Remember Sludge, my new favorite band of 2010? Seems the extreme Swiss metallers are off to a great start in 2011 with a brand new song called “Fuck,” which they debuted at a live gig in Switzerland last week. Sludge’s 2008 album Lava, which I only discovered last year, still rocks my playlist occasionally; it’s putrid, filthy, up-tempo sludgened crust and doom is the perfect soundtrack for just about any mood. As far as I’m concerned, Sludge’s new album can’t come soon enough.

Check out “Fuck” below, then check out several songs from Lava at Sludge’s ReverbNation page.

-VN

[via Blabbermouth]

I hope you’ve been following Metal Injection’s incredibly funny (and shamelessly insensitive) Black Metal History Month — there’s been a ton of great shit, all of which you can catch up with by going here.

The latest reasons to get stoked on this brilliant, brilliant idea comes in the form of two awesome lists:

Click to read more…

For months and months and months and months we’ve speculated endlessly, tossed and turned at night and pulled our hair out in frustration, wondering what label Between the Buried and Me would end up on now that their contract with Victory is over. OK, not really… we’ve known it was Metal Blade all along. But now it’s official: Metal Blade has posted the below trailer announcing not only their signing of Between the Buried and Me, but the release date for The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues EP the band has been working on for some time:

April 12th. Get ready.

-VN

I don’t have a problem with nerd metal — I mean, to some extent, ALL metal is nerd metal, but what I really mean is, I don’t have a problem with the idea of nerds making metal about computers or other such dorkery. Hell, Meek is Murder’s Algorithms, which we’re very, very happily releasing next month (pre-order it here), deals by and large with computer code. So obviously, I have no problem with metal that draws on such a geeky topic for inspiration.

But it’s only Monday, and I still have to imagine that The Unhandled Exceptions‘ “Random Access Memory” is the worst thing I, you, or anyone either of us knows will hear all week. I mean, I suppose it’s possible that Johnny Plague and Frankie Palmeri could release a new duet cover of “Close My Eyes Forever,” but it would still be a million times better than this. (Actually, come to think of it, I really, really hope that Plague and Palmeri do just that. I know for a fact that people who work with the band read this website; fellas, please make that happen.)

If I thought the band was in on the joke, I might not have any problem with this; but it feels completely, and painfully, sincere. Maybe that just means that they are kidding and they’re more clever than I am, but, uh, no I don’t think so.

You should really check out their website, too, ’cause it provides plenty of additional lulz.

-AR

Thanks to Kurt Hansen for the tip. Kurt promises “to make it up with an excellent suggestion in the future.”

I know I’m not the lone inhabitant of the MS Mansion greatly anticipating the next Anaal Nathrakh album; 2009′s In the Constellation of the Black Widow was a firey storm of intense, raging, non-corpsepaint black metal that topped several MS writers’ year-end lists and ended up as #2 in our Readers’ Poll. Despite having been around for over a decade and having released six prior albums, Anaal Nathrakh saw their profile greatly elevated by Black Widow, morphing them from underground faves to trumpeted victorious underdogs. The album even saw them garner a ton of visibility in the mainstream metal press.

So I was surprised to learn via a tip from MS reader Drew G. that Anaal Nathrakh have a new album coming out very soon… yet no one is talking about it.

Click to read more…

Since their emergence in 2006, Baltimore’s Pulling Teeth have become one of the most vicious, ready-to-rumble hardcore bands out there; this band makes some real take-no-prisoners, burn-your-neighbor’s house down shit that isn’t for the weak of heart or mind.

Which is why we’re only too happy to be debuting Scion A/V’s video interview with vocalist Mike Riley and bassist Dom Romeo. In the clip, the duo discuss the formation of the band, the importance of the message in their music, and how they’ve come to be that rare hardcore act who actually place a ton of emphasis on their studio work, as opposed to just fuckin’ shit up live. Check it out below… and cross your fingers that we get a new Pulling Teeth album this year.

According to a recent interview on Crustcake’s podcast, Doomriders and Sweet Cobra are teaming up to release a new Devo-themed 7″.

No, your eyes do not deceive you. I wrote “Devo-themed.”

Apparently, Doomriders will cover Devo’s “Girl U Want,” while Sweet Cobra will tackle the band’s “Gates of Steel.” I just went on YouTube to get videos of Devo’s original versions of both songs, and, hey, guess what? They performed each one as part of an appearance on the short-live Saturday Night Live rip-off, Fridays, back in 1981 (see below video). I don’t know if it’s a coincidence or if this performance served as the inspiration for the Doom Cobras team-up, but I do know I wanna hear this split ASAP:

There’s no official release date for the split yet, but it will come out sometime soon-ish on Hawthorne Street Records. The Doomriders’ track was produced by the great Kurt Ballou; Allen Epley and Eric Abert from the band The Life and Times produced the Sweet Cobra portion. I don’t really know The Life and Times’ music, but I do know that they’re Pelican-approved, so I’ll give ‘em the benefit of the doubt.

-AR

[via The PRP]

Maybe it’s just my imagination, but it seems like there was a week or two there where we weren’t being sent a lot of reader recommendations… and then over the past four or five days, I feel like we’ve just been bombarded with “YOU HAVE TO CHECK OUT THIS BAND THEY RULE SO HARD!!!” e-mails. Since it seems to be a slow news morning, I thought I’d go through a bunch of ‘em, picking out bands completely at random.

I haven’t listened to any of these bands in advance of writing this, so the following column will be one of those “Let’s discover the music together!”-type deals. Inevitably, some/most of these groups are gonna blow, but hopefully we’ll find a gem or two in the pile as well.

And so…

Click to read more…

White Arms of Athena are one of my most favoritest unsigned bands, having been on our radar since all the way back in June of 2009. We even premiered a new track of theirs this past October, and now’s your chance to hear another, “Superhuman,” from their forthcoming record Astrodama. [UPDATE: It's been called to our attention that the new song is actually "Crown Chakra", not "Superhuman." Whatever -- go listen, you'll be happy! -Ed.]

For the uninitiated, White Arms of Athena’s sound lies firmly in the venn-diagram overlap of Between the Buried and Me and Cynic; the modern day heaviness and general approach of the former and the oftentimes chilled-out vibes, bass tone and vocoder of the latter. If this sounds like something you might like, you owe it to yourself to check out “Superhuman” and three other songs from Astrodama at White Arms of Athena’s Facebook page.

Expect Astrodrama to come out this Spring and a big announcement from the band soon.

-VN

Thanks: Heavy Blog is Heavy

Each time Devin Townsend releases a new studio video of the Deconstruction sessions — or each time he releases anything at all, really — my inner dialogue goes something like this:

Vince Neilstein 1: This is awesome! Gotta post about it immediately
Vince Neilstein 2: Yeah, but you post everything Devin does! Lay off this time, maybe.
Vince Neilstein 1: Yeah, but… this is soooo awesome!
Vince Neilstein 2: So is everything. Wait ’til he releases an actual new song or something, and avoid over-hype.
Vince Neilstein 1: Yeah, but… fuck you, I’m posting.

And so, here’s the latest Deconstruction recording update. It features the great Dirk Verbeuren (Soilwork, Scarve, 10,000 other bands) on drums. Verbeuren’s got to be one of the most under-rated players in metal; every time I watch him play I’m absolutely floored. He’s got such great hands (huh huh, that’s what she said); in a modern metal drumming landscape that’s dominated by constant double-bassing, Dirk uses his hands more creatively than just about anyone.

Expect Deconstruction to come out some time this summer, and expect it to feature guest vocal appearance by Mikael Akerfeldt, Joe Duplantier, Tommy Rogers and Greg Puciato.

-VN

Eyehategod — one of the filthiest, scummiest, most legitimately and awesomely fucked-up bands to ever walk the earth — played the Sonar in Baltimore, MD last Thursday night, and MetalSucks’ own Queen of Photography, Alyssa Lorenzon, was there to capture the madness. These pictures are so intimate you can practically smell the weed on Jimmy Bower’s breath. Check out all of Alyssa’s awesome pics after the jump! And don’t forget that you can watch a video of Eyehategod playing a new song live right here.

Click to read more…

Round Two of Heavy Metal Blunders brings us, who else? Vince Neil! Yes, the official MS Mansion punching monkey got shipped off to the can last week. At this point, I don’t really care. But I did get a chuckle out of his girlfriend, Alicia Jacobs, who was concerned for her bank account, err… boyfriend. Jacobs claimed Neil was “not eating much other than peanut butter, Doritos and stuff like that. He had a baloney sandwich one day. It’s not optimal conditions.” I wonder what Razzle thinks about dem apples?

Click to read more…

Soundgarden continues to be one of those legendary bands that defies pure pigeonholing.  Sure, they rose to the top against the early 90s grunge backdrop, but could you really call them “grunge”? Lest we forget that way back when, they were often touted as the forerunners of “alternative metal” (whatever that means), in addition to grungesters.

SIDEBAR: Remember when “alternative” was a genre? Nowadays when people say they are into “alternative” music (and yes, it does happen every once in a while), I feel compelled to inquire “alternative to WHAT???”  Back then the genre label actually meant something, but today everything just seems to be the alternative to everything else.

From the beginning, the band’s songs were sludgy enough, but always had at least a tinge (usually a boatload) of melody, largely thanks to wailer Chris Cornell but also to the inventive guitar stylings of Kim Thayil.  Add the proto-rumblings of bassist Ben Shepard and thumping pocket-chop grooves of drummer Matt Cameron, and we had a truly unique rock n’ roll band that created their own sound. Five albums strong, Soundgarden broke up in 1997.

After some recent unfortunate solo Cornell material and plenty of rumors of reunion, the reformed Soundgarden finally played a couple of shows last Spring & Summer (the first of which under the anagram pseudonym Nudedragons), and it was recently announced that they will release a live album entitled Live on I5 on March 22nd (tracklist here).

Furthermore, just this past week it was mentioned on their website that the band has written some new material and hopes to release a new album later this year (!) ….

“OUR GOAL FOR 2011 – LET’S MAKE A RECORD.

Over the past few months, we’ve been busy jamming, writing and hanging out together – exploring the creative aspect of being Soundgarden. It feels great. We have some cool new songs that we are going to record very soon. Thank you for all of the support!

Loudest of Love, Ben, Chris, Kim and Matt”

We shall see.

-KW

It occurred to me sometime this afternoon that Frankie Palmeri may very well read what I wrote about him earlier today, and decide the best course of action is to invite me onto his tour bus to settle our conflict through calm, intelligent discussion, only to sucker punch me when the bus door opens. Thus, I have come with a new rule for life: NEVER GO ONTO A TERRIBLE DEATHCORE BAND’S TOUR BUS. Seems simple enough!

While I contemplate Thanos Bison Reignz coming after me during a solar apocalypse, here’s a rundown of some of the fun shit we did this week:

• We broke the news of new System of a Down tour dates! I’m very proud of Vince for his investigative journalism skills on this one. He’s a regular Carl Bernstein, that one.
• We enjoyed another excellent tour blog from Eluveitie.
• We checked out the new release from Derek Roddy’s Serpents Rise.
• We wondered, “Is Hatebreed the best hardcore band of all time?”
• We whined about the Grammys.
• We made you a totally romantic Valentine’s Day mix.
• We learned the value of telling women we like metal up front.
• We discovered djentstep.
• We likened a Deftones concert riot to a Mad Max movie, ’cause we’re sensitive like that.
• Our friends at Decibel let you hear the previously unreleased Lamb of God tune “Hit the Wall.” Say “Thank you, Decibel.”

So, one last reminder: next week sees the release of Volume 2 of NYC Sucks, our totally free comp collecting awesome bands from the New York area. But if you’re a total sour puss and awesome free music does nothing for you, we’ll have some other fun shit, too. ‘Til then…

-AR

Wed: “Hollywood” group night
Thurs: “Hollywood” solo auditions
Misery index: Barrrrrffff
Tyler-o-meter: 87%

Wednesday on American Idol was group night, in which remaining contestants break off into groups of at least three to perform with live accompaniment. In Idol lore, the group week is a fiery tribulation for the singers that requires a measure of dependance on teammates and – gulp — on mastery of rudimentary dance. It proved to be too much for nearly all contestants. They sucked ass! Period.

But if group night was an ordeal for the singers, then it was torture for judges, for viewership, and, if their monitors were on, for the backing band. You know that movie, The Running Man? It’s comparable to group night with one small but vital tweak: Imagine that if Arnold defeats his unfairly advantaged predators to pass a stage, then the gladiator-style game show of death’s sadistic hosts and spectators don’t merely get mad, but get subjected to a taser to the junk (or its emotional equivalent). That is exactly what group day was like: Horror for all.

Click to read more…

Hey dudes and ladies, here are a couple bands I’ve been listening to damn near nonstop over the past week or so – traditional English doom lords 40 Watt Sun, and iconoclastic black metallers Negative Plane. They are both highly respected and well-loved within their respective corners of the underground, and each have sweet new records either available or forthcoming. Start saving your lunch money and buy ‘em on vinyl, nerds!

I’ve also been listening to a shit ton of Nuclear Desecration, Steve Von Till, Abaddon Incarnate, Pallbearer, Razor of Occam, and Drowned lately. Fight me about those, too.

Click to read more…

Eyehategod are playing Europa in Brooklyn tonight with Misery Index, Magrudergrind, Strong Intention, and Mutilation Rights; that’s a sweet, sweet line-up, and the last time Eyehategod played Europa, they basically tore the place right the fuck apart. (There’s also something kinda funny about Eyehategod playing a venue that is, quite literally, right next door to a police station.)

Alas, I won’t be there, and I don’t think Vince will, either. But at least we can console ourselves with this footage of the band playing a new song in Philly on Wednesday night. And it sounds quite Eyehategod-like. The band is supposed to have a new album, called Whiskey Drink, out later this year, and this bodes well for it being appropriately scummy. Check it out…

-AR

[via Metal Injection]

A producers’ role in the overall sound of an album is often under-appreciated. Sure, most people know roughly what it is that producers do, but until you’ve been in a recording session and seen first-hand how producers work with bands you can’t possibly understand the entirety of the impact they have on the final product. I’ve always been fascinated by producers (and mixers); when the Internet first started to be a place you could easily find a lot of organized, useful information (at some point in the late ’90s / early ’00s) I’d spend hours upon hours looking through album credits at AllMusic.com to see who produced and mixed my favorite albums, then I’d follow those links to look at said producer or mixer’s entire discographies, then I’d follow those links to look at other albums… and so on and so forth. I totally ate it up, and it’s still something I find an incredible amount of interest in.

That’s why I’m excited that Crustcake posted this awesome video interview with metal producer Sanford Parker, certainly one of the “it” producers of the moment, who’s worked with Nachtmystium, Pelican, Rwake, Batillus and many, many more. Check it out after the jump.

Click to read more…

The unbearable brutality of winter (and the company of a damn good woman) drove me indoors for much of these past couple of months. Having not seen a single band live since December, I grew restless and twitchy on my Egyptian cotton sheets. I was born to rock, and with the snow finally melting, I seized the oh-so-golden opportunity to catch the Jägermeister Music Tour, which featured Buckcherry in the headlining slot with support from Hellyeah, All That Remains, and The Damned Things.

For some people, this might seem like a fun night out. But not for me. I was desperate.

Click to read more…

I had a math tutor in high school who was, to put it mildly, way creepy. He spent as much time trying to get me to talk about the hot girls in my class (many of whom he was also tutoring) as he did teaching me anything, and he was always excited to attend events he was way too old for — like this one time he somehow wrangled a ticket to the MTV Video Music Awards, and it was like, “Dude, you are old, gray, and bald. You should not be at the fucking MTV Awards. I’m sixteen and I don’t wanna go to the MTV Awards.”

I mention it because the last time I saw Avenged Sevenfold, when they were touring behind their self-titled album, I felt like that dude. I freely admit to being an A7X fan, and the band put on a good show and I was happy to see them, but I looked around and Vince and I were the oldest people there by, like, a lot. It was fucking embarrassing. I could practically hear the scene kids whispering, “Hey, who invited the fucking olds?”

Click to read more…