MetalSucks

Scar Symmetry have created their own online version of the arcade classic Asteroids, and it’s pretty fuckin’ entertaining. Unlike a lot of stupid online games designed to promote new albums, this one is super-simple, works well, is addicting as fuck and is a great time-waster.

A brand new song from Scar Symmetry’s upcoming release Dark Matter Dimension serves as the soundtrack to the game, and I have no idea what the song is called but it’s not the one they posted on their MySpace page a few weeks back (which has since been removed). The new track is damn good and it’s vintage Death Jovi — would we expect anything less? I think I like it more than the previously released new track, though right now I’m not too hot on the new not-Christian Alvestam clean vocalist, though I guess the verdict is really still out until we hear the full new album / see the band live. Dark Matter Dimensions drops October 2nd on Nuclear Blast.

-VN

In July we reported that the shuttered Metal Maniacs magazine would soon to be relaunching as a web-only publication, and today we’re pleased to announce that the brand new MetalManiacs.com is now live.

Resurrected by the owner of Metalhit.com, the new Metal Maniacs features regularly updated content and features from the latest in underground metal. The site boasts an exhaustive Mp3 store featuring more than 13,000 songs available for preview and purchase as well as a new forum, monthly contests, a weekly “deadly discovery” showcasing up and coming bands and a monthly free digital music compilation. The debut launch features a 24 song compilation with free downloads from bands like Asphyx, Augury, Black Anvil, Daath, Hands, Impending Doom, Leaves’ Eyes, Merauder, Séance, Skeletonwitch, Suicide Silence, Vader and more!

Head on over to MetalManiacs.com and let us know what you think.

-VN

Noisecreep kindly invited me to be a guest on their weekly podcast last week, so I trekked into Manhattan on my bike in the 90° heat to take part at the AOL Music headquarters. The panel consisted of Noisecreep Editor-In-Chief Seth Werkheiser, writers Chris Harris, Amy Sciarretto and Jon Weiderhorn, John and Oliver from UK thrashers Evile, and myself. That’s me on the far right in the white (metal!) shirt, sporting a douchie mustache. So now you can tackle me at shows just like you do Rob from Metal Injection.

We discussed a whole lot of topics ranging from the then-latest in metal news (Dani Filth being chucked with a bottle, news of a new Austrian Death Machine album, etc), the latest records to come out (Burnt by the Sun, Emmure, Otep) and Jon did an interview with Evile. Laughs were had and many bands were shat upon (mostly by me, with nervous laughs from everyone else). Watch it below. Thanks again to Noisecreep for the invite; I hope to do it again soon.

-VN

Even for myself, Axl and the highly skilled MetalSucks Mansion Monkeys, keeping up with what’s going on in the metal world of Twitter can be difficult. That’s why some friends of ours have launched CircleTwitt.com, a Twitter aggregator for everything metal; bands to record labels to metal celebrities to websites and more. If you’re Twitter-holics like us (follow @metalsucks!) a site like this is a great place to find out about those of us in the metal world who are needlessly wasting our time trying to summarize our lives to an indifferent public in bits of 140 characters or less. Hooray!

-VN

Who knew that a delicious kernel-laden, summer treat was also the name of an up and coming new-metal band? Sergeant D of Metal Inquisition has posted another journalistic masterpiece that sheds light upon a band of unique, take-no-prisoners upstarts from California. Excerpt:

But they also seem like they like metal, because a lot of the songs are really dissonant and heavy. I feel like they are probably big noisecore fans because on the record there isn’t even a bass player. In the parts where most bands would have the bass, they just have these weird sounds that remind me of pieces of metal clanking together. It seems like something 7 Minutes of Nausea would do. They have a guy who plays with them live and does “noise/effects” and sometimes uses a bass to make the clanking sounds, I don’t know how he does it. He’s probably into circuitbending or whatever and rewired the whole bass.

If you didn’t enjoy Sergeant D’s piece on Brooklyn genre-benders Biohazard, you a) are an idiot, b) ought to check this one out. Highly recommend A+++ would do business with again, fast shipping!!

-VN

We’ve worked pretty hard to achieve our title of the “Most Negative Site in Metal.” And we’re proud of that title. We’ve earned it, damn it.

So we’re jealous that those fuckers at The Deciblog, and not us, thought of this brilliant idea:

THE DECIBLOG SCREAMO COVER ELIMINATION BRACKET.

Luckily, they invited us to participate.

Here’s the description of how it’s gonna work:

Click to read more…

Lookie at that; our little boy is all growed up. The fine lasses at Reign In Blonde tapped Señor Suarez for an interview about metal, writing, and writing about metal. It’s a pretty damn fine read if you ask us. To wit:

Which of your Ed Hardy t-shirts is your favorite?It’s ridiculous that people think they’re better than Ed Hardy shirts.  Especially metalheads, who have about as much fashion sense as a ham sandwich.  There was a post on the Stuff White People Like blog about how honkies love to rag on Ed Hardy, and it summed up all my feelings about this.  Christian Audiger deserves credit for being a successful entrepreneur, though his recent brand extensions into things like energy drinks are pretty fucking ridiculous.  He should stick with clothing.  For the record, I own one Ed Hardy shirt.  It doesn’t have rhinestones or anything gaudy like that, but it has a classic eagle tattoo which is pretty cool.  There’s a sister line called Smet, which I like a whole lot more.  You may have seen Smet stuff on Rock Of Love, because Audiger clearly donates clothes to the producers behind these VH1 shows.  Oh, and Affliction sucks.  So does MMA.  Boxing, however, is awesome.

Click to read more…

Former Panic Channel vocalist Steve Isaacs apparently has a video blog, and it’s actually prettygood. This wouldn’t be particularly noteworthy if not for the fact that Isaacs also happens to be perhaps the last cool VJ that MTV ever had, so Axl and I have a particular soft spot for the guy. Remember when MTV used to play videos? That was pretty neat.

Here’s Steve talking about the delghts of the McDonald’s McGriddles. Gotta say I agree; they’re fucking delicious.

-VN

Ah, McSweeney’s. You make me giggle.

Their latest bit of metal humor? A statement announcing the cancellation of a fictional metal fest:

Click to read more…

Zenbu Media’s decision to shutter both Metal Maniacs and Metal Edge back in February was, for lack of a more poetic term, a total bummer. A lot of us grew up with those magazines; but beyond sentimental value, I think it’s just good to have as many different metal media outlets as possible. Just like it’s good to have as many different “actual” news outlets as possible; I’m all for multiple viewpoints, y’know?

So I’m glad to hear, per SMN, that “Mike Riddick, owner of Metalhit.com, stepped in to take over the development and operation of the new format for METAL MANIACS online.” In addition to the interviews, reviews, message boards, etc. that you would expect from Metal Maniacs (or any decent metal website), MM Online “will feature an Mp3 store with a catalog of more than 12,000 underground extreme metal songs from various bands and labels around the world.” Which is potentially very cool.

The new site is currently scheduled to launch in September at this URL. Clearly, it won’t be as cool as MetalSucks, but then, nothing ever is. Nudge nudge wink wink.

-AR

Baz tweets:

meeting one of my favorite authors of all time today to discuss collaborating on my memoirs ! #fb12 minutes ago from txt

So, like, who do we think Baz’s favorite authors of all time are? Dr. Seuss is dead, Shel Silverstein is dead, and unless The Dirt was done as a book on tape and I’m not aware of it, I doubt The Second Most Famous Person Ever to be Named “Sebastian Bach” knows who Neil Strauss is. So any guesses?

Whomever takes the (hopefully lucrative) gig of basically writing The Old Man Gone Wild’s book for him, it should be, in some capactiy at least, an entertaining read.

-AR

[Reverend David J. Ciancio, owner of Yeah! Management (Shadows Fall, Cancer Bats, Poison the Well, many more), likes his meat as much as he likes his metal; the man has two meat-themed websites, Steak Club 7 and Burger Conquest, the latter of which is devoted to seeking out and reviewing the burgers of the world, an ambitious and worthy mission if ever there was one. Anytime I'm in a random city I'll text The Rev to ask him where the best burger is, and he inevitably comes through (aside: if you're ever in San Diego hit up Neighborhood). The Rev was recently on tour with Shadows Fall in Alaska and took them on a Burger Conquest, the writeup of which is below, exclusive to MetalSucks. Enjoy!]

Arctic Roadrunner Local Burgerman
http://www.lastfrontier.org/morsel_apr_2008.htm
5300 Old Seward Hwy
Anchorage, AK 99518

THE STORY
Before I go anywhere, I Google “best hamburger (insert city name)” and results for Anchorage seemed unanimous, Arctic Roadrunner Local Burgerman is reported to have the #1 burger in town. Located just South of the city center next to Campbell Creek, the Arctic Roadrunner has been slingin’ up burgers since 1964. It’s short-order counter service and cash only but it’s an award winning institution. Sparing no details in decorating the log cabin, you’ll find a tusk of a woolly mammoth, antlers, a fire place, pictures of famous patrons and all sorts of local oddities.

I was up here on tour with Shadows Fall who played 2 shows while in town with Family Tree Presents. We played a 21+ gig at the world famous Chilkoot Charlie’s and an all-ages show at Club Millenium. Both shows were fantastic and the fans were insane. Metal is alive and well in Alaska!

Click to read more…

Also quickly:

-AR

In case ya’ll don’t know, we’re down with all the cool kids. Join us on MySpace, Facebook and Twitter if you haven’t already. OK, maybe not MySpace.

The killer metal news site SMNnews.com has just re-launched with a brand new design and interface; we highly recommend you use SMN as your metal news source rather than that other site.

Also be sure to check out the intrepid industry reporting the lads at MetalInsider.net are doing — smart, timely and sadonic, just the way we like it.

That is all. You may now return to your regular daily business.

The Onion + Metal? Why not?

MS Maniac “bear wizard” alerted us yesterday to the fact that The Onion’s A/V Club has added a metal column to their previously pedestrian range of music coverage. Ex-Metal Edge contributor Leonard Pierce heads up the new “Metal Box” column for The Onion, which joins the growing list of publications now covering metal.

Click to read more…

Acclaimed documentary and recipient of “Top 5 Metal DVDs of 2008” status, Heavy Metal In Baghdad — the moving documentary about Iraq’s only (at least at the time) metal band and the incredible obstacles they’re forced to overcome just to survive — is now available for streaming in its entirety on Hulu.com. Big ups to Vice / VBS.tv and Hulu for making this happen — more people need to see this incredible movie. In case you somehow missed it, watch the trailer below.

-VN

[Thanks: Bryan Wall]

In a not-that-surprising turn of events that I predicted back when musicians first starting jumping on the Twitter train, NIN frontman Trent Reznor — former Twitter king — is now railing against the service, though not for the reason I initially thought. According to a lengthy blog post by Trent on the NIN.com forum [via Metal Insider], the Internet haterati and psychopaths appear to have gotten the best of Trent, and he’ll be pulling out of social networking entirely for the time being:

I will be tuning out of the social networking sites because at the end of the day it’s now doing more harm than good in the bigger picture and the experiment seems to have yielded a result. Idiots rule.

Click to read more…

Iron Maiden are at the point in their career where they can get away with just about anything (see: wearing their own shirts on stage). And while some “best ___ ever” claims are unquantifiable, some hold weight without a shadow of a doubt. Exhibit A: the new Iron Maiden video game is quite possibly the best thing ever. Not only is it timely by way of referencing the band’s recent Bruce Dickinson-piloted jet jaunt around the world, it’s fun as hell and easy to play. And like all classic, simple games, it gets fucking hard in a hurry…. which only makes you want to play again.

That sound you hear is the collective productivity of the entire metal-loving Internet population going right down the drain.

-VN

[Iron Maiden Flight 666 The Game, via MS Maniac "bear wizard"]

I mean, there’s no way this is actually Glenn Danzig, but good God, whoever is running @DANZIG deserves a major fucking pat on the back for coming up with gems like these:

I’ve never liked the word “spunky”
1:14 PM Apr 4th from web

my patience has worn thinner than my hairline lately.
10:43 PM Mar 23rd from web

No I am not going to be on a VH1 dating show, so stop asking.
1:14 AM Mar 7th from web

heading to the nail salon to get my pinky nail sharpened, brb
8:25 AM Feb 28th from web

standing in a clearing at the edge of the woods shaking a baby in my mouth
12:08 AM Feb 27th from web

Pure. Comic. Gold. Thanks to loooongtime MS Maniac (and Twitter-phobe) hibernum for sending this one in.

-VN

There’s a new website on the metal block called Metal Insider. Launched yesterday, the new site offers a candid inside look behind the scenes of the metal industry featuring interviews, industry news, exclusive insider dirt and more. Check out Metal Insider’s recent interview with Sun O))) / Southern Lord’s Greg Anderson in which he talks smack about major labels, and an interview with Roadrunner A&R guru Mike Gitter about the future of the metal industry and what he looks for in bands he signs. Expect more in the coming days / weeks / months as the site continues to grow. Check it out!