Tomorrow is Halloween. This is great news, because it means that come Sunday (or Monday) people will finally fucking stop talking about Halloween. So sick of it already. When did I become so curmudgeonly? I’m gonna make a hell of an old man. Here’s what went down this week:

• Danzig drummer Chuck Biscuits died. Oh wait, no he didn’t.
• We debuted a new Mudvayne track and we posted live photos from Satyricon and Goatwhore/Eyehategod shows.
• We analyzed the business models of Earache and Roadrunner Records.
• The Boner Tour 2010 has been announced.
• Bison B.C.’s Dan And wrote two tour blogs for us while Horse the Band’s Lord Gold told us about women in diners.
• We spoke with Jucifer’s Amber Valentine and James Plodkin from Jodis.
• We’re giving away a buncha BTBAM shit and celebrating the release of their new album.
• We got all creative writing on your ass.

Our very own Corey Mitchell is gonna be on TV this weekend; he’ll be appearing on E!’s “20 Most Horrifying Hollywood Murders” on Saturday night at 6:00pm EST/5:00PM CST. In addition to his duties as the resident Mansion old fart, Corey writes books about true crime and is a respected authority on the matter so it should be an interesting (and br00tal) watch. Have a good weekend everyone.

Yeah, tomorrow is Halloween. And sure, you’re all excited to dress up as that dude from Watchmen or a slutty nurse/secretary/schoolgirl/turd and probably not thinking about Christmas just yet. Since it’s less than two months away, I can’t think of a more miserable way to honor/desecrate Jesus’ birthday than with some good ol’ fashioned holiday music performed by Judas Priest’s Rob Halford. That’s right: ROB HALFORD HAS A FUCKING CHRISTMAS ALBUM OUT. Here’s the single “Christmas Comes For Everyone”:

God, this is awful. If you’re a masochist, then go ahead and download the single for free at Halford’s website.

I’m buying this album for all of my MetalSucks colleagues for Hannukah, because I hate them.

-GS

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

After much deliberation we’ve chosen the winner of our Austrian Death Machine MS Paint contest. We got so many amazing entries… seriously, they’re all great. It’s amazing what you folks can do in MS Paint. But the winning entry, above, was submitted by “WowWee!” a chap who wanted to win so badly he submitted TWELVE different designs. Nice work, dude!

Make sure you check out all of the winning entries in the comments on the contest page.

Tomorrow Austrian Death Machine will release the second single from Double Brutal; the song is called “Who Told You, You Could Eat My Cookies” and it’ll be posted on the band’s MySpace at some point tomorrow.

Even though we all own calendars and are perfectly capable of keeping track of the date ourselves, it seems like every metal website in the world has spent the past week (or month, in some cases) reminding its readers that tomorrow, October 31, is Halloween. And I understand this on some level – Halloween is probably the most metal of all holidays.

It probably won’t surprise you to learn that I, however, do not give two shits about Halloween (Vince is a different story). Walking around NYC on Halloween is like drowning in a sea of stupidity. Crossing sixth avenue – which usually takes ten, maybe fifteen seconds tops – will not twenty to thirty minutes, if you’re very lucky. Also, I don’t need an excuse to get dressed up in a silly costume and drink. I’m a metalhead – I do that every Saturday night.

Which is why I’ll spend tomorrow evening locked away in the Rosenberg Wing of the MS Mansion, watching horror movies. One of which will be Hardware, a cult classic from 1990 that features appearances by Iggy Pop and – yep – Lemmy! Check out Lemmy’s scene below. It’s a cool movie, if anyone shares my Halloween misanthropy and needs something to do tomorrow…

-AR

Deepthroat Tracheotomy. Their full demo is available for free download at Death Metal Invasion if anyone cares to find out what this band sounds like. Thanks once again to Cosmo Lee of Invisible Oranges for letting me know about this fantastic website.

-VN

Full props to our bestest buds at Metal Injection for finding this pretty hilarious story.

So. I guess it’s Vice‘s fifteenth anniversary, and to help celebrate, writer Chris Nieratko dug up a decade old, previously unpublished interview with a certain Behemoth front man. Now, Nieratko played a pretty mean-spirited trick on Nergal – whose first language isn’t English – but that doesn’t negate the fact that the results are fucking funny as hell.

Check out an excerpt:

Click to read more…

So far, this is in line to be the second most metal cover art of 2010 (here’s the first)…

Starve for the Devil drops February 9 on Nuclear Blast. Arsis will also be on the MetalSucks sponsored Tyrants of Evil North American Tour 2010, alongside Exodus, Mutiny Within, and headliners Arch Enemy. Get dates after the jump.

Click to read more…

Full confession: I haven’t had that much of an interest in Mudvayne since The End of All Things To Come. Even then I wasn’t too into the band, but I’ve always enjoyed a few of their songs. When Mudvayne’s label came to us about premiering their new track “Heard It All Before” I was a bit skeptical, but this is probably one of the best Mudvayne tracks I’ve heard in a while and it’s certainly the heaviest. There’s a killer guitar solo, and Ryan Martinie’s tasty bass licks are right out front throughout as always. This song is definitely one of the more original tracks the band has penned in quite some time; it still sounds like Mudvayne, but not in the same heard-it-all-before way (pun intended) the band’s been recycling for years now.

Stream “Heard it All Before” below. It comes from their self-titled album which will be released on December 22.

[this promotion has ended]

So as if you didn’t know, the new Slayer album, World Painted Blood, comes out this Tuesday (or I guess Monday if you’re in Europe). But as usually happens these days, the record is now streaming in full right here. Go check it out.

I’ll have a full review next week, but allow me to stir shit up right off the bat:

World Painted Blood > Endgame > Death Magnetic

If only Anthrax had actually gotten an album out this year…

-AR

Thanks to the reader known only as “L” for the tip.

Earlier this week Earache Records was the subject of an extremely long-winded rant about the state of the metal industry. Now it’s Roadrunner’s turn.

First we get a press release announcing that Roadrunner has signed heavy rock band Hail the Villain. MS reader “Shit Sandwich” alerted us that the label also recently signed indie rockers The Jakes. Then comes the latest fracas involving Rob Zombie suddenly pushing back the release of Hellbilly Deluxe 2 saying “everything was turning into a chaotic mess” which was actually code for “I’m jumping ship to Roadrunner.” Methods of Mayhem… let’s not even go there. And the label is touting Ratt’s new record as one of its flagship releases for early 2010. I mean, I LOVES me some Ratt, but seriously?

All this following the dismissal of long-tenured A&R man Mike Gitter a few months back. Gitter brought Killswitch Engage, Opeth, Megadeth and many others onto the Roadrunner roster.

What the?!?

Click to read more…

The lovely ladies at Reign in Blonde found the below video, demonstrating a new shirt which you can play like a gee-tar. Aside from being incredibly dorky, it’s also thirty bucks, which I guess is about what you’d pay for a shirt at a big-time rock show anyways (actually, thirty bucks at a big time rock show might be a steal).

Anyway, if I was about nine, I’d probably think this is really cool. Of course, when I was nine, I also thought those shirts that change colors were really cool. But if all your friends are virgins and you want to really impress them, you can order the shirt from Think Geek.

By the way, with reference to my headline: no one should worry that these shirts mean kids will stop learning to play real guitar. That is an absolutely retarded concern. So just remain calm, okay?

-AR

Scott Weiland’s been out of Velvet Revolver for quite some time now, and there’s still no word on their search for a new singer. I had assumed that they hadn’t announced anyone because they just couldn’t find someone famous enough. I mean, let’s be real – they’re not gonna hire some unknown. If they did, they’d fail to be a supergroup – they’s just be Slash’s Snakepit III. As it stands, Slash doesn’t know Dave Kushner’s name (he repeatedly identifies his co-guitarist as “Dave Kirshner” in his autobiography), and he’s known Kushner since they were kids; what the fuck would he do with an unknown singer?

I guess there must be some other issue, though – ’cause Corey Taylor, front man for Slipknot and Stone Sour, recently revealed that he tried out for the spot:

“I had a meeting with those guys, we did some demos together, and it just didn’t work — for whatever reason… It was just really cool. It was one of those things where it’s like I could have got to jam with legends, man, in my opinion. But, you know, it was cool, and I still know those guys, I still hang out with them, and I still have nothing but respect.”

So I gotta wonder why this didn’t work out. Taylor’s voice is comparable to Weiland’s, he’s well-known, he’d probably bring in some young kids who might otherwise not give a shit about Guns Without Rose, and he’s a very charismatic and entertaining band leader. So did his personality just not gel with that of the dudes in VR? Were they worried that with two other bands, he was already over-committed? Did Roadrunner (the label that distributes both Slipknot and Stone Sour) put the kibosh on the whole thing, as they allegedly did when Taylor almost replaced John Bush in Anthrax? We might never know, but I find the whole thing pretty curious.

Weigh in with your thoughts on Taylor as the new Axl Weiland below. And while you’re pontificating, enjoy this bootleg video of Taylor performing “It’s So Easy” with Slash. It might be the closest we ever get to seeing  a Taylor-fronted VR.

-AR

Yesterday we mourned the loss of former Danzig drummer Chuck Biscuits, who died at age 44 of throat cancer. It was indeed a sad, sad day here at the MetalSucks Mansion, and we all wore white in tribute to the fallen skinsman (We usually wear black anyway, so that wouldn’t do.).

Only problem is, Brooklyn Vegan is now reporting that Mr. Biscuits is very much alive and well.

Click to read more…

Mr. O’Grady answered the question “WHICH LIVING COLOUR SONG HAS YOUR FAVORITE VERNON REID GUITAR SOLO?” with a very long, detailed, and well thought-out missive on “Cult of Personality;” for his troubles, he wins a free pair of tickets to tonight’s Living Colour show at the Highline Ballroom here in NYC.

Toxteth tells me he’s never seen LC live before; man, is he in for a treat! Toxteth, if you see us at the show tonight, feel free to buy us a beer. Thanks.

Read Toxteth’s essay-sized answer after the jump.

Click to read more…

Here’s the video for DevilDriver’s “Fate Stepped In,” from Pray for Villians. It’s one of those Warrant-”Heaven” style tour montage videos, but no one is wearing white leather, Dez never sings right into the camera, and there’s no synchronized guitar moves. Oh well.

And just because I feel like it, here’s that Warrant video I was referencing…

Click to read more…

Mastodon were damn good last night. It was my third time seeing them this year (!) and nothing is ever going to top seeing them at a 500-cap venue this past May… but I’ll fight you if you say Mastodon aren’t one of the greatest bands of our generation.

Dethklok were actually a lot more entertaining than I was expecting. The idea of seeing a cartoon band live is off-putting at first, but the bandmembers certainly have the chops and the video screen presentation made the whole thing work. It was fun.

Anyway, here’s the official video for Mastodon’s “Oblivion”; I’d post a live video, but the vocals are always embarrassing. Love this video anyway.

Sadly no beards attacked me and took me on magical journeys at the show last night (though Kip’s man-whiskers are looking mighty tough as of late). Did you read Tres Crow’s piece of creative writing, “The Mastodon Beard“? You should.

-VN

Congrats to skoal, the proud new owner of Amon Amarth, Gwar and Ravage CDs from last week’s contest. The winning caption to the photo at right:

“Don’t do it Darth!!!!!! Its the latest plot from Gunface to steal the deathstar!!!!!!!”

MS inside joke for the win! This week we’re giving away two copies of Dying Fetus’ latest CD Descend Into Depravity courtesy the good folks at Relapse Records. Just come up with a funny caption to the below photo [sent in by MS Reader "geddy lee"] and it shall be yours.

Heathenfest America, the not-Paganfest-monikered tour which is otherwise basically Paganfest for all intents and purposes, gets underway next week! Break out those viking hats and beer steins and get on out there to catch Eluveite, Belphegor, Alestorm (the superior pirate metal band), Vreid and Kivimetsan Druidi at what’s sure to be the best / dorkiest / drunkest show of the Fall. Full list of dates for the MetalSucks-sponsored trek after the jump.

Click to read more…

We loved the last tour blog that Bison B.C.’s Dan And did for us so much, we’re only all-too-happy to present another! Below, please enjoy part 2; you can read part 1 here.

Sep 28 ’09 (Albuquerque NM @ Launch Pad)

The first thing that struck me about this venue was the framed posters that line the walls… Melvins, High on Fire, Fu Manchu… some killer bands have been through here over the years. I was also struck by how nice and clean Albuquerque seemed. I would later find out that the town is ranked in the top five for violent crimes in the US. Okay then, never mind.

Played with a rad band called Roñoso. Weirdest guitar tone ever but it totally worked in their crust-saw sound. Kylesa sounds fucking huge tonight. Their (hilarious) sound guy Dave is working the system like it owes him money… and it probably does.

Click to read more…

Former Danzig drummer Chuck Biscuits (né Charles Montgomery) has passed away from throat cancer. He was only 44.

There’s never anything you can really say in these situations… Chuck was an awesome drummer and was way too young to die. Our thoughts are with his friends and family.

Here he is with Danzig… I saw this video on Zena Metal and it seemed appropriate… she has more that you should go check out.

-AR