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MAX CAVALERA Says CAVALERA CONSPIRACY’s ‘Pandemonium’ Is ‘Some Of The Most Aggressive Stuff’ He Has Ever Done

Manos Spanos
On October 5, Metal Mark of SkullsNBones.com conducted an interview with Max Cavalera (SOULFLY, CAVALERA CONSPIRACY, KILLER BE KILLED, SEPULTURA). You can now watch the chat below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). On "Pandemonium", the upcoming third album from CAVALERA CONSPIRACY, the band led by brothers and founding SEPULTURA members Max and Igor Cavalera: Max: "It's pretty good, man. It was fun to play with [Igor] and make a fast record. We decided to just go for it like we used to play before. When we first started this thing, we loved playing fast and throwing down very aggressive stuff. And this record, 'Pandemonium', was based on that — raw energy and adrenaline of the brothers playing metal. And it's cool that we found that after, I don't know, 30 years, we can still go back to that metal place and take that energy out and put it into a record. So I think people are gonna be stoked when they 'Pandemonium', because I think it's, for sure, the heaviest and most aggressive out of the CAVALERA stuff. But it's [also] probably some of the most aggressive stuff I've done in my whole life." On what it was like to have no contact with Igor for 10 years following Max's departure from SEPULTURA: Max: "It was hard, those 10 years that we didn't speak. It was really depressing for us. I hid it from the world, but inside I was very sad that I didn't speak with my own brother. And people were always asking about that, and I would always say, 'I don't know. He's doing his thing, and I'm doing thing. We're living in separate worlds.' So when we got back together, it was awesome, it was a great feeling. It was like a black cloud had [been] lifted. And then we decided to give it a go at playing music [together] again, which is another cool thing — create CAVALERA CONSPIRACY, which was started in '07, I think, and has not stopped. But we do very things very differently [from SOULFLY]. SOULFLY tours a lot more — we play everywhere and every shithole. SOULFLY is relentless [when it comes to touring], Igor doesn't like that. And I don't blame him. He's got more of a slowed down lifestyle. He lives in London now and he's got [his] family there. I respect that, so we do CAVALERA tours a little bit moderate. But there will be some tours. I think in January we'll do an American tour." "Pandemonium", on November 4 (one day earlier internationally) via Napalm Records. The CD was produced by John Gray, who has previously worked with SOULFLY.
04 min read

SLIPKNOT ‘Made’ New Drummer Visit PAUL GRAY’s Grave Before Beginning Work On New Album

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SLIPKNOT percussionist Shawn Crahan has revealed to Rolling Stone magazine that one of the first things he did with the band's new drummer — rumored to be Jay Weinberg, the son of Bruce Springsteen drummer Max Weinberg — was take him to the Des Moines, Iowa cemetery where late SLIPKNOT bassist Paul Gray's body is buried. "I made him pay his respects and say hello," Crahan told the magazine. "I told him what we're gonna do, and we got on a fucking plane and flew to fucking L.A." to begin recording the new SLIPKNOT album, ".5: The Gray Chapter". SLIPKNOT guitarist Mick Thomson said that the drummer who replaced founding member Joey Jordison "grew up with" the band's music and "knew all the material" before stepping in and joining the group during the songwriting sessions for ".5: The Gray Chapter". "We kinda knew who we wanted [to play drums on the new CD] from the start, and we got him," Thomson told Guitar World magazine. "We knew from the get-go that there wasn't going to be any issues with him. We did get lucky, I guess. He knew all the [old] material anyway. He'd grown up with the band. That made things easier." SLIPKNOT also has a replacement for late bassist Paul Gray, all but confirmed to be Alessandro "Vman" Venturella, but has not revealed his name either. Both new members are wearing the same generic mask onstage. Weinberg was previously in the punk band AGAINST ME! and left under less-than-friendly circumstances. AGAINST ME! singer Laura Jane Grace tweeted last month, "Dear SLIPKNOT, good luck with that. #shitbag." SLIPKNOT guitarist Jim Root recently said that the band may never reveal the identity of the drummer who replaced Jordison. Speaking with Guitar World, Root explained, "We're not saying who the new drummer is. Even if people find out beyond a shadow of a doubt who the new drummer is, I think we're always going to deny who it is. He might not last. He might tour with us a year and figure out we're all insane and he can't handle being around us. Or we might shut him out." Root added, "For SLIPKNOT, I'd say drumming is only 50 or 60 percent of the job. The rest of it is who you are and what your personality is. Will you clash with guys like me, Mick, Clown, Corey, Craig and Chris? We all have these strong alpha-male personalities." Root and SLIPKNOT guitarist Mick Thomson handled most of the bass duties on the band's new album, ".5: The Gray Chapter", with some help from former touring bassist Donnie Steele. The first all-new SLIPKNOT disc since 2008 will arrive on October 21, followed by the two-day Knotfest in California and a North American tour.
03 min read

DOWNING DOESN’T REGRET LEAVING PRIEST

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Former JUDAS PRIEST guitarist Kenneth "K.K." Downing says that he has no regrets about leaving the band but admits that he misses "being at the pinnacle" of the group's career. Downing, who is a founding member of the British heavy metal legends and was part of the group since 1969, announced his retirement from PRIEST in April 2011. He has since been replaced by Richie Faulkner, most recently guitarist in the backing band for Lauren Harris (daughter of IRON MAIDEN bassist Steve Harris). Speaking about his decision to leave PRIEST, Downing told DigitalJournal.com: "I felt that a lot of the spark wasn't there — for whatever reason — anymore on stage. I felt that I had it, but I felt it wasn't what I originally signed up for... "I always thought that JUDAS PRIEST should have been a high-energy outfit and ultra-sharp, but I wasn't enjoying it as much on stage as I should have been. "All that travelling and living out of a suitcase and spending so much time in planes, vans, cars and trains, you have to really enjoy the concerts. You have to musically get on a high and that carries you through, but if you're not enjoying it like you should, then it becomes a lot of hard work because you've still got to do the interviews and be pushed and pulled around the place." Asked if he has ever regretted his decision to leave, Downing said: "I don't regret leaving, because, to me, I thought that it had run its course. I miss what we had, but I don't particularly miss what we had become when I left… You can look at YouTube and see JUDAS PRIEST playing at the US Festival, or at Live Aid, and I miss being at the pinnacle of the band. I miss that energy and youthfulness and just delivering all of that up. "You become a certain age and I think that I would have been happy if, as I said, I was enjoying the shows. There's disagreements with how things should be done and I thought if I'm outnumbered, then it's time to go... "But I suppose we did fantastically well. I mean 40 years is great and I commend the guys for going back out. I was just watching a bit of their first concert of the tour in Rochester, New York, and it was great. Band sounded good and I'm happy that they continue. "I sent an email saying 'good luck with the new tour, guys' to the management office. I do wish them well and I commend them highly for being out there and carrying on the legacy." Downing also revealed that he is about to release a new line of fragrances called Metal For Men and Metal Pour Femme through a partnership with the UK digital radio station Planet Rock. "That's something else I've thought of in my sleep," he explained. "Don't ask me why! You see these people do a fragrance from the pop world and stuff like that, but nobody's actually catering for rock and metal fans, so I thought I'd solve the headache of what to buy for Christmas type of thing..." JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford and guitarist Glenn Tipton recently said that there were no plans for Downing to rejoin the band on the road anytime soon, despite Internet chatter to the contrary. Asked by New York radio personality and VH1 Classic "That Metal Show" co-host Eddie Trunk if there was any truth to the rumor that Downing was at one point going to contribute to the songwriting process for the band's new album, "Redeemer Of Souls", and possibly play some shows with the group alongside his replacement, Faulkner, Tipton said: "There's no plans for that. Ken didn't get involved in the writing of the album and there are no plans for him to join us on tour." He continued: "I mean, Ken was quite honest when he left. He made it clear to us that he wanted limited conection with us because he didn't wanna try and get us to talk him into going back into the band. And we honored his request, really." Added Halford: "That's the way the social media works. People think if they read something on the Internet, it's true. [laughs] 'Well, it's on the Internet. I mean, it's on the Internet.' It's just one of these unfortunate rumors that kind of put things into people's minds." Downing in 2011 shot down as "inaccurate" reports that he left JUDAS PRIEST because he chose to concentrate on running the 18- and nine-hole golf courses on his property.
05 min read

PHILIP ANSELMO’s ‘Drunken Show’ (Video)

Manos Spanos
A very intoxicated Philip Anselmo (DOWN, PANTERA, SUPERJOINT RITUAL, PHILIP H. ANSELMO & THE ILLEGALS) was interviewed by EMP Rock Invasion on August 14 at the Summer Breeze festival in Dinkelsbühl, Germany. You can watch the chat below. Anselmo recently toured Europe with his backup band THE ILLEGALS — guitarist Marzi Montazeri (ex-SUPERJOINT RITUAL), drummer José Manuel Gonzales (WARBEAST) and bassist Steve Taylor. Anselmo's career-first solo album, "Walk Through Exits Only", sold around 8,700 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 35 on The Billboard 200 chart. Produced by Anselmo and Michael Thompson, and recorded over a couple of years at Philip's New Orleans studio, Nodferatu's Lair, "Walk Through Exits Only" is abrasive, aggressive, anthemic and 100% Anselmo. According to Anselmo, he worked on an estimated 15-17 songs for "Walk Through Exits Only", which was issued via his own Housecore Records (MRI/Megaforce) "I could've put on any number (of songs) I wanted, but for me, these eight songs all together, 40-something minutes, that's my idea of a proper listening length," he told Billboard.com. "When you start to get longer, it gets a little redundant and boring, and I didn't want to bore anybody."
01 min read

AC/DC Drummer PHIL RUDD Missing From New Promotional Photo

Manos Spanos
AC/DC has released an official new publicity photo of the band and notably absent from it is drummer Phil Rudd, who was also a no-show at the group's recent video shoot on October 3 and October 4 for the two new singles, "Play Ball" and "Rock Or Bust". Rudd was replaced for the filming by drummer Bob Richards (who had previously played with SHOGUN and IRON MAIDEN guitarist Adrian Smith), with singer Brian Johnson reportedly telling fans at the shoot that Rudd was unable to participate due to an undisclosed "family emergency." Neither Rudd nor the band has issued any further comment on his absence from the shoot. Now the fact that he is missing from the first official band photo for its new album can only be cause for concern among fans already saddened by the departure of founding guitarist Malcolm Young, who is suffering from dementia. Rudd joined AC/DC in 1974 and has been its only Australian-born member since 1977. He exited AC/DC in 1983 and was succeeded by Simon Wright and Chris Slade. When Slade left in 1993, Rudd rejoined the band and has been behind the kit until now. Phil's solo album, "Head Job", was released on August 29 via Universal Music Australia. AC/DC will release its new album, "Rock Or Bust", on December 2. The 11-song set is the band's first since 2008's "Black Ice" and the first in its history without Malcolm, who has been replaced by nephew Stevie Young. AC/DC made it official last month that Malcolm would no longer record or perform with the group. His family disclosed a short time later that he was afflicted with dementia. The guitarist was rumored to have suffered a stroke earlier this year. Despite the loss of Malcolm, Rudd said that "everything's great in the band, we're ready to fire up on all cylinders again." AC/DC 2014 publicity photo:
02 min read

AT THE GATES: ‘Death And The Labyrinth’ Video Released

Manos Spanos
"Death And The Labyrinth", the new video from seminal Swedish metallers AT THE GATES, can be seen below. The clip was helmed by Swedish director Patric Ullaeus of the Revolver Film Company AB, who has previously worked with HAMMERFALL, DIMMU BORGIR, EUROPE, LACUNA COIL and IN FLAMES, among many others. "Death And The Labyrinth" is taken from AT THE GATES' much-anticipated comeback studio album, "At War With Reality", which will be released on October 28 (one day earlier internationally) via Century Media. The CD was recorded at Studio Fredman in Gothenburg and was mixed at Fascination Street Studios in Örebro, Sweden with Jens Bogren (OPETH, KATATONIA, SOILWORK, PARADISE LOST, KREATOR). The cover artwork for the effort was designed by Costin Chioreanu, who has previously also worked with bands such as ARCH ENEMY, MORGOTH and DARKTHRONE. Chioreanu gave the strong lyrical theme of "At War With Reality" an outstanding conceptual togetherness with the visuals he crafted for this project.
01 min read

SODOM To Release ‘Sacred Warpath’ EP

Manos Spanos
German thrash metal veterans SODOM will release a new EP, "Sacred Warpath", on November 28 in Germany, December 1 in the rest of Europe and late January 2015 in the USA via SPV/Steamhammer. The effort will be made available on CD, 10-inch clear vinyl (limited to 1,000 copies) and as a digital download. Comments SODOM frontman Thomas "Angelripper" Such: "Since we've been getting the impression that the world is falling apart at the seams, we've decided to make our voices head … while there's still time. "'Sacred Warpath' was originally written for our upcoming album, but we feel it's a good idea to release it now as an appetizer for future SODOM tracks. Because it's going to get raw, brutal and will be a reflection of all the things that we're afraid of and that give us nightmares. Pretty much like that hate-filled world we live in. And it's probably more authentic than any of our releases so far.”" Reagarding the bonus material that is included on SODOM's new EP, Angelripper said: "The record includes three representative titles which we recorded in Germany this year, and it's guaranteed to become a rare collectors' item. The cover will feature a re-paint of an old design from the '80s which I did for a demo cover, painted in oil by Christian Ermel. "This may all sound a little old-school, but that's intentional. That's what we've always been and always will be about. "We very much hope to tie over the waiting time until the arrival of our new album. And now listen to my unmistakable demand on this world: turn back on your sacred warpath and find the path of peace before it's too late. Our music will help you!" "Sacred Warpath" track listing: CD-EP: 01. Sacred Warpath 02. The Saw Is The Law (live) 03. City Of God (live) 04. Stigmatized (live) 10-inch clear vinyl: Side 1 01. Sacred Warpath Side 2 01. The Saw Is The Law (live) 02. City Of God (live) 03. Stigmatized (live)
03 min read

GHOST’s ‘Infestissumam’ Certified Gold In Sweden

Manos Spanos
"Infestissumam", the sophomore album from Swedish occult rockers GHOST, has been certified gold in the group's home country for sales in excess of 20,000 copies. Note: The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) in Sweden has revised the sales requirements for albums to reach gold status in the country twice in the last seven years — from the pre-2002 level of 40,000 to the current 20,000. "Infestissumam" sold around 14,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 28 on The Billboard 200 chart. A Nameless Ghoul from GHOST told Jägermeister about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the follow-up to 2013's "Infestissumam" and the covers EP "If You Have Ghost": "Obviously, we have plans for pretty much everything. We are a very strictly planning band in that sense, that we have contingencies for basically everything. But I can say as much as there is a plan for everything, but at this point, there's still a long way to go." He continued: "We are obviously very much in the process of making the next album, and we have come a long way with that. And we know what it's about, we know what it is, we know what the songs are, we know what the concepts are. The EP was very much a sort of a sideways step for us a little bit, with all the covers and all that, but it was a very deliberate thing to do. And it centers, obviously, around the session with Dave Grohl [FOO FIGHTERS, NIRVANA] and the time we spent with him at [his] Studio 606 [in California]. And we did a lot of different stuff there for us, whereas the next step is gonna be back to full-on, more traditional-type GHOST stuff. "We're kind of finishing up the writing, actually. The conceptual stuff has been finished for a long, long time, so we know, basically, what we're gonna do with the next album and quite some time after that as well. So we have a very deliberate plan of doing things. But the actual album in terms of material and imagery and stage plots and everything is basically finished." GHOST was forced to modify its name in the U.S. to GHOST B.C. for "legal reasons."
02 min read

OZZY OSBOURNE Says U2’s Album Giveway Was ‘Selfish’

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Ozzy Osbourne is the latest musician to comment on U2's decision to team with Apple to put the Irish rock band's new album, "Songs Of Innocence", on every single iTunes account in the world for free regardless of whether it was wanted or not. Speaking to Shortlist, the BLACK SABBATH singer said: "I think it's good in one way, and bad in another. People got so pissed off with it, it was terrific. Trying to find out how to delete it off their fucking phones, or whatever. But U2 can afford to put an album out for free, whereas other bands can't, so it makes it difficult for up-and-coming bands. It's fucking selfish, really. They just got a zillion fucking sales from Apple, I suppose. Not everyone is U2, not everyone can get a fucking deal with Apple. There are a thousand bands out there today that aren't going to get heard by fucking anybody because they can't afford to do it." 33 million of the world's 500 million iTunes users have reportedly accessed the U2 album, but there have been complaints about it as well. Apple gave an online tutorial on how to remove it, while BUCKCHERRY guitarist Keith Nelson dissed the Irish supergroup for devaluing their own music. Ozzy's wife and manager Sharon Osbourne delivered the most scathing remarks via a Twitter rant in which she wrote, "U2, you are business moguls, not musicians anymore. No wonder you have to give your mediocre music away for free, 'cause no one wants to buy it." She also called the Irish quartet "just a bunch of middle-age political groupies" and the group, iTunes and record company president Jimmy Iovine "a bunch of megalomaniacs." Unlike many who felt that the placement of the "Songs Of Innocence" album was an unwanted intrusion, free or not, METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich told Billboard, "I think U2 are the coolest . . . It's 2014 and anybody who thinks outside the box, or attempts in any way, shape or form, to break the status quo in the world of music, should be applauded." Ulrich added, "It's not about whether the endeavor is a success or not. It's the fact that they have the balls and the foresight to throw something this radical at all of us." The drummer hinted that METALLICA itself could do something along similar lines when it comes time to release its next album, saying, "We are embedded in our creative process right now and this type of attempt to reinvent the wheel inspires me immensely." While U2 continues to be one of the world's biggest group, the band's last effort, 2009's "No Line On The Horizon", was considered a commercial failure — although the two-year supporting tour was the highest-grossing in history.
03 min read

HALFORD LOVES GETTING OLD

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JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford who revealed earlier in the year that he was suffering from umbilical hernia, a condition where the belly button pops outwards due to a weakness in the muscles in or around the belly button, tells The Morning Call in a brand new interview that his health is good. "Yeah, I'm not bad," he says with a laugh. "I mean, creaking out of bed at 63 is not as easy as leaping out of bed at 16. But I love it. I love getting old, I really do. I just think that I embrace it because I'm a lucky guy. What a joy — a man of my generation being able to do this sort of thing. It's just remarkable. "I've had a few health hiccups the last few years, but nothing as dramatic as some people go through in life and I'm grateful that I can still get up and do my work. I do it 'cause they keep coming back. I'm more like the Perry Como of heavy metal," he says, laughing again. "No! Strike that. I'll use a living person: I'm the Tony Bennett of heavy metal. There you go — use that. Which means I kind of glide across the stage these days." Halford was last year seen hobbling around with the aid of a walking stick. He told RollingStone.com at the time: "I've got a bit of a back issue, which is fixable. Thank the lord it's not happening while we're touring, because we'd be in a terrible state. "But apart from that, everything is working fine. My voice... is wailing. It's strong, it's powerful... I'm 99.999 per cent working." Recalling a meeting with his longtime friends Lemmy and Rob Trujillo at the 2013 edition of the Revolver Golden Gods awards in Los Angeles, Halford said: "I'm in the dressing room... and Lemmy's sitting across from me. Lemmy, God bless him, is going through heart difficulties. I'm comparing my ailments with Lemmy, and Rob, the bass player from METALLICA, is doing these stretches... I don't know, these guys, a guitar is 15 pounds, and when you've got that slung around your neck for two and a half hours a day — I think it's just degenerative. It's accumulative injuries. "There's no difference from some aspects of sports. You think of a golf player just hitting a ball — 'Well, that can't be too strenuous.' But it is. It's incredibly strenuous when you do that for 40 years. You're going to have a few nicks and bruises." JUDAS PRIEST's new album, "Redeemer Of Souls", was released in North America on July 8 via Epic Records.
03 min read