Sneak peek of New MALICE album (out in May)...

Yeah, I know... "another band re-recording their old songs? Sigh." But James Rivera is the man, and it's been ages since I heard any Malice so even the old songs will probably sound "new" to me. I'll check this out.

MALICE RE-RECORD THE CLASSICS:

Reformed US Metal icons Malice have released a snippet of the re-recorded classic song Hell Rider, which will be part of the new CD New Breed Of Godz


Guitarist Jay Reynolds comments: "I didn't think we could possibly make a song like like Hell Rider more sinister and heavy than it was, but we did! James Rivera also did an unbelievable job on the vocals, leaving no question about who the King of Metal vocals is!"

Original members Jay Reynolds (guitars), Mick Zane (guitars) and Mark Behn (bass) entered the Silver Cloud Studios in Los Angeles together with new singer James Rivera (Helstar) and new drummer Pete Holmes (Black N´Blue) to re-record 8 of their classics plus 4 new songs.

Tracklisting: 1. New Breed Of Godz (new song) 2. Hell Rider 3. Against The Empire 4. Branded (new song) 5. Sinister Double 6. Circle Of Fire 7. Stellar Masters 8. Winds Of Death (Angel Of Light) (new song) 9. Air Attack 10. Chain Gang Woman 11. Slipping Through The Cracks (new song) 12. Godz Of Thunder.

New Breed Of Godz is scheduled for a May 22nd release in the US/Canada, a May 25 release in Germany and a May 28 release in Europe. The album comes in a high class digipak with a bonus DVD:
DVD: - rare live footage from 1987 - 3 live tracks from Keep It True Festival, Germany 2011 - Making of “New Breed Of Godz” album.

I really like Malice and anything Rivera sings on sounds fantastic,so I will be getting this-especially with some new songs on it.

Sounds great. I love Rivera's vocals. This song sounds right up his alley.

Never knew Pete had that in him

Wonder if he's been hangin around Scott Travis. Tune has Painkiller Priest written all over it.(IMHO) That isn't a bad thing

Man that Rocks.

Looks great. I only wish they haven't used the Z-slang

Maybe if it does well there will be more new songs.

I'll be getting this for sure!

Wargod

I would prefere a album with only new songs (and maybe one or two recording songs). If i wanna listen to their old songs i play their albums. If in 20 years you are not able to write a album with 10 new songs something is wrong.

Are James Rivera and Tim Owens having a contest as to who can sing in more bands? Yeesh.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Are James Rivera and Tim Owens having a contest as to who can sing in more bands? Yeesh.

I'm sure it's a case of people coming to them and asking...if I were a professional Metal singer and people came to me as often as they come to Ripper/Rivera, I'd do it too.

Hey, if the work is there for them, more power to them. It just seems like all of the sudden, James Rivera is the go-to-guy for all these metal albums. I'm a casual fan of his work, so I'm in no real position to judge. It seems as if all of his projects are starting to blend together. Let me ask the fans this...

If you made a playlist of all the songs James Rivera had played on in just the last 5 years, would you be able to pick out which bands he was fronting?

James is probably one of the few who A- is available and B- can hit the notes of the original guys for these bands....

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

James is probably one of the few who A- is available and B- can hit the notes of the original guys for these bands....

yeppers

and

C-loves to play in bands for the sake of playing

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

James is probably one of the few who A- is available and B- can hit the notes of the original guys for these bands....

I'm not denying his talent. And you're a fan. That's cool. But also as a singer yourself, and taking the money/work aspect out of the equation, do you think it's possible to spread yourself too thin over projects?

MetalGuy71 wrote:

do you think it's possible to spread yourself too thin over projects?

My

Back in the day, he would be (IMHO)

Today.....nope, because bands are not touring the way they used to.

I dunno. The all sound the same to me. Maybe it just depends on how big a fan you are.

I could easily tell an Owens-fronted Priest from Iced Earth, Charred Walls, Beyond Fear, Malmsteen, etc., because even as much as I like to joke about his various gigs, I'm still a fan at heart.

With James, I couldn't tell if it was Malice, Distant Thunder, Vicious Rumors, Seven Witches, Destiny's End, Killing Machine, etc. etc. etc. Sure, I could pick out his voice, but the rest is a blur.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

I dunno. The all sound the same to me. Maybe it just depends on how big a fan you are.

I could easily tell an Owens-fronted Priest from Iced Earth, Charred Walls, Beyond Fear, Malmsteen, etc., because even as much as I like to joke about his various gigs, I'm still a fan at heart.

With James, I couldn't tell if it was Malice, Distant Thunder, Vicious Rumors, Seven Witches, Destiny's End, Killing Machine, etc. etc. etc. Sure, I could pick out his voice, but the rest is a blur.

I guess it comes down to how well you know the various bands material. Most of the bands Rivera has sung with have no REAL distinctive aspect to their music besides his voice IMHO

Regarding Owens...most of the bands have something else that gives it some idenity rather than the vocals.

I'm kind of with MG here, I like James voice but other then Malice it starts to blend.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

I dunno. The all sound the same to me. Maybe it just depends on how big a fan you are.

I could easily tell an Owens-fronted Priest from Iced Earth, Charred Walls, Beyond Fear, Malmsteen, etc., because even as much as I like to joke about his various gigs, I'm still a fan at heart.

With James, I couldn't tell if it was Malice, Distant Thunder, Vicious Rumors, Seven Witches, Destiny's End, Killing Machine, etc. etc. etc. Sure, I could pick out his voice, but the rest is a blur.

I can hear the difference between those bands but yeah, they're not as different than Owens' projects.

Both those singers just wanna get paid. I don't blame them.

I think MALICE would sound better with Brian Allen on vox and VICIOUS RUMORS would sound better with Rivera.

Does anyone have the New Breed of Godz CD? What do you think? Frankly, I think I like the old versions better. Rivera is a great singer but just doesn't really work well on songs like "Chain Gang Woman" and "Sinister Double". I'm sure it's just that I've heard those old versions for 30 years, and now hearing them with a different singer under the Malice banner just doesn't jive.

The new songs sound good. Even still, I would have preferred a different singer. I love James Rivera. He has a very cool and distinctive voice. He IS the voice of metal legends Helstar! However, because his voice is so distinctive, he makes Malice sound more like Helstar or Seven Witches.

I totally agree Ult. James Rivera is a bit overexposed in this genre and every band he works with starts to sound the same to me. The Malice originals are untouchable, IMO.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

James is probably one of the few who A- is available and B- can hit the notes of the original guys for these bands....

I'm not denying his talent. And you're a fan. That's cool. But also as a singer yourself, and taking the money/work aspect out of the equation, do you think it's possible to spread yourself too thin over projects?

How did I miss this question last yer??

Yes...I do think it's possible.

But you have to remember. These bands don't exist 24/7 like, for example, Nickelback where the record/tour all the time.

If James (for example) is doing Malice, then Helstar, Seven Witches, or whoever else is on some kind of break. He fills in his own time with the sporadic activity of several bands.

I'm sure they could not all exist at once. There are weeks, months, years of inactivity between album and show cycles for these bands because they don't really "tour" in the classic sense. So, if it takes James a week to do vocals for a Malice album, then does 5-10 shows with them over the course of a couple months, that cycle is over and it's on to the next thing until Malice is ready to do that again.

So, for example, it could be Maice in the Spring, Helstar in the Summer, Seven Witches in the Fall, take a break in the Winter, then start over. It only seems like they all exist at once...they really don't.

Have voice, will travel.

ultmetal wrote:

Does anyone have the New Breed of Godz CD? What do you think? Frankly, I think I like the old versions better. Rivera is a great singer but just doesn't really work well on songs like "Chain Gang Woman" and "Sinister Double". I'm sure it's just that I've heard those old versions for 30 years, and now hearing them with a different singer under the Malice banner just doesn't jive.

The new songs sound good. Even still, I would have preferred a different singer. I love James Rivera. He has a very cool and distinctive voice. He IS the voice of metal legends Helstar! However, because his voice is so distinctive, he makes Malice sound more like Helstar or Seven Witches.

I got it when it first came out and I was underwhelmed. The new tracks are decent but the re-recordings are nothing special. I have never been much of a fan of Rivera's work and this is no different.

Quote :

Does anyone have the New Breed of Godz CD?

I'm the one who started this thread, and yet I still haven't gotten around to getting this CD. Haha. I suck.