Heavy Consequence
Charlie Benante on New Anthrax Album: “The First Thing I Wanna See Come Out Is a Vaccine”
Anthrax have a number of songs written for their next album, but drummer Charlie Benante wants to see a COVID-19 vaccine arrive before the legendary thrash-metal act releases a new LP. During an interview with Lou Brutus for HardDrive Radio, Benante offered an update on the follow-up to 2016’s For All Kings. “There is new music, there actually is,” said the drummer. “There’s about six, seven songs — and it’s really good.” When asked whether fans would get to hear some new music in the near future, Benante responded, “The first thing I wanna see come out is a [COVID-19] vaccine. Then we’re gonna put a record out.” Benante also revealed that Anthrax will not play any shows in 2020, and that their first gig back will be January 11th, 2021, at the rescheduled Knotfest Japan. “Other than that, ...
Cattle Decapitation’s “2020 Sucks” Face Mask Puts Your Mouth on a Butthole
Cattle Decapitation have captured the “cacophonous dumpster” of a year it’s been so far with a new “2020 Sucks” face mask. What’s more, the “back” side adds to the ridiculousness by placing a butthole against your mouth. The front of the mask offers a hastily designed collage that features the band’s logo set against a coronavirus sphere alongside images of hand sanitizer, toilet paper, a torn ticket to “Literally All Shows”, Tiger King star Joe Exotic, and a “Karen”. Also included is a picture of televangelist Kenneth Copeland, who recently claimed to have destroyed coronavirus and ended the pandemic. But wait, there’s more! The mask is two-sided, with the back showing an actual photo of a human butthole. Yes, if you choose to wear the mask as directed, you’ll have to do so with the ...
Slay At Home Virtual Metal Festival to Feature Trivium, Suicide Silence, Gavin Rossdale, Tesseract, and More
Slay At Home, a two-day virtual metal festival, is slated to take place this Friday (May 29th) and Saturday (May 30th) with dozens of performances and appearances. The virtual music and art festival will feature exclusive performances by Trivium’s Matt Heafy, Suicide Silence, Bush’s Gavin Rossdale, Tesseract, Darkest Hour, Khemmis, Spotlights, Twelve Foot Ninja, Allegaeon, and more. There will also be collaborative performances featuring members of Stone Sour, Megadeth, GWAR, The Dillinger Escape Plan, and other acts. In addition to the performances, there’ll be appearances by comedian Don Jamieson, Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante, Orange Is the New Black star Jessica Pimentel, Testament singer Chuck Billy, and more. Moreover, the fest will feature art installations from musicians, graphic...
Rammstein Officially Postpone North American Tour Due to COVID-19 Pandemic
Rammstein fans in North America will have to wait until next year to see the German band’s electrifying stage show. The industrial metal act has just postponed the late-summer outing until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The North American run was set to be the first time that Rammstein brought their full-scale stadium production to the continent. As the band stated in the initial tour press release, “Rock ‘n’ roll’s most ambitious pyro-theatrical experience will be on display for a series of 10 open-air dates.” Now, that will have to wait until 2021, with rescheduled dates yet to be announced. The news of the postponement comes just a few weeks after Rammstein called off their early summer European tour. The North American run would have kicked off August 20th in Montreal, Canada, hitt...
Queen’s Brian May “Grateful” to Be Alive After Suffering Heart Attack
Queen’s Brian May revealed Monday that he recently suffered a small heart attack earlier this month, and was rushed to the hospital by his doctor. The incident came amidst other notable health concerns for the legendary guitarist. A few weeks ago, May revealed on Instagram that he had torn his gluteus maximus muscle in his buttocks during a “moment of over-enthusiastic gardening”. In his new video message, the guitarist admitted he was “pissed off” by the “Brian May Is a Pain in the Bum”-type headlines. While May did indeed tear his gluteus maximus, he said that he found out later, after another MRI, that the excruciating pain he described at the time actually came from a severely compressed sciatic nerve. “That’s why I had a feeling that someone was putting a screwdriver in my back,” he e...
Faith No More Reschedule European Comeback Tour for 2021 Due to Coronavirus
Faith No More were due to embark on a European tour this summer, their first such outing in four years. However, due to the ongoing outbreak, the band has rescheduled all of those dates for 2021. The new itinerary sees their overseas concerts pushed back almost exactly 12 months. Now set for June and July 2021, these gigs include Berlin, Oslo, Amsterdam, and two-night stints in both London and Manchester. All currently held tickets will remain valid for next year, and refunds will also be available upon request. According to a statement, an announcement regarding Faith No More’s imminent North American tour with Korn, set to launch this August, is forthcoming. Editors’ Picks Last week, it was announced that Faith No More’s shows with System of a Down and Korn, previously marked for t...
Shinedown Cancel Summer Tour After Singer Previously Hoped to Stick With Timeline
Shinedown singer Brent Smith recently made headlines when he said that the band was “not afraid” to play for fans amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, he insisted that Shinedown were “not backing off” their summer “Deep Dive Tour”, but now the band has officially canceled the outing. In an interview with Jose Mangin for Zippo Live earlier this month, Smith said, “You can’t stay inside forever … if you shelter at home for too long, it’s going to deplete your immune system.” He continued, “Don’t be paralyzed by fear. You can’t allow that to happen, because then this invisible virus, however you wanna put it, then it begins to win.” Regarding the U.S. summer tour, Smith added, “As of right now, that’s all a go. So we’re not backing off of that rescheduled timeline.” While the singer did...
Mastodon Working on New Album, Recording Song for New “Bill & Ted” Movie
Mastodon were making significant progress on their highly anticipated new album, until the coronavirus pandemic delayed production. In a new interview, guitarist Bill Kelliher revealed the metal band had laid down 20 rough songs when the recording process came to a halt. “We were kind of right in the middle of it and we had about, I don’t know, 20 rough songs recorded right before this [pandemic] hit. And it just totally put the brakes on it,” Kelliher told RocknRoll Beer Guy. However, it appears the band feels like it’s safe enough to reconvene and continue work on the new record. “I’m actually leaving tomorrow for Atlanta,” added Kelliher. “We’re gonna get back together and have our first kinda… try to get back into finishing a few things that we started and seeing where we get.” The gui...
Frontman of Prominent Christian Rock Band: “I No Longer Believe in God”
Jonathan Steingard, the frontman of the successful Christian rock band Hawk Nelson, has declared in a lengthy Instagram post that he no longer believes in God. The singer-guitarist has been a member of Hawk Nelson since 2004, taking over lead vocals in 2012. The Canadian band has placed a number of LPs in the Top 10 of Billboard’s Top Christian Albums chart, amassing a large following along the way. In a caption accompanying his open letter, Steingard remarked, “I’ve been terrified to post this for a while – but I feel like it’s time for me to be honest. I hope this is encouraging to people who might feel the same but are as afraid to speak as I am. I want to be open. I want to be transparent with you all – and also open to having my heart changed in the future.” In the letter itself, Stei...
Minneapolis Ice Cream Truck Plays Extreme Metal, Serves No Ice Cream
I scream, you scream, we all scream for … extreme metal! An ice cream truck is making the rounds in northeast Minneapolis but all it’s serving up is heavy metal music. According to City Pages, area residents have noticed a black ice cream truck cruising through the streets while blaring out extreme metal music. Even though it also plays a more traditional ice-cream-truck jingle and appears to have images of various ice cream choices on the side of the truck, it never stops for treat-seeking kids with money in their hands. Turns out it’s the long-conceived brainchild of the driver, Matt Peterson, who purchased a rundown ice cream truck 10 years ago and tricked it out with heavy metal imagery. He calls the truck the Hell General, and there’s quite a backstory that goes along with the high-vo...
Sleigh Bells, High on Fire, Poison the Well Members Perform Guns N’ Roses’ “Rocket Queen”: Watch
Sleigh Bells singer Alexis Krauss has joined forces with members of High on Fire, Poison the Well, and more for a quarantine cover of the Guns N’ Roses classic “Rocket Queen”. It’s the latest installment of the “Bedroom Covers” series from the Two Minutes to Late Night YouTube channel. In addition to Krauss, the full lineup includes Two Minutes to Late Night host Jordan Olds (aka Gwarsenio Hall) on vocals and guitar; Cloak’s Billy C. Robinson on bass; High on Fire’s Chris Maggio on drums; and Poison the Well’s Ryan Primack on guitar. Olds handles lead vocals for the first part of the Appetite for Destruction song, with Krauss providing backup on the chorus. At the 4:15 mark, Krauss (sporting an Axl Rose-like bandana on her head) takes over lead vocals, shining in the spotlight as she ...
#MetallicaMondays: Watch Metallica’s 2014 “By Request” Peru Show
Metallica’s weekly concert-streaming series #MetallicaMondays continues with a March 2014 show from Lima, Peru, which took place as part of the band’s “By Request” tour. The outing allowed fans to help pick the set for each gig. The 2014 trek offered online song polls for each city, and the sets were determined by fan voting. While most of the 18-song setlist for the Lima show featured Metallica’s usual concert staples like “Master of Puppets” and “Enter Sandman”, there were a few surprises such “Fight Fire With Fire” from Ride the Lightning and the “Vote of the Day” selection “Hit the Lights” from the band’s 1983 debut, Kill ‘Em All. Last week, Metallica shared a show that took place in Chicago in August 1983, just a few weeks after they had released Kill ‘Em All. Overall, the #MetallicaM...
