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Bizzy Bone Becoming The Latest Rap-To-Metal Crossover

Posted 7/23/10 2:30 pm EST by in Music


After years of hits, trials and tribulations, Cleveland's own Bone Thugs-N-Harmony have managed to retain a hardcore following in the hip-hop world. Now it appears as though one of its key players is trying to branch out. Bizzy Bone has signed on to the roster of Sumerian Records, a small Washington, D.C.-based imprint known best for hardcore and post-hardcore bands like Asking Alexandria, Veil of Maya and the Faceless. Bizzy is about to release his latest album Crossroads 2010 (a reference to his group's 1996 smash hit "Tha Crossroads") via the label, and the album is a fusion of rap and rock styles featuring a number of players from the Sumerian roster contributing music. (You can check out samples of the music at Bizzy's official MySpace page.)

Bizzy Bone isn't the first rapper to dip his toe into the world of hard rock and metal. What other hip-hop denizens have made the journey into the world of guitars? Glad you asked!

Run-DMC
Two years before Rev Run, DMC and Jam Master Jay teamed up with the men of Aerosmith for the genre-bending re-creation of "Walk This Way," the trio dropped "Rock Box," which appeared on their 1984 self-titled debut. "Rock Box" not only had a ton of heavy riffage care of Eddie Martinez (who worked with David Lee Roth and Meat Loaf) but was also the first rap video ever played on MTV.

Ice-T
Perhaps the first rapper to ever completely cross over into the metal world, Ice-T made the transition from stone cold pimp to in-your-face power player. "Cop Killer," from Body Count's debut album, remains the blueprint all other rap-rock crossovers followed later.

Beastie Boys
New York's favorite sons have always managed to keep one foot in everybody's old school, be it straight hip-hop or savage hardcore. Read More...

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Isis Break Up, Leave A Giant Hole In The Metal World

Posted 5/19/10 10:15 am EST by in Music


It has been a rough week for the metal world. On Sunday (May 16), headbangers around the world came together in mourning for Ronnie James Dio, the iconic legend who passed away at the age of 67. Dio's death resonated deeply in the metal community, with tributes coming from all angles (the most recent of which came in concert form care of both Pearl Jam and Kiss). And though the latest news doesn't involve anything as sad as a death, it does mean the end of one of the best bands on the planet.

On Tuesday (May 18), post-metal monsters Isis announced to the world that they were calling it quits. "In the interest of preserving the love we have of this band, for each other, for the music made and for all the people who have continually supported us, it is time to bring it to a close," the band announced in a statement. "We've seen too many bands push past the point of a dignified death and we all promised one another early on in the life of the band that we would do our best to ensure Isis would never fall victim to that syndrome. We've had a much longer run than we ever expected we would and accomplished a great deal more than we ever imagined possible."

The band has had one of the most unique and complicated sounds since their formation in Boston in 1997. While the roots of their specific style can be found in traditional metal, the band members brought in elements from a number of different subgenres (prog, noise, sludge and black metal) as well as elements of classical music and Philip Glass-esque post-modernism. Rather than pound out savage riffs, Isis was happy to explore the nuances of dark sounds and build around themes (not unlike their contemporaries and occasional collaborators in Tool). To listen to their discography is to trace the evolution and advancement of metal over the past decade, and their 2009 opus Wavering Radiant is one of the best musical artifacts of the past decade.

The band will finish up all the shows slated for what will become their final tour (including a stop at Bonnaroo) and will play their final show on June 23 in Montreal (the same city where they had their first show way back in '97). They have promised a final EP, and though the metal world is losing a pack of visionaries, their music will live on. Wavering Radiant really needs to be absorbed as a whole, but the epic "20 Minutes/ 40 Years" is a good place to start.

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Lady Gaga Should Indulge Her Metal Obsession With Slayer, Mastodon, Slipknot

Posted 5/12/10 4:15 pm EST by in Music


Lady Gaga's music is an eclectic blend of high-octane sugar pop, funky post-modern R&B, borrowed European dance styles and a healthy dose of whatever-the-hell-she-feels-like. There is not, however, a great deal of metal that sneaks into Gaga's music, no matter how loud you crank up "Bad Romance." Of course, that didn't stop the Demonstration from recording a great metal version of that same song.

Gaga's taste also skews pretty heavy, as she has expressed her enthusiasm for Black Sabbath in the past, telling Ryan Seacrest that one of the highlights of her old burlesque show was a dance that was set to that band's "Black Sabbath" (which we still say must have been incredibly odd and difficult to pull off). While in Germany on tour, Gaga told reporters that she is also a big Metallica fan (she said that her only other trip to the venue where she was playing was to see the band, and that she wore "denim and leather").

So perhaps Gaga is more metal than meets the eye (or the ear). Perhaps it shouldn't be too shocking, as she is obsessed with death (she has even simulated her own death on stage, which is super metal), plays around with gender roles (not unlike Marilyn Manson, Judas Priest's Rob Halford or Cradle of Filth's Dani Filth) and rarely appears in public out of costume (like the dudes in Slipknot). Considering all the fake blood she spilled at last year's MTV Video Music Awards, it's perhaps a fair bet that she's into GWAR.

With that in mind, we ask the obvious question: What metal band should Lady Gaga join as a singer? Luckily, we took a look at what that might look like, and as the photos below prove, she makes a convincing frontdemon for any number of heavy acts, including Mastodon, Megadeth, Killswitch Engage and the heaviest of them all, Slayer.

(Click here for more metal bands fronted by Lady Gaga, including Metallica, Judas Priest, Slipknot and Black Sabbath!)

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Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romance' Gets The Metal Treatment From The Demonstration

Posted 2/9/10 3:32 pm EST by in Music


Has Lady Gaga all of a sudden become a metal icon? Last week she revealed during a radio interview that she was a gigantic fan of Black Sabbath, and now she has given a nod to a heavy band from North Carolina called the Demonstration who recorded a loud, pounding, hard cover of Gaga's "Bad Romance." She tweeted about the latter earlier today, noting, "Death metal with ice dancing + high fashion you get the Monster Ball," referencing her huge hit tour.

But how did the Demonstration end up laying down the track (which can be heard at their MySpace page)?

"We're doing a compilation that is all metal covers, and we were asked to record Stone Temple Pilots' 'Dead and Bloated,'" guitarist Jameson Vaught told MTV News. "But my girlfriend turned me on to Lady Gaga, and when we started messing around on 'Bad Romance,' we knew we had to record it. We knew we could make it better."

The result is a savage take on Gaga's current chart-conquering hit, with throat-scraping vocals, jackhammer riffs and a sweet sense of harmony that retains the song's pop roots. "It came out sounding almost like '80s metal, with the harmonic guitars and the strong melody," said Vaught. "We're really happy with how it came out." Fans have been happy with it, too. The guitarist said that when they broke out the song at a recent concert, "everybody thought it was a joke. But then once we kept going and got into that breakdown part, everybody just went crazy."

Perhaps most importantly, Gaga is really happy with it, and the band relishes the idea that she has heard it. "I'd love to meet her," Vaught said. "I saw her Grammys performance, and I thought it was just amazing. I've always been a big fan of Elton John, so I thought that was really great."

Vaught says the band is currently at work on its still-untitled new album and they expect to tour in support of it this summer. In the more immediate future, they have video plans for their "Bad Romance" cover. "We're trying to get an all white-tiled room, like the one in her video," he explained. "We don't really have a concept for it yet, but we think it will involve virtual strippers."

Virtual strippers? That sounds like an idea that Lady Gaga would totally endorse.

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Anvil Prove Heavy Metal Dreams Do Come True

Posted 6/10/09 11:42 am EST by in Music



Life has not been kind to Canadian metal veterans Anvil. Despite mad respect from their 1980s peers and a brief blip of hair-era popularity (during which they played some massive headbanging shows in Europe and released the then-brutally heavy and influential Metal on Metal), the scrappy rockers have had a rough go of it. But thanks to the hit indie documentary "Anvil! The Story of Anvil" — which, if you haven't seen it, is exactly like "This Is Spinal Tap," except funnier and with real dudes — the band is suddenly flying high.

And things just got a bit better. Hard rock icons AC/DC have tapped Anvil to open a pair of stadium shows for them this summer in Boston (Gillette Stadium, July 28) and New Jersey (Giants Stadium, July 31).

According to a press release about the gig, "Anvil band members Steve 'Lips' Kudlow and Robb Reiner will see their dreams come true as they are set to open for one of the greatest hard rock bands in the world, AC/DC, for the two biggest shows on their Black Ice World Tour. This opportunity marks a stellar comeback for the 30 year-old band that continues to reach new heights with the success and continued expansion of their documentary and recent features in Newsweek and Rolling Stone."

Thanks to the success of the movie, Anvil are back on the road and have played more than two dozen "Anvil Experience" dates so far this year, which combine live concerts with screenings of the movie. Multiple big name fans have come out of the woodwork to praise them. One of the more unlikely supporters is Coldplay's Chris Martin, who gave them major props in a recent interview on his band's Web site, in which he called the movie, "brilliant … wonderful."

There aren't many feel good stories in music these days, but this is one of them. If you love music — especially if it's loud — you owe it to yourself to check these guys out.

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Slipknot Cancel European Dates After Drummer Breaks Ankle

Posted 8/20/08 3:24 pm EST by in metal, Slipknot, tour


SlipknotBy John Ochoa

It seems like a case of déjà vu for Slipknot.

In July, the metal band's DJ Sid Wilson broke both his heels when jumping off the stage during the launch of the Rockstar Energy Mayhem fest. Today, Slipknot announced that they have been forced to cancel their slots at the Leeds and Reading festivals, as well as their remaining European dates, after drummer Joey Jordison broke his ankle. No word on whether this, too, was the result of an energetic stage performance.

According to a statement posted on the band's MySpace page, "doctors have advised Joey to stay off his leg for four to six weeks to prevent further injury or permanent and more serious damage."

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Top 10 Most Illegible Metal Logos

Posted 6/10/08 1:38 pm EST by in metal


When it comes to heavy metal — specifically grindcore, black metal and death metal — the rule of thumb is generally the more illegible, the better. In a sense, these logos, which often include at least one inverted cross or a pentagram, are actually anti-logos. Still, fans snatch up T-shirts like nobody's business so they can proudly display these indecipherable logos across their chests.

While there are innumerable bands who embrace this trend, some have taken things way too far, with logos that look more like a scribble you'd find in a bored 8-year-old's notebook. Our friends over at the Headbangers Blog have found enough material there to churn out the "Indecipherable Logo of the Day." We don't have the patience for that, so we're giving you our 10 favorite metal logos, but if you know of one that puts these to shame, let us know about it in the comments section.

Borknagar 10. Borknagar: This Norwegian band combines folk metal and black metal with progressive and melodic elements. The lyrics often touch on philosophy, paganism, nature and the cosmos.

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Black Metal All-Access Video That Will Freak You Out

Posted 4/10/08 2:08 pm EST by in art, Music




OK, we get it: you're into some heavy business. On that tip, we're taking you deeper into the black-metal experience, with the down-and-dirty -- and pretty terrifying -- video series "True Norwegian Black Metal" photog Peter Beste made with VBS. It's wild to think that a trip to Milwaukee Metalfest to snap some band pics could have unfolded into a years-long obsession with this outrageous crew.

Head to Norway and meet up with the key players on this deadly-dark scene -- first covered in the mainstream Norwegian press in the mid-90's in relation to a dozen church burnings, and the ritualistic murder of Mayhem's guitarist by his bandmate. Central to the series is Gaahl, the frontman of extreme, Satanic band Gorgoroth, who's been convicted of assault and torture. This isn't stuff that goes down easy -- but it's a side of metal that's rarely been captured. And depending on where you work, this is also, um, fairly NSFW.

More of the series after the jump. Read More...

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