We loved Neuraxis’ 2008 release, The Thin Line Between, so much that the opportunity to have the band do an exclusive tour blog for MetalSucks was too good an opportunity to pass up. Below, check out vocalist Alexandre Leblanc’s latest entry; you can read guitarist Rob Milley’s intial entry here, Alexandre’s last entry here, and Alexandre’s review of the Oscar nominated film The Wrestler here. Enjoy!

Portland, February 6th

After a killer set, we went to the bar for a drink with Tiffany and her friends.  She has been friends with the band since their tour with Necrophagist hit Portland in 2006.  She always invites us to her place and spoils us.  Anyway, I got my drinking ticket denied because I wanted a white russian or a 7up/Southern Comfort (favorite drinks of mine), so I got a whiskey and coke… more like a glass of whiskey with a bit of coke for color.  We ended up at her place for some food, smoking (it’s Oregon after all) and eating some special cookies made just for us.  The sad thing is we have to leave by 3am for a long long ride to California.

Quote of the night: ”Wow, they barely taste like cookies.”
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The fine lads and ladesses over at Roadrunner Records have compiled a list of the Top 50 greatest metal frontmen of all-time for you, me and everyone to endlessly argue over (like, seriously: we still get comments on a daily basis on our ages-old posts about Metal Hammer’s Best Death Metal Songs of All Time list and Rolling Stone’s Best Guitarists of All Time list.) What’s interesting about Roadrunner’s list is that in the interest of journalistic integrity all Roadrunnner Records artists have been excluded from the list. How ’bout them apples? The editors of the list also took care to point out that this is a list of the greatest “front-men,” not “singers,” an apt distinction indeed.

After the jump, Roadrunner’s entire list. Followed by your comments.

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The infuriating thing about Tombs’ Relapse debut, Winter Hours, at least for a man in my profession, is that it’s hard to quantify why it’s so good. The band’s solid mishmash of genres begs for praise, but as a thick, layered listen, it’s hard to do said praising. Does one touch upon the aforementioned genre-bending mishmash, Winter Hours‘ compact yet haunting presentation, or not lapsing into the masturbatory reverb and feedback drone metal exercises like their hometown (Brooklyn) may imply? Perhaps the album’s greatness lies in that it can’t be pinned down, that it survives and flourishes on its own merits as opposed to thriving within a definite category. Not that it’s bad to thrive under a particular label, but sometimes the unquestioned triumph of the gut is just as resounding as, say, Blut aus Nord making an exceptional black metal record. Though in a time when metal comment boards are reducing every band to the greatest band ever or a total “shit band,” the most important thing you need to know about Winter Hours is that it’s really, really good.

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This song has been stuck in my head for a week – I’m not sure why. Maybe they were vamping it at Meshuggah?

Doesn’t matter. Here’s Testament playing “Disciples of the Watch” in Italy in ’92. I’m sure someone will call me a pussy for saying this, but the intro to this song is so incredibly bad assed that not to play it as part of the live song is fucking criminal. At least play a fuckin’ recording of it like Metallica would, fellas.

-AR

Horns up for MetalSucks Maniacs David Massey, Alex Carter, Andrew McCann, Andy Robbins and Tim Meisenheimer; they each correctly identified last week’s logo as belonging to the band Plerosis, and each win a copy of Airbourne’s Runnin’ Wild for their trobules. Good job, fellas! Now go throw some shrip on the barbie, let the dingo eat your baby, and whatever other Australian stereotypes you can think of as you rock out to the best AC/DC album AC/DC never made.

Now, this week: Roadrunner has graciously donated ten more of the autographed New York Dolls One Day it Will Please Us to Remember Even This CD booklet that proved to be so popular (and rightfully so!) back in January. We’ll give away five this week and five next week, and then, when they’re gone, they are g-o-n-e.

Please note that we’re not giving away any copies of the actual One Day it Will Please Us… CD. Still, that shouldn’t bother you ’cause a) it’s been out for awhile and hopefully you already own it and b) this prize is so fucking cool in and of itself.

All you have to do to win is identify the name of the band whose logo appears below, then shoot me an e-mail with your answer, your name and address at axl [at] metalsucks.net. We’ll randomly select five winners from everyone who gets it right, and announce his or her names next week. BTW, while I obviously can’t tell you what the name of the band is, I can say that they easily have the funniest name of any unreadable band logo so far…

Good luck!

-AR

Happy Fat Tuesday, metal fans! May your evening be full of beads, booze, and bodily harm! In celebration, I tried to find some New-Orleans-Mardi-Gras-type music on my iPod today that would be appropriate for this day, and the closest I came was Down’s III: Over The Under. I love this fucking record.

While we’re still waiting for word on a full list of tour dates for that NOLA supergroup, news that southern sludgesmiths Outlaw Order (essentially Eyehategod minus one guy) are planning a few weeks of U.S. gigs to support 2008′s Dragging Down The Enforcer on the Season of Mist label. Support on all dates comes from Ivan Drago fanatics If He Dies He Dies. To say that these concerts will slay is a huge understatement.

-GS

[Gary Suarez is going to win Mega Millions tonight. He also writes for Brainwashed and sporadically manages the consistently off-topic No Yoko No.]

What’s up everyone? Today is the day Earthsblood comes out and I’d like to thank MetalSucks for supporting the band and this record from even before they had a chance to hear it. What to say about Earthsblood? 1) The album kicks ass. 2) It’s getting great reviews across the board even though I requested that not to happen. 3) Don’t listen to me because I’m just a musician trying to create waves! I don’t know shit.

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The webernet rumor mill has been swirling for months with talk of a Faith No More reunion this summer, but to date no one in the band’s camp has commented on the matter. And that remains true today… sort of. In a press release announcing FNM frontman Mike Patton’s involvement with the score of the feature film Crank 2, the last sentence alluded to said reunion (emphasis added):

Patton has also provided vocals to several videogames including “Bionic Commando,” “Portal,” “Left 4 Dead,” and “The Darkness.” He also lent his voice to Adult Swim’s Metalocalypse (character name: Rikki Kix). Patton just wrapped up a trek across Australia with Fantômas as part of the Big Day Out festival. His upcoming schedule includes a performance with labelmates Zu (Mar. 19 @ Great American Music Hallin San Francisco), the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on Apr. 17 with Rahzel (ex-Roots beatboxer) and the highly anticipated reunion tour with Faith No More in Europe this summer.

So, um… is it happening or isn’t it?

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I have to admit, the Shockhound series “Stella Can’t Cook,” in which Stella invites her rockstar friends into the kitchen to make a dish of their choice, is pretty entertaining. The episode featuring Marta from Bleeding Through was good enough, but the latest ep with Silenoz of Norwegian dark lords Dimmu Borgir is even better if for no other reason than his complete apathy and disinterest in the entire situation. Except when it comes to spicy mustard: “Regular mustard is for pussies.” Amen, Silenoz, a-fucking-men.

-VN

Josh Freese e-mailed music biz guru Bob Lefsetz to give a somewhat more in-depth explanation of the awesome, hilarious package deals he’s offering for his new solo album, Since 1972. Once again, I’m just gonna go ahead and print this in its entirety, since Josh does just fine without me adding my two cents…

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-AR

As you are (hopefully) already aware, God Forbid’s latest opus, Earthsblood, hits stores today. Guitarists Doc and Dallas Coyle was cool enough to give us a track-by-track breakdown of each song on what is inarguably the band’s best record to date. Enjoy!

1.”The Discovery” – The intro for Earthsblood came about in a peculiar way. The original piece started with the doomy guitars that kick in around 40 seconds into it. We wrote it as part of our black metal side project called Hell Nigger. It was the outro for a song that we wrote in one day. Without the keys and stuff, it sounded more like Morbid Angel, but with the new album having a much darker tone, we thought it would make a cool intro to the album. The piano piece was actually played and composed (with some direction from Dallas and I) by my Dad, Kevin Coyle. We showed him the chords that the guitars were playing, and he started doing this arpeggiated Danny Elfman thing that just killed. Our Dad is a piano teacher and has been playing for like 40 years. He also played on our last album. The orchestration was performed by Michael Romeo from Symphony X. We met each other through our producer, Eric Rachel. He has his own home studio where Symphony X records their albums and this orchestration program that costs some ungodly amount of money, and takes 4 computers to run. Apparently, they use that program to do film scores. Mike is incredible, and I can’t thank him enough for adding some much virtuosity to the record.
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Full confession: Vince and I were not Sentenced fans. Speaking for myself, it’s not even like I hate the band or anything; I honestly don’t know enough about their music to make a judgement one way or the other. Shame on me, I know. There’s only so many hours in the day.

But a lot of you e-mailed us about the news that the band’s guitarist (and, apparently, primary songwriter), Miika Tenkula, has passed away at the age of 34. He obviously meant a lot to you guys and we certainly appreciate that. It’s always a tragedy when someone dies so young, but the fact that we’ve lost a musician whose art obviously touched a lot of people makes the sting that much sharper.

Here’s the band’s video for “Killing Me Killing You.” Hopefully it  provides some catharsis for all the Sentenced fans out there…

-AR

Thanks to our pal Anso at Hipsters Out of Metal! for noticing something we somehow completely missed: there’s a new Lacuna Coil single, “Spellbound.” It’s considerably more of a straight-forward hard rock track than we’ve heard from this band in the past… and I’m honestly not sure right now how I feel about that. One thing I do think (and I’m once again seconding Anso’s sentiments): not enough Christina Scabbia. Does anyone really think people listen to this band because of the other guy? Gimme a break.

Shallow Life, the new album from Christina Scabbia and some other dudes no one cares about, will be released on Century on April 21 (one day earlier in Europe).

-AR

Contrary to popular belief, I actually thought the video of M.A.N. guitarist Robert “Rob Guz” Gustafsson showing off his sick skillz on an 11-string guitar was pretty cool. Ditto for this video featuring Viraemia bass player “Scott” (no last name given) noodling around on his gargantuan 11-string bass, sent in by MS Maniac “Slender.” Odds are that this video will receive way more praise and way less derision than the aforementioned Rob Guz video, if only because Viraemia’s metal sub-genre is way more in favor with the scene kids who populate this site’s comment sections these days.

-VN

I call bullshit. This new Queensryche song “If I Were King” — from the forthcoming album American Soldier (March 31st, Atco/Rhino) — sounds like a cheap imitation of the real Queensryche. It lacks balls, it’s cheesy, and Geoff Tate sounds like he’s going through puberty all over again. I suppose I loves me some Queensryche, but this just sucks. Even 2003′s Tribe was a decent record, probably because Chris DeGarmo came back into the fold to write and record it (though he bailed before the following tour). Operation: Mindcrime II was kind of a snoozefest, and now this… zzzzz.

Side note: premiering a new track on MP3.com? What is this, 1998?

-VN

When MetalSucks contributor Christopher Roddy phoned Jesse Haff for his scheduled interview, the Daylight Dies drummer was busy working — on a holiday. As much as we love Daylight Dies and continue to spread the word to the masses, Haff pays his bills as the sole web developer for a 60-person media firm in Los Angeles, though he works from Brooklyn where he’s recently relocated from his native North Carolina. Though Haff was busy juggling work with rehearsing daily for the then-upcoming 10-date tour with Soilwork and Darkane, he still found time to give Roddy an incredibly engaging interview, offering insight into the band’s early days with Relapse Records, the band’s current state of affairs, and their writing and recording process for Dismantling Devotion and Lost to the Living. Read the full interview after the jump.

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Actually I doubt that Scott Smith’s book or the ensuing cinematic adaptation really had much influence on the makers of The Haunted’s new video, “Trenches.” But, I’m sleepy and simple minded today and they’re both about killer plants, so, there ya have it. Deal with it, bitches.

The Haunted are doing an awesome tour later this year with Nachtmystium, Kylesa and Intronaut. While you’re waiting for it to come to your town, don’t forget to check out Haunted frontman Peter Dolving’s guest blogs for MetalSucks here and here.

-AR

I know we’ve been talking about a movies a lot today; I dunno, it’s a cinemetal kinda day. Maybe ’cause the Oscraps were last night.

ANYWAY, are y’all familiar with the fine work of Mr. John Sayles? He got his started writing Roger Corman b-movies like Piranha (the Jaws rip-off) and Alligator (about a giant alligator eating people in the sewers of NYC) and still makes ends meet by doing re-write work on big budget crap (Bad Boys II, for one – but he also wrote a draft of Jurassic Park IV that was about, I shit you not, genetically modified super dinosaurs that the government uses to combat drug lords). But his true calling is being a director of little, intimate, talky indie movies – Lone Star, Sunshine State, and The Brother from Another Planet, amongst others, are all John Sayles joints.

Why am I telling you all this? Because apparently Sayles is going to write a new HBO series based on the life of Red Hot Chili Pepper front dude Anthony Kiedis.

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There’s an incomplete version of Mastodon’s Crack the Skye that hit the webernets last Friday; we’re told it’s missing one track and one is named incorrectly. The bit rate is also low (128kbps). But yo, NEW MASTO-FUCKING-DON!

As previously reported, with all the big releases slated for the early part of ’09 Mastodon kinda got lost in the shuffle for me; but boy was I wrong to underestimate the ‘Don.

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