30 Minutes or Less is an action comedy about a pair of redneck buffoon assholes, played by Danny McBride and Nick Swardson, who strap a bomb to the chest of a pizza boy, played by Danny Eisenberg, and force him a rob a bank on their behalf, lest he be blown up. (The pizza boy’s best friend, played by Aziz Ansari, is also there for some reason.) And while I have no idea if the movie will be good or bad, I do know that McBride’s villainous character wears metal band shirts in every scene.

Now, maybe my reaction to this costuming decision should be “Awesome! More exposure for Napalm Death!” (Fuck Metallica. They obviously need more exposure like the dude from Asking Alexandria needs another beer.) Or maybe it should be “It’s just a dumb movie, and you can barely see the shirt anyway.” Or maybe it should be “You make your living from a website called MetalSucks, idiot. Get over yourself.” Those would all be fair reactions, I think.

Of course, none of those are the reactions I had.

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Pay attention to this label: Bindrune Recordings. They’ve got a penchant for the dark, atmospheric blackness, lightness and melancholy that seems to go hand in hand with nature, and every release I’ve heard from them over the past year has been impressive. If you recently discovered Agalloch and find yourself wondering “Where can I find other bands like this?” look no further than Bindrune for an entire scene sprawling in all directions from a familiar focal point.

The latest Bindrune treat: Falls of Rauros, a Maine-based, nature-inspired dark metal band our own Grim Kim praised earlier this year; the above album cover should give you a solid idea of what this album is all about. Brooklyn Vegan is streaming their entire new album The Light That Dwells in Rotten Wood (buy it here) and I’m hooked; part Agalloch, part Opeth, part Insomnium… all epic, all beautiful, all awesome. Check it out.

-VN

What the fuck? Look at this press release Axl just forwarded to me:

“It was in 1983 when Howard Jones first burst upon the contemporary music scene and brought his very English song-writing and pioneering synthesizers to an unsuspecting world. His first two albums Human’s Lib and Dream Into Action were massive worldwide hits.

“Human’s Lib reached #1 in 1984 in the UK and featured the hits ‘New Song,’ and ‘What Is Love?’  In 1985 Howard released his follow up: Dream Into Action, which quickly became a Top Ten Platinum album here in the US and featured the massive hits: ‘Things Can Only Get Better,’ ‘Life In One Day,’ ‘No One Is To Blame,’ and ‘Like To Get To Know You Well.’

“Now for the first time ever, Jones will perform these first two classic albums in their entirety in the US this fall. A true icon of the 80’s and godfather of modern electronic dance music, Jones will be giving the fans what they’ve longed for.”

Okay, so first of all, I did NOT know that Howard Jones was English. I always thought that dude was from Massachusetts!

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No. No he is not.

Mustaine’s latest declaration sure to elicit responses only of “Okay, sssssuuurrre, Dave, whatever you say,” from all rational people was delivered to a Dallas Radio station earlier this week:

“I’ve talked to Lars and James about me and David [Ellefson] doing a supergroup record with Lars and James. Well, James said ‘no,’ but it’s still kind of out there in the air. I’m gonna keep hammering on him. It’s on my bucket list.”

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The official website for David Fincher’s new cinematic adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (not to be confused with Niels Arden Oplev’s adaptation of the same novel) launched yesterday afternoon, and with it came the first samples of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ score for the film (much as they debuted their score for The Social Network via that film’s website). No shock — it’s kinda drone-y and very cool. Check it out below:

You may recall that a Reznor and Rossified cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song,” featuring vocals by Karen O. from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, has already debuted in the movie’s trailer. You can check that out here.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo comes out December 21. Presumably, the score will be released sometime beforehand.

-AR

[via Collider]

Hopefully you have gotten to see or will soon get to see The Black Dahlia Murder headline this summer’s edition of Summer Slaughter (which we’re sponsoring — dates here), but if not, don’t fret about it too hard. The band has just announced another headlining tour for the fall.

And since BDM always put on a ridiculously fun show, you are probably already hot n’ bothered about this tour. (Even if you did see them on Summer Slaughter. ‘Cause I don’t know what their set length is, but I know it’s not long enough.) But now please allow me to make you hotter and bothereder: support will come from All Shall Perish and Cannabis Corpse*, which pretty much makes these gigs unmissable. So wear comfortable clothes, and be prepared to sweat.

Here are dates for ya:

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And the feud continues! “The Suits” at Century Media have responded directly to MetalSucks about Spotify once again! This time they are responding to what I wrote yesterday. But it’s going to end here… this will be the end, until the next chapter. We’re going on indefinite hiatus, as industry lingo dictates.

CM has requested I publish their letter all in one fell swoop then shred it to pieces afterwards instead of going line by line, so that’s exactly what I’ll do. Here we go:

WOW!

Today it’s the “white collar criminals” from Century Media (not sure how we got there) coming back to “Vince the MAN”.

I must admit, we are all very excited here about the attention and flak we are getting for taking the liberty of saying “NO” to something we disagree with.

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Nine times out of ten, when faced with the option to listen to a band I enjoy’s brand-spankin’ new album or to their shitty old demos from six years ago, I’ll go with the latter.  Don’t get me wrong — metal in 2011 is a many-headed, constantly evolving beast whose progress is fascinating to observe; I’m into tons of newer bands, and love discovering killer new releases. However, at the end of the day, when I’ve finally got a few minutes to myself, I’m going to be listening to Necros Christos’ Black Mass Desecration demo from 2003 or my battered old Celtic Frost records, not whatever new jam is buzzing its way through the blogosphere that week (no matter how awesome it may prove itself to be). There’s no place like home.

I also spent a helluva lot of time listening to my friends’/boyfriend’s bands, so color me a bit biased (though honestly, what writer isn’t?).

These basic truths about my listening habits make compiling year-end lists an absolute shitshow, so I suppose Axl’s asking me to haul one out mid-year will serve as a good trial run for the inevitable horrors ahead.

That being said, here are the albums I’ve been listening to the most. I’ve already written about a few of them, so no big surprises await. Read ‘em and weep.

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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 ”Smaller And Smaller”

Written by Patton (L); Gould, Bordin, Bottum, Wallace (M)

Released 1992

Appears on Angel Dust album

Produced by Matt Wallace

Guitars by Jim Martin

Key lyric ”Someday the rains will come/My blistered hands tell me/Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow.”

Single? No.

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That’s right… he’s back! Oderus Urungus, the greatest singer in the history of what this putrid, worthless planet calls “metal,” is back and ready to answer your questions for another round of“Ask Oderus!!!” So leave your query for Lord Urungus in the comments section below. Oderus will pick his favorites and answer them right here on MetalSucks in the not-too-distant future. No question is too big or too small, too gross or too taboo, too serious or too silly, so ask away!

And don’t forget that GWAR have just announced a North American headlining tour for the fall; support will come from Every Time I Die, Ghoul, and Warbeast. Get dates here!

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 July 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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On Thursday, August 4, 2011, MetalSucks photog Miikka Skaffari braved the treacherous pits of Slim’s in San Francisco to bring you, our beloved readers, some awesome, awesome pics of Exhumed, Macabre, and Withered. And not only are the resulting photographs gorgeous, but they should more than whet your appetite for Exhumed’s upcoming, MetalSucks-presented tour with Goatwhore, Cephalic Carnage, and Havok. Get dates here.

And now, without further interruption, Mr. Skaffari’s metal-as-fuck pics…

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…there’s now a Kiss urn, too.

And I can’t decide if I think this is more or less offensive than the Kiss Koffin. On the one hand, spending any extra amount of money to have anything put on a box which is literally going to be placed in the ground never to be seen again strikes me as an incredible waste of resources. On the other hand, at least if you’re buried in a Kiss Koffin, your family won’t have to actually look at Kiss all the time. I mean, do you seriously want your loved ones forever associating your memory with Chaim Witz and Stanley Eisen? What are you, from the Bronx in 1963?

If you really, really hate poor people and starving children and cancer research, you can purchase one of these bad boys here for a mere $650. Or you can just e-mail me and I’ll draw a picture of Kiss on a shoebox and mail it to you for sixty-five cents.

-AR

Maylene and the Sons of Disaster aren’t really a metal band anymore even though they still tour with heavy bands that are much closer to their old metalcore sound. Modern-day Maylene sounds more like Clutch than, say, The Showdown, another band in their scene who heavily incorporate a “southern” rock sound into their metal. Axl thinks they sound like Brother Cane (and I can’t disagree). But metal or not, I like ‘em; they write catchy, southern-infused hard rock songs that don’t take much mental effort to wrap your head around.

So where does the metal community stand on this band? I ask because I really have no idea; they tour with crappy Christcore bands like Underoath on a regular basis despite having little or nothing to do with that whole scene anymore. Are Underoath fans also Maylene fans? Do Maylene have their own fanbase? Do people care that they’re not really “metal”?? Stream their new track “In Dead We Dream” over at Revolver Magazine’s website – from their new album IV, out on September 27 via Ferret Music – then come back here and tell us what you think.

-VN

Thanks: Ryan Kockentiet

When I first started critiquing Earache president Digby Pearson’s Ask Earache blog over a year ago I pegged Digyby / Earache as an out-of-touch label with all its eggs in one basket. My, how things have changed over the course of a year-plus. The Internet is a funny thing; it encourages discussion, and in some cases can actually produce change. I’m not patting myself on the back for turning Earache into a Fortune 500 company, but I am saying that the discourse I generated may have contributed in some small way to Digby taking a long hard look at the current music industry landscape and tweaking his approach. I know for a fact that Digby reads these blogs.

Dig’s latest move: capitalizing on the Century Media / Spotify backlash by issuing a press release essentially stating, “We love Spotify! All of our artists are on it!”

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Would you like have any and all future listenings of Rust in Peace and Countdown to Extinction ruined for you? Then, by all means, please check out “Fantastic Love,” the debut video from the Fanta band, featuring Marty Friedman on lead guitars.

Of course, this is not the first time that Mr. Friedman has worked with Fanta, but it is way, way more likely to create sufferers of PTSD than his previous commercial for the soda brand. Fanta must know it, too — they’ve disabled commenting from the YouTube page on which the spot appears. ‘CAUSE DON’T YOU SAY NUTHIN’ BAD ABOUT FANTA!!!

-AR

Thanks to Chris for the tip!

On July 20th we launched a contest in conjunction with Toxic Holocaust, Earbits Radio and Relapse Records in celebration of Toxic Holocaust’s new record Conjure & Command and the launch of our very own MetalSucks streaming radio station at Earbits. Today we announce the winners; if you see your name below and haven’t received word yet via email, please get in touch with us.

• Grand Prize: Torbjørn M.
• First Prize: Will H., Cristian F., Matt W.
• Second Prize: Fionn L., Jeremy Y., Mary S, Jeff B., Jonny L., Corey P.

Congrats to all involved! You’re gonna love your TH prize pack.

If you haven’t done so yet, check out our new streaming Earbits radio station for a free, continuous selection of MS-approved metal.

And don’t forget, Toxic Holocaut are on a MetalSucks / Metal Injection-sponsored U.S. tour RIGHT NOW with Holy Grail and Krum Bums! Remaining dates are posted after the jump.

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Metalacolypse director Jon Schnepp helmed Forbidden’s new video, “Omega Wave,” and while I have no idea what Mr. Schnepp’s intention was for the clip, if it was to make something that would be simultaneously familiar (and therefore not threatening) to metal fans AND be really good to watch while high, well, mission accomplished!

“Omega Wave” is the title track from Forbidden’s latest, which is out now on Nuclear Blast.

-AR

It’s been interesting to watch chart patterns change over the past few years; there is so much emphasis on first-week numbers now that it’s considered totally normal for a record to drop between 60% and 70% from week one to week two. I don’t have hard data to back this up, but I’m pretty sure the record execs of the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and even early ’00s would’ve scoffed at front-loading a record’s sales like that. Why so much initial hype? Why let the ball drop so quickly thereafter? It’s about the long-term career of a band, not making an initial splash; those who burn brightly at the beginning often die off faster anyway.

As the industry moves away from ownership towards streaming with services like Spotify (and the service Apple will surely launch soon), emphasis will move away from that first-week hype. As pointed out by Bob Lefsetz in a recent newsletter, if a track leaks, no big deal… just post it to Spotify and start earning income right away, even before release date. Same if an album leaks. Nothing lost, the leak is nullified. But I digress.

Let’s look at last week’s debuts, second week drops and more after the jump.

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Adrenaline Mob, the new band featuring ex-Dream Theater drummer Mike Portony, Symphony X vocalist Russell Allen, and Stuck Mojo/Fozzy guitarist Rich Ward, are now streaming their debut EP in full (below). And, as we have suspected since the project was announced in June, it’s lame.

I mean, I’m sure it will have its defenders, but I’d also wager that those defenders all have beer guts, and reside either in New Jersey or on Long Island. Because that’s how this music sounds; like it was made by a dude who was prom king back in ’86 and basically hasn’t been able to see his own penis since. It’s like one of these demos people send us where the band clearly had no higher aspiration than to be the next Black Label Society, and yet, they have failed miserably.

Feel free to check it out for yourself, though. I hope you have a super-awesome good time!

-AR