MetalSucks

Israel’s Orphaned Land have just announced a February 9 release date for their new album, The Never Ending Way Of ORwarriOR, and, yes, we’re going to try and do one of those excellent Jew on Jew interviews that we sometimes do with a member of the band. But while those pieces usually tend to lean towards the, um, let’s say “sillier” aspects of Judaism, I have a feeling that the members of Orphaned Land might have something headier on their minds. I mean, check out what vocalist Kobi Farhi has to say about the album’s themes:

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A+ update Benjamin, A fucking plus.

For those of you goyim (that’s yiddish for “non Jews”) who aren’t familiar with the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur (which was this past Monday, hence Axl’s lack of posts that day), this video update from the Dillinger Escape Plan’s Ben Weinman should serve as an excellent primer.

We also get an interview with producer Steve Evetts about new drummer Billy Rymer, and we get some footage of Weinman tracking guitars with the rest of the band’s tracks blaring behind him. Sounds like vintage Dillinger to me.

-VN

Reader Josh Kidd just tipped us off to the existence of an Israeli black metal band called Dagor Dagorath. And I, uh, actually can’t tell if they’re really Jews or not. For one thing, there are other Israeli black metal outfits with no Jews (see: Melechesh), and for another thing, Wikipedia tells me that “Dagor Dagorath” is ” is a fictional battle described in the legendarium of J. R. R. Tolkien.” (And, yes, I did have to look it up. I am indeed a dork about many things, but Tolkien bores me to tears.) So, nothing Jewey about that.

I also Wikipedia‘d (it can be a verb, right?) the name of DD’s new album, Yetzer Ha’Ra, and it does have Jewish connotations:

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A couple of weeks ago, Vince told you about some Hasidim in the Music as a Weapon IV mosh pit on that tour’s NJ stop. I was actually at that show (and by “at that show,” I mean “I watched Chimaira be awesome and then spent the rest of the night getting drunk/high with friends before driving home very, very, very slowly”), and even though these dudes were what everyone was talking about, I was totally bummed that I never actually got to see any of them.

Well well well… one of them, Josh Kidd, just e-mailed me. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that other Jews who like metal enjoy a site run by guys with names like “Rosenberg” and “Neilstein,” but, somehow, I was still floored when I got the e-mail. So much so that I’m willing to post this video of our fellow Chosen Person, David Draiman, giving them a shout-out from the stage, even though MetalSucks’  distaste for Disturbed is pretty well documented at this point:

Hilarious, right?

These cats even have their own Facebook group, if you’d like to keep in touch. They even utilize the Anton OyVey logo!!!

-AR

Following Disturbed lead-crooner David Draiman’s much-publicized split with his fiancee a few months back, everyone’s favorite yeshiva boocher revealed in an interview with Altitude that he’s playing the dating game, albeit in a cautious capacity. In a prior interview with Finland’s MusiikkiTV shortly after the split, Draiman revealed that his now-former fiancee’s heritage — half German and half Persian — had become what he called “a huge source of contention in my family.” For those who aren’t privvy to our near-daily assault of Jewicisms on MetalSucks, Draiman comes from an Orthodox Jewish background and has some 200 relatives living in Israel, including his brother and grandmother.

Might Draiman now be on the prowl for a hot, young Jewess? Seems he’s being a bit more selective this time around; “I went out in Chicago. Got a couple of number, went on a couple dates. They didn’t last through dinner,” says Draiman in the below interview Altitude. Ouch! D-man’s playing hard to get. If I were the mother of a Jewish girl in the Chicago area I’d be awfully mindful of who my daughter hangs around with, lest Draiman inject her with “The Sickness.” Oooo ahh ahh ahh ahh.

-VN

[Thanks: Warren U.]

When I posted the inaugural edition of Jew on Jew a couple of weeks back with Daath’s Eyal Levi, MetalSucks commenter nick abrahamson made a suggestion: “how about that dude from Ghengis Tron, he gonna be next??” Ye ask and ye shall receive, Nick.

Only when I pitched “that dude” (aka vocalist Mookie Singerman), I got the following response, despite what he said in a past interview with Paper Thin Walls: “This is a funny idea but technically i’m not even really jewish–only half on my dad’s side and from my understanding you gotsta come from a Jewish vagina to be a real Jew.  I’ve never celebrated any jewish holidays and the only time I’ve been in a synagogue was for friends’ bar mitzvahs in 7th grade so I don’t know how good of an interview i’d be about this…” That’s alright, Mook, fear not; we’re all inclusive Jews here at the MetalSucks Mansion. After the jump, the half-Jew centric interview I conducted with Mookie.

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Several weeks ago marked a momentous occasion: metalGF’s first ever metal show. The show in question was Sevendust at Irving Plaza; I figured what better introduction to the world of metal shows than one of the best live bands on the planet, even if not the most brutal? She had lots of fun, methinks, and made some funny observations (among them a fascination with mosh-pit culture).

After the show, metalgf remarked on drummer Morgan Rose — whom I’d told her to pay attention to because, ya know, he’s awesome — “He’s jewish, right? He has such a familiar face.” And this is a question I’ve myself often wondered. After the jump we take a look at this burning question and examine the physical evidence.

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In the spirit of our infamous Cripple on Cripple and Beard on Beard interviews (with Dillinger Escape Plan’s Ben Weinman and Killswitch Engage’s Justin Foley, respectively), we here at the MetalSucks School of Rabbinical Studies would like to introduce a new feature we hope will be ongoing but fear won’t, due to the, err… somewhat limited pool of jews in metal. Our first target was Dream Theater’s Mike Portnoy, a Long Island jew if ever there was one; dude flat out denied the interview request. Feh. Thankfully Eyal Levi from Daath was there to save the day like Moses parting the Red Sea. Eyal, ever the mensch, was even so kind as to bless us with an mp3 of Daath’s brand new song “Sharpen the Blades” from their new album The Concealers, which should hit stores some time in ‘09. After the jump, read my [Jewish] exchange with Eyal and download the new track for the price of a mouse click.

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That’s the only question remaining. Because everyone else, including a struggling songwriter supposedly working with the Diamond one, believed a David Lee Roth imposter who had every other detail nailed was the real deal. First it was reported that Diamond Dave was pulled over while speeding to the hospital for an alleged peanut allergy reaction; then the real Diamond Dave came out professing his love of nuts and declared that the cops who reported the arrest were swindled by an imposter. Mystery Dave even had the hospital nurses hoodwinked, taking two of them to a local bar after being released, “Hot For Teacher” style! Most recently, a photo of Fake Dave has surfaced (pictured here), though his true identity is still a mystery.

No word yet as to whether fake Dave buys pot in Washington Square Park.

Next up for Fake Dave; nose-enlarging surgery?

-VN

Think Satan rests his horns in the holy land? Think again. Revolver Magazine Executive Editor Brandon Geist recently returned from a 2-week jaunt to Israel, and though he experienced a shooting (almost), a militant-started forest fire and an Israeli metal concert, he lived to the tell the tale. Read all about it on the Revolver Blog.

-VN

It’s time for the second installment of our Passover series relating the Ten Plagues to metal. Today we have lice, flies and cattle disease! So metal. Heathens beware… ’cause the Jews besaved.

#3 – Lice: God created a plague of lice from handfuls of dust which swarmed in the air and irritated the skin of the Egyptians and their animals.

Tool – “Sober”: I imagine this dude is so miserable because lice have eaten his skin away. he must have been Egyptian.
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#4 – Flies: God created the plague of dog flies that bit the Egyptians and attached themselves to their eyelids, but the Hebrews were unaffected by them.

The Black Dahlia Murder – “Flies” (live):
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#5: Cattle Disease: Murrain – murrain means a cattle plague. This is a virus that affects cattle and eventually kills them. Most Egyptian cattle were affected by this plague but the Hebrew cattle were not.

Carcass — duh! Sick live clip from 1992:
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-VN

So, for those of you who might not know any Jews (read: those of you outside New York City), this weekend marked the beginning of Passover, the Jewish holiday celebrating the exodus of the Jews from slavery in Egypt (for you Christians… you might recognize the story from the Exodus section of that neat little book called The Bible). As you contemplate not eating any bread for a week, we contemplate the 10 Plagues — those most metal of punishments doled by God unto the evil Egyptians — and their metal-inspired counterparts.

1. Blood: God transformed the water in the Nile River into a river of blood for 7 days, causing the death of fish and leaving the Egyptians with undrinkable water. This one is obvious: Slayer’s “Raining Blood”! Awesome live footage.

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2. Frogs: God created a swarm of frogs that came up out of the Nile river and covered the land of Egypt, infesting Egyptian houses. Toads aren’t quite Frogs, but the Toadies do it for me.

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Thanks to the illustrious “metalgf” for her help with these posts. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s plagues.

-VN