#steve digiorgio

[metalsongoftheday]

Tuesday, December 24: Sadus, "Fight or Die"

Death metal was barely a thing when Sadus made their way onto the scene, and “Fight or Die” was much more of a thrash tune than concurrent numbers by Death and Morbid Angel.  Indeed, the most death metal aspect of the track was Darren Travis’ vocals, which were theoretically an early version of Cradle of Filth-esque shrieking but really just sounded like someone was poking him with a stick and he was really irritated about it.  Most of the historical value here came from the pop of Steve DiGiorgio’s bass, since this was one of his earliest recordings and proved he was a talent to keep an eye on.  Otherwise, “Fight or Die” was a short freakout that positioned Sadus firmly among the next wave of Bay Area thrash, and while it didn’t herald a new era, it did play a role in the development of extreme metal in its most primitive form.

[wisdomdoggy]

i have several bass lines id eat out.

i would fuck a song

[black-arcana]

TESTAMENT Recruits NIGHTWISH's FLOOR JANSEN For 'Slower' Song On Upcoming Album

In a new interview with Paul Salfen of AMFM Magazine, TESTAMENT singer Chuck Billy spoke about the progress of the recording sessions for the band's upcoming studio album. The LP will mark TESTAMENT's follow-up to 2020's "Titans Of Creation", which was co-produced by Juan Urteaga, who previously worked with TESTAMENT on "Dark Roots Of Earth" (2012) and "Brotherhood Of The Snake" (2016). Chuck said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We're almost done recording right now. We finished, I'd say, three quarters of the recording before we left for Europe. And we have a three-week break now. And Steve's [DiGiorgio, TESTAMENT bassist] in the studio finishing bass and Eric's [Peterson, TESTAMENT guitarist] finishing up some of the rhythm guitars, but out of the 11 songs, I already tracked eight of 'em. So I just have a couple more songs to sing. We have another break after this U.S. tour in November. We'll finish up all the backing vocals and anything that needs to be — after getting to live with it, which is something nice. We never really get to live with the music after recording. 'It's recorded. Here it is. Let's go. It's done, written in stone.' Which is nice, is now we really get to live with it out on the road and talk about it together and say, 'Hey, what if we did this or what if we tried that?' And we've already came up with so much alternative stuff to try now. Like this week, Friday, I go in and I'm gonna try some new things on some vocal verses. We're talking about tones of guitars and bringing in some string sections."

Going into specifics about one of the songs on the upcoming album, Chuck said: "On this record, I don't wanna say the word 'ballad', but we wrote a slower song like we had back in the '80s and '90s that we wrote on this record. And it's really awesome, really good. We're gonna bring in a guest vocalist, Floor Jansen from NIGHTWISH. She's gonna sing on it with me. And we're gonna put in some string section into the song.

"We're not afraid to take those chances where a lot of bands criticize you, like, 'Oh, we don't write ballads. 'What are you doing that [for]?'" he explained. "But you know what? At this point in our lives and career, we're writing to make us happy first and foremost and what feels good, what feels right, and this song just felt right right now to kind of do this again."

Billy recently told Metal Express Radio's Bryce Van Patten about how TESTAMENT's songwriting process has changed since the band's early days in the late 1980s and 1990s: "Oh, it's night and day. Before, back then, we all lived the same place, we all had to go to the same studio, where now it's by e-mail, sharing the songs. Everybody has home studios to work out demos. Definitely a different writing process, but still Eric is one of the main writers. And ever since we brought in our new drummer, Chris Dovas, he's been here two years — he was 24 when he came into the band; he's 26 [now]. But he's a smart kid. [He] graduated [from] the Berklee [College] Of Music. [He] knows theory [and is] great in the studio with Pro Tools. He's really into modern bands and new and upcoming stuff, and he's got an old soul so he knows the history of the music. But I think him working hand in hand with Eric as long as they did, he really pushed Eric and drove Eric to get challenged. And I wouldn't say 'copy', but I think Chris and what he listens to and the style Eric likes, it brought an influence to the new songs."

Regarding the musical direction of the new TESTAMENT material, Chuck said: "To me, the new songs sound current, they sound fresh. They're touching what a lot of new upcoming bands are making good names for themselves are doing. So, again, it's raising the bar one more time. And I think when fans hear this record, especially new, younger fans are gonna go, 'Whoa. That's TESTAMENT. I know the TESTAMENT I know from 30-something years ago and grew up with, but what is this?' I'm excited for that because I wanna hear what people think. I'd love to see the expression of them hearing it for the first time. That would be great, because it does sound new and modern and fresh, even though we're still being challenged."

Asked if he and his TESTAMENT bandmates have more freedom to do whatever they want now than they did when you were on a major label like Atlantic, Chuck said: "Totally. When we were on Atlantic, that was a big machine. They had an A&R department, they had the radio department, they had tons of departments, tons of money, and they were always influenced by how well their big-selling artists were, which were radio bands and they were pushing radio. So that A&R guy would be whispering in our ears, 'What's the next radio song?' And we're thinking, "Well, we're not a radio band. That's not us.' And even to this day, when I hear some stuff like [on the SiriusXM channel] Ozzy's Boneyard or something, they play ballads by us, and it's, like, that doesn't represent us, but that represents that era in thinking maybe of what TESTAMENT did or what they chose to expose us to the public, which it's misrepresenting us. So, yeah, the freedom's huge now, especially being with Nuclear Blast as long as we have. There's no deadline. It's just, 'When you're ready, you have a record, give it to us.' And that's been really nice. And the beauty about this record is that usually we have Andy Sneap mix our record, so we usually write a record and give it to him and then it's done, written in stone, can't go back. But this record, we had to pick a somebody to mix it, which wasn't available till early next year, January. So we decided, 'Okay.' We tried to get all the tracking done before we went to Europe this June or July, and we got most of it done."

This past September, Peterson told Brutal Planet Magazine that TESTAMENT has tapped Swedish producer Jens Bogren, who has previously worked with OPETH, KREATOR, PARADISE LOST, SOILWORK and AMON AMARTH, among others, to mix the band's upcoming studio album. Peterson said about the LP: "It's, like, 90 percent done. And it's gonna get mixed in December by Jens Bogren. He's a producer from Sweden, and he's done — God, he's done KREATOR, he's doing the new BEHEMOTH right now, he's done IN FLAMES, ARCH ENEMY. A lot of European bands. We usually work with Andy Sneap, but he's [the touring guitarist] in JUDAS PRIEST and he's just, like, 'Bro, I need some time off.' It's a good switch, though. I think Jens will do a good job. And yeah, there's a lot of crazy stuff on this record. I'm excited for everybody to hear it."

In August, Billy told Oran O'Beirne of Overdrive.ie about the musical direction of the new TESTAMENT material: "We always try to outdo ourselves or make a better record or write better songs. It's always a challenge for ourselves, and I think this time we really took a long time to create the record. We kind of got everybody in the same room to really go through the songs and kind of put their two cents in to the arrangements. I think by having Chris — he's a younger drummer, a really great drummer — but I think he brought you know a new fire to Eric in the writing process. And I believe because we're going on 37 years of making records, it's kind of full circle right now. We're kind of inspired by new generation, I guess, of music and metal. And Chris is a big part of that. He's a big fan of that. So I think he inspired Eric just to write some really aggressive, fast, creative riffs. And it really inspired me to really push myself to try to do a little more screaming, death vocals, melodic stuff. We even went as far as writing — I don't wanna say 'ballad', but it's something really catchy that's really slow that's something we haven't done in over 30 years. So I think just the overall songs and the confidence in the writing this time really is gonna stand out on this record."

This past June, Chuck told Nikki Blakk of the San Francisco, California radio station 107.7 The Bone about the lyrical themes covered in the new TESTAMENT songs: "[It's] not as focused [on], like, the aliens, creating mankind and that kind of stuff, but there is some of that. There's a lot. Each song definitely has its own identity lyrically. And again, we're writing stuff that is real, that happens with the environment; we're singing about that again. A.I., we're singing stuff about that. That's a big thing. So, there's always an inspiration for songs. I think it's a little easier. There's so much going on in our world to write about now. It's a crazy world today, so there's a lot of stuff to talk about. And I like singing about what's real and what's going on instead of some fantasy lyrics, because, for me, I think when I sing 'em, I have more conviction, I believe in 'em a little more. And maybe it's easier for me to remember the lyrics live. [Laughs]"

Naming specific tracks, Chuck said: "There's a song, 'Havana Syndrome', which is about the Havana Syndrome. People, look that up. There's 'Infanticide A.I.', which is another song going A.I. direction. And there's actually a slower song. We haven't done a slower song. I'm not gonna say 'ballad', but I'm gonna say a slower song that has a lot of groove and soul, called 'Meant To Be'. And it's like a classic TESTAMENT-type ballad, I guess, if you wanna use that word. But we've got a little bit of everything, but, again, I think it's really sticking to TESTAMENT, having to have some melodic stuff, even though there's some really brutal lyrics and real brutal, more of a death voice. I still put the hook in with more of a melodic hook or something. It's still classic TESTAMENT. If you listen to it, you'll go, 'That's TESTAMENT, but a little more octane to it.'"

Also in June, Chuck told Canada's The Metal Voice that he writes most of TESTAMENT's lyrics with Del James. "Del, he works with GUNS N' ROSES," Chuck said. "He's been working with them and wrote with them a long time ago. I think he had big hits like 'November Rain' with them. And we've been working [together] for over 20 years. So I always go down and work with him because I come up with a lot of the ideas and concepts, but he really interprets and gets the right words, how to say what I'm thinking. And we work fast. When we get together, we'll knock out like two songs in a day. So we don't mess around. We get there, say hello to each other, we sit down and we go right to work. It's about what we do."

Prior to joining TESTAMENT as a full-time member, Dovas filled in for Lombardo on the first six dates of TESTAMENT's summer/fall 2022 leg of "The Bay Strikes Back Tour".

[mezmer]

Oh show was fucking nasty nuts. I love Steve Digiorgio with all my heart my king. One of my favorite bassists ever

[vinylspinning]

Testament: Low (1994)

Onwards we go, showing support for our LGBTQIA+ friends and Pride Month 2024 with some colored vinyl in a rainbow sequence, and today we dig into this orange platter from Bay Area thrashers Testament ...

What do you do when the thing you do best simply ain't working anymore? Well, you might try doing something else but, chances are, that won't work, either, because, well, it ain't what you do best!

I know: "DUH!"

But this is the best way I can rationalize Testament's creative choices on their sixth studio album, Low, which saw the Bay Area thrashers countering 1992's trad-metal-leaning The Ritual with a swerve into death metal and a few other sonic experiments.

In fact, change was everywhere in the Testament camp: from their line-up (guitarist James Murphy and drummer John Tempesta replaced Alex Skolnick and Louie Clemente, respectively), to their cover design, which they commissioned from noted comic book artist Dave McKean. (*)

But while I wasn't too happy about Skolnick's departure, I was simply chuffed to hear Chuck Billy's death roar unleashed when former Kerrang! writer, then Warner Music A&R executive Derek Oliver previewed the title track for me and a friend in the summer of '94.

Too bad that savory first taste didn't linger for the remainder of Low, which packed way too many modest moshers ("Legions (In Hiding)," "Shades of War," "All I Could Bleed," "Ride") that not even Murphy's impressive six-string pyrotechnics could ignite.

Then, on the ultra-brutal "Dog Faced Gods," the band tried to satisfy their label's demands for a more modern metallic approach with some Pantera-style grooves and dissonance, but the funk metal ingredients dropped into "Chasing Fear" and "Urotsukidôji" (say what?) were a step too far, if you ask me.

So, the only other Low tracks that really grabbed me by the throat were the emotional power ballad "Trail of Tears," which touched on a subject close to Chuck's Native American heritage, and the particularly well-crafted thrasher, "Hail Mary," whose lyrics were anything but pious:

"Hail Mary full of grace; Throw some light upon this race; Intertwining final breath now … in the hour of death!"

Unfortunately, as the drunken harmonized guitars of "Last Call" rolled over the album's final credits (credits? What credits? Just work with me), they seemed to foreshadow the difficult road ahead for Testament, and many other '80s metal stalwarts, for that matter.

1997's Demonic reached a new (ahem!) low and by the time Chuck and Eric rebounded with an all-star line-up (Murphy, Steve DiGiorgio, and Dave 'Friggin' Lombardo!) for '99's The Gathering, their efforts went largely unappreciated and unheralded.

But at least this protracted decline (which the band ultimately overcame with several strong Third Millennium albums) encouraged fans like me to revisit and reconsider Low based on its resilience and small victories in the midst of a losing game.

* Chances are McKean’s work is all over your music collection, since he also worked on three additional Testament albums, Fear Factory’s Demanufacture, Dream Theater’s Metropolis 2, Machine Head’s Burn My Eyes, and, uh, Counting Crows’ This Desert Life.

More Testament: The Legacy, Live at Eindhoven EP, The New Order, Practice What You Preach, Souls of Black, The Ritual.

[beastofmetal666]

𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐇

𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐬

𝟐𝟐 𝐝𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐨 𝐝𝐞 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟑

31 𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐎 del quinto álbum de Death "Individual Thought Patterns", grabado en los estudios Morrisound, producido por Scott Burns y Chuck Schuldiner, lanzado por Relativity Records. Magnífico álbum con el que Death, y más concretamente Chuck Schuldiner, hizo historia en el death metal presentándonos un trabajo que rompió de forma apabullante los límites usuales del género en aquella época. Sin duda Death, sin dejar de ser lo que fue en esencia como banda de death metal, siempre nos presentó trabajos diferentes que apuntaban a más, que intentaban rebasar a su antecesor, este álbum para mí es el que más lo logra en muchos sentidos. Grabado con una alineación impresionante, algo así como un "dream team" del metal de la época, con Andy LaRocque acompañando a Chuck en las guitarras, Steve DiGiorgio en el bajo y Gene Hoglan en la batería, este álbum eleva mucho más la apuesta en cuanto a técnica y velocidad. Dinámicas muy bien estudiadas y tocadas perfectamente, con un nivel de ejecución impresionante, intrincadas, veloces y eso sí, muy brutales. Este álbum nos demuestra que la complejidad musical no debe estar necesariamente peleada con la furia. Si bien se muestran pasajes melódicos, en general el álbum arremete bestialmente, quizás mucho más que otros de la banda. Este álbum se nos impone fríamente, con una técnica y virtuosismo casi maquinal y un poderío incisivo e inexorable. Quizás solo el último tema "The Philosopher" da en realidad un pequeño respiro, todo lo demás es violencia que se lleva a cabo a través de brutales evoluciones de riffs y una batería aparatosa. Un álbum que sin duda debe ser escuchado con atención y muy estudiado por los que pretendan hacer death metal en verdad técnico y de gran complejidad. Con este álbum en verdad Death se impuso y se consagró como una banda extremadamente técnica y de músicos que ya estaban más allá de los clichés usuales del género.

¡𝐒𝐢́𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐦𝐞 𝐞𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐛𝐞! 𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2OGceA1nrP1kCdIjE64DlAhttps://www.instagram.com/beast_ofmetal/

🇺🇸💀🎸𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐰𝐨𝐥𝐟🥁💀🇺🇸

[dreamsofconsciousnessmetal]

Quadvium are a progressive instrumental supergroup led by the dual bass team of Steve Di Giorgio (Death, Sadus) and Jeroen Paul Thesseling (Obscura, Pestilence). Their debut album Tetradōm will be out through Agonia Records on May 30th.

Facebook ⎜Bandcamp ⎜Instagram

Pre-save the album/Steve DiGiorgio bass contest

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

Control Denied

[teababe27]

Pics from Saturday’s Testament concert, Part 2.

Some of my favorite pics I took in this bunch (bottom left especially).

[metalsongoftheday]

Friday, October 28: Testament, “Seven Seals”

Although Alex Skolnick was still in the band and co-wrote a couple tracks, Brotherhood of the Snake was almost entirely conceived by Eric Peterson and Chuck Billy on their own. Perhaps because of this, Testament’s third album since reuniting with Skolnick was leaner and more straightforward in its viciousness. But by virtue of being more streamlined, the record was also focused and direct, honing in on attack while also delivering no shortage of hooks.  And with Steve DiGiorgio back on bass alongside Gene Hoglan, tunes like “Seven Seals” balanced classic Testament aggression with supple and dynamic rhythms. Some might contend that the meat and potatoes nature of the track felt a bit too simple, but Skolnick and Peterson remained a strong guitar tandem, while DiGiorgio and Hoglan were the best rhythm section Testament ever had.  “Seven Seals” was simply a perfectly ferocious banger that didn’t need to be anything other than that, and helped make Brotherhood of the Snake a surprisingly strong latter day record from the band.

[leviabeat]

"A great honor to meet the legendary Metal soldiers Steve DiGiorgio and Gene Hoglan. Thanx for the chat and inspiration 🤘🔥🤘"

-Volbeat via Instagram

[bretthorton]

[impresionesdeagosto]

Disco #229: Soen – Lykaia

         El metal progresivo moderno toma influencias de los pioneros del estilo, tales como Dream Theater, Fates Warning o Queensrÿche, mezclado con otras cosas como Tool, los que, siendo metal progresivo, son más catalogados como Post Metal, estilo que abarca un poco más de aristas. Sea como fuese, bandas como Haken o Soen toman el metal progresivo y le inyectan nuevas sonoridades. En el caso de Haken, más jazz y otros similares; y en el de Soen, más oscuridad y algo de A Perfect Circle (rock alternativo) y Opeth (escalas poco convencionales).

       Soen fue formada por Martin López, batero de Opeth hasta el disco “Ghost Reveries”, por lo que se entiende la influencia de Opeth en ellos. Él armó esta banda más progresiva, la que es más metalera que el Opeth actual, con eminencias de la talla de Steve DiGiorgio, bajista fretless conocido en el Metal, el que duró un disco; y otros menos conocidos, como Joel Ekelöf, vocalista melódico, a menudo comparado con el de Tool, que se ha convertido en la cara visible y estandarte de la banda durante estos años.

        Soen ha sacado cinco discos hasta la fecha y, para mi gusto, el tercer disco “Lykaia” es en donde por primera vez aparece un sonido definido como banda, y las influencias mencionadas dan colores a su paleta de sonidos. Canciones como “Sister”, “Lucidity” y otras, muestran una simplificación de su música, logrando establecer un “estilo Soen”, lo que siempre es bueno. El único problema del disco es su mezcla final, cosa que se arregló en parte con la versión “Revisited” sacada a finales del mismo año en que se lanzó ese disco.

        Mi llegada a Soen tiene que ver con Opeth (que ya me eran familiares en ese punto) y fui conociendo la banda a medida que iba sacando sus discos. El primero me sorprendió gratamente, aunque la semejanza con Tool era muy fuerte. El segundo parecía de transición y el tercero, “Lykaia”, fue el disco que me hizo fanático de ellos.

        Por lo mismo, podría decir que “Lykaia” es el mejor, pero de los cinco discos, de tres puedo decir lo mismo. Es más: el sonido de ellos ha ido evolucionando al punto que pareciese que el más nuevo es el mejor; de hecho, “Imperial”, último disco de ellos, está ya reconocido como uno de los discos imprescindibles de este año. Mi único pero es ir a verlos en vivo, pero gracias a la pandemia, tengo nada más que la entrada y las ganas. Amados.

[classicrockblog1]

Steve Di Giorgio (born November 7, 1967) is an American #bass #guitarist. He is known for working with numerous #heavy #metal #bands such as Sadus (of whom he was one of the co-founders), Death, Testament, Megadeth, Sebastian Bach, Iced Earth, Autopsy, Obituary, Control Denied, Dragonlord and Charred Walls of the Damned, and he has performed on over 50 albums as a guest, session or full-time band musician.[1].

DiGiorgio has played #bass #guitar in #heavy #metal and #death metal #bands such as Death, Autopsy, Control Denied, Ephel Duath, Obscura, Artension, Faust, Memorain, Painmuseum, Suicide Shift, Soen, Vintersorg, Dragonlord, Iced Earth, Sebastian Bach, Obituary, and is a founding member of Sadus. He is a founding member of the jazz-band Dark Hall and is currently the bass player forFutures End, Synesis Absorption, Mythodea, Charred Walls of the Damned, Anatomy of I and Testament. Along with his bass duties in Sadus he also plays keyboards.

Within his genre, DiGiorgio is respected for his playing skills.

[teababe27]

Pics from Saturday’s Testament concert, Part 3.

[metalsongoftheday]

Wednesday, November 2: Charred Walls of the Damned, “As I Catch My Breath”

It was generally understood that Charred Walls of the Damned was largely an excuse for Richard Christy to keep making music in some capacity, and generally a diversion for everyone else involved, including listeners.  So each release after the debut was usually greeted with an accepting shrug, as the material was usually fine enough without leaving too much of an impression.  So it went for “As I Catch My Breath”, which was an enjoyable trad metal number that generally found the players working from a more restrained place. Restrained might seem like a strange descriptor, but Tim “Ripper” Owens wasn’t nearly as histrionic as usual, and given that Christy, Jason Suecof and Steve DiGiorgio were much more well-known for death metal the track’s mid-paced chug was not nearly as intense by their usual standard.  It worked well as a weekend warrior exercise and fit nicely within the general Charred Walls of the Damned concept, and while “As I Catch My Breath” was nobody’s idea of a world beater, it was fun and felt like something these guys could bash out every few years when so inclined.