Our Unsigned Band Promopalooza is about to end, so get it while it’s hot!! This special offers ends at Midnight PST tomorrow, January 31st.

We know money’s hard to come by when you’re in an unsigned band, so The Blast Beat Network – the agency that sells banner ads on behalf of MetalSucks, Metal Injection, Lambgoat.com, Decibel Magazine, MetalUnderground.com, MetalInsider.net and a slew of other awesome metal sites – would like to extend an offer to unsigned bands for a great way to get your band noticed. For a limited time, we are offering unsigned bands the opportunity to have ads on all the sites in The Blast Beat Network at a special unsigned band discount that’s less than what the record labels pay!

For $100, your 728×90 leaderboard ad (up top of the site) will be shown 50,000 times across the network over the course of 30 days.

To take advantage of this special deal, follow these instructions: Step 1) Send a payment of $100 to paypal [at] blastbeatnetwork [dot] com. Step 2) Email your banner – 728×90 pixels, jpg or gif only, maximum of 70k file size – to info [at] blastbeatnetwork [dot] com, along with the URL you’d like the banner to point to (your band’s Facebook page, Bandcamp, store, etc). That’s it! You’ll receive a confirmation email once the campaign is live.

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

On Monday we published a piece declaring victory against the government’s war on free speech on the Internet; looks like we were a little hasty in that regard. While this past weekend’s “shelving” of SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and the removal of a key provision were encouraging, Reuters has reported that the House plans to take up the bill once again in February. And even though the White House has promised to veto SOPA and PIPA (the Protect IP Act — the Senate’s version, up for vote on January 24th) if passed by Congress, President Obama said the same thing about the National Defense Authorization Act and then signed it into law, trampling all over the constitutional rights of every American.

Today many major sites including Wikipedia, Google, Reddit, WordPress and more have gone dark or are showing censored content to raise awareness about SOPA and PIPA. On December 14th of last year, MetalSucks “Censored” all of our posts to raise awareness of the same, and while we will not be doing that again today we are no less passionate about this cause and will do anything we can to raise awareness.

Once again, to be clear, MetalSucks’ opposition to SOPA and PIPA should in no way be misconstrued to mean that we support piracy. We oppose these bills because as written they would completely fail to stop piracy while trampling all over our first amendment rights and stifling innovation in the process. The big corporations who are backing these bills, including the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA, which includes the major labels) and Motion Picture Association of America, lack the technical knowledge to understand how these bills would threaten the architecture of the Internet and stifle innovation.

For more information, watch the above video or read this fairly balanced primer on the current status of SOPA/PIPA and all the connected issues.

But don’t just sit there and get angry: TAKE ACTION! Email your Congressperson and tell them how you feel.

At MetalSucks we understand all too well the many difficulties of being in an unsigned band. Our Unsigned and Unholy series is one way we try to recognize and appreciate all the fantastic bands that don’t have labels to call home.

But our offers to the unsigned community don’t end there. The Blast Beat Network – the agency that sells banner ads on behalf of MetalSucks, Metal Injection, Lambgoat.com, Decibel Magazine, MetalUnderground.com, MetalInsider.net and a slew of other awesome metal sites – would like to extend an offer to unsigned bands for a great way to get your band noticed. For a limited time, we are offering unsigned bands the opportunity to have ads on all the sites in The Blast Beat Network at a special unsigned band discount that’s less than what the record labels pay!

For $100, your 728×90 leaderboard ad (up top of the site) will be shown 50,000 times across the network over the course of 30 days.

To take advantage of this special deal, follow these instructions: Step 1) Send a payment of $100 to paypal [at] blastbeatnetwork [dot] com. Step 2) Email your banner – 728×90 pixels, jpg or gif only, maximum of 70k file size – to info [at] blastbeatnetwork [dot] com, along with the URL you’d like the banner to point to (your band’s Facebook page, Bandcamp, store, etc). That’s it! You’ll receive a confirmation email once the campaign is live.

If the world does end in 2012, at least we’ll always have our memories of Jeff Loomis and Aaron Smith.

Auld Lang Syne by Jeff Loomis & Aaron Smith 

Have a great year, gang.

-Axl, Vince, and Everyone at MetalSucks

Thanks for bearing with us yesterday. We know the censored posts were annoying. The goal was to raise awareness for the issue and spark discussion; judging by the comments, we were at least somewhat successful in that regard. To all of you who signed the petition or contacted your congresspeople, thank you. Actually, thank yourself… it’s your Internet, too.

All of yesterday’s posts have been updated with the original, un-censored text. Feel free to go back and catch-up if you like.

Now, to be clear, MetalSucks does not support piracy in any way, shape or form. Piracy is stealing. There are really no two ways about it.

But the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA, the House version) and the Protect IP Act (the Senate’s version) will fail miserably, in two major regards:

1) They will not stop piracy. The ongoing game of “whack-a-mole” will continue as piraters find new outlets and new networks, whether those be through torrents (which these bills don’t address), hard-drive swapping, email, FTP, off-shore servers, or some other technology that exists now or will exist in the future.

2) They will sweep up innocent bystanders in the process and threaten free speech. Sites like this one — as well as giants like Facebook, YouTube and Google — face having to drastically re-work their architecture to avoid being shut-down, as well as steep legal fees that could put the smaller sites out of business and stifle innovation at the bigger ones. Due process goes out the window and sites that rely on user-generated content will have their lifeblood sucked away … all for a bill that won’t be effective anyway.

We’re all for supporting artists, labels, and everyone else in the industry that keeps the lifeblood flowing, but SOPA is not the answer. The bill faces a crucial vote in the House Judiciary Committee today, after which the House as a whole can vote on it at any time. The Senate has yet to vote on their version of the bill so there’s still some time, but we need to act now to stem the tide.

-AR & VN

“Why did you choose ___ as your favorite album of 2011?”

“Where is the MetalSucks Mansion?”

“Why do you jock Spotify’s nuts so hard?”

“What’s the meaning of life?”

These are just a sampling of questions you can ask Axl and Vince tomorrow at noon when they host a livechat powered by ScribbleLive right here on MetalSucks. Just load up MetalSucks at noon and you’ll see a new post with a chat window embedded in it; you can also directly load this post and use the embed below. Ask any questions you have by filling in the comment box within the chat window (not the regular MS comments section), and we’ll do our best to get to as many as we can. Depending on how things go we’ll keep it open for 30 minutes to an hour. See ya tomorrow!

We can’t believe it’s been seven years. This drink’s for you…

HOO-RAY! It is, once again, that time when (most of) the MetalSucks staff unveils their picks for the best albums of the year. This is it, folks. This is the only thing that matters in the entire universe. Not love or family or friends, not curing diseases or putting an end to war or poverty, and certainly not having your own opinion — no, the only fucking thing in the entire fucking world that matters is whether or not the staff of MetalSucks agrees with you.

GLORY, GLORY HALLELUJAH!!! How we’ve longed for this day to return!

We hope you enjoy all the lists. And remember: if you favorite album isn’t listed here, that’s because your opinion is meaningless, and, clearly, the only logical thing to do is kill yourself.

-Axl, Vince, and Everyone at MetalSucks

As you are no doubt aware, GWAR guitarist Cory Smoot (a.k.a. “Flattus Maximus”) passed away two weeks ago. Now the band has launched the Smoot Family Fund to help ensure that his family is well taken care of despite this tragic loss:

“This fund is designed to raise funds for Cory’s family, especially his wife Jamie and his unborn child. The response of our fans has been truly mind-blowing and we have done our best to honor Cory and help fans with their loss by continuing our tour. Now we all have an opportunity to contribute to the memory of one of the greatest metal guitar players out there and one of the best people we have ever had the honor of knowing. Rest in peace Cory, you are sorely missed.”

We strongly encourage you to go here to donate.

Meanwhile, the band announced last week that they’d be playing some Smoot memorial shows soon; details of those shows should be available shortly.

GWAR guitarist Cory Smoot — more commonly known as “Flattus Maximum” — passed away a week ago today, and we’re still reeling from the loss. Now the band has announced a public memorial service, so that fans can congregate, mourn, and celebrate Smoot’s life as a community.

Here are the details:

Friday, November 11
4 pm
Bennett Funeral Home Chesterfield Chapel
14301 Ashbrook Parkway
Chesterfield, VA

As a result of the services, GWAR has been forced to cancel their next two shows: tonight’s concert in Medford, OR and tomorrow’s gig in San Francisco, CA. The band will resume their current tour with Every Time I Die, Warbeast, and Ghoul this coming Saturday, November 12. Remaining tour dates can be found here.

WSOU, Seton Hall’s radio station, is probably the best metal radio oulet on the East Coast, and possibly in the entire country. We’ve been avid listeners for years and years now, and we’re huge fans of what they do there. Which is why we’re very happy to tell you that we’re on the air even as you read this.

If you don’t live in the area, fret not! You can still listen to us by streaming the station right here. We’ll be on until 6pm EST, playing some good tunes, talking up The Metal Suckfest (and giving away a free pair of tickets!) and this Friday night’s CMJ showcase we’re presenting with our buds at Metal Injection and 1000 Knives (co-headlined by Skeletonwitch and Kvelertak and featuring support from Barn Burner, Turbid North, and Battlecross), and a ton of other fun stuff. You can even call in and talk to us, ask us questions, tell us how awful the site is, whatever.

Listen here. Like we said, WE’RE ON THE AIR RIGHT NOW!!!

-Axl and Vince

By now, many of you are aware of the things Ash Avildsen said about myself and MetalSucks a few weeks ago; yesterday, reader and “Run MetalSucks for a Day” winner Justin Gosnell even posted an interview with Ash on the subject. And I know that many of you are disappointed that I did not initially respond.

I think it is important that you understand that the reason I did not respond has nothing to do with the fact that Ash said “mean” things about me and or any of the other writers at MetalSucks. We understand that if you say unkind words about people in a public forum such as the internet, some of those people will inevitably be offended, and may say unkind words in response. That goes with the territory, and we can handle it. That’s why I was game to engage in a public debate with Century Media owner Oliver Withöft. (And it may be worth noting that, yes, we are still on great terms with Century Media. We also have yet to receive any cease and desist from Axl Rose about our “Appetite for Deconstruction” shirts… but I digress.)

The reason we didn’t respond is because Ash’s tirade had nothing to do with the subject at hand — namely, Spotify. Instead, he used Spotify and my comments on the current state and future of the music industry as an excuse and a veil to attack my personal character, credibility and that of MetalSucks. Consequently, the post did not warrant a response.

But his tirade against myself and MetalSucks was also full of several factual inaccuracies. And while we have communicated with Ash via e-mail since his post went up, and he is fully aware of the factual errors of his allegations, in yesterday’s interview, he failed to re-address those errors. So now we would like to clear them up.

Click to read more…

In case you had somehow forgotten, this past weekend, Justin Gosnell won our Third Annual “Run MetalSucks for a Day” contest. And his day to run MetalSucks is tomorrow. So no Axl, no Vince, no any other members of the lovable MS gang. We’ll be back Monday (well, presumably, at least one of us will be back on Saturday). But in the meantime, please show Justin the same complete lack of respect you show us, and enjoy whatever he has cooked up for you.

Love,

Axl, Vince, and Everyone at MetalSucks

Phew… that sucked, didn’t it? I assure you it sucked way more for us than it did for you. The monkeys worked full-time today unplugging, plugging, and rerouting wires to fix our broke ass site, and we commend them for a job well done. But have you ever been around a team of two dozen monkeys working furiously like that? The racket is really something.

Many of you speculated that we plugged in too many vaporizers at the Mansion last night resulting in today’s downtime, but alas, the truth is much less interesting and mundane. Let’s leave it at that.

We’ll see you Suckalos tomorrow. In the meantime, watch this video of the mosh pit ghost for the umpteenth time, because man, that shit is fucking hysterical!

Sorry about today’s downtime. We’ll be back to Sucking as soon as possible. In the meantime please enjoy this video of some kid being completely leveled in the mosh pit… by absolutely no one at all.

Mega nerd blog Gizmodo recently ran an open letter to the site’s commenters, so we got to thinking… maybe it’s time we do the same. We don’t make readers “audition” to be commenters like Gizmodo does, we don’t have moderators whose sole job it is to police the comments, and we don’t have all the newfangled commenting technology that they do — nor do we plan to implement any of these things — which means it’s all that much more important that we all behave ourselves here. We will never, ever impose creative limitations on MetalSucks comments that would threaten to neuter the site’s fun and spontaneity, but at the same time there does need to be a little bit of order. So, without further ado, here’s Gizmodo’s post adapted and re-tooled for our own needs:

Click to read more…

Remember when we said that 4/20 was the last day of our Spring Unsigned Band Promopalooza? What we actually meant was that today, 4/22, would be the last day. Promise — absolute last day! Your last chance to purchase ads on MetalSucks, Metal Injection, Decibel, Metal Underground, Metal Insider and the rest of the sites listed here for a mere $100. A steal!

For $100, your unsigned band’s 728×90 leaderboard ad (up top of the site) will be shown 50,000 times across the network. That’s less than what the record labels pay. To take advantage of this special deal, follow the instructions listed here. But act fast, because this deal is only good through the end of the today; we swear this time.

There’s less than one week left! Through April 20th, the Blast Beat Network — the company that handles online ad sales for MetalSucks, Metal Injection, Decibel, MetalUnderground.com, MetalInsider.net and a bunch of other awesome metal sites — is offering a special banner advertising package discount available only to unsigned bands.

We know it’s tough as an unsigned band, which is why we continue to bring you our Unsigned and Unholy and Readers’ Choice columns. So we thought we’d throw the smaller guys another bone by making banner ads on MS and the other Blast Beat sites affordable to anyone.

For $100, your 728×90 leaderboard ad (up top of the site) will be shown 50,000 times across the network. That’s less than what the record labels pay. To take advantage of this special deal, follow the instructions listed here. But act fast, because this deal is only good through this Friday.

Last week we told you about the MetalSucks Fan Pack, our awesome new limited edition package (created in association with RED Distribution) that comes with a CD featuring twenty killer tracks (including brand new music by Believer and Last Chance to Reason in addition to tracks by Kvelertak, Trap Them, Believer, Napalm Death, TesseracT, Thomas Giles, Deicide, and a bunch more) plus a super-stylish t-shirt designed by our friend Rodney Githens from Vertebrae 33… and hey, guess what? IT’S OUT TODAY! You can pick one up exclusively at any f.y.e. store, which are all listed via the nifty store-finder here. AND THEY’RE JUST TEN BUCKS!!! Or seven bucks with this coupon!  We’re practically giving this sucker away!!!

And here’s another incentive to buy this thing ASAP: MetalSucks is registered as the artist with SoundScan, which means if it charts, METALSUCKS WILL BE ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS. Estimates/past sales tell us we need to move about 400 units to make it on the Billboard Heatseekers chart for new or developing acts. If you’re like us and you think it would be awesome/hilarious/a giant middle finger to The Man to see MetalSucks make it onto the charts, please please please do us a massive solid and go buy a MetalSucks Fan Pack this week.

So go here to get a complete track list of all the bands on the comp, and to use the nifty store-finder to locate the f.y.e. nearest to you. And don’t forget that you can also enter to win this custom guitar!

-Axl & Vince

MetalSucks is oh-so-very happy to be teaming up with RED Distribution to bring you, our most beloved readers, the MetalSucks Fan Pack, which will be available exclusively at all FYE stores starting this Tuesday, April 12. Not only does this limited edition box full o’ metal come with a CD featuring twenty brootal tunes by twenty brootal bands (including Kvelertak, Trap Them, Believer, Napalm Death, TesseracT, Thomas Giles, Deicide and a bunch more) but it also comes with that HOLY SHIT THAT IS SO KILLER t-shirt you see above, which was designed by our friend Rodney Githens from Vertebrae 33 (you might also recognize his work from this sexy t-shirt and this Louvre-worthy poster that he did for us).

How much would you expect to pay for this incredible package? Twenty bucks? Fifteen bucks? Try $9.99. That’s right, gang — twenty songs from twenty bands and that guaranteed-to-get-you-laid t-shirt for under ten bucks.

But wait! There’s more! If you act now and head over to the official MetalSucks Fan Pack web page, you can get a coupon for 30%, which brings the price down to a mere seven dollars. Holy crap, that’s a metsieh if ever there was one.

So go here to get a complete track list of all the bands on the comp, and to use the nifty store-finder to locate the f.y.e. nearest to you. And, oh yeah, you can also enter to win this custom guitar:

So, yeah, that’s pretty fuckin’ bad-assed.

-Axl & Vince