I’ve been to plenty of shows in my time where I was convinced that one of the band member’s on-stage antics was going to end in injury or worse; hell, I’m scared for Greg Puciato’s life pretty much every time I go see The Dillinger Escape Plan live. But somehow these dudes always manage to avoid getting hurt; it’s like there’s some special, secret rock musician training camp, where dudes go to learn to hang from things that should be able to support their weight and jump from heights that should clearly require a latter to descend.

What I’m saying is this: I’m surprised that accidents like the one in the below video, of Black Veil Brides vocalist Andy “Andy Six” Biersack missing a jump during a recent California concert and consequently shattering three ribs, don’t happen more often.

It’s no secret that we’re not fans of Black Veil Brides here at MetalSucks, but we never wish any artist we dislike physical harm. (Well, I wouldn’t be entirely opposed to seeing Ted Nugent get taken out by an angry deer, but he’d have to give the deer a fighting chance first, so that will probably never happen.) So let me say that I appreciate Biersack’s efforts to put on a good show for his audience, and even if I hate his music as much as Maria Brink hates tops that fit properly, I wish him a speedy recovery.

-AR

[via Metal Underground]

More terrible news this week. The following message was posted on the Facebook page of Mario Comesanas, a DJ on Sirius XM’s Liquid Metal, alum of legendary radio station WSOU and Revolver magazine, and vocalist for New Jersey hardcore outfits Low Road and December Aeternalis:

“It is with heavy hearts that we say goodbye to our very close friend & fellow Liquid Metal host Mario Comesanas who passed away earlier this evening at 8:39pm ET in Jersey City, NJ… I got the chance to say goodbye, hold his hand, kiss his head & tell him thank you for being a Metal soldier with me all these years & to say hi to Dime for me…Our thoughts & prayers are w his fiance Liz, Mario’s family, friends & fans worldwide… for respect for the family any other info will have to wait. For now, please leave your comments here for all to see. We love you Mario & thanks for coming into our lives swinging & kicking! Rest in Peace…”

Mario was just thirty years old, and obviously had many good years left to a vital member of our community. There are really no words to express the scope of a tragedy such as this. Our thoughts are with Mario’s family and friends.

-Axl, Vince, and Everyone at MetalSucks

Thanks: Chainsword

Seth Putnam, best known as the driving creative force behind grind provocateurs Anal Cunt, passed away over the weekend from a heart attack. He was only 43 years old.

No matter what you thought of Anal Cunt, or any of Putnam’s other numerous projects, there’s no denying that the man was a singular personality; most people probably remember the exact first time they heard Anal Cunt, an honor not many artists can claim.

But as MetalSucks’ own Grim Kim reminds us, “no matter how outrageous and controversial his musical career has been, Seth was still a human being with friends and family that loved him.” Our thoughts are with those friends and family now.

-Axl, Vince, and Everyone at MetalSucks

Total bummer news of the day: Converge have been forced to cancel the remainder of their current tour due to a health scare involving bassist Nate Newton (also of Old Man Gloom and Doomriders fame, in case you somehow didn’t know that). A statement from the band tells fans…

“Unfortunately on our day drive from St. Louis to Austin, one of our members had a serious health scare. We rushed him to the nearest ER were he was looked at by some fine Oklahoma doctors. After a night’s stay in the hospital and a battery of tests we were able to have him discharged earlier today. We are now racing (quite literally) to make it to our show at Chaos In Tejas, albeit extremely late, to play an abbreviated set. Wish us luck.

“Because of this health issue, we are canceling the remaining few shows of this current U.S. tour so he can get home and get some medical attention asap. To those in Little Rock, Nashville, and Raleigh, we will add you to our list of places for make up shows later down the road.

“Thanks to all of you for your continued support, it is appreciated by all of us.”

So’s that’s obviously scary and upsetting, but hopefully everything will work out okay. Like the headline says, we’re sending out good thoughts to Mr. Newton… feel free to do the same in the comments section!

-AR

Roy Mayorga, former drummer for Soulfly and current drummer for Amebix and Stone Sour, apparently suffered a minor stroke following the latter band’s show in Des Moines, IA this past Sunday night. (See? Nothing good ever comes from Des Moines.) Here’s a statement the band released on their official website:

“It is with regret that we have decided to cancel the remaining dates on our current headline tour. Our friend and drummer, Roy Mayorga suffered a minor stroke a couple of nights ago after our show in Des Moines. He’s doing great and is expected to make a 100% recovery. We apologize to all the fans and look forward to getting back out on the road with Roy in the coming months.”

So, look… we’re obviously not huge fans of Stone Sour around here, but we don’t wish Mayorga any ill will. We wish Mayorga a speedy recovery so he can get back out on the road and make music for the fans who appreciate it more than we do ASAP.

-AR

As you are no doubt aware, metal is constantly being scapegoated for violent acts, be it attempted suicides, high school shootings, college shootings, or political assassinations. And soon we will no doubt be able to add another heinous crime to that list — namely terrorism.

See, with Osama bin Laden out of the way, one of the big questions on everyone’s mind is: “Who’s gonna step up and be the new leader of Al-Qaeda?” And one of the leading candidates is Adam Gadahn, né Adam Pearlstein (yep, another guy giving Jews a good name!), an American currently living in Pakistan who not only used to write for the death metal zine Xenocide, but also had his one one-man metal band, Aphasia. After converting to Islam at age seventeen and eventually fleeing the country after he assaulted the head of his mosque, Haitham Bundakji, he went to Pakistan, and was apparently intimately involved with the creation of bin Laden’s terror videos.

Click to read more…

Well, this news is a real boner-killer.

Last week we got all excited because the above photo of Dave Grohl in the studio with Mastodon appeared online, and, of course, all of our minds went right to “DAVE GROHL IS GONNA MAKE AN APPEARANCE ON THE NEW MASTODON ALBUM!”

Alas, it’s not to be, says Rocksound.tv, who got official word from Camp Mastodon that “the Foo Fighters frontman popped into the studio to say hello – and not to record on the new album.”

So that blows.

Bitch and moan that everything doesn’t go exactly the way we want it to with us in the comments section.

-AR

[via The PRP]

Yep, 4/20 gets a real downer with the rather unexpected news that Judas Priest founding member, guitarist K.K. Downing, has quit the band.

“It is with regret that Judas Priest announce that K.K. Downing has formally retired from the band and will therefore not be joining them on their forthcoming Epitath Tour.” – Official Judas Priest press release 4/20/11.

Click to read more…

I regularly lord it over everybody that I attended the final Pantera show ever! It 2001 at the inaugural Beast Feast two-day jam in Yokohama, Japan, also headlined by Slayer, Sepultura, and Machine Head. But by Pantera’s fest-closing set on day two, I was hardly in command of my senses because A.) drugs; and B.) late-night Skinless. See, for the truly metal and/or too high to find the train station, Beast Feast had an overnight gig nearby that bridged days one and two. And Skinless, taking the stage after the great Taiho, absolutely owned that show! They ripped! They raged! They rippaged! Memories.

So it sucks baboon balls to hear this bunch of boner-breaking jive from Skinless honcho Noah Carpenter:

Click to read more…

Whether you’re a tri-corner hat wearing Teabagger who thinks taxes are the work of the devil, a bleeding heart tree-hugging Lefty who believes The Man will take care of everything, or a corporate cocksucking conservative who believes GE deserves a $3.2 billion tax refund despite raking in more than $14 million in profit, today is inevitable.

Death (metal) and taxes.

Yes, normally in America, we must file our taxes by April 15. That was last Friday. Fortunately, for many of you slackers out there, Friday was also a Washington holiday to celebrate Emancipation Day; the day President Abraham Lincoln freed nearly 3,100 slaves in Washington D.C. in 1862, nine months before he signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Normally, this momentous occasion is observed on April 16 in D.C.; however, since that date fell on a Saturday this year, taxes get pushed back until today.

So, if you are reeling from your continuing procrastination, maybe you can find a few songs here to get you through the tedium (AKA the final hours before tonight’s filing deadline). Or, maybe you are already done with your paperwork and want to stroll down the aisle of taxing tunes and moneyed music.

Some of it is from metalheads, but most comes from the world of rock.

Figures, that’s where the real money is (was) made.

The Beatles – “Taxman” (Cartoon)

Click to read more…

Figures that one of the few good / non-BS bands on Solid State Records would go and break up. Right after they released a really good album, no less.

But so it is for The Famine, whose album The Architects of Guilt — released earlier this year — was a solid slab of chunky, riffy, complex death metal that I finally checked out at the urging of many readers and was very glad I did. Here’s vocalist Nick Nowell, as relayed by MS reader Ryan Benjamin, on the split of the band:

The Famine never should have existed.  I don’t mean that like when a jealous brother screams “I wish you were never born!” at his little sister.  What I mean is that we came together as a group of married thirty-somethings with kids and small businesses.  Our singer lived on the other side of the country.  It was a cumbersome proposition, but we made it work.  Most of you are familiar with the fire that claimed most of our equipment and the departure of our vocalist about a year ago.  We should have never been able to make our last record, but we did.  This brings us to the present day.

Click to read more…

I’m gonna keep this short, because our feelings about thieving dickheads are pretty well known. The following message was posted on Veil of Maya’s Facebook page yesterday:

So that obviously SUCKS. Here’s the picture of the trailer/van. Seriously, if you do live in the area, keep your eyes peeled and let’s catch this asshole:

-AR

Thanks: Anson Wong

I hate writing these so much.

Disfear bassist Henrik Frykman has lost his battle with a cancer. A statement from the band reads as follows:

“It is with heavy hearts we inform you that on Friday the 25th of March Henrik Frykman passed away in his home after a long battle with cancer. Henrik will be greatly missed by family and friends.”

There’s never anything you can really say here, other than that, as always, our thoughts are with Frykman’s family and friends.

This sucks, sucks, sucks.

-AR

Another tragic loss for metal: Exhorder bassist Frankie Sparcello passed away yesterday. More information about the cause of death has yet to be released.

Exhorder might be America’s answer to At the Gates — a legendary band who didn’t get the respect they deserved in their time, but ended up influencing a seemly endless amount of their followers, who subsequently popularized their sound. The band reunited in 2009 and were supposed to play Maryland Deathfest in May; no word yet on whether or not the band still plans to move forward in the wake of Sparcello’s passing.

Our thoughts are, of course, with Sparcello’s friends and family.

-AR

The above message was posted by Lazarus A.D. on their Facebook page last night, and… what can you say besides “This blows?” Stealing from touring musicians is fucking low; I can pretty guarantee you that the band can’t afford to lose that $1,500, and losing their personal stuff just sucks, sucks, SUCKS.

You can go here to make a donation via PayPal and help these poor dudes out.

If by some miracle someone reading this knows the culprit, I’d like to suggest that that reader turn said thief in immediately. If your friends ask you to cover for them when they behave like despicable low-lives, then they’re not your real friends anyway.

And if by some miracle someone reading this happens to be the culprit, I’d like to suggest that that reader please figure out a way to get all of Lazarus A.D.’s stuff back to them ASAP, and then go lay down in traffic.

-AR

Thanks:  Carlos B.

Sorry to harsh your afternoon mellow, but reader Andrew Jordan just noticed the following post on Unearthly Trance’s Facebook page:

That sounds pretty definitive in terms of the band doing any future shows. But does it mean that Unearthly Trance are done, or just done playing gigs? The band just released a new album, V, this past September on Relapse (it’s still streaming in full here), so it would be a bummer if they broke up a mere six months later. I have a message out to Relapse reps, but they’re en route to SXSW right now so I don’t know how quickly we’ll get an answer.

While we wait for some official word, feel free to be nervous in our comments section.

-AR

Oh noes! Soilwork have been forced to drop off their Spring North American tour with Nevermore and Symphony X because guitarist Peter Wichers has a herniated disc in his back. Ouch.

I feel your pain, Peter. Literally… because I have a herniated disc too (actually two). It’s uncomfortable to do pretty much anything; sitting is a challenge (especially in the cramped confines of cars and airplanes) and standing for longer than a couple of hours is a chore… I can’t even fathom having to rock out on stage every night.

So when drummer Dirk Verbeuren says Wichers requires a “prolonged period of rest,” I can’t help but feel for the guy because I know exactly what he’s going through. Worst. Pain. Ever. Peter, can we be herniated disc buddies?? I hope you rest up and get that treated, and if you get better, um, kindly let me know how you did it because nothing I’ve tried to date has worked.

That official statement from Verbeuren after the jump (with news on the band’s future touring commitments):

Click to read more…

Mike Starr, the original bass player for Alice in Chains, has been found dead, TMZ reports. He was just a month away from his 45th birthday.

Starr left Alice in Chains in 1993 after appearing on the albums Facelift and Dirt, as well as the Sap EP. Like the other members of the band, his struggles with drug addiction have been legendary — he even appeared on Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew in 2009 (a show his former AIC bandmates Jerry Cantrell and Sean Kinney have called “disgusting”). Apparently his efforts to kick his habit were to no avail, however, as in February he was arrested for possession. So while the cause of Starr’s death has yet to be announced, one could reasonably assume that this is another tragic loss of a talented artist to drugs.

Assuming that’s correct, Starr would, of course, be the second founding member of Alice in Chains to fall to substance abuse, after vocalist Layne Staley. Lamentable though is, there is something undeniable about the fact that the band’s actual addictions are part of what gave them their power during their heyday — the textures and lyrics of those albums feel authentic because they are authentic. Unfortunately, it seems as though Starr and Staley were never able to get away from all that.

Our thoughts are with Starr’s family and friends. Here’s “Rain When I Die” — a song he co-wrote, and which features one of his most famous bass lines — in his honor. I wish it didn’t suddenly seem eerily fitting.

-AR

It seems unlikely, improbable, almost impossible… but it’s true; Kvelertak’s U.S. visas and passports were all stolen while the band was on their way to the airport in Norway to begin their U.S. tour. The band posted as much on Twitter last night, and my initial reaction was one of complete disbelief; did they just lose their travel documents and not want to own up to it? forget them at home? not get them in time to begin with? But MetalSucks has verified with officials in the band’s camp that the news is indeed true and not just some cruel practical joke or cover-up.

How this most unfortunate turn of events will affect the band’s U.S. tour is uncertain at this point; at the very least they’ll miss their Scion Rock Fest appearance (today) and the first few dates of their tour with Zoroaster. Our sources tell us that the band is looking into having their travel documents replaced, but that’ll have to wait until at least Monday when the appropriate Norwegian offices open for business. Kvelertak’s appearance at the MetalSucks / Narm / Roxwel.com South by South Death show at SXSW on March 18th with Havok, Red Fang, Wormrot and Meek is Murder is certainly in jeopardy, but we’re trying to be optimistic by hoping that two full weeks will be enough time to sort these issues out. As soon as we have more news, so will you.

Major bummer for us, but most of all a major bummer for the band. I can only imagine the range of emotions they’re all feeling right now. We hope you sort it out, dudes.

-VN

Slayer is already down one member, what with guitarist Jeff Hanneman currently recovering from surgery on his arm while Exodus’ Gary Holt fills in for him — or, rather, is supposed to fill in for him. ‘Cause the band got to play exactly one show with Holt before canceling their scheduled appearance at Australia’s Soundwave Festival after vocalist/bassist Tom Araya found himself in the hospital.

Lotsa folks, including us, suspected that the culprit must have been the same the same back issues that forced him to cancel touring plans last year, but this is apparently not the case. From Slayer fan site Slayerized:

Click to read more…