MetalSucks

Sure, Craig Goldy, you didn’t play guitar on Dio’s classic albums (Holy Diver, The Last In Line, Sacred Heart), and even decades later you remain in the shadow of Vivian Campbell. And yeah “I Could Have Been A Dreamer” doesn’t hold a candle to “Rainbow In The Dark”, but today is your birthday, Big Guy, and on behalf of all the MetalSucks maniacs I wish you a super duper day!

Don’t forget to send Craig some birthday tweets!

-GS

[Gary Suarez is a ward of the state. He usually manages the consistently off-topic No Yoko No. Say, why don't you follow him on Twitter?]

Back in 1996, I was an angst-ridden young buck, and the only kind of music I truly cared about was industrial rock. Indeed, it was at the tail of a gilded age for the subgenre, the door to commercial success having been opened a few years earlier by major-label breakthrough artists like Nine Inch Nails and Ministry as well as notable independent label acts like long-slogging innovators KMFDM. If you have ever owned music from bands like God Lives Underwater or Gravity Kills, you know exactly what I’m talking about, brother.

That same year also saw the major release of a self-titled debut from SKOLD, a dark electronic project from a former member of glammy metal act Shotgun Messiah, a group that had toyed with industrial rock on their final album Violent New Breed. Though there wasn’t a bad song in the bunch, the highlights included machinist’s slog “Dust To Dust” and soaring dystopian anthem “Neverland.” Though mastermind Mr. Tim Skold would move on to lengthy stints with Marilyn Manson (refer to: The Golden Age Of Grotesque, arguably the band’s finest record) and the aforementioned KMFDM, this now woefully out-of-print album–and occasionally accompanying promo VHS cassette–has always held a special plate in my withered heart. This is is why I am so pleased to report that after thirteen (13!) long years, Mr. Skold has revived this long dormant solo act.

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Yes, my fellow connoisseurs of all things heavy, today is the day you’ve been waiting for: NIRVANA DAY! As you all well know, November 3rd sees the release of several Nirvana and Nirvana-related releases. For those of you who haven’t already created your NIRVANA DAY CHECKLIST, here’s a handy cheat sheet of the day’s releases:

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Some months back, Chris Cornell took the first step to undo the self-inflicted damage caused by his god-awful Timbaland-produced solo album Scream: he re-recorded one of its songs as a straightforward soft rock tune. Since then, the former Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman has taken some considerable steps towards restoring his rocker reputation, including performing John Lennon’s “Imagine” on the September 11th episode of The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien and unexpectedly reuniting grunge rock one-off Temple Of The Dog at a recent Pearl Jam concert.

Now comes news that the much maligned Scream will receive a full-blown “rework” to better reflect the rest of Cornell’s easily digested radio-friendly solo discography. Though, Cornell has yet to make any public statement about this, the existence of another re-recorded Scream cut says it all. Listen to this new version of “Never Far Away” and imagine just how positively banal Scream (Naked) will ultimately sound.

-GS

[Gary Suarez is simply irresistible. He usually manages the consistently off-topic No Yoko No. Say, why don't you follow him on Twitter?]

Upon first hearing that Eyehategod would be performing a New York City show on a boat, my immediate thought was, “That fucker is gonna sink.” My subsequent thought was, “I want to go to this.” And so I did. With a considerably steep $40 ticket price, one might think that attendees paid for the novelty of the experience, and to an extent, they’d be right. Yet coupled with headliner-quality openers like Pig Destroyer and Goatwhore, it was actually quite a bargain.

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Yeah, tomorrow is Halloween. And sure, you’re all excited to dress up as that dude from Watchmen or a slutty nurse/secretary/schoolgirl/turd and probably not thinking about Christmas just yet. Since it’s less than two months away, I can’t think of a more miserable way to honor/desecrate Jesus’ birthday than with some good ol’ fashioned holiday music performed by Judas Priest’s Rob Halford. That’s right: ROB HALFORD HAS A FUCKING CHRISTMAS ALBUM OUT. Here’s the single “Christmas Comes For Everyone”:

God, this is awful. If you’re a masochist, then go ahead and download the single for free at Halford’s website.

I’m buying this album for all of my MetalSucks colleagues for Hannukah, because I hate them.

-GS

[Gary Suarez is baking you a fruitcake. He usually manages the consistently off-topic No Yoko No. Say, why don't you follow him on Twitter?]

The title of this post is intentionally sarcastic, so please don’t get cranky or confused! Still, I think we all can agree that the traditional single has become ever rarer with the rise of digital downloads. Though still in circulation, 7″ singles maintain a tenuous, uncertain existence even in the punk and hardcore scene. Clearly the demand for vinyl exists in the metal community, as savvy indies large and small produce (sometimes limited) wax versions of their releases. This, then, is why I anticipate at least some of you will be happy to hear that The End Records will release a 7″ of brand-new music from Brooklyn noise rockers Goes Cube.

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With Converge’s critically acclaimed Axe To Fall still commanding the attention of the metallic hardcore faithful, this week’s release of a new album from Belgium’s Rise And Fall could naturally be overlooked. However, that would be to the detriment of those currently enjoying that higher-profile record. An intelligent, intense burst of recorded vehemence, Our Circle Is Vicious–which you can and should buy now–was (like so many Deathwish Inc. albums) produced by Converge’s Kurt Ballou and stands as a considerable improvement on 2005’s Into Oblivion. Listen to “Built On Graves” and “In Circles” at the band’s MySpace page.

The band play a few U.S. shows this week before heading back to Europe for a month-long tour with Iron Age, whose recent album The Sleeping Eye we streamed back in August and is on Vince’s “Best Of 2009″ shortlist. That tour culminates in Rise And Fall’s hometown of Gent, with a final show that also features Goatwhore, Skeletonwitch and Toxic Holocaust. The band will wrap up 2009 with a December tour through Australia, only to kick of the new year with a few gigs with labelmates The Hope Conspiracy. All dates are below.

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Since 1993, the furious duo of Amber Valentine and Edgar Livengood have been confounding and entertaining with their eclectic musical mix that frequently and wantonly crosses the boundaries between metal and rock. Jucifer’s unrestrained artistry has led to some pretty impressive albums, including two for Relapse Records: 2006’s If Thine Enemy Hunger and last year’s L’Autrichienne. As the band wraps up the latest round of its unending tour, I recently took the chance to pry a few answers out of the loquacious Mrs. Valentine.

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Dead on arrival.

(1 ½ out of 5 horns)

-GS

[Gary Suarez welcomes your constructive criticism. He usually manages the consistently off-topic No Yoko No. Say, why don't you follow him on Twitter?]

(special thanks to Erika for this awesome image)

Thank you for allowing me into your homes, your offices, your myriad mobile devices, and, most importantly, your hearts. This has been a truly blessed day and one that I will never forget. I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!

I’m back, bitches.

-GS

[Gary Suarez thinks you're the best reader of all. He usually manages the consistently off-topic No Yoko No. Say, why don't you follow him on Twitter?]

By now, it should be crystal clear to everyone just how I feel about Oceano. Considering the response to my 5/5 review of the Chicago band’s debut Depths, it seems only fitting that the day I take over MetalSucks is the day I get to share with you my interview with guitarist Andrew Mikhail, who opens up about illegal downloading, being labeled “deathcore”, and CDs as art.

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How could I take over this stupid-website-for-jerks for an entire day without doing a Melvins post?! Well, I guess the answer is “I can’t” because this is a Melvins post.

Amphetamine Reptile doesn’t actively sign or release just about anything anymore, which is a damn shame considering the number of amazing acts it unleashed upon the music world in its heyday. Thankfully, one of the few acts still affiliated with the Minneapolis-based label is The Melvins, who discreetly release a preposterously limited 7″ through AmRep roughly once a year to satisfy fanatical completists. (One such release featured a rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” on the A-side and an unflinchingly true-to-the-original cover of Kiss’ “Detroit Rock City.” Yeah.)

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A little over a week ago, I still felt so very excited about Them Crooked Vultures, the supergroup featuring such rock stars Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, Nirvana), Josh Homme (Kyuss, Queens Of The Stone Age), and John Paul Jones (some obscure 60s/70s band). With Grohl back behind the drums again and Homme as frontman, this somewhat clandestinely publicized grouping swelled with potential and promise.

Then, I saw them live.

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If you’ve made it through THIS AWESOME DAY so far, then the least I can do is share with you this super-important email message that I received from Hydra Head noise rock bluesmen Oxbow:

What you will read and how you will read it – these words off of an actual physical artifact – will be an experience shared by increasingly fewer of you given the quickly shifting relationship between art and commerce; but we are entrusting you with this dictum: explain it to the rest. That: this SONGS FOR THE FRENCH is a highly conscious effort to do things exactly as we ourselves would never do them in order to create a compelling bridgework between THE NARCOTIC STORY of yesterday and THE THIN BLACK DUKE of tomorrow. Lyrically, musically, thematically this march into intuitive mind has been Russian rouletted into existence, with OXBOW ceding control where control has never been ceded. [Song order? Chosen by Golden Mastering. Intervals? Also Golden Mastering. Some lyrics penned in an in-studio state of fugue.] All randomized and all pointing purposefully toward everywhere. Or specifically: an untoward level of clarity. Of this we are clear. Yes, of this we are clear: the ship is sailing further from land. And truer words have never been spoken.

Translation? NEW OXBOW MUSIC!

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I miss grunge, and if you read my posts with any regularity that should come as no surprise. Now far too many people dismiss the dormant genre for its commercial successes, or even because of a reviled legacy that yielded such aural abominations as Puddle Of Mudd and Staind. Yet the Pacific Northwest in the late 80s and early-mid 90s had so many exciting and delightfully disgusting artists that made truly grungy music while never selling out stadiums, artists like Green River and Tad. I would argue that we need to factor in the descendants of these artists before passing any final sweeping negative judgment of the so-called Seattle sound. Thankfully, the orallly-fixated Food and Moutheater help to counter the Seattle sound’s unwarranted bad rep.

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On paper, Washington’s Black Breath is not the sort of band one typically associates with Southern Lord. Dronesmiths Sunn O))), doomy stoners Eagle Twin, instrumental rockers Pelican, and black metalheads Wolves In The Throne Room all coexist comfortably together on the Californian label. Yet Black Breath’s hybrid of gutter-level punk and classic thrash metal somehow make sense, even if it doesn’t exactly seem appropriate for Southern Lord. Coupled with the August release of Seattle punks The Accused’s all new The Curse of Martha Splatterhead, it almost seems as though the ostentatiously hip imprint is slowly embracing a much less esoteric sound.

On November 10, Southern Lord will re-release Black Breath’s Razor To Oblivion mini-LP in CD format in advance of a proper debut album scheduled for early 2010. That forthcoming full-length was recorded earlier this year and engineered by Converge’s Kurt Ballou. Visit the band’s MySpace page to hear some tracks from Razor To Oblivion.

-GS

[Gary Suarez eats his pizza crust first. He usually manages the consistently off-topic No Yoko No. Say, why don't you follow him on Twitter?]

As a fan of Kingdom Of Sorrow, Jamey Jasta’s collaboration with the incredibly Kirk Windstein, I follow the Connecticut-based hardcore vocalist on Twitter. I’m not a huge fan of his main project Hatebreed, largely because so many of their songs, while angry and uplifting, sound so damn similar. As a result, I’ve been reluctant to pick up their recent self-titled album. I mean, if I want to be motivated by metal, I’ll pop in ANDREW W.K.’s I GET WET!!!!!!

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Wow, can this really be twentieth anniversary of Helmet? Well, yeah, the classic core of Henry Bogdan, Page Hamilton, and John Stanier disbanded in 1998. And sure, the reconstituted line-up that Hamilton unilaterally pulled together for 2004’s better-than-expected Size Matters has degenerated entirely into an unrecognizable cast of hired guns spilling in and out of a literal revolving door. But, uhhh, barring that, technically the band did form in 1989, so even though there’s only one original member and his last album Monochrome was fucking awful, I guess Hamilton is allowed to celebrate this moment.

But not like this.

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It took an entire decade for Coalesce to follow up 1999’s 012:2, yet the general consensus around here is that 2009’s OX (still streaming in its entirety here) was more than worth the wait. So imagine my surprise upon discovering that the Kansas City metallic hardcore act would be following that great record so quickly!

Straight from the ox’s mouth:

OXEP (not “ox” ep) is 5 new original coalesce songs. There are 7 tracks, but 1 and 7 are a percussive intro and outro. These songs are not cuts that didn’t make ox. We wrote and recorded these songs specifically for an ep release after ox was already done and delivered to Relapse for production. We continued our americana theme and expanded them on these songs, therefore wanted them to be considered part of the 2009 ox sessions.

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