So three well  known bands released their new album art today, and rather than give each one its own post, it just seemed to make sense to lump ‘em all in together. So here comes the lumping.

First up is the cover for DevilDriver’s new, Mark Lewis produced beast, uh, Beast. It’s kind of a meh album cover (what, no owls this time?); the image seems designed to appear as though it’s been held under a blacklight, when it would be way cooler if they went the Mudvayne route and made something that would actually look good under a blacklight. Obviously this doesn’t say anything about the music, though, and in this day and age, with all the downloading goin’ on, who the fuck knows if anyone besides decaying old fogies like me even gives a shit about album art.

ANYWAY, Beast will come out on Roadrunner on February 22. The cover debuted earlier today on Bloody Disgusting.

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Not quite as interesting as the brouhaha that unfolded betwixt Dillinger Escape Plan guitarist Ben Weinman and Disturbed guitarist Dan Donegan last year, but chuckle-inducing nonetheless: Digital Music News reports that a funny tiff involving pizza-stealing and beer-splashing unfolded between P2P application company Limewire and Dovecote Records (whose metal offshot Deathcote records has such MetalSucks-approved acts as Brother Von Doom and Don the Reader) at a party hosted by the former last week.

To make a very long blog short, Dovecote members accidentally grabbed some pizza at a New York bar, thinking the food was free. A LimeWire employee reported yelled at these individuals, excoriating them for stealing. After learning that the party was hosted by LimeWire, the Dovecote crew was shocked at the hypocrisy. One Dovecote member grabbed an entire box and dashed for the door, only to get doused by beer on the way out.

Read more about the hilarious conversational exchange on Dovecote’s blog. Massive LOLz. Kudos to the Dovecote crew for being awesome!

-VN

Have you heard the good news, brother? The New England Metal and Hardcore Fest has added a third stage for younger bands with whom concert goers might be less familiar.

Looking over the list, I already know  one terrible band that will be on this stage (Oceano) and two excellent bands that will be on this stage (Brother Von Doom and The Destro), but there are a lot of names here I’m not familiar with. Thus, I am now going to listen to some of those bands via various channels (really just one channel – MySpace) and make some snap judgements. So, in no particular order:

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Mostly this week I just watched the Puppy Cam. But when I could pry myself away for a few moments, this is what I focused on:

• Proto-jazz-metallers Intronaut released an artsy new video, as did Protest the Hero and Dir En Grey.
• We interviewed Brother Von Doom.
• Ozzy may be pretty good at shilling for Samsung phones these days, but we still like him better the old way.
• Arsis did some member-swapping. Yes, again.
• We reviewed new releases from The Faceless, The Bronx, and a bunch of awesome bands on Prosthetic Records.
• We contemplated the prospect of new releases by Carcass, Napalm Death and Down.

Party it up, it’s the weekend. See you next Tuesday Monday.

Ohio Deathrashers Brother Von Doom are one of our favorite new metal bands on 2008. They have an awesome new album, Relentless, out now on Deathcote (read David Bee Roth’s review here), and an insanely sweet, metal as fuck new David Brodsky-directed video – with knights!!! – for their merciless single, “Eater of Days” (above). So when the opportunity to e-mail the band some questions arose, of course, I jumped at the chance.

After the jump, find out where the name “Brother Von Doom” comes from and get the band’s thoughts on their songwriting process, working with David Brodsky and producer Andreas Magnusson, the worst trends in metal today, and a whole lot more…

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Most of you have probably never heard of Brother Von Doom. I know this because there is absolutely no way a band with such a sweet ass name could have escaped your recognition, and, furthermore, anyone who has heard Relentless would have had to be flapping their mouth to everyone about it. They’re straight outta Dayton, OH, and ready to drive a ten-inch carpentry nail into your earlobe and make you say their name, so you’d best smarten up to this damn fine debut.

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