Google’s search algorithm is a funny thing. For example, I just switched web browsers (to Google Chrome… which smokes Firefox in speed if you’re wondering), and though I imported all of my settings not everything made the cut. When I went to type “numberoftheblog” into the address bar the auto-fill wasn’t working, so I just hit return and ended up with a google search for “Number of the Blog metal.” And the number three result was MetalSucks. We be linkin’ to Number of the Blog and they be linkin’ to us, so for some reason Google decides to include us in a search result for their site. The Internets!

Anyhoo, remember when “deseee” (don’t ask me how to pronounce that) of TNOTB interviewed me? (Part 1 and Part 2) Somehow he managed to convince Axl to lay off the bong long enough to put together some pretty coherent and funny answers to deseee’s equally serious and ridiculous questions. ‘Cause my buddy Axl’s a “moderately successful metal blogger” (his own words). Sample:

Why SOOOOOOOO much advertising on the site?

What happened was, we hired Gene Simmons to sell ads for us, and we told him we’d give him a cut of any banners he sold. Suddenly, ads fucking everywhere. Damndest thing.

Read the whole interview at The Number of the Blog. It’s scintillating!

-VN

Ludicra’s The Tenant is a damn fine black metal record; Invisible Oranges‘ Alee Karim calls it his favorite of 2010 so far. While Karim cites the album’s lyrics as a strength and likens them to his own experiences of living in San Francisco (where Ludicra also call home), I’m just gonna have to take his word for it as I rarely if ever listen to metal lyrics. But what I like about Karim as a writer is that his reviews are always balanced, and he devotes just as much time to describing the music as he does the lyrical themes. I hate when reviews only focus on lyrics, or worse, try to connect the album to some grand over-arching theme that does nothing but attempt to justify the writer’s ginormous student debt incurred by that useless college English degree. Just tell me what the music sounds like and I’ll fill in the rest of the blanks… ya know? The latter is perfectly acceptable as long as the music gets some page time, too. But every time I read an article by Sasha Frere-Jones I feel like I’m reading something by that grumpy graduate student instructor you had in college who’s always got a huge chip on his shoulder because his degree only amounted to teaching a bunch of college stoners. We get it, dude, you’re smart.

But this post is about my crush on Ludicra’s new album, not on Karim’s writing style. Here’s what he says about the music on The Tenant:

The lush production soars without sheen. Guitars sound like guitars, not digital chunks, twisting around each other in mournful wails, triumphant resolutions, and dreamy chords. Ludicra balance the beautiful and the ugly like few can. This is partly thanks to the vocals, which sound equally convincing as black metal wraiths and angelic choir. Blackened storms of guitars give way to melancholy acoustic interludes propped up by tribal drums. Savage post-punk segues effortlessly into atmospheric arpeggios. Black metal, shoegaze, classic rock, and blackened folk all rear their heads, but Ludicra never fall prey to the indulgences of genre-hopping.

Interested? Invisible Oranges has an mp3 of “Truth Won’t Set You Free” posted at Invisible Oranges. Listen if you know what’s good for you, and check out Ludicra on their current tour (with Krallice on select dates).

-VN

The June 2010 issue of Decibel notes that the we’ve failed to get “Sumeriancore” an entry on Wikipedia, which, sadly, is true. But thanks to MetalSucks Maniac 6infinite6hatred6, the word now has an entry on Urban Dictionary. If memory serves correctly, UD rejected our previous attempts to get the word up there, so massive, massive, MASSIVE props to 6infinite6hatred6 for finally making the dream a reality. We think we’re getting a little choked up just typing about it.

Click on the screen cap below to make the image larger, or just go here if you think we Photoshopped this.

Holy stony synchronicity!!!!!!!!

Have you guys heard about this crazy volcanic ash situation in Europe that´s grounding planes left and right?!?!?

Well guess whose flight got cancelled from AmstermotherfuckingDAM to NYC yesterday and is stuck spending the week smoking the world´s best hash and weed???

This is not going to be easy — I really appreciate your sympathy.

-KW

A few months ago, we posted a series of select riffs and lines from the song Dura Mater on leviwerstler.com.  We had a lot of positive feedback about the parts and transcriptions, so we wanted to put together a post for all the guitar enthusiasts.  Here are all three “Dura Mater” video updates, along with transcriptions available in PDF and Guitar Pro formats.

(Editor’s note: click here to download the PDF and Guitar Pro files.)

“Dura Mater” Intro

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I’ve always hated top-whatever lists. Best guitarist, best band, best blowjob, best double anal with a horse, whatever. I think that those lists are pretty much all slanted by politics, or bought and paid for. I first got that idea in my head when Titanic won as many Oscars as it did. There were so many movies that year that were far more deserving of the title that my faith in the award system died.

Jump forward about ten years. I just got back in town from the Revolver Golden God Awards. I’ll just say that I’m stoked they exist. Metal needs that in the U.S. I have no issue with their nominees and obviously you can’t pick everyone so this is definitely not directed at them. Again, THIS IS NOT DIRECTED AT REVOLVER MAGAZINE, but the concept of picking “best shredder” or “shredder of the year “is just one of those things you can’t accurately do with the amount of talent that’s out there. You want to nominate Zack Wylde or Dave Mustaine? Okay. That’s cool. Those guys have earned it. But when you leave the circle of greats and legends, how exactly do you pick a BEST shredder? I mean am I alone in thinking that when so many amazing guitarists are overlooked that the award itself loses its meaning? What guitarists am I talking about? Okay… I’ll name a few. In my opinion these guys should be winning all the awards. If I left someone out, it’s because either I haven’t heard of them, I’ve heard them and I don’t think they’re among the very best, I forgot to mention them, or I’ve heard them and I know for a fact that what you think is shredding is just studio trickery.

So here it is. My personal list of whom I think should be winning all the metal guitar awards. Am I biased? Maybe. But I’d like to also think that considering what I do for a living that I’m a good judge of competency in the field. This is in no particular order. These guys all rule for different reasons. (DISCLAIMER: Sorry that there aren’t videos for every dude I mention, but sometimes finding quality footage is tough.)

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And that’s it! Good luck…

-Eyal and Emil

It’s no secret that the music industry is in shambles. What was once an industry that could stand neck and neck with Hollywood is now just a series of competing guerilla operations. Some richer than others. This is not news. This is talked about every day. All I hear about is how the sky is falling and there’s no hope.

Well… I beg to differ. I think there’s nothing but hope. You see, I attended an Opeth concert in L.A. two weeks ago. as well as one held by Muse in Atlanta about a month and a half ago. Both shows were completely sold out. The audiences were in awe of the performances. Both bands sounded incredible. Both bands had great staging. I’m sure both bands cleaned house in merch. The sorry state of the music industry didn’t seem to be affecting them too harshly.

I once read someone in Dream Theater saying something to the effect of, “We’re in a bubble that somehow protects us from what’s going on with the rest of the industry.” Why is it that some bands can clean house in any economic climate, while so many other bands that just two years ago were living the life, are now downsizing back to vans, getting real jobs, etc.? People point to the the sheer amount of tours leading to poor ticket sales. Other people say it’s just that people don’t have money due to the bad eonomy. Well, somehow they seem to have money when Opeth, or Dream Theater, or Muse, or Slipknot, or any other mega-band comes around. Kinda like your pothead friend that’s always broke, but can always find money for weed.

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Musicians are strange creatures. Their work hours and habits are almost always odd, hygiene is often suspect, and sanity questionable.

If I had to point out one thing that ties all musicians together, it would be inspiration, often drawn from a simple but strong love for music. Inspiration comes from all varieties of thoughts and experiences though, and most will agree that it is a mystical and almost spiritual matter that is difficult to qualify. For me, personally, my inspiration is the most important thing I have in life because it guides all of my goals and efforts to blast through them. Although it may be oriented around music for whatever reason, the specifics of what I am inspired to do are not crystal clear. It is not instrument, genre, or socially based. It is just to create.

I have always been in awe of musicians that are able to look past the world’s conceptions of genre. For some bands, it is absolutely correct for them to do their thing 100% their way and use their tested process over and over, record after record. I don’t mean being stale, either… Development and growth between records is an assumed necessity for me to take a band seriously. Examples of bands that know their sound or process well and tend to stick to it (with great results) would include bands like Meshuggah, Megadeth, Behemoth, Muse, Deftones, and even more progressive bands like The Mars Volta, Opeth, and Dream Theater. But the musicians that REALLY get me thinking these days are ones who understand how to take a complete 180 degree turn: drop the world’s, or maybe just critics’, perception on its head, and use new influences from a completely different angle. It is almost as if they side-step into a bizarro dimension and are running two or more separate careers. Musicians that can accomplish this demonstrate a certain type of understanding and mental clarity that is all too rare. Here are some of my favorite examples:

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-EL

Since this is MetalSucks and I think quite a bit of newer metal DOES suck, I’d like to take the opportunity to talk about every metal musician’s worst nightmare:  modesty and people that can make a statement with or without the assistance of technology.  In most cases if you get past the mean face, band shirt, and disdain for a suntan you are left with music and it’s delivery:

I’m not ashamed to say it.  These days I’ll give a sloppier musician with something to say the benefit of the doubt over someone that is basically living a lie, trying to reproduce live what protools produced for them in the studio.  I think there are two ways to go about it – put on a hell of a show to make people believers, or reproduce the album and all of it’s elements note for note.  I was talking about J.Lo actually…

I think talent is really making a comeback.  Gotta love bands that reunite and forget to practice.  I heard fantastic things about the At The Gates reunion shows, though.  I also heard horrible things about the Rage Against The Machine reunion shows.  This is the best comeback ever:

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First of all, thanks to MetalSucks and Eyal for organizing this little takeover, and for allowing me to share my thoughts and opinions with you. Its been a pleasure reading the blogs on this site, and I love seeing the feedback from the community in general. It’s very cool to be able to be a part of this.

When I was thinking about topics I wanted discuss with you all, I knew immediately I wanted to talk about recording in metal music. Specifically new versus old recording techniques, and how modern recording and production has changed the face of music, and especially metal as we know it. How important is the production of a record to you? We have tons of great sounding albums being released these days… I myself feel like sometimes great production or mixing has overshadowed songwriting. Kind of like great special effects can really propel a movie with a shitty script. There is technology available to us that really allows an artist to achieve things that otherwise would have never been possible if we still cut records on tape. Flat out, bands are making records they cannot duplicate in an acceptable way live, by their own abilities. While I think that the technology is an awesome tool, I must say that in my opinion, creating a perfect record can sometimes be a detriment in the long run.

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When one travels around the world, one notices to what an extraordinary degree human nature is the same, whether in India or America, in Europe or Australia. This is especially true in colleges and universities. We are turning out, as if through a mould, a type of human being whose chief interest is to find security, to become somebody important, or to have a good time with as little thought as possible.

Conventional education makes independent thinking extremely difficult. Conformity leads to mediocrity. To be different from the group or to resist environment is not easy and is often risky as long as we worship success. The urge to be successful, which is the pursuit of reward whether in the material or in the so-called spiritual sphere, the search for inward or outward security, the desire for comfort – this whole process smothers discontent, puts an end to spontaneity and breeds fear; and fear blocks the intelligent un- derstanding of life. With increasing age, dullness of mind and heart sets in.

In seeking comfort, we generally find a quiet corner in life where there is a minimum of conflict, and then we are afraid to step out of that seclusion. This fear of life, this fear of struggle and of new experience, kills in us the spirit of adventure; our whole upbringing and education have made us afraid to be different from our neighbour, afraid to think contrary to the established pattern of society, falsely respectful of authority and tradition.

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This MetalSucks takeover is in honor of today’s release of Avalanche Of Worms. Not to take the attention off of that, we just wanted to give you a quick rundown of what’s going on with our main band, DAATH.

We’re hard at work on our fourth album. It’s about halfway written. We’re set to start recording June 1st with an estimated October release. This one is going to have a much darker ambience to it than the last one. That’s as far as we’ll go talking about its sound. We’ve also got some European Summer festivals as well as some off dates lined up with Slayer and The Haunted.

-EL & EW

Don’t we all just love our cute cuddly animal friends? Funny how just because they’re cute, we trust them.

This video is an oldie but goodie. Great soundtrack too. Moral of the story… animals are bastards. I love my dog, but I know full well that hairy fucker could turn on me in an instant. Emil and I were talking about this tonight: somehow we tricked these savage beasts into putting up with our bullshit. I’m cool with animals, but I never let my guard down around one. Even mine. Like I found out tonight… The worst part about enduring a dog bite isn’t the puncture wound, it’s your bones being crushed. Sucky.

-EL

I often get asked by fans, students and interviewers, “Do you have any advice for an up and coming musician who’s starting out?”  In lieu of my normal response of “Well, you need to practice, practice, practice and of course be prepared to sacrifice a normal social life because you’ll always have to put your music first if you really and truly want or expect to succeed!”, I’m going to examine and explore one of the most overlooked and yet vitally important aspects of being a professional musician – the business side of things. After all, it is called the “music business” right?

I mean, don’t get me wrong – there is something almost transcendental to performing live, and there is almost nothing I would rather do. The same thing with writing and creating: we slave over the process for hours and hours to achieve the best possible result because we love the process and have something completely unique and personal to share. But, we must allocate a certain number of hours to our business needs. I mean let’s not kid ourselves here – we do need to make money in order to keep making our music. We need to buy new drumheads and drumsticks.  We have to replace that cracked crash cymbal that broke last rehearsal. We need to pay for rehearsal studio rent and gas to get there. The list goes on and on, and if you’re in a band… forget it!!! You’ll need to finance PA gear, staging gear, lighting rigs, monitor rigs… it never really ends. So how do we fund our ever-hungry music habit?  Better yet, how do we get our MUSIC to fund our music habit? (The musical equivalent of nuclear fission.) Well, the best way to maximize your income and opportunities is to get educated in how the music business works.

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The only way he can get away with this is because he’s such a pimp…

-Levi/Werstler

I’m sick and tired of hearing that classical music and metal music are pretty much the same thing in different time periods. No, they’re not. Okay? They’re not. There are some similarities, yes, but to say that they’re the same thing is about as accurate as saying that a tank is the same thing as a Ferrari. Sure, they’re both mechanized vehicles that can get you from point A to point B. Sure, they’re both powerful pinnacles of engineering and human ingenuity. But same thing? No.

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