Without a doubt, New Jersey tech/death/prog outfit The Binary Code is one of my favorite – if not my absolute favorite – unsigned metal bands. I’ve been lucky enough to hear some of the new shit they’ve been working on, and this band just keeps getting more and more epic, brutal, and accomplished as musicians. I’m hesitant to call them Sumeriancore only because it might turn some of you off, but that’s the easiest generic categorization I can think of.

(Side note: the band also has sweet merch, which you can peruse and order here. In the great tradition of band members doubling as graphic artists, all the visuals are designed by guitarist Jesse Zuretti. So he’s a better guitarist and a better artist than you. Chump.)

Here’s a video of the band’s drummer, Umar Fahim, playing a new, as of yet still-untitled track. As you can see, the dude absolutely slays behind the kit. I had to watch it twice – once just to watch Fahim kill it, and once to try and listen to the actual song, which is typically awesome.

I’m hearing rumblings of this band getting on some pretty sweet tours later this year. While we wait for official word, check out more of their awesomeness on MySpace. And hopefully someone will have the good sense to sign them sooner rather than later.

-AR

I don’t really care much for either Emmure or The Acacia Strain, but I do know this: they fucking hate each other. And if there’s anything we here at MetalSucks do collectively care about it’s hilarious feuds, so color me interested in both bands for the day. Apparently Emmure have a new album out today (news to me), and there’s a song on it called “R2 Deepthroat” (posted below) that’s directed at Acacia Strain vocalist Vincent Bennett. The lyrics are juvenile at best, and oh hey guess what, breakdowns! Swing those little ninja arms, 15-year old Emmure-fan assholes. I’ll just sit back and watch the sparks fly as Bennett prepares a response.

-VN

To follow up on Vince’s French Metal Invasion post: everyone needs to check out Celeste. I first read about the band on Invisible Oranges but didn’t actually get around to listening to them until last night, and I’m glad that I did.

Click to read more…

I want you to know that I am stone-cold sober right now. There is no weed in my system. I am not influenced by anything other than the power of music.

There is a new Converge song, “Dark Horse,” streaming on the band’s MySpace page right now. It comes off of their new album, Axe to Fall. And it is fucking incredible.

Click to read more…

Thanks to MS Maniac Aaron M. for pointing out the hilariousness that is ensuing over at Ross Robinson’s Twitter account re: the new Korn record. Yeah, Robinson is producing the new Korn record — somehow I missed that too.

I have somewhat of a difficult relationship with Ross Robinson. On one hand he produced one of the bestest albums ever in the form of At the Drive-In’s Relationship of Command, and he also produced landmark albums by Glassjaw and Slipknot. On the other hand he produced way more albums that are just all sorts of terrible — records by Limp Bizkit (this in and of itself is a crime worthy of corporal punishment), Korn, Cold, Soulfly, Machine Head’s cringe-worthy rap-metal phase, and Vanille Ice’s nu-metal “comeback” record. As a producer who was definitely pigeonholed into a genre (rightly or wrongly), unsurprisingly Robinson hasn’t had a whole lot of work lately.

But he sure got a nice money gig for the new Korn joint. And he’s all sorts of excited about it! Here we go:

Korn, Day one: pikt out drums/cartage broke wheel of my 24 trk tape mchn/fairchild on cymb/made catbox/knee wnt out of socket-kicks ass12:01 AM Aug 6th

Click to read more…

I listened to The Infection over the weekend for the first time in a little while. Guess what? Still kills. I can’t wait to see some of this shit played live.

Here’s a not-so-great quality bootleg of the band playing the first cut off the album, “The Venom Inside.” As Vince says, “This song just makes me happy.” What a killer way to open the show. Sounds like the crowd is almost as loud as Mark Hunter.

Friendly reminder: Chimaira are on tour right now with Hatebreed, Dying Fetus, Toxic Holocaust and Winds of Plague. Then they head to Europe in September with Unearth, Throwdown, and our friends in Daath. You can get all the tour dates here.

-AR

But thankfully Norwegian black metallers Pantheon I (of whom I’ve written about before) are around to keep things nice and misogynistic. Special thanks to “The Bondage King,” who’s thanked as such in the video’s ending credits, for providing the bondage.

The best thing here is actually the music, though; Pantheon I‘s ripping brew of dark, powerful and progressive black metal is something I need a little more of in my life. They’re kinda like Keep of Kalessin without all the razor-straight blonde hair, both literally and metaphorically speaking if that makes any sense.

-VN

Let’s start this off by saying I most likely WILL NOT listen to your band. When you post your link to your band I will ignore it. Unless you have some amazing pitch as to why I should listen to your music. If you’re my friend on Facebook I will listen to your shit. Otherwise, don’t post links in the comments section for me to hear. Right now, this blog is to answer serious questions.  Not pipe dreams about me passing on your amazing music to a record label. Most of them are on a signing freeze anyway. I understand the need to post your link in the comments for people to check out your band. Knock yourself out. Just don’t expect me to give my two cents.

OK, now that we got that out of the way, I wanted to turn you guys on to some new music I’ve been rocking…  drum roll…  Eryn Non Dae from France.

I found out about these fucks through this site. I’ll tell you, this shit is great. I listened to it three times in one day. It’s like Neurosis, Meshuggah, and Coalesce. I’m loving it. My new project will definitely be borrowing some of their ideas.

The new Behemoth. Nuff said. It’s Behemoth. The whole album kicks ass. Also, Colin Richardson killed on the mix. It sounds amazing and ferocious.

Click to read more…

I haven’t taken a vacation since the summer of ’06. You think snarky metal blogs write themselves? Fuck no. I have something known as “work ethic.” I’m here, making fun of people I mostly don’t even know, for you. So that you’ll have something to do when you should be working. I don’t take no fuckin’ vacations.

But not Joe Duplantier. The inhumanly chill Gojira front man says that France’s leading metallic export will take a six month break in 2010. SIX FUCKING MONTHS. Lazy motherfucker.

Oh well. At least I know I get to see the band live at least one more time before they go on hiatus.

Here’s “Love” from Terra Incognita.

-AR

Pissed Jeans’ King Of Jeans will be in stores tomorrow. It is the best album I’ve heard this year. I’ll be reviewing it here later this week.

Also: download a free MP3 of “False Jesii Part 2″.

-GS

[Gary Suarez is in crisis mode. He usually manages the consistently off-topic No Yoko No. Say, why don't you follow him on Twitter?]

The intrepid Sergeant D. of Metal Inquisition has published an in-depth look at Biohazard, a brand new band out of Brooklyn that the MetalSucks Mansion inhabitants all agree you should check out. Says Mr. D.:

They seem like cool guys who like to have fun, but I feel like they’re trying a little hard to do the whole Municipal Waste/Toxic Holocaust thing. I mean they’re definitely good at it, but the thing is that they take it a little too far. In order for it to be funny, it has to be a little bit believable, you know? We talked about this in my “Entertainment Business” class the other day: If all you do is combine every ridiculous cliche from crossover fashion into your characters, it’s too much. You have to use some restraint or you just end up looking like a cartoon. Overkill, Toxik, and Xentrix are much better at doing the retro-thrash thing without going over the top.

True words. Check out the entire post at Metal Inquisition.

-VN

Ahhh, lame puns. Sometimes you’re just in the mood, y’know?

ANYWAY, the new Converge album, Axe to Fall, comes out October 17 on Epitaph. That alone might be reason enough to get excited, but various inhabitants of the MetalSucks Mansion have heard from those in the know that the album is “as good as No Heroes” and/or “better than Jane Doe.” Those are both big statements – the latter obviously being an almost impossible feat – but hopefully the peeps that made these proclamations speak the truth.

Now the cover art has been released; I think it’s a safe assumption that it’s by Jacob Bannon himself, but I don’t have official confirmation on that. In any case, I don’t know if it’s quite as iconic as the cover art for Jane Doe or No Heroes or even You Fail Me, but it’s still the sweetest album art I’ve seen by a non-grind band this year. Check it out:

So… is it October yet?

-AR

[via Chronic Youth]

…the new Kiss album is going to suck puppy anus.

By the way, in case ya didn’t know: that ain’t Ace Frehley or Peter Criss you’re looking at…

-AR

In case you didn’t know, Alice Cooper is a lame old man. How lame and old? He plays golf…

…and wrote a book about playing golf…

…and is friends with Pat Boone. Yes, that Pat Boone.

So how is it possible that a church group could still find this 61 year-old boring fart threatening?

Click to read more…

This live footage of Morgan Rose filling in for the injured Tommy Lee on drums with Motley Crue this past weekend is really entertaining. I mean, you get to see Vince Neil, who still can’t remember all the words to his own songs / gets winded after about two lines, and that in itself is always funny. And you get to see Mick Mars, who despite his status as the walking dead can still wail out those solos pretty well. But best of all, you get to see Morgan Rose, one of the greatest drummers on the planet in terms of pure, raw talent, rock through a set of songs he hadn’t heard in years for which he had zero time to prepare.

It seems that Tommy Lee burned his hand and couldn’t play. There’s video floating around of Tommy coming out on stage at this show and explaining the situation to the audience; as usual, he sounds like a total idiot. So the band flew out Sevendust’s Morgan Rose from Atlanta last minute, day of the fucking show, to fill in on drums. I know what you’re thinking… Motley songs ain’t too complicated drum-wise and they just play all the hits anyway. VRONG. This is the Dr. Feelgood tour in which the band plays the entire album start to finish, deep cuts and all, plus the usual smattering of greatest hits. Rose comes out and fucking nails it all. I love how in these clips you can see Nikki Sixx communicating with Rose about when the changes happen in the song, or when to end, or when to begin. THAT is fucking pure musicianship that can’t be taught. You either have it or you don’t. And Rose most certainly has it.

Check out “Same ol’ Situation” below and “Dr. Feelgood” after the jump.

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I thought that Beyond the Permafrost was a good album, but to be completely honest, I just did not understand all the hype around this band until I saw them absolutely annihilate at Scion earlier this year. These fellas really know how to put on a live show.

And I fucking love their new album, Breathing the Fire. I don’t know if it’s actually better than Permafrost (e.g., has managed to capture how magnificent they are live in the studio) or if I’m just totally in love with this band since seeing them lay an audience to waste, but either way, I’ve been rocking Fire for a few days now and am pretty enamored with it.

Prosthetic won’t release Breathing the Fire until October 13, but the band is now streaming a new track, “Crushed Beyond Dust,” on their MySpace page. If you’re already a Skeletonwitch fan, you should love this shit; if you’re like me and up ’til now you haven’t understood what the big deal is, this is a good song to get you hooked.

-AR

I’ve had Endgame for over a month now, and I still find the following to be true:

1. It’s the best Megadeth album since Countdown.
2. The best material from the album still hasn’t been released for public consumption.

Still, the most recently-unveiled new song, “1,320,” is pretty friggin’ sweet. And I’m sure if I listened to the lyrics, the title would make more sense to me. But after United Abominations, I vowed never to pay close attention to Dave Mustaine’s lyrics again. It’s for my own personal enjoyment, y’know?

Endgame comes out September 15 on Roadrunner.

-AR

They don’t make bands like Burnt by the Sun anymore: dudes playing big metal riffs with genuine hardcore swagger while maintaining an air of authenticity and effortlessness. They never needed breakdowns (though they’ve had a few fucking righteous ones) or clean singing to get their point across: they simply stuck to what they did best, standing out even amongst the loftiest of peers, be it on their label (Relapse) or the countless tours and fests on which they played. Of course, while initial impressions hinted at a meat and potatoes-style excursion, they kept things interesting in the most subtle of manners: the riff was the main attraction, but ambiences and abstract asides provided sturdy support beams. Smarter than you think their aggressive, gruff, and unpretentious sound may have implied, Burnt by the Sun crafted some damn fine albums over the course of their career, and their decision to pack it in after a long hiatus is incredibly disappointing, especially considering the time in which they’re departing: a sea of kids combining hardcore and metal while managing to sterilize the soul out of both. But at the very least, their supposed final album – the mighty Heart of Darkness – is as good as anything they’ve ever done, if not significantly better. Whether a conscious decision to go out on top or an admitting that they have nowhere else to go after this, it’s a fine and fitting final album from the ridiculously powerful – and often criminally underrated – band.

Click to read more…

MetalSucks Maniac Matt Fields sent us the below video with this simple message:

“I really do not see what credential this man has to criticize Limp Bizkit.”

Click to read more…

Axl and Vince both recently got douchie iPhones, because they do everything together including eating, sleeping, fucking and going to shul. But honestly, the quality of life improvement resulting from said purchases is that drastic; life is without a doubt much, much better now.

So, as some of you have already noticed MetalSucks is now iPhone friendly; if you visit MetalSucks using Safari on an iPhone or iPod Touch you’ll see a much sleeker, simpler, faster version of the site. If you’d prefer to view it the old/normal/slow way, just scroll all the way down to the bottom and flick the “Mobile Theme” slider to “off.”

Maybe a MetalSucks app soon? Who knows.