Heavy Metal
Chris Stapleton Covers Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters”: Stream
Chris Stapleton has covered Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters” as part of The Metallica Blacklist charity covers compilation. The song is available now ahead of the collection’s September 10th release date. The “Black Album” ballad is prime material for Stapleton, who renders the song in a compelling Americana style. Stapleton’s soulful croon works perfectly atop the sparse country-rock instrumentation and the cover’s eight-minute arrangement. Once again, the upcoming Blacklist comp has served up a high-profile cover that lives up to its billing. We just heard Phoebe Bridgers’ “baroque” take on the same track, which followed the widely heard Miley Cyrus-Elton John version (also included on the Blacklist). Advertisement Related Video Meanwhile, Weezer took on “Enter Sandman,” and St. Vincen...
Trivium Announce New Album In the Court of the Dragon, Share “Feast of Fire”: Stream
Trivium have announced their new album, In the Court of the Dragon, which arrives October 8th. The band has also unveiled the video for sophomore single “Feast of Fire.” The new song is a technical gem, seamlessly blending elements of thrash and melodic metalcore as only Trivium can. Hooky vocals give way to heavy breakdowns and shred soloing, as the band cover all its extreme-metal bases. According to bassist Paolo Gregoletto, the song actually originated from the bridge of an existing composition. Apparently, the bridge section was just too good, so the band made an entirely separate song around it, which became “Feast of Fire.” Advertisement Related Video “There’s always that one song you aren’t expecting when you begin writing a new album,” Gregoletto said via a press release. “It coul...
GWAR Announce Premiere of Feature-Length Documentary This Is GWAR
GWAR have announced a new feature-length documentary called This Is GWAR, which will premiere at the Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas. The film festival takes takes place September 23rd through 30th. The documentary is a behind-the-scenes glimpse at “the humans who’ve fought to keep [GWAR] alive for over 30 years.” It features interviews with past and present band members — including unseen footage of late GWAR founder Dave Brockie (aka Oderus Urungus) — as well as other artists such a Weird Al Yankovic, Thomas Lennon, Bam Margera, Alex Winter, and more. Bob Gorman, a longtime GWAR performer/associate and the author of the 2015 biography Let There Be GWAR, said of the new documentary: “The story that emerges shows the trials and tribulations of GWAR. The founders of this band deserve credit...
System of a Down Announce Additional 2021 Shows with Faith No More and Russian Circles
System of a Down have announced three new US shows with Faith No More and Russian Circles. The new gigs come in addition to a previously scheduled two-night stand in Los Angeles, also featuring the three bands. The newly announced concerts take place October 15th in Las Vegas; October 16th in Fresno, California; and October 18th in Oakland, California. Tickets go on sale to the general public this Friday (August 13th) via Ticketmaster, with a pre-sale beginning Wednesday (August 11th) at 10 a.m. PT. The shows will lead up to the aforementioned concerts on October 22nd and 23rd at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. Those gigs were originally set to take place in May of 2020, but were initially rescheduled for May 2021 and then postponed again until October 2021 due to the pandemic. ...
Slipknot’s Clown: “I’m Not Ever Going to Stop Wearing a Mask, COVID or Not”
Slipknot percussionist Shawn “Clown” Crahan says he will continue wearing protective face masks, even when COVID (hopefully) goes away someday. The metal musician notes that “people are filthy all over the world” as one of the reasons he will never stop masking up. Clown, of course, has been wearing a stage mask as a member of Slipknot for the past 25 years or so, but as he tells Forbes in a new interview, he’ll continue sporting a protective face mask off the stage for the rest of his life. “I’m not ever going to stop wearing a mask, COVID or not,” said Crahan. “I’ve been in this business 25 years, and people are filthy all over the world. So when I had to be in the studio and I was asked to put on a mask, it didn’t bother me, it was business as usual.” He added, “I mean I’m glad at least...
Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson Halts Spoken-Word Tour After Household Member Tests Positive for COVID
Bruce Dickinson has postponed the final two dates of his UK spoken-word tour after a member of the Iron Maiden singer’s household tested positive for COVID-19. The news broke via Iron Maiden’s social media accounts, which stated that a member of Dickinson’s “immediate household” had contracted the virus. Dickinson himself tested negative, but under UK government rules, he must isolate for the next 10 days. The scheduled shows tonight (August 9th) at the Birmingham Alexandra and tomorrow (August 10th) at Shepherd’s Bush Empire will be rescheduled, according to the official statement: “Due to a member of Bruce’s immediate household having tested positive for COVID-19, it is with great regret that the final two shows of his ‘Evening With’ tour cannot go ahead as planned tonight at the Birming...
Tiny Toddler Storms the Stage at Extreme Metal Festival: Watch
A tiny toddler took over the stage at the 2021 Obscene Extreme metal festival in the Czech Republic last month, seemingly unfazed and even pleased by the musical brutality that was being delivered behind him. The little tough guy thankfully sported some ear protection while stomping across the stage as the Czech band Force of Hell rocked a crushing song during their July 17th set on Day 2 of the three-day extravaganza at Battlefield Trutnov. At one point, the youngster took a seat at the front of the stage as long-haired metalheads were headbanging at the barricade in front of him. Later on, he went right up to a speaker and embraced it, soaking in its booming vibrations. Advertisement Related Video Last month, we reported that a New Zealand mom had named her three kids Metallica, Slayer, ...
Black Sabbath’s Technical Ecstasy to Get Expanded Deluxe Edition Reissue
Black Sabbath’s 1976 album Technical Ecstasy is getting the expanded reissue treatment. A new “Super Deluxe Edition” of the album arrives October 1st via BMG. The box set features remastered original audio and over 90 minutes of previously unreleased outtakes, alternate mixes, and live tracks. Like the previous Super Deluxe Editions of Vol. 4 and Sabotage, the upcoming Technical Ecstasy reissue also includes a new mix of the album by Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree). More specifically, the reissue touts eight previously unreleased outtakes and alternative mixes, including different mixes of “You Won’t Change Me” and “Rock ’n’ Roll Doctor,” as well as both outtake and instrumental versions for “She’s Gone.” Rounding out the set it a collection of 10 previously unreleased live cuts from the ex...
Bassist Rudy Sarzo Returns to Quiet Riot After 18-Year Absence
Bassist Rudy Sarzo has announced he will return to Quiet Riot after an 18-year absence from the veteran metal band. “I am returning home,” Sarzo told Eddie Trunk on SiriusXM on Monday (August 2nd), “going home to Quiet Riot in the beginning of 2022, next year.” “Next year marks 50 years of my journey with Quiet Riot,” he added (as transcribed by Blabbermouth), “because that’s when I met and I started playing with [late drummer] Frankie Banali, another founding member of the Metal Health version of Quiet Riot. To me, that was a turning point [for me] as a musician.” Advertisement Related Video Sarzo first joined Quiet Riot in 1978, and played on the band’s influential 1983 album Metal Health. Bolstered by a hit single — an arena-ready cover of Slade’s “Cum on Feel the Noise” — the LP became...
Full of Hell Announce New Album, Unleash New Song “Industrial Messiah Complex”: Stream
Full of Hell have announced a new album, Garden of Burning Apparitions, arriving October 1st. They’ve also shared the video for the lead single, “Industrial Messiah Complex.” Fronted by vocalist and lyricist Dylan Walker, Full of Hell have put their name on some of the most extreme heavy music of the past decade. “Industrial Messiah Complex” is another example of their captivating harshness, blending grindcore, death metal, and industrial into a singular, potent force. “‘Industrial Messiah Complex’ examines the commodification and weaponization of faith and spirituality,” Walker said of the track in a press statement. “This misdirection is a ploy for control and power. Whether through some profit obsessed mega-church or via militaristic action, humanity is raked over the coals and bled out...
OTTTO (Tye Trujillo) Share New Song “Ride Low”: Stream
OTTTO, a trio featuring Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo’s teenaged son Tye Trujillo, has shared the video for their new single “Ride Low.” There’s a tangible Metallica flavor to the heavy track. If you listen closely, you can even pick out some Hetfield-isms from singer-guitarist Bryan Noah Ferretti. Accompanying the single is a fierce performance music video lensed by Paul Marchand, who directed the Robert Trujillo-produced 2014 documentary Jaco. Amid the dark subtextual plot, you can see Tye and company enthusiastically thrashing out. Advertisement Related Video “Somewhere in Los Angeles it’s still the same as it always was — whirling helicopters, barking dogs, and the din of general insanity drift through busted single-pane windows on the hot summer breeze,” the band said of the video...
Ratt’s Stephen Pearcy Reveals That He Has Been Battling Liver Cancer
Ratt singer Stephen Pearcy has revealed that he’s been battling liver cancer for the past three years in a new interview. Speaking with YouTube show “Laughingmonkeymusic,” Pearcy made the revelation about his health issues, stating that it was finally time to tell fans what he’s been going through and that “everything’s kind of copacetic now.” “How I found out is just through a blood test,” Pearcy said [as transcribed by Blabbermouth]. “I had hepatitis. Well, then, getting another checkup, I found out, ‘By the way, you’ve got a bit of cancer thing going there. We’ve gotta get in there.’ Then your whole world changes. Still, I didn’t feel like it needed to be out there until I started feeling guilty. Like, ‘Wow, man, I can help some people.’ Get blood tests. Take care of yourself.” Advertis...
