Leading up to the end of the year, Revolver has asked some of our favorite artists to pick their Top Albums of 2012 and tell us why each record rules. Here, Jeremy Wagner (pictured left), guitarist of the death-metal band Broken Hope, selects his faves.
5. Fear Factory, The Industrialist
“Dino and Burton are the industrial-metal dream team and The Industrialist proves how great and tenacious they are.”
4. Cynic, The Portal Tapes
“I’ve been waiting over 10 years to witness the album see the light of day. I’m so thrilled the Cynic guys got on this and put it out. It’s a true gem–one of my faves for sure.”
3. Aborted, Global Flatline
“The new Aborted album further strengthens their place in modern death metal. An amazing album with some of the best artwork and packaging I’ve seen all year.”
2. Dying Fetus, Reign Supreme
“Dying Fetus. That’s all I have to say. They are death-metal overlords. Just listen to the track, ‘In the Trenches’ and see why.”
1. Napalm Death, Utilitarian
“Anything Napalm Death outs out is the best grind. I love them–they ALWAYS deliver!”
]]>
It’s been 12 years since we last heard from death metallers Broken Hope. After releasing five albums, lineup changes and record-label issues led to their disbandment after 1999′s Grotesque Blessings. In 2010, more tragedy hit the band when original vocalist Joe Ptacek committed suicide. However, before his death, band members Jeremy Wagner and Shaun Glass spoke about resurrecting the band. Now they are moving forward and returning to the stage this fall on the Carnival of Death Tour featuring Obituary, Decrepit Birth, and Encrust. Due to Broken Hope’s comeback, we asked guitarist and lyricist Jeremy Wagner (pictured left) to select his picks for the Greatest Metal Comebacks for Revolver.
1. ACCEPT “Because after going on a super-long hiatus, Accept came back with two new, solid, albums back-to-back and have managed to reclaim their former glory not seen for decades.”
2. AT THE GATES “At the Gates disappeared fast after releasing their landmark, Slaughter of the Soul. They influenced legions of bands–especially in metalcore–and should’ve stayed the course. That said, thousands of metal fans awaited their return and got their wish when At the Gates came back stronger than ever and toured extensively to make up for lost time.”
3. LAMB of GOD “OK, LOG didn’t go away at all, but when Randy Blythe was held in a Czech prison recently, their future was put on hold–thankfully, short-lived. Randy’s mighty return to the stage with Lamb of God at the first annual Knotfest was an epic comeback under the circumstances. I was there to see it, and it did my heart good to see Randy back with Lamb of God and in the US.”
4. VOIVOD “After losing their founding member–the great guitarist, Piggy–the band regrouped and were very fortunate to find fellow Canuck, Dan Mongrain, to fill the void that Piggy left behind. Constant touring and a new album on the horizon prove that the ‘warriors of ice’ are back and built to last.”
5. BROKEN HOPE “As the founding member/chief riffer/lyricist for Broken Hope, I can testify that I never knew if we’d come back to spread our brand of relentless death metal again. After a decade of stasis and the death of our original vocalist–Joe Ptacek–the prospect of Broken Hope’s return seemed bleak. Thanks to constant support from die-hard fans, our managers, and our determination to reactivate the band, Broken Hope is a bonafide killing machine again–on tour and with new songs being written for a 2013 album. With this particular and personal comeback, I’m the happiest dude in metal right now.”
]]>
Death-metal stalwarts Dying Fetus released their limited-edition covers EP, History Repeats…, this week. Here is your chance to hear that release, in its entirety, right here (the day they embark on the Summer Slaughter tour). It includes covers of songs by Dehumanized, Napalm Death, Broken Hope, Bolt Thrower, Pestilence, and Cannibal Corpse. Vocalist-guitarist John Gallagher fills us in on the album below. Let us know what you think in the comments.
REVOLVER Dying Fetus have covered Napalm Death and Integrity in the past, but you haven’t done that many covers lately. Why did you decide to do a covers EP?
JOHN GALLAGHER Well we don’t want to build a career on doing covers because I think too many covers can start being cheesy. With History Repeats… the band and I wanted to give our fans something special to hold them over to our next full length due to come out in April 2012 And it’s always good to remain active and record as much as possible because each time we record and visit the studio we learn more about refining our sound.
How did you pick the bands and songs that you covered?
We wanted to do some songs that we have listened to and enjoyed over the years. I have always been a fan of Broken Hope so I wanted to do one of their songs and also to commemorate the passing of Joe Placek . “Gorehog” seemed like a suitable cover because of its bruality and slam. “Unchallenged Hate” from Napalm Death has always been a classic to us and fits with our style so I thought that was a suitable selection. The Dehumanized’s “Fade Into Obscurity” cover demonstrates the sound of the mid ’90s New York Slam genre. We used to play alot of New York gigs with these dudes back in the day and had many good times. “Unleashed Upon Mankind” is just a killer death metal song with a memorable main riff so we thought that would be a ripper. The Cannibal Corpse song was recorded in 2001 for a Cannibal Corpse cover album which never came out so we threw that and the Pestilence song on it as a bonus. The Pestilence song was originally on the War of Attrition CD as a Japanese bonus track.
Did any songs “almost make the cut?”
I wanted to do some more hardcore covers from Blood for Blood, Madball, No Innocent Victim, and 25 ta Life, but we didn’t get a large enough recording budget from Relapse to do them all. So I thought it would be best to just go with some good solid death-metal songs. In the future I might approach a hardcore label to do a hardcore tribute album but it’s just a thought at the moment.
What’s your favorite cover another band has done of a Dying Fetus song?
That’s a good question, I’ve heard some good covers of “Kill Your Mother, Rape Your Dog” and “Grotesque Impalement” but I can’t remember the name of the bands who did them. Just kinda ran into them on YouTube and whatnot. It would be cool to see a glam band do a cover of our joke song “North Forest Trolls of Satan” I bet Steel Panther could do a good job with that.
