A bunch of people asked me why I didn’t do a Best Of 2011 list, and the answer is simple: I am a futurist! I don’t care about the past because I’m a lot more interested in what’s coming next. If you have to know what the best progressive djentstep cassette-only release of the year was, I’m sure there is a 200+ comment post that will give you more than enough detail on it. But if you want to know what the Next Big Thing will be, keep reading for my 2012 STATE OF THE SCENE ADDRESS!

In a nutshell, there is nothing more trendy this year than being tr00. MySpace is long dead, and while some of the bands that flourished on the site are still around, they’re dying along with the scene that surrounds them. Neon merch, generic deathcore and crabcore are out; ‘real hardcore,’ old-school death metal, and djent are in. Yesterday’s scene kid is today’s hipster/metal nerd, and in what should be welcome news to MS readers, it’s cool to be an elitist snob!

That said, scene isn’t quite dead. There are still plenty of kids in skinny jeans who love Asking Alexandria, Black Veil Brides are still moving units, and you can still spot the odd pair of ice cream DC high tops here and there. Expect 2012 to be an awkward transition year where new meets old, sort of like 1992 when Nirvana, Ugly Kid Joe and Kriss Kross all charted.

After the break: a scientific model of the scene, and what to expect from music, fashion, and media in 2011!

Click to read more…

What do Mormons and Finns have in common? Why, they both love Bring Me the Horizon, of course!

Last month, Bring Me the Horizon vocalist Oli Sykes called out a bunch of hecklers at a show in Salt Lake City, Utah, and those hecklers responded by rushing the stage and attacking the band; then, this past Sunday, the band was playing in Helsinki, Finland, where, once again, they found themselves the victims of heckling from the crowd — only this time, guitarist Jona Weinhofen decided to bring the fight to the fans, leaping into the audience and attacking some dude, Axl-Rose-in-Indiana-in-’91 style. But it was a way good idea to teach that dumb heckler a lesson, because he totally showed that dude who’s boss and deterred future hecklers, and did not break his hand, thereby endangering the nineteen remaining dates of the tour. Oh wait.

To Weinhofen’s credit, he’s apparently going to “attempt to gig tonight playing with only 2 fingers on a broken hand,” according to his Twitter account. (I don’t know how the hell you play guitar with two fingers, but maybe BMTH songs really are that easy to perform.) Not to Weinhofen’s credit is that this is absolutely the wrong way to deal with a heckler, and now the band’s actual fans may not get to see them at all. So, yeah, losing his temper was, like, totally worth it.

Here’s video of the fight, in case you’re interested:

-AR

Thanks: Jesse

Guys, I have to admit, I am enthralled by the new Bring Me the Horizon video, for the song “Alligator Blood” (above). Not because I think the song or video are especially good — the song, like all BMTH, is generic metalcore, and the video is above-average but not at all mind-blowing or anything. No, I am enthralled mostly because there are so many different metaphors at play in the song and video that I have no clue what concept the band was actually trying to express, and I’m not convinced that they did, either.

Click to read more…

Happy birthday, Reign in Blood! We love you. You don’t sound a day over one.

Here’s some other things that happened this week which are worth celebrating:

• We started the countdown to The Metal Suckfest.
• We debuted new music by Immolation and a new video by Early Graves.
• Devin Townsend and Textures’ Jochem Jacobs and Bart Hennephof took us through their live rigs.
• GWAR’s David Brockie discussed the NFL, Daath’s Eyal Levi discussed getting the fuck out, and God Forbid’s Doc Coyle discussed how the times, they are a changin’.
• We spoke to Mike Muir from Suicidal Tendencies, Mother of Mercy’s Bob Wilson, and directors Sean Dunne and Kenneth Thomas.
• We checked out new releases by Ghoul and Taake and Craft.
• Sergeant D. became the most popular feminist in metal.
• Bring Me the Horizon’s Oli Sykes had a bad week.
• We mourned the death of the album intro track.
• We wondered if Mastodon’s live vocals are getting better.

Now go crank some Slayer.

See ya Monday.

-AR

Earlier this week, Bring Me the Horizon’s Oli Sykes was attacked by a pack of rabid Mormons. But compared to this story — which is so awful as to be almost unbelievable — that’s really just a blip on the radar of fucked-up-ness.

Because apparently a twenty year-old British McDonald’s employee named David Russell has been convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the kidnapping and attempted murder of American nineteen year-old Maricar Benedicto… after claiming to be the BMTH vocalist.

The Daily Mail reports that that Benedicto — who met Russell over Facebook — knew that he “was not who he initially claimed to be before she flew to Britain,” which makes sense, because they do not look even mildly similar:

But for whatever reason, Benedicto chose to trust this nutjob — who is apparently “borderline autistic” – anyway. And that’s when things got really, really terrible.

Click to read more…

So Bring Me the Horizon, a very mediocre band that a lot of you seem to love for reasons that are beyond me, played in Salt Lake City last night — home of Mormonism and, thus, sodomy — and some of the folks in the crowd started heckling the group and throwing shit at them. Needless to say, vocalist Oli Sykes did not appreciate this behavior, and said as much, which, in turn, a bunch of the hecklers used as an excuse to rush the stage and attack the singer. You can watch video of the incident below.

Click to read more…

Have you ever noticed that the bands who metal nerds fawn over today were universally-despised rage magnets just a few short years ago? For example, trashing Pantera in 2011 is asking to get chased with torches and pitchforks — the polar opposite of 1993, when you would be hard-pressed to find a band that metal nerds hated more. Or how everybody jizzes over Suffocation now, but in the mid-90s you couldn’t read two pages of Metal Maniacs without someone pissing and moaning about “Suffoclones.” Are metal nerds crazy, or is there some rhyme and reason to their seemingly-contradictory behavior?? I believe that there is indeed a way to understand metal nerds, but it’s not what you might think!

Psychologists have long compared metal nerds to women. The similarities are certainly undeniable: like the fairer sex, they are fickle, emotional, and irrational. They even have long hair! However, my research suggests that, unlike women, they actually operate by a primitive form of logic and are highly predictable. After the break: my SCIENTIFIC MODEL OF METAL NERD PSYCHOLOGY, the FOUR KINDS OF METAL BANDS, and an exclusive METAL NERD CHEAT SHEET that reveals a foolproof formula for whether you should like a band or not!

Click to read more…

If you are in a deathcore band, getting your image right means everything. It can make the difference between yet another run-of-the-mill, VERB THE NOUN band and becoming the next Suiside Silence — just ask Phil from Whitechapel, whose sick gauges have been reblogged thousands of times by eager teenagers all across the world.

It’s easy to get a new haircut or buy some new clothes, but perhaps the most important decision you’ll need to make is what tattoos to get. Fortunately, thanks to the people at PitCam Productions, a new TV series called “BEHIND THE INK” gives you all the exclusive, behind-the-scenes info you need to unlock and master the skin art secrets of deathcore’s hottest frontmen!

Check out juicy, in-depth interviews with Ricky Hoover of SUFFOKATE, Thanos of EMMURE, Oli Sykes of BRING ME THE ‘ORIZON, and Vincent of THE ACACIA STRAIN after the break!!

Click to read more…

SUP BROS! When I’m not writing for Metal Sucks, I keep busy with updating my “regular” blog Stuff You Will Hate. It’s not much, but I am stoked to announce that SYWH t-shirts are now available!!

Printed in super-soft discharge inks on a grey ringspun tee, these shirts are an all-star collaboration: art is by Michael Shantz of GRIMJOB and IT’S ALIVE, who you may also know as the former designer behind Drop Dead (the clothing branded owned by Bring Me The Horizon singer Oli Sykes), and they’re printed by our bro Sean Ingram of 90s hardcore legends COALESCE at his shop, Blue Collar Press.

CLICK HERE to order a shirt, and if you’re in a band or work for a label, make sure you hit up Shantz for art and Blue Collar Press for merch!

-Sergeant D.

It has come to my attention that some people are still confused about the difference between SLAM METAL and DEATHCORE. While they may seem similar to the novice observer, the truth is that they couldn’t be more different — in fact, they really have nothing at all to do with each other (srs). Think of it like Islam and Christianity: they some common roots, but at the end of the day they really have nothing to do with each other and will never see eye-to-eye.

In a nutshell, deathcore is what happens when some pretty boys want to be rockstars, and think that it’s super cool and scene to be in a “sick metal band.” The end result is basically generic death metal with some equally generic breakdowns, but since the guys in the band are cute and have a lot of tattoos, kids eat it up and they sell lots of t-shirts at their Warped Tour booth when they’re not busy banging their jailbait groupies.

On the other hand, slam metal is grimy, blue-collar death metal that is pretty much the most extreme, inaccessible and brutal metal subgenre on the planet. Slam is pure brutality: none of the pagentry or larger-than-life personas of black metal, gimmicky costumes of neo-thrash or artsy nonsense of drone, stoner rock and all that, just CRUSHING FUCKING SLAMS. Even diehard metal fans (like the readers of this site) hate slam, so if you are in a slam band it’s because slam is in your blood, because you are never going to make a dime or get famous from it.

While deathcore and slam are almost completely heterogeneous, let’s acknowledge that there is a small amount of common ground (at least at a superficial level. In both camps, you’ll find lots of mesh shorts, sweatpants, weed references, and merch that prominently features controversial slogans in Impact font — but that’s about where it ends. To me, the differences could not be more obvious, but apparently some people still have trouble making the distinction between the two. Because I enjoy giving back to my community, in this post, I will go over a few easy ways that you can tell the two apart!

Click to read more…

I’m a little less excited about this one… but, still, gold, right?

-AR

When I look back at the last twenty years, there is perhaps no more important musical entity in my life than England’s EARACHE RECORDS (srs). Back when I was a little kid on a quest to find the fastest, most cock-smashingly brutal music I could get my hands on, I stumbled across a copy of the legendary Grindcrusher compilation, and I’ve been hooked on death metal ever since. As my gateway to metal, Earache will always have a special place in my heart– and when you care for someone as I do for Earache, it hurts to see them lose their way, stumble, and fall as Earache did in the 90s and 00s. I had written them off as yet another band/label/artist who has a brief moment of brilliance, burns brightly, then fizzles out before dying in undignified circumstances [via Vincent Van Gogh]. But I am happy to report that I couldn’t be more wrong! Earach is back on the horse, stronger than ever, and signing more relevant, exciting bands than ever (srs).

In this post, I will briefly recap the label’s history in three sections to bring newer readers up to speed on Nottingham’s finest export. I will then share my thoughts on their current signings and solicit suggestions on which bands the label should sign next– hopefully Dig is reading!

Click to read more…

From Beastmaster:

“Over the last week I’ve noticed on the PRP that both Chelsea Grin and Within The Ruins have been denied entry into to Canada for their separate respective tours. Now granted, I don’t necessarily love these two bands, but I’m wondering if they are possibly related in some way…. Dun dun DUNNNNNNNN.”

Yes. They are both related in that I don’t like either of them. Unfortunately, I don’t control the Canadian government, so my guess is that they actually both just have merch dudes with records for possession or something idiotic like that. In any case, yes, I agree it’s ridiculous that Canada gets to be spared Chelsea Grin while Americans have to continue to endure them.

Click to read more…

Alright, let’s get our Headbanger’s Ball on.

First up today we have “Get Back in Line,” Motörhead’s first video in support of their new album, The Wörld is Yours. That album title, in case you don’t know, is a Scarface reference, and the title of this year’s offering from Upon a Burning Body — although my gut tells me Motörhead’s album will probably make a much stronger impression on the world at large. I dunno, call it a hunch.

But I digress.

The video is pretty cheap and definitely trite, but it’s Motörhead, so I don’t think anyone will care. I don’t know why this band even feels the need to make videos anymore — I would imagine that, at this point, Motörhead’s following will buy their new album pretty much no matter what, and that new generations of Motörhead fans will be created the same way they have been for years: via cool older brothers, cousins, uncles, and other terrible role models who pass the music down to the next generation. But even if I’m wrong and this band still needs new videos to sell their wares, well, I don’t really care so much that the video is a little lame, ’cause the song made me grab a MetalSucks Mansion Monkey by the tail and swing him around over my head for three-and-a-half straight minutes.

Click to read more…

Internets, you have failed me. But you have greatly pleased Sergeant D.

Of course, being the most popular band on MySpace is kind of like being the smartest kid on the short bus.

After the jump, the Top 10 bands on MySpace for 2010 based on fan votes, song plays, video plays and page views:

Click to read more…

Agalloch’s Marrow of the Spirit: Apparently not a candidate for best album of the year.

Yep yep yep: the right honorable Mr. Phil Freeman of MSN’s “Headbang” blog has revealed the 135 finalists which will soon be whittled down for his “Twenty Best Metal Albums of 2010″ list, which will presumably be published sometime in the coming weeks. You can go here to read it, and then leave Phil angry comments about how your favorite album isn’t even on this list of 135 records.

Click to read more…

I’m tired of posting the same old high-charting consistent sellers (heyo Disturbed, Linkin Suck, etc) and I’m sure you’re even more tired of reading about them, so this week I’d like to focus on the Top Hard Music Albums charts with a special emphasis on debuts. This week’s notable sales numbers with my own snarky comments (natch) after the flip.

Click to read more…

It’s no secret that the music industry is in a shambles, with both profits and revenues at an all time low. With Napster, eDonkey and Audiogalaxy more popular than ever, anybody with a DSL connection can download an album in a matter of hours, often at CD-quality 96 khz. While the unprecedented access that we the fans have to new music is amazing, it comes at a price: the ability for artists to eke out a meager living by making music.

Sure, on the one hand it’s pretty funny to think about, say, the bassist for The Autumn Offering working at his dad’s ravioli factory when they’re not on tour. Admittedly, the contrast between some D-level metalcore band’s onstage persona (“U MIRIN OUR STAGE PRESENCE BRAH?!”) and the sad reality of seeing them try four times to get their 1998 Saturn to turn over in the parking lot after the show is pretty amusing, but this isn’t high school. Music isn’t about who’s making money and who’s 27 years old and still thinks it’s cool to be in a band, it’s about COMMUNITY. To me, the scene is one big family, and I look out for my family members. Whether you are the “fuckup-idiot-with-a-heart-of-gold cousin that everybody feels sorry for” (Eyehategod) or “ridiculously good-looking older brother we r all jealz of” (Oli Sykes/Bring Me The Horizon), if you are family I will always have your back — and family members do not steal from each other!!

Click to read more…

Everybody’s favorite alternative rock/deathcore band has been legitimized by some serious traditional media coverage — in this case, a one-hour audio program that tells their story in excruciating detail. I didn’t make it anywhere close to all the way through it (specifically, I bailed at about three minutes in, after finding out that they got their name from Pirates of the Caribbean), but it seems pretty well done. Obviously the lack of Oli photos hurts it, but it’s the next best thing to doing a couple lines with him and listening to him go on a coke-fueled, self-centered rant about how great he and BMTH are.

What’s next, a Peel Sessions four-way split with Electro Hippies, Dr & The Crippens, and Unseen Terror??

Check it out on BBC’s site

-Sergeant D.

Like anybody else who writes about music and has a publicly-visible email address, I received a press release earlier this week boasting about deathcore pioneers Bring Me The Horizon’s “gutsy” new video. In this post, I will share my thoughts on this video, which are as follows:

Click to read more…