Metal Hall eZine

Dragonforce - Heroes Of Out Time - Video

2008-07-19T03:52:06-05:00

Check out the latest video from Ultra Beatdown, the forthcoming studio CD from Dragonforce. The track is called Heroes Of Our Time.

Alice Cooper's New Album Available For Streaming

2008-07-18T10:21:15-05:00

Alice Cooper's entire new album, "Along Came A Spider", is available for streaming on his MySpace page.

Co-produced by Danny Saber, Greg Hampton and Alice himself, "Along Came A Spider" manages to marry both vintage and modern-day Alice.

As theatrical as ever, the album is a sonic combination of familiar Alice musical elements from albums as diverse as "Billion Dollar Babies" and "Brutal Planet", with the storytelling of "Welcome To My Nightmare", capturing the historic dark side of Alice in peak form, an instantly recognizable presence that will be welcomed by his fans. Joining Alice on the album are members of his touring band — longtime Alice drummer Eric Singer, bassist Chuck Garric, and guitarists Keri Kelli and Jason Hook, with additional contributions from others, including Saber, Hampton, and renowned backing vocalist Bernard Fowler. Slash also lends some guitar style to "Vengeance Is Mine".

Saber and Hampton co-wrote several of the album's songs with Alice, while others were collaborations with Alice's band members.

Who else but Alice Cooper, with "Along Came A Spider", would create a "love story" about a serial killer named Spider? His trademark is wrapping his victims in silk, and his victims are specifically chosen to feed his hunger to kill. But, upon meeting his (possibly) last victim, he falls in love with her and cannot kill to complete his plan. That could be his demise.

Though it is often said about artists with as rich a history as Alice that their newest albums capture the essence of their greatest work, it may honestly be proposed that "Along Came A Spider" does exactly that. It's got hard rock with hooks, an Alice trademark ("Vengeance is Mine", "I Know Where You Live"), classic balladry, another Alice trademark ("Killed by Love", "Salvation"), and always with an overtone of evil, yet another Alice tradmark. Throughout the album, Alice BECOMES Spider, telling the story of a cold-blooded killer to life vocally, as if this were the soundtrack to an as-yet unmade horror film.

"Along Came A Spider" track listing:

01. Prologue/I Know Where You Live
02. Vengeance Is Mine
03. Wake The Dead
04. Catch Me If You Can
05. (In Touch With) Your Feminine Side
06. Wrapped In Silk
07. Killed By Love
08. I'm Hungry
09. The One That Got Away
10. Salvation
11. I Am The Spider/Epilogue

"Along Came A Spider" is scheduled for release on July 29 via SPV Records.

AC/DC - New Album On The Way

2008-07-15T16:44:42-05:00

According to a posting on the unofficial AC/DC web site AC/DC Electric Shock, AC/DC's new album, whch will most likely be called "Black Ice", will be released by Columbia Records on October 28 in North America and October 27 in the rest of the world. The first single, "Runaway Train", which was also a contender for the album's title, will be released in late August. Details for a world tour starting in late 2008 should be announced in the coming days.

AC/DC's new album will follow 2000's "Stiff Upper Lip". It was recorded at a Canadian studio with Pearl Jam and Sringsteeen producer Brendan O'Brien.

Sony BMG, Columbia's parent company, recently revealed that the disc will be sold exclusively through Wal-Mart stores, which has caused controversy with critics and fans.

Moonspell - Night Eternal - Video

2008-07-13T17:26:13-05:00

Moonspell has just finished shooting their new video for the song "Night Eternal". Like the "Scorpion Flower" clip, "Night Eternal" was shot by Ivan Colic (Type O Negative, Symphony X, Hammerfall) in Belgrade, Serbia. Colic previously worked with the group on the "Memorial" video for "Finisterra".

"Night Eternal" is the title cut of Moonspell's new album, which sold around 800 copies in the United States in its first week of release, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

As previously reported, the CD entered the national chart in Portugal at No. 3 and in Germany at No. 62.

The follow-up to 2006's "Memorial" was recorded at Antfarm studios in Denmark with producer Tue Madsen (The Haunted, Dark Tranquillity, Halford).

Blaze Bayley's New Album Info

2008-07-12T10:10:51-05:00

The highly anticipated "The Man Who Would Not Die" is to follow up to 2004's "Blood and Belief", and marks the beginning of a new era on the history of his own band now under the moniker of Blaze Bayley. This band comprises a completely new line up that have created a fresh sound, leaning towards a heavier direction that promises to take the band to a new level in Blaze Bayley's already rich professional history. The album was engineered by James Dunkley and produced by Blaze Bayley himself. It is also the first recorded showcase for the line-up that comprises Nico Bermudez and Jay Walsh on guitars, David Bermudez on bass and Lawrence Paterson on drums. "The Man Who Would Not Die" promises to take Blaze in new song writing directions, ushering in a new phase of an already renowned career. It's the proof that heavy metal is still up to date in 2008 and is not really ready to die !

The new album by Blaze Bayley is the first due for release on his own independent label with additional licensing to various countries. Metal Mind Productions will release the album on 21st July 2008 in the following territories: Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Greece.

Tracklist:
1. The Man Who Would Not Die
2. Blackmailer
3. Smile Back At Death
4. While You Were Gone
5. Samurai
6. Crack In The System
7. Robot
8. At The End Of The Day
9. Waiting For My Life To Begin
10. Voices From The Past
11. The Truth Is One
12. Serpent Hearted Man

Scars on Broadway - They Say - Video

2008-07-09T01:58:51-05:00

"Chemicals", another track from Scars On Broadway — the new band from System of a Down guitarist Daron Malakian and drummer John Dolmayan — is available for streaming on the group's MySpace page.

Scars On Broadway will release its self-titled debut on July 29 via Interscope Records. Daron Malakian and John Dolmayan held off on shopping for a record contract until completing the CD. Malakian told The Pulse of Radio that the music won't be as heavy as his work with System. "There are your aggressive moments, but I don't see it as being as metal as it is rock. It's just as eclectic as anything that I've done with System, so it goes place to place. I think you'll hear my style there, you know, you'll hear touches of what you've heard from me before in some ways, and like I said, I think it drives more in a rock way than it does in a metal way."

The track listing for the effort is as follows:

01. Serious
02. Funny
03. Exploding/Reloading
04. Stoner-Hate
05. Insane
06. World Long Gone
07. Kill Each Other/Live Forever
08. Babylon
09. Chemicals
10. Enemy
11. Universe
12. 3005
13. Cute Machines
14. Whoring Streets
15. They Say

"They Say", the first video from Scars On Broadway, can be viewed below. The clip, shot in Los Angeles last month, was directed by Paul Minor and incorporates performance footage cut with an evocative potpourri of startling images from our world's culture — occurrences in nature, war, natural and man-made disasters, animals in the wild, human interaction, weather phenomenon, and so on.

Louder Than The Church

2008-06-28T03:33:14-05:00

Probably this is the most useless yet funny info of the month. David Hurst of Altoona Mirror reports: It seems church services at Believers Fellowship Church in Revloc, Pennsylvania have become part of a rock 'n' soul showdown between a lively congregation and a heavy metal-loving neighbor.

Since Joe Vermeulin moved into the former Holy Redeemer Church parsonage next door, church members say their services have been interrupted by outdoor speakers blaring Black Sabbath, Marilyn Manson and AC/DC's ditty "Hell's Bells", creating friction between the sides.

But Vermeulin, whose home is about 15 feet from the church, and some neighbors believe the church's musical worship and electric praise band are too loud.

While Vermeulin says he isn't trying to incite the church with his radio, he and neighbors are collecting signatures to urge the church to tone it down.

Metallica Death Magnetic Release Day ?

2008-06-27T09:44:43-05:00

According to Finland's Record Shop X, the Finnish release date for the new Metallica album, "Death Magnetic", is Wednesday, September 17. Although no official release date has yet been announced, it is likely that the CD will be issued in the U.S. on September 16, with most of continental Europe receiving the album on Monday, September 15 (except Germany, Austria and Switzerland, where fans will presumably be able to purchase the CD on Friday, September 12).

Metallica's ninth studio effort, "Death Magnetic" will contain either 10 or 11 tracks. No song titles have been confirmed, although "My Apocalypse" was cited as one by Rolling Stone magazine. The band did not play any new songs at the recent Bonnaroo festival, although a selected group of U.S. and U.K. journalists have had a chance to preview six tunes from the upcoming release.

"Death Magnetic" was produced by Metallica and Rick Rubin, and marks the recording debut of bassist Robert Trujillo, who joined the lineup in 2003 shortly after the last Metallica album, "St. Anger", was completed.

Judas Priest - War - Video

2008-06-20T11:56:22-05:00

MTV2's Headbanger's Blog is hosting the premiere of Judas Priest's new video, "War". According to a posting on the site, the clip "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." Watch the video below. (Note: Video stream may not be available to some non-U.S. residents.)

Scar Symetry - Entire New Album Available For Streaming

2008-06-12T10:06:19-05:00

"Holographic Universe", the third CD from Swedish metallers Scar Symmetry, is being streamed in its entirety on the band's MySpace page. An e-card for the CD is available at this location.

Due on June 20 via Nuclear Blast Records, "Holographic Universe" will feature the following track listing:

01. Morphogenesis (3:54)
02. Timewave Zero (5:13)
03. Quantumleaper (4:09)
04. Artificial Sun Projection (4:00)
05. The Missing Coordinates (4:37)
06. Ghost Prototype I (Measurement of Thought) (4:35)
07. Fear Catalyst (5:03)
08. Trapezoid (4:17)
09. Prism and Gate (3:46)
10. Holographic Universe (9:05)
11. The Three-Dimensional Shadow (3:57)
12. Ghost Prototype II (Deus Ex Machina) (6:03)

Paradise Lost - The Enemy - Video

2008-06-08T17:39:18-05:00

Footage of UK gothic metal pioneers Paradise Lost performing the song "The Enemy" — taken from the group's recently released DVD, "The Anatomy Of Melancholy" — can be viewed below.

"The Anatomy Of Melancholy" entered the German Media Control chart at position No. 42 (German chart rules allow music DVDs to enter album charts).

On April 12, 2007, Paradise Lost played a sold-out show at the Koko club in the heart of Camden, London to record a DVD. Fans and media from all over the world came to the beautiful Baroque style venue to celebrate a band that, 20 years since its conception in 1988, is still one of the most exciting bands of their self-defined genre.

Starting with the UK live debut of "The Enemy" from Paradise Lost's latest album "In Requiem" (which came out one month later), the setlist includes songs the band hadn't played live in a long time prior to that night, such as "Eternal" and "Gothic" from their 1991 album "Gothic", the rare B-side "Sweetness" from their 1994 "Seals The Sense" single and other classics from their impressive album roster. With a tracklist like this it's easy to win over the audience and be rewarded with enthusiastic feedback, but even the highly critical UK press were convinced by the band's honest and pure energy.

The live show was filmed and directed by Paul M Green and his Dash Productions team. Jens Bogren mixed the brilliantly captured live sound at Fascination Street Studios in Sweden, and the dark enchanting cover artwork was done again by Greek artist Seth who already worked on the band's last two album covers.

The bonus material features interviews with all band members, quotes from the fans at the Koko, a half hour road movie from the following European tour in fall 2007 and the highly acclaimed "The Enemy" promo video, shot on the Crimean peninsula by Russian avant-garde director Edward 209.

Cavalera Conspiracy - Possessed Cover Song and Tour Tades

2008-06-03T10:23:23-05:00

Cavalera Conspiracy, the new project featuring Sepultura founding members Max (guitar, vocals) and Igor Cavalera (drums), alongside Gojira's Joe Duplantier (bass) and Soulfly guitarist Marc Rizzo, have recently uploaded their cover of Possessed's classic song "The Exorcist". Check out the song here.

The band will hit the road this summer with The Dillinger Escape Plan, Throwdown, Bury Your Dead and Incite. Confirmed dates are as follows:

* 7/17 - Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory
* 7/18 - Worcester, MA - The Palladium
* 7/19 - New York, NY - The Fillmore at Irving Plaza
* 7/20 - New York, NY - The Fillmore at Irving Plaza
* 7/21 - Baltimore, MD - Rams Head Live
* 7/23 - Chicago, IL - Vic Theatre
* 7/24 - Grand Rapids, MI - Orbit Room
* 7/25 - Toronto, ON - Toronto Island Wakefest
* 7/26 - Calgary, AB - Monsters of Rock
* 7/27 - St. Paul, MN - Myth
* 7/29 - Englewood, CO - Gothic Theater
* 7/31 - San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore
* 8/2 - Anaheim, CA - House of Blues
* 8/5 - Hollywood, CA - House of Blues

Meshuggah - Bleed - Video

2008-05-20T03:56:22-05:00

After releasing a teaser trailer last week, the Swedish masterminds of Meshuggah have unveiled the video for "Bleed" in all of its gory! Check it right below!

As previously reported, the clip was produced by Ian McFarland and Killswitch Productions. Directed, written and edited by McFarland and Mike Pecci, "Bleed" boasts a fittingly-cinematic horror tone, and some genuine scares! Killswitch Productions had this to say: "Working with Meshuggah was truly an honor for us. It's extremely cool to work with a band who is willing to allow the music and imagery to speak for itself and who does not insist on themselves being the prominent focus of the video. I think that takes real balls and I admire them as a group for doing so."

Meshuggah - Bleed

Judas Priest - K.K. Downing Interview

2008-05-19T17:11:01-05:00

Jeb Wright of Classic Rock Revisited conducted an interview with Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing on May 6. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow.

Jeb: Do you consider Nostradamus to be a masterpiece?

KK: We said it is either a masterpiece or just a piece! It will be one or the other. Did you get to hear the record today?

Jeb: I just finished listening to it a little while ago.

KK: Can you evaluate it on one listen?

Jeb: I think so. I had heard the title track on the internet.

KK: You heard one song before and then you heard the whole record. When the song that you heard before came on did you like it more? I think melody is more meaningful when you hear it twice – that’s the rule of thumb and I will tell you why: How many times when we were kids did we hear something on the radio and go, "That sucks." Then you hear it again and again and you start to think, "That’s not a bad song" and then you realize it was the song you thought sucked. I am just curious about it because it is a lot of information to take in all at once.

Jeb: It is going to take some time to digest it as a whole but my whole focus was to listen to this album today. I got it right away. I could see that it was the chronological history of his life. It wasn’t just an album of the prophecies, instead it was more about the man.

KK: Apart from throwing "The Four Horsemen" in there — which we couldn’t resist doing those elements because there are so many dramatic elements in there. The rest of it was about the man and the roller coaster that was his life.

Jeb: How much did you know about Nostradamus?

KK: Zero. It wasn’t too difficult to learn about him. Our manager printed a few things up for us to look at. When you start seeing things like he requested to be buried standing up then it gets interesting. He wore a medallion around his neck that had a year on it. The people that dug him up, when his body was exhumed, saw the year on the medallion and freaked out because it was the year they dug him up. The second time he was dug up was by soldiers who drank wine out of his skull. They got massacred on their way home. He also dabbled in metal by mixing metals together – he probably was getting high off the fumes. I am not saying I am a believer but he had a lot of really cool metal content in his life. It was quite a journey and a challenge for us to do. The emotions are really there. We have put our emotions into our music before but this is just a lot more in depth.

Jeb: Is it different writing about him because he was a real person?

KK: I think that it has added strength because you are documenting a person with a strong personality. Whether you believe or whether you don’t, one thing is for sure and that is that he became very, very famous and he is still famous. Every now and then you get these people like Nostradamus or Einstein who stay famous forever. The more we got into his life we found that he was very relevant to the music of Judas Priest. We have delved into fantasies before like "Blood Red Skies" or "Sinner" and that is our fantasy world but with Nostradamus there is more of a substance there. I think that gives it more validity and emotion.

Jeb: Musically, Glenn Tipton and you played a lot differently that you have in the past.

KK: We have never played this much acoustic on a Judas Priest album. It was actually joyful to get our teeth into something like this from a musical point of view. We felt we had more licence to push the boundaries. We wondered if we could pull this off with mixing Classical and Metal. Rob said this, and I shuddered when I first heard him say it, he said, "Judas Priest are going to do the first, in the history of Metal, the first ever Metal opera." I am thinking, "Wow, we had better get to work."

Glenn and I had some of the very first synthesized guitars in the early ‘80's. We were able to create just about any sound we wanted by converting an analog signal to a midi signal. We pulled the old equipment out of the closet and there were a lot of pops and squeaks and we looked at each other and said, "We had better fucking go get some new gear." We have guitars now that are totally geared up and ready to go. Things moved on in the world of technology and we were able to use that technology to make choir sounds and orchestra sounds. The classical elements of Nostradamus’ time were now there.

We thought that this could give us a bit of longevity. We are all headed to our sixties, you know. We thought we would like to create a record that our fans could really sit down and listen to like we did in the old days. We wanted to give it that amount of intensity just like I did back with albums like Electric Ladyland. That album may not have been considered a concept album by a lot of people but it was sure as hell conceptual to me. It took me to another planet.

I think Glenn actually said this to me when we were in the studio. He said, "I wonder that when people create these great albums if they know it is that great when they are doing it." The chances are that I doubt they do, really. You don’t know until you put it out into the marketplace. I think timing is very important. I think some of the Judas Priest records we did were too early and some of them might have been too late. Painkiller may have been premature. Having said that it was a bit responsible for the new movement. We started touring with five tracks off that album and by the time we finished we were playing two. It was a bit of a hard sell, that album. When an album has been around for a decade then it becomes a classic. It is the same with a band. You don’t get to be a legend until you have been around for a million years. You can be an overnight success but you can’t be an overnight legend.

Jeb: The songs "Nostradamus" and "The Future of Mankind" really see the band playing heavy.

KK: They are the last two songs and we wanted to go out with a bang – or maybe a bang, bang [laughter].

Jeb: After three plus decades of writing solos with Glenn how are you able to keep it fresh, keep it for the song and keep from repeating yourself?

KK: That is a very good question. I think every song within itself has a uniqueness about it. The vibe is kind of different so you have to just let yourself go creatively and put something that you think is right for that piece. Hopefully, you end with something that is just right for that song.

Jeb: On "Future of Mankind" you go into harmony and you drop out and you go back in. Are you so well versed with each other’s playing that it comes easy?

KK: Personally, I just love that sort of stuff. Like you say, it was nice to do some classical stuff without being classical virtuosos. We were more virtuosos on the fast solos. We used a lot of harmonic minor scales for the classical stuff and it was nice to be able to use those scales. When you rip it up in the fast solos, you are using natural minors and blues scales. It was nice to use different, darker sounding scales on the classic moments.

Jeb: The song "Alone" should be a single.

KK: That is the dilemma. What do you release? We would like to get people to go from buying the single to buying the entire record. When I was a kid, I remember it was frustrating waiting for your favorite bands to make a new record. You would be the first in the Que and you would grab it and run home. The record was much more joyous. It was a treasure. Now people go, "Priest’s new album is out. I will sit down at the computer and download it and check it out." That defuses the whole fucking thing.

We have the artwork and what you have seen is just a portion of it. We are doing a forty-eight-page booklet on one of the versions that is available. The lyrics are all laid out on what looks like parchment. I used to love double gatefold albums. You would look at the live shots and imagine them standing there playing them. You would read back to front on the entire album. We have done that sort of thing with this artwork. You will regress back several centuries back into the world of Nostradamus when you see it.

Lots of people put out an album and hit you right between the eyes with each song. They want you to get it and they want to pound it into your head. I call it music to break glass to. Look at all the artists on these walls. [KK points to a photo of Jessica Simpson but does not recognize her]. That is music to get a stiffy to [laughter]. There is music to get high to and music to drive fast to and music to make love to and music to jerk off to. There is also music to rock out to. When you are in the car, you put something on that will get you through four hundred miles. You might choose some Ozzy, Priest and ZZ Top. There is music to go to sleep to and music to wake up to and music to get into the shower to.

Jeb: What kind of music is this music?

KK: Some off the songs, individually can be good driving songs or whatever, but the entire piece is something to drift off to and go into another world. The listening experience can get you as high as you can get without actually smoking something.

Jeb: On Angel of Retribution, Priest tried something different with the song "Lochness". Some said, "Brilliant!" and some said, "What the fuck is this?" Was there any thought when doing Nostradamus that if you didn’t get this fucking right then it would be horrible for Priest?

KK: Sure, that enters your mind. People often talk about our younger fans and that we should do something that is more modern. We have a lot of younger fans but we have a lot of older fans as well. It is a great consideration as far as I am concerned. The older fans, I am talking about me and lots of other people, will say, "Thank fuck somebody has made a record that has a lot of meaning for me." If you make a movie then you want all the ingredients leading up to a great ending. You watch it in its entirety and you don’t dissect it. Someone might think that the beginning was the best because some guy got his throat slit or they drop a guy off of a building but that is not the whole movie.

It will be a great day in hell, or heaven, when we are able to go out and play this think in its entirety. Rob can play Nostradamus and we can be in character as well. I think it would take this experience to a different plateau. We have been very innovative and versatile in our career but we still have a ways to go. It is still going to be down to the fans acceptance. This album is fucking full of melody. We are telling the fans that it is okay to be melodic.

Jeb: I told Rob that it is great that a Metal band has made such a musically valid album.

KK: That is exactly what we needed to do. That is the big reward for us, successful or not. One thing is for sure, I don’t think anybody has done anything like this. It has got it’s own life. Nostradamus, as intriguing, mysterious and as metal as he was, is the vehicle we chose to deliver this musical piece to the world. We could have used a total fictional character of our own making but it does not have the same substance. You can go to the library and actually look up this man and decide for yourself about his legend.

Jeb: Last one: You are going to have Tony Iommi on stage with Heaven and Hell playing before you every night. Does that make you nervous?

KK: That is another one of the rewards you get in life. Make no bones about it, I feel that Priest and Sabbath – Tony and I are riff mongers from Birmingham. We certainly have written some riffs between us. It is going to be an honor and it is going to be great. It will be a full on Metal evening.

Judas Priest - Halford Interview

2008-05-19T17:00:16-05:00

Jeb Wright of Classic Rock Revisited conducted an interview with Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford on May 6. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow.

Jeb: When I first heard that Priest was going to be doing a concept album on Nostradamus I thought, "How are they going to pull this one off?" I have to admit, you pulled it off. I just finished listening to the CD five minutes ago and I am almost speechless.

Rob: It is an enormous amount of information to try to consume on the first listen but I think even in that first moment things pop out and grab you right away. You have twenty-three song titles but thirteen songs are the bulk and the other titles are segues into the other songs. Each of those thirteen tracks are very distinctive and full of melody and great hooks. They are full of the things that we know we have got to do; they are instinctive for us to do as well. That was always in our mind when we started this long, two-year epic of putting it together. We wanted to make sure that we didn’t get distracted or lose the plot. We think we’ve got it. We have really accomplished what we set out to achieve, which is to tell his life story in an entertaining, interesting and exciting heavy metal way.

Jeb: Your manager, Bill Curbishley, actually had the idea.

Rob: Bill came to see us at the end of the Angel of Retribution tour in Russia. We sat down to discuss what would be the next move for the band. Bill has been in the business for as long as we have and he has had pivotal success with Priest, the Who and some of the guys from Zeppelin. His mind is always thinking of where we could possibly go next. He said, "Look lads I know you have had great success with Angel of Retribution and now you can either go back into the studio and do another studio album or you can really take a gigantic step and do something great. Do the concept record you have been wanting to do forever. You have this opportunity to have a great story."

You can do a concept record about anything, really. But if you have a man like Nostradamus then the possibilities are endless. He came up with this idea and we immediately said, "Brilliant." We took a couple of weeks break and then Glenn, KK and myself sat down at Glenn’s house for our first day of writing and we were off.

Jeb: Did you have to do a lot of research on Nostradamus?

Rob: We did. For me, as a lyricist, it was important to get as much information that was needed. It was my job to pick out the highlights of this man’s life and to tell a story in sequence from when he first realized he had the ability to make visions to the very end where he passes away and crosses over.

We got books and I watched TV documentaries. He was a real man. He wasn’t a fantasy figure like the Painkiller or the Sinner. We knew he was a well-documented individual and a lot of people had an insight already. We stayed true to the cause and although we have artistic licence, we have not veered that much away from the facts.

Jeb: Nostradamus actually made some money off of his visions.

Rob: Originally he practiced in medicine. He was from a Jewish family and there were a lot of animosities from the Catholic Church to the Jewish people at that time in Medieval Europe, five hundred years ago. His family converted to Catholicism, not because they wanted to but because they didn’t want to end up dead. It was just a horrible time. He enrolled in a medical university. He got expelled. From the moment he became an adult he was always facing adversity.

He discovered astrology and horoscopes and that is where he was making the money. He did that for most of his life. He made his cash from meeting with the Queen of France. She heard about his horoscopes and was intrigued with that. She summoned him to Paris and he was afraid he was going to get his head chopped off. Little did he know that she was a fan of his work. Once he was in the royal court a lot of his troubles went away but to get to that point was a very difficult journey. He was making money doing these horoscopes but at the same time he was having these nightly visions and prophesies alone at night in his room.

Jeb: As I listened to the album I thought you did a great job of putting emotions to what Nostradamus was feeling at these different stages in his life.

Rob: On a human level, he went through a lot of things that we all can relate to. He had acceptance and rejection. A lot of people didn’t like what he did much in the same way some people don’t like Metal. He was banished into exile and he lost his wife and children to the plague. A lot of terrible things happened to him. We thought it was important to get that human part of the story and still have a great time with the prophecies like the Four Horsemen and Death. We mixed it up. We could have just done all the prophecies but then it would have been laborious. We wanted to give more of an insight to his life and as a listener you can kind of know what he went through.

Jeb: A biographer for a book will do so much research and writing that they will have a feeling as to what type of person their subject was. What is your take on what kind of person Nostradamus was?

Rob: If you believe in clairvoyance and psychic people then you know it is a great gift. It also has to be very difficult to deal with. You would ask yourself, "Why is this happening to me? Am I going crazy? Why have I been chosen?" At the same time he embraced it. He kept documents of everything he was experiencing when he would go into these trance like states. He kept it initially for himself because he knew that some of these prophecies were very difficult. He actually put them down in riddles and rhymes and abstract forms. Even now you have teachings of Nostradamus that are being reinterpreted. I don’t know what to believe. I am thankful that we have such an interesting man to talk about and I think our fans will feel the same as well.

Jeb: Vocally you are all over the place. When you think of Halford, you think of "Judas Rising" or the song "Resurrection" and that Halford boom. I noticed you sing in many different styles. "Lost Love" is a different type of song for you. You were really challenged on this album.

Rob: I love going into character. I love to become these painkillers and sentinels. I like to go into that world and it is a great opportunity for any singer to embrace that. Glenn and KK would also change their guitar tones to fit a certain sound or feel. Ian and Scott would play the bass and drums differently to convey what needed. This was a terrific experience for me because I could show off everything I have learned over the last thirty odd years. I sing in every range and I sing in Italian and I sing in French; I do a lot of crazy stuff.

To keep your attention for an hour and forty minutes – we hope that is how people will listen to this. We want people to listen to this the same way people listen to Tommy, Operation Mindcrime or Tubular Bells. We don’t want it to be tedious. We want people to be excited about what is going to happen next. If you have a favorite movie then you look forward to seeing certain parts over and over again. It is all a big picture experience you try to get across. I had a blast using all of the vocal things that I do.

Jeb: Scott’s drums are not as out front as they are on other Priest albums.

Rob: Balancing this thing was a little bit of a nightmare. You have an enormous amount of information. You have to treat a concept album differently than a normal studio album. You just try and work your way through and push it forward or pull it back a bit. It is part of the complexity of putting the thousands and thousands of bits of recorded information in sequence.

Jeb: Were the segues harder to write than the songs?

Rob: Only in that they needed to do the right job. We said from the get go that we didn’t want to do a song and then have five seconds of silence like a normal studio album. We needed a continual flow to keep the whole thing connected. The very beginning of the record is to get you focused and listening – it prepares you mentally for the first song "Prophecy." You then move onto the next cut and you have to think "How are we going to make this connect?" You have to try to not give too much away. It is a set up really. When you watch a movie, the camera will set up the scene – it is like that. Everything had to be really thought through.

Jeb: Detractors of Metal and of Priest would have loved for this to come out one dimensional and make Spinal Tap references. Is there some satisfaction to make such a valid piece of music that goes beyond Metal?

Rob: I would agree. We are anticipating the crossover moment. This can reach people who may have never thought of listening to Priest. This can go anywhere. We have already talked with management about when this goes through its release cycle that we can pass this over to special events. We can have other interpretations. I would personally love to see this done in a classical opera format or instrumentally by a symphonic orchestra. You can only do that when you have a conceptualized musical event.

I know what you are saying. We have never really been directed by stepping outside of ourselves or worrying about what people might think of our music or what their reaction might be. We are Judas Priest and we make Judas Priest music. All of our fans are rabid and passionate. It is natural to get some push back. Some people think that Turbo sucks and some think it is amazing. Some people think Painkiller was the best thing that this band has ever done. It is like being a sports fan. You have your favorite team and all the players and sometimes they play great and sometimes they don’t play as well. But they are still the same team and they are still aiming towards the same destination. It is natural to get opinions, attitudes and speculations. You have to let that go or you won’t have any inspirations. You have to do it for yourself. It is not really a selfish endeavor but you are looking after your own needs and wants as a band. We are lucky enough to have millions of fans that generally agree with what we do and they love the Metal that we make for them.

Jeb: What challenges will this present when you play live?

Rob: Whatever we do in terms of recording we know we can translate into the live performance. Everything that you hear on Nostradamus can be created live in some form or another. They are all basically Metal tracks – they have the drum, bass, guitar and vocals and then you have the other embellishments around it. However it turns out in a live performance it will be recognizable.

Jeb: You have an hour and forty minute story. Will you play all of it?

Rob: We will play it in its entirety. That will be another first for us as we have never done anything like that. It is going to be incredible. We are going to have a big stage show with a bunch of audio and visual. Priest is famous for theater. The lights and costumes are part of our life. We are just going to turn it up a notch and take it to another level.

Jeb: Angel of Retribution was the reunion. Does a project like Nostradamus bring you all closer together?

Rob: Only in that this is a different endeavor. I think the satisfaction is to look at what we have done. Glenn, KK and I, as the primary writers, could only do this because we are reunited. Scott and Ian also do great work in the studio and on stage. We had all the right ingredients and we had a lot of fun. Angel of Retribution is a great album but I think that Nostradamus is above and beyond anything we have ever done before.

Jeb: As I got to the end of the album I turned to my friend, Ron, and said, "A Metal band has made a valid musical statement."

Rob: I think that in the world of concept albums this will became a classic. It will get that status in the future. It could be five years from now but it will get there. The album has a complete life of it’s own. Nostradamus is unique and special.

Jeb: Do you feel his life has parallels to Metal music?

Rob: That was the joy, wasn’t it? We have this man who was an alchemist and who lived in a magical time with all the swords and the shields. Depending on where your heart is at you can say it is cliché but it is just perception. We feel Metal fans embrace this time period of five hundred years ago, Medieval Europe. There were a lot of magical things that were happening at that time. It was a very Metal time and he is a Metal man. You couldn’t really do that with many people who have lived through history. There is a very small amount of individuals who have maintained that kind of connection to the modern world. It is a brilliant opportunity to cover his life.

Jeb: You also have the Metal Masters tour.

Rob: We got excited about this. Before we had the Metal Masters idea we just planned on going out with some friends like we always do. The industry is still in a state of flux. The last ten years have been really turbulent. There was a really interesting piece in the LA Times the other day that talked about how all talent is going out in package deals whether it is Kenny Chesney or Motley Crue. I think that is great because we have a real set up here for real Metal Heads. If you are a true Metal Head then you want to see Testament and you want to see Motorhead and you want to see Heaven & Hell and you want to see Priest. You don’t want to show up halfway through. This is a Metal magical moment and we are thrilled.

Jeb: You have Lemmy, Ronnie James Dio and Halford.

Rob: The Three Tremors so to speak. I trademarked that name because I really want to do something with three vocalists and call it the Three Tremors. We have not even talked about this but Ronnie would be a great one. Geoff Tate would be great. We will wait and see. There is so much to do. The longer you are in the Metal world the more there is to do. I have been in the Metal world for thirty-five years.

Jeb: Judas Priest and Black Sabbath are the two bands that every Metal band looks up to.

Rob: It is great. It is a wonderful feeling. If you had told me when I first grabbed the mike for Priest that over thirty-five years later I would be sitting in the Sony building talking about Nostradamus then I would have thought you were crazy. Life is a wonderful thing and I am extremely grateful, as are all the members in Priest, for the fans. We could not have done this without the fans constant support and their inspiration to make another record. It has literally been non-stop. We don’t even think about when or where it is going to end. There is more Metal for us to make.

Jeb: You also have a new business for your other bands called Metal God Entertainment. How are you going to find the time?

Rob: I am able to separate the two. I am fortunate to have the solo endeavors. The important thing is that they don’t bump into or clash with Priest. You just grab life by the balls and squeeze them and get everything that you can out of them. There is nothing worse at the end of day then having regrets and wishing you had tried this or that. If you can continually satisfy your dreams and ambitions then it is a wonderful feeling.

Jeb: The solo endeavors were actually the reasons you left Priest the first time.

Rob: The contractual aspects had me having to serve a Leaving Member Clause. Since that moment came all the confusion and difficulty. Painkiller was a great record but we had a difficult time coming off the Reno trial and we had a grueling tour. We should have taken a couple of years off. We should have said, "It has been great. Now we are going to chill. See you in a year." That is the turbulent life of rock n’ roll.

Jeb: Back to Nostradamus. The first CD really took me back to parts of Sad Wings of Destiny.

Rob: I can understand that. If you are a Priest fan like yourself then you know everything about the band. Some people think Sad Wings of Destiny was a concept album, although it wasn’t. There is a flow and there is a wonderful feeling you get from listening to the album from the beginning to the very end.

We put three decades of Priest into Nostradamus. In a sense you have the entire life of Priest in the album Nostradamus. We could have made Nostradamus twenty years ago but I don’t think it would be anywhere near as valuable and important as it is now. You need to take all of your experiences and all of the hundreds of songs you have written and all of the thousands of hours of recording and millions of miles of travel and have them all play a little role. They make you confidant enough to tackle this type of project. We never knew it was going to be a double CD. One day we looked at the clock on the ProTools and we said, "My God, we are at seventy minutes and we are nowhere near the end." We just said, "Fuck it, we will know when we are done." We sat back at Glenn’s place one day and we listened to all the rough demos and we said, "That’s it. We are done. Now lets get into the real moment and record it." Writing was a blast; we had so much fun writing the music. Then you have to go into the replication mode of the recording studio.

Jeb: Are you going to be involved with the stage set?

Rob: We all are. We are all directly immersed in that. We have a pretty basic stage set for the upcoming tour. The big moment will be when we play "Nostradamus." We will pull out all the stops for that one.

Jeb: You won’t be able to play the entire album on the Metal Masters tour will you?

Rob: No, it is not practical. We have been away from our fans for a couple of years and we want to get back in front of them and play our Metal and our Priest classics. We are already looking at the list and trying to find songs that we have never played live before and songs that we have not played for a long time. It is crazy as we have over two hundred and fifty songs to choose from. It is overwhelming because all of them are great. You have to put a list together that is entertaining, exciting and leaves everybody satisfied.

Jeb: Someone is still going to be saying, "Why didn’t they play this one?"

Rob: I know, I know. It is mad. Priest fans would have us on stage for six hours.

Jeb: Before you go, we need to talk about the artwork for Nostradamus.

Rob: The same person did this as did Painkiller and Angel of Retribution [artist Mark Wilkinson]. He is an amazingly talented guy. We knew what we wanted from the get go. We wanted a figure of Nostradamus. We went further and we have a wonderful forty-eight page booklet that has all the lyrics. We are doing three limited edition vinyl editions. You can get a super deluxe package where you get the three vinyl pieces, the two CDs, the forty-eight page book and the poster. You can also just buy the straightforward CD jewel box case. We are mixing it up because of the state of the business. It is great for the fans to pick and choose. You can get it from iTunes or you can pick and choose between the three physical packages.

Jeb: Priest fans would buy it if it was in a cardboard box.

Rob: I think the super deluxe edition may already be sold out. We want to maximize the event as we will never do anything like this again. You ask yourself what you can do that embraces the huge adventure of the music. We could just put it out in a box but then it is gone. We think it is great to have the book, the poster and the vinyl. You can do whatever you want. It is really getting the most out of the release. It is like going to a sports game. You can buy a hat or you can buy a hat and a shirt and some boxer shorts. Hmm, Nostradamus boxer shorts... not a bad idea!

Children Of Bodom - Hellhounds On My Trail - Video

2008-05-13T03:53:28-05:00

"Hellhounds On My Trail", the new video from Finnish metallers Children Of Bodom, can be viewed below.

The "Hellhounds On My Trail" single will be released on June 9 via Spinefarm Records UK. The follow-up to the "Blooddrunk" single, also the title of the Finnish band's latest album, "Hellhounds…" will be made available on two separate formats:

* CD single featuring two cover versions (by Kenny Rogers and Alice Cooper), three live tracks recorded at the London Astoria in March 2008 plus the "Hellhounds…" video.
* 12" picture disc.

Both formats will come with brand new artwork exclusive to the UK version of the single.

To support the release of "Hellhounds…", Children Of Bodom has lined up signing sessions at Zavvi stores in Ireland and Scotland; the first is in Dublin (Dundrum) on June 11 at 4:30 p.m., and the second in Glasgow (Buchanan St.) on June 12 at 5:00 p.m. The band will also play live in both towns:

June 11 - Dublin, Vicar Street
June 12 - Glasgow, Carling Academy

"Blooddrunk", the new album from Children Of Bodom, sold 19,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release. This is roughly four times the opening tally of its predecessor, "Are You Dead Yet?", which premiered with 5,000 units back in October 2005 to land at No. 195.

"Blooddrunk" was certified gold in Finland (for sales in excess of 15,000 copies) on pre-sales alone — before it was even officially released — a first for the band.

The Gathering Preparing New Album

2008-05-12T12:49:58-05:00

Holland's art rock The Gathering not only are far from disbanding but they also working on a new album.

Drummer Hans Rutten has issued the following update:

"Dear all, sorry it has been a while since you've heard from us. We apologize for this. It actually means that we have been really busy with the band.

"During the last couple of months we created a lot of new ideas that lead to the first songs of our upcoming CD. Yes, we are working on a new album! Or actually, two new albums!

"Many of our new songs are very rock and guitar orientated and will end up on a heavy rock album for sure. The second album will be filled with more 'shoe gaze,' dreamy tracks.

"We can imagine if you are very curious about new vocalists. Currently, we are working with several. It feels very refreshing and interesting to work with different voices and it adds beautiful new colours to our music. Names will be presented as soon as our ideas become more concrete.

"As promised you will hear new material by the end of this year. The release of our new album is planned for spring 2009."

The End Records released The Gathering's "A Noise Severe" double-DVD and double-CD sets in February. Both releases contain recordings of the Dutch group's March 24, 2007 performance at the 4,000-capacity theatre Teatro Caupolican in Santiago, Chile and mark The Gathering's final output to feature singer Anneke van Giersbergen.

Hans Rutten stated about CD and DVD recording: "There was an incredible noise the whole concert. The audience was superb. I think it's a very elegant way to end an era — with Anneke, that is — and it gives strength to us and what the future will bring. I think the recordings speak for themselves. It's unique. It's a statement. It's something to be proud of."

Moonspell - Scorpion Flower - Video

2008-05-08T02:52:05-05:00

Moonspell's video for the track "Scorpion Flower" can be viewed below. The clip is one of two (along with "Night Eternal") off the group's new album, "Night Eternal", which were shot by Ivan Colic (Type O Negative, Symphony X, Hammerfall) in Belgrade, Serbia. Colic previously worked with the group on the "Memorial" video for "Finisterra".

"Night Eternal" is scheduled for release in Europe on May 19 and in the U.S. on June 10 via SPV/Steamhammer. The follow-up to 2006's "Memorial" was recorded at Antfarm studios in Denmark with producer Tue Madsen.

There will be, at first, two editions of the record: A limited double digipack with different artwork, one bonus track ("Age of Mothers"), a different version of the song "Scorpion Flower", the full album as well as a bonus DVD containing all video clips from "Memorial" plus "Finisterra" "making-of" footage and three live clips from last year's performance at the Wacken Open Air festival in Germany; plus the jewel case edition, to which the band hopes to add at least another bonus song.

"Night Eternal" track listing:

01. At Tragic Heights
02. Night Eternal
03. Shadow Sun
04. Scorpion Flower
05. Moon In Mercury
06. Hers Is The Twilight
07. Dreamless (Lucifer And Lilith)
08. Spring Of Rage
09. First Light

Former The Gathering and current Agua De Annique vocalist Anneke van Giersbergen makes a guest appearance in the song "Scorpion Flower", singing a duet with Fernando Ribeiro. Niclas Etelävuori of Amorphis played bass on the album, which features artwork by Seth Siro Anton (Paradise Lost, Septic Flesh). Band photography was handled by Edgar Keats.

Scorpion Flower

Poll: Do You Download Music?

2008-05-06T10:19:14-05:00

After a long time the poll has changed. The question is very simple: Do you support the idea of downloading music? However it is pretty hard to give a simple answer like a yes or no. I am sure that all of you have made this conversation more than once with your friends. Downloading music is always tempting however it’s truth that has many moral complications and, of course, it’s illegal.

On one hand people say that downloading illegal music really harms the industry. Record companies lose money and then they press bands to release albums as often as they can. In the same matter the bands also lose money (although record companies do not deserve them, bands do). Having thousands of mp3s results to hearing music and not listening to. You may know that somewhere you have "that" album from "that" band but you don’t know how it sounds exactly. Finally, imagine going backstage for autographs and saying “Hey dudes, can you sign my copy of your latest album?”

On the other hand downloading is cheap! A new CD usually costs over 20€ which is pretty expensive and record companies take the 19 of them. Moreover you discover thousands of new and upcoming bands. You discover bands that you would never buy their CDs. Indeed you can't listen and carefully dig to all of your thousands mp3s but still you dig more music. And if you want to support some bands, you can always go to their gigs. Finally, lots of today’s “super” groups became famous thanks to illegal downloading.

I’d like to hear your own opinions. You can vote at the poll at the sidebar and don’t hesitate to leave some comments.

Disturbed - Inside The Fire - Video

2008-05-03T03:26:36-05:00

Disturbed's official web site is currently hosting the video for the band's new single, "Inside the Fire". Watch the clip below.

Disturbed's singer David Draiman recently told The Pulse of Radio that "Inside the Fire" is one of the darkest songs he's ever written. "It is based on a true story of my own where, when I was about 16 or so, I had a girlfriend of mine commit suicide," he said. "It was an unbelievably horrific and painful experience, and it was cathartic to make the song, and it really took me having a certain mindset to do it, and I had to wait 'til I was ready."

As previously reported, Draiman has expressed the band's frustration at not being able to preview new songs from the band's forthcoming album, "Indestructible", due to contractual obligations. He told Rolling Stone's "Rock & Roll Daily" blog, "Isn't that horrible, how things have become? It would be really nice to see how a crowd reacts to the new songs early on, but there's too much dependency on that first week sales number and you can't sacrifice any of the impact of that."

With leaked tracks becoming commonplace, the band's label has nixed all but a few of the songs from the June 3 release for live consumption. The band is currently performing "Perfect Insanity", "Inside the Fire", a new-to-live-audiences b-side called "Hell", and the live debut of "This Moment", their "Transformers" soundtrack tune.

The tour, which kicked off on Saturday (April 26) in Little Rock, Arkansas, hits smaller venues and markets. "It's going to be very intimate. We're going to try to make it special," Draiman said, adding, "It also enables us to get back to grassroots. This is who we are. We started as a small club band. It's a different type of energy."

The band will join Slipknot, Mastodon, Machine Head and others on the Rockstar Mayhem Energy Tour, which begins on July 9 at Seattle, Washington's White River Amphitheatre and wraps in Buffalo, New York at the Darien Lake Performing Arts Center.