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Ill Niño

2006-01-26T03:12:00.000-08:00

"This is War"

Members:
Cristian Machado – vocals
Dave Chavarri - drums
Ahrue Luster - guitars
Jardel Paisante - guitars
Lazaro Pina - bass
Danny Couto - percussion

On their first two albums, Ill Niño, crafted songs out of crushing riffs, surging beats and urgent vocals. They then took those songs and infused them with elements of their Latino heritage, including tribal percussion, flamenco guitars and Spanish lyrics. But as innovative and refreshing as their sound was, Ill Niño still felt somewhat constrained by self-imposed limitations. So, for their third album, One Nation Underground , the band decided to act on impulse and do what ever felt natural, even if it seemed unconventional.

"We wanted to make a record that would make us happy as musicians first and foremost," says vocalist Cristian Machado. By stretching their boundaries and catering only to themselves, Ill Niño were able to create music that broke new ground and reflected the savagery, rage, disillusionment, beauty and melancholy the band members felt within. "There was nothing holding us back this time," drummer Dave Chavarri says. "We wanted to let it rip and jam on different Latin rhythms and see where it led us"

The result is Ill Niño's most intense, consistent and challenging album yet. "This Is War" begins as a striking mélange of textural chants, propulsive riffs, scouring vocals and a memorable melodic chorus, then shifts into a Latin jam reminiscent of Santana. "Everything Beautiful" starts with tribal instrumentation, then builds through a jagged riff and yearning vocal redolent of Tool.

THANKS TO:
Roadrunner Records
Infected Soundtrack

Chimaira

2006-01-19T21:05:00.000-08:00

"Pass Out of Existence"

Members:
- Mark Hunter - Vocals
- Matt DeVries - Guitars
- Rob Arnold - Guitars
- Jim LaMarca - Bass
- Chris Spicuzza - Electronics
- Kevin Talley - Drums

Chimaira is a six-membered alternative metal band, originating in Cleveland, Ohio. Chimaira's name has been the source of much confusion. Its correct pronunciation is kim-EAR-uh, even though the name is derived from Chimera, a lion-headed monster in Greek mythology whose name is pronounced kai-MEAR-uh.

Chimaira was formed in 1998, composing itself of Mark Hunter (vocals), Jason Hager (guitar), Rob Arnold (guitar), Jim LaMarca (bass), Andols Herrick (drums) and Chris Spicuzza (keyboards and electronics). Jason Hager later left the band after Pass Out Of Existence due to family issues and the band gained Matt DeVries. Their first EP, This Present Darkness, was released two years later, on January 11, 2000, featuring a few of the songs that were later on their release, Pass Out of Existence. This Present Darkness found much popularity and critical acclaim, and Chimaira found themselves on a short-term record contract with East Coast Empire. The band further skyrocketed in popularity, acquiring a new contract with RoadRunner Records. Pass Out of Existence, released in 2001, and The Impossibility of Reason, released in 2003, was enough to fund Chimaira's extensive touring with In Flames, and their second-stage performance at Ozzfest, also in 2003.

Musically, Pass Out of Existence had a much more "electronic" sound than The Impossibility of Reason, with Chris Spicuzza's pronounced electronic loops featured in many songs. This sound was often compared to artists like Fear Factory, Spineshank and Machine Head. The Impossibility of Reason kept with a more pure, metal-esque instrumentation, akin to metalcore and thrash-ish bands such as Killswitch Engage, and this was found to be very popular--the album reached #2 on Billboard's "Heatseekers" chart.

Their selftitled album, released in August 2005, built upon the progress of The Impossibility of Reason. The electronic feel of Pass Out of Existence and This Present Darkness is much reduced, and the guitar riffs and solos are taking a more central position to the band's music. The themes of "rejection, revenge and repercussion" from The Impossibility of Reason reamain, although there are exceptions here - the track "Lazarus" is named for, and written about a friend of Hunter's commiting suicide.

THANKS TO:
Wikipedia
Roadrunner Records
Higher Ground Music

OzzFest 2005

2005-06-07T09:34:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the bands who will be performing at the OzzFest this year

Take me to OzzFest 2005.com

Disturbed

2005-06-07T09:27:00.000-07:00

"Let the Chaos Begin"

David Draiman: Vocals
Dan Donegan: Guitar
Fuzz: Bass
Mike Wengren: Drums

Heavy metal band Disturbed came together through the matching of a band with a singer. Long-time friends Dan Donegan (guitar), Mike Wengren (drums), and Fuzz (bass) played together in Chicago for some time before hooking up with singer David Draiman around 1997. Draiman had grown up in a religious family from which he rebelled, being expelled from five boarding schools in his adolescence. His anger found an outlet in the thrashing sound of Disturbed, and the band built up a following on Chicago's South Side before a demo tape led to their signing to Giant Records, which released their debut album, The Sickness, in March 2000. The band gained more fans and exposure playing the main stage of the 2001 Ozz Fest, then breaking away to do their own self-described "victory lap" around the U.S. that fall. Also during this period, they managed to record a vicious new version of wrestler Steve Austin's theme song that was so good it managed to receive radio play, and was one of the many bands announced to work on a high profile Faith No More tribute album. The band stepped into the studio after stepping off of the road and began work on a new disc that would reflect their growth as a band. Feeling experimental, the group worked with producer Johnny K. and mixer Andy Wallace in order to create an album that could compare to other classic metal records they admired. Amplifying their fondness for groups like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Pantera, and Soundgarden, Believe was released in the fall of 2002 and was immediately recognized as a heavier, more varied, and ultimately superior record to their debut.

Written by William Ruhlmann

THANKS TO:
Yahoo Music
MTV

Slipknot

2005-06-06T22:20:00.000-07:00

Slipknot were brought together by Paul and Shawn along with Anders Colsefni (ex-singer) in Des Moines, Iowa in 1995. The band has been through many changes since then to reach the current 9 member status it has now. Slipknot consider themselves as a family unit and each of the nine members are assigned a number between 0-8. The group mascarade the rock scene in their individual masks, each representing a personality, and there draping jumpsuits. Rather than hiding themselves, Slipknot feel they are showing their true personalities and inner selves with the masks which also add to the flavour and intensity of the music due to the sheer awkwardness of the masks. The band consists of 3 percussionists, 2 guitarists, 1 bassist, 1 DJ, 1 sampler and 1 lead singer, the complex heavy metal sound, mixed with riffs of rap, hip hop and in the good old days funk, jazz and disco has been matched by no other and following the release of MFKR. Slipknot has been climbing and climbing, gaining new fans and support with the release of the self-titled album which soon stormed to platinum status. Nine guys? That cant work? In fact it works perfectly! And now Iowa has been placed back onto the map.

Profiles
Sid Wilson - Turntables

Nicknamed "Monkeyboy" ("Rat Boy") 15/03/1978
Sid is a sick son of a Bitch. He's really sarcastic, and he claims he suffers from 'organic brain syndrome'. Sid and Shawn (6) maintain a rivalry, which usually breaks out as violence on stage. Sid is definitely one of the craziest people in the band, he has stage dived from a 2 storey balcony. Sid is the youngest of the band, Joey describes Sid as a "lady's man" Sid's family is from England. Sid is the crowd surfer of the band. He's not the only member that does, but he'll do some crazy shit.
Sid was born with 6 fingers on each hand, they were amputated at birth, Shawn: "They cut off his goddamn fingers cos society doesn't like them. Think what a DJ he coulda been with those extra fingers! We've been deprived of that cos of those motherfuckers!"

Mask - Sid wears a variety of gas masks and has around 8 which all have names. MEANING: "That's too much of a deeper conversation to get into. You need much more time to ask me a question like that, Another time."

Joey Jordison - Drums

Nickname: Superball April 26, 1975
His real name is Nathan Jonas Jordison. He says he's 5'4 but in actual fact he is 5'3. He is an UNBELIEVABLE drummer and he can also play guitar. He's talkative, diminutive, and just really down to Earth. He's the shortest one of the lot and is also one of the original members of Slipknot. Before joining he was part of the band Anal Blast. Joey created the now commonly used term of maggot and apparently he also has an obsession with Fiona Apple. Joey has written many songs, one of them being Scissors which appeared on the self-titled album, which was consequently mixed by him as well. Joey attained the nickname "Superball" after one show that Slipknot played crap in, so he got mad and started "bouncing around the room" Joey worked at a record store called "Music Land" and a gas station called "Sinclair's". He worked at the garage four nights a week for 10 hours after being tempted by a friend, to get a job their. Although receiving poor grades in school due to a devotion to music, he eventually graduated with honours.

Mask - Joey wears an expressionless Japanese ""kabuki" mask that is now marked up with black + red paint for a darker look. He got the idea when one night (Halloween, mid 80s) his mum was waiting up for him and we he came home trashed , hiding behind the door was his mum in a robe with this Kabuki mask on, he says it scared the fuck out of him. MEANING: "It's open ended and it's got so many different meanings that you can't just pin point, stereotype or pigeon hole. It could be love, beauty, hate, disgust - it's all that stuff in one!"

Paul Grey - Bass

Nickname: Balls April 8, 1972
Paul is a cofounder of Slipknot with Shawn (6) and Anders. Seems to be a friendly person, with an indulgent personality. Paul was not born in Des Moines Iowa, unlike the rest of the band, he was born in LA and moved when he was young. Apparently he is half black and once burnt a picture of KoRn posing for Calvin Klein live on stage. He has appeared in bands such as Vexx, Body Pit, Anal Blast and Inveigh Catharsis all before Slipknot, he also made an appearance with Davo's band, "The Havenots".

Mask - Paul wears a latex pig's face mask. MEANING: "Right now it represents breathing problems and it's somewhat more uncomfortable than the last ones"

Chris Fehn - Percussion

Nicknamed "Mr. Picklenose" February 24, 1972
Chris is known as the soft spoken joker of the band. I mean, really... how could he not be with that mask? Chris is the co-drummer and also the first percussionist. Chris is the comedian of the band and on the bonus tracks of the self titled album he can be heard puking (within his initiation test). Rolling Stone has described him as the most handsome and wholesome member of the band. Chris enjoys "jacking off" his nose, he can be seen doing this in not only the Spit it Out video but also in many interviews and on Conan O'Brien. There are also rumours that Chris is the original member of slipknot cuddles, THIS IS NOT TRUE!

Mask - Chris wears a bondage type Pinnochio mask, with a nose about 7-8 inches long. He has several different versions of this mask. MEANING: "At the moment I have absolutely no idea what this mask means because it's a long time since I had this fucking thing on, but I'll figure it out real fucking quick. Oh but it's all so good..."

James Root - Guitar

Nicknamed "The Peach" (apparently comes from a movie "James and the giant peach") October 2, 1971
James is the newest member of the band. He joined Slipknot during the recording of the CD. He is very fast and technical with the guitar.... practice pays. Despite looks James is the tallest of the band @ 6'6, whereas Mick, who looks taller is a mere 6'2. He is more oftenly called Jim and his hair colour is brown. He was previously in the bands Dead Front, Atomic Opera and Stone Sour. James was a waiter/busboy and said that he "hated that greasy hell"

Mask - He wears a court jester/demon mask. MEANING: "It's pretty much everything I am, but it's the stuff I'm afraid to let out sometimes. It's a jester's mask and I kinda have that prankster's side to me, so I spose it's my own little way of venting that silliness in the grossest kind of way. This is my old mask because it doesn't feel like the right time for the new one yet - it needs some work doing on it." - Jim originally inherited Josh (ex-guitarist), old mask, a bondage one containing a purple tassel on the top of it. He wore this until the new Jester mask was created, it is the mask that can be seen on the front of the self titled album cover.

Craig Jones - Media/Samples

Nicknamed "133 MHz" - Craig gave himself the name 133 MHz because that was the top MHz of computers at the time. Unfortunately, things have progressed a lot since then. There have also been other rumours for the reason why he chose this name, for example 3+3-1 = 5 his number, these are sadly untrue, to my knowledge.
So you're wondering how the sound in the very beginning of the CD is made. Well, that's made by Craig, the sampler. He puts some crazy twists on the CD by adding sounds from movies such as "Carlito's Way" (sic) into the music. He is also, supposedly the Webmaster of Slipknot1.com, this may have changed though. After Slipknot is done playing a set, Craig leaves and secludes himself, he is isolated and independent from Slipknot. Craig is married and he originally joined the band as a guitarist but was replaced by Mick so that he could work on the samples. He is a computer freak and when playing Quake 3 his screen name is ZZ 5 along with his own skin which looks just like him. To prevent his eyes being seen in photo shoots he covers them with leather, he also prefers not to take part in interviews, remaining anonymous.

Mask - He wears a "diver's" (actually a gas station helmet) with nails coming out of the top. Apparently his old mask's "diving helmet" used to be a cheap plastic Sinclair (gas station) racing helmet. His mask, initially when he joined Slipknot, was a pantyhose which was accompanied with a SPAM T-shirt to every gig, the mask changed with the change of instrument, to the black helmet. Eventually He painted it black, put nails through it, and put a gas mask on it, a camera flash was added to the top but this was later removed. This mask apparently represented pain.

Shawn Crahan - Percussion

Nicknamed "Kong" - Shawn's mom told him he looked like a silver-backed gorilla when she watched them practising one day, so they started calling him Kong. Anders: "She watched a videotape of one of our practices in my basement and had this to say: "Anders looks like a Timber wolf, ready to attack. Shawn, you look like a Silver-back Gorilla. The whole band looks like what I envision to be the band that entices a caveman hunting party into a frenzy before going out to bring down a Mammoth."" Born September 24, 1969
Shawn adds an interesting sound to Slipknot. His drum set is made of titanium. He made it himself, because he has a background in welding, and he's good at it. Shawn starts a good amount of fights on stage, when he's not playing, and has a sort of rivalry with Sid. Shawn is also one of the co-founders of Slipknot with Paul (2) and Anders. He is the second percussionist and has a wife, Chantal, and 3 kids. ("I'm a perfect father and a fucking psychopath, ok? No contradiction") Shawn does most of the interviews and ran www.slipknot2.com, Shawn has a habit of ramming his head into walls and has injured himself many times in performances ( He has fractured knuckles, split a collarbone, suffered slipped vertebrae, bruised his pelvic bone, dislocated a shoulder, gotten a concussion, partially severed a finger, and smashed his head often enough to require 22 stitches ) He also goes onto AIM to chat with fans and he is by far the craziest member of Slipknot. Shawn has recently changed his mask and it is also named "Dude". Shawn is the oldest of Slipknot. In the old days Slipknot did not wear the jumpsuits they wore other costumes, @ one of these shows Shawn decided to wear a huge purple "Barney" suit.

Mask - Shawn had a clown's mask that he found around 15 years ago. MEANING: "I'm going to fucking kill every motherfucker here! What was the question? The mask? IT represents my death."

Mick Thompson - Guitar

Nicknamed "Log", "Molten Metal God" November 3, 1973
Mick is the lead guitarist of the band. He's huge, as you can see. He claims to be a fan of serial killers, but he loves cats. Mick is apparently a night person. Previously he had a job teaching guitar lessons, which he still does today. Before the famous overalls Mick dressed himself up as Little Bo Peep. There have been speculations that the old slipknot member Grouch was just Mick wearing a different mask, these speculations are untrue.

Mask - He has several masks, one is a modified hockey mask, painted a yellowish gold with more custom features. His other is a mask made to look like metal, but is actually made from black leather. MEANING: "HATE! PURE FUCKIN HATE!"

Corey Taylor - Vocals

Nicknamed "The Sickness" December 8, 1973
Corey is the master of the horrid vocals and lyrics in Slipknot. Before he joined the band, he worked in a porn shop to earn money (it was called "Adult Emporium"). On stage he is loud, fast, and out of control. Offstage, he seems very calm and down to Earth. Before Slipknot he was part of the band Stone Sour. Corey loves Comedy albums, which he grew up on.

Mask - Used to be a leather face cover, with brown/blonde dreads. Yes, some of the dreads were made of his real hair. He used to wear them through the mask, but he cut them off because it was a pain to pull them through. Also, he was always changing his hairstyle. Now, his mask is made out of moulded latex instead of leather. Most of the dreads now seem to be fake. MEANING: "Twenty-seven, What does that mean? You'll figure it out" "Complete pain, it represents everything I fucking rally against, there is so much hate, blood, spit and puke in that fucking mask just from playing, I put it on every night and I remember why I am playing. I go from me now to the person I was when I wrote the songs."

THANKS TO:

Roadrunner Records
Black-Goat.com

DISTURBED Coming up...

2005-06-06T05:16:00.000-07:00

DISTURBED
"Let the Chaos Begin"