Archive | July, 2011
We’ve heard from singer M. Shadows already about Avenged Sevenfold parting ways with drummer Mike Portnoy back in December. Now we’re given even more insight from guitarists Zacky Vengeance and Synyster Gates. In a recent interview with Guitar World magazine, the two revealed that not only did they try to convince the drummer not to leave Dream Theater, but also that Portnoy seemed intent on joining A7X full time.
When asked whether they thought Portnoy intended on playing with them full time, Gates said the following:
“ I think he definitely wanted to. And it would have been really nice. He’s a great guy and a great drummer, and we consider him family. But it’s just… He’s ‘Mike Portnoy.’ He’s established. He makes a lot of money. More than we can really dish out, especially at this point. And my whole thing after Jimmy [“The Rev” Sullivan] died was if we were ever going to do this, I wanted to give a young kid a chance. That would have been a dream come true, to breathe some new life from a death. And so this feels right. And unfortunately, Mike made some decisions that I don’t know if he’s super happy with at this point, and that weren’t very conducive to his well being.”
Vengeance added the following:
“When Mike first came on for Nightmare, he was sincerely genuine in the fact that he was there to help us fulfill Jimmy’s legacy, and for that we’ll always be so thankful and appreciative. And, truthfully, he was really the only man for the job. But I think he was also searching for new things to do, music-wise. I know for a fact he was starting to lose the romance of Dream Theater a little bit. That had been going on from before he knew us. And then Nightmare came out and it was a Number One album, and the tours were huge, and I think it was exciting for him. I think his intentions were pretty clear that he wanted to be a member of Avenged Sevenfold. But we weren’t ready to have a new member. And truthfully, he’s not the right fit anyway. When he went and quit Dream Theater, that was something we had no say in, because he’s a grown man and he makes his own decisions. But we had urged against it, fully knowing we weren’t ready to commit to him. But it’s his life.”
We’ve said it before, but you can’t blame A7X for not keeping Portnoy on board. Sure, it would’ve been easy for them to continue cashing in on Portnoy’s fame, but they don’t need to. After losing not only a band member but a close friend, it’s understandable that they’d want to start fresh with an up and comer. What Gates and Vengeance’s recent statements do show is that while Portnoy may not have been happy in DT for a while, his time with A7X may very well have convinced him to finally leave the group he helped form. Don’t feel too bad for Portnoy, though. We’re sure Adrenaline Mob and/or his new project with John Skyes will do just fine.
Gates and Vengeance’s interview with Guitar World will be featured in the magazine’s September issue.
We are sad to report today that the body of Danny Bobis (drummer for Long Beach, NY hardcore/metal/punk band Cipher) has been found. Bobis went missing this past Sunday while surfing in Indonesia. Numerous news sources are reporting that Bobis’ body was found earlier this morning in the waters of Sumatra by a fisherman. Bobis was 32 years old.
In addition to drumming in Cipher, Danny was a math teacher and surf coach at Long Beach, NY’s local high school. In fact, he had started the first surfing team in New York State for his students. It is indeed a devastating loss for the Long Island community. Our deepest condolences go out to Danny’s family and friends.
Metallica announced last night that they will be performing four shows in San Francisco this coming December to celebrate their 30th anniversary. The four shows, however, are “exclusive” to members of Metallica’s fan club, the Met Club.
The band posted the following explanation on their website:
“Thirty years of Metallica… can you believe it? We think it’s cause for a major celebration! You’ve been asking for a while now ‘just what the hell are you going to do to mark 30 years as a band?’ closely followed by ‘why don’t we have more exclusive shows for Fan Club members?’ We’ve heard you loud and clear and are beyond psyched to announce that the week of December 5, 2011 will be a full on Metallica week in the Bay Area, more specifically we will be playing four shows for Met Club members only at the historic Fillmore in San Francisco on December 5, 7, 9, and 10 to celebrate our 30th anniversary. These unique shows will include special guests and events, rare songs, varied set lists, odds and ends, and all the nutty stuff you expect from Metallica… fun for the entire family! Come to the Bay Area and spend the week with us to not only close out 2011 out with a bang, but to celebrate over three decades worth of craziness.
Participate in the entire week of festivities with special four pack tickets (one ticket for each of the four shows) and automatic entry into the contests for various other special events, available for the clever price of $19.81 (get it??). If you can’t join us for the full week, we’ll have individual show tickets too and as you can see we’re going back to early ’80′s ticket pricing (but not the hair!)… single show tickets will be just $6.00 each. Both four packs and individual show tickets will be available for Fan Club members only through a reservation system and we do have to add facility fees, blah, blah. Clubbers can log in for all the details… we’re taking reservations through August 8.
Hope to see you for a week of madness in December!”
While a membership to the Met Club can cost you anywhere from $45 to $60, you really can’t beat this deal. Six bucks to see Metallica performing at the Filmore in San Francisco?! Granted, there’s probably going to be a nice “convenient charge” added onto that and tickets will probably be very hard to come by even if you are a member. However, if we were a little closer to the West Coast, we’d make a major effort to try and get to at least one of these shows. It really does sound like the ultimate event for die hard Metallica fans.
Metal By Numbers is a weekly column in which we look at the top metal sellers and debuts of the week.
About a month ago, Limp Bizkit were the top metal/hard rock debut of the week. Now a fellow nu-metal band that was also more relevant in early 00′s is this week’s biggest hard rock release. Though never reaching the same heights as Fred Durst and co., Cold gained success thanks to hits like “Stupid Girl” and “Suffocate.” However, since disbanding in 2006 and despite reforming in 2009, Cold seemed to have disappeared for good. That’s why, even though it doesn’t match the same success as their previous albums, we’re a little surprise to see Cold’s new album Superfiction crack the top 40. Then again, the album’s lead single “Wicked World” has been doing pretty well on radio. Guess the power of radio and nostalgia can go a long way for any band.
Notable Debuts:
Cold, Superfiction (Eleven Seven) #35, 11,320 sold
How does Cold’s first album since reforming match up with their previous releases? Well, 2003′s Year Of The Spider debuted at #3 and sold over 101,000 copies, while 2006′s A Different Kind Of Pain debuted at #26 and sold over 36,000 copies. While it’s a far cry from their heyday, Superfiction’s first week sales are pretty good considering that it’s been five years since Cold last released new material.
Chelsea Grin, My Damnation (Artery/Razor & Tie) #60, 6,790 sold
The deathcore group’s sophomore album is also their highest ranking debut to date. They definitely deserve some credit for that.
Attack Attack!, Attack Attack! (Deluxe Edition) (Rise) #89, 5,170 sold
Considering that this is a “deluxe edition” of an album that came out last Summer, Attack Attack!’s first week sales are very impressive to say the least. It’s got a handful of new songs on it that, and we’re embarrassed to say this, not really that bad. Read more »
Because one infomercial simply isn’t enough. Earlier this month, the Insane Clown Posse released a second infomercial for their Gathering Of The Juggalos festival, set to take place in Cave-in-Rock, Illinois from August 11-14. This time around, Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope appear in this over 33 minute CNN parody to report on the festival’s new additions (including Mr. Tigers Blood himself Charlie Sheen).
You can watch the video for yourself up top. Does it top the first infomercial where Vanilla Ice revealed the festival’s lineup from outer space? Find out for yourself!
Iced Earth have revealed the cover artwork to their new album Dystopia, which will be released in the U.S. on October 18 via Century Media Records.
If we’re going to highlight the anniversary of Appetite For Destruction, then we also have to pay homage to two other pivotal metal releases. This week marks the anniversary of not one, but two Metallica classics. It was 27 years ago today when Metallica released Ride The Lightning, and it was 28 years ago this past Monday (July 25) when their debut album Kill Em’ All was released.
Featuring Metallica staples like “Seek & Destroy” and “Whiplash,” Kill Em’ All still remains as one of the strongest metal debuts of all time. Originally titled Metal Up Your Ass, the album was recorded only a month after Kirk Hammett replaced then guitarist Dave Mustaine (who went on to form another little band you may have heard of). Despite getting kicked out, Mustaine was still given co-writing credit on four songs (including “The Four Horsemen,” which Mustaine re-recorded with Megadeth as “The Mechanix” since he was pissed off by the changes Metallica made to the original version).
While Kill Em’ All showcased Metallica’s love of Motorhead and the NWOBHM movement, Ride The Lightning took the band’s sound to a new level. Songs like “For Whom The Bell Tolls” and “Fade To Black” showed the band experimenting with longer and more complex arrangements, while “Creeping Death” and “Fight Fire With Fire” maintained their aggressive sound. This album is also the last one to credit Mustaine (on the instrumental “Call To Ktulu”). Their sophomore album took Metallica one step closer to becoming the metal titans we know them as today (it was two years later when they released Master Of Puppets).
Both albums are considered “must haves” for any metal fan (that’s right, if you don’t have either album in your collection, we will judge you). As hard as it may be to choose which of these two albums you like the most, that’s exactly what we’re asking you to do. Let us know which one of these two classic Metallica albums is your favorite in the comment section below.
All Shall Perish have released a new video for the song “There Is Nothing Left.”
New music from Mastodon and Opeth wasn’t enough for you? Geez, greedy bastards. Five Finger Death Punch’s new song “Under And Over It” has made its way online. The song is our first taste of the band’s new album American Capitalist, which hits stores on October 11.
Though we’re not as fanatical about FFDP as we are about Mastodon or Opeth, the song is pretty damn catchy. It’ll definitely please fans of the band’s last album War Is The Answer (and seeing how it’s still selling consistently well after almost two years since its release, we’d bet that a lot of people enjoyed the album). You can listen to “Under And Over It” for yourself over at RevolverMag.com or up top.
A few weeks ago, rumors started to spread that Behemoth’s Adam “Nergal” Darski was in talks to become a judge on the Polish edition of The Voice. Well now Nergal himself confirms that he will indeed become Poland’s next big reality TV judge.
When asked by the UK’s Terrorizer Magazine whether he will actually be appearing on the music competition show, Nergal said the following:
“I haven’t signed a deal yet, but I got a deal waiting and most probably, it’s happening. So it’s going to be fun. The first black metal judge ever in history doing a mainstream thing, you know? People are going to freak out! Some are going to love it, some are going to fucking hate it. But that’s what this music has always been about, right? To provoke, to cause different opinions. The more extreme opinions, the better, I think.”
So there you have it, Nergal will (most likely) be a judge on Poland’s The Voice. While this certainly comes as a huge surprise to most metal fans, you have to keep in mind that Nergal is seen as a celebrity figure in his homeland. When asked about the attention he receives in Poland, Nergal added:
“This so-called celebrity life is not my environment at all, but I am a part of it if I want it or not. So it’s been crazy. Then the whole case with my sickness and me getting out alive, it just brought some extra attention to it. And there’s definitely some people that want to make some money on it because it’s a cool story for them to write about and stuff, but I was like, ‘Okay, if they’re going to make money, I want to have my share too’. I was away from music and away from being active live for a good year, so yeah, I need to get something in return!”
It may not be a done deal, but we’re sure Nergal will get a lot in return for appearing on The Voice. This also proves that Poland is the one country where a man can be on reality TV one moment and be threatened in court for tearing a bible on stage at another.
We’ve heard from singer M. Shadows already about Avenged Sevenfold parting ways with drummer Mike Portnoy back in December. Now we’re given even more insight from guitarists Zacky Vengeance and Synyster Gates. In a recent interview with Guitar World magazine, the two revealed that not only did they try to convince the drummer not to leave Dream Theater, but also that Portnoy seemed intent on joining A7X full time.
Posted by Zach Shaw on Thu, Jul 28, 2011 at 12:37 pm
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