The-Voices.net

I’ve been a Knucklehead since I first heard Five Finger Death Punch on tour with KoRn, Droid, and Hellyeah in 2007. At that show, FFDP absolutely blew all of the other bands away with their talent. Every since them, I think I’ve seen them more than any other band. I even discovered other bands that I fell in love with once I saw them, like In This Moment.

Through the years, they replaced Darrell Roberts and Matt Snell, but still were able to keep the same sound and vibe that had always impressed the hell out of me. But lately two things really bothered me. First, the last time I saw them on the Tresspass America tour, their music and show was absolutely amazing, as always, but they seemed to rely heavily on big flashy LCD. And next, I found out that FDDP is putting out not one, but two albums this year (The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell volume 1 & 2). This was a huge red flag for me because I’ve seen other great bands like Metallica go down this route where it seems that the bands priority switches to money instead of their fans and the music.

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May 2nd was another harsh day for the world of metal, with the loss of another legend, Slayer’s Jeff Hanneman.

I can’t say that I’m the biggest Slayer fan on the web, but they are one of the metal bands that I always have had a huge respect for, not only because of their enormous talent, but the fact that they’ve continually given their fans what they want. Jeff’s skills with the guitar are legendary, and he will live on through his fan base and the enormous influence that he has had on the industry.

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Miranda: This is Miranda Wilson with the-voices.net and I’m sitting in a production office with the bass player of Shinedown Eric Bass.

Eric: yup Eric Bass, the most unfortunate name for a bass player ever.

Miranda: (laughs) Eric Bass plays Bass.

Eric: I know it’s terrible.

Miranda: Were you ever picked on?

Eric: For that? Yup when I was a kid. One of those high school kids would come by the house and peel the “b” off the mailbox and it said the Asses. It used to really piss my dad off but he refused to take the name off the mailbox he would just keep replacing the “b”. He would do it obnoxiously and use like a different “b” then the rest of the letters. About every two weeks it would need to be replaced.

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Best: This has been an absolutely amazing year for music, proving once more that rock isn’t going anywhere soon. And its really hard to break down the best albums of the year to just four, but these are the best of the best when it comes to rock in 2012.

5) In This Moment – Blood (August 14, 2012) – In This Moment may have changed their musical style a little with Blood, but the new direction works great for the band. Maria’s vocals range from an Amy Leeisque soft to her typical loud screams and growls that have made the band what they are today. Take that vocal range, add in a little bit of an electric sound in some of the songs, and you have Blood. And then there are a few spoken songs like It is Written and Aries that give you a chance to catch your breath for a moment before the chaos starts up again. My favorite songs from the Blood are Comanche, Beast Within, You’re Gonna Listen, and Whore.  I must admit though, I do think that Maria may be trying a little too hard to be sexual in this album and maybe she’s read one too many vampire romance novels, but I still love most of the songs on the album. On one final note, I just can’t get into her cover of Nine Inch Nail’s cover of Closer.

4) Eye Empire - Impact (June 19, 2012) – This is probably the best album of the year that you have never heard of. This is technically a re-release of their 2010 album, Moment of Impact, in a 2 CD set where they added in some of their new material, and threw in some amazing live tracks as well. The live tracks in particular make this album stand out, as it helps you understand just how much Eye Empire loves their fans, and how well this band performs. The live tracks, on top of the absolutely amazing studio tracks makes this one of my favorites of the year.

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A few quick bits of news

1) We are back from Shiprocked, and are working on the review and photos, they will be up soon.

2) My Hard Drive crashed and I lost about 2 years worth of photos.

MACHINA, Featuring Former Members of EVANESCENCE and FUTURE LEADERS OF THE WORLD, to Appear on Brand New Television Show ‘The Making of Rock Stars’

Headlining U.S. Fall Tour NOW – See Below for Tour Dates

New Album ‘To Live and Die in the Garden of Eden’ OUT NOW on Rogue Records

Little Rock, AR’s MACHINA, featuring Phil Taylor (former Future Leaders of the World) and John Le Compt (ex-Evanescence), is pleased to announce that they will be the featured band on an upcoming show chronicling the journey and real life struggles of musicians as they make their way to becoming rock stars. The show, ‘The Making of Rockstars’, is scheduled to premiere early next year, airing via syndication on Fox, CBS and ABC and hitting roughly 200 million viewers. The show is being filmed on the band’s U.S. headline run, which kicks off today in Springfield, MO at Outland Ballroom (see below for all current tour dates).

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After a year off, we finally made it back to Atlanta, GA for the Mayhem Festival at Aaron’s Amphitheatre. I was ecstatic when I saw this year’s lineup, which included the return of Slayer and Slipknot to the tour. To top it off, the heat wave was letting up for the weekend.

Uncrowned kicked the day off, and they were a great choice for the opening band. Even though there were only a couple of hundred people there for the opener, they played like there were thousands. If you haven’t heard of these guys before, or seen them live, they are definitely worth checking out.

Betraying the Martyrs were next up on stage. By the time they were up, the crowd grew substantially, and it was time for the crowd to see what a band from France can do. While the entire band kicked some serious ass, the highlight of the performance was lead singer Aaron Matts’s stage show. He was all over the stage, and entertaining as hell to watch. He energized the crowd with his antics, and as the crowd went wild, he just gave him even more energy. Victor’s (their other singer) voice was the counterbalanced to Aaron’s brutal sound. Their vocal sounds were as different as Chad Grey’s is to Amy Lee’s, and it worked great. Their sound and performance skyrocketed past the expectations I had for the band. In one set, I went from someone who didn’t know who the band was to a fan of the band.

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