Separation of Religion and Metal

Lately I've been seeing a number of news stories popping up on the various metal sites which feature artists spewing out religious comments or bashing another religion.

Every other day we hear Dave Mustaine give out a Christian rant or __________ (insert black metal band) bashing the blind followers of faith. Just the other day Nergal of Behemoth posted a message to fans while ill, saying that his experience with leukemia would not make him convert to Christianity (which of course it would be stupid to think it would).

And by now most of you have probably heard about Rev Rachel Mann's support of metal music as a release of aggression to make a person more fun-loving and peaceful.

While I respect all of these people's rights to comment on various religions, I almost feel like I'm sick of hearing it all. It's one thing to incorporate these lyrics into your music, but another to send out messages to fans saying how God/Satan/Allah has inspired you to become a better person.

What happened to the days when we could just enjoy music, without all of the religious context? If you are an "anti-Christian" black metal band, bash away in your lyrics, but just entertain when onstage. The whole Bible burning thing is tired now (and disrespectful, as it turns out ironically, there are plenty of pent-up Christian kids that listen to black metal too). And those dead animals onstage are just plain smelly.

Of course there is always the counterpoint in saying that if you take the religion/politics/message out of the music, you're just going to have Motley Crue style metal, but that's not exactly it.

You can still get your views across without alienating your fans offstage and in the live setting. Or at least come up with something a little more original (like Gojira's eco-friendly metal or maybe we can start up some more Mexi-metal and get into the immigration issue...).

David Ellefson Rejoins Megadeth

That's right, ol' Junior has rejoined the mighty Megadeth after seven years of being away from the band.

I am kind of curious as to what brought all of this on, but I guess I won't question it (although it always sucks for the "other guy" aka James Lomenzo when shit like this happens).

However, Ellefson played a huge role in Megadeth and is the most iconic member next to Dave Mustaine, so I am excited to hear this news.

Who knows, if Mustaine and Ellefson can set aside their differences, maybe Mustaine and Metallica can too? (Yeah, right.)

I could post some classic Rust In Peace era Deth on the blog, but why not be original and pick a cool tune from the softer, yet still badass, Youthanasia for some late night listening? Boom. "Blood of Heroes".

The Grammy Awards Suck

Rob Halford: "I'm glad accept this award for the Dissident Aggressor performance..." What the hell is this? 1977?

So right now millions of Americans are checking out what insane outfit Lady GaGa is wearing or waiting for Kanye West to pull some crazy stunt on the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards.

As a life-long fan of music (especially metal music), I have to question what the Grammy's really mean anymore (or ever).

The judges often go with the commercial hits for their choices and the hard rock and metal categories don't even get a nod on the show, although that might be a good thing... AC/DC won the Grammy for "Best Hard Rock Performance" with "War Machine," a track that comes off one of the band's most irrelevant album in years, when they could have picked Alice In Chains with "Check My Brain" as it is a great track and Black Gives Way to Blue was a solid rock record.

As for "Best Metal Performance," Judas Priest's 1977 song "Dissident Aggressor" managed to beat out Megadeth's "Headcrusher". Now I do find Megadeth's live show to be a bit bland, but at least it's a recent song that is memorable and the band has never won a freakin' Grammy before despite being nominated eight times! What the hell? You can't tell me that Rob Halford, while being the awesome vocalist he is, is performing the song better than ever in 2009!

Maybe I'm just overreacting and need to zone out and tune in, but it's hard to watch an awards show that cares more about fancy bling and commercial appeal than the actual music.

If you care you can check out a list of nominee's (and later the winners) RIGHT HERE.

American Carnage: Late Update, But Still Badass!

If you actually haven't heard yet, Slayer, Megadeth and Metallica are teaming up to bring you the American Carnage tour. The best part? For a limited time tickets will be only $10! How's that for a deal?!

Closest date to Iowa City? Feb. 05 - UIC Pavilion, Chicago, IL

Other select dates you may want to travel to below:

Feb. 04 - Roy Wilkins Auditorium, Minneapolis, MN*
Feb. 06 - Cobo Arena, Detroit, MI*

* Tickets sold through Ticketmaster

Heavy Metal Billboard Charts Update

While the Billboard Charts aren't always a friend of metal, a number of artists have landed in the top 200 list for album sales this week. Check it out in order from highest to lowest charting position!



Band: Megadeth
Album: Endgame
Albums Sold: 45,000
Charting Position: No. 9

My take on the album: While Endgame is the highest charting album, I definitely have given more attention to the new Shadows Fall and Ace Frehley albums.

That being said, Endgame is a kickass metal album, that blends influences from the '80s and '90s Deth sound. Only a few of the songs really land in your head ("44 Minutes" especially), but the guitar playing is spot on.



Band: Ace Frehley
Album: Anomaly
Albums Sold: 17,000
Charting Position: No. 27

My take on the album: "Anomaly" flat-out ROCKS!

Ace Frehley has really gotten his act together and his vocals are better than ever. The album makes you remember what true rock 'n' roll sounds like, having a classic sound that most rockers are unable to touch in the more recent years.

This should have made the Top 10 and is likely to be one of the best releases this year.



Band: Shadows Fall
Album: Retribution
Albums Sold: 13,000
Charting Position: No. 35

My take on the album: "Retribution" is the best album the band has put out since "The Art of Balance".

They finally nailed mixing the heavier growling stuff with the melodic clean vocals. Too bad it took them two uninteresting albums ("Fallout From the War" and "Threads of Life") to get there.

This band really deserves to be on top of the game in the current metal scene. The album is better than Lamb of God's "Wrath", however that album sold much better.

Lets hope word gets out about how good this album is!



Band: The Black Dahlia Murder
Album: Deflorate
Albums Sold: 12,000
Charting Position: No. 43

My take on the album: "Deflorate" is probably the best album of The Black Dahlia Murder's career.

A band like this can get stale quickly, but with the new album it's The Black Dahlia Murder's brutal energy put into each song that forces you to headbang.

Congrats to this band! The members tour heavily and deserve to be here.



Band: Kittie
Album: In The Black
Albums Sold: 3,400
Charting Position: No. 132

My take on the album: Say what you will about Kittie, but the all-female group has proven the test of time, despite what all of us guessed.

I haven't had time to listen to this album, but from what I've read, it is a vast improvement over previous work, even if it does take on a sort of "Lamb of God knock-off" sound.

Metal Show Playlist September 21

Metal Show Playlist Monday 9/21 (8 p.m. to 9 p.m.)

1) Ace Frehley- Outer Space (CD)
2) Shadows Fall- The Path to Imminent Ruin (CD)
3) Shadows Fall- My Demise (CD)
4) Behemoth- Transmigrating Beyond Realms Ov Amenti
5) 3 Inches of Blood- Snake Fighter
6) Megadeth- Bodies
7) The Agonist- Thank You Pain
8) Alice In Chains- Check My Brain
9) The Black Dahlia Murder- Throne of Lunacy
10) Identity Crisis- Deception of the Fourth Dimension (CD)
11) Judas Priest- Deal With the Devil
12) Blaze Bayley- While You Were Gone

Megadeth Performs "Headcrusher" on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

Can't say Dave Mustaine's vocals are the best during this performance, but he hasn't ever really been known for the strongest of live vocals. The guitars rock. However, this performance is why Metallica will have an advantage over Megadeth in the mainstream.

Metallica has that groove they find and they are much more energetic live, whereas Megadeth's shit is so technical that they are more focused on playing accurate than entertaining.

Just my two cents though.

Megadeth: "Headcrusher" Music Video

Whoa! It's double Dave on The Metal Show blog!

"Headcrusher" is definitely a thrashin' good time, even if this video is using the overdone MMA thing. But he definitely puts a spin on it with prisoners and the whole women empowerment thing.

Megadeth: "Endgame" Streaming NOW!

Right on the MySpace page.

I thought The System Has Failed was a phenomenal album, but Endgame gives it a run for its money.

There are actually lots of Countdown to Extinction/Youthanasia influences on here, just with a heavier edge.

Metal Rumor Report: Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax Tour

Apparently in UK's Metal Hammer magazine Kerry King mentioned that Lars Ulrich had been contacting people from the above mentioned bands about getting a tour together.

Now the odds of this happening are slim-to-none, but just imagine how amazing that tour would be... and probably expensive. Plus who would headline? I would imagine they would all have to work it out so they played about evenly or there would be some infighting for sure from the get-go.

Also King already dealt a blow to Anthrax by saying:

"I said in this day and age, I know we had that time together, but how do you leave out MACHINE HEAD? There's better options than ANTHRAX and that's nothing against ANTHRAX, but they've just been in pieces for quite some time and that doesn't make as much sense to me."

Look for updates as they become available.

UPDATE #1: Scott Ian is game, in a recent interview he was quoted as saying the statement below.

"There's this big rumor that we're gonna do METALLICA, ANTHRAX, SLAYER and MEGADETH next summer in Europe, and this is supposedly coming from the METALLICA camp. So whether it's true or not, I'm really excited about it, and I'll say right now that we will absolutely do it. So we're in. [laughs]"

Megadeth Releases Another New Track from "Endgame": "1,320"

Megadeth put up the song "1,320" on the Roadrunner Web site. It sounds decent. An interesting main riff and some cool solo work from Chris Broderick.

I'm not 100% sure this will be the new-era Megadeth album to top "The System Has Failed" (you can't fuck with Chris Poland on lead guitar), but I have faith it will be better than "United Abominations".

Megadeth "Endgame" Cover Art

Looks cool to me! "Endgame" comes out September 1.

UPDATE: In recent interview with AskMen.com, Dave Mustaine attempted to explain the concept behind the album cover:

AskMen.com: Can you interpret the cover of "Endgame" for us?

Mustaine: Yeah, in the middle of the nation we have this one locale where they've got a bunch of inexplicable black coffins that FEMA has holed up on somebody's property (I think it's in Indianapolis or Iowa or something in the Midwest). Nobody's really taking ownership for it — you know, there's no signs out there saying "coffin sale today" — so, it's kind of suspicious-looking.

[The cover] is just a kind of lumping of all different kinds of ideas together. What I feel when I see it, is us as sheep being prisoners to the new world order getting led off down this corridor of death with these FEMA-assisted suicide canisters, these "come on, free housing." It's like that 'Twilight Zone' episode where the book said "How to Serve Man," and they couldn't figure out what the rest of the book was. Then this girl comes screaming: "Don't get in the spaceship, don't get in the spaceship," and everybody on Earth is getting into the spaceship, and she goes: "The book, How to Serve Man, it's a cookbook." (laughs)

What???

Megadeth Crush Heads In New Song: Download Now!

Megadeth just released the song "Headcrusher" for free download on Roadrunner Record's Official Web site. "Endgame" will be released on September 1. Lets hope Dave can conjure up some of that energy from the days of old.

UPDATE: Just finished listening to the track all the way through and I like it! I noticed some classic Megadeth sounds from the days of old, even in some of the lyrics from Dave Mustaine. Seems like it should at least surpass United Abominations!

In September We Go Broke

List of Albums Coming Out in September (if all goes to schedule):

September 1: Megadeth- "Endgame"
September 8: 3 Inches of Blood and Dethklok albums
September 15: Ace Frehley- "Anomaly", Shadows Fall- "Retribution" and Black Dahlia Murder- "Deflorate"
September 22: Vader- "Necropolis"
September 29: Alice In Chains- "Black Gives Way to Blue"

Also scheduled for release in September: New Kiss Album

New Slayer v. New Megadeth: "Something for everybody?"

In a recent interview by Blabbermouth.net, Slayer guitarist Kerry King said that the new album "has a little bit of everything", but is most similar in sound to "Seasons in the Abyss".

Even more recently, Megadeth drummer Shawn Drover said that the new album "has something for everybody".

What does this possibly mean and is "something for everybody" going to become the next overused descriptor for a band's new album?

United Abominations was a decent album, but none of the tracks really stuck out in my mind that much (I actually think "The System Has Failed" is more memorable). "Christ Illusion" was a step up for Slayer, but sounded a bit samey which is a problem for many Slayer albums.

Plus whenever I hear "Psychopathy Red" I'll always think of the fake lyrics some person put up on Blabbermouth.

I'm hoping that Mustaine's hype of guitarist Chris Broderick will play out on the new album and that King's "Seasons in the Abyss" description is accurate. If so, we could have two great metal albums in our hands in the next few months.

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?

Slow News Week

It seems that not much exciting is going on in the metal world so far this week... but Dave Mustaine has the cure!



UPDATE: Below is the latest Mastodon video for the song Divinations that I just realized I never put up here. It is kind of a goofy video and you all know my opinions on Mastodon, but it is still a decent tune.

Mastodon - New Music - More Music Videos

"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: