The Famine has ended!

Bono, if you’re reading this, no, we’re not talking about actual famine… Unfortunately that’s still going on.

Texas-based death metal band The Famine called it quits though.

“In my mind, bands break up because Courtney Love kills their singer or because they can’t stand each other. Neither of those circumstances is descriptive of our situation. For us, life simply got in the way, as it often does.“

Read full statement here.

Isn’t it a bit wrong to call your band ‘The Famine‘ when three of your members are overweight? And then ending it because ‘life got in the way’? I can’t help but think real famine only ends when death gets in the way.  Do you see where I’m going with this? It’s like a band of midgets calling themselves “Standing Tall” or Linkin Park calling themselves “Analog music.”

And don’t even get me started on the random namedropping… Going out with a ‘bang,’ huh?

Goodbye!

Tuesday Trivia: The most listened to metal band ever

First of all, iPods don’t have any commercials with metalheads, so blame Apple, not me. Anyway, in his Weak Recap a few weeks back, Guido joked stated that we are super-awesome. Something like the super-heroes of metal. And no, not that Kiss movie… Lulz.

He was right, though — we’re all-knowing, and tonight only, I’m dropping knowledge and revealing the metal’s best kept secret – which metal band is the most played one ever. Hurry, make the jump.

Metal goes acoustic: Six is six too many

So welcome to the sixth edition of my ‘Metal goes acoustic.’ Keeping things serious, this time I’m posting a cover of an Amon Amarth track. Regular readers of Dose of Metal will know we absolutely love Amon Amarth here, so how does their music fare in an acoustic version?

The track in question is God of War Arise. The original is excellent, but I feel this is a perfect example to show that not all songs can work acoustically.  The person playing the cover does a fantastic job, and his playing is near flawless, however I can’t help feeling it just doesn’t work well on acoustic. Overall, Amon Amarth needs some distortion and power to their sound, and that’s what is lost in this cover. It’s a bit like having sex and never climaxing.

Headlines! Headlines! Headlines!

Time for some headlines, baby! Let’s get it on…

Children of Bodom announced a month-long North American headlining tour in June. Main support? The Devin Townsend (pictured above) Project. Also supporting are Obscura and Septicflesh. Sounds like a nice lineup to me. Dates have yet to be announced.

All-girl metal (I use the word “metal” very loosely in this context) band (I use the word “band” very loosely in this context) Kittie are going into the studio, to record the follow-up to ‘In The Black,’ next week. Yay, I guess. Yay for those who enjoy Pussy’s Kittie’s music. Yay for all two of you.

Seether frontman Shaun Morgan claimed that former Seether guitarist has gone back to his former band Evanescence. Eh, what’s a Seether? Anywho, shortly after Morgan claimed that, Evanescence’s management declined it. But honestly, who the fuck cares?

When asked about why Slayer chose Gary Holt as a replacement for Jeff Hanneman, Dave Lombardo had the following to say:

“Me and Kerry were on the side of the stage at Hellfest, in France. Both me and Kerry, were “Come on, let’s go listen to Exodus. Let’s hear Exodus. We haven’t seen them in a while.” We saw Exodus and I was like, “Wow. Now I remember why I liked them so much, when I was young.” […] “Look at that guy. That guy’s an amazing guitar player. He’s a good player.” And so, when this happened, the first person that came to Kerry’s mind, and myself, [was] Gary. I mean he was there, from the beginning. He knows that style.”

Read the full interview here.

Dave Murray, of Iron Maiden, was recently asked if there is going to be a follow-up to ‘The Final Frontier.’ Rumors that this was going to be Maiden’s last album surfaced ever since the band reveiled the title of the album. Murray had this to say about the situation:

“Possibly there will be, but it’s hard to say at the moment. It definitely won’t be next year, anyway. My gut feeling is once we sit down, if everyone’s up for it — that’s the main thing — then we’ll go for it.”

Read the full interview here.

Feel updated now? You are ready to go out and be metal now, my friend.

Spotlight: Damage Inc. (Metallica tribute band)

It’s not easy being in a tribute band. Sure, you play other people’s songs, but you’re also faced with a lot of criticism, fanboy snobs and being constantly compared to the band you’re honoring.

But Damage Inc. is not just a random Metallica tribute band. They cover the songs quite faithfully and lead singer Chris Knight looks a lot like James, too.

I think these guys do their job well and I got to talk to three of the four guys in this band.

So if you want to read their opinion on Metallica, beachballs and read what Scott Ian thought of their solos, make the jump.