Since Dutch occult-rockers The Devil’s Blood took over my music life this summer, I’ve been fighting a nagging tug at my heart caused by the fear that, without a US label deal, TD’sB would not land in America for awesome live shows (and interviews and um make-out sessions). But as of this moment, I’m allowed to report that this shadow over my soul has been sunblasted away: Metal Blade Records is bringing The Devil’s Blood to America. Oh, sweet relief!

Behold fancy MetalSucks Exclusive details: Upcoming second album The Thousandfold Epicentre is slated for US release on January 17 and, boner of all bonerz, there’s already an awesome stateside tour in the works. Hoping for a vinyl release — perfect for classic metal acts with killer artwork like TD’sB (below) and labelmates Ghost — I was told that a 12″ edition will follow the CD release but that no date has been set. I was also told that Metal Blade chief Brian Slagel was behind the deal, so he should get ready for a huge fucking cookie bouquet from me. Slagel comments:

Reminiscent of the classic metal and psychedelic rock bands of the 60′s and 70′s, The Devil’s Blood has created a dark and haunting world made up of intriguing music, strong vocals and musicianship, reflective artwork, and a theatrical stage show that is not to be missed.

Pre-order The Thousandfold Epicentre and crank exclusive new track “She” here!

-ADF

Guys, I don’t mean to bore you with my own personal shit about which you probably care little (if at all), but I have had some serious struggles with depression in my life. After hitting rock bottom last month, I finally decide to seek the treatment I need, and after many, many consultations with various members of the psychiatric field, it was determined that the source of my depression was that MetalSucks readers keep e-mailing us to sing the praises of terrible tech-death-core bands. The doctors prescribed a steady regiment of Xanax and new music by Cynic, and I’ve been feeling much better ever since.

Of course, my shrinks just might be quacks, because now a lady named Dr. Katrina McFerran at The University of Melbourne says that young people at risk for depression are more likely to listen to metal in the first place.

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Last time we featured young-gun experimental instrumentalists Chon in December of 2009 you guys seemed to really, really like ‘em, as I did. So you should all be happy to find out that Chon have a brand new song called “O.G.,” which you can stream below:

I can’t find any info about whether this song is part of an upcoming album or not… but who needs albums when each individual song is this good? I did find this tidbit, posted on their Facebook wall:

Yoooooo homies! We are recording and releasing ANOTHER NEW SONG AND AND AAAAAAAND RELEASING A MUSIC VIDEO next month!!!!! You as stoked as we are?

So at least there’s that to look forward to. Enjoy the new song above and let us know what you think.

-VN

Metropolis Pt 2: Scenes From a Memory stands as Dream Theater’s best album, the crowning accomplishment of a lengthy career that itself is quite the crowning accomplishment. It’s rare that a band’s 5th album — or 4th, or 3rd, or 6th — is the one that’s almost universally considered their best (“I only ever really liked their FIRST album, brah!”), but amongst Dream Theater fans the opinion is nearly unanimous: Scenes From a Memory was (and still is) beyond incredible. I know it, you know, the band members themselves know it.

So it’s fitting that Dream Thater has decided to reissue Scenes as a 2x LP gatefold 180 gram vinyl set. Bonerz!

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I suppose “occult rock” is a handy enough term for it, anyway; it’s easier than stringing together “70’s-influenced psychedelic doom rock” to describe the aural spells these wicked women weave. The Devil is bigger than ever (bigger than the Beatles!) and the chorus of converts singing his praises has grown louder with every Ghost album downloaded or pig’s blood-smeared Impiety shirt sold. Rock’n’roll has always been the Devil’s music. Bluesmen gave it its desolate soul, but in the late 60’s, Coven draped it in black velvet, lit the candles, and sacrificed it, fanning the flames straight back down to Lucifer. In the ensuing decades since Jinx Dawson and her merry men first married black magic with heavy psych, plenty more women have ventured down the left-hand path.  The following bands aren’t truly metal, but they flirt with enough occult references and genre staples to warrant a free pass. Any band/musician who can tour with Electric Wizard, call half of Watain their BFFS, rock the stage at Roadburn (or, you know, essentially introduce the concept of Satanism to American rock music way before even Black Sabbath or Pentagram were beckoning us forward) the way they have already boasts enough cred to put half the crowd at MDF to shame.

So here you have it, a handful of my favorite feminine purveyors of occult rock – most of them are vocalists, but a couple of them play other instruments as well. I definitely want to hear from you guys on this one, as this particular sound occupies a place very near to my metal heart. The thought of including Chelsea Wolfe and Zola Jesus (recent discoveries that I am unabashedly loving) crossed my mind but they seem a too close to the gothy end of the spectrum to warrant inclusion (good call/bad call? Wolfe’s Burzum cover was pretty neat).

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Okay so I know that this season has been really, really overwhelming for awesome new releases, but, hey, c’mon — there are WAY worse problems to have.

The latest entry in the “Holy Shit How Am I Gonna Fit All This Stuff On My Year-End List?” sweepstakes is East of the Wall’s The Apologist, which is now streaming over at Brooklyn Vegan. This is one of these bands that I’m never quite sure how to categorize… it’s proggy but not a naval gazer… and it’s techy but not in a boring showing-off-but-failed-write-any-good-songs kinda way… and it’s definitely heavy but maybe not br00tal? I dunno. How about “amazing?” Let’s just call EotW “amazing” and leave it at that.

Stream The Apologist here. It comes out October 25 on Translation Loss. And just for good measure, tour dates are after the jump, too… this band is SO FUCKING GOOD LIVE that you should let a truck run over your foot if you miss them, you dumb bastard.

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While we’re always game for a crazy Friday night of partying, we are ESPECIALLY excited for tonight. ‘Cause tonight we’re teaming up with our friends at Metal Injection and 1000 Knives for a totally kick-ass CMJ Music Marathon showcase, featuring Skeletonwitch, Kvelertak, Barn Burner, Turbid North, and Battle Cross. Not only is the show guaranteed to be beyond insane, but there’s gonna be FREE BEER between 6 and 7pm courtesy of our friends at eOne Entertainment. Which means we will be totally fershnickered by 7:01 pm.

Come join us! The festivities take place at Club Europa in Brooklyn. You can get more details at the show’s official Facebook page. Tickets are also still on sale here.

See ya tonight!

-Axl & Vince

Last week we offered up two DVD copies of the very metal horror film The After Party Massacre to give away, plus a gift certificate to HorrorMerch.com for one grand prize winner.

• space scoundrel (grand prize): “This Is Anal Tap.”
• Will Clay: “Unlike many of their peers, the band would survive the end of the 1980s by rebranding themselves as tough-guy outlaws with 1990′s Cowboys from Hell.”

This week we have two copies of the new 5-CD UFO collection The Chrysalis Years (1973-1979), a career-spanning box set that includes Phenomenon (1974), Force It (1975), No Heavy Petting (1976), Lights Out (1977), and Obsession (1978), as well as some obscure tracks, rare remixes and a previously unreleased 45-minute concert recording from UFO’s first U.S. tour. This is a cool opportunity for you younger metalheads to learn about a band that was very influential and important to modern heavy music. You know the drill: leave a comment with the funniest caption to the photo below, submitted by MS reader Polina Polishchuk. Remember to use a real email address (or post it along with your comment if you’re using FB Connect / Twitter etc).

For those who don’t know, the guy who co-founded SOUTHERN LORD was an sxe moshbro back in the ’80s and early ’90s, and had a terrible/lulzy hardcore band called BROTHERHOOD. Then after youth crew was cool, he was in ENGINE KID, a really shitty alternative rock band. After that he was in a drone band that was kind of sweet called TEETH OF LIONS RULE THE DIVINE (lol @ hipster name), then he was in another drone band called SUNN O)), but they weren’t as good as his other drone band. Curious??? READ MOAR!

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Before there were blogs there were these things called magazines, and the only metal magazine we still get excited about reading every month is Decibel. Here’s managing editor Andrew Bonazelli…

I’m kind of scared to interview Dave Mustaine. Not because I have a Vic Rattlehead backpiece and placekick my cat every time she comes within three feet of my Peace Sells… vinyl box. And not because he’s an intimidating, confrontational guy with a scary-low tolerance for perceived affronts. Mostly because he has a tendency to ramble like the bum downstairs who just tried to buy one of my smokes for a quarter, and we don’t have a Decibel intern right now who would transcribe that clusterfuck for me. Luckily, Jeff Treppel is a true believer with infinite patience, and he did an unsurprisingly stellar job on December’s Megadeth cover story.

It’s about time we gave MegaDave a cover all to himself (he shared the glory with Testament and Slayer back in February of ’10). Hell, there are plenty of occasions to commemorate. The oddly stylized new record is, in fact, number TH1RT3EN, and Dave just celebrated the big 5-0 with a (literally) backbreaking Big Four homecoming. Most surprising of all, he comes off as legitimately introspective and humble for the duration of the piece. And bonus: the cover image is just the right blend of really cool and disarmingly creepy. The December ish also features a super-exclusive interview Jef Whitehead of Leviathan (speaking of confrontational), as well as Daniel Ekeroth’s favorite new-school Swedish death metal bands, stories on Absu, Animals as Leaders, Muni Waste and… yeah, you can see it all for yourself right there on the cover.

-AB

The December 2011 issue of Decibel also features Landmine Marathon, Hammers of Misfortune, and an awesome Goatwhore flexi disc, and can be ordered here. But why not just get a full subscription to ensure that you never miss one an issue?

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 drummer Curran Reynolds of Today is the Day (and Wetnurse, who, alas, are not playing the fest). TITD’s new album, Pain is a Warning, was released earlier this year on Black Market Activities.

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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Michael Winslow is probably best known as the guy who makes funny noises in the Police Academy movies (winner of more Oscars than any other franchise in history), but I prefer to remember him as the “I’ve lost the bleeps, I lost the sweeps, and I lost the creeps” dude from Spaceballs. However you remember him (assuming you remember him at all), there is no denying that he made a solid career for himself out of the world’s best party trick, which is more than you can say for most people!

I mention him now because Metal Injection found [via the AV Club] some super-sweet footage of Winslow doing a couple of Led Zeppelin covers, which you can check out below. Even though it’s very (very, very, very) easy to make Winslow into a punchline, there really is no denying that this is pretty cool.

More Led Zep after the jump. And as a bonus, I’ve included some old footage of Winslow doing Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze,” too.

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Hammers Of Misfortune’s upcoming album 17th Street (listen here) totally blew me away on the very first listen. It was one of those virginal experiences in which I knew nothing about the band, no expectations, just maximum jamming. As precious as an unpolluted music encounter is, I’ve already skewed your HoM relationship by telling you that 17th Street is awesome, so jeez, this might be the time to break it to you that HoM are hipsters. Like, super-hipsters, hipsters so hipster that the term hipster doesn’t even capture them; let’s brand them hipsterers. More on that in a second.

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Axl has blathered quite a bit in recent months about the awesomeness of the new Die Miserable album from Canadian death-grind-punk-whozit-whatsit-galore band Fuck the Facts. It’s left me quivering in the fetal position a few times, too, so we figured it was high time we found out what the band had to say about it? Read on for all the facts you could ever want to fuck from the band’s guitarist/founder Topon Das and vocalist Mel Mongeon.

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Not only does musical superhero Butch Walker, herein dubbed “The Devin Townsend of pop,” have a new album out — The Spade, which I’ve somehow entirely neglected to write about until now even though it’s been out for weeks — but the ex-Southgang guitarist has an autobiography on the way too! Butch Walker, his very own book!

Producer books can be hit or miss, captivating looks into the behind-the-scenes sessions of and minds behind your favorite albums on one side of the spectrum and boring, self-indulgent TL;DR-fests on the other. But in the case of Butch Walker, who is not only a producer but a singer, songwriter, guitarist and all-around fucking genius, I have no doubt at all that Drinking With Strangers is going to be hard to put down. I know this with absolute certainty because Walker is one of the only songwriters/musicians in the history of ever whose lyrics I actually listen to; the dude’s got a way with words. AND he’s surely got some fucking amazing stories to tell from all of his years in a hair band, his time in the Marvelous 3, and the countless pop artists he’s produced.

There’s a little parody video Butch made to promote Drinking With Strangers over at EW.com. Unsurprisingly, it’s completely aces; if you ever watched Reading Rainbow growing up you’ll find it especially funny.

Drinking With Strangers comes out on October 25th and is available for pre-order via Amazon.

-VN

I know we’re already beating this Lulu thing to death, but, I mean, c’mon — it is just SO AMAZING that Metallica have somehow figured out a way to disappoint the fans yet AGAIN, and have possibly even outdone the debacle that was St. Anger. Seriously, this thing is so hilariously awful somewhere in the world right now, Axel Rudi Pell and the dudes from Morbid Angel are on their knees, thanking the good Lord for finally taking the heat off of them.

And now comes the silver lining of Lulu — namely, the parodies and memes. NPR helpfully points the way towards those which have already been released. First up are some fake pre-production demos by a YouTube user named gr8080. gr8080′s version of “Little Dog” was made utilizing nothing more than a knowledge of the song title and running time (for maximum troll power!), and it’s hilarious (I especially appreciate all the howling. Except that gr8080 had no way of knowing that he (I think it’s a he) was creating something that was actually far more melodic than the actual “Little Dog,” which, like all of Lulu, is just a total fucking mess. “Little Dog” also happens to be one of the most boring songs on Lulu, so gr8080 has Loutallica beat in the energy department, too.

I’m also very fond of gr8080′s version of “Brandenburg Gate,” which melds lots of silly German stuff together (Kraftwerk-style avant-electronica, the entire language, etc.) in the name of comedy gold:

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Maybe it’s because I’m Jewish, or maybe I’m just an evil liberal participating in The War on Christmas, but few things annoy me more than holiday songs. They pretty much universally suck. Except for Dean Martin’s “Let it Snow.” I like that one. But that may just be because it was used at the end of Die Hard.

ANYWAY, now I guess there’s a second exception to the rule: Mike Patton crooning “The Christmas Song” for John Zorn’s new Happy Birthday Jesus! release,  A Dreamer’s Christmas. Patton’s velvety voice is so good it makes me go all weak in the knees pretty much no matter what he’s singing.

A Dreamer’s Christmas is out now.

-AR

[via Metal Insider]

Aborted are one of those bands I honestly have never listened to enough to have an opinion about their music, but the fact that their upcoming release, Global Flatline, features guest appearances from the likes of The Black Dahlia Murder’s Trevor Strnad, Misery Index’s Jason Netherton, and Rotten Sound’s Keiijo Niinima means that my interest is now piqued. And the new, totally disgusting and NSFW trailer for the album ain’t hurtin’ any.

No joke — if you ever wished that the killer in the Saw movies was a pretty lady instead of an old dude, you are going to love this.

Aborted’s Global Flatline comes out January 24 via Century Media; the title track will be released as a single next week.

-AR

Misha Mansoor hasn’t done his own Rigged column for MetalSucks, but anyone who’s interested in finding out what guitar gear he uses could easily do so from his many Gear Geek columns on MetalSucks and from the general fruits of the Internet. Much more interesting is this video piece he produced with Metal Injection on the band’s recent Frak the Gods Tour stop in New York City, in which he takes us behind-the-scenes of Periphery’s stage show. He covers the band’s setup and sound-check, the sound guy, backstage, explains their light show, speaks with the other bands on the tour… everything, and it turns out that Misha’s a hilarious video host despite having the flu. Someone get this guy a regular show on Metal Injection.

-VN

When I first started watching Blotted Science’s video for “Cretaceous Chasm,” I was like, “Whoa, this is pretty awesome! I wonder what kind of budget they had on this thing?” And then I was like, “Wait, is that Gollum?” And then I realized it was all footage from Peter Jackson’s remake of King Kong. I think I might have recognized it sooner, but that movie was fucking abysmal, and I haven’t seen it since it was in theaters.

ANYWAY, the music is great even if the video isn’t original, so you should check it out, and then join me in hoping that Peter Jackson doesn’t get litigious. I mean, we already know he’s metal-friendly, so…

Blotted Science’s new EP, The Animation Of Entomology, is out now. We’ll have an interview with guitarist Ron Jarzombek for you sometime very soon.

-AR