Some clever sod has photoshop skills and has transformed the infamous Glen.E.Friedman front porch shot of Minor Threat at the Dischord House with the heads of Ozzy and co from Black Sabbath. Cheeky, surreal and a must have. Ours arrived within just over a week shipped from the US.
Grab yours before they are gone from here.
Gnob
Temple Of Sinners EP
It’s not often that you stumble across a band that love sludge, and space cakes, so much they launched a KickStarter to fund a trip into orbit as the first stoner rock trio to jam in outer space. Gnob are that band, and thank green we’ve found them, and their new EP, Temple Of Sinners – a mind-melting home brew of cosmic dirge that is guaranteed to blow your ears clean off.
Sadly, KickStarter denied their proposed £498,000 space ritual fund-raiser, but this bunch plough on to higher realms regardless. Opening track ‘Curse Of The Jester’ takes a treacherous plunge into some seriously evil aural gloop, before coming up for air to breath the kind of vocal you’d expect to find on Master Of Reality. Bridging the gap between this filthy offering, and the bold psychedelic dimensions that lay ahead, though, is ‘Ceremony’. Five minutes of what’s only describable as shamanic, almost recalling the sitar-like noodling prowess you’d expect to hear hailing from the mystic Goat commune.
As if your ears weren’t smouldering already, ‘Temple Of Sinners’ morphs into a ten-minute psychedelic close, building Sleep-indebted riffs to monolithic heights before hurling into a wonderful haze of warped eastern jams.
Hit play below and let Gnob’s sludge ooze (careful) from your speakers. There’s nothing short of a masterclass in the dark arts of sludge, doom and psych to be found here.
Dave Palmer
Black Sabbath
‘God Is Dead’
www.blacksabbath.com
It took 35 years for Black Sabbath to write and release a new track and here it is, an 8:51 minute heavy metal journey for 2013.
‘God Is Dead‘ is the first piece of music released last night from their new album ’13’, Black Sabbath’s first studio LP with Ozzy Osbourne since 1978. The question is though, is this any good?
The song was produced by legendary producer Rick Rubin, famous for his work with the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, Run DMC, Slayer and plenty more. It was said that he asked the band to deliver something for him to work with that would be up there with the first 4 Sabbath albums. On reflection, ‘God Is Dead’ has taken elements of those classic breakdowns we all know so well; the graveyard production and those trademark Iommi heavy riffs and even Ozzy’s voice sounds like he just about gets away with it, although some will argue that he clearly has nothing left to give due to the effects on this recording. For me, the end section of this track is where it all comes together. Seven minutes in, Sabbath are absolutely flying, Ozzy is on point and you are shipped back to 1970 where it all began.
You have to give it up to them on actually making this record. We are talking about 60 year old men here. Most old codgers can’t even make it to the john in time, let alone write and record a nineteenth album. The Stooges made a complete mess of their comeback record this month; in comparison, this track kicks its arse.
The chances of this song going down in rock history like classics such as ‘War Pigs’, ‘Iron Man’ or ‘Paranoid’ though is slim. ‘God Is Dead’ lacks any of the songwriting skills needed to be logged in the Sabbath hall of fame and lyrically it’s about as entertaining as the news of Rolf Harris being arrested this morning. The fact that the band have left drummer Bill Ward out of the band for this whilst he is fully active in Orange County and added Audioslave’s Brad Wilk adds more mental torture ahead of the release of 13, but have a listen and make your own opinions.
Overall, this tells us that metal’s darkest lords could have have some good stuff up their wizard sleeves and with the positive force from Nietzsche here on their cover, maybe their new album scheduled for release on June 11th will pull off a miracle we never thought would ever happen.
In light of Ozzy Osbourne being back on the booze and gear, Black Sabbath’s new studio album titled ’13’ is still scheduled for release on June 10th and will still be missing the amazing Bill Ward who is not part of things.
The remaining trio will be visiting the UK this December with another drummer and have just added another London date in Birmingham today. Enjoy this new documentary of the band in the studio.
December
10 – O2 Arena – London, UK
12 – Odyssey Arena – Belfast, NI
14 – Motorpoint Arena – Sheffield, UK
16 – Hydro – Glasgow, UK
18 – Arena – Manchestser, UK
20 – LG Arena – Birmingham, UK
22 – LG Arena, Birmingham, UK
Rock legends BLACK SABBATH have announced the title of their new album, ’13’ over the weekend, which will be released this coming June. Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler are all involved, but Bill Ward’s involvement on drums has been overlooked following last summer’s tour where Ward was also not involved.
Bill Ward has been replaced by Brad Wilk who has previously hit drums for Rage Against The Machine. So sad to think that they could do this to Bill after all these years. We also noticed that their new website has chopped Bill’s image from every photo.
Black Sabbath (or the line up that they are calling Black Sabbath) have announced an intimate show this May ahead of their headline slot at Download Festival on June 13th.
The band will play the O2 Academy in Birmingham on May 19th, which will be their first show in their home town in over thirteen years.
Oh dear. This was posted on the Sabbath’s drummer’s facebook page 2 hrs ago:
Dear Sabbath Fans, Fellow Musicians and Interested Parties,
At this time, I would love nothing more than to be able to proceed with the Black Sabbath album and tour. However, I am unable to continue unless a “signable” contract is drawn up; a contract that reflects some dignity and respect toward me as an original member of the band. Last year, I worked diligently in good faith with Tony, Ozzy and Geezer. And on 11/11/11, again in good faith, I participated in the L.A. press conference. Several days ago, after nearly a year of trying to negotiate, another “unsignable” contract was handed to me.
Let me say that although this has put me in some kind of holding pattern, I am packed and ready to leave the U.S. for England. More importantly, I definitely want to play on the album, and I definitely want to tour with Black Sabbath.
Since the news of Tony’s illness, and the understanding that the band would move production to the U.K., I’ve spent everyday getting to or living in a place of readiness to leave. That involves something of a task, and as I’ve tried to find out what’s going on with the U.K. sessions, I’ve realized that I’ve been getting “the cold shoulder” (and, I might add, not for the first time). Feeling somewhat ostracized, my guess is as of today, I will know nothing of what’shappening unless I sign “the unsignable contract.”
The place I’m in feels lousy and lonely because as much as I want to play and participate, Ialso have to stand for something and not sign on. If I sign as-is, I stand to lose my rights, dignity and respectability as a rock musician. I believe in freedom and freedom of speech. I grew up in a hard rock/metal band. We stood for something then, and we played from the heart with honesty and sincerity. I am in the spirit of integrity, far from the corporate malady, I am real and honest, fair and compassionate.
If I’m replaced, I have to face you, the beloved Sabbath fans. I hope you will not hold me responsible for the failure of an original Black Sabbath lineup as promoted. Without fault finding, I want to assure everyone that my loyalty to Sabbath is intact.
So here I am. I lay my truth down before you. I’m good to go IF I get a “signable” contract. I don’t want to let anyone down, especially Black Sabbath and all the Sabbath fans. You know I love you. It would be a sad day in Rock if this current situation fell to the desires of a few.
My position is not greed-driven. I’m not holding out for a “big piece” of the action (money) like some kind of blackmail deal. I’d like something that recognizes and is reflective of my contributions to the band, including the reunions that started fourteen years ago. After the last tour I vowed to never again sign on to an unreasonable contract. I want a contract that shows some respect to me and my family, a contract that will honor all that I’ve brought to Black Sabbath since its beginning.
That’s the story so far.
Stay safe and stay strong.
I love every single one of you.
–Bill Ward
The sad news that Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi has been diagnosed with cancer was announced over Facebook.
The statement says:
“With the news that Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi has been diagnosed with the early stages of lymphoma, his bandmates would like everyone to send positive vibes to the guitarist at this time. Iommi is currently working with his doctors to establish the best treatment plan – the ‘iron man’ of rock n roll remains upbeat and determined to make a full and successful recovery”.
The original band members stated they would move to the UK to continue working on their first album in 33 years so that Iommi could be a part of the writing and recording process whilst he receives treatment.
It may be November still but the Download Festival are already pleasing rock fans by announcing two heavyweights will headline the festival in 2012. Metallica have been conformed they will headline on Saturday and play the ‘Black’ album. Let’s hope they leave Lou Reed at home as he is no match for the mighty Black Sabbath whose original line up of Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward will grace the 10th anniversary of the festival!
Download 2012 will take place on the weekend of 8-10th June 2012 at Donington Park. Get your tickets sorted now to avoid missing this one.
Black Sabbath will return with their original line-up for a tour and new album.
Tony Iommi told local press in Birmingham that he and Ozzy had written new material in June, adding:
“We’re really looking forward to it and I think the stuff we’ve been writing is really good…It’s more back to the old original stuff…It’s all been very hush-hush. Ozzy’s been the worst at trying to hold it back. He’s doing a lot of TV and he’s being asked stuff about a reunion and he’s going, ‘Well, I never say never.’ He told me, ‘I don’t know what to say.”
Bill Ward, who recently had an operation, is the only member not 100% simply due to health problems but everyone is hoping he’s able to be a part of the reunion. It’s the first time this line-up has toured since 2005 and the album will be their first since 1978.