Adult Swim It’d be easy to forget that Dethklok are seen as an animated band, since braintrust Brendon Small is such a skilled guitar player, and the music isn’t secondary to the hilarious and bombastic plots of the show ’Metalocalypse.’ Strip away the funny and fantastical elements of the ‘Metalocalypse’ cartoon and listen to the music of ‘Dethalbum III,’ and it’ll become painfully obvious why metalheads love the show, the band and Small. First of all, the guitar riffs rip and snort. They are as well-constructed and as gnarly as it gets, fitting squarely into the melodic death metal categorization. But here is where the humorous aspect certainly adds some levity to music that is serious as a delinquent tax bill. How can you not have a chuckle at a song titled ‘I Ejaculate Fire’ before launching into fast and furious headbanging, courtesy of guitarwork so swift that it likely burned the fingerprints right off Small’s fingers? Small has rendered himself a more than capable riffsmith. Journeyman drummer Gene Hoglan’s footwork is as complex, propulsive and powerful as ever, with the percussion and blast beats being a signature and anchoring element of Dethklok’s sound. ‘Crush the Industry’ is a death metal gem, loaded with fills, guttural growling and overall chilling atmosphere. Put simply, it crushes skulls. ‘Andromeda’ sounds like it could have been reared in Florida, after hang sessions with Cannibal Corpse, Six Feet Under and Obituary, as it hacks a deep groove, thanks to its riffery. The galloping solo is as potent as moonshine. Most of the songs hover at four to five minutes, which is just enough time to get in, scramble your brain and get out, moving on to the next slab o’ metallic goodness. ‘Dethalbum III’ is certainly not extra progressive nor is it dynamically dazzling or esoterically experimental, but we don’t want it to be, either. It’s the extremity of the music that keeps us tuned in for 12 tracks. Another standout track is ‘Impeach God,’ which features an opening salvo so vivid, you can almost imagine fingers sailing up and down a fretboard. ‘Killstardo Abominate’ is a battering ram, as is ‘Biological Warfare.’ The riffwork on ‘Skyhunter’ is also exceptionally standout. ‘Dethalbum III’ is able to take a super serious (and often gore-slathered) genre like death metal and make it ‘deth metal.’ That is, it fuses skilled playing with a sense of humor, which is often not the case in the genre’s offerings. Big ups to Small for having created and continued his own genre. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/dethklok-discharge-crotch-blazing-new-video-for-i-ejaculate-fire-nsfw/” title=”Next: Watch Dethklok’s ‘I Ejaculate Fire’ Video” align=”center”]
Conan Colons, forward slashes, backward slashes, dots and coms — writing a URL can be a tricky business. And who better to set the record straight than rock’s very own Slash ? Slash weighed in on the subject during last night’s (Oct. 15) episode of ‘ Conan ‘ during the ‘Fan Corrections’ segment, which finds viewers sending in videos where they point out what they think are mistakes in the show. According to a YouTube user calling himself JRok34, the URL ‘Conan’ provides for ‘Fan Corrections’ submissions — which includes a small photo of Slash’s head where the slash should be — is incorrect, because it should be leaning forward. ( Forward Slash — get it?) For the definitive answer, Conan turned to Slash himself, who taped a brief response from a recording studio wherein he pointed out that because the picture shows him looking ahead, it’s very much a forward Slash — and then he demonstrated the difference between that and a back Slash by turning around and showing his back to the camera. Having made his case, he concluded by adding, “Sorry, JRok34, but you don’t know s— about HTTP addresses.” Hard to argue with that logic, no? Check out the video below to watch Slash kick his knowledge of all things internet.
Mark Metcalfe, Getty Images Here’s a look at the top stories of the day on Loudwire and around the Web: Fans of Lamb of God , and more specifically frontman Randy Blythe , will be able to hear more from the vocalist as he begins hosting his own monthly radio show ‘The Crucible.’ [ Loudwire ] Limp Bizkit and DJ Lethal have patched up their differences. After an apology posted by Lethal via Twitter, Limp Bizkit have welcomed the DJ back into the band. [ Loudwire ] This is pretty frightening; a man has been arrested after breaking into the Los Angeles home of Kurt Cobain’s daughter, Frances Bean Cobain . Read more about it here. [ Loudwire ] The Jimi Hendrix Experience played their first ever live show 46 years ago. Listen to how the group sounded here. [ Ultimate Classic Rock ] Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello calls Paul Ryan a ‘Jackass’ and expresses his disappointment in Barack Obama. [ Diffuser.fm ] Who’s your favorite Metallica bassist – Ron McGovney, Cliff Burton, Jason Newsted or Rob Trujillo? Vote here: [ Ultimate Metallica ] My Dying Bride stream first four tracks for their new album. [ Rock Music Report ]
Razor & Tie I Am War , the new band featuring Atreyu ‘s Alex Varkatzas and Bleeding Through ‘s Brandan Schieppati, have unveiled their first video, ‘Uninvite Me To Your Facebook Party.’ The track appears on the outfit’s debut album ‘Outlive You All.’ Varkatzas says of the song and video, “’Uninvite Me To Your Facebook Party’ is a super-fast, tongue in cheek number about how ridiculous social media can be when people become too obsessed and attached to it. The video itself was a blast to record. Lots of high energy footage of I Am War tearing it up and sweating bullets in the process. The perfect recipe for a killer video!” Schieppati handles guitars, bass, and backing vocals on ‘Outlive You All’ and Varkatzas does the brunt of the vocals. The collaboration began when Varkatzas emailed Schieppati about his idea of doing an album of aggressive and brutal music. “Everything instantly clicked,” Schieppati recalls. “I was stoked when Alex got in touch. We wanted to keep it fast with very little ‘shredding’. It hearkens back to the good ole days of angry music.” Even though their respective bands have been very successful, the duo didn’t feel any pressure for I Am War to top the charts. “Brandan and I aren’t doing this to become rich a–holes and travel the world,” affirms Varkatzas. “We wanted to make an awesome record and release it. There’s no pressure to produce a hit or conquer the charts. The only pressure is not to look like complete jackasses. That’s liberating.” Watch I Am War’s ‘Uninvite Me To Your Facebook Party’ Video
Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Comic Con attracts all walks of life, and this year some metal luminaries made appearances at the Jacob Javitz Center in New York City over the weekend. Slipknot / Stone Sour frontman Corey Taylor pulled up a chair at the Dark Horse Comics booth to greet fans to spread the word about his comic book series ‘House of Gold & Bones.’ Twisted Sister frontman and horror enthusiast Dee Snider was also there for a signing, as well as Iced Earth axe-man Jon Schaffer and Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick , who played some serious riffs at the Metal Sucks booth. Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett also made a special appearance at this year’s convention in order to promote his forthcoming book ‘Too Much Horror Business – The Kirk Hammett Collection.’ We were there to catch Taylor, Skolnick and Schaffer in action. Check out our photos below, as well as video of Skolnick shredding on guitar: Check Out Photos of the Metal Invasion at Comic Con 2012: Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Watch Alex Skolnick play guitar at Comic Con 2012
Victory Records Swedish metal outfit Sister Sin have unleashed a gritty new video for the new single, ‘End of the Line,’ off of their upcoming album ‘Now and Forever.’ In our exclusive interview with frontwoman Liv Jagrell, she told us all about the new track, saying, “It’s a really good first single, I think, because the whole album is in that style. It shows a different side of Sister Sin because we actually have some keyboards in this song and on some of the other songs, too, and we worked both on the dynamics and on the melodies in a [different] way than the previous album.” Jagrell adds, “On this album and on that song we thought a little bit out of the box and experimented and tried to go out of what our comfort zone is. I think it turned out really good, I’m happy with the album and that song.” The hard hitting video was filmed at an old nuclear reactor testing facility in Stockholm, Sweden, and it intertwines scenes of the band rocking out with narrative shots of Jagrell being held in an institutional room. The personal trainer by day and hard-rocking vocalist by night also shows off some of her strength as she gets sweaty, effortlessly doing some sit-ups and pull-ups in the clip. As far as the lyrics of the Sister Sin tune goes, the songstress states, “It’s about the kinds of scams, political and religious scams and people everywhere trying to tell us the world is going to end but we really just want to try to live today and not to live for tomorrow or for things that might happen. It’s satirical a little bit towards all of those people trying to say what we should do and not do.” Sister Sin’s new album ‘Now and Forever’ arrives on Oct. 22, and can be pre-ordered here in various packages. Check out the video for ‘End of the Line’ below: Watch Sister Sin’s Video for ‘End of the Line’
Epitaph / Fly South Falling in Reverse are celebrating the release of their new single ‘Pick Up the Phone’ and their recently launched ‘The Thug in Me Is You’ tour by teaming up with Loudwire to offer an incredible prize pack consisting of a brand-new iPhone 5 and a t-shirt bundle (pictured above)! That’s right, a new iPhone 5! All you have to do is enter your email in the form below, and you’ll have a chance to win this sweet prize. As for the new single, ‘Pick Up the Phone’ (which you can hear below), Falling in Reverse singer Ronnie Radke tells Loudwire, “‘Pick Up the Phone’ is about being in a bad relationship. It’s a rock song but lyrically somewhat influenced by Eminem and his storytelling. I wrote this song when I was in prison. While I was there Eminem’s ‘Recovery’ album helped me get through those dark days.” ‘Pick up the Phone’ is the latest single off Falling in Reverse’s debut album ‘The Drug in Me Is You,’ which is available on iTunes . As mentioned, in addition to releasing the new single, FIR have embarked on a fall trek dubbed ‘ The Thug In Me Is You ‘ tour. The U.S. jaunt runs through Dec. 1 in Pomona, Calif., and features support from I See Stars on the entire run, as well as letlive., Enter Shikari and Matt Toka on select dates. See the remaining itinerary here . Listen to ‘Pick Up the Phone’ Enter to win the Falling in Reverse iPhone 5 prize pack below. This contest runs through Dec. 1, 2012. The iPhone will be shipped to the winner provided that it is available from Apple without a contract at that time. We will notify the winner if there is any delay. Falling in Reverse iPhone 5 Prize Pack Enter your e-mail address and shirt size below for a chance to win a brand-new iPhone 5 and a t-shirt bundle from Falling in Reverse. Contest ends Dec. 1, 2012. Click here for official rules . By entering this contest, you will receive email newsletters from Loudwire and be added to the Falling in Reverse mailing list. You may unsubscribe at any time. Email T-Shirt Size