Posts Tagged ‘Metallica’
Cool Cudi Cover
I was perusing Kid Cudi’s Facebook page when I came across this awesome cover he posted of his song “Pursuit of Happiness” by Lissie. I hadn’t heard of Lissie, an Illinois-based indie rocker, but this cover is so damn good, I’m gonna have to check her out.
Lissie’s debut album, Catching A Tiger, is out now in the UK. Us Americans (as opposed to U.S. Americans) will have to wait until August 17th to get it here in the States.
Check out a couple more sweet covers she’s done after the jump:
Here’s a look at what’s happening in the world of hard rock and metal:
*Kylesa, the sludgy stoner metal band that released one of 2009’s best albums in Static Tensions, is once again back in the studio for the time being demoing material intended for a new album. They are set to begin officially recording the new album at the end of May.
*Journalist Mick Wall is working on a Metallica book that will cover most of the group’s history. Wall was close with the band in its early days and has recently reconnected with them to conduct interviews. The book should come out in October.
*If any of you cares, here’s a tentative track list for Limp Bizkit’s new album Gold Cobra, and yes, it’s full of terrible song names like “Douchebag,” “GFY,” “Middle Finger,” and the awesomely awful duo of “Introbra” and “Outrobra.”
*The story of how Mastodon chose their name. Thank god they didn’t pick Savage Hamper.
*The Sword has finished work on its third album. If it’s done, why the hell won’t it be released until late this year?
*Serj Tankian’s new album, Imperfect Harmonies, is tentatively scheduled to come out in September. It will have 11 tracks, heavily featuring electronics. One song will be sung in Armenian.
-Sam
I’ll say this about Serj Tankian – the man is fearless.
That’s the only way to describe his latest solo project, Elect The Dead Symphony, which saw him get up in front of the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, a 70-piece ensemble, (in a dashing white suit no less!) and perform completely new orchestral arrangements of his heavy metal material. And make no mistake, this wasn’t a Metallica S&M style concert, where the electric guitars and yelling were accompanied by bombastic orchestral scores. No, this was an entirely new imagining of his songs as purely symphonic pieces.
Sound like a huge disaster? Well, Serj does have at least one thing going for him in this regard and that’s his voice. Simply put, Serj has a massive set of pipes, a huge range, and anyone familiar with his work in System of a Down knows that his singing has a uniquely operatic style.
Unfortunately, just because his voice may be up to this monumental task does not mean that his songs are.
Here’s a sampling of some interesting stuff going on in the world of metal:
* Mudvayne has debuted their new video for the song “Beautiful and Strange.” It’s the second video in a three part series. And it didn’t take long for the video to be banned from all major outlets. One viewing and you’ll understand why. Censors don’t usually take kindly to buried-alive fallen angels digging up the graves of surprisingly full-chested naked, dead women and then proceeding to mount them and bang them silly all while images of torture and a girl actually getting her lips sewed together flash on screen. But hey, that’s fuckin’ metal! Go watch the necrophiliac’s dream over on VampireFreaks.com.
* Killswitch Engage have a new song, “My Obsession,” on the new God of War video game. Stream it at Noisecreep. (It’s really good.)
* Check out the cover art for Sevendust’s new album, Cold Day Memory, and prepare to be severely underwhelmed. Seriously, that’s the best you could come up with?
* Deftones have released the track list for their new album, Diamond Eyes.
* If anyone (like me) was hoping Limp Bizkit might return to the sound of their first album and/or their last album (aka more emphasis on the band, less on Fred Durst and rapping) this news should dash those hopes: Rappers Raekwon and Paul Wall will both have guest appearances on Gold Cobra.
* Dutch violin player, Karianne Brouwer, has a really cool cover of Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters”:
http://www.vimeo.com/9758791-Sam
Ice Dancing made fun
So with the 2010 Winter Olympics wrapping up last night, I thought I’d take a look back at one of the highlights of the games.
And before I begin, I readily admit that I did watch some of the ice dancing on television. Hey, the girls are generally hot and wearing skimpy outfits, so sue me.
The thing with most ice skating events is that the music tends to be really similar, generic stuff. The skating rink is not really the realm of risk-takers when it comes to musical choices.
That’s why I almost jumped out of my chair when I heard the opening notes to Great Britain brother-sister duo Sinead and John Kerr’s ice dance routine. You see, I’m a huge Linkin Park fan so I knew immediately that they had chosen “Krwlng” as their music. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, the choice of Linkin Park was undeniably risky in such a setting, even drawing a remark from the commentators for the adventurous decision.
But you know what? It actually worked – really well. The song comes off the band’s Reanimation album, which is full of remixes, and the song features mainly electronic elements as opposed to guitars, lending a more ethereal tone to the song. There’s some screaming on there too, and I have to believe that caught more than a few audience members off guard.
Ice skating needs more people like the Kerrs who are brave enough to step outside the boundaries of traditional musical choices and embrace some newer ideas. I know it got me more interested in what I was watching.
Here’s a video of the Kerrs performing the routine back in January:
Also, after the jump I’ve included a hilarious Metallica-inspired re-imagining of Evgeni Plushenko’s routine from the Olympics.
Metal Roundup: Wednesday, Feb. 24
Here’s a sampling of some interesting stuff going on in the world of metal:
* Anyone who watched the second season of VH1’s Celebrity Rehab is quite familiar with former Guns N’ Roses drummer Steven Adler’s drug problems. That man has done a lottttt of drugs. So in true rockstar fashion, it makes sense that Adler would release a book detailing his experiences with those drugs. Titled My Appetite for Destruction: Sex, and Drugs, and Guns N’ Roses, Adler’s tell-all is scheduled to be released on June 22.
* Drummer Will Hunt has been chosen to replace Craig Nunenmacher in Black Label Society. Hunt has most recently worked with Evanescence and Dark New Day. He likely will continue to pull double duty with Evanescence and BLS.
* Slash recently collaborated with Fergie on a cover of GNR’s “Paradise City” to be included as a bonus track on Slash’s upcoming solo album. I guess he got a lot of flack for it, so he took to Twitter to defend Fergie’s performance (which can be heard HERE). He said: “Until now, not too many people have heard Fergie sing rock & roll but she sings it better (than) most dudes I know. She’s a screamer at heart.” He then said in an interview that Fergie has talked about wanting to make a rock record outside of the Black Eyed Peas and that he would like to work with her on it. I actually think Fergie could pull that off, but maybe I’m in the minority in that belief. There’s no question that she has a really strong voice tailored to dirtier rock and roll as opposed to having her voice drowned in computer effects like on “Boom Boom Pow.” I’d be at least interested to hear more rock songs from her.
* 10 Years will be entering the studio soon to start work on their third album, Feeding the Wolves.
* Nonpoint have debuted their new song “Miracle.” Listen to it HERE.
* Ray Davies of The Kinks will be releasing a collection of new versions of old songs. He said that he would like to talk with Metallica about collaborating on a song. If you remember, Davies joined Metallica onstage at the 25th Anniversary of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame where they performed “You Really Got Me” and “All Day And All Of The Night.”
-Sam
Listen to Metallica’s Megaforce demo
Invisible Oranges has gotten their hands on Metallica’s two song demo from 1983, commonly known as the Megaforce demo since it led to a recording deal with Megaforce Records.
This is an interesting artifact of Metallica’s history because it is the only Metallica recording which features both Dave Mustaine and Cliff Burton. It also was the band’s first recording with Burton.
The demo includes the songs “Whiplash” and “No Remorse,” both of which ended up on the band’s debut LP Kill ‘Em All.
As expected, the quality of the demos is pretty sloppy, but it’s an interesting look at a band in its gestation period. It also allows fans to compare the guitar work of Mustaine with that of his eventual replacement Kirk Hammett. And in my opinion, Hammett was the much better choice (the only choice?) for Metallica. He’s the perfect lead guitarist for them, and his solos on those two songs, as compared to Mustaine’s, show why. Mustaine could play fast, sure; but the soloing felt lifeless. Most people hail Mustaine as a technical wizard when it comes to soloing, but I’d rather have a guy like Hammett who can breathe new life into a song through his guitar work.
Of course, these are only demos, so it’s probably not fair to bash Mustaine too hard. Still, count me as part of Team Kirk.
-Sam