“I couldn’t sleep at all last night.”

My thoughts kept racing back and forth about what is happening in our country right now just underneath our noses.  SO CLOSE!  It’s so close!  It’s the same kind of close as when someone has stepped in dogshit and they walk into the room, and you kind of catch a whiff of it.  Enough of a whiff that you walk off into a corner and check the bottom of your shoe to make sure it’s not you.  THAT’s how close this happening is. Or THESE happenings are. The Occupy Wall Street movement has spread to so many different cities that it’s pretty hard to keep up with what’s happening. I couldn’t sleep because this is something I’ve been dreaming about for a number of years. This is the beginning — NOT of a revolution (because revolutions just REVOLVE around and end up in the same place) but an EVOLUTION in our thought processes (taking us to a higher state of thought).

This gigantic hivemind group has come together despite their differences.  Despite the things that politicians would use against us to pull us apart.  They always pit the American people against each other.  Left or right.  Liberal or Conservative.  Black or white.  Rich or poor.  Gay or straight.  None of that shit matters.  That is the significance of the idea of the 99%.  There has been an unbalance in this country for too long.  The network or cable news wouldn’t let you in on this stuff.  It’s not them who’s out there protesting.  AND their paychecks come from those same people who’ve bought our government.  It took so goddamn long for something like this to happen.  And you know why?  Of course you do.  If you didn’t, you probably wouldn’t be wasting your time on the internet reading something that some rocknroll singer wrote.  There is about 1% in this country that have the bread to buy those in charge, reaping the benefits and the rewards of all of your hard work.  It’s the reason that most people give up voting.  They think, “Well, these candidates are all bought.  What does it matter?  What good will my vote do when in the end if either way it goes we’re all fucked?”

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photo by Jessica Ann Harvey

The Inaugural Metal Suckfest is almost here!!!! Twenty bands will DESTROY The Gramercy Theatre on November 4 and 5, PLUS there’s an awesome, five-band pre-party at the venue the night before, making this THE can’t-miss hang of the year.

Tickets are on sale now right here, and you can hit up the fest’s official website for more info on the shows, including the complete line-up. In the meantime, we’re counting down to this weekend of chaos and debauchery by speaking to one member from each band on the bill. We continue today with legendary drummer Evan Sammons of Last Chance to Reason, whose debut album, Level 2, was released earlier this year on Prosthetic Records. (And, lest you forget, the band will also be playing support on a chunk of Obscura’s upcoming North American headlining tour with Abysmal Dawn and Enfold Darkness, which MetalSucks is also sponsoring.)

Read our chat after the jump. And don’t forget to check back in the coming days and weeks for interviews with more of the musicians participating in this awesome event!!!

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Holy shit! The Metal Suckfest is only three weeks away!!! Tickets are on-sale now, as you no doubt know by now. “Why should I buy tickets in advance? Those service fees suck,” we hear you all saying. Well, here’s why: 1) Buying tickets in advance is the only way to enter this here “Suckfest Meet and Greet Swag Bag Giveaway” contest, and, 2) you can buy tickets in advance directly from the venue, without any service fees, and still be entered to win!

Here’s the deal: one lucky winner for each day of Suckfest (Friday and Saturday only; Thursday’s “Pre Game” is not included) will be allowed to arrive at the show before doors open to meet with the bands backstage before the concert, listen to soundcheck, and hang out and watch as everything gets set up. Each winner will also receive a bag full of metal swag put together by MetalSucks. Folks who purchase tickets online are automatically entered into the raffle, while those who purchase tickets at the Gramercy Theatre box office can drop a ballot in the “enter to win” box located in the box office window.

Every Time I Die have parted ways with bassist Josh Newton, making him the forty-seventh bassist to ever hold that particular position in that particular band. (I’m exaggerating, of course… but not by much.) Based on statements from both Newton (“Thanks to all the ETID dudes and all who cared. ’twas fun. ch-ch-ch-changes…”) and the band (“The last 3 weeks have been the most grueling tour we’ve ever done and we have cherished every second. Rock In Peace, Josh Newton, we love you.”), the split appears to be amicable, which is always nice.

And, not to be insensitive or disrespectful, but it’s hard to imagine the loss of Newton will have any negative effect on the band’s sound; after all, the dude didn’t even join ETID ’til 2007, and only recorded one album, 2009′s New Junk Aesthetic, with them. (The band is scheduled to release a new offering next year, but it’s not presently clear if Newton had already recorded any parts for that offering, and, if he did, if those parts will remain on the final product or will ultimately be scrapped.) Every band has its core members who are ultimately the most important contributors, and in the case of Every Time I Die, that core — vocalist Keith Buckley and guitarists Jordan Buckley and Andy Williams — remains intact. So I don’t think ETID fans should be freaking out or anything.

I am curious to see whether or not Newton remains in The Damned Things, the supergroup which features other members of ETID, as well as personnel from Anthrax and Fall Out Boy. That band has something like eighteen guitar players, but at least as of now, Newton is their only bassist.

-AR

[via Lambgoat]

This video has been making the rounds on the ‘net since Metal Injection discovered it a few days ago, but like I was sayin’ yesterday, I’m a few days behind on my RSS reading, so I just got to it now.

But if you haven’t seen it yet, you absolutely MUST check it out, because it is adorable, priceless, and totally awesome all at once.

In conclusion, your kid is probably not this cool.

-AR

Well, here’s some shit luck: Chimaira’s U.S. tour in support of their excellent new album, The Age of Hell, LITERALLY just started, and vocalist/Tweeter Laureate Mark Hunter has already fallen ill. That means that, unfortunately, he was forced to bow out of last night’s show at the Sonar in Baltimore, Maryland.

The silver lining, though, is that Chimaira now counts Dååth’s Sean Z. amongst its ranks — technically, he’s the band’s new keyboard player/sampler/electronic noise dude, but, of course, that motherfucker can scream his guts out with the best of ‘em. And so, as part of a noble effort to see to that the fans at least kinda-sorta got what they paid for, Chimaira took the stage with Mr. Z handling lead vocal duties, and, as The PRP affectionately puts it, “became more ‘Chimairååth’ than ever.”

Here’s video from the show:

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Those instruments don’t set themselves up, ladies and gentlemen; where there’s a big metal show there’s also a crew of roadies doing all the tough work behind the scenes. Vice Magazine has put together a documentary mini-series called On the Road, which they’re releasing in bite-sized chunks of 10-minute episodes, to pay tribute to these heroes and celebrate “the travelling rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle.” The first six episodes are hosted by Jesse Hughes of The Eagles of Death Metal, and the series promises that “it bares all the scars and secrets of the road and a few surprises along the way.”

Of the three episodes released so far, Episode 2 should be of most interest to MS readers. Episode 2 features interviews with several metal notables on the Revolver Golden Gods Awards black carpet and some pretty outrageous stories from longtime Megadeth and Motorhead roadie Jef Hickey. Did you know that R&B great Luther Vondross used to have his toilet seat FedEx’ed to each location before his arrival? True story, and Jef was the one who had to install it nightly. Watch Episode 2 above and follow the full series here.

-VN

These albums might even have some good music on ‘em, too!

ANYWAY:

• As I’ve said before, I’m not really a fan of Maynard James Keenan’s Puscifer project, but my man crush on Keenan is such that I actually feel severe guilt over said lack of fandom. And Pusicfer’s latest, Conditions of My Parole, might have the best album art of the year. Spin (still a thing!) is now streaming the entire record in advance of its release on October 18 via the cleverly named Puscifer Entertainment. I’ve listened to a lil’ bit of it and I feel about it pretty much the way I feel about all Puscifer, which is that it’s not bad, but not interesting to hold my attention against all the other great music out there right now, and really Maynard just get back to the business of TOOL as soon as humanly possible.
• Giant Squid’s Cenotes comes out October 25 on Translation Loss, and also has totally bitchin’ album art (above… FUPAs for the win). Now the whole thing is streaming at NPR (New slogan: “NPR… it’s not just for old people anymore!”). I’m actually listening for the first time now, and while Giant Squid have yet to produce anything that I love as much as Metridium Fields (“Ampullae of Lorenzini” might be one of the most beautiful songs in any genre written in the past ten years), they’re still way out ahead of most of the pack, so you should at very least give this a listen and see if you dig it. I mean, you’d do as much just to be able to make fun of Design the Skyline, so, y’know, fair is fair.

Two perennial MetalSucks faves, both of whom had seemingly bright futures ahead of them not very long ago, are calling it a day. Well, only one band is admitting they’re calling it a day, while the other is using that old “indefinite hiatus” chestnut, but let’s be real, every broken-up band is on “indefinite hiatus” until they’re not, so, uh, yeah.

ANYWAY, here’s the sad news:

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Two big pieces of news dropped yesterday evening after the MS Mansion Monkeys had shuttered our gates for the day. Which label a band signs to might seem insignificant to some fans, but there’s actually a lot at stake; think of the way a label treats and nurtures a band as similar to how parents raise their children… it has a profound affect upon their future!

First, the Shads: We’re getting to the point where we’re starting to see record label fallout for the bands that comprised the original New Wave of American Heavy Metal of the early-mid ’00s. Things worked out quite nicely for Mastodon and Lamb of God, the two major label metal poster boys who seem to be sitting high and dry. Not everyone else was so fortunate: Killswitch Engage’s last record tanked, although I doubt Roadrunner will drop them just yet; Chimaira have had more labels than you can shake a drumstick at; and God Forbid signed with frickin’ Victory Records! And then there’s Shadows Fall, who tried the major label route, then tried the make-your-own-imprint-under-a-major’s-umbrella route, and now have signed with… Razor & Tie.

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We have a decent amount of new stuff this week, including quality releases from Skeletonwitch, Black Cobra, Hull, Fuck The Facts and more. This writer’s opinion on all of it after the jump.

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Didja here? Just Monday we announced that Woodstock, NY progsters 3 were added to the lineup of The Metal Suckfest, playing the same night as Cynic, Obscura, The Red Chord, A Life Once Lost and a bunch of other bands. Call it smart planning, or more likely just serendipity; today sees the release of 3′s brand new album The Ghost You Gave To Me via Metal Blade, which you can now stream in full at AOL Music.

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I’m going to put about as much effort into this introduction as…

Yeah. THAT much effort.

ANYWAY, we begin today with ”Illumination,” the video for the title track for the free EP Immolation are giving away right now via Scion A/V. This not-especially-spectacular performance video debuted on Noisecreep, but, again, it’s Immolation and  Get Out of Jail Free card and really who cares you should go download the goddamn EP because it’s great and did I mention it’s free?

Scion A/V Presents: Immolation “Illumination” from Scion A/V on Vimeo.

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Producers are the silent contributors to the albums of your favorite artists; their role is incredibly crucial to the final product, but their contributions are rarely recognized.

Many music fans don’t know exactly what it is a producer even does, or they’re under the assumption that producers direct from afar and check-in occasionally — almost like a spiritual album-creation adviser — ala Rick Rubin. In the vast majority of cases that couldn’t be farther from the truth. I’d liken a producer’s role to that of a movie director’s; whereas as a director’s job is set up each shot perfectly and get the best performances out of his actor’s, a producer’s is to set up the conditions in which a band records and to get the best performances out of the musicians. To be specific: which band member records when, how many tracks they lay down, mic selection, mic placement, types of amplifiers and guitars, which pre-amps, compressors, processors and effects to use, etc, etc, etc — the producer has a say in all of that and works tirelessly on setting it all up until it sounds just right, a way more difficult task than it may seem. Many producers also help with song arrangements by making suggestions to the band for ways they can improve their songs by making small — or drastic — tweaks. Some producers also serve as mixers, the film analog of which would be the editor. Mixers do a whole lot more than just adjust sliders to make the levels of each instrument right; getting each instrument to “cut” through the mix so they’re all audible and clear is no easy task, and requires hours upon hours of relentlessly making minute adjustments to EQ settings, outboard effects (reverb, compressions, etc) and more. In short, producers are really fucking important and they rarely get the credit they deserve.

I find the art of production absolutely fascinating, and I love speaking with producers, getting inside their head, and finding out what makes them tick. Their vantage-point of music is much different than musicians’, and it’s a fresh perspective we don’t often hear much about.

Shane Frisby has been producing and mixing bands since he was a teenager on a 4-track in his bedroom, and he’s since graduated to owning and operating the Brick Hithouse in Massachusetts where he’s produced records by Bury Your Dead, The Ghost Inside, Sentinel and many more. When I catch up with Shane one Friday afternoon he’s in the middle of installing patch bays into his control room, a necessary evil he’d been putting off for eons. Read on to find out what Shane thinks about tips for getting started as a recording engineer, his own career trajectory, mixing and producing “transparency,” his favorite all-time producers and mixers and his thoughts on the new generation of so-called “laptop metal” producers.

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Congrats to reader Derrick McCray. He correctly identified last week’s logo as beloning to the band Disarticulating Extinguishment, and for his troubles, he wins five CDs from the MetalSucks Mansion Archives. Hoo-ray, Derrick!

This week I’m unloading another five CDs from MS Mansion Archives. So, yeah, enter this shit.

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.

This week’s logo was suggested by Josh, who is my new favorite person in the world because he actually sent me FIFTEEN logos. So expect to see Josh suggestions from now until the end of the year.

-AR

No, I’m totally kidding, he was apparently fired from the band and he’s rrrrrreeeeaaalllllyyyy unhappy about it and now the whole thing has turned into a total shit show.

The soap opera began when Kaabe released a statement to Lambgoat earlier today, in which he explains his version of why the band gave him the pink slip. That statement follows after the jump:

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photo by Jordon Josepher

The Inaugural Metal Suckfest is almost here!!!! Twenty bands will DESTROY The Gramercy Theatre on November 4 and 5, PLUS there’s an awesome, five-band pre-party at the venue the night before, making this THE can’t-miss hang of the year.

Tickets are on sale now right here, and you can hit up the fest’s official website for more info on the shows, including the complete line-up. In the meantime, we’re counting down to this weekend of chaos and debauchery by speaking to one member from each band on the bill. We continue today with legendary drummer Dave Witte of Municipal Waste, who are scheduled to release a new album next year via Nuclear Blast Records.

Read our chat after the jump. And don’t forget to check back in the coming days and weeks for interviews with more of the musicians participating in this awesome event!!!

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MS reader Marcus Przyborowski went to see the MetalSucks-sponsored North American Khaos Tour with Arch Enemy, DevilDriver, Skeletonwitch and Chthonic in San Francisco earlier this fall and decided to wear his nifty Vertebrae 33-designed MetalSucks t-shirt to the show. And wouldn’t you know it, Marcus is now e-famous thanks to his good sense in fashion; that’s Marcus, above center, kickin’ it with Scott “Scunty D” Hedrick and Evan “Loosh” Linger from Skeletonwitch after the show; note the Arch Enemy drumstick that Marcus “had to fight and defend for from dozens of other sweaty men!”

For entering our ongoing Show Us Your MetalSucks contest, Marcus will be getting a big ol’ box of metal merch in the mail. You, too, can get a box of free stuff by sending fun pics of yourself wearing MS merch to news[at]metalsucks[dot]net. Not a bad deal at all if you ask us.

On Saturday afternoon, ABC No Rio hosted the first-ever NYC show ever by Argonauts, the new band featuring vocalist Dimitri Minakakis (ex-The Dillinger Escape Plan), guitarist John Adubato (Burnt by the Sun), bassist Brett Bamberger (East of the Wall, The Binary Code’s old touring line-up), and drummer Dave Witte (seriously if you don’t know who Dave Witte is stop reading this right now and go do some homework). And for those of us who were lucky/smart enough to be there, the consensus was unanimous: ARGONAUTS. ARE. AWESOME.

If you weren’t lucky/smart enough to be there, though, you don’t have to take my word for it: the always-helpful (((unartig))) was there, and he filmed one of the six songs the group played. This is far superior to the footage of the band’s live debut which we saw last month, and it gives you a much better sense of their sound — although I still don’t think it comes anywhere close to conveying the energy in the room that afternoon, which was postively electric.

Apparently Argonauts’ current live set consists of every completed song they have right now; hopefully they’ll either write s’more and put out a full-length, or otherwise just record an EP, sometime in the very, very near future. I am seriously bummed that I can’t walk around listening to this band on my iPod right now. They fucking RULED. If you’re smart, you’ll keep a very, very close watch on their future activities, ’cause they are the real fucking deal.

-AR

[via The PRP]

I’m an irresponsible jerk who is way behind on my RSS reading, so I didn’t get to The Deciblog’s new interview with one mister Justin Broadrick until today. And fuck me naked with a spoon, because if I had gotten to it sooner, I would have been aware of this part of the chat:

Have you been writing for Godflesh?
JB: Really, really slowly. I guess because I’ve had my son, it’s slowed things down a bit for us. I mean, Ben Green got married last year and he still holds a very good job, so he’s very busy, we’re both very busy but we have a lot of ideas. Also, there’s no way we’d approach a new record just to milk the new-found popularity of Godflesh. I mean, it could take another year before we release something, and even the intitial impact of the reformation could have subsided by then, but that’s kind of meaningless, really, it’s just making another really good, cold and bleak record. And it’s more than in us, it’s in me, it still translates the same emotions that I’ve been struggling with all my life.

And news of new Godflesh is simultaneously profoundly excellent and profoundly anxiety-inducing.

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