Starting this weekend, "Headbangers Ball" will begin eight days of special programming leading up to the exclusive premiere of the Epiphone Revolver Golden Gods Awards, which airs Saturday, May 22 at 11 p.m.
On Saturday, April 25 we've got a Golden Gods Awards preview special on "Headbangers Ball" that'll air at 2 a.m. on MTV2. The show will feature music videos from all of the Golden Gods performers -- Megadeth, Killswitch Engage, Hatebreed, All That Remains and Suicide Silence -- as well as behind-the-scenes footage from the event itself, the first ever metal awards show on U.S. soil, which took place on April 7 at Club Nokia in Los Angeles, California.
Click "more" for the full schedule of next week's special Golden Gods programming and our review of the show. Read more...
Sweeping this week's "Your Vote Counts" is Hatebreed's tremendous cover of Slayer's "Ghosts of War." The video will return to the next episode of "Headbangers Ball," which airs Saturday from 2 to 3 a.m. on MTV2.
"I have to admit, the Hatebreed video really surprised me, So I'm going with them," wrote GVOLTT, echoing the sentiments of other readers impressed by the band's ability to pay homage to Slayer and still express their own artistic vision.
Click "more" to watch the video plus a full Hatebreed concert from 2007's Hovefestivalen. Read more...
Vinnie Paul with Hatebreed's Jamey Jasta
photo by Jon Wiederhorn
Between interviewing the Revolver Golden Gods Awards performers -- Megadeth, Killswitch Engage, Hatebreed and Suicide Silence -- posting entries about the event, reviewing the actual show and hanging with the heavies, we were able to shoot a couple dozen photos as the bangers walked the black carpet an hour or so before showtime. Click more to see close-up shots of members of Slayer, Megadeth, Alice in Chains, Motorhead, Bleeding Through, Job For a Cowboy and more. Read more...
Tags anthrax, Bleeding Through, dave-mustaine, Hatebreed, Jamey Jasta, Job For a Cowboy, Jonny Davy, Killswitch-Engage, Lemmy Kilmister, Machine-Head, Marta, Megadeth, Motörhead, Scott Ian, Slayer, Suicide Silence, Tom Araya, Vinnie-Paul
Slayer guitarist Kerry King with Anthrax axeman Scott Ian backstage at Golden Gods
photo by Jon Wiederhorn
"Holy f-ck, I've never seen a circle pit at an awards ceremony before" joked metal-bred comic Brian Posehn ("The Sarah Silverman Show"), who hosted the First Annual Epiphone Revolver Golden Gods Awards, which was held Tuesday night at Club Nokia in Los Angeles.
The reason Posehn has never seen it is because it hasn't happened -- at least not in the U.S. The Epiphone Revolver Golden Gods marked the first large scale metal awards show ever in the States, and all corners of the metal community united to pay tribute to the music that has fired up hearts, stirred souls and changed lives. The highlight of the night was headliner Megadeth, whose crushing, polished three-song set of "Peace Sells," "Sweating Bullets" and "Holy Wars" was virtuosic, kinetic and undeniably sincere -- the perfect cap to an evening of heavy metal celebration. Read more...
There are traditional Slayer fans who wear Reign in Blood t-shirts twice a week, there are extremists who do crazy things like carve the band's name in their arms and then there are the closet devotees -- people you'd never peg as fans, but who might actually appreciate the band's music more than anyone. Nadja's frontman Aidan Baker and bassist Leah Buckareff fall into this latter category.
The Toronto-based experimental doom/drone band have expressed their kinship with Slayer not through their appearance, but with a radical revision of "Dead Skin Mask" from Slayer's 1990 legendary album Seasons in the Abyss.
Click "More" to download an MP3 of the creepy cover and read Baker's comments about the song. Read more...
Metal isn't the only thing lurking on Unearth vocalist Trevor Phipps' iPod, but judging from this random sample, if he's gonna listen to thrash, it's gotta be old-school: Hence Slayer's "Black Magic," Entombed's "Hollowman" and Anthrax's "N.F.B." Phipps is also into more cutting-edge stuff like Protest the Hero and Scissorfight, not to mention quirky alternative music including Portishead, Bjork and Flaming Lips. Plus, there's some cool punk, country, crooner music and classic rock. The only embarrassment we see is Dave Matthews' "Trouble." We hope we're reading that wrong and it's really a song by Trouble called "Dave Matthews," but that seems really unlikely. Bonus points for George Carlin's "Familiar Expressions," which kinda evens out the Dave Matthews thing. On a scale of 100, we give Phipps' Random Shuffle a 90 for openminded metal fans and a 70 for metalcore purists. Click "more" to see the list and watch a video by one of the artists -- not Dave Matthews! Read more...
Tags 3, anthrax, Code Seven, Entombed, Integrity, Killswitch-Engage, Life of Agony, Protest the Hero, Scissorfight, Slayer, Trevor Phipps, Unearth
Who woulda thought Gwar bassist Beefcake the Mighty would be able to remove his spiked anvil helmet enough to slip some iPod earbuds into his space alien orifices let alone take our Random Shuffle test seriously enough to include some of his actual iPod listening material on his list.
It's pretty awesome that the beast has a Dethklok track on there, given that his band and theirs share certain cartoonish elements. We're also impressed by the inclusion of Lard, Carcass and The Clash. But if Beefcake has a sense of humor, what is he doing listening to Dane Cook? On a scale of one to 100, we give Beefcake the Mighty's list an 82 for listenability. Click more to see Beef's full 20-song random sampler and watch a video from one of the bands on his list. 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...
When we were young, we once saw an advertisement for a concert featuring Slayer, Venom and Exodus at the disco club Studio 54 in New York City. At the time we thought this was the heaviest, most insane metal bill ever conceived. Of course, that was 1985, and since then band after band have redefined the very definition of heavy, Since then, we've seen Possessed rip it up with Dark Angel, and we've watched Napalm Death, Carcass and Morbid Angel tear it up together on an Earache showcase, not to mention Deicide sharing a bill with, Obituary, Malevolent Creation and Cannibal Corpse. Read more...
Tags Cannibal Corpse, Carcass, Cattle Decapitation, Cephalic Carnage, Deicide, Exodus, Malevolent Creation, Marduk, Mayhem, Morbid Angel, napalm-death, Obituary, Slayer, venom, Withered
We were intrigued when Slayer announced last week that they'd be touring this summer with Marilyn Manson. The two hit the road together in 2007 and, at the time, we remember insisting the Manson would be dropping off the tour before it ended. That never happened even though Manson went on after Slayer every night, a foolhardy move for even the heaviest, most charismatic band. Sure enough, lots of Slayer's fans hit the exits after the thrash veterans got offstage, but something interesting happened. Just when it seemed like Manson would be playing for a half empty house, the goth metal dudes and dudettes arrived in droves and, it seems, everyone got their money's worth. (Click "more" to hear our podcast interview with Slayer frontman Tom Araya). Read more...
