MetalSucks is proud to once again be sponsoring the best mega-package tour of the summer — Summer Slaughter, of course! As you can see from the above poster, the mini-fest’s organizers have once again put together line-up that show cases a who’s who of the current metal scene.

And they’re taking it one step further this year — they’re letting YOU, the fans, decide who the last band added to the bill should be! Go to the official Summer Slaughter Facebook page to cast your vote.

Cities and dates for the tour will be announced on 4/20. ‘Til then… get ready to get slaughtered…

Last week we offered ya’ll the chance to win a copy of Return to Earth’s Automata and a copy of Hammers of Misfortune’s Church of Broken Glass for the piddly price of using your noggin to come up with a funny caption to the photo at right. This week we tell you that the winner is:

• Tim: “Dimmu Brogir.”

We’ve got two signed copies of Within Temptation’s new one The Unforgiving to dole out this week courtesy of your pals at Roadrunner Record. Our photo comes from longtime reader Jake Haras. The girl in question reminds me a whole lot of a girl I once knew… and honestly, it’s kind of creeping me out. Get to doing your thing: leave a comment with the funniest caption to the photo below. Remember to use a real email address (or post it with your comment if you’re using FB Connect).

There’s a new Arch Enemy song available for free download right here, assuming you’re willing to tell the world you love Arch Enemy. It’s called “Yesterday is Dead and Gone,” and it’s from the band’s new album, Khaos Legions. I’m assuming it’s good ’cause I really like Arch Enemy, but, unfortunately, as of this writing I still haven’t heard it, ’cause my compooper is being mad slow and FML. But that’s all the more reason for you guys to check it out — so you can tell me how it is. ‘Cause mine will apparently be done downloading sometime this Sunday.

Century will release Khaos Legions on May 30 in Europe and June 7 in North America.

-AR

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…

From Roman Polanski to Eminem to a billion pricks before and after, the argument of an artist’s personal merit versus the merit of his or her art will never go away. Varg Vikernes is the rarest of political footballs in our subculture, a man whose misguided ideology and criminal history balance precariously against an almost universally renowned discography. It was a big deal when we put his bushy raised eyebrow on the cover of the May 2010 issue — some metal outlets avoided reviewing or featuring Belus entirely, some bloggers dubbed us racist. (A magazine with two Italian editors — how could they say such a thing?) The reality is, like it or not, Vikernes and his dynamic interpretation of black metal are of historical importance then and now. There was nothing sensationalist about the cover story or our ensuing reporting. And as for spiking newsstand sales, well, let’s just say that Varg’s no Phil Anselmo. Shit, the thing barely outsold the Deftones issue (clearly the highlight of my tenure at this job).

In May, we formally induct Burzum’s Filosofem to the dB Hall of Fame. You may recall it appearing in our Black Metal Hall of Fame Special Issue, but it’s absolutely worthy of the main wing. This was the last full-length he recorded before his 15-year stay in the pokey, released in 1996. Naturally, Varg himself regards it as a failed “experiment,” with only the iconic eponymous leadoff track and a few successors meeting his standards. Judge for yourself.

And if you think this is all bullshit and just want to laugh at funny-looking old dudes, the cover story should more than suffice.

-AB

You can buy the May 2011 issue of Decibel here, or get a full subscription to ensure you never miss a Decibel Hall of Fame, or of those awesome flexi discs!

I never used to “get” Volbeat. I’d tried listening to their albums after multiple friends had recommended them and I’d been pounded in the head with their music by constant spins on WSOU… but nothing registered, like an old man trying to pop a woody in the sack despite the presence of the hottest young piece of ass you ever did see. “I used to be like you,” someone recently told me. “Until I saw them live.” She then proceded to make a pretty impassioned plea, the kind I’ve occasionally found myself making when I’m trying to convince a friend of something I just know they’ll like.

So I gave her the benefit of the doubt and went to see Volbeat live in NYC last week on the first date of their U.S. tour. And now totally I get it.

Click to read more…

Our first Unsigned Band Promopalooza back in January was such a hit that we’ve decided to bring it back! Starting today and running through April 20th, the Blast Beat Network — the agency that handles online ad sales for MetalSucks, Metal Injection, Decibel, MetalUnderground.com, MetalInsider.net and a bunch of other awesome metal sites — is offering a special banner advertising package discount available only to unsigned bands.

We know it’s tough as an unsigned band, which is why we continue to bring you our Unsigned and Unholy and Readers’ Choice columns. So we thought we’d throw the smaller guys another bone by making banner ads on MS and the other Blast Beat sites affordable to anyone.

For $100, your 728×90 leaderboard ad (up top of the site) will be shown 50,000 times across the network. That’s less than what the record labels pay. To take advantage of this special deal, follow the instructions listed here.

The cliché is that the third chapter of any cinematic trilogy (Godfather III, Return of the Jedi, Scream 3, Spider-Man 3, etc.) will suck, and “Night City,” the new video from The Sword, would certainly seem to prove that this rule does not just apply to movies. It’s the third chapter of the series the band started with the excellent “Tres Brujas” video and continued with the slightly-less-excellent-but-still-really-cool “Lawless Lands” video, and it pales in comparison to those clips. Someone feel free to sit there with a stop watch and tell me if I’m wrong, but it feels like the ratio of Heavy Metal dorky storyline/trippy imagery to performance footage has completely shifted too far in the latter’s direction. Did they not allot enough of their budget this (presumably) completing chapter?

-AR

Band Name: Until Your Heart Stops
Album Cover: Scenic, reflective stuff
Runtime: 19 minutes

If that doesn’t sound hardcore, then pork rinds aren’t greasy. It has to be rough for a band of this trade to release their debut EP — err … album — within the same month as Defeater’s latest ear-ringer. Fortunately for the Bay Area five-piece, they happen to be a little whacked. “How whacked?” Well, consider this: At the Drive-In reform for a twenty-minute-only concert and ten seconds in, some hardcore kid windmill kicks his way on stage and sends Zavala flying.

These guys may just be nutty enough to catch on.

Click to read more…

Samuel A. Favata recommended Russian outfit My Autumn to us, and what they have going for them is that they wrote a song with some really catchy parts, so they actually do kinda stand out from the mehtalcore pack.

But what they have going against them is pretty much everything else. On the most superficial level, those shorts and that jacket should be considered a crime against vision, and the singer’s haircut went out of style with the Nazis. As is almost always the case, choreographed stage moves and clean vocals turn out to be a major faux pas. That breakdown is as about as unique as breathing. And I have no clue what the what is going on with the blinking/winking thing at 1:02, but holy shit don’t ever do that you creepy Commie pederast.

But just to be clear, I do think they’re way better than Emmure.

-AR

Awwwww, yeah!!! Between the Buried and Me, serious candidates for best band in the history of ears, are releasing their new EP (which is longer than some LPs, and we’re not complaining), The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues, on April 12 via Metal Blade — but you can hear the entire thing right now, in its entirety, courtesy your Uncle Axl and your Uncle Vince. No need to thank us. Just let your mind go, and your body will follow.

You can pre-order this bad boy right here. And don’t forget that BTBAM will headline the MetalSucks-sponsored “Hypersleep Dialogues Trek” starting April 15; support will come from The Ocean, Job For A Cowboy, and (on select dates) Cephalic Carnage, so, yeah, your ass = there. Dates are after the jump!

[this streaming promotion has ended]

And here are those tour dates…

Click to read more…

FOR SHAME if you missed Agalloch’s recent tour across the U.S. — these shows were the definition of EPIC. Luckily for you (whether you were at a show or not), MetalSucks photographer extraordinaire Alyssa Lorenzon was at the band’s gig at the Sonar in Baltimore last week to capture some typically-killer pics for us. Check ‘em out after the jump!!!

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So strongly does the sound of a crying baby bother me that I often fear that should I ever have children, I will be one of those horrible people who drowns the kid because “I just wanted him/her to stop crying!”

Luckily, our number one home boy, Bram Teitleman at Metal Insider, found this delightful instructional video on child rearing, which demonstrates that there is a way to make your baby chill out AND listen to some awesome metal at the same time.

Oddly enough, this is the exact opposite effect that playing Satyricon had on my last girlfriend.

-AR

So the bad news is, I doubt that Vince and I will be invited to a Korn listening party ever again, and that makes me sad, ’cause I really, really appreciate free food and beer. And the good news is, it means I will never have to hear the rest of “Get Up,” the band’s new song, of which they are now streaming roughly thirteen seconds (below). Because there’s only three good things about this: 1) it’s so short that it’s over before you have a chance to find your cyanide pills, 2) you get listen to to Jonathan Davis make an ass out of himself in the intro and outro, and 3) the guitars actually sound like they’re saying “Blah blah blah.”

Holy shit, Korn, even your instruments are bored with you.

-AR

Thanks: Ashley Lee

Hard to believe that there hasn’t been a new Morbid Angel album during the history of MetalSucks, but we’re finally getting one this summer. It’s called Illud Divinum Insanus, which, according to this dorky Latin message board (you really can find anything on the internet), a) means “that divine, insane thing,” and b) is poorly conjugated (apparently it should be insanum, not insanus). And I know that there are people who are bummed that Pete Sandoval doesn’t play on the album (the always-excellent Tim Yeung, finally freed from the constraints of Divine Heresy, has stepped in for Sandoval, who is still recovering from back surgery), but this the first album to feature David Vincent since Domination, so, y’know, ya take the good ya take the bad ya take ‘em both and there have the new Morbid Angel album.

ANYWAY, here’s the album artwork. I have almost no idea what the crap is going on, but I’m digging it anyway.

And here’s the art for the first single, “Nevermore,” which I actually think is even cooler than the album art. I guess “hands” are going to be a big theme here…

Click to read more…

Hey, remember how Vince Neil assaulted his ex in Vegas last week? (Sorry, I’m supposed to say “allegedly assaulted” his ex.) Well, now the dude — who has nothing if not chutzpah — is claiming that said ex, future-Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Alicia Jacobs, actually assaulted him. And TMZ has the photo to prove it:

Uh… is that real? It looks like someone just sprinkled some ketchup on his arm. I’ve had paper cuts that looked more damaging.

Click to read more…

You’ve all read Decibel editor-in-chief Albert Mudrian’s Choosing Death, right? If not, you should get off your ass and do that; it’s the definitive history of death metal and grindcore, and whether you’ve been a fan of those genres since the day of Scum or you’re a youngin’ trying to figure out what the big deal about Carcass is, you are guaranteed to learn something from reading it.

Well, I’m super-stoked to let you know that Mudrian has now penned a second volume of Choosing Death — this one focusing on deathcore. Says Mudrian via press release:

“Deathcore is the definitive form of extreme music in the aughties. As Napalm Death, Carcass, Cannibal Corpse, and Suffocation were to my generation, so will bands like Suicide Silence, Oceano, Emmure, and Winds of Plague be to this generation.These bands are proudly carrying the torch of the brutal music we all love, so it only made sense to see to it that their story was told.”

And the best part is — MetalSucks’ own Sergeant D. wrote the introduction! So now you know you need that shit.

You can pre-order a copy of Albert Mudrian’s Choosing Death II right here — it hits shelves on May 24 via Da Capo Press.

-AR

Pretty much everybody who can tell their asshole from their elbow knows that Southern California is the best place on earth. But what a lot of people don’t know is that although the sunny, jailbait-laden beaches of Orange County and glamorous shops of Rodeo, Robertson and Melrose are definitely awesome, the best part of California is the Inland Empire! Home of bands like Suicide Silence, Winds Of Plague, and Kottonmouth Kings, for whatever reason the 909 is like a factory for great music. The latest addition to the 909 family is XIBALBA, who just debuted their new single/video “Cold” (directed by Alvin Carillo and filmed/edited by Justin Benitez).

Click to read more…

It’s always refreshing when bands are as good live as they are on record — it’s a silly thing to have to say, but it’s a necessary thing to point out in these ProTools happy times — and this especially holds true for vocalists. Growlers are a dime a dozen, and even in the live setting their voices are often beefed up with instant ball-enlargeing effects to make them seem like the manly men they aren’t. So it’s the real vocalists, the dudes that, ya know, sing, and have a real genuine talent (not that growling doesn’t take effort to learn too, but c’mon) that really impress me live when they nail the shit they do on record.

Protest the Hero’s Rody Walker is about as unique and talented of a vocalist as you’ll find in all of metal today. This live PtH footage filmed last week in Ottawa proves that the dude isn’t just propped up by studio chicanery; first note, BAM, perfect, and with that patented vibrato neatly centered on-pitch. Much respect, Mr. Walker. Side note: Walker is quickly working his way up the list of sour metal lead singers that hilariously antagonize the audience. Watch out, Guy Kozywyk and Frank Mullen!

More footage from the Ottawa show filmed by reader Matt M., along with remaining PtH / TesseracT / Maylene tour dates, after the jump. Stoked for this tour to hit NYC in May.

Click to read more…

Stacking things on idle cats isn’t animal cruelty… it’s fun! If they don’t like it alls they gotta do it get up. In that spirit we teamed up with Catstackers.com for a contest; stack your kitty in the most metal way possible, win a copy of Amon Amarth’s new album Surtur Rising and a MetalSucks t-shirt. After carefully sifting through the entries — and there were a bunch of really good ones — we’ve chosen “Sambuca,” sent in by Christy of Newhall, CA.

“But wait! Where’s the metal??” Look no further than that can of Aqua Net behind the brush. Game, set, match. This one definitely stood out amongst the good but ultimately predictable pics of cats stacked with animal horns, bullet belts and St. Vitus CDs (and even a few MetalSucks stickers… A+ for effort). Assed out in the sink with a beer cup on his head, no less… that’s metal. Kitty can haz hangover?

So Iron Maiden were playing in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday night, and the fans got so frickin’ excited that they surged forth to the point where they broke right through the barricade that was supposed to separate them from the band (video below). And I gotta say, I’ve been right up against the barricade at some big shows, and it can definitely be an intense experience (I have literally left a gig with a bruise line across my ribs/chest), but HOLY CRAP THIS LOOKS SCARY.

The band, needless to say, had to stop the show, and though they initially thought they’d be able to return to the stage after the barricade was repaired, it soon became clear that said repair was easier said than done, and the concert was postponed until the following evening. Which was menschy of the band — I mean, they could’ve just cancelled altogether — but it kinda sucks for the poor fans who had already done who only knows what (waited on line for countless hours, adjusted schedules, destroyed a barricade, etc.) to be at that show. But what sucks worse is that Maiden were only part-way through their opening song of the night when the incident occurred. And what sucks even worse is that that opening song was the title track from The Final Frontier, so it’s not even like fans got to hear something good before they had to call it an early night.

-AR

[via Metal Insider]