No longer do you have to simply take our word that Revocation are one of the best and brightest up and coming young metal bands on the scene today; now you can stream their entire new album Existence is Futile in its entirety at ExistenceIsFutile.info (hooray once again for non-MySpace streams!) a full week before it’s officially released.

Existence is Futile is an album’s album, a full work of art; and it’s sure to make more than a few year-end lists here at the Mansion and elsewhere. The lead guitar work, musicianship and composition are absolutely fucking stellar. The band’s got the whole package. There is nothing not to like about Revocation. Stream their full new album here, and prepare to be blown away.

-VN

A Storm of Light, the post-Neurisis band fronted by Neurosis art collaborator / visual mastermind Josh Graham, have a new album called Forgive Us Our Trespasses that comes out today. Our friends at Brooklyn Vegan are streaming the video for the song “Tempest,” and unsurprisingly the video is really fucking cool-looking. Watch it at Brooklyn Vegan [pardon my earlier embed gaffe. -Ed.], and stream another brand new track called “Midnight” on ASOL’s MySpace page.

Brooklyn Vegan also tells us that so far A Storm of Light has only one US date on their calendar, a FREE album release show at Ace of Clubs on 10/12 joined by the always excellent Biclops and Naked Heroes. Following that the band will play at the Damnation Festival in the UK, after which they’ll head out on a full European tour with Minsk.

-VN

Muse are one of the best active bands on the planet, and their new album, The Resistance, is one of the best of the year. Period.

The band’s music would make them awesome enough, but apparently they’re righteous dudes, too. To wit: according to the Telegraph, when the band was recently ordered to mime a performance of their single, “Uprising,” for an appearance on an Italian talk show, front man Matt Bellamy and drummer Dominic Howard responded by switching positions. Watch the hilarious video below: Bellamy clearly can’t play the drums, isn’t playing the drums, and is having a lot of fun pointing out the bullshit lip syncing (the most egregious example comes around the 3:14 mark).

Awesome. Totally awesome.

The Resistance is in stores now. You should purchase a copy.

-AR

Thanks to Alex Nasse for the tip.

Did you guys see Rammstein’s new porn flick music video “Pussy” last week? If not… make sure you do so… in the privacy of your own home. NOT SAFE FOR WORK. We warned you this time, OK?

“Pussy” is available on iTunes as of today, and when you purchase it you’ll also receive the “Rammlied” b-side track and a digital booklet. ‘Cause we’re all about “try it before you buy it” ’round here, we’re exclusively streaming “Rammlied” in full below. It sounds exactly like what you’d expect, and we mean that in the best of ways; big stomping guitar riffs, synths, German lyrics, and the constant repetition of the band’s name. RAMM. STEIN.

[this promotion has ended]

So, as previously announced, Eddie Van Halen was on Two and a Half Men last night. At least, that’s what Allyson at Bring Back Glam tells me. I missed it, because I was watching Gojira. And because I love myself.

But Allyson has the cameo clip, which is below. It’s as cheesy as you’d expect.

So… I guess the question is, would you use the shitter right after EVH warned you that you might wanna wait a beat? Would the smell of his poo floating into your nostrils disgust you, or are you such a sycophant that you’d think “Yeah! Eddie’s poo molecules will now forever be a part of me. History and I have finally intertwined.”

These are the kinds of things I think about.

-AR

I haven’t seen Saviours live yet, but everyone I know who has tells me they’re fucking awesome. I’m actually pretty new to the band in general, but their new album Accelerated Living has definitely forced me to give them a hard look; it’s a delicious slab of raw, classic stoner thrash (if there even is such a thing) mixed with retro, Thin Lizzy-inspired rawk guitars, the kind of music that makes you want to throw a few beers back with some buddies and just bang your head.

Check out the song “We Roam” from their new album, below, and let us know what you think. Accelerated Living drops on October 27th on Kemado Records.

[this promotion has ended]

Just yesterday Five Finger Death Punch announced the disappearance of guitarist Zoltan Bathory under bizarre circumstances that suggested the whole thing might be little more than a publicity ploy. Well, it took a flashlight and an anatomy lesson in the difference between one’s elbow and one’s asshole, but the band has located the machine that turned a little kid into Tom Hanks. In this cleverly worded statement on their MySpace blog, FFDP sez:

Click to read more…

Partway through Gojira’s set last night, my knees got wobbly. At first I thought it was just a natural reaction the awesomeness of the French metaller’s ball-rattling live show, but then I realized: “Nope, nope. I’m just really fucked up.” So fucked up that I turned down weed – and I never turn down weed. I went back to the Mansion at a fairly reasonable hour (whereas Vince and Kip were still out partyin’), but since I woke up this morning, I’ve still been feeling the effects of last night’s debauchery. My head fuckin’ hurts, dude.

So with all due respect to you, my loyal readers, who I love and who ensure that we continue to have the best job in the world: I did not want to start my day by calling you “nitwits.” But you’ve left me no choice.

We got a whole bunch of e-mails this morning from people who were concerned because Mark Morton didn’t play with Lamb of God at last night’s LoG/GWAR/JFAC show. There seems to be some serious concern from these fans that the lead guitarist has quit the band.

And that would suck… if it were true. But Morton’s absence from this tour was announced over a month ago. He’s at home with his woman and their new baby, being a dutiful daddy. God Forbid’s Doc Coyle is filling in for him. In fact, here’s a video of Doc playing with the band that Blabbermouth posted yesterday:

So, everyone should remain calm. Mark Morton is still very much a member of Lamb of God. I’m sure he’ll back for the band’s next tour.

More disconcerting: a number of you who wrote in didn’t know who Doc Coyle is. Seriously people: God Forbid. Listen to them. They’re awesome and it’s good for you.

-AR

It’s still a week away from release, but today you can stream Alice in Chains’ excellent new offering Black Gives Way to Blue in its entirety on Alice in Chains’ official website. In an autumn filled with fucking excellent metal albums, this one is definitely one of the records I’ve been spinning most over the past week or so; now you can check it out too. And best of all, the audio is high(ish) quality; no crappy MySpace player.

Those skeptical of the band with new lead singer William Duvall can now hear what we’ve been talking about. Inevitably there will still be haters who refuse to accept this new incarnation of the band, but if you’ve got a set of ears and a brain there’s no way you can deny that this is good music. Take a listen, and come back here and tell us what you think. Also be sure to check out the 12-minute short film the band put out last week in which all four members comment on Layne’s passing and the decision to get the band back together.

-VN

I haven’t done a blog in a while because the last blog I did really got me thinking about the mentality of people in the metal scene. Most particularly, the mentality of shit talking. We’re all guilty of it. I admitted to shit talking Bring Me The Horizon in magazines over in Europe when I was in God Forbid. I never heard them at that point. But now, I dig them and I feel pretty stupid for slagging them.

In my last blog I mentioned my excitement for the band Eryn Non Dae and how I was going to “borrow” some of their ideas for my new project. First of all, my last blog was PACKED with information about band business, touring and juicy tidbits of amazing knowledge :) But, the funny thing about the last blog was this guy ‘Jamie.’ Out of a five hundred word blog, he took the phrase “borrow ideas” and accused me and God Forbid of riding the coat tails of other popular bands. Killswitch was his biggest gripe. Then it was Opeth.

He claimed Gone Forever (2004) was a Killswitch rip and Earthsblood (2009) was an Opeth rip. This type of thing usually doesn’t bother me. In this instance I was fucking bothered. Jamie and I entered into a written brawl about the history of God Forbid and the intentions of our song writing for the last ten fucking years. Why would I waste my time to defend myself from this sort of claim?

Click to read more…

I haven’t done much posting today. I’m having a shitty day, alright? One of those days when useless bullshit brought upon you by pathetic, ignorant low lives ends up eating all your time. This is one of these days where everyone in my immediate vicinity is lucky I don’t own a gun, or you’d all be watching me on the news later tonight as I was dragged away for offing a room full of people.

So THANK FUCKING FUCK for some good news: Through the Eyes of the Dead have finally announced a title. It’s called Skepsis, which is a (I’m assuming deliberate) misspelling of the word “scepsis.” Look it up, motherfuckers.

There’s still no release date, but the cover art, which you see above, is by the always awesome Paul Romano.

Meanwhile, TTEOTD are about to hit the road with Despised Icon. Get dates here.

-AR

We make fun of L.A. Guns quite a bit, mostly because, well, they’re really worth making fun of. For one thing, they’re one of those bands where there’s actually two different versions of the band touring around, claiming to be “L.A. Guns;” the version that doesn’t feature founding guitarist/namesake Tracii Guns hired a dude named – no shit – Stacey Blades as their guitarist. Plus, Tracii is the “Guns” in “Guns N’ Roses,” but quit the band before they got signed, and has spent most of his career trying to prove that he could have been Slash, if given the shot. And they’re one of those bands that claims they were never hair metal even though there’s really no other way to categorize them. So, yeah, they’re pretty silly.

They’re also one of the better hair metal bands of their era, even if they never made it that big in the scheme of things. On Friday night during some drunken rambling about Kix and Love/Hate and whatever other wussy bands crossed our Peroni-soaked brains, a friend and I started reminiscing about the song “Over the Edge” from Hollywood Vampires. I don’t know how the song holds up in the whole pantheon of songs that were cool when you were a kid but aren’t cool anymore, but I still have fun listening to it from time to time.

All I could find for a embedded video was this rip from the Point Break soundtrack. Since Swayze just died, I figured, y’know, fuck it.

-AR

I finally got around to watching this 12-minute short film about Alice in Chains that was released last Friday, and I’m quite glad I did. The video [posted on SMNnews.com] features interviews with all four band members speaking about the tragedy of former singer Layne Staley’s death and the eventual return of the band with new singer William Duvall. Follow the band as they recount their first performance without Layne in the wake of the Tsunami tragedy, their introduction to William, and the creative processes that led to the birth of Black Gives Way to Blue.

I’m not sure why the guys are getting dolled up as members of KISS in this video, but perhaps a more knowledgeable AIC fan can fill us in. I also don’t understand the significance of the laundromat at the end…. is it a metaphor for cleaning up and dealing with the past? Not sure, but whatever it means this video is an excellent, personal look into the reformation of one of my favorite bands of all-time.

Black Gives Way To Blue drops everywhere September 29. It’s really good, folks.

-VN

Between the Buried and Me bassist Dan Briggs name-dropped St. Louis, MO experimental metal band Lye by Mistake in one of the first interviews I ever did for this site, back in August of 2007. I asked him what he’d been listening to lately, and he answered thusly:

My buddies from St. Louis, Lye By Mistake. I’ve just been listening to them so much lately. I can’t get enough of them. They’re honestly out of control. They’re, I guess, you know, I hate to… they kind of have the Dillinger really intense, syncopated patterns and they’re really kind of jarring, the most musical fusion crazy stuff. It’s this balance of absolute insanity and really awesome, awesome brutality. They’re one of the newer bands that I’m really stoked on, who hopefully we’ll get something goin’ for them.

Over two years later, it appears that Briggs has been able to “get something goin’ for them” indeed; the band has just signed a deal with Red Chord vocalist Guy Kozowyk’s Black Market Activities label, an imprint of Metal Blade Records.

Click to read more…

This past Friday Axl and I participated in another of Noisecreep.com’s “Creep Cast” video podcasts (you can see my last appearance on the Creep Cast here). The guest artists of the week were Atreyu’s Alex Varkatzas and Brandon Saller, who both called in and participated in the entire half-hour show. It was kinda awkward for us (as I’m sure it was for them), but we all played nice and had a good time. The podcast will be posted later in the week, at which point you’ll definitely see it posted here.

So now that the niceties are out of the way, we can go back to making fun of Atreyu again! MetalSucks Maniac Tom Fassnidge sent in this clip of Atreyu bassist Marc McKnight dropping throwing his bass as the result of an exaggerated stage move at a 2008 gig in Biloxi, MS. It’s quite funny, and the crowd certainly seemed to enjoy it; McKnight seemed to have a good sense of humor about it too, throwing his hands up in the air in defeat and waiting on the side of the stage until his techs recovered his lost axe.

-VN

Well, at least one good thing came out of that day we let Ziltoid run the site: we ended up exchanging e-mails with Cormorant vocalist/bassist Arthur von Nagel (read Zilty’s excellent interview with Arthur here), who, we’re very pleased to announce, will begin writing a new column for MetalSucks, “Tiberian Vocalizations,” later this week.

To celebrate our blissful new union, we’re streaming Cormorant’s awesome new album, Metazoa, right here for the next two days. Produced by the legendary Billy Anderson (Neurosis, Brutal Truth, High on Fire, Mr. Bungle, etc.), Metazoa integrates elements of prog metal, death metal, black metal and folk metal into one truly unique, totally kick-ass package. Metazoa is Epic with a capital “E” – trust us when we say that you NEED to check out this record. And don’t forget to have a look at the lyrics – like Pig Destroyer and Primordial, they are a large part of the band’s sound and aesthetic and are very much worth your attention.

Metazoa comes out tomorrow via Saturnine Media. You can (and should!) order a copy through Cormorant’s official webstore. And don’t forget to check out Cormorant on MySpace for all the latest news and updates on the band!

Enjoy the album…

[this promotion has ended]

Some things never change, like Vince Neil getting winded and letting the audience the sing all the words, or Tommy Lee sounding like a complete idiot every time he opens his mouth. But some things do change, and this era of Motley Crue absolutely smokes the modern incarnation in the live setting. Tommy Lee is in top shape rockin’ the double bass behind the kit, Mick Mars can actually move, Nikki Sixx somehow manages to run around in high heels (credit where it’s due!) and my namesake surprisingly doesn’t sound half-bad when he is singing. I would’ve loved to have been 18 in 1983 and seen Motley Crue in their prime. Thanks to MetalSucks Maniac Shane Gillis for sending in this gem.

-VN

Are we even on Five Finger Death Punch’s press release list anymore? I haven’t seen anything from them in a long time. I guess they don’t come from the “there’s no such thing as bad publicity” school of thought.

So I just read this statement from the band on Blabbermouth:

“We have not been able to locate Zoltan [Bathory, guitar] from FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH since Friday night’s [September 18] show in Las Vegas. He has not responded to calls, text messages, or emails, and he was last seen around 2:00 a.m. Friday night at Wasted Space in the Hard Rock Casino, taking tequila shots at the bar with a group of guys from a bachelor party who came to the show.

“If anybody has any information as to the whereabouts of Zoltan, please email ffdp AT prospectpk DOT com immediately. This is not like him and the band needs to prepare for the upcoming tour. We have already notified the appropriate authorities, but any help Vegas fans might be able to provide is very much appreciated.”

Now… that would be sad news, not worthy of being made fun of, even by someone who hates this band as much as I do (and there are few currently active metal bands I loathe more than FFDP). But Blabbermouth did some good snoopin’ and included this note with the statement:

Click to read more…

He looks a tad bit bored at first… but around the :30 mark his face lights up and he gets really into it, and by the end he’s having a smashing good time. It’s funny to see a drum legend playing a dumbed-down version of music that already has a really simple drum beat, and it’s hilarious when he fucks up at the end. I’d love to see him tear up some shit on the Expert level.

-VN

[Thanks: Brandon Marvin]

As Vince already mentioned, we spent Friday night at the annual San Gennaro festival in Little Italy. Prior to that, though, we had warm-up drinks at Arrow Bar, where our bro-bro Bram Teitelman from Metal Insider was spinnin’. The last song he played before we headed out for Little Italy was “Painkiller,” which, needless to say, got stuck in my head for the rest of the night, and part of the next morning. It wasn’t even the whole song – it was just the chorus. It was like Halford was trying to drill his way out of my brain. Every time there was a lull in the conversation, I found myself almost involuntarily adopting that eunuch voice, screeching the chorus aloud. I’m sure I annoyed the ever-lovin’ shit outta everyone around me.

But there are way worse songs to have stuck in your head.

-AR