QUESTION OF THE WEEK: WHAT WAS THE METAL ANTHEM OF THE SUMMER?

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Welcome to “Question of the Week,” a (not really at all) weekly debate amongst the MetalSucks staff regarding a recent hot button issue.

This week we say farewell to the season by posing the question:

WHAT WAS THE METAL ANTHEM OF THE SUMMER?

The MS staff’s answers after the jump.

This almost seems like too obvious an answer, but for me, at least, it was definitely, well… pretty much the entirety of The Black Dahlia Murder’s Ritual. It came out right as the warm weather was kicking in, and even though it’s death metal, it’s all so catchy and well written that it actually feels good to listen to. And then, of course, the band headlined Summer Slaughter, sooo… yeah, I will definitely forever associate that album with the summer of ’11.

-Axl Rosenberg

Summer. Baah! A long, long, long time ago it used to mean something to me. Drunken trips to Galveston Beach in my burnt orange 1973 Chevy Nova. Two suitcases full of cheap ass Schaefer Light Beer iced up in the trunk. Lots of lovely young ladies, known as “The Prancers,” in our laps. Mötley Crüe, Ratt, Black ‘n Blue, Metallica, Maiden, all on cassette. Sunburns, Hacky Sacks, facesurfing the jetties! Yep, good times.

Nowadays? Twenty-hour work days, mowing the fucking yard in 110°, scooping up dog shit and cat piss, wiping poopy baby bottoms. Yes, the glamorous life of a best-selling author.

At least I can listen to Craft extol the virtues of homicide with the charming black metal ditty, “I Want To Commit Murder.” Good thing I’m stable. Sort of.

Check it our on Spotify or YouTube. 

-Corey Mitchell

Undoubtedly “Wolves of Dusk” by Argus. They’re far from the first band to embrace the throwback metal thing in the last few years — from good (Black Pyramid) to meh (The Sword) — but they’re arguably the best. And while the band’s subtly sludged-out trad metal riffing (and the occasional bass solo) is considerable, what really launches them from a B+ band right into solid A territory is the husky Dio-isms of vocalist Bruce Balich. And “Wolves of Dusk” sounds like something snatched off of a late ’80s Wes Craven movie soundtrack, full of hairy-backed bravado and four state lines away from any kind of irony (the lack of a knowing wink turns the song’s climax of “WIIIIIINTER’S WINDS ARE HOOOOOWLIIIING/ CRYING FOR MY SOUL” into something undeniably dorky yet magnificent). And while summer anthems usually conjure up overbearing sun, “Wolves” is made for driving around in your Trans Am in a sleeveless Maiden shirt on a late July/early August night, where it’s cool but like a billion percent humidity, half-empty lukewarm Budweiser sweating in your cupholder. Or in traffic at 6:45 in your Subaru Legacy on your way home from Planet Fitness if you’re yours truly. Either/or, really.

-Sammy O’Hagar

I don’t know. Aren’t summer anthems reserved for pop songs that the general masses tune into rather than us? Oh well, mine was Pain’s “You Only Live Twice.” Even if you ignore the title, it still sounds like a James Bond theme song because it is such a production. It’s the most summer blockbuster-y song I listened to.

-Leyla Ford

Septicflesh’s “The Great Mass.”

-Dave Mustein

Okay, kiddies, now it’s your turn! Weigh in with your answer to the question of the week below.