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

High fives all around, dudes and lady-dudes: the itinerary for The Decibel Magazine Tour, the ridiculously awesome trek that features Behemoth in their first U.S. appearances since Nergal laid leukemia to waste + the unfuckwithable support line-up of Watain, The Devil’s Blood, and In Solitude, has been announced, and tickets are available now.

These include special premium packages, of which there are only fifteen available on each tour stop; they  come with your ticket to the show, a tour T-shirt, a tour poster and a super-exclusive “Skip the Line” pass to move you to the front when doors open. Pretty frickin’ sweet, right? AND it costs less than you would spend on a ticket and a tour shirt at the show, AND  every ticket purchased through Top Spin, whether for a premium package or not, will come with a commemorative laminate, AND you’ll be entered to win an ESP Guitar. So, yeah, go snatch those tickets right the hell up.

Dates and tickets are here.

-AR

Thanks to Hetal Bhatt for the heads up!

Thanks to various teases both in print and right here on this very website, we’ve known for sometime that our friends at Decibel were working on their very own tour; and given how awesome Decibel is, we expected that tour to be something pretty special. But now the line-up has been announced, and… WOW. We didn’t realize it would be this special.

The twenty-six date trek is going to be headlined by Behemoth, making their triumphant return to U.S. stages for the first time since Nergal was diagnosed with, and ultimately defeated, leukemia. And while that fact alone should definitely be enough to get you asking “Where do I buy my ticket?”, just to make extra-extra sure that this tour is unfuckwithable, support is going to come from Watain, The Devil’s Blood, and In Solitude.

And now I believe the words you’re looking for are, “HOLY SHIT!”

Speaking about the tour, Nergal himself said, “I’m thrilled… seriously, I am thrilled about the fact we are arriving to US shores again after such a long break. It’s a big deal for us.” Watain’s Erik Danielsson added the following:

Click to read more…

Jesus doesn’t have time to end world hunger or stop war or just return and make his followers shut up about it already, but he does watch Polish reality shows, and he was not happy about Nergal, that Satan worshipping bastard, being a judge on that country’s version of the reality program The Voice (in which some celebrity judges look for the next great blah blah blah). And so, recently, Nergal was fired from that program.

But I guess not before he’d already filmed a few episodes, ’cause now Heavy Blog is Heavy has video of him rocking out to some lady covering Maiden, and giving her some advice, as well. Check it out below.

And here’s the translation of what Nergal was saying (also courtesy of HBiH), in case you don’t, y’know, speak Polish:

Click to read more…

Eyal Levi from Dååth, Levi/Werstler, and Audiohammer Studios has obviously been in this business for some time now, and he’s learned a thing or two about a thing or two. This week, he imparts ten lessons about the music biz — and life in general — to you, our beloved readers, once a day, two installments at a time. You can read the week’s first two lessons here; check out lesson numbers three and four below!

#3: BE UNDENIABLE

I first saw Behemoth live when they toured with Suffocation sometime around 2004. I had only heard of them before that. Needless to say, this band blew me away. The sound was shit, as it always is at that club in Atlanta, but that didn’t matter. They came on stage and OWNED. I was captivated from start to finish of the set. And then I bought a shirt. That is such a rare occurrence that I remember it to this day. For me to go buy a shirt after seeing and hearing a band for the first time is not quite on the level of Haley’s Comet… but in the span of my own meaningless existence, it’s pretty remarkable. Anyways, Behemoth is now an institution in extreme music.

I remember the first time I saw Opeth on the Blackwater Park tour. I had kind of gotten into their music prior to that, but had not solidified my opinion on the band yet. When they finally played, I got this amazing feeling, as though I was watching something historical and religious go down. I had never seen or heard a band produce sounds and transitions and emotions that were so right and so on. I felt like people must have felt when they were first seeing the early metal bands in the 1970’s. I’m not exaggerating one bit. I was completely humbled and a fan for life. Obviously, the rest of the metal world eventually caught on.

Anyone here seen Muse live? I’m a sucker for great musicianship and songwriting, and Muse definitely have an ample amount of both. But that didn’t drive my loyalty towards them until I saw them live. Their show is easily one of the most incredible rock shows ever put on by any band ever ever EVER! To try and describe it will not do it justice. Just go see them. I saw them first in 2005, when they were playing small theaters. They are now headlining arenas. I guess enough people couldn’t deny their power.

Click to read more…

When word got out that Nergal from Behemoth was going to be a judge on the Polish version of the reality show The Voice, a lot of metal fans were, well, baffled. And not just because Nergal is apparently an honest-to-Satan rock star in Poland (whereas, like I was saying on Twitter last week, metal really has no rock stars anymore in this country) — just because the idea of someone so bad-assed participating in something so, well, um, I hate to say it but “lame,” was just kind of a head-scratcher.

But oh hey guess what? Poland continues to be an awful fucking place for freedom of expression, and following more than eighteen months of religious controversy involving Nergal and right wing conservatives in his native country, he has now been fired from from the aforementioned Voice program. Sez Metal Underground:

Click to read more…

From the “News So Good I Still Can’t Believe it’s True” department: Behemoth played their first show since Nergal was diagnosed with, and subsequently defeated, leukemia last year. And while no one from the MetalSucks staff was there, because none of us live in Poland and what are we, made outta money?, but a Polish reader did e-mail us to say “Nie wierzę, że to nie jest masło!” which I think translates to “IT WAS GREAT!” And the pics and cell phone vids that have emerged suggest that the band returned with full mother-effin’ force.

You can check out said pics over at Metal Injection; I’ve posted some videos for ya below and after the jump.

Click to read more…

This weekend, Behemoth will return to the stage for the first time since Nergal was diagnosed with leukemia (if you live in Poland, you can dates here). And, as if to announce their return with the absolute maximum amount of impact and creepiness, the band has now released a totally awesome, totally unsettling video for “Lucifer,” the concluding track from their most recent studio album, Evangelion. I can’t tell you what the hell is going on in the video, but I can tell that as soon as I hit “play,” birds started falling from the sky right outside my window, and all my crops died. Whatever, could just be coincidence.

Check out the video below, although you shouldn’t do it at work, ’cause your co-workers probably will not appreciate the sight of a naked woman drenching herself in blood. Unless you work at Filene’s Basement… that’s place is EVIL!

Metal Blade will reissue Behemoth’s 2006 compilation of the band’s earliest recordings, Demonica, on November 22, complete with two new booklets that will collect rare photos and lyrics for the first time. You can get an mp3 of the track “Summoning of the Ancient Gods” and pre-order the reissue here.

-AR

If you live in North America, it can be easy to forget (assuming you ever even knew) that metal is, like, 1,000,000% bigger in Europe than it is here. Case in point is Nergal, who has not only been the victim of multiple baseless, Tipper Gore-esque attacks from the religious right in Poland, but is also going to be a judge on the Polish version of The Voice,  and now graces the cover of that country’s edition of Newsweek.

I don’t speak Polish, of course, but the always helpful Google Translate tells me the literal translation of the headline is “GOD HORROR HOME*, Polish the Face of the Unknown Devil.” Actually, that “unknown” bit may be the site telling me it doesn’t understand a word. But it’s clear that the story is about Nergal’s aforementioned persecution from uptight Christians. If any of you Polish readers out there (and I know there are a few of you) can offer us a better translation, we’d be much obliged. Also, please tell us what Kate Winslet has to say about Roman Polanski! Sounds juicy.

-AR

*I first saw this on Metal Injection, where one of the MI Junkies says that it’s “Homeland,” not “Home.” SO FUCK YOU, GOOGLE TRANSLATE!!!

I can’t believe that this has been going on for as long as it has, but to review:

• Nergal tore up a Bible on-stage during a performance in his native Poland.
• A conservative Christian sect consequently took Nergal to court, ’cause insulting someone’s religion is actually illegal in Poland.
• Nergal was acquitted of all charges.
• The group appealed and took Nergal back to court.
• And now Nergal has been acquitted again.

And, hopefully, that’s finally the end of this nonsense. Metal Insider points out that the case could be appealed again, but if that happens, I say we invade Poland and take shit over. We’ve done more damage to a foreign country for lesser offenses, so why the fuck not? Everyone needs to get the fuck off of Nergal’s nuts so he can concentrate on important shit, like, y’know, getting one of the best bands in metal today back up and running.

I pray (joke intended) that we never have to write about this BS again, but I guess we’ll wait and see what happens.

-AR

Yay, Vince is back! And guess what? Now it’s my turn to take a vacation! I haven’t had once since the summer of 2006, about six months before we started the site. So, yeah, I’m looking forward to getting away. Try not to miss me too much, m’kay?

And, oh yeah, it’s July 4 weekend, so we’re leaving early today and won’t be here Monday. That might be worth mentioning for non-American readers.

ANYWAY, here’s what we did this week:

• We debuted new music by Exhumed.
• Landphil from Municipal Waste and Cannabis Corpse pondered the CM Punk WWE Raw “shoot.”
• Our pals at Decibel spoke to the members of Cradle of Filth about about their album The Principle of Evil Made Flesh.
• We wondered why teenagers are still butthurt about Hot Topic in 2011.
• We celebrated the Stephen Colbert/Ted Nugent showdown.
• We checked out the first Portnoy-free Dream Theater song.
• We enjoyed some lulz at the expense of Staind and their record label.
• We bemoaned the fact that Behemoth’s Nergal is back on trial for tearin’ up a Bible.
• We celebrated the gloriousness that is the new Mastodon video.
• Best. “Show Us Your MetalSucks.” EVER.

And now it’s time to start partying. Lates.

-AR

I jock Behemoth frontman Adam “Nergal” Darski quite hard always (eg. here and here), but even I neglected to notice that his defamation case was headed back to court on appeal. Last year the case against Nergal was dismissed upon the finding that no crime took place when the adult, human person tore up a religious text in front of an audience of paying, consenting people in 2007. Tough call not really.

But yeah as implied, the case has been appealed up to the Gdansk regional court and today our brah Nergal was again compelled to explain that he shouldn’t be imprisoned for expressing his personal views to people who implicitly requested that he do so. For 90 minutes. On stage and into a microphone. And fuck regardless where the bible-dissing happened, a finding against Nergal is tantamount to religious persecution and I hereby call on world governments and humanitarian organizations to threaten an international boycott of Poland in the event that this horseshit costs Nergal even a minute in jail or a single zloty.

Think about it, Gdansk regional judicial system. You do not want to be the cause of a global halt to your entire nation’s trade of sausages, spring water, and jokes about dumb people. (Behemoth and other metal merchants are exempt from sanction, natch.) Check out Nergal’s finely articulated counterpunches on this crock:

Click to read more…

All photos by Ivo Ledwozyw

We’re a little more than three months away from Behemoth playing their first shows since the mighty Nergal was diagnosed with leukemia last summer. Which, obviously, is fantastic fucking news. The band recently held their first rehearsal for those shows, and posted some photos of that rehearsal on their official webpage; now, normally, I find rehearsal photos to be pretty boring, but this is obviously not a normal situation. Just seeing Nergal up and about with a guitar in his hand seriously warms my heart.

There are more photos after the jump — but first, here’s a statement from Nergal himself regarding the rehearsal:

Click to read more…

We at MetalSucks got first crack at a Q&A with leukemia survivor Adam “Nergal” Darski in late March, at which point the Behemoth frontman sounded pumped for a return to action but still in the early stages of recovery; that is to say, the spirit was willing but the flesh weak, like in that Sting song. Since then, we tireless reporters/nosy jerks have been keeping two eyes on Nergal’s progress on the path to his band’s upcoming shows in October and, natch, to a lasting recovery.

And so we thank Hatebreed singer Jamey Jasta for sharing a pic (above) of himself and Nergal (probably) at the Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards in London on Monday, at which Behemoth took home the Metal As Fuck award over Slipknot, Slayer, Deftones (?), and Zakk Wylde. For that big win, for his birthday on Friday, and mostly for his good and improving health, we say cheers brah! Win!

-ADF

Go here for info on how to help the battle against Leukemia. Here you can order Behemoth’s Abyssus Abyssum Invocat, a collection of out-of-print EPs Conjuration (2003) and Slaves Shall Serve (2005), live bonus tracks, lyrics, and new artwork.

So in October, Behemoth will kick off their first tour since Nergal was diagnosed with, a subsequently successfully completed treatment for, leukemia (read Anso DF’s incredible interview with the singer/guitarist — his first since his diagnosis — here). But as it turns out, those performances will not be Nergal’s very first time back on stage — ’cause that event has this past Friday night, when he did a guest spot with a band I’m not familiar with, Fields of the Nephilim, in Katowice, Poland (video above). Which is obviously GREAT FUCKING NEWS.

Here’s what the man himself had to say about his first time back in front of a crowd:

Click to read more…

In case you somehow missed it, earlier this month, MetalSucks’ own Anso DF conducted the first interview with Nergal since the Behemoth front man was diagnosed with leukemia last year. In that interview, Nergal announced that the band would be doing a tour of Poland this October. And as it turns out, that wasn’t just optimism — Behemoth really are returning to the road in the fall, and have now announced dates for those shows in their native country.

And while you might thinking “OMG MAJOR BUMMER! I don’t live in Poland!”, you should still feel really, really happy about this news, ’cause a) it means BEHEMOTH IS BACK, MOTHERFUCKERS, and b) Nergal said in that same interview that the band would tour the rest of Europe in 2012 and America that same spring, and now it seems that we can accept that declaration as gospel (no Bible joke intended). And while, yes, that’s like a year away, there was a time not-so-long-ago when it seemed as though there never ever being another Behemoth tour could have been a stark reality. So there is really no bad news here, other than that you have to be a little patient. Which beats living in a Behemoth-less world, if you ask me. (Plus, let’s not dick around here — these shows are gonna be fucking sick.)

If you are lucky enough to live in Poland, tour dates are after the jump. The rest of us eagerly await YouTube cell phone videos.

Click to read more…

Last week, MetalSucks mega-hunk Axl Rosenberg and I spoke to producer and Hate Eternal frontman Erik Rutan (interview coming soon!). He gabbed at length with us, and I was super-pumped when he stated that his goal was to eschew uber-precise metal production and embrace the human vibe of older records. I love that! Perfect is perfectly boring. Rutan is the ru-Man! See what I did there?

In this spirit, we take hats off to Hypocrisy’s Peter Tägtgren, also a producer and frontman, whose stomping new Pain jam “Dirty Woman” instigates another nascent extreme metal movement: Rock! Yes let us all rock, even the most grizzled, frowny underground metal purists (cough Axl) alongside party-hardy crotch boys (like me)! And let us pack videos with writhing underwear chicks (knockerz!), a misbehaving and ignored drummer (funny cuz it’s true!), fire (hot!), and a suspiciously chummy pair of man-sized animals (fuck it, sure!). You might be rolling your tr00 eyes at me right now, but I’ll laugh last when a few months from now Nergal from Behemoth returns to the stage with a flying splits off of a fiery drum riser. Suck it!

–ADF

Peter Tagtgren and Pain release You Only Live Twice via Nuclear Blast on June 21.

I know it’s arrogant for us to pat ourselves on the back, but holy shit, did we kill it this week or what?

Here’s what we did:

• We brought you the first interview with Behemoth frontman Nergal since he was diagnosed with leukemia in August.
• We got the exclusive scoop on Melissa Auf der Maur’s collaboration with Shining’s Jorgen Munkeby.
• We debuted new music by Between the Buried and Me, Last Chance to Reason, and Havok.
• We debuted new videos by Protest the Hero and Becoming the Archetype.
• We also spoke to the legendary David Coverdale from Whitesnake.
• We checked out the latest release from Anthrax and Until Your Heart Stops.
• We told you what your favorite metal band says about you… and then we told you again!
• We got excited about the line-up for Summer Slaughter 2011.
• We wondered if Winds of Plague are the new Limp Bizkit.
• We protested shitty metal vocalists.

We aspire to make next week even biggerer and betterer! Check back then to see if we succeeded or not… ’til then, have a great weekend!

-AR

Photo by Agnieszka Krysiuk

Seven months is a long time to hold your breath, but that is what metal fans have been doing since late August when Behemoth frontman Adam “Nergal” Darski was diagnosed with leukemia. Nergal, a formidable opponent to religious zealots and their disregard for his human rights, now was no longer fighting for his liberty, but for his survival. For fans, the announcement was a new and debilitating shock coming mercilessly soon after the losses of Peter Steele and Ronnie James Dio. But both Nergal and his supporters rallied, the former undergoing a successful bone marrow transplant in December and the latter staging an awe-inspiring series of leukemia awareness events. (Believe it, metal people: We are capable of awesomeness.)

But another scare came in late January after an infection landed Nergal back in the hospital. Astoundingly, he and I had planned an interview just prior to this episode; no doubt his determination is illustrated by this desire to get back to Behemoth business mere weeks after a physically- and emotionally-taxing medical procedure. And though I’d been unspeakably eager to ask him a million questions, I could have never anticipated the bombshell nature of our discussion once we finally connected on Tuesday morning. He described to me his current condition (good and improving), his lowest days (“I had some shitty moments”), and his reaction to the outpouring of support (“I had tears in my eyes”). But I didn’t have to start holding my jaw in place until he disclosed that Behemoth has tour plans for this year (!) and more tour plans for next year (!!); that he “expects serious changes” to Behemoth’s music (!) and that he doesn’t plan to employ “the same entourage and the same outfits” on tour (!!); and that the two of us agree on Motorhead (duh!) but disagree on Maiden (huh?). Stop what you’re doing and read the words of a man hobbled but still as strong as the most powerful among us. He may not be healthy, but he must be hell-thy. We love the guy — and we have proof. Nergal is back.

Click to read more…

It’s been a while since we’ve gotten any update on the condition of MetalSucks’ very favorite free speech activist/leukemia survivor/metal stud Adam “Nergal” Darski of Behemoth. So if I’ve seemed a little snippy lately, that’s the reason. I’ve been tense. And I apologize to you. I shouldn’t have yelled at you on Friday for spilling the Skittles. That was wrong of me. But hey, it’s hard to control these ups and downs along Darski’s path to recovery: Great news came back in November when a compatible bone marrow donor was found, and the situation improved further in January upon word of his departure from hospital. But four weeks ago, Darski was re-admitted for an infection and has yet to complete any post-procedure interviews so, man, my imagination is going crazy. Is everything okay? At what stage is his post-op recovery? When can we expect his return to music? Did he get my cookie bouquet?

Well, Wednesday brought a massive sigh of relief cuz Darski looks pretty okay in pics from his visit to a music school in Gdansk where he jammed on a tasty White Falcon. Translated from Musicollecive.pl [all sic]:

Probably many of you are surprised that the musician playing a strong, heavy and dark music also deals with the Jazz, Blues and Country! Here’s Nergal himself with his new love, of course a guitar — cult guitar Gretsch White Falcon! He works for a new project, which will be loud! :)

Adam Darski get well soon! And um call me!

–ADF