The duo will release their debut album, The Hymn Of A Broken Man in the UK on November 8. This is the first time they have worked together since KsE’s break-through album, Alive Or Just Breathing, in 2002, which saw Leach quit the band shortly after its release. He was replaced by current Killswitch Engage frontman Howard Jones.

“In all my life I have yet to write a record that bares my soul as much as this record does,” says Leach. “Adam and I had a real spiritual connection while making this and I know that it comes through in the performances and lyrics. This record has our blood, sweat, and tears flowing through it. It is painfully honest at times. In short, this record is our catharsis.”

Dutkiewicz plays all the instruments on the record as well as contributing vocals. The tracklisting for the album is as follows:

01 Strength In Numbers

02 Fight For Life

03 Willing

04 Where The Spirit Leads Me

05 Until The End Of Days

06 Live In Love

07 In The Arms of Mercy

08 Hymn Of A Broken Man

09 Hope Remains

10 The End Of Eternity

11 Worlds Apart

12 Fall From Grace

Source: Kerrang!

KoRn is without a doubt one of those bands that’s been on every headbanger’s lips at some stage in their life, one of those bands that have managed to make at least one favoured song in almost every album released. Even to headbangers that don’t even like them.

Korn has had a prodigal career up until now and regardless of one or two dreadful releases, they are enduring to go ahead and arouse millions of young bands across the globe to never back down when facing your dreams and the success thereof. Never give up and remember who you are! This is what the band reminds us with the seemingly third instalment of their ever so popular debut!

But how exactly will KoRn III (Remember who you are) cope with Headbang Today’s Power Review? Well let’s get going:

At first glance, the album seems a bit short.  It carries a total of eleven tracks; one of which is the album’s intro track and the rest are deficient, barely longer than five minutes.  But once popped in, with the volume cranked up… WHO THE FUCK CARES, right? It’s KoRn!

Jonathan Davis sticks to his renowned vocal grumble while KoRn’s traditional funky bass bitch slappin’ and heavy guitar riffs destroy any sign of tenderness in the atmosphere. It’s KoRn as we know them: Hard, Loud, Heavy and Raw! So, yeah, if you’re a KoRn fan then this album is for you! One thing that also stood out about Davis’ voice is the one step up with heavyweight roars which divinely work with the album’s darkness.

While we enjoyed it, we would’ve loved for the album to have more tracks! Non KoRn fans might want to give selected tracks a few listens before starting to get into it, but this album is worth a top ten nomination at the end of 2010.

8/10 Metal Horns! \m/

Sevendust are hard rockers with a pure instinct for rocking the shit out of any line-up of bands. Their much anticipated “Cold Day Memory” was released recently and this is how Headbang Today’s Power Review treated it!

With very metal album art gracing their album’s cover, Sevendust usually delivers when it is least expected of them. Cold Day Memory is filled with both musical and vocal excellence. A first listen gives a Sevendust fan the feeling that they will never be able to pull off another “Home” album with its heaviness… But rock out to this album for the second time and you will realise that this might just be their best work yet!

Even after purposely trying to find holes in this album, we were swiftly reminded that there are none, really. Sevendust deserves as much respect as what genre defining bands such as Megadeth and Slayer has earned in their prolonged musical careers and Sevendust might just get struck by that with this one!

9/10 Metal Horns!

Massive Scar Era is a hardcore Egyptian metal band with talent that should never be overlooked… by anyone! After they’ve been entered into Headbang Today’s Most Metal Underground Band competition, this is the review they’ve gotten themselves into!

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Whenever the metal world hears of band with a female vocalist, a point often gets made that the band is either made or broken purely because of the vocalist.  Massive Scar Era fortunately supports a female vocalist with impressive vocal potential. This chick can sing, for sure… but how does her screaming compare to the likes of Kitty’s Morgan Lander? Close… if not identical.

A better comparison would be a female version of Hatebreed’s Jamey Jasta! Their “Tribute” song is a rather fine example of that.

Their music touches melodies and instruments which gives us an ancient Egyptian feeling… Whether it is Massive Scar Era’s intention or not, the coincidences are simply too hard to ignore. These guys do a fine job at sticking to the integral part of modern and ancient Egyptian culture… musically.

Their guitar solos are pretty rad but the diversity in musical instruments sometimes leaves you feeling that it might be a bit too much. If they had to stick to their metal guns (which would be purely drums, bass, guitars and vocals) this band will definitely without any doubt go far.

It would be a close call if this band had to face Varden in the battle for Egypt’s Most Metal Underground crown and a moment we here at Headbang Today hope to experience.

Bring on the beer, bring on the gigs, bring on Massive Scar Era!

HEADBANG TODAY’S RATING: 8/10 METAL HORNS!

FINAL SCORE: 9/10

Karma, hailing from Egypt, is a band with exceptional talent… But will their talent earn them the throne for Egypt’s Most Metal Underground Band?

Starting off, we got hold of Karma’s first album, ‘Actions In Previous Existence.’ It contains 8 very uniquely written metal tracks with a conscience of hard rockiness.

Vocal work varies from singing to short bursts of growling. Although we truthfully feel that the singing doesn’t blend too well with the louder riffs, the growling certainly does. So we have to give them that.

The drummer is legit. His beats and rhythms definitely embed a sensation of solidness.  We really enjoyed Karma’s guitar solos. These guys are legends at those.  Sometimes just skipping to the solos when you don’t feel like music, are enough to reel you in for the rest.

They definitely have the potential to go a lot heavier than what they currently are.  Most songs have more of a hard-rock feel to it, but the quality of this album’s mixing overrides that as they switch from chilled to heavy.

Oh and by the way, nice Backstreet Boys cover!  Yet, it would sound better if they cranked up the heaviness a bit more.  They can go much heavier and we’d dig to see that!

Headbang Today’s rating: 7/10 metal horns!

Final Score: 8/10

Right headbangers, give us your own ratings!

An epic South African power metal band. Yes. That they are.

Headbang Today  ferociously swung its hooligan hoop, casted it around this musical demon’s whiplashed neck and then roped ‘em in for an interview with South Africa’s loudest site… Ladies and gentlemen, we bring you STRIDENT!

Strident are: Deon van Heerden – Vocals and Lead Guitar; George van der Riet – Rhythm Guitar and Sex God; Niell Schoeman – Lead and Rhythm guitar; Piet Delport – Bass and Backing Vocals; Christian Burgess – Drums of Doom; Daniel Volgraff – Keyboards and groupie handler.

Interview by: South African metal’s savior… Scream

Headbang Today: Hell, we haven’t done an interview since MotherFUDD!  Which leaves me feeling a bit… rusty? Behold! ‘Strident stands as South Africa’s defender of true steel, willing to live and die for their brand of heavy metal, in all its cheesy glory’

Or so you say. SA’s defender of true steel, I agree, but ‘cheesy’ glory?  During our informal conversation not too long ago, you told us tales about how you were off to conquer Ramfest… Do tell us more! How did that go down?

Strident: Ramfest was one of those experiences that will go down in Strident’s history for sure, not just the gig itself which was mind-numbingly epic, but the whole vibe around the Metal4Africa stage was blazing 24/7, you could really see and hear the effort and passion put into it by Patrick and the boys. Standing backstage and hearing our name being chanted by the rowdiest crowd we’ve ever had was quite an experience. Also there was some groupie action which is always a sign of a good show.

Headbang Today:  Now, despite the fact that you are conquering ‘on all fronts’, I see that the band as a whole are influenced by gods such as Manowar and Iron Maiden. It’s possible (but unlikely) that one of these band members mated with one of your parents back in the day and thus, resulted in the birth of demigods… aka the members of Strident! Who are your individual musical influences?

Strident: Anyone who revels in the sheer bombast of epic, guitar-driven music. Queen, Manowar, Dio, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Blind Guardian, Kamelot and the like – bands with a keen sense of the theatrical, and the balls to do something different.

Headbang Today:  We vowed to make 2010 the biggest year for Headbang Today and the bands involved, but lately we’ve been caught doing all sorts of random shit that really has had nothing to do with anything important at all… (Except for our Underground Kings tournament, of course.) You, on the other hand, have been gigging here and there (Stages Of Brutality), with some dudes called Bile Of Man and Ridarre Av Koden… At least you’re a tad more productive than what we are. What’s next on the cards for Strident?

Strident: Well, we have the Bludjinn Metal Festival at Muzone coming up the 29^th of May, and then we’re going to do this little thing called recording an album in June/July. We’re also awaiting the completion of our music video which will quite literally re-arrange people’s faces with its sheer audacity. It will hopefully be done in time for our album release for a double-sucker punch of awesomeness applied directly to the face.

Headbang Today:  What does your brief, interest-revealing list of ‘Battles, Odin, Metal and Epic Things’ exactly consist out of? Elaborate!

Strident: Well, you see, we love all things bombastic and outlandish in nature – which is why we play Power Metal – and there are few things more epic and bombastic than battles, Odin and Metal. In other words, our lyrical interests encompass legendary tales of bravery, our love for metal and its ever-lasting legacy, the spirit to fight for what you believe in and just generally awesome things like zombies and pirates. We run the full gamut in that regard. There are too many damn emos walking around feeling sorry for themselves; for us, music is about passion, about feeling like you’re standing on top of a mountain, and if you can’t make people smile, you should become a stock-broker.

Headbang Today:  Enlighten us of Strident’s stances towards the following groups:

• Self praising rappers
• Self enriching record labels
• The elderly
• Your neighbors’ minimal tolerance for metal music

Strident: Self praising rappers: “Taylor, I’m really happy for you, and I’m gonna let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time.”

Self enriching record labels: Well if they’re self enriching they don’t need artists now do they? So screw ‘em.

The elderly: There are a surprising amount of awesome old people, a bulk of them being musicians from the 60’s onwards, and Christopher Lee definitely taking the Most Epic and Badass Old Person Ever crown. Piet’s mother has been to pretty much every Strident show ever, and doesn’t blink twice in a moshpit. The elderly were young and riding motorcycles when Metal was born, so respect.

Neighbours: Aside from the occassional police summons and cranky asshole, we’re on tentatively good terms with them. The “baby-eater” shirts we wear don’t hurt, I suppose.

Headbang Today: When can we expect a full length album from Strident?

Strident: September, Odin willing. We’ve already written around half of the second one, so we’re aiming to get the sophomore one out in mid-2011. The fans have been very patient, and it will be rewarded.

Headbang Today: For those that have not heard or seen Strident on stage before, tell them a bit about your on-stage antics and what they can expect.

Strident: We give our all for every show – if the energy isn’t there, what’s the point? It has to be entertaining – it is a show, after all. I think the performative element is lost on a lot of bands. If you’re just going to stand staring at your instrument people might as well put on their ipods and dance in front of the mirror. We have a bit of choreography in the sense that we try and rock the fuck out in unison and get the feeling of the song across. We also had a sword that we would hand out to trusted fans in the first row at the start of a show – that is until it got stolen at ROAR recently (where else?) We have the crowd sing along to parts, and mostly they sing along on their own which is pretty awesome. We’re not averse to throwing in the occasional cheesy joke, either. It’s all a part of making the fans feel like a part of the show and getting that feeling of brotherhood and community going.

Headbang Today: So, you will be celebrating your two year anniversary at Bludjinn, A venue which undoubtedly has one of the biggest stages in South Africa – For bands! I’m sure a lot has happened in the past two years. Tell us about your best and worst gig so far… We dig crazy stories!

Strident: Well now, we haven’t really had any bad gigs per se; interesting ones, yes. We did a show last winter in a barn in Milnerton during the most apocalyptic storm ever. Our old drummer, Marcel, wrote his car off on the way to the gig, but he still rocked up and played: that’s metal. Our first gig was, naturally, our least polished. We had the most un-metal front man ever (who was given his pink slip around 20 seconds after the last chord), and then there was the infamous “George vs Guitar” incident which we quickly turned into a literal joke before it became an embarrassing one, and that’s all you’ll hear about it.  Our show in PE recently was also quite a memorable one, the people there are seriously hungry for real metal. They all knew the words and were singing along – power of the internet, eh? Ramfest was probably our most debauched show, plus we had the best sound ever, first proper moshpit at a Strident show (power metal, remember), people getting punched in the face, people getting naked in front of the stage, underwear thrown on stage, plus a german lass who *really* liked our um,  stuff, ahem.

Headbang Today: We now approach the end of this interview, and we hope you have enjoyed it as I certainly have. So we now unleash our final question! If Strident were an animal, what animal would it be and why?

Strident: A 6-headed Tiger-Bear-Shark-Dragon hybrid that breathes acid fire and feeds on the blood of emos. Because that’s just fucking badass. Also, we hate emos.

SO DO WE!

Slipknot lead singer Corey Taylor weeps at a press conference where band members paid tribute to bass player Paul Gray, who died in an Iowa hotel.

The surviving members of the heavy metal band Slipknot made a rare appearance Tuesday without their trademark masks to pay tribute to their bassist, Paul Gray, who was found dead Monday at an Iowa hotel.

At a news conference in Des Moines, The Associated Press reported, the band’s lead singer, Corey Taylor, said: “Yesterday we lost our brother, and the world seems a little smaller because of it. He had the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever known. The only way I can sum up Paul Gray is love.”

The body of Mr. Gray, who was 38, was found by an employee of the TownePlace Suites in Johnston, Iowa. Sgt. Dave Disney of the Urbandale police told The A.P. that the employee had gone to Mr. Gray’s room after a relative called the hotel and asked that someone check on him after having been unable to reach him by phone.

Autopsy results released on Tuesday were inconclusive. Gregory Schmunk, the medical examiner for Polk County, said it could be four to six weeks before results from toxicology tests are available.

Slipknot has been on a yearlong hiatus; its last studio album, “All Hope Is Gone,” went to No. 1 on the Billboard chart after its release in 2008.

Source

Our thoughts are with Paul’s family, friends as well as Slipknot. Paul Gray will never be forgotten for what he has done and created with the band – Scream

A symphonic / power metal band from Cairo, Egypt. The band incorporates many elements of symphonic, metal & rock music into their music, the beautiful blend is mind-blowing with both energy of electric guitars riffs and chops and beauty of different orchestral & instrumental arrangements. – Or so they say… we’ll be the judges of that!

With Sworn To Silence seizing the throne for South Africa’s Most Metal Underground band, we now shift our focus to yet another African metal band, Varden! Will they become Egypt’s Most Metal?

Their first track, ‘Building My Love’ already gave us the inside scoop on what we can expect from these dudes. With beautiful melodic guitar picking and a nice blend of piano melodies gives Varden that awesome ‘Nightwish’-like feel to it. The song shifts from a calm before the storm to an actual storm of decent heavy metal drama. The guitar solo thereof is also superb.

Viking metal to its finest… yet the vocal work is quite monotonous in the sense that we would’ve treasured a screaming variety perhaps? We’re huge fans of instrumental metal nonetheless and the double bass is something that definitely gets us going.

One thing is for certain. I would dig to see them live. I can only imagine solid headbanging right through!

Our favourite track would definitely be ‘Building My Love’ (even though it’s probably the only quality driven track we could get our hands on for now.)

HEADBANG TODAY’S RATING: 8/10

(9/10 FINAL SCORE)

Allright Headbangers! Give their tracks a listen above and give us your rating below!

STONE SOUR has set “Audio Secrecy” as the title of its third album, due late summer via Roadrunner Records. The band and producer Nick Raskulinecz (FOO FIGHTERS, ALICE IN CHAINS, RUSH) are currently holed away at Blackbird Studios in Nashville, Tennessee, where they’re putting finishing touches on the much-buzzed-about record.

“‘Audio Secrecy’ is the summation of everything we want, everything we crave and everything we fight for,” says lead singer Corey Taylor. “The dimensions go further than anything we’ve ever tried before. It’s metal, rock, slow, soft, hard, fast, bitter, beautiful and most importantly, it’s REAL. You can’t get an album like this out of a band that doesn’t exist. We’re throwing caution out the damn window.”

The band (vocalist Corey Taylor, guitarists James Root and Josh Rand, bassist Shawn Economaki and drummer Roy Mayorga) will be previewing select songs from “Audio Secrecy” during their performances on this summer’s Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival. The 36-date tour launches August 17 in Minneapolis, Minnesota and will visit arenas and amphitheatres across North America before wrapping October 4 in Madison, Wisconsin. Tickets for Uproar go on sale Saturday, May 15 in select markets and are available via RockstarUproar.com andLiveNation.com.

Raskulinecz previously worked with STONE SOUR on the gold-selling“Come What(ever) May” album..

Both previous STONE SOUR albums have sold more than half a million copies and are approaching the platinum mark in sales, bolstered by hits like “Bother”, “Through Glass” and “Silly World”.

STONE SOUR frontman Corey Taylor and guitarist Jim Root also play in SLIPKNOT.

Source: Blabbermouth

Matricide ceased existence until life was drummed back into this grunge metal serpent, all thanks to their new drummer Marco! Now back from the dead, each band member is programmed to slaughter any gig or event that crosses their path (in a good way). All hail Matricide, Capetonian metallers on a mission to seek and destroy as they are equipped with pure South African metal talent!” – Scream (HeadbangToday.com)

By not having much material to write Matricide’s review on, it swiftly dawned upon us that this is a band that don’t need to have  a bucket load of material to convince us that they’re worthy of being in this competition. There are 3 contending bands from each country. Two of them were pure melodic metal groups that have the potential to reign supreme in the battle for the continent’s “Most Metal” throne… but then Matricide came along and entered themselves. They showed balls. They showed courage and best of all they showed Headbang Today that you don’t have to have crazy melodic guitar work and dark sounding riffs to be metal.

Matricide’s musical style is grungy, rapid, energetic and most importantly, reasonably heavy! Byron’s vocal performance brings an opulent variety to the table while talks with Marco (Matricide’s drummer), revealed that Armin (The guitarist) does a great deal of singing as well. Something we obviously don’t see in the attached video.

For those that regularly attend Capetonian gigs will definitely know who Matricide is. They’ve put up a number of shows in and around Cape Town and even made a tour to Port Elizabeth where they proudly displayed their talent and reaped appreciation from the headbangers up there.

Anyway, back to the review! Matricide rocks! They need to expose themselves a little bit more online though as they turn out to be one of those subliminal bands. Well, if they succeed towards the throne for Headbang Today’s Underground Kings… then the latter will be no problem for these dudes at all!

HEADBANG TODAY’S RATING: 7/10

Allright Headbanger’s! Give give us your rating below! (headbanger ratings close Thursday 29 April)