We’re only two weeks away from the release of Tombs’ crushing new album, Path of Totality. But two weeks can seem like an eternity when waiting for new music from a band as awesome as Tombs, which is why we got ya covered early — you can stream the title track below. Constantly shifting and evolving, slithering slowly towards you one moment and then suddenly oh-fuck-it-has-legs chasing you the next, the song never sounds like anything less than Pure Fucking Evil, a merciless black hole of despair and rock. You will fucking love it.

Path of Totality comes out June 7 on Relapse. You can pre-order it here. The band is also on tour throughout June; you can get dates here!

This video of Rammstein performing their biggest hit “Du Hast” on Jimmy Kimmel Live last week doesn’t even come close to the number and magnitude of fire, explosions, lights and other stage spectacles that the band brought when we saw them in New Jersey a couple of weeks back. Still, it does give you some idea of what a live Rammstein show is like, and since it’s pro-shot it’s much better than the fan-filmed videos we posted. So just imagine what you see below and multiply everything by two, including the size of the stage, and you’ve got it. Make sure you stay with this video until they light the guy on fire (srsly).

How many times do we think Kimmel practiced the title of Rammstein’s latest album before introducing the band? Also, how much do we think Rammstein got paid to play one song on national TV? Great exposure either way.

-VN

[via Metal Insider]

Uhh…

Uhh…

Uhh…

Huh?

-AR

Jamey Jasta’s Jasta is out Jastaly 26 via eJasta Jastas.

I’m gonna keep this short n’ sweet: Trivium released a new song over the weekend, called “In Waves,” and it’s pretty different for a Trivium song.

But that’s all I’m gonna say about it. I don’t want to influence the debate in the slightest. We got a lot of e-mails about it over the weekend, but, rather other oddly for MetalSucks Maniacs, no one expressed an opinion regarding the track’s quality. And given that this song sounds nothing like “Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr,” or “Entrance of the Conflagration,” or “Kirisute Gomen,” I am really, really, really curious to hear what you all think of it. I imagine opinions will be, as is always the case with this band, both passionate and disparate.

So check it below, then engage in some friendly debate in our comments section. The new Trivium album is supposed to come out August 9 on Roadrunner.

-AR

With every bit of bad news come a little bit of good. Last week we suspected and then confirmed that Derek Rydquist had left The Faceless, who are quickly becoming the White Wizzard of progressive death metal, but that he had joined a new project called Bewilderbiest alongside Sacha Dunable of Intronaut/Graviton, Abysmal Dawn’s Charles Elliot, and National Sunday Law’s Derek Donley, who is also Dunable’s bandmate in Graviton. Since Dunable also happens to be a MetalSucks columnist, we emailed him and asked for the skinny on the band. Here’s what we got back:

Derek Donley is mixing it right now and we should be ready to post something in a week or two.  This shit is sounding heavy as fuck, but I’m sure it won’t be for everyone, especially the tech death guys.  It’s basically 45 minutes of crushing doom metal in the vein of old My Dying Bride, Anathema, etc, but maybe a little more “sludgy” sounding and probably with more of a melodic/psychadelic emphasis.  We’re all really stoked on it though.  I basically have had a few of these songs demoed out for an imaginary band for a few years now, and Derek D and I started working on them back in January.  Derek Rydquist was moving down to LA around that time and wanted to jam on something like this, and Charles has been on deck to do guitar/vocals ever since I first demoed the songs back in ’08 or so.

Click to read more…

I don’t believe that Job for a Cowboy or Suicide Silence created deathcore, but they seem to be the two bands that everyone points to as the epitome of that genre, perhaps because they’re two of the most popular bands to emerge after the tag gained some steam (no one ever called The Red Chord “deathcore” when they started), or perhaps because they’re both so-called “MySpace bands” whose careers took off roughly around the same time. In any case, it’s been interesting to watch their paths diverge; there might have been some similarities between the two bands circa Doom and The Cleansing, but there sure as shit isn’t anymore. JFAC have gradually turned into a traditionalist death metal band (and a very fine one, I might add — their new EP, Gloom, features what is easily their best work to date) while Suicide Silence have pursued a musical direction more reminiscent of Slipknot.

Case in point: the band’s new song, “You Only Live Once.” Mitch Lucker’s vocals are still DM (unlike Corey Taylor, he’s not doing any clean singing… yet), but “Unanswered” this ain’t. In fact, the intro, the bridge, and and the section starting around the 2:22 mark could very well be from a Slipknot song.

I’m not saying any of this as an insult, by the way. I like Suicide Silence, and I like this song. I think this band serves as a gateway for a lot of fans, and I’m absolutely fine with that — I can see how kids might take the leap from this to Morbid Angel (but hopefully not the new Morbid Angel, ’cause that shit is terrible) much easier than I can see how kids might take the leap from, say, Hollywood Undead to anything that isn’t a life of stupidity and waste. I’m just observing that this band has a different set of aspirations from some of their peers.

And then I found twenty bucks.

“You Only Live Once” comes off of Suicide Silence’s new album, The Black Crown, which is out July 12 on Century Media.

-AR

So The Rapture didn’t come on Saturday evening. I know we’re all incredibly disappointed. I personally did not pay any bills this month, and told off every one I’ve never really liked, in anticipation of there not being any real consequences, since the world was ending on Sunday.

Mother. Fucker.

Oh well. Maybe this will cheer you up: a new Brutal Truth song! HOO-RAY! It’s called, appropriately enough, “End Time” — as in, “Jesus, why oh why did you fail to end time this past Saturday and now I may have gotten someone pregnant because I said ‘Oh, to hell with the condom!’?” — and you can listen to it on the band’s Facebook page in exchange for clicking the good ol’ like button.

And the track itself is not disappointing — this is typically chaotic, classic-sounding Brutal Truth. Although the end is really… well, it wouldn’t sound out of place in a hard rock song. But it’s still super-awesome.

Headbang here, then come back and discuss in our comments section. “End Time” is the title track from Brutal Truth’s new album, which comes out September 27 on Relapse. Because, yep, it’s time to start thinking about September. Jesus save us.

-AR

“Ooh no!”

“Macho Man” Randy Savage has perished. My father and I were actually at his first wedding, which is to say, we were at Summer Slam ’91. Vince and I are so bummed right now… I don’t think I can even go outside. I need to curl up with YouTube and remember a time when the “Macho Man” really did seem invincible.

We’ll never forget you, Mr. Savage.

Maybe this will cheer you up?

• We lied and said that Iwrestledabearonce were becoming a black metal band. Then, depending on your perspective, we either made it better or made it worse by debuting a new track from the band.
• We also debuted a stretched-out version of Hammerfall’s “Hearts on Fire.”
• Our list of the The Top 25 Modern Metal Guitarists continued.
• We spoke to Max Cavalera from Cavalera Conspiracy and Soulfly, Dean Herrera and Henry Selva from The Human Abstract, and the dudes from Noisear.
• We enjoyed a series of exclusive tour blogs from both The Austerity Program’s Justin Foley and Woods of Ypres’ Shane Madden.
• We gushed over Anaal Nathrakh’s Passion.
• We wondered why elitists find some deathcore bands acceptable and others unacceptable.
• We declared metal the winner in the war on grunge.
• We expressed our enthusiasm for Victory Records’ latest sign, Design the Skyline.
• We gave you a detailed analysis of the lyrics for the new Limp Bizkit single.
• We declared drinking to be for pussies.

Next week crack the top ten of our ongoing guitarists list, and, at least to the best of my knowledge, do not aid any bands in playing a prank on the public. And hopefully no one else we liked better than Fred Durst dies.

-AR

MetalSucks recently polled its staff to determine who are The Top 25 Modern Metal Guitarists, and after an incredible amount of arguing, name calling, and physical violence, we have finalized that list! The only requirements to be eligible for the list were that the musician in question had to a) play metal (duh), b) play guitar (double-duh), and c) have recorded something in the past five years. Today we continue our countdown with Opeth’s Mikael  Åkerfeldt…

Everyone knows Mikael Åkerfeldt as the leader of Opeth, as well as the vocalist and contributor to countless other widely regarded musical projects, like Bloodbath and Katatonia. But really, Akerfeldt isn’t just a superior songwriter and all-around musician — first and foremost, he’s a ridiculous talented, incredibly versatile guitarist, and is far and away one of my favorite modern players.

Click to read more…

Last week we gave away a prize pack from Blackfield, the collaboration between Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree) and Israeli superstar Aviv Geffen. Funny story: reader Alejandro Martinez emailed us to say that last week’s photo was of him! That’s Alejandro on Halloween 10 years ago with his mom and sister. Needless to say, Alejandro got some friendly joshing from his co-workers when this photo hit the interwebs. Here’s last week’s grand prize winner and runner-up, in that order:

• wha?: “Fuck, marry, kill.”
• metallicbrian: “Eurmomymous.”

This week we’re giving away THREE copies of the new Mick Wall-penned Metallica biography Enter Night. The book promises to be the definitive Metallica biography that’s “the closest fans will get to the truth,” so you won’t want to miss this one. To enter, leave a comment with the funniest caption to the photo below (sent to me by Axl!). Remember to use a real email address (or post it with your comment if you’re using FB Connect).

[photo has been taken down via copyright holder request - sorry! -Ed., 5/23/11]

Last week, Idol bid adieu to contestant Heavy Metal James Durbin and that’s sad. Not only did Durbin leave behind two no-singing country hacks and the tight-assed, moderately skilled classic rocker Haley Reinhart, but he took with him the show’s only smidgeon of, like, real life. Dude has seen some trouble; that tiny measure of authenticity carried him past crappy technique and, later, malproductive cockiness. Plus, he was semi-metal and therefore good for a Judass Priest jam once in a while. Well, exactly once.

In Durbin’s wake, Idol is now a desert of arid suckiness (Countreh Boah Scotty McCreery, Lauren The Winner) pocked by the occasional cactus of pretty goodness (Haley Reinhart). This week, we accompanied each back home to visit all the fake-ass fame humping nobodies from whom each Idol wannabe wishes to escape. How depressing. I mean, let the little kids are excited, but grown adults in tears for these fireflies, these off-brand pan-flashes, these Hostess Twinkie motherfuckers? Yes, people of the heartland, hats off to the inanimate carbon rod!

The good news is the shit is nearly over and I, Anso DF, get my life back in time for summer. Back in fall, I pitched Idol Remains to Axl and Vince as a means for MetalSucks rubberneckers to gawk at the continuous Idol trainwreck and to ride along every week with Steven Tyler, American rock’s greatest frontman. He’s a producer, writer, dancer, singer, druggie, and bon vivant — not a live TV personality or dutiful judge of weak, flavorless singers. (Oh, plus, he sucks at writing books.) So, Tyler the Idol goof may be of little help to me, Aerosmith fans, Aerosmith members, or Idol contestants, but he rescued ratings (aw nuts) and, for a time, managed to counteract the idiocy of fellow judge Jennifer Lopez (uh thanks). Not a good trade-off for all the strife it caused with his band. Sigh.

Anyway, with three performers left, gaze in horror on your penultimate Idol Remains scorecard of hard sores and lard-ass bores.

Click to read more…

I know I don’t care who’s in Winds of Plague, but do their fans? I mean obviously no one cares about whasshername. It’s perfectly clear that any scene girl can fill that job and the fans won’t blink an eye. But, like, if the guitar player or the drummer quits, would the fans be bummed? Are these guys integral to the group’s creative success?

I ask because they’ve released a new video, “Drop the Match,” and the rest of the band is barely in it. In fact, not only are they barely in the video, but towards the end, Johnny kills each and everyone of them in horrible, violent ways. He shoots one guy in the head, asphyxiates one guy, blows up another dude, sets another guy on fire, and ties up whasshername and kicks her off of a peer so that she will fall into the water below and drown.

I’m saying that people might read into this a little bit that Johnny does not care about his bandmates. It’s just a possibility.

Come back to MetalSucks next week, when I am going to burn Anso in effigy. I don’t mean anything by it, though. I just thought it was a neat way to promote our brand.

-AR

Our number one homie Justin Foley is currently doing a mini-tour with his band, The Austerity Program, and graciously offered to do a tour blog for us. We can never say “no” to Justin and wouldn’t much want to anyway, so we agreed! You can read his account of days one and two of the mini-trek here and day three here; the fourth day is below… enjoy!

Providence, Rhode Island

We are in the capitol of the smallest state in the US, the Ocean State.  Tonight’s venue is nestled into the downtown, combining an art gallery with a restaurant with a bar with a place for bands like us to play.  Charming little city you got here, Rhode Island.  Nice place; you should keep it.

Funny thing that we’re playing P-town tonight.  A few years back when we put out our first record, we didn’t understand too well how this whole ‘marketing and promotion’ thing worked with records.  So, rather than put out some materials that talked seriously about how important our artistic vision was and how we were for fans of this band and influenced by that scene, we chose instead to make up some bullshit story about how we were suing our record label because they wouldn’t allow us to issue patents on our song.  I don’t know what we thought we were going to accomplish by this, but we thought it was a fun little goof and that no one would actually believe it.

Wrong.  Turns out a bunch of people were mad about some assholes from New York City that no one had ever heard of loudly broadcasting legal action against the beloved label that put out records by Cave In and Botch.  Man, the things people will send to a total stranger over email… it’s just unkind.

Click to read more…

I’m working on something that’s going to bum out a LOT of people on here, and need to give it my full attention, so in the meantime, here’s some news from the void.

Music Ruins Lives will be reissuing the debut release from Ohioan blackened doom masters Vit. The album, -, will come in a six-panel digipack with completely new artwork, and you really need to buy it because this band is amazing beyond words. Seriously.

Petrychor have recorded a new album! Their 2010 Dryad EP was one of my favorite records of the year and was apparently crafted as one singular piece, broken up into movements and interludes. Gorgeous melodies, ethereal vocals, and studiously conceived concepts add an air of gravitas to the piece; the project’s bloody roots are plainly visible, and the interplay between gentle acoustic parts and raw, atmospheric black metal is nothing short of flawless. The album is available for free download on Bandcamp – but it’s definitely worth going for the pay-what-you-want option and throwing them a few bones.

Click to read more…

[Blackened doom metallers Woods of Ypres are currently touring North America on the so-called "Pain & Piss Tour." Bassist Shane Madden will be taking us along with him on his journey of pain and piss, to be delivered in four parts throughout the tour. Part I was posted earlier this week, and Part II follows.]

Part II: The Spring of Our Discontent

I really hope that isn’t my appendix. Sudden, inexplicable pain on the road makes you realize it would be an especially inconvenient time to have an organ burst. Also, I think the drummer has gangrene. Poison ivy is devouring his right arm at an exponential rate every day and it just doesn’t look right. We’re two weeks into this weird trip and no one is falling apart on death’s door quite yet, but there have been enough figurative assaults on the organs of the tour machine already. The Midwest is an unforgiving place for what we’re doing.

I was wrong about greens, yellows, and sunshine. It’s brown and bleak, raining and cold. Several buses of what I can only believe to be a new cult were at Canadian immigration declaring that the world will end on May 21. “If nothing happens then we’ll leave by the 23rd,” the cult leader was overheard saying. Immigration denied them entry to the country but it held us up for over three hours anyway.

The winter thaw in Canada has left a lot of the prairies flooded, resulting in closed highways and detours. The little buildings, parts of farms or homes that we pass sporadically between tiny towns are done in post-apocalypse chic. Relatively modern structures sit directly next to crumbling, decaying, dust bowl-era relics. Texas Chainsaw Massacre-esque gas stations.

So why do we travel through these places that seem so strange and forlorn? Allow me to answer my own question: DIY touring.

Click to read more…

He’s baaaaaaack. Bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and staring down a long summer break from touring, Misha has returned to his duties as resident gear guru / nerd-face at the MS Mansion and is ready to answer the questions you asked him last time. After the jump, Bulb tells you how he tunes his 7 and 8 string guitars (and approaches writing with each), and what his favorite wireless system is. As always, feel free to ask Misha questions you’d like answered in future columns in the comments.

Click to read more…

What’s up with these black metal dudes turning out to be all refined n’ shit? First Gaahl launched a high-end clothing line for women, and now Satyr (né Sigurd Wong Raven) is apparently collaborating with Italian winemaker Luca Roagna on two variets of red wine, Rosso di Alleanza Nero Wong Raven 2009 and Unione di Nero Wong Raven 2006.

Says Swedish website From Beyond (excuse Google translator’s less-than-poetic interpretation of the original text):

“Black Metal Wine, now how can such a concoction taste? Blood and sulfur with the taste of metal and may, or may simply be the taste of sickness and musty decay you get on your tongue? This seemed so obviously important to sort out so I took home and ordered a bottle of Rosso di Alleanza Nero Wongraven2009 . What I can spontaneously say is that you, hoping that the wine would taste like hell will be disappointed.”

Then the guy goes on talk about the wine in greater detail, but I don’t actually know that much about wine so whatever.

The article does not include details on where one can order Satyr’s latest offering, but I’m sure enterprising fans can figure it out.

-AR

Thanks: Mick Stingley

The new Nader Sadek album, In the Flesh, is really good — but I can’t decide how I feel about his new video, for the track “Sulffer.” At first I saw all the trippy visuals and I was like, “Hey, this seems pretty rad.” Then Sadek started wrestling with… honestly, I’m not quite sure what that thing is supposed to be… some kind of sea serpent with a huge head/human skull/whatever the heck that is? In any case, it looks really fake, and watching someone struggle with a fake attacker is pretty much always silly. I mean I don’t think Marlon Brando could have sold that shit.

The video debuted on NPR; you can check it out by clicking on the below screen cap of Sadek and his new friend.

In the Flesh comes out June 7 on Season of Mist. We’re still streaming a new track from the album, “Petrophilia,” here.

-AR

Black Market Activities is about to have a ridiculously strong summer, with new releases from Engineer, Khann, Ed Gein, and Fit for an Autopsy all coming out in June, and then, at some point thereafter, a new Today is the Day album, which is pretty much never bad news. And as promotional efforts for these releases ramp up, we’ll get to hear more and more of what all this more or less guaranteed to be terrific music, which is, of course, great news for us!

So; yesterday, Fit for an Autopsy debuted a track online; now our Broseph Gordon-Levitts over at The Deciblog are streaming a new Engineer track,”The Idiot’s Theme.” It’s good because it rocks, and it’s good because it does things which are unexpected — for example, there are gang shouts over a section of the song which is relatively quiet, which is to say, not the part of the tune where you’d expect to hear a gang shout. A little bit of creativity goes a long way, y’know?

Headbang here, then come back and let us know what you think in the comments section. Engineer’s new album, Crooked Voices, comes out June 7, but don’t forget that we’re currently giving away a test press copy of the album on vinyl, along with test presses of vinyls for those new releases from Ed Gein and Khann, too. Enter for your chance to win.

-AR

Did you hear?? Vinyl is making a spectacular comeback that will save the music industry!!!

Puh-lease… or as Sergeant D would say, lettuce be cereal. While the projected numbers for 2011 in the above graphic look nice, vinyls still only account for 1.6% of all music sales. Sure, they’re pretty-looking, they sound good, and it’s great that they’re experiencing a growth in sales, but they still basically amount to souvenirs for most people, artifacts that lay mostly untouched on the shelf while the digital versions (pirated or not) get way more use. CDs are quickly inching towards the same fate.

Let’s just bring it to the cloud already and be done with this. Get your heads out your asses, labels!

-VN