Meshuggah recently revealed during an online chat that they’d be embarking on a North American tour with Baroness and Decapitated starting in May, and it turns out they were lying — the tour actually starts at the end of April. GOSH, MESHUGGAH, GET IT TOGETHER!

I’m kidding, of course. This tour is gonna be awesome. And, much like the just-confirmed Mastodon/Opeth/Ghost tour, I don’t really think there’s much else I need to say about this — the chances that any of you need to be sold on checking these shows out is about as likely as the chance that Cliff Burton is going to be on the next Metallica album.

And so, without any further bullshit, here’s the tour itinerary:

Click to read more…

Axl wore his most vile death metal shirt in an attempt to avoid being selected as a juror in this great City of New York, but lo and behold, his plan backfired and he was chosen anyway. So it’s been the Vince party over here since Wednesday with plenty of help from all of our most excellent contributors — special big ups to Anso DF for pitching in extra! Here’s what went down:

• We lost Riot guitarist Mark Reale. R.I.P.
• We premiered a new track by Pyscroptic, one by Exotic Animal Petting Zoo and all of Primal Fear’s new album Unbreakable.
• The Rockstar Mayhem Festival announced the first slate of bands on its 2012 lineup. Slipknot later spilled the beans that High on Fire are confirmed too.
• Ihsahn is guesting on the new Jeff Loomis solo joint and Jeff Loomis is guesting on the new Ihsahn solo joint. Will those two get a room already?
• The Dillinger Escape Plan’s Ben Weinman went all anti-drug on our asses.
• Tours and rumours of tours: The Mastodon / Opeth / Ghost tour is really gonna happen, Meshuggah, Decapitated and Baroness will hit the U.S. together (no dates yet), dates were announced for the Decibel Magazine Tour featuring Behemoth, Watain, The Devil’s Blood and In Solitude, while All Shall Perish, Fleshgod Apocalypse and other cool bands announced a tour too.
• Sammy O’Hagar reviewed Lamb of God‘s new album while Gary took a look at new hardcore 7-inches by Daylight, Unholy Majesty and Wrong Answer.
• We realized that Maynard James Keenan poops and pees and eats just like the rest of us.

We’ll be back next week for Axl’s triumphant return to the blogosphere. See you then.

-VN

UPDATE, 4:29 p.m.: MSN/Terrorizer/Decibel scribe Adrien Begrand tells us via Twitter, “I can confirm the Meshuggah tour, I talked to Tomas [Haake, Meshuggah drummer] last night. It’s happening in May.” HOLY SHIT! Major props to Adrien for the info. Follow him on Twitter to thank him, okay?

UPDATE #2, 5:10 p.m.: The PRP now tells us that you can watch the video in which the tour is discussed online right here. The part of the video with the relevant info comes at roughly the 31:40 mark.

Meshuggah just completed a live Q&A video session, and according to reader Dan Wolfson, the band did, indeed, say there was going to do a U.S. tour with Decapitated and Baroness.

We don’t have confirmation of this yet, but if it’s true… holy shit, what an amazing line-up that would be. Unusual, sure — Baroness seem way outta place there, no? — but awesome.

More details as we get ‘em. In the meantime, fingers crossed…

-AR

Ahhh, the Autumnal transition is finally upon us and here in New York the newfound chill in the air has already created a different vibe almost immediately.  No more mugginess, the putrid garbage in the streets isn’t melting into various layers of stench, and hooded sweatshirts are being pulled out of the deep recesses of closets left and right.

We here at MetalSmells are excited to invite you to relish with us the arrival of our favorite season, and remind you to enjoy it while it lasts.  Before too long the icy edge of winter will be shivering our broken collarbones and fiery libidos, so if you’re gonna fall, best get on that right away. 

-KW

Lesson #1: Do not wear a Black Tusk shirt on Christopher Street in the West Village. People get the wrong idea.

Lesson #2: Hiring John Baizley to do your album art is still a good decision. I know some people feel his distinctive style has worn out its welcome, but those people are wrong. Case in point: the cover for Black Tusk’s Set the Dial, which is pretty frickin’ sweet.

Set the Dial comes out October 25 via Relapse.

-AR

NOTE: Yep, I originally said it was Aaron Deal and not Rob Moore. I’m a dope. Apologies.

When Kat Katz split with Salome back in March, I wondered if the band would even try to replace her. And I guess the answer is “No, they won’t,” because now guitarist Rob Moore is in a new band, Auroboros, and on their Facebook page, he is listed as “ex-Salome.” So, the good news, I guess, is that Salome get to go down in history as being one of those bands that did a few really, really killer things, and then quit while they were ahead.

The even better news is that Auroboros — which also includes former Baroness guitarist Brian Blickle — are fucking sweet. No, they don’t sound anything like Salome (they’re much more Baroness-y), but that’s fine, ’cause good luck putting together a new doom band that is superior to Salome, and also ’cause, like I said, Auroboros are frickin’ sweet.

And the bestest news is that Auroboros’ five-song demo is available for free download right here. So you are a goddamn fool if you don’t at least check it out. You can’t even really use lack of hard drive space as an excuse, ’cause you can also just stream the demo. So do it do it do it. You will be glad you did.

-AR

Thanks to Dayv for the tip!

Before there were blogs there were these things called magazines, and the only metal magazine we still get excited about reading every month is Decibel. Here’s managing editor Andrew Bonazelli…

For this week’s FED, I was all ready to write something (more) idiotic (than usual) about how we usually parcel out shirts, six-month subscriptions and Flexi series streams gratis, but this month—for the privilege of hearing the Black Dahlia Murder and special guest Jeff Fucking Walker covering Carcass’s Heartwork deep cut “This Mortal Coil”—you’d have to actually buy the magazine. Well, believe it or not, some enterprising young reader already ripped the fucking thing and posted it to YouTube. Which is cool and all, since we’re not officially streaming it. We’re particularly chuffed by said reader’s Senator Davis-channeling minor complaint “God damnit. I hate when the vocals first start it skips. My flexi must be flawed i cant get it to not skip there… shittttttttttttt.”

Anyway, go there and check it out. Strnad and Walker execute the most scintillating line trading since Marvin Lee Aday and Lorraine Crosby in “I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That).” As always, it’s totally exclusive to the Decibel Flexi series, on commandingly virile royal blue. Sharpen your scalpels (read: set aside some money) and start slicing (read: subscribe).

-AB

Decibel’s July 2011 issue also features Morbid Angel, Coroner, Baroness, Autopsy, Revocation, Wormrot, and an incredible article about album packaging. That issue is available here, but why not get a full subscription to ensure you never miss one of these awesome flexi discs?

Sheesh you are getting old…  The best years and achievements are clearly behind you, and it’s time to give in to the slow ride downhill to mediocrity.

Right?

Hmmm…..let’s hope not.

Regardless of what’s ahead, it’s important to keep remembering where you came from, how your experiences have shaped you, and what to learn from them for the future. Duh.

Case in point: three of our very favorite bands are currently recording new albums, and while the jury may be out on how awesome said follow-ups will be, we have ample opportunity to look back at the past and think about what solid foundations have been built to make way for a healthy and expansive evolution…

Or the new albums may just all suck.  Who fucking knows?

-KW

Before there were blogs there were these things called magazines, and the only metal magazine we still get excited about reading every month is Decibel. Here’s managing editor Andrew Bonazelli…

The only other time Decibel put Morbid Angel on the cover was our fifth issue, in March of 2005. David Vincent had just answered our dark prayers, returning to the fold to “focus on putting together a really brutal tour featuring classic Morbid Angel tracks.” That was radical enough, but what everybody was really rabid for was a new Vincent/Azagthoth collaboration, the first since ’95’s Domination. Predictably, Trey didn’t have much of a scoop for us: “We’re just taking this day by day. It takes so long to put an album together. I don’t think I’m at that point yet.”

Suffice it to say, it took him fucking long enough to get to that point. And in just under two weeks, if you’re not a metal journalist or friend of the band, you’ll finally get a thorough overview of what Tampa’s finest have been slaving away on: the deeply polarizing eighth album, Illud Divinum Insanus. And you’ll learn soon enough if your perspective mirrors the majority of those who have already heard it (mass facepalm) or if Azagthoth’s notorious experimental daring has paid off yet again. J. Bennett grills both principals and gets a pretty fascinating explanation for the startling new direction. It’s the big story in July’s dB, available in the webstore now, for subscribers within two weeks. This one doesn’t have a gushing Mars Volta review (sorry, J.), so it’s an improvement on multiple levels!

-AB

Decibel’s July 2011 issue also features Baroness, Coroner, Autopsy, Revocation, Wormrot, an incredible article about album packaging, and an awesome flexi disc of The Black Dahlia Murder covering Carcass’ “This Mortal Coil” with Jeff fucking Walker. That issue is available here, but why not get a full subscription to ensure you never miss one?

Here’s some sexcellent news: Baroness are currently working on the follow-up to one of my favorite releases of 2009, Blue Record, and they’ve already started posting some demos on their official website (scroll about halfway down the page to watch the videos/teasers). The not-great news is the band is still so early in their process (writing, etc.) and those teasers are so brief and seemingly incomplete that they don’t actually tell us that much about the new music, but presumably something more substantial will follow after the band enters the studio, which we’re told should be sometime this summer.

Go here to check this shit out… more news as we get it.

-AR

Thanks to Joe Caperon for the tip!

Brrrrraaaaaahhhhhh…………it’s 4:20 on 4/20!!!!  Ganjaleel?

Speaking of trippy-hippie-nings — I’ve never been to ten year-old Bonnaroo, but I imagine it’s not too much different from most jamband fests I have attended in my day.  Sure, the ‘roo offers a bit more diversity than its twice-baked counterparts, but c’mon you can’t convince me of your multi-faceted-ness just cuz you got Eminem & The Sword.  Really, Bonnaroo — really?  However, looking over the lineup I can’t just write it off as a larger, more commercialized jamband fest, since the bookers did in fact happen to lock in many indie/alternative acts that are pretty awesome.  So…..let’s call it a draw.

In the metal realm, nitrous abusers can enjoy aforementioned The Sword, Primus, Kylesa, and ultimate stony bros Opeth.  Whoa.

I’d be curious to see how all the white dreadlock’d mofos hacky-sackin at the ‘roo might react to Mikael’s death growl, but naturally the psychedelic-imbibers will revel in the acoustic/heady parts.

“Dude…….this is like, totally hardcore metal — but it’s not…”

Although — Baroness played last year and the kids seemed to dig it.  Wanna see the softest mosh pit ever?

Don’t get too stoned today.

-KW

In brief: Relapse is offering a free sampler for download to anyone who goes to their Facebook page and hits that little ol’ “like” button. As you can see from the track list below, there’s a ton of good shit on it, including new songs from Abysmal Dawn, Red Fang, and Noisear, plus some remastered Death, plus great stuff from Baroness, Revocation, Cephalic Carnage, Dying Fetus, Misery Index, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Brutal Truth, Murder Construct… the list goes on and on. This could very easily be the soundtrack for your New Year’s Eve partying.

Go here to download the sampler. Happy fucking new year.

-AR

With a close sect of the Wingerschmidt clan having settled years ago out in Seattle, I have spent a week or two out in (coffee)Beantown almost every Summer for as long as I can remember. And this week or two is always in August, and I never stick around town long enough to experience this “amazing outdoor music festival, brah” known simply as Bumbershoot.

Each year I peruse the schedule, and each year there are plenty of bands I would love to see, especially all in one place. But alas no — clearly I’m a masochist to some extent — I never allow myself the scheduling openness to get my B-shoot on.

This year is no different. I recently spent a week in the rainy city (and brought the sunshine with me from NYC to boot), and noticed that the lineup for this year’s fest included such greats as soulfunkafrobeatposse The Budos Band, Portland emo-punksters The Thermals, countrified poppy sweetie-pants Neko Case, world-music party brigade Ozomatli, plenty of unexpected legends (Bob Dylan, Solomon Burke, Meat Puppets), and…..BARONESS????? Those dudes gon stick out like a dismembered thumb.

I would imagine it’s quite the double-edged sword to be the only heavy band on such a lineup — on one hand, it’s amazing to reach a whole new audience. On the other hand, it must be frustrating to play to a crowd that surely doesn’t wanna hear yr man-scream. And on a third hand (!) any opposition or wincing due to heaviness/volume/RAWK can also stir up feelings of indignation, which might make for a powerful set. (i.e., “Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me!”)

In any case, if you’re in the Seattle area, be sure to check out some of these bands and more (movies too!); Bumbershoot runs from 9/4-9/6 at the Seattle Center.

More info on their website.

-KW

There’s only so much wanky prog shit a man can take; sometimes he just needs to turn his brain off, smoke a doob, and bang his head. Even me.

Thankfully there are plenty of bands for that too, not the least of which are the bands that comprise the burgeoning retro psych/stoner metal scene (see: Tee Pee Records). While Virginia’s Valkyrie aren’t on the aforementioned stoner label mecca, with their psych rock base and Thin Lizzy / Iron Maiden-inspired leads and grooves they’d fit right in. You might recognize guitarist Pete Adams from his support role in Baroness, but here we see him take the helm with his brother Jake; the ease with which both guitarists’ weave in and out of each others’ lines is the kind of chemistry only a duo that came from the same uterus can harness.

So smoke ‘em if you got ‘em, and kick back to the laid-back, classic metal of Valkyrie on their MySpace page. Their new album Man of Two Visions is out now via MeteorCity Records.

-VN

These are just record covers I thought were great. I like when a CD cover provokes thought and makes me want to interpret what message or messages the artist or band are trying to purvey.

#5 – Behemoth, Evangelion

Done by Polish artist Tomasz Danilowicz, who has worked on Behemoth’s previous albums. This is just bad ass.

Click to read more…

Originally, I had planned on livetweeting this year’s New England Metal and Hardcore Festival for the purposes of turning my pithy comments into some sort of proper show report. Looking back on some of those 140-characters-or-less entries, I realized that there was really no need to do so. Instead, below you’ll find a selection of my most poignant tweets from the two day weekender. Enjoy!

DAY ONE
So nice of @metalsucks to have this limo waiting for me at Union Station. My driver Tito has already taken a shine to me. #nemhf 12:42 PM Apr 23rd

My limo driver Tito and I stopped at Uno’s for a quick bite. I wonder if Rose Funeral refuse to eat here on principle. #nemhf 12:52 PM Apr 23rd

Click to read more…

Of all the cool shit I’ve heard so far this year, not much of it has been of the reasonably-straight-forward rock variety. But Norway’s Kvelertak just changed all that. The band – whose debut album features John Baizley art, in case you couldn’t tell – is streaming a new song, “Offernatt,” on their MySpace page, and it rocks n’ rolls like Fred Flintstone’s car.

Musically, I’m not even sure if it’s fair to call this metal – it’s very much along the lines of harder-edged Baroness. But the vocals are definitely metal. So maybe think about what it might be like if Tomas Lindberg fronted Baroness. And it’s insanely catchy – this might be that good weather music I was looking for. (So, of course, it’s fucking freezing out today.)

As a bonus, the song also comes with guest vocals from Trap Them’s Ryan McKenney. I’m not a big Trap Them fan, but I know a lot of you folks are, and if his presence gets more of you to check this band out, I’m all for it.

Seriously, give this song a listen – it’s pretty cool. Kvelertak’s debut album (which I’m assuming is self-titled, since I can’t find the name listed anywhere and there’s no mention of it in the press release) comes out in Europe on June 21 on Indie Recordings, and… I guess the rest of us will just have to go fuck ourselves. No, I kid. I’m sure it will, ahem, somehow find its ways to our shores sooner rather than later. The band is also touring Europe with Converge and Kylesa, which makes perfect sense.

-AR

Good news, everyone; after being forced to cancel one show and skip another (possibly more?) — at which Baroness’ two guitarists filled in – hospitalized Mastodon guitarist and mustache king Bill Kelliher is back performing with the band on their current U.S. tour with Baroness, Between the Buried and Me and Valient Thorr. Reader Brett S. reported that Kelliher performed with the band Tuesday night in Tucson (though his pot-addled brain couldn’t remember Bill’s name) while uber longtime caller Ryd1ZZ reported the same in San Diego last night. So all appears to be well with Bill… or, at least he’s well enough to perform. Though my ultimate dream of watching guitarists from Baroness, Between the Buried and Me and Valient Thorr fill in for a full set of Mastodon tunes will not come to fruition, I think we can all agree that this is great news.

No official word has been released yet as to why Kelliher was hospitalized in the first place. I’ve heard rumors including conditions as severe as pancreatitis and diabetes, and of course there’s always the old “partied to hard” speculation, but the latter seems unlikely to cause a three-day hospital visit. Whatever the case, if Bill wanted to the world to know, we’d know; so I guess we gotta respect his privacy. Glad to have you healthy and back, Bill.

-VN

Despite guitarist Bill Kelliher’s hospitalization, the show must go on: the band made their scheduled tour stop in Grand Rapids, MI last night, but Bill Kelliher did not perform. MS readers Matt Gaipa and Jared Lucas reported that both Peter Adams and John Baizley from Baroness each performed two songs with the band — “Oblivion” and “Divinations,” then “Quintessence” and “The Czar,” respectively — after which Mastodon finished out Crack the Skye without the assistance of a second guitar player. I’d forgotten that Mastodon are essentially a five-piece these days with a touring keyboard player in tow, so while I’m sure the keys helped fill some of the cracks I’m also sure that Kelliher’s presence was missed (especially during “Sleeping Giant,” if they played it… his delayed guitar intro is essential!). Regardless, both Matt and Jared said that Mastodon absolutely killed it.

Big ups to the boys in Baroness for learning those songs on such short notice and filling in. I wonder if, as the tour goes on and if Kelliher still isn’t able to rejoin the band, the members of Between the Buried and me and Valient Thorr will also chip in towards a full set? That’d be a pretty special thing to see, albeit coming at the cost of someone’s health (which makes it a lot less cool).

No word yet from the Mastodon camp or anyone connected to Bill. Get well soon, dude.

-VN

ADDENDUM from our own Antonin Skullia, Esq.:

According to various eyewitness accounts, Mastodon’s show on Tuesday, April 27th at the Water Street Music Hall in Rochester, NY (with Between the Buried and Me, Baroness and Valient Thorr) was canceled due to guitarist Bill Kelliher’s hospitalization. The show was originally going to be moved to Wednesday, April 28th — an off-date on the tour — but according to the venue website has now been postponed until May due to “ongoing illness with Mastodon guitarist Bill Kelliher.” While Mastodon’s own official site confirms the initial rescheduling to April 28th, it does not comment on the most recent postponement or Bill Kelliher’s condition.

No other information is available. The hospitalization could be linked to the alcohol-related illness that forced Kelliher to sit out the band’s European dates in 2008, but there’s no evidence available to either support or shoot down any such rumors. All we can really do right now is wish Bill a speedy recovery and hope that he’s well enough to continue the tour tonight in Grand Rapids, MI — the band’s just not the same without him.

-VN

Thanks: Bryan Kemp, Alex Johnson