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It’s Officially Official: Bill Ward Officially Sitting Out Sabbath Reunion

Posted by Chris Harris on May 15, 2012 in News, This Blows

The Black Sabbath reunion shows are now officially false.

Here, in its entirety, is the latest statement from Bill Ward, which explains everything.

“I sincerely regret to inform you that after a final effort to participate in the upcoming Sabbath shows a failure to agree has continued. At this time I have to inform you that I won’t be playing with Black Sabbath at the Birmingham gig dated May 19th, 2012, nor will I be playing at Download on June 10th, 2012. Further, I will not be playing at Lollapalooza on August 3, 2012.

“It is with a very sad heart that I bring you this news. I am sincerely passionate in my desire to play with the band, and I’m very, very sorry that it’s fallen to this. This statement is even more painstaking to write, as I was particularly excited to play alongside Tony Iommi after the recent treatments he underwent. I wanted that to become a reality.

“To express my thoughts about you, the Sabbath fans, I’m going to speak to you all through an experience my brother James had recently. My brother Jimmy lives in the U.K. When speaking with him a couple of days ago, he told me that an acquaintance had stopped him on the street and confronted him, ‘is your brother playing Birmingham? What’s going on? I waited in line with my son and paid x amount for the concert tickets.’
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Posted in News, This Blows | Tagged bill ward, birmingham, black sabbath, download festival, help for heroes, hometown show, lollapalooza, metaltalk.net, Ozzy Osbourne, statement, tommy clufetos | 1 Comment

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Testament’s New Album Due July 31

Posted by Chris Harris on May 15, 2012 in Featured, New Records, News

And that’s the cover.

Nuclear Blast Records has announced the new Testament disc will be in stores in Europe on July 27. Dark Roots Of Earth drops four days later in North America.

Holy shit! This is phatastic!

I don’t care what you say about Testament, these dudes are one of the best thrash bands to have ever happened. I know that’s an obvious understatement, but I’m feeling sick, and not very poetic this week.

The Dark Roots Of Earth was recorded with British producer Andy Sneap — you know, that dude who has worked with Nevermore and Machine Head and Megadeth.
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Posted in Featured, New Records, News | Tagged july 31, new album, new record, release date, Testament, the dark roots of earth | Leave a comment

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Former Morbid Angel Bassist Starts Warfather

Posted by Chris Harris on May 15, 2012 in New Records, News

Greyhaze Records has revealed the formation and signing of brand new death metal act Warfather — said to be a devastating new unit conceived by ex-Morbid Angel gladiator Steve Tucker.
 
“This is my new band; it will be my main focus…. it is my kind of death metal,” Tucker says in a press release.

Tucker will play guitar in Warfather.

“I have always played the guitar and I think now is the time for me to make the move. I think doing solos and extra guitar parts will allow me to express myself in a whole new way!”

The band also boasts Armatura, formerly of Cincinnati-based death metal band Dominion, and drummer Deimos, a death metal veteran currently playing in the band Temple and late of Severe Torture. On bass is Nick McMaster (Krallice, Nader Sadek, Castevet).
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Posted in New Records, News | Tagged armatura, Castevet, deimos, krallice, Morbid Angel, nader sadek, new band, Nick McMaster, severe torture, steve tucker, warfather | Leave a comment

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Alan Rickman Cast In CBGB Movie?

Posted by Chris Harris on May 15, 2012 in Huh?, News

I forget where I first saw this, but I am hoping it is not true.

Alan Rickman — who has been in all kinds of movies, including the first “Die Hard” and the Harry Potter flicks — has allegedly signed on to play Hilly Kristal, the legendary owner and founder of CBGB.

There is a movie being made about the club, it seems, by Randall Miller and Jody Savin. Miller will direct the picture from a script he and Savin wrote together. They hope to begin shooting in June.
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Posted in Huh?, News | Tagged alan rickman, cbgb, hilly kristal, movie | Leave a comment

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Lamb Of God Frontman Says He’s Not A Booking Agent

Posted by Chris Harris on May 15, 2012 in News

Since the tour dates were announced for Lamb of God’s upcoming tour with Dethklok and Gojira, I guess Randy Blythe has been catching shit from fans who live in cities and towns the tour is passing over.

As he’s want to do, Blythe took to Twitter to spout off.

“To all the people yelling, whining, & bitching at ME for our tour not coming to yer town & asking ‘Why not?’ — I DON’T KNOW WHY NOT. I DO NOT BOOK OUR TOURS,” Randy writes.

“There’s a guy you HAVE to hire when you reach a certain level — he’s called a BOOKING AGENT. He routes the tour, he deals with promoters, he gets the tour package the best offers he can for the tour. I have neither the time, the inclination, the innate skill for dealing with this shit, nor do I have the contacts or resources.

“We as [a] band do not sit around, look at a proposed tour routing check the dates, & then say: ‘Kalamazoo MI?!?!? FUCK THAT! Tell ‘em we ain’t coming to their town! NO WAY — fuck those guys!’ We agree to a tour, the length we are willing to be away from home (because we got, like families & stuff, ya know? Like any other type of folks), THEN THE BOOKING AGENT & MANAGEMENT handle the rest. I haven’t booked a show since the van days of Burn the Priest.

“I booked a lot of our shows through people I knew in the punk/hc scene — they were house shows, etc. The other guys booked shows too — we booked our own tours. But I can’t do that now. Don’t have contacts at the level required, & also I HAVE ZERO DESIRE TO BE A BOOKING AGENT.
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Posted in News | Tagged ankle, booking, cankle, dethklok, gojira, injury, lamb of god, marilyn manson, randy blythe, rant, skateboarding, the industry is dying, tour | Leave a comment

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Opeth To Tour With Katatonia This Fall…Again

Posted by Chris Harris on May 15, 2012 in News

This is rad. Again.

According to reports, Opeth guitarist Fredrik Åkesson says Opeth are coming back this fall for another North American tour.

“Well, we’re actually gonna come back to North America again late September,” he says. “We’re doing another headlining run. We’re gonna hit the spots we didn’t hit on the last tour with Katatonia.”

Both bands toured together in 2011.

“And we’re bringing Katatonia with us again… And then after that we’re gonna do a European tour again, and then it’s Christmas, I guess. And [then] we’re gonna head out to Australia again. So it never ends. I think we’ve done 130 shows since the end of September.”
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Posted in News | Tagged accident, broken arm, car accident, cut, fall tour, ghost, head, hospital, hospitalized, injury, katatonia, mastodon, mikael akerfeldt, opeth | Leave a comment

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The Offenders Guitarist Dies

Posted by Chris Harris on May 15, 2012 in News, This Blows

Guitarist Tony “Offender” Johnson has died.

A resident of Austin, Texas, Johnson was best known for his work with The Offenders.

He died May 12 at the age of 54 after a 20-month struggle with lung cancer. Fuck you, cancer. I fucking hate you.

What the fuck? How is that we don’t have a cure for cancer yet? We have handheld computers, the government has a secret machine that can control the weather, and we can prevent HPV, but we can’t cure cancer.

Every fucking dollar spent on scientific research should be reallocated for cancer research…until there’s a fucking cure.
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Posted in News, This Blows | Tagged cancer, dead, died, the offenders, tony johnson | Leave a comment

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Erdh Post New Album Teaser

Posted by Chris Harris on May 15, 2012 in New Records, News

Head to the end of this post if you are a Wormfood fan or loved Type O Negative. Beth Nutting — I am talking to you.

There, you will find a preview of a new album from Erdh. The band is the side project of Wormfood frontman Emmanuel “Worm” Lévy.

The French electro/dark metal band’s debut album is called Resilient, and the following preview contains a track called “Pink Circuit.”

Resilient was recorded by Axel Wursthorn (Carnival in Coal) at Walnut Groove Studio, mastered by Jens Bogren at Fascination Street Studios (Opeth, Katatonia, Kreator, Paradise Lost) and will be released in 2012.
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Posted in New Records, News | Tagged carnival in coal, erdh, katatonia, kreator, opeth, paradise lost, pink circuit, resilient, Type O Negative, wormfood | Leave a comment

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Bret Michaels Settles Tony Awards Suit

Posted by Chris Harris on May 15, 2012 in News

It seems organizers of the annual Tony Awards have settled a lawsuit brought against them by Poison singer Bret Michaels.

Bret sued the Tony Awards after he was struck in the head by a piece of the stage set after Poison performed on the Tonys stage with the cast of “Rock of Ages.”

The terms of the settlement will not be made public, unfortunately. So we don’t know if Bret made out well or just received a small check. We may never know.

“Mr. Michaels would like to thank his fans for their continued support,” Bret’s attorney, Alex Weingarten, said of the settlement.
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Posted in News | Tagged bret michaels, lawsuit, poison, rock of ages, settled, settlement, tony awards | Leave a comment

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Black Metal Bassist Elected To Greek Parliament

Posted by Chris Harris on May 15, 2012 in News

This is kind of nutty but also kind of cool, I guess.

Giorgos Germenis, who plays bass in Greek black metal band Naer Mataron, has been elected to the country’s parliament.

Reports claim Germenis will represent Golden Dawn from the Greater Athens district. He’s known by the stage name “Kaiadas” — the chasm in ancient Sparta where children were thrown to their deaths after being judged unfit to meet the rigors of Spartan life.

“He wasn’t a well-known musician here in Greece,” says one Greek music expert. “And too be honest, not many webzines were paying attention to Naer Mataron. It was just another black metal band, a mediocre one, so no one was really paying attention.”
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Posted in News | Tagged black metal, elected, Giorgos Germenis, greek parliament, Naer Mataron | Leave a comment