MetalSucks

Watch the new webisode by L.A. cockrockers Steel Panther, and sure, they seem like a bunch of jokers. But the authors of this century’s first classic hair rock album are also the bravest, most honest musicians ever. See, Michael Starr and crew sing about doin’ ya and doin’ your drugs, but don’t bother with fancy symbolic language, like the ribald single-entendres of AC/DC (“Fire Your Guns”) or total lack of imagination of Bulletboys (“Smooth Up In Ya”). Their raw candor isn’t just refreshing, it’s a public service, as though they respect us too much to veil nasty intentions or insult our intelligence with shitty poetry; expressed artlessly, guitarist Satchel’s sincere thanks to “the guy who invented cocaine” really reminds you that the guy who invented cocaine probably at least deserves a postage stamp; Satchel’s other pet cause is universal vagina maintenance standards, and again, a less confident band may not dare to instruct our sisters, mothers, and girlfriends on matters of good greens-keeping; and lastly but not leastly, bless Steel Panther for speaking out against those awful Goo Goo Dolls. They can suck my balls, too.

Feel The Steel is (finally) out now. Order it here.

The Root of All Evil is the eighth studio album by Swedish melodic death metal legends Arch Enemy, featuring re-recorded songs from the band’s first three albums with Johan Liiva as vocalist — Black Earth, Stigmata, and Burning Bridges. The re-recordings have Angela Gossow, who’s now been in the band for nearly 10 years, on vocals, and they were mixed and mastered by the masterful Andy Sneap (but produced by the band themselves).

Regardless of how you feel about bands re-recording their old material with a new lineup, Arch Enemy’s new video for “Beast of Man” — originally from 1998’s Stigmata — is a cool live clip that accurately captures what it’s like to see (and hear) the band in 2009. The Amott brothers back together again, and Gossow belting it out in front.

The Root of All Evil came out this week. Buy it at ArchEnemy.net.

On Sunday night we caught the Beard Destroyer 2009 tour with Hull and Batillus (sadly for us, Salome didn’t play that date). It crushed even harder than we thought it would, so we asked our friend, Batillus skinsman Geoff Summers, to do a tour wrap-up for us. We hope you enjoy!

So, here I sit with a mild case of PTD (post-tour depression) writing up this wrap report for the so-called Beard Destroyer tour featuring Salome, Hull, and my band, Batillus. We had some good times, and we had some bad times. It rained. A lot. Everywhere we went. Fortunately, though, the good dwarfed the bad. Let’s recap…

Click to read more…

When Susan Gerl, guitarist for Dutch melodic death metallers and MetalSucks faves God Dethroned, offered to do a tour blog for the South American leg of the band’s War Propaganda tour, we just couldn’t say no! Read Susan’s account of the highs and lows of that tour below. And don’t forget that God Dethroned start the North American, MetalSucks co-sponsored leg of the tour tomorrow. Get a complete tour itinerary here, or after the jump!

At the moment I’m sitting on the plane from Houston to Tucson, and we have nearly finished the first leg of our War Propaganda World Tour.

We started off in Brazil and had a really good time there. The atmosphere was really nice and laid back. Something we had to get used to, though, was the Brazilian sense of time. When we arranged to meet somewhere, we would be there, right on the spot – and waiting. After doing this for one day we adapted ourselves pretty quickly to the Brazilian pace of doing things and just stayed relaxed in our hotel rooms until the promoter phoned us that it was time to go to the venue, which was usually a couple of hours later than initially planned, so no rush there.

One disappointment in Brazil was the cancellation of our Sao Paulo show. To make a long story short: it all came down to money and corruption.

Click to read more…

[We fixed the player issue we were having earlier. Sorry! All better now. -Ed.]

Like we said yesterday, Desperate Living — the new album from Horse the Band which comes out on October 6th — shows a new, more nuanced side to the band. The album is really good; listening to it this morning in its entirety for the first time I was really quite impressed, and it’s definitely my favorite offering of theirs to date. It’s more complex, proggy and headier than anything they’ve done prior, no small accomplishment for a band as completely fucknuts as these guys are. Now you can stream the whole new album below, exclusively on MetalSucks.

Afterwards, check out the video for “Shapeshift” and pre-order the record with an autographed CD insert for only $11.99 at Newbury Comics. HtB have a ridiculous amount of tour dates booked both Stateside and across the globe through the end of 2009; check out the band’s MySpace page for a full list.

[This promotion has ended. -Ed.]

Did you guys see Rammstein’s new porn flick music video “Pussy” last week? If not… make sure you do so… in the privacy of your own home. NOT SAFE FOR WORK. We warned you this time, OK?

“Pussy” is available on iTunes as of today, and when you purchase it you’ll also receive the “Rammlied” b-side track and a digital booklet. ‘Cause we’re all about “try it before you buy it” ’round here, we’re exclusively streaming “Rammlied” in full below. It sounds exactly like what you’d expect, and we mean that in the best of ways; big stomping guitar riffs, synths, German lyrics, and the constant repetition of the band’s name. RAMM. STEIN.

I haven’t seen Saviours live yet, but everyone I know who has tells me they’re fucking awesome. I’m actually pretty new to the band in general, but their new album Accelerated Living has definitely forced me to give them a hard look; it’s a delicious slab of raw, classic stoner thrash (if there even is such a thing) mixed with retro, Thin Lizzy-inspired rawk guitars, the kind of music that makes you want to throw a few beers back with some buddies and just bang your head.

Check out the song “We Roam” from their new album, below, and let us know what you think. Accelerated Living drops on October 27th on Kemado Records.

Well, at least one good thing came out of that day we let Ziltoid run the site: we ended up exchanging e-mails with Cormorant vocalist/bassist Arthur von Nagel (read Zilty’s excellent interview with Arthur here), who, we’re very pleased to announce, will begin writing a new column for MetalSucks, “Tiberian Vocalizations,” later this week.

To celebrate our blissful new union, we’re streaming Cormorant’s awesome new album, Metazoa, right here for the next two days. Produced by the legendary Billy Anderson (Neurosis, Brutal Truth, High on Fire, Mr. Bungle, etc.), Metazoa integrates elements of prog metal, death metal, black metal and folk metal into one truly unique, totally kick-ass package. Metazoa is Epic with a capital “E” – trust us when we say that you NEED to check out this record. And don’t forget to have a look at the lyrics – like Pig Destroyer and Primordial, they are a large part of the band’s sound and aesthetic and are very much worth your attention.

Metazoa comes out tomorrow via Saturnine Media. You can (and should!) order a copy through Cormorant’s official webstore. And don’t forget to check out Cormorant on MySpace for all the latest news and updates on the band!

Enjoy the album…

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: horror and metal go together like PB&J, like Jager and puking, like Kerry King and talkin’ smack. They are the most natural of pairings.

And so it is with great pleasure that we premiere this exclusive footage from The Thaw, the latest installment of Lionsgate’s Pictures’ “Ghost House Underground” series – a line of horror DVDs created in cooperation with writer/director Sam Raimi and producer Rob Tapert, the team behind the classic Evil Dead series and this summer’s Drag Me to Hell, which was easily one of the most fun movies of 2009.

The Thaw stars Val Kilmer stars as a renowned environmental advocate, Dr. David Kruipen. When Dr. Kruipen discovers the carcass of a woolly mammoth in a polar ice cap, he helms a team of four bright ecology students and leads them in a research mission at a remote Arctic station. When a pre-historic parasite shows up searching for a new warm-blooded host, the unsuspecting students are forced to choose between a quarantine that will result in their burial ground or a global epidemic.

The Thaw hits DVD on October 6. You can get more info on Ghost House Underground here. Bonus: the clip features music by Winds of Plague. (See, we told you metal and horror go together!) We hope you enjoy the footage…

The Destro fucking rule. If you read our site regularly, you should already know this. That’s why we’re very excited to be exclusively streaming “Persistence of Ignorance,” one of the heaviest tracks on their ripping, old-school-brutal-style new effort Harmony of Discord out October 13th through Ironclad / Metal Blade. Trust us, the rest of the album is more of the same: unrelenting, punishing, fuck-you-up groove after groove after groove. Check out The Destro’s MySpace page for another new track, “Justifiers of Malice.”

[this promotion has ended. - Ed.]

We’ve ranted and raved about Boston progressive death metallers Revocation enough that you should know all about their upcoming Relapse debut Existence is Futile (September 29th) by now. In case you still aren’t hip, we’ve made it super-easy for you; just click that thar little “Play” button below and listen to their brand new, previously unreleased track “Pestilence Reigns.”

Once this track has kicked your ass, go and listen to three more from the new album on Revocation’s MySpace page, then pre-order the record with a killer t-shirt (I did). You will not be sorry.

Progressive power metal fans, have we got a band for you. Redemption was hand picked by Dream Theater to play support for Summer ‘07 tour and features vocalist Ray Alder of the legendary Fates Warning. Those two facts alone should tip you off that you’re about to hear something cool.

Redemption’s fourth studio album, Snowfall on Judgment Day, comes out September 28 on Inside Out Music. You can get a free taste – damn right, we said free!!! – of a new track, “Leviathan Rising,” below. Give it a listen. There’s a damn good reason these fellas have the DT seal of approval.

And don’t forget to visit Redemption on MySpace for more music and the latest news on the band.

Redemption, “Leviathan Rising”

Salome, who just might be our favorite modern doom metal band on the planet, are about to hit the road with Hull and Batillus as part of the Beard Destroyer Tour 2009 (Best tour moniker ever? We think so!). The band also recently completed a split with Thou (cover art above), which is being mastered by James Plotkin (Khanate, OLD, Sunn O))), Isis, etc.) and should be out on Vendetta Records in the next couple of months.

But why wait a couple of months when you can hear some new shit right this very second? The band has been cool enough to graciously allow us to debut a brand new track, “With Hell for a Mouth,” as a free download. Like all Salome, the song is slow like honey and crushing like an anvil, with Kat’s inimitable vocals from the bowels of hell bolstering the performance of guitarist Rob Moore and drummer Aaron Deal. It also marks the next evolutionary step for Salome, as it features slightly brighter production than their EP and even has – gasp! – some sections that are kinda bouncy. It is, in a word, awesome.

Download the song, absolutely free, below. Then, after the jump, get dates for the Beard Destroyer Tour 2009. You need to see Salome live; they are truly otherworldly.

Salome, “With Hell for a Mouth”

Click to read more…

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 final report; here are links to his previous entries:

PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
PART 4
PART 5

Enjoy!

I’d like to start the final studio report by announcing the great contribution to Scenes from Hell by David Tibet from Current 93. Not only did he write the excellent text for us, but he also recorded the spoken words for the record. It gives a truly amazing atmosphere to the album.

The album has finally been mixed and mastered. We were supposed to finish mixing it by the end of June, but it was not easy at all. Of course I knew it’d be tough to mix all those orchestral instruments properly, but it was much harder than expected.

Click to read more…

If you haven’t been following our series of exclusive tour diaries by Misery Index, you’re missing out (check out Part 1 and Part 2). Put together by the band themselves, they’re insightful and hilarious looks into the band’s behind-the-scenes lives (and not just in the usual get-wasted-and-barf-all-over-each-other way). The third and final installment, below, covers their journey through the European festival circuit. Hopefully we’ll be able to get more of these from Misery Index in the future — thanks guys! Catch ‘em on tour for the rest of August throughout Europe.

Free shit is good shit, especially when it’s not even shit, but awesome music. MetalSucks is proud to team up with Century Media to offer the exclusive free download of the Century Media 2009 Carnival of Sounds Sampler, featuring tracks from Napalm Death, 3 Inches of Blood, God Forbid, Suicide Silence, Warbringer, Iwrestledabearonce, Daath and many more. All told, it’s 19 tracks of music at the best price, free. How can you beat that?

After the jump, the full tracklisting and the download link.

Click to read more…

Chicago’s Weekend Nachos play furious, grimy, fuck-you Hardcore with a capital “H,” and they ended up being one of the stand-out bands on last year’s Scott Hull compiled This Comp Kills Fascists. Now the band has a jugular-ripping good new album, Unforgivable, dropping September 1 on Relapse, and your Uncles Axl and Vince have your first taste: a free mp3 of the track “Nights.” Is it pretty? Hell no. Does it absolutely kill? Hell yes.

You can pre-order Unforgivable here. Weekend Nachos head out on tour at the end of August; check out their MySpace page for a complete list of dates.

Weekend Nachos – “Nights”

-Axl & Vince

Black Anvil’s much anticipated record Time Insults the Mind doesn’t come out until September 1st, but we’ve got a brand new track available for free download today, right here. Black Anvil are from right here in NYC and recently signed with Philly-based Relapse Records. Their brand of blackened, crusty, punk-influenced metal is captured perfectly in the new recording; it’s raw, dingy and full of unbridled energy, but with enough clarity to allow a bit of breathing room between instruments.

The band has a string of dates this weekend with Marduk and Withered, starting today in Baltimore, hitting Philly tomorrow and NYC on Saturday. Details and more music on Black Anvil’s MySpace page.

Enjoy.

Black Anvil – “Margin For Terror”

Coheed & Cambria skinsman Chris Pennie has taken some time out of his day to record a quick video segment with us in which he shares the metal albums he’s currently spinning. Without spilling the beans so you don’t have to click that play button, we’ll just say this: he’s got awesome taste in metal! No surprise, given the guy played drums for The Dillinger Escape Plan for an entire decade.

Catch Coheed & Cambria on the peanut-butter-and-jelly-like combination tour with Heaven & Hell starting this Friday. Full list of dates after the jump.

Click to read more…

I would like to go on record as saying I wasn’t too big on the whole re-thrash trend of 2006-2008 from the get-go. I mean, I loves me some thrash, but 99% of the time any band regardless of genre tries to do something that sounds exactly like an old band(s) I’m against it. The key to artistic progression is moving forward, not back, and unfortunately many of the re-thrash bands just brought nothing new to the table. Taking elements of the old and infusing it into the new is all good by me, though, which is why I’m all for bands that have successfully fused vintage thrash influence into a modern shell; Sylosis and Lazarus A.D. are two examples who readily spring to mind.

And Iron Age. Holy fucking shit, you guys.

I was not expecting to like this record at all (see above). But Iron Age’s blend of ripping thrash, NYHC pummel and doomy ambience channeled through modern-sounding production on their second record The Sleeping Eye just hit that fucking SPOT. This is music for fans of fucking furious, tight, beer-soaked, basement mosh-pit party metal like Trash Talk and Bison B.C., Metallica Ride The Lightning-era guitar riffs pushed to the fullest and real in every way with nary a speck of hipster retro throwback. The Sleeping Eye kicks as much ass as any thrash-influenced record released all year, right up there with Rumpelstiltskin Grinder’s Living For Death, Destroying the Rest (albeit in a different way).

So, without further ado, here’s a stream of the entire album. It comes out today. Listen.

[This promotion has ended. -Ed.]