Josh Elmore and Troy Oftedal of Cattle Decapitation were my first interview of the weekend at New England Metal and Hardcore Fest in Worcester, MA last month. The interview was serious but easy-going, as if I were just catching up with two old friends I hadn’t seen in a while — despite the fact that I’d never met either of them before. When the guys in Cattle Decap aren’t busy shit-talking bands who bail from their tour obligations, they’re super-chill guys; we spoke about the band’s new album The Harvest Floor, the critical response it received, being falsely pigeonholed as a bunch of crazy vegan militants, and the importance of having day jobs to balance life in a touring metal band. Our chat after the jump.
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I mean, it’s not like the dude has been some bastion of artistic integrity the past, oh, decade or so. He’s performed with Puff Daddy/P. Diddy/whatever the fuck his name is now, and Fergie, and done an AmEx (or was it Master Card?) commercial, and a car commercial, and wrote an autobiography primarily based around years that, by his own admission, he doesn’t really remember all that well. Obviously, the guy comes from the “You Pay Me I Show Up” school of decision making.

Yet our inbox has been flooded with e-mails of outrage that $lash would “sell-out” and appear on America’s most annoying television program. What can you do? Just blast Appetite as loud as possible and try to forget that this shit ever happened, or remember that this American Idol episode(s? I didn’t watch) is probably at least 30% less irritating than a Slash-less AI.

-AR

This past October I tried to help get the word out about Texas’ By Any Means Necessary, who are one of my most favorite unsigned acts out there right now. Seriously – I listened to this group’s three-song EP more times last year some of the so-called “best” releases of ’08. I think this band fucking rocks.

Unfortunately, the band remains unsigned… but hopefully that will change soon. Vocalist Adam Wright just e-mailed me to say that the band is heading into the studio to record a new demo with Scott Sargeant, the former Skinlab guitarist who produced Lääz Rockit’s 2008 release, Left for Dead.

Personally, I’m just excited to see what these boys do next. While I wait, check out their MySpace page, and if you’re an industry person, maybe think about signing them, m’kay?

-AR

Better late than never. Because albums this good deserve to go on the record. Seeing as I’ve procrastinated on writing this piece for two months, let’s make it quick and snappy.

If you like Mastodon purely for the mosh, you will probably not be too crazy about Crack the Skye. If you like Mastodon because of their proggy, weird, bizarro nature you will really, really like Crack the Skye. Count me in the category of the latter. It’s the album they’ve been alluding to for their entire career, a masterwork by a band at the absolute top of their game, pushing the boundaries of metal and unafraid to experiment with music in ways that may alienate their core fan base. It’s a trippy, adventurous work — though without a doubt still quite heavy and distinctly Mastodonian — that ends up a full album‘s album, not just because of the conceptual nature of the lyrics but because of the flow of the music. No one writes records this involved anymore. The production (courtesy of Brendan O’Brien, who for the most part appears to have let Mastodon do their own thang uninhibited) is world class, and the performances are next level, especially in the lead guitar department. Though for the most part I believe that music reviews should focus only on the music itself, it’s worth noting that the packaging and presentation of Crack the Skye are absolutely stellar, and it’s worth considering these aspects as part of the music itself because they underscore just how finely Mastodon pay attention to every last detail of everything they do. Crack the Skye is phenomenal start to finish, and in this humble blogger’s opinion it is Mastodon’s best, most musically developed record yet.

So, for only the second time in MetalSucks history:

(five out of five horns)

-VN

About a dozen of you have e-mailed me to ask why we haven’t mentioned that Chimaira’s “On Broken Glass” (from The Infection, natch) is now avail as a free download for Guitar Hero World Tour.

So. Did you know that Chimaira’s “On Broken Glass” is now avail as a free download for Guitar Hero World Tour?

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While headbanging and throwing the horns at an indie metal act along with countless others in a packed crowd, the last person you expect to see rocking out is a dude from The Sopranos. Well, that’s exactly what I spied with my little eye during the Big Business show in New York City last night.

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I learned something this weekend: MetalGF loves Queensryche. This was just as much of a surprise to her as it was to me, but hey, I’ll take what I can get when it comes to my girlfriend liking any sort of metal. It started with a sweet flea market find of a vintage Queensryche “Building Empires” 1991 Tour t-shirt (I was fucking PSYCHED to find this!), which worsened the itch I’ve been feeling since Kobra Kai covered “Eyes of a Stranger” at New England Metalfest. The shirt find led to an afternoon listening session of Queensryche’s greatest hits from the Operation Mindcrime and Empire albums, which MetalGF seemed to highly dig (“This isn’t metal, it’s more like rock.”) Later that night after several whiskeys in the oh-so-metal environs of Park Slope, we had a rousing way-too-loud-for-2am air guitar session to the very same impromptu greatest hits assortment. There were fists in the air, epic poses, head-banging, the whole 9. Sunday morning wasn’t pretty.

Queensryche is on tour in the U.S. right now and are actually playing NYC this Friday. I can’t go, which is a major bummer because I haven’t seen them live in probably 5 or 6 years. But here’s a video of them performing the forgotten gem “Hand on Heart” live in Kansas City a few weeks ago. This song made for some epic, epic air-guitar on Saturday night!

-VN

We’re up to our eyeballs in work here at the MetalSucks Mansion, which is why we’ve been kind of behind on reviews. To wit: the new Earth Crisis album, To the Death, which we think is totally excellent, and haven’t had any time to give a write-up. Shame on us.

What we do have time to do is post the band’s kick-ass new video, “To Ashes,” which was directed/shot/edited/everything else by our favoritest extreme music auteur, David Brodsky, and his team at My Good Eye (And by “team,” I pretty much mean Allison Woest.).

Is this the first ever hardcore/metal video to be “based on a true story?” I honestly can’t think of another. Maybe Ron Howard will buy the movie rights…

-AR

Good news: despite a decade-plus gap between full-lengths, Evolution Through Revolution-era Brutal Truth is just as wooly and weird as the band’s pre-millennial lineups. Reckless grind and punk tempos still hurtle fearlessly and skid into death metal dirges. Kevin Sharp howls the kind of anti-everything sociopolitical invective you’d expect to hear from that crazy old war vet that accosts people outside the gas station, except he’s probably right about it all. Even setting aside the album’s wildman sax solos and noise samples, chaos reigns on Evolution Through Revolution. New guitarist Erik Burke’s abrasive diminished chords grind against themselves in earbleeding dissonance; “Itch” could be Immolation gone grind, its cycling guitars vomiting disharmonic sparks.

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… Metal Injection has three decent-quality live videos of the band performing in Springfield, VA on May 1st. The videos don’t *quite* capture the dick-hardening rush of actually being at the best show we’ve seen all year, but they come damn close. Here’s a clip of both “Oroborus” and “The Heaviest Matter In The Universe,” the first two songs of their set; go here and here for two more full songs from Metal Injection.

-VN

It’s really sad to watch an amazing band cut its career short when there is SO much f’n promise. Gospel were definitely one of those bands — really diverse progressive hardcore sound, with one of the most impressive young drummers I’d seen in ages. Thankfully I had the pleasure of seeing these guys rockit live when they were, well, rockin it live, but jeez I really could’ve used a hell of a lot more.

Why, oh why did this group have to fall? One can only wonder if the band drama that was catalyst for their demise was worth it…

After you get your Saturday lift on, go ahead and check out a couple tracks from their only stunning full-length The Moon Is A Dead World (produced by Kurt Ballou from Converge), and then go buy it — just cause the band is done, doesn’t mean somebody ain’t collecting residuals in order to pay their rent, nawmean?

SUPPORT DEAD BANDS!!!!

GOSPEL — “Yr Electric Surge is Sweet”

GOSPEL — “A Golden Dawn”

(both from The Moon Is A Dead World (2005))

-KW

It’s Friday, and it’s nice out. I’ma go have a whiskey. Booze and drugs make you look cool and get lots of pussy… it’s true.

Here’s what happened this week that made us batty enough to turn to the dark side:

• We got sick of metal bands doing ironic pop cover songs just in time for a metal band to do another terrible pop cover song.
• We spoke with Barney Greenway of Napalm Death, Chris Arp of Psyopus and Karl Sanders of Nile.
• We were Gay for Gojira and Crazy for The Chariot.
• The Devil Wears Prada: way too popular.
• We looked at new records from Black Math Horseman, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, as well as a new track from Suicide Silence and a new track from Dream Theater.
• xAxlRosenbergx got all anti-straight edge on your asses.

See you next week. Don’t get too stoned tomorrow with yer Uncle Kip.

-VN

So obviously the fact that there’s a Spanish version of David Lee Roth singing “Yankee Rose” is completely old news (to the tune of, oh, about 25 years), but is this shit not *still* completely hysterical or what?? I giggle on the inside just thinking about it.

David Lee Roth – “Yankee Rose” (Spanish)

Check out the DLR soundboard and DLR Ass-teroidz game for more endless bored-at-work entertainment.

Sonrisa Salvaje!

-VN

I never went on spring break; I mean, I had “spring break” from school, but I never did that thing where you go to Cancun and get fucked up for a week solid and date rape someone. Dunno why.

To win some MetalSucks stickers and assorted promo CDs we don’t want anymore, tell us a) the name of the musician in this video who isn’t a member of IWABO and b) the name of the person doing the voice-over. No fair cheatin’ if you work in the bid-ness.

-AR

[via Metal Injection... duh.]

There are probably more old farts making relevant music than I usually give credit for. For every Ozzy or Metallica, whose later years have been more or less a total fucking disaster (creatively if not financially), there’s a Testament or Napalm Death who are still making music worth listening to after two or even three decades in the biz.

Of course, few of those artists have been at as long as the members of Black Sabbath – now re-christened Heaven & Hell – and even most of the Sabbath peers who can still pull it out live (Priest, Maiden) aren’t really releasing albums that are worth a damn these days. So the fact that The Devil You Know is so freakin’ sweet makes it feel like something of a marvel.

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To celebrate the release of their new record Wars and Rumors of Wars this past Tuesday, The Chariot have pulled a Trent Reznor and gone above and beyond; of the initial run of 25,000 CD copies, the band have hand-stamped, hand-signed and hand-numbered each and every one. A little extra something to get the fans excited, to know that the CD you’re holding was personally assembled by the band is pretty fucking cool, especially when it’s 25-fucking-THOUSAND copies we’re talking about, not just a limited run of 500 or something. Watch the video of the band putting them all together, above!

Axl and I saw the Chariot open for Gojira this past Wednesday, and — life-changing experience that was Gojira’s performance aside — The Chariot fucking killed it. Going in with a completely open slate and not knowing what to expect, I was mightily impressed by the fury, fervor and reckless abandon with which the band approaches their live shows. Think about what you’re getting into when you go see Dillinger Escape Plan, and you’ll have a rough idea of what it’s like to see The Chariot. That’s a compliment.

-VN

[Thanks: Fueled by Adam]

According to an article on The Gauntlet published Wednesday [sent in by MS Maniac Adam W.], Deftones’ bassist Chi Cheng — who has been in a coma since November following a horrifying car crash — is now out of the Intensive Care Unit, is breathing on his own, and his condition has improved dramatically. A follow-up post on the site One Love For Chi clarifies the information in the Gauntlet report; apparently Chi is still in a sort of semi-coma, able to breath on his own, track with his eyes, and say a few words, but is by no means completely “awake.”

Regardless, this is great news. We wish Chi and his family the best.

-VN

Back in January we told you that Jamey Jasta has been helping Sebastian Bach, of all people, write some new music. Well, now Bach has posted the below video of himself in the studio with Phantoms’ Charlie Bellmore, who I guess will play on the record.

In any case, it certainly sounds like Baz singing over Hatebreed.

P.S. Jesus Christ, Baz, take a shower, go to the gym and comb your fucking hair.

-AR

[via Blabbermouth]

Release schedules being as hectic as they are these days, it’s sometimes hard for all of us here at the MetalSucks Mansion to keep pushing albums we love in the months following their initial release.

So all of that being said, this is a friendly reminder that we think God Forbid’s Earthsblood is the shit, and if for some reason you still haven’t checked it out, you need to. Seriously. Go do it, we’ll wait here for you.

I’ll be seeing God Forbid along with Lamb of God, As I Lay Dying, Children of Bodom and Municipal Waste tomorrow night in Philly (Ha-HA! You thought I was gonna say “tonight in NY,” didn’t you?). I am actively seeking drinking partners. Drop me a line if you’re gonna be there.

In the meantime, here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the making of God Forbid’s new video, “War of Attrition,” which should be released soonish.

-AR

MS Maniac Chti M. sent in this self-made mash-up of Metallica’s “Sad But True” and Ice Cube’s “Today Was a Good Day.” Cool tribute or lame? You tell us.

-VN