Heavy Metal
Black-Metal Legend Ihsahn Calls Out Taylor Swift Over Album Artwork
Ihsahn (courtesy of Spinefarm Records), Taylor Swift (courtesy of Republic Records) The cover artwork of Taylor Swift’s surprise new album folklore immediately caused a stir on social media, thanks to the decidedly metal look of the gloomy black & white forest scene. Now, an actual black-metal legend, Ihsahn, is calling out the pop superstar for the folklore cover’s uncanny resemblance to the artwork for his “Stridig” single, released earlier this year. The woods and black metal have had a longstanding relationship over the decades. Many a time, our favorite corpse-painted musicians have found themselves stuck in the middle of a desolate forest, with their only way out a combination of shrieking vocals and heavily distorted guitars. Now, Taylor Swift has found herself in the same predi...
Manuel Gagneux (Zeal & Ardor) Returns as Birdmask, Premieres Music Video for New Song “Set Me on Fire”: Stream
Zeal & Ardor frontman Manuel Gagneux has revived his long-running solo project, Birdmask, and is premiering the music video for new song “Set Me on Fire” exclusively via Heavy Consequence. Birdmask is Gagneux in his own creative element. Although some of the atmosphere and experimental ideas of his metal outfit Zeal & Ardor are present here, Gagneux embraces a varied spectrum of sounds — “pop-rocked-bliss” as he calls it. Most notably, his soaring vocals remain right up front. “I’ve had this song ready for a couple of years now but being preoccupied with other projects kind of forced me to leave it on the back burner,” Gagneux says. “I feel like it’s about time to let it out. In the time between then and now I was lucky enough to tour the world with a different project, score ...
The Sword Announce Conquest of Quarantine Session, Cover T. Rex’s “Children of the Revolution”: Watch
The Sword have announced a new socially distant performance series, Conquest of Quarantine. The heavy rockers are today premiering the first tune from the three-song lockdown session, a cover of T. Rex’s “Children of the Revolution’, exclusively via Heavy Consequence. The new series comes on the heels of The Sword’s recent career-spanning compilations, Conquest of Kingdoms and Chronology 2006-2018. Both cull archival live recordings, B-sides, and rarities. As singer-guitarist J.D. Cronise told us in our recent interview, the band hoped to tour in support of the album before the pandemic effectively paused live music. Instead, The Sword performed together virtually in isolation and streaming the footage for fans. “Since we’re not touring this summer as originally planned, we figured we shou...
The Internet Has Spoken: Taylor Swift’s Folklore Album Cover Is Actually Very Metal
Remember when pop star Justin Timberlake retreated into the forest to get his “folk” on and became a bonafide Man of the Woods? It looks like Taylor Swift spent her quarantine attempting to take that same earthy path, and the result is a new album literally called folklore. What’s more, she put it together with help from Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, himself A Wisconsin Man of the Woods, and Aaron and Bryce Dessner, members of quintessential indie outfit The National. As Fluxblog founder Matthew Perpetua so succinctly put it, “I guess Taylor Swift finally went out in the woods with the National and Bon Iver boys to actually make ‘some indie record that’s much cooler than mine,’” plucking choice lyrics from Swift’s 2012 hit single “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”. So I guess...
Clutch Announce Live from the Doom Saloon Volume II Livestream Concert
If you’ve ever wanted to build your own Clutch setlist, now’s your chance. The band might even play it during its upcoming livestream performance, dubbed “Live from the Doom Saloon Volume II”. Clutch are encouraging fans to pick their “dream 14-song setlist” for the virtual concert, which costs $9 and streams at 5:00 p.m. PT / 8:00 p.m. ET on August 7th (and available on-demand through that weekend). Donations from the show go to benefit the Innocent Lives Foundation. Any Clutch song from their 1991 “Pitchfork” 7-inch through 2018’s Book of Bad Decisions and their recent Weathermaker Vault Series is game. It’s a lot to choose from, but whoever submits the winning setlist — as picked by the band — will receive an insane prize pack including: a TremLord 30 combo amplifier from Orange Am...
Napalm Death Share New Song “Backlash Just Because” Ahead of Upcoming Album: Stream
Napalm Death have shared the new song “Backlash Just Because”. It’s the lead single and first music we’ve heard from the band’s upcoming album, Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism, out September 18th. The ferocious track finds the UK extreme metal pioneers in their thrashing element. The song’s chaotic noise and grindcore absurdity is anchored by frontman Barney Greenway’s subversive lyrics. “Backlash Just Because” set the blueprint for the rest of the album’s lyrical content and the skeptical optimism of its evocative title: Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism. “This song in particular really spurred me on when I was writing lyrics for the album overall,” Greenway said during an interview on Sirius XM’s Liquid Metal. “It’s raucous and traditional, but also quirky and discordant and ...
Watch: “AC/DC Back in Black 40th Anniversary: A Virtual Celebration”
AC/DC’s legendary Back in Black album is turning 40 years old, and we’re celebrating with a special digital event featuring a bevy of notable musicians. “AC/DC Back in Black 40th Anniversary: A Virtual Celebration”, presented by Consequence of Sound and Gibson Guitars, premieres Friday, July 24th, at 5:00 p.m. ET / 2:00 p.m. PT. Hosted by guitar virtuoso Jared James Nichols, “AC/DC Back in Black 40th Anniversary: A Virtual Celebration” will stream across Consequence of Sound‘s social platforms, including Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch. The event features testimonials, performances, and guitar tutorials from such prominent artists as Slash, Juanes, Dee Snider, Alice in Chains’ William DuVall, Orianthi, and members of Cage the Elephant, Trivium, Anthrax, Maná, Airbourne, Beartooth, Refus...
Aftershock Festival 2021: Metallica and My Chemical Romance to Headline
The 2020 Aftershoc Festival in Sacramento, California has officially been rescheduled to fall 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizers have announced that previously revealed 2020 headliners Metallica and My Chemical Romance will remain on the bill for the 2021 iteration, which takes place October 7th-10th. Metallica were scheduled to play two sets at Aftershock 2020 as part of five U.S. festival appearances this year, all of which have been canceled due to the pandemic. The thrash-metal legends will play two sets at the 2021 edition, headlining Friday, October 8th, and Sunday, October 10th. My Chemical Romance headline the Saturday in between. The festival released a statement announcing the postponement: “After all the harm caused by COVID-19, there is nothing that we wanted mo...
Heavy Culture: Rock Musicians on What It Means to Be Black in America in 2020
Clockwise from Upper Left: Vincent Price, WIlliam DuVall, Cammie Gilbert, AJ Channer, Skin, Rasheed Thomas Heavy Culture is a monthly column from journalist Liz Ramanand, focusing on artists of different cultural backgrounds in heavy music as they offer their perspectives on race, society, and more as it intersects with and affects their music. The latest installment of this column features multiple rock and metal musicians recounting their early experiences of racism. The death of George Floyd while in police custody earlier this year has had a profound impact on the nation and the world. In recent months, people from all walks of life have joined together to protest injustice that Black Americans have been facing for ages. In last month’s installment of “Heavy Culture”, several musicians...
Hellfest 2021 Lineup: Deftones, System of a Down, Faith No More, Judas Priest, Puscifer, and More
France’s Hellfest Open Air has announced its 2021 lineup, and it features 90-percent of the bands who were scheduled to perform at the 2020 edition of the festival before it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Deftones, System of a Down, and Faith No More will still headline, as they were slated to this year. The fest will take place June 18th-20th in Clisson, France. The festival wrote in a Facebook post: “Hellbangers, a little ahead of usual, here’s the lineup of the 2021 edition! 90% of the groups have reconfirmed their presence for next year, and as you know, they are particularly impatient to find you in Clissonese lands!” The statement continued, “Unfortunately, 13 bands scheduled for the 2020 edition could not confirm their presence for 2021: Incubus, Mastodon, Infectious Gro...
Metal Trump Sings Iron Maiden’s “Run to the Hills” and It’s Terrifying: Watch
YouTuber Lars von Retriever has done it again! For his latest “Metal Trump” video, he has cut up the president’s dialogue to match the Iron Maiden classic “Run to the Hills” — and the results are frankly terrifying, albeit impressive. Given Trump’s flippant remarks, stubborn denial, and generally abhorrent reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic, the songs refrain — coming from Trump’s mouth — hits a little close to home: “Run to the hills/ Run for your life“. Iron Maiden wrote “Run to the Hills” for 1982’s The Number of the Beast as a historical concept piece about the genocide of Native Americans and indigenous people by North American settlers. “White man came across the sea/ He brought us pain and misery,” sings frontman Bruce Dickinson in the original track. Odd words coming out of Trump, t...
Baroness and Windhand Members Form New Band Darling, Unveil First Single “Baptists”: Stream
Baroness guitarist Gina Gleason, Windhand singer Dorthia Cottrell, and guitarist Leanne Martz have joined forces for a new project called Darling. The trio also shared their debut single, the haunting “Baptists”. Fans of both Baroness and Windhand should find something to like about the new song. The deep bass pulses and shimmering electric guitars recall the soft interludes and segues of Baroness’ 2019 album, Gold & Grey. Meanwhile, Cottrell recites cryptic poetry through her inimitable sultry croon. In an acoustic form, the song could have worked well on one of Cottrell’s folk-based solo work. But Gleason and Martz color out a lush soundscape, offering yet another viable sonic palette for Cottrell’s words and voice. “Baptists” will be “the first of many more to come,” according to Co...
