Kevin Winter, Getty Images Kirk Hammett , lead shredder for Metallica , is a busy man. From writing and releasing his first book that chronicles his massive collection of horror movie memorabilia to filming a 3D movie with his bandmates, Hammett doesn’t seem like he’s slowing down anytime soon. We recently caught up with the axeman in New York City, where he made a stop on his book tour for ‘Too Much Horror Business.’ In addition to discussing the book , we also took some time to chat about Metallica’s next studio album, the longevity of the band and whether or not fans should be planning for a 2013 edition of their festival, Orion Music + More . Just a few months ago, you said that you have around 400 riffs ready for the new album. That’s grown from there. I have even more riffs now. So, as you continue piling on the riffs, where are you guys in the process of starting the next Metallica album? We just filmed a 3D movie up in Vancouver. That’s been at the forefront of our attention right now. We’ve been dealing with the audio aspect of that and pretty soon we’re going to start seeing footage from the concert. Once that particular project kind of dies down and we complete what we need to do with that, then we’re going to start writing songs. We’re going to meet up and start throwing ideas together. That should be really, really interesting. I’m really looking forward to that. What’s not going to be so fun is going through all the musical ideas that we have. I’m not really good at editing myself because I think it’s all good. To be more thorough on that, though, I foresee us starting to get together fairly soon, like in the next couple of months. We’ll start hammering away on it. When do you think fans will get to see the 3D film? We’re shooting for a summer release of next year. I’m really excited about it and I can’t wait to see it myself. The Rolling Stones just released a brand new studio track that comes on the heels of celebrating their 50th anniversary this past summer. With Metallica celebrating 30 years last year, do you think you’ll still be making new music two decades from now? I hope so! I have every intention. The word “retirement” doesn’t really sit well with me. There comes a time when you reach a position in society or culture where people will not let you retire. You can say, “Alright, I’m going to hang up my guitar,” but people will still not let you retire. They’ll constantly remind you of who you are and what you’ve done, so you might as well keep on doing it. It’s not like Metallica ever really slow down. That’s probably most evident in the fact you created your own music festival! Should fans get ready for a second Orion Music + More festival next year? The intention is to definitely do another one. We’re kind of getting our thoughts together on how that might be, where it might be and what our approach to it will be. We’re very, very keen on having another one this year. It was just so much fun. But as for details on the fest, you know, it’s too early in the process right now. I can assure you of one thing, there is going to be another ‘Kirk’s Crypt.’ Bigger and better, two stories this time! [button href=”http://loudwire.com/metallica-kirk-hammett-new-book-too-much-horror-business-favorite-scary-movies-more/” title=”Next: Kirk Hammett Discusses ‘Too Much Horror Business'” align=”center”]
Relapse Pig Destroyer are the embodiment of metal’s most purely aggressive breed. The genre of grindcore doesn’t allow for much breathing room or any sort of mainstream accessibility due to its speed, incoherence and sonic violence, but for bands like Pig Destroyer, grind serves as a foundation for profound originality. There is no man on the planet that understands grindcore like Scott Hull. As Pig Destroyer’s guitarist, Hull has written a library’s worth of memorable riffs that transports the listener into moments of twisted wreckage and blistering gasoline flames created from a 200mph car wreck, along with the nightmarish calm of its aftermath. Pig Destroyer’s fifth studio album, ‘Book Burner,’ continues to deliver the calculated punishment of the band’s previous albums, leaving fans as battered, yet willing victims. With each Pig Destroyer album’s release, the production standards have been noticeably different from record to record, with each consecutive piece becoming more pristine and demented at the same time. ‘Book Burner’ does the exact opposite. As the album came together, Scott Hull, who is also the band’s producer, found it fitting to bring a more raw sound to ‘Book Burner,’ reminiscent of Pig Destroyer’s breakthrough masterpiece ‘Prowler in the Yard.’ Another noticeable difference is the inclusion of various guest vocalists within ‘Book Burner.’ Along with the unique grit of Pig Destroyer vocalist J.R. Hayes, ‘Book Burner’ includes spotlit appearances by vocalists such as Agoraphobic Nosebleed’s Richard Johnson and Kat Katz on tracks ‘The Underground Man’ and ‘Eve,’ respectively. The addition of Misery Index drummer Adam Jarvis as the replacement for longtime drummer Brian Harvey adds a much nastier, but still technically flawless performance to ‘Book Burner,’ with Jarvis’ drumming style exquisitely complementing the album’s crunching violence. Since Pig Destroyer albums tend to run seamlessly, it’s difficult to pick standout tracks, but tune such as ‘The Diplomat’ is worth noting, as it slows the album down to a trudging pace with dueling vocals, an unforgettably unsetting bridge and teeth-grinding licks from Hull. ‘The Bug’ also serves as one of the record’s definitive tracks, beginning with a paralyzing opening quote from Henry Miller’s ‘Tropic of Cancer’ as read via book-on-tape by broadcasting legend Larry King, yes, Larry King. ‘Book Burner’ succeeds in every way as an album, and while it might not reach the perfection of past Pig Destroyer discs ‘Prowler in the Yard’ and ‘Terrifyer,’ the new effort outranks the band’s first album, ‘Explosions in Ward 6,’ and even their most recent release, ‘Phantom Limb.’ All told, ‘Book Burner’ is essential listening and is sure to grace the high ranks of numerous ‘Best of 2012′ lists. Drop what you’re doing and listen to this album now .
Facebook: Asking Alexandria Asking Alexandria continue to evolve with each record, and guitarist Ben Bruce tells Billboard that the UK metalcore band’s forthcoming release will be more of a balance between “radio friendly” rock and the “balls-to-the-wall” vibe of some of their earlier material. The guitarist explains, “[The new album is] a lot more mature. [We may have] a lot of radio singles — what we’re calling radio singles, songs we’re going to push towards radio and try to accelerate our career and get to the next level and hopefully bring our old fans across with us.” Though the band has a few more radio-friendly cuts, Bruce is quick to qualify, “[The rest of it will be] our usual balls-to-the-wall kind of stuff. We spent a long time honing in on our song structures and writing techniques and things like that, but there are still heavy songs on the record. We’re not just going to throw that away and kick our original fan base in the teeth by getting rid of all that. There will still be a lot of riffing and screaming. But we feel like we did find a happy medium between being heavy and then being light enough to be on radio, but still keeping the balls in the songs.” Bruce says the band is also staying true to their instruments, revealing that on their last record there were some “fake” noises from computer input. This time, however, the guitarist says things are more organic with a real orchestra backing them up and a church gospel choir singing on a few tracks. Earlier this year, singer Danny Worsnop said of the new music , “It’s literally the best album we can write at this point in time. We spent a lot more time on the music. We spent a lot of time working on these songs and making them be as good as they can possibly be … It’s much more positive than anything we’ve done before. There’s some positive uplifting messages.” While the group has yet to title their album, they have unleashed a new track called ‘Run Free’ that’s being used to promote their headlining stint on the Monster Energy Outbreak Tour . The trek launches Nov. 16 in Edmonton, Ontario. The new album is expected in the first half of 2013. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/killswitch-engage-asking-alexandria-as-i-lay-dying-black-veil-brides-more-to-rock-2012-california-metalfest/” title=”Next: Asking Alexandria Join California Metalfest” align=”center”]
Theo Wargo, Getty Images Here’s a look at the top stories of the day on Loudwire and around the Web: – Metallica have been dedicating their time to completing a new concert DVD and Blu-Ray, and guess what? ‘Quebec Magnetic’ will be ready for the holidays. [ Loudwire ] – Wonder how Kurt Cobain would feel about this? CBS has started developing a new sitcom utilizing the name of Nirvana ‘s hit song — ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ — as its working title. [ Loudwire ] – The Presidential debates may be over, but there’s still plenty left to discuss while voting for the President of Heavy Metal. See which eight candidates remain in the Quarterfinals and vote for your favorites to advance. [ Loudwire ] – Former Kiss drummer Peter Criss responds after hearing that Aerosmith ‘s Steven Tyler called his onetime group “a comic-book band.” [ Ultimate Classic Rock ] – Happy 48th birthday today to Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo. Find out more about his musical and personal history. [ Ultimate Metallica ] – Gaslight Anthem have landed ‘Happy Endings’ cutie Elisha Cuthbert for their latest video for ‘Here Comes My Man.’ [ Diffuser.fm ] – French metal favorites Gojira will play their first North American headlining tour early next year, with support from the Devin Townsend Project and the Atlas Moth . [ Rock Music Report ]
Victory Records Swedish metal outfit Sister Sin have unleashed their brand new album ‘Now and Forever’ via Victory Records, and the disc holds true to the band’s rough and tough sound with the power to back it up. The disc starts off with ‘MMXII,’ Roman numerals for ’2012,’ then turns into the fast paced anthem ‘End of the Line,’ which happens to be the lead single off of the new record. “ F— you / F—k them and f—k the world, too / Do I look like some b—- to you ” is just the beginning of ‘Fight Song,’ one of the most raw and hard hitting tracks on ‘Now and Forever.’ The momentum and pace of the entire record continues to ascend when and takes the listeners to new heights with hard-rocking, balls-out tracks such as ‘In It for Life,’ ‘Hearts of Cold’ and ‘Hang ‘Em High.’ Frontwoman Liv Jagrell can croon and yell with the best of them and her no-nonsense, rough-around-the-edge deliverance of lyrics is not to be messed with. While the crunchy riffs, pounding bass lines and thunderously swift drum patterns of her talented bandmates further heighten the energy of the album. Sister Sin’s tunes have an old-school vibe with a refreshing new melodic twist. This balance is evident in tracks like ‘The Chosen Few,’ ‘I’m Not You,’ ‘Running Low’ and ‘Shades of Black.’ ‘Now and Forever’ ends with the incredible piano-driven ballad ‘Morning After,’ beautifully sung by Jagrell as she shows off yet another facet of her vocal abilities. In our exclusive interview , Jagrell says that to her the title of the album means, “We are here now and hopefully forever. We won’t give up.” From beginning to end, ‘Now and Forever’ serves as stellar representation of Sister Sin’s perseverance throughout their music career. ? ? [button href=”http://loudwire.com/sister-sin-unleash-video-for-end-of-the-line/” title=”Check Out Sister Sin’s Video for ‘End of the Line'” align=”center”]
Rise / Relapse In a Death Match that featured two first-time competitors, the Acacia Strain was able to defeat Australian metalcore act Parkway Drive. With one win already under their collective belt, the Acacia Strain now face a group of underground grind legends. Pig Destroyer are one of the foremost innovators of the extreme when it comes to 2000s metal. Having already released a slew of masterpieces this century, Pig Destroyer have added yet another accomplishment to their brutal mantle with the album ‘Book Burner’ and a new lyric video for the song ‘Burning Palm.’ Pig Destroyer fans have been waiting for over five years for a new album, but it was worth the wait, as ‘Book Burner’ proves to be another brilliant work. Can the Acacia Strain pull off another win? Or will Pig Destroyer stomp out their competitors? Your votes decide who moves on. Make your choice! (This Death Match ends on Tuesday, Oct. 30, at 10AM ET. Fans can vote once per hour! So come back and vote often to make sure your favorite song wins!) The Acacia Strain, ‘Victims of the Cave’ Pig Destroyer, ‘Burning Palm’ ? 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.
Photo by Chris Konigsmayr Papa Roach may not have been able to cut their summer and fall tour plans short, but the band is ready to bring you a special show this afternoon (Oct. 23), and you can watch it live. The group has teamed with YouTube for a live performance and question and answer session and you can watch it in the video below. It’ll mark the band’s first performance since singer Jacoby Shaddix underwent vocal surgery several weeks ago. Shaddix says, “As you know we had to pull off the Uproar Tour because I had to go get vocal surgery , so we were really bummed out about that and we wanted to do something special for the fans out there, so we partnered up with YouTube and we’re gonna perform live on YouTube.com.” The event takes place today (Oct. 23) at 5PM ET/2PM PT. Shaddix adds, “We’ll be playing a bunch of new songs, answering your questions, so if you’ve got questions, leave them in the comment box and we’ll be sure to try and get to as many of those as we can.” Papa Roach announced the event earlier this month, and a number of fans who signed up to attend will be there in person to catch the band’s live performance. The group is promoting their latest disc, ‘ The Connection .’ It’s already spawned the hit single ‘ Still Swingin ,’ plus the standout track ‘ Before I Die ‘ is beginning to get some attention, as well. Loudwire is offering fans the chance to win an autographed copy of ‘The Connection’ CD + a signed mini Louisville Slugger baseball bat, too. Enter below for your chance to win: Watch Papa Roach’s YouTube Session [Starts at 5PM ET / 2PM PT] ? Papa Roach Autographed Prize Pack Enter your e-mail address below for a chance to win an autographed copy of Papa Roach’s new CD ‘The Connection,’ as well as a signed mini Louisville Slugger ‘Still Swingin’ baseball bat. Contest ends Nov. 17, 2012. Click here for official rules . By entering this contest, you will receive email newsletters from Loudwire. You may unsubscribe at any time. Email