Over the past year, thrash metal veterans Testament have put on some dynamite shows, both as headliners and opening for Judas Priest, Heaven and Hell and Motorhead on the Metal Masters tour. But as accomplished and proficient as they've become, they were, perhaps, even more aggressive, hungry and explosive 20 years ago, as evidenced by the worldwide premiere of the full-length, 10-song Live at Eindhoven '87 album, which comes out April 14 on Prosthetic Records. (click "more" to hear a track from the album and read liner notes penned by guitarist Alex Skolnick) Read more...
photo by Jon Wiederhorn
Less than three days after Metallica exited the Grammy Awards with a handful of trophies, the thrash metal veterans have added another feather to their collective cap by winning this week's "Your Vote Counts."
HeadbangersBlog.com readers chose Metallica over Machine Head, Judas Priest, Opeth and Slayer to clinch an encore spot for "All Nightmare Long" on the next "Headbangers Ball," which airs Saturday night between 2. a.m. and 3 a.m. on MTV2. Read more...
Due to a clerical error, Misery Index's video for "Traitors" didn't actually appear on last week's edition of "Headbangers Ball" even though it was on the playlist. We aim to make up for that snafu by including the clip in this week's lineup -- especially since you guys chose them as the winner of this week's "Your Vote Counts." Read more...
photo courtesy of www.photobucket.com
We've almost reached the end of 2008, and we gotta say it was a good year for metal. The genre continued to grow and diversify, as best exemplified, perhaps, by the top headbanging fest of the year, Rockstar Energy Mayhem. In a single day of Mayhem, fans could witness mainstream extreme metal (Slipknot), mainstream regular metal (Disturbed, Five Finger Death Punch), power metal (Dragonforce), lumbering prog/doom metal (Mastodon), contemporary thrash (Machine Head), deathcore (Job For a Cowboy), pre-deathcore/hardcore (The Red Chord), alt-metalcore (36 Crazyfists), female-fronted metalcore (Walls of Jericho) Christian metal/hardcore (Underoath) and hard rock (Airbourne, Black Tide). Read more...
Tags 2008, ac/dc, Gojira, guns-n-roses, Headbangers Ball, Heaven-And-Hell, heavy-metal, Judas Priest, Metal Masters, Metallica, Motörhead, Rockstar Energy Mayhem, Slipknot, Testament
What Testament singer Chuck Billy probably looked like at Metal Masters
Note to package tour bands: If you're not one of the top two acts on the bill and you want to play to as many fans as possible, be sure to post your correct set time on your MySpace.
For Saturday's Metal Masters show at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey we trusted Testament's MySpace to let us know what time the band took the stage. Yeah, we definitely should have called the band's publicist or checked with the venue, but considering how ambitious and responsible Testament usually are we figured if they listed their set time as 8 p.m. then that's what time they'd start their performance.
That being the case, we decided to get to the venue by 7:45, but since the parking lots were full by the time we arrived, we had to walk about a quarter mile. And right at the stroke of 8 p.m. we hear music echoing from the arena. Since we were still a block and a half away, it was hard to make out exactly what song Testament were playing, but it sounded kinda like... "The Mob Rules" by Black Sabbath. Read more...
photo by Jon Wiederhorn
The day after those colorful fireworks lit up the sky, we had our own explosions on "Headbangers Ball," with debuts of Lair of the Minotaur's "War Metal Battle Master," Municipal Waste's "Sadistic Magician," and Lamb of God's "Walk with Me in Hell" (from their new DVD of the same name). Now, we're asking you to pick one of 'em -- or some other new video we played -- to return for next week's program.
The rules are simple. Submit your choice from the list below by 2 p.m. on Wednesday, July 9. Feel free to include a comment, which may be published when we announce the winner. Past "Your Vote Counts" winners are not eligible, which is why last week's victor, Cryptopsy and Black Dahlia Murder have not been included on the last. Viewers who vote more than once will be disqualified. Click "more" to see this week's choices: Read more...
Tags boris, Cryptopsy, Emmure, Headbangers Ball, Judas Priest, Lair of the Minotaur, Lamb-of-God, Municipal Waste, Straight Line Stitch, The Black Dahlia Murder, Your Vote Counts
One of the wittiest, funniest and most irreverent comedians of all time is gone. George Carlin, whose acerbic humor inadvertently helped the U.S. Supreme Court determine which seven dirty words couldn't be said on television in his bit "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television," died of heart failure on Sunday in a hospital in Santa Monica. He was 71.
The New York Times has printed a lengthy, insightful obituary that's worth a read. And here are a couple Carlin quotes about heavy metal that The Times seems to have missed. Read more...
It's not hard to tell which Nostradamus Quatrain Judas Priest's new video "War" is about. As Jim Morrison sang so long ago: "This is the end/your only friend/the end." "War" illustrates the apocalypse biblical-style with computer animation that looks like an ass-kicking new video game.
The vid features witches practicing magic then being burned at the stake, a tyrannical ruler exerting fascist control, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse storming through the sky, fire spreading across the earth, winged beasts reigning destruction and lots more imagery that would have make Hieronymus Bosch giddy with delight. Priest are nowhere to be found in the clip -- neither in actual nor animated form -- but their operatic new music echoes through the video, creating a thunderous soundtrack for the devastation.
Click "more" to see it for yourself, then watch it again on Saturday's "Headbangers Ball": Read more...
Professionally shot snippets of Judas Priest playing "Nostradamus" at last weekend's Download Festival has been posted on the festival's official Web site as part of a video montage that also features Kiss, Bullet For My Valentine and Madina Lake. (click "more" to see Rob's blinding costume). Read more...
In part three of our exclusive interview with Judas Priest, singer Rob Halford and guitarists Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing talk more about their new album and discuss the prophecies of Nostradamus, revealing how the guy was buried standing up and how he insisted his corpse contain an ornament with the date he claimed grave robbers would dig him up. They also talk about the early years of the band and the dues they paid, which contributed to their determination to succeed and, ultimately, their longevity. Click "more" to see the clips: Read more...
