Metal Riot

Man, if this here be “mainstream metal” I am not complaining. Like every other heavy music news outlet today we had to remind ya about new Slipknot. The fiercely good jam “Unsainted” from We Are Not Your Kind already has over a million YouTube views, which is friggin’ nuts. I don’t know about you but I got chills imagining how the live singalongs with the crowd are gonna be for this number and I already am digging it more than anything on the previous record. This reminds me of the first album combined with The Subliminal Verses but with a towering maturity and confidence rather than the initial hunger of the pack. Very solid effort from a band this far into their career who could be just serving up a plate of shit and raking in the cash anyway, but Corey Taylor and company care more than that.

It is crazy when you hear a rock song for the first time and can safely say ,”Ok, this is an easy pick for one of the biggest rock songs of the year”, but here we are. And it shouldn’t be startling since Slipknot have some of the most diehard fans around and are very consistent.

Void Vator

This used to be a funhouse
But now it’s full of evil clowns
It’s time to start the countdown
I’m gonna burn it down down down
I’m gonna burn it down

Hey y’all. No, I am not gonna be writing about Pink here today despite quoting her song “Funhouse” above. I just figured it was a good way to segue the title of this article into news about Slipknot, since they have masks and stuff.

Mr. Corey Taylor says…the new Slipknot album is now in the demo stages and is gonna be “Iowa levels of heavy”, which is to say not as heavy as, say,  Xibalba but heavier than Stone Sour or the last album. So that is still pretty darn heavy. The band are hoping it will land on the 20th anniversary year of their debut, making a neat little bloody perfect crop circle to pit within.

Somewhere between Black Label Society and Pop Evil lives the new performance video from Void Vator, a hot little number called “Until It’s Gone”. The video sort of features the band rockin’ out, partyin’ and bein’ dudes, but not every music video has to be rocket science or…I was gonna say brain surgery but we do cover a lot of death metal on this site and so we are fans of gory brain surgery videos, actually. “Until It’s Gone” is off their 2017 released debut EP, Dehumanized. Dudes, that is pretty close to the name of one of my favorite Dio-helmed albums of all time but I dug your video so we will let it pass this time. Just don’t call the next EP Heaven & Smell or something. Or…do? That might actually be awesome.

This band has some rockin’ vibes and seem like they love what they are doing. A lot of bands have to pose these days or seem to be cooler than thou so it is nice to see a band just letting their hair down and laying down some big fat heavy rock action.

Anyway, Void Vator has ALSO announced their SOUTHWEST 2018 TOUR. Launching July 19th in Las Vegas, the tour will wind through Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico before winding down Phoenix on July 28th. Check the dates out on their Facebook page.

The most extreme item on this Friday news list of note is that Axis Of Despair have two new tunes out, “The Wolven Law” and “Crush The Empire”. These new songs follow the already released and self-explanatory “A Life Of Ceaseless Grind.” If you like grind and real rollicking hell punk you will eargasm to this immediately and then perish only to have your organs re-animate and burst forth still dancing and raging from your flesh prison and doing a little organ jumping bean grind ritual mosh with each other…nevermind. It all goes off the rails so fast around here. Where was I?

This Swedish grindcore group was formed by current and former members of Nasum, Coldworker, Infanticide, Volturyon, Livet Som Insats, Nervgift, Overtorture. Shit, you had me at Nasum. Their Contempt For Man full length is gonna be out this year on Southern Lord. Southern Lord are once again having a virtually unstoppable year. I am still ass kicked by Jesus Piece, Baptists and the new Eagle Twin. Damn, dudes!

But yeah, check yourself out Contempt For Man‘s presently consumable onslaughts over at Bandcamp HERE. This band is certainly a wrecking crew. My neck hurts after like five minutes of this music. Love the dry, harsh vocal sound over the brittle tones and explosive performance energy! Top notch.

Clown from Slipknot has directed the band’s latest clip “XIX” from .5: The Gray Chapter. The track is very dark and has a certain gothic feel, one of their more interesting and nuanced numbers. Even if the clip wasn’t sure to be a singalong live anthem ready made as a great segue between heavier numbers ala Korn’s 4 U it features naked ladies in veils with nooses dangling between their breasts and some stark imagery of floating coffins, twisted trees and flowers. A cool clip and song.

Check it out BELOW.

Neurosis are arguably the band the most heavier leaning and cerebral artsy types can all agree on as outright kings in their field. The long running band of psychedelic tribal warriors were birthed from the Pain Of Mind political days but evolved over the years into nearly a force of nature themselves. We even gave their Honor Found In Decay record a five star review. Yep, there might as well be a fifth season called Neurosis. The band of deeply rooted punk metal elite champions will trek north to make an appearance at Heavy Montreal this year amidst a line-up including NOFX, Faith No More, Slipknot, Mr. Iggy Pop, Testament and Korn.

Find out more BELOW.

Slipknot are back with a second song from their forthcoming album. It’s got this kind of killer Arch Enemy groove metal intro before Corey Taylor shows over an atmospheric verse why he is one of the most versatile vocalists in rock. And that chorus aint too shaby either, though it sounds a bit indebted to David Draiman (in a good way). Then the shit gets all semi commercial/faux-black metal with a whip cream flanger topping in the bridge. My verdict…Overall, this is knot going to suck- though Joey is very much missed.

Click HERE to check it out.

Slipknot have released a brand spankin’ nu video for recent single “The Negative One”, which is rumored to feature Chris from Lamb Of God on drums. I’m not so sure. It doesn’t sound as hard hitting as his drumming usually does, but maybe he adjusted things to sound a bit more tribal, if it is him.  The song is fuckin’ cool, though. Very much reminds me of the first Slipknot album but a bit more chaotic.

It’s been a good time in metal for sexy ass crazy demonic babes who are scary and seem possessed in music videos of late, between the girl in this Clown directed clip, the (scariest one) contortionist exorcism chic Pixie (from Game of Thrones) in Savage Messiah’s recent video and the chic in the recent fucking A+ evil awesome new Belphegor joint “Conjuring The Dead”. Something weird is in the air.

Click HERE to get your negativity out.