Vince and I are both massive fans of Oscar nominated director Darren Aronofsky (although we differed in opinion on Black Swan, but whatever). And even if you’re not a fan of his films, there’s no denying that he is a unique and powerful voice in modern cinema. In other words: I get why some people may not like his work, but I can’t understand how anyone could not respect his work.

Of course, my stance that you must at least give Aronofsky his due is probably gonna change real soon, ’cause guess what? According to the Associated Press, he’s directing a video for “Iced Honey,” one of the many terrible songs from Lou Reed and Metallica’s Lulu.

We don’t really have any other info right now, other than the fact that Aronofsky will be utilizing his long-time cinematographer, Matthew Libatique, who has been one of his key collaborators since π (Libatique also shot the Iron Man movies and Spike Lee’s Inside Man, in case you’re curious). And while normally I’d be inclined to say that Aronofsky’s video will probably be the most interesting thing to come out of this whole Lulu debacle, I was also optimistic once that Lou Reed might be able to whip Metallica into shape, and we all know how that turned out.

But the video probably won’t have any monkeys in it, so. Y’know. It’s got that going for it.

Commiserate with me in the comments section.

-AR

Thanks to our friend, the mighty Josh Eldrige,  for bringing this to our attention via his Twitter account!

The official Metal Suckfest pre-game was a smash last night, with Mayhem, Keep of Kalessin, Hate, Abigail Williams and Woe ripping the Gramercy Theatre’s arseholes like they’ve never been ripped before. Tonight we ratchet up the tension with the fest’s first official night; there’s still time to buy tickets here or at the door of the show. Doors are at 5pm and the first of 10 bands goes on at 5:30, so get there early!

But the fun doesn’t end when the fat lady sings (which in this case, I guess, is Municipal Waste)! After the show we’ll be partying with the bands from Suckfest at Brooklyn’s best metal bar, the legendary DUFF’s, just under the Williamsburg Bridge on the Brooklyn side. Come and booze it up with us into the wee hours of Saturday morning with metal rocking on the jukebox all night long.

And then, Saturday night, after Cynic cap the fest’s second day, we’ll be doing it all over again at our favorite “Bourbon, Beer, Rock” standby Idle Hands Bar on Avenue B and 2nd St in Manhattan. It’s only a $7 cab ride from the Gramercy, AND EVERYONE WITH A METAL SUCKFEST TICKET STUB GETS A FREE SHOT OF WHISKEY! (assuming you’re over 21… duh), so you’ve really got no excuse not to pile into a cab with your buddies and head on down. Idle Hands’ selection of bourboun and beer is aces — make sure you enjoy it.

See you tonight!

Geez, this new Megadeth video sure does have a lot of monkeys in it.

Here are some questions I have after watching this video. Please let me know if you can answer any of them.

Click to read more…

-VN

[via Gothamist]

Last week’s contest proved popular, not surprisingly, because the prize was extra-sweet: a signed copy of Textures’ latest CD Dualism as well as a t-shirt of your choice from their webstore. And our winner is:

• Jonathan Delarosa: “Burn calories, not churches. Eat a br00tally balanced breakfast every morning.”

In case you haven’t heard yet, Coalesce are re-issuing their debut album Give Them Rope; the set includes TWO versions of the same album — the original, released in 1997, and a re-mixed/re-jiggered version released in 2004. We’ve got one 2-disc vinyl set to give away with dark red and baby blue discs, pretty fucking sweet if you ask me. Alls ya gotta do is leave a comment with the funniest caption to the most excellent photo below, which was sent in by no less than five readers over the past couple of days. Remember to use a real email address (or post it along with your comment if you’re using FB Connect / Twitter etc).

Eyal Levi from Dååth, Levi/Werstler, and Audiohammer Studios has obviously been in this business for some time now, and he’s learned a thing or two about a thing or two. This week, he imparts ten lessons about the music biz — and life in general — to you, our beloved readers, once a day, two installments at a time. You can read the week’s first two lessons here, and the week’s next two lessons here, and the week’s most recent two lessons here; check out lesson numbers seven and eight below!

#7: WEEKENDS? THERE’S NO SUCH THING

If you’re fortunate enough to get to a point in your life where you can actually support yourself from a creative endeavor, then be prepared to throw away all notions of having a normal life. Now ,I know that there’s no such thing as “normal,” and that everyone is an individual, but hear me out on what I mean by that.

Weekends are for resting and partying; weekdays are for working. That’s a normal concept, which fits in with the archetypical 9-5 jobs. It’s perfectly setup for ensuring that you can hold down a social/family life while working at the same time. And, for the majority of the world, it works. There’s a good structure to it. I can see how it would get repetitive and old, but at least you know what to look forward to. And at least you can get things done without too much hassle, because the rest of the world is set up to cater to your schedule.

In the land of creative jobs, good luck with that idea. More often than not, you will find yourself working all hours of the night, for weeks, or even months, on end. If you take breaks like the rest of the world, then you will be left behind.

Click to read more…

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…

We’ve done three special one-off Decibels now, and have pimped them in this very spot like Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver (you can do anything you want with them… but no rough stuff, all right?). The one you see above is my favorite, not necessarily because I prefer thrash to black metal or a general ’90s metal countdown, but because a shark eating a skeleton eating a pizza is only half the fucking cover art by acclaimed metal artist Andrei Bouzikov (Municipal Waste, Skeletonwitch, Cannabis Corpse).

Anyway, the content is just as choice: a galloping rundown of the top 50 thrash albums of all time, buffered by seven radical Hall of Fames:

Slayer, Reign in Blood
Anthrax, Among the Living
Testament, The Legacy
Metallica,  …And Justice for All
Megadeth, Rust in Peace
Anacrusis, Reason
Prong, Beg to Differ

The latter three are exclusive to this issue, duh. If you’re wondering why the Big Four haven’t been fully represented in the Hall until now, well, it took years of busting ass from writer Chris Dick to make it happen. (Which you probably could’ve guessed—I mean, it’s Megadeth.) But it’s really funny and harsh and long—I’m sure I’ll post some deleted scene action here someday, since we basically had to cut it in half. Anyway, the Thrash HOF issue is available only in Decibel’s webstore and select indie record shops (go here to find a store near you). If you missed out on our previous special issues, we’ve put together this triple-threat bundle for extreme convenience. You’re welcome.

Any other thrash-centric HOFs you wanna see in the future? Comment away.

-AB

You can order this very special one-off issue right here. And, of course, the December 2011 issue of Decibel – which features Megadeth, Municipal Waste, Animals as Leaders, Landmine Marathon, Hammers of Misfortune, and an awesome Goatwhore flexi disc – can be ordered here. But why not just get a full subscription to ensure that you never miss one an issue?

Yes, it’s true, and yes, it’s a total bummer. Legendary NYC underground pornogrinders have cancelled their appearance for Day One of The Metal Suckfest tomorrow. It would have been their first show since 2001.

The cause, apparently, is this: the band HATES attention. We’ve had readers asking why their albums aren’t online, why they have no website, etc. And that’s the reason. Lake Bukkake might be the only band in history that DOESN’T want to be famous.

And suddenly they were gonna play Suckfest, and they were getting all this attention. And, basically, they freaked. So they were gonna play in front of a crowd about seven times larger than any crowd they’ve ever played for before? With all this press, ranging from Metal Injection to Brooklyn Vegan to Metal Insider to Time Out New York, present and snapping photos?

They couldn’t handle it. They called us this morning and said they were out. Vince and Axl literally spent all afternoon on the phone with them trying to convince them to play the show, but to no avail.

No one is more heart-broken than we are. But the good news is that every other band previously scheduled to play The Metal Suckfest is STILL going to rock your face. So if Lake Bukkake don’t wanna be there, well… their loss.

Tickets to both days of The Metal Suckfest are just $25 until 10 pm tonight, even if you buy them online — there are NO service fees. Buy tickets here.

And see ya tomorrow!!!

Gwar guitarist Cory Smoot (aka Flattus Maximus) is dead. His band members found him deceased this morning as they prepared to cross the Canadian border. MetalSucks just received the following statement by Gwar mastermind Dave Brockie directly from the band’s camp:

It is with a sense of profound loss and tragedy that the members of GWAR must announce the passing of their long time guitarist and beloved friend Cory Smoot,  also known to thousands of metal fans worldwide as Flattus Maximus.  Cory was found deceased this morning as the band prepared for a border crossing.  There is no word as to the cause of death and the members of GWAR are completely shocked and devastated that this has occurred.  At this point there is no word on arrangements and the disposition of the remainder of GWAR’s current North American tour, nor are there any details regarding long term plans.  At this point we are just dealing with the loss of our dear friend and brother, one of the most talented guitar players in metal today.  We ask that our fans and the media be respectful of our request for privacy for those that have suffered this terrible loss.  A full statement will be coming in the next day or so, in the meantime please give your thoughts and your prayers to Cory, his family, and all the people that love him.

-Dave Brockie-

This sucks more than words can possibly express. Our thoughts and condolences go out to Cory’s friends, his family, and of course his bandmates.

- Everyone at MetalSucks

You’ve gotta feel for melodic death metal bands in 2011. They’re like the birdhouse builders of metal: sure, building a birdhouse isn’t an easy thing, and takes time to master your craft. But then after years of making quality birdhouses, suddenly Home Goods and Wal-Mart are shitting them out by the thousands, and people just go there to get them instead of to you, because they‘re cheaper and get the job done (the job here being housing birds). Then one day, here you are, a decent-enough birdhouse maker in a world that doesn’t care enough to spend money on handcrafted birdhouses, and you theoretically have to start over at 53, when all you were really good at was building birdhouses. So your options are make a half-assed attempt at another career, or continue being fairly good at making birdhouses in an ever-increasingly limited market. If you’re lucky, the economy will improve and people will arbitrarily decide that birdhouses are a thing at which to throw their money. But can you afford to bet on that kind of luck?

Crafting competent melodic death metal isn’t easy, either– let alone good melodeath — and if you’ve put enough time into your band, you have to stick with what you know. So, basically, Nightrage’s Insidious is an album that would have taken 2003 by storm that sounds perfectly fine now, just a little lifeless after years of its genre of choice being pounded into the ground. How many more times can we hear straight-up melodic death metal riffs with a lacquer of big-ass studio production and still be interested? Nightrage are fine at what they do, but before the inevitable melodic death metal revival of 2016, they need to be doing more to justify their existence.

Click to read more…

There’s more good unsigned metal out there than there’s time to listen to it, so I’ll stop yapping so you can get to listening: this week’s slate features The Armed, This Time It’s War and Vyathist. As it so happens, two of these bands were written about by two separate “Run MetalSucks For A Day” contest winners in consecutive years. Maybe Axl and I should just quit.

Click to read more…

Hell yeah! Yesterday’s sale on discounted tickets to The Metal Suckfest was such a success, we’re keepin’ it going! That means you can still buy tickets for just $25 — down from the original $30, and COMPLETELY FREE OF SERVICE CHARGES, EVEN IF YOU BUY TICKETS ONLINE –until 10 pm tonight! If you haven’t already, you should absolutely take advantage of this deal, because it means you’ll actually pay five dollars less than if you bought tickets at the door. So what are you waiting for? GO BUY TICKETS NOW! To cash in your discount, select the number of tickets you want from the “Discount Offer” menu after selecting the same amount in the “Full Price Ticket” menu.

We also know that some people who bought tickets before the sale feel, well, ripped-off — and, hey, we totally understand. And so, to make it up to those people, if you bought your ticket BEFORE the sale, we’re offering you $10 off any MetalSucks merch, including a sweet, sweet-ass, limited edition foil version of The Metal Suckfest poster (above) that was designed by our friend Rodney Githens from Vertebrae 33 and Metal Band Art. (This offer does not apply merch from the bands — sorry, that’s not our decision to make!) So hopefully you can go home with some cool shit at a way lower-than-usual price, and feel like your Uncle Axl and Uncle Vince still took good care of ya.

See you all on Friday! WE ARE SO FUCKING STOKED!!!!!!!

-Axl & Vince

Sammy O’Hagar gave Taake’s Noregs Vaapen a rave review at the beginning of October, and since I take Sammy’s opinion very seriously, I immediately made a mental note to give it a listen. Unfortunately, I’m an asshole, and I probably should have made a physical note, ’cause I completely forgot to check out Noregs Vaapen until it Candlelight actually released earlier this week.

But I’m glad I finally got around to it, ’cause this album is AWESOME. I have really not heard a lot of black metal that I really loved this year, but everything about this album is so killer… the songs are well-written, and Taake knows to play with convention just enough to make old tricks seem new again. (For example: the totally awesome banjo solo on “Myr,” which sounds like a rad, epic metal guitar solo, only played on banjo. SO. FRICKIN’. COOL.)

Now Noregs Vaapen is streaming in its entirety right here, and I strongly encourage you to check it out. I have no idea if this gonna actually end up making my year end list or not, but it’s definitely a contender; I’ve probably listened to it a dozen times in the past thirty-six hours or so, and I love it more with each listen. We’ll see how it holds up in the coming weeks.

-AR

Everyone remembers Bob Larson, right? He’s the evangelical radio personality that Glenn Benton used to prank phone call?

Well, that dude somehow got Mayhem bassist Necrobutcher (né Jørn Stubberud) to agree to be the victim beneficiary of an exorcism on Norwegian television, and that footage is now available for your viewing pleasure. Check it out below; it starts around the 22 minute mark. And, yes, it is highly, highly entertaining, in no small part because Larson is a humorless, self-righteous prick, and Necrobutcher is… well, he’s also pretty humorless, but the difference is that he’s, y’know, right.

In case you somehow forgot, Mayhem are headlining tonight’s Metal Suckfest pre-game at the Gramercy Theatre here in NYC; the show also features Keep of Kalessin, Hate, Abigail Williams, and Woe. Tickets are still available! Come see some awesome black metal, hang out with us, and let kick off the weekend’s festivities early. We’ll see ya there!

-AR

[via Metal Insider]

No surprise, but Evanescence and Five Finger Death Punch nabbed the #1 and #2 spots on the Current Hard Music charts for the third week in a row. The rest of of the Top 10 isn’t much better; aside from Foo Fighters (#4) and Mastodon (#8), the lot is pretty disappointing. BUT, there were solid debuts from Carnifex, Russian Circles (!), Structures, Black Tusk, Junius and more. Those numbers after the jump.

Click to read more…

Yesterday, I saw this incredible video online of a plane flying from New York to Warsaw making an emergency landing… with its wheels still up:

What I didn’t know until Metal Underground reported it this morning, though, is that Decapitated were on the plane.

Click to read more…

If last week’s preview of the new Shining (the Norwegian version) Live Blackjazz DVD got you as tickled pink as it did me, then you’re in for a treat this morning. I found this full clip of “The Madness and the Damage Done” on Heavy Blog Is Heavy — where else? — and I’m just entranced by it. After seeing Rammstein earlier this year and now watching this, I’m convinced industrial metal bands just have it going on in terms of live show production. If Shining were able to play arenas I’m sure they’d have all sorts of pyro, too, but even in the intimate club setting this DVD was filmed in they create the mood to match their music perfectly.

I sure hope Shining bring their show to the U.S. sometime soon. Which reminds me… didn’t they win a Norwegian grant for 1 million Kroner (approximately $150,000) expressly for that purpose? Come on guys, get it together, lest we dub you the Chris “Fat Fuck” Christie of metal.

Live Blackjazz comes out on 11/11/11 in Europe through Indie Recordings with a TBD U.S. release date in early 2012.

-VN

I get that the internet is still a new and evolving thing that we’re all getting used to. Over time, we’ll improve at clearly expressing ourselves, at not overreacting to good/dumb stuff, and at non-paranoid interaction with our peers. It’s a certainty. The name-calling and nit-picking and reflexive negativity and misspeaking will fade away as we all smile up a bit. Let’s go for it!

I bring this up cuz I occasionally offend people right here on MetalSucks. But it’s usually when a subject or reader rushes to a conclusion or otherwise assigns his/her own meaning to words I use. For example, anyone can state a judgement of value (e.g., Mustaine’s solos reek) but that doesn’t mean we can by fiat stretch that statement however we wish (e.g., Mustaine reeks). That’s just bad logic :)

On top of that, I don’t get why it’s so hard to remember that even if one states that Mustaine reeks, or even Megadeth reeks, it doesn’t even mean anything! It certainly doesn’t follow that one dislikes or dismisses or wishes away Megadeth or Mustaine or his guitar solos or, not least of all, his fans (you)! No, we’re all permitted to point out weaknesses of great things (crappy chops on Megadeth classics), and strengths of wack things (great production on Lostprophets albums) without wider implication. And we’re all allowed to like crappy stuff! I could go on and on but hey my thrust here has already been summed up neatly by Slaughter (above): Let our default setting be cheerful respect and good reading comprehension!! Hugz!

-ADF

By which I don’t mean they’re broke.

No, former Dillinger Escape Plan/current Return to Earth drummer has now parted ways with Coheed & Cambria after four years in the band. An official statement from Pennie chalks the split up to “creative differences” and says that Pennie will now concentrate on Return to Earth and another band I wasn’t even aware of, Fight Mannequins. (I wonder if that moniker refers to mannequins that fight, or is a directive to take down some dummies? The name works on so many levels!)

Here’s some more stuff Pennie said:

Click to read more…

Ron Jarzombek is a name that’s too seldom heard outside of progressive metal circles, despite his extensive metal legacy. Sure, a handful of people may be familiar with Blotted Science — the so-called “supergroup” of which he is a part — but by and large, even those who know Blotted Science are unfamiliar with the man himself.

Jarzombek began his musical work with the underrated-yet-incredibly-influential prog band Watchtower in the 80s, then delved into the realm of technical instrumental music with Spastic Ink in the 90s and 2000s. Blotted Science’s debut, The Machinations of Dementia, was released in 2007, and  also featured Cannibal Corpse’s Alex Webster (who is still in the band) and Behold… The Arctopus’ Charlie Zeleny (who is not).

That band is now back after four years (with a new drummer, Obscura’s Hannes Grossman, to boot!) to release The Animation of Entomology, an EP centered around bugs and horror — so much that the songs were actually written to already-existing videos as kind of horror movie scores. You can see the video for the first one, “Cretaceous Chasm,” here; the second one, “Vermicular Asphixiation,” is here.

I Skyped with Ron last week to discuss the new EP and ended up learning a lot about Jarzombek’s musical history, Blotted Science, Jarzombek’s views on the current metal scene, and ESPN exercise videos.

Click to read more…