Manos Spanos
Tribute: “Moonspell: Origins of the Waxing Moon”
Under the full moon of Portugal, a band has begun its music journey, inspired by the early melodic black metal scene of Scandinavia...
Video: MACHINE HEAD Performs New Song ‘Killers & Kings’ Live For First Time
Fan-filmed video footage of San Francisco Bay Area metallers MACHINE HEAD performing a brand new song, "Killers & Kings", live for the first time yesterday (Saturday, May 17) at the Scion Rock Fest in Pomona, California can be seen below.
MACHINE HEAD entered GREEN DAY's Oakland, California's JingleTown Recording compound on February 9 to begin recording its new album for a late 2014 release via Nuclear Blast Entertainment. MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn recently stated about the band's new material: "I would say… that the songs are as epic in scope [as those on 2007's 'The Blackening'], if not more so, except where 'The Blackening' was more epic in the guitar department, this is more epic in the EVERYTHING department. Strings arrangements, keyboard arrangements, massive vocal layering (one track, 'Sail Into The Black' has 40 tracks of vocals), drum overdubs, and, of course, the standard MACHINE HEAD quadruple tracking of the guitars."
He added: "I want to reiterate, I don't feel this record sounds like 'The Blackening'. It feels like we're still moving forward. If I HAD to compare it to another record of ours, it may be closer to 'Through The Ashes Of Empires' in one aspect only, the simpler song arrangements. It's still what I would just call classic metal, but we've simplified beats, simplified riffs, taken the unnecessary complicated-ness of something and made it simple. I've even applied that to my lyrics, where I've stripped out a lot of extra words ('the's,' 'and's,' etc), and invented a lyrical technique I call 'clustering,' where you cluster vowels or cluster 'plosives' ('K's,' 'T's,' 'Ch's') together to make it sound heavier, or flow better. It doesn't read all that poetically, but in the song it sounds really cool. I've also really worked hard on sharpening up my rhyme schemes, finding clever places to place rhymes, instead of the usual place at the end of a line, or even again, 'clustering' rhymes. It makes an abstract concept like 'Killers & Kings' (which references 20+ Tarot Cards, and that I'm very proud of the end result) to have a real meaning. Out of that stripped down musical landscape, we've then taken that new (to us at least) 'extra space' and added in layers of strings, layers of dark, ambient keys, layers and layers of vocals, and it sounds HUGE."
As part of this year's Record Store Day on April 19, MACHINE HEAD released a 10-inch vinyl single, with the A-side containing the "demo" version of "Killers & Kings". The B-side is a cover version of the track "Our Darkest Days" from one of MACHINE HEAD's favorite bands, IGNITE. Other songtitles set to appear on the new MACHINE HEAD album include "Beneath The Silt", "Eyes Of The Dead" (formerly "Ojos De La Muerte") and "How We Die".
MACHINE HEAD's next album will be the band's first with new bassist Jared MacEachern, who replaced Adam Duce last year.
"Killers & Kings" performance:
"Killers & Kings" demo version:
ALICE IN CHAINS’ JERRY CANTRELL: ‘We’ve Made Great Music And Touched A Lot Of People’
ALICE IN CHAINS guitarist Jerry Cantrell recently told Anne Erickson of Gannett that he knew the band had something special "right off the bat."
"The cool thing about our band is knowing that you are a band, not just in a musical sense, but you're a band of people," Cantrell said. "We all lived for each other and helped each other out. Our primary purpose was always to make music and take care of each other. We banded together. So, I knew early on. Things happened quickly for us, and I'm really proud of what we've done. I'm extremely proud of all my friends who made music around the same time we did — NIRVANA, PEARL JAM, SOUNDGARDEN. We've made great music and touched a lot of people."
When asked if ALICE IN CHAINS will follow in the footsteps of "Pearl Jam Twenty" and "Foo Fighters: Back and Forth" and possibly have a documentary come out about the band's legacy, Cantrell was open to the idea. "Yeah, I could see that happening somewhere along the way," Cantrell said.
ALICE IN CHAINS is currently touring North America with MONSTER TRUCK, and Cantrell says his must-have on the road is "lately, my golf clubs, although my game doesn't show it. They've been out with me last couple of tours, and I definitely miss them when I don't have them with me."
ALICE IN CHAINS will hit the festival circuit in June and July, mostly appearing at the big shows in Europe.
Cantrell told The Pulse Of Radio not long ago that putting together a setlist these days is a quality problem for ALICE IN CHAINS. "There's always somebody that's bummed out," he said. "We've got 90 minutes to play. We could play every one of our top radio songs and there would still be songs that we can't play because we're gonna run out of tunes. [laughs] There's a lot of songs that people like to hear that are deeper cuts, and that we like to play, so you know, you end up playing a lot of your bigger tunes and that's what people want to hear."
ALICE IN CHAINS is touring in support of its fifth studio effort, "The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here", which features the rock hits "Hollow", "Stone" and "Voices".
ALICE COOPER Says His Covers Album Will Not See Light Of Day Until 2015
Michael Christopher of Vanyaland recently conducted an interview with legendary rocker Alice Cooper. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.
Vanyaland: Let's talk about the film. There have been so many run-of-the-mill documentaries over the years on musicians. What convinced you that "Super Duper Alice Cooper" would be different?
Alice Cooper: [Banger Films] came to us and we saw that they did with "Flight 666" for IRON MAIDEN and they said, "We don't want to do a talking-heads documentary where Elton John talks and then this guy talks; we want to make it linear, we want to make it the story of Alice but graphically, the whole way through. If you're going to do a documentary on Alice Cooper, it's got to be as theatrical as the character." I totally agreed with that and I loved the idea of them cooking up the Jekyll-and-Hyde connection with Alice Cooper and myself, and the fact that I talk about Alice Cooper in the third person — he's a character I play. And it was absolutely the right story; I never knew where Alice ended and the other Alice began; and that was a big gist of the documentary, that gray area. Then the alcohol involved, where does Alice start and where do I end? And it was like that from the very start. It was a really good story, and the drama behind it, the fact that here was a band that wasn't supposed to make it. Everybody hated us except for Frank Zappa and THE DOORS and bands like that. Making it to the top, almost self-destructing and then coming back; so it had a bit of a "Rocky" story to it.
Vanyaland: What sticks out most to me is how raw it is, especially with the uncomfortable parts, but you're on record saying they were some of your favorite topics to talk about.
Alice Cooper: I found the uncomfortable parts the most interesting. When they interviewed Dennis [Dunaway] and Neal [Smith], the original guys from the original band — we couldn't find Mike [Bruce], he's hard to find — the easiest thing to have done was to edit out what they say, so we look good. I said I'd rather hear their opinion of why the band broke up.
Vanyaland: Yet you're all still on good terms.
Alice Cooper: To this day we remain the best of friends. We're sitting together at Tribeca [Film Festival] watching it and all of us were squirming in our seats because everybody had a different version of why we broke up. Then there's the cocaine part, because I always denied any drug use because I thought it was so uncool to for Alice to be into drugs; it was so stereotypical that I wanted to avoid it. But when that part comes up, you have to be honest with it. That was uncomfortable for me, but at the same time it was powerful. The Tom Snyder footage of the skeletal Alice Cooper was really powerful, it was really scary.
Vanyaland: Your next recording project is a covers album [which also includes several new songs written specifically for the project]. Over the years, quite a few artists have covered your songs; CREED, MEGADETH — even Etta James. Are there any that stand out to you, either because of how different the interpretation, or because of how bad it is?
Alice Cooper: Music, to me, is so much just a piece of clay that, "Here's the verse, here's the chorus, here's the lyrics — let's see what you guys do with that." Joan Jett did a great cover of "Be My Lover". Dio did a cover of "Welcome To My Nightmare" and did an amazing version of it. Roger Daltrey did "No More Mr. Nice Guy". Every time somebody does one of your songs, I feel totally complimented that out of all the songs recorded, they would pick those songs — one of my songs — to do. I'm always really interested to hear what their take is on it. I can tell you one of the greatest thrills of my life is I went back to see [Paul] McCartney and his band. I went backstage and they were kind of warming up and I walked into the room and they all went into "Under My Wheels". There's McCartney playing bass on "Under My Wheels" and I went, "Wow." That, to me, is such a compliment the fact that he even knows that song.
Vanyaland: So you doing something similar is your way of complimenting artists and the songs you love.
Alice Cooper: I have never done a covers album. We all started as a covers band — even THE BEATLES. Instead of picking just a bunch of songs, what about doing all my dead drunk friends? All the guys I drank with that died; Jim Morrison and I used to drink, Jimi Hendrix and I used to drink, THE SMALL FACES, T.REX, Harry Nilsson — all those guys were buddies of mine. So I said, let's do an album about the Hollywood Vampires, our drinking club. There are just so many songs that you could go to. [Producer] Bob Ezrin loved the idea and it's pretty much done now, but I don't think it will see the light of day until next year because we've got the MÖTLEY CRÜE tour for 72 shows and we don't have the time to wrap a show around the covers album until next year.
Read the entire interview at Vanyaland.
TRIPTYKON Cancels MARYLAND DEATHFEST Appearance Following H.R. GIGER’s Death
TRIPTYKON — the occult/avant-garde metal project formed by former HELLHAMMER/CELTIC FROST singer, guitarist, and main songwriter Tom Gabriel Fischer (a.k.a. Tom Gabriel Warrior) — has canceled its appearance at the Maryland Deathfest on May 22.
Says Fischer in a statement: "The greatest surrealist artist of our time, H.R. Giger, died in a tragic accident on Monday, May 12, 2014. In the wake of Giger's death, his closest friends are gathering to comfort his widow, Carmen, and to assist her in organizing Giger's funeral and his memorial service. I am one of those friends.
"We are all still attempting to deal with the shock of this unexpected and extremely painful loss.
"For 30 years, H.R. Giger has been my mentor. As I wrote in my eulogy, a few days ago: 'At a time when almost everybody ridiculed, ignored, or even obstructed the music the then almost completely unknown Swiss underground band HELLHAMMER was creating, Giger listened to us, talked to us, and gave us a chance.' The result was CELTIC FROST's 'To Mega Therion' album which, in turn, was the basis for all subsequent collaborations between us.
"In all of his work with CELTIC FROST and TRIPTYKON, H.R. Giger was immensely generous, in spite of repeated objections of mine and countless attempts to convince him to accept proper compensation for his amazing contributions.
"I have also been an assistant to H.R. Giger and his wife for seven years. I have long seen them as very close friends, even as family. We have experienced many challenging events together, and we have repeatedly taken care of each other in every conceivable manner.
"I thus simply cannot and do not wish to fail to attend H.R. Giger's private funeral, and to take part in the subsequent public memorial service, to be held in one of Zurich's largest churches. Moreover, I am an integral part of the group of Giger friends who are currently involved in the difficult task of arranging these events. I cannot possibly just be a recipient. In a moment like this, I have to and wish to give as much as I possibly can.
"It is an extremely unfortunate coincidence that these unexpected and tragic proceedings collide with TRIPTYKON's planned appearance at Maryland Deathfest on May 22. We are thus regretfully forced to withdraw from the festival. Within TRIPTYKON, we discussed the possibility of playing the concert without me, with a close friend of ours filling in on guitar and vocals. The other members of the band did not see any merit in performing as an incomplete lineup, however.
"Withdrawing from Maryland Deathfest was not an easy decision to take by any means. We are disappointing our audience and the promoter of the festival, it contradicts our sense of commitment, and the band's reputation will suffer damage. We were looking forward immensely to TRIPTYKON's return to the U.S. After a lengthy and expensive petition process, the U.S. authorities granted us the required U.S. work permits last week. Moreover, a U.S. crew had been hired, and flights and hotels for band and crew had already been booked.
"In 1985, during CELTIC FROST's very first tour, I was forced to cancel three concerts due to overstrained vocals. I vowed to never let such a thing happen again and took the appropriate steps. Ever since then, I have never again been the reason for a cancellation of a concert by either CELTIC FROST or TRIPTYKON. There have been instances, in Paris and London for example, when I went onstage with CELTIC FROST in spite of flu and substantial fever, in order to avoid letting down the band's fans.
"It is thus utterly against my nature and my own professional demands to be the cause for TRIPTYKON's first cancelled show. But these are truly extraordinary circumstances, caused by the death of a truly extraordinary artist and friend. I hope our audience will understand, and I apologize sincerely. And I am extremely grateful for the incredible understanding and goodwill extended to TRIPTYKON by the promoter of Maryland Deathfest."
TRIPTYKON's second album, "Melana Chasmata", was released on April 15 (one day earlier internationally). The CD was made available through a collaboration between TRIPTYKON's own label, Prowling Death Records Ltd., and renowned metal giant Century Media Records. This is the same label partnership already responsible for CELTIC FROST's final album, "Monotheist" (2006), HELLHAMMER's "Demon Entrails" demo compendium (2008), and TRIPTYKON's debut album, "Eparistera Daimones
JUDAS PRIEST: Full New Song ‘March Of The Damned’ From ‘Redeemer Of Souls’ Album Available For Streaming
"March Of The Damned", a brand new song from British heavy metal legends JUDAS PRIEST, can be streamed in the YouTube clip below. The track is taken from the band's forthcoming studio album, "Redeemer Of Souls", which will be released in North America on July 15 via Epic Records. The CD's title track was made available for purchase via iTunes and other digital service providers on April 29.
Said JUDAS PRIEST guitarist Glenn Tipton about the "March Of The Damned" track: "'March Of The Damned' is really one of my favorite songs. It's just simple and straight to the point. It's not really a song about zombies or the walking dead. It also has a reference to all the kids that come to our concerts that march along and can't be stopped. So it's not JUDAS PRIEST and the audience. With all the anthems we've done and all the singing the audience does, it's one and the same thing."
"March Of The Damned" has been released to rock and metal radio and is available for purchase via all digital sales providers. Additionally, pre-orders for the "Redeemer Of Souls" album are now available through iTunes.
Speaking to the "Trunk Nation" show, which airs live Mondays from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. EST on SiriusXM's Hair Nation, JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford stated about "Redeemer Of Souls": "When we finished [the] 'Epitaph' [tour], we just got so buzzed from the fans and the reaction wherever we went. Just to put the 'Epitaph' tour together, which was we tried to put a song from every record into the show, and we were living in the life of JUDAS PRIEST, all those decades, in one show, night after night on the world trek, and I think that really did something to us eternally; as musicians, it should do when you tour. So we realized that this next record really had to be really strong, full of energy, because it's relentless, the tracks are relentless. The energy that you feel off 'Redeemer Of Souls' is replicated in that direction time and time and time again."
Asked whether the members of JUDAS PRIEST still feel good about "Nostradamus" six years after the album's release, Halford said: "If you look at bands of longevity, like PRIEST, you see the trail of music that we've left, I don't think we could have probably made as great a record as we have with 'Redeemer Of Souls' if we didn't have 'Nostradamus' as a reference point. It's a stepping stone to the next place.
"Every record that we've made, we've tried to give it some distinction, some separate identity. 'British Steel' doesn't sound like 'Stained Class', 'Stained Class' doesn't sound like 'Painkiller', 'Painkiller' doesn't sound like 'Defenders Of The Faith'… So I think everything has its place and has its moments, and we've always fed off these different areas that we've gone into with our metal. So thanks to 'Nostradamus', we've got 'Redeemer Of Souls'."
Regarding why there are five "bonus" tracks that are included on the deluxe version of "Redeemer Of Souls" and do not appear on the CD's regular version, Glenn Tipton said: "They are all great songs. The reason they are not on the album is because the 13 that we chose are very consistent with what we wanted to do, which was release an undisputable heavy metal album. The others, they are not lightweight by any chance, but they've got a different feel, a different texture. So it's not a case of trying to rip the kids off and trying to get more money for an extra album, it's just a case of, these five tracks seem to deserve to go on their own CD, and that's what we did."
Added Halford: "We didn't want to drop the energy. From the opening thunder-and-lightning on 'Dragonaut' right up 'till the end of 'Battle Cry', it's just full-on, it's relentless. It's great."
"Redeemer Of Souls" CD track listing:
01. Dragonaut
02. Redeemer Of Souls
03. Halls Of Valhalla
04. Sword Of Damocles
05. March Of The Damned
06. Down In Flames
07.
VELVET REVOLVER Has Lead Singer Audition Coming Up, Says SLASH
Argentinean rock journalist Lucas H. Gordon, who currently resides in Hollywood, California, conducted an interview with Slash on the red carpet of this past Monday's (May 12) 10th annual MusiCares MAP Fund benefit concert, which honored BLACK SABBATH singer Ozzy Osbourne. Speaking about the current status of VELVET REVOLVER, the band he formed in 2002 with fellow ex-GUNS N' ROSES members Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum, Slash said (see video below): "I think we're gonna audition a singer coming up. So there's that. But I'm gonna be out on the road for the next year and a half [with my solo band], so…"
VELVET REVOLVER released two full-length albums through RCA/Sony BMG — 2004's "Contraband" and 2007's "Libertad" — before dismissing singer Scott Weiland back in April 2008.
VELVET REVOLVER reunited with Weiland for a four-song set in January 2012 at a Los Angeles tribute concert for late songwriter John O'Brien, but the band has otherwise remained inactive.
At one point it was reported that VELVET REVOLVER was going to team with STONE SOUR and SLIPKNOT vocalist Corey Taylor, but the idea was ultimately vetoed by Slash. The group and Taylor recorded demos of 10 songs together.
In a recent interview with Rock Revolt Magazine, Sorum called the launch of VELVET REVOLVER the" biggest moment" of his career. He explained: "Because at a certain point during the formation, I was like, 'Can we really do this? Can we really pull this off again?' And we all did. We got together and had a very successful band after GUNS N' ROSES. That was really icing on the cake, especially for Slash, Duff and myself. To be able to come out of a band that big, and basically have Hollywood turn their back on us, was initially very difficult — and the answer to the low point. To go back and reinvent ourselves wasn't easy. When we managed to do just that, we were very, very ecstatic.
"Duff and I came out of a subway one day in New York City and some kid yelled at us, 'Hey! You're Duff and Matt from VELVET REVOLVER!' That was the first time we ever heard that after years of, 'Hey it's Duff and Matt from GUNS N' ROSES!' And we knew right then that everything was going to be alright. We were able to move on; we were able to move forward."
GEOFF TATE Plans To ‘Disappear For Awhile’ After His Version Of QUEENSRŸCHE Completes ‘Farewell’ Tour
Former QUEENSRŸCHE singer Geoff Tate was interviewed on the May 15 edition of 99.1 CJAM-FM's "The Signals Of Intuition" radio show. You can now listen to the chat below.
Asked about the settlement he reached with his former bandmates over the rights to the QUEENSRŸCHE name, Tate said: "It feels great, actually — really good. We never went to court, which is good. We managed to come to an agreement and [reach] a settlement. So now, after two years, I know what I'm doing [laughs] in the future, which is a great feeling. 'Cause it's very unnerving not to be able to put a plan together — a solid plan — at least for me, 'cause I'm pretty goal-oriented. So, yeah, I feel really good about it."
Tate also briefly touched upon his future plans, telling "The Signals Of Intuition": "I've got all kinds of things in the works, actually. And I'll be announcing, over the summer, solid plans as to what's gonna happen."
He added: "The farewell tour [for the Tate-fronted version of QUEENSRŸCHE] ends, I think July 30 or July 31, somewhere around there. And I'm pretty much gonna disappear for awhile, I think. I'm gonna do some travelling, gonna go to Europe for awhile, and pretty much that's what's on my plate at the moment."
As previously reported, QUEENSRŸCHE members Eddie Jackson (bass), Scott Rockenfield (drums) and Michael Wilton (guitar) recently successfully agreed to purchase Geoff Tate's portion of the QUEENSRŸCHE name. The band will buy out their former lead singer's share of the QUEENSRŸCHE corporation while allowing him the ability to be the only one to perform "Operation: Mindcrime" and "Operation: Mindcrime II" in their entirety. Tate will no longer have use of the TriRyche logo or any other album images aside from the "Mindcrime" releases. He can only refer to himself as the "original lead singer of QUEENSRŸCHE" or "formerly of QUEENSRŸCHE" for a period of two years and that text must be at least 50 percent smaller than his name in all materials. After this two-year period passes, he can only refer to himself as Geoff Tate with no mention of QUEENSRŸCHE at all.
Geoff Tate will be able to finish any confirmed dates billed for his QUEENSRŸCHE lineup scheduled to terminate on August 31, 2014. As of September 1, there will be only one QUEENSRŸCHE entity and that will consist of Eddie Jackson, Todd La Torre, Parker Lundgren, Scott Rockenfield and Michael Wilton. This lineup will continue to perform selections from their entire musical catalog, including songs from "Operation: Mindcrime". The band will be able to use all TriRyche logos and previous album artwork for any purposes as needed by the corporation.
PHILIP ANSELMO Joins REX BROWN’s KILL DEVIL HILL On Stage To Perform PANTERA’s ‘Mouth For War’ (Video)
Iconic PANTERA and DOWN vocalist Phlip Anselmo joined KILL DEVIL HILL, the band featuring his former PANTERA and DOWN bandmate Rex Brown on bass, on stage yesterday (Friday, May 16) at the Rock On The Range festival in Columbus, Ohio to perform the PANTERA classic "Mouth For War". Video footage of the performance (courtesy of WGRD.com) can be seen below.
Anselmo recently joined DOWN's Revolver Golden Gods tourmates BLACK LABEL SOCIETY on stage at a couple of shows to perform the PANTERA classic "I'm Broken" as an encore.
During a September 2013 interview with Artisan News, BLACK LABEL SOCIETY mainman Zakk Wylde was asked about the possibility of a hypothetical PANTERA reunion with him filling in for the late "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott on guitar. "It'd be up to [former PANTERA members] Vinnie [Paul Abbott, drums], Phil and Rex — they're the guys that make everything happen," he said. "So if they were all gonna do it and honor Dimebag and [if they said to me], 'Zakk, would you wanna honor Dime and do Dime's parts?' Of course, I was a pallbearer for him — I laid him to rest — so, of course, I'd say, it would be a beautiful way to honor him and stuff like that. And to celebrate all things PANTERA and what they achieved. 'Cause they changed the game, as far as extreme metal goes. I mean, they're the kings of it. But it's up to the fellows. Then it would just be me woodsheddin' 25-8, learning all of Dime's parts, you know what I mean?! Yeah, but like I said, as far as I'm concerned, it would just be honoring Dime. Like with the Yankees, you honor… everybody's wearing Thurman Munson's '15' for that day, just because we're honoring Thurman's greatness. So it's the same thing, man."
Asked about the likelihood of a PANTERA "reunion" with Wylde filling in for Dimebag, Vinnie Paul told the Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas radio station 97.1 The Eagle Rocks in March 2012: "I spent two hours with Zakk, sitting down — a really great talk about… [Zakk] calls [Dimebag] 'the old man.' I mean, [Zakk] and my brother were so tight. If [a PANTERA reformation] ever were to happen, [Zakk] would be the guy [to step in for Dimebag]. But I honestly think, out of respect for my brother, we should just leave the 14 amazing years PANTERA had be. We're all happy doing our own thing. We have to continue living and do other things."
Dimebag's longtime girlfriend Rita Haney in 2011 called on Vinnie and Anselmo to settle their differences in honor of Dimebag, who was shot and killed by a crazed gunman while performing with DAMAGEPLAN at a Columbus, Ohio rock club in December 2004.
Vinnie, who is Dimebag's brother, and Anselmo have not spoken since PANTERA split in 2003. But the relationship got even more acrimonious when Vinnie indirectly blamed Philip for Dimebag's death, suggesting that some remarks the vocalist had made about Dimebag in print just weeks earlier might have incited Dimebag's killer.
Speaking to Fuse News, Anselmo said about the possibility of a PANTERA reunion with Wylde filling in for Dimebag: "For me, really, I think it would mean a lot for Rex and Vince and myself to sit down and, I guess, bury the hatchet where we can be on more friendly terms. And, you know, I think it would mean a lot to the fans."
He added: "Without Vince, there's not any PANTERA reunion at all; it's useless. But he damn well knows my door's wide open. He needs to bust out the keys and unlock his, man. I'm waiting, but I'm not holding my breath."
Manos Spanos
Manos Spanos (Metalpaths' co-editor-in-chief), eight years in this site but still can't be characterised as a metalhead.