Roadrunner / Metal Blade Félicitations to French metal masters Gojira for claiming a win over Dethklok in our last Death Match. This racks up one win for Gojira’s latest single, ‘The Axe,’ from their critically acclaimed 2012 release, ‘L’Enfant Sauvage.’ Gojira are currently at a high point in their career, but will they be able to beat metalcore’s leading band? As I Lay Dying have just drop their sixth full-length album, ‘Awakened,’ and the second single released from ‘Awakened’ is ‘A Greater Foundation.’ Having stuck with their signature sound while adding in some gang vocals for good measure, As I Lay Dying now find themselves in a fight to the death. Can Gojira turn As I Lay Dying’s band name into a reality after a brutal beating with a freshly made baguette? Or will As I Lay Dying crunch their French foes with their American assault? The choice is yours and yours alone. Vote for your favorite track in the poll below! (This Death Match ends on Tuesday, Oct. 2, at 10AM ET. Fans can vote once per hour! So come back and vote often to make sure your favorite song wins!) Gojira, ‘The Axe’ As I Lay Dying, ‘A Greater Foundation’ ? Sorry, you need to have javascript running to see this poll. ? Email Me When Death Match Winners Are Announced Enter your email address below to receive the Loudwire newsletter, which will include notification of the weekly winner of the Death Match, as well as our top stories of each day. Email Rules of Death Match Two bands fight to the death each week. Fans can vote once per hour. The triumphant band goes on to compete in the next Death Match. If a band wins four straight Death Matches, its song will be honored as immortal in the Loudwire Death Match Hall of Fame.
Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com This metal singer sports a full sleeve of tats so this photo serves as simply a small sampling of that because we wouldn’t want to give it away now, would we? With an impressive collection of ink, this rocker even has one that pays homage to a work of art by pop-surrealist painter Mark Ryden that reportedly depicts sad children bleeding from their eyes. The singer’s band dropped their latest disc in August, with a revamped lineup that according to this singer was “meant to be.” Are you ready to take a guess at which singer is rocking this ink? Click below to find out who it is: [button href=”http://loudwire.com/tattoo-reveal-25/” title=”Find Out Whose Tattoo This Is” align=”center”]
Roadrunner Records Stone Sour ‘s ‘ House of Gold & Bones Part 1 ? is set to be released Oct. 23 as the first of a two part concept album, with the second part expected in May of 2013. In a new interview, singer Corey Taylor and guitarist Josh Rand spoke with Metal Shrine about a number of topics, including the band’s new touring bassist. Taylor explains the genesis of the album, saying, “I’ve had the idea for the concept for a few years actually, but I’ve never given myself the time to really flesh it out and see it clearly. It was right about the time when we did the Sonisphere shows that for some reason “Boom!”, it f—ing hit me! I saw it as clear as day, beginning, middle and end. I knew the characters, I knew the world that I wanted to create, I knew what I wanted to do.” After the exit of Stone Sour bassist Shawn Economaki earlier this year, the band recruited Rachel Bolan from Skid Row to play bass on ‘House of Gold & Bones.’ Rand says it was a great experience: “He’s a phenomenal writer on top of being a phenomenal bass player and he brought this style into it that we felt had been lacking. Instead of following the guitars, he actually plays bass and it elevated all of the songs to a whole new level.” Rand adds, “He came in, a super cool guy and did all 24 songs in five days. It was insane! I don’t think people realize how great of a player he is. It was just insane to watch him knock these songs out. With him coming in and doing that, it just added another level of energy to the whole project and he took a lot of the songs to a different level.” Bolan’s schedule with Skid Row won’t allow him to play live shows with Stone Sour, and Rand revealed the touring bassist will be Johny Chow. Chow has played with Cavalera Conspiracy, Soulfly and Fireball Ministry. Stone Sour will embark on a European tour at the end of October that will last for the rest of the year. They”ll also play Australia in early 2013. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/stone-sour-lyric-video-double-single-gone-sovereign-absolute-zero/” title=”Watch Stone Sour’s Lyric Video for ‘Gone Sovereign / Absolute Zero'” align=”center”]
Liz Ramanand, Loudwire On a lovely New York City evening, we hiked up to the roof of the legendary Irving Plaza to have a discussion with the eclectic and somewhat undefinable musician known as Devin Townsend . We sat down with the always entertaining frontman to talk about a mass of topics shortly before his set on the ‘Epic Kings & Idols’ tour, featuring Katatonia and Paradise Lost . We spoke with Townsend about the continuously evolving and seemingly out-of-nowhere progression of his career, the writing process behind his latest album, ‘Epicloud,’ working with members of Between the Buried and Me , Gojira and the Dillinger Escape Plan , among others for ‘Deconstruction,’ and, of course, what provoked Townsend to chop of his legendary “skullet” hairstyle. Check out our exclusive video interview with Devin Townsend. Devin Townsend Talks to Loudwire
Liz Ramanand, Loudwire The Finnish folk metalers of Korpiklaani graced New York’s Gramercy Theater on Saturday (Sept. 22) with a stellar performance along with Moonsorrow, Tyr and Metsatoll. The New York crowd moshed, danced and crowd surfed during the entire Korpiklaani set. The band had charming stage presence as they played fan favorites such as ‘Levan Polka,’ ‘Kunnia,’ ‘Wooden Pints,’ ‘Journey Man’ and numerous others. They also played some tavern tunes that the crowd appreciated such as ‘Beer Beer,’ ‘Vodka,’ ‘Tequila,’ ‘Happy Little Boozer,’ just to name a few. The Helsinki pagan metalers of Moonsorrow rocked fans with their heavy sound as they donned fake blood all over their faces and body. Sweaty and smelly doom metal never sounded so killer. While the gentleman of Tyr, from the Faroe Islands, had an outstanding set as they won over some New York City fans. The band had the ability to incite mosh pits with one song and cause couples to slow dance with another. Estonian group Metsatoll kicked off the incredible night of European metal, which was a true treat for the NYC crowd. Korpiklaani’s North American Tour in support of their album ‘Manala’ has ended, but you can check out our photos of the New York gig below. The band is currently on tour in Europe. For a full list of dates and countries, go here . Korpiklaani Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Moonsorrow: Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Tyr: Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Liz Ramanand, Loudwire
Noel Vasquez, Getty Images Veteran punk rockers Rancid have set up shop in a San Francisco studio to record what will be their eighth album, reveals drummer Branden Steineckert via Twitter . Details are sparse on the group’s new disc, which will be their first since 2009′s ‘Let the Dominoes Fall.’ The band has yet to reveal their producer, though Bad Religion’s Brett Gurewitz has overseen each of their records since 2000. While an official release date has not been announced, the disc is tentatively expected to arrive in early 2013. Rancid will break from the studio on Oct. 16 to play a benefit show in Los Angeles at the home of Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea . The event, which takes place on the bassist’s birthday, will raise funds for Flea’s non-profit Silverlake Conservatory . Rancid will then finish out 2012 with a U.K. tour launching in Belfast Nov. 28. In related news, Rancid singer Tim Armstrong just revealed via Twitter that his other band, the Transplants, are currently in the process of mixing their next album.
Lucy Johnston, Getty Images The Melvins are in the midst of their ’51 States in 51 Days’ tour, attempting to set a Guinness World Record for fastest tour of the United States. Frontman Buzz Osborne has been keeping a tour diary at Spin.com , and had some interesting observations about previous tours with Nine Inch Nails and White Zombie . Playing Sioux Falls, S.D. on the tour reminded Osbourne of the last time the Melvins played there, which was with Nine Inch Nails in the mid ’90s. He remembers NIN smashing up the dressing room there, causing about $30,000 in damage. “This was NIN’s ‘Downward Spiral’ tour, which ended up being the bands zenith, meaning it was their biggest and most interesting album along with the biggest and most semi-interesting point in their career,” Osborne writes. “I honestly didn’t know much about NIN before this tour. I mean I knew they were popular with the MTV baby rock crowd and that they had sold a lot of records but I had never actually listened to one of them. Why would I? I usually have no interest in checking out what sort of bands the baby rockers dig. This is as a result of almost always hating whatever bands the baby rockers dig.” Osborne says at least Nine Inch Nails and their crew were nice to them during the tour. He can’t say the same about White Zombie, and unloads with both barrels. He describes it as the worst tour experience of his life, due mainly to a road manager dubbed ‘Mr. Mullet.’ “Mr. Mullet told us straight up that he was going to see to it that we got fu–ed over every night PA-wise in order to not piss off his boss, the swollen White Zombie dictator Rob Zombie,” Osborne recalls. “And it just went from there. He openly told us that Rob acted a prick to him, and that’s how life on the road was going to go for us as well. Perfect.” He goes on to say, “One insane thing after another every day for the whole tour. On one of the few times we actually got a soundcheck, Mr. Mullet came on stage and pulled the plug because Rob was eating and that we were to “shut the f–k up” because he didn’t like the “noise.” The ’51 States in 51 Days’ tour isn’t even halfway done yet, with plenty more tour diary entries to come. Hopefully Osborne will spill more great stories from the good old days as the tour progresses.