This year’s Warped Tour has a formidable albeit small deathcore contingent, the core of which is comprised of Emmure, Whitechapel, and California’s tattooed sons Suicide Silence. Competing with the likes of Hey Monday, Andrew W.K., and All American Rejects for the coveted attention of overwhelmingly teenage festival attendees, the group made sure to bring the fucking mosh at the Long Island, NY stop. After some delay on my part catching Emmure’s lively set, I hurried back to the press area to interview laid-back-and-damn-cool guitarist Mark Heylmun about Warped, the boldly minimal video for “Disengage”, and why fans should buy the recently released “Body Bag Edition” of their latest album No Time to Bleed.

Oh, and dubstep. We talked about dubstep.

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When I first saw this headline on SMN News I got all excited; new Dub War music? Could it be? Well, not quite; Benji Webbe is still doing Skindred and I’m not quite sure what the other two dudes who make up the UK ragga-metal pioneers are up to these days. But on September 13th, the band’s longtime label Earache will release a compilation called The Dub, The War, and The Ugly.

Precious little information is easily available about the compilation on any news sites or the band’s official site (no mention), but I’ve done some Internet sleuthing to take away the guess work for you. The comp is available for pre-order in Earache’s webstore, and here’s what they have to say about it there:

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So last month we began this contest with the dudes in The Red Chord, wherein the band was taking photos of the crowd at various stops on the MetalSucks co-sponsored Summer Slaughter tour, and we were circling people in those photos, and if you saw yourself circled and e-mailed us, you’d be entered into a drawing to win an awesome autographed mystery prize from The Red Chord.

And, as some of you noted in the comments section, that ended up being too hard.

So we’re changing the rules a little bit. Here are the new rules:

• We’re not circling anyone in the photos. All you have to do is find yourself in a photo, then send an e-mail to news [at] metalsucks [dot] net with the phrase RED CHORD SUMMER SLAUGHTER PIX in the subject line. Please include a photo of yourself to prove it’s actually you. If you think the photo won’t be enough, maybe you can scan your ticket stub or something, too. BUT…
• …we’re not going to tell you in which town the photo was taken. So it’s up to you to look at these closely and try to find yourself.
• Also, yes, we’re making this work retroactively, so if you were in a photo from the last round but not circled, you’re still eligible to win. And you have it easier, ’cause the towns are already marked.

And that’s it! It should go without saying that you need to live in the U.S. to win this contest, so if you’re some weirdo who flew all the way from Malta for this tour and you’re in one of the photos, well, tough titty.

Now here’s the latest batch of pics… good luck!

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On their first two albums, Knights of the Abyss followed in the riff-chainin’, breakdownin’ tire treads of their Glendale, Arizona neighbors Job for a Cowboy, even involving that band’s ex-drummer, Andy Rysdam, to clinch the comparison. With their third album, The Culling of Wolves, Knights of the Abyss have moved further away from the deathcore of their youth and closer to the richly melodic Pop/R&B hybrid of that other famous Glendale export, American Idol winner Jordin Sparks.

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All That Remains have made the title track from their new album, …For We Are Many, available for free download if you sign up for their mailing list; but if you’re like me and you don’t want to be bombarded with constant e-mails from the ATR promo crew, the song is also now on YouTube, natch. Check it out below.

I gotta say… it’s not a great song or anything — it’s basically just generic metalcore — but I do like it way, way, way more than any other All That Remains tracks I’ve heard in the past few years, for really just one reason: THERE ARE ALMOST NO CLEAN VOCALS. In fact, I think I’d enjoy this even more if that stupid vocoder shit wasn’t in there. (For fuck’s sake, everyone, CUT IT THE FUCK OUT WITH THE FUCKING VOCODERS.) But I guess at least we can be grateful that Phil LaBonte isn’t trying to fool anyone into thinking he can actually sing. ‘Cause in my experience, he can’t.

…For We Are Many comes out October 12 on Prosthetic/Razor & Tie.

-AR

Rarely if ever do I get through an entire CD sent to the Mansion by a band I’ve never heard of before, but Metafiction, the latest from Polish prog/atmospheric outfit Votum, put me into a trance and I just couldn’t turn it off.

Votum aren’t what you’re expecting; they’re certainly not “prog” by modern standards of the word, and they’re really not even that heavy. They’re prog in the way Porcupine Tree are;  pretty long songs that meander about, and vocalist Maciej Kosinski’s voice isn’t too far off from Steven Wilson’s, but the comparisons end there. This band is all about the atmospherics, and they use slow tempos and layered, effects-laden guitars to convey a subdued mood that had me transfixed through all of Metafiction. And there’s just enough heavy to keep me interested.

Not sure if this is for everyone, but if you like bands like P Tree, Oceansize, maybe even Devin Townsend’s solo stuff or King’s X, give it a shot. The first song on their MySpace page is kind of a sleeper… so I’d start with “Glassy Essence,” the second track in the player.

-VN

I think bassist Jeremy Creamer may be the biggest question mark for most Daath fans; he’s not front n’ center like vocalist Sean Z., and unlike guitarists Eyal Levi and Emil Werstler and drummer Kevin Talley, his work outside of Daath is not, at least currently, that well-known by the metal community (very likely because his work outside of Daath is often not metal music). But he’s an insanely cool dude and an insanely talented dude, and… I’m not gonna tell you more ’cause I’m gonna run an interview with him as part of the massive behind-the-scenes series I’m working on. So for the time being, just watch the below video that Skulls N’ Bones posted of him laying down bass for Daath’s new, self-titled album, which comes out October 26 on Century.

Daath has also released the track list for the album. Even with a band I love (like this one!), I don’t usually find track lists all that interesting, ‘case song titles don’t actually tell you much, but this being Daath n’ all, I’m gonna run it anyway. Check it out after the jump.

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We are less than two weeks away from the release of Misled by Certainty, Cephalic Carnage’s lastest assertion that potheads do not have to make hippy-dippy Phish food. And now they’ve released another track off the album, “When I Arrive,” which you can stream below. Vocalist Len Leal told me that he categorizes this music as “progressive disco,” so make sure you turn this shit up and get your back catch on, okay?

Misled by Certainty comes out August 31 on Relapse. If you live in Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, or San Francisco, you can still catch Cephalic Carnage on one of the last four dates of the MetalSucks co-sponsored Summer Slaughter tour; get more details here.

-AR

The below College Humor video was submitted by Lord Assenfroth, and while it’s only kinda-sorta funny, I do think it raises an interesting question, though: Why do people who are supposed to love Jesus love seeing portrayals of Christ in agony? I suspect it has something to do with instilling a sense of guilt (“He died for your sins!”) which is supposed to keep people moral, but I also know that the Italians and Greeks, like the Jews, have mothers for that very same purpose, so… is there another explanation that I’m missing?

-AR

Congrats to Matt Bell, Jordan Poe, and Stephen Wigmore, all of whom identified last week’s logo as belonging to the band Rhytidectomy. For their troubles, Mr. Bell wins the grand prize — a copy of Knights of the Abyss‘ latest, The Culling of Wolves, as well as a t-shirt — while Jordan and Stephen, the runners-up, each win a CD. Enjoy those, fellas!

A couple of weeks ago I tried to unload some crap by promising to e-mail the winner a list of CDs (and possibly DVDs) that we have lying around here at the Mansion and giving him or her the choice of what he or she would like… and that ended up being insanely popular. So we’re gonna do it again this week! In fact, if you win, I’ll give you your choice of any TWO items from the list. How’s the sound? Pretty good, right?

All you gots to do to win is identify the name of the band whose logo appears below, then shoot me an e-mail at axl AT metalsucks DOT net with your answer, your name, and your address. ALL ENTRIES WITHOUT AN ADDRESS WILL BE DISQUALIFIED. From everyone who gets it right, we’ll randomly select one winner and announce his or her name next week.

This week’s logo was suggested by reader Tom Frenette… thanks, Tom!

-AR

I’m not exactly an old man or anything like that (yet), but I have, like our pal Doc Coyle, been struggling to come to terms with no longer being the young dude at shows anymore. More and more, when I got to interview bands, I’m actually interviewing guys who are younger than I am, which somehow feels weird — but not as weird as looking around while we were standing near the front during Animals as Leaders’ set at Summer Slaughter and thinking “Hm, we are way out of place up here. We should probably go find all the other old fogies back by the bar.” Which, indeed, is where we found our friends.

So, yeah. I’m not the youngest guy at the show anymore.

But this band In Death I Rise — formerly known as Buried by the Ocean — would make anyone with even the slightest amount of pubic hair feel like John McCain.

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How does Great White still exist? If The Station Fire wasn’t a career-ending scandal, what is? Would Jack Russell have to go around throwing babies at brick walls or something? Or do you still think aging housewives would re-live their glory days by going to see him and whomever the fuck else is in Great White these days play “Once Bitten, Twice Shy,” and, uhhh… I don’t even know what this band’s other hits are. (I like hair metal, and I always thought that Great White were pretty weak.) But I’d think that, at this point, going to a Great White show would be akin to getting into a car being driven by Vince Neil, or having unprotected sex with Tommy Lee, or agreeing to be the new member of any version of L.A. Guns: a bad, bad, bad, terrible, horrible, atrocious, bad idea. I would only agree to doing so if I were promised I could stand right next to the exit, with one foot out the door, and that no pyro of any kind would be used.

But some people don’t let thoughts like this linger in the mind. And so Great White does still exist, in some form or another, although they may be on hiatus for awhile — according to Gunshy Assassin, Russell recently “suffered a perforated bowel… which meant crap starting leaking into his abdomen.” Yucky. Doctors have fixed the problem and Russell is now pooping normally again, thanks to the aid of a colostomy bag that his surgeons think “will just be temporary.”

That’s terrible, and under any normal circumstances, I’d feel bad for Russell. Then again, The Station Fire. So, y’know. Life’s a bitch.

-AR

North Carolina’s Vanisher, who were once known as Zero System and feature in their ranks members of Bloodjinn and Glass Casket, have a dual-pronged piece of good news for metalheads this week. First is the announcement that they’ve signed with Tribunal Records and will release their new full-length album The History of Saints on September 14th. And to support the album they’ve announced a 10-day tour of the East Coast in September on which they’ll have MS faves The Binary Code and NC rockers Hephystus in tow.

Despite the pedigree of its members, Vanisher actually doesn’t sound a whole lot like Bloodjinn or Glass Casket; dare I say, they’re a bit more straight-forward than either? I’ve really been digging what I’ve heard of The History of Saints from their MySpace page; it’s melodic and catchy without being trite or obvious, and it’s got plenty of brutality and razor tightness which was what I always loved about Bloodjinn. Of course you all know how we feel about The Binary Code, whose new EP Priest is out now and the title track of which we’re streaming here. Hephystus are new to us, but we look forward to seeing them when they hit the NYC stop (with local faves Empyreon).

Tour dates after the jump!

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During Hair Metal Week here on MetalSucks, the prize for Completely Unreadable Band Logo of the Week was a mix of glam songs compiled by yours truly. I know some of the entrants wanted me to post the track listing for that mix, and now that it’s finally completed (I’m kind of a perfectionist when it comes to mixes) and the winner, Ash Patterson, tells me he’s received his prize, it’s time to publish that track list, so you can all compile your own mix at home should you so choose.

I tried to pick songs that either a) were by bands I think most people have long since forgotten about, or b) were less famous entries in the oeuvre of more well-known bands. Hopefully those of you who actually like this kind of music will dig this.

Here’s the track list:

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If you are reading MetalSucks, I assume that you hate Bleeding Through. They don’t have beards, don’t sound like Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, or Cynic, but they do have short hair and breakdowns — in short, the formula for MS reader-repellent as far as I can tell. But even if you’re a butthurt internet metal dork, I hope you are at least smart enough to give them the credit they deserve. After serving time as a founding member of the equally-awesome and underrated 18 Visions (read my definitive history of 18 Visions on Stuff You Will Hate for more info), Brandan quit to do Bleeding Through full time — a decision that at the time we thought was ridiculous, but proved to be very smart. As one of the first groups to play what we now call “deathcore,” they’re also one of the very few bands from that era who’s not only still around but still relevant.

BT singer Brandan Schieppati is a busy man, getting ready for an upcoming tour as well as the launch of his Huntington Beach-based fitness company Rise Above Fitness, but he was kind enough to answer a few questions for me. I’m sure it sounds geeky, but I’ve been a big fan of BT since 2000 or so, so I was really stoked to do this interview — thanks to BT alumni Javier for setting it up!

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There’s only so much wanky prog shit a man can take; sometimes he just needs to turn his brain off, smoke a doob, and bang his head. Even me.

Thankfully there are plenty of bands for that too, not the least of which are the bands that comprise the burgeoning retro psych/stoner metal scene (see: Tee Pee Records). While Virginia’s Valkyrie aren’t on the aforementioned stoner label mecca, with their psych rock base and Thin Lizzy / Iron Maiden-inspired leads and grooves they’d fit right in. You might recognize guitarist Pete Adams from his support role in Baroness, but here we see him take the helm with his brother Jake; the ease with which both guitarists’ weave in and out of each others’ lines is the kind of chemistry only a duo that came from the same uterus can harness.

So smoke ‘em if you got ‘em, and kick back to the laid-back, classic metal of Valkyrie on their MySpace page. Their new album Man of Two Visions is out now via MeteorCity Records.

-VN

Alright, kiddies. There were a lot of good entries this year, but we’ve narrowed the field down to ten finalists who are eligible to win our Second Annual Run MetalSucks for a Day Contest. Now it’s time for you guys to vote and decide who should win. Whomever gets the most votes gets to run MetalSucks for the entire day on Friday, August 27. In case you’ve forgotten the rules, you can read them here. This poll will close at midnight EST on Sunday, August 22.

Have at it! Read the finalists’ entries after the jump.

-Axl & Vince

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The Grill ‘Em All food truck — Los Angeles-based mobile proprietors of delicious metal-themed burgers — is releasing its own BBQ sauce! And we asked you to help come up with a name for it. After much deliberation and many hilarious entries, Chef Ryan has made his selection. Here’s a note from the Chef himself:

Hey there, rippers!

First off I’d like to thank all you maniacs for helping us find a name for our amazing BBQ sauce; you out did yourselves for real! There were some really tough choices: “Baste ‘Em All,” “Napalm Breath,” “6 6 Sauce,” and of course, “Hammer Smashed Baste!” Awesome!

Unfortunately there can only be one winner, and our personal favorite for many reasons (one of them being that it was the least offensive, haha!) is “Mosh Pit Barbecue Sauce,” submitted by rattlehead.

So congratulations, rattlehead, your name is officially going on our barbeque sauce! Here’s a picture of a bottle with no label and also a picture of what is coming to a grill near you!

Thanks again to everyone who responded, and look out for Grill Em All’s MOSH PIT BBQ SAUCE in stores soon!

Ryan

P.S. – Jimmy, “Grilled In Action” is amazing, although I don’t think anyone would get it, haha! (my old bands name was Killed In Action)

Congrats to rattlehead and everyone who participated. Rattlehead will get two bottles of the newly named Mosh Pit BBQ Sauce as well as a Grill ‘Em All t-shirt in the mail, and as for the rest of you, make sure you watch The Los Angeles Food Trucks episode of Food Wars featuring Grill ‘Em All TONIGHT, August 18th at 10 pm EST on the Travel Channel.

Brutal Truth have released a new video, for the song “Get a Therapist… Spare the World,” which has to be one of the best song titles ever. It’s not a great video or anything, but it’s Brutal Truth, so they pretty much could have filmed Richard Hoak and Dan Lilker making out and I would have posted it.

Actually, note to Brutal Truth: For your next video, please just film Hoak making out with Lilker. That shit would get you a lot of attention, I can tell you that much.

“Get a Therapist… Spare the World” comes off of Brutal Truth’s latest awesome offering, Evolution Through Revolution, which is out now on Relapse.

-AR

I feel like we’ve been hearing about Times of Grace, the new project that reunites original Killswitch Engage singer/current The Empire Shall Fall front man Jesse Leach with KSE’s guitarist/producer/all-around goofball Adam Dutkiewicz, for some time; now the duo have announced a November 9 release date for their debut album, The Hymn of a Broken Man, which will come out via — who else? — Roadrunner.

There’s no music to be heard yet, but here’s what Leach told me about the outfit when I interviewed him back in March:

“[It's] a project Adam and I have worked on and have been waiting to release for the past few years… Style wise it pulls from metal/rock/ambient shoe gaze type stuff, as well as punk and blues. It is something you just have to hear. I will go on record and say it is the most epic work of our careers in my opinion. I am certain people will react to it as lyrically it is very soulful and deep. The music (all written by Adam I might add) is just powerful stuff. Adam is an incredible writer and producer… I truly feel if given the right opportunities, he could be a full-on composer and score movies, among other things.”

So, uh, that doesn’t actually tell us that much, except that, despite what some might expect or perhaps even hope, it’s probably not going to sound very Killswitchy. Which is fine by me — the biggest complaint I (and apparently a lot of other people) have about KSE is that their albums have all started to sound the same, so it will be good to hear Mr. D. stretch his wings somewhat. And Leach’s voice is certainly sounding really good these days. So color me curious about this one.

-AR