Cynic are currently on tour in Europe, so vocalist/guitarist Paul Masvidal has decided to revive his Metta Mind Journal MetalSucks column in the form of a tour diary. Earlier this week we published the first group of entries from the U.S. portion of the tour and the first few European dates, yesterday we published Paul’s meditations from Vienna and Budapest, and today we follow with Slovakia and Prague.

Meditation location #25 – CBA tour. Slovakia – We rushed out of the bus and I went into a cafe / bar connected to the venue. Tobacco companies are making a killing in these parts. Across the board, folks of all ages puffing away. I couldn’t hang in the smokiness, so I walked further down the road and found a cafe that was warm and had some ginger tea, in a non-smoking room. Across the street was a park with a large sculpture of a poetically shaped human. Just behind it, underneath its ‘behind’ I sat on my behind and meditated. Surrounding me was a busy city, while various pedestrians made their way across the park. Considering the rough and seemingly dirty aesthetics of these city streets, I found it balanced by a general attractiveness amongst the Slovakian people.

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If yesterday was the day for 2012 new album updates, today is the day for dudes quitting bands. Which always sucks. Nevertheless, here’s what’s been happening over the past 24 hours or so:

• We’re still selling MetalSucks t-shirts for only $10 and hoodies for just $20 through the holidays – order now to get them in time! We’ll be retiring these designs forever once they’re gone.
• Did drummer Ryan Parrish leave Darkest Hour? In yesterday morning’s news round-upwe reported on news we received via press release that ex-DH guitarist Kris Norris had teamed up with ex-Annihilator touring bassist Dave Sheldon (on vocals) for a new project called A Cancerous Affair. That press release made no mention of a drummer. But then this morning we received a tip from MS reader Huthaifa Al-Rawi linking us to this Blabbermouth article citing the same quotes and press release text as what we got except for this: “and ex-Darkest Hour drummer Ryan Parrish.” Zuh? If Parrish is indeed out of Darkest Hour and that article’s writer didn’t just make a mistake I’m sure we’ll be hearing confirmation shortly. Also, that would really suck; Parrish is a great drummer and an awesome dude.
• Cannabis Corpse have parted ways with vocalist Andy Horn (aka Weedgrinder) and guitarist Nick Poulos (aka Nikropolis) but will continue on with a new lineup, according to Phil “Landphil” Hall.
• Spin Magazine has decided to get into the “Best Metal Albums of 2011″ game by publishing their Top 20. Kudos for including great lesser-known bands like Hull and Batillus — and really, most of the list is pretty solid — but someone please smack whoever compiled this list for naming Liturgy’s album #1 and for including Korn at all. Lulz.
• The Vegan Black Metal Chef is movin’ up in the world; check out his newest instructional video for Yule Log Cake above, via Chow.com.
• The Safety Fire have a new music video for “Huge Hammers.” The song will appear on the band’s new album Grind the Ocean, out February 27, 2012 via Inside Out Music.

Brake out the menorah, break out the dreidel, break out the weed latkes — for the Festival of Lights is upon us yet again! And you know what that means: ANOTHER YEAR OF HEAVY METAL HANUKKAH!!! That’s eight crazy nights with eight crazy chances for you to win some really, really cool swag. In fact, in 2011, we are definitely topping Heavy Metal Hanukkahs of years past, ’cause we’re teaming up with our friends at Metal Blade Records and Kalypso Media to give away some incredible stuff. Don’t believe us? Just check out this picture of everything we’re unloading this year:

Nucking futs, right?

In case this is your first year broing down with MS for the Festival of Lights, here’s how it’s gonna work: Every night for the next eight nights, we’re gonna ask a trivia question that relates to both metal and Judaism. Of everyone who gets it right, we’ll randomly select one winner to receive that night’s prize from Metal Blade and Kalypso, plus — you guessed it — a dreidel, courtesy your Uncles Axl and Vince. Make sense? Good. Here’s the question for the first night… the winner gets a copy of As I Lay Dying’s new tenth anniversary celebration, Decas, plus a copy of Dungeons for their PC! So –

• Which Jewish metal musician tweeted the following message earlier this year? “If you like to read check out MetalSucks.net. Best Metal site since Infernal Combustion.”

Cynic are currently on tour in Europe, so vocalist/guitarist Paul Masvidal has decided to revive his Metta Mind Journal MetalSucks column in the form of a tour diary. Yesterday we published the first group of entries from the U.S. portion of the tour and the first few European dates, and today we have longer meditations from Vienna and Budapest. More will follow in the coming days.

Meditation location #23 – CBA tour. Vienna – Woke up feeling melancholic. Maybe it’s my sensitive, organic nature interacting with the dark, grey weather I saw from my bunk window. I brushed my teeth, had some fruit, and meditated in an open field across from a stage for, I’m guessing… summer concerts. I’ll be an intentional airhead today and sink into my body. I walked, and walked, and walked. On my way back to the venue I came upon a mall, and walked to the end of a long corridor on the 3rd floor where I found a music store. Some kid in the back was playing Nirvana’s Teen Spirit and then went into Aerosmith’s Dream On. Just by viewing the back of his body and how he held the guitar I could see he was a natural player. I mentally wished him happiness on his musical journey and left the store.

This day marked the 1/2 way point for our 19 shows in 19 days tour. 19 in numerology adds up to the #1. I’m trusting in the auspiciousness of 19 today. And even if that’s not worth holding onto, I’ll let it be my number for today. When I got back to the bus, I noticed everyone was a bit grumpy and irritable. Tour busses form their own field around them like a single organism. They collectively think and feel together over time. I realized being the human sponge that I am, I was just absorbing the vibes of our collective muck, and with just that one insight I could now play with the yucky energy that was floating around. Likes / dislikes, the game of good and bad. It’s a parade of arguing with reality and believing that our argument is of any good. So I come back to this moment and just breathe deep, for this moment is all I really have and all I really need. It’s that simple.

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Today is seemingly “news about albums that are coming out in early 2012″ day. To that end:

• Soilwork are writing a new album called The Living Infinite. Generic quote time: Speed Strid says that “people can expect a continuation of the intensity and presence of The Panic Broadcast, only taken to a higher level” and wishes us all a merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Gee, thanks, Speed!
• Gojira have issued their third studio update video, this one showing bassist Jean-Michel Labadie laying down his tracks. Labadie is the member of Gojira I feel like I know the least about; I’d love to get to know that guy! Gojira are presumably all done or close to done recording their album by now… very exciting.
• Lamb of God released a new trailer for their new album Resolution (January 24th, Epic Records), and it features a good chunk of a previously unheard song. Check it out above, and listen to the first single “Ghost Walking” here if you haven’t yet.

You hear that whistle in the intro? Yeah, that means business. And business was not as usual this week in the NFL. I predicted a few weeks back that if the Pack was gonna lose, the Colts were gonna win the same day, otherwise there is no balance, dammit! But seriously, NOBODY saw the Pack’s loss directly to the Colts coming. There are only two weeks left, and we are starting to see the identity, or lack thereof, of our playoff teams.

Lets start with the Packers. The Chiefs outplayed them, no question. But there were two key things that usually occur in our wins this season that didn’t this week. First, the defense didn’t cause a single turnover, and we thrive on that momentum shift as we usually turn them into points. And second, we dropped as many balls yesterday as all season. Rodgers was off target, the receivers dropped a lot of easy catches, and the focus just wasn’t there. And this just proves how much of the game is mental. Let’s take a team that has nothing to lose, who just fired their head coach because they can’t win, bring in the best team in the league, and let’s make a statement. And they did. I’m not fretting, and nobody else should either. The last two games may be rocky for the Pack, but once they lock up home field advantage its going to be hella tough to win in Green Bay, especially as some key players come back from injury.

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Cynic have been on tour for approximately the past month and a half, starting with their headlining performance at the inaugural Metal Suckfest, trekking across the country to the West Coast, then skipping over to Europe. What started as an effort by Paul Masvidal to simply chronicle each day’s meditation with a brief thought and a photo has evolved into an in-depth daily journal, so Paul thought it would be a good time to revive his Metta Mind Journal column on MetalSucks. These journals are also available via Paul’s Facebook page.

Paul began the diary on the tour’s fifth day, in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan. While his early entries are brief they’re no less interesting to read than the later ones which are much longer and more introspective. We’ve decided to group those early entries together and publish them all today, #5 through #22, which takes us through Slovenia. Tomorrow we’ll pick up with entry #23 from Vienna where Paul really starts to expand the scope of his journal entries.

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The gates of the Mansion may be shuttered this week, but that doesn’t mean there won’t still be a few bibs and bobs happening in the metal world before the holidays put us all into a food coma. To boot:

• Axl Rose booted a concertgoer out of the GN’R show in Vancouver, just like in the good ol’ days. Watch video of the incident above, in which DJ Slashba stands there and looks on awkwardly. In other GN’R news, Duff McKagan joined the band in Seattle to play “You Could Be Mine” (after his band, Duff McKagan’s Loaded featuring Duff McKagan, opened the show.)
• Attack Attack! are now a djent band. Check out their new tune here. Sergeant D misses the old Attack Attack!.
• Every Time I Die invited fans up on stage for their last song at their annual Christmas song in Buffalo, NY, but the venue’s security team wasn’t having it. Watch video of the bench-clearing brawl that ensued here. Maybe it’s a pre-cursor for what’s to come when all the scene bands open for Every Time I Die at the 2012 New England Metal and Hardcore Fest?
• Ratt singer Stephen Pearcy released an unplugged album of seven Ratt classics under his solo name. I wonder how his bandmates feel about that?
• Jeff Loomis just completed a three-week clinic tour of China, Taiwan and Indonesia. Here’s Jeff permorning “Enemies of Reality” in Jakarta; Gawd, I love this dude.
• Tool have announced a few more live dates as part of their winter U.S. run, and Intronaut might be the opening act.

-VN

video via Metal Insider

Today is the last day of regular posting on MetalSucks for the remainder of the year. We’ll still have some posts now and then — our annual Heavy Metal Hanukkah contest starts next week, we might have a series of cool new guest blogs from an old friend for you, and, of course, if there’s any major breaking news, we’ll cover it —  but most of your regularly scheduled programming is going on hiatus while we enjoy the holidays.

But until we’re back, have fun reviewing our top stories from this week, won’t you?

• We debuted a new video from Novembers Doom, new music by Nylithia, and, thanks to our pals at Decibel, new music from Autopsy.
• Lazarus AD’s Jeff Paulick nominated Marion Barber for president and Jonah Livingston from Ramming Speed told us about his live drum set-up.
• We spoke to Devin Townsend and Repulsion.
• We checked out the latest release from Kevin Hufnagel and some free shit from Australia.
• We listened to more previously unreleased material from Metallica’s Death Magnetic sessions.
• We got excited about the line-up for this year’s New England Metal and Hardcore Festival.
• We got even more excited to learn that Puddle of Mudd’s Wes Scantlin is a criminal.
• We accepted an apology from the world’s most pretentious metal band.
• The future ex-Mrs. Vince Neilstein serenaded us with a piano cover of Mastodon’s “Oblivion.”
• Dummy Nosenothing continued to know nothing. How come we don’t fire this idiot?

Thanks for another sucky year, gang. See ya in 2012!

-AR

After posting our own year-end lists for 2011, we asked you, oh ye MetalSucks faithful, to tell us what you thought the best metal album of the year was. And the winner by a landslide was The Devin Townsend Project’s all-star spectacular, Deconstruction, which got more than twice as many votes as its nearest competitors, Revocation’s Chaos of Forms and Protest the Hero’s Scurrilous. (Kind of amazingly, Mastodon’s The Hunter got one vote. ONE. Sheesh.)

We’d like to congratulate MetalSucks readers for once again demonstrating excellent taste. Now we can all stop arguing about what sucked so bad about 2011, and start arguing about what’s going to suck so bad in 2012!

And don’t forget to read our latest interview with Mr. Townsend himself, which was just published an hour ago right here.

Just ’cause we’re Jews doesn’t mean we can’t get a lil’ Xmas spirit in the MetalSucks Mansion! That’s why, for the third year in a row, we’re launching celebrating Jesus’ birthday in style, with our Antichrist Christmas contest. And this year, our pals at Relapse Records are hooking up the winner up in style with an awesome prize pack that includes the following CDs:

• Brutal Truth, End Time
• Zombi, Escape Velocity
• Indian, Guiltless
• Inevitable End, The Oculus
• Black Tusk, Set The Dial

Friggin’ sweet, right? Santa is jealous.

All you have to do to win is tell us why you hate the holidays. You can leave your answer in the comments section below, and make sure you register with a real e-mail address, since the winner will be contacted by e-mail.

Unfortunately, only readers who live in the U.S. are eligible. Because while Santa might have nine magic reindeer, all we have is the USPS.

All entries are due by New Year’s Day. We’ll announce the winners the first week of January 2012.

Good luck, and HO HO HO! MERRY ANTICHRIST CHRISTMAS!!!

-Axl & Vince

Photos by Brian Schroeter

Sitting opposite Devin Townsend, I am able to witness firsthand his mid-day queasiness (credited to a crummy breakfast), the way conversation causes him to perk up in little plateaus, and his determination while outlining his plans for the coming years. He’s excitedly building something, I observe, with this string of late-year shows in small markets serving as launch ramp to a bigger viability. It’s incredible, but this metal guy — despite boasting an 18-album discography over 16 years, including four Devin Townsend Project records that make up the exquisite Contain Us boxset — is fixed on a greater achievement: more autonomy.

Which is wild if you think about it. Townsend — the sole artist on his own Hevy Devy Records, a eight-tool studio whiz, and a frequent genre-buster now at a peak in popularity — appears to be the most creatively and commercially unbound musician ever in any genre. In his own studio and enlisting his peers, Townsend can make any project fly, be it puppet opera (Ziltoid The Omniscient and its planned sequel) or a prog-metal-Quadrophrenia-on-peyote theatrical epic (this year’s masterful Deconstruction) or sweet Anneke van Giersbergen-voiced pop metal (2009‘s Addicted, the forthcoming Epicloud project).

So what more does he want? The clue lies in DTP’s one-album-per-night shows back in November, and a massive event this Fall called The Retinal Circus: He’s steadily setting foundations for a bigger live show with a bigger budget, in reference to which his term is “absurd” (a word he pronounces “ob-zurd,” though it’s unclear whether that’s a product of Canadianism or just the way “homage” is said by certain people “oh-mazhe” and by others “Ah-mej”). But why, in these uncertain times, is Townsend forsaking modest aims for risk? We might surmise that he’s not satisfied to perform only parts of sprawling epics like Deconstruction and Ziltoid, nor to sub in backing tracks for his orchestras and choirs. To us, he could be metal’s most ambitious madman or a joker set on his own destruction. He probably wants nothing more sinister than to have shitloads of fun.

For the moment it’s a bit vague. What becomes clear over the course of our talk is that he is an entertainer and a liberator, a spirit-guide on a tour through the heart of a metal guy’s frantic consciousness. To this end, he is fortifying his fanbase. Hours after our talk, Townsend will display this onstage, loudly describing his suit’s odor as that “of a thousand ballbags,” bolting stage-right and out around the crowd to rock in the face of a 50-ish spectator seated mid-venue, and segueing regularly into and out of instrumental passages with self-reducing quips (“I’m a fucking dink! Go!”). He’ll dole out mid-show bro-fists, press forehead-to-forehead with front-row fans, and call his song “Life” his “gayest ever.” After the show, as cymbals are still ringing, Townsend will hop right down off the stage to greet and pose with all concertgoers. He’s friendly and sincere to each. He’s got plans for them.

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It’s that time again! I am re-invading the Metal Injection Livecast this Sunday night, and this time, I’m bringing reinforcements: MetalSucks columnist/dude from The Austerity Program, Justin Foley, arguably the only member of the MS team who is an even bigger prick than I am. As usual, I have no idea what we’ll be talking about, but I know it will be assloads of fun, and I know I won’t be anywhere within five hundred feet of sobriety, and I’m reasonably certain that Justin is going to do something to make us all feel incredibly uncomfortable because he has a serious talent for that kind of thing, so it should be a good time all around.

Tune in this Sunday from 7pm – 9pm Eastern. The show will stream live right here. You can be even chime in by calling us at 646-929-1357. Don’t miss it!

-AR

Even as a hair metal fan, I was never really into Trixter’s music. That being said, I will always hold a special spot for them in my heart, because they made what is arguably the single funniest music video in the history of the medium. I don’t mean metal videos, either — I mean they made the one actual funniest music video of all time. It was called “Give It To Me Good,”and there is not a single frame of it which isn’t comedy gold. If the Saturday Nighy Live ”Schmitt’s Gay” commercial parody was a 100% unironic music video, it would be “Give It To Me Good.” It is a video in which a bunch of dudes in pastel colors do cartwheels through an empty feel for no reason other than how the fuck else do you sell a rock record?

[NOTE: Actually that might be a chick in the pink, but I can't really tell for sure, on account of the fact that many of the dudes are also wearing tummy tees.]

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You can’t blame me for being wary of a solo project by Kevin Hufnagel, the guitarist for Dysrhythmia and the revived Gorguts. To kneejerk cynics like yours truly, it spells disaster: a clusterfuck of riffs and solos too noodly for either of those bands would be saying something. And the other end of the spectrum could be worse: an acoustic project that’s 40 minutes of empty, gnarled arpeggios reverberating off of nothing but the listener’s dwindling patience. Good guitarists left to their own devices run a higher risk of getting lost so far up their own asses that their spines snap like popsicle sticks. So thank our goddamn lucky stars that Hufnagel (a man who’s name seems to be destined to be shouted by Jerry Lewis) chose to instead make a beautiful album filled with lush, amorphous textures in Transparancies. A far, far cry from the dissonant prog/avant-metal of his most well-known bands, it’s just shy of forty-five minutes of densely textured abstractions that wander back and forth through emotional residencies, but never definitively landing in one. But it’s the ambiguousness that drives Transparencies, often reaching for a point that may or may not be there.

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On December 8, 1996, I ventured out in the freezing Minneapolis night towards downtown music venue First Avenue to see Orange 9mm. Late-era Helmet guitarist Chris Traynor was in that band, as was future Glassjaw/Head Automatica drummer Larry Gorman at some point. I was on the club’s permanent guest list, so it took no doing to pop in for some opener’s thirty-minute set — even one I liked as mildly as I did Orange 9mm. My plan for the night was to hang for a bit, scam on suburban chicks made gooey by a trip into the big city, nod at some jamz, and split before the headliner and in time to watch TV at this girl Brooklyn’s house. I had it all worked out.

Well, my plan went immediately to shit cuz Orange 9mm had cancelled. But I must’ve felt frisky or high or something cuz I stayed for Downset and the show’s headliner, the Deftones, who had just begun their commercial ascent. That was unknown to me at the time, their music too, but my jaw hit the ground by song two. It was one of those holy-shit experiences. I loved them. Awesome.

The show ended, sweaty dudes with wallet chains began to file out, and I silently praised my own spontaneity and good fortune. I’d found a new band to love and that’s what we’re all in this for. To think, I might’ve bailed and missed the whole thing. But I stayed! Success!

Here I’ll stop setting the mood and come to the point: Right as I was feeling awesome, kinda replaying the Deftones’ set in my mind at a downtown bus stop, kinda crumpled over against the arctic wind, kinda dying for the next morning to come so I could get on the phone to Maverick Records for an interview, I got punched in the face. I had no idea what was going on. I went down pretty hard; I remember my sight kinda going blank, rolling and fuzzy for an instant like a black-and-white TV dropped from short height.

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Damn you, MetalSucks, and your early Top 15 deadlines; I rushed to put that incoherent stream of fanboy drivel together and now, little more than a week later, my list is already obsolete. While it was apparently individualistic and snobby enough to land a cherished spot on Corey Mitchell’s esteemed “MORE ELITIST WRITER HOO-HA” countdown, I only managed to tie for fourth place — disappointing, I know.

Just to affirm my elitist cred I’ve tacked on a few more “don’t know ‘em; don’t care” albums in 2011 that you’ll definitely want to check out if you’re a real snob like me:

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Yesterday, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross were nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Original Score for their contribution to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo*; it’s their second nomination in as many years and would seem to suggest that the duo will probably get a second Oscar nod, too, although it’s not clear yet if they’ll be able to repeat the success of last year’s The Social Network. Still, pretty crazy to see the guy who once sang “I wanna fuck you like an animal” being all respectable n’ shit.

And since he is Mr. Respectable now, Reznor has granted a long interview to The Hollywood Reporter, a trade mag which I can’t imagine would have been interested in him even just a few years ago. But it’s a fun read, and they got some pretty good dish out of the dude — like the fact that he has no idea where his Grammy statuettes are:

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You read that right: more than two years after launching the first line of MetalSucks merch, we are retiring these designs forever before doin’ up some awesome new ones in 2012. That means if you’ve ever wanted a Sergeant D. t-shirt, or a Completely Unreadable hoodie, or one of those awesome skull shirts by Rodney Githens from Vertebrae 33 and Metal Band Art, well… this is your last chance to dance!

The happy news is that we’re now discounting ALL of this fine merch, so you can grab these items before they’re gone at a discount. T-shirts, which used to range from $13 – $15, are now just $10; hoodies, which used to cost $30, are now just $20. (Shipping + handling not included.) Not bad, right?

Go here to browse and place your order. They make wonderful holiday presents, bar mitzvah gifts, and proposal offerings in lieu of a diamond ring. But be forewarned: if there’s something you want, you’d better act fast, ’cause once this batch of merch is gone, these designs are done for all time!!! This special deal ends at midnight on December 25th.

ROSVO – Seasick from Rosvo on Vimeo.

If I saw this crazy-looking dude running through the streets with headphones on, dancing and making weird faces, I’d probably call the cops. Or at least the insane asylum. But relax! It’s just the lovable, huggable Haunted frontman Peter Dolving having fun at the expense of the unsuspecting Japanese public. Because Japanese people are intrinsically funny!

The video is for the song “Seasick” by Dolving’s side-project Rosvo. Says Dolving, “We shot this video in 45 minutes. Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Anders Björler and Peter Dolving, one iPhone and a bunch of people on their way somewhere wondering what the hell the guy wit the beard was going on about. Anders edited it in a couple of hours when we got home and here we have it.”

Anders Björler for music video director of the year?

-VN