Black Flag will never reunite in any form that even remotely satisfies its generations of fans. But perhaps the coolest “not-quite-a-reunion” yet has just been announced.

Chuck Dukowski, Black Flag’s original bassist, has just recruited Eugene Robinson from Oxbow/Vice contribution to front a new band called Black Face. They’ve just recorded four songs that were written around My War-era Flag but that nobody in the world apart from Chuck has ever heard before. The tracks are called “Monster,” “I Want To Kill You,” “Where Will We Run,” and “Leave Me Out to Rot.” The band, which features former Oxbow drummer Tom Dobrov and Insects vs. Robots guitarist Milo Gonzalez, are also going to start playing all the songs that Chuck wrote for Black Flag live.

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Hard as it is to believe, we’ve been doing this here blogging thing for nearly five years (wtf???). We’ve scored interviews with our heroes, we’ve had the privilege of premiering new music to the world before anyone else, we’ve gotten you guys all riled up with countdown lists, we’ve sponsored megatours and we’ve even released bands’ records through our site. Where is there to go from here? What else is there to do??

But we’re working on something new. It’s gonna be big. VERY big. Some hints:

• It’s not a list.
• It’s not a new record release.
• It’s not another free comp.
• It will involve 20 bands.
• You won’t be able to read it, although you will be able to read about it if you miss it.
• If you do miss it, you are going to be really, really sorry.

That’s all you’re getting for today. Guess away!

- AR & VN

What an awesomely massive week for Today is the Day fans. Just this past Monday, the new and improved TITD released the title track for their new album, Pain is a Warning, as a free download; now they’re streaming another new track, “The Devil’s Blood,” over at Revolver.

I’m a little wary of saying too much about Pain is a Warning, since our own Sammy O’Hagar is working on a review of the album, and I don’t wanna steal his thunder. The mere fact that it’s Today is the Day should make you wanna check out the song. And the added bonus of TITD now counting two members of Wetnurse among their ranks should really make you wanna check out the song. And now me telling you that song is some kinda goddamn awesome death n’ roll anthem (and I do mean ANTHEM) should make you really, really, REALLY wanna check out the song.

So check out the damn song already.

The Kurt Ballou-produced Pain is a Warning comes out August 16 on Black Market Activities.

-AR

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 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 ”Stripsearch”

Written by Patton (L); Hudson, Patton, Bordin, Gould (M)

Released 1997

Appears on Album of the Year album

Produced by Roli Mosimann (Swans, Wiseblood), Billy Gould

Guitars by Jon Hudson

Key lyric ”Don’t be ashamed/Next in line/Close one eye/Just walk by”

Single? Yes, AotY‘s third and final (preceded by “Ashes To Ashes” and “Last Cup Of Sorrow”)

The climate Faith No More might’ve been ailing by Album of the Year, their most grim and least cohesive release with Patton. If “Ashes” and “Sorrow” defined band mood, then “Stripsearch” hammered at it: despair. And the rise of Limp Bizkit was still to come. A 1999 FNM record would’ve been interesting.

Awesome song elevated to supra-awesomeness by a few awesome touches: There’s that cool squelchy loop, Patton’s cry-for-help backing vocals, and the track’s guitarlessness ended by Hudson’s starkly beautiful solo — that last thing makes a fan want more FNM with Hudson.

Didja know? Bassist Billy Gould was quoted saying that the five-note loop saved “Stripsearch” from sounding like Queensryche and helped it to sound like Portishead. When asked for comment, Geoffs Tate and Barrow replied, “We wish.”

-ADF

METALSUCKS’ 31 DAYS OF FAITH NO MORE

3 “Stripsearch”

2 ”Ricochet” (read)

1 ”Land Of Sunshine” (read)

I realize that videos like this do nothing but give more ammo to those who say shredders are a dime a dozen, but still, I can’t help but be ridiculously impressed by this kid’s skills. Maybe one day he’ll put them to greater use by writing his own compositions and changing metal for the better like Tosin Abasi has done. You gotta start somewhere.

-VN

Thanks: Matias 

Here’s some news which ought to absolutely make your day: MetalSucks is proud to present the 2011 Carnival is Forever North American tour, Decapitated’s first headlining tour since releasing their mind-blowingly good comeback album, Carnival is Forever, last month. And while the chance to see the always-incredible Decapitated alone should be enough to get your ass to a show, just to make extra, extra sure that this tour absolutely crushes, the band is brining along fellow death metal luminaries Decrepit Birth, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Rings of Saturn, and The Haarp Machine for the ride.

Yep. This tour is unfuckwithable. There is absolutely no way these shows aren’t gonna be SICK.

The tour kicks off in September. Get a full list of dates after the jump!

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Axl did one. Vince did one. Even Corey did one. So, of course, I’ve gotta do one, right?

2011 has been a pretty decent year for hardcore so far, with solid releases from artists old and new. Unsurprisingly, then, my picks at this point in the year reflect that dynamic. I intentionally excluded EPs (Jello Biafra’s latest, for example) and singles, as well as all the non-hardcore stuff I’ve enjoyed this year (J. Mascis’ blissful solo album). So, without further ado, here are my picks!

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Those doomy mofos over at Southern Lord have done it again, this time in the form of a ridiculously killer tour lineup dubbed The Power of the Riff: the trek spans five dates across California and Washington later this month and will feature Pentagram, Eyehategod, Pelican, Trap Them, Black Cobra, Early Graves and many, many more.

But the riff worship doesn’t stop there: Southern Lord has compiled an accompanying sampler featuring many of the bands on the bill and others on their label, and made it available for free download. Win/win, even for those of us who can’t attend the shows. Alas, I’m sorry, but I will not use the phrase “mix tape” when describing something downloadable.

Peep the tracklisting after the jump and download the sampler here.

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I’ve been a long-time (and rather outspoken) fan of the glam revival that is sleaze metal, but I can quite honestly say that “Hot,” by Reckless Love, is one of the worst songs I’ve heard all year.

It doesn’t get much fluffier than Reckless Love. They’re literally modern-day hair metal; all looks and no substance. In simplest terms, that’s what distinguishes crappy hair bands desperately clinging to a gimmick from bands that just happened to fit the musical and physical definitions of a genre (but actually made good music). I’d compare Reckless Love to Tigertailz rather than anything by, like, Cinderella (a.k.a. “music I can stand”). But I still prefer Steevi Jaimz and his Marq Torien rasp (“Amazing,” from his solo project, is pretty good) to anything by the overly fake-tanned Finns. Man, and I just wrote a piece approving of that country’s bands. Way to wreck the curve, guys.

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The Metallica-themed edition of the board game Monopoly costs more than twice as much as “classic” Monopoly, but the extra cash is totes worth it, ’cause the game comes with pieces that are vaguely related to Metallica, and all the real state has now been named after the band’s songs! Still, some people were bound to purchase it, because some people will buy anything with their favorite band’s logo on it.

And, indeed, some Venezuelan guy ordered a copy, and was even so helpful as to make a video of himself opening the box for the very first time. Y’know, so the rest of us could see how he wasted his money. In fact, just to make things extra-exciting, he set the video to Death Magnetic‘s “Suicide & Redemption,” I assume because it took him ten minutes to open the toy, he needed an track of appropriate length, and he has either never heard “To Live is to Die,” or doesn’t know how to use basic video editing software.

In any case, if you’re bored, this happened. And if you’re stupid, you can order your own copy of Metopoly here.

-AR

[via Metal Injection]

Last week we focused on the complete inertia of modern rock radio over the past 10 years, as manifested in the top ten selling records of the week. Rest assured, all ten of those releases are still selling well… no need to re-hash them in this space again. Instead let’s look at newer records, including debuts from All Shall Perish, Wirestledabearonce, Jamey Jasta’s solo effort and more.

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Here’s the best new song you’ll hear all day, and possibly all week: “Singularity,” the first officially-released track off of Textures’ new album, Dualism. (There was a live bootleg of a different new tune earlier this summer, but obviously the quality of this studio recording is a million times better.)

As part of my awesome job as a blogger, I’ve been privileged enough to hear Dualism already, and it does not disappoint. Like 2008′s Silhouettes, it’s full of proggy goodness that combines angular Meshuggah-esque riffage with Faith No Moreian semi-pop sensibilities, and if you were at all worried about new vocalist Daniël de Jongh, those concerns will dissolve away the very millisecond he opens his mouth. There’s also a range of types of extreme music on the record; even if you’re too thick-skulled to enjoy “Singularity,” there will be something on this album you’re gonna dig. Dualism fucking rules.

Go here to check out “Singularity.” You’ll have to like Textures on Facebook to hear the track, but you should be screaming your love for this band from mountain tops anyway. Dualism is available for pre-order here for U.S. headbangers and here for those in Europe.

And don’t forget that Textures will be touring North America for the first time ever this fall, and with Periphery, The Human Abstract, and The Contortionist, no less. Get dates here.

-AR

I hated Angel Down so much that I kind of naturally assumed that Sebastian Bach’s new solo album, Kicking & Screaming, would also be a shitfest. (The cover art wasn’t especially reassuring, either.) But now Revolver has debuted the music video for the title track, and the song is really not that terrible.

I mean, it’s not great, either — it’s basically a generic hard rock song — but I can’t really give Baz any shit for it. Watching the clip, I mostly kept wondering a) if the thirteen year old who’s playing guitar for Bach now was reimbursed for the gas money he spent to get to the shoot or if he was expected to pay for it himself because “playing music is his life,” and b) if Baz ever actually gets in a room with his band, or just stands up against a random wall someplace at all times.

Kicking & Screaming is out September 23 on Frontiers. Click on the screen cap of the hot lady who is in the video for no apparent reason other than hot ladies sometimes help sell records to see the clip.

-AR

We’re less than two weeks away from the release of Chimaira’s The Age of Hell! Are you excited? You oughta be. No shock: the album rocks in a major, major way. It also takes what I think are some HUGE creative risks, which I’ll discuss more once I’ve had some time to better digest the record (I’ve had my promo for less than forty-eight hours), but the gist of my opinion is, “Chimaira pulled it off again.”

And now there are ninety second samples of the entire album available on iTunes (Amazon has samples, too, but as The PRP notes, that online retailer has “a rather bungled track listing”), PLUS a teaser for the band’s Todd Bell-directed video for “Year of the Snake,” which you can check out below.

The Age of Hell comes out August 16 on eOne. Hopefully tour news will follow… I feel like it’s been way too long since I’ve gotten to see these dudes live, and I’m dying to check out their sweet new line-up.

-AR

Sorry for being late this week, as some external problems prevented me from publishing on time. There’s really not a whole lot coming out this week, which is fine, because we’ve had a ton of killer releases over the past few months. Anyways, on to the reviews.

Click to read more…

All people are not created equal; anybody who thinks so is kidding themselves. Sure, we all deserve equal rights and yada yada yada, but to think that we’re all born with equal intelligence, talent, drive, temperament, etc., is borderline delusional. If we were truly equal, than each of our ultimate impacts on the world and society would be pretty much the same across the board — give or take. But guess what? Because we AREN’T equal, certain people’s contributions to the world will outshine the contributions of others.

I think that is very hard for some people to accept. Pride can be a nasty mental state that will often cloud perception. To really contemplate that someone else’s life, and thus death, may affect multitudes more people than your own can be a tough pill to swallow. I’m not saying that anyone has more of a right to life than anyone else, I’m just saying that some people’s lives will affect the entire world, while others will be lucky to affect the thirty cats they own.  I guarantee you that only one of these obituaries would make it onto the news (unless, perhaps, the latter deceased person sexually abused the thirty cats and then ate their corpses).

These thoughts were stirred up by two of the major news events that took place recently: the untimely death of Amy Winehouse and the horrific bombing and massacre in Norway. Both were terrible for two completely different reasons; one- – fame nor fortune can cure a damaged mind, and two — people are capable of heinous acts in the name of ideology. Both these lessons are universal. History can almost be seen as a fugue between these two themes — they are deeply rooted in who we are as humans. Our beliefs about the world and ourselves can be be incredibly destructive on a physical and/or mental level if not kept in check.

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Congrats to the reader that asked he be identified only as “Ball Cheese Sandwich On Rye” (charming). He correctly identified last week’s logo as belonging to the band Drug Lust, and for his troubles, he wins five CDs from the MetalSucks Mansion Archives. Enjoys those, Mr. Rye!

Don’t be too sad if you lost, though, ’cause we’re doin’ it again this week –  get five CDs from the MetalSucks Mansion Archives. The winner will be happy.

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 one winner and announce his or her name a week from today.

Thanks to Tim Bartolini for suggesting this week’s logo…

-AR

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 recording industry 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 “Ricochet”

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

Released 1995

Appears on King For A Day, Fool For A Lifetime album

Produced by Andy Wallace

Guitars by Trey Spruance (Secret Chiefs 3, Mr. Bungle)

Key lyric “And I’d rather be shot in the face/Than hear what you’re gonna say”

Awesome song elevated to supra-awesomeness by Patton’s alternating of wide-open, cracky shouts and perfect pitched singing, sometimes in the same phrase (see 3:27). Impossible to fake. Studdd.

Single? Yes, King‘s second (preceded by “Digging The Grave” and followed by “Evidence”)

The climate “Ricochet” faced Modern Rock radio competition from such timeless greats as Better Than Ezra (“Good”), Live (“Lightning Crashes” barf), and Bush (“Comedown”).

Didja know? it’s been reported that “Ricochet” is shorthanded as “Nirvana” on setlists because it was written on the day of Kurt Cobain’s death.

-ADF

METALSUCKS’ 31 DAYS OF FAITH NO MORE

2 ”Ricochet”

1 ”Land Of Sunshine” (read)

When you think about it, the late 90s are maybe the most underrated years in terms of awesome music. Some of of my all-time favorite pop artists Mandy Moore, Christina Augilera, and Blink-182 blew up in the late 90s, not to mention gems like Jordan Knight’s comeback song, all of which are still totally great. It’s also when we got Linkin Park, Korn, Limp Bizkit, Kid Rock, and tons of other sick bands that combined the most annoying and ignorant aspects of white trash and poor black people.  But maybe the very best of late 90s douche rock was Crazytown, and it’s time that we gave them their due!

I know Vince is all up on Spotify’s dick, but when it comes to bands you really love, you want to own the physical artifact. I definitely love Crazytown, so before I wrote this, I hopped on eBay and picked up the entire CxT discography, for a grand total of 74 cents. I know what you’re thinking: I got ripped off! But not so fast: both CxT albums were 1 cent each, although I had to pay 72 cents for Shifty’s solo album. I’m not sure what makes that one worth 36 times more than the other two put together, but valuation of physical assets is kind of a black art that I don’t totally understand, so I was OK with paying top dollar to get these albums that mean so much to me.

After the break, a detailed breakdown of the entire CxT discography, some trivia, and my thoughts on whether Shifty and I could have a bromance!

Click to read more…