MAYAN are one of those bands. They’re a supergroup of sorts featuring members of EPICA and AFTER FOREVER, so they have a lot of hype in the European metal community. They made a good, but not great, record that was recently released by Nuclear Blast. They blur the lines between power metal and death metal. Basically, they are right on the edge of either being a band I like a lot or don’t care about at all. It could go either way, really.
However, they released a new video today that absolutely stunned me. It’s for the track “War on Terror” off their new record, ‘Quarterpast’, and it’s pretty crazy. Here’s the breakdown:
Band playing in the desert.
US soldiers are patrolling the desert, apparently in the middle east.
Soldiers stop a van with an Arabic driver, search the van and find a family in the back.
Soldiers remove the family and line them up on the ground.
One soldier notices a pretty woman and takes her while the other soldiers keep the husband at bay with their machine guns.
The soldier rapes the woman against the van!!!
The husband charges past the soldiers to the soldier and is shot and killed!!!
Soldiers call in air strike, shoot MAYAN with a missile!
Wow…. That’s probably the most controversial video I’ve seen all year. Have as much hate for the US military as you want, but putting a sexual assault and murder in your video like this seems like a little far of a leap to make. Now, they apparently did the right thing because we’re talking about them on the site today, but MAYAN really took a leap of fate there. I will say that the video is well-produced and the song is pretty good, however that video is enough to turn a lot of people off.
My thoughts are that, while no country flags are shown, this is most certainly about the US army because we are the only face of the war in the Middle East that are often demonized. Also, it’s fine if you don’t like what the US military is doing in the middle east. I don’t like it either. However, the generalizations of our armed forces here are a little too much for me. Just because there are some lunatics in the military who do dumb shit, doesn’t make our whole army a bunch of rapists or co-conspirators. The whole thing: the war itself, the drama surrounding it and the demonization of our military just seems completely misguided and incorrect.
However, we won’t turn this whole thing into a political debate. The fact is, MAYAN made an extremely controversial video and they did a good job. However, I definitely feel like this video will alienate some people so I guess we’ll see how it plays out!
Check it out below and weigh-in on what you think of the MAYAN video!
(I would like to welcome UK misanthropic metal assassins DRAGGED INTO SUNLIGHT to Metal Army. These guys will be visiting Metal Army once a month to spread their brand of hate across our blog. Hails! -Editor)
Top Five Slayer Drum Fills:
1. Angel of Death – 4:24 – 4:28 – Is this a drum fill or a drum solo? I’m not sure it matters. This percussion assault remains one of the best drum parts of all time. It’s just one big build up to Lombardos most memorable tub beating moment. This fill changed my understanding of extreme, only Lombardo is real.
2. Seasons in the Abyss – 1:00 – 1:15 – SITA is a very close second. This fill is the kind of drum fill that makes you want to break necks. If I dropped my sticks during this, I would definitely continue pounding with my bare fists. It’s just straight up Lombardo aggression delivered with uncompromising spine snapping power.
3. Dittohead – 0:02 – 0:04 – Short, knife sharp and to the point. This one teases the adrenaline gland.
4. Jesus Saves – 1:09 – 1:15 – Lombardo demonstrating signature power with a menacing build up that makes you want to take an angle grinder to the next crucifix you see.
5. Black Magic – 1:53 – 1:54 – This is exactly the kind of roll that made Lars Ulrich shit himself in 1983. The master delivers a lesson on the art of thrash. Specialist subject: kill.
This month we’ve been working on “Widowmaker”, the first 40 minute instalment of three is to be released on Mordgrimm records. It sounds like the reptile claw of Godzilla crushing a small civilization so far.
Well, almost…. Let’s just say that the one time I did get drunk with LEMMY, there was a lot of Jack Daniels, sour cream and onion potato chips and steaks so perhaps not EXACTLY like LEMMY… But anyway, you can now get MOTORHEAD wine glasses from a Swedish company for a cool $116.80. The glasses are some of the highest quality glasses and are emblazoned with the iconic MOTORHEAD logo. You can get them here.
These glasses were actually launched in conjunction with the MOTORHEAD Shiraz made by Grape Swedish LTD, which sold through the entire 1,000 cases produced in a mere week last year.
Lately Europe has been catching all of the cool tours. Granted, I still get to see AGALLOCH and they don’t, the latest trek to add to the “GET YOUR ASSES TO AMERICA” list is RWAKE and DRAGGED INTO SUNLIGHT. RWAKE has been a longtime favorite of mine, despite not having released a new record in four years. DRAGGED INTO SUNLIGHT has quickly become one of my favorite up-and-coming acts with their brand of misanthropic, sludgy black metal – check out the debut album ‘Hatred For Mankind’ to experience what I’m talking about.
If you are in Europe, you have no excuse for missing this tour so make sure you get there. If you are stateside, then I’ll see you at the upcoming AGALLOCH/WORM OUROBOROS tour!
Man, we can’t get away from this guy this week! TIM “RIPPER” OWENS is going to sing us out for our holiday break! Here’s a hilariously awesome video of the metal powerhouse singing the holiday classic “Do You Hear What I Hear?” From everyone here at Metal Army America, we wish you and your family the happiest of holidays!
See you in 2011, fuckers! Be ready to bang your head!
Everyone at this point expects a crazy good time when they go to see CAMP FREDDY in LA. The Dave Navarro spear-headed supergroup/cover band has brought out everyone from Ozzy to Steven Tyler to perform classic rock and metal hits. Now check out this most recent performance which features guest appearances from rap duo CYPRESS HILL and SEBASTIAN BACH performing the classic “Paradise City” by GUNS N ROSES!
So, it looks as if we have a lot of JUDAS PRIEST fans here and during the course of the discussion as to WHO is the best PRIEST vocalist, someone has fired off a monumental discovery. Here are a handful of videos sent to us by a reader named James from Camden, NJ who wrote:
“Yo MAA, check out the REAL best vocalist in JUDAS PRIEST history: Tim “Ripper” Owens. I don’t know what he’s up to now but he’s certainly rocking it out! Covers Metallica, Dio and Lynyrd Skynyrd!”
For some reason, Europe and South America are crazy about their power metal! There seems to be endless demand for it and the stars of the genre are true royalty. One of the most heralded is Tobias Sammet from EDGUY and AVANTASIA fame. Check out this video from a mere week ago of AVANTASIA rocking Buenos Aires! It’s unbelievable!
In a cool yet sad turn of events, CANDLEMASS performed their monstrous debut ‘Epicus Doomicus Metalicus’ in its entirety with original vocalist Johan Langqvist in Sweden. We missed it, you probably missed it and that means we’re all sad. However, some video has made its way online so check this out and HOPE that it comes to America!
FUCK YES! Lemmy and the boys have tuned their instruments and are ready to rock the US for the first time since releasing ‘The World Is Yours’. Throughout January and February, you will get to see the mighty MOTORHEAD on a US headlining tour and I can’t fucking wait. I’ll see any of you New Yorkers at the Best Buy Theatre for this — where will you be seeing these icons?
Jan. 25 – Anaheim CA – House of Blues
Jan. 28 – Reno NV – Knitting Factory
Jan. 29 – Las Vegas NV – HOB
Jan. 31 – San Diego CA – HOB
Feb. 02 – San Francisco CA – Warfield
Feb. 04 – Seattle WA – Sodo
Feb. 05 – Portland OR – Roseland
Feb. 07 – Vancouver BC – Vogue
Feb. 09 – Edmonton AL – EEC
Feb. 10 – Calgary AL – Flames Central
Feb. 12 – Winnipeg MT – Burton
Feb. 15 – Minneapolis MN – 1st Ave
Feb. 16 – Milwaukee WI – Rave Ballroom
Feb. 17 – Kansas City MO – Midland Theatre
Feb. 19 – Chicago IL – Congress
Feb. 20 – St. Louis MO – Pops
Feb. 22 – Grand Rapids MI – Orbit
Feb. 23 – Detroit MI – Royal Oak
Feb. 25 – Kitchener ONT – Elements
Feb. 26 – Toronto ONT – Koolhouse
Feb. 28 – New York NY - Best Buy
Mar. 01 – Boston MA – House of Blues (Avalon)
Mar. 03 – Sayerville NJ – Starland Ballroom
Mar. 04 – Atlantic City NJ – House of Blues
Mar. 08 – Austin TX – Stubb’s
Mar. 10 – Tempe AZ – Marquee Theatre
Mar. 11 – Los Angeles CA – Nokia Live
