I’m a hypocrite. I give bands like Linkin Park and Nickelback shit for basically writing the same album over and over and over again, but I don’t have a problem  (or at least have less of a problem) with bands like Slayer, Children of Bodom, and, well, Kataklysm doing more or less the same thing. I guess because I like songs like “Necrophobic” and “Perseverance” and “Prevail,” I have no problem hearing a seemingly endless string of versions of those tracks, whereas if I hear one more variation of “How You Remind Me,” I’m going to grab Sam Jackson and kill every motherfucker in the McDowell’s.

Which is a long way of saying that, yes, Kataklysm’s new album, Heaven’s Venom, sounds more or less like every other Kataklysm album, and I still think it rocks. It’s impossible to listen to this band and not headbang, y’know?

The band has released the first video from the album now, for the song “Push the Venom,” and I gotta say… it’s one of the better videos I’ve seen in awhile. It’s just absolutely EPIC. So props to director Ivan Colic.

Nuclear Blast has already released Heaven’s Venom in Europe; North America gets it August 24.

-AR

• Picture It In Ruins: The band’s guitarist Luke Friebel asked us not too be turned off by the fact that these guys are from Wyoming. Why would we care about that? Being from Wyoming is actually pretty cool; I can’t imagine they have a scorching hot metal scene there so the fact that these guys even exist is neat in and of itself. The band is pretty good too, even if it’s blatantly obvious how much they love BTBAM.
• Dead At the Scene: A bit more core-y than BTBAM or the above, but still definitely BTBAM-influenced. Dig their video for “Sharktopus” above. It’s all artsy and stuff. I think Axl would like it.
• The Viking: Probably the least overtly BTBAM influenced of these three bands, but there’s still plenty of proggy metal mixed with core to go around and plenty of epicness along with it. Lots of extended instrumental passages and winding, story-telling solos… how can you fight that? [Thanks: Benjamin Petraitis]

-VN

To say that guitarist Wacław “Vogg” Kiełtyka has been through a lot would be the understatement of the decade. He co-founded Decapitated, one of the best death metal bands of the past decade, with his brother, drummer Witold “Vitek” Kiełtyka, and the band released four incredible albums in six years; then, in 2007, a tragic van accident befell the group while touring. Vitek didn’t survive, and then-vocalist Adrian “Covan” Kowanek was left in a coma. If Decapitated had ended at that point, well, no one would have been surprised.

But Vogg persevered, and last year, he re-formed the band with an all-new lineup. Which, odd though it may sounds, makes Decapitated’s current headlining stint on the MetalSucks co-sponsored Summer Slaughter Tour one of the most emotional death metal shows you’ll ever see. Because this isn’t just a new band using an old name; it’s a killer new band that absolutely adheres to the spirit and style of the brutal outfit we all know and love, and is absolutely worthy of the name “Decapitated.”

Axl and Vince caught up with Vogg at Summer Slaughter’s recent stop in New York City. After the jump, get Vogg’s thoughts on the new Decapitated, the tour, the band’s next album, and more.

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Nah, that doesn’t even make any sense! I just couldn’t think of a better headline to convey that The Acacia Strain have announced a tour with Terror, The Red Chord, and The Contortionist, to take place in October and November.

Actually, I’m not even sure I had to tell you that — we’ve gotten so many e-mails about it these past few days, it seems pretty clear that most of you know. In fact, the general message of those e-mails seemed to be something along the lines of, “Why the fuck haven’t you posted anything about this yet, you filthy fucking fucks?”, and the answer is, “We were hoping they’d announce dates so we could post the news and itinerary in one fell swoop.”

But there are still no dates and this tour is worth writing about twice. The Acacia Strain’s new album, Wormwood, is just terrific; Terror, like Hatebreed, are a band best experienced in a live setting; if you read MS regularly, you already know we’re retardedly huge fans of The Red Chord (the band on this bill I personally would be most excited to see, even though I just saw them on Summer Slaughter less than two weeks ago); and The Contortionist… well, I don’t know The Cortionist very well, but reader Hayden Nease is insistent that they’re awesome (E-mail sample: “The Contortionist. Seriously, The Contortionist. No, really, The Contortionist. sursly guize”), and “Flourish,” the new song they’re currently streaming on Noisecreep, certainly tickles me. So consider this an altogether killer bill.

While we wait for dates, here’s a video that The Acacia Strain’s Vincent Bennett recently made for Metal Injection, in which he asks other bands/techs/fans/whatever, “What’s so cool about The Cool Tour?” You, Vincent. You’re what’s so cool about The Cool Tour!

Metal Injection also has some behind-the-scenes footage from the shoot for The Acacia Strain’s new video, “The Hills Have Eyes.” Check that out here.

-AR

If you’re a fan of metallic hardcore, then you’re presumably waiting with bated breath and clenched fists for the new Terror record. The California toughguys recently released a four song teaser 7″ and are due to drop the full length Keepers Of The Faith next month, and we’ve partnered with Reaper Records to give one lucky windmilling fanboy copies of these two limited edition vinyl releases.

So how do you win this awesome vinyl package? Answer this question in the comments section below:

Who’s the toughest motherfucker in hardcore (past or present)?

I’ll be picking the winner myself, not based on who *I* think is the toughest motherfucker in hardcore, but on the merits of your entry. I’m looking for thoughtful/interesting/funny/brilliant answers, not just some dude’s name, in order to ensure that someone truly into this shit gets this vinyl package. Remember to comment with a real email address (or include it with your comment if you’re using FB Connect).

If you don’t happen to win, be sure to pre-order your vinyl copy of Keepers Of The Faith from Reaper. (Century Media’s doing the CD version, which you can pre-order here.)

-GS

There’s a concept that people seem to have a hard time wrapping their heads around, and that concept is this: there are many different writers here at MetalSucks, and each of those writers is a different person and, as such, has his or her own opinion on various topics, and, consequently, does not always agree with his or co-workers’ stance on any given issue.

Case in point: Kylesa. Vince doesn’t get what the big deal is, Sammy and Bob love ‘em to pieces, and I fall somewhere in between — I think they rock really, really hard, but I don’t think they’re the Second Coming or anything.

And we’ll all get a chance to argue lots and lots about them real soon — the band has announced an October 26 release date for their latest offering, Spiral Shadow. In fact, we can all start arguing right now: Invisible Oranges has posted footage of the band playing a new song on their current European tour. Watch it below.

I’ll go first: I think this song sounds potentially really, really awesome. Cosmo Lee says the riff reminds him of Nirvana; I know this is gonna sound weird, but it sounds to me like a way, way, way less irritating variation of Blink 182′s “What’s My Age Again?” Not that it matters… this is far superior to that. Some tribal drums, druggier speeds, and not-nasally vocals go a long way towards gaining some goodwill from me, y’know?

So… how do you feel about it?

-AR

I think Motley Crue’s “Home Sweet Home” was actually the first “life on the road” music video, but regardless of who created the genre, it existed before Guns N’ Roses’ Nigel Dick-directed clip for “Paradise City,” and has continued to exist long since. (A recent example would be DevilDriver’s video for “Fate Stepped In.”) And they seem to be a rite of passage in some sense — even Metallica have made one.

But there was a candid quality to “Paradise City” that, even if it was ultimately manufactured, felt real-enough to differentiate it from, say, Warrant’s video for “Heaven.” Jani Lane just looked right into the camera, and all the “home movie” footage looked like regular, glossy MTV footage with some kind of after-effect added in post, and, generally speaking, the whole thing just seemed pretty staged. Whether “Paradise City” was entirely authentic or not is beside the point; Dick did a top-notch job of making it feel authentic, which was enough to sell GN’R's image as a “real” band to kids like Vince and myself, who thought they were the cat’s pajamas.

In that context, it’s difficult to watch Slash’s new video for “Back to Cali” without thinking that it’s intended to be a direct call-back to “Paradise City” — it’s got the grainy B&W footage, the odd and unnecessary use of random Dutch angles, the playing in front of crowds disproportionate to the band’s current success (The “Paradise City” footage was actually filmed when GN’R was opening for Aerosmith; Slash seems to playing mostly European festivals in this video), etc. I don’t know who directed it and I’m not sure why he or she would make such a decision; kids who know Slash as “that dude from Velvet Revolver” won’t remember the “Paradise City” video and won’t care, and I don’t really think it’ll do much for the nostalgia of old bastards like me.

But, uh, whatever, I guess. “Back to Cali” is one of the better songs on Slash’s solo record; it’s basically just blues-based bar rock, which is to say, it plays to Mr. Saul Hudson’s strengths.

And here’s the “Paradise City” video, if you’re one of the aforementioned kids who have never seen it before…

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Apparently you people think you know better than us supergeniuses at MetalSucks when it comes to picking bands that rule. As it turns out, you’re sometimes right! So in that spirit, here are a couple of metallic hardcore bands recently recommended to me via Twitter, since email is for chumps and olds.

Xibalba: The band already has the respect of many (including fresh faced recommender @m00tzman), with a coveted slot on the lineup at this year’s This Is Hardcore festival. And holy shit, they are menacing! Just look at their tough mugs! Scared yet? No? Well, the SoCal crew take their influences (Sepultura, Disembodied) fucking seriously. Xibalba sound like a hardcore band doused with gasoline, set on fire, and forced to play a twenty minute set. This website offers some of their tracks for free, you Curious George you.

Click to read more…

Say what you want about David Draiman — and buddah knows we’ve sure said a lot of things over the years — but you’ve got to hand it to the guy for being [surprisingly] one of the best spoken and most informed musicians in today’s heavy music scene.

Check out Part 2, below, of the recent video interview with Draiman conducted by Phil Freeman on his MSN metal blog in which Draiman speaks eloquently and cohesively about the role of religion in modern society, the holocaust, and the state of currently Israeli youth politics. Like woah, can you imagine Robb Flynn or Tom Araya (“dude… dude…”) or even someone like Jamey Jasta or Guy Kozywyk (two smart men in their own right) getting through an earnest conversation like this, or even wanting to? So, as much as it pains me to say it, bravo for Draiman for bringing important issues to the forefront of at least some of his fans’ minds.

Now, about those big cars and mansion you have while preaching for less oil consumption… Davey, we gotta talk about that.

-VN

I’m sitting here listening to to an advance promo of Maserati’s forthcoming album Pyramid of the Sun for the third time in just 24 hours, and it’s so good that I’m getting chills. So good for anyone, sure, as Maserati’s atmospheric, driving groove rock instantly captivated me the first time I saw them at SXSW 2009; so good for Maserati, as seemingly everything this band puts out is pure gold; and so good, first and foremost, when I think about how the drums were played by Jerry Fuchs, a master of his craft who was taken from us far before his time in a tragic accident in November of last year.

As one of Fuchs’ final recordings, Pyramid of the Sun stands firmly as a celebration of Fuchs’ legacy. The band belabored its completion for the better part of a year both before Fuchs’ death and after it. The press release that came with the promo claims Pyramid is “the most dynamic, melodic and tuneful Maserati album of the band’s decade-long career,” and I can’t disagree.

If you never saw Maserati live then I’m sad to say it’s going to be hard for me to capture the magic of Fuchs’ performances — and of Maserati as a whole — in words. The best I can offer you is a series of live videos Kip W. compiled shortly after his death and the video of “We Got the System to Fight the System,” a track from the new album, posted above. Fuchs was simply phenomenal; not flashy at all but still somehow obviously the lead member of the band, up on the edge of the stage in front of the other band members.

R.I.P. Jerry. I’m glad the band pushed ahead with this album to celebrate his legacy and introduce Maserati’s music to, hopefully, a whole new group of fans. Pyramid of the Sun comes out on November 9th via Temporary Residence.

-VN

Look. It’s entirely possible that I give Zakk Wylde more shit than he deserves. We hurt the ones we love the most, and vice versa. When I was a kid, Zakk was a GOD; Vince and I worshiped the ground he walked on. I can’t quite tell if his playing has actually gotten more boring or my tastes have just matured as I’ve gotten older, but I don’t think he has the old magic; Slash isn’t exactly breaking any new ground artistically, but at least he still sounds more or less like Slash. Zakk’s playing has turned into a parody of itself; nevermind that it doesn’t have the grace or scope of No More Tears - it just sounds, at least to my ears, like mindless noodling, with a laughably silly number of those guitar squeals to remind us who’s playing. It would be like if every modern Woody Allen scene had a moment where the Woodman jumps from the bushes and yells “I’M JEWISH! REMEMBER ANNIE HALL?” Yeah, dude. We remember. It was awesome.

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If you live in the Tri-State Area, hopefully you’re already familiar with WSOU. They’re literally the only radio station I can think of that still plays metal. We listen all the time, and have been listening for years now.

So we’re stoked that we’re gonna be guest DJs this Saturday, August 14, from 4 – 8 pm. That means that you can listen in and still be done in time to go out and get wasted on Saturday night! So if you love us, you really have no excuse not to listen. We’ll be playing some sexcellent music, and I think we can take callers, too, so you can harass us over the phone, instead of via e-mail/the comments section/Twitter like you usually do.

And, of course, it’s worth nothing that our voices are low and orgasm-inducing.

Saturday. 4 – 8 pm. If you live in the area, it’s 89.5 FM on your radio; everyone else can listen on the Internet right here.

-Axl & Vince

And there’s really nothing else to say except, “HOO-RAY!” I’m so fucking excited for this album I can’t even tell you.

My own in-depth, behind-the-scenes studio reports will begin in September, but in the meantime, Metal Mark from Skulls N’ Bones continues to post his own videos. This latest one shows Sean Z. laying down vocals in the studio with producer Mark Lewis, and apparently smoking while he does it. Fuckin’ metal.

October is really right around the corner, so hopefully we’ll get to hear some music real soon…

-AR

Just in time to make you that much more hopeful that Nergal’s health is 110% restored real soon comes this video for “Alas, the Lord is Upon Me.”

And one thing I gotta say about Behemoth — their videos never disappoint. Even if they’re not exactly ground-breaking, they never look cheap, and they always successfully convey the image/message they want to convey. So three cheers, in this instance at least, for the directors at Grupa 13, who previously helmed a bunch of videos for Polish artists I’ve never heard of.

By the way, this is apparently the censored version of the video… I guess an even bloodier version will emerge soon.

“Alas, the Lord is Upon Me,” comes from Behemoth’s Evangelion, which is out now on Metal Blade.

-AR

This year’s Summer Slaughter trek marks the return of Polish groove metal masters Decapitated to American soil, and last Sunday in NYC we got to witness the band’s new lineup first-hand. As expected, they completely slayed faces. No disrespect to Vitek and Covan, but the new lineup of Decapitated is fucking phenomenal and makes you forget the terrible tragedy to befall their brothers.

I haven’t found any decent footage of Decapitated’s NYC Summer Slaughter performance, but reader Chris Uber sent in this fantastic HD video of the band’s first performance with the new members, back on February 9th. Imagine this, but on a bigger stage and with more people watching and that’s what Summer Slaughter was like. It fucking ruled, plain and simple.

-VN

Within the Ruins’ new video for “Invade.”

New England deathcore band Within the Ruins have been a favorite of mine for a little less than a year now. I though that their 2009 release Creature had a fresh new feel, especially when compared to the boring deathcore masses. It was technical and catchy at the same time without being overly repetitive. The band has always been fairly unknown, but their popularity recently started to increase coinciding with the pending release of their new album, from which two killer new songs have been posted. I recently talked with Tim Goergen, the band’s new vocalist (first half), and Joe Cocchi, the lead guitarist (second half), about their upcoming release.

Click to read more…

Okay. So. On Friday night Vince, Kip and I went to this freaking incredible Cynic/Intronaut/Dysrhythmia show with our number one homies from Metal Injection, and then we all went to this other really awesome show, with My America and Keelhaul at The Acheron in Brooklyn. And, yeah, I totally missed My America because I was socializing outside the venue, but I hear they were awesome, and Sean “Spleen Latifa” Gresens has posted some good footage on his “Belly Full of Hell” channel on Metal Injection.

BUT, I did see Keelhaul, and they were excellent. I mean really, really killer. You’d kinda think that anything following the aforementioned Cynic/Intronaut/Dysrhythmia show would seem totally weak in comparison, but Keelhaul really kicked ass.

So I hope you don’t take it the wrong way I tell you that the most memorable part of the show involved a loogie.

See, at some point during the first or second song of the set, vocalist/bassist Aaron Dallison (also of Ringworm and a bunch of other Cleveland outfits) hocked a HUGE loogie right into the air… and it stuck to the very low-hanging ceiling. And it hung there. Like, forever.

I got seriously distracted as I watched it, fearful that it might fall on Dallison or guitarist Dana Embrose, who was also standing pretty close to it. Ever heard Alfred Hitchcock’s definition of suspense? It’s when you’re watching a movie, and you know there’s a bomb ticking down in the room somewhere, but the characters on-screen do not — in other words, dramatic irony = suspense.

And this was suspenseful as all fuck. It shook, it swayed – but it would not fall.

I was so obsessed with watching to see if the damn thing was gonna fall or not that I actually snapped a (admittedly very shitty) picture of it on my iPhone:

Look at the size of that fucking thing!!!

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In the latest entry on Ask Earache – the blog on which Earache head honcho Digby Pearson opens himself up to reader questions and promises “straight answers… without the bullshit” and defends re-thrash as a forward-pushing genre – Dig takes a stab at quantifying the effects that social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook have had on the metal scene. His argument is that the social networks have changed what it means to be a fan from going to the show and hanging around for all the bands to simply pressing the “like” button, and as a result the metal scene is suffering. As with the past Ask Earache blog posts I’ve read, Dig’s premise is sound but his logic leads to a false conclusion. Check it out as Professor Neilstein dissects his argument one point at a time.

Click to read more…

I’ve been living with The Binary Code’s new EP Priest ever since they sent it to me many weeks ago, but from the get-go my favorite track has been “Encircled,” a progressive masterpiece that’s currently streaming over at Revolver Magazine. To me it encompasses all that I love about The Binary Code — complex, techy passages that don’t sacrifice the overall song in the name of showing off, off-kilter time signatures, sections of straight-forward head-banging groove, a little dose of shred, and an epic instrumental closing passage that calls to mind the “Part II” section of “Suspension of Disbelief” from their debut LP of the same name. In short, it’s fucking awesome.

The Priest EP came out yesterday and is available for instant digital download at The Binary Code’s webstore for only $3!! That’s the price of half a beer at any bar in NYC — cheap! They’ve also got some nifty t-shirt + download combos for only $15, although the 50 limited edition hand-made CDs the band put together have all long since sold out.

Listen to “Encircled” via Revolver here, and also check out our stream of the Priest title-track here and this jaw-dropping video of guitarist Jesse Zuretti and drummer Umar Fahim playing along to “Priest” on Metal Injection. The Binary Code dudes tell us they’ll be touring the East Coast in September; stay tuned for dates.

-VN

Oh, baby! There has been escalation in the volatile Aerosmith situation. Until this weekend, it was a case of a lead singer gone coconuts after too many spills and pills vs. his semi-hetero life partner/drug buddy and the other three guys. Since Steven Tyler seems kinda, um, relapsed and not into Aerosmith, the upper hand goes to Joe Perry, whose public support comes in return for promises of more touring and a real Aerosmith record.

Arms were twisted, so Aerosmith is on tour; then the fragile, contemptuous truce was rocked by Tyler’s recent threats to join American Idol‘s panel of insightless windbags. Perry, noticeably aggrieved, returned to the press to gripe and, frankly, his case is stronger than ever. It was four on one, yet the four were hostages. But that was until Monday when blam!!! The balance has shifted. It’s a power struggle!

Drummer Joey Kramer told Billboard.com: ”We’ve been talking about it the last couple of days, and it’s made me come to realize what a positive impact it could have for [Aerosmith]. The possibilities are kind of infinite with something like that happening, us being exposed to a whole new generation of people. So we’ll see what happens. It should be interesting.”

I bet Perry was like, “The drummer went over to Steven’s side? That fuckin’ shank!” All the same, Kramer’s statement is meaningful; Tyler’s cross-generational marketing prowess — not Aerosmith music — is responsible for the band’s prolonged success. So I can see how Joey K. would trust him now, though Tyler is currently way batshit insaner than he was circa Get A Grip. Oh, and only a drummer could fail to notice that American Idol is not exactly the portal to the young wallet like hip-hop, MTV, and big soundtracks once were. I’m sure Tyler even knows that, which means Idol was his third or fourth choice after The Hills and Jersey Shore. Think about that shit.

-ADF