Exist: Forward-thinking, forward-pushing progressive experimental metal with plenty of guts and grit, ala Intronaut or an intensified Cynic. These Marylanders actually remind me a lot of Carnal Rapture, an amazing Italian experimental metal band who sent me their demo last year; they’re jazzy in just the right measures, brutally heavy in others, and sometimes both at once. They know when to turn the brutality on and when to turn it off, and nothing sounds forced or cliche. I’m reasonably sure some of this guitar and bass work is off the cuff, too. This band makes me horny! Listen to their In Mirrors EP at Bandcamp, and download it entirely for free at their official website.
Tuesday, November 16th, 2010 at 2:40pm by Sergeant D
When I am not trolling simple-minded, entry-level elitists, I enjoy the soothing, dulcet tones of some classic thrash or death metal. I am definitely not any kind of metal encyclopedia or authority on the subject, but I have realized that (sadly) I’m old enough to have heard a few bands that many younger metal fans have not, just because I have been exposed to a lot of bands over the years — sort of like an ancient desert tortoise who is not a historian, but has seen history unfold before his eyes simply because he is old as fuck. Because I enjoy giving back to my community, I will share some of my favorite older bands in case any of you might like them. If you want to hate on me, that’s OK, too, so feel free to tell me I’m a poser, that everybody already knows about these bands, that I got some trivial detail wrong, or whatever else you think makes you “sound like u rly know what ur talking about.”
Tuesday, November 16th, 2010 at 2:00pm by Axl Rosenberg
Is it still shilling if you genuinely believe in the product? Whatever. I don’t care. This is incredibly cool, and you’ll recognize it as being incredibly cool, or otherwise you’re probably a Vampires Everywhere fan.
So. If you don’t already have a subscription to Decibel, now would be a good time to get off your lazy ass and get one. Starting with the January 2011 issue, the only metal magazine worth a damn anymore is going to include a flexi disc — that’s a super-thin vinyl record to you, numb nuts — each and every month. No joke: Decibel is going to include a free vinyl every fucking month. Holy shit, that’s awesome.
Tuesday, November 16th, 2010 at 12:40pm by Axl Rosenberg
Do I really hafta write a stupid little intro every time we do one of these things? You guys know what you’re in for at this point.
First up we have “Truce,” the new clip from Death Angel. It’s a fairly generic metal video, with corpses, gore, a political message, and performance footage. But it’s friggin’ Death Angel, so it gets respect points right off the bat. I’d ponder the chances of Headbanger’s Blah ever airing such a yucky video, but given that Headbanger’s Belch now airs so late my DVR doesn’t even recognize it as a legitimate program, it obviously doesn’t matter. The right people will see this clip if they wanna see this clip.
Tuesday, November 16th, 2010 at 12:00pm by Axl Rosenberg
Christmas cards — actually, just all holiday cards in general — tend to be pretty stupid. They either feature some generic design, like a Christmas tree or a snowflake or Santa or whatever, or otherwise they’re a picture of the sender and his or her stupid ugly family. What a colossal waste of paper.
Of course, I wouldn’t be too cranky about it if someone sent me a Dio-themed Christmas card. And now they make such a thing, so you should buy ‘em instead of wasting time on the aforementioned picture of your family, who I don’t give two shits about.
Tuesday, November 16th, 2010 at 11:20am by Axl Rosenberg
I hate TMZ, but I feel obligated to tell you that the celebrity gossip site has obtained security camera footage of Sebastian Bach getting violent with the staff of a bar in Canada yesterday, and subsequently being arrested. Go here to watch, although, like I said, it’s security cam footage, which means it’s both grainy and stationary, which means you can’t actually see very much. Oh, how I wish someone had captured the glorious incident on their cell phone! But this will have to suffice.
Considerably more entertaining is this report of why Bach got so rowdy in the first place:
Tuesday, November 16th, 2010 at 10:40am by Axl Rosenberg
What a great morning it’s turning out to be!!!
Either after or before (but please not during) you’ve checked out The Human Abstract’s “Faust,” head over to NPR, where they’re streaming the new Agalloch album, Marrow of the Spirit, in its entirety. I’d be shocked — shocked, I say! — if it didn’t end up on a whole shit ton of year-end lists. And Profound Lore won’t officially release it for another week… so this is your chance to be impatient and hear it right fucking now.
And besides, if you crank that shit, you probably won’t need any coffee this morning.
Like I said, Marrow of the Spirit — which I’m just learning was recorded and mixed on fucking analog, in case you didn’t already admire these dudes enough — comes out November 23 on Profound Lore. It’s a must-own. Toss my salad if you don’t like it.
Tuesday, November 16th, 2010 at 10:00am by Axl Rosenberg
Yes, I know that it was just yesterday that we told you that The Human Abstract would be releasing their new single, “Faust,” today. But now I feel the need to remind you.
The first thing I did when I woke up this morning was walk over to my computer, power up the ol’ iTunes, and purchase this song. Yes, I did that before my morning piss. That way, by the time I was done urinating, the song would be fully downloaded and waiting for me. And the slight discomfort I felt as I delayed the emptying of my bladder was totally worth it. I listened to the song five times in a row after downloading it. I’m sure I’ll listen to it many more times before the day is through. I fucking love it.
Monday, November 15th, 2010 at 5:00pm by Greg Weeks
I’d like to once again thank my replacements for last week. They taught us how stupid American football is, how to do a football blog correctly, and what it feels like to root for a losing team.
Speaking of which, congratulations are in hand for the Buffalo Bills and their first season win! And a bigger thanks goes to the Detroit Lions for giving it to them. I think Detroit wanted to keep their winless 2008 record intact and gave the Bills one for the win column. The Lions did break another record on Sunday though: most road losses for any NFL team. The record was previously held by themselves.
Monday, November 15th, 2010 at 4:30pm by MetalSucks
MS photographer Jacqueline Cheng caught the madness at Webster Hall’s Studio on November 3rd, when Every Time I Die brought their boogie-core to New York City and absolutely set shit off. Unfortunately the crowd was so rowdy and the pit so violent that Cheng couldn’t get up in the band members’ grills, but fear not, she snapped a few great pics of the action anyway. Her photos after the jump.
Monday, November 15th, 2010 at 4:00pm by Sergeant D
Anyone who was unfortunate enough to have well-meaning-yet-clueless relatives knows the feeling of disappointment. After weeks of anticipation, staring at the shiny boxes under the Christmas tree and wondering what’s inside, you eagerly tear open your presents. What lies inside? GI Joes? Transformers?? A BB gun? A new Nintendo?!? Mind racing and adrenaline pumping, you open the first box and are brutally assaulted by reality: your hippie uncle got you some handmade, wooden train from his recent trip to Chile. And it only gets worse — grandma gave you a subscription to Highlights, and mom got you enough socks and underwear to last you through high school. Dejected, you retreat to your bedroom and pout while thinking about all the awesome presents the other kids must have gotten.
This is the same feeling I got all too often as a young metal fan in the late 80s/early 90s. Back then, without the internet, finding new bands was a real crapshoot — you really never knew what you were in for when you bought a new record unless you manged to catch them on Headbanger’s Ball. You did the best you could with what you had, but it wasn’t much to go on. Time and time again I was tricked by a cool logo, sweet cover art, or a name that sounded brutal — what I thought was going to be ass-ripping thrash or hardcore turned out to be dreadful hard rock, third-rate speed metal, or limp-wristed art rock. I tried so hard to be positive and enjoy the album that I had squandered my $8 on, but I just couldn’t do it.
In no particular order, here are a few of the dozens upon dozens of bands who I tried to like, but simply could not. What are yours??
Like everybody, I often spend private moments agonizing over all the sexy chicks I’ve failed to sleep with. It staggers the mind how often even a goblin like myself has managed to deflect and reverse sexual interest from the wonderfully bang-able, thereby snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Example? I once foiled a would-be fellator by getting punched and then crying before she’d had a chance to make good on her lewd pre-blubbering overtures. Oh, and I’ve worn creases into my forehead fretting about the model (!!) whom I blocked from fondling me in a crowded restaurant (!!!) so we could jaunt to a nearby hotel where I promptly passed out in the doorway. (Note to self: There is such thing as too many Percocets.)
Monday, November 15th, 2010 at 3:00pm by Axl Rosenberg
Yep, I’m doing regional reader’s choices again. I didn’t last week ’cause I was sick and I didn’t want said sickness to add to my hatred of all things terrible, but now that I’m back to a fairly regular level of health/curmudgeonliness, I think we can resume these again.
Today we travel to beautiful, sunny, Orlando, Florida. I used to have an great aunt in Orlando and I’d go down there to visit her once a year. Then she died, and I haven’t been since. Still… Orlando! A nice place to visit.
Okay, here we go. The reader who suggested these didn’t give a name. Hopefully that’s not a reflection on the quality of the music.
Earache head-honcho Digby Pearson recently penned a column on his “straight talk” blog Ask Earache about why labels put out so many re-issues. If you’re at all familiar with Earache you know full well that they’ve been completely re-issue crazy over the past several years, putting out what seems like a dozen re-issues each of albums by At the Gates, Godflesh, Carcass, etc, so an explanation from the man behind the curtain himself is quite telling:
The truth is that re-issues offer labels a quick and relatively risk-free boost to their income. They do pretty good business, and we don’t really know why- maybe its because the casual fan always wants great value before they spend their hard earned money, which is fair enough. In our experience, the diehard fan buys it for the music, the casual fan waits for a 2xCD great value package to appear. Over the course of an album’s release cycle, we try to cater to both.
Candor! Of course there are some other added benefits that you might not have thought of:
Monday, November 15th, 2010 at 2:00pm by Axl Rosenberg
I thought that both Assassin’s Creed games were gorgeous to look at, and had awesome concepts, but featured gameplay that became incredibly redundant after awhile; truth be told, for that reason, I didn’t fully complete either one.
But I did enjoy this video that Metal Injection found, wherein someone has taken footage from one (Or both? I really can’t tell, sorry.) of the Creeds and set it to As I Lay Dying’s “Comfort Betrays,” creating the appearance of hardcore dancing within the game. But, really, that’s not fair; the victims stumbling around in Assassin’s Creed are doing so with wwwwaaaayyyy more poise and grace than most hardcore dancers I’ve encountered.
Monday, November 15th, 2010 at 1:30pm by Axl Rosenberg
The Elite, the new project featuring Chimaira guitarist Rob Arnold and Bleed the Sky drummer Austin D’Amond, has uploaded the second part of the mini-movie chronicling the making of their EP, WW3. Check it out below. I promise, it doesn’t all take place through the point of view of a bottle, just the first little bit. And if you haven’t seen it yet and need to catch up, check out part one here.
WW3 is out now, and if you like Chimaira, or Bleed the Sky, or any of what you heard in the above video, you should definitely check it out. In fact, here’s a link to where you can download it on iTunes for a whopping price of $4.95. You can afford that, you cheap fuckers.
Monday, November 15th, 2010 at 1:00pm by Axl Rosenberg
photo by Jeremiah Cooper
For those of you too young to remember ‘em, cassette tapes were a total pain in the ass. If you wanted to listen to a specific song on a specific album, you either had to know the exact time it appeared on said album, or otherwise you had to engage in a process that went something like this:
Rock and heavy metal singer Sebastian Bach has been charged with assault after a wine glass was smashed at a downtown bar and a staff member bitten, police say.
Monday, November 15th, 2010 at 12:00pm by Axl Rosenberg
I haven’t seen Metallica live since 2006 (and after watching them do Master of Puppets live in its entirety, I’m honestly not sure I ever need to see them live again), but I guess these days they end their shows by dropping giant black balloons from the roof. And at a show in Australia this past Thursday, there was a little kid behind one of the balloons on the side of the stage, and Kirk Hammett kicked the balloon, and, well, the little kid pretty much got kicked into next week. Metal Insider has fan-filmed footage of the incident, which you can check out below. Unfortunately, it’s not in slow-motion on a loop, so you can’t watch it and laugh over and over and over again without rewinding.
Now, I don’t think Hammett deserves take any flack for this, as, clearly, he did not see the little kid, who was about half the size of the balloon and therefore completely hidden from Hammett’s point of view. Also, I’m amazed that security allowed anyone, let alone a little kid, get so close to the stage.
But this video is still pretty funny. I mean, I hope the kid is alright. But I’m still gonna laugh at this, and so should you. And I bet Hammett will never, ever kick one of those balloons again, lest there be another small child behind one, or maybe a puppy, y’know, so the internet can REALLY have a chuckle.
