RATM steals the glory! Guardian.co.uk reports that Killing In The Name has won the battle for Christmas top spot on the basis of downloads only. It sold about 500,000 copies last week, approximately 50,000 more than The Climb, X Factor winner Joe McElderry’s earnest ballad. Campaign initiator 35 year old Jon Morter claims that the choice of a relatively obscure Miley Cyrus cover for McElderry’s single helped the Rage campaign: “If he had released Don’t Stop Believing (the Journey song McElderry sang in an X Factor heat) we would have been dead and buried.” Hopefully Morter’s statement against pansy-ass cover songs has taught the ‘powers that be’ a lesson in song choice! Anarchy has triumphed under the ironic banner of a song that says “Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me”. The success of Morter’s facebook campaign, which was assisted by twitter, is a testament to the strength of social media: used in this case as a tool to unite a collective in a bid to topple the status quo. In this battle, the internet has emerged as master in command.

The X Factor winner has been announced and Joe McElderry is likely to follow the trend of the last few years by achieving the No 1 single this Christmas. It’s a bummer, especially when McElderry’s song is not even original. The Climb, owned by Sony Music Entertainment, is a country pop song performed by American recording artist and actress Miley Cyrus for the 2009 film Hannah Montana: The Movie. Lameness personified. One of the biggest criticisms of X Factor is the karaoke nature of the show, in which contestants perform renditions of songs by successful pop artists. And a karaoke Christmas single merely confirms this view. That is why, this year, a facebook campaign has been launched by Tracy and Jon Morter, entitled “Rage Against the Machine for Christmas No 1″. (more…)

You gotta love metalheads! Last night I, along with my 34 week pregnant belly, went to a Paradise Lost gig at Islington Academy in London – as fan and music journalist. So whilst the husband and his photo pass were hanging out with the important peeps up front, I made my way upstairs – wisely thinking that my baby girl, although a fan of Paradise Lost, would not appreciate being crunched against a hoard of sweaty metallers for two hours. Luckily there was a nice comfy couch with my name written all over it, so I sat my ass down to wait for the metal masters of doom and gloom to inflict their brilliance on the night. (more…)

Woo Hoo! It’s real people! It’s really real. Rob Zombie has released What?, the first single from his new album Hellbilly Deluxe 2 – Noble Jackals, Penny Dreadfuls And The Systematic Dehumanization Of Cool, successor to 1998’s Hellbilly Deluxe. It’s the Industrial metaller’s first new track in three years and all fans (particularly those of us here in London … hint hint) are hoping against all hope that the Billy From Hell will deem it necessary to promote his album with a small tour … or a big tour, with lots of props and pyros (hint hint) but no pressure of course. Zombie kicks off his “Hellbilly Deluxe 2 Tour” of the US on October 29, just a couple of weeks before the album is due for release: November 10 is the exact date but the exact time – hour, minute and second – has yet to be made public. Until then, why not get your brains a-stirring, your heads a-banging and your feet a-tapping by feasting your eyes upon the track list for Hellbilly Deluxe 2:

1. Jesus Frankenstein
2. Sick Bubble-Gun
3. What?
4. Mars Needs Women
5. Werewolf, Baby
6. Virgin Witch
7. Dream Factory
8. Burn
9. Cease to Exist
10. Werewolf Women of the SS
11. The Man Who Laughs

Just remember, Mr Z, that sharing is caring and it’s not fair to let America hog you (again, no pressure) so get your Zombified ass down here (pressure! pressure! pressure!) and remember that Download is on the horizon – it’s always best to book a place early.

Marilyn Manson’s recent bout of bad publicity has made him one angry dude, as attested by the singer’s latest blog entry on MySpace: “I can, but do not need to defend myself and the absurd accusations that the average press has clinged onto. If we need a nude photo of me to prove that I am far different than the soon-to-be-murdered-in-their-home press has decided to fabricate, that is easy … If one more ‘journalist’ makes a cavalier statement about me and my band, I will personally or with my fans help, greet them at their home and discover just how much they believe in their freedom of speech. I dare you all to write one more thing that you won’t say to my face. Because I will make you say it. In that manner. That is a threat”. Manson’s rampage is a direct response to an article published by LA Weekly in which journalist Erin Broadley reports on Travis Keller’s (Buddyhead.com founder) experience of meeting Manson in 2007. The article portrays the singer as a moronic coke addict – the final straw in a long list of recent accusations made by the press. (more…)

I was a tad annoyed after reading an article published by Metal Hammer, entitled Kerry King Doesn’t Like Killswitch Engage, which explains why King tried to pull the plug on Killswitch Engage’s spot on Slayer’s run as headliners of the US Jagermeister tour. According to the article, King says, “I’d never seen ‘em live, and then I saw them live and I’m just offended by the silliness that goes on on stage [on the part of] the guitar player [Adam D]. He puts his foot in his mouth all the time and he says stupid shit, and I just didn’t think that side show should be on my stage.” WTF? Seriously! Lighten the fuck up. Adam D’s tongue-in-cheek antics are a hit with crowds. He is really funny and his insanity should not detract from the fact that he is an awesome musician. Killswitch Engage put on a great live show, and that’s a fact. And what’s with the megalomania? Since when did Kerry King reserve the right to throw his weight around like Adolf Hitler? Clearly I missed the part where he was voted ‘despot of the decade’. His dictatorial attitude is just so not what metal is about. Strong opinions are part of metal – it’s a done deal but despotism most certainly is not! Get a life and a sense of humour Kerry King! I hope Adam smothers your bullshit with his cape.

LIMP BIZKIT RESURRECTS THE NU METAL DEBATE

So Limp Bizkit is back. More significantly, Wes Borland is back. The respected guitarist has a volatile history with the band but has never been able to achieve the success of LB with his own musical ventures, which have included Big Dumb Face, Eat the Day and Black Light Burns. Of his reconnection with LB, Borland, in a joint statement with frontman Fred Durst, says, “We decided we were more disgusted and bored with the state of heavy popular music than we were with each other. Regardless of where our separate paths have taken us, we recognize there is a powerful and unique energy with this particular group of people we have not found anywhere else.” The resurgence of Durst and his homies has re-awoken a debate that has plagued the metal community since the early 90s: is nu metal, metal? The genre seems to have become the shame of the metal fraternity in recent years and yet it has birthed some truly significant acts including Slipknot, Deftones, Incubus, System of a Down and Korn – innovative bands that have manipulated the genre and developed highly individual sounds. As unique as they are, these bands are lumped within the very broad definition of the nu metal sub-genre. Nu metal is exactly what the name implies: ‘new metal’. It boasts a vocal and instrumental fusion of sound: nu metal experiments with the amalgamation of styles of music that have influenced metal, more mainstream musical genres, and the traditional metal sound. So the likes of jazz, industrial, grunge, punk, thrash, hip-hop, funk and electronica have been ‘metalised’, much to the horror of metal purists. (more…)

Chuck Palahniuk is detested by his critics and adored by his fans. The author’s writing dictates no half measures – it’s love OR hate. And of course, there is always the third party which just doesn’t get it. Okay and a fourth party that appreciate from a distance but don’t get involved. Palahniuk is the Marilyn Manson of literature. He has been labelled a “shock writer” – similar to Manson’s “shock rocker” title. I despise the use of the term shock in this context. Both novelist and singer certainly pack a punch but the reductive properties of the term overwhelm its impact: a) The group of people that these artists appeal to are shocked by very little b) How about about looking past the ’shock’ value to consider what the point of the so-called ’shock’ tactic is – what are these artists trying to say? Attaching prefix/adjective shock to the name of an artist applies the principle of ’shock for shock’s sake’ to the artist’s creation, and this is in turn suggestive of the laziness and ignorance of the word’s user. It is a word usually coined by the we don’t get it group – the group that, as a general rule, avoids the Why? question. (more…)

Equation: London + Magic + Nightwish/In Flames/Deathstars = Dreams = Madness. Translation: “the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia” and place where bands like to tour plus Stanely Kubrick’s definition of screen magic likened to the magic felt at a live performance, which “has such power that it can retain interest as it conveys emotions and moods that no other art form can hope to tackle” plus

equals the realisation of “something that you want to happen very much but that is not very likely” and “hopes and ideas which are not practical or realistic” equals “unrestrained excitement or enthusiasm”. Confusing Perhaps? I’ll simplify. This is LIFE. Some of us need to move half way across the world to live our dreams. That’s what LIVING is about – realising dreams, whatever they may be. (more…)

Okay, here it goes; “Hi, my name is Andrea and I like ABBA”. My Sunday night damn-it’s-work-the-next-day blues were forgotten after watching the film adaptation of the West End’s Mamma Mia! production. I think the film brought on the blues for my poor husband who turned to Devil Driver for consolation in an attempt to deABBAfy his system. The fact that I have been singing Super Trooper since nine o’ clock last night has not helped his cleansing process. The poor man. I will not even venture the suggestion of going to watch the Mamma Mia! stage production – I risk decapitation, which would suck because that would mean no more ABBA karaoke for me. (more…)