Lock Up — the supergroup (for lack of a better term) featuring Tomas Lindberg of At the Gates/Disfear fame, Napalm Death’s Shane Embury, super-famous-drummer-dude Nicolas Barker, and Pentagram’s Anton Reisenegger — have never tour the U.S. before… but that’s gonna change in February, when the band will cross the ocean to do a headlining run here in the States. The dudes involved in the group are probably enough on their own to make you wanna go see ‘em, but just in case, the band is bringing Goatwhore and Strong Intention along for support. I can’t speak intelligently about Strong Intention, but Goatwhore fucking rules so hard, so I’m pretty much already onboard with this tour.

Here are dates, courtesy of Lambgoat:

Click to read more…

Although I’m obviously somewhat biased, it is my firm belief that Meek is Murder’s Algorithms is one of the best albums of the year, and it’s stayed in my regular rotation pretty much since the band first let me hear this past winter. It is also my firm belief that Meek is Murder live is an INCREDIBLE experience. I’ve seen them… sheesh… I dunno now. I’ve lost count. But I’ve never had anything less than a 110% awesome time. And I still get excited every time I have a chance to se them.

The band is kicking off a six-date tour tonight in Brooklyn; then they’ll head down south this weekend. Three of these shows are with East of the Wall, who are also an INCREDIBLE live band — like “Holy shit I can’t believe this” incredible — so if you have a chance to go one of these gigs and you miss it, you should commit sepuku, for you have shamed your ancestors.

Dates are after the jump!

Click to read more…

In celebration of their 21 years (!) as a label, Relapse Records is having a gigantic sale that no metalhead in their right mind will be able to pass up. For 21 straight days, Relapse will be making one album available each day for the so-low-your-balls-are-basically-dangling-all-the-way-to-the-floor price of 21 cents. Just 21 cents for a frickin’ album! For an actual, real, physical CD no less, meaning this is a great opportunity for all you to collectors to fill those holes in your CD walls.

There’s a small catch: in order to trigger the 21 cent album download each day, you’ve got to buy something else in the Relapse store. But considering Relapse is running another sale in which they’re offering all Relapse Records titles for 50% off (other than 2011 releases), this remains a deal for the ages! May as well buy a few other CDs at 50% off while you’re there, right?

Relapse is revealing each 21 cent album every day at noon via their Facebook and Twitter, so make sure you’re following both; one title will be on sale from noon ’til midnight each day, starting with a Relapse release from 1990 and counting up chronologically over the course of 21 days to a 2011 release to be revealed on December 2nd, thus ending the sale. They’re already a week into this madness, so while we’re a little behind the ball it’s never too late to start working out deals. Today’s deal is Nile’s Black Seeds of Vengeance, so get on that shit.

-VN

Sharie Nayland‘s voice is like ice water and mercury dripped down the small of your back in a darkened room. She’s like a post-apocalypse metal Grace Jones or Eartha Kitt, her vibrato just too-tremulous enough to give this music the exact amount of the creeps it needs. Avoid any acid while listening to The Wounded Kings’ superior Hammond-laced doom; you’ll just freak yourself out and think you’re Sean Connery in Zardoz , nearly naked and running from a giant floating head yelling “The Penis is evil!”

Click to read more…

It’s been a rough year for Coheed & Cambria. In July, bassist Michael Todd was arrested for attempted armed robbery of a drugstore for opiate pills and was subsequently dismissed from the band, a “no duh!” decision that makes Joe Paterno look like a saint. Then, just a coupla weeks ago, ex-Dillinger Escape Plan drummer Chris Pennie announced that he was leaving the band to pursue other projects after holding down their drum throne for four years. Even though Claudio Sanchez and Travis Stever are the creative backbone of Coheed, a 50% lineup change in a four-month time frame is a pretty big deal and should’ve certainly had fans worried about the future of the band.

But worry no more! According to Noisecreep, former Coheed drummer Josh Eppard has stepped back into the Coheed fold.

Click to read more…

Dark New Day fans waited for what seemed like an eternity for new music following 2005′s Twelve Year Silence, and now within just a few short months we’ve received what feels like an overwhelming abundance in the form of two full new records, with the possibility of a third on the way. The band quietly self-released two albums this past August, with no press, social media or any kind of attention surrounding them. The first was Hail Mary, the supposed second Dark New Day record that was never released, and the other was a B-Sides collection; both are available through Amazon, linked above. And now, according to a press release, Dark New Day are supposedly releasing ANOTHER album, although it’s being heralded as their long-awaited second. Huh?

Click to read more…

Did you all see the John Travolta action movie From Paris with Love? Yeah, I don’t think anyone did. But Corey Mitchell sent this to us, and it’s amazing. Enjoy:

-AR

Last month, Billy McCarthy and James Stonich, from the Chicago band Kid Rocker, brought a lawsuit against Poison, Capital Records, and EMI Music, claiming that they were owed money because Poison guitarist C.C. DeVille stole some songs from them, including ”Talk Dirty To Me,” “I Won’t Forget You,” “Fallen Angel” and “Ride the Wind.” At the time, The Hollywood Reporter was, uh, y’know, reporting that “before… [DeVille] joined Poison, he auditioned for Kid Rocker.” The fact that DeVille’s relationship with McCarthy and Stonich was so tenuous, combined with the fact that it had inexplicably taken these men more than two decades to bring the lawsuit against Poison, made the whole thing feel, well, bullshitty.

But it might not be so bullshitty after all. McCarthy and Stonich’s lawyer is now claiming to have a recording of a 1994 radio interview in which DeVille admits that he was in a band called Screamin’ Mimis with with McCarthy (who our pal Mick Stingley tells me was also in D’Molls), before telling McCarthy that “for that first album, you should have made some money,” and  ”we have video tapes of us doing ‘Talk Dirty To Me’.” And now Metal Insider has dug up that video, which does, indeed, show DeVille with McCarthy and Stonich, performing “Talk Dirty to Me.” Check it out:

Click to read more…

As you are no doubt aware, GWAR guitarist Cory Smoot (a.k.a. “Flattus Maximus”) passed away two weeks ago. Now the band has launched the Smoot Family Fund to help ensure that his family is well taken care of despite this tragic loss:

“This fund is designed to raise funds for Cory’s family, especially his wife Jamie and his unborn child. The response of our fans has been truly mind-blowing and we have done our best to honor Cory and help fans with their loss by continuing our tour. Now we all have an opportunity to contribute to the memory of one of the greatest metal guitar players out there and one of the best people we have ever had the honor of knowing. Rest in peace Cory, you are sorely missed.”

We strongly encourage you to go here to donate.

Meanwhile, the band announced last week that they’d be playing some Smoot memorial shows soon; details of those shows should be available shortly.

Obscura are currently touring North American with Abysmal Dawn, as well as Last Chance to Reason and Enfold Darkness on select dates. For any curious shredders interested in knowing how Obscura guitarist Christian Muenzer dials in such sweet tones on such a consistent basis, we asked the man himself if he’d take us on a tour of his rig. As an added bonus, Christian also told us a little bit about his studio setup and how it differs from his live rig. Here’s Christian:

My gear set up for live shows and studio recording is for the most part the same, but it does differ in certain small details.

I play a rack system, and my setup is not too complex. I like to keep things simple, but there are certain things I can’t go without.

Click to read more…

Today, two very disperate Christian metal acts announced Christmas releases: Austrian Death Machine, the Arnold Schwarzenegger-themed side project of As I Lay Dying vocalist Tim Lambesis, will release Jingle All the Way, an ode to the Ahnuld flick of the same title, while Becoming the Archetype will release a cover of “O Holy Night” as a single. Both releases become available digitally on the same day — December 6, via Metal Blade (ADM) and Solid State (BTA) respectively — but just one look at the cover art, and you can tell that there’s a MASSIVE tonal difference between the two.

First, here’s the album art for Austrian Death Machine’s Jingle All the Way (which I’m actually listening to even as I type this). Obviously, Lambesis is going for the lulz here — I mean, there’s a skull and crossbones made from Schwarzenegger’s face and a pair of candy canes. In fact, it’s worth noting that there isn’t even a cover of “Jingle Bells” on this EP. Not that “Jingle Bells” is an especially serious song or anything, but the tracks contained on Jingle all emphasize the comedic nature of ADM; they have titles like “I’m Not a Pervert” and “Who Told You You Could Eat My Cookies?”, titles which, I assume, would be even funnier if I could remember anything about that one time I watched the movie Jingle All the Way on cable. The tongue-in-cheek nature of the material makes this something that even Scrooges (like me) and non-Christians (also like me) can enjoy. And it doesn’t hurt that the music on the EP brings the mosh in a serious way.

Now, contrast this with the cover for Becoming the Archetype’s “O Holy Night” single:

Click to read more…

Ever wonder what Slayer’s rider looks like? Well, now we have the answers: The Most Metal Metal Band of All Time apparently loves Gogurt, Bowflex, Hogan’s Heroes, hand sanitizer, and hand satanizer.

And the craziest part about this document is that it’s apparently 100% real — Transmission Entertainment is the company that puts on FunFunFun Fest, at which Slayer appeared this year. AND the band apparently sent it out BEFORE Danzig had his little bitch fit at the fest, so it’s not yet another example of Slayer having fun at Danzig’s expense.

That being said, we can safely assume that it’s meant as a joke. We hope.

Check it out below… click to enlarge:

In other news, Slayer are still cooler than every other band in the Big Four combined.

-AR

[via Hard Rock Chick by way of Corey Mitchell]

A reader named Thomas sent us an e-mail last night asserting that Puddle of Mudd’s 2001 hit, “She Hates Me,” is a rip-off of Suicidal Tendencies’ “I Saw Your Mommy” — and while we obviously can’t prove that PoM deliberately stole from ST, the songs certainly do sound awfully alike. Of course, the Tendencies tune gets fast at points, where Mudd’s never does, and Mudd’s song has a somewhat different intro, but… the chord progressions during the verses are basically identical. Listen to both songs for yourself and see what you think…

-AR

When I visited Paris last year I carved a little time out of my busy schedule of eating, eating and more eating to do something else I really love doing when I visit any far away land: walk around while listening to music written by bands from the area. My de facto French listening party kicked off with, of course, Gojira; The Way of All Flesh and From Mars to Sirius didn’t not work in the context of the hustle and bustle of the city, but they didn’t fit in especially well either or give me any new insight into the creative energy behind the music. Perhaps this is because Gojira aren’t from Paris — or even a big city — but from a small country village outside of Bayonne. Alcest aren’t from a big city either — Wikipedia tells me they’re from Bagnols-sur-Cèze, a town in southern France with a population of roughly 18,000 — but for some reason their haunting, atmospheric black metal resonated perfectly with the cold, wintry, dark spirit of Paris in late December. Listening to Écailles De Lune on my earphones put everything in perspective, and I felt like I understood more of what the band members were feeling when they wrote the music than I had before.

Alcest are now working on — or have possibly already finished — their third album, “Les Voyages De L’Âme” (English:”The Journeys Of The Soul”), set for release in January 2012 on the following dates via Prophecy Productions: January 6 in Germany and Austria, January 31 in North America, and January 9th in Europe and everywhere else. Those images above are two different versions of the album cover — the one on the left is for the CD edition (painted by Fursy Teyssier), and the one on the right is the artwork of the vinyl edition (photo shot by Andy Julia). Since there’s two, naturally you’ll want to pre-order both of them! Do so right here. I look forward to listening to it in deepest, darkest, coldest January in New York City.

-VN

How do a dude dressed like a clown, the slow motion vomiting of Jägermeister run backwards and forwards, the inside of the human body, and the inside of a motor relate to each other from a thematic standpoint? And, for that matter, how do they relate to “A Coward’s Existence,” one of the songs from Fuck the Facts’ killer new album, Die Miserable?

I honestly don’t really know right now, and a cursory examination of the song’s lyrics isn’t really clarifying things for me. But that combination of elements certainly makes the band’s just-released, Michael Panduro-directed video for the song an unusual viewing experience, and a very, very welcome change of pace from the unimaginative metal videos we see so frequently. You can check out the clip, which debuted earlier today on Metal Injection, below. I don’t think it’s technically NSFW, but there is some kinda gross and fucked-up imagery in here, so use your best judgement.

Fuck the Facts’ Die Miserable is out now on Relapse.

-AR

Robin Leach — yes, that Robin Leach — reports in the Las Vegas Sun that Mötley Crüe “will play a nearly monthlong series of three- and four-night concerts a week” at the Hard Rock Hotel in Vegas… I’m assuming at The Joint, that hotel and casino’s own 4,000-person-capacity venue. The news has yet to be confirmed by any representatives from the Hard Rock or The Crüe, but it seems plausible.

Click to read more…

I’m going to put about as much effort into this introduction as Courtney Love puts into being coherent.

We begin our cinemetallic journey today with Arch/Matheos’ new, David Brodsky-directed video, for the song “Midnight Serenade.” It’s a pretty straight-forward dudes-performing-in-a-room-to-an-audience-of-who? video, but, like I said, it was directed by David Brodsky, so it looks fucking gorgeous. And the song ain’t bad, either. The video debuted at ultimate-guitar.tv; it’s not currently embeddable, but please enjoy the screen cap below, and click here to actually watch the thing.

Click to read more…

The cover art to Czar’s debut album, Vertical Mass Grave, is some kind of fucked-up metal tribute to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey… and that’s somehow very fitting for the music contained therein. Combining lots of disparate elements into one powerful, anthemic package, Czar are one of those bands who could build a bridge between those who considers themselves tr00 and those who just wanna rock; their style of metal knows no boundries.

MetalSucks is proud to debut the track “Family Crest” from Vertical Mass Grave in advance of the album’s release on December 6 via Crack Nation Records. If you like what you hear — and we’re assuming you will — go to Czar’s official website for more info on the band, and to get links to pre-order the album in various formats.

And now, enjoy “Family Crest” by Czar!

Last time I wrote about Louisville hardcore/rawkers Coliseum a commenter tough-guy by the name of Jesse Radon accused me of only having listened to their most recent album, House With a Curse, presumably because I referred to their music as a “blend of bluesy rock, metal and hardcore” (emphasis added). Hey, guess what Jesse? You’re wrong! I’m not claiming to be any kind of Coliseum expert, but I jumped on the bandwagon with No Salvation and I’m well aware of the band’s hardcore roots. It just so happens that I dig their later material (House With a Curse) more than their earlier stuff because, ya know, I’m a human being and I’ve got my own tastes. I love that they’ve slowed things down of late and let a lot more of their southern, bluesy influence show through in their music. They are also an incredibly fun live band. So, Jesse, I hope you’re enjoying the no-fun zone over there, wherever you are.

Coliseum’s newest album (actually an EP) Parasites came out yesterday. AP’s got the whole thing up for streaming as well as a track-by-track breakdown written by vocalist/guitarist Ryan Patterson. Give Parasites a spin… I dare you not to be hooked by their infectious bluesy hardcore riffing. And don’t forget about the live video they released of the EP track “Waiting (Too Late)” a few weeks ago.

Order Parasites here.

-VN

We give Metallica a lot of shit ’round these parts. A LOT of shit. As if anyone could blame us after Lulu… but I digress. Today we’ll take a breather from our morning dose of haterade with a video of the Metallicats actually earning some points back by watching and responding to that video of a band comprised of eight year-old kids covering “Enter Sandman.” James, Kirk, Rob and Lars even call out the band members by name and invite them to come jam, meaning these kids are gonna save this video for ever and ever and ever and ever. Do folks even “save” videos these days? It’s not like you can just pop in a blank VHS and press record from YouTube.

-VN

[via Metal Injection]