When we first clicked onto the link for UVTV's best live videos of 2008 we weren't too impressed. The 35-minute-long video stream started off with Lynam, an Aerosmith-inspired band we've never heard of and never care to hear from again. Next came a video of a trudging, screamy group called Caustic that have hair styles, tattoos and attitude, but couldn't write a decent riff if they had guns to their heads. Then came the sea of mediocrity of Sea of Treachery, which destroy any chance of listenability with drums that drown out everything but the routine vocal metalcore roar. We were about to give up and move on, but we're glad we didn't because the last two-thirds of the video stream feature track after track of spine-grating goodness.
The redemption begins with A Life Once Lost's "Firewater Joyride," and proceeds through a firestorm of quality noise that includes, Genghis Tron's jittery "Things Don't Look Good," Evergreen Terrace's rockin' "Wolfbiker" and Dillinger Escape Plan's "Fix Your Face," which could teach Caustic the meaning of their band name. The stream finishes up with Origin's visceral "Staring From the Abyss" and Dying Fetus' pulverizing "Schematics." There's also Thy Will Be Done's "In the Name Of" sandwiched in there, but you might wanna skip that; we've heard better MySpace deathcore at high school talent shows. Click "more" to watch it all, even the crappy ones. Read more...
On Saturday night while many of you were getting ready to watch "Headbangers Ball" on MTV2, Dillinger Escape Plan were tearing a new hole in the side of New York City's The Studio at Webster Hall. During the show, which marked the Big Apple debut of new drummer Billy Rymer (ex-The Rivalry), the band played a bludgeoning, acrobatic set that included pretty faithful covers of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" and Living Colour's "Cult of Personality. Click "more" to watch videos of both as well as three other songs. Read more...
Sadly, Ozzy was unable to make the Screaming Metal gig
Before you tune in to MTV2 tonight at 2 a.m. to catch "Headbangers Ball," if you're in the New York/New Jersey area you might wanna hightail it over to Dingbatz in Clifton, New Jersey to catch Talking Metal podcast dudes John Ostronomy and Mark Strigl rocking out onstage with ex-members of Hades, Alan Tecchio, Dan Lorenzo, and Ron Lipnicki (who is now the drummer in Overkill) and a bunch of special guests playing a killer set of '80s covers. (Click "more" to watch a video of the band rehearsing for the show). Read more...
Igor Cavalera likes to keep it in the family. When he isn't bashing heads with his brother Max in Cavalera Conspiracy he's opening minds minds with his wife Laima Leyton in his heavy electronic dance project Mix Hell. Click "more" to see the duo in action. Read more...
Swedish melodic metal band Soilwork have released a video for the song "20 More Miles," the second clip from their latest album, Sworn to a Great Divide, which came out in 2007.
The video was recorded by Olle Carlsson during the band's recent world tour, and features footage from Australia, Japan Russia and Malaysia. Soilwork's North American tour with Darkane, Warbringer and Swallow the Sun launches January 30 in Rochester, New York. Click "more" to watch the video. Read more...
Praise be to Jah! A full-length Bad Brains documentary is finally on the way, and it looks like it's gonna rock from D.C. to Jamaica and around the world, wherever peace and weed are sold.
The yet-untitled film was directed by Mandy Stein and Ben Logan and traces the history of the band from their formation in Washington, D.C. in 1979 to the present day. In addition to tons of footage from the band's vault, the movie includes interviews with all four members (vocalist HR, guitarist Dr. Know, bassist Darryl Jenifer and drummer Earl Hudson) and their manager Anthony Countey, as well as testimonials from Henry Rollins, ex-Minor Threat and Fugazi vocalist Ian MacKaye, ex-Minor Threat guitarist Lyle Preslar, ex-Cro Mags vocalist Jon Joseph and guitarist Harley Flanagan, Murphys Law guitarist Jimmy Gestapo and Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch, who produced Bad Brains 2007 album Build a Nation.
In addition to giving birth to the hardcore movement with their song "Pay to Cum" and inspiring all of the aforementioned musicians in the process, the Bad Brains had a huge influence on a new breed of late '80 and early '90s metal bands, including Living Colour, Faith No More, 24-7 Spyz and Fishbone. While the Bad Brains flick is currently in post-production, it will be ready for release in a Jamaican minute. Click "more" to watch a preview. Read more...
Odin seems to be on the side of Norwegian Pagan warriors, Enslaved. The band just won its third Spellmann Award (Norway's equivalent to a Grammy) for Best Metal Album for 2008's Vertebrae, marking the third time in the last half-decade that the band has taken top honors. Enslaved beat out Keep of Kalessin's Kolossus and Benea Reach's Alleviat to win the award. Read more...
For those of you who aren't sure what the hell Trivium frontman Matt Heafy is talking about in the band's new single "Throes of Perdition," "hell" is the operative word. Throes of perdition literally means "struggle of eternal damnation," which is something of which Trivium seem to have been spared. Read more...
All-star supergroup, Camp Freddy, performed on January 19 at the Sundance Film Festival at Harry O's in Park City, Utah and during the show they were joined by Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor The Cult guitarist Billy Duffy, ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons and others. The group, which usually performs in Los Angeles, features ex-Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro (who couldn't make the Utah show), ex-Jane's Addiction bassist Chris Chaney, ex-The Cult bassist Billy Morrison, Velvet Revolver drummer Matt Sorum and Donovan Leitch. Click "more" to watch Taylor belting out Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell" with the band. All we can say is we're glad this wasn't his audition tape for Slipknot. Read more...
Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan has posted footage on his MySpace of a staged press conference about the first schedule concerts by his side project Puscifer. The shows themselves will take place February 13 to 15 in Las Vegas at the Pearl concert theater at the Palms Casino.
The humorous clip was filmed in black and white by Mike King of Flea Circus Films and depicts Keenan as a military general answering inane questions by clueless journalists, two of which mispronounce the band's name. A third is more interested in finding out information about Tool and A Perfect Circle than he is in learning anything about Puscifer.
Laura Milligan, Paul Greenberg, Jackie Harris, Paul Koslowski, Mark Fight and Ron Lynch co-star in the video, which Keenan describes as "sort of a Dr. Strangelove spoof." Click more to watch. Read more...
