Top 10: Worst Album Covers

One of the most important things about an album is the cover art. If you have an awesome cover, people are going to be more inclined to buy your album. If your cover sucks… then people wont want to waste their money. here is a selection of the worst offenders.

HIM – Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice Review

Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice

The finnish love mettallers return with the follow-up to 2007s Venus Doom, Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice.

The first album the band have recorded with frontman Ville Valo sober is also their happiest album yet. Valo described it as “Guns ‘N Roses meeting Depeche Mode on a good day.”

Opening track In Venere Veritas opens the album in a spectacular fashion, with great vocals from Valo and some great guitar work from Mikko “Linde” Lindström.

Ville Valo’s lyrics on this album are based on his experiences of falling in love, which may explain why the album is so upbeat, but the lyrics on this album are really good and there are many memorable lines.

The first single, Hearkiller is another great song, with some cool synths and a gain great guitars by Linde, possibly the most under rated guitarist in rock music.

Screamworks is probably then catchiest HIM album to date, with some dazzling choruses that make you want to sing along. There is also much more keyboards and synth on this album that any of their earlier releases.

My personal favourite song on the album is Disarm Me (With Your Loneliness), a superb ballad, with again excellent guitars from Linde, the solo on this track isn’t the most skillful solo but it fits the song perfectly, and again, this song has a great chorus, which makes you want to wave your lighter in the air.

The only flaw with this album is that HIM haven’t tried anything really new, but then again, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.

Like St. Valentine, the second single from the album, is also brilliant, it will definitely be included in the next HIM best of collection, as will many of the tracks on this album.

In all, this is another fantastic HIM album, which is almost on the level of Love Metal and Dark Light. if you like HIM, then buy this album, you will not be disappointed.

9/10

Highlights: In Venere Veritas, Heartkiller, Disarm Me (With Your Loneliness), Like St. Valentine.

Fozzy – Chasing The Grail Review

Fozzy - Chasing The Grail Cover

The Ayatollah of Rock ‘n’ Rolla, Chris Jericho, returns with Fozzy’s latest album, Chasing The Grail, and its their best yet.

Fozzy started out as a cover band, but on their third album, the ditched the covers and begun writing their own material. Now their back with another  album of fantastic rock and metal tracks.

Opener Under Blackened Skies starts the album brilliantly, the only downside is that Jericho’s voice isn’t the greatest in the world and it sometimes sounds really bad when he tries to hit notes he cannot reach. Don’t get me wrong, he is a good singer, he’s just not great.

The first single from the album, Martyr No More, is a really cool song, with a crazy solo from guitarist Jeff Waters, and an anthemic chorus, this song will be great live.

There aren’t any really bad tracks on this album, which really surprised me as their last album was really hit and miss, but on Chasing the Grail the band have written some awesome tunes and backed them up with some great guitar work, and for everything Jericho lacks in the talent department, he more than makes up for it with his attitude and effort, he puts everything he has into his vocals, and you can hear that he is really enjoying making music.

Broken Soul is one of my favourite tracks on the album, and on this Y2J’s vocals sound great. This is the first ever ballad by the band, yet it sounds like it was written by Bon Jovi any other experienced classic rock band. Jericho described the track as a “’70s-type Southern rock-type ballady-type tune” and this description perfectly encapsulates the song.

However, this song is only surpassed by the epic Wormwood. Jericho has taken some inspiration from his buddies in Dream Theater here, with this unbelievable 14 minute prog track. definitely the greatest thing the band have created in their career.

This is a superb album and any hard rock or metal fan should own it.

9/10

Highlights: Martyr No More, Broken Soul, Let the Madness Begin, Wormwood

Attention MC Lars & Bowling For Soup Fans…

DistortedNews will be interviewing them over the next few months, so if you have a question you want to ask them send them in now, either in a comment, a twitter reply to @DistortedNews24 or @SamLStowe or you could email us at Distortednews@live.com.

There will also be reviews of the gigs and if all things go to plan, the interviews will also be on the DN podcast which I am currently trying to get set up.

Things are looking great for DN in 2010, will you join us in the journey?

David Ellefson On Rejoining Megadeth

David Ellefson spoke to Classic Rock about his return to Megadeth:

“It literally happened over the weekend, and I can hardly believe it myself. There was clearly gonna be a change in the line-up, because James Lomenzo was leaving. Dave and I talked on the phone, and all the feuds, all the arguments we’ve been having over the years just melted away. It just goes to show what direct contact can achieve!”

Ellefson says drummer Shawn Drover started the ball rolling:

“If you ever need a guy in a band to watch your back, then this is the man. Obviously, I have no clue what happened within the band. But I got a text from Shawn and it just said: ‘If ever there was a time for you and Dave to talk, now is it.’ It’s one of those messages you act on immediately. Typically of Megadeth, things then happened big and fast.

In all honesty, talking to Dave again was wonderful. It was the right thing at the right time, done in the right spirit.

I have one big advantage (in the RIP 20th Anniversary Tour) – I think I know those songs already! Seriously though, I was in New York with one of my other bands, Hail!, when I found out that Megadeth were doing this, and I did feel a little upset that I wasn’t at that point gonna be part of it. But, hey, now it’s all changed.

So far, the reaction I’ve had from everyone has been overwhelmingly positive. I cannot wait to get back out there with Megadeth.”

Dave Mustaine Megadeth Announcement

Dave Mustaine teased for hours and finally, the announcement is…

DAVID ELLEFSON HAS RETURNED TO MEGADETH!!!!!

“DAVE MUSTAINE ANNOUNCES RETURN OF FOUNDING BASSIST DAVID ELLEFSON TO MEGADETH LINE-UP

Megadeth founder and frontman Dave Mustaine has announced the return of original bassist David Ellefson (1983-2002) to the iconic multi-platinum group. This reunion is appropriately timed to Megadeth’s upcoming historic month-long Rust In Peace 20th anniversary tour which launches March 1 in Spokane, WA. At these incredibly special shows, Megadeth will play their landmark, genre-defining 1990 album Rust In Peace in its entirety, in addition to other Megadeth favorites.

“This shows the power of brotherly love and forgiveness,” Mustaine says. “David Ellefson belongs in Megadeth. Next we are going to show you the power of getting your asses kicked…HARD!”

David Ellefson concurs: “This is a huge moment for all of us, band and fans alike. It is a great celebration of the music from one of the biggest landmark albums of our career.”

Ellefson will join Mustaine and Megadeth band members Shawn Drover (drums) and Chris Broderick (guitar) on tour in support of the group’s current CD Endgame, which has received some of the highest critical accolades of the band’s career.

“We’d like to thank James LoMenzo for several years of loyal service on the bass, and wish him the very best,” Mustaine adds.

For more information on Megadeth, go to: www.megadeth.com.”

Iron Maiden Album Announcement in July?

The UK heavy metal magazine Metal Hammer are giving away a free Iron Maiden sticker book with this months issue. on the last page there is a space for a large sticker. It says:

“Mystery Sticker! All will be revealed in July 2010!”

This is purely speculation right now, but could this be used for Iron Maiden to announce their next album, give us the name or the album artwork.

I guess we will all have to buy Metal Hammer to find out.

UPDATE: Here is a picture of the page.

What Could It Be???

If anybody else has any ideas about what this sticker could be, feel free to leave a comment and I will add your opinion into this post.

Rust In Peace On Rock Band

The 24th September 2010 is a very important day, firstly it is my 18th birthday… and secondly it is the 2oth anniversary of the greatest metal album of all time, and Dave Mustaine’s finest moment… Rust In Peace.

To commemorate this the entire album will be available on Rock Band on the 9th of February.

All the tracks will be the original master recordings and not the 2004 remaster, which should be good because the original is far better than the remaster.

I don’t know the pricing for PS3 but on Xbox 360 it will be 160 Microsoft Points for a single track and 1200 for the full album.

New Sevendust Song Released

Powerman 5000 – Somewhere On The Other Side Of Nowhere Review

Somewhere On The Other Side Of Nowhere

Powerman 5000 returns after 3 years with a new studio album, returning to the sound that made them famous.

Powerman’s style has changed quite a lot over the years, starting with rapcore and eventually playing punk rock, but the sound that made Powerman famous was 1999’s Tonight The Stars Revolt. Industrial Metal, similar to what his brother, Rob Zombie, played. this new album is a return to that sound, and what a welcome return it is.

The album, Somewhere On The Other Side Of Nowhere, sold only 2000 copies upon release in 2009 in the USA (it has still to be officially released in the UK) which is surprising, because this is a fantastic album.

The album opens with a sound bite from the movie Planet Of The Vampires, but soon explodes into Show Me What You’ve Got, a fantastic party metal track, my first thoughts upon hearing this track was: “Powerman are back.”

Next come the first two singles from the album, starting with Super Villain which is more a rap song than anything else, but the breakdown is fantastic and the lyrics are fun, Spider One isn’t the best lyricist in the world, but he can write catchy sing-along anthems better than most. Then comes V Is For Vampire, which is another brilliant track. These two songs deserve to be played on the radio, so I suggest you call up your local rock station and demand that these songs be heard.

The title track however, is a very bland song, with not much to it. It’s really slow and boring and to be honest not worthy of being on the album. The tracks Horror Show and Get Your Bones are also quite bad, but still not as bad as the title track.

Basically, this is a fun album, don’t expect serious mature music, expect party songs with a great beat, some cool guitar work and anthemic lyrics.

8.5/10

Highlights: Show Me What You’ve Got, Super Villain, V Is For Vampire, Do Your Thing, Make Us Insane

Trivium Announce New Drummer

It looks like Travis Smith is officially out of Trivium. Heres the press release from the bands official website:

“We’re really happy to have our good friend and fellow Floridian Nick Augusto join the Trivium family. Nick’s drumming is very technical and diverse and he brings a real intense energy to the band and we can’t wait for everyone to hear the new song, ‘Shattering the Skies Above,” that we just recorded with Nick. I think it’s the best Trivium recording we’ve ever done; it’s raw, full of energy and I think Nick’s drumming really pushed us to a new level.”

There were rumours of Travis leaving the band a few months ago and now it looks official, however there may still be more to this story, like why Travis has left the band, keep checking back here for more details.