Our Bro-test the Heroes over at Crustcake posted the video for a personal favorite of mine, Down’s “Stone the Crow.” Sure, it was Down’s most popular song but it earned that distinction for a reason, namely that it’s fucking great.

I love the interplay between Pepper Keenan and Kirk Windstein’s guitars in the intro/main riff… each guitar is playing a completely different line that perfectly compliments the other. Metal bands just don’t write riffs like that anymore… any time there are two guitars they’re playing the same damn thing (or close). Also, Phil Anselmo is second only to Layne Staley in the constantly-changing-hair-styles-and-overall-looks department, and I love observing his constant metamorphosis throughout the years. In this video he’s sporting a ’50s Greaser kind of look from the neck up and an early-mid ’90s neo-grunge rocker (flannel and camo shorts) from the waist down… an odd combination, but with Philip it works.

-VN

If black metal is known for anything, it’s its predilection for intimacy over broad heaviness (see: Burzum’s jagged, fuzzy riffs; Drudkh’s folk-inspired melancholic dirges; Darkthrone’s bees-in-a-mason-jar tremolo picking on Transylvanian Hunger) and almost complete lack of groove (which is to be expected from music made by the whitest people on Earth). So it’s often a pleasant surprise to hear a band borrowing from black metal’s hallmarks to make a gargantuan, riff-centric album. Swedish upstarts Valkyrja have the big, groovy black metal formula down pat, employing stadium-sized guitars that manage to nod to black metal’s origins but not collapse under their own bloated weight. Like a good black metal album, it’s got wonderfully constructed, haunting songs as well as velocity; like a good metal album, it’s heavy as fuck. If you think you’d enjoy the genre’s minor key doomsday riffing if it had a little more balls to it, well, Valkyrja’s Contamination is the album for you.

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Jello Biafra is one of the very few people living today who can honestly be called a musical pioneer. The importance of the Dead Kennedys cannot be overstated, and as that hardcore punk act’s frontman and voice, Jello’s words continue to influence generations of people worldwide dissatisfied with the status quo, whether that apply to the music scene or the socio-political climate. Fortunately, he continues to rail against the crimes inflicted by governments and corporations in his own unique way, whether it be through bitingly witty spoken word performances or those from his new band, The Guantanamo School of Medicine. Yet after all of these years, Jello still prides himself on not stagnating or repeating himself. In his own words:

One thing we’ve gone out of our way to do with [The Guantanamo School of Medicine] and what I do in general, I’m kinda proud that no two music albums of mine have ever sounded alike. Not even the Lard albums or the two I did with the Melvins, let alone Dead Kennedys. There’s so much punk and so much metal that gets put into these little genres and sounds so much like other bands that you wonder, “what’s the point?” This is like drawing in a coloring book instead of making a picture from your imagination as a kid. Part of what that comes from is drawing my sources and my ideas from other parts of music besides punk, including even that weird tiki cocktail lounge music from the Fifties… You wanna put a unique stamp on your band, you’ve gotta draw from forces outside your favorite kind of music. I didn’t even realize until years later that when I’d hide out at my parents’ place in Colorado to write songs and plan out the next Dead Kennedys album that I was listening to almost no punk whatsoever when I was doing it.

Below, check out more from my interview with Jello.

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Two albums that are definitely going to fuck your face right the fuck off in 2010: new releases from The Ocean, which are tentatively scheduled to be released in March and October. And the band now tells our palls at Noisecreep that the first record will be called Heliocentric and that the second record will be called Anthropocentric.

And if, based on those titles, you’re guessing that there’s some sort of thematic connection between the two albums, well, hey, you’re right! Guitarist Robin Staps explains to Chris Harris:

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When it comes to the art of metal, Rodney Githens of Vertebrae33 – a.k.a. the man who designed this awesome MetalSucks t-shirt – obviously knows his shit. Join him now as he tells you which albums had the best cover art of ’09, and why…

As the music industry crumbles around itself trying to deal with the digital age, metal bands have fought hard to give fans a reason to buy their music. There has always been a heavy importance placed on the artwork used by metal bands. This is evident when you check out album covers and, of course, when everyone races to the merch booth as the doors open at a show. However, recently bands have worked hard to give you a reason to buy the physical CD/record. There are kids who will buy music based on the cover and buy shirts from bands that they do not like that much, just because they think they look cool(see Cradle of Filth). So it is time to give some credit to the visual artists who have kicked some ass this past year.

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Here’s the cover art for Kalmah’s new album, 12 Gauge. While I’d love to see someone do a really beautiful illustration of a burbot for the band, I think this is pretty cool, too. I like the fact that if one didn’t know it was the new Kalmah album cover, one actually might think that it was just the most metal tapestry, like, ever. I also appreciate the fact that it could be a totally bitchin’ Boy Scout merit badge. “Look, dad! I got my ‘Kill a Giant Bird’ badge!”

12 Gauge comes out March 3 on Spinefarm. I’m fairly certain it is going to rock ridiculously hard.

-AR

Released stealthily though Deathwish Inc. quite late last year, Blacklisted’s vinyl-only No One Deserves To Be Here More Than Me secured a well deserved (Dis)honorable Mention on my Best Albums of 2009 post, as I’ve found myself listening to it more and more over the past several weeks. It doesn’t quite top the extraordinarily aggressive Heavier Than Heaven, Lonelier Than God, but frankly neither do most hardcore albums of the past decade. Though my proper review of the album will come later, you can check out the title track streaming at the band’s MySpace page. Blacklisted’s sound has evolved into something… else. If you own a turntable, you should buy the record here.

After playing a great one-off gig last week in NYC with The Hope Conspiracy, United Nations and Mother Of Mercy, Blacklisted will finally tour for the new album beginning next month. A handful of the U.S. gigs will feature Gods & Queens, a phenomenal noise rock band that formed out of the ashes of Versoma. The opportunity to see both them and Blacklisted on the same bill is as awesome as dipping a chocolate bar in a jar of creamy peanut butter. Yum. The tour wraps up later in March when the band plays the United Blood fest, which (as I’ve already reported) will include sets from Madball, Maximum Penalty, Cruel Hand and a whole bunch of others hardcore acts. All dates below.

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Suckalo Maxwell sent in the first of what I predict will be myriad metal remixes of Larry Platt’s “Pants on the Ground” American Idol audition.

Not bad, Maxwell, not bad at all! Though I could’ve done without the vocoder parts.

For the original Larry Platt version of “Pants on the Ground,” click on through to the other side…

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Prosthetic Records, home to such artists as Gojira, Skeletonwitch, The Acacia Strain, and Through the Eyes of the Dead, has filed suit against Razor & Tie, Billboard reports. I don’t wanna re-type or misinterpret any of the legalese, so I’m just gonna cut and paste the nitty gritty from Billboard:

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We’ve been hearing rumors that things weren’t working out between Periphery and their vocalist, Chris Baretto; well, now those rumors are confirmed, as Baretto has been replaced by Spencer Sotelo:

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The line-up for the 2010 Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival (Jesus I hate typing all that shit) has been announced. See who’ll be playing one of the summer’s biggest metal tours after the jump, along with my snarky commentary, of course…

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While some of us schmucks were sitting around waiting to see whether or not John Bush was gonna re-join Anthrax or what, Armored Saint went off and recorded their first new album in a decade:  La Raza, which the always reliable authorities at Wikipedia tell me “literally means in the Spanish language ‘the race’ or generally and symbolically “‘the people,’” will be out March 16 on Metal Blade. A new song, “Left Hook From Right Field,” is now streaming here.

I was never as big of an Armored Saint fan as I probably oughta be, but I think this track is pretty rockin’. It bodes well for the rest of the album. And if nothing else, it’s always great to hear John Bush singing, as opposed, I dunno, being the voice of Burger King.

Meanwhile, we still have no idea what, if anything, a new Armored Saint album means for Bushthrax. The latest issue of Decibel – y’know, the one with the now-dead American Carnage tour on the cover? – makes it sound like Bush is definitely re-recording Dan Nelson’s vocals for Worship Music. So is he gonna tour with both bands? Pull a Zakk Wylde and play twice a night? Or is one of these bands about to get the short shrift? I guess we’ll find out…

-AR

Props to reader David Korczyk. He correctly identified last week’s logo as belonging to the band Naglfar. For his troubles, Dave wins a copy of Nevermore’s DVD, The Year of the Voyager.  Now go gloat to your friends, Dave.

We have a really cool prize this week: Pure Noise is going to be releasing a very limited pressing of All Shall Perish’s Awaken the Dreamers on vinyl on March 16. This is the album that Kirk Hammett deemed one of the twenty-five best of the decade, and there’s going to be 300 copies made that are clear with blood splatter and 600 copies made that are half red and half black, and then that’s it. Done. No more. Sold out. You lose.

Luckily for you, we have one copy of each version of the record to give away. Lucky bastards.

All you have to do to win is identify the name of the band whose logo appears below, then shoot me an e-mail at axl AT metalsucks DOT net with your answer, your name, and your address. From everyone who gets it right, we’ll randomly select one grand prize winner to receive the clear vinyl with blood splatter and one runner-up to receive the black and red vinyl. PLEASE NOTE THAT THESE PRIZES WILL NOT SHIP UNTIL MID-FEBRUARY, AS THEY’RE CURRENTLY STILL BEING PRESSED.

This week’s logo was suggested to us by MS Suckalo Joshua Jacobs… thanks, dude!

-AR

Black Breath – TBD (Southern Lord/Hot Mass)

The band released the 12″ debut EP, Razor To Oblivion, on their own awhile back, but Southern Lord deftly scooped up the crusty hardcore/metal quintet and re-released Razor on CD with news that the debut full-length would hit streets early in 2010. If this thing is soaked in beer, angst, and riffs as much as the four-track debut was, you might be able to put away those Municipal Waste records and toss in Black Breath at that kegger.

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Salome
TBD
Label – Profound Lore
Release date – TBD

We’ve been singing Salome’s praises for awhile, but following last year’s announcement that the band was signing with Profound Lore, 2010 will finally bring the release of the band’s first full-length. And there is literally not a single doom metal album I’m more excited about this year. Even if it’s only half as good as the band’s live show and and a quarter as good as the band’s self-titled 2008 EP, it will still be better than almost anything any other band releases in 2010.

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After the Burial
TBD
Label – Sumerian
Release date – TBD

If 2008 marked the dawn of Sumeriancore then 2009 was the year it exploded onto the scene with a vengeance, reaching America’s youth via the Internet in a palpable and visible real-life way. 2010, then, will be the year that the budding micro-genre will be put to the test; which bands will end of being trailblazers, legitimate contenders in the metal pantheon? and which bands are generic followers, destined to be lost in the bowels of 2nd and 3rd wave micro-genre has-beens spanning the decades?

If I were a betting man I’d place my money on the former category for After the Burial, the Minnesota group whose 2008 Sumerian Records debut Rareform helped escalate the Meshuggah-inspired sub-genre from scattered local scenes to the national stage. While Born of Osiris may out-mosh and out-breakdown them, while Periphery may out melody-them and while Tessaract or Animals as Leaders may out mind-fuck and out-play them, After the Burial strike the best balance in the humble opinion of these ears. After the Burial have plenty of crazy grooves, chops up the wazoo and plenty of hooks to latch your ears onto, but it’s their ability to combine them all in just the right way that makes them stand out from the Sumeriancore pack. And they are one of the most razor fucking tight live bands I saw in all of 2009… seriously, seriously impressive for such a young group of dudes.

Watch for After the Burial’s second Sumerian Records full-length (and third overall) to drop some time in 2010, presumably (hopefully)  by Summer.

-VN

When I heard there was going to be a movie at this year’s Sundance Film Festival entitled Hesher, well, needless to say, I took an interest. And after I saw the poster, my interest only grew – this thing had to be about metal, right?

But now /Film has a plot description and an interview with the director, and the movie sounds anything but metal. I mean, the character played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt (a.k.a. “That kid from Third Rock from the Sun who actually grew up to be a pretty good actor”) certainly looks the way my mom thinks metal heads look, but… uh… that’s about it.

Get a plot description and watch some footage after the jump:

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Thou
Summit
Label – TBD
Release date – TBD

Louisiana’s contribution to metal has unquestionably been doom. And not the stately, mournful, European variety, but the sludgy, sludgy, Black-Sabbath-queasy-and-dopesick-in-a-corner brand of doom that perfectly compliments that of a state known for swamps, humidity, and decades of political corruption. One could almost call it bluesy, were it not so righteously dragged through the mud and set on fire. The state’s past has graced us with such titans as the blackened sludge grind doom et cetera of Soilent Green; old school supergroup Down; and the ugly, violent yet still incredibly tangible sludge forefathers Eyehategod. But Louisiana’s best doom torch wielders are upstarts Thou, an insanely prolific band that in their relatively short period of time have managed to cover a broad spectrum of doom. Their upcoming third full length – Summit – will no doubt continue their journey to the dark corners of the soul, those most melancholy, filthy, and angry.

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Dave Mustaine posts so many “updates” about what Megadeth is up to, upcoming announcements of major upcoming announcements, and the color of his stool that I feel like I know more about what’s going on in his life than I do about what’s going on in Vince’s life. But his latest, which I just read on Blabbermouth, is interesting for two reasons:

1. It seems that he and Kerry King are trying to be pals again.
2. These two metal legends chose to meet at the single blandest restaurant chain in America, if not the world.

Here’s the skinny from Mustaine:

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Brainstorm’s Memorial Roots, out now in North America following its European release a few months ago, is more of what made the band’s last full-length, 2008′s Downburst, so damn good – in fact, this album is perhaps even more diversified in its sound and scope. Right out of the gate, the chunky riffing of “Forsake What I Believe” is complimented by vocalist Andy B. Franck’s powerful, wide-ranging vocal delivery that tends to stay in lower registers than most contemporary European power metal. “Shiver” and “Cross The Line,” well, cross the line into speed metal territory, showcasing the blitzkrieg diversity that makes Brainstorm such a consistently great band: catchy riffs, catchier choruses, memorable lead work that steers clear of wankery, the ability to write slow, fast, and mid-paced songs… and everything in between. In fact, “The Final Stages Of Decay” is classic, anthmetic Brainstorm-esque power metal; it darts between tempos and structure enough in six minutes to almost call it proggy.

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