The metal-as-catharsis philosophy has been around since the genre’s beginning, and is probably the most viable explanation when trying to communicate with non-metalheads as to why you like the music you do. The righteous throat-shredding screaming of Anaal Nathrakh’s V.I.T.R.I.O.L., the floor-clearing slams of Devourment and Suffocation, The Abominable Iron Sloth’s mean-spirited doomcore grooves, the face-eviscerating relentlessness of Hate Eternal… all conducive of aiding and/or alleviating a bad mood. But even though there are other reasons we all like metal — generally raising one’s heart rate, it’s great drinking and/or smoking music (well, depending on the band), technical prowess, finding gems in what most people think is unintelligible noise — I think catharsis is the strongest one, especially now in the more-extremer-than-you era. When venom and bad blood are practically palatable, through either stroking your own foul mood or offering solace in the fact that others out there feel as vicious as you, metal, to put it as flowery as possible, makes you feel better.

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Admit it: this picture makes you SO FUCKING HAPPY.

Recently, my friend sent me a YouTube link to a Bee Gees cover group. Excuse me, tribute band. That is the proper way of addressing them, as Mark Wahlberg taught us in Rock Star. I don’t like the Bee Gees. I don’t like disco. Disco is kind of terrible. Disco blows dogs for quarters. Disco is never amazing, especially not when KISS attempt it. To say I was a little confused would be an understatement. But my friends aren’t totally clueless to what I listen to, so I gave it a shot. It turned out it was a heavy metal Bee Gees tribute band. Okay, it was a little bit awesome. Weirdly enough, it worked. I only like thin-voiced men screeching when accompanied by equally high-pitched guitars, and that’s basically what heavy metal “Stayin’ Alive,” was. I turned it off about halfway through because, well, I still have my limits, but it kind of makes you stop and go, “Huh!” Metal just makes everything sound better.

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Like I said Friday, a band doesn’t have to turn metal on its head to impress as long as there’s some inkling of originality and their chosen style hasn’t been pummeled into the ground by thousands of suburban teenagers. In that spirit, a few more darn good unsigned bands worth a listen:

• The Evil Amidst: Groovy death metal with non-stop double-bass and sick, evil riffs galore, mercifully free of any of the tech wankery that usually comes with the territory these days. Compressed and loud as fuck for maximum punch, naturally. Think: Absymal Dawn, Nile, Immolation and you’re close.
• In Twilight’s Embrace: These Polish melodeathsters remind me of what melodeath was like before it became a bad word; think Jester Race-era In Flames. No clean vocals, big yet raw production, sick riffs and melody, pounding and driving rhythms… and this band’s own little twist, a sense of rockin’ groove.
• Ocoai: Like a trippier but no less ambitious Neurosis. I actually like this band more than I like Neurosis — which isn’t saying a whole lot, because I don’t like Neurosis much — but I’m really getting into Ocoai’s slow grooves and atmospherics. Great music to chill out and smoke a bowl to. Bonus points for the slide guitar in “babble.”
• Sarpentra: Admirably executed Behemoth-style blackened death metal from Russia. Not really much else to say!

-VN

I don’t know anything about the Excrementory Grindfuckers or what the motivations for this song might’ve been. But it’s really funny. Nicely done.

Also: Korn still suck.

-VN

Thanks: Grindmyasswon’tya?

Sweden’s glam metal renaissance is solely responsible for my throbbing, veiny ear-ection these days, but so far my fave jamz are from two sleek, uber-produced acts: Crazy Lixx and Crashdiet. Young me wouldn’t have looked twice at these synthy, post-Loverboy bad-boys-running-wild types, but goddammit it’s 2011 and I’ll take what I can get. Shit, the songs are there, so it’s cool. But secretly, what I’m eagerly awaiting is the raunchy counterparts to this scene’s Poison, Slaughter, Warrant, and Winger. (I think Goethenberg’s Hardcore Superstar splits the difference like Motley Crue.) Yes, I say let’s get some non-glossy, sleazy, bluesy, flashy, ribald, Swedish hair rock, cuz it’s impossible to overrate the best work of Badlands, Junkyard, Dangerous Toys, and BulletBoys. Oh wow stop the presses there go the fabulous BulletBoys right now! Big news!

BulletBoys’ self-titled debut album was a smash success during the heyday of heavy metal, going platinum and spawning the MTV and radio hits ”For The Love Of Money” and ”Smooth Up In Ya.” Now original members Marq Torien (vocals) and Lonnie Vencent (bass) have reunited to perform the LP from beginning to end for the first time in the group’s long and storied history.

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Major props to Metal Insider for unearthing this gem of a vintage television commercial, promoting Warrant’s 900 number. (Do those still exist? And, if so, who the fuck uses them?) The ad would probably be hilarious just by virtue of its time and style, but really makes it worth your time is its use of ridiculous sexual (non-) innuendos. Some choice quotes:

• “Yeah, we like to rock, but we like to do a lot of other things, too!”
• “We’ll give you the warm, hard facts!”
• “Our fans always come first!”
• “Find out what happens behind tour bus doors!!!”

…all while instruction kids to ask their parents’ permission before calling, which is a classy touch. Although I doubt that Warrant ever discussed the abuse of cocaine, vodka, and young women on their hotline anyway. But, man, I would love to hear the filthy messages not-especially-bright young women and even-less-bright-thrash-fans-turned-pranksters must have been leaving on this line. I wonder if Warrant ever actually used it to recruit groupies.

In any case, I’m sure that the memory of this commercial is just one of the many things which now motivates Jani Lane’s efforts to eat and/or drink himself to death.

-AR

We can’t believe that this is really happening. To paraphrase John McClane in Die Hard 2, “How can the same shit happen to the same band twice?”

More than two years ago, Winds of Plague’s then-keyboardist, Kristen Randall, took a picture of herself topless — and the picture subsequently found its way onto the internet (you can see it here). Since then, Randall has been replaced not once but twice with different young ladies, presumably because WOP need an attractive woman in the band at all times, lest their fans notice the band’s lack of talent.  The gimmick has gotten so silly that following the announcement of Randall’s latest successor, Alana Potocnik (formerly of The Breathing Process and Abigail Williams) was announced, Vince joked that maybe someday she’d have leaked nudie pics, too.

Well, guess what? Now she does. They were apparently first posted at Is Anyone Up, but were sent to us by an anonymous reader. And because we’re mental midgets who still find both female and male nudity hilarious  (don’t forget that we’ve posted pics of Rose Funeral’s Dusty Boles thrusty pole and Lars’ little Ulrich, too) we find them amusing. Needless to say, they’re NSFW.

There are three pics, but only one of them displays Ms. Potocnik’s face, so the other two could be fakes, but, uh, maybe not. In any case, we’re starting to wonder if Potocnik and Winds of Plague are doing this on-purpose; it’s just too big a coincidence that the female members of Winds of Plague keep enduring the same scandal. ‘Cause if they’re not doing it for the publicity, then, uh, well, that’s just sad.

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This week’s were my first ever episodes of American Idol, and man, that shit is hilarious in the most unfortunate way. Singing, man. It’s not rocket science. Step one, you visit a voice coach weekly for six months; two, you sing to bars and to your mirror for a few weeks; three, get in line for American Idol auditions. But for some reason, thousands of let’s face it fucktards think that singing is not a skill that you need learn, develop, or even acknowledge. “Hey, I have the ability to make sound with my voice. And therefore I’m going to sing on the TV!” You dunces. I mean, I have arms, eyes, a brain, and an ass — all the tools needed to pilot a chopper — except I’d crash it into a fucking mountain cuz I’ve never taken a Flying Helicopters Not Into Mountains lesson, duh x10000! And one after another, the losers’ refrain was “My friends say I’m a great singer!” Oh well fuck man, if Tina from Accounts Payable thinks you’ve got the stuff, then shut my mouth. Wait, let me pre-pre-order your album. Here’s a twenty.

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Who knew orthodox Jews got down with Satan? MS Uber-Maniac Josh Kidd put together this video of the orthodox community celebrating the holiday of Lag BaOmer, of which lighting giant fires is apparently a central part. That’s a pretty serious old-school moshpit around the 2:05 mark, too.

Just don’t invite Varg to your Lag BaOmer party.

-VN

Thank you to everyone who entered our Job For A Cowboy Ruination colored vinyl contest back in December. We chose a winner at the beginning of January as promised and notified said winner, but apparently we forget to announce it on the site. So if you’ve been waiting to find out if you won… well, sorry, you didn’t. But a fellow named “buttcheese” did, by submitting the following answer to the question: “Why do you dig the cover artwork for Ruination?”

“My favorite thing about this cover is that my buddy Steve, who happens to be the guy on the cover, finally got a job. He always has trouble getting work, you know, with the horns and the skull face and all. Keep it up, Steve, you’ll be able to afford that surgery in no time!”

Thanks for playing, everyone. More contests soon, as always!

When it comes to In Flames fans, there are two kinds: those who love The Jester Race and nothing else, and those who love the band’s middle period albums (Whoracle, Colony and Clayman)…. maybe you’ll find a stray fan here and there who prefers Come Clarity. Or so I thought until I read Cosmo Lee’s thoughts on the matter.

“I especially like their records after when they supposedly “sold out”, from Reroute to Remain onwards,” sez the Invisible Oranges mastermind. “The crisp, dry sound of their last two records is a marked contrast to the over-production to which their Gothenburg peers succumbed.” Woah, what? Crisp and dry, perhaps… but not over-produced? Cosmo then calls Reroute to Remain “adventurous,” which I’m pretty sure must just be code-speak for “what every mainstream alt-metal band in 2002 was doing.” Are we listening to the same records? Wait, did a tr00 guy like Cosmo really just say he likes three of the most reviled records in In Flames’ entire nine album discography? Blasphemy! I kid, of course; I may disagree, but I certainly respect Cosmo’s opinion.

But it got me thinking… maybe my opinions on In Flames are skewed. They certainly have experienced quite a surge in popularity since around the time Reroute to Remain was released, especially so after Ferret Records catapulted them into the U.S. metal mainstream with Come Clarity. So: what’s YOUR favorite In Flames record?

If any of you read my interview with Within the Ruins this past summer you probably watched the music video for their song “Invade.” I’m happy to say that Within the Ruins have just released another awesome music video, this one a live clip for their song “Red Flagged.” And I’m also glad to find that WTR don’t suck live; their performance is nearly as good as on record, which is pleasantly surprising due to the ferocious technicality of their music.

[this streaming promotion has ended]

WTR also have a proper music video for the studio version of the song “Versus” being shot on January 29th. After the jump, read what the band has to say about the video and song:

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Welcome to the latest edition of “Freeloader” in which we review albums that you don’t have to feel like a douche for downloading for free. Today Satan Rosenbloom checks out Subterranean Fishmen’s Departure EP.

In his first e-mail to me, a member of Evanston, Illinois’s Subterranean Fishmen wrote of the band’s new EP, Departure: “It’s all self-produced and although I’m an asshole and I wanna re-mix it, it sounds okay.” It doesn’t take an asshole to recognize that this release seriously needs a remix. I can’t hear the bass or the guitar leads, and from what I can tell, the drummer’s kit consists of a bass drum and a crash cymbal.

HOWEVER: I cannot stop listening to this EP. Partly as a display of gratitude for Subterranean Fishmen’s gift of my favorite metal lyric of 2010. About one minute into the second song, “C.B.,” the band’s vocalist death-belches the following string of non-sequiturs: “I am a meat popsicle / I am a club banger / Don’t forget my name / It’s Steve.” Silliness within extreme music is nothing new. But Subterranean Fishmen set this bout of absurdity (the only moment of levity on the album) amidst some of the most deadly-serious riffing I heard in 2010.

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We’re not sure why Daniel Groner sent us a photo of a photo on an iPhone (with cracked screen, no less) instead of just having his friend email him the photo itself… but who are we to argue with that face?? Daniel’s certainly got excellent taste in New Year’s Eve garb too, seen here wearing his stylish MetalSucks hoodie. So, for the two seconds it took him to send in this photo, Daniel will receive a box of goodies from the MS Mansion. Nice work!

Keep on sending in your Show Us Your MetalSucks pics and you too could be the recipient of a box o’ metal swag. Get on it.

Announced with fanfare in the opening minutes of New Years Day 2010, the return of Soundgarden was supposed to redeem Chris Cornell’s tarnished legacy in the aftermath of the Timbaland-produced bomb Scream. Unfortunately, the grunge superstars have to-date spent their so-called reunion trying to sell repackaged collections of previously released music sprinkled sparsely with studio outtakes and ultimately playing fewer concerts than I can count on one hand.

We’ve yet to get a clear answer as to why this has been the case (theories: Matt Cameron’s Pearl Jam obligations, Kim Thayil’s obsessive compulsive beard maintenance), and the latest announcement that an old live concert is being put on CD only makes matters worse. As a longtime devotee, I pretty much feel cheated.

Seemingly, Cornell recognizes that the fans want to see the guys on tour, which is perhaps why he’s decided to offer up the next best thing and go out on the road by himself for a cross-country series of acoustic “Songbook” dates. It makes sense, and he can probably sell some of those live Soundgarden CDs along the way. Some press release blather and the list of dates are below the cut.
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Okay so I’m totally confused. I thought that Periphery already made a video for their song “Jetpacks Was Yes.” Like, I have a memory of posting it.

And yet, I am wrong. It is a new video. A new video for Periphery’s “Jetpacks Was Yes.”

This error, I fear, may be a result of what Vince calls “the cumulative effects” of too many years of inhaling smoke from a certain plant.

In any case, here’s the video. It’s a good video. You should watch it now.

Periphery’s Periphery is out now on Sumerian.

-AR

I know we’ve spent a good amount of time in this space slagging on bands that sound like other bands. Obviously we don’t expect every new band to reinvent the wheel, and the truth is that sometimes it’s ok to show your influences on your proverbial band sleeve as long as 1) you aren’t completely ripping another band off, 2) you inject it with a little of your own personality, 3) your band doesn’t play (insert here)-core or generic tech-death or middle-of-the-road Sumeriancore. With that in mind, let’s take a look at a few unsigned bands to send us their wares recently who aren’t necessarily the most original in the book, but are just original enough and are damn good at what they do.

• Naisian: I know what you’re thinking: “Vince doesn’t usually write about beardo post-metal bands. What are these guys doing here?” There’s actually a lot of things about Naisian I like, but the most immediately striking is drummer Jordan Garlick’s sense of pocket and groove, two qualities rarely heard in this genre. Naisian also aren’t victims of post-metal’s biggest pratfall, the long song that goes absolutely nowhere at a monumentally slow pace. These songs may be long but they have purpose and focus, even when the band isn’t afraid to branch out from their core sound.
• Morito Ergo Sum: With a name that means “I Die Therefore I Am” how could this band play anything other than funeral doom? These Swedes bring big, giant-sized, downtuned My Dying Bride-style funeral marches (except without keyboards) that make you wanna bury your head in a grave. They even ratchet up the BPMs here and there for added contrast and a welcome relief from severe funeral doom-induced Seasonal Affective Disorder. The violin in “I Die Therefore I Am” on their Bandcamp page is so perfectly shrill and out-of-key that it sends shivers down my spine.
• Giant of the Mountain: This Texas threesome is a little rough around the edges, but there’s something about their music I can’t shake. Their riffs are just so brutally catchy, like Null and Void-era Intronaut, and to be honest I kind of enjoy the fact that the production isn’t super polished. MS troller Lord Assenfroth plays guitar and growls in this band, so to be sure to give him some shit in the comments.

-VN

Seems we had a bit of controversy with the photo for last week’s photo caption contest. The fellow who sent it in ripped it from his friend’s Facebook page, and said friend took offense to the portrayal of the photo’s subjects in a discriminatory manner. Said friend then proceeded to sick a lawyer on my ass who demanded I remove the photo, which I obviously did. But the show must go on, and we must select two folks to win a copy of Cough’s Ritual Abuse; surely the 143 of you who entered can recall some approximation of the photo’s content. Here are the winners:

• Peter Griffin: “Black meNtal!”
• (required): “These guys crank it to 47…chromosomes.”

This week we’re giving away a prize pack consisting of two Primordial releases: the All Empires Fall DVD and a CD reissue of their 2000 release Spirit the Earth Aflame. One runner-up will win a copy of just the CD. As per usual, alls ya gotta do to win is come up with the funniest caption to the below photo (sent in by reader Renato of his friend’s band’s final gig in Brazil) and remember to use a real email address (or post it with your comment if you’re using FB Connect)!

Before there were blogs there were these things called magazines, and the only metal magazine we still get excited about reading every month is Decibel. Here’s managing editor Andrew Bonazelli…

So, Immortal and Absu are doing a six-city quickie on this side of the pond in February — pretty cool that it’s not just the usual “three exclusive dates in Manhattan/Brooklyn” deal, but venturing into metal-friendly winter wastelands like Baltimore, Chicago and Denver. (I’m not saying anything positive about Pittsburgh ever, much less the week before the AFC Championship.)

Anyway, it doesn’t take a lazy, jaded music “journalist” like yours truly to reinforce the notion that the only thing better than seeing an amazing band who rarely plays the States is seeing an amazing band who rarely plays the States for free. And not just for free, but free after winning a completely arbitrary lottery contingent on you buying something! That’s just the opportunity that Immortal, Decibel and Nuclear Blast are offering for the following stateside six-pack:

2/19 – New York, NY – Gramercy Theatre (16 & older)
2/20 – Baltimore, MD – Sonar (all ages)
2/21 – Pittsburgh, PA – Mr. Small’s Theatre (all ages)
2/22 – Chicago, IL – Bottom Lounge (17 & older)
2/24 – Denver, CO – Summit Theatre (all ages)
2/26 – San Antonio, TX – Backstage Live (all ages)

Go here and snap up a copy of our Black Metal Hall of Fame Issue, featuring a six-page oral history on Immortal’s 1999 classic, At the Heart of Winter. You’ll be entered in a drawing to win two spots on the guest list for any one of the aforementioned gigs. There will be one winner per show, and said winner cannot opt out for the cash equivalent. Note: If you’ve already purchased the issue, you’re automatically eligible to win tickets.

Speaking of Immortal (horrible transition alert), you won’t be seeing their 1997 platter Blizzard Beasts in a dB HOF anytime soon, but you just may see it in our blog’s recurring Wednesday morning column, “Justify Your Shitty Taste.” I contributed a defense of Ministry’s Filth Pig this week — an album that I’m pleased and confounded to find that people actually tolerate 15 years later — and next week we’ll have our first contribution from a musician. Maybe someday— who knows — we’ll actually get a musician to defend his own album.

-AB

Regardless of whether or not you have shitty taste, you should check out the February 2011 issue of Decibel – or, better still, just go ahead and get a full subscription to ensure that you never miss an issue!

I was thinking the other day about how some bands make a lot of money even though they always get bad reviews and it seems like nobody likes them. Like how everybody is all “I H8 DEATHCORE/METALCORE;;;ALL THE BANDS SOUND THE SAME;H8 U SUISIDE SILENCE;;H8 U ATTACK ATTACK,” and then they are like “U SHOULD LISTEN TO THIS BAND BECAUSE THEY ARE DOING SOMETHING REALLY ORIGINAL AND UNIQUE” and link to some obscure band I have never heard of. I guess it is cool to be original if you are OK with being a poor artist, but sometimes I think it’s stupid to be “original.” I think it is smarter to wait until someone else invents something, then after they make it popular, copy them (only do it a little better so you get more popular than the band who invented it).

I am going to list some bands who were stupid, because they were the ones who invented something that other people copied — metalcore, djent, and other popular styles of metal. Most of these bands were really good, but because they were one of the first bands to play that style of metal, nobody liked them and they didn’t make any money. I feel bad for them, but I want to share their stories here so you don’t make the same mistakes they did!!

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