Metal covers of non-metal songs are a dicey proposition; they can reinvigorate an old classic and take it to new places, but they run the high risk of abysmal failure in the process. There are ironic covers of modern pop-songs, which I think we can all agree are a bad idea, and serious covers of ’80s pop songs, a fun idea at first that’s been beat into the ground in recent years. Not all are doomed from the get-go, though; the best metal covers of non-metal songs are those that strike a balance between the original arrangement and the covering band’s haecceity, or “thisness,” making the new version their own. Misery Signals’ cover of Pink Floyd’s “Us and Them” really blew me away for that very reason, and I’m happy to report that The Atlas Moth’s cover of The Mamas and the Papas’ classic track “California Dreamin’” does the same.

This cover appeared on The Atlas Moth’s 2010 EP The One Amongst the Weed Fields, but like the aforementioned Misery Signals track I somehow missed it when it came out. I’m glad MS reader Kevin Ridge tipped me off to its existence.

The Atlas Moth’s new album An Ache for the Distance is out now and streaming in full on their Bandcamp page. It’s one of 2011′s best, and I promise you’ll dig it.

-VN

It’s no secret that Rick Rubin is what might be best described as a “hands off” producer. Based on what little I know about the guy, he wasn’t always that way — but these days, he has a reputation for being more a guru who comes into the studio X number of times a week and tells the band what they’re doing wrong before moving onto his next appointment. Y’know that image you have a record producer from A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica? Of the producer being present 24/7, and being so passionately involved with his work that he often argues with the band? Yeah, that ain’t Rubin.

Corey Taylor confirmed as much while discussing working with Rubin on Slipknot’s Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses during a recent stop on his solo tour. So that’s not really news. What is news that Taylor apparently hates the dude, who he calls “overrated” and “overpaid.” Check out video below:

In other news, Rick Rubin could probably give a fuck what Taylor or any other members of Slipknot think of him, because eighteen gajillion other bands will still pay him squillions of dollars to sit on their couch, eat his smelly blue shit, and tell them what he thinks of their record. But, hey… great work if you can get it.

-AR

[via The PRP]

Surely it’s a sign that a band is doing extremely well if their publicist asks you to wait two weeks to post about their new album because pre-orders through the band’s webstore have come in in overwhelming numbers. It’s hard to believe that an independent band like Cormorant could be in that position all on their own, but then again, no, it’s not really that hard to believe; Cormorant are a great band, people love ‘em, and as you may remember from his all-too-brief stint as a MetalSucks columnist a couple of years back, Cormorant mastermind Arthur von Nagel knows his way around the business side of music.

Now that we’ve waited the requisite two weeks, we can share the news that Dwellings is once again available for pre-order — this time through Cormorant’s Bandcamp page – in a number of configurations that mix and match the CD, a digital download, a t-shirt and a hoodie. All pre-orders come with an instant-grat download of three tracks, two of which have been previously available and a brand new one called “The First Man.” So get on that!

If you’re the “try before you buy” type head over to NPR, where Lars Gotrich has got the album he’s dubbed “the best metal record of 2011″ streaming in full. Look at the Alice Duke-drawn album artwork above as you listen, and consider if you think it’s worth springing for a CD version of Dwellings just so you can hold and admire that beauteous, sprawling masterpiece. Dwellings officially comes out on December 7th.

-VN

In case the live footage of three new Pig Destroyer songs wasn’t enough to jump your start your morning, High on Fire also recently performed a couple of new songs live. You can check out footage of the tracks, which may or may not be entitled ”Serums Of Liao” and  ”Madness Of An Architect,” below. Again, the quality is only meh, but, hey, it’s High on Fire so no one’s complainin’, right?

So here’s “Serums Of Liao”…

…and  ”Madness Of An Architect” is after the jump. Enjoy.

Click to read more…

Major, major, MAJOR props to reader Brian Koz for sending us this footage of Pig Destroyer playing three new songs at a Seattle concert, and thus ensuring that we start our week off right. The video has apparently been online since September, but somehow, the entire world completely failed to pick up on. As far as I’m concerned, new Pig Destroyer warrants the President disrupting the prime time schedule in order to hold a live conference on television, y’know?

As Brian puts it, “the quality of the footage is pretty crappy but fuck you, it’s new Pig Destroyer.” Well said, Brian. Well said.

Pig Destroyer will release the best album of next year via Relapse.

-AR

Yep, tomorrow is Thanksgiving. So we’re leaving the MetalSucks Mansion now. We’ll be back Monday, at which point we’ll make it up to you with some very special posts… honest Injun!

‘Til then, here’s some shit we did this week:

• We spoke to The Brothers Duplantier from Gojira about their new album, signing with Roadrunner Records, and more.
• Abysmal Dawn’s Charles Elliott gave us a guided tour of his live rig.
• We debuted new-old music by Coalesce.

Y’know. It was a short week.

Okay see ya Monday by-eeeeeee!!!

-AR

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…

Lamb of God and their new American goatees get the cover, and Agoraphobic Nosebleed and their frozen corpses stuffed with holiday cheer get the flexi, but the main component of Decibel’s January issue that will get the internet’s privates in a knot is the Top 40 Albums of the Year list. I’ve been at this job since 2005, and back in the day I recall reading about how “adventurous” and “fresh” the list was, but then snarkiness was invented in roughly 2009, and now it’s, at best, “polarizing.” But “polarizing” is good! Ghost are polarizing! Gnaw Their Tongues: polarizing! Nickelback playing halftime at the Lions game tomorrow: considering the intended audience and surrounding context: believe it or not, polarizing! It definitely won’t be dull, ’cause despite the fact that we’ll lovingly fellate 3-6 albums you adore, the rest will drive you fucking nuts, and you’ll hurt our feelings in comments sections across the universe. We all know the drill. Anyway, I don’t want to go on about the Top 40 much more, because Albert made me write the print edition intro again, and the requisite bitterness, arrogance and self-deprecation is already piled on there. Check the issue out in the webstore, and go Megatron!

-AB

The January 2012 issue of Decibel also features Behemoth, Opeth, Mastodon, and a Cryptopsy Hall of Fame, and can be ordered here. But why not just get a full subscription to ensure that you never miss one an issue?

The controversial “Stop Online Piracy Act” was dealt a blow yesterday when The Business Software Association, which includes tech giants like Apple, Microsoft, and Intel, reversed its stance on the measure. Whereas the BSA had originally supported the bill, they’ve now decided (rightfully so) that it would be way too far reaching and would tear the fabric of the entire Internet apart. From PC World [via Gizmodo]:

Valid and important questions have been raised about the bill. It is intended to get at the worst of the worst offenders. As it now stands, however, it could sweep in more than just truly egregious actors…Due process, free speech, and privacy are rights cannot be compromised.

And that’s exactly it; the bill has good intentions (stopping piracy), but the way in which it proposes to do so would go far beyond just stopping piracy into territory that threatens free speech and throws due process completely out the window. The bill isn’t dead yet by any means, but this is an important step towards either a) killing it completely, or b) re-working it into something much more fair.

-VN

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday; there are no religious overtones, it’s all about eating lots of good food with good friends and family, there’s no celebrating of hedonistic capitalism with endless gift-gifting, it creates a short work-week… pretty much everything about it rules. I doubt that either the Swedes in Vildhjarta or the Brits in Savage Messiah had this holiday in mind when they decided to give metalheads the gift of free music this week, but hey, as my old pal Bob Ross used to say, consider it a happy little accident.

Click to read more…

You’d think that something like forty years worth of PSAs in front of Saturday morning cartoons would enough to teach kids not to drink and drive, but I guess knowing isn’t half the battle after all. THANK GAWD, then, for Havok, whose new video, for the song “D.O.A.”, illustrates the point in the most metal way imaginable.

The clip originally debuted on Metal Injection; you can check it out below.

“D.O.A.” appears on Havok’s Time is Up, which is out now on Candlelight.

-AR

Whether you think Avenged Sevenfold are the best thing since UYI-era Guns N’ Roses or you think they’re a bunch of total flaming Labontes, you’re gonna appreciate this video for what it is: one of the best moments of young Miguel’s life that he’ll cherish forever and ever and ever. Miguel went to see Avenged Sevenfold in Puerto Rico this past weekend and brought with him a sign that said “My wish is to play drums,” then worked his way all the way up to the front so the band would see it. Not only did the band see it, but M. Shadows decided to invite Miguel up on stage to play a song with the band, “Second Heartbeat,” as chosen by Miguel himself. Even more awesome than the fact that the band allowed this go down at all is the fact that Miguel totally nailed it — on someone else’s kit, in front of over 10,000 fans, with Avenged fucking Sevenfold… not one mistake! A hearty golf clap is in order.

-VN

Morbid Angel have released a trailer for their previously-announced Illud Divinum Insanus remix album, and boy oh boy, is it ever a howler. Because if you thought that Illud Divinum Insanus couldn’t get any more laughable, well, as it turns out, you were dead wrong. If that record sounded like a bunch of tenth graders aping Marilyn Manson, than this sounds like… fuck, man, I don’t even know what to compare it to. Morbid Angel may have achieved a new level of terrible. It’s like they heard that the metal community hates Lulu even more than their crap, and were all, “Well fuck that! We’ll show them what unlistenable REALLY is!”

This piece of shit comes out February 24 via Season of Mist; my guess is that far more money will be spent manufacturing it than will be earned from releasing it.

-AR

Thanks: Ashley Lee

So, hey, I dunno if you guys heard, but earlier this month we put on this totally rad festival, The Metal Suckfest? No big deal, it was just twenty awesome bands in two days, whatever.

So ANYWAY, our brahs over at Metal Injection were there to film another edition of their awesome “Ask the Artist” series, in which they — duhskis! – ask a variety of artists one particular question… in this case, “What sucks about metal?” Check out the answers from the bands that played The Metal Suckfest — plus a couple of incredibly handsome non-musicians (cough, Vince and I, cough, cough) below:

And don’t forget that you can check out more awesome installments of “Ask the Artist” right here. DO IT!!!

-AR

As promised, a show to pay tribute to recently deceased GWAR guitarist Cory Smoot — a.k.a. Flattus Maximus — has been announced. When Smoot passed away, he had recently completed work on a solo album, and the show is meant to celebrate all of his work, no matter who it was with.

Details of the show are on the flyer above. Here’s a list of all the items which will be raffled off — more items are expected to be added soon:

Click to read more…

Horns up for readers Alexander Delvecchio, Laura Wells, and Ryan Gnieski; they each identified last week’s logo as belonging to the band Cronical Diarreha, and for their troubles, they each win a copy of  The Distant, the new album from Archaios. Congrats, guys and gal!

This week, we have another awesome prize to give away, this time courtesy of the good folks at Nuclear Blast Records: a copy of Evermore Darkly, the latest release from the UK’s premier extreme metal antagonist, Cradle Of Filth (web page, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter). This CD/DVD collection features a brand new track, “Thank Your Lucky Stars,” a special remix of “Forgive Me Father” by Anthrax’s Rob Caggiano,  an extended rendition of “Lilith Immaculate,” tempered demo versions of three Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa songs, a special taster from Cradle Of Filth’s impending orchestral project  in the form of a reworking of fan-favorite, “Summer Dying Fast,” PLUS a documentary about CoF’s Summer 2011 tour, cheerily entitled You Can’t Polish a Turd… But You Can Roll it in Glitter, which includes band interviews, live performances, and all that good stuff. Pretty sweet, no? You can order the collection from Nuclear Blast, Amazon, or iTunes, or, of course, just enter this contest and pray to The Dark Lord that you win!

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 three winners and announce their names a week from today.

This week’s logo was suggested by the current Unreadable Band Logo Suggester MVP, Cody Long…

-AR

Abysmal Dawn are currently touring North American with ze Germans in Obscura, along with Last Chance to Reason and Enfold Darkness on select dates. We figured it would be a good time to ask Abysmal Dawn guitarist/vocalist Charles Elliott to take us through his entire live rig, so that’s exactly what we did. After the jump, Charles gives us a tour of his live setup, piece by piece.

Click to read more…

Have you guys heard about the petition by Detroit Lions fans to replace Nickelback with some other band, ANY other band, as the performers at the halftime show of their Thanksgiving Classic game? Vince mentioned it while filling in for Dave Brockie during a recent “Unnecessary Roughness” column, but we never did a full piece on it, because, y’know, fuck Nickelback.

But now the band has responded via the below Funny Or Die video with Paul Scheer — co-star of MetalSucks’ collective favorite film ever, Piranha 3D, and its upcoming, sure-to-be-classic sequel, Piranha 3DD – and as much as it pains me to say anything nice about one of the worst things to happen in the history of sound… those Nickelfucks are pretty funny. There’s obviously no reason for them to take this seriously, since they’re gajillionaires, and since there was zero danger of them ever actually getting kicked off the show… so they might as well have fun with it, right?

(One thing I do have to mention, though — what the fuck happened to Chad Kroeger? I honestly did not recognize him at first. I can’t tell if he put on weight, got a haircut, had a nose job, or all of the above, but he is at least 75% less horrific looking now than he used to be.)

In related news, Metal Injection has now alerted us to the existence of Nickelblock — “a Chrome/Firefox plugin that blocks any mentions of Nickelback on the internet.” Holy shit, I am installing that immediately. You can download it here.

-AR

That’s right! This Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is, of course, “Black Friday,” the biggest shopping day of the year, and the day when stores across ‘Merica drop their prices so low that consumers often trample store employees to death in an effort to get in on the great savings. Of course, things are much better for Amazon, the leading online retailer, since they have no store employees to get trampled. Also, because they’ve now extended the concept of “Black Friday” to “Black Friday Deals Week,” meaning they’ve got a ridiculous sale going on for seven days instead of just one. Hoo-ray!

And so, we’ve gone through everything Amazon is offering as part of “Black Friday Deals Week,” and compiled some of the offers that may be of interest to headbangers everywhere in one convenient list. You can check that out after the jump, complete with links to make your purchases. There are some good albums being sold crazy cheap here (and some shitty albums being sold crazy cheap, but, hey, it’s your money so whatever), and presumably the prices are gonna shoot back up on either Saturday or Monday, so take advantage while you still can.

Happy shopping…

Click to read more…

As a member of Type O Negative and Carnivore, Peter Steele regularly antagonized society’s sensitivity police with blunt observations on sex, race, and violence. And he played doomy, dour metal about love and death, sharpened a few of his teeth to a point, and did drugs. But still, in death he is metal’s Princess Di, a symbol of our values: individuality, skill, and heart. That’s why fans do things to celebrate his memory, things that require time, resources, and effort, that net no profit, and that pay proper respect to our memories of him.

A wondrous example is “Peter’s Tree,” a Facebook group devoted to planting a tree in NYC’s Prospect Park as a dedication to Steele, free-thinker, nature poet, and onetime parks worker. And Monday was the big day: At a 10 a.m. ceremony, Peter’s special oak tree (above) got its official planting at a scenic — and permanent — spot in the north side of the park (map here). It’s genius cuz a tree’s lifespan is such that even fans yet to be born will someday enjoy it, and double-genius since a tree provides shelter and sustenance for other creatures. Peter would love that. Plus it’s tall and you can hug it. See you there!

-ADF

More photos and info here. Comment from Type O Negative’s Johnny Kelly here. The MetalSucks Peter Steele tribute interview special here and here. 

After 13 years as a band and eight studio albums, Thrice have decided to take a break. My interest in Thrice has waned over the years — and I’m sure I’m not alone in that amongst metalheads — but I always respect a band that’s constantly changing, evolving, and pushing new boundaries, and Thrice were most certainly one of those (rare) bands.

No one fucked anyone’s girlfriend, got in a fight on the bus or became a pill-popping psycho; on the contrary, the reasons the band gives are pretty standard. Tired of being on the road, desire to settle down, wanting to spend time with family, etc. No drama. Here’s part of a statement from singer/guitarist Dustin Kensrue, posted on Noisecreep:

Thrice is not breaking up. If nothing has broken us up by now, I doubt anything ever could.

However, we will be taking a break from being a full-time band, and the upcoming tour in the Spring will be the last one for the foreseeable future.

Click to read more…