I understand in this day and age of the interwebs, finding set lists is pretty much the easiest thing in the world; what I don’t understand is why anyone would want to know the set list in advance. Whatever happened to good old fashioned surprise?

That being said, when Dave Mustaine announced the set list for Megadeth’s upcoming Rust in Peace twentieth anniversary tour… well, I looked. So I guess I’m a hypocrite.

The list is after the jump, if you’re not smarter than I am.

Click to read more…

Yes, today is some shitty holiday designed to make you buy Hallmark cards and remind couples that have been together for too long that they should get around to fucking again. (“Has it been a year already? Okay, I’ll go get the cialis.”) It’s also Vince’s birthday! And even though he’s in Egypt (!) and won’t even see this post until late next week (any posts you read from him this week were written in advance of his departure), it seems only appropriate to pay homage to my oldest and bestest friend on this, his day of birth. So here’s a song that’s appropriate for Valentine’s Day and that I know Vince would approve…

-AR

Maybe your betrothed decided to leave you behind this Valentine’s Day and run off to Europe or Egypt or wherever on their own adventure sans YOU ……..maybe you’re lying next to yr esweetie right now locked in loving embrace/fellatio……..maybe you have no significant other and you’re sitting by yourself concocting a heartattack pizza on the Domino’s website……… Whatever the case may be in this crazy mixed-up world of ours, rest assured your naughty Uncle Kip has selected a few tunes to get the blood flowing in the right direction:

BLACK MOUNTAIN — “Don’t Run Our Hearts Around” from Black Mountain (2005)………a stonery reminder to take care of those vulnerable hearts you love to toy with

MY BLOODY VALENTINE — “Only Shallow” from Loveless (1991)…………seminal shoegazers encourage only the shallowest of romantic encounters

LAMB OF GOD — “Beating on Death’s Door” from Sacrament (2006)…………….the proof is in the banana pudding lyrics (“Be careful what you wish for….you whore….She’s all yours now, so deal with it”) — Randy done had his girlfriend stoled? I have always been struck by the unexpected raw emotion in this song and continue hoping that LoG will someday once again open up like this.

Have a METAL St. Valentine’s Day, wherever you are…

-KW

Well I had a heckuva afternoon, what with a horde of Veil of Maya fans all e-mailing me at once to express their upset that VOM’s new song wasn’t up at the time we said it would be. But it’s up now, and we think that the track, “Namaste” – not “Dexter,” as our stupid audio player says – is terrific. You can listen here and join in on the fun.

Here are some other fun things that happened this week:

• We did a Jew on Jew interview with Orphaned Land’s Kobi Farhi and released the audio of Vince’s confusing interview with Andrew W.K.
• One of As I Lay Dying guitarist Nick Hipa’s theories about L O S T was correct!!!
• Bob Cock thinks Armour are AWESOME.
• Dave Ellefson has returned to Megadeth!
• The Ultimate Warrior rules, and The Red Chord agrees.
• Anthrax’s Worship Music finally a release date: the fifth of never.
• If you have a child, don’t do this.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

-AR

“They sold out.” Three words that have been said about so many bands. But what does the phrase actually mean?

I know what I think it means. I think that selling out means changing your artistic direction drastically and unnaturally in an attempt to make more money.

Notice I said “unnaturally.” I said that because artists and bands change directions all the time. I know that some fans take this very personally. They can feel very strongly, and usually in a negative way, when their favorite band changes their sound or direction. A true artist follows their inner muse and nobody can predict where that shit will take them.

Click to read more…

Gus Van Sant’s shot-for-shot remake of Psycho was a massive failure of an experiment, a ridiculous exercise that could never, ever replace Alfred Hitchcock’s original. On the other hand, Shadows Fall’s new video for “Bark at the Moon,” which was directed by David Brodsky and is basically a shot-for-shot recreation of Ozzy Osbourne’s original video, is AWESOME, because clearly, no one was taking this shit seriously. That’s not to say that the band’s love of Ozzy or 80s metal is ironic – if you know their music, you know that Shadows Fall’s love of 80s metal is 100% unironic – but, y’know, they clearly had a lot of fun with this one. It’s kind of like what Killswitch Engage did with their “Holy Diver” video, but taken to a whole other level.

Plus, a dreadlocked werewolf? Classic.

Who wants to place bets that this is already a million times better than the new Wolfman movie that opens today?

And in case for some reason you’ve never seen it, Ozzy’s original video is after the jump.

Click to read more…

In December I used the logo of the band Disfiguring the Goddess for Completely Unreadable Band Logo of the Week. What I didn’t know at the time was that DTG and its mastermind, Big Chocolate (né Cameron Argon), already had a cult following. So I checked out Disfiguring the Goddess and while the music was maybe a litttttttttllllle too slam-y for my tastes (No wonder Sergeant D. is a fan!), there was no doubt that Mr. Chocolate is a talented vocalist.

Well, hey, guess what? The story has taken another twist now, as the band Burning the Masses has announced that Big Chocolate is their new front dude, and will be on their album Offspring of Time when it comes out on Mediaskare, probably sometime in the early summer.

And I’m digging what I’m hearing on BTM’s MySpace page. It’s definitely deathcore, but there’s enough tech-y goodness and songwriting prowess to put the band under the “All Shall Perish” column and not the “Oceano” column. I’ll be really curious to hear what they and Large Cocoa come up with.

Here’s some video of Big Chocolate in the studio with Burning the Masses:

In other Big Chocolate news, the man would be known in France as Grand Chocolat is holding a competition in which fans can lay their vocals down over a new Disfiguring the Goddess track, and then members of Annotations of an Autopsy and I Declare War will judge the winners. Get more details here.

-AR

Well, this blows goats.

From In Flames’ MySpace page:

“I have decided it is best for me to leave In Flames and to quit the band permanently.

The last 17 years have been a blast, and I am proud to have been part of this great journey, with the most talented and amazing people anyone can wish to have the privilege to work with.

I’m also the luckiest guy in the world, to have the BEST fans in the world, who have been supporting me during my difficult times. It means the world to me, and I’m determined to fight and defeat my demons once and for all…. and by the help from you guys, I’m on my way.

I’m far from done with music, metal, or whatever my direction is taking me, so be sure to hear from me in the future.

.… May the Force be with you!” – Jesper Strömblad

A statement from the rest of the band after the jump.

Click to read more…

SORRY FOR THE DELAY! I won’t bore you with the details. But here it is, the one you’ve been waiting for: the world premiere of Veil of Maya‘s brand new track, “Namaste,” from their forthcoming album [id], out April 6 on Sumerian. This is an unmastered version of the song, and it STILL rules: brutal, technical, displaying top-notch musicianship but not at the sacrifice of great songwriting. This is Sumeriancore at its finest!

Enjoy!!!

[this promotion has ended]

Here’s the poster for this summer’s Sweden Rock Festival. You tell me what’s wrong with this picture:

Are people really like “Man, I can’t wait to see Slayer and Mastodon and Suicidal Tendencies… and Rick Springfield!”? Do we think there are a lot of Swedish Behemoth  and Watain fans who are also totally stoked to check out BTO? I guess I can see some of the over-forty set being just as excited to sing along with “Jesse’s Girl” as they are “Round and Round,” but if you’re the kind of person afflicted with that particular virus of 80s nostalgia, I don’t know what the hell you do while Danzig are on-stage. Grab a beer and wait for W.A.S.P., I guess?

Your thoughts?

-AR

Reader Ben Feiner tipped us off to the existence of Germany’s Zed, who should now have their spot reserved for a future installment of “Saturday Song to Get Stoned To.” This band rocks, dude. Instrumental stretches of psychedelia give way to chunky riffage; the singer howls like a madman screaming into the storm; the drums have a surprising amount of bounce n’ swing to them. Think Mastodon, Kylesa, etc., and you’ll have some sense of how this band sounds.

The best part: they have a member whose entire job is just to make visuals. They’re not quite Tool quality, but they’re still pretty decent:

Now there’s a band that understands its fanbase.

Check out Zed here.

-AR

I don’t know what we did to deserve this, but New York noise rock legends Unsane have given us the best Valentine’s Day gift of all: an intimate one-off concert at Union Pool in Brooklyn tonight. The band’s first local show in two years, the bill also features the incredible Made Out Of Babies, savage hardcore supergroup United Nations (dropping a new 7″ on Deathwish this year), and some other band called Dark Vibe that doesn’t have any music on their Facebook page (tsk tsk). The super-low-budget video above is for “Against The Grain,” one of the many brutal tracks off 2007′s devastatingly violent Visqueen, and after over two decades of being together it’s clear that Unsane haven’t lost their edge.

If for some reason you didn’t buy advance tickets, I strongly recommend getting your pimply ass there at 8pm in the hopes that you can gain entry at the door. This venue is fucking tiny (it used to be a pool supply store) and the building will likely collapse by the end of the night thanks to the crushing nature of the lineup.

-GS

[Gary Suarez usually manages the consistently off-topic No Yoko No. He recently quit Twitter.]

One of New Year’s resolutions, next to start exercising (actually doing that one) and get Sacha the Death Metal Puppy a trainer so he stops terrorizing the Mansion (don’t seem to be actually doing that one), was not to write about the new Godsuck album. For all of you who seem to enjoy making fun of Limp Bizkit and Korn as much as we do, there’s all a contingent of you who want us to spend more time writing about good bands and less time smack talkin’ the bad, so I thought I’d give that a shot; also, I don’t mind making sacrifices for you, our loyal readers, but I really can’t see myself laying on my death bed thinking “Man, I wish I’d heard the new Godsuck song in 2010 at least once.”

But now there’s this rumor that Godsuck’s new single, “Cryin’ Like a Bitch,” is actually about Nikki Sixx. So of course, I had to investigate.

Click to read more…

Remember that video last year of Machine Head’s Robb Flynn hanging out in the crowd during a Metallica show, screaming along to “Master of Puppets” with some just regular, average, every day Joe Metallica Fans? And how that made it seem like Flynn was just way too cool for someone so successful?

Well, this tops that by a mile.

According to Machine Head fan site Take My Scars (via Blabbermouth), the band let a fan get on stage and play “Aesthetics of Hate” with them at a show earlier this week (video above)… just because he asked to do so:

Click to read more…

At the very end of his recent vitriolic, expletive-laced rant on a Guns N’ Roses message board, Axl Rose added the words “For the rest of you… Surprise gigs comin’!!” almost unnecessarily. However, it seems he wasn’t just blowing smoke. As it turns out, in the wee hours last night, the band played an extremely intimate surprise concert at John Varvatos’ clothing store on the Bowery in New York City.

You see, Fashion Week just kicked off here in the Big Apple, and it seems Axl, eager to follow in the footsteps of Velvet Revolver, aligned with the man who turned a punk rock landmark into a high-end boutique. The good folks at BrooklynVegan report that attendees waited for hours for Guns N’ Roses to perform (shocker!). Yet we have to give credit to Axl for putting on a full 90-minute show instead of a truncated mini-set for an audience that included Sebastian Bach and Kevin Bacon. Though I have mixed feelings about the whole Varvatos/CBGB’s thing (as someone who spent quite a bit of time in that venue in his teens), I’m pretty fucking bummed that I wasn’t there for this.

Below you’ll find some (very) amateur video footage of the performance, as well as the full setlist.

Click to read more…

Earlier this week Howard Jones had to drop off of Killswitch Engage’s current headlining tour, apparently due to illness. All That Remains’ Phil LaBonte has been filling in for Jones – The PRP has been referring to this incarnation of the band as “Philswitch Engage” (cute) – but now MS Suckalo has done some investigative reporting and it seems that original KSE front man Jesse Leach may be returning to the band for their NYC shows next month. Have a look at this recent Facebook exchange (Yes, Facebook. I know, we’re not exactly Woodward and Bernstein.):

Click to read more…

“Shattering the Skies Above,” the new Trivium song the band recorded for the video game God of War III, has found its way onto YouTube, which in this day and age was inevitable, I guess. The song is notable because it marks the recording debut of Trivium’s new drummer, Nick Augusto, late of the grindcore band Maruta. (And if you’re not familiar with Maruta, Cosmo Lee has a good piece on them, mouring their loss of Augusto, at Invisible Oranges.) To be honest, I don’t hear a huge difference in the quality of the drumming here, but then, recorded performances were never really previous drummer Travis Smith’s problem – live shows were. It’s also not clear how involved Augusto was in the creation of this song, given that he’s only been in the band for a short while; I imagine his contributions will be much more noticeable on the next Trivium album.

Check out the song and see what you think:

Click to read more…

As has already been pointed out on any number of other websites, tomorrow, February 13, marks the 40th anniversary of the release Black Sabbath’s debut album. Since Sabbath are pretty much the originators of metal, this would kinda-sorta make tomorrow metal’s 40th birthday. Is metal sad that it’s not in its thirties anymore? Is there a mid-life crisis on the horizon? Will metal soon be seen driving around in a ridiculous sports car? Or do we need to wait another ten years for that? I guess we’ll find out soon enough. In the meantime, please join me in wish the music we love a very happy birthday.

They say mediocrity shouldn’t be rewarded but I really don’t have any choice judging by the quality of the entries for last week’s funny photo caption contest. Nevertheless, the following lucky four will receive the promised White Wizzard back patch and poster:

• Skoal: “At every age Mustaine just has to be the attention whore.”
• Primateforever: “Maybe next time you’ll follow Angelina’s lead and adopt a foreign kid.”
• Alex W.: “The second thing Axl Rose has produced that hasn’t lived up to expectations.”
• ryan d.: “the annual Hetfield family portrait.”

Congrats all for a job sort-of-ok-ly done. This week we’re giving away one MetalSucks t-shirt to whoever can come up with the funniest caption to the below photo sent in by Suckalo Mario Trujillo. You’ll get to choose which of the four sweet t-shirt designs you want and of course you’ll get to choose your size. Remember to use a real email address instead of Facebook Connect to comment (or just type your email address into the comment itself so we can contact you if you win).

In case there was any doubt that Juggalos make bad parents, along comes this piece of work to… well, just watch.

Can I call child services? I guess putting your kid in make-up isn’t illegal, but come ON, this baby is clearly fucked if we don’t get her into the hands of someone, anyone else ASAP.

Thanks to Metalgf for passing this along even though her Vincey-poo is out of town…

-AR

[via New York Magazine]