Okay so I think Fall Out Boy is pretty lame, but Every Time I Die is anything but, and this is for a very good cause, so I think we should all just make like the Germans and the British at Christmas in 1914 and play nice for the sake of making the world a better place.

Last year Every Time I Die guitarist Jordan Buckley did an original pen and ink drawing (above) that was used to create the 20′ x 20′ backdrop for Fall Out Boy’s summer tour; now Buckley is auctioning off the orignal illustration and donating 100% of the proceeds to Toys for Tots, a terrific charity that, in case the name doesn’t make it clear, collects new toys and then donates said toys as Christmas gifts for needy kids. To make it even more special, the drawing is framed and autographed by Mr. Fall Out Boy himself, Pete Wentz — and if the winner would like, it can be signed by the rest of the band as well.

So like I said, this is for a great cause, and even if, like me, you’re not a Fall Out Boy fan, well, it’s an awesome drawing and it doesn’t even say “Fall Out Boy” on it! You can just ignore Wentz’s signature and appreciate it as a piece of art. The important thing is that you’ll be giving money to a great charity.

You can get more details and bid on the drawing here. If you can’t afford the price of the art (which is understandably hefty), you can learn more about Toys for Tots and other ways you can donate/help here. And if all you really want is to see more awesome art by Jordan Buckley, you can do that here.

-AR

I went to a really nerdy high school that was geared toward math, science and technology. It was (and is still) a huge high school to which the dorkiest kids from all over the city travel, and the kind of place where it’d be no thang if the dude next to you in math class could recite the first 100 digits of Pi by memory or some dude in your homeroom was already a millionaire because he had a thriving .com business (I just dated myself a little there… do the math). It was also the kind of place where kids figured out new and inventive ways to sneak booze into school (we actually had Senior Drunk Day in which my chosen method of delivery was a thermos) and the drug dealers had every dimebag weighed out perfectly by the hundredth of a gram. We knew exactly how fucked up we could/should get and handled ourselves responsibly, damnit! But I digress.

We also had mandatory shop classes in which you had to build things, although really we all just got high during our lunch break then drank 40s in the Photography dark room (shh… don’t tell Mr. Gordon!). This kid would’ve fit in perfectly at my high school and would’ve been adored by a few hundred Asians and Jews for his deft skills on the PVC pipes. He definitely would’ve gotten laid in your sister’s bedroom while your parents and sister were away for the weekend on a skiing trip in Vermont and you decided to have a party at your hot Upper West Side “free crib.” Long live this dude. He’s my hero.

-VN

Thanks: uber-maniac and fellow New Yorker Hetal Bhatt

I didn’t read any of the Lobo comics Scott Ian wrote last year, so I can’t speak to his talents as a comic book writer. I’ve also never read The Demon, the Jack Kirby-created DC series about  – you guessed it! — a demon from hell named Etrigan who apparently spends a significant amount of time speaking in rhyme. (Hey, that rhymed! Maybe I’m a demon!) So I have no idea whether or not the news that Scott Ian will now be writing The Demon is good or bad for comic fans, or Scott Ian fans, or fans of yellow monster men in little red tights.

But it sure seems like a good fit for Ian, for the following reasons:

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I remember when Allegiance came out in 2006, people were talking about As Blood Runs Black like they were the second coming. Along with groups like The Black Dahlia Murder (who were already much more well-established by then) and All Shall Perish (whose own, and in my opinion superior, breakthrough, The Price of Existence, came out the same year), they were supposed to be the future of death metal, one of the bands that would update the sound without straying too far from their influences. By now, they should have released at least two more albums, and, in theory at least, be enjoying their status as one of the godfathers of deathcore.

But something went hideously awry. I honestly don’t know what, because I thought Allegiance was fine but not great, and I didn’t pay as close attention to ABRB as maybe I should have. I kept hearing about line-up changes, but, like I said, I wasn’t paying very close attention. In any case, it seems like at a certain point everyone stopped talking about this band, and then I wasn’t even sure that this band existed anymore.

But they do! And they finally have a new album, Instinct, coming out next year. And now you can listen to a song from that album, “Resist,” by going to the band’s Facebook page and clicking the “like” button.

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Graf Orlock have a history of doing insanely cool shit for their album packaging — 2007′s Destination Time Tomorrow, for example, was held in the grasp of a facehugger from the Alien franchise — but I think it’s safe to say that they’ve pretty much outdone themselves, and just about everyone else, with the packaging for their new EP, Doombox (our review here). From the official press release:

Behold, the Doombox EP, whose packaging consists of an actual-size (30”x10”x10”) fold-out cardstock “boombox.”  The “boombox” holds the Doombox EP in 10” vinyl and CD formats, as well as a separate CD containing the band’s three previous releases, known collectively as the Destination Time Trilogy.

And here’s a pic of the full set:

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So Guns N’ Roses played in Australia last week, and managed to piss fans off for all the usual reasons: they were late, Slash isn’t in the band anymore, etc. I always find these complaints a little baffling, ’cause they’re not news. I mean… seriously? Axl Rose was late? Holy shit!!! And did you realize that the sun went down last night, and then came back up again this morning, too? Fucking amazing! We had no way of seeing that coming.

A more valid concern, though, is that the infamous front man may have been lip synching. This news report on the gig features video footage in which Rose’s vocals seem to be going even when he doesn’t have the mic anywhere near his mouth, which is, y’know, troubling.

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It was interesting looking at the answers people submitted for last night’s trivia question. A lot of people guessed Daath, who only have one Jewish member (the question specified that the band has ALL Jewish members); a lot of other people guessed Orphaned Land, and we didn’t debut any Orphaned Land music this year. The correct answer was actually Dukatalon, and reader Leslie Fan is the winner for the night. Leslie gets a mystery prize courtesy of Century Media, and a dreidel, courtesy of us. Mazel tov, Leslie!

Hard to believe, but Hanukkah is already drawing to a close for another year. Here’s your last chance to win some swag from us for this particular holiday:

• What band with an Israeli female vocalist released an album in September?

E-mail your answer to axl [at] metalsucks.net with the phrase “HEAVY METAL HANNUKKAH – NIGHT 8″ in the subject line. All entries should include your name and mailing address in addition to your answer, and are due by 5 pm tomorrow (Thursday, December 9) evening. And while you don’t have to be Jewish to enter the contest, you do have to live in the U.S., ’cause Vince and I spent the remainder of this shipping’s budget on drugs and alcohol. Sorry.

-AR

Steven Blush’s American Hardcore: A Tribal History is one of the great rock n’ roll history books. And now it’s bigger. Originally published in 2001, the Feral House book nails the golden age of old-school hardcore, from the movement’s inception to the watershed year 1986. The book inspired a documentary, the 2006 film American Hardcore. The movie is a must-see that has inspired as much griping and controversy as the book.

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When setting out to do holiday shopping every winter, I’m reminded of this awful night that I accidentally sat on a greased traffic cone. I don’t recall the circumstances of my pantslessness, or what miniscule probability was conquered to allow for the weighted cone’s chance placement directly below my then-unbreached shit chute, but oh my I remember the discomfort and Kafka-esque strain to free myself from its orange deathgrip. You see, it’s impossible to get your footing cuz struggling only squeaks you further down the fucker’s widening shaft, so yeah let’s just say I could easily be swapping tips with Jack Russell today if that nice family from Gardena had not stopped to tip me over.

Few events in my life have resulted in such pain and horror, but that mess was still less traumatic than any December shopping trip. Cuz after the butt-cone incident, I merely had to gulp like eight painkillers (four each for wounded bum and ego); conversely, the amount of intoxicants necessary to soften the impact of stressful useless shit purchasing would render me unable to drive, speak, or even identify my wallet. So that’s out. Fuck.

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As excited as I inevitably get every time a headline involving any member of Cave In rolls through my RSS reader, if I’m being honest I haven’t been able to get that into any of the many non-Cave In projects released by members of Cave In. Everyone seems to love Doomriders, and I certainly like ‘em just fine… but the truth is they seem to fall just a little short of what they could and should be in theory. Ditto for Zozobra, who are probably my favorite associated non-Cave In band.

This holds especially true for all of Stephen Brodsky’s many side projects, bands and solo releases. Just can’t feel ‘em. I’d all but stopped paying attention until a headline on Heavy Blog is Heavy about new Stephen Brodsky solo material caught my eye, and I let curiosity get the best of me. And you know what? I’m glad I did, because this is pretty solid stuff (posted after the jump, natch).

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So three well  known bands released their new album art today, and rather than give each one its own post, it just seemed to make sense to lump ‘em all in together. So here comes the lumping.

First up is the cover for DevilDriver’s new, Mark Lewis produced beast, uh, Beast. It’s kind of a meh album cover (what, no owls this time?); the image seems designed to appear as though it’s been held under a blacklight, when it would be way cooler if they went the Mudvayne route and made something that would actually look good under a blacklight. Obviously this doesn’t say anything about the music, though, and in this day and age, with all the downloading goin’ on, who the fuck knows if anyone besides decaying old fogies like me even gives a shit about album art.

ANYWAY, Beast will come out on Roadrunner on February 22. The cover debuted earlier today on Bloody Disgusting.

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Let’s all please give a warm welcome to Mariel “Tormentia” Pietrykoski, the latest addition to the MS Photo Squad. Mariel was at God Forbid’s November 28th show in New York City, a benefit orchestrated by our favorite Dirty Jer-Z-ers to help Tommy Vext (ex-Divine Heresy and ex-Snot) cover the medical costs incurred after a vicious attack left him hospitalized. Though I couldn’t attend the show, I saw Tommy just last night and he said how genuinely moved he was by how God Forbid stepped up for him and how many people came out to support. Check Mariel’s pics from the night after the jump.

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This morning I received an e-mail with the subject line “CERBERUS announces reunion show!” Which is great news, if, like me, you are a fan of California deathrashers Cerberus, and if, like me, you had no idea that the band had ever split. I mean, I guess I should have figured as much, since it’s been more than three years since their last release, 2007′s face-melter, Dispute the Truth. But if there was ever an announcement that the group was dunzo, I totally missed it. I guess I just figured that they were one of those bands like Bloodjinn, who hit some rocky roads and will hopefully make their return when they can.

Moot point in Cerberus’ case, though, as “when they can” seems to be “right now.” They’re playing Skumfest on December 18 at the Cobalt Cafe in Canoga Park, CA, along with some other killer bands, like The Funeral Pyre, Black Sheep Wall, and Noriega. The press release didn’t say anything about a new album, but I’m hopeful that more music will be these dudes’ next step.

At the risk of sounding like the sticker on a Victory release, if you enjoy bands like Machine Head and Chimaira and have never checked out Cerberus, you’re depriving yourself. You can hear some music at their MySpace page, natch. I tried to find some good videos on YouTube, but all I found was the below short, not-great-quality footage of them playing (rehearsing, I think) one of the most awesomest songs, “The Filthy Few.” You can check out the studio version here.

And if anyone hits up Skumfest, drop me a line and let me know how Cerberus were.

-AR

I’d honestly snoozed on the date this time around but thankfully Noisecreep came to the rescue with a fitting tribute.

Pretty much any footage from Pantera’s 1991 Moscow show gives me instant goosebumps. I really oughtta own that DVD. They’re just SO full of energy. Ah, youth. Skip to 3:15 for Dime’s solo if you care about that sorta thing…. and dig that proto-breakdown right after it (today’s kids would be karate chopping like crazy during that part). But really you gotta watch the whole thing.

Share your Dimebag / Pantera memories in the comments.

-VN

I am, of course, totally kidding. Gwar clearly would not fit with with the Fox News pundit, ’cause what he does is far too fantasy-based for their particular brand of entertainment.

ANYWAY, I mention it ’cause you might remember that last week we posted a video of GWAR killing a Sarah Palin stand-in as part of their most recent stage show (above); needless to say, we were not the first or last media outlet to pick up on the clip, and, as Oderus himself so poetically put it in a statement, “the right-wing tea bag numb-nuts are getting their knickers in a twist.” I’m almost surprised that Oderus hasn’t been invited back to Fox’s Red Eye to discuss the controversy.

Of course, this kind of brouhaha will ultimately amount to very little, but in the meantime, it can provide us with some entertainment. To wit: Rob over at Metal Injection has done a terrific job of collecting some of the more amusing comments left under the video on YouTube. My personal favorite, by some dude named PhillipMcLoins, is after the jump. And in case the non-sensical nature of the criticism is lost on you, I’ve added some emphasis to the contradictory parts of the statement in bold.

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In 2010, nobody in music captured my attention more than Watain frontman Erik Danielsson, tireless interviewee and totally sharp dude. In Q&As for Decibel Magazine and Cosmo Lee’s Invisible Oranges, Danielsson set about the thankless task of contextualizing Watain philosophy and music with a gusto exclusive to the singular, intelligent, and enthusiastic. And he seems to have mastered the correct tone needed for discussions of black metal and Satanism, whereas I rarely can avoid notes of defensiveness and debate, a result of my perception that “evil” music is too often viewed as cartoonish and absurd. And it is. Except when it’s not.

Anyhow, Danielsson’s style contributes to the lasting ear-boner I have for his Watain, as well as my certainty that those fuckers are Not Fucking Around. There’s a belief system at the root of Watain art — love of evil, to paraphrase — and with the aid of good interviewers like Lee and Decibel‘s J. Bennett, Danielsson can expound on its nuances and, in doing so, enhance the already face-fucking Watain listening experience by like exponential measures. Does that make sense? Let’s analogize this: There’s that great scene in Heat where Val Kilmer unhesitantly raises his machine gun to fire at Al Pacino’s troops before they can impede his team’s escape from a ill-fated bank robbery, right? The moment is amazing all by itself, but it rises to mind-fucking awesomeness when taken in the context of the story’s preceding ninety minutes. The viewer ends up totally immersed, screaming “Jesus! Get out of there! Use those bystanders as shields! Destroy those cops! RUN!” Likewise, Watain’s 2010 jam Lawless Darkness is the “what” (the shoot-out); Danielsson’s careful and friendly-seeming discourse is the “why” (the backstory). And just as loudly, I’m cheering for Watain to shoot to kill.

-ADF

Watain concluded their Lawless Darkness North American tour this week in Toronto. Get Lawless Darkness here.

Full disclosure: I own a pair of Converse. They’re my favorite sneakers. They cost forty bucks, have no shoelaces, and provide roughly the same amount of comfort and protection as wrapping my feet in tissue paper would have done. Cheap, pointless, and comfortable: now that’s fucking metal.

So. I was catching up on my Deciblog this morning when I saw this piece that Jeanne Fury wrote on Heavy Metal Holiday, a new short film/long commercial that Converse has produced in an apparent bid to… uh… well, presumably, to win over the metal crowd, although I’m not entirely sure why, or how they think this completely fucking bizarre thing will accomplish that goal. As Ms. Fury so eloquently puts it:

“You can be damn sure Converse spent good money on Heavy Metal Holiday, traveling to London and Venice, renting that fancy hotel room with the giant chandelier, and paying for food and stuff. But why? Yeah, it’s amusing… But couldn’t they have filmed that shit in Baltimore or Cleveland? Is this supposed to be artsy? Or, worse, is it supposed to be funny?”

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There’s this amazing falafel joint in NYC called Mamoun‘s (“mah-MOONS”) that Axl and I have been frequenting since we were kids. It’s open all night, the service is snappy, the price of a falafel sandwich is still a whoppingly cheap $2.50 ($5 for a shawarma cut fresh off the spit) and most importantly of all, it’s fucking delicious. There is no better falafel in all of Manhattan. After years of debating late-night drunken journeys to Mamoun’s and always being happy I decided in favor of them, I coined the phrase “Mamoun’s: never a bad idea,” because really, if I make the decision to go to Mamoun’s I will never be let down.

Insomnium are like the Mamoun’s of metal; there is no situation I can possibly imagine in which someone could put on an Insomnium track and I’d go “Nah, I’m just not feeling that right now.” Insomnium hit the spot — every fucking time! Without fail.

The writers of No Clean Singing know this all too well, so naturally they’ve included a post about Insomnium as part of their Finland Tribute Week feature. And who knew — there’s a brand new Insomnium track called “Weather the Storm” that features Dark Tranquillity’s Mikael Stanne on a guest vocal spot. Apparently Century Media released it earlier this fall to promote an Insomnium / Dark Tranquillity European tour in September and October. It sounds purely Insomnium and it sounds purely great; I love Stanne’s added vocal snarl too. Stream it above, because…. Insomnium, never a bad idea.

-VN

Sean Yseult, bassist for the defunct White Zombie, has just released a memoir through well respected independent publisher Soft Skull Press. Yet my mild interest in this title hit a pretty severe low after reading some shoddy and downright untruthful marketing copy. I’ve bolded the offending passage below, which inflates her role in metal to comic proportions and completely discounts reality.

I’m in the Band charts White Zombie’s rise from the gritty music scene of New York’s Lower East Side in the eighties to arena headliners during the nineties alternative-explosion that followed in Nirvana’s wake, while sharing the unlikely story of a female musician who won the respect and adoration of male metal musicians and fans. From 1985 to 1996, Sean Yseult was the sole woman not only in White Zombie, but in the entire metal scene: bands, roadies, managers, you name it—with the exception of girlfriends and groupies, Yseult was in a world by herself.

Of course, the preposterous statement emphasized above is easily disproved within seconds, as any way you slice it it’s patently false. Not only were there female metal musicians before, during, and after Yseult’s tenure in White Zombie, but there were other female bassists in metal too, including Jo Bench (Bolt Thrower) and Lori Black (Melvins). I’m not even going to comment further on it; rather, I’ll let one of Yseult’s contemporaries reminder her that she wasn’t alone. Jucifer frontwoman Amber Valentine, take it away!

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Mazel tov to reader Edward Banchs, who correctly answered last night’s trivia question –Disturbed front man David Draiman comes from an Orthodox Jewish background and has some 200 relatives living in Israel, including his brother and grandmother. Not that that fact makes Draiman more talented or whatever — it obviously doesn’t. In any case, Mr. Banchs wins a mystery prize courtesy of Century Media, and a dreidel, courtesy of us. Hey, Edward — those are both prizes you can spin! Boo-yah!

But now onto tonight’s trivia question:

• Which band meets both of the following criteria: they a) had a track debut on MetalSucks this year, and b) all of the band’s members are Jewish?

E-mail your answer to axl [at] metalsucks.net with the phrase “HEAVY METAL HANNUKKAH – NIGHT 7″ in the subject line. All entries should include your name and mailing address in addition to your answer, and are due by 5 pm tomorrow (Wednesday, December 8) evening. Shortly thereafter we’ll announce the winner and post the final night’s trivia question. And while you don’t have to be Jewish to enter the contest, you do have to live in the U.S. Vince and I aren’t made out of money, y’know!

-AR