Joey Jordison Leaves Slipknot: Is Slipknot No More?

December 13th, 2013 by Luke

It’s been confirmed. Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison has left the band.

The band have taken down their websites front page and left a brief message to their fans about the drummers departure.

Slipknot’s Official Statement

The statement reads: “To our Maggots and fans around the world. It is with great pain but quiet respect, that for personal reasons Joey Jordison and Slipknot are parting ways. We all wish Joey the best in whatever his future holds. We understand that many of you will want to know how and why this has come to be, and we will do our best to respond to these questions in the near future. It is our love for all of you, as well as for the music we create, that spurs us to continue on and move forward with our plans for releasing new material in the next year. We hope that all of you will come to understand this, and we appreciate your continued support while we plan the next phase of the future of Slipknot. Thank you, The ‘Knot.”

The End Of Slipknot

Several other sites have posted the news about Joey Jordison leaving his long time position in Slipknot already. So we’ll try to add more to the conversation than just the statement. But at this stage of the game all we have is speculation and not very many answers. So what do you think guys? What do you believe the reasons for Joey leaving Slipknot are? Was he just fed up of making music? Did he get bored of Slipknot. Do you think there was a personal conflict between him and the rest of the band?

Now that this paradime shift has occurred, what do you think is left for Slipknot? With Grey’s Death and Joey’s Departure is there much of a future left for them? Do you think this might be the end of Slipknot? Or do you think they will carry on despite such iconic members of their band no longer being part of the fold? If you’re a Slipknot fan how do you feel about what has happened? If they do carry on who do you think they’ll choose to replace him? As I said a lot of questions and not many answers, maybe you can help fill in the blanks.

In honour of Slipknot and this yet again sad day in metal music we’ve added my first experience of slipknot from early 2000. Wait and bleed. Enjoy!

Machine Head Guitarist Phil Demmel on Jackson Clinic Tour (Video)

April 26th, 2013 by Luke

Machine Head Guitarist Phil Demmel has just completed a European, Jackson-sponsored guitar clinic tour. A video of his appearance at the event at GAK (Guitar Amp & Keyboards) in Brighton, U.K. can be seen below. GAK is a shop which Machine Head celebrated Demmel’s tenth anniversary as an official member of the band earlier this month.

Phil Demmel joined Machine Head a decade after his previous band, Vio-Lence disbanded. Vio-Lence was originally formed by Robb Flynn, Machine Head’s vocalist and guitarist, and Phil Demmel when they were just teenagers. In 1992 Flynn went on to form Machine Head, then Demmel joined them in 2003.

In February Machine Head fired their bassist Adam Duce. The band’s front-man Robb Flynn explained in a post he made online: “We may have fired Adam on [February 11], but Adam quit Machine Head well over a decade ago. He just never bothered to tell anyone… but we all knew it.” Machine Head recently held auditions for a replacement bassist, but they have not yet made any official announcement as to who.

Aliases Showcase New Vocalist With “Exasperated” Video and Free Download on Bandcamp

April 25th, 2013 by Luke

Aliases (Formed by ex members of SikTh) are giving away a free download of their newly released single, “Exasperated” via Bandcamp. They have also released an awesome new video, with some very creepy twists which can be seen below. Exasperated features the band’s new vocalist Joe Rosser who I must say has an amazing set of lungs, which create some beautiful harmonies on this new 5 minute riffage fest. Speaking about Rosser as the new vocalist and addition to the bands line up guitarist Pin said:

“After things didn’t work out with our last vocalist Leigh [Dale], we put an extremely thorough process in place for selecting a new vocalist for Aliases. We had a massive number of applicants with some awesome talent come through. Joe Rosser stood out from the start returning amazing versions of tracks from our last EP, Safer Than Reality.”

Pin continued “When we met him we were all on the same wavelength as people, he seemed like he had been in the band for a long time. Next was to see how he wrote and so we gave him the track which has become Exasperated, he absolutely ripped it up. The guy is extremely versatile, has amazing pitching and rhythm and is going to bring so much to the band. This is the start of the next exciting phase of Aliases and it’s going to be hectic.”

The new video from Aliases has definitely put the band on the map for me the vocals really kill on every level.

Joe Rosser also commented about his joining the ranks of Aliases:

“It’s been great to bond with a group of musicians with the same sort of outlook on music as me. I think the moment we shared ideas we gelled together really well. Not only that but the fact that they are such great people to be around, we have become good friends. Working on the single has been so much fun.”

Rosser when on to say “From laying down ideas to progressing it to a full length song, it more or less took its course and the rest of the bend felt what I added gave it a better twist than they anticipated. Recording the video was insane. Lack of sleep, lots of energy drinks and a huge office block with a DIY bedroom set… It couldn’t have been more surreal!”

Rosser showed great admiration for the video director Ben Herbert by saying “Ben Herbert who directed it was so sound to work with and brought out the best in the ideas we had for the visual aspect of it all. I’ve admired the band for some time and never thought I could match the standard, but it seems this time I proved myself wrong and I am looking forward to a progressive future with Aliases. It’s gonna be a blast!”

Dillinger Escape Plan: When I Lost My Bet (New Music Video)

April 24th, 2013 by Luke

The Dillinger Escape Plan the insane mathcore outfit we all know and love/hate have just released their new video for “When I Lost My Bet“, which can be seen below. “When I Lost My Bet” is from Dillinger’s fifth full-length album, entitled “One Of Us Is The Killer“, due to be released on the 14th of May 2013 through Dillinger‘s own Party Smasher Inc., in partnership with the North American leg of Sumerian Records.

The album “One Of Us Is The Killer” was recorded in Southern California with longtime producer Steve Evetts (Glassjaw, Suicide Silence), with additional production being done at guitarist/co-founder Ben Weinman‘s studio. The albums Mastering will is to be taken care of by Tom Baker (Deftones, Nine Inch Nails).

The Dillinger Escape Plan frontman and vocalist Greg Puciato spoke to AOL’s Noisecreep about the bands time in the studio and the recording process for new album: “Dillinger [Escape Plan] is a different beast in tracking than most normal bands. Even Steve has told me that there’s no other band that he has recorded that requires this amount of attention to detail. We take a longer amount of time to do one thing than most bands take to do ten. At this point, talking to Ben about it, we only do this once every three years on average so ten years from now I don’t want to look back and think, ‘Fuck man, we should have finished that one three weeks earlier!’ Who cares? You want it to be right and you want it to be the thing that was the closest to what your vision actually was.”

Greg Puciato continued regarding the direction of the new Dillinger Escape Plan material: “I can hear [the influence of old punk and hardcore records] a lot. I can definitely hear that in some of the riffs, which are really aggressive. It’s not a blatant hardcore record or anything like that. I actually think this is the most all over the place and weirdest record we’ve ever written. It’s the first one since I joined the band where Ben has sent me songs and I’ve been like, ‘What the fuck is happening? This sounds like a beehive!'”

The new record from Dillinger Escape plan is bound to be insane no matter which way you look at it, good or bad. Whether you appreciate the complex musical structures and in your face carnage, or it just sounds like a wall of noise. “One Of Us Is The Killer” is bound to get some kind of reaction from the general music loving public at large. What are your thoughts on the new Dillinger Escape Plan album, are you excited, do you not even care? What do you think of their new video? Let us know in the comments section down below.

Guitar Lessons In Miami Resource: The Best Places To Hear Live Guitar!

April 15th, 2013 by Luke

The following is a guest post by Colin Lenox of Encore Music Lessons:

There are reasons why so many people are pursuing guitar lessons in Miami today. Guitar can be used in virtually all styles of music from classical to rock to folk, and has played an essential role in the development of modern music. Something about the guitar speaks not only to American culture but also Spanish and Latino cultures as well, and can be commonly heard in almost all Latin music. With a great guitar teacher, you’ll be able to explore a number of different musical varieties in guitar lessons and find out which ones you like best.

Flamenco

Miami, like all big cities, is a great city to hear rock and pop guitar music, but you also have the unique opportunity to hear lots of flamenco guitar and Latin music. For those not familiar with flamenco playing, it’s a very percussive form of fingerstyle guitar played on nylon strings.  Although nylon strings are associated with classical guitar lessons and can sound soft and sweet, flamenco is usually very lively and up tempo. Ask your guitar teacher what nylon strings are if you don’t know.

Flamenco players use all of the fingers on their picking hand, except the pinky, with techniques like flicking their nails on the strings to produce a hard attack, and hitting their palms on the body of the guitar to make thumping bass sounds. Despite never using a pick, flamenco players can shred the guitar when soloing by alternating their first and second finger on their right hand.

For those taking flamenco guitar lessons in Miami, you can go to the Casa Panza Restaurant to see world renowned performer and flamenco guitar teacher Paco Fonta. Paco appears yearly at the Florida Folk Festival, collaborates with dance and theater companies all over the Miami area, and has recently recorded with Latino superstar Gloria Estefan.

Meson Ria De Vigo on Coral Way is a spanish tapa restaurant and is another great spot to see some excellent flamenco guitar music. You can also attend the Flamenco Festival Miami at the Ziff Ballet Opera House which brings in world class flamenco dancers and musicians each year.

These are just a few notable places to see flamenco guitar in action but keep your ears open because in a lively city like Miami great music is always just around the corner.

Rock, Pop, Metal

For those taking rock or pop guitar lessons in Miami don’t worry, there’s plenty of chances to rock out and see some great shows.

The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino brings in huge name rock and pop stars like Eric Clapton, Joan Jett, and Sheryl Crow. Then there is the Fillmore Miami Beach – this is the place to go for high level touring bands like Coheed and Cambria and Wilco, or Miami’s very own Iron & Wine and Cat Power.

Are you a singer songwriter taking guitar lessons in Miami? Looking to perform your own music and hang out with other like-minded musicians? Check out an open mic at AV Studio or Speakeasy Lounge and start getting your music out there.

For metal and grunge players, get your fix at local favorite Churchill’s Pub or at the The Culture Room in nearby Ft. Lauderdale.

About The Author:

Colin Lenox is a blog writer and student coordinator for Encore Music Lessons.  Colin is also a musician and music teacher with a degree in Jazz Studies on guitar from The University Of Vermont.

Deftones Former Bass Player Chi Cheng: Rest In Peace (1970-2013)

April 14th, 2013 by Luke

Moments ago, I read the devastating news that Chi Cheng former Deftones bass player passed away. Deftones were one of the very first metal bands I ever heard, I didn’t even really understand what metal was at the time, I was a skater punk, I just knew that was I was hearing for the first time was awesome and that I wanted more. So in a sense Deftones took away my metal virginity. They are truly one of my favourite bands of all time, and always will be. That is why I find the news of Chi Cheng’s death very upsetting. I knew that he was no longer playing bass for Deftones after his tragic car accident, but it never quite hits you how bad an accident is/was until something like this happens. Looking through the photos and seeing him in hospital left a sense of feeling hollow inside. Mine and the rest of Soul Sanctuary’s thoughts are with his friends and family. I’m sure the guys in Deftones are having a very hard time at the moment. If Chi Cheng had any impact on your life through the music of the Deftones, go let the band know that your thoughts are with them too.

Rest in Peace Chi.

You will be missed.

Update: The follwing message was taken from www.oneloveforchi.com

“Our dearest Family,

This is the hardest thing to write to you. Your love and heart and devotion to Chi was unconditional and amazing. I know that you will always remember him as a giant of a man on stage with a heart for every one of you. He was taken to the emegency [sic] room and at 3 am today his heart just suddenly stopped. He left this world with me singing songs he liked in his ear.

He fought the good fight.You stood by him sending love daily. He knew that he was very loved and never alone. I will write more later. I will be going through the oneloveforchi and any other information may not be reliable. If you have any stories or messages to share please send them to the onelove site. Please hold Mae and Ming and the siblings and especially Chi’s son, Gabriel in your prayers. It is so hard to let go.

With great love and “Much Respect!” Mom J (and Chi)”

Dragonforce: Studio Quest! Dragonforce and the recording dungeon.

April 13th, 2013 by Luke

Dragonforce enters the studio to record new album

Dragonforce have never really been one of my favourite bands, although I certainly appreciate what they do, and enjoy their music to some extent, perhaps mostly for the novelty of how stupidly fast it is. So as such, although they aren’t constantly in my CD changer or current playlist, I do keep track of their current activities. So when I saw the article on Blabbermouth about them entering the recording studio to record their new album, I thought it would be interesting to check up on. According to blabbermouth the British epic metallers have completed writing the follow-up to last year’s “The Power Within” album. The album was the first to feature their new and current vocalist Marc Hudson.

Herman Li interview by Metal Traveller

Dragonforce’s guitarist Herman Li said “Right now, everyone in the band is itching to get into the studio to record probably the most epic Dragonforce music ever written.” He continued “With so many ideas flying around and songs already written, we decided to team up with producer Jens Bogren to help us take the Dragonforce sound to the next level and beyond!”

Metal Traveller asked Herman Li how difficult it was to integrate Marc Hudson into the band as the new vocalist: “I don’t know if it was easy or hard, but we definitely spent a lot of time to make sure he integrated well in the band. Before he joined the band, we jammed, we rehearsed, we went to the studio and recorded some demos together — just to see how it’s like, to understand his personality.” said Li.

“After he joined the band, we didn’t want him to be like, ‘Hi, Marc, welcome to the band, record the songs in studio and see you on tour.’ You have to be a real family, so we jammed and rehearsed a lot, and that really helped him to integrate the band. The first show he had to play with the band was with Iron Maiden, in front of 20,000 people. I didn’t tell Marc until the warmup gig two weeks before.”

When questioned about Marc’s involvement in the composition of “The Power Within”, Li said: “Most of the music was already composed when we were auditioning him. After he joined the band, we had to change the voice a little bit to get the best out of his voice. We found out that he can sing very high, but also really low at the same time. So in certain songs, we explored his low range, like ‘Seasons’ or ‘Give Me The Night’, on which he goes from low to high. Then we tried to explore the high register, like in ‘Holding On’.”

Into The Recording Studio

From what I’ve read it’s been a pretty wild ride for Marc the new front man of the Dragons, since he came into the fold in July of 2011, he has now played over 100 Dragonforce shows in 32 countries around the world, including big ass arenas with the like of Iron Maiden. Not to mention a full scale headlining world tour to support the last record. Pretty amazing stuff if you ask me.

So now that Hudson has all this new experience under his belt, traveling the world and touring for the last 2 years. I’m fairly certain him and the rest of the Dragonforce crew are dying to get back into the studio and let their new ideas flow. Dragonforce have chosen Fascination Street studios in Örebro, Sweden to to start laying down tracks for the creation of their next record. Set to start recording sometime in May, the project will be headed by producer and allround musical force to be reckoned with Jens Bogren.

Jens is known for his work with the likes of Opeth, The Devin Townsend Project, Daylight Dies, God Forbid, Iron Mask, Amon Amarth, Katatonia, Soilwork and Symphony X, to name a few. I have no doubts that Bogren with help Dragonforce to record a monster of a record.

Sempiternal Review: Bring Me The Horizon – Album Review by Luke Jon Gibson

April 3rd, 2013 by Luke

Credits:
Terry Date: Production
David Bendeth: Mixing

Bring Me The Horizon

Bring me the Horizon is a Metalcore/Post Hardcore band from Sheffield UK, currently made up of five members. Oliver Sykes (Vocals), Lee Malia (Lead Guitar), Matt Kean (Bass Guitar), Matt Nicholls (Drums), Jordan Fish (Synth & Keyboard). They have released four studio albums since 2004 when they formed.

Sempiternal: Review

Sempiternal is the New album from Bring Me The Horizon, which was officially released yesterday [2nd of April 2013]. Before now, I’d never paid much attention to BMTH, I heard various bits and pieces from their last three offerings over the years and honestly it just didn’t really grab me. I didn’t think it was bad, but nothing made it stand out for me. With this album that has been flipped on its head. I’ve been listening to this album a lot in the last few days, via their now “self-destructed” preview on www.sempiternal.info. I’m really impressed on many levels. I heard the band starting the move into exploring more melodic ideas in the predecessor of Sempiternal: There Is A Hell, Believe Me I’ve Seen It. There Is A Heaven, Lets Keep It A Secret. But this time I think they took it one step further and to a whole new level. I made the decision to purchase it after only hearing the first few tracks, so I visited Amazonand bought it there and then. Sempiternal is probably the first album I’ve ever bought on its release date. Saying that, I actually feel quite ashamed, being such a big music fanatic and that until now I’ve never purchased an album on the day of its release is pretty bad. Oh well, it now seems that BMTH have taken my virginity on that one. I feel 14 again! 😛

CAN YOU FEEL MY HEART

Sempiternal kicks off with CAN YOU FEEL MY HEART which pulls in with a strange melodic “ah” sound cut into a choppy staccato melody via what sounds like excessive autotune. At first it struck me as odd, and didn’t sit with me well, but it quickly grew on me as an essential hook of the track. The first thing you notice about this track is that although Oli Sykes still screams in a hardcore style vocal, it’s been altered from the flat monotone sound that had never really got my attention, into a more melodic and much more exciting style. Even more of a surprise came when I heard him sing in a completely clean tone, I will admit I’m not familiar enough with the previous album to know if Sykes attempted any sort of melodic vocals there, but for me this album is the first time I had heard him stray from the path of standard hardcore vocalists. The track has an almost dubstep feel to it, which I can only imagine was helped along by the addition of BMTH’s new Keyboard man Jordan Fish. With booming synth under Lee Malia distorted guitars, layered with a thick dashing of autotune and halftime drums. Does a sense of Skrillex’s collaboration with Korn comes to mind? It does for me. This track has definitely been added to my list of favourite tracks from 2013 so far.

THE HOUSE OF WOLVES

The second track on Sempiternal is THE HOUSE OF WOLVES which is a much more energized track, with a punchy hardcore punk vibe to the opening riff. Complimentary fast paced drumming from Matt Nicholls soon kicks in and Oli Sykes comes crashing in screaming the words “Show me a sign, show me a reason to give a solitary fuck about your goddamn beliefs. I’m going blind, but one thing’s clear. Death is the only salvation you’ll feel” although I think “Goddamn” is slightly cheesy and might have been better off being worded slightly differently, it fits and shows the angry intention of the track and its anti-theistic theme. It lets you know Oli has got something to be seriously pissed about. The melodic style chorus really adds a great dimension to what could have been a pretty a straight forward hardcore musing. When the song hits the breakdown/middle eight with the awesomely catchy hook “And when you die, the only kingdom you’ll see, is two-foot wide and six foot deep!” You really can’t help, but want to sing/scream along. The track continues to rage until the end blasts out in a blaze of glory.

EMPIRE (LET THEM SING)

Track three is up next, titled EMPIRE (LET THEM SING) which introduces Mr. Sykes screaming almost completely solo with only a small amount of soundscaping to add subtle atmospherics to his tone. As the intro progresses, a distorted guitar is introduced slowly into the left speaker as it fades up to the climax “Let them sing, let them SING!” unleashing some almighty mosh pit inducing riffage layered with dark symphonic overtones that is sure to create chaos and cause injury to a notable percentage of their young and boisterous fan base. Littered with beautiful soundscaping and amazing production values this tune really gets the blood pumping and the heart beating, with a healthy dose of head banging for good measure.

SLEEPWALKING

The opening of SLEEPWALKING wouldn’t raise an eyebrow placed on a Linkin Park albumwith it’s reverb soaked pad sounds and futuristic vibe that is intertwined throughout most of LP’s music. In fact the whole song feels very Linkin Park even the vocal melody and lyrics hints at influences that make me recall fond memories of Hybrid Theory and Meteora from my teens. That certainly doesn’t take away from the sense of euphoria that it induces upon impact, oscillating the membranes of my eardrums. The sound is sweet and full of succulent flavour, I will easily say this is one of the best/catchiest tracks on the album. The hook “It’s like I’m sleepwalking” gets caught in your brain like a genetically engineered bio weapon, designed to be as infectious as the common cold and as deadly as a strain of Ebola. A strain of Ebola that’s having a really fucking bad day. In a word this track is simply “Killer!” if this was released in the age where we still didn’t have the option of buying separate tracks unless released as single, (i.e. the Internet) this track would be worth the purchase of the whole album alone.

GO TO HELL, FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE

In my opinion Bring Me The Horizon have always had a clever sense of humour with their song titles and present many wonderful distortions of cultural references, although not strictly humourous, it certainly has a little tongue in cheek twist to the title GO TO HELL, FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE. This is another great offering from the Sheffield based 5 piece. Another track with an intro that probably wouldn’t sound out-of-place on a Linkin Park album. Sykes voice comes in with his more usual hardcore style over some very satisfyingly punchy toms and bass pedal work. Then comes a heavy pre-chorus before dropping out for a short moment of silence, where only a gentle bass synth rumbles in the background while a soft spoken vocal leads with the very bizarre lyric “When did the diamonds leave your bones?” which I either don’t know the particular reference or is meant to be purposely cryptic and lends itself to a sort of Deftones-esque void of logic. A beautifully gritty chorus with a melodic scream “I’m burning down every bridge we make, I’ll watch you choke on the hearts you break, I’m bleeding out every word you said, Go to hell for heaven’s sake” is superbly catchy and infection. My only gripe in this song is the use of the word “make” instead of “made” not only would it have sounded better, but it doesn’t quite make sense with the first part of the line sounding like it belongs in a past tense. How can Mr. Sykes be burning down bridges he hasn’t MADE yet? Or am I missing the point, and it’s actually a very clever micro black hole in logical thinking again? Only the boys from BMTH could answer that I guess. Other than my meaningless insignificant gripe, it’s a great track with lots of energy.

SHADOW MOSES

SHADOW MOSES was the first track I heard from Sempiternal, I had no idea that BMTH was about to release a new album, but while scrolling through the limited choices on Xbox live’s music channel, I decided to give it a try. I was instantly taken back by the new melodic style that Bring Me The Horizon had brought to the table. A sound that I hadn’t heard from them before, and when the killer heavy riff kicked in I was totally hooked. I probably raped the replay button at least 6 times before my other half decided she was getting pissed off at me for being a hog with the Xbox controller. So I went downstairs to find the video on YouTube and listen some more. I must admit I did laugh at all the comments on the video’s YouTube page about Oli Sykes sounding like he’s screaming “This is Sandpit Turtle” instead of “This is Sempiternal” during the middle eight of the song. But if I’m honest even if that’s what he was singing it wouldn’t affect the quality of the track. Although nothing to really do with the album in terms of how it sounds, the strange effect used in the music video for this song did become quite nauseating after a while. Overall though it was a wise choice to represent the album before it’s release, simply because it kicks a lot of ass!

AND THE SNAKES START TO SING

This track took a little longer to grow on me than the others before it, not because it’s any less of an awesome tune, but after 6 seriously pounding tracks, it felt like the low to the high I was only came a little too quickly. But after a few runs through the album, it’s certainly found it’s place, and it’s exactly where it belongs. Bring Me The Horizons new reverb drenched ballad is by far the most mellow track on the album and is very rich with Deftones influences from the album White Pony. Surprisingly it’s mostly what sounds like Sykes impersonating the Deftones frontman Chino Moreno with his overly breathy melodic whispers. It all works very nicely, the only real bad point of this track is the some of the snare rolls sound very unnatural against the background. Probably not Matt Nicholls (Drummer) or the bands fault, most likely whoever did the drum replacements, was being lazy with recreating any of the subtle dynamics that Nicholls probably intended. That’s just my opinion though, as a producer myself I felt it made the drums sound programmed and very over-produced. Still I wouldn’t say it takes away from the song in any major way.

SEEN IT ALL BEFORE

Up next we have SEEN IT ALL BEFORE, Sempiternal’s eighth track. The band push off with a very mellow lead in, which lends itself nicely to the previous track, but quickly changes direction into a fast paced riff that has an almost 80’s pop rock vibe to it. Although I can’t quite put my finger on what. On this track Oli brings back some more of his Deftones overtones in his vocals. This song has a nice use of dynamics throughout the duration of its short and sharp 4 minute lifespan. The chorus has a sweet catchy screamed melody that compliments all aspects of the sound spectrum flowing through the listeners speakers. At the end of the song it drifts out on a soft passage which slips into the night and disappears into a faint echo, before flatlining completely.

ANTIVIST

By the very high standards of Sempiternal as an album, thus far. In terms of lyrical merit I don’t feel ANTIVIST delivers its message as thoughtfully as the rest of the album. Although it isn’t a bad thing to come down from your pedestal to say what you mean without remorse, or beating around the bush. The style of the lyrics sounds like they were only used for their apparent shock value. Obviously not shocking to anyone who is intelligent enough to understand words are only as offensive as you let them be. But to me it sounded somewhat forced, it felt like the sole intention of this track was designed to make the overprotective parents of teenage girls want to write angry letters, and post them to worthless newspaper columns. It lets the track down a bit, but that being said the somewhat cheesy, but still insanely catchy hook “Middle fingers up, if you don’t give a fuck! Think you’re changing anything? Question everything!” is a lot of fun to sing to. It still contains some great hooks, and the the carnage of djent style guitars after screaming the word’s “I think you’re a CUNT!” does have a certain appeal to my own inner rebellious child that likes to come out when I’ve had too much to drink. TMI?

CROOKED YOUNG

CROOKED YOUNG is another track based on an anti-theistic theme. This time it’s probably more obvious, with the line “Fuck your faith!” being a much more direct way of sticking a middle finger up at organised religion and the god fearing folk of planet Earth. The track comes belting in with a mix of Matt’s fast paced drumming and low mixed guitar work from Lee Malia and Matt Kean’s bass, which gives way to a classical sounding piece of string music complementing the instrumentation in a very satisfying way. After the intro section, the sound drops into a more classical sounding Bring Me The Horizon sound that many fans with be familiar with. The song slows its pace with sections of more reverb soaked symphonic compositions that add a lot of atmospherics to the songs. The lyrical content of this track, although still containing some elements of the shock value from the previous song, feel much more polished and well thought out. Eventually the song builds to a climax and then burns out like a candle on crack!

HOSPITAL FOR SOULS

The eleventh hour is upon us and also the eleventh and final track of the album. HOSPITAL FOR SOULS begins with a soft ambience that rings out under Oli Speaking about how hard it is to change, and learning valuable life lessons. The musical style of this number goes back round full circle with a dubstep style intro of slow thumping drums and bass overloaded synth that could kill a small rodent at fifty feet. Sykes showcases a fairly long scream (for him) of the lyrics “Watch me BURN!” repeated several times throughout. Although not more than about 5 seconds long, from the live performances I have seen of Oli, I’m interested to see if he’s able to pull it off. His screams sound great on record but live his technique rags his throat very quickly. The vocal has obviously been majorly tampered with in places, but it’s hard to tell if it’s just an artistic choice or not, the effect is littered on many accented screams throughout the entire album, so it’s more than likely it’s simply for artistic reasons. The track then goes on to settle down into a prolonged mellow buildup before the album chimes in with the final hook laced with gritty guitars and more orchestral overtones playing in the background, which add a lot of character to the soundscaping. Soon after, the track wraps up the curtain drops, the band takes its bow and as quickly as it had started, it was all over again. At least for now!

Final Thoughts on Sempiternal

I would personally put this album on par with albums like Hybrid Theory and White Pony, the latter of which is probably helped by the fact Sempiternal was produced by Terry Date who did many of Deftones albums. Although it’s hard to see Sempiternal as being the same kind of game changer as Hybrid Theory in terms of impact on the music industry. I do believe the quality of the songs is of the same calibre and mass appeal without pandering. If you don’t like LP that probably sounds like an insult, I could imagine many BMTH fans disliking the comparison, but Hybrid Theory was and still is a great album which brings back many fond memories, as I’m sure Sempiternal will for many, in successive generations. I think this album will stand the test of time far better than their previous works, but ironically only time will tell if I’m right. So we’ll have to wait and see. Overall I would give this album a solid 9/10.

What’s your favourite track on the album? Are you already a Bring Me The Horizon Fan? Or are you like me and feel this latest album is enough to make you change your mind about them? Have you bought their album? If so how do you feel about it? Let us know in the comments below.

Thanks for reading guys, I know it was long, but I had a lot to say about the album.

Stay Awesome
Stay Metal \m/

You can purchase Sempiternal here
. Also go check out the official video for Shadow Moses below.

Fear Factory’s Former Bassist Auditions For Machine Head Tour, You Can Too

April 2nd, 2013 by Luke

Fear Factory‘s Former bassist Christian Olde Wolbers recently posted a video clip on Facebook of him “auditioning” for the currently empty bassist position in the band Machine Head. Which can be checked out below.

Olde Wolbers was Fear Factory’s bassist up until the year 2002, but after Fear Factory had a falling out with then guitarist Dino AKA “Fat Bastard” he was prompted to take up the guitar for the band until 2008.

Interesting Fact:

Contrary to the fact that he had been the bass player in Fear Factory for near on 10 years, Olde Wolbers spent the first part of his career in the music business as a guitar player, where he held several positions in bands located in Christian’s home country of Belgium, before joining Fear Factory in 1993.

In August 1999 during an interview, Olde Wolbers told RoughEdge.com the story of how his decision to join the band Fear Factory came about, and how it pivoted on the suggestion of his friend Evan Seinfeld (the front man of Biohazard). A suggestion which influenced him to make the original switch to the bass guitar.

“Evan Seinfeld [Biohazard frontman] had seen me playing upright bass in a rockabilly band on the street in Belgium back in ’90 or ’91,” He said. “He always thought I was a bass player. I had always played guitar in metal bands and hardcore bands. And [during a night hanging out together] he said, ‘Oh, you’re a bass player, I have a band for you!’ I kept telling him ‘I’m not a bass player, I’m a guitar player now.’ But he said, ‘Fear Factory needs a bass player — you’re a bass player and you’d be perfect.’ ”

Olde Wolbers continued “And I’d actually heard of Fear Factory because someone told me about them while I was still in Europe. However, I really wasn’t into the death metal scene too much, but I knew they were different. When I went to the audition and I was blown away when I saw Raymond [Herrera, Fear Factory Drummer] playing — I said, ‘Alright, I’ll play bass.’ So I borrowed a bass from Evan and auditioned for a couple of days right before a tour with Sepultura and then I knew I was going to do the tour. After the sepultura tour, the rest of the guys said, ‘Do you want to be in the band?’ I said, ‘Hell yeah!’ ”

So do you think you can out play Christian Olde Wolbers on the bass? If so, you might just be interested to hear that Machine Head’s auditions for the bass player slot are open to the public. Machine Head who are based in San Francisco Bay Area, are on the hunt for a bassist who can fill the shoes of temporary bass player able to perform at this year’s Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival tour.

In an attempt to find the right man for the job of playing the duration of the Mayhem festival, Machine Head posted to the Facebook page of nearly 800,000 fans, asking for anyone interested in filling the bass player position. They asked for fans to post video clips of themselves singing and playing bass along to three tracks: “This Is The End”, “Halo” and “Beautiful Mourning”.

After Machine Head narrows down potential candidates, they will be holding live auditions in person at a currently undisclosed location.

If you wish to take part in the Machine Head auditions click here to find out how to get involved.

You can support bands like Machine Head, by clicking here and buying some of their music! DO IT NOW!

Christian Olde Wolbers audition video:

Metallica’s Kirk Hammett shows Anthrax what’s up – Video

March 30th, 2013 by Luke

Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett is probably one of the most well known heavy metal guitarists of all time. Anthrax is a band that are recognised as one of the great pioneers of the genre. So when these two monstrous forces collided on Thursday (28th of March 2013) at the Regency Ballroom in San Francisco, it was certainly a spectacle to behold. And better yet we have footage of Kirk Hammett strutting his stuff alongside his fellow rock legends from Anthrax. This is the second awesome guest appearance we’ve talked about this week on our blog. Also both at the same venue. Very unfair. I’ll go make sad faces in a corner and cry because I don’t live nearby. Anyway I digress, Kirk’s appearance delivered a thunderous cover performance of AC/DC’s classic rock anthem “TNT” which is Anthrax’s newly released “Anthems” EP. You can watch the fan-filmed video footage of Kirk and Anthrax below.

Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante Spoke to Music Radar recently, where he talked about the band’s recent cover version of AC/DC’s classic track “TNT” “This was Joey’s [Belladonna, vocals] track.” He said “We already had ‘Whole Lotta Rosie’ recorded, but he wanted ‘TNT’. I can see why: his voice totally lends itself to this track.” He said smiling.

“AC/DC is probably one of the greatest bands ever.” Claimed Benante enthusiastically “They came in with a certain sound, and they’ll end with that same exact sound. They never altered it; they just stayed true to what they were. To me, that’s an honest-to-goodness rock ‘n’ roll band.”

Benante continued “It would have been obvious to pick something off of ‘Highway To Hell’ or ‘Back In Black’, and so we didn’t. [laughs]” Benante then went on to talk about his dedication to keeping the track as faithful to the original as possible “I studied every Phil Rudd lick, and I did not go overboard with anything. I played exactly what he played on ‘TNT’. You can’t do a fast drum fill on the song — it’ll stand out as being out of place. I laid it down, pulled it back, and that was that.”

Anthrax’s long-awaited, eight-track EP “Anthems”, pays tribute to some of the band’s favorite acts from the 1970s. The EP sold relatively well at around 8,500 copies in the United States, during its first week which went on to debut at 52nd on The Billboard 200 chart.

Anthrax’s latest full-length offering, entitled “Worship Music”, sold a massive (by today’s standards) 28,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at No. 12. Which out performed their last record by by almost 3 times the amount of units sold and charted over 100 places higher. A big positive move for the band.