Metal and Hardcore

Thank You, Deftones, For Your Sincere Cover of Kris Kross' "Jump"

Man, this has been a rough few weeks for musician-related deaths. First there was Deftones bassist Chi Cheng, who passed after battling for five years to recover from a horrific car accident. Then yesterday, Slayer guitarist, Jeff Hanneman, died at the age of 49. And the day before that, the world l ... More >>

R.I.P. Slayer's Jeff Hanneman: His Five Fiercest Moments

Sportos, motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wasteoids, dweebies, and dickheads the world over are in mourning today, for we lost one of the greats. Jeff Hanneman, guitarist and chief songwriter of Slayer, passed on and we adored him. We thought he was a righteous dude. As metal fans, Slayer is such ... More >>

Anthrax, Exodus, and High on Fire Infect the Regency Ballroom, 3/28/13

Anthrax, Exodus, High On Fire, Municipal Waste, Holy Grail Thursday, March 28, 2013 The Regency Ballroom Better than: Actually getting Anthrax (the bacterial disease). You could smell the heshers all the way down to Van Ness and Geary. The air reeked of sweat and Pantene Pro-V. There be a metal sh ... More >>

Almost Famous: Five Musicians Who Left Before Their Bands Blew Up

This week, the world found out that, had he played his cards differently, Ryan Gosling could've been a Backstreet Boy. By all accounts, he thought joining the band would've been a waste of time, since New Kids On The Block had already happened. (Silly, silly Gosling -- as long as there are teenage g ... More >>

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Sunn O))): Show Preview

Napster-Hating Metallica Comes to Jesus, Er, Spotify

Nearly 13 years after suing Napster, the filesharing site that started it all, the grouchy old men of Metallica have had a come-to-Jesus of sorts with the power of the Interwebz: Today, drummer Lars Ulrich announced that Metallica's music will be coming to Spotify. He even gave Napster co-founder a ... More >>

Metallica Goes Indie (Sort of) with Launch of Blackened Records

After decades of affiliation with Warner Music Group, Bay Area metal giant Metallica is stepping out on its own. Today, the band takes ownership of all of its old masters, and launches its own label, Blackened Records, which will be the home of all future Metallica releases. "It's always been about ... More >>

Deftones Inspire Sweaty Mayhem at the Warfield, 10/10/12

Deftones Scars on Broadway Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2012 The Warfield Better than: Nü-metal Deftones don't get enough credit. They created a unique brand of hybrid metal that survived the '90s and '00s without hopping on the reunion train. They weathered the rise and fall of nü-metal without the vouc ... More >>

Keeping Death: Kirk Hammett's House of Horrors

Don't Blame Heavy Metal For Alleged Baltimore Shooter Bobby Gladden

By BETH WINEGARNER On the alleged 15-year-old Baltimore shooter's Facebook page, only one unobscured face looks out at the visitor: Rammstein singer Till Lindemann's. Meanwhile, Bobby Gladden's own face is obscured by a sheaf of black hair. Gladden was arrested Monday after allegedly opening fire ... More >>

Metallica at Outside Lands: The Five Best Parts of the Band's Fiery Hometown Show

Metallica Saturday, Aug. 11, 2012 Outside Lands Festival, San Francisco Better than: A skeptic could imagine. Metallica, headlining Saturday night of the Outside Lands festival in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, proved just about as huge and satisfying and powerful as Metallica can be in 2012. W ... More >>

Judgement Day Cleans Up Its String Metal

Oakland Metalheads High on Fire Pull out of Mayhem Tour; Matt Pike to Enter Rehab

Only days after slaying a sold-out Fox theater with stoner-metal legends Sleep, Oakland heavy music figurehead Matt Pike has had to pull current band High on Fire out of its slot at this summer's Rockstar Mayhem Festival as he prepares to enter rehab for alcohol addiction.

After 25 Years, Mötley Crüe's Girls, Girls, Girls Still Hasn't Brought About the Apocalypse

Today, the Antichrist heads up a company that charters private jets. The standard rental features a plush, zebra-striped interior. He also operates a chain of bar-and-grill restaurants that specialize in garish décor and $9.95 caprese salads. In the mid-1980s, it was impossible to escape the apoc ... More >>

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In Print: Assessing Metallica After 30 Years and Four Nights at the Fillmore, and More

From SF Weekly's latest print music section: Metallica at the Fillmore​Metallica at 30: Text messages like the one I got from a friend before the third Metallica show last week -- "You are dead to me" -- were exactly the reason I decided to go to all four of the Bay Area metal band's 30th ann ... More >>

Sad But True: How the Black Album Both Made and Ruined Metallica

​ See more of our Metallica Week coverage: Metallica Kicks off Its 30th Anniversary Week with Notable Guests, Rare Songs, and Lots of Talking Can't Make It to Metallica's 30th Anniversary Concerts? Celebrate at These Shows Instead Popular music is fixated with jumping-off points, springbo ... More >>

We're Celebrating Metallica's 30th Anniversary All This Week

Metallica fans lined up outside the Fillmore on Monday afternoon.​ See also: We're Looking for a Few Metallica Superfans in the Bay Area -- Are You One? Can't Make It to Metallica's 30th Anniversary Concerts? Celebrate at These Shows Instead All this week, we're excited to bring you special ... More >>

The Younger Lovers' Brontez Purnell on Rock Bands Sounding the Same, "Gay Buffoonery," and Getting Beat Up By Bigots in Oakland

Matthew MeltonBrontez Purnell, of the Younger Lovers​ Brontez Purnell possesses the rare skill of being able to shift effortlessly from a serious discussion of art to absurd anecdotes about Reeboks, hesher boyfriends, and the raw "'hood beat" that informs the garage-pop of his current band, Th ... More >>

R.I.P. GWAR Guitarist Cory Smoot, AKA Flattus Maximus

GWAR's Flattus Maximus (Cory Smoot)​ GWAR lead guitarist Cory Smoot, aka Flattus Maximus, was found dead by his bandmates yesterday as their tour bus prepared to cross the Canadian border. His age and the cause of death are currently unknown. Smoot's passing is especially unfortunate as it c ... More >>

Sizzle & Fizzle: Highs and Lows from the Last Week in S.F. Music

Hey, When Did Metallica's Lars Ulrich Turn into a Cool, Funny Guy?

​Over the years, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich just hasn't done a lot of things to make people like him. Let's recount: he's often an obnoxious interviewee; he pulls some of the most annoying faces in drumming history; he played a role in one of the most embarrassing music documentaries on earth, ... More >>

R.I.P. Jani Lane, Warrant Singer, Hair Metal Icon

​Jani Lane, the lead singer and songwriter for the hair metal band Warrant, probably best known for the hit "Cherry Pie," was found dead in a Los Angeles hotel room last night. He was 47.

Metallica Recording with Lou Reed: Hitler Is Not Happy

​ "Maybe the best thing done by anyone, ever," is how former Velvet Underground frontman Lou Reed described his upcoming collaboration album with Metallica. Rolling Stone's David Fricke had kind words for it, too. We, however, are skeptical. And so is, uh, Hitler. In this hilarious video, som ... More >>

Lou Reed on Metallica Project: 'Maybe the Best Thing Done by Anyone, Ever'

Reed with Metallica's James Hetfield: The creation of a new planetary system?​ Lou Reed is not one for modesty, ladies and gentlemen. We told you last week about his new collaboration with Metallica, which was recorded right up the road from S.F. at Metallica's studio in San Rafael. The as-ye ... More >>

Rick Rubin Says Metallica Is About to Record a New Album, Plans S.F. Show

Rick Rubin: Now this is what Metallica's producer should look like.UPDATE: In more local Metallica news, a posting on the band's websit​e today indicates the band will perform at the annual Salesforce.com convention at Moscone Center on Wednesday, Aug. 31. Turns out Kirk Hammet's next-door neighbo ... More >>

Shocker: Metallica and Lou Reed Team Up for New Album

Now just imagine a tall, skinny Lou Reed in there somewhere...​ Well, we certainly didn't see this coming: Bay Area metal giant Metallica and former Velvet Underground frontman/living god Lou Reed are about 90 percent done with a new album they've recorded together. Lou Reed and Metallica? Yes ... More >>

Is Iron Maiden Really Better Than Metallica?

​ Iron Maiden is better than Metallica. We don't necessarily agree, but that was the contention made by Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson in a recent interview with UK magazine Metal Hammer. "You've just got to have a sense of fearlessness," the singer said, according to a posting on NME. "I got in ... More >>

Big 4 Tour: Are More U.S. Dates Likely for Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, and Megadeth?

Richard HaickWide-eyed Kirk Hammet, coming soon to a major city near you?​ Pretty much since the moment we heard about the Big 4 tour, we've been wanting to see it hit the U.S. Interstate system. Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax have played dates all over Europe, so when they announced ... More >>

Sizzle & Fizzle: Highs and Lows from the Last Week in S.F. Music

Motorhead Plays One Note for an Hour at the Warfield

Richard HaickLemmy!​MotorheadClutchValient ThorrFebruary 2, 2011@ The WarfieldBetter than: People less inherently amusing than Lemmy Kilmister playing one note for an hour.Okay, fine, so it wasn't just one note. There were two or three others thrown in there sometimes. A few meager attempts to spi ... More >>

Screw Jerry Only

Metallica Might Possibly Begin Work on New Album Next Year, Maybe

"This is boring, let's write some songs!"​After nearly two years of touring in support of the 2008 album Death Magnetic -- the return-to-form-of-sorts that followed the musical and image disaster of 2003's St. Anger -- the Bay Area's own Metallica is discussing plans to record its next album. Of c ... More >>

Free Download: Adult Swim's Righteous Metal Compilation

​In their ongoing colonization of the fertile realms beyond the province of television, the indefatigable content-providers of Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block -- in partnership with Scion's weirdly savvy marketing team -- have seen fit to drop another bomb on the internet. Enter Met ... More >>

Sleep plays stoner metal for an angsty generation

Scorpions say goodbye with one last power ballad

Last Night: Iron Maiden's Metal Juggernaut Gets Father's Day Crowd Headbanging

​Iron MaidenDream Theater@Sleep Train PavilionSunday, June 20, 2010Better than: Any other metal band with 35 years under its belt. Iron Maiden has always fallen into that category of venerable metal or hard-rock outfit that you simply do not miss when they come to town. You don't miss Slaye ... More >>

R.I.P Slipknot's Paul Gray

On Monday, Slipknot's bassist Paul Gray, aka No. 2 or "The Pig" was found dead in a hotel room in suburban Iowa. The nu metal band famous for their growling vocals and concealed identities, showed up unmasked to a Des Moines press conference last night to express their loss: In the video, frontm ... More >>

Metal from the Middle East

​Acrassicauda, an Iraqi thrash metal band, just hosted Headbangers Ball to promote Only the Dead See the End of the War, their new EP about wartime in Iraq. Bullied out of Baghdad by bombs to their practice space, death threats for their style of music and being branded as Satan worshipers, the ba ... More >>

Slayer/Megadeth/Testament Tour To Hit the Bay Area After All

​So we wrote that the metal titans tour involving Slayer, Megadeth, and Testament was thrown off course after Slayer bassist/vocalist Tom Araya threw out his back in a serious-headbanging-injury sorta way. Well, although that Jan. 21 show didn't happen, the tour will indeed kick start anew after A ... More >>

Scott “Wino” Weinrich rides metal’s sludgy resurgence

Halloween Clips: The Ten Scariest Music Videos of All Time

1. Alice Cooper - "Welcome To My Nightmare"You can't have Halloween without Alice Cooper. From his decapitation-happy live shows to his self-mocking sense of humor, he's rock's king demon. (Sorry, Marilyn--we know how hard you try.) But was Cooper ever better than when accompanied by the Muppets? ... More >>

Rodrigo y Gabriela pay tribute to a history of axe-slingers

Norwegian death metal doc aims high(brow) on Until the Light Takes Us

Track of the Day: Julian Priester

One secret ingredient in the elephantine new Sunn O))) record, Monoliths & Dimensions, is Julian Priester. The murky, dirgey album's coda comes from the trombonist, who adds free jazz to "Alice" after a record's worth of metal, drone, and other bone-compressing free for alls. (He also plays a ... More >>

Bow Down

Guitar Hero III Easily the Best Entry in the Franchise

Jersey Boys

Bruce Springsteen and Danzig battle for Garden State supremacy

Immigrant Songs

The Skyflakes -- and the piNoisepop Festival -- put Filipino-American indie music on the map