Metal Allegiance, the all-star band of metal legends led by Mark Menghi, will take over City National Grove of Anaheim during NAMM on January 20th for a monumental tribute to our fallen musical heroes. Hosted by Jackson, Charvel & EVH, with Loudwire, and Musician’s Institute and Monster Energy joining as co-sponsors of the event. Mikkey Dee (Motorhead), Eddie Hermida (Suicide Silence), Arejay Hale (Halestorm) and Carla Harvey (Butcher Babies) are now added to the line-up. Continue reading
Metal Allegiance will be assembling early next year to pay tribute to our fallen heroes with a special show at City National Grove of Anaheim. Continue reading
Full disclosure: I’ve been a Death Angel fan since Frolic Through the Park (Restless/Enigma) in 1988. I remember my sister and I blasting ‘Bored’ and singing along. It’s been a sort of anthem for us ever since. Twenty-eight years later, Death Angel is still killing it onstage and on cassette. Do they still make those? No? OK. Then you must go forth and purchase on CD The Evil Divide (Nuclear Blast). The Evil Divide is classic Death Angel done to perfection.
The album opens with ‘The Moth’. It sets the tone for massive amounts of head banging to come. ‘Cause for Alarm’ has the most blistering guitar work of all time. Ted Aguilar is just gobsmackingly amazing on guitar. We should make #musiciancrushmonday a thing and Ted can be our first guitar crush! ‘Lost’ kicks us right in the feels with the lyrics. “Can anybody save me now? Exposed I stand alone…I close my eyes and let it go with one final breath of shame.” Mark Osegueda’s voice is like buttuh! Buttuh! I tellz ya! He rips into your soul and sings it to shreds.
‘It Can’t Be This’ opens with the most groovilicious bass line from Damien Sisson is wicked. The entire song has this funk groove that makes the hips move. It has faint shades of the guitar tone in Slayer’s ‘Dead Skin Mask’. It may be written in the same key. ‘Breakaway’ provides some excellent circle pit action. Well, it would if circle pits were still a thing that is done. I can’t wait to hear these songs live!
Every tune on The Evil Divide is jaw-dropping. Then you whoop! with excitement and commence to thrashing about the room. Musically, it’s tight. The precision in which Mark, Ted, Damian, Rob Cavestany, and Will Carroll execute their respective instruments shows consistency and diligence. The quality of production allows each note to coalesce and form an album that ingrains itself into your psyche and stays with you all day and night. The Evil Divide is a whole body experience: mind, soul, body. Every part of you is intimately engaged.
9.0/10
VICTORIA ANDERSON
[amazon asin=B01CDYNZCK&template=iframe image1]
All-star mash up albums are great when they work – for example Roadrunner United or Dave Grohl’s Probot project. But they are terribly underwhelming when they don’t – for example this year’s Teenage Time Killer or any number of fast-buck tribute albums.
Metal Allegiance (released via Nuclear Blast), a project centred around Megadeth bassist Dave Ellefson, Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick and former Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy, features a revolving cast of singers, and definitely counts as an all-star mashup. Each track features a different singer and focuses on a different style of metal. Despite the cheesy name, the self-titled debut manages to avoid being a hockey tribute and instead is a perfectly satisfying, if safe, tribute to the genre.
The 10 tracks on offer cover pretty much all areas of mainstream metal of the last decade or so. Opener ‘Gift of Pain’ (featuring Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe) is a solid mid-paced chugger, featuring the kind of groove you’d expect on a Lamb of God album track. ‘Dying Song’ sees Phil Anslemo do his best Layne Staley impression over a Black Label Society-eque southern rocker. ‘Can’t Kill The Devil’ (featuring Testament’s Chuck Billy) is a classic slice of American thrash. All the way through, the quality of the music can’t be faulted.
Troy Sander’s spot on ‘Let Darkness Fall’ gives a glimpse of how Mastodon could have sounded if they were more of a thrash outfit but retained their experimental edge, while King’s X singer dUg Pinnick and Hatebreed’s Jamey Jasta come together perfectly for what is probably the album’s highlight in ‘Wait Until Tomorrow’; Pinnick’s haunting baritone juxtaposes Jasta’s aggression in what is one of the few surprises on the record. Matt Heafy’s bland appearance on the dull ‘Destination Nowhere’ is the only real stinker (how far he and Trivium have fallen since he guested on 2005’s Roadrunner United album).
But throughout Metal Allegiance, it’s Skolnick that shines brightest. His blistering solos are scattered throughout the record and add some urgency and life to each track. The scorching guitar work on ‘Gift of Pain’, the Spanish interlude of ‘Let Darkness Fall’ or the grungy groove of ‘Wait Until Tomorrow’ all make them a more enjoyable listen. It’s only the self-indulgent masturbation of seven-minute instrumental ‘Triangulum’ gets old pretty quickly, even if it does feature half a dozen guitarists.
Metal Allegiance is good fun, but it’s not particularly adventurous; there’s no surprise or controversial inclusions, no one from the extreme edge of metal. Every musician involved can boast a lengthy and successful career and a few spots on the Billboard 100. It is, however, an enjoyable listen and would make a great showcase introduction to the genre for someone who hadn’t heard any metal before, and offers fans a chance to hear some of their favourite singers in a slightly new setting. And that’s no bad thing.
8.0/10
DAN SWINHOE
Three-decades into a career that has seen the kinds of highs and lows that most bands that few else could make it through, Death Angel is riding as high as ever. Emerging a mere teens in the second wave of Bay Area Thrash, Death Angel evolved from rambunctious youths to one of the fiercest bands on the planet. Rough life experiences can leave you with scars, but it’s what you do with those marks on the tableau of your psyche that define you, that guide you. For a band, that from the beginning was made up of family members, they have been re-writing the end of that script for over fifteen years.
A Thrashumentary (Nuclear Blast) starts like a standard band DVD with the history and the making of type of things you always want to see. The archival footage of the bands earliest shows, including their very first opening for Megadeth at San Francisco’s seminal metal haunt The Stone, are an amazing look into the genesis of a band. They transformed early from a more NWOBHM sound to thrash over their first few years in existence. One of their earliest and ongoing patrons has been Kirk Hammett of Metallica who produced their first demos. Hearing tales of how the nascent band booked a national tour on the strength of hastily made three song demo tape makes the legends come true. This band was built for greatness from the start. Terrific early accounts from thrash kings such as Gary Holt, Scott Ian, Charlie Benante, Chuck Billy, Scott Ian, Andres Kisser discuss the formation of the group and the legit early hype around them. The story of the band is re-told trough the eyes of the current band, and their continuing story takes shape over the course of two hours. Their awful bus accident that changed their lives forever in 1990, critically injuring founding drummer Andy Galeon, and ultimately leading to the end of the band at that time. The accounts are harrowing, and will shake you to your core.
Reuniting for Chuck Billy’s benefit concert “Thrash of the Titans” in 2001 sowed the seed for the band to reform and stay together. Although only Rob Cavestany and Mark Osesgueda remain today from the early core lineup, the band is as strong as ever with Ted Aguilar, Will Carroll and Damien Sisson. Death Angel are one of the most potent veteran thrash bands around. It’s great to see some of their more modern contemporaries, such as Chris Adler and Michael Amott talk shop about the band too. The more recent live footage of the band is phenomenal and another highlight of the DVD. The CD portion of the package is also a great live document to have for fans. A Thrashumentary is a great way to appreciate one of the scene’s most vital groups, then and now.
8.5/10
KEITH CHACHKES
Metal Allegiance will bring together an all star lineup of artists to perform an unforgettable night of music at the House of Blues in Anaheim, CA on January 21, 2015. Sponsored by Jackson Guitars, EVH Gear, The Music Zoo, Sinister Guitar Picks and Jagermeister.
Confirmed performers include:
Frank Bello (Anthrax)
Charlie Benante (Anthrax)
Chuck Billy (Testament)
Chris Broderick (ex-Megadeth)
David Ellefson (Megadeth)
Scott Ian (Anthrax)
Andreas Kisser (Sepultura)
Mark Osegueda (Death Angel)
Mike Portnoy (Winery Dogs)
Troy Sanders (Mastodon)
Alex Skolnick (Testament)
John Tempesta (The Cult)
Special Performance Of Scott Ian – Speaking Words To Open The Show.