Heavy Metal Superfan Blog

Every metal fan feels his or her pulse quicken a little at this time of year, because right between Thanksgiving and Christmas is when the most important event in all of music happens - the Grammy award nominations are released. Yes, it's Grammy time, and metalheads across the nation (because like the World Series or the Super Bowl, nobody outside the U.S. gives a crap) gather to watch the televised nomination special, whispering excitedly, "Whaddya think - will this be Arch Goat Of Sodomy's year? Oh, I guarantee you Körgull The Exterminator will be nominated for something!"

Yeah, right. Well, the nominations came out last night, and in between all the trophies they promised to award Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and Lady Gaga, they nominated some actual metal bands for the Metal and Hard Rock trophies. Here's the rundown.

Metal:

Judas Priest, "Dissident Aggressor" from A Touch of Evil Live
Lamb of God, "Set To Fail" from Wrath
Megadeth, "Head Crusher" from Endgame
Ministry, "Señor Peligro" from Adios ...
Slayer, "Hate Worldwide" from World Painted Blood


That's not a terrible list, honestly. Granted, "Dissident Aggressor" is a 30-year-old song, and the Ministry nomination is bizarre - I have no idea who on the nominating committee has such a hard-on for Al Jourgensen, but it seems like he's been nominated a bunch of times in recent years. If I had to pick a winner, I'd like to see it go to Lamb Of God, if only because Slayer have already won.

Hard Rock:

AC/DC, "War Machine" from Black Ice
Alice in Chains, "Check My Brain" from Black Gives Way to Blue
Linkin Park, "What I've Done" from Road to Revolution: Live at Milton Keyes
Metallica, "The Unforgiven III" from Death Magnetic
Nickelback, "Burn It To The Ground" from Dark Horse


This is a much worse list - as any list with Linkin Park and Nickelback on it would be. I'm also not all that excited about Alice In Chains getting a nomination, but that song bores me comatose. Frankly, my pick to win would be AC/DC - "War Machine" is a great song off a really strong album. But do I care? No, I do not. Wake me up when Brutal Truth gets a Lifetime Achievement Grammy.

I went to see Metallica on Saturday night, for the second time this year. (I caught the first night of their previous two-night East Coast stand, too, back at the tail end of January in Newark, NJ. You can read about that here.)

If you haven't seen this tour, they've been playing "in the round": The stage is in the center of the arena's floor, and they run all over the place, facing various sides of the crowd at different times, seemingly at will. (At one point, James Hetfield came to one corner of the audience and asked, "Have I been neglecting you?") Even Lars Ulrich's drum kit is rotated 90 degrees or so a few times during the set, so he makes a full circle throughout their two-hour set, too.



It's more interesting to see Metallica live in 2009 than it's been in several years, because they're touring in support of a really good album. I don't care if you don't think Death Magnetic stands up to Master of Puppets or Ride the Lightning, but there's simply no arguing that it's better than St. Anger or either of the Load albums. And the intricacy and length of the DM songs has caused Metallica to pull some of their older, longer, more complex songs out of retirement. At the January 31 show, they played "...And Justice For All" in its entirety, and Saturday night, they played "One," which they've been doing on a bunch of shows, and a month ago in Cleveland, they played four songs from the Justice album - "Harvester of Sorrow," "The Shortest Straw," "One" and "Dyers Eve." (This is where I remind you that Metallica sells full high-quality downloads of all their live shows from the past few years at LiveMetallica.com.)



Believe it or not, Lars Ulrich is the key to the live Metallica experience. His drumming is widely criticized, and indeed there were times on Saturday night, particularly in the set's first third, where he seemed really off, a half-beat or more behind his bandmates. But at the same time, his sloppy, almost punk-rock drumming added a fascinating looseness to some of the more technical, intricate songs. When I saw them play "...And Justice For All" back in January, it almost sounded like they were jamming on the song, rather than running through its parts like a classical ensemble, as it does on the album.

Anyway, the show was good, but ultimately a little too similar to the January performance for me. Hetfield's stage banter is very upbeat, very life-coach: He talks a lot about Metallica fans being a family, and about how we, the fans, are there to make the band feel good just as the band is there to make us feel good, etc., etc. It gets a little off-putting, a little too touchy-feely dad.

Hetfield's latter-day vocals have been criticized as well, for being too "redneck" or whatever. Well, earlier on Saturday, I was listening to Live In The '80s, a four-disc bootleg featuring a show from 1982 (when Dave Mustaine was still in the band and Cliff Burton had yet to join), one from a year or so later featuring Ride the Lightning tracks, one showcasing Master of Puppets, and one documenting most of ...And Justice For All. Trust me when I tell you that James Hetfield has never been a great singer. His current delivery is no sillier or more affected than his attempts to be a snarling NWOBHM guy and hit shrieking high notes were in 1982.

Opening acts at MSG were Lamb of God and Volbeat. I haven't seen Lamb of God live since 2005 or so, when they were on Ozzfest's second stage along with Mastodon, and they were really good. Their set was tight and ferocious, just like their albums. (I don't know whether Wrath has been fully appreciated by the metal nation, coming as it did on the heels of the disappointing Sacrament, but it's a great album and worth revisiting if you haven't listened to it in a while.) They were funny at times, too; at one point singer Randy Blythe said, "This next song is dedicated to my mom, who's making her first trip to New York City tonight. I love you, Mom. It's called 'Redneck.'" I think I spotted his mom, too; either that or he was being very friendly to a middle-aged woman in the front of the crowd.

The first band on, Volbeat, seemed like kind of a weird fit. They're from Denmark and they play a kind of Gothic rockabilly thing, like a cross between Social Distortion and Sisters Of Mercy, with some Misfits thrown in (they played a cover of "Angelfuck" toward the end of their set). They seemed overjoyed to be in such a huge venue, an enthusiasm that transferred to the crowd, who mostly dug 'em.

[Photos blatantly stolen from LiveMetallica.com.]

- Guitarist Mark Morton will not be taking part in Lamb of God's upcoming fall tour, because his wife recently gave birth to a daughter. He also missed the last six dates on the band's recent run of European shows. In Europe, his spot was held by Buz McGrath of Unearth; on the U.S. dates (many of which will be in big-ass arenas, opening for Metallica), the guitar slot will be filled by Doc Coyle of God Forbid.

- Swedish black metal band Marduk was supposed to appear on the Blackenedfest tour this past spring; the nationwide run would have found them co-headlining with Mayhem, and marked their first time playing the U.S. since 2000. But they didn't have their paperwork together, and it all fell apart at the last minute. Well, now they're really here, even if it's only for three shows (tonight in Baltimore, tomorrow in Philadelphia, and Saturday in NYC).

- Alice In Chains are putting out a new album with their new singer, whose name I can't remember and don't care to look up. The cover looks like this:

Lamb of God has announced their fall 2009 tour schedule in support of their most recent album, Wrath, and it includes 25 shows with Metallica (and Gojira!) as well as 25 additional headlining shows, with support on those dates from GWAR and Job For A Cowboy. Dates are as follows, with Metallica shows in bold:

September

14 Nashville, TN Sommet Center
15 Cincinnati, OH US Bank Arena
16 Memphis, TN Minglewood Theater
17 Indianapolis, IN Conseco Fieldhouse
19 Montreal, Quebec Bell Center
20 Montreal, Quebec Bell Center
21 Providence, RI Lupos at the Strand
22 Montclair, NJ Welmont Theater
23 Pittsburgh, PA Amphitheater at Station Square
25 Oklahoma City, OK Bricktown Events Center
26 Lubbock, TX Lonestar Amphitheater
27 Austin, TX Austin Music Hall
28 San Antonio, TX AT&T Center
29 Dallas, TX American Airlines Center

October

01 Ft. Lauderdale, FL Bank Atlantic Center
02 Jacksonville, FL Plush
03 Tampa, FL St. Pete Times Forum
04 Atlanta, GA Philips Arena
05 Orlando, FL Hard Rock
07 Little Rock, AR Clear Channel Metroplex
08 Wichita, KS Cottilion
09 Des Moines, IA Val Air Ballroom
10 Fargo, ND Playmakers Pavilion
12 Winnipeg, MB MTS Centre
13 Minneapolis, MN Target Center
15 Cleveland, OH Quicken Loans Arena
16 Knoxville, TX Valarium
17 Charlottesville, VA JPJ Arena
18 Charlotte, NC Charlotte Bobcats Arena
20 Norfolk, VA Norva
21 Raleigh, NC Disco Rodeo
23 Atlantic City, NJ House of Blues
24 Big Flats, NY Taggs
25 London, Ontario JLC
26 Toronto, Ontario Air Canada Centre
27 Toronto, Ontario Air Canada Centre
29 Moncton, New Brunswick Coliseum Hall C
30 Halifax, Nova Scotia Cunard Centre
31 Quebec City, Quebec Colisée Pepsi

November

01 Quebec City, Quebec Colisée Pepsi
03 Ottawa, Ontario Scotiabank Place
05 Ft. Wayne, IN Pierres
06 Milwaukee, WI Eagles Ballroom
07 Springfield, MO Shrine Mosque
09 Grand Rapids, MI Van Andel Arena
10 Buffalo, NY HSBC Arena
11 Washington, D.C. 9:30 Club
12 Albany, NY Times Union Center
14 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
15 New York, NY Madison Square Garden

You can't have metal without screaming, overdriven electric guitars. And while some of the best metal bands around have just one guitarist, a lot of the true greats have two axes up front, ripping through the speakers in tandem. So for this weekend's poll, you decide which band has the greatest dual-guitar team in all of metal. Voting closes at 10 AM Monday, so vote early and often!

Metallica has announced the opening acts for its upcoming U.S. tour dates, posting the following message on metallica.com:

"While we are still enjoying our European summer vacation, a quick note here about the fall shows in North America. Our French friends Gojira will be joining us, along with Lamb of God, for shows September 14 - October 18, while Lars' [Ulrich] brethren from Denmark Volbeat will be hanging for the shows October 26 - December 12. One other quick thing - unfortunately, Lamb of God cannot continue on with us in December, so we'll have more news about those shows for you later."

Metallica's fall U.S. tour dates are as follows:

09/14/2009 Nashville, TN Sommet Center
09/15/2009 Cincinnati, OH US Bank Arena
09/17/2009 Indianapolis, IN Conseco Fieldhouse
09/19/2009 Montreal, QC Bell Centre
09/20/2009 Montreal, QC Bell Centre
09/28/2009 San Antonio, TX AT&T Center
09/29/2009 Dallas, TX American Airlines Center
10/01/2009 Ft. Lauderdale, FL Bank Atlantic Center
10/03/2009 Tampa, FL St. Pete Times Forum
10/04/2009 Atlanta, GA Philips Arena
10/12/2009 Winnipeg, MB MTS Centre
10/13/2009 Minneapolis, MN Target Center
10/15/2009 Cleveland, OH Quicken Loans Arena
10/17/2009 Charlottesville, VA JPJ Arena
10/18/2009 Charlotte, NC Time Warner Cable Arena
10/26/2009 Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre
10/27/2009 Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre
10/29/2009 Ottawa, ON Scotiabank Place
10/31/2009 Quebec City, QC Colisee Pepsi
11/01/2009 Quebec City, QC Colisee Pepsi
11/03/2009 Ottawa, ON Scotiabank Place
11/09/2009 Grand Rapids, MI Van Andel Arena
11/10/2009 Buffalo, NY HSBC Arena
11/12/2009 Albany, NY Times Union Center
11/14/2009 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
11/15/2009 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
12/05/2009 Las Vegas , NV Mandalay Bay
12/07/2009 Boise, ID Idaho Center
12/08/2009 Sacramento, CA ARCO Arena
12/10/2009 Anaheim, CA Honda Center
12/12/2009 San Jose, CA HP Pavilion

It's America's birthday, so what better time to celebrate the next generation of American metal? Here are ten highly regarded up-and-comers, some of whom have gotten major attention in the last few years, while others are still known primarily to diehards. Whatever the case, I want to know who you think is making the best metal in America in 2009. So vote for anybody on the list below, or complain in comments that I ignored your favorite band. And Happy Fourth of July Weekend...try not to blow yourselves up, 'cause there'll be more metal on Monday!