It’s been a long three years since The Ocean toured the U.S.; Precambrian had just come out, and they came to the States for a headlining run — perhaps a bit prematurely — with Withered, Lair of the Minotaur and Kylesa, an awesome bill but perhaps not the right one for The Ocean at that time. Their live show was stunning and left me wanting more, but The Ocean weren’t quite at the popularity level they are now and, at least in NYC, the room had mostly cleared out by the time they want on. Three years and two albums later it appears The Ocean appear to be finally headed back… with Between the Buried and Me and Job For A Cowboy (or whoever is playing in the latter these days), in a support role that’s much better suited for them.

ThePRP.com has picked up on an April 29th date for all three bands at The Rickshaw Theater in Vancouver, B.C., and as we already know all three bands sit atop Saturday’s bill at The New England Metal and Hardcore Fest on April 16th. As we learned in high school geometry, two points make a line; I think it’s pretty safe to assume there will be a full U.S. (North American, really) tour featuring all three bands.

Until then, enjoy this live music video (with album audio) of The Ocean playing the Heliocentric track “The Firmament,” one of my faves from that record. Thanks to TNOTB for alerting me to its existence.

-VN

WHAT THE FUCK IS UP MOTHERFUCKERS??? WINDS OF PLAGUE BACK AGAIN, STILL RUNNING SHIT!!!

In case you missed it, there is a new single from the one and only WINDS OF PLAGUE [via leading independent music retailer CENTURY MEDIA]. Don’t sleep on this one, it is a fucking banger — bump this shit in the club, in the whip, at the gym, whatever! Run and grab your momma’s skirt, it’s going down!!! Oh, and in case it didn’t already slap hard enough, did I mention it features a guest appearance from Mattie Montgomery of our bros FOR TODAY??

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There’s a powerfully bittersweet scene in the Iron Maiden documentary Flight 666 in which a Costa Rican metalhead spends a few post-entry/pre-show moments lamenting the misfortune of Third World metalheads. He states:

When I was like 14 or 15, I heard Iron Maiden for the first time. [I thought,] ‘Oh, this is amazing! I-ron Maiden! Can you just imagine to see them live? Oh, [what a] shame — we live in the ass of the world.’ … [So, today's concert] is once in a lifetime! I have a friend who quit his job to be here today!

Though the show is hours away, the guy’s voice cracks with emotion and his gestures signify rising euphoria. He’s happy for himself and and those like him who waited most of their lives for the chance to see Maiden pound “the ass of the world” later that night. Intense, right? Now, swap out Maiden for the Deftones, Costa Rica for Thailand, and a full-tilt ass-pounding for a 90-minute delay followed by an outright cancellation. Yeah, then swap out euphoria for angry rioting:

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“Hey guys, why haven’t you posted this yet?!! It only sounds like the single greatest piece of music ever, brah.”
-Drew Webb

“This should give you another Devin boner.”
-Brian Kessler

“MY DICK IS AFLAME WITH SEMEN.”
-Sam Payne

Well don’t hold back, fellas! Let us know how excited you really are about about this latest behind-the-scenes video from Devin Townsend.

Pretty cool, right? But wait! That’s not all. It seems that Devin recently made a love connection with The Dillinger Escape Plan’s Greg Puciato… via Twitter!

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Rather than devoting a whole post to each of the many new tracks released by metal bands today, how ’bout bringing them all together the way Axl does with his cinemetal round-ups? A good idea, you say? Alright, let’s get to it.

Our besties at the Deciblog are streaming a brand new Liturgy track called “High Gold.” I’ve never been able to get into Liturgy; though I appreciate that mainman Hunter Hunt-Hendrix is well-educated in music and is trying to do something outside the box (so to speak), I’ve always felt it was way too far outside the box to be considered metal, or even listenable. Their first album was so full of ambient noise I could barely find the actual songs. But if the new track is any indication, it seems as if they’re taking cues from their Brooklyn brethren in Krallice and focusing more on the black metal side of their sound this time around… and on making actual songs. “High Gold” is catchy, in a good way, and tighter than I remember the band being too; check it out here.

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What’s up rmember me i’m still BIG PIMPIN lol!

Hay whats up everybody thanks for all the help on the blog I posted before about where I was just getting into metal and stuff!! You guys were super cool and when I read it the other day I was all “lol I sound like such a metal n00b back then” but since then I started reading this site (Metal Suck.com) and got into a lot of way more cool bands (I got a new shirt that I am wearing in the picture at the top of this lol)! One of the things that one of the people said was I should get into some local bands bc they are actually considered better than popular bands, I guess bc if not that many people know about them then it makes you sound like you are more of a real fan if you like them?? Like even though Jobs For A Cowboy are way better than the bands in my town (Edmonds, Washington) I can see how it would be cool to be like “Have u heard this band from my town, they are like JFAC but better” bc then you know about something other people don’t!

Anyways I checked out a couple of bands that are from my area and I thought they were kind of cool but I wanted to see what u guys think before I tell anybody about them! I think these bands are ‘black metal’ not death metal, which I don’t know that much about- it doesn’t sound as good as death metal to me but a lot of the black metal bands seem like they are cooler to like??? IDK, just tell me what you think of these bands!

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Because if they can’t even consider the possibility of dating someone who loves a band called Pig Destroyer, we have no future together.

-AR

Thanks to Robert Huismans for sending us this delightful cartoon.

The new Goes Cube album, In Tides and Drifts, is FUCKING SICK, guys. The album comes out on The End on March 29, but there are already chances to hear some new shit; for one, our friend Sean “Spleen Latifah” Gresens shot some footage of the band performing new material for Metal Injection — you can watch a clip above, or go here to see the rest. And you’ll get to hear an official studio cut when we debut a new song as part of Volume 2 of our free NYC Sucks compilation (you can download Volume 1 here!!!). But just know that the album is FUCKING SICK.

So I’m stoked that the band just announced a tour for next month. I really dug their last album, 2009′s Another Day Has Passed, but, frankly, I don’t think it holds a candle to this new one, and I’m really excited to see them play lots and lots and lots of new tunes live.

Here are dates, via The PRP:

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In the spirit of “Two Bears Review Daath’s New Self-Titled Album,” longtime MS reader jtquake presents to you “Two Dogs Discuss Emmure’s New Album.” As my hero Larry David would say, pretty, pretty, pretty good. Especially this golden nugget of a line: “I was beating Street Fighter before you were born.” A+++ WDBWA. Worth sticking with it through the last line, too, for reasons I won’t spoil for you.

-VN

Even this little kid can’t believe this shit.

Ever since The Deciblog started their weekly “Justify Your Shitty Taste” column — in which writers and musicians attempt to defend the indefensible — we’ve been joking that it was only a matter of time until someone stood up for Celtic Frost’s Cold Lake.

Ladies and germs, that time has arrived.

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JESUS HAROLD CHRIST, DARKEST HOUR, STOP MONOPOLIZING MY TIME. YOU KNOW I LOVE YOU GUYS, BUT I THERE OTHER METAL BANDS INT HE WORLD TOO, Y’KNOW!!!

I kid, I kid.

To complete their hat trick of awesomeness this week, Darkest Hour have released a new video, for the song “Savor the Kill.” It’s not embeddable right now, but click on the pretty girl below to watch it. In case awesome Gothenburgian metal and Zack Snyder-esque speed ramping isn’t your thing, you should know that the video also has a second hot girl in it (who, inevitably, tussles with the first), and a real live wolf as well.

“Savor the Kill” comes off of Darkest Hour’s latest, The Human Romance. It comes out on Tuesday via eOne, but you can already stream it in full right here.

-AR

Once again, the only hard rock and metal albums shifting units* are classics, red state rock, and greatest hits packages. Just look at this screen cap from this week’s Top Hard Music chart:

With all due respect to Avenged Sevenfold, Times of Grace and All That Remains — the only bands with newish albums on that list with some level of modern metal legitimacy (whether you like those bands or hate ‘em) — the above screen cap is proof that album sales are not just tanking, but taking a vertical nosedive straight into oblivion.

In any case, all wasn’t lost last week. Motorhead and Crowbar made decent debuts, while Red continued their dominance. And, uh… Mr. Big.

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American readers may have recently become aware of a new MTV series called Skins, which has been the subject of no small amount of controversy due to the fact that, as I understand it at least (I’ve yet to actually force myself to watch an episode), the show is basically kiddie porn. What these readers may or may not realize is that Skins is actually based on a British series of the same name, and that said British series features a character who is metal head.

And when I say “metal head,” I mean all the worst stereotypes that people hold about metal heads — he’s rude, obnoxious, socially retarded, and, oh yeah, a poseur. (He wrinkles his shirts before putting them on! That’s the exact opposite of what most people do! Weird!!!) He also has ecclectic taste — he seems to enjoy Slayer and Drowning Pool in equal measures. And here I thought he was a Brit, not a redneck.

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I’m still not clear exactly what the fuck dubstep’s got to do with metal other than that some schmo with neck tattoos and some other schmo that Sergeant D likes got together and formed a dubstep group. But apparently dubstep is gaining legs in the metalsphere, probably because deathcore kids realized deathcore is dumb and are seeking something way more alternative, yo.

The latest evolution of the micro-genre as it relates to better comes from reader Tony Manka in the form of Aeolia, who describe themselves as “djentstep.” Take a listen:

So it’s basically drum n’ bass with djent riffs over top. We need this… why? It’s not bad by any means but it just strikes me as unnecessary and forced, like trying to invent a new kind of sandwich; I liked the old sandwiches just fine, thanks.

-VN

It’s hard to believe that any pertinent music news could even momentarily escape a hunky, cutting-edge metal columnist like me. The internet makes it near impossible to miss stuff, but, alas, it happens. But like everyone, I insure against oversights via a network of tipsters who phone, text, and email the living shit out of me when anything happens. Seriously, anything at all: Two dozen different sources alerted me last month to The Rose Funeral guy’s new boner pics.

So yes, the system is sound, but not without the occasional lapse. Example: My point person for shitty deathcore and DevilDriver has a foxy girlfriend who keeps me abreast of movement around bands like My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy. She’s whipsmart and awesome (though tin-eared), but the airhead never bothered to hip me to the December announcement that Paramore’s drummer and guitarist had departed the band (Partly for religious reasons! LOLz!). Come on, girl, jeez! I need to know this stuff! By the time I heard — from a freaking magazine — it was weeks too late for me and my drummer cousin to weasel an audition for this lucrative gig. Each of us has great hair/bod/jeans and uber-skillz and no objection whatsoever to the role of background scenery for singer Hayley Williams (NSFW); we would’ve been a perfect fit. Shit!

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Short n’ sweet: there’s this young lady named Alexandra Nicoletti who has been posting videos of herself on YouTube in which she plays piano versions of Amon Amarth songs (and some non-metal stuff, too, like a number from Beauty and the Beast), and she’s really good. Here she is doing the band’s new song, “War of the Gods”:

You can check out more at her YouTube channel. She also has a Facebook fan page if you wanna show your support that way.

The actual studio version of “War of the Gods” will appear on Amon Amarth’s new album, Surtur Rising, which comes out March 29 on Metal Blade.

-AR

Thanks to Mike Manzo for the tip.

You may recall that back in December I saw Rammstein at their sold-out show at Madison Square Garden, and I had an awesome time. If you’re too lazy to read my review, I can sum it up for you in twenty-nine seconds:

Yep. It’s setting dudes on fire live on stage for the win.

At the time, the MSG gig was Rammstein’s first, and last, American show in a decade; in fact, at the time they only played one other North American show, in Montreal. But good news for everyone who didn’t get to see one of those two gigs: the band has announced nine more North American dates for the spring.

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Brendan Greene of the Salt Lake City, UT band Disforia is the latest to enter our Show Us Your MetalSucks contest, and in fucking STYLE too: wearing his “Appetite for Deconstruction” MetalSucks tee at his band’s gig in front of thousands of screaming fans, no doubt! For his excellent choice of stage-wear, Brendan will receive a gift box of flowers and candy courtesy the MS Mansion Monkeys. Luckily for Brandon Disforia are pretty good, so we don’t have to feel bad about linking them in this post. Thanks, Brendan!

Keep sending in those pics, folks… an email to [news] at [metalsucks] dot [net] could net you some excellent metal. Not a bad trade if you ask me.

I’m posting outside of our regular hours because I was just got a press release that Exodus’ Gary Holt has been named Slayer’s temporary replacement for Jeff Hanneman (who just had emergency surgery on his arm), and that seems like kind of a big deal. As far as I’m aware at least, it’s the first time a guitarist who isn’t Hanneman or Kerry King will play and tour with the band (I mean, I’m sure other dudes have gotten up and jammed on a song or two with the band, but it’s not quite the same thing). In fact, I don’t even know of Holt having ever really played with another band.

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INTRO BUST

Everybody knows that Hatebreed is by far the most popular hardcore band in the history of the planet, but not everybody knows that they are beyond a doubt the best hardcore band of all time. I can feel the butthurt starting already, but lettuce be srs, brahs: no other hardcore band has consistently dropped album after album of brutal mosh jams. Don’t believe me? Let’s take a step through history and prove it! In more-or-less chronological order, I will go through the bands who some might say hold the title of “best hardcore band of all times” and illustrate why Hatebreed is #1.

Go!

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