The announcement came in too late on Friday for us to get a story up before the weekend, but Deicide’s new album, To Hell With God, is now streaming in full online prior to its release tomorrow. Headbang here.

I’m curious to hear what you guys make of this record. Personally, I think it’s pretty sweet — there’s a lot of great material on here, and it might be one of the best-produced, if not the best-produced, albums they’ve ever made. But I know that there people who think this album is too melodic/glossy, which I believe is akin to thinking that shooting someone in the head just isn’t murder-y enough. But I respect your opinions.*

So give it a listen, then weigh in with your thoughts in the comments section below…

-AR

*Vince tells me I have to say that. I do not actually respect your opinions.

[To chronicle their current tour -- the U.S. portion of which features 3 Inches of Blood, Holy Grail and System Divide in support -- Swiss folk metallers Eluveitie will be writing an exclusive tour blog for MetalSucks. Week one of the tour took them through Sao Paulo, Belo Horizonte and Curitiba, Brazil; read about the Brazilian tour in the Week 1 Tour Blog. Week 2 follows, in which we learn that Eluveitie hate touring with other folk/pagan metal bands but absolutely love Walmart. -Ed.]

Sleep for 10 hours straight on the plane and wake up in the freezing cold. Awesome. Temperature shock FTW part II! BUT there’s a Starbucks at the airport which gets us all excited and stuff.

First stop, Philly! Apart from the bad news of people not making it to the show because roads are blocked and shit like that we’re stoked to see our good friends from Holy Grail. 3 Inches of Blood unfortunately can’t make it to the show because their van broke down… System Divide sound really good, great to be on a tour with bands that are worth listening to. Side note: We fucking hate touring with folk/pagan metal bands (apart from Finntroll). Isn’t it ironic ;-)

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Any metalhead who owns a small dog — or has a friend who owns a small dog — has definitely done this, and is lying if they say otherwise. I’m just shocked this pooch puts up with it for 4:08; if I ever tried to do this with Axl’s bichon, Sacha the Death Metal Nightmare Puppy, I’d probably have teeth marks on my arm before the first chorus. But man, this little guy is cute… even when he’s baring his teeth, just completely adorable.

-VN

Let’s keep this one simple: ANOTHER NEW AMON AMARTH TRACK! WHOO-HOO!!!

It’s called “Slaves of Fear,” and it’s streaming over at The Deciblog. The song’s main riff is insanely catchy, which is not unusual for Amon Amarth, but it’s also got a very buoyant quality, which I do find unusual for this band. It’s almost like a cock rock riff, or something that might appear in a training montage — an awesome, viking metal training montage (I don’t know what that might entail, but I’m guessing it would include lessons in rape, murder, and binge drinking). All of which is totally excellent.

Headbang here. Amon Amarth’s latest, Surtur Rising, comes out March 29 on Metal Blade. As Vince reported last week, the band will start a U.S. tour in April, during which they’ll play the entire new record during their first set and then play a SECOND set of old favorites. Get dates after the jump.

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So, apparently Jeff Hanneman was hospitalized last month, and underwent emergency surgery for a serious infection in his right arm, which he may or may not have contracted from a spider bite. (Not to be insensitive, but I think it would actually be kinda funny if he contracted the infection from, I dunno, jerking off too much, or opening a jar of pickles, or something like that, and the band is just saying it was a spider bite because that sounds so much more metal.)

Hanneman is expected to make a full recovery, but he’s obviously not gonna be picking up his axe anytime soon, and the band has an Australian tour coming up… so they’re gonna do the tour anyway, with a yet-to-be-announced fill-in guitarist.

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Devin Townsend’s free live EP was supposed to come out a couple of weeks ago, and then it was supposed to come out last week, and it didn’t. But it’s out now! It turns out that Devy just wanted to give us all a special Valentine’s Day present. How romantic, Devin! As though we don’t collectively suck the guy off here at MetalSucks anyway.

But I digress.

The album can be downloaded here. (It’s super slow right now, I’m assuming because everyone and their mother is currently trying to download this thing.) You have to either tweet or post about the EP on your Facebook page in order to get it, but that’s not so bad because a) the message you share with your friends can actually say whatever you want it to, so you don’t have to sound like a total tool, and b) it’s Devin Townsend, so it’s not like you’re whoring for some hack or whatever.

So, uh, enjoy!

-AR

More than perhaps any other band in the history of ever, the Foo Fighters always deliver with fun music videos. The latest clip for “White Limo,” which looks like it actually may have been shot on VHS, is the latest in a long, long line of video wins for the band. I don’t wanna ruin the fun for you, so I’ll just drop this nugget: the video centers around Lemmy driving the Foo-some Foursome around in, you guessed it, a white limo. Watch:

There will surely be some haters who think Foo Fighters don’t belong on a metal blog. They’re wrong, for reasons I shouldn’t have to qualify. But for what it’s worth, this song is as metal or more metal than anything they’ve ever done; it’s almost like Dave Grohl misses playing in Queens of the Stone Age so much that he just decided to write a QOTSA song for himself.

-VN

…Iron Maiden, for the song “El Dorado,” and Them Crooked Vultures, for the song “SERIOUSLY WHO GIVE A FUCK ABOUT THEM CROOKED VULTURES YOU OLD FAT FILTHY FUCKS?”

So the thing is, if you look up the word “meaningless” in the dictionary, you will find a picture of a Grammy. There’s really no reason to be bummed about this. And while I don’t think “El Dorado” is a very good song, I’m glad that Maiden won as opposed to, say, Korn. Actually, I would have been okay with any of the nominees that weren’t Korn winning.

But for Them Crooked Vultures — or, really, any of the bands that weren’t Alice in Chains — to win just proves what a joke these awards are. I don’t even feel like I have to type anything else to prove my point — just the words “Them Crooked Vultures” should make you automatically say through your yawn, “Next!”

-AR

Today really IS the most romantic day of the year — for today is the anniversary of the birth of Vince Neilstein, one half of what is surely the greatest bromance of all time. Vince is the Beavis to my Butt-Head, the Bill to my Ted, the Wayne to my Garth, the, uh… well, you get it!

Vince, I love ya dude. This one’s for you, buddy — a song from the album with the greatest guitar tone of all time…

-AR

I wonder if Lars could follow such a recipe…..his drumming and general je ne sais quoi has me thinking he’s pretty much mentally retarded, but could that perhaps translate to wizardry in the kitchen?

I’m guessing Hetfield mans the grill at any band barbecues…

-KW

How come Miss Piggy can’t count to 70? ‘Cause every time she gets to 69, she gets a frog in her throat.

ANYWAY, here’s how we amused ourselves this week:

• We debuted new videos from DevilDriver and Intronaut.
• We also debuted new music from Battilus and VYGR.
• We started a cool new series of tour blogs from Eluveitie and learned fifteen new things about Crowbar’s Kirk Windstein.
• We spoke to Josh Scogin from The Chariot and Mark LeVine, author of Heavy Metal Islam.
• We checked out the latest releases from Regicide, Dragged Into Sunlight, Macabre, and Abraham.
• We helped Burzum launch a new clothing line.
• We learned a sexy new stage move from Dr. Acula.
• We continued to feel embarrassed for Slash.
• We pleaded with record labels to start using Bandcamp and stop using MySpace.
• We mourned the loss of Guitar Hero.

Speaking of 69ing: Monday is Valentine’s Day. I’m just reminding you in case you’re a burnout and you forgot to get something for your woman. Don’t say I never did nuthin’ for ya.

-AR

Wed: San Francisco, auditions day seven
Thurs: “Hollywood,” first round of eliminations
Misery index: four hankies
Tyler-o-meter: 60%

Wednesday’s American Idol broadcast didn’t constitute entertainment as much as hardcore, face-banging tragedy-porn. It was an orgy of misfortune, a cumshot compilation of adversity. After all, this seventh and final audition was the last chance for rubbernecking viewers to gawk at unhinged auditioners; on the flip side, show producers seemed desperate to lock in viewership for the coming weeks when Idol makes the ostensible transformation from blooper reel to talent competition. So out came the human-drama canons to douse us in sap. There wasn’t even time for a viewer to sigh wistfully after one tale of woe before another was blubbered out over drippy music. Shudder.

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I named Sylosis’ Edge of the Earth as my pick for Albums That Will Fuck Your Face Off in 2011, and it seems my choice was greeted with rousing e-chants of “here, here!” in the form of positive comments and a storm of emails from fellow Sylosis fans anytime a band member so much as unzips his fly to take a piss. In that regard I certainly wouldn’t put Sylosis in Tool, Devin or Animals as Leaders’ company yet… but perhaps someday.

In any case, Metal Hammer is hosting a preview clip of the new album featuring interviews with the band members, some samples of new music, and a semi-music video of the band playing a new track “live” at the end. Apparently Edge of the Earth is a concept album of sorts, from a lyrical standpoint; neat! Musically, the band describes the album as being more adventurous and experimental, and as sounding more organic from a production standpoint. Double neat! But the new music alone is worth the price of admission; I’m already more excited for Edge of the Earth than when I started writing this post. Watch the preview video below.

-VN

Thanks: MikeH

Hellyeah have a new video for “Better Man,” a song unreasonable people would probably argue isn’t a power ballad. In the video, the band sits around someone’s house for no apparent reason and plays the song, all while remembering some pseudo-romantic tragic bullshit.

And if all this seems familiar, well, it ought to: sitting around a random house and playing a power ballad while remembering some pseudo-romantic tragic bullshit was one of hair metal’s silliest clichés. Take, for example…

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Three metalheads, amongst them MS scribe Bob Cock, are driving from Minneapolis to Chicago to see the mighty Immortal at one of their six North American shows on February 22nd. A worthwhile road journey indeed, made all the better by the special home-made Immortal Ale brewed by reader/roadtripper Patrick Stewart.

How can a homey get one of these bottles at the MS Mansion?? Our only question… does it make anyone who drinks it do the Immortal booty shake?

-VN

Paul Di’Anno — the former Iron Maiden singer who once compared Steve Harris to Adolf Hitler — just keeps getting smarter and smarter.

His latest staggering act of genius? He claimed benefits of £45,000 — close to $72,000 — after allegedly suffering nerve damage in his back, which was said to have prevented him from working between 2002 and 2008. Fair enough, except that investigators received an anonymous tip (Harris taking revenge, perhaps?) that Di’Anno had, in fact, been performing during that time period. So these investigators, y’know, investigated, and found online videos of him not just singing, but apparently jumping and running around on stage — things he couldn’t do if his back was really in such terrible shape.

But here’s the kicker: THE VIDEOS WERE POSTED ON DI’ANNO’S OWN WEBSITE AND YOUTUBE PAGE.

What.

A fucking.

Moron.

Di’Anno has apparently admitted to screwing taxpayers out of that money, and a judge has told him to expect prison time when he’s sentenced on March 11. I have no idea what the penalty is for insurance fraud in the U.K., but I’m hoping it’s steep. Because this twit has no one to blame for himself. Fuck Iron Maiden; he should just join The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight and get it over with.

-AR

[via The Daily Mail]

Sludge metal is a strange beast. On one end of the spectrum, you’ve got the Mastodon/High On Fire stoner crew, and on the other end you’ve got things like Cult of Luna, Pelican, Neurosis, and Giant Squid. So while I wasn’t really sure what to expect, I knew I was in for a strangely fruitful listen when I opened Abraham’s first release on Pelagic Records and saw the song titles “Saloon Bizarre,” “Coyote vs. Machete,” and “Astro Zombies.” Abraham make sludge that bridges between stoner rock, drone, and even melodic death metal.

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Kvelertak’s self-titled debut was my favorite album of 2010, but it never actually came out in North America. I was lucky enough to get a promo copy from the fine European publicist for the band’s label, Indie Recordings, but other fans from this side of the pond were most likely reduced to illegally downloading the album, or, worse, not getting to hear it at all. Which is a real tragedy, ’cause it KILLS, and ’cause the band deserves your money.

Well, good news: The End is releasing the album in North America on March 15, with SIX bonus tracks to sweeten the deal: live recordings of the songs “Fossegrim,” “Sjøhyenar (Havets Herrer),” “Blodtørst,” and “Mjød” from some BBC Sessions last year, plus demo versions of “Ordsmedar av Rang” and “Utrydd Dei Svake.”

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You guys remember VOYAGER, right? Just last year they released a split LP with Monolith, which we premiered here on MS. Due to legal reasons the band’s been forced to drop a few letters of their name to the “can I buy a vowel, please?” shortened moniker VYGR, but their music certainly hasn’t dropped anything… it’s just as heavy, sludgy, spacey and epic as ever.

VYGR will release their new album Hypersleep via Creator-Destructor Records on March 15th, and it’s a fucking beast. What I like most about VYGR — and in particular this album — is their ability to be sludgy, psychedelic, crushingly heavy AND epic all at the same time; most bands get caught up in being just one of these things to the extreme, but VYGR have struck the perfect balance. And the production, courtesy of tone-master Zeuss, is appropriately both raw and clear, an incredibly difficult achievement.

Stream the album track “Shapeshifters” at VYGR’s Bandcamp page, and the world premiere of the new song “Flares” below. Pre-order Hypersleep here.

[this streaming promotion has ended]

Here’s the latest round of idiotic news revolving around the band you can pretty much blame for this website’s existence.

First of all, Corey Taylor has been heavily rumored to be the new vocalist for Velvet Revolver, and then a couple of weeks ago, he refused to contradict that rumor, thereby pretty much confirming it. Now Metal Insider tells me that Duff McKagan thinks he’s being cute by pretty much doing the same thing, telling fans during a recent online chat that “I can neither confirm nor deny” that Taylor is the group’s new singer before apparently mistaking Taylor for a can of Pepsi: “He’s the voice of a whole new generation.”

Slipknot’s been around for over a decade now, so I guess McKagan doesn’t actually know what the phrase “new generation” means, but whatever. Like I said last month, there’s absolutely no reason to say shit like this in the press unless Taylor got the job. And at this point, VR absolutely needs to start denying the rumor, or just announce Taylor as the new singer. Because now if he’s not the new singer, whomever the new singer is is gonna hafta be pretty frickin’ awesome and/or famous, or the whole thing is just gonna seem anticlimactic. In fact, if Taylor isn’t the new singer, I’d say they either need to get Robert Plant, or just announce a reunion of the original Guns N’ Roses.

Which, incidentally, some morons think is what’s gonna happen. From Classic Rock:

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