The first image of Dimmu Borgir’s new video, for the song “Gateways,” suggests that the viewer is about to experience something beautiful and maybe even unique to metal videos; then it just turns into another “band in a warehouse” video like a million other “band in a warehouse” videos, only, like, with a slo-mo dove and stuff. (By the way, it’s come to my attention that these videos are almost never filmed in warehouses — in fact, I don’t think the band is in a warehouse in this video. But I understand why people always think they’re looking at a warehouse… these locations do look kinda warehouse-y.) Not helping is that this song features one of the most annoying vocal performances I’ve ever heard (by the Goth(ier) Annie Lennox chick in the black), and that instead of dressing like Immortal, the members of Dimmu now dress like Marilyn Manson circa-Mechanical Animals – or, as reader Chainsword astutely observed, like tauntauns.

Dimmu Borgir’s new album, Snowy Doesn’t Love Here Anymore, comes out October 12 on Nuclear Blast, or September 24 if you live in Germany or have an internet connection.

-AR

What year is this? Last night Axl and I went to see Slash, tonight we’re going to see Billy Idol (with mutual man-crush Steve “Jewy Jewowitz” Stevens on guitar!!) and now I’m posting about a new song by Joe Satriani. Sergeant D overslept today or else I’m sure he’d be kicking our asses and making us listen to way cooler music from the ’80s and ’90s like, I don’t know, Leeway or Black Army Jacket, but your Uncles Axl and Vince weren’t nearly so cool back in the day.

So for now it’s Satch, and ya know what? Cheesy Chickenfoot project included, dude can still play his balls off although Satch ought-ten is way more restrained than Satch nineteen-ninety. It’s like Satch realized a long time ago that he can’t keep up with today’s kids by out-shredding the shredders so he took a conscious step back from the speed in favor of a calmer, bluesier, dare I say loungier version of himself. Which was a good decision if you ask me, because the key to longevity in music is finding a way to slide gracefully from your youth into whatever follows. If only Slash would be so prudent and make a straight blues album (or five) instead of still trying to rock, man! we know it’d absolutely smoke faces, instead of Slash’s recent solo album which is perfectly ok but… tries just a little to hard to rock, man!

Hear neo-Satch on his brand new track “Light Years Away.” It’s available for free and comes from his forthcoming jam Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards, out October 5th on Epic Records.

-VN

I was catching up on my Deciblog today when I came across the below video for “And Clash and Clash of Hoof and Heel,” by Sailors with Wax Wings. The outfit is apparently a side-project for Pyramids’ R. Loren, so I now have to admit that although our friend Corey Mitchell is a Pyramids fan, I really don’t know much about the band and can’t comment on them. But I can say that between the quality of the below song and the list of guests who apparently appear on the Sailors with Wax Wings album (including but not limited to Katatonia’s Jonas Renkse, Swans’ Ted Parsons, My Dying Bride’s Aaron Stainthorpe, and Colin “Best Haircut EVER” Marston from Krallice, Dysrhythmia, Gorguts, Behold… The Arctopus, and a million other bands), I plan to check this record out ASAP.

As for the video itself, well… it’s pretty bizarre. I kept expecting there be some kind of “twist” or whatever, but, nope. Just pure, unadulterated strangeness. Still, I was never able to take my eyes off of it… I find it oddly compelling. Hypnotic, even. And, like I said, I dig the music.

Check this out, then weigh in with your thoughts in the comments section below.

-AR

Eyal Levi’s studio resides in the basement of his family’s home in suburban Atlanta. It’s a small room that couldn’t comfortably hold more than five, maybe six people; if your only mental image of a band making a record comes from A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica, it might be a little off-putting. You’re perpetually aware that you’re actually in the middle of someone’s house; various non-local metal denizens (including this blogger) populate the guest beds and couches, while members of Daath who live within driving distance but aren’t necessarily needed at the moment come and go as they please to share meals, jokes, vape rips, and the work-in-progress. It’s only when you really look around and soak in the details of your surroundings — the box full of copies of Daath’s self-released debut, Futility; the Misery Index vinyls; the post-it note by the door that makes reference to an incident involving Arsis’ James Malone, the house security system, and the local police department — that you realize: Oh, yeah. I’ve got albums on my iPod that were recorded in this room!

Daath have returned here to make their new, self-titled album after recording 2008′s The Concealers at producer Jason Suecof’s Audio Hammer Studios in Florida. The relaxed and homey environment was chosen deliberately for this outing. The name of the game this time is “creative freedom,” and the atmosphere at Eyaland (the studio doesn’t have an official name) definitely seems to breed open thinking — which is key, given that the group has only written and demoed skeletal versions of the songs, with the flourishes that, frankly, make Daath Daath still-to-be-added.

The decision to work this way came about because the band has felt, in the past, as though sometimes their preproduction demos “would sound better than the records we released,” Eyal explains. ”Lots of times we’d feel we were making better-sounding-but-more-stale-versions of what we did [on the demos], because lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place… This time we didn’t allow that. We got the songs to the point where we’re comfortable hitting ‘record,’ and we’re taking them to the next level in the studio.”

Click to read more…

Mazel tov to MetalSucks Suckalos Chris Jozefowicz, Chris Mezyk, and Landon Caldwell. They each correctly identified last week’s logo as belonging to the band Autopsy of a Burial Beneath the Black Bloated Massacre’s Blackened Bloody Gore… which is certainly a mouthful! For their troubles, these three gentlemen each win a super-duper awesome double gatefold vinyl LP of Better Off Dead, the classic album from teutonic thrash titans Sodom. Congrats, fellas!

This week we have another kick-ass prize for you, this time courtesy the nice folks at Shout Factory: five, yes FIVE, copies of Megadeth’s new DVD, Rust in Peace Live. This DVD captures Megadeth performing their classic album in its entirety, PLUS bonus tracks, including “Symphony of Destruction” and “Peace Sells.” You want this. It’s Megadeth! Doing Rust in Peace! LIVE! Get off your tuchus and enter this contest.

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 five winners and announce their names next week.

And once again, this logo comes from Mr. David Foust…

-AR

Valient Thorr must be experienced live to be experienced at all. Sure, you can get down with VT’s delicious concoction of southern rock and punk on their records, but in order to truly appreciate and understand what this band is about you’ve got to see and be a part of the live show. Mainman Valient Himself is all too aware of this fact, and it’s a topic we talked about at length in my interview with him last week.  Turns out — surprise, surprise — that’s he’s got all sorts of theories about it, that a live show is the ultimate art form as a combination of audio, visual, and physical stimulation. The ideas he shared with me over the phone came off a whole lot like his infamous on-stage rants at VT’s shows. And if you’ve seen VT live, you know full well that said rants (VH describes them as “beliefs”) are some of the best in the biz.

We also chatted about Valient Thorr’s new record Stranger (out today! read a review by our own Urbandale Grimes here), their upcoming seven-week U.S. tour with Junius and Howl, how Valient Himself spends his time off, what it was like to work with producer Jack Endino, and how the band’s career might’ve been different if their records had been pushed in Walmarts the nation over.

I initially had a hard time reaching Mr. Himself on the phone, so he had to call me back from a landline at VT’s self-described “secret laboratory.” Our chat, after the jump.

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Two things you can’t take away from metal: it is truly a brotherhood, and a DIY community. And so, inspired by Nergal’s recent battle against leukemia and his call for awareness of the need of bone marrow donors, our friend Rich Hall at 1000 Knives suggested to both us and our pals at Metal Injection that we hold a bone marrow drive at our upcoming CMJ showcase in October. We were in the process of finalizing details when we learned that some our fellow headbangers were doing the same in Stamford, CT and Los Angeles.

This is obviously a great cause that goes beyond just Nergal; it would be terrific if one of these drives found him a donor, but, really, he’s just the inspiration here, and it’s the chance to save a life, period. Get all the details on all three drives after the jump. And if you’re organizing another one in your area, please let us know and we’ll add it to this list.

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To the MetalSucks Maniac known as “Sacajewea,” we would like to say the following: YOU ARE A FUCKING RETARD. It’s incredible how retarded you are, you stupid fucking idiot mongoloid half-wit retard.

We send this message because in October of ’09, Sacajewea left a comment on the very first post we ever wrote, saying he was “Just here to dig up the past;” then he left another comment, just this past June, which read:

“I did it twice. Fuck I’m retarded. If anyone sees this please find me in a recent post and tell me how retarded I am.”

On December 26, 2006 — a date that will live in infamy — we did what professionals call a “soft launch” but we just call “the day we first posted on this blog.” Our slogan was “Smart About Metal,” a play on the slogan for Film Comment magazine.

We had these two stupid South Park caricatures that Axl made at his then-job when he was bored. (Axl forgot until just now that he had a really long goatee in ’06; Vince still had phantom Jew ‘fro, where some days he can feel it, man!) We only posted once or twice a day, throughout the week, pretty much when we had time/interest. We didn’t use tags. We often didn’t post graphics or videos. Our headlines weren’t capitalized. We interviewed members of Stuck Mojo and Twisted Sister, because that’s who we could get interviews with. Believe it or not, we tried to get an interview with God Forbid… and we failed.

Basically, we had no fucking idea what we were doing.

We can’t believe that this is our 10,000th post. We can’t believe we’re still doing this almost four years after we started. We can’t believe that so many of you are reading it. Seriously: WE WERE ONLY FUCKING KIDDING.

So…

Thanks to Kip (who has been here longer than anyone besides Vince and Axl!), Sammy, Gary, Anso, Satan (the MetalSucks contributor and the deity), Sergeant D., Bob, Leyla, Corey, Urbandale, Dave, Matt, Ferris, Dallas, Eyal, Sacha, Paul, Bulb, Arthur, Anton OyVey, Rich Hallford, David Bee Roth, Van Arseface, Mike Pattongill, Angela Gossowski, Joey V., and everyone else who has ever written for us… MetalSucks would not be where it is if not for all of you.

Thanks to everyone in the music industry who has helped us over the years, even as they must have been secretly hoping we would van flip.

And of course, thanks to all the MetalSucks Maniacs, Suckalos, annoying people who can’t use the “search” function, and dudes that have sent us death threats. We can’t tell you how grateful we are that you read our site. Thank you thank you thank you.

Now, with a complete lack of humility, Axl and Vince present their ten favorite MetalSucks posts of all time. Enjoy.

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I like to think of myself as a very open-minded consumer of music with exceedingly eclectic tastes that defy easy classification. For example, if you were to look at my iPod, you would find everything from Female Nose Breaker to Orchidectomy to Guttural Secrete on my playlists. Basically, I like everything except for rap and country — although that ‘Cowboy Troy‘ guy seems very talented! With that said, I thought it would be fun to have a playful “BATTLE OF THE BREAKDOWNS” between two of the most popular metal subgenres right now, DEATHCORE and GUTTURAL SLAM, so I put together this short, 9-minute video that compares the two.

What do you think?? Which genre is the best????? Do you prefer the no-nonsense, chromatic brutality of GUTTURAL SLAM, or the more accessible, radio-friendly stylings of today’s up-and-coming DEATHCORE artists??? Please share your opinions below, simply enter your information in the box below and click “REPLY” to join the discussion!!!

-Sergeant D.

I used to love Guitar Hero, but I don’t think I’ve played in almost two years… looking around the disaster that is the Axl Wing of the MetalSucks Mansion, I’m not even sure under what pile of crap my “guitar” currently resides. I guess the gimmick just lost it’s luster after awhile? Or maybe I was just dissatisfied that I couldn’t kill things in the game. I like games where I can kill things, y’know?

Still, even if I don’t play anymore, I can’t really be too upset when, say, a band debuts a new track exclusively via a Guitar Hero game, as Megadeth are doing with the song “Sudden Death.” ‘Cause it’s only a matter of time ’til the song ends up on the net somewhere, and then we’ll all have it, video game or no.

While we’re waiting for that to happen, here’s video of Mustaine playing the song on the upcoming Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock. He has kind of a shaky start, but after that, he’s actually pretty good. And while the audio recording isn’t top notch, the song generally sounds pretty cool to me, if perhaps in need of a stronger chorus.

Check it out, then weigh in with your thoughts below. comes out September 28 via Activision.

-AR

[via Metal Insider, via TheHeroFeed.com]

So I guess that Big Four at the Movies thinger made some bank, ’cause now Slipknot are getting in on the act — their new DVD, (sic)nesses, will screen at select U.S. theaters on September 22, as well as one theater in London on September 26. It’s a concert film of their headlining set at the 2009 Download festival, and while I still find the idea of watching a metal show in a movie theater to be kind of an iffy proposition, Slipknot are nothing if not expert showman, so maybe this will be fun. If the Maggots show up in full ‘Knot regalia, I think the people watching alone might be worth the price of admission.

Here’s a trailer for the event…

…and you can get theater locations/tickets here. The actual DVD comes out September 28, and includes some nifty bonus features that I imagine won’t be screened at this thing, including a 45 minute, Clown-directed documentary… which hopefully is more intelligible than the one on Voliminal.

-AR

Don’t know These Are They? Well, unless you wanna end up in the back of a trunk like the dude above, you should learn who they are right quick. The  side project of Novembers Doom’s Paul Kuhr, These Are They channel crushing old-school death metal acts like Morbid Angel and Devastation — in fact, they cover Devastation’s “Cranial Hemorrhage” with Devastation guitarist Erv Brautigam and vocalist Duane Rasmussen on their new, mafia-themed album, Disposing of Betrayers, which is out today on The End. And in case that didn’t provide enough metal cred for you, the album was produced by Chris Wisco (Michael Angelo Batio, Dirge Within) and mixed and mastered by the legendary Dan Swanö (if you need Swanö’s credits, you shouldn’t be reading this website).

To help celebrate the release of Disposing of Betrayers, MetalSucks is proud to be giving away a free download of the track “La Mano Nera,” which means “The Black Hand,” which means the mob — like we said, these are some tough Chicago motherfuckers, and they’re not to be fucked with. So download the track below, and crank that shit. Then, once you’ve felt the song’s awesome power, order yourself a copy of Betrayers here. If you don’t do it, we might send Paul Kuhr to pay a little visit to your family… capiche?

THESE ARE THEY, “LA MANO NERA”

THESE ARE THEY, “LA MANO NERA”

DOWNLOAD

As if you needed an excuse.

Today marks the release of the 20th Anniversary Edition re-mastered Cowboys From Hell, and though the full album stream over at AOL [via SMN] doesn’t offer any of the live/rare bonus tracks the special editions include, when is it a bad idea to give Cowboys From Hell a spin? As you listen, think about how important this album was for Pantera; think about Dimebag; think about how this band was the sole flag-waver of true metal in the ’90s; think about how you’re old and how upsetting it is that today’s kids just don’t get it. Then come back and post your thoughts on this landmark release here.

-VN

I’ve been waiting more than three years to hear a new Melechesh song, and now one has finally been released into the world, and, hey, guess what? I just chucked a cat straight through the window, so it must be good.

By now you’re probably familiar with Melechesh’s particular chuck n’ jive — they’re like the Nile of black metal, melding the classic tropes of their genre with a wordly, Sumerian (not Sumeriancore) feel. And this track is no exception. So if you haven’t dug this band in the past, I don’t know if this will do anything to change your mind. But for me, personally, well… like I said. Kitty defenestration = good music.

The song is called “Grand Gathas Of Baal Sin,” by the way, and it’s streaming here. As is so often the case with this band, I don’t know what the fuck the title means, but I do fully endorse the use of the phrase “Baal Sin.” I know every sin I’ve ever committed has been a result of my baals, so this is some real shit that I can relate to, y’know?

Melechesh’s new album, The Epigenesis, comes out October 1 in Europe and October 26 in North America via Nuclear Blast.

-AR

“We can’t believe this,” Katatonia frontman Jonas Renkse announced between songs at their sold-out NYC show this past Friday, the third stop of their MetalSucks-sponsored U.S. tour with Swallow the Sun and Orphaned Land. “Flying all the way across the ocean to play for a sold out crowd in New York City… this is our childhood dream come true.”

Nearly twenty years into their career, these Swedes’ newfound success was the theme of the night. Of their 1.5 hour set no less than seven songs came from their latest album Night is the New Day. And this was no decision fueled by ego and stubborness; Katatonia knew exactly what they were doing, proven by the instant cheers that erupted from the audience whenever the opening notes of a new song rang out. The reaction to the new material was positively stunning; this is Katatonia, not Cannibal Corpse, so moshing wasn’t quite par for the course, but a whole lot of concerted headbanging most certainly was.

Click to read more…

My nuts in yr soup, bloop!!

-KW

Yesterday A Perfect Circle announced their reunion, and we wondered who, besides Maynard James Keenan and Billy Howerdel, would be in the band; now we have our answer. Drummer Josh Freese, the band’s only constant besides Keenan and Howerdel, and guitarist James Iha, who joined the group for Thirteenth Step, are both returning to the fold, while bassist Matt McJunkins, who must have been teased mercilessly in grade school, will replace Jeordie White, who has since returned to being “Twiggy Ramirez” in Marilyn Manson.

McJunkinthetrunk, pictured above, was practically a shoe-in for the gig, since he’s played with both Keenan and Howerdel before, in Puscifer and Ashes Divide. Other than that, I don’t know squat about the dude. His Facebook page would suggest that he sometimes refers to himself as “Junk,” which somehow makes him a-okay in my book.

And that settles that. Matt McJunkins is now the Dave Kushner of A Perfect Circle.

-AR

Last week I saw a friend I literally have not seen and have barely spoken to in several years. I was a little worried that things might be awkward; after all, we had some catching up to do, and people can change an awful lot in a few years. And yet, within moments of sitting down together, it was as though no time had passed whatsoever; we picked up exactly where we left off, and by the end of the night, we vowed not to let so much time pass before we hung out again.

Skunk Anansie’s Wonderlustre, which comes out today, is the band’s first offering in more than a decade. Luckily, it is the musical equivalent of chilling with that old friend and finding that your relationship hasn’t missed a step. Skunk Anansie still sound just like Skunk Anansie, and they still rock.

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Apparently White Wizzard have responded to my humorous post (I made fart jokes fer chrissakes!) about Jon Leon’s public “vocalist wanted” Craigslist ad by putting MS on their shitlist. Which is a perfectly fantastic business decision, seeing as there isn’t a single U.S. metal media outlet (maybe world?) bigger than MetalSucks that’s giving the band as much favorable coverage as we are. Really, I thought Over the Top was quite the solid disc and I said as much many times (including a nod in my mid-year “favorite albums of 2010 so far” list). Sure, I goofed on the details regarding the lineup that recorded that album, but that doesn’t negate everything else I said about the revolving door of musicians to pass through WW’s ranks and what that might imply… I may be “unprofessional” in my journalism, as accused by band mastermind/bassist Jon Leon, but at least I know the difference between “your” and “you’re.”

In any case, shitlist or not, the band members of White Wizzard — both former and current — are doing a great job themselves of keeping us up to date on the band happenings… in our own comments section!

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The backstage area of the NYC stop of the Summer Slaughter tour this year was so thoroughly hot-boxed that you could get a contact high just from touching the door knob. Every time someone walked in or out, enormous plumes of smoke would immediately snake right up your nostrils and into your brain. The security guard stationed at the door must have had the best night of his professional life; his job required him to do nothing but glance at the passes of potential entrants and enjoy all the second-hand smoke. I think by the end of the night, I even saw him rocking out to Decapitated.

It will surprise no one to learn that a large portion of the evening’s debauchery was due to the Cephalic Carnage dudes. And it was sometime during the umpteenth pass of the whatever-the-fuck-we-were-smoking-out-of-at-that-moment that Vince and I decided that one of us should do a Metalcal Marijuana interview with Cephalic front man Len Leal. But our number one homies at Metal Injection actually one-upped us, and got Mr. Leal to make an instructional video for vaporizer noobs, demonstrating on the Cephalic Carnage vaporizer that Silver Surfer manufactures. If you’re a vape virgin, well, you can’t find a much cooler teacher than Mr. Leal. Motherfucker is like the Obi-Wan Kenobi of weed.

Metal Injection has lots more awesome coverage of Summer Slaughter, including interviews and live footage. Go here to check it out.

Cephalic Carnage’s latest, Misled by Certainty, is out now on Relapse. Vince is currently giving away a couple of copies here!

-AR