This winter is shaping up to a great incredible one for U.S. metal tours.The European Summer festivals ain’t got nothin’ on us… ok, well yeah they do, but this winter’s U.S. metal tour slate is still most excellent.

There’s the much ballyhooed Between the Buried and Me / Cynic / The Devin Townsend Project / Scale the Summit North American Orgasm Tour, about which Axl shared his man-juice excitement yesterday. On January 15th death metal Egyptologists Nile kick off their mammoth Those Whom the Gods Detest Tour with Immolation, Krisiun, Abigail Williams and Dreaming Dead. Only five days later Arch Enemy embark on the MetalSucks-sponsored Tyrants of Evil Tour with Exodus, Arsis and Mutiny Within. The Pagan/Folk metal tour du jour this Winter is headlined by Korpiklaani with Tyr, Swashbuckle and White Wizzard in tow (the latter of whom are certainly not pagan or folk). And tomorrow The Metal As Art Tour featuring Hypno5e, Revocation and The Binary Code kicks off in Brooklyn and traverses the country for 31 days. Yowza!

Full lists of dates and venues for all four tours are posted after the jump. There’ve been a few venue changes so make sure you double-check… then feel free to bitch about how none of these tours are coming to your city and proceed to blame us.

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Or, rather, be forced to rock.

For “Forced to Rock” is the name of the new song that Arsis posted on their MySpace page while we were chillin’ during the holidays. And it probably won’t have to force you to rock. It will most likely just induce rocking that is completely consensual.

Arsis mastermind James Malone says that he ” came to the conclusion that the death metal world needed an anthem,” and that the need for said anthem was the impetus for this song. And it’s certainly anthemic. In fact, I’d like to once again point out Malone’s self-professed love of hair metal, and posit that there’s a distinct hair metal influence on this song. I mean, there’s definitely a thrash/death element, too (duh), but c’mon. The death metal world needed an anthem, so he wrote “Forced to Rock,” not “Fuck Her with a Knife.” That says something. Or, at least, I think it says something.

ANYWAY, it’s a killer song, and it’ll be on Arsis’ new album, Shout at Starve for the Devil, which drops February 5 in Europe and February 9 in America on Nuclear Blast. By which point Arsis will already have started the MetalSucks-sponsored Tyrants of Evil North American Tour with Arch Enemy, Exodus, and Mutiny Within! HEY-O!!! Get tour dates here.

-AR

For some reason I thought John Kempainen was one of those “I hate touring” dudes, and that said hatred of fart boxes and no pay was one of the key reasons behind his split with The Black Dahlia Murder. But I guess I thought wrong, because Metal Injection tells us that Kempainen is teaming with original BDM drummer Cory Grady to form a new band, Graves Ablaze. They don’t have a vocalist yet (or a bassist or rhythm guitarist), but there’s an instrumental demo streaming here.

Kempainen is obviously a really talented guy and I was sad to see him leave BDM – his solos were one of my favorite parts of that band. That being said, Ryan Knight (ex-Arsis) has obviously turned out to be a more than able replacement, and I think Deflorate is probably BDM’s best album yet. And this Graves Ablaze demo doesn’t knock my socks off. It’s not bad – it’s just not jizz-inducing or whatever.

What does that say about their future? Very little. Maybe the time just wasn’t right yet for them to post a demo – maybe they need to wait ’til they’re further along in their evolutionary process. For now, I’m just glad that Kempainen is out there trying to make new metal…

-AR

Lookit, lookit! It’s an awesome commercial for the MetalSucks sponsored Tyrants of Evil North American Tour 2010 featuring Arch Enemy, Exodus, Arsis and Mutiny Within!!! Man, if only all commercials were this not-annoying (or however you’d say that). Most commercials are like “Do you need shit? Well here’s some shit that will help you with that shit you need!” and then there’s some lame jingle that makes you wanna kill a child in front of its parents. But not this commercial – no, this one is just selling you an AWESOME FUCKING METAL SHOW. And no lame jingle. Just so much awesome riffage in just sixty seconds. I cannot fucking wait for these shows.

Check out the commercial first, then get dates after the jump!

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Arsis have given us our first taste of their new album, Starve for the Devil, in the form of “Beyond Forlorn,” which is streaming here. And it. Is. AWESOME.

It’s an epic, melodic, death metal song that makes me wanna fuck and kill and then fuck what I’ve just killed, which I mean as a compliment. But it doesn’t sound quite like anything Arsis have ever done before. I actually kinda wonder if some fans are gonna bitch that it’s too straight-forward… but I guess some fans are gonna bitch pretty much no matter what.

Check it out and let us know what you think. Starve for the Devil comes out February 9 on Nuclear Blast. And don’t forget that Arsis are part of the MetalSucks sponsored Tyrants of Evil North American Tour 2010, alongside Exodus, Mutiny Within, and headliners Arch Enemy. Get dates after the jump.

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So far, this is in line to be the second most metal cover art of 2010 (here’s the first)…

Starve for the Devil drops February 9 on Nuclear Blast. Arsis will also be on the MetalSucks sponsored Tyrants of Evil North American Tour 2010, alongside Exodus, Mutiny Within, and headliners Arch Enemy. Get dates after the jump.

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Hey, lookit! We just debuted a new Arch Enemy video, “Beast of Man,” earlier this month, and the band already has another one. Sweeeeet.

So here’s “Dark Insanity.” The track comes off the band’s recent Century Media release The Root of All Evil, and the footage is taken from their killer DVD, Tyrants Of The Rising Sun – Live In Japan.

Also: a friendly reminder (as though you’d forgotten!) that Arch Enemy will headline the MetalSucks sponsored Tyrants of Evil North American Tour 2010 with Exodus, Arsis and Mutiny Within starting in January. Get dates here.

-AR

Pretty big week here at the MetalSucks Mansion. We laughed, we cried, we fired someone, we rocked out with our cocks out. Here’s a rundown of the highlights:

• We debuted a new song by The Devin Townsend Project, a new video by Skeletonwitch, a new song by Javelina, and the cover art for Sigh’s new album.
• Horse the Band’s Lord Gold blogged about Nawlins and cocaine, God Forbid’s Doc Coyle gave us an exclusive statement about that whole cup throwing incident, Dallas Coyle is giving away music for free, and Daath’s Eyal Levi talked about a run-in with the Polacks and drum triggers.
• We spoke to Dethklok’s Brendon Small, Converge’s Jacob Bannon, Gojira’s Joe Duplantier, and Liturgy’s Hunter Hunt-Hendrix.
• We checked out new releases from Baroness, The Red Chord, Skeletonwitch, Immortal, Vains of Jenna, Vampire Mooose, and Javelina. Also, some asshole really likes Oceano.
• We’re sponsoring the incredibly awesome Tyrants of Evil North American Tour 2010 with Arch Enemy, Exodus, Arsis, and Mutiny Within!

Alright. I’m going to see Where the Wild Things Are now. I’m fairly certain that it is going to make me weep like Gary Suarez. See ya Monday.

-AR

As many of you successfully guessed on Friday, the headliner to the MetalSucks-sponsored mystery tour is none other than Arch Enemy. They join the already super sweet bill of Exodus, Arsis and Mutiny Within for the Tyrants of Evil North American Tour.

Arch Enemy just released The Root of All Evil, a recording of some of their best songs from the pre-Angela Gossow era, with Gossow now handling vocals. We have seen AE lay to waste many a venue full of unsuspecting metal heads, and having an extra dose of their classics in the arsenal ain’t gonna save any lives. Add the aforementioned three generations of awesome metal bands, and you’ve got the kick-ass tour of the winter. You will not wanna miss this.

Get tour dates after the jump!

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It was a fuckin’ busy week, no? Either shit was crazy this week or I’ve really got to get outside of the MS Mansion more often. Here’s what went down:

• We announced a Winter U.S. tour featuring four bands TBA, and we revealed them day by day via anonymous interviews. So far we’ve revealed Mutiny Within, Arsis and Exodus (click the band name for the interview). Who will the headliner be? Read the interview here and try to guess.
• Eyal got burnt out on the music he loves and explained the financial realities of being a metal musician.
• We spoke with 3 Inches of Blood’s Shane Clark and White Wizzard’s Erik Kluiber.
• Horse the Band’s Lord Gold blogged about being bored on tour.
• We argued about drum triggering in metal.
• We streamed the asshole-ripping new record by The Destro and a webisode from Steel Panther.
• We said goodbye to Evile bassist Mike Alexander. R.I.P.

Ax and I are going to see 3 Inches of Blood in Brooklyn tonight, so hopefully that’ll provide just the head-clearing I need. See you guys Monday.

-VN

On Tuesday we told you that we’re sponsoring an AWESOME tour this winter with a four band bill, and while we can’t tell you all the bands on the bill just yet, we can tease that info out for you. So every day for the rest of this week, we’ll be posting an interview with a member of each band on the bill, featuring questions designed to help you guess who they are without spoiling the surprise. Then, this Monday, October 12, we’ll reveal the complete line-up for the tour!

The first bands announced were Mutiny Within and Arsis. Yesterday, many of you correctly guessed that the third band is none other than the legendary Exodus! The band just announced a January 15 release date for their sure-to-be killer new DVD/CD set, Shovel Headed Tour Machine (Live At Wacken And Other Assorted Atrocities), and with a little luck, 2010 will also bring us the release of The Atrocity Exhibition – Exhibit B. These guys are true pioneers, a band that pretty much every metal band since has owed some debt to, and they absolutely SLAY live.

After the jump, check out the interview with a member of the headlining band. See if you can guess who it is just based on his or her answers!!!

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On Tuesday we told you that we’re sponsoring an AWESOME tour this winter with a four band bill, and while we can’t tell you all the bands on the bill just yet, we can tease that info out for you. So every day for the rest of this week, we’ll be posting an interview with a member of each band on the bill, featuring questions designed to help you guess who they are without spoiling the surprise. Then, this Monday, October 12, we’ll reveal the complete line-up for the tour!

As many of you guessed yesterday, Arsis will join Mutiny Within to be the second band on the bill. Their new album, Starve for the Devil, comes out January 15 on Nuclear Blast, and if the band’s last four albums are any indication, it’s gonna be the new year’s first contender for Best Album of 2010.

After the jump, check out the interview with a member of the third band on the bill. See if you can guess who it is just based on his or her answers!!!

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Wanna know what’s worse than cops that have decided to ruin your day? Customs officials that have decided to make an example out of you.

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Well, you can’t say that Jim Malone doesn’t have a sense of humor.

After admitting earlier this year that he’s struggled with anorexia, Malone and his band, Arsis, have announced the title of their new album to be Starve for the Devil.

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John Kempainen’s awesome guitar solos were major part of the appeal of The Black Dahlia Murder, at least for me. That being said, his replacement, former Arsis axeman Ryan Knight, is no slouch, so I’m definitely down to hear whatever the band comes up with next.

Our pals at Metal Injection captured some lo-fi footage of BDM doing a new song, “Necropolis,” and although it’s hard to hear much besides Trevor Strnad’s vocals, the track sounds heavy as a hippo (And I’ll even forgive the fact that The Absence, as well about as a gajillion other bands, already have a song called “Necropolis.”). Check it out:

Meanwhile, Blabbermouth posted footage of Vader doing a new song, “Rise of the Undead,” which will appear on their new album, entitled… Necropolis. Jesus H. Christ death metal bands, get some new fucking ideas already.

Check out the Vader video after the jump. Their Necropolis drops September 22.

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Back in March we reported that French tech-metallers Gorod had released a new song from their forthcoming Listenable Records album Process Of A New Decline, and that said song was ridiculously awesome. Gorod have just posted another new song on their MySpace page entitled “Programmers Of Decline,” an equally orgasm-inducing nugget of progressive tech-death that makes my dick hard in anticipation of the new record (for which no official release date has been announced). The new song is five solid minutes of techy, deathy, shreddy goodness; while I listen, I’m fantasizing about a utopian U.S. tour dream lineup featuring Obscura, Psycroptic, Arsis, The Faceless and Gorod. Never gonna happen, right?

-VN

When Arsis main man Jim Malone released a statement last month explaining the band’s recent tour cancellations, I wrote that “you don’t have to do much reading between the lines to see what happened here.” That’s because Malone’s assertion that “there is no healthy way lose 100 pounds in four months, as I did late last year,” seemed like a pretty clear way of telling his fans that he had an eating disorder (and NOT, as some fans have hypothesized, a substance abuse problem).

Well, MetalSucks Maniac/fellow writer Carlos Ramirez as now confirmed as much in an interview he conducted for Noise Creep. Here’s an excerpt:

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MS Maniac Tiagon sent us a link to a new track by the French “mighty shredketeers” (his words) Gorod. I’d never listened to Gorod before, but the “shredketeer” classification certainly seems apt and I highly approve. Gorod play the kind of progressive / technical death metal peddled by bands like Arsis, Obscura and Psycroptic; aka they’re fucking awesome. Do yourself a favor and go listen to their new song “Disavow Your God” on their MySpace page right now. The band expects to have an album out this summer on Willowtip.

-VN

I’ve met Jim Malone twice, for an amount of time totalling maybe 120 seconds, maybe. The guy would not be able to pick me out of a line-up, I’m sure. But the last time I saw him, I didn’t even recognize him at first – he’d lost an incredible amount of weight. To tell the truth, I didn’t think he looked unhealthy – he wasn’t, like, Calista Flockhart thin or anything – in fact, I thought he looked pretty damn good.

But Arsis has cancelled a whole shit load of tour dates recently, and combined with the fact that they’ve gone through more line-up changes than Guns N’ Roses and Megadeth combined, it was getting to the point where our pals at Metal Injection were even worried that Arsis might be dunzo.

Luckily for fans of melodic tech death everywhere, this isn’t the case, and Malone has now explained all the Arsis drama in a statement:

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So many of you have e-mailed us this week to instruct us to post news about the fact that Opeth and Enslaved are touring together that I’m fairly certain posting news about the fact that Opeth and Enslaved are touring together is a complete waste of time; I mean, clearly, everyone and their mother is already aware of this tour.

I’m not saying this isn’t an awesome package – clearly, it is – I’m just saying, you’ve all sent us the news and the tour dates, so what can we tell you that you don’t already know? How about this: we will be at the show at the Starland Ballroom in NJ, and we will be high. Actually, you probably knew that already, too.

I’m putting tour dates after the jump, although I don’t for the life of me know why.

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