“Hello everyone. I’ve waited a LONG time to be able to make the
following announcement: as of right now Nine Inch Nails is a totally
free agent, free of any recording contract with any label. I have
been under recording contracts for 18 years and have watched the
business radically mutate from one thing to something inherently very
different and it gives me great pleasure to be able to finally have a
direct relationship with the audience as I see fit and appropriate.
Look for some announcements in the near future regarding 2008.
Exciting times, indeed.”
Long story short for those who aren’t up on NINE INCH NAILS news — after fighting to release an album which could easily be seen as slander towards the world and governments (in this day and age), and finding out his CDs are being sold for as much as double other releases overseas specifically (Australia was the straw that broke the camel’s back), and then telling Interscope to shove it and promoting illegal downloading — Trent Reznor is now a free man.
If record companies should be afraid of anyone who has creativity - this is the guy to be scared of.
Just in off Soilwork’s myspace account (okay, maybe a day or two behind, but forgive me for being gone all weekend). The band has a deal running with CM Distro where you can get the DELUXE version of the disc (aka the CD + DVD) and a Sworn to a Great Divide shirt for $16. That’s ridiculous. I’d make the assumption that doesn’t include tax or S&H but they’re essentially giving the shirt away. That’s the price the regular CD would be at a chain like FYE anyway as well. The deal is WHILE SUPPLIES LAST so if you’re interested, waste no time!
As well, the deal is NOT available to UK or Denmark it seems. I’d assume some other areas of Europe are affected too.
Click the picture above to access the store/deal.
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Upcoming SOILWORK US Tour Dates:
North American Tour 2007
with KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, LAMB OF GOD and DEVILDRIVER Nov. 28 - Lowell, MA - Tsongas Arena
Nov. 29 - Reading, PA - Reading Eagle Theatre
Nov. 30 - New York, NY - Hammerstein Ballroom
Dec. 01 - Lewiston, ME - The Colisee
Dec. 02 - Albany, NY - Washington Ave Armory
Dec. 04 - Detroit, MI - The Fillmore Detroit
Dec. 05 - Chicago, IL - Congress Theatre
Dec. 07 - Kansas City, KS - Memorial Hall
Dec. 08 - Dallas, TX - Nokia Theatre
Dec. 09 - Corpus Christi, TX - Concrete St. Amphitheatre
Dec. 10 - Houston, TX - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
Dec. 12 - Denver, CO - Fillmore
Dec. 13 - Salt Lake City, UT - Salt Air
Dec. 14 - Reno, NV - Grand Sierra Theatre
Dec. 15 - Long Beach, CA - Long Beach Arena
Dec. 16 - Phoenix, AZ - Dodge Theater
Dec. 17 - Rio Rancho, NM - Santa Ana Star Center
“Nirvana’s Nov. 18, 1993, “MTV Unplugged” taping will make its DVD debut Nov. 20 via Universal Music Enterprises. “MTV Unplugged in New York” was released Nov. 1, 1994, on CD, the first Nirvana product to appear following Kurt Cobain’s suicide that April.”
The DVD will also include soundcheck and behind-the-scenes footage, as well as “Something in the Way” and “Oh Me”, which weren’t on the original broadcast.
I chalk this up to the feeling i’ve been getting for every Nirvana release since Kurt’s death and the original release of the best-of album. I know it’s a money-making scheme, and that they’re going to squeeze as much life out of the band as they can, because Nirvana still sells. Arguably they sell more than most acts today (go check the sales of With the Lights Out). These releases have pretty much no more importance than money, otherwise Krist and Dave would have a say in it, which to my knowledge they still don’t. But the fact they’re releasing things that I as a fan really want, even though in some cases they’re ridiculously high priced (I understand With the Lights Out is a 4-CD set, but I don’t sit well with that money going to Courtney Love). As a fan, I can’t help but be excited about this. Not to mention Nirvana’s unplugged performance is probably the most memorable of the entire series of performances that MTV has put on prior or since.
I hate what it stands for, it’s not Nirvana as the band would’ve preferred it. But I know i’ll buy it, because I love the band, and i’ve been waiting to see this on home video for a long time.
(No ads on this one either, for obvious reasons - no more posts for a day or two either, heading out of town for the weekend)
California-based Avenged Sevenfold released a video for the new single off of their upcoming self-titled album recently, a track entitled “Almost Easy”. It’s viewable below, for those of you that want to skip the rest of this…
—
(my take)
So let me dish this out for you, because my relationship with this band is a very very odd one… and if i’m not mistaken, once their new album is released, it’s going to get even more odd…
The first time I ever heard Waking the Fallen, I was sold. This was a band that fit in with the current up-and-coming “metalcore” trend, but had an identity completely all it’s own. I thought the look was goofy, I thought the names were childish, but the MUSIC…. the music had it. Waking the Fallen was one of those discs that, as you listen to it, you realize it’s FAR from perfect…. but that’s kind of the point. It was an album showing hunger, showing strength, showing the broadening of a new identity that set them out from their peers. To say I was excited for the follow up album would be an understatement. When the band were still in the touring stages for Waking the Fallen, I was singing as many praises as I could, telling everyone who would give it a spin long enough to go “I don’t know….. they’re alright” to just WAIT for the next album. The way the disc ended… I knew the direction they were headed in, and I couldn’t wait to hear it.
Looking back now… I don’t think I could’ve been any more wrong.
If you don’t know by now, the fanfare that the eventual follow up - City of Evil - garnered, then you’re hiding under a rock or you have no interest in this style of music. To argue that City of Evil was Avenged Sevenfold’s “mainstream breakthrough” is like arguing that “Enter Sandman” is played on mainstream rock radio way too much… tell us something we don’t know. As soon as the first single, “Bat Country”, was released, it was like a universal scream of endless praise. “This band is the new Guns ‘n Roses!” “Avenged Sevenfold is to today’s hard rock as Motley Crue was to the 80’s!” “They’re carrying the banner of rock and running with it!”
Personally, I wanted to vomit.
I couldn’t argue with the press the record received. Yes, they could very well be the next Guns ‘n Roses or Motley Crue. That’s great, good for them…. I DON’T WANT ANOTHER GUNS ‘N ROSES OR MOTLEY CRUE. Even a band I absolutely love, The Sword, i’d agree rips off Black Sabbath like none other. But where Avenged Sevenfold just screams of the bands they’re influenced by, The Sword gives me the dignity to let me know they’re influenced a lot by Black Sabbath, but not throw it in my face every 2 seconds. So great, there goes another band with great potential, down the drain for me. I get to despise them until they die, write them off as a mainstream money-grubbing group, and not worry about it. I had even gotten my point to other people who were telling me how great the new record was and how right i’d been! I couldn’t be happier, right? I mean, their new album was going to be released a day before Halloween! How much more cliche and fake evil can you get?!
Then they released “Almost Easy”.
Dare I give it a shot, right? I’ll probably cut it off right when it hits the first chorus and write it off as another piece of garbage, and be no worse for wear…
Wrong again. I watched the whole thing… and i’m scared I might actually enjoy it a little bit. It’s so against everything I stand for with my opinion on music. I can’t just LIKE a band that I had so many reasons to loathe! I still don’t like the look, I still hate the names, I still think City of Evil is junk… but i’m almost afraid to admit that I just might like this song…
So, i’ve thus far failed in the post-a-day thing. I didn’t think anyone was reading really. I was wrong! That’s completely awesome. Quick but interesting post today. Found this a while back, and although I knew the details of this video a while ago, it’s awesome to have it spelled out in plain visual english. Gotta love some TOOL.
Word is from Blabbermouth that these are the final Tool tourdates for 10,000 Days:
Nov. 14 - Austin, TX @ Frank Erwin Center
Nov. 16 - Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
Nov. 17 - New Orleans, LA @ New Orleans Arena
Nov. 23 - Casper, WY @ Casper Events Center
Nov. 27 - Saskatoon, SK @ Credit Union Centre
Dec. 10 - Los Angeles, CA @ Nokia Theatre
Dec. 11 - Los Angeles, CA @ Nokia Theatre
(This has officially become an ad-free post. WordPress suddenly hates links and updating, especially the Amazon referrer links)
In the past week or so, Swedish metal band Soilwork released two tracks from their upcoming album Sworn to a Great Divide. The first track was the official first single, “Exile”, and today the band released “The Pittsburgh Syndrome” via their myspace page.
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(my take)
I love Soilwork. Period. Everything they’ve done, i’ve been able to find some kind of redeeming quality in. Granted, I have my songs that I don’t like, i’ve got my albums that I don’t really listen to… but as a whole, Soilwork’s catalog is extremely strong in my book. I have even come to appreciate a lot of Figure Number Five - an album which it seems most fans deem “unlistenable”, or at least when they “sold out”.The two tracks released thus far from Sworn to a Great Divide, have me scared however. Since this album was announced, i’ve been all sorts of giddy and skeptical all at the same time. I ask myself - “How can they make a good album without Peter Wichers? Wasn’t he the principle songwriter of the band? Wasn’t their unique sound mainly sourced from his playing style?,” and at the same time I wonder “How could they release an album that I won’t find anything good about?”
As such, I am conflicted. What started it, was “Exile”, the first radio single. Those two words seem to just SCREAM from this song - radio single. I’ve worked in radio the past 2 years, running a college station. I’ve spent the past 3 years learning marketing, public relations, and promotion through a communications program. When something screams “radio single” to me, I have the confidence in my gut feelings to believe them to be true. The song quite frankly feels a whole lot like “Nerve”, the second single from Stabbing the Drama, which I despised as well. But, overall, I dig Stabbing the Drama. It has some great tracks that should be destined to be Soilwork classics (i’m looking at you “Blind Eye Halo” and “One with the Flies”). So no reason to be worried, right?
Maybe wrong… of course I won’t be absolutely sure until the album’s release here in the States on October 23rd, but “The Pittsburgh Syndrome” certainly has me worried. To me, it sounds like a poor man’s version of “Blind Eye Halo”, with no great hook in the guitar play, and no superb rock-out groove for a bridge. The only thing I find really superbly interesting about the track is Speed’s vocal interplay.I’m going to hold full judgment on the entire album until the end of October, as it may end up winning me over like Stabbing the Drama did. I’m not looking for another A Predator’s Portrait here (which I feel is their magnum opus thus far into their career), but Soilwork can deliver us something better than what they seem to be plodding along with right now. I remember how blown away I was the first time I heard “Follow the Hollow”, right before the release of Figure Number Five. These guys used to innovate on a massive scale every release. Don’t let me down now!
