Heavy Metal
Beyond the Boys’ Club: Robin Wattie of Big|Brave
Beyond the Boys’ Club is a monthly column from journalist and radio host Anne Erickson, focusing on women in the heavy music genres, as they offer their perspectives on the music industry and discuss their personal experiences. This month’s piece features an interview with Robin Wattie of Big|Brave. Montreal metal trio Big|Brave tackle the weighty issues of gender, race and feeling like one doesn’t belong on their new album, Vital, out April 23 via Southern Lord. The album’s lead single, “Half Breed,” finds singer-guitarist Robin Wattie sharing the experience of being of mixed race and the confusion and insecurity that can come with it. Wattie checked in with Heavy Consequence for the latest “Beyond the Boys’ Club” column to discuss how she and the members of Big|Brave quarantined together...
Corpse Paint Facial Masks Are the Latest Thing for Skincare
Want to look evil and take care of your skin at the same time? Soon you can, thanks to a new line of corpse paint skincare masks inspired by your favorite black-metal bands. Yes, corpse paint facial masks are now a thing — or soon will be once Kaamos Cosmetics reaches their crowdfunding goal. The brains behind the cosmetics brand are the same people who brought us the highly popular corpse paint bar soaps that bore the likenesses of such icons as King Diamond, Abbath and Dani Filth. There are currently two types of facial masks — a green tea mask and a rice bran mask — each with a distinct corpse paint style designed by Finnish illustrator JP Ahonen. Cleverly, Kaamos Cosmetics is calling it “total sincare”: “Vegan and cruelty-free ingredients, extra cruel looks! For the self-caring metalhe...
Mastodon’s “Biggest-Sounding” New Album Currently Being Mixed for Fall Release
Mastodon are currently mixing their highly anticipated eighth studio album. According to guitarist Bill Kelliher, the LP is slated for a fall release. Previously, the metal band teased a studio update with Tool producer David Bottrill at West End Sound in Savannah, Georgia. In a new interview, Kelliher told the Talking Metal podcast that Mastodon and Bottrill are “halfway through the mixing [process]” for the record, calling it the band’s “fullest” and “biggest-sounding” album to date. Bottrill is currently mixing remotely and sending the files to Mastodon for feedback via Dropbox. “[David will] mix a song every couple of days, and he’ll send it over to us in Dropbox,” Kelliher said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). “And we all listen to it. I go listen to it in the car, I listen to it in ...
Lemmy’s Ashes Were Placed in Bullets and Given to His Closest Friends
The late Lemmy Kilmister was indeed the coolest man on Earth, even in death. Per the legendary Motörhead frontman’s request, his ashes were placed in bullets and delivered to his closest friends and associates. Now, that’s metal — literally! The revelation comes courtesy of Riki Rachtman, the onetime host of the MTV show Headbangers Ball. On Monday (March 22nd), Rachtman shared a photo of a bullet with “LEMMY” engraved on it, writing, “Before his death #Lemmy asked for his ashes to be put in some bullets & handed out to his closest friends. Today, I received a bullet & was literally brought to tears. Thank you, @myMotorhead.” Rachtman’s post follows one on Instagram from last year by former professional tennis player Pat Cash that is now getting attention. Cash shared a pic of anot...
Ministry Announce Fall 2021 US Tour with Helmet and Front Line Assembly
With the hope that touring will resume in earnest by the fall, Ministry have announced new dates for their “Industrial Strength Tour”, which will feature support from Helmet and Front Line Assembly. The twice-delayed outing commemorates the 30th anniversary of Ministry’s 1989 album, The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste. The month-long trek kicks off October 3rd in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The route veers east before looping back across the South and West Coast, hitting most major U.S. markets. The tour was originally set to launch in July 2020, with Front Line Assembly and KMFDM supporting. It was then moved to spring 2021 due to the pandemic. Now. with Helmet in place of KMFDM, the band is banking on finally embarking on the outing in the fall. KMFDM had to drop from the bill due to the ...
Iced Earth’s Jon Schaffer Ordered Jailed Without Bond Until His Trial for Storming the Capitol Begins
Iced Earth guitarist Jon Schaffer will remain jailed until his trial begins for his role in storming the U.S. Capitol building. A federal judge ruled that the metal musician must be held behind bars without bond during a bail hearing on Friday (March 19th). According to Indiana TV station WUSA-9, Schaffer appeared for the Washington, D.C. hearing via a video link. The veteran rocker was one of the many people arrested for the riot that broke out on January 6th. He faces six charges, including engaging in an act of physical violence in a Capitol building. He allegedly used bear spray on Capitol police during the insurrection. The guitarist’s attorney read a statement on his behalf, saying that Schaffer admits he “used bad judgement” and wishes he had a “do-over.” The lawyer also argued that...
Serj Tankian on His New Elasticity EP: “I Definitely Thought These Songs Would Have Worked Out for System”
Serj Tankian has just released his new solo EP, Elasticity. The title is inspired, in part, by System of a Down’s landmark 2001 album,Toxicity, and the singer has made no secret about the songs being originally intended for his acclaimed metal band. The collection features five new songs, including the recent singles “Elasticity” and “Electric Yerevan”. One listen to the EP, and it’s not difficult to see how these tracks would have fit nicely into the System of a Down canon. Tankian approached System with these songs a few years back, and as he explained to Heavy Consequence, the band members even worked on a few of them. However, ultimately creative differences led to any recording plans coming to a standstill. We asked Tankian what he felt more: regret about not recording the songs with ...
R.I.P. Corey Steger, Founding Underoath Guitarist Dies in Car Accident
Guitarist Corey Steger, one of the original members of Florida metalcore act Underoath, has died in a car accident. The tragic news was reported by Dallas Taylor, another founding member of band. Steger joined singer Taylor, guitarist Luke Morton, bassist Rey Anasco, and drummer Aaron Gillespie in Underoath’s original lineup in 1998, remaining with the band through 2001. He appeared on their first two albums, 1999’s Act of Depression and 2000’s Cries of the Past. Taylor, who parted ways with Underoath in 2003, shared the devastating news of Steger’s death on Instagram, writing the following: “I don’t know how to type this. I’m without words. Yesterday 3/17/2021 at around 6:00 p.m. Corey Steger one of the original founding members of Underoath was rear ended in a car wreck, and went home to...
Serj Tankian Releases New Solo EP Elasticity: Stream
Serj Tankian has unveiled his new solo EP, Elasticity, featuring five new songs he had originally hoped to record with his multiplatinum band System of a Down. The EP Is available to stream in its entirety below. “When I conceived possibly doing another record with the guys from System of a Down a few years back, I started working on a set of songs that I arranged in rock format for that purpose,” Tankian explained in a press release. “As we weren’t able to see eye to eye on the vision going forward with an SOAD album, I decided to release these songs under my moniker.” It’s easy to see how these songs would have fit within the System of a Down mold, as they have a quirky metal vibe reminiscent of the band’s acclaimed musical output. The track “Your Mom” is especially in the System vein, a...
Bill Ward Would Love to Record a New Black Sabbath Album with the Original Lineup
Founding Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward has said he would “love to” record one more studio album with his former band. Ward parted ways with the group in 2012, prior to Sabbath recording their most recent album, 13, and embarking on their farewell tour. Ward was originally supposed to be aboard for the tour and the album but he departed citing contractual issues. Ozzy Osbourne later alleged that Ward was physically unfit for the tour. Rage Against the Machine’s Brad Wilk performed drums on the album, while Tommy Clufetos played drums on the final tour. It’s been nearly 10 years since Ward’s exit, and now the drummer has floated the idea about making another record with his old band. Speaking with SiriusXM’s Eddie Trunk, Ward — who turns 73 in May — said he definitely wouldn’t be able to e...
Grammys 2021: Body Count Win Best Metal Performance, Earning Ice-T His First Grammy in 30 Years
Body Count won the Grammy for Best Metal Performance on Sunday, earning frontman Ice-T his first award at the ceremony in 30 years. The band won the award for “Bum Rush”, from their 2020 album, Carnivore. The veteran metal act beat out fellow nominees Code Orange, In This Moment, Poppy, and Power Trip for the award. Power Trip were nominated following the tragic death of lead singer Riley Gale this past summer, and Ice-T would have been just as happy if they had won. As he told Heavy Consequence last year, he was equally rooting for Power Trip, telling us, “It would be just like I won the Grammy ’cause [Riley Gale] was my guy.” Prior to Gale’s passing, the Power Trip vocalist guested on Body Count’s song “Point the Finger”. The Grammy win for Body Count is their first as a band, and the fi...
School Teacher Goes Viral for Awesome Korn Version of the Alphabet Song: Watch
A metal-loving school teacher has reinvented the alphabet song, and he’s blowing up TikTok in the process. Nick Harrison’s aggro version of the ABCs, set to Korn’s “Coming Undone”, even got the attention of the pioneering nu-metal band’s singer, Jonathan Davis. Harrison, who goes by the TikTok handle MrProfessor318, titled his video “My audition for School of Rock 2,” and it features the educator going full-on headbanger from A to Z. The loud lesson in literacy has earned Harrison more than 130,000 likes as of this posting. Davis shared the clip on his Instagram Stories, and Harrison acknowledged the Korn singer’s shout out in follow-up TikToks. “When Jonathan Davis, the lead singer of Korn, of course, posts your video to his Instagram story — I can’t even talk, man!,” the teacher exclaime...
