PHIL ANSELMO (DOWN, ex-PANTERA) is featured in a new interview with Smells Like Infinite Sadness discussing The Housecore Horror Film Festival, a four day event featuring metal bands and horror movies. An excerpt from the discussion is available below:

Q: Why do you think heavy metal and horror films work so well together?

Anselmo: "I think the correlation is apparent. I think the easiest way for me to summarize a question like this if you look at a movie like Night Of The Living Dead or Evil Dead or The Exorcist…something like that where there’s a possessing demon and has a voice…you look no further as far as influence on music than death metal you know? Would death metal really be a genre without these movies? I’m not so sure. Go listen to the vocals.

Like where did they get this idea to perform at such an extreme way vocally? I think 110% from possession films like The Evil Dead you know? So I just see it as a hand in hand thing…and even going maybe a step further look at what Evil Dead did for SLAYER and HELL AWAITS.

For me it’s like those movies and that album went hand and hand…it just left a tremendous impact and almost like companion pieces to each other. If you look at modern times there’s band called Portal from Australia, a really incredible death metal band that, for me these days are an incredible companion piece to Lovecraft. I think it’s always been there as far as extreme music goes, but I bite my tongue when I say extreme music, because I look at a guy like Roky Erickson and he wrote all his monster songs. And look at the MISFITS. Once again you’re hearkening to imagery to Night Of The Living Dead, so the horror influence is there."

Go to this location for the complete interview

The Housecore Horror Film Festival runs from Oct 24th-27th at Emo’s East, The Dirty Dog, and Antone’s in Austin, TX. Click here for details.

In the footage below from Fuse, Anselmo takes you on a guided tour of his tattoos, revealing the hidden meanings behind the ink.

Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals released the new album, Walk Through Exits Only, on July 16th via Anselmo's Housecore Records (MRI/Megaforce). Walk Through Exits Only is available digitally, on CD and on vinyl.

Produced by Philip Anselmo and Michael Thompson, and recorded over the past couple of years at his New Orleans studio, Nodferatu's Lair, with his band The Illegals - Marzi Montazeri/guitar, and drummer Jose Manuel "Blue" Gonzales, Walk Through Exits Only is abrasive, aggressive, anthemic and 100% Anselmo. The album's eight songs are as unstrained as it gets, from 'Battalion Of Zero' to 'Usurper's Bastard Rant', to the album's title track that goes against the grain and right through the exits. Brash, brutal guitars cut through punishing percussion as Anselmo screams with uncompromising ferocity and uncontainable fire.

Tracklisting:

'Music Media Is My Whore'

'Battalion Of Zero'

'Betrayed'

'Usurper Bastard's Rant'

'Walk Through Exits Only'

'Bedroom Destroyer'

'Bedridden'

'Irrelevant Walls And Computer Screens'

BraveWords' review of Walk Through Exits Only can be found here.