Music

Fake Figures—the new band featuring vocalist Russ Martin of Hotwire, guitarists Travis Miguel of Atreyu and Heather Baker of the Iron Maidens, bassist Bob Bradley of Scars of Tomorrow, and drummer J Po of Nightfall—release their debut EP, Hail the Sycophants, on December 6. In anticipation, the group is streaming the seven-song mini-album right here right now. Crank the tracks below and let us know what you think in the comments!

Hard rockers Evans Blue will release their highly anticipated as-yet-untitled fourth album early next year. In anticipation, they're unleashing the lead single from the record, "This Time It's Different," right here right now. The track will be available on iTunes on Tuesday. Check it out below and let us know what you think in the comments.

Feersum Ennjin, the new band led by former Tool bassist Paul D'Amour (pictured left), are releasing their self-titled debut on November 22. The release date was moved back a week, from the originally announced November 15, so the group could add a new song, "The Fourth," featuring Tool drummer Danny Carey. This marks the first time D'Amour and Carey have played together since the recording of Tool's 1995 album, Ænema.

"Playing with Danny has really influenced how I have looked at rhythm over the years," D'Amour says, "so working with him on 'The Fourth' felt pretty natural. It was great to hear him bash the old thunder cans again."

Listen to the song below and let us know what you think in the comments. Feersum Ennjin's debut album can be preordered right here now!

You can also listen to Feersum Ennjin's previously released track "Fishing Ground" right here.

Metal legends Korn are releasing their 10th album, The Path of Totality, on December 6. The record features songs produced by a number of dubstep and EDM artists, including the track, "Sanctuary," which features Rotten. Check out the song below, and let us know what you think of it in the comments.

Johnny Wore Black, the brainchild of British former Royal Marine Commando Jay Coen, have finished work on their debut single, "All the Rage," and you can now get an exclusive first listen of the song below. The track features a special guest appearance by Megadeth bassist David Ellefson. Also contributing to "All the Rage" is Grammy-Award-winning producer David Bottrill (Tool, Staind, Godsmack), who will also be working on the band's debut album. Check out the song, as well as the video for the track, which was directed by David Newton, read what Coen and Ellefson have to say about "All the Rage," and let us know what you think in the comments.

REVOLVER Jay, what led you to enlist as a Royal Marine Commando?
JAY COEN I lost my dad when I was 17. And I suppose, to be honest with you, it was kind of my way of just sort of rebelling in a funny way. And even though I suppose the military is not really rebelling but, you know, I sort of felt like I was either gonna go one of two ways. I was either gonna, like, go really off the rails and do the whole drugs thing and just, you know, push myself in that way, or I needed to find a way just to channel my kind of teenage angst and aggression.

What inspired the name Johnny Wore Black?
COEN It's symbolic of two things to me. First of all, I have a great respect for Johnny Cash, as a storyteller and songwriter, and it just always stuck in my mind where people would talk about how Johnny wore black because he identified with the poor and downtrodden and the less fortunate than himself. And I always liked that as a concept. And the other thing is, like, I suppose, even though my friends call me Jay, Johnny was kind of a family name that my dad called me. And I guess the first time I wore black was when my grandmother bought me a black suit for my dad's funeral. It seemed to be a name that just conjured up images and emotions for me, so it kind of worked, you know?

How did David come to appear on the track?
COEN In order to kind of pay my bills, I've kind of done a few things and I'd trained to be a physical therapist a while back and I was backstage and just, because one of the organizers of Download [Festival in the UK] knew me, I actually got asked to do a treatment on [30 Second to Mars frontman and actor] Jared Leto, and so I was kind of just, like, helping Jared with a neck problem and I think it was just as simple as David walked past and he said "Hey, I need that! Can you help me?" and, you know, yeah, I was pretty much just there to have a good time but I said, "Sure, of course. What's the problem?" And, you know, we kind of struck up conversation and I sort of gave him a little bit of treatment and I think we just kind of clicked... I hope he would say the same thing. [Laughs] But, you know, we got on well and pretty soon our conversations went into music, and at the time I was recording an album of which this song is a part. And, so yeah, that's how that connection started.
DAVID ELLEFSON We happened to hook up again this year at the Big Four show at Knebworth. And I really was, quite honestly, not that familiar with his band. And so he came down and gave me backstage chiropractic tune-up so I could be all ready to continue the tour and stuff. And he sent me a track. He said "Hey, I've got this track. I'd love for you to, you know, consider playing on it." And finally I had a week when I was at home and he sent me the track and I opened it up on my computer and I was like, Wow, this is really cool. To me, it kind of harked back to, like, a really cool almost like a Britpop kind of thing, you know, and, it's like, I kind of like the early Oasis stuff. And so being a fan of that kind of music and that kind of ethereal, trippy guitar playing, it has this kind of haunting loneliness about the sound that really intrigued me. So I pulled a bass out of my closet, I plugged into my computer, and I knocked out a bass track for him. And I basically had it sent over to him all in the course of  a cup of coffee in the morning. [Laughs]

Jay, what can you tell me about the themes on the track, "All the Rage"?
COEN There was a an incidence a while back where there was actually a Royal Marine killed and his father wrote a really—how can I put it?—a very well-written piece about his son. And it was his father trying to say, "Well, OK, you know, I've lost my son, and I'm proud of my son, and I'll always be proud of my son, but, you know, what have we gained from his time, from his loss?" you know? There's been elements of different things that have raised the question for other people, which is how does a soldier in the grave get back what he gave? And yeah, you know, I suppose I'd like people to just think about the fact that service-people are, in a sense, just challenged, really, challenged in just different ways, you know?

David, were the lyrical themes something that encouraged you to appear on the track?
ELLEFSON You know, as soon as I heard, I loved the sound of the music, and then when I heard the lyric, it just gave me shivers, Yeah, I mean, I had no idea quite honestly that Jay was that gifted of an artist to write something like that. And, you know, that lyric just really, really just kind of chilled me to the bone. And, quite honestly, the lyric probably inspired me more than anything to want to be a part of it and put my name on it with Jay. Because Megadeth has done a lot of these kind of things in the past and we certainly have been very public about, you know, just supporting military troops who are defending our freedoms for the betterment of the human race, you know? So we're always, we're interested as a group, we've always been supportive of that, and just for me personally, this was something that I thought was a good cause to put my name beside as well.

Jay, was there something about David's playing that you thought would really add to the track?
COEN I think the idea of having David play on the record was I liked the idea of having quite a traditional rock bass mixed in with our kind of ambiance that we have on the record. And a certain amount, of course, of our producer's influence, which was David Bottrill.

How did David Bottrill come in as producer?
COEN That one came about that I wrote to him, as simple as that. In the last couple of years as I've been recording this latest project, I've probably become more fascinated by how, I suppose, the great producers seem to be so much the strong foundation between the records I liked. And what I realized was that, in a sense, I now feel that the artist is almost kind of second in line from the producer, you know what I mean? And I'm just fascinated by the way the great producers pull together and turn a song that is potentially good into a great song, into a memorable song.

What can people do to help ex-servicemen and women out?
COEN Just be mindful that their lives carry on once they are out of uniform and that's often when the most support is needed. The scars can run very deep and don't heal overnight.

The legendary straightedge, Boston-based hardcore group DYS have re-formed and are releasing a series of digital singles over the next year, beginning with the song below, "Wild Card." The song, which was produced by Andrew "Mudrock" Murdock (Avenged Sevenfold, Alice Cooper), will be available to purchase online on November 8, and the next single, "Sound of Our Town," will come out December 13. The band's new lineup, consists of founders vocalist Dave Smalley and bassist Jonathan Anastas, who are now joined by guitarist Franz Stahl (Scream, ex–Foo Fighters) and Adam Porris (formerly of Far From Finished), as well as drummer Al Pahanish, Jr. (ex–Powerman 5000). Anastas fills us in on the song below.

REVOLVER What's this song about and what was the inspiration?
JONATHAN ANASTAS "Wild Card" is about the power of following one's dreams, passions, and talents, no matter how hard that seems. And, if someone can do that—despite the fact that their path will be filled with challenges, with obstacles, with pain— they can achieve anything.

We tell that story through three verses, each inspired by a real life person or event. Of course, we're not writing anyone's biography, so the stories are composites and fictionalized. Facts were changed as needed to serve the narrative or even the lyrical cadence. The first inspiration was a Boston-area boxer who was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, but eventually went on to an even bigger career as a boxing trainer to many world champions. The second verse was inspired loosely by a woman we came up with in the Boston hardcore scene who moved to L.A. and become an actress and director. And the third was inspired by our own story, or the experiences of any kid who ever wanted to be a musician. Each of those roads is hard, each takes more than just talent. These choices take incredible drive, the ability to withstand defeat/rejection, timing, luck, an unstoppable positive attitude. As the lyrics in the bridge say, "All you can do is try, stay tough and you'll get by, all you can do is try, stay true and you'll reach the sky."

We want to foster and support anyone who follows their creative passions, who takes their own road, who fights for what they believe in and never gives up. If this song inspires that, we've done our job.

Which part of it did you come up with first?  What is the writing process inside DYS?
DYS songs today start with the lyrics, the message, the story we want to tell. This time around, I've become the primary lyricist. However, I'm always writing from the perspective of hearing the words come out of Dave Smalley's mouth. What I write has to sound authentic in that context. Dave took the lyrics and brought the band a pretty well formed song structure and lead vocal melody.  From there, the rest of the band, Al Phanish, Jr., Franz Stahl, and Adam Porris added their talents, not only to their own parts and performances, but to the overall song arrangement, backup vocals, tempos, additional layers and voices. These guys are all the real deal. Drummer Al Pahanish, Jr. and guitar player Adam Porris graduated from Berklee in Boston. Guitar player Franz Stahl and Al have written, played, and performed music—really—at about the highest level anyone can achieve, in stadiums, on platinum records. Dave and Al and Franz have all practiced their craft for many years, night after night, in front of live crowds, in the studio. Their collective talent and experience brings DYS more melody, more dynamic range, more craft than the band ever had. I do my best to keep up, hang on and—really—learn from the guys.

Was this an easy song to write?
Part of this process was very easy. There is a great level of communication and collaboration between everyone—including Producer Andrew Murdock. We've all got a lot of the same musical influences and cultural reference points. On top of that, Andrew knows his studio very, very well and is able to get to the sounds we hear in our heads, or ask for, with incredible ease. He's also kind of a gear geek and pushed us a bit beyond our "fall back" choices in equipment. His expertise in heavy music is legendary, having worked with Godsmack and Avenged Sevenfold, among others. DYS worked with Andrew years and years ago in live settings—long before he had the level of producing success that later came . Al also worked with Andrew during his Powerman 5000 tenure, so—again—there were relationships and common language to fall back on. Each time we went back into the studio for another session or mix, there was this real desire to keep improving, to keep adding layers and make the song better.

The other parts of this process were harder. DYS has not been an active band for a very long time so there wasn't a linear and recent musical progression to build on. We're also working with a new lineup where everyone has a well established musical past and vocal point of view. We couldn't—credibly—fall back on remaking our first hardcore record all over again, nor repeat our second more metal record, nor make something that sounded like a Powerman 5000, Foo Fighters, Scream, Slapshot or Dag Nasty record.  So, instead, we've just tried to find our common musical ground and play what feels honest, real and inspiring, while also trying not to fall too far from what DYS was or is.

If we've achieved that, you should hear more inspiration from the early punk rock we all love; you should hear our history in hardcore. And you should hear our passion for straight-up hard rock's swagger. You should hear a little all the stuff that's inspired us along the way: the songs and bands that made us sing along or shake our fists in the air, the music that made us feel better about a bad day, or expressed the voices we heard in our heads.

What sort of feedback have you gotten on this song so far?
I don't think anyone knew what to expect from new DYS songs. People either expected another "Brotherhood" or another "Metal" record. We didn't think either of those paths on their own made sense. It's 2011, and you can't go back in time. That doesn't work. So, we had no choice but to write and play what resonates with us today. Those who have heard the new songs have been surprised by the addition of more melody, by the addition of a more "punk" feel, as opposed to straight-up Hardcore, by the production quality, by the performances. Our label really supports this direction, our long-time friends in other bands like it a lot. We—certainly—have created a "third rail" in terms of DYS's musical direction and it's one we're really digging into productively.

We've got a number of songs that fit within this sound and we'll be releasing a new one every four to six weeks for the rest of 2011 and into 2012. The music business has changed a lot and serving up a regular stream of new songs à la carte though digital channels makes the most sense to us right now. We're going to announce some very limited-edition physical product for the deep fans, but the most democratic and wide-ranging distribution plan is really, "Here are our news songs for $0.99 each online. Take your pick: iTunes, Amazon.com, Bridge9.com, etc. Buy the ones you love, if you feel we're worthy of the support."

Sulaco released their sophomore album, Build and Burn, earlier this week and we can now give you an exclusive listen of the record's' title track. The death metallers, who are fronted Brutal Truth guitarist Erik Burke among their ranks, also gave us the lowdown on the song, which you can read below.

REVOLVER What's "Build and Burn" about?
CHRIS GOLDING [DRUMS] "'Build and Burn,' is about a friend that lets people run his life, always building that bridge that will obviously be burned sooner or later."

Which part of it did you come up with first?
ERIK BURKE "Lyrics are usually the last thing I worry about. Basically, they are about whatever is going on in my mind at the time I write them."

Was this an easy song to write or record?
BRIAN MASON [GUITAR] "The song came together pretty quickly. Erik had all the parts pretty much arranged as they appear on the album. We recorded each song pretty much straight through. The entire album was recorded in two-and-a-half days."

What sort of feedback have you gotten on this song so far?
LON HACKETT [BASS] "The general feedback we have received about the entire album has been positive. We are really excited to have people hear it."

Hard rockers the Dreaming will release their new album, Puppet (Epochal Artists/EMI), next Tuesday. But you can hear the album in its entirety right here. Vocalist Christopher Hall, who previously fronted Stabbing Westward, fills us in on the album below. Let us know what you think of it in the comments.

REVOLVER What did you want to do differently on this album from your last, 2008's Etched in Blood?
CHRISTOPHER HALL I felt our last album strayed away from the sound we originally set out to make. This was a combination of influences from our producer, mixer, manager and newer members of the band. I really liked our first record but I feel like Puppet better captures the vision [drummer] Johnny Haro and I originally had.

We set out to make music that was heavy and dark but very melodic with strong songs. We really wanted to recapture some of the electronic sounds that were a part of Stabbing Westward and Econoline Crush that seemed to get lost on the first Dreaming album.

So my goal on this record was to learn everything I could about producing and engineering, so I could maintain creative control over the album and not let too many outsiders get involved. The one outsider who really helped was Eddie Wohl who mixed the record. He helped make my production work sound polished and helped shape the overall sound of the record in the mix. We had several members come and go during the recording process and each of them left their mark on the songs in different ways. It was a very long record to make due to my learning curve on how to record and produce, but I think it was worth it in the end.

How do you approach the Dreaming differently from what you did in Stabbing Westward?
Stabbing Westward went from being a band of two guys writing industrial music in our bedrooms into a monster that took on a life of its own. I seriously did not even recognize Stabbing Westward by the last album. In the Dreaming we wanted to get back to that feeling of making music for ourselves. Not for a label or an A&R guy or a manager or even for fans, but just the music that we wanted to make. It took away a lot of the stress and anxiety about making music. I think once you get to the point that fear of losing your success rules your creative process you should stop making music and become a banker. The Dreaming has nothing to lose so we make whatever music we feel like making; it's very liberating and cathartic.

What are your favorite tracks on the new album and why?
My favorite song on Puppet is "End in Tears." I love the hypnotic feel of the groove and love listening with headphones. There are a ton of cool creepy ambient sounds on that track and its fun to discover new sounds with every listen. I recorded several songs that I had written before or during the first album that ended up not getting used first time around. Either they were unfinished demos or the producer didn't like them because they weren't pop metal enough for the sound he was going for. These were songs I was very passionate about and fought for but ended up on the producer's chopping block. It was great for me to be able to revisit them with a fresh perspective and with a different group of musicians. Some of these songs got a second chance at life kind of like the Dreaming.

In the past you've covered artists like INXS, Depeche Mode, and the Cure. How do influences like those figure into the heavy music you play?
These were my favorite bands growing up. Not INXS so much but the Cure and Depeche Mode, along with heavier bands like Ministry and Nine Inch Nails. I think Depeche Mode were the most influential band to electronic music. I know there were earlier bands and noisier bands and more abrasive and cutting edge bands but nobody took pop song arrangements and orchestrated them using synths the way Depeche Mode did, and they did it consistently album after album with amazing songs and sounds that never grew stale. Covering a song like [Depeche Mode's] "It's No Good" is great for a songwriter. The act of deconstructing it and figuring out how it was built and then making it your own gives you lessons on how to write a great song. Then you just apply those lessons in a non-plagiaristic way and you have the building blocks for better songwriting.

What is it you want people to take away from listening to this record?
I've never really known what I want people to take away from my music. I used to try to tell people what my songs were about. I remember once in Stabbing Westward getting in an argument with a fan about the meaning of one of my songs. I was very offended that they didn't get what my song was about. Later on, I realized that they were right. It doesn't matter what I think my songs are about.

What's important is how the listener feels about it. If they connect to it in some ultra-personal way that I never intended then that is great. Why should anyone care what the song means to me? That's my pain and my story. Everyone has their own pain and their own story and if I can somehow connect to that and give them an outlet for that pain or a moment of feeling less alone in the world then I've done my job. I know not everyone is going to love every song but I hope that our fans find something good on the album that they can connect to. Thanks for listening.

Nine Inch Nails have recorded their rendition of U2's "Zoo Station" for a forthcoming compilation, titled AHK-toong BAY-bi Covered, commemorating the 20th anniversary of the band's landmark album Achtung Baby. The comp also features tracks by Jack White of the White Stripes, Depeche Mode, The Killers, and more. Listen to NIN's cover right here.

Megadeth have released a new track from the band's upcoming album Th1rt3en, to be released on November 1, titled "Black Swan." The song is a rerecording of a bonus track to the group's 2007 album, United Abominations. Check it out below and tell us what you think of it below.