I’ve gotten out of the habit of reading industry pundit Bob Lefsetz lately. It’s not that I stopped liking the guy or disagreeing with his rants about the current and future state of the music industry; I guess I just got tired of reading about his ski trips, and his new music recommendations are so irrelevant that they threaten the integrity of his industry rants. Still, when it comes to major label / old music biz world shenanigans and calling them out, no one’s smarter or funnier than Lefsetz.

It was actually Lefsetz that inspired me to run my not-quite-weekly Soundscan Chart roundups, and since last week’s charts included some notable heavy hitters and I didn’t do a writeup I’d like to call in Mr. Lefsetz for his own analysis. Of course, in our world Godsmack and the Deftones are ginormous behemoths — two of the biggest bands we ever talk about on this site — but Bob points out that they’re pretty small potatoes all things considered (truth). Still, for someone that’s got little to no knowledge of metal, Bob displays a knowledgeable understanding of each band’s place in the world:

Godsmack “Oracle”

Sales this week: 117,481
Debut

[excerpt]

…I’ll guarantee you almost no one knows Godsmack.  Take a survey, in a country of three hundred million how many even recognize the name, never mind know the music.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.  Godsmack has a hard core fan base.  Which rushed out and bought this album this week. After they’ve all got it, then what?  Maybe there’ll be airplay and sustaining sales.  But I doubt they’ll be anywhere near enough to put “Oracle” at the top of the chart.

Click to read more…

Remember in 2002, when Ozzy Osbourne reissued Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman with Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake’s original bass and drum tracks deleted and replaced by new performances from Robert Trujillo and Mike Bordin? That was a crock of shit, wasn’t it? I’ve never even heard the re-recordings, and I really don’t care to; Bordin and Trujillo are talented dudes, but come ON. I don’t care if Daisley and Kerslake were suing Ozzy or Chinese-fingercuffing Kelly or what; I am not a fan of re-writing history. (I was just as disappoined that Bordin and Trujillo even agreed to participate in the re-recordings, but that’s another rant for another blog.)

Well, it looks like the re-writing of history may be re-written: Blabbermouth says that Rolling Stone says that 30th-anniversary editions (well, one 30-anniversary edition and one 29-anniversary edition, really) of those albums will be released later this year, with Daisley and Kerslake’s recordings re-instated.

Presumably this is because the two men have long since lost their lawsuit against the Ozzman, in which they asserted that they were owed a larger chunk of the royalties for those recordings. I don’t know enough about the case to really know if Daisley and Kerslake were actually getting screwed, or if they were just trolling for more moolah; in any case, I’m glad that any kids who will only just now be familiarizing themselves with these legendary albums will get to hear them the right way.

Here’s “No Bone Movies” from Blizzard; Daisley and Kerslake co-wrote this song, and the version below features their drum and bass tracks intact.

-AR

Lasers are kinda like boobs; I’ll always be transfixed by them and I’ll never ever ever get sick of ‘em. When Rob from Metal Injection and I caught Muse’s epic set at SXSW we were, as always, transfixed by their laser light show. Rob said it best: despite the fact that every single band who employs the use of lasers in their live show uses the exact same laser array, the lasers never cease to positively astound. LASERS!

This video that Suckalo Justin Reich sent in of BTBAM drummer Blake Richardson jamming in the studio doesn’t have lasers per se, but it does have really bright lights that look as if they’re being controlled by Blake’s sticks. And they’re pretty damned entertaining, don’tcha think? Perhaps someone with greater video editing skills than I can explain how this was accomplished. Neat-o.

-VN

I know that some of you are so opposed to having fun that you’ll dismiss this video out of hand, but y’all can toss my salad, ’cause this is awesome.

As we first reported in March, actor Dennis Haskins – better known to the world as “Mr. Belding” from Saved by the Bell – reprises his most famous role in Iwrestledabearonce’s new video, “See You in Shell.” The clips also features references to a number of other classic vintage portrayals of teen life, but I’ll let you pick those out for yourself.

The clip was directed by Justin Beasley from KOTK Productions; he also did that video for The Demonstration’s cover of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance.” Needless to say, I think that this is considerably better.

There’s a special edition of IWABO’s Century debut, It’s All Happening, coming out on June 29; in addition to the original, genre-defying album (see my review here), it will come with a bonus CD, It’s All Remixed, featuring – ah-doy! -  remixes by The Dillinger Escape Plan’s Ben Weinman and Mindless Self Indulgence’s Jimmy Urine, amongst others, as well as a DVD with studio footage and music videos.

-AR

[via The PRP]

The United States is devolving; might as well have some fun at its expense, right?

So. Earlier this year, a dill pickle was able to accrue more fans on Facebook than Nickelback; now, in another move of social networking genius, someone has started a FB page entitled “Illegal immigrants can stay, deport the juggalos.” (“Because at least illegal immigrants aren’t making a mess in Meijer toy aisles at 3 AM.”) As of this writing, the page has more than 64,000 followers, which, the page’s administrator is quick to point out, is larger than “the number juggalos previously thought represented the entire population of the world.” If Wikipedia is to be believed, it’s also more than three times as many people as attended the 2009 Gathering of the Juggalos, which makes me wonder if the next move shouldn’t be to organize some kind of anti-Juggalo rally near the location of the fest’s 2010 edition. I mean, that’s what the Tea Partyers would do, right?

Click to read more…

I don’t think that Nine Inch Nails have ever made a bad video, and Trent Reznor isn’t about to start now – the new clip for How to Destroy Angels’ “The Space in Between” is provocative, possibly pretentious, morbidly beautiful, and wholly memorable (which is really the entire point of a music video, I suppose). Insofar as what the video “means,” well… I’m not entirely sure I know. Assuming the titular “in between” is some kind of purgatorial state, well… I guess we can interpret the fact that Reznor and his wife/vocalist Mariqueen Maandig are lip synching while clearly “deceased” as being somehow related to said purgatorial state. I’ll have to ponder it some more, though.

Whatever the heck the video is supposed to mean, it is, like I said, morbidly beautiful, and the song is gorgeous. As with “A Drowning,” it pretty much sounds like NIN with a female vocalist… but I have absolutely no problem with that.

HTDA will release a six-song EP sometime this summer. Longtime NIN collaborator Atticus Ross is also involved in some capacity; he’s the dude smoking a cigarette and watching T.V. in this video.

-AR

The rumors have been confirmed; Ronnie James Dio lost his battle with stomach cancer and passed away at 7:45am this morning. He was 67.

Rumors began circulating last night that Dio had passed, but his wife Wendy Dio shot them down late last night / early this morning with a statement saying “He is not doing good, but he is not dead.” Only a few hours later she posted the statement you see above at his official website RonnieJamesDio.com confirming his death. The death comes as a surprise to all of us as the announcement that he had stomach cancer came not even 6 months ago. Dio had planned to continue on with Heaven and Hell’s European Summer tour though the band recently canceled those dates; in retrospect, that could have been a sign that his condition had taken a sudden turn for the worse.

In Dio we lost an incredible man and singer whose influence on metal was undeniably profound. I don’t believe that it would be hyperbole to say that this is the biggest loss the metal world has ever experienced. Not much else to say here other than that this is incredibly upsetting news that will be felt for days, months and years to come by the worldwide metal community.

Please feel free to share your thoughts on Dio and his incredibly prolific metal career in the comments below and on Dio’s official Facebook page.

- Everyone at MetalSucks

When I was stuck on a mandatory extended vacation in Amsterdam a few weeks ago, I puffed my fair share of you-know-what and sought out plenty of live music.  But one of my favorite bands I saw was a random, unexpected one….Wooden Shjips from San Francisco just happened to be psychedelically rockin it one night at the Paradiso after the bands I was there to see, and they did not disappoint.

All the ridonkulous weed & hash may have helped a bit too.

Check out Wooden Shjips on MySpace and their Aquarius Records page.

-KW

Yep, we talked a lot of smack on Joey Belladonna this week, much to the chagrin of, well, an awful lot of you. I think we’re done for a little while… but I can’t make any promises. Our job at MetalSucks is to amuse ourselves first and foremost, and, well, we thought it was pretty damned funny. So ppppfffftttt.

Here’s what else went down this week:

• We debuted the title track from Nachtmystium’s new album, Addicts.
• Genetic’s Dallas Coyle called us “influential,” Disfear’s Tomas Lindberg shared some Maryland Deathfest memories, The Austerity Program’s Justin Foley unveiled his top four Taco Riffs, Cynic’s Paul Masvidal got burglarized, As I Lay Dying’s Nick Hipa made some new revelations about L O S T, God Forbid’s Doc Coyle worried about turning into an old geezer, Daath’s Eyal Levi gave us a lesson in stage etiquette, and Batillus’ Geoff Summers gave us a new studio update.
• We spoke to The Melvins’ Buzz Osborne, Periphery’s Misha “Bulb” Mansoor, Testament’s Chuck Billy, and Sick of it All’s Lou Koller.
• We checked out new releases by Korn and Ufomammut and Year of No Light.
• Is Mastodon’s Brent Hinds a Mastodick?
• Sergeant D sez Cunthunt777 are your new favorite band.
• Don’t worry, baby, Dr. Danzig gonna cure what ails you.
• Hot chick loves Nergal, hates the Bible.
• Boy oh boy, do we love the new Limp Bizkit cover art!
• If you’re looking for new band members, don’t do this.

Alright. We’re gonna go get drunk and crank We’ve Come For You All in John Bush’s honor. Have a great weekend, everyone.

-AR

Seeming as though there will never cease to be a supply of beginner and amateur bands in the world, I’ve written some of my Jumping Darkness Parade entries in their honor. A little bit of practical advice applied to whatever it is you’re doing can help move you a long way. Well, in this case I’m talking to any band, at any level, which is performing a gig and are NOT the final act of the night. If you’re in Metallica and the whole world plays by your rules, then congratulations and don’t bother reading this. But for the rest of us, stage etiquette is essential if you aspire to have an easy working relationship with your band mates, other bands on the bill, local crews, and beyond.

I want to focus on the dreaded changeover. This is the part of the night where either the pieces are laid into place to ensure an easy start to the show, or where things will begin to fall apart. How long you take to be set up and ready to play AS WELL AS how quickly you can get offstage will have a big impact on how your band is treated that night, and in the long run. If your set ends and your drummer decides to take apart his kit on stage while your guitarist sits in a corner on stage wrapping his cables, taking their sweet-ass time while another band is dealing with a fifteen minute window to get set up and started, then your band is fucking up. And also, your band is fucking up if it’s your turn to go and your drummer starts setting up his kit onstage, guitarist is fumbling with all his cables, somebody (bassist, vocalist, whoever) is nowhere to be found, and another guitarist who got his rig up quickly is noodling away annoying everyone.

Let me go on a rant for a second. Is there anything more annoying during a changeover than watching some dude stand up there and play fifteen minutes of guitar solos while the house music is still going amidst the general chaos on stage caused by everyone else trying to get the band set up? Is there a more eloquent way to say “YOU ARE FUCKING UP, SIR?” First of all, you look like a disorganized bunch of idiots acting that way. People take note. Second of all – and this relates to what I just said – you will lose the audience looking like a bunch of bumbling idiots. Third, you are most likely holding up the show and pissing off a) the headliner, b) the other bands after you, c) their crews, d) the club and their crews.

Click to read more…

MetalSucks Maniac Mark Mortiz-Rabson e-mailed us about Italy’s Fleshgod Apocalypse back in February, and Patrick Neely tried to tell me about them way back in April of last year; but for whatever reason, the band didn’t click with me until last night, when reader Russell Warnhoff sent me the following song, “Thru Our Scars” -

The group classify themselves as “death metal/classical,” but I’m not sure I hear any more of a classical influence than I would in any number of other skilled death metal bands (unless you’re counting those operatic vocals in the middle, but dozens of metal bands utilize that style of singing in their music, so…). In any case, I really, really like this song, and will have to investigate further. The band’s new EP, Mafia, is out in Europe now, but Willowtip won’t release it here in the States ’til June 8. While we wait, check out Fleshgod Apolcalypse on MySpace, and then weigh in with your thoughts below.

-AR

Like most of the interwebs I’m pretty sick of mash-ups. It’s not that they can’t be entertaining, but the joke is over; we get it, metal combined with something distinctly not metal makes for laughs. Hardee har.

But every now and then a mash-up comes along that’s serious — as in, done to create something new and cool rather than solicit a chuckle. This mash-up of Erykah Badu’s famous song “On and On” with… well, I’m not exactly sure what metal song it’s mixed with… is one such mash-up. Sent in by longtime MS Maniac Mick Stingley, the mash-up comes from the Popdivas Go Metal collection put together by the band (or person?) Counterforce. I’d definitely be interested in getting my hands on mp3s of these tracks and I know our buddy Mick would too, so if any of you happen to have ‘em, surely by now you know how to get in touch with us to let us know.

-VN

Nah, not really. We hung out with Jeff Loomis a couple of weeks ago, and he seemed like a very straight-shooter.

But “Without Morals” is the title of a track off of Nevermore’s kick-ass new offering, The Obsidian Conspiracy. And they’re now streaming the track right here. And… I don’t even know what to say about it. The album is so killer, I kinda think you just need to hear for yourself. So go hear it for yourself. And pay attention to Warrel Dane’s awesome lyrics: “Your petulant seed is a dying breed.” Now that’s poetry, folks.

Century Media releases The Obsidian Conspiracy on June 8, which is looking to be a very good day for music.

-AR

A deleted scene from Iron Man 2? Nope, just one of the many cinematically stimulating moments in Maryland Deathfest: The Movie

Alright, I kinda don’t wanna talk any shit about Maryland Deathfest: The Movie for a number of reasons. I don’t know David Hall, the dude who made it, but I know he’s worked with a lot of cool bands I like, including Fuck the Facts and Today is the Day. Scott Hull mastered the audio, and I don’t think it’s any secret that if Scott Hull asked me to walk a few feet ahead of him and sprinkle roses in his path, I would happily do so. Maryland Deathfest is clearly one of the best U.S. festivals in all of metaldom, and I don’t want anyone to think I’m speaking ill of that fine institution, ’cause I ain’t. The first twelve minutes of the movie premiered earlier today at Metal Injection, and the Metal Injection dudes are like brothers to me, so I don’t want anyone to think that I’m disparaging that site. And I certainly don’t want anyone to think I’m trashing any of the artists in the movie, ’cause they really had nothing to do with its creation.

With all of that said, those first twelve minutes of this movie really do not make me wanna see the next twelve minutes.

Click to read more…

We’ve been raving about Nachtmystium’s Addicts: Black Meddle Pt. II for awhile now, and today, we’re incredibly proud to present an mp3 of the title track for free download. Dirty, psychedelic, epic, visceral, and catchy as hell, it’s just a small taste of this insanely creative, wholly provocative masterpiece. We hope you love it as much as we do.

Nachtmystium – “Addicts”

Addicts: Black Meddle Pt. II comes out June 8 on Century Media. You can pre-order a copy here. We assure you, it’s totally worth it.

I guess it’s “oldie-but-goodie” interview day here at MetalSucks.

So: in 1989 Howard Stern found out which hotel Axl Rose was staying at in NYC and gave him a call to try and find out about – what else? – who he’d shtupped, or who Slash had shtupped, or, y’know, just pretty much any good sexual gossip. But the thing that makes it really worthwhile is that Stern woke up Axl, and Axl is audibly groggy throughout the entire thing.

There’s all sorts of funny stuff in here, including Axl sounding surprisingly democratic about how pay is divided up amongst the band, and joking that “I leave the group every three days.” Of course, there’s no way Stern could have known he was predicting the demise of GN’R when he encourages Axl to ditch the other members and go solo… is there?

-AR

I don’t want to ruin it for you, but this 1989 interview with Morbid Angel’s David Vincent includes the above gem of a question and some of the following:

“What do you think of microwave ovens?”

“Do you often see Monkeys in Florida?”

“What do you think of the new Goo Goo Dolls LP?”

Priceless! Thanks to “Andrewlol” for sending this in.

-VN

Djent Guitar Dork Message Board Metal master Keith Merrow has a new track up called “Awaken the Stone King,” above. I really like this style of overdubbed performance video because it allows you to see not only how a particular part is played, but how it fits into the whole in terms of the multi-tracking structure.

After I profiled Keith in a Readers Choice column last year, Mr. Merrow was kind enough to send me his two albums The Arrival and Lonestar Transcend, and they’re both phenomenally written and produced. Definitely recommend getting your hands on those and listening to more Keith Merrow music at his MySpace page if you’re a music dork like me and a sucker for this kind of metal. [UPDATE: Or download it for free here! Thanks, Shep.]

-VN

Thanks: TNOTB

Well, then you could be like these guys:

… or you could be like these guys:

Or you could be like Deciblog scribe Chris Dick and pretend like the new Ratt album ain’t the shit. Your call!

-VN

I know that it’s always a struggle for music video directors to come up with ways of keeping these clips from like the same ol’ same ol’, especially in this day and age, when the budgets for these videos are continually dwindling. In the case of Drew Russ, who helmed the new video for War of Ages’ “Collapse,” the solution was to douse the band with flour so that when they move, white dust floats all over the place; as Amy Sciarretto put it on Noisecreeep (who debuted the clip), “it’s as though there are apparitions in the video.”

I can’t understand most of what vocalist Leroy Hamp is singing during the song, so I can’t tell if this somehow plays into the themes of “Collapse,” or if it’s just meant to look cool. I also can’t imagine the logistics of using so much flour; never mind the clean-up for the set, the band, and their clothes, but I’d guess it was a serious bitch to get all that crap off of their instruments, too. (Question for someone more knowledgeable than I in the ways of instrument maintenance: what are the chances that shit did long-term damage to the guitars and bass?)

In any case, it will certainly be remembered as “that video where War of Ages are covered in flour.”

-AR