The-Voices.net

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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Corey Taylor, Avalanche Tour 2011

Corey Taylor has announced that Stone Sour is currently working on their upcoming fourth album. From the looks of it, its going to be a double album. When asked about the upcoming album in an interview with Artisan News, Corey had this to say

“The thing I can say is that it’s like little bits and pieces of the first three albums, but it’s very dark. I’ve got a story…it’s almost a concept album that I’m writing right now — and it might turn into a double album.There’s a lot of really good material that we’re all kinda coming up with and I’m really excited to get in to the studio and see what happens.”

Stone Sour also has put up one of the songs off of the new album up for free download off of their Facebook page. I’ve listened to the song a few times, and all I can say is that the song is my favorite since 30/30 150. If the rest of the album can keep the energy of Pessimist, then this is easily going to be the best album that the band has put out yet.

Stone Sour - Avalanche Tour 2011

It will be interesting to see how the album progresses since James Root and Corey Taylor will also be touring in Slipknot this summer for the Mayhem Festival. Since Slipknot has stated that the earliest that we may see another album from them is 2013, it will be interesting to see what the rest of the band will be doing during that time. Clown’s side project, the Black Dots of Death have a crazy, sadistic sound to them that I absolutely love. Sid Wilson is also apparently working on a solo project on the side. And I would love to see Joey Jordison and Wednesday 13 get back together for a 3rd Murderdolls CD.

If everything stays on schedule, there is going to be a ton of good music coming in the next few years and I can’t wait to get my next fix of both Stone Sour and Slipknot.