Things aligned nicely for Slayer in early 2010. World Painted Blood, the group’s 11th studio record, was just released in November and entered the Billboard chart at 12, their third-highest debut in nearly 30 years together. The band would kick off the United States tour cycle in fine fashion by co-headlining with fellow thrash pioneers Megadeth. The two behemoths hadn’t done an extended run together since the North American Clash Of The Titans (which also included Anthrax, who join American Carnage for a second leg in September) tour in the early ’90s.

Appearing: 8/20 at UIC Pavilion (1150 W. Harrison) in Chicago.

Dave Lombardo was certainly in high spirits back then. Just weeks before the American Carnage opener January 18th, the Slayer drummer was at dinner in Tampa Bay, celebrating his new Ddrums endorsement deal with company representatives and friends.

Good food. Good friends. Bad news: Tom’s having back surgery; tour’s canceled.

“I couldn’t eat anymore,” Lombardo remembers.

Bassist/frontman Tom Araya’s back was bad enough that doctors told him surgery was his only option. Araya went under the knife (a procedure called anterior cervical discectomy with fusion, where a herniated or degenerative disc in the cervical spine is removed and the vertebrae above and below the disc space are fused together), and suddenly Slayer were sitting on a brand-new album they couldn’t tour behind.

“I was really, really disappointed, because of course, we were all hyped up on the new record,” Lombardo says. “It was what it was. It was a bummer.”

All of the sudden, Lombardo had a whole lot of free time . . . not something he necessarily enjoys. “I can’t sit still,” he admits. “I’m a hyperactive drummer, is what I am, so I always like to do things.”

Bored and anxious, Lombardo needed something to keep busy. “I was hanging out at the Rainbow in Hollywood, and on Tuesday nights they have blues-jam night. So I was hitting the little four-piece drum set, and I was playing the blues with a bunch of guys,” he says. “Then I decided to get a band together that I had put together back in ‘97 with Gerry Nestler — and recently found a new bass player called Pancho Tomaselli from the band WAR — and we put a band together. It’s called Philm.

“We did a bunch of shows in L.A. and put a demo together — we’re actually shopping it right now.”

Lombardo is still working six months later, and thankfully — no offense to Philm; they’re pretty rad — it’s with Slayer again. When IE connects with him he’s at a hotel in Frankfurt, Germany . . . and excited like it’s January 2010 again: Araya has healed (but under strict no-headbanging orders); the rescheduled American Carnage tour looms a month away; and, oh yeah, Slayer just did a few European shows with Metallica, Megadeth, and Anthrax. It was only the first time those bands — collectively known in heavy metal as The Big Four — played together. Anywhere.

Sort of a big deal. “It was great,” Lombardo gives as a stock reply, sounding tired of answering the question already. Work on him a little more, though, and it’s evident he is just as excited about The Big Four as anyone else. “Too short! It should have been a little longer,” he says. “I had a great time, we all did. It was an honor to play on the same stage as Metallica, and it’s just, I think it’s something that should be brought to the States and to the rest of the world.”

He’s confident it will, but that’s in the hands of agents, managers, promoters, and lawyers, he says, because the bands got along splendidly. They’re all eager to do it again.

– Trevor Fisher

For the full story, grab the August issue of Illinois Entertainer, available free throughout Chicagoland.

So I paid $18 to see The Big Four broadcast in June. The idea of going to the movies to watch a metal concert was a bit strange and spending nearly $20 to do so was plain dumb, but I had to. My gut tells me this thing eventually comes to The States (Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo agrees; read my interview with him this issue), but there’s also the possibility it won’t. What if Metallica puss out? If you were James Hetfield or Lars Ulrich, would you risk getting blown offstage by Slayer every night (exactly what happened in Bulgaria)? Would you want to face the fact, night after night, you aren’t the best Big Four band, just the most popular?

Hence why I sat in a stuffy Evanston theater (Cinemark is obviously trying to save some bucks by decreasing A/C frequency), eating popcorn (with M&M’s mixed in!), drinking iced tea (work the next morning; no caffeine after 7 p.m.), and watching heavy metal.

It was a strange scene. Lucky for you, I packed my notebook. Below are the kind of observations you can only get from a credited, highly regarded member of the music press.

• Not one person yelled SLAYEEER all night. Unacceptable.

• Joey Belladonna literally has not changed his hair style since 1984. Are we supposed to be excited about his return to Anthrax? A whopping four years after his last one?

• Dave Mustaine looks worn out and beaten down. Haggard. His face, to quote “Seinfeld,” looks like an old catcher’s mitt. Fell off the wagon? Doubtful. Endgame would be much better if that were the case.
• How in the world does Kirk Hammett fit into pants that tight?
• Why in the world does Kirk Hammett wear pants that tight?
• Very few people in Evanston like heavy metal, apparently.
• Lars Ulrich is a douchebag.
• Mustaine sounded fucking lousy.
• At least Dave Ellefson is back. Wonder if he considered asking the soundman to turn Mustaine’s vocals down in his monitors.
• Jeff Hanneman hates you.

Now some Big Four-themed lists. Who doesn’t love lists of shit, right?

BIG FOUR BEST FOUR
1. Megadeth Rust In Peace
2. Metallica Kill ‘Em All
3. Slayer Reign In Blood
4. Megadeth Peace Sells . . . But Who’s Buying?

BIG FOUR WORST FOUR
1. Metallica St. Anger
2. Megadeth Endgame
3. Megadeth Risk
4. Metallica Reload

BIG FOUR UNDERRATED FOUR
1. Anthrax The Sound Of White Noise
2. Megadeth Youthanasia
3. Slayer God Hates Us All
4. Slayer Diabolus In Musica

HIGH ON HIGH ON FIRE: I finally own Blessed Black Wings and Death Is This Communion on vinyl. Very excited. Yes, they are reissues. No, I don’t give a shit. All three High On Fire Relapse albums (Blessed Black, Communion, and Surrounded By Thieves) are available again on wax. Each is a double-LP packaged in a special “gatefold LP Stoughton ‘tip on’ jacket.” I have absolutely no idea what that means, but shit looks real sharp. Sounds real sharp, too, of course. Various color options are available depending on which pressing you snag, but beware: Only 1,500 copies of Thieves were pressed . . . You’re an idiot if you missed HOF at Lincoln Hall back in April. They killed. Luckily, our society gives idiots second chances. Matt Pike, Jeff Matz, and Des Kensel will plunder Chicago again in October, this time as part of Riot Fest. The punk-centric festival branches out more and more each year, and besides HOF, the 2010 version also includes Corrosion Of Conformity (albeit the original, hardcore, three-piece lineup of Mike Dean, Reed Mullin, and Woody Weatherman). An official schedule wasn’t available as of press time, but Riot Fest goes down October 6th through 10th. Check www.riotfest.org.

OUR CITY IS BETTER THAN YOURS: It’s been proven: Chicago heavy metal is the most awesome heavy metal in this country. Forbes — where I go for all my headbanging headlines — recently compiled a list of the best musical cities based on 10 specific genres. The mag interrogated a bunch of expert types (journalists, producers, musicians, etc.), and they confirmed what Chicago heshers already knew: We rule, boners.

MOSH-WORTHY: Shadowgarden Ashen (Napalm); Witchery Witch Krieg (Century Media); Early Man Death Potion (The End); Hammers Of Misfortune The Bastard/The August Engine/The Locust Years/Fields/Church Of Broken Glass (Metal Blade); Aaron Aites, Audrey Ewell Until The Light Takes Us DVD (Factory 25).

MOSH-WORTHY LIVE: Torche, Yakuza Arkestra (Wicker Park Fest 8/1); Drug Honkey (Empty Bottle; 8/1); Slayer, Megadeth, Testament (UIC Pavilion, 8/20); Bible Of The Devil (Glenwood Arts Festival, 8/21); Enthroned, Destroyer 666, Cardiac Arrest (Reggie’s, 8/25).

– Trevor Fisher

After being broadcast live to a European audience, the Sonisphere “Big 4″ concert in Sofia, Belgium was hastily edited for broadcast in North American movie theaters on Tuesday.

For the most part, the concert — a super-hyped meeting of Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax — went off without incident, save a little rain during Megadeth’s set. In place of traditional movie previews were perfunctory backstage interviews (Lars Ulrich, Scott Ian, Dave Mustaine as a unit; Kerry King solo) that built into the afternoon’s opening act: Anthrax.

Despite their own inner turmoil, if one of these bands were to accept going on first without regard to their ego it would be Anthrax. Opening with “Caught In A Mosh,” the dynamic was instantly in place as the band would pile on relentless, high-tempo thrash while recently readmitted vocalist Joey Belladonna would work the crowd with his usual awkwardness and goofy facial expressions. The only band to really seem to grasp the occasion, the film performances limited the band to their ’80s repertoire but allowed for the “Heaven And Hell” tribute to Ronnie James Dio in the middle of “Indians.”

That first bit of semi-spontaneity (offered earlier at a similar Polish event) would be the evening’s last, however. Perhaps that lies at the feet of the editors — each band received about 45 minutes — but otherwise the highly anticipated affair was dreadfully dry.

Dave Mustaine’s refusal to work around his tattered voice maimed Megadeth’s performance irreparably. Even the sight of reunited bassist David Ellefson couldn’t distract from the mumbled falsetto that has become the frontman’s upper register. Instead of operating an octave lower or hiring a replacement — Mustaine has no problem, mind you, altering lyrics to jive with his religious beliefs — he pushed through a wince-inducing gig that was more obstinate and arrogant than brave. The repeated bellows of “killing!” in “Holy Wars”; “You just laugh/ha ha, bitch!” from “In My Darkest Hour”; and an entirely questionable “Hook In Mouth” (a PRMC would have been the least of an Eastern Bloc’s populace’s worries in the mid-’80s) all suffered while his band gamely if blandly plucked away.

The evening could have ended after Slayer, so much did they kill. Appearing worse for the wear, frontman Tom Araya’s back problems had no effect on his voice, which commanded King and Jeff Hanneman’s blistering, divebomb-riddled blitzkrieg. While Slayer’s detractors were no doubt unimpressed by the lack of ideas musically, their approach and tightness could not be questioned. From “World Painted Blood” to the obligatory “Raining Blood” finale, the errorless set was so relentless you could feel the atmosphere change during split-second breaks in “Angel Of Death” as the collective Vasil Levski National Stadium drew its breath.

As you can imagine, Metallica’s big-top theater stood in glitzy contrast. Earlier that day, Anthrax’s Ian introduced “Metal Thrashing Mad” as the sentiment of why everyone was there yesterday, but such could not be said of the headliner. Increasingly a collection of individuals, it was difficult to focus given the spastic lights and video, James Hetfield’s wild gesticulations, Ulrich walking around his kit, Kirk Hammett’s ‘tween-song solos, and bassist Robert Trujillo prowling around like Spiderman. Nothing garners criticism like success, but Metallica recklessly invite it. Instead of a laundry list (’50s-style microphones, Hammett playing with the fluidity of someone who never changes his strings), it’d be asinine to ignore what Metallica did right, and that was the stage.

The first three bands seemed to be dwarfed: Anthrax a simple banner, Megadeth oversized Rust In Peace props, Slayer the anonymous wall of Marshall stacks. Metallica, by virtue of two ramps leading to an underutilized, raised portion, were thrust on top of the crowd and made more intimate by Ulrich’s lack of a drum riser. It aided their energy-level immensely, especially for Hetfield who absorbed cheerleading responsibilities after Jason Newsted left. His animae restored, gripping renditions of “Creeping Death” and “Master Of Puppets” maintained astonishingly intense levels despite living on opposite ends of the setlist.

– Steve Forstneger

It’s not quite what everyone was looking for, but Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax will share the stage on June 22nd. Tickets on sale TODAY!

The catch is the show’s in Sofia, Bulgaria and will be simulcast to theaters worldwide. Four-hundred-and-fifty U.S. theaters will carry the event, what’s unclear is the time of day, as Bulgaria is 8-hours ahead of Chicago. June 22nd is a Tuesday, so that might mean taking a halfday at work if it begins at a reasonable 8 p.m. Baltic time.

Oddly, this comes in a summer when three-quarters of the original European Clash Of The Titans tour rolls through the States. Slayer, Megadeth, and Testament took Suicidal Tendencies as their opener in 1990; Slayer, Megadeth, and Testament play UIC Pavilion on a rescheduled August 22nd. (Alice In Chains opened the U.S. jaunt, on which Anthrax replaced Testament.) This is believed to be the first time Metallica and Megadeth have shared a stage; Dave Mustaine was ousted from the former in 1983.

Visit thebigfourlive.com for more information.

– Steve Forstneger

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when old age becomes a source of amusement, but the thrash-metal community caught quite a jolt when the frontman of its charter member, Slayer, had to cancel a megatour because of back problems. (If only it had been a hip.) If it had been one of Dave Mustaine’s lackeys they’d have simply moved on; if the lineup were different and Ozzy Osbourne fell off his Bowflex we’d all laugh. But Tom Araya – thee Tom Araya?

It’s for the best. Let’s not kid. Araya’s 48. The original Clash Of The Titans Tour – a sequel to which his injury has foiled – ran in 1990. Twenty years later that lineup was gonna do what? Play hits sets in hour-long compartments? Satan would be so . . . embarrassed. So February 5th, when this jaunt was set to hit UIC Pavilion, you’ll be where? At the doctor, hopefully. Getting that trick knee scoped. It has since been rescheduled for August 20th.

Like Dylan In The Movies

You go through life and you end up with rhymes. For us, there was an 8th grader called Sim (rhymed with Tim; short for Simon), dorks you pounded on who played virtual games called Sims, then there’s a Central-Illinois-based metal fest called CIM, and now we have the Chicago International Movies & Music festival: CIMM. And it’s kickin’ our ass.

Though only in its second incarnation (March 4th to 7th), CIMM has synergy in its blood. On opening night, the film Universalove is co-directed by something called Naked Lunch while a documentary, William S. Burroughs: A Man Within, plays across town. Ah, dovetailing. This year’s fest (catch more info at cimmfest.org) also features a film about and supported live by Robyn Hitchcock, something about Kiss’ Paul Stanley, and more by Jon Langford (a pic about Mekons), DJ Spooky, and ex-Hüsker Dü man Grant Hart.

Music With Teeth

My dentist, with dollar signs in her eyes, swears to me I grew up where there was no flouride. That’s why I’ll be strapping a beat-up guitar on my back and heading to the Chicago Federation Of Musicians (656 W. Randolph) on March 4th for a free consultation! Actually, you need to contact Music Cares in advance for an appointment, so you can get in line for a free exam with basic cleaning, polishing, and two x-rays provided by Mobile Dentists. We ask all boxcar banjoists to assess the threat to their career before applying.

House Of Wax

At this point, Wax Trax Records has been closed for nearly as long as it was open in Chicago (‘78 to ‘95), but its incalcuable impact was in its galvanizing properties for Chicago punks and others as well as becoming the international nexus for industrial rock. In early January, co-founder Dannie Flesher followed Jim Nash into the next life, dying at home in Hope, Arkansas aged 58.

Flesher and Nash originally opened the store in Denver, but moved to 2449 N. Lincoln three years later – eventually spawning a record label that would issue KFMDM, Underworld, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, and countless Al Jourgensen side-projects. The imprint was eventually sold to TVT in ‘92 following money problems, and Flesher dropped out of music when Nash succumbed to AIDS complications in ‘95, but the business aspect of it always seemed superfluous to the store. It was the institution, the engine that got nearly everything going with Flesher quietly pulling strings.

– Steve Forstneger

You have to feel for The Haunted. The band had a kick-ass North American tour set to kick off this month before, well, shit happened . . . big time.

That kick-ass package became significantly less so March 2nd when both Kylesa and Intronaut announced their intentions to join Mastodon’s spring tour (April 30th at Metro) instead. To add insult to the Swedes’ injuries, Nachtmystium canceled two weeks later when frontman Blake Judd broke a leg. (Haunted still plays Pearl Room, with Merauder and The Agonist, April 13th.)

I caught up with Kylesa guitarist/vocalist Laura Pleasants the day after the Savannah five-piece officially ditched Haunted for Mastodon, and she wouldn’t talk tour swaps but had plenty to say about the group’s (completed by guitarist/vocalist Phillip Cope, drummers Carl McGinely and Eric Hernandez, and live bassist Corey Barhorst) fangoddamntastic new record, Static Tensions, released March 17th by Prosthetic.

M: So Static Tensions leaked?
LP: Oh yeah. Yeah. That’s pretty inevitable, you know? We of course downloaded [the leaked songs] and were just kind of bummed because they just sounded so shitty, especially compared to what I’ve been kinda married to for a few months now, listening to it and playing the songs. We’re really happy with the way it came out, as far as production on it, so we want our fans to be able to get that sense as well and appreciate it.

M: I’ve always been curious how records leak. Is it media people?
LP: Yeah.

IE: Always? It’s always our fault? I got a copy, and I didn’t leak it!
LP: I believe you, man [laughs]. I was told that it’s generally, and I don’t know this for a fact, I was told by someone they sent a bunch of watermarked copies to a bunch of magazine people, but then towards the release date they send out more and more copies, and it’s just inevitable that it’s going to leak, especially with, as I was told, college radio. But you know, it’s inevitable. Records leak. You can check ‘em out, [though]. I always like to get a hard copy of things if I really dig it because I can tell the difference in a shitty, compressed MP3.

M: The reviews have been very positive. Many people are calling it the best Kylesa record yet. Do you agree?
LP: I do agree in that I think it’s our best record. I can honestly say that.

M: The album feels catchier than prior Kylesa material. Especially tunes like “Running Red” and “Nature’s Predators.” Is that a fair assessment?
LP: Yeah, I think so. On some of our past records, a lot of times people’s favorite songs were the catchier ones. We just kind of knew what worked on the past records and what didn’t work. Also, we wanted to write more rockin’ kind of songs, that you can kind of just bang your head to. We either wanted to have a very memorable riff, or a line, and memorable vocals. To me, having a memorable riff in a song or a melody is just as important as having a catchy chorus. We did wanna kind of expand. I think we started that with Time Will Fuse Its Worth but really expanded it with this record.

M: Some heavy bands try so hard to eschew the term “catchy,” Kylesa seems to have embraced it.
LP: It’s not such a bad word. I listen to some of my – I love a ton of punk rock – and some of that is the catchiest shit ever. All that punk stuff has a huge influence on Kylesa. We don’t sound like a punk band, per se, but those influences definitely show up in our music. We’ve been listening to Slayer’s Seasons In The Abyss a lot, and that record is super catchy. That’s my favorite Slayer record, because of its catchiness. And it’s still brutal and heavy. You can be both [laughs].

M: It seems like there is less vocal interplay between you and Phillip and more “your” songs and “his” songs on this record.
LP: Yeah, that wasn’t necessarily on purpose, though, man. That’s kind of just the way the chips fell on this one. We always work out the music first, and then the vocals, and he and I have always written all the vocals and done all the lyrics, and . . . I don’t know. For whatever reason he focused on his vocal parts, and I focused on mine. The only songs I wish I would have done vocals on but didn’t because we ran out of time was “Almost Lost.”

M: In hindsight, do you like the way the vocals turned out doing it differently?
LP: Yeah, I do. That’s not to say that’s how it’s going to be from now on, that’s just how it worked out on this record, but I think the vocals on this record are our strongest. I think Phillip and I worked really hard on improving upon ourselves. We did talk about how we didn’t want to just scream all over the songs – we wanted to put more emphasis on patterns and the actual tone of our vocals and when we should not sing at all and let the music sit by itself and let the drums do the singing or let the guitars do the work. In the past when I was listening to our songs, I was like “Man, there’s just singing all over the place.” And I don’t think there necessarily needed to be. We have enough going on with our music that it doesn’t, we didn’t need it as much.

CONCISE: Though I understand all his points, IE Editor Steve Forstneger and I disagree about Mastodon’s new album. Here’s my official Crack The Skye review in one word: Mindblowing.

REDUX: Think hard (really hard), and you’ll recall a time when In Flames wasn’t mind-numbingly boring. There was also a time when screensavers and Winamp skins were considered CD bonus features. Nuclear Blast remembers both, so it re-released The Jester Race, Whoracle, Colony, and Clayman last month as part of the Reloaded series. This is the second batch of albums in NB’s reissue campaign, reserved for “classic albums.” Calling Colony and/or Clayman (where In Flames started going down the toilet) classic is a stretch, but Jester Race gets the Black-Ash Inheritance EP, which was released the same year as Whoracle, tagged on. Though arguably the band’s best record, Whoracle is only Halfloaded here – just a live version of “Clad In Shadows” and some enhanced stuff. In Flames Windows themes, anyone?

Next to be Reloaded, by the way, are Therion’s Theli and Hammerfall’s Renegade, though no release dates yet.

BUY STUFF: Satan wants us to support independent record stores. Know how I know? He persuaded Slayer to record a new track specifically for Record Store Day April 18th. The band was apparently going to do a track about unicorns but already had the title “Psychopathy Red” sitting around, so it decided to go the Russian-serial-killer (Andrei Chikatilo) route instead. The 7-inch (blood-red vinyl, of course) is limited to 5,000 copies, packaged in a special Russian crime-scene evidence envelope, and available only at participating indie stores. There’s a big ol’ list of Chicagoland locations on www.recordstoreday.com Oh, and the flip side of the 7-inch, according to Recordstoreday.com, is a “weird ass backward tracking song.” Mastodon and Heaven & Hell also have exclusive releases planned for April 18th.

By the way, have you seen the artwork for H&H’s new album? Oh. My. God. Evil. As. Shit. Based on the three new songs the group recorded for the 2007 Dio Years compilation, I’ll be shocked if The Devil You Know (April 28th) isn’t absolutely awesome.

mosh@illinoisentertainer.com

– Trevor Fisher

Lair Of The Minotaur’s War Metal Battle Master might not have been the best heavy metal record of 2008 (fifth best, says me), but I can’t think of a more metal heavy metal record released all year. It’s only fitting the Chicago band also made the most metal music video, too.

Within the first 53 seconds of the video for the title track, an Akhaian Barbarian gets decapitated, blood spurting from his headless neck. But that ain’t shit compared to a minute later when Keres (fanged, clawed, naked, blood-smeared female death spirits who dine on the flesh of the defeated and drag their souls to Hades) – frontman/guitarist Steve Rathbone is a Greek mythology buff – start eagerly sifting through the fallen’s entrails. Yeah, awesome. It would be pointless to describe the entire video in detail; you can simply You Tube it.

Or, you can get LOTM’s War Metal Battle Master DVD (Southern Lord) with both the uncensored and TV cuts (the TV version merely serves to prove how lame MTV and “Headbangers Ball” have become), some sparse special-feature, making-of type bonus features (extra looks at the Keres getting fake blood poured on their . . . parts), and 11 live performances from across the globe. The footage ranges from good (“Ultimate Destroyer” in Nantes, France) to horrible (“Burning Temple” in Chicago), and the sound is never better-than-average, but the setlist covers the group’s career, meaning you get to see plenty of original drummer Larry Herweg (Pelican) playing with Rathbone and bassist D.J. Barraca (who recently left Minotaur and was replaced by Nate Olp) as well as current skinsman Chris Wozniak.

So, War Metal Battle Master might not be the best heavy metal DVD of the year, but it’s hard to imagine anybody releasing a more metal heavy metal DVD.

66 1/6: War Metal Battle Master earned the Moshy for Most Metal Metal Record Of 2008, but what’s the most metal record ever? My guess is more than half of you (Ten? Fifteen loyal, monthly readers?) say Reign In Blood. Slayer’s masterpiece wasn’t as immediately accessible as Metallica’s Master Of Puppets or as adventurous as Megadeth’s Peace Sells . . . But Who’s Buying, both of which came out the same year (what a fucking year 1986 was, huh?), but as far as being a touchstone for every corner of the genre, Reign In Blood might be it, at least according to the author in charge of tackling the album for Continuum’s 33 1/3 book, D.X. Ferris. Quickly, 33 1/3 is a series of small (Reign In Blood is only 153 pages, “Acknowledgements,” “Introduction,” and “Notes, Asides, & Works Cited” included), concise books about classic records. This one came out way back in April of last year, but since Continuum just sent it to IE recently, I have the right to comment on its awesomeness. Besides providing the straight who, what, when, why, and where of Reign In Blood’s recording, Ferris also interviews a slew people affected in one way or another by the seminal thrash record, including the aforementioned Larry Herweg, Tori Amos, Helmet’s Page Hamilton, Agnostic Front’s Roger Miret, Mastodon’s Bill Kelliher, and rapper Ill Bill among others. The consensus? Reign In Blood rules, dude. Of course, you don’t need to buy a book (even at a paltry $10.95) to know that, but Ferris will probably surprise even the most hardcore fans with his nuggets of knowledge. Did you know Suicidal Tendencies guitarist Rocky George was an early mentor to Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King? Remember that next time someone insists Slayer is a “Nazi band,” or better yet, when some idiot at a Slayer show strips off his sweaty T-shirt to proudly show off his Aryan Nation tattoos.

STRANGELAND AND BATTLE KOMMAND: Because I hardly ever mention Nachtmystium, I figured I’d pass along the news about Nacht’ frontman Blake Judd’s label, Battle Kommand, joining forces with international heavy metal powerhouse Candlelight. Last month Candlelight confirmed the “extension of their cooperation” with Battle Kommand, meaning they now get their mitts on BK’s entire catalog (releases from Glorior Belli, Leviathan, Krieg, and Zoroaster to name a few) instead of just the Nachtmystium titles. Candlelight will put together reissues and handle marketing and distribution while Judd retains his role as the label’s A&R . . . Because I can never mention Dee Snider enough, I figured I’d pass along news the Twisted Sister frontman is going to write and star in a sequel to 1998’s Strangeland! Snider will pick up the pin and reprise his role as the sadistic Internet predator Captain Howdy (also the name of one of two songs that comprise the “Horror-teria” suite on Stay Hungry – as if you’d forget) for Strangeland: Disciple, which goes into production this year. It only makes sense now that torture-film franchises like Hostel and Saw are so popular, at least according to Snider, who humbly states in a press release, “I came up with the idea of Internet crime before anybody ever committed Internet crime. And I am the father of torture films.”

I remember seeing Strangeland when it came out and being pleasantly surprised, but in order to provide a check and balance on Snider’s ego I summoned Cardiac Arrest/ Severed guitarist/vocalist and “Caught In A Mosh” Horror Consultant Tom Knizner. “I don’t mind the first one at all,” he admits. “It is not great, but it is passable and, for the time, it was pretty disturbing.

“Modern torture films? Maybe. But there were plenty of torture films going around for years. The Internet crime thing is pretty much true, I think . . . first movie I can recall that exploits it. But then again, that Sandra Bullock movie, The Net, was Internet crime, not sure when that came out though.”

Unfortunately, The Net edged Strangleand, by three years. Don’t tell Dee.

OUT NOW: I praised Dodsferd’s last album, Cursing Your Will To Live, for refusing to get all fancy-pants like peers Xasthur and Blut Aus Nord and instead cutting song lengths and stripping black metal to its essence: anger. How does Dodsferd mainman – only man – Wrath repay me? With Death Set The Beginning Of My Journey (Moribund) and six songs all more than six minutes a pop. Death Set fails, unfortunately, where Cursing Your Will To Live succeeded. Even the song titles (“You Were Talking About A Kingdom; What the Fuck Is That!!!” for ridiculous example) need editing . . . Outlaw Order is Eyehategod without Jimmy Bower. Need I tell you what Dragging Down The Enforcer (Season Of Mist), its full-length debut, sounds like? Apparently vocalist Michael Williams, guitarists Brian Patton (also of Soilent Green) and Gary Mader, drummer Joey LaCaze, and bassist Justin Grisoli (the only non-EHG member; original OO bassist Marc Shultz is in prison, apparently) grew tired of waiting for Bower to play with every Southern metal band – Down, Corrosion Of Conformity, Superjoint Ritual – except EHG (which hasn’t released a studio album since 2000), so they formed Outlaw Order, a slightly – slightly – less sludgy, even angrier version of their main gig. Unless you’re visiting New Orleans, don’t plan on seeing the band live, though; pretty much everyone is on probation.

THE BRITISH ARE COMING!: If you’re still holding a grudge against Carcass for not including Chicago on its brief North American reunion tour last September, let it go. Just before IE went to press, The Pearl Room in Mokena casually announced (tour info wasn’t even posted on the band’s Myspace) the pioneering grind/death act will play March 15th. The Black Dahlia Murder, Suicide Silence, Samael, Arsis, and Psycroptic open.

mosh@illinoisentertainer.com

– Trevor Fisher