Annoying as he is, I’d love to talk metal with Moby someday. For one thing, he was ever-so-briefly the producer of Chinese Democracy, and I have a feeling he has some great Axl Rose stories.
For another thing, he was the guest editor for magnetmagazine.com last week, and he had some interesting things to say about Gwar:
Have you ever seen Gwar live? No? Rectify this immediately. The best live band ever. Really.
Metal Injection tells me that Zakk Wylde has once again utilized Twitter to try and reassure the BLS Berserkers that’s everything is gravy between him and his main meal ticket. Twoth Zakk:
Hey Berserkers, everything is great with Ozzy/Dad. See you at the Blizzcon convention in Anaheim August 22nd or before with BLS about 14 hours ago from web
Okey dokey. Unless he means “everything is great with Ozzy/Dad and his new guitar player,” I call bullshit. Because all the behind-the-scenes rumblings suggest that someone else already has an offer for Zakk’s job (or I guess his old job, as the case may be). I don’t have enough confirmation to call it official, but I don’t want anyone to be shocked if Ozzy officially announces a new axe slinger in the coming weeks.
One way or another, this should continue to provide some entertainment for a little while longer at least.
-AR
The general consensus around the palatial MetalSucks Mansion is that the Cave In reunion is fucking awesome. With the members now focused on the main project, it stands to reason that the side-projects that emerged in the band’s wake would lie dormant. While that’s not necessarily a bad thing (the Stove Bredsky disc was fucking awful), I’m pretty devastated to hear that Clouds will essentially call it a day after one last show at the end of the month.
So Blabbermouth posted this live footage of Lacuna Coil performing at the Graspop Metal Meeting in Belgium a few weeks back. I clicked, figuring I’d at least get to oggle at Cristina Scabbia; the one-camera shoot meant this ended up not being the case, but I at least got to hear her very sexy voice… and male vocalist Andrea Ferro’s vocal diarrhea.
True, soundboard recordings are always a mixed bag; you hear each instrument clearly, but you don’t necessarily hear them the way they sounded live because house engineers mix to the sound of the venue, not through headphones. But Ferro’s performance is just undeniably, horrifyingly god awful. “Spellbound” starts off innocently enough with the instrumental intro, after which Ferro takes a stab at his first verse. I don’t think it’s possible for him to sound any worse; I mean, it’s like… just BAD. How is this guy still in the band? And to make matters worse, Cristina Scabbia follows him with a chorus that sounds practically perfect, arresting as always, as if to say “This guy sucks so bad, doesn’t he?”
-VN
Our friend Allyson at Bring Back Glam has been reporting from Rocklahoma all week. She’s obviously a big fan of the event, given that a) she runs a site all about glam and b) she wrote the text for the Rocklahoma coffee table book that came out last year.
But she’s been making (perfectly valid) complaints about this year’s fest for the past ten months, taking issue in particular with this year’s line-up. And as it turns out, she was totally correct: attendance at this summer’s edition of the event was apparently abysmal.
Check out this photo Allyson took of the crowd. This was at dusk; if it was Ozzfest, everyone who skipped the second stage would be starting to pile in right about this time. No such luck for Great White, even though there was absolutely no chance of being burned alive at the outdoor venue:
It may be 80 degrees and Sunny today, but it’s not too soon to start thinking about the gloomy darkness of Autumn and the doomy goodness that the 2009 season is going to bring; Swallow the Sun and Paradise Lost both have new records on the way.
You would have to be on dope to like Slaves on Dope. I mean, the band has a song called “No More Faith,” for fuck’s sake. NO MORE FUCKING FAITH. Jim Martin should bend them over and grow pumpkins out of their ass for that shit.
Anyways, this band is reuniting. I never knew they broke-up, to be honest; I just thought they were sucked into the same black hole of once-popular shit bands that a lot their peers did (see: Primer whatever the fuck they were called, E-Town Concrete, etc.). But in case you’re not familiar with their particular brand of awfulness, here they are, looking like Crazy Town and sounding like diarrhea.
-AR
This is gonna be a long, Lefsetzian rant that is only peripherally related to metal. Don’t read it if that’s gonna bother you.
MTV’s The State came out on DVD yesterday – the complete series. For those of you too young to remember, The State was a sketch comedy series that launched all the guys (and girl) who went on to make Wet Hot American Summer, Stella, Reno 911, and a whole bunch of shit I’m forgetting.
(The troupe’s members have also written and/or acted in some terrible movies, I’m sure because it paid well, but if it funds their own work, then whatever.)
So last night after we shuttered the MetalSucks Mansion Grand Study of Doom & Horror (where we do all our “work”) for the evening, I went out (To fucking Best Buy – because there is now no place else in the city to purchase DVDs) and bought The State, came home, “got right” as Ron Saint Germain would say, and sat down to watch a show I haven’t seen in sixteen years.
Holy shit, that makes me feel old.
I’m seriously hard-pressed to think of a cooler looking video that’s been released this year than Suicide Silence’s new clip for “Wake Up,” off No Time to Bleed – maybe the new Alice in Chains video, but that’s it. It’s awesome sober and even better high. I mean, it’s basically just a bunch of cool imagery, but that’s more than I can say for most metal videos these days.
Check it out below. It was directed by David Brodsky, in what seems to be a particularly inspired moment of maniacal glee.
Our friends at Metal Injection were on-set for the shoot and should have some behind the scenes video later this week. Stay tuned for more details.
-AR
Interview with the lead singer of Attack! Attack! from hardtimes.ca:
There’s lots that I could say about this, but, really, the dude just hung himself, and it would be ungracious to kick him when he’s down.
Not that that will stop you from kicking him when he’s down.
And by the way, congrats to Ziltoid, whom I believe coined the phrase “crabcore,” on getting his shout-out as “some kid.” Zilty says he’s twenty and this dude is only eighteen, so, yeah, that’s funny, too.
-AR
Thanks to Mike Normandy for the tip.
If I were a betting man and I wagered on the chances of any given band signed to any metal label in 2009 actually being good, I’d definitely put my money down on Prosthetic or Sumerian Records. Both labels are completely killing right now. Where Sumerian certainly wins in “scene points” and innovation stylistically speaking, Prosthetic takes a decidedly more varied but no less awesome route; all bands on Prosthetic sound completely different from one another (hello Kylesa, Gojira, Animals as Leaders, Grief of War, etc etc etc ad infinitum) but they’re all superb. Furthermore, their bands have little if anything to do with what’s hot in today’s metal scene — they just are what they are, and they’re damn good at it.
Add See You Next Tuesday to the list of bands that seem to be breaking up while claiming they’re not breaking up. To wit, this statement from the band:
Reasons Bonerott (MySpace, official website) is the funniest fucking thing I’ve heard in a long, long time*:
Soilwork, Natural Born Chaos (Nuclear Blast, 2002)
Björn “Speed” Strid − Vocals
Peter Wichers − Guitars
Ola Frenning − Guitars
Ola Flink − Bass
Sven Karlsson − Keyboards
Henry Ranta − Drums
Produced by Devin Townsend
When Soilwork dropped Natural Born Chaos in 2002, “metalcore” was not yet a twinkle in the eye of a million American copycats. Just pure. Fucking. Swedish. Heavy metal. Though their countrymen In Flames may have melodicized death metal first (or second, after At the Gates, I suppose), Soilwork arguably did it better, and the Devin Townsend-produced Natural Born Chaos stands as the band’s defining moment.
SPECIAL GUEST BLOGGER AMY SCIARRETTO OF ROADRUNNER RECORDS AND NOISECREEP
The Dillinger Escape Plan, Calculating Infinity (Relapse, 1999)
Dimitri Minakakis – Vocals
Ben Weinman – Guitars
Brian Benoit – Guitars
Adam Doll – Bass
Chris Pennie – Drums
Produced by Steve Evetts, Ben Weinman and Chris Pennie
The Dillinger Escape Plan’s Calculating Infinity came out in September 1999, but despite the calendar year of its release, it still went on to impart some sort of influence – large in some cases, smaller and less obvious in others – on much of the metal that came after it in the ‘00s, which is why I kept “playfully” complaining to the MetalSucks head honchos about their strict rules on the sphere of influence being relegated to the ‘00 decade. Yes, I understand that rules are made for a reason, but this album sorta deserves to break them.
Okay, and we’re back!
First up, hats off to Julia Greenberg and Marty Coffou; they each correctly identified the last logo as belonging to the band Rammish Succus. Good work, kids!
I’ve got two more copies of the album to give away this week, courtesy the folks at Roadrunner Records. 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.
This week’s logo was suggested by reader Paul Pelkonen. Relatively speaking, it’s fairly readable, so I expect you people to nail it.
And Keep sending me logos, guys. Finding shit for these contests is a pain in my bum.
-AR
If you do, here’s their new video, for the track “In for the Kill.” Note the stunning subtlety of the metaphor the director chose for the video. It’s thought-provoking, esoteric nature may confuse some fans, but for those of us willing to give it some thought, it’s just genius. Pure genius.
-AR
[via The Deciblog]
As a part of goth metal OGs Type O Negative, drummer Johnny Kelley’s talents are often overshadowed by the low end sultriness and antics of bassist/frontman/nude model Peter Steele. But his graceful stickwork has been holding the band together since 1995′s October Rust, and the string of Type O albums that have come out since have stood shoulder to shoulder with the band’s prior material. Along with being Danzig’s drummer, Kelly plays in Seventh Void, a stoner/trad metal outfit with Type O Negative guitarist Kenny Hickey. The latter band released their debut on Vinnie Paul’s Big Vin Records in April. In an interview with MetalSucks, Kelly discusses Type O Negative’s future, working with Glenn Danzig, and his thoughts on modern drummers.
Here’s the cover for Every Time I Die’s new album, New Junk Aesthetic. And I just gotta say: this is the first non-grind album of the year to have album art that really knocks my beard off. Holy shit, is it sweet.
New Junk Aesthetic comes out September 15 on Epitaph.
-AR
[Absolute Punk by way of Metal Insider]
Our friend Dan Rodriguez at Metal Insider tells us that, according to WBIR-TV, ten people were arrested yesterday at the Knoxville stop of 10 for $10 tour, which offers – duh – ten hardcore bands (including Poison the Well and Madball) for the low low price of ten bucks. The charges range from disorderly conduct to inciting a riot; apparently, a fight broke out, and when the venue’s security guards attempted to intervene, even the fucking band jumped in to give them what-fo’.
But here’s the best part: the fight broke out at 3:30 pm… just as the first band on the bill was taking the stage. So that’s ten dollars well spent.
