Thrash metal monsters, SLAYER, have been confirmed for the upcoming installment of Rock N' India festival taking place in Bangalore, India on October 20th.

"Tickets are already on sale on ticketgenie.com. Slayer have also confirmed the India concert on their website’s tour calendar."

[Via: Rollingstone India]

Could the panel of judges at the Grammys be more irrelevant? It's like whoever is picking the nominees is still using a gramophone, and not by choice.

Every year, I decide to build up enough interest to go through the list of nominees of Hard Rock and Metal and not a single time have they managed to put together a worthwhile list. It's not that the list is unfair or anything, but a 5 year old at the mall can put together their annual list of "best-of."

Anyway, here's the nominees:
(If you were slightly surprised (by even one bit) by any names on the list, please do tell me why.)

Best Metal Performance:

• Iron Maiden, “El Dorado”
• Korn, “Let the Guilt Go”
• Lamb of God, “In Your Words”
• Megadeth, “Sudden Death”
• Slayer, “World Painted Blood”

Best Hard Rock Performance:

• Alice In Chains, “A Looking In View”
• Ozzy Osbourne, “Let Me Hear You Scream”
• Soundgarden, “Black Rain”
• Stone Temple Pilots, “Between The Lines”
• Them Crooked Vultures, “New Fang”

The below photo was taken by a fan during the Clash of The Titans Tour stop in Dallas, Texas back in 91. Slayer's Tom Araya can be seen rocking a keffiyah (the traditional Palestinian headdress), which in recent years became a mainstream trend by many A-List celebrities.

Last week, I posted about the Big Four (Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax) performing a cover of Diamondhead's "Am I Evil" live on stage together for the first time. But the video was recorded during the concert's screening in a cinema.

A pro shot version of the performance is now available online, and can be viewed below:

This is one awesome thrash metal supergroup. It's like a badass orchestra of badasses (and Joey Belladona...) completely slaying a badass Diamond Head song (Am I Evil.)

The video was recorded with a camera during the live screening in a cinema, so far that's the best quality available of the performance on the youtubes.

But, where's Tom Araya?

Revolver Magazine's Chris Krovatin recently caught up with Slayer's Kerry King in Austria and Megadeth's Dave Mustaine in Warsaw, Poland to get their thoughts on the current "Big Four" tour that includes, METALLICA, SLAYER, MEGADETH, and ANTHRAX.

Excerpts from the interview can be read below:

Revolver: How did the "Big Four" tour come about?

King: It was something that was trying to be made happen, so it just took everyone signing off on it. I gotta tell you, man, I can't believe, in the 27 years since we put our first record out, that no one's tried to make this happen. Because now that it is happening, it's so cool, it's so important, that every territory in the world wants it. I don't know what took so long.

Mustaine: We had some opportunities to do these festivals, and we had been doing the Carnage dates [with SLAYER], which were of course so popular in the States and Canada. For me, personally, I didn't see it coming… Having dinner with Lars [Ulrich] the other night, he told me that he had talked to SLAYER's tour manager a year and a half ago about whether or not this was gonna happen, and I thought, God, I'm so glad I didn't know about this a year and a half ago, because I would've had to spend every day with that "I've got a big gig coming" brain.


Revolver: For a long time, it seemed like there was bad blood between you guys, specifically between SLAYER and MEGADETH, and MEGADETH and METALLICA. What squashed that beef?

King: Before we did the Australian and Japanese run with MEGADETH, I was reading the Revolver SLAYER issue, and reading this interview we did with Dave. And I just couldn't remember why I wasn't friends with this dude anymore — I could not remember what I was upset about. So we get to the airport, and I saw him coming out of the lounge, and I came up, shook his hand, and said, "Hey, dude, I don't think I've talked to you in about 15 years!" We have a shitload of dates coming up, and honestly, when I've talked to him, I remember the guy I dug 25 years ago.

Mustaine: We've just learned how to step back see what we stand for in the world, the "Big Four," and how each band has contributed to that in its own way. I had a huge turnaround on my whole outlook at life walking into this tour, these dates, with just a brand new relationship. The first person I talked to was [METALLICA guitarist] Kirk [Hammett]. We talked for a while, and then at dinner, I sat next to James [Hetfield] and Lars, and it was cool to look at it — just how much we changed the world… Twenty years ago, this tour probably wouldn't have happened — we were all young, and we weren't dealing with the fame too well.


Revolver: What do SLAYER represent in the "Big Four?"

King: We represent all that is evil in the "Big Four," and historically, I think we've represented thrash the best, but it's funny, just how these four bands from this same movement went off to become different entities.


Revolver: What about MEGADETH?

Mustaine: Our lyrics are a little deeper than some of the others, but we're each different in that way — SLAYER's lyrics are really different from ANTHRAX's. We're really just like a four-paned window, you know — four different vantage points, all getting across that same message.


Revolver: Since METALLICA is headlining these shows, Kerry, should they be worried about getting blown off the stage by one of you?

King: The one thing I'm not happy about — and we didn't know this until we got here — is that it's not always the "Big Four" in a row. Some days, there are bands in between us, and that's kind of a bummer. A night ending with ANTHRAX, MEGADETH, and SLAYER would be brutal. I have nothing against those other bands, but I didn't know about that. But yeah, we open for METALLICA some nights. I've seen METALLICA twice on this tour, and they may not have all the spiel and bells and whistles they had in the States, but they've been killing it. They're pros, man, they'll have no problem. That said, man, our set's brutal, and it ain't there to make friends.

Click Here to read the entire interview

[Source: Blabbermouth]

Legendary Thrash icons Slayer, have released a new video for the title track from their latest album "World Painted Blood" out now.

The video which can be viewed below, was directed by Mark Brooks, who also directed the 20 minute documentary "Playing With Dolls" that comes along with the album.

Photo Credit: MetalInjection.net

So it's really happening. Thrash Metal's "Big Four," Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax will in fact be performing on the same bill as part of this year's installment of Sonisphere Festival in Bulgaria.

The show will be airing live around the world in select cinemas. Metal Hammer UK announced earlier today the full list of cinemas around the U.K. that will be airing the show:

"Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax are to have their show in Bulgaria on June 22nd broadcast to cinemas all over the world. A statement from the bands reads: “For one night only, metalheads around the world can experience history: On Tuesday, June 22, Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax perform on one stage together, and through the wonders of satellite technology, you can be part of this historic concert event, broadcast exclusively to select movie theatres around the world. Beyond the limited European festival dates, there are not additional tour dates planned for this extraordinary line-up.”

It makes it a little clear why Anthrax had to rush back to Joey Belladonna, since touring is not in John Bush's heart anymore, and he wanted to keep his artistic integrity by not re-recording some other dude's material for the next Anthrax album, I applaud John for his decision.

I also hope that backstage footage from the show, would be made available. Because with Lars, Kerry King, and Dave Mustaine's cocks egos in the same venue, only the skies the limit for hilarity.

Click Here to head to Metal Hammer UK for the full list of dates

Last night SLAYER! performed "Hate Worldwide" on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Obviously this is too metal to write a whole paragraph about the reasons this is too metal, so I'll let the video speak for itself.

Welcome back Tom!

Apocalyptica's 7th studio album titled "7th Symphony" is scheduled to be released on August 23rd via Sony Music. The band have announced a number of guest musicians featured on the release, and like their previous album "Worlds Collide" the list does not disappoint.

Here's the list (in no particular order):

Gavin Rossdale - BUSH (meh...)
Dave Lombardo - Slayer
Joseph "Mother Fuckin" Duplantier - Gojira
Lacey Sturm - Flyleaf
Brent Smith - Shinedown