Cradle Of Filth

A grim figure stepped up to the mic and began “Your misery is worn as a veil, To hide bewitchment of the ugliest kind, In place of Eve, a bitter parody hails, Daggers from the swagger of a sodomite’s concubine.” Then the vocalist raised his hands up and screamed the chorus, “Gilded cunt…you gilded cunt!” before launching into the next verse.

For the uninitiated, “Cradle Of Filth” is Britain’s premier erotic black metal band. They have been shocking and stunning fans around the world for well over a decade. Outside of the 11 or so CDs available, they have been pumping out a proverbial onslaught of vile merchandise for the black masses. Rings, posters, stickers, shot glasses, pendants, t-shirts, computer icons, wallpapers, and so much more! Most of the merchandise has their trademark vampiric appearance and often shows off partially clad, (fake) blood splattered females.

The Beastie Boys - Mix Master Mike

November might be cold in Wisconsin, but just before Talib Kweli’s set at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, I had the chance to speak to one of the hottest DJs in the game. He’s the DJ for the headlining Beastie Boys and one of the founding members of the Invisibl Skratch Piklz, but this 34 year-old California native waxes about music, life on the road and the like.

Finger Eleven

A band known for their ingenuity in songwriting, and amazingly energetic/enigmatic live shows, Finger Eleven are five seasoned rockers who continually seek new tour opportunities to share their music. Their third album, “Finger Eleven,” is a product of Johnny K (Disturbed), foosball, beer, and cigarettes. If you were lucky enough to get the limited edition DVD that came with their rare DVD/CD combo, you can peek into their world.

The DVD portrays aspects of the band rarely seen: The long hours in a studio away from home, and the hard work involved in creating and producing a record from the ground up. You can see first hand how much work went into this project. FE has been feverishly touring since 1995 throughout their homeland of Canada and the United States. If you have not seen this band live, you are missing one excellent and superbly energetic live show.

In the beginning, when the original members of FE were in high school, they were music nerds who decided to form a band for their high school’s Christmas talent show. They prepared three cover songs and rocked their school. Scott Anderson, vocalist, explains what happened, “After the Christmas show no one told us to stop playing, and we kept coming up with ideas and creating new songs.” After that show, they continued as a cover band called Rainbow Butt Monkeys for about six months because it was the only way to get gigs in their hometown of Burlington, Ontario.

Anthrax

Throughout their infamous 20 year career, the mighty ANTHRAX has always prided themselves on being a band of the people, for the people and by the people. This being said and with 2004 being an election year, ANTHRAX have taken that ideal one step further with their upcoming release, THE GREATER OF TWO EVILS, an all out assault on their history with each song being voted on by their fans via the Internet.

Recorded “live” in the studio over the course of two days, THE GREATER OF TWO EVILS stands out, as guitarist Scott Ian puts it, “As a raw, balls out, and in your face representation of how brutal this band is, was, and will always be.”

Alter Bridge

If you have tickets to see Alter Bridge in Chicago, Thursday, September 30th at the House Of Blues, I congratulate you. Some will envy you, though, because it sold out. If it’s any consolation, the guys won’t be packing up and heading out right after that show. They’ve just announced a 2nd show the following night, Friday, Oct. 1st at the same venue! It gets better, though; tickets for the Friday performance at the HOB are $9.47 thanks to 94.7 The Zone and a show at the Rave in Milwaukee is scheduled for Saturday, October 2nd.

In short, here’s the scoop…Creed is finished, Stapp’s doing whatever it is he does, and the rest of the band have moved on. Mark Tremonti (guitars) and Scottie Phillips, (drums) have formed a new band, Alter Bridge, with vocalist Myles Kennedy (formerly of Mayfield Four).  The new album “One Day Remains” is a melting pot of metal, love, memories, sadness, gratitude, happy thoughts and a good dose of guitar solos. That doesn’t sum it up, but I have to start somewhere.

Judas Priest

In 1969, while hippies pranced about the farm fields of Woodstock, New York with flowers in their hair, Birmingham, England was giving birth to a monstrous new musical genre that came to be known as heavy metal. A group called Black Sabbath released its first album that year, and while others both in the United States and England were flirting with the heavier side of rock ‘n’ roll, it was that band that nailed metal squarely between the eyes.

Five years later, Birmingham’s fertile musical loins produced another heavy metal monster, one that came to rise just as high as the first, and perhaps, at times, was even more nimble. The vocals soared over others, the songs galloped faster, and two lead guitarists were used rather than one. That band was Judas Priest.

Amazingly, both Birmingham groups have reformed after varying hiatuses and are touring together this summer with Ozzfest, still playing the aggressive, distortion-heavy songs they wrote decades ago in front of fanatical, sellout crowds around the world. Recently, Rob Halford, the outspoken lead singer of Judas Priest, was kind enough to talk with Maximum Ink about his recently reunited band as well as the resulting tour and musical releases.