Heavy Music News
New Music-Competition TV Show to Feature Alice Cooper, Lzzy Hale, Gavin Rossdale, Bishop Briggs as Judges
A new music-competition TV show called No Cover is going into production, featuring Alice Cooper, Halestorm’s Lzzy Hale, Bush’s Gavin Rossdale, alt-pop singer Bishop Briggs, and Animals as Leaders guitarist Tosin Abasi as judges. The reality program will focus on finding artists and bands who compete with their own original material. The show is being produced by Hit Parader, which was once the name of a popular rock magazine but was recently relaunched as a TV/film production company. The competition will be filmed at the famed Troubadour club and the Sunset Marquis Hotel in West Hollywood, California. No Cover is being billed as an alternative to programs like American Idol and The Voice, which mostly rely on competitors singing cover songs. And judging by the aforementioned judges, No C...
Five Things to Know About Puscifer’s New Album Existential Reckoning
Five years after the release of their last album, Money Shot, Puscifer are back with their fourth LP, Existential Reckoning. As with the band’s previous releases, the album comes with an abundance of intrigue and mystique. Puscifer — featuring core members of Maynard James Keenan (Tool), Mat Mitchell, and Carina Round — have crafted a 12-song album that is both experimental and cinematic in quality. The songs range from the dance-y “Apocalyptical” to the angry “Fake Affront”. The album also continues the story of the fictional characters Billy D and his wife, Hilda Berger, who’ve been portrayed by Keenan and Laura Milligan, respectively, in promotion of the band’s previous LPs. Along with the announcement of Existential Reckoning came a classified document that reported on an alien abducti...
Filter Target “Trump-Supporting Nutbags” with New “Murica” Video: Watch
Filter mastermind Richard Patrick is on a political vendetta with the band’s upcoming album, Murica. As the frontman said himself, he’s targeting “Trump-supporting nutbags” with an incendiary video for the album’s title track. Patrick has been outspokenly anti-Trump on social media, opinions that led to the cancellation of a Filter show in the state of Texas in 2019. In the video, the singer portrays his version of a radical right winger, and he pulls no punches. “I just wanted to show this surreal, crazy side of what America looks like,” he told Alternative Press. “I literally am doing it just so the record shows that someone was willing to f**kin’ say something about the right. Something about how crazy they are.” The gun wielding, Nazi saluting characters in the “Murica” video are caric...
Alice Cooper Launches His Own Horror-Themed Party Game
When he’s not satirically running for president, the legendary Alice Cooper usually has his hands in a variety of multimedia projects, from his long-running syndicated radio show to inspirational music videos. The shock rocker’s latest endeavor is just in time for Halloween: a horror-themed party game called HorrorBox. The Cards Against Humanity-style game was written by Cooper and a host of other horror fanatics. It takes the basic CAH concept of pairing setup and answer phrases from different cards to create absurd statements. For example: “‘The tenth circle of hell is for’ … ‘setting up my haunted house as an Airbnb.’” There are also dare cards mixed in with the question cards, prompting players to engage in a spooky action. Cooper’s version of the addictive game is geared specifi...
Adam Jones Unveils Signature Les Paul Guitar and New Music Featuring Tool Bandmates: Stream
Tool’s Adam Jones has been one of rock’s most innovative guitarists for the past 30 years. Now, he finally has his own signature guitar, a 1979 Gibson Les Paul Custom. Moreover, he’s celebrating the instrument with brand new music, a score to a short film he created called The Witness. The track is essentially a Tool instrumental, as he’s joined by the band’s rhythm section of drummer Danny Carey and bassist Justin Chancellor. Gibson’s Custom Shop Murphy Lab recreated “Adam’s #1 Guitar”: a Silverburst 1979 Gibson Les Paul. The guitar has become a mainstay in Jones’ arsenal and was prominent on the band’s tour in support of Fear Inoculum last year. From looks down to electronics, it’s a spot-on clone of Jones’ go-to axe. The replica touts a hand-wound Seymour Duncan Distortion bridge pickup...
Puscifer’s Maynard James Keenan and Mat Mitchell on Existential Reckoning, Alien Abduction, and More
In the midst of a pandemic and a truly bizarre year, it somehow feels like an ideal time for Puscifer to release a new album. The experimental rock act is back with a new LP, Existential Reckoning, and it’s a fitting document of the times, even if that wasn’t intentional. Led by a core of Maynard James Keenan (Tool), Mat Mitchell, and Carina Round, Puscifer have often thrown out the rulebook when it comes to rock ‘n’ roll. Each album is surrounded by eccentric characters, while the music is equally unconventional. Existential Reckoning is no exception, picking up on the story of the fictional characters Billy D (apparently now abducted by aliens) and his wife, Hildy Berger, as it had left off with 2015’s Money Shot. The new album is shrouded in a cloud of alien activity, from its init...
David Hasselhoff Teams Up with CueStack for Metal Song “Through the Night”
The Hoff is back, and ready to bring the metal. Television star and singer David Hasselhoff has teamed up with Austrian avant-metal duo CueStack for a new song, “Through the Night”. The collaboration came about after CueStack pursued the idea of incorporating one of their heroes, The Hoff, into a metal song. Naturally, they met with the man himself, and after many discussions and demos, “Through the Night” came about. “Yes, we actually made a metal song with David Hasselhoff,” said CueStack’s Martin Kames, who collaborates with guitarist Bernth Brodträger in the project. The song was recorded by Hasselhoff and CueStack in Vienna in 2019, where they also shot the accompanying music video. With limited budget and props, the band say that they’ll need more money to complete the necessary post...
Guitar Center May File for Bankruptcy After Missing $45 Million Payment: Report
Venerable music gear retailer Guitar Center is preparing for a possible bankruptcy filing, according to a new report from The New York Times. The pandemic has been tough on all areas of the music industry, and Guitar Center is no exception. The company missed an interest payment of $45 million earlier this month, setting off a 30-day grace period that ends in default. According to the Times, Guitar Center is in talks with creditors about a plan that would see the company file for bankruptcy, with the hope of balancing its books by early 2021. Guitar Center generated $2.3 billion in sales in its most recent fiscal year but has about $1.3 billion in debt. Guitar Center has faced financial struggles for nearly a decade, as its struggled to build an online shopping experience to riva...
Mike Patton on Reuniting Mr. Bungle, Navigating the Pandemic, and More
Mr. Bungle (Mike Patton center), photo by Eric Larsen Prior to the pandemic, Mike Patton had countless irons in the musical fire. While his touring plans came to a standstill, the singer has soldiered on with his many creative endeavors. One of those projects is the first album in 21 years from his reunited band Mr. Bungle. Mr. Bungle reunited earlier this year for a handful of shows in February, featuring a lineup that included original members Patton, Trey Spruance, and Trevor Dunn, along with thrash titans Dave Lombardo (ex-Slayer, Suicidal Tendencies) and Scott Ian (Anthrax). In addition to the concerts, news came that the same lineup would re-record Mr. Bungle’s 1986 demo The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny. The re-recording, due October 30th, features the songs from original trackli...
Elephant Tree Premiere Cover of “Paranoid” for New Black Sabbath Tribute Compilation: Stream
Over the past couple years, Magnetic Eye Records’ Redux series has spotlighted classic bands with compilations of cover songs by underground metal bands. The next iteration hones in on Black Sabbath, and UK doom metallers Elephant Tree are premiering their cover of the iconic “Paranoid” exclusively via Heavy Consequence. Sabbath’s influence on bands like Elephant Tree is unquestionable, as the band members themselves will admit. Tony Iommi’s chugging downtuned riffs, the pounding boom-bap drums of Bill Ward, Geezer Butler’s expressive bass playing, and Ozzy Osbourne’s melodic vocals are each traits have become defining characteristics of doom and stoner metal. “Sabbath have obviously been on all of our radars throughout our lives, we don’t think it’s possible to not hear them these days, a...
Eddie Van Halen Saluted with Stylophone Cover of “Eruption”: Watch
The passing of guitar legend Eddie Van Halen earlier this month has sparked countless tributes. One of the most unique is a cover of his instrumental classic “Eruption” on a pair of Stylophones. Before getting into the musical tribute, the first question you may have is, “What’s a Stylophone?” And that would be a very good question. A Stylophone is an analog keyboard operated by a stylus. It was invented in the late ’60s, and mostly sold as a children’s toy. However, it did make its way into some notable recordings, including David Bowie’s iconic song “Space Oddity”. The instrument was revived in 2007 by the original inventor Brian Jarvis’ son Ben, and a handful of models have been released since then. That brings us to YouTuber maromaro1337, who posted the unique “Eruption” cover in tribu...
Pallbearer Forge Ahead with Emotionally Charged Doom on Forgotten Days: Review
The Gist: Pallbearer have ascended the arduous music industry ladder like many metal bands before them. They released a strong demo in 2010, got indie label attention, and released a string of successful underground doom albums. Now, the band is freshly signed to storied metal label Nuclear Blast Records for their fourth studio LP, Forgotten Days. The album marks that proverbial turning point in their career. There are expectations from thousands of fans the band has built over a decade of touring and releasing music — much of it among the finest doom metal money can buy. Not to mention Forgotten Days arrives amidst a global pandemic that delayed the album’s release for months and renders it currently un-tourable. As Pallbearer bassist Joseph D. Roland told Heavy Consequence, a world ...
