Here's documentary director Rick Ernst with the second of four preview clips from his metal movie "Get Thrashed," which comes out on DVD on September 16. In this snippet, members of the '80s metal community discuss the bitter, violent rivalry that existed between fans of hardcore and metal.
The Cro-Mags opened for Megadeth. DRI opened for Kreator. Biohazard opened for Slayer.
Cool shows, right? Wish you could have been there, yes?
Looking back, I can honestly say these shows were not fun. They were not enjoyable for me and it had nothing to do with the bands sounding bad or putting on crappy shows. It has everything to due with the fights between fans at these so-called "crossover" shows.
Young fans might find it hard to imagine, but back in thrash metal's heyday, the length of your hair and the name of the the band on your t-shirt could mean the difference between gliding through the night and getting your ass kicked. For fans who lived through the era, gigs that featured hardcore and metal bands could be especially violent as skinheads and metal fans battled for "territory." These fights were mostly born out of a desire for fans of each genre to keep their music "pure" and out of a genuine feeling that "their music" was better, their bands were better. But the battle proved futile as both genres "crossed over" and elements of each style infiltrated the other. I think that history proves that this infusion of new ideas into each genre really helped give new life to both metal and hardcore and, 20 years later, the effects can truly be seen in bands like Hatebreed, Killswitch Engage, Throwdown and countless other bands but as you'll see from this clip from Get Thrashed: The Story of Thrash Metal, back in the late 80's - early 90's, crossover shows were more about surviving rather than enjoying a show. Read more...
The third album by Oakland technical death metal band All Shall Perish, Awaken the Dreamers, will come out September 16 and will include a bonus DVD about the making of the disc. Click "more" to watch a preview of the DVD. The record was recorded at Castle Ultimate Studios in Oakland with producer Zach Ohren and is the follow-up to 2006's The Price of Existence. Read more...
We know Metallica fans can never get enough of their favorite band -- and their favorite band is even more aware of that then we are. So, less than a week after previewing the first single from their upcoming album Death Magnetic, Metallica have offered up another track, "My Apocalypse." This one's faster and more aggressive, sounding like a cross between "Blackened" and "Harvester of Sorrow" (both from ...And Justice For All. Call us crazy, but we even hear a touch of old Slayer in there -- especially on James Hetfield's barking vocals. Click "more" to listen and judge for yourself. Read more...
They've pretty much been a secret up until now, but United Nations, a supergroup formed by Thursday frontman Geoff Rickly, have already recorded two albums, an EP and a seven-inch of material. Click "more" below before August 28 to hear a stream of their first full record, which comes out September 9 on Eyeball Records.
Since Thursday have been between label deals, Rickly had the freedom to launch a side project without any hassles. Some of his band members haven't been as lucky, which is why United Nations have been relatively hush-hush about their activities. However, a source close to the band confirms that the group also features Glassjaw and Head Automatica frontman Daryl Palumbo, Converge drummer Ben Koller, ex-The Number 12 Looks Like You drummer Christopher "Chree" Conger and Made out of Babies bassist Cooper. Read more...
Since it's Metallica Monday and all, we figured we'd offer you some more band interviews. On their official Web site, Revolver has posted some revealing outtakes from interviews for their current cover story. There are already killer Q&As with longtime guitarist Kirk Hammett and not so longtime bassist Robert Trujillo up there, and over the next two weeks they'll post outtakes from discussions with James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich as well. Click "more" to read to first two interviews. Read more...
photo by Jon Wiederhorn
From now on, you gotta register as a part of MTV's Community to submit comments to HeadbangersBlog.com. And that means, if you wanna help choose what artist from the last "Headbangers Ball" returns for Saturday's show, you need to scroll to the bottom of the screen and sign up. It's easy and all submitted information is confidential. No one's gonna rob you of your identity or sell your email address to a third party. And, in addition to being able to comment on HeadbangersBlog.com posts (anonymous posts are no longer accepted), being part of the MTV Community will allow you to explore previously unexplored corners of the MTV.com community. That means you'll receive access to music and video premieres we can't offer on the Blog. One thing about the sign-up sheet, though. People are getting a little tripped up by the box asking for the users "Profile URL." So, here's what to do.
Under "Profile URL" just type something to identify you -- preferably some word that includes a couple numbers. That will then be attached to a long URL address that will be your private address for the site. Also, be sure to fill in all the required information on the form, and check the box verifying your interest in belonging to the MTV Community. Sounds corporate and all, but it's a good way to build a real metal community and minimize spam.
Okay, now on to this week's "Your Vote Counts." On Saturday's show we had premieres by Hatebreed and Cancer Bats. Choose one of them or someone else from the list below. Obviously, the act with the most votes will win a return slot on the next episode of "Headbangers Ball." As always, past winners are not eligible and neither are videos from old albums. In other words, only pick from our list.
Also, only ONE vote is allowed per IP address. It doesn’t matter if you use a different screen name. If you vote twice from the same computer, you will be disqualified. Voting runs between now and 2 p.m. on Wednesday. Click "more" to see the complete list. Read more...
On August 21, Metallica posted their new single "The Day that Never Comes" on their MySpace and submitted the song to radio. The next day, the band played the song during their headline set at the Leeds Festival in England. Click "more" to watch a pro-shot video of the performance, hear streaming audio of the studio recording, check out a Death Magnetic widget and watch outtakes from MTV's exclusive Metallica interview. Read more...
Give Canadian progressive death metal band Into Eternity's new album, The Incurable Tragedy, a listen. The album comes out on September 2, but you can stream the entire disc right now, right here. Click "more" below to hear the record.
The disc, the follow-up to 2006's The Scattering of Ashes, is the band's first full-fledged concept record and was inspired by the deaths of guitarist Tim Roth's two best friends, brothers who succumbed to cancer within two months of one another. Then, soon after Into Eternity started demoing material for the record, Roth's father was diagnosed with cancer as well; he died last year, 10 days before Christmas.
Roth channeled his emotions into a moving and riveting album with heavy grooves, stop-on-a-dime time changes, reflective lyrics, memorable choruses, shredding solos, and vocals that range from guttural growls to soaring harmonies.
Click "more" to hear it for yourself: Read more...
It's that time again -- time for Motorhead to release another album of teeth-kicking, amped up bluesy metal. Twice as frequently as a plague of locusts, frontman Lemmy Kilmister and bandmates return to bash out a new set of barreling, blaring tunes about getting laid, not getting paid and sticking the middle finger in the air. Yep, on August 26, Motorhead will release Motorizer, a youthful, rebellious slab of noise that belies the fact that Kilmister is almost 64 years old and doesn't give a f--k. Frankly, the dude doesn't act his age, drinking Jack and Coke like both are going out of style, hooking up with groupies every night (if he's lucky) and blasting feral rock n' roll at volumes loud enough to deafen those half his age.
HeadbangersBlog.com recently caught up with the Baron of Bad-ass to talk about Motorizer, the Metal Masters Tour, the advantages of dying young, nearly being crushed by a huge stage prop and the sorry state of the music industry.
Click "more" to stream or download the interview: Read more...
Here's a German black/death metal band that came up with a cool viral video to promote themselves. Or if they didn't come up with it, someone else did. Anyway, after doing some research to make sure they weren't a bunch of neo-Nazis (their MySpace states clearly "Zerstörer is not a right winged band), we decided to hop onboard and help promote their homicidal tendencies -- or at least their love for classic horror flicks -- and boobies. Write us with the names of as many of the movies as you know in the clip. Read more...
