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PEPPER KEENAN Says DOWN Will Begin Recording New EP Next Week

Manos Spanos
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’

Manos Spanos
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

Manos Spanos
"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!’

Manos Spanos
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

BRUTAL TRUTH And BASTARD NOISE Team Up For Split Release

Manos Spanos
Legendary grindcore godfathers BRUTAL TRUTH and seminal, abrasive-noise terroristsBASTARD NOISE have teamed up for a split record of harsh power-electronic noise insanity. Combining over four decades of grinding noise dominance, "The Axiom Of Post Inhumanity" is a long-overdue pairing of extreme music veterans that is sure to push the limits of even the most masochistic listeners. Available on CD, LP and digital formats, "The Axiom Of Post Inhumanity" will be released on November 11 via Relapse Records. Both the CD and LP formats of the release contain entirely different sets of music from both bands while the digital version collects all of the tracks onto one compilation. The album is available for pre-order via Relapse mailorder. "The Axiom Of Post Inhumanity" track listing: LP track listing: 01. BRUTAL TRUTH - Control Room: Peace is the Victory Mix 02. BASTARD NOISE - Preemptive Epitaph for the Living 03. BASTARD NOISE - The Antenna Galaxies (ngc 4038-4039) 04. BASTARD NOISE - Frack Baby Frack CD track listing: 01. BASTARD NOISE - The Duel of the Ant and the Dragonfly 02. BASTARD NOISE - The Horizon on Lynx 03. BASTARD NOISE - Horned Beetle Conflict
01 min read

SEPULTURA Singer Says Recording With Producer ROSS ROBINSON ‘Was A Beautiful Experience’

Manos Spanos
Raymond Westland of Ghost Cult Magazine recently conducted an interview with vocalist Derrick Green of Brazilian/American thrashers SEPULTURA. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below. Ghost Cult Magazine: "The Mediator Between Head And Hands Must Be The Heart" is very spirited and dark album. How come? Derrick: I don't know, really. The album was recorded in Venice Beach, California. A lot of the material was written in Sao Paulo [Brazil]. There were a lot of things going on at the time in the world. There was a new pope elected and there was a lot of social upheaval about the upcoming World Cup and Olympic Games, especially about all the corruption going. A lot of the money is invested in stadiums, while the populace are clamouring for hospitals and schools. A lot of it was coming from the things happening around us. Another major factor is our drummer,Eloy Casagrande. Writing music with him changed a lot. He really likes to play metal and he's really passionate about it. He's very young and the energy he brought with him pushed the rest of us to step up our game. He really wanted to leave his mark and that makes the new album very different from the previous one, I think. It was his dream to play in SEPULTURA and we really needed that type of kick and he really brought that. Ghost Cult Magazine: Ross Robinson produced the new album. He has quite a reputation of bringing bands to the edge mentally in order to capture the best performance possible. How did he go about with SEPULTURA? Derrick: He had a free pass with Andreas [Kisser, guitar] and Paulo [Xisto Pinto Jr.]. He already recorded with them during the "Roots" album, so he was already familiar with the inner workings of SEPULTURA. He talked with them how "Roots" changed his life and how it opened a lot of doors for him as a producer. With the second time around, he really wanted to make an album that was different from "Roots", but with that same type of energy. He already knew what we're capable of. He was there with us in the room while we recorded our instruments literally pushing us physically. He constantly asked why certain parts are there in a song and why certain words are there. We went through the lyrics together with everyone present in the room. This was something we never really did. I wrote the lyrics and I was done, just like that. He asked Eloy or Paulo what a certain lyric meant to them and whether they could identify themselves with it. Before we went in he would go and tell that he didn't feel the emotion behind a certain piece or lyric. He was, like, "Give it your all or don't go in at all." We're living in special times. The album is all about freedom and a lot of different energies and a lot of people are relying on our music to get through the day and help them cope with daily life. He urged us to really think about what we are doing, because we're an inspiration to a lot of people. By creating that feeling and vibe, he really got us to go as deep as we could. It really united the band in such a way that we didn't even know we could be capable of. It was a beautiful experience. Ghost Cult Magazine: I do think "Mediator" combines all the best elements from the bestSEPULTURA albums. It has the thrash metal elements from "Beneath The Remains" and"Arise", the groove from "Chaos A.D." and "Roots" and the punk attitude of the later albums…
05 min read

METALLICA’s LARS ULRICH: ‘I Love SPOTIFY’

Manos Spanos
During a brand new interview with NME TV, METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich was asked if he thinks the streaming service Spotify is the future of music. "I don't know if it's the only future; I don't see things that 'black and white' in my life," Ulrichreplied (see video below). "But certainly it's been a great experience. And I love Daniel Ek[Spotify CEO and founder]; he's just a great man. You can tell a lot about a company and the experience by the people; that's my belief. And Danny, he's a great man and he has a great soul. And I love Spotify. Now whether… we'll talk about this ten years from now, whether it's the future or not. I don't know if it's limited to a 'yes' or 'no,' but it certainly is working right now." Last December, METALLICA made all nine of its studio albums, as well as various live material, singles, remixes and collaborations, available on Spotify. The move was significant becauseSean Parker, who co-founded Napster, now sits on the board of Spotify. METALLICA waged a battle with Napster more than a decade ago over the illegal sharing of the band's music, which resulted in both legal action and a battered public image for the band. At the press conference in New York announcing the Spotify deal on December 6, 2012 Parkerand Ulrich appeared together and seemingly buried the hatchet. Ulrich said, "When [Parker] and I saw each other a few months ago. We could see that we had been put down as adversaries. We realize we had much more in common and sitting down was long overdue . . . We were younger, maybe somewhat more ignorant. We sat down and had a heart to heart." In a statement at its web site, METALLICA said, "We are extremely proud to be a part ofSpotify, who not only has a proven track record, but is by far the best streaming service." METALLICA is now able to make these deals directly since, as of last year, the band has complete control over the master tapes of all its audio and video recordings. The band has also launched its own label, Blackened
02 min read

PARADISE LOST: ‘Gothic 2013’ Song Available For Streaming

Panagiotis Karagiannidis
From the harrowing doom of their 1990 debut, "Lost Paradise", to 1991's genre-defining "Gothic", to 1995's break-out masterpiece "Draconian Times", to 1997's electronically tinged "One Second", to 2007's return to a heavier form "In Requiem", to last year's opus "Tragic Idol", British gothic metal pioneers PARADISE LOST have continued to evolve since their inception in 1988, inspiring countless artists throughout the years.
06 min read

MACHINE HEAD Signs With NUCLEAR BLAST

Panagiotis Karagiannidis
After over a year of dialogues with various record labels, San Francisco Bay Area metallers MACHINE HEAD have decided on a new home with the newly launched arm of Nuclear Blast Records, Nuclear Blast Entertainment, headed by the band's longtime friend and former Roadrunner A&R guru Monte Conner.
04 min read

Rumor: SUICIDE SILENCE Found A New Vocalist

Manos Spanos
When Suicide Silence's singer Mitch Lucker passed away almost one year ago, the future of the band was very much in question. Mitch was the centerpiece of the band, and at the time the band was far too busy mourning to even think about the future. But it seems the band might be ready to move forward. There are rumors now that the band may have found a new replacement. Lambgoat reports that various sources tell them Eddie Hermida from All Shall Perish is their new vocalist. Previously, it was rumored that former Suffokate vocalist (now with reconstructed earlobes) Ricky Hoover was to be their new vocalist, but that didn't pan out. Hermida makes much more sense as a pick. He is a seasoned veteran of the road and somebody Suicide Silence fans are surely familiar with. He certainly has the vocal chops to pull it off. Check out the video of Hermida absolutely laying waste to the band's "Slaves to Substance" at the benefit show last year: Eddie wouldn't be the only member of All Shall Perish in another project. Guitarist Franceco Artusato is collaborating with Howard Jones on his new band, The Devil You Know.
01 min read