Alice In Chains: "A Looking In View" Out Now

The new single "A Looking View" off the forthcoming "Black Gives Way to Blue" is out on iTunes and Amazon retailers. Holy Jesus it's good!

William Duvall does Layne Staley justice and Jerry Cantrell in company deliver a tune that is darker and heavier than anything the band has put out.

If the rest of the album sounds this good, it could be a heavy contender for album of the year. I heard the video comes out tomorrow so I will post it ASAP when it does.

Alice in Chains is back. Staley would be proud.

UPDATE: No video yet. Not sure when it's going to be released. But you can listen to the song now below.

UPDATE 2: The video has arrived. Very professional looking and fits the song.

Morbid Angel and Immortal Are Still Kicking Ass!

Saw these two clips of recent live performances from Morbid Angel and Immortal. Make sure to listen to The Metal Show tonight from 8-9 p.m. on KRUI 89.7FM!

New Metalocalypse Fall 2009!

The latest rumors say that a new Metalocalypse album will be out Fall 2009 and then shortly after a the third season will start up on Adult Swim. The last half of season 2 was killer, so hopefully the third will be more of the same metal hilarity.

UPDATE: Here is what was posted in the comments section thanks to Holkie!

No rumor. As per Adult Swim:

Dethalbum II will be out Sept. 8th.

Season 3 will begin in November.

2nd tour will possibily be in October.

Dark Horse Comics will be releasing a one-shot comic, The Goon Vs Dethklok on July 22nd with a Metalocalypse comic "later 2009".

UPDATE #2 Track listing revealed:

01. Bloodlines
02. The Gears
03. Burn the Earth
04. Laser Canon Deth Sentence
05. Black Fire Upon Us
06. Deth Support
07. The Cyborg Slayers
08. I Tamper with the Evidence at the Murder Site of Odin
09. Murmaider II: The Water God
10. Comet Song
11. Symmetry
12. Volcano

Thursday Night Dance Party

The merengue version of Metallica's "Enter Sandman". Courtesy of metalsucks.

Godsmack: "Whiskey Hangover" and Asphyx show us "Death... The Brutal Way"

Godsmack put the new song "Whiskey Hangover" online and its a decent radio rocker without too many surprises as expected.

Sully Erna still sounds the same and Tony Rombola continues to abuse the Wah pedal in a way that would make Kirk Hammett proud.



In other decent metal tune news, reformed Dutch death metal band Aspyhx released the video for "Death... The Brutal Way", which won't break any boundaries, but is worth checking out.



Oh and Loudness continue to prove they are biggest thing since Godzilla to come out of Japan in the video for "Hit the Rail".

CONCERT ALERT: Metal for the Masses

On Saturday June 27 (this weekend) Iowa metal bands Dark Mirror, Identity Crisis, Ageless and Awaiting Punishment will be taking over the Industry, 211 Iowa Ave, in order to deliver one of the better metal shows this summer in Iowa City - let's face it, the town isn't known for its metal scene.

All the bands play from different genres of metal so there should be something for everyone. Plus tickets are only 5 bones! Check out more about the bands by clicking on the links below.

Dark Mirror - Thrash and Power Metal
Official Web site
MySpace

Identity Crisis - Melodic Death Metal
MySpace

Ageless - Symphonic Black Metal
MySpace

Awaiting Punishment - Death Metal
MySpace

Dio is "Killing the Dragon" Again

In 2002 Dio released its ninth studio album "Killing the Dragon", which also happened to be one of the band's best.

The epic title track proved that frontman Ronnie James Dio rocks harder at 60+ than some 20-year-olds. Songs like "Scream" and "Rock 'n' Roll" are great and the album is rockin' the whole way through.

Now Night of the Living Vinyl Dead is putting out 500 limited edition vinyl versions of the album. Check out the site for more details and listen to some Dio below!

Shadows Fall Seek "Retribution"

Shadows Fall has been one of my favorite metal bands of the past decade after releasing metal classics, "Of One Blood" and The Art of Balance". The band saw commercial fame with its release "The War Within" and signed to Atlantic Records.

The band's momentum was at an all time high, but then crashed after they released the mediocre "Threads of Life" album.

Now the band has started its own independent label by way of which it will be releasing the new CD "Retribution" on September 15.

Hopefully Shadows Fall will reclaim its former glory and prove to fans that there are still many more raging years of metal to come.

Check out the band playing the new song "Retribution" live. My metal heart fills with hope.



UPDATE: New album cover below. Nothing too fancy, looks like a badge/seal of some kind.

Dream Theater: "Black Clouds and Silver Linings" Album Review

Today Dream Theater's new album "Black Clouds and Silver Lining" arrived in stores. Check out a brief excerpt from my review below and click the link to see the review in its entirety.

"After nine years and a few recent mediocre albums, it may seem as if progressive metal band Dream Theater is losing some steam. Leave it to the masters of musicianship to prove the naysayers wrong by releasing Black Clouds and Silver Linings — an album that contains some of the band’s best material in more than a decade."

For more check out The Daily Iowan's Web site (it's the second review on the page).

P.S. Yes I know that Jordan Rudess was misspelled as Jordan Rudders. It must have happened in the edit. Not my doing.

Black Tide: Before you knock em' realize how young they are.

"Warriors in Time" may sound like the latest Dragonforce album, but it is actually the single taken from the Black Tide's "Light from Above". I believe the dudes in this band are between the ages of 18-20 now and they play some mean guitars.

The vocalist is good for his age and will only get better... as long as he doesn't throw out his vocal cords.

Sure it's a little repetitive, but I think the next CD could be a step-up for the band. Besides what were YOU doing when you were 19?

Black Tide - New Music - More Music Videos

Napalm Death: Grindcore and Politics Mix in "Time Waits For No Slave" Music Video

According to Napalm Death vocalist Mark "Barney" Greenway this video for "Time Waits for No Slave" "encompasses all the features of a dour, sterile, product-driven world and the sheer joy of freeing up your mind and appreciating the simplicity of the world evolving around you rather than flogging yourself to death all the time to get ahead."

Free up your mind and be a nonconformist by watching the video below!

NAPALM DEATH - Time Waits For No Slave

More Download Festival Fun!

Last weekend Download Festival 2009 in England took place. Many metal bands performed for the masses as well as a reunited Faith No More.

Here are a few more clips of bands performing at this year's festival.

DOWN





Killswitch Engage

Spinal Tap: "Back From the Dead" Album Review and Stream

Recently I started writing for the The Daily Iowan Arts & Culture section, which has me occasionally write album reviews as part of my internship. I saw they needed someone to review the new Spinal Tap CD "Back from the Dead" and I immediately took them up on the offer.

Check out the review on The Daily Iowan Web site.

Also you can now stream the new CD for a limited time via Spinner.com.

Metal Technology: Virtual Lighters

You may have noticed that The Metal Show did not grace the radio airwaves Tuesday from 8-9 p.m. I was doing edits at my internship at The Daily Iowan in Iowa City, IA, instead of bringing you the pulse-pounding metal tunes!

Believe me I would rather be broadcasting over the airwaves than editing stories,but people keep telling me it will help me to secure a job in the future or something.

Anyways, The Metal Show will be back next Tuesday from 8-9 p.m. only on KRUI 89.7FM.

But in the meantime, I am going to barrage you with a bunch of updates to this here blog.

Enjoy starting with...

Kiss Virtual Lighters



This is no means extremely recent news, but you can get a variety of virtual lighters on your iPhone (which The Metal Show does not use or endorse) via the app store. Bands like The WHO, Poison and Lil' Wayne all have lighters of their own that you can buy for $.99 so you don't have to worry about burning your thumbs during that next epic ballad at your favorite concert.

Features of the KISS Virtual Concert Lighter include:

* Free upgrades for life — new features will constantly be created for the Virtual Concert Lighters
* Fully customizable with a choice of 24 full-color official KISS lighter cases.
* Unique scrolling text marquee
* Realistic flame sways and moves as you move your hand
* Dynamic sound effects and musical riffs

All of us true metal heads know the good bands don't ever play slowly, so there isn't really time to whip out lighters.



Good ol' music marketing. Recently Gene Simmons even gave fans an opportunity to pee on his face... no joke. Apparently fans are even stealing these urinal cakes.

Manowar: "The Asgard Saga"

Love em' or hate em' Manowar will soon be releasing the new EP "Thunder in the Sky" featuring the songs "Thunder in the Sky" and "Father".

"Father" is recorded in 16 different languages for the many Manowar warriors worldwide and I assume it will be a ballad/softer tune.



The full-length album "Hammer of the Gods" is set for a Fall release and marks the first part of "The Asgard Saga" which will be made into a full-length movie that hardly anyone in America will ever watch.



Is it just me or has Manowar gotten a little boring lately? They need to step things up and release some cheesy yet awesome metal in the style of old.

Faith No More Reunited

Here's a Friday night vid of Faith No More playing "Ashes to Ashes" off the band's final CD "Album of the Year".

While I like the song, I still will always be a Jim Martin-era fan at heart. They had so much energy then.



In other news...



Courtesy of Deciblog.

Alice In Chains: "Black Gives Way to Blue"

Yeah, "Black Gives Way to Blue" is the name of the new Alice In Chains album which will be released on September 29!

The album title is interesting and definitely not what I saw them choosing (I figured it would be some type of play on the band's resurrection). However, I am still betting on this release being huge and hopefully a good one too.



Also if you thought Jerry Cantrell was dead all of those years away from Alice In Chains you were very wrong. In fact Degradation Trip is one of my favorite albums (although a bit depressing) and an essential buy. Make sure you get the double-album though.

Thy Will Be Done: "Earth's Final Embrace"

Here is a new video from the group Thy Will Be Done that I saw thanks to metalsucks.net.

The track is called "Earth's Final Embrace" off the album "Was and Is to Come". I haven't heard much of the band, but they seem worth checking out.

Mastodon "Oblivion" Video

Mastodon is overrated. They can't sing very well live and they have lost their metal edge found on "Leviathan".

However, "Oblivion" is a good track and Mastodon is more prog-rock now anyways. Not sure what I think of the video, but at least it is creative and original!

Mastodon "Oblivion"

Cool Concert DVD Release: Blaze Bayley "The Night That Will Not Die"

"The Night That Will Not Die" actually came out in April, but I didn't even hear much about it until I saw some clips on YouTube. Blaze Bayley appears to be a class act from all his videos and he actually wrote BETTER tunes after leaving Iron Maiden.

Check out his solo stuff even if you didn't like Blaze's time in Maiden! His latest album is "The Man Who Would Not Die" and you can see the title track below as well another clip. The DVD also includes some of the better songs from the Maiden-era.

GWAR!!!

The only good thing FOX News has ever aired.

Killswitch Engage Start Over

Killswitch Engage released the video for their first single "Starting Over" today. It's definitely not an amazing metal tune, but it makes me more interested in hearing the self-titled album out on June 30. I do like the Maiden-esque gallop riffs and the material sounds like it could be the best of the Howard Jones-era stuff.

Killswitch Engage - New Music - More Music Videos

Municipal Waste "Massive Aggressive" Cover Art

Thrash revivalists Municipal Waste released the cover art for their new album coming out on August 28. The artwork has an old-school punk/thrash feel, which fits this band perfectly. It's one of the cooler metal album fronts I've seen recently and it reminds me of the old Suicidal Tendencies style.



Here are some tunes to rock out to from Municipal Waste while staring at the album cover.

Slayer and 3 Inches of Blood Album Info

Today both Slayer and 3 Inches of Blood announced the titles of their forthcoming albums.

Slayer's new CD is entitled "World Painted Blood" and should be out sometime late summer. The album is being produced by Greg Fidelman, who received some criticism after working on Metallica's "Death Magnetic". Kerry King said that the record's songwriting was split about 50/50 between him and fellow axe-slinger Jeff Hanneman, which sounds good to me. Hanneman is an underrated guitar player and talented songwriter.

"Psychopathy Red" has been out for awhile now, but you can get in another listen below for a taste of the new CD.



I also found this video on YouTube labeled as Slayer performing a new single on the Henry Rollins Show which made me laugh. The headbanging in the beginning to the music is pretty awesome.



As for the new 3 Inches of Blood album, that one is going to be called "Here Waits Thy Doom" and it should be out on September 8. This will be an important CD for the band's career, so hopefully they can put together some good catchy metal music.

"Advance and Vanquish" is still the band's best in my book, but "Fire Up the Blades" had some good tunes as well (see below).

Riddle Me This: Kiss Edition

I remember wondering why Kiss's "God Gave Rock n Roll to You II" had the II at the end of it one day and I later found out that the song was originally written by 70's band Argent.



Compare it to early 90's Kiss and you will see that they made it their own, but it still is similar to the Argent song. However when Kiss performed it, the song brought world peace (Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey).



Now I just wonder if Argent ever got some money for writing credits or if Gene Simmons somehow got all the rights to this...

The Metal Show Summer Edition Begins Tonight!

Just posting to let everyone know that "The Metal Show" will be back to melt faces during the summer school session from June 1 to the end of July.

First show airs tonight (Monday) from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. Central time. I'll be playing the heavy shits!

Don't have a radio or not from the Iowa City/Coralville area? Stream here.