SLAYER is devastated to inform that their bandmate and brother, Jeff Hanneman, passed away at about 11AM this morning (May 2nd) near his Southern California home. He was 49. Hanneman was in an area hospital when he suffered liver failure. He is survived by his wife Kathy, his sister Kathy and his brothers Michael and Larry, and will be sorely missed.

We offer condolences to Hanneman’s family, friends and legion of fans.

“Our Brother Jeff Hanneman, May He Rest In Peace (1964 – 2013)”

We’ve posted a photo album with many pictures of Jeff here.

Some of the condolences and tributes messages follow below…

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Carcass (2013)

Disinterred British extreme metal legends CARCASS have signed to Nuclear Blast Records for the world excluding Japan! Surgical Steel, the band’s first studio release since their 1996 LP Swansong, was produced by Colin Richardson (NAPALM DEATH, BOLT THROWER, GOREFEST, CANNIBAL CORPSE, SINISTER, RODRIGO Y GABRIELA) and mixed/mastered by Andy Sneap (MEGADETH, ACCEPT, EXODUS, TESTAMENT). Joining guitarist Bill Steer and bassist/vocalist Jeff Walker in the band’s current incarnation are new drummer Dan Wilding (ABORTED, TRIGGER THE BLOODSHED) and guitarist Ben Ash (PIG IRON, DESOLATION, LIQUEFIED SKELETON). Expect some guest vocals from original sticksman Ken Owen as well, when Surgical Steel is released this Fall world-wide.

CARCASS has released the following statement regarding their new found partners in medical deviancy: “We are pleased to announce that we have found the perfect home for Surgical Steel, the first CARCASS album for, what, eighteen years?! We’ve inked a deal with Nuclear Blast for our new baby.

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Hypocrisy – Interview With Peter Tägtgren

By Peter Atkinson

Photos from www.facebook.com/hypocrisy and www.hypocrisy.cc

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German thrash veterans, EXUMER, have confirmed a New York City show on September 21, 2013. The show will be the only U.S. appearance in 2013 for EXUMER and the band’s second visit to the United States. Main support for the evening will be Florida death metal act MALEVELONT CREATION. The show will be at The Paper Box in Brooklyn, NY.

Vocalist Mem V. Stein comments: “We are beyond thrilled to be finally playing in NYC. We haven’t played on North American soils since the THRASHO DE MAYO festival in L.A., four years ago. New York is close to mine and our bassist’s hearts, since both of us live here and we have never brought the band to play in front our home crowd.”

Thrash fans can catch a glimpse of what EXUMER’s live show is like in the band’s music video for “Fire & Damnation” on youtube HERE.

EXUMER
09/21 Brooklyn, NY The Paper Box

http://www.exumer.de
http://www.metalblade.com/exumer

The Metal world is a buzz with talk of a new super-group, DEATH DEALER.   This new international recording and touring act has a ton of Metal firepower in it’s ranks including Sean Peck (Cage, Vocals), Stu Marshall (Empires Of Eden,  Guitar),  Ross The Boss (Ross The Boss, ex-Manowar, Guitar) Mike Davis (Halford, ex-Lizzy Borden, Bass) and Rhino (Angels of Babylon, Ex-Manowar, Drums).  The new album WAR MASTER is slated for release in the summer of 2013 on the Steel Cartel label and promises to rage with Metal power.  We took the chance to talk to Sean Peck about this exciting new band.

There is an enormous amount of buzz in the Metal community about Death Dealer.  How did the five of you come to work together?  Did this band stem from your collaboration with Stu on the 2011 Cage album SUPREMACY OF STEEL?

Yes, Stu and I became good friends and a really good writing team as we kept doing Empires of Eden songs and talking metal all night on Skype.  He came out to America and hung out and even guested with CAGE at a few shows.  It was a great time and months later he called me up with his heavy Australian accent and said let’s do a band.  It was primarily my idea to solicit some big names.  As we began fantasizing about who we could get.  I actually called each of them then and there one by one, and they all agreed to do it within something like 2 hours.  We thought it up in our minds, acted upon it, and made it real.  Then we got busy actually writing the music and the whole gelled in an amazingly easy way.

How did you settle on the name Death Dealer?  A tough but fair question, did you take into consideration that there are other bands called Death Dealer?

We took a look at legal ownership of the name and saw it was available.  I was amazed that it was as Stu thought it up and researched it.  After careful consideration we took the necessary steps to confidently move forward with it now all the world knows us as the one true DEATH DEALER.

First impressions are important and the album art is killer.  Who did it?  Did you commission it or was it a completed piece that just fit the theme of the album?

No we hired my favorite metal artist Marc Sasso who has done four CAGE covers for me and started brainstorming about what we wanted to convey with the imagery.  Marc and I have designed many covers together and I love the process.  There were lots of tweaks but the results were killer and the artwork has been a huge success.  The pre order package has a sketch art book he did that is killer too.  The booklet inside he designed is also second to none.  I am a big comic book guy and am very particular about the visual presentation of the metal and people are going to love the whole package.

All of you are very busy and spread around the world it seems?   How did you find time to write and record WAR MASTER?  Is Stu still based in Australia?

Yes Stu is down under but through the magic of the internet we did it.  It was a fully collaborative thing with lots of skype time long hours and all of us really diving into it full bore.  Everybody contributed to the writing and Stu produced it.  For none of us being in a band together before it was amazing how it just flowed.  Something about this group and album was just meant to be, I am not just saying that it is like there was a plan from upstairs for this group to come together and thrash!  I am basing that on how easy it was done, how great we all get along for mostly being strangers and how good the record came out and how wel it has been received by the media.

Do you feel you have an almost built-in, ready-made fan-base with the die hard Manowar fans that avidly follow the careers of Rhino and Ross?

Yes it definitely helps!  As you know Manowar fans are second to none and we hope they jump on board we welcome them all and are sure they will love what they hear.  Ross and Rhino were the embodiment of the best of what Manowar was in my opinion.

The album WAR MASTER is pretty relentless. Where does the inspiration for this Metal aggression come after all these years in the business?

We are all just fans of the genre and music and each one of us in this band really lives our lives that way.  It is no line or anything.  We all love metal deep within our hearts and souls and that respect and passion keeps us all striving for more.  In any album the songs have to be good and that was the focus.  Great hooks and power!

How did the writing for the album occur?  Was it built around jam sessions or everyone trading parts digitally?  Who was the main writer?

Like I said we all collaborated and everyone lent a hand.  Yes we jammed more or less on skype and it really worked.  I am normally against that sort of thing but the songs just kept flowing when me Stu and Ross got together on the web.  Mike and Rhino kicked in lots of ideas too and the rest is history.  It is the first time I have ever put anything like this together web only but it was also the easiest album I have ever done.  There were never any disagreements either which was astounding considering the insane talent involved!

As the vocalist do you write the lyrics?

Yes I wrote all the lyrics except HAMMER DOWN which Stu wrote.  I have always done that.  Lyrics are really easy for me I know some big names in metal that really struggle with it but it just flows like blood on steel for me!!

Turning to the business side…in this day and age how important is it to have a physical product on the market?  Was there any discussion of doing a digital only format?     

No because we love the artwork and physical aspect of the metal fans needs.  We are committed to the physical experience so much so that we created this insane pre order package that no one could believe we were only charging $35 for.  People want collectibles and trinkets and we will continue to innovate and expand our product line of items linked to the releases.  We are currently in development ( I can reveal here for the first time) to produce collectible statues of the characters depicted in the cover art.  Being a comic guy my studio is filled with them and we are super excited to be ready to offer what I have only seen AMON AMARTH do.

With the industry credibility, experience and welling power of the combined members of the band, you guys could pretty much sign to any label you wanted. Why Steel Cartel?  Will you have different regional deals as well?

The business is really a trip right now.  We had a large label that wanted to do business but it was simply taking too long.  We got offered a great distribution deal with Soulfood and decided that if we could find someone to fund a label that perhaps that would be the way to go with a product like this.  We found that person who started STEEL CARTEL RECORDS and now they are investing more time and money than any of the other labels would have by far and we couldn’t be happier.  Look for some serious releases from the label in the near future it is really exciting!

Is touring going to be an option for Death Dealer?

Yes we have booked dates in the US and MEXICO for July and JAPAN is being established for later in the year.  Europe will definitely happen in a proper 3-4 week run and South America as well.  The important thing for people to know is that this is a band and not a project.  This band is going to play live and often.  We are also going to put out a lot of product rapidly.  There will be no big wait for the next release it will be in the very near future!!

WWW.DEATHDEALER.CO

Sirenia – Perils Of The Deep Blue

Norwegian symphonic gothic metallers SIRENIA have released the second studio trailer for their upcoming sixth studio recording entitled, Perils Of The Deep Blue, here http://youtu.be/mI8z1GzI6UA. The album will be released on June 28^th (Europe) and July 9^th (North America) via Nuclear Blast Records.

Part 1: http://youtu.be/leAT0_KMsxQ

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WHITE WIZZARD has launched a new track, “Strike The Iron,” taken from their upcoming third full-length album, The Devils Cut. Due out on June 3rd in Europe via Earache Records and on June 25th in the USA via Century Media/Earache Records, The Devils Cut features artwork by Cameron Davis (http://www.cdavisart.com), who is known for his work as the lead character designer and illustrator for the Guitar Hero video game series.

WHITE WIZZARD bassist and main-man JON LEON comments about “Strike The Iron”:

“‘Strike the Iron’ is my favorite WHITE WIZZARD song I have ever written, along with ‘The Sun Also Rises’, which closes the new record.  I am very proud of the arrangement.  I had the verse melody in my head and chorus line before I even picked up the guitar and started writing it.  It has stunning leads by Jake and Will, and Joseph interpreted the vocal melody fantastically and gave so much character to it.  This song really exemplifies everything this line-up is capable of and everyone’s talents really came through on it.  It never lets up and we are very excited to get this one out there live…I expect it to be our opening song for the next couple of years.”

Listen to “Strike the Iron” here.

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The Italian heavy/power metallers Overtures just published their new videoclip for the song “Savior”

The clip is taken from the DVD contained in the new album “Entering the Maze”, to be released on May 31st by the Greek label Slesazy Rider Records (www.sleaszyrider.com), that already released the previous album “Rebirth”.

The “Savior” videoclip remarks Overtures’ concept of labyrinth, upon which the whole album is based.

Director: Simone Vrech
Director of photography: Piermaria Agostini
Actors: Daniele Banovaz, Chiara Pasqualini

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nst8bx6MQmE

LEFT TO RIGHT:  Marzi Montazeri (guitar), Philip H. Anselmo,
Jose Manuel “Blue” Gonzalez (drums), Steve Taylor (bass)
Photo Credit:  Danin Drahos

Philip H. Anselmo will take to the road for his first-ever solo tour, “Technicians of Distortion,” which will kick off July 31 in Tulsa, OK.  On this tour, Anselmo will be joined by his back up band The Illegals – guitarist Marzi Montazeri, bassist Steve Taylor, and Jose Manual Gonzalez on drums.  Tickets go on sale this Thursday, May 23 – log onto  http://www.thehousecorerecords.com/ > ARTISTS for ticketing information.

Technicians of Distortion is in support of Anselmo’s upcoming solo release, Walk Through Exits Only, due out July 16 (Housecore Records/Megaforce) and will take the group to a total of sixteen important markets over a three-week period.  Warbeast, who are signed to Anselmo’s Housecore Record label and just released their new album Destroy (produced by Anselmo), along with industrial doom and drone metal one-man band Author and Punisher, will provide support on all dates.

“It is an incredible pleasure to do my first solo tour with my brothers in Warbeast and to introduce the mighty Author and Punisher to the Exrteme Music audience properly,” said Anselmo.  “This is a killer program of insane variety, so come out and support the gigs!!!!”

Fans can expect a hard-core, stripped-down production that is focused on a set list that will include all songs on Walk Through Exits Only as well as lots of extras.

With one additional date to be announced, the confirmed itinerary for the Technicians of Distortion tour is as follows:

JULY
31   Cain’s Ballroom, Tulsa, OK

AUGUST
2   Wooly’s, Des Moines, IA
3   First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN
4   House of Blues, Chicago, IL
6   House of Blues, Cleveland, OH
7   The Intersection, Grand Rapids, MI
9   Royal Oak Music Theatre, Royal Oak, MI
10   Danforth Music Hall, Toronto, ONT Canada
11   Heavy MTL Festival, Montreal, QC Canada
13   The Palladium, Worcester, MA
14   Upstate Concert Hall, Clifton Park, NY
16   Best Buy Theatre, New York, NY
17   Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA
18   The Fillmore, Silver Spring, MD
20   The Masquerade – Heaven Stage, Atlanta, GA

LOUDWIRE PREMIERES ANVIL ‘HOPE IN HELL’ FULL ALBUM STREAM
ANNOUNCE RELEASE PARTY AT THE KNITTING FACTORY MAY 30TH

‘HOPE IN HELL’ OUT MAY 28TH ON THE END RECORDS

Listen to Anvil’s highly anticipated 15th studio album in its entirety this week on Loudwire.

‘Hope in Hell’ kicks off with the haunting and sludgy title track before jumping into the speed metal sounds of ‘Eat Your Words.’ It’s nonstop classic metal from that point on, as Anvil stay true to their old-school roots throughout the disc.’ – Loudwire

LISTEN TO ‘HOPE IN HELL’ ON LOUDWIRE

PRE-ORDER ‘HOPE IN HELL’ BUNDLE PACKAGES

In related news, Anvil is set to perform a release party for the release May 30th at Brooklyn’s iconic Knitting Factory. Acrassicuda and Lords Of Mercy will be opening the show. For tickets and more information, please click here

‘HOPE IN HELL’ RELEASE SHOW
THE KNITTING FACTORY
361 Metropolitan Ave  New York, NY 11211
THU 5/30
DOORS: 8:00PM / SHOW: 9:00PM
TICKETS: $15

‘HOPE IN HELL’ TRACKLISTING

01. Hope in Hell
02. Eat Your Words
03. Through with You
04. The Fight is Never Won
05. Pay the Toll
06.Flying
07.Call of Duty
08.Badass Rock n Roll
09.Time Shows No Mercy
10.Mankind Machine
11.Shut the Fuck Up

Bonus tracks
12.Hard Wired
13.Fire at Will

The man who forever changed the sound of rock ‘n’ roll when he invented distortion, Kink’s legend Dave Davies, has recorded a brand new solo album of all original material! To be released on Cleopatra Records on June 4th , ‘I Will Be Me’ features guest appearances by The Jayhawks, Anti-Flag, award winning UK blues guitarist Oli Brown, Chris Spedding, US stoner rock band Dead Meadow, Aussie rockers The Art, Geri X and others! In support of Dave’s new album release, a special engagement of Live performances in New York and Los Angeles are scheduled for the end of May to mid-June! (see below for complete list of shows)

Dave Davies founded the Kinks in the early 1960s and forever changed music after he sliced up the speaker cone of a little green amp and created a revolutionary, distorted guitar tone and frenetic solo on the song “You Really Got Me”. Musicologist Joe Harrington described the Kinks influence: ” ‘You Really Got Me’, ‘All Day And All Of The Night’ … were predecessors of the whole three-chord genre … The Kinks did a lot to help turn rock n roll into rock.” In 1998, writer Bill Crowley wrote, “As lead guitarist and founder of The Kinks, Dave Davies is one of the most unpredictable and original forces in rock, without whom guitar-rock styles including heavy metal and punk would have been inconceivable. A member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Dave’s massive guitar sounds have inspired bands from Van Halen to Green Day.”

Dave’s new album ‘I Will Be Me’ is a return to his groundbreaking guitar sound and innovative songwriting. His classically English voice shows off a new depth but still hits his famous high notes in this collection. The hard rocking track “Livin’ In The Past”, takes a look at obsession with all things retro but, ever the Mod, Dave surprises with the lyric, “No matter what they do or say, the future’s here to stay!” He takes a look back with “Little Green Amp”, a playful, punk homage to days when his jagged, blues driven sound wave ripped ahead of the British Invasion through stereos the world over. “Cote du Rhone (I Will Be Me)”, an uncensored look at ugliness in the world today, is as angry and biting as any song in Dave’s repertoire with an innovative yet heavy slide guitar tone. Soothing lyrics and sounds of Jonathan Lea’s sitar playing on “Healing Boy” show Dave’s sensitive side. In a recent radio interview he said, “Rock music is a positive force for good.” This hopeful and optimistic vision manifests and bridges themes personal, social and universal in ‘I Will Be Me’.

Since the early days, Dave Davies has worked on a slew of critically acclaimed records, ranging from solo hit single “Death of a Clown”, to experimental Kinks records like ‘Village Green Preservation Society’ and ‘Arthur’ as well as the classic single “Lola” in the ’70s. In the ’80s Dave released experimentally prescient solo work like the eponymous album titled ‘Dave Davies’ or ‘AFL1-3603′ named after himself and/or the barcode symbol face cover art. His mainstream success continued in the 80s on hit Kinks albums ‘Low Budget’ and ‘State of Confusion’. In the ’90s he released more solo work such as ‘Bug’ and the compilation ‘Unfinished Business’. His songs have been featured in films by John Carpenter and on TV shows like ‘The Sopranos’, which used his tune “Living On A Thin Line”. His tell-all autobiographical book ‘Kink’ was well received in the late ’90s as well. In recent years, Dave has collaborated creatively with his sons. In 2010 he worked with son Russell Davies to create the hauntingly, beautiful rock electronica album, the Aschere Project. The film ‘Mystical Journey’, directed by son Martin Davies, narrates Dave’s longtime interest in the paranormal, Eastern philosophies and spirituality (the film inspired Julien Temple s BBC documentary ‘Kinkdom Kome’). No matter how diverse the ambition, Dave Davies puts his heart and soul in all of his projects.
Tracks include:
1. Little Green Amp
2. Livin’ In The Past
3. The Healing Boy
4. Midnight In L.A.
5. In The Mainframe
6. Energy Fields
7. When I First Saw You
8. The Actress
9. Erotic Neurotic
10. You Can Break My Heart
11. Walker Through The Worlds
12. Remember The Future
13. Cote Du Rhone (I Will Be Me)

Dave Davies tour dates:

May 27, 28 & 29 – City Winery – New York, NY
May 30 – The Bull Run – Shirley, MA
May 31 – Infinity Hall – Norfolk, CT
June 1 – Musikfest Cafe – Bethlehem, PA
June 2 – The Arcada Theatre – St. Charles, IL
June 6 – Sainte Rocke – Hermosa Beach, CA
June 7 – Coach House – San Juan Capistrano, CA
June 9 – The Canyon Club – Agoura Hills, CA
June 11- Del Mar Fairgrounds – Del Mar, CA
More dates to come!

Drowning Pool, Fozzy & Revoker

@ The Relentless Garage

24th April  2013

Review by Anna Dumpe

Photography by Graham Hilling

Drowning Pool

When it was announced that the nu-metal masters Drowning Pool will be paying a visit to London’s Relentless Garage, it was more than clear that those who truly enjoy going a little crazy while listening to “Bodies” are in for a treat. To make it even better, it was confirmed that Drowning Pool will be sharing the stage with Fozzy and Revoker, so there was no chance we could have missed such a show.
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Interview with Joel Kaos of Ancestor

Conducted by Robert Williams

Video & Editing courtesy of Sandra Torres

It’s a Friday night in downtown Austin and a small gathering of metal fans have turned out for the rare opportunity to witness Cuban metal bands performing for the first time on North American shores. The SXSW festival is in full swing in Austin, Texas and just making your way to the venue is a challenge unto itself. Well, there’s the whole finding a parking spot thing (Roughly, a sixty-minute investment) not to mention the endless stampede of out of town industry types, revelers, journalists, pedicabbers, musicians and celebrities parading through the now litter filled downtown streets. Inside the club, the air smells like stale smoke and even staler piss. A supposed A-List hip-hop event is roped off on the other side of the club and woofers boom insipid top forty chart toppers. Tonight’s bill is made up of Ancestor, Escape and Agonizer all hailing from Cuba. Joining them are  Motor from Mexico, Eminence and Attomica from Brazil. I’ll admit it struck me as a little disheartening in regards to the lack of turnout for such a rare occasion as this (especially considering the sacrifice all participating bands made to get here) but the bands gave it there all none the less and it was a solid night of headbanging to the Latin American Assault. Read the rest of this entry »

More than thirty years after the start of his career with Savatage, and successive projects/bands like  Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Jon Oliva’s Pain, now legendary songwriter und performer Jon Oliva releases his first ever solo album, titled „Raise The Curtain”.

On  June 21st (USA: July 2nd) the master’s new piece of work will be available as CD Digipak (first edition) and 2-vinyl (gatefold, limited to 800 copies worldwide).

The album will be released simply under the banner „OLIVA“ and you can expect a mixture of Jon Oliva’s early influences and the material he wrote and recorded throughout his whole artistic career.

Tracklisting:
01. Raise The Curtain
02. Soul Chaser
03. Ten Years
04. Father Time
05. I Know
06. Big Brother
07. Armageddon
08. Soldier
09. Stalker
10. The Witch
11. Can’t Get Away
12. The Truth (Bonus Track)

Mike Tramp
Cobblestone Street
2013, Target Records
Rating: 4.5/5

Tracklist:
01. Cobblestone Street
02. Caught In The Storm
03. New Day
04. Ain’t The Life I Asked For
05. Revolution
06. We’ll Be Alright
07. Angel Or Devil
08. Find It In Your Heart
09. What Are You Gonna Do
10. Once

Mike Tramp burst onto the music scene back in the 80’s with the band White Lion. Here we are some 30 + years later and Mike is still cranking out the tunes. For his latest release, COBBLESTONE STREET we find Tramp emphasizing his songwriting. Some of the songs date back 20 years and some were written just a week prior to recording. Once he got into the studio he recorded the songs as he wrote them, on an acoustic.

COBBLESTONE STREET is not a White Lion styled album in anyway. The only comparison is that it is the same singer songwriter and there are similarities to White Lion songs such as “When The Children Cry” and “Wait”. This album was quite a surprise when I first heard it. I was expecting a Rock n Roll record but what came out of my speakers was something completely different.

While listening to the album I found myself visualizing the songs in my head. He is telling a story with each song and they sound as if they could be very autobiographical, especially the title track where he mentions Copenhagen. Tramp has taken a very simplistic approach with this new album and letting the words take the forefront. The drums, bass, instrumentation are more secondary here. The acoustic guitar is slightly higher in the mix compared to the rest but not overpowering. It compliments his voice perfectly along with the snare drum which is fairly prominent throughout. Another song that comes across as autobiographical is “Ain’t The Life I Asked For” where he mentions a ‘Rock n Roll Ride’ and how it’s ‘What I’ve Become’. Even at the very end of the album you heard an old film run out as if this is the soundtrack to Tramp’s life.

A fantastic album that highlights Mike’s voice and songwriting ability. A departure from the music that made him and his old band a household name. This is the year’s biggest and most refreshing surprise. A much needed album in today’s world.