For a hot minute Overkill were supposed to be on the currently-in-progress Anthrax/Testament/Death Angel tour, which would have made it the can’t-miss thrash tour of the year, instead of just being a can’t-miss thrash tour (’cause let’s be real, that line-up is still pretty sweet). Unfortunately, they dropped off that tour, and fortunately, it was to record a new album, which, of course, meant it was only a matter of time until they toured again.

Well, hey, guess what? They’re touring again! They’ll hit the road this spring with a bunch of bands of varying degrees of coolness — namely Belphegor, Aborted, Blackguard, System Divide, and Diamond Plate – acting as support. Maybe not quite as cool as seeing them with some other classic thrash bands, but certainly not at all shabby a line-up, either. And, like many of their old school thrash peers, Overkill have been experiencing a renaissance as of late — their last two albums, Immortalis and Ironbound, were both particularly swell. Hopefully the new release will be, too, and the tour will become that much cooler.

Here are dates, courtesy of Metal Injection:

Click to read more…

On October 5, Gothenburg’s power-prog masters, Evergrey, arrived in San Francisco to decimate The Regency Center — and on the off-chance they couldn’t do it alone, they brought along the mighty Sabaton and Blackguard for the ride. Once again, intrepid MetalSucks photographer Miikka Skaffari was there to capture the action for you, our beloved readers — and, and once, he captured that action in style. Check out his awesomer-than-thou pics after the jump!

And while we’re on the topic, our pals over at The Deciblog have an awesome new interview with Evergrey vocalist/guitarist Tom S. Englund. Check that out here!

Click to read more…

Quebecois epic metallers Blackguard just wrapped up a tour with Decide, Neuraxis and Pathlogy. Having a snowball fight with Glen Benton wasn’t the only highlight of the tour; the shows were pretty sweet too, according to frontman Paul Zinay. Paul shares his thoughts on Benton, haters, his band’s new deal with Victory Records and the band’s conscious move away from the folk metal scene in this exclusive MetalSucks interview.

Click to read more…

MetalSucks is oh-so-very happy to be teaming up with RED Distribution to bring you, our most beloved readers, the MetalSucks Fan Pack, which will be available exclusively at all FYE stores starting this Tuesday, April 12. Not only does this limited edition box full o’ metal come with a CD featuring twenty brootal tunes by twenty brootal bands (including Kvelertak, Trap Them, Believer, Napalm Death, TesseracT, Thomas Giles, Deicide and a bunch more) but it also comes with that HOLY SHIT THAT IS SO KILLER t-shirt you see above, which was designed by our friend Rodney Githens from Vertebrae 33 (you might also recognize his work from this sexy t-shirt and this Louvre-worthy poster that he did for us).

How much would you expect to pay for this incredible package? Twenty bucks? Fifteen bucks? Try $9.99. That’s right, gang — twenty songs from twenty bands and that guaranteed-to-get-you-laid t-shirt for under ten bucks.

But wait! There’s more! If you act now and head over to the official MetalSucks Fan Pack web page, you can get a coupon for 30%, which brings the price down to a mere seven dollars. Holy crap, that’s a metsieh if ever there was one.

So go here to get a complete track list of all the bands on the comp, and to use the nifty store-finder to locate the f.y.e. nearest to you. And, oh yeah, you can also enter to win this custom guitar:

So, yeah, that’s pretty fuckin’ bad-assed.

-Axl & Vince

Biggest and best metal release day of 2011 so far? It certainly seems that way. New records from Amon Amarth, Becoming the Archetype, Blackguard, Cavalera Conspiracy — are you kidding me? there’s still more? — Goes Cube, Havok, Mercenary, Obscura and a Between the Buried and Me best-of comp (with a brand new release coming next week!) all officially come out today. If you’re a devoted metalhead with varied tastes you better have saved up, else you’ll be very, very poor come tomorrow.

Vic Vaughn takes a look at all those release — and yes, EVEN MORE — after the break.

Click to read more…

DEICIDE. The very mention of the name strikes fear into the hearts of parents, teachers, religious leaders, politicians, and total fucking pussies everywhere. They are one of the most legendary death metal bands of all time — nay, just one of the most legendary metal bands of all time, period. And on February 15, Century Media will unleash Deicide’s latest catastropiece, To Hell With God, upon the world.

MetalSucks is beyond proud to be debuting a brand new track from that album, the eloquently titled “Hang in Agony Until You’re Dead.” No joke, this is one of those days when we have to pinch ourselves — holy shit, we started this website as a joke, and now we’re debuting a Deicide track. And an AWESOME Deicide track, at that — one that’s just as fucked up and wicked as you’ve come to expect from the band fronted by a dude who burned an inverted cross into his forehead, but that displays the band’s ever-evolving skills as songwriters and musicians, too. And Mark Lewis’ production and mixing gives Deicide a crisp, clear sound they’ve never quite achieved before, without sacrificing any of the nut-crushing heaviness we’ve come to expect from this most venerated of bands.

Check out “Hang in Agony Until You’re Dead” below, and then pre-order To Hell With God here. Believe us when we tell you that the entire album is this good. And don’t forget that Deicide kick off a headlining tour in support of Hell the day of its release, with support coming from Belphegor, Neuraxis, Blackguard, and Pathology; you can get dates after the jump.

[this streaming promotion has ended]

Click to read more…

Can I get a “heck yes!” from all the nerds in the house?

Heck yes!

Reader Daniel Borbet just sent us a link to an event posted at the website of NYC’s Best Buy Theater — formerly the not-at-all-more-appealingly-named Nokia Theater — for a Symphony X show with Nevermore, Soilwork, Powerglove and Blackguard in tow. Yowza, that’s some serious nerdage right there! The show is booked for April 22, 2011 which seems like an eternity from now, but such is the case when foreign bands like Soilwork are involved and visas need to be procured, flights needs to be booked, and so on and so forth.

Click to read more…

I keep forgetting that it’s basically October already, ’cause the weather here in New York has still been, by and large, quite warm — but there ya have it. The year is rapidly drawing to its conclusion.

And so now we’re talking about shows for next year. But at least those shows sound potentially killer.

So. Deicide have apparently completed work on their new album, To Hell with God, which was produced by the great Mark Lewis and should be out sometime next year. While we wait, they’ve announced a headlining trek with support coming from Belphegor, Blackguard, Neuraxis, and Pathology. That is a not-at-all shabby line-up, wouldn’t you say? And it’s DEI-FUCKING-CIDE. You know you wanna go.

Dates after el jumperooni.

Click to read more…

Nevermore’s MetalSucks-presented North American tour kicks off this Thursday in Vancouver. With support coming from Warbringer, Hatesphere, and Blackguard, these shows promise to kick all kinds of ass. And to celebrate, we’re giving away five pairs of VIP tickets to the tour! Here’s how to win:

• In the comments section below, tell us why you wanna see Nevermore live. Vince and Axl will choose their five favorite answers, and the writers of those entries will win a pair of VIP tickets to the show of their choice! Remember that this is MetalSucks, not Reader’s Digest, so the more entertaining your answer, the more likely you are to win.
• Make sure you specify which show you’d like to attend if you win. We can’t help you with transportation, so if you can’t actually get to one of these shows, don’t waste our time, okay?
• Make sure you register for the comments section with a real e-mail address, as all winners will be contacted via e-mail. If you connect to the MS comments section via Facebook, please leave your e-mail address in your comment, as we cannot contact winners via the social network.

And that’s it! Get a complete list of tour dates after the jump… and good luck!

Click to read more…

O, Scar Symmetry. How I love thee unconditionally, even though superman/vocalist Christian Alvestam left to pursue a million other projects that sound just like thee (such as the killer new Solution.45 record). For after all, ’tis Sire Jonas Kjellgren who is the genius of this group, thy prowess which cannot possibly be overcome by the shortcomings of one chump who plays the auto-tune machine and another who plays the cookie monster. For on video, thou dual vocal attack dost look goofy. Very goofy.

Woah, time out… is the bassist wearing a Scar Symmetry hoodie in this video? I know it had to be cold out there… but come on. Party foul.

Catch Scar Symmetry and their simultaneously genius and goofy attack on the MetalSucks co-sponsored tour with Hypocrisy, Hate, Blackguard and Swashbuckle starting next week! Thou shalt not be sorry.

-VN

We’re less than three weeks away from the kick-off of the MetalSucks/Metal Injection co-sponsored A Taste of Divinity North American Tour 2010 with Hypocrisy, Scar Symmetry, Hate, Swashbuckle and Blackguard. And now, as if to give you a little taste of what you might see on that sure-to-be-awesome trek, Hypocrisy have released a new video, “Weed Out the Weak,” which is really just a performance/concert clip, but is a really solid performance/concert clip. Check it out:

The Taste of Divinity Tour starts May 11. Get dates here.

-AR

U.S. IMMIGRATION COULDN’T STOP THEM! Hypocrisy are finally coming to North America to wreak havoc like it’s never been wreaked before! And they’ve got Scar Symmetry, Hate, Blackguard and Swashbuckle with them! EVERYBODY FUCKING RUN! AHHHHHHH!!!!!

In all seriousness: we’re very happy to be teaming up with our hetero life-mates at Metal Injection to be bringing you guys and gals this tour. It’s gonna be an incredible time. Get dates after the jump!!!

Click to read more…

Hypocrisy were s’posed to follow-up the November release of their excellent new album, A Taste of Extreme Divinity, with a North American tour – with Children of Bodom’s Alexi Laiho playin’ the gee-tar, no less. We were super stoked for that tour, but unfortunately, the swine in U.S. immigration wouldn’t let Peter Tagtgren and company into the country, presumably because The Man wants us all to keep fighting each other so we don’t notice that He’s screwing us, and He knew that a North American Hypocrisy tour could maybe, just maybe, bring peace and love to the huddled masses. Either that, or the band’s paperwork wasn’t quite in order. But either way, it blew goats.

Luckily, it seems that Hypocrisy’s problems are now behind them, and they’ve announced another North American tour. And while, unfortunately, it seems like Laiho won’t be in tow this time out, they will have Hate, Blackguard and Swashbuckle with them. So that’s not bad.

Get dates after the jump.

Click to read more…

If you read this site regularly you know I’m fascinated with temporary team-ups, like Dave Lombardo playing drums for Metallica or Doc Coyle playing guitar for Lamb of God. I just love these little glimpses into some alternate reality where great bands traded great musicians.

So here’s a good one: according to Metal Underground, Children of Bodom’s Alexi Laiho will be playing guitar with Hypocrisy on their upcoming North American tour.

Says Hypocrisy mastermind Peter Tagtgren:

Click to read more…

Ahh, Michigan. We have lakes. Big fucking lakes. We used to have a booming car industry, but unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past six months, you need not an explanation of why I won’t be speaking of that in this article. Besides, we harbor a little music festival every summer called Dirt Fest, a metal get together a few hours outside of Detroit, founded by two dudes looking to showcase their own band. Dirt Fest quickly became the summer festival for local bands looking for recognition and inspiration. It wound up becoming comparable to the one hot chick at the party which turned out to be a sausage fest – she ends up having such a good time that she lets everyone have a turn.

Anyhoo, thirteen lucky summers later and Dirt Fest is rocking a roster that has, in the past, included bands like The Dillinger Escape Plan and The Black Dahlia Murder. Obviously something is working if these bands are rolling through, so I decided to finally go check it out this year. Armed with nothing but a delicious bottle of Jagermeister and a set of tits everyone at the MetalSucks Mansion is dying to get a look at, I embarked on what turned out to be a very interesting day. My mouth already tasted like booze before noon…

Click to read more…

Is it already that time of year? Holy shit, it is! The second annual run of the MetalSucks-sponsored Paganfest USA tour kicks off tomorrow in Toronto and runs through May 18th all over the U.S. and Canada! This is huge news for the following reasons:

1. You finally get to dust off that old viking helmet that’s been lying around since last year’s Paganfest.
2. You get to drink lots of beer, repeatedly pump your fist in the air and yell “hey!,” and generally act like an asshole at a concert without feeling bad about it.
3. You get to see this year’s lineup of ridiculously awesome pagan metal bands: Korpiklaani, Primordial, Moonsoorow, Blackguard and Swashbuckle.
4. Last year’s Paganfest was the most fun we had at a show all year; for serious!

We’ll be at the New York date on Monday, May 4th at Irving Plaza. Brownie points to anyone who dresses up in warpaint and loincloths. Bonus: after the jump, check out the chill-inducing Metal Injection-filmed live footage of Turisas performing “Rasputin” at last year’s Paganfest.

Click to read more…

So the line-up for Summer Slaughter – a.k.a. the big summer package tour that isn’t Ozzfest, Mayhem, Warped, or Sounds of the Underground (R.I.P.) – has been announced, and, pretty much as expected, it’s totally solid. Yes, there are a few bands on the bill I don’t care for (I’m looking at you, Winds of Plague), but the presence of co-headliners Suffocation and Necrophagist, plus Darkest Hour, Origin, Born of Osiris, Dying Fetus and Blackguard pretty much guarantees this will be a day (well, late afternoon at least) worth your time and money. Especially since, unlike the aforementioned summer fests, this one plays smaller venues and comes at a cheaper price.

Also kind of advantageous: you’re basically just dealing with death metal on this tour. So… you pretty much know if you’re the audience or not for this tour.

No dates yet… stay tuned for more details.

-AR

We’re big fans of pagan metal here at the MS Mansion. BIG fans. Just last night Sammy O’Hagar waltzed in at about 5pm, still drunk and rowdy from the night before (!), dressed in a full get-up of warpaint and animal skins. Obviously there was no other choice at that point but to hand over control of the MS Mansion Mothership to the capable hands of the monkeys, so we put on Turisas’ The Varangian Way and started the party right back up again for the ol’ chap; the freight train kept rolling until at least 4am. Last thing I remember is Kip jumping on top of Axl’s desk and screaming something about “Battle!” and how we need to take vengeance against the other metal websites that constantly rip us off. As I type this, Sammy’s passed out in the bathtub clutching a bottle of Jim Beam while DBR and Satan Rosenbloom are snuggling in my bed; I had to sleep on the couch. Those fucking assholes.

Click to read more…

The second annual run of the MetalSucks-approved Paganfest USA tour — which one month ago announced it would include Primordial, Eluveitie, Moonsorrow and Blackguard (formerly Profugus Mortis) — has now announced the final lineup. Finnish folk-metallers Korpiklaani, whom to Kip W.’s dismay I once described as “Tetris metal,” will round out the bill along with New Jersey’s own Swashbuckle. If you can’t closely guess what a band called Swashbuckle might sound like, I suggest you get that eyepatch adjusted.

For more info check out the official Paganfest USA MySpace page. Dates are still TBA. Also check out the MySpace pages of Korpiklaani and Swashbuckle to dabble in the pagan/folk metal awesomeness.

-VN

I don’t know about you kids, but the inaugural run of Paganfest USA was the most fun I had at a show all year in 2008. Turisas, Ensiferum, Eluveitie and Tyr absolutely killed it, and the entire room was pumping their fists in the air to every song. And, oh yeah, we drank copious amounts of booze. My only regret: I didn’t wear a Viking costume.

Fortunately for me and my Viking gear, Paganfest USA will live on in 2009! Dates have yet to be announced, but the 2k9 incarnation will include Primordial, Eluveitie, Moonsorrow and Blackguard. See you there!

-VN