One of the interviews I’d managed to line up for this year’s New England Metal And Hardcore Festival was with Disembodied. But as the second day went on, it started to seem like I might not get that chance. Stuck in interminable traffic, the reunited metallic hardcore band was in danger of missing their set. Their publicist texted me updates from the road, and they literally arrived barely a few minutes before their scheduled headlining slot on the upstairs stage. I’d never seen Disembodied live before, so my basis for comparison didn’t exist, but I suspect the Minneapolis pioneers must’ve channeled their road rage into their churning, fiery, savage show. Afterwards, I let the group load out before walking over with bassist Tara Johnson to a quiet spot in the Worcester Palladium parking lot to chat.

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Last week we first learned about Kvellertak, an awesome band from Norway; now they have a video for their song “Mjød” (I’m told it’s pronounced “mjød”). I’m quickly falling in love with this band; I wanna hear their entire album now. This video isn’t stunningly original or anything, but it’s well made enough, and the song rules. So far this band is two for two as far as I’m concerned.

Kvellertak’s self-titled debut comes out in Europe June 21 on Indie Recordings. I can’t wait.

-AR

We’re just a couple of weeks away from Maryland Deathfest 2010, which will take place from May 28-30 in (duh) Baltimore, Maryland. This year’s edition of the annual fest promises to be the best one yet, with a line-up that includes Gorguts, Autopsy, Obituary, Entombed, Sodom, Repulsion, D.R.I., and a ton of other kick-ass bands. In anticipation of the event, we thought it would be fun to get some recollections of past MDFs from artists who were there. So we’re teaming up with Relapse Records to do just that! Read the raucous inaugural entry by Matt from Rumpelstiltskin Grinder, memories of a jam-packed day from Tomas Lindberg of Disfear (and At the Gates) and the latest entry from Pete Benumb of Agenda of Swine, below. We’ve got two more entries left before the fest starts.

2009 was my first MDF. It goes without saying that it was awesome. Got to play the same fest as Misery Index, Immolation, The Red Chord, Despise You, Abscess, Kill the Client, Catheter and Plf. Got to catch up and actually hang with old and dear friends!

We had just finished playing and went back to the hotel room to dump our gear. I am really not much of a drinker, but I was enjoying a beer with Jason and John. Glancing at the time, I only had a few minutes to catch Kill The Client’s set. So I slammed a second beer and walked out into the heat, but the mix of heat and alcohol helped my buzz a bit too well.

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One of the awesome things about narrowly cheating death is that you get to exploit your plight for publicity and money. (I think your estate probably makes even more money when you die, but that’s no good to you unless you’re the kind of person who cares more about your family than your own personal desires, in which case you’re probably not very famous.) Case in point: Bret Michaels, recent survivor of a subarachnoid brain hemorrhage. He’s apparently getting another VH1 reality show, this one about life at home when he’s not on the road – so, in other words, a show that’s gonna be boring, and will most likely make you hate the Michaels clan as much as you hate the Osbournes. (Except Bret is single, so it should have a kind warm, kinda-fuzzy Full House feeling – y’know, the outrageous exploits of a single dad and all that.) He’s also one of two finalists on Celebrity Apprentice; he attained that status prior to his time in the hospital, but I’d wager he’s gonna win it now for sure.

Plus, he’s on Oprah! ‘Cause she’s not proof that there’s no God or anything like that. And that bitch clearly reads MetalSucks and is stealing material from us, ’cause in this video she cracks wise about him wearing his bandana in the hospital, and no one could have possibly noticed that picture and thought it was weird besides me. I am a beautiful and unique snowflake.

Do you think she’ll make his upcoming autobiography part of her book club? It’s sure to be as true-to-history as A Million Little Pieces and is gonna outsell The Bible anyway, so might as well get a piece of that action. Stedman needs a new pair of shoes, baby!

-AR

[via Talksalot]

I remember a time – seems like it wasn’t all that long ago, really – when Vince and I were pretty much convinced that they just put special drugs in the water in Sweden to help the human brain devise awesome metal. That country could do no wrong. We often spoke of taking a pilgrimage to Gothenburg, where we assumed that every garage would be full of kids in the earliest stages of becoming the next At the Gates, the next Dark Tranquillity, the next In Flames.

It’s good to be young and naive, but everyone eventually has to face the fact that the romantic ideals we so cling to as children must fall away as we enter adulthood. When I was a child I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but then I grew the fuck up. Or however that quote goes.

And if you don’t agree with my stance on Sweden, then you haven’t seen the new Sonic Syndicate video.

Holy crap. Everything about that video is terrible. I don’t even care that the girl is cute, ’cause her taste in music is so awful I can’t imagine what our pillow-talk would be about. (“You like the color black? I like the color black, too.”) Even just sticking mics in the singers’ hands would have been a step in the right direction, ’cause then their arms wouldn’t have been free to do those big New Kids on the Block movements. Another thing that would have been a step in the right direction: making a video with a different band for a different song.

And in case Sonic Syndicate alone don’t make you wish Sweden had some brown people so we could declare war on them right now, there’s Audiovision:

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Oh man this is so great I don’t even know where to start!!

MS Maniac and self-appointed Minister of Hair Steve Stamopoulos emailed us over the weekend with some amazing news; after a search that lasted months (years?) he’d finally found live footage of Nitro on YouTube, the veritable video holy grail of ’80s hair metal excess. Jon Becker’s Jim Gillette tribute scream and the third Vinnie Vincent Invasion album excepted, I can’t think of anything else this exciting ever to come through our inboxes; the MS Mansion Monkeys are going completely apeshit (will they shut up already???) for chrissakes.

The background vocals are hilariously and obviously tracked (no mics???), but that’s pure, unadulterated Jim Glilette up front… and yeah, dude backs up that glass-shattering shtick, wouldn’t ya say? Sadly Michael Angelo isn’t rockin’ his double-neck (or, gasp! — quad-neck) in this one, but we’re sure it’s backstage somewhere. No matter, as he makes up for it with some ridiculously over-the-top shred and his so-stupid-it’s-awesome “over under” technique which is about as useful as a breakdown in a Bury Your Dead song. And possibly most hysterically of all… no one is there to see them.

One more vid of awesomeness/hilarity after the jump…

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The long-awaited new single “Nightmare” from Avenged Sevenfold has hit the webernets, and, no surprise: it’s sweet!

“Wait, what’s that?” I hear you e-ruminating. “Vince and Axl like Avenged Sevenfold?”

‘Tis true; astoundingly, it’s permissible to like Avenged Sevenfold, Dew Scented and Keep of Kalessin all at the same time. Shocking! Longtime readers of this site surely remember the run-up we gave Avenged Sevenfold prior to the release of their last album, a Use Your Illusion 2-esque masterpiece. Simply put, they’re pop metal geniuses of our time! Sure, they may look and dress like a bunch of clowns, but anyone who has wicked musical an songwriting chops like these guys do is allowed to dress however the fuck they want. Shit, they could don actual clown makeup and go all ICP and they’d still be the shit as long as they kept cranking out killer tunes.

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Every time you feel the need to bitch about tours like Ozzfest, The Cool Tour, or any other summer package-fest-thinger, just close your eyes, take a deep breath, and tell yourself: suffering is relative. Yes, those tours might not have the strongest line-ups imaginable, but they do have good bands on them, and things could be way, way worse.

For example: The “Scream Like You Mean It” tour, which will feature Silverstein, I Set My Friends on Fire, Dance Gavin Dance, and a bunch of other bands I don’t actually know but I think I can safely assume are pretty awful. (If a band called “Ivoryline” actually turns out to be any good, then I will fuck my sister. Wait, I don’t have a sister. Okay, I’ll fuck your sister, then. Your sister.) The Sayreville, NJ stop of the tour will even throw in The Devil Wears Prada, Miss May I, and Your Demise, just to make extra-sure that you never ever wanna go to this fucking tour, ever.

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1. Endure a political lecture from Blackie Lawless.
2. Take an I.Q. exam designed by Korn fans.
3. Pose for a Paul Stanley-painted portrait of my taint for his next exhibit.
4. Try to teach my dog to play The Binary Code’s “Suspension of Disbelief” on the ukulele.
5. Watch Lita Ford and Jim Gillette fuck, then Tweet about it.
6. Help produce British Steel Drums: The World’s Most Irritating Tribute to Judas Priest.
7. Let Marilyn Manson spit in my mouth.
8. Let the dude from Weedeater clean his gun while it’s aimed directly at my face.
9. Tie Billy Milano to my penis and toss him over the side of a roof.
10. Pretend to be a solicitor, call the Dio residence, and ask if Ronnie is available.

So stop e-mailing us about it.

-AR

There’s so much streamin’ going on right now you’d think a bunch of dudes were peeing on you. So without any further bullshit, here are three complete albums you can listen to right now if you wanna get your metal on:

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May 8, 2010 – Ridglea Theater – Fort Worth, Texas

The fact that former Pantera frontman Philip H. Anselmo staged his first return to the Dallas/Fort Worth area since the early ’90s to support his latest Housecore signing Warbeast, speaks volumes about the band.

The Old Fart-approved Warbeast is comprised of three former Texas late, great ‘80s thrashers: singer Bruce Corbitt of Rigor Mortis and lead guitarists Scott Shelby and Rick Perry of Arlington-based Gammacide; joined by 2006 Gammacide reunion bassist Alan Bovee, and 19-year-old drumming wizard Joe “Blue” Gonzalez of Demonseed.

Anselmo signed the Dallas-based Warbeast to his own Housecore Records imprint and also produced the band’s debut album, Krush the Enemy, at his home studio in Louisiana. The occasion for Anselmo’s return to his former stomping grounds was the official CD release party for Warbeast.

It was an event for the metal ages.

*(Author’s note: I am currently working with Philip H. Anselmo on his autobiography. Beyond that, I have been a Rigor Mortis and Gammacide fan since the late ‘80s, long before I ever knew Anselmo, when I played both bands repeatedly on my University of Texas college radio metal program, and also booked Rigor Mortis at shows in the Ritz and the Backroom in Austin. So, considered this a completely biased article.)

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If there’s one thing our friend Carlos Ramirez loves to do, it’s compile a list which is almost guaranteed to tick people off; I mean, we love to make silly lists, too, but for reals, Carlos does one every fifteen minutes or so. He once showed me a list of the best lists of the best lists; that’s how much the man loves those things. He actually argues with his wife about who gets to do the grocery list. Now that’s passion, people.

Because we all suffered a horrible loss yesterday*, Carlos has now compiled a list of the “Top 10 Dio Songs” for Noisecreep. These are really just Dio songs – none of his work with Elf, Rainbow, Sabbath, or Other Sabbath (sorry, “Heaven and Hell”) to be had here – which should lessen the flame wars somewhat. Still, some of you will find plenty to get butt-hurt about, I’m sure.

Check out the list here, and then, LET THE NEEDLESS ARGUING BEGIN!!!

-AR

*Actually, three great loses – legendary manager Debbie Abono  and drummer Joe Markowski also passed away yesterday, although that news was overshadowed by word of Dio’s demise. Reader \m/Eluveitie\m/ e-mailed me today to bemoan the lack of justice in the world – “Yet Durst Lives???” Sad but true.

Reader BassOfSpades e-mailed us earlier today about Lich King, who he calls “The World’s Greatest Thrash Band.” And if by “world’s greatest thrash band” he means “world’s umpteeth re-thrash band with absolutely nothing new to contribute to the genre,” then, yeah, they are the world’s greatest thrash band.

I mean, I’m sure this band has never actually held a meeting to discuss ways in which they could irritate the fucking shit outta me, but it sure seems like they did. “Let’s not do anything original!” one member suggested (in my imagination). “And let’s name ourselves after some shit having to do with World of Warcraft, a game so geeky other geeks make fun of it!” chimed in another. “And let’s write a goofy song about Robocop, even though it’s already funny, and satirizing a satire makes no fucking sense whatsoever!” yells the last Einstein from the corner.

I mean, Christ, at least write goofy song about Robocop 3, right? That way we can all be in on the joke, instead of, y’know, sitting here, scratching my nuts, wondering what I ever did to BassOfSpades to make him suggest I listen to this drek.

-AR

While news that Peter Wichers rejoined Soilwork a year and a half ago was met with widespread jubilation, any theories that his return to the fold would have a profound impact on their sound were just that, theories. But no longer do we have to speculate, as Soilwork just posted a brand new song called “Two Lives Worth of Reckoning” on their MySpace page.

This may be comparing apples and oranges, but I’d say that Wichers’ return to the group has the same effect as that of Clint Lowery’s return to Sevendust. Both men just bring a sense of musicality, musicianship and production know-how to the table that the remaining members lack on their own; not that sole Wichers-less Soilwork album Sworn to a Great Divide was bad, but it was certainly lacking something. The new Soilwork song certainly demonstrates that sense of musicality up-front… I’d recognize those specific chord voicings as emanating from the mind of Wichers any time and place you played them to me, and those bluesy riffs and a scorching guitar solo? Oh my. Yes, this is very, very right. Of course it’s just one song, but it certainly bodes well. I’m not crazy about Bjorn Strid’s vocals in the choruses, though; they sound auto-tuned to me. What up with that?

The Panic Broadcast drops July 13th in America and July 2nd in Europe.

-VN

To celebrate the release of Sick of it All’s awesome new album, Based on a True Story, we asked SOIA vocalist Lou Koller to compile the definitive list of quintessential hardcore albums. Luckily for us and all of you, he agreed! So we’ll be running one entry a day from Lou’s list of the top-ten (+1) hardcore records of all time for the next couple of weeks. To follow, pelase find the first installment. We hope you enjoy…

Here we go – ten (or so) hardcore albums that you should check out. I tried to touch on albums that made an impact on not just the hardcore/punk scene, but music in general. I know I left some out, but the list would have to be the top 3,000 to fit in every one. I also stayed away from any of our albums, ’cause that seemed cheesy, to put our own stuff on the list we were writing. So here they are, in no particular order:

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Eyehategod’s MetalSucks co-sponsored tour with Nachtmystium and Brutal Truth doesn’t start for another couple of weeks, but the band played the (in)famous Emo’s in Austin, Texas last week – and, more specifically, they played their first two albums, In the Name of Suffering and Take As Needed for Pain, in their entirety. Which is awesome. And makes me sad that we weren’t there. Maybe they’ll do it again on this upcoming tour?

Ah, well. Even if they don’t, at least we have some video of the performance…

You can check out more at Blabs. And go here to get those tour dates! These shows are gonna be sssssiiiccccckkkk…

-AR

You probably know Century Media for their work with groundbreaking, legendary artists like Stuck Mojo and My Own Victim, but they are also home to lesser-known bands like Lacuna Coil, Arch Enemy, Nevermore, Warbringer, Terror, and deathcore sensations Winds Of Plague and Suicide Silence. In all seriousness, though, I’ve worked with CM in one form or another since the mid-90s, and have nothing but good things to say about the CM crew. In addition to Despise You frontman/ CM warehouse manager Chris Elder, one of the many great people at CM is A&R guy Steve Joh. With the label’s 20th anniversary coming up soon, I figured it would be a great time to catch up with one of the nicest guys in metal and give the label some much-deserved props. Thanks to Steve for his time and help, and thanks to CM for being cool enough to send me promos when I was a teenager with a fanzine back in the day!

Note: I am a fan of both WoP and Suicide Silence. Knowing that they are lightning rods for the (negative) attention of angry metal dorks, I included their names in the headline for this post in hopes of attracting maximum viewership, and therefore giving the most possible publicity to Steve and the bands. Thank you for participating in this exciting social media marketing initiative.

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I mean, Gary’s review of Shining’s (the Norwegian one) latest album Blackjazz was pretty good and all — and not for nothin’, I happen to agree with it — but this guy, whoever he is, schools Suarez in the funny department. And he also happens to hate metal, jazz and prog without the ridiculous Oceano worship. So we’d basically be getting the same dude, minus the Oceano, plus the funny. Win/win. Poor Suarez will be kicked out to the curb of the MS Mansion, Donald Duckin’ it with nothing on but his Winds of Plague puffy vest, but oh well… he’d make due.

-VN

Originally, I had planned on livetweeting this year’s New England Metal and Hardcore Festival for the purposes of turning my pithy comments into some sort of proper show report. Looking back on some of those 140-characters-or-less entries, I realized that there was really no need to do so. Instead, below you’ll find a selection of my most poignant tweets from the two day weekender. Enjoy!

DAY ONE
So nice of @metalsucks to have this limo waiting for me at Union Station. My driver Tito has already taken a shine to me. #nemhf 12:42 PM Apr 23rd

My limo driver Tito and I stopped at Uno’s for a quick bite. I wonder if Rose Funeral refuse to eat here on principle. #nemhf 12:52 PM Apr 23rd

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A question that seems to come up a lot these days is: “What does the internet mean for local scenes, and regionalized sounds?” The concern is that whereas, in the past, geographic location has often played a unique part in the creation of new sounds and sub-genres in the metal world, the web allows information to spread so quickly as to potentially put an end to that – if kids in Norway can hear the new Job for a Cowboy song as quickly as kids in the U.S., will they ever be inspired to do something different and unique to their culture, or will we just get a bunch of Norwegian JFAC clones?

This argument has always seemed a little faulty to me for a number of reasons. Thrash and death metal had no problem spreading across multiple continents in the 80s and 90s without the benefit of the internet, and sites like MySpace and blogs like this one had not yet become so prominent at the turn of the century, when 12,000 bands from Massachusetts all decided to start playing like At the Gates. It seems to be that every band, at some point, has to make the decision to either synthesize their influences into something new and interesting, or just rip-off other bands they admire; being aware of what other bands in other parts of the world are doing is only a small part of the decision. As a very intelligent record label A&R dude says in an interview we’re going to run later today, MySpace is the new tape trading; the speed and convenience of it shouldn’t really have any bearing on what young musicians do once they’ve digested that music.

That being said… reader Mike Master sent us this video by South African “mullet-core” outfit Facing the Gallows, and, uh, yeah. I guess it sucks to learn that all over the world, there are bands that have no higher aspiration than to sound like Miss May I. But again, I’m not convinced technology has anything to do with that – an unoriginal mind will always think in unoriginal terms, won’t it?

In any case, South Africa gave us Charlize Theron, and for that, I will always be grateful.

-AR