MetalSucks

In honor of Alaskan metalcore band 36 Crazyfists’ new DVD, Under a Northern Sky (in stores October 27), a list of 35 other famous, metal, heavy, and/or crazy fists:

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As I mentioned earlier today, we saw Gojira live Sunday night, and they decimated Terminal 5 here in Manhattan. But seeing as they were sandwiched in between Alaskan metalcore masters 36 Crazyfists and Gothenburg gods In Flames, I thought I should share some not particularly well organized thoughts on those bands’ sets as well.

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It was a mostly Metallica week here at the MS Mansion, but it turns out that some other stuff happened too. In summary:

• We re-christened the site MetallicaSucks.net for a day — all of our writers each reviewed Death Magnetic to varying praise (or lack thereof).
• God Forbid debuted a new song. We likee. You likee.
• Lars Ulrich gave us tips for appearing taller than you really are, and Ronnie James Dio gave us hair care pointers.
• We spoke with Suicide Silence, Walls of Jericho and 36 Crazyfists.
• Saigon Kick will kick again in ‘09.

Also, we wrote a whole lot of other shit about Metallica or something. Next week we’ll be back to our usual shenanigans. Enjoy your weekend!

And so it is with great sadness that we come to the last of our Rockstar Mayhem Festival interviews. Sigh.

At the tour’s stop at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, we got the chance to sit down with the improbably named Brock Lindow, front man for metalcore stalwarts 36 Crazyfists. Lindow is an incredibly nice dude who had some really interesting things to say about doing a big travelling festival tour, how band members that live so far away from one another maintain a long-distance working relationship, and, of course, his beloved home state of Alaska. Check out out the full transcript after the jump.

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Even though I’m not such a fan of In Flames’ latest album A Sense of Purpose, I will always love this band to death. The album wasn’t bad by any means, but it definitely falls well below the level of metal the band are capable of making, and ultimately when I’m fixin’ for the kings of Swedish melodeath I’m gonna grab Clayman, Colony or even Come Clarity before I grab this one.

But anyway, the band just released a video for the song “Alias” from that album; like the song itself, the video gets a solid “meh” from me. But like I said, I love this band, and I’ll listen to/watch anything they do. Including going to see them live; for my money they’re one of the best live bands of the past 15 years, hands down. You can bet your ass I’ll be rockin’ out hard fan-boy style when they tour the U.S. with All That Remains, Gojira, and 36 Crazyfists this winter (full list of tour dates after the jump).

-VN

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MetalSucks recently had the opportunity to have an all-too-brief chat with Underoath bassist Grant Brandell at the Rockstar Mayhem Festival’s stop at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island. Brandell had some interesting things to say about the tour, hanging out with other bands at the fest, and the band’s plans for the future. Check out the full transcript after the jump, then read David Bee Roth’s review of Underoath’s new album, Lost in the Sound of Separation, which was released earlier this week!

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A very, very, VERY special thanks to Rosa Henriquez for the awesome photos. Now we’re that much closer to being like a real big kids’ website!

I think one of the things Slipknot’s fans love most about them is one of the very same qualities that their detractors so violently hold against them: their theatricality. I mean, these are nine dudes who dress up in matching outfits and wear “spooky” masks. The band’s members talk about death metal an awful lot, and, musically speaking, that influence is certainly present. But aesthetically, they belong to a line of bands like Kiss and Motley Crue. They’re showmen.

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So, 36 Crazyfists released a new video for “We Gave it Hell,” from their forthcoming May 27th release The Tide and Its Takers (Ferret). I’m neither here nor there about this band — they’re not really all that good, but they certainly aren’t bad either, and I can’t quite fathom the hype that seems to exist around them. Is there actually hype, or is it just publicist-created goulash?

Whatever the case, as I’ve written about before, every single press release or article I read about 36 Crazyfists seems to harp on the fact that they’re from Alaska (even though they live in Portland, OR now) and this video is no different. “SNOWMOBILES!! WE’RE FROM ALASKA!! THAT GIVES US CRED, RIGHT?? SNOWMOBILES ARE METAL!!”

Sigh.

Watch the video below.

-VN

[Apologies to our International readers who will not be able to view the above MTV-ized video.]

Alaska (now Portland, OR) metalcore band 36 Crazyfists have certainly had a rough go of it. Their last three albums (including the soon-to-be-released The Tide and Its Takers) have all been released on different record labels — Roadrunner, DRT and now Ferret. Their last album Rest Inside the Flames was released by Roadrunner in Europe but the label declined to release it stateside. Makeshift label DRT swooped in and picked it up for release in the U.S. a few months later, not a fate I’d wish on any band, and the results were disappointing. Though the album achieved moderate success in the UK, it shifted only 1,858 copies in the U.S. during its first week of sales.

So the band has just posted a new song “Absent Are the Saints” on their MySpace page. As far as metalcore goes it certainly isn’t bad and it’s miles above retreads like all the bands on Tooth & Nail, Solid State, etc. But there’s nothing about 36 Crazyfists that has ever really stood out to me. At Download Festival 2006 they were one of the bands that Kerrang declared a “must see,” so see we did, and “must” is certainly not how we felt.

The new song is… OK. I feel like 9 out of 10 pieces I read about 36 Crazyfists mention that the band is from Alaska. Part of me feels like no one would be nearly as interested in this band if they were from somewhere more plebian like, say, Columbus, Ohio. Will Ferret be able to resurrect the career of 36 Crazyfists they way they did with In Flames? The Tide And Its Takers comes out May 18th.

-VN

[Photo credit: Brian Lee]