Headbangers, welcome to this week’s edition of Shred Vicious.
We kick off this instalment with comments made by original Iron Maiden vocalist Paul Di’Anno, who verbally attacked a fan attending his concert two weeks ago in Donetsk, Ukraine after the fan repeatedly yelled out for the band's current vocalist Bruce Dickinson. The vocal fan can be heard repeatedly shouting out Dickinson's name in heavily accented English, prompting Di'Anno to respond, "I'm sorry. I don't sing opera. [Singing in operatic style] 'Run to the hills…' [That's] too fucking easy, and I'm not gay. This is punk. If you like Bruce Dickinson, go home and listen to his records."
He continued, "Why did you come and buy a ticket, motherfucker? This is real punk, man. This is what made Iron Maiden. Not the money-making machine. Why don't you go fuck yourself? I come up here to work hard. If you don't like me, fuck off! I'm sorry. I didn't say I was a nice guy, man. You fuck me up, I'll kick your fucking ass… and anybody else." Di’Anno will be touring Australia very soon along side another of Maiden’s ex-vocalists, Blaze Bayley.
Bay Area metallers Machine Head were forced to cancel shows in North America this week with Dethklok and All That Remains so frontman Robb Flynn could undergo emergency surgery. Flynn had planned to go under the knife in January 2013 after completing the tour as he has been playing through the pain of a double inguinal hernia since the trek started in October. He had hoped to continue the tour despite extreme discomfort, but it's become too difficult to carry on. Now home recovering, Machine Head hope to rejoin the mammoth US tour on Nov 24.
Commented Flynn: "I've been toughing out an inguinal hernia below my waistline since June of last year, and a few months ago got a second hernia in my nuts. What basically happens is my guts drop into my nuts, and it looks like I have a third testicle. (Man, I can hear the jokes already!) It hasn't been that painful, and I've gone to the doctor a few times to take care of it, but he said after surgery I probably couldn't sing for a few weeks, and since that wasn't going to happen, I scheduled it for January when I had a break. Unfortunately, after the last few shows, my guts have been very swollen and hard to push back in. Yesterday, the pain was excruciating and I went to the emergency room last night. They said that I need surgery. I will be doing my damnedest to rejoin the tour in a couple weeks."
Heavy hitters Sevendust have announced the title for their ninth studio album due out in April 2013. Black Out The Sun was recorded at Architekt Music studios in Butler, New Jersey with engineer Mike Ferretti. "It's a basic Sevendust record. There's nothing, like, too completely different than anything we've done before," commented Clint Lowery [Guitars]. "It's got a darker vibe to it. We've got a good amount of the programming element in there. It's a lot of what we do — it's heavy and it's got its melodic element in it. So if you're a Sevendust fan, it's more along the lines of the second and third records we did — it's kind of like that. It's got a couple of throwback vibes to it. Animosity and Home, if I can put those two records together, it would sound similar to the new CD."
On the local scene, Sydney’s Thy Art Is Murder have struck an international record deal with Toronto-based metal label Distort. Joining their already blistering roster Cancer Bats, Architects, Comeback Kid, and Crossfaith, Thy Art Is Murder’s latest album Hate will be released by Distort in the coming months. This incredible news comes just weeks after Hate saw a Top 40 ARIA debut, charting at #35 — the highest debut from any Australian death metal band in history. Hate also made a strong impact across the pacific, entering at #4 on the Canadian iTunes Metal Chart and #2 on the US iTunes Metal Chart.
More details have emerged this week regarding the upcoming Black Sabbath album. Reports had been stating that the new album will feature fifteen new tracks; guitarist Tony Iommi has explained: "That's wrong . . . We've written fifteen songs and we've played them all. However, at the moment, we're recording them. We recorded them at my house first, in England, just as demos, but now we're doing them for real. So we're about six tracks in now, at the moment."
Original bassist, Geezer Butler, is all set to record more bass tracks on the new album this week. Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne and bassist Geezer Butler are recording their first album together under the Sabbath name since 1978's Never Say Die. The drums on the disc will be handled by Tommy Clufetos, who has replaced founding drummer Bill Ward due to a contractual dispute between Ward and the rest of the group. No doubt some hardcore Sabbath fans are still quite upset that Ward will have no part in the recording or upcoming tour dates. Asked if there is any chance of Ward rejoining the band, Iommi said, "We'll always have a heart for Bill, but I think it's gone past that now, because it's gone on so long that I don't see that happening at the moment. Maybe at some point we might play together again."
Plenty is happening on the touring front with Greek metallers Firewind announcing the postponement of their upcoming Australian tour. Featuring Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Gus G, the band were due to hit our shores in April. The band released the following statement: "Due to circumstances beyond the band's control, Firewind's previously announced tour of Australia has been postponed. The band members are all extremely disappointed as they were all looking forward to playing their first shows Down Under and promise to make it up to their Australian fans with rescheduled dates as soon as possible." Keep it locked here for updates!
In other tour news... we welcome Eyehategod to our shores for the very first time this week. The band will play their first show in Brisbane on November 21 before systematically levelling stages through Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne, these will be shows you can’t miss!
With the summer festival season about to head into full force, we’d like to remind you that there are plenty of great hard hitting rock, punk and alternative bands ready to get rip it up on the Big Day Out stages. Make sure you check out Punk royalty Off! Who were amazing on their last Aussie visit! Also ready to kick up a storm is House Vs Hurricane, Death Grips, Against Me and Every Time I Die and headliners the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who everyone has to witness live at least once live in their lifetime! Check out the official Big Day Out website for dates and complete line-up details.
One thing that we’re never short of is tour rumours and it doesn’t get much better than this for fans of hard rock and heavy metal! Rockers Van Halen have just announced rescheduled shows in Japan will now take place in June 2013. Although no official Australian dates are confirmed, there is a very good chance we will see the band here around this same timeline. Iconic hard rockers Aerosmith are strongly rumoured to be touring Australia in late May and metal giants Slipknot are strongly rumoured to hit Australia in late April. Let’s cross our fingers that these tours all get announced very soon!
