Month: March 2021

MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson has reflected on the passing of the band’s onetime drummer Nick Menza.

Nick died in May 2016 after suffering a heart attack during a concert with Chris Poland and Robertino “Pag” Pagliari in their band OHM: at The Baked Potato in Studio City, California. The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner said Menza passed away of hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

Regarding how he found out about Nick’s death, Ellefson told “Waste Some Time With Jason Green” (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I remember we were in Albany, New York on the ‘Dystopia’ tour, and Dave [Mustaine, MEGADETH leader] called me in the middle of the night, in tears, just shaken up. He goes, ‘Oh my God. Nick’s dead.’ I was, like, ‘What?’ It was the middle of the night. I was, like, ‘Huh? Who is this?’ And he said, he goes, ‘Man, my son Justis just told me,’ and I was, like, ‘Oh my God.’ So it was heart-wrenching.

“Look, despite it not working out musically, and kind of business-wise, with us there toward the end, there was definitely a brotherhood,” Ellefson said about his late bandmate. “And I think especially with Dave and Nick — those two guys, they were buddies in a way probably the others of us weren’t. Nick and I were kind of, like, health buddies — playing tennis and mountain bike riding, when I was sober and getting clean; he was big on that. But Dave and Nick had a very rock and roll, fun… They could hang. They had a cool friendship, I think.”

Ellefson also talked about the failed reunion of MEGADETH’s “Rust In Peace” lineup more than six years ago. The opportunity for MEGADETH’s most celebrated lineup to regroup arose following the departures of guitarist Chris Broderick and drummer Shawn Drover in 2014. Menza was approached by Mustaine and Ellefson to replace Drover at the end of that year, and he started working out new tracks with the band. But the plan collapsed after he was offered a contract he described as “very unfair.”

“Nick and I were hanging about a year and a half before [his death],” Ellefson recalled. “That was when we reconnected. And he came down to Fallbrook, where Dave’s house and the studio [was]. And we jammed. We tried to see if we could make a go of a ‘Rust In Peace’ reunion. And you could tell, as much as the ambition was there for it, it just didn’t connect. It was probably like hooking up with an old girlfriend. You remember the good times from years past, and, for some reason, the magic’s [gone]. It’s funny — I just heard the HALL & OATES song today, ‘You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling’. That’s kind of what it was. And it just wasn’t meant to be.”

Last year, former MEGADETH guitarist Marty Friedman admitted that money was a major motivator for him when he was approached about taking part in a reunion of the “Rust In Peace” lineup.

Friedman had met with Mustaine and Ellefson at the 2015 NAMM show in Anaheim, California to discuss the reunion, which would have seen him and Menza back in the mix.

Friedman, who moved from America to Japan in 2003, opened up about about his reasons for turning down the MEGADETH reunion in Mustaine’s new book, “Rust In Peace: The Inside Story Of The Megadeth Masterpiece”, which details the making of the iconic record “Rust In Peace”.

“My main thing was I’d be happy to do it, but I’m not going to take less money than I’m already making to do it,” Marty said in part.

“I’d been in Japan for more than ten years cultivating a career with solid rewards. I was making money not only for myself but also for my management and staff. My manager has been with me fifteen years.

“Everything was sound and solid professionally, and when the offer came up to all of a sudden join MEGADETH again, as long as I would not be making less money, I was ready to go,” he said. “But I was certainly not going to take a loss to join a band that, frankly, at that point, didn’t seem like they had too much to offer musically. A couple of members of the band had recently quit, and musically I hadn’t heard anything that they’ve done in a long time. I didn’t know about how relevant they continued to be in the music business. It wasn’t like MEGADETH was on the tip of people’s tongues, at least not in Japan. I had reached the point where people stopped immediately connecting me to MEGADETH and were talking about the things that I had done in Japan.”

According to Friedman, part of the reason he turned down the MEGADETH reunion is the fact that the group is largely seen as Mustaine’s solo project, with members coming and going every couple of albums.

“Had it been more of a band situation and not such a one-man, Dave Mustaine-main-man party, I might have considered doing it for a little less,” Marty said. “But, at the end of the day, MEGADETH is so much Mustaine because that’s the way he engineered it. I didn’t feel that kind of camaraderie, the four-man diamond, THE BEATLES, KISS, METALLICA. I felt like I would be going out there and tour and it was going to be Mustaine’s big success. If I’m going to do that, I’m certainly not going to lose money to do that; I was doing great on my own in Japan.”

Mustaine told Loudwire that he was put off by Friedman’s financial demands when the topic of a “Rust In Peace” reunion was broached.

“Marty has a really successful career in Japan where he makes quite a lot of money,” Dave said. “And this is the part where I thought it was a little weird, where he said he said that he has to pay all his team while he’s gone instead of just himself. ‘Cause I thought we’ll pay you what you’re making so that’s switching horses in the middle of the river — it’s no big deal unless you fall off. And then when we found out that he wanted to sell his merch, his this, his that, his this, his that, then he wanted this crazy amount of money and he wanted to fly first class everywhere. I said to our management, ‘I can’t deal with this.'”

In a 2016 interview with the “Eddie Trunk Podcast”, Mustaine confirmed that MEGADETH didn’t hold any rehearsals with Friedman while attempting a reunion of the “Rust In Peace” lineup.

“Marty had sent some e-mails saying, ‘Oh, man, you know, the fans have this self-inflated importance of ‘Rust In Peace’ beyond what it really is. And I was, like, ‘Huh?'” Dave said. ‘So I didn’t know if that was a backhand to the face of the fans or not, but he had basically said that if we were gonna do anything, it had to be better than ‘Rust In Peace’. And he sent me over some links to some songs that he thought should be the direction that we were going in, and one of it was this J-Pop band with some Japanese girl singing, and I was, like, ‘Uh-uh. This ain’t gonna work.’ More power to [Marty for being into that stuff]. Do what you want, Marty. He’s a great guitar player. But I’m not gonna sing like a Japanese girl.”

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French post-rockers Bruit get elaborate with a brass-accompanied performance of “The Machine is Burning.”
The post Video Premiere: Bruit – ‘The Machine is Burning’ appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

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Aversed debut their new album, Impermanent.
The post Full Album Stream: Aversed – “Impermanent” appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

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LAMB OF GOD’s Mark Morton has paid tribute former CHILDREN OF BODOM frontman Alexi Laiho, calling him “incredibly talented,” humble and creative.

Laiho passed away on December 29, 2020 in his home in Helsinki, Finland. The 41-year-old had reportedly suffered from long-term health issues leading up to his death.

Morton, whose band had toured with CHILDREN OF BODOM, discussed Laiho’s passing during an appearance on the latest episode of “The MetalSucks Podcast”. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “The thing with Alexi is, man, he was just such a genuine, sweet dude. He was very much a rock star — he looked cool, and he was the lead singer, and he was a shred guitar player, and he was just this cool European metal rock star, but his personality was so mellow. He was real genuine — just a genuinely nice guy, really easy to talk to, easy to be around.”

According to Mark, Alexi once gave him a guitar lesson while LAMB OF GOD and CHILDREN OF BODOM were on the road together. “I was, like, ‘Show me how to do some of that stuff,'” Morton recalled. “He was, like, ‘What do you wanna know?’ I was, like, ‘I don’t know. Show me something.’ And he just sat down with me and showed me a couple of licks. He was just, like, ‘It’s not as hard as it sounds. You do this.’ He was that kind of guy. And he loved American cars, he loved muscle cars — we had that in common. He had a couple of cool cars, and I had a couple at the time — we would talk about that kind of stuff. He was just a real dude, man — just a real genuine dude.

“I hadn’t talked to him in — I don’t know — two or three years, just ’cause we were doing our own thing or whatever,” Mark added. “But I’ve just got nothing but good things to say about the guy. It was a big loss — a big loss. It was tragic. I hate it. ‘Cause he was a good dude. Incredibly talented — incredibly talented and humble and creative. It’s just sad. I hate it.”

Earlier this month, Alexi’s cause of death was revealed to be “alcohol-induced degeneration of the liver and pancreas connective tissue.” Furthermore, Laiho had a cocktail of painkillers, opioids and insomnia medication in his system at the time of his passing.

Alexi and drummer Jaska Raatikainen founded CHILDREN OF BODOM in 1993, and the band was one of the most internationally acclaimed metal acts in Finland up until their very last farewell concert in December of 2019. Last year, Alexi put together BODOM AFTER MIDNIGHT, which recorded three songs and shot one music video, to be released in April.

Besides CHILDREN OF BODOM, Laiho had played in such acts as WARMEN, SINERGY, KYLÄHULLUT and THE LOCAL BAND. Awarded with a Metal Hammer Golden God and several other international prizes, the guitarist was also the main star, leading a group of one hundred guitar players at the Helsinki Festival in 2015 in “100 Guitars From Hel” — a massive concert piece he composed.

BODOM AFTER MIDNIGHT made its live debut last October at Rytmikorjaamo in Seinäjoki, Finland. The 17-song show consisted entirely of CHILDREN OF BODOM material.

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California metallers ATREYU have released the official music video for their new song “Warrior” (featuring BLINK-182 drummer Travis Barker). The track is taken from the band’s upcoming album, “Baptize”, which is due on June 4 via Spinefarm Records. The clip arrives five months after the release of “Save Us”, which was the first taste of the band’s music since the departure of vocalist Alex Varkatzas in September.

“Warrior” and “Save Us” showcase ATREYU’s current lineup consisting of drummer Brandon Saller focusing completely on singing after previously sharing lead vocals with Varkatzas for most of the band’s two-decade-plus existence. Sitting behind the kit is Saller’s HELL OR HIGHWATER bandmate Kyle Rosa, who had filled in for Saller on drums in 2019 after Varkatzas bowed out of the band’s European tour while dealing with serious back and hernia issues.

ATREYU said: “Sometimes life punches you in the face. The fist hurts — and the floor hurts worse. But getting back up feels incredible. ‘Warrior’ is a song about the war within. There is a daily battle inside all of us, as well as the knowledge that we each have the power to not only get back up, but also have the fire we need to thrive and burn brighter than ever.”

The band previously stated about the track: “‘Warrior’ is song about persistence and never giving up. We hope this song can be the puzzle piece that helps people realize that we ALL have the capacity for greatness. Sometimes, greatness can exist in the shadows and lives buried under negativity, trauma, or anxiety. ‘Warrior’ is about searching through all of that endless darkness to finally find the sunrise.

“When we wrote ‘Warrior’, the idea to do a big marching drum break came about. We wanted it to feel like a hometown football game. Travis Barker was the perfect person to bring this to life. It’s cool to have him be a part of the song and to perform in a different light than what people may be used to.”

“Baptize” track listing:

01. Strange Powers Of Prophecy
02. Baptize
03. Save Us
04. Underrated
05. Broken Again
06. Weed
07. Dead Weight
08. Catastrophe
09. Fucked Up
10. Sabotage Me
11. Untouchable (feat. Jacoby Shaddix)
12. No Matter What
13. Oblivion (feat. Matt Heafy)
14. Stay
15. Warrior (feat. Travis Barker)

Asked in a recent interview with the “RRBG Podcast”if fans have responded positively to ATREYU’s new single and lineup change, guitarist Travis Miguel said: “For the most part, yeah. There’s obviously naysayers and people who are bummed out. And that’s totally fine — I mean, we all expected that. Because change in any shape or form, really, can be very uncomfortable. Especially for a band that loses their frontman, a lot of bands, they either thrive or it just doesn’t resonate the same with the listeners. But luckily, it’s not like we got a complete stranger coming in and moving up to the frontman spot. Brandon, obviously, did just about 50 percent of the vocals on all ATREYU stuff anyway. And he’s been working his ass off kind of transitioning from literally the dude from behind the drums to into the front of the stage.

“That being said, not this past summer, but in 2019, we did a tour in Europe, and Alex, at the time, he had injured his back and he literally couldn’t sit on a plane for 11, 12 hours to fly over to Europe, so he had to sit that one out,” he continued. “So we went over to Europe with this lineup that we have now. So there wasn’t a whole lot of thought [put into it]. It was kind of a no-brainer. Kyle Rosa, who is now playing drums for us, it was almost like that was his tryout, and we didn’t even know it. So it’s just kind of weird how things pan out.”

Speaking about the musical direction of the new ATREYU material, Travis said: “There are definite heavy bangers on there. It’s definitely ATREYU, which that could mean just about anything, really. A lot of people would consider that complete shitty music. Some people think it’s the greatest thing on earth. It’s all over the place, really, which is kind of what we’ve always done.”

ATREYU spent the first couple of months of 2020 working on material for its eighth album with producer John Feldmann, who previously helmed 2018’s “In Our Wake” and 2007’s breakout LP “Lead Sails, Paper Anchor”.

In August 2019, ATREYU released a deluxe edition of “In Our Wake” via Spinefarm Records. The new version featured the original “In Our Wake” album, along with seven additional tracks. The bonus material included B-sides from the sessions for both “In Our Wake” and 2015’s “Long Live”, along with alternate versions of the title track and “The Time Is Now” from “In Our Wake”. The deluxe edition featured completely redesigned artwork and a total of 19 songs.

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A fully analog echo designed in the tradition of the classic Japanese units that feature the MN3205 chip.

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John Cooper, the frontman and bassist for the Grammy-nominated Christian rock band SKILLET, says that he is “confused” by President Joe Biden’s plan for the country to begin to find a degree of normalcy and begin to move on from the coronavirus pandemic by the July Fourth holiday.

Biden delivered a speech on Thursday — the first anniversary of COVID-19 lockdowns — emphasizing the need for unity and courage as the country nears the light at the end of the tunnel.

“I will not relent until we beat this virus,” Biden told the nation in his first primetime address as president, “But I need you to get vaccinated when it’s your turn and when you can find an opportunity. And to help your family, your friends, your neighbors get vaccinated as well. Because here’s the point,” he continued, “If we do all this, if we do our part, if we do this together — by July the Fourth, there’s a good chance you, your family and friends will be able to get together in your backyard or your neighborhood and have a cookout and a barbecue and celebrate Independence Day. … After this long hard year, that will make this Independence Day something truly special.”

The 45-year-old Cooper, who defines himself as “conservative in ideology,” addressed Biden’s comments during the latest episode of his “Cooper Stuff” podcast. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “President Biden just came on and gave his speech about lockdown. Am I the only one confused as poop? I am so confused about what’s going on… Is anybody as confused as me?

“I look at the COVID numbers… Am I crazy? I literally may be crazy… I look at the COVID numbers. Unless I’m being lied to, they seem to be dropping like crazy,” he continued. “I’m talking about not only number of deaths, [but] the number of people actually getting COVID. Hospitalizations, numbers are way down. They came out with new stuff about the vaccines saying they’re actually working better than people thought. I’m not vaccinated, but I know a lot of people that are. And all the numbers are, like, it’s 94 percent effective. All this really good news is coming out, it looks like. Then President Biden comes on, and he’s, like, ‘Guys, we’re gonna get through this. It’s gonna be great. And we can have hope. And we’re all coming back.’ So he gave this sort of uplifting [speech]. And then he said, ‘So here’s what we’re trying to do: July 4th, if things go good, you can have a few family members over for a cookout outside.’ And then says, ‘Not large groups.’ [Laughs]

“I don’t know what this means,” Cooper, whose wife Korey is a member of SKILLET, added. “I am so confused, because we can’t get real information. We’re being lied to constantly. Why? Because everybody lies. Everybody has an agenda on TV. They just feed you propaganda.”

According to Johns Hopkins University, more than 29 million cases have been reported in the U.S., with more than 530,000 deaths reported from the virus. The United States cumulative cases represent roughly one-quarter of the more than 117 million global cases.

During the pandemic, SKILLET released a deluxe version of its latest album, “Victorious: The Aftermath”, with new songs. Cooper and his bandmates also played several drive-in concerts, and he released his debut book, “Awake & Alive To Truth (Finding Truth In The Chaos Of A Relativistic World)”.

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