Sad news on the Festival and Convention front as the long-running Rock and Shock Festival in Worcester, Massachusetts has disbanded after 15 years. The announcement was made in a post to social media about the festival canceling all further festivals. The fest paired the best Horror convention and concert series in the USA and made use of both the famous Worcester Palladium venue and the convention center at the DCU Center up the block. Ghost Cult covered many Rock N Shock fests which featured incredible conventions, horror celebrities, amazing vendors , indie films, headliners such as Rob Zombie, Alice Cooper, Disturbed, Danzig (including a pre-reunion Misfits headline set with Doyle), ICP, Ministry, GWAR, King Diamond, Type O Negative, Lordi, Disturbed, Mushroomhead, Voivod, Amorphis, Twiztid, Dark Tranquility, Hatebreed, Devildriver, Motionless In White, Death Grips, Superjoint, Wednesday 13, Sabaton, Prong, Witch Mountain, Sanctuary, Soilwork, OTEP, Shadows Fall, God Forbid, Cavalera, Conspiracy, Anthrax, Overkill, Misfits, and more!Continue reading →
Music Marketer and YouTuber Finn McKenty,The Punk Rock MBA is back with another video examining the scene and asking the tough questions to the music fandom. In this episode, he discusses his thoughts on why metalcore bands such as God Forbid, Candiria, Shadows Fall, and I See Stars did get bigger. Check it out! Continue reading →
Listen, guys, this opening statement probably isn’t going to be the most logical thing ever said about a Toxic Holocaust album, but Primal Future: 2019‘s biggest issue may just be that it’s stuck in the 1980s. Yeah, I know that love for Reagan era Thrash Metal is the house that Toxic Holocaust has built and resided in since their inception so save your comments. I mean Primal Future: 2019 has more reverence for that decade than Stranger Things, The Goldbergs and Michael J. Fox combined. Continue reading →
There aren’t many bands who can lay claim to sounding better now, with nineteen albums under their belts, than they did at their perceived peak. At least not many who can say it while keeping a straight face anyway. But then again, not every band is OverKill.Continue reading →
Downpour, the metalcore supergroup featuring members of Shadows Fall and Unearth, have dropped a new single, ‘Truth In Suffering’. September 7th will see the release of their self-titled debut album, and the band is offering pre-order packages via Pledge Music. Check out the single now. Continue reading →
Act of Defiance kicks off their new North American summer tour tonight. Starting in Denver, CO where the band will play the first of four headlining shows before joining Armored Saint on their previously announced Symbol Of Salvation tour beginning July 10th in Poughkeepsie, NY. Act of Defiance includes in its ranks Chris Broderick (ex-Megadeth), Shawn Drover (ex-Megadeth), Matt Bachand (Shadows Fall, Times Of Grace), and Henry Derek (Scar The Martyr). The band is still touring behind their latest studio album, Old Scars, New Wounds, via Metal Blade Records from 2017.Continue reading →
Hell Night, which features Brian Fair of Shadows Fall, has released two new singles. ‘Cancercize’ and ‘The Sequel’ are both available to stream or download from the bands’ Bandcamp page. Jam them out below! Continue reading →
Featuring former Scar The Martyr frontman Henry Derek Bonner on vocals, Shadows Fall guitarist Matt Bachand on bass, plus former Megadeth members Shawn Drover (drums) and Chris Broderick (guitar), Los Angeles based super-group Act of Defiance return with the follow-up to their 2015 debut, Birth and the Burial (Metal Blade).Continue reading →
In theory, the new Flotsam and Jetsam album Flotsam and Jetsam (AFM Records) should be called Regeneration. Their press brief says that the band really started in 2015 with the line-up of Eric AK, Mike Gilbert, Michael Spencer, Steve Conley, and Jason Bittner (Shadows Fall). For this, I gave Flotsam and Jetsam a fresh listen, forgetting the past albums and attacking Flotsam and Jetsam as a new separate entity. The new album Flotsam and Jetsam is twelve songs lasting 56 minutes. It’s an hour that goes quickly by as the tracks seamlessly blend from one song to another.
The first thing that struck me was the heaviness of opening track. ‘Seventh Seal’ is has a heaviness that weights it down. If it weren’t for the guitar lines and jaunty pace of the song, it could be a doom song. There is something about the song that claws at you and keeps you earthbound. ‘Life is a Mess’ has the same thundering drumming as ‘Seventh Seal’. The vocals have this nu-metal rap feel with 90s metal singing. I hear shades of Testament in the guitar parts. ‘Taser’ opens up like a muscle car on an open backwoods Texas road. It’s fast and it’s wild. The vocals are a bit strained, but the music more than makes up for it. ‘Taser’ has a swagger about it. I went into ‘Iron Maiden’ wanting to love it because I love Iron Maiden. True to form, it’s a Bruce Dickinson epic lyrics love fest. It’s a bit of the ‘Trooper’ in new clothes. I nice wink wink nudge nudge to a great band.
The rest of the album is more of the same. Solid tunes that follow the tried and true metal formula. Flotsam and Jetsam the album has lots of guitar solos in all the right places and heavy drumming and bass playing keep everything solid. Some of the songs are a bit chunky and plodding while others have interesting accoutrements. If you like Overkill and Testament, you’ll enjoy Flotsam and Jetsam.
Act of Defiance 2015. Photo credit Stephanie Cabral
Late last year, both guitarist Chris Broderick and drummer Shawn Drover announced they were parting ways with thrash legends Megadeth. A few months later, the pair announced they had formed a new band, Act of Defiance. This new supergroup, also featuring former Scar the Martyr vocalist Henry Derek and Shadows Fall guitarist Matt Bachland released their debut album Birth and the Burial (Metal Blade) in August of this year. A surprising change of direction, the album is far heavier than many would have expected, especially after the main songwriters’ last record was Megadeth’s AOR-friendly Super Collider (Tradecraft/Universal).
Despite having played in one of the biggest metal bands in the world and probably in the position where they could attract as big a name as they wanted, the former Megadeth men went for a relative unknown with Scar the Martyr’s Henry Derek. “We put together a list of 30 singers we thought would work well for Act of Defiance and Henry came back as one of 5 we sent out an initial demo to record on”, begins Broderick. “Henry’s demo fit the music so well, so we knew we wanted him as our singer. Talking with him and working on demo material was really easy, and we have a great working relationship.” The addition of Matt Bachland on bass didn’t involve such a wide search, however, as Shawn Drover confirms: “I have known Matt for over 15 years now, and after seeing he was looking for a new gig since the Shads aren’t touring anymore, I hit him up.”
Despite the legacy of their previous bands, the duo felt no pressure over fan expectations, Drover calmly explains. “You can’t worry about what people’s perception of a new band will be before they have even heard one note. We just wrote and recorded the exact record we wanted to make, at the end of the day what else can you do?” Broderick is on the same page, equally fearless about people’s reactions.“While we knew we would be compared to our former bands it didn’t concern us, we just wanted to get our own music out there for people to experience, so that attitude allowed us to write freely without chasing any preconceived idea of what people would expect from us.”
One of the most surprising things about Birth and the Burial is how heavy is; it’s a record far closer to the likes of Arch Enemy than the melody of Megadeth’s Super Collider. Broderick’s confidence shows: “Both Shawn and I knew we wanted to come out with something heavier not only for ourselves but also for the fans.” Despite what some might see as a new direction, Drover felt there was no compromise: “Certain tunes are a bit more progressive and dynamic, but in the end it’s all Heavy Metal. We just created what we truly wanted to write with no regards to chasing trends or wanting to be soft just to try to sell more records. We have no interest in that. “
On top of that, Broderick respects the impact of the unknown that Henry brought to the table. “I think the thing that caught people most off guard was Henry’s vocals being so heavy but I think once they hear how melodic he can be at the same time and realize how appropriate and emotionally accurate each style he sings is for the music he is singing over it becomes clear how cool it is.”
While there were a few ideas and riffs that existed previous to the band forming, the majority of material on Birth and the Burial was written specially for the record. Drover: “I have never had much of an issue being inspired to write new music, so there was certainly no shortage of inspiration going into the writing process for this new record. Chris and I were very focused on what we wanted to do on this record, which was to make a Metal record without compromise.”
Act of Defiance 2015. Photo credit Stephanie Cabral
Obviously AOD’s previous bands were known for their strong leaders; Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine is known for his authoritative streak, while Scar the Martyr’s Joey Jordison was a key member in the nine-man chaos of Slipknot. Who’s the leader now? Broderick: “Right now, Shawn and I are the ones who created Act of Defiance and are taking the initial reigns on its direction, however as Henry and Matt come into the fold and get more involved in the band it will become more equal between all four of us.” There are no dictators though. Drover: “This is a band. We all have a say. When you have people who all have the same goal, which with us is to make the best Heavy Metal we can, it’s not too difficult to agree on matters.”
Was it these strong leaders that led to everyone leaving and eventually forming Act of Defiance? Broderick: “I can only speak to my experiences and it was just a measurement of the positives against the negatives. Performing for such ravenous die-hard fans was awesome, but there came a time where I felt stifled artistically and musically. I liken it to a lawyer leaving a firm to start their own or a chef starting their own restaurant.” While neither are giving specifics, it’s clear that a change of direction and freedom is the theme. Drover: “It was simply time for me to move on and make the kind of music I wanted to make. My focus is about music and the new record, period. Anything negative about the past becomes the headline and is a distraction to what I’m here to ultimately promote.”
As well as a new sense of musical freedom, there’s a strong focus on the future, the band say they have no intention of playing old material from their previous bands and this is their sole focus. Broderick: “It started with Shawn and I wanting to get out some of our own music, unaltered or controlled in any form. Act of Defiance is a band with no intention of it just being a project. A lot of people are just doing project after project and giving the fans nothing of substance to connect with.” From the sounds of it, we should be looking forward to plenty more from the supergroup. Drover: “I have never been a huge fan of being in 9 different bands, because most people tend to view those things as just a “project” as opposed to a real band, which is exactly what AOD is.
“This is our future, and we are prepared to take Act of Defiance as far as we can for the long haul.”
