Heavy Metal
Rock and Metal Album Covers Get Reimagined With Simpsons Characters
The Bart Simpson parody poster of Nirvana’s Nevermind has adorned its fair share of desktop wallpapers, but Instagram account “Springfield Albums” has taken the concept even further. Artists Edgar Portelo and Lila Rouge “Simpsonize” rock and metal album covers, inserting characters from the long-running animated show The Simpsons into classic sleeves by Metallica, Alice in Chains, and many more. No band or character is off limits, with Portelo and Rouge parodying everything from Exodus’ thrash masterpiece Bonded by Blood — with Bart taking the place of original’s siamese demon — to Korn’s Follow the Leader, which sees Homer about to hopscotch off the cliff. Another thrash parody, Slayer’s 1983 debut, Show No Mercy, is adorned with “Evil Homer” from the season four episode “Whacking Da...
Anthrax Members Offer Virtual Classroom Clinics
With the concert industry expected to be shut down for months to come, artists are getting innovative in ways to connect with fans and earn a living at the same time. With that in mind, four members of thrash-metal legends Anthrax are offering virtual classroom clinics. Drummer Charlie Benante, bassist Frank Bello, and guitarists Scott Ian and Jon Donais are each serving up different experiences. Ian is offering a “Guitar Session,” a “Songwriting Session,” and a “20 Questions Session”; Bello is hosting a “Bass Clinic,” a “Songwriting Session,” and a “20 Questions Session”; Benante is holding a “Drum Session” and a “Songwriting Clinic”; and Donais is conducting a “Guitar Clinic.” Prices range from $300 for a “Drum Session” with Benante to $75 for a “Guitar Clinic” with Dona...
Avatar Announce New Album Hunter Gatherer, Unveil Single “Silence in the Age of Apes”: Stream
After teasing new music on the way, Swedish metallers Avatar have announced details of their upcoming album, Hunter Gatherer. In addition, they’ve unveiled a music video for the first single, “Silence in the Age of Apes.” The LP, which marks Avatar’s eighth full-length, hits stores on August 7th. It comes after an extensive touring cycle in support of the band’s 2018 album, Avatar Country. For Hunter Gatherer, Avatar worked with producer Jay Ruston (Anthrax, Stone Sour) at Sphere Studios in Los Angeles. Each song on the album was recorded with the band members performing together at the same time, which is the way Avatar recorded their 2014 record, Hail the Apocalypse. The dark and aggressive “Silence in the Age of Apes” is streaming now via a music video showing off the group’s new wardro...
New Band Mrs. Piss (Chelsea Wolfe and Jess Gowrie) Announce Debut Album, Share Two New Songs: Stream
Mrs. Piss, courtesy of Grandstand Media Singer-songwriter Chelsea Wolfe and multi-instrumentalist Jess Gowrie have formed a new band, the sardonically dubbed Mrs. Piss. The duo’s debut album, Self-Surgery, is out May 29th, and they’ve shared two new songs, “Downer Surrounded by Uppers” and “Knelt”. Mrs. Piss reconciles a long musical relationship between Wolfe and Gowrie, who once played together in a band called Red Host in the early 2000s. The idea to form a new band came when the two were touring together for Wolfe’s 2017 album, Hiss Spun. The two singles showcase the duo’s sonic diversity and are more urgent and abrasive than Wolfe’s folk-tinged output. “Downer Surrounded by Uppers” is a ripping post-punk track while “Knelt” is a droning wall of sludge, slower but no less heavy. For Wo...
Members of Anthrax and Suicidal Tendencies Rock Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy” While Social Distancing: Watch
Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante has kept sharp during the coronavirus pandemic by playing covers with fellow metal musicians while social distancing. He’s posted the performances on his YouTube channel, and for his latest video, he’s once again teamed with Suicidal Tendencies bassist Ra Diaz to play through Billie Eilish‘s pop hit “bad guy”. Benante (drums and guitar) and Diaz (bass) play along to Eilish’s vocals, and as expected, rock out a bit with the arrangement. For Eilish fans, it hints at what her music would sound like with more of hard rock vibe. As it is, Eilish has already shown her appreciation for heavy metal acts like Type O Negative and Rob Zombie with her onstage attire. The fandom goes both ways, with the longtime metal musicians Benante and Diaz both sharing their admirat...
Slipknot, Coheed and Cambria, and KISS Cruises Rescheduled for 2021
Slipknot (photo by Raymond Ahner); Coheed and Cambria (photo by Thaib A. Wahab); KISS (photo by Kevin RC Wilson Planned 2020 rock cruises led by Slipknot, Coheed and Cambria, and KISS have all been postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as announced Thursday by the events’ producer Sixthman. A number of the production company’s other cruises and vacation festivals have also been moved to next year. Slipknot had already announced that their Knotfest at Sea cruise would be postponed, but now some specific details have been revealed. Instead of setting sail from Barcelona, Spain, as it was scheduled to do this August, Knotfest at Sea will now depart from Athens, Greece in August 2021. Exact dates will be announced shortly. In addition to Slipknot, the 2020 lineup was to feature Be...
Paradise Lost’s Obsidian Finds the Goth Metal Pioneers as Sharp as Ever: Review
The Lowdown: Paradise Lost innovated goth metal in the late ’80s, and while that style remains has remained popular through the years (see: Type O Negative, Lacuna Coil, more), the pioneering UK act still flies under the mainstream radar in the United States. Part of that has to do with the fact that Paradise Lost has scarcely toured the States for most of their career, although two years ago they embarked on a 30th anniversary headlining tour of North America. The next step on Paradise Lost’s journey is Obsidian, their 16th studio album. While it might not be musically groundbreaking for the veteran metallers, the LP showcases their various strengths in a nearly flawless run of songs just as sharp and polished as the igneous stone for which it’s named. The Good: Obsidian caps off a partic...
Behemoth Add Brutality to The Cure’s “A Forest” on Newly Announced EP: Stream
Behemoth have unveiled a cover of The Cure classic “A Forest” that will appear on an upcoming EP of the same name. The extreme metal band’s crushing take on the gothic track features guest vocals by Shining’s Niklas Kvarforth. The EP, A Forest, arrives on May 29th and features the studio cover of the Cure song, as well as a live version recorded during a December 2018 show in Behemoth’s home country of Poland. In addition, the EP contains two new original Behemoth songs — “Shadows ov Ea Cast Upon Golgotha” and “Evoerecording” — that are described by frontman Nergal as a continuation of the band’s 2018 album I Loved You at Your Darkest. The rendition of “A Forest” features Kvarforth delivering the verses while Nergal chimes in with guttural screams, adding brutality to what is one of ...
Inter Arma Cover Neil Young, Prince, Nine Inch Nails, and More on New Album Garbers Days Revisited
Metal band Inter Arma have announced a new covers album, Garbers Days Revisited, featuring renditions of songs by Neil Young, Prince, Tom Petty, Nine Inch Nails, and more. The band has offered a preview of the record with their heavy take on Young’s “Southern Man”. Recorded between tours for their 2019 album, Sulphur English, the covers LP sees Inter Arma lending their crushing amalgamation of doom, death metal, and psych to eight songs that have influenced them. They turn “Southern Man” — already one of Young’s crunchiest and heaviest numbers — into a sonic colossus. “Inter Arma as a whole are massive Neil Young fans,” the band commented in a press release. “‘Southern Man’ has been a staple of our live set for over a decade and we finally got around to putting it to tape. We hope you enjo...
Clutch’s Neil Fallon Crushes AC/DC’s “Riff Raff” with Members of Cave In, Converge, and more: Watch
The folks over at Two Minutes to Late Night have delivered yet another stellar quarantine performance, with Clutch singer Neil Fallon leading a rousing cover of AC/DC’s “Riff Raff”. Like the previous videos in the “Bedroom Covers” series, the AC/DC performance features each musician performing from his own home. Interestingly enough, this series was conceived before the pandemic, and a few of the artists recorded and filmed their contributions as early as January. Two Minutes to Late Night host Gwarsenio Hall (aka Jordan Olds), a constant in all of these videos, sings and performs bass on the AC/DC cover. He’s joined by drummer Ben Koller (Converge, Mutoid Man), and guitarists Stephen Brodsky (Cave In, Mutoid Man), Adam McGrath (Cave In, Wear Your Wounds), and Tom Draper (Carcass). Fa...
Slipknot Cancel North American Knotfest Roadshow Tour Due to COVID-19 Pandemic
One of metal’s most anticipated tours, Slipknot’s North American “Knotfest Roadshow”, has been called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While it seemed inevitable, Slipknot officially canceled the trek on Wednesday (May 13th), just a few weeks before the tour was slated to begin. Moreover, the band also postponed its Knotfest at Sea cruise and canceled its Knotfest UK festival, both set for August. The month-long “Knotfest Roadshow” had been scheduled to kick off May 30th in Syracuse, New York, and run through a June 25th show in The Woodlands, Texas. In addition to headliners Slipknot, the outing was to feature A Day to Remember, Underoath, and Code Orange. The Slipknot-headlined Knotfest at Sea cruise, slated to set sail from Barcelona on August 10th, featured a bill that included Behemo...
Liturgy’s Hunter Hunt-Hendrix Comes Out Publicly as Transgender
Hunter Hunt-Hendrix, the leader of the acclaimed experimental black metal group Liturgy, has come out publicly as transgender, writing, “I am a woman.” In an Instagram post, Hunt-Hendrix discussed her previous hesitance in making a statement, remarking, “I could have done this before Liturgy started, but I didn’t, out of fear. I knew I was female and not male, emotionally and in my experience of my body. But I was afraid – of social rejection, romantic rejection, career rejection, rejection by my family, failure.” Hunt-Hendrix’s statement reads in full: “I am a woman. I’ve always been one. The love I have to give is a woman’s love, if only because it is mine. To varying degrees many already understand this, but I’d like to make a clear statement about my actual gender. I could have done th...
