Volbeat - Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies

So that's the name for the new Volbeat album folks.  An interesting titled that co-insides well with their previous releases ("The Strength / The Sound / The Songs", "Rock the Rebel / Metal the Devil", "Guitar Gangsters & Cadillac Blood", "Beyond Hell/Above Heaven") and still has that rockabilly/macho vibe to it.  I'm sure that the song list will probably fit the title as well.

So let's discuss the facts that have been released for now.  The album is looking to be released [in North America] on April 8th, 2013 via Vertigo/Republic Records/Universal Music, which makes sense considering they are going on a US/Canada tour with Canadian rockers Danko Jones (which kicks off on March 6th in Dallas, Texas).  Perfect timing to get some new tunes into the set list and get the vibe of the crowd.  But let's be honest here... who has ever heard  a bad song by Volbeat?  You either like 'em or hate 'em but their fans love each of their tunes.  They are hard as f**k, short and sweet, straight to the point and always carry a heavy dosage of riffs and double kicks.  I'd like to see a single person going to a Volbeat show and not dance just a little bit on the inside by the end of the show. haha



So moving on, Jacob Hansen will be handling the master production duties of the album.  Hansen has worked in the past with artists such as Cradle Of Filth, The Damned Things, Bleeding Through (R.I.P.) and Anthrax, among others.  Hansen has also worked on the previous four albums for Volbeat.

The big news of this album so far has been the involvement of Rob Caggiano.  For those unaware, Caggiano surprised the music world on January 4th with his departure from long time band Anthrax to focus on production work and other endeavours.  It seems this will be his first major assistance since that announcement.  Apparently since Caggiano has had such a great time working with Volbeat, he has graciously accepted the full time guitarist spot!  Maybe this will be the creative outlet that he was looking for in the first place.



"We're back in the studio, this time breaking some of our old habits and this sometimes means leaving our comfort zone. We are recording in a new environment, producing with a new setup, breaking new sonic ground and it's exciting! Together with our longtime collaborator Jacob Hansen, we also have the honor of having producer Rob Caggiano on board in the producer's seat. Expect lots of surprises and some of our most rocking heavy songs to date. We feel more than ever that we are taking the VOLBEAT sound to another level without changing what we're all about. Can't wait for it to get out there!" -Michael Poulsen



As for some guest appearances on the album, the track 'Room 24' features a guest appearance from King Diamond (the legendary front man of Danish metal pioneers MERCYFUL FATE).

"I’m a huge fan of Mercyful Fate and King Diamond. Having King on the record is a huge privilege. Normally, it’s not something he does. He wrote his own lines, and it is half my lyrics and half his. It’s a weird, scary story, and he’s the perfect person for it.”

Other guest appearances include Anders Pedersen on slide guitar, Rod Sinclair on banjo and Jakob Øelund on double bass.

Album artwork for the new LP is quite in standing with their previous album covers.

Now the part that made my job easy today.  Volbeat do a track by track guide into the album and what each song means to them and/or what you can expect to hear.  Check it out below:


1. Let’s Shake Some Dust

“We weren’t sure if wanted to have an intro to the album originally, and this came out of nowhere. We’d asked Paul Lamb, who is a great blues harp player if he’d do something with us, and we were waiting for him to show up in the studio. We were checking some of his stuff out on YouTube, and I got so inspired that I said, ‘We should write an intro for the song Dead But Rising and let him play harp on that.’ We had 20 minutes to do it, so we sat in the kitchen in the studio with two acoustic guitars, jamming and switching ideas back and forth. Twenty minutes later Paul turned up and we said, ‘We just wrote an intro you have to play it on.’ It sounded huge, so we decided to use it as an intro for the whole record.”

2. Pearl Hart

“She’s a real character who was born in the 18th century. She got a telegram saying that her mother was dying, and that she had no money to buy medicine. So Lady Pearl, together with her husband, dresses in men’s clothes, jumps on a horses and stop a stagecoach. There’s an Englishman, an American and a Japanese guy on the stagecoach, and Pearl takes their money – but she leaves them one dollar each so they can at least buy something to eat. The money she gets should get medicine for her money, but Pearl and her husband get caught by the local sheriff and she ends up in jail. It’s a beautiful story. Of course, it’s wrong to rob a stagecoach, but she’s desperate and the money is for her mother. Somehow, you can see that it’s not all wrong.”

3. The Nameless One

“This is a fictitious story about a young couple who are flirting with spiritual cards and ouija boards to get in contact with spirits or demons or something from another dimensions. Somehow they make contact with some ghouls through some tombstones from 18th, and they end up selling their souls to The Nameless One. Suddenly they wake up in the 1800s, inside a casket, and an outlaw ghoul is crashing their casket with his cane. He pulls the couple up and says, ‘You’re on your way to The Nameless One, you have a deal…’, and he takes them along with his riders. On the next album you’ll find out who The Nameless One is.”

4. Dead But Rising

“The opening riff is very old school metal – it could be a Slayer riff. The lyrics are about the first time I was travelling through the US, to visit Graceland and Elvis’s grave, and Tupelo, Mississippi, which was Elvis’ birthplace. My father had passed, and he was a huge Elvis fan. He had always wanted to visit Graceland with my mother, but had unfortunately never made it. I had rented a car and was driving towards Tupelo when the navigation just went out. This was the first time I had driven in the US, so I wasn’t comfortable. Then I noticed an eagle that had been following the car for a while. I said, ‘What is it with that eagle? Is my father trying to tell me something?’ I got emotional about it and I decided to follow the eagle. It went one way then the other, and the next thing I knew I was in Tupelo, Mississippi, and the eagle just took off. That was some strong shit. And that’s what Dead But Rising is all about – it’s about me, today, trying to reach out for that eagle.”

5. Cape of Our Hero

“Every young kid wants to be a hero – whether it’s a cowboy, an outlaw, a policeman or a superhero. Superman or Spiderman or whoever. We all had those action figures we’d play with. “This song is about a little kid who loses his dad. He played with action figures with his dad, and he looked up to his dad as a hero. When he loses his dad, he starts losing his belief in his superheroes too. He’s trying to figure out how to get in contact with his superheroes – he’s thinking if angels exist, maybe he could fly away with them, and they could show him where those superheroes are – or at least where his dad is out there.”



6. Room 24

“I’m a huge fan of King Diamond, so having him on this track is a huge privilege– it’s not normally something he does. It’s based on something that happened to me when we touring the US. I woke up in the middle of the night in a hotel room and I couldn’t move – I felt paralysed. I thought I was going to have a heart attack – it felt like something was sitting on my chest, pushing me down on the bed. I felt that was something in the room. I told King Diamond and he said, ‘Have you heard of sleep paralysis?’ So I looked into it, and every person who has had it has the same story – they feel that some kind of hag is sitting on top of them, some dark force. I asked King if there was any way he could tie that Dark Force to my experience. So he did his thing, and it worked out great. And of course the room it all happened in was Room 24…”

7. The Hangman's Bodycount

“A lot of people had heard those ghost stories about the Hangman from the OldW est, and I wanted to do my own. The blind Hangman with a raven on his shoulders as his eyes is out there, walking through the valley, judging who is good and who is bad. You’d never know he was there – you could only hear his boots. He picks out the sinners, and they’re told while they’re in bed that that raven will come and knock on the door, and the should follow the raven to the Hangman…”

8.  My Body

“This is a cover of a song by a band called Young The Giant. When we were in the US, we were driving around in a taxi and this song came on the radio. I was, like,‘Who is that? That’s an amazing song?’ My tour manager found out that it was Young The Giant, so I checked them out on YouTube, and I thought, ‘Why haven’t I heard of this band?’ I could hear Volbeat playing this song. I thought it would bean interesting song to do, so I let’s put our own twist on it. I hope these guys take it as a compliment when they hear it.”

9. Lola Montez

“I’m very inspired by Mike Ness of Social Distortion and Bruce Springsteen, though Lola Montez is definitely not their kind of woman. She’s another real character – she was always on the run, working for herself to earn money. She worked in a small circus, where she made up her own show, where she would dance with spiders. She’d show her legs… and a little bit more, which was outrageous back then. Men were totally paralysed by her, they’d throw gold in front of her feet when she was dancing, and she’d lift up her skirt so they could see more, and there’d be more gold. She was a dangerous woman…”


10. Black Bart

“We call it our “country Motörhead” song. Black Bart is a true character, an outlaw in the 1800s who robbed Wells Fargo coaches. He’d ask the driver to throw down the Wells Fargo box, and he spoke like a gentleman: “Please, sir, throw down your box.’ The women in the coach would throw their pearls at his feet, but he always said, ‘I don’t want your pearls and your money, ladies, please take them back.’ He wore a sack over his head so no one knew who he was, and he always left poems for the stagecoach driver. He was an outlaw gentleman.”

11. The Lonesome Rider

“This is a country-rockabilly song. When we started rehearsing it, I thought that that it needs something else – a female voice. I had ideas for the lyric where it would have been cool to have a female singer. So I emailed Sarah Blackwood, who is a great Canadian rockabilly singer. I was a fan of her old band, The Creepshow, and her current band Walk Off The Earth are great too. The lyric is about a cowboy who goes to war, and when he finally comes home, he cannot find his wife. The house is empty. What he doesn’t know is that he’s dead – he thinks he’s survived but he’s dead. And the thing is, his wife has passed while he was at war too. So she makes a deal with The Reaper to find her husband and bring him over to the other side…”

12. The Sinner Is You

“This has a little bit of a modern country feeling. It has a mood that we’ve never touched in Volbeat before. Sometimes we don’t understand why people die around us – it doesn’t make sense. I’m singing about a spiritual world, where there is some kind of reaper who punishes people for not treating themselves and the people around them well by taking a random soul. We’re left here, not knowing why that person has died. The reaper is saying, ‘I’ll take a random soul, and you are the sinner without knowing.”

13. Doc Holliday

“I don’t think I need to say too much about Doc Holliday – everybody should know who he is, and his relationship with Wyatt Earp. This is one of the first songs we flirted around with live, to give people a snippet of what they could expect. It’s a metal song, but then it suddenly come to the chorus and there’s banjos! People are, like, ‘Wow, can you do that?’ Of course you can do that!”

14. Our Loved Ones

“We have slow songs, but this is the first time we have done something that’s close to a ballad. It’s about a feeling that we all know, when we feel vulnerable and we want to open up to certain people but we’re afraid to because we’re afraid of losing some of ourselves, like, what if the person you’re giving the information to is not ready to hear stuff like that. It’s about giving and receiving, and how to deal with that in good and bad ways.”

15. Ecotone (*bonus track*)

“The first time I heard the word ‘ecotone’, I was, like, ‘Wow, that’s a cool word.’ It means the line that is between two things – it could be the line between water and solid ground, between wilderness and civilization. A flower might grow here but it might not over there – that’s an ecotone. And I thought, ‘What if the ecotone was a person?’ Sometimes you don’t think you belong anywhere, you think you’re somewhere in the middle. You feel alienated somehow. It’s something that lives inside every one of us.”

***

"I know everyone says this, but this IS the best album VOLBEAT has recorded — at least until the next one! I set myself a number of goals for this record, and all of them have been achieved, so I couldn't be happier, and having Rob on board has really worked out well. 

"You know, I was really impressed with the sound of the new ANTHRAX album, which he worked on, so we discussed maybe working together in the studio on a couple of songs, but it's now gone way further than that! Rob really knows what he's doing…

"One of the things I'm most happy about this time is the contrast in the material, the range of the music; on the one side, you have the western motifs, the rockabilly/country songs, and the real emotional melodies, and on the other, some of the heaviest — actually, THE heaviest — songs we have ever recorded. There was a record company guy in the studio the other day, and he was absolutely blown away by the ultra-heavy stuff. He said he wasn't even sure he was listening to VOLBEAT!" -Michael Poulsen

More information as it comes in folks.  Stay tuned!

Music Releases For January 15th, 2013

I know it"ll come back to bite me in the ass later but once again, there is some slim pickings for this week's releases.  I'm under the assumption that most labels and bands/artists have started to get back into the daily rotation now that the holidays have come to pass.  That's not to say that these albums aren't worth listening to and picking up.  The Plot In You was on I have been waiting to give a spin, as well as the new Mutiny Within or 2Chellos.  Either way, if it's on the AFGM music release list then it's worth at least checking it out.

I also wanted to quickly remind everyone the importance of picking up an album or two every once and awhile.  I understand it's much easier (and free) to download these albums.  But just reading today that HMV UK is set to close it's doors permanently, it's only a matter of time before our chain retailers (like my defunct former job with CD Plus/E One Ent.) like HMV Canada and Sunrise Records will see their end as well.  Record shops play a vital part in our music industry, same as online retailers and independent music stores (all of which you can check out on the side columns of AFGM).

But who spoke for Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley? They were teenagers when they were convicted for the 1993 murder of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. (Echols alone was sentenced to death.) They spent 18 years in prison, while outside the gates, mounting evidence cast doubt on their conviction. And the three are subjects of a 2012 documentary directed by Amy Berg, West of Memphis, that’s opening in Toronto and Vancouver on Jan. 25.

Those who fought for the trio’s acquittal – they were finally freed in 2011 but still haven’t been exonerated – included musicians such as Eddie Vedder, Henry Rollins, Marilyn Manson, Patti Smith and Natalie Maines, all of whom contributed to an emotional soundtrack to Berg’s film.

This album, however, features “music and songs inspired by the film.” The actual score was written and performed by the soundtrack-specializing duo of Nick Cave and Warren Ellis (both of the Australian alt-rock band Grinderman and, in Cave’s case, the Bad Seeds). -Globe And Mail

With my small issues aside, it’s actually a solid album and one that gets better with repeat listens; I just hope their fans take to the bands slightly adjusted sound. If someone had told me The Plot in You were going to add a nu-metal vibe to their next album I’d have probably rolled my eyes, but after hearing the album in its entirety I can safely say it’s a step in the right direction. -Rock N Reel Reviews

AFGM: Audioworks - An Interview with Chris Clancy

AFGM: Mutiny Within, Industry Embers and the Ongoing Piracy Battles...

New Jersey's Mutiny Within have returned with a more accessible and melodic follow-up to their 2010 debut album. They play an interesting blend of progressive metal that contains elements from metalcore, melodic death metal, and power metal. I thoroughly enjoyed their last output so I had high expectations for this. The band unfortunately was dropped from Roadrunner Records due to low record sales. Since then vocalist Chris Clancy moved back to England and the band went on a hiatus for almost 2 years. This record came as a surprise to many fans and this time around the band decided to take a do it yourself approach with Clancy handling mixing and production duties. -Metal Archives

AFGM: 2Cellos New Video and Debut Album Set for Release

2CELLOS have established themselves as an innovative classical-pop/rock duo who took their classical instrument into the contemporary repertoire. Their second album, IN2ITION, takes their original concept even further. Produced by the legendary Bob Ezrin and featuring guest artists Elton John, guitarist Steve Vai, Glee's Naya Rivera, classical superstar Lang Lang, legendary Italian vocalist Zucchero and pop artist Sky Ferriera, IN2ITION features a fresh and unique twist on classics such as Fleetwood Mac's 'Oh, Well,' The Prodigy's 'Voodoo People,' Coldplay's 'Clocks,' Rhianna's 'We Found Love,' AC/DC's 'Highway to Hell,' Muse's 'Supermassive Black Hole,' Cher and Nancy Sinatra's 'Bang Bang', and Elton John's 'Candle In The Wind.' -Amazon

Released three years after Remigio Pereira, Victor Micallef, Fraser Walters, and Clifton Murray topped the holiday charts with 2009's certified platinum Christmas outing The Perfect Gift, the Canadian Tenors third full-length outing, the 12-track Lead with Your Heart, draws on influences from all over the world and from numerous genres. A lush mix of classical, opera, and pop, the album includes stirring renditions of Bob Dylan's "Forever Young," Elton John's "Sorry Seems to Be The Hardest Word," the much-beloved aria “Nessun Dorma,” and new compositions that were co-written by the Tenors themselves. Lead with Your Heart also features guest appearances from Chris Botti ("Lullaby [The Smile Upon Your Face]") and Natalie Grant ("Amazing Grace"), and will be eventually be accompanied by a PBS concert special CD/DVD that was recorded at the Smith Center for the Performing Arts in Las Vegas. -All Music

The musicianship from everyone on this album is outstanding and top class in every way, they produce amazing sounds throughout and the album really captures the feel of being at a live show. It also demonstrates how Michael is on top form, his performance is so slick and professional, evoking the feeling that you’re there watching the guitar maestro perform his metal magic. -Metal Shock Finland

He’s after gasps of shock and horror, and he garners plenty of both throughout Caligula. By definition, Caligula doesn’t have the novelty or freshness of Shakespeare (in that sense, it really is no Shakespeare), and there are moments throughout when Jeselnik’s sensibility threatens to devolve into mere shtick. But if Jeselnik sometimes comes off as a one-joke comedian, that joke isn’t just still funny—it’s downright hilarious. 

On Caligula, Jeselnik isn’t satisfied until he’s left absolute carnage in his wake. -AV Club

10 Things I Hate About You (...At A Concert)

So as I was sipping some java this morning and looking over an article done by Rolling Stone Magazine about concert annoyances, I just started to think back to all the shows I have attended over the years and found myself in similar situations where the 'fans' are hurting, not helping the show.  I understand and always believe that everyone should be able to enjoy themselves at a concert and there will always be those people that was a great seat for the show but don't want to be part of the moshpit, 'wave' (the word I used to describe when the ENTIRE crowd shifts on the floor for some reason) or crowd surf.  It's not for everyone and I get it.

So back to the article at hand.  Rolling Stone made a "top 10" annoyances at concerts.  You know these people for sure.  The drunk guy/gal who can't hold themselves up, the one with the cell phone blocking your view the WHOLE time and others.  Since I didn't want to take away from Andy Greene's article (writer for Rolling Stone), I'll give you a few of these annoyances so you yourself can think back to those concerts and think "I remember that asshole!"

- Taking pictures the entire freaking show.

I get it. You want to show all your friends on Facebook and Twitter that you saw a cool concert. Fine. Take a photo. Take five if you want! But please, don't take 77. You always manage to hold your camera right in my line of sight. You don't even look like you're enjoying the show while you're doing this. All your attention is on the photos. And you know what? Those photos are all going to look like shit. Every single one of them. You're too far away. You'll probably never even look at them. Also, you see those guys right in front of the stage with the giant cameras? They're taking great professional pictures. There's really no need for yours.

- Pushing your way to the front.

If a concert is general admission, the people in front earned their spots. They got there early and laid claim to their space. The people all the way in front might have even spent all day camped out by the doors, so when the lights go off and you shove your way to the front, you're being a huge asshole. Don't do that. If you show up late and there's only room in the back, you've just gotta deal with it.

- Getting so drunk you puke.

At pretty much any big concert, you'll see a janitor emerge after a couple of songs with a big broom and a bucket of sawdust. It means somebody puked. It's a bummer for the puker, but the people all around have to deal with the aftermath. Don't be the vomit guy. There's no worse kind of person to be at the concert.

- Filming the entire show on your iPhone.

This distracts people even worse than taking pictures, and usually results in an equally horrid product. The sad irony is that people tend to film their favorite songs, but the smiles on their faces are gone when all their concentration goes into capturing these moments on film. Tomorrow morning, YouTube will be cluttered with crappy cellphone videos of every song from whatever show you're seeing. There's no need to add to that. You paid good money to see a show, and you're joylessly watching it through a tiny screen on your iPhone. It just doesn't make any sense.

Read the rest of the article here.

Black Sabbath - 13

13...

The name set for the highly anticipated release from legendary BLACK SABBATH.  So since the info is limited at this point and this will be continuously updated, let's get down to the basics of what we already know.

- Black Sabbath has recorded well over 15+ songs for the new album.  How many songs will make the cut is yet to be determined.  Song titles set to appear on the CD include "God Is Dead", "End Of The Beginning" and "Age Of Reason", the latter two of which stretch out to as long as eight minutes.

- The new album "13" will be released on June 11th, 2013 via Vertigo/Universal Republic Records

- For their 19th album (ninth with Ozzy), Black Sabbath will be returning to Vertigo, their original record label.



- Brad Wilk (drummer from Rage Against the Machine) will be replacing Bill Ward for drum tracks on the album.  Ward dropped out of the Black Sabbath reunion projects in May due to personal and label conflicts.

- The band will be making their first 2013 touring in New Zealand, Australia and Japan before the release of the album, with additional dates to come.



- Black Sabbath has tapped popular producer Rick Rubin to helm the project.  When asked about Rubin's involvement with the album and band, guitarist Tony Iommi replied with:

"He's just a vibe merchant, really. He vibes you up. He's not one who gets involved hands-on.  He leaves it to you to do it and he sort of says, 'Yeah, I like it,' you know, or, 'I don't like it.'" -Iommi

And how about that great new promo they got running for the album.  Finally enough chat and now we are getting to see what the album is actually about.  The new single "God Is Dead?" sounds great despite the many years the guys have been separated.  Iommi, Osbourne and Butler still got the groove, as you can see for yourself:




"We wrote 16 songs ... and I put it on my CD player expecting me to be unhappy with the end result, but this big grin came on my face and my hair on the back of my neck [stood up]. It's better than my wildest dreams; it's so good.  It's very, very heavy, there's no getting away from the fact that it is Black Sabbath, and you can hear every instrument and everything clearly. It's so heavy. I'm so excited about it." -Osbourne

So if you didn't catch wind yet, Black Sabbath invited a small list of music elites to a listening party for their upcoming album.  Out of the reviews and [sometimes] mixed emotions, the album structure was won over and some great insight came from the sessions, as you can see below:

1. End of the Beginning (8:07). Too long a track for an opener but otherwise very good. Very heavy. Ozzy’s vocals don’t evoke dragons and knights and the soaring evil of Dio…rather, they have a melodic but, unsettling quality to then. Not operatic bombast, but understated, melodic eeriness. But it works. This is not the uninspired songwriting of those two songs from the Reunion album — this is real songwriting with some good riffs from Iommi. A very good song.


2. God is Dead? (8:54). This song slays. Very cool riffing and a good melody line. The B section is evocative of the Holy in the Sky riff but it still works really well. This is an excellent song, worthy of standing with anything in the Ozzy catalog (thought it lacks the instant memorability of Iron Man or Paranoid).

(*God Is Dead will be the first single released by the band.  It will be available April 19th, 2013.  You can check out the artwork here.*)

3. Loner (5:06). Sounds a LOT like a heavy, modern-production version of NIB (I even sang “Oh yeah” after the appropriate riff). Lyrically and mood-wise it mixes in some Johnny Blade. It’s a good song, but not as good as the previous ones.

4. Zeitgeist (4:28).  Mellow, and somewhat evocative of Planet Caravan. It’s fine, but I anticipate skipping this on CD.

5. Age of Reason (7:02). This song kills. My notes (again, scratched in there by keys) are unintelligible. But this one had people pretty fired up.

6. Live Forever (4:49). Has a Children of the Grave / Hole in the Sky Feel once again. A good song, if not as ambitious as some of the others.

7. Damaged Soul (7:43). Very heavy blues. Too bluesy for my tastes. Blues blues and more blues, and when you are done with the blues, it shoves another does of blues up your ass. This is overstated — it’s plenty heavy. It just is too (wait for it) bluesy for my tastes. Others enjoyed it more than me. Still, this is not a throwaway, just not one of my favorites.

8. Dear Father (7:06). A great song to finish with, again quite heavy with a lot of energy. The B section is the one featured in the video with Rubin telling Ozzy to try again (“…the victims of the sins you devise.”) The main section is beefier than that part. There is a recurrent tritone riff that is very evocative of the first notes played in the song Black Sabbath. It’s so evocative that one wonders if it’s purposeful…and the riffs appears again at the very end of the song…and then the song ends…with rain…and church bells. Very cool. Very cool indeed.

The album will see a release in a variety of formats including:

• Standard CD album

• Deluxe double CD album in a deluxe soft-pack (includes a second disc of exclusive bonus audio material)

*9. Methademic
*10. Peace Of Mind
*11. Pariah
*12. Naïveté In Black (Best Buy exclusive track)

(*track names and exclusives are not verified and therefore only rumor)

• Vinyl: a 12-inch heavyweight (180g) vinyl album in a gate fold sleeve

• Super Deluxe Box Set comes in a limited-edition 12-inch clam shell box set which contains a deluxe double CD album, a 12-inch heavyweight (180g) vinyl album in a gate fold sleeve, an exclusive DVD containing “Black Sabbath – The Reunion” documentary (+ plus five behind-the-scenes videos), download card containing exclusive track by track interview with Black Sabbath, “13″ exclusive photographic prints and handwritten album lyrics.




No onto some touring.  The band has announced shows left, right and centre across various parts of the world.  While we are still waiting the full details of their North American stint, AFGM found (through Universal Music) that August 14th, 2013 is the date set for their triumphant return to Toronto!

There have also been some talks of what the set list is going to look like, considering they have a new album with new material on the way.  Are they going to tour with all the hits?  Some new tracks?  Entire new album tour (that would sound awesome BTW, even though the hits would sound great as well)?  Well the lucky bastards over at Metal Forge conducted a great interview with Geezer Butler about tours, new material a bunch of other great areas of interest:

TMF: With decades of hits to choose from for a concert setlist, how difficult has it been to whittle down the songs you'd like to play, to fit within the set time frame?

GB: Well, since all our albums date back to the 1970’s, that is the decade we will be dealing with. We always have to play the staples, such as Iron Man, Paranoid, Black Sabbath, War Pigs, Children Of The Grave, but it’s good to include a more obscure stuff.

TMF: Continuing from the previous question, without giving too much away, will Black Sabbath be performing songs previously never performed live before? What information can you give to your Australian fans when you arrive here in 2013?

GB: Hopefully, we’ll be doing one or two new songs from the new album.

You can read the full interview here.

More info to come folks so stay tuned!



And finally, we can add some f**king tour dates to these guys!  Here is the full North American itinerary for Sabbath's "13" tour:

July
25 - Houston, TX - Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion 
27 - Austin, TX - Frank Erwin Center 
29 - Tampa, FL - Live Nation Amphitheatre 
31 - W. Palm Beach, FL - Cruzan Amphitheatre

August
2 - Bristow, VA - Jiffy Lube Live 
4 - Holmdel, NJ - PNC Bank Arts Center 
6 - Detroit, MI - DTE Energy Music Theatre 
8 - Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun Arena 
10 - Philadelphia, PA - Wells Fargo Center 
12 - Boston, MA - Comcast Center 
14 - Toronto, ON - Air Canada Centre 
16 - Tinley Park, IL - First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre 
18 - Indianapolis, IN - Klipsch Music Center 
22 - Vancouver, BC - Rogers Arena 
24 - Seattle, WA - Gorge Amphitheatre 
26 - San Francisco, CA - Shoreline Amphitheatre at Mountain View 
28 - Irvine, CA - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre 
30 - Phoenix, AZ - US Airways Center 

September
1 - Las Vegas, NV - MGM Grand Garden Arena 
3 - Los Angeles, CA - Los Angeles Sports Arena

Mike Semesky - No One Like You

Fresh blood with classic tunes.  That's exactly what I got from these videos that Mike Semesky (former vocalist for The HAARP Machine) has posted on his YouTube channel.  So far, he has covered some great tunes like the following one he covered of Scorpion's "No One Like You".



Other great videos done by Semesky are Van Halen's "Ain't Talking Bout Love", Imogen Heap's "Hide & Seek", and Florence & The Machine's "Heartlines".  I have been really diggin the HAARP Machine's debut album and have even more of a reason now with a vocalist like this.






Check out my other article covering The HAARP Machine below:

AFGM: Disclosure of The HAARP Machine

Take Action 11 - A Compilation For Charity

So the Take Action Tour has been going strong for some time now and always seems to release a compilation album, similar to other tours like Ozzfest, Warped Tour, etc.  Volume 11 saw the light of day on January 8th, 2013.  Proceeds from album sales are going towards the "It Get's Better Foundation".

DISC 1:
1. The Used - The Lonely*
2. We Came As Romans - Fair-weather*
3. AWOL Nation - Sail (Unlimited Gravity Remix)*
4. Bad Religion - Fuck You*
5. The Wonder Years - Local Man Ruins Everything (Nervous Energies)*
6. Mayday Parade - Oh Well, Oh Well
7. Falling in Reverse - The Drug In Me Is You
8. Enter Shikari - Warm Smiles Do Not Make You Welcome Here (Tek One Mix)*
9. Whitechapel - Animus
10. Periphery - Far Out (Instrumental)*
11. Sleeping With Sirens - James Dean & Audrey Hepburn (Acoustic Version)
12. All Time Low - The Reckless & The Brave (Acoustic)*
13. Never Shout Never - Pray For Peace (Demo)*
14. 3OH!3 - You're Gonna Love This (Wuki Remix)*
15. The Summer Set - Fuck U Over
16. Say Anything - Their Notions

DISC 2:
1. Glass Cloud - Everybody Wants To Rule The World*
2. Ice Nine Kills - What I Never Learned in Study Hall (6 Feet Below)*
3. Memphis May Fire - Prove Me Right
4. Upon This Dawning - A New Beginning
5. Parkway Drive - Dark Days
6. SHARKS - Sea Of All Seas*
7. Balance & Composure - Quake
8. Silver Snakes - All My Eye*
9. Broadway Calls - Bring On The Storm*
10. We Are The Ocean - Machine
11. Transit - Skipping Stone (Alternate Version)
12. Seahaven - Understanding*
13. Set It Off - Dream Catcher
14. I Am The Avalanche - I'll Be Back Around
15. The Scene Aesthetic - Carelessly (feat. Dresses)*
16. Plug In Stereo - I Hope You Know (feat. Tay Jardine)*
17. William Beckett - 48 In A Hospital *
18. Itch - London Is Burning*
19. Twin Atlantic - Make A Beast Of Myself (Space Brother Remix)*
20. The Animal In Me - Speak*
21. Hell Or Highwater - Come Alive (Acoustic)*
22. Palisades - Bury It (Acoustic)*

* denotes rare or unreleased

Best song on the compilation (well, in my opinion) would have to be the Tears For Fears cover that Glass Cloud recorded.  Check out "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" below:

Dark Tranquillity - Construct(ing)

“Greetings, Darklings! After having played over 200 shows in every corner of the world in support of the We Are The Void album, it's time to focus inwards and lock ourselves up in the studio. Months and months of hard songwriting work has paid off, and the recording sessions will start early this year. 

Further details will be announced in due time, but for now we can reveal that the album will be entitled "Construct", and that we're very excited to have Jens Bogren (PARADISE LOST, OPETH, KATATONIA) taking care of the mix. The release date is set for May 27th.” -Dark Tranquillity

Opeth & Katatonia 2013 North American Tour

2013 is off to a good start folks.  Plenty of great albums and tour planned for the early months, as the summer festival gigs and cruise festivals are also taking shape for later on in the year.  Now onto the highly anticipated return of Opeth!  Found out about these guys a little later in the game than the hardcore fans.  I think it was 2002's Deliverance album when I noticed them selling off the shelves like crazy at the record store I was currently working at.  

Being that I was still relatively new to this who new scary genre known as metal (haha) I didn't give them much thought and time to listen.  It wasn't until they released their 2005 LP "Ghost Reveries" that I started to notice more fans wearing the shirts, bigger venues to play and overall becoming a heavyweight in the metal world.

So as you can see, Opeth has announced their full itinerary for their North American tour, featuring long time Swedish metal act Katatonia (see video below).  

The ever-evolving Swedish band Opeth will return to North America in support of their most recent studio album, Heritage.  Released September 20, 2011, it garnered rave reviews from everyone from Rolling Stone  who called the album "a career record that reimagines prog as actual rock 'n' roll" to Pitchfork saying "a pretty, well thought out collection” to NPR who called it “equally vast, thoughtful and heavy.” The tour will kick off on April 18th in Buffalo and will take the band throughout North America on a 30+ city tour. Katatonia has been confirmed as direct support for the tour.

There will be several dates of note during Opeth’ s North American run.  On April 20th, Opeth will be making a stop to headline alongside Anthrax, Hatebreed and Suicidal Tendencies at the New England Metal & Hardcore Festival.  The April 28th show in Clifton Park, NY will see Åkerfeldt’s Storm Corrosion collaborator and friend Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree join Opeth for a special evening that is not to be missed.  There will also be two rare and intimate evenings with Opeth planned for Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn on April 29th and The Roxy in Los Angeles on May 24th.  These shows will allow fans the unique opportunity to experience Opeth like never before. -Opeth (via press release)

Dates are as follows:

Opeth will also be offering VIP packages throughout the tour that will allow fans the following:

- 1 ticket to the show

- Access to a meet-and-greet with the band

- Early entry to venue after meet & greet

- Opeth fan pack which includes:

- Exclusive VIP T-shirt

- Exclusive VIP double 12" clear vinyl of Heritage

- Opeth tour photo book

- Commemorative VIP laminate & lanyard

Katatonia left their fans with much anticipation this week with the following guessing game:

"Big tour announcement coming this week... Where? North America! When? This spring! With whom? Check back in this week and you'll find out!" -Katatonia



More info as it comes in folks.  Tickets for these shows go on sale officially January 11th & 12th, 2013 via the one and only Ticketmaster.

BMTH - Sempiternal

So these guys have been hit and miss with the online critics and personally didn't think much of them when I found out about them during the "Suicide Season" album release.  A couple good tunes here and there (I remember "The Comedown" and "Chelsea Smile" as tracks that stuck out) but wasn't into them too much.  Then I happened to catch them on tour with Parkway Drive, Architects and Deez Nuts.  The stage presence was not what I expected and the crowd reaction was equal to those of the other bands on the bill.  Needless to say they had a good amount of fans ready to open the floor up.

So they won me over after blasting through their setlist and adding some great stage props such as foggers, beach balls and climbing every piece of equipment the venue had to offer.  Oli even ran through the crowd and performed a track with fans on the upper level of the venue.  A nice tough for those getting to throw their arm around him and scream into the microphone.  Since then I have been keeping my eye on them.  During the "There Is a Hell, Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is a Heaven, Let's Keep It a Secret" era, and now with the announcement of their new album up for grabs.



1. Can You Feel My Heart
2. The House Of Wolves
3. Empire (Let Them Sing)
4. Sleepwalking
5. Go To Hell, For Heaven's Sake
6. Shadow Moses
7. And The Snakes Start To Sing
8. Seen It All Before
9. Anti-vist
10. Crooked Young
11. Hospitals For Souls

*For a full album stream via Epitaph Records, click HERE!*

"Sempinternal" is going to be their forth full length release and is set to hit shelves on April 29th, 2013 via RCA Records.




"I think it’s going to be a far more positive album.  Not cheesy, but I’ve got a much clearer view of my life; I’ve definitely gone through a lot of shit and feel like I’ve finally got through it. There’s a lot of reflection there and there’s a lot of almost apologies that I want to write. I think a lot of the stuff - the way I was and what I’ve done - has affected a lot of people and I never saw it that way. It’s not just an apology, it’s a confirmation of everything that’s happened and where we are today." -Oli Sykes



"Pushing ourselves musically is - for me anyway - the goal.  All the things that have come with that in the past have been positive, so that’s all we know. We’re definitely not writing songs with the idea of being on the radio, achieving this or that. For instance, we wrote a song you can imagine on the soundtrack to the end of the world, but it’s not it was written for that purpose. The only goal for us is pushing ourselves and hopefully that will be rewarding in itself." -Oli Sykes

March 5th UPDATE:

The music video for "Sleepwalking" has been released, so check it out below:

Music Releases For January 8th, 2013

It feels good to see new music coming out so early in 2013.  Last couple of weeks was some downtime being that there wasn't much coming out and the news was at a stalemate.  I originally wanted to do a "top 10" list of 2012 but then ultimately came to the conclusion that my opinion of a top album will not necessarily reflect the readers that follow my site, nor do I try and argue to someone that it is.  Different strokes for different folks, you know?

Anyways, so some of these albums may not necessarily be available at a local record shop or the usual online retailer, so you might have to venture to their official band sites or iTunes for these, but pick em up either way.  Some great tunes hitting shelves across North America!

LPs:

AFGM: BVB - Setting The World On Fire (*older article)

With their third album, Black Veil Brides complete their transformation from a heavily made-up metalcore band to a full-fledged gothic glam metal band, mixing drama and swagger on the sprawling and conceptual Wretched & Divine. Channeling the freewheeling power of Mötley Crüe into their moody sound, the album finds the band really carving out a niche for themselves among the faceless waves of metalcore/post-hardcore acts. While the 19-song Wretched & Divine is ostensibly a concept album complete with a two-act structure and recurring elements, stripping those elements away reveals an album that is, at its core, a pretty straightforward set of ripping glam metal. Though the conceptual elements do a great job of tying the album into the band's dark image, the music at the heart of the album is solid all on its own. That said, the two come together to create a pretty entertaining package of over the top rock & roll escapism, drawing the listener into the gloomy world created by Black Veil Brides before attempting to rock their socks off with some old-fashioned riffage and big singalong choruses. For fans of the band, the transition from metalcore to third wave glam will have been a (relatively) long time coming, given their steady transition to make their sound match their teased-out appearance. For anyone else who might've picked up this album and immediately began searching for the release date after seeing the bands photo on the back cover, Wretched & Divine is a solid album of neo-hard rock that might just be the thing your inner Crüe fan has been looking for. -All Music

AFGM: Dropkick Murphys - Signed and Sealed in Blood

Signed and Sealed in Blood is the epitome of that good-time ethic; concise, sentimental, but not above drinking a bottle of whiskey and brawling in the street. By all accounts Dropkicks should have faded out by now in a haze of bitter tensions and liver failure. The band's dogged persistence in partying hard, though, is summed up in the mandolin-fueled closing ballad End of The Night. "It's the end of the night, but we ain't going home" they sing, and with music like this, it's safe to say nobody else is either. -Alt Sounds

AFGM: WCAR - Understanding What They Have Grown To Be

Michigan’s own We Came As Romans have announced that they will issue a deluxe version of their album, Understanding What We’ve Grown To Be, through Equal Vision Records. -Under The Gun

New tracks:

1. Hope
2. The King of Silence
3. Let These Words Last Forever

We Came As Romans have debuted a new song titled "Hope" via MTV Buzzworthy. The track is one of three previously-unreleased songs that will be featured on the deluxe reissue of their 2011 album, Understanding What We've Grown To Be, which is set for release next Tuesday, January 8 via Equal Vision Records. -Alt Press

EPs:



Philip H. Anselmo and The Illegals deliver in skull-crushing fashion on the brutal opener, “Conflict”. Those expecting anything remotely stoner-tipped can sac up now, because this is a pulverizing display of violence set to sound. Phil sounds like an enraged and half-deranged mad man, and the drum work by Jose Manuel Gonzales is simply vicious. “Family, ‘Friends’, and Associates” is only slightly less devastating in its delivery. Phil hasn’t sounded this unhinged in years, and this is a good sign that his spring/summer release, “Walk Through Exits Only” will be decidedly sick.

The deep six thrash bastards of Warbeast leave no skin unscathed on their two tracks either. “IT” is a burly and muscular construct of triturating mayhem with maniacal stick work from Joe Gonzales, and flesh-lacerating fretwork from Scott Shelby. Bruce Corbitt (Rigor Mortis) dips his vocals in old school broken glass and battery acid for an aggressive delivery. Where it kept the groove reigned in to some degree, “Birth Of A Psycho” unleashes it, steps back and lets it fly like a monkey with a straight-razor. The effect is purely savage and delightful in its jaw-breaking delivery. Warbeast gives just enough of the taste to blood in our mouths to hold us over for their sophomore effort, “Destroy” due in March 2013. -Examiner

AFGM: Newsted - Metal

Metallica meets Motorhead as bassist Jason Newsted unveils “Soldierhead” off his upcoming 4-song EP under the “Newsted” moniker. A welcome return to his heavy roots, “Soldierhead” shreds like no other. It’s got the thrash of early Metallica, the punk aesthetic of “Ace Of Spades”-era Motorhead and a sonic brutality reminiscent of Ministry.

As the lead off track for an EP entitled Metal, “Soldierhead” definitely delivers. The EP, due out on January 8th, promises to be one of the standout metal releases of 2013. But for now enjoy the four minutes of relentless metal fury heralding the return of one of heavy music’s greatest musical forces. -PopBlerd

Singles:

AFGM: Alice In Chains - Hollow

"Hollow" is a single by the American rock band Alice in Chains, from the band's as-yet-untitled upcoming fifth studio album, which is expected to be released in the spring of 2013. -Wiki

"Conventional Weapons" will be released as five double A-side singles that will be made available on seven-inch vinyls and through digital downloads. Each release is available for individual purchase, but are also offered collectively as part of a limited-edition box set available for pre-order through the official My Chemical Romance online store. The release dates are, respectively, October 30, 2012; November 23, 2012; December 18, 2012; January 8, 2013; and February 5, 2013. -Wiki

Killswitch Engage - Disarm The Descent

Well the time has come and couldn't be happier to share the news that Killswitch Engage have finally revealed some details surrounding their upcoming (and highly anticipated) album release.  The album is set to be released on April 2nd, 2013 via Roadrunner Records.

Here is the track listing for "Disarm The Descent":

1. The Hell In Me
2. Beyond The Flames
3. New Awakening
4. In Due Time
5. A Tribute To The Fallen
6. The Turning Point
7. All That We Have
8. You Don't Bleed For Me
9. The Call
10. No End In Sight
11. Always
12. Time Will Not Remain




"[The recording process] was great.  I came off tour I was filled with energy, ready to go, we knocked out a bunch of stuff. I had joined the band, the record was there, we're on tour so I really didn't have time to write. I took the past two months not only recording but writing so I'm there with an idea, being in the other room writing and going to Adam saying, 'Here's my idea I just wrote, what do you think?' So there's real spontaneity some of the songs that we just finished up. I had maybe five or six solid ideas when I came off tour and the rest had to be developed as we were recording it. It was exciting but at the same time tough because for me I'm digging deep down into my emotions and my psyche trying to come up with stuff that is honest and emotive and relevant, hopefully for the listener. It's tiring but well worth, anything that's worth achieving you got to suffer a little bit for it. I think mentally and spiritually and a little bit physically we were suffering but all of that made for an amazing record that I'm really proud of.

The music is definitely the fastest KILLSWITCH record ever. It's very heavy but still maintains the signature KILLSWITCH hooky, melodic stuff there, too. There's definitely melody attached, but I pulled out some new styles vocally, yelling and screaming and growling and layers and it sounds massive." -Jesse Leach



Pre-orders are already happening for the new album, along with some goodies for the deluxe packages.  Available for order will be deluxe digital and deluxe CD/DVD editions.  Both will come with alternate artwork and bonus live versions of “Numbered Days” and “My Curse” that were captured during their 2012 touring.



The DVD featured in the deluxe CD/DVD set will be a 30 minute feature about the making of "Disarm The Descent" titled "Killswitch Engage – New Awakening".

More info as it comes in folks!  For now, we got their first review of the album by Metal Injection.  They called what I was afraid would happen.  Personally, a few of the latest albums seemed to flow into each other and hard to distinguish between certain tracks (aka structure of songs seemed to mimic each other).  I will be grabbing a copy and giving a spin numerous times regardless, but here is what MI had to say about the album:

Therein lies my issue with the record: it’s not that I dislike it, and having an abundance of soaring choruses and riffs for days is never a bad thing, but when every single song seems to be the same structure and rely on the same components to make the song distinguish itself from the rest, it just gets kind of boring. It all boils down to sweet riffs and Leach screaming bloody murder in the verse, clean vocals with guitar melodies in the chorus, and then some halftime stuff thrown in there and maybe a solo. If you've heard the single "In Due Time" then you already get what this record is all about. I get that bands have their own sound and that they’re going to adhere to that throughout their career to some degree, but variety certainly isn’t going to kill them either.



That being said, the band does perform exceptionally well on the record. Naturally all the riffs, melodies and solos are top-notch in all their semi-technicality and shreddiness, the rhythm section provides an extremely solid foundation for what the guitars are doing with an unwavering steadiness, and Leach has never sounded better. In fact, I would venture to say that hype aside, Leach is the star of this record. His growls and screams cover the spectrum of that style really well, and his cleans and harmonies are really creative and catchy. The production does the music justice as well, adding to the focused heaviness the album by bringing out what each instrument is doing without getting in the way of each other… awesome.

Read the full review here.

The Great Fire Is Over...Bleeding Through Calls It Quits

It's a very sad day when you hear that one of the bands you grew up for the last 10 year listening to has decided to call it a day.  Mind you, the band has been around a lot longer than that (originally formed in 1999) but I discovered them as one of my first hardcore metal bands.  Blasting the f**k out "Love Lost In A Hail of Gunfire" and other great tunes by them.

As all things in life, it must come to an end.  Bleeding Through have officially announced they are disbanding, but not before they play a farewell tour across the world.  Check out some of the Blabbermouth interview with vocalist Brandan Schieppati and his details surrounding the break up:


"When you have some success doing something that you love, you never really think about writing a statement about that something coming to an end. Well, that dream that we have had as BLEEDING THROUGH has come to an end.

I think I can speak for the rest of my bandmates in saying that we always hoped it would end on our terms, and it has.

We have been fortunate to have a strong fan base worldwide and have brought joy to many and pissed off many more.

BLEEDING THROUGH was always a band that wore the emotion of the music on our sleeves. We cared about everyone like family that ever took the time to listen to our band, support our merchandise and go to our shows.

Since 1999, we have been blessed to be able to tour the world, record seven records with some great musical minds, tour with amazing bands and people, work with people with character such as management, booking agents and road crew. Most importantly, we made lasting friends from this journey.

We have been honored to be part of a expanding the musical movement of heavy music and hope to be remembered as a benchmark and pioneer of a specific style of music.

We have been a band since 1999, and many of us just had life catch up with us in the way of marriages, kids, businesses and other endeavors. We can no longer dedicate what we need to to keep BLEEDING THROUGH going.

Personally, I feel doing this band in a part-time fashion is not what this band is about and and feel like we have always been an all-or-nothing band. With that being said, and because we have established a worldwide following over the last 14 years, we want to give us and those people one more chance to share in this music together. We are setting up farewell tours. Dates will be up and promoted very soon.

To those who supported this band: It has been an honor."

***

That being said, the dates are still in the works, but we will let you know as soon as dates are posted.  I for one will be at their Toronto show (if their tour does so) with a beer and a free elbow for the moshpit.  You know...goin' out in style!

Check out my previous article of Bleeding Through and their final album "The Great Fire" (plus a background of the band):

AFGM: The Great Fires of Bleeding Through

You can also check out Brandan's current project (alongside Atreyu's Alex Varkatzas) I AM WAR:

AFGM: I Am War - Outlive You All

Bullet For My Valentine - Temper Temper

OK, so I feel I've been neglecting the upcoming release from UK's Bullet For My Valentine.  I don't really know why.  I think it came back on the fact that I just didn't care for the first single the guys released called "Temper Temper":



I think that at the time of reading about this new album I was more infatuated with the constant releasing of music videos and single from Matt Tuck's other project AxeWound, which you can check out my article on them in the link below:

AFGM: AxeWound - Vultures

Even if I wasn't impressed with the first single (didn't really give me that "I want to hear more" vibe) but these guys have consistently made decent albums since I discovered them back during "The Poison".  They had [and even still have] great potential then so why did I stray from them?  "Your Betrayal", "4 Words", "Waking the Demon" are all great singles from these guys.  So I think it's safe to say that I jumped the gun on their new album.

Anyways, they got a new album coming out with the same title "Temper Temper" which is going to see a release date of February 12th, 2013 via RCA Records.  A perfect gift for those metal heads that are looking to romance the shit out their loved ones.  What a better way to say "I love you" than handing them a copy of this:

Pretty sexy right?  I think it'll be a better Valentine's Day gift than a bullet?  Sorry, dry humor there...only making myself laugh I'm sure.

I like to think they got my attention a little more with the front cover.  It's simple, good colour scheme and opens up for many interpretations of where they got their creativity from.  I think I did the opposite of what you are supposed to do with a book.  I read a chapter (aka heard the single) but didn't bother to check the front cover which can sometimes play just as big of a role in an album than the songs/lyrics do.



So here is the track listing for the upcoming album:

1. Breaking Point
2. Truth Hurts
3. Temper Temper
4. Pow
5. Dirty Little Secret
6. Leech
7. Dead To The World
8. Riot
9. Saints n Sinners
10. Tears Don't Fall (Part 2)
11. Livin Life (On The Edge of A Knife)

Deluxe-edition bonus tracks:

12. Not Invincible
13. Whole Lotta Rosie (from the "Live Lounge" show on BBC Radio 1)
14. Scream Aim Fire (from the "Live Lounge" show on BBC Radio)

If you are like me, you sifted through that track listing and saw "Tears Don't Fall (Part 2)" right of the bat.  Wasn't sure if it was going to be a straight continuation of the song like Metallica's Unforgiven (I & II) or if it's going to be a little harder to connect the two parts like I did with Unforgiven Part II & III.  I felt they did quite well on their continuation and still have the same tempo, scales and structure similar to part I:



"The overall sound of our album is a mid tempo hard rock stomper with flashes of old school metal thrown in for fun.  Massive vocal melodies and hooks with insane solos make this one our strongest record to date by far." -Matt Tuck

You can also check out the latest singles from BFMV titled "Riot" and "Breaking Point".  Cheers!

2013 To Be The "Year of Metal"?

Just like my hometown Toronto Blue Jays, it's going to be quite the downfall if they (aka the metal industry) don't live up to their expectations.  Metal never went away in order for it to make a comeback, it just came out of the underground.

With labels constantly signing new bands, dropping old ones, social media as an outlet and genre's splitting off to make new sub-genres on an almost monthly basis, I'm not sure how 2013 is going to be THAT MUCH MORE than the year prior to.

What is the 'x-factor' that metal has this year among others?  Or is this an empty assumption with the industry getting their hopes up?  You folks ARE the industry so what do you think?  Is the Times in the right here or do you feel that increased media and tour exposure will determine that 2013 will be the "year of metal"?

Read the full Times article here.

Enjoy The Silence

So I was driving home yesterday from a New Year's Day family get together along with the girlfriend.  Since I was driving (and I trust her good taste in music) I asked her to play DJ for the drive there and back.  She popped in one of my random music mixes from a few years prior to.  A bunch of great tunes came on one after the other and just remembered how awesome this CD was.  Anyone else here ever made music mixes of songs/singles you bought online?  Even though most people have switched to the USB/solid state in their cars, but like people before me with their cassette tapes it's always cooler to be your own DJ and go through the process of elimination for which songs make 'the cut' (haha)

So passing through track after track we came across Dope's rendition of a Depeche Mode cover, "People Are People".  Now I like Dope despite the flack from trollers about this band.  They got good hooks, the guitarist (aka Virus) is a solid player and the drums and bass follow quite nicely with the tunes.  Not to mention they can go from tunes like "Burn" to a mellow ballad such as "Sing".

Now this wasn't my point in the article.  What I wondered while driving home was the amount of signed (or even just popular) bands that have taken a stab at reinventing some uber popular tunes originally composed by Depeche Mode.  So I took the track "Enjoy The Silence" since I've heard it made over a couple times and easily recognizable by listeners.  The point of the rant was to discuss the highs and lows of each remake and what sticks out about each style of the song.

Here's the original...



And here are a few of the remakes...


(Anberlin, 2006)


(Lacuna Coil, 2006)


(Breaking Benjamin, 2002/2011)


(It Dies Today, 2005)


(Evergreen Terrace, 2002)


(HIM, unknown year)

I know it's probably been repetitive by now for that track and there are even more bands that have covered it in the past.  I like to take subtle things though from each version that make the song unique to their band.  I focus on the vocals of Ville Valo from HIM, the punk beats from Evergreen Terrace, the slow build up of Lacuna Coil or the ambient element that Breaking Benjamin adds to the introduction.  They all have their highs, lows and off moments where you sit back and wonder "why did they do that?"  In the big picture, I find it more flattering than anything else to Depeche Mode that so many bands have attempted to not only cover their song but to make it their own and adding their own elements to the track.

And now you all know what goes through my head when listening to a track.  Cheers!