Since having been transported from the medieval ages to modern times by a vengeful wizard, Executioner has been a busy behemoth, becoming Southern California’s only fully licensed assassin for hire. And now he has a new show on Rug Burn–the second episode of the series airs tomorrow. Having a passion for heavy metal music as well as murdering people, Executioner sat down with us to discuss how he likes to combine both into one.
1. Do the metal “devil’s salute” with your fingers and ram it through someone’s eyes.
2. When a crowd is moshing, roll a huge boulder off the stage and flatten everyone.
3. Stick someone’s face in Zakk Wylde’s beard, wait as the parasites in it eat away your victim’s flesh.
4. Chop someone’s head off and then headbang with it.
5. Trick a stage diver to jump off a cliff.
6. Force Motörhead’s Mikkey Dee to play the drum solo from “Sacrifice” on someone’s head to induce “jelly skull.”
7. Skin someone alive and use their skin to make an awesome leather jacket.
8. Bite the head off a bat, spit it at someone, and when they’re busy wiping their face, bite their head off, too.
9. Grab a guitar and jam the riff from Mastodon’s “Blood and Thunder”, remove the strings, wrap them around someone’s throat and garrote them (see below).
10. Play someone High on Fire’s new album and blow their fucking mind. Awesome album.
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After a month of furious voting, the results are in on our Music Video of the Year readers’ poll, and the winner is…technical thrashers Revocation (pictured above) for their “The Grip Tightens” clip.
The top five vote-getters are:
1. Revocation, “The Grip Tightens”
2. Black Veil Brides, “Coffin”
3. High on Fire, “Fertile Green”
4. Slash, “Bad Rain”
5. Motionless In White, “Devil’s Night”
Check out Revocation, “The Grip Tightens” below:
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High on Fire have been added to the 2013 incarnation of the Metal Alliance Tour. The band will join a thrash-heavy lineup that includes Anthrax, Exodus, Municipal Waste and Holy Grail.
VIP tickets for the event are available now, with general admission set to go on sale January 11.
Dates for the 2013 Metal Alliance tour are as followed:
3/23 — House of Blues — Las Vegas, NV
3/24 — Marquee Theatre — Tempe, AZ
3/25 — House of Blues — San Diego, CA
3/27 — House of Blues — West Hollywood, CA
3/28 — Regency Ballroom — San Francisco, CA
3/29 — The Crystal Ballroom — Portland, OR
3/30 — Commodore Ballroom — Vancouver, BC
3/31 — Showbox SoDo — Seattle, WA
4/2 — Summit Music Hall — Denver, CO
4/4 — First Avenue — Minneapolis, MN
4/5 — House of Blues — Chicago, IL
4/6 — The Fillmore Detroit — Detroit, MI
4/7 — Bogarts — Cincinnati, OH
4/9 — House of Blues — Dallas, TX
4/10 — House of Blues — Houston, TX
4/12 — House of Blues — Lake Buena Vista, FL
4/13 — Tremont Music Hall — Charlotte, NC
4/14 — The Fillmore — Silver Spring, MD
4/16 — House of Blues — Cleveland, OH
4/18 — Theatre of the Living Arts — Philadelphia, PA
4/20 — Irving Plaza — New York, NY
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, doom-metal band Amenra select their faves.
5. Swans, The Seer
“Amazing how they succeed in making new overwhelming music after all these years, without losing their own signature or ability to create songs with renewed vigor. The songs on The Seer are spiritual, hypnotizing, and ponderous.”
4. Earth, Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II
“Earth’s songs are so well-constructed. Because of the minimalist nature of their music and the perfect timing, every note played makes a maximum impact and gives us the chills.”
3. High on Fire, De Vermis Mysteriis
“The combination of this already raw sounding trio with producer Kurt Ballou makes for one battering ram of a record.”
2. Dinosaur Jr., I Bet on Sky
“This is the band’s 10th studio album and it’s very inspiring to see how they manage to stay true to their original sound and still succeed in making a relevant album.”
1. Chelsea Wolfe, Unknown Rooms: A Collection of Acoustic Songs
“She always draws you in. Her cinematographic approach towards music intrigues. Chelsea Wolfe really lets down her guard with this last album. It humbles us that someone allows people to look into their hearts without wanting anything in return. A great artist.”
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, Craig Locicero (pictured left), guitarist of the thrash-metal band Forbidden, selects his faves.
5. Soundgarden, King Animal
“Most refreshing record of the last few years. I’m very glad they are back and sound like nothing else but Soundgarden!”
4. Jack White, Blunderbuss
“Jack White as a songwriter and a guitarist is incredible. I have a ton of respect for his entire career, even as a producer. This is one of his best records to date.”
3. Gojira, L’Enfant Sauvage
“From the first note of this record, I was entranced and hypnotized. Their use of dynamics and syncopation keep me involved all the way from front to back. Also, some of the drum patterns are the catchiest things I’ve ever heard in metal.”
2. High on Fire, De Vermis Mysteriis
“Matt Pike = ferocious, snarling metal god! Love this record and the way it captures the bands unparalleled live power.”
1. Deftones, Koi No Yokan
“With all of the tragedy that has beset the Deftones, I am in awe of the brutal beauty that this record holds. The tones are by far the best of any record they have done and Chino Moreno’s voice has never been stronger. Chi Cheng must be proud of his brothers.”
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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, James Paul Luna (pictured left), vocalist of the power-metal band Holy Grail, selects his faves.
5. Kadavar, Kadavar
“German hard, heavy rock band with a spot on throwback sound. The production, riffs, songwriting, and melodies almost sound like a long lost Bang or Blue Cheer album. Well done, boys!”
4. Razorwyre, Another Dimension
“Thrashy New Zealand metallers Razorwyre have won me over with this record, lots of insanely high-pitched vocals and killer riffs. Over the top, epic, and tongue in cheek at times, but such a fun listen each time.”
3. Striker, Armed to the Teeth
“Catchy songs with big choruses and tasty licks topped off with production by Michael Wagener (Accept, Metallica, Skid Row, etc.). These Canadian metalheads are living proof that metal will never die.”
2. High on Fire, De Vermis Mysteriis
“This record blew me away, man. I don’t know how they manage to keep it fresh each album, but dammit, they did it and just might have overdone it. So good!”
1. Royal Thunder, CVI
“Royal Thunder is what all those female-fronted doomy rock bands ought to sound like or wished they sounded like. Mlny Parsonz’s voice is the prize here, but backed by killer songs and musicianship, this album is pretty much unbeatable.”
At Revolver, we are bringing this year to a close and making lists like we’re starring in a metal version of High Fidelity. Our January issue of Revolver (on newsstands now) features our Top 20 Albums of the Year. Online, we have posts and polls (like Best Music Videos), as well as a tribute to some musical heroes we lost this year.
In the meantime, we’re asking you to choose 2012′s Song of the Year. We’ve put together a list of the biggest and baddest songs in hard rock and heavy metal below; all you have to do is pick the best. And feel free to vote as many times as you want–until the poll ends on January 1.
UPDATE: The poll is closed. For the results, click right here.
]]>We just posted our list of the Best Music Videos of 2012. Now we’re asking you, what is your favorite among our picks? Vote below, as many times as you want, to tell us.
UPDATE: The poll is closed. You can see the result right here.
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Sure, music videos aren’t what they used to be since MTV all but dropped the “M.” But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t still bands who give a serious shit about the clips they produce to accompany their songs. 2012 had its share of badass music videos–here are our picks for the 10 best. And if you don’t like our ranking, tell us which video is your favorite in our poll right here.
12. Machine Head, “Darkness Within”
Blood, worms, tight claustrophobic spaces, and perhaps most frightening of all, considering Lamb of God frontman Randy Blythe’s legal problems there, the city of Prague, Czech Republic, all feature largely in this dark, disturbing clip for the standout centerpiece song off Machine Head’s Unto the Locust.
11. Asking Alexandria, “Through Sin and Self-Destruction”
No one music video could capture the nonstop sin and insanity that is a day in the life of Asking Alexandria. So the band released three videos this year, making for the epic “Through Sin and Self-Destruction” trilogy, a cinematic roller-coaster ride full of sex, drugs, violence, rock and roll, and more drugs.
10. Lamb of God, “Ghost Walking”
Saying that Lamb of God had quite the year (in both good and bad terms) would be an understatement–from the release their great album Resolution to the arrest of vocalist Randy Blythe in the Czech Republic. A highlight from LOG’s 2012, the band’s video for the single “Ghost Walking” uses first-class animation as it follows a shady-looking character as he seeks to protect top-secret information.
9. Slash, “Bad Rain”
This single from Slash’s second solo album Apocalyptic Love, features the rock god’s top hat and all in an animated video of a strip-tease show gone horribly wrong.
8. In This Moment, “Blood”
The title track of In This Moment’s record features a video that ties together all the spooky and fairy tale-esque imagery of the album’s art. Vocalist Maria Brink isn’t shy about her own sexuality and she just doesn’t care what you think anymore.
7. Black Veil Brides, “Coffin”
Though this song comes of the band’s 2011 EP, Rebels, this candlelit video was released this year. The Black Veil Brides’ glam-metal-tinged hard rock goes grim as they play with fire and snakes.
6. Down, “Witchtripper”
It’s been a while since we heard from Down and even though the Down IV Part I- The Purple EP isn’t a full-length, it packs more high-quality sludge then most bands do in their careers. The video for “Witchtripper” features one of the more bizarre storylines of the Top 10 chosen videos–but what else would we expect from vocalist Phil Anselmo anyway? After some eyeball stew and satanic ceremonies, Down teaches us that metal actually is the devil’s music.
5. Pig Destroyer, “The Diplomat”
This is the first of two videos on this list directed by Phil Mucci (see also No. 1), whose work seems to have distinct editing choices and layers of vibrant colors. After a five-year break between albums, Pig Destroyer dropped this new video that delivers a surefire message: When a jittery diplomat gives AK-47s to monkeys on an alternate planet, it can only lead to a smattering of green guts.
4. Motionless In White, “Devil’s Night”
Fight scenes are pretty much always memorable, and terror scenes are even harder to forget. Motionless In White deliver both here, constantly increasing the numbers of their gang with the use of a straight razor in this twisted West Side Story-like video directed by Cody Blue Snider, son of Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider.
3. Dethklok, “I Ejaculate Fire”
As with most things Dethklok-related, the band’s mere presence brings about a disaster. Is that a Spinx ejaculating fire? Yes. Is this video NSFW? Yes. Is it absurd yet totally funny? Absolutely.
2. Revocation, “The Grip Tightens”
The tech-thrash band comes out of “retirement” to play for the senior-citizen crowd in this hilarious video. Forget about age, they still partake in rock-and-roll debauchery–grandma panties and all.
1. High on Fire, “Fertile Green”
The plot of this visually stunning video may be about as complicated to understand as the concept behind High on Fire’s most recent album, De Vermis Mysteriis. But we’re guessing that if you watch the clip after puffing on a bong a few times, it makes perfect sense. We’re guessing.
Vote for your favorite video on this list in our poll right here.
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