Podcast

Metalunderground.com Official Podcast, Episode 23: Monuments, Masks, & "First World Metal Problems"

Band Photo: Slipknot (?)

The Metalunderground.com Official Podcast treads some touchy ground this week. Japanese pop-metal sensation Babymetal, a trio of decidedly illegal adolescent girls, has in 2014 sent the global metal community into equal paroxysms of laughter and rage, depending on whom you ask.

The gossip seemed to have quieted down recently, until several Babymetal photo-op pictures began surfacing on various social media accounts, including one with bassist/vocalist Jeffrey Walker of Carcass. Co-host Mike Smith (OverkillExposure) uses the subsequent reactions to examine just why “metaldom” seems always so eager to vomit bile at easy targets.

Next, it’s review time. Co-host Kevin Perez (n0thinghead) tackles “Amanuensis,” the new album from UK progressive metalcore act Monuments. He and Mike both admittedly struggled with the tongue-twisting title, a word Merriam-Webster defines as “one employed to write from dictation or to copy manuscript.”

Finally comes a shared reaction to the latest teaser for the upcoming (yet still untitled) Slipknot album, and a retrospective discussion on the unlikely Iowan superstars’ meaning and legacy over the past fifteen years. Love them or hate them, their place in history is secure and not to be ignored.

To check out the full array of opinions this week, listen in here. You can subscribe via iTunes or RSS. Enjoy, and don’t hesitate to offer feedback. Even if you want to call us names.