Tuesday, November 29th, 2011 at 2:00pm by MetalSucks
FEATURING MEMBERS OF AT THE GATES, TEXTURES, GRIDLINK, FIGHT AMP, MONSTRO, GLORIOR BELLI, VALLENFYRE, HOODED MENACE, AND PORTRAIT
Every year year, MetalSucks asks musicians from across the vast spectrum of the metalsphere (or, in a few cases, the almost-metalsphere) what their favorite albums of the year have been. Death metallers, thrash metallers, black metallers, stoners, grinders, and djenters alike graciously contributed lists to MS, and we’ll be running them in groups of nine to ten musicians at a time two to three times a day for the whole week.
After the jump, check out the next group… we hope you enjoy seeing what some of metal’s heaviest hitters were into this year as much as we have!
Thursday, November 17th, 2011 at 2:00pm by Axl Rosenberg
Lock Up — the supergroup (for lack of a better term) featuring Tomas Lindberg of At the Gates/Disfear fame, Napalm Death’s Shane Embury, super-famous-drummer-dude Nicolas Barker, and Pentagram’s Anton Reisenegger — have never tour the U.S. before… but that’s gonna change in February, when the band will cross the ocean to do a headlining run here in the States. The dudes involved in the group are probably enough on their own to make you wanna go see ‘em, but just in case, the band is bringing Goatwhore and Strong Intention along for support. I can’t speak intelligently about Strong Intention, but Goatwhore fucking rules so hard, so I’m pretty much already onboard with this tour.
“The ’90s were a challenging decade for metal,” opens Loudwire writer Joe Robinson. You got that right! ’90s nostalgia hasn’t firmly set in for metal yet; Limp Bizkit’s new record tanked, less people are interested in Korn than ever, and some of the more credible ’90s acts from Europe never even stopped to take a drink of water. But that hasn’t stopped Loudwire from publishing a “Top 11 Metal Albums of the ’90s” list. For once, I think this topic is quite ripe for list-making given metal’s widespread unpopularity during the decade. Sure, decades themselves are artificial constructs with which musical trends don’t neatly align (hair metal was still huge in ’90 and ’91 and the true stuff was already filtering back in by the end), but they do provide convenient language for discourse, much like metal sub-genres aren’t always perfect but give us some kind of approximation of what a band sounds like.
Loudwire’s list is actually pretty solid; it’s hard to argue that any of these albums shouldn’t be included on a best-of-the-’90s metal list, and I love the inclusion of Alice in Chains and Tool. I could do without Korn’s debut, but I know it was important to a lot of people and it certainly left its mark on the metal landscape. I have a hard time believing Anthrax’s Persistence of Time would’ve appeared on this list had the band not just released a new album. The list completely omits European bands, and I think In Flames’ The Jester Race, Whoracle or Colony — any one of ‘em — deserve a nod for all the impact they had on metal to come. For that matter, how about At the Gates? Or Refused’s Shape of Punk to Come? And what ’90s metal list is complete without Nevermore or Iced Earth, two bands that essentially flied in the face of “cool” and held up giant middle fingers?
But whatevs… it’s a list, and therefore cannot be perfect. Go check it out here, then come back here with your arguin’ pants on and tell us what you think the comments.
Wednesday, September 14th, 2011 at 10:30am by Anso DF
In 2001, screamer Johan Lindstrand departed Swedish death-thrashers The Crown, and the band went on with then-former At The Gates screamer Tomas Lindberg. But after one awesome album, The Crown reverted to its line-up with Lindstrand for Possessed 13, one of metal’s twenty best albums. Then, after a re-make of that Lindberg album, The Crown folded and so I spent about a year crying while lifting weights. Just as I fully rebounded, The Crown reformed in 2009 but without Lindstrand (whose One Man Army & The Undead Quartet has a line-up odyssey of its own). With God Macabre screamer Jonas Stålhammar, they released Doomsday King, an album titularly similar to their first classic but really the only Crown album to be less rad than its predecessor.
But here comes the best case of déjà vu ever! After one album completed with a different dude, The Crown welcomes back Johan Lindstrand. Fucking yeahhhh! Lindstrand said in a Friday announcement (via The PRP): Click to read more…
Monday, August 29th, 2011 at 11:30am by Axl Rosenberg
Last week I wrote a little bit about how a lot of modern production techniques I loathe may actually be aesthetic choices; and I tried to keep that in mind as I attempted to listen to Dead Throne, the latest offering from The Devil Wears Prada. If, for example, the band didn’t favor such excessive use of autotune and vocoder, would the songs at least be solid?
I pride myself on being open minded, so it is very important to me that I consider both sides of an issue before I decide what I think about something! For example, I have always thought that “melodic metal” was a very confusing idea. To me, melody and metal are like oil and water: no common ground. In fact, I have always thought of them as polar opposites — it was always my basic rule that if a song is melodic, then it is by definition not metal.
That said, I know that not everybody feels the same about this as I do, so I thought that I should look into this issue a little more. I don’t like to make snap judgments, so in the interest of intellectual honestly I intend to take a FAIR AND BALANCED LOOK at MELODY IN METAL! In this post, I will share a few examples of both successful and unsuccessful uses of melody and let YOU be the judge — WE REPORT, YOU DECIDE!
You tell me: is there a place for melody in metal????
Wednesday, June 29th, 2011 at 12:00pm by Axl Rosenberg
Kevin Stewart-Panko must be some kind of monster that feeds off the hatred of internet commenters. First, “The Bravest Man in Metal” defended Metallica’s St. Anger and Cryptopsy’s The Unspoken King for The Deciblog’s weekly “Justify Your Shitty Taste” column. Now, The Deciblog has launched a new weekly column, a kind of anti-”Justify…” called “Disposable Heroes,” in which writers basically wonder aloud “What’s the big effin’ deal?” about a classic record. And Mr. Stewart-Panko has penned the inaugural edition, in which he wonders “what the fuck has gotten you people so excited” about At the Gates’ Slaughter of the Soul.
Let me repeat that: Kevin Stewart-Panko says that Slaughter of the Soul is overrated.
I mean, dude might as well walk into the Westboro County Church with Harvey Fierstein and Mario Cantone and start burning Bibles, y’know?
Even though I thought A Sense of Purpose was pretty lame, I’m not ready to feel too cynical about In Flames’ new album, Sounds of a Playground Fading. Soundtrack to Your Escape wasn’t exactly a masterpiece, either, but the band followed it up with Come Clarity, an album I really like (power ballad and all!)… my point being that IF can still turn it around. They’re not in Metallica/”Why even bother getting your hopes up?” territory yet.
Unfortunately, their new, in-the-studio video only has a little bit of new music, and while the riff sounds cool enough, it’s not nearly enough to make even a snap judgment upon. But go ahead and check it out and see what you think — the music shows up around the 3:20 mark. The rest of the video is pretty standard stuff which I didn’t find that exciting, but of course you’re free to watch the whole thing, too.
Oh, and apparently this was made by Anders Bjorler, which explains why he was in the studio with In Flames that time we got excited that he might be their new guitar player.
Sounds of a Playground Fading comes out June 21 on Century.
Monday, February 14th, 2011 at 5:00pm by Leyla Ford
Ah, Valentine’s Day. Reviled by most, enjoyed by the smug, and shrugged off by the belligerently ambivalent. But while most of us couldn’t care less about this specific day in February, it’s still an annoyance that comes around every year. Kind of like the common cold.
Now, most places will have shitloads of “quirky” recommendations you can do with your special someone, even if you’re of the metalhead persuasion. You can hold sweaty hands in the privacy of your parents’ basement, pour each other some classy Motorhead wine, and share a blood pudding in the dreamy light of those church candles. It’s all very nice and sweet to be… nice and sweet.
But you know what’s better? DOING IT. With a killer soundtrack. So on this very special day, I’ve made you all a romantically inappropriate mix tape.
Picking “mood” songs is a little too obvious for my taste. I mean yeah, Faith No More’s “Stripsearch” (Actually, that might be more of a stripping song than a sexing one, but ,hmm, “Evidence” maybe? Heh, “Be Aggressive” might work for some. Either way, Patton’s voice = nudity.) and NIN’s “Closer” are both appropriate (for very different reasons), but that’s no fun. Go forth and find that special someone willing to get, get naked to these select songs. There’s a little something for everyone. St. Valentine would’ve wanted it that way.
Thursday, January 20th, 2011 at 4:00pm by Sergeant D
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!!
Thursday, December 16th, 2010 at 3:00pm by MetalSucks
FEATURING MEMBERS OF GOD FORBID, AT THE GATES, DISFEAR, MACHINE HEAD, BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME, THE OCEAN, JUCIFER, THE BINARY CODE, HULL, DYSRHYTHMIA, INDIAN, AND DARKEST ERA
For 2010, we decided to do something special as part of our regular end-of-year festivities here at MetalSucks — namely, ask musicians from across the vast spectrum of the metalsphere (or, in a few cases, the almost-metalsphere) what their favorite albums of the year were. Death metallers, thrash metallers, black metallers, stoners, grinders, and djenters alike graciously contributed lists to MS, and we’ll be running them in groups of ten to eleven musicians at a time twice a day for the rest of the week.
After the jump, check out the sixth group… we hope you enjoy seeing what some of metal’s heaviest hitters were into this year as much as we have!
(And please note that these are musicians and that they, um, have a lot on their minds. So some of ‘em named albums that actually came out last year. Please don’t freak out.)
Friday, December 10th, 2010 at 5:00pm by Axl Rosenberg
It seems like the number of “Why did you ban me from commenting?!?” e-mails from readers has increased as of late, and the gist of those e-mails is often “Whassa matter, can’t take it when someone tells you you suck?” or whatever. And we’ve never banned anyone for disagreeing with us. We don’t give a shit if you disagree with us. We don’t agree with one another half the time — that’s part of the fun of MetalSucks.
Here’s what really happens: you use a word which is on our “no-no” list, and it gets stuck in our spam filter. Some of these words we actively do not allow on MetalSucks (e.g., slurs against minorities), and some of them just get stuck because so many actual spammers use them (e.g., “rape”). We try to be diligent about checking the spam filters and making sure none of you are getting caught in there, but sometimes we miss a few. And sometimes we ultimately don’t allow the comment onto the site (e.g., “I hate this album, this band is fucking gay” will never survive). But even then, we don’t BAN people from commenting. I think I can count on one hand the number of people we’ve banned in four years, and most of them were spammers and/or former Megadeth guitarists. So if your comment isn’t going through, consider first if you used a word we don’t allow, and if you didn’t, just shoot us a POLITE e-mail and we’ll investigage the problem ASAP. M’kay?
Alrighty then. Next week is our last week of regular posting before we shut down for the holidays. You know what that means – YEAR END LISTS! Get ready to argue like your entire sense of self-worth depended on everyone agreeing with you all the time with no exceptions ever.
Tuesday, December 7th, 2010 at 4:11pm by Axl Rosenberg
At the Gates were supposed to be done forever ever ever for reals yo after their reunion tour wrapped in ’08, but I guess they had too much fun/made too much money/some combination thereof to stick to that threat, ’cause they’ve posted the following on their official web page:
Tuesday, December 7th, 2010 at 3:20pm by Sergeant D
“BIG PANTS WASTE PRECIOUS FABRIC”
Step into my Nocturnus time machine and take a magical journey with me into a time long, long ago, an excursion into a world that scarcely resembles our own. In this world — we’ll call it Moshtopia — hardcore kids are known for wearing giant, baggy pants, not skinny jeans; there are people under 30 that know who Black Flag is; and metalcore bands worship Krishna, not Christ. This is not a fanciful episode of Jojo’s Bizarre Adeventure fan fiction, my friends, — it is the strange and wonderful world of mid-90s hardcore!
Monday, November 29th, 2010 at 3:30pm by Axl Rosenberg
Earlier today, I downloaded Earache’s new, completely free Extreme Stage Diving app, a video game in which “you take control of a burly bouncer and throw the pesky stage invader as far into the crowd as possible.” And I’m happy to report that it’s going to make an excellent time waster (that’s a compliment), and may soon usurp Slayer Pinball (or whatever the fuck it’s called) as my favorite metal-themed smartphone procrastination tool. It’s simple yet challenging, it appeals to my 8-bit sensibilities, there’s plenty of blood, and, oh yeah, the soundtrack is killer.
Yes, of course, this is meant to help Earache promote their shit. But the game features a bare minimum of songs by Earache bands I don’t like (cough, Oceano, cough cough), and those songs are more than offset by the inclusion of groups like At the Gates, Deicide, Brutal Truth, Decapitated, and Wormrot. And whomever designed the game was smart/cool enough to make it so that you can skip to whichever of the ten featured songs you like — in other words, if Bonded by Blood comes up and you don’t like Bonded by Blood, you can easily move along to The Haunted or whatever your particular cup of tea might be. (And apparently there’s a bonus track that you can unlock, but I haven’t gotten that far yet. I’m hoping it’s a Godflesh song, even though that would make no mothertruckin’ sense whatsoever.)
Check out a sample video below…
If you go here and give Earache your e-mail address, you can also potentially win the helmet the charcter in the game wears, although I think the game itself is a much cooler prize, and you don’t need to enter no contest to get it.
You can download the game here. Like I said, it’s totally free, so you really have nothing to lose by trying it out (other than the time you’re going to spend playing this instead of doing something productive). And you can get the full track list after the jump.
Monday, November 29th, 2010 at 10:00am by Axl Rosenberg
Were System of a Down the first band to use either the phrase “hiatus” or “indefinite hiatus” instead of the phrase “breaking up?” It certainly seems like they were trend setters in that regard. Now let’s see if they can set a trend of reuniting in a half decade or less.
Yeah, that Anders Bjorler, of At The Gates and The Haunted. Could it be that In Flames now has two men named Anders amongst their ranks?
That what the above picture, posted today on In Flames’ Facebook page, would seem to imply, as first reported by the stealthy Heavy Blog is Heavy. A cryptic but not really all that cryptic caption accompanied the photo:
Who’s this guy?
Now, we’re not ones to recklessly speculate… oh who am I kidding, of course we are! You may recall that longtime guitarist and founding member Jesper Stromblad departed In Flames last year to focus on treating his alcohol addiction, and that In Flames are currently in the studio recording a follow-up to 2008′s underwhelming A Sense of Purpose. So while it’s possible that Bjorler was just stopping into the studio to say hi, or just lent a guest solo to one track, it’s a lot more fun to think about the possibility of one legendary Swedish guitar player replacing another.
First things first: screamo is literally worse than the Holocaust in my book. With a few notable exceptions, I absolutely cannot stand this shit. That said, with bands like The Devil Wears Prada and Underoath selling out huge venues, putting out platinum-selling albums, and selling truckloads of cookie-cutter merch to every angsty suburban teen within driving distance of a Hot Topic, it’s hard not to pay attention to the genre. I might not like it, but Kids These Days certainly do. My biggest question: Where the fuck did this shit come from??
As someone who saw the birth of metalcore and “true screamo”/skramz firsthand in the 90s, I am highly confused when I listen to these bands. On the one hand, they are not so different from anything that could have been on Victory or Indecision in the 90s (Earth Crisis, All Out War, Bloodlet). Obviously there are some things that have changed over time, but the fundamentals of metalcore are still there (see my post “The 5 Kinds Of Music Teens Are Into” for more details). On the other hand, the kids in Alesana, August Burns Red, and possibly even As I Lay Dying have no fucking idea who those pioneering metalcore bands are, much less that screamy vocals were born in the tiny basement shows and vegan bakesales of the 90s DIY hardcore scene.
Last week’s photo caption contest was funny ’cause… well, look at that fuckin’ picture. It’s hilarious! No caption even needed.
Here are the five winners of The Haunted’s Road Kill DVD:
Double D: “The new nationwide PSA for ‘Vitamin D Awareness Week’.”
Seer: “While most vampires suck your blood, these ones just suck period.”
Carlos Ramirez (yes, that one): “I know L.A. Guns have had some ridiculous lineup issues over the years, but this takes the cake. There are actually NO original members left in the band now!”
Chris: “A Flock Of Shemales.”
Devon Czekaj: “‘”Not even a nutritionist can help these guys.’ – Glenn Danzig”
This week we’re giving away one copy of the At The Gates DVD set The Flames of the End provided by our friends at Earache Records. It’s three DVDs full of At the Gates goods: a documentary covering the band’s entire career and their recent reunion, a full live performance filmed at Wacken 2008, and a bunch of live material from the vaults (including some from The Wetlands in NYC in ’96… yowza!). All you have to do is come up with a funny caption to the below photo, graciously provided to us by America’s youth. (Remember, if you’re using FB Connect to login, include an email address with your comment so we can contact the winner).
I remember a time – seems like it wasn’t all that long ago, really – when Vince and I were pretty much convinced that they just put special drugs in the water in Sweden to help the human brain devise awesome metal. That country could do no wrong. We often spoke of taking a pilgrimage to Gothenburg, where we assumed that every garage would be full of kids in the earliest stages of becoming the next At the Gates, the next Dark Tranquillity, the next In Flames.
It’s good to be young and naive, but everyone eventually has to face the fact that the romantic ideals we so cling to as children must fall away as we enter adulthood. When I was a child I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but then I grew the fuck up. Or however that quote goes.
And if you don’t agree with my stance on Sweden, then you haven’t seen the new Sonic Syndicate video.
Holy crap. Everything about that video is terrible. I don’t even care that the girl is cute, ’cause her taste in music is so awful I can’t imagine what our pillow-talk would be about. (“You like the color black? I like the color black, too.”) Even just sticking mics in the singers’ hands would have been a step in the right direction, ’cause then their arms wouldn’t have been free to do those big New Kids on the Block movements. Another thing that would have been a step in the right direction: making a video with a different band for a different song.
And in case Sonic Syndicate alone don’t make you wish Sweden had some brown people so we could declare war on them right now, there’s Audiovision:
