Rooster on Rye

This "heavy" 1972 session by proto-metal bangers Atomic Rooster is legendary because replacement singer Chris Farlowe casually chomps a sandwich throughout the duration of the song. The early '70s were all about unconventional technique...

When Worlds Collide…

...Guitar World and MacWorld, anyway. You're looking at PocketGuitar, a six-string emulator for iPhone and iPod touch, and it sure looks to me like dude is doing some right-hand tapping on the A-string

Dude, Where’s My Band?

Thanks to everybody who sent over the stripped DLR vocal from "Runnin' With the Devil" this week. All of you. Thanks. And you and you and you. I appreciate it. I feel a little...

Malicious Grind: From the Bowels of El Segundo

Though they surfaced during a time when the grindcore term was just beginning to be tossed around, suburban L.A. act Malicious Grind was a relentless crossover monster in the vein of D.R.I., S.O.D., and...

No Mosh, No Trend, No Resurrection

Helvete, Oslo, Norway, Easter Day 2006

Rotting Corpse: The Motion Picture

Hey, good news--it looks like Rick Ernst's long-awaited Get Thrashed could finally appear on DVD late this spring. Fingers upside-down crossed... In the meantime, avail ye of one the funniest and pure-hearted DVD documents ever...

Groovy Aardvark: Ants Have No Chance

Three or four years ago, I went to Montreal a few days before New Year's, and lucked out to catch a special show at Les Foufones Electriques that was basically a giant party for...

Talkin’ Metal II: The Van Halen Years

While I was out X-massing the shit out of some holidays, the best-prepared interviewer in the land Mark Strigl posted our all-Van Halen interview episode of his Podcast, Talking Metal. Like the blurb says, "In...

Happy New Year 1994 from Shellac

Most folks, including me, are probably more familiar with the name Crawldaddy than the actual contents of the late-'60s magazine of rock. Well the venerated title is back in some ghostly form, and they've...

Ride the Spider

Unlike Iron Maiden, not every metalhead can afford their own custom commercial jet airliner. But if you got a mondo jumbo Erector set this X-mass, you can clickity-clack down the streets in style. I'd...

Up, Up and Away the Irons!

If you have no qualms about riding in a jet decorated with a cartoon corpse, British Airways is renting the freshly-painted Iron Maiden 2008 tour plane from the band for the next couple months....

Anvil Drops on Sundance

For some glorious reason, I thought Sam Dunn was following up his Metal: A Headbanger's Journey metalmemoirmentary with an documentary on Anvil. I was wrong--he's living out every Canadian rock kid's dream and following...

Woman of Dark Desires

My work on publishing the US edition of Daniel Ekeroth's amazing Swedish Death Metal is almost finished. I'm starting to worry about where I'm going to keep a few thousand heavy black books, though...

True Botswana Black Metal: Wrust Never Sleeps

As any Necros fan can tell by the name, Conquest for Death are a blazing American hardcore thrash band. Singer Devon Morf is a longtime trader pal from the original thrash days, he used...

Sweet Sound of Guitar Pedal Cakes

I've heard of drooling over gear, but this is ridiculous. Click to see the Ibanez Tube Screamer and a DeArmond Square Wave, also in cake form. LINK

Rotting Corpse: The Original Rotting Cowboys From Hell

The fertile Texas metal scene has always been a tight-knit fraternity that welcomes every type of banger from Lone Star knuckleheads to brainy prairie visionaries. Take early Exodus/S.O.D.-style sick thrashers Rotting Corpse. Formed by...

Giant Fly Attacks Mount St. Helens

Blame global warming, blame the pesticide-laden sewage flowing from a nearby McDonald's, blame Godzilla if you want...all I know is a 100-yard housefly just flew out of the crater atop Mount St. Helens near...

They Say the Pen is Mightier Than the Sword

Here Tom Araya from Slayer's immortal 1985 tribute to the great Bob "Kick*Ass" Muldowney. I needed to see this clip again in light of Bob's recent tragic passing.

When Ronnie Met Ozzy

No love lost. At first I thought Dio was averting his eyes from Ozzy's paunchy nipples and mullet while they discuss this new-fangled thing called sushi, or maybe he sees a third Sabbath singer...

A Heavy Lather

And the first early-90s band from the Earache Records roster to use their name to sell soap is North Carolina's Confessor. How folksy! Pictured above is the manly type, and the band's official website...