Saturday, July 29, 2006

THE SOUTH POLES

It's the return of the BEEEEEEENNNNND!! Too bad for the shakey cameras and lame 'metal themed' video insertions. Either way, YESSSSS!!

Watch the video here.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

ROLLIN ALONG

What better way is there to kill time these days than youtube? This past work weekend was somewhat slow and therefore allowed me some serious time killing discoveries on this jungle of video gems. Who knew that Henry Rollins had a tv show show? Well I suppose if you have the Independant Film Channel then you knew but I don't so I didn't. Anyway there's a bunch of cool stuff that he's done including a good Ozzy interview and various other performances. What is also exciting is that an upcoming episode will feature Slayer. This is exciting. Apparently there will be a performance of the new song 'Cult' but what I could find so far is them playing 'Disciple' from God Hates Us All. If you're reading this site you'll probably already enjoy it, so...enjoy it.

First watch this:



Then enjoy the only musician other than Michael Jackson to perform with catcher pads, a singing grizzly bear, a whole lot of drums and Kerry King play a little dity.
Slayer on Rollins

Also, Bravewords has a review of the new Slayer record up and it's pretty positive. Read it here.

Thursday, July 20, 2006

PAYROLL

I swear I'm not on it, Warner Brothers that is. This is too good not to post though. As some/most/hopefully you know the new Mastodon record entitled Blood Mountain will be released on September 12th. The song Crystal Skull is now online at Mastodon's Website and their Myspace and it kills. Even better is the ripping lead, I always knew these guys had some shred in them and I'm glad they're putting it on display. There is also the first episode of the making of the new record online, drummers beware.

Also of note is that they will be on tour this fall and are playing the Phoenix in Toronto and I have a ticket. I'm almost jealous of myself. This will be the best prog-metal album about fighting mythical beasts while struggling to climb a mountain...ever.

Friday, July 07, 2006

CAPTAIN INSANO

If I were in charge of giving out some kind of music award it would be likely that Devin Townsend would be nominated for every category. Best vocals, best production, best guitar work, most schizophrenic, most likely to explode, etc. Whether you’re dealing with his work in Strapping Young Lad or his solo work you know you can expect something unique and worth listening to.

It’s tough to know where to start when tackling a subject that has as much depth and I will likely not even come close to giving the earned credit that Townsend deserves in this post but whatever.

So, not to get into any kind of major bio but here’s the important details:
- From Vancouver
- Recruited to do vocals for Steve Vai on his ’93 record Sex & Religion (he was 21).
- Released the first SYL record Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing in ‘95
- Did a bunch of other crazy things
- Released the SYL record City in ’97 (City is an unreal album, crazy crazy music).
- Did a bunch of more stuff (made more solo and Strapping records, produce other bands ((darkest hour)), be a general loon).

That pretty much doesn’t cover it at all but you get the idea. If you aren’t familiar with his work I can assure you that few can scream, wail, or shriek like him and as he’s chosen to prove more recently, shred the hell out of a guitar (being in a band with Steve Vai has it’s advantages).

Now on top of all this he’s one of those guys. Of course I know that those can mean all sorts of things. Those guys can refer to guys with spiked hair, shoe polish tans and 2 Fast 2 Furious cars, but can also mean that guy you went to high-school with that you were afraid of because deep down you knew he was infinitely smarter than you and simply had to indicate this to you with a psychotic glint in his eye. Usually these guys move on to do some kind of work in computers, which applies in this case because SYL’s music can sound like several computers self destructing. Let's also not forget his ability to manipulate noise as a producer.

Anyway, Strapping has a new record coming out next week and you can check out one of the songs if you’re interested. If you aren’t interested just listen to it anyway because if you’ve never heard them before you’ve probably never heard such structured insanity in your life.

U SUCK – Well….yeah, say hi to Gene Hoglan. If you’re not familiar with Mr. Hoglan he’s probably one of the scariest drummers ever, not to mention, uhh, the biggest. You should see him play, just one big mess of flying hair and arms. If you’ve heard the live Pantera recording where Phil refers to the drummer in Death he’s talking about Gene (he also played in Dark Angel). Anyway you’ll hear his craziness on this song. Of course the vocals are completely over-the-top and the lyrics are typical Townsend ridiculousness but as usual if you listen closely you’ll hear layer upon layer reveal itself, this guy does vocals like no other and has unreal melodic and harmonic abilities. You’ll also hear his Vai filtered approach to the guitar, which to be honest makes me jealous.

Townsend actually seems like a very down to earth and articulate guy and despite the fact that even he admits SYL is angry music he has balanced this anger with some really elegant solo material. The Accelerated Evolution record is proof of this and I highly recommend it.

Sidenote: Skullet’s are instant scary/crazy.

More Strapping songs, definitely listen to Detox and Shitstorm. Few times has a song title been so fitting as it is with Shitstorm. The scream at 2:16 alone is enough evidence to prove the vocal capabilities of Townsend.
Solo HevyDev here.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

UNHOLY MOLY

In light of my Unholy Alliance Tour experience last night I bring you a video.



The show was great althought it was unfortunate that Thine Eyes Bleed, being the new band on the bill, had to 'pay their dues' with terrible sound. We wouldn't want the new guys to sound as good as the established acts would we? Children of Bodom were as good as they have been all the other times I've seen them. Lamb of God did their job of fulfilling the knucklehead thirst, but they were as good as the other times I've seen them. Slayer were great and Lombardo gets better and better, good to see him back as always. But the night belonged to Mastodon, these guys rule.

Sidenote: A real post is coming soon.

Monday, July 03, 2006

TANK METAL 2006

YEAAAH, an audio sample from the new VADER record called Impressions in Blood.
Here's the cover art:


Ohhh, this is going to be good.