Heavy Metal
Lamb of God Unleash New Song “Routes” Featuring Testament’s Chuck Billy: Stream
Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe and Testament’s Chuck Billy (photos by Antonio Marino Jr.) Lamb of God have released a fourth new song from their upcoming self-titled album. The latest single, “Routes”, features guest vocals from Testament singer Chuck Billy. The new song follows previously released tracks “Checkmate”, “Memento Mori”, and “New Colossal Hate”. Originally, the album was set to be released on May 8th, but was pushed back to June 19th due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “Routes” was inspired by Lamb of God singer Randy Blythe’s time spent at Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota during the #NoDAPL movement, which protested the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. “I went to Standing Rock because I had heard reports of violence committed on the peaceful protes...
Slipknot, Underoath, and Code Orange to Stream Full Concerts on Reimagined Knotfest Website
With concerts and festivals on hold due to the pandemic, Slipknot and their creative team have relaunched Knotfest.com as a content destination, including concert streams, original interview series, and more. While the site had been hosting weekly streams of past concerts by artists who had participated in previous Knotfest events, it has now been completely reimagined to offer a steady stream of news, interviews, performances, and new merch. In celebration, the Knotfest website is streaming full concerts by Slipknot, Underoath, and Code Orange beginning this Friday (May 29th) at 6:00 p.m. ET / 3:00 p.m. PT The three bands were set to perform on this year’s North American Knotfest Roadshow tour, which would have kicked off this Sunday (May 30th) had it not been canceled due to the COVID-19...
Judas Priest’s Rob Halford to Release Tell-All Autobiography Confess in September
Judas Priest Rob Halford, photo by Steven J. Messina Judas Priest singer Rob Halford will “expose every facet” of himself in an upcoming autobiography, titled Confess. A September 29th release date has just been announced for the book. The metal legend revealed that he was working on the book last year. In an initial press release, he promised he wouldn’t hold anything back. “Confess is a unique once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me to expose every facet of myself,” stated Halford. “Digging deep with nothing to hide and nothing to fear was in many ways exciting, fun, disturbing, terrifying and cathartic. I’ve held nothing back. It’s time for me to ‘confess.’” The book will span Halford’s entire life and career, including his decision to publicly come out as gay in 1998. Among the other top...
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...
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...
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...
System of Down, Faith No More, and Korn Announce Rescheduled Dates for Joint Shows
System of a Down (photo by Raymond Ahner), Faith No More (publicity), Korn (photo by Jon Hadusek) System of a Down, Faith No More, and Korn were set to join forces for a couple of the most anticipated concerts of the year, but were forced to postpone the shows due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, they’ve just announced rescheduled dates for the concerts. The shows would have taken place tonight (May 22nd) and tomorrow (May 23rd) at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles, but now they’ll happen on May 21st and May 22nd of 2021. Original support acts Helmet and Russian Circles will also be on board for the rescheduled concerts, billed as “Five Bands, Two Nights of Galactic Proportions.” A full statement from System of a Down on Instagram reads, “We’re excited to announce that the reschedule...
