Our inbox blew up with links to the new Mastodon album cover last night, but as far as I can tell MS artist Rodney Githens was the first to break the news to the world on his brand new site MetalBandArt.com. Nice work on the scoop!

The first thing you’ll notice is that the artwork is stylistically completely different from all of Mastodon’s past album covers, and that’s because it wasn’t done by Paul Romano. Romano drew all four of Mastodon’s previous covers, including some associated singles and special releases along the way if I’m not mistaken… so why the switch? Perhaps the Mastodudes just decided it was time for a change. Or perhaps this album is so different from past Mastodon albums that it warranted a switch in artwork styles; DUN DUN DUN!!!

MetalBandArt.com tells us that the cover for The Hunter was done by AJ Fosik, whose work recently appeared on the cover of Hi-Fructose Magazine. I’d really like to know more about the process for this cover and how Mastodon decided to go with Fosik; perhaps we’ll find out more when Rodney interviews Fosik for his site.

-VN

Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian went to northeast France for Wednesday’s Big Four show, but at other July dates the new father’s guitar duties are covered by Sepultura’s Andreas Kisser (as reported here). It’s weird to see Anthrax on stage without Ian — a first — but clips from Kisser’s second gig as temp on Saturday in Sweden are jamming (above)! Kisser is energy for the other Anthrax dudes who, having tirelessly performed for three decades, probably don’t retain measurable enthusiasm for favorites like “Indians,” “Madhouse,” and “Anti-SoCal.” Not to mention, those jamz date back to their writers’ mid-20s. Those guys are relaxed adults now, not lulzy youths. Shit, I bet they no longer even mind being caught in a mosh.

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As far as I’m aware, MetalSucks is the only opinion-based site (read: site that doesn’t copy and paste every press release in any way related to metal) to give a flying about Byzantine in 2011. They haven’t made a record since 2008′s Oblivion Beckons, but oh lawdee, what a record that was! It was the perfect synthesis of brutality and beauty, crushing power and carefully sculpted melody, and good Jebus, the songs! The songs were top notch. I still spin Oblivion Beckons whenever the mood strikes and I’m instantly taken to that place where FUCK YEAH, life rules!

Byzantine broke up mere days after Oblivion Beckons was released which is no doubt why it never really got its due. The band got back together for some local reunion shows in 2009 before lead guitarist Tony Rohrbough announced his departure in 2010. The remaining three members have pledged to carry on the Byzantine name and record a new album.

Meanwhile, Rohrbough has been busy doing his own thing.

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I pride myself on being open minded, so it is very important to me that I consider both sides of an issue before I decide what I think about something! For example, I have always thought that “melodic metal” was a very confusing idea. To me, melody and metal are like oil and water: no common ground. In fact, I have always thought of them as polar opposites — it was always my basic rule that if a song is melodic, then it is by definition not metal.

That said, I know that not everybody feels the same about this as I do, so I thought that I should look into this issue a little more. I don’t like to make snap judgments, so in the interest of intellectual honestly I intend to take a FAIR AND BALANCED LOOK at MELODY IN METAL! In this post, I will share a few examples of both successful and unsuccessful uses of melody and let YOU be the judge — WE REPORT, YOU DECIDE!

You tell me: is there a place for melody in metal????

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Why it was just three months ago that we interviewed Periphery guitarist Alex Bois (along with bassist Tom Murphy) when his band played NYC with Scale the Summit, and things seemed just dandy. But apparently that was not the case or events have taken a sudden turn: Bois and the band have parted ways, although it’s not clear which party (if not both) was responsible for the split. From Periphery’s MySpace page:

Hey Guys!

We have some sad news to share. Alex Bois and Periphery have decided to part ways. This is truly a sad day for Periphery, because Alex has been with us since the beginning, and he is like a brother to us. We’re going to do everything we can to make the most out of this unfortunate situation, and soldier on like we always have in the past when faced with setbacks.

In regards to all of our upcoming shows and tours, worry not! We will have special guest artists filling in for Alex, so our touring plans will not be changing whatsoever.

Throughout all of this, we really appreciate your support and understanding.

See you soon

- Periphery

Seems like one of those touchy situations where the privacy of the band is best respected, but what do we know, maybe they just decided it wasn’t working any more. Naturally we’ll fill you in if we hear anything else.

-VN

Thanks: ton0290 and Dan

I am not alone in my love of Germany’s Guano Apes, although it was 2000′s Don’t Give Me Names and not their 1997 debut that got me hooked. I must respectfully disagree with Sir GroverXIII of The Number of the Blog about the new Guano Apes album Bel Air, though: it rules!

Truth be told I didn’t even know Guano Apes had reunited and released a new album until I got a press release trumpeting the 1 millionth YouTube view of the video for the new song “Oh What A Night,” but there it is: the band that wrote the ridiculously catchy anthem “Big in Japan” is even biggerer in their native Germany. Bel Air hit the European market on April 1st via Columbia and June 21st in the U.S. via The End so it’s essentially already old news across the pond, but man, they picked up right where they left off with catchy alternative hard rock.

After the jump, the official music video for the groovalicious, new wave-y “Sunday Lover”:

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Arguing about lists is a pasttime here at MS; first there was our 21 Best Albums of the 21st Century list, the list started it all, and, no joke, probably exponentially multiplied the amount of butthurt in our comments section. Then there was our Ten Great Bands That Inadvertently Helped Ruin Metal List, our Top Ten Bands Most Often Miscategorized as Hair Metal countdown, and of course the Top 10 lists each of our writers publish counting down his or her favorite albums at the end of each and every year. And, oh yeah, that little list we finished last month in which we chose the Top 25 Modern Metal Guitarists.

But other folks like lists too, and this week we’ve got two fresh ones to argue over. The first is Guitar World’s 50 Best Albums of the First Half of 2011 list; it’s important to remember that the list was published by Guitar World, not Metal World, so not all the albums listed will have value to readers of MetalSucks. Still, the presence of Asking Alexandria, Morbid Angel (!) and Black Veil Brides pretty far up on the list while BTBAM and Amon Amarth appear farther down should get MS readers up in a tizzy, among other so-called “injustices.”

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Things that are awesome about the brand new music video for Last Chance to Reason‘s “Upload Complete:”

• the song (duh)
• footage of the custom videogame that comes with the band’s latest MetalSucks-approved album, Level 2. I’ve yet to play the game but it looks rad and reminds me a lot of Contra.
• the “shred factor” — tons of close-up shots of the dudes playing their instruments
• the guitarist is wearing a Binary Code t-shirt
• the drummer is playing with bare feet (does he do that at gigs too?)
• the general quality of the video; proof you can make an engaging music video for a small amount of dough.

Last Chance to Reason are currently on tour with Animals as Leaders, Intronaut, Dead Letter Circus and Evan Brewer in the ultimate “do NOT miss” prog tour of the summer! Dates here. Level 2 is available at Prosthetic’s webstore for just 10 bucks.

-VN

What separates an unsigned band from a signed one? In many cases, a record contract… that’s it.

The quality of the unsigned talent we receive in the MS inbox on a daily basis continues to amaze me. Yeah, a lot of it stinks; most of it in fact. But that we get at least two or three bands a day I could truthfully say are pretty darn good speaks to how modern technology and the Internet have really opened things up. Sure, there’s tons of crap: just ignore it! Record labels absolutely still have value, in the form of marketing expertise, distribution (but not for long), and financing / monetary support, so while I’d love to sit here and tell you that your unsigned band should just go it alone, that isn’t always practical (although sometimes it certainly is). It really does come to “right time, right place” for a lot of bands with regards to record labels / success. AKA, luck. So at MetalSucks we do what we can to help. With that in mind, here are some of the best unsigned bands to come our way lately:

• Butterfly Trajectory: Woeful and aching post-metal that’s delicate yet crushing, understated yet proggy. Kind of like Insomniun or Daylight Dies for the Coalesce-influenced post-metal set, if that makes any sense at all. This is one of the best unsigned bands I’ve heard in some time; the diamond in the rough, so to speak. Make sure you check these guys out!

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Guitarists Tony Asta and Hiran Deraniyagala of Detroit’s Battlecross are childhood friends just like Axl and Vince — ain’t that cute? But for realz, there’s a certain kind of chemistry that comes with knowing someone for so long, and in the case of Battlecross, Metal Blade Records’ latest signees, you can hear it in the tightness, conciseness and stellar riffery of their MB debut Pursuit of Honor. In their more melodic moments Battlecross remind us a lot of another band started by a set of childhood friends, God Forbid (brothers are technically childhood friends, right?) — check out the song “Push Pull Destroy,” available for streaming here — although the song “Breaking You,” which MetalSucks is exclusively premiering below, is one of the fastest, leanest, thrashiest cuts of meat this album has to offer and represents Battlecross at their heaviest and most unique.

Pursuit of Honor comes out on August 2nd; pre-order the record here. Battlecross are definitely a band to keep your eye on… look for them all over the place very soon.

[this streaming promotion has ended]

Back in December of 2010 we defied East of the Wall’s warning not to get “unreasonably excited” that they were writing a new album, then in March we double-defied them by sprouting boners when they announced they were headed into the studio to record the follow-up to 2010′s year-end-list-topping Ressentiment. And when we received a press release late last week announcing that the recording sessions had been completed, well… let’s just say Kip W. woke me up with a little special surprise that morning. Sez publicity reliables Earsplit PR:

Technical metal subversives EAST OF THE WALL have completed the recording process for their upcoming third full-length, The Apologist, the highly anticipated opus set for release this October on Translation Loss Records for the CD and digital release, and on Antithetic for the vinyl release. The album’s official release date, track listing and more will be announced within the next few weeks.

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No disrespect to our pal Anso DF — I mean the guy’s a ridiculously studly writer and has darn near impeccable music taste, amirite? — but a new Van Halen album is hardly worth getting excited about. I mean, ok, maybe I’ll pop a little semi-stiffy, but if the facts that Fatty Ding Dongs Van Halen is friends with a member of Creed and David Lee Roth hasn’t even stepped foot in the studio doesn’t have “trouble” written all over it, then EVH also isn’t completely delusional and oh yeah, that tongue cancer was definitely caused by that metal guitar pick you use and had nothing whatsoever to do with smoking more cigarettes in an hour than a casino full of raggedy old ladies at slot machines smokes in a day. Still, ya know, I’m curiously optimistic; maybe there’ll be some sick solos.

Even if Van Halen’s 2k11 record does blow donkey balls, thankfully we’ve got Dann Halen to rock us into 2k12. The Texas-based VH cover band features Mike “Lonestar” Carrigan (Darkest Hour) on guitar, James Love (ex-Dillinger Escape Plan) on drums, Dann Miller (The Jonbenet) on screeches and leg kids, “and a couple other buddies doin it hard,” according to Sir Lonestar himself, who sent us the above video. What I love about this video — aside from the EVH-model guitar, Jack Daniels bass and HOLY SHIT NICE STARS AND STRIPES LEOTARD, DUDE! — is that Lonestar clearly did not have to learn much, if any of the guitar parts specifically for this gig; it’s clear he grew up on the stuff and knows it front to back. Because fuckin’ EDDIE VAN HALEN, mannnnnn! He’s the best metal guitar player of all time that no one ever talks about anymore.

-VN

Remember those bizarre Iwrestledabearonce video clips we posted yesterday? Turns out they were actually teasers for a new music video for the song “You Know That Ain’t Them Dogs’ Real Voice,” from IWABO’s forthcoming album Ruining It For Everybody (July 26th, Century Media).

I can’t take it anymore! Since Axl’s away this week and Pappa Vince is running the show, it’s my turn to tell you what I think of this band and this song: boring. They’re nothing to really get worked up about or direct tons of vitriol towards, they’re just… mediocre, interchangeable with a million other bands. This song could’ve been sent to us by any unsigned band and I probably would’ve shut it off after the first deathcore chugga chugga and seemingly “random” guitar squibbity-boop. And no, they didn’t do it first. I appreciate when bands incorporate oddball influences and random mindfuckery into their music, but whenever IWABO do so it seems completely deliberate, forced and see-through. It reeks of “hey, LOOK at what I’m doing NOW!” instead of just going on and doing it. I know Axl would disagree, but MetalSucks is a democracy and everyone’s entitled to their own opinion; that’s what makes us go, yin and yang.

In any case, the video features guest appearances by members of Winds Of Plague, In Fear And Faith, As Blood Runs Black and I Set My Friends On Fire… so, uh… yeah, that’s not really helping its cause much. The idea for the music video is fun — the band members and a drunken clown doing stupid shit at a mock children’s backyward birthday party — except that the execution is as boring as the song; nothing interesting happens the entire time. On this point I’m pretty sure that even Sir Axl “Music Video King” Rosenberg would agree.

Watch the video below, courtesy of Artist Direct.

-VN

Let’s give Axl Rosenberg a hearty golf clap for capably handling Neilstein Soundscam while I was away, shall we? But the party is over, so it’s back to the grind of boring albums selling soon-to-be insignificant pieces of plastic (and soon-to-be insignificant digital files once Spotify launches).

You should all be elated to learn that Limp Bizkit claimed the #1 spot on the Hard Music charts last week (#15 overall), so let’s all take a great big sigh of relief in knowing that good music reigns supreme.

I keed. Queensryche had a solid debut, while In Flames, Symphony X and The Black Dahlia Murder had decent second weeks despite large percentage drops. Check out the numbers for those and several others after the jump.

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I LOLd for an hour straight on Tuesday cuz my Twitter was blowing up with metal people’s reactions to the Casey Anthony verdict (announced around 4PM EDT). It’s a serious situation, so dudes are mad and lending their two cents. That’s natural. But man, some people think dumb. Actually, know what? I’m just gonna c+p some metal celebrity tweets below. Remember, most of the following mini-declarations are wrought in awful logic, but not everybody on the internet is ignorant and high-horsing this shit to death. Um yeah just go ahead and keep reading and oooh the suspense…

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Last year (and the year before) I got way too busy with this thing called life and missed out on a lot of quality music. I am here to rectify the error of my ways, month by month.

Here are the June 2011 releases that got under my skin, burrowed their way into my brain, made my ears bleed, or simply tickled my unmentionables:

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(Photo by Tracy Ketcher)

You’re probably already familiar with IKILLYA; “Godsize” appeared on Volume 2 of our free NYC Sucks compilation and we premiered “… And Hell Followed With Him” right here on MS (now streamable via Bandcamp). What you probably didn’t know is that Jason Lekberg, the band’s founder and creative driving force, is something of a professional heavy metal mogul: at his former job with Epic Records he handled digital marketing for Lamb of God, Mudvayne, Hellyeah and others, and he’s now responsible for a whole host of heavy artists at Eleven Seven Music / Tenth Street Entertainment.

In the interest of full disclosure, Jason and I are bros; we’ve known each other since the very earliest days of MetalSucks and pound beers at New York City’s shittiest shithole bars on a regular basis (truth be told, not regularly enough). So rather than ask the same old generic band interview questions whose answers I already know about IKILLYA’s new album Recon — which, thankfully, I don’t have to exaggerate in the slightest when I tell Jason how fucking good I think it is — I decided to toss him some toughies about how his day job in the music industry does or doesn’t cause a conflict of interest with his goals for his band, what he thinks about the current dismal state of the music biz, and why so many members have passed through IKILLYA’s ranks. Our email chat, after the jump.

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After I heard the news about Turbonegro I got a little curious about what former vocalist Hank von Helvete was up to with his new band. The name was weird enough to get my attention and it was relatively easy to track down, so I soon had Doctor Midnight and The Mercy Cult’s first release, I Declare: Treason in my possession.

Well. It’s pretty weird.  It starts out with an ominous, spoken word intro but when you listen to the actual words it’s rather uplifting in it’s own cult-ish way.

I am here to declare everlasting love, it shall be light.
I am God, I believe in you.
You are the light, you are what’s coming next.
You are the past and the future.
You’re the beloved one…

Nice stuff, right? If I didn’t know better, I’d totally join this Doctor fellow. He sounds legit.

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Van Halen, featuring the young squire Van Halen (left); Mark Tremonti (inset)

The reason that Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti is the world’s luckiest guy is not cuz he gets to party with amazing singer Scott Stapp 24/7. Nay, Tremonti is Lord Luckynuts cuz he’s buds with Wolfgang Van Halen, who is the bassist of Van Halen. Which somehow means that Eddie Van Halen, also of Van Halen, trusts Tremonti enough to allow him a live preview of new Van Halen jamz.

Tremonti described Thursday his visit to 5150 (via Van Halen News Desk):

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Polish baby aardbark impalers Vader have released a new track, and said track is free for the taking if you don’t mind sifting through the German language download page and parting with your email address. Click here to download “Come and See my Sacrifice” from Nuclear Blast.

And what can I say about the new track? It sounds like Vader. Pummeling death metal grooves, brutally catchy riffs, relentless double-bassing, plenty of blasts, a classic, ripping guitar solo… you know, Vader!

Because apparently Nuclear Blast still doesn’t understand that staggered international release dates in 2011 make about as much sense as Scientology (hint: it’s because of the Internet!), Welcome To The Morbid Reich will be released on August 12 in Europe and September 13 in North America, according to Gun Shy Assassin. Our U.S. readers will surely look forward to pirating this release as soon as the European release date hits, if they haven’t already done so by then.

-VN