THE BIG FOUR ARE HEADLINING SONISPHERE U.K., AND DAVE MUSTAINE IS COLLABORATING WITH DAN SPITZ

Last week Dave Mustaine dropped a not-so-subtle hint that there were more Big Four shows coming this summer, and now the first one has been announced: Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax will headline the U.K. edition of Sonisphere on July 8, 2011. Biffy Clyro and Slipknot will headline the other two nights of the fest, July 9 and July 10.

This is obviously swell news for British fans, but what about the rest of us? Should we be purchasing plane tickets? I don’t think so. It’s hard for me to imagine that more shows won’t follow. These bands have a good thing going with this Big Four stuff, and they know it. So let’s just sit tight and see what happens next.

Meanwhile, according to this interview, Dave Mustaine recently laid down some stuff for former Anthrax guitarist Dan Spitz’s new project, which Mustaine describes as a hybrid of Disturbed, Soundgarden, Rage Against the Machine, and, of course, ‘Thrax, only “heavier” and “more modern sounding.” Mustaine doesn’t identify the project by name, but I have to assume he’s talking about DeuxMonkey, the new band Spitz launched last year. Here was my own assessment of that band’s early material, in case you don’t recall or didn’t read it the first time:

“…to call the music horrendous would be an insult to horrendous bands everywhere. I’d rather watch my entire family get killed than listen to this. It would seem that Spitz and his “band” – which consists of former members of Accept, King Diamond’s band, and some dude in mask – are striving to create the kind of industrialized alt-metal that groups like Nine Inch Nails, Ministry and Marilyn Manson popularized in the  90s, except that a) it’s not the 90s anymore and b) even in the 90s, no one would have listened to this.”

So, yeah. I can see why Mustaine, trying to sell the project, would compare it to bands like Disturbed and Soundgarden and RATM, but my guess, it won’t be nearly as good as any of those bands (and I fucking loathe Disturbed, so for me to say that their music is better than someone else’s is, well… y’know). I’ll reserve absolute final judgment until I hear the finished album, but optimistic I am not.

-AR

Thanks to Jame M. for the Mustaine/Spitz tip.