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EXODUS To Enter Studio In February, Says GARY HOLT

Manos Spanos
Bay Area Backstage conducted an interview with SLAYER touring members Gary Holt (guitar, also of EXODUS) and Paul Bostaph (drums) before the band's October 30 concert in San Joese, California. You can now watch the chat below. Asked about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the next EXODUS album, Holt said: "This [SLAYER] tour runs 'till… I get home December 1, and I've been writing for the last several months. Actually, I go home tomorrow for one day, then fly to Seattle. So when I resume this tour, I'm bringing my recording gear with me and continuing to work in hotel rooms. We're tentatively slated to start recording the next EXODUS February 1, and it's crushing — it's ridiculously fast and heavy. It's been a long time coming, so people, they're hungry and they're tired of waiting. So it's gonna be a pleasant surprise." EXODUS recently completed a European tour of 17 cities, with stops in Barcelona, Dublin, London and more. Although SLAYER tapped the talents of guitarist Gary Holt for their European tour, Holt performed at select EXODUS dates. When Holt was not performing with EXODUS, HEATHEN guitarist Kragen Lum was filling in on guitar. EXODUS' latest album, "Exhibit B: The Human Condition", was released in North America on May 18, 2010 via Nuclear Blast Records. The CD sold around 4,600 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 114 on The Billboard 200 chart. EXODUS' previous album, "The Atrocity Exhibition: Exhibit A", opened with 3,600 units back in October 2007.
01 min read

Underground: Endless Recovery – Thrash Rider

Panagiotis Karagiannidis
The Greek Thrash metal scene stands tall and proud (maybe that's a positive side effect of the financial crisis), not only by their local gods such as Suicidal Angels, Released Anger and Mentally Defiled but also by bands such as Exarsis, Bio-Cancer, Chronosphere, Fadom, Over-Throw, Domination and the band being reviewed this time: Endless Recovery.
03 min read

Mahakala
Devil’s Music

Panagiotis Karagiannidis
In the 70’s, worshiping Satan in rock music was a common thing. Occult rock and metal got their traits from the 70’s and a whole heavy metal culture is based on it. Devil symbolizes freedom and opposition to everything the system dictates. Our times, can actually be characterized as the Renaissance of occult music, a back to the roots beginning.
04 min read

SEPULTURA: Entire ‘Mediator Between Head And Hands’ Album Available For Streaming

Manos Spanos
"The Mediator Between Head And Hands Must Be The Heart", the new album from Brazilian/American metallers SEPULTURA, is available for streaming in its entirety using the SoundCloud widget below. The CD will be released on October 25 via Nuclear Blast Records. SEPULTURA guitarist Andreas Kisser recently gave the Brazilian newspaper Diario de Pernambuco a track-by-track breakdown of "The Mediator Between Head And Hands Must Be The Heart". Check it out below. "Intro" Andreas: "Actually, the intro is the demo we did just before we went to the studio, with all the songs played at the same time! It's like you are listening to all the songs that you will hear separately on the album at once. It sounds so great, noisy and powerful and it was a result of an accident that I had on my computer. Each song had its track so when I accidentally played the tracks together they came strong and beautiful so I decided to show the guys and they all liked it!" "Trauma Of War" Andreas: "This will be the first song on the album and is one of the fastest and most brutal songs we ever did. The performance of our drummer, Eloy [Casagrande], is fantastic, it gave such an energy to the song that the guitars, bass and vocals had to top that level of brutality, for sure our strongest opener so far. I wrote the lyrics inspired by friends that went to war and came back with some kind of trauma, some kind of disturbance that they have to live with for the rest of their lives." "The Vatican" Andreas: "An ironic tribute to the conclave that elected Argentinian Pope Francis I as the successor of Benedict XVI. This track has some death metal influences. The lyric tells the story of how the Vatican was created, filled with blood, orgy, murders, corruption, adultery. It's one of the most evil and perverse lyrics I ever wrote." "Impending Doom" Andreas: "Song with a very slowed tempo, with heavy picks and a low-tuned rhythm. Its nickname was 'Puxada', because of the guitar's riff characteristic. This track is very heavy. The lyrics are Derrick's [Green, vocals]. And it talks about cursed inheritances that are left from generation to generation. What world we are going to leave for ours heirs?" "Manipulation Of Tragedy" Andreas: "Another of Derrick's lyric. Talks about collective manipulation through a culture of fear, creating tragic and drastic situations in order to justify certain decisions made by the governors, legitimizing some limitations to the society. The manufactured consent. The song was born from Eloy's double-bass drumming rhythm. It sounds very SEPULTURA, with influence from several periods of the band." "Tsunami" Andreas: "Derrick wrote the lyrics for it, part inspired by the natural phenomena and part by the 'tsunami' of information we receive nowadays through the worldwide web and the media in general. A tsunami is the most powerful force of nature, stronger than any earthquake, tornado or a storm. It simply destroys everything in its path. The result is total destruction but also total cleanup, a new beginning." "The Bliss Of Ignorants" Andreas: "Derrick's lyric. It's about the illusion created in society that we are free to do whatever we want, but, in fact, it is not like that. Freedom is limited and part of the society lives under ignorance, euphoric, without awareness of everything that surrounds us. The song opens with percussive drum, low tuning and groovy sound. Its nickname was 'Brasuca'. It's kind of a mix of 'Roots' and 'Chaos A.D.' rhythm. Ross [Robinson, producer] influenced us to explore more this Brazilian side. With participation of percussionist Fred Ortiz (BEASTIE BOYS' former drummer who plays with Derrick in MAXIMUM HEDRUM)." "Grief" Andreas: "It is a song that starts with clean guitars in a way that we never attempted before, I think it was our biggest challenge on this album and it came out amazing. I wrote the song inspired by a tragic incident that happened in Brazil in January 2013. More than 200 kids died in a fire inside a night club. The place didn't have the proper emergency exits and most of the people died asphyxiated, it was horrible. The small town at the south of the country, where most of the people were from, was in total grief. I wrote this song to honor the victims and their families." "The Age Of The Atheist"
07 min read

TOXIC HOLOCAUST: Entire ‘Chemistry Of Consciousness’ Album Available For Streaming

Manos Spanos
Portland punk metal hellions TOXIC HOLOCAUST will release their most volatile offering to date, "Chemistry Of Consciousness", in North America on October 29 (one day earlier internationally) via Relapse Records. The devious new full-length spews forth eleven tracks of revved up, road-raging bestial devastation. The CD was recorded by the band, mixed with Kurt Ballou (CONVERGE) at his own GodCity Studio and mastered by Brad Boatright (SLEEP,FROM ASHES RISE, NAILS) at Audiosiege Engineering. "Chemistry Of Consciousness" track listing: 01. Awaken The Serpent 02. Silence 03. Rat Eater 04. Salvation Is Waiting 05. Out Of The Fire 06. Acid Fuzz 07. Deny The Truth 08. Mkultra 09. I Serve... 10. International Conspiracy 11. Chemistry Of Consciousness "Chemistry Of Consciousness" is now available for streaming in its entirety using theSoundCloud widget below. According to a press release, "Chemistry Of Consciousness" is "the sound of DISCHARGEon speed, SLAYER with a punk rock chip on its shoulder, THE EXPLOITED on a METALLICAoverdose. It is the perfect marriage of punk angst and metal guitar hooks. If there's one thing the punks and the heshers will agree on in 2013, it's that TOXIC HOLOCAUST's 'Chemistry Of Consciousness' is a rager of a record destined to top any worthwhile best of 2013 list. Recommended for devout followers of MUNICIPAL WASTE, D.R.I., SODOM, MIDNIGHT, GBH, etc."
02 min read

BEHEMOTH: ‘Blow Your Trumpet’ Performance Footage From Japan’s LOUD PARK Festival

Manos Spanos
Polish extreme metallers BEHEMOTH played a brand new song called "Blow Your Trumpet, Gabriel" during their October 19 appearance at this year's edition of the Loud Park festival at Saitama Super Arena in Tokyo, Japan. You can now watch fan-filmed video footage of the performance below. "Blow Your Trumpet, Gabriel", which was previously described by BEHEMOTH frontmanAdam "Nergal" Darski as "killer" and "a monster," will be included on the band's tenth full-length album, "The Satanist", due in early 2014 via Nuclear Blast in Europe and Metal Bladein North America. The CD was recorded at Hertz studio in Bialystok, Poland with the help of the Wieslawscy brothers and Daniel Bergstrand (MESHUGGAH, IN FLAMES, SOILWORK,STRAPPING YOUNG LAD). Other songtitles set to appear on the effort include "Messe Noir"(French for "The Black Mass") and "Ora Pro Nobis, Lucifer" (Latin for "Pray For Us, Lucifer"). In a recent interview with Revolver magazine, Darski described BEHEMOTH's new songs as "very atmospheric" and "very emotional." "Think BURZUM meets NEW ORDER meets KILLING JOKE," he added. But at the same time, fans shouldn't expect the album to sound too far removed from BEHEMOTH's past efforts. "Take SLAYER, for example," Darski said. "Whatever genre they deal with, they still end up sounding like SLAYER. Even when they were flirting with nu-metal, it was a SLAYER record. Same with BEHEMOTH." According to Darski, at least some of the inspiration for the new BEHEMOTH album is coming from his five-month bout of leukemia he overcame in January 2011, after receiving a bone-marrow transplant. "When I was in the hospital, I was collecting experiences and emotions," he said. "I'm pretty sure that it's coming out now. There are moments I catch myself thinking about how my state was back then. It was me versus life, me versus death. It definitely changed my thoughts a lot. It's 100 percent being reflected in the record and songs I'm writing nowadays. I'm way more radical than I used to be."
02 min read

Report: Evile + Support Acts – Athens, Greece

Manos Spanos
What a great Saturday night awaits the whole of Athens Thrashers: a co-headlining show of great British Thrashers Evile and local Thrash heroes Suicidal Angels and Chronosphere. There was a good level of attendance at Kyttaro club even though it could have been a bit better organized and advertised. Yet everyone was excited about the event, especially a new generation of Thrashers with blood flowing wild through their veins. The first band to hit the stage was Chronosphere. Their style is close to Sacred Reich (vocalwise even though they have more of their own style) and Testament/Megadeth/Exodus musicwise. They took the crowd by storm and warmed them up for good with everybody stage diving, crowd surfing and moshing their hearts out. We heard songs from their amazing debut album "Envirusment" ("Genetically Determined", "Envirusment", "Hypnosis", "War Infection" being the set's closing track) and from their upcoming album two new promising tracks called "Brutal Decay" and "The Redemption" (the first instrumental they ever wrote according to their frontman Spyros Lafias). All in all they won even more people in the crowd wearing their t-shirts with pride. On a side note, Evile's drummer fixed a cymbal during their set. That's a sign of true respect and unity between the bands, any other band would put the drum tech to do that. Then we have the mighty Suicidal Angels. One may sometimes feel like witnessing a legend in its prime. You see old Thrashers talking about Sepultura or Slayer or Kreator (the list is endless) in their glory days that made them the monsters of the genre that they are today. That's how the writer felt about Suicidal Angels. With a kind of Star Wars related intro (correct the writer if he's wrong) "Athens...Let the bloodbath begin" and it did so with the title track off their kick ass latest album "Bloodbath". Then we had "Bleeding Holocaust" off "Dead Again" keeping the chaos level high in the moshpits. Their setlist was based around "Bloodbath" ("Chaos (The Curse Is Burning Inside)", "Morbid Intention To Kill", "Torment Payback", "Bleeding Cries", "Moshing Crew"), "Dhadead Again" ("Final Dawn", "Reborn In Violence", "Beggar Of Scorn") and "Sanctify The Darkness" ("Apokathilosis" being the classic closer, "The Pestilence Of Saints"). The new bass player was really enthusiastic and fit the Suicidal Angels image very well for his first live show and helped the audience enjoy the show even more. We should also mention two kick ass moments in their set: Nick coming down with the fans to headbang and play "The Pestilence Of Saints" and inviting people on stage for "Moshing Crew". That's how you actually connect with your fans! "Apokathilosis" brought the Suicidal Angels mayhem to an end with us waiting for "Divide And Conquer" (Chris Tsitsis stated some interesting stuff about it in the interview before this gig) to come out in early 2014.
05 min read

New TROUBLE Lineup Performs Live For First Time (Video)

Manos Spanos
Doom metal legends TROUBLE played their first show with their new lineup — featuring singerKyle Thomas and bassist Rob Hultz — on October 12 at the Day Of Doom festival in Barcelona, Spain. Fan-filmed video footage of the concert can be seen below. Hultz is no stranger to the heavy metal, hard rock, and doom metal genres as his lengthy music resume boasts. While still in high school, he joined an East Coast hardcore band calledSOCIAL DECAY which served as his introduction to recording and touring. After a decade, he left with the guitar player to form the doom metal band GODSPEED and was signed to Atlantic Records. Their debut album was recorded at Electric Lady Studios in New York and produced by Rachel Bolan of SKID ROW. The band was represented by Gloria Butler Managementand toured with iconic bands such as BLACK SABBATH, DIO and CATHEDRAL, to name just a few. In 1996, Hultz helped form SOLACE, another notable doom metal band, which was signed toMeteor City Records, and played large arenas, clubs, and festivals such as Roadburn andHellfest. Their last recording, "A.D.", was released on Small Stone Records in 2010 and voted Best Metal Album of the Year on iTunes. Since then, Hultz has lent his talents on projects for LETHAL AGGRESSION and DISEASE CONCEPT. Commenting on the band's decision to recruit Hultz, TROUBLE founder and guitarist Rick Wartell stated: "Bruce Franklin and I played the bass parts on 'The Distortion Field', with the exception of one song. However, as we began preparing to tour in support of the album, it became really important to choose the right person for the band. Rob is not only a great bass player but also a total pro with an impressive band history, and he's got the TROUBLEpersonality so he definitely fits in well. We look forward to him joining us on the road and being a bandmate for a long time to come." "The Distortion Field", the first studio album in six years from TROUBLE, sold around 760 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD landed at position No. 25 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200. Released in Europe on August 23 via FRW Records, the 12-song follow-up to 2007's "Simple Mind Condition" was helmed by veteran producer Bill Metoyer (SLAYER, W.A.S.P.,ARMORED SAINT, DARK ANGEL, SACRED REICH, CRYPTIC SLAUGHTER, D.R.I.) and marks the recording debut with TROUBLE of lead singer Kyle Thomas following the departure of the group's frontman of four years, Kory Clarke (of WARRIOR SOUL fame). TROUBLE 2013 is: Kyle Thomas: Vocals Bruce Franklin: Guitar Rick Wartell: Guitar Mark Lira: Drums Rob Hultz: Bass
04 min read

DERRICK GREEN: SEPULTURA ‘Has The Right To Keep The Name And Continue On’

Manos Spanos
Live-Metal.net recently conducted an interview with vocalist Derrick Green of Brazilian/American metallers SEPULTURA. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below. Live-Metal.net: Is that at all surprising to you that it's taken so long for fans to accept you into the band, even after seven albums, 10-15 years, or whatever it's been. And is it still a challenge every day to win back these older fans? Derrick Green: It's not really that surprising. A lot of times in the world of metal when you're a fanatical fan of a band that you really enjoy, it's hard to see certain changes happen. There have been a lot of changes in bands that I have loved in the past and they made changes happen. But being an artist, I understand a little bit more that those changes were inevitable sometimes. It's just life. It's just constantly changing, and it's just something that you have to deal with. As an adult and as a human being, those things are going to happen. When you look at life that way and there are changes that happen for a reason, you can kind of get beyond living in the past. But instead a lot of people do, and I do the same because there are things I'm going to always love. But I love from that time period — that time period when I discovered SEPULTURA and "Arise", and I had a cassette tape that a friend gave to me and it was amazing. And I cherish it, and it can never be replaced. It can never go back truly to that time. It would be silly to even think that. For me, I think the challenge for us is the fact that we love what we do. We never walk away from this band, we have always stuck to it and we always stayed focused on creating new music. And music that we wanted to do. Everything was a process, and we knew that it would take time to evolve, to know each other, to get to do it together, to create music together. We needed that time to bond, and I think it was all a process of evolving for us. And we wanted to get better with each album, and I think we've been doing that since we've been together. And for us, that's always been our goal, to really focus on music and leave all the other stuff behind. A consequence of just focusing and doing what we do and the drive and not giving up has brought a lot of new fans that have never seen SEPULTURA in any period of "Chaos A.D." or "Roots" or "Beneath The Remains". So we have those new fans that truly appreciate what we've been doing since I've been in the band. And then they go back and listen to old stuff, and they have an understanding, but they're not really kind of dwelling on the past. And then there's the old fans that we brought back who had lost touch with the band and are not really feeling the changes. But they still have that hope and that glimmer, and they still like good music. So I think that we're able to produce some good music that people are interested in hearing, so it's great to see that mix. And I know that we'll never be completely bringing back all the old fans, but that's never been my goal. Our whole goal has really just been to create and write great music.
08 min read