Morbid Angel Announce New Guitarist

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Since the return of Dave Vincent behind the mic of Morbid Angel’s ranks, things have seemed a little quiet in the veteran deathster’s camp. Yet in a recent interview, it would appear the band have finally recruited a replacement for Erik Rutan (who departed after the release of 00’s Gateways to Annihilation) in the form of DestrucThor (or Anders Myhren, as he is known to his parents) who has up until now being contributing string-abuse to Norwegian death metal outfit Zyklon. Said band are notable for being the mastermind of former Emperor members, guitarist Samoth and drummer Trym, who formed Zyklon shortly before Emperor’s untimely dissolution.

Said Dave Vincent of Deestructhor’s recruitment:

“The hunt for another guitarist to play alongside Trey (Azagthoth, the band’s primary songwriter) was long and difficult. Man, I tell you, we had tapes sent to us from all over the world from guys who wanted to play in our band, and many of them were extremely talented — but Thor was the right choice for us. He’s a fantastic guitarist and fits right in with the band. Also, ZYKLON have supported MORBID ANGEL in the past, so the guys knew each other already.”

Now, Zyklon haven’t exactly set the world alight since the excellent cyber-death of their debut, ’01’s World ov Worms, yet Destructhor is something of an obvious choice given Zyklon’s penchant for Domination-era riffery. Morbid Angel haven’t been so hot these past few years either; their last effort Heretic was a band in yawn-inducing autopilot mode. Come to think of it, Erik Rutan’s post Morbid Angel work with Hate Eternal has been less than stellar too; is there a curse through association? Still, Dave Vincent’s triumphant return and Destructhor’s arrival might just inject a bit of adrenalin into the veins of a band that once graced the world with a string of classic death metal albums (See Altars of Madness, Blessed are the Sick, Covenant and Domination), so time will tell whether they still have it in them to belt out another.

Shame it wasn’t Samoth they picked up though huh?

New Nine Inch Nails Album ‘The Slip’ Available as Free Download

As was hinted by the posting of new single ‘Discipline’ a couple of weeks ago, yesterday Trent Reznor simultaneously announced the existence of and released the new Nine Inch Nails album, The Slip. The album is available as a free download in various different formats such as mp3, FLAC and WAVE. Reznor remarked on the www.nin.com website “thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years – this one’s on me”. In terms of a goodwill gesture towards fans this is pretty much as good as it gets. The tracklisting is as follows:

01. 999,999
02. 1,000,000
03. letting you
04. discipline
05. echoplex
06. head down
07. lights in the sky
08. corona radiata
09. the four of us are dying

The Slip can be downloaded here

First impressions suggest an album more immediately familiar than its predecessor (Ghosts I-IV aside), with The Slip going through the gamut of NIN’s various facets, from the uptempo rock of ‘1,000,000′, incendiary rage in ‘Letting You’, and the requisite piano-ballad in ‘Lights in the Sky’.

Expect a full review very soon…

Finisterre – New Goth/Industrial/Metal Nightclub in Dublin

A new goth/metal/industrial nightclub will be kicking off in Dublin on the last Friday of every month, starting on May 30th. Anyone who lives here will be well aware that Dublin desperately needs more of this thing kind of thing for the ever increasing numbers of freaks to be found, so it’s by all means a blessing. The inclusion of numerous alternative music genres is certainly a good thing, meaning there should be a good mix of all types of oddballs on the night. See below for more details:

“Rising from the ashes of Dublin’s legendary Gothic/Industrial nightclub, The Tower, comes the cities newest Alternative club Finisterre. Situated in the plush surroundings of the Green Room in one of the newest and finest live venues in Dublin, The Academy on Middle Abbey street, every month Finisterre will bring you the best mix of Gothic, Metal, Industrial, Alternative and everything else in between from some of the best DJ’s involved in the genres. Kicking off on the 30th of May, and then on the last Friday of each month, the opening night will feature DJ’s Laura Lee-Conboy from Phantom FM, Nemtheanga from Primordial and The Tower co-founder Eric.

Laura Lee is well known DJ on Phantom FM and hosts her own show on Phantom every Wednesday night from 8pm-10pm, Spiral Stares, playing the best from the dark side of Alternative music.
More info at: http://www.myspace.com/phantomspiral

Nemtheanga is the singer from one of Dublin’s, and indeed Europe’s, most respected Pagan Metal bands Primordial. Nemtheanga is also a resident DJ in Dublin’s much loved Metal pub Bruxelles.
More info at: http://www.primordialweb.com/index2.htm

The Tower co-founder Eric has been DJ’ing in Dublin for nearly 15 years and has also DJ’d in various clubs throughout Europe and at the Wroclaw Industrial Festival in Wroclaw, Poland and the Schlagstrom Industrial Festival in Berlin, Germany.
Eric also runs Tower Promotions which has brought over the likes of New Model Army, The Levellers, Whitehouse, London After Midnight, Der Blutharsch and many more.
More info at: www.myspace.com/towerpromotions

Finisterre opens to the public at 10pm on Friday 30th May and admission is €8 before midnight and €10 after. Drinks promotions on the night.

For more info contact Eric at
towerpromotions@neubauten.org
or check the myspace at
www.myspace.com/towerpromotions.“

Trent Reznor loves us all

Fact. Point your browsers to www.nin.com and you’ll find a link to download Nine Inch Nails’ new single, ‘Discipline’, for free. Trent seems to be forming a bit of a habit of throwing new material at his adoring public from out of nowhere – the 2-hour instrumental set Ghosts I-IV has only appeared in stores recently. Thankfully, ‘Discipline’ sees Reznor excercising his vocal chords again, something the varied but ultimately mood-driven Ghosts… sorely missed, raising hopes that a new batch of somewhat longer-lasting material will appear very soon. Nice.

Metallica – Forward thinking futurists or cynical cashgrabbers?

Being the progressive-minded thrash titans that they are (sic), decrepid millionaires Metallica have apparently decided to put their past scrapes with napster behind them and embrace the internet. The band notoriously sued file-sharing pioneers Napster in 2000, raising the ire of millions of music fans worldwide and spitting upon their last shred of credibility (if they even had any in 2000) in the process.

Citing the likes of Trent Reznor and Radiohead as inspiration for this about-turn, the band claims to “be looking forward to everything in terms of possibilities with the Internet”. Great.

Of course, with St. Anger generally regarded as a steaming pile of half-baked faeces – barely worth the time it takes to download an album, let alone your cash – it remains to be seen whether Metallica still have it in them to make anything halfway decent anymore. Still, thousands of people are bound to enjoy propelling it all over cyberspace just out of spite. Ouch.

Source: http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9440/Metallica+Now+Embraces+File-Sharing%3F

Opeth in New Album Leak Shocker

After what may have seemed like an eternity since the announcement of Watershed as the title of Opeth’s 9th studio album – due in stores June 2nd – and after the recent leaking of 2 tracks, the full thing is now all over the internet like a rash. Initial listenings suggest a distinctly less immediate experience than its predecessor, Ghost Reveries, with some rather odd moments sprinkled amidst the very 70s prog-orientated material. Chief amongst these is a tie between the quasi-funk keyboard workout in ‘The Lotus Eater’, Mike’s detuning of his guitar midway through a folky acoustic lick at the tail end of ‘Burden’, or new man behind the drumstool Axenrot’s wonderfully off-kilter drum spasm in ‘Porcelain Heart’. It’s bound to cause all kinds of debate over the coming months, and a full review will be posted here in the very near future…