Alexis Petridis of The Guardian reports that James Hoare, deputy editor of Terrorizer magazine is agitating to have January 29 declared International Blastbeat Celebration Day. The idea started out as a joke on Good Bad Music for Bad, Bad Times, a remarkable blog written by Erich Keller, a European literature student and former frontman of acclaimed Swiss grindcore band FEAR OF GOD.

"A blastbeat is a kind of very, very rapid repeat hitting of the drums, usually in excess of 180bpms, so it sounds kind of like an apocalyptic typing pool," explains Hoare. "Most people associate it with NAPALM DEATH and EXTREME NOISE TERROR, because there was that period when John Peel was playing them a lot in the late '80s and NAPALM DEATH's drummer Mick Harris came up with the name, but blastbeats crop up in some of the strangest places. The BEASTIE BOYS used one on one of their early punk records, 'Pollywog Stew'." He thinks for a moment. "It's difficult to say what its appeal is, really. I think it's just because it's extreme."

Read the entire article from The Guardian.

Lars Ulrich Interview

Greg Kot of ChicagoTribune.com recently conducted an interview with METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

ChicagoTribune.com: "Death Magnetic" was portrayed as a conscious return to the style of your '80s albums. Do you agree?

Ulrich: It didn't start that way. We just wanted to make the best record possible. We had a weird taboo relationship with our early records that we felt scared to revisit because we'd be in some way cheapening them. Rick [Rubin] made us feel pretty good about doing that: going back and not copying, but trying to put ourselves in the same head space as much as possible. ... Rick felt that none of our records had ever captured the frenetic energy that we get in a live situation. Our records always got watered down in execution. He wanted us to play together, lock in with each other, and play with energy in a really connected way instead of overdubbing and being all perfect.

ChicagoTribune.com: How do you respond to accusations that the record was botched in the mixing process and sounds distorted?

Ulrich: A METALLICA record is too loud for people? That's a statement in itself. The irony of that. Welcome to the world of digital recordings, compression overload, MP3's. People are moving in a different direction and things are becoming more linear, less dynamic. We can't put out records for every niche in our fan base. We attract such a diverse group of people, we can't please everybody. METALLICA has made career out of doing what we need to do for ourselves … I love the way the album sounds. Rick pushed it as far as he needs to go. Did he push it too far, farther than some people wanted? Absolutely. In a world of compression, maybe it's too hot for some people. But there is some perverse beauty in knowing that a METALLICA record is considered too loud.

ChicagoTribune.com: Did you read the reviews of the record? Do you care?

Ulrich: We read the reviews. If an artist of any magnitude says he doesn't read reviews, I'd say 99 percent of them are lying. We follow criticisms and evaluations of what we do without necessarily affecting what we do. You can read reviews without altering creative process, without turning into a parody. … [But] we made a bunch of top-10 lists. There is so much goodwill and positive energy. It's the best-received album since the "black" album 200 years ago [the self-titled 1991 album]. It's doing as well or better than anyone expected.

ChicagoTribune.com: But for a long time anger was a necessary ingredient in METALLICA's music. How do you maintain that when things are so settled?

Ulrich: That's the $64,000 question. Is it necessary? I would answer back. I don't have the answer. If we can spit out a record like "Death Magnetic" 27 years into a career, it can't be that bad. I was listening to [the 1988 METALLICA song] "Dyers Eve" the other night. Incredible lyrics, but James isn't that guy anymore. I think there is such validity in what is coming out of him now. It doesn't necessarily succeed or fail on whether his anger can get up to "Dyers Eve" level. There are enough other things that work to keep it from being comical. Rubin would tell us if it gets comical. I know there are 5 or 10 out there who feel it's comical, but the majority feel there is something left. Otherwise, I hope we'd be the first ones out of here.

Read the entire interview from ChicagoTribune.com. 


Nightwish Frontwoman Explains Issues In The Band

The latest issue of MeNaiset, the most popular women's magazine in Finland, features a cover story on NIGHTWISH frontwoman Anette Olzon. The Swedish singer was interviewed for the article, which focuses on Anette's personal life and the behind-the-scenes politics that comes along with being in one of Finland's biggest rock exports.

According to Anette, she had a meltdown during the band's recent South American tour and walked offstage halfway through NIGHTWISH's concert in Belo Horizonte, Brazil because she lost her voice after being exposed to an excessive amount of smoke.

Olzon: "It's a big deal for a singer to lose his or her voice on stage. On the other hand, if the same situation had arisen six months earlier, I definitely wouldn't have walked off stage. Also the stress and the bad vibe within the band reached a boling point in Brazil."

Anette says the atmosphere on the road was tense and she had a hard time dealing with the stress that comes along with being away from home for weeks at a time.

"[The other guys in NIGHTWISH] have had ten years of experience in this business," she says. "I only have two years under my belt. When people become tired of each other, they become alienated from one another. Every group needs a war sometimes and we hadn't had one in the entire time I have been in the band. We spent our time tiptoeing around each other rather than arguing.

She continued: "A big fight clears the air. Everyone was tired but we got everything resolved. There's no point in dwelling on the past; you have to think ahead. On stage, though, everything is fine and we all have fun. The hassles away from the stage are the cause of most of the stress. It's not just about music; you have to constantly deal with new people and things around you."

One of the changes that Anette made is that she hired a well-known Swedish manager to handle her personal affairs. Olzon believes that in the long run, the expertise of a big company like the one she is currently working with will also help King Foo Entertaiment, which manages NIGHTWISH.

Olzon: "It was a hard decision for me [to hire a personal manager] because I didn't want problems with the band. I said that I have different needs in these areas than the rest of the guys. I, for example, need clothing sponsors which doesn't interest the rest of the band. Now I have a person who will be able to take care of that kind of stuff."

The fact that her new manager is Swedish has helped Anette deal with the business end of things better. Against her initial expectations, working in English has proved to be a little bit more complicated for Anette. There is also the fact that King Foo has worked with the NIGHTWISH guys for ten years and is therefore more at their service.

Anette emphasizes that her decision to hire a personal manager is more about making practical things run more smoothly than an attempt to create division or separate herself from the rest of the band. Now she doesn't have to get snappy if the band's manager hasn't done something and the rest of the group doesn't have to worry about Anette's special needs.

Olzon: "I now understand that [original NIGHTWISH singer] Tarja Turunen surely had a good reason to have her own manager and so do I. That doesn't affect my desire to be in the band, though. I believe this decision will help all of us."

Artists who are required to do a lot of traveling as part of their jobs have different ways of making themselves feel at home. For Anette, one way to achieve this was to tattoo the name of her son, Seth, on her right leg. The boy, who is old enough to attend school, is the apple of Anette's eye. Even though she spends a lot of time away from home, Anette — who divorced Seth's father after she joined NIGHTWISH — beams with excitement when talking about the normal, everyday things she does with her son.

Olzon: "Of course, it's hard sometimes. When I'm away a lot, he asks when he can come and join me on the road. We [NIGHTWISH] rarely play near my home, and he has his school, so the visits on tour don't happen very often. I still feel great knowing how proud of me Seth is."

Anette says her son loves the entire group. The bandmembers are his idols and he wants to be a guitarist when he grows up.

One of Seth's favorite moments took place when NIGHTWISH performed at the Metaltown festival in Gothenburg, Sweden.

"Seth came onstage to bow with us," says Anette. "I, of course, want to protect him, but I had to allow him that chance. He says that it was so cool to be on stage that he wants to come along next time and he decided to become a rock star when he grows up."






Guitar Hero: Metallica Release Date

According to a posting on METALLICA's official web site, the Guitar Hero: Metallica game will be released in North America on March 29 for Xbox 360 and Sony Playstation 3. Europeans will get the game in early May. Nintendo Wii and PS2 will follow later in the spring, also most likely in early May.

METALLICA is only the second act to get its own version of Guitar Hero, following last year's AEROSMITH game. METALLICA frontman James Hetfield told The Pulse of Radio some of the reasons why his band has embraced the video game phenomenon. "A lot of kids that maybe wanted to play guitar, or even, especially adults that wanted to play guitar and never did, they're getting a chance to somewhat live a little bit of that in their living room or whatever it is," he said. "And it's a good way to get your music out there. With all the big record stores closing up, getting music to people, it's getting a little limiting. But there are many places, new places to explore, and one of them is Guitar Hero."

METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo told The Pulse of Radio about the extensive motion-capture process that the band has to go through in order to make them come to life in the game. "We're basically in wetsuits, and you've got all these little tassels, what would be like tassels on your body, that helps trigger the image in the computer," he said. "It's like a performance in a wetsuit, so you're very hot, you're up there, you're headbanging, you're under the lights, but it's a workout. You know, they usually want you to do a song, like, five times or more, so it's a lot of work."

A post at the METALLICA web site revealed that the new game "allows you to play as us in either single instrument or band career game modes in your choice of some famous settings or new venues with in-the-round staging."

The game will include 28 METALLICA songs, as well as tracks from ALICE IN CHAINS, FOO FIGHTERS, QUEEN, MACHINE HEAD and others.

According to gaming site 1UP.com, Guitar Hero: Metallica will include a new difficulty level for drummers, featuring double bass drum pedals, along with new METALLICA guitar tones.


Michael Wilton Recorded All Guitars For New Queensryche Album

According to AnybodyListening.net, QUEENSRŸCHE guitarist Michael Wilton has revealed that he has recorded all the guitar parts for the band's upcoming album, "American Soldier". He said in an online posting, "I have been slammed with making the deadline for the new QUEENSRŸCHE opus. I recorded all the guitars this time so it should sound more like the original 'RŸCHE."

Due in April 2009 via Rhino, QUEENSRŸCHE's twelfth studio album, "American Soldier", is a concept effort which finds the band once again tackling some heavy subject matter, this time focusing on telling the story of war from a firsthand perspective. Singer and chief songwriter Geoff Tate has spent the last few years conducting extensive interviews with veterans and has crafted their thoughts into this epic tale. "American Soldier" examines American wars from World War II through Iraq from the viewpoint of those in the trenches and on the frontlines. Following the album's release, QUEENSRŸCHE plans to present tracks from the album live on an extensive spring tour of the U.S., with international dates to follow later in 2009.

"American Soldier" will contain 12 tracks, including the following:

* Dead Man's Words
* Unafraid
* 100 Mile Stare
* At Thirty Thousand Feet
* Man Down
* Remember Me
* If I Were King

A snippet of the song, "If I Were King" is featured in the new tour commerical for Snoqualmie Casino.

To download the MP3 of the radio spot, click here. (10 seconds of the song's chorus can be heard at the :21-:31 mark)

Steven Tyler Interview

Elle recently conducted an interview with AEROSMITH frontman Steven Tyler. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Elle: What can you tell me about your first sexual experience?

Steven Tyler: It was at the age of seven with twins.

Elle: Where does a boy go to find naughty prepubescent twins?

Steven Tyler: They sat next to me in the church choir. They were French.

Elle: At that age, I can't imagine you got the full ménage à trois.

Steven Tyler: They took me home one day, and we had a you-show-me-yours-I'll-show-you-mine session. Isn't that great? You know, I look at their pictures now and think to myself, How much sweeter does it get? And isn't it crazy that my ex-wife Teresa was a twin and my girlfriend now is a twin?

Elle: So in your marriage to Teresa, was there ever any serious talk of bringing the other twin into the bedroom?

Steven Tyler: I asked her for years and I got so smacked down.

Elle: Over the years, your relationship with AEROSMITH's guitarist Joe Perry has been more contentious than many bad marriages, but you still play together. How do you manage that relationship?

Steven Tyler: There's that famous saying, "This thing is bigger than both of us." Some guys will have terrible feelings about an ex-wife they had a child with, but after giving birth to something so beautiful, how can you hate that person? We've given birth to those songs.

Elle: Has any female celebrity ever shunned your advances?

Steven Tyler: Never. I'm a persistent motherfucker. I'm very sensual and very rhythm-oriented and into poetry. Women can feel that.

Elle: Tell me a story of public humiliation that involves a woman.

Steven Tyler: I can't really think about anything other than things I really don't want to talk about — like divorces, or my girlfriend, Erin, getting in a fight in a club defending my honor, and then people saying she got me on drugs, which is the furthest thing from the truth. That's the press for you.

Elle: How exactly did your girlfriend defend your honor?

Steven Tyler: A girl was sitting on my lap too long, and my girlfriend just threw her off. It turned into a brawl.

Elle: But the question remains: Why was this girl sitting in your lap for so long?

Steven Tyler: That might have been my fault.

Read the entire interview from Elle.com.

Greg Prato of GuitarSite.com recently conducted an interview with JUDAS PRIEST guitarists K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

GuitarSite.com: How did the idea of "Nostradamus" come up?

Downing: I thought if we don't do [a concept album] now, maybe we won't, because it's a big project to do something like that. We pulled it together fairly quickly — it might have been a couple of years, but we did some shows during that time. We could start to see connections with Nostradamus. We've always done "content," like "Blood Red Skies" and "Electric Eye" — y'know, fantasy things — over the years. So we thought, "This is 'ready made,' almost." The more we read up on him, it was intriguing really.

Tipton: After the last album, "Angel of Retribution", we already decided a concept album would be the way to go. It was in Germany somewhere — we talked to our manager, Bill Curbishley. Bill suggested Nostradamus, and it just went from there. He had such an interesting life story — it wasn't really his prophecies that we were intrigued about, it was his life. For a guy from the 16th century, he's certainly left his mark. He was a very intelligent guy obviously, to come up with these prophecies. A man of vision, and wasn't afraid to speak out. He lost his wife and daughter tragically in the Plague, and the church came after him and exiled him. Then, he found a new love and a new life. He had a really interesting life and he inspired us. It just seemed to fall into place.

GuitarSite.com: How did you approach "Nostradamus" as a guitarist?

Tipton: Funnily enough, a lot of the concepts and early compositions on this were done on keyboards. We wanted a slightly different angle. Some of them came from messing around on keyboards and then putting it to the guitar. As a songwriter, what I do a lot is I have "bursts" on the guitar. I don't touch it for a long time, and then I pick it up and play it intensely. I like to play the guitar when I want to play it. I wouldn't say I've got a love/hate relationship with it, but there are days when I don't want to know and I'm not really productive. But then there are other days when I can't wait to pick it up, and that's when I'm prolific. When we get together, we pool all our ideas. So we just did the same with "Nostradamus".

Downing: We had the first synthesizer guitars back in '85, which we used on the "Turbo" album — but we only used various non-classical sounds. So, pulled that out — an old Roland whatever it was — and it was full of pops and squeaks, so I thought, "This is no good." So I went out and bought a Godin guitar, and spoke to [Godin], and they sent another one over. Then, spoke to Roland — the GR28, got one of those. Also got the Axon rack-mounted module. Started to play guitar, and what came out was string sounds and voice sounds. I found it was pretty exhilarating to do that. I think it's fair to say that without real radical effects, it's difficult to get atmosphere.

GuitarSite.com: What is your take on the current state of metal guitar?

Downing: There's a lot going on, but a lot is fast and furious, and pretty aggressive, really. I grew up in the '60s, and experienced the evolution of it all — from blues to progressive blues, rock, hard rock, heavy rock, and heavy metal. I'd have to say I'm a big classic metal fan. But some of the new stuff is exciting — there's no two ways about it.

Tipton: I think there's some great guitar players out there that are restricted by the current trends and so-called "rules" of metal — where you shouldn't play too much lead. I think that's a shame. You don't have to overindulge, but I know a lot of great guitar players — you watch them play a set and they hardly play any lead. As long as the lead breaks are appropriate — they can be short, they can be long — they should be played. I'd like to see more of them break the rules down and do what they want to do. Because I know they're capable of a lot more than what they're playing. It's time to break the chains.

Read the entire interview from GuitarSite.com. 


New Cannibal Corpse Song Available

The title track of CANNIBAL CORPSE's forthcoming album, "Evisceration Plague", is available for streaming at this location.

"Evisceration Plague" is scheduled for release on February 3, 2009 via Metal Blade Records. The follow-up to 2006's "Kill" was produced by Erik Rutan (HATE ETERNAL, MORBID ANGEL) at his Mana Recording Studios in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Commented bassist Alex Webster: "In CANNIBAL CORPSE, our goal has always been to try and make each new album we record our heaviest. That goal was a bit more challenging this time since we were extremely satisfied with our last album 'Kill', but we knew that by working with producer Erik Rutan at Mana Recording Studios again, we would be able to start at that same level of heaviness and take it even further. Now that we can hear the finished product, I would say we've been able to achieve this goal, and I think our fans will agree. 'Evisceration Plague' has the best guitar sound we've ever recorded, and the entire band has never played with more precision and power. We can't wait until you all get a chance to hear the album in early 2009, because we think you'll be as happy with it as we are."

"Evisceration Plague" track listing:

01. Priests of Sodom
02. Scalding Hail
03. To Decompose
04. A Cauldron of Hate
05. Beheading and Burning
06. Evidence in the Furnace
07. Carnivorous Swarm
08. Evisceration Plague
09. Shatter Their Bones
10. Carrion Sculpted Entity
11. Unnatural
12. Skewered From Ear to Eye

"Evisceration Plague" will be available as a limited-edition digipack including a bonus track and bonus DVD, jewelcase CD and on limited splatter vinyl.

The "Evisceration Plague" artwork can be viewed below.

Commented Alex Webster, "For 'Evisceration Plague' we enlisted legendary gore/horror artist Vincent Locke, who has done artwork for all of our releases. He did two pieces for us this time, a dark and foreboding cover piece, and a violent and gory piece for the interior of the CD packaging. Vince has shown once again that he is a master of capturing a macabre and eerie vibe with his artwork."