MetalSucks

If yesterday was whiskey (n weed), and tomorrow be weed (n weed — 4/20, brah), then what’s on the menu for today?

I just got a new shipment of fooferon, so I will personally be snargling the hell outta that — what’s your pleasure?!?

If you’re dry (or wet), please enjoy this sampling of Dub Trio from their second album New Heavy. One of the tracks features some singer by the name of Mike Patton, who apparently scores action films and I believe used to play in a band or two back in the gay 90s…

DUB TRIO — “Screaming At The Sea”

DUB TRIO — “Cool Out And Coexist”

DUB TRIO (featuring MIKE PATTON) — “Not Alone”

(all from New Heavy; “Not Alone” also on Patton’s Peeping Tom album — both from 2006)

-KW

Me and my advanced reptilian brain (ahem, rather: ‘my advanced reptilian brain and I’) were never the biggest fans of stoner rock mainstays Clutch, but they sure did make it hard to hate on their simple n stony hardcore-flavored early jamz from the beginning of the gay 90s.

These daze the spirited Maryland band is still goin, allbeit in a much blusier thump-rock fashion — currently on the road in Europe and soon back in the States, whilst gearin up to release yet another album this July entitled Strange Cousins From The West. Congrats on th’longevity!

Now pass the ten-footer this way, k?

CLUTCH – “Big News I”, from Clutch (1995)

CLUTCH – “Spacegrass”, from Clutch (1995)

CLUTCH – “Binge and Purge”, from Transnational Speedway League (1993)

“Come on motherfucker, come on motherfucker, come on motherfucker — LET’S THROW DOWN….just try me, just try me — what are you waiting for?!?”

TRIVIA FACTOID: drummer Jean-Paul Gaster played drums on Wino’s recent solo album Punctuated Equilibrium, and has also worked with Opeth keyboardist Per Wiberg on a side project that will hopefully see daylight soon. with the other Clutch dudes too (minus vocals) called The Bakerton Group, which we’ve actually discussed before. Duh.

Clutch (and JP Gaster w/Wino) tour dates after the jump the jump.

-KW

Click to read more…

Once upon a time, I couldn’t get enough of this Thrill Jockey band’s futuristic rock sound — from their stellar early albums to a couple very interesting collaborations with The Fucking Champs to tours with MetalSucks faves The Bronx and muthafuckin TOOL, Trans Am most definitely used to be the shit.

Alas, those daze are long gone(instein); compared to the band’s excellent, unique, and continually reinventive first six releases (an impressive and prolific run for anyone), the next Trans Am album, Liberation, felt rather lukewarm and stilted — the underlying focus of said record is a political attack on our nation’s dumbest
prezzaschmuck to date, a choice which noticeably detracted from TA’s ever-evolving musically creative voice.

The band released another full-length entitled Sex Change in 2007, which was somewhat of a return to form, but clearly the heyday of this exciting robotic-rock unit has passed.

Sniffles.

TRANS AM — “Carboforce”, from Surrender to the Night (1997)
-KW

As Vince mentioned a few times last week, he and I will indeed be dropping our respective bombz on Austin this week for SXSW 2009. We expect the festival will undoubtedly bring plenty of metal, mayhem, n MEAT a la BBQ (anyone interested in a debaucherous road trip to The Salt Lick?? You drive!)

Sadly, I could not find any songs in my itunes under the tags “barbeque” or “ribs”, but these two lil ditties should suffice:

–if you lived under a poop-stained rock last year, then you may have missed Protest the Hero’s epic album Fortress; here’s the first track:

PROTEST THE HERO — “Bloodmeat”, from Fortress (2008)

–if you’ve frequented a single strip club since 1993, there’s a pretty decent chance you saw a girl shake her teh-tahs to this old(ish) school alternarock gem:

MEAT PUPPETS — “Backwater”, from Backwater (1993) and Too High To Die (1994)

For those who will be swilling in the madness first-hand, please join us for the MetalSucks/The End Records rokkker on Thursday night, feel free to try your luck on line the next night to see the fartiest old farts of them all, and for god’s sake, above all, drink some free beer n eat that frickin meat!

-KW

Or as holler-riffic future-fowad Chicago label Contraphonic reports/suggests, perhaps we should now call them Crush(ed) Kill(ed) Destroy(ed), since despite an internet-only full-length release just recently scratching the light of day (entitled The World’s Largest Area), the band apparently played their final, farewell show a couple weeks ago at the infamous Empty Bottle in Chi-town — so y’know…RIP.

:-(

Onto greener pastures, one hopes…

:-)

Clearly this band isn’t as metal with a capital MMMMM as we’re oft accustomed to around these parts…but their name sure is! Er, um, was. And if this angular, spastically dissonant opening track from their excellent 2006 album Metric Midnight doesn’t give you the energy to get yr Saturdaze goin, perhaps you need a big ol’ swig of THIS.

“Don’t worry, it won’t smell like urine and will be tasty too.” Yuuummmy!!

CRUSH KILL DESTROY – “Walter Mondale”, from Metric Midnight (2006)

-KW

Can you think of a more fitting way to celebrate bloody ol’ St. Valentine’s Day than by a couple tunes from the legendary band Death?

Me neither. Here’s the first two tracks from 1995’s Symbolic…

DEATH - “Symbolic”

DEATH – “Zero Tolerance”

-KW

I can’t fucking believe I’ve never posted this fucking song by The Fucking Champs before. Fuck!!

Now go get stoned and listen to it, k? I just did.

THE FUCKING CHAMPS – “Thor Is Like Immortal”, from IV (2000)

-KW

I been a huge fan of Baltimore’s Dark Water Transit for so goddman long (yup), and it is my esteemed pleasure to present their sonic assault to your unsuspecting ears.

There’s just sometin bout de way dis trio keeps it organic-sounding that really gets my manties wet — I want more recorded material from them, I want more live shows in my city, and I want those things right NOW, k?

The band’s last offering was Dawn of the Goblin, a retelling of four tracks from the band Goblin’s original soundtrack for George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead, and DWT also has some rare older stuff, but really The Wonders of the New New Testament is the place to start, and totally where it’s at. Nonetheless Goblin is a pretty interesting (albeit uneven) creative endeavor, and for that they continue to receive my full support. You can check out the track “Zombi” on the band’s MySpace page, read a review of the album here, and an interview with guitar player Paul Joyce here, if you are so inclined.

But holy sheet — pretty please with Satan on top, can’t you come to my small town and bring some demos of new songs to tide me over until there’s another official release?

DARK WATER TRANSIT – “Refrigerate the Neighborhood”, from The Wonders of the New New Testament (2002)

After the jump, you can read my old friend Dr. Guzaro Zahmeugua’s original notes on the band’s unique sound, first published in 2003.

Click to read more…

I wonder if this guy had toked a leel on my baby blue bubbler and listened to this song, would he still have gone buck wild and done what he done?

[link courtesy of the one-and-only Hurricane Doneski (from thefamousish.com), my favorite non-Mexican Mexican and Vince and mine's host into hell in March for SXSW 2009 -- whoop whoop/apologies in advance to my poor liver...]

THE SWORD – “Lament for the Aurochs”, from Age of Winters (2006)

-KW

Torche’s a.d.d.-ish Meanderthal did not make any of our top ten lists this year (although Vince did give them a leel shout-out), but they certainly deserve a bit o’ New Year’s love…their full, stony, harmony-heavy sound ain’t particularly original, but with each album they have definitely upped the ante and come that much closer to being supremely awesome.

Alas, me shan’t be puffin’ at the moment, but by all means you oughtta…

TORCHE – “Grenades”, from Meanderthal (2008)

TORCHE - “Amnesian”, from Meanderthal (2008)

-KW

This, the final track off my #1 album of 2007, blows my frickin’ mind every time. Where the fuckin FUCK can this band go from here?!? I for one expect a great deal from BTBAM’s next offering, and can’t wait to see these dudes on a serious headlining tour, even bigger than the halloween show me and my broken shoulder attended (when I almost drunkenly/stupidly rampaged the pit). Not that supporting Opeth n Dream Theater is a bad gig…

In any case, this is an epic one, long n proggy as shit…just the way we like ‘em

BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME – “White Walls”, from Colors (2007)

Hmmm…me wonder who’s me’ll pick for #1 this year? Tune in on Monday for all the gory detailzzz…

-KW

Holler holler holler holler BURST. Will the Swedish outfit’s exploratory and expansive new album Lazarus Bird make my top-ten list of ‘08? Inquiring mindz will find out next week.

In le meantime, check out these opening tracks from the last two Burst records, and then go get ALL of them and roll the biggest gosh-darn joint of ‘08, and then…well, you know.

BURST - “Where the Wave Broke”, from Origo (2005)

BURST - “Undoing (Prey on Life)”, from Prey On Life (2003)

-KW

Before Meshuggah was Meshuggah-ing and mind-fucking the feeble confines of what was rhythmically acceptable to our once feeble metal minds, Dream Theater was pushing the boundaries of mind-fuckery with their crushing masterpiece “The Mirror” on their 1994 album Awake. The section in question is the first minute of the song and the verses, in which John Petrucci plays the same simple chugga-chug pattern throughout while Mike Portnoy constantly changes the rhythm beneath. I think that’s called a polyrhythm (but I could be wrong). Get really stoned and try to wrap your head around this one… it ain’t easy.

Dream Theater – “The Mirror” (Awake)

“The Mirror” was way ahead of its time; it also is probably the heaviest Dream Theater song to date, or was at least until Train of Thought came out. Regardless, it fuckin’ kills. Enjoy.

-VN

Much like The Misfits, I’ll keep this short and sweet: if you haven’t carved that pumpkin yet, today prolly oughta be the day…

This is the title track from The Misfits’ 3rd EP, and it was released on Halloween Eve, 1979, at NYC’s (now-corporate-owned-The-Fillmore-at-) Irving Plaza, where Vince and I triumphantly caught Protest the Hero play the other night with chugga-chugga-breakdownsters Unearth. In the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that while PtH was onstage expertly slaying their intricate melo-tallic proggery, I did notice Vince in a dark corner pleasuring himself.

Happy November, y’all — bundle up, storms a comin…

THE MISFITS - “Night of the Living Dead”, from Night of the Living Dead (1979)

-KW

Okay — I was just about to post “I’m Burned” (’cause it’s super stony), and then Bloodhorse’s extremely awesome cover of The Who’s “Sparks” (from the almighty Tommy) came onto my itunes and impressed me so very much that I couldn’t allow myself to hold back either tune from you kiddies…

What can I say? I’m a giver.

So enjoy the first and last tracks off this Boston band’s solid debut EP, entitled…EP. How original!

BLOODHORSE - “I’m Burned”, from EP (2007)

BLOODHORSE - “Sparks”, from EP (2007)

[Visit Bloodhorse on MySpace]

[Visit Bloodhorse's website]

-KW

Okay, fine — so I’ve lapped myself.

But I bet a bunch of you have never heard our very first Saturday Song To Get Stoned To before (my apologies for the uber-dorky writing on that one), and even less have laid ears on this ditty…

Light em up!

BARONESS – “Cavité”, from A Grey Sigh in a Flower Bank (2007, split w/Unpersons)

Visit Baroness on MySpace

Click to read more…

Love or hate this mega-technical, prog-to-the-nth-degree power trio, you gotsa admit that despite the shredding, this is some stony-ass shit…

-KW

Are you hip to Zozobra yet? Well goddammit–be the fuck down; they’re AWEZSOME with an unnecessary Z in the middle…last year’s Harmonic Tremors was really excellent, and this year’s recent release Bird of Prey is quite good, although it did take me a few listens to get really into it (and I do still need like I may need a couple more to fully dig on what the album has to offer).

The project is the brainchild of Caleb Scofield, the former bass player of an on-hiatus-for-two-years-now space-rock/alt-hardcore band that Vince will forever be on the nuts of, as well as the underappreciated Old Man Gloom (a SSTGST alum — the very first of this year, if I’m not mistaken), but Zozobra really has its own sound, a sludgy, often monotone, pedal note-heavy groove thang that keeps its riffs somewhat simple but the tone decidedly bombastic.

If you’ve never heard Harmonic Tremors, by all means track down a copy; if you dig, then move on to the recent record. If you don’t dig, I guess I’ll still be your friend, but I will openly talk shit about you behind your back.

ZOZOBRA – “The Blessing”, from Harmonic Tremors (2007)

[Visit Zozobra on MySpace]

[Read a January 2007 Boston Phoenix article on Cave In side projects (Zozobra, Clouds, Octave Museum, etc.]

Catch Zozobra on select dates of the Champions of Sound 2008 tour this fall, with Pelican, Kayo Dot and Stove Bredsky (Steve Brodsky of Cave In) also on the bill. Tour dates after the jump.

-KW

Click to read more…

Okay, Sonic Youth is clearly way far from a metal band, but the grandaddies of scratchy alt-rock (and grandmama Kim Gordon) need to be recognized as having a profound impact on the rock n’ roll, noise rock, and even downtown art scenes, with each member of this prolific, 20-plus-years-in-existence band contributing significantly to each aural environs.

And yeah sure, the Youth are prolly on my mind cause I’m about to head over to check this legendary band play at the last-ever show at Brooklyn’s McCarren Pool — aka NYC’s ultimate Summer outdoor venue — which is sadly gearing up to evolve into a full-time real swimming pool (as it once was many years ago)…it’s the last Summer weekend y’all, let’s do this!

SONIC YOUTH – “Kool Thing” and “Dirty Boots”, both from Goo (1990)

-KW

I wish I had this actual mp3 to post…I wish I even had a picture to show you guys…and I wish I had a treasure chest filled with cocaine and water guns — ’cause OMfnG, that would make for the best pool party ever, no?

Alas, I do not have any of those things, but fuckit dude — it’s still a beautiful Summer Saturday. So do yourself a favor: light one up, go to CHILDREN’s MySpace page and check out this epic thrashy prog wailer right…NOW! Their drummer is also in Early Man, who I’ve talked about before and will do so again really soon.

Also FYI, this band is on Kemado Records, home to Lars Ulrich’s favorite hipster stoner metal band…any guesses?

-KW