For this week’s edition of Malmsteen Monday we’ll dial it down a notch but by no means relent on the fun. “Forever One” from 1994′s The Seventh Sign, showed Ying-Ying’s soft and tender side, and the video showed his desire to always be the center of attention despite poor Michael Vescera’s strong vocal performance. I’m mystified (but titillated) by the mysterious broad in the leather jacket, stone-washed jeans and studded bra; chicks like this were the only reason anyone watched hair metal videos in 1994. If you can’t wait to get your shred on, the ball-ripping solo starts at around 2:50 (complete with acoustic shred intro!)

-VN

Hey hey hey kids. In honor of the fact that it’s a) 4/20 and b) just one day before the release of Dååth’s awesome new album, The Concealers (read my review here), we’re teaming with the band to give away some special shit that I am now legally obligated to tell you is for tobacco use only. Seriously. One of you will win a bubbler and one of you will win a bowl, both bought and paid for by Dååth guitarist Eyal Levi out of his own pocket and the goodness of his heart, and you are not to use these items for anything other than the smoking of tobacco. Also, remember that God hates it when you masturbate.

ANYWAY, here’s what you have to do to win:

IN THE COMMENTS SECTION BELOW, TELL US YOUR FAVORITE SONG TO GET STONED TO.

And that’s it. Eyal will personally select one winner, who wins the very cool bubbler, and MetalSucks’ own resident Song to Get Stoned To expert, Mr. Kip Wingerschmidt himself, will select the second winner, who gets the bowl.

Please make sure you register for our comments section with a real e-mail address, as all winners will contacted by e-mail.

This contest runs from midnight to midnight EST on 4/20, and is open to U.S. residents only.

AND DON’T FORGET THAT DÅÅTH’S THE CONCEALERS IS IN STORES TOMORROW.

Good luck everyone, and, y’know… smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.

-MetalSucks (but WeedRules)

If yesterday was whiskey (n weed), and tomorrow be weed (n weed — 4/20, brah), then what’s on the menu for today?

I just got a new shipment of fooferon, so I will personally be snargling the hell outta that — what’s your pleasure?!?

If you’re dry (or wet), please enjoy this sampling of Dub Trio from their second album New Heavy. One of the tracks features some singer by the name of Mike Patton, who apparently scores action films and I believe used to play in a band or two back in the gay 90s…

DUB TRIO — “Screaming At The Sea”

DUB TRIO — “Cool Out And Coexist”

DUB TRIO (featuring MIKE PATTON) — “Not Alone”

(all from New Heavy; “Not Alone” also on Patton’s Peeping Tom album — both from 2006)

-KW

True story (not tr00 story): Vince and I have a friend who is definitely not into metal and, for a very long time, thought Killswitch Engage was called Kill, Switch and Gauge. Y’know, like the world’s most fucked up law firm or something.

Speaking of KsE, here’s what went down this week:

• Even new Killswitch album art makes you guys argue. Sheesh.
• We have an exclusive clip from the new As I Lay Dying DVD!
• We spoke to Cannibal Corpse’s Paul Mazurkiewicz and checked out the new release from Dååth.
• You accused Vince of being a pedophile.
• Best website ever?
• I thought Anso DF’s coverage of Revolver’s Golden Gods Awards was pretty funny, but apparently none of you agree with me.
• Could Slayer and Megadeth really be touring together?!?

Okay. We have a special 4/20 treat for you guys on Monday, plus the triumphant return of Unreadable Band Logo of the Week, so make sure you get your ass back here. ‘Til then, I bid you adieu.

-AR

If you’re not following us on Twitter, you’re missing out on Vince’s life blow-by-blow of this weekend’s New England Metal and Hardcore Fest. I think he’s currently watching Trap Them   (a group no less a source a than Napalm Death’s Barney Greenway told me last weekend restored his faith in heavy music) and trying to figure out what the big deal is.

Here’s a band we don’t need to figure out the appeal of: Weekend Nachos. Melty cheesy grindy goodness… yum. If this doesn’t get you ready to fuck shit up this weekend, nothing will.

-AR

Crank 2: High Voltage hits theaters today, and, as we’ve mentioned before, it’s got a score by the always godlike Mike Patton (and performances by Tool’s Maynard James Keenan and Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington, but that’s another story for another blog post). I still haven’t heard said score. But I think I’m gonna get baked and go to a late show tonight, preferably in Times Square, with the loudest, most interactive audience available to me.

ANYWAY, Ain’t It Cool News has a video interview with Patton where he discusses his process for writing music. It’s actually really interesting stuff, even if it is, ultimately, basically just a commercial. It’s not embeddable but you can – and should – check it out here.

-AR

Israeli (but not Jewish!) outfit Melechesh might be one of the most underrated bands in metal today – I feel like I rarely hear people talking about them, but their last album, Emissaries, was a fucking beast.

So I’m kind of surprised that someone has made a documentary about main man Ashmedi (who has also been doing some guest blogs for The Deciblog). It just seems like the band’s lack of fame would make this a hard sell, when I imagine making back any money invested in metal documentaries that don’t star Metallica is already an uphill battle.

But I’m now officially really, really curious to see this thing – and if it gets some of you to listen to Melechesh, all the better.

Visit Melechesh on MySpace.

-AR

[via Blabbermouth]

If you go here you can watch a video of Avenged Sevenfold’s M. Shadows being interviewed about the whole nu-GN’R/Velvet Revolver rivalry. I can’t embed it because the people at Artisan News Service, who conducted the interview, are no good smelly fuck faces, but here’s a transcription of the relevant part:

“I go more towards the Use Your Illusion records, and I know that [Axl Rose] had a major part in those. You listen to the Velvet Revolver records and you can tell that it’s more of a straight-ahead rock band. And a lot of people like that… and it’s not a diss on them, but they have a short attention span… From the new stuff I’ve heard and the demos, I can tell that Axl had the biggest part in [the Illusion albums]… the lyrics… the vocal stylings… that to me was the major part of Guns N’ Roses. Even though you can’t have Guns N’ Roses without Slash and those guys, but… just, to me, Axl was the most important part of that.”

Now, that’s not exactly an inflammatory comment – in fact, it’s pretty even handed – but it’s still hard to imagine, say, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum (to say nothing of Izzy Stradlin) not taking serious issue with Shadows giving Axl so much credit and saying Velvet Revolver is for people with short attention spans.

So, I gotta wonder: did Shadows and Slash discuss Axl being the most important part of GN’R when Slash played with A7X last night?

-AR

[via Blabbermouth]

Well, not exactly, but he does take a shot at Michaels and Michaels’ blatant baldness in his new video for “We Made You.” I don’t think the song is any good, but I’m always appreciative of a good Bret Michaels joke.

-AR

[via Bring Back Glam]

Holy shit, did it take them five whole mintues to throw this together?

-AR

Blood Oath comes out July 7 on Nuclear Blast.

-AR

Dååth’s The Concealers opens quickly and without mercy: a four-count from drummer Kevin Talley, and we’re off to the races. And you know within seconds: this band has come a long way from 2007′s The Hinderers.

Look. The Hinderers is by no means a bad record. And maybe it just never stood a chance of living up to the bizarrely ill-fitting hype that surrounded its release (The next great death metal discovery from Monte Connor! Jewish mysticism! James Murphy!). But The Concealers sounds like a band that has discovered its sound; it’s lean and it’s focused and it’s just plain old good metal, drawing influences from several key touchstones but not beholden to any particular trends.

Click to read more…

Last week Dave Mustaine made some typically coy statement about touring with a band and squashing a “potential feud,” and using a mixture of common sense and sheer stupidity, I predicted that the band in question was Slayer.

And now Metal Underground says I’m right:

“Two of thrash metal biggest names will be joining forces for a tour together later this year. The event is expected to be announced officially next month along with details regarding support etc. Tour dates will be revealed shortly. By the Fall, both bands are expected to have released their new studio albums which are due to be released this summer.”

I have no confirmation of this news and haven’t seen it reported anywhere else, but I don’t mind admitting that I really, really hope it’s true. I don’t see how self-respecting metalhead could ever pass up the opportunity to see a Megadeth/Slayer co-headlining tour.

-AR

Thanks to MetalSucks Maniac Ryan Wineman for bringing the Metal Underground piece to my attention.

Are you hip to Hull yet? They’re one of our most favoritist local NYC bands, and we’ve been telling you shitheads to check them out for-ever. We were insanely excited when they signed to The End Records last year, and are even more excited now that the first album from that partnership, Sole Lord, has a release date: May 26.

Let me type that again: HULL’S SOLE LORD COMES OUT MAY 26. Brand it upon your brain.

Above is the cover art by Josh Graham (Neurosis, A Storm of Light), which I think is a pretty good visual representation of this group’s sound. But as they said on Reading Rainbow – don’t take my word for it. Check out their MySpace page or sweet new website. And if you live in the NYC area – they’re playing Union Pool in Brooklyn tonight with Withered, Book of Black Earth, and Hallux.

-AR

Tonight at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple, the legendary Throbbing Gristle plays the first date of its short but intense U.S. tour. This happens to be the first of three scheduled New York City shows for the seminal industrial band, two of which have been sold out for weeks now. Tonight’s is a particularly special one, featuring two distinct performances and a meet-and-greet signing session with Sleazy, Cosey, Chris, and Gen.

Rather than hit up loads of cities during this two-week tour, Throbbing Gristle has opted instead to take up multi-day residencies in Chicago and New York, with single shows in Los Angeles and San Francisco, as well as a slot at this weekend’s Coachella festival. The full list of dates can be found at their website but at this point your options are somewhat scarce. After all, this is the first time the band has played some of these cities, unsurprising given their twin decades of inactivity, and it seems unlikely that they’ll be doing this again. Seeing Throbbing Gristle has been on my list of “things to do before I croak” since I was a college freshman, and I’m beyond ecstatic about this. Like a dork, I’ll probably spend a bit of time liveblogging about it on my Twitter account tonight. Anywya, if you can get to any of these gigs, you really oughta.

-GS

[Gary Suarez needs some discipline in here. He also writes for Brainwashed and usually manages the consistently off-topic No Yoko No. Say, why don't you follow him on Twitter?]

Seriously. If you don’t know who Paul Mazurkiewicz is, you probably shouldn’t be reading this website.

First of all, I just wanted to say thanks so much for the Centuries of Torment DVD. It’s not only the best band DVD I’ve ever seen, but it’s also the best crash course on Cannibal Corpse anyone could have expected.

Cool, man. Glad you like it.

Yeah definitely, but I was wondering, how does an ambitious project like that comes to fruition?

We were thinking about possibly doing just a piece on the Kill tour and we knew of this Denise Korycki girl who ended up doing the whole thing herself. When we decided to do something in any regard, like maybe on the road with Cannibal Corpse for Kill, she was going to come out for a week at the end of the tour. So she did do that, but it turned into, upon talking to Metal Blade [Records] and talking to us, she actually came up with the idea: “It’s going to be your 20th anniversary, what do you think about expanding on this and making it more of a history of Cannibal Corpse? I can get more in-depth.” And we said “Hey, if you’re willing to tackle a project like this, then sure. let’s do that.” Metal Blade were down with it and all that. So when we decided to do that then she came with us on Kill for the last week of the tour and then it took off from there. Then it was like she’s going to be coming to Tampa a bunch and we were going to Buffalo and she’s going to do all the interviews and finding people and all that. So when it did come to fruition and it was a go, it was really all Denise that was the one. Obviously we had to compile some footage and things like that from our archives, but it was really all her just going here and there interviewing the people that needed to be interviewed and just taking control of the whole project. It was great that she wanted to do it because it might not have come to light if she didn’t really push it. So basically that’s what happened.

Click to read more…

Ken Susi is some kind of wicked, twisted dude. I don’t even wanna know what he said to get the poor little girl in this video (or her parents) to perform a song with deeply sexual undertones. There is something very, very wrong here, yet… this is awesome! Watch it!

-VN

v

To quickly recap: back in February we heard about this insane offer Josh Freese was making with regards to his new solo album, Since 1972. Basically, for twenty grand you could hang out with Josh, Maynard James Keenan and Mark Mothersbaugh, plus have Josh write some songs about you with you singing/playing back-up, plus you got like a foot massage and to choose some clothes from Josh’s closet or some shit. It was an insane offer, and one that I assumed no one would ever actually take him up on.

But someone did take Josh up on that offer.

And that someone is nineteen fucking years old.

Click to read more…

I’m glad you guys and girls are enjoying our current Chimaira contest. I’d like to give a special shout out to Matt Wixson, who entered 67 times in 24 minutes. So, y’know, that dude really likes Chimaira.

I’m sure Matt is super excited about the fact that the band’s new album, The Infection, is now streaming in its entirety. Listen to it here. Then come back and let us know what you think!

-AR

It’s the biggest weekend of the year for metal fans in the Northeast, as the annual New England Metal and Hardcore Festival gets ready to begin. This year’s lineup features a wide array of top-tier metal bands spread across 2 days and 3 stages — All That Remains headline Friday and Lamb of God headline Saturday, with pretty much every band ever playing at some point throughout the fest. Bands I’m personally the most psyched to see: The Haunted, Psycroptic, Sylosis, Burning Human, After the Burial, BTBAM, Bison B.C., Veil of Maya, Cattle Decapitation, The Destro, Animals as Leaders, Iwrestledabearonce, All Shall Perish, God Forbid, Lamb of God and Conducting From the Grave. And that’s just a small sampling of all the action that’s going down. Check out this handy-dandy day-by-day and stage-by-stage schedule, put together by loyal MS die-hard Leo F.!

For those interested in learning more about what goes on behind the scenes, we highly recommend the industry panels taking place on Friday at the nearby (as in half a block from The Palladium) Hilton. Check out the awesome list of panelists after the jump, which includes heavy-hitters from every facet of the industry (record labels, agents, managers, promoters, artists, producers, etc). Make sure you RSVP at MetalInsider.net.

Yours truly and original MS-contributor Van Arseface will be carrying the MetalSucks torch this time around. I’ll be live-tweeting the event and panels so all ya’ll can follow along at home / in the office. If you’re going too, see you in Woosta!

Click to read more…