I’m only an occasional contributor to this fine website, but when Vince sounded the call for year-end lists, I couldn’t resist chiming in with my two (extremely opinionated) cents. It’s pretty apparent what kind of tunes I’ve been digging this year – decrepit death metal, orthodox black metal, miserable doom, and the prettier side of grimness. The list that follows is probably a little more weighted towards the obscure and/or extreme than a lot of the other lists I’ve come across so far, but fuck it – those are the kinds of albums that keep extreme metal interesting, dangerous, and, at their best, honest. Those are qualities that, in my not-so-humble opinion, a vast amount of modern metal seems to lack. Give the bands below a shot, and if you like what they’re doing, dig deeper; check out their back catalogues and influences and contemporaries and ideas. If not, go buy the new Veil of Maya or something – no skin off my back either way, though I do hope I open a few eyes with this’n.

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Because I enjoy playing Magic: The Gathering. Yup. Uber nerd status.

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Everyone sing with us now:

IT’S THE MOST WON-DER-FUL TIIIIIMMMMME OF THE YEARRRRRR…

Yes, today is the day when (most of) the MetalSucks staff unveils their picks for the best albums of the year, and then you all freak out because your favorite album didn’t make anyone’s list, or didn’t make enough lists, or wasn’t in the right place on the lists, or whatever it is that you somehow think invalidates your taste, your intelligence, and your life, even though these are just opinions. HOO-RAY!

So enjoy the lists, enjoy the debates, enjoy the trolling, enjoy the flaming and the fighting, but most of all, just try to have fun and not give yourself a fucking aneurysm, alright?

-Axl, Vince, and Everyone at MetalSucks

FEATURING MEMBERS OF ISIS, MUNICIPAL WASTE, ELUVEITIE, WORMROT, LAST CHANCE TO REASON, ZAPPA PLAYS ZAPPA, GOD DETHRONED, OWEN HART, NIGHTFALL, HORSEBACK, AND OCTOBER TIDE

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’ll be running them in groups of ten to eleven musicians at a time twice a day for the rest of the week.

After the jump, check out the fourth 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.)

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NYC’s metal scene is literally exploding at the seams. There are so many great local bands playing shows on a regular basis that on any given night you’ve got to make some pretty hard choices about where to get your headbang on. We try and highlight some of our favorite local bands on MetalSucks from time to time, but frankly it’s just not possible to keep up; seemingly every month there’s another fantastic band that’s as good or better than any number of “signed” acts from around the U.S. or the world, only they’re not that well-known outside of our city’s borders.

That’s something we hope to change with our brand new compilation, NYC Sucks. Volume 1, containing 14 songs by as many bands, will be released on January 18th, and Volume 2, containing 13, will be released on February 22nd. We’ve included a few smaller signed bands that we feel are an integral part of the scene, but for the most part all the acts on these compilations are not signed. Both compilations will be available for download right here on MetalSucks, will contain high-quality 320kbps MP3s, and will include a PDF of digital liner notes with information about all the bands. And because the whole point of this thing is to spread the word of all the great bands we have around here, both volumes will be available completely for free. Send ‘em to your friends, put them up on torrent sites, submit them to .rar Mediafire blogs… just spread the friggin’ music by any means necessary.

Volume 1: (Jan 18)
1. East of the Wall
2. Made out of Babies
3. Tiger Flowers
4. Black Anvil
5. Naam
6. Batillus
7. Meek is Murder
8. The Binary Code
9. Castevet
10. Hung
11. Wizardry
12. Pyrrhon
13. Mutant Supremacy
14. Incendiary

Volume 2: (Feb 22)
1. Wetnurse
2. Tombs
3. Moth Eater
4. Hull
5. The Austerity Program
6. Defeatist
7. Goes Cube
8. Krallice
9. Empyreon
10. Abacinate
11. ikillya
12. Atakke
13. The Ghost in Black and White

After the jump, the cover for Volume 2. The covers were designed by the very talented Jesse Zuretti.

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Back in October, I took the time to chat via Skype with Robin Staps, founder and main songwriter of the Ocean Collective. We talked about the band’s new album Anthropocentric, discussed the unfortunate theft the band experienced while on tour, the band’s plans for U.S. touring in 2011, and more.

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Our friend Whitney Hess, who runs her own awesome blog that has absolutely nothing to do with metal, sent us the below poster this morning, and it more or less perfectly illustrates my feelings about throwing horns in 2010 (or I guess 2011… might as well get used to typing that now). I mean, we all know that invisible oranges are where it’s at now, right?

Unfortunately, the poster is $75, ’cause, uh, I dunno why. I don’t know who would ever pay that much money for such a thing — probably the same people who’d pay $315 for a candle shaped like a church. This poster is cheaper and even cooler, and for the next twenty-four hours, you still have a chance to win one from us. So get on that.

-AR

Well, I didn’t see this coming: Times of Grace, a.k.a. the Alive or Just Breathing-era Killswitch almost-reunion, are gonna do a tour. And I’m not being facetious when I say I didn’t see it coming — I sincerely didn’t think they’d tour, ’cause both Adam D. and Jesse Leach have, like, a gabillion other commitments. But I guess they’ve each cleared the month of February to hit the road. Support will come from Straight Line Stitch and War of Ages.

This announcement, of course, raises a few questions, like:

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FEATURING MELISSA AUF DER MAUR AND MEMBERS OF WATAIN, CATTLE DECAPITATION, FORBIDDEN, VANISHER, HOWL, THE CONTORTIONIST, DISEMBODIED, EVOCATION, AND ROSALINE

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’ll be running them in groups of ten to eleven musicians at a time twice a day for the rest of the week.

After the jump, check out the third 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.)

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I don’t think we’re doing a list of the “Best Metal Videos of 2010″ this year because no one ever wants to play in the sandbox but me and I’m over it. But Noisecreep has compiled their list, and I think they did a pretty good job. I don’t like every band on the list, but it’s about the videos, not the songs, and most of these videos are pretty good.

Conspicuously absent, in my not-so-humble opinion, are Kylesa’s video for “Tired Climb” and The Red Chord’s video for “Demoralizer,” both of which I think are great. But I can’t exactly get pissy about the list as it exists.

Check it out here, then, as per usual, argue ’til you’re red in the face in our comments section.

-AR

The cover artwork for Lazarus A.D.’s new album Black Rivers Flow might not be of Gene Hoglan waxing his nuts, but thankfully Axl Rosenberg was correct in assuming said cover artwork wouldn’t have any bearing on the music contained therein. Lazarus A.D. have just released the first track from that album, a little ditty called “The Ultimate Sacrifice,” and it’s pretty rad.

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Kevin Stewart-Panko is a brave, brave man.

Today The Deciblog launched a new weekly column, “Justify Your Shitty Taste,” in which “every Wednesday morning, a Decibel staffer or special guest will take to the Deciblog to bitch and moan at length as to why everybody’s full of shit and [this week's] dud is, in fact, The Shit.” And the first batter up is the venerable Stewart-Panko, and the album he’s defending, in case the headline didn’t give it away, is St. Anger, perhaps the single most universally loathed metal record of the past ten years.

Stewart-Panko being Stewart-Panko, though, his argument is actually reasonably compelling. Here’s an excerpt:

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Protest the Hero’s studio update vids rule, and everyone else’s studio update vids drool. End of story. But I’ve already professed my love for PtH’s cinematic brilliance here and here with updates #1 and #2, respectively, of the recording of their new album. So enough of that.

In this update we get to see Rody tracking some vocals (man, that guy can sing his balls off), Tim’s naked body (his balls, mercifully, are tucked between his legs mangina style), nude watermelon smashing and beer-bonging (balls) and Tim’s beard (balls balls balls). I’d say this band has a healthy obsession with balls. Oh, and a guest female vocalist (no balls)! We also get to hear some clips of new music; hooray!

-VN

Thanks: Hayden Nease, Suraj Patra

So yesterday, Cynic posted a message on their Facebook page in which they announced the departure of bassist Robin Zielhorst and guitarist Tymon Kruidenier from the band. The reasons are not typical, which is to say, there were no so-called “creative differences” or “disagreements about the direction of the band,” no one is suing anyone or fucked someone’s girlfriend or anything like that. The reason is simple and logistical: Zielhort and Kruidenier live in The Netherlands, while Paul Masvidal and Sean Reinert live in California. So there’s no drama here whatsoever.

And not only is there no drama here, but this isn’t even really bad news. Here’s why:

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I know that there’s a grey area on most subjects, but on the issue of old fashioned running-into-one-another moshing versus karate moshing, there is none — karate moshing sucks. The people who do it suck. End of story.

Alas, according to Victory’s holiday video card, Santa Claus is a karate mosher. And that’s sad, ’cause I happen to know that Hanukkah Harry was hoping to reach across the aisle this year and make friends with Santa, but he’ll never go for that if when he extends an olive branch, all Santa extends back is an accidental and inconsiderate punch in the face. If only Santa had bothered to think of the people around him for two seconds, instead of blindly flailing his arms around like a retard. The kind of retard who likes Bury Your Dead. Silly Santa.

-AR

[via SMN]

FEATURING MEMBERS OF FIREWIND, THROUGH THE EYES OF THE DEAD, TESSERACT, BISON B.C., BONDED BY BLOOD, HAARP, THE UNGUIDED, AND ANNEX THEORY

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’ll be running them in groups of ten to eleven musicians at a time twice a day for the rest of the week.

After the jump, check out the second 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.)

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Congrats to readers Samuel Formato and Brad Maddox. They correctly identified last week’s logo as belonging to the band Portae Obscuritas. For their troubles, they each win of Lamb of God‘s Hourglass box set on vinyl! Congrats, fellas!

For the final Unreadable Band Logo of 2010, we have a very special prize for y’all: a Long Live bundle from The Chariot that comes with a CD copy of their awesome new album (Long Live – duh — out now on Good Fight) as well as t-shirt. If you’ve been reading MetalSucks regularly, you know that Vince and I both think this album rules, so if for some reason you don’t already own a copy, well… get on that shit!

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 a winner, andI’ll announce his or her name next week, even though we won’t be doing a new contest until January 4.

This last logo of the year was suggested by reader Curtis Mann…

-AR

Hopefully Dave Witte needs no introduction to MS readers, but for those who don’t already know him, he is a hardcore/death metal legend that’s been dropping jaws for nearly twenty years as the drummer for bands that include Municipal Waste, Black Army Jacket, Human Remains, Discordance Axis, Melt Banana, Iabhorher, Burnt By The Sun and probably several others I’m forgetting at the moment. He’s a pioneer of progressive metal, awesome drummer, and as far as I can tell, a very nice, approachable guy. Oh, and I was just trolling with the Assuck thing — I do think Rob Procter was overrated by hardcore kids back in the day, but like Dave says, I’m far too old to care about things like that anymore. I hope Dave doesn’t think I’m a dick :(

Thanks to Dave for taking the time to answer some questions, and be sure to check out the latest Municipal Waste album, Massive Aggressive, courtesy of the one-and-only Earache!

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Between the Buried and Me have begun working on their hinted-at new EP, to be released at some point in 2011 on pioneering record label METAL BLADE RECORDS. Or have they?

Metal Injection picked up on a status update posted on Between the Buried and Me’s Facebook page yesterday, a screen cap of which is shown above. BTBAM’s Facebook page is linked with their Twitter account, so the update appeared there too. But then the Facebook post mysteriously disappeared while the linked Twitter post remained. Did someone spill the beans early?

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So our broskis over at Metal Injection came across this Norwegian website, which is selling candles shaped like a church so that you can, according to the product description, “burn your own stave without getting up from the couch.” Because I don’t know about you guys, but that’s really the only reason I’ve never burned a church down — it’s just so much effort to go out, get the gasoline, douse the church, light the fire, etc.

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