While You Were Studying / At Work: A Heavy Metal News Update

I had my first final today of my very last finals week at The University of Iowa (and went on-air for my last edition of The Metal Show earlier tonight) and I now am ready to pass out ... but first I wanted to comment on some of the bigs news of the day in case you missed it.

1) It's Offical: Joey Belladonna Rejoins Anthrax



That's right, the crazy-haired metal vocalist with a wide vocal range, that about 50% of Anthrax fans hate and 50% love, is back in the band. Most of the day's talk has been on the topic of Belladonna being the "third choice" for the group and its new album.

If I remember right, it was Belladonna himself that wanted to leave Anthrax after the reunion (although it was probably from the encouragement of Scott Ian and Charlie Benante), so now he is ready to come back because Ian and Benante frankly have no other option.

This means the deal is on Belladonna's terms, which I think works for the band's relationship at this point. This shit is more wild than the Van Halen saga.

Anyways, Belladonna will be joining the band on the Big Four Tour with Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer and is set to begin writing and recording an album for an early 2011 release with the band. Who knows, maybe all that tension will make for a hard-hitting thrash record???



2)Death digital albums and the long-rumored second Control Denied album will finally be released.



That's right, Relapse Records announced a partnership with Perseverance Holdings Inc. and Chuck Schuldiner's family to reissue digital releases of the older hard-to-find Death albums (such as Spiritual Healing), in addition to the second Control Denied record (Note: as of this time, not sure when these digital releases will be available in US).

Watch a previously unreleased recording of Death's "Crystal Mountain" below:


3) Twisted Sister's Jay Jay French says band will "never tour again"



The longtime guitarist revealed this news in a recent interview with Noisecreep. Interesting that a band is finally realizing that nostalgia tours aren't always all they are cracked up to be. Although plenty of bands have proven French wrong as well.

The Anthrax Debacle Continues: Still no word on what will happen with "Worship Music"

There's no denying that We've Come For You All is a solid album. And now that John Bush is back in the band, hopefully we can get another one.

So what is the current status of the whole Anthrax debacle? Here's what the Armored Saint/Anthrax frontman had to say in an excerpt from an interview with Metalsucks.net:

MetalSucks: So you think you would be re-recording some of [former ANTHRAX singer] Dan Nelson's vocals?

Bush: That is what they want to do, and it's been a conflict for me, to be quite frank, simply because I kind of felt like I wasn't part of the creation of it. On all the other ANTHRAX records, I was part of it when it happened. I just wasn't involved in this, and it's something that they've already actually completed. I haven't disregarded it completely, and I know it's important to them. I realize they made this record and they're kind of sitting on it. They want to put some of it out, if not everything… at least a single, and we've talked about [releasing] an EP. We're still trying to figure out if we can do that, especially in conjunction with these shows in June. We've just got to kind of iron out some specifics. That's where we're at today, March 15, 2010.

Check out the full interview on Metalsucks.net.

I hope that Anthrax will be able to work things out and release this album, but at the same time, Bush should maintain his integrity and only do the vocals if he actually wants to.

Hopefully Worship Music won't suffer from being left in the cutting room for so long...

What's Up Anthrax??? Part 2

As posted on Blabbermouth:

ANTHRAX's manager, Izvor Zivkovic of Split Media, has released the following statement to BLABBERMOUTH.NET:

"As announced last week, thrash legends ANTHRAX regretfully cancelled the first three dates on the second leg of their European tour due to new vocalist Dan Nelson's unexpected illness. An additional seven European dates are also cancelled, those scheduled from July 22 to July 30.

"ANTHRAX is thrilled to announce that they will play the August 1 Sonisphere festival in Knebworth, England, with their good friend John Bush [ANTHRAX's singer from 1992 to 2005] joining them for a very special one-off performance.

"The members of ANTHRAX have confirmed the departure of vocalist Dan Nelson. In light of this development, ANTHRAX's slot on the U.S. SLIPKNOT dates set for August and September, has also been cancelled. ANTHRAX is already actively considering lead singer candidates, and looks forward to hitting the road before the end of the year."

So there you have it. For some reason (illness???) Nelson is out of Anthrax and John Bush is temporarily back in for a one-off show. Like I said, hopefully this isn't an instance of Nelson being seriously ill.

UPDATE: Nelson released a statement saying that he was willing to continue performing with Anthrax and was not ill. Apparently the band was having issues and decided to oust the singer before things got worse.

UPDATE 2: More info from Scott Ian.

Also, remember that CD "Worship Music" that was supposed to be released in October? Yeah, that's not going to happen.

It's a sad day for Anthrax and all the fans looking forward to this album. Now the search is back on for a new singer. Hopefully all goes well!

What's Up Anthrax???

Yesterday Anthrax released a press statement vaguely commenting on the band missing the first three shows of its European tour. The reason for the cancellation is due to Dan Nelson's mysterious illness.

Here is what Anthrax had to say:

The members of ANTHRAX regretfully announce that the first three shows of their European tour scheduled to begin tomorrow, Saturday, July 18th, are canceled. Yesterday, lead singer Dan Nelson unexpectedly informed the band that he was seriously ill and unable to travel or perform at this time. Options for the balance of ANTHRAX's European tour dates are being addressed posthaste. The members of ANTHRAX are devastated by this unfortunate turn of events and ask all of their fans to join them in wishing Dan the speediest of recoveries.

Nelson also wrote via Twitter:

July 16, 3:47 a.m.: "Funny, I don't feel so lucky...Wonder what everyone is talking about??"

July 16, 4:28 a.m.: "is done."

July 17, 7:54 p.m.: "loves his family and friends more than ANYTHING."

This all sounds like bad news to me, but it could just be the press blowing up Nelson getting some kind of minor illness.

Hopefully Nelson is OK and not seriously ill. He seems like a cool guy with a decent set of pipes. Also, hopefully nothing bad is going on with Anthrax as a whole, but we will find out soon enough I'm sure.

Anthrax Sounding Good Live

Once again it is a slow news day in the metal world, but I did come across this video of Anthrax performing the song "Random Acts of Senseless Violence" off of "Stomp 442" with the latest singer Dan Nelson.

They actually sound pretty good in this video. Lets face it, this album will not sell as well as a Belladonna or Bush release, but I still have hope for the band.

New album "Worship Music" is expected to be out in October.



UPDATE: This one sounds even better.