We all already knew that Evan Brewer is a great bass player. But I started to get really, really excited for his new solo album, Alone, after Brewer revealed last month that he’s the only musician to appear on his album, and that “every sound you hear on the album came from a bass guitar.” ‘Cause that sounds like some potentially really interesting, crazy shit.

Now a nearly-two-minute-long teaser for the album has been released, giving us our first real taste of music. The actual song sounds okay — maybe a little too smoove for my own personal tastes, but I’m a cranky old man who just wants to listen to Cannibal Corpse so whatever — but I could really live without that robot voice thinger. I hope that fucker isn’t on the album too much, ’cause that shit could get real irritating real fast.

Evan Brewer’s Alone comes out on Sumerian on June 28. Brewer then heads out on tour with Animals as Leaders, Intronaut, Dead Letter Circus, and Last Chance to Reason, which is a sweet, sweet-ass line-up. Here are tour dates:

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When Evan Brewer announced the impending release of a solo album last month, Vince rightfully pointed out that “The market for these kinds of acts is limited — extremely limited, especially for a bass player.” And I would wager that the market for a solo album from a bass player featuring no other instruments besides the bass is even more limited.

But by golly, I hope I’m wrong, ’cause apparently that’s what Brewer made: not only is the former Animosity/current The Faceless bassist the only musician to appear on his album, appropriately titled Alone, but “every sound you hear on the album came from a bass guitar,” according to the interview with Brewer in the below promotional video. And in the hands of the wrong musician, that kind of gambit could obviously be a total fucking disaster, but Brewer… well, not only is a top-notch bassist, but his motivations for recording such an album sound really fascinating and forward-thinking. We may not know if the record is actually gonna be good or not until Sumerian releases it on June 8, but we do know that Brewer is trying to do something different, and that’s always commendable.

Meanwhile, remember that awesome tour Brewer is doing this summer with Animals as Leaders, Intronaut, Dead Letter Circus, and Last Chance to Reason, and how only some of the tour dates had been released? Well, now we have more dates! So if a town near you wasn’t in the first batch, don’t freak out just yet.

Here’s the new itinerary, courtesy The PRP:

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Something I need to keep reminding myself: every generic shit band that sells a fuckton of records enables their record label to take risks on way more creative, fulfilling, interesting and inevitably far less commercially successful artists. It’s a sad fact, but thems the breaks: shitty commercially successful metal bands for teeny boppers generate tons of money, and without that money we’d see a lot less of the good stuff coming down the pike. For every Vampires Everywhere there’s a Nachtmystium, for every System Divide there’s The Ocean, for every Nickelback there’s an Opeth, for every <insert Victory band here> there’s a Jungle Rot… and for every Asking Alexandria there’s a Francesco Artusato and Evan Brewer.

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A couple of weeks ago, Vince broke your heart with the news that bassist Jared Lander had quit The Faceless. But time heals all wounds and when one door closes another one opens and always look on the bright side of life. So the band has now announced that “The sickest bass player in the game, Evan Brewer (Animosity/Reflux) has officially joined The Faceless.”

And the band isn’t dicking around. Brewer knows his shit.

So if you were, for any reason, worried that The Faceless would have a hard time filling Lander’s shoes, well, don’t be.

The Faceless will hopefully have a new album out on Sumerian later this year. Brewer is apparently releasing a solo album through that label as well.

-AR

Either you can be sour about the fact that this guy is a better musician than you by insisting that no one cares about some dude wanking on two basses at once, or you can just admit that this is awesome and enjoy it. I choose the later, because seriously… look at him go! That the resulting music is beautiful and actually appears to be a coherent song is the best part, though; I’d totally listen to a whole record of this. Metal Injection tells me I’ll get that chance when ex-Animosity / ex-Reflux bassist Evan Brewer, the man with two basses, releases his solo album -Alone- later this year. If it’s anything like what we hear above, I look forward to it.

-VN

I was thinking the other day about how some bands make a lot of money even though they always get bad reviews and it seems like nobody likes them. Like how everybody is all “I H8 DEATHCORE/METALCORE;;;ALL THE BANDS SOUND THE SAME;H8 U SUISIDE SILENCE;;H8 U ATTACK ATTACK,” and then they are like “U SHOULD LISTEN TO THIS BAND BECAUSE THEY ARE DOING SOMETHING REALLY ORIGINAL AND UNIQUE” and link to some obscure band I have never heard of. I guess it is cool to be original if you are OK with being a poor artist, but sometimes I think it’s stupid to be “original.” I think it is smarter to wait until someone else invents something, then after they make it popular, copy them (only do it a little better so you get more popular than the band who invented it).

I am going to list some bands who were stupid, because they were the ones who invented something that other people copied — metalcore, djent, and other popular styles of metal. Most of these bands were really good, but because they were one of the first bands to play that style of metal, nobody liked them and they didn’t make any money. I feel bad for them, but I want to share their stories here so you don’t make the same mistakes they did!!

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Welcome to “Question of the Week,” a (sometimes) weekly debate amongst the MetalSucks staff regarding a recent hot button issue.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, which means we’re taking off early today and won’t be back ’til Monday. We’re sorry to leave non-American readers high n’ dry, but PLUS ONE FOR FREEDOM, MOTHERFUCKERS.

ANYWAY, in honor of the holiday, we decided to do a special Turkey Day-themed QOTW designed to make you feel all warm and cuddly inside:

WHAT (IN METAL) ARE YOU THANKFUL FOR?

The MS staff’s answers after the jump.

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Dudes like Navene Koperweis — drummer of Animals as Leaders, ex-Animosity, and multi-instrumentalist/mastermind of Fleshwrought — are the reason I put down my guitar and picked up my blogger e-pen instead. Dude is so insanely talented it’s like why would I even waste my time? Instead I’m a keyboard jockey, a supposed pimply-faced teenager crapping my pants in my mom’s basement, hiding behind my screen while I hurl insults at bands infinitely more talented than I could ever be. But hey, wait a minute now… today I’m heaping praise upon someone and using my bully pulpit for good. Hallelujah!

Islander over at No Clean Singing has put together a retrospective of sorts covering Navene Koperweis’ career in metal, short but prolific, and I can’t help but be in awe. It’s a collection of clips paired with a little biographical blurb along each step of the road, and it covers Koperweis from his work with Animosity several years back through this year’s compelling Fleshwrought record Dementia/Dyslexia (which we liked so much we decided to stream the whole thing) of which he was the main creative force.

I was never into Animosity but I can certainly appreciate good drumming when I see it. Anyone who reads this site knows how I feel about Animals as Leaders, so there’s no need to re-hash the ball-fondling here. The most interesting part of the post is a video of Koperweis playing guitar along to the recorded version of the Fleshwrought track “Inner Thoughts.” Koperweis wrote and recorded the album — as in, played all of the instruments — himself, brought in his friend Johnny Davy of Job For a Cowboy to handle vocals, and had a smattering of guest musicians visit the studio for select parts. One of those guest musicians is Alex Rudinger of unsigned Maryland band Ordinance, who you see tracking drums below.

Yeah, Koperweis is that good at guitar too.* Sigh.

-VN

*To the inevitable troll who will say he’s not that good of a guitarist… fuck you.

Holy shit, is it seriously August already? It’s gonna start getting cold soon. Motherfucker. Here’s what we did this week when we should have been enjoying the sunshine and fresh air:

• We’re streaming Dementia/Dyslexia, the Metal Blade debut of Fleshwrought,  a new project from Animosity/Animals as Leaders’ Navene Koperweis and Job for a Cowboy’s Jonny Davy.
• We debuted an EPK for Iron Thrones’ The Wretched Sun.
• We also debuted “Fear, Emptiness, Decibel,” a new column from the editors of our favorite metal rag.
• We had a little beard on beard action with Andy Williams from Every Time I Die and Liam Wilson from The Dillinger Escape Plan. We also spoke to Avenged Sevenfold’s Johnny Christ, The Dillinger Escape Plan’s Jeff Tuttle and Pathology’s Dave Astor.
• We checked out the latest releases from Chimaira and Decrepit Birth.
• We schooled Korn’s Jonathan Davis on the BP Oil Spill.
• We questioned the sincerity of Max Cavalera’s claim that his collaboration with Fred Durst is all Ross Robinson’s fault.
• We questioned Glenn Danzig’s sanity. Again.
• We got pissy that Eddie’s not on the cover of the new Maiden album.
• We got boners watching 72 minutes of pro-shot Gojira footage.
• We did not get boners looking at Emmure noodz.
• We found the best bass player in the history of forever-ever-ever.

We’ll be hanging out at the Summer Slaughter show this Sunday here in NYC; if you spot us, please bring us presents. We like presents. Thanks.

-AR

If you’re a death metal freak then you’re probably already aware of Fleshwrought… but if you’re not, then you should be. The project is helmed by Navene Koperweis who handles all instruments on Dementia/Dyslexia, Fleshwrought’s Metal Blade debut; you might recognize Navene from his drum duties with the late Animosity and with Tosin Abasi’s Animals as Leaders. Navene recruited Job For A Cowboy’s Johnny Davy to handle vocal duties, but the results are unlike any project either man has been involved with before; this is fast, technical, intricate, proggy as fuck death metal that’s musically catchy the way bands like Psycroptic and Gorod are. In short, it rules, but don’t take my word for it; listen to the full album below.

Order Dementia/Dyslexia here before it comes out on August 3rd.

[this promotion has ended]

Now that Animosity is done, I guess vocalist Leo Miller is occupying his time by working as a correspondent for Metal Injection – in which I case I can only say, “Hey, Leo, welcome to the family!” Any friend of MI’s is a friend of ours. Except for Sid. He doesn’t like Cynic so screw that dude.

ANYWAY, here’s Leo interviewing Converge. The best part actually comes later in the video, when Jacob Bannon high-jacks the interview and… well… just watch.

-AR

Animosity, largely revered as one of the best bands of their kind, are apparently throwing in the towel. A statement from vocalist Leo Miller to Lambgoat explains:

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Next week the U.S. gets a new President, thank fucking God, and Relapse Records is celebrating by issuing a 7″ box set of their This Comp Kills Fascists compilation. How fucking awesome is that? Until then, here’s what we’ll mull over during the long weekend (MLK day in the U.S.):

• Would you like to suck my cock, Berzerker? Or would you just like to look at some bloody titties, Berzerker?
• Lamb of God announce most awesomest tour ever with As I Lay Dying (meh), Children of Bodom, God Forbid and Municipal Waste, while Killswitch Engage, Chimaira and Lacuna Coil will be worth the ticket price as long as we leave before Disturbed goes on.
• Best soundboard ever. (Hint: fun with David Lee Roth sound bites)
• Bring Me The Hair Irons Horizon continued being boring.
• We spoke with Gojira’s Joe Duplantier and Animosity’s Leo Miller.
• Behemoth’s Nergal showed his face, while this dude just buried his in a bunch of watermelons.

Animosity’s Leo Miller is not a man of large stature, which is why it was so surprising to see him command the stage like a rabid dog upon catching them on the Metal Sucks-sponsored Job for a Cowboy/ All Shall Perish/ Annotations of an Autopsy tour. Miller and company brought the sort of frenetic energy necessary to translate their last two stellar full lengths – Empires and last year’s Animal – to life, which is by no means a small feat. In a time when death metal bands rely on either predictability or shifting between riffs too rapidly to savor, Animosity jump from thought to savage thought masterfully, producing blink-and-you’ll-miss-it excellence reminiscent of old Dillinger Escape Plan through a DM lens. Their records demand repeat listens, and reward greatly upon them. Miller’s gruff vocals and atypical lyrical approach help elevate the band to thinking man’s level, counteracting metal’s brutish stereotypes.

I managed to catch him – after three botched attempts – on my way out the door after Job for a Cowboy’s set in Providence at the end of last November, and goddamn, I’m glad I caught him. He possesses the kind of eloquence and thoughtfulness an examination of his lyrics would imply, and it was interesting to get a glimpse into the thought process behind the gut-wrenching Animal, easily one of my favorite metal records of 2007, if not in the last few years. Despite the difficult personal events that lead to the album, Leo had a positive tone to his voice throughout our entire conversation, touching upon the band’s plans for the future and his feelings on our next president.

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All Shall Perish just released a montage of various live footage taken from their recent MetalSucks co-sponsored tour with Job For a Cowboy, Hate Eternal (until they dropped off), Animosity and Annotations of An Autopsy. Check out JFAC’s Jonny Davy’s exclusive MetalSucks tour blogs, then watch the live All Shall Perish br00tality unfold below.

-VN

Here’s some crappy quality fan-filmed footage of Job for a Cowboy performing a new song, “Constitutional Masturbation,” during their recent, MetalSucks co-sponsored trek with All Shall Perish, Animosity and Annotations of an Autopsy (and, all too briefly, Hate Eternal). It’s difficult to hear much with the poor audio quality, but that main riff does sound potentially crushing. In any case, there’ll be a new JFAC album within the next twelve months, so we’ll know soon enough.

Read JFAC front man Jonny Davy’s hilarious, MetalSucks-exclusive tour blogs here and here.

-AR

[via Blabbermouth]

We recently asked Job for a Cowboy vocalist Jonny Davy to write a tour blog for the band’s MetalSucks co-sponsored headlining trek with Hate Eternal, All Shall Perish, Animosity and Annotations of an Autopsy. Davy’s second entry is below; in case ya missed it, you can read the first edition here. Enjoy!

Theres that cute little hillbilly everyone loves.

I’m sorry that all my stories have to deal with being drunk. Our current sound guy is a little hillbilly. He obsessively talks about guns, hunting and fishing. He sleeps in the middle of the woods down south. Litterally. He jumps on a boat, smokes pot and goes fishing for 10 hours a day every weekend. He sits at home and guts the animals he’s hunt and shot down while drinking moonshine. Literrally. He introduced us to Wild Turkey 101. A bourbon with one hell of a powerful kick as it washes down your throat. Its already made Jack Daniels, Jameson and Jim Bean taste like mere diet soda. Well, about a week ago we were hopped up on the damned thing. Burping up flavors Turkey whiskey and stumbling around in our hotel room. Brent was drunk, he ended up attempting to make coffee through the toaster, which inevidably made the toaster short circuit and break. Charn, our drummer decided to throw a flower pot down the hallway and break the TV remote. Which is already annoying. Then, Bobby attempted to call for some late night Dominos pizza. They were closed, he broke the phone in anger. Our tour manager then spent the entire morning trying to wake us up by calling the hotel phone… which was obviously broken.

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We recently asked Job for a Cowboy vocalist Jonny Davy to write a tour blog for the band’s MetalSucks co-sponsored headlining trek with Hate Eternal, All Shall Perish, Animosity and Annotations of an Autopsy. Davy’s short but giggle-inducing blog is below. Enjoy!

ITS RAINING TEARS!

Well, another tour… Again, in the freezing cold. So far we’ve been lucky, no snow. No worries of “VAN FLIP/NO CARE/FIRST POST.” Well, Rutan’s kidney is fucked up, forcing Hate Eternal to drop off of our current tour. My only comment for Rutan is this: “Get better, fix you kidney and party on Wayne.”

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Deathcore’s meteoric fall from subgenre of a subgenre to a word on par with “pedophile” in metal is almost comic in nature. Though this is by no means its first year of existence, it is its first year of prominence. While the violent shift in attitude could be attributed to the “everything popular sucks” mindset, it can also be contributed to the fact that, with such prominence, deathcore bands are already starting to get lazy. But either way, at a recent stop in Providence, RI, the Metal Sucks co-sponsored Job for a Cowboy/All Shall Perish/Animosity/Annotations of an Autopsy (sadly, no Hate Eternal on this stop, and my best wishes to Erik Rutan) tour, no band was willing to be tagged with the label, no matter how firmly they resided at the intersection of Death and ’Core. And despite the fact that deathcore may be old news in the metal blogosphere, there was no shortage of enthusiasm for it, reserved especially for the show’s headliners.

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By now you may have heard that Hate Eternal have been forced to drop off their slot on the MetalSucks co-sponsored trek with Job for a Cowboy, All Shall Perish, Animosity, and Anatomy of an Autopsy, because guitarist/vocalist/producer/all around main dude Erik Rutan is in the hospital.

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