THE ACACIA STRAIN, HUMAN ABSTRACT TOP BIG WEEK FOR METAL ON SOUNDSCAN
Thursday, August 28th, 2008 at 9:33am by Vince Neilstein
It was a good week for metal last week — we’ll politely ignore the fact that Kid Rock’s Rock N’ Roll Jesus shifted an astounding 100,000 copies in its 46th week on the charts (!) to move up to #2 — and that Staind’s The Illusion of Progress netted a #3 debut by the band’s constant refusal to actually progress at all. Instead, how about some big first weeks for bands we actually care about?
#28: Black Stone Cherry – Folklore & Superstition
Debut: 13,582
I don’t love this band but I don’t hate ‘em. Nevertheless, what’s good for Roadrunner is good for all metal.
#59: The Toadies – No Deliverance
Debut: 8,563
Who knew?? The Toadies were actually one of the first concerts Axl and I ever went to. Before anyone had heard of ‘em.
#107: The Acacia Strain – Continent
Debut: 5,547
Good for this band. Seriously. They may be generic death/metalcore, but if a band this heavy is selling so many records, the metal scene is a healthy one indeed.
#140: Scars on Broadway – Scars on Broadway
This Week: 4,762
Cume: 43,561
4th week on the chart, and falling fast (was at 62 and 83 the two weeks prior) — but this record sure flopped, didn’t it? Time to start thinking about ending that SOAD “hiatus.”
#145: Buckcherry – 15
This Week: 4,554
Cume: 1,281,060
123 weeks on the chart. Yes, a hundred and a fucking twenty three. Amazing for a band that didn’t even have a record deal going into this record. Expect another sales boost when Black Butterfly lands next month.
#156: Avenged Sevenfold – Avenged Sevenfold
This week: 4,229
Cume: 432,224
Everyone heralded this record as a flop out of the gate, but look at that… 43 weeks on the chart, and almost gold. Not bad, eh?
#163: The Human Abstract – Midheaven
Debut: 4,100
Bravo!! Controversy must sell record.
-VN
Hooray for the small frys!!!
gotta support the “little guy” — those bands that are out there 9 or 10 months out of the year, charging practically nothing to see them live, that live on $4000 a year (number came from an interview with Mike Schliebaum of DH.) and absolutely will not wuss out and compromise their music to make a few extra bucks. Sure, they’d love to fly around city to city and never be hungry, or in Vincent Bennent’s case, have insurance for albuterol so he can breathe (funny how he’s a vocalist with asthma?)
My friend is always asking me why i buy merch at the shows, being well into my thirties and looking kinda silly showing up to meeting or non-metal event with a Carnifex or Despised Icon or whatever shirt on. and i keep telling him that merch is what is paying these guys’ bills. The make very little from the cd sales. I still don’t know whether or not he understands.
Besides, people leave me alone when i’m sporting a shirt that says “i want you dead” on my back!!
speaking of the human abstract…whatever happened to my prize pack? :(
iwrestledaferretonce, i’d like to see that interview where Mike Schliebaum says that, got a link?
@jacnd:
I got that from the DISSONANCE podcast from iTunes. It’s a radio program from the DC area. You should be able to find it easily.
I shoulda looked before sending the previous comment….it’s from the Jan 30, 2007 podcast.
it’s always good to see things worign out for indy metal! THA’s new record is pretty damn amazing. [though, i do kind of think that the vocals a bit high in the mix somewhat drowning out some of that incredible guitar work]…
very cool that the Toadies are back! strangely enough, i dug out my “rubberneck” cd a few weeks ago… it’s still awesome.
Disagree with the statement about Roadrunner.Tell me I’m seriously the only one who is tired of this label signing mediocre rock acts from Europe.With the exception of maybe one or two bands, I have shit on everything RR has inked in the past two years or so.C’mon, have you guys heard Amanda Palmer?She’s not even good, and I have a wide enough pallet that if she were any good, I could appreciate it.
Well, I contributed to two of those numbers from this past week’s debuts: Black Stone Cherry (like you, Vince, I like ‘em but don’t love ‘em) and The Human Abstract (solid as hell album).
Heard the new Staind single. Shocker! It’s a brooding ballad. Whodathunk it?
I work at a CD place. We got like 60 copies of that Scars on Broadway sitting around boxed up that noone wants. Flop, it did. Slipknot’s gonna crush the charts the next week if how much we’ve been selling it is any indication. Might even give Jonas Bro’s a run for their money. Turns out a lot of people like Slipknot.