Heavy Metal
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 ...
Josh Homme on Possible Kyuss Reunion: “The Only Real Way to End It Correctly Now Would Be to Play”
Josh Homme is proud of his influential early ’90s stoner rock band Kyuss, but is sad about the ugly way things ended with his former bandmates. When asked about the possibility of a reunion in a new interview, the Queens of the Stone Age frontman surprisingly said he would consider playing Kyuss shows again in order to rewrite the band’s final chapter. Kyuss formed in the late ’80s in California as teenagers under the name Katzenjammer, changing their name to Sons of Kyuss, and eventually Kyuss. Homme (guitars), John Garcia (lead vocals), and Brant Bjork (drums) were the mainstays of the band, with Chris Cockrell, future QOTSA member Nick Oliveri, and Scott Reeder serving as the band’s different bassists over the years. From 1991 to 1995, Kyuss released four albums, with Alfredo Hernández ...
The Once-Called “Herd Immunity Fest” Happened and Here’s What Went Down: Video + Photos
The once-named “Herd Immunity Fest” made national headlines when it was announced last month, and now the three-day rock gathering is in the books. The festival took place Thursday (July 16th) through Saturday (July 18th) outside the Q&Z Expo Center in Ringle, Wisconsin, and a smattering of social media posts and YouTube clips offer a glimpse of what it looked like. The “Herd Immunity Fest” faced backlash when it was first announced in late June, not only for its name but for the fact that it was going to be staged in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite organizers quickly renaming the event the “July Mini Fest”, a handful of bands dropped off the bill, including Nonpoint, Royal Bliss, Kaleido, and Blacktop Mojo. Things looked sketchy this past week when organizers reached out t...
10-Year-Old Nandi Bushell Rocks Audioslave’s “Cochise” with Guitar Tom Morello Gifted Her: Watch
Ten-year-old musician Nandi Bushell has made great use out of a guitar that was just gifted to her by Tom Morello, performing the Audioslave hit “Cochise” in her latest YouTube video. Not to mention, she also rocks the drums and bass in the impressive clip. Nandi previously wowed Morello with a performance of Rage Against the Machine’s “Guerrilla Radio”, in which she also played all three instruments. The RATM guitarist was so impressed that he shipped her one of his new Fender Soul Power Stratocaster signature guitars, along with delivering her a personal video message. Instead of putting the guitar in a display case, Nandi did what every good young rocker should do, and jammed Audioslave’s “Cochise” with the Stratocaster. A fitting choice considering that the Soul Power is modeled a...
Ozzy Osbourne Begins Work on Another New Album
Ozzy Osbourne released his first solo LP in a decade earlier this year, but the metal godfather is already hard at work on the follow-up album. Moreover, he continues to recover from his various health setbacks, with his wife Sharon reporting that he’s “getting stronger every day.” The legendary singer revealed earlier this year that he’s been battling Parkinson’s disease, admitting he was first diagnosed in 2003. Additionally, he suffered a nasty fall at his home in 2019, forcing him to postpone all of his touring last year. He was supposed to make up the dates this year, but canceled the tour prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in order to continue to recover from his injuries and seek treatment for his Parkinson’s battle. In the midst of his health issues, Ozzy was able to record and release...
Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine to Release Rust in Peace Book with Foreword by Slash
Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine has set a September 8th release date for his upcoming book, Rust in Peace: The Inside Story of the Megadeth Masterpiece. The 208-page tome features a foreword by Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash. This isn’t Mustaine’s first foray into the world of literature. He released his excellent autobiography, Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir, back in 2010. For his new book, Mustaine centers on the classic 1990 LP, which many consider Megadeth’s finest artistic achievement. Based on the publisher’s synopsis, the book gives thorough first-hand insight into the making of the album, including “the process of hiring the band and supporting cast, of trying to handle the ensuing success, and ultimately the pressure of fame and fortune-which caused the band to finally break-u...
Ihsahn Announces Pharos EP, Shares New Song “Spectre at the Feast”: Stream
Black metal legend Ihsahn has set a September release for Pharos, the second of two companion EPs. In advance of the EP, he has shared the music video for lead single “Spectre at the Feast”. Pharos, due September 11th, concludes the two-part EP concept dedicated to Ihsahn’s home country of Norway. Following the February’s five-song Telemark EP, Pharos is billed as a “reverse image” of its counterpart. The EPs see Ihsahn drawing inspiration from the black metal he helped proliferate in his influential band Emperor, as well as other styles and genres. According to Ihsahn, this second EP is the “aesthetic and musical counterpart, wherein I can distill all those more progressive, experimental and mellow elements of my music.” The press release refers to it as “the light to Telemark‘s dark.” Th...
Boris Unveil Dystopian Music Video for “-鏡 -Zerkalo-” from Latest Album NO: Stream
Japanese metal auteurs Boris have offered up the dystopian music video for “-鏡 -Zerkalo-”, the third single from the band’s latest album, NO. Much like the tracks cascading doom chords and passionate vocal rasps, the video for “-鏡 -Zerkalo-” is epic and transportive. Slow pans depict the barren rocks and surging oceans of a future, post-nuclear landscape. After traversing what looks like an alien planet, we’re taken to a dystopian cityscape. Created by CG artist Yoshiki Shimahara and directors fangsanalsatan and Ryuta Murayama, the video is like Philip Glass’ Koyaanisqatsi by way of Dark Souls. In a press release, Boris gave only this brief cryptic comment on the song and video, revealing that it’s not an alien planet, but our own: “The song as a mirror that reflects this world.” The video...
Rammstein Announce Rescheduled North American Tour Dates for 2021
Rammstein have just unveiled the rescheduled dates for their highly anticipated North American tour, following the postponement of their 2020 outing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The stadium tour originally was set to kick off this summer in late August, but will now take place in late summer / early fall of 2021. While the outing will still be comprised of 10 dates, the band has canceled its Washington, D.C. show outright due to scheduling issues, adding a second show in Mexico City instead. The 2021 tour kicks off August 22nd in Montreal, and hits Philadelphia, Chicago, Minneapolis, East Rutherford, N.J. (New York City area), Los Angeles, and San Antonio, before wrapping up with the aforementioned two-night stand in Mexico City. When the North American tour finally does commence, the dyn...
Rise Against Release Expanded Edition of The Black Market: Stream
Rise Against have surprise released an expanded edition of their 2014 opus, The Black Market. The reissue collects the original LP and three B-sides from the era and is now available on digital platforms. It’s also streaming in high-fidelity via TIDAL (which is offering a 60-day free trial right now). The B-sides “About Damn Time” and “We Will Never Forget” were previously included on The Eco-Terrorist in Me 7-inch single, and “Escape Artists” was a bonus track on the album’s original Japanese CD release. The songs, equal in quality to much of the material on The Black Market, can now receive a larger audience after being fan-only rarities for years. Released six years ago The Black Market remains a definitive album in Rise Against’s discography. Coming at an apex in their career, the...
