Two Jamey Jasta headlines in one day! Oh boy!

We’ve known for some time that Mr. Jasta was helping Sebastian Bach write material for his next solo album, the follow-up to the borderline-unlistenable Angel Down. Which actually strikes me as kind of a good idea – Bach hasn’t really brought the heavy since Skid Row’s underrated Subhuman Race album way the fuck back in 1995. We even got an ever-so-brief taste of that music back in May.

But now Blabbermouth has posted video of Bach and his new solo band, all of whom are apparently willing to pay for their own gas and rehearse for free, performing a new song in its entirety. It’s called “Live the Life” and, well, it’s pretty bad. And not heavy in the slightest.

But it’s good to see that Baz can still headbang like it’s 1989.

If I were Baz I’d put out some of those songs he wrote with Jasta ASAP. This shit is fucking embarassing.

-AR

Okay. Axl Rose apparently thinks that people like me don’t do enough straight reporting, and once upon a time Axl was my hero, so there will be none of our usual dick head commentary on this piece. I’m just gonna tell you what happened, and then I’m gonna let you guys provide dick head commentary.

A few days ago, after Axl got in a fight with a photographer at LAX, the following statement was posted to Guns N’ Roses’ MySpace page:

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A less forward-thinking company might shirk at the prospect of an unlimited music streaming service, especially one whose music business is rooted so firmly in pay-per-track iTunes and the iPods/iPhones that carry said tracks. If Apple were as thick-headed and dense as the major record labels, they’d forge ahead with their existing models while attempting to sue the newcomers into oblivion. But Apple is not that company. Apple is smart, aware and aggressive, and as such they’ve recently purchased music streaming site LaLa, a move that seems to indicate the company will soon be pursuing a subscription-based model.

And if Apple is going to make a play at a subscription streaming model, then the holy grail of music experiences — the ability to stream any song, at any time, from anywhere (aka “the cloud”) — is that much closer to becoming reality.

Click to read more…

Atreyu drummer / vocalist Brandon Saller has announced he’ll be playing a solo show in Anaheim this January. If badly out-of-key vocals are your thing, then I recommend you attend this show. Exactly what this show will entail, I’m not certain… continuous drum solos? Brandon on an acoustic?

Also, what the fuck is going on in the above photo? Who needs 3 fucking bass drums?

Slow news day.

-VN

Our friend D.X. Ferris recently interviewed Hatebreed’s Jamey Jasta for the Riverfront Times. Ferris is a great writer and an all-around good dude, so it’s definitely worth checking out… but here’s the part that really caught my attention:

What’s the latest with your books?
I had a major setback with the lyric book, which the lawyers are dealing with. Let’s hope these bad deals I’ve done in the past don’t come back to haunt me any more. It’s not something I can really talk about in the press. When you sign a bad [record] deal, it affects everything: the use of your lyrics, and the use of your music in commercials and TV shows and movies and soundtracks.

<sarcasm>A bad record deal? When did Hatebreed ever sign a bad record deal? Haven’t they always been on top-quality labels that have reputations for treating their artists fairly? What could Jamey possibly be talking about? Hmm… the mind boggles…</sarcasm>

On a semi-related note, please allow me to take the opportunity to once again plug D.X. Ferris’ awesome entry on Reign in Blood into the 33 1/3 book series. There were a lot of great metal-related books in 2009, but I think this one was my very favorite. With the holidays right around the corner, I can’t think of a better stocking stuffer. Order a copy here.

-AR

What the fuck, Nekrogoblikon? You said your new album, Stench, was “almost finished” way back in April, and here’s it’s fucking December and no release date. C’mon, dudes, don’t leave me hanging!!!

Oh well. At least MetalSucks Mega-Maniac (and F.O.N. – that’s “Friend of Nekrogoblikon” ) Mark Moritz-Rabson sent us this video of the band performing a new song, “Return to the Sky,” and word that some of the band members told him the album will finally be out in January or February. I’ll believe it when I’m holding a CD in my hand, or at least have the mp3s on my iPod.

-AR

Reader Luke Papadopoulos sent us the below video of Attack Attack! performing a new song. Even with the lo-fi audio, it’s easy to tell that the song is fucking awful. Still, there’s three things I’d like to point out, at the risk of coming across as a major homophobe:

1. The song is called “Sexual Man Chocolate.”
2. Attack Attack!’s current front man is named Caleb Shomo.
3. Attack Attack! previously covered Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” – and didn’t change any of the lyrics to make them gender appropriate.

In conclusion, looks for Attack Attack! to tour with Burzum sometime in 2010.

-AR

We just received the following press release here at the MetalSucks Mansion. I don’t usually like to just cut and paste press releases, but in this instance I feel like I need to do so in order to make my point. So:

Ministry’s Uncle Al Jourgensen is apparently in the Christmas spirit, having created a Christmas video “card” for you and his fans that is also his very first solo project.

Al and good buddy Mark Thwait (Mission UK, Peter Murphy, Mob Research), collaborated on “It’s Always Christmas Time,” a tribute to friend and band mate Paul Raven (Ministry, Killing Joke, Mob Research) on the two-year anniversary of his passing in 2007. With Christmas less than two weeks away, it’s Al’s way of spreading his very own brand of holiday cheer.

Okay. That all sounds fair enough. But then I watched the actual video in question:

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Cosmo Lee, Ph.D. of Invisible Oranges would like to know the following:

At what point do you tell a love interest/potential mate/significant other of your metal-ness?

It’s a great question, and one that I’ve struggled with before. Being a fan of metal is a lot different than being a fan of indie rock or country or pop… for the most part metal fans are really into metal to the point where it’s a lifestyle (in varying degrees). And as we all know, metal has a lot of stigmas attached to it that might turn off a potential love interest.

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Everyone loves a good feud, especially when Mega-dick Dave Mustaine is involved! The guy’s a fantastic musician and Endgame will likely make my year-end list, but the dude’s got serious temper and ego issues and provides us with fun stuff to write about on a near-daily basis… so thank you, Dave Mustaine!

The latest fracas involves the departure of Suicide Silence from their support run with Megadeth. At this point no official statements have been released so we can merely speculate, but here’s what Lambgoat posted yesterday:

The official announcement from Suicide Silence is fairly standard: “We’re sorry to announce that we won’t be playing tonight in Reno, NV. Megadeth, Warbringer, and Arcanium will still be there so head out and show your support for those awesome bands!”

Lambgoat followed up with a bit of good old fashioned investigative journalism to shed some more light on the matter:

Click to read more…

A technical snafu prevented this from getting up on time last night. Apologies!

It will be a very happy Hannukkah for Joleen Greenland, who correctly answered last night’s trivia question: it was Genghis Tron’s half-Jewish Mookie Singerman who once joked to us that he had auditioned for Norma Jean and not gotten the gig because of his Semitic heritage. (At least,we assume Mookie was only kidding.) Joleen wins a mystery prize from Century Media, plus a dreidel from Uncles Axl and Vince.

But don’t schedule an emergency therapy session if you lost – there are still six more chance to win. Here’s tonight’s trivia question:

• Which musician did a primer on the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur as part of an in-studio video update earlier this year?

E-mail your answer along with your name and address to axl [at] metalsucks.net with the phrase “HEAVY METAL HANNUKKAH – NIGHT 3″ in the subject line. All entries are due by 5 pm today (Monday, December 14) evening. Shortly thereafter we’ll announce the winner and post night 2’s trivia question. And while you don’t have to be Jewish to enter the contest, you do have to live in the U.S.

Good luck!

-AR

I almost never know what to say when attempting to commemorate someone’s death. But reader Paul Lakomski reminded us that today is the anniversary, and it just felt like we have to do something to remember the man and what he did for the music we love. There are so many bands that just wouldn’t exist if not for Death, it seems like the least we can do is take a few minutes to honor Chuck’s legacy.

Here’s the video for Death’s “Lack of Comprehension.”

And here’s Control Denied’s “The Fragile Art of Existence.”

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Mazel tov to Kelly Certain, who correctly answered last night’s Heavy Metal Hannukkah question: Who did Vince interview for his very first entry in his “Jew on Jew” interview series? Well, duh. It was Eyal Levi, who are now proud to call part of the MetalSucks team. Poor bastard wishes he’d never met us.

ANYWAY, Kelly wins a mystery gift, courtesy Century Media, and a dreidel, courtesy Uncles Axl and Vince. Enjoy those Kelly.

And, hey, if you didn’t win last night, no need to weep into your matzoh ball soup – there are still seven nights to go. And remember: all trivia questions will have answers that can be found right here on MetalSucks. Now here’s this evening’s trivia question:

• Who once joked to MetalSucks that he auditioned for Norma Jean and was turned away because of his Jewish heritage?

E-mail your answer along with your name and address to axl [at] metalsucks.net with the phrase “HEAVY METAL HANNUKKAH – NIGHT 2″ in the subject line. All entries are due by 5 pm tomorrow (Sunday, December 13) evening. Shortly thereafter we’ll announce the winner and post night 2’s trivia question. And while you don’t have to be Jewish to enter the contest, you do have to live in the U.S. What? Do we look like we’re made out of shipping costs?

Did you know that dreidel’s were originally for gambling? It’s true. Dreidels are like the Jewish dominoes. Now if you’ll excuse me, Vince and I have a high-stakes back-alley dreidel game to get to.

-AR

As we mentioned earlier today, next Thursday we’ll run the MS staffs’ various year end lists. Of course, that means that the MS staff has to start turning them in now. And as we’ve begun the editing process, we’ve been reassured of what we already knew: opinions are like assholes. Everybody’s got one. But what’s more fun than smoking weed, listening to good music, and engaging in intellectual (or semi-intellectual) debate with good friends? For our money, nothing. That’s why we started MetalSucks in the first place!

Here were some sources of intellectual debate this week:

• We looked at a series of dreadful demos, the last of which was epic (and not dreadful at all).
• We spoke with Eric Peterson of Testament and Robb Flynn of Machine Head.
• Devin Townsend got deep.
• Marduk’s Mortuus body-slammed a would-be hugging fan.
• Mastodon are officially on the radar of mainstream publications like Time.
• We mourned the loss of Dimebag Darrell 5 years ago this week.
• We proclaimed Hate Eternal and System of a Down underappreciated.

Now we challenge you to start guessing which albums which MS writers will name as their favorites. Anyone who guesses correctly wins the knowledge that they probably read this site way too much when they should be working, or fucking, or doing almost anything else.

And then on Thursday we’ll unveil all the lists.

-Vince & Axl

Ahh, Hannukkah. The Festival of Lights. Like every Jewish holiday, is ostensibly boils down to “They tried to kill us, we lived, let’s eat!” Which, when you think about it, really is as good a reason to celebrate and exchange gifts as any.

So for the third year in a row now, MetalSucks is teaming up with Century Media to bring you Heavy Metal Hannukkah. Every night for the next eight nights, we’re gonna ask a trivia question that relates to both metal and Judaism. Of everyone who gets it right, we’ll randomly select one winner to receive an awesome mystery prize from Century, as well as – what else? – a dreidel.

We’re changing things up a little this year – all trivia questions will have answers that can be found right here on MetalSucks. Make sense? Good. Here’s the question for the first night:

• Who did Vince interview for his very first entry in his “Jew on Jew” interview series?

E-mail your answer to axl [at] metalsucks.net with the phrase “HEAVY METAL HANNUKKAH – NIGHT 1″ in the subject line. All entries are due by 5 pm tomorrow (Saturday, December 12) evening. Shortly thereafter we’ll announce the winner and post night 2’s trivia question. And while you don’t have to be Jewish to enter the contest, you do have to live in the U.S. Money for shipping doesn’t grow on trees, ya know.

Now, time to go light the MetalSucks Menorah… good luck everyone!

-AR

Are you ever going to write again? Is your column at Metalsucks over? Where the fuck have you been? Why don’t you hang out? You better be ditching me for a really good reason! You’re in town? Why didn’t I know? Etc. Etc. Etc.

At first I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. If I did, I would’ve told everyone in my life that I was going to have to disappear for about a month or two but I was not expecting this to be such a gargantuan undertaking. But it is. When the questions as to my absence started coming in I didn’t make much effort to answer them because I figured the workload was going to lighten up a little. It hasn’t. Friends, fans, family members, band mates, business partners, ex-girlfriends, and more have all been hitting me up asking where the fuck I’ve been. When Vince wrote me and asked me where I was I figured ok, its time to come out of the cave for a moment.

Click to read more…

So not only does Tool’s Maynard James Keenan have his own winery, but someone made a documentary about it? How did this news completely escape me ’til now?

No matter. Blood into Wine, the documentary in question, is going to premiere at the W Hotel in Scottsdale, AZ on Feb. 19 at 7:00 pm. It will also see a limited theatrical release that same day, followed by a DVD release in the spring.

The process of making wine is actually pretty fascinating, but I’d be lying if I said my primary interest in this film isn’t getting a better glimpse of “a larger picture of the often reclusive singer,” as the press release promises. For all the times I’ve seen Tool and A Perfect Circle live and all the interviews with the guy I’ve read, I still don’t feel like I really know him. Of course, that’s part of Maynard’s appeal – in the trailer for the flick, he admits that “I’ve made a career out of not giving away the whole farm” – but I’d still love to try and get some kind of feel for who Maynard actually is. And the fact that Patton Oswalt, Bob Odenkirk, and some other cool non-metal peeps are all in the movie doesn’t hurt.

Check out the trailer by clicking on the image below.

-AR

Do you enjoy Agalloch? Daylight Dies? Swallow the Sun? Insomnium? How about Katatonia or Opeth?

If you answered “yes” to any of the above, then a) you have great taste in metal, b) you really owe it to yourself to check out Barren Earth, a dark melo-doom outfit from Finland (where else?). Simply put, Barren Earth incorporate the sonic elements and textures of all of the aforementioned melo-doom bands and add an Opethian twist to fuse the music into something that’s uniquely theirs. Barren Earth certainly aren’t re-inventing the melo-doom wheel, but they’re a damn fine addition. This is gloomy, doomy, epic, melancholic metal, the kind that’s best enjoyed in the barren, dark days of winter, snuggled under a blanket on your couch with a hot cup of cocoa. Or whiskey.

Check ‘em out on MySpace. Barren Earth’s new EP Our Twilight is out now via Peaceville Records.

-VN

Rammstein seem to be the subjects of a whole lot of homemade viral videos lately (see also: this). Why exactly, I’m not sure. Perhaps it’s that the whole concept of the band is just kinda funny to begin with. And of course, those German accents!

Take this one originally posted on Metal Injection. Gold. I can only imagine the stoned though that occurred to this fine chap while he was watching his baby innocently play.

-VN

[A series of absolutely dreadful demos to grace the doorstep of the MS Mansion of late has inspired me to resurrect The Dreadful Demo Files, in which we take a look at some of the face-palm-inducingly bad packages we receive. For the sake of these poor bands' egos we've disguised their identities. I'll be highlighting 3 bands this week (view Part I here and Part II here)... the last of which is so absolutely righteous I'm not sure it can ever possibly be topped. -.Ed.]

“Dreadful” would be something of a misnomer for today’s entry, because this is without a doubt the most impressive demo package I’ve ever received. There’s no need to disguise Wrought of Obsidian‘s identity because I’d like them to get all the credit for the incredible package they put together! The above image is the outside front of the package; note the full-color vinyl print that’s hand-sewn (!) onto a sizable piece of velvety smooth tan suede. Either the gentlemen of Wrought of Obsidian are well-trained in the art of seaming or they’ve got some very loving girlfriends (or moms).

After the jump, let’s take a look at what’s inside this beast!

Click to read more…