So, clearly, this whole Black Sabbath/Bill Ward debacle is going to be the feud of the summer. Here’s the latest news/hilarity resulting from the battle of the bandmates:

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Have you signed up for our email list? Do it ’cause you love us! We promise not to spam you. And don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and on Twitter.

And now, a rundown of this week’s top stories:

• We spoke to Jamie Saint Merat from Ulcerate and Johan Lindstrand from The Crown.
• We checked out the latest releases from Baroness and Six Feet Under.
• Thanks Decibel, we got to stream some new Unsane.
• We looked at fifteen metal gods then and now.
• We were excited to learn The Human Abstract are touring Europe.
• We were horrified to learn that a neo-Nazi black metal bassist has been elected to Greek Parliament.
• We were also horrified to learn that Varg Vikernes is making a table-top RPG.
• We were also also horrified by the worst Slayer tattoo in history.
• We learned that Scott Weiland may or may not have re-joined Velvet Revolver.
• We prayed to Jesus to deliver unto us a new Pig Destroyer album.

We hope that you all have a wonderful weekend that is 100% free of seeing the movie Battleship. PEACE!

-AR

A Finnish reader named Anssi sent us Ghoul Patrol’s first-ever video, for the song “Six Feet Under,” and said that it ”Would mean a world to me and some other fellow Finlanders that you would at least check that video out, cos it is the bomb!” Adorable. Needless to say, after reading that, I had to watch the video.

And, hey, it’s not too shabby! The music is fairly generic, if not at all terrible, death n’ roll — I mean, I completely understand why Corey Mitchell didn’t dig it, but I also understand why Vic Vaughn did. But the concept behind the clip — people line dancing to music that one wouldn’t expect to inspire line dancing — is pretty funny. Sure, the joke doesn’t really go anywhere, but I can honestly say I’ve never seen this in a metal video before.

Is line dancing a big sensation in Finland?

“Six Feet Under” comes off of Ghoul Patrol’s self-titled full-length debut, which is out now on Spinefarm.

-AR

Did J.J. Abrams direct the new Art by Numbers video? Obviously not, but whomever it was, he or she obviously shares the Star Trek helmer’s love of lens flare. I guess in all fairness this video would be boring without the lens flare, since there isn’t much else going on visually — but with the lens flare, it’s inadvertently hilarious, which, I imagine, is not what they were going for.

In any case, the song, which is called “The Man in the Box” but is (obviously) not a cover of the Alice in Chains classic “Man in the Box,” is pretty good. My biggest problem with this band remains the vocals.

“The Man in the Box” comes off of Art by Numbers’ debut LP, Reticence: The Musical, which comes out May 29.

-AR

[via BlankTV]

Parkway Drivel Drive performed a new song live recently, and while the quality of the bootleg video isn’t exactly top-notch, it’s good enough for me to know that I don’t need it to be much better to pass judgment. This band blows. This song sucks. It doesn’t start in the video until around the thirty second mark, and the first breakdown comes at 1:19 — so, in other words, Parkway Drive can’t even make it a full minute without sticking in the most generic Triple-A riff imaginable. Why do people like this band? I’m not one of those people who thinks that all metalcore is mediocre, but the appeal of this crap is completely lost on me.

Parkway Drive’s new album will be out who cares.

-AR

[via Heavy Blog is Heavy]

I used to have a job where I worked in a cubicle for a solid ten to thirteen hours a day, and, no, I did not have easy access to a window. So I’d get to the office when it was light outside and then I’d work and work and work and when I’d leave it would be dark and I’d be like “What the fuck happened?” I was never one of those people who keeps, like, a postcard of a gorgeous Hawaiian landscape at his desk so as to fantasize about getting away, but I do understand the mentality behind such an action.

So. Alcest have released a new video, for the title track from Les Voyages De L’Âme, and really nothing whatsoever happens in the clip — it’s all just shots of, like, nature and trees and flowers and streams and shit. At one point I think I saw an ankle. I may be the first non-Amish person ever to be so excited by the sight of that part of the human anatomy.

BUT — the song is gorgeous, and if you have one of those poopy jobs where you feel like you need a postcard to gaze at from time to time, well… maybe this video will do the trick?

Les Voyages De L’Âme is out now.

-AR

Earlier this week we told you about Giorgos Germenis, bassist for the black metal band Naer Mataron, who was recently elected to Greek Parliament as a member of the Golden Dawn party — a political group infamous for their espousal of neo-Nazi ideologies. Well, now the band has released a statement in which they understandably try and distance themselves from that party. Unfortunately, they completely fail:

“Naer Mataron has been and still remains a pure-blooded black metal band, and as such, a non-political one. Any member of the band has the right to keep on to his personal beliefs and act accordingly. Therefore, any kind of legal political activity of any member, is a matter of personal choice and is respected as such. Attempts to put Naer Mataron under any political agenda are rejected by the band. In addition, any false accusations against the band will come across with legal actions on our behalf. The band stands only for black metal, and black metal is extreme music, not politics. Closing, anyone who is into the extreme music and thematology, but for any reason feels shocked or offended by non-extreme views and/or beliefs is none of our concern.”

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Six Feet Under’s Undead is going to be one of the most oft-discussed releases of the summer just by virtue of its existence. I mean, here’s a band fronted by a total legend, that much of the public seems to have grown weary of, who have now undergone a major line-up change and now includes some other real heavy hitters, which, needless to say, has lead to a pretty noticeable shift in their sound. I don’t know if everyone is gonna dig this album, I do know that everyone is gonna debate its merits.

Well, hey, guess what? The album is now being streaming in its entirety by our pals at Decibel. So give it a listen, grab your little paper cup, and meet us over by the water cooler. I’m (un)dying to hear what everyone thinks of this thing. I think I’ve made it pretty clear that I’m digging it a lot, but I’m sure more than a few of you will not. Hopefully at least some of you will get on board with it, though.

Six Feet Under’s Undead comes out May 22 via Metal Blade. You can read our own Mad Sourman’s review of Undead here, and our own Justin Norton’s interview with Chris Barnes himself here. The band goes on tour with Dying Fetus and Revocation starting in June; you can get dates here.

-AR

MAJOR BUMMER ALERT! If you were planning on partying with Van Halen this summer, you may be shit outta luck. The band was scheduled to tour America all summer long, and well into September, too — but yesterday they postponed thirty-one shows, calling off, for the time being, all performances after a June 26 gig in New Orleans. That’s sucky enough, but what’s worse is that, as of this writing, the band has offered no explanation for the postponement.

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Earlier this week, Bill Ward announced via a lengthy statement that he will officially be sitting out the upcoming Black Sabbath reunion; now the band has released an official statement of their own which is, to put it mildly, much, much briefer than Ward’s:

“We have decided not to make any  detailed  comment  on Bill’s latest statement. There are two sides to every story. We have been working hard at rehearsals making excellent progress after Tony’s treatments and we have engaged a substitute drummer for the forthcoming shows. See  you at Download.”

While I understand, on the one hand, that the band wants to avoid a war of words with Ward (say that five times fast) to whatever degree they can, I do think this kinda makes them look bad; there are two sides to every story, and for all we know, the remaining three members of Sabbath are in the right. But this makes them look, well, guilty. Ward says his contract wasn’t satisfactory; shouldn’t they come out and say his demands were unreasonable or whatever?

In any case, now the band has officially hired a replacement. Who could it be? Surely the answer will be coming any day now.

-AR

This probably isn’t going to come as a huge shock, given that the band basically tweeted as much a couple of days ago, but given how much we love them, it seems worth reporting: following weeks of rumors and speculation, The Human Abstract have now confirmed that they’ll be appearing at the Brutal Assault Festival in the Czech Republic this August. The rest of the line-up is just as cool: other bands on the bill include At the Gates, Machine Head, Godflesh, Converge, Pig Destroyer, Napalm Death, and literally hordes of other awesome bands. So, yeah, I’m fairly jealous of any Czech readers right now.

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If Scott Weiland hadn’t taken the job as Velvet Revolver’s vocalist, than chances are that it would have gone to Sebastian Bach; likewise, Corey Taylor, of Slipknot/Stone Sour fame, was heavily rumored to be taking Weiland’s spot in that band a few years back.

What does the fact that both vocalists almost joined the same supergroup have to do with anything? Not much, really. I just couldn’t think of a good intro for this video of the duo performing Skid Row’s “Youth Gone Wild” at Lazerfest in Iowa this past weekend. Do you think they talked about how hot Duff McKagan’s abs are?

-AR

[via The PRP]

Listening to Gaza is a little bit like being tied to the back of a truck and dragged face down through gravel — while chewing on broken glass. They’re one of those bands whose music is both capital-”V” Vitriolic and capital-”U” Ugly. Which is just the way we like ‘em!

The band will release their third full-length album, No Absolutes in Human Suffering, this summer, and now we ‘ve got our first arsenic-laced taste of that release in the form of “Mostly Hair & Bones,” which is streaming over at Brooklyn Vegan. The lyrics are on the band’s Facebook page, and the title apparently refers to the remains of a horse. So there’s a purdy image for ya.

Listen here, then weigh in with your thoughts below. No Absolutes in Human Suffering comes out July 31 via Black Market Activities. The band is going on tour from the end of this month through early July with a bunch of other cool groups, including Corrosion of Conformity and Torche; you can get dates after the jump!

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Remember last year when the geniuses at Metal Injection made the Tom Araya Scream Button? (We’re best friends with those dudes for a reason!) Well, now someone has gone and one-upped them — sorta — with this video, which collects every high-pitched scream Araya has ever recorded for a Slayer album. It’s actually kinda hard to sit through five-plus minutes of Araya yelling his guts out, but… I mean, c’mon, it’s a fairly brilliant idea, no?

-AR

[via Metal Injection... of course!]

The Safety Fire have posted a video recap of their recent MetalSucks-sponsored tour with Protest the Hero, Periphery, Jeff Loomis, and Today I Caught the Plague, and while it’s not super-informative vis a vis their experience on the tour, it is entertaining as hell. Which is fine with me; tour blogs and videos are usually so boring, I’d rather watch these dudes goof around anyway.

The highlight may be a gag in which guitarist “Dez” Nagle — who, in a band that is apparently full of class clowns, appears to be King Class Clown — takes the stage with PTH, posing as vocalist Rody Walker for a piece of the first song, while the real Rody Walker sings off-stage. His Walker impersonation is pretty strong; I wonder how many people in the crowd even noticed at first?

If you haven’t already, check out the “Rigged” column in which Dez explains his live gear for us here.

-AR

Agalloch are gonna tour North America this summer, and I know what you’re thinking — “It’s as part of the Scream Like You Mean It Tour, right?” Alas, no. I couldn’t tell you why they’re not part of a package that includes Attack Attack!, We Came As Romans, and Oceano, when they so obviously fit in with that crowd. Maybe they didn’t pay off the right people? Bummer. But you should go seem them anyway. They’re, like, way good and stuff.

Support will come from Taurus. Here are dates, via Lambgoat:

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So last year Sumerian signed dubstep artist Asaf Borger, better known as “Borgore,” and after the announcement was made, I never thought about it again because, y’know, fuck dubstep. So I basically completely forgot all about Borgore…

…until a friend sent me the below videos this morning, of The Faceless’ Michael Keene performing with Borgore on some television program late last year. And I’m a huge fan of Keene’s, so I hate to say this, but — holy shit, does this ever blow goats. Keene’s talents are totally wasted on Borgore’s “Nympho”; if you played me the song without the video and told me it was one of Korn’s dubstep collaborations, I would completely believe you. And why is Borgore wearing a Justin Bieber shirt? If he’s doing it because he likes Bieber, than he’s a pedophile; if he’s doing it to be ironic, than he’s a douche. Luckily, he makes up for his fashion choices with the worst fucking lyrics ever.

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The name Jason Bieler oughta mean something to you: not only was he the guitarist for Saigon Kick — a band who will always have a very special place in the hearts of myself and Vince — but he went on to co-found Bieler Bros. Records (with his brother, Aaron — thus the name, duh), which has released or will soon release albums by such MetalSucks favorites as SikTh, Karnivool, Look Right Penny, and Stam1na.

So, needless to say, I was excited to receive a press release announcing that Bieler has a new musical project of his own, Owl Stretching. Yeah, the name is a little odd, but the music is good — you can definitely feel the presence of the man behind Saigon Kick, especially in the vocals (not surprising, given that Bieler was basically Saigon Kick’s co-vocalist, the way, for example, Jerry Cantrell was basically Alice in Chains’ co-vocalist). In fact, the Owl Stretching tune I’m not quite sold on is an update of the title track from Saigon Kick’s most famous album, 1992′s The Lizard. It’s not as offensive as, say, the updated “Shout at the Devil” Motley Crue recorded for Generation Swine… it just seems really unnecessary to me, and doesn’t top the original. Of course, I hold The Lizard in very high regard, so maybe I’m just biased.

Check out one Owl Stretching song below…

…and two more after the jump!

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While he waits to figure out whether or not Scott Weiland is really back in Velvet Revolver, Slash is putting the full-court press on to promote his new album, Apocalyptic Love, which comes out next week. First of all, the entire record is now streaming over at Rolling Stone. Despite the fact that I don’t think the first single, “You’re a Lie,” is very good, there actually are a handful of fun hard rock tunes on there — I’m especially digging “Anastasia” — so if you ever liked Slash, it’s worth a listen. If nothing else, I think Myles Kennedy is definitely the first vocalist he’s worked with in his post-GN’R years to even come close to living up to Axl Rose.

And while we’re on the topic of “You’re a Lie” — Slash has also released a video for that song. Again, I think it’s the worst song on the album, and the video is pretty boring, too. But, y’know, if you wanna see it, here it is:

And finally, Noisecreep has posted the below video, of Slash and company performing an acoustic rendition of another Love track, “Not For Me,” as part of a television program called Guitar Center Sessions, which I assume are sessions recorded at Guitar Center (I was too lazy to ready the full description so who knows I could be wrong). This is one of many songs on Love which is wholly superior to “You’re a Lie,” so, uh, like, watch it and stuff:

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Not-at-all-metal musician Ryan Adams’ love of extreme music is not news, and the dude has already covered Iron Maiden’s “Wasted Years” and Alice in Chains’ “Down in a Hole.” Now Metal Insider tells me that Adams has been doing an acoustic rendition of Danzig’s “Mother” at some of his recent European shows; you can listen to a bootleg below. It actually works fairly well, the way all of Adams’ covers work fairly well. It certainly sounds better than the last few live recordings of Danzig I’ve heard, that’s for sure.

Enjoy. Or don’t. Your call.

-AR