Props to Heavy Blog is Heavy for catching this interesting update from Sumerian Records’ official Facebook page:

As HBiH notes, this sounds like it’s going to be a release (or releases) in the vein of Roadrunner United and Nuclear Blast All-Stars — basically a “who’s who” team-up of musicians signed to the label. Those offerings actually ended up being, by and large, pretty cool (I mean, of course there were some missteps, but I don’t look back at those albums and think, “Well, that was ill-advised”), and Sumerian’s current roster is one of the strongest in metal (The Faceless, Animals as Leaders, Periphery, Veil of Maya, After the Burial, etc., pretty much make up for their creatively vapid bands like Asking Alexandria and Upon a Burning Body), so it makes sense that they’d wanna do something like this.

Question is… what form, exactly, will it take? I almost don’t care, as long as Bizzy Bone is involved. Hey, it could happen.

-AR

When Sumerian Records announced they’d signed Bone Thugs-N-Harmony’s Bizzy Bone to a recording contract this past July I predictably ridiculed the move and made a joke that we’d likely soon see Bizzy Bone opening up for The Faceless on their next tour.

Well, seems that I wasn’t too far off. This footage of Bizzy Bone performing live in California is actually from June 12th, before the signing was announced, but that’s Tosin Abasi of Animals as Leaders on guitar. AAL aren’t on Sumerian but Abasi’s ties with the label run deep; he filled in on guitar for Sumerian signees Born of Osiris on tour in 2009 and his frequent collaborator Misha Mansoor’s band Periphery is signed to Sumerian, just to name a couple of connections.

Unfortunately the sound on this video is pretty poor, but a few of Tosin’s leads do shine through. Now… an Animals as Leaders shred cover of “Tha Crossroads”… that’s something I’d pay to hear!

-VN

Thanks: Binary Code guitarist Jesse Z.

This is not quite what I meant when I coined the term Sumeriancore.

But Sumerian Records founder Ash Avildsen had this to say about his label’s recent signing of the iconic member of Bone Thugs N’ Harmony:

While we have been making a meaningful impact on the current state of heavy music, the true theme to Sumerian has always been about progressive music, not just metal. Bizzy Bone is one of the most progressive vocalists I have ever heard! Known in his genre for being the fastest yet the most melodic, the most technical yet the most harmonic, the marks Bizzy has left in music are something I will always love. The fact that Bizzy and Bone Thugs all booked one way Greyhound tickets to LA and lived on the streets until they were able to get discovered and signed is true artist dedication to their craft. This same spirit is something that has allowed many Sumerian bands to organically build their careers and achieve their dreams.

Well alrighty then. I don’t exactly think “progressive” or “technical” when I think of “Tha Crossroads,” but um, ya know, they were definitely very influential to a certain kind of music so there’s that.

Expect to see Bizzy Bone opening up for The Faceless any day now.

-VN