SHIT THAT COMES OUT TODAY – THE JULY 5TH, 2011 EDITION
Facedown and Mediaskare are all over the new releases this week, and we have new records from Unearth, Intensus, Exhumed and Harm’s Way as well. Let’s check it out.
Archive for July, 2011
CRAPPY LIVE FOOTAGE OF A BRAND NEW MEGADETH SONG, “PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER 1″
Dave Mustaine might be a drama queen, but he’s no idiot. So when Megadeth played a new song called “Public Enemy Number 1″ live in Hamburg last night — before which he proclaimed, “We’re gonna play a new song for you. This song is from our new record. It’s never been played anywhere. It’s never been heard by anyone but us,” — he had to know that some audience member(s) would film it and have it up on the youtubes by night’s end. And that was probably his intent; play it live, let the Interhole gossip machine do it’s thang, and sit back and watch as the hype for Megadeth’s new album builds all on its own. And hey, look, that’s exactly what’s happening!
Check out the above footage of the new song being played live in Hamburg, courtesy of MS Reader GK3. The song sounds good; I love that classic-sounding riff that comprises the main part of the verses, although the chorus feels a bit stock. Mustaine’s voice… well, if you’ve seen Megadeth live in the past few years you should well know how bad it sounds. Still, the song is good enough to hold my interest in the forthcoming Megadeth album, on which Mustaine will have as much time and technology as he needs to make his vocals sound right.
-VN
SPEAKING OF SPOTIFY, MOG HAS LAUNCHED A NEW PLAYER
It’s a big week for streaming music services; while yesterday we were able to confirm that Spotify will indeed be launching in the U.S. this week, today we have some news about a similar service that already exists, MOG. MOG, like Spotify, offers users the ability to stream any song at any time for a subscription fee of $5/month, or $10/month if you want to use your mobile devices too. I’ve tested their music library extensively, and they definitely have all the music any metalhead could ever want. We’ve championed MOG on MS before; in the interest of full disclosure, MOG sometimes partners with MetalSucks through the latter’s advertising arm, although MOG is not paying MS for this post or any others (MetalSucks does not endorse such sketchy behavior!).
The new MOG player offers a much cleaner interface and utilizes speedy HTML5 coding that makes the old flash player seem like a horse and buggy. The new player also supposedly features a recommendation engine that utilizes both past MOG plays and your Facebook “Likes” to suggest new music for you, but I can’t seem to get it to work (although this guy did). I’ve never been big on recommendation engines, though; I know what I want to hear. So what’s important is that the new player is easy to use, fast, sounds fantastic and is only 5 friggin’ bucks a month for unlimited music!!!
Sign up for a MOG trial here and give it a spin for free for 14 days. If you don’t like it, just cancel… but I honestly can’t see why anyone wouldn’t like this. We live in the future.
-VN
APPARENTLY DIR EN GREY PLAY NU-DEATHCORE NOW
I’m no Dir En Grey expert, but I did really dig their 2007 album Marrow of a Bone, the first album of theirs I listened to in full. 2008′s Uroboros was solid too, a bit more adventurous than its predecessor. From what I understand about Dir En Grey they’re one of those bands that are constantly morphing and changing from album to album, and they never repeat themselves; in other words, they’re the anti-Slayer. I also understand that they’re HUGE in their native country; in fact, in early 2010 I was invited by the band to travel to Japan, all expenses paid, to witness the filming of their two-night stand at Tokyo’s legendary Budokan arena (this would eventually become the Uroboros -With the Proof in the Name of Living…- At Nippon Budokan Live DVD) but I couldn’t go ’cause long story short I’m a pussy. But ever-evolving as Dir En Grey’s music may be, I just can’t get into this latest song of theirs.
IWABO COMMIT A PARTY FOUL
Axl is away this week. Can you believe that old coot finally took a vacation? The last real vacation he took was when we went to the U.K.’s Download Festival together in 2006 — that’s five years ago, people, before this site even existed — while I’ve vacationed to Egypt, Amsterdam, Paris, Alaska, and all over these good old lower 48 United States. The man works hard and he deserves a break! Hopefully as I type this he’s already smoked his first joint of the day and is sitting lakeside with a good book, a frosty beer and maybe a fishing pole. Although the thought of what Axl would do with a fish once he actually brings it in is somewhat amusing.
While Axl is really the resident MS Iwrestledabearonce superfan (they annoy me), Axl did me a solid by posting the new Dream Theater song while I was away so I’m gonna do him the same by posting these IWABO teaser clips ’cause we’re chummy and besties like that. They seem to fit in with the whole Ruining It For Everybody theme and are actually somewhat clever and amusing, kinda like that State skit where Michael Showalter and Ken Marino crash a 5-year old’s birthday party.
Watch the first clip below and the other two after the jump. Ruining it For Everybody drops July 26th on Century Media, and you can stream the album track “Karate Nipples” right here on MS.
REVOCATION BONANZA!
[UPDATE: Apparently Axl already posted the shred vid while I was away. Oops! Still, check out the new studio video after the jump (and watch the shred vid again if you so please). -Ed.]
In case you still think we’re loony for choosing Revocation’s Dave Davidson as #1 on our Top 25 Modern Metal Guitarists list, this video of Davidson and fellow Revocation axe-slinger Dan Gargiulo shredding it up in the Jackson Guitars showroom in California should do wonders to help the cause. The MS reader whose sexy initials are actually J.A.M. also points out that it’s a great compliment to the Rigged features both Davidson and Gargiulo wrote for MetalSucks, as both dudes are playing the gear they highlighted here.
Dudes can play, amirite? It’s interesting to see that Gargiulo and Davidson split up the solo in “Cradle Robber;” watch out Dave, maybe next year Dan’ll steal your coveted #1 MS throne.
Meanwhile Revocation have released the third studio video from the sessions of their new record Chaos of Forms, which comes out August 16th on Relapse (pre-order here). Having finally gotten a chance to listen to that record in full upon returning from my trip to Alaska… HO. LEE. SHIT! Stream the tracks “Cradle Robber” and “No Funeral” at Revocation’s Facebook page to see what I’m talking about.
Watch that third studio vid after the jump. In one final dose of Revocation-related news, check out three new demo tracks by experimental metallers Artificial Brain, featuring Dan Gargiulo, at their Bandcamp page. Good stuff, if not all that Revocation-y.
WHAT IS THE BEST ‘AMERICA SUXX’ MUSIC?
We’ve all heard the American glory anthems, but what jamz do you count on to decode your American shame? What songwriters help to explain our fucked up shit to the rest of the world? What albums are currency to convince your foreign friends that you’re not a typical American bastard?
On Independence Day I’m ready to party, but not unconditionally. I’m usually thinking “Sure, America is silly now, but we’re getting better at dealing with a massive technology epoch shift and natural resources stuff and getting rid of cigarettes and prejudice and fat chicks, so, to this extent, I say let’s party.” Anything beyond that would be self-delusion and nationalism generated by misplaced fear.
That vibe doesn’t last. I soon default to “Man, America is about being a fucking jerk all the time” mode. This happens every year: The fourth of July holiday could be a renewal of goals, of commitment to responsible nationhood; instead, it’s a day for marathon face stuffing and drunken blather. It could be both. Speech in the morning, bongs and bikinis by brunch. Shit.
Lucky for all, America has produced not only an infinite well of parking space stealers, war profiteers, and dirty diaper litterbugs, but also a few killer songwriters who express the bullshit-osity of America to us and everybody else. Check out these angry, angry jamz:
CONFIRMED RUMOR: SPOTIFY U.S. WILL LAUNCH THIS WEEK
We interrupt your day of BBQ and booze with some important news: MetalSucks has confirmed from a reliable source with ties to the major record labels that Spotify has reached a deal with Warner Bros. — the last of the “big four” major label holdouts — and that Spotify is set to launch in the U.S. this week. According to our source, who wishes to remain anonymous, the initial launch will be called a beta release, will be invite only, and is already available to a select group of industry insiders as a preview.
This is big news. Huge. With the ability to stream any song from anywhere for FREE — or $10 if you want to go without ads and be able to store music for offline listening — the music industry landscape will be forever changed. Those in Europe already know.
What remains to be seen is what kind of deals the labels have commanded and the real-world monetary impact they will have on artists (will they be paid fairly?). Furthermore, since Spotify pays on streams as a percentage of the overall pie, will metal bands — the biggest of whom have a tiny market share, realistically — be able to earn any money? My gander is that yes, they will, as repeated streams and plays will add up to well more than the purchase price of a CD… but, of course, this remains to be seen.
A big day for the U.S. indeed. Happy 4th!
-VN
IN WHICH ONE OF US CAME BACK AND ONE OF US SPLIT
Yay, Vince is back! And guess what? Now it’s my turn to take a vacation! I haven’t had once since the summer of 2006, about six months before we started the site. So, yeah, I’m looking forward to getting away. Try not to miss me too much, m’kay?
And, oh yeah, it’s July 4 weekend, so we’re leaving early today and won’t be here Monday. That might be worth mentioning for non-American readers.
ANYWAY, here’s what we did this week:
- We debuted new music by Exhumed.
- Landphil from Municipal Waste and Cannabis Corpse pondered the CM Punk WWE Raw “shoot.”
- Our pals at Decibel spoke to the members of Cradle of Filth about about their album The Principle of Evil Made Flesh.
- We wondered why teenagers are still butthurt about Hot Topic in 2011.
- We celebrated the Stephen Colbert/Ted Nugent showdown.
- We checked out the first Portnoy-free Dream Theater song.
- We enjoyed some lulz at the expense of Staind and their record label.
- We bemoaned the fact that Behemoth’s Nergal is back on trial for tearin’ up a Bible.
- We celebrated the gloriousness that is the new Mastodon video.
- Best. “Show Us Your MetalSucks.” EVER.
And now it’s time to start partying. Lates.
-AR
SO, LIKE, HOW MUCH MUSIC DO YOU ACTUALLY KEEP ON YOUR COMPUTER, ANYWAY?
A few weeks ago, Vince wrote about iCloud, Apple’s new cloud stream platform that will allow email, contacts, calendars and, of course, music to be synched wirelessly and effortlessly across up to ten different devices. Shortly thereafter, we got the following e-mail from reader Carlos B.:
“The iCloud article comments made me wonder, how much music (legal, illegal, etc) do people own?
Like, how many songs do people (specific: metalheads) have on their computers/mp3/ipod?
I thought a reader poll would be interesting about this.
I have friends that have ONLY 99 songs on their iTunes (Slayer, Atreyu, A7x, SOAD and nothing more. Not even their complete discographies or whatever).
But I have some friends that have around 10K songs on their iTunes.”
Which is a good question!
DIGBY: “WE GET PAID BY SPOTIFY”
If Don Robertson, Brian Slagel, Jonas Nachsin etc wrote candid blogs about their label operations I’d probably pick apart their opinions too, but it just so happens Earache’s Digby Pearson is the only metal label head honcho to do so… so, here we go, once again.
The latest Ask Earache entry is the first time I can recall hearing the head of a metal record label publicly endorse Spotify, or any all-you-can-eat music streaming service. Spotify, for those unaware, is a highly successful streaming service currently available in Europe that’s been trying to break into the U.S. market for years; with licensing deals now in place with three of the four majors and a big integration with Facebook on the horizon, it looks like that may finally happen very soon. The basic service is available for free and is supported by ads, while those who pay $10/month have ads lifted (and I believe some extra premium features too). It works on your computer, your phone, streams from the cloud in high quality, etc etc.
Digby’s public stance is significant; while the world moves ahead towards digital consumption and the demand for all-you-can-eat music streaming services grows, metal labels remain doggedly stuck to the archaic CD. Even Ash Avildsen, whose Sumerian / Outerloop / Pantheon axis business model is very forward-thinking, is head-scratchingly an ardent supporter of CDs.
EAT THIS RECORD
This doesn’t really have anything to do with metal, but I found it kinda funny so I’m running with it.
A Scottish band called Found has released what is, at least as far as I’m aware, the first-ever edible 7″ — more specifically, a 7″ made from chocolate. According to Badass Digest‘s Devin Faraci (who came up with a headline far superior to my own):
“The first attempt was to pour chocolate over a pressed record, but the music created by the chocolate record was backwards. Instead they poured chocolate into the record mold, and presto, an edible single.”
I don’t know nearly enough about, like, science n’ shit to understand how this could possibly work, or what the band’s fans are supposed to do if they actually wanna keep the record, be it because they like the music, or because they think it’s gonna be a collector’s item, or whatever. (How easily would this thing melt? You’d have to at least keep it refrigerated, I’d imagine.)
I would, however, like to suggest that metal bands start trying this gimmick to sell their own shit. Of course, they would not necessarily have to use to chocolate. Here are some examples of what I think would be good cuisine-to-band matches:
SKINDRED “CUT DEM.” ALSO, THEM.
Vince is really the resident Skindred fan at the MS Mansion — I understand their spot in metal history, I’m just far too close-minded to be into their music — but I gotta admit, their new video, for the song “Cut Dem,” is pretty good. I mean, it’s not as good as, say, the new Mastodon video, but I appreciate that the band did more than just another shitty performance video, and while there have been other metal videos that mimicked the style of silent films, director Tim Fox’s execution here is not at all shabby. Almost makes me wish I liked the music more!
“Cut Dem” comes off of Skindred’s latest, Union Black, which is out now on BMG.
-AR
SHIA LABEOUF TRADES GIANT ROBOTS FOR GIANT DOUCHE BAG
You all know who Shia LaBeouf is, right? He’s the incredibly irritating actor who starred in such terrible films as Transformers, Wall Street 2: Money Never Grossed, Transformers 2: Revenge of the Michael Bay, Disturbia, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Realization that Harrison Ford is Getting Way Too Old for this Shit So You’d Better Give Us Your Money Now!, Eagle Eye, and, as of this week, Transformers 3: Dark of the Fuck Yourself. (Above, watch his best performance yet, as a cranky movie star who throws some coffee at a paparazzo, and then flees.)
Well, apparently Mr. LaBeouf and his representatives sat down over the weekend, and they came to two conclusions:
- Shia’s career has too much artistic credibility.
- There are still aging franchises Shia can help ruin.
And, thus, they came to this logical conclusion: Shia should direct a documentary about the making of the new Marilyn Manson album.
QUEENSRYCHE HAVE A FIRM GRASP OF THE ART OF ALBUM PROMOTION
Wanna see Queensryche’s new video, for the song ”Get Started?” Well, unless you own their new album, you’re shit outta luck.
You see, in an apparent effort to prove to the world that they don’t understand the purpose of a music video, Queensryche are requiring fans to verify that they’ve purchased the group’s latest release, Dedicated to Chaos, before they can stream the clip online.
What the fuck are Queensryche thinking? The way I see it, there are one of two possibilities:
