Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Lamb of God vocalist Randy Blythe ‘s decision to take a moment to honor those lost Friday in the tragic Connecticut school shootings did not meet with the reaction he expected, and the rocker turned to his Instagram account to voice his disgust. Blythe reports via his Instagram account that during Lamb of God’s performance Friday night in Medford, Oregon, not everyone in the crowd complied with his request for a 60 second moment of silence, which led to his outrage. He wrote, “I have never been more disgusted with an audience in my life. I wish we hadn’t played. We, Lamb of God, asked for 60 seconds of silence during our first set break to honor the dead children and teachers in Connecticut. It seemed appropriate — it’s a g–damned national tragedy. Most of the crowd complied, but several didn’t, some cursing and even laughing. I wanted to walk off stage. I am so disgusted right now.” He continued, “If you were one of those who wouldn’t shut up for 60 lousy second to honor 20 murdered children, go look in the mirror. You are looking at a piece of s—. Your parents are obviously pieces of s— too, because they raised you to behave with no dignity. To the fans who were respectful, I thank you. I am also sorry you have so many g–damned a–holes in your community. You should do something about that. This s— would not have happened at a Lamb of God show where I live and that is a fact. We have more manners. I am just disgusted — thoroughly disgusted. You yelling people give metal a band name. Screw that. You give humanity a bad name. Grow up. Your parents should have beaten some manners into you, you savage little beasts.” Blythe concluded, “I will go to bed, say a prayer for those suffering, and hope for a better day tomorrow, because tonight sucked.” [button href=”http://loudwire.com/connecticut-school-shooting-rock-musicians-condolences/” title=”Next: Rockers React to the Connecticut School Shootings” align=”center”]
Newstedheavymetal.com Former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted is getting into this whole Internet thing! The rocker, who recently re-entered the music world by announcing his presence on a newly launched website , has unveiled his new self-titled band and kept fans up to date on their rapid progress toward a new album in the month the site has been in operation. Now comes word that the first batch of music from Newsted has a title — ‘Metal’ — and it will arrive early next year. In a recent interview with Eddie Trunk , Newsted stated, “Whatever it ends up being — if it’s five songs, 20 songs, 50 songs … I don’t even know what the heck I’m gonna do. I have so much music from over the years. I have a bunch of new stuff … I’m just trying to figure out exactly what I wanna unleash on everybody first. That’s kind of what it’s coming down to — the timing of things and how I wanna hit people with it.” Newsted appears to have figured out his release strategy as he’s detailed in a new Twitter posting . The musician posted an open letter to fans in hopes that they would spread it around the Internet, fostering word of mouth for his new project. The letter, which can be seen here and unveils the four songs on the disc, reads as follows: @ jasoncnewsted sent me this, so #RT and let the people know that his new band is releasing new songs very soon! \m// twitter.com/AxEasy/status/… — Vangelis Makridakis (@AxEasy) December 14, 2012 At present, it has not been revealed if or when a full-length album will follow or when the new Newsted lineup will be performing an extended tour. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/best-metallica-songs/” title=”Next: 10 Best Metallica Songs” align=”center”]
Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com Two weeks ago, we reported that Lamb of God vocalist Randy Blythe was officially indicted on manslaughter charges in the Czech Republic. It is now being reported that Blythe will stand trial for the controversial charges on Feb. 4, 2013. Upon being indicted, the Prague 8 District Court had two decisions they could have made. The court had three months to either delay the trial in order to continue the collection of evidence, or set an official date. That decision has now been made and Blythe will begin legal proceedings on Feb. 4. “We have issued Randy Blythe with a court summons, and he is obliged to attend the hearing in person,” said court spokeswoman Martina Lhotáková [ via Prague Post ]. “The trial will determine the culpability of Blythe and his potential punishment.” Blythe has stated that although he could easily hide out in the United States to avoid court proceedings, he will cooperate with the Czech legal system. The vocalist was jailed for over a month earlier this year on accusations of manslaughter after a fan died from head injuries supposedly sustained at a Lamb of God show in 2010. “I want my name cleared,” Blythe stated in a recent interview . “I have to go around the world and tour, you know? That’s what I do. I’m not going to hide here. I’m an innocent man. I’m going to go to court and see what happens.” According to Lhotáková, Blythe’s Czech trial is expected to last four days. Although the date has officially been set, the court still has the option of sending the case back to the prosecutor and police for further investigation. Stay tuned for more news as it breaks. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/lamb-of-god-manager-responds-randy-blythe-czech-republic-indictment/” title=”Next: Lamb of God’s Manager Responds to Randy Blythe’s Indictment” align=”center”]
Nuclear Blast Brutal death metal architects Suffocation are set to release their seventh full-length album, ‘Pinnacle of Bedlam’ on Feb. 15, but fans won’t have to wait another two months to hear new material from the band. Suffocation have just unleashed the new track ‘As Grace Descends,’ and spoiler alert: It’s very heavy. After the departure of drummer Mike Smith, there were some big shoes to fill behind the kit. Thus, Suffocation made an incredibly wise decision in recruiting Dave Culross of Malevolent Creation. Culross has drummed from Suffocation in the past, blasting away on the band’s masterful 1998 EP, ‘Despise the Sun.’ “You will definitely hear ‘Despise the Sun’ shining through on this record,” Culross told us in our recent interview with the band. Not only because of my playing on it, but the grooves in some of the stuff that we did are very similar to the grooves in ‘Despise the Sun,’ and I think that’s what will people are gonna characterize between the two albums … you’ll hear the accents in the blasts, a lot of fast double bass; definitely reminiscent of ‘Despise the Sun.’” ‘As Grace Descends’ showcases a more crisp and powerful production standards, which offers an interesting dichotomy as Suffocation bring a more raw sense of composition to the track. Vocalist Frank Mullen is also noticeably straight-forward in his performance, as he keeps his gutturals low while focusing on the pronunciation of his lyrics. Introduce yourselves with ‘As Grace Descends’ in the player below, and whatever you do, only perform the classic Frank Mullen hand chop if you’ve warmed up first, as you will likely break your wrist otherwise. Suffocation, ‘As Grace Descends’ Suffocation, ‘Pinnacle of Bedlam’ Track Listing: 1. ‘Cycles of Suffering’ 2. ‘Purgatorial Punishment’ 3. ‘Eminent Wrath’ 4. ‘As Grace Descends’ 5. ‘Sullen Days’ 6. ‘Pinnacle of Bedlam’ 7. ‘My Demise’ 8. ‘Inversion’ 9. ‘Rapture of Revocation’ 10. ‘Beginning of Sorrow’ [button href=”http://loudwire.com/suffocation-pinnacle-of-bedlam-future-of-vocalist-frank-mullen/” title=”Suffocation Talk ‘Pinnacle of Bedlam,’ Future of Frank Mullen + More” align=”center”]
Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com Scientists love metal, it’s a fact. With the metal gods guiding his way, Brent E. Hendrixson, Ph.D. discovered a new species of tarantula in southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona. After Hendrixson uncovered the spider, he put down his guitar and wiped off his corpse paint, held the tarantula to the sky and let out a mighty roar. From that moment on, the species would be forever known as Aphonopelma Davemustainei, after Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine . Metal musicians have inspired the official scientific names of various new species in the 21st Century. In 2006, Dr. Mats E. Eriksson named a genus of extinct marine polycheaete annelid worm, Kalloprion Kilmisteri, was dedicated to Motorhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister . This year, the same doctor discovered the jaws of an unclassified marine worm. In keeping with his heavy metal tradition, the marine worm was christened ‘ Kingnites Diamondi ‘ after legendary vocalist King Diamond . After learning of the new tarantula species which now bears his name, Dave Mustaine posted a picture of the spider on his Twitter page, sharing his excitement with his fans. How cool is this? I got my own tarantula named after me! Totally metal!!! twitter.com/DaveMustaine/s… — Dave Mustaine (@DaveMustaine) December 12, 2012 There are currently more than 850 classified species of tarantula, although it is believed that there are at least double that amount in existence. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/2013-grammy-awards-best-hard-rock-metal-performance-nominees-anthrax-halestorm-iron-maiden-lamb-of-god-marilyn-manson-megadeth/” title=”Megadeth Nominated for 2013 Grammy Award” align=”center”]
Ronnie James Dio: Official Facebook A hardy congratulations is in order for the religion of heavy metal … Yes, the religion of heavy metal. In the beautiful United Kingdom, thousands of people claimed “heavy metal” as their religion in a recent census, beating out Druidism, Satanism and Scientology. Bless all you metalheads out there in the U.K., for you’ve chosen to follow the path of Reverend Dickinson, Pastor Halford and Saint Dio, among other blessed musicians within the heavy metal realm. According to The Guardian , 6,242 people answered ‘Heavy Metal’ when asked their religion within the census. Paganism and Wicca ended up with more write-ins than Heavy Metal, but only 4,189 people declared themselves as druids, with even less claiming Scientology as their religion. Additionally, a total of 1,983 chose to label themselves as Satanists and a whopping 176,632 people claim to have mastered “the force” as Jedi Knights. The Heavy Metal outpouring has been spearheaded by Saxon singer Biff Byford, who helped gather the votes of metalheads. “Heavy metal is a tribal music and everyone is a member of the tribe,” Byford told Independent.co.uk in 2010. “The audience is very, very loyal… especially the Germans. It’s not like pop music, where if the next song isn’t good enough then forget about it; with our music, people will allow you to be shit sometimes, and that’s one of the great things.” “The music’s not about love,” Byford adds.” Our songs are more about Richard the Lionheart, steel trains and thunder. But when you do click with a big audience, it can be quite an experience, a massive connection… I suppose you could say it is a religious experience in a way.” Check out Byford’s victory video statement below via Metal Hammer. Saxon’s Biff Byford Celebrates Heavy Metal Religion Victory
Nuclear Blast Suffocation have had a strange, yet incredibly productive year in 2012. Despite the messy breakup with drummer Mike Smith and the news that vocalist Frank Mullen would no longer be touring extensively with the band, Suffocation have finished recording ‘Pinnacle of Bedlam,’ their first full-length album since 2009′s ‘Blood Oath.’ We had the chance to sit down with Suffocation guitarist Guy Marchais and newly appointed drummer Dave Culross, who manned the kit for the band’s ‘Despise the Sun’ EP, in their swanky hotel before their Stamford, Conn., show on Dec. 8. The duo reassured fans that Mullen is still 100 percent committed to the band, described what fans should expect from ‘Pinnacle of Bedlam,’ clues on who Mullen’s part-time replacement vocalist could be and much more. Check out our in-depth conversation with Guy and Dave of Suffocation. Suffocation Talk to Loudwire