MetalSucks

Well, I guess Alice in Chains can’t hit a home run every time.

The metal-related iPhone apps thus far – or, at least the ones I’ve seen – have, by and large, sucked. Oddly enough, Metallica, who haven’t released too many products worth owning this (or last) decade, have the best ones: their Live Metallica and Tap Tap Revenge apps are both totally solid. I didn’t get the Suffocation one, but Invisible Oranges’ review didn’t make it sound too appealing.

And now there’s the AIC “Mobile Roadie” app, which, quite frankly, is waste of 99 cents for anyone but the most die-hard (and brain dead) Alice fan. The app allows you to listen to a few songs from the album, which you probably already own; watch some videos, which you a) may have already seen or b) were capable of watching on your iPhone via YouTube anyway; read a bio of the band that is pretty much just a glorified “AIC are awesome” press release; look a discography which would suggest that Black is the band’s debut; get tour dates and news which, again, you could already do on an iPhone; post on a “fan wall;” or play with some art from the Black album booklet. And, seriously, even if you’re high, it’s fun to play with that art for precisely .02 seconds. This shit is lame, lame, lame.

Don’t believe me? Watch the video below. It pretty much demonstrates that your buck would be better spent on almost anything but this app.

If anyone knows of any metal apps that are actually worth a damn, let us know…

-AR

From a Rhythm magazine interview with Dave Lombardo that I saw on Blabbermouth:

Rhythm: Playing with METALLICA at Download in 2004 must have been quite an experience.

Lombardo: “Yeah. Show ‘em how it’s done! No disrespect to Lars [Ulrich], because Lars is great and he’s a very nice guy, but he needs to spend a week at my house and we need to sit down and play. I could show him — ‘No, Lars, like this!’… ‘Let’s chill, let’s relax, have some coffee and let’s play!’ Hahahahaha!”

If you’ve ever seen/heard this show, then you’re already aware that Lombardo ain’t dicking around – he and Joey Jordison both made Metallica sound at least 95% better (alas, Hetfield still insists on using those honky-tonk “wom-ahn” vocals he’s become so fond of). Check it out:

And while we’re on the topic, here’s Jordison playing with the band:

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In no particular order…

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These are some of my favorite producers and mixers for heavy music… It’s a challenging genre, and these guys are great in my opinion.

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I’ve been aware since the release of The Ashes of the Wake that Metallica’s Kirk Hammett is a Lamb of God fan – Kirk was spotted at that album’s release show at the Roseland Ballroom here in NYC – and I’ve wondered in the past if he wasn’t responsible for LoG suddenly becoming a go-to support act for Metallica.

And, hey, lookit: the above screenshot was taken from Chris Adler’s Facebook page, and reveals that Hammet and Adler are now working together on… something.

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Hulk Hogan was never my favorite pro-wrestler when I was a young ‘un, but he was pretty close. Anyone remember that Wrestlemania where he and The Ultimate Warrior (pretended to) beat the ever-lovin’ shit outta one another? EPIC. Vince and I used to debate if the Warrior had really robbed the Hulkster of his belt ’cause the ref was knocked out when Hogan pinned him, or if he would have won anyway. Then we discovered metal, grew pubes, and stopped caring about big sweaty half-naked dudes in silly costumes.

Oh, wait. Shit.

ANYWAY, a reader known only as “deanerhead” sent us this article earlier today. It’s mostly just Hulk Hogan hocking his new book, My Life Outside the Ring, but it does reveal this interesting tidbit:

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So as if you didn’t know, the new Slayer album, World Painted Blood, comes out this Tuesday (or I guess Monday if you’re in Europe). But as usually happens these days, the record is now streaming in full right here. Go check it out.

I’ll have a full review next week, but allow me to stir shit up right off the bat:

World Painted Blood > Endgame > Death Magnetic

If only Anthrax had actually gotten an album out this year…

-AR

Thanks to the reader known only as “L” for the tip.

I love playing ths game. The famed Metallica + GN’R + Faith No More run would have to be close to the top of my list. Soundgarden supporting Spoonman. Motley Crue supporting Too Fast For Love. King’s X on the Dogman tour, for sure… check out this performance [sent in by Shane Gillis] of the title track from that incredible record, filmed on the short-lived Jon Stewart show no less.

If you had a time machine that could take you back to any one specific tour (but ONLY one), who would you go see?

-VN

Then he threatened to put himself in the hospital for bringing up Metallica.

-AR

I know we give Metallica all sorts of shit around here, and I’ve made several jokes about them not loving their fans – but this is pretty serious, and it’s very cool of them to get involved.

They’ve posted the following message on their Facebook page:

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While I’ve been defending Roadrunner Records against Dave Mustaine, there’s been drama brewing in the Megadeth camp.

It all started when Mustaine gave a video interview to a Norway’s Lydverket blog. The half-hour long conversation was edited down to about four and half minutes for its final presentation, and a portion of that was devoted to Mustaine talking, for the trillionth time just this year, about being fired from Metallica. (This time he blamed it on the fact that he apparently decked James Hetfield back in the day for kicking his dog, because, y’know, Hetfield is a puppy-hating asshole and Mustaine is a saint and nothing is ever his fault.) And for reasons not entirely clear to me, Mustaine was seriously offended by the final video, and threatened that “as soon as I see that interviewer again, I am going to put him in a hospital.” (The journalist in question was actually a woman, but, hey, it’s hard to remember the little details when you never think about anything but yourself.)

Well, a full, unedited version of the interview has been released now, and as it turns out… Mustaine is the one who brought up Metallica. Mr. “I Don’t Want to Talk About Metallica Anymore.” Yes, the interviewer asks him to elaborate on his point a little, but he basically just starts talking about them, and going on and on and on… and then he brings up the whole Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame thing, which he was never asked about… I mean… Kerry King was right: give this dude some rope and he will hang himself. I’d call the dude an asshole, but really, this is just sad. Because Dave Mustaine is that guy who never got over his girlfriend leaving him, even though it was a million years ago and he’s now married to someone else.

Go to roughly the fifteen minute mark to see Mustaine bring up Metallica.

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I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Dave Mustaine is a brilliant fucking musician, but that doesn’t mean he’s not also a whiney little bitch.

Reader Elvin sent us the below, which Mustaine apparently posted on the Megadeth forums:

Droogies!

I don’t know what to say.

How a record company could be presented with a Worldwide [sic] critically acclaimed record, and that they can let it plummet down the charts in just four weeks into the hundreds, is inexplicable.

I knew I shouldn’t have done this. Why didn’t I trust myself?

I regret a lot of things in my life, but this is the most regretable [sic].

A very disgusted Megaman.

Now let me tell you why I have a serious problem with what Mustaine is saying.

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We haven’t done much writing about Rodrigo y Gabriella, the acoustic guitarist duo sweeping the metal world. But Metal Insider just posted this video of them jamming with Metallica’s Rob Trujillo, so, y’know. That seems maybe worth posting. I dunno. It’s kind of a slow news day.

So here they are doing “Orion”…

…and you can watch more video at Metal Insider.

-AR

Here’s The Dillinger Escape Plan’s fifth webisode chronicling the making of their forthcoming album, Option Paralysis. And sorry if I got your hopes but, no, James Hetfield (Hatfield?) is not actually on the album. Just watch, it’ll all make sense.

The best part of watching these remains the all-too-brief teases of new music the band keeps feeding us. But everything we’ve heard thus far seems to be in the vein of classic, Calculating Infinity-style DEP mathcore, and while there’s nothing wrong with that at all, I am starting to wonder if there’s going to be any Ire Works-style Faith No More pop. I’d love for the band to continue to strike a balance between the two styles (as they did on Ire and, to a lesser extent, Miss Machine), but… who knows. I’m obviously speculating based on next to no concrete information, so… “Dead as History” fans shouldn’t lose sleep just yet.

-AR

So not only is Rose and whatever four to sixty-two musicians he’s calling “Guns N’ Roses” these days really returning to wreak more havoc upon Canada, but it looks like one of the tour stops will be Montreal.

Anyone remember what happened the last time GN’R played Montreal?

The above news report is completely correct, of course. The rioting was caused by the injuries sustained by James Hatfield (NOT Hetfield), and not because after Hatfield sustained said injuries, Axl Rose failed to play a complete show. Sure sure.

Anyway, dates after the jump. Here Today… Gone to Hell, which is about as close to an official fan site as GN’R has these days, says the band currently consists of guitarists Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal, Dj Ashba, and Richard Fortus, bassist Tommy Stinson, drummer Frank Ferrer, and keyboardists Dizzy Reed and Chris Pitman. Hey, some of those dudes have actually played on a Guns N’ Rose record!

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I’m not convinced that any live DVD filmed after about 1992-ish will be particularly flattering to Metallica, but maybe I’m wrong. I haven’t seen them on the Death Magnetic tour – I haven’t seen them since 2006, actually – so maybe they’re killing it out there. Maybe James’ voice is 100% and Lars Ulrich took drum lessons. I dunno.

I guess I’ll find out November 23, when the band releases Francais Pour Une Nuit, a DVD documenting a French concert from this past July. But here’s the kicker: the DVD will only be available in retail stores in… France. Everyone else will have to order it from the band’s website. So, uh, yeah. Not sure what the benefits of doing that are – more profit into the band’s pocket, less shared with retailers, I guess – but there you have it.

You can watch a trailer for the DVD here (it’s not embeddable because Metallica don’t love their fans anymore). After the jump, get details of the various editions of the DVD, plus the complete track list.

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Pretty big week here at the MetalSucks Mansion. We laughed, we cried, we fired someone, we rocked out with our cocks out. Here’s a rundown of the highlights:

• We debuted a new song by The Devin Townsend Project, a new video by Skeletonwitch, a new song by Javelina, and the cover art for Sigh’s new album.
• Horse the Band’s Lord Gold blogged about Nawlins and cocaine, God Forbid’s Doc Coyle gave us an exclusive statement about that whole cup throwing incident, Dallas Coyle is giving away music for free, and Daath’s Eyal Levi talked about a run-in with the Polacks and drum triggers.
• We spoke to Dethklok’s Brendon Small, Converge’s Jacob Bannon, Gojira’s Joe Duplantier, and Liturgy’s Hunter Hunt-Hendrix.
• We checked out new releases from Baroness, The Red Chord, Skeletonwitch, Immortal, Vains of Jenna, Vampire Mooose, and Javelina. Also, some asshole really likes Oceano.
• We’re sponsoring the incredibly awesome Tyrants of Evil North American Tour 2010 with Arch Enemy, Exodus, Arsis, and Mutiny Within!

Alright. I’m going to see Where the Wild Things Are now. I’m fairly certain that it is going to make me weep like Gary Suarez. See ya Monday.

-AR

When I last spoke with Gojira’s Joe Duplantier about a year ago, the tone of the conversation was overwhelmingly positive; The Way of All Flesh had just been released to critical acclaim, the band had just come over to the U.S. for their biggest tour here to date (supporting In Flames) and everything was hunky-dory in Gojiraland. Fast forward a year, and the conversation is markedly different. Things are still fantastic for the band; The Way of All Flesh continues to sell and to be loved and they’ve toured non-stop all over the world with the likes of Metallica, Slayer and Lamb of God — but all this work has left the band exhausted.

In my recent chat with Joe before their headline show in Brooklyn last month, he explained the double-edged sword of the band’s newfound success — seeing the world, playing to sold-out audiences and opening for childhood heroes Metallica, while at the same time facing the realities of the constant grind of the road, living without a home and the hardships that come with being in a bus with the same 3 other dudes year-round.

Read my full chat with Joe after the jump, and also be sure to check out Axl’s show writeup (summary: they were FUCKING AWESOME!)

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In 2009, my primary interest in Billy Milano is reading the new and creative ways the dudes at Metal Inquistion come up with to give him shit (read here and here for examples). Still, I recognize that once upon a time the dude made good music, and about a gajillion of you e-mailed us the link to this video of him performing S.O.D.’s “United Forces” with Lamb of God (and Doc Coyle!) at a recent Metallica concert. So, y’know, let’s call this one a reader request.

-AR

As you are probably aware, God Forbid guitarist Doc Coyle recently filled-in for Lamb of God’s Mark Morton while LoG played support for Metallica. A video of Doc getting hit in the head with a cup of liquid while performing on that has been the source of much internet banter as of late (see above). Doc has issued the following statement regarding the incident exclusively to MetalSucks.

“I’m sure many of you have seen the video of me getting pegged on stage while I was on Metallica tour filling in for Mark from Lamb of God. Although 95% of the comments were really supportive, I just wanted to clarify a few things about the incident. First off, it was a beer, not a water. A big ol’ tall boy plastic cup of beer, and whoever threw it must have been a quarterback because it was full and hit me square in the eye at full steam. It felt like I got sucker punched. I had a mark by my cheek bone and it was swollen all night. I surprised I didn’t have a black eye. The way it hit me is probably the reason why I reacted the way I did. I’m no tough guy, but I wasn’t really thinking. I just reacted. I really don’t know what I would’ve done if anyone would’ve have owned up to to throwing it, but I have no clue if I would’ve hit the person. I can say that I’m not violent at all, and don’t think violence is a productive way to solve problems. I’m glad nothing came of it, but obviously the person was pretty cowardly to throw it and not own up to it. Anyway, shit happens. I just think it’s kind of funny how it spread on the internet. Beer in the face and all, it was still more than an honor to play with Lamb of God and open for Metallica.”