Heavy Metal
9-Year-Old Girl Plays 15-Song Tool Medley on Guitar Gifted to Her by Adam Jones: Watch
Nine-year-old music protege Maya Neelakantan was gifted a signature Gibson Les Paul by Adam Jones and promptly put it to use, recording a 15-song Tool medley. Not unlike Nandi Bushell, Neelakantan has become a YouTube phenom thanks to her gifted guitar skills. You may remember her 15-minute playthrough of Tool’s “7empest” earlier this year — a feat so impressive, it apparently caught the attention of Adam Jones himself. A couple months ago, the Tool guitarist bequeathed one of his prized signature model Gibson Les Paul guitars to Neelakantan, who shared the surprise moment in a heartwarming unboxing video. The gift must have inspired the young virtuoso to learn even more Tool songs. Advertisement Earlier this week, Neelakantan uploaded the aforementioned 15-song Tool medley played with the...
Vinnie Paul’s Estate Insists “There Can Never Be a Pantera Reunion” but Supports Upcoming Tour
The estate of the late Vinnie Paul has issued a statement in support of Pantera’s upcoming shows. However, the statement refrained from calling the band’s reformation a “reunion.” This past summer, news broke that the surviving classic members of Pantera — singer Philip Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown — were joining forces with guitarist Zakk Wylde and Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante to play select dates and festivals as Pantera. At the time, Billboard reported that the estates of Vinnie Paul and Dimebag Darrell had given it the go-ahead. On Wednesday (November 30th), Vinnie’s estate posted the following message on Facebook, clarifying its stance on the matter with a pointed first sentence, but an overall positive attitude toward the upcoming shows: “There can never be a Pantera reunion with...
Mining Metal: Critical Extravasation, Cryptae, Dream Unending, Elder, Fell Ruin, Feminizer, Spider God, and Tchornobog, and Abyssal
Mining Metal is a monthly column from Heavy Consequence contributing writers Langdon Hickman and Colin Dempsey. The focus is on noteworthy new music emerging from the non-mainstream metal scene, highlighting releases from small and independent labels — or even releases from unsigned acts. Peter Griffin once asked, “Where are those good old-fashioned values on which we used to rely?” While he was talking about entertainment at large when he posed that question, stroking his inappropriately-shaped chin, it’s debatable if he’d ask heavy metal, the genre that holds onto its good old-fashioned values with a Mankind-Mandible-Claw-like grip, that same query. This is to say that metal is laden with refinement more than drastic innovation. Now, this is actually good in that metal has arguably ...
Mötley Crüe Announce “Crücial Crüe: The Studio Albums 1981-1989” Vinyl Box Set
Mötley Crüe have announced the Crücial Crüe: The Studio Albums 1981-1989 box set, which collects their first five albums on vinyl and CD. Both formats are set to arrive on February 17th. The LP box set will contain colored-vinyl variants of the following albums: Too Fast for Love (white/black splatter); Shout at the Devil (yellow/black splatter); Theater of Pain (hot pink magenta/black splatter); Girls, Girls, Girls (cyan blue/black splatter); and Dr. Feelgood (coke bottle green/oxblood splatter). The vinyl and CD sets are each limited to 10,000 copies worldwide. It’s the first time the Crüe’s iconic ’80s output has been housed in one package on vinyl and CD. Previously, the band offered up those five albums as part of a limited 40th anniversary cassette box set for Record Store Day in 202...
Metallica’s Helping Hands Benefit Concert To Stream on Paramount+ and YouTube
Metallica have announced that their Helping Hands benefit concert on December 16th will stream via Paramount+, Pluto TV, and YouTube. The show will take place at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles and also features a charity auction. Along with the streaming announcement, the band also revealed that Greta Van Fleet will play an opening set and Jimmy Kimmel will host the evening’s festivities. Metallica shared the following in a statement: “We’re looking forward to celebrating the achievements of All Within My Hands in our final show of the year, the Helping Hands Concert & Auction at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Friday, December 16. This will be the third time we hit the stage to benefit the Foundation, but the very first time that it will be streamed live with a full audi...
Nandi Bushell and Younger Brother Thomas Jam Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name”: Watch
The talent runs deep in the Bushell family! Over the past few years, 12-year-old Nandi has wowed the world with her remarkable musical skills, and now her little brother Thomas is showcasing his chops behind the drum kit. The pair take on the Rage Against the Machine classic “Killing in the Name” in a new jam session. In the clip posted to Instagram, Nandi gives off some serious Tom Morello vibes as she holds the guitar high up in the RATM guitarist’s signature playing style, while Thomas pounds away at the kit like a young Brad Wilk. With equal parts joy and rage, they even give us a joint scream of “killing in the name of” partway into the minute-long jam. “A family that Rages together, stays together,” wrote Nandi alongside the video clip. “I love jamming with my brother @thomas_bushell...
Northwest Terror Fest 2023 Lineup: Autopsy, YOB, Necrot, and More
Northwest Terror Fest has unveiled its 2023 lineup. The annual underground extreme metal festival is set for May 25th through the 27th at the Seattle venues Neumos and Barboza. Tickets are available at 10 a.m. PT on Friday (November 25th) via this location. This year’s lineup is highlighted by death metal pioneers Autopsy and doom-sludge heroes YOB, both of whom are playing sets exclusive to the region for 2023. Other notable bands on the bill include the masked ensemble Ghoul, scene vets Misery Index, old-school death metal revivalists Necrot, doom/sludge act Conan, and death metal stalwarts Impaled. The bill will also showcase numerous underground extreme metal acts, some native to the Pacific Northwest region, including: Horrendous, Fetid, Torture Rack, Draghkar, among many more. One no...
Dave Mustaine Pushes for More Big 4 Shows, Details Failed Collaboration with James Hetfield
Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine opened up on a number of topics in a new interview, including his desire to stage more “Big 4” concerts and a failed collaboration with one-time Metallica bandmate James Hetfield. From June 2010 to September 2011, Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax played 14 concerts as the “Big 4” of thrash metal. While speaking with Songfacts, Mustaine expressed a great interest getting the bands back together for at least one more show. Mustaine was asked about the guitarists he admires, replying, “I think a lot of the household names in metal can go without saying: Michael [Amott] from Arch Enemy, and some of the guys like Jeff Loomis. And the guys from Lamb of God and the guys from Trivium. They’re all really good guitar players in their right.” Advertisement Rela...
New Pantera Lineup Shares First Rehearsal Photos: “This Is All About the Love for Vinnie and Dime”
With anticipation running high for the first Pantera shows in more than 20 years, drummer Charlie Benante has shared the first photos of the metal band’s new lineup rehearsing for the upcoming gigs. Benante and Zakk Wylde are taking on the daunting task of filling the shoes of late brothers Vinnie Paul and Dimebag Darrell, respectively. They are joined by classic Pantera members Philip Anselmo and Rex Brown. On his social pages, Benante unveiled four pictures from the band’s rehearsal space in New Orleans, mostly of himself with Brown and Wylde, with one pic showing a blurry view of Anselmo from behind the drum kit. Advertisement Related Video Benante wrote the following caption to go along with the four photos: “2 weeks in NOLA with these boys, it’s been a lot of work but how could it not...
Robert Fripp and Toyah Put the Squeak in Metallica’s “Seek & Destroy”: Watch
Robert Fripp and Toyah Willcox return to covering the band that truly sent their “Sunday Lunch” performances viral with a rendition of Metallica’s “Seek & Destroy” in the latest edition of the popular YouTube series. It was the married couple’s version of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” in January 2021, featuring Toyah riding an exercise bike while wearing a revealing top that took the “Sunday Lunch” series to new heights. That clip has racked up more than 8 million views to date. The new cover of “Seek & Destroy,” which is misleadingly titled “Search and Destroy” in the YouTube title — making us initially think it was a take on the Iggy & The Stooges song — finds Fripp ripping through the thrash riff while Toyah sings the early Metallica classic. Wearing a camouflage hat and a tie...
BABYMETAL Share New Song “Monochrome” Ahead of Upcoming Concept Album: Stream
BABYMETAL have shared the new song “Monochrome,” the second single from their forthcoming concept album, THE OTHER ONE, arriving March 24th. “Monochrome” continues the Japanese band’s push into heavier, more extreme territories. Grinding hi-fi riffs separate melodically sung verses, recalling the sonic contrasts of ’90s/’00s alternative metal such as Evanescence and Korn. While there are still elements of the pop-metal sound of yore, BABYMETAL are clearly embracing a darker prog direction with their latest material. This is also reflected in the ambitious sci-fi concept for the THE OTHER ONE: BABYMETAL were “sealed” from the world after a 10-year journey and were finally recovered within the virtual “METALVERSE” in April 2022 via “THE OTHER ONE restoration project.” Each of the album’s 10 ...
Scott Dachroeden, Guitar Tech and Photographer for Alice in Chains, Tool and Rob Zombie, Has Died
Scott Dachroeden, a longtime guitar tech and photographer for Alice in Chains among other artists such as Tool and Rob Zombie, has died after a battle with cancer. A GoFundMe page had been set up for Dachroeden earlier this month as he battled stage 4 cancer. Dachroeden was diagnosed after he returned from a summer tour with Alice in Chains, for whom he had been tenured for 14 years. Dachroeden moved to the US from his native Australia over two decades ago with the hopes becoming a concert photographer and working in the music industry. He would find success both as a photographer and guitar tech, working with Alice in Chains, as well as Tool, Rob Zombie, Halestorm, Bush, and many more. Advertisement Related Video “I was the annoying kid with the camera growing up. Everybody knew at least ...
