It appears this track was leaked intentionally. According to Got-Djent, the domain name on which the above was first posted, iamaleak.com, is registered to Meshuggah’s manager. The leak was revealed via the puzzle below, posted at various places throughout the Internet:
the ophidian whispered those who seek shall be rewarded….
a sonic declaration of spIte And resentMent
its resonAnce grinding to dust our souls
the twine of revenge tightLy strung
its subharmonics thE undoing of All
If you’re the sort of person who gets excited about 30 seconds of new music, then boy are you gonna be happy about this: Amazon has posted 30 second samples of every song from the new T.R.A.M. and Veil of Maya albums, as is de rigeur these days a couple of weeks in advance of any album’s release. T.R.A.M. Lingua Franca consists of 6 songs adding up to 29:49 while Veil of Maya’s Eclipse clocks in just a shade over 28 minutes with 10 songs, meaning both just barely cross the 25-minute threshold for full “LP” status. We’re sure they’ll both pack quite a punch, though; these days I’m actually grateful for shorter albums — “more killer, less filler” takes on a whole new meaning in the digital age of picking and choosing tracks.
And oh hey, is this the first look the world’s getting at the T.R.A.M. album cover? I don’t think I’ve seen it before, but I could’ve easily missed it. The wonky artwork perfectly fits the band’s wonky music, and I like that they bothered to write out the names of the musicians who comprise the band’s acronym name.
Wednesday, February 8th, 2012 at 2:00pm by Anso DF
To me, nothing is as fully sweet like pop music played heavy and with controlled virtuosity. It’s like a famous master chef whipping up simple, delicious hot dogs for my face; it seems foolish to abandon such classic fare to high-volume/low-margin assembly lines, right? Hence my devotion to the jamz of Rush, Bay Area thrash, Iron Maiden, Deftones, Devin Townsend, Love/Hate, Blessed By A Broken Heart, and tons more snappy songwriters with big boner crunch.
So I warmly welcome Look Right Penny, whose debut album Sugar Lane (out Tuesday) is a slam dunk of pop-djent metal. Click to read more…
What was once inconceivable is now a reality: A David Lee Roth-fronted Van Halen is set to release a new album! It took 28 years, a soul-crushing false start with Roth in 1996, the dumping of bassist/backing vocalist Michael Anthony, and a new label home, but A Different Kind Of Truth finally arrives today. However, a fair appraisal of Truth could be dicey: Fans might get swept up in the grand return of a pined-after loved one, while the indifferent can effortlessly cry foul at Truth‘s mining of 35 year-old material and at suspiciously deft Wolfgang Van Halen bass lines. And yet early reviews state that Truth is a remarkably authentic classic Van Halen experience.
Here’s what steps VH took to recapture that old magic:
Tuesday, February 7th, 2012 at 10:00am by Axl Rosenberg
Good morning!!! As you read this, I am sitting in an oral surgeon’s chair, having my wisdom tooth ripped from my skull. But you get to do something much more fun: listen to “Parasitic Scriptures of the Sacred Word,” a new Goatwhore song which is now streaming here. If you’re feeling angry or stressed, this lil’ ditty is the perfect thing for ya. FEED YOUR RAGE UNTO IT!!!
Look, guys. I played this album backwards the other day, and then my cat turned inside out, and the floor opened up and fire started spewing forth and shit, and this really ugly demon broad arose and gave me the best sexual experience of my life, and then my face melted. Okay so that may not have really happened, but Goatwhore’s new album Blood for the Master is really good, and you should listen to this song, and then you should buy Blood when Metal Blade releases it on February 14. You should also read our own Sammy O’Hagar’s recent four-outta-five-horns review of the record.
And I’m gonna go listen to it again right now this very second.
Monday, February 6th, 2012 at 3:30pm by Axl Rosenberg
So, hey, remember Red Lamb, the new project from former Anthrax guitarist Dan Spitz and forever Megadeth boss Dave Mustaine (and once upon a time called DeuxMonkey)? Well, guess what? Their self-titled debut full-length was released on Friday via iTunes. And you’d think that first album from a band featuring two founding members of Big Four bands would be treated like a huge event and reported on by every metal news outlet in the galaxy, but it wasn’t, because there was no press release sent out, and the only official announcement came earlier today via the band’s Facebook page. So, that seems pretty weird.
Also weird: yeah I don’t think Mustaine actually had anything to do with this record.
Monday, February 6th, 2012 at 2:00pm by Axl Rosenberg
I fucking love, love, LOVE Cannibal Corpse’s new album, Torture – and one of my favorite tracks from that upcoming release, “Scourge of Iron,” is now available for streaming. It’s not crazy-fast chaotic Cannibal Corpse — to utilize some recent examples from the band’s catalog, it’s more in the vein of “A Cauldron of Hate” or “Evisceration Plague” than “The Time to Kill is Now” or “Make Them Suffer.” But I love when Cannibal Corpse break out the slower shit — they have a real talent for elephants marching riffs, and they don’t just play the same thing over and over and over again, instead making small-but-distinct changes to the riffs as the song progresses, ensuring that the track remains dynamic throughout.
And besides, I promise you, there are plenty of faster songs on Torture, too (like the already-released “Demented Aggression”).
Headbang — slowly — right here, then come back and discuss the fact that Cannibal Corpse are somehow still awesome after more then twenty years in our comments section below. If you haven’t done so already, I also strongly suggest that you read this interview MetalSucks’ own Dave Mustein recently conducted with Cannibal Corpse’s Alex Webster.
I haven’t listened too intently to the lyrics for “Leather Lord,” the brand new song by 3 Inches of Blood, but based on the words in the chorus, historical inference and good old fashioned intuition it’s not too hard to guess what this song is about: PURE HEAVY FUCKING METAL. I’m imagining a masked avenger clad in full-body leather armor spiked to the nines whose sole duty in life it is to seek out those not headbanging furiously enough and whip them into submission. I wouldn’t wanna fuck with that guy, would you??
Friday, February 3rd, 2012 at 4:30pm by Axl Rosenberg
I’m not gonna sit here and pretend that I never liked Tenacious D — fuck, dude, I loved Tenacious D. I watched their show on HBO, I bought their first album the day it came out in 2001, and I saw them live in concert. I thought they were great.
But then Jack Black way outstayed his welcome and his schtick got really tiring (Has he been funny in anything besides The Muppets and that one episode of Community recently?), and when I heard that the duo’s movie, The Pick of Destiny, was terrible, well, I never saw it. Or heard the accompanying album, for that matter.
And then I basically completely forgot about Tenacious D. until today, when The Laugh Button (by way of Metal Insider) alerted me to the fact that Black and partner Kyle Gass will release their third album, Rize of the Fenix, sometime in May. They’ve even released a clip of a new song, complete with lyrics acknowledging that, yes, no one liked Pick of Destiny.
I dunno. I’d love it if this turned out to be a great, funny album. I just think it’s one of those things that had its time, and that time has now passed.
Check out the song snippet below, then tell me whether or not I’m crazy. This is one of those arguments I’d really like to lose.
Akron, OH outfit If These Trees Could Talk are one of those bands whose style is really hard to pin down, but if you’ve ever enjoyed music by any of the following bands you’re absolutely gonna love them: Junius, Constants, Caspian, Mogwai, Dredg, Scale the Summit. They walk a blurry line between post-metal, shoegaze and space rock, creating dreamy atmospheres punctuated by shimmery distorted guitars and pocket-driven, laid back yet powerful groove. This band is fantastic, and anyone with an open mind is going to love them.
Give their brand new track “Barren Lands of a Modern Dinosaur” a spin over at RCRD LBL and see what you think. Their new album Red Forest comes out March 20th on Science of Silence Records. A limited vinyl edition of 500 copies is available for pre-order now, so get yours while you still can… they’re almost sold out.
Wednesday, February 1st, 2012 at 11:00am by Axl Rosenberg
Obey the Brave, the new project featuring former Despised Icon vocalist Alex Erian and ex-Blind Witness guitarist Jon Campbell, have released their first music video, for a song called “Live and Learn,” and I find that kinda silly, since we haven’t even been able to stream one single entire song by the band anywhere yet. Maybe OtB figured more people would check out a video online than would stream a tune? I’m not sure I agree with that logic, but fuck do I know?
ANYWAY, the video/song. Look. The song isn’t bad — but it is pretty generic 21st century metallic hardcore, and I’d be lying if I said I like it nearly as much as I like Despised Icon, who were one of those bands that actually gave deathcore a good name. I’m not sure I even would have made it through this whole clip if not for my respect for Erian and the work he did with his former outfit.
But watch the video below and make up your own mind… ’cause, as always, opinions are like assholes, blah blah blah.
Obey the Brave have also announced a bunch of tour dates to take place in and around their native Quebec. If you live in the area and wanna check ‘em out, said dates are after the jump.
Wednesday, February 1st, 2012 at 10:30am by Axl Rosenberg
Yesterday I received a press release about how The Darkness were about to release a new song, leading me to wonder via my Twitter account (and, consequently, my Facebook page — the two are linked! Isn’t technology glorious?) “The Darkness are still a thing?” This led to several interesting interactions with readers/followers, including what defines “a thing” (popularity, not quality), and whether or not The Darkness are inferior, superior, or equal to Steel Panther.
But why the hell would you ever compare The Darkness to Steel Panther? I guess ’cause they’re both cock rock parody bands… except that Steel Panther write better songs, are better live, and are actually, y’know, funny. Steel Panther seems like a loving satire — that is, a joke told by some dudes who simultaneously adore and recognize the ridiculousness of their chosen genre (y’know, kinda like a certain website you read from time to time), whereas The Darkness just seems like ironic douchebag nonsense. There’s no grace to what The Darkness do — they just give people who won’t admit to liking metal an excuse to listen to metal while maintaining their “cred.” The difference can be seen in the crowds that attend each band’s shows: I’m generalizing here, but Steel Panther concerts are largely populated by headbangers and metal sluts, folks wearing vintage Warrant shirts because they love Warrant — in other words, the very people the band is making fun of; The Darkness concerts are populated with people who “ironically” paid $150 for a vintage Warrant shirt, which they will wear to Darkness shows and nowhere else.
Which brings us to “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us,” the new Darkness song in question. I actually think the video is terrific — so much so that I wish it were for a different band. ‘Cause the song is weaker than Zima. The mere mention of, say, Steel Panther’s “If You Really Really Love Me” will get that tune stuck in my head for days. On the other hand, I’ve already forgotten how “Stop Us” goes, and I just watched the video twice. So, yeah.
-AR
I would never have actually watched this video if John hadn’t posted it on my Facebook wall this morning. Thanks, dude.
Tuesday, January 31st, 2012 at 4:00pm by Axl Rosenberg
Last night I listened to both Axel Rudi Pell’s Circle of the Oath and The Devastated’s Devil’s Messenger for the first time, and I’m honestly not sure which one was worse. I guess ARP has some humor/entertainment value at least, because it’s just SO GODDAMN SILLY, whereas The Devastated’s album just made me wanna kill myself; it’s the kind of record that’s so horrendous, it almost makes me wish death metal had never been created, so no one would ever have to hear this drek again.
The title track for Devil’s Messenger is now streaming in the below video, so if you really love self-flagellation, go ahead and give it a listen. It’s basically the musical equivalent of being rushed to the emergency room with a groin hernia.
Devil’s Messenger comes out February 14 on Century, presumably as part of an evil plot to ruin Valentine’s Day erections everywhere.
Tuesday, January 31st, 2012 at 10:30am by Axl Rosenberg
So, hey, remember a couple of weeks back, when we debuted a new Psycroptic song, “The Throne of Kings,” from their forthcoming album, The Inherited Repression? And remember how awesome it was? How you were all, “WOW! Now THIS is what tech death is SUPPOSED to sound like!”? And then you were all, “I CANNOT WAIT to hear the rest of the album!!!”?
Well, hey, terrific news, ladies and germs: the full album is now streaming right here. It is, as we said when we debuted “Kings,” “an album full to the brim of ripperific rippers, sure to rip up all parts of your body and corners of your mind.” So, y’know, you could NOT listen to the whole album — but you’d be a real dope for passing up the chance.
Headbang here, then celebrate The Inherited Repression‘s imminent arrival in our comments section below. The album comes out February 7 via Nuclear Blast.
When Filter mainman Richard Patrick went into rehab in 2002, it marked the end of the industrial-rock band’s rad second line-up. That means it’s been about a decade since the Filter that made Title Of Record (super classic!) and The Amalgamut (epic!), and since then jeez I haven’t caught sight of Patrick’s old team like at all. Which is surprising, cuz drummer Steve Gillis is a stud (here) and guitarist Geno Lenardo co-wrote this phase of Filter’s biggest (here) and biggest-selling jamz (here).
Monday, January 30th, 2012 at 4:00pm by Axl Rosenberg
When writing about a new Bleeding Through track called “Goodbye to Death” a few weeks ago, I noted that “I don’t find this band quite as irritating as I did even just a few years ago.” And now, having heard the entirety of their new album, The Great Fire, I can reaffirm this assessment. Bleeding Through are bad in a way which, by 2012 standards, seems quaint — adorable, even. The Great Fire isn’t good, but it’s not the worst album you’ll hear this year, or even this week; BT are gonna party like it’s 2005, and some people will find that really appealing, and good for them.
In fact, the album’s biggest weak spot is that very thing which I used to find Bleeding Through’s sole source of appeal — namely, keyboardist Marta Peterson.
Monday, January 30th, 2012 at 2:00pm by Axl Rosenberg
I’m not really sure how I didn’t know this, but apparently Revocation covered Faith No More’s “Surprise! You’re Dead!” for the deluxe digital iTunes edition of last year’s Chaos of Forms. And if you’re like me and you didn’t know this and you didn’t buy the deluxe digital blah blah of Chaos, you’re in luck, ’cause the cover is now available for streaming below.
It’s not really any different from the original song — one of FNM’s more straight-ahead metallica ditties — save for the fact that Dave Davidson’s vocal performance is that much raspier than Mike Patton’s was. Still, the tune is clearly a good fit for Revocation, so I’m not gonna gripe too much.
Monday, January 30th, 2012 at 11:30am by Axl Rosenberg
Not being a regular BBC listener, I’m not familiar with the show Stuart Maconie’s Freak Zone – but I will say that, at this very moment, I am both very grateful to and very angry at Mr. Maconie. Grateful because last night, he debuted an awesome, strange-as-fuck new Sigh song, “The Transfiguration Fear,” which will appear on their upcoming album, In Somniphobia. And angry because this dude who apparently has no idea who the fuck Sigh are has gotten to hear In Somniphobia before I have. Bastard.
ANYWAY, the song is what’s important, obviously, and if it’s any indication of the rest of In Somniphobia‘s quality, we’re in for another treat from my favorite Japanese band. Imaginary Sonicscape-esque sci-fi keyboards? Glorious Dr. Mikannibal saxophone? Congas? Classic rock style bluesy guitars? A whistling outro? All in one totally bizarre package? Just one more question: WHEN CAN I HEAR THE REST OF THIS ALBUM?!?!
You can stream the track (via a stream of the show on which it debuted) here. It starts around the 16:45 mark.
In Somniphobia is scheduled for a March release via Candlelight Records.
Is Spin making a big play in the metal space? Last week they premiered the entire new Lacuna Coil album and today they’ve got a brand new Pelican jam, the first to be released from their forthcoming Atraxia/Taraxis EP, out April 10th. Not that it really matters who’s streaming the thing so much as it does simply that the song’s streaming somewhere; so what are you waiting for? Go listen.
My first thoughts on “Lathe Biosas” (Greek for “live unnoticed”) are rather superficial, but they’re my thoughts nonetheless: I don’t like the production.
Photo: Lisa Shelley
