Saturday, February 28, 2009

Random Interesting News

Well, it is the weekend and I have business to attend to in the form of music, friends and a nice cold glass of RC Cola and E&J Brandy (I'm broke). Before all of that, I found some interesting news I thought I would fill you all in on, so that you don't have to cipher through all the crap.

+Heaven and Hell Reveal Songs to Appear on "The Devil You Know"+

That's right. Black Sabbath with Dio are releasing an album under the new moniker of Heaven and Hell in about two months! The release is set for April 28 and you can bet I will be one of the first to pick up the recording.

I'm liking the song titles so far:

01. Atom & Evil
02. Fear
03. Bible Black
04. Double the Pain
05. Rock & Roll Angel
06. The Turn of the Screw
07. Eating the Cannibals
08. Follow the Tears
09. Neverwhere
10. Breaking into Heaven

Be prepared for Dio, the superior Sabbath singer, to show the young ones how it's done.

+Mastodon to Play New Album in its Entirety Live+

I am never sure if it is a good idea for bands to do this and Mastodon is no exception. However, they have announced they will play "Crack the Skye" live on the upcoming tour, so it will probably happen.

I will say it does take balls though to be proud enough of your newest album that you are willing to play it all live, even before you judge people's reactions.

We'll see if they follow through, unlike Rob Halford's visions for a Nostradamus live show (thank Christ that never happened). Although who knows... it might!

+Motley Crue Announce Cruefest 2 Line-up+

Now, the news you have been waiting to hear. Sleaze-rock legends Motley Crue are doing Cruefest 2 and this time they upgraded the quality of the other acts. Slightly.

Here's the potential list:

GODSMACK
THEORY OF A DEADMAN
SAVING ABEL
DROWNING POOL

Hey I said "slightly"! Theory of a Deadman and Saving Abel flat-out suck, but Godsmack and Drowning Pool are OK. They at least should be more tolerable to watch live than P-Roach. I won't even say the full name.

But it doesn't matter anyways, I won't be attending. I still like Crue though. "Too Fast for Love" and "Shout at the Devil" are solid and "Kickstart My Heart" is one of the most rockin' party tunes ever made.

+Static-x Release New Video+

That's right, good ol' Wayne Static and Co. are preparing to release a new album called "Cult of Static".

While most people dismiss the band as 90's nu-metal garbage, looking back I think "Wisconsin Death Trip" is still an interesting enough of an album to warrant some attention. Plus Static has some of the wackiest hair I have seen this side of House Party.

The song, called "Stingwray", sounds a bit generic (I guess it's about Static having a hot wife that drives a Stingray), but there is a cool heavy groove at the very end.

Oh and apparently Dave Mustaine plays on the first track Lunatic.

What?!

Cannibal Corpse Release Low-Budget Evisceration Plague Video

Who doesn't love amateur zombie horror videos and Cannibal Corpse?

While the video is kind of lame, the song is amazing and Evisceration Plague is definitely a contender for death metal album of the year in 2009.

Apparently fans think so too as this CD debuted at number 66 on the Billboard Charts and sold 9,600 copies in its first week of sales.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

"The Hardest Part of Letting Go"

No, it's not a new hit single from Kelly Clarkson. It's not even the new title of a Meatloaf song. "The Hardest Part of Letting Go" is a song title that will be on Megadeth's upcoming CD.

I am not sure why Dave Mustaine decided to name a song this, but it makes the song seem like it is going to be a power ballad or something. Lets hope that it is ten times as fast and as brutal as the name implies. I guess Dave has written songs in a similar fashion such as "1000 Times Goodbye" and it was OK.

Another song set to appear on the new album is called "1,320" and focuses on Mustaine's apparent love of drag racing... wasn't "Moto-Psycho" enough Dave???

The as yet untitled album is "supposed to be released in September" according to Mustaine. United Abominations had some good moments, but it didn't stand out in my mind even as much as The System Has Failed did.

Lets hope the music on the album is cooler than the topics chosen for songs!

Speaking of "Moto-Psycho" lets have a reminder of what Dave should avoid doing on the new album:

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Mike Patton Scores Crank 2 and FNM Reunion

Mike Patton is going to be providing music for the movie Crank 2 starring Jason Statham. I enjoyed the first movie and thought it was a fun action movie. So hopefully the new one is just as ridiculous and entertaining.

In the same press release, it was finally confirmed that Faith No More would be reuniting for some European festival dates. I'll believe it when I see it. Don't expect it to come to America or for Jim Martin to be there. He actually expressed interest in doing it too!

Faith No More did put out good albums after Martin left, but the metalhead in me prefers Jim Martin's heavy riffage. I can dream!

Delay of Game

So I planned on playing new God Forbid and Lamb of God stuff on the show tonight, but like many well thought out plans, it fell through.

I ordered the albums (each at a different record store) in order to support local business here in Iowa City and somehow neither store got the albums in today. I don't hold this against the stores, but it still SUCKS!

Blabbermouth.net gave the new Lamb of God an 8.5 out of 10 and God Forbid a 9.5 out of 10 in the review department. With scores like those, there is little reason not to check out these releases.

Despite my inability to get the physical CDs, I will play a new tune from each album and then plenty of great metal on the rest of the show. Tune in from 6-7 p.m. on KRUI 89.7!

Monday, February 23, 2009

Queensryche release "If I Were King"

The new Queensryche song can be found here. I will post my judgment on it once I can actually get the damn thing to work! Every metal site is putting up the same link, so it must be working for some people.

Maybe it will work for you guys!

Concept album, American Soldier, is set to release on March 31.

UPDATE: You can now download the single at all digital retailers and you can preview it right here. Sadly after finally being able to listen to it, I was a bit disappointed. Kind of a mellow tune that gets old fast. Maybe the rest will be better though!

Mastodon and Lamb of God Marketing Blitz

It is cool to see that in the age of online music some bands are still trying to get us to remember why physical albums are that much cooler than their digital counterparts.

Mastodon announced that they would have a limited edition tunnel book release for Crack the Skye which comes out on March 24th.



The limited edition release is rather expensive at $39.99, but it may just be some of the coolest album art out there. I am sure some of the more loyal fans will want to get their hands on this one! It even puts bands like Tool to shame.

Mastodon also just launched a trippy Web site promoting Crack the Skye. It requires the latest version of Adobe Flash software. Here is a preview of what it looks like below.



Lamb of God is also doing a unique contest with their new album Wrath and are releasing a deluxe version of it as well (contains vinyl, CD, USB stick with bonus songs).

The first 100,000 people who purchase the CD, which is released tomorrow, will be able to enter a code at the Escape the Plague Web site. Upon entry of the code, fans will be asked to answer questions and will then be entered into a drawing for 100 different prizes.

As each prize is chosen it will be deleted until they are all gone. Here is a list of the prizes as seen on Lamb of God's Web site.

"Escape The Plague prizes include:

2 - Trips for two to see Lamb of God perform at a major UK festival in August

1 - Barbecue at your home hosted by Randy Blythe

2 - Mark Morton Guitars (Courtesy of Jackson guitars)

2 - Willie Adler Guitars (Courtesty of ESP Guitars)

2 - John Campbell Basses (Courtesy of Jackson Guitars)

1 - Chris Adler drum kit w/ an autographed Chris Adler snare (Courtesy of Mapex drums)

5 - Golden laminates, good for entry at any Lamb of God show for a year

10 - Introduce the band onstage in your town

20 - Roadie for a day in your town

7 - Sing on stage at soundcheck with the band

20 - $50 giftcards to the Lamb of God webstore (Courtesy of Bravado)

25 - Autographed super deluxe Wrath packages, including the CD, Vinyl, and UBS stick with bonus tracks

1 - Mark Morton guitar lesson

1 - Willie Adler guitar lesson

1 - John Campbell Bass lesson"

If only more bands would do stuff as cool as this maybe people would stop stealing so much music!

Sunday, February 22, 2009

New Sepultura Video We've Lost You

Sepultura recently released a new video for the song We've Lost You off of the album A-lex. It has some A Clockwork Orange themes going on, and is a decent mid-tempo metal tune. Check it out below.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Lamb of God versus God Forbid: Tune-in February 24, 2009

It is almost the last week of February and in the first two months of 2009 there have already been some great metal releases.

Kreator- Hordes of Chaos and Cannibal Corpse- Evisceration Plague are bound to be contenders for at least one of the top five metal albums of 2009.

Saxon's Into the Labyrinth delivered the sound that listeners know and love, while incorporating some blues elements into the mix. I haven't had a chance to listen to the new Napalm Death album, but if grindcore is your thing, then look no further than Time Waits for No Slave.

The always underrated Derrick Greene-era Sepultura released A-lex, which I also have not been able to buy yet. From what I've listened to so far it isn't as good as Dante XXI (which was a great CD, one of Sep's best in my opinion), but it still sounds like it has enough elements to make it an interesting listen. And there is plenty to head-bang to.

Tuesday two of the newer generation of metal bands will be releasing CDs. Lamb of God's Wrath and God Forbid's Earthsblood both come out on February 24th. I should have both of the albums to play on the show then and I will try and get reviews posted over on the review blog ASAP.

Just to make it more interesting, I figure it will be a Lamb of God v. God Forbid sort of event. I will not only review the albums individually, but also I will end with a post comparing the two.

Lamb of God may be the popular favorite, but you can never count out the underdog hungry for the kill (God Forbid in this case)!

UPDATE: Felt like this post needed a video. Here is Lamb of God's video for a song that always makes me feel energized, Now You've Got Something to Die For!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

This Week's Playlist

Tonight featured some classic thrash tunes as well as a few more modern songs. Next week's show should focus on a lot of new music, with a few classics thrown in to boot. Make sure to tune in starting at 6PM next Tuesday on KRUI 89.7 to hear tunes off the new God Forbid and Lamb of God albums which come out that day.

The Metal Show Playlist 2/17/09

Meshuggah- Stengah (Nothing)
Testament- More Than Meets the Eye (Formation of Damnation)
Shadows Fall- Storm Winds (Threads of Life)
3 Inches of Blood- Crazy Nights (Advance and Vanquish)
In Flames- Pinball Map (Clayman)
Metal Church- Hypnotized (Hanging in the Balance)
Megadeth- Hangar 18 (Rust in Peace)
Hebron- In The Name of War (Resurrection) (playing in Des Moines 2/27/09)
Racer X- Loud and Clear (Street Lethal)
Anthrax- What Doesn't Die (We've Come For You All)

And for your viewing pleasure I have posted a video of Sepultura playing an acoustic version of Sepulnation that I discovered randomly on YouTube. I don't get why so many people hate Derrick Greene-era Sepultura. He is a talented singer when he wants to be and he also growls pretty well too.

In my opinion he is a better vocalist than Max, even though albums such as Beneath the Remains and Chaos A.D. are still amazing. I would be disappointed if the band ever ditched Greene to reunite with Cavalera. Max's would never hold up in an acoustic set.



If you are interested, here is the regular version of the song being performed.

The Metal Review Has Arrived!

In the column to the right of the page, you may have noticed a new link that was posted about a week ago announcing The Metal Review blog to be coming soon.

Last night I updated it with a concert review of the Meshuggah show I caught last Thursday (2/12) in Des Moines, Iowa.

Today I added a review of the latest Cannibal Corpse album, Evisceration Plague.

I hope to keep this blog updated with reviews in a timely manner (keep in mind my income is rather limited as a college student). Expect reviews of the new Lamb of God and God Forbid soon and maybe even a few local releases if I get the time.

Right now I have pretty good reviews on there, 2009 has been good to us so far! But, hopefully I won't have four-star reviews for every album. But if I do, I guess that is a good sign for metal. I can't really afford to buy crap, so I hope to enlighten people on whether or not the things I have spent my hard earned cash on are any good.

If only I could get the labels to send me albums to review...

HERE IS THE LINK TO THE MAIN PAGE OF THE REVIEW BLOG.

Tune into The Metal Show tonight from 6PM to 7PM. While you are waiting here is a classic In Flames music video for the song Only for the Weak off of the album Clayman.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Woo! Lamb of God is back!

In 2006 when Lamb of God released Sacrament via the major label Epic, people weren't exactly sure what to expect.

Would the band water down its sound or try something different?

From the first single, Redneck it appeared that the band was heading in a more lighthearted chart-friendly direction, but the rest of Sacrament was anything but.

Songs such as Pathetic and Foot to the Throat had a similar vibe to the songs off Ashes of the Wake, but everything was extremely polished. Almost a little too much so (notice the band got a new producer in place of Machine).

Experimental tracks such as Descending and Blackened the Cursed Sun were technically brilliant, but I just didn't feel they had that groove and in-your-face attack that the band is known for.

Today, Lamb of God released another track, Broken Hands from the album Wrath which is due out next Tuesday (February 24). Check out this track from another unlikely source SPIN.COM.

I don't know when Lamb of God became trendy enough to be featured in both the Associated Press and SPIN, but if stuff like this is getting the spotlight that is fine by me!

Broken Hands kicks in with the snarling voice of Randy Blythe and kicks in with a cool guitar lick that then transforms into a heavy grooving beat.

The songs Contractor, Set to Fail and Broken Hands all have had a more raw feel to them thanks to producer, Josh Wilbur. And it appears so far that Randy Blythe will is delivering the best vocal performance of his career.

Check it out for yourself! Between Kreator, Cannibal Corpse, Lamb of God and God Forbid we are going to have more awesome metal albums in the first two months of 2009 than we did all 2008!

UPDATE: NEW ALBUM WRATH NOW STREAMING ON MYSPACE IN ITS ENTIRETY

Oh and if you missed it, Lamb of God released a music video for the song Set to Fail. I originally posted it with the Kreator video, but I think it fits better on this post.

Nothing too fancy in the video, fans rocking out to the live band has been done many a time before, but still a good tune nonetheless!

Set To Fail


Last Week's Playlist and New Kreator Video

I never posted last week's playlist so here that is, as well as the new Kreator video.

Playlist 2/10/09

Megadeth- Sweating Bullets (Countdown to Extinction)
Suicidal Tendencies- Join the Army (Join the Army)
Lamb of God- Set to Fail (Wrath)
Iron Maiden- The Trooper (Piece of Mind)
Dio- Rainbow in the Dark (Holy Diver)
The Faceless- Shape Shifters/Coldly Calculated Design (Planetary Duality)
Cynic- Evolutionary Sleeper (Traced in Air)
Meshuggah- Suffer in Truth (Destroy Erase Improve)
Cannibal Corpse- To Decompose (Evisceration Plague)
Mastodon- Divinations (Crack the Skye)
Pantera- I'm Broken (Far Beyond Driven)

Kreator recently released this video for the song Hordes of Chaos off of the album of the same name. Haven't gotten a chance to hear the whole thing yet, but what I have heard so far is awesome!

The video has a Manowar vibe to it and has some decent production values. This album has only sold under 3,000 copies in the States so far and it could very well be one of the best releases of 2009. Do yourself a favor and check it out!

Thursday, February 12, 2009

CONCERT REMINDER

The best metal show to hit Des Moines, Iowa, in a long time will be tonight (Thursday, February 12).

Meshuggah, Cynic and The Faceless will all be playing under the same roof at People's Court. Tickets are 20 bones and if you are anywhere near the area you have no reason not to go! I am driving there from Iowa City tomorrow.

People's Court is a fairly small venue, so having the chance to get up and personal with a band that plays huge shows overseas is an amazing opportunity. I do my best to be up front when they play Future Breed Machine.

Stay tuned for a concert review, maybe I'll even post it on the review blog that is supposedly coming soon (see link to the right)...

UPDATE: CONCERT REVIEW ONLINE NOW, RIGHT HERE

Monday, February 9, 2009

Alice In Chains Release New Teaser Video

So awhile back I made the prediction that the new Alice In Chains album will be one of the biggest releases of 2009 and the band just keeps building on the hype by releasing these in the studio vids.

Check out the latest one below which features an ominous and heavy Alice In Chains riff. Lets hope the rest of the album will sound that good!

Week 11 Update

New God Forbid album Earthsblood Rains on MySpace

I just started playing it and it is sounding good! Check it out at God Forbid's official MySpace page.

There is a mellow orchestrated opener and then it gets right into business with The Rain which I'm sure many of you have heard by now. Has some great melody and vocal work on it. Empire of the Gun is a heavy number the band has been playing live for awhile. Then the badass War of Attrition gets the head banging.

UPDATE: Listen to The New Clear. It is awesome.

Stay tuned for a full review soon and check out The Metal Show Tuesday night from 6-7PM for new God Forbid, Lamb of God, Cannibal Corpse, Mastodon and the classics you know and love.



God%20Forbid
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Black Sabbath To Tour With Both Dio and Ozzy!

Ok, so the headline lies, but wouldn't it be cool to see happen? Although I think at this point in the game Ronnie James Dio would probably steal the show from Ozzy since he still sounds like he used to and can move around a little better.

Either way, excellent mash-up of two live versions of Black Sabbath- War Pigs.



Here's to New Heaven and Hell in 2009 and maybe new Ozzy soon as well?

(thanks to metalsucks.net for discovering this one!)

Oh and just for good measure here is the new Saxon video for the song Live to Rock off of 2009's Into the Labyrinth in all of its cheesy goodness.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

This Week's Playlist

Web Streaming is back up! However, the song log is still down. Plus I kind of like posting the playlists on the blog for everyone, so here are the songs from last night's show.

Playlist 2/3/09

Cannibal Corpse- Priests of Sodom (Evisceration Plague)
Municipal Waste- Sadistic Magician (The Art of Partying)
Slayer- Skeletons of Society (Seasons in the Abyss)
Diamond Head- Sweet and Innocent (Lightning to the Nations)
Kreator- Destroy What Destroys You (Hordes of Chaos)
Death- Bite the Pain (The Sound of Perseverance)
Nevermore- My Acid Words (This Godless Endeavor)
Ace Frehley- Snowblind (Ace Frehley)
Cannibal Corpse- Evisceration Plague (Evisceration Plague)
Gojira- A Sight to Behold (The Way of All Flesh)
Danzig- Mother (Danzig)

No Boss! You ripped off one of Kiss's lamer albums!

Actually, Dynasty had a SOME good moments (such as Ace's cover of 2,000 Man), but nothing could beat the opener...

I Was Made For Loving You



Outlaw Pete is the opening track off of Bruce Springsteen's new album Working on a Dream.

I noticed this same thing while reviewing the album. :36 was especially hilarious.

Kiss for the win! My blog is starting to look like the Kiss Army forums. I better post some heavy shit ASAP!

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Ace Frehley's Anomaly

Can a sober Space Ace release a good album in 2009?

Back in the 70’s Ace Frehley posters could be found on the walls of budding guitar players worldwide. Fast-forward to 2009 and much of today’s youth probably A) does not know much about Frehley or B) doesn’t care (it has been 20 years since his last full-length solo album!!!).

Well Ace, The Metal Show cares and is rooting for you to put out one of the best albums of your career. OK, so that might be a tough thing to do, but at least something that is not too cliché and cheesy in today’s world.

Frehley did say he was looking towards his first solo album outside of Kiss (1978’s Ace Frehley) for inspiration. If he can write a song that even comes close to Snow Blind I will be satisfied.

For those of you who don’t follow the lives of Kiss members as extensively as your host Randy, Frehley’s new album is titled Anomaly and is supposedly coming out this Spring. He designed a new promotional site and the album cover which you can check out below.

Both give off a little bit of a cheesy old-school rocker feel, but at the same time the album cover has grown on me and is a simple retro 90’s looking Web site really that terrible?

Here’s to Frehley releasing an album that is fun, energetic and rockin’ in 2009, even if he isn’t trashed out of his mind.



Monday, February 2, 2009

What If...

Any fan of metal knows that King Diamond is one of the heaviest, most evil vocalists of all time. His story-telling ability through the use of both falsetto and haunting vocals is unparalleled by any other musician.

Others who aren't in the know see King Diamond as some make-up wearing Danish dude that was traumatized at an early age after seeing his Grandma naked, which causes him to revert to a boyish state in a falsetto voice.

Of course I know better, which is why I think that King Diamond deserves more mainstream appeal.

Every once in awhile I ponder what the world would be like if King Diamond were to reach out to the masses by collaborating with a well known rock musician.

So I bring you a hypothetical example of what could be...

Double Diamond- The Ultimate Collaboration




(mock album cover courtesy of Randy's years of extensive artistic training)

This album would be a no-brainer for both musicians as it would allow Neil Diamond to gain good standing in the inner metal circle and King Diamond to become a household name. The first album would go multi-platinum guaranteed, not to mention the sold-out arena tours worldwide.

The possibilities are endless!