MetalSucks

Venezuelan metallers Noctis Imperium just independently released their Imperium EP, and we’re happy to be able to offer one the EP’s strongest tracks “Descensus Ad Inferos” as a free download. Noctis Imperium’s brand of blackened death metal isn’t necessarily anything you haven’t heard before, but they’re as solid a band of this type as I’ve heard in some time; think Marduk, Belphegor, or hell, even the heavier elements of Enslaved, with some death and thrash influence thrown in as well. The Imperium EP offers five tracks of well put-together, punishing yet approachable and intricate black metal flavored by elements of brutal death with an intangible artsy element. Check out “Descensus Ad Inferos” below, then listen to more on the band’s MySpace page.

Noctis Imperium – “Descensus Ad Inferos”

-VN

Protest The Hero’s impromptu dance video — filmed last year when the band’s van broke down en route to Salt Lake City, UT — was such a viral hit that the band’s decided to parlay their sexy moves into an official music video for the track “Limb from Limb.” This is like what, their 5th or 6th official music video from the Fortress record? God bless the Canadian government and their music subsidies!

I’ve always liked videos in which the band members play roles in a storyline. In the “Limb from Limb” clip, a rag-tag group of Village People-like sailors (the band) led by Captain Rody Walker arrive at a port for a dance-off against a boat full of well-kempt metrosexual sailors. Ain’t nothin’ professional dancers got on the Protest boys! After trading off one righteous dance move after the next, the two teams unite in dancitude and all is right in the world.

-VN

Katatonia’s Night Is the New Day comes out in the U.S. next Tuesday, November 10th and the rest of the world today… which basically means it’s out today! To celebrate, we’re offering the band’s first single “Forsaker” as a free download. If you like it (which you ought to if you know what’s good for you), believe you me when I say that the rest of the record has a lot more in store for you. Order Night Is the New Day here.

Download “Forsaker.”

Full confession: I haven’t had that much of an interest in Mudvayne since The End of All Things To Come. Even then I wasn’t too into the band, but I’ve always enjoyed a few of their songs. When Mudvayne’s label came to us about premiering their new track “Heard It All Before” I was a bit skeptical, but this is probably one of the best Mudvayne tracks I’ve heard in a while and it’s certainly the heaviest. There’s a killer guitar solo, and Ryan Martinie’s tasty bass licks are right out front throughout as always. This song is definitely one of the more original tracks the band has penned in quite some time; it still sounds like Mudvayne, but not in the same heard-it-all-before way (pun intended) the band’s been recycling for years now.

Stream “Heard it All Before” below. It comes from their self-titled album which will be released on December 22.

We loved the last tour blog that Bison B.C.’s Dan And did for us so much, we’re only all-too-happy to present another! Below, please enjoy part 2; you can read part 1 here.

Sep 28 ‘09 (Albuquerque NM @ Launch Pad)

The first thing that struck me about this venue was the framed posters that line the walls… Melvins, High on Fire, Fu Manchu… some killer bands have been through here over the years. I was also struck by how nice and clean Albuquerque seemed. I would later find out that the town is ranked in the top five for violent crimes in the US. Okay then, never mind.

Played with a rad band called Roñoso. Weirdest guitar tone ever but it totally worked in their crust-saw sound. Kylesa sounds fucking huge tonight. Their (hilarious) sound guy Dave is working the system like it owes him money… and it probably does.

Click to read more…

We loved the last tour blog that Bison B.C.’s Dan And did for us so much, we’re only all-too-happy to present another! Below, please enjoy part 1; check back tomorrow for part 2!

Sep 11 ‘09 (Vancouver BC @ Commodore)

I always love kicking off a tour with a show in Vancouver. It’s great to have one last chance to get completely loser pissed with our friends before we hit the road for however long. This time we were fortunate enough to finally share the stage with local good ‘ol boys The Golers and old pals 3 Inches of Blood. The Golers have been around forever and everyone should fucking hear them. They’re basically Vancouver’s Venomous Concept: relentless, break-neck speed pummeling. Is grind-punk a genre?

Show was fucking fun as all hell. It was 3 Inches record release show for Here Waits Thy Doom (which may or may not feature all of us doing backups on the song “Preacher’s Daughter”) and the place was packed! The cap of the Commodore is somewhere between 950 and 1000 and apparently it was like 15 tickets away from being sold out. Jesse from local grinders Zuckuss pointed out how fucking crazy it is that three local bands brought that many metal heads out of the woodwork. The night was bitter sweet though because not only was our good friend Ian unable to be there because of surgery but that night would also be my last chance to ever set foot in local punk/metal institution the Cobalt. I can’t even describe how awesome that bar and the staff are. The thought that it’s getting shut down by the fucking slum lords that own the building so they can cash in on Olympic fever makes me wanna tear someone’s head off. I’m consoled by the fact that I know bar legend/honcho Wendy 13 will soon enough have a new venue I can crawl out of at 5am reeking of Jager bombs. COBALT FOREVER!
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On November 10th, Unearth will offer up a special edition of their latest album The March. The special edition will come with a bonus DVD featuring a tour documentary entitled The Three Day March, with footage shot by acclaimed director Doug Spangenberg during Unearth’s recent tour of the Northeastern US. The DVD will also feature footage from inside the studio during the band’s recording sessions for The March as well as party footage from the band’s recent tour with Testament. Anyone who’s ever met the dudes from Unearth or even seen them live should know that they’re a perpetual party machine… so this should be fun to watch. In addition to the candid behind the scenes footage, the DVD will also feature live footage of four songs from the 2008 Wacken Festival and the three music videos shot for The March.

Check out an exclusive preview clip from the DVD below, and pre-order the special edition set here. Unearth go on tour in early November with Hatebreed, Cannibal Corpse, Born of Osiris and Hate Eternal; full list of dates after the jump.

Click to read more…

[Horse the Band are currently on tour supporting their new album Desperate Living. Keyboardist Lord Gold (his mommy calls him Erik) is recording their current road trek for posterity in this here MetalSucks blog. Entry 4 follows (read Entry 1, Entry 2 {complete with wild coke party w/ IWABO} and Entry 3). -Ed.]

Two women walked beleagueredly into Denny’s Restaurant after a night of drinking after work, planned one week in advance. They were wearing luxurious, flowing black clothing and black high heels. The high heels were warping severely. Upon closer examination the straps were ripping and frayed. The women’s heel skin was split red and white, crackling over the edge of the platform.

A woman began the process of sitting down. She lowered herself gracefully with one arm leaning heavily against the bowing table and one arm on the back of the booth seat. Her sinews tightened under her supple skin, her bag hanging on her forearm fell to her wrist. She lowered herself about one third of the distance, then completed her entry by letting her body freefall into the booth. The vinyl-covered padding ballooned ever so slightly and then gave way, enveloping her with a muffled whoosh. The whole row of booths tremored slightly. It was a perfect landing.

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[Writer and musician Tres Crow comes to us from the excellent blog Dog Eat Crow, for which I just published a Halloween-inspired list of The Top 5 Goriest Metal Album Covers of All Time. What follows is an incredible piece of creative writing written by Mr. Crow based on Mastodon's Crack the Skye. The first part ("Intro") is a true recounting of a run-in we had with Brent "Tasmanian Devil" Hinds whilst visiting Atlanta for the Scion Rock Fest. The rest is all culled from the twisted, Mastodon-induced imaginings of Tres' own mind. It is long, but worth it. Enjoy! - Ed.]

The Mastodon Beard
By Tres Crow

Intro

Before I really get into the meat and potatoes of this thing I think I need to make a little confession: I first became interested in Mastodon primarily because of Brent Hinds’ totally wicked beard. Now don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t any kind of creepy infatuation, like watching him shower through peepholes type of thing, but more like, let’s say, professional admiration, as in one bearded red-headed dude to another.

You see I am a man of relatively modest bearded means, and though in my chosen field of Banking I am considered a rebel for wearing facial hair so defiantly against accepted business attire and hygiene, when I first saw the tarantula legs Mr. Hinds was sporting from his chin I was totally awed.

Let me break this first meeting down for you: I’m standing in a tiny hole in the wall bar in Atlanta with the esteemed moderators of this very blog, Mssrs. Neilstein and Rosenberg, a bar which has this night been totally taken over by Metal fans of every shape and size on account of the Scion Metal Fest. I’m sipping a beer and feeling extraordinarily out of place in my bright blue rain jacket and neatly trimmed rebel-Banker beard and I keep eyeing all the khaki military jackets and black band shirts and ferocious, tousled facial mats with a mixture of wariness and wonder. Clearly I am in the midst of something extraordinary, beard-wise; from wall to wall there is the most amazing array of goatees, full-on Hemingway bushes, twisty oriental spires descending like stalactites several inches, handlebars like the Hulk used to wear (still does apparently), faces that seem to grow out from the beards instead of the other way around. Hell, there is even the occasional mustache sprinkled through the crowd for good measure. I mean, basically, the place is like a veritable Beard Convention and we’re all milling about, drinking beers and shuffling feet and exclaiming loudly about one thing or another, everyone with the unmistakable posture of someone waiting for something. It’s like we’ve all come together for a purpose that maybe not everyone even realizes what it is yet, but there’s definitely this feeling of purposeful waiting, of expectation.

And then it happens, what we’ve all been waiting for without even really knowing it. Like some kind of verbal version of the wave a rumor starts to spread throughout the tiny place: Brent Hinds is here. I crane my neck to get a glimpse of this Brent guy even though I’m not really even certain who he is.

Click to read more…

Last week we gave Fed Through the Teeth Machine, the incredible new album from death/grind/prog pioneers The Red Chord, four out of five horns, and, honestly, we’re not even sure that that’s a high enough rating. Certain to make many year-end lists, Fed Through the Teeth Machine displays The Red Chord doing what they do best: defying expectations, breaking genre conventions, and tearing the listener a new asshole.

Metal Blade will release Fed Through the Teeth Machine this coming Tuesday, October 27, but as always, MetalSucks has ya covered: we’re streaming the entire album now through Monday, so you can hear how awesome it is before you buy it. We hope you love it as much as we do.

And while we’re on the topic, why you don’t read our interview with The Red Chord’s Gunface about the making of the album?

[This promotion has ended. -Ed.]

[Horse the Band are currently on tour supporting their new album Desperate Living (full stream here!). Keyboardist Lord Gold (his mommy calls him Erik) is recording their current road trek for posterity in this here MetalSucks blog. Entry 3 follows (read Entry 1 and Entry 2). -Ed.]

What has happened in the past week. I don’t remember. I have watched a lot of plants go by through the window and also watched the sky for a very long time while listening to the song “Eskimo Snow” on repeat. There have been some inspirational cloud formations where I thought “yes, life is worth living.”

One night we made a lot of money and people were going insane and I didn’t hate them and I felt very happy and excited because I knew I could make the minimum payment on my credit cards before we went to Europe and still have money left over. The next night we played next to A Day to Remember in San Diego and their show had pre-sold 2,400 tickets. I thought about how their guarantee for the show was probably $25000 and they would sell another $30000 of merch so after expenses each member of the band would probably make $5000 minimum in one night and that would happen every night for a month. I felt sad. If I could be in that band for 3 days I could pay off my credit card bill and have a fresh start in life at 28. It would be funny to pay off 8 years of band induced financial failure in 3 days.

That night our show had 6 local bands.

Click to read more…

MetalSucks is incredibly proud to present the debut of “Universe in a Ball,” a new track from The Devin Townsend Project’s forthcoming album, Addicted. There’s nothing we can really tell you about the song that would be more eloquent or insightful than an explanation from the man himself, so here’s Devin’s thoughts on the track:

“Hey, so what does ‘Universe In A Ball’ mean? Short answer… I have no idea, it’s phonetics that just kept appearing so I went with it.

Long answer: okay, lets choose from a number of things. 1) The end of Men In Black where the alien picks up a marble that contains all our known reality HOTCHA! 2) The reproductive qualities in a testicle, a whole Universe is in your balls… BAM! 3) The nature of infinity is like the surface of an expanding balloon, where the surface is a circular dimensional reality that expands infinitely. ZAP 4) The hierarchy of man vs. nature from a more ‘native’ perspective, which essentially means everything is equal, not a pyramid, as is the classic ‘religious’ view with man on top, and the environment below. Everything is just what it is, right now. Eternally. Any questions are moot, women are beautiful, and I want a donut. BLAZANG!”

Devin and CM Distro are also offering some pretty incredible pre-order packages: one comes with an autographed CD, a poster, and a shirt, and one comes with an autographed CD, a poster, a zip-up hoodie, and – get this – a one of a kind O card HAND-DRAWN BY DEVIN HIMSELF. How incredible is that? You can, and should, order those here.

And now, without further adieu, we present “Universe in a Ball”… we hope you love it as much as we do!

Addicted comes out November 17 on InsideOut Music.

When Sigh mainman Mirai Kawashima offered to do a series of blogs from the studio where the band is recording their new album, Scenes from Hell, it was an opportunity too cool for us to pass up. Below find Mirai’s latest report; here are links to his previous entries:

PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
PART 4
PART 5
PART 6

Enjoy!

Hello everybody. This is not a studio report actually.

Finally, here we reveal the cover artwork for our eighth studio album, Scenes from Hell. It was designed by Eliran Kantor (Testament, Mekong Delta, Gwar, etc). We’re truly proud of the artwork. This is the perfect descrition of what the album is about – namely War, Hell and Death!

The End Records has set January 19, 2010 release date for this album.

Click to read more…

“Repulsive Salvation” is one of my favorite tracks from Skeletonwitch’s ripping new record Breathing the Fire, out today on Prosthetic Records (order here). I was lucky enough to be on hand for the David Brodksy-directed video shoot last month at Brooklyn’s famed Lucky 13 Saloon, surprisingly one of the few metal hangs in a borough you’d think would be full of them. While the band rocked out to the track over and over like their careers depended on it, I stood in the corner watching the band rock whilst getting my drink on with $1 Busch cans (win!). The dudes in Metal Injection were on hand to conduct an interview with the band, and in between takes we hung out and drank with the Skeletonwitch dudes and bar-owner Melody Henry like a big, happy family, with guitarist Nate Garnett as the jubilant uncle who has everyone in stitches every time the guy opens his mouth. Great times were had.

Enjoy the video below. Also check out the interview I conducted with guitarist Scott “Scunty D.” Hedrick and the band’s hilarious webisodes (the 5th of which was just released). And pick up the album; highly worth it!

[Horse the Band are currently on tour supporting their new album Desperate Living (full stream here!). Keyboardist Lord Gold (his mommy calls him Erik) is recording their current road trek for posterity in this here MetalSucks blog. Entry 2 follows (read Entry 1 here). -Ed.]

I was still feeling bored in New Orleans, walking down Bourbon Street after the show, when who did we meet but Iwrestledabearonce at the Tropical Isle, pounding hand grenades. Typical night ensued… got conglomerated, walked down to the Mississippi, did a pound of coke, dominated a 40-somethings gay bar. Feeling a little better about this tour…

A photo essay of the debaucherous night after the jump.

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Not heard of Philthydelphia’s Javelina yet? (that’s pronounced “ha-vuh-LEE-nuh”) Now’s the time. Today we have an exclusive stream of their song “Towers of Silence” from their new album Beasts Among Sheep, which came out September 29th.

I saw this band live a couple of months ago in Brooklyn, and besides having easily the fiercest beards of the night they also had the fiercest riffs. Take a listen to the new track “Towers of Silence” below or download it for FREE. You can order the record on vinyl at Brutal Panda or on CD at Translation Loss.

As you are probably aware, God Forbid guitarist Doc Coyle recently filled-in for Lamb of God’s Mark Morton while LoG played support for Metallica. A video of Doc getting hit in the head with a cup of liquid while performing on that has been the source of much internet banter as of late (see above). Doc has issued the following statement regarding the incident exclusively to MetalSucks.

“I’m sure many of you have seen the video of me getting pegged on stage while I was on Metallica tour filling in for Mark from Lamb of God. Although 95% of the comments were really supportive, I just wanted to clarify a few things about the incident. First off, it was a beer, not a water. A big ol’ tall boy plastic cup of beer, and whoever threw it must have been a quarterback because it was full and hit me square in the eye at full steam. It felt like I got sucker punched. I had a mark by my cheek bone and it was swollen all night. I surprised I didn’t have a black eye. The way it hit me is probably the reason why I reacted the way I did. I’m no tough guy, but I wasn’t really thinking. I just reacted. I really don’t know what I would’ve done if anyone would’ve have owned up to to throwing it, but I have no clue if I would’ve hit the person. I can say that I’m not violent at all, and don’t think violence is a productive way to solve problems. I’m glad nothing came of it, but obviously the person was pretty cowardly to throw it and not own up to it. Anyway, shit happens. I just think it’s kind of funny how it spread on the internet. Beer in the face and all, it was still more than an honor to play with Lamb of God and open for Metallica.”

Hey, lookee! Another Video Tour Blog from Misery Index! If you haven’t been watching these, you’re missing out; they’re way more interesting and funny than your usual get drunk / puke video blogs (though there’s plenty of that too. catch up: Parts 1 through 3). In this episode, we see what happens when drunken metal musicians try to throw rocks at empty beer bottles, more bird-watching with Jason Netherton, and a ton of live footage of Misery Index playing massive European Summer festivals.

[Horse the Band are currently on tour supporting their new album Desperate Living (full stream here!). Keyboardist Lord Gold (his mommy calls him Erik) was one of the first dudes in a band to do guest blogs for us and he's fucking hilarious, so when he offered to do a tour blog again on this latest jaunt we were delighted. God willing we'll have a few more entries in the coming weeks. -Ed.]

Driving to Corpus Christi… We ate Rudy’s BBQ in San Antonio this morning. I ate half a sausage, creamed corn, and 6 baby back ribs. It made the drive go by, it put me down. 3 hours later… we are in Corpus Christi. I woke up and immediately felt crippling boredom watching the car dealership signs go by. Lots of times when you’re not on tour you feel nostalgia for a certain place and activity you did there. Feels kinda exotic and special compared to the routine of the rest of your life… Being out of town and eating something, or whatever… You think about how fun that would be and how good it will be to get on tour again and roll up there one day. I want to eat sno cones in Corpus Christi pretty often at this sno cone stand. The perfect balance of syrup and ice that held the syrup in it and didn’t freeze into big balls. When I woke up I realized the sno cone place would be closed. It’s not summer. We probably wouldn’t go to the beach either. Then I remembered the venue in the abandoned part of downtown. It put me in a mental hole that reached a low low enough to force me into writing a “tour blog”.

Last night I lay on the floor of the back room for a while in the corner. I did not know what to do. I walked out to the trailer alone and took 3 shots of vodka from my “value bottle” and came back in. Things seemed a little bit better but still not to the point where “talking to people” felt like a viable option. Then we played.

Click to read more…

We’ve been talking about The Destro’s new record Harmony of Discord for weeks already, so by now you’ve probably made up your mind as to whether or not you like their no-bullshit approach to metal. If you dig the Destro’s brand of self-described “old-school brutal style” now’s your chance to hear the entire new record, for free, below. If for whatever reason you haven’t yet gotten around to giving the The Destro a shot, you a) are a loser, b) have bad taste in music, c) can do so simply by clicking the “play” button. So go on… do it. Despite MS commente / evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins‘ objection to the cover artwork.

Harmony of Discord comes out next Tuesday, October 13th, on Ironclad / Metal Blade Records.

[This promotion has ended. -Ed.]