FEATURING MEMBERS OF ARCH ENEMY, THAT METAL SHOW, BLACK ANVIL, ABIGAIL WILLIAMS, AND LEPROUS

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!

Click to read more…

Alright, so not to sound like a total dick, but people send us link to a lot of other metal blogs — and I do mean a LOT of other metal blogs — and, frankly, the vast majority of them are fucking terrible. I mean, I often can’t even make it through an entire single article, either because the writing is so bland, or because calling the writing “writing” is like calling lettuce “steak,” or both.

So I do not mean it as small praise to say that I am in-fucking-love with The Angry Black Metal Elitist (Slogan: “FUCK YOUR MALLCORE MUSICAL TASTES!”).

Here’s The Angry Black Metal Elitist on…

Click to read more…

IT’S HERE! IT’S FINALLY HERE!!! Volume 1 of NYC Sucks, the completely free comp we’ve compiled to spotlight some of the best metal bands currently dominating the New York metal scene. This volume features fourteen songs by as many bands, who run the gamut of genres, from death to tech to prog to grind to black to hardcore to doom and more. We truly feel that this is a great sampling of all that New York’s thriving metal scene has to offer, and we’re beyond proud to be sharing it with you — absolutely, 100% free of charge.

You can stream, or, better yet, just download the comp below. It contains high-quality 320kbps MP3s, and as well as a PDF of digital liner notes with information about all the bands. Please help get the word out… send the comp to your friends, put it up on torrent sites, submit it to .rar Mediafire blogs… just spread the friggin’ music by any means necessary!

And don’t forget that Volume 2, featuring thirteen more great bands and songs, will be out on February 22nd!!!

—> DOWNLOAD NYC SUCKS VOLUME 1 HERE <—
(includes 320kbps MP3 files, Album Cover, PDF Liner Notes)

1. East of the Wall, “The Ladder”
2. Made out of Babies, “Invisible Ink”
3. Tiger Flowers, “Cuts”
4. Black Anvil, “The Evil of All Roots”
5. Naam, “Frosted Tread”
6. Batillus, “The Children of the Night Make Their Music”
7. Meek is Murder, “Sundowners” (demo)
8. The Binary Code, “Encircled”
9. Castevet, “Stones”
10. Hung, “Desert of Sad”
11. Wizardry, “The Falconer”
12. Pyrrhon, “King of All Tears”
13. Mutant Supremacy, “Epitaph”
14. Incendiary, “Victory in Defeat”

Banner Designed by Cysquatch

Welcome to “Question of the Week,” a (sometimes) weekly debate amongst the MetalSucks staff regarding a recent hot button issue.

This week, we have our first ever reader-suggested QOTW, coming from MetalSucks Maniac Cougar Party:

WHAT BANDS DO YOU HATE THAT YOU HAVE SEEN LIVE MULTIPLE TIMES BECAUSE THEY ARE ALWAYS OPENING FOR SOMEONE YOU LIKE?

The MS staff’s answers after the jump.

Click to read more…

My favorite parts of the new Black Anvil song, “The Evil of all Roots,” have bounce. Obviously not, like, deathcore/Panteradactyl-style bounce, but, y’know, they make me wanna bob my head. In my old age, when a night of headbanging can easily lead to a chiropractor visit, I increasingly appreciate a good head-bob, y’know?

ANYWAY, the song is streaming over at Stereogum, and comes off of Black Anvil’s forthcoming Triumvirate. And I guess I haven’t been reading my press releases very carefully, ’cause that same site tells me that Triumvirate was recorded by Twisted Sister’s Mark Mendoza, which has to be one of the crazier intersections of metal history I’ve heard about in awhile. Black Anvil don’t wear corpse paint, but I can’t exactly picture Paul Delaney in pink stockings and football pads, y’know?

Triumvirate comes out September 28 on Relapse. Don’t forget that we’re streaming another song, “Scalping,” right here at MetalSucks.

-AR

Yesterday Sergeant D. made a joke about MetalSucks being 25% owned by Epitaph Records. I don’t know why we always foolishly assume that people will understand jokes like that, but they often don’t. And so we saw some comments where people were confused, and we got some e-mails from readers, and even a few from industry types who thought we had sold part of MetalSucks. So it may or may not please you to know that MetalSucks is still 100% owned by Vince and myself. And in the future, if you see something on here that seems kinda weird and ridiculous — e.g., that we’re not partially owned by a record label, or Gary Suarez taking all the credit for a band’s success, or whatever — please just take a moment to ask yourself, “Hey, could these dudes be kidding around?” ‘Cause, y’know. We’re very rarely serious. Except about Valtrex. We’re deadly serious about that.

Speaking of herpes, we’re shutting down early today to go enjoy the long Labor Day weekend. We’ll be closed Monday, but we’ll resume our usual suckiness on Tuesday. We have a whole heap of more premieres, cool contests, and interviews, and all manners of sarcastic assholism, so don’t drink so much this weekend that you forget about us, okay? And in the meantime, here’s a run-down of some fun we had this week:

• We debuted a new song by Daath, and a new song by Black Anvil, and a new video by Insidious Disease.
• Cooking Contaminated is back, y’all! Now with 100% more Rosetta.
• We spoke to Slayer’s Dave Lombardo, Saviours’ Scott Batiste, and everyone in Eyes Set to Kill.
• We checked out new releases by Stargazer, and Turbid North and Otargos.
• They say there are no atheists in the foxholes, but there is Nergal.
• Speaking of religion, this nice lady reverend thinks churchgoers could learn from metal.
• We pondered the meaning of Iron Maiden breaking their sales record.
• Dave Mustaine announced a Big Four U.S. tour from the stage.
• Even though, in the words of Anso, metalheads are “supposed to intimidate and discomfit the squares,” we think the death metal cat burglar went a little too far.
• We saw Kvelertak’s kvelertaks.

Now…TO THE BAR!

-AR

The release of Triumvirate, the new album from New York’s own Black Anvil, is still a month away. But because your uncles Vince and Axl love you so much, we’re giving you a taste of the album right now, in the form of the track “Scalping,” which you can stream below. Black Anvil are perhaps that rarest of commodities — an American band that makes actual, Honest-to-Satan black metal on par with any European band. And since they first started to really work their way into the spotlight last year, they’ve become one of those bands that EVERYONE talks about. Before we ever heard a single note, we had people coming up to us and e-mailing us and telling us how awesome this band is. If for some reason you still haven’t experienced them for yourself, now’s a good time to get started — ’cause “Scalping” will scalp you.

Triumvirate will be released via Relapse on September 28. Pre-order it here.

[this promotion has ended]

Three cheers for Crack Hitler, who I think did a very admirable job of running the site on Friday. Sure, he only did six posts, but as I understand, he has a very busy job working at a hospital, which is certainly far more noble and important than running a snarky metal blog. And he brought some excellent music to our attention. Crack Hitler, sir, I applaud you.

Now back to the regular shit. Here are two cool tours that were announced while we were letting a reader from Perth call the shots:

• The Black Dahlia Murder have announced a headlining tour with Goatwhore and Arkaik. I don’t know Arkaik, but you had me at “Black Dahlia Murder and Goatwhore.” Vince has never seen BDM do a full headlining set, and, by Satan, I am going to make sure he finally breaks that cherry, ’cause these dudes kill live. These shows will provide enough fun to justify enduring all the B.O. that comes with a modern death metal sausage fest. Get dates here.
• Speaking of Goatwhore: For obvious reasons, Behemoth had to cancel their headlining run with Watain, Black Anvil, and Withered, so the former two bands are now doing their own tour with the sluttiest of all capra aegagrus hircus. Which, even without Behemoth and Withered, is still a really, really kick-ass line-up.  Get dates from The PRP.

-AR

“Dead and Left,” the ripping new song “Dead and Left” from Black Anvil‘s forthcoming Relapse release Triumvirate, has restored my faith in this three-pronged NYC metal troupe!

Call it Black Anvil fatigue, but over the past year or year-and-a-half it seems like Black Anvil have been an opening band on every show EVER to play NYC. Not that I can fault the guys for trying to hawk their wares wherever possible, but it just grew tiresome. So when a press release from Relapse announced they’d posted a new song, my thoughts of “meh” were quickly converted to “sweet!” as soon as I actually took a listen. Now I’ll actually be psyched to see them when they open for Behemoth, Watain and Withered this coming winter.

“Dead and Left” shows a much groovier, stonier, slower side to a band that’s known for up-beat, energy-filled black metal. I really like the change in direction, though of course it’d be premature to judge an entire album based on one song; I’m relatively certain Triumvirate won’t throw the band’s blackened roots by the wayside. We’ll find out when it’s released on September 28th. In the meantime, listen to “Dead and Left” here.

-VN

That’s right, kiddies… Behemoth are gonna heat up your winter with some blazing hot metal forged deep in the fires of Hell! (Actually, Poland. But still.) If you’ve seen Behemoth live before, you know what a, well, behemoth of a show they put on; if you haven’t, you must hate yourself or something, and here’s your chance to remedy the situation. Plus they’re bringing Watain, Withered, and Black Anvil out with them! This is the kind of tour you dream about: four of the dingiest, dirtiest, most evil-sounding bands on the planet, all on one bill. We are so proud to be associated with this tour, we can’t even begin to tell you.

And as if that wasn’t great news in and of itself, Behemoth have also just revealed to MetalSucks that they’ll be releasing a live DVD called Evangelia Heretika this fall (date to be announced soon) so even those who aren’t able to attend the tour can get their fix of live Behemoth. A special pre-order package is available now for only $66.60 that includes 1 ticket to the show, 1 copy of the DVD, a tour poster, and a meet and greet with the band at the show; order here!

Dates and links to buy tickets, along with the album cover for Evangelia Heretika, after the jump!

Click to read more…

The MetalSucks co-sponsored Eyehategod headlining trek with Nachtmystium, Brutal Truth, and Black Anvil starts tomorrow in Orlando, and as if EHG alone weren’t enough to lure you to a gig, well, this oughta do the trick. Zena Metal – somehow scooping us on news about a tour we’re sponsoring!!! - reports that for $40, you can purchase what is pretty much the best VIP package ever: “a BBQ, soundcheck access, a meet & greet and a limited-edition poster.”

Again, that’s for forty bucks. So for literally hundreds of dollars less than you’d pay for a VIP package to Ozzfest or whatever other big-name tour you’re planning on going to this summer, you can eat (hopefully?) good food, hang out at soundcheck, meet the band, go home with a souvenir, and not be married by some guy you’ve never heard of. Holy shit, that is awesome.

Click to read more…

Now ten years since originally forming, The Hope Conspiracy is still killing it. The band’s latest release was this year’s True Nihilist, a killer three-song EP showcasing the savage yet smart hardcore that we’ve come to expect from the band. No official word yet on when we’ll see a proper (and overdue) full-length follow-up to 2006′s Death Knows Your Name, but you can ask the guys yourself during their upcoming flurry of European and American tour dates this coming January. Opening acts for these shows vary, but include Nails (the latest project from Todd Jones, formerly of Terror and Carry On) and fellow Deathwish acts (and my Best Albums of 2009 picks) Blacklisted, Lewd Acts, and Rise And Fall. The New York date (flyer above) boasts an especially awesome lineup of hardcore supergroup United Nations, black metal locals Black Anvil, and Pennsylvania’s Mother Of Mercy, as well as the aforementioned Blacklisted. All dates below, with ticketing info when available.

Click to read more…

After Corey Mitchell’s perfect review of their album Executioner, how could we resist running a tour blog from Mantic Ritual guitarist Jeff Potts? Read his first installment below, and if you’re very well behaved, others will follow…

Right now I’m sitting back stage at the Masquerade in Atlanta with the peculiar kind of sore throat that only comes from prolonged screaming and generally abusing the hell out of the vocal chords.  This doesn’t sound that weird for a guy who’s in a  thrash band on a black metal tour, but it’s actually pretty odd – because I’m the guitarist.

Click to read more…

The MetalSucks-sponsored U.S. Plague Tour 2009 — featuring Marduk, Nachtmystium, Mantic Ritual, Merrimack, and on select dates Black Anvil — is currently under way. The tour kicked off Friday in Worcester, MA, runs through the South, up the West Coast, and then cuts back through the Midwest, ending December 16th in New York. In a cluttered Fall tour marketplace, this is one that definitely stands out from the pack. Must-attend!

And if you didn’t hear, Nachtmystium’s Black Meddle Part II is currently in the works. By now pre-production should be complete and recording will supposedly begin in January for a Spring release. Stoked!

Full list of tour dates — with ticket buy links — after the jump.

Click to read more…

Photographer Jason Nakleh was on hand at the Skeletonwitch / Black Anvil show this past Saturday in Brooklyn, part of the 3-day “Blackened Weekend” festival at which we saw a ton of awesome bands. We unfortunately had to miss Saturday’s show, but Jason was kind enough to contact us and let us live vicariously through his photos, offering to let us share them with our readers as well. We like the unique quality of these photos — dirty and raw, just like the bands. Check out the gallery after the jump.

Click to read more…

Some people are talented. Some people are awesome. An even rarer breed happens to be both talented and awesome. Photographer Justina Villanueva is one of those people. If you go to metal shows in New York or New Jersey, you may have noticed this diminutive young lady snapping pics of some of your favorite acts. You may have seen her work on websites like ours (ex. Alice In Chains at Irving Plaza) and BrooklynVegan (ex. Converge at Europa).

Now’s a great time to acquaint yourself with Ms. Villanueva’s work, as she has just released the premiere issue of her self-titled zine. Issue 1: Basements, Blood and Noise features spectacular shots of bands like Black Anvil, Burnt By The Sun, Marduk, Municipal Waste, and Poison The Well, as well as the aforementioned AIC. Whether you’re an old fucker like me or a youngster that has never so much as seen a zine, I strongly recommend that you buy yourself a copy.

-GS

[Gary Suarez is a lover of fine art. He usually manages Wholly Diver (a Dio tribute site) and the consistently off-topic No Yoko No. Say, why don't you follow him on Twitter?]

This past weekend was “The Blackened Weekend” here in NYC, a 3-night series of metal shows put on by the same folks behind the Mastodon / Neurosis show a couple of winters back and the Pig Destroyer / Brutal Truth / Repulsion joint this past summer. Krallice headlined Friday’s show with support from Liturgy, Malkuth and Orphan, while Black Anvil teamed up with Skeletonwitch to destroy the very same venue (Brooklyn’s Union Pool) on Saturday night. Last night’s weekend-ending show was the grand poobah of The Blackened Weekend headlined by the grand poobah of doom supergroups, Shrinebuilder. The band put on an energetic show to a packed house at Manhattan’s Le Poisson Rouge — a curious choice of venue for a metal show but by no means a bad one — that, as expected, highlighted elements of all of the band-members’ respective “other” bands in the best possible way.

Friday night’s Krallice show was a rager — Union Pool was packed to the gills and even spawned a moshpit, a rarity for these types of shows. Though I had some difficulty with Krallice’s recent release Dimensional Bleedthrough, the band absolutely smoked live and proved that their show-stealing set at last winter’s Scion Rock Fest wasn’t an anomaly. Check out some fan-filmed footage from right up-front below; I doubt anyone’s going to sit through all 20 minutes, but at least watch a sample or let the audio play in the background while you go about your morning routine. The audio quality is even pretty decent.

-VN

Krallice | NYC @ Union Pool | Friday 13th November 2009 from (((unartig))) on Vimeo.

Nachtmystium’s Black Meddle, Pt. 1 was one of the best albums of 2008, ending up at the top or near the top of most MS staffers’ top ten lists that year. So, naturally, Nachtmystium fans everywhere have been asking the question, “Hey, where the fuck is Black Meddle, Pt. II?”

Well, hey, guess what? The band has issued an update to that very query on their MySpace page:

Click to read more…

A lot of people are bummed that Burnt By The Sun are calling it quits. Thankfully, the New Jersey metallic hardcore act chose to leave us with the robust and raging Heart Of Darkness, a furious swansong released just a couple months ago on Relapse, amicably ending a seven-year recording relationship with the label. If you don’t own it yet, and you purport to enjoy heavy music, you are truly missing out. Read Sammy O’Hagar’s review if you need further convincing.

Perhaps as a nod to the band’s popularity abroad, on October 7th Burnt By The Sun kick off a series of farewell dates in Europe, beginning in The Netherlands and ending two-and-a-half weeks later in, uh, The Netherlands, with cities like Athens, Berlin, London, Prague, and Vienna in the middle. Americans, however, will get one final shot to shower the band with adulation and sweat this Friday October 2 in New York City at Cake Shop. Supporting the band on this bill are some great local bands (Bloodhorse and Torchbearer) and some Relapse labelmates, namely Tombs (whose album I revisited and now love) and MetalSucks favorites Black Anvil. There wont be advance tickets, so get there early. I’ll be there drinking profusely and waving goodbye!

-GS

[Gary Suarez is fun on a bun. He usually manages the consistently off-topic No Yoko No. Say, why don't you follow him on Twitter?]

Those in the NYC area, pay close attention: TONIGHT, there is a very, very special MetalSucks co-sponsored Tones of Death show going down at Fontana’s in Manhattan. Observe:

• Black Anvil CD release party (download “Margin For Terror” for free here)
• MetalSucks local faves The Binary Code are opening.
• Special guest DJ is Brian Fair from Shadows Fall
• There is a super-awesome, super-secret special guest band giving a surprise performance. We can’t tell you who this super-secret special guest is, but we promise you that you’ll be very, very sorry if you miss this opportunity.
• THE SHOW IS FREE!
• There will very likely be free alcohol of some kind.

See? The madness starts at 8pm, and the show is 21+. See you there!