Wednesday, January 19th, 2011 at 1:00pm by Sergeant D
After the jump, you’ll find Sergeant D.’s interview with Cam Argon, a.k.a. “Big Chocolate,” the wunderkind who is currently the vocalist for at least three different projects, including Disfiguring the Goddess. But first, please enjoy this exclusive debut of a new track, “Circle of Nine,” which will appear on DTG’s new album, tentatively scheduled for release sometime in March. We hope you dig it as much as we do…
Wednesday, January 19th, 2011 at 12:30pm by Axl Rosenberg
As I Lay Dying have premiered their new video, for the song “Anodyne Sea,” on CraveOnline, and between this and their “Parallels” video, I’d say the band is two-for-two on clips to promote their latest and greatest, The Powerless Rise. Interestingly, each video was helmed by a different director — David Brodsky did “Parallels,” while the mysteriously-monikered McFarland and Pecci of Killswitch Productions did “Anodyne” — so I guess either the band or their handlers just have good taste in filmmakers/pitches.
This video takes place entirely in the first person — it actually took me a beat to realize that we’re watching from the P.O.V. of drummer Jordan Mancino — which has obviously been done before (most recently in Gaspar Noe’s trippy Enter the Void), but, uh, not in any recent metal videos that I can recall. And it’s done with a lot of panache here.
Also working in the video’s favor: the fact that the narrative is actually relevant to the lyrical content of the song. “In my convictions, I’ve found my own grave,” the chorus proclaims, and in case you’re feeling ripped-off that we never learn what, exactly, the band said to get them in such deep doo-doo, well, you weren’t paying attention to the very first line of the song: “None of this matters, none of these words.”
By the way, some of the content of this video is kinda violent/intense, so I think it’s probably fine to watch at work, but you might not wanna risk it…
It’s kind of unbelievable to me that twenty some-odd years later Yngwie still does the whole shtick with the leg kicks and such, but man, bless his soul. If today’s emo or deathcore are the modern equivalents of ’80s hair/shred, as some have claimed, I’ll take Yngwie’s whole shpiel any day of the week.
Metal Insider is reporting that Yng-Yng The Great is going to make an appearance on February 3rd on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, and better yet, that he’ll be sitting in with house band The Roots. No word yet on whether ?uest Love will be donning his mink coat.
Wednesday, January 19th, 2011 at 11:30am by Axl Rosenberg
So remember this past summer, when Vince Neil — who has literally killed and maimed people while drunk driving — was arrested in Vegas for DUI, and then subsequently flaunted his love and of boozin’ n’ cruisin’ not once but twice? Well, the Long Arm of the Law is not just gonna let this shit pass. No no no, assholes like Vince Neil need to be taught a lesson, even if they are famous. And so Vince is being handed a punishment only slightly more severe than the one I received when my parents found my cigarettes in the tenth grade. From Metal Insider:
“Neil will plead guilty to the DUI on January 26, and then will turn himself over to Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas on February 15, where he will spend the next 15 days in. Following that, he will serve another 15 days under house arrest.”
The Year of The Prog Dork just keeps getting better and betterer. Monday we heard new music from Devin Townsend, yesterday Protest the Hero announced they’d release their new record Scurrilous on March 22nd, and today we get some clips of new music from pioneering metal record label METAL BLADE RECORDS recording artists Between the Buried and Me in the form of a new studio clip (watch the first one here) from their forthcoming David Bottrill-produced EP:
More prog metal dorkery: on Monday I off-handedly suggested that we might end up with a new Meshuggah album in 2011, but that was pure speculation based simply on the fact that, ya know, it’s been a little while. As it turns out, there’s a very good chance I was right:
Wednesday, January 19th, 2011 at 10:30am by Axl Rosenberg
I think it was announced some time ago that Ozzy Osbourne would be the latest celebrity to partake in Brisk’s “Now that’s Brisk, baby!” ad campaign, but the actual commercial wasn’t released until last night. And I’m feeling kinda torn between my self-righteous indignation that Ozzy is now shilling for a cavity-inducing chemical which will never actually quench your thirst but, rather, make you more thirsty (salt content, kids!), and the fact that Ozzy has gotten very, very good at playing the buffoon over the years, and, consequently, his line reading of the phrase “Go on cruise” made me giggle.
So I’ll let you guys decide. Is Ozzy’s latest endeavor yet another blow to his once-great legacy, or is just, like, freakin’ adorable? Watch the commercial below, and then debate its merits, or lack thereof, in our comments section.
Wednesday, January 19th, 2011 at 10:00am by Axl Rosenberg
I think I’ve heard slightly less than half of The Human Abstract’s The Digital Veil, and not only was that enough to assure me that it’s going to be great, but it was enough to make me think the band may have made that rarest of gems — a metal album that non-metal heads can appreciate. My theory is based on that fact that, you ignore the screaming vocals, what the band is playing on Veil is basically classical music; I believe that you could, quite literally, have an orchestra play these songs instead of a rock group, and the music would translate perfectly. I mean, you’ve been reading THA guitarist A.J. Minette’s “Abstract Theroy” column, right? “That guy knows his shit” would be the understatement of the decade. These aren’t songs; they’re metallurgic mini-symphonies.
And if “Faust,” the first song they un-Veiled (sorry, couldn’t resist), didn’t convince you that I speak the truth, then “Patterns,” the latest song released, oughta do the trick.
Tuesday, January 18th, 2011 at 5:00pm by MetalSucks
IT’S HERE! IT’S FINALLY HERE!!! Volume 1 of NYC Sucks, the completely free comp we’ve compiled to spotlight some of the best metal bands currently dominating the New York metal scene. This volume features fourteen songs by as many bands, who run the gamut of genres, from death to tech to prog to grind to black to hardcore to doom and more. We truly feel that this is a great sampling of all that New York’s thriving metal scene has to offer, and we’re beyond proud to be sharing it with you — absolutely, 100% free of charge.
You can stream, or, better yet, just download the comp below. It contains high-quality 320kbps MP3s, and as well as a PDF of digital liner notes with information about all the bands. Please help get the word out… send the comp to your friends, put it up on torrent sites, submit it to .rar Mediafire blogs… just spread the friggin’ music by any means necessary!
And don’t forget that Volume 2, featuring thirteen more great bands and songs, will be out on February 22nd!!!
1. East of the Wall, “The Ladder”
2. Made out of Babies, “Invisible Ink”
3. Tiger Flowers, “Cuts”
4. Black Anvil, “The Evil of All Roots”
5. Naam, “Frosted Tread”
6. Batillus, “The Children of the Night Make Their Music”
7. Meek is Murder, “Sundowners” (demo)
8. The Binary Code, “Encircled”
9. Castevet, “Stones”
10. Hung, “Desert of Sad”
11. Wizardry, “The Falconer”
12. Pyrrhon, “King of All Tears”
13. Mutant Supremacy, “Epitaph”
14. Incendiary, “Victory in Defeat”
Tuesday, January 18th, 2011 at 4:30pm by Axl Rosenberg
Congrats to reader Michael Curbo, who correctly identified last week’s logo as belonging to the band Putrid Carnage, or, as I know it, Thanksgiving at the Rosenberg House. Michael wins a bunch of shit that I have lying around. Thanks for helping me clear some shelf space, Michael!
This week the nice folks at Epitaph records are supplying us with four copies of Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes, the new album from legendary punkers Social Distortion! I honestly have not had a chance to check this one out yet, but it’s Social Distortion, so it’s hard for me to imagine that it doesn’t kick butt all up n’ down the boulevard. You can order a copy here, or, of course, just enter this contest!
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 four winners and announce their names next week.
This week’s logo was suggested by reader Devin Garvin, and it’s a doozy…
Tuesday, January 18th, 2011 at 4:00pm by Sergeant D
In any band, there’s usually one member who’s the driving force behind the group, and carries the other guys: Greg Ginn, Les Claypool, Justin Timberlake… you get the idea. Such is the case with death metal legends Morbid Angel — the whole band essentially stands on the shoulders of one member, but it’s not the one most of you dorks are thinking of. Lettuce be reality, brahs: Pete Sandoval’s drumming is the definition of mediocre (and before you start arguing, remember that trusted, mainstream news outlets such as NPR have recognized me as an authority on metal drumming).
File this under “sacred cow barbecue” if you want, but I’ve finally come to terms with the truth about Morbid Angel: they have their moments, but are held back by Pete Sandoval’s dull, unimaginative playing (and consistently bad drum sounds). I’m not saying Pete is a bad drummer, because he certainly isn’t, but I am saying that his playing is several orders of magnitude behind Trey Azagthoth’s, and that the bad would be approximately 1 zillion times better if they had someone else on drums.
U MAD?? See if you don’t change your mind after the break…
Of course you do! If you haven’t already skipped over this post because of the headline, then I’d say chances are about 98% that you’re going to really dig Electro Quarterstaff, as I do.
So when I say that Electro Quarterstaff are for fans of bands like Dysrhythmia, East of the Wall, Coalesce, Gorguts or even BTBAM, you already know this because you dig all of those bands and you’ve already listened to the songs on Electro Quarterstaff’s MySpace page by now.
And when I re-post an excerpt of the bio on the band’s MySpace page, you know just how accurate it is because you’re already a fan:
Absorbing influences as disparate as Bartok and Gorguts along the way, Electro Quarterstaff remains a progressively-minded entity focused on visceral songcraft and layered, polyphonic instrumentation which highlights a seamless integration of wide-eyed romantic melody within a framework of orchestral complexity and devious song structure. We refuse to adhere to any musical rulebook and actively strive for bulletproof musicianship and hypnotizing fluidity. Mountains of charming riffs await to enchant you.
If you’re still really stubborn and insisted on getting all the way through this article before checking out the music, well, then get on it. The new album Aykroyd is due this Spring. Expect to be hearing lots more about it from me.
Tuesday, January 18th, 2011 at 3:00pm by Axl Rosenberg
Major, major props to reader Bob Furtado, who not only caught the above cameo by Nachtmystium’s Blake Judd on Family Guy this past Sunday, but was even nice enough to send us a screen cap. I hadn’t actually watched the episode until just now, but the Judd character is referred to only as “Other Guy” (seriously, that’s what one of the characters calls him) and has no lines. I’m assuming Judd didn’t even know that he’d be making an appearance on the show.
The question is: How the hell did he end up on the show at all? Is one of the show’s animators/producers/whatever a fan, or did they just somehow come across the video for Nachtmystium’s “Every Last Drop” — in which Judd portrays a pretty cretinous-looking drug dealer — and think, “Yeah, that’s what an addict should look like!”
In any case, you can check out the episode here. And if you haven’t already seen the video for “Every Last Drop,” enjoy it after the jump.
Tuesday, January 18th, 2011 at 2:30pm by Axl Rosenberg
One of the things I love about people who have way too much free time and no healthy outlet for their creativity is that sometimes they make things which are fun to watch when you’re high. For example, this:
According to Gizmodo, the above contraption was made by a dude named Chris Marion, and “interfaces a Guitar Hero guitar with a microcontroller, which in turn powers relays that activate solenoid valves on five fire poofers.” In other words, when he plays Guitar Hero, he gets all Rammstein-like.
Here’s another video of this terrific, universe-altering creation at work, this one set to some good ol’ Motley Crue:
Life’s kinda getting’ out of control. I think. I don’t know if you agree, will you hand me that ashtray? So, man, the other day I decided I might as well pull out that Vince Neil autobiography. I was a big Mötley Crüe fan when I was a teenager and got tired of Elton John, Boston, and Ted Nugent. They were cutting edge back then. The Crüe, that is… at least, that’s what I thought. What did I care, they fuckin’ rocked, they looked cool, and the chicks used to come out in droves for them. What more could a horny male teenager ask for? What’s that? I don’t know… shit! I dropped my coffee in my lap. Fuckin’ cat!
It’s like, what it is, it’s like… I know you’ve heard the phrase a thousand times, but it’s a rat race. So, where were we? Oh yeah. Mötley Crüe, Vince Neil. His autobiography,Tattoos & Tequila:To Hell and Back with One of Rock’s Most Notorious Frontmen, which came out a few months back. Unlike my fellow MetalSucks brethren, I actually used to like Vince Neil. [Uh... actually, we did, too, which is part of the reason we now give him so much shit! - Ed.] Hell, I even dressed up like him for a lip-synching contest way back in ’83. Even posted it here as one of my most embarrassing life moments. Lost to some teenyboppers singing Cyndi Lauper. “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun…” What a crock! Should’ve gone with “Looks That Kill” instead of “Piece of Your Action.” My bad. Used to love going to Fast Times in Pasadena, Texas, where they had those contests. Teens trying to act like adults. Lots of hot chicks, bad hairstyles, and people who hated heavy metal. Losers.
Tuesday, January 18th, 2011 at 1:30pm by Gary Suarez
Some of you don’t quite get what I mean when I refer to “metallic hardcore” here. One listen to Pennsylvania’s Mother Of Mercy will hopefully put your confusion to rest. Entirely removed from that bastard known as metalcore, this band’s imminently available record IV: Symptoms of Existence thrashes and rages much like what you call metal–far more so than All That Remains or Underoath. Here at MetalSucks, we’re making it even easier for you with an exclusive full stream of the album! IV: Symptoms of Existence comes out on January 25th via Bridge Nine Records and you can (and should!) pre-order the album here.
Tuesday, January 18th, 2011 at 1:00pm by Axl Rosenberg
Amon Amarth have released the cover art for their latest offering, Surtur Rising, and, uh, it looks like an Amon Amarth album cover. That’s not a criticism, by the way — if they suddenly had, say, an angry vagina on their album cover, it would be way weird — it’s just an observation. In any case, I can think of no image more appropriate for Amon Amarth than a giant dude wielding a lightning sword while a volcano erupts behind him. I almost can’t believe they missed out on the opportunity to make him a minotaur, too… although I guess that’s the wrong culture.
Surtur Rising comes out March 29 on Metal Blade, and the only people not excited are the ones who hate fun.
Tuesday, January 18th, 2011 at 12:30pm by MetalSucks
This week is your last opportunity to take part in the January Unsigned Band Promopalooza, in which we offer all those of you in unsigned bands the chance to advertise on MetalSucks — and the rest of the sites in the Blast Beat Network, including Metal Injection, Decibel, MetalUnderground.com, SMNnews.com, Metal Insider and more — at a discounted rate not offered to anyone else at any other time!
Tuesday, January 18th, 2011 at 12:00pm by Axl Rosenberg
I mean, “Doomageddon?” That is so unbelievably frickin’ METAL. It sounds like a great horrible movie, y’know, like Croctopus 3D or something. I want Full Blown Chaos to make a video for the song, and I want that video to be nothing, but, well, full blown chaos. By which I mean not just endless close-ups of the band, but, rather, death and destruction on a truly offensive, socially irresponsible level. I want Rush Limbaugh to be able to blame all crime and war for the next ten years on this video. THAT kind of full blown chaos.
While we wait to see if that actually happens, you can stream the song over at The Deciblog. It opens with a killer elephants marching riff, and then it just gets doomageddonier from there.
“Doomageddon” will appear on Full Blown Chaos’ new, self-titled release, which comes out February 1 on Ironclad. And your favorite metal blog (ahem) just might be debuting a different track from the record next week…
New releases from Ghost (in the U.S.), Electric Wizard and Acid Witch make this week a great one for fans of psychadelic, doom, stoner and the like, while KsE side-project Times of Grace finally hits the shelves and NJ slammy death metallers Abacinate deliver their ripping tribute to fallen vocalist Jason “Plunger” Sica. Our previews of those releases and others coming out this week after the jump.
In yesterday’s post about 2011 being The Year Of The Prog Dork I somehow neglected to include one of the albums I’m most excited about: the follow-up to Protest the Hero’s jaw-dropping 2008 list-topper Fortress. Can ya feel me?
That album now has a name — Scurrilous — and a release date — March 22nd, via Vagrant Records. The album was one again produced by Julius Butty, and judging by the short clips we’ve heard so far in the very entertaining series of studio videos (#3 above) it’s gonna be all sorts of bonertastic.
But Protest the Hero aren’t stopping there. They’ve also announced a giant North American tour to coincide with the album release! Protest the Hero will begin their world tour with dates in Europe and the UK from January 26th through February 12th supporting Darkest Hour. Following an appearance at Australia’s 2011 Soundwave Festival, the band will begin an extensive Canadian and U.S tour March 23 with support acts Maylene and the Sons of Disaster and TesseracT. Dates for the tour are as follows:
Some of you don’t quite get what I mean when I refer to “metallic hardcore” here. One listen to Pennsylvania’s 
