• Byzantine breaks up…3 days after they release Oblivion Beckons.
• Light This City break up before releasing the last record.
• Arsis changes members more than their underwear.
• The Black Dahlia Murder lose a guitarist…steals one from Arsis.
• Phil Demmel of Machine Head passes out twice on stage.
• DJ Sid from Slipknot breaks both of his feet…keeps on trucking.
• Joey Jordison breaks an ankle, cancels UK shows.
• Nachmystium gets booted from the Opeth tour for undisclosed shenanigans.
• Kristen Randal shows her boobs…and they’re only slightly better than Amy Winehouse’s.
• Winds Of Plague drummer Jeff Tenney abruptly leaves the band mid-tour. Says he’s tired of seeing Kristen Randall’s boobs.
• Gwen Stacey singer Bobby Oakley leaves the band…cites that he’s going to sing for Mary Jane Watson.

• All That Remains Cancels remaining US tour dates Thanksgiving week due to vocal issues with Phil Labonte.
• Gorgorath’s Gaahl almost, slightly, kind of admits that he is a homosexual.
• Axl Rose released Chinese Democracy.
• Scar Symmetry loses a singer…hires two more.
• Metallica released an album that wasn’t really all that bad.
• Divine Heresy fires Tommy Cummings and an alleged assault takes place later on.
• Tommy Cummings is hired by funk-metal band Snot to fill the shoes of the late, great Lynn Strait. (That was a totally unintentional rhyme)
• Limp Bizkit reunion rumors float around…for a day.
• Celtic Frost break up again.
• Gas prices rise to over $5.00 a gallon and bands start to drop off tours left and right.

The list goes on but these are just the ones I could think of right now. If you can think of some more, please feel free to fill it in the comments section. Other than that, it’s been a great year in metal. 2009 can only get better!

Post from: Metal Martyr

Not too long ago I reported that Scar Symmetry ousted Christian Älvestam. In a band that has both clean and growling vocals it’s sometimes tough for one singer to perform like this live to the best of their ability. The ones that cover both clean and growling vocals often don’t come of sounding great when attempting to sing the clean part. Some bands use one of the other band members (ex. Gwen Stacy) to pull off the clean vocals, but Scar Symmetry just said screw it and hired two singers. There is a video clip of both singers auditioning below…

Via Scar Symmetry’s Myspace Blog:

"when things went from bad to worse and we realized that it wasn’t going to work out with Christian, we were faced with two options; either calling it quits, or seizing the opportunity to take the next logical step in the evolution of our sound. We chose the latter."

We’ve used both growls and clean vocals in our music since day one, and with each album we’ve pushed the envelope of what you can do vocally in a metal band to the point where a lot of the songs on "Holographic Universe" would be hard if not impossible to sing live. So the question is: Is it really possible to push the vocals even further and manage to perform everything live?
The answer is YES! Instead of hiring a new singer, we decided – some of you might already have figured it out by now – to recruit TWO singers! The idea of having two vocalists in the band is something that’s been in the back of our minds for a long time, and after auditioning and rehearsing with two of Sweden’s best vocalists we’re thrilled, excited, stoked-beyond-belief!!!
So let us introduce you to…

ROBERTH KARLSSON – lead growl vocals and backing clean vocals
Roberth was our first choice for the growling position. Jonas once called him "Sweden’s finest growler", which is no overstatement. Roberth has been involved in many band throughout the years, among others Edge of Sanity and Facebreaker.

LARS PALMQVIST – lead clean vocals and backing growl vocals
Roberth introduced us to his long-time friend Lars, who blew us away with his powerful-yet-beautiful voice. You can imagine our excitement when we learned that he’s a fantastic growler as well! Despite his amazing talents he’s virtually unknown to the metal public, which just might change as of today!
We are very fortunate to have found these guys. They bring to the band not only their incredible skills but also a positive vibe we haven’t had for some time.

We’ve posted a videoclip from when we auditioned Roberth and Lars, as a little teaser… Yes it might come across as we were drunk the entire time, which probably is very close to the truth. Enjoy!

Image Source: Scar Symmetry Logo via Myspace

Post from: Metal Martyr