Neither Vince nor myself were able to make it to The Faceless’ show with Suffocation here in New York this past Saturday night; I think that’s the first time we’ve missed the band live during the entire Planetary Duality tour cycle. So, of course, they played a new song, “The Idol of Reality,” live. Figures.

But at least Metal Injection was on hand to capture some footage! (I remember Metal Injection being the first to break “Xenochrist” in 2008, too. I think those dudes love The Faceless even more than we do.) Check it below.

Not shocking news at all — the music sounds great. Totally epic, totally batshit crazy, and perhaps even a touch more melodic than the band’s past material? In any case, I’m ready for the studio version. It’s been two years since Planetary Duality, which is only thirty-two minutes long. Me wants new The Faceless album now please.

The Faceless’ new, yet-to-be-titled album should be out next year on Sumerian.

-AR

I had to look up Escape the Fate on MySpace before writing this post to see what they sounded like. And I do not like what I hear. But you know what I do like? Boobies. And having boobies rubbed in my face. And being flown across the country on someone else’s dime — along with a friend — to have boobies rubbed in our faces for free. How can you fuck with that?

Answer: you cannot. Even if you’ve already got a set of boobies to call your own. I’ve known many a girl that enjoyed going to strip clubs to watching boobies. I even dated one that got up on stage and flashed the crowd at her own b-day party. That was hot! I also know that girls like boobs too because this band has four chicks in it and they’re hosting their record release party at a strip club!

All this talk of flying you and your friend across the country to watch live boobies is of course because Escape the Fate are offering one fan and a friend of theirs the chance to do just that in celebration of their new record. The album comes out on November 2nd and the release party will be on November 3rd at Crazy Girls strip club in Hollywood, CA. 1 winner gets roundtrip airfare for 2 to Los Angeles, CA, hotel accommodations, and VIP access to the private party. Contest ends on October 20th.

How can you turn that opportunity down? Enter here for the price of the 1 minute it takes you to do so, then proceed to pass Go, collect $200 and get some boobies rubbed in your face.

-VN

Photo by Jessica Harvey

We’ve been hearing rumors about this for awhile now, but MetalSucks can now exclusively confirm that experimental prog-metal sextet Last Chance to Reason have signed with Prosthetic Records. Expect their debut for the label next year.

We’re always stoked when an awesome unsigned band finds a good home. We first saw Last Chance to Reason this summer, and their brand of techy, spacey, brutal-yet-melodic metal reminded us of a young Between the Buried and Me; we knew right away that they were something special. The dudes from Metal Injection and 1000Knives agreed, and we were all thrilled when we were able to add them to our joint CMJ Music Marathon showcase.

So this band obviously has a bright, bright future ahead of them. If you’ve never checked them out before, you can hear some of their stuff on their MySpace page. And if you live in the New York area, definitely come check them out at the aforementioned MetalSucks/Metal Injection/1000Knives CMJ Music Marathon showcase this Wednesday, October 20 at Club Europa in Brooklyn. The bill also features Car Bomb, This or the Apocalypse, Baptized in Blood, and, in their first New York appearance in eighteen months, A Life Once Lost. It’s gonna be killer. Get tickets here.

My introduction to Canadian blues rockers Big Sugar was this cover of the BTO classic “Let It Ride,” and I guess it was sorta my outro-duction too; it’s the only song of theirs I’ve ever heard. But damn, what a doozy it is! That guitar’s got some of the meatiest, thickest, most ballsy sounding tone in the history of ever, further underscored by the super-dry drum production underneath and the emphasized by the keyboard crunch on the intro riff. Is there to more to this band beyond this most excellent cover? Is there a particular album of theirs I should seek out?

Love, love, love this cover. Smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em.

BIG SUGAR – “LET IT RIDE”

BIG SUGAR – “LET IT RIDE”

-VN

Photo by Chris Roo

Back in August, I got a chance to talk with Yakuza front man Bruce Lamont about all things Yakuza, his band’s stellar new album, Of Seismic Consequence (which is a contender for this curmudgeon’s year-end “Best Of” list), his upcoming side projects and collaborations, his other fellow musicians from the Windy City, and Yakuza’s then not-yet-announced tour with Triptykon and 1349 — a tour that is now under way.

Unfortunately, then the Bob Cock penchant for procrastination kicked in. But whilst Yakuza are still in the midst of the aforementioned tour (get dates here), I present you with the always charming Mr. Lamont’s take on…well, just about anything he’s involved in nowadays – including an upcoming solo album.

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Seriously, if you haven’t read Vince’s epic story about how MetalSucks Maniac “whiskey” won last week’s last week’s photo caption contest, you need to go read it now. It’s pretty amazing. Whiskey’s mom even left a comment! We like to think of MetalSucks as something the whole fucking family can enjoy together, so that warmed the cockles of our collective heart.

Here’s some other fun stuff that happened this week:

• We debuted a performance clip from the new Shadows Fall live DVD, the new Intronaut album, and a new Madball song. PHEW!
• We spoke to Jeremy Creamer from Daath, Johnny Plague from Winds of Plague, Adam Warren from Oceano, and Ashmedi from Melechesh. Oh, and Anso unveiled part one of his massive two-part interview with Atheist’s Kelly Shaefer.
• We checked out new releases by Salome, Madball, Woe, and Arson Anthem and Ender. And a DWARR reissue!
• Greg Weeks from The Red Chord said good-bye to Randy Moss and hello to men wearing pink tights, Sacha Dunable from Intronaut contemplated the legalization of recreational marijuana use in California, and Eyal Levi from Daath discovered DestinAsian.
• Sergeant D. celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of Pantera’s Cowboys from Hell. Wait, what?
• We couldn’t figure out why everyone was so surprised that ICP are evangelical Christians.
• We found out the hard way that Attack Attack!’s music could be even worse than it already is.
• We took a slow ride on Metallica’s Lightning.
• We laughed at one shit stain calling another shit stain “a shit stain.”
• And, oh yeah! Gary Suarez took over the site for a day.

Next week is CMJ here in New York! If you’re in the area and looking for some awesome metal, check out our handy guide to all the festivities — including not one but TWO showcases sponsored by MetalSucks. We’re not gonna lie — we are going to be very hungover and tired next week. But that just means we’ll be crankier than usual. We’ll still be here with lots of debuts, interviews, and other assorted nonsense. Bring your mom! It’ll be fun.

-AR

Ever had something happen to you that was so out of the blue and unexpected, yet so fucking hilariously strange that you wished you could go back in time and let the younger you know it was going to happen just so the two of you could laugh about it? I just had one of those experiences, and I don’t quite know how to categorize this one. So I figured I would share it with you guys. I’ve already shared it with all my friends, but I feel like the community at large should know. And maybe you guys can help me form an opinion on this. So here goes:

Last night, around 3 a.m., I was Facebook lurking after a night on the town. To my surprise, an old middle school teacher hit me up. We’ve had no contact since I got out of that school. I haven’t gone to reunions. I’ve made no effort to keep up with anyone. That part of my life was effectively over the day I graduated. But I was happy to hear from him and we made some small talk. Eventually he said this to me: “Eyal – this has been a real treat!! Please look for me again and please drop me a message from time to time. I mean this sincerely – it was a pleasure to teach you – I loved the creativity of your mind and that you always were a self-made man! LOVE>”

Nice thing to say right? Nice to get a compliment like that from an old teacher considering what a horrible student I was. And then comes the left turn. Abruptly he changed the subject and told me there was a video he wanted me to check out. To “get my thoughts on it.” I said okay. Here’s what he sent me:

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Full confesstion: I had never even heard of Uphill Battle before this summer, when Empyereon/Meek is Murder drummer Frank Godla turned me onto them after this past August’s Cynic/Intronaut/Dysrhythmia show. I think what happened was, I said something about how much I love Danny Walker’s drumming in Intronaut, and Frank said, “Oh, you’ve heard Uphill Battle, right?” Turns out Walker was in Uphill Battle before Intronaut ever existed. Needless to say, upon learning this information, I told Frank I needed to hear something ASAP. Wreck of Nerves (Relapse, 2004) has been, like, wrecking my nerves pretty consistently since that night.

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Excuse me. Glenn actually waited outside. ‘Cause he was a married man. And we all know that married men never go to prostitutes. Yep. I believe that.

This all according to Dave Mustaine in the below vintage video interview, for which Mustaine was clearly 100% sober. Some things never change, y’know?

My personal favorite part is when he reveals that he likes girls with hard butts. Dave Mustaine is an ass man! Would’ve figured him for a boob guy myself. You live, you learn.

-AR

Thanks to Ranpal Chana for the tip.

The MetalSucks/Metal Injection/1000Knives CMJ Music Marathon showcase is gonna be one of the most-fun shows of the year. (Which is why you’ve already bought a ticket, right?) All the cool kids already know that it’s A Life Once Lost’s first NYC show in eighteen months (!), and you’d have to be moron not to be excited to see those fellas once again slay The City That Never Sleeps.

But you’d have to be just as much of a moron not to be stoked to check out the four other great bands on the bill — namely, Car Bomb, This or The Apocalypse, Baptized in Blood, and Last Chance to Reason. If you’re not familiar with these bands yet, well… for shame. Get educated after the jump.

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Vince and Kip told me for months that I had to go see Valient Thorr live. “But I don’t really dig their albums!” I’d protest, and they’d reply, “No no no no no no no, you have to SEE them LIVE to ‘get it.’” So last month, Vince and I got really (really, really, really) drunk and went to go see them, and guess what? Vince and Kip weren’t lying. In concert, this band RULES. I would go see them live again literally anytime. Like, if my phone rings right now and it’s Kip and he’s all “Valient Thorr are playing in Staten Island in an hour,” well, the only correct response would be, “Which subway line do I take?” And there would be no more posts for the rest of the day, just like that.

So. The new Valient Thorr video, for the song “Double Crossed,” doesn’t quite convey the joy of seeing the band live… but it certainly is a heckuva lotta fun. It kind of reminds me of an old Twisted Sister video, at least in terms of its goofy tone.

My favorite part, though, is that Valient Himself has visible sweat stains right from the moment he gets up off the couch at the start of the video. Of course, it takes lots of big, hot lights to film these things, and we don’t know even know if it was filmed in chronological order, so it’s possible he had good reason to sweat. But I prefer to think that he’s just a slippery dude.

“Double Crossed” comes off of Valient Thorr’s latest, Stranger, which is out now on Volcom. You should buy a copy just so that this band keeps touring and comes to fuck up your town real soon.

-AR

Times of Grace, the project from current Killswitch Engage guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz (someday I’ll learn to spell that name without having to look it up or resort to calling him “Adam D.”) and former Killswitch Engage vocalist Jesse Leach, have released their first song unto the world. It’s called “Strength in Numbers,” and is available as a free download here, assuming you’re willing to subscribe to Times of Grace’s e-mail list. It will only be available for free for 48 hours; on October 19 it becomes available via various digital retailers.

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So Revolver is getting ready to unveil their annual “The Hottest Chicks in Metal” issue, only I guess it’s “The Hottest Chicks in Hard Rock” now, ’cause, uh, use your imagination. But this year’s cover girl isn’t Cristina Scabbia or Maria Brink or Marta or Grace Perry or whomever is playing keyboards for Winds of Plague this week or one of those chicks from Eyes Set to Kill or any of the other obvious choices.

Nope, it’s Taylor Momsen, seventeen year old lead vocalist for The Pretty Reckless. She’s also been in some movies, like, uh, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Spy Kids 2. Here’s the cover photo, without all the writing n’ stuff on it, courtesy this porny celebrity gossip site:

I’d never heard The Pretty Reckless before, so I decided to check out some of their music in order to figure out if I needed to feel guilty about this just because it meant I was getting turned on by a teenage girl dressed like a prostitute in the window of Amersterdam’s Red Light District, or because her music sucks, too.

And it turns out her music sucks, too.

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It’s no secret that the music industry is in a shambles, with both profits and revenues at an all time low. With Napster, eDonkey and Audiogalaxy more popular than ever, anybody with a DSL connection can download an album in a matter of hours, often at CD-quality 96 khz. While the unprecedented access that we the fans have to new music is amazing, it comes at a price: the ability for artists to eke out a meager living by making music.

Sure, on the one hand it’s pretty funny to think about, say, the bassist for The Autumn Offering working at his dad’s ravioli factory when they’re not on tour. Admittedly, the contrast between some D-level metalcore band’s onstage persona (“U MIRIN OUR STAGE PRESENCE BRAH?!”) and the sad reality of seeing them try four times to get their 1998 Saturn to turn over in the parking lot after the show is pretty amusing, but this isn’t high school. Music isn’t about who’s making money and who’s 27 years old and still thinks it’s cool to be in a band, it’s about COMMUNITY. To me, the scene is one big family, and I look out for my family members. Whether you are the “fuckup-idiot-with-a-heart-of-gold cousin that everybody feels sorry for” (Eyehategod) or “ridiculously good-looking older brother we r all jealz of” (Oli Sykes/Bring Me The Horizon), if you are family I will always have your back — and family members do not steal from each other!!

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Sometimes the simplest and stupidest of videos are the best ones; look no further than Unsane’s legendary skateboard blooper “Scrape” clip or — though I think this band blows — CKY’s Jackass greatest hits clip for “96 Quite Bitter Beings.” Or for that matter, Exhibit A: the entire Jackass series itself. Good old stupid, dumb fun is often the best kind of all.

In that spirit comes the video for “Replicants” by Nylithia (whose cover of the Mario Bros. “Castle” music we featured in September 2009), in which the Canucks decide to wreak havoc upon an electronics recycling yard with a forklift, each other, and good old brute force. Nylithia aren’t about to win any awards for cinematography with this 2008 video so I’m not sure it would register on the Axl O’Meter of video worthiness; it’s just really fun to watch! The song is awesome too, and upon further listening on their MySpace page so is the band; if fun thrashy-influenced-but-not-re-thrash bands like Revocation and Rumpelstiltskin Grinder mean anything to you I’d be surprised if you didn’t instantly love Nylithia. Look out for a new album from them in the near future.

-VN

About a year ago I heard a terrible rumor that Genghis Tron were breaking up. Even though the source was reputable, I didn’t run anything about it ’cause, well, the band had just started an Australian tour, so it seemed like if they were breaking up, they were going about it all wrong.

But it’s been almost three years since the release of GT’s last album, the brilliant Board Up the House, and we haven’t heard any news from the band in awhile. Now the band has posted an update on their MySpace page, and while the good news is that they’re apparently not done, the bad news is that they are one of those “indefinite hiatus” things.

Here’s the update from the band:

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Last night Axl and I (along with Good Fight Entertainment via the Internet drones at YouSendIt) shared the following email exchange upon both being sent The Chariot’s new Long Player Long Live:

Good Fight via YouSendIt: “This link is good for 1 download of The Chariot – Long Live. the link will be active for 48 hours. please download asap. thanks!”

Vince [to Axl]: “Holy shit. This RIPS.”

Axl: “I DLed it but still need to listen.”

Axl [20 minutes later]: “Wow. I think this dude must have been single handedly responsible for how awesome those old Norma Jean albums were. Either that, or he and the band had a SERIOUS divergence in artistic intent.

Obviously it’s a little of both; it’s clear now what Josh Scogin’s influence was in Norma Jean, as both bands’ post-2003 output has been a testament to that. I rather enjoyed what I heard of Norma Jean’s recent release Meridional, but Long Live is a completely different ballgame; these two bands are so different in 2010 that they barely even justify being discussed together anymore.

So let’s not mention the N[J] word for a minute and just focus on the C word. While The Chariot’s prior endeavors have all been really heavy and have all been really good, Long Live takes things to the next level.

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Hey, you’re a MetalSucks reader and therefore are in possession of rugged good looks and a discerning ear, so you’ll be happy about this news: The Crown’s just-released album Doomsday King is streaming in full right here on the internet. That’s pretty much all you need to know. Yep. The Crown, insanely awesome band, back from a hiatus, new record just came out Tuesday; these are the facts. And clicking here gets you a step closer to hearing all of their new epic for free. Good times. Yessiree. Leading with a link of this magnitude sure makes my job easy. I mean, are you even still reading this? Shit, I could write anything here cuz you’ve clicked already, right? No? Okay, I guess that’s cool. Well, it makes me feel good that you’re still reading. But, um, you wanna follow this link to Metal Underground where Doomsday King, the seventh Crown album (and second to feature a singer not named Johan Lindstrand), can be enjoyed in exchange for no money. That sounds like major fun, does it not. Oh I see. You tend to keep reading (and not palm-banging this link) when you notice that the text continues. My fault. Actually, I’ll just knock off early. That’s the ticket. Cuz you’re off to this location to blast the fucking new Crown album anyway. No point in me hanging around. So, yeah, no more words. I’m shutting up. Have fun!

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So E! is apparently doing a new reality show, called Married to Rock, which, in case the title doesn’t make it obvious, is about the wives of some famous rock stars. Here’s a rundown of the women who are going to be on this show (some barely safe for work pics after the jump… you’ve been warned, you horn dogs):

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video courtesy MissPinksMusic

So Duff McKagan joined Axl Rose and his new Guns N’ Roses on-stage at the 02 Arena in London last night, playing bass for “You Could Be Mine” (video above) and rhythm guitars for “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” and “Nice Boys.”  (You can also see photos here.) Inevitably, this is going to make people ask the question: “Is the original line-up (or something closely resembling the original line-up) of Guns N’ Roses getting back together?” As MetalSucks’ resident GN’R geek, I hereby take it upon myself to provide reckless analysis regarding this blessed event. After the jump, get both sides of the argument, as provided by my drug-addled fanboy brain.

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