Megadeth

I am sitting in my office at 5:30ish AM and am typing this as I try to wake up. Yesterday, Andy Sneap went back to the UK for a while, as we are preparing to go out on the Priest Feast Tour. This means effectively that the recording has stopped, until we return in March/April.

We finished all of the rhythm and bass guitars, as well as the drums being finished for a couple weeks now, and I think I even heard some acoustic layers. The reaction from our management, family, friends (the real critics), and my number one judge and coach Justis, has been pretty positive.

Take note, Rick Ruben. Andy Sneap was with them in the recording studio DURING the recording and pre-production phase. Crazy…I know, but that’s how things get done the right way. I know it’s been awhile, dude, but you should try it sometime.

Tour dates for Priest Feast after the fold.

2/10 – Dublin, Ireland – O2
2/11 – Belfast, Ireland – Odyssey Arena
2/13 – Sheffield, UK – Sheffield Arena
2/14 – Birmingham, UK – NEC
2/16 – Glasgow, Scotland – SECC Hall 4
2/17 – Manchester, UK – Manchester Arena
2/18 – Nottingham, UK – Nottingham Arena
2/20 – Cardiff, UK – Cardiff Arena
2/21 – London, UK – Wembley Arena
2/24 – Dortmund, Germany – Westfalenhalle
2/25 – Bamberg, Germany – Jako-Arena
2/26 -Berlin, Germany- Max-Schmeling-Halle
2/28 – Stockholm, Sweden – Globen Arena

3/1 – Gothenburg, Sweden – Scandinavium Arena
3/3 – Horsens, Denmark – Forum Horsens
3/4 – Malmo, Sweden – Arena Malmo
3/6 – Hamburg, Germany – Sporthalle
3/7 – Offenbach, Germany – Stadhalle
3/8 – Stuttgart, Germany – Porsche Arena
3/10 – Milan, Italy – Palasharp
3/11 – Wettingen, Switzerland – Sportzetrum Tagerhatd
3/13 – San Sebastian, Spain – Velodromo Anoeta
3/14 – Zaragoza, Spain – Arena
3/15 – Madrid, Spain – La Cubierta
3/17 – Lisbon, Portugal – Atlantico Pavilion
3/19 – Barcelona, Spain – Badalona
3/21 – Paris, France – Zenith
3/22 – Brussels, Belgium – Forest National
3/23 – Amsterdam, Holland – HMH

Image: Newscom

Post from: Metal Martyr

According to Blabbermouth, Lar Ulrich told Game Informer Magazine that it wasn’t easy getting Slayer cleared for the game due to lyrical content.

“I’m super psyched we got SLAYER in there,” Ulrich said. “SLAYER’s got to be part of any heavy metal video game. There had been some issues with their lyrics. That gets into a whole slew of stuff like, ‘Microsoft won’t do it if this lyrical content is in there.’ There’s all this bullshit you have to deal with, but we stood up for SLAYER, and we finally got SLAYER cleared like a week ago.”

This kind of comes to a surprise to me after Tom Araya recently made some derogatory statements about Metallica and Death Magnetic, saying such things as:

When I heard the METALLICA album, it didn’t appeal to me at all. And all I could think about was, ‘Man, what happened?’

And

‘Hey, it’s not Rick Rubin. It’s the band. It’s what the band brings to the table. (Refering to Rick Ruben Producing Death Magnetic)

Perhaps Lars didn’t see those comments. What has me wondering is if Metallica are actually covering Slayer, Slayer playing their song or if it’s the Guitar Hero band (Whatever they’re called). Should be interesting. It also states that some of the other bands on the game will be Machine Head, Foo Fighters (I don’t know how the hell they got on a “Metal” video game) and Alice In Chains among other bands.

Post from: Metal Martyr

They just haven’t said what it’s going to be yet. I’m sure it will be about hell, Satan, Jesus-hating, etc. That’s their schtick. Kerry King talked to Metalhammer.de, the German Metal Hammer in a video interview that can be seen here. The questions are translated in English and the video quality is really good.

King says that the summer 2009 release date of their next album is “Optimistic” he also expresses his dislike for Rick Ruben’s producing style, being a “Phantom” producer. Well he’s not the first to say this. Corey Taylor talked about Ruben not being there as often as he should be for the amount of money he gets paid. We’re starting to see a rhythm here with Ruben.

Image Source: Rockabilia

Post from: Metal Martyr

I was reading an article on Blabbermouth this morning about Rick Ruben. IN particular it was three of the members of Slipknot. Shawn Crahan, Jim Root and Corey Taylor all commented on working with rick and Corey was the only one that didn’t have a lot of good things to say about Ruben. Other artists have said that Rick is rarely in the studio to include most recently, Metallica. Corey Taylor said “And for me, if you’re going to produce something, you’re f*cking there. I don’t care who you are.”

This got me thinking about a few things. Death Magnetic is a good album and Subliminal Verses is one of my favorite Slipknot albums, but could they have been better had Rick Ruben had more in-studio time? Would the little production flaws that Death Magnetic has still be there? Would Subliminal Versus be heavier and less Stone Sour sounding? I think back now about Slayer. Wen wasthlast time Rick Ruben produced a really good Slayer album like everything pre-Divine Intervention? Ruben has produced every Slayer album since Reign In Blood, Every System Of A Down Record, the first 4 Danzig albums, but looking at his discography it seems like after 1996 he started to take on so many projects a year. Seven this year alone. It’s not wonder that the bands rarely see him. He’s flying all over the place, working with so many people at one time.

Now I don’t mean to disrespect Rick Ruben. He’s produced some amazing albums in the past, but like Corey Taylor said, If you’re paying this dude a substantial amount of money you would expect him to be there and not just popping his head in every now and then or working with his assistants. It seems today that Rick Ruben has become a brand name to stamp on the back of a CD case. “The Rick Ruben Stamp Of Approval”. Too many projects and not enough time spent with the band actually producing the album.

There are too many great producers out there these days, to the point that there are so many choices. I think more bands should make an effort every now and then to change things up and try someone different instead of the “If It’s Not Broke…” theory. Sure it’s a big chance to take after you’ve worked with the same producer 2 or 3 times, but if you want to progress you have to try different things. Break new ground and seek improvement as opposed to staying on the same plateau. Otherwise you’re just making the same album over and over again. Sometimes it takes a different producer to get you off that plain and sometimes it takes a good producer to keep the momentum going and climbing.

Post from: Metal Martyr

“The great thing about working with Rick is he’s never around,” Hammett said. “I would say that’s a very strong point, in that it leaves the four of us to take on the entire brunt of the work and the planning that goes into the songwriting process and the recording process. Of course, Rick was there for part of that process — when we recorded drums and vocals — but the fact that we were isolated in our studio, working on the songs ourselves, made a big difference, because it kept our sound pure. We got more METALLICA that way than we had previously with Bob Rock.

Post from: Metal Martyr

“Today we finished mixing and mastering our ninth studio album of original material, ‘Death Magnetic’, which hits the streets worldwide on Friday, September 12. Plus, you’ll be able to download every song from the album for ‘Guitar Hero III’ on the same day! Produced by Rick Rubin and recorded at Sound City Studios, Shangri La Studios, and our very own HQ. The first track and video, ‘The Day That Never Comes’, will hit the airwaves later this month.”

They played the track Cyanide at last night’s Ozzfest. Some are giving it good reviews and some…not so good. We have a little over a month to find out if all the buzz has been worth it.

Image Source: Amazon.com

Quote Source: Metallica’s Official WEbsite

Post from: Metal Martyr

Antimusic reported that Sharon Osbourne said in an interview that Ozfest will return next year as it did in the past and she wants AC/DC to open. That will be interesting…how the hell does she plan on paying for that gig. AC/DC aren’t exactly cheap act to book, I don’t care how old they are. You can read Antimusic’s take on it here

There is more rumors of a Slayer retirement. We heard this awhile back, but this time it sounds much more inevitable. in This Interview at Thrashhits.com, Tommy Araya says “Yeah. Let’s put it this way, this is the final record of our commitment with Rick Rubin.” But that leaves an open end. Does this mean the last Slayer record or just the last one with Rick Ruben? Maybe they will try different ventures.

Id there a Metallica track listing for Death Magnetic? It appears so and there is actually going to be an Unforgiven III. But now it’s kind of up in the air or maybe someone leaked some shit they were not supposed to. Blabbermouth first reported this and not it looks as if the source site has taken down the announcement…WTF?

Kataklysm recently announced a North American Tour. I can only hope they play in some venue near me but I can’t get my hopes up. If you haven’t heard the entire Prevail album, buy it, borrow it burn it, whatever…it’s brutal, it rips, it kills…ok, can’t think of any other metal sounding expressions to describe this album…oh wait…IT SLAYS!!

Want to win Opeth’s Watershed? I hope you Unreadable band logo skills are up to par. Metalsucks.net has a weekly contest called “Completely Unreadable Band Logo Of The Week“. If you can guess the band who’s logo looks so ridiculously stupid that you can not even read it, then you could win a cd. Click here to check it out.

Post from: Metal Martyr

Every time this is on I get pissed off. I get tired of hearing Lars and James argue like a couple of school girls. I get tired of hearing James try to sing Seek And Destroy like a female porn star faking an orgasm. What is it going to take to regain my faith in a band I once loved for their relentless rawness. Their chugging riffs. Their  Bad-ass-ness!

Crybabies, bad producers, and drama queen ass-monkeys. Lars crying about how when it was just him and James in his room back in 1982 that everything was cool but once someone else was in the room James was different. when “Dave Mustaine came into the picture it all changed” I’m not sure if that was the exact quote but it was something in the range of that. DUDE, Dave has been out of the picture for over 25 years. STFU already! Saying that you don’t want to be pushed away like Jason? Jason didn’t have to be pushed away. He wanted to make music with a band that wasn’t taking 5 years between records and you gave him a choice, Metallica or nothing and he chose otherwise so what the f*ck does that say about the cohesion of the band?!?

Anyway, I hope to hell that Rick Ruben has been working his hairy anus off, molding this band into the kick-ass machine that it once was. I guess we’ll see what happens in September? I say that with a question mark because I’m not 100% confident that their release date will be spot on and won’t get pushed back again. Let’s hope for the best.

And to all those about to leave some pissed off comment…you know I’m right so why even bother?

Image Source: http://www.amazon.com/Some-Kind-Monster-Metallica/dp/B0002DB58G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1207966502&sr=1-1

Post from: Metal Martyr

Prime example number 1. Metallica. Metallica was once known as the greatest metal band in America and just when it seemed they were at their peek they changed styles slightly with the release of The Black Album, losing a lot of die hard fans and gaining new ones in the form of a more pop culture oriented base. The fans that were disappointed with the black album still own it and occasionally listen to it but not as often as the older stuff. If you walked up to most anyone on the street these days and did a word type association test with them and said “Metallica” they would either respond with “Enter Sandman” or “Sell-outs“. You can’t blame them for wanting to sell more albums but the direction they took was so far out in left field that it just didn’t seem like the Metallica we once knew that was out to make a name for themselves as opposed to be the same as everyone else. Personally I think it was a bad producer choice that started it all and a lot of people share that view as well. Will the new Metallica CD be different from everything else from 1990 on or will it go in another strange direction as St Anger did? Only time will tell.

Example 2: Danzig. Another producer change that changed the face of a great band. After Danzig 4, Glenn Danzig decided it was time for a change and enlisted the best person he knew for producing future records instead of past producer Rick Ruben. Who did he recruit to take on the task? Himself. This is where it all took a rather strange turn. The bluesy/metal Danzig that we once knew, turned into a rough, industrial sounding band with a new line up and a vocally weak sounding Glenn. After Blackacidevil every album seemed to improve slightly but still couldn’t drift back to the sound that the older Danzig fans liked so much. The lyrical content was the same as before, singing of evil, Satan, devils, angels and sometimes sex.To me it just didn’t have that same sound that I grew to love when my best friend got me listening to Danzig. He still likes some of the newer albums but I just can’t bring myself to listen to them like I used to Listen to Danzig 1, 2, or 3. That flame has burnt out.

Trivium have been hated by the metal community for awhile now, not just because of the release of The Crusade but because they are a young band and people just seem to hate young bands and while the music on the Ascendancy CD was amazing, there was just a lot of people that didn’t like Matt Heafy’s style of screaming. When The Crusade was released people immediately started labeling them “Metallica Clones”. While The Crusade had a lot of Metallica sounding songs and Matt changed his singing to a style, sounding more like a young James Hetfield, I still don’t still don’t see them as Metallica Clones but a more developed band that is trying to find more of a style they are comfortable with and when one of your biggest influences is Metallica then chances are you may find yourself sounding closely to them. Before when you heard a band you would be like: “Wow. I can tell that (so and so band) was a big influence on them and they got a lot of their style from (so and so band).” These days if your sound is even a little tiny bit like another band then your labeled as a clone or a copycat, tribute band.

Slipknot has been dubbed Nu-metal since they stormed the scene with their self titled debut. Additional percussion, turntables and samples were not something that the metal community was ready for and was immediately shunned by many, but loved by many others because it was something different from the same old day to day metal that bands of that time were putting out. With every record, and I’ve said this before, they drift a little away from the sound of the first mainstream record and sound heavier and more traditionally metal…but with down tuned guitars. Fortunately down tuned guitars are becoming more accepted these days. So many people still don’t accept Slipknot and do so without hearing any of their newer CDs. Instead they continue to hate with a closed mind and a deaf ear. They even go so far as to dislike Stone Sour because of any association with Slipknot.

A young band on the rise is Black Tide. With their first album released almost two weeks ago, forums and message boards are littered with trash talkers and haters from all around…but mainly from Miami Florida. A band who’s members are between the ages of 15 and 19, Black Tide got picked up by Interscope records, a rather large label for a band this young. In an effort to capitalize on the bands talent, Interscope launched a publicity campaign that most bands can only dream of. From an Ozfest seat for their first major tour and then various tours throughout the states to promote and support Light From Above, Black Tide have worked hard on their tours trying to juggle school work (Both Highschool and College) and touring in hopes to keep the tide rolling (No pun intended). However, people don’t see things that way. They see them as young punks that were manufactured by the record industry in hopes to get a chunk of the popularity that metal has been snowballing in the last few years. Stop looking at them as The Backstreet Boys of metal and give them a chance.

Part 2 coming soon…

Post from: Metal Martyr

<–Ah doon’t fockin’ know!

Metallica’s management Q-Prime, is now saying that the new record will be released when it is ready. They say the rumors of the February release delay until April…until September are bogus and there never was a solid release date. They say “You can’t have a delay if there is no release date to delay.” In other words we don’t know when the hell the new record will be released. I think they should pull a Radiohead and see what people are willing to pay for it. I’m sure it would probably do better than the In Rainbows release due to the fact that there are just some die hard Metallica fans that refuse to believe that Metallica puts out shit recordings these days.

Perhaps the problem is the “Sick Of The Studio Tour”. Hell, I’d be sick of the studio too if I spent 5 years working on a new album.

James Hetfield said “We-ahh have been having a great time-ahh making the record-ah, ohh-oowhooh! Ain’t my bitch-ahhh!”

I don’t condone illegal downloading nor do I do it…but I guarantee I won’t acquire this record by paying for it. I just couldn’t force myself to shell out even the smallest amount of money on a new Metallica record.

Post from: Metal Martyr