And I’m back!
The consensus was you people love your metal … and love having a home for your metal needs here at Inside Pulse. Who am I to argue?
This week I will be listening to the latest Chevelle release, “This Type of Thinking (Could Due Us In),” as I type. (Thoughts on the album will be tacked on at the end.) There’s been a bunch of noteworthy releases over the past couple of weeks — from Mastodon to Amorphis, Shawdows Fall, Cradle of Filth, Megadeth, the Haunted and so on — it’s been a good year for metal heads.
And there’s still more to come.
But let’s just get on with things…
They got it covered…
A Perfect Circle’s cover of John Lennon’s “Imagine,” was recently posted online. The song is set for release later this year (Nov. 2 I believe) on the band’s latest offering, “eMOTIVe” (what’s with the weird caps?). The disc is set to feature 10 covers of “civic-minded tunes” like Black Flag’s “Gimme Gimme Gimme” and Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On.” I can’t even imagine what that Marvin Gaye cover will sound like, but the Lennon cover is actually pretty good. I was never a fan of the Beatles and I find Lennon’s solo efforts lacking on the whole, but the Perfect Circle cover seems to capture the essence of the track pretty well, but adds a certain “edge” to the chorus. This is definitely worth checking out.
And then we have Anthrax covering themselves…
So Anthrax’s collection of (Joey) Belladonna and (Neil) Turbin-era songs will be hitting shelves mid-November (23rd to be exact). The songs feature the band’s current line-up with the (killer) John Bush on vocals. The Bush-led Anthrax line-up has always been my favorite.
For those of you really interested, the track listing for “The Greater of Two Evils” (formerly known as “Metallum Maximum Aeturnum”) is as follows:
1. Deathrider
2. Metal Thrashing Mad
3. Caught In A Mosh
4. A.I.R.
5. Among The Living
6. Keep It In The Family
7. Indians
8. Madhouse
9. Panic
10. I Am The Law
11. Belly Of The Beast
12. N.F.L.
13. Be All End All
14. Gung-Ho
“Indians” and “Madhouse” should be sweet. I was hoping for “Got the Time” but the band pulled that earlier this year in favor of “Panic.” Other songs that were rumored but didn’t make the final cut included “Anthrax,” “Lone Justice,” “Now It’s Dark” and “In My World.” The songs were picked by fans via the Internet.
This isn’t the first time a band has pulled something like this. Suicidal Tendencies put out “Still Cyco After All These Years” back in 1993. That album was essentially re-recordings of older tracks in celebration of an anniversary — and in my opinion sounded better than the originals.
More recently, Christian artist Jennifer Knapp released a career retrospective featuring songs voted on by her fans.
So long live Anthrax, 20 years and counting…
Death metal hits the road…
While Polish death metal veterans Vader have been forced to drop off the upcoming Cannibal Corpse/Napalm Death tour, there won’t be a lack of extreme music on the jaunt (which also is set to include Goatwhore and Kataklysm).
Cannibal Corpse is still touring? With Napalm Death no less?! While I am still an almost-sorta Corpse fan, the past couple of albums have sounded less-than-inspired. And Napalm Death hit its peak in the mid-90s with “Diatribes” (though “Words From the Exit Wound” — which would make a great name for a column — was a pretty solid). Still, putting these two death metal heavyweights on the same tour was inspired and the shows will most definitely be worth seeing. (For the record, Corpse probably should’ve hung it up post-“Vile.”)
Recently re-united death metallers (and one of my favorite bands) Obituary will be touring Europe through October.
But a U.S. tour can’t be far off, as the band points out at its Web-site: “Don’t worry America we’ll be hitting the U.S. soon enough. Our set list for the tour is complete and you guys are gonna shit!! We’re doing songs we haven’t played in over 10 years. We have a lot of surprises including a new song and some cover tunes.”
Sounds kick-ass. The band is also working on a new album that I assume will street early next year. Meanwhile, I highly recommend the band’s live release Dead (recorded in my back yard… well, sort of). It’s a pretty good representation of the band’s live show, though at the time Obituary was nearing its end.
Career-wise, “Anthology” is a good collection of the hits so to speak, but missing essential Obituary tracks like the killer cover of “Circle of the Tyrants.” For that, check out Cause of Death, my personal favorite of the band’s offerings.
Meanwhile, Suffocation are touring Europe throughout the end of the year, but hit the road with Behemoth Jan. 22. Check the band’s Web site for more information.
In brief…
..:.. More Female singer fallout ..:.. Hot on the tails of the D’Errico/Gloomchen co-production of “Opposing Elements” (not really), a new book featuring female metal singers can be ordered from Metal-Maidens.com. The book, “Power and Majesty: Females in Metal” by Marta Samitowska, features Angela Gossow (Arch Enemy), Anneke van Giersbergen (The Gathering) and Cristina Scabbia (Lacuna Coil) — all of whom were also on our list— along with Floor Jansen (After Forever), Sharon den Adel (Within Temptation), Sarah Jezebel Deva (Cradle of Filth) and Liv Kristine Espenaes (Leaves’ Eyes). The book includes interviews with the vocalists about their beginnings, their love for metal and music in general, and their opinions about singing, songwriting and image.
..:.. Sing with Lamb of God ..:.. According to a brief over at Blabbermouth, Sirius and “Hard Attack,” the 24/7-commercial free all metal station, are holding tryouts to see who can sing Lamb of God’s “Black Label” the best. Listeners can enter by calling the “bloodline” at 1-877-33-SIRIUS and going to box 27 for “Hard Attack”. Deadline is tonight (Wednesday, Sept. 29 at 11:59 p.m. EST.). I scoured the Lamb of God Web site and “Hard Attack” area of the Sirius site and couldn’t find anything more on this, so…
On the flip side, that channel looks pretty sweet, though I am currently in the market for some satellite radio and leaning towards XM. Any readers have some suggestions for me, please drop an e-mail.
..:.. AC/DC gets it street ..:.. Corporation Lane will officially become ACDC Lane on Friday. There was much “hoopla” earlier this year as arguments were made back and forth as to whether the Melbourne (Australia) street name-change would ever take place. To commemorate the event, Australian bands The Casanovas, Dallas Crane and Osterberg (bands I’ve never heard of) will be performing at Cherry Bar (located on ACDC Lane) where the official celebrations will be taking place in the evening. I mention this mostly because it won’t be included in the upcoming “Inside Pulse September Rocktable,” but there will be a silly Sinead O’Connor story (damn you Fernandez!!). But seriously, congrats to AC/DC.
You (and I) need to hear this…
Here’s some CDs I recently picked up that I haven’t listened to nearly enough (you should check them out too):
Funeral For a Friend: “Casually Dressed & Deep in Conversation”
Shadows Fall: “The War Within”
Cradle of Filth: “Nymphetamine”
The Used: “In Love and Death”
Eighteen Visions: “Obsession” (I still need to pick this up!!)
In closing… (AKA. My thoughts on new releases)
That Chevelle CD is actually pretty short. I “got into” the band just before “Point #1” really took off. The follow-up, “Wonder What’s Next,” really took the pseudo-Tool (or Deftones?) sound and ran with it, creating a nice metal/mood hybrid. The subsequent tour for said album was awesome (I caught the group a number of times). “This Type of Thinking…” feels like the band lessened the metal and bumped up the moodiness. Some tracks really sound like the Deftones this time around, but always maintain the trademark “Chevelle”-sound.
I like it; the group has formulated a nice, tight package with each release. This time around the band sounds a lot more mature and prepared in their writing and playing.
I’m digging the new Cradle of Filth album. Liv Kristine Espenaes (of Leaves’ Eyes) is a nice “surprise” guest vocalist and sounds amazing with the band.
I want to give the new Used disc a couple more spins (having only heard two or three tracks as of this writing). Bert McCracken is still putting out great, instantly-recognizable vocals, but the band seems to have lost its “air of urgency.” Come on, this guy used to throw-up between takes because he was screaming so hard…
And that’s that. As always, drop me a line. Until next time, I’ll be here at Inside Pulse making sure no metal news falls through the cracks.
Take it easy…
