Just a few weeks after they were joined onstage by original singer Dimitri Minakakis in NYC, The Dillinger Escape Plan had another mini reunion in Norfolk, VA last night (November 28). This time, though, it was with former guitarist Brian Benoit, who joined the band onstage to perform the song “43% Burnt.”
“Brian Benoit onstage tonight for the first time in six years. I just had to turn around and watch him. Presence through and through,” singer Greg Puciato revealed via Twitter about being joined onstage by Benoit, who left the band in 2004 following the release of Miss Machine due to nerve damage in his hand. Interestingly enough, the band has always left the door open for Benoit to return in the event he’s able to perform live. And though Jeff Tuttle is currently in the band as rhythm guitarist, Ben Weinman has been the only guitar player on most of The Dillinger Escape Plans’ releases since Benoit’s departure.
So could this be a sign that Benoit will be returning to the band soon? Well before letting speculation run wild, Puciato tweeted “To clarify…Brian’s left hand is emaciated from nerve damage and he can’t play a full set, but he came onstage tonight for 43% Burnt.” So while Benoit may not be coming back on the road any time soon, it’s still great to see him back onstage with The Dillinger Escape Plan. You can watch fan filmed footage of the performance above.
Drummer Vinnie Paul (Hellyeah/ Pantera) is taking part in a live chat (which started at 3pm EST today) with ESPN’s SportsNation.
It’s been revealed that Motley Crue will be appearing on CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight on this Thursday (December 1) and Friday’s (December 2) editions. The band will reportedly be making a “big announcement” on the hour long talk show. What could the announcement be?
Well, loving to tease, Motley Crue have posted a “hint” (which you can see off to the side), and are promising to post a second one tomorrow. Adding onto the speculation is bassist Nikki Sixx, who (in addition to hinting at big news for his other band Sixx A.M.) posted a picture with the following description on Facebook:
“Your guesses were good for something else,but not for this……If we went back in “history” and it was a rattlesnake it would of bit you in the ass..The hint couldn’t be any clearer if it was the nose on your face..Let me make this clearer for you…:)….Any ideas now?”
To be honest, we have no clue as to what the hints imply. However, this comes just a few weeks after rumors of a Motley Crue Las Vegas residency leaked. Could Motley Crue be heading to Las Vegas for a month long residency? Will Vince Neil and Tommy Lee actually be competing with girls, girls, girls on the Strip for an audience? Guess we’ll just have to wait till Thursday to find out for sure.
[Update: Motley Crue have confirmed their three week residency in Las Vegas]
Whether you’re a fan or not, there’s no denying that Black Veil Brides are heavily influenced by 80’s metal (in case their Motley Crue Shout At The Devil era resemblance didn’t make that obvious). And their new digital EP Rebels, which includes one new song plus covers of Billy Idol’s “Rebel Yell” and KISS’ “Unholy.” As an added bonus, none other than Black Label Society frontman/ ex Ozzy guitarist Zakk Wylde recorded a solo on Black Veil Bride’s cover of “Unholy.” While they’ve performed “Rebel Yell” live numerous times, we still would’ve thought that “White Wedding” would have been a more fitting Billy Idol hit for a band called Black Veil Brides to cover.
The EP, which will also include a six-minute director’s cut of the music video for “Rebel Love Song,” will be released on December 13 exclusively via iTunes. The cover artwork for Rebels can be seen off to the side, while video of Black Veil Brides performing “Rebel Yell” live, plus a few short video teasers for the EP, can be seen after the jump. Read more »
Saint Vitus have confirmed Lilly F65 as the title of their new album, due out in early 2012 via their new label home Season Of Mist.
While everyone is making their end of the year “best of” lists, Korn is hoping that people won’t forget that their new album The Path Of Totality comes out next week (December 6, to be exact). And in case the three songs you’ve already heard weren’t enough to win you over, now you can listen to audio samples of each song (courtesy of Roadrunner’s German branch). It’s never fair to judge an album based on only 30 second snippets of each track, but it’s available for the eager fan to hear. And we have a hunch that The Path Of Totality will make it onto a few year-end lists, but likely for all the wrong reasons.
You can listen to audio samples of each song off of Korn’s The Path Of Totality in the video above (until it gets taken down).
If you lack a calendar for some reason, here’s an easy way to tell if we’re getting close to Christmas: check the new release lists and watch how quickly the number of new releases spirals downward with each week. Sure, many underground artists and rising talents will release their albums whenever they feel it’s worth their while, but most of the more well-recognized groups will forgo releasing new material during the holiday season and wait for the new year instead. As such, we’ll have slim pickings for the next couple of weeks.
Today’s lead album is actually the digital re-release of one of my favorite albums from last year. Granted, it’s a special edition re-release with plenty of extra material, but the fact that it gets top billing this week should give you a sign of how little there is coming out. Nevertheless, enjoy what we have to offer as winter looms up on us!
Demon Hunter, The World is a Thorn Deluxe Edition (Solid State)
The World is a Thorn is, in my opinion, Demon Hunter’s greatest work to date, but I’ve loved all of their records and am looking forward to their tenth anniversary and upcoming sixth album next year. For now, though, fans like myself can dig into this digital edition of their last record. Packed with even more extras than the physical special edition, the highlight of this version of the album is the live acoustic cover of Alice in Chains’ “Down in a Hole”, performed during an acoustic set performed by the band during their 2010 touring cycle. The digital edition also comes with the video for “Collapsing”, which features guest vocals from Soilwork’s Björn “Speed” Strid. In related video news, Demon Hunter also just released their video for “LifeWar”. The video takes a bold approach to the lyrics of the song and has a lot of subtext that’s worth examining. Finally, since we’re so close to Christmas, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that you can now download the group’s Christmas-themed single “The Wind”, which was part of the compilation “Happy Christmas Volume 5″ that was released last year.
Orphaned Land, The Road to OR-Shalem (Century Media)
If you follow Israeli progressive doom troop Orphaned Land, then you know that they are unique in their playing style and their mission. For those unfamiliar with Orphaned Land, the best way to describe them is as a mash-up of the progressive style of Pain of Salvation with the cultural heritage of Melechesh. The Road to OR-Shalem is the group’s DVD debut, coming just one year after the group’s fourth album, The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR. Considering that eight years separated their second and third albums, and six years separated their third and fourth, having only one year go by between releases is a remarkable achievement for the group. The two-DVD set chronicles a live concert filmed in Tel Aviv last December, and also features a behind-the-scenes documentary and music videos. A rare treat of this release is that world-renowned Porcupine Tree frontman Steven Wilson was part of Orphaned Land for this concert, during his stint as the band’s touring keyboardist, and thus appears on the DVD contributing to the concert in many ways. This comprehensive release is an eye-opening view of the band’s quest to spread unity and peace among their war-torn homeland and the surrounding region through their powerful, insightful music. And if, after reading all that, you still need to be convinced as to why this DVD is worth picking up, just go watch the trailer and let that convince you. Read more »
Chances are you’ve already seen video of Taylor sharing his experience working with producer Rick Rubin while in Dallas, TX for the An Evening With Corey Taylor tour (the same night where he revealed that “there will be another Slipknot album”). In case you haven’t, though, the main thing to take away from it is that Taylor isn’t a fan of the legendary producer.
You can watch Taylor recalling his experience working with Rubin on Slipknot’s 2004 Vol. 3 (The Subliminal Verses) in the video above. However, here’s a highlight of what Taylor had to say:
“Let me give you the fucking truth of it. Rick Rubin showed up for 45 minutes a week. Yeah. Rick Rubin would then, during that 45 minutes, lay on a couch, have a mic brought in next to his face so he wouldn’t have to fucking move. I swear to God. And then he would be, like, ‘Play it for me.’ The engineer would play it. And he had shades on the whole time. Never mind the fact that there is no sun in the room — it’s all dark. You just look like an asshole at that point. And he would just stroke his huge beard and try and get as much food out of it as he could.”
Taylor went on to say that though he respects what Rubin has done in the past, “He is overrated, he is overpaid, and I will never work with him again as long as I fucking live.” As colorful as Taylor’s description was in Dallas, TX, his distaste for Rubin wasn’t exactly a secret. While most musicians who’ve worked with the producer have praised him (including Taylor’s band mate’s in Slipknot), Taylor shared the following with Revolver Magazine back in 2008:
“I wouldn’t know what it’s like to work with Rick Rubin. I only saw him about four times. Rick Rubin is a nice man. He’s done a lot of good for a lot of people. He didn’t do anything for me. I’m not happy with the vocals on that record. There were a lot of takes that I thought were much better than the ones they fuckin’ used and I wasn’t asked about a lot of shit. It sounds amazing; the songs are great. But we were being charged horrendous amounts of money. And for me, if you’re going to produce something, you’re fucking there. I don’t care who you are.”
Taylor’s criticism towards Rubin may come as somewhat of a surprise considering the success that came with Vol. 3 (The Subliminal Verses). At the same time, though, it isn’t too shocking to believe that Rubin has become more “hands off” with albums over the years. One thing is for sure: we may not know when Slipknot will return to the studio, but it won’t be with Rubin. Watch Taylor sharing his experience with the producer in Dallas, TX in the video above.
As you may recall, Queensryche performed their classic concept album Operation Mindcrime in its entirety during their set on the ShipRocked cruise about two weeks ago. And as promised, playing the role of Sister Mary (originally performed on the album by Pamela Moore) was In This Moment’s Maria Brink. The band posted pictures of Brink’s performance with Queensryche, as well as of their own ShipRocked performance, on Facebook. However, fan filmed footage of Brink performing “Suite Sister Mary” with the Seattle prog rockers has also made its way online. You can see one clip of the special performance above, while more footage can be seen after the jump. Read more »
Many believe that third time’s the charm. Well, apparently that’s not the case for Drowning Pool. The Texas nu-metal band announced last night that they’ve parted ways with their third singer, Ryan McCombs.
Guitarist C.J. Pierce had the following to say about the latest change in Drowning Pool:
“We have always been a band who has gained success despite having multiple singers…maybe we suffer from reverse ‘lead singer’s disease.’ Changing things up has not always been easy, but the band has become re-energized time and time again. We are looking to find a new singer who will give both us and, and most importantly our fans, the new adrenaline shot they deserve. We do wish Ryan great success in his future endeavors.”
This marks the third singer Drowning Pool has worked with in a ten year period. McCombs (who previously fronted Soil) replaced singer Jason “Gong” Jones in late 2005 and sang on 2007’s Full Circle and the band’s 2010 self-titled fourth album. Jones joined the band in 2003 as a replacement for original singer Dave Williams, who passed away from heart disease in the middle of the band’s stint on Ozzfest in 2002. So best of luck to whoever steps in as Drowning Pool’s new frontman (since given the band’s track record, they’re going to need it).
Posted by Zach Shaw on Tue, Nov 29, 2011 at 4:24 pm
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