We bid fuck off to 2010 tonight ,and that’s sad cuz this year contained the last days of  Type O Negative’s Peter Steele and metal’s Babe Ruth, Ronnie James Dio. We also have to prematurely turn the page on Paul Gray of Slipknot (see you in lefty heaven, dude), Bay Area legend Debbie Abono, and Makh Daniels from Early Graves. It’s like we’re leaving them behind in ’10 and will be forced to forge a path beyond 2011 without their support. What a rip-off.

Okay, this is turning into a real bummer and, worse, it’s redundant to our oft-blubbery reportage of these deaths and others. But today, let’s quickly acknowledge that outside of the MetalSucks coverage umbrella fell the passings of two friends of metal, actor Tony Curtis and filmmaker Satoshi Kon. Curtis may’ve been a marquee leading man and master of frantic comedy in the ’60s, but he first delivered the single greatest, metallist, brilliantest line of dialogue in the history of cinema in 1957′s The Sweet Smell of Success (see headline). Even Mike Patton and Tomahawk made it the refrain of their jam “Laredo” (above, at 1:40). Which is odd cuz that album also has a track named “Sweet Smell of Success.”

Then there’s Satoshi Kon, whose mind-mangling 13-part series Paranoia Agent is one of those works that metal people can love for its non-damning treatment of outsider fuck-ups and its flip, fatalist depiction of mankind’s collective narcissism. It brings to bear the desolate panic of Hitchcock, Lynch’s themes of futile struggle against unfathomable evil, and inevitable dead-end violence, as found in Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors. Which is odd, cuz the star of that movie reminds me of Mike Patton.

Cheers everybody! See you back here in 2011!

-ADF

MetalSucks’ own “Grim” Kim, as photographed by Samantha Marble

Congrats are in order for MetalSucks columnist Sergeant D. and contributor “Grim” Kim Kelly — each of them wrote a piece which made NPR’s list of 2010′s Best Writing About Metal! Kim got the nod for her terrific article “Metal Etiquette: A Ladies’ Guide to Concert-Going,” while the Sarge made the list ’cause of his unsurprisingly controversial “The Final Word on Metal Drumming.”

And, hey, guess what else? There were only four entries in total on this list, which means MetalSucks dominated that shit. DOMINATED IT!!!

We’re very proud to have Sergeant D. and Kim on the team, and look forward to seeing what crazy shit they come up with next year, too.

In the meantime, check out the complete list here.

In brief: Relapse is offering a free sampler for download to anyone who goes to their Facebook page and hits that little ol’ “like” button. As you can see from the track list below, there’s a ton of good shit on it, including new songs from Abysmal Dawn, Red Fang, and Noisear, plus some remastered Death, plus great stuff from Baroness, Revocation, Cephalic Carnage, Dying Fetus, Misery Index, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Brutal Truth, Murder Construct… the list goes on and on. This could very easily be the soundtrack for your New Year’s Eve partying.

Go here to download the sampler. Happy fucking new year.

-AR

OK, I’m calling a delay of game on myself. After the northeast was crushed with snow, I woke up with zero power, which equals no internet. If I miss certain games during the weekend, I use this Al Gore-invented “super highway” to catch up. I watched a couple of games, but being showered with gifts on Jesus’ birthday weekend makes it hard to watch them all. Why don’t you use phone internet to look up fun football facts, you say? I’ve only got 3G’s here, people!

Anyway, I’ve decided to let you guys talk about the games this week and about the cool shit you got for the holidays. I was raised Irish Catholic, so I get Christmas gifts which include guilt and shame.

Did anyone have their tree catch fire? Did anyone have their menorah light something on fire? How about your fantasy leagues? Anyone make the playoffs? Here’s your chance to chat. Go for it!

I hope the people who check this blog out to enjoy it, get bummed by it, or make fun of it, aren’t too upset by this entry. See you next week!

-GW

Visit The Red Chord on MySpace.

In case you didn’t know, MetalSucks is in Facebook and MetalSucks is on Twitter. Won’t you be a doll and like/follow us? We like to be liked.

In this here year of 2010, when the fit hit the shan and life took a sharp turn into crazyville, at least we could all have the holidaze to look forward to…….BIG BEARDED SMILE :)>

And even the scroogiest among us have to recognize the significance of Christmas, and how just four short years and twelve hours ago on this very day we lost one of our greatest heroes.

The hardest-working man in show business….

The Godfather of Soul….

The one……

The only………

JJJJJJJJJAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMEEESSSSSSS BBBBRRRRRROOOOWWWWWWWWWNNNNNNNN

So I would like to propose a toast and a moment of silence for the man with the golden groove…

(SILENCE)

(SILENCE)

(DEEP ADORATION/RESPECT)

(A LITTLE MORE SILENCE)

Okay, thank you all very much…………now let’s check some tasty grooves out!

In keeping with the seasonal spirit, I have selected two JB Christmas gems, as well as two of my personal faves from back in the day…

Enjoy, and happy holidaze :)

-KW

Merry Christmas to all of our readers who, y’know. Celebrate Christmas. Enjoy this while my family and I enjoy a movie and Chinese food.

-AR

The great composer Igor Stravinsky once said, “My freedom will be so much the greater and more meaningful the more narrowly I limit my field of action and the more I surround myself with obstacles…The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees one’s self of the chains that shackle the spirit.” By choosing a set of limitations or “compositional parameters” a composer can find direction and exercise his or her imagination. While it may seem counter-intuitive, this approach tends to encourage creativity rather than stifle it.

Screenwriting pedagogue Robert Mckee suggests that “talent is like a muscle: without something to push against, it atrophies. So we deliberately put rocks in our path, barriers that inspire.” While we can deliberately choose some “limitations” or “parameters” sometimes they occur without choice. Let’s take for instance Olivier Messiaen’s “String Quartet for the End of Time.”  In 1940 he was a prisoner of war and had limited access to musicians or instruments. He made due with the instrumentalists available; a pianist, violinist, cellist, and clarinetist. This unconventional ensemble gave Messiaen a “playing field” to work within and stirred his imagination to create a charming and evocative piece of music. While this is a radical case, limitation also occurs in other more conventional forms.

Click to read more…

That sound you hear is Ben Sharp shitting his pants.

-VN

We published our lists. Now it’s your turn.

We’re going to do this the same way we did last year: rather than post a regular poll with hundreds of options, we’re going to conduct this poll via the comments. Here are the instructions:

Step 1) Decide what your favorite metal album of 2010 is. You only get to pick one.

Step 2) Search the comments of this post for your choice (Apple-F on a Mac, Control-F on a PC).

Step 3) If it’s already listed, hit the “reply” button underneath and simply post “+1″ as your comment. If it’s not listed yet, add it, making sure you include the band name and album title and double-checking that you’ve spelled both correctly.

That’s it! When we re-open the MS Mansion Gates for 2011 we’ll tally up the “+1″s and declare a winner. Nothing is preventing you from adding multiple +1s, but don’t be that douche. Have fun… go!

Our bros from another ho at Metal Injection have put together a wrap-up video featuring some of the best moments they caught on film in 2010; Dave Mustaine’s stoned ass at the Golden Gods, Lemmy not giving a fuck, Rose Funeral being Rose Funeral, BTBAM telling Johnny Orlando Jr. to fuck off, live footage of Animals as Leaders and Veil of Maya and much, much, much more… it’s all here! And hey, a cameo by one Vince Neilstein — can you spot me?

In other news, Sebastian Bach is still a complete wastoid. Watch this TMZ footage of Baz making a drunken and stoned fool of himself for the camera with a member of Cypress Hill.

-VN

Hello, everybody. As we gear up for a holiday celebration of some sort depending on your religion, upbringing or general scroogery, we also gear up for brutal weather (in some places), presents and more football. The year and regular season are on their way out which means teams will be playing more enthusiastically for their shot at the playoffs. We’ll also see boring games between teams who will definitely not make the playoffs against teams who are pulling their starters to rest them for the playoffs.

The big game this week that everyone is talking about is the the incredible San Diego-San Fran game. Just kidding. Nobody is talking about this game. The 49ers didn’t even score until the 4th in this 34-7 blowout. The actual game I’m speaking of is Michael “Mad Dog” Vick and his Eagles’ triumphant comeback against the NY Giants.

Click to read more…

[UPDATE: And a new Crowbar song!! Listen to "Let Me Mourn" here.]

I know we told you that we’re done bloggingg for 2010, but the metal train keeps on a rollin’ and there’s some killer new music out there you need to hear!

Ex-Periphery frontman Chris Barretto — who recently recorded a cover of STP’s “Wicked Garden” with The Binary Code — has a new band called Ever Forthright. One listen to Ever Forthright and you won’t be surprised that they chose a former member of Periphery to front their band, as they’ve certainly got a shared sonic template, but Ever Forthright are a whole lot more experimental in their harmonic choices than Periphery. There’s some really legit jazz-ish noodling, dissonance, and chaos here. Think djent meets Dillinger Escape Plan. Ever Forthright have two new songs available for streaming on their Soundcloud page, and some other ones at MySpace. For what it’s worth I think Barretto was a great choice for this band, and it’s good to hear his voice again. [Thanks: Randy Gatto,

One of the few pagan/folk metal bands worth caring about, Turisas, are giving away a free download of the title track from their forthcoming record Stand Up and Fight. Turisas (or, more accurately, probably Century Media) really want you to spread the word about the track and are requiring a Tweet or Facebook update on your part to download it which is super annoying, but I’m guessing the track’s already up on YouTube — as is par for the course these days – if you want to bypass that step. The track isn’t full of the over-the-top madness I’ve come to expect from Turisas but is absolutely solid; Turisas are one of those bands that are best experienced live anyway. Stand Up and Fight comes out on March 8th in North America and in late February most everywhere else (aka it’ll be available on the Internet by late February, latest).

Brooklyn alt/post-metal trio Goes Cube — who are appearing on our free NYC Sucks digital compilation to be released in January and February — have released two slammin’ new songs. I haven’t actually listened to the new songs yet but I assume they’re slammin’ because their 2009 The End Records debut Another Day Has Passed kicked all kinds of ass. The songs are available via Coextinction Recordings for a total of $2.99 where you can also hear samples of both. Look for a new Goes Cube record via The End in 2011.

-VN

Mmmmmm…….2009….

-KW

Soooo… this concludes our regular posting for 2010! We might do some posting from time to time in the next two weeks if a) something really major happens or b) one of us has something we just absolutely MUST get off our chest ASAP, but otherwise, we’re basically on vacation. We’d like to thank you all for another great year… and 2011 is gonna be even better.

Until then, amuse yourselves with all of our 2010 End of Year awesomeness if you haven’t already, now gathered in one spot for your convenience:

Click to read more…

Last week we offered up one MetalSucks hoodie to whoever could come up with the funniest caption for the photo you see at right. Don’t worry; if you didn’t win you can still buy a MetalSucks hoodie here. And the winner issssss…

• AetherJake: “The unmasking of Portal was even more surprising than we originally expected.”

Well played, sir. This week we’re giving away a signed, limited edition digipak copy of Atheist’s latest progsterpiece Jupiter, along with a prize pack from their record label Season of Mist. Alls ya gotta do is come up with the funniest caption to the below photo, and remember to use a real email address (or post it with your comment if you’re using FB Connect)!

There are still a few of our brand spankin’ new “Appetite for Deconstruction” shirts left. If you still need a gift for your hesher friend don’t be shy and order now ’cause these are only on a limited pressing and they’ll all be gone very soon; and they’re only $14 for chrissakes!

Those are our own ugly mugs immortalized in GN’R form, in case you couldn’t tell; Axl Rosenberg (center), Vince Neilstein (bottom), Kip Wingerschmidt (top), Anso DF (left), Sammy O’Hagar (right), and Gary Suarez (in between Axl and Vince). Next time we do a shirt it’ll be a giant repro of Sergeant D’s pretty mug with a giant bullseye laid on top of it so you can fling poo, piss, arrows, bullets or your weapon of choice directly at your friend’s torso instead of facelessly trolling the Interhole.

Order now! Be that cool guy.

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Welcome to “Question of the Week,” a (sometimes) weekly debate amongst the MetalSucks staff regarding a recent hot button issue.

For the last “Question of the Week” we decided to counterbalance all these year-end “best of” lists with some good old fashioned negativity:

WHAT IS THE SINGLE WORST ALBUM YOU HEARD IN 2010?

The MS staff’s answers after the jump.

Click to read more…

FEATURING MEMBERS OF DRAGONFORCE, A LIFE ONCE LOST, ALL SHALL PERISH, CANCER BATS, THE ACCUSED, AIRBOURNE, ABSU, WOE, WHILE SHE SLEEPS, DIAMOND PLATE, MALEFICE, MUTANT SUPREMACY, GENGHIS TRON, AND TRENDKILL BOOKING AND RECORDINGS

For 2010, we decided to do something special as part of our regular end-of-year festivities here at MetalSucks — namely, ask musicians from across the vast spectrum of the metalsphere (or, in a few cases, the almost-metalsphere) what their favorite albums of the year were. Death metallers, thrash metallers, black metallers, stoners, grinders, and djenters alike graciously contributed lists to MS, and we’ve be running them in groups of ten to twelve musicians at a time twice a day all week.

After the jump, check out the eighth and final group… we hope you enjoy seeing what some of metal’s heaviest hitters were into this year as much as we have!

(And please note that these are musicians and that they, um, have a lot on their minds. So some of ‘em named albums that actually came out last year. Please don’t freak out.)

Click to read more…

Allan Horrocks and Andee Connors run Aquarius Records in San Francisco, CA. It’s the best record store in the country, especially if you don’t live right next to a record store and especially if you like metal. I interviewed them a few months back for the ongoing Taco Riff series, and figured they’d have a good take on all of your holiday shopping. I called them up to get their wrap up on their favorite metal of the year. Although they took notes on what they were going to say, they ignored them entirely almost as soon as we began.

Before we begin, you should sign up for their bi-weekly (now becoming weekly) mailing list of favorite new releases. It’s mindblowing.

We started with me trying to type what they said, but they were going way too fast.

Click to read more…