The metal world turned out in force Wednesday to pay tribute to former Pantera and Damageplan guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott and Ronnie James Dio at the annual DimeBash concert at the Key Club in Hollywood. Revolver was there to capture the mayhem as it happened, and spoke to former Pantera and current Kill Devil Hill bassist Rex Brown, Dimebag’s girlfriend, Rita Haney, Alice in Chains’ Jerry Cantrell, Disturbed’s David Draiman, Velvet Revolver’s Duff McKagan, Machine Head’s Phil Demmel, and That Metal Show‘s Eddie Trunk and Don Jamieson for the interview below. For photos from the event, click here.
Photo by Stephanie Cabral
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It’s Buried Alive week at RevolverMag.com, and, through Friday, we’re rolling out exclusive content featuring the bands on the tour: Avenged Sevenfold, Hollywood Undead, Black Veil Brides, and Asking Alexandria. This installment is never-before-seen footage from this year’s Revolver Golden Gods of Black Veil Brides accepting the Best New Band award, as presented by Duff McKagan of Loaded, Velvet Revolver, and Guns N’ Roses fame.
Also, make sure and enter our massive Buried Alive giveaway for a chance to win VIP tickets, signed CDs, guitars, T-shirts, and much more! ENTER RIGHT HERE NOW!
To purchase tickets, check out the tour dates below the video!
Buried Alive tour tickets for most shows available on Ticketmaster.com. For others, click on the links below.
Buried Alive tour dates:
11/23 Ft. Meyers, FL, Germain Arena
11/25 Jacksonville, FL, Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena
11/26 Augusta, GA, James Brown Arena
11/28 Huntsville, AL, Von Braun Center
11/29 Pikeville, KY, East Kentucky Expo Center
11/30 Ft. Wayne, IN, Allen County War Memorial
12/02 Madison, WI, Alliant Energy Center *
12/03 Minneapolis, MN, Target Center
12/06 Green Bay, WI, Resch Center
12/07 Duluth, MN, Amsoil Arena
12/09 Grand Forks, ND, Alerus Center
12/10 Bismarck, ND, Bismarck Civic Center
12/12 Billings, MT, Metra Park Arena
12/13 Missoula, MT, Adams Event Center
12/14 Yakima, WA, Sun Dome
12/17 Ontario, CA, Citizens Business Bank Arena
* w/out Hollywood Undead
]]>The record lives up to his legacy with big hooks and driving riffs, but his attack is wholly unique. Beginning with the driving, punk-influenced “Lords of Abbadon,” he sets a desperate, bloodthirsty tone for The Taking with a charging riff and his snarled opening line “We are criminals!” From there, he traverses punk and heavy music’s peaks and valleys from thwapping urgent hard rock (“Dead Skin”) to Foo Fighters–esque anthems (“We Win”) to the Iggy Pop–like closer “Follow Me to Hell.”
The album tells a loose story about a man breaking up with his girlfriend but the songs are written in a way that work outside of the narrative, too. For instance, “Executioner’s Song,” an Alice in Chains–like rocker, which has call-and-response vocals straight out of the Staley-Cantrell songbook, could be as much about politics (“Democracy is such a whore”) as a metaphor for a communication breakdown in a relationship. But if you don’t care about lyrics, it also has a ripping wah-wah guitar solo.
The album’s standout is “Cocaine”—a song that doesn’t tie into the breakup theme—which has a GN’R-quality honky-tonk riff and the infectious chorus “Tremors, shakes, can’t break this chill that’s in my veins” and the lyric “I hid a gun in a darkened place/a simple short arm’s length away/Somebody’s got to pay/I hate the world today,” which might be a day in the life of Duff during the height of his drug paranoia circa 1991. Maybe the GN’R riff is a metaphor itself alluding to how far McKagan has come. Then again, what good is a résumé if it doesn’t show how you’ve progressed? KORY GROW
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COREY TAYLOR