Holy crap, is 2012 off to a great start or what? After my first run-through, I had 35 albums that could have been potential Bleeders, but whittled them down to a mere thirteen. The diversity on display is also promising as there are solid releases from familiar names (Aborted, Farsot) and new faces (Acheode, Desecravity), and that are spread across multiple sub-genres as well.

As usual, there will be bands on my Meh’ers and Blowers lists that you guys may like. I could care less if you think I’m an idiot for not liking them. I’d rather hear why you think those bands deserved to be ranked higher. Be an advocate, not an asshole.

I hope February is as half as good as January.

Here are the January 2012 releases that got under my skin, burrowed their way into my brain, made my ears bleed, or simply tickled my unmentionables:

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Anxiety, the debut release from Italian experimental death metal band Acheode, recently caught my attention while listening to a ton of January releases for my next Bleeders’ Digest column. Not only can they get all tweedly-dee on your asses, but they also know how to write killer songs with actual grooves.

So, I decided to investigate further. Not only are they good songwriters, but after watching their video for the track “Parasitic Gangrene,” I can safely say (with great pleasure) that they are some seriously twisted fucks.

I won’t ruin the debauchery on screen too much, but just know that some of the joyous shots in this vid include a pedo van, gnomes, an Alan Cummings look-alike, multiple acts of misogyny, handicap abuse, tinkle, vomit, cocaine, gin, non-synchronized headbanging, Devil Goats, toilet love, and a dude in a crane.

I fucking love this band!!

Spotify this shit.

-CM

Corey Mitchell is a best-selling author of several true crime books and is currently helping Philip H. Anselmo write his autobiography.

Join Corey at Facebook and Twitter. Oh yeah, circle me at Google+, yet another fucking social network….

I am a goofy stats and numbers geek and have been ever since I was a kid, starting when I created my own NFL board game using an NFL Strategy football field and hundreds of 1974 Topps Football cards with plays printed on the back.

Yesterday, I was reading the comments in the compilation of our Year End Top 15 lists and stumbled across “You”‘s request that someone should tabulate and collate our lists. This, of course, appealed to the stat geek in me.

In addition, another reader named “Agschwarzer” created the internet meme you see up top.

So, I was curious. What did the writers at MetalSucks like the most in 2011 and, more importantly, did we completely ignore Mastodon?

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Phew! Hopefully, you’ve been reading my Bleeders’ Digests this year to get an idea of what I consider to be the best releases in what has truly been a stellar year for metal. I started this insane venture back in January and have listened to, front to back, 723 metal releases this year!

Since we had an earlier than usual deadline this year to submit our final Top 15 (and because I have a book deadline in December), I’ve only made it through half of the month of October. I did sneak in a few key November releases as well such as the new Animals As Leaders, Megadeth, Vektor, and Cynic. For those of you that read the Bleeders, don’t worry, I’ll catch up on the October, November, and December releases in the new year.

What an amazing year for heavy metal. While I somehow managed to whittle my list down to a Top 15, do yourself a favor and check out my previous Bleeders Digests (links at bottom) for a year’s worth of killer tunes. This is but the top 10% of what I found to be excellent. Most of the reviews here are from my earlier Bleeders columns and the updated notes are from my mid-year top albums list. There are a couple of new reviews in the mix as well.

My Top 15 contains a little bit of everything: thrash, crust, instrumetal, black metal, stoner, doom, punk, grindcore, death metal, hardcore, blackened this and that, and more.

Yes, there is a noticeable lack of Djent, wank, and Ghost. Deal with it.

For the rest of you, enjoy!

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I recently posted this message on my Facebook page, but most of my followers there are of the true crime persuasion. I’d love to hear from you Metal Suckahs as y’all are the ones any books about metalheads are going to be geared towards.

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Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. I said I’d be in my cave finishing up my newest true crime book, TEACH ME TO KILL, but I already need a brain break.

As many of you know, I am branching out of true crime (don’t worry, I will always write TC books!) and into music autobiographies. My first book I will be helping out with is the autobiography of former Pantera lead singer/current DOWN singer Philip H. Anselmo and his incredible story.

I’m looking at the long-term picture here and hope to continue writing books about (and hopefully with) some of my favorite musical artists in the worlds of rock, rap, and heavy metal.

Please feel free to vote for one or more of the following artists whom you’d like to see me write a book alongside. Also, please add any artists I might have missed that you think I could do a good job with his or her book.

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At this past weekend’s FunFunFunFest in Austin, Texas, a heavy metal behemoth slayed all comers as far as garnering the positive headlines. No, I’m not talking about thrash legends Slayer, who closed out the fest with a brilliant set (review forthcoming) that made their Big 4 NY appearance look tame by comparison. I’m definitely not talking about The Artist Formerly Known As Mr. Kitty Litter AKA The Artist Now Known For French Onion Soup and A Wendy’s Chicken Sandwich AKA Mr. Glenn Danzig (see recap of his divantics™ here). Nope, I’m talking about Mr. Hollywood Hunk his own bad self, Mr. Ryan Gosling.

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Last year (and the year before) I got way too busy with this thing called life and missed out on a lot of quality music. I am here to rectify the error of my ways, month by month.

Sorry for the delay. Been extra busy writing books, covering film festivals for Bloody Disgusting, and watching zee American football (Go Steelers!). Also, my listening tally (165 releases for September alone!!) practically quadrupled with the introduction of Spotify into my home.

I won’t have another Bleeders’ list until December as I am fast approaching a deadline on my next true crime book, Teach Me To Kill. I will, however, be contributing my Top 15 picks of the year before I resume the Bleeders’ lists.

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Last year (and the year before) I got way too busy with this thing called life and missed out on a lot of quality music. I am here to rectify the error of my ways, month by month.

Sorry for the delay. Been extra busy writing books, covering film festivals for Bloody Disgusting, and watching zee American football. Also, my listening tally practically doubled with the introduction of Spotify in my home.

Here are the August 2011 releases that got under my skin, burrowed their way into my brain, made my ears bleed, or simply tickled my unmentionables:

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I am old, married to a kindergarten teacher, and play Mr. Mom nine months out of the year. As a result, I can only go to concerts on weekends or during the sweltering months of summer.

This is my summer vacation (Part III).

WHO: RUSH
WHERE: Frank Erwin Center — Austin, Texas
WHEN: June 12, 2011

It’s been 28 years since I last saw Rush live in concert. I became a convert right around the time Moving Pictures came out, loved Signals, but moved on to heavier music (ie. Metallica/Slayer/Megadeth/Exodus/English Dogs) by my first year of college. Over the years I became less enthralled with Rush, but always respected their commitment to excellence in rock music. When I heard they were coming back through Texas this summer on their seemingly never-ending “Time Machine Tour” and would be playing Moving Pictures, front to back, in its entirety, I decided a nostalgia trip was in order.

My Old Fart bones were already exhausted from catching Mötley Crüe on Thursday and KEN mode on Friday, but the Saturday respite seemed to re-energize me. Besides, the guys in Rush are a collective 172-years old and choose to travel tens of thousands of miles to entertain poor sods like me. How hard could it be to drive one hour to Austin and stand on my feet for a few hours to catch one of the greatest bands on the planet? Not hard at all.

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Last year (and the year before) I got way too busy with this thing called life and missed out on a lot of quality music. I am here to rectify the error of my ways, month by month.

Here are the July 2011 releases that got under my skin, burrowed their way into my brain, made my ears bleed, or simply tickled my unmentionables:

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Hopefully, you Suckahs have been following my Bleeders’ Lists this year. If not, you can play catch-up here – Missed Albums Finally Listened to from the First Half of 2011, June, May, April, March, February, January.

As of the end of June, I have listened to 356 new releases this year — each one all the way through. I have listened to several live releases and re-releases but did not include most of them on my lists. Surprisingly, just under 29% are Bleeders (or the best each month). This is nearly 15% higher than I expected, so that’s the first good thing. The second is that those 103 Bleeders comprise a vast array of what we call “heavy metal” and have made for a stellar year already.

Being a lifelong metalhead, there are obviously going to be certain acts I just don’t like — number one amongst those this year is Ghost. But my Bleeders’ Lists aren’t about what I don’t like, but rather what gets me stoked. I’ve listened to, literally, more than 10,000 metal releases and been to more than a 1,000 metal concerts. In other words, I’m jaded. So, when something excites me, I want to share it with everyone. Thankfully, I’ve been able to do that 103 times this year.

Below you will find my Top 10 of those 103 Bleeders with their original mini-reviews plus updated commentary.

Of course, I just heard the new Decapitated and have a sneaking suspicion it will be be firmly entrenched on my 2011 Top 15 list come December.

Enjoy. Despise. Eviscerate.

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I am old and married to a kindergarten teacher, therefore, I can only go to concerts during the sweltering months of summer.

This is my summer vacation (Part II).

WHO: ECOCIDE, KEN mode, DEAFHEAVEN
WHERE: The Ten Eleven – San Antonio, Texas
WHEN: June 10, 2011

After the previous night’s cockrocktravaganza (AKA Mötley Crüe), I needed something to get me grounded again. Nothing like a solo trip to a seedy bar in the seedier side of San Antonio to check out two seedy-ass noisy bands which have graced my Bleeders’ Digest lists this year. I dug both KEN mode’s Venerable and Deafheaven’s Roads to Judah, but the definitive nod must be given to the former for sheer testicle obliteration. As a result, I was stoked to catch Deafheaven first, followed by KEN mode. Weird line-up as the former tends to fall into the USBM category while the latter can best be pitted in the Quicksand and Poison The Well’s sandboxes.

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Last year (and the year before) I got way too busy with this thing called life and missed out on a lot of quality music. I am here to rectify the error of my ways, month by month.

Here are the releases from the first half of the year 2011 that I missed for whatever reason that got under my skin, burrowed their way into my brain, made my ears bleed, or simply tickled my unmentionables:

Click to read more…

I am old and married to a kindergarten teacher, therefore, I can only go to concerts during the sweltering months of summer.

This is my summer vacation (Part I).

WHO:MÖTLEY CRÜE, POISON & NEW YORK DOLLS
WHERE: AT&T Center — San Antonio, Texas
WHEN: June 9, 2011

I can’t say I was too excited to check out this bill. I did give Mötley Crüe a solid review for their 2008 Crüefest that scooted into the now-defunct Verizon Wireless Amphitheater under the scornful eye of a vicious summer storm, despite the fact Buckcherry, Sixx A.M., and Trapt opened up for them. This time around, I can’t say their choice for major support would cause me to sport a woody. I mean, c’mon… Poison? 4srslz?

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Last year (and the year before) I got way too busy with this thing called life and missed out on a lot of quality music. I am here to rectify the error of my ways, month by month.

Here are the June 2011 releases that got under my skin, burrowed their way into my brain, made my ears bleed, or simply tickled my unmentionables:

Click to read more…

Last year (and the year before) I got way too busy with this thing called life and missed out on a lot of quality music. I am here to rectify the error of my ways, month by month.

Here are the May 2011 releases that got under my skin, burrowed their way into my brain, made my ears bleed, or simply tickled my unmentionables:

Click to read more…

Last year (and the year before) I got way too busy with this thing called life and missed out on a lot of quality music. I am here to rectify the error of my ways, month by month.

Here are the April 2011 releases that got under my skin, burrowed their way into my brain, made my ears bleed, or simply tickled my unmentionables:

Click to read more…

-CM

Corey Mitchell is a best-selling author of several true crime books. Thanks for playing…

Join Corey at Facebook and Twitter.

Weed is an awesome so-called “drug”, but it’s NOT for everyone. And throughout certain periods of my life, it’s been that way for me too. Growing up it was fun and my friends and i smoked a whole lot (!) whilst jamming…but somewhere in my mid-twenties, it would/could make me paranoid and uncomfortable in my own skin, so I didn’t/wouldn’t partake as often.

I know it’s not the most popular thing to admit to around these parts, but I really like Slipknot (up through V3:TSV, that is). I appreciate the fact that they bring a fairly heavy sound to the masses, flip the bird at their detractors, and continue moving forward despite alleged inner band turmoil, an increasingly fickle buying public, and the death of bassist Paul Gray.

Their side projects, on the other hand, have all left me cold. Stone Sour, Murderdolls, To My Surprise, Dirty Little Rabbits – bah! Nothin’.

So, when I heard on Monday that M. Shawn Crahan AKA “Clown” was interviewed on some internet radio show about his latest project, The Black Dots of Death, I decided to investigate. I had no interest in the 30-minute interview, so I opted for Clown’s own promo video for the record instead.

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