The Rise Of Extremism and Terminator Salvation

A lot of you complained about my last blog and how I didn’t talk about metal and my decision to leave God Forbid. Unfortunately, some people just don’t get how certain things relate to each other and it’s not my job to help the short bus kids along. Don’t look in the mirror. I don’t want you to think I’m talking about you. You’re not that important. With that said, my Susan Boyle blog was completely metal and did relate to me exiting God Forbid even if I left before Susan Boyle became famous. It like Tupac making videos and albums after he was shot to death. We all know Tupac lives. He really does!

I’m going to talk about the most metal thing ever. Extremism and Terminator Salvation. If you saw the Terminator Salvation trailer before it was rated PG-13 you probably thought it was going to be the best movie ever. That trailer is absolutely bad-ass.

Here it is:

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Our bro-bros at Metal Insider brought up a good point yesterday; what’s the point of saying your band is breaking up or going on hiatus if it don’t mean shit in the end? Srsly wtf lolz! With the pending Faith No More and Cave In reunions this Summer literally every band to ever break up that still has enough living members to do so — and even some without — is doing a reunion in some capacity. Last summer’s roster of reunionites included Carcass and At the Gates, amongst others. And don’t front; the Soundgarden reunion will happen eventually. I’d put money on it.

So I hereby declare a moratorium on breaking up. Artistic differences? Don’t wanna hear it. Tired of touring? Tell me that again in a year when your records ain’t selling, you’re flat broke and you’re tired of flipping burgers. Fucked a band member’s girlfriend? Kiss and make up, then have a threesome. Don’t give me no “on hiatus” crap either ’cause that’s just a way of pussyfooting around the fact that you do plan on eventually playing together again. Just say nothing! Is that so hard? Quietly disappear, then come back years later and take the world by storm. Your lives, and ours, will be henceforth be much more drama-free.

-VN

No, you’re not seeing things – those are Murderface socks. For when you feel like your feet just aren’t metal enough.

According to Topless Robot, the socks are part of Adult Swim’s new, “shockingly understated” clothing line, called – ahem – The Finer Things. And they’ll run you about $15. Which seems like too much to pay for Murderface socks, but, hey, I’ve certainly done dumber things with my money.

You can order yourself a pair here.

-AR

See? We do read all of your suggestions.

• Zu: “baritone sax, drums and bass that sounds like meshuggah and it also features mike patton on track and they are from italy and having their album released through ipecac” [description courtesy of Patrik A.]
• Senate: Tight n’ heavy modern thrash with hints of Swedecore ala Sylosis, or Bodom without the cheese. New album comes out this summer. [sent in by Matt D.F.]
• Scamp: Pummeling Euro-thrash from Denmark that sounds a lot like their fellow countrymen in Mnemic. [sent in by Anders T. in blacklash to our Volbeat post.]

-VN

As I mentioned earlier this week, a little while back I got an e-mail from The Autumn Offering vocalist Matt McChesney to discuss an extremely negative review I’d given the band’s last album, Fear Will Cast No Shadow. McChesney could have been a total dick about the whole thing, but as it turns out, he’s a very even headed, intelligent, and cool dude. So what else was there to do but interview him about the band’s new album, Requiem, which will come out June 9 on Victory. McChesney was even good enough to let us debut the first single off of that album, “The Curtain Hits The Cast,” for which the band will shoot a video in the coming weeks.

I still haven’t heard the new album, but I do already like this song way, way more than anything from Fear Will Cast No Shadow; it’s catchy and it doesn’t sound overly processed, which, I think, is what The Autumn Offering were striving for. Check out the song below, and then my conversation with Matt McChesney after the jump! (FYI – for fear that this was all a set-up for Matt to have me murdered, the interview was conducted by e-mail.)

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I know that many of you are upset that I made light of the swine flu epidemic yesterday. Following a pretty harsh e-mail from longtime MetalSucks Maniac Mark Moritz-Rabson scolding me for making light of such a dire situation, I realized that this time I may have finally gone too far.

I implore you to go to this site to get the facts about swine flu. And, again, my apologies.

UPDATE: Thanks to Rob at Metal Injection for pointing us towards this site, which is also very informative.

-AR

Our hetero life partners are Metal Injection have captured some typically testicle-tickling footage of Genghis Tron, Tombs, Wetnurse and Black Anvil at a recent “Show No Mercy” gig – the concert writer Brandon Stosuy puts on in Brooklyn one Sunday out of every month.

Here’s a sample – more specifically, Genghis Tron performing one of my most favoritist songs of theirs, “Ride the Steambolt.” Go here to check out more awesome clips of GT as well as Tombs, Wetnurse and Black Anvil!

-AR

Just yesterday I saw a kid an Atreyu shirt and thought to myself… “Where the fuck has THAT band been lately?”

Metal Hammer doth answer my query today; apparently the band is in the studio with producer Bob Marlette, who, it should be noted, is not only a producer but a talented rock songwriter (Hollywood Records A&R exec to Atreyu: “Last record flopped. We’re getting you songwriting help. Deal with it.”)

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MetalSucks Maniac Matt Clark sent us the link to the below video of the unsigned band YEAH! Destroyer covering Katy Perry’s “Hot N’ Cold.” And while I’m fairly certain Matt meant for us to see this cover as a good thing, I have to say – it fucking sucks. And I’m sick of bands doing this kind of shit.

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So a lot of you guessed that the answer to last week’s logo was Hist. And while I can see why you might think that, the correct answer was actually HØST. No, I don’t know why some cultures put a line through their letter “o”s, and being a right proper patriot (read: xenophobe), I don’t especially care. But congrats to MetalSucks Maniacs Amber Duchateau, Travis Dvoracek, and Ryan Liedel, all of whom answered correctly, and all of whom now get ultra-special super duper yowza edition of Machine Head’s 2007 instant classic, The Blackening (pictured left).

But don’t cut your wrists if you didn’t win: the righteous dudes and dudettes at Roadrunner have provided us with two (2) more of these babies to give away this week. In addition to the album, you get two bonus tracks – a cover of Maiden’s “Hallowed By Thy Name” and a cover of Metallica’s “Battery” – PLUS a DVD with live performances, music videos, “making of” specials on those music videos, and, the piece de resistance, a “making of” documentary about the creation of The Blackening itself. So clearly, if you’re a fan of Machine Head or just good fucking metal in general, you need to own this.

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 DOT net. We’ll randomly select two winners from everyone who gets it right, and announce his or her names next week.

Thanks to longtime MetalSucks Maniac Attila Korsós for suggesting this week’s logo… it’s so fucking difficult it’s retarded, so I’ll be very impressed with those of you who get it right:

-AR

Someday I’d like to try and work out some sort of mathematical formula to determine which bands actually do have the most brutal pits. You might think there’d be some correlation between pit violence and aural weight, but that doesn’t explain why, say, Napalm Death pits are, though nothing to scoff at, a fly on the ass of a Slayer pit. Fascinating.

Two bands that generally do have big, scary fucking pits: Hatebreed and Chimaira. And now Lambgoat reports that they’ll spend the late summer touring together. I know I sometimes give Jamey Jasta and company shit on this site, but, really, Hatebreed are best enjoyed in a live setting, where they pretty much manage to destroy each and every time they take the stage. And my feelings on Chimaira are, by now, I think pretty well documented.

Does the tour rider include provisions for multiple on-site ambulances? I sure hope so. Get tour dates after the jump.

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This morning a friend of mine was riding the subway. Being afflicted with terrible allergies (as I am myself), he sneezed (into his hand – not the open air) and rubbed his sore eyes – at which point some fuckwit apparently started screaming at him about spreading swine flu and told him he should be wearing a mask. At which point, God bless him, my friend did the only logical thing: he started coughing in the fucker’s face.

PEOPLE: YOU DO NOT HAVE FUCKING SWINE FLU. THIS IS NOT A PANDEMIC. CALM THE FUCK DOWN. At best, this is the media’s way of distracting us from all the other fucked up shit going on right now. And if by some fucking chance it is mankind’s time to return to the dark ages – WHICH IT FUCKING IS NOT – well, you can’t say we didn’t have it coming.

Speaking of swine and people acting like fucking maniacs: here’s Pig Destroyer’s video for “Piss Angel,” off of 2001′s Prowler in the Yard. Thanks to my comrade Gary Suarez for the suggestion.

-AR

With regards to this morning’s post about a potential Cave In reunion, it seems there was some confusion on the Interwebs. Thankfully we just received this press release directly from Cave In’s camp, delivered by carrier pigeon and left at the gates of the MS Mansion:

After 3 1/2 long years, Cave In has decided to end its hiatus. Please join us for an EP release show at Great Scott’s (1222 Commonwealth Ave., Allston MA) on Sunday, July 19th @ 9PM. Also playing will be our friends Disappearer and Phantom Glue. Copies of the “Planets Of Old” limited 12″ (recorded by Adam Taylor, Alex Hartman & Johnny Northrup @ Camp St. Studio) from Hydra Head Records will be available that night.

We hope to see your lovely selves.

Steve, Adam, J.R., Caleb
CAVE IN

So, that’s that. Of note is the phrase “decided to end its hiatus,” indicating that the band never fully intended to “break up” so much as take a break. Which, in hindsight, is true: at the time, the band was deliberate in saying that they planned to go on hiatus. [System of a Down fans, take note: that band also said they were going "on hiatus," not breaking up. Don't get your panties in a tizzy over the eventual "reunion."]

Semantics aside, the result is the same: new Cave In in July. Now it’s official. Hoo-ray.

After the jump, live footage of the band performing “Anchor” on… MTV’s (!) Last Call with Carson Daly. Woah!

-VN

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“Daggers,” the new video from The Chariot, is pretty sweet, if you ask me. We’ve certainly seen live action and hand drawn-lookin’ animation integrated before, but, hey, anything with animated vomit is cool in my book.

The Chariot’s new album, Wars and Rumors of Wars, comes out May 5 on Solid State Records.

-AR

Lacuna Coil makes it easy for haters. For one thing, their latest (and best) album ostensibly explores the meaninglessness of modern life, yet Shallow Life itself is immediate, thoughtless pop. Luckily, it’s awesome pop, to be enjoyed in the same disposable way as Doritos and Indiana Jones: as good, pointless fun. And though it suffers for its lack of depth, most of the Shallow Life experience is awesome hookery bolstered by Don Gilmore’s micro-tuned (post-)production. Arrangements are mercilessly utilitarian, with very few intros or outros or reps. At first, the record’s swift economy of riffage kinda feels like abridgement, like Reader’s Digest’s Shallow Life. But it’s soon clear that the brevity is basically a mercy killing, cuz, if you recall, guitarists Cristiano Migliore and Marco Biazzi played like vaginas on 2006’s otherwise awesome Karmacode. Those two either needed to get a style, or be banished to the background with (snicker) the keyboard player – and they are on Shallow Life. Out of convenience if not necessity, Gilmore’s Lacuna Coil is no longer a guitar band, but a pop band with heavy guitars, like Paramore, Garbage, and In Flames.

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I’ve given my Scraping Genius… seal of approval to Disappearer before, though that was based on the fierce Massachusetts noise rock trio’s fucking demo (which you can download for free). Those of you who loved those tracks will be happy to hear that Disappearer’s debut album is imminent.

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[UPDATE: The band has posted an official update clarifying the matter.]

It was inevitable, right?

MetalSucks Maniac Scott Reisher sent in a now-defunct link from the Boston Phoenix announcing that the classic Jupiter-era lineup has reunited for a new vinyl-only EP, to be called Planets of Old, which will see a July release through Hydra Head Records.

The fact that the Boston Phoenix story is now down is worth noting; perhaps someone leaked info prematurely or perhaps all the facts weren’t straight. A Lambgoat report corroborates the above news but also cites the pulled Phoenix link as a source.

So, assuming this news is true, it begs the question:

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Fresh off the heels of the announcement that Creed will be reuniting this Summer (sigh…), Myles Kennedy — aka the actually-quite-talented singer 3/4ths of Creed hired to replace Scott Stapp in their new band Alter Bridge — issued a press release clarifying the future of that band. Thankfully MetalSucks is here to cut through the bullshit and give you the real skinny; we sent the offending press release over to the gifted MS Mansion Monkeys to parse, and the following is what we got back (our snarky commentary in bold:

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This is pretty straight-forward: IWRESTLEDABEARONCE’s Century Media debut, It’s All Happening, is coming out June 2, and, as is de rigeur, the band will now be posting a series of behind-the-scenes videos on the internet.com to give fans a taste of the in-studio insanity. And, yes, I fully plan on posting each and every video.

Some people will watch this, see the band having fun, and take it as yet another sign that IWABO are ironic hipster doucheturds who don’t take metal seriously (because the memo that metal can’t be fun apparently never found it’s way to Louisiana). And those people, I say: Have fun sulking in the corner. We’ll be over here getting fucked up and having a good time.

-AR

Today is the kind of day that makes me wanna go up to the roof of the MetalSucks Mansion with a gun and just start picking people off. Luckily for everyone, then, that a) I don’t actually own a gun, and b) there’s new music from the UK’s extreme industrial blackened death grind act, Anaal Nathrakh, currently streaming on the band’s MySpace page.

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