Props go out to MetalSucks Maniacs Troy Burns, Liza Shue, Jonathan O’Reilly, Dave Muntean and Adam Mielnicki. They each correctly identified last week’s logo as belonging to the hilariously monikered band Cuntscrape, and each win an autographed New York Dolls One Day it Will Please Us to Remember Even This CD booklet. Good work, everyone!

Okay. So. We have five, and only five, booklets remaining. These things are sweet and, c’mon, IT’S THE NEW YORK FUCKING DOLLS, so you want one – and this is your absolute last chance to get a copy.

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.

Ladies and gents, start yer engines… it’s a hard one this week…

-AR

…that the album is available for pre-order! Hoo-ray!

Yes, it may seem slightly anti-climatic after the release of some actual new music a little earlier today, but the album will be available in a variety of editions, including this bad-ass mofo:

After the jump, get details on what comes in the super duper deluxe awesome happy good time edition.

Click to read more…

Speaking of Atlanta, here’s Dååth’s Eyal Levi and Emil Werstler jamming for a segment on FPE-TV. It’s a good Tuesday afternoon song to get stoned to… even if you’re smoking someplace that isn’t Atlanta.

You can watch Werstler tear some more shit up here. We’ve heard Dååth’s new album, The Concealers, and it’s killer – and Werstler has some really, really tasty solos. You can hear when it comes out April 21 on Century via a partnership with Roadrunner. In the meantime, enjoy some new Dååth here, here, and here.

-AR

Last year Vader joined the re-recording club with the time-wasting and completely pointless XXV – and now I’m starting to wonder if the ridiculous exercise has sucked all the juice out of their mind grapes. The band has posted a demo for a new song, “Rise of the Undead,” on their website, and the song is the very definition of “forgettable.” And I say this as a Vader fan – it just doesn’t make me excited to hear their new album, Necropolis. In fact, it just makes me want to listen to The Absence’s album Necropolis, as everything on that record is vastly superior to this song.

Download the song below, then hit me with your best thoughts. Necropolis, the band’s first album with their new line-up, will be out later this year.

Vader, “Rise of the Undead” (Demo) – Necropolis

-AR

If you like Oceano or have no particular problem with the fact that Emmure shamelessly ripped-off The Acacia Strain, then boy do I have an album for you.

Click to read more…

Axl did such a fine job recapping this past weekend’s Scion Rock Fest that there’s no need for me to reiterate what he already wrote. But even your MS editors part ways once in a while, and while Axl watched the end of Pig Destroyer’s shortened set I headed inside to catch Krallice purely for the curiosity factor. What I saw completely blew my mind and was easily the highlight of the day for me.

Click to read more…

The Adequate Response to Criticism; An Artist’s Perspective

Criticism. Criticism is something all artists who release their work on a broad scale must encounter. Many of us who do so approach these reflections in our own ways. On Metalsucks, my blogger brother, Dallas, has had the monopoly on providing that perspective in regards to God Forbid, which I think is unfortunate because I think it provides an inaccurate picture of the band’s collective or individual views. My motivations in writing this are not only to respond to the detractors of my band, but also to give an alternative view on the mindset of the motivations and mentality behind what we (who aren’t Dallas in God Forbid) do and what we hope to accomplish.

Not too long ago, Dallas released a blog insisting that he hoped our new album would get bad reviews in light of a theory that bad reviews would trigger some kind of reverse psychological effect in terms of success with the band. I guess that theory has some basis in the fact in that some bands whom although they don’t necessarily get critical acclaim, it isn’t directly tied to overall record sales or popularity (Disturbed, Insane Clown Posse, etc). The fact is, God Forbid has more or less gotten good reviews since the release of Determination, and maintained a good relationship with the metal media. In a sense, I feel like metal media has always been rooting for us. In that respect, I felt the assertion was off base because I felt pretty good about the new album. The only effect Dallas’s commentary would have is to make some people who would normally be allies into adversaries. I think what he was generally trying to say was that he doesn’t care what people think. What many people who respond to Metalsucks and Blabbermouth don’t understand is that he is mainly trying to push buttons, and even if the commentary is negative, you’re doing something right as long as people are talking about you. I think the jury is still out on that one.

Click to read more…

Hey, it worked for 300, right?

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Ok, ok, fine, THIS is quite obviously the worst tour ever. But the recently announced lineup for Cruefest 2 is giving it a run for its money; Godsuck, Theory of a Deadsuck, Saving Abel (no less sucky, but left “suck”-less here for clarity’s sake) and Drowning Suck will support the ever-fading but still marginally credible Motley Crue.

Funny story about Saving Abel. I was invited to a showcase for the band on the roof of their record label’s building, and before the band played their manager slipped up and introduced them as “Saving Label.” Whoops!

Anyway, the Crue seem to have acknowledged that the only fans who will still patronize their umpteenth reunion tour are the whitest of the whitey white trash; fitting then that they’ve titled this year’s tour “The White Trash Circus.”

Click to read more…

A big big BIG thanks to MetalSucks Maniacs Cincitucky and Shep, who just brought to my attention that Chimaira have jumped the gun and released a new single, “Secrets of the Dead,” hours before its scheduled release of 3 pm EST today (unless there’s something ELSE cool coming at 3 pm… but I assume this was the big surprise vocalist Mark Hunter promised us).

And hey, guess what? Chimaira didn’t disappoint. Mark Hunter told me when I interviewed him that this album is a little slower than we’re used to from the Cleveland sextet, and he wasn’t lying; this is some pure elephants marching to war shit.

Click to read more…

Looks like I’m gonna hafta post two Chimaira stories today. The band is supposed to have some big cool thing at 3pm EST today – we’re assuming it’s the release of a new single from their forthcoming new album, The Infection. While we wait to find out for sure, the below video was posted on the band’s website over the weekend – I’m assuming as part of their spread-the-infection viral campaign. It’s a little long, but… God DAMN, somebody put a solid amount of work into this clip.

The Infection will be released on April 21 via Ferret here in the States and Nuclear Blast everywhere else. Fingers crossed that we get to hear some new music a little later today…

-AR

P.S. I command you to read my interview with Chimaira’s Mark Hunter!

There isn’t really anything in the latest Cannibal Corpse video – the title track from Evisceration Plague – that you haven’t seen before in a hundred horror movies or death metal videos. BUT, the band is awesome, the song is awesome, and the album is awesome, so it seems worth posting anyway! Grrrrrrrrrrr…

-AR

Faith No Mania continues!

Following the news that the legendary Faith No More are, in fact, reuniting, it has just been announced that they will headline the opening night of this year’s Download Festival in the UK. Slipknot and Def Leppard will headline the following nights.

Oddly enough, the FNM-inspired nu-metal acts that Mike Patton has repeatedly professed hatred for, Korn and Limp Bizkit, will play earlier that same day.

Will Patton make fun of Fred Durst from the stage? Will Nikki Sixx throw a fit that Motley Crue’s umpteenth tour isn’t nearly as newsworthy? Can FNM’s performance even possibly live up to expectations? I guess we’ll have to wait and find out.

On a side note: I know some non-European readers have been freaking out because the band allegedly has no plans to tour the rest of the world right now. All I can say is: chill. We have it from a good source that this reunion is going to last quite awhile. Just be patient.

-AR

As Axl said this morning, Mastodon’s set at this weekend’s Scion Rock Fest was absolutely monstrous, a highlight of which was the new material from their epic new album Crack the Skye. So much so that when we finally boarded the plane to take us home we both went straight for our iPods and simultaneously selected Crack the Skye as the album that would take us into the air to, err, Crack the Skye (rimshot!). So trust us when we say that you won’t want to pass up this opportunity: The End’s Omega Mailorder is running a special pre-order blitz for the new album, and they’ve got four different configurations you can order — CD, CD/DVD, vinyl, and double-vinyl w/7″. They are also taking pre-orders for the “Divinations” picture disc vinyl, which features two versions of the first single from Crack The Skye. Not only are these packages all insanely affordable, but there’s also a special package deal that includes an exclusive Mastodon t-shirt. So get on your shit and order one right now!. The album’s damn fine, and you don’t want to pass up this opportunity.

-VN

AND THE HITS KEEP COMING!

As part of our ongoing effort to bring you the best live metal for your dollar, I’m proud to announce on behalf of everyone here at MetalSucks that’ll be sponsoring The Human Abstract’s headlining trek this Spring. 2006′s Nocturne announced THA as one of the most exciting prog-metal acts on the scene today, a status which last year’s Midheaven only expanded upon. And if you think that shit’s impressive on record, you’ve GOT to see them do it live – it is 100% guaranteed to induce orgasm. Add metalcore mavericks Oh, Sleeper and Vanna, PLUS MetalSucks perennial  favorite experimental electrogrind mind fuck act, IWRESTLEDABEARONCE, and you have one hell of a bill that you simply cannot afford to miss. And A Tragic Victory and To Speak of Wolves are playing select dates, too! Holy shit, these shows are gonna be fun.

Tour dates are on the poster above. We’ll post any updates we get, and, of course, check in from time to time to remind you that you need to go to these shows. ‘Cause you need to go to these shows. Seriously. Shouldn’t you be on line already? You better go get on line now.

-AR

Holy shit. Once upon a time, Axl and Vince started this site for shits n’ giggles, thinking that maybe some day, if they were real lucky, someone would send them some free CDs; here we are, two years later, and MetalSucks has been nominated for an award. Crazy!

So: Metal Hammer has graciously nominated us for “Best Reviews Award.” Please go to their web site and leave comments telling everyone how awesome we are, ’cause the panel that decides who wins will be taking said comments into account (Of course, if you hate us, you can leave comments about how bad we suck, too. Just know that if you decide to leave a negative comment, your penis will fall off – and if you don’t have a penis, you will suddenly grow one. Fair warning.).

Winners will be announced April 6. We’d like to thank the Academy…

-Axl, Vince, and Everyone at MetalSucks

If not for Kat from Salome, Skeletonwitch vocalist Chance Garnette probably would’ve won MVP for Scion Rock Fest. Seriously, this fucker is the man.

Here’s the band’s video for “Sacrifice for the Slaughtered,” off their most recent album, Beyond the Permafrost. The band played a new song at Scion and expect to have their next release out later this year.

-AR

With record stores large and small closing as a result of a crummy economy and ongoing changes in how music is consumed, the idea of Record Store Day seems like a quaint misplaced sentiment. Still, for a noise rock geek like me, this April 18th “event” might be too enticing to resist since there will be an exclusive 7″ vinyl boxset from The Jesus Lizard on sale!

Click to read more…

TheFuckingWeather.com tells me “21°!? IT’S FUCKING COLD. Should have gone south,” as if looking outside at the foot of snow on the ground didn’t make it obvious. Funny enough, we did go south this weekend. But it snowed 4 fucking inches down there, stranding all of our friends and causing inexperienced Atlantans to drive like complete and utter assholes (seriously, people… get it together), worsening my pot-induced paranoia as Ax and I attempted to high-tail it to the airport to make our flight out (we missed it).

This morning I was listening to Misery Signals excellent 2008 album Controller on my iPod and it seemed to perfectly fit the cold, morose mood of the day. Here’s the video for “A Certain Death,” not my favorite track on the record but a pretty good one nonetheless.

-VN

That I’m sitting here in the MetalSucks Mansion this snowy Monday morning has gotta be some kinda heavy metal miracle; as I type this, Anton OyVey, Rob Pasbani from Metal Injection, our friends from BITPOM.com, and a lot of other fine friends are still stranded in Atlanta due to the weather.

And honestly, there are worse towns in which to be stranded. To my shock, not only is the booze in Atlanta shockingly cheap, not only is the purp somehow completely fucking magical, but the city is about as chill as you could hope for. I kinda miss it already.

But enough wistful reminiscing. After the jump, get my thoughts on some of the best bands of Saturday’s totally excellent Scion Rock Fest!

Click to read more…