At All Cost may have broken up last year, but there ain’t no sex quite like break-up sex; the Austin, TX quintet will play two final “farewell” shows in their hometown and in Houston just a couple of weeks from now, offering fans of the band a chance to say a final goodbye. AAC were one of the very first bands MetalSucks really got behind, and their Century Media debut Circle of Demons ended up on both mine and Axl’s year-end lists for 2007.

There was some confusion about which members would be participating in these final two shows, as AAC had quite the rotating cast of characters over the years. Fittingly, the final shows will also feature a rotating cast of characters; according to bassist CleanBobby, he and singer Andrew Collins will both play the entire set, while the rest of the members take turns rotating in around them, presumably to play the songs they originally played on. That’s a pretty fucking cool way to thank everyone who contributed to the band over the years, and it’s a great way for such an awesome band to go out.

As it turns out, these two shows are also the last for The Jonbenet, a Texas band I’ve heard some folks rave about but I haven’t ever been able to dig.

The two final gigs are December 18th at Red 7 in Austin and December 19th at Walter’s in Houston. It’s a shame we can’t make it, but we know AAC will bring their A-game; they always do.

-VN

When one thinks of black metal OGs Darkthrone, most likely, the image of a gangly guy with a candelabra comes to mind, and with it, black metal’s trappings and faults. But, like true originators, the band molded the style they helped create to their liking, moving from the raw mist of tremolo picking on Transylvanian Hunger to the (relatively more) refined old school black metal on 2004’s Sardonic Wrath to the anthemic and (dare I say) kinda fun blackened crust punk of their excellent last two releases, F.O.A.D and Dark Thrones and Black Flags. Despite being an integral part of one of the most important movements in metal’s history 20 years ago, Darkthrone are still putting out some of their best work right now, still raw and confrontational and, most importantly, still not giving a fuck about what people want them to play. Punk rock has always lurked underneath the band’s best material, but its attitude of individuality is what fuels Darkthrone and sets them apart from most of their frosty peers.

Part of the band’s artistic growth could most likely be due to its distillation to its core: Guitarist/vocalist Nocturno Culto and drummer/lyricist/occasional vocalist Fenriz have been the band‘s sole members for quite a while. The latter member has become a celebrity in his own right in the metal world through assembling the occasional compilation (his latest, Trapped Under Vice II, a collection of obscure trad metal and prog, is pretty fucking great) and generally coming across as a funny dude with a broad knowledge of metal by way of entertaining interviews. One of those interviews was recently with MetalSucks via email, where Fenriz discussed his band’s future (new album in February!), his approach to vocal work both in Darkthrone and his long gestating doom metal side project Fenriz’ Red Planet, his thoughts on production, and how “true” black metal was just black metal back when they started.

[Editor's note: English is not Fenriz's first language, but in the hopes of maintaining as much of what he wanted to say the way he wanted to say it, we did very little editing to his e-mail responses. In other words, we sometimes sacrificed proper grammar for the sake of keeping the interview interesting.]

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Maybe I smoked one too many spliffs laced with Old Bay (Adella Place Summer ’97 what what), but very early during my second listen-through of Between the Buried and Me’s new album The Great Misdirect, I couldn’t help but make the comparison to that old jam band who used to dork out onstage in the form of soloing whilst bouncing on trampolines……or, if you will, tramapolines.

Some might make other comparisons, but please allow me to explain.

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Though it was no surprise, The Crown’s 2004 break-up stung horribly not just for the loss of a classic and criminally underrated band, but the loss of one so obviously built to last. I think some bands succeed on pure propulsion, with great songs piled neck deep; within that class, the elite acts also master the album format: track order, intra-album dynamics, cover art and theme, and that intangible progression. Think of Led Zeppelin, who never made the same record and were only halted by death itself, as opposed to Metallica, who made one album repeatedly until they began to hate music, each other, themselves, and us. Well, The Crown was death metal’s Led Zep (and Deftones and Dandy Warhols and XTC), and once mature, just quietly set about releasing three distinct and definitive classics of metal: Deathrace King was exploitation death metal, the unstable brother to the good White Zombie record or alternate soundtrack to Death Proof with chainsaw fights. (See also: Goatwhore/Carving Out The Eyes of God.)

Then with the addition of Tomas Lindberg, then newly late of At The Gates, The Crown went supernova with Crowned In Terror. And for serious I’m trying to rein myself in here but I’ll still insist that no band has made catchier, more satisfying metal – not since Metallica went vaginal. Listening to CIT (and its remake, Crowned Unholy), I think of The Crown as a veteran gang of street brawlers: Tthe smaller guy throws gravel in your face and as you stagger around, scratching at your eyeballs, you get a 2×4 across the back and a wet boot to the nards. The truly ruthless gangs always have a knife guy, and sure enough you’re now missing an ear. As you stare down at a palmful of blood, your tears greatly amuse the one guy who hasn’t yet struck you but seems satisfied to aloofly mock your suffering.

That was Crowned In Terror, at which point The Crown was – to those who’d noticed – the band most likely to record the millennium’s best metal record. Then 2003 brought their swan song, Possessed 13, the millennium’s best metal record. No longer the scruffy street toughs, the men of The Crown had now Voltron-ed into a single merciless nuclear warhead with ten legs. Unfortunately, with scant promotion and a well-deserved aversion to sketchy tours, this weapon of doom and its operators were stranded on a desert planet with nothing to destroy. It would be the end of The Crown.

But fans had reason to live again last summer, when The Crown (minus screamer Johan Lindstrom) announced a reformation of sorts as Dobermann, and the search for a new singer. I was apprehensive: a new singer means altered chemistry, not to mention the bland band name. But maybe that was just a dodge (the vestiges of old contracts?) or a front to get the right singer (Jonas Stålhammar of God Macabre), not merely the most ambitious one (a stint with Deathstars singer Andreas Bergh, the failed Lindberg experiment). Either way, the shuck is over: The Crown is back.

- ADF

Crustcake, one of our favorite metal sites that isn’t this one, has started a podcast. In addition to host/Crustcake regular The WZA’d, the inaugural edition features the great Cosmo Lee and Jess Blumensheid. I was invited to be a guest and couldn’t participate this week due to pre-Thanksgiving bullshit, but I hope that Vince and/or myself will be able to to join a future episode.

Check out the podcast here.

-AR

Here’s something about you probably don’t care to know: I used to work in the non-music side of showbidness. During that time, I had a professional relationship with the New York theater actor, Jeffrey Carlson. I remember when Jeffrey got a gig on the soap opera All My Children – probably not the most artistically satisfying gig, but it sure pays better than theater work – playing a character who was, in no small part, obsessed with Mike Patton. I’m not even sure that Jeffrey knew who Mike Patton was at the time.

ANYWAY, a reader calling himself “G Hat” sent us this clip, which reminded me of the reference. Hey, if it got a few lonely housewives to buy Faith No More or Mr. Bungle albums, I’m all for it.

-AR

It’s hard to believe that Dime has been gone for five years, but December 8 will be the anniversary of one of metal’s bleakest moments. To cash-in on commemorate the event, Metal Hammer have enlisted a bunch of well-known acts to record Pantera covers (but not Damageplan covers, because, y’know, let’s get real here) for a CD that will come with the magazine. Metal Hammer has done this a few times in the past – I remember they had they entire Master of Puppets album re-recorded by various bands, including Mastodon, Machine Head, Chimaira and Trivium when that album reached its twentieth anniversary, and some of it was pretty good.

Get the complete track list for Metal Hammer’s Dime tribute disc after the jump, along with my thoughts in bold.

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Proving once again that not only does metal suck, but also it’s totally gay.

-KW

The MetalSucks-sponsored U.S. Plague Tour 2009 is currently weaving its way across the country, and MS photographer Diana Lee Zadlo was on hand November 23rd in Baltimore to catch Marduk, Nachtmystium and Merrimack in action. The tour rolls through New York in a couple of weeks, and though we’re exhausted from a long Autumn full of shows we couldn’t be more excited to finish things off for 2009 with this awesome lineup.

Diana’s photos, after the fold…

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Sent in by MS reader Kyle Bosc:

So here in Canada we had these public service announcements about canadian wildlife, like this here:

One of my local radio stations made one about Metallica fans that made me laugh, thought you’d enjoy it too:

Here’s what I don’t understand about all these lists: why they make people so very angry. When we set out to make our 21 Best Albums of the 21st Century (So Far) list earlier this year, we pretty much knew from the outset that it would be unsatisfactory. For one thing, there were only going to be 21 albums on the list, which meant a lot of great records were going to get left off; for another thing, we made the decision early on to allow bands to have multiple albums on the list if that was the way the voting turned out, and that meant that even more artists who deserved recognition weren’t going to get it; and finally, there was the very issue of how you even go about compiling such a list – we thought it was exciting to solicit the opinions of a lot of prominent musicians and industry insiders (as opposed to just the MS staff), but that approach obviously had its pros and cons, too. I’m not apologizing for or disowning our list – I’m just pointing out what should be obvious, which is that it was meant to be a fun conversation starter, which, from our end at least, is exactly what it was. And who really gives a shit which albums did or did not end up on that list? You know which albums you love and which ones you hate, so you shouldn’t need MetalSucks, or any other media outlet, to validate your opinion. I think Albert Mudrian is a great writer and is way more knowledgeable about metal than I am, but my ego isn’t so frail that I need him to agree with my every assessment of every band and every album.

Which brings me to what this blog post is actually about: Decibel’s 100 Greatest Metal Albums of the Decade special, which you can order here. It’s considerably more comprehensive that our list was, but I imagine most intelligent metal fans will also find it just as infuriating, and just as fun.

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Though we don’t necessary want to make out with Ville Valo on an oversized coach at the W in Los Angeles, Axl and I do both share an affinity for the lovelorn pop-metal of Finland’s H.I.M. You might claim that H.I.M. are gay and not metal, but then you’d be a) an idiot, b) a homophobe, c) an idiot. +1 to Zena Metal’s assertion that Valo is the world’s only true living rock star. I’ve yet to see H.I.M. live if only for the fear of being tramped by hundreds of overzealous goth teenagers, but I’ve seen enough video and read enough interviews to know that the guy is the real deal.

H.I.M.’s new album Screamworks comes to the States on February 9th (artwork here), and you can hear two samples from what presumably is the first single, “Heartkiller,” below. Sounds like classic H.I.M. to me. My heart is melting!

-VN

[Thanks: MS uber-maniac Kye]

At long last, we’ve chosen a winner for our Alexi Laiho impersonation contest. There were a lot of really funny entries, but sadly most of them were disqualified for being outside the U.S. (read the rules, people!). Andrew N. from New City, NY emerged victorious, and will soon be the proud owner of his very own ESP Scythe for filming and submitting the below video (and not for nothin’, being a skilled guitar player!). Thanks to all who participated… check out all of the awesome entries on the Alexi Laiho Imprsonation Contest Page.

Based on the e-mails we’ve gotten today, it would seem that a lot of you are frickin’ CRANKY that we’ve made no mention of the fact that Dark Tranquillity are working on a new album, Into the Void. So here’s part 1 of their in-the-studio video series. The album will be out sometime in February or March on Century. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say it will sound like European melodic death metal. But I could be wrong. It could be a rap metal album. That would really throw people for a loop, eh?

-AR

Not quite, but that’s the first thought that popped into my head when the MetalSucks reader known simply as “J” sent us a link to the San Diego-based Chon. While Chon might not have the style, grace or charisma of the aforementioned Twan, they’ve got all sorts of wicked chops that fans of more technically-minded metal should love.*

Chon play semi-frenetic, jazz-tinged instru-metal not unlike that of Lye by Mistake, an insanely talented band whose debut album Fea Jur is worthy of far more praise than it’s gotten. Their sense of melody is more akin to that of Scale the Summit, yet another under-appreciated instru-metal band that released an album in 2009 (Vince’s year-end list, WHAT?), and there’s nary a trace of Sumeriancore/djent in the mix. It’s a fine combo, and it’s a unique sound.

Check out Chon. Twan won’t come over and hunt you down in a fit of jealousy.

-VN

*Trapped in the Closet is a modern masterpiece. I’m not joking or being ironic. It’s really an amazing piece of work. Don’t front.

I’ve been worried about the fate of Through the Eyes of the Dead for some time now; they’ve gone through a butt load of line-up changes since the release of their last album, 2007′s killer Malice, including the loss of vocalist Nate Johnson, who I personally thought was a vast improvement over his predecessor, Anthony Gunnells.

But now the band finally have a new album coming out, entitled Skepsis, and they’ve unveiled a track, “The Manifest” on their MySpace page. And it turns out I had no reason to be worried at all.

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Now I’m not saying I agree with all, most, or even any of the points made in Stewert Voegtlin’s recent bitter-tastic Village Voice article (aptly entitled “Sketchy Metal”), but holy jeez a voice of dissension should be appreciated, welcome, and even necessary at times, especially when certain bands are so blindly revered by so many…..and furthermore anybody who can bring such a well-worded subtly sardonic taste to their Hateology (free album title!) a la our own Gary Suarez deserves a complimentary bong hit.

The article starts out with an analysis on Pelican’s sound (or lack thereof), positing that the Chicago band’s thang never crystallizes into anything approaching authentic emotion, but that some bands that Pelican derives influence from (Trans Am, in particular) have made plenty of music worth veneration, especially back in the day.  Hmm……agreed.

I almost joined the Train of Descent (free band name!) recently myself when I was considering writing an article — which was to be called MASTODON EVOLVED EVERYTHING ABOUT THEIR SOUND ON CRACK THE SKYE….EXCEPT FOR THE LYRICS – about the many cliches held within several of the lyrics on Crack the Skye. However, after listening to the album a few more times to get a clearer context of the lyrics to the piece as a whole, I cleaned my shorts off and reconsidered libeling the best modern progressive metal band of the decade.

But Voegtlin? This guy ain’t takin no prisoners (pls disregard double negative)……my favorite gem of haterade enclosed within the article definitely has to be Voegtlin’s response to Baroness’ John Baizley’s claim that his band’s music is influenced by “fine art, cinema, and literature”:

[This is] as stiltedly silly as name-dropping higher mathematics, physics, or philosophy, when what the band really peddles is exactly the everything-and-nothing Hallmark heft so many claim to uncover in Pelican’s wordless, aimless songs. While Baizely’s predilection to hawk such High Times erudition makes him sound more puerile than he likely is, it’s difficult to imagine him honestly striving to disseminate meta-emotional discourse through music as transparently commercial as his band’s stoner-metal-meets-Ford-truck-jingle approach.

Yowza!!

More insightful dissin’ and the link to the actual article afterthejump.

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Our broheims at Metal Insider alerted us to the fact that Apple has a new extortion scheme product called iTunes LP and Extras, which basically amounts to charging money for a product that’s typically free on a band’s website (videos, lyrics, liner notes, etc). Apparently LP and Extras has been available to major labels with existing iTunes deals for a little while already, but Metal Insider is reporting that the platform will be available to everyone else starting in early 2010.

My question to you… is anyone going to give a shit? I can’t see anyone but the die-hardest of the die-hard fans paying extra for this content, and these kinds of fans strike me as people who’d prefer to have a physical copy anyway. Beyond that, why shell out for videos when they’ll end up on YouTube? Why shell out for lyrics when you have Google? Why shell out for digital artwork when you can just visit the band’s website or have a physical copy? Is there something I’m missing here… some kind of extra super-cool features that are going to blow my mind?

I don’t get it. Total waste of money for the consumer, and total waste of time/resources on Apple’s part. This is fuck-tarded. Let’s get Spotify going in the States so all of this crap can end.

-VN

Rocklahoma, the three day hair metal festival that’s taken place in – doy-hickey – Oklahoma the past few years, was really successful in its first two incarnations – so successful that there were rumors of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest headlining the 2008 edition of the fest. But this past summer’s third running of the show was an epic failure, with embarrassingly  low attendance, despite a line-up that included Anthrax, the “they’re so hot right now!” Anvil, Overkill, Twisted Sister, Ratt, and Skid Row.

Now our pal Allyson at Bring Back Glam has posted a press release announcing that AEG live, “the world’s largest producer of music festivals,” has been put in charge of “revamping” the fest for the 2010 version.

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Before I begin telling you this story, I need to give you some background.

Lita Ford is married to Jim Gillette, a.k.a. “that dude from Nitro who could supposedly break glass with his vocals.”

Lita used to look like this:

And Jim used to look like this:

And now they look like this:

With me so far? M’kay, good.

So. Recently this married couple decided to make love (burrr… even writing that phrase ironically gives me douche chills). That’s fine. That’s their right. I hope all married couples enjoy sex well into old age.

But I also hope most of them don’t tweet vivid descriptions of what ensued, as Lita Ford apparently did. Read her tweets after the jump, courtesy Sleaze Roxx:

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