Seriously, The Real Thing runs the gamut from thrash, rapping, a bluesy piano-oriented song about a pedophile, and a totally badass ‘War Pigs‘ cover—that album is insane. Look into it if you haven’t heard it yet. In fact, go out and listen to their whole discography. You won’t regret it.
- JR
I love Christian Mistress. Their album Agony & Opium was one of my favorites of 2010. They have since migrated labels from 20 Buck Spin to Relapse, and I’ve been looking forward to their Relapse debut for a while now. For those who are unfamiliar with Christian Mistress, think Iron Maiden, Thin Lizzy, and Black Sabbath having a threesome, and their strange offspring having a vocalist with two x chromosomes.
Now, they’ve since released a new track from their upcoming album Possession, which is entitled ‘Black to Gold‘, and it is awesome:
I absolutely love this track. Those riffs are just fantastic, full of chunky goodness, and Christine Davis’ vocals have never sounded better. And how bout that solo? I’m sold that this record will be amazing.
Possession is set to be released February 28th on Relapse Records. February 28th is going to be a huge, huge day for metal. We are not worthy.
- GR
Well, there’s the day ruined. It has just been announced that Tony Iommi, legendary guitarist of seminal metal band Black Sabbath who was responsible for the popularization of downtuning, has been diagnosed with lymphoma. Here’s the word:
“With the news that Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi has been diagnosed with the early stages of lymphoma, his bandmates would like everyone to send positive vibes to the guitarist at this time. Iommi is currently working with his doctors to establish the best treatment plan–the “IRON MAN” of Rock & Roll remains upbeat and determined to make a full and successful recovery.
“This comes as Black Sabbath–Ozzy Osbourne (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar), Geezer Butler (bass) and Bill Ward (drums)–are writing and recording their first album in 33 years in Los Angeles (still set for release this fall) with producer Rick Rubin. They will now go to the UK to continue to work with Tony. Further information will be released as it becomes available.”
For those who don’t know, lymphoma is a cancer that affects lymphocytes, an important part of the immune system. While serious, it is curable if caught early enough and survival rate is pretty high. Let’s all hope that he can pull a Nergal and beat cancer and jump back into the newly reunited Black Sabbath. Keep Tony in your thoughts and prayers.
- JR
Ozzy Osbourne is one of the most iconic and influential figures in metal. One could argue that we wouldn’t be where we are in heavy music today had it not been for Black Sabbath‘s original lineup, and you just have to appreciate him for what he did for metal. The recent documentary God Bless Ozzy Osbourne details some of the inner-workings of the man’s 40 year career. Here’s the official synopsis:
Ozzy Osbourne’s four decade track record as a culturally relevant artist is unprecedented, but his personal struggles have been shrouded in secrecy, until now. Featuring never before seen footage uncovered from the archives and interviews with Paul McCartney, Tommy Lee and others, God Bless Ozzy Osbourne is the first documentary to take viewers inside the complex mind of rock’s great icon. Emerging from a working class family in war torn England, Osbourne and his neighborhood friends formed Black Sabbath and invented heavy metal. Plagued by self doubt, Osbourne the solo superstar went on a binge that lasted 40 years. God Bless Ozzy Osbourne will relive the highs of his triumphs as well as his journey to sobriety, which Ozzy regards as his greatest accomplishment
This documentary is available now on Blu-Ray and DVD, but Universal Music Group were kind enough to grant us THREE COPIES to give away in the format of your choice!
Unfortunately, this is open to those in the US and Canada only. You have until Sunday night at midnight (EST), December 18th, to enter. Tell your friends!
- JR
The discovery of a new band is always exciting. Will it be something you’ve heard countless times? An experience that leaves a bad taste in your mouth? Or is it a treat from which you cannot stop consuming? I wanted to take a trip back in time to reminisce about bands/albums that not only introduced me to heavy music, but kept me coming back for more…
From The Archive: Black Sabbath – Paranoid
In regards to the recent news of legendary metal band Black Sabbath reuniting with plans of a world tour as well as writing a new album, I figured now would be the perfect time to reflect on one of their most popular albums, Paranoid. Just a quick note, I’m in no way going to debate the pros and cons of the Ozzy era or the Dio era of Black Sabbath, because when you get down to it, both are different entities of the same band and each have had their highs and lows. Anyway, the reason I’m choosing to discuss Paranoid and neither their debut album or Master of Reality (both of them classics), is because Paranoid was my introduction to Black Sabbath…
With the tragic death of Ronnie James Dio putting an end to Heaven & Hell, I knew it was only a matter of time before we got something out of an Ozzy-fronted Black Sabbath. Turns out, it’s going to be happening next year! The band plans to record an album produced by Rick Rubin, headline Download 2012, and do a world tour. NEAT.
Truth be told, I always liked Ozzy-fronted Sabbath better than Dio-fronted Sabbath, but I know opinions on the subject are divided pretty clearly. At any rate, new Sabbath is A-OK in my book, so long as it doesn’t stray too far from their core sound. Sure, Ozzy’s recent solo material sucked, but I have hope for my favorite Sabbath lineup!
What do you folks think? Do you even care? Mouth off in the comments.
- JR
Windhand01. Black Candles
02. Libusen
03. Heap Wolves
04. Summon the Moon
05. Winter Sun
Sometimes, music just needs to be for the sake of being. It doesn’t need technicality or crazy effects. It doesn’t always need precision and odd time signatures. Sometimes, it just needs to be heard. In this case, Windhand‘s self titled debut in no way reinvents the wheel, but rather takes it for a spin to places typically only heard in dreams. For those of you who are doom fans, you would be sorry to pass this up. As for those of you who are new to doom/stoner metal, this is a great place to start. This album is a trip.
The word “djent” in and of itself is enough to bring any meaningful discourse to a grinding halt, as you can see above. Like it or not, it’s a thriving and lively force in metal culture and it’s best to come to terms with it now, because it’s unlikely to fade for another year or so, and even then you’re going to have the same sort of second and third gen revivals and knockoffs that metalcore has been seeing. Then again, everyone has their opinions and is entitled to them, but it’s always hilarious when someone gets a little too excited over something as trivial as this, especially if they’re in a position of celebrity. Enter one Randy Blythe, vocalist of seminal metalcore band Lamb of God.
The PRP has ran a colorful news piece this past weekend that highlights Blythe’s twitter tirade, where he touches on lack of innovation and the always controversial djent (and apparently a knock at crabcore as well):
“THE STUPIDEST name yet for ANOTHER “genre” of metal. If you call yerself “djent”- cap yerself NOW”
“THERE IS NO SUCH FUCKING THING AS “DJENT”. ITS NOT A GENRE. I’m sorry, it’s STUPID AS FUCK. Metal already WAY over classified.”
“…all this BULLSHIT “Deathcore” & “Djentcore” & fucking “Cantplayinreallifebutcanonacomputer-core” it’s just a NAME”
“People can call themselves WHATEVER THEY WANT- it’s fucking heavy metal- this sub-classifying shit is a pathetic attempt to say that you are re-inventing the wheel. YOU ARE NOT. ITS FUCKING HEAVY METAL. Get over it. “Djent”? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?”
“I can say that I am a fruit bat, copy fruit bat movements, & soon all my friends will too. Then we will have fruitbatcore. Can we fly? NO.”
“No, Meshuggah is NOT “djent”. Meshuggah is MESHUGGAH. FUCK.”
Opeth01. Heritage
02. The Devil’s Orchard
03. I Feel The Dark
04. Slither
05. Nepenthe
06. Haxprocess
07. Famine
08. The Lines In My Hand
09. Folklore
10. Marrow of the Earth
It was bound to happen sooner or later. All the pieces were in place, and the Swedish progressive maestros have shown shades of this sort of thing throughout their illustrious career. Indeed, Heritage lives true to its name, and sees the full exploration of Opeth‘s lighter influences. They say you need to look into the past to prepare for the future, and Akerfeldt & Co practice this philosophy in a manner that is refreshingly organic, unlike many who have attempted similar revisits to previous trend—hell, just look at the so-called ‘Re-Thrash’ scene and its many missteps. No, Opeth certainly know what they are doing, and to say that this album is a divisive one is putting it lightly.
I recently purchased a subscription to Decibel Magazine. Several things contributed to my choice of a subscription, including the nostalgia of anticipating that monthly magazine delivery, those kickass exclusive flexi-discs, and the need within myself to further support and immerse myself in metal culture. Decibel is easily the best metal rag you can pick up these days, where they focus on relevant acts that actually matter to the metal community. If you open up Decibel, you won’t likely see much of the mainstream psuedo-metal that Revolver and Kerrang! often shovel. Far be it from me to be an elitist, but I’d rather read a magazine that does cover stories of Death instead of Bullet For My Valentine. What self-respecting fan of underground music wouldn’t?!
At any rate, this month’s brilliant cover story is all about Opeth‘s new album Heritage. Not too long ago, I came across a Finnish article surrounding the highly anticipated album and ran it through Google Translate, and took the gist of what the slight mess of broken English that was produced. I had concluded that the album was without growls or any of the signature Opeth death metal stylings, and instead was an adventurous look into main man Mikael Akerfeldt’s primary influences and listening habits; classic prog rock was to be the main flavor of Heritage. Of course, I maintained that I could have been slighly off-base, but it turns out that it isn’t the case. It’s true, according to Decibel.
