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Manos Spanos

TOOL Planning New Video From 2006 Album

Manos Spanos
According to The Pulse Of Radio, TOOL guitarist Adam Jones has revealed that he is working on a new music video from the group — for a song off its last album, 2006's "10,000 Days". During an online chat with Guitar World, Jones — who created most of TOOL's videos — was asked why he did not direct any for songs from "10,000 Days". He replied, "We just haven't finished them yet. We ran into a really big snag because the first video is all CGI and we had some vicious production problems. The company we started with kinda screwed us, but luckily my friend's company is bailing us out. Since he's helping us, they can only work on it when their schedule is clear. But it's gonna be great. When I go home, practically all my time is spent on it." Jones added, "I thought the CGI process would be a lot easier than physically filming something, which is what we've always done in the past. But it's actually a lot harder to get action down and get it moving and looking right . . . We're also doing pre-production on the second video, which will be all stop-motion." Jones did not direct the sole video released to date from the "10,000 Days" album, for the song "Vicarious", although he has directed many of the band's creepiest and most popular clips. Jones, who worked as a visual effects artist before TOOL took off, told The Pulse Of Radio a while back how visuals have always played a major role in the band's music. "I've just always thought in vision, I mean, just, like, putting on headphones when I was a kid and trying to dream stuff while I was listening to music," he said. "I guess I still do that today when I play. But it's a lot more emotional than visual and I know that sounds pretentious, but it really is, what the four of us do. The visuals just kind of, like, bring themselves in it." The guitarist also spoke about long-awaited plans for TOOL to make a live DVD, saying, "Yeah, we've talked about it. We had shot a bunch of live concert footage and were going to put out a DVD, but it turned out to not sit very well with our band. We were like, What can we do that's more epic than just a live DVD? I think we're just going to keep shooting stuff, and when we're ready, we'll put something out. Of course, we'd like to do something really epic, like the movie version of 'The Wall', but movie deals are really tough." Jones and the rest of the members of TOOL are reportedly working at last on the follow-up to"10,000 Days", although, as usual, information on that remains murky.
02 min read

IRON MAIDEN’s ‘Maiden England’ Tour Comes To An End

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IRON MAIDEN's "Maiden England" 2013 world tour came to a spectacular end two nights ago in Santiago, Chile, with a return to the Estadio Nacional, playing to 60,105 fans, "the largest audience by a British band ever" (La Tercera newspaper). This is quite ironic consideringMAIDEN was banned by the church from playing in Chile in 1992, yet has played there four times in the past six years alone, and, of course, recorded the live DVD "En Vivo!" at the Estadio Nacional in 2011. IRON MAIDEN tour production manager Patrick Ledwith has checked in with these details from his 2013 tour logbook: "Since rehearsals started 131 days ago with 1 band and 102 crew, there have been 46 shows, 1,175,714 MAIDEN fans, 45,350 miles travelled, 44 cities in 25 different countries on 3 continents, 3,853 hotel rooms, 71,579 lbs of air freight, 2,576 stage hands, 350 lighting fixtures, 330 sets of guitar strings, 2,000 picks, 184 drums sticks, 600 rolls of gaffer, 400 rolls of over tape, 598 tanks of CO2 gas, 278 tanks of propane, 3,380 dinners, 96 cheese wheels, 5,646 bottles of Trooper beer, hundreds of miles walked by Hackers... and we have made it to the end of another tour." Footage of IRON MAIDEN performing the song "Run To The Hills" in front of 90,000 Brazilian fans at the Rock In Rio festival can be seen below. During a brand new interview with Chile's Radio Futuro, IRON MAIDEN guitarist Dave Murraywas asked if there are any plans for the band to return to the studio to begin work on material for the follow-up to 2010's "The Final Frontier". "We've been out on tour quite a few months this year," Dave explained. "So when we finish, we're actually going to go and head back and take a break, really." He continued: "We haven't got any plans, as such, really, what's gonna happen next year. Basically, we're just gonna wait and see. [laughs] But there's things that are going on in the meantime. I mean, we just had a beer come out — it's like the Trooper beer — and that's actually doing really well. So we'll just let the Trooper beer go on tour for us. [laughs] And then we're just gonna spend some time off recuperating. So I'm not quite sure what's gonna be happening next year. It's all up in the air." IRON MAIDEN last month landed at position No. 1 on Billboard.com's "Hot Tours" list of top-grossing tours with $8.5 million in ticket sales from six performances on their summer tour of Europe. The shows were attended by a total of 121,280 fans, including a two-night, sold-out stand on August 3-4 at the O2 Arena in Lonon, England, where the band played to 27,000 fans. With totals added from this summer's Europe dates, overall ticket sales from the tour top $42 million from 45 reported concerts.
02 min read

Video: GHOST-Inspired Burger Generates Controversy

Manos Spanos
According to the Chicago Tribune, a burger inspired by the Swedish occult rock band GHOSThas been causing a lot of controversy since it was first introduced by the Chicago restaurantKuma's Corner. The "Ghost Burger" — a 10 ounce goat and beef patty made with a red wine reduction and topped with an unconsecrated communion wafer — has offended some people because they believe that it's in "poor taste" to have a communion wafer on a burger. "In the spirit of our undying reverence for the lord and all things holy, we give you the Ghostwhich we think is a fitting tribute to the supreme blasphemous activities carried out by the band itself," reads a post on the Kuma's Corner Facebook page. Luke Tobias, the director of operations for Kuma's Corner, admitted to the Chicago Tribunethat "people have been kind of upset" about the burger, but added: "The thing with this is, the communion wafer is unconsecrated, so until that happens, it's really just a cracker." "It's not a commentary on the state of religion or anything like that," Tobias added. "It's literally, 'We like this band; we think what they do is cool.'" The "Ghost Burger" costs $17 and is served on a pretzel bun and includes braised goat shoulder, aged white cheddar cheese and Ghost chile aioli. Jeff Young, producer of the Catholic Foodie blog, told the Chicago Tribune: "It's not the Eucharist, but it's still symbolic. For us as Catholics, the Eucharist is more than a symbol, it's a sacrament. At the same time, it doesn't mean that symbols aren't important. … It is a mockery of something that is holy. The same thing could be said of the band itself." The members of GHOST dress in religious robes and wear skeleton face makeup. Check out a video report from NBC Chicago below.
02 min read

SUICIDE SILENCE Recruits ALL SHALL PERISH Singer

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California deathcore masters SUICIDE SILENCE have officially announced the addition of ALL SHALL PERISH singer Hernan "Eddie" Hermida to the group's ranks. Comments SUICIDE SILENCE: "For those of you unfamiliar, our relationship with Eddie goes way back to the 'Spreading Disease Tour', our first U.S. headlining run, in 2006. [LateSUICIDE SILENCE singer] Mitch [Lucker] and Eddie remained longtime friends and we felt that if the band were to continue, it should be with someone Mitch knew personally and respected as both a friend and an artist. We've chosen Eddie as our new frontman in association with this long-standing relationship and countless other attributes, from his quality of character to his dynamic vocal abilities that make him the absolute best fit for this band. "We hope you all will embrace this decision with open arms understanding that this is whatMitch would have wanted. He would want his brothers to stick together and carry forward what he helped create. Every time we step on stage, it will be in his honor and for his legacy. "SUICIDE SILENCE will continue." An audio snippet of the SUICIDE SILENCE song "You Only Live Once" featuring Hermidacan be streamed in the YouTube clip below. Lucker died November 1, 2012 after sustaining injuries in a motorcycle crash in Huntington Beach on Halloween night. A funeral service for Mitch Lucker was held on November 8, 2012. The ceremony was attended by family and friends. According to the Los Angeles Times, Lucker struck a light pole near the intersection of Main and 13th streets and was thrown from his 2013 Harley Davidson. The motorcycle continued sliding south on Main Street and struck a northbound 2007 Nissan Titan pickup. Lucker, who was treated at the scene by paramedics, died shortly after 6 a.m. at UC Irvine Medical Center. Randy Blythe (LAMB OF GOD), Robb Flynn (MACHINE HEAD) and Max Cavalera(SOULFLY, CAVALERA CONSPIRACY, SEPULTURA) were among the "surprise" guests who performed with with the surviving members of SUICIDE SILENCE at a special show on December 21, 2012 at the Fox theater in Pomona, California as a tribute Mitch Lucker. All proceeds from the event went towards the education of Mitch's six-year-old daughter,Kenadee Lucker. The Pomona concert was professionally filmed for a DVD that is expected to surface before the end of the year.
02 min read

Did AVENGED SEVENFOLD Copy MACHINE HEAD’s Logo?

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San Francisco Bay Area metallers MACHINE HEAD have posted the following message on their official Facebook page: "Last night, the BLABBERMOUTH.NET Facebook posted a side by side photo of AVENGED SEVENFOLD's new stage set against MACHINE HEAD's 16-year-old lion crest. Unquestionably, lion crests have been around for ages, but there are some uncanny similarities to MACHINE HEAD's distinct lion crest. * Lions (with axes) * Roman numerals at the bottom * Band symbol in the center * Black-and-white juxtaposition in the center "Head Cases, tell us what think." AVENGED SEVENFOLD singer M. Shadows told the Worcester/Boston, Massachusetts radio station WAAF that he isn't bothered by recent comments from MACHINE HEAD frontmanRobb Flynn, in which Flynn called the band's new "Hail To The King" CD a "covers album."Flynn specifically called the band out for songs like "This Means War", which bears a strong resemblance to METALLICA's "Sad But True", along with others. Shadows told WAAF's Mike Hsu (hear audio below): "I think, more than anything, [Robb's comments] brought a lot of attention to the record. "I saw a lot of people saying, 'Oh, well, I didn't like AVENGED before, but now I'm gonna check it out, and I like this record.' So that was kind of funny. "But, you know, [I'm] just trying to be displomatic about the whole thing." He continued: "I don't really care what anyone says, but when people ask you about it over and over, you have to have some sort of response. And my response is just, look, I know the guy. He can say whatever he says. He's a grown-ass adult. He's 40-something years old and has an opinion on our record. I guess he can write and say whatever he wants." Flynn didn't pull any punches in his critique, writing, "Congratulations to AVENGED SEVENFOLD On their latest 'covers album' coming in at #1. Who knew that re-recordingMETALLICA, GUNS N' ROSES, and MEGADETH songs could be such a worldwide hit!!?? Ba-dap Psssssss!!"
02 min read

BARONESS: Dortmund Concert To Be Streamed Live

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BARONESS is back on tour in Europe, and tomorrow, Thursday, October 3, the band plays theVisions Westend festival in Dortmund, Germany. The show can be viewed via live stream onWDR "Rockpalast" web site at WDR.de. BARONESS will hit the stage at 4:30 p.m. EST / 1:30 p.m. PST; other bands performing on Thursday include LONG DISTANCE CALLING and THE OCEAN. "March To The Sea", the latest video from BARONESS, can be seen below. The clip, which was filmed at the Union Transfer in singer/guitar player John Baizley's adopted hometown of Philadelphia, opens with the enthusiastic crowd chanting "welcome back" to the obviously emotional band, highlighting BARONESS' first live performance following the well-documented accident that left the bandmembers severely injured. BARONESS has been on the road steadily since May, having performed at several festivals including Bonnaroo, Orion Music + More, Lollapalooza and most recently FYF Fest.Entertainment Weekly described the band's Lollapalooza performance as "a volcanic eruption of thick riffs, spry solos, and wicked vocal bellows" while Rolling Stone's FYF Fest review highlighted BARONESS' "feats of stunning metal artistry."
01 min read

PEPPER KEENAN Says DOWN Will Begin Recording New EP Next Week

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On October 1, Metal Hammer editor Alexander Milas conducted an interview with DOWNguitarist Pepper Keenan for the "Metal Hammer" radio show on TeamRock Radio. You can listen to the chat using the SoundCloud player below. DOWN will enter singer Philip Anselmo's New Orleans studio, Nodferatu's Lair, on Monday, October 7 to begin recording a new EP that is tentatively due in early 2014. Speaking about the band's new material, Pepper said: "It's kind of slight continuation of the first EP, but it's a little bit more… It's hard to say, man… It's more… I wouldn't say 'aggressive,' but it's definitely got some freaky guitar stuff on it. And it's definitely got a pretty good groove factor. And we spent a lot of time trying to make all the songs [fit together stylistically]. We had several songs that didn't quite match it, so we kind of [set them aside] and we're gonna move them to another EP. But it's got a super-heavy vibe to it, man. I mean, I'm really excited about it. Everybody in the band is excited about it." He continued: "We wrote it kind of like we did the 'NOLA' record. Each one of us had some riffs and we got in a room and we just hashed it out like the old days — just going off each person's experiences and ideas. Everybody's ideas were valid, and it really ended up being well rounded and slamming. It was [a] very creative [process], let's put it that way. Actually, it was surprising some of us how much we really still got it." Pepper also spoke about the cover theme for the next DOWN EP and how it will be connected to last year's "Down IV Part I - The Purple EP". "When the second [EP] comes out, you'll see it as being an extension of the last cover,"Pepper said. "So number 2 is gonna connect sideways to number 1, and you'll start to see a morphing kind of process. There's some kind of liquid light kind of thing that's kind of melding across as you go… I hate to quote the overall color, but I believe it's something like orange. I haven't looked at it in a while. It might not be orange yet, but it's heading in that direction."
03 min read

ANNIHILATOR’s JEFF WATERS: ‘I Never Gave A S**t About Image Or What I Looked Like’

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Robert Cavuoto of Guitar International recently conducted an interview with ANNIHILATORguitarist/mainman Jeff Waters. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below. Guitar International: How do you rate [the new ANNIHILATOR album] "Feast" compared to your other CDs? Jeff Waters: My favorite albums are "Never, Neverland" from 1990 and "King Of The Kill", from 1994. That one was never released in North America, but was a massive album in Asia, Japan and Europe. The tour for that record was just ridiculous and beyond my dreams. I was singing on the album, so it was even more of an unexpected thing as I'm not really a singer. So, to have me sing, play guitar and sell more records than I've ever sold, was just stupid luck. Then "Schizo Deluxe", from 2005, it was a very underexposed record. The label president at the time died in a car accident before the release of the record. It meant that the label temporarily stopped. That was a really shitty time for the label and his family. I wish everybody had heard that album. I think it's coming out as a re-release next month with the new label. And then the fourth one would be the newest one — "Feast". Guitar International: Are you content with the public's perception of ANNIHILATOR's place within thrash metal's history? Jeff Waters: I never gave a shit about image or what I looked like. Things like that were important to a lot of bands. It sounds stupid and defiant, but it's just that I never cared about it. I just play my music, and we were lucky enough to have things going so well that we didn't have to care about that kind of thing. We intentionally and unintentionally dropped out of our own country and the United States in 1993, at a time when traditional heavy metal in the ‘80s and thrash metal was literally dropped by their labels. That was back in the grunge era. Unless you were PANTERA, BIOHAZARD or SEPULTURA, or along those lines, you were done. There was nobody who wanted to book you, sign you, or do press for you. Obviously, the bigger ones kept going, but they all downgraded and ducked down in North America. JUDAS PRIEST went from playing the stadium in Vancouver to the clubs with Ripper Owens. SLAYER was playing arenas, and they went down to playing clubs in Vancouver. You really had a lot of bands being tested to see if they really had the love of their music. Do you guys want to downgrade and still put records out, or do you want to say fuck it and retire? There's a good core of these bands who said, "Fuck this; we're going to do this," and we were one of them. It's what we love to do. And SLAYER were the top guys here that took a big hit for ten years but never stopped, never gave up and just kept going. That's my favorite band for carrying metal on through to this point. There's another group of guys — TESTAMENT, EXODUS, OVERKILL — that a lot of Americans and Canadians don't realize that ANNIHILATOR are part of that group overseas. We all took a hit; we all were struggling. We all had to fight for deals; we all had ticket sales go down; we all had record sales go down, and we all had big lineup changes and frequent ones. We did not like just bail and quit and say, "Screw it" and get a "real job," only to reunite 10-15 years later when metal was popular again. The bands I mentioned to you were mid-level bands that just went through hell and never stopped. We always released records and always kept
06 min read

DEATH ANGEL: New Song ‘Son Of The Morning’ Available For Streaming

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"Son Of The Morning", a brand new song from San Francisco Bay Area metallers DEATH ANGEL, can be streamed at DeathAngel.us. The track comes off the band's seventh album,"The Dream Calls For Blood", which will be released on October 11 in Europe (except for the U.K. where it will arrive three days later) and October 15 in North America via Nuclear Blast Records. The follow-up to 2010's "Relentless Retribution" was recorded at Audiohammer Studios in Sanford, Florida with producer Jason Suecof (TRIVIUM, AUGUST BURNS RED, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, ALL THAT REMAINS, WHITECHAPEL, DEVILDRIVER), and once again features cover art by Brent Elliot White (JOB FOR A COWBOY, CARNIFEX,WHITECHAPEL). Fans will be able to purchase a standard jewelcase version of the album or digipak edition that includes a bonus track and bonus DVD. "The Dream Calls For Blood" track listing: 01. Left For Dead 02. Son Of The Morning 03. Fallen 04. The Dream Calls For Blood 05. Succubus 06. Execution - Don’t Save Me 07. Caster Of Shame 08. Detonate 09. Empty 10. Territorial Instinct / Bloodlust 11. Heaven And Hell (digipak bonus track) Digipak bonus DVD * The Making Of "The Dream Calls For Blood"
04 min read

KORN To Perform On ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’

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KORN will will be the musical guest on next Monday night's (October 7) edition of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" The band will perform on the show's Sony Outdoor Stage in front of a standing-room-only crowd. "Jimmy Kimmel Live" airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m./10:35 p.m. CT on the ABC television network. KORN will be inducted into Guitar Center's RockWalk on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California on October 8, the same day that the band releases its 11th album, "The Paradigm Shift". KORN and ROB ZOMBIE will co-headline the "Night Of The Living Dreads" tour this fall. The 17-date run begins on November 3 in Reno, Nevada and wraps on November 26 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. In an interview with AltSounds, KORN singer Jonathan Davis was asked if "The Paradigm Shift" was the band's way of trying to appease KORN's hardcore fans after the dubstep influence on the last CD. "We wanted to do what we do best," he said. "Yes, we love our fans, but we're not trying to make the same record over and over. Sure, when we write certain parts we say to each other, 'The fans are gonna go crazy here,' but the fans that are the most vocal about it, if we paid attention to that all the time, we'd just be making the same thing over and over." Speaking about original guitarist Brian "Head" Welch's return to the group, Davis said: "It was good to have him back, and it opened up the opportunity for Head and Munky to do what they're so good at. You know, playing off each other. So, it just clicked as if no time had passed. It was great to have our brother back again. With him being back and everything… it really worked."
01 min read

Manos Spanos

Manos Spanos (Metalpaths' co-editor-in-chief), eight years in this site but still can't be characterised as a metalhead.