According the As Hell Retreats bassist Taylor Jones, the Christian music scene has varied views within itself on what seems to be acceptable to question, especially regarding personal faith. Though he's the newest member of this band, Jones fits into the mix without a hitch and he's been privy to the touring scene and what messages are being sent and received. This band doesn't skirt around raising questions about their own place in faith, or faith in general, but sometimes that stance raises a few eyebrows. Their new album, Revival, is no exception.
"Most of our songs on this record are about Christianity and religion," Jones says with a tone of the obvious. "But we have a song called ‘Poor God' that discusses how sometimes we feel like religion isn't there for us and people think that's an edgy song to have."
As Hell Retreats began roughly five years ago, with some independent releases under their belt before Strikefirst Records, a subsidiary of Christian metal powerhouse Facedown records, signed them. Jones had known the other members for some time, so when they needed a new bassi Read More ...
After kicking off this week with the death of Paul Gray, bassist of Slipknot, we wrap up this tragic week with a little bit of lightheartedness. While doing some promotion for his upcoming album, "Scream," the Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne, decided to have some fun with some unsuspecting tourists at the wax museum, Madame Tussauds, in Times Square in New York. 
The internet exploded this week with releases of some long awaited freebie jewels. T.I. released his highly anticipated Gangsta Grillz release called 'F*ck a Mixtape' with DJ Drama and DJ MLK, Rick Ross dropped the prequel to 'Teflon Don' titled 'The Albert Anastasia' EP, new school Hip-Hop mainstay Red Café dropped his mixtape 'No Witnesses', and Wu legend Raekwon dropped his mixtape Cocainism Vol. 2. In all, it was a satisfying week of mixtape releases. In other news, the tracklists for some major albums were released.
With Memorial Day this coming Monday (May 31, 2010) it's the official kick-off to the summer season and as always it seems that country radio has stuck to their formula for how songs should be played seasonally. In the fall/winter months we are given more ballads about love and loss and everything in between, in the spring and summer we're given fun little 'ditties' that are designed to be nothing more than enjoyable, sing-a-long worthy tunes perfect for the perfect party atmosphere.
But when I heard the term "playlist culture," I realized that it's not a nugget of truth lying within the statement, but that it's the whole truth. While driving to work the other day, I slipped At Night We Live, the brand new album by Far, one of my favorite bands ever. It's their first since 1998. I had the record in my tote bag for two very specific reasons: to listen to it in my car and to import it into my iTunes and thus, my iPod, for instant portability. I followed through with my every intention to listen to the album 
This week, three tracks leaked featuring the divine combo of emcee and femme fatale on the hook. With the summer heat slowly inching its way into our lives, here are three songs to throw on the iPod ASAP:
Following the tragic death of Slipknot bassist Paul Gray on Monday, the eight remaining members of Slipknot, along with Gray's widow and brother, held a press conference yesterday to discuss the situation. The band sat together, without their masks on for the first time in public, and sadly and recollected their fallen brethren, soft-spoken, and choking back tears. 
* This just in - you don't want to put Miley in your mouth! Yes, Britney Spears needs to move aside because Miley Cyrus has a whole new kind of "Toxic" for the kids as last week Wal-Mart had to pull an entire line of Miley Cyrus-brand necklaces and bracelets from its shelves after tests performed for The Associated Press found the jewelry contained high levels of the toxic metal cadmium. According to the AP, cadmium in jewelry is not known to be dangerous if the items are simply worn, but concerns come when a person bites or sucks on the jewelry. So no more biting or sucking on Miley until further notice!
With the rise of Nicki Minaj, it seems as though female emcees are making a resurgence; with female rap legends even coming back to partake in the renaissance. Former rivals Foxy Brown and Lil' Kim have both leaked some freestyles/tracks, and more photos and live footage are circulating of Hip-Hop queen Lauryn Hill flirting with the idea of a comeback. However, these past few days placed a few rumors on the mill that have proven to be nothing more than that. 
The Devil must need a new band, because it seems he's cashing in his chips to get a pretty kick-ass lineup in Hell. First he grabbed drummer Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan from Avenged Sevenfold. Then the deaths of singers Peter Steel from Type O Negative and Ronnie James Dio followed. At this point the only position still needed in the Devil's New Band is a guitarist. Yesterday Slipknot bassist, Paul Gray, aka #2 or The Pig, was found dead in a hotel room in Iowa at the age of 38.
Hate him or loathe him, you're angry because you have no choice but to respect him. Entreprenuer/Executive Producer/Rapper/Actor Sean "Diddy" Combs has proved without a shadow of a doubt that he can't stop; because he won't stop. Never before has there been a figure in the music industry that people can't put a finger on why they dislike a person, only to dance to all of his hits at a party. Yes, not even 50.
Slash has announced that he will be performing a whole slew of older material from his long history on his upcoming tour, including songs from Guns N Roses, Velvet Revolver, Slash's Snakepit and music from his new solo album.
While his June 15th release date for 'Thank Me Later' is still holding steady, Drake released a track list late last week for his upcoming debut. 'Thank Me Later' will feature collaborations with Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, Young Jeezy, T.I., Swizz Beatz, The-Dream, and Young Money affiliates Nicki Minaj and big boss Lil Wayne. 'Thank Me Later' boasts production from Kanye West, Swizz Beatz, Timbaland, and of course ace production collaborator Matthew "Boi-1da" Samuels. Samuels provided Drake with the album's lead single "Over", along with Drake's previous breakout single "Best I Ever Had" and super collaboration "Forever" with Kanye West, Lil Wayne, and Eminem. Boi-1da is present more than once on 'TML' with the Young Jeezy assisted "Unforgettable" (co-production with Noah "40" Shebib) and "Miss Me" with Lil Wayne (also co-produced by 40). The track list and credits are as follows:
At this point, it appears there are no plans for the long-rumored "Big Four" of thrash with Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax to do a full-scale tour outside the seven dates they will play this summer in Europe for Sonisphere. 
The Legendary Roots Crew revealed the tracklisting for their ninth studio album 'How I Got Over.' Surprisingly, it's the ninth album and only nine songs. The album, due out June 22nd, is their long-awaited release since catapulting to superstardom as the house band for the surprisingly successful Jimmy Fallon Show. The Roots can probably do a lot with nine songs, but for a band that large (as of right now at least), they could also do a double disc set with a DVD attached. Perhaps they are super busy and decided to cut it short, or they wanted to keep within the "nine" number theme a la Erykah Badu. Years back, the Roots never changed the numbering of the songs from album to album and just kept going in numerical order (for example, 'Organix' began with Track #1 and 'Things Fall Apart' began with Track #54). We'll see what happens with 'How I Got Over.' Here is the final tracklist:
In my last column I talked about how people are finding success via independent means or independent labels. Recently Nashville lost a major label. Lyric Street Records as it was folded into parent company Disney Music Group's Burbank, CA offices as all but some of the staffers who promote singles to radio were cut loose. The label, which was around for over a decade, let Sarah Buxton, The Parks and Love and Theft out of their contracts. This whole development is much like the corporate mergers of the last fifteen years or so as the Music industry struggles to change their model from the successful album-driven profit margins to streamlined 360 artist-development driven models. 
As anticipated yesterday, the snippet that leaked of Doo Wop dissing Solar has been made a full out track. Doo Wop enlists Minneapolis emcee T.O.N.Y. on the track called "We Got Gunz". Doo Wop speaks at great length in his verse about the Solar situation, discussing how Guru asked everyone to be nice to Solar even when they had a bad feeling about him. He also mentions in the verse that he tried to pull Guru away from Solar. Former Guru publicist Dennis Paredes sent the track around with the following message:
Well it's been a heavy week in the metal world, with Dio passing away Sunday morning and now experimental progressive metal band Isis is calling it quits after a solid 13 year career. The band issued a lengthy statement recently discussing the decision. The following is an excerpt from that statement.
A snippet of a song leaked yesterday where renown DJ and Gang Starr affiliate Doo Wop dropped a few bars against Solar in what sounds like a freestyle. Several rappers have fired off against Solar, but one from Doo Wop is far more personal given his relationship with both Guru and DJ Premier. 
Former Sepultura frontman Max Cavalera has returned with "Omen," the seventh studio album from his current band, Soulfly. The entire album is streaming 
On my journey to bring Hip-Hop Reform to rap music, each step was met with a new obstacle. Not that there isn't anything grand about rap, because there are some great things in motion. However, I would be a fool to believe that these bright spots have enough light to shine through the dark patches.
This was a pretty sad weekend for the heavy metal world, as we lost one of the forefathers, Ronnie James Dio, of stomach cancer at the age of 67. 
VH1 announced today that super-producer Timbaland will be honored at the first Hip-Hop Honors dedicated to the Dirty South. The special, which will air on Monday, June 7th at 9PM, is the first time in Hip-Hop Honors' seven-year run that one region will be dedicated for its music. The Dirty South has been an ongoing force in Hip-Hop for years, and VH1 felt it necessary to host an award show honoring the South's contributions. However, many feel a certain way about Hip-Hop Honors in general and therefore will not be present for this historical event. VIBE reported that Uncle Luke made some remarks about the ceremony after hearing that he would only be honored as a member of 2 Live Crew and not for his solo contributions to Hip-Hop.
There's a lot of bands in the sludgy, doomy Black-Sabbath-like new school of heavy metal, but not many of them have opened for Metallica already, nor are they being praised by old-school grandpas and hipster kids alike. Hailing form Austin, TX, The Sword, is the band I'm taking about and they recently spoke out on their upcoming third album, "Warp Riders" which is due to crash down on our heads August 24th via Kemado Records. 
With the music world changing and record labels seemingly turning more into promotional partners than they ever have been in the past, there are some artists out there that have been working as independent artists for years now. In country music one of those artists is Billy Yates. He's released eight albums in his career. Only one of those, his first release from 1997, came on a major label. The rest came on his own label called M.O.D. Record Label or "My Own Damn Record Label." Billy has been such a success that he released a "Favorites" album in 2006. 
After a six month sentence, Gucci Mane was released from prison yesterday [May 12] shortly after midnight. The rapper was greeted by friends and family, including rapper/friend, Shawty Lo. Gucci's statement to the press was as follows:
Austrian blackened death metal monsters Belphegor are headed to the Abyss Studios in Sweden June 19th to begin working on their 10th studio album. The album has yet to be named, but is expected to be released in early 2011 via Nuclear Blast Records. 
* It looks like Disney may have some competition in the teen actress/singer market as Nickelodeon's Miranda Cosgrove, who most people know as iCarly, landed at number eight on the Billboard Albums chart this past week with her full length debut, Sparks Fly. Hey, does anybody else remember when singers would get big and then try to be on TV, and actors having albums was an oddity? When did that get totally reversed? I think once all of this devolves into Snookie Sings The American Standards we'll see the ship start to right itself again.
Judas Priest is generally not known as a very political band. But frontman, Rob Halford, who is a part-time resident of Phoenix, has now jumped into the political fray on the Arizona situation. Halford is taking the stand that the recent immigration law in Arizona is "racist."
I will take an educated guess that the revolution will not be televised. Why televise it when in 140 characters or less, you can tweet away? Well, more rappers are tweeting away; "leaking" their music and pleading for Retweets. Some of them have gotten rid of their career long publicists and dignity along with it.
It's official. Joey Belladonna will return to Anthrax as their frontman. We reported last week that it was nothing more than a rumor, and that there was a possibility that the frontman duties could have gone to either Joey Belladonna or John Bush, due to cryptic internet posts on foreign websites, although we were leaning toward Belladonna as he was seen with guys from the band recently in a club in New York. But now the cat's out of the bag. 
Normally in this space I write about country music. Today I'm going to write about the community that is in complete and utter shock after a massive two days long ‘monsoon' hit Middle Tennessee and delivered one hell of a right-hook to Nashville. 16-17 inches of rain fell in the downtown Nashville area while over 20 inches hit some other places and while we were all reeling from massive floods that filled up the Cumberland and Harpeth Rivers, most of America was clueless to our plight.
German trainee teacher Thomas Gurrath is being hailed as one of the metal teachers on earth. By day, he's training to be a teacher of politics, history and ethics at Hegel Gymnasium in the Germany's Vaihingen district. By night, he's "The Bloodbeast," the frontman of gory death metal band Debauchery. They are said to feature, "naked, blood-smeared women" in its live act. The band's album covers include these naked, blood smeared women as well as chainsaws and other S&M equipment. 
News arrived this week that hip-hop's Blastmasta legendary scholar KRS-One will be releasing a new EP. The project, titled 'L.A.B. (Lyrical Ass Beating),' features KRS rapping like he never left over A-list producers like Da Beatminerz and even Freddie Foxxx, aka Bumpy Knuckles [Foxxx worked with KRS back in his BDP days]. 
Nicki Minaj has been under fire for a while now, mainly by those who feel she doesn't do justice to women in hip-hop. The Young Money First Lady is now under attack by video vixen turned self-proclaimed rapper, Gloria Velez. Velez, going by the moniker "GloVe" 
It has been less than six months since the untimely death of Jimmy 'The Rev' Sullivan, drummer of Avenged Sevenfold, but the band has not let this slow down their progress of recording a new album and touring this spring. 
* In the best news coming from Bret Michaels' camp in weeks, it looks like there's a distinct possibility the rocker might be able to make the live season finale of Celebrity Apprentice on May 23rd. Michaels, determined not to let the brain hemorrhage that sent him to the hospital get him down, also plans to resume touring on the 26th and expects to be on the road with Lynyrd Skynyrd this summer. A clear fan favorite on Celebrity Apprentice due to his good natured-ness, Michaels is someone I'm rooting for. Of course, I'm also rooting for Maria Kanellis, but that's for 
May 8th will mark a significant moment in TV history. Betty White, the 88-year old veteran actress most notably known for playing Rose Nylund on the classic sitcom The Golden Girls, will make her Saturday Night Live debut that evening. Who better for the legendary comedienne to be paired with than Jay-Z? SNL creator Lorne Michaels felt that putting the two together for his special Mother's Day show would be a match made in heaven. 
With all the conversations and upcoming shows regarding a 'Big Four Tour' with Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax, it would seem to make sense if one of the bands actually had a singer lined up and ready for Glory. The band I'm referring to is, of course, Anthrax. But it appears this has been remedied, at least in the rumor mill, as the web has been swept with gossip that Joey Belladonna, Anthrax's original frontman, will be singing with the band once again. 
To all of you out there, emcee's, media, historians (asleep at the wheel) and fans, stop crying dead! You are, have, and I'm sure will continue to waste your time expressing your ill-fated opinions about the current state of hip-hop. But let me ask you this: when you were a teenager listening to your favorite emcee, wasn't there an older person in your family telling you that your music was below-par? Don't back away now! Maybe it was your parent, or you big brother, aunt or uncle. Trust that someone told you that music wasn't like the way they remembered it. But you gave them you're a** to kiss each time. You told them that nobody was better than Ice Cube; nobody was better than Scarface; nobody was better than Big L; nobody was better than Ja Rule; nobody was better than Eminem. You catc 
Well it's that time once again to gear up for summer festivals and massive concerts, so let's just get right down to brass tacks, shall we?
A few years back America's R&B sweetheart turned Moesha cult leader, Brandy Norwood, discussed with AllHipHop.com that she could rap. While it seemed more like a dirty little secret than a career she would embark upon, Brandy admitted to recording several rap tracks that she never planned on showing the light of day. Several months later, a viral home video of Brandy rapping came out, and the alter ego "Bran' Nu" was bestowed upon Miss Norwood. Late last year, Bran' Nu hopped on the Timbaland track "Meet In Tha Middle," and just a few months ago Brandy showed up at a Timbaland live performance to spit some bars for everyone. 
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