Skeletonwitch have released the first in a series of webisodes chronicling the making of their new album, Forever Abomination. And I know there’s a real glut of in-studio webisodes being released in this day and age of flip cams and iMovie, but you should seriously check this one out, ’cause a) Skeletonwitch rules, b) you get to hear a little bit of new music, c) you actually do get some really good dish on the album, d) you get to learn a lot about new drummer Dustin Boltjes, e) it looks like it was shot by the people who made that movie Bellflower, and f) all of the above.

Forever Abomination comes out October 11 on Prosthetic. Skeletonwitch are going to be one of the support bands on Arch Enemy’s upcoming North American headlining tour, which we’re co-presenting with Full Metal Jackie; DevilDriver and Chthonic are also on the bill. You can get dates for that tour here. Skeletonwitch are also doing a bunch of off-dates with DevilDriver, and a bunch of headlining shows in the Midwest; you can get those dates here.

-AR

Skeletonwitch must be one of the most metal metal bands out there right now; there’s no pretense to their music, no core, nothing about it that’s retro, nothing about it that’s trendy, no way to describe it as anything other than “fucking metal.” Combine this with the fact that Chance Garnette is absolutely one of the most entertaining frontmen on the scene today, and, well, it is absolutely no shock that people love this band. They are worth loving.

So you’ll be happy to know that their just-released new song, “The Infernal Resurrection,” does not disappoint. It is EXACTLY what a new Skeletonwitch song should be. Check it out:

The band has also unveiled the cover art for their new album, Forever Abomination, via that album’s pre-order page. Although it’s at a slight angle for some reason. Still looks pretty fucking cool, though:

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A bunch of big records came out last Tuesday: Suicide Silence, Fair to Midland, Sepultura and Decapitated. After the jump we’ll take a look at how those and a few recent releases sold over the past week.

But first, a follow-up on a question I asked in last week’s column: how do the numbers for Arch Enemy’s Khaos Legions stack up against their past releases? I don’t have week-by-week breakdowns for each album to compare to Khaos Legions‘ cumulative total of 13,944 after five weeks, but these total sales figures for Arch Enemy’s best-selling albums should provide some frame of reference:

Anthems of Rebellion: 74,712
Doomsday Machine: 108,036
Rise of the Tyrant: 55,812
Wages of Sin: 71,688

With Khaos Legions falling off the charts in week six, that means they sold less than 1,092 units last week, the minimum number required to crack the Top 100 Hard Music Chart. Based on that I’d say it’s going to be a tough climb for Gossow, the Amotts and co. to match their past success this time around.

ANYWAY, back to last week’s big releases:

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You will be happy to know that Limp Bizkit did not claim the #1 spot on the Top Hard Music charts again this week. That spot belongs to… Pop Evil. Who? Not Limp Bizkit, that’s who.

Aside from Unearth, there weren’t any notable debuts to chart last week. After the jump, a look at how the latest records from Black Dahlia Murder, In Flames, and many more fared on the marketplace of over-priced pieces of plastic and soon-to-be-obsolete digital files.

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Last year (and the year before) I got way too busy with this thing called life and missed out on a lot of quality music. I am here to rectify the error of my ways, month by month.

Here are the June 2011 releases that got under my skin, burrowed their way into my brain, made my ears bleed, or simply tickled my unmentionables:

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MetalSucks tipster extraordinaire Hetal Bhatt sent us the below video, and while it has nothing to do with metal, it did make me laugh, and I did forward it to friends. So, enjoy:

And on that note, here’s some stuff we did this week:

• We debuted new music by Chimaira, Cannabis Corpse, and S.O.S.
• We debuted a new music video from Sleeping Giant.
• We got new gear tips from Periphery’s Misha Mansoor and Revocation’s Dan Gargiulo, and we spoke to Michael Amott from Arch Enemy.
• We checked out the latest releases from Decapitated, The Black Dahlia Murder, Limp Bizkit, and Wormrot.
• We pondered a world in which concertgoers can’t film shows with their iPhones.
• We marveled that anyone finds Tosh.0 to be funny.
• We wondered which deathcore frontman has the best tattoos.
• We found the worst line-up for a festival ever.
• We chose our favorite extras from the new Annotations of an Autopsy video.
• We broke the bad news that vocalist Chris Clancy and keyboardist Drew Stavola are both out of Mutiny Within.

You’ve got one more week with me and me alone before Vince comes back. Deal with it, fuckers.

See ya Monday.

-AR

Arch Enemy have never made an album I’ve disliked; in fact, they fall squarely into the category of “I Don’t Know Why Anyone Would Ever Complain About This Band.” They’re one of those groups, like Slayer, who just always manage to both stay true to themselves and bring the goods.

In fact, on their latest album, Khaos Legions, they’ve more than brought the goods — they’ve actually upped their game. This is the best-written, most-complete sounding album the band has made since 2001′s Wages of Sins. What spurred on this further increase in quality? Could it be because, for the first time in their existence, Arch Enemy took more than two years in-between releases? Or could it be because guitarist Michael Amott and drummer Daniel Erlandsson picked up a little extra awesome juice during their recent tours with Amott’s old band, the unfuckwithable Carcass?

As I learned when we spoke on the phone a few weeks ago, Amott himself is the first to confirm that both of these facts were contributing factors to Legions‘ excellence. I also got to ask him about reuniting with producer Rickard Bengtsson (who was on board for 2005′s Doomsday Machine), how the band are handling being their own managers now, and, oh yeah, about what fans can expect from AE’s upcoming, MetalSucks co-presented North American Khaos tour with DevilDriver, Skeletonwitch, and Chthonic (dates here).

Read the full transcript of our chat after the jump!

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Vince isn’t here, so I guess it falls to me to take over his regular “Neilstein SoundScam” column… BWA-HA-HA!!!

Some of the more noteworthy sales stats from the latest Top Hard Music charts after the jump!

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That’s right! As many of you have correctly guessed by now, the headliner of the Magical Mystery Tour 2011 we’re co-presenting with Full Metal Jackie is none other than the great Arch Enemy. Yep. We basically pulled the same trick on you that we did the last time we sponsored an Arch Enemy trek. Hey, we did say that this tour has a different line-up, and, technically, we weren’t lying!

And what a line-up it is! As you now know, Arch Enemy will be joined by DevilDriver, Skeletonwitch, and Chthonic. Arch Enemy’s latest, Khaos Legions, might be their strongest album in years, which is saying something, since they’ve never made a bad record; DevilDriver’s recent Beast is, well, a beast; and while we haven’t gotten to hear any new Skeletonwitch or Chthonic material yet, people in the know assure us that it’s awesome — certainly all their old stuff is!

In other words: These shows are going to be ABSOLUTELY FUCKING INSANE, so make sure you get your ass to a gig!

Get tour dates after the jump! And don’t forget that Khaos Legions is out now on Century Media.

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June is going to be a huge month for metal releases and it starts with a bang today, the month’s first Tuesday. New releases by Morbid Angel, Arch Enemy, Job For A Cowboy and Amorphis are the biggest hitters, while new ones from Origin, Engineer, Gigan, Khann and Tombs are sure to put some hair on your chest. And that’s just a small sampling of all that comes out today. Vic Vaughn on each and every one of ‘em after the jump.

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We’ve previously proclaimed Khaos Legions to be Arch Enemy’s best album since 2001′s Wages of Sin, and the more I listen to it, the more confident I am in that statement. The album is just that right mix of heavy and catchy, and if you’re disappointed in the recent output from the previously-dependable Swedish melodeath scene (I’m looking at you, In Flames), then Khaos Legions should put a smile on your face.

The album is now streaming in full over at the band’s MySpace page, because apparently MySpace is still considered a thing in some circles. Give it a listen, then let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Century will release Khaos Legions tomorrow.

-AR

So we’re now five axe slingers deep into out list of The Top 25 Modern Metal Guitarists. We predicted that the list would get a lot of you angry, and, no shock, it has. Funny thing is, reading the comments, as of yet not one of you has correctly predicted which guitar player is gonna be #1. So, just lettin’ you know… you may be even angrier in the coming weeks, or maybe you’ll be less angry, but so far, it seems like you guys just do not see it comin’.

While you chew on that, here’s some other fun things we did this week:

• We premiered new music from Hate Eternal, Arch Enemy, and Nader Sadek.
• We enjoyed a new episode of “Cooking Contaminated,” this one featuring King Fowley of Deceased.
• We checked out the latest releases from Benighted and Zubrowska.
• We wondered if Metallica and friends have gone too far in their quest for the Big Fortune.
• We checked out some *real* hardcore.
• We weighed Donald Trump’s claim that President Obama was the first drummer for Overkill.
• We wondered why talent can’t be passed down via genetics.
• We weighed, compared and contrasted multiple metal concerts showcasing female-fronted bands.
• We prayed for Kurt Cobain to rise from his grave and off Miley Cyrus.
• We wondered whether or not Dave Grohl is gonna be on the new Mastodon album.

And so, in conclusion… I am going to get a slice of pizza now.

See ya next week.

-AR

Alright, fuckers, who’s ready for some new Arch Enemy? It’s been nearly four years since the band’s last release, but in just a few weeks, Arch Enemy will unleash their Khaos Legions. We think it may very well be the legendary melodeath outfit’s finest hour since 2001′s Wages of Sin. And if you don’t believe us, well, you absolutely must listen to this new track we have for ya, “Bloodstained Cross.” It’s basically everything you’d ever want from an Arch Enemy song, or any melodic death metal song, for that matter — equal parts brutal, mammoth, and stuck-in-your-head-for-the-next-week catchy.

Century Media will release Khaos Legions on May 30 in Europe and June 7 in North America. You can pre-order it here in a variety of packages. And to sweeten the deal, all North American pre-orders will receive an autographed Arch Enemy photo, a code for a free bonus download of a live recording of “Dark Insanity” from last year’s Metal Female Voices (code will be sent via email when the album is released), and be entered to win weekly prizes from Altec Lansing’s line of award-winning audio products. So get on that shit!

More than twenty years ago I was interviewed by The Daily Texan, the University of Texas school newspaper, for my role (along with my still best friend, Ray Seggern) as co-host of “The Metal Show” for KTSB (now KVRX), the student-run radio station. One of the quotes I made then that still holds true to this day was that 85% of heavy metal was “crap,” and that the joy in being a metal DJ was finding the other 15% of diamonds in the rough and sharing it with others.

If anything, the crap quotient is probably a bit higher these days, what with so many people of less than stellar skills having cheap access to means of production and simple ways of distribution. Unfortunately, the level of song-writing skill hovers around the same mark, as least on a per capita basis. In other words, more bands simply means more crap to sift through.

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Arch Enemy’s newest album, Khaos Legions, isn’t scheduled to hit stores until June 7 (…fuck, summer’s almost here). Lucky for us, GuitarWorld.com is premiering the band’s video for the song “Yesterday is Dead and Gone.”

I have watched the video twice and now consider myself an expert on it. I kid — there are no such things as experts — on anything.

I do, however, have a few random, from-the-hip observations about the video I’d like to share with you.

Feel free to head on over to GuitarWorld.com now to watch the video first, if you want to avoid any spoilers.

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I’m at the point where I pretty much prefer animated movies to live-action ones. I passed up some big deal, hotshot movie that came out recently, whose name I don’t even remember, to see Rango. I’m usually a pretty good judge, too, because I knew Rango was going to be awesome ,and it was. It looks absolutely amazing, and if you’re a nerd for animation detail, the gross, crusty animals will thrill you. Not to mention the classic movie references from Chinatown to Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas. It’s also damn violent for a “kids movie.” And well, I’m a movie nerd with a deep love for filmic violence. My dad didn’t have any sons, ok? He raised me to love his Fab Four; Arnold, Bruce, Sylvester, and Jean-Claude. And Dolph, on days he felt generous.

This might be odd, but I always liked to think about what various characters’ personalities would be like. Down to their music and movie taste. I especially try to pick out the metalheads, because I want to find my animated brothers and sisters in arms. It was while musing on the subject on Twitter that I found out the talented Ms. Elise over at Reign in Blonde kind of does the same thing. Apparently, all my acquaintances are online these days. She actually compiled a list of the most metal Disney characters, and with her help, I’ve expanded the list. Here are the Ten Most Likely Metalheads in Animated Movies (excluding anime and other international releases, as the author has not done enough research on the subject.)

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MetalSucks is oh-so-very happy to be teaming up with RED Distribution to bring you, our most beloved readers, the MetalSucks Fan Pack, which will be available exclusively at all FYE stores starting this Tuesday, April 12. Not only does this limited edition box full o’ metal come with a CD featuring twenty brootal tunes by twenty brootal bands (including Kvelertak, Trap Them, Believer, Napalm Death, TesseracT, Thomas Giles, Deicide and a bunch more) but it also comes with that HOLY SHIT THAT IS SO KILLER t-shirt you see above, which was designed by our friend Rodney Githens from Vertebrae 33 (you might also recognize his work from this sexy t-shirt and this Louvre-worthy poster that he did for us).

How much would you expect to pay for this incredible package? Twenty bucks? Fifteen bucks? Try $9.99. That’s right, gang — twenty songs from twenty bands and that guaranteed-to-get-you-laid t-shirt for under ten bucks.

But wait! There’s more! If you act now and head over to the official MetalSucks Fan Pack web page, you can get a coupon for 30%, which brings the price down to a mere seven dollars. Holy crap, that’s a metsieh if ever there was one.

So go here to get a complete track list of all the bands on the comp, and to use the nifty store-finder to locate the f.y.e. nearest to you. And, oh yeah, you can also enter to win this custom guitar:

So, yeah, that’s pretty fuckin’ bad-assed.

-Axl & Vince

There’s a new Arch Enemy song available for free download right here, assuming you’re willing to tell the world you love Arch Enemy. It’s called “Yesterday is Dead and Gone,” and it’s from the band’s new album, Khaos Legions. I’m assuming it’s good ’cause I really like Arch Enemy, but, unfortunately, as of this writing I still haven’t heard it, ’cause my compooper is being mad slow and FML. But that’s all the more reason for you guys to check it out — so you can tell me how it is. ‘Cause mine will apparently be done downloading sometime this Sunday.

Century will release Khaos Legions on May 30 in Europe and June 7 in North America.

-AR

After listening to Psycho’s female blowtorch, Penny Torture, and Ava Inferi’s haunting distaff elemental, Carmen Susana Simões, I realized it’s time we just chill and admit that women are all-around better at this metal-singing thing.

Is this mad exaggeration? It feels like that when I’m away from an MPEG player, but then I listen to those two radically different bands, to Psycho’s primal-scream old school death or Ava Inferi’s doomed-out, gothy whatsit, and it feels I’m not over-reaching, I’m underselling.

And it’s not just two superior releases (Ava Inferi’s Onyx and Psycho’s Pain Addict Pigs). It’s just become impossible to ignore the fact that females are not only doing equal or better work in the same genre jobs as male counterparts, they’re also making metal records that go places no male on Earth — none, nada, zip-ol-lina — could go. That 2011’s best metal so far — Subrosa’s No Help for the Mighty Ones — is an almost all-femme effort of relentless pan-genre awesomeness only adds arsenic and new lace to my argumentative cake.

All of which may have the reader thinking, “You do realize, you silly person, that you’ve just written off the work of one half the human race.”

To which I say, “Yeah, well, I guess I’m pimping a little irony here, since that’s business as usual with women and the metal press. But irony aside, please bear with me.”

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We didn’t mention recent events in Japan this past Friday because, well, they weren’t metal-related. Sure, some touring bands, like Iron Maiden and Murderdolls, suddenly had to cancel their show plans, and High on Fire, miraculously, survived their second major natural disaster in as many months (the first being the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand), but that hardly seemed worth discussing in the midst of this major tragedy.

Then this morning we got the following e-mail from reader  Daisuke Kamiya:

“Hello, I am current university student at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and an avid reader of Metalsucks. And if you read the email subject, I am assure not here to beg you guys to donate for Japan. All I’m here to ask is if you guys can post an awareness of what happening in my home country Japan and if you guys can just post a yahoo website to make metal heads around the world be aware that they too can help out.

“As we all know on March 11th 2011, an earthquake of magnitude 8.9 occurred 80 miles off the coast of Sendai, Japan, 230 miles northeast of Tokyo. This devastating earthquake is the worst in the history of Japan, causing disastrous floods that obliterated tens of thousands of buildings, devouring almost anything in its path. The government of Japan has estimated an over 10,000 death toll from this catastrophic event.

“And in return, here are some recommended pure Japanese metal bands that people should check out.”

Of course, we’re only too happy to oblige Daisuke. So here’s that website with a list of organizations you donate to if you want to help out.

And after the jump, check out the bands Daisuke recommended… with my own snarky commentary, of course. Because, unfortunately, your country undergoing a horrific ordeal does not necessarily make you talented.

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