Photos: Facebook: Love and Death / eOne With Black Veil Brides making their way to Loudwire’s Cage Match Hall of Fame, it’s time for two new bands and their latest tracks to duke it out! Brian ‘Head’ Welch , who many of us may know as Korn’s former guitarist, has a new band Love and Death and they have recently released their debut album ‘Between Here & Lost.’ They enter the Cage Match with their latest track ‘I W8 4 U’ featuring For Today’s Mattie Montgomery. Love and Death have U.S. dates lined up for February and March, while Head is also slated to play some reunion shows with Korn this year. Swedish rockers Avatar take the Cage Match by storm with their new track ‘Smells Like a Freakshow’ off the band’s fourth studio album and first proper American release titled ‘Black Waltz.’ Avatar have tour dates with Sevendust and Lacuna Coil in February and solo dates set for March. For a full list of dates and cities where you can catch Avatar, go here . So will Love and Death stay alive with their track ‘I W8 4 U’ or will Avatar sniff their way to a win with ‘Smells Like a Freakshow’? Listen to both tracks and vote for your favorite in the poll below! (This Cage Match will run until Monday, Jan. 28, at 8AM ET. Fans can vote once per hour! So come back and vote often to make sure your favorite song wins!) Love and Death, ‘I W8 4 U’ Avatar, ‘Smells Like a Freakshow’ Sorry, you need to have javascript running to see this poll. Email Me When Cage Match Winners Are Announced Enter your email address below to receive the Loudwire newsletter, which will include notification of the daily winner of the Cage Match, as well as our top stories of the day. Email Rules of Cage Match: Fans can vote once per hour for their favorite song. If a song remains the reigning champ for five straight cage matches, it is retired to the Loudwire Cage Match Hall of Fame. With so many great songs out there, we have to give other bands a chance!
Posts Tagged ‘freakshow’
Hinder, ‘Welcome to the Freakshow’ – Album Review
Universal Republic Records Hinder exploded upon the scene with their 2005 debut ‘Extreme Behavior,’ which sold over 3 million copies and spawned five singles that landed on the rock charts including the massive hit ‘Lips of an Angel.’ Their following two albums also did well and had top 10 rock singles, and now the Oklahoma band returns with their fourth effort, ‘Welcome to the Freakshow.’ That title is somewhat misleading, suggesting an album filled with wild and crazy upbeat songs. There are a couple of those, but ‘Welcome to the Freakshow’ is very ballad-heavy. It’s also the most diverse Hinder album to-date. You’ve likely heard the opening track ‘Save Me’ on the radio. It’s up-tempo and packed with hooks. It’s a great opener, and one with a lot of meaning for frontman Austin Winkler. ?”?I had just gotten out of rehab for drugs and alcohol and I revisited the song,?” ?he says.? “?To me,? ?it felt like I didn’t need anything negative like drugs.? ?Those aren’t going to save me.? ?I can save myself though.?” ?‘Ladies Come First’ is not quite as deep. It’s vintage Hinder, a good-time track that’s heavy, but also melodic and extremely catchy with racy (some would say dirty) lyrics. The title track is also edgy and aggressive, with Winkler’s trademark raspy vocals and a nice guitar solo from Joe Garvey. ?The middle section of the album doesn’t measure up to the first few songs. There are a couple generic ballads and the poppy ‘Is It Just Me’ that has some clever hooks but not much depth. Hinder does rebound during the last part of the album with a couple of standouts. ?‘See You In Hell’ references late great celebrities like Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin, has a call-and-response chorus and is destined to become a staple at live shows. ‘Anyone Like You’ is another ballad, but it has a country flavor, making it more distinctive and less slickly produced than the rest of the ballads on the album. ?The closer ‘Wanna Be Rich’ has a lot of electronic elements and is downright dancy in spots. In some parts of the song the electronic influence is subtle enough to co-exist with the band’s guitar driven style, but other times it takes over and sounds out of place. ?There are songs on ‘Welcome to the Freakshow’ that are among the best Hinder has ever done. But there are also some misfires and filler that detracts from the overall quality of the release. Hinder are at their best when they showcase their own distinctive sound, and too often on this album the song quality is there, but their identity is obscured.
New Music Releases – December 2012
Reprise New music releases are usually sparse as the calendar year comes to an end. Despite this, there are still some albums, box sets and other releases to pick up this December. Perhaps the most anticipated album the year’s final month will come Dec. 11 when Green Day complete their trilogy with the release of ‘¡Tré!’ The first two albums of the band’s project, ‘¡Uno!’ and ‘¡Dos!’ were met with critical acclaim, and there’s no reason to expect a different reaction to ‘¡Tré!’ Metallica will be releasing their ‘Quebec Magnetic’ DVD/Blu-ray in December. ‘Quebec Magnetic,’ a double DVD and single Blu-ray disc, was recorded during a two-night stint in Quebec City, Canada, in the fall of 2009 during the ‘World Magnetic Tour.’ Bands such as Chevelle , Hinder , KISS , Sully Erna and the Smashing Pumpkins will also be unleashing material. Check out these upcoming releases for December 2012. New Music Releases – December 2012: Dec. 4: Chevelle, ‘Stray Arrows: A Collection of Favorites’ Hinder, ‘Welcome to the Freakshow’ KISS, ‘The Casablanca Singles 1974-1982′ (Box Set) The Smashing Pumpkins, ‘Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness’ (Box Set) Dec. 11: Green Day, ‘¡Tré!’ Metallica, ‘Quebec Magnetic’ (DVD) Tony Iommi, ‘Iron Man: My Journey Through Heaven & Hell with Black Sabbath’ (Paperback) Dec. 18: Sully Erna, ‘Avalon’ Limited Edition Box Set
Hinder Frontman: New Album is Reflective of ‘Really Dark Drug Binge’
Ethan Miller/Getty Images Hard rockers Hinder are back with a new album, ‘Welcome to the Freakshow,’ out Dec. 4 , and frontman Austin Winkler isn’t holding back when it comes to opening up about the inspiration behind the album’s heavy tracks. Winkler says most of the songs are a reflection of “a really, really dark drug binge,” which drove him to rehab after the band finished the album. “I was in a very, very, very dark addiction,” Winkler told Billboard . “I think you can definitely hear the turmoil in my voice. As soon as we got the record done I went into treatment to get help, and it’s interesting to go back and listen to it now. Coming back, I have a whole new look on all of them and they mean something completely different to me now, too, so it’s pretty cool. That’s the beauty of music.” Hinder’s first single off the album, “Save Me,” is currently No. 25 on the BDS Radio chart for active rock. Winkler says the song is certainly indicative of the dark place he was in at the time of recording the album. “I was kind of in the mind set of, ‘Get out of my face. I’m too far gone to be saved,’ kind of thing,” he says. “I had a really nasty attitude in that song, but I had a blast singing and recording it. I think it’s our heaviest single yet, and we’re getting a pretty good response.” Hinder are set to play a handful of U.S. shows with Nonpoint before 2012 is over. Hinder 2012 Tour Dates: Dec. 5 – Battlecreek, Mich. @ Planet Rock Dec. 7 – Kenosha, Wis. @ The Brat Shop Dec. 8 – Fort Wayne, Ind. @ Pieres Dec. 9 – Flint, Mich. Dec. 12 – Lancaster, Pa. @ Chameleon Club
Thousand Foot Krutch vs. Hinder – Cage Match
Photos: Facebook: Thousand Foot Krutch / HinderMusic.com Avenged Sevenfold gave bands a deathbat beat down to enter Loudwire’s Cage Match Hall of Fame with five straight victories. Now it’s time for two new bands and their brand new singles to go head to head. Canadian rock band Thousand Foot Krutch enter the matchup with their tune ‘War of Change’ off of their latest album ‘The End Is Where We Begin.’ The band has a show in Canada on Oct. 12 and a handful of European dates in December. For a full list of tour dates, go here . The Oklahoma rockers of Hinder take the Cage Match by storm with their new track ‘Save Me’ off of their forthcoming album ‘Welcome to the Freakshow’ (due Dec. 4). Hinder have a string of U.S. tour dates coming up — for a full list of cities and dates, go here . So, will Thousand Foot Krutch emerge victorious in this ‘War’ or will Hinder fans ‘Save’ the band from defeat? Get in on the action and vote for your favorite track below! (This Cage Match will run until Wednesday, Oct. 10, at 8AM ET. Fans can vote once per hour! So come back and vote often to make sure your favorite song wins!) Listen to Thousand Foot Krutch, ‘War of Change’ Listen to Hinder, ‘Save Me’ ? Sorry, you need to have javascript running to see this poll. ? Email Me When Cage Match Winners Are Announced Enter your email address below to receive the Loudwire newsletter, which will include notification of the daily winner of the Cage Match, as well as our top stories of the day. Email Rules of Cage Match: Fans can vote once per hour for their favorite song. If a song remains the reigning champ for five straight cage matches, it is retired to the Loudwire Cage Match Hall of Fame. With so many great songs out there, we have to give other bands a chance!