Hell Yeah, P.O.D., Avatar, 10 Years, Islander

Headbangers, take note! Don't waste time concerning yourself with the band members' impressive resumes or with dwelling on their previous work. On BLOOD FOR BLOOD, HELLYEAH lives in the here and now.

BLOOD FOR BLOOD is the album that HELLYEAH –featuring Mudvayne's Chad Gray on vocals, Pantera's Vinnie Paul on drums and Nothingface's Tom Maxwell on guitar--has always wanted to make. "It's a defining record for HELLYEAH and for anyone on the fence," Paul declared, describing the record as "focused and with a clear direction."

After roughly eight years, three albums, countless tours as headliners and as participants on "can't miss" festival bills and hundreds of thousands of albums sold, HELLYEAH is making their biggest and boldest statement yet with BLOOD FOR BLOOD. They are going for the jugular and every song on the album clamps down and doesn't let go. They've exchanged some of the party-centric, good time sounds of past efforts for pure metallic fury and emotional introspection. The album sounds like a re-charged HELLYEAH, taken up many notches.

BLOOD FOR BLOOD is easily their most metallic album. It leaves a mark, thanks to songs like the angular, vengeful "DMF." There's also "Demons In The Dirt," a beast of a song birthed by the sort of anger that can't be faked; it will leave you wondering who pissed these guys off. "Gift" is dirty, rowdy rock with equal parts groove and swagger, but also possessed of the sort of punk rock energy that would make Motorhead fans turns their heads. Then there is moodier, more contemplative fare like "Moth to the Flame" or "Hush," which connect on an emotional, cellular level, proving that you can be incredibly heavy in ways other than loud and fast.

"We still have a love affair with this band and have a lot we want to say," explained Maxwell. He relished taking on a larger songwriting role and serving as the lead guitarist, which you can hear in the album's overall sound and in every note of his playing. "That magic is there for us, still. This is the record I've always wanted to make in this band, which has so many creative forces." Gray also shared that changes made the members closer. "We leaned on each other for support and inspiration," he said. As a result, the album is tight and the foundation is firm. Fans will be pleased.

The band opted to work with an outside producer for the first time ever, recruiting Las Vegas-based Canadian producer, Kevin Churko for the job. "To move forward, you have to make changes," said Paul, who wrote the music in Texas with Maxwell before heading to Hideout Recording Studio in Sin City to put it to tape.

"I am used to being a producer or co-producer and I wanted to see what would happen if I backed up and let someone take the reigns, leaving me to just be a drummer," said Paul, while admitting that vocals were the one area of production to which he couldn't do proper justice. The band was happy to allow Churko to provide a fresh perspective. Given Churko's resume, which is littered with names as diverse as Ozzy Osbourne, In This Moment and Five Finger Death Punch, the band knew he was the man who could pull the best performance possible out of Gray. The singer himself praised that Churko had a unique way of extracting what he wanted, saying, "You can be a drill sergeant and rule through intimidation or be laid back and cool, but get it done without pressure. He rules through cool."

Overall, the album has less of an obvious southern influence, with Paul deeming it "a metal record that also has melody. It lends itself to a diverse group of people."

As the mouthpiece for the band, Gray lets out his primal scream throughout the album, enabling him to properly and fully express his emotions in the music. "We want to shut people up a little, the people who have never given Hellyeah the time of day, for whatever reason," the singer said. "Whether you want it or not, it's undeniable. This [album] is an every night fistfight." Gray shared that he firmly believes in music as therapy and revels in helping the band's fans achieve catharsis with the music they have created.

He acknowledged the fact that the album is devoid of the party anthems that previously populated the Hellyeah catalog. "There is not a party song on this record, which we are kind of known for," he said. Gray continued "As much as I love those songs, they put us in a certain box that I've never been comfortable in since I'm not always like that." Instead, Gray and his bandmates wanted to show a depth, breadth and range of emotions and styles.

It was important for Gray to craft songs that were heavy on multiple levels at the same time. His approach was that heavy doesn't always mean as fast and as loud as possible. He said, "For me, personally, I was going through my emotional checklist, and how I wanted to be heavy both aggressively and emotionally. I need that balance." For example, the mercurial "Moth To The Flame" examines our base, animal instincts and drives. Despite knowing something is bad for you and will burn you, you still can't pull yourself away from it.

"Black December" turns a critical eye on the year-end holiday season, and more deeply, the sadness that can permeate the end of the year. "It's a deadly month and depressing," Gray explained. "It's a hard month to get through with all the bullshit and commercialization. John Lennon and Dimebag Darrell were killed in December – that's like taking away things I need to live. I can't celebrate this whole December vibe."

For his part, Paul labeled his drumming on "Say When" as some of the most challenging of his career, going so far as to say he hasn't played like this since Pantera's 1994 opus Far Beyond Driven. "It's so off the chain, and I will be worn out every night when I play it," the kit minder said. While that may be bad for Paul, it's a very good thing for metal fans.

Maxwell also points to the more mainstream rock element of "Hush," which brings a sense of community to those who have had turbulent upbringings. The song is successful "at being heavy while being uplifting." That's not easy to do, but HELLYEAH make it seem and sound easy.

BLOOD FOR BLOOD marks a new chapter for Hellyeah. They pushed themselves to new limits, dared to embrace change and to take risks with their music by just doing what comes naturally. Gray said it best: "The more you listen to it, the more it will open up to you."

Go ahead. Open the door and crank the knobs on Hellyeah's BLOOD FOR BLOOD.


"Music comes down to passion," says P.O.D. frontman Sonny Sandoval. "There are not a lot of bands out there
today who have that. But I think that feeling is coming back around again."

P.O.D. (Payable on Death) certainly has the right to talk about passion in music. Passion has been front and center since the band formed in 1992 in San Diego, CA, and all the way up to the release of their eighth and latest record, Murdered Love. Over the last two decades, the group has sold over 10 million albums (including 2001's triple platinum record Satellite), garnered four No. 1 music videos, three Grammy nominations and over a dozen rock
radio hits, including "Southtown," "Alive," "Youth of the Nation" and "Goodbye For Now." Music trends have come and gone, but P.O.D.'s fanbase has seemingly only grown stronger.

Still, after the release of 2008's When Angels & Serpents Dance, the band took a lengthy hiatus. "You can blame me," says Sandoval. "The record business was changing, and we all wanted to get back to our personal lives and families.
When we do P.O.D., we want to enjoy what we're doing, and not to do it to pay the bills or tour just to tour." Fortunately, the time off served the band, and Sandoval, well. "Yeah, I got in a good place again. P.O.D. means so
much to us and our fans – there's a lot of love for what we do. I wanted to keep inspiring and encouraging people."

The band initially reconvened with a few jam sessions and the intent to put out a hardcore, Bad Brains-style EP and tour a little bit. But the initial recordings were strong enough to convince the group to tackle a new album. "By taking a break, we kind of got back on the same page," says guitarist Marcos Curiel. "Now, everyone has the same attitude going forward, the same feeling we had when we did those first two first two big albums The Fundamental Elements of Southtown and Satellite."

The most startling aspect of Murdered Love lies in its diversity and the band's songwriting having penned every track on the album. The opener "Eyez" might be the band's heaviest song yet, with a cameo by Hatebreed's Jamey
Jasta. It contrasts sharply with "West Coast Rock Steady," a playful hip-hop ode to their San Diego roots featuring Sen Dog of Cypress Hill. Meanwhile, "Panic & Run" is full-tilt punk, "Bad Boy" brings a funky swagger and first single "Lost in Forever" ties it all together with an equal mix of aggressiveness and melody.

"The band is a fusion of all our musical passions," says Curiel. "We can jump from punk to reggae to rap to metal. And funk -- people forget we had a little funk on our first few indie releases. So on a few songs here, we took it
back. The whole process was really organic."

Lyrically, the record finds P.O.D. at its most thoughtful and introspective as the band contemplates their lives and the world around them. On "Lost in Forever" Sandoval shows a mixture of hope and unease to questioning the
cruelty of man, as the band also does in the brutal title track "Murdered Love." "It's about people who have died when all they brought was love" explains Curiel. The sparse, catchy "Beautiful," contemplates the afterlife while

the teeth-rattling album closer "I Am," finds Sandoval opening with the vivid line: "I am the murderer, the pervert, sick to the core" and never lets up. It's the band at its darkest and most confrontational.

"I had been doing a lot of outreach to kids, talking at a lot of schools," says the singer. "I see what they go through – suicide, rape, addiction –and that song is just about being vulnerable and honest. They're wondering if they're screw-ups, if they're deserving of love and compassion. "

The band recorded Murdered Love with Grammy-nominated producer Howard Benson (Kelly Clarkson, My Chemical Romance, Daughtry), a long-time friend of the group and the man behind three of its biggest records. "He's family," says Sandoval, then laughs. "He has the power to choose who he wants to work with, and I think he wanted to go back and make a real rock record."

To promote the record, the band has already set up a late spring/early summer headlining tour, as well as hitting a number of festivals and larger shows this year. "It seems like there's Warriors in every city," says Curiel, noting the band's affectionate nickname for their diehard fans. "They're loyal. And it's great, because we'll see people who loved us around the Satellite era bringing their kids." Given the closeness between the band and their fanbase, it's no surprise that P.O.D.'s new logo was the result of an online contest with their fans.

In the end, Murdered Love showcases a band at its most energetic and vital, nearly two decades after its debut. Sandoval agrees.

"This is the best record we've ever done," says the singer. "And that can only come from what we've put into this. We're the same four down-to-earth guys we were when we were putting out indie records. There's an honesty and
an underdog vibe to everything we do that you can definitely hear in our music."


Like old-timey carnival ringmasters, AVATAR invites miscreants, tattooed ladies, blue-collar workers, metalheads, rock fanatics and listeners of all stripes to their party. The theatrical metal-n'-roll vaudevillian visionaries have infiltrated Rock Radio and the hearts and minds of those thirsty for creative innovation, inescapable melodic hooks and a sense of dangerous revelry all wrapped up in deliciously subversive hit songs.

The eleven tracks on HAIL THE APOCALYPSE join a rich catalog filled with cred-building artistic peaks and commercial breakthroughs alike, following in the tradition of larger-than-life bands like Rammstein, System of a Down and Rob Zombie who have conquered the airwaves without sacrificing their brilliant uniqueness and unfettered expressionism. Working from the playbook of Alice Cooper, Kiss and like minded phantoms of rock, Avatar delivers a postmodern party, electrifying the mainstream and underground alike.

Produced by longtime collaborator and two-time Grammy nominee Tobias Lindell, mixed by Jay Ruston, and mastered by Paul Logus. Hail the Apocalypse serves as ample evidence why Avatar is welcomed at Download UK, Rock on the Range and on tour with rock radio hitmakers, like label mates Pop Evil.

"Bloody Angel" and "Hail the Apocalypse" are new anthems for the ages, precision heat-seeking missiles targeting a cultural landscape primed and ready for fresh songs to champion from a band with a giant persona to rally behind. Breaking into America on tour with Sevendust, conquering their native Europe in arenas with Avenged Sevenfold and Five Finger Death Punch, Avatar shocked the world with the Top 30 commercial rock radio success of "Smells Like a Freakshow" and "Let it Burn."

Nobody was more amazed when Avatar devilishly polluted the commercial airwaves with their last album, Black Waltz, than band cofounder Johannes Eckerström. "Sweden is a smaller country. In terms of airplay, there isn't much room for heavier stuff and we aren't typical radio material. So, to me, with all due respect, isn't radio where you go to hear Lady Gaga songs? To hear we were Top 30 in America, it was like, 'Say what?!'"

Avatar puts equal emphasis on their visual presentation, stage presence and overall creative coherence, giving fans more than a killer live show and hit songs. Avatar is a work of art.

Hail the Apocalypse was recorded live at Karma Sound Studios in Bang Saray, Thailand. Bands like Bullet For My Valentine have made records there, enveloped in a trippy/exotic locale not unlike Killing Joke making a record inside an Egyptian pyramid back in the day. The band then went on to Tobias Lindells' studio in Patong, also in Thailand to record vocals and guitar solos. The studio is located in a house owned by a horror movie buff that includes a swimming pool decorated like Castle Grayskull.

The plane ride over inspired an unexpected turn in the creation of Hail the Apocalypse. After they had become sufficiently buzzed from the plane's bar, the band synched up their video screens to take in "Sound City," Dave Grohl's documentary love letter to the famed studio where seminal albums from the likes of Nirvana, Metallica, and Slipknot were made.

"After the documentary was over, we looked at each other and said, 'We should totally record this album live.' We were planning to do it in a more modern way, track-by-track, to a click track. But we said, 'Screw it! Let's do this live, the old-fashioned studio way.'"

Avatar didn't see much sunlight while in Thailand, opting instead to put their collective nose to the grindstone and work hard on what has become a hard rock masterpiece.

"The band was in a room staring at each other instead of staring at the floor. It was a great experience. Our producer rents a house from a guy who is a big horror movie fanatic. So when I did my vocals, I had big statues of Leatherface and Predator starring me down. And then there was that skull fountain in the pool! It was the perfecting setting. Here we were in this tropical environment, and yet death was everywhere."

Black Waltz began a momentous climb for Avatar both in terms of their career and in terms of their evolving sound. Hail the Apocalypse follows suit, building on the strengths of the last album while blowing down the doors off even the highest of expectations.

"When we did that music video for the title track on the last album, that's where we came up with the face paint and everything around it," the band's frontman explains.

"Something really clicked on a much deeper plane than we expected when I got my face paint. I saw myself in the mirror and I was awakened. We've been riding on that ever since. It's hard to even put it into words. We've played together for ten years; we've started to evolve a certain groove together, while still rooted in extreme metal."

Avatar came together at a young age, wrapping their heads around the New Wave of Swedish Death Metal that surrounded them in their native country and sharpening their chops. In short order, the technical melodic death metal of Thoughts of No Tomorrow (2006) and the even more intense Schlacht (2007) gave way to the classic rock n' roll and traditional heavy metal style of their self-titled third album, which demonstrated Avatar's ability to craft catchy songs with memorable hooks was equal to their technical proficiency. The group toured with metal luminaries In Flames, Dark Tranquility and Helloween, among others, as they steadily built a profile in the worldwide underground.

The ensuing word of mouth success around Black Waltz brought an increasingly diverse swath of newcomers to Avatar's shows, as they toured the U.S. supporting gold-selling rockers Sevendust and fellow Europeans Lacuna Coil. That tour included the band's first ever casino gig. "We had always said, if we ever play in a casino, we are going to take the payment for the show and put it on red at the roulette table," Eckerström says, laughing. "We finally got an opportunity to do that and guess what? We actually won!"

The string of good fortune continues, as Avatar gears up to conquer the world with Hail the Apocalypse. The virtuoso side of their earliest rumblings remains intact, enhanced with momentous strength by songwriting chops, gigantic hooks and a sense of groove. Hail the Apocalypse is not only the best album in the Avatar catalog, it's one of the most diverse hard rock records of the modern age, catapulting Avatar above the pack.

Avatar's music is challenging, daring, but altogether captivating, boasting Charlie Chaplin's winking silent movie flair for the dramatic and Marilyn Manson's dark merging of the commercial and the macabre, but still rooted in heavy music for its own sake.

"We are doing something that I strongly feel is lacking," Eckerström says. "This is metal music made by metal heads for metal heads. It's honest, intense and full of integrity."


After a year and a half on the road touring 2010's Feeding The Wolves, 10 Years reached a turning point. It was time to move forward and take full control of their career by launching their own label, Palehorse Records. In addition, the band decided to self-produce their fourth album, Minus the Machine, at drummer/guitarist Brian Vodinh's Kashmir Recording.

Splitting up with a major label after five years was "a very scary step to take," Hasek admits. "It's like breaking up with a longtime girlfriend. You're used to the motions, but when it becomes stale and unhappy, you need to move on and get energy back into your life. There was no anger on either side. We just painlessly parted ways."

Working together as a band for the first time since writing the Gold-selling album The Autumn Effect helped 10 Years go back to their roots, without label-enforced pressure to create a radio-friendly "hit," and free to experiment with the hard rock sounds that lie at the core of their music. "Our true fans who buy the albums, not just the singles, understand that our singles, for the most part, misrepresent the entire album," says Hasek. "As a band, we like to explore more and go a little left of center with song structures. We wanted to create an album that has no boundaries, and where we didn't have to make every song 'three minutes and 30 seconds' for a label to approve it. There's a fine line with that, of course, and we're very aware of it. We all grew up on rock music, and as many albums as we've written, the way we've written them, it's ingrained in us to work within a time frame that fits radio. There are definitely songs that work well for that, but as a whole, we wanted this album to represent a journey in a sense."

This chapter of 10 Years began in 2001, when Hasek took over as vocalist. Three years later they released their independent album, Killing All That Holds You, featuring the groundbreaking single "Wasteland," which led to their signing with Universal Records. "That song was created in 2001 or 2002," says Hasek. "We weren't seeking to write a smash single. We were just writing music." The Autumn Effect (2005) led to widespread radio and video play, a fiercely loyal fan base, and tours with heavyweights like Linkin Park, Korn and the Deftones. When their sophomore effort, Division, was released in 2008, 10 Years had cemented their place as one of hard rock's top contenders and most sought-after live bands. Still, says Hasek, despite the success, "it all came to a head" with the band's 3rd major label release, Feeding The Wolves. "When you feel like you're being told to go through motions and jump through hoops, it takes the heart out of it," he says. "We know that we need a hit and we understand that it's important. However, as musicians, we're not a band that says, 'We're going to make a hit.' It's better to do what comes naturally and then figure out the after-effect."

With that in mind, 10 Years created their most powerful songs to date for Minus The Machine, with Hasek again relying on personal experiences for his lyrics. "Everyone asks about my inspiration for lyrics, and the best thing I can give them is a very generic answer: life," he says. "Life is the experience — it's everything you go through: the ups, the downs. I tend to gravitate more toward the therapy method. I'm not great at writing happy pop songs. So, I usually get the negative emotions out through music. As a person, I'm very happy and thankful for my life, but when it comes to lyrics, it's therapy for me."

One thing that won't change is 10 Years' connection with their fans. With the release of Minus The Machine, the band is looking forward to hitting the road, performing in close contact with their dedicated audience. "After the last touring cycle, we realized where we should strive to be, and that's to be totally fine in the club environment," says Hasek. "We don't plan to chase after arena rock or amphitheaters. If things like that happen, then so be it, but we live and die by the loyalty of the club audiences. Our fans are loyal. They travel with us, and they want us to be loyal to ourselves. That's what keeps them coming back. What we tried to do on this album is really give them what they want and what they need because they've been so good to us through the ups and downs of our career."

"First and foremost, when it's all said and done, we're proud of this album in its entirety," he says. "That speaks volumes to us because we're our own worst critics. We pick everything apart. An album is your child, it's your baby, and you know it better than anyone. To sit back and be 100 percent proud of what we've accomplished is so gratifying, and we think everything else will fall into place. We hope that everyone will enjoy what we've tried to do."


It has been quite a journey for ISLANDER, who, in just over a year, have gone from obscurity to a band in constant radio rotation. Fueled with a combination of emotionally capturing songs and audience grabbing live shows, ISLANDER continue to lead at the forefront of their peers.

The thrilling trip for this quartet began in the foothills of Greenville, S.C. with the release of their Victory Records debut Pains. in 2013. Now, a lethal combination of alt-rock, punk and nu-metal that recalls the finest of bands like Refused and Deftones, ISLANDER have released their full length Violence & Destruction to critical recognition. Comprised of members Mikey Carvajal on vocals, Andrew Murphy on guitar, drummer Eric Frazier and bassist Chris Doot, ISLANDER recorded the album with producer Cameron Webb (SILVERSTEIN, ALKALINE TRIO) at Hollywood's NRG Studios. It is twelve tracks of American rock anthems spawned by individual struggle and organic affection. The result is a refreshing and unpredictable performance of cutting edge, modern-day rock with classic punk overtones fused with groove laden beats.

Violence & Destruction awakens the nerves and lets life in. From the blockbuster single 'Coconut Dracula', to the outlaw collaboration of 'Criminals' with P.O.D.'s Sonny Sandoval and the fist-pumping title track, ISLANDER sonically 'demonstrate that fragile dichotomy between softness and weight in a riff', as described by Noisey/Vice.

Already this year, ISLANDER have been part of the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival and their full length release Violence & Destruction was deemed one of Revolver's 'Most Anticipated Of 2014'. The proof is evident in the response.

Alternative Press confirmed that ISLANDER was one the '100 Bands You Need To Know' as 2014 continues to shine with festival confirmations at Aftershock in Sacramento and Louder Than Life in Louisville.

The band made the most of the Mayhem Tour, not only by generating tens of thousands of fans across the festival tour's routing, but also with other bands on the bill - most notably KoRn, who's members were found to be onstage watching ISLANDER's incendiary performances each day. Is this an indication of a collaboration to come? Time will tell. In the meantime, several of the very bands that inspired them, are professing their affection for ISLANDER, including KoRn, Papa Roach, and P.O.D.