Nuclear Blast – Skin Back Alley

The year of the Supergroup! Metal Allegiance to release debut album in September

19/06/2015 by skinbackalley, posted in News

It must be the year of the supergroup. In early 2014 the first rumblings were heard of the mind-blowing punk-o-metal project Teenage Time Killers, spearheaded by Corrosion Of Conformity’s Reed Mullin, My Ruin’s Mick Murphy and producer/engineer John Lousteau, and featuring a who’s who of punk, rock and metal greats. (Whisper it: we’ve heard the album, Greatest Hits Vol.1, due out on the 31st of July via Rise Records, and it’s f**king awesome.)

Then in summer last year came wind of Project Rogue: Titans, a star-studded crowdfunding campaign set up to create an album that would feature the likes of Lamb Of God’s Chris Adler, founding Fear Factory drummer Raymond Herrera and Napalm Death’s Mitch Harris. Unfortunately the $70,000 funding target must have seemed too high for some, as all has now gone quiet and the project seems to have tanked.

But fear not, for there is now another mighty band of metal inmates thundering over the hill and coming for your kids. That’s right, Metal Allegiance are on their way!

Put together by Mark Menghi, the band features Megadeth’s David Ellefson, Testament’s Alex Skolnick and drummer Mike Portnoy, and in its live incarnation includes lauded rock and metal musicians Phil Anselmo, Kerry King, Dave Lombardo and Steve Vai. And now the group are set to issue their debut album via Nuclear Blast on the 18th of September.

Says Lamb Of God frontman and Metal Allegiance contributer Randy Blythe (who also appears on the Teenage Time Killers album!): “When Lamb Of God asked Alex Skolnick to rip a guest solo on Ashes Of The Wake it was a big deal to us to have one of the legends of our scene play on our records.

“Much to my amazement, years later, he returned the request and it’s an even bigger deal to me to be asked on a peer level to contribute to a project with so many stellar players.”

Down mainman and former Pantera vocalist Phil Anselmo adds: “It’s always my pleasure to jam with such esteemed musicians and brothers, and my contribution to this project is further proof of the fact.”

The album is available to pre-order now via Nuclear Blast’s online store.

The tracklist for Metal Allegiance is:

01. “Gift Of Pain” (ft Randy Blythe, Alex Skolnick, David Ellefson, Mike Portnoy, Gary Holt)
02. “Let Darkness Fall” (ft Troy Sanders, Alex Skolnick, David Ellefson, Mike Portnoy, Mark Menghi, Rex Brown, Randy Blythe)
03. “Can’t Kill The Devil” (ft Chuck Billy, Alex Skolnick, David Ellefson, Mike Portnoy, Phil Demmel, Andreas Kisser
04. “Dying Song” (ft Phil Anselmo, Alex Skolnick, Mark Menghi, Mike Portnoy)
05. “Scars” (ft Mark Osegueda, Cristina Scabbia, Alex Skolnick, David Ellefson, Mike Portnoy)
06. “Destination: Nowhere” (ft Matthew K Heafy, Alex Skolnick, David Ellefson, Mike Portnoy)
07. “Wait Until Tomorrow” (ft Dug Pinnick, Jamey Jasta, Alex Skolnick, David Ellefson, Mike Portnoy)
08. “Triangulum” (ft Alex Skolnick, David Ellefson, Mike Portnoy, Misha Mansoor, Ben Weinman, Charlie Benante, Phil Demmel, Matthew K. Heafy, Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal)
09. “Pledge Of Allegiance” (ft Mark Osegueda, Alex Skolnick, David Ellefson, Mike Portnoy, Charlie Benante, Gary Holt, Andreas Kisser)
10. “We Rock” (ft Mark Osegueda, Chris Jericho, Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens, Alissa White-Gluz, Chuck Billy, Steve ‘Zetro’ Souza, Alex Skolnick, David Ellefson, Mike Portnoy, Andreas Kisser, Phil Demmel, Gary Holt)

Slayer reveal details of new studio album ‘Repentless’

22/05/2015 by skinbackalley, posted in News

Thrash giants Slayer have confirmed that their new studio album will be called Repentless.

It has been named after a song inspired by late guitarist Jeff Hanneman and will be released via Nuclear Blast on the 11th of September. Coincidentally it will also be the metal legends’ 11th studio LP.

Slayer’s Kerry King recently told the UK’s Metal Hammer magazine: “There’s a couple of songs that are going to be on it that the fans might know. ‘Atrocity Vendor’ was released in the States on the B-side of some single so now it’s ‘Atrocity Vendor 2015’ – it’s completely re-recorded.

“There’s a new version of ‘Implode.’ The version of ‘When The Stillness Comes’ is brand new compared to the single.”

“The first song is called ‘Repentless.’ I call it the Hannemanthem! I wrote that for Jeff. It’s fast as fuck – you don’t know what the fuck’s coming!”

Repentless will be Slayer’s first album since Hanneman passed away and will feature Exodus’ Gary Holt on guitar. The names of other album tracks include ‘Vices’, ‘Take Control’ and ‘Cast The First Stone.’

Lamb Of God announce new record deal, new album and stream new track ‘Still Echoes’

16/05/201507/06/2015 by skinbackalley, posted in News

Lamb Of God have shared details of their forthcoming new album.

VII: Sturm Und Drang will be released this July via Nuclear Blast Entertainment, with whom the band have signed a new worldwide record deal. The collection of songs will be the band’s 7th full length studio LP.

The album was produced and mixed by frequent collaborator Josh Wilbur with engineering by Wilbur, Nick Rowe and Kyle McAulay. It was recorded at NRG Recording Studios in North Hollywood and Suburban Soul Studios in Torrance.

To accompany the news Lamb Of God have shared new track “Still Echoes” and you can listen to it below. The song will be released as a single via all digital music download services on Monday the 18th of May.

Says Lamb Of God frontman Randy Blythe: “The time has come to give the fans their first taste of the new Lamb Of God album.

“This is a very, very dark, yet sonically highly varied, record.

“As it’s always good to come out of the gate hard with a fast and aggressive one, we chose this track, ‘Still Echoes’, to kick it off. Enjoy/destroy.”

Markus Staiger, Nuclear Blast founder said of the news: “What an honor to work with Lamb Of God. I’ve always been a big fan of their music and we now get to work with them on their new crushing album!”

Album Review: Melechesh | Enki

03/03/2015 by skinbackalley, posted in Album Reviews

Artist: Melechesh
Album: Enki
Our Verdict: 9/10
Release date: 2nd March
Find it at: Nuclear Blast Records
Review by: Graeme Blackwell

“A raging river of Middle-Eastern themed black-metal, you won’t hear better all year.”

Phil Anselmo once revealed that Pantera’s approach to songwriting was to take the money-riff that most bands used in their song breakdown and make it the very basis of the song itself. It’s a philosophy that worked spectacularly well for them and is one that Assyrian extreme-metal masters Melechesh have surely taken to heart.

Over the course of the last 20 years or so, frontman Ashmedi and his very metal brethren have served up a spectacular catalogue of dark, arcane, occult-themed music that has had a relatively small but devoted audience enthralled by its near perfect execution. Perhaps, after years of patience and devotion leaving them poised on the verge of greatness, Melechesh’s time is finally now.

New album Enki is a raging river of Middle-Eastern themed black-metal, riding high on an all-conquering wave of dynamic groove that is primed to lay waste to all before it. The likes of lead-single “Lost Tribes”, “Tempest Temper Enlil Enraged” and “Enki – Divine Nature Awoken” all deliver epic and atmospheric blasts of sonic sagacity, roaring out of the desert like a vicious and vengeful deity.

From the four-minute thump of “The Pendulum Speaks” through “Multiple Truths” and on to the magisterial closing saga of “The Outsiders”, Enki evokes the very qualities of the album’s namesake, the Sumerian god of craft, creation, water, wisdom and mischief, who mythology tells us also saved humanity from the Deluge sent to kill us by Enki’s half-brother Enlil.

Thank Melechesh and Enki for that then, and hail the coming of this fine and vital album. Even at this early stage, it feels like you won’t hear better all year.

Check out the lyric video for Melechesh’s Enki album track “Lost Tribes” – featuring Max Cavalera on guest vocals – below:

Keep up to date with all things Meleches via their official Facebook page, Twitter feed and website.

Black Star Riders unleash video for The Killer Instinct

28/02/2015 by skinbackalley, posted in News

Black Star Riders have released an official video for their track “The Killer Instinct.”

The song is the title cut from their new album, released via Nuclear Blast this week.

In a post on the ‘Riders Facebook page the band say: “In celebration of our new album being released this week and to thank all of you for your support, we have surprise for you guys! Ladies and gents, may we present the official video for our new album’s title track, ‘The Killer Instinct’ – enjoy!”

Check out the video below and be sure to let us know what you think!