'Tis a time of celebration and mourning for fans of industrial metal. We celebrate because on September 18 Ministry will release their ferocious, scathing new record The Last Sucker. Yet we mourn because it will be the band's last full-length studio album.

"I'm really on the top of my game right now, so I just decided it would be nice to end on a high note instead of keep releasing sh--ty albums well into my 60s," frontman Al Jourgensen told MTVnews.com's Metal File.

Fortunately, Jourgensen's not about to let Ministry go out with anything less than the impact of a neutron bomb on the White House lawn. Like Ministry's past two records, 2004's Houses of the Mole and 2006's Rio Grande Blood, The Last Sucker is thrashy, metallic and packed with anti-Bush sentiment that echoes through both the distorted vocals and the manipulated political speech snippets. "Obviously, my muse for the past six years has been George W., and he's going to be riding off into the sunset soon, so I figured I'd just go out with him," joked Jourgensen.

In addition to perpetuating the lyrical vibe of the last two Ministry albums, the new disc taps into various sonic elements from throughout Ministry's career, including the mechanized precision of 1988's The Land of Rape and Honey, the blowtorch fury of 1992's Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed & the Way to Suck Eggs, and the hazy, lumbering rage of 1995's Filth Pig. But while The Last Sucker is a fitting summation of all things Ministry, Jourgensen said he was just doing what comes naturally.

"Me, [Prong guitarist] Tommy Victor and [Killing Joke bassist] Raven just went in and jammed, and the only idea that we had going in was that we didn't have any ideas," Jourgensen said. "This is definitely a fitting end to it all, but that's just the way it came out."

Ministry started writing The Last Sucker in February and were done by June -- not bad coming from a guy that used to spent months at a time working on single song. "The old Ministry records took a long time partially because of drug-induced lethargy, but also because I was still learning my craft and experimenting with a lot of things," Jourgensen said. "But now we're a bunch of old grumps and we know what we want, we know what we sound like and we're pretty comfortable in our skins. So we can have a good time and still knock out a record really quickly that everyone's 100 percent happy with."

And just because Ministry can now knock out a killer album in just a few months doesn't mean Jourgensen is spending a lot of time sitting on his ass. In fact, he's working harder than ever. As soon as he finished The Last Sucker, he started putting together songs for an upcoming disc of Ministry covers - some new, some old - called Cover Up. The album will feature various guests, including: Wayne Static from Static-X singing "I Want You" by The Beatles, Robin Zander from Cheap Trick on Golden Earring's "Radar Love," Burton Bell from Fear Factory on The Rolling Stones' "Under My Thumb" and Victor on Mountain's "Mississippi Queen" (Mountain guitarist Leslie West plays guitar on the track). Cover Up will also include previously released covers of Black Sabbath's "Supernaut," Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay" The Doors' "Roadhouse Blues (which is on The Last Sucker and Magazine's "The Light That Pours out of Me."

For the full interview with Jourgensen, which also contains details about the upcoming Ministry tour as well as what's going on with Revolting Cocks and Ascension of the Watchers (which features Fear Factory members Burton Bell and John Bechdel), check out this week's Metal File.

And now, feast your peepers on Ministry's video for "No W":

Full Blown Chaos might have well called their forthcoming album Get in the Ring instead of Heavy Lies the Crown; the New York hardcore band doesn't mince words when it comes to people that have crossed it.

"You f--- with someone in this band, and you're going to end up with a song about you," singer Ray Mazzola told MTVnews.com's Metal File. "There will be people who'll read these lyrics, and they'll know the song's about them — they'll read it and go, 'Ouch.' Some of the actual lyrics are from letters I'd written to people, and e-mails, just basically confirming or cutting off friendships. I have no qualms with putting that into my music, because that's who I am. I can't deny myself. If you deny yourself, then who are you? I'm a person, an individual, and I have very strong emotions towards things. It's time people see what's been going on this last year."

Lots of changes have taken place since the band's gigs at last year's Ozzfest. First, Full Blown cut ties with Hatebreed ringleader Jamey Jasta's Stillborn. The band was subsequently signed by Ferret, which will release Heavy Lies the Crown August 21. The set — produced by Biohazard's Billy Graziadei — features a dozen tracks, including "The Hard Goodbye," "Fail Like a Champ" and "Raise Hell."

If nothing else, Mazzola's loose mouth and strong opinions have taught him who his real friends area and how soul-draining the machinations of the music business can be.

"There have been a lot of people who were supposed to be in our corner fighting for us that just totally neglected the situation," he told Metal File. "We were throwing punches, and they should have been holding our back the whole time. They weren't. The album's title refers to a friend who we came up [with] ... going to shows, doing our thing, pushing our bands. One person went one way and one person went the other way. You can go the one way and remember where you came from, or you can go the other way and manipulate situations for your own greedy endeavors. And that's what's happened."

For the full unflinching interview with Mazzola, and more metal news than will fit in James Gandolfini's belly, check out this week's installment of Metal File.

When Tucson, Arizona Warped band The American Black Lung were in El Paso, Texas for a gig, they didn't expect to see Mexicans trying to cross the border and they certainly hadn't anticipated watching a dude at their hotel try to kill himself. But unexpected surprises and extreme situations are just two of the fringe benefits of being in a touring rock band.

"This hotel was the same hotel that booked the show," frontman Diamond Rhino told MTVnews.com's Metal File "The show was going to be in the bar of the hotel — already a bad idea. I can see people running across the border in the distance, and we're just yelling, 'Run,' at them and, 'Go for it.'" As the members of American Black Lung, whose music combines metal, hardcore and garage punk, stood outside of the three-story hotel cheering, they saw the kind of thing that usually only happens in David Lynch movies.

"All of a sudden, this dude jumps from the third story and lands on the concrete," Rhino recalled. "His leg [was] pointing in a direction that a human leg should not point. We called 911, but it took a little while for the police to show up."

While American Black Lung waited for the authorities to take control of the situation, they did what any concerned citizens might do. They had a little fun at the victim's expense.
"We decided it was a good time for a photo-op," explained Rhino. "All of us collectively stand around this dude, and start taking, like, posse pictures. This dude's so f---ed up, he doesn't even know what's going on. He's not feeling any pain at all, and we're there giving the thumbs up with our arms around him — I think he did in one photo, too. I do look at those pictures on a regular basis and giggle."

It was this one incident, Rhino continued, "when I finally realized being in a rock and roll band is fun."

For the rest of the interview with American Black Lung and more metal news than you can fit inside your shorts, check out this week's Metal File.

When it comes to drummers and Nashville's acrobatic noise-metal band Today is the Day, nine seems to be the magic number.

The group, which has been putting out albums since 1992, recently hired its ninth, and, according to frontman Steve Austin, best drummer yet. Derek Roddy, who has played with Nile, Malevolent Creation and Hate Eternal, came aboard and his multidimensional playing has allowed the band to explore a new realm of sonic terrorism for the band's upcoming album, Axis of Eden, which comes out September 18.

"He does some of the most extreme and inventive extreme playing I've ever heard," Austin told MTVnews.com's Metal File. "His style is his own and you can't pin him down to one genre of music. He's so super-versatile it blows my mind."Finding Roddy wasn't simply a matter of putting out up a "drummer wanted" ad in the local Guitar Center after the departure of Mike Rossweg (ex-Circle of Dead Children), who played on 2004's Kiss the Pig, but quit because he didn't want to tour. First the band hired Jeff Lohrber, who played in the group for eight months before leaving in November 2005 because of "personal and music differences with Austin." His successor, Graham Leduc, lasted just long enough to record demos for Axis of Eden. And, other dudes were auditioned before Roddy offered his services.

"He's so dedicated it's amazing," Austin said. "When he first contacted me, I said, 'Do you want to hear a copy of the songs before you commit to doing it?' and he said, 'No, are you kidding me? We're doing this. I'm down. I'm not just gonna play in the studio. I love Today is the Day and I want to make it clear that I'm in this band and doing sh-- with you.' And I was like, 'Damn, that's exactly what I need.' "The writing process for Axis of Eden started three years ago and Austin, who produced the record, began tracking late last year. The album was mostly recorded by January, and Austin has spent the last seven months tweaking and finessing the cuts. Tracks include "No Lung Baby," "Free at Last," "If You Want Peace, Prepare for War" and "IED." Austin isn't quite gearing up to take on Al Jourgensen in the "anti-Bush sweepstakes," but he said he just couldn't keep quiet about the sorry state of the world.

"This album definitely has a military and militant feeling to it," he told Metal File. "I'm just trying to expose what's really going on right now with planet Earth. The title is obviously a play on the term 'axis of evil,' and it's a reference to the religious right in America and the power and control they have over things that are going on within government."

For the complete interview with Today is the Day and far more metal news than you'll get from CNN, check out this week's edition of Metal File.

Over the last seven years, New Jersey's Nora have been an influential force in the metalcore community. Their music helped pave the wave for bands like Underoath and Norma Jean, and frontman Carl Severson has used his business acumen to launch Ferret records, one of the biggest labels of the genre. So, why have Nora been unable to win over the new generation of metalcore fans?; since its June 19 release, the band's new record Save Yourself has sold just 1,225 copies.

"Some of these songs are really slow and cool, which is something we've never really done before," Severson told MTVnews.com's Metal File. "We didn't go out to try to emulate any of the newer, younger bands, to stay relative. We went out and did what we did. We didn't write to try to keep up with the new bands. We just tried to make it a little more aggressive than the last time, to fit our mood a little more. This has quickly become my favorite record, and I think the songs are just really interesting."

Maybe one reason Save Yourself hasn't taken flight is because it's Nora's first album since 2003's Dreamers & Deadmen and many metal fans have kinda forgotten who they are. The delay was caused in part because of the band members' commitments to family and Severson's involvement with Ferret, but there was one other major factor that temporarily derailed Nora. In 2004, drummer Criss Ross' infant daughter Jordana Rose Ross tragically drowned.

"After that, for all of us, Nora just kind of took a huge back seat to life in general," Severson told Metal File. "For the next year or so, there wasn't much movement on the Nora front; we actually started writing the new record at one point back in early 2004 and ended up scrapping five songs we'd gotten through. When we did start putting it back together a year and a half later, we sat back down and just hated those songs. So, we just holed ourselves up in the basement, and we spent a lot of time writing."

While Severson admits it took a while for Nora to get back on track, he said that once they hit stride again, they started writing some of their most powerful material to date, both musically and lyrically. "The inspiration for these songs came from what we had done personally, with our lives and our surroundings — our reaction to watching life and what it turned out like after what our drummer and his family went through, and how it all affected us," Severson said. "There was a four-year lapse between records, and a lot had happened to all of us since then, and it was just kind of getting a lot of that out."

As therapeutic as that was, financially, it's a good thing Severson's got Ferret, which has played a major role in organizing the Sounds of the Underground festival and recently signed some big bands, including Chimaira, 36 Crazyfists and Full Blown Chaos. In addition, Ferret wil release Viva la Bands: Volume 2, a collection of tracks from some of Bam Margera's favorite acts

"It's awesome, because it's kind of on a totally different, more kind of semi-commercial level than most of the stuff we've done," Severson told Metal File. "We will have a brand-new track from Clutch on there, from In Flames, Children of Bodom, Placebo — we're getting to work with all these bands we haven't had a chance to work with, and they're all great bands. It's also a way to introduce Ferret to a bunch of kids who've never heard of us before."

The album is scheduled for release on September 4, and will also include CKY, GWAR, Priestess, Dimmu Borgir, A Life Once Lost and Malevolent Creation.

For the rest of the interview with Severson, and more metal news than you can fit in a gutted corpse, check out this week's Metal File.

Mindbending extreme math-metal band, The Dillinger Escape Plan, have entered Omen Room Studios in Los Angeles to begin tracking songs with their longtime engineer Steve Evetts. Drums on the album are being recorded by Stolen Babies member Gil Sharone following the shock departure of Chris Pennie to Coheed in Cambria last month.

"We found out about him playing with Coheed on the Internet," guitarist Ben Weinman told MTVnews.com's Metal File. "[Frontman] Greg [Puciato] forwarded me a link to an announcement, and I'm like, 'What?!?' At that point, though, he was just going to record with them — it wasn't like he wasn't going to play with us, but we were questioning keeping him in the band every day because it was embarrassing. But obviously, we felt that his talent was so needed for the band that we tried to make it work, and we let him go through this little midlife crisis or whatever it was, because we never thought he'd join that band over this band. It doesn't make sense. They're not Linkin Park. If you're going to sell out, sell out, you know?"

Obviously, Weinman is still baffled and pissed off, and he's not about to hold his tongue. "It's unbelievable," he continued. "And the funny thing is, before all of this started going down, he used to make fun of that band left and right. He'd imitate [Coheed frontman Claudio Sanchez's] voice and would say, 'They f---ing suck' and all this sh--. It's funny, because everybody just looks at us like, 'Huh?' And we had the same reaction. The other day, we were hanging out with [(+44) drummer] Travis Barker, [and] the guy we have playing drums with us now is good friends with him, and he's a big Dillinger fan, and he's like, 'What happened to your drummer?' We told him, 'He quit and joined Coheed,' and he just looked so confused."

Now that he's vented, Weinman feels like spreading dirt, and who are we to argue? He insists Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins was actually hired to play drums on Coheed's upcoming album, No World for Tomorrow, and that Pennie didn't play a recorded beat. "[He's] a fill-in drummer for Taylor Hawkins," scoffed Weinman. "He's basically the f---ing live player for that dude."

Is it finally time for Weinman to start talking about his band? Seems like it. Weinman told Metal File that since Sharone is now onboard, the band can get back to the task of making music, not talking smack and that the group's new record, Ire Works, is fixin' to be the band's most intense offering yet.

"On this record, it's just sort of like a combination of almost everything we've done in the past, but on overdrive," Weinman said. "Everything is just right. We figured it out. And everything is pretty emotional, too. Everything's really super angry, even when the music isn't all that aggressive. With these songs it's like, 'Oh, you're about to get complacent with where you're at with this song,' and then, all of a sudden, it hits you in the ass again and jerks you around. It's like being on a f---ed-up roller coaster."

Tracks on Ire Works include "Black Bubblegum," "Death's Head Moth" and "Saigon Whore," and the album is tentatively scheduled for October release.

"When Chris hears our record, he's going to feel like a real a--hole," Weinman said, shifting back into 'our-former-drummer's-a-jerk' mode. "He blew it. [Gil's] drumming is unbelievable -- some of the best drumming we've ever had on any of our records. And now, Gil is going to be known as the guy for this kind of thing. This would have been the record that set Chris up as a drumming dude — as a session guy, a clinic guy — and now, Gil's already got all these companies doing ads based on him playing on this record."

Take that, Chris.

For the full interview with Dillinger Escape Plan (with even more grousing) and the rest of this week's metal news check out this week's Metal File.

Kosmos, the new band from Voivod drummer Michel "Away" Langevin isn't exactly metal. The band's meandering soundcapes and interstellar jams are more influenced by Krautrock groups like Can, Faust and Neu! "With a name like Kosmos, I hope people are expecting something pretty experimental," Langevin told MTVnews.com's Metal File. "[Late Voivod guitarist Denis] 'Piggy' [D'Amour] and I had been listening to this kind of music since the mid-'70s. I've always enjoyed these bands that create strange progressive music mixed with avant-garde stuff, so I figured, 'Well, why not put together a band like that?' "

Kosmos came together in early 2006 when Langevin hooked up with Paradise guitarist Jetphil, Groovy Aardvark and Grim Skunk bassist Vincent Peake and keyboardist/programmer Alex Crow. Then, special guests were brought in; Xavier Caféïne from Caféïne sang on a cover of Gong's "Much Too Old" and Lucien Francoeur of '70s avant garde band Aut'Chose contributed spoken word on "Amerique Innavouable."

"Piggy and I actually helped re-form Aut'Chose with the original guitar player and singer for a one-show, one-album kind of thing," Langevin told Metal File. "And we played a few shows with them in 2005. It was actually the last show Piggy played before he took ill."

The band's self-titled disc (out September 4) was recorded piecemeal at the members homes over a nine month period. In addition to revealing their love for playing, Kosmos also reveals the musicians' obscure record collections. "It's so experimental, we didn't think anyone would be interested," Langevin says. "And then The End Records got back to us and ended up singing us for three albums. So now we are writing new material. It's specifically a very fun project that turned more serious than we expected."

For the complete Kosmos interview and the rest of this week's metal news, check out MTVnews.com's Metal File.

And for Voivod's "The Getaway" video, check this out:

Voivod "The Getaway" The End Records

Posted Jan 19, 2007

Voivod "The Getaway" The End Records

So far this year, the lords of the underworld have vomited forth some impressive black metal offerings by Dimmu Borgir, Mayhem, Marduk and Immortal, to name a few. But one of the most vibrant, entrancing and experimental discs, Sigh's Hangman's Hymn will sadly fall under the radar of all but the most comprehensive black metal enthusiasts. And that's a frickin' crime.

Japanese quintet, Sigh, are endlessly creative and refuse to adhere to the parameters of their peers. Since their emergence in 1993 with Scorn Defeat, they've dressed their adventurous songs with jazz twists, psychedelic interludes and orchestral flourishes, using a wide variety of instruments, including violins, horns, bells, keyboards, choirs.

Hangman's Hymn is even more adventurous, forsaking elements of jazz and psychedelia and presenting the entire album like a majestic black metal opera. The album is divided into three "acts" that representing elements of greed on earth, torture in hell, and the solemnity of death, and frontman Mirai Kawashima says his primary influences were classical composers including Wagner, Weber, Mozart and Beethoven.

"Good opera is so emotional and powerful," Kawashima tells MTVnews.com's Metal File. "And that's what I was inspired by. A lot of black-metal bands use keyboards and strings for embellishments. But the keyboard parts and orchestration on Hangman's Hymn are not embellishments. They are as important to the songs as the guitars, bass and drums. So even though it's very metal, you can say it's pretty much classical music as well."

Just because Sigh draw heavily from classical music doesn't mean they lack the rage of some of their less creative peers. Hangman's Hymn is fast and brutal, intertwining orchestrating into a web of contempt that could burn a hole through the side of Underoath's tour bus.

"I hate 99 percent of the people on this earth," Kawashima tells Metal File. "I hate weak people who have to cling to fairy tales like religion, and I hate greedy people that have nothing more than making money in their head. I just want all of them to die."

For the complete interview with Sigh and all of this week's metal news, check out this week's edition of MTVnews.com's Metal File.

Here's the latest from MTVnews.com's esteemed Metal File:

Antarctica space warriors Gwar just can't get enough killing, so they're planning to continue painting the ground blood-red this summer at numerous Sounds of the Underground off dates. First the group will play warm-up shows July 2 in Memphis; July 3 in Tulsa, Oklahoma; and July 4-5 in Dallas, where the Sounds tour begins July 6. Then, there will be five Gwar concerts between scheduled festival shows (July 9 in Mobile, Alabama; July 17 in Johnson City, New York; July 25 in Fargo, North Dakota; August 2 in Reno, Nevada; and August 9 in Kansas City, Missouri). Finally, after Sounds ends August 11 in Louisville, Kentucky, Gwar will play four more gut-spilling gigs, starting August 12 in Millvale, Pennsylvania, and ending August 15 in Richmond, Virginia. ...

Machine Head took top honors in two categories at the Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards, which took place last week in London. The band won Album of the Year and frontman Robb Flynn was named Golden God. Other winners included:Lamb of God(Best Live Band); Killswitch Engage (Best International Band); Heaven and Hell (Best Comeback); Job for a Cowboy (Best Underground Band); Slayer (Icon); Bullet for My Valentine (Best UK Band); Avenged Sevenfold(Best Video - "Seize the Day"); Slash (Riff Lord); Mastodon's Bill Kelliher and Brent Hinds (Shredder); and Napalm Death (Spirit of Hammer). Needless to say, gallons of mead were consumed and trophies were presented by Beelzebub himself. ...

Heaven and Hell (a.k.a. Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio) will return to the U.S. for a fall tour starting September 5 in Binghamton, New York. Dates are scheduled through October 2 in Fresno, California, and Alice Cooper and Queensrÿche will open all shows. ... Thrash-metal documentary "Get Thrashed: The Story of Thrash Metal" won Grand Prize at the San Antonio Underground Film Festival. The Festival will present its top award to director Rick Ernst on Saturday at the movie's screening at the city's Aztec Theater. "I am proud, honored and could not be more excited to win the award and to screen the film in front of San Antonio's legions of metalheads," Ernst said in a statement. ...

If you're gonna be in Denver tomorrow, you might wanna drop in at Independent Records for a late lunch sometime between 2 and 4 p.m. That's when Cephalic Carnage will be fire-roasting a whole goat to feed to the hungry masses. And we thought really evil bands were supposed to praise the goat, not cook it. After the feasting, Cephalic Carnage will play the Summer Slaughter Tour, which also features Decapitated, Cattle Decapitation, Arsis, As Blood Runs Black, the Faceless, Ion Dissonance and Beneath the Massacre. Dates are scheduled through July 10 in Philadelphia.

The new Through the Eyes of the Dead album, Malice, will be released August 21. The disc was recorded with Erik Rutan (Cannibal Corpse, Goatwhore) and is the band's first to feature singer Nate Johnson, who replaces Anthony Gunnels. ... The debut album from Montreal band the Agonist, Once Only Imagined, will come out August 14. Director David Brodsky recently shot a video for the album track "Business Suits and Combat Boots."

Check out the rest of this week's MTVnews.com Metal File, including a new interview with Behemoth.

It's easy to understand why Glenn Danzig chose to include covers of T. Rexx's "Buick McKane" and " the Germs' "Caught in My Eye" on his new double-disc of b-sides and previously unreleased songs, "The Lost Tracks of Danzig." But it's not so simple to figure out what David Bowie's "Cat People (Putting Out Fire) is doing on there.

"I love that song. It's a great song," he told MTVnews.com's Metal File, making it perfectly clear that no further explanation was necessary. "I made it a little more rocker heavy and it was fun to do."

In addition to the three covers, there's a treasure trove of originals that date back to the
Danzig's final days in Samhain, the band he was in before forming Danzig in 1984. "Pain is Like and Animal" and "Death Had No Nam" were both written from that period. "I included two versions of 'When Death Has No Name' because I wanted to show how it developed," he said. "The first recording was really broad and very produced and the other one is more raw. I think we recorded that song at every Danzig session up until [1992's] Danzig III: How the Gods Kill."

Other highlights include the trudging, buzzing "Lady Lucifera," which was recorded for Circle of Snakes, but never used; the haunting, shimmering "Warlok," penned for 1996's Blackacidevil; and the slithering blues workout "Crawl Across the Killing Floor," which was written for 1999's 6:66 Satan's Child.

"I already shot a video for that one," Danzig said. "It would have been great if it could have been on the original album, but it wasn't done in time. You start working on a record and you get involved with some songs more intensely and the earlier stuff just gets left behind."

Also included on The Lost Tracks of Danzig is "White Devil Rise," a track that surely would have provoked significant controversy had it been released in Danzig's commercial heyday.The track was penned over a decade ago about Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. "He said some inflammatory things at the time and Rick [Rubin] and I started talking and he said I should write a song about a race war. Farrakhan calls us 'The White Devil.' Well, I, personally, don't have a problem being called that. But no one wants to see a race war. It would be terrible, so the song's saying, 'Be careful what you wish for.'"

For the rest of the interview with Glenn Danzig and the rest of this week's metal news, check out MTVnews.com's Metal File.

And now check out the video for Danzig's "Dirty Black Summer":