That’s obviously a lie, but it’d be hard to blame someone for thinking as much after listening to David Gold’s Steele-esque bellowed croon on the new Woods of Ypres track “Kiss My Ashes (Goodbye).” And I mean that in the best way possible; I loved Type O Negative and I really liked Woods of Ypres last album Woods 4: The GREEN Album, released in 2009 and picked up by Earache for re-release in 2010. With Woods 5: Grey Skies & Electric Light on Earache’s release slate for 2012, the band’s begun teasing tracks out to the public. And I’m really, really liking what I’ve heard so far. First great release of 2012? Maybe.

Check out another new track from Woods 5 at The Number of The Blog; it’s faster, but no less awesome. Think more “I Don’t Want to Be Me” and less “Christian Woman.”

-VN

I’ve made no secret of my general distaste for black metal, going so far as to call for a boycott of one of the sound’s most celebrated and influential figures. Without question, I’m not the ideal person to defend any aspect of a subgenre that I consider an eye-rolling, oft-racist joke. And yet, Tim Hunter at Invisible Oranges has driven me to stand up for it (sorta) thanks to his scathing and shoddy article lambasting the sub-subgenre “Cascadian black metal” and those journalists who dare to use the term in their pieces.

I’m not saying the music itself is bullshit – that’s more of a personal taste thing – but I think the sub-genre as a concept is bullshit. Ever since Wolves in the Throne Room garnered a more significant share of the music spotlight (chiefly by playing a corporate-sponsored festival, I’ve seen the term “Cascadian black metal” tossed around in more articles recently. Some of these have been from outside the metal world (the New Yorker, The Guardian), while others are more in tune with the underground. But I’m skeptical by default of any attempt by music media to create new pigeonholes for the music they cover. In some cases, it’s merely lazy journalism; in other cases (I’m looking at you, New Yorker dude), it’s just a way to make it seem like you know more than you really do about your topic.

Here’s why Hunter’s argument is (to reclaim the epithet) bullshit.

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On Sunday, September 11, 2011, Jeff “Jeffmetal” Sayers, bassist of Nebraska’s long-running “no coast powerviolence” band Wasteoid, passed away in Lincoln.

I asked Metalsucks to write this piece not so much as a eulogy, even though Jeff was a friend of mine and will be dearly missed. It’s not really national music news, either, as only a fraction of you even know who this band is.

Instead, my memorial is to share Wasteoid — and Jeff’s — other work with the uninformed.

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Last month, the University of Melbourne sent out apress release regarding a study recently completed by Dr. Katrina McFerran. Entitled “Heavy metal music has negative impacts on youth,” the press release claimed that Dr. McFerran’s research demonstrated that “Young people at risk of depression are more likely to listen habitually and repetitively to heavy metal music.” The Austerity Program’s Justin Foley took issue with this study and the subsequent press release in an editorial we published on Tuesday; then Dr. McFerran herself responded yesterday; and now, in what we swear up and down will be our last word on the topic, Justin will respond to the response in his post below. Enjoy, and try not to go cross-eyed.

TL;DR – Just read the first paragraph.

Dr. McFerran’s reply, while appreciated, is totally inadequate.

I was careful not to point to her directly in the previous piece I wrote.  Other than expressing some skepticism about the way that the data was analyzed, I kept in mind that the whole problem could have been the result of the University’s PR department going off the rails and hijacking the results of her study.  While this may still be the case, Dr. McFerran has had at least two opportunities to clear the air on a misinterpretation of the work that she and her team did, both in yesterday’s post on MetalSucks, and on Metal Insider.  In both cases, she dodged the question about why the University trumpeted her study as saying that heavy metal causes negative impacts. She seems very nice and the thoughts she shared on her field of study are interesting, but that’s all beside the point.  And the point is that she’s part of this dishonesty.

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Last month, the University of Melbourne sent out a press release regarding a study recently completed by Dr. Katrina McFerran. Entitled “Heavy metal music has negative impacts on youth,” the press release claimed that Dr. McFerran’s research demonstrated that “Young people at risk of depression are more likely to listen habitually and repetitively to heavy metal music.” The Austerity Program’s Justin Foley took issue with this study and the subsequent press release in an editorial we published yesterday; however, since we like to represent as many different view points as possible here on MetalSucks, we also offer Dr. McFerran the chance to respond. Read her thoughts on the matter below.

The media needs controversy to be able to get anyone’s attention.  Although I don’t feel as maddened by this as Justin does, I do think it is a bizarre premise for what used to be called “the news” — but things change.  And one thing I have learned from my recent media experience is that I will not mistake “media” for “facts” again.  In fact, what I have learned is that modern-day media provides a space where it is possible to offer a commentary on facts, without feeling obliged to be completely accurate in that process.  I learned this after reading the first report of my research in a large local newspaper following an interview with the reporter.  I had enjoyed the interview, and thought that I had clarified my position (published at Metal Insider). Yet the headline for his story was “Metal causes depression.” And, just to be brief, I think that is a ridiculous, unfounded statement – there is a significant correlation between metal and depression, as shown in many studies, but it is not causative.  Music does not cause problems, but people with problems often turn to music for a range of reasons. But to finish responding to Justin, my understanding is that the commentary provided by any media forum is purposefully biased to convey their beliefs, and big media giants have a commitment to making money as well as providing a commentary, so they produce stuff that gets people’s attention.  That’s a bit different to sites such as this, which Justin described to me as “a somewhat satirical, somewhat serious blog about heavy metal music.” So it offers a different kind of commentary. But those big media folk certainly know how to get people’s attention.

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TL;DR – University of Melbourne announces a recent study saying it proves heavy metal is a negative influence.  Justin reads the study and says the University announcement is basically one big lie.  He covers some of the detail in longer sentences than usual (yikes), then says the University should get it shit together on this.  Also, it turns out Van Canto have a new record out, and they are still terrible.

Popular media was busy last week trumpeting the announced results of a recent University of Melbourne study.  A lot of the hype was around the claim made in the headline in the University’s press announcement that “Heavy metal music has negative impacts on youth.”  It states that Dr. Katrina McFerran, a senior lecturer in Music Therapy, has found that young people at risk of depression are more likely to listen to heavy metal in a negative way.

A quick Google news search for “heavy metal” “study” this morning yields twenty-two separate stories (about three weeks later), and all of them are about this.  Surveying of these stories shows some range of content, from the study’s correlation between liking metal and high risk for psychological distress all the way to linking metal with potential suicide.  In any case, they all draw from the language in the press release about the new study McFerran has done.

I asked Dr. McFerran for a copy of the study, and she was kind enough to provide one.  I have spent some time reading through the study and can tell you this:

The press release is complete bullshit.

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Eyal Levi from Dååth, Levi/Werstler, and Audiohammer Studios has obviously been in this business for some time now, and he’s learned a thing or two about a thing or two. This week, he imparts ten lessons about the music biz — and life in general — to you, our beloved readers, once a day, two installments at a time. You can read lessons one and two here, and lessons three and four here, lessons five and six here, and lessons seven and eight here; check out the final two lessons below!

#9: IF YOU’RE NOT GOING TO SETTLE IT YOURSELF, LET IT GO

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxKiK-SeBhE&feature=related

I am wholeheartedly against turning the other cheek. That’s my disclaimer before I get into this. I’m a big proponent of the Nicky from Casino way of life. Two eyes for an eye all the way. There’s a wild card, though. And it’s a wild card we all know and love. It’s called the internet. Gone are the days when you could just settle a beef between just the two parties involved.

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On Saturday night I said to a friend who shall herein remain un-named, “I don’t like dubstep, but I love dub,” and they looked at me like I was crazy. “You know… dub… the reggae kind.” Completely blank stare. So it must be for thousands of dubstep bandwagon hoppers who believe the sub-genre just appeared out of thin air without, you know, like 30 some-odd years of reggae and dub preceding it. It’s the same old story of white suburban teens co-opting black music while ignoring the past, and yeah, now I’m officially old.

On the other-hand, if the current dubstep explosion gains Brooklyn-based Dub Trio even just a little more exposure that is most certainly a good thing. Dub Trio have been cranking out proggy versions of Helmet/Quicksand/Unsane-inspired riffs with vintage dub breaks for seven years already and are about to release their fourth album, the appropriately titled IV, tomorrow via Mike Patton’s Ipecac label ROIR. When I say “vintage dub,” I mean it — in place of today’s computer-generated WOMP WOMP WOMPs Dub Trio drummer / groove machine Joe Tomino just uses a delay-soaked microphone that he holds up to the kit while he plays live for that echo’ed-out dub goodness. Tomino and his two Dub Trio companions are stupidly tight live; their records are great, too, but you’ve gotta see it to believe it.

Tune into the Village Voice to hear “Control Issues Controlling Your Mind” from the new album, or stream it below. Dub pedal activate at approximately 2:10!

Dub Trio – “Control Issues Controlling Your Mind”

-VN

Guys, I don’t mean to bore you with my own personal shit about which you probably care little (if at all), but I have had some serious struggles with depression in my life. After hitting rock bottom last month, I finally decide to seek the treatment I need, and after many, many consultations with various members of the psychiatric field, it was determined that the source of my depression was that MetalSucks readers keep e-mailing us to sing the praises of terrible tech-death-core bands. The doctors prescribed a steady regiment of Xanax and new music by Cynic, and I’ve been feeling much better ever since.

Of course, my shrinks just might be quacks, because now a lady named Dr. Katrina McFerran at The University of Melbourne says that young people at risk for depression are more likely to listen to metal in the first place.

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Alright, I’ll admit it: I’m a lazy guy.

I’m the kind of person who will take a job and work as infrequently and minimally as possible (were you wondering why Part 3 took so fricken’ long after Part 1 and Part 2?). I use a lot of big words on my applications and key phrases like “people-person” and “success-oriented” (second to only to the ever popular “failure-oriented”). In other words, I’m a music journalist through and through.

In the music world we lazy, uninspired writers love to curmudgeon bands for being similarly lazy … and of course, uninspired. Sitting atop our glorious thrones of self-granted influence, we, with all our forum-crawling, shit-kicking expertise criticize what we probably couldn’t do any better ourselves.

But the fact is, there are plenty of decent — and even very good — bands that are more than happy to spend an entire career ignoring our occasionally constructive criticism. After all, not every band has to break new ground to be worth your time. But what happens when groups really do take such jabs to heart?

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When word got out that Nergal from Behemoth was going to be a judge on the Polish version of the reality show The Voice, a lot of metal fans were, well, baffled. And not just because Nergal is apparently an honest-to-Satan rock star in Poland (whereas, like I was saying on Twitter last week, metal really has no rock stars anymore in this country) — just because the idea of someone so bad-assed participating in something so, well, um, I hate to say it but “lame,” was just kind of a head-scratcher.

But oh hey guess what? Poland continues to be an awful fucking place for freedom of expression, and following more than eighteen months of religious controversy involving Nergal and right wing conservatives in his native country, he has now been fired from from the aforementioned Voice program. Sez Metal Underground:

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On Saturday afternoon, ABC No Rio hosted the first-ever NYC show ever by Argonauts, the new band featuring vocalist Dimitri Minakakis (ex-The Dillinger Escape Plan), guitarist John Adubato (Burnt by the Sun), bassist Brett Bamberger (East of the Wall, The Binary Code’s old touring line-up), and drummer Dave Witte (seriously if you don’t know who Dave Witte is stop reading this right now and go do some homework). And for those of us who were lucky/smart enough to be there, the consensus was unanimous: ARGONAUTS. ARE. AWESOME.

If you weren’t lucky/smart enough to be there, though, you don’t have to take my word for it: the always-helpful (((unartig))) was there, and he filmed one of the six songs the group played. This is far superior to the footage of the band’s live debut which we saw last month, and it gives you a much better sense of their sound — although I still don’t think it comes anywhere close to conveying the energy in the room that afternoon, which was postively electric.

Apparently Argonauts’ current live set consists of every completed song they have right now; hopefully they’ll either write s’more and put out a full-length, or otherwise just record an EP, sometime in the very, very near future. I am seriously bummed that I can’t walk around listening to this band on my iPod right now. They fucking RULED. If you’re smart, you’ll keep a very, very close watch on their future activities, ’cause they are the real fucking deal.

-AR

[via The PRP]

There seems to be a firestorm in the metal world regarding the state of the industry, Spotify, illegal downloading, and the philosophical struggle between capitalism and artistic integrity. Lines have been drawn in the sand and it’s getting fucking personal. I have remained rather silent on the sidelines but all of this action has inspired me to enter the fray.

But I’d like to approach this discussion from a different angle than the one that has been taken thus far – one which deals with some issues that are beyond music. Perhaps you could call it a political discussion, or a cultural discussion, or even a philosophical discussion. I want to talk about the idea of ownership, and what exactly that means in our modern, western paradigm, which is one rooted in competition-based capitalism.

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I can’t be the only one who feels like album intro tracks are dumb in 2011. I’m no full-album hater — intro tracks were cool once upon a time when you had little choice but to sit through them, and when listening to music was an activity in and of itself (on your couch in front of your speakers with a friend and a doobie) — it’s just that they seem silly in the context of how music is consumed in modern times. This is especially true for unknown bands who send us albums for review, but even for well-established acts who’ve earned their right to be a little self-indulgent. Am I the only one who just hits “skip” right away so I don’t have to sit through a minute and a half of keyboard swells and bells that are supposed to evoke a feeling of anticipation for something epic? Apparently not; new Invisible Oranges scribe Doug Moore (also the vocalist of MS-approved NYC metallers Pyrrhon) wrote a little bit on the ridiculousness of intro tracks in the modern era in a greater piece about the advantages of digital music.

Metalheads are often first-class nerds. We enjoy sprawling, complex pieces of art. That’s probably why the album format is such a collective hobbyhorse for us.

Unfortunately, nerdy people are often self-indulgent people. It’s a rare metal album that doesn’t involve at least some unnecessary baggage. Witness intro tracks. Almost nobody likes them, but countless bands use them. Worlds Beyond the Veil by Mithras is one of the better death metal albums of the past decade. But it starts with a six-minute intro. In the vinyl days, I would’ve been stuck with that lame intro every time I wanted to listen to the album. Now I can skip it or delete it. Easy peasy.

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Let’s rant about the Revolver’s Hottest Chicks in Hard Rock list some more. God knows they deserve the attention.

The biggest issue at hand seems to be whether or not it’s sexist. It is. As a female and as a metal fan, I do, in fact, find it sexist. Look at the name. Referring to women as “chicks” on a nationally recognized and widely read magazine is sexist. It demeans women. I might be overreacting, I might be overly politically correct, but if you’re going to insist that it’s a celebration of talent, then why is it portraying women as objects right off the bat? I do give you points on being honest, though, Revolver. You could’ve gone with full denial and named it “The Most Talented Chicks in Hard Rock.”

My biggest problem with this issue is that it really has nothing to do with the music. Yes, the women who pose do it by choice, and hope that after all the gawking some reader might actually listen to their music, but ultimately, those readers probably won’t. Why? Because the magazine features bands and musicians who already have a fan base and a clear, set audience. People who know them will still buy their records, but I highly doubt some guy will be like, “Hey, that Amy Lee is quite the looker. I should probably check out her stuff.”

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Despite not being the kind of grim n’ gritty tune Guns N’ Roses were most famous for, and despite having a ridiculous video in which Axl Rose swims with dolphins for no apparent reason and reminds everyone that he has more money than they do, “Estranged” is my favorite GN’R song. And I always thought it would be cool to see Axl’s Nu-GN’R do the track with Buckethead, ’cause I bet that dude could totally rip it.

So, of course, now that Buckethead has already been out of the band for seven years, Axl did the song at last night’s Rock in Rio performance.

Not a shock that it’s a little anticlimactic, ’cause for every one thing the band got right, there’s something else they got wrong: Axl can still sing the low parts pretty well, but not the high parts, and at one point his voice cracks like he was me at my bar mitzvah; Bumblefoot sounds great, but for some reason looks like Robin Finck now; Dj Ashba sounds so-so, but continues to do a ridiculous Slash impersonation, and there’s a much better guitar player who isn’t just aping someone else, Richard Fortus, standing right there on stage, but for some reason Axl won’t let him play the leads; Matt Sorum wasn’t invited, so the drums actually sound right for a change. So I guess ya take the good ya take the bad ya take them both and you still don’t have Slash in the band.

GN’R apparently really are going to a U.S. tour starting at the end of this month; we’ll see if they break out any other oldies but goodies.

-AR

[via Bumblefoot's Twitter]

I’ve always enjoyed hearing demos and unreleased song ideas. It’s fun to hear the riffs and melodies that full songs come from, and it’s especially interesting to learn about how songs you’re already familiar with evolved over time into the forms that you find familiar.

Got-Djent.com tells us that the following three Cloudkicker song ideas come from June 2008, March 2010 and June 2010 respectively. In this context and order it’s also fascinating to witness how Ben Sharp’s songwriting evolved over time from “djent” into “Cloudkicker.” The ending riff of the third clip below should ring a bell for Cloudkicker fans:

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(Photo Credit:  The INCREDIBLE Sahisnu “Nunu” Sadarpo.)

It’s been awesome reading everything you guys have been saying so far.  Obviously some people don’t get the humor/sarcasm…but I love it!

So, as you may have guessed, I’m dedicating one post to my own band, Vestascension.

I’m not gonna say much, I prefer to let the music speak for itself.  It’s definitely not going to be for everyone seeing as how it’s not Djent and all these trolls today have just been BEGGING for more Djent posts-so sorry girls!  If you’re a fan of A Perfect Circle, Dredg, Tool, Porcupine Tree, Karnivool, etc. then you may enjoy some of our stuff, or not.  We were very fortunate to be able to record some of the new stuff with Justin Meldal-Johnsen and John Wesley-which was an honor to say the least.

We cover A LOT of different sounds/styles.  I’m posting just 4 songs here with a short description of each one.  All of our music is FREE and you can download it now in very high quality by CLICKING HERE.

Make sure you “like” us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

Enjoy!

-Justin Gosnell

Oh and come on trolls, you’re disappointing me so far-show me what you’ve got!

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Today I’m blessed with the opportunity to have my voice heard by a lot of music fans-which is amazing-and I wanted to spread the love around a little bit.  Once I was announced the winner of the contest a lot of friends/associates/bands hit me up asking me to please write about their own band or a band that they managed, some even offered money.  I feel bad having to say no because if I could I’d help ALL of my friends but I can’t post about all 500 bands that I’m friends with.  For those of you I didn’t post anything about that are pissed off-give me a fucking break!  Besides, these bands agreed to give me a fresh bung-toungue and you didn’t, that’s not it works in the industry.

With that said I decided I’d pick just 5 bands.  I came up with a few guidelines I wanted to follow.  They had to be a band that had never been mentioned on Metalsucks.net before, they had to be great people, and they had to have a professional product.  Lastly, they had to be a band who’s music I personally really like and believe in.

Without further ado:

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I’m goin’ troll huntin’ mah!

Photo Credit:  The INCREDIBLE Sahisnu “Nunu” Sadarpo.

Well well well….hold on a sec here…AHHHHHHH…yeah.  Sorry, just had to get comfortable on my throne here and get my crown on straight-all better!

Today’s the day I get to troll..er..uh…I mean…run Metalsucks.net!  Truth be told I am really fucking happy to be here!  I’m going to take this opportunity and actually put it to good use and hopefully it’ll help out some bands out there today.  There’s not gonna be much time for humor here-sorry-it’s alllll business today ladies.  I sent out a few messenger pigeons who’s sole purpose was to wrangle me up some good interviews and, well, they delivered!  I made it my mission to ask these lovely people all kinds of questions that 1) I don’t think most interviewers ask them and 2) that I think will help out any musicians/bands out there that may be looking for some answers or advice.

Hopefully you’ll come away today being a little more well-versed on how things really run in the industry and perhaps even a better understanding of just how hard it is to “make it” in this industry.

Lastly, it wouldn’t be a proper Gosnell outing unless I created some controversy so you’ll get some of that too!  So, all you trolls out there man your keyboards and get ready to spill your pussy juice all over them because I think you’ll have A LOT to get butt-hurt about today!!

I’m gonna kick the day off here with my debut rap single “Albert Clifford”.  It’s a tribute to my childhood hero A.C. Slater.  I don’t think there’s a person out there who’s life hasn’t been touched/enriched by this man.  My single wasn’t very successful in the U.S. but it did go Aluminum in Yugoslavia so, ya know, there’s that.

Stay tuned-there’s much more to come!

Love your favorite guest writer in Metalsucks history,

Justin Gosnell