You can’t escape the initial grasp a band like Sexcrement has on you. You just… can’t. The name reeks of lust and filth, and the music itself is like a cacophony of death groove caked in indistinguishable bodily fluids forming a sticky sweaty monstrosity.  In short – a heaping helping of wholesome fun for the entire family. If you’re unfamiliar with the name, even after our own Sammy O’Hagar sang their praises, I’m willing to bet you’ll remember ‘em after you see the video for “Trucker Bombed”.

The video features 80’s scream queen Linnea Quigley (Return of the Living Dead, Silent Night Deadly Night), who will either creep you the fuck out or turn you the fuck on in her disturbing quest for piss. “Trucker Bombed” has all the bases of perversion covered, not to mention a few clips of one of our Top Modern Metal Drummers in drag. So, if you’re down to check out some outstandingly vile debauchery and potentially puke all over your laptop, I’d say check out the video below. Warning: it’s definitely NSFW.

“Trucker Bombed” is the first single off of Sexcrement’s second full length, Sloppy Seconds, which comes out May 29 via Comatose Music.

-Kellhammer

As you’ve no doubt been reminded of time and again in the past weeks, the Metal Sucks/Metal Injection-sponsored Revocation, Ramming Speed, and Cannabis Corpse tour is upon us. With releases from two of the three bands taking prominent places in the top what-have-you lists of yesteryear, it may be appropriate to wonder if the dudes left out of that running are up to par with their soon-to-be tour-mates. I’m here to assure you that not only does Ramming Speed meet the standards expected of them to tour with the likes of these bands – they far and away exceed them.

I was lucky enough to get an inside look at the recording process of their new album, Doomed to Destroy, Destined to Die, down at Godcity Studios with Kurt Ballou behind the sound board. After passing by a million times over the years, I’d worked up some sort of image of what it must be like inside, and for the most part, it stacked up.  There’s little else that makes me happier than opening a door to be instantly bombarded by massive guitar riffs, and upon my arrival I was greeted with just that. Checking out what was going on in the sound room, all I saw were a bunch of sweaty, smelly (trust me, I could tell) dudes surrounding the band’s axe-master, Kallen Bliss, shred it up and give a faint nod in my direction. It did my heart good to see these guys recording in the same studio that had just recently seen such acts as Black Breath, High on Fire, Trap Them, and my beloved Black Cobra (to list more of the bands that have worked there would likely take up a tome, so we’ll stop now).

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Layne Staley only recorded six studio albums in five years — and yet his inimitable voice influenced an entire generation of singers. To commemorate his death ten years ago, members of the MetalSucks staff will be discussing their favorite Staley performances throughout the day.

Confession: “Again” is actually not my favorite song by Alice in Chains, though the it will always hold a place in my heart. As a kid, most music outside of the operatic or theatrical spectrums was forbidden in my house, and most fervently was anything “rock” related. Not the worst way to grow up – at least it wasn’t country. Still, I knew I didn’t want to live my life listening solely to Madame Butterfly or Scheherazade. No, I knew there was something else, waiting patiently for me to discover… and discover I did. Flipping through the channels one morning, I found that MTV was not blocked, and I happened upon some of the most disturbing images my eyes had crossed in their ten years of existence. I was slightly horrified, but more so intrigued by the video for “Again,” and the sounds that accompanied it.

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Barren Earth, whose members hail from such heavy-hitters as Moonsorrow, Kreator, and Swallow the Sun, amongst others, can be described in a number of ways: with the annoying and unnecessary “supergroup” tag, or as a prog band, or as a death metal band, or as a any-number-of-other-kinds-of-genres band. But no matter what you call them, there’s no denying that their new release, The Devil’s Resolve, is always interesting.

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MetalSucks recently polled its staff to determine The Top 25 Modern Metal Drummers, and after an incredible amount of arguing, name calling, and physical violence, we have finalized that list! The only requirements to be eligible for the list were that the musician in question had to a) play metal (duh), b) play drums (double-duh), and c) have recorded something in the past five years. Today we continue our countdown with Aesop Dekker from Agalloch, Ludicra, and Worm Ouroboros…

When faced with the task of compiling this list, there were a couple musicians that came to mind immediately. One of those individuals was Aesop Dekker. There are a great many reasons for this of course, but when I get down to it, what I believe is his stand-out attribute may surprise you: he’s considerate. No, not in a “letting little old ladies across the street” kind of way, though I’m sure if such a situation arose he’d kindly oblige. Nope — no matter what sort of outfit he’s playing for, what guitar riff or bass flow he’s accompanying — his approach is always that of a certain grace, even when offering the most punishing of drum-beats.

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MetalSucks recently polled its staff to determine who are The Top 25 Modern Metal Drummers, and after an incredible amount of arguing, name calling, and physical violence, we have finalized that list! The only requirements to be eligible for the list were that the musician in question had to a) play metal (duh), b) play drums (double-duh), and c) have recorded something in the past five years. Today we continue our countdown with Revocation’s Phil Dubois-Coyne…

Clearly, Revocation are doing something right – last year Dave Davidson not only made our list, but topped it, and this time around Phil makes the cut? The sky’s the limit for these guys — and rightly so. Dubois-Coyne is one of the fiercest, tightest, most artistically proficient metal drummers out there right now.

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Here’s the dilemma — a musician, Juan Montoya (Torche, MonstrO) I’m both familiar with and fond of comes out with a new project, Stallone. Great! I’m stoked… what’s that? It’s an instrumental project? And the self titled release is only three songs? Graaaah – alright.

I’m actually very picky with instrumental projects, considering my penchant for dissecting the vocal components on any and all recordings I encounter (O.C.D. much?). I mean Grails does it, and they do it damn well on the regular. Why not give instrumental a chance? Tell you what – I’m glad I did.

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Samothrace
TBA
Label – 20 Buck Spin
Release Date – mid-2012

Certain bands will always stay with you, almost as if the sounds they create and share stick to your bones, get caught in your lungs, or make nests in your atria. Semi-outlandish description, maybe, but there aren’t many other ways I can convey the way Samothrace made me feel upon first listen. My heart nearly stopped from excitement when I learned that a new album was in the works, and the grin on my face must’ve been of the shit eating variety. Between you and me, quite frankly, I think I pissed my pants.

If you’re already familiar with Samothrace, you know that their catalog isn’t especially vast — they’ve only release one full length, Life’s Trade, and that was years ago. Bearing this in mind, after some time passed without hearing any news from this ensemble, I was getting worried we’d never be graced with a new chapter of their infectious, droning ambiance. Thankfully, they’re not ready to leave us quite yet, giving listeners another opportunity to invite a healthy dose of crippling heaviness to inhabit both their eardrums and arteries.

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It was the best of times, it was the most epically lame of times. 2011 saw my first speeding ticket ever, my car totaled, me spend a month in a sling due to surgery necessary after an injury at a Deströyer 666 show five years ago, and start writing for this fine online publication right here. So yeah, this year “suck”ed — but it’s just about over, and there have been some pretty awesome bands come out with new shit to listen to day in and day out. Awwww, there’s that silver lining :)

When I was first asked to submit my year-end list, I have to say, I was a bit intimidated. Not because I’ve never comprised one for public consumption before, but because this year has been, in my mind, a phenomenal year for metal. I can’t tell you how many times I rearranged, added to, subtracted from, and stressed over this list so that it reflected exactly what got me stoked this year. I was lucky enough to see a large chunk of these bands live in 2011, which certainly didn’t hurt in helping me with my painstaking decisions. One band, and I’ll point this out when we get to them, actually swayed me almost entirely after seeing them live, allowing me to listen to the album in a new light and appreciate it on a new level. Don’t you love it when that happens?

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One thing’s for damn sure: Coliseum know what they’re doing. They’ve been around long enough and they’ve seen parts of the world some of us (myself included) still dream of visiting; needles to say, the notoriety they’ve built up has been well earned. That worldliness, minus the pretentious undertones you might expect from a band as well traveled, is articulated quite well on their latest EP, Parasites.

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The worlds of music and visual art often meet and intertwine in ways that allow us to appreciate each work, each medium, on an entirely new level. Thankfully, these marriages are plentiful in the world of extreme metal, and one stand out propagator of this union is Nader Sadek. Cairo-born and NYC based, Sadek has been a visual icon on the scene for years most noted for creating visually striking settings and costumes for bands such as Mayhem and Sun O))). With the help of a pretty heavy-hitting core band featuring Steve Tucker (vocals – ex-Morbid Angel), Flo Mounier (drums – Cryptopsy), and Rune Eriksen (guitars – Aura Noir, ex-Mayhem), as well as appearances by other notable musicians, Sadek’s album In the Flesh is nothing to shake a stick at, either. Quite the contrary, actually – the meticulous composition of each song coupled with the intensity lent by each artist involved in the making of the release could easily set it up as a contender for a spot on an “Album of the Year” list.

Still, Nader does not quite consider himself a musician; rather, an artist exploring various mediums to best portray a concept or an idea that’s been ruminating in that fascinating brain of his. A commendable stance, I think, and tell-tale of the level of talent and drive he truly possesses. Speaking with him, it’s very clear as well; his visions will not, under any circumstances, be quelled. While the theme of In the Flesh is humanities detrimental dependency on petroleum – an undeniably political issue that’s been (rightly so) argued over for ages — in speaking with him about the subject, it’s turned into an eerily poetic, as well as desperate, concept: the living in a seemingly never-ending fight over a substance derived from death and decay. Our daily lives fueled by the rotten remnants of civilizations past.

It would be interesting, to say the least, to see what kind of live show this ensemble would come up with. For those of you in New York City, imaginations can be put to rest in that respect. On Sunday, November 20 at Santos Party House, Nader Sadek will bring to life In the Flesh in a (free!) performance surely not to be missed. Please be advised that in a perfect world, one wherein I’m not a cubicle rat working 9 to 5 in an office hours away from the Big Apple, I would hop a bus to see just what he’s come up with for the event. Sadly, this world is far from perfect, and I’d like to be able to pay my rent this month. Thankfully, though, I got to talk with the artist about everything from his music, his art, his upbringing, video shoots, and man-made machines that consume food and produce, well… see for yourself.

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Far be it from me to hate on anyone’s taste in music – to each their own. I’m sure if one were to wrassle my iPod from my (cold, dead) hands they’d find a number of artists and/or songs suitably mock-worthy. I earnestly try to give all (eh… most) genres a try, especially in the metal and hardcore realms. You never know, something could surprise you! In a way, Carnifex’s newest, Until I Feel Nothing, did just that – I didn’t hate it as much as I thought I would.

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I’m gonna tell you right now – I don’t usually get all “fan-girl” and nervous talking to people, even those I greatly admire on an artistic level. When I was told I was going to be interviewing Rex Brown, the fact that I was going to be talking to someone who helped mold my musical tastes as a kid didn’t hit me until probably an hour or so beforehand, and that’s when, admittedly, I started to get a bit weak in the knees. I started to remember so vividly hearing Pantera’s “Floods” for the first time on a family road trip to the Midwest, how it chilled me like nothing else ever had, and those days speeding down 95 in my first car blasting Cowboys from Hell. As one of the founding members of Pantera – up until their unfortunate end – he helped open the gates for a great deal of us to the world of metal. With his involvement in Down, as well as Crowbar, that love for many of us was kept alive.

Of course, with his recent departure from Down, some may have been wondering what else, if anything, Rex had next up his sleeves. Thankfully, there’s plenty.

As soon as I answered the phone, one of the first things Rex said to me (with a laugh) was that he’d been “giving interviews all day.” That in itself I thought was a true testament to someone who, even after over two decades working at it, is not looking to give up anytime soon – a fact that’s emphasized by his enthusiastic involvement with his new band Kill Devil Hill. The new project, featuring Vinny Appice (Heaven and Hell, Dio, Black Sabbath) on drums, Mark Zavon (Ratt, 40 Cycle Hum) on guitar and Jason “Dewey” Bragg (Pissing Razors) on vocals, is currently on tour and looking forward to releasing their yet-to-be-named debut album early next year on SPV/Steamhammer Records.

Talking with Rex was not only an experience in that he’s someone I have long admired; it was something getting to speak with someone so excited and hopeful about his current conquest. After over two decades playing music – through the triumphs as well as the hardships – to be as enthusiastic and passionate is not an incredibly common thing. I think that’s something that all of us can not only appreciate, but hopefully aspire to.

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October is upon us, and with it, the lot of us are bombarded with kitschy, brass-hinged, cardboard jack-o’-lanterns and rubber bats spewing over-dyed corn syrup via time-release mechanisms settled in their plastic innards. It’s a time of haunted hayrides, zombie-infested corn mazes, and other equally tepid Halloween-esque activities likely only to scare those under the age of six.

Now, imagine if you will, a world so ghastly, so horrifically twisted and hellish, even the most sadistic of creatures would break down in violent sobs at the very notion. A town so riddled with death and dire desperation that the streets overflow with tribes of gargantuan maggots and the most thriving business is that of the local coffin shop. Halloween isn’t just an overly-saccharin-ized holiday in this realm, and maybe this is why the anthems derived from this environment continue to bombard us with vigorous, horror-fueled thrash.  That’s right; drenched in the bloodied sewage from the bowels of Creepsylvania, Ghoul has come back with Transmission Zero, and they’ve kept their riffs (and blades) sharp.

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Summer is slowly but surely slipping away, and with that comes the eventual end of BBQs, pool parties, and muggy basement shows. While autumn is a pretty rad season, most of us are trying in vain to hold onto the last remnants of summer in any way we can. For some, that’s freezing the fuck out of one’s self at the beach. For others, it’s using up the dregs of BBQs past from the back of the fridge in an effort to pull together some sort of  “last hurrah!” smorgasbord. For me, it’s blasting crust and grind as loud as my car stereo will allow, windows down, scaring the bejezzus out of the townsfolk as I zip by. For some reason, grind just calls to mind summer for me, and I find myself in this situation year after year as the leaves start to turn. Currently on heavy rotation is Defeatist’s new album Tyranny of Decay and yes, my friends — it’s been hitting the proverbial spot.

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In each scene — and I’d wager that this is the case spanning from Boston to Bejing and beyond — there are at least a small handful of bands you’ve heard of time after time, but, for whatever reaso,n never really gave a listen to. Maybe you kept meaning to but never got around to it. Or maybe you missed one of their shows and subsequently/subconsciously dismissed their existence. The Proselyte has been one such band for me up until recently, I’m sorry to say, and, no, there is no viable excuse I can give. There is, however, a lesson to be learned here: get the fuck out there and engross yourself in all that your local metal scene has to offer, because you could be missing out on a potential new favorite.

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While at work a few years ago, as I was hammering out document after document in my cubicle, listening to Wolves in the Throne Room battle the sound of my fingertips hitting the keyboard, a co-worker popped her head in letting me know that what I was listening to sounded like “funeral music” to her. Of all the niches I’ve heard Wolves in the Throne Room get thrown into, I thought this one was the most interesting. I guess I could see where she was coming from to an extent — the mournful vocals lent by Jessika Kenney on Two Hunters wouldn’t by any means seem out of place as an accompaniment to, say, a roaring funeral pyre. That very element, in fact, was what really took that album to another level for me. So of course I was glad to hear the beautiful, haunting voice grace the band’s newest release, Celestial Lineage.

Fans of Wolves in the Throne Room have come to expect a certain quality hard to exactly decipher or pinpoint with each anticipated album. That sort of earthen and, at the same time, undeniably ethereal sound, which invokes visions of rain soaked forest beds, or cavernous ruins of a long lost congregation of mystics. Of course, I could be completely alone in these specific conjurations, but the fact remains that the brothers Weaver continuously deliver not only meticulously well-constructed pieces, they create an intricate landscape with each note, each chord, each painful cry, taking the listener to another realm entirely. Rounding out the trilogy set forth with the sorrowful Two Hunters, and followed by the more punishing Black Cascade, the release of Celestial Lineage is anything but anticlimactic.

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