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LACUNA COIL Begins Recording New Album

Manos Spanos
Italian heavy rockers LACUNA COIL have entered the studio with producer Jay Baumgardner (P.O.D., SEVENDUST, EVANESCENCE, PAPA ROACH) to begin recording their new album for an early 2014 release via Century Media Records. After the first days of recording, the band is already happy with the magic happening in the studio. Cristina Scabbia (vocals): "I am so excited to work on new stuff… "I am sure a lot of people will be mesmerized by the cinematic vibe of the new album that's underway. "I'm very happy to have the chance to work with Jay. Not only is he a pro in what he does, but I am just loving the fact we are going to experiment with new sounds and are getting a different point of view about our art. We're swamped with the music already... 'LACUNA COIL is back, baby!!!”
02 min read

WATAIN Frontman: ‘I Like To Think Of Our Live Shows As Being A Mystical Experience’

Manos Spanos
Toby Cook of The Quietus recently conducted an interview with Erik Danielsson of Swedish black metallers WATAIN. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below. The Quietus: So the new album is due out next month. To say that it's a radical departure is perhaps overstating it, but certainly even compared to "Lawless Darkness", there is certainly, I think, a marked progression. Was it always the intention to create something that was so much more expansive and what were some of the challenges? Erik Danielsson: I never really compare album to album like that — we never have — and I think that one of the most common things that people say when we release a new album is, "Oh yeah, it sounds very different." So with that being said, progression has always been an inevitable part of this band. The whole idea of WATAIN and our artistic journey, so to speak, has been to go into the unknown, to explore the unknown within yourself, to go deeper and deeper into yourself, and that is something that we are getting better and better at and it's happening perhaps more radically the older we get and the more we progress as artists. So that's why I assume that the leaps between the albums are maybe getting bigger somehow, y'know? I mean, it's really not something that we think a lot about when we are composing, but now I have to try to analyze it a bit when I'm doing interviews about and I'm doing it interview-to-interview so you'll have to excuse me if I sound a bit abstract sometimes — but it's a very interesting journey, going deeper and deeper. The
05 min read

MACHINE HEAD Frontman Congratulates AVENGED SEVENFOLD On Success Of Their ‘Covers Album’

Manos Spanos
MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn's latest installment of his online blog, "The General Journals: Diary Of A Frontman... And Other Ramblings - Life Affirming", reads as follows: "Congratulations to AVENGED SEVENFOLD on their latest 'covers album' coming in at #1. "Who knew that re-recording METALLICA, GUNS N' ROSES and MEGADETH songs could be such a worldwide hit!!?? Ba-dap Psssssss!! "I'm on fire!! "In case you've been living under a rock, AVENGED came in at #1 in multiple countries throughout the world. I'm happy for them. Good band. And while I like the new record, and really dug the last record 'Nightmare', hopefully we're all coming down from our post-orgasmic #1-album-bliss, because it's time to call a spade a spade!! It's time to poke a little fun at A7X, cause there's some blatant jackery goin' on there wiggas!! "So here are my top 10 jokes about the new AVENGED SEVENFOLD record: 10) AVENGED SEVENFOLD - 'Now with even MORE METALLICA' 9) AVENGED SEVENFOLD to change name to "SAD BUT TWO" "Number of 'spurting penises' drawn on AVENGED logos suddenly skyrockets 7) Eyeliner sales skyrocket as thousands of heartbroken goth girls realize 'Hail To The King' is actually 'that ugly AC/DC band's song 'Thunderstruck'.' 6) After hearing 'Heretic', Dave Mustaine flips out, blames Obama, METALLICA and UFOs for the A7X stealing 'Symphony Of Destruction'. 5) After seeing how much success the band BUSH had stealing other band names for song titles, A7X decided to steal 'In Flames' for latest chorus. Future chorus lyrics include 'Tr-vi-um' and 'Kill-switch En-gage' 4) Upon hearing latest album, Lars Ulrich goes all gangsta, breaks bottle of Dom Perignon on M. Shadows head, while his 11ft girlfriend put Shadows in headlock, as he screams in Shadows' face, 'You're gonna rip off 'St. Anger' next right, HUH? You're gonna rip off 'St Anger' NEXT RIGHT? HUH, HUH, HUH!!"
02 min read

BLACK SABBATH’s IOMMI Still Doesn’t Know Exactly Why BILL WARD Pulled Out Of Reunion

Manos Spanos
Glenn BurnSilver of the Phoenix New Times recently conducted an interview with legendary BLACK SABBATH guitarist Tony Iommi. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below. Phoenix New Times: How is playing together — recording together — after so many years of tension and not being in the studio? The last album with the original lineup was in 1978...[Singer] Ozzy [Osbourne] was booted out in 1979... Iommi: Tensions? The tensions over the years have mainly been about business. It's not been personal at all. We always got on well on a personal level. It's been going really good. It's just a different attitude now. When we got back together to record this album ["13"], everybody had a different attitude toward what we were doing this time. We wanted to make an album together. We all really appreciated each other and respected each other. That's really the only way to go into it — a full band commitment — and everybody was ready to put everything into it. We did try back 12 years ago, and nobody could settle on it then. It wasn't the right time, there were to many things going on. Ozzy was doing MTV, so it just didn't work then. We weren't going to do it until everybody was fully committed, and that was this time. [Producer Rick] Rubin was interested in doing the album [in 2001]. We played him some tracks but that's as far as we got with it. We pulled the plug on it. We never got into the studio. We'd just played him some tracks." Phoenix New Times: Where do you rank "13" among the many BLACK SABBATH albums? Iommi: Every album you do means something of that time period. Certainly the early stuff I like. I liked the stuff we did with [Ronnie James] Dio. If you try to rank it against with the Ozzy stuff, I think it ranks right up there. Phoenix New Times: Where's [original BLACK SABBATH drummer] Bill [Ward]? I know all of you have worked together on and off since that 1997 reunion, but is Bill even able to perform right now?
04 min read

Interview: Soulfly (Max Cavalera)

Panagiotis Karagiannidis
Legendary groove metal band SOULFLY return with its new album "Savages" which is going to be released in October 2013 by Nuclear Blast. Metalpaths grabbed the chance to talk with one of the most legendary figures in heavy metal, the main creator of "Savages" and founder of Soulfy; Mr. Max Cavalera.
020 min read

OBITUARY Preparing To Hit The Road, Enter The Studio

Manos Spanos
Florida death metal veterans OBITUARY will bring their brutal wares to the stage this fall on a short series of live assaults. The tour begins with a pair of back-to-back shows at Brooklyn, New York's Saint Vitus Bar on October 9 and 10, before flattening nine more venues through October 20. Having been holed up in their own Redneck Studios the last few weeks penning the follow-up to 2009's punishing "Darkest Day" full-length (2009), OBITUARY's upcoming shows serve as a temporary writing break. Elaborates drummer Donald Tardy: "We have been busting our asses in the studio, having a blast and writing new material. Twelve songs are done and ready to be recorded but we want a monster album for our fans so we are working on a few more to make this record huge! We will continue writing until October when we will take a break from the studio and new music and go destroy the Trois-Rivieres Metalfest with HATEBREED and crush the U.S." OBITUARY tour dates: Oct. 09 - St. Vitus - Brooklyn, NY Oct. 10 - St. Vitus - Brooklyn, NY Oct. 11 - American Legion - Allentown, PA Oct. 12 - Trois-Rivieres Metalfest - Trois-Rivieres, QC [info] Oct. 13 - Presidents Club - Boston, MA Oct. 15 - Beale Street - Indianapolis, IN Oct. 16 - Pyramid Scheme - Grand Rapids, MI
02 min read

CARCASS: Entire ‘Surgical Steel’ Album Available For Streaming

Manos Spanos
"Surgical Steel", the new album from reactivated British extreme metal pioneers CARCASS, can be streamed in its entirety in the YouTube clip below. "Surgical Steel" will be released on September 16 in the U.K., September 13 in the rest of Europe and September 17 in North America via Nuclear Blast Records. The effort was produced by Colin Richardson (FEAR FACTORY, MACHINE HEAD, NAPALM DEATH, SLIPKNOT, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE) and mixed by Andy Sneap (MEGADETH, ACCEPT, EXODUS, ARCH ENEMY). "Surgical Steel" will be available on several collectible formats, which can now be ordered with or without an exclusive t-shirt design here. Joining guitarist Bill Steer and bassist/vocalist Jeff Walker in CARCASS' current incarnation are new drummer Dan Wilding (ABORTED, TRIGGER THE BLOODSHED) and guitarist Ben Ash (PIG IRON, DESOLATION, LIQUEFIED SKELETON). CARCASS' first studio LP since 1996's "Swansong" will feature guest vocals from original sticksman Ken Owen. In a recent interview with Chile's Radio Futuro, Walker stated about the new CARCASS CD: "We think we've made a good album, so it's gonna be very interesting when people get to hear the record. We can't wait to see what people think." He continued: "It sounds like CARCASS. Even the drumming sounds like CARCASS. Everything about it… I think it's gonna shock people, how good it is. I think it's got all the elements that people like, yet it still sounds fresh. So that's all I can say, really, 'cause we don't really sound like any other band, and the fact that after 17 years, we wrote music and it still sounds like CARCASS, I think it's good."
05 min read