We Rock School of Music

To make their record-​​release party in Hol­ly­wood a mem­o­rable one, Sweden’s epic metal spe­cial­ists SABATON are invit­ing all their South­ern Cal­i­for­nia fans to attend their May 23 show at the Key Club dressed in World War I– or World War II-​​period regalia to cel­e­brate the arrival of their sixth stu­dio album, “Car­o­lus Rex”.

Joshua Ledet just misses out on the big show­down.
By Adam Graham

Jes­sica Sanchez and Phillip Phillips on “Amer­i­can Idol“

Photo: Michael Becker/​ Fox

The “Amer­i­can Idol” finale is set, and Joshua Ledet didn’t get an invite.

Phillip Phillips and Jes­sica Sanchez will com­pete in next week’s sea­son finale after Ledet was voted off the show Thurs­day (May 17). Ledet, the 20-​​year-​​old from West­lake, Louisiana, who was con­tin­u­ally praised as one of the best con­tes­tants to ever grace the “Idol” stage, received the low­est num­ber of votes from the 90 mil­lion votes cast, accord­ing to “Idol” host Ryan Seacrest.

Ledet set a record for stand­ing ova­tions from the judges this sea­son on “Idol”; barely a week went by when he didn’t get the judges on their feet after one of his stel­lar per­for­mances. Ledet per­formed James Brown’s “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” at the close of the show Thurs­day, repeat­ing a song that became one of his sig­na­ture moments.

Show men­tor Jimmy Iovine took par­tial blame for Ledet’s per­for­mance Wednes­day, say­ing by choos­ing Mary J. Blige’s “No More Drama,” he didn’t give him a song with enough of a melody to cap­ti­vate the audi­ence and gen­er­ate votes. “There was some­thing miss­ing, and I know it was the mate­r­ial. In fair­ness, I gave him a song that didn’t have enough melody. Joshua needs melody, [and] I take 100 per­cent respon­si­bil­ity for that,” Iovine said.

Still, he thought Ledet deserved to com­pete for the “Idol” crown next week. “Does Joshua belong in this finale? 100 per­cent, he should be in anyone’s finale,” he said.

Ledet’s elim­i­na­tion gives Sanchez a shot at being the first female “Idol” win­ner since Jordin Sparks back in sea­son six. At the onset of the sea­son, it was said to be the women’s year on “Idol,” and four of the top six con­tes­tants were female. But three women were picked off in a row — Elise Testone, then Sky­lar Laine, then Hol­lie Cavanagh — threat­en­ing the show’s girl-​​power con­tin­gent. Now Sanchez is car­ry­ing the torch for the ladies.

Iovine, in sum­ming up Wednesday’s per­for­mances, also blamed him­self for pick­ing a bad song for Sanchez, but said Phillips won the night with his ver­sion of Bob Seger’s “We’ve Got Tonight.” “Hands down, it was the best per­for­mance he’s done in the entire con­test,” he said, call­ing it “flaw­less.” (In fair­ness, Iovine also said Phillips’ ver­sion of Match­box Twenty’s “Dis­ease” was “a total snooze-​​fest.“

Regard­ing Sanchez, Iovine said, “She has to have the most mag­i­cal moment she’s had so far” in order to win it all. “If she gets in the finale,” he said, “It’s about the songs.“

Before Ledet’s elim­i­na­tion, Jack­son said the final con­tes­tants were “three of the best we’ve ever had” and said all three have “big careers” ahead of them.

Also on Thursday’s show, Adam Lam­bert dropped by to per­form “Never Close Our Eyes,” and Lisa Marie Pres­ley (huh?) per­formed her new sin­gle “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet.“

What did you think of “Idol” on Thurs­day? Did the right con­tes­tants make the finale? Let us know in the com­ments!

Get your “Idol” fix on MTV News’ “Amer­i­can Idol” page, where you’ll find all the lat­est news, inter­views and opin­ions.

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‘I always think about that song that will be able to let you out of that slump,’ Look­ing 4 Myself singer says on ‘MTV First.‘
By John Mitchell

Usher at “MTV First“

Photo: MTV News

It’s not often that fans get to hit the club to party with the artist behind the lat­est dance hit, but that’s exactly what hap­pened for the audi­ence at the inter­ac­tive off-​​Broadway show “Fuerza Bruta” when Usher arrived for a unique first-​​listen expe­ri­ence for his new album, Look­ing 4 Myself.

As the R&B megastar’s lat­est hit, the beat-​​driven Max Martin-​​produced “Scream,” pounded through the the­ater, Usher flew into the audi­ence for a rave-​​like dance party that had every­one in the place moving.

He’s used to that sort of reac­tion by now, hav­ing released some of the biggest club hits of the past 15 years, includ­ing “OMG,” “Yeah,” “DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love” and “My Way.” Usher con­sis­tently makes dance records that define a night, and it’s impor­tant to the singer that his upbeat songs reach peo­ple on as deep a level as his more per­sonal ballads.

“If I’m gonna move you, I want to move you. I hope that it could be some­thing that could be life chang­ing,” the soul­ful signer said dur­ing “MTV First: Usher.” “You may be going through some­thing real crazy, who knows, and just need to get out and just enjoy your­self. So I always think about the club, I always think about that song that will be able to let you out of that slump, if you’re in it.“

But “Scream” isn’t just for those look­ing for escape. The track can work on many lev­els, accord­ing to the singer: “If you’re just ready to have a good time, or if you’re work­ing out and you just need that lit­tle moti­va­tion to push you over the edge, there you go.“

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‘Some­times you can’t com­mu­ni­cate in words, but in a song, you can,’ late Queen of Disco told MTV News in a rare inter­view.
By John Mitchell, with addi­tional report­ing by John Norris

Donna Sum­mer

Photo: MTV News

Donna Summer’s death Thurs­day (May 17) at age 63 after a long bat­tle with can­cer sad­dened music lovers around the world. Fans are mourn­ing the loss of one of the greats, a real pio­neer, whose inno­v­a­tive use of syn­the­sized back­ing tracks blazed the path for the dance music we are all so famil­iar with today.

Hers are some of the most mem­o­rable disco songs ever recorded, and her impact on music is almost too large to quan­tify with words, but for Sum­mer her­self, it was all about the voice.

“Music is part of my life. For my judg­ment, music is the great­est of all the gifts,” Sum­mer told MTV News’ John Nor­ris in a rare 1989 inter­view. “The voice — not my voice, but the voice — to me is the great­est gift. Hav­ing a voice. You need no other instru­ment, all you have to do is sing. Open your mouth, and it’s there.“

Because her sound was so rooted in the mechan­ics of disco, with its glit­ter­ing synths and pul­sat­ing beats, some peo­ple don’t know that the five-​​time Grammy win­ner was also an amaz­ingly accom­plished vocal­ist. Her mezzo-​​soprano voice tran­scends even the genre she pio­neered. Before she became the Queen of Disco, she sang gospel in church and in her early 20s moved to Europe, where she per­formed in musi­cals like “God­spell” and “Show­boat” and joined the Vien­nese Folk Opera.

“When I hear other peo­ple singing, I think, ‘God, it’s great, it’s a great gift, what a great gift,’ ” Sum­mer told MTV News. “And prob­a­bly one of the gifts that peo­ple want the most is to be able to sing, and for obvi­ous rea­sons — it’s sooth­ing, it’s stim­u­lat­ing, it’s encour­ag­ing, it’s sad, it cov­ers every spec­trum of emotion.“

It was a gift she was lucky enough to have and good enough to share with the world — one that brought her 14 top 10 hits and four #1’s.

“There’s no bet­ter way to get into those crevasses, those cracks in somebody’s per­son­al­ity and root out the real per­son but through singing,” Sum­mer con­tin­ued. “Some­times you can’t com­mu­ni­cate in words, but in a song, you can.“

Share your con­do­lences for Donna Summer’s friends, fam­ily and fans in the com­ments or on Face­book.

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Mix­tape Daily intro­duces new­comer, who hooks up with Yo Gotti and DJ Scream on her lat­est, Girl, Inter­rupted.
By Rob Markman

Sadie Hawkins

Photo: MTV News

Firestarter: Sadie Hawkins

It’s no secret that rap has been a male-​​dominated sport, but you can’t for­get the ladies. Of course, Nicki Minaj is the most rec­og­niz­able, and Iggy Aza­lea and Azealia Banks are both mak­ing waves. Well, it’s time to add another name to that grow­ing list of femme fatales: Sadie Hawkins.

If the name sounds famil­iar, Hawkins bor­rows her moniker from a 1930s comic-​​strip char­ac­ter. And, school chil­dren often attend Sadie Hawkins-​​themed dances, where tra­di­tional roles are reversed and the girls ask out the boys. The name is par­tic­u­larly fit­ting for an artist who rhymes with a feroc­ity typ­i­cally asso­ci­ated with male rappers.

Sadie started out as a model, and dur­ing one of her photo shoots, an onlooker sug­gested she try her hand at music. “He was like, ‘Are you a rap­per?’ And I was like, ‘Nah,’ ” she told Mix­tape Daily. “He was like, ‘Yeah, you look like a boss chick. Your name should be ‘Sadie Hawkins.’ “

As a child, she always admired hip-hop’s top female spit­ters. “Grow­ing up, some of the female MCs that I grew up on — like Lil’ Kim, Foxy Brown, Salt-​​n-​​Pepa, MC Lyte, Missy, Eve — see­ing them out there, and they doing it, and they actu­ally made it hap­pen, it could give you [a feel­ing like] ‘Yeah, OK, I can do this too,’ ” she shared.

Sadie pays homage to the queens on “Micro­phone Checka,” a track on her DJ Scream-​​hosted, Angelina Jolie-​​inspired Girl, Inter­rupted mix­tape. Hawkins spits over a 1980s-​​style instru­men­tal while name-​​dropping some of her favorite back-​​in-​​the-​​day rappers.

On “Cocky,” the lyri­cal new­comer part­ners with Yo Gotti, prov­ing that she can hold her own against one of the game’s most-​​respected MCs, and on “Ms. Money,” she deliv­ers a catchy make-​​it-​​rain ode that’s ripe for radio.

Sadie Hawkins shows tons of promise: More than just a pretty face, the rookie spit­ter makes music to back it up.

For other artists fea­tured in Mix­tape Daily, check out Mix­tape Daily Head­lines.

‘Her songs are so iconic that peo­ple use them as short­hand,’ expert tells MTV News about late singer’s tunes being all over pop cul­ture.
By Kara Warner

Donna Sum­mer

Photo: Fotos International/​Getty Images

The news of Donna Summer’s untimely pass­ing Thurs­day (May 17) weighed heav­ily on all those who knew and loved the undis­puted Queen of Disco.

Despite the fact that “disco fever” lived and basi­cally died in the 1970s, Summer’s music con­tin­ues to live on. Her many unfor­get­table hits like “Last Dance,” “Love to Love You Baby” and “She Works Hard for the Money” tran­scended gen­res and left an indeli­ble mark on all pop cul­ture, from the music charts to tele­vi­sion and film. A quick perusal of Summer’s eclec­tic IMDb page demon­strates the fact that her music is the go-​​to for film­mak­ers and show-​​runners look­ing for that per­fect dance num­ber in their TV show or film.

“Her songs are so iconic that peo­ple use them as short­hand either to con­vey disco or those songs lend them­selves to montage-​​type stuff,” Enter­tain­ment Weekly music edi­tor Leah Green­blatt told MTV News. ” ‘She Works Hard for the Money’ is always used for when a lady is going about her busi­ness. Songs like ‘Love to Love You’ and ‘I Feel Love’ are almost like a ‘bow-​​chicka-​​bow-​​wow,’ in that they always con­vey sex, whether that’s in an ironic way or in a real way.“

Two rel­a­tively recent comedic exam­ples include the mem­o­rable love scene/​orgy in “Zoolan­der” set to “Love to Love You” and Cameron Diaz’s group dance num­ber in “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throt­tle,” set to “Last Dance.“

“A lot of her songs were almost cin­e­matic in the way that their lyrics and music were arranged,” Green­blatt said of the repeated use of Summer’s songs for tele­vi­sion and film. “A lot of [scenes] can go out or end on ‘Last Dance.’ ‘She Works Hard for the Money’ is all about when a woman has to go out and earn in a movie; it’s the per­fect music cue. And when some­one is hav­ing a three­some with a Sherpa [like in ‘Zoolan­der’], her music was so great for that.“

Green­blatt went on to say that Summer’s songs will con­tinue to pro­vide the sound­track to key moments in our lives.

For pho­tos of Donna Sum­mer through the years, click here.

“There was a time when disco was really derided and dis­missed, but it would be really hard to find a per­son over 25 or 30 who doesn’t have these songs as part of their DNA. Whether or not you liked disco, it’s really hard to deny her voice and her tal­ent,” she said. “Her music stands out because she was such a great singer and because a lot of her songs were about emo­tions too. You can really feel in her voice that she means it.

“Also, how many artists have music that has been fea­tured on ‘Sex and the City,’ ‘Parks and Recre­ation’ and in ‘Frost/​Nixon’?” Green­blatt added. “For what­ever rea­son, come­di­ans love to use her too. There’s the campy trib­utes but also a sin­cere love for her. And any­time any­one takes their clothes off [in TV or film], some­one has got to play ‘Hot Stuff.’ “

Share your con­do­lences for Donna Summer’s friends, fam­ily and fans in the com­ments or on Face­book.

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The late Beastie Boy’s legacy is remem­bered in res­o­lu­tion that cel­e­brates his life, music and love for New York City.
By James Montgomery

Adam Yauch

Photo: Bertrand Guay/​ Getty Images

Adam Yauch was, in almost every sense of the term, a true New Yorker — born in Brook­lyn, raised on the music of the Vil­lage and the Lower East Side, rep­re­sent­ing the eclec­tic energy and vibrant mul­ti­cul­tur­al­ism of NYC itself through his films and social causes — so it’s fit­ting that, ear­lier this week, the New York State Sen­ate passed a res­o­lu­tion hon­or­ing the late Beastie Boy’s achievements.

The res­o­lu­tion — offi­cially known as J4637 — was writ­ten by State Sen­a­tor Daniel Squadron (who rep­re­sents the dis­trict of Brook­lyn Heights, where Yauch was born) and cel­e­brates Yauch’s many accom­plish­ments and con­tri­bu­tions, includ­ing rais­ing the pro­file of New York City in a time when many thought its best days were behind it, noting:

“The Beastie Boys became well-​​known in the inno­v­a­tive music scene in Manhattan’s East Vil­lage and Lower East Side with a sound and a style all their own … [they] exem­pli­fied New York through a period in which grass­roots cre­ativ­ity and a com­mu­nity of icon­o­clas­tic artists helped rede­fine and reju­ve­nate a city on the ropes, with iconic imagery from Brook­lyn to Lud­low Street.“

Squadron also paid trib­ute to Yauch’s activism, includ­ing his Milarepa Fund (which raised aware­ness of the abuses in Tibet) and his Oscil­lo­scope Lab­o­ra­to­ries, which pro­duced films like the Yauch-​​directed “Gun­nin’ For That #1 Spot,” about high-​​school bas­ket­ball prospects com­pet­ing in a tour­na­ment at Harlem’s his­toric Rucker Park.

J4637 also works in a nod to the Beastie’s 1994 hit “Sure Shot” (“The music and mes­sage of the Beastie Boys evolved over the years, but they can’t, they don’t, they won’t stop chang­ing the face of hip-​​hop, of music and of our cul­ture”) and allowed the Sen­ate to “pause in its delib­er­a­tions” to remem­ber Yauch, “a man of colos­sal tal­ent and charisma.“

“Adam Yauch is sur­vived by his wife, Dechen Wengdu, and their daugh­ter Losel,” the res­o­lu­tion con­cludes. “He will be missed by his fam­ily, his fans and all who knew him; his ded­i­ca­tion to his music, his activism and his her­itage leaves an indeli­ble legacy of inspi­ra­tion for all other artists.“

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Clas­sic disco tunes found their way into just about every cor­ner of our cul­ture, from ‘Amer­i­can Idol’ to Beyoncé’s ‘Naughty Girl.‘
By John Mitchell

Donna Sum­mer

Photo: Harry Langdon/​Getty Images

The death of Donna Sum­mer on Thurs­day (May 17) at age 63 after a long bat­tle with can­cer has many reflect­ing on the impact the disco leg­end had on music.

While many may not real­ize it, Sum­mer is the fore­mother of, well, just about every pop song on the radio today. Her iconic 1977 anthem “I Feel Love,” which peaked at #6 on the Bill­board sin­gles chart (one of 14 top 10 hits), was the first main­stream song to be pro­duced using an entirely syn­the­sized back­ing track. Until then, most disco record­ings had been backed by acoustic orches­tras, and the recep­tion to the song rev­o­lu­tion­ized music.

“One day in Berlin, [Brian] Eno came run­ning in and said, ‘I have heard the sound of the future,’ ” David Bowie famously wrote in the liner notes to Sound and Vision. “He puts on ‘I Feel Love,’ by Donna Sum­mer. … He said, ‘This is it, look no fur­ther. This sin­gle is going to change the sound of club music for the next 15 years.’ Which was more or less right.“

Indeed, imag­ine the music of Lady Gaga, Brit­ney Spears, Rihanna, Katy Perry and count­less oth­ers minus their ubiq­ui­tous glit­ter­ing synths. You can’t. With­out what was at the time a risky and bold move, mod­ern dance music might not exist as it does today.

Summer’s impact on music is so vast it’s nearly incal­cu­la­ble, but in mem­ory of the disco diva, we’re look­ing back on some of the ways her music has sur­vived through the years, has been brought to life by other artists and how many of music’s biggest names counted them­selves as fans of the Queen of Disco.

» The refrain from Summer’s 17-​​minute 1975 break­through “Love to Love You Baby” is sam­pled on Beyoncé’s hit “Naughty Girl” from her debut solo album Dan­ger­ously in Love.

For pho­tos of Donna Sum­mer through the years, click here.

» For the elab­o­rate open­ing sequence of Madonna’s 2006 Con­fes­sions Tour, a 2-​​ton, $4 mil­lion disco ball was low­ered onto the stage at the end of the run­way and then opened to reveal the star, who started into her own synth-​​heavy “Future Lovers” before the song dis­solved seam­lessly into Summer’s “I Feel Love.“

» Summer’s “Start­ing Over Again” was trans­formed into a #1 coun­try hit for Dolly Par­ton in 1980, and even reached the top 40 on the Bill­board Hot 100, a rare feat for a coun­try track at the time. Fif­teen years later, another coun­try super­star, Reba McEn­tire, named her 1995 album after the song, and her ver­sion was a hit coun­try sin­gle the fol­low­ing year. In the set’s liner notes, McEn­tire ded­i­cated the song to both Sum­mer and Par­ton, say­ing she admired both immensely.

» Summer’s clas­sics were go-​​to songs for films look­ing to cap­ture the late-‘70s/early-‘80s era and are fea­tured in, among many oth­ers, “Frost/​Nixon,” “Char­lie Wilson’s War” and “Splash.“

» “Hot Stuff” and “MacArthur Park” are go-​​to songs for real­ity singing con­tes­tants look­ing to prove their range — Sum­mer was a mezzo-​​soprano with a pow­er­house deliv­ery — while keep­ing things upbeat. Both songs have been per­formed on “The X Fac­tor” and “Amer­i­can Idol.“

» “She Works Hard for the Money” was cov­ered by Kris Allen dur­ing an episode of “Amer­i­can Idol,” and his per­for­mance was so well-​​received that the season-​​eight win­ner recorded the track for the Amer­i­can Idol Sea­son 8 CD.

» Sum­mer her­self appeared as Aunt Oona from Altoona on two episodes of the hit sit­com “Fam­ily Matters.“

» Bruce Spring­steen was a big Sum­mer fan and wrote two songs for her. The first one, “Cover Me,” he ulti­mately recorded for his own Born to Run, but Sum­mer recorded the sec­ond, “Pro­tec­tion,” and Spring­steen and the E Street Band sup­plied the track.

» Keri Hil­son por­trayed Sum­mer in her music video for her 2010 hit “Pretty Girl Rock.“

» Sum­mer is eas­ily one of the most sam­pled artists in the his­tory of music. “I Feel Love” has been sam­pled by some of the biggest artists in dance, from Madonna and Brit­ney Spears to David Guetta and Moby, and cov­ered by artists as diverse as the Red Hot Chili Pep­pers, Kylie Minogue and Blondie.

Share your con­do­lences for Donna Summer’s friends, fam­ily and fans in the com­ments or on Face­book.

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‘I wanted to do the right thing by all of them,’ Ryan Mur­phy tells Vul­ture.
By Fal­lon Prinzi­valli, with addi­tional report­ing by Christina Garibaldi

The cast of “Glee“

Photo: Adam Rose/​ FOX

Twit­ter is a bless­ing that affords celebri­ties the abil­ity to com­mu­ni­cate with fans and update on their projects. But it can also be a curse when it sparks unwanted rumors — as “Glee” star Amber Riley found out the hard way.

Gleeks thought the actress wasn’t return­ing to the show next fall when Riley tweeted, “Just closed a chap­ter in my life, the only thing I’ve known day in and day out for three years. I’m going to miss the whole Glee fam­ily, see­ing them everyday!“

When the show’s cre­ator Ryan Mur­phy spoke to Vul­ture, he dis­pelled the gos­sip. “A lot of peo­ple have been writ­ing Dianna [Agron] off the show, Amber’s off the show — they’re not off the show,” he said. “I think Amber was talk­ing about that bit­ter­sweet feel­ing of, ‘I’ll never be in the choir room with that exact group of peo­ple.’ … She’s excited about where her char­ac­ter is going. They all are. I wanted to do the right thing by all of them.“

MTV News caught up with Agron before the news broke that her char­ac­ter was return­ing. The actress told us that while she’s inter­ested in the future of Quinn, she likes the story line to be a surprise.

“It’s so funny, because I do write, and there was part of me that was like, ‘Oh, I know these char­ac­ters inside and out. What if they gave me a shot to sit in the writer’s room and toy away with that?’ But at the same time, it’s like, ‘I don’t want to have any say in that.’ I love the sur­prise ele­ment of it.“

While fans need not worry about the fate of Lea Michele, Cory Mon­teith or Chris Colfer fol­low­ing reports that the show will track Rachel, Finn and Kurt’s New York adven­tures, it’s hard not to won­der what’s in store for the glee-​​club seniors as they grad­u­ate on the sea­son finale. With Quinn (Agron) off to Yale and Puck (Mark Salling) headed to Cal­i­for­nia to expand his pool-​​cleaning busi­ness, some char­ac­ters could get tossed to the side. But Mur­phy said that he told the actors if they wanted to stay on the show, he had a place for them — includ­ing Matthew Morrison’s Will Schuester and Jane Lynch’s Coach Sue Sylvester. “They’re all com­ing back,” he said. “Any­one who is a reg­u­lar is com­ing back. Every­one said yes.“

But he does clar­ify that they may not come back for the long haul. “It doesn’t mean every­one will be doing 22 episodes, but every­one wants to stay in our fam­ily and our world,’” he revealed. “I wanted to make sure those actors know that if they want to have a home, they have a home. If they want to explore new and dif­fer­ent things while also hav­ing a home, that is also an option.“

“Glee” returns to Fox this fall, mov­ing from Tues­day to Thurs­day nights, and is set to begin sea­son four with a sec­ond Brit­ney Spears trib­ute episode.

‘We take you on a ride through this album,’ Joell Ortiz tells MTV News of Wel­come to: Our House.
By Rob Mark­man, with report­ing by James Lacsina

Royce da 5“9″ of Slaugh­ter­house

Photo: MTV News

Slaugh­ter­house are putting the fin­ish­ing touches on their hum­ble abode. Wel­come to: Our House, Slaughterhouse’s major-​​label debut on Shady Records, is sched­uled for a June 12 release, and Eminem is just putting the fin­ish­ing touches on the much-​​anticipated LP.

“The album is done. In terms of vocal record­ing, we’re done. Mar­shall is still in the process of mix­ing, we still got a cou­ple of records that we’re miss­ing,” Royce da 5’9″ told MTV News on May 9 from the set of their “My Life” video. “We’re on pace for June, worst-​​case sce­nario, we’re look­ing at July, but it’s def­i­nitely com­ing, 100 percent.

This isn’t SH’s first album, but ever since it was announced that Royce, Joe Bud­den, Joell Ortiz and Crooked I signed to Eminem’s Shady Records at the top of 2011, rap fans have been won­der­ing what type of sound the major-​​label mar­riage would yield.

“Fire,” Joe Bud­den said, describ­ing the sound of the new album in a sin­gle word.

His partner-​​in-​​rhyme Ortiz was a lit­tle more descrip­tive. “It’s a really per­sonal album, but there are records like ‘My Life’ which are cel­e­bra­tory,” he said.

Each mem­ber of Slaugh­ter­house is a mas­ter lyri­cist in his own right, and when they con­verge for group efforts, the expec­ta­tions are that much higher. “There are records were those core Slaugh­ter­house fans will get their ‘Ohs and ahs’ like ‘OK, the pen is push­ing,’ ” Ortiz said, promis­ing a bar­rage of witty lyrics. “It’s themed, but we take you on a ride through this album. Y’all gonna enjoy it.“

The group is so excited about the album that they are tak­ing great care in mak­ing sure it isn’t leaked onto the Inter­net pre­ma­turely. In fact, Wel­come to: Our House is so closely guarded, none of Slaugh­ter­house mem­bers even have a copy. “We don’t have the music, it stays in the stu­dio. It’s safe there,” Ortiz told us. “But every time we go to record or just get up and meet in Detroit with Em and every­body at Shady, I per­son­ally ask them to hear records.“

What are you hop­ing to hear on Wel­come to: Our House? Leave your com­ment below!

Erik Daniels­son, vocalist/​guitarist player of Swedish black met­allers WATAIN, was recently inter­viewed by Char Tup­per of MetalTitans.com.

HeavyWorlds.com recently con­ducted an inter­view with gui­tarist Leo Leoni and singer Nic Maeder of Swiss hard rock­ers GOTTHARD.