Heavy Metal
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...
Producer Bob Rock Finally Explains the Much-Maligned Snare Drum Sound on Metallica’s St. Anger
Metallica’s 2003 album St. Anger is often derided, due in large part to drummer Lars Ulrich’s distinctly off-putting snare drum sound. The butt of many jokes among fans and critics for years, the snare roast reached a fever pitch when one clever YouTuber replaced the snare from “Master of Puppets” with a snare sample from St. Anger, immortalizing its abrasiveness. Many other parodies followed, each replacing the snare of various songs with the way-to-tight, trebly, zero-resonance St. Anger sample. Finally, the album’s producer Bob Rock has explained the story behind the much-maligned snare sound. Not surprisingly, he essentially diverts the blame to Ulrich, who fell in love with the sound of Rock’s Plexi Ludwig snare. As Rock tells it, Metallica were jamming in their “clubhouse” in San Fra...
#MetallicaMondays: Watch Metallica Play Master of Puppets in Its Entirety at 2006 Berlin Show
For the latest installment of #MetallicaMondays, the thrash legends are revisiting their 2006 Master of Puppets 20th anniversary tour. On the very metal day of June 6th, 2006 (6/6/06) at Berlin’s Waldbühne, Metallica played their classic 1986 thrash masterpiece in its entirety, front-to-back, also premiering “The New Song”. The archival concert footage goes live this evening (July 6th) at 8:00 p.m. ET / 5:00 p.m. PT via Metallica’s YouTube channel below. The Berlin show is historically significant for seeing the world premiere of “The New Song”. With fans clamoring for a new studio album — it had been three years since St. Anger — the performance of new material ignited a surge of hype surrounding what would eventually become Death Magnetic. “The New Song” didn’t make it to the final ...
Tony Iommi Recalls the Time He Kicked Madonna Out of Black Sabbath’s Rehearsal Room
In a new interview, guitarist Tony Iommi recalled the original Black Sabbath lineup’s brief reunion in 1985 for Live Aid, where Iommi inadvertently crossed paths with pop star Madonna, unbeknownst to him at the time. Live Aid saw Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward onstage together for the first time in years. The day before the performance, the band was given a private room for rehearsal. Black Sabbath were jamming and reminiscing about the past when Iommi noticed two people enter the otherwise closed session. “It was a bit of a disaster, really, to be honest,” Iommi told SiriusXM. “They had a room booked for us to rehearse. We started rehearsing and then we started talking about the old times; so most of the rehearsal was talking. And the time when we did rehearse, it was ...
