On March 25th Machine Head’s impeccable second album The More Things Change… (Roadrunner) turned 20 years old. Released at a time when thrash was struggling, and hardcore metal bands were mostly in a time of transition, they dropped this bombshell of heaviness and rage that cemented their legacy as one of the leaders of American Metal that they hold to this day.Continue reading
Judas Priest is currently working on their highly anticipated follow up to 2014’s Redeemer of Souls, and we have an exciting new update for you today. Continue reading
Arch Enemy, by Meg Loyal Photography
Arch Enemy will be releasing their new live DVD/Blu-ray, As The Stages Burn!, on March 31st, and they’ve just unveiled the official trailer. Continue reading
In conjunction with Affliction Clothing, Testament are hosting a listening party for their new album Brotherhood of The Snake, due out on October 28th , from Nuclear Blast Records. Details are below: Continue reading
Testament are closing in on the release of their new album Brotherhood Of the Snake, due out on October 28th from Nuclear Blast . You can watch Chuck Billy and Eric Peterson discuss the artwork concept by created by Eliran Kantor (Hatebreed, Soulfly, Kataklysm) in the clip below: Continue reading
It’s the hottest day of the year so far in London and before you start imagining a lovely picture of a sundrenched European capital with happy citizens, joyfully going about their business, well, think again. The heat is cloying and claustrophobic; offices without air conditioning units become like bakers ovens. Everyone is sweaty and grumpy. Everyone it seems with the exception of Testament’s lead vocalist and driving force Chuck Billy. Continue reading
Bay Area Thrash legends Testament have announced their new album, Brotherhood Of The Snake, will release this October 28th from the bands longtime label, Nuclear Blast. They have revealed the cover art for the album as well, created by artist Eliran Kantor (Hatebreed, Soulfly, Kataklysm) who also worked on 2012’s Dark Roots Of The Earth. You can see the artwork below:
Producer Juan Urteaga (Exodus, Heathen, Machine Head), guitarist Eric Peterson and singer Chuck Billy, Brotherhood Of The Snake was mixed and mastered by well-known metal producer Andy Sneap (Accept, Arch Enemy, Cradle Of Filth, Kreator, Machine Head, Megadeth).
Peterson commented on the new music:
“It’s very diverse, but it’s very epic. There’s nothing on there that breeds commercial. And I think for thirty years of recording music and trying different formulas and stuff, we’ve found a formula that is very metal. I think for the metal fan that is looking for something, for the nooks and crannies… not just your normal, ‘Oh, it’s got a thrash beat and a riff.’ There’s a lot going on here.”
“It’s different. This one is more thrash. I mean, this has got some of the fastest stuff that we have ever played. Usually, we have one or two thrash songs, and then we have some mid-tempo, and then we have a slow, heavy one, and then up-tempo kind of stuff. Half of the new record is thrash, which we’ve never done before.”
“It’s kind of like ‘Demonic’ and ‘The Gathering’, but a little bit wiser. Chuck’s not singing so death. I mean, he does some death stuff but he’s singing more like he did on the last record and then with the craziness of ‘The Gathering’ or even heavy stuff like ‘Demonic’.”
Testament will support the new album with a UK/Ireland tour this fall with Amon Amarth and Grand Magus this autumn.
Testament tour dates with Amon Amarth and Grand Magus:
Oct 31: Manchester Academy, Manchester, UK
Nov 01: -O2 ABC, Glasgow, UK
Nov 02: Vicar Street– Dublin, UK
Nov 04 : Roundhouse- London, UK
Nov 05 : O2 Academy, Birmingham, UK
Stuck Mojo has risen again with new music, a new lyric video, and a new lineup. They released the lyric video to a new song, ‘Verbal Combat’, which you can see at this link or below:
Stuck Mojo leader Rich Ward commented on the Pledge Music campaign launched to support their new album, Here Come The Infidels:
“Pledge Music is a perfect fit for us. This time we’re not just putting out a record like bands have done since the dawn of the record industry, we’re offering it directly to YOU. Pledge Music has become our virtual merch booth, where you can buy a CD, a limited-edition LP in red vinyl and a t-shirt directly from us, just like you would at one of our shows. And unlike traditional retail chain stores, Pledge Music also allows us to offer signed CDs, LPs and posters, in addition to all kinds of one of a kind items, right from our Pledge store.”
Produced by Andy Sneap (Megadeth, Exodus, Testament, Killswitch Engage, Accept), Ward also commented on that relationship:
“Let me get this out of the way: I love Andy Sneap. He is arguably the best metal producer in the world, and his leadership in the making of this record has elevated it to a standard that few albums achieve. Plus, we had a great time seeing how loud we could turn up a guitar amplifier for an extended period of time.”
The band ha been relaunched with another new lineup with Rapper Robby J. and bassist Len Sonnier. On Robby J., Ward opined:
“Robby J is a fucking ninja, the total package vocalist/frontman. Mark my words, this guy is going to set a new standard for what a band with a rapper looks like.”
Stuck Mojo new lineup:
Rich Ward – Guitars/vocals
Robyy J – Vocals
Len Sonnier – Bass
Frank “Bud” Fontsere – Drums
Here Come The Infidels will release on June 24th. Here is a link to the full Pledge campaign, complete with tons of free extras for even lowest levels of support. The band describes the album as “an album for this moment in history, as it escalates Stuck Mojos rich history of desecrating the remains of Che’ Guevara and causing your Prius to emit plumes of black smoke. Its overwhelming lyrical rebuke against leftist, authoritarian, fascist dogma makes ‘Here Come The Infidels’ a 41-minute-and-18-second pushback against the social justice movement.”
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I was thirteen years old, staying up late and listening to The Friday Rock Show on an old transistor radio the first time I heard Saxon. My parents were sleeping in the next room, so clearly not wanting to be disturbed by my latest, and somewhat “interesting” choice in music (a school friend had only introduced me to Metal a few weeks before) had told me to “keep it down”. A lot. So, with the volume knob set infuriatingly low, I did my best to listen to Tommy Vance (RIP) introducing the band’s latest single, ‘Do It All For You’, and was completely blown away by their singer. By god, she sounded fantastic!
Wait, what?
Yes, thanks to the combination of a lack of volume and a tinny 3” mono speaker, I was convinced Saxon were fronted by a girl. It came as quite a shock a few weeks later, while flicking through the pages of a popular, then bi-weekly music magazine, to discover their singer was actually a big northern bloke called Biff Byford. Okay, his hair was ridiculously bouncy and he wore skintight spandex leggings, but he was most definitely NOT a lady.
In more recent years, the hair may have become a little less fluffy and the waistlines might be a little larger, but the band have never strayed (too) far from their original path. After the rather lightweight Destiny (EMI) in 1988, the band released a sequence of enjoyable, if somewhat unspectacular albums, but 2004’s Lionheart (SPV) appeared to give them a new lease of life. Every release since then has maintained the same high standard and that trend continues with latest offering, Battering Ram (UDR).
Kicking things off in emphatic style, the bruising title track is quickly followed by ‘The Devil’s Footprint’, a song based on a story from 1855 where a number of townships believed cloven hoof prints found in the snow one morning belonged to the devil. After briefly tricking me into thinking my computer had developed a stutter, the stop-start riff of ‘Queen of Hearts’ quickly transforms into one of the album’s finest moments, and while ‘Destroyer’ may not be the most original of titles, it’s certainly appropriate as Biff attempts to demolish his vocal cords at the song’s climax.
By this point, I’m starting to wonder if Battering Ram contains any bad tracks at all. ‘Hard and Fast’ and ‘Eye of the Storm’ answer my question with a resounding no, but things do drop off a little with ‘Stand Your Ground’, which for all its speed and neat little middle section, doesn’t really go anywhere. ‘Top Of the World’ immediately steadies the (barely) wobbling ship anyway, and is followed by the almost Sabbath-esque crawl of ‘To The End’. David Bower of Derbyshire NWOBHMers Hell lends his considerable voice talents to six minute ‘The Kingdom of the Cross’, a darkly atmospheric song about the First World War, while “bonus track” ‘Three Sheets to the Wind’ rounds things off a little strangely. A throwaway drinking song which sounds a little out of place coming after such a brooding, melancholic masterpiece.
With producer Andy Sneap at the helm, the album sounds fantastic. The guitars are razor sharp, the drums are big, the bass is clear, and Biff’s vocals ring out as powerfully as they have ever done.
Now, if only they’d go back to doing videos featuring desert roads and big American trucks…
8.0/10
GARY ALCOCK
It’s rare to find a band that are still a) interesting and b) experimenting after three or four decades. But UK crossover legends Hellbastard have managed to do just that. After their original run from 1985-1991, the Geordie four piece reformed in 2008. Feral (Patac) is just the fourth album from the band – “Scruff” Lewty (Vocals, Guitars), Pete Salvage (Guitars), Laine Pearce-Rees (Bass) and Nathan Ellis (Drums) – and second since they regrouped.
Hellbastard are seen by many as the pioneers of crust punk, and reinforce the heritage with guest appearances from fellow UK crusties; Amebix’s Rob “The Baron” Miller and Andy “A. Droid” Wiggins, as well as Sabbat’s Andy Sneap. The PR guff describes Feral as “primal, back-to-nature shit,” which translates as “pretty simplistic, but still heavy”. Which is strange, because for the most part, it’s not particularly crusty.
For much of the record, it’s pretty route-one thrash album chock-full with political observations and snide phrasing from Scruff’s spat lyrics. Or at least it seems that way on first listen. ‘Outside of the Year’ or ‘And the Point of Your Being Is…’ are prime examples of classic crossover the likes of Municipal Waste have taken to a wider audience. ‘Social Hand Grenade’ features some classic squealing guitar work while ‘Engineering Human Consciousness II’ is the kind perfect mosh pit fodder WarBeast would be proud of.
After a few listens however, you start to realise there are some surprises. The switches between raw aggression and a melodic chorus on opener ‘In Praise Of Bast…/Feral’ catch the listener off guard, while the impressive 8-minute three-part epic ‘We Are Coven’ strays into progressive territory. The left turn of ‘4-Paws’ could pass for a gothic power ballad with it strings section and spoken word passages. The extra twists that are thrown into the traditional thrash/punk mix ensure that what could have easily been a tired rehash remains fresh.
Feral isn’t perfect and it’s not all quality or inventive. ‘Shame on Us’ is a passable mid-paced stomper, and though ‘Wychcraft’ has plenty of menace it meanders without going anywhere. But two duds isn’t bad for such a surprisingly varied album. For a band celebrating their 30th year, HellBastard still sound as angry as their name suggests. More impressively though, Feral shows a band willing to experiment and expand their palette into new grounds. There’s enough nodding back for legacy fans, but more than interesting enough material to make them worthwhile for anyone looking for a new spin on thrash.
7.5/10
DAN SWINHOE