Avenged Sevenfold has released a 30-second preview of the title track from their upcoming album, “Hail To The King”. The album is due in stores August 27.
Previously released samples of new Avenged Sevenfold songs can be heard below.
There has also been controversy surrounding the album artwork, drawing comparisons to Lich King’s “World Gone Dead”.
Thoughts?
These past several days have been interesting ones in the metal community.
In perhaps one of the biggest recent controversies, rumors spread that moshing would be outlawed. This tweet by Oliver Sykes from Bring Me The Horizon fueled the speculation.
Moshing was made illegal in the city of Boston in 2012, and to the best knowledge of TBOS, there hasn’t been any more recent legislation put into action. Kevin Lyman, the promoter of Warped Tour, where BMTH are performing, assured his Twitter followers that moshing has not been outlawed on the tour, but bands are not allowed to encourage it due to possible legal problems.
Motörhead was forced to cancel three shows after singer/bassist Lemmy Kilmister suffered a hematoma. But the band released a statement proclaiming that their frontman was doing well. Motörhead will release their latest album, Aftershock, in September.
Tickets for Iron Maiden’s upcoming London show sold out in a mere 12 minutes. The band have since added a second show. It will be their last show in the UK before they tour the States and headline Rock In Rio and other shows in South America. The band also launched an online store for their Trooper beer this week.
Megadeth announced they will donate the proceeds from their upcoming Gigantour show in Oklahoma City will be donated to the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma. According to Loudwire, singer Dave Mustaine said, “Many amazing bands have come forward to aid Oklahomans since the May tornadoes came and tore apart their homes and lives. Now it’s time for Heavy Metal to give to this community!”
A 6-year-old girl wowed audiences on “America’s Got Talent” by singing an original death metal song called “Zombie Skin”. Surprisingly, the kid band (called Murp) progressed to the next level of the show.
Another metal-related video went viral this week. The Badpiper, an Australian street performer, made headlines by performing AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck,” complete with pyrotechnics.
In other news:
Thus concludes TBOS’s “This Week in Metal”.
Earlier today, Funny or Die released this video of Dave Mustaine promoting the fictional “Megadeth Warehouse” and their latest album, “Super Collider” (which we reviewed here). Kenny G makes an appearance, and it’s pretty hilarious.
Metal Hammer also brought our attention to this animated “Cooking With Phil Anselmo” video. The music was done by Pantera tribute band Good Friends & A Bottle of Whiskey and would make the Cowboys From Hell proud.
Hope these videos brightened your day, as TBOS plans to bring up a more serious topic (moshing being outlawed) in the near future.
Alec Damiano (me) with James Paul Luna, singer of Holy Grail.
Last night, I interviewed up-and-coming metal band Holy Grail before their show in Mesa, Ariz.
It’s pretty funny. They open up about Metal Alliance Tour and their drunken adventures with Exodus, their musical guilty pleasures, and how they might tour Europe in the fall.
You can check it out here.
Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler posted the image above on his Facebook page, signaling that the band’s latest album, “13,” has topped the U.S. Billboard Charts.
No, not the Hard Rock or Heatseeker charts, where metal albums often reside. The Billboard Top 200.
According to Noisecreep, 155,000 copies of “13” were sold in its first week. It is the band’s first #1 album in the U.S.
“13” also topped the charts in the U.K., making it the first time in 43 years that Sabbath has a number one album in that country (the last being “Paranoid”). It is the longest time frame on record.
Metal is alive and well, ladies and gentlemen.
Finnish melodeath band Children of Bodom is back with a vengeance, releasing possibly their best album in over a decade. “Halo of Blood” shows how CoB has matured musically while still maintaining their aggression and sense of humor.
“Waste of Skin” and “Halo of Blood” start off the album with an aggressive one-two punch, where the keyboards take somewhat of a backseat. Alexi Laiho screams over machine gun drums and melodic dual guitar riffs. Whereas “Waste of Skin” makes one nod and say, “Yep, this is Bodom,” “Halo of Blood” seems too busy at times with its very syncopated rhythms (possibly a drummer’s wet dream).
“Scream for Silence” takes the speed down a notch, but nicely. The keyboards are more noticeable in this song than in the previous two, which lacked a keyboard solo. Interesting lead harmonies complement intense lyrics like, “If you need to feed on pain, you might as well tap my vein.” This track is probably the most radio-friendly of the album and would have made a better single than “Transference”. It ends with a nice Slayer-esque guitar riff and people chanting “Kill! Kill!” Very Bodom indeed.
“Transference” was the choice for the first single of the album. While it still has the elements that differentiate CoB from other bands (chromatic guitar and keyboard runs, leads complementing Laiho’s vocals), it is just ok. It is probably, musically, the simplest song on the album, and that may have been a factor as to why it was chosen as the lead single.
“Bodom Blue Moon” and “The Days Are Numbered” both sound like they could have come straight off “Hatebreeder” (1999). They both possess hypnotic keyboards and are technical eargasms, with the latter possessing more neoclassical elements. Lyrics like, “Your name on my blade I won’t erase / Until I get to cut my name on your face” would make metalheads proudly nod and say, “F**k yeah” to themselves.
“Dead Man’s Hand on You” is definitely the most experimental track on the album, sounding more akin to Marilyn Manson than CoB at the beginning. Laiho doesn’t even scream on this one at the start and is accompanied by acoustic guitars and a piano. But the lyrics, about a twisted proposal to the goddess Mother Kali, showcase CoB’s sense of humor quite nicely: “I’ll be more than just a dead man’s hand on you… Love me one more time and I’ll let you kill me too.”
The last three tracks, “Damaged Beyond Repair,” “All Twisted,” and “One Bottle and a Knee Deep,” all sound like they could be on “Follow the Reaper”. “All Twisted” in particular has a “Hate Me!” vibe and similar riff work.
“Sleeping in My Car” is a Roxette cover and the bonus track on this edition of the album. (What is Children of Bodom without covering pop songs and making them metal?) It is a suitable end to “Halo of Blood,” because this album encompasses elements of CoB’s entire discography, including humorous covers. Instead of Roxette sweetly crooning, “The night is so pretty and so young,” the refrain sounds like it was uttered by a drunken vampire in Bodom’s version. The song ends with the solo from Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin'”.
The “Making of” DVD (the second disc) is a nice treat. The viewer gets to see the band fooling around in the studio, but also witness just how self-deprecating these incredible musicians and their crew can be. At one point, the producer exclaims, “Finally this band has a good bass sound!”
“Halo of Blood” is a great album that will definitely please the Hate Crew. It is their best work in years.
FINAL VERDICT: 8.5/10
Track listing:
1. Waste of Skin
2. Halo of Blood
3. Scream for Silence
4. Transference
5. Bodom Blue Moon (the second coming)
6. The Days Are Numbered
7. Dead Man’s Hand on You
8. Damaged Beyond Repair
9. All Twisted
10. One Bottle and a Knee Deep
11. Sleeping in My Car (Roxette cover) (Bonus Track)
13. The number is loaded with superstition, taboo, and mystery. Its unlucky reputation has enamored metal bands since the genre’s inception.
Black Sabbath has had an arguably unlucky journey during the creation of this album. The band officially reunited with all four original members (Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward) on 11/11/11. Drummer Bill Ward left due to financial concerns. Guitarist Tony Iommi was diagnosed with lymphoma. Singer Ozzy Osbourne’s son, Jack Osbourne, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Osbourne, after being sober for approximately five years, relapsed and his marriage to Sharon Osbourne was allegedly falling apart.
Fans worried whether the metal pioneers would be able to deliver. Forums became battlefields, with one side crying out “No Bill, no Sabbath!” as the other side clutched onto their old copies of “Paranoid” and “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” for dear life, secretly hoping their heroes would not disappoint them.
So Sabbath recruited Rage Against the Machine drummer Brad Wilk to sit on Bill Ward’s stool, and they charged forward to create “13,” an instant classic that fits right at home with the rest of their Ozzy-fronted discography.
The ironically-named “End of the Beginning” starts the album off with your standard Sabbath doominess, both musically and lyrically. Like the rest of this album, it sounds like a blast from the past, with Ozzy crooning thought-provoking lyrics over Tony Iommi’s simplistic but powerful riff work and Geezer Butler’s rumbling bass. The song debuted on the season finale of “CSI” last month. It would have made a better choice for a single than “God is Dead?”, the next track on the album.
“God Is Dead?” is the second track and the first single released from this album. The music video was released yesterday and caused a ruckus on the Internet, with overly-religious people complaining about the song’s offensive title. Osbourne was inspired to write the song after seeing the phrase on the cover of a magazine and thinking about how many people have died in the name of religion (although he does not believe God is dead). The single clocks in at 9 minutes and sometimes seems too long, even for Sabbath. But it still has their classic sound and was given mostly positive reviews on its release.
The first thing that pops into my head when I hear the intro riff of “Loner” is “N.I.B.” I literally expect Ozzy to shout “oh yeah!” in between verses. Brad Wilk is good at channeling Bill Ward’s drumming style, knowing exactly when and what to do with his drum fills and using the toms at the precise moment.
“Zeitgeist” is 13’s “Planet Caravan”. mellow acoustic vibe, spacey phaser effects on Ozzy’s vocals, and exotic percussion. Osbourne sings about traveling on a space ship that eventually crashes. It’s like listening to a cleaner version of something left over from the “Paranoid” sessions, like if Sabbath had recorded this in 1971, but with our technology.
“Live Forever” starts off as another slow, early Sabbath-sounding song before the drums kick in with “Fairies Wear Boots”-type riffage. The lyrics still play on Sabbath’s signature “Heaven and Hell” themes, but also remind the listener of the band’s mortality. (“I don’t wanna live forever / But I don’t wanna die / I may dreaming, but whatever/ I live inside a lie.”) All the current members outlived singer Ronnie James Dio (who was part of Sabbath from: 1979-82, 1991-92, 2007). Iommi recorded the album while being treated for cancer, and Osbourne went back on drugs. It serves as a stark reminder that “13” *may* be this band’s last album (although they entertained the possibility of recording a follow-up). As I listened to this song, I thought, “Oh shit. These guys are still human,” something we often forget when we think of our heroes, musical and otherwise.
In “Damaged Soul,” Ozzy breaks out the harmonica, adding extra doom to another classic Sabbath-sounding song. Some of the lyrics rank right up there with “Hand of Doom”: “I don’t mind dying cause I’m already dead / Pray not for the living, I’ll live in your head / Dying is easy, it’s living that’s hard / I’m losing the battle between Satan and God.” Iommi nails it again, over Butler’s rumbling bass and Wilk’s spot-on drum fills. This is everything that is great about Sabbath compressed into one song.
“Dear Father” is the final track on the standard edition of the album. it is heavier than the rest of “13,” both musically and lyrically. It has strange time changes and discordant arpeggios, reminding one of Ozzy’s “Diary of a Madman” in parts. There are unexpected key and mood changes at the end. The lyrics come full-circle to the first track most people have heard from this album, “God is Dead?”: “Your molestations of the cross you defiled / A man once holy now despised and reviled… Dear Father forsaken, you knew what you were doing / In silence your violence has left me in ruin.” These should also be placed in the top tier of Ozzy-fronted Sabbath lyrics.
At this point, I’ve been listening to this album for 50 minutes. Unlike other albums, I was not constantly wondering, “how many songs are left?” or “I’m not sure if I like this or not”. I was actually sad that “13” was drawing to a close.
I blasted it on my iPhone and excitedly ran to the living room, proudly proclaiming to the rest of the household, “THIS is Sabbath!”
Then commences the second disc, with the three bonus tracks.
“Methademic” sounds like “Bark at the Moon”-era Ozzy, but with Sabbath acting as the band, if that makes any sense. It sounds newer than the other songs on the album, definitely more 1980s and than 1970s. Perhaps it is best that it was left off the standard edition of the album due to its different vibe, but it’s a good song nonetheless.
“Peace of Mind” is another classic Sabbath song, with the lyrics possibly referencing the events the band went through during the recording of this album: “I wish somebody would empty my head / I am so sorry for the things that I’ve said / This hopeless feeling that’s living inside / I’m just a lonely soul who’s trying to find some peace of mind.”
“Pariah” starts off as another slow-to-mid-tempo doomy song but has the coolest riff of the album. It is slightly more complex than the riffs on the rest of “13,” showing how the band has matured while still keeping most of the elements of their signature sound. It would have been a suitable ending to the standard release, and is another case of, “why didn’t they put it on the regular CD?”
Whether or not “13” is Sabbath’s final album, it is an instant classic. Musically, it feels like you were teleported back into the 1970s, as if they simply picked up where they left off with Ozzy–but had gotten ahold of today’s recording technology. This album shows why these men are the kings of heavy metal. An instant classic that fits nicely between “Paranoid” and “Volume 4”.
FINAL VERDICT: 9/10
Track Listing:
Disc 1
1. End of the Beginning
2. God is Dead?
3. Loner
4. Zeitgeist
5. Age of Reason
6. Live Forever
7. Damaged Soul
8. Dear Father
Disc 2
1. Methademic
2. Peace of Mind
3. Pariah
Marilyn Manson has offered to put Paris Jackson on his guest list for a future show after she attempted to commit suicide on Wednesday.
Various sources report that Jackson cut her wrists with a meat cleaver and swallowed pills shortly after she was told she would not be allowed to attend a Marilyn Manson/Alice Cooper concert.
Manson sent the following message to Jackson through TMZ, who broke the story:
“Hope you feel better. You will be on my guest list anytime you want.”
Manson just did an interview with Larry King on his new show, “Larry King Now,” where he talked about being blamed for 36 school shootings, particularly those of Columbine High School, due to his controversial image.
Goes to show that reputations are simply reputations. Good on you, Manson, for proving the naysayers wrong.
Marilyn Manson is currently on tour with Alice Cooper, and they will perform in Tucson, Ariz. tomorrow,
June 7 at the AVA Amphitheater.
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