Listen to some music... (UPDATED)

Here is a tune from Daath's latest album "The Concealers". I actually think it's pretty decent stuff, if not a tad generic.



UPDATE: Job For A Cowboy's new song has been pulled off YouTube due to copyright by Metal Blade, so now I'm updating with a sampling of current Sepultura frontman Derick Green's new band Music Diablo. Check it out below. The band is putting the finishing touches on the album now.





UPDATE 2: More music, from the band Warbeast (formerly known as Texas Metal Alliance). They have an album coming out via Phil Anselmo's Housecore Records late in 2009.

This band's vocalist is none other than Bruce Corbitt of Rigor Mortis (a thrash band that started up in '83).

If you haven't hear Corbitt's previous work it sounds similar to Oderus Urungus of GWAR or Rob Flynn from Machine Head (who also reminds me of Oderus). Of course, Corbitt came before either band. The songs on this gadget remind me of some old school thrash with a groove though, so give it a listen!

Dead Head: 20 Years of Thrash (Plus: NAHEMAH Video)

Check out this 20th anniversary video from Dutch thrash metal band Dead Head. I sadly never heard of this band until now, but the music playing in the video sounds cool and any band playing metal for over 20 years, despite a lack of fame and fortune deserves some props in my book!

The band's latest CD is called "Depression Tank" and is out now.

UPDATE: I decided to bump this up, because after listening to that opening song in the video a few times, I think this band played a cool batch of thrash, that holds up to this day better than some of the more popular bands. Don't stop rockin'!

Dead Head - 20 years anniversary


I'm not sure what to think of this video by Spanish "prog-rock/art-metal" band NAHEMAH for a song called "The Perfect Depth of Mermaids". The yelling stuff is pretty standard, but the clean vocals mixed add an atmospheric element to the song.

This is the first I've heard of em', so I didn't know what they would sound like at the time. Another bunch of hipsters or something cool? Guess I'll let you decide...

Their album "A New Constellation" comes out June 23 in the States.

Heaven and Hell Release Children's Biblical Cartoon: "Bible Black"

Heaven and Hell's new album "The Devil You Know" is out tomorrow! And to celebrate here is the new video for the first rockin' single, "Bible Black".

The song is cool, but I would rather see a video with the dudes in the band rocking out and Dio giving the devil horns than this cheese. Why did you have to start this terrible trend of shitty computerized videos Iron Maiden???

Why did Judas Priest and Saxon have to follow suit? And why did Dio also think this was a good idea? The world may never know, but at least we can all stare at a picture of Ronnie James Dio looking metal while listening to the song!

(Note: I do think that this video is better than the previously mentioned bands computerized videos, but I'm ready for some real videos again.)

Megadeth and Slayer Team Up to Fight Crime... I mean... Tour!

It turns out that the rumors going around about Megadeth and Slayer taking part in a co-headlining tour are true. It was announced today that the thrash legends will be touring together along with Machine Head and Suicide Silence for our neighbors to the north. That's right so far, there are only four dates with this line-up and they are all in Canada!

More than likely you can expect tour dates to be announced in the States shortly, or else there are going to a lot of pissed off Americans!

As for the opening bands... meh! It seems like Machine Head, despite my feelings of them being only a mediocre band, are always picked to open for the big name metal acts.

Why not get a band like God Forbid that deserves more exposure, or at least a cooler band like Gojira to kick ass opening up for this tour. Better yet, do some research and get a lesser known band that deserves some publicity a chance (yeah, I know that the labels probably put this stuff together).

As for Suicide Silence, I think they could have found a better fit. There are a ton of bands that sound similar to this right now, that are actually doing it better. But who am I to judge?

Rob Zombie Reveals H2: Halloween 2 Trailer

Now, I'm not one to talk about movies all the time on a metal Web site, but horror movies go hand in hand with metal music. Even if those horror movies happen to be remakes of one of the more successful horror movie franchises of all time.

I'm not sure why people are calling it H2: Halloween 2 because that seems kind of redundant, but the trailer actually looks like the movie could have some promise. Although, like many of the comments I've seen, I have to agree that Sheri Moon Zombie still isn't that great of an actress, but the rest looks cool.

Good to see Zombie making the movie his own and maybe now he will actually be able to write another album that is beyond mediocre this time around.

Black Death Metal: Sanctification "Storm" Music Video

The death metal band Sanctification released a music video for the song "Storm". It features Emperor Magus Caligula from black metal band Dark Funeral in full wacky corpse paint on vocals.

I am not sure what I think of this song, I mean the guitars are cool enough, but how can you have death metal with no solos???



P.S. Speaking of death metal, check out this awesome death metal band Band of Wookies the guys at the Deciblog found! (Yes it's a joke and yes it's funny)

Check out the Official Band of Wookies MySpace

Heaven and Hell: "The Devil You Know" Streaming Now!

Randy here, updating with one more awesome piece of news. For a limited time only you can stream the new Heaven and Hell album "The Devil You Know" which is set to come out next Tuesday (April 28).

Turn up your volume full blast and listen courtesy of VH1's The Leak.

Brutal Legend: The Most METAL Videogame Ever

It was announced today that the heavy metal game Brütal Legend will be released for the Xbox360 and PS3 on October 16, 2009.

If you aren't in the know Brütal Legend is a third-person action game that tells the story of roadie Eddie Riggs (voiced by Jack Black). After he gets hit in the head during a stage accident, Riggs winds up entering an alternate dimension that resembles a mix of famous heavy metal album covers.

He also finds out the evil emperor Doviculus is enslaving the last of the human race. Naturally the goal of the game is to prevent this.

Also featured in the game is the voicework of Rob Halford from Judas Priest, Lemmy from Motorhead and Dio from Heaven and Hell and of course Dio. This game should be sure to please any heavy metal fan and you can check out more information at the official Brütal Legend Web site.



Recently it seems like more and more kids are getting into classic metal through games like Guitar Hero: Metallica and Rock Band, so I think this can only be a good thing for the future of heavy metal, even if it isn't exactly kvlt to be in a videogame.

Some might even be inspired to pick up instruments because of these games (and hopefully put down the Doritos).

Thinking of this game made me reminisce the days of playing one of my favorite lesser known rock n' roll games on the Super Nintendo, also known as Revolution X. The game features Aerosmith and Steven Tyler throws you his keys to a sweet ride at one point in the game, so what is cooler than that (see second video)?

Check out the craptastic videos below (the last one is the best):

Burning Human Track: "Tormented Mind" Available at Metalsucks.net

You might better know Jason Bittner for his drumming in Shadows Fall, but recently he has been slamming the skins for death metal band Burning Human who actually sound pretty good, if not a little generic.

You can download the track "Tormented Mind" for FREE courtesy of the dudes over at metalsucks.net. Just right click on the download button and hit "save link as" and you are good to go.

Burning Human's first self-titled CD is out today.



And while we are on the topic of metal bands with Shadows Fall members, I finally listened to some of the latest Overcast release "Reborn to Kill Again" and it is rockin' (Overcast features Shadows Fall vocalist Brian Fair and Killswitch Engage bassist Mike D' Antonio).

Brian Fair sounds more like he used to on the Shadows Fall albums "Of One Blood" and "The Art of Balance", so it is worth checking out.



Lets hope the guys in Shadows Fall can put together something better than the mediocre "Threads of Life" album for their next release!

Other notable new metal releases out today include:

+Daath: "The Concealers"
+Chimaira: "The Infection"
+Lacuna Coil: "Shallow Life"

Also today marks the release of Iron Maiden documentary "Flight 666".

Don't forget that The Metal Show airs from 6-7PM TONIGHT only on KRUI 89.7 Iowa City, Iowa!

Slipknot Sulfur Music Video

Hope you all are having a very metal Saturday afternoon. Today Slipknot released a new video for the song "Sulfur", making it the third single from the album "All Hope is Gone".

The video was created by the same dude who did that last two, so it has a similar vibe to the others. Nothing too crazy here. Just some straight-up mainstream metal, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Watch it below.

Slipknot - New Music - More Music Videos

Also I might as well put up the recent Hammerfall video for the song "By Any Means Necessary" off the album "No Sacrifice, No Victory" in stores now. Power metal cheese aside, it's another decent rockin' tune.

Any Means Necessary video clip

Record Store Day is METAL!

Saturday, April 18, 2009, marks the second annual celebration of Record Store Day. A day that celebrates the little guy, those record stores that supply us with heavy metal CDs and vinyl. Listed below you will find some of the cool record stores/suppliers right here in Iowa City.

Check out more info about the day and events at the official Web site.

Do yourself a favor and visit one of these stores and let them know that they need to keep carrying the metal music!

Record Collector



Location:

116 South Linn Street
Iowa City, IA
(319) 337-5029

Why it rocks:

Record Collector has a big collection of, you guessed it, records. The store also carries new cds and has a special order service. They usually have some good metal releases in stock too. If you are an audiophile, then you can buy yourself a brand new record player there for the ultimate sound experience. Nothing represents old school thrash like vinyl does. Record Collector sells used record players too. Check this place out!

Real Compact Discs and Records



Location:

203 North Linn Street
Iowa City, IA 52245
(319) 341-7800

Why it rocks:

Real Compact Discs and Records is right inside the Northside Book Market. The store has a decent amount of new cds and vinyls, but it doesn't have much of a metal selection. However, you can call in to the number listed above and tell the store what you want and they will order it via one-day shipping and call you when it has arrived. Do this in advance of the new releases and they will get them in earlier than most retail stores would!

Now that's service!

Sweet Livin' Antiques and Art



Location:

940 Gilbert Court (not Gilbert Street)
Iowa City, IA
(319) 337-5015

Why it Rocks:

Sweet Livin' is home to largest selection of used vinyl in the area! It has a lot of variety and is the place to go if you are looking for old school vinyl. Also you can spin the vinyl in store before you buy it, which is a really cool thing for them to let you do.

Rusty Records



Location:

113 South Linn Street
Iowa City, IA

Why it rocks:

Look at the front of that store! It reminds me of the Megadeth "Rust in Peace" album cover!

This store is located right by Record Collector. It has a real "hippie vibe" if you will, but you should see it at least once. This place only sells used CDs and vinyls, but I saw Down- "Nola" for only 6 bucks used. That is a pretty good deal if you ask me.

Also below is the coolest thing going for the day that I have seen so far...

Most Metal Record Store Event:



Florida death metalers CANNIBAL CORPSE will take part in a signing session at Exclusive Company in Greenfield, Wisconsin on "Record Store Day" (Saturday, April 18). The event will begin at 2:00 p.m.

The details are as follows:

Exclusive Company
5026 S. 74th Street
Greenfield, WI 53220
414-281-6644

Also check out this article discussing the "resurgence" of metal vinyl.

Remember to support local music and record stores!

New Streaming Tunes from Chimaira and Agoraphobic Nosebleed

If you are like me, you like to get your hands on all the new music you can, so here are links to two bands that are streaming music online RIGHT NOW! Although it's probably for a limited time only.

Chimaira has a new CD called, "The Infection", which is advertised as being "available at Target for only $8.99". While Target is not very metal, Chimaira is a decent metal band, although I admittedly, don't listen to em' much.

From what I have heard of the new album, it seems to be a decent album with lots of groove. This month's Decibel magazine gave it a 6 out of 10 in the reviews section, which is about right (starts to feel a little samey halfway through).

Check it out for yourself here.



Also the Massachusetts grindcore innovators in Agoraphobic Nosebleed are streaming new music on their Web site (album is called "Agorapocalypse". I usually am not a huge fan of grindcore and drum machines, but this stuff is kind of cool and full of energy.

Listen to it on the band's Web site now.



Have a rockin' weekend and crank the metal!

Slayer is METAL!

Sorry for the lack of recent updates, but I promise you there will be more and very soon! Until then, watch this awesome video from the metal masters in Slayer.

"Seasons in the Abyss" is one of my favorite metal albums and songs. Sometimes everything just connects in a piece of music and this is one of those instances.

Vader Gets the Big Label Treatment

So I read that Vader joined the ranks of Nuclear Blast Records today. Congrats to the dudes for rockin' death metal for so many years and keeping at it in the true spirit of all that is metal. To celebrate I am posting an old-school video, in fact, it's Vader's first music video for the song "Dark Age".

So enjoy in the true spirit of death metal, grainy video and all!



Also these guys do a mean death metal cover of "Raining Blood". It's faster than Slayer plays it and the drummer doesn't break a sweat! Check it out below.

Fear Factory Reunites... Sort of... (UPDATED)

I used to put Fear Factory off as nu-metal garbage until my former guitar instructor kept raving about the album "Obsolete". I decided to check it out along with "Demanufacture" and I was pleasantly surprised to hear a band with an interesting singer and machine-tight rhythm section.

Songs like "Edgecrusher" were dangerously close to nu-metal territory, but like some of the later Sepultura stuff it still somehow worked.

And no one can argue that a song with the intensity of "Shock" or "Demanufacture" isn't metal!

So it was good news when I saw today on Blabbermouth that the guys in Fear Factory were getting back together. Well more like starting a new band that is essentially modern day Fear Factory with Dino in place of Christian Olde Wolbers (who I actually like also, just check out "Archetype" one of Fear Factory's finest albums).

I am hoping that the guys will continue under the Fear Factory name with Wolbers, after putting out this new material with the as yet unnamed band. This would appease both old and new fans as well as myself.

Dino Cazares is still one large dude though, but he lets out a surprising amount of energy live considering his size.

Lets hope the new stuff is solid and the guys all get along when playing together. Now for some videos! Both are taken from a live show at Rock Im Park sometime in 1999.

UPDATE: This line-up with Dino on guitars, Burton C. Bell on vocals, Byron Stroud on bass and Gene Hoglan on drums is actually going to play as Fear Factory and record a new album. No idea what is going on with Christian and Raymond hopefully they are out by choice and not being forced to go, because they seem like good guys.

UPDATE #2: Nope. Looks like it wasn't by choice. Legal battle ensues.

"Demanufacture"

Demand Kiss in Iowa City! Plus Ace Frehley Anomaly clips.

I feel like I have been talking about Kiss a little too much for my own good on this here metal blog, but any true fan of heavy metal knows that the contributions these guys made to music and live performance are unreal.

First off, Kiss has announced that the new tour will be fan-routed, which means you can vote for the cities that Kiss will be visiting no matter what the size. They are taking into account the varying population sizes between cities in order to determine which cities to visit (I wonder if that means if a town with 50 people gets all 50 to vote they would go there, sounds unlikely).

So I made a widget to try and get people to vote for Kiss to come to Iowa City. I can dream right? Click on the link below to demand it.

View all Iowa City events on Eventful

Next it appears that Ace Frehley has updated his Web site with the first installment in a series of video blogs to fans. Frehley is actually a funny guy and he gives a sneak peak of two songs on the upcoming "Anomaly" album, entitled "Genghis Khan" and "Foxy and Free".

I don't know about you, but "Foxy and Free" sounds like a rockin' tune that captures the Ace sound perfectly. Lets hope the whole album sounds this good!

Who ever thought we might see the new Kiss and Ace Frehley albums released in the same year? And how cool would it be to see Frehley open for Kiss and get on stage for the encore? OK, so maybe that will never happen...



UPDATE: New Commercial for "Anomaly" due out September 15.

Metallica at the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame

Metallica was inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame on Saturday April 4, 2009, marking the second time the awards ceremony recognized the contributions of a heavy metal band (the first being Black Sabbath).

"Master of Puppets" was the first album I heard from the band and it is what got me into metal. To this day it is still one of the greatest metal records ever and the guys in Metallica deserve every bit of recognition they get for the contributions made to the metal scene.

The Metal Masters:


Red Hot Chili Pepper's bassist, Flea, inducted the band into the hall of fame. He kind of rambled on for awhile in his speech, but he had many kind words for the band and Cliff Burton (RIP).

Cliff Burton's father briefly took the stage in a cool moment and thanked one of the band's biggest fans, Burton's mother. Another highlight was when James Hetfield mentioned bands that should be inducted into the hall of fame, including Judas Priest, Motorhead, Rush and more.

Check out some videos of the band playing "Master of Puppets" and "Enter Sandman" below, with BOTH Rob Trujillo and Jason Newstead on bass. This is probably the most bass you will ever hear from Metallica!





Also included is a video of Lars and James giving acceptance speeches and a guitar jam with Jeff Beck (who was also inducted), Joe Perry, Kirk Hammet, James Hetfield and company. Together they perform the Yardbird's classic, "Train Kept a Rollin'."

UPDATE: Better video below with over 40 minutes of footage, including all the acceptance speeches and performances with Metallica. Easy to skip around on too. I left the two live videos up above in case you just want to hear those (plus those sound better I think). James Hetfield's speech was the best in my opinion.

Here's to Metallica for rocking for so many years!