Heavy Consequence
Refused Share New Song “The Ballad of Buck Ravers” from Cyberpunk 2077 Video Game: Stream
Refused have released a new song, “The Ballad of Buck Ravers”, under their video game guise Samurai. The hardcore punks will appear as the fictional band in the upcoming video game Cyberpunk 2077, which is now due out on November 19th. “The Ballad of Buck Ravers” is the third Samurai track we’ve heard following “Chippin’ In” and “Never Fade Away”, both released last year. Fortunately for Refused fans, the band only changed in name for Cyberpunk 2077, which took the idea of The Shape of Punk to Come quite literally, even tabbing Refused to be its in-game band. Musically, this is classic Refused, with frontman Dennis Lyxzén shouting and wailing above aggressively smashed chords: “Lost another day to pointless drudgery / The slow chipping away/ Of my autonomy”. Refused’s vision of 2077 sounds...
Rammstein Drummer’s Early East German Band Had Two Government Spies in Its Lineup
Drummer Christoph “Doom” Schneider was an active member of the East Berlin music scene prior to the formation of Rammstein in 1994. In the ’80s, he was the drummer of new wave act Die Firma (The Firm), and it turns out he had two government spies in his band. When asked by Metal Hammer about playing music prior to the take down of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Schneider recounted his time in Die Firma. The band’s music had dark goth influences, indicative of his latter work with Rammstein, featuring protest lyrics that were poignant, if incriminating, given who might be listening or in the case of Die Firma, literally singing them. “Die Firma was like a new wave punk band,” Schneider said. “The style was a little dark, with gothic influences. We had lyrics that protested against the system...
Corey Taylor Responds to Slipknot Tribute Band’s Craigslist Ad Seeking New Singer
Corey Taylor is one of the hardest-working dudes in metal, but apparently he has time to consider a gig impersonating himself in a Slipknot tribute band. The singer actually responded to a Craigslist ad from a Slipknot tribute act seeking a new vocalist. Taylor has his hands full with Slipknot and Stone Sour, not to mention his upcoming solo album, and his work as a best-selling author. But the fact of the matter is that he fits the description in the Craigslist ad to a tee. And, with his bands currently sidelined from the road due to the pandemic, perhaps he’s looking for some new ventures to conquer. The Craigslist ad is titled “Established Slipknot tribute seeking accurate, dedicated Corey Taylor.” It comes from New Jersey-based Of the (Sic), who promote themselves as the “most accurate...
#MetallicaMondays: Watch Metallica’s First-Ever Show in Colombia
Metallica’s weekly concert-streaming series #MetallicaMondays continues with a 1999 show in Bogotá, which marked the band’s first-ever gig in the country of Colombia. The 20-song set at Simón Bolívar Metropolitan Park featured a healthy helping of songs from “The Black Album” and other staples. The trek was dubbed the “Garage Remains the Same Tour” in support of Metallica’s covers compilation Garage Inc., and the show included a rendition of the Misfits’ “Die, Die My Darling” that appeared on the LP. As the band wrote on Instagram while announcing this week’s stream, “#MetallicaMondays takes a trip back to 1999! We dug through the dusty, old VHS tapes in @larsulrich’s vault to uncover Live in Bogotá – May 2nd, 1999, which happens to be the first gig we ever played in Colombia.” Of cou...
Unlocking the Truth Break Up as Frontman Malxolm Brixkhouse Launches Solo Career
Unlocking the Truth, the young metal sensations who first created a buzz playing the streets of New York City, have broken up. In turn, frontman Malcolm Brickhouse has started a solo career as Malxolm Brixkhouse, and is supported by his bandmates one final time on his new single “Phantom”. The young band first made a name for itself when a video of one of its street performances went viral on YouTube. The trio, made up of young teenage and pre-teen musicians, went on to play Coachella and Warped Tour, and opened for such acts as Guns N’ Roses, Queens of the Stone Age, and more. In 2014, Unlocking the Truth inked a $1.8 million record contract with Sony, but negotiated their release from the contract a year later. They eventually released the album Chaos independently in 2016, but never qui...
Primus Reschedule Rush Tribute Tour for 2021
Primus (photo by Johnny Perilla) and Neil Peart of Rush (photo via Wikipedia Commons) Primus have rescheduled their tribute tour in honor of prog-rock legends Rush. Bowing to coronavirus concerns, the trek will now take place in the summer of 2021. With this tour, the band’s goal is simple: travel across North America performing Rush’s beloved 1977 album A Farewell to Kings in its entirety. The “A Tribute to Kings Tour” opens in Texas in June, swings eastwards through New Orleans and Orlando, and travels up the East Coast and across the Midwest before finishing along the Pacific Ocean. Along the way, they’ll be supported by Wolfmother, The Sword, and Battles. If you don’t already have tickets, you can get them here. While it takes on extra meaning after the death of leg...
Sevendust Return with Cover of Soundgarden’s “The Day I Tried to Live”: Stream
Sevendust are back with a cover of Soundgarden’s “The Day I Tried to Live”, their first new recording since their acclaimed 2018 album, All I See Is War. Singer Lajon Witherspoon pointed to the song’s timeless lyrics as one of the main reasons the band decided to cover the Soundgarden track, which originally appeared on the 1994 album Superunknown. “Soundgarden is such an important band to all of us in Sevendust and this love for them goes all the way back to when we were starting,” said Witherspoon in a press release. “We discussed trying to do one of their songs and our producer Elvis [Baskette] suggested ‘The Day I Tried To Live’.” The frontman continued, “When I first heard it, I thought the lyrics were timeless. The lyrics are about trying to experience new things and c...
Sammy Hagar Clarifies Comments About Going Back on Tour: Only When It’s “Safe and Responsible”
Sammy Hagar made headlines recently when he said he’d “rather personally get sick and even die, if that’s what it takes” to get the concert industry going again amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, the veteran rocker is clarifying the extreme portion of his comments, while also saying he does want to get back on the road this year, if possible. For more context, Hagar’s longer quote in Rolling Stone read, “This is hard to say without stirring somebody up, but truthfully, I’d rather personally get sick and even die, if that’s what it takes. We have to save the world and this country from this economic thing that’s going to kill more people in the long run. I would rather see everyone go back to work. If some of us have to sacrifice on that, OK. I will die for my children and my grandchildr...
Fans Vote “Master of Puppets” Best Metallica Song in Band-Endorsed Poll
Metallica fans have spoken, and they’ve declared “Master of Puppets” as the thrash legends’ greatest song in an official, band-endorsed poll. The poll pit songs against one another in a March Madness style bracket, with the initial 64 tracks selected by a combination of Spotify plays and the number of times each was performed live. Metallica shared the contest round by round on their social media pages, calling it “Some Kind of Bracket”. “Master of Puppets” beat out “One” in the championship round of the bracket. In addition to those two songs, the Final Four included “Enter Sandman” and “Fade to Black”. The band announced the result on social media: “The people have spoken and single song stands alone above the rest. Your champion is ~ drum roll please ~ “MASTER OF PUPPETS!”… no wonder th...
Boris Announce New Album NO, Share Blistering “Loveless”: Stream
Last year, Japanese experimental metal band Boris released a double album called LφVE & EVφL. Now, they’re prepping a follow-up project pointedly dubbed NO. The 11-song full-length is due out next month and is being teased with lead single “Loveless”. In a strongly-worded manifesto of sorts, Boris explained that NO is an amalgam of all of their influences and connections as DIY heavy musicians. It was a record that was informed by the current “closing” of international borders, and the pain, anguish, and anxiety we’re all feeling during this chaotic moment in world history. An excerpt from that statement reads, “We hope this latest album can be a mirror that gathers and reflects people’s negative energy at a different angle, one that is positive. That is the power and potenti...
Pearl Jam Perform “Dance of the Clairvoyants” for First Time During COVID-19 Relief Concert: Watch
As one of several acts to play the “All In WA: A Concert for COVID-19 Relief” livestream event on Wednesday night (June 24th), Pearl Jam treated viewers to the first-ever live performance of their recent single “Dance of the Clairvoyants”. The socially distant rendition of the song featured each member of Pearl Jam performing from his own home. The band’s longtime lineup of Eddie Vedder, Stone Gossard, Mike McCready, Jeff Ament, and Matt Cameron was bolstered by former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, who provided backing vocals. In the video of the performance, Vedder holds a handheld camera, as his two daughters and wife Jill are seen dancing, bringing to life the song’s line, “I know the girls wanna dance.” Musically, the band mixes things up, with guitarist Gossard pla...
Full of Hell Unleash New Song “Language of Molten Cherubs” via Adult Swim Singles: Stream
A little over a year since releasing their Weeping Choir album, Full of Hell have unleashed a brand-new song. The band has unveiled the single “Language of Molten Cherubs” as the latest entry in the Adult Swim Singles program. As Full of Hell continue to push their music to uncompromising extremes, “Language of Molten Cherubs” is another burst of avant noise, free jazz rhythms, and harsh metal that defies convenient genre labeling. The band’s sonic concoction brims with ideas and layered overdubs, with frontman Dylan Walker’s voice cutting through the chaos. “‘Language of Molten Cherubs’ is the final death gasp of a broken human being at the end of their rope, on the border between worlds,” reads a press release for the song. It’s unknown if the track is a holdover from the Weeping Ch...
