Like Dream Theater’s latest effort Black Clouds & Silver Linings, the band’s new video for “Wither” — one of the meh-est tracks on an album full of meh — is completely stock and totally underwhelming. Footage of the band on the road / in their bus / back stage / signing shit / etc etc blah blah blah intercut with out-of-sync live footage of them performing the song… great.

But I still love this band to death and always will. Next time around I really hope they take the necessary time to write and record an album the proper way, like Scenes From a Memory and Six Degrees. And I’ll go see them live pretty much any time they come around.

-VN

Nile’s Annihilation of the Wicked was a high water mark in their discography: while surgically precise and blazingly technical, it also was remarkably substantive, full of quality riffs and textures, and, ultimately, the sound of a band growing into its own and getting to the point. But, like most high water marks, it was one Nile couldn’t approach again with Ithyphallic, their (admittedly somewhat underrated) follow-up. Despite only a one album lapse, rounding out the second decade of their career, one could have assumed that Annihilation was the band’s shot wad. And even if it was, it certainly was an impressive masterpiece. However, with Those Whom the Gods Detest, Nile’s latest album, they prove to still have a considerable amount of fight in them, still equipped with almost uncomfortably blistering speed alongside brilliantly crafted slow parts. With bands like Behemoth and Melechesh making serious plays for the history metal throne, Karl Sanders proves that Nile is still the one on it, making some of the most brutal and absurdly heavy metal even when the band’s Egyptian gimmick is put aside.

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So, uh… apparently Portland, OR epic doomsters Agalloch — perennial MetalSucks favorites — have a new DVD out called The Silence of Forgotten Landscapes. The band’s official website makes no mention of it, nor does the band’s MySpace page (save an inclusion on the discography). No other metal sites seem to be reporting on it, and a Google search of “Agalloch The Silence of Forgotten Landscapes” turns up a bunch of torrent sites and, finally, a buy page on The Omega Order. Save the wise tip of MS reader Daniel Guzman, I never would’ve known about this release, Agalloch’s first into the visual realm.

Leave it up to the members of Agalloch’s Fan Page to actually provide some real info about this release:

First-ever DVD from the mighty Agalloch. The main feature of this DVD is a show recorded on March 29, 2008 in Belgium — eight tracks culled from the band’s three albums to date, totaling over 70 minutes. Features another 50 minutes of extra material, which includes about 10 minutes of original music written and performed by John Haughm. [By request of the band, $2.50 of each DVD sale will be donated to a nature preservation society that protects parts of northern Belgium and southern Holland.]

Well, what gives, dudes? There are lots of folks I know who would be interested in this release if only they knew about it. Way to completely drop the ball. The DVD’s been out for a week now and I haven’t seen a single press release or article. Maybe the DVD really sucks and they’re ashamed of it? Who knows. If any readers have the DVD, please tell us how it is in the comments.

Since neither the band or record label seem to care enough to share this information with you, we have the tracklisting and a list of bonus features after the jump, taken from the fan page.

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I still can’t decide what I think about Isis’ latest effort Wavering Radiant. On one hand, the Joe Baressi-produced effort is easily my favorite Isis release to date; the production is bigger, the songs more concise, the album less rambling. On the other hand, I’m not sure I’ll ever dig this band as much as people think I will or as much as I’m “supposed” to; I just find them boring most of the time. Sorry.

I do, however, dig the new video for the Wavering Radiant track “20 Minutes / 40 Years.” It’s trippy and artsy, but it’s really dark. That black ooze kind of reminds me of this Star Trek: The Next Generation episode I just watched (#nerdalert!) in which Troi’s shuttle-craft crashes on a planet inhabited solely by a filthy, evil, and very powerful slick of intelligent black ooze. This video is pretty cool but it’d definitely be hotter if Marina Sirtis were in it. She’s a fox!

-Vn

ISIS “20 Minutes/ 40 years” Video from ISIS THE BAND on Vimeo.

Protest The Hero’s impromptu dance video — filmed last year when the band’s van broke down en route to Salt Lake City, UT — was such a viral hit that the band’s decided to parlay their sexy moves into an official music video for the track “Limb from Limb.” This is like what, their 5th or 6th official music video from the Fortress record? God bless the Canadian government and their music subsidies!

I’ve always liked videos in which the band members play roles in a storyline. In the “Limb from Limb” clip, a rag-tag group of Village People-like sailors (the band) led by Captain Rody Walker arrive at a port for a dance-off against a boat full of well-kempt metrosexual sailors. Ain’t nothin’ professional dancers got on the Protest boys! After trading off one righteous dance move after the next, the two teams unite in dancitude and all is right in the world.

-VN

[This exclusive has now ended.]

So that was fun, wasn’t it? Devin’s site takeover gave me the day off, and I took advantage by getting in some QT with the MetalSucks Mansion Monkeys. There’s a precocious little fellow named Roberts who’s really shown some smarts as of late… watch out for that little guy in the near future! But for now it’s back to the regular douchebaggery courtesy Uncles Axl and Vince. Sorry folks, Devin day can’t be every day.

Pick-Axe Bobby sent in Roxwel.com footage of Municipal Waste playing the S.O.D. classic “United Forces” with Billy Milano at the Austin, TX stop of the MetalSucks-sponsored Waste the World tour. According to the aforementioned Roberts, this show was exactly one day after the Houston flood debacle. See? I told you he was smart. Even if you don’t dig The Waste or S.O.D. this video is worth the price of admission to hear Billy Milano talk his usual trash — nothing like telling your audience to “shut up” upon entering the stage and claiming Muncipal Waste play the song better than S.O.D. did. Gotta love Billy Milano.

-VN

Municipal Waste feat. Billy Milano – United Forces
www.roxwel.com

In no particular order…

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Gene Hoglan: The Atomic Clock. What he can do to an otherwise ordinary or bland riff is beyond explanation. He is an ARTIST first, world’s greatest metal drummer second. Plus… confidence and a circular groove. How many times while writing with a drummer have you heard them say “There should be no drums there, it’s what the song wants”… Never?

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These are some of my favorite producers and mixers for heavy music… It’s a challenging genre, and these guys are great in my opinion.

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Just a question, not meaning to be a presumptuous dick or anything, but seriously… as metal heads, who are we pissed at? I hear a lot about “God” or “Satan,” but I’m kind of of the mindset that both of those things are illusions and metaphors based on a prehistoric view on what the true nature of infinite reality is. So does that mean we’re mad at ourselves ultimately?

Maybe we’re all mad at our dads?

Money? Sex? Each other? “The man?” That man over there? Me? Her? Stupid people? Drugs? Our own stupidity? Aardvarks?

Maybe as entities we are predisposed to aggression and evolutionarily, we’re hung up on the need to actualize it.

Either way, right or wrong… rawwwr, no?

-DT

Ah, shit I know… but late at night, I love watching this type of stuff… Lame? Most definitely. But I never claim to be otherwise.

“Farting Preacher”

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Okay. I started SYL in 1993 after hearing Soul Of A New Machine. I saw Fear Factory open for Sepultura with Clutch, and I remember running around the venue telling everyone: “THAT is what I want to do, except with extra chaos…”

My creative process is directly tied to my emotional development. There are some folks that make music by picking up a guitar until they have a riff that is defined by the musical roads they choose to hone. They then sculpt it into that framework and voila, Metallica, Slayer, Priest etc. I think that’s awesome, and in some ways I’m envious of that. In many cases, if you mix that with tenacity and a certain amount of talent and luck, you can sustain a decent career.

That’s not how I create, again… as it is tied to life and circumstance, my music has generally been cathartic observations of what life presents, and each new record in many ways is a reaction to the one before. So in the most blunt of terms, I make music to better understand myself as I change.

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For all of you who want nothing to do with my music, have tried and don’t get it, or think I’m a total hack, continue on to the next blurb, as I’m going to spend the next few paragraphs stroking myself and thinking that I’m super.

Anyways, heres a bunch of videos… it’s hard to give a solid overview after twenty-something albums, but anyways…

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In addition to graciously offering to run our site for a whole day, Devin is going to be making himself available for a live webchat tonight!

At exactly midnight EST / 9pm PST (that’s 5am Wednesday in the UK and 4pm Wednesday in Sydney), a Meebo chat room will appear embedded in a new top post at MetalSucks. Devin will be chatting under the handle “DT” (imposters beware), and the chat will last for a full hour as long as you are all good samaritans and don’t turn it into a raging shitfest. Free to ask Devin anything at all. If you can’t be in front your computer tonight, don’t fret — Devin plans to do a similar chat via Twitter within the next few days in which he’ll answer more questions and clear up any issues that might arise out of the MetalSucks session.

Thanks and see you tonight!

Are there WAY more nerds in metal than we thought? Is maybe the prerequisite for being a moderately succesful metal band just being cool enough to hang out with the jocks in the smoke pit at school? How many shredding bands do you know of that play incredibly well, yet are ignored because of the intangible NERD factor?

Is it possible through touring, etc., for lots of NERDS to get the NERD trained out of them to the point where they condemn other NERDS for their lack of “hangability?”

Maybe the secret sauce of metal’s allure is that it allows people to deflect lots of rage and hostility from a world that DOESN’T GIVE A SHIT by being “dark and menacing.”

The darkest and most menacing people I know of are usually either hyper-religious, into Jay Z, or don’t listen to music at all.

Metal is CATHARSIS, and a TRUE ART FORM.

My name is Devin, and I am a full blown fucking nerd.

How about you?

-DT

Is long hair really cool anymore? Just a question… I mean, I’m not one to judge, because I went bald at 26 and just grew gross hair in protest… but now, if I don’t shave it, I look like fryar Tuck, so me aside…

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So Borivoj Krgin eh? [Krgin runs Blabbermouth.- Ed.] Here’s my story about the man…

He signed SYL. Without Bori, there would be no current anything for me in terms of my metal career. He rocked me hard. And Nevermore, Stuck Mojo etc…

He let me sleep on his couch for three or four months while I was writing City. He was (is) a good friend.

Blabbermouth is a site I go to almost everyday. I would bet any metal musician who tells you they’ve never been is full of shit. It’s incredibly hard to resist reading things about yourself that are either flattering, or make you look like a total douchebag.

The thing is:

He doesn’t make the stuff up. Any jackassery that I have been quoted as saying, I really did say. Blabbermouth changed the way we do interviews by making us accountable.

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I am working on my first, full blown musical… and yes (much to some folks’ chagrin), it’s a new Ziltoid record. It going to be called Z2, and I’m taking it to the moon.

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Devin Townsend has been crawling up the hill to public acceptance in a desperate and obvious manner since his dubious introduction to public conciousness on the awkward and critically ill recieved Sex And Religion by Steve Vai.

The level of insecurity laid bare by the incessant regurgitation of prior ideas and themes, increasingly more dilluted, has resulted in a four record “project” called the “dtp” (not to be confused with one of the many other rapidly cycling identities bestowed on the public with equal faux grandeur and self important themes.) The implication that we should all care now crests in the judgmental and self righteous Addicted, which seems to imply that his “newfound sobriety” is the answer to all the world’s ills, and that we should all follow suit, set to a antiquated, late 90′s “White Zombie-esque” dance metal vibe.

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