Well, we are just drowning in new metal this fine Tuesday.
Revolver is hosting a stream a new song by The Black Dahlia Murder, “A Selection Unnatural,” off the band’s forthcoming Deflorate, which Metal Blade will release on September 15. Vocalist Trevor Strnad gives some background on the track:
Cries of “blasphemy!” surrounding the omission of Between the Buried and Me’s 2007 opus Colors from our 21 Best Metal Albums of the 21st Century… So Far list have rung loud and clear in your comments, especially over the past few days as the list winds down and it’s become apparent that it won’t be included. And ya’ll are absolutely right; Colors is a fucking fantastic masterpiece certainly *worthy* of inclusion in The List. But given the methodology used to compile the list… that’s democracy for you. And let me ask you this: how does the omission of Colors from ANY list in any way affect your enjoyment of this great record? Seriously, folks!
The Interwebs must surely be rejoicing today as news of BTBAM’s forthcoming follow-up has sprung forth from a post by vocalist/keyboardist Tommy Rogers on the band’s MySpace page [sent in by MS Maniacs Jesse Z. and Tom F.]:
There’s plenty of room to argue about the Best Metal Albums of the 21st Century. But then there’s Judas Fucking Priest.
As undoubtedly one of the best metal bands… well, EVER, we are beyond thrilled to offer you the exclusive world premier, full album stream of the brand new Judas Priest live record A Touch of Evil – Live. Recorded during the band’s 2005 and 2008 world tours, A Touch of Evil – Live focuses primarily on fan-revered album cuts (all previously unreleased in live form on CD) as well as two tracks from the band’s 2008 concept opus Nostradamus.
Stream it right here until 11:59pm EDT on the night before the album’s official release date of July 14th! If ya like, pre-order A Touch of Evil – Live here.
[UPDATE: This promotion has now ended. Sorry.]
For those of you still skeptical of whether or not Pissed Jeans are worth your time, your precious hero Kim Thayil (of the world-famous TADGARDEN) digs the group enough to appear in a photo with one of its members. (Also shown: Sub Pop Records co-founder Jonathan Poneman.) And if such minor metal celebrity proximity doesn’t persuade you, perhaps one of the band’s newest songs will. Replete with the raucous riffage and humid sleaze that made 2007′s Hope For Men so irresistible, “False Jesii Part II” is the first track from the forthcoming King Of Jeans record and you can download it for free from Sub Pop directly. This is probably the album I’m most excited about this year, and I really hope you can take the time out of your busy Internet schedule of masturbating and expressing butthurt over our 21 Best Metal Albums of the 21st Century… So Far to give it a listen before King Of Jeans drops on August 18th.
-GS
[Gary Suarez will not be attending the Michael Jackson memorial event. He also writes for Brainwashed and usually mismanages the consistently off-topic No Yoko No. Say, why don't you follow him on Twitter?]
The UK’s Fellsilent — a Sumeriancore band who are on, duh, Sumerian Records (and Basick in the UK) — have a new video for their track “Immerse” [sent in by Spencer B.]. The video itself is pretty cool with some neat-o lighting effects and a giant mosh pit, and makes me wish I was 19 again and tearing shit up in the pit. The song, on the otherhand… this band’s just got nothing original to offer. Fellsilent like their heroes so much that they cop Meshuggah riffs like they’re on sale at the 99¢ store (not to mention the patented Meshuggah forward-and-back headbang) and they even have two lead vocalists like Sikth, the band from which they steal their rhythm and lead guitar diddly-dos. They’re competent, sure, but being a competent rip-off artist of good bands does not a good band make by association. I call BS on Fellsilent. You be the judge.
-VN
FELLSILENT – Immerse (official video) from Basick Records on Vimeo.
So. We’ve been lucky enough to hear rough mixes of Megadeth’s latest, Endgame, and I am fully prepared to declare it superior to both United Abominations and The System Has Failed. There are some really, really killer songs on the album, kiddies.
The head crushing first single, entitled, uh, “Head Crusher,” is available for free download right here. Check it out, then weigh in with your thoughts below.
Endgame drops September 15 on Roadrunner.
-AR
DevilDriver’s latest rock-solid chunk of American New Wave, Pray for Villians, doesn’t come out for another week, but you can listen to it now, in its entirety, here. Give it a listen and then come back here and let us know what you think!
You can also check out DevilDriver this summer on the MetalSucks co-sponsored Thrash & Burn tour. Get concert dates here.
-AR
First of all, please allow me to begin by saying that I AM SO FUCKING SICK OF HEARING ABOUT MICHAEL JACKSON. Yes, I know I wrote about him too, but that was the day after he moonwalked the bucket – it’s been ENOUGH ALREADY. He died. He was talented, and he was crazy. It’s a little sad, but for for Christ’s sake, let’s keep some perspective here. There are much, much more important things going on in the world right now than the passing of the King of Pop. And besides, if I hear fucking “Billie Jean” one time, I’m going to slaughter every living soul in sight.
That being said… I had to post this. Yes, Buckethead is a weird, weird dude, and his obsessions with both Jackson and Disneyland are borderline-creepy. But he’s also a genius, and his tribute to Jackson, “The Homing Beacon,” is a beautiful piece of music. So just try to ignore that it’s one -gazillionth unnecessary tribute to MJ and just enjoy it as a wonderful bit of guitar playing.
You can stream “The Homing Beacon” here.
-AR
We recently polled a wide array of musicians, managers, publicists, label reps, and writers from within the world of metal to find out what they thought the 21 Best Metal Albums of the 21st Century So Far have been. Eligible albums were released between January 1, 2000 and April 1, 2009. Each panelist turned in a ballot, with their #1 album worth 21 points, their #2 album worth 20 points, and so on and so forth. The ballots are now in and we’ll be counting down one album a day until we reach #1. Today we present the #2 album, coming in with a total of 247 points…
Lamb of God, As the Palaces Burn (Prosthetic, 2003)
Randy Blythe – Vocals/Guitars
Mark Morton – Guitars
Willie Adler – Guitars
John Campbell – Bass
Chris Adler – Drums
Produced by Devin Townsend and Lamb of God
I want to talk about what is arguably Lamb of God’s finest hour as a piece of this entire list. Because I could tell you “Oh it’s so brutal and it rocks so hard and it raped my sister and killed my dog,” but whatever. The bottom line is, if you don’t own this album, you really should.
No, I’m much more interested in what As the Palaces Burn represents. Click to read more…
More than a year ago, I wondered aloud: “Say, what the fuck did ever ever happen to Chuck Mosley?” It had been so long since anyone heard from the former Faith No More singer that I even misspelled the dude’s name, and not a single one of you left a snarky comment correcting me.
Well, now it seems that Mosley has a solo album, Will Rap Over Hard Rock for Food, coming out August 11, presumably being released to capitalize on all the ink the reunited, Mosley-less FNM are getting. And while I appreciate Mosley having a sense of humor about his lack of success in da biz in the years since he split from FNM, I’m not sure that advertising yourself as rap-rock in 2009 is the smartest way to go if the acquisition of sustenance is your goal. Unless you’re hoping people will throw eggs at you, and that you can then proceed to lick the yolk from your clothes.
