Earlier this spring, Darkest Hour released Godless Prophets & The Migrant Flora, their crowd-funded ninth album. One of the many rewards available to the album's backers was a DVD copy of Party Scars and Prison Bars: Two and a Half: an exclusive documentary chronicling Darkest Hour's 20th anniversary hometown show at Washington D.C.'s Black Cat in 2015, as well as the band's career writ large.
Today, they've uploaded the entire 36-minute film to YouTube as Party Scars and Prison Bars Two and a Half - A Thrashography Sequel. Watch it below.
Jul. 14 – Washington, DC – Rock & Roll Hotel
Jul. 15 – Clifton, NJ – Dingbatz
Jul. 16 – Virginia Beach, BA – Shakas
Jul. 18 – Spartanburg, SC – Ground Zero
Jul. 19 – Orlando, FL – Backbooth
Jul. 20 – Margate, FL – O'Malley's
Jul. 21 – Tampa, FL – Crowbar
Jul. 22 – Atlanta, GA – Masquerade
Jul. 23 – Fayetteville, NC – Drunk Horse Pub
Mastodon just wrapped up the first leg of their Emperor of Sand tour, which is sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. With another round of dates scheduled for this fall, the band brushed up on their beer-shilling, product-placement skills. Watch the Atlanta outfit's hilarious attempts below.
The Office-style mockumentary centers around Andy Riggs, PBR's overeager music tour manager, whom the band naively allowed to tag along with them on the road. His aims? To get the band to "eat, drink and breathe nothing but PBR." His methods? Forcing the band to sit through hours of "label facing training" and pouring beer on Brent Hinds' cereal, among other tactics. Unsurprisingly, Mastodon aren't exactly thrilled: "I love PBR and all, but I didn't sign up for this shit," complains Hinds. (Actually, he did; Riggs has the contract to prove it.) By video's end, their shade has evolved into complex trolling schemes. Lest we spoil the plot, let's just say that Mastodon's revenge plan involves a staged green room break-in.
Aug. 20 – Las Vegas, NV – Psycho Las Vegas Festival
Sep. 23 – Denver, CO – High Elevation Fest
Sep. 26 – Orlando, FL – Hard Rock Live
Sep. 27 – Charleston, SC – North Charleston Performance Arts Center
Sep. 29 – Knoxville, TN – Civic Auditorium
Sep. 30 – Louisville, KY – Louder Than Life Festival
Oct. 03 – Raleigh, NC – The Ritz
Oct. 04 – Charlotte, NC – The Fillmore
Oct. 06 – Atlanta, GA – The Fox Theater
Oct. 07 – Camden, NJ – Rock Allegiance Festival
Oct. 09 – Montreal, QC – Metropolis
Oct. 10 – Rochester, NY – The Armory
Oct. 11 – Grand Rapids, MI – 20 Monroe Live
Oct. 13 – Oklahoma City, OK – Diamond Ballroom
Oct. 14 – San Antonio, TX – Aztec Theater
Oct. 15 – Houston, TX – Houston Open Air
Oct. 17 – Albuquerque, NM – Historic El Rey Theater
Oct. 19 – San Diego, CA – House of Blues
Oct. 21 – Sacramento, CA – Aftershock Festival
Oct. 23 – Boise, ID – Revolution Center
Oct. 24 – Spokane, WA – Knitting Factory
Oct. 25 – Vancouver, BC – Orpheum Theatre
Dec. 02 – Cardiff, Wales – Great Hall
Dec. 04 – Wolverhampton, England – Civic Hall
Dec. 05 – Nottingham, England – Rock City
Dec. 06 – Newcastle, England – Northumbria University
Dec. 07 – Glasgow, Scotland – Barrowland
Dec. 09 – Manchester, England – Academy
Dec. 10 – London, England – Brixton Academy
Black Sabbath have announced a new box set, The Ten Year War. Arriving September 29 through BMG, the limited-edition release collects remastered editions of the band's first eight LPs — which all featured Ozzy Osbourne on vocals — pressed on heavyweight, splatter-colored wax: Black Sabbath, Paranoid, Master Of Reality, Vol. 4, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Sabotage, Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die. It follows 2014's remasters CD box set Black Sabbath: The Complete Studio Albums 1970-1978, which contains the same albums.
The treasure trove of LPs and rarities comes housed in an individually numbered black box featuring exclusive artwork from famed artist Shepard Fairey. Here's a run-down of the collectibles: Two rare 7-inches containing the Japanese edition of "Evil Woman (Don't Play Your Games With Me)" and "Black Sabbath," and the Chilean versions of "Paranoid" and "The Wizard," respectively; a crucifix-shaped USB stick (which can also be worn as a necklace) loaded up with high-quality digital versions of the aforementioned records; a hardcover book featuring professional and candid band photos, plus accolades from famous musicians; reproductions of Black Sabbath's hard-to-find "Ten Year War" brochure and Tenth Anniversary World Tour 1978 Program; a reprinted tour poster from Black Sabbath's 1972 concert at the Seattle Centre Arena.
You can pre-order the package here for the low, low price of £195 (roughly $247). Watch a trailer for The Ten Year War below.
When I tell Brann Dailor I'm conducting our phone interview from a couch in an air-conditioned living room, flanked by my two dogs and cat, he groans in envy. "Don't say that to me," he half-jokes. "I'm in Austria! I'm at a festival, and it's way too hot. But I'm fine. I did this to myself."
As drummer, lyricist, co-singer and occasional riff-writer for Mastodon—whose grueling tour schedule has them booked until February 2018—Dailor doesn't have a lot of downtime. So it's somewhat shocking that the musician has found the space in his schedule to cook up a killer side-project.
The roots of Arcadea can be traced back to around three years ago, when Dailor linked up with Zruda guitarist Core Atoms, who was also Dailor's former bandmate in wacky prog-funk act Gaylord. Atoms had been demoing songs for an outlandish sci-fi concept album based around the futuristic tones of his microKorg synth, and Dailor signed on to play drums. Ever the workaholic, Dailor soon expanded his role to singing, writing vocal melodies, generating synth ideas and even recruiting his wife, Tiger! Tiger! bassist Susanne Gibboney, as a guest vocalist on one track.
After adding Withered guitarist Raheem Amlani as a second synth player, the trio whittled away on the material that would eventually become Arcadea: 11 tracks of spiraling psych-metal that sounds a lot like Mastodon binging on Seventies kraut-rock and Nineties electronica.
Dailor spoke to Revolver about his synth vacation, the physical demands of a Mastodon show and why taking a break "sounds boring."
REVOLVER The most recent Mastodon tours have been pretty grueling for you. Not only are you drumming at your usual level of insanity, but you're also singing much more — and in a higher register than ever. You also got sick awhile back on tour. How have you been holding up lately? BRANN DAILOR I'm better now. Just trying to take all my vitamins and be good and everything. But it's hard to maintain. For me, with all the high singing, I have to be in perfect condition to be able to pull it off. Last tour, I woke up on the first day of the show with a fucking sore throat and a wicked head cold. It was terrible. I just did the best I could. I'd go out and apologize to the crowd after the show. But there's enough other singing going on that it wasn't too bad. We cut a couple songs [from the setlist] and gave me a few days [to rest], and it got better as time went on. But I'm feeling good at the moment.
You've known Core Atoms for a long time and played with him back in the Nineties before you both moved from Rochester, New York to Atlanta. I know one of the things that struck you about him was his left-handed, upside-down guitar playing — was it a tone thing because of how the strings were oriented?
That's what I liked about it. Gaylord's bass player, Jeff [Steverson] was crazy too. I thought they were super talented, and it was different from what I was doing at the time. I was in a really technical, math-y band called Lethargy that was, like, Mr. Bungle death-metal. Gaylord were playing weird funk, also influenced by Mr. Bungle. We had all this different music wrapped up in this one really bizarre package. Core's guitar playing was just different, and that's what I always look for: something artistic and weird. I've been lucky enough to play with some really out-there guitar players, and he's definitely one. Just because of the way he taught himself how to play guitar, power chords sound weird. Every chord he strums sounds different from everything else. That was a huge part of why I wanted to play with him in the first place.
You guys should reissue those Gaylord albums. They're pretty hard to find these days.
[laughs] We've never talked about it. That's never really come up. Maybe. We'll have to talk about that. You never think anybody wants to hear anything, so you never really talk about it. I don't know, maybe you're right. Maybe there are people who want to hear it.
I'm sure there are diehard Mastodon people who'd want to hear it. You should think about it.
I'm gonna!
The Arcadea album originated from a handful of songs Core Atoms wrote on a microKorg. Did you think at first that this was going to be a Gaylord project, or was it clearly something new?
I knew it was brand new. I was excited because he's an interesting player with an interesting take on music. I've known him for so long, and we have been friends forever. He's always someone I desire to do something with, but not necessarily Gaylord. It was the perfect opportunity to play with him again because he had these three or four songs finished and was like, "Check 'em out!" I didn't have to get too deep into it with my involvement because, honestly, Mastodon takes up a lot of my time. I didn't have to be as intense about it. With Mastodon, I want it to be perfect. I want Arcadea to be great, too, but if there's an opportunity to do something musical that's really cool but have someone else doing the majority of the work, I'm all about it. I don't have the time to devote to another project that's going to take up a lot of my time. I was more than happy to hand over the reigns and then come in, play drums and chime in with vocal ideas and stuff. I got more involved as time went on. After about three years of going in the studio here and there, we had enough for a full album, so it was like, "Might as well just put this thing out!"
When you started the project, you must have made it clear to the other guys early on that this would be a gradual thing. Did they ever get antsy, though, when it started getting close to three years?
We all just stayed in touch. They all knew I was going to leave, and it was gonna be awhile before things happened. It was going to be a lot of waiting. But they have their other bands, too, and they're busy doing other things. And even when I'm home, I can't dedicate that much time to this. When I'm home, I need to be home. I can't be constantly working on something else musically. I need to be as close to 100 percent with my wife as I possibly can. Because I'm gone all the time. I make promises to people, like, "I'm gonna be gone, but when I get back, I'm back."
Your approach was similar to Mastodon's: stockpiling riffs and beats, then gradually working on vocal melodies, then lyrics at the end. At any point, did you ever come up with a great riff or hook and then think to yourself, "Damn, I wish I could save that for Mastodon"?
No, I didn't cross-pollinate like that. I don't think I had anything. If I had something for Mastodon, I would just have it for Mastodon, ya know? I didn't feel like it was taking away from it at all. The things I gave musically would be stuff specifically for Arcadea that I wrote on a keyboard. I have a microKorg at my house, too.
I didn't realize you played keyboards.
I don't really. But with some of those synthesizers, it's easy to build a simple riff.
Mastodon is a guitar band, obviously. Arcadea is distinctly a keyboard band. At the same time, both are very heavy, just from different perspectives. Did you find it refreshing to approach that vibe from a new angle?
That was kind of the point. If I was ever going to be involved in something else, I wanted it to be different from Mastodon. But I also can't escape myself, and my own drumming – that's kind of who I am, and where I feel comfortable is with the Mastodon stuff. I didn't go too far out of my comfort zone. I'd like to in the future, though — do something I'm not comfortable doing and get comfortable with it. That would be a cool experiment. I don't really see that much difference when it came down to the end. It basically sounds like me with guitar riffs played on keyboards.
Mastodon guitarist Bill Kelliher is famously not a fan of using prominent keyboards. Did you feel like this gave you license to indulge a bit, kick out the synth jams?
I don't ever feel like I need to get anything out of my system, but I like synth-based music, and that's a big part of my musical catalog at home: Seventies French electronic stuff, in the realm of Arcadea. Not techno, but electronic music when synthesizers were sort of a new thing and people were playing them alongside a regular band — replacing guitars with synth because it was exciting, like Brian Eno, Stevie Wonder with Fulfillingness' First Finale and Talking Book, when he was experimenting with crazy ARPs and Moogs. Some of my favorite stuff from the bigger prog groups out there, like Genesis, are the synth moments. I wanted to make an album that sounded like those moments.
The lyrical concept of the Arcadea album is pretty wild. It's set five billion years in the future, after a collision of galaxies creates a new order of planets. In Mastodon, you usually handle most of the lyrics and concepts. But the Arcadea storyline was mainly Core Atoms' idea. Was it weird not being involved?
That's kind of Core's foray into the prog-osphere of the concept album, and he wanted to be in charge of that. I was more than willing because writing lyrics is hard! It's one of the hardest parts of my job: trying to come up with cool lyrics. It takes forever. I was like, "I can't write lyrics for this stuff. Come on, man!" He had the whole thing worked out in his head, where he wanted it to go.
These days, we're constantly bombarded with headlines about Trump scandals and the world falling apart. I feel like there's more utility for fantasy-based conceptual stuff than ever before.
Yeah, yeah. Right, rather than trying to be so literal. I agree.
Your wife sings on "Neptune Moons." How did she get involved?
I don't know. It's not like we needed a female voice on that song. I wanted to involve her, and I thought it would be cool. I like her voice and thought it fit well with the song. It added a little bit of variety to it.
There's a reference on that track to "Cosmik Debris." Are you guys Frank Zappa fans?
Oh, of course. Every band I'm in — the Mastodon guys are huge Zappa fans, and I'm a huge Zappa fan.
Favorite Zappa album?
Ahh, Hot Rats [Zappa's 1969, jazz-fusion-styled solo LP].
You just announced a fall tour with Mastodon that stretches until late October. What's the band's game plan for after that?
Well, I'm in Europe right now, and then we come home, we do the U.S. dates, and we'll probably go to Europe again and headline. And when we get done with that, we'll probably go to Australia, Japan, maybe South America, and the rest of the world, basically, before we come back around maybe do another U.S. run at some point. Basically we're booked up through February of next year. So yeah, good to be gainfully employed. We're booked pretty solid, which is good, man.
Meanwhile, the Mastodon guys can't seem to stop with the side projects: Brent Hinds has Giraffe Tongue Orchestra; Troy Sanders has Gone Is Gone. Do you think you'll ever just straight-up take a break and not make music? Or is that boring?
Nah, that sounds boring to me. I don't know what I'd do with myself. I get anxious, you know? I need to be working on something musical or I don't feel … good. I don't feel good. I feel sickly. I just don't feel emotionally OK with taking a break.
Mastodon always hauls around this gigantic riff bag, so you have material there whenever you need it. Are you still constantly stockpiling riffs?
Yeah, totally. I always have riffs and song ideas and art ideas going on in my head. It's always constantly moving and changing, and you snatch it up when it's ready.
Slipknot are gearing up for the premiere of their new, self-directed tour documentary Day of the Gusano. The film, which chronicles the band's first-ever performance in Mexico City and the legion of loyal fans — otherwise known as "Maggots" — who turned out for the landmark show. The film will grace over a thousand silver screens worldwide for one night only, on September 6. A list of participating theaters will be announced sometime next month; but all you maggots can sign up for email notifications regarding these screenings over at the film's website.
To tide fans over until then, Slipknot have shared a 36-second snippet from the Day of the Gusano. The pro-shot clip previews the group's no-holds-barred take on set staple "Vermillion" — a performance made all the more intense by their sophisticated onstage setup, which transforms an otherwise ordinary stage into the devil's playground. Check it out below.
"Slipknot still has dreams for itself," said percussionist and co-founder Michael "Clown" Crahan, who also directed the documentary. "Finally playing Mexico was one of them. It's been a surreal life of rock and roll for Slipknot and the fact that the dreams still go on for us is simply incredible."
Guitarist Jim Root added, "We had such a great time at Knotfest Mexico... Not only with all the friends and bands that were there, but with the fans and the crowd we had to document it with. Now we get to share it with the world."
A little over two years ago, before his untimely death in 2015, Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister stepped into the shoes of a smooth-talking, booze-guzzling vampire for Phoebe Dollar's horror movie Sunset Society. Now, with the film's spring 2018 release drawing ever closer, the time's finally come to witness the late legend in all his blood-sucking glory. Lemmy's character makes several appearances in Finnish goth-rocker Jyrki 69's new "Bloodlust" video, which pays homage to the upcoming film. Behold!
Directed by Vicente and Fernando Codero, "Bloodlust," which appears on Jyrki 69's forthcoming solo LP Helsinki Vampire, relocates the Sunset Society cast to a gaudy nightclub, where they drink, dance and — because this is a horror movie — carry out occult rituals. Lemmy spends most of the video watching the debauchery from afar, occasionally cutting off the extended sulk session to sink his fangs into a beautiful woman's neck. "Aren't we all so glad to see that Lemmy's doing all right?" Jyrki 69 mused in a statement to Rolling Stone. "He lives forever!"
Lemmy's appearance in Sunset Society — the cast of which also features Guns N' Roses keyboardist Dizzy Reed, L.A. Guns guitarist Tracii Guns and porn icon Ron Jeremy, among others — isn't the only posthumous content in the pipeline. Back in March, Skew Siskin guitarist and longtime Lemmy collaborator Jim Voxx announced that he'd be taking up the reins on the departed idol's long-awaited solo album, which he hopes to release by the end of the year. "We have 10 songs, and we thought it would have been released a long time ago", Siskin said in an interview with MetalTalk.net. "But when Lemmy got ill, we stopped working on it — but the recordings were all done."
Gearing up for the release of their new full-length, Vengeful Ascension — due out this Friday, June 21, via Metal Blade — New Orleans sludge outfit Goatwhore have unleashed the bludgeoning track "Mankind Will Have No Mercy." It follows the previously shared title-track, as well as "Chaos Arcane." Listen below.
An abrasive, defiant barnstormer, "Mankind Will Have No Mercy" lends itself well to Vengeful Ascension's themes of cosmic rebellion and moral relativity.
"There's that whole idea of Lucifer being the anti-hero," said Goatwhore frontman Ben Falgoust. "He's cast out from this place in Heaven to the depths of nothing. He keeps trying to ascend to the top again but no matter what, there's always this significant force trying to destroy him at any point and banish him back to Hell. If you look at it from an everyday aspect in life, it's the idea of people, hitting the bottom of the barrel or you know, things just aren't going right in life ... emotion plays a huge part in how people react. Whether it's based on love or hatred or sadness or whatever, there's always an aspect of emotion that drives people to an extent. So the whole idea of a 'Vengeful Ascension' is built on being at the bottom, working your way to the top, and realizing along the way that there are other facets to the journey aside from just pure retribution. Within negativity, there can exist a positive angle as well."
If you're gunning to hear "Mankind Will Have No Mercy" in-person, you're in luck: Goatwhore are currently touring North America with Anciients, with dates scheduled through the end of this month. Come September, they'll support Venom Inc. on their North American tour, which also features Toxic Holocaust and the Convalescence.
Jun. 21 - Calgary, AB – Distortion !
Jun. 22 - Edmonton, AB – Brixx Bar & Grill !
Jun. 23 - Regina, SK – Riddell Center !
Jun. 24 - Winnipeg, MB – Windsor Hotel !
Jun. 25 - Minneapolis, MN – Triple Rock Social Club!
Jun. 26 - Cudahy, WI – The Metal Grill !
Jun. 27 - Bryan, OH – Frankies !
Jun. 28 - St. Louis, OH – Fubar !
Jun. 29 - Springdale, AR – George's Majestic Lounge !
Jun. 30 - Little Rock, AR – Vino's Brewpub !
Jul. 01 - Huntsville, AL – Maggie Meyers Irish Pub !
Sept. 01 - Philadelphia, PA – Voltage #
Sept. 02 - New York, NY – Gramercy Theater #
Sept. 03 - Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall #
Sept. 04 - Montreal, QC – Les Foufounes Electriques #
Sept. 05 - Toronto, ON – Mod Club #
Sept. 07 - Cleveland, OH – Agora Ballroom #
Sept. 08 - Chicago, IL – Reggies #
Sept. 09 - Cave In Rock, IL – Full Terror Metal Fest #
Sept. 10 - Kansas City, MO – Riot Room #
Sept. 11 - Denver, CO – Marquis Theater #
Sept. 13 - Spokane, WA – The Pin #
Sept. 14 - Seattle, WA – Studio 7 #
Sept. 15 - Vancouver, BC – Rickshaw Theater #
Sept. 16 - Portland, OR – Hawthorne Theater #
Sept. 18 - San Francisco, CA – Slims #
Sept. 19 - Los Angeles, CA – The Roxy Theatre #
Sept. 20 - San Diego, CA – Brick By Brick #
Sept. 21 - Phoenix, AZ – Club Red #
Sept. 22 - El Paso, TX – Tricky Falls #
Sept. 23 - Dallas, TX – Gas Monkey #
Sept. 24 - Austin, TX – Grizzly Hall #
Sept. 25 - Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall #
Sept. 26 - New Orleans, LA – Parish at HOB #
Sept. 28 - Miami, FL – Churchill's #
Sept. 29 - Tampa, FL – Orpheum #
Sept. 30 - Orlando, FL – The Haven #
Oct. 1 - Atlanta, GA – Masquerade #
Oct. 2 - Baltimore, MD – Soundstage #
Ice-T's metal band Body Count returned with a new album, Bloodlust, this spring. As the rap star, actor and director hinted to Revolver last fall, the record possesses a mean murder streak. "Murder is about as normal as love … It's in our nature to want to get violent and kill, but we know there are consequences," he said. "That's why we like violent movies, video games and combat sports. It's in our DNA. It's what we are."
Keeping Ice's primal mission in mind, Body Count's gory new music video for Bloodlust single "Here I Go Again" — a creepy journey into the mind of a serial killer — hardly registers as a surprise. The NSFW visual follows Ice-T's character, a brooding, blood-spattered loner, as he slowly descends into madness. After killing an elderly woman and writhing around in bed with a whole in his chest, our anti-hero finally turns on himself, bringing the video to an appropriately violent conclusion. Watch it below.
Released back in March, Bloodlust marks Body Count's most star-studded album to date, with guest appearances from Soulfly's Max Cavalera, Megadeth's Dave Mustaine and Lamb of God's Randy Blythe. The record also includes a tribute to Slayer, in the form of a medley of their classic songs "Postmortem" and "Raining Blood." Ice-T and company have yet to announce a tour behind the record. Their only upcoming date as of late is a June 15th appearance at the Chicago Open Air festival.
Hatebreed have shared a video for "New Enemies," off last month's The Concrete Confessional LP. The performance clip finds the hardcore mainstays in their natural element, storming stages and stirring up chaos in graffiti-filled back alleys. Frontman Jamey Jasta, imposing as ever, takes several opportunities to sneer and shout through the lens — he's talking to you, punk! Check it out below.
Additionally, the group have curated a Spotify playlist of their favorite metal and hardcore songs for Playstation Music. Dying Fetus, Terror, Arch Enemy and Madball are but a few of the artists who made the cut (or rather, cuts — 22 of them, to be precise). Listen to it here.
Hatebreed's new clip arrives the same day as their Warped Tour kick-off performance in Albequerque, New Mexico. Their stint with the festival runs through August 8th. They'll head to Europe a few days later for shows in the Czech Republic, Belgium, England, the Netherlands and Germany. A full list of dates is available on Hatebreed's website.
Back in May, Jasta described "Seven Enemies" as a reflection on the Seven Deadly Sins, and their starring role in the story of man's downfall. "A lot of people gravitate towards their vices and sins and it dooms them," Jasta says. "They lead to destructive lifestyle patterns, and then that starts affecting the people around them."
Are you a Pantera fan? Have you ever been struck by a sudden, overwhelming desire to send your ex a cartoon image of Phil Anselmo's stomach tattoo? You're in luck: the groove metal titans now have their very own emojis. Goofy glyphs of Dimebag, Anselmo, Vinnie Paul and Rex Brown comprise the bulk of the set, with over a dozen expressions each. Pantera's rattlesnake mascot is well-represented too, as well as the band members' love of booze, KISS and big-ass amps. Check them out below.
Pantera's emojis are available now for iOS via Emoji Fame. Unfortunately, Android users will have to wait until September before they can text their friends an illustration of the late Dimebag Darrell toasting with his favorite drink, the Black Tooth Grin.
Pantera aren't the first band to get the emoji treatment. Developer Emoji Fame previously released sticker sets inspired by Zakk Wylde, GG Allin and Nothing. Metallica have gotten into the action as well, albeit to a lesser extent. Last fall, Twitter celebrated the legends' long-awaited album Hardwired… To Self-Destruct with a slanted 'M' emoji that accompanied certain hashtags.
In other Pantera-related news, Brown is gearing up to make his solo debut with the release of Smoke On This, due out on July 28 via Entertainment One. Over the past couple months, he's been rolling out singles from the record, including "Train Song" and "Crossing Lines."
