Does anyone even remember Cannae? They were on Prosthetic. Their last album, Gold Becomes Sacrifice, was produced by Jason Suecof. But that was in 2005. Their MySpace page hasn’t been updated since 2006, but it also says that someone logged-in a couple of weeks ago. Meanwhile, Wikipedia makes no mention of them breaking up.

I don’t ask because I like Cannae; I found Gold to be wholly unmemorable. I ask because it’s a slow news day, and it seemed more fun to discuss the band with you, our faithful readers, than to e-mail someone at Prosthetic and ask “What the dilly?”

Here’s “Rats, Snakes and Thieves” from Gold Becomes Sacrifice.

-AR

Our bro-bros at Metal Injection just debuted “Warsaw Rising,” the new video from Hail of Bullets. Check it out:

Warsaw Rising is Hail of Bullets’ new EP, and it’s only avail as a digital release in the U.S. – but Metal Injection are giving away two ultra-rare physical copies. Enter that awesome contest here.

-AR

Alright, so Embers was not actually suggested to me by a reader – MS staffer Bob Cock told me about them. But they’re a good band and they have at least one and possibly two female members, so I’m writin’ about ‘em.

Click to read more…

The above piece of art, titled “Fucking Shit Balls,” was sent in by MS Maniac Christopher Silverio who also happened to win our Austrian Death Machine MS Paint contest. Dude’s got skills! I love our readers.

-VN

Here’s a great example of an excellent music video that was clearly made on a budget. Take a goth chick, go out to the middle of the woods, and film some shit in a style that is both a) intriguing and b) appropriate to the music, and what do you get? An excellent promotional tool that’s enjoyable to watch. Good for Katatonia.

Bonus: this video makes the tension in my shoulders dissolve. Not entirely sure why.

The song, “Day and then the Shade,” comes off of Katatonia’s latest, Night is the New Day, which is out now on Peaceville.

-AR

Back in August, I wrote about Misanthrope(s), the latest offering from France’s Celeste; three months later, I’m even more in love with this album. And while I could waste your time with superlatives – epic, raw, beautiful, etc. – there’s no reason to, because THE ALBUM IS AVAILABLE AS A FREE, LEGAL DOWNLOAD and so there’s absolutely no reason for you not to give it a listen.

I can’t say enough nice things about this album, and it will very likely find its way onto my year-end list next month. Please please please please please do yourself a favor and check it out.

Also worth mentioning: if you dig after you’ve downloaded it, the art work that comes with the physical copy is beautiful, and totally worth the cost. Just sayin’.

-AR

Sometimes you just wanna rock. Sometimes you don’t want to think about manic time signatures, modes and modulations when you’re listening to music. Danko Jones — a Swedish Canadian rock band I admittedly don’t know much about — seem to understand that quite well. They’re all about the rocking.

Danko Jones have two songs streaming on their website; apparently they’re both from an album that was released in early 2008 so I’m way behind the ball here. Full disclosure; I only even decided to check this band out because they bought an ad campaign with us. But who cares? Dope bought an ad campaign with us too, and I’m 100% certain that no amount of money could ever make any of the MS staffers write good things about that band (except maybe Suarez when he’s feeling funny).

“Code of the Road” and “Sugar High” are two damn solid rock songs that I’ve listened to three times each already in the course of the past 2 hours. They’re kind of like a slightly mellowed out version of Deaf-era QOTSA… I likee much, enough so that I think I’ll go buy Never Too Loud right now.

-VN

The Faceless’ Planetary Duality was one of our most favoritest albums of 2008, making both Axl’s (#2)and Vince’s (honorable mention) year-end lists. Since its release the band has been touring non-stop opening up for pretty much everyone — Meshuggah/Cynic, Cannibal Corpse, Obscura/Neuraxis, Misery Index, Atheist… these are all tours that have taken The Faceless out as openers over the past year, and that doesn’t even include stuff they’ve done outside the U.S. Jeez! It’s finally time for the band to headline their own tour (or at least co-headline with Dying Fetus), the Planetary Depravity Tour, which starts this Saturday night. If Warbringer are any indication, the scheme of having a young band support every band under the sun in order to build a fanbase can actually work, but I’ll still bet The Faceless camp are just a tad bit nervous to finally headline.

SO. The Faceless have announced via their MySpace page that they’ll be playing Planetary Duality in its entirety every night on the Planetary Depravity Tour:

Click to read more…

Forget record labels, expensive music videos, fancy photo shoots or physical distribution… just come up with an interesting idea to make people pay attention to you and they might just like what they hear. Don’t bother trying to hit the mass populace over the head via carpet-bombing marketing tactics; gain credibility as a trusted source for reliable material and you’ll make a fan for life.

I sound like Bob fucking Lefsetz. But that’s exactly what Trondheim, Norway based Miksha have done with their viral video tribute to late TV sales guru Billy Mays. Everything is well done; the acting, the subtitles, playing the music for just long enough… it’s a quality production through and through. Because I was watching the video while the music was playing, I listened to a band I may not have paid attention to before… and it worked! Miksha’s music is quality, just like this video. Next time I see their name mentioned on a blog or in a press release, I’ll definitely read more.

Watch the video below.

-VN

[Thanks: longtime MS reader / Miksha bassist and vocalist "fritz"]

So some people are all up in arms about the above painting by the artist Tom Sanford, The Assassination of Dimebag Darrell, which will be going on sale at an auction later this month (read all about it here and here). I don’t want to spend a lot of time on this, but I do want to make two quick points:

1. Metal fans really don’t get have the right to be offended by artistic portrayals of horribly violent acts, even if they’re based on a real incident. If you’ve ever enjoyed Slayer’s “Angel of Death,” you should understand my meaning.
2. It’s just a painting, and, really, the most offensive thing about it is how ugly it is.

Weigh in with your thoughts below.

-AR

Bloody Disgusting is one of my favorite horror sites, and they’ve now launched a music blog, which seems to be 100% about metal. One of their inaugural entries is the debut of 3 Inches of Blood’s new video, “Battles and Brotherhood,” and since we a) really like Bloody Disgusting, b) really like 3IOB and c) really like this song and video, it seemed worth re-posting.

So… grab your mead, pull your wench’s chain a lil’ tighter, and enjoy the video!

IF YOU CAN’T GET THE VIDEO TO WORK, WATCH IT HERE.

-AR

Friendly reminder: our own Vince Neilstein will be DJing “Heavy Metal Happy Hour” this Friday the 13th at The Arrow Bar in Manhattan (Ave A and 5th St., downstairs). All drinks are 2-for-the-price-of-1 from 6pm-9pm, and Vince will be spinning the best of 2009′s metal offerings. At least for the first two hours, after which he’ll surely break down and start playing Ratt and Skid Row. Come on down and get your drink on, and since your inhibitions will be lowered feel free to tell Vince how much his taste in metal sucks.

Afterwards, there are THREE killer metal shows taking place in NYC. There’s the Krallice/Liturgy joint at Union Pool. Hung are headlining a bill that also includes Ikillya and Devil to Pay at Ace of Clubs. Hecate and The Austerity Program are performing with Rise of Because, Theologian, Chaos Majik and Statiqbloom at S.I.R. studios as part of the two-day Apex Fest III. Yowza! So many choices. But Heavy Metal Happy Hour with Vince is the obvious choice for your early evening activity!

I changed the name of this series from yesterday so as to be marginally more P.C. and not alienate anyone who finds the term “chick metal” disagreeable. My apologies to anyone who may be offended by my attempt to be less offensive.

Today I’m checking out I Hate Sally, who were recommended by reader “aaron m.”

Click to read more…

Believe it or not, Doro is one of my guiltiest metal pleasures. Ever since I first saw the video for Warlock’s “All We Are”, I’ve been quite the fan. And though America hasn’t been particularly receptive to Doro’s charms since the 1980s, you gotta admit that MILF-y frontwoman Doro Pesch is the hardest working woman in the European metal scene, the foxier female equivalent of U.D.O’s Udo Dirkschneider. So it didn’t exactly surprise me that this morning, while seeking out lineup information for next year’s Wacken Open Air festival, I chanced upon this tasty newsworthy morsel:

Germanys rocklady nr. 1 will celebrate her 2500 show on 03/13/2010 in Düsseldorf – and YOU have the chance to be there.

You can get your tickets at the following link

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Seriously. Because every time Vince or I make a snarky comment about the band or vocalist Myles Kennedy, one of you gets your panties in a twist. And while one of you gets your panties in a twist pretty much no matter what anyone at MetalSucks says about any given band, for some reason the outcry of support for Alter Bridge particularly irks me.

Yes, this band is better than Creed, but so is shingles. And Kennedy is a better singer than Wife Beater McGee, so but so was the dude singing on the subway this morning. Neither of these assertions negates the fact that Alter Bridge is boring, paint-by-numbers corporate rock. I just cannot take this shit seriously.

So if one of you Alter Bridge apologists has a legitimately good argument as to why I’m not giving this band a fair a shake, I’d love to hear it. Is there something really sophisticated about the music that I’m just not hearing? Are Kennedy’s lyrics, like, overwhelmingly moving or something? The whole thing is just way over my head, I guess.

I solicited suggestions for good Alter Bridge songs over Twitter, and longtime reader Richaod recommended this track “Blackbird.” I admit that it’s far better than I was expecting, but I also wanna be upfront: there is nothing about this song that makes me think I will ever feel any desire to listen to it again.

-AR

As many of you pointed out (including Eyal, who emailed me), there’s no midi tracking device on the uke and the guy is playing along with a tab on Guitar Pro. Oh well!

-VN

A reader known only as “Mike” tipped us off that one of our most favoritest bands, Denmark’s Mercenary, has parted ways with three of its six members: vocalist Mikkel Sandager, drummer Mike Park Nielsen, and keyboardist Morten Sandager.

Rhythm guitarist Jakob Mølbjerg explains in a statement:

Click to read more…

Australian metal troop The Amenta are currently touring the U.S. with Polish death troop Vader as one of way too many support bands who get abbreviated 20 minute sets on the tour. Thankfully, even with only a 20 minute set, The Amenta made traveling into Manhattan on a Saturday night worth it; their powerful set was equal parts modern death metal and neo-industrial and their stage presence was captivating. Place The Amenta firmly in the “bands to watch” category.

Click to read more…

Whoops. I guess I just blew it.

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Awaken, the new album from Empire Shall Fall (featuring original Killswitch Engage vocalist Jesse Leach), is now streaming in its entirety over at Metal Injection. I’ve been putting off listening to this album for a long time, but now that I am listening as I type this, I can safely say it’s not what I expected – in other words, it’s not just Alive or Just Breathing, Part 2. So shame on me for initially ignoring these dudes.

Go give the album a listen, then come back here and let us know what you think. Awaken comes out November 17 via Angle Side Side Records.

-AR