267 March 2015
THE HEAVY METAL BIBLE
Metallica | Slipknot | Periphery | Falling in reverse | Parkway Drive | papa roach | Meshuggah | Teenage Time Killer
lightning strikes
metallica
38
Once upon a time, Metallica were just four brothers-in-arms, playing great music and creating chaos wherever they went. We take a trip back to the Metalli-Mansion to relive a true golden era.
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62
babymetal You ain’t seen nothing until you’ve seen 30,000 Babymetal fans all completely losing their shit in Tokyo. Metal Hammer grabs the popcorn and heads to the Far East to witness a true spectacle.
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falling in reverse
teenage time killer
Controversy follows him wherever he goes, but is Ronnie Radke our world’s best shot at producing a modern rockstar with something to say?
Grohl! Taylor! Blythe! Fallon! Corrosion Of Conformity’s Reed Mullin opens up about his assembling of metal’s biggest ever supergroup.
nightwish 10
Even by their lofty standards, a concept album about evolution is aiming pretty damn high. We get our Darwin on with the Finnish symphonic mega-weights.
METAL HAMMER, 2 BALCOMBE ST, LONDON, NW1 6NW EMAIL heresies@teamrock.com WEB www.metalhammer.com
Editorial Editor-In-Chief alexander milas alexander.milas@teamrock.com Deputy EDITOR merlin alderslade merlin.alderslade@teamrock.com production EDITOR vanessa thorpe vanessa.thorpe@teamrock.com REVIEWS and subterranea EDITOR JONATHAN SELZER jonathan.selzer@teamrock.com online EDITOR luke morton luke.morton@teamrock.com EDITOR-at-large dom lawson dom.lawson@teamrock.com
venom 12
The kings of the underground return with another supreme slice of evil! Find out what else they have planned right here.
oceans ate alaska
18 megadeth
14
We reckon we might have found the most genre-mixing metalcore band in recent memory, and they’re heavy enough to shift the ice caps.
’s Whaotur y on CD? free.14 P
the last ten seconds of life
Contributors: Terry Bezer, Paul Brannigan, Dean Brown, Cheryl Carter, Chris Chantler, Toby Cook, Joe Daly, Malcolm Dome, John Doran, Jerry Ewing, Connie Gordon, Jason Hicks, Stephen Hill, Emma Johnston, Dave Ling, Gavin Lloyd, Edwin McFee, Chris McGarel, Ken McIntyre, Joel McIver, Mörat, Catherine Morris, Ben Myers, Dayal Patterson, Adam Rees, Alastair Riddell, Holly Wright, Nik Young. Subbing: Jayne Nelson. PHOTOGRAPHERS: Derek Bremner, Stephanie Cabral, Mick Hutson, Will Ireland, Tina Korhonen, John McMurtrie, Kevin Nixon, Jake Owens, Ester Segarra, James Sharrock, Travis Shinn cover: Getty Editorial director Scott Rowley creative director Brad MERRETT Editor-In-Chief alexander milas Editorial operations manager ALEX BURROWS
Digital team
21
DIGITAL PRODUCTION EDITOR EMMA JOHNSTON DIGITAL ART EDITOR AARON STANDEN DIGITAL ART EDITOR MARK CRITCHELL EditorIAL DESIGNER JEFF LEE Head of video Phil Wallis Video Producer Emily Banks
steel panther
commercial
Why the fuck does Satchel own a Britney Spears CD? Explain yourself, sir!
black veil brides 32
Gene Simmons reckons rock is dead, but there are plenty of people who disagree. Luckily, one of them is Andy Biersack.
korn
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50 papa roach
Win ad & lo dowondstock Blo ckets! ti 26 P.
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We shouldn’t be shocked that Jonathan Davis owns some weird shit, but even we weren’t prepared for what we saw when we visited his home.
papa roach 50
Art director JAMES ISAACS james.isaacs@teamrock.com Art Editor LEWIS SOMERSCALES lewis.somerscales@teamrock.com Deputy Art Editor Louise Brock louise.brock@teamrock.com
senior editorial team
Like deathcore so pissed-off and lairy it’ll probably get its own ASBO? Then come and say hi to your new favourite band.
30
Art
Directors
Presented by the band themselves, it’s the ultimate guide to Vacaville’s greatest export!
periphery 66
Is their new two-disc prog metal voyage a step too far for mainstream metal fans?
GOING UND ERG RO
UN D
relapse
116 Celebrate 25 years of extremity!
carach angren
120 Darkness and death threats!
PLUS A FOREST OF STARS, MORBID ANGEL, NEGURA BUNGET
100 slipknot
Su sc anb d s ribe ££ ave P.12£s! 7
REVIEWS slipknot & korn
100 Metal’s heaviest hitters team up to destroy Dublin!
PLUS MESHUGGAH, PARKWAY DRIVE, ARCH ENEMY, SABATON, GINGER, LED ZEPPELIN, ENSIFERUM, ALL THAT REMAINS
CHAIRMAN JOHN MYERS CEO BILLY ANDERSON chief operations director alan clarke managing director CHRIS INGHAM Commercial director Jimmy Docherty finance director stuart kilby insight director Cameron pirie chief digital & INNOVATION DIRECTOR CiarÁn o'toole head of radio hugh 'moose' evans head of tv stephen mccreath hr director jill johnston
ADMIN executive pa maggi mccaffrey logistics & security rab lowe BACK ISSUES T 0844 848 2852 next issue on sale March 3, 2015 Printed by William gibbons DISTRIBUTED by SEYMOUR DISTRIBUTION LTD, 2 EAST POULTRY AVENUE, LONDON, EC1A 9PT • TEL 020 7429 4000
© Team Rock Limited 2015.All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be used or reproduced without the written permission of the publisher.Team Rock Limited (company number 395795) is registered in Scotland.The registered office of Team Rock Limited is 191 West George St, Glasgow G2 2LD.All information contained in this magazine is for information only and is, as far as we are aware, correct at the time of going to press. Team Rock Limited cannot accept any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in such information. Readers are advised to contact manufacturers and retailers directly with regard to the price of products/services referred to in this magazine. If you submit unsolicited material to us, you automatically grant Team Rock Limited a licence to publish your submission in whole or in part in all editions of the magazine, including licensed editions worldwide and in any physical or digital format throughout the world.Any material you submit is sent at your risk and, although every care is taken, neither Team Rock Limited nor its employees, agents or subcontractors shall be liable for loss or damage. We are committed to only using magazine paper which is derived from well managed,certified forestry and chlorine-free manufacture.Our paper suppliers have been independently certified in accordance with the rules of the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council).
The boys using their noodles in the Metalli-Mansion
38 metalhammer.com
Thirty years ago, Metallica couldn’t have been further away from the stadium-packing behemoth they are today. As James, Lars and Kirk will attest, 1985 marked a seminal point in their career: 12 months that saw them drink, fuck and fight their way through metal’s lower ranks while getting on with the business of writing the greatest metal album of all time. As the 30th anniversary of that incredible year beckons, we revisit a band that was still hanging onto its roots as a true metal Band Of The People, while teetering precariously on the edge of glory…
W O R D S : PA U L B R A N N I G A N . P i c s : R oss H al f in
Clif f, Lars, Kirk and James: ready to take over the world
“Lars was charming, Kirk had a babyface... and Cliff had a big dick” Papa Het has his bandmates’ groupie-charming qualities nailed
papa roach They’re among rock’s true survivors and have enough bangers to fill a canyon, but what do we really know about Vacaville’s finest? Hold on to your hats, because it’s time for...
A
h ac o r a p a p
is for... Addiction
Jacoby Shaddix (vocals): “It was a lifestyle for me; I just wanted to not feel sometimes. Booze was the one for me, I couldn’t stop. It starts with one but then ends with 100. It’s fun ’til it starts to be not fun anymore. It wasn’t a pretty sight.”
B
is for... Brixton
Jacoby: “When my wife got pregnant again, I was like, ‘What do you think of the name Brixton?’ She liked it. I thought it was rad. I love that venue [Brixton Academy], I love that song by The Clash, The Guns Of Brixton. I’m glad I played Brixton instead of the Roundhouse!”
C
is for... Clarinet
Jacoby: “I haven’t picked up mine in years, but my son Jagger wants to play clarinet! I think next year he’s going to join the school band and sit next to the hot chick.”
D
is for... Dick
Jacoby: “I’m still Coby Dick! There’s remnants of Coby Dick still in me! That was a rad phase of my life; we’ve started playing Infest again and I drop that lyric, ’My name’s Coby Dick, Mr Dick if you’re nasty!’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, that’s right!’ It’s like Wu Tang – they’ve got a million AKAs.”
50 metalhammer.com
e
W o r d s : g av i n l l o y d . i l l u s t r at i o n s : s i m o n g a
is for... Evolution
Tony Palermo (drums): “We’re ever-evolving in terms of our influences. We have a wide range of influences and you can’t help but inject some of that. Even though it’s still Papa Roach, we’re not that band that’s going to write the same record twice.”
f
ne
is for... Fear
Jacoby: “Face. Everything. And. Rise. [is the name of our new album]. Fear is something we all face every day, in big and little ways. If we succumb to fear, it can paralyse us and stifle us from chasing after our dreams. That is not how I choose to live my life. I want to live a productive life, so I’ve got to face those fears. Usually, when I do, I come out on the other side. What do I fear? Impotence!” Clarinets are 100% metal. We checked
papa roach ’s still in me!” It ! k ic D y b Co l il st ’m “I persona Jacoby hasn’t forgotten his old
G
is for... Getting Away With Murder
Jerry Horton (guitar): “I love that album. I think there are very creative moments on that record, and we were pretty daring in our way of styles. There are some parts of it that sounded pretty uncomfortable, but it worked out in the long run!”
H
is for... Horton, Jerry!
Jacoby: “Our guitarist, Jerry Horton, the heartthrob! I ask myself, when I get in compromising situations, ‘What would Jerry do?’ Then think he sure as shit wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing so I better beat it!”
I
is for... Infest
Jacoby: “Infest [2000] was our breakout statement to the world. It’s personal, it’s got a political edge, it’s very introspective, it’s got violence in it. It’s a powerful record.”
J
is for... Johnny Vodka
Jacoby: “I think someone in the band dubbed me Johnny Vodka. I lived up to that name! Vodka was my drink. I had a bar inside my house and I had ‘Johnny Vodka’ painted above the bar. Shortly after that I hit rock bottom and I had to clean up. But when we played Japan, Jamey Jasta left me a note in our dressing room saying, ‘Hey Johnny Vodka!’ Ha!”
mick hutson
K
Johnny Vodka at play... except now Jacoby only mixes his soft drinks
is for... Kevin Churko (F.E.A.R. producer)
Jacoby: “He’s cool, he gets down to business. He has this vast knowledge of what a song should end up like. On the new record, there’s so much on it, but it all makes sense! I’m in love with his production.” Tony: “He’s just a great person as well. When you’re making a record, you just want to shoot the shit and have fun and there was plenty of that in the process as well.”
L
is for... Love
Jacoby: “What’s love like for Papa Roach? It’s a fucking battlefield! We’ve gone through so much that it’s hard but we have some strong ladies. It’s a trip, but me and my lady love hard. We’ve been through some hell. It takes very special women to love dudes in rock bands. At the end of the day, my lady sees something in me that I don’t see in myself.”
m
is for... Maria Brink
Tony: “She’s on the album [on the track Gravity] and her contribution is exactly what it should be. We’ve done a lot of touring with In This Moment. She’s awesome! She brought a certain fire to the track. There’s a mutual respect and it seemed like the right timing.”
metalhammer.com 51
E F G O A T S S E O
teenage time killer
R E H
ended a 30 years ago and has lin ro Ca rth No in d rte It sta et usician extravaganza. Me . with a 21-track, multi-m greatest ever supergroup ’s al et m r: lle Ki e m Ti e WORDS: Teenag i l l u stration
I
n the long corridor at Dave Grohl’s Studio 606 in Los Angeles, Corrosion Of Conformity drummer Reed Mullin is quietly losing his shit, unsure what to say. At the other end of the corridor stands 64-year-old American punk rock legend Lee Ving, happily recalling the time that his band Fear were banned for life from Saturday Night Live. “Dude!” beams Reed, as if we haven’t noticed. “It’s Lee Ving!” Behind us, Alkaline Trio’s Matt Skiba is taking selfies with My Ruin’s Tairrie B and Mick Murphy, while Fireball Ministry’s Jim Rota chats to Samhain drummer London May. In all, there are about 15 bandmembers here, all gathered for a photoshoot and to hear the final mix of their new album, Greatest Hits Vol. 1, which is blasting from the studio. Currently, we’re listening to Jello Biafra’s blistering rendition of the John Cleese poem Ode To Sean Hannity. And it’s not every day you get to hear Monty Python-approved punk rock! Make no mistake, this is no ordinary album playback, where you’ll be stuffed into a joyless
70 metalhammer.com
M Ö R AT
: matt di x on
room with some humourless journalists, or, worse still, have to listen to the record in front of the band, hoping to nod in all the right places. Instead, Reed hands out beers and there’s a general mingling about, and not a little confusion about who’s actually in the band, as some of them have never actually met before. This is no ordinary band, either. In all, there are 35 members (and counting), including some of the biggest names in rock, such as Dave Grohl, Corey Taylor, Randy Blythe, Neil Fallon, Doyle Von Frankenstein and Nick Oliveri. The band is called Teenage Time Killer, a side-project to eclipse all others, and perhaps we should try to explain how it all happened. This, after all, was not the plan. Our story begins about 30 years ago, when a young Reed Mullin was putting on punk shows in his home town of Raleigh, North Carolina, and putting out records on his own independent label. Among those he signed were a Washington DC band called Dain Bramage, whose lineup included none other than future Foo Fighter Dave Grohl.
“He was a big COC fan,” says Reed, “still is, and we’d played with his band. I remember seeing him at the 9.30 Club in Washington DC, and I had this little label, so I put his band out, and 30 years later he’s a big rock star or whatever. We’ve been friends for years and beers, so he let us do an album here [2012’s Corrosion Of Conformity], and I became friends with the head engineer, this guy named Lou [John ‘Lou’ Lousteau]. Lou was like, ‘When we have some free time at the studio, you’ve gotta come out and do some hardcore songs.’” Needless to say, it sounded like a cool idea and, good to his word, a year later Lou called to say they had a free week in the studio. By this time Reed had written some material, including the aforementioned adaptation of the Cleese poem, and he called up punk icon Jello Biafra to see if he wanted to sing it. “So I flew out and went into 606 with Lou and his buddy Mick [Murphy],” continues Reed. “And instead of doing five tracks we did 12.
teenage time killer
ast p d e k “ I wal wearing n a guy a Corrosio . It was” t-shirtBlythe y Rand xplains
ullin e
Reed M
on it!’ So it went from being five songs, with olved Jello singing a song, got inv rontman to being 12 songs with Jello f God f Lamb O e and Randy fronting the tracks.” h t how
Then I’m at the airport going home and I see this guy walking past as I’m going to my gate, wearing sunglasses like he’s all hungover or something, and he’s wearing a Corrosion Of Conformity t-shirt. So when I walked by, I was like, ‘Hey, man, nice shirt!’ like a dork. He pulled his glasses down and replied, ‘Reed?’ And it was Randy Blythe from Lamb Of God! I told him what I was doing and that I had Biafra singing, and he was like, ‘I wanna be
F
rom there, it’s safe to say that things may have spiralled out of control. Dave Grohl somehow got wind and wanted to be on the record, and was swiftly followed by Pat Smear, Lee Ving, Minor Threat and Bad Religion guitarist Brian Baker and Tommy Victor of Prong, and five tracks became 21. “There’s some pretty big names,” grins Reed. “But pretty much everybody on the list, I’ve known forever. It kind of reminds me of the old
days when I used to put on punk rock shows in Raleigh, and I’d get my friends from Richmond or DC to come and play a show. The only guy I didn’t know on this was Corey Taylor, but Lou from the studio is friends with him, and he was like, ‘I’ll do it next week!’” Surprisingly, Reed says that juggling 35 musicians for the recording process was relatively easy. In the old days it was all analogue tape, and people would have to go to the studio in person, but now there’s Pro-tools and the internet, so Vic Bondi from Articles Of Faith did his vocal tracks in his home studio, as did Neil Fallon from Clutch, and Mike Williams from Eyehategod [we told you it was a big roll-call]. It’s a far cry from the standard story
metalhammer.com 71
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