Dirt Track Records 2014 Included free with the March 2014 issue of Metal Hammer, “Movement” (which may have initially been released back in 2013) looks to be the latest from Exeter-based “alternative metal” band Idiom. I say “looks” because there are no other references to other recordings on the group’s Facebook page. Online, and indeed on iTunes, the album “We Can’t All Be Superheroes” (from November of 2010) is shown, but beyond that it’s anybody’s guess as to what else this band has done since first forming back in 2005. As for the second phrase in quotation there (“alternative metal”) that’s their description and not mine. For this lot (and this is none too surprising given Metal Hammer’s containing obsession with the better left dead genre!) is prime-time nu metal with just the faint hint of metalcore. Said to be influenced by the likes of Faith No More, Korn and Deftones the band comes across as more of the later and not more of the former. Descriptions have been made to the likes of Rage Against The Machine and System Of A Down and both tags are more then a bit fair. Admittedly this English metal band has a solid front-man in Matt Sharland and his companions (guitarist Kris Gibbs, bassist Grant Knight and drummer Dan Harrison) are none-too-shabby. The problem is music like this has been played to death and really it should remain DEAD and BURIED! There is nothing worse they hearing bands like this that have the HEAVY part down, but then are extremely limited because they refuse to allow their guitarist to let loose. That’s always been a issue for me when it comes to both nu metal and metalcore (the lack of solos) as you end up with (essentially) nothing more then a HEAVY rhythm guitarist! That said the band does have potential. You can sense that. But why restrain yourself? Why settle for being a second rate nu metal/metalcore band when you could easily take your influences (which would also seem to be the likes of Papa Roach, Korn, Ill Niño, P.O.D., DevilDriver and even Pantera) and with a few twists and turns of the dial turn them upside down and inside out creating something truly wicked and fresh? If that were to happen, and this band suddenly developed the urge to thrash their heads straight off(!), then I would ENTHUSIASTICALLY endorse this English act. For now though I just feel like shrugging my shoulders and saying “Eh”….
Posts Tagged ‘rage against the machine’
Tom Morello Reveals Identity of ‘How I Could Just Kill a Man’ Video’s Naked Guy
Kevin Winter, Getty Images Rage Against the Machine ‘s Tom Morello has continued his video series where he answers fan questions and in his latest installment he revealed a long-secret piece of trivia from the band’s history — the identity of the naked guy in the ‘How I Could Just Kill a Man’ video. In the clip, the offending naked guy is briefly shown standing next to singer Zack de la Rocha, and more than a few fans have asked how that piece of video footage found its way into the clip and why. Morello revealed, “It was a friend of ours who toured with us named MJ Plenty and at the time on that particular tour we were doing this grim, I wouldn’t call it hazing, but we had this outstanding $250 per diem money that was always sitting on the desk. And then someone in the band or someone in the crew would come up with a different task and if you did the task you got the $250.” The guitarist recalls that Plenty accepted the bet, which for that night entailed him going onstage naked, with a few other conditions that needed to be met to achieve the goal. Morello says, “He’s not just naked, he’s naked with his wiener tucked. It you do it frame-by-frame, you’ll see that he has a wiener-tuck going on. And I’m not sure if he’s singing the Maynard [James Keenan] part of ‘Know Your Enemy’ or if he’s just onstage during that part of ‘Know Your Enemy’ while Zack is singing to him, but part of the deal was that he couldn’t laugh. He couldn’t break character, he had to be … stoic. He did it. He got the $250 and he is forever immortalized in the ‘How I Could Just Kill a Man’ video.” With Rage pretty much on break at this point after reissuing a 20th anniversary edition of their debut album last year, Morello is finding other things to keep him occupied. The guitarist says he’s currently working on a new Nightwatchman album and will play a show at New York City’s Lincoln Center Feb. 16. In addition, it was just confirmed that Morello will sit in with Bruce Springsteen ‘s E Street Band during their Australian trek as Steven Van Zandt has requested time off to shoot his TV series, ‘Lilyhammer.’ Watch Rage Against the Machine’s ‘How I Could Just Kill a Man’ Video [button href=”http://loudwire.com/best-rage-against-the-machine-songs/” title=”Next: 10 Best Rage Against the Machine Songs” align=”center”]