Exodus Thrash God Gary Holt To Appear On AC/DZ Record

Exodus guitar monster Gary Holt has been added to the list of guitarists who will lay down guest solos on the forthcoming debut album from AC/DZ, the San Francisco Bay Area-based AC/DC tribute band formed by legendary thrash singer Steve "Zetro" Souza (TENET, DUBLIN DEATH PATROL, EXODUS, LEGACY) and executive producer Walter Morgan (organizer of the Thrash Of The Titans 2001 benefit concert). Also scheduled to appear on the CD Phil Demmel (MACHINE HEAD, ex-VIO-LENCE), Bobby Gustafson (OVERKILL), Steve Smyth (FORBIDDEN, ex-NEVERMORE, TESTAMENT, VICIOUS RUMORS), Craig Locicero (FORBIDDEN, DEMONICA), Rob Cavestany (DEATH ANGEL), Eric Peterson (TESTAMENT), Tim Calvert (FORBIDDEN, NEVERMORE), Glen Alvelais (LD/50, TENET, FORBIDDEN, TESTAMENT) and James Murphy (DEATH, OBITUARY, TESTAMENT, DISINCARNATE).



AC/DZ will enter the studio in early November with producer Juan Urteaga (EXODUS, SADUS, TESTAMENT, NIGHT RANGER, VICIOUS RUMORS, HEATHEN, VILE, CATTLE DECAPITATION) to begin recording the album for an early 2011 release.


Video footage of AC/DZ performing a cover version of AC/DC's "Touch Too Much" during rehearsal can be viewed at this location.

In addition to Souza, AC/DZ's current lineup includes Jon Allen (SADUS, TESTAMENT) on drums, Elena Luciano Repetto (BOMB SCARY, MOTHER EARTH, IMAGIKA) on bass, Drew Gage (INVECTION) on rhythm guitar, and the band's latest addition, Dave Chapman (RIFF/RAFF) on lead guitar.






AC/DZ's album will feature the following songs, among others:

01. Live Wire (feat. Glen Avelais)
02. Sin City (feat. Craig Locicero)
03. Touch Too Much (feat. Tim Calvert)
04. Problem Child (feat. Gary Holt)
05. What's Next To The Moon (feat. Eric Peterson)
06. Let There Be Rock (feat. Rob Cavestany)
07. Walk All Over You (feat. Steve Smyth)
08. Beating Around The Bush (feat. Phil Demmel)
09. Night Prowler (feat. James Murphy)
10. Highway To Hell (feat. Bobby Gustafson)


"I've always had a very close relationship with AC/DC growing up; they influenced me heavily and this will mean a great deal to me," Souza told BLABBERMOUTH.NET.

"I can't wait to go on stage and just have some fun, interact with the fans that love the same music that we all grew up on.

"We plan on putting on very entertaining, high-energy visual show as well as recording an album and being as true to the original music as we can be, but with a very metal edge.


"I love performing, and this is another just another side of me, paying tribute to one of the bands that helped define me as a singer."


More information will be posted soon at www.myspace.com/acdz.

Bay Area Thrashers Forbidden Ready To Thrash

 We spoke to guitarist Craig Locicero of reactivated San Francisco Bay Area thrashers FORBIDDEN.


"Forsaken At The Gates" a brand new song from FORBIDDEN, is available for streaming at the band's MySpace page. The track comes off the group's new album, "Omega Wave", which will be released in Europe on October 22 and in North America on October 26 via Nuclear Blast Records. It was recorded at Sonic Room/Audio Voyage Studios in Livermore, California, produced by FORBIDDEN guitarist/songwriter Craig Locicero with Tim Narducci, and mixed by Sean Beavan (SLAYER, MARILYN MANSON, NINE INCH NAILS).


FORBIDDEN's current lineup consists of Russ Anderson on vocals, Craig Locicero on guitar, Steve Smyth on guitar, Matt Camacho on bass and Mark Hernandez on drums.

'Forsaken At The Gates' is FORBIDDEN's new thrash anthem for the 2010s and beyond," commented guitarist Craig Locicero. 


"If we could go back in a time machine to when we called it a day in 1997, there still would have been no way that we could have written 'Forsaken…' back then. We needed the distance and hindsight to write this record and had to get a grip on what the hell FORBIDDEN was all about when we started.  "Our vision is clear. We are a thrash metal band! 'Forsaken At The Gates' says it all.



"If I were to compare 'Forsaken At The Gates' to any of our old songs, it would be 'March Into Fire', which was one of the first songs that I'd ever written in my life. Ironically, 'Forsaken…' was the last song we'd written for 'Omega Wave'. Funny how things work.

"As far as the song itself, Mark was a fucking beast when we tracked it!
"I knew we had a monster on the first take; [there was] great energy and sense of urgency in his performance. It made one hell of a spine to connect all of the other moving parts to. Everyone blasted through their tracks with the same sense of urgency, too "Playing those riffs, my blood pumps harder then in any other song I've played on.

"It was an intense session to track and Matt cruises through the entire thing like a bulldozer! The solo section brings me back to the good 'ol days when trade-offs were all over the classic metal records we all love. "I really love playing and writing with Steve; he makes me so much better and I think we make a great team."After that, it's Russ that's next fucking level! Tim and I got him fired up and locked him behind the glass until he sounded as crazed as they lyrics are intended to convey. "The song itself is about turning away the masses from the numerous underground shelters around the planet that will try to seek protection from any natural or unnatural disaster that would effect all of us on the surface.

"The main line of the song says, 'Corpses laid out for the Rapture, New World Order buried in it's tomb.' In other words, if the surface isn't worth living on and the powers that be decide who lives in a canned air bunker for future generations to come... let them rot down there, that's not a world worth living in!"


Vocalist Russ Anderson added: "Looking back on recording our first album, 'Forbidden Evil', and recording, 'Omega Wave', there really is no comparison. During the recording of 'Forbidden Evil', we were in a time crunch and I sang the whole album in about one and a half days. Impossible some could say, but true. I was happy with the results because that gave the album its rawness that, in my opinion, goes down in history as true as a thrash album gets.

"'Omega Wave' was a slower recording process. I worked with Craig and Tim as my right-hand men and they know me. At times I think they were trying to 'slap me around' a little before the heavy songs like 'Forsaken At The Gates' to get me to approach the song with true aggression.
"You really should not be feeling love and flowers approaching a song like this. Not to say that was what I was thinking, but it helps to bring out the aggression of the song through the vocals.
"'Forsaken At The Gates' was easier for me than some of the others, only because it was the last song I recorded and was done in one session. By the time I was on the last of the songs, I had a lot of fire to breathe and did not want to stop. "As far as my voice being deeper or better, I don't know, I tried to complement each song and be one with it, and to do that, you must be one with your voice. That is something I have strived for over the years and hope it comes across.I think that vocals can change or get better over time, like a fine wine. For instance, if you listen back to James Hetfield when he did 'Kill 'Em All', he most definitely has a more adolescent voice than on, say, '...And Justice For All'.


"Vocals are touchy things and definitely unpredictable from day to day. The only way I have found to have any control over it is to approach every song with its intended emotion, which is also the key to a good performance no matter how your voice is holding up that day. Point being, it's a human instrument that mirrors the soul. I truly gave it my all on 'Omega Wave' and I hope everyone will enjoy it as much as I enjoyed recording it. Hope to see you all on our United States tour that kicks off on the East Coast November 4th, ending on the West Coast on December 11th, 2010. "Thank you in advance to those that support FORBIDDEN and buy the album.

Songtitles set to appear on the new FORBIDDEN album are as follows:

* Alpha Century


* Forsaken At The Gates


* Swine


* Immortal Wounds


* Hopenosis


* Adapt Or Die


* Inhuman Race


* Behind The Mask


* Dragging My Casket


* Overthrow


* Omega Wave

U.K Doctor Uses Music Of Death Angel For Hypnosis

Nuclear Blast Thrash legends Death Angel may make music to drown out the voice of your nagging parent, but that's not all. Their music was recently used in a psychological study that shows that music both liked and disliked by subjects is equally disruptive to serial recall. One of the study's administrators, the U.K.-based Dr. Nick Perham, is a long time Death Angel fan and he used their song 'Thrashers' to test his hypothesis.

"We needed a track that most participants would say they did not like," Perham said. "Having been a fan of metal music since my teens, I was pretty confident that a thrash metal song would do the trick, as most people never seemed to like the music I liked. In choosing a thrash metal song, I needed a song that was heavy but also allowed the listener to hear many of the different components of the song. We chose 'Thrashers.'"

Participants were only allowed to participate in the study if they disliked thrash metal as a musical genre. Really? How do you not like thrash? This must have been an uncool sample of the population for Perham to study.

A summary of the research: Listening to music has proven to alleviate anxiety and depression, enhance mood and to increase cognitive functioning such as spatial awareness. However, until now, research has not addressed how we listen to music. For instance, is the cognitive benefit still the same if we listen to music whilst performing a task, rather than before it? Further, how does our preference for a particular type of music affect performance? A new study from Applied Cognitive Psychology shows that listening to music that one likes whilst performing a serial recall task does not help performance any more than listening to music one does not enjoy.

Liked music such as Rihanna and Lady Gaga, and disliked music, such as 'Thrashers' by Death Angel, was played to test recall ability, which was approximately the same.

Although music can have a very positive effect on our general mental health, music can, in the circumstances described, also have negative effects on cognitive performance. Perham remarked, "Most people listen to music at the same time as, rather than prior to, performing a task. But to reduce the negative effects of background music when recalling information in order, one should either perform the task in quiet or only listen to music prior to performing the task."

Death Angel's guitarist/vocalist Rob Castevany weighed in on the experiment, "The professor is a metal fan from his teens and is a Death Angel fan. The nature of the test was to see if people were distracted by music when trying to learn a series of eight consonants and numbers in an order. ... He picked 'Thrashers' off our debut album since it had acoustical variations within one song; a lot of parts. A lot of different breaks and time signature and parts changing, which is more distracting."

Castevany, the sole constant member of Death Angel, was not insulted in the slightest that his band's music was selected as being not easy to like. In fact, he was thrilled. He said, "I love it. It's cool. It's rebellious, extreme, attacking, aggressive. I love the fact that they did that. It was amazing to me. The results of the study overall proved it didn't make a difference if they liked the music or not; they were equally distracted by music."

Castevany continued, "It would be weird if it was used to relax people. Then I would be like, 'What the hell?' I am tickled pink about it. I do find the results interesting, as it makes you think. If you listen to music you like, you are focusing on it, so it takes your attention away from the task at hand. "

Death Angel's new album, 'Relentless Retribution",  is out now via Nuclear Blast.

Anthrax - Gung Ho

 A good song from a solid album, from a band who was hungry and brought new ideas into thrash metal such as for better or worse, comic books, Stephen King novellas, expensive sneakers, hip hop shirts and Bermuda shorts. Musically they were a very American sounding metal band influenced by Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. Anthrax injected melody into parts of songs that became highly catchy without losing the thrashy side to it all. Many hated them later on for changing their image, which Scott Ian defended by saying they are from New York and were just dressing like a lot of people there. Some from the New York hardcore scene also took pot shots at them as well for using, or according to them stealing the NYHC logo, which Scott displayed on shirts, amps and t shirts. They never hid the fact they listened to hip hop either. A little short time after their monster "Among The Living", they had released "State Of Euphoria" which according to most lacked in the heavy department, with average production. As a fan of the band i witnessed a steady decline that by 1991 it seemed the best days were behind them, though some may disagree They did a collaboration with hip hop group Public Enemy, who Scott, Frankie and Charlie loved. MTV picked up on it and even started playing it during the day. Friction over musical directions led to Joey Belladonna parting ways thus the end of an era..I myself enjoyed new singer John Bush better with his former band Armored Saint, i did like a couple of things they did with him later on like "Safe Home", or something like that. I thought that with new blood  in the band, they would go back to their heavier side which never happened. This video is from Europe in the midst of their popularity racing, something blood curdling also at the time about euro thrashers from that era. You don't see crowds like that anymore with that much appreciation.The scene was newer and more exciting as like anything something becomes old shoe. This peak was sometime in 85. Scott also had hair.

Chuck Billy

  

Chuck Billy around here gets maximum respect. He has recorded classic thrash albums, toured the world and has paid his dues ten times over battling a sickness that nearly took his life. Since he has recovered, Chuck seems to be in perfect spirits. Perhaps it is because when he was sick he went to an indian shaman who basically cured him with his hands. You must believe.

How come you decided to put together a special tour edition of your Formation Of Damnation CD?
Chuck Billy: It was something we spoke about doing early on, when we were touring last year. It wasn't pulled together in time. Then when the American Carnage tour came up with Slayer and Megadeth, the record label decided it was time to put this out. It has some cool stuff on there, like when we performed live at Alcatraz in the mess hall at night. It was a pretty cool vibe.

How did the response to Formation Of Damnation compare to your expectations going in?

It was what we hoped for. We are very proud of the record. We've done almost 200 shows since the release of the record, so we've been out there trying to promote it everywhere.

What's the status of your next studio CD?

We've been working on it since October. We weren't really planning to tour this year. We passed on a summer tour, but then American Carnage came up and we took it. We decided to do the tour, then come home and finish the record. We had hoped to get the record out by the end of the year.

You're heading out on a tour with Megadeth and Exodus, then with Megadeth and Slayer later this summer. It's nice to see three classic bands together instead of having some unknown young bands as opening acts.

It's killer. Last year we toured with Megadeth and Judas Priest. We talked about a Testament/Megadeth/Exodus tour, and it's good to see a guy like Dave Mustaine stepping up and not having the record company telling him to put a band on the tour who will buy in for a certain amount of money. Then it's not as special of an event. We are three bands in a genre who are still putting music out today and kicking butt. It's great he went through with it.

Dave Ellefson just rejoined Megadeth after being out of the band for several years. You guys have had that same thing happen with an old member coming back. What's that dynamic like when they a member returns after a long absence?

For us it was amazing. At the first rehearsal together, we knew the material wasn't the tightest, but the second day it was like we never left. It was locked in. There's something to having the guys who wrote the songs perform them. We've been fortunate to have a lot of great musicians in the band, but it's not the same as the original members playing it.

On the Megadeth tour you'll be playing The Legacy in its entirety. How was it going back and relearning the older material?

It was good. We did The Legacy and The New Order in Holland, London and Japan last year. Those shows went over really well and we had a lot of fun. So when they talked about us doing The Legacy, we thought it would be killer. We did it before and had a great time. When we started rehearsing for these shows, we stepped right back into it again. We're definitely up to par on the old stuff. We're excited about it.


For the Megadeth tour you're offering VIP packages to fans where they can meet you, get some merchandise and a few other perks. Have you done this before?

It was new to us last year. We were approached, and I didn't really know what to think about it. The fan response and appreciation from it has been cool. The fans wanted it, and they got it.

Is there anywhere you haven't toured or played live that you'd still like to get to?
There was talk about getting to India. That would be pretty interesting. We've been everywhere else. The last couple of years we got new agents and management and told them to send us everywhere we've never been. That was the goal, and we've covered a lot of spots that we hadn't been.

Now that you're older, do you make more of an effort to see some of the sights when you're playing in different countries?
That's all I do now. Since 2001 and the cancer, I've been back touring and have been taking my family and friends. I have a lot of friends that I've known since high school and before that. A lot of them have never been to Europe. It's a great chance to show my friends what I've gotten to experience and take for granted over 20 years. You see it all over again through different eyes, as a tourist. We go out during the day and do our thing, then I go back and do the show. It's flipped around. It used to be party, tour bus, good times, party, and I missed a lot. Now it isn't about that. You might party a little after the show, but not like 20 years ago.

Will there be another Dublin Death Patrol CD?
There's almost a whole record of material written now. We're just trying to schedule it. Testament will be focused on getting our record done, and I'll also be trying to get Dublin Death Patrol done as well. Now even more of our friends from Dublin are coming out of the woodwork and are ready to play. It's growing. It's going to be interesting.

More than 25 years later, so many Bay Area thrash bands are still together and making music, which says a lot about that scene.
It's pretty incredible. Speaking for myself, it's not about the business. It's about making music, having a good time, enjoying that I'm still getting the opportunity to do it. It's a good time for Testament and for me.


Thanks for enriching my life with some of your tunes brother. cheers!