Blasting-Zone.com recently conducted an in-depth interview with DIVINE HERESY guitarist Dino Cazares (also of ASESINO, ex-FEAR FACTORY). Several excerpts follow:

Blasting-Zone.com: Once you began assembling DIVINE HERESY, did you find it difficult locating musicians you felt were genuinely “up to the challenge?”

Dino: “Bass player-wise, yes. That was a little bit difficult. A little bit on the vocal side, too, ya know? We did a lot of vocal auditions and it was either they could sing melodically or they could sing really brutal. As far as combining the two, there was no one that I really liked that could handle doing both. So it was difficult in that way. Once I found (vocalist) Tommy (Vext), I knew he was it. Tommy is a pretty pissed off aggressive singer, ya know? I wasn't looking for a death metal singer, which I think kinda got some people confused because Tim Yeung is also in the band. I think a lot of people thought it was gonna be a death metal band. We're not a death metal band. We have an element of death metal to us as far as speed and aggression…but as far as the vocals, we just wanted someone that was really aggressive, but you could understand what he was sayin'. Not that I'm against that. I love death metal and I've got death metal bands myself. We just wanted it to be an aggressive metal band, ya know? We wanted a singer who could sing melodically but also be brutal and heavy…all that shit. That's what we wanted. That's what we were lookin' for. I wanted someone who could play bass, but with a guitar player mentality. And that's what we found with (former NILE bassist) Joe Payne.”

Blasting-Zone.com: In hindsight, was the decision to not sign with the American division of Roadrunner Records important to the group's artistic and creative growth?

Dino: “Yeah, because the American branch of Roadrunner wanted me to do a little more of a sell-out type of thing, ya know? After I was out of FEAR FACTORY, Roadrunner kept me on for about seven or eight months. They kept me signed because they wanted me to put together a band that was commercial. I actually put together a band, and we actually went in and recorded a song, but I said, 'Fuck this.' I stopped and got away. I said, 'I don't wanna be a part of this company…this is not what I wanna do.' When the 'Roadrunner All-Stars' came along, I ended up using those songs on the album. It's just not what I wanted to do, so when I put together DIVINE HERESY, I didn't even want to sign with Roadrunner in the States at all at that point. I just didn't wanna play that game anymore. If they would have accepted the band for being as brutal as it is, then I would have said 'Yeah,' ya know? But they wanted me to do something lighter, so I just decided to stay with Century Media so we could keep complete creative control. Ever since NICKELBACK came along and sold ten millions records, they've definitely changed their mindset a little bit. But they definitely go back and forth. For a couple of years, they'll do commercial stuff and then they'll realize a lot of the commercial stuff they sign doesn't do real well, so they'll say, 'Okay, we're gonna go back to being metal' and try to sign some metal bands. When that doesn't work, they try to go back to being commercial, so they kinda go back and forth.”

Blasting-Zone.com: How satisfied are you with “Bleed the Fifth” selling 2,700 copies in its first week of release?

Dino: “Of course you always want more, ya know? But, I mean, c'mon, we've only had the name for the past three months and have only had a MySpace page for the last few months. A lot of people don't know who we are yet as a band. I think it's gonna be one of those things where it's gonna be a little bit of a slow process. I think overall it's gonna be successful, but we need to get out on the road, start showin' our faces and let everyone see us and see how much we fuckin' tear it up. There's a lot of bands that do really well with MySpace and that's great because nowadays record companies don't really help to promote band, so you really have to do it yourself. There's a little handful of bands that have discovered that and are using it as a great tool to market their band. There's a few bands that have been pushing themselves through there the last couple of years and have been really successful, ya know? I wish I would have had the name DIVINE HERESY a lot longer, because I would have had more time to push the band. I could have got the name out there a lot more, ya know? But for the short amount of time that we've had the name, I think we've done pretty good.”

Blasting-Zone.com: What was the main motivation behind including solos on some of the “Bleed the Fifth” material? Did you add them as a reminder of your technical prowess?

Dino: “I put them on there because it called for it. I didn't put them on there just to put them on there. I put them on there because it sounded like it needed something there. With every project that I do, I try to do something different and I think about the project differently. There's solos on the ASESINO record too. I know ASESINO isn't as exposed as DIVINE HERESY is, but the people that have heard it know that I can do solos. A lot of people are like, 'Whoa, he's doing solos now?' Those are the people that don't know. I guess a lot of the stuff that I've been doin' is underground shit, so people that don't know bands like ASESINO and BRUJERIA won't know that I've been doing solos for a long time. When I was doing stuff with FEAR FACTORY, it was a completely different band that didn't really call for solos. This something different, ya know?”

Blasting-Zone.com: Do you feel as if your playing on “Bleed the Fifth” will ultimately help you put your work with FEAR FACTORY permanently in the past?

Dino: “Definitely. I think so. I think once people get past the whole FEAR FACTORY comparison…they'll realize that this is a good metal album that will definitely get that FEAR FACTORY taste out of your mouth. Not that it's a bad thing. I just think DIVINE HERESY is a great band and I think we're gonna grow into an even greater band. I think the comparisons are gonna get smaller, smaller and smaller, ya know? Every time a new band comes out, people always have to compare it to other stuff, ya know? I think once people see us live and hear the record and realize that we're a different band, they'll appreciate it even more.”

Read the entire interview at Blasting-Zone.com.

THE CULT's entire new album, “Born into This”, is available for streaming at AOL Music.

Due on October 2 in North America via New Wilderness/Roadrunner, “Born into This” was was recorded in London with producer Youth (VERVE, PRIMAL SCREAM).

Roadrunner Records will release a special two-disc “savage edition” of THE CULT's new album, “Born into This”, featuring five bonus tracks and a sticker. Check out the cover artwork at this location.

Source: Blabbermouth

Metal-rules.com recently conducted an interview with DEVILDRIVER frontman Dez Fafara. An excerpt from the chat follows:

Metal-Rules.com recently conducted an interview with DE

VILDRIVER frontman Dez Fafara. An excerpt from the chat follows:

Metal-Rules.com: DEVILDRIVER was supposed to tour with VENOM last year. How disappointing was that when that got cancelled?

Dez: Really bad and really fucking disappointing in the way that they reacted. Those are heroes of mine and what happened is they postponed their tour TWICE, and as soon as they called us back and said, “Okay, NOW we're ready to go. Are you going to do the tour?” We said, “Well, no. We've already got Australia booked,” and then they went on Sirius radio and said some extremely negative things about me and so now, if I ever see that fucking singer [Cronos], I don't care if he's a legend, I'm going to fucking grab him by the throat and teach him what responsibility is all about. You can put that in press. I hope it's everywhere right now because I owe that motherfucker a lashing. He's nothing but an old man that should have never said shit about DEVILDRIVER because we waited. We put off TWO tours to tour with those guys and they kept putting their stuff back and putting their shit back because ticket sales weren't selling. They were saying that their visas were being revoked and when they finally got some ticket sales going and some marketing happening, that's when they called us back for the tour and we already had plans. Then he said REALLY negative shit about me and my band, so fuck that dude! I don't care what a legend he is or thinks he is but when I see him, I'm fucking going to confront him physically.

Metal-Rules.com: That's really shitty, too. I mean, not just on a professional level but on a personal level being, like you say, they were heroes of yours…

Dez: Shitty dude!!! I'm wearing a VENOM shirt right now while we're talking. Right now! And now I think everybody that just says they like VENOM just wants to be fucking cool because the guy's a dickhead and I've only seen like two of those in twelve years, I swear to god. Everybody I've ever run into from, like we said, from [Dave] Mustaine to [Philip] Anselmo and to Ozzy have all been the most down to earth, cool guys. But that dude should have never fucking opened his mouth against me and my band. DEVILDRIVER will take that band apart and he should just go….go fucking get a job at Wal-Mart because he's done.

Underground Video Television (UVTV) has posted a TRIVIUM special “TV show”. The episode features all TRIVIUM music videos and exclusive live videos of the band that were filmed in Rochester, NY and Worcester, MA along with a story of how the band was formed by Matt Heafy. The show can also be seen on iTunes by subscribing to the UVTV Podcast.

TRIVIUM is preparing for the Black Crusade shows in Australia with stops through Japan for Loudpark 07 and a few shows with HEAVEN AND HELL, as well their own headline show in Osaka.

To watch the video please CLICK HERE.

Source: BLABBERMOUTH

HeavyMetalSource.com has posted a video interview with MEGADETH bassist James Lomenzo conducted on September 28, 2007 at Lupo's in Providence, Rhode Island.

Watch the seven-minute clip by CLICKING HERE.

Source: BLABBERMOUTH

DIVINE HERESY, the cutting edge new metal outfit put together by guitar hero Dino Cazares (Fear Factory, Brujeria, Asesino), have lined up their first UK headline tour, to support their debut album, ‘Bleed The Fifth’.

It was brought to our attention that a video of 'Tiger in the sun' made it's way onto youtube. We thought we'd point you to it, as it's well created and relevant to current events in Burma.

Former PANTERA/current DOWN frontman Philip Anselmo has slammed VH1's “Behind the Music” special on PANTERA as “awful,” claiming that “they glossed over everything that PANTERA did to and for metal.”

The “Behind the Music” PANTERA episode, which had its premiere in May 2006, included interviews with the surviving members of PANTERA — Vinnie Paul Abbott (drums), Philip Anselmo and Rex Brown (bass) — along with appearances by Guy Sykes (tour manager), Walter O'Brien (manager), Terry Date (producer), about five members of PANTERA's/DAMAGEPLAN's crew, and Rita Haney (“Dimebag” Darrell Abbott's girlfriend).

In the November 2007 issue of Revolver magazine, Anselmo is asked about the song “Mourn” on the new DOWN album, which was reportedly written about late PANTERA/DAMAGEPLAN guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott (who was killed by a deranged fan in December 2004). “That's a very hard, hard song for me to really… honestly, the song speaks for itself,” Anselmo replied. “It's about feeling isolated from my family in Texas, feelings about the obvious… deep, deep, deep feelings every day. You know, I've been very quiet ever since the incident, but it's all good. Everyone else has aired their laundry, like on VH1. I'm sorry, I thought what VH1 did was awful. They glossed over everything PANTERA did to and for metal, and not once… I'm not realy sure how it was put, but there was a segue or something that described [Darrell's] killer [Nathan Gale] as 'what many feel was a disgruntled fan angry that PANTERA had broken up.' But not once did they go into the psychology of the killing, and how he was dishonorably discharged [from the Marines], that his mother bought him the gun for Christmas because he was depressed, how he had been kicked out of the same club a weekend before for acting strange. He was going to shoot whoever, and it happened to be one of my best friends, one of my brothers, and one of the most beautiful people…

“I decided a while ago that, yes, absolutely there is a proper time to mourn, and that he deserves a celebration of his life, and that's the path that I've chosen. Every action I do, I think of him. Every pushup I do, I think of him. Every time I hit a line, or I'm working in the studio, I can hear him saying, 'You can do better.' So that's what gets me through the hard times, the trying times, is his positivity. And that's what I wanted to do with ['Down III']: to celebrate life.”

SOURCE: BLABBERMOUTH

One lucky fan got the chance to interview Madina Lake before their Birmingham show. Wanna find out what it sounds like when a fan gets to meet and interview their favourite band

This Sunday (Oct.7) make sure you tune into the XFM Rock Show between 10.00 am and 1.00 am for a Cult special featuring interviews discussing Starbucks, L.A, Crazygirls and their new album. There will also be loads of goodies to be won.