Archive | Headbangers Brawl
Headbangers’ Brawl is a weekly column where Metal Insider’s contributors take a moment to debate and analyze two opposing sides of a topical issue occurring in the world of metal and/or the music industry.
Blame it on Amanda Palmer. When the former Roadrunner artist turned to crowdfunding to finance her new album and tour, she had a $100,000 goal, but legions of devoted fans. She wound up with over $1.2 million, which made a lot of musicians second-guess how to get tour support and money to make albums, among other things. Protest the Hero was the first metal band to over-exceed their goal, getting $341,121, much more than the $125,000 they were seeking. Since then, it’s become almost commonplace for bands to reach out to their fans for donations. The most high-profile campaign, at least this week, is Tim Lambesis’ successful Indiegogo campaign for Austrian Death Machine. But is there a point where there’s too much crowdfunding? Is this the wave of the future, a trend of the present, or will it reach its tipping point and collapse in on itself? Read more »
Headbangers’ Brawl is a weekly column where Metal Insider’s contributors take a moment to debate and analyze two opposing sides of a topical issue occurring in the world of metal and/or the music industry.
The metal community is still at a loss of words over the death of Jeff Hanneman. Fans and fellow musicians alike have spent the past 24 hours paying tribute to the deceased Slayer guitarist, both online and at last night’s Golden Gods. While words cannot do justice to explaining what Hanneman contributed to metal, we here at Metal Insider decided to take a moment to reflect our favorite memories attached to the almighty Slayer. So take a look below to see which Slayer moments Zach, Bram, Kodi and Matthew chose to share in this week’s Headbangers’ Brawl. Read more »
Headbangers’ Brawl is a weekly column where Metal Insider’s contributors take a moment to debate and analyze two opposing sides of a topical issue occurring in the world of metal and/or the music industry.
This week saw big three releases hit stores: Stone Sour’s House of Gold and Bones – Part 2, Volbeat’s Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies, and the self-titled debut from David Draiman’s industrial project Device. More interestingly, though, is that Hits Daily Double supposedly projects each title to sell between 35,000 and 40,000 copies in its first week. Keep in mind, though, that these are just projections and one album will end up selling more than the other two. Thus, the Metal Insider crew debate which of the three group’s albums will end up on top in this week’s Headbangers’ Brawl.
Zach: I think it’ll be a close race between Volbeat and Stone Sour, with the Danish rockabilly metal group ultimately on top. The fact is that Volbeat’s Beyond Hell/Above Heaven is well over three years old and is STILL charting in the top 200. That fact alone gives Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies the edge in sales over Stone Sour and Device, not to mention that “Cape Of My Hero” appeals to mainstream rock fans while “Room 24” has been catching old-school metal fans attentions thanks to King Diamond’s appearance. While it’s too soon to tell if it’ll have as strong of lasting power as Beyond Hell/Above Heaven, it’s safe to say that anticipation for new Volbeat music will lead to big sales. Read more »
Headbangers’ Brawl is a weekly column where Metal Insider’s contributors take a moment to debate and analyze two opposing sides of a topical issue occurring in the world of metal and/or the music industry.
Yesterday, Dave Lombardo dropped a bombshell on fans when he revealed that Slayer were replacing him during their upcoming Australian tour due to a disagreement over business matters. What made the news even more shocking to us was the feeling of déjà vu we felt upon hearing about it, given that Black Sabbath went a similar public scenario roughly a year ago.
Both Lombardo and Bill Ward’s public withdraws from their respected (or former) bands are reminders how much of a business running a band really is. But where is the fine line between running a business and simply playing music as a band? That’s a tricky question that the Metal Insider staff tries to answer in this week’s Headbangers’ Brawl. Read more »
Headbangers’ Brawl is a weekly column where Metal Insider’s contributors take a moment to debate and analyze two opposing sides of a topical issue occurring in the world of metal and/or the music industry.
The nominees for the 5th annual Revolver Golden Gods Awards were announced earlier this week. And keeping with tradition, the nominations are so-so. While there are some well-deserved nominees, there are also many that leave us scratching our heads. And as last year’s awards proved, it’s usually the odd nominees that end up taking home the Golden God. But that’s not stopping Bram, Zach, Kodi and Matt from discussing who they each think should win and who actually will. So check out the list of nominees one more time, and then see our predictions for this year’s Golden Gods by clicking on the page numbers below.
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Because the Mayans’ prediction was wrong…
Headbangers’ Brawl is a weekly column where Metal Insider’s contributors take a moment to debate and analyze two opposing sides of a topical issue occurring in the world of metal and/or the music industry.
Ghost is playing festivals. Kvelertak finally has an American label deal. Asking Alexandria is putting out a new album. Gojira is finally touring. The metal A list/B list is pretty established at this point. You’ve got your headlining bands, your middle tier bands, and plenty of openers. Yet this past year saw Volbeat emerge from the pack, and the album’s quietly sold nearly 200,000 albums in the two years it’s been out. With the year almost 1/12th over, we thought we’d brawl about what band might be next due to break out. Read more »
Headbangers’ Brawl is a weekly column where Metal Insider’s contributors take a moment to debate and analyze two opposing sides of a topical issue occurring in the world of metal and/or the music industry.
It’s a safe bet that the lineup to this year’s Rockstar Energy Mayhem Fest will be officially announced in the next few weeks [Update: looks like we'll have to wait till March for the official announcement]. However, rumors about the billing have slowly started to circulate around the web, while at least one band looks to be 99% confirmed. And truth be told, we just lloovvee to gossip. So with that in mind, the Metal Insider crew discusses which bands will likely appear on Mayhem Fest this year, which bands are likely not to play the touring festival, and which bands we’d like to see on this year’s bill in this week’s Headbanger’s Brawl. Read more »
Headbangers’ Brawl is a weekly column where Metal Insider’s contributors take a moment to debate and analyze two opposing sides of a topical issue occurring in the world of metal and/or the music industry.
It’s that time of year again. This week, the nominees for the 55th Annual Grammy Awards’ “Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance” were announced. Now the Academy is notorious for their ignorance in metal, as proven with each year’s nominations. And while it’s still not perfect, this year’s nominees (including Anthrax, Lamb Of God, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Marilyn Manson and Halestorm) are arguably more deserving than nominees from past years.
However, the key term is still “not perfect.” That’s why Bram, Kodi, Zach and Matt not only place their bets on who’ll take home the gold record player in February, but also choose one band they each feel should have been nominated for the “Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance” award. Then after you see our picks, watch the Rollins Band’s performance on the 1994 Grammys to recall a time when the award show wasn’t (totally) lame. Read more »
Headbangers’ Brawl is a weekly column where Metal Insider’s contributors take a moment to debate and analyze opposing sides of a topical issue occurring in the world of metal and/or the music industry.
Yesterday, Century Media Records announced the signing of Swedish black metallers Watain. This comes a few weeks after the label’s signing of Buckcherry became public knowledge. It should be obvious to anyone that both bands are on the opposite ends of the rock spectrum from each other (both musically and audience-wise). Yet now the two share a label home.
With that in mind, we couldn’t help but asks ourselves “which signing (if either) has a better impact for the metal label?” That’s what Bram, Kodi and Zach try to determine in this week’s Headbangers’ Brawl. Read more »
Headbangers’ Brawl is a weekly column where Metal Insider’s contributors take a moment to debate and analyze opposing sides of a topical issue occurring in the world of metal and/or the music industry.
On May 11 and 12, 2013, Ozzfest will make its grand return… in Japan. Ok, so this is probably a bigger deal for fans who live in Japan. However, could the first ever Japanese edition of Ozzfest indicate bigger plans for the once predominant touring festival? In other words, is Ozzfest coming back to the States this coming summer? That’s the question Bram, Kodi and Zach are debating in this week’s Headbangers’ Brawl. Read more »
Headbangers’ Brawl is a weekly column where Metal Insider’s contributors take a moment to debate and analyze two opposing sides of a topical issue occurring in the world of metal and/or the music industry.
Posted by Metal Insider on Fri, May 10, 2013 at 5:06 pm
Headbangers Brawl