‘Cause two excellent free samplers have been released within the last 24 hours:

• Good Fight have released a free sampler featuring songs from Cancer Bats, Son of Aurelius, The Contortionist, This or the Apocalypse, and more. None of the music is new, but if you’re not familiar with these bands, well, here’s your chance to become familiar with them, all for the the low low price of free. Get it here.
• Adult Swim and Scion A/V have also released a free sampler, and this one includes a new Withered song, “Extinguished with the Weary,” plus “rare or unreleased” tracks from Jesu, Skeletonwitch, Death Angel, Kylesa, Torche, Ludicra, and more. I haven’t had a chance to listen to any of it yet, but, again, it’s new or rare music from a bunch of awesome bands and it will cost only the energy it takes for you to click the “download” button, so go get it here.

-AR

Rob Zombie’s Hellbilly Deluxe 2 just came out in February, but daddy needs a new cowboy hat, so Roadrunner is doing a super-duper-special edition re-release of the album on September 28. It’s not even an eight month turnaround; I don’t know if that’s a record or it just feels even faster than usual.

As is pretty much standard with these re-releases, there will be new songs included; not standard, though, is that those new songs will be interspersed throughout the old ones — as opposed to just putting them all after whatever the last song used to be, or on their own disc, or whatever — which makes HB2 George Lucas Style almost a new album, creatively if not actually. By which I mean, I’ve met bands that are ridiculously perfectionistic when it comes to figuring out their sequencing — sequencing means something, and a lot of thought goes into the flow of the record. Adding new material will, presumably, alter that flow in some regard.

Either that, or I just spent more time thinking about the sequencing of Hellbilly Deluxe 2 than Rob Zombie did.

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Like thousands of lucky metal people, I attended a stop of the MetalSucks-presented New Night Over America 2010 tour headlined by Katatonia last week. I’d been ear-horny for live Katatonia since last year’s Night Is The New Day, which was only exceeded in awesomeness by a couple 2009 records. To my delight, Friday’s set was stuffed with Night‘s best jamz (like this one whoa baby), and to my non-surprise, I fell into deeper awe for guitarists Anders Nyström and Per Eriksson after the ass-tight set.

Now, as presenting sponsors of the tour, we MS goons are extended full access to artist-only areas of the venue. So after I’d rushed backstage to dish out congratulations on a great show and use their pristine private toilets, I emerged to find myself alone with the band’s gear. So I did what any tipsy writer would do: I had sex with their guitars. Yep, the guitars used on all your fave Katatonia songs went straight up my ass. All the way. It was hot. It sounds weird, fine, but once I explained that the axes and I were in love, and had consummated, Eriksson and Nyström were cool with it. They agreed to set aside the guitars, untouched, until I met up with them back in L.A. to exchange a fair amount of cash for my new boos.

But now that’s never gonna happen thanks to certain bastards the very next night in Minnesota. From a band statement:

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Many metal fans might be thinking, “Why is there a blog about organized sports on a metal site?” The answer: I have no fucking idea. I’m not sure you can make many similarities between metal and the NFL, other than they both usually have dudes smashing into each other in a semi-homoerotic way.

In any case, rooting for your local team, which is usually filled with no one from your area, to win games — something you have zero control over while sitting on your couch eating Funyuns — is pretty fun if you want it to be. The frequent concussions, the controversies, and the occasional femur snap make it all worth it for me. If you’re still not convinced, watch Terrell Owens crying:

Now, onto the games!

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Every now and then you hear or see a band that is truly pushing the envelope; a band that is doing things you’d never envision in your wildest dreams or most haunting nightmares. What’s worse is that these bands are not only few and far between; they’re often completely enigmatic and not at all prolific.

Such is the case with Elote 5, a Mexican (we think) grind band that we caught, totally by accident, this past Saturday night in Brooklyn.

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Do you love vinyl? I mean, really love vinyl? Like, you’re super-pissed that CDs, cassettes, 8-tracks, mp3s, and whatever the fuck ever came along? If you’re that obsessed, we have some good news for you — when you die, this company called And Vinyly (clever!) will press your ashes into a vinyl.

Seriously.

From the company’s website:

Needless to say, it’s not a super-cheap way to leave something behind for you loved ones, although I think it’s probably still less money than a “proper” burial; I know my folks pay a shitload of money every year just upkeeps on their parents’ graves, and if we’d just had them made into a record, those costs would certainly be diminished.

Some other interesting facts about And Vinyly:

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The latest of my ongoing effort to actually listen to all the bands you guys send us…

• Deivos, who were suggested by “ComicBookGuy93,” are a tech death band from Poland. They’re about to start a tour with Rotting Christ, which should give you some sense of whether or not you might enjoy their music. Anyways, they’re not bad, but I’m not sure I hear anything to distinguish them from the trillions of other tech death bands out there. I can certainly think of at least one another Polish DM band I’d much rather listen to.
• As their band name, young age, and clothes might suggest (see above pic), Before the Murder, who were suggested by “N,” are basically an aspiring Sumeriancore band; what sets them apart is that they’re from Slovenia.Unfortunately, that’s really the only thing that sets them apart. Still, they’re much better than I would have thought, given what they look like.

The bottom line is that these bands need to find their own musical identity, something which will make them stand out from the pack. There’s a fine line between utilizing genre tropes and relying on genre clichés, and right now, I’d argue that both of these groups are on the wrong side of that line.

-AR

I totally appreciate what Vains of Jenna do. Their brand of ’80s hair/cock metal revivalism comes off a whole lot more genuine than that of their many American counterparts; for one they aren’t being ironic, and for two they’re pretty darn good. Sure, these Swedes ain’t reinventing the wheel here but they make a damn fine one that gets you from point A to point B in a flurry of classic blues-based rock riffs. And they don’t look like a bunch of tool-bags suffering from NSS (Nikki Sixx Syndrome).

So Vains of Jenna have a new video for the track “Everyone Loves You When You’re Dead.” I really like the faux-performance part and love the way it’s shot; in particular, I like how the color red kind of highlights everything throughout. I have no idea what the fuck is going in with the naked-feathered-chicks-in-the-forest subplot, however, but I assume there’s something behind it I’m just missing. Either way, cool song and cool video.

-VN

So I can’t keep track of what the fuck is going on with Aerosmith these days, mostly because I barely care on account of the band’s “let’s never release anything musically relevant ever again” policy; I know Steven Tyler and Joe Perry hate each other, though, and even though Tyler is still in Aerosmith (at least for now), I guess he’s doing some solo stuff anyway.

Like this song called “Love Lives,” which Ain’t It Cool News has helpfully pointed out is in the trailer for this new Japanese space opera, Space Battleship Yamato. As a matter of fact, Tyler apparently wrote the song specifically for movie. I don’t know why he would want his lead solo track going in a Japanese film which will most likely be watched in other countries only by nerds of the highest order; I assume the thinking was, “Well, one of my biggest hits was in Armageddon, so I should try to re-create that success with a power ballad in another sci-fi action flick,” and then everyone in Hollywood was like,”That’s fine, but only if it’s with Aerosmith,” and then Tyler was like, “Fuck that,” then the Japanese were all, “We’ll take it!” ‘Cause Japan is where dudes like Sebastian Bach are still popular.

No word on when/if this flick will get a release date outside of Japan, but presumably Tyler’s song will end up on the internet sooner or later.

-AR

One of the greatest tragedies since the Holocaust is the death of the shred guitar scene. As a kid, I worshipped at the altar of guitar heros like George Lynch, Michael Angelo, Vinnie Vincent, and Kane Roberts until Nirvana came along and made everybody forget that it’s cool to be able to actually play your instrument. While the world may have moved past the glory days of shred, there is one person who hasn’t: Shred Sean, best known as the guitarist for the Christian glamcore band Blessed By A Broken Heart.

I can’t think of a band that MetalSucks readers [Or writers. - Ed.] are more likely to hate at first glance, but you should give them a fair chance. In all seriousness, BBABH (and especially Sean) are one of the most authentic, dyed-in-the-wool metal bands you’ll find these days, despite getting no love from critics and elitists. Naturally, most of you are entry-level haters who will ignore their actual music and get butthurt because you don’t like the way they look (which is obviously tongue in cheek, not that that will keep you morons from getting angry), but I’m hoping that Blessed will start to get the credit they deserve as an extremely legit retro-metal band.

Thanks to Sean for keeping the spirit of shred alive, and keep your eyes peeled for a new Blessed album soon. True shredheads should read my earlier interview with Sean (where he seriously geeks out on shit like Paul Gilbert’s alternate picking technique and Jason Becker’s “unmatched sweep arpeggio skills”), and check out his solo material!

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I hate Disturbed’s music, but the fact that he’s a hypocrite who lacks any real talent aside, David Draiman strikes me as a very intelligent guy. A reader, calling himself simply “Matt,” sent this to me awhile back, and now that Lemmy has re-raised the issue, I think it’s worth discussing even if I don’t really have a solid “answer” per se.

So. This is a Blabbermouth excerpt from a recent Revolver magazine interview with Draiman. I’m going to run the entire excerpt after the jump, and then I’m going to share my thoughts.

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Big ups to our number one homegirl Allyson B. Crawford at Bring Back Glam! just made a pretty funny discovery:

“I was on YouTube, listening to Killswitch Engage when I thought “The End of Heartache” sounds awfully familiar. Then, it hit me like a ton of bricks:’Panama!’

“….I mean, the more I listened to ‘The End of Heartache’ the more obsessed I became. I’m convinced the root of the song – the main riff basically – is the key hook from ‘Panama’ just in a lower octave.”

I didn’t even have to listen to the two guitar parts in question side-by-side to know that Allyson is correct; as soon as I read her article, I knew exactly what she meant. It’s not a straight-up rip-off, ’cause it’s just a little piece of each song — in fact, I could see the KSE dudes not even realizing that they’d “borrowed” the riff — but this is still pretty funny/interesting/whatever.

Compare the two songs and read the rest of Ms. Crawford’s analysis at Bring Back Glam!

-AR

No disrespect meant to Japanese doom squad Boris. Well, maybe just a teency bit… I certainly find them entertaining live, but I’ve never been able to get into their albums. But really this article is meant not to put Boris down but to praise Ian Astbury, frontman of The Cult and possessor of inarguably one of the greatest voices in all of rock. It’s hard to imagine a pairing in which Astbury wouldn’t overshadow everyone else; he’s got the absolute quintessential rock voice, often imitated never duplicated. And it gets even better with age.

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You may remember that last summer, Malevolent Creation guitarist Phil Fasciana claimed to have prevented a convenience store robbery by shooting the perpetrator in the face; he also claimed — and this was really the best part of his story — that the shop’s owner rewarded this mitzvah by offering him a free lifetime supply of chocolate milk. ‘Cause we all know that chocolate milk is what a man’s life is worth. Remember at the end of Die Hard, when John McClane saves the day, and his wife is all, “Oh, John, let’s make-up,” and he shoves her aside and goes, “No, just gimme my chocolate milk, bitch?” ‘Cause that’s just how shit like that goes down in real life.

You may also remember the shock we all felt when this highly plausible story turned out to be complete bullshit, and the heartbreak that ensued after Fasciana lashed out at interwebz dorks like us, insisting the story was true and telling webernet readers, “Get out of the house and maybe someone will try robbing and shooting you one day!!!!” Which is the reason I haven’t actually ventured outdoors since then; I’m just, like, super-afraid of becoming some chocolate milk fiend’s target, y’know?

And, hey, guess what? Looks Fasciana is acting like a nut case again!

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Unless you count 2009′s Healer / Across the Shields EP (which contained two new songs), Songs for Singles is the first Torche record of the post Juan Montoya era. Need fans of 2008′s stoner-pop gem Meanderthal worry that the guitarist’s departure would affect the band’s sound? One listen to Songs for Singles, which is currently streaming in full on Torche’s MySpace page, should allay those fears.

Thankfully the thundering riffs, churning grooves and melodious refrains that made Meanderthal so great are still intact on Songs for Singles. At only 21 minutes long, the album’s 8 songs are mostly short and sweet with five of them at or just above the 2:00 mark and “Lay Low” coming in at just 0:51, the only exceptions being album closers “Face the Wall” — a slower, atmospheric number that’s real departure for the band — and the 6+ minute instrumental “Out Again.” There’s absolutely nothing not to like about this album; it’s exactly what you want from Torche, nothing more nothing less.

Songs for Singles comes out tomorrow. Stream it here. Catch ‘em on tour with High on Fire and Kylesa this fall; dates after the jump.

-VN

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So in case the animation style didn’t immediately tip you off, Metalocalypse co-creator Brendon Small directed the video for “Black Rain,” the new old Soundgarden song that was recorded during the Badmotorfinger sessions and has nothing to do with the painfully mediocre Ozzy album of the same title.

Thing is, the video features a cameo (actually multiple cameos) by Dethklok and Charles Foster Offdensen, that “band”‘s manager/lawyer/CFO. And while that’s a good way to lure in young ‘uns who maybe love Dethklok but don’t remember Soundgarden, it strikes me as being wildly out-of-place — I mean, I don’t think the Dethklok dudes would be Soundgarden fans. Even if they found the music br00tal enough (which I don’t think they would), I imagine that Chris Cornell’s consistently, uh, questionable artistic decisions would be enough to warrant extreme violence from Nathan Explosion and the gang.

Yep. I’m speculating on the feelings and aesthetic criticisms of a cartoon band. Just another day here at MetalSucks.

ANYWAY, potential character inconsistencies aside, this video is pretty cool. Check it out below, then let us know if you think Dethklok would dig Soundgarden or not in the comments section.

“Black Rain” will appear on Soundgarden’s new greatest hits collection, Telephantasm, which comes out September 28.

-AR

At what point does it become no longer acceptable to use “Protest the ____” as a headline for any story about Protest the Hero? Certainly not today.

These Canadians seem to have a particular knack for creating interesting video content on the web, be it their myriad stellar music videos, this summer’s pre-production video or the series of studio webisodes they started rolling out this past weekend. Their music videos have always put the band’s sense of humor on full display, and the first of these studio vids is no different. Where so many bands release boring clips that aren’t entertaining to watch, don’t let you hear any new music or both, PtH’s first studio webisode has plenty of footage of the dudes laying down tracks (bass and drums) and lots of the expected “band dudes goofing off” stuff that you’d expect from one of these, only it’s put together in a way that’s actually funny for people other than the band members themselves.

Expect more PtH worship on MetalSucks as the autumn grinds on culminating in the supposed “early 2011″ release of their next album. Apparently you’re all as excited as I am about it.

-VN

Protest Studio Pupdate 1 from Luke Hoskin on Vimeo.

Back in the late 80s/early 90s, you could usually figure a band was good if their name was a 3 or 4-letter acronym: DRI, SSD, JFA, SOD, SNFU, and DYS, to name just a few of the many awesome hardcore/thrash bands who I grew up on. Of all the alphabet-soup-core bands, the one who stood out among the rest to me was MDC, whose name stood for Millions of Dead Cops, Multi-Death Corporation, Millions of Damn Christians, Missile Destroyed Civilization, and a bunch of other awesomely 80s-hardcore phrases.

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There was something of a tornado here in Brooklyn yesterday, and even if you didn’t see the tornado itself you saw some of the craziest fucking weather ever. I know you folks out in Nebraska are thinking “So what?” but for us something like this happens about as often as an earthquake does for you. Shit was positively epic. Thankfully even the monkeys didn’t get all riled up like the dudes in the above video — although I think I saw Sammy hiding in the bathtub — and business carried on as usual as it did all week:

• We stroked ourselves just a little bit by celebrating our 10,000th post with a list of our top ten favorite posts ever.
• The return of Ask Oderus: You asked Gwar’s frontman your burning questions and he answered them. Also, Eyal wondered what makes a guitarist “great.”
• We premiered new tracks by Titan, Holy Grail, These are They and we premiered the new Firewind video.
• We spoke with Valient Thorr’s Valient Himself.
• Rumpelstiltskin Grinder changed their name to The Devil. Oh wait, no they didn’t.
• We ranked the Top 10 t-shirts worn by High on Fire frontman Matt Pike.
• We looked at new records by Drudkh and Winterfylleth and Skunk Anansie.
• We looked at our favorite new-school Iron Maiden jams and we wondered if Demolisher is the heaviest band on the planet.
• Tomas Haake may or may not have actually commented on my post about some dude covering Meshuggah’s “Bleed” by playing drums on his pillows. Tomas, if you’re reading this, I have mad respect for your drumming!
• Axl released Part 1 of his Daath in-studio report.

Hopefully no more tornados hit Brooklyn this weekend. Actually, if one could swoop right over Jerry Manuel’s home then hop-scotch over to Omar Minaya’s, I’d be OK with that.

-VN

A few weeks ago, our friend, Metal Mark, posted a guitar-oriented webisode where our co-producer, Mark Lewis, said that he thought our lead guitarist, Emil Werstler, was hands down the best guitar player in metal.

His comment caused some pretty interesting dialogue. A bunch of great guitarists’ names were thrown around, as well as the customary amount of entertaining insults. Tobin Abasi, Ron Jarzombek, Ryan Night, Loomis, you suck, die, emotionless piece of shit, etc. You name it. People were getting all riled up.

And that’s okay. Music is something very personal to each and every one of us, and for some reason we take this stuff seriously. Let me say, for the record, I don’t think there is any such thing as a “best guitar player” in anything. Let me repeat, this time in bold, just so we’re clear: I don’t think there is any such thing as a “best guitar player” in anything. I think there’s only the right part played the right way at the right time, or it’s the wrong part. Some guys have a higher ratio of pulling the off “right part” than others, and they seem to do it with no effort. Some pull off “the right part” in ways that are completely non-traditional. Some guys will work their whole lives, and no matter what their girlfriends and wives tell them, they will never pull it off.

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