Year Of The Dinosaur

I’ve been perusing a range of upcoming new releases for the new year. Of course, they only list albums by acts that are already either marginally or hugely famous, because it’s a prescient publication that can pick the break-out act of 2009 within the first week of January.

Check this out though: within the first four months of 2009 we have new albums slated for German thrash patch-enthusiasts Kreator, NWOBHM also-rans Saxon, headless Brazilians Sepultura, anachronistic goremeisters Cannibal Corpse, metalcore blame-shoulderers Hatebreed, and an aptly-titled album Scream from Chris Cornell. These six acts have been in the music business for almost 150 years collectively.

This may be a symptom of my (or of metal fans’) ignorance, but are there going to be any surprises right there? Are any of those acts going to bring anything new to any of their respective sub-genres? And if they do, is it going to sound any fresher than anything coming from new acts spanning the metal and heavy rock scope? Ah, I give up.

And they’re barely the tip of the CGI iceberg that power metal bands perform atop in their video clips. I recently had an old man experience with screecher Mitch Lucker of blastcore kids Suicide Silence. He said that he was excited to be doing a Deftones cover in their set, ostensibly because they wanted to educate their fans about what is now deemed to be classic nu-metal. Don’t worry, dude, the Deftones will be releasing their sixth album, Eros, later in the year. They’ve been working on it since 2007, so it must be good. Christ, even their criminally redundant counterparts KoRn are prepping an album for 2009.

Gnarly 20 year-olds and middle-aged factory hands might be interested in new albums from Megadeth and Anthrax (kneel down before the double-barrelled pun of their forthcoming album: Worship Music). The Mars Volta haven’t completely ruined the prog revival for you? Try the forthcoming albums from UFO, Queensryche and Dream Theater.
 
Those still in their sackcloth-and-ashes outfit, wailing and gnashing their teeth over the humiliation of Chinese Democracy – fear not. Slash, and Duff McKagan’s Loaded (a punk side-project from the ex-Gunner and SeattleWeekly.com columnist), will release new albums this year. Also there are rumours that Velvet Revolver have been working on new material. All they need is a new singer. Axl?

If you think Gunners fans are living in the past, man, but you’re still spinning Ten and Vs, you’ve got more than just Cornell to look forward to. Alice In Chains haven’t released anything new in 14 years, probably because their singer is dead, but they have a new album slated for 2009. In that collapsing vein, Chili Pepper John Frusciante will release tenth solo album in a few weeks.

It’s sad to think a guitar fan such as myself is most looking forward to a collaboration between Wu-Tang’s Ghostface Killah and uber-producer MF Doom. And if Frank Carter can hold off going back to his job as a tattoo artist, we should get another album from excellent UK punk nihilists Gallows. And speaking of the prehistoric, Mastodon should do something interesting. Otherwise, Happy 2009 metal Neanderthals.