Why Should We Shut Up?

When I say ‘We’ I’m talking about the people out there who take their blood and put it to paper, celluloid or a digital hard drive. Seriously, why should we stop putting creations out there for everyone to judge? Do you honestly think that an artist doesn’t have any other thoughts or opinions but their art? It’s unfair, it’s nasty and I’m here to tell you we’ve got shit to say. It’s just sad that artists, musicians and filmmakers are maligned when they have something real to say. It may not be right but it’s as much from the heart as the art we create.

It’s about time the mentality of ‘entertain me and that’s it’ stops. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m wrong a lot of the time. I’ve predicted things right and I’ve predicted things wrong. But here’s the rub, when you put yourself out there you’re bound to fuck up more times than not. I learn more from my failures than I do from my successes. When you fail you realize your shit DOES stink, badly.

Look at my Terminator Salvation blog: I was wrong! Dead wrong! I didn’t see the movie but I don’t want to from the feedback I’ve seen. At least I had the balls to say what I thought. It was about a movie, but I said it, I lived with it, and I now admit I was wrong. It takes more to do that than to sit silent. I don’t mind being the butt of jokes or insults. It keeps me grounded to know I am flawed.

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In case you’ve missed all 24,567 Blabbermouth posts over the past year and a half about them, Chickenfoot are a new supergroup featuring Joe Satriani, Michael Anthony, Sammy Hagar and Chad Smith. Looks cool on paper, but supergroups never seem to pan out they way they ought to, amirite? The problem always seems to be that supergroups are really going for it and trying to be taken seriously, a problem from which Chickenfoot shouldn’t suffer at all since each band member is a millionaire several times over from their respective day jobs. In other words, none of them need this; it’s just for shits and kicks.

So is it any good?

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If, like me, you’re too lazy to download the new Victory Records sampler so you can get the new Darkest Hour song, “No God,” you’ll be happy to know that it is now streaming on the band’s MySpace page.

What can I say about this track? It’s Darkest Hour. It rocks. And, as Vince noted last week, there’s a killer solo by new lead guitarist Mike “Lonestar” Carrigan, formerly of At All Cost, a.k.a. MetalSucks’ favorite band that fell apart under unfortunate circumstances.

Darkest Hour’s new album – their first with Carrigan and without Kris Norris – is called The Eternal Return, and drops June 23 on Victory.

-AR

Thanks to MS Maniac Matt Fields for letting us know that original Cannibal Corpse guitarist Robert (nee Bob) Rusay has resurfaced as a golf instructor in Gilbert, Arizona:

After leaving the band, I quickly met my soul mate, Julie Christine Hammond. It was love at first sight and a family was in our immediate future. We were married shortly after that and had two beautiful children, with a new career just around the corner. For me it was just a matter of committing to it. Even before we married, the encouragement and support I got from my wife made the decision to pursue a career in the golf industry an easy one.

The next step was to obtain my teaching certification and that choice was easy. It would be the United States Golf Teachers Federation because the USGTF is all about teaching. After the first day of certification, I realized that to understand the basics and fundamentals of the golf swing made the game so much more enjoyable.

Golf > playing songs about smashing faces in.

-VN

The always wise and all-knowing Anton OyVey recently tipped us off to the fact that a Brooklyn pizzeria, Roberta’s, apparently has a pizza called the Axl Rosenberg (see menu above). I briefly considered suing before deciding, at Vince’s behest, that the menschier thing to do was investigate.

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Congratulations to all 10,461 of you who have emailed us about Smashface, the new band featuring Chris Storey formerly of All Shall Perish; you’ve gotten your wish for a MetalSucks post. All Shall Perish are one of the few bands in the deathcore scene we hold in very high regard, and it bummed us out that Storey left. So it’s unsurprising then that Smashface is also top-notch shit. Where All Shall Perish were serious and earnest, Smashface takes a decidely lighter and humorous approach to their music, but it’s all good — the shred is on another fucking level as could be expected, and the composition is all there. Highly worthy of you checking them out right this moment.

BraveWords.com tells us that Storey is also playing shred for Adrian English, whose new record A.D.D. just dropped on the appropriately monikered Shredcore Records. Check it out on Adrian English’s MySpace page. This is more what you’d expect from a modern instrumental shred record… imagine what would happen if John Petrucci got in a room and jammed with the rhythm section of any band on Sumerian Records, and you’ve got the sound nailed. AKA it’s good shit!

-VN

As you know if you read the site yesterday, I’m sick. I have a sinus infection, not, as many of you guessed, swine flu (By the way, good to know you cats are still getting a kick out of swine flu jokes a month after the fact. Anyone have any good OJ Simpson jokes while you’re at it? STILL TOPICAL!). So I’ve traded in my weed for antibiotics.

Which means I can’t enjoy the second Daathumentary (courtesy our pals at Metal Injection) the way the band would want me to (e.g., higher than King Diamond’s singing voice). But that shouldn’t stop you kids at home from getting right before settling in to watch it.

You can check out the first Daathumentary here. And don’t forget that Daath’s Eyal Levi is blogging for us now. Atlanta purp in the hizzee!!!

-AR

Did any of my fellow New Yorkers see the headline on the NY Post this morning? “SUPREMA.” Seriously. I mean, come ON. I understand that Sotomayor is Hispanic (in case you somehow missed it), but she’s a fucking nominee to be a Supreme Court Justice, not the latest meal from fucking Taco Bell. Douche bags.

Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, here’s something awesome: a fan-made video for Early Man that mashes the band’s “Beware the Circling Fin” with footage from Masters of the Universe. After the announcement last week that they’re going to turn my beloved (if totally retarded) children’s cartoon into a dark, grim n’ gritty live-action movie (’cause everyone thinks they’re Chris fucking Nolan these days), it’s good to see that someone can still have fun with this shit.

The video was sent to us by Early Man/MetalSucks blogger Mike Conte, and originally appeared on Conte’s own blog. Thanks, Mike!

-AR

Those that are fans of my infamous “Beard on Beard” interview series know that yours truly is a huge fan of a manly set of chin-whiskers. So when I found myself in the parking lot outside the New England Metal and Hardcore Festival casually chatting with the Metal Injection dudes and some dude with a ridiculously lush, full, styled piece of facial hair, I had to know more about him. Turns out this international man of mystery was vocalist J. Costa of Rhode Island metal warriors Thy Will Be Done. Mr. Costa graciously agreed to conduct an impromptu interview in which we spoke about beard grooming tactics, guys’ and girls’ differing opinions on the beard, the role of the beard as natural air conditioner, and eventually, oh, some band for which Mr. Costa happens to sing.

Our beardalicious chat, after the jump.

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[From Delfi.lv, via MS Maniac Phillip W.G.]

Hey all, its been a while since I’ve updated this blog. We’ve been super busy over the past few months, most recently with the tour we just finished with Mastodon and Kylesa. This was without a doubt one of the most awesome tours we have ever been a part of. I’d like to publicly thank everyone in Mastodon and their crew for going out of their way to be helpful and make us feel welcome. It’s nice to see that all the success hasn’t jaded you guys. It was also a pleasure to meet and bro down with Kylesa for five weeks. I hope we can all do this again some time.

Here are some highlights:

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“Uncompromising” is usually used for black metal when applied to lanky, corpsepaint-addled misanthropes biting Transylvanian Hunger for the umpteen thousandth time, eschewing production value or playing ability for the purpose of “rawness.” This is a grave irony, in that amidst black metal holding individuality as one of its defining features, the vast majority of its lesser bands (and, unfortunately, the ones people usually associate with the genre) are essentially copies of its forefathers, and dismiss those nudging the genre’s boundaries outward as sellouts and/or traitors. Anaal Nathrakh have made some of the most uncompromising black metal you’ll ever hear (you know how heavy they are? They used to share a live rhythm section with Napalm fucking Death), both out-necro-ing their moody basement counterparts and blasting the faces off of metal’s heavyweights (let alone black metal’s) all without keyboards or corpsepaint. And after the unfortunate misstep of 2007’s Hell is Empty and the Devils are Here, Anaal Nathtrakh’s latest is a return to bestial form, full of impossibly fast blast beats, black/death-grind hybrid riffs, and ridiculously tortured vocals. Though not the band’s best, In the Constellation of the Black Widow is a stern reminder of why Anaal Nathrakh are often mentioned in the same breath as today’s most notable black metallers.

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We’ve been raving at NYC’s princes of doomy, sludgy, crushingly heavy metal goodness HULL for months years now. If you still haven’t listened to them you’re just a ninny, but there’s no longer any excuse. You can do so for free below, and shit, the good folks at The End Records are even letting you keep the track for free if you so desire!

“Immortal” comes from Hull’s The End Records debut Sole Lord which comes out today! Those in the NYC area should hit up the official CD Release party tonight at the Charleston in Williamsburg. Witches Tit and Flaming Tusk will be performing, and it promises to be a rowdy good time.

Hull – “Immortal” (from Sole Lord)

-VN

As Axl told ya’ll, I was down in Northeastern Kentucky this weekend setting up a homestead for the soon-to-be-built MetalSucks Mansion Appalachia Annex. That shit is real! My first stop was at a Home Depot just over the border in West Virginia to buy supplies. As I was tooling around the store with a shopping cart full of random odds and ends, some dude looked at me quizzically, and perhaps a little skeptically of this bearded New York Jew he asked “I don’t mean to be nosey… but what are ya’ll doing with a hatchet and a cooler?” If I’d been on my game I would’ve come up with a witty/metal answer about chopping bodies up or something, but I failed. Maybe I should’ve just said “Just going out to the dance club, you know, usual night on the town.”

Anyway, the drive to and from KY is not a short one. We got a bit of a late start, and as night fell we were somewhere in the sharp, angular hills of West Virginia, the rolling, jagged green cliffs holding dense, white fog like something out of an epic metal music video. As daylight quickly faded, it was one of the most serene and beautiful landscapes I’ve ever seen. The mood called for Opeth. Blackwater Park became the soundtrack of choice and was the absolute perfect match for this epic, epic part of our journey. Not gonna lie, I was kinda pretending in my mind that we were driving through the Swedish wilderness. Not that I actually have any idea what the Swedish wilderness looks like. West Virginia = Sweden??

Here’s Opeth performing “Bleak” live a few years back.

-VN

I’m sick as a dog and since I haven’t seen Vince around the mansion this morning, I’m thinking he might still be in Kentucky.

In any case, expect limited (if any) posting today. With the aid of antibiotics, things should be back to normal tomorrow.

-AR

Vince is in Kentucky scouting land for a SECOND MetalSucks Mansion and against the advice of Gary Suarez and my own instincts, I’m off to see Terminator Salvation. We shan’t be posting Monday ’cause it’s Memorial Day, but we’ll be back Tuesday. In the meantime, here’s some shit that happened this week:

• We did a video interview with IWRESTLEDABEARONCE! We also spoke with The Haunted’s Peter Dolving, God Forbid’s Doc Coyle, and Unholy.
• We stole Daath’s Eyal Levi away from Headbanger’s Blog.
• Sigh’s Mirai Kawashima graced us with another totally excellent studio blog.
• Corey Mitchell says this is the best album of the year so far.
• Fuckface Durst finally went too far.

As Baz would say, “I’ll be Bach.”

-AR

Thanks to our bro-bros at Metal Injection for bringing to our attention that one of the greatest metal documentaries of all time, Penelope Spheeris’  The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years, is now available online, in its entirety, absolutely free (And FYI, in case ya didn’t know – Spheeris would go on to direct another classic of cinemetal, the original Wayne’s World.).

For some reason this 1988 classic – which includes amazing interviews with Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy, Steven Tyler, Taime Down, Riki Rachtman, Bill Gazzarri, members of Poison, Kiss, and Armored Saint, and, most infamously, a very, very, very drunk Chris Holmes of W.A.S.P. – isn’t available on DVD, and I honestly don’t even know anyone who owns a VHS player anymore. So if for some reason you’ve never seen this film, you MUST watch it now – especially since I’m fairly certain that this is not a legal rip. Watch it now before the lawyers take it down.

-AR

Pretty bad assed, me thinks…

Ruination comes out July 7 on Metal Blade.

-AR

UPDATE: Pitchfuck now says this ain’t happenin’. Oh well. Thanks to Scott Casey for the heads up.

I imagine that there’s a certain percentage of the population that will never read any of Alan Moore’s work – including the graphic novels Watchmen, V for Vendetta and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (but NOT the horrible movies they were turned into, all of which he has disowned) – because they assume that comics are, by their definition, for children and/or the emotionally stunted. And that’s too bad, ’cause Moore is a bona fide fucking GENIUS. The guy’s writing is just incredible. Plus, his ginormous beard is metal as fuck.

Now Moore is working on a semi-autobiographical multimedia project – a “photographic novel”  which will include a score with contributions from both Mike Patton and Justin Broadrick. The project is expected to be released in 2010 via Lex Records.

All I can say is: holy shit. A collaboration between any two of these artists would be more than enough to get my money. I can’t wait to see/hear what they’ve come up with.

-AR

[Thanks, Metal Insider!]

From a tweet by Converge (follow them!):

Mookie Singerman from GENGHIS TRON coming into the studio this weekend to work with us…

Holy shit, this album is gonna be sick…

-AR