Hello all. No year end list or rant about the state of bullshit… I just wanted to wish all you MetalSucks readers a Happy New Year from my hotel in NOLA. Emil is here as well as some other friends, and we’re just enjoying chilling after making an album that was basically like a three month long drag-out, blow-by-blow fight. Can’t wait for you guys to hear that stuff.  Should be soon. As we enter the studio for the next DAATH album this spring, that record should be hitting stores.  I’m also looking forward to blogging it the fuck up over the next year and interacting with all of you more. I’ve got a lot on my mind and I’m sure you guys do, too. So ’til then, party safe, and remember not to take Tylenol for your hangover. Stick to Advil.

Cheers,

Eyal

Ring in the New Year with Daath on MySpace.

A couple weeks ago, I did an interview with Metal Injection for a retrospective on the highlights, trends, and cultural significance of the heavy music scene from an insider’s perspective concerning the last ten years. Near the end of the interview, I was asked if there were any sub-genres or trends that I didn’t like, or that seemed to get on my nerves. I thought about it for a minute, and generally annoying things like nu-metal or screamo or stale metalcore just seemed obvious and an easy target, when something dawned on me. I was generally annoyed by the whole ReThrash scene.

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As you may have heard by now, Avenged Sevenfold drummer James Owen “The Rev” Sullivan was found dead in his home. He was only twenty-eight years old. They’re saying he passed from natural causes, although even the sunniest optimist amongst us would probably have a hard time believing that’s the case.

An official statement from the band reads -

It is with great sadness and heavy hearts that we tell you of the passing today of Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan. Jimmy was not only one of the world’s best drummers, but more importantly he was our best friend and brother. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Jimmy’s family and we hope that you will respect their privacy during this difficult time.

Jimmy you are forever in our hearts. We love you.

M Shadows, Synyster Gates, Zacky Vengeance and Johnny Christ

A7X are a band that has repeatedly divided the metal community, be it due to their transition from metalcore misfits to cock rock revivalists, or just the general theatrically of their act. But Sullivan was a talented dude, and this is some shitty news to end the year.

What’s the big flippin deal bout Jesus? Moses died for your sins too…

The real spirit of this Hallmark holiday is in kindess and doing good and blah blah blah and other nice shiz……so I’m going to do Chris Cornell a favor and remind him that Soundgarden should reunite before they get way too old and forget how to play such rippin classics like this one.

And you’re staring at me like I, I need to be saved?

SOUNDGARDEN — “Jesus Christ Pose” from Badmotorfinger (1991)

{two little-known trivia tidbits: 1) Soundgarden got their name from a wind-channeling pipe sculpture in Seattle entitled “A Sound Garden” and 2) Chris Cornell originally played drums and sang at the same time, whoa! More Soundgarden mp3s here.}

completely non-metal bonus song to chillax to:

TORTOISE — “In Sarah, Mencken, Christ And Beethoven There Were Women And Men” from TNT (1998)

{hopefully the dulcet tones of Tortoise will quell the darkest among us……Happy Jew Year!!}

-KW

I have gotten way too into video games in the last year……and apparently I’m not the only one ’round here.

But THIS borders on psychotic.

I suspect more than a few of you out there are into gaming — any contenders for best of the year? My money’s on Uncharted 2……it’s like playing a fucking movie!

Chappy Cholidaze, y’all….

-KW

For those of you who won’t spend today at the movies prior to enjoying dinner at a Chinese restaurant… have a great holiday! Here’s Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, Rudy Sarzo, and Simon Wright doing “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.” If only Christmas carols were this metal…

-Axl & Vince

The winners of the Coheed & Cambria signed Music Skins from last week’s funny photo caption contest are:

• Duff: “Writing process behind Slayer’s albums revealed.”
• Chief: “When going green turns black.”
• Poopenshaft: “This is actually the cover of the next Municipal Waste album appropriately entitled ‘Kill Your Parents, Recycle Your Plastics’.”

Well done, guys! This week the folks at Ferret Records have bestowed upon us a massive package including one CD copy of EVERY album Ferret released in 2009! That includes new music from Underneath the Gun, Chimaira, The Devil Wears Prada, Poison the Well, Revolution Mother, Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, Shadows Fall, Hellmouth, the 36 Crazyfists DVD and Lovehatehero. We’re guessing most of you will pass on the Prada CD, but that’s still a damn fine haul.

Simply come up with a witty comment to the below photo [sent in by Greg Klein] and we’ll choose the winner in 2010. Make sure you comment with a real email address, not Facebook Connect (as we’ll contact the winner by email). For a chance to win even more CDs, also check out our Antichrist Christmas contest.

The other day I engaged in a friendly argument with Rod (not Rob) of Metal Injection about folk, pagan and viking metal. Rod objected to the piece in which I claimed that the current pagan/folk metal trend is over, arguing that none of this “new” generation of pagan/folk bands are as good as the generation that preceded them (which, to be fair, I can’t really comment on as my knowledge of the subject is limited). In particular he didn’t seem into the Swiss outfit Eluveitie at all, which is unfortunate because Eluveitie are a legitimately good band who stand at the top of the folk metal pantheon.

Evocation I – The Arcane Dominion, released earlier this year, was an almost entirely acoustic affair — all of the folk and none of the metal — and was summarily greeted with a shrug by all but the band’s most die-hard fans. The band’s new single “Thousandfold,” however, gets back to the Gothenburg-flavored folk metal that made 2008′s Slania so special. We can only hope the rest of Everything Remains (As It Never Was), which comes out February 19th, is this good. Watch the video for “Thousandfold” below.

-VN

In all the eulogies of this new millenium’s first decade — from USA Today to the hot-ass moms at my dentist’s office — nowhere will you hear of Aerosmith’s vital contributions to 21st century music. Um cuz there were none. Their lone album in the 2000s, Just Push Play, is about half-great, when not tainted by a littered, ADD-production mentality and songs whose bland anonymity could’ve just as soon landed them on a record by an American Idol alum. Surrounding JPP were schmaltzy soundtrack songs (“Girls of Summer” FTL!), a loudly inessential covers album (come on!), abortive tours, live album, a contemptuously unexplained stint in rehab, greatest hits albums, court-mandated concerts, book tours, and most recently, a lot of coded threats from the band to its singer.

Basically, it’s as though Aerosmith embarked on a ten-year campaign to reduce their fan base to all but the media-deaf and internet-free. Shit, I consider albums like Pump and Rocks part of my DNA and yet I wouldn’t buy a fucking apple from those ignorant sluts in the year 2010. There’s nothing post-millenial Aerosmith wouldn’t do for my money and attention. Worse, as it became impossible to ignore singer Steven Tyler’s backslide into drug abuse and Spinal Tap antics (management jumps, the full-time toadying of Mark Hudson, the oft-delayed ‘autobiography’), the back-to-basics Aerosmith rock album (and its producer, Brendan O’Brien) faded further into the ether, replaced by the promise of solo albums and basically ten more years of epic horseshit. The only reason to hold out for Aerosmith — they have bounced back before and from worse — seemed gone forever.

So it’s nothing short of a Festivus miracle that the real Aerosmith is preparing to once again step forward. L.A. Times reports:

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Or so reader Edgar Garcia tells us; I’ve never heard of this animated show myself, but needless to say, Edgar’s e-mail got my attention. So I checked it out, annnnndddd…

It doesn’t seem nearly as good as Dethklok. I mean, even if I had a better understanding of the show, the music just doesn’t strike me as being as catchy (Although any “band” with a song called “Fuckingham Palace” can’t be all bad, right?). Also, it’s very Japanese, which is to say, it’s kinda weird and very funny, but I can’t tell if they’re being deliberately humorous, or I’m just a racist, or a little bit of both. For the sake of my liberal guilt, let’s say it’s a little bit of both.

Anyways, here’s the intro for Detroit Metal City, which pales in comparison to that of Metalocalypse but is worth a look, I suppose:

Check out a clip after the jump, which confirms, at least in my mind, that either something is being lost in translation, or this show just isn’t as funny as Metalocalypse.

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Actually this wasn’t brought to us by Santa so much as it was by MetalSucks Suckalo* Davidian: The Dillinger Escape Plan’s new single, “Farewell, Mona Lisa,” will be released digitally on January 19 – but Amazon already has a preview clip available for streaming. Go here to check it out. We’ve already heard a live bootleg of this song, but this is (duh) far higher audio quality – and it sounds pretty killer.

And, hey, while we’re on the topic of new DEP, there’s another live bootleg, of the song “Neighbor,” here.

DEP’s new album, Option Paralysis, comes out March 23 on the band’s own Party Smasher label, via Season of Mist. We can’t wait.

-AR

*Like a Juggalo, but almost imperceptibly less retarded.

As you’ve no doubt noticed, we’re mostly done for the year here at MS. Suarez is going to see Coalesce on the 30th at Club Europa in Brooklyn, but other than that metal pickins around here are slim. Axl’s holed up in the Axl Annex with Sacha the Death Metal Puppy and I’m heading down to sunny Costa Rica in a few days. Peachy!

MS reader “tnicklas” send in this mildly entertaining Black Metal Christmas video by the band Erlosung. Enjoy, and stay warm.

-VN

With Christmas nearly upon us, and “Best of 2009″ lists thankfully behind us, many people are hoping to ride out the rest of the year quietly without getting into arguments with their respective families. Due to the obligations of the holiday season and a general desire on the part of folks to do fuck-all, the final week of a given year typically doesn’t offer music lovers much in the way of live shows, unless you’re the type of degenerate willing to pay an inflated ticket price to watch a band play a truncated set with drunken, amateurish New Year’s Eve revelers hellbent on making monumental asses of themselves. And while I have every intention of honoring my New Year’s Eve tradition of locking myself in my panic room with a case of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey and several tins of Vienna Sausages, it would be impossible for me to pass up the chance to catch Coalesce, who are headlining a rare, one-off date on December 30th at Club Europa in Brooklyn, NY.

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Earlier this year, the folks at VBS.tv heard faint rumblings of a remote Aboriginal township in Australia with a heavy metal gang problem. According to reports, Wadeye (population 2,232) was basically run by violent, spear-wielding gangs with names like the the Judas Priest Boys, Metallica and Evil Warriors. A team of Vice reporters went to see for themselves and documented the trip on video.

This is an incredibly interesting documentary that I highly recommend watching if you’ve got the time.

Part 1:

Part 2:

This morning I was reading an interview with Binary Code guitarist Jesse Zuretti, in which the artful shredder mentioned jazz guitarist Allan Holdsworth as a major influence on his playing. Curious, I hit YouTube up for an Allan Holdsworth history lesson.

Check out this video of Holdsworth playing live; he doesn’t really get going until around the 2 minute mark, at which points he lets loose with a flurry of seemingly atonal out-of-key shred passages that just somehow work. Then around the 5 minute mark he goes bonkers, and here’s where I see the Zuretti influence; the quick, almost-sweep-like jazzy shred passages recall the solos in The Binary Code songs “Ghost Planet” and “The Story” (the latter of which is streaming on The Binary Code’s MySpace) in their almost Vernon Reid-esque insanity. Like Reid’s solos, it’s constantly as if the train’s about to run right off the rails but you know there’s a method to the madness underneath it all.

-VN

No porn in this one, sorry folks. But Rammstein do seem to have a knack for aesthetically pleasing videos, even without the boobs and vag.

-VN

[Thanks: Josh Kidd and groverXIII]

I saw Until the Light Takes Us last week and was mildly surprised (again) at some of the unusual belief systems swirling around that scene. When you think about it, there’s nothing intrinsic to heavy or extreme music that must link it to scary, misanthropic stuff. Still, people all around the world who get into this music want to put their emotions into some additional context. When the music feels violent or painful, maybe it’s just natural to want to surround it in images and language that also feel violent and painful.

But here we are in 2010. Churches have been burned, dead religions exhumed, forearms branded and medical pathology textbooks scoured. If you and your bandmates are skipping homeroom to do this meth-ed out hatecore thing you’ve been G-chatting about and you really want to blow minds, what’s left? You think anyone gets unnerved at the sight of a pentagram? (Answer: no.) Do you really think that wearing black nail polish is making some statement about anything other that your ability to source black nail polish? (Answer: same answer as before – no.) I am telling you that it’s all been done, it’s not scary and it’s about time that folks did a damn sight better.

And better is what I’ve got: To take your band’s nightmare vision of moral obliteration farther than it’s ever been taken, there is only one ideology left to use.

I’m talking, of course, about Joe Lieberman.

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I’ve lost interest in metal. Playing it that is. I LOVE listening though. I listened to Chimaira’s Resurrection in it’s entirety and didn’t even realize it was in its entirety. Bad ass record! Born Of Osiris has been in my play list lately as well. But Dallas Coyle’s (yes, third person) output/creation of metal music has been nil on the metal front. I’ve written some rock, some trip hop, some electronica — But no metal.

I haven’t done a blog in a while because I don’t have the passion to write about metal either. There are an alleged amount of reasons I suspect are contributing to my lack of metal inspiration, none of which I can say is a direct culprit. None of which is the sole reason I’m not ‘metaled’ up right now.

Reason #1

This site is becoming more popular and I feel obligated to write something that relates to the metal scene. Since there is more of a demand for metal blogomania at Metalsucks I feel I shouldn’t talk about Susan Boyle or Tiger Woods. BUT, when the election was happening I didn’t mind talking shit about McCain or Hillary Clinton? Weird right? But the site didn’t have the traffic it does now. I don’t get it myself. Shouldn’t I want MORE people to read what I write? Like I said, I have no idea! I’m an enigma wrapped in a shitty cooked grilled onion. The enigma stinks and so does the onion :) My brother’s latest blog about Killswitch was better than anything I’ve ever written for my blog so maybe I’m waiting for him to step in. Wait. I’m not in God Forbid anymore so I should stop expecting Doc to cover for me. Dammit. I never should have quit!
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Just ’cause we’re Jews doesn’t mean we can’t get a lil’ Xmas spirit in the MetalSucks Mansion. And since we have so many fucking CDs lying around that we don’t even want, it seemed like a good time to pass some of this shit onto you, our loyal MetalSucks Maniacs.

So here’s how it’s gonna work: we’re giving away four boxes full of CDs. We’re not sure of the exact amount of CDs – it’s basically whatever we can fit in a healthy-sized box. All you have to do to win is tell us why you hate the holidays. You can leave your answer in the comments section below, and make sure you register with a real e-mail address, since all winners will be contacted by e-mail.

Unfortunately, only readers who live in the U.S. are eligible. Because while Santa might have nine magic reindeer, all we have is the USPS.

All entries are due by New Year’s Day. We’ll announce the winners the first week of January ‘09.

Good luck, and HO HO HO! MERRY ANTICHRIST CHRISTMAS!!!

-Axl & Vince