Spurred by a lazy crossword clue in The Onion (36 down, four letters: “Faith No More’s only hit”), MetalSucks contributor Anso DF dedicates every single day in August to celebration and exploration of the San Francisco alt-metal greats. Here we prove that history’s greatest band landed more than one commercial hit (crossword answer: “Epic” natch), we revel in FNM’s embarrassing wealth of winning album tracks (themselves often fit for chart topping), and we dip into the staggering best of the b-sides (ditto). Along the way, we survey the context of FNM’s big break (amid similarly seminal acts Jane’s Addiction, Nine Inch Nails, and Ween) to the post-Nevermind, panic-based music commerce in which the brilliantly versatile, fearless powerhouse band operated until their 1998 demise. It’s a dirty job, but someone’s gotta do it.

Song ”The Cowboy Song”

Written by um likely Patton (L); my guess is Gould, Martin (M). If you know, internet me @AnsoDF okay? Thanks!

Released 1989, 1991

Appears on ”From Out Of Nowhere” 12″ single (UK), Live At Brixton Academy CD (UK)

Produced by Matt Wallace

Guitars by Jim Martin

Key lyric ”The next thing you know/There you are standing on the edge.”

Single? B-side from “Nowhere” single in UK, add-on to live album Live At Brixton Academy.

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As previously reported here on MS, now that Nevermore has quit Nevermore, ex-guitarist Jeff Loomis (#7 on our list of the Top 25 Modern Metal Guitarists) is working on his second solo album. We are very excited!

Our excitement was elevated to the next level today upon finding out the makeup of the band he’ll be recording with this time around:

• Dirk Verbeuren of Soilwork (drums)
• Aaron Smith of 7 Horns 7 Eyes (producer)
• Shane Lentz (bass)
• Christine Rhodes (guest vocals), who previously contributed to Nevermore’s Dreaming Neon Black album
• Jeff Loomis’ hair (guest guitar solo)

If you’re wondering who the hell Shane Lentz is, like we were, peep this quote from Loomis: “Up until about 2 weeks ago, I was planning on doing the bass parts myself but then saw this amazing bass player on YouTube and said to myself, ‘I need to have him on the record.” Awesome; Internet dreams really do come true!

It’d be awesome if Loomis invited Keith Merrow in to contribute a guest solo. Ya know, to return the favor.

Expect the new Loomis solo joint in Spring 2012.

-VN

The answer should be “everyone.” Each and every one of you should want an update on the new Napalm Death album. Why? Because they’re Napalm fucking Death, that’s why.

So you should head over to The Deciblog, where they have a brand new interview with bassist/awesome hair style Shane Embury, getting lots and lots of info on the latest offering from one of the greatest grind bands in history. The album is apparently “pretty much done,” which is great, but the really fascinating parts of the interviews are about the band’s working process. For example, here’s Embury on lyrics and vocals:

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Mayhem Fest was in Dallas this past Wednesday night, and because Texas was Dime’s home state, and because Dime’s birthday would have been on August 20, headliners Disturbed did a cover of “Walk,” along with members of All Shall Perish, Trivium, and Godsuck.

Aaaannndddd… I thought you guys might wanna see it. So… now you can! Hoo-ray!

-AR

This sucks. Not just because I really like The Bled and I’m sad they won’t be making new music anymore, but because The Bled were one of THOSE bands. One of those bands that took risks outside of what their initial scene found acceptable, and as such one of those bands that ended up not fitting in anywhere. Too heavy/legit for the Christcore scene, too weird for the haircut band scene, not really metalcore, not really deathcore, not heavy enough for the brutal metal tours but too heavy for the pop/alt metal tours… not able to be put into any one specific box. And while it’s cool to say you’re doing something so unique it can’t be classified, for many bands at The Bled’s level that aren’t big enough to strike out on their own on a consistent basis (Tool, Muse, Dredg, Thrice, etc), that ultimately meant their undoing.

That’s my theory, anyway. According to AbsolutePunk.net (and MS reader “theskunkcatcher”) the band posted the following message on their Facebook page, without really giving any reasons for the breakup other than “we want to do other things with our lives”:

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That’s what a horrible translation of a story from the French site Spirit of Metal tells us, but we have no official confirmation.

Still, let us take a moment to ponder this possibility. For this is MetalSucks, and we are nothing if not ponderers.

So.

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Once upon a time, there was a band called Metallica, and they made music that sounded like this:

Then they decided to work with the guy who produced this:

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(photo from old_skool_metal_head’s Flickr)

Axl and I went to Summer Slaughter in NYC yesterday. That second bottle of whiskey was a really bad idea. But before said second bottle we got to see Darkest Hour… and any time I see Darkest Hour I have an incredible urge to listen to nothing but Darkest Hour the following day. Thanks to Spotify I have their entire discography instantly at my disposal and I’m letting Undoin Ruin rock away my hangover at this very moment. If anyone else at the show had the same urge they could do the very same thing instead of being driven to piracy (because we all know people are cheap-asses and ain’t gonna shell out for DH’s ENTIRE discography at once), so at least Darkest Hour gets paid something instead of nothing at all.

What kind of ass-backwards world do we live in where Victory Records is doing something right and Century Media isn’t? Can I get an “AMEN”???

ANYWAY, the metalnets have been surprisingly quiet when it comes to bands voicing their opinions on Spotify, especially if those bands are on Century. Maybe they’re afraid to speak up, maybe they’re against Spotify and don’t wanna look like this generation’s Lars Ulrich, maybe they just aren’t sure yet; I don’t know. But Lazarus A.D.’s Jeff Paulick (whose band and label are on Spotify, btw) has broken the silence and come out in support of Spotify in a guest blog for Metal Insider, specifically with regards to the whole Century situation. What I like about Paulick’s rant is that it seems very representative of the new, young generation of musicians that understand and accept music is not going to be a huge source of income in their lives. Here’s the money quote:

I am not depending on selling music for my income. In fact, I have two jobs when I’m not touring to help with my income. I’ll take a page from a good friend of mine Buz McGrath of Unearth. On one of our first tours he told me that he wasn’t in the music business, but that he was in the ticket and t-shirt business, and there is nothing closer to the truth than that.

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Proving that performance footage mixed with found footage doesn’t have to make for a lame, clichéd videois the latest Darkest Hour clip, for the song “Love As a Weapon.” ‘Cause not only did director Scott Hansen do a great job shooting and editing the band, but the found footage he chose wasn’t just the same old shit you see in every other metal video, and the way he uses it, with all the various speeds, is not the same old way you see every other director of metal videos using that kind of stuff. Just proving what we’ve always said around here: a little thought and creativity goes a long, long way.

“Love As a Weapon” comes off of Darkest Hour’s latest, The Human Romance, which is out now on eOne. The band is currently touring as part of the MetalSucks-sponsored Summer Slaughter tour (dates here); Vince and I saw them last night, and, no surprise, they dominated. Definitely do not miss them.

-AR

Today is the Day’s new album, Pain is a Warning, comes out on Tuesday, and all of the reasons you’re going to buy it are contained within our own Sammy O’Hagar’s review. Here’s a sample of that review:

“Pain is a Warning is filled with fucking cock rock. AC/DC riffs, fiery solos, twangy ZZ Top chorus riffs, and other pleasantly surprising flourishes pop up everywhere. That being said, implying that it’s a straight-up cock rock album — or a straight up any kind of album — is misleading. The band shifts gears from song to song, from the aforementioned cock rock… to breathy Sonic Youth quietness… to hardcore, complete with gang vocals. Even the more typical TITD fare… sounds bigger, more brash. Don’t get me wrong, this is clearly a Today is the Day album (Austin’s scream is pretty hard to mistake for anyone else, after all), but the revelations and asides feel fresh. It’s also the most listenable thing the band has released, and easily the most rocking.”

If that all sounds awesome, it’s because Pain is a Warning is, indeed, awesome. And you have one last chance to stream a new song before the album’s release: Brooklyn Vegan has debuted the track “This is You.” Check it out here, then celebrate the end of a too-long wait for a new TITD album in our comments section.

Pain is a Warning is out this coming Tuesday, August 16, on Black Market Activities.

-AR

Jani Lane is dead. He was 47 years old.

He was found in a hotel room in Los Angeles. While the cause of his death is currently unknown, his struggles with drugs and alcohol over the years have been no secret, and it’s hard to imagine that they had nothing to do with this. [UPDATE: TMZ is saying authorities found vodka and pills in Lane's hotel room. Try to contain your surprise.]

We made fun of Jani a lot on this site over the years, and we do not regret that. But once upon a time, we thought he was awesome, and, of course, we never wish anyone any actual physical harm. So, yeah, this is still a bummer.

Here’s Jani the way we’d like to remember him, singing a song which now, of course, seems all too appropriate.

Last week’s Photo Caption Contest saw the introduction of animated .gifs to the fold. The world will never be the same! Last week’s prize was a CD + t-shirt + poster + lanyard combo from the Japanese lads in Dir En Grey, quite animated themselves. And the winner is:

• Kye: “All Shall Purrish”

Why that pun instead of all the other witty ones? I just happened to like it.

This week we’re giving away a MetalSucks t-shirt with another grab bag of random metal swag from the MS Mansion: your package will include a t-shirt in the design of your choice, new CDs, posters, stickers, etc. To win, just leave a comment with the funniest caption to the photo below (not an animated .gif, but still funny, and sent in by MS reader Fuzzy Dunlop). Remember to use a real email address (or post it along with your comment if you’re using FB Connect / Twitter etc).

Before MS reader Alex emailed us I’d never heard of the Canadian Oil Patch, but from the looks of things it’s way the fuck up there in northern Canada. Alex claims to be the first and only person to ever don an MS shirt in the Arctic Circle, and unless anyone else steps up and proves him wrong we’re happy to give him the benefit of the doubt.

In any case, for being a bad-ass and rocking his MetalSucks t-shirt at work in some of the earth’s most extreme conditions, Alex will receive a box of CDs, stickers, posters and assorted metal items from his pals at MetalSucks. You too can get a box o’ swag by donning your MS merch and sending in a fun picture of yourself to news[at]metalsucks[dot]net as part of our ongoing Show Us Your MetalSucks contest.

In addition to our standard line of MetalSucks shirts (and hoodie!) we’ve still got a few left of our limited edition “Appetite for Deconstruction” shirts featuring animated versions of our own faces (we’re modest). Get on it.

One more pic of Alex looking tough in Canada wearing his MS shirt after the jump.

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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…

-AR

Jay Ruston photo by Josh Reeder; Brian Posehn/Brett Anderson photo by Susana Capra

Producer, engineer, and mixer Jay Ruston loves a challenge. He’s the guy whom Anthrax hired to save their troubled Worship Music album. He’s the guy who spit-shined their Sofia Big 4 performance for DVD release. He’s also the dude who helped silly Steel Panther craft the decade’s most seriously memorable album, and also the dude enlisted to surpass expectations for Feel The Steel‘s sequel and follow-up (due out October 18). He’s a whiz who has worked with intimidatingly successful producers (Desmond Child, Peter Asher, Jack Richardson) and intimidatingly hot rocker foxes (The Donnas, Pearl Aday, Brian Posehn). And Ruston is a friendly dude who at a moment’s notice devoted his Monday morning to spilling sexy insider details on the abovementioned Steel Panther and Anthrax projects (and tons more) to MetalSucks. Want the real story on an album’s making? Ask the producer!

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Chimaira have released a video for “Year of the Snake,” one of my favorite songs from their new album, The Age of Hell. It’s a performance video, but it was directed by Todd Bell, which means it’s, like, a trillion times better than the vast majority of all other performance videos. (The slo-mo mic swinging is especially bad-ass.) Perhaps even more importantly, though, it’s the fans’ first chance to hear an awesome new Chimaira track. I mean, that section right after the second chorus? TOTAL ELEPHANTS MARCHING MADNESS. That thirty-seven seconds of music alone should be enough to make your day.

Interesting side-note about the video: earlier this week, I interviewed vocalist Mark Hunter, and he told me the following about the shoot for the clip:

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Does anyone notice a strikingly dark pattern here? Hmmm.

As the headline suggests, The Funeral Pyre’s John Stracham is the new vocalist for Early Graves (formerly Apiary), whose former vocalist Makh Daniels passed away last year in a tragic van accident. Strachan revealed his new gig in a guest blog at Gun Shy Assassin [via L.A. Weekly]. As far as we know this doesn’t mean Strachan is leaving The Funeral Pyre.

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The cover art for Ghost Brigade’s new album, Until Fear No Longer Defines Us, portrays some kind of Asgardian realm in which an epic, mist-covered mountain resides in the middle of outerspace — and that might seem kinda weird, but, no joke, it is the best possible visual portrayal of Fear imaginable. Take, for example, the track “Cult of Decay.” It’s spacey and — dare we say it? — haunting and somehow elegiac and uplifting at the same time. It seems like it shouldn’t really be able to exist, and yet it does. And it is beautiful.

Check out “Cult of Decay” below. If you already know Ghost Brigade, you’ve probably skipped over all this text and hit “play” already anyway. If you don’t already know Ghost Brigade, well, get ready to fall in love.

Until Fear No Longer Defines Us comes out August 19 on Season of Mist. Pre-order it here.

[this streaming promotion has ended]