In our never-ending quest to give you the best music available, we present the Revolver Bootleg series. Throughout each month, we’ll post cool, new, and often-exclusive tracks right here for you to hear before anyone else.

This installment is “Saints and Sinners (HisStory),” the first track on America Underwater (Ferret), the new album from screamo group LoveHateHero. Frontman Pierrick Berube fills us in on the song below.

REVOLVER What’s this song about?
PIERRICK BERUBE It’s a tale of redemption. A guy gets locked up for something, changes his life and ways while inside, and comes out a new man. But outside, he’s faced with a whole new set of problems. No work, No one can trust him. He ends up feeling more imprisoned and out of place on the outside then in and decides its time to return. The message is to give people a chance. The chorus lyric is “There’s no such thing as a saint without a history, or a sinner without a future.”

Which part of it did you come up with first?
I actually heard something similar to the chorus lyric on CSI. It snapped me back to reality and here’s why: I have a brother. He has an addiction problem and is always in and out of jail and rehab. Every time he comes out, I think he’s changed and I’m sorely let down. After month or years of this, I became bitter and stopped thinking anyone could change. Until I heard that proverb and opened my mind up a bit.

Was this an easy song to write?
Yes, it literally flowed out of me in 10 minutes. When you’re being honest with yourself when writing, it all just comes out, you don’t have to worry about being poetic or making sense. You just tell a story and be completely honest.

Why did you decide that the song should open up the album?
Because its super powerful. It has a good message and high energy. Not to mention it’s catchy as hell!

What sort of feedback have you gotten on this song so far?
People who have heard it love it. It hasn’t been released so I don’t know what our fans will think but friends and family absolutely love it.

LoveHateHero: "Saints and Sinners (HisStory)"

Sorry, folks, no more free listening: The new BDM album is on-sale in record stores everywhere today, so go out and support the band with some of your hard-earned cash.

In our never-ending quest to give you the best music available, we present the Revolver Bootleg series. Throughout each month, we’ll post cool, new, and often-exclusive tracks right here for you to hear before anyone else.

This installment is “Blackened Sky,” the bonus track on international versions of Years in the Darkness (E1), the debut album from supergroup Arkaea, which features members of Fear Factory and Threat Signal. Drummer Raymond Herrera fills us in on the song below.

REVOLVER What’s this song about?
RAYMOND HERRERA It’s essentially about betrayal—and not being knocked down by it—only to see the a new light that you create for yourself and move on.

Which part of it did you come up with first?
I was on tour when we—Fear Factory—did Gigantour in the U.S., and I wrote the first minute or so of the song on the back of the tour bus, on my drum machine after a show we had done on the tour. It was a pattern that came to me during our show that day.

Was this an easy song to write?
Yeah, the song was very easy to write, since we already had a starting section that set the tempo, so to speak. I had continued to write the song on my drum machine, so by the time we sat down in the studio to finish it, it came together quickly. The recording of it was pretty easy aside from the fact that it is fast b.p.m.-wise, and it was pretty tiring. We had done a lot of preproduction so I was prepared, as was everybody else in the band.

Why did this song not make the U.S. album?
I’m not really sure why that one was singled out, but it seemed to be the one that everybody liked the least. And that is grading by a large curve, since we felt that all the songs were strong. Ultimately, we knew that having an extra song to be used internationally [would fit] the larger scope.

Arkaea: "Blackened Sky"

You really like this one. She’s killer; she’s hot, sweet, and really into you. She trusts you, she fawns over you, and she knows what you like in the sack—she’s the lady of your dreams. But she will not. Stop. Listening. To that fucking Shania Twain song. Every day, every goddamn day, she softly hums “That Don’t Impress Me Much” at you across the breakfast table, and you want to strangle a puppy, stuff it with porno, and set it on fire. Sometimes you have to go listen to Red Harvest for three hours just to calm yourself down—but the last time you did that, you found one of her Dave Matthews albums uploaded on your computer. This shit is dire. A change must be made.

There are things about women’s music that us men will never understand (two and a half words: Ani DiFranco). Metal is the music of the Dude, sure, and often chicks don’t really look into it, resulting in metal dudes with girlfriends who see metal as ridiculous and uninteresting. But here’s the thing—your girlfriend would be totally fucking down if you just introduced her to the genre, because hey, chicks are smart and generally have good taste, and let’s not forget the First Rule of Metal: Metal Is Fucking Awesome. So to help the gentlemen on this website (I see ya there, Man-Tits), here are the Six Best and Worst Ways To Get Your Girlfriend Into Metal.

The Six Best Ways To Get Your Girlfriend Into Metal

1) Pepper that shit in Start with a single song or two between chiller choices. In the car, listening to music that you both like, ask if you can play her “something I think you’ll really like.” Ask her about it as the song plays.

2) Show her that chicks rock, too Maybe your lady won’t love Arch Enemy or Landmine Marathon, but she’ll appreciate that their grunt-and-growl vocalists are women. Metal is about attitude and power—women can embody that.

3) Bite the bullet and share Look, soldier, you’re strong. You’re powerful. You can stand listening to some Neutral Milk Hotel. Offer to listen to some of her music, too. Trade mix tapes. C’mon, dude, it’ll be worth it when she’s borrowing your Carcass CDs.

4) Take her to a show A lot of the excitement and power of metal can’t be completely displayed with a recording—sometimes you just have to jump in the pit and sweat your ass off. Bring you girl out to a show and let her see the frenzy of it all—just make sure she doesn’t get popped in the face.

5) Have your sense of humor out Metal is fucking ridiculous, yes, which makes some people dismiss it. Be self-aware—take a moment to say that yeah, Manowar are awesome, but Jesus, look at ’em. Be ready to laugh at yourself.

6) Play it when she’s pissed Show her what it’s all about. If she gets in the car and tells you she had the worst day of her life at work, throw on some Slayer and let her scream it out. She’ll thank you later.

The Six Worst Ways To Get Your Girlfriend Into Metal

1) Start things too extreme If your lady is reticent about metal, throwing on a Hate Eternal album or jamming a Cannibal Corpse record sleeve into her hands might not be the best idea. Ease her into things; don’t get too heavy without warning.

2) Expect her to dude-out Getting her into metal does not mean sharing every super-metal activity with her. Maybe you want to shotgun tall boys and rip your shirt off, but she might not gonna be all that into the idea. Respect her femininity.

3) Make her feel stupid No one likes to be belittled, but it’s especially bad when someone belittles you about something as trivial as who replaced the Hoffman brothers on the latest Deicide albums. Instead, teach her the story of metal: “OK, so Ozzy leaves Sabbath…” Educate, don’t ostracize.

4) Laugh too hard at yourself Don’t underplay how cool this shit is, man. It’s one thing to laugh at being a metalhead occasionally—brutal, tr00, corpse paint, Manowar, ha ha fucking ha—but if you act like it’s all a complete joke, she’ll never take it seriously as a part of your life. Stand by your hesherdom!

5) Discourage her choices Look, OK, she’s really into Nightwish for a month or so. Let it go. Better she listen to metal you dislike than listen to shitty pop music.

6) Ruin the moment If your lady isn’t into metal, she won’t appreciate it when you try to get her to like Darkthrone on Valentine’s Day or at dinner with her folks. There’s a time and a place, man.

By serial monogamist killer Chris Krovatin

In our never-ending quest to give you the best music available, we present the Revolver Bootleg series. Throughout each month, we’ll post cool, new, and often-exclusive tracks right here for you to hear before anyone else.

This installment is a cover of Love and Rockets’ 1986 cut “Holiday on the Moon,” as performed by Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan’s side project Puscifer. It appears on the tribute album New Tales to Tell: A Tribute to Love and Rockets (Justice). Mr. Keenan himself was kind enough to tell us, sort of, why he likes the song below.

REVOLVER What has Love and Rockets’ music meant to you over the years?
MAYNARD JAMES KEENAN While serving time for assault with a deadly adjective, I was provided with mandatory weekly access to alternative lifestyles. During these events, my educators would broadcast Love ’N’ Rockets. The music changed my life. It provided a happy place for me to spend my blackout time.

Why did you want to cover “Holiday on the Moon”?
I do what I’m told. I was told to want to cover “Holiday on the Moon.” And I was told I was gonna like it. Which I did. So please stop hitting me.

Why did you choose to use electronic instruments to replace the guitar?
I don't play guitar. I’m familiar with them, but have never had the pleasure of understanding them. They seem complicated and slightly kooky. So to actually spend any time alone with them would probably result in some broken furniture and a restraining order. Tempting, right?

If they were still active, which song of yours would you have liked to hear Love and Rockets cover, and why?
“Smells Like Teen Spirit.” It’s not my song, but those guys won’t know. They’re, like, over 30, right?

What’s next for Puscifer? Do you have another album in the works?
We are working on a cure for skin cancer, which we will then bundle with a new release. We feel that it will take something of this nature to actually sell CDs.

How do you feel Puscifer’s live component worked out earlier this year? Will you be touring?
We are planning a “Sherman’s March to the Sea, Redux, (Version 1).” It starts on the West Coast right before Halloween and goes to December 5. Lather, rinse, repeat in March 2010, but more towards the East Coast.

One last question: What’s your favorite flavor of Puscifer lip balm?
That’s not funny. I have no lips. So to bring it up is just plain rude. Your mother says hello, by the way. And she likes the Starfruit Lychee. Snap! [Swivels head]

For more info on the tribute album, click here.

During a recent photo shoot, Drum Workshop got to talk to Trivium skinsman Travis Smith about what he's been up to lately, his influences, and why he loves his Pacific drums.

As a proud owner of a vagina, and daughter of a gynecologist, I feel more than qualified to offer up honest, raw, and unadulterated advice regarding all things related to sex, the human body, and relationships. So, all you metalhead freaks out there, please email me your most dire, dirty, sick, and twisted questions about women and the way we work, from our emotional hearts to our even more complicated parts. Email me at RevolvHer@gmail.com, and follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/revolvher666.

Hey RevolvHER,
I am a bisexual guy wondering if you would know where to look for gay or bisexual metalheads. No matter where I look in the metal scene, every guy puts out this ridiculous machismo aura and looks at every half decent woman like a happy meal with legs. Where can I go to find a guy willing to eat me?
Thanks,
Rainbow in the Dark

Dear Rainbow in the Dark,
What a wonderfully timely email, as I am excited to say that I will be going to see the great Dio rock out with Heaven & Hell on August 25th. But I digress. You want some sweet Rock Cock, and you’re a dude, and you need my sexpertise. My first suggestion is for you to check out this site I found doing a cursory Google search in your honor. gaymetalheads.tribe.net . This site is a forum/message board for homosexual men who are also into the metal scene. Maybe you can find out where the gay rockers in your hood are hanging. Another online route you could take towards finding a metalhead who wants to “eat you,” is the online personals. You can create a profile for yourself expressing your bisexuality and interest in metal music and hopefully attract a compatible partner. A personals site that seems to cater to the more on-the-fringe, artsy types, is nerve.com. There are many online personals options, including gay personals sites such as gay.com . So do some searches, Rainbow, and see what works for you.

And finally, another, more annoying, and complicated suggestion is to stop assuming that all the guys you see in the scene putting out that hetero machismo are actually into the pussy. A lot of times when a man/boy fronts hard about liking the ladies, he is actually covering up for his overwhelming urge to suck cock. So I don’t suggest that you go up to every hot, macho, bearded metal dude and make a pass at him—that could land you in a world of hurt—but what I do suggest is that you keep an open mind about people, and try talking to men that you like, even if they seem hetero on the outside. Looks can be very deceiving.

There are definitely men in this scene who also like men and who feel exactly the way you do, you just have to get the balls to hunt for them. And remember, “It's fear and you'll hear it calling, you beware”… Don’t let that fear keep you from finding some hot gay sex, or even love, or you’ll forever remain a Rainbow in the Dark.
xxx
RevolvHER

In our never-ending quest to give you the best music available, we present the Revolver Bootleg series. Throughout each month, we’ll post cool, new, and often-exclusive tracks right here for you to hear before anyone else.

This installment is a rare acoustic version of “So What I Lied” Australian hard rockers Sick Puppies. The electric version appears on their current album, Tri-Polar (Virgin). Bassist Emma Anzai was kind enough to fill us in on this version below.

REVOLVER What’s this song about? What was the inspiration?
EMMA ANZAI The song is about people conforming to society and society’s so called standards. People seem to get stuck in a mold and can’t seem to get themselves out of it, so basically its a song to relieve that frustration!

Why did you record this acoustic version?
We actually start writing all our songs as acoustic songs first because our motto is, “If they sound good with just the bare bones, then we know they will translate as full electric songs.” “So What I Lied” felt great this way so we made an acoustic version.

Which version do you like better?
Probably the electric version because it best represents what we are as a live band and also because we love the rhythmical aspect of the song in electric form, although we do like the acoustic version, also!

What sort of feedback have you gotten on this song so far?
We’ve had a lot of people come up to us and say its their favorite song because of the way they relate to it; however it seems to mean different things to different people depending on where they’re at in their life.

Sick Puppies: "So What I Lied (Acoustic)"

In Revolver’s October issue, we interview Suffocation vocalist Frank Mullen about his band’s new album, Blood Oath (Nuclear Blast). When we caught up with him, he was in Texas with the death metallers on a headlining stint for the Summer Slaughter tour. For those of you who didn’t get enough (or are too cheap to buy the magazine), here’s the best of the rest of our wide-ranging chat.

REVOLVER You’re in El Paso, Texas. I hope your bus has air conditioning.
FRANK MULLEN Oh, no. Because we’re brutal, we’re doing the van. The air conditioning is working in that. At least that and some good hotel rooms.

Glad to hear that. Since you’re touring, have you seen the mosh pit change in the 20 years you’ve been doing this?
Yeah, in a way. In the old days, it would get brutal. A lot of it was big circle pits, and if somebody fell down you helped them up and everything. Sometimes now it gets just a little crazy. For the most part, the main difference I’ve known is certain places you’ll play where it’s just a free-for-all. Kids are throwing haymakers, and spin kicks and everything. You used to go in there just to kind of enjoy the music and bounce around and move along with the flow of everybody. But now, some places you don’t even want to go in because the chance of you getting clocked in the head with a kick or a roundhouse or a punch to the side of the head, anything’s possible.

What did you want to do differently on Blood Oath from the last one?
Not really anything. We never want to try to do anything differently. With us, it’s always about we have to feel the music before we put anything into an album before we put out a recording. If it doesn’t feel good to us, we’re not gonna put it on an album. With this album, we just continue to mature in different ways and you’ve gotta come up with different things. This is our sixth album, and then we had two EPs. At this point, you’ve got to keep changing a little bit here and there, a little different, but nothing to change what Suffocation’s been over the last 20 years. But you’ve got to keep coming up with some fresh stuff. After putting out this many albums and everything, you’ve got to keep reinventing in a way.

What’s something you did different on this album?
I didn’t do any double-cupping [with my hands on the microphone]. I just sang straight into the mic with one of the filters on it. That was it. No cup techniques or anything on this album.

Is this the first time you’ve done that?
I experimented with it on the last album. Pretty much, I want to always keep it where I like to be powerful and legible [coherent] at the same time. With every album, I’ve done that. With Effigy of the Forgotten it started with doing double cups, then it went with double cups breathing then the single cup, and lately, like the last two albums, have been pretty much singing straight into the mic.

Do you breathe differently when you do that?
Not really. It’s so crazy. I don’t do any type of techniques. I don’t do any warm ups. I don’t do anything. I just get in there and I belt my face off, and I don’t know. I’m kind of amazed at myself, actually, that being almost 40 that I can still do this. [Laughs]

Since you’re turning 40 soon, have you had any moments over the years where you felt you needed to grow up and not play death metal anymore?
I always look at that. Especially as you get older, you want to look at different things. You have to look towards retirement and stuff like that. Will death metal be the career that I will always do? I can’t really say. But can I keep belting my face out when I’m 50? Probably not.

When I was married there was times when I don’t know if I can keep doing this. That was the time that the band did stop playing for a little while there. I was more focused on that, but then that fell apart, so I came back to what I love doing. I’ve always loved playing music, but the hardest part of anything with this business is the touring aspect. And playing death metal, none of us are gonna make millions of dollars; none of us are gonna be rich. You do it because you love the music. That’s the bottom line.

What is something that you know now that you wouldn’t have admitted to yourself at 20, when you were going into this?
I don’t know. I look at everything that we’ve done, and I look at it like I’ve enjoyed every aspect of it. Even from the early days of touring in the vans and box trucks and everything like that. All these shows we’ve played in front of all our fans. I don’t know. I probably wouldn’t change anything. I don’t know if I’ve learned much. One thing is that you still don’t make tons of money. [Laughs] That’s one thing that I’ve definitely learned. You go from maybe playing for free or $200 or $300 a night to now, we can make some money, but it’s still nothing like where you’re like, “You could have a feature of me tomorrow on MTV Cribs and I’ll show you around my crib and I got all these cars that I’m gonna show you.” It’s not like that.

You’re releasing a videogame for this album.
Yeah, that’s in the works. It should be coming out around the same time. It’s gonna be a first-person shooter, PC game, based around the different albums. It’s gonna have elements of the albums in the game. I’m not sure the exact direction he’s going. I think the way they’re gonna do it is as you get to different levels, band members are gonna be like boss levels. You’re gonna have to try to kill me at some point in the game. I’ll probably have a chainsaw and a woodchipper or something. Who knows. [Laughs]

You mention the woodchipper a lot as a weapon in interviews.
I love the woodchipper. If John Deere would endorse me, I’d go around and do the woodchipper tour. I just think the woodchipper is the perfect disposal for anybody. You through somebody in there, and that’s it. You spray it all over the place. Or if there’s a nice party going on. Let’s say you’ve got a wedding or somebody’s Sweet 16 or something you back that thing right up and just start throwing in bodies or whatever and spray everybody, you know? I don’t know. The woodchipper, I like it. But if you’re gonna throw anybody in there and rent it, make sure you throw wood in there and clean it out before you return it.

I take it you’re a Fargo fan?
Yeah, I love that. Outside in the yard there he’s got his longjohns on. He’s trying to fit the body in there, stuffing it in with a two by four.

I know you own a gun.
I don’t go hunting. I like firearms and stuff. I’ve gotta work on getting my handgun license. In New York, it’s a huge process. You’ve gotta submit all sorts of crazy papers, and they have to do a huge investigation into you. To me, the world is crazy enough as it is. And I think it’s only gonna get crazier, especially as things start to happen. Anything’s possible. I just want to be prepared.

I have a shotgun, 12-gauge, pistol-grip Mossberg. I keep that mainly for protection. You come into my house and I don’t know who you are, I’m gonna blow you away. No questions asked. We’ve got a range out on the Island. Some of my friends have guns, too. You’ll see it on the DVD, actually. Me and some friends of mine go down to the range and we fire off some guns and stuff. That’ll be on the DVD.

Some of the Blood Oath bonus tracks you’re releasing on special editions include instrumental versions of that song and “Blood Oath.”
That was an idea that Nuclear Blast came up with. They wanted to do something different for the fans. To me, I’m cool with that. Sometimes, there’s just so much going on with the songs that some people just want to hear the music for just the music without having the vocals over it and following the vocals. It’s a cool idea that they came up with. Something different. Something original. I’m fine with it.

It gives people a chance to do their best Frank Mullen at home.
You know what? There it is. It’s set up so you can do death-metal karaoke. You can just jam it up as loud as you want and just go nuts. I would like to see what different interpretations of Suffocation people could come up with.

Interview by Kory Grow

Sometimes when we put out calls for photos, we get them too late to print. Such is the case with this yearbook photo of High on Fire frontman and Sleep guitarist Matt Pike. In our October issue's "Stained Class" feature, about metal band members' most horrific, hilarious, and humiliating stories from high school, he was kind enough to tell us about the time he got an STD of sorts... and had to ask his mom for help. Check out the issue for the full scoop (and to see more rockers' yearbook photos like this), as well as to read stories from members of Slayer, Killswitch Engage, Pantera, Shadows Fall, Atreyu, and more!