Didja hear the good news? New York’s own awesomer-than-thou Hull are currently working on the follow-up to last year’s nut-crushingly heavy Sole Lord! Metal Injection tells us that the still-to-be-titled record will be co-produced by “former drummer Brett Romnes and will be mixed by Bill Anderson (Sleep, High On Fire, Neurosis, EHG, Melvins).” Not a bad start, eh?

And here’s even better news: The band debuted a new track while opening for Kylesa a couple of weeks ago, and the always-reliable unartig captured the song on video. Which means we get to enjoy it right now! It’s turning out to be a pretty good day for new music, no?

Enjoy the song below…

-AR

photo by Tommy Kearns

I think I can safely speak for both Vince and myself when I say that Batillus have to be one of our favorite doom metal bands on the planet right now, AND one of our favorite local bands. Vince just sang their praises a few weeks ago, and then the band abso-fuckin’-lutely CRUSHED at one of our two CMJ showcases. They opened the show, actually, and believe you me when I say that they set the bar real, real high for every act that followed.

Now Batillus have announced that they’ve signed with Seventh Rule Records, who will release their new, Sanford Parker-produced debut full-length, Furnace, sometime in the spring of 2011. You may recall that the band wrote some exclusive studio blogs for us when they were recording the album earlier this year; if you don’t recall that, well, read ‘em now. Get to know this band. They kill, kill, kill, and then kill some more.

Batillus are also doing a handful of live shows this month. Like I said, they’re a force to be reckoned with live, so definitely go check ‘em out if you can. Here are dates, courtesy SMN:

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But it doesn’t seem evil. It seems really, really purdy.

Yes, From Exile have released some new music! It’s an acoustic demo of a song called “Everyone Wants to Seem Evil,” and even though it has no lyrics, I’d like to think that the title is commentary on the GGGGGGRRRRRR!!! image that’s so de rigeur for metal bands. But regardless of why the band called the song what they called the song, it’s all kinds of excellent, and is apparently only the first in a series, which makes me incredibly happy.

You can listen to the track in the below video, or, better still, go here to download it for the low low cost of free. And I’ll do my best to keep you updated as the band keeps adding songs to the series. Really, if you don’t know From Exile, you need to, and this is a good opportunity to school yo’self, son.

-AR

Thanks to Saul Hudson for the tip!!!

Invisible Oranges’ Cosmo Lee posted another YouTube video of a chick shredding yesterday ’cause he’s a smart man and knows that videos/pictures/posts of chicks having anything to do with metal fetch lots of comments and spark controversy from our male-driven Interhole portals. This chick is hella talented — in all my years of making a serious go of being in bands I never got to that level of dexterity — but the best part about this video is obviously her mom making the bed in the background. A+++ would do business with again! But then Cosmo takes a swipe at The Faceless, whose song “Meghan The Metal Queen” is covering in the vid, and you know that ain’t gonna go over well with yer Uncles Vince and Axl:

Evidently the song she is covering is The Faceless’ “Prison Born”, which is new to me, and hopefully will remain that way forever.

But holy moly, do the kids love that song. On YouTube, they’re covering it on guitar, bass, drums, and vocals. Actually, they’re covering pretty much every technical death metal band on guitar, bass, drums, and vocals. I kind of want these kids to get off YouTube and to form bands with actual people. But then they’ll probably just form more technical death metal bands, which would just spawn even more YouTube videos, until YouTube becomes an incomprehensible mush of sweep picking and blastbeats. Remember when metal bands wrote songs?

Them’s is fightin’ words.

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Here’s a quote from a recent Noisecreep piece on Biohazard’s Evan Seinfeld. I’ve added my own emphasis in bold:

“We are in the studio, finishing our 10th studio album, and we’re working Toby Wright, who has worked with Metallica, Slayer, Deftones, Godsmack, Korn,” Seinfeld told Noisecreep. “The music is the best we’ve ever written. I’m nervous, because it’s almost too good.”

Okay, so one question: WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT MEAN?!?!

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For its season opener in October, VH1′s That Metal Show dedicated a broadcast hour to hailing the late Ronnie James Dio (view episode here). With access to the MTV vaults, TMS dredged up some old interview clips of RJD being totally cool and very metal. The first of them didn’t need much unearthing, though, ‘cuz it was from Dio’s last public appearance back in April at the Golden Gods thang. On my first viewing, I immediately got a lump in my throat, and was about to get downright blubbery when my attention was derailed by something totally amazing: Me! On the television! Well, really just my neck and head, bobbing stalkerishly beyond RJD as he cuddles on-air with TMS host Eddie Trunk and the other two. Lolz. Even in death, the man continues to ram fun into my life.

And fun can be similarly rammed into yours cuz Dio’s new/old live set is streaming freesies right here. It comes from remastered BBC tapes of a 1983 show (promoting Holy Diver) and a longer set from 1987 (Dream Evil), each at historic Castle Donington in England. Tasty. And and and Tuesday brings the release of the little-ballyhooed but potentially mind-shattering Heaven & Hell live set from last year’s Wacken Open Air. I say “potentially” because no advance copy has arrived for me yet cough cough. I’m a TV star now and, yeah, and I do not like to be kept waiting. I’ll be in my motherfucking trailer.

-ADF

Dio’s sexcellent double live album Dio At Donington UK is out now on Niji Entertainment. Heaven & Hell’s Neon Nights: 30 Years of Heaven & Hell, Live At Wacken comes out Tuesday.

Even as someone who generally thinks that hip-hop has been in a pretty steady decline for, I dunno, at least fifteen years, I have a lot of respect for RZA, and Wu-Tang Clan in general; hell, I even chuckled at RZA’s not-especially-funny cameo in the not-especially-funny Due Date this past weekend. So I’m not-especially-put-off by the fact that he’s remixed Black Tusk’s “The Take Off” for a new Nike ad campaign, even though, in theory, the combination of rap, metal, and an evil corporation should induce homicidal feelings.

You can download the full remix here. I don’t actually think it’s very good — it sounds to me like RZA didn’t remix the song so much as he added a bunch of needless bleeps and bloops and other weird sounds — but it’s free so why not, right?

“The Take Off,” in its original form, appears on Black Tusk’s Taste the Sin, which is out now on Relapse.

-AR

[via Zena Metal Wants To Bitch Slap Yo' Ass]

Yep, it’s true: The Amazon mp3 store is selling a twenty-six song (!!!) Black Label Society Berzerkus Tour Sampler for a whopping sixty-nine cents for today and today only. What’s really extra-amazing about this deal is that not only is it legal, and not only is it dirt cheap (Metal Insider correctly points out that sixty-nine cents won’t even allow you to purchase a single song from most digital retailers), but it’s basically a “Greatest Hits” collection for BLS — the vast majority of their most well-known recordings, including “Stillborn,” “In this River,” and “Fire it Up” are all included. And that terrible cover of “No More Tears” isn’t! Terrific. Jussssssssst terrific.

As you know if you read this site regularly, I don’t think very highly of BLS, but for sixty-nine cents, well, I wouldn’t mock anyone for taking advantage. I’d never pay that much for anything from Attack Attack! or ICP or any of the other bands we routinely prey upon here at MetalSucks, but sixty-nine cents for music from a dude I thought might be God when I was in junior high? Sure, why not?

Go here to download the comp. Like I said, this is a one-day deal only, so if you want it, get on it.

-AR

I almost don’t even know what to say about it. The visuals are goddamn awesome. The music is goddamn awesome. It’s just an all-around goddamn great video. Major, major props to director/editor Scott Hansen, and to Jay Wynne, who did the visual effects. ‘Cause everything about this video is just goddamn ssssssiiiiiccccckkkkk. GODDAMN!

“CAFO” comes off of Animals as Leaders’ self-titled album, which is out now on Prosthetic. But I don’t have to tell you that, because you already own a copy… right?

-AR

Dredg are one of those bands who completely defy categorization but who are unconditionally beloved by a whole army of devoted fans. Myself included; I can honestly say they’re one of my favorite bands to emerge over the past 10 or so years. They’re also a band that continually evolves from release to release, and though their sound has steadily moved away from metal since 1998′s heavier but overall less consistent Leitmotif they still maintain enough “heavy” elements in their sound to keep fans of that kind of music interested in their modern, more experimental fare.

Dredg are currently on tour with Circa Survive, Codeseven and Animals as Leaders (!). Having recently announced a new label in Superball Music they’ve got a new album on the way too, which singer Gavin Hayes thinks will come out around March of 2011. The album was produced by hip-hop guru Dan the Automator, certainly not an obvious choice for a rock band but one that makes perfect sense for a genre-pushing band like Dredg. With the tour currently out on the road, said album nearing completion and a new record label putting it out, now seemed like the perfect opportunity to catch up with frontman Gavin Hayes.

Our chat, post jump.

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Congrats to grand prize winner A.J. Gregory and runner-up Erin Wood; they correctly identified last week’s logo as belonging to be Beatus. A.J. wins a sweet Helloween 7 Sinners denim jacket, PLUS a 12 x 12 7 Sinners poster signed by all the members of Helloween, PLUS a copy of the album; and Erin gets the same, minus the coat. MetalSucks: Where Kids Can Really Win!

This week we have another super-awesome prize to give away — a signed copy of Mosh Potatoes: Recipes, Anecdotes, and Mayhem from the Heavyweights of Heavy Metal, an incredible new book from Moth Eater bassist Steve Seabury that spotlights 147 (!!!) recipes for mouth-watering “opening acts” (appetizers), “headliners” (entrees), and “encores” (desserts), including dishes from such metal titans as Lemmy, Zakk Wylde, Joey Belladonna, Dave Ellefson, Jason Bittner, and Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal… PLUS lots of great backstage stories and other metal-related shenanigans. Seriously, I’m salivating just typing about the book!!!

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 one winner announce his or her name next week.

Of course, if you’re too pussy to play my little game, you can always just pre-order a copy of Mosh Potatoes before its release next week. Also, our pals at RED Distribution are having their own excellent contest, “The Metal & Meat SweepSTEAKS,” in which they’re not only giving away a copy of the book, but also a customized autographed Skeletonwitch Epiphone guitar and a $150 Gift Certificate to Omaha Steaks. You can enter that contest here. And that’s in conjunction with The World’s Loudest Metal Sale at f.y.e. presented by Revolver, which is offering a shitload of metal albums for just $9.99, including the most recent releases from Between the Buried and Me, Skeletonwitch, Kingdom of Sorrow, Within the Ruins, and more. So get on that shit.

This week’s logo was recommended by reader John Lindmeier… thanks, John!

-AR

Sometimes, I am utterly amazed that the human race has survived this long. Like, how is it that everyone is able to remember to turn their stoves off? Or not walk into sharp pointy objects on the street? Sure, there are some smart people out there, but I think that by and large we’ve been very successful at creating a society that protects us all from dying of flat out stupidity.

Proposition 19 was voted down here in California last week. Something like 56% of voters decided against the legalization of marijuana for recreational use, for the purpose of taxing and regulating it.

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12 looped seconds of “Checkmate,” one of 70-something songs from the Chinese Democracy sessions that will probably never see the light of day.

A couple of weeks ago Eyal wrote a great installment of “Jumping Darkness Parade” in which he asserted that “the only thing you can trust is for a person to be who they are, not who they tell you they are.” Past behavior is always the best indicator of future behavior.

And the past behavior of Axl Rose tells us that if we ever get a follow-up to Chinese Democracy, it won’t be for a very, very long time. It was four years in-between the release of Appetite for Destruction and Use Your Illusion, nearly two of which were spent just recording the latter albums, and all signs point to Axl being the source of the long wait; then it was SEVENTEEN more years before the release of Democracy. Even if you consider that Axl and all the various incarnations of GN’R didn’t start working on that album until roughly 1995, and the that recording was allegedly (finally) completed circa 2006, that’s STILL eleven years. Based on this information, I have worked out a mathematical formula for how long it will take Axl to record each subsequent Guns N’ Roses album, which is as follows:

TIME IT TOOK TO RECORD THE LAST ALBUM + NINE ADDITIONAL YEARS = TIME IT WILL TAKE TO RECORD THE NEXT ALBUM

According to this precise formula, if Axl Rose’s Rock N’ Roll Circus enters the studio to make a follow-up to Chinese Democracy in 2011, then the album will be released in 2031. By that time, Axl will be almost 70 years old, Dj Ashba will be almost 60 years old, and Slash will theoretically be 66 but, let’s face it, will more likely be dead (or, at least, still searching for a suitable replacement to take Scott Weiland’s spot in Velvet Revolver). There probably won’t be a MetalSucks in 2031, there almost certainly won’t be a record industry, and there definitely won’t be a Best Buy for Axl to con into carrying a record he has no intention of properly promoting. And I can’t for the life of me figure out who would fund such an endeavor anyway.

And yet Dj Ashba has the audacity to “promise” fans that the next album “won’t take as long” to record and release:

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The new Nachtmystium video for “Every Last Drop,” which Stereogum premiered earlier today, is really scary. Not ghouls and ghosts and blood and horror-type scary; but queasy-in-your-stomach real-world scary about the realities of serious drug addiction. Like you get when you’re watching the sad stories and broken lives on an episode of A&E’s Interventions or reading about the drug-addled downfall of a rockstar like Layne Staley. Or maybe you know someone who battles with serious addiction, or, sadly, has already lost the battle. Whatever the case, most of you should be able to relate in some way to this haunting (perhaps semi-autobiographical?) Nachtmystium video. It’s really fucked up. I’d say it’s safe for work, but it’s not for anyone with a light stomach.

I’m pretty sure this is Nachtmystium’s first ever real-deal music video, and it’s a hell of a way to enter into visual fold… not that MTV would ever touch a clip this controversial in subject matter. The clip was put together by Seldon Hunt and Jimmy Hubbard, who also created the album art for Addicts: Black Meddle Part II, from whence “Every Last Drop” comes.

-VN

I’d wager that Joey Jordison and his Murderdolls will never, ever perform the above song live again.

From Slipknot’s official website:

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Vira’s forthcoming 2011 album.

I’ve spent enough time of late complaining about mediocre / unoriginal bands that are perfectly ok at doing what’s already been done before — and so has Axl — so for today’s Unsigned & Unholy how about a few bands that I feel have actually got something to offer? Positive mental attitude!

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When pairing with Allyson B. Crawford of Bring Back Glam! this summer, I knew I was bringing in a heavyweight expert on one of metal’s most deceptively awesome movements, Glam Metal. However, I couldn’t have predicted the chemistry and kinship that marked our four-part Most Essential Glam Metal Albums roundtable. (Okay, technically it was a rectangulartable. Revisit it here.) Allyson’s pet bands know well that she is a patient, positive ally to even the most commerce-blinded artist. Perhaps what is so admirable is her adherence to basic decency standards on the consequence-free internet. But back in July, it was these same values that muzzled my more vile observations, like those regarding the English language prowess of Sweden’s fantastically rad Crashdïet. Here’s what we did talk about:

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Let’s make this quick. I have an appointment with a bowl of chicken soup.

First up we have  ”Grapes of Wrath,” by Ravage. On the one hand, it’s hard for me not to support a band that satirizes Fox News; on the other hand, it’s hard for me to support a band whose singer calls himself “Al Ravage.” Dude — if you’re gonna use a fake name, why not choose a cool fake name?

Also, if any of the members of this band have read and/or can tell me who wrote The Grapes of Wrath without looking it up on the internet, I’ll give ‘em a shiny nickel.

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Having spent much of 2010 on the road celebrating their landmark Victim In Pain album, NYHC originators Agnostic Front have apparently decided to work on new material. As per the band’s Facebook page:

The Godfathers of New York Hardcore, AGNOSTIC FRONT, will enter Mana Recording Studio in Tampa, FL tomorrow to begin recording the highly anticipated follow up to their 2007 release, Warriors. 15 new powerful and anthemic songs will be laid down by Erik Rutan under the watchful guide of producer Freddy Cricien of MADBALL. The record is rumored to be their strongest to date and an early 2011 release is expected.

Even with the obvious and unnecessary marketing copy, I’m thrilled to hear that there’s going to be another Agnostic Front record. What’s especially interesting about the album is that the band opted to work with metal producer Erik Rutan (of Morbid Angel and Hate Eternal fame), who also produced the recently released Madball album Empire. Evidently, Roger Miret, Vinnie Stigma, and the rest of the group are looking for a heavy metallic sound like what Rutan brought out on Madball’s last one. The above video comes from the aforementioned Warriors LP, and if this new record is a continuation of that sound, consider me officially fucking stoked.

-GS

The more I hear of Baptized in Blood, the more I really, really like ‘em. I’ve now heard two songs from their self-titled Roadrunner debut, released October 19th — “Last Line Lady,” released as a free download a few weeks back, and “Dirty’s Back,” which I heard for the first time in the above video — and I gotta say, both songs are total slam dunks.

Baptized in Blood are clearly influenced by their ’80s thrash heroes but they aren’t content to simply bite their riffs like the hoards of re-thrash bands roaming the planet… they take that influence and actually infuse it with something all their own, the way a band like Revocation does. Baptized in Blood actually remind me a whole lot of Revocation if the latter let their cock rock influence hang out just a bit more (and those guys love them some cock rock… don’t let their death metal tough-guy bravado fool you!); where Revocation get scene points for ridiculous chops, wonky songs and a healthy heap of death metal influence, Baptized in Blood go straight for the jugular with catchy songs and overt references to ’80s bands other than Megadeth and Metallica. And they’re still surprisingly heavy. I’ma hafta get myself a copy of their album pronto.

-VN