It’s been a long time since I was a college freshman, a fact which struck me this week as I engaged in my annual tradition of sitting in Washington Square Park and watching the new crop of NYU kids move into their dorms. I love the look of simultaneous excitement and complete fucking terror as a bunch of young men and women between the ages of seventeen and eighteen get away from home for the first time; for many of them, I imagine moving to the big city only adds to the sheer “HOLY FUCKING SHIT!”ness of it all. But this was really the first year when they all looked really young to me, and I suddenly felt very aware of the age gap. Kids starting college this week won’t remember rotary phones or pagers, maybe won’t remember a time without cell phones or DVDs, and only kinda faintly maybe remember the annoying sounds your AOL used to emit as it tried to make its connection. They were being born right around the time “Wherever I May Roam” was making Metallica rich, and they’ve never jerked off to the morning weather girl ’cause internet porn wasn’t readily available.

Do they remember a time without autotune? I know my kids won’t. And I hate to sound like such a grumpy old bastard, but I worry about the long-term effects of such a state of being. If bullshit is the norm, can you have any appreciation for  non-bullshit — e.g., a time when if you couldn’t sing, you either joined a cool punk band or got a job as a bank teller? Lack of skill is no longer impedes artistic success, as anyone can be made to sound as though he can sing, audiences can be distracted from terrible storytelling by an abundance of CGI spectacle, and a woman who has never read Dracula gets away with publishing the most successful vampire books in the history of ever.

This ain’t good.

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This site is fucking amazing.

-KW

We’ve heard Enslaved’s new album, Axioma Ethica Odini, and holy shit, is it good. I’d argue it’s another serious progression for the band, too; it’s got a little less ahhhh and a little more oomph!, if that makes sense. You can tell right from the opening track, “Ethica Odini” (that’s Latin for “We are going to blow your fucking mind… again!“), that this ain’t Isa, this ain’t Ruun, this ain’t Vertebrae. This album feels less like the soundtrack for that time you got really high and thought about the meaning of colors, and more like the soundtrack for that time you got really high saved the princess from the dragon. It rocks. It ROCKS.

But don’t take my word for it — “Ethica Odini” is now streaming right here. Only listen to it if you wanna be put in a good mood. If you’re gonna be a sour puss today, then, y’know, go do something else. I hear the new Disturbed album is selling nicely.

Axioma Ethica Odini comes out in Europe on September 27 and North America September 28 via Nuclear Blast and Indie Recordings.

-AR

Why, it was just Wednesday that Devin Townsend promised “Videos and clips of Ghost next week;” but genius knows no schedule, and so, as it turns out, by “Next week,” Mr. Townsend meant “within forty-eight hours.” ‘Cause this morning, he posted the above four-and-a-half minute clip of himself and some of his cohorts working on Ghost. He also posted this message:

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Last week we offered an autographed copy of the booklet from God Forbid’s most recent release Earthsblood. And though many of you submitted lulz-worth captions, this very silly entry made me laugh the most:

• Stephen H. Martin: “But Mooooooom, the guys said my bass tone was weak and I needed bigger woofers.”

Nicely done, Stephen! This week we’re giving away a limited edition gatefold picture-disc vinyl of Iron Maiden’s latest masterpiece The Final Frontier – pictured above – and as a bonus the winner will also get a copy of the CD. These things looks so fucking cool, and quite frankly I’m jealous that one of you bastards will be getting one and I won’t.

This week’s photo is in the spirit of the pending Labor Day holiday weekend in the U.S. and comes to us from reader Annalisa Triola; just come up with the funniest caption — remember to use a real email address (or post it if you’re using FB Connect) — and the Maiden vinyl + CD package is yours!

Saviours have had one hell of a ride over the past year. They released Accelerated Living towards the end of 2009 and then followed it up as follows: they toured the U.S. with St. Vitus, toured Japan, toured Europe, played the Scion Rock Fest in Columbus, OH, played a shit-ton of other headline and support dates, and most recently just wrapped up their run on the 2010 edition of Ozzfest. Crikey! But drummer Scott Batiste doesn’t seem to mind; in fact, the self-described “nomad” hasn’t been home to his new house in Oakland this year but for three weeks in April, and he’s having the time of his life doing what band dudes do best, making and playing his music.

After the jump, peep my phone chat with Scott from a couple of weeks ago, while the band was in the middle of their Ozzfest run.

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Before there were blogs there were these things called magazines, and the only metal magazine we still get excited about reading every month is Decibel. Here’s managing editor Andrew Bonazelli.

It’s time for another rousing edition of Guess Next Month’s Decibel Hall of Fame and Win a Six-Month Subscription. I would throw in a Rapegoat sticker or two, but nobody was complimentary enough of the tangential, coke-addled “irreverence” of my last horrific blog post, so I’ll just have to keep them all to jack off to under my desk. Anyhoo, let’s see if it takes more than three comments to identify artist and album this time around. Hopefully you’ll be distracted by the writer’s cursory “mmm-hmm” at the very end, which I can only assume was followed with “Tell me about your childhood.”

DECIBEL HALL OF FAME NOVEMBER 2010

DECIBEL HALL OF FAME NOVEMBER 2010

-AB

Buy yourself a copy of the October 2010 issue of Decibel here, or just go ahead and buy yourself a full subscription here. It comes down to about two bucks an issue for a one-year subscription, which is roughly thirty-six dollars more a year you could be spending on Rapegoat splits.

Like anybody else who writes about music and has a publicly-visible email address, I received a press release earlier this week boasting about deathcore pioneers Bring Me The Horizon’s “gutsy” new video. In this post, I will share my thoughts on this video, which are as follows:

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I roll my eyes a little each time someone balks at the idea of labeling a band. This has gotten harder with the rise of post-metal, where every band seems to reply to the notion with, “I don’t believe in labeling what we do. I think the music should speak for itself.” Which is true, except a) when people want to check out a band, a label helps, in that it reminds curious parties of other bands they like and whether or not they would be interested in your band, but more importantly b) you sound like a pretentious fucking douche every time you give that answer. Admittedly, calling a band like Isis “doom metal” or referring to the lastest Nachtmystium record as “black metal” is troubling, but in the end, if it gets potential listeners interested, it’s probably best to say your band sounds like something. Of course, even in that, balking at the idea of labeling was made for bands like Australian everything-but-doom metallers Stargazer. Their brand of heaviness is so deeply rooted in the expansiveness of the last 25-30 years of extreme metal that it’s hard to pin down exactly what they do, and yet, what they do is focused and excellent nonetheless. It’s been clear for about a decade that — for better or worse — the future of metal would be hybrid-genres (and in retrospect it’s good we got the rap-and-metal portion out of the way early), but when combining different metals turns out like this, even a cynical motherfucker like me can’t wait to see what the future holds.

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Well, we’ve been talking about it for some time, but now you get to hear some of Daath‘s new, self-titled album and make up your mind for yourself — we’re giving away “Destruction/Restoration,” the second cut off the record, as a FREE download.

It should go without saying that we love this song. It sounds like Daath have been let off the leash: Emil Werstler is playing insane shit which should make guitar geeks everywhere cream their pants, Kevin Talley is going absolutely nuts and playing anything but what’s expected, the production, by Mark Lewis and Eyal Levi, is filthy, and the music is darker than Vince Neil’s liver and more misanthropic than Glenn Danzig at a doctor’s office. “Destruction/Restoration” is only about two-and-a-half minutes long, but you’ll never be able to appreciate it after just one listen; it’s just too layered and crazy for that. So download this one on us, get a good pair of headphones, and blow your ear drums to smithereens.

Daath comes out October 25 on Century.

DAATH – “DESTRUCTION/RESTORATION”

Daath – “Destruction/Restoration”

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Apparently we’re not the only ones who can’t stand Attack Attack!. San Antonio Sumerideathcore troupe Upon a Burning Body have taken a severe disliking to Attack Attack!’s latest look — which is just as stupid if not stupider than any look the band’s ever sported — and they’ve put together a short film lampooning it:

Now, I’d like to question what business one band with a prescribed look/scene/sound has criticizing another band with a prescribed look/scene/sound, but isn’t metal all about intolerance, hate and discrimination anyway? After all… metal sucks. Of course, it’s hard not to applaud any attack on Attack Attack!, let alone one that took actual effort to put together (as opposed to our own keyboard-jockey asses)… so, to the lads in UABB… nice work!

-VN

UPDATE: While Wormrot won’t be able to make tonight’s scheduled performance, they have rescheduled for this Sunday evening, September 5, at 11 pm at the Bowery Electric. Be there or be square.

We were crazy excited about Wormrot’s first U.S. tour, and so when a reputable source recently told us that the band were having difficulties getting into the country, we more or less had a panic attack. Then we saw this tweet from Earache head honcho Digby Pearson, and our eyes started to well up with tears.

Now an official press release confirms that these troubles have passed, and the band will begin the tour this Monday, September 6, in Cleveland. The bad news is that fans who were hoping to see Wormrot at any of the dates scheduled for prior to this Monday won’t get to see them — although the band is going to re-schedule tonight’s NYC date, probably for the end of the tour.

Get remaining dates here.

-AR

We’ve gotten a lot of e-mails these past few days about My Darkest Days’ video for “Porn Star Dancing.” I don’t know why the sudden interest in this clip — it’s been around for weeks, we just never posted about it before. In any case, the song and video feature guest appearances by Ludacris, Nickelback’s Chad Horseface (seriously, he looks like Sarah Jessica Parker with a goatee, and SJP looks like a horse), and… Mr. Zakk Wylde.

And people seem really, really put off by Wylde’s presence. One reader even declared that he was “losing respect” for Zakk. And I’m totally confused by all the outrage. Has no one else heard what Zakk has been doing for the past decade? Did everyone miss his guest spot with Dope? People are talking about this as though Picasso rose from the dead to design posters for Vampires Suck or something. I mean, it’s not like Zakk’s artistic credibility was still in good standing, y’know? This is just one more nail in the coffin that holds his coolness.

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Kamelot are one of those bands I’ve heard mentioned time and time again over the years but for whatever reason never actually listened to. Call it BS, or Blabbermouth Syndrome; it’s like there’s all these Euro bands that get a ton of coverage over there but we’re all like “Zuh? Who actually listens to these bands?” But apparently lots of folks do. See also: Stratovarius.

Anyway, Kamelot. Since they’ve got a new release called Poetry for the Poisoned coming out on September 14th (is it September already??? crikey), I decided to check out their new video for “The Great Pandemonium.” And it’s pretty much what you’d expect from a band named after a fictional 12th-Century British castle; it also happens to be pretty good! It’s all powery / Epic Euro Metal (which I love), except most of the members are from the U.S., and it certainly feels fantastical although I haven’t checked out the lyrics. The video is high-budget affair by today’s standards, complete with plenty of CG intercut with high-gloss faux live footage of the band playing the song, which would seem to indicate that yes, this band is big enough to warrant spending a lot of dough on a video.

So if you’re into power / epic bands that tr00/br00tal kids would call “gay,” check out “The Great Pandemonium” below via Noisecreep. Poetry for the Poisoned comes out on September 14th.

-VN

I’m not even an Atheist fan and I think this album art, by Eliran Kantor, is the tits:

That is going to make an awesome tattoo for someone to regret in ten years.

Jupiter comes out November 9 on Season of Mist.

-AR

Absolutely nothing! But I’m lumping them in together anyway. If you don’t like it, you can, in the words of Elizabeth Darko, go suck a fuck.

And so:

• Kylesa’s “Tired Climb” is streaming here. I wish I could think of something to say about it other than “It sounds like Kylesa,” but, y’know. It sounds like Kylesa. I really dig it, but if you don’t like this band, this song won’t do anything to change your mind. And if you’re like me and you enjoy Kylesa but completely understand Vince’s point about there being absolutely no need for that second drummer, well, this won’t do anything to change your mind, either — if I didn’t know that the band had two drummers, I’d never be able to tell from this song. Kylesa’s latest, Spiral Shadow, comes out October 26 on Season of Mist.
• Mushroomhead have a new song, “Come On,” streaming over at Guitar World… but I can’t listen to it ’cause I keep getting this message when I try… …and homie don’t play that. So the bad news is, I can’t tell you what the new Mushroomhead song sounds like, and the good news is, I don’t have to listen to the new Mushroomhead song. Their new album, Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children, comes out September 28 on Megaforce. And if you think it’s weird that Anthrax, Living Colour, The Black Crowes, and Mushroomhead are all on the same label, well, so do I.

-AR

If I were the dudes in Scar Symmetry I’d be a little miffed right about now. Super-vocalist Christian Alvestam leaves your band and then proceeds to join 367 other bands, many of whom sound a whole lot like Scar Symmetry, instantly making them all better and attracting new fans from all over the world. Meanwhile you poor saps are stuck with two vocalists, neither of whom are all that special and both of whom look completely lost on stage when the other is singing. On top of that, everyone called bullshit on the auto-tuned / pro-toolsed mess that was your latest album, although some of the tunes are certainly respectable thanks to the genius that is Jonas Kjellgren.

Meanwhile, Christian Alvestam seems to be on top of the Swedish melodeath world; your abilities as a skilled metal vocalist were instantly dignified when your former band struggled mightily to replace you, and you’ve gotten to cherry pick which projects your lend your voice to without the grueling, long-term commitment of touring. You’ve probably also got a normal day job so you don’t have to worry about money on a day-to-day basis.

The most Scar Symmetry-like of Christian Alvestam’s post-SS bands, of course, is Solution .45. For Aeons Past, released earlier this year, is a damn fan disc; so many of the songs could be on a Scar Symmetry album and you’ve certainly have me fooled. And from the looks of this new video for “Gravitational Lensing,” the dudes actually move around on stage.

-VN

Yesterday I praised whomever came up with the moniker for The Acacia Strain’s upcoming “To Catch a Predatour” trek with The Red Chord and The Contortionist as a genius; today I know that it was Mr. Vincent Bennett, vocalist for TAS. For the band’s new, David Brodsky-directed video for “The Hills Have Eyes” is a parody of the infamous “news program” that outs kiddie fuckers (or, at least, would-be kiddie fuckers) on camera. And so, Mr. Bennett, I say again: YOU ARE A FRIGGIN’ GENIUS.

My other not-so-deep thought about this video is that it’s a million times better than that one The Malloys made, where Metallica are performing a very poorly written and produced song about a clogged toilet for the inmates of San Quentin. Maybe it’s “cooler” to go film at a real maximum security correctional institution where the inmates might get loose and rape Kirk Hammett at any moment, but Kirk has been getting raped by Hetfield and Ulrich for three decades anyway, so who really gives a shit? I’ll take Matt Pike (not that one, this one) as a reporter over Robert Trujillo droppin’ a deuce any day.

“The Hills Have Eyes” comes offa The Acacia Strain’s latest and greatest, Wormwood, which is out now on Prosthetic.

-AR

We’d like to thank MS reader Joey St. Lucas for a) buying our merch and hence lining our pockets with weed money, and b) being the latest entrant of our ongoing Show Us Your MetalSucks contest, in which you send in pictures of yourself wearing MS gear and we reward you with a box o’ free shit!

Joey rocks his MS gear both at work AND at play, no small feat. Joey didn’t tell us where he works but from the looks of it he’s in a cubicle and wears a headset; tech support perhaps? Wherever it is, it can’t be half bad if they allow Joey to wear a shirt on the job that says METAL SUCKS on it in giant block letters. Joey also plays in the band The Strikers and rocks his MS garb on-stage in front of all those adoring fans (pics after the jump). Nice work, dude, and thanks!

P.S.: Nice beard, dude.

Keep sending in photos of yourselves wearing MS gear and we’ll keep making you Internet-famous by posting ‘em (and we’ll make you a box o’ free shit richer, too). MetalSucks “Completely Unreadable” hoodies are now back in stock, just in time for the hoodie weather of autumn. Go and get you some!

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