We’re only at the half of 2017, but still quite a few things have happened this year, so let’s have a look at what got everyone talking so far.
Some call it quits, some come back :
After we tragically lost some of the most iconic rockstars over the last two years (Lemmy, B.B. King, Prince, David Bowie, …), this year has been marked by announcements from many bands which are putting their career to an end.
– The Dillinger Escape Plan : Mathcore titans released their final effort, Dissociation, and are set to play their last show ever in October, after a tour that’s running since the end of 2016. These guys are always hitting the road, and we wish them the best in their upcoming projects !
– HIM : Finnish metal giants have announced in March that they will be touring the world until next December, before being “released in the wild”
– Deep Purple : Hard rock veterans are embarking on their « The Long Goodbye Tour », that might be Deep Purple’s last big tour, but maybe not. But if you’ve got the ability to catch them, you shouldn’t miss that because there’s a chance that the band won’t be touring for long now.
– Aerosmith : Farewell tour-that-might-not-be-the-last-one-and-we-might-release-some-new-music-later, the band is planning to tour all around the world over the next few years, and maybe will they release another album. Which is the definition of a farewell tour nowadays, right ?
– Black Sabbath : Heavy metal legends retired in February in England after 49 years of rock’n roll. Ozzy and his bandmates called it quits in their home country, and after half a century of touring and releasing consistent records, we only can salute and pay tribute to the founders of hard rock.
BUT
As these bands fade out, rock’n roll never dies, and here are the bands that came back this year, and did not disappoint :
– Prophets of Rage : Consisting of all members from Rage Against The Machine minus Zach De La Rocha, plus Public Enemy’s Chuck D and Cypress Hill’s B Real and DJ Lord playing songs from RATM’s catalog (and a few from Cypress Hill and Public Enemy, and two original songs so far), this is arguably the best cover band that you’ll see, ever. Plus, they’re the only legit act to cover Killing In The Name, and considering how many cheap versions of this song we’ve all heard live, this point isn’t insignificant.
– System Of A Down : Right, the band is touring almost every year since 2010, but back in May, John Dolmayan announced that fifteen songs were recorded for the new album, so the least we can say is that we’ve never been closer the release of SOAD’s sixth record, and we’re so hyped about that !
– Gorillaz : One day before Trump’s inauguration (well, this president seems to be quite inspirational to the rock scene!), Damon Albarn’s project released Hallelujah Money, which was the beginning of the four piece’s comeback, completed by the release of their record Human, in April.
– At The Drive-In : Post-hardcore pioneers, after a brief comeback in 2012, broke a fifteen year long hiatus, which is quite a long time when it comes to music. The industry is nothing like when they left it, and the same thing applies to the post-hardcore scene. So far, the album was well received by the critics and the band is playing huge festivals across the world, let’s hope that this comeback is for long !
Metalcore is alive and strong !
If we ever listened to critics, metalcore bands would be over by now but on the opposite, they’ve been stronger than ever this year :
– Danny Worsnop came back in Asking Alexandria and the band has already recorded their fifth album, we can’t wait to hear more as reunion shows proved that the guy still has it!
– After Austin Carlisle left Of Mice & Men back in December, the band decided to carry on without replacing him, but with Aaron Pauley on the screamed vocals, and the two singles that they’ve released convinced their fans, which wasn’t an easy task.
– Sonny Moore, a.k.a. Skrillex, got his place back in screamo band From First To Last, and now the band has set to release a new record with Moore at the vocals.
– While She Sleeps released a killer record (that made it to the list of our favorite albums of 2017 so far) that combines the best bits of the genre and takes the band on another level. One of the highlights of the album is the featuring with Sheffield homie Oli Sykes from Bring Me The Horizon, that buries the hatchet between both bands, let’s hope that it’s for the best !
Does the K in Korn stand for Kindergarten ?
Korn’s Fieldy (bass) had to cancel his appearance during the band’s South American tour earlier this year, and who did the band choose to replace him ? Tye Trujillo, Metallica’s bass player’s 12 years old son. Munky (guitar) told Loudwire that Tye was « an exact duplicate of his father in every way », and although some american fans were disappointed not to see the band’s full lineup, it’s undeniable that this was a tour not to miss !
Nickelback stopped being the most hated rock band… and then Kroeger attacked Corey Taylor
This year has seen one of the most unpredictable news that we could think of… Nickelback released some high quality material, which compares to the band’s earlier work. But in the same time, without any real reason, Chad Kroeger felt that it was a good idea to attack Corey Taylor over both his bands, with points like « Stone Sour is a Nickelback lite », or « Slipknot is a gimmick ». Taylor replied, tackling Kroeger about his physical appearance, or even his wife Avril Lavigne.
We’re not sure if this is really constructive, but we KNOW that this feud is going to be all over your facebook feed in the next weeks !
Rock Goes Pop vol. 2017
As every year, a few of our favorite rock/metal acts changed their sound into more of a pop/mainstream atmosphere, and this time, the ones we lost are Paramore (despite Zac Farro’s comeback into the band) and Linkin Park (despite 2014’s almost punk album The Hunting Party). In the first case, fans have been rather positive about the change, 2013’s S/T have been preparing the audience to a softer sound, but for the latter, reviews were generally mediocre, and the album’s reception (while not being the lowest selling LP album) by the fans was… controversial to say the least ! Add to this Chester Bennington’s rant on Twitter against people complaining about the band not sounding the same as 15 years ago, and you’ll get why this release kept the internet on fire for a few weeks !
And the rock star of the year is…….
Dave Grohl is a freakin’ rockstar, but this point could be applied any year : Foo Fighters played a song after a festival cut their sound (curfew at 10PM … rock’n roll!), he dedicated « My Hero » to a naked dude in the crowd while playing a headlining set at Glastonbury Festival, and the guy plans nothing less than to reunite with Them Crooked Vultures, which consists of him, Queens Of The Stone Age’s Josh Homme, and… John Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin ! So… we can say that Grohl had a busy year, again !
Guess who left his band… again ?
The last, and latest news from this list is Ivan Moody leaving Five Finger Death Punch again during a show in Tilburg (Netherlands). Moody declared « This is my last show with Five Finger Death Punch » after Jason Hook smashed his guitar during Burn MF. Since then Tommy Vext (ex-Westfield Massacre) has been filling in, the band played a free show in Tilburg to make it up to the audience, guitarist Zoltan Bathory called Moody « a piece of shit » (SPOILER : It’s good!) and the band announced an European tour with In Flames. So it seems that the band is still alive and strong, but their collaboration with long time singer Ivan Moody is over and done.
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