I haven’t actually rocked out/killed small animals to Napalm Death’s Time Waits for No Slave for awhile, but the just-released video for the song “On the Brink of Extinction” makes me wanna revisit it ASAP. The video’s not particularly amazing, and the basic concept – performance footage intercut with war footage – is one we’ve seen at least a thousand times before, possibly even in several other Napalm Videos.

But man oh man, does this song slay. If it doesn’t make you wanna put your fist through the wall, check your pulse.

Time Waits for No Slave is out now on Century. Only losers don’t have a copy.

-AR

Here’s something completely meaningless that we can all argue over.

Back in April, Vice ran a piece in which they attempted to determine which thrash band has/had the best mascot. Only mascots that were used more than once by bands that are distinctly, inarguably thrash qualified, but beyond that, uh… the scoring seems kinda arbitrary. But whatever.

I gotta say, when I think “thrash mascot,” my mind goes right to one place:

That’s not to say that other thrash bands didn’t have excellet mascots… it’s just, y’know. Vic Rattlehead is the classic thrash mascot, isn’t he?

But Vic didn’t win the competition. (And Eddie, the original, most maleable, and still the best metal mascot of all time, didn’t even qualify, since Maiden aren’t a thrash band.) Head over to Vice to see who did, and then engage in some good ol’ fashioned debatin’ below.

-AR

Thanks to Double D for the tip.

If you read MetalSucks regularly, then you already know how much we love The Haunted. Which is why we’re stoked to bring you this exclusive clip from their new DVD/CD, Road Kill, which was released in North America yesterday via Century. In case ya hadn’t heard, this two-disc set comes with On the Road with The Haunted, a 65-minute documentary directed by guitarist Anders Bjorler; a 40-minute live set from Amsterdam; six music videos; and a CD with the audio from the Amsterdam show, plus five bonus tracks. If you’re a fan of awesome Swedish metal (and who isn’t?), then you need a copy of this. Order a copy here.

And now, without further adieu, enjoy the clip…

[This exclusive has now ended.]

This really needs no introduction. If you were stationed in Iraq, you’d need to blow off steam, too.

Thanks to Crispen for the link.

-AR

Time for another angry eco rant.

We just got a press release from Roadrunner Records announcing that Korn have boycotted BP oil products and will not be filling their touring vehicles with BP gasoline during their Summer tours. Awww… that cute. I could rant about how it really doesn’t matter which oil company they boycott, because this disaster could’ve been caused by any of them — and I could rant about how they’ll still be polluting the environment with their tour regardless of where they fill up — but that much should be obvious.

Instead, I’m going to rant about how this oil spill is all our fucking fault. ALL of us. Not BP, not the other big oil companies, not our government or Obama… but you, me, Axl, the Monkeys, Korn, your sister, your brother, your parents, and every fucking person on this planet. It’s our fault this happened.

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The only time I ever saw Slaughter live, there were so few people in the crowd that Mark Slaughter (real name: Schlomo Slaughterowitz) was able to run through the audience high-fiving people. That’s a long way to fall from being on MTV and having the cock-eyed chick from 90210 in your video.

So I guess Mark Slaughter needs money, ’cause according to Bring Back Glam, he’s joining Nelson as their lead guitar player for their twentieth anniversary tour. Fucking NELSON. Man, I never knew anyone who liked Nelson. Like, I’d much rather be in Slaughter. In 2010. On tour with Winger and Enuff Z’Nuff and Jani Lane. That’s how bad it sucks to be in Nelson.

Of course, what Mark Slaughter and Dana Strum really need to do is get a Vinnie Vincent Invasion reunion going. Now that’s something I’d pay a shitload of cash to see.

-AR

OK, so the name of the track is actually “May Day,” as in the first day of May — but who are we to resist an easy pun-tastic headline?

San Francisco’s Early Graves — formerly known as Apiary [who were loved by Kip Wingerschmidts the world over] — will release their second album Goner on June 22nd via Ironclad Recordings. Goner is the kind of dirty, pissed off, rugged piece of raw metal and hardcore best served up in the moshpit of a raging mid-summer show at a dirty, scuzzy bar, which is to say it’s heavy as fuck. “May Day” is a pretty good representation of what the album is all about, so give it a shot and see what you think.

Check out another new Early Graves song on MySpace and pre-order Goner here. Early Graves will be on tour with The Funeral Pyre this Summer.

-VN

[this promotion has ended]

Yesterday an anonymous reader e-mailed us to say that Parkway Drive’s new video, for the song “Sleepwalker,” is “FUCKING SICK!” He or she (but let’s face it, probably he) did admit, however, that he was “unsure about the song,” which was wise – ’cause certain aspects of this video are kinda cool, but HOLY SHIT IS THIS SONG FUCKING AWFUL. It is the very definition of a Triple A riff. In fact, if anyone can figure out a better song that just happens to go with it, I’ll give that person a cookie.*

-AR

*If we ever meet. Let’s be real – I’m not gonna mail you a fucking cookie.

Those of you that follow my writing on MetalSucks (There HAS to be one of you! There HAS to…) know I’m quite fond of black metal, sad doom metal, introspective post-metal, and whatever other stuff the downtrodden end of the heavy spectrum has to offer. The problem with this is that the weather’s not always conducive to black metal (granted, I live in New England, so four to six months out of the year is VERY conductive to black metal). So driving around when it’s 89 degrees, sunny, and humid listening to Enslaved’s Frost is a nauseatingly paradoxical experience. Thus, God (well, Black Sabbath, so close enough) created stoner metal, stoner doom, trad doom, and so on for such weather. Nothing fits oppressively hot days (or just nice days) like down tuned riffs played at a comfortable speed with some dude bellowing (or, if the mood is right, screaming) over it. Maybe it’s the mind’s reflex to associate the bluesy riffs most often employed in that genre with sticky Mississippi Delta summers, or maybe it’s just the easiest music to have a beer or bowl with, but it seems much more apt to endure the summer with the sticky sweetness stoner doom (and so on) has to offer.

For this, enter Black Pyramid.

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Musically speaking, I can think of way worse people than Ryan Adams. But insofar as haircut models and metal fans go, I’d really like to take a shit in the guy’s mouth.

First of all – and I say this as a dude who is often told he “doesn’t look metal” – if you marry Mandy Moore, you forfeit your right to wear a Kreator shirt. I know that’s a really arbitrary rule and, no, I can’t back it up with thought or logic, but it’s still a rule ’cause I say so.

Second of all, if you’ve ever called the lyrics on Death Magnetic “profound,” shove your favorite Kreator shirt up your ass. (“What don’t kill ya makes ya more strong.” Yep, that’s some John Donne shit right there.)

And third of all, if you’ve ever written an ironic metal song called “Evil Weekend” for a band called “Werewolph,”pull that Kreator shirt out of your ass and hang yourself with it.

Unfortunately, I am powerless to prevent the evils caused by this man who has the same haircut my mom had in the seventies. And so our friend Stabitha Christie at Metal Insider tell us that Mr. Adams “has written eleven songs inspired by Dio’s funeral.”

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Curious what went into putting together that crazy $999 Lamb of God Hourglass coffin case boxset? And how these types of boxsets in general even get off the ground in the first place? Our Mars Bro-ltas over at Metal Insider conducted an excellent, in-depth interview with Epic Records marketing guru Jason Lekberg, the man behind the Lamb of God Hourglass boxsets and the Mudvayne black-light artwork. Lekberg talks about all the work that went into putting together and manufacturing the boxsets, how the ideas came about, how they set the price points and what their goals are for such projects. If you’re at all interested in what goes on behind-the-scenes at the record labels, it’s a must read. Check it out at Metal Insider.

-VN

If you needed another reason to hate Emmure, this is it (as if their knuckle-dragging version of nu-deathcore isn’t enough). Props to MS super-commenter Alex_P for bringing this Lambgoat interview with Emmure’s Frankie Palmeri to our attention (Metal Injection picked it up too); I never would’ve checked it out on my own, let alone read through all of it.

It starts off with pretty typical interview fair talking about the band’s current tour, their next record, blah blah blah. It starts to get good when Palmeri starts talking about his love of Limp Bizit. It gets even better when he starts talking about spirituality. And then it goes to a whole new level when he starts talking about the Nibiru aliens, his thoughts on global warming (he actually believes the earth is about to cool down) and the inherent energy-holding capabilities of gold. The only gold containing any energy is the pure hilarity of this interview, in my opinion.

On Limp Bizkit:

I would like to think that [our fans are similar]. I mean, I don’t know, when I was growing up Limp Bizkit was the best band in the world to me and they’re still one of the bands that completely altered my view on life and music and what I should be as a person. Getting to tour with them would blow my fucking mind I don’t know if it’ll ever happen…

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First of all, and on a note completely unrelated to the rest of this story, I just wanted to thank everyone for their well-wishes on Monday – both the ones left in the comments section and the ones that were e-mailed to me. Luckily everything turned out okay, but your support really meant a lot to me.

Now, onto the matter at hand. Just yesterday, Kirk Windstein made us simulataneously hungry and horny in equal measures, and Jamey Jasta correctly asserted that a new Crowbar album “needs to come out THIS YEAR.” It’s been five very long years since Crowbar’s last release, Lifesblood for the Downtrodden, and while Mr. Windstein has certainly used that time productively (you’ll never hear me bitch about Down time), I think we can all agree that a new Crowbar record would really hit the spot just about now.

And – hooray! – Crowbar played in NOLA over the weekend, and debuted two new tracks. And while we still don’t know when that new Crowbar album will be coming, as any scientist will tell you, writing new songs is the first step to making a record. So the very fact that these tunes exist is probably a good sign. Here’s the first one…

…and the second one is after the jump.

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What’s up everyone! In celebration of the new KINGDOM OF SORROW album coming out today, MetalSucks have been nice enough to let me takeover their site! I figured I’d better make the reading interesting and at least cause some discussion, so here goes, this is probably the longest run on sentence you’ll ever read, haha, enjoy!

Since we’re well into 2010. I figured I’d start my blog with my top ten “most listened to” metal and hardcore albums of the last decade, and the top ten albums I hope to enjoy this decade!!! It’s not a top ten “best of” the decade or anything like that, it’s just what I’ve listened to the most while on the road, at home, in the gym, in the office or in my car. Keep in mind that the criteria for these albums to make this list was that they were released between 2000 and 2010, that is all.

The top 10 records I’m “most hopeful & excited for” are more like a wish list. It will be cool to see some of that stuff happen!

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I’ve been making music, touring, playing shows and doing what I love for well over fifteen years, and I’m very grateful. I barely have a 9th grade education and I’ve never had any musical training or lessons. I’ve just worked hard and stayed focused on what I wanted to achieve. I’ve played everywhere from basements, backyards, skateparks and VFWs right up to clubs, theaters, arenas and fucking stadiums! So keep doing what you love and fuck everyone who tries to bring you down or hold you back!

1995

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My top 5 artists/rock bands constantly change but right now I’d have to say these are them!

# 5 – Robin Trower

One of the greats!

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#5 – Necrophagist

Technical German death metal that crushes!

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#5 – Nina Hartley

Any dude born before 1979 has beaten off to Nina Hartley for sure!

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My top five show flyers… okay, it’s really six, but only because I had a tough time deciding! Keep in mind this is based on the memories, not the flyers themselves!

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Every time I come home from tour, I ask myself: “What the fuck am I going to do with all these CDs?!” Because when I go to my storage room to drop off gear and tour supplies, there they are. Literally, thousands of CDs stacked to the ceiling in multiple storage rooms. Bands like The Program, Right Brigade, Oblige, AK Corral (The country CD I put out! Haha… that’s a completely different blog I will one day write.), A Thousand Falling Skies, The Autumn Offering, Full Blown Chaos, etc., etc., etc. Basically stuff that I put out on my labels that didn’t sell well or that we pressed too many of. Now I really don’t want them going in a landfill or polluting the ocean. The thought of a baby seal choking on a Sworn Enemy CD really doesn’t sit well with me. So I figured I would take to the internet to see what could be done. Now if you really want to be a great person and buy any of them, please visit martyrstore.com or stillbornstore.com – they’re cheap! Okay? So here’s some videos to check out, you decide what I should do with this stuff!

Should I make jewelry?

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