Heavy Metal
Metallica to Release Super Deluxe 30th Anniversary Box Set of The Black Album
Metallica are celebrating the 30th anniversary of “The Black Album” in a major way. The metal titans have announced a super deluxe box set edition of the mega-selling LP that is set to arrive on September 10th. As Metallica have done with their first four albums over the past few years, they’re giving their self-titled fifth LP, better known as “The Black Album”, the royal treatment. The 1991 effort helped Metallica make the leap from metal favorites to international rock stars thanks to classics like “Enter Sandman”, “Nothing Else Matters”, and “Sad but True”. It remains the best-selling album of all time in Nielsen Soundscan history. The limited-edition deluxe box set features the album remastered on 180-gram 2-LP vinyl, a picture disc, three live LPs, 14 CDs (containing rough mixes, dem...
Fieldy Announces Hiatus from Korn After Falling Back on “Bad Habits”
Founding Korn member Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu has announced a hiatus that will keep him from the nu-metal pioneers’ upcoming US tour. According to the musician, he needs time off in order to deal with “personal issues” that have led him to fall back on “bad habits.” The bassist revealed the news via his Instagram page on Monday, June 21st. Korn recently announced an extensive 2021 tour with Staind that kicks off in early August and runs through late September. They’ll be out in support of their latest album, The Nothing, which came out in October 2019. In an open letter to fans, Fieldy didn’t specify what the “bad habits” were, but stressed that he needed “some time off to heal.” His full message reads as follows: “To all Korn fans worldwide. The past 6 years I’ve been dealing with some pe...
Bullet for My Valentine Announce Self-Titled New Album, Unleash Single “Knives”: Stream
Bullet for My Valentine have announced a new self-titled studio album, arriving October 22nd. The UK metal act also unveiled the video for lead single “Knives”. The band’s seventh LP follows 2018’s Gravity and represents the peak of Bullet for My Valentine’s definitive sound, hence the self-titled nomenclature. For “Knives”, they crank their modern metal edge and arena-ready bombast to the extreme, with vocalist and guitarist Matt Tuck calling it an evolution for the band. “This is the beginning of Bullet 2.0,” Tuck said in a press announcement. “It signifies where we are right now. The music is fresh, it’s aggressive, it’s more visceral and passionate than it’s ever been.” Related Video The pandemic added an extra sense of urgency and uncertainty to the creation process. For a workma...
Dark Nights: Death Metal Soundtrack Features Rise Against, Manchester Orchestra, Mastodon, Soccer Mommy: Stream
DC fans, assemble: the soundtrack to Dark Nights: Death Metal has hit streaming services. In collaboration with Loma Vista Recordings, the companion piece to the DC Comics series of the same name features songs by Soccer Mommy, Denzel Curry, Rise Against, HEALTH, Mastodon, Manchester Orchestra, Chelsea Wolfe, and more. Stream it below with Apple Music or Spotify. The Dark Nights: Death Metal soundtrack was executive produced by Tyler Bates, who’s composed scores for films like Guardians of the Galaxy and John Wick. Previously-released singles include Denzel Curry and PlayThatBoiZay’s “Bad Luck”, Chelsea Wolfe’s “Diana”, HEALTH’s “Anti-Life”, Rise Against’s “Broken Dreams, Inc”, and Mastodon’s “Forged By Neron”. Each artist wrote their own songs for the soundtr...
Heavy Culture: Palaceburn Singer Meredith Bell and Hyro the Hero on Juneteenth and Being Black in America
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 craft. The latest installment of this column features Palaceburn singer Meredith Bell and Hyro the Hero and focuses on Juneteenth and other topics. Juneteenth has just been declared a federal holiday in the United States by the Biden administration. The day, marked on June 19th, commemorates the end of slavery as the date the last remaining slaves in Texas learned of their freedom in 1865, two years after Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was signed. Philadelphia-based Palaceburn began their music journey with their EPs The Awakening in 2013 and Curs...
Hellfest 2022 Lineup: Metallica, GN’R, NIN, Faith No More, Deftones, and Many More to Play Expanded 7-Day Event
We may already have a winner for the most mind-blowing festival lineup of 2022. Hellfest is more than making up for missing the past two years, expanding to a seven-day event and featuring just about every heavy band imaginable. Among the headliners are Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Nine Inch Nails, Faith No More, Deftones, and more. The massive metal fest will take place June 17th-19th and June 23rd-26th in Clisson, France. Also on the bill are Scorpions, Avenged Sevenfold, Megadeth, Korn, Ministry, Judas Priest, Volbeat, Alice Cooper, Social Distortion, Bad Religion, and Rise Against, among dozens more. You know a festival lineup is stacked when bands like Mastodon, Opeth, The Offspring, Baroness, and more only appear in small print on the poster. Any one of those acts would be at the top of...
Mastodon to Livestream Acoustic Show from Georgia Aquarium
Mastodon are set to play their first-ever acoustic concert from the Georgia Aquarium, and will livestream the gig across the globe. The Atlanta metal band is teaming up with HD streaming platform Dreamstage for the July 15th event. The hometown concert will mark Mastodon’s first gig of 2021, before they play a handful of festival dates in the fall. The livestream show has been dubbed “Captured Live at Georgia Aquarium”, and a press release hints that it may be only time the band performs an acoustic set. In addition to the performance, the livestream will feature commentary from the members of Mastodon, who will offer insight into the band’s creative process. Related Video Virtual tickets are $19.99 in advance at this location, and can be bundled with merch items like an event poster or T-...
GWAR Introduce Bud of Gods Dugout and Delta-8 Tincture
Looking for a convenient way to bring your Bud of Gods CBD flower with you or take some of that sweet Bud of Gods Delta-8 THC? Well, GWAR are showing pity on you Scumdogs with their two new products: the Bud of Gods dugout and Delta-8 tincture. Available now at the Consequence Shop, the aluminum Bud of Gods dugout brings all-in-one convenience to your CBD experience. Twist the rotating magnetic lid to release the cigarette-shaped pipe with sharp teeth for easy packing. Fill the dugout’s empty pocket with some freshly ground Bud of Gods CBD flower (ground up with the Bud of Gods card grinder, perhaps?), and simply tap the pipe down for ready-to-smoke convenience. There’s even a small slide-out rod so you can keep the storage compartment cleaner than your soul. To celebrate the launch o...
Knocked Loose Announce Fall 2021 US Tour with Gatecreeper
Knocked Loose have announced a fall 2021 US tour with Gatecreeper and additional support from Magnitude and Kharma. Between the swinging hardcore of Kentucky’s Knocked Loose and the death metal of Arizona’s Gatecreeper, the circle pits will be churning when the trek kicks off on September 9th in Chicago. It runs a month before wrapping up on October 8th in Santa Cruz, California — just days before Knocked Loose join Gojira’s headlining tour as support. “First tour back,” Knocked Loose posted on Twitter. “Small rooms. No barricades. Friends. Two nights in certain cities. Blue.” Related Video “Blue” refers to the band’s 2019 LP, A Different Shade of Blue, and the LeAnn Rimes song of the same name, which served as the band’s walk-out music on their last tour. Meanwhile, Gatecreeper spent the ...
Mötley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx to Release New Memoir in October
Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx is chronicling his early years in a new book titled The First 21: How I Became Nikki Sixx. The memoir will be released on October 19th via Hachette Books. “You’ve heard the tales of excess and debauchery,” stated Sixx in a press release. “All the peaks and the valleys that came with rock and roll stardom and my life in one of the world’s biggest bands. This is the story that you haven’t heard. The one that led up to those stories.” He continued, “It’s the intimate, personal story of how an innocent Idaho farm boy with a burning dream and desire — for music, for love, and for fame — became the notorious Nikki Sixx. I believe our first 21 years have a lot to do with shaping who we become. These are my first 21, and it’s my hope that they thrill and inspire you ...
Metallica File Insurance Suit Against Lloyd’s of London for Losses Suffered from Pandemic-Postponed Shows
Metallica have sued insurance marketplace Lloyd’s of London in an effort to be compensated for losses the band suffered as a result of postponing its South American tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The lawsuit was filed on Monday (June 7th) in Los Angeles Superior Court. The legendary heavy metal band had planned to embark on a six-date tour of South America with support from Greta Van Fleet in April 2020, but the pandemic shut down the concert industry a month prior. Metallica rescheduled the shows for December 2020, but with the pandemic still going strong, those dates were also postponed. At the time, the band said it hoped to reschedule the shows for late 2021, but no new dates have been announced yet. According to CBS Los Angeles and City News Service, Metallica’s lawsuit alleges br...
GWAR Announce Lust in Space and Bloody Pit of Horror Vinyl Reissues
GWAR have announced vinyl reissues of their 2009 album Lust in Space and its follow-up, 2010’s Bloody Pit of Horror. Each will be available in two color variants on July 16th. The albums were previously only issued on CD and limited-edition picture disc vinyl. The latter quickly went out of print and now go for steep prices on the secondhand market. Although collectible, picture discs aren’t known for their fidelity — the manufacturing process inherently detracts from the sound quality — so these two albums are essentially receiving their first proper vinyl pressing. Lust in Space is available in a silver variant and a clear magenta-and-purple splatter edition, while Bloody Pit of Horror comes in a black-inside-red version and an orange-red-melt edition (as seen in the image abov...
