Heavy Metal
Beyond the Boys’ Club: Kris Esfandiari of King Woman
Beyond the Boys’ Club is a monthly column from journalist and radio host Anne Erickson, focusing on women in the heavy music genres, as they offer their perspectives on the music industry and discuss their personal experiences. Erickson is also a music artist herself, recently releasing the song “Eternal Way” under the moniker Upon Wings. This month’s piece features an interview with Kris Esfandiari of King Woman. King Woman’s new album, Celestial Blues, delves into heavy themes of suffering, spirituality and, ultimately, triumph. The ethereal doom band, led by Kris Esfandiari, releases its sophomore set July 30th via Relapse Records, following up the 2017 debut, Created in the Image of Suffering. Esfandiari grew up in a cult-like religious environment filled with stories of demons and exo...
Babymetal Announce Budokan Live Album and Director’s Cut Livestream
Babymetal have announced a new live album, 10 Babymetal Budokan, recorded at the legendary Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, in addition to a director’s cut livestream of the performances. The album is out October 1st, while the streaming event goes live July 24th at 3 p.m. ET and will be viewable through July 25th at midnight PT. The Japanese pop-metal act began 2021 by continuing its 10th anniversary celebration with a series of 10 shows at Budokan. Those performances were culled into the “10 Babymetal Budokan World Premiere” livestream that recently aired. The director’s cut “encore” promises an alternate take on the initial concert film, with new cuts and visual edits. The Budokan shows followed meticulous COVID guidelines and safety restrictions, with Babymetal offering concertgoers “Saviour M...
R.I.P. Johnny Solinger, Ex-Skid Row Singer Dies at 55
Johnny Solinger, the longest tenured singer of Skid Row, died Saturday (June 26th) at the age of 55. The rock vocalist had announced that he was suffering from liver failure in May. A statement from Skid Row read, “We are saddened to hear the news of our brother Johnny Solinger. Our thoughts are with his family, friends and fans. Godspeed Singo. Say hello to Scrappy for us.” Solinger became Skid Row’s singer when the when the multiplatinum rock band re-formed in 1999 without vocalist Sebastian Bach following their 1996 breakup. He recorded two studio albums (2003’s Thickskin and 2006’s Revolutions Per Minute) and two EPs (United World Rebellion: Chapter 1 and Rise of the Damnation Army – United World Rebellion: Chapter Two) with Skid Row before being fired from the group in 2015. Related V...
High on Fire’s Matt Pike Announces Head on a Pike Illustrated Lyrics Book
High on Fire frontman Matt Pike has announced a new illustrated lyrics book, Head on a Pike: The Illustrated Lyrics of Matt Pike. It arrives in bookstores November 9th. The tome collects lyrics and poetry spanning Pike’s years as a member of Sleep and as the principal songwriter in High on Fire. “When I started singing, it changed the way I had to write music,” Pike told the Chicago Tribune’s Steve Knopper via the book’s press release. “I started realizing I was a natural at it. I was always a good creative writer, but words started coming to me immediately — when I get one line, fast, I start getting (full songs) down…lots of them will be metaphoric. I get really complicated when I start writing — my brain goes two different ways.” Related Video Accompanying Pike’s words are brand ne...
Mining Metal: Take Over and Destroy, Avtotheism, Boss Keloid, Code, Pharaoh, Siderean, Witch Cross, Witch Vomit
Mining Metal is a monthly column from Heavy Consequence writers Joseph Schafer and Langdon Hickman. The focus is on noteworthy new music emerging from the non-mainstream metal scene, highlighting releases from small and independent labels — or even releases from unsigned acts. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, many anticipated that a year or more without touring would prompt musicians to create a surplus of material to be released afterward. Now that America’s becoming increasingly vaccinated, that prediction looks to be panning out. Not only are there a slew of spectacular releases on the horizon (and I don’t just mean Carcass, though their new song “Kelly’s Meat Emporium” is a must-listen), but many of them come from bands that never broke up but also haven’t been particularly active, eith...
Dee Snider Teams Up with Cannibal Corpse Singer Corpsegrinder for “Time to Choose”: Stream
Dee Snider has unleashed the new single “Time to Choose” featuring Cannibal Corpse vocalist George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher. The track is from the legendary Twisted Sister frontman’s upcoming solo album, Leave a Scar, out July 30th. The blistering three-minute song starts with a galloping thrash rhythm and grooving riffage prior to a crushing post-chorus breakdown. This section is prime territory for Corpsegrinder, who bellows “You must choose” in his iconic death growl. Overall, it’s one of the most diverse and brutal songs Snider has recorded to date. “‘Time to Choose’ deals with a subject I’ve addressed often over the course of my writing career: good versus evil (see ‘Burn In Hell’),” Snider remarked in a press release. “Given the heaviness of this track, I felt adding George ‘Corpsegrin...
Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler Announces Solo Box Set and Greatest Hits Album
Legendary Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler has announced the Manipulations of the Mind solo box set and a separate greatest hits album. Both arrive on July 30th. The box set spans four CDs and collects Butler’s three solo albums, Plastic Planet (1995), Black Science (1997), and Ohmwork (2005) — each having been previously reissued individually on vinyl. A fourth CD houses rare and mostly unreleased material. The box set is perfect for completionists, but if you’re looking for a quick sampler of the legendary bassist’s solo work, the standalone The Very Best of Geezer Butler compilation houses 17 highlights form the three LPs chosen by Butler himself. Free from the creative limits of Black Sabbath, Butler explored the full breadth of modern heavy metal on his solo albums. This ...
Corey Taylor Announces Summer 2021 US Solo Tour Dates
Corey Taylor was one of the first major artists to hit the road again this year, embarking on a month-long US run that just wrapped up a few days ago. Now, the singer has added a new summer leg to his solo tour, just weeks before his band Slipknot hit the road for their fall trek. The new solo leg kicks off August 6th at the House of Blues in Las Vegas and runs through an August 19th show at Denver’s Sculpture Park. Taylor will also play a July 16th gig at Rock Fest in Cadott, Wisconsin. Taylor is touring behind his 2020 debut solo album, CMFT, which features a wide range of songs spanning from metal to alternative rock to outlaw country. Supporting the summer trek will be the dance troupe Cherry Bombs, featuring Taylor’s wife Alicia Dove. Related Video After the solo jaunt, Taylor will th...
Metallica to Release Super Deluxe 30th Anniversary Box Set of The Black Album
Metallica are celebrating the 30th anniversary of “The Black Album” in a major way. The metal titans have announced a super deluxe box set edition of the mega-selling LP that is set to arrive on September 10th. As Metallica have done with their first four albums over the past few years, they’re giving their self-titled fifth LP, better known as “The Black Album”, the royal treatment. The 1991 effort helped Metallica make the leap from metal favorites to international rock stars thanks to classics like “Enter Sandman”, “Nothing Else Matters”, and “Sad but True”. It remains the best-selling album of all time in Nielsen Soundscan history. The limited-edition deluxe box set features the album remastered on 180-gram 2-LP vinyl, a picture disc, three live LPs, 14 CDs (containing rough mixes, dem...
Fieldy Announces Hiatus from Korn After Falling Back on “Bad Habits”
Founding Korn member Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu has announced a hiatus that will keep him from the nu-metal pioneers’ upcoming US tour. According to the musician, he needs time off in order to deal with “personal issues” that have led him to fall back on “bad habits.” The bassist revealed the news via his Instagram page on Monday, June 21st. Korn recently announced an extensive 2021 tour with Staind that kicks off in early August and runs through late September. They’ll be out in support of their latest album, The Nothing, which came out in October 2019. In an open letter to fans, Fieldy didn’t specify what the “bad habits” were, but stressed that he needed “some time off to heal.” His full message reads as follows: “To all Korn fans worldwide. The past 6 years I’ve been dealing with some pe...
Bullet for My Valentine Announce Self-Titled New Album, Unleash Single “Knives”: Stream
Bullet for My Valentine have announced a new self-titled studio album, arriving October 22nd. The UK metal act also unveiled the video for lead single “Knives”. The band’s seventh LP follows 2018’s Gravity and represents the peak of Bullet for My Valentine’s definitive sound, hence the self-titled nomenclature. For “Knives”, they crank their modern metal edge and arena-ready bombast to the extreme, with vocalist and guitarist Matt Tuck calling it an evolution for the band. “This is the beginning of Bullet 2.0,” Tuck said in a press announcement. “It signifies where we are right now. The music is fresh, it’s aggressive, it’s more visceral and passionate than it’s ever been.” Related Video The pandemic added an extra sense of urgency and uncertainty to the creation process. For a workma...
Dark Nights: Death Metal Soundtrack Features Rise Against, Manchester Orchestra, Mastodon, Soccer Mommy: Stream
DC fans, assemble: the soundtrack to Dark Nights: Death Metal has hit streaming services. In collaboration with Loma Vista Recordings, the companion piece to the DC Comics series of the same name features songs by Soccer Mommy, Denzel Curry, Rise Against, HEALTH, Mastodon, Manchester Orchestra, Chelsea Wolfe, and more. Stream it below with Apple Music or Spotify. The Dark Nights: Death Metal soundtrack was executive produced by Tyler Bates, who’s composed scores for films like Guardians of the Galaxy and John Wick. Previously-released singles include Denzel Curry and PlayThatBoiZay’s “Bad Luck”, Chelsea Wolfe’s “Diana”, HEALTH’s “Anti-Life”, Rise Against’s “Broken Dreams, Inc”, and Mastodon’s “Forged By Neron”. Each artist wrote their own songs for the soundtr...
