The Classic Black Sabbath Line Up.

The news broke this week that Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi has been diagnosed with cancer. In an official announcement it was revealed that he will undergo treatment for lymphoma. Members of the band have asked fans to send positive vibes and are remaining positive about the planned treatment. They said “Iommi is working with his doctors to establish the best treatment plan. The Iron Man of rock and roll remains upbeat and determined to make a full recovery.”
This news comes as the newly reformed original Black Sabbath line up return to the studio to work on their first album in 33 years ahead of a planned performance on Download’s 2012 main stage  with a full world tour to follow. Tony’s troubling health poses questions about the scale and very chance of the band’s return to the world of rock in 2012.
The 63 year old rock icon, who defined the sound of a generation, developed his style as a guitarist following an unfortunate accident working in a sheet metal factory as a teenager where he lost the tips of two fingers. Playing left handed with specially adapted thimbles to extend his fingers, Iommi inadvertently carved out the chunky deep sound that defines metal as we know it. Hopefully, Iommi will be able to bounce back, better than ever, from this news as well.

Celldweller - Disposable War-Pigs.

The electronic rock virtuoso Klayton, better known as Celldweller has recently made available a ‘Klash Up’ track featuring the work of Metallica and Black Sabbath with a few added bass drops for good measure. The combination works surprisingly well and couldn’t come at a more opportune moment, following the announcement of both Metallica and Black Sabbath’s headline roles at Download 2012. Currently available for free download via social streaming platform Soundcloud the remix, entitled Disposable War-pigs has attracted an overwhelmingly positive amount of attention from rock and electronic music fans alike. Celldweller is best known from his wide ranging appearances on film and television soundtracks including Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Real Steel, Iron Man, Spider-man 2 & 3, and C.S.I with the single ‘Switchback’ often in rotation in club set lists. More recently Klayton has also offered his talents to the latest Asking Alexandria record “Stepped Up and Scratched” with his official remix of ‘A Lesson Never Learned’ hit 7 on the iTunes Electronic singles chart. Needless to say, with these mixes made public on the eve of a series of American DJ dates, Celldweller is around to stay with a solid presence in a number of scenes. His infectious Metallica/Sabbath mix is a fitting filler for all the teeming anticipation surrounding next years festival appearances, and with the electronic icons The Prodigy as the latest to announce a headline slot for Download 2012 ‘Disposable War Pigs’ is a close approximation of the sound of next summer.
Disposable War Pigs (Celldweller Klash-Up) [Free Download] by Celldweller

Iron Man 2: The Entire Franchise.

This weekend sees the release of the long awaited Iron Man 2. This latest installment of the armored titans tales sees Tony Stark(Played by Robert Downey Jr ) pressured by the United States government to share his technology and pursued by those determined for revenge. The film looks set to be the same sarcastic thrill ride that its first installment was and again, like its predecessor essentially a 2 hour long AC/DC music Video.

This is also evident in the fact there is not going to be an officially released original soundtrack compilation, but rather AC/DC have released their own Iron Man 2 album. This is more like a greatest hits album of the band conveniently overlooking classics like ‘A Whole Lot Of Rosie’ in place of more adrenaline pumping howl alongs in the shape of ‘Let There Be Rock’ and ‘Thunder Struck’.

The geek in me is excited to see this new peek into the Marvel comics extended universe, quivering with anticipation at the upcoming series of movies, such as Thor (which is supposedly hinted at in the closing scenes of Iron Man 2) and Captain America, setting the scene for a grander more complex story world and the eventual Avengers movie. Returning to the film at hand snippets I’ve seen of a skin tight cat-suited Scarlett Johansson in acrobatic combat and Mickey Rourke’s attempt at a Russian accent in the energy weapon wielding form of the villain Whiplash are both thoroughly tempting.

Scarlett Johansson

Those not sated by this dose or comicbook action can soon lay their hands on the tie in Iron Man 2 video game, featuring the voice acting talents of Samuel L Jackson(Nick Fury) and Don Cheadle (James Rhodes/War Machine) reprising their cinematic roles, though sadly not accompanied by Robert Downey Jr.  A further thing to entice you to this game is that its predecessor helped buck the trend of mediocre tie in gaming with solid game-play throughout.
Taking a swift turn away from its movie counterpart, the soundtrack of the game will feature a song by metal band Lamb Of God which has been specially recorded for the game entitled hit the wall.

You can hear the song in the behind the scenes video below.

With expectations high for badass barrel rolling gameplay, heavy metal tunage and the fact that this is all in the shape of Iron Man please excuse me if I slip into a geek coma.