machine Head’s upcoming 8th studio release.

Some fans might remember MacEachern from 2007′s The Black Tyranny Tour, playing with his previous band Sanctity. Machine Head, challenged to find a fill-in bass player for the North American tour after an injury sidelined their then-4-stringer, also found themselves in need of someone to sing harmony with singer/guitarist Robb Flynn. Flynn remembers, “We had locked in Brandon Sigmund of local boys Hostility to play bass on that tour, but we soon realized we’d need someone to hit the high harmonies. Our A&R guy Monte Conner recommended Jared since he was already on the tour, and that ended up being a great call. Jared flew out a few days before the tour and rehearsed with us and did great. What was most impressive about the whole thing was that he was doing double duty – opening for Machine Head with his band at the time Sanctity, and then later singing with us. He would stay sober until after our set, and often get in the van and drive all night. His seriousness and dedication was awesome to see and it stuck with us”.

Earlier this year, Machine Head conducted an extensive search for candidates through various channels, the most fruitful of which proved to be video submissions. Sifting through more than 400 videos, the band personally reviewed and evaluated everyone’s performances, including MacEachern, who made the short list without a second thought. Lead guitarist Phil Demmel recalls, “There were dozens of amazing players, and it was interesting to watch each one take on our tunes. One of our biggest criteria for this gig was to be able to sing the high harmonies. That was our litmus test. And Jared passed with flying colors.”

After reviewing all of the submissions, the band narrowed down the 400+ candidates to a short list of 7, each of whom took a trip to Oakland to perform a handful of songs in person and spend the day hanging with the band. Remembers Drummer Dave McClain, “Jared came in to the audition and just killed it! Besides being able to nail the bass and vocal harmonies, he also had the vibe and personality to make it feel like we were a BAND again. It was a great feeling and we all knew he was the guy.”

MacEachern first picked up concert bass at 12 and around the same time, discovered metal. Jared recalls, “I heard the song ‘Unforgiven’ and really liked it. The next day my friend gave me ‘Kill ‘Em All’ and it was over. I became completely enamored with all the metal bands of that time; Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Pantera, but when it came to bass, it was all about Cliff Burton, he was, and is my dude.” With a brief stint at the Brevard School for Music Performance, Jared has consistently played bass for the past 22 years, most notably in Sanctity, where oddly enough, the band needed a guitar player. “That was purely out of necessity” he explains, “I’d been a bass player, but that gig opened up and I gave it a shot on the 6-stringer.”

After extensive global touring with Sanctity and the birth of his daughter in 2007, the band’s release from their label ignited Jared’s sense of responsibility and he quit the band to focus on her. But music stayed a part of his life and he continued to jam locally throughout the south with death metal bands From A Dig and Telic, until he saw Machine Head were in need and thought he’d try out.

Frontman Robb Flynn reflects, “We really wanted a guy that was hungry for this, someone who could live and breathe this with us. Dave would joke around that we didn’t want to get someone too green that’d be like ‘oh my god, is this a dressing room?!’, but we also didn’t want someone who was too jaded by the whole thing and ‘been there done that’. We thought the perfect guy would be someone who’d paid some dues, who had done 9 or 10 crummy van tours, and wasn’t broken by that, but inspired to keep going and play music, and in many ways that was Jared. I mean hell, the guy’s only rode in a bus for two nights, one of which was with us! It brings a really cool level of appreciation to the table, and it shows where his heart’s at.”

Jared enthuses, -“I’m ready to get to work! This tour is going to kick ass and the new tunes are heavy as shit! I’m SO looking forward to making good music with good dudes!”

Tom Araya Uncertain About Slayer Future


The remaining members of Slayer seem to have different stands on what the future holds for the iconic thrash act. During an interview with Guitar World, guitarist Kerry King and singer/bassist Tom Araya showed different levels of determination to move on without the late axeman.

As Blabbermouth reports, Araya was more uncertain in his predictions, saying that "after 30 years, it would literally be like starting over."

"To move forward without Jeff [Hanneman] just wouldn't be the same," he said, "and I'm not sure the fans would be so accepting of that drastic a change. Especially when you consider how much he contributed to the band musically. And you can have someone sit in for him, but there's no one on this planet that can do what Jeff did. There's no replacing him."
On the other hand, King clearly stressed that he has no intention in letting the Slayer machine stop. "I plan on continuing," the guitarist said. "I don't think we should throw in the towel just because Jeff's not here."

Araya also discussed the state of Hanneman's health during his final years and the arthritic condition the axeman was battling.

"His ability to play was slowly deteriorating," the frontman said. "But he didn't let anybody know that. We could just tell that things were going wrong. It was becoming hard to get stuff out of him. He was very proud and didn't want to make anyone worry about anything. Jeff would show up and play, and he didn't want anyone to know or worry about what else was going on with him. He tried to be really strong and sometimes that can weigh you down."

The group's former drummer Dave Lombardo also chipped in on the subject, saying, "You would notice it in his hands and a little bit in his walk. It seemed like He was struggling with his playing - it wasn't fluid. You could hear it in the leads. His playing just wasn't as tight as it could have been."

After Hanneman contracted necrotizing fasciitis from a spider bite, the band was forced to find a temporary replacement. Araya remembers that time as a rough period, admitting that he considered it almost impossible to move on without Jeff.

"For me it was really difficult to make the decision to go on without Jeff," he said. "They started naming names to take his place, and I'm like, 'How can you guys even think about this? We can't do this without Jeff.' But we had to do something. Slayer, aside from being band members and really tight-knit, we are a business. Those are aspects of what we do that fans have a tough time understanding. So we had to make decisions because we were obligated to do these tours."

"It eats you up because you think 'Why can't I fix this guy?'" King concluded. "And it's not that he didn't want to be fixed . I mean, he didn't want to die. But he also couldn't help himself before it was too late."

Jeff Hanneman passed away on May 2 near his Southern California home after suffering a liver failure. He was 49.

Lemmy Health Scare Cancels Festival Show


Motorhead were forced to cancel a festival appearance at the weekend when front man Lemmy was diagnosed with a serious health issue.

The renown bassist has reportedly suffered a hematoma, where blood collects outside of blood vessels under the skin, according to Blabbermouth.

It looks quite unpleasant, judging by the wikipedia page for the ailment, and the effects can vary so it's not clear exactly how serious is it, but the fact that they were forced to cancel a festival appearance has concerned some fans.


It's not the first health concern for ol' Lemmy in recent months. He recently had a defibrillator fitted to help his heart beat normally after experiencing chest problems. Perhaps it's no surprise that Lemmy is finally hitting bad health, after decades of hedonism and allegedly drinking a whole bottle of Jack Daniels every day.
Meanwhile, Motorhead is planning to release a brand new album titled "Aftershock" in September, to follow their 2010 effort "The World Is Yours."

Black Metal Logo in 5 Easy Steps


Bands Confirmed For Bloodstock With Headliners Lamb Of God

Voivod, Sabaton and Wolfsbane are among the latest bands confirmed for this year’s Bloodstock Open Air festival with headliners Slayer, Lamb Of God and King Diamond.

The four day event will be held at, Derbyshire in the United Kingdom from August 8-11. Lamb Of God will headline the Ronnie James Dio stage on day three of the festival on Saturday, August 10. The performance will be LOG’s first appearance in the UK for 2013.

Also confirmed for the third day is Tobias Sammet’s Avantasia, Sabaton, Kataklysm, Hell, 3 Inches Of Blood and Dying Fetus.


Accept, Anthrax, Municipal Waste, Devil Driver, Exodus, Fozzy and Whitechapel have also been confirmed for the festival, with several more bands expected to be announced soon.

View the full Bloodstock Open Air line-up at This location.


Lamb of God's Mark Morton To Guest On New Unearth Album

Unearth guitarist Buz McGrath has revealed that Lamb Of God guitarist Mark Morton has recorded a bass solo for the band’s forthcoming sixth studio album.
 

Morton later confirmed the collaboration, when he told he would appear on, “about 8 measures” of the album.

Meanwhile, Unearth has announced they have parted ways with Metal Blade Records and will release their new album through eOne Music. Vocalist Trevor Phipps, explained the band’s decision in a statement posted online:

“A new chapter has begun for Unearth as we have found a few new places to call home. By joining forces with eOne (North America), Century Media (Europe), Howling Bull (Japan) and 3Wise (Australia) we will have a more focused attack from some of the most well known and respected labels in the world. We know this new beginning of sorts will bring bigger and better things for Unearth and our fans and we couldn’t be more excited for the future of all things Unearth.”

Phipps also gave an update on the new album: “We are currently in the studio recording some of the most aggressive, anthemic and energized metal we have ever written and we look forward to unleashing it to you all when it is finished.  Expect to hear more about our new album, release dates and future world wide touring plans later this summer.”

Avantasia - The Mystery Of Time Review



  Avantasia

    The Mystery of Time



Over the years since its initial inception in 2000, Tobias Sammet‘s Avantasia has moved out of the realm of a simple side-project, and many would regard it as his main musical focus to date. With a new album being released every two years, the rate of output has far exceeded that of his original band, Edguy. And as focus shifts, so does quality. While Edguy and Avantasia have both been highly enjoyable and exceptional projects from the get-go, the latter has increasingly grown in scope and grandeur(eh, kind of), while the former has become little more than a passing whim, with the majority of Sammet’s inspired ideas going towards Avantasia. This fact has irked many an Edguy fan, but for those simply looking for high caliber power metal releases, the sentimental attachment for Edguy can easily be forgotten in lieu of the sheer force that is Avantasia.


Like Edguy before it, Avantasia’s trajectory as a musical project has veered more and more away from its overly symphonic power  metal roots, and more into the domain of hard rock. Many a reviewer has ruminated on why that is, but let’s just chalk it up to a change in personal preference. With Avantasia’s newest effort, The Mystery of Time, the amount of hard rock influences has increased a fair amount; a fact that was fairly easy to foresee. Though, this isn’t to the determent of the music, as the hard rock elements are weaved effortlessly and appropriately into the power metal aspects, which are still the dominant focus of the music

Anyway, without further ado I’ll get to what you IMNs came here for if you didn’t already look for : the actual album review!


01. Spectres
02. The Watchmaker’s Dream
03. Black Orchid
04. Where Clock Hands Freeze
05. Sleepwalking
06. Savior in the Clockwork
07. Invoke the Machine
08. What’s Left of Me
09. Dweller in a Dream
10. The Mystery of Time



Tracks like ‘Invoke the Machine’ and ‘Dweller in a Dream‘ are the epitome of modern day Avantasia; showing off the slick and bombastic pomp of hard rock riffs mixed with wonderfully frantic keys and overtones of symphonic elements, such as rich sections of orchestral strings, and a heavy focus on the dual nature of the vocals; one being strikingly macho and the other being more elegant and for lack of a better word, feminine. This dichotomy within the song is a perfect representation of the record as a whole, cohesive entity, as some tracks border more on the side of power metal, while others verge into the hard rock territory. While this may seem like an incongruity, more often than not, the eventual outcome works surprisingly well.

With a tighter focus on the blending of elements comes a tighter album as whole. With the first five Avantasia, there was always a disparity of quality from one song to the next, with the albums as a whole being really impressive, while the individual songs suffered. This problem is mostly averted with The Mystery of Time, as each song is all at once a tiny piece of a greater whole, as well as its own insular being. The songs are primarily driven by the always outstanding vocal performance of Tobias Sammet, and on The Mystery of Time he really shines on tracks like the mid-paced rock track ‘Black Orchid’ and the pop ballad ‘Sleepwalking’, as well as the more grandiose affairs like ‘Spectres’. The Mystery of Time also boasts some of the tightest guitar work in the history of Avantasia, with wonderful work coming from Bruce Kulick, and Oliver Hartmann. Though, once again, the bass work really suffers, and there’s not a single memorable moment from Tobias Sammet’s bass duties, but that’s more endemic of the sub-genre as a whole rather than an isolated problem within Avantasia’s framework

Despite Sammet’s powerful vocal display, it needs to be said that the guest performances are far less exciting and memorable than any other Avantasia album to date. What makes a project like this so exciting should be the large list of notable names contributing, as well as a few unknowns peppered throughout in order to counter balance the “stars” as well as show off the caliber of the developing artists. In the past, the Avantasia albums (like the Ayreon albums they so wish to mimic) did this to an amazing effect, with established vocalists like Jorn Lande, and lesser know talents like Cloudy Yang stealing the show away from the project’s frontman. However, the element of surprise and wonderment at the guests is almost entirely gone from this album, as pretty much every guest singer and musician has appeared on at least one other Avantasia, and the ones who haven’t are used so sparingly that it’s hard to be all that excited about them anyway.

While the album is highly enjoyable, there are a few other problems therein. For starters, the longer more “grandiose” tracks like the eponymous album closer, ‘The Mystery of Time’, and ‘Savior in the Clockwork’ lack the fluidity that they should have, and often feel very choppy, not to mention far too long, but the problem of length could have been solved by more effectively blending the various movements within those songs. Sadly, that’s not the case. As these two tracks both stretch beyond the ten minute mark, effectively making up a good third of the album, this isn’t a little problem, and on repeated listens it can become quite grating. The other big problem I had with this record is the same problem I had with the last Edguy record, that being the production of Sascha Paeth. He’s not a bad producer by any stretch of the imagination, but as he has worked on nearly every Tobias Sammet release since 2005, his style and creativity with these projects seems to have run a bit dry, and the production work not only feels stale, but incredibly predictable and safe.

With all that said, The Mystery of Time is a remarkably entertaining record from the mind of  a songwriter and composer that just keeps getting better. While it’s hardly cool to listen to power metal at the moment (haters gonna hate), Avantasia is definitely a project that deserves more attention than it is currently getting. The Mystery of Time, with all it’s flair and pretentious pomp is an incredibly fluid, catchy, and just fun record.

OZZY OSBOURNE CAN’T REMEMBER THE ’90S


Nostalgia can be a creative stumbling block for a lot of our favorite classic rockers, but we probably don’t need to worry about Ozzy Osbourne getting stuck in the past — if only because he can’t seem to remember most of it.

The Black Sabbath frontman celebrated the band’s new album, ‘13,’ in a recent interview with Reuters, saying that the best thing about their return to active duty is that “we are still f—ing all alive to be in a band.”

Referencing his well-known struggles with addiction, Ozzy continued, “I don’t know about the rest of the guys, [but] I certainly had a good go at trying to kill myself with the alcohol and booze for all the years. I kind of missed the ’90s, you know? I must have been in a cocaine haze, because I can’t remember the ’90s at all.”

Fortunately, says Ozzy, all that’s behind him now. “We’ve all come out the other side, the other end. It is good to be back sober and clean [even though I have had] a hiccup now and again along the way,” he admitted. “I don’t get up and the first thing I say is that I will have a shot of brandy. I don’t do that or smoke cigarettes anymore. We are alive and it is a lot more more fun being sober and enjoying your fellow workers that you are working with.”

BLACK SABBATH ’13′ BONUS TRACKS – SONG REVIEWS


If the eight songs on Black Sabbath‘s just-released ‘13‘ aren’t enough new reunited Sabbath for you, four bonus tracks are available from a couple of different places, adding 20 minutes to the album’s 53-minute running time. But how do these bonus songs stack up against the rest of ’13′?

 ’Methademic’

The best of the bonus tracks, ‘Methademic’ (from the Deluxe Edition of the album), clocks in at six minutes, putting it closer to ’13”s sludgy sprawl than the other shorter extra cuts. It also packs a super-tough guitar riff by Tony Iommi, who plows through the chorus. Plus, Ozzy Osbourne checks in with a menacing chuckle around the halfway mark.



‘Peace of Mind’

Had ‘Peace of Mind’ made it onto ’13”s final track listing, it would be the album’s shortest song, coming in at a little more than three and a half minutes. But it really doesn’t fit into the album’s overall theme, sounding more like an Osbourne solo cut than a Black Sabbath song. Not bad, but not essential either. ‘Peace of Mind’ is also from the Deluxe Edition.



‘Pariah’

Another leftover from the ’13′ sessions, ‘Pariah’ (found on the Deluxe Edition of the album) — despite some lazy and clumsy rhymes — features an awesomely thick rhythm track and a powerful vintage-style crawl that speeds into a full-on rage once it picks up some speed. Not as good as ‘Methademic,’ but close. And it should have been on ’13.’



‘Naivete in Black

Unlike the other three bonus tracks, ‘Naivete in Black’ is available only on a bonus disc at Best Buy. And like ‘Peace of Mind,’ it has more in common with Osbourne’s solo work than a Sabbath cut — from its economical length (a little less than four minutes) to the melodic momentum that starts in the late ’80s and ends somewhere in the ’90s.



There’s also a live version of ‘Technical Ecstasy”s ‘Dirty Women,’ recorded in Australia this year, available on Spotify, which adds another seven minutes to ’13”s total running time.

The latest on Arch Enemy

Melodic Death Metal Band Arch Enemy has new music in the making, drummer Daniel Erlandsson recently posted a video clip of him on the drums on his Facebook page, from the looks of the video it was new tunes in the making for Arch Enemy's next album which is coming out sometime next year, the date is yet to be announced later on. Lead guitarist Michael Amott and Bassist Sharlee D'Angelo are currently touring with there side project Spiritual Beggars. Back in early 2012 it was announced Michael Amott's younger brother Christopher Amott also former guitarist of Arch Enemy was leaving the band, he was replaced by Nick Cordle former guitarist of the band Arsis. Fans are waiting anxiously on Arch Enemy's new music, but don't you worry fans there is a lot of new stuff yet to come.

Dream Theater: 'Systematic Chaos’ Album Review

First of all, this album art is atrocious. What the fuck do ants have to do with freeways? Is this supposed to be a grandiose concept about how we waste our lives in traffic? (I’m not a fan of rush hour either though trust me). Maybe the art fit the sonic aesthetics portrayed in single “Constant Motion”.
Freeways are fast and ants are…

oh
Anyway, without further ado I’ll get to what you IMNs came here for if you didn’t already look for Glass Prison tabs: the actual album review!
  1. In The Presence of Enemies Pt. 1
  2. Forsaken
  3. Constant Motion
  4. The Dark Eternal Night
  5. Repentance
  6. Prophets of War
  7. The Ministry of Lost Souls
  8. In The Presence of Enemies Pt. 2

The album starts out with some boring progressive parts, the synths sound like buzzsaws and I really think its a shame that this band has apparently been around for 20 years and still don’t know how to write a good breakdown, get with the times Dad Theater! They after four minutes, then decide to go and showcase their ability to create dynamics.
I hate dynamics. I like my metal compressed and STRAIGHT to the GODDAMN POINT. Totally not impressed.
The song then continues with some shit about some guy giving this other guy hope to become undead or like a vampire or some shit. But they don’t actually finish the song, it’s only one part. Apparently, they tried stealing from their dad-rock idols Pink Floyd about sandwiching an album with two parts of an epic . Thanks for giving me blue balls for waiting nine minutes for an 808 drop.
The next song ‘Forsaken’ sounds like post-reject-Evanescencecore (I mean what is more gothic than a piano interlude in D minor?) and it involves the same vampire that was mentioned in the previous song except they obviously wanted this one to be mainstream. I don’t respect that. No one knows about my favorite bands like Volumes, Emmure and The Acacia Strain. You guys are true if you do :3
Fuck this song. NEXT!
Constant Motion’ seems to be aptly titled because it seems to just cycles through boring motif through boring motif. There is finally a beat down at the beginning of the song but its totally weak and had no bass drops. Dafuq. It’s cool these guys are great at soloing but they really need to learn how to write music. I don’t think they know that frets are the enemy and must know that aggressively palm-muting strings is the way to the promised land of success.
Finally we see some interesting things happen in ‘The Dark Eternal Night’! Drummer Mike Portnoy shows that he is hip enough to tap into more modern music by rapping over this song. He would obviously buy a PS4 unlike his bandmates who would get Xbox None. This is a true hero. This song is also pretty heavy but then gets back to progwank and thats when I click NEXT
I’m not really too into ‘Repentance’. It’s all mellow and shit, and it’s obviously about a narcissist who can’t stop looking at himself in a mirror and is emo about life. Like JESUS dude, that Falling in Reverse shirt doesn’t look THAT cool! The band then invites all their friends (there are seven of them, I counted) to lament over things they regret not doing over the song’s outro to add emotional weight to an otherwise stale riff. NEXT.
‘Prophets of War’ feels like something Muse would do with Skrillex except Mr. Skrillex was too busy taking Matt Bellamy’s wife out for sushi, some cold hard quickies and didn’t show up. The pseudo-Queen vocal harmonies courtesy of cool dad Mike Portnoy is followed by some more of his sick rhymes, but overall this song is plague. Delete.
Ministry of Lost Souls’? More like ‘Ministry of Snores’.
After what feels like an eternity, we are finally at the last song of the album. ‘In The Presence of Enemies Pt. 2” reveals a STUNNING AND UNEXPECTED PLOT TWIST:

The vampire is actually evil and commands its vampire fledgling to destroy everything including flesh and blood of rebels. Kind of metal, but I prefer Emmure’s lyrical matter, Frankie Palmeri is a fucking genius and I feel his love for Street Fighter II The New Challengers
After fifteen minutes, this song is finally over and so is this review.



MEGADETH: 'Super Collider' Sales Revealed


MEGADETH's new album, "Super Collider", sold 29,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 6 on The Billboard 200 chart. The record arrived in stores on June 4 via MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine's new label, Tradecraft, distributed by Universal Music Enterprises (UMe). The disc follows up "TH1RT3EN", which opened with 42,000 units back in November 2011 to enter the chart at No. 11. The band's 2009 CD, "Endgame", premiered with 45,000 copies to debut at No. 9. This was slightly less than the 54,000 first-week tally registered by 2007's "United Abominations", which entered the chart at No. 8. 2004's "The System Has Failed" premiered with 46,000 copies (No. 18) while 2001's "The World Needs A Hero" moved 61,000 units in its first week (No. 16).

"Super Collider" track listing:

01. Kingmaker
02. Super Collider
03. Burn!
04. Built For War
05. Off The Edge
06. Dance In The Rain
07. Beginning Of Sorrow
08. The Blackest Crow
09. Forget To Remember
10. Don't Turn Your Back…
11. Cold Sweat

The album is available as a limited-edition CD with 3-D cover and bonus tracks, regular CD, regular LP, limited LP plus a bonus colored seven-inch single with two bonus tracks, and a download voucher.

The track "Super Collider", which was premiered on Full Metal Jackie's nationally syndicated radio metal show on April 20, was released digitally on April 23 via iTunes.

"That song kind of came from that 'Symphony Of Destruction' corner of my mind," Mustaine told Guitar World magazine. "You can't always play aggressive, thrashy stuff. Sometimes those aren't even songs; they're like musical rams. But because I'm not a pop guy, I'm also not really comfortable playing sing-along songs. To me, 'Super Collider' made sense like a normal song — a verse-chorus-verse-chorus kind of thing. It's written the way a real songwriter would write the song, instead of just taking all these musical twists and turns."

"Super Collider" is MEGADETH's first release since the band's recent split with Roadrunner Records.

MEGADETH filmed a video for the "Super Collider" title track on May 10 in the Los Angeles area. California-based model, actress, singer and songwriter Hunter Elizabeth was cast in the lead role in the clip, which she says is "about a high-school couple still loving each other after all the years after graduation, and at the 10-year reunion, both characters find themselves successful (a model and a mathematician) and still very in love."

THE TOP 25 METAL DRUMMERS



Did you have as much fun reading our list of  Top 25  Metal Drummers ? Are you feeling a little glum that now it’s over?


Well turn that frown upside down — because we’ve collected the entire list in one place for your convenience. So now you can relive the excitement, the adventure, and the magic!!!


And now, the full list:


1: Scott Hull (Agoraphobic Nosebleed)

2: Mario Duplantier (Gojira)

3: Danny Walker (Intronaut, Exhumed, Jesu, etc)

4: Brann Dailor (Mastodon)

5: Tomas Haake (Meshuggah)

6: Gene Hoglan

7: Danny Carey (Tool)

8: Proscriptor McGovern (Absu)

9: Chris Adler (Lamb of God)

10: Sean Reinert (Cynic)

11: Dave Witte

12: Navene Koperweis (Animals as Leaders, Animosity, Fleshwrought)

13: Dirk Verbeuren (Soilwork, Scarve)

14: Kevin Talley

15: Morgan Rose (Sevendust)

16: Stef Broks (Textures)

17: Blake Richardson (Between the Buried and Me)

18: Aesop Dekker (Agalloch, Ludicra, Worm Ouroboros)

19: Shannon Lucas (The Black Dahlia Murder)

20: Ben Koller (Converge, All Pigs Must Die, United Nations, Acid Tiger)

21: Dave Lombardo (Slayer, Fantômas, Grip Inc., Philm)

22: Paul Bostaph

23: Phil Dubois-Coyne (Revocation)

24: Jade Simonetto (Hate Eternal)

25: Mike Portnoy (Adrenaline Mob)

Lamb Of God Is Working On Their New Album


 

The new Protest The Hero album – which was given a huge helping hand by an immensely successful Kickstarter campaign – will feature a very special guest in the shape of Lamb Of God drummer Chris Adler.

Slayer announce that Paul Bostaph has rejoined the band on a full-time basis.


Slayer's Tom Araya and Kerry King are very pleased to announce that Paul Bostaph has rejoined the band on a full-time basis. Bostaph will be behind the drum kit beginning June 4 when Slayer kicks off the first leg of its 2013 international tour in Warsaw, Poland. Gary Holt will continue to fill in for fallen guitarist Jeff Hanneman.

Slayer's 2013 itinerary will have them playing 35 dates that will include headline shows as well as a number of major summer festivals in Europe, Eastern Europeand South America between June and October. The complete itinerary is below.

"Paul's a great drummer and a good friend, and we're very happy that he's decided to rejoin the band," said Tom Araya. "We're still pretty numb from the loss of Jeff, but we don't want to disappoint our European fans, and we need to begin moving forward...havin ­­g Paul back in the band makes that a whole lot easier."

"I'm very excited to be rejoining Slayer," added Bostaph. "We spent a very intense ten years of our lives together, had a lot of fun, made a lot of great music, so for me, this feels like coming home."

Bostaph was Slayer's drummer from 1992 until 2001 and recorded four albums with the band - the Gold certified Divine Intervention (1994), the 1996 punk covers album Undisputed Attitude, Diabolus in Musica, (1998), God Hates us All (2001) that received a Grammy nomination for "Best Metal Performance," as well as the DVD War at the Warfield (2001), also certified Gold. In addition to Slayer, Bostaph has been a member of Forbidden, Exodus, Systematic and Testament.

Behemoth revealed the title of their forthcoming album.


Polish metal titans Behemoth have revealed the title of their forthcoming tenth album.


The band have been holed up in Hertz Studios working on ‘The Satanist’ which is due for release in the Autumn via Nuclear Blast.


Commenting on the new album, frontman Nergal said: “It took us over two decades to come up with a title that…says it all. While our new songs artistically take surprisingly adventurous directions, our message stands steadfast—Proud and Radical. ‘The Satanist’ stands for undying yearning for liberation and love for freedom in all aspects of life. Considering all our life experiences that often took dramatic curves I couldn’t think of more appropriate and fitting statement of who and where we are now.”


So, without further ado, here’s 6.66 reasons why the new Behemoth album is going to slay:


1 – Nergal has been to Hell and back since Behemoth released the earth shattering ’Evangelion’ back in 2009. From legal bouts with the Catholic church in Poland to his battle against Leukemia, ’The Satanist’ will no doubt see the band at their most venomous.


2 – A new Behemoth album means there’ll be new Behemoth singles, which in turn means there’ll be new Behemoth videos and if the efforts from ‘Evangelion’ are anything to go by, then there’ll be utterly incredible. Don’t just take our word for it, here’s the mind blowing clip for ‘Lucifer’…

Behemoth - "LUCIFER" Official Video



3 – In 2012, we caught Behemoth at a string of European festivals, culminating with their spellbinding headline performance at Bloodstock. The band have the power, the passion and the pyro to take their live show to even bigger stages across the globe, don’t expect to see them in a small venue anytime soon, that’s for sure.


4 – Christians to the lions. Given Nergal’s recent legal battles with the Catholic church in Poland, there’s no doubting that religion will come under even more scrutiny on the band’s forthcoming effort.


5 - Behemoth are no strangers to cover versions, virtually every release has had a cover tucked away somewhere. Perhaps ‘The Satanist’ will finally see this glorious live favourite committed to tape.



6.66 – The album’s called ‘The Satanist’ – it doesn’t get more extreme than that. This will, without doubt, be Behemoth’s mission statement, their call to arms, their definitive entry in the annals of metal.

Happy Birthday Tom Araya!


Today marks Slayer frontman and all round badass Tom Araya’s 51st birthday. So, Metalhead Spotted would like to raise the horns and let out a raptorous ‘Angel Of Death’ scream for the man!

ANCIIENTS ADDED TO LAMB OF GOD TOUR






Unsigned & Streamed vets Anciients, who’s Season of Mist debut Heart of Oak is out now, have landed the opening slot on the Lamb of God tour. Check out the dates here.

Tour dates after the jump.
6/6 Fargo ND @ The Venue
6/7 Madison WI @ Orpheum Theater
6/8 Lincoln NE @ Bourbon Theater
6/9 Wichita KS @ The Cotillion
6/10 Tulsa OK @ Cain’s Ballroom
6/12 Ft. Wayne IN @ Pierre’s
6/13 Rochester NY @ Water Street Music Hall
6/14 Atlantic City NJ @ House of Blues
6/15 Montebello QC @ Montebello Marina/D Tox Fest
6/16 Portland ME @ State Theater
6/18 Worcester MA @ Palladium Ballroom
6/19 Baltimore MD @ Rams Head
6/20 Norfolk BA @ The Norva

BEHEMOTH DROPS OFF OF MAYHEM FEST


This year’s Mayhem Fest will now be at least a little bit calmer: Behemoth have dropped off the tour. Explains Nergal via Facebook:
“This must have been the most difficult decision we were forced to make in recent years. Behemoth is known for not canceling any shows or tours. But this is not something we can do whenwe are missing our driving force, the man behind the drums – Inferno. Unfortunately, he was hospitalized due to appendix surgery and it’s gonna take him few months to fully recover and get back to shape. We are trying to save selected European Festivals with a fill in drummer (Krimh,ex-Decapitated), but we won’t be risking doing a full-on prestigious tour like the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival without Inferno. Behemoth is a solid unit and any part of this unit missing makes us weaker, and that is not how we want to present our new material to our fans. Please, accept our apologies and be patient, we shall return to Europe (this fall) and US (early 2014) empowered and motivated as never before!”
The decision NOT to carry on without a key member of the band is pretty admirable in this day and age, when seemingly no band member is too important to be replaced (not thinking of anyone in particular, honest Injun). Still, this is a major bummer — Behemoth are awesome live, even in the blistering heat and bright daylight, and now North American fans seem to be looking at a minimum of six months before they’ll get to see the band in concert again. Sigh. At least we’re getting a new ‘Hemoth* album, The Satanist, this fall.

And there are still plenty of good bands on the latest edition of Mayhem, including Mastodon, Amon Amarth, Machine Head, Children of Bodom, and Job for a Cowboy.

*I’ve decided to nickname them as of right now. ‘HEMOTH!

DYING FETUS To Tour Canada In August


Canada, prepare to have your ears pounded into submission by the jams of slamming death metal titans Dying Fetus. The band will be travelling to Canada this Fall for a handful of shows that begin in late August. A full North American tour is reportedly also in the works. Canadian readers, please go to one of these shows.


08/23 Clifton Park, NY – Trick Shot
08/24 Hamilton, ON – Club Absinthe
08/25 Montreal, QC – Les Foufounes Electriques
08/26 Rimouski, QC – Le Cactus
08/27 Quebec City, QC – Imperial
08/29 Sherbrooke, QC – Le Magog
08/30 Jonquiere, QC – Place Nikitoutagan
09/02 Ottawa, ON – Maverick’s
09/03 Providence, RI – King of Clubs

Records of the Month – April 2013


April has not been a disappointing month. In fact, April has seen our highest scores yet of 2013 as things begin to ramp up. And that’s good because sweet jeebus this year has been looking pretty mediocre-to-bad so far. However, something not really expected, is that this month it wasn’t Amorphis or Ghost or any of the other big names that really rocked our worlds. Instead the world rockin’ came from less expected places on the spectrum. Following here…



The Record o’ the Month for April 2013 is The Ocean Pelagial. I can assure you that this was entirely unexpected from my part. When I received the promo for Pelagial I was interested, but I can’t say that I was expecting it to be mind-blowing. I had previously enjoyed Heliocentric very much, but been entirely underwhelmed and disappointed in its followup Anthropocentric. While the former felt fresh—progressive, experimental, interesting and fun—the latter was banal and I couldn’t see what all the cranky dudes (and it is always dudes who get cranky) in my comment field were going on about. To put it frankly, I was disappoint. Especially after Heliocentric had really inspired me in ways unexpected from a band I knew nothing about.

Pelagial, like its predecessors, is a concept piece. But this is a very different record. While there may have been a lack of subtlety to the previous thematic approach, Pelagial shows a development in this department. Not only has the band combined the excellent progressive aspects of Heliocentric with the heavier bits from Anthropocentric, but the presentation is huge – and it grows. There are two parallel pieces happening simultaneously within Pelagial. The first is an album that musically delves into the depths of the ocean—diving through the different aquatic layers (Epipelagic, Mesopelagic, Bathyalpelagic, Abyssopelagic, Hadopelagic, Demersal and finally Benthic). Like the ocean, the pressure builds as one gets deeper. Layer for layer, the record puts new details and heaviness into every new track, culminating in funeral doom crushingness on final track “Benthic.”

Lyrically, this is a record about delving into our psychology. So here the story also digs deeper and deeper into the conscious mind, using the oceanic layers and pressure as an analogy. The result is two brilliant records: the instrumental album which is immense, perfect and never lacking in interesting pieces. Metal lacks really great instrumental metal that isn’t tech wankery, and The Ocean fill that gap artfully. But also, the lyrical album continues to impress and grow. The concept fits perfectly with the music, which is a single piece of music from start to finish, and is evocative, emotional and smart. The Ocean have nailed it. This conceptually perfect record is my favorite of the year so far. Jens Bogren’s production (what isn’t this guy producing these days?) is clinical, which for this band works perfectly. Every note is in its place, every track mixed perfectly and the sound is at times delicate, at times crushing and meets a wide variety in between these extremes.

Pelagial is the first record I’ve heard in 2013 that already belongs on my end of year list. It has a few months to gestate, though at this rate it’s only grown on me, but it is something I continue to come back to. My only knock on it is the length, but that’s just ’cause I’m a busy dude with hardcore Angry Metal Attention Deficit Disorder. But this is the kind of record that makes you want to break out your best earphones and lay in the dark getting lost in the depths of The Ocean‘s vision.

Eldkraft – Shaman Review



Shaman is the debut album from Sweden’s Eldkraft, a group who attempt to unite the ancient and mystic with the epic and contemporary. Their conceptual influences are Norse mythology and pagan rituals, especially those concerned with transition, growth and spiritual journeys. Their sound, however, does not have the folksy old-fashioned quality that one might expect; instead, they have gone for modern production and complex instrumentation that makes them sound considerably more grand and expansive than one would expect from a three-piece. This combines to make Shaman a strong and sometimes startling debut.

The album is not without flaws. J. Sandin, who performs all of the vocals, is not consistent in his performance, and some of the layering choices are odd. The vocals are the one element of the album that sound over-produced. Some vocal layers are too distant while others are brought too starkly to the fore, and sometimes the way the different vocal parts are folded together can sometimes be jarring. There are other moments where is works well, and most often when the vocals are left alone, Sandin’s voice can stand on its own just fine (his snarls are especially fine). This indicates a bit of nervousness, and a cooler head and looser reign will produce better results in the future.

Another major criticism I have of Shaman is it’s pacing and length. At a towering 55 minutes, the album is undeniably excessive, and while there is no single song that stands out as obviously the weakest, some judicious cutting would have served the album well. The moody tone of many of the songs and mid-tempo, even woozy pacing can also make the album drag.

When Shaman is at it’s most stirring, it is also its strongest. “Fate’s Door” is driven forward by a powerful march and military drumming, making is a great track to pump a fist along to. “Modor liv til grav” is another excellent example of a song that’s emotive, even soulful, but constantly pressing forward and full of energy. The blackened elements on this song are also strong, adding a crisper tone and emotional bleakness that suits the album well.

The final track, “Rimthurs,” is a bit out of place: an atmospheric track composed of deep, gutteral chanting and ambient effects, it stands out on the rest of the album and belies the clean, modern aesthetic of a lot of the songs. While it certainly wouldn’t be out of place on most pagan or Viking metal albums, it does go against the aesthetic that Eldkraft have established for most of the album.

There is a lot to pick apart on Eldkraft‘s debut, Shaman, but in this case it is an example nitpicking out of affection. There is a lot of potential here for a unique approach to a familiar aesthetic, and little would make me happier than watching this band continue to innovate and thrive. With stricter, more brutal editing, a leaner album, and additional creative confidence, I suspect their next album will be a much more polished gem to Shaman’s rich yet rough ore

Napalm Records goes for more goth-metal



Sure, I think we all need a break from the endless waves of retro-death, retro-thrash and black metal (which is by definition retro). Lacrimas Profundere has been around forever and over the past five or six albums, they've settled into a comfort zone of glum, goth-rock in the same vein as Entwine, H.I.M., To Die For and naturally they include plenty of nods to The Cure and The Cult. While one can hammer them for essentially releasing Ave End over and over again, their knack for keeping things catchy and lively continue to draw me back time after time. While I think their Filthy Notes For Frozen Hearts was their best release in this cycle, I was more than pleased with 2010s The Grandiose Nowhere and still spin it pretty often when that urge to be morose hits me." Steel Druhm is on a goth-metal kick, so you all must deal with it and play along until we go back to death metal 24/7.

Alice Cooper and Marilyn Manson Announce Tour Dates

Alice Cooper and Marilyn Manson will be touring together this June, starting at Red Rocks in Colorado and winding up in Rockford, Illinois. Both Cooper and Manson are (in)famous for their dramatic, horror-inspired performances, cashing in on violence, eroticism, and general shock value to become icons of the disaffected, and it is only fitting that the “Masters of Madness” finally come together in a tour that promises to be a thrilling spectacle.


Alice Cooper, Marilyn Manson, 2013 tour
Tour Dates:

    Jun 03 – Red Rocks, Morrison, CO
    Jun 04 – USANA Amphitheatre, Salt Lake City, UT
    Jun 06 – Gibson Amphitheatre at Universal City Walk, Los Angeles, CA (possibly canceled?)
    Jun 07 – AVA Amphitheatre, Tuscon, AZ
    Jun 08 – UTEP / Don Haskins Center, El Paso, TX
    Jun 10 – Verizon Theatre, Grand Prairie, TX
    Jun 13 – Jacobs Pavilion, Cleveland, OH
    Jun 15 – Marina Montebello, Montebello, QC
    Jun 17 – Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD
    Jun 18 – Sovereign Performing Arts Center, Reading, PA
    Jun 20 – Meadowbrook U.S. Cellular Pavilion, Gilford, NH
    Jun 23 – Stage AE, Pittsburgh, PA
    Jun 25 – Family Arena, St. Charles, MO
    Jun 28 – BMO Harris Bank Center, Rockford, IL

DAVE MUSTAINE DOES A BELLY DANCE, AND NAMES HIS BAND AFTER TOOTHPASTE



In 1989, I received a gift certificate for a record store called Bambuco, in Bogota's Unicentro shopping mall. I eagerly anticipated the day that I'd be able to use the certificate, since I was already devoting pretty much every waking moment of my day to thinking about metal bands, drawing concerts by metal bands, designing logos for metal bands and so on. This being late 80s Colombia, however, the selection of metal records at local stores was almost always limited to one Ozzy record, and maybe another by the Europe (authors of that timeless classic, the Final Countdown). With that in mind, imagine my surprise when Bambuco had a copy of Megadeth's So Far, So Good, So What on their shelves, among several copies of the latest Julio Iglesias album. Though Megadeth was didn't interest me much, the thought of being able to buy something heavier than Europe was intoxicating, so I got it. Upon taking it home, I was blown away by the speed in the opening track, but hated the whiny vocals, even then. Nevertheless, I was thrilled.

Soon after I got home and listened to the record a few times, my brother called from a friend's house. I was so excited to tell him about the record, that I made a simple mistake that continues to haunt me to this day. I told him, "I got a new record! It's awesome, but I don't know if you'll like it. It's by the band Mentadent". Yes ladies and gentlemen, in my excitement, I had neglected to realize the band's actual name, and had confused it with the brand of toothpaste that had been recently released in Colombia.

And now, to celebrate this story, I bring you this animated GIF that I put together for all of you. Enjoy it, and if you link to it, or post it somewhere, please be kind enough to credit Metalhead Spotted. I mean, after all, how many sites tell you unbelievably thrilling stories about thinking a band was named after toothpaste?

Paul Bostaph Returns Behind The Kit For Slayer



It’s been a strange few months to be a Slayer fan. With the unfortunate loss of the legend that was Hanneman and the departure of Lombardo, it’s been a rocky ride. However, the band have announced that drummer Paul Bostaph has returned to the band for their upcoming tour dates, replacing the aforementioned Lombardo, with Araya stating:

Behemoth Announce New Album ‘The Satanist’



Good to see that Nergal’s recent legal troubles haven’t made him go soft, then. Polish death metal icons.Behemoth have announced that their brand new album The Satanist will land this Autumn via Nuclear Blast.

“It took us over two decades to come up with a title that… says it all,” explains our Nergy Nerg. “While our new songs artistically take surprisingly adventurous directions, our message stands steadfast — proud and radical. The Satanist stands for undying yearning for liberation and love for freedom in all aspects of life. Considering all our life experiences that often took dramatic curves, I couldn’t think of more appropriate and fitting statement of who and where we are now.”

This will be the first Behemoth album since Nergal’s battle against leukaemia and, we reckon, absolutely monstrous.

WHO ARE THE TOP TEN METAL LYRICISTS?


Justin M. Norton over at Invisible Oranges has been killing it this week. Yesterday, he wrote a really great piece about entitled “Why Ghost Matters,” which you should definitely check out, especially if, for some reason, you’re still not convinced that those Swedes are the real deal; now, he’s unveiled his list of the Top 10 Metal Lyricists, which, I imagine, will cause exactly the kind of shit storm that makes the internet so damn fun in the first place.
And, hey, I don’t agree with all of his inclusions (although I certainly agree with some of ‘em, like one Mr. J.R. Hayes from Pig Destroyer). But, again, the debate is what’s so much fun about these kinds of things. Lists don’t really “mean” anything — they’re just the opinions of one individual or a group of individuals. But what’s great about them is that they get people thinking; even if you disagree with the choices, you have to figure out a way to articulate exactly why you disagree with the choices, to hopefully come up with a retort more sophisticated than “You’re wrong and you’re a douche for disagreeing with me.” (Although, clearly, some internetters fall back on that “reasoning,” too.)

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