It would seem that UK neo-thrashers Sylosis — whose 2008 debut Conclusion of an Age was a ripping example of what modern thrash (NOT re-thrash) should be — are quietly working on a new album. MS Maniac Evan Hurd sent in a link to the band’s Facebook page (screen cap above), where the band posted an update saying they’re just about finished writing their new album and plan to begin recording it in a few weeks.
Thursday, October 8th, 2009 at 10:30am by Axl Rosenberg
I haven’t known anyone who’s owned a blacklight since I was thirteen, because that’s about the age when you realize “Hey, this is cool for all of ten seconds and then you’re just bored in a different-colored room.” Yes, even if you’re on drugs.
But our friends at Metal Insider tell us that Mudvayne’s new, self-titled album “is being printed on blacklight-reactive ink” and that the cover art “will be pretty much invisible to the naked eye unless your uncle still has that blacklight.” (And if he does, call the cops. ‘Cause he’s a pedophile.) Deluxe editions of the album will apparently come with a blacklight, just to save you that extra trip to the mall I guess.
Thursday, October 8th, 2009 at 10:00am by Axl Rosenberg
Alright, so this really has nothing to do with metal and everything to do with my other great love, Mary Jane.
For some reason, I can never meet a girl who likes metal AND weed. It’s always one or the other. I don’t really believe in God, but if I did, I’d say He was fucking with me, because, y’know, what the fuck?
So when I saw this on Chronic Youth yesterday, my eyes welled up a little bit. The soundtrack is hip-hop, but there’s no dialogue, so I just muted it and blasted some Napalm Death instead. Dare to dream, Axl. Dare to dream.
(By the way – this is maybe not so safe a video to watch in your place of bidness. Just FYI.)
Thursday, October 8th, 2009 at 9:30am by Axl Rosenberg
Wow. Has it really come to this? Instructional videos to make sure that, God forbid, you don’t “come off as a prep or, even worse, a goth [eyeroll]?” What’s next, Joan Rivers on the red (black?) carpet of the Outburn Awards? “3OH!3! 3OH!3! What are you wearing?”
I realize it sounds like I’m angry; actually, I’m laughing so hard I’m doubled-over in pain. Sergeant D’s Stuff You Will Hate once again scores major props for sifting through all this shit to find the gems.
Thursday, October 8th, 2009 at 9:00am by Axl Rosenberg
Holy shit, the editing in this video in this video is fast. On the one hand, it kinda gives me a headache; on the other hand, I really dig rhythmic editing and like the thought behind this. Plus the song is awesome. So there’s that.
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at 5:00pm by MetalSucks
Photo by Laura DeSantis-Olsson [http://www.ldophoto.net/]
Yesterday we told you that we’re sponsoring an AWESOME tour this winter with a four band bill, and while we can’t tell you all the bands on the bill just yet, we can tease that info out for you. So every day for the rest of this week, we’ll be posting an interview with a member of each band on the bill, featuring questions designed to help you guess who they are without spoiling the surprise. Then, this Monday, October 12, we’ll reveal the complete line-up for the tour!
As many of you successfully guessed yesterday, the first band on the bill is Mutiny Within (pictured above). We’ve seen this young band several times in the past couple of years, and there’s little doubt in our minds that they are going to be really, really big. Their debut album drops next year on Roadrunner, and we’re insanely excited to have them on this tour!
After the jump, check out the interview with a member of the second band on the bill. See if you can guess who it is just based on his or her answers!!!
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at 4:30pm by Eyal Levi
Those of you out there who are in bands that haven’t made it yet. I have a question for ya. Do you know why you want to do this? Have you really thought it out? There’s a reason I’m asking. I’m pretty easy to reach. I make myself very available online. I’m always into talking to fans, non-fans, whatever, I’m into conversation. Something that always comes up when people are asking me questions is how much money I make from DAATH. First of all, I’m not going to tell you how much money I make from anything. But I’ll say this: DAATH isn’t my only source of income, but all my income comes from music.
What people are trying to find out is if I make a lot of money at this, if I still have to have a day job, etc., etc., etc. No, I don’t make a lot of money at it. There isn’t much money to be made in metal. Most people in bands you listen to have jobs on the side. Whether they’re in music or not is a different story. Most people in metal bands cannot make all their ends meet from metal alone.
Five heavy hitting heavy hitters — Alice in Chains, Hatebreed, Austrian Death Machine, Steel Panther and Dethklok — all released new records last week. Solid 2nd and 3rd week performances from Three Days Grace, Muse, Megadeth, Five Finger Death Punch and others made it an all-around big week for metal. Let’s see how everyone fared after the jump.
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at 3:30pm by Axl Rosenberg
There’s been a lot of talk lately about how Megadeth have made their best album in years, Slayer have made their best album in years, some people (but not me!) think that Metallica made their best album in years, and so on and so forth. But where’s the love for Exodus? They might not play venues as big as their aforementioned peers, but they started their own comeback in 2004 with Tempo of the Damned, and things only got better on their subsequent releases Shovel Headed Kill Machine and The Atrocity Exhibition – Exhibit A. Even if I personally didn’t agree with the decision to re-record Bonded by Blood with Rob Dukes, the band has been putting out “their best album in years” for five years now. And I caught them with Dukes last year, and they slayed. These guys are at the top of their game right now.
So I’m excited for their new DVD, Shovel Headed Tour Machine (Live At Wacken And Other Assorted Atrocities). It’s a three disc collection that will include a DVD of their live set from last year’s Wacken fest, a CD of that same show, and then another DVD with a documentary covering the aforementioned, all-important last half-decade. Plus I’m sure there’s a ton of bonus features.
Alas, the DVD doesn’t come out ’til January 15, but here’s a trailer to tide you over. Looks pretty rad to me.
We’ve been talking about The Destro’s new record Harmony of Discord for weeks already, so by now you’ve probably made up your mind as to whether or not you like their no-bullshit approach to metal. If you dig the Destro’s brand of self-described “old-school brutal style” now’s your chance to hear the entire new record, for free, below. If for whatever reason you haven’t yet gotten around to giving the The Destro a shot, you a) are a loser, b) have bad taste in music, c) can do so simply by clicking the “play” button. So go on… do it. Despite MS commente / evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins‘ objection to the cover artwork.
Harmony of Discord comes out next Tuesday, October 13th, on Ironclad / Metal Blade Records.
I mean like it’s completely fucknuts that a band like this has a recording contract with a major label, right?? They’re good. Quite good in fact. Our own Anso DF loooooves Steel Panther and happily wrote up a piece for us when we premiered their webisode earlier this week. But does Universal Records really think they’re gonna recoup on these guys? Or did they sign them to a 360 deal and expect to make it all back on sales of Steel Panther leotards and Steel Panther-branded “Fat Girl” mayo? Beats me, but great for these guys, ya know? They’ve been grinding it out in the L.A. scene for a long time and I’m happy to see them making it.
Oh yeah, so this video for “Fat Girl.” It’s funny in all the right ways, as expected. Feel The Steel is (finally!) out now, bitches! Death to all butt metal!
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at 2:00pm by Axl Rosenberg
Dan Nelson is already a legend, and not necessarily in a good way. Like Gary Cherone or Blaze Bailey, he’s going to go down in history as a dude who was hired to be the new singer for a well-known band, only to get the boot fairly quickly; unlike Cherone of Bailey, the work he did with this particular well-known band will either never see the light of day, or slip out only as a bootleg. A fairly limited number of ‘Thrax fans ever got to see him perform live with the band, so really there’s only a small part of the population that has any sense of what his contributions may have been, positive or negative.
But Nelson is from Strong Island, and ain’t gonna let no Scott Ian or Charlie Bananas get him down. According to Metal Underground, Nelson has started a new project with drummer Paul Bostaph.
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at 1:30pm by Axl Rosenberg
MetalSucks Maniac DannyJD sent us this video by a band I’ve never heard of, Royal Anguish. And, uhhh… I don’t know what to say about it. I know some readers, like our old pal Sammy (who’s been crying foul here at MS long before Revrant or Ziltoid!), think that music videos are, at least in this day and age, completely unnecessary. That might be true, but I still love ‘em when they’re well-done, and a few times a year, you see one that reminds you just how awesome they can be.
But this is not one of those videos. If I were Sammy, I’d point to this video directly to make my anti-music video argument.
The best part comes fairly early on, at the 21 second mark, when the dude playing the piano looks like right into the camera. He’s like that vaudeville pianist from Family Guy, only eeeeeevvvviiiilllll.
This is kind of like that video of Ronnie James Dio slamming Vivian Campbell in that things start off all normal, then the guy gets going on one topic, gets heated, and he’s off to the fucking races! Only it’s way funnier, and instead of Ronnie James Dio slamming Vivian Campbell it’s George motherfucking Corpsegrinder Fisher talking about… his affection for World of Worldcraft!
Not even 5 seconds into the interview, in response to a question about what he’ll do with his time off, the guy launches into a tirade that lasts over 7 minutes. Fuck this, fuck that, I love World of Warcraft, I have 4 characters at Level 70, fuck Night Elves (whatever those are…), fuck The Alliance (whatever that is…), I love World of Warcraft, I play it all the time on tour, I’ll fuck you, fuck this, fuck that… this is pure, grade-A, choice, 14-karat gold video footage right here. GOLD! This is a couple of years old already but I’m guessing most of you haven’t seen it yet.
There are so many potential World of Warcraft / Cannibal Corpse puns to be made here I don’t even know where to start. Give it your best shot in the comments.
We all know Mr. Townsend as a top-notch writer, producer, guitarist and all around weird/awesome dude. But did you know the guy can fucking sing his balls off?? His vocal performances on all of the SYL records were always great, no disrespect meant there, but his vocals on the 4-album Devin Townsend Project suite show a whole new side of his musical abilities. Check out this self-recorded video, below, of Devin tracking his own vocals for the 2nd record, Addicted (out November 17th), which Devin posted on his MySpace page.
First thing you notice is how strong, steady and accurate his voice is. Then you notice that he’s holding the mic, as opposed to it being on a mic stand, and he’s getting perfect-sounding takes despite any potential variance in distance from his mouth and the lack of a popper stopper. This is obviously a man who records vocals this way quite often. Then you think… wait a minute… he’s not wearing headphones… isn’t he worried about bleed? To which the answer, I guess, would be “no, he doesn’t give a shit” which is quite curious to me. Maybe all the extra noise from the speakers makes the final product sound bigger, or maybe it’s insignificant. Then you realize the fluidity with which he records each take, and the attention to detail that he puts into every single word of his performance. Then you realize, once again, what a talented vocalist he is.
It’s quite impressive, really. I can see why bands seem to have a love/hate relationship with his production methods and why someone like Speed Strid of Soilwork insists on producing vocals with him. On one hand it’s got to be quite a grueling process, but on the other hand he’s quite obviously super-skilled and is definitely going to get the best result possible.
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at 12:00pm by MetalSucks
We’re running so many cool contests on MetalSucks right now that we figured it would be a good idea to write them all down in one place so I can keep track of everything as a service to our readers. Here’s what we’re currently running:
Also, for those keeping score at home, we chose a winner to our Loudpark ticket giveaway; that winner is Ohad Gonen, and his winning entry is posted in its entirety after the jump if you’d like to read it. Go ahead and accuse us of Jew favoritism and you’d be dead wrong half-right.
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at 11:45am by MetalSucks
Good morning, our fellow Metalocalypse and Dethklok lovers! So here’s the sitch. Vince is getting on the phone with Brendon Small in just a few hours, and he needs YOUR help getting some juicy questions for Brendon. Post a question in the comments section below by 3:30 pm EST today, and Vince will cherry-pick the best ones to pass onto Brendon. And if he chooses your question, well, maybe we’ll send you some banana stickers or something.
In case, for some inexplicable reason, you don’t know who Brendon Small is: the man – nay, genius – is the co-creator of Metalocalypse (as well as the equally awesome Home Movies), voices the characters of Skwisgaar Skwigelf, Pickles the Drummer, and Nathan Explosion, and will be the dude you see front n’ center when you go see Dethklok live. In other words, Brendon is the shit.
Dethklok’s Dethalbum II is out now on Williams Street Records, and the band is currently on tour with Mastodon, Converge, and High on Fire. Get a complete list of tour dates here.
The new season of Metalocalypse starts November 8 on Adult Swim. And the episodes are gonna be thirty minutes long now! Niiiiice.
As much as I still can’t accept the fact that someone other than Udo will be singing for Accept when they do their reunion tour, I will always be able to accept that Accept kick serious amounts of ass. So much ass that their photo is our Twitter icon (follow us!). So much ass that just watching this live video makes me need to take a shit. So much ass that because of this song they were the first band to have a lyrics warning sticker on their record in the U.S. (more info starting at the 2:15 mark). Thanks to my Facebook friend Carlo T. for inspiring this post.
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at 11:00am by Axl Rosenberg
According to Media Newswire, Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid was one of six recipients of the 2009 Mayor’s Awards for Arts & Culture. The award is given to “individuals and organizations in celebration of their outstanding contributions to New York City’s cultural life,” and were presented by Mayor Michael Bloomberg himself (Also, Full House‘s John Stamos, who is currently starring in Bye Bye Birdie on Broadway. Interesting.). Other honorees this year included the Thalia Spanish Theatre and my childhood favorite, The Big Apple Circus.
I think I can safely speak for both Vince and myself when I say that Vernon is one of our all-time favorite guitarists, and the award couldn’t go to a more deserving guy. And if you don’t believe us, you haven’t listened to The Chair in the Doorway yet, and shame on you.
Check out my interview with Vernon Reid here. He’s a really smart, really fascinating dude.
