I’m not gonna do a regular worst week this week, because I wanna ramble for a minute. I’m sure no one will be too disappointed.

I really can’t believe it’s been a year since Peter Steele died… I also can’t believe he’s really dead. If you haven’t already read Anso’s two-part rememberance of the man, featuring interviews with bandmates, family members, and friends, you absolutely must do so — it’s amazing. Here’s part one, and here’s part two.

But I’d like to take a moment and pay tribute to the guy in a way that I know might seem weird — by discussing the song “Enemy of the State” from the Roadrunner United album. Steele didn’t write the music — Joey Jordison and engineer/mixer/producer Matt Sepanic did — but the keyboards and samples are by his Type O Negative bandmate, Josh Silver, and Steele did write the vocal melody and lyrics, and those contributions from Steele make the song really special.

See, the entire track is sung in a made-up language. And it sounds pretty authentic — I didn’t know it was made up until I read an interview with Jordison. I honestly thought, “Oh, Peter Steele is fluent in some cool Eastern European language. Awesome.”

Singing words that don’t actually mean anything might seem crazy, but I get the distinct impression that they meant something to him. I mean, check out his vocal delivery, the way that he laughs after certain moments — he was most certainly telling a story. He conveyed that narrative purely through sound and the tone of his fantastic voice — maybe he was making a commentary on how lyrics don’t matter, maybe he was just trying an experiment, or maybe he was just fucking around. I just find the fact that he even thought to approach the song this way so brilliantly weird. Even if it’s not necessarily the definitive Peter Steele song, the way he made it is definitively Peter Steele.

Vince and I will be away most of next week, but we leave you in the competent hands of Anso DF and Corey Mitchell. Try to take it easy on those dudes and not miss us too much.

-AR

I was hanging out at a friend’s house a few weeks back and the conversation drifted to a favorite topic of mine – the ridiculous text that labels often use to sell bands.  I thought I’d seen it pretty bad on some Relapse topspines, but my friend started laughing as he strolled over to his bookshelf.

“I mean,” I said, “some people are apparently unaware that words have meanings and that language has conventions.  These are the basis of verbal communication.  Riffs don’t tear buildings down.  I’m sorry, but they don’t.”

“Ho ho, just you wait,” he said, flipping through pages and pages of the same promo photo that all metal bands take these days.  “Hold it… hold it… aha!  The Profound Lore ad.”  He started reading it aloud.  An hour later we had both burned through all copies of his four-year subscription. We were nearly hoarse from laughing and reading out in our lousy Vincent Price imitations.

Okay, before I get into this, I want to say that I am not picking on Profound Lore because I don’t like the label.  I’ve got a bunch of stuff from them and a lot of it — especially Krallice — is amazing.  Really – amazing stuff.  I also don’t think that they’re alone in writing abhorrent promo material; it’s worth talking about because almost every metal label tries to sell their bands with this approach.  In fact, if you follow the PL Twitter feed, you’ll find they consistently work a compelling message about what they’re up to in 140 characters.  And although I would murder everyone at Hydra Head if they tried this kind of shit with us, I don’t see it as a reflection of the band at all when someone at their label decides to start telling tall, tall tales.

But please allow me to introduce Exhibit A, the only exhibit we’ll need: ONE SENTENCE from a write-up for a Profound Lore release.

Ahem.

Click to read more…

American Idol week 13

Wed The final eight perform famous movie songs. Gosh thrilling concept, guys.

Thur Live results + lots of fast-forwarding

Misery Index Shut up shut up shut up all of you!

Tyler-o-meter “I am fucked up right now!”

Hey friends! This week, let’s check out the Idol Remains mailbag! The first comment comes from the nice person who does my boss:

Hi Anso, It’s me Metalgf. I am Vince [Neilstein]’s girlfriend and a fan of Idol. I also saw Idol taped live earlier this year, as you may recall. I am just a mess over the results. Pia [the pageant singer] was so much better than so many other Losers on this show. I HATE James Durbin and Paul [McDonald] is fine but not Idol material, Laura [the winner] is a snooze factory and Haley [Reinhart] is nothing to write home about. Stefano [Dimples] is just a pretty face. Pia and Jacob [Down With Jesus] and maybe Casey Beardo have real talent. But MOSTLY PIA. She was the best. I think I will stop watching the show now. I am just so disappointed and it’s just ridiculous. I obviously, as usual, do not agree with America at large. Our tastes differ more than I ever imagined.

Hi Metalgf, it’s me Anso. I am Vince’s um “silent admirer” and not a fan of Idol. You’re so right that it seems like Pia and Jacob are talented. But do you agree that it’s natural for many viewers to decline any further full-tilt caterwauling from these two? I mean, taken as a whole, the performances of each resemble that movie Titanic if it consisted only of the big finale on a loop until the viewer must stop watching. And now, people are starting to stand up and file out on Pia and, god willing, pitch-weak Jacob too. I guess it’s not about who’s best. That’s why Steve Vai isn’t the world’s most popular guitarist. Superhugz! Thanks for reading!

Click to read more…

This very artfully filmed video of Matt Heafy recording vocals for the new Trivium album doesn’t actually tell us very much about the music, which isn’t really audible. I mean, I guess we now know that there will be screaming on the record, but that’s about as surprising as the fact that the sun came up this morning, so, yeah.

But whatever. The band apparently just finished recording their new album, and they’re doing Mayhem this summer, so, presumably, we’ll get to hear new music soon enough. In the meantime, what I really wanna know is, is there a bucket in the studio for Heafy to spit into? Is he such a badass that he just spits on the floor? These are the kinds of questions I’m going to ask if I ever interview him again. I am a probing and insightful journalist.

-AR

[via Metal Underground]

I never went to L’Amour, the now-legendary ’90s [And, yes, definitely '80s. -Ed.] Brooklyn metal club, a CBGB’s of metal if you will. Even though I wasn’t that into metal during my high school years L’amour still booked tons of has-been hair metal bands from my youth that no Manhattan clubs would touch, and I surely would’ve loved it. But Axl and I went to different high schools and no one with whom I regularly cavorted would’ve been down with that stuff… plus L’Amour was in deepest, scariest Brooklyn! (or so it seemed to this sheltered Manhattan kid. Bay Ridge, lawlz!).

But reading this blog at Visualingual about the storied metal club makes me feel like I was part of the scene too. It’s a personal recount of one high schooler’s experience with the L’Amour / Brooklyn metal scene and her coming of age. It’s a great read… highly recommend if you grew up in or around NYC and the word “L’Amour” means anything to you.

-VN

Even though I thought A Sense of Purpose was pretty lame, I’m not ready to feel too cynical about In Flames’ new album, Sounds of a Playground Fading. Soundtrack to Your Escape wasn’t exactly a masterpiece, either, but the band followed it up with Come Clarity, an album I really like (power ballad and all!)… my point being that IF can still turn it around. They’re not in Metallica/”Why even bother getting your hopes up?” territory yet.

Unfortunately, their new, in-the-studio video only has a little bit of new music, and while the riff sounds cool enough, it’s not nearly enough to make even a snap judgment upon. But go ahead and check it out and see what you think — the music shows up around the 3:20 mark. The rest of the video is pretty standard stuff which I didn’t find that exciting, but of course you’re free to watch the whole thing, too.

Oh, and apparently this was made by Anders Bjorler, which explains why he was in the studio with In Flames that time we got excited that he might be their new guitar player.

Sounds of a Playground Fading comes out June 21 on Century.

-AR

Below is fan-filmed footage of Sepultura performing a new song, “Seethe,” during a recent live show. The quality isn’t that great, but the song actually sounds kinda, I dunno… promising? It’s definitely not awful. But then again, I don’t think post-(Max) Cavalera Sep has ever been awful… it’s usually just kinda boring.

But I guess we’ll see! Kairos, the band’s new album, will be out later this year on Nuclear Blast… and it would actually be kinda funny if it ended up being superior to Cavalera Conspiracy’s recent Blunt Force Trauma.

Your thoughts, my very good friends?

-AR

[via Metal Underground]

Dubstep. Dubstep. Dubstep. That’s all I’m hearing these days. Fuckin’ dubstep. Someone please explain this phenomenon to me in terms I can understand.

Korn, badly in need of something, ANYTHING, to boost their ever-waning popularity, are the latest to hop on board the dubstep bandwagon. And I am being completely serious when I say it’s the best song they’ve released in years… maybe ever! Go listen to “Get Up,” featuring Skrillex, at Spin.com. Womp womp womp.

I love how Korn are so down and out these days that, unable to get any love from metal rags, they turn to that mainstream bastion of artistic integrity as a last resort… the mighty Spin! But even Spin doesn’t seem that interested; they seem way more excited about “Hot Los Angeles DJ Skrillex” than they do Korn. If you’re Korn you’re just itching for Limp Bizkit to finally release Gold Cobra and announce another Family Values tour so you’ve got at least something to look forward to in life.

-VN

MetalSucks is proud to debut “Flesh-Devouring Pandemia,” the new video from Madrid’s goregrind gods, Haemorrhage. The clip is incredibly low-tech, tongue-in-cheek, violent, gross, silly, and offensive — in other words, all the things we love about old school death metal videos.

But the best part is,  it’s not really old school! IT’S NEW! The song will appear on Haemorrhage’s Hospital Carnage, which comes out May 24 on Relapse Records. You can pre-order it here to ensure you get your gore on as soon as it comes out. And don’t forget to hit up Haemorrhage’s official Facebook page for all the latest info on the band and their various killing sprees medical malpractice lawsuits uh, like, touring plans n’ stuff.

Happy tax day, everyone! Hopefully by now you’ve long since sent in your tax returns and are due a healthy refund, or at the very least if you’re freelancers like us don’t owe the government too much money. But if you’ve waited until this very last minute I recommend avoiding the post office while doing your taxes metal-style at TaxSlayer.com. I don’t envy you though ’cause man that shit is always way more stressful than you think it’s gonna be!

Might I suggest a soundtrack to help alleviate said stress? The new Neuraxis album Asylon that came out in February is a ripper and a half; as Axl said when it came out, Neuraxis “make every other deedily-deedily-doo band you fuckers send us look bad; they are the definition of “good tech death.” The entirety of Asylon is still streaming over at StereoKiller; two of my favorite songs on the record are “Purity” and album-closer “Left to Devour;” check ‘em out, headbang, do taxes.

Of course, if you’re Canadian like Neuraxis you’ve got two more weeks to finish your taxes… c’est la vie.

Order Asylon on CD or with a killer t-shirt for only $15 here.

-VN

Sad to say, I don’t think anyone should get excited about a new Converge album in 2011, ’cause I don’t think we’re getting a new Converge album in 2011. Sucky, I know, but look at it as motivation to stay alive another year. (See, I can find the silver lining.)

You can and should, however, get excited about seeing Converge live in 2011, ’cause they just announced a headlining trek. And support is coming from Trap Them, which is to say, there will most likely be blood on the stage and in the crowd by the end of the night, which is to say, these shows are gonna be a success!

Here are tour dates…

Click to read more…

I’m cynical about the Soundgarden reunion for the reason I’m cynical about most reunions, which is to say, I’m not sure the band has it in them to make a new record that will live up to all the expectations. But usually that concern doesn’t/shouldn’t apply to a reunited act’s live show — I mean, all they have to do is show up and play their classics and everything should be hunky dory, right?

Thing is, I’m not sure Chris Cornell’s voice is what it used to be. I had the (dis)pleasure of seeing Audioslave twice, and once his voice sounded fine, and once it sounded like shit, and while that was eight years ago already and maybe he was just having an off night or whatever, I’ve heard tell that these days he sounds not-great more often than he does great. And that could, obviously, be a serious detriment to the band’s concerts. I mean, I don’t doubt that Kim Thayil and company can still play their asses off, but if Cornell can’t do songs like “Outshined” justice, well, then, really, what’s the point?

(I’m not saying the singer is the most important member of the band, by the way. I’m just saying it would be weird to be sitting there, wishing that “Fell On Black Days” was an instrumental number.)

But I guess we’ll find out, ’cause the band is doing their first North American tour in almost a decade-and-a-half this summer. There are only four dates right now, but more should be announced soon.

Get the dates after the jump, and then let us know whether or not you’re stoked for these shows in our comments section.

Click to read more…

• Mass Murder Messiah: Uber-groovy hardcore-meets-thrash. I’d describe their sound as “Danish metal” — you know, that hardcore tone and sensibility with a dash of Scandinavian death/thrash melody — except they’re actually from Montreal. I’m headbanging; you should headbang to their entire new album for free right here.
• Painted Rust: Members of Tombs, Dystrophy and Grimus fill the ranks of this Brooklyn outfit which specializes in the dirtiest, grindiest breed of death metal imaginable. Listening not advisable if you’re a germophobe.
• The Apocryphal Order: Uber-up-tempo death/thrash in the vein of a less technical Revocation from the Faroe Islands, whose 50,000 inhabitants are described by reader “Crucifier of Children” as “ the world’s grimmest, most frostbitten and whale-killing members of the human race.” Fair enough; their metal is pretty damn good too.

-VN

So hopefully you remember the incredibly awesome “Create Your Own Conspiracy” Contest we hosted with Nevermore last year, in which reader Ben Robson ultimately got to stand on stage with the band in front of a real live paying audience and sing his own version of the title track from The Obsidian Conspiracy. When Ben won that contest, his buddy, film student Kyle Heider, made a killer little mini-documentary chronicling Ben’s entire experience, which you can and should watch here. And since that time, Ben has proven that his winning was no fluke — he’s a really, really talented dude.

Well, as it turns out, Kyle ain’t no slouch either.

Via e-mail, Kyle tells me:

Click to read more…

Alright, so, as I predicted yesterday, I was not near a computer when Chimaira did their live chat last night,  and so I did not get to hear first hand anything they said about their recent line-up changes, or the new album, or anything else. Lucky for me, though, that my fellow Chimaricans (Chimaniacs?) Ray Pecheone and Dan Santana e-mailed me to fill me in on the deets. And, frankly, the news is all, well… totally fucking awesome as far as I’m concerned. Here’s a recap, as reported by Misters Santana and Pecheone:

Click to read more…

I apologize for offending your eyes with the photo for last week’s contest (and for doing so again by re-posting it to the right), but it had to be done… truly great photos don’t come around every week. The winner of the signed Volbeat CD is:

• Zach: “Billy had seemingly misinterpreted his Youtube follower’s requests to “show us how you play your guitar with those sausage fingers”.”

Did you guys hear about the super-sweet MetalSucks Fanpacks that are being sold at every FYE in the U.S. starting this week? They contain an exclusive t-shirt designed by Vertebrae 33′s Rodney Githens and a 20-track CD featuring music by Kvelertak, Thomas Giles, Believer, TesseracT, Napalm Death, Trap Them and several other excellent bands. These bad boys are selling for a mere $9.99, but if you print out the coupon found here you can get one for under $7!! How is it even possible to give this stuff away for such a low price? I honestly don’t know. Use the store-finder app to find the FYE location nearest you.

But you know what’s an even better price than $7? Free. We’re giving away two Fanpacks for Photo Caption Contest this week, so put those thinking caps on and get to it: leave a comment with the funniest caption to the photo below (sent in by V Chokokringle). Remember to use a real email address (or post it with your comment if you’re using FB Connect).

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…

If any band ever needed to run a “name our next album” contest, it’s the Gates of Slumber. Indy’s preeminent ripping doom trio are fixtures on not only Decibel’s but plenty of metal mags/blogs’ year-end best-of lists. Each successive record earns more acclaim as Karl Simon, Jason McCash and J. Clyde Paradis gradually fine-tune their righteous narco-trad metal assault. And yet, the titles of their last two records—2008’s Conqueror and 2009’s Hymns of Blood and Thunder—unintentionally evoke Jesu and Mastodon (they don’t sound like either), and TGOS have done it again on new platter The Wretch (see: Kyuss), due out May 10 on Rise Above/Metal Blade. Hell, at least they’re name-checking good bands.

Of course, that didn’t stop us from commemorating Gates on the latest Decibel Flexi. The metallic silver-on-red slab is the most color that anything from Indiana has ever been afforded. As for the tune, it’s the 2011 version of “The Jury,” originally found on 2004 full-length debut  …The Awakening. It’s the longest dB Flexi to date at nearly seven minutes, meaning we had to press it at 33 1/3 rotation, as opposed to the conventional 45. (Brevity is the soul of shit, right?) Subscribers should have the issue within the next two weeks, but non-subscribers can order it here or simply try it on for size below.

The Gates of Slumber “The Jury” by Decibel Magazine

-AB

You can buy the June 2011 issue of Decibel here, or get a full subscription to ensure you never miss one of these awesome flexi discs!

If you’ve read MetalSucks at all in the past twelve months, you know who Kvelertak are. I named their self-titled release the best album of 2010, and that album found its way onto Kip Wingerschmidt and Leyla Ford’s year-end lists, too. Anso has publicly declared his adoration for the group. And then the band headlined our South by South Death party at SXSW last month.

We love this band. They’re fucking great.

And yet, I knew almost nothing about them beyond their music.

Which made the opportunity to chat with vocalist Erlend Hjelvik all the more exciting. I wasn’t going into this interview trying to find fresh ways to ask the same old questions. I was going into this interview because I legitimately wanted to know: Who the hell are you dudes, and where did you come from?

Get the answers from Mr. Hjelvik himself after the jump. In addition to getting some backstory on the band (Did you know that certain members used to play different instruments within the group? I sure as hell didn’t!), Hjelvik discusses his desire to write lyrics in Norwegian, the band’s first American tour, their plans for the next year and beyond, his black metal side project, and more.

Click to read more…

Today marks the first anniversary of Peter Steele’s death and though we at MetalSucks have just dragged you to Bummer Town with our two-part Peter retrospective (read part I, part II), MS chum Mick Stingley of Rocksalt.Mx has big, green plans to turn our frown upside down. Yes, tonight at 10 PM EDT he unveils a lengthy unpublished 2005 interview with the always hilarious and merciless Type O Negative frontman. Treasure, right? Stingley, an ace music writer for Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, Metal Edge, and Terrorizer, gave me a peek at the sprawling Q&A; I can tell you it defines epic and hilarity. He’d phoned up Peter ostensibly to talk about Type O’s then-forthcoming Dead Again record, but unsurprisingly, the 12,000+ word interview stretches to accomodate subjects like joy and mortality and most points between. Read it as you crank Carnivore and Type O all day and night. Read it as you dash off angry letters to the Grammys and Revolver. Read it as you hail one of our greats, now elsewhere, always close by.

-ADF

Check out Mick Stingley’s Rocksalt.mx, the Vanity Fair of metal, for more interviews with Johnny Kelly of Type O Negative and Seventh Void, Ministry’s Al Jourgensen, Doro Pesch, Michael Monroe, and more.

[Welcome back to Rigged! Last week Between the Buried and Me guitarists Paul Waggoner and Dustie Waring walked you through their live setups piece by piece. This week it's The Ocean mastermind Robin Stap's turn to show you his, um, "gear." Next week BTBAM drummer Blake Richardson breaks down his kit, and the week after that Robin Staps will be back for round 2. Between the Buried and Me and The Ocean begin their MS-sponsored tour with Job For A Cowboy (and on select dates Cephalic Carnage) this week. Get dates here.]

Hey everyone, happy to introduce you all to my rig and to some of the gear I use.

Let me start with the amp. My amp’s a classic 5150, don’t need to say much about it I guess… all tubes, nice fat tone, good attack and definition. I installed 2 pressure gauges in the front panel: they’re always telling me how much pressure is left in the air tank that’s behind the amp, so in case Loic farts too heavily and I need to inhale oxygen on stage, I never run out! Our live show is pretty sudorific anyway, ya know, gotta be prepared!
The outside is cobra leather. I killed that snake with my bare hands last summer, during our headlining tour in Burkina Faso. Had to smuggle it back to Germany, not an easy undertaking!

The wood is actually 100% mahagony which I intentionally made look like laminated fibre, because I felt the mahagony look would have compromised the cobra leather finish.

Click to read more…