Apparently Dark Tranquillity guitarist Niklas Sundin, who is a talented visual artist in addition to being a terrific musician, directed the band’s new video, for the track “Iridium.” And, man, this is  a pretty damn fine directorial debut, no? Not only is the animation great, but it’s unique — I’ve never seen a video that looks quite like this before. Sundin should direct all the band’s videos from now on, and if I were in another band, I’d probably start pestering him to direct my video, too.

“Iridium” comes off of Dark Tranquillity’s We Are the Void, which is out on Century.

-AR

Vince and I are going to see the Mötley Crüe /Poison/New York Dolls tour tonight, and, yes, we are excited. And while it briefly seemed as though this would be a magically drama-free tour after Nikki Sixx allegedly apologized for some not-very-nice things he and at least one of his bandmates (Tommy Lee) said about Poison, it’s become increasingly clear that Nikki either didn’t apologize, or didn’t want that apology made public. In any case, he has continued to smack-talk Poison at every opportunity, which, of course, makes us drama queens at MetalSucks very happy.

But the really wacky thing about Nikki’s insults against Bret Michaels and company — and I’ve been saying this since November, when word of the tour first got out — is that Nikki seems to be operating under the impression that Mötley Crüe never dressed like this…

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A bunch of big records came out last Tuesday: Suicide Silence, Fair to Midland, Sepultura and Decapitated. After the jump we’ll take a look at how those and a few recent releases sold over the past week.

But first, a follow-up on a question I asked in last week’s column: how do the numbers for Arch Enemy’s Khaos Legions stack up against their past releases? I don’t have week-by-week breakdowns for each album to compare to Khaos Legions‘ cumulative total of 13,944 after five weeks, but these total sales figures for Arch Enemy’s best-selling albums should provide some frame of reference:

Anthems of Rebellion: 74,712
Doomsday Machine: 108,036
Rise of the Tyrant: 55,812
Wages of Sin: 71,688

With Khaos Legions falling off the charts in week six, that means they sold less than 1,092 units last week, the minimum number required to crack the Top 100 Hard Music Chart. Based on that I’d say it’s going to be a tough climb for Gossow, the Amotts and co. to match their past success this time around.

ANYWAY, back to last week’s big releases:

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I’ve never been in a Kittie fan in the past — in fact, it would be fare to say that I’ve often hated their work — but, to my shock and awe, I don’t have anything especially nasty to say about their new song, “We are the Lamb.”

In fact, I don’t have anything nasty to say at all. It’s not innovative and it’s not gonna make me run out and buy the band’s new album, but I don’t recognize it as someone else’s riff, either. It’s catchy. It’s competent. The guitar solo is fun. In short — it’s NTS. Not too shabby.

So, there ya have it. Sometimes I have almost-nice things to say about bands I don’t like. See? I have an open mind after all.

Check out the track here, then let me know whether or not I’m crazy in the comments section. Kittie’s new album, I’ve Failed You, comes out August 30 on eOne.

-AR

MetalSucks is thrilled to announce the launch of our very own streaming radio station at Earbits.com! It’s completely free for your enjoyment and features a constantly-streaming playlist of MetalSucks-approved artists across the metal spectrum. To celebrate this momentous occasion and yesterday’s release of Toxic Holocaust‘s new album Conjure and Command (streaming in full here, available for purchase here), we’ve teamed up with Relapse Records to offer one lucky winner a deluxe edition of Conjure and Command on 2x vinyl and CD/DVD, a t-shirt, and a chance to hang out with Toxic Holocaust before a show on their upcoming tour (dates here). Three additional first place winners will get all that except for the meet and greet, and six more runners-up will be chosen to win the new album as a digital download.

To win, simply visit the MetalSucks Station at Earbits and follow the instructions on the on-screen prompt that will appear after about 10 seconds.

If for some reason all that cool stuff isn’t impetus enough to enter, how about doing it ’cause these hot babes said so?

A new Thou release is as expected and shows up as reliably often as a new season, so it can be a little hard to keep track of them. Being wonderful, generous, and generally superior people, we here at MetalSucks wants to help by streaming their new EP, The Archer and The Owle, right here, right now.

Picking up — quite literally — where their last full length left off, it’s full of the band’s distinctive dredged melody and the torturous crawl of their sludge/doom riffs. And while I want to rip on it for being packed with filler — it consists of one new song, two older ones, and three covers — it makes sense. Summit’s closer “Voices in the Wilderness” gets a new context in which to breathe, and benefits greatly: as a finale to an hour-plus album’s worth of doom, the listener may reach it tapped out. But as the opener of an EP, it unfolds lusciously, alternating between scorched earth sludge, metalgaze beauty, and folky intros and outros. “Summit Reprise” works the same as it does on Summit, as a breather and mood builder, as well as re-imagining “Wilderness”‘s melodic themes. The band also prop up Kurt Cobain’s ode to homeless people befriending animals and enjoying a grass-and-fish-centric diet for a fairly straightfoward (yet fairy revelatory) cover of “Something in the Way,” as well as introducing the world to Pygmy Lush with two covers of their songs at the end of the EP. “Bonnet Carré,” Archer and the Owle‘s sole new track, is vintage Thou, full of mile-high lumbering doom riffs and shattered arpeggios dragged across ten-plus minutes. Even in semi-abbreviated form (thirty-eight minutes, a full length for most bands, a brief excursion for these guys), there’s plenty for Thou fans to latch on to (or re-affiliate themselves with) here.

The Archer and the Owle is available for preorder on colored 12″ vinyl and cassette (!) via Robotic Empire. It comes out August 2. And make sure to check out the band’s site for Thou updates and an obscene amount of free music. And speaking of free music, check out new Thou below.

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-SO

I Set My Friends On Fire’s new album, Astral Rejection, was produced by The Human Abstract vocalist Travis Richter, and features performances from former The Human Abstract guitarist Andrew Tapley; in fact, Tapley even appears in the band’s new video, “It Comes Naturally” (below). And you would think that the presence of two of the guys involved in the creation of Digital Veil, one of my favorite albums of the year, would mean that I Set My Friends On Fire suddenly stepped up their game, and made something listenable.

But you’d think wrong. I had a lot of love and respect for Richter and Tapley, but I Set My Friends On Fire still make me wanna set my ears on fire. I can’t believe this is a real band that real people listen to.

Astral Rejection is out now.

-AR

A reader calling himself “J.A.M.” forwarded us an e-mail he received yesterday, in which Judas Priest — or, probably more accurately, their marketing team — ask fans to take a survey. Here’s a photo of the e-mail, with the reader’s real name blocked out in the event he doesn’t want the world to know it:

Now, one of the phrases in that e-mail which might jump out at you is “your thoughts on new guitarist Richie Faulkner,” a.k.a. “The Due Who Replaced K.K. Downing.” Keep that in mind moving forward.

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I’m going to put about as much effort into this introduction as Axl puts into his own Cinemetal Round-ups.

First up on today’s Vince Version of Cinemetal Round-Up are death metal bludgeoners Bloodsoaked, esteemed alumni of our very own Unsigned and Unholy column. The video for “No God,” from the brand new Jamie King-produced album The Death of Hope (streamable in its entirety here), is a campy death metal clip in all the right ways: blood, gore, shred, and a slightly ambiguous storyline that has something to do with someone getting murdered. This video is further proof that a fun, professional-looking video can be shot on a small budget, and the song kicks fanny too:

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Steel Panther has been awesome about keeping fans informed about the new album on their social websites, which I follow like a dork (I also watch singer Michael Starr’s Tout with homoerotic fervor.) Cough anyway, they reported in late May that recording had wrapped on their new album, and then on June 8 that the completed record was submitted to their label, and then a few days ago that Feel The Steel‘s follow-up is ready to roll out on Cocktober 18. The twelve-track record doesn’t have a name, but if the pattern started by Hole Patrol continues, the title must rhyme. That’s tough, man, no wonder it’s still untitled. I dunno, how about Grease The Crease? I kinda like Gash Bash. Or Prowlin’ Down In Browntown. Thik Dix Rip Slitz? Jesus sorry about that last one. I’ll just see myself out.

-ADF

Steel Panther’s as-yet-untitled second record is out October 18 on Universal/Republic and was produced by Jay Ruston (Anthrax). See them live Thursday in Chicago and on tour in Australia and in West Hollywood and Las Vegas. Dates here.

Soon enough you won’t need to watch crappy, fan-filmed sideways footage of the new Animals as Leaders song because you’ll be able to watch awesome, right-side-up, pro-shot footage of it: the band is filming a live DVD on their current tour with Intronaut, Dead Letter Circus, Last Chance to Reason and Evan Brewer. Here’s MS reader Mason K. with a personal account of how he found out about the DVD at this past Saturday’s tour stop:

But the reason for this e-mail (besides to remind all that they should go if they still have a chance), is to reveal (if you have not heard already) that AAL was filming for a Live DVD at the show, and was verified by “God-sent” Abasi.

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Nevermore may be done (at least in any form about which any reasonable person would care), but it looks like Jeff Loomis (#7 on our list of The Top Modern Metal Guitarists!) isn’t wasting any time getting back on the horse…

So there’s something to look forward to! This new record will be Loomis’ second solo outing, after 2008′s tremendous Zero Order Phase. I wish we knew more right now, but, alas, we don’t — hell, Loomis might not know much more right now. But this is still great news, and worth getting excited about.

More info as we get it…

-AR

Thanks to everyone who e-mailed us about this.

Horns up for reader Alex Goldberg. He correctly identified last week’s logo as belonging to the band Harrow, and for his troubles, he wins a copy of Unearth’s new album, Darkness in the Light, PLUS a killer Unearth beer bong. Alex, I sincerely hope you use that beer bong until you puke everywhere, preferably while cranking that Unearth CD!

This week we have another killer prize for you: five — yes, FIVE — copies of of Ringworm’s killer new slice of metallica hardcore, Scars, which is out today on Victory Records. Ringworm have been a major force in the scene for years now, and, apparently, they can party like no one else. In other words: you want this album… you NEED this album! And here’s your chance to win a copy.

All you gots to do to win is identify the name of the band whose logo appears below, then shoot me an e-mail at axl AT metalsucks DOT net with your answer, your name, and your address. ALL ENTRIES WITHOUT AN ADDRESS WILL BE DISQUALIFIED. From everyone who gets it right, we’ll randomly select five winners and announce their names a week from today.

This week’s very, very challenging logo was sent in by Kraghen… thanks, dude!

-AR

Well, this is interesting.

Ex-White Zombie bassist and feminist rawk pioneer Sean Yseult recently posted a song called “Dawn of the Horrible Gorilla!” to her Soundcloud page — but it’s not a new Yseult solo jam, or a new song at all. Yseult explains:

“Dimebag Darrell, Sean Yseult and Philip Anselmo created this absurdity at 6am after a long night of drinking on a Pantera/White Zombie Tour in ’92. Recorded on Darrell’s 4-Track in his hotel room, the song was made up on the spot with Darrell on guitar (and drum machine) Sean on bass, and Phil singing. This comes from a cassette from Sean Yseult’s archives, never heard before!”

No shock given the circumstances under which it was made: the song isn’t really all that good. It’s also VERY 1992. That being said, it is a fun peek into what three young metal stars were doing with their free time — hey, you and me will never get drunk and record a song with Phil Anselmo, that’s for damn sure — and at this point, I think any long-lost Dime recordings are pretty valuable, no?

The track is not currently embeddable, but you can check it out here.

-AR

Thanks: Paul Bigue 

The Metalnets are aflutter with today’s news that Megadeth’s Gigantour will return for a fourth run in the summer of 2012 following three years of lying dormant. The travelling festival will feature only one stage (as it did in 2008), as opposed to the two-stage format of the 2005 and 2006 editions. The return of Gigantour after a three year hiatus begs the question: do we really need this?

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The watershed moment for Scar Symmetry fanboys was beloved vocalist Christian Älvestam’s departure in late 2008. It’s like the death of Cliff Burton or Bon Scott, or the departure of Sebastian Bach from Skid Row; it’s that moment when a lot of fans drew solid lines in the sand and jumped ship. Despite the fact that guitarist Jonas Kjellgren has always been the primary songwriter, I get it: Älvestam is an incredibly talented vocalist and the band’s new two-pronged vocal attack is straight up goofy. I feel bad because the new guys are talented enough and I’m sure they’re cool dudes and all, but yeah… goofy is the right word to describe what it looks like when a band has two lead vocalists, and these two guys whose names are rarely ever mentioned are still no match for Älvestam.

Some group of butthurt Scar Symmetry internet trolls have taken to Photoshop for their latest display of nerdrage: a “new” cover for Dark Matter Dimensions, the first Älvestam-less album. Get it? It’s pink!! How feminine!!! You sure told Scar Symmetry how you really feel, Internet!!

-VN

Thanks: Patton and The Number of the Blog

GothicKingCobra52 knows a LOT about metal, and you should watch his videos, so that maybe you can learn a thing or two about a thing or two.

For example, are you a young guitar player looking to learn how to sweep pick? Fret not, for GKC52 has a video instructing viewers about this very subject!

Click to read more…

Left to right, in front of the Baltimore Marriot: Hozi, Ben, Quan, Dana, the bellhop.

Helms Alee have put out the best record of the year so far with Weatherhead. I am thrilled that their tour gives me the chance to interview them, because it means I get to do things like write this opening paragraph, and maybe one person in the world will read this article and then go listen to them and be blown away by this band like I am. I cannot think of any real band that so deftly covers such a wide range. With the same three people playing the same three instruments, the most recent record continues what they did on 2009’s Night Terror – shifting from an ethereal shimmer to a massive whallop to a hypnotic drone, often in the same song. And while others seem to do so much less trying so much harder, Helms Alee is truly fantastic in part because their choices never seem forced or artificial. This band is incredible and if you can see them live, see them live.

They’re currently in the middle of a month-long tour with Torche and Big Business. I called them on the phone on Monday while they were in Baltimore. On the line were drummer Hozoji Annie Matheson-Margullis (aka Hozi), guitarist Ben Verellen, bassist Dana James, and merch man Quan. They also said that their ‘business associate’ Mike was on the line, but I don’t think that he said anything.

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While a list of members of the U.S. congress wouldn’t normally be something to get excited about and probably won’t result in the same level of nerdrage usually present in MetalSucks comments for any ordinary Top __ of __ list, here’s something for the uber-duber-nerdy: The Awl’s list of Members of Congress Who Have Totally Metal Names, In Order. We’re not sure what the precise criteria for a “totally metal name” is but we’ll wager from the “Listicle Without Commentary” category that the article’s author isn’t really sure either… and since the very definition of “metal” is often up for debate, it stands to reason that the same would be true of “metal names:” you just know one when you see it. So while we’re not quite sure what qualifies Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) as having the 7th most metal name in congress, we can definitely get behind the #1 choice of… you’ll have to click to find out.

-VN

Modern death metal fans, rejoice! All Shall Perish’s new album, This is Where it Ends, is finally about to be unleashed upon the world, and it does not disappoint. “Divine Illusion” is one of the more vicious anti-religion creeds in recent memory, which is saying something, given that approximately one out of every five metal songs is an anti-religion creed; “Royalty Into Exile” is as catchy as melodeath comes; and “My Retaliation” just might be the anthem of the year (“I HOPE TO SEE YOU FUCKING DDDDDDIIIIEEEEE!!!!”). And that’s only three of the twelve tracks on the album!

So check out This is Where it Ends below. You can pre-order it from Nuclear Blast USA, Nuclear Blast Europe, VIP Merch, Hot Topic (CD + DVD), Newbury Comics (with autographed booklet), Amazon (jewel case, digipak),or  iTunes… or wait until its release and buy it at a Metal Club store to get a free t-shirt, or from fye and get a free signed poster. The album comes out next Tuesday, July 26, via Nuclear Blast. And don’t forget that All Shall Perish are currently on the Mayhem Festival tour, along with Megadeth, Machine Head, In Flames, Trivium, Unearth, Suicide Silence, Kingdom of Sorrow, and Red Fang; you can get dates here. Also, if you haven’t done so already, don’t forget to check out Axl’s interview with ASP guitarist Ben Orum here.

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