Earlier this week, Metallica performed a previously unreleased song from the Death Magnetic sessions, “Hate Train,” as part of their four-night  thirtieth anniversary celebration at the Fillmore in San Francisco, and then e-mailed their fan club a rough mix of that song; now they’ve done the same for another tune that didn’t make the Death cut, this one called “Just a Bullet Away.” And, holy shit, they are making this too easy. Why don’t they just call a song “Everyone Hate Us Now?”

ANYWAY, I actually think this song is… not terrible. Don’t get me wrong, it has serious problems — namely, James Hetfield’s ongoing obsession with being the worst vocalist in the world, the incredibly crappy chorus, the bloated running time, and the lyric “suck, suck ’til it’s dry” — but the main riff is actually pretty catchy, and doesn’t immediately call to mind any other Metallica riffs. I even kinda like the slow, Gothenburg-y section. So congratulations to Metallica, it looks like another slightly-above-mediocre song was written and recorded for Death Magnetic. I wonder why this one didn’t make the cut?

By the way, if you haven’t been paying attention, ‘Tallica have been having all sorts of special guests at these shows, ranging from Jason Newsted (I can’t believe he had time to fit it into his busy schedule!) to John Bush to Scott Ian to Marianne Faithful to… Lou Reed. Yes, they performed songs from Lulu. I’m too lazy/don’t care enough to write about all that shit, but Metal Insider has plenty of coverage if you’re interested.

-AR

Last year, Armored Saint reunited to release an incredibly awesome comeback album, La Raza — but it was a bittersweet return, ’cause the band didn’t tour behind it, save for a couple of shows on the West Coast and in Germany. When I interviewed him for the album’s release, vocalist John Bush told me that “The idea of doing shows, although it’s something I want to do, I also want to do it on my terms… we spent many a show playing to forty fans and various bartenders and cocktail waitresses and club owners and opening bands and their crew…I don’t want to do that again, quite frankly.” And that’s totally understandable and I can’t fault Bush for feeling that way. But, unfortunately, it meant all us East Coast fans were totally screwed.

But no longer! For the band has announced three dates in this part of the country, including their first show in NYC in two decades. And while that’s obviously not a full tour, it will still make it far easier for some of us who live in states with actual seasons to go see the band live. And, better still, these are some intimate venues, so you’ll get to see Armored Saint do their thing from very, very close-up.

And it gets cooler still! According to bassist Joey Vera, the band will be taking requests… mid-show:

Click to read more…

Anyone who was unfortunate enough to have well-meaning-yet-clueless relatives knows the feeling of disappointment. After weeks of anticipation, staring at the shiny boxes under the Christmas tree and wondering what’s inside, you eagerly tear open your presents. What lies inside? GI Joes? Transformers?? A BB gun? A new Nintendo?!? Mind racing and adrenaline pumping, you open the first box and are brutally assaulted by reality: your hippie uncle got you some handmade, wooden train from his recent trip to Chile. And it only gets worse — grandma gave you a subscription to Highlights, and mom got you enough socks and underwear to last you through high school. Dejected, you retreat to your bedroom and pout while thinking about all the awesome presents the other kids must have gotten.

This is the same feeling I got all too often as a young metal fan in the late 80s/early 90s. Back then, without the internet, finding new bands was a real crapshoot — you really never knew what you were in for when you bought a new record unless you manged to catch them on Headbanger’s Ball. You did the best you could with what you had, but it wasn’t much to go on. Time and time again I was tricked by a cool logo, sweet cover art, or a name that sounded brutal — what I thought was going to be ass-ripping thrash or hardcore turned out to be dreadful hard rock, third-rate speed metal, or limp-wristed art rock. I tried so hard to be positive and enjoy the album that I had squandered my $8 on, but I just couldn’t do it.

In no particular order, here are a few of the dozens upon dozens of bands who I tried to like, but simply could not. What are yours??

Click to read more…

Yeah I know that Vince already wrote about Armored Saint today, but it’s just about August, which means it’s just about dead, news-wise. And really, who’s gonna complain about too much Armored Saint? That’s like complaining about getting too many blowjobs.

So. Earlier today, SMN debuted Armored Saint’s video for “Left Hook From Right Field,” from La Raza, most recent release from Metal Blade. And it’s not like an amazing video or anything, but it is a really good song, and anything that combines Hasids with boxing can’t be all bad, right?

-AR

“Underdogs,” filmed on the Headbanger’s Ball Hell on Wheels Tour  in October 1987 at First Ave. in Minneapolis MN. The band is totally on fire, the crowd is beyond psyched, John Bush sounds great (and has hair). Awesome video — thanks to Christopher G. Palacios for sending it in.

-VN

Amidst all this talk of Joey Belladonna bending over and taking it from Anthrax, it’s been easy to lose site of the fact that Armored Saint released a pretty decent comeback album this year in La Raza. I was never as big of a Saint fan as I was of Anthrax, but there’s been enough cross-polination between the members that the presence of Bush’s voice on top of La Raza‘s already good songs almost makes it sound as if you’re listening to a Bush-era Anthrax record… almost. “Little Monkey” is my favorite track on the album and in my opinion the most Anthrax-y, both musically and lyrically. Check it out above and pick up La Raza here from Metal Blade if you like.

I also completely forgot about John Bush’s guest appearance on the Nuclear Blast All-Stars Out of the Dark project in 2007 helmed by ex-[at the time]-Soilwork guitarist Peter Wichers. The album was incredibly solid through and through, and “Paper Trail” was one of the bestest songs on it. I find it fascinating that Wichers took on the task of writing a more “rock” oriented song, did a fantastic job with it, and how Bush’s voice really brought it home.

What can I say… I love John Bush’s voice. Enjoysies.

-VN

Anyone who reads this site knows well our unabashed fandom of John Bush as the pre-eminent singer of Anthrax (Anso DF excepted… that assclown!). And, unless you’ve skipped over them (likely), that I’ll rant about the environment from time to time. But combine the two? Well shit, then we’re getting into Joe-jira territory. Which is precisely the level to which this latest video of John Bush talking being green elevates my opinion of the man.

This is no David Draiman whining about our world’s dependence on oil while living in a huge California mansion with expensive, gas-guzzling cars and a lavish back yard. This is no Korn boycotting BP to appear green, despite it being a complete bullshit PR tactic. This is the real deal. Saving unused shower water to water your plants? Holy shit, that’s brilliant. That’s exactly what I’m talking about when I say we all need to seriously re-think the way we use our resources. I love you, John Bush.

Watch the brief clip below. Armored Saint’s La Raza is out now on Metal Blade.

-VN

Dio died. Isis broke-up. Bret Michaels is back in the hospital. And I just used Dio, Isis, and Bret Michaels in one thought-stream, which, I’m sure, offended somebody.

Luckily, we did manage to have some fun this week:

• Sick of it All’s Lou Koller is counting down his top ten hardcore albums, As I Lay Dying’s Nick Hipa is counting down to the end of L O S T, Batillus’ Fade Kainer is counting down ’til the band can get the fuck outta the studio, Agenda of Swine’s Pete Benumb is counting down to MDF, and Cynic’s Paul Masvidal is counting down to achieving a higher level of being.
• We spoke to Steve Joh from Century Media, Tara Johnson from Disembodied, Emil Werstler from Daath and Levi/Werstler, and Travis Stever from Coheed & Cambria.
• We checked out the latest release from Rosetta.
• Sergeant D. has new slamz 4 u.
• The best music video ever of the week is by… Goldfrapp?
• There are plenty of things we’d rather do than listen to a new Attack Attack! song.
• Endorsement of the new Avenged Sevenfold single = flame war.
• You guys are still arguing about my Korn review. Seriously?
• I’m still upset about John Bush leaving Anthrax again. Seriously.
• We used to love Sweden, but we had to kill it.

And hopefully no one awesome will die or break-up next week.

-AR

Through amazing mind-reading technology created by the MetalSucks Mansion Monkey affectionately known as “You Worthless Retard,” MetalSucks was exclusively able to listen-in on Joey Belladonna’s most private thoughts while he contemplated whether or not to return to Anthrax.* What follows is a transcript of those thoughts…

Okay, Joey. Now, let’s be rational. Let’s think this all the way through. Let’s not make any brash decisions this time.

I mean, these dudes have not been cool to me. Remember when they fired me in 1992 for no apparent reason? And they hired me back to do that reunion tour. And then they, uh, y’know. Fired me again. And this time, I found out about it over the internet. They weren’t even good enough to give me a phone call! And then Scott and Charlie talked an awful lot of shit about me in the press, and said that I should “Grow up and be a man. Take responsibility for your life.” And I had, like, no idea what they were talking about. Just a couple of months ago, Scott made fun of me on television! I kinda think it might be because the reunion was less financially successful than we’d hoped. But I don’t really know, ’cause I never actually spoke to them about it.

And now they wanna hire me back! Again! And they want me to sing some other dude’s parts on a new album, without actually contributing anything myself! And the guy is some kid they hired because when John Bush showed a little backbone and refused to come back to the band after I was re-fired, they decided they’d rather work with pretty much anyone but me. Actually, they decided they’d rather work with Corey Taylor than me. But Corey’s business manager had more sense than that, and then they decided they’d rather work with pretty much anyone but me. The nerve!

Click to read more…

Well, this was some shitty news to get first thing in the morning.

Just last week we heard rumors that Anthrax was swapping out John Bush for Joey Belladonna again – and now those rumors are fact. Belladonna will play the “Big Four” shows Sonisphere Festival shows and a handful of other gigs with the band starting next month; immediately thereafter, according to the official press release, “the band will fly back to the U.S. and begin writing and rehearsing for a new album that’s expected to be out in early 2011.”

(And in case you’re wondering, Dan Spitz isn’t returning to the fold, because I guess he’s too busy changing the face of music forever with his revolutionary new project, DeuxMonkey. So, at least for now, Rob Caggiano’s job is safe.)

I hate just cutting and pasting press releases, but for the sake of us all having the same amount of information before I start my little rant, I’m going to re-print a portion of said release after the jump. My holier-than-thou ramblings will follow.

Click to read more…

We knew that there would be a video for “More Metal Than You,” the song Brian Posehn co-wrote with Scott Ian for the former’s new album, Fart and Wiener Jokes, and here it is. (Also worth noting: the song features additional guest appearances by Lamb of God’s Mark Morton, Death Angel’s Mark Osegueda, Armored Saint’s Joey Vera, Dethklok’s Brendon Small, the always fashionable John Tempesta, and The Donnas’ Brett Anderson.) The animation style is fairly simple, but there are some real gems in here – including a moment when Posehn head-butts Sharon Osbourne, and then Ozzy gives him a high-five. Oh, if only Ozzy really did recognize that Sharon is a problem.

True story: when I first heard this song, I thought Posehn was saying “My cat’s name is ‘metal.’” In fact, until five minutes ago when I watched this video, I didn’t realize he was saying “Manowar.” Still really funny, though.

Fart and Wiener Jokes is out now on Relapse. I’m giving a copy away for this week’s Completely Unreadable Band Logo contest, so enter that shit now. Also, if you haven’t done so already, check out my interview with Posehn right here.

-AR

Like a lot of people, I first became familiar with Brian Posehn because of his time on David Cross and Bob Odenkirk’s brilliant HBO sketch comedy series, Mr. Show, for which he was also a writer. A few years after that show went off the air, my then-roommate and I went to see Posehn do some stand-up at a comedy club here in New York. I don’t think we were even there to see Posehn specifically – if memory serves, David Cross was the actual draw for us – but he was so funny that I actually laughed so hard I became winded and fell out of my chair. Since then, he’s been on a very, very short list of stand-ups that I never miss the chance to check out when they come through town. Mr. Show sketches about a fictional band called “Titannica” led me to believe that someone on the series’ writing staff was a metal fan, but I didn’t know that it was Posehn until later – and the revelation that he was just as obsessed with metal as I was only made him that much cooler.

Fart and Wiener Jokes, Posehn’s second album for Relapse, comes out today (and you can order a copy here). Like its predecessor, Live: In Nerd Rage, it features not only recordings of his brilliant stand-up, but also an original song he co-wrote with Anthrax’s Scott Ian (“More Metal Than You”) to poke fun at some of metal’s more regrettable foibles. It also has a metal cover of Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler,” and between the two music tracks, Posehn has managed to rope in guest appearances by such all-stars as Jamey Jasta, Mark Morton, Mark Oseguenda, John Tempesta, and Russ Parrish. Assuming you love great comedy and great metal, there’s no way you’re not gonna dig Fart and Wiener Jokes.

A few weeks ago I got to talk to Posehn about putting comedy albums out on a metal label, what it’s like to be friends with some of his boyhood heroes, the state of metal today, his take on the Anthrax vocalist situation, and more. He even turned the tables at the end and asked me a question! Read the complete transcript of our chat after the jump.

Click to read more…

It must be an interesting time to be John Bush. Armored Saint have just released La Raza, their first album in a decade – and its rightfully being met with cheers of “It was worth the wait!” from critics and fans alike. Meanwhile, last year he re-joined Anthrax after more than four years away, and, it would seem, is now back with the band for good. Given that he was pretty much absent from the scene altogether during those years, this sudden abundance of new output can only be good news for the John Bush fans of the world – like us!

Last week I got to talk to to Bush about getting back together with Armored Saint after all this time, the writing process for La Raza, whether or not the band has any plans to tour, and what exactly is going on with Anthrax (the answer may surprise you – it looks like we may get to hear at least some of a Bushful of Worship Music after all, despite what some other members of the band have said in the press). Read the full transcript of our chat after the jump.

Click to read more…

THE ANTHRAX SAGA CONTINUES!

So. If you’re just joining us, here’s the story thus far: Anthrax decided to do a reunion tour with Joey Belladonna, but when they got off the road everyone in the band came to their senses and was like, “Wait, what? We’re not making an album with Joey Belladonna!” But John Bush was all, “You can’t fuck another girl and then ask me to the prom,” so Anthrax needed to get a new singer. They hired this dude no one has ever heard of named Dan Nelson and recorded a new album, Worship Music, which they assured us was going to be the second-coming. But then all of sudden Nelson was out of the band, either because he quit or was fired, depending on who you believe. And then they got John Bush to agree to tour with them again. And now everyone is all, “Is Bush in the band or what?” and Anthrax is all “Fingers crossed!”, which isn’t very reassuring.

On top of all of this, it has now been six and half years since the release of Anthrax’s last album, We’ve Come for You All. The last time anyone waited this long for a new record by an allegedly not-defunct band, it was Chinese Democracy.

Difference is, we finally got to hear Chinese Democracy, and now it looks like we’ll probably never hear Worship Music - at least, not in any official capacity.

Click to read more…

So apparently Ozzfest is coming back this summer, and is coming back as a traveling tour again (as opposed to the one-off fest it was in 2008). And that’s all well and good, only… who’s gonna be on the bill?

Mayhem, which is basically Ozzfest 2.0, has already scooped up a lot of big-name bands for the summer, including many who have played multiple past Ozzfests – namely Korn, Rob Zombie, Lamb of God, Atreyu, Shadows Fall and Hatebreed, the latter of whom I think have been on something like 90% of all Ozzfests ever.

Add to that other Ozzfest alum like Chimaira, In This Moment and Norma Jean, and some bands the kids today all seem to like, such as Winds of Plague and They Who Shall Not Be Named, and, well, that’s a whole bunch of potential mainstage and second stage draws right there.

Then there’s the mini-fests like Summer Slaughter. I can’t tell you which bands we already know are booked for some of these tours without betraying a lot of people’s confidence, but I can tell you that some great bands are now no longer available for Ozzfest.

And, oh yeah, Megadeth, Slayer, and Testament are now doing their American Carnage tour in the summer, so they’re out.

So who’s left? After the jump, I’m going to play my favorite game: it’s called “over-think about something incredibly unimportant.”

Before we proceed, it’s worth noting that I’m going to try and be semi-realistic when moving forward with some barely-educated guesses about who’ll be playing Ozzfest. If a band already has summer tour dates booked, I’m going to assume they’re not avail, although I acknowledge that they could cancel those dates in favor of playing for a bigger crowd. And I’m not even going to bother with bands like Pig Destroyer, Sigh, and Salome – bands that will play Ozzfest right around the time Joey Belladonna’s solo band plays four sold-out headlining shows at Giants Stadium. Also, obviously not all of these bands are gonna end up on the bill – these are just bands I think could end up there.

And so, without further bullshit…

Click to read more…

While some of us schmucks were sitting around waiting to see whether or not John Bush was gonna re-join Anthrax or what, Armored Saint went off and recorded their first new album in a decade:  La Raza, which the always reliable authorities at Wikipedia tell me “literally means in the Spanish language ‘the race’ or generally and symbolically “‘the people,’” will be out March 16 on Metal Blade. A new song, “Left Hook From Right Field,” is now streaming here.

I was never as big of an Armored Saint fan as I probably oughta be, but I think this track is pretty rockin’. It bodes well for the rest of the album. And if nothing else, it’s always great to hear John Bush singing, as opposed, I dunno, being the voice of Burger King.

Meanwhile, we still have no idea what, if anything, a new Armored Saint album means for Bushthrax. The latest issue of Decibel – y’know, the one with the now-dead American Carnage tour on the cover? – makes it sound like Bush is definitely re-recording Dan Nelson’s vocals for Worship Music. So is he gonna tour with both bands? Pull a Zakk Wylde and play twice a night? Or is one of these bands about to get the short shrift? I guess we’ll find out…

-AR

Did you know that if you eat before you start slamming shots, you’ll get a little less drunk, but you’ll also have something to vomit up later? It’s true. Also, sometimes when you smoke weed, you get the munchies. These are just two great reasons why you should care about Hellbent for Cooking: The Heavy Metal Cookbook by Annick “Morbid Chef” Giroux. Showcasing “a varied menu of over a hundred recipes from thirty countries,” Hellbent for Cooking features recipes by members of Accept, Anthrax, Anvil, Armored Saint, Brutal Truth, Death, Electric Wizard, Eyehategod, Gwar, Judas Priest, Kreator, Mayhem, Melechesh, Nuclear Assault, Obituary, Repulsion, Saint Vitus, Sepultura, Sigh, S.O.D., Slough Feg, Thin Lizzy, Toxic Holocaust, and about a trillion others (you can get a complete list of contributing bands here).

MetalSucks is teaming up with Bazillion Points Publishing to give away three (3) copies of Hellbent for Cooking. All you have to do to win is create a picture that somehow connects metal to food and post a link to someplace we can view said picture in the comments section below. Use Photoshop to create an image of Lemmy eating a hot dog, use MS Paint to do a portrait of Metallica as the pepperonis on a pizza, whatever you want – it just has to be both food and metal related, and it has to amuse us. Vince and I will choose the three pics that make us laugh the hardest and those pics’ creators win the book.

This contest will end at midnight EST on Monday, December 14. Please note that this contest is open to U.S. residents only, as shipping costs are a bitch. And if you’re too lazy to participate, you can always just order a copy of the book here.

Good luck, and good eats…

-AR

While the members of Anthrax continue to try and convince the world that John Bush is definitely returning to the fold, Mr. Bush continues to pursue a new studio album with Armored Saint – and now video footage of them in the studio has emerged.

What that means is that there will be a new Armored Saint album – and presumably a tour – in 2010. Even though I think it’s looking better and better than Bush will indeed return to Anthrax, he continues to decline to make a firm commitment, and this video serves as a reminder that he has other priorities, too. Because while he’s not actually in this video, I’d be very surprised if he turned around and just left the band high n’ dry – that’s the kind of thing the members of Anthrax do to him, not the kind of thing he does to other dudes.

-AR

While I am really really really really really really really hoping that John Bush returns to Anthrax on a full-time basis, I know that could wreak havoc with the dreams of many an Armored Saint fan.

But before anyone gets their panties in a twist: there’s a demo for a new Armored Saint song, “Loose Cannon,” that the band has made available as a free download. It was recorded with a drum machine, but hey, it’s new Armored Saint so who really gives a shit?!?

Download the track from Metal Blade’s website.

A press release tells me that “Armored Saint has finished up writing and will begin recording in early fall for a spring 2010 release on Metal Blade Records.” Hopefully right after John Bush re-records all the vocals for Anthrax’s Worship Music. ‘Cause the version with Dan Nelson just became a collector’s item.

-AR