Beatallica is a crossover American band that plays songs of The Beatles with a Metallica touch. Formed by Kliff McBurtney, Jaymz Lennfield, Ringo Larz and GRG Hammetson, a non-commercial policy has ruled the band since 2004 in order to avoid lawsuits from the original bands, though apparently, the members of Metallica support the band and they have spoken very highly of their music. The lyrics of the songs and the names of the albums are also altered just enough to be appropriate with the heavy metal style, with albums such as The Grey Album (2004), Sgt. Hetfield’s Motorbreath Pub Band, and the latest, All You Need Is Blood. Listen to their song, I Want To Choke Your Band below.

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Last night, I caught Pagan Fest at B.B. Kings in NYC. I missed the band that I was the most excited to see, T˘r, but Turisas and Ensiferum more than made up for it. Americans have been pretty late to warm up to folk and Viking metal, and bands of this sort almost never tour the States, so it was gratifying to see that the show was sold out, and that the crowd was so exuberant. Think of the rowdiest night you’ve ever had in an Irish pub — that’s pretty much what the show was like. Folk metal bands are all about drinking and fighting songs, and getting the audience to shout “HEY HEY HEY!” along with them, and everyone in the crowd knew the words, even when they were Finnish. The female accordion player in Turisas was grinning ear-to-ear and so incredibly cute that it was impossible not to want to hug the whole band, even though they were dressed up as fierce Viking warriors. Ensiferum simply shredded, and though the keyboards were inaudible and the lead guitar was way too loud, they put on one of the best rock shows of any genre I’ve seen in a long time. The touring festival did so well in the US that organizers are planning another one this fall that will feature some of the same bands as well as the inimitable Korpiklaani. I’m as excited as a drunk wench in a mead hall.

Prog rock had Roger Dean, ’80s death metal had Dan Seagrave, and now, the new wave of American heavy metal has Tom Denney, who creates some of the most intense and intricate album covers since the psychedelic ’70s. Full of writhing monsters, skulls, tentacles, and voluptuous women, Denney’s work harkens back to rock and roll iconography of old, but the California-based artist manages to create work that perfectly encapsulates the dirty crunch and smoke-blurred atmosphere of bands such as Lair of the Minotaur, Kylesa, Sourvein, Soilent Green, and other such bands.

A while back, McSweeney’s posted Prescription Drug or Metal Band?, a list of words that were either the name of a metal band or a pharmaceutical, on their website. This inspired artist Dan Nelson to create a list of all the known metal bands in the world (currently 51,000), which is now available as a hardcover book. There are apparently 24 bands named Legion listed in the 250-page tome (although Encyclopediae Metallicum lists 26, not including two named The Legion), four bands named Nazgul, and only one named Goat Semen. The project grew out of Nelson’s other endeavors, which include memorizing Charles Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities in its entirety.

Heavy metal and hip-hop are perhaps the most popular forms of rebellion for kids the world over. In Malaysia, metal — particularly black metal — has taken such a strong hold that the Fatwa Council there banned it, fearing that the music would compel listeners to rebel against religion. Contrary to the council’s intentions, black metal is as popular as ever in Malaysia, and is a recognizable cultural touchstone there, as indicated by the above clip from the 2005 film Filem Rock.

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