HELL YEAH (not Hellyeah)!!! Tonight is the monthly Metal Night at Idle Hands Bar, our favorite NYC metal joint, and, as always, we’re co-hosting with our pals at Metal Injection and Metal Insider. And this month, Metal Insider have lined up an extra-special treat for you: an opportunity to check out Marilyn Manson’s new album, Born Villain, in advance of its May 1 release date next week!

As if that wasn’t enough to lure you, Idle Hands will also be offering complimentary Mansinthe (yeah, that would be Marilyn Manson’s absinthe) while supplies last, while Tripp NYC will have some awesome giveaways as well. And in addition to Born Villain, those cool mo’fo’s from Metal Insider will be spinning other heavy favorites all night long.

The festivities kick tonight at 7 pm at Idle Hands Bar (25 Avenue B at 3rd Street). See ya there!

To the best of our knowledge, MS devotee Ryan Preston and his buddy win the award for “farthest distance below sea level traveled by anyone wearing a MetalSucks shirt.” The above photo was snapped in a lead mine in Missouri that Ryan visits “a few times a year.” Newsbreak: lead is bad for you dude, might not wanna spend too much time down there! Heavy metals like lead do, indeed, suck. But we’re guessing since you’re a Geotchnical Engineer you already know that, and we commend you for your fashionable mining gear by rewarding you handsomely with a box of goodies as part of our ongoing Show Us Your MetalSucks contest!

As a reminder, our brand new STUFF YOU WILL HATE t-shirts are now available; get yours here!

Here are a few more badass shots of Ryan, his buddy and his MetalSucks merch down in the mines:

Click to read more…

On May 22, Havok will release Point of No Return, an EP consisting of two brand new tracks and two classic thrash covers, just one year after putting out the fantrashstic collection of bangers known as Time Is Up via Candlelight Records. If you somehow slept on Time Is Up, make sure you get acquainted with a few of the album’s tracks at Havok’s official website.

One of the cover songs from Point of No Return is Sepultura’s classic “Arise,” so we can only imagine Havok’s delight when their their heroes asked them to come out on the road this month along with thrash vets Death Angel and Krisiun. Stream Havok’s cover of “Arise” below, and pre-order the EP for just FIVE BUCKS at Candlelight’s webstore.

European MetalSucks readers can catch Havok on tour with 3 Inches of Blood and Goatwhore in May; get dates here.

If you listened to “Fire From the Sky,” the first track to be released from Shadows Fall’s forthcoming album of the same name, you were probably all like, “WOW, what the?!?! These dudes sure took a turn for the doomy and brutal!” And you would be correct. That’s not a bad thing, either; that track crushes. But fear not, old-school Shadows Fall fans: the title track is more the exception than the rule, and Fire From the Sky is full of the up-tempo, thrashy, shreddy, guitarmony-laden bangers you’ve come to expect from these OG Massholes. For proof, look no further than album-opener “The Unknown,” which you can stream exclusively at MetalSucks right now.

Fire From the Sky comes out on May 15th and can be pre-ordered here in a variety of different bundles.

It is high time to get very excitebike, my friends: Ulcerate’s MetalSucks-sponsored North American tour with Svart Crown and Tombs — their first ever on these shores — is now less than one month away! Ulcerate’s 2011 release The Destroyers of All certainly destroyed everyone at the MetalSucks Mansion last year, so we’re incredibly pumped to get good and destroyed by Ulcerate live and in the flesh. Tombs and other special guests will be opening this all-too-brief trek as well, so there’s a whole lot to look forward to.

Sit back, relax and imagine this being played live:

Dates below:

Click to read more…

This year’s awesome Metal Alliance Tour comes to a conclusion tomorrow — but whether you’re a sad bastard who missed it or you just wanna relive the glory, we have a real treat for you today. MetalSucks mega-photographer Miikka Skaffari caught up with the tour when it stopped in San Francisco earlier this month, and captured some of his most epic photos yet. So after the jump, check out incredible action pics of DevilDriver, The Faceless, Dying Fetus, Job for a Cowboy, 3 Inches of Blood, and Wretched! You’ll be glad you did.

Click to read more…

Are you ready to headbang so hard your frickin’ skull detaches from your neck, flies across the pit, and kills some poor dude on the other side of the venue?!?! We hope so, ’cause we’re teaming up with our brahs at Metal Injection to bring you what is sure to be one of the most intense tours of the spring: Revocation are headlining, with support coming from Cannabis Corpse and Ramming Speed. That line-up is SICK, isn’t it?

The tour kicks off TONIGHT in Allston, MA. You can get all the dates after the jump. And if you haven’t already, you should also check out our exclusive in-studio report about the making of Ramming Speed’s new album, Doomed to Destroy, Destined to Die!!!

And now, the tour itinerary:

Click to read more…

Following the conclusion of our list of The Top 25 Modern Metal Drummers last month, we asked you, our beloved readers, to weigh in, and weigh-in you have: Gojira’s Mario Duplantier is the winner, with 212 votes from people who understood how to follow instructions and properly vote in the poll, and five votes from people who did not. Duplantier, you may recall, was actually #2 on our list, so it seems that the discrepancy between our tastes and your own is not that vast this time!

Other popular picks included Mastodon’s Brann Dailor (#4 on our list), Meshuggah’s Tomas Haake (#5 on our list), and Gene Hoglan (#6 on our list). In other words, it seems not as though you cats have a problem with our list so much as you would have liked to ever-so-slightly change the order in which the drummers appeared. Interesting!

If you haven’t already experienced the madness or just want to re-live the thrilling adventure, you can check out the complete list here.

It wasn’t so long ago, we remember times where life was so cold. Everything was dark… and then Kataklysm came into the world and set it right the fuck on fire.

It’s true! The Canadian death metal demons in Katalkysm have been kicking ass and taking names for twenty years, and they’re celebrating in a big, big way: later this year, they’ll release a DVD/CD set called The Iron Will: 20 Years Determined  (teaser video here) and a new single, also called “The Iron Will.” And as if that wasn’t enough, they’ll lay North America to waste while headlining what is sure to be one of the most brutal, not to mention fun, tours of the summer: The Iron Will Tour 2012, presented  with great pride by none other than MetalSucks.

With support coming from the tech-death gods in Origin (from August 11 through August 26), Italian orchestral metallers Fleshgod Apocalypse, old school luminaries Vital Remains (from August 25 through September 5), and our longtime pals in Rose Funeral, this tour is guaranteed to leave you crippled and broken (sorry, couldn’t resist). Get dates after the jump, with more to be announced soon!

Click to read more…

DIRTY JER-Z where the party at, especially if your name’s Mariel and you’re a member of the elite cadre of MetalSucks photographers. Ms. Pietrykoski ventured next door to the spacious Starland Ballroom in Sayreville on the eve of March 3rd and snapped some pics of Children of Bodom and Revocation for your viewing pleasure. Check ‘em out.

Click to read more…

MetalSucks is sponsoring the current Protest the Hero, Periphery, Jeff Loomis, The Safety Fire and Today I Caught the Plague U.S. tour (dates here). We’ll be featuring a “Rigged” column from one member of each band, taking you through their live gear setups piece by piece. Check out the Rigged pieces by ex-Nevermore shredder Jeff Loomis, Protest the Hero’s Luke Hoskin and Periphery’s Jake Bowen and Alex Markides. Today’s we’ve got Today I Caught the Plague’s Steve Rennie and Ben Davis run us through their rigs:

Greetings gearheads!

For this edition of Rigged, Steve Rennie and myself (Ben Davis) are going to break down the guitar rigs Today I Caught the Plague are using on our American tour with Protest the Hero, Periphery, Jeff Loomis and The Safety Fire.

While we were in the studio recording our latest album Lore we used a variety of different heads, cabs, pre-amps and effects. Live, however, Steve and I run essentially the exact same set-up. Our design philosophy is very old school; it’s small, simple, economically friendly and most importantly it works well and sounds great!

Click to read more…

We know what you’re thinking: HUH?!?! We had the same thought, too! But the more we thought about it, the more it made sense — Bonnie Raitt and Cannibal Corpse are legends in their respective genres, so why SHOULDN’T they tour together? And so, starting in May, they will, on a special eleven state tour proudly being brought to you by MetalSucks and our bro-bros at American Express.

“I was interested in doing a tour that bridges the gap between so-called ‘genres,’” Raitt told us via telephone. “Who cares if it’s blues or death metal or hip-hop? As long as it’s good music, isn’t that all that should matter?”

Cannibal Corpse bassist Alex Webster expressed similar sentiments to us: “Maybe some metal fans will be close-minded about this because Bonnie’s music isn’t heavy. But you can’t listen to the brutal stuff all the time, and we’re all huge fans of Bonnie’s in Cannibal Corpse. Nick of Time is one of my absolute favorite records ever!”

Support acts have yet to be announced, but we’re told it will be someone from yet another genre, which should only make this fascinating experiment of a tour all the more intriguing. Make sure you don’t miss this extremely special event. Get dates after the jump!

Click to read more…

Tonight is the United States’ biggest heavy metal award show — well, really, the United States’ only heavy metal award show — The Revolver Golden Gods Awards. As you can see from the above poster, this year’s show will feature performances by such 110% relevant artists as Marilyn Manson, Slash, and Black Veil Brides. Yipee!

So we’re celebrating here in typical MetalSucks style — with a live blog of the whole event, led by no other than MS senior editor/Hipsters Out of Metal! columnist Anso DF. He’ll be giving you the blow-by-blow of the entire event. Of course, you can watch right along with him, thanks to the live stream that will be available the Golden Gods Facebook page and  Xbox.

The fun starts tonight at 6 pm PST/9 pm EST right here on MetalSucks. Don’t miss it!

The incredible MetalSucks-sponsored tour featuring Protest the Hero, Periphery, Jeff Loomis, The Safety Fire, and Today I Caught the Plague continues through April 22! You can get remaining dates here. The trek hasn’t hit New York yet, but all the feedback we’ve heard has been overwhelmingly positive — apparently, these shows are just as much fun as you’d think they’d be. And now, as if you needed further enticing to see the tour when it comes to your town, MetalSucks’ own Miikka Skaffari has snapped some incredible photos of the three top-billed bands when they recently played San Francisco. These pics are the next best thing to actually being at the show! Check ‘em out after the jump!!!

Click to read more…

Suckalo Brendan Tannahill and Devin Townsend recently derped it up for the camera after the latter’s show in Melbourne, Australia, and Mr. Tannahil had the good fortune of remembering to sport his MetalSucks shirt that day. For his good taste in threads and/or good fortune, Brendan will be receiving a big ol’ box of metal goodies in the mail from his pals at MS very soon.

You, too, can be the beneficiary of lots of free shit by entering our ongoing Show Us Your MetalSucks contest. It’s easy: just send in a picture of you, your MetalSucks merch, and something fun to news [at] metalsucks [dot] net, then sit back, watch your mailbox and reap the rewards.

Instead of having the guys in Torche write a regular tour blog from their recent tour with Corrosion of Conformity, Valient Thorr and A Storm of Light, we thought we’d try something new: a photoblog using Soundcloud’s new Storywheel tool. We at MetalSucks appreciate good booze and good food, and based on this photoblog it seems as if we’d get along quite well in that regard with the dudes in Torche if our paths were ever to cross. Thanks to the guys in Torche for putting this together, and we hope you enjoy it. Just press play:

Torche’s new album Harmonicraft comes out on April 24th via Volcom and can be pre-ordered here. Catch them on tour  with Black Cobra, Gaza and Corrosion of Conformity this spring. Dates after the jump:

Click to read more…

MetalSucks is sponsoring the current U.S. tour of Protest the Hero, Periphery, Jeff Loomis, The Safety Fire and Today I Caught the Plague (dates here). We’ll be featuring a “Rigged” column from one member of each band, taking you through their live gear setups piece by piece. Ex-Nevermore shredder Jeff Loomis took us on a tour of his gear to kick things off, and last week Protest the Hero’s Luke Hoskin did the same. Today’s we’ve got Periphery guitarist Jake Bowen and Front-of-House engineer / tour manager Alex Markides in a double-team Rigged attack:

Greetings! My name is Jake and I play guitar in Periphery. Helping me write this article is Periphery’s Front-of-House engineer and tour manager Alex Markides; without Alex and his experience none of our current setup would be possible. We are currently on tour with Protest the Hero, Jeff Loomis, The Safety Fire, and Today I Caught The Plague — we’re having a great time so far and touring with these bands is a real treat. If you’re reading this you probably know what to expect but I would like to shine some light on the specifics of our live rigs. We have a lot more going on than it initially seems.

Jake: For the guitar racks, each of our three guitar players uses an Axe FX Ultra with a Line 6 G90 wireless system. The Axe FX provides all of the guitar tones we need including all of the effects; we each have a large set of patches programmed for specific parts of each song and those patch changes are automated by our laptop… but I’ll get into that a little later. The bass is being run through an Axe FX II with a Darkglass B7K in the fx loop.

Click to read more…

Did you have as much fun reading our list of The Top 25 Modern Metal Drummers as we did making it? Are you feeling a little glum that now it’s over? Can you just not possibly wait a whole eleven months until we do our vocalists list?

Well turn that frown upside down — because we’ve collected the entire list in one place for your convenience. So now you can relive the excitement, the adventure, and the magic!!!

And don’t forget: there’s still time to vote in The Top 25 Modern Metal Drummers MetalSucks Readers’ Poll!!! Whether you’re angry about the outcome of our list or you just wanna see your favorite drummer get that much more recognition, make sure you weigh in and let your voice be heard!!!

And now, the full list:

Click to read more…

Fans have been clamoring for a reunion of doom lords diSEMBOWELMENT pretty much since the band called it quits immediately following the release of their only album, 1993′s Transcendence Into the Peripheral. Inverloch, a new project featuring two members of diSEMBOWELMENT (namely guitarist Matthew Skarajew and drummer Paul Mazziotta), may not quite mark the return of that legendary Australian outfit, but to call it “the next best thing” is, frankly, demeaning. Inverloch’s debut album, Dusk/Subside, is so good that even if the diSEMBOWELMENT connection is what initially lures you in, the fact that the band has made something so supremely and deliciously EVIL sounding should make you stay — and respect this band as its own thing, different-but-equal to diSEMBOWELMENT.

But, hey, don’t take our word for it — MetalSucks is proud to be streaming Dusk/Subside, in its entirety, below, in advance of its release on April 10. Headbang (very, very slowly) below, and once you’ve experience Inverloch in all their shadowy glory, pre-order the album here (we think the limited edition vinyl with a killer etching on the b-side is especially sweet). And don’t forget to follow Inverloch on Facebook to stay up-to-date on all their movements, too.

We’ve published our list. Now it’s your turn.

We’re going to do this the same way we’ve done this in the past: rather than post a regular poll with hundreds of options, we’re going to conduct this poll via the comments. Here are the instructions:

Step 1) Decide who your favorite modern metal drummer is. Remember that only candidates who have recorded and released new material within the past five years are eligible.

Step 2) Search the comments of this post for your choice (Apple-F on a Mac, Control-F on a PC).

Step 3) If your favorite modern metal drummer is already listed, simply hit the “like” button underneath the original comment nominating that drummer. If your favorite modern metal drummer is not listed yet, add him, making sure you that you’ve spelled his or her name correctly.

That’s it! Sometime soon, we’ll tally up the “like”s and declare a winner. Have fun… go!