GHOST GET SINISTER ON NEW TRACK 'CIRICE'

Ghost (or Ghost B.C. if you're American) are one of those bands I didn't really get until I saw them live, but there's something about a field full of people singing the chorus to Monstrance Clock that is incredibly captivating...come together, together as one...

Ever since then I've been completely hooked by the B-Movie loving Swedes and their creeping hard rock antics.

Having recently announced the band's third full-length release Meliora, due to be released on August 21st, it seemed apt that the band dropped the first single from it last Wednesday, Cirice, complete with Silence of the Lambs influenced cover art.

This is perhaps the heaviest we've seen Ghost, they're channelling some pretty old school doom metal influences here, with fans citing Black Sabbath and Candlemass among the most obvious influences. Don't get me wrong, this is far from extreme levels of heaviness, but compared to the majority their previous release, Infestissumam and debut Opus Eponymous this is a definite sonic shift for Ghost, but without losing any of the intrinsic, creepy charm.

If the rest of Meliora is like this, I'd say we're in for a treat.

Cirice will feature on Ghost's third full-legnth LP Meliora. Due to be released in August of 2015.

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SLICE THE CAKE DESTROY CITIES WITH NEW TRACK

International Deathcore trio Slice the Cake are still sitting on their hotly anticipated new album Odyssey to the West and while there's still no release in sight, we have been favoured by the pastry chef gods of brutality in other ways.

 

And what a mighty fine way it is. This is an absolutely crushing track that only makes the wait for this record harder to bare.

If you're chomping on the bit for more Slice The Cake goodness and haven't yet read our interview with Slice The Cake voice man Gareth Mason or heard the other single from their upcoming album... well... what are you waiting for?

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VEIL OF MAYA BECOME ENDLESSLY PREDICTABLE WITH MATRIARCH

I spent quite a long time trying to come up with a deep opinion on the new album, Matriarch, by American Progressive Deathcore outfit Veil of Maya, but after repeated listens and chances I come back to one word to describe just over 30 minutes of music that I can barely remember.

Apathy.

A previous Veil of Maya album, The Modern Man’s Collapse, still makes it into my listening rotation semi-regularly. The lukewarm reaction that Matriarch elicits is not based on a previous, under-running, bias against the Sumerian Records veterans, but that, in 2015, Veil of Maya seem to have nothing more to offer. It is not to say that Veil of Maya were necessarily the architects of Progressive Deathcore, but at one point at least, their sound was new and exciting; the riffs were not just the same riffs heard from other bands… even if their songs had tablature akin to a spilt tin of spaghetti hoops at times. Matriarch, conversely, relies heavily on the trappings of its genre and successfully takes the Progress out of Progressive Deathcore.

Veil of Maya have not lost their technical ability or their penchant for writing decent riffs, at least not completely, but they have fallen into a pit of predictability. It’s conflicting to hear an enjoyable riff, only to have it followed by 3 minutes of everything you’ve come to expect; zoning out completely until the next vaguely interesting bit. This album ticks every box so that it can satisfy the modern definition of its genre and little more. The result is a record listened to with clipboard in hand; the listener just waiting to be able to check the boxes marked “overly syncopated Start-Stop riff written in an obtuse time signature” and “random breakdown that completely ruins the flow.” It is likely you have heard this album before, just with a different names and titles attached and (only slightly) different album art. It’s been released many times before (even by Veil of Maya themselves.)

The only thing that has changed this time around are the vocals. New vocalist Lukas Magyar took over from Brandon Butler in 2014, introducing, controversially, clean vocals to Veil of Maya for the first time. These clean vocals are another nail in the coffin for Matriarch, but not because clean vocals are inherently bad or *insert homophobic slur here* or that Magyar’s performance is anything to complain about. The issue is that sections where Lukas Magyar’s clean vocals come to the forefront underline the complete lack of creativity to be found on this album. This is mainly because these sections all sound lifted from Periphery’s Periphery II: This Time It’s Personal release from 2012. On a first listen I had to double check to make sure that Spencer “Sponce” Sotelo wasn’t a featured artist on this album. It’s a definite bad move for your album to remind me of another, better, album that I could be listening to. Because if I can. I will. And I’m sure I’m not the only one.

If the idea of another album that throws electronics, unsatisfying time signature changes and Morse code (probably delivering messages to undercover sleeper cells) disguised as chugging guitar riffs at you is somehow appealing, then Matriarch is for you. For everyone else, there is a vaguely enjoyable album here, but it’s one you’ve probably already heard. One that follows a very specific formula that, to be fair to Veil of Maya, the band follows very well. It’s just a shame that the formula is no longer just written on the blackboard at the front of the Progcore classroom, but etched there like some kind of commandment of the genre; giving those who look on it with the knowledge of tedious predictability.

2.5/5

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LAMB OF GOD 'STILL ECHOES' IN YOUR EARS

Lamb of God are a staple of Modern Metal, they're the closest thing we're gonna get to new Metal Superstars. If a Metal fan claims to have never even kind of liked the Virginian Groove Metallers, they're probably lying.

Lamb of God's new album VII: Sturm Und Drang is set for release in July. Despite that not being a huge amount of time to wait, we have the fantastic new song, Still Echoes to tide us over.



While the last two album, Wrath and Resolution, varied in quality from fair to pretty good, it's been a while since we've had something truly stellar from Lamb of God. I believe that this is that something stellar we've been waiting for, it sounds exactly like Lamb of God without sounding just like every other Lamb of God song. Never one to follow trends, the Virginians have brought forth a track that punches you right in your groove maker whilst the unforgettable vocal styling of Metal's own Guru, Randy Blythe, ring in your ears.

Don't stress it. Lamb of God are back, and they're bringing a storm with them.

VII: Sturm Und Drang will be released on Nuclear Blast Records in July 2015.

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GUITAR HERO COMES OUT FOR ITS ENCORE

Guitar Hero and Rock Band are perhaps the best Party Games/Dust Collecting Utensils of all time. Screwing about with a Plastic Controller whilst pretending you were a flawless God of Guitar/Drums/Bass/Whatever is hellafun... yes even if you play and instrument in real life, in response to all those buzzkills who ask why you don't just play a real instrument.

Sadly, the Band 'em Up genre seemed to die at the turn of the decade along with the more mainstream popularity of Rock, with Rock Band 3 being released in 2010 and the last Guitar Hero game, Warriors of Rock, released only a year later.

That is, however, until now.

Both Guitar Hero and Rock Band have new games in the works and we have our first taste right now, with the first set of bands from the "set list" for Guitar Hero 7 Live:

It's not hugely exciting, I'll be honest, but deep and obscure track listings were never the games strong point, Tool and Dream Theater on the World Tour soundtrack was a treat. A smattering of Guitar driven Pop songs like the guilty pleasure of many, Ed Sheeran, some popular Metal songs... I mean who didn't see Rage Against The Machine coming? Also a bunch of songs that have ALREADY been in Guitar Hero, like The Rolling Stones' Paint It Black and surprisingly enough, songs with barely any Guitar in at all, like a track from the latest Fall Out Boy album and Skrillex of all damn things. Maybe the goal of those songs is to stand there doing nothing while looking as awkward as possible, or maybe the new controller can transform into a Keytar... now Keytar Hero is something I'd invest in.

This could be you.

Speaking of the new controller, there have been some changes, instead of something that resembles how Nu-Metal bands used to see real guitars (the classic jokes never get old) we have two lines of 3 buttons:

Now, this only translates into 3 lanes on screen with two colours of notes, and not 6 as you might assume. Only time will tell if this will actually improve the gameplay in any way or if it's just change for the sake of it; it's one of those things that you can't tell just by looking at it. One thing that DOES look like a great new addition just from sight is that Guitar Hero Live is basically a first person FMV game (for those who remember the 90's PC gaming scene.) Gone are the customizable 3D characters and the overt Music Fan stereotypes and in are the first person simulations of playing to thousands of people:

As cliche and cheesy as it sounds, there is something really appealing about playing in front of these huge crowds, even if it's just on the screen. Maybe they'll even have a few songs where you play with the original bands? Playing with Judas Priest? Yes, please.

Maybe in future they'll support VR technology, so you can wield your plastic guitar whilst strapping a lump of plastic to you face and pretending you're a really cool Rock Star. Those who like to laugh at other people looking foolish can only hope.

Guitar Hero Live is due to be released on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One, iOS, your pet Terrier, Images projected onto the Moon and a half empty can of Pepsi Max Cherry (but not the PC) in late 2015.

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WHO ARE THE ONE AND ONLY PPL MVR?

The infectious and unstoppable combination of groove and viral marketing has caused me a recent obsession with the artists known only as the One and Only PPL MVR, a 3 piece of musical Yeti (no, that isn't a metaphor) with a single EP to their name, the self-titled The One and Only PPL MVR.

The track itself instantly calls to mind modern blues-rock outfits like The White Stripes and The Black Keys, as well as more zany and experimental bands like Death From Above 1979 and the divisive modern success story that is Worthing duo Royal Blood (don't pretend you're from Brighton lads, it's not gonna work.) It really is a people mover, a certifiable groove producer. With groove-laden guitar riffs, driving rock beats, a slick pocketed bass line, thick analog synth pedals... and what sounds like a vocoder... it's hard not to nod your head to PPL MVR it's an off-key modern rock jam that I've been listening to on loop since I heard it. It's truly great stuff.

But it goes further than great music. There's a conspiracy, a plot if you will. On the old 2014 website for the Long Island Pop Punk/Emo cult favourites Brand New, this hidden link could be found by highlighting the top of the page. (Archive pictures courtesy of Fade Industry.)

This link takes you to the web page for The One and Only PPL MVR and the video posted near the top of this page.

No one knows who the members of PPL MVR are or if it's even important. PPL MVR hail from the other side of the United States from Brand New and so early assumptions that members of the latter made up the former have been dismissed? Is it simply an advert? Did Brand New even put it there in the first place or were they victims of an advertising hack?

WHY DAMMIT!? I MUST KNOW.

If the hooks weren't enough to intrigue you, then the mystery certainly will. Only time will tell what the connection between these two bands are, if there really is one at all.

The One and Only PPL MVR EP was released on April 20th on Elektra Records and can be bought on iTunes.

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H.R. GIGER DOCUMENTARY COMING MAY 15TH

The work of H.R. Giger is metal. So metal that he will be featuring in the second part of my "Art for Art's Sake" series of articles when I finally get around to finishing it. So Metal that it remains Metal despite his original output for Metal albums being well, very small. The darkness and the horror of his work; the mutilation of the human form into a nihilistic, mechanical coldness is Metal enough on its own without it needing to be bespoke created for the genre.

The Swiss artist sadly passed away in 2014 with the mysterious shroud surrounding his personal life intact. The summation of what most people know about H.R.Giger is genitalia, Alien and weird fetishes, but with Dark Star: H.R. Giger's World, all that will change.

Belinda Sallin’s documentary will take its audience into Giger's decaying Zurich home to look at the man behind the Robopenises... and will also look at why referring to him as "the man behind the Robopenises" is perhaps a little belittling to the impact Giger had on art and art philosophy.

Dark Star: H.R. Giger's World will open beginning May 15th, and available through VOD August 18th with a DVD release to come later.

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STAR WAS GOES METAL FOR MAY 4th

May 4th has been official Star Wars day for about 4 years now, combining nerds two favourite things, Star Wars and bad puns.

The one thing that's missing from that is Metal, nerds love Metal. What they (we) love even more is Metal covers of things that never needed them.

To that end I present you this from YouTuber FinTom91.

May the Fourth be with you all....


...who am I kidding, I can't let that be the extent of content I post today, that'd be awful. So I present this short animated film entitled TIE Fighter, it's more Metal than most Metal Music videos. Animator Paul "OtaKing" Johnson has done something incredible here. No excuse me while I go play the TIE Fighter MS Dos Game.

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SIKTH ANNOUNCE CROWD FUNDED COMEBACK

UK Tech Metal Godfathers SiKth are considered by many to be the true blueprint to modern Progressive Metal... or Djent if you're so inclined. Yes, the Guitar Tone in Djent is pure Meshuggah, but bands like Periphery and similar owe their riffing styles almost entirely to this Southern England outfit. Don't believe me? Just listen:

Anyway, history lesson aside SiKth last released new music back in 2006 with the stellar Death Of a Dead Day and following a live return at Download Festival last year the group have announced their first new release in almost 10 years... and you can be part of it.

Ladies and gentleman we have two huge pieces of news for you today.For the first time since 2006's Death Of The Dead...
Posted by SikTh (official) on Monday, 27 April 2015

As with all Pledge Campaigns, there is a plethora of goodies that you can get your mitts on should you so desire (and you should, you should desire so hard) and even a UK tour coming up later in the year! Does this mean SiKth are back for good? Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

You can  throw money at the band at their Pledge Page found here

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BETWEEN THE QUEEN AND I: BTBAM COVER ROCK ROYALTY

Between the Buried and Me played New England Hardcore Fest last Friday. Not only did they play their wonderful proggy goodness for all to enjoy, but they also played a very special cover. Now cover songs aren't all that surprising when it comes to Between the Buried and Me, I mean they did a whole album of covers. But this was different...

They covered Bohemian Rhapsody. Bohemian. Fucking. Rhapsody. By Queen.

This is the song from Waynes World dammit. The movie that introduced me to the concept of headbanging.

Metal Blade uploaded this "Live Bootleg" to Youtube today, which makes it an "Official Bootleg" if those are still something that exists.  Though you'd hope that an "Official Bootleg" would be something more than some jerk standing in the crowd with a camera, this is what we've got to work with.

Being an asshole aside, this is a great cover that has enough of Between the Buried and Me mixed in with Queen's stellar original to be something really special.

Between the Buried and Me are releasing a new album, Coma Ecliptic, in July of this year.

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JAMEY JASTA BREEDS HATE FOR DEATH METAL FANS... kinda...

Hatebreed frontman Jamey Jasta wants to know why the Metal Community isn't buying more albums.

It's hard to blame Jasta. Metal scientifically has the most loyal fan-base on the planet and so why can big names like Cannibal Corpse only shift 8,800 of A Skeletal Domain in their first week? Are you telling me that the teen girls that dig the polished pop styling of All Time Low are more into the music they like than your average Metal fan? I mean sure, more than 800 people probably listened to that Gorguts album in the first week through piracy, streaming, etc. but I bet more than 75,000 people listened to Future Hearts in its first week too; legally or otherwise.

Sure Metal isn't big in the mainstream, you're not gonna see Gorguts or any other Metal band on the front cover of teen lifestyle magazines to breed hype, but the point still stands. If Metal Heads talk the talk they do... then why don't they walk the walk into a record store and buy albums? There's easily enough Metal Heads in most countries to sell 75,000 copies of an album, surely?

I dunno, maybe all the Metal Fans are saving money for that tour whose organisation is likely based around album sales in the first place.

Buy Metal people.

It's fun.

More fun than listening to the new All Time Low.

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SLAYER RELEASE NEW TRACK...

...and it blows.



Repetitive. Check.

Structureless. Check.

Bland. Check.

It appears that Slayer, the one band of the Big 4 that people thought still "had it" after Megadeth went Radio Rock, Metallica stopped releasing music and Anthrax Joey Belladonna'd, have gone and fucked it.

I have never claimed to be a huge Slayer fan, but could always appreciate the rather "boiled to pure concentrate" approach they took to Metal, but this just doesn't go anywhere. On my first listen it took me over a minute to realise the song had ended, I'd already stopped listening.

When The Stillness Comes will be available as part of Record Store Day on April 18 if you want to buy it. I guess there's nothing more Metal than Pseudo-Masochism. Not to appear racist and hateful towards any one particular country it will be released at participating independent record stores across the globe as a limited-edition (only 5000 copies worldwide), seven-inch vinyl picture disc.

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NEW SINGLE FROM LEPROUS INVITES MONEY PUNS FROM METAL SITES

Leprous are one of those perfect bands. One of those bands that never seems to falter, from putting out some of the best Progressive Rock and Metal to performing as the backing band for Ihsahn, these guys are impeccable.  

And so I was plenty excited when, earlier this year, the Norwegian Progsters announced their follow up to 2013's Coal. The Congregation is due to be released May 25th, 2015 in Europe and June 2nd in the Americas after finishing recording in February.

Vocalist and keyboard player Einar Solberg has this to say about the album:

This has without doubt been the most challenging album to write so far, if you count the amount of hours, blood, sweat and tears behind it. Which makes me extra proud to just have delivered the master of what I consider to be the most daring, technical, fresh and mature album we've ever done. The music of "The Congregation" is mostly written by me on my computer, so that I this time around could use my ears instead of my knowledge as the main writing tool. If you use your knowledge and your usual methods to write every album, you will eventually find yourself stuck in a quagmire of old habits. Lyrically "The Congregation" covers the dangers and consequences of blindly following the flow, thus the album title will speak for itself.

Luckily however, we don't have to wait until then. The Price is our first taste of what is to come and also a great excuse for the entire internet to write articles with price related puns.

So pay The Price...

*shudder*

...and check out The Price. 

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SOUTHERN METAL BANDS INVOLVED IN FATAL ACCIDENT

Atlanta's AJC news paper today has reported that three have died in a fatal crash in Northeast
Georgia. Members of Alabama Black Metal band Wormreich and Georgia Melodic Occult Metal band Khaotika were travelling in a passenger van on the I-5 when the driver allegedly fell asleep causing the accident at around 7 am. Three of the passengers died and eight others were taken to Hospital, with three of those in critical edition. Both bands were finishing up a brief tour together.

Metal has a long and sad history with traffic accidents and deaths and it never get's any less sad, even if it's a small local band. These were still people who were connected to the rest of us through a mutual love of the alternative and counter cultural movements. If we can learn anything from this it is that it's not worth driving tired. Have at least two designated drivers and if all else fails, just stop for the night. You can miss one show or well... miss all of them.

Our thoughts go out to Family, Friends and Fans alike.

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ENTHEOS SHOW THEMSELVES AS WORTHY SUCCESSORS TO ANIMOSITY'S THRONE

Reviewing a release like Entheos' Primal EP is a difficult thing, ever since Evan Brewer announced his departure from the infamous Tech Death group The Faceless I was half begging for the bassist to reform San Fran Deathcore legends Animosity and with Entheos, that is basically what he has done. It would be rather safe to say that I am perhaps a little too invested in Primal.

...All that said, I would be amiss not to talk about it.

In a very real way Primal is exactly what everyone expected from Entheos and in that way alone could it be said to be disappointing. Considering all but one member of the band hails from the aforementioned Animosity, it is not surprising that Entheos sound rather a lot like the later works of their precursor. Animosity were known (or not as the case may be) as an OG Deathcore band, and are one of the few, in my mind, that successfully merged Deathcore and Hardcore into one whole. In the same way 90s Metalcore ala Earth Crisis, Deadguy, Shai Hulud and similar were Hardcore bands playing Slayer, Animosity were a Hardcore band playing Cannibal Corpse; they took the technical aggression of Death Metal and added Hardcore elements to an even greater extent than Suffocation did before them.

It was a very different world back then, when genre names actually had some basis in the music being played and Screamo didn't just mean angsty Pop-Rock.

As has already been said Entheos share many similarities with Animosity, especially their Animal era, though the Hardcore influence has been lessened somewhat. These riffs from Entheos are equal parts pin-point precision technicality and bone breaking, ear destroying heaviness. Guitarist Frank Costa has seemingly lost nothing since his days in Animosity. The rhythm section is comprised of technical and progressive heavy weights Even Brewer and Navene Koperweis. Since their time in Animosity Brewer played bass with The Faceless and Koperweis drums with Animals As Leaders, there are arguably few better places that each could further refine their chops. It is possible that the perfectly balanced production makes it more obvious than the murky fuzz of old Animosity albums, but Evan Brewers bass work reaches dizzying heights on this release. Never content to keep it simple, Brewer manages to find new and interesting ways to match the progressive ferocity of Costa's riffs. The EP’s name sake track, Primal, shows perhaps the best example of this, where Brewer unleashes a slap bass part unparalleled in modern Death Metal. Koperweis’ beats fit in perfectly too, with drum patterns often sounding deceptively simple when compared to their actual complexity. Some of those timings make my head spin. If you don’t believe me, check out this play through:

The odd player out in Entheos, is vocalist Chaney Crabb, who isn’t just in the band because she’s dating Navene Koperweis. Her vocals are absolutely monstrous and Veil of Maya really missed out when they didn’t hire her after Brandon Butler left in 2014. Her audition performance was so good it was considered news worthy by Metal Injection and it’s not hard to see why. Crabb is a great choice to front the second coming of Animosity and I’m sure Veil of Maya are regretting their choice now.

As I said before the only complaint that can be truly leveled at the Primal EP from Entheos is that a band comprised of mainly members of Animosity, sounds basically like Animosity. For those who have missed Animosity has much as I have, this EP is a perfect return to the heights of that band. For those who have never heard of Animosity and like heavy music that knows how to groove as well as tech the fuck out… well where the hell have you been. Don’t wait another second, listen to the Primal EP... and then some Animosity.

4.5/5

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MAKE SURE BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME ARE IN YOUR MEMORY PALACE

Okay, okay, let me come clean. While there isn't exactly a STREAM of the new track, Memory Palace from Progressive Metalcore titans Between The Buried and Me's new album, Coma Ecliptic (even though the single is apparently officially released today) you can buy it off of iTunes. Though for the rest of us, here's a sample:

A video posted by Between the Buried and Me (@btbamofficial) on Apr 2, 2015 at 10:37am PDT

It's certainly a BTBAM track, but it has a certain old school funkatude which we've not heard from these guys before. It sounds almost Dream Theater-esque! I'm awaiting the full release with baited breath, as I'm sure, are many others.

If and when the full track becomes available, it'll be put here, totally invalidating the first half of this post.

UPDATE: Well that didn't take long.

“Memory Palace” is the debut single from BTBAM’s new album, Coma Ecliptic, which comes out in July of this year.

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LET SULPHUR AEON TAKE YOU TO THE ANTISPHERE

Sulphur Aeon's 2012 release, Swallowed By The Ocean's Tide, is perhaps the best Lovecraftian Death Metal album ever released.

Now No Clean Singing are streaming the follow up, Gateway To The Antisphere  in full!

It's around this point you're meant to get down on your knees and pray to uncaring Gods in the face of a vast and unknowable void. You should probably get to it. Ola Larson's album art alone is enough to send you insane.

Sulphur Aeon capture the horror and insanity of Lovecraft's work brilliantly and have here put out a journey to the deepest, non-euclidian depths of R'lyeh, where dread Cthulhu waits sleeping.

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!

Stream the album here; open the book, turn the pages of forbidden knowledge.

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ROCK SOUND MAGAZINE DO THEIR FIRST (AND MAYBE LAST) INTERESTING THING

Rock Sound is the UK version of Revolver… or is Metal Hammer the UK version of Revolver? What does that make Terrorizer?

Oh never mind… point being that Rock Sound is a “Metal Mag” in the same way that Nescafe Gold Blend is a proper cup of coffee; weak, bland and flavourless.

However even the most repetitive of mainstream alternative mags can sometimes do something great, and in this case this thing is this rather ridiculous looking covers album Rock Sound are putting out in an upcoming issue. This is no Pop Goes Punk, re-releasing of Master of Puppets, Video Game sanctioned series of War songs, or anything like that; there’s no forced theme here. As far as I can tell it’s just bands recording songs they like.

The line-up is mixed between things no-one in their right minds would think about twice (and some I've never even heard of) and some real interesting looking combinations, take a look-see.

In this writers opinion at least, Stray From The Path covering seminal Deftones radio hit Back To School has potential to be the most ridiculously great thing since Upon a Burning Body covered Turn Down For What. Enter Shikari covering Chop Suey! and The Defiled covering the good era of Bring Me the Horizon has potential too.

Read Rock Sound's own hype-jargon on the matter over on their website.

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LAMB OF GOD DRUMMER CONFIRMED FOR MEGADETH ALBUM

There were rumours flying about a plenty as of late in relation to Lamb of God drummer, Chris Adler, playing with Megadeth for the, surely not as awful, follow up to the really awful Super Collider. 

Well it turns out to be true in a rather unsurprising twist, considering Adler seems more than happy in being a hired hand for an album, playing with Protest The Hero in a similar capacity.
In an interview with Wondering Sound, Adler talks on how bands like Megadeth were the first infection that caused his lifelong struggle with the incurable raging drum fever.

Dave's the guy that made me want to go fast. There's so much power in what he does — both him and Gar Samuelson, who was the original drummer from Megadeth,. I think Gar was a little more jazzy, which I really liked, and I probably spent more time trying to emulate Gar than Dave, but both those guys were the guys who made me want to get faster. Now I realize that's kind of a fickle goal, but [Dave] was obviously one of the innovators, one of the first to do what metal is kind of known for now, with double kicks, and he's still absolutely one of the best.

Dave Mustain has a few kind words for Adler in return... whilst tooting his own horn of course:

Chris is a tremendous talent, and an amazing person. He is going to bring a new level of excitement and energy to Megadeth that the fans are going to lose their minds over. I have nothing but respect for my previous drummers, but this is going to absolutely KILL! Back in 1989, Megadeth originally worked as a three piece — guitar, bass and drums — when we laid down the framework to our Grammy-nominated platinum album Rust in Peace. I want to thank the other members of Lamb Of God for allowing this opportunity to take place for all of us in the metal community.

I would exposit on how the addition of Chris Adler’s incredible skill and hard hitting metal stylings will be a huge benefit in the recording process of the as yet un-named Megadeth album. This is Dave Mustaine we’re talking about, and while he may have mellowed in recent years, he is still Megadave and Megadeth is still his baby. I would not be surprised if Adler’s creative input on the writing process was minimal, but we shall see. I think I can speak for everyone when I say, I hope I'm wrong.

Adler is said to be joining new Megadeth guitarist Kiko Loureiro, best known as part of the Brazilian band Angra, for the recording of their new album at some point in the future.

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INTERNET NEARLY COMES TO END AFTER H&M'S SPRING LINE IS TROLLED HARDCORE

Rock and Metal fans are no stranger to more mainstream outlets co-opting their music of choice. From UK retailer Sports Direct stocking Burzum shirts to various pop musicians sporting boutique battle jackets in some misguided trend attempt, alternative music fans have seen it all... And more importantly love to get on their high horse about it.

Hypocritical complaints from Metal heads about people wearing metal clothing and merch to be edgy aside, there is one thing no-one has seen before. Fake Metal merch. Not only that, but fake Metal merch backed up by fake bands, fake songs and fake record label samplers. This example of bizarre commercial choices comes from clothing retailer H&M with their new Spring line. A series of garments sporting logos from bands that don't exist. Take a look see.

Recently news has spread like wildfire across the internet, mainly from Metalsucks.com that H&M were coupling these bands with demos, fake Metal Archive entries and even a fake record label. People took visceral pleasure it seemed in pointing out that the styled NSBM bands meant that H&M were supporting White Supremacy and Neo-Nazi's. I mean it looks like H&M went to quite a length to create legitimately believable music and profiles, including ones that were accurately cringe worthy.

GREY (Germany), gothic metal from Leipzig.
The band was formed in late 1993 by Draken (guitar, drums ) and his wife Vampiria (vocals, keyboards). Draken (Uli Becker) and Vampiria (Magda Schultz) met each other when Vampiria was studying opera singing at the Rudolf Weingott Musikschule in Chemnitz. Even though she was only 16 years old, she was also considered as one of the most talented singers in Germany. And when her beautiful voice was combined with the genius work of self-taught multi-talent Draken, GREY was found.
In 1995 Napla Records released their debut album "Wine and Tears" (recorded and mixed by Hans Holtz @ Blitzkrieg Studios, Leipzig). The album was praised by the press worldwide (9/10 Mental Hammer), but did not find it's audience.
Band changed their language to German and made one more demo "Der Herbst", but decided to quit soon after that. After GREY Vampiria has visited in various metal albums but due to laryngitis was forced to quit singing.

This however, as funny as it is, isn't quite the case. I mean yes, someone went out of their way to create all this content… but it wasn't the retailer in question.

It was however, a feat undertaken by the folks over at Strong Scene Productions, the totally real label every band is coincidentally signed to. The long and short of it is that a collection of metal musicians came together to a) troll the crap out of everyone, b) comment on mainstream appropriation of metal and how it’s more than an aesthetic. Henri Sorvali of Finnish metal bands Moonsorrow and Finntroll gave an interview over at Noisey that will sum up his involvement, and the general project, better than I can here. Though all you really need to see is this:

The purpose of the group (consisting of literally tens of people from different areas of music and media around Scandinavia) was to create discussion on the fact that metal culture is more than just "cool" looking logos on fashionable clothes, and has many more aesthetic and ideological aspects in different subgenres than what some corporations are trying to express. The metal scene is varied, controversial and a sort of a wolf you can't chain into a leash and expect it to behave on your terms like a dog. Strong Scene as a collective has absolutely no political nor ideological intentions, and is only bringing the conversation to the level it should be discussed at. Think of us as the one-time "Yes Men" of metal music.

If that wasn't enough then see this Facebook post from Strong Scene Productions themselves. Though even this doesn't seem to stop Metalsucks from getting butt-hurt over being proved wrong and they are claiming “who does that” on the entire thing.

YOU ALL HAVE BEEN UNDER INFLUENCE OF THE STRONG SCENE.We have never stated to collaborate with H&M in any way but only...
Posted by Strong Scene Productions on Monday, 23 March 2015

After the chuckle and guffaws subside I’d like to question if it was effective. These generic aesthetics were coupled with generic sonic creations to create a believable entity.

Would Mystic Triangle be out of place on Southern Lord as Sgt D claims?

Can you really not imagine Crepuscular being part of the South American Black/War Scene?

Would it be so hard to believe that Blast were part of the extreme thrash/proto-black metal scene that mixed Teutonic Death Thrash with the sensibilities of Venom?

If it’s so easy to fake it with a mix of corporate marketing and generic metal music then what exactly has been proved? That Metal is easy to fake convincingly? That it’s too easy to rile up Metal heads? That the pallet from which the Metal artist has to so cripplingly small that you can throw random parts together and have something that can be accepted as metal?

Whatever it actually proves I think it speaks more negatively about the limiting nature of the genre's traditional core facets than it does about mainstream appropriation.

Though I think we can all agree that one thing that can be proved for certain is that those clothes are atrocious… but it still doesn't beat this… THING put out by a real, for serious, alternative clothing brand.

(If this picture instantly blinded you then yes, that is a long sleeve shirt printed all over to look like a Denim Cut-off. I'm sorry.)

Serious aspects of the Metal scene are capable of being even more ridiculous than people who don’t really “get it.”

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