Especially if you used it to pick up hot chicks hitchhiking in bikini tops. I mean, eventually you’d get arrested and/or shot, but up until then, I think it would be a lot of a fun! It looks like they’re having fun at that cook-out, too. We had a cook-out last week. It was fun! We didn’t steal any cops cars, but it’s New York City — unattended cop cars are not a common thing, y’know?
Vinnie Paul was in Pantera!!!
-AR
We were pretty devastated when Mercenary suddenly shed 50% of their line-up last November; you’re talking about not only a band that Vince and I have spent countless hours rocking out to, but one of the only power metal (or semi-power metal, I guess) bands that I actively enjoy.
But in January the band announced their new line-up, and now there’s a video of new drummer Morten Løwe laying down drums for their new album. And because I love Mercenary, and because Løwe has been in The Arcane Order, I am choosing to be optimistic and predicting that the new Mercenary album is going to rule. IT’S GOING TO RULE, I SAY!
No idea when this album is coming out… but we will be following its development closely.
-AR
[via Metal Underground]
Dear Metalcore:
I know you and I don’t hang out as much as we used to. I could list a couple of cleverly-worded reasons why, but today is apparently not the day to dwell on that. Instead, I’ll just share that I’ve been doing alright. I’ve been hanging out with the brothers doom and stoner metal a lot lately, and put in some QT with black metal over the winter. I mean, we get along really well. But it’s not like I don’t miss you from time to time or anything. But sometimes folks grow apart, hypothetical greener pastures are gone off to, new horizons breached. I started watching a lot more Coen Brothers movies; you started hanging out down at the mall for some reason. Interests differed, roads diverged. It was nothing personal, I suppose.
But that doesn’t mean the time we spent together didn’t have an effect on me: those first few Poison the Well albums, the brilliant cheesiness of Killswitch Engage, early Dead to Fall… all good times, man. And I still wonder how you’re doing. I mean, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit concerned over what I’d heard you’d been up to lately; you just don’t seem like yourself, or at least the way you were when I knew you. Which is why I’m relieved — even if briefly — when hearing bands like New Hampshire’s Mercury Switch. You just seem like your old self then.
Bonded by Blood like Exodus. I like Exodus, too! Specifically, Bonded by Blood like old Exodus — in fact, if I was a betting man, I’d wager that they love the album Bonded by Blood. I love that album, too!
To that end, Bonded by Blood’s sophomore Earache release, Exiled to Earth, really does sound like an old thrash record. I assume this was the goal of the band, in which case, mission accomplished! The album does not sound modern. It also does not sound like death metal, any kind of “core metal,” or hip-hop.
Jose Barrales is their singer. He has a voice.
I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to state that at some point The Crown slipped through hyperspace into our world from an alternate dimension. An awesome alternate dimension like the secret, genius-only utopia in Atlas Shrugged. You may think me a madman, but that is the explanation for their awesomeness that I present to you here on Be Nice Day. Yes yes, I’ve heard the theory that The Crown is comprised of killer time-travelling robots from the future. Pfft. There are way too many holes in that theory, friends. Like, why? Is their mission to distract the shit out of death metal fans with at least three hyper-addictive records? And from what do they wish to divert us? And who programmed these robots to rip, I ask you?
Okay look, we can split hairs here or we can sit back and celebrate the news that The Crown’s never-thought-it’d-happen seventh album is slated for a September release on a heavy-duty record label and gosh that means I can finally release these burdensome hostages. Guitarist Marko Tervonen from a press release:
We are happy as hell to turn a new page in The Crown’s history book…and to pick up the journey with Century Media Records supporting us feels great. We can’t wait to unleash Doomsday King upon you all!!!
Hey click here to groove on over to Blabbermouth where the full press release will link you right the fuck back to the MetalSucks Multiverse Exclusive Interview with Tervonen. Cuz that’s what happens when you run from us.
-ADF
Here’s an album to be legitimately excited about in a 110% non-sarcastic way: Torche have announced a September 21 release date for their new album, Songs for Singles, via Hydra Head.
I’ve never been as over-the-moon about Torche as some, but only a person I strongly disagree with would ever say they’re a bad band. And while we don’t have any new music to judge just yet, there is the minimalist album art, which suggests to me that this is going to be a very, very classy record. The font immediately made me think of Faith No More’s Songs to Make Love To, but the absence of humping rhinos means my mother will never ask me, “What the fuck is this?” (It’s also entirely possible that I just have FNM on the mind, since we’re seeing them tomorrow night.)
Hopefully we’ll get to hear some of this bad boy real soon, and we can have a more substantiative conversation about it at that point. In the meantime, get stoked!
-AR
I know it’s “Be Nice Day” at MetalSucks, but there’s really no need to sugarcoat anything by NJ post-hardcore progsters East of the Wall or their new album Ressentiment (out July 20th) which absolutely melts faces. But before we get to our exclusive premiere of album-opening track “The Ladder,” — and since it’s “Be Nice Day” — let’s have a look at some of the very nice things you all had to say about East of the Wall the last time I posted about them:
Wait a minute… that last one wasn’t so nice. It doesn’t even make sense. You have no place here on “Be Nice Day,” Mr. Sausage Mahoney; boo on you.
Without further ado, here’s “The Ladder.” Pre-order Ressentiment here before it comes out on July 20th via Translation Loss. Catch East of the Wall on tour all over the U.S. with Name and Black Sheep Wall starting this weekend (dates here).
-VN
[this promotion has ended]
I did not realize that Papa Roach were still around. Good for them! They have fans and sell records and have a career. I am sure that they are very happy about that.
They have a new video, too: “Kick in the Teeth.” And it really looks like they’re performing the song in the clip! If you didn’t know that bands lip sync in music videos, you’d probably be totally fooled by this. I don’t know if Coby Dick is just really good at moving his mouth in time with the sound of his own voice, or if the editor was just really talented, but bravo to whomever is responsible for making sure that everything matched up correctly. They did a very good job!
Also, the image is in focus! So I commend the camera crew, as well.
-AR
