MetalSucks

Here’s a nice little “HOLY SHITBALLS!” moment to cap off your Monday: after a seven year absence, Dave Ellefson has returned to Megadeth. And to think, not that long ago, these two were suing one another. Hilarious.

Old-school Megadeth fans will remember that Ellefson survived through various incarnations of ‘Deth, and for many years appeared to be on the only person on earth who could actually stomach Mustaine. He was the bass player for basically every Megadeth classic ever.

You can read some statements from the band at SMN, but to be honest, it’s all the usual bullshit that you’ve heard a million times before. Hopefully these two will get deeper into their rift and reunion when they start doing press for Megadeth’s upcoming tour.

And you know what? I could not find a picture of these two together without the rest of the band around. Twenty years as partners, and they snapped a photo just the two of them. Good times.

-AR

…..AS some of you may or may not have heard, Guitarist, Andrew has parted ways with Oceano. This decision was reached through personal as well as minor quarrels amongst the band. We wont go too much further into detail as it seemingly is not a band issue any longer.

If we’re to use MySpace blog comments as our guide, the fan reaction to last week’s news of Andrew Mikhail’s less-than-amicable departure from self-proclaimed deathcore beef-bringers Oceano was generally postive. In a post marked “Andrew Leaves Oceano” the band acknowledged their former guitarist’s public denouncement of the group before assuring fans that tour plans were not changing in spite of this. Scrolling down the page, however, it seems Mikhail wasn’t entirely happy with the comments being made. Using the presumably Outkast-referencing handle “andrew3000.” he replied directly to Oceano saying:

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How about this band, who have concocted a song so fucking irritating it could defeat killer tomatoes?

By the way, if you want to torture a small animal, just play it the vocals at 1:24.

-AR

Despite their inclusion at MetalSucks’ 2008 CMJ showcase, Trash Talk haven’t received much in the way of coverage here. Consider this the first step towards remedying that unintentional failing. I mean, it’s not every day that one of the most insane modern hardcore bands neatly and conveniently re-releases its entire discography on vinyl–one record to be exact. Roughly thirty minutes long, the 180g vinyl edition Shame compiles four of the Trash Talk’s increasingly difficult-to-find releases (Walking Disease, Plagues, East Of Eden/Son Of A Bitch, and self-titled full-length).

This is a great introduction to a great band and packed with loads of neat extras like a full-sized poster and footnotes. Pre-order it direct from the band. The turntable-deprived can also snag a CD copy of Shame through the U.K.’s Hassle Records as a confounding double-disc set, with each disc averaging about 15 minutes of music. Lyrics are included for those who care to scream along.

-GS

[Gary Suarez usually manages the consistently off-topic No Yoko No. He recently quit Twitter.]

I’d normally never use a word like “divine” or “glorious” without a hint of irony, since people who do use those words without a hint a irony turn out to be annoying ten out of ten times, and life is just too short.

So let’s just take a page from the Bob Cock playbook and call “Snakes for the Divine,” the title track from the forthcoming new High on Fire offering, AWESOME. I totally forgot to eat lunch today, so I’ve been trying to get outside for twenty minutes to grab some food; unfortunately, my desire to listen to this song on repeat got the best of me, and before I knew it, I was sitting here in my chair, coat on, just rocking out for an extended period of time. And I’m not even high. If my tummy hadn’t suddenly growled, I’d probably have forgotten to get some lunch yet again.

I generally think of Spin Magazine as being about as metal-friendly as rust, but they’ve got the stream of the song, so whatever. I’d visit the website of a male Patti LuPone impersonator if they were streaming a new High on Fire song.

Snakes for the Divine comes out February 23 on E1.

-AR

I love it when budding musicians and bands give away their recorded music for free. Rather than trying to charge $10 (or however much) to collect money from the few diehard fans you have that are willing to spring some dough for your product, you make a potential fan out of anyone who’s willing to download the album for the price of a click and the time it takes to do so. Rather than selling 10 or 100 copies for money, your music reaches hundreds or thousands of people willing to give it a shot, people who will later come to your show or buy a t-shirt if they like the music enough. This, my friends, is smart business.

Enter Cloudkicker, the excellent 1-man band led by Ben Sharp, whose new EP ]]][[[ is currently available for free (along with the rest of his entire catalog). The punctuation-monikered EP only has 3 songs, but they're jam-packed with a variety of different instru-metal styles that fit together well into one cohesive whole. For the most part Cloudkicker lives in the ambient instru-metal realm but occasionally ventures into other territories. His music is lush, big and complex, but it's the kind of metal that doesn't make your head spin or require a lot of listening attention to enjoy. Think the instrumentation of Animals of Leaders with the musicality of Scale the Summit, but with dense layering similar to Jesu... and you're close to what Cloudkicker sounds like. Download ]]][[[ for free here.

-VN

Thanks: Peter Butter, Josh S.

Armour is 80s metal, man. Get used to it right now, before you check them out. But FUCK if it isn’t AWESOME at the same time. The song titles, the solos, the cover art – EVERYTHING is there on the Finns’ self-titled album, and it’s all really, really AWESOME. Well… the lyrics are kind of stupid, but who needs lyrics when you’ve got riffs and fist-pumping anthems, anyway?

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Late last December, I braved some bitter winter weather to catch NYHC pioneers Cro-Mags play an almost intolerably crowded gig at Andrew W.K.’s Santos Party Haus. And boy, was it worth it! With original vocalist John Joseph and drummer Mackie Jayson, alongside members of Leeway and Sick Of It All, the current incarnation–previously touring as Cro-Mags(Jam)–ripped through so many classic Age Of Quarrel cuts to the evident delight of a flailing, furious crowd of devotees. Thanks to the Intarwebz (and a courageous soul willing risk injury to record it), you can actually watch a full set from a couple days prior in Philadelphia here. But even such great footage isn’t the same as actually experiencing the band live. Well, thankfully, many of you will get the chance now that a number of Cro-Mags gigs have been announced.

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So this couple was caught fucking at a Motley Crue concert in Winnipeg last week, and were promptly ejected from the concert. There was video of the incident, which has now been taken off of YouTube, I guess because it’s “obscene” or whatever. But I’m not sure what the big deal is. Motley Crue songs are pretty much all about fucking, even when they’re technically not (“Dr. Feelgood,” etc.), so I’d imagine there’s one drunk couple gettin’ it on at pretty much EVERY Motley Crue concert. In fact, here are ten things I’d find more surprising to see at a Crue show:

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Do we simply dismiss them because they play symphonic black metal, which Cosmo Lee posits might be “the worst kind of metal ever invented”? Or do we give them a shot to prove their own artistic merit independent of any pre-conceived genre restrictions or notions? I, for one, have no problems with symphonic black metal, especially the less cheesy variety proffered by Sothis. On a completely superficial level I also happen to dig their combination of corpse paint and giant beards.

But what the fuck does it matter what I think? What do YOU think? Watch their new video for “Of Night and Silence” and let us know.

-VN

Thanks: Chris Vanderwerf

My good friend Rob at Metal Injection thinks that “SNL was actually pretty good this week,” and while I love Rob, I have to violently disagree: a friend and I watched the show when we were so blitzed that watching SNL actually seemed like a good idea, and I think we still only laughed two or three times. And I’m sorry, but Them Crooked Vultures are lame.

One of the better sketches, though, was the below, which… well, the less you know about it beyond that fact that Dave Grohl is in it, the better. Suffice it to say, the evidence is growing that there’s at least one writer at SNL who knows what’s up. If anyone knows who that writer is, please drop me a line. I’d love to interview him or her and ask if they think the show might ever actually be good again.

NOTE: I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with the video embed, but you can watch the skit here.

-AR

Don’t ever say the chicks at Reign in Blonde aren’t lookin’ out for ya, because Elise has combed through Amazon’s monthly 100 Albums for $5 deal to pick out the albums that you, broke metalhead, would be most interested in. There’s a good chance you already own all or most of these albums, but if not here’s your chance to get them on the cheap (and since it’s on Amazon, without DRM):

• Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV
• The Melvins - A Senile Animal
• Meshuggah - ObZen
• Muse - Black Holes and Revelations
• Sevendust – Best of (1997-2004)
  

There are also a whole bunch of other albums worth your while that aren’t metal or hard rock. ‘Cause, ya know, sometimes other music is pretty cool too. Just a few: albums by The Delfonics, Cannibal Ox, Duke Ellington, Thelonius Monk, Billie Holiday… all for only $5 each.

-VN

So let’s say you’re Fear Factory. You’re in the headlines a lot these days because your founding guitar player has returned to the fold and you’ve recorded an album that ranks with your best. You have to go do your first big U.S. comeback tour. Who do you announce as your support acts? How about Winds of Plague, Dirge Within, and Periphery?

Wait… what?

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There’s a really awesome metal song called “Anti-Hero.” A song that makes me wanna jump in the pit and hit someone smaller than me every time I listen to it. A song that helped make the band who recorded it one of my favorite in modern metal.

Wanna hear the song? Here ya go!

Oh, yeah. Bleeding Through’s new song is also called “Anti-Hero.” The lyrics include the line “I’ve heard enough of you!/Fucking go away,” which pretty much sums up my feelings about the track. But if you really care, you can listen here. The song will be on the band’s new, self-titled album, which comes out April 13 on Rise.

In conclusion, this:

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2003’s Seasons, the last Sevendust album to feature co-guitarist Clint Lowery, was also the last really good Sevendust album. During Lowery’s absence, the band released three offerings, all of which had a few good tracks but none of which were really satisfying overall. The natural conclusion, then, was that Lowery played a really, really key role in Sevendust’s songwriting process, and his return to the fold should ensure that the band’s forthcoming Cold Day Memory will be a return to form for the band. Right?

Wrong, if the group’s new single, “Forever Dead,” is any indication.

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Can a simple dill pickle garner more Facebook fans than Nickelback? It’ll take 1,380,820 fans to make that happen, but I believe in the power of the Internet and the deliciousness of pickles. Facebook user Coral Cripps created the Facebook fan page “Can this pickle get more fans than Nickleback?” [sic] less than a week ago on Wednesday, February 3rd. The worldwide ire for Nickelback is so strong that as of this writing the group already has 240,095 fans. When I joind the group yesterday it only had around 70,000… the Pickleback is spreading fast!

What I’d really love to see is Nickelback getting involved by mobilizing their fanbase to counter the attack of the pickle. Hey Roadrunner, get on that! It’d be hilarious. Take the joke and run with it, ala Earache/Oceano style!

Pickles 4evr!!!

-VN

Real metalheads only stage their own personal Whackin Festival with black tissues

Given the staggering number of e-mails we’ve received from you guys since The PRP broke the story last night, I’m not really sure if I’m telling any of you anything you don’t already know, but just in case:

MASTODON, BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME, BARONESS, AND VALIENT THORR ARE ALL TOURING TOGETHER THIS SPRING

Yes, that is glorious news. I’ve never seen Valient Thorr live, but I do enjoy their music, and the other three bands are all great live. So there isn’t really much else to say here beyond, y’know, go to this.

Dates after the jump.

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-KW

My car just got towed and I’m pissed. Really fucking pissed. One side effect of being a pantsless blogger is that sometimes you get a little comfortable and forget to do things like move your car when you’re supposed to (and I swear, I didn’t poke any smot today!). Before I go pay $185 to get my shitty fucking 1988 Honda Accord back, I’ll recap what happened this week on MetalSucks. Fuck the world.

• You say to-MAY-to, I say to-MAH-to… when it comes to band names.
• We debuted a fresh track by Dangers.
• Trivium canned drummer Travis Smith causing you all to argue incessantly about the tr00/false metalness of Trivium. Oceano also lost a member, causing the MetalSucks Mansion to rejoice while Suarez wept in the corner. Meanwhile Periphery’s ex-singer joined a band that sounds just like Periphery and even includes one of their [key] members.
• We spoke with Ihsahn and invited all of you to speak with Dark Tranquillity’s Mikael Stanne.
• Atreyu’s drummer’s wife wants to save rock and roll but apparently doesn’t want to save correct usage of the French language.
• Sammy O’Hagar likee Fear Factory. Axl Rosenberg no likee Fear Factory.
• Eyal is conducting an experiment. Have fun sifting through 385 demos, buddy.
• White Wizzard released the best video ever of the week.

Bye.

-VN

“Biffy Clyro” always sounded like some kind of degenerative vaginal disease to me, but in fact it’s the name of an awesome 3-piece heavy rock band from Scotland. 2007’s Puzzle was something of a masterpiece; I loved the way it sounded and I loved the songs, and I listened to that album a whole lot that year. Axl and I saw them play live shortly after the release of that album and the band absolutely fucking smoked. News of a new Biffy Clyro album isn’t exactly “news” to those in the UK, but Only Revolutions will finally receive a U.S. release on March 9th, exclusively on iTunes.

According to SMNnews.com, Only Revolutions was produced by GGGarth Richardson (Rage Against the Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and BC’s prior album Puzzle) and mixed by Andy Wallace (a bazillion great bands), so you know it’s going to sound great. The album also features the orchestration of multi Grammy-winning composer David Campbell; the orchestrations on Puzzle were part of what made it so special so I’m glad to see they’re keeping that element of their sound intact.

Can any of our UK readers tell us what to expect from Only Revolutions? Is it a worthy successor to Puzzle?

Here’s the video for “That Golden Rule,” the album’s first single. Check out Biffy Clyro on MySpace for more. After the jump, peep a list of Biffy Clyro U.S. tour dates scheduled for March and April.

-VN

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