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Speaking of prolific artistis, The Ocean just released two epic concept albums in the middle and end of 2010 and they’re already back at it. That might seem turtle-paced compared to Devin Townsend’s breakneck writing schedule, but one and a half years is as long as it usually takes Metallica to write three or four songs, Slayer to re-write about half an album’s worth of old songs, and Tool to write approximately one riff. How’s that for perspective?
That we adore Devin Townsend here at MetalSucks is no secret. But whether you think he’s worthy of all the praise or you think he’s an overrated hack, this much is not disputable: dude is incredibly prolific. One gets the impression that when Devin isn’t touring or spending time with his family he spends ALL of his free minutes holed up in his home studio writing and recording. And his well of inspiration never dries up: the four albums in three years that comprised the Devin Townsend Project suite were apparently just the beginning of his busiest artistic period yet, as THREE new albums are already in the works, each a completely different concept. Here’s the lowdown from the man himself via a post on the official Hevy Devy forum [via Heavy Blog]:
I found as a reaction to the complications of decon and the sheer bulk of work thats been going on (seriously, it’s insane) my writing ended up going in 3 ways recently:
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.
-AR
[UPDATE, 5:41pm EST: The new Gorod album will be called A Perfect Absolution. Check out the sick cover art at No Clean Singing.]
Original Post:
I hereby posit that Psycroptic, Spawn of Possesion, Obscura and Gorod are the four best tech-death bands in the world — THE BIG FOUR of tech-death — fight me on that claim if you dare. This year is shaping up to be an incredible year for top-notch tech-death, as three of those bands are poised to release new records in the first half of 2012. Psycroptic and Spawn of Possession have new albums coming out on February 7th and March 13th, respectively, and it appears if the wily Frenchmen in Gorod will have an album out very soon too. Get excitebike!
So, Gorod: they’ve re-signed with Listenable Records and they’re already recording a new album which will supposedly come out in March (though I won’t be surprised if that date is pushed back). They’ve released two studio updates so far, and unlike the videos some bands post consisting of nothing but dudes whacking about, these are both loaded with samples of new music! Watch and listen:
If that combo makes you scratch your head and go “zuh?” then you certainly wouldn’t be the only one, but there you have it: three of the most vocal personalities from Cannibal Corpse, Killswitch Engage and The Black Dahlia Murder are apparently teaming up for a new project.
The news comes straight from Corpsegrinder’s mouth, as told to the Metal Injection dudes aboard the 70,000 Tons of Metal cruise ship last week. Axl originally reported on a rumor about this merry group of metalmen back in August of 2011, but according to an article published by Rob Pasbani on Metal Injection yesterday it’s “DEFINITELY” (emphasis his!) happening. Here’s the juice:
We spoke with Corpsegrinder last week during our coverage of the 70,000 Tons of Metal, and even though the cameras stopped rolling, Corpsegrinder was still in a chatting mood. I just so happened to be wearing a Black Dahlia Murder shirt, and Corpsegrinder noticed it and confirmed to us that he is DEFINITELY working on a project with the Black Dahlia drummer, and Adam D. and it’s sounding killer.
Jeff Loomis has been teasing a new solo album since July of last year, with increasingly juicy bits of information slipping out all the time — like the fact that it will feature guest appearances from multiple former Megadeth guitarists (namely, Marty Friedman and Chris Poland), PLUS Tony MacAlpine, PLUS, oh yeah, some dude named Ihsahn.
Now here’s the most important tidbit yet: the album will be called Plains of Oblivion, and will be out on April 10. That’s the cover art below, and it looks appropriately epic to me.
One more thing: the track list for the album has also been released. I generally find track lists boring and not-newsworthy (“Ooh! There’s a song called ‘Escape Velocity!’” Okay, whatever, let me know when I can actually hear the damn song.), but in this particular instance, I think the track list actually is kinda newsworthy, for one simple reason: it lets us know that Attila Vörös, who was a live co-guitarist for Loomis in Nevermore, is also on the album. So, y’know, more reasons to get excited.
April 10 cannot come soon enough…
-AR
Ten out of ten MetalSucks readers agree: Ihsahn is awesome! Proving that I am not completely delusional (ok, maybe a little), you all voted Ihsahn’s second solo album After as your collective favorite album of 2010. That same year I named it as my #2 favorite record of the year; despite all the shit you guys constantly throw at me in the comments, at least we agree on something.
So it should get you all very excitebike to know that Ihsahn is already working on a follow-up. Ex-Nevermore shredder Jeff Loomis announced Tuesday that Ihsahn was the latest in a star-studded cast of guests that have contributed to his forthcoming solo album, after which Ihsahn went on the record to share his jubilation as well, revealing a juicy little tidbit in the process:
So yesterday, now-former Chimaira guitarist and current Six Feet Under six stringer Rob Arnold tweeted that “Work has begun on the new project with” Andols Herrick — the twice-departed Chimaira drummer whose most recent split with the band came about over a year ago and was announced this past April — and posted the above photo, I guess in case there was any doubt that, yes, work has indeed begun on a new project with Herrick. (Although this picture, which was posted a little while later with the caption “Metal is timeless,” is much more fun.)
And, hey, it’s no secret that I’m a massive Chimaira fan — so it’s not like I bummed that these dudes are working on something new together. I am, however, a little surprised. ‘Cause remember what Herrick said following his second departure from that band? Here, I’ll remind you:
It’s pretty cool that we live in a time where it’s once again cool to be able to play your instrument, like, really well. Even five years ago a dude like ex-Nevermore guitar god Jeff Loomis would never have had a chance for his instrumental shred solo album to be celebrated in the media; shit, it probably would’ve just been outright ignored outside of instrumental guitar metal circles and guitar magazines. I mean, even with widespread appreciation for instrumental metal in 2012 it’s not like Pitchfork, Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan or NPR are suddenly gonna start jocking Jeff Loomis — being really good at an instrument is still uncool in those places and will be forever uncool (“it’s, like, totally soulless, man!”) until it’s ironic and meta to shred — but hey, differing opinions make the world go ’round, those metal outlets are all great at what they do, and fortunately for you we happen to be of the opinion that playing a million notes a minute fucking rules.
So: Loomis has been teasing his second solo album ever since quitting Nevermore and we’re finally starting to see what that album might look and sound like. Last week we learned that Marty Friedman, Tony MacAlpine and Chris Poland have all done guest solos for the album — how’s that for a legendary triumvirate? — and today we come to find out via a press release that the mighty IHSAHN — formerly of Emperor, currently of his own absolutely phenomenal solo band — will be lending his trademark black/death metal snarl to one track. Sez Loomis on how the collabo came together:
Mike Portnoy’s new band, Adrenaline Mob, are gonna release their debut full-length, Omertà, later this year. And now they’ve unveiled the cover art, which is pretty typical metal album stuff…
…except if the concept of a skeleton against a deep blue night sky seems kind of familiar, well, it ought to, because of this:
photo by Chris Fulcher
Stomach Earth
TBA
Label – Black Market Activities
Release – TBA
Like most of the world, I have only heard two minutes and nineteen seconds of music from Stomach Earth, in the form of an excerpt of a rough version of the track “Prolong the Death Watch” (listen here). And yet the one-man band’s debut is easily one of my most highly anticipated releases of 2012, and not just because that aforementioned two-plus-minutes sounds killer.
No no no, my excitement about Stomach Earth is almost entirely due to my sincere belief that the project’s mastermind is, well, a master mind. Because that mind belongs to Mike “Gunface” McKenzie, who, as a founding member and (now sole) guitarist for The Red Chord, has brought us some of the most innovative and exciting extreme music of the past ten years.
Like so many old school thrash bands, Overkill have been experiencing a renaissance as of late, and their last two releases, 2007′s Immortalis and 2010′s Ironbound, were both top-notch. So you should be excited to learn that the band has a new album coming out: it’s called The Electric Age, and will be released on March 30 via eOne.
Here’s the album art. SPOILER ALERT: Chaly is on it.
Hopefully this means we’ll get to hear new music soon. Meanwhile, the band has already announced that they’ll headline their own Killfest 2 this spring. We’ll post dates as soon as we get ‘em.
-AR
Maybe you’d like Dream Theater more if they had a different singer and less noodling. Maybe you thought they jumped the shark when Kevin Moore left the band after Awake. Maybe you don’t give a fuck about Dream Theater (maybe you even think they suck!) but you’re just a fan of good progressive metal in all its forms. Ladies and gentlemen: I give you To-Mera.
Since To-Mera have a pretty low profile in the U.S., let’s do a little catch up before getting into the details of their forthcoming new album (!). From 2008′s Delusions (which made my year-end list):
and from 2006′s Transcendental:
7 Horns 7 Eyes
Throes of Absolution
Release date – TBA
I feel like I’ve been hearing about 7 Horns 7 Eyes forever, and though it’s really only been two years — when they played the Seattle stop of the Metal As Art Tour with Revocation, Hypno5e and The Binary Code in January, 2010 — the fact that I’ve been sitting on Throes of Absolution in some demo form or other for two whole fucking years has made me all the more excited that this record will finally, mercifully see the light of day in 2012. And boy oh boy, MetalSucks readers are going to LOVE 7 Horns 7 Eyes.
7 Horns 7 Eyes experienced their first national news blip when ex-Nevermore shredder Jeff Loomis recorded a guest solo for this album, this very same album, in late 2009. And the Nevermore/Loomis connection totally makes sense having now heard Throes of Absolution in full; 7 Horns 7 Eyes are like Nevermore 2k12, an updated version of that band for the modern era.
Reunited-but-not-really prog metal pioneers SiKth have officially announced what we all basically already knew: a new album is on the way!
The announcement came via the band’s newly launched Facebook page, following the band’s decision earlier this week to launch said Facebook page and a new merch site. Launching Facebook pages and new merch sites aren’t things that broken up bands typically do so we all surmised new music would come eventually, but still, it’s encouraging to hear that SiKth aren’t just releasing a greatest hits collection or live album — we’re getting actual new material:
Crazy Lixx
Riot Avenue
Label - Frontiers
Release date – April
It’s been a million years since L.A.’s Sunset Strip hosted a massive glam metal scene. But with red hot Steel Panther and blockbuster Nickelback as testers, maybe the people have spoken, fun is fun again, and the time is right to import Sweden’s budding movement of ace hair rockers to the States. At the moment, their best is Crazy Lixx, whose big, shiny sophomore album New Religion (2009) is basically the best Def Leppard record since ripped jeans.
Strapping Young Lad is dead, but we can forever honor them by keeping them in our memories. And what better way to commemorate SYL than with a huge seven vinyl box set?
From the website of Blood Music:
Wormed
TBA
Label – Willowtip
Release date – TBA
Wormed are a part of an elite cabal of metal bands that release a smattering of demos and EPs, follow them with one staggering full-length, then drop the mic and head home (see also: Weakling, Demilich, Repulsion). But if a certain band whose name rhymes with Shmynic reminds us of anything, it’s that it’s entirely possible for your band to reconvene and pick up where you left off (or if you’re a band that rhymes with Shmynic — I’m talking about Cynic here — you pick up as if you’d been making albums all along and have your second record sound like an immaculately evolved version of your original self). And although Wormed haven’t been gone as long as the previously mentioned bands, they haven’t put out a full-length since 2003‘s Planisphaerium, a century and a half in internet time. But that album was both of and incredibly ahead of its time, so it’s highly improbable that their upcoming second offering won’t be at least interesting, if not a full-on sci-fi tech-death masterpiece.
Imperial State Electric
TBA
Label – TBA
Release Date – February/March
Nicke Anderssonn has been in more bands, side projects, and collaborations than, uh, Dave Grohl. I’m sure there’s a better comparison, but I can’t think of one right now, so Dave it is.
Anderssonn has done everything from producing bands to founding labels to drumming for Entombed and basically one-man banding the hilariously named Death Breath. Not to mention Supershit 666, his power-trio collaboration with Backyard Babies’ Dregen and Ginger Wildheart that resulted in an EP under the name. (What can I say? I have the maturity level of a teenage boy. Silly names get my attention.)
Amongst all his endeavors, though, The Hellacopters is probably my favorite. Gritty, basement punk with a melodic metal edge. I’ve literally spent months hunting down everything I could possibly find from them, and I’m pretty psyched that his newest project, Imperial State Electric, has shades of that band. Especially since I was quite self-righteously pissed off when they broke up in 2008. Yes, I’m still grouchy about it.
I don’t hate Soulfly as much as some people — in fact, I quite enjoyed 2005′s Dark Ages, and that Greg Puciato sections of that one song from the last album — but I can’t find a nice thing to say about the album art for the band’s upcoming eighth full-length, Enslaved. It looks lo-fi, but not in a cool way, like the cover Terrorizer’s Hordes of Zombies. And why are the edges blacked out? And why are the edges on the left side more blacked out than the edges on the right side? It just doesn’t seem like that much thought went into this thing.
Enslaved comes out March 13 on Roadrunner. It has some pretty cool guests on it, like Cattle Decapitation’s Travis Ryan and Dez Fafara from DevilDriver (and, uh, Coal Chamber), so it should really go without saying, but if the music on the album is good, then it really won’t matter what the cover looks like. Although the band’s new bass player is the dude who used to be in Static-X, so that doesn’t bode well, does it?
-AR
