To celebrate the release of Madball’s latest aggro masterpiece, Empire (two new songs streaming here!), we asked vocalist Freddy “Madball” Cricien to compile a list of his favorite non-hardcore (but still heavy!) bands. Luckily for us and all of you, he agreed! So we’ll be running two entries a day from Freddy’s list every day for the next five days, leading up to Empire‘s October 12 release. You can read Freddy’s initial installment here and his second entry here; to follow, enjoy day three of the countdown…

6) SLAYER

I got into slayer later than most probably. Like I said, my background wasn’t in metal. For me, when it comes to heavy music, it was H.C. and then I got into other heavy stuff via friends, etc. You have to give Slayer props. They are as hard as they come, have crazy longevity, are super influential, and keep it real with their style/sound. They are classic. What more needs to be said?! FYI — they are one of Hoya Roc’s favorite bands!

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Everybody’s favorite alternative rock/deathcore band has been legitimized by some serious traditional media coverage — in this case, a one-hour audio program that tells their story in excruciating detail. I didn’t make it anywhere close to all the way through it (specifically, I bailed at about three minutes in, after finding out that they got their name from Pirates of the Caribbean), but it seems pretty well done. Obviously the lack of Oli photos hurts it, but it’s the next best thing to doing a couple lines with him and listening to him go on a coke-fueled, self-centered rant about how great he and BMTH are.

What’s next, a Peel Sessions four-way split with Electro Hippies, Dr & The Crippens, and Unseen Terror??

Check it out on BBC’s site

-Sergeant D.

I know what you’re thinking: “Two Limp Bizkit-related stories in as many days! What did we ever do to be so lucky?” What can I say? This entire week has felt like one long hangover.

So. Fred Durst’s feature film directorial debut, a would-be Sundance hit called The Education of Charlie Banks, was a barely-watchable piece of shit that failed to make so much as a dent in public awareness; his second film, the Ice Cube family sports drama The Longshots, tanked at the box office. But Durst gives great head (for dudes… he can’t find the clit so he’s pretty useless for women) and people are stupid, so he’s swindled someone into letting him make another movie. From Noisecreep:

“Durst is also directing his third feature film. The third film is dubbed ‘Pawn Shop Chronicles,’ and it follows a protagonist through a world of skinheads and meth heads thanks to a missing wedding ring. The film is slated to go into production early next year.”

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If you don’t, do not hit “play” on the below videos. I’m being serious. I don’t wanna see any bitching in the comments section that you weren’t warned — this shit is fucking awful, and is only to be listened to by people like me, people who often let their morbid curiosity get the best of them and/or are gluttons for punishment. ‘Cause we obviously get sent a lot of really atrocious “music” here at MetalSucks, but this is some truly next-level shit. This dude/girl/band/whatever the fuck it is can easily be considered visionaries of drekiness; they’ve completely revolutionized the game of ear rape.

If you’re still on-board with this, there’s more after the jump. But if you’re still on-board with this, your mommy probably didn’t hug you enough when you were young. Seek help.

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And things like this are why I will forever argue that the Internet has done way more good than bad for the music industry. Stem tracks available to the public; cheap recording/editing technology; the ability to instantly spread anything. Tell me that the benefits of videos like the above — by actively involving fans with the band’s music in a very tangible way — don’t make up for any potential money lost by Protest the Hero due to pirated music, and I’ll tell you you’re wrong.

And not for nothin’, I really dig this guy’s acoustic rendition of “Sequoia Throne.” Well done, dude.

-VN

Thanks: Nick Briggs

Which should surprise absolutely no one, ’cause the Periphery dudes themselves are super-nerdy too (not that that’s a bad thing). Check this short video mash-up  that we found on Metal Injection of Periphery’s three guitar players describing their rigs. It’s, um, entertaining:

If you’d like more Periphery nerdery, check out Misha Mansoor’s three-part MishaSucks.net/Gear_Geek column that he wrote for us a few months back. Dude knows his shit.

Periphery are touring with Darkest Hour, Veil of Maya and Revocation on the MetalSucks-sponsored Legacy Tour this fall.

-VN

Speaking of Slash: Vince and I caught his solo tour last month, and, for me at least, the big surprise of the evening — besides Vince’s brilliant revelation that Slash should start transitioning from rock and metal into blues as he gets older — is that Myles Kennedy is actually pretty awesome. He’s got a terrific set of pipes and a really incredible amount of range, and he’s a great front man. I think I read somewhere that he turned down the chance to be the new singer for Velvet Revolver, which is a bummer, ’cause he’d clearly do a great job (to say nothing of the fact that he’d be able to help them play old GN’R tunes that require a higher vocal register than that of Mr. Scott Weiland, which is all I really care about at this point anyway).

So for now, we have to settle for Kennedy being the frontman for Creed without Wife Beater instead of Guns without Rose. And Alter Bridge’s latest, the cleverly titled AB III, is now streaming here.

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Slash is friends with legendary producer Robert Evans (Chinatown, Marathon Man, uh, Jade), and plays the theme from The Godfather during his extended live guitar solos. Also, he’s obviously pretty famous. And by Hollywood standards, that makes him qualified to help run a production company. And by “help run,” I mean “take large paychecks to put his name on some shit so it will get more publicity while other people do all the work.”

Look, it’s working already! From Deadline:

“Unless you answer to Rob Zombie, what musician has a name better suited to horror film making than Slash? The iconic guitarist of Guns N’ Roses and Velvet Revolver has teamed with Scout Productions to start Slasher Films. They will produce edgy contemporary horror fare with a nod to the thrillers of the ’70s and ’80s. They’ve set up their first: Nothing to Fear, a horror/thriller that follows a young family as it tries to reinvent itself by moving to a small town in rural Kansas. The family is tormented by an ancient demon with an insatiable blood lust.”

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Playing jokes on Winds of Plague is funny. Playing jokes on whoever happens to be occupying the carousel wheel of interchangeable female keyboardists for Winds of Plague at any given time is even funnier.

The latest shenanigan comes from Periphery tour manager Justin Gosnell who decided to mess with current WoP keyboard seat-warmer Alana Potocnik on their summer tour with Fear Factory. It started with a picture of Justin’s spread ass cheeks set as the wallpaper on Alana’s phone, and since I don’t wanna ruin it for you I’ll just say it progressed from there. Watch:

I’m not sure I can get behind Justin’s claim that this is “the best tour prank of all-time,” but it’s a pretty good one. Supposedly some kids at the show thought it was real and it to WoP’s Wikipedia page, although it’s since been removed. Nice work!

-VN

Cobalt are known for one thing. That thing, sadly, is not balls-out, epic black ‘n’ roll. No, it’s that frontman Phil McSorley is in the Army, brought to the attention of many by his appearance on Fox News’ (um, surprisingly metal-sympathetic) Red Eye. And I’m obviously not knocking that — writing CD reviews in my underwear while drinking beer makes me 100% less selfless than the ladies and gentlemen of our armed forces according to ten out of ten people — it’s a shame that THAT has to be what Cobalt‘s defining feature is for most, seeing as their music is so goddamn forceful and fucking HEAVY in a genre not necessarily known for either. And while Gin, their last album, was more cohesive and ultimately easier to sit through, 2007’s Eater of Birds is the band at its best: endlessly propulsive, varied but never vulnerable, and chock motherfucking full of riffs, riffs, riffs, riffs, riffs, and additional riffs. Hopefully in the end, this will be what Cobalt’s gimmick, if one could consider being awesome a gimmick.

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The “djent” / bedroom producer-musician scene has gone from a tiny niche community on the Internet to a worldwide phenomenon in just a few years; in 2010, it’s a serious presence in the scene that any metal fan can feel. But how did it all get started? No one would know better than TesseracT guitarist Acle who’s been there since the very beginning. To that end, here’s Acle with a quick little history lesson:

It was probably back in 2002 / 2003 when the online community of producer-musicians who spawned the bands of this new wave of progressive metal, or “djent”, began to come together. A key unique factor that set this community / scene / then-to-be-genre apart from others is that it had no geographical base; people from all over the world were (and still are) sharing ideas, recording parts for each other and even jamming via the internet. Like punk came from the bars, clubs and rehearsal rooms of New York, this scene started in chat rooms, forums and home studios. This made it easy for many like minded people to find each other, something which would have been impossible without the internet.

Before I really had any recording experience I’d occasionally check the Meshuggah, Toontrack and Harmony Central forums. I’m sure there must still be some ancient posts on there! They were good places to pick up guitar technique tips, achieving certain tones and basic recording things. I learnt Meshuggah’s famous “djent” chord on their forum which is basically a normal power chord with an added 5th which gives that iconic “djenty” Meshuggah sound. The term “djent” just meant the sound of this “meshuggah chord,” not a scene.

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A lot of serious music people turn up their noses at Filter, and shit, I don’t exactly blame them. It’s tough to tell that mainman Richard Patrick is a brilliant songwriter judging from the band’s high-profile Hallmark-ish singles. If Filter were some unknown entity, it’d be easier for non-wimps to give each Filter album — homes to at least a dozen of rock’s most compelling songs of the past ten years — a deserved day in court. Instead, car commercials and dentist offices poison the ears of would-be fans with Patrick’s detours into wheezy, airbrushed soft rock.

Which is fine, cuz set against Patrick’s heavy hitters (like this jam or this mega-jam), songs like “The Only Way (Is The Wrong Way)” and “Where Do We Go From Here?” provide counterpoint to the screamage and all that. Plus, popularity among download jockeys is way less profitable than licensing songs to Hummer. So Patrick’s not wrong, but yeah my point is that those songs taken singularly are misleading; thusly, I’m sick of saying defensive stuff like “Filter is awesome!” (i.e. “despite what you’ve heard”) when it should be “Filter is awesome!” (i.e. “Hooray!”).

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It’s a good day to be a Phil Anselmo fan — not one but two of the prolific vocalist’s bands are currently streaming their latest releases. Unfortunately, I haven’t had a chance to check out either of these yet, but I’m certainly curious about both of ‘em. So now we can all listen together and make up our minds as a community. Won’t that be fun? Shouldn’t cause any in-fighting whatsoever.

• The CD portion of Down’s new live CD/DVD set, Diary of a Mad Band, is streaming here. Down have never let me, uh, down before, and I don’t know why they’d start now, ‘specially since this is a live collection and they always kick ass and take names live. So I’m gonna go out on a limb and predict that this fucking rules. Also… yep. I’m listening to “Lifer” right now and it sounds pretty killer. I’m thinking this one’s a keeper.
• Arson Anthem’s full-length debut, Insecurity Notoriety, is supposedly streaming here prior to its October 12 release date on Anselmo’s own Housecore Records. I say “supposedly,” ’cause, at least at the time of this writing, the page ain’t working. Which is a real bummer, since I really dug Arson Anthem’s EP in 2008. But hopefully by the time you read this it’ll be working again so we can all flame on.

Once you’ve listened, politely or not-so-politely share your thoughts in the comments section below.

-AR

You probably know and hate Kottonmouth Kings as one of the forefathers of underground white trash hip-hop, but what many people don’t know is that frontman and KMK founder Daddy X is also a legend of the Orange County hardcore scene. He cut his teeth as the singer for the pioneering OC straight edge band Doggy Style (also featuring Brian Baker of Minor Threat/Dag Nasty and Doug Carrion of Dag Nasty/Descendents), went on to be one of LA’s most successful club promoters, and started KMK back in 1994. As if that wasn’t enough, he’s also the cofounder of Suburban Noize Records (La Coka Nostra, Big B, Sen Dog, and now Crazy Town), which also signed Brokencyde and Eyes Set To Kill to their subsidiary Breaksilence. For more details on Brad’s punk rock history, check out Double Cross’ excellent post on the subject.

His punk rock resume aside, I’m actually a big KMK fan. In all seriousness, what they’re doing is the new punk rock. Clearly there’s nothing threatening or subversive about Warped Tour, Hot Topic, or whatever else “punk” has become since its inception. I’m fine with that, but my point is that punk is no longer the safe place for losers, outcasts, and pissed off fuckups that it was 20 years ago. Disenfranchised kids will always carve out a place for themselves, and I think the KMK/ICP underground hip hop scene is that place. Kottonmouth Kings are the soundtrack for the true outcasts who don’t have a place anywhere else, and I definitely support them for that.

One thing I really appreciate about the KMK/Subnoize scene is the complete lack of pretentiousness and elitism that runs rampant in the metal and punk worlds. There’s a real sense of community there, and you won’t find a nicer, more welcoming, friendly bunch of kids than the crowd at a KMK show. Are they dirty, poor white trash? Fuck yes, and that’s why I like them so much. They legitimately don’t give a fuck who you are, where you came from, or what you’re into as long as you’re there to have fun and make friends, and that counts for a whole lot in my book. These are the real underdogs and outcasts, and I’m always down for those people.

I only had a few minutes with Daddy X and Dirtball, but I was really stoked to talk to them about their punk rock roots and the upcoming album from his punk side project The Ex-Pistols. I wasn’t expecting them to be so disarmingly soft-spoken and nice. Daddy X was seriously one of the nicest, most courteous, friendly people I’ve ever interviewed — he actually reminded me a lot of Frank Mullen in a lot of ways. You might not love KMK, but I can guarantee you’d walk away from a conversation with Brad with a newfound respect for them at the very least.

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So Cattle Decapitation are on tour RIGHT NOW! with Devourment, Knights of the Abyss, Burning the Masses, and Son of Aurelius (get dates here). And I guess Knights of the Abyss guitarist Brian McNulty, uh, overindulged, and consequently missed the second date of the tour. That’s obviously pretty early in the run, too early for leeway, and so Cattle Decapitation’s tour manager, who outweighs McNulty by over a hundred pounds, was tasked with carrying out the chastisement. Watch video below, courtesy those mad geniuses at Metal Injection.

So Cattle Decap’s TM seems like a really nice dude who is reluctant to administer corporal punishment — still, he smacked McNulty right proper. I bet that dude never misses another show again, no matter who his band is opening for.

-AR

To celebrate the release of Madball’s latest aggro masterpiece, Empire, we asked vocalist Freddy “Madball” Cricien to compile a list of his favorite non-hardcore (but still heavy!) bands. Luckily for us and all of you, he agreed! So we’ll be running two entries a day from Freddy’s list every day for the next five days, leading up to Empire‘s October 12 release. You can read Freddy’s initial installment here; to follow, enjoy day two of the countdown…

8) SUICIDAL TENDENCIES

This is a band that could be categorized as H.C., or, rather, H.C. punk. But over the years, they developed into their own thing. It’s hard to really categorize these guys, so I’m going to go ahead and put them on the list. They are legendary representatives of “heavy music.” I think they deserve to be here. Not to mention, they are one of my favorites. And believe it or not, Lights… Camera… Revolution! is the stand out record for me. People would probably assume I’d pick something older, because of my background, etc. But that record was the onefor me! All their stuff is solid. We’ve toured with them twice now. They are stand up guys and a great band… respect.

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Believe it or not, folks still buy CDs. I know… I’m shocked too. But the weekly Soundscan numbers released by Neilsen actually do include digital downloads too. I know what you’re thinking… people still pay for music? I s’pose so. Here are the most recent week’s charting hard rock and metal releases, with my own snarky commentary, natch. Check those tags down yonder for a list of covered releases.

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We just received an e-mail from drummer Adam Bennati announcing his departure from perennial MetalSucks faves Early Man “due to an incident that happened 2 weeks ago;” he says that bassist Tim Rampage “left the band a couple of days later.” While Bennati didn’t give us any further details regarding the cause of the split, he did give us this official statement:

Hey there everyone,

As you may or may not know, I am not accompanying the band on the US tour with Bonded by Blood and Evile in support of our new release, Death Potion. I had every intention of going on our headlining tour to support the record, but due to recent circumstances, this has become impossible. I’ve dedicated living my life as a member of Early Man for the last 7 years but I won’t be a part of the group’s future. Despite the sadness in that, I feel very optimistic and am looking forward to moving on to new endeavors. Though the group had to take an uphill road (in many senses) to make our second album materialize, I feel that Death Potion was worth the wait. I’m very proud of this record. From the experience, I take with me a lot of good memories of writing music, traveling, drinking beer and hanging out with Mike [Conte, guitars/vocals], Pete [Macy, guitars] and Tim, and other members in the past. I wish the guys the best in the future. I hope they find success and happiness. Thank you to all the cool people I’ve met along the way, all the friends I’ve made, all the people who have worked hard for the band, and all of the great musicians we’ve performed with. Thanks to anyone and everyone who supports or appreciates the group’s efforts.

Adam Bennati

We love Early Man, and Death Potion, so there’s no doubt that this a bummer; Bennati has been in the band longer than any other member, save for Mike Conte.

The flipside is that we also love Conte (full disclosure: he’s written for us in the past), and we feel confident that as long as he’s around, Early Man will continue to kick ass. And it’s good to see Adam being a mensch about the split, despite whatever “incident” caused him to leave. Hopefully Bennati’s “new endeavors” are as exciting as his old ones.

Get Early Man tour dates here.

-AR

Nearly a year ago I wondered aloud whether Roadrunner Records’ reign as a premiere metal label had come to an end, only to eat my words a month later when they announced they’d signed two metal bands, Grand Magus and Baptized in Blood. Grand Magus are an established act with a long history, but Baptized in Blood are a different story; Roadrunner taking a chance on a brand new band heavier than Nickelback in the year 2010? Color me interested.

Now we finally get to hear what these Canadians have been up to for the past year in the form of a free download of their brand new track “Last Line Lady.” Not that you’d know whose track it is due to the lack of proper ID3 tags in the MP3 file (tsk tsk, come on Roadrunner, get it together! pet peeve), but “Last Line Lady” is a fucking ripper and a great track with which to whet the public’s appetite. There’s a dose of Gothenburg, a dose of thrash, a healthy heaping of cock rock and a guy that sounds like Andrew W.K. screaming over top of it; it’s an interesting mix, and I like it.

Baptized in Blood are playing the MetalSucks / Metal Injection / 1000 Knives CMJ Showcase at Club Europa in Brooklyn on Wednesday, October 20th along with A Life Once Lost, Car Bomb, This or the Apocalypse and Last Chance to Reason. Buy tickets here.

Hear the new song for yourself here for the price of an email address, then come back and share your thoughts on it with us; the free download will be available until 2pm EDT on Thursday, October 7th.

-VN