It was a week of polar opposites: on one hand, butt rock ruled as Disturbed nabbed the #1 spot on the Current Hard Music charts with Five Finger Death Punch and Evanescence firmly entrenched in second and third place. On the other hand Animals as Leaders scored a big debut, a big victory in the name of all that is right in the music world. As I Lay Dying and Rush also sold well. Let’s take a look at those and more after the jump.
Kevin Hufnagel, the guitar player from Dysrhythmia and Gorguts, is releasing his second solo album in January via his own Nightfloat Recordings imprint. And, really, the phrase “Kevin Hufnagel is releasing an album” should prompt nothing from you but a response of “Where can I pre-order it?” ‘Cause that dude rules.
And the answer to you very appropriate question is: you can pre-order Transparencies, the second solo album Hufnagel, right at this web page, where you can also stream two songs. Everyone who pre-orders Transparencies with receive a digital download a month before the album’s official release date, plus immediate downloads of the aforementioned streaming tracks. Of course, you need to pre-order nothing to watch the above trailer for the album — which was done by Romanian artist Costin Chioreanu using photographs by Hufnagel himself — but after watching the trailer, you should go ahead and pre-order it like I was just telling you too a second ago.
Hufnagel will also be hitting the road later this week for a brief tour in support of Transparencies. You should really go see this fella live… he’s so good fingers, he makes me feel like a total Labonte. Here are dates:
Yesterday, we saw video of Courtney Love flying off the handle when a fan held up a Kurt Cobain t-shirt during a recent performance; amongst other topics, her subsequent rant honed in on Dave Grohl, who, she seemed to claim, had been fired from Nirvana by Cobain. Later, as part of a kind-of-new-but-really-the-same rant, she said that “I don’t care what you listen to at home. But a guy takes money off my kid’s table… fuck him!” I wasn’t really clear what the hell she meant at the time, but a MetalSucks commenter named Chris asserted that “she was claiming Grohl is the one taking money off her kid’s table, which makes sense given the history of those two arguing over royalties and rights and whatnot.”
And bravo to Chris for apparently being fluent in Courtney, ’cause his assessment of the situation was absolutely correct. The PRP posted the below post-show interview with Love, in which she clarifies why she’s so pissed at Grohl. To hear her tell it, Grohl didn’t write any of Nirvana’s music (including the “drum riff” from “Smells Like Teen Spirit”), makes a shit ton of money from the Foo Fighters (which is not hard to believe) and is consequently not hurting for money (which is also not hard to believe) — and yet he continues to own a piece of Nirvana, and recently purchased an Aston Martin with his Nirvana, Inc. credit card (thus he is “taking money off my kid’s table”) while Cobain’s mother and sister suffer from poverty. Check it out below, and get my thoughts after the jump:
Rarely do we just cut and paste press releases here at MetalSucks, but this is obviously a special circumstance, and you should know all the details without any of our usual editorializing. And so:
James Murphy, former guitarist of both Death and Testament, As well as founding member of the death metal band Disincarnate, has had a relapse of the brain tumor that sidelined him back in 2001. Murphy stated that the tumor had returned but that it was a non malignant and that it was being treated pharmacologically. Unfortunately, those medications have serious side effects that have left him unable to work. The option for different medications is available, but at a cost of over $1000 a month, and he needs a minimum of 6 months of medication for treatment to be effective. With his medical expenses extremely high and James not being able to work due to the side effects of the current medications, the metal community is being asked to come together and help one of their brothers and donate to help him beat this once and for all.
Brockie’s still on injured reserve, so Coach Neilstein is back for another installment of Necessary Roughness. For my first time ever writing about football I think I did pretty ok last week, eh?
It was not a good week for the favorites teams of MetalSucks football columnists. I have it on good word that Brockie is ready to denounce his fandom of the Redskins in favor of the Ravens after D.C.’s finest got trounced by the lowly Miami Dolphins and have now lost five in a row. You know it’s bad when a team that was 0-7 not too long ago takes easy care of you. Don’t feel too bad, Brockie; you could be an Indianapolis fan. But then again, at least in that case you’d have been able to follow good teams for several years. So, uh, yeah… being a Skins fan sucks pretty bad right now. And the Ravens lost to the lowly Seahawks, too. Bad news all around if you’re from the mid-Atlantic region.
Congrats to reader Danny Aaron! He correctly identified last week’s logo as belonging to every woman’s favorite romancecore band, Anal Squirt Massacre. For his troubles, Danny Boy wins five CDs from the MetalSucks Mansion Archives. Enjoy ‘em in good health, Danny.
Today we have another awesome prize for you: three copies of The Distant, the new album from Archaios, which was recently released by Dark Canvas Records. You can check out an interview with founder/guitarist Eric Cruz, plus a stream of the song “Nightshade,” at Metal Insider. And once you’re convinced of its awesomeness, you can either purchase a copy here, or, of course, just enter this contest and keep your fingers crossed!
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 sent in by reader Cody Long. Thanks, Cody!
-AR
We’ve been getting a ton of reader emails about Fallujah lately. I can’t speak for any other MS writers, but I haven’t written about them until now because I really haven’t felt inspired to; they seem quite technically competent, adept enough at writing melodies, and fairly progressive in terms of song structure, all things that I usually appreciate in metal bands. They remind me of a hybrid of The Faceless and, maybe, Behemoth, or something more death metal-centric and technical like Origin. But for some reason nothing I’ve heard from Fallujah has really resonated with me. Maybe I just need more time to let it sink in, or perhaps I need to hear their new album Harvest Wombs in full to really understand what this band is all about.
Anywho, Fallujah are streaming a track called “Become One” from their new album on their Facebook page right now. Check it out, then come back here and tell us what you think. Harvest Wombs becomes one with the world on November 22nd via Unique Leader Records, available for pre-order here
-VN
I wouldn’t use “Blood Culture,” the new video by Danish trash metal band essence, as proof of Axl’s ongoing theory that good music videos can be made with small budgets, mainly because it looks like this thing was shot with a fairly decent sum of cash. But I would use it to prove our collective ongoing theory that music videos can be and still are relevant in the post-MTV era when they’re done right, which this video most certainly is.
The two-minute bass solo that opens the clip is interesting enough on a musical level, but so is the story setup that goes on in the video at the same time. The story is easy to follow and kept my attention throughout; even if it’s not the most original video concept, I found myself really wanting to know what happens in the end. I also really dig this song. It’s got a great mid-paced gallop, ala Megadeth, unlike so many of the frenetic-paced re-thrash bands of today who wouldn’t know a good groove if it punched them in the face.
-VN
Thanks: John WD
Wowee wow wow wow. A reader calling himself Geddy Lee — whom I’m reasonably certain is not the dude from Rush — just e-mailed us the above clip of Courtney Love going apeshit at this past weekend’s SWU festival in Brazil. The cause of her outbreak is that someone in the crowd was holding up a photo of Kurt Cobain, at which point Courtney pretty much loses it and says:
“I don’t need to see a picture of Kurt, asshole, and I’m gonna have you fucking removed if you keep throwing that up. I’m not Kurt. I have to live with his fucking shit and his ghost and his kid every day. Throwing that up is stupid and rude, and I’m gonna beat the fuck out of you if you do it again. Y’know what? You weren’t fucking married to him, I fucking was. You didn’t fucking get kicked out of a band by him like Dave, he did. Go see the fucking Foo Fighters and do that shit.”
Then she storms off the stage with a final flip of the bird, and then eventually she comes back and adds, “I don’t care what you listen to at home. But a guy takes money off my kid’s table… fuck him!”
Now, I have a lot of thoughts on this matter, so I’m kinda just gonna ramble here. Please accept my most humble apologies.
Periphery just dropped the following bomb via Facebook:
Sad to hear Periphery bassist Tim Murphy has left the band issuing the following statement: “I’m sorry to announce that as of today I will no longer be playing bass for Periphery. I have had so many unforgettable experiences and have met so many wonderful people while playing with the band and just want to say thank you to all the fans for making that possible. I am leaving to pursue something new. If you are interested following up with me, feel free to add my personal page at facebook.com/tom.h.murphy.
-Tom”
Murphy is a great bassist and a great performer, and speaking as a Periphery fan, I’ll miss the guy being in the band. That being said, it’s not exactly a secret that Misha Mansoor is the driving force behind Periphery, so it’s hard for me to imagine that this will hurt Periphery too much in the long run.
Still, it is a little troubling that Murphy is leaving less than five months after guitarist Alex Bois also split from the group. Hopefully the loss of two members in such a short time span does not forebode any rough times for the band.
-AR
Thanks: Rod
There’s still six dates left on Exhumed’s MetalSucks-presented tour with Goatwhore and Havok! The shows thus far have been completely fucking nuts, and we assume if you live near one of the remaining dates, you are going. But if for some reason you aren’t going, you should check out this sweet live footage from Metal Injection, ’cause it will make you wanna go.
See? Now you wanna go, right? So go! Remaining dates and ticketing info are available here. And you can check out more footage from the tour at Metal Injection: Goatwhore live and Havok live. Enjoy!
-AR
What are the top ten most overused words in extreme metal writing? The ones that make you cringe in embarrassment when you see them on the printed page or screen? The Number of the Blog’s new writer Rev. Will put together a top ten list of the worst offenders, excluding unavoidably essential terms like “riffs”, “solos”, “metal”, etc., and the results are not only dead-on but completely hilarious in Rev. Will’s satirical mocking.
As someone who pumps out 3-5 (sometimes more) written pieces about metal five days a week, yeah, I’m totally guilty of almost everything on this list! Some of the words included are fairly obvious (“brutal”, “Slayer”), while arguments for others that aren’t obvious at all have been articulated so well they put me straight into shameful facepalm mode. Oh well… I never claimed to be a great writer anyway, just some douchebag with an opinion.
-VN
I’ve never heard of Agent Provocateur before, but No Clean Singing describes the company as “ a UK-based maker of high-end lingerie… for people with more money than sense.” Which, I am now inclined to say, is probably true of the folks who run the company as well.
‘Cause apparently Agent Provocateur’s Creative Director, Sarah Shotton, decided to hire this director Justin Anderson to make a commercial which, according to Anderson, is “like listening to Slayer whilst reading Italian Vogue.” Which seems like the dumbest idea ever to be, because a) the spot is not going to appeal to women who buy lingerie because they need it, b) men who buy lingerie for their women aren’t going to care about anything other than how well said lingerie highlights the goodies, and c) your average death metal fan absolutely cannot afford Agent Provocateur’s crap anyway (this bra costs more than my entire wardrobe, for example).
All of that being said, if you’re curious about the spot and/or just feel like you wanna look at some boobies (’cause nothing sells lingerie like an absence of lingerie!), you can check out the NSFW spot below. The music is by a French band called Omaha Bitch, by the way.
If anyone can make a solid argument that this is actually an effective ad campaign, I’d love to hear it.
-AR
Lacuna Coil debuted a new song called “Kill the Light” at a show in Glasgow last week, which means they debuted a new song for everyone with the internet. You can check out the fan-filmed footage below. The quality is, as usual, not perfect, but it’s good enough to hear that this sounds like a catchy new Lacuna Coil song. So you already know if that kinda thing appeals to you or not.
Lacuna Coil’s new album, Dark Adrenaline, will be out January 24 via Century Media.
-AR
[via Metal Injection]
And, according to Nine Inch Nails’ official website, that release date is December 2. Mute Records will release the album internationally, while Null will handle distribution in North America.
As fot the album art… It’s pretty sparse, but I’m digging it; bright white is not the color you’d usually associate with the character of Lisbeth Salander, but her simple, stark, silhouetted image seems all the more striking for being presented in such an unexpected manner. It almost feels like an x-ray without being an x-ray; it’s that extreme of a vibe. Check it out below and see what you think…
-AR
That Metal Show‘s interview with Axl Rose — the singer’s first on-camera interview in close to a decade – aired this past Friday night, and it was about what I expected. Rose tells some great stories about the good ol’ days, sometimes displays a genuine sense of humor (he sarcastically commands Dj Ashba — who says nothing and is present for no discernible reason — to stop interrupting him), and, naturally, refuses to take responsibility for absolutely anything he has ever done. (To hear him tell it, the infamous rant from “Get in the Ring” was the brainchild of Duff McKagan and A&R guru Tom Zutaut, and when “shit hit the fan,” they both abandoned Rose to deal with the repercussions. Poor, defenseless Axl!)
The complete episode is now available below for your viewing pleasure. Other highlights include a live performance of “Live and Let Die,” and Eddie Trunk looking as though he’s struggling to stay awake through this wee-hours-of-the-morning chat.
-AR
Cynic’s Carbon-Based Anatomy EP highlights this week’s release slate, while White Wizzard, Blut Aus Nord, Bloody Panda, Coliseum and more are also releasing new albums. Let’s take a look after the jump.
So there’s been a rumor going around that Lamb of God were doing a headlining tour with support coming from The Acacia Strain, and now we know that the rumor is kinda true: in January, the band will playing six club shows (read: gigs in venues smaller than the ones they usually play) on the east coast. The Acacia Strain, along with Too Late the Hero, will appear at five of those six shows. So, not a full tour, but still pretty cool.
These concerts should be a lot of fun… they’re the band’s first dates in support of their new album, Resolution, and I don’t think LoG have played in rooms this small since their As the Palaces Burn days, if not earlier. Dates are after the jump.
Even though I had heard their recordings, I had never seen Ramming Speed live before they performed at The Metal Suckfest a couple of weeks ago; I am now twice as enamored of them as I already was. I wish there was some way I could actually share the feeling their set gave me via the internet, but for now, just settle for looking at this photo from the show. See how much fun vocalist Peter Gallagher is having? How he’s just stomping around with a big ol’ smile on his face? If you go see Ramming Speed live, that could be YOU stomping around with a big ol’ smile on YOUR face!
And now you have your chance: the band has just announced a winter tour which will kick off at the end of the month. And ten of the dates feature Saviours as co-headliners, so the show is guaranteed to be that much more awesome. (There’s part of me that wants to hop in my car and go to the Philly gig so I can see Ramming Speed and Saviours and Fight Amp, ’cause holy shit that is a sweet, sweet line-up, and it’s only coming together for that one date.) These are gonna be the kinds of shows missed only by those who hate joy. Seriously, go see this band live.
Dates are after the jump…
As previously announced, Faith No More performed their album King for a Day… Fool for a Lifetime in its entirety at a show in Santiago, Chile this past weekend. King/Mr. Bungle guitarist Trey Spruance and post-King guitarist Jon Hudson were both in attendance, and the show included, according to The PRP, “what is thought to be the first live performances of the album’s track ‘Star A.D.’ and its b-side, ‘Absolute Zero’,” as well as the previously unreleased track from the King sessions that the band first performed live last week. I’m obviously a huge FNM fan, but I guess not enough of a fan to know that these songs had never been played live before, so that’s exciting.
Don’t be too down if you weren’t at the show, though, ’cause nowadays we have these things called cell phones, and those cell phones and have cameras, and those cameras have video capabilities, and so now you can watch some semi-decent footage below. Enjoy!
“Star A.D.”
More after the jump…
