In these ever-changing times, it's nice to know there are still some constants in the world. Sunday afternoon will always be reserved for football and beer, cops will always let cute girls off for speeding tickets and Six Feet Under will always deliver solid grunt-n-grumble death metal.
The band just released its eighth studio album of originals (SFU also have two cover albums), Death Rituals, which contains 12 new songs, including "Seed of Filth," the video for which we premiered yesterday. The album features the same lineup Six Feet Under have had since 1999 -- Barnes, guitarist Steve Swanson, bassist Terry Butler and drummer Greg Gall. The bulk of production was handled by Chris Carroll and drums were recorded by metal veteran bill Metoyer, who recorded the band's 1997 record Warpath. Death Rituals was mixed by Toby Wright, who has worked with everyone from Alice in Chains to Slayer.
We recently phoned up Barnes to talk to him about the title of the album, death as creative subject matter, his approach to songwriting, his interest in touring with Cannibal Corpse and the strength of the current death metal scene. Click "more" to stream or download the podcast. Read more...
On November 24, Underoath will release the deluxe edition of their new album Lost in the Sound of Separation, which originally came out September 2. The new version features the original CD, a 40 plus-minute DVD about the making of the record, a 56 page black cloth covered book, two sawblade die-cut 10-inch vinyl LPs, a deluxe four-fold box to hold it all and autographs by everyone in the band.
Click "more" to see something that's not included with the package -- two video interview snippets shot by the band specifically for HeadbangersBlog.com. And watch 'em again on "Headbangers Ball," which airs Saturday from 2 a.m. to 2 p.m. on MTV2. Read more...
Guns N' Roses have made their entire new album, Chinese Democracy, available for streaming until November 23. The record is the band's first studio offering since 1991's Use Your Illusion 1 and 2 and can only be bought at BestBuy starting November 23.
Click "more" to stream the album and watch every Guns N' Roses video in our database. Read more...
Richard Hoak, who has played drums for Brutal Truth on every record since their second disc, 1994's Need to Control, has contributed music for a new short film called "A Short But Interesting Message From God" -- and it's the last thing Brutal Truth fans would expect. There's are no buzzsaw guitars or throat-slashed vocals. Hell, there's not even a beat.
Instead, Hoak, who goes by the name Peacemaker, has assembled an ambient collage of reverberating tones, somewhat reminiscent of the disturbing soundcapes in David Lynch's "Eraserhead," and layered these "transformational noises" atop footage by Ed Ballinger of Punkmonkey Pictures. In addition to working with Peacemaker, Ballinger's Punkmonkey has shot videos for Hoak's other band Total F--king Destruction, Withered, Mouth of the Architect and others.
Click "more" to watch "A Short But Interesting Message From God" and other Punkmonkey/Peacemaker collaborations. Read more...
Nine days ago, Poland death/black metal band, Behemoth, released the EP Ezkaton, which contains the ripping new studio track "Quadosh," covers of The Ramones' "I'm Not Jesus" and Master Hammer's "Jama Pekel," and three live songs. Check it out for sure, but first check out frontman Nergal's guest blog about music videos, Behemoth's victory at a Polish video festival and the force that kept them from winning the grand prize:
Yesterday, I was asked by some local journalist if there’s any sense in producing music videos nowadays. I said yes. I truly think there still is a massive demand within the metal genre, and especially within the extreme metal genre where theatricals play such a huge role in the whole concept. Read more...
On Halloween, Tampa death metal veterans Six Feet Under weren't wearing black ski masks and smashing windows of all the old folks in their neighborhood. They were onstage tearing through old favorites and treating fans to some songs from their new album Death Rituals. During the show, they shot a new video for the song "Seed of Filth."
"This is one of our favorite songs from the album, one we' are just really stoked on," says frontman Chris Barnes. "Once again, we worked with director Mario D. Framingheddu, who has directed our videos for 'Ghosts of the Undead' and 'Doomsday.' We're really proud of this video and how it came out."
Click "more" to watch "Seed of Filth." And come back tomorrow to check out our podcast interview with Barnes. Read more...
The unholy German triumvirate of Kreator, Destruction and Sodom helped bridge thrash metal between the U.S. and the rest of the world in the mid '80s and also injected the music with a new level of savagery. Obviously Slayer, Exodus and (early) Metallica were extremely heavy, but their German counterparts were even more raw and unhinged -- less musically accomplished, but decidedly more evil sounding.
While all three bands have been through various lineup shifts since their inception, they continue to tour and record. In fact, Destruction released a new album, D.E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N. on August 22 and Kreator's new disc, Hordes of Chaos, drops on January 13. But where's Sodom? Read more...
Slipknot percussionist Shawn Crahan (a.k.a. Clown) isn’t just good at hitting things, he’s also got the mind of an artist and a keen eye for detail. In addition to expressing himself through videos, Crahan has taken thousands of creative photos over the years, and we’re proud that he’s chosen HeadbangersBlog.com as a platform to exhibit some of the shots in a weekly guest blog filled with candid commentary. Click “more” to see week five of “The Eye of a Clown.” Read more...
“Beer, the cause of and solution to all life’s problems.”
That quote is from one of the world’s most famous philosophers, Homer Simpson. And who better to take advice from? If I would’ve known this as a teenager, life would have been so much easier!
My relationship with booze is an odd one. In the throes of my youth, booze was what my mom drank before she would turn into the Wolfman and break my G.I. Joe stuff and howl at the world. She’s since worked all of that out and we get along fine. Love you mom!
As a post-Bar Mitzvah man without a clue (with that never-been-shaved dirty upper lip) at 14 in New York City in the '70s, my first forays into drinking were clumsy and strange. My friends and I would forage through our parent’s liquor/drug supplies and imbibe on the city bus at eight in the morning on the way to school. There would be crappy weed (although at the time, what did we know?) and some idiot would always bring cough medicine with codeine or a random pill. I stayed away from that stuff. I later found out that the pills were Quaaludes. The real Rorer 714 Ludes of legend. I never tried one because the guys that were taking pills were already known as the “burnouts.” 14-15 year-olds sleepwalking through junior high, listening to the Dead was way to mellow for me, man. Read more...
Facecage frontman Denny Harvey has announced the return of Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor's New Years Eve cover band Dumfux, which has been scheduled at the Val Air Ballroom in Des Moines for "another drunken night of revelry and soiled underwear." Read more...
