Mike Starr of Alice in Chains was found dead tuesday in Utah; he was 44 years old. His recent tragedies have been the buzz of reality TV and the new with his stint on Celebrity Rehab and his recent arrest.
Starr was arrested last month in Salt Lake City on suspicion of felony possession of a controlled substance for allegedly having six Alprazolam pills and six tablets of the painkiller Opana. (read about it here on Blabbermouth)
Dr. Drew tweeted today: "Devastating to hear of Mike Starr succumbing to his illness. So very sad. Our prayers are with his family,"
If you'd like to read more about it, click here.
Everyone here at That Devil Music would like to offer our condolences to his family and friends.
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
Alice in Chains' Mike Starr Dead at 44
Win A Killer Amon Amarth Prize Package From Revolver Magazine.
Revolver might have a kind of crappy awards show but hot damn if their contests aren't pretty bad ass sometimes. Go to Revolver's website and enter to win a prize pack of some great Amon Amarth swag such as:
* Deluxe Edition of Surtur Rising
* Surtur Action Figure
* Amon Amarth T-shirt
* Metal Blade T-shirt
* Metal Blade Laniard and a bottle opener. You know so you can drink down flagons of ale while wearing sweet gear and listening to Surtur Rising.
I'm not sure when the contest ends so you better enter while you can.
Hemoptysis Reveals the Big News. They Have a Label Now.
See, at the end of the interview I posted this morning I said I guessed that a label signed the guys in Hemoptysis. And I would be correct because you know, my deductive powers are at their peak right now.
So yes Hemoptysis is signed to Rock It Up/Ice Warrior Records out of Germany. Which is cool because they can get some distribution of the new album 'Misanthropic Slaughter' that released today out in Europe and maybe even press more copies for a States reissue later. Anyways, congrats guys on scoring a label so now maybe Masaki can relax a bit.
Here is the press release.
3/8/2011 Phoenix, Arizona
On the same day that thier first full length album is released, Phoenix
based metallers Hemoptysis are proud to announce that they have signed a
licensing deal with German label Rock It Up / IceWarrior Records. (
http://www.rockitup.org/ )
Commented Masaki Murashita
"We are proud to be working with such a great group of people. Franko at
Rock It Up has really done an amazing job in making this deal happen. We
look forward to our continued success throughout Europe and we hope to
be playing many shows over there in the near future."
Scar Symmetry Releases First Track From New Album
The guys in Scar Symmetry don't mess around. Seems like they just came off tour and yet we've had news about a new album with artwork(such as it is)and now they've released a track from it already. The track is off the forthcoming album The Unseen Empire and I have to say, if the song is any indication of the rest album, it looks like the guys are definitely trying to forge a new identity post Christian Alvestam. Tribal drumbeats, vocals that remind me of a generic Amorphis, and then heavy on the keys at the end. I don't know if I like it or not. Here it is so let me know what you think.
Devil's Interview With Hemoptysis' Masaki Murashita
If you're a blogger you've surely crossed paths with Hemoptysis. If you are a frequent reader of blogs you've seen Hemoptysis pimped out. And rightfully so. Today is the release date for the first full length release Misanthropic Slaughter and in an effort to avoid the "The album releases today go buy it" lazy ass post, I have something a little more special in store. I sent over a batch of questions to Masaki, the frontman and ringleader of the band, and he graciously returned them to me in time to make the release announcement a bit more special. So without further ado here is the conversation with Hemoptysis' Masaki Murashita after the jump.
Monday, March 07, 2011
Arch Enemy Unveils the Real Artwork to Khaos Legion.
I don't know where the artwork came from when I last talked about this. Well at least it's better then what I originally thought it was going to be. Now the question remains if the songs are going to be worth a shit. Still no word on track listing or definite release date from Century Media but here you go if you're an Arch Enemy fan. I'll file this under the same category as Devildriver and COB. I once cared but I've moved on. I'll listen to it to see if if it's any good when it comes out but my expectations will be low.
Skeletonwitch and 3 Inches of Blood are Touring Together. But Not in California.
Yep. Two of my favorite recent bands are touring together but the Midwest and back east get the pleasure of this pairing. 3 Inches of Blood just rolled through here with Holy Grail and a bunch of other bands which I wanted to see but if this had been a California thing I'd be all over it. Oh well, my loss is your gain if you live in those regions. Dates after the jump you lucky bastards.
Slaughter By the Water Update.Now With Nuclear Assault and Warbringer
Awhile back I posted about a local festival that is becoming an annual staple called Slaughter by the Water. This is the second year for it and it's shaping up to be a cool show if you're into thrash and death metal. Nuclear Assault is signed on to it now as is Warbringer. Here is the rest of the correct lineup so far after the jump and if you're anywhere near the Bay Area you probably won't want to miss this.
Saturday, March 05, 2011
Devil At the Movies : Lemmy
There are very few iconic figures in heavy music these days. You have your Dave Mustaines of Megadeth, and Lars Ulrich of Metallica but these guys are just well known for their quirks. The truly iconic figures are the ones that predate them like Ozzy or Lemmy. I sat down today to watch the movie released last year on the man Lemmy himself. And just when you think you've been exposed to what the press says so much that you know a person something like this film comes along and shows you really don't know shit.
I think most people equate Lemmy as this gravelly voiced frontman from a dirty rock band. Looks like a biker, has the moles and the Rickenbacker bass guitar endlessly singing the Ace of Spades. An intidimating figure. The movie 'Lemmy' shows a completely different side.While I'm sure he was a hellraiser in his youth and the movie eludes to some of this, the Lemmy today is a quiet, intelligent man that everybody seems to love and who goes through life just doing his thing. Whether it's collecting tons of war items and just random crap, to endlessly playing slot machines to recording and touring with Motorhead. There are alot of poignant moments in the movie including time spent with his son and the story behind that, to certain drugs killing his friends to just age in general.
I'm not going to give away too much on the movie. But I do recommend it. It's yet another piece that really let's you make a connection you'd never think in a million years you would. While fans go crazy idolizing the frontman for a legenday band, behind the scenes he's just a regular bloke. To an extent. The tag line says 49% motherfucker and 51% Son of a bitch. It's so far off the mark it's not even funny. Long live Lemmy and go see this movie, even if you're not a fan you'll be glad you did.
March Is Metal Month Is Here
Ugh. I've been so busy with various things that I kept forgetting to post about this. Yes it is the third annual March is Metal Month sponsored by EMI Distributions and Century Media. This is where you can go to your favorite blogsites(we're not cool enough yet) or local participating record stores and enter contests or buy discounted music. Locally I know Rasputins records is participating so I need to get down there at some point. After the jump is the full details on what this is about.
Devil Music A-Z: Edge of Sanity
Ah Dan Swano. The things you can do and have done in metal. Outside of the metal circles it would be a collective 'who?' but the rest of us know Dan as the guy that can produce albums with the best of them and has appeared on a myriad of projects. Where he made his mark was with Edge of Sanity.
If you want to listen to some of the best melodic death metal then you need to pick up the now defunct Edge of Sanity back catalog. In fact Edge of Sanity early on was linked with Opeth and in fact was the better of the two bands. Dan could do the growl and it was coherent but then switch to a bluesy form of hard rock and the back to brutal easily. Probably the only album that was meh in some aspects was 1997's Cryptic due to Swano not being involved at all. But then he reformed the band in 2003 with the stellar Crimson II (sequel to Crimson which is actually a 40 minute long song). And then promptly let the band fold due to the fact that he could not sustain the growl in a live setting for long. After the jump is some tunes from Edge of Sanity. Enjoy.
Friday, March 04, 2011
Sawyer's Shred Spotlight: Compilations Pt Bonus - Guitar Masters, Vol 1
What's up friends? Welcome to another edition of Sawyer's Shred Spotlight; the column where I ramble on about obscure guitar players and their kick ass music. I had planned on this week's column being a reflection on the career of good ol' Yngwie Malmsteen, as suggest by TDM editor Rob Liz. But upon starting, I realized it would take more than a week to get it done. So next week, expect epicness. In the mean time, I'm going to bring out another sweet compilation from the library of shred, the Guitar Masters, Vol 1. Once again, this features some legends in the world of guitar. Joe Satriani, Steve Morse, Jeff Beck, and even some of the best bass players known to man: John Paul Jones, Billy Sheehan, and Stanley Clarke. Not necessarily the most metal crowd, but all extremely talented musicians. I'll be bringing out my favorite cuts from the album, right after the jump!
How Relevant Are Live Albums To You?
There used to be a day when the live album was a nostalgic gem among album collections. Whether you even liked the live album or not, you just had to have it in order for your collection to be complete. Some music fans really dig live albums, while others, like myself, are very choosy when it comes to a live album.
These days it's a lot different in that most people, especially people that only buy or download digital albums, don't really care about live releases.
Kiss Kondoms Are Kracking Me Up
Ladies I have a question.
So you meet this hot guy, sparks are flying, the sexual tension is in the air. It's time to do the deed and the guy says hold on let me put this on. Staring at you wrapped around his cock is a picture of Gene Simmons face with the tongue going all the way down the shaft. What do you do? Do you laugh your ass off until it shrivels its way back out of that thing or do you think this could be kinky fun?
That's right the marketing machine that is Kiss has developed the Kiss Kondom. Apparently Paul Stanley will be on the next issue of these things. Kollect them all!
Woods of Ypres Issues Updates on Albums and A Tour
As I write this I had heard the bands name before but hadn't really listened. So I'm brand spanking new to this band and what I've heard so far I'm really enjoying. Woods of Ypres is a Canadian band that plays a form of blackened doom metal. They've been around a few years and have hopped to different labels with the current being Earache Records. Earache is getting ready to reissue the 2009 album Woods 4 : The Green Album on March 14th in Europe and the 22nd in North America and a tour is kicking off next week in support of this. Tour Dates and a video after the jump.
Within Temptation: their newest GILF wallpaper
Once again, Within Temptation displays how they have their finger on the pulse of what's truly metal. Recently they shared with us their newest desktop wallpaper in support of their upcoming concept album Unforgiving.
Here it is in all its glory:
If you want this sexy beast on your desktop then head to their site and look for it.. Though I can't see why you'd want to. No one should like a band enough to want some cranky old bat on their computer monitor.
Ok. I think We Have Found the Coolest School Ever.
Man. Why couldn't my kids elementary school be this awesome. Here is the clip of the Wattville primary school kids in Birmingham England singing and rocking out to Iron Maiden's 'Flight of Icarus' that is on it's way to going viral. This is part of a Kerrang's Cash for Kids charity drive to help the sick and disadvantaged kids in the area. Here is the video and if this doesn't make you smile you have no soul.
Seriously if my kids had been involved in something like this I would not have eyerolled my way through a concert like I did in the past.
Win Gus G swag - casual guitarists need not apply
Do you want this guitar?
How about this mini stack?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
