RAWR!
“What is djent?” you might ask. Djent, my good men and women of metal, is thusly: ‘djent’ is “an onomatopoeia for a heavily palm-muted, distorted guitar chord. It is considered to have been inspired by tech-metal band Meshuggah. Typically, the word is used to refer to music that makes use of this sound, to the sound itself, or to the scene that revolves around it. Its meaning is the subject of much debate, and there is some controversy in regards to its classification as a new subgenre.”
Hey, thanks Wikipedia. Controversy my arse, though. You know djent when you hear it. You’re gonna be hearing lots of it when Periphery come to town on Sunday, July 31, oh yes. Recommended with an emphatic erection. Be a djentleman, get tix.
~tobes
MIKE PORTNOY’S NEW BAND
Poor Mike Portnoy. He done quit Dream Theater, hooked up with Avenged Sevenfold for some on-the-road action, and then came home to no permanent gig when all was said and done. He then re-offered his services to the ‘Theater, but by then it was a bit late and they were stung and embittered by the shenanigans: ‘No thanks, Mike. We’ve got Mike Mangini on the sticks now’. Dang. What’s a Mike to do? Start a new band calledAdrenaline Mob with Stuck Mojo string-beater Rich Ward, Symphony X howler Russell Allen, Sonic Stomp guitaroo Mike Orlando, and bassist-about-town Paul Di Leo. Sounds like the resultant mush could be truly awful.
METALLICA’S SECRET RECORDING PROJECT REVEALED
Hey, remember how back in February, Kirk Hammett was all kinda like, ‘My band Metallica – I don’t know, maybe you’ve heard of us – are doing a secret recording project that’s not really 100 percent a Metallica record. Haha, that’s fucked you now hasn’t it, you’re totally wondering what it is. But we’re going to wait until arsing June to tell you about it.’
And so they did, but here we are: it’s a record with Lou Reed. Yeah man, Lou Reed, legendary Velvet Underground man and total rock fixture. Some of you purists will be bristling, but you can pretty much get fucked. Reed once recorded an entire double-album of feedback loops; he’s way more metal than anyone in this room right now, despite not actually being in this room. A ten-song album with the man has just been finished. More details soon as they detail themselves.
NEW MACHINE HEAD
S’right bros, Machine fucking Head have a new one out ahead of their next record, and it’s titanic in all the good places. YouPube ‘Machine Head – Locust (Advance Mix)’ to get a handle on it. Personally I think the British metal press used to over-hype the shit out of Rob Flynn and co. about the time The Blackening was doing the rounds, and while a stonking album at times, all of that hyperbole has since seeped into heaviosity’s greater consciousness and now everyone’s expecting the second coming from this one. Reign in your unrealistic desires and you’ll be right, especially if you’re one of those dudes who hasn’t even heard The Blackening but tells everyone how amazing it is.
STRANGEST SUPERGROUP EVER
Pop-quiz, anyone: What do you get when you cross Mastodon emergency ward enthusiast Brent Hinds with Dillinger Escape Plan maestro Ben Weinman, former Mars Volta drummer Thomas Pridgen, and ex-Jane’s Addiction bassist Eric Avery? One of the most unlikely but potentially excellent supergroups of all time, that’s what. Having trouble getting started, though, says Hinds: “We tried to get together and do an album, but there’s been no time. We want to record crazy stuff and Ben is working on that, but it’s been hard to get together.”
MOTLEY CRUE MANIA
It’s hard to believe they haven’t dragged their aged hair-metal racket back out sooner given how expensive cocaine and bolt-on blondes can be these days, but your mum will be stoked: Mötley Crüe are touring over this way in September, with the original lineup good and accounted for. Vince Neil, Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee and living dead guy Mick Mars will be hitting Rod Laver on Saturday, September 24. Tix from ticketek.com.au, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this isn’t quite the seat-filler that these guys are presuming it will be.
GET A DISC UP YA
Sigh – Hangman’s Hymn – Musikalische Exequien [2007 | The End]
I just added Dr. Mikannibal on twitter. I love Asian chicks and she’s always naked or covered in blood or something, so it’s a bit of a win-win there. Too bad the only Japanese I speak is the stuff I make up to impress people who don’t know any better, so I have no idea what she’s saying most of the time. Anyway, this is one of Sigh’s better records, even if it does do that thing they like doing where, all of a sudden, nothing makes any bastard sense. Brilliant.
FEEDBACK (as always, as they appear in the ol’ inbox)
Define metal
– sweetaction
