Earlier this week, you got to check out some sweet live footage of the three support bands (Barn Burner, Turbid North, and Battlecross) from the CMJ showcase we did with Metal Injection and 1000 Knives last Friday night; the MI Junkies tell me they’ll have even sweeter footage of co-headliners Skeletonwitch and Kvelertak sometime in the not-too-distant future. And while you wait for that, we have a good, old-fashioned, not-at-all-glossy audio bootleg of the event from Mr. 1000 Knives himself, Rich Hall. I don’t think I even realized they played for damn near an hour until I saw the running time on this baby. Wow. It honestly felt like ten minutes. I mean, I could have watched them again almost right away. In fact, we did watch them again almost right away — they played at the nearby St. Vitus just a few hours later, and, yes, we did go to see them for the second time that night. Metal Injection has some footage of that gig, including a BRAND NEW SONG!!!, here.

Alas, we don’t have audio of Skeletonwitch, but I promise, they absolutely murdered the joint, too, and if they’d been playing again a few hours later, we surely would have spiked our booze with coffee and gone to see them, too. Lucky for all you cats, the MetalSucks-presented Skeletonwitch/Kvelertak headlining tour is still ongoing, so you, too, can snap your neck rocking out to both bands! Get remaining dates here. Support comes from Zoroaster.

And now, enjoy some livelertak…

1000 KNIVES PRESENTS KVELERTAK 10.21.2011 by 1000-KNIVES

-AR

Yep yep. In a most highly unusual move, the organizers of Mayhem Fest — the clear successor to Ozzfest — have announced the itinerary for the 2012 edition of the tour… despite the fact that the line-up won’t be revealed until January. I suppose they’re worried about you making plans for next July and August, although what kind of metalhead makes plans that far in advance? I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing five minutes from now, let alone next July.

ANYWAY, the dates are after the jump. We can dissect the line-up when it’s announced next year, but I will predict right now that Gloria Estefan will headline, with support coming from Josie and the Pussycats, Kraftwerk, and Coal Chamber. Sounds legit, right?

Click to read more…

Legendary grinders Nasum (the name is Swedish for “sinus infection”) have announced a reunion…. sort of. The band abruptly (and very understandably) called it a day following the tragic death of guitarist/vocalist Mieszko Talarczyk in the 2004 Asian tsunami — but now they’ve announced that they will, at last, play a handful of farewell shows to take place in 2012, which will also mark their twentieth anniversary.

In the single funniest statement I’ve read in a press release in some time, the band had the following to say:

“You thought Nasum was dead? We are. This is not resurrection. It’s farewell, for good.”

Rotten Sound’s Keijo Niinimaa will handle vocal duties for these dates, which have not actually been announced yet. More details as we get ‘em. In the meantime, if you’ve never seen Nasum, this is gonna be your last chance… I recommend you don’t blow it.

-AR

[UPDATE, 10/28, 10:45am EDT]: Here is an updated itinerary with dates needed marked in bold:

10/31/2011 Boise, ID @ The Shredder TBC
11/01/2011 Ogden, UT @ Mojo’s (+ White Arms of Athena)
11/02/2011 Denver, CO @ Casselman’s
11/03/2011 Omaha, NE @ 5810 Grover St (house show!)
11/04/2011 Saint Paul, MN @ Station 4
11/05/2011 Indianapolis, IN @ Indy’s Jukebox (note: venue upgrade!!!)
11/06/2011 OHIO DATE – FILL
11/07/2011 Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr Roboto Project
11/08/2011 DC area or BUFFALO OR SYRACUSE or NYC / NJ – FILL
11/09/2011 BUFFALO OR SYRACUSE – FILL
11/10/2011 CAN – Toronto, ONT @ Wreckroom (+ Cynic, 3, Scale The Summit)
11/11/2011 NYC area / LONG ISLAND – FILL
11/12/2011 CT / RI / MA / NH – FILL

Original post:

Some of you may have recently attended the currently ongoing Devin Townsend tour with The Ocean as support. Fortunately, unlike the band’s last few tours, this time the band hasn’t had to deal with any theft or broken vans or other calamities. But they’re definitely not rolling in it yet despite the current tour’s success.

We’re encouraging any Ocean fans with connections to venues on the East Coast to try and contact those venues; The Ocean have a short window of time in early November where they’re still in the states, but not touring. And they could really use some extra money before they head back to Europe, especially considering the events that occurred earlier in the year. Here’s what they’ve got so far:

11/03/2011 Omaha, NE @ 5810 Grover St (house show!)
11/04/2011 Saint Paul, MN @ Station 4
11/05/2011 Indianapolis, IN @ The Ugly Monkey
11/07/2011 Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Roboto Project

Check out the Ocean’s Facebook page for more details. They’re looking to get any shows in the Northeast on November 8, 10, 11, and 12. Here’s their original post:

WE ARE LOOKING FOR SHOWS IN THE NORTHEAST, Nov 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 — NY, CT, RI, MA, Toronto, NJ, PA area… venues, houses, tree-huts, boats, churches… we do it all. email info@theoceancollective.com!

-DM

On September 20th we reported that Mike Portnoy sued the other members of Dream Theater back in April, linking to the publicly available “Notice of Summons” document as proof. Later that day Dream Theater’s attorney was quoted as saying there is “no pending litigation” between Portnoy and Dream Theater. Today I choose to file a motion of “bullshit.”

A stealthy MetalSucks named Larry W. reader tipped us off to the existence of this website, a publicly searchable database of all court records in New York state. Pass the captcha, type “Portnoy, Mike” into the Plaintiff Search box (lol at him not using “Michael”), and voila, a plethora of documents relating to the Portnoy vs. DT litigation, the most recent of which was filed YESTERDAY.

Click to read more…

Last week was a slow one for new releases, but don’t worry, this week’s slate is a bit more impressive so next week’s Soundscam column should be a bit more exciting. This week Suckanescence and Five Finger Death Suck grabbed the respective #1 and #2 spots on the Current Hard Music charts once again by a long shot, even with 69% and 68% Week 2 declines; it’s gonna be a while before those go anywhere, and this week’s #3 isn’t exactly going to please headbangers either. But Iced Earth’s first album with new vocalist Stu Block grabbed the #4 spot, while Cradle of Filth, Insomnium and Evile all made it into the top 100.

Click to read more…

“It is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.” – Abraham Maslow

TL;DR – A software company lets you sound like you can play bitchin’ guitar.  Periphery fans may wring their hands, but Brian Eno probably wouldn’t care.  Justin thinks it’s fine as a toy but uses the expressed complaints as a way to hate on Autotune.  Also, Van Canto is terrible.

Axl tweeted a link to an interesting article the other day from the Heavy Blog is Heavy about a piece of software by 8Dio called “Progressing Metal.”  This program makes you to sound like Meshuggah without having to go through the trouble of playing a guitar.  Instead, you just plink something into a keyboard, run it through the magic bits and, presto, you’re Fredrik Thordendal.  Sorta.

This freaks some people out.  The accompanying blog post, for instance, ponders a question: is this just too much?  Like, if some guy can sit down at his computer with a whole lot of patience and a software program and, some time later, pop out the next Chaosphere, then… well, something bad, right?  Because that seems… unfair?

Click to read more…

When Some Kind of Monster came out, Jason Newsted suddenly surpassed Dave Mustaine to become #2 on the list of Most Popular Former Members of Metallica*, mostly because he made some pretty funny comments about how the whole Phil Towle/group therapy thing was bullshit — comments which, at the screening I attended, were met with rapturous applause. (The house was obviously packed with Metallica listeners.) Suddenly, everyone rather conviently forgot that Newsted was a willing participant in the Load albums, and he seemed like the cool dude who had jumped off a sinking ship before it was too late. And the fact that he was playing with Voivod didn’t hurt his case any, even if the fact that he was also playing with a certain aging Brit sorta did.

But then of course just a few years later Newsted was out of Voivod and in Rock Star Supernova, and his cred went down the drain just as fast as if he’d stuck around for St. Anger.

Click to read more…

I’ve been a fan of Portland’s Danava for some time now…..the band fuses heavy rawk riffage, ripping guitar solos, tripped-out keyboard mayhem, thumping boogie-stomp grooves and more together into an amalgam of awesome.  Bringing a new sensibility to yesteryear’s sounds in spades, Danava’s new Kemado Records album Hemisphere of Shadows is a scorcher that knows when to wail and when to lay back, with guitarmonies, fuzz and moogs aplenty.  Think Hawkwind, Thin Lizzy, Zeppelin, Deep Purple……..but don’t think, just rock out.

The band has old stuff on its TheirSpace page, and a few new tracks can be found on MeTube:

The band is currently on the road; remaining tour dates (with Thrones) after the jump.

Click to read more…

“Andy Establishment and Blankstare Bobby went to the mall donning MS shirts to pick up some burritos and stand in front of a wall with a businessman on it. This didn’t quite cure the hangover.”

So sayeth Aidan Crossley, who sent in the above pic (we’re not sure if Aidan is either “Andy Establishment” or “Blankstare Bobby”), who will be rewarded handsomely with a box o’ goodies from the MS Mansion; CDs, posters, stickers and the like. You can receive the same 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.

That’s the Sergeant D-designed shirt from 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, too.

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 guitarist Doc Coyle of God Forbid, who are currently working on a new album to be released by Victory Records sometime next year. (Doc also sometimes blogs for MetalSucks, in case ya didn’t know!)

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!!!

Click to read more…

More great unsigned bands! Let’s listen:

Click to read more…

Interview and live pics by Emily Eve; girls on stage pic by Friedia Niimura

In one sense, making records is like using the toilet: It takes more to do number two than number one. And in the case of L.A. heavy metal semi-parodists Steel Panther, a follow-up to their wildly funny and compulsively banging 2009 debut Feel The Steel is an even bigger, stinkier challenge: This time, fans can see them coming, um so to speak. But in the spotlight’s glare, before expectant ears and faces poised to smile, lead singer Michael Starr and crew deliver a bigger, dirtier, and awesomer mass of heavy metal hilarity called Balls Out (available Tuesday). The 14-track tour de farce covers 47 amazing minutes, a range of hot-button rocker issues (drugs, gender roles, boners), and a load of singalong mega-choruses and nip-scorching guitar solos unheard since pro tools was just an aisle at Sears. To those somehow able to resist Feel The Steel, I say: You’re fucked now. Balls Out is stronger than you and your feeble protestations. Crank. It. Up.

This feat of skill and cocksmanship on display in Balls Out begs for investigation, so last week I went to hear firsthand how Steel Panther achieved the equivalent of making a Ghostbusters II better than its Ghostbusters I. And though it was a rainy, gusty Autumn night, the huge Steel Panther dressing room was buzzing heatedly as I sat down with Starr and lead bass player Lexxi Foxxx to get answers. Just nearby were lead guitarist Satchel (at whom I gazed lovingly whenever his inattention allowed) and lead drummer Stix Zadinia (with entourage) as the three of us gabbed highly about Balls Out, drugs, vaginas, immaturity, maturity, the guy from Nickelback, shaving stuff, the responsibilities of being Steel Panther, and much more.

Click to read more…

Glenn Danzig gets a lot of shit.

The singer-songwriter is probably the most diverse talent to emerge from the old-school hardcore scene. He wrote the lyrics and music to practically all the awesome songs from the Misfits, Samhain and Danzig. And when his backing bands weren’t executing his vision in the studio, Danzig would step in and perform plenty of the tracks.

Think about that: Could Greg Ginn have put together an entire Black Flag album himself? Could guitar prodigy Brian Baker have recorded an entire Minor Threat record? Ian MacKaye and Roger Miret are legendary frontmen, but just listen to Misfits songs like “Vampira” and “Death Comes Ripping” — as a hardcore singer, Danzig was without peer. And look what he did after his salad days.

Both of Danzig’s Black Aria albums crashed the Billboard Classical Music top ten (the first took the No. 1 spot). He wrote tunes for Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison. He penned two of the last four truly mandatory Metallica songs. Guns N’ Roses covered one of his many classics.

And what does that get him? A lifetime’s deluge of haterade.

Click to read more…

Growing up, I was a metal kid: if there was any shred at all, I ate it up. This means that in 1997 I wasn’t aware of bands like Coalesce, who came more from the hardcore side of things and certainly did not shred, although they’re of course now widely respected as being among the first bands to meld metal and hardcore into one. If I had heard Coalesce in 1997 I might’ve been impressed by their use of ever-shifting time signatures, but I might’ve also been too turned off by their gruff vocals to care; no way to know now, I suppose. But what’s most important is that since discovering Coalesce many, many years later I’ve grown to love and appreciate both their music itself and their important role in metal history as one of the original metalcore bands, before it became a dirty word.

So: Coalesce are re-releasing their debut 1997 album Give Them Rope, along with a re-mixed and transmogrified version of Give Them Rope they put out in 2004, together as a two-CD or two-LP set. Since I wasn’t aware of the original version when it came out I can’t really say I have a preference one way or the other (although the mix on the 2004 version does sound beefier), but I know this is the kind of raging debate that gives message boards a reason to exist. NPR is streaming both versions of album cut “Still It Sells,” so you be the judge: which is better?? Visit for the jamz and stay for the fascinating interview with vocalist Sean Ingram about the history of both versions and the impetus behind releasing this set. Also, bonus: new Coalesce album already in the works!

Pre-order the Give Them Rope re-issue set here.

-VN

I’m gonna put about as much effort into this introduction as Loutallica put into making Lulu melodic and easy on the ears.

First up is Mureau’s video for “California,” which debuted on Noisecreep. This very-much-not-good band’s singer has produced some other very-much-not-good bands, like Suffokate and As Blood Runs Black, and their drummer’s daddy is John Corabi, who made one really good album with Motley Crue that no one besides me n’ Vince seems to remember. This video is notable mostly due to the appearance of lots of hot girls in bikinis, which just goes to prove that what my grandfather always said was correct: “If your music blows goats, make sure to have lots of hot girls in bikinis in your video so people still pay attention to you.” Gramps was so wise!

Click to read more…

Far be it from me to hate on anyone’s taste in music – to each their own. I’m sure if one were to wrassle my iPod from my (cold, dead) hands they’d find a number of artists and/or songs suitably mock-worthy. I earnestly try to give all (eh… most) genres a try, especially in the metal and hardcore realms. You never know, something could surprise you! In a way, Carnifex’s newest, Until I Feel Nothing, did just that – I didn’t hate it as much as I thought I would.

Click to read more…

The new video for “Restless” by Leprous — aka Ihshan’s live backing band — is a doozy. It’s given me with an opportunity to remember why I liked Bilateral enough to premiere a track from it back in August; it’s also really… fucking… weird.

The press release touting the “Restless” video boasts that the band “expect[s] you to understand the entire chain of events during the first watching.” Well, I’ve watched this thing three times now and I still have no idea what the fuck is going on. Help me out here.

Click to read more…

Metalgf and I visited Alaska this past June and had one of the best vacations of our lives. Metal was few and far between, but that’s a good thing when your job involves listening to dozens of metal bands every single day; aside from a dude in a Meshuggah hoodie I randomly saw at a rest stop in Denali National Park (holy fuck look at that landscape in the background), the most metal thing I saw was the Fairbanks minor league baseball team: The Alaska Goldpanners.

I now understand why bands so rarely tour Alaska: a) it’s far (duh), b) everything is fucking EXPENSIVE because pretty much everything this side of whale blubber has to be imported from somewhere else, and c) there are really only two Alaskan cities that are big enough to be worth playing. It really sorta is the end of the earth. So, understandably, Anchorage residents must’ve been beyond stoked when Between the Buried and Me played two headline dates in Anchorage earlier this month. BTBAM fittingly whipped out their old classic “Alaska” from the album of the same name, which they hadn’t played live in quite some time. Here is it in multi-camera, pro-shot glory via the always reliable HBIH:

-VN

Nine Inch Nails may be done as a touring band, but it lives on as a recording project — which makes sense, since it’s really just Trent Reznor, and pretty much anything he does, be it How to Destroy Angels or film scores, sounds like NIN. So, um, yeah.

Nine Inch Reznor’s latest release is a cover of “Zoo Station” from U2′s last good album, Achtung Baby. The good news is, Reznor did not make a rote re-recording of the original song, and instead attempted to put his own unique spin on the material. The bad news is, the results are actually kind of boring, if not at all terrible. It’s interesting to note that his version of the tune is a full two minutes longer than the original; I guess Reznor felt like he really, really need extra time for all the semi-ambient computer noise.

Nine Inch Nails’ cover of U2′s “Zoo Station” is part of Q magazine’s tribute to Achtung Baby, which you can stream here.

-AR

[via The PRP]