Internet Metal Nerds and real-life metal fans alike have been pretty bonered about Argonauts, the new band featuring vocalist Dimitri Minakakis (ex-The Dillinger Escape Plan), guitarist John Adubato (Burnt by the Sun), bassist Brett Bamberger (East of the Wall, The Binary Code’s old touring line-up), and drummer Dave Witte (Municipal Waste + every band ever). Axl saw them live in October and was still raving about it weeks after. Matter of fact, Axl’s sitting on the MS Mansion Porcelain Throne right now and keeps yelling out “Argonauts!” at random intervals.

But it looks as if Minakakis is an Argonaut no longer, according to a post earlier today on Argonauts Facebook page:

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On Saturday afternoon, ABC No Rio hosted the first-ever NYC show ever by Argonauts, the new band featuring vocalist Dimitri Minakakis (ex-The Dillinger Escape Plan), guitarist John Adubato (Burnt by the Sun), bassist Brett Bamberger (East of the Wall, The Binary Code’s old touring line-up), and drummer Dave Witte (seriously if you don’t know who Dave Witte is stop reading this right now and go do some homework). And for those of us who were lucky/smart enough to be there, the consensus was unanimous: ARGONAUTS. ARE. AWESOME.

If you weren’t lucky/smart enough to be there, though, you don’t have to take my word for it: the always-helpful (((unartig))) was there, and he filmed one of the six songs the group played. This is far superior to the footage of the band’s live debut which we saw last month, and it gives you a much better sense of their sound — although I still don’t think it comes anywhere close to conveying the energy in the room that afternoon, which was postively electric.

Apparently Argonauts’ current live set consists of every completed song they have right now; hopefully they’ll either write s’more and put out a full-length, or otherwise just record an EP, sometime in the very, very near future. I am seriously bummed that I can’t walk around listening to this band on my iPod right now. They fucking RULED. If you’re smart, you’ll keep a very, very close watch on their future activities, ’cause they are the real fucking deal.

-AR

[via The PRP]

It seems like there’s a new supergroup announced every week now, but few such projects get us excited the way news of Argonauts did. The outfit — which features original Dillinger Escape Plan vocalist Dimitri Minakakis, Burnt by the Sun guitarist John Adubato, East of the Wall bassist Brett Bamberger, and legendary drummer Dave Witte from Municipal Waste, Burnt by the Sun, and eighteen bajillion other awesome bands — made their live debut at GWAR’s GWAR-B-Q over the weekend, and now, of course, fan-filmed videos of the quartet have emerged. They’re not the highest quality, but they do kinda-sorta give you a sense of how the band might sound. And, if nothing else, they show why Bamberger is one of the most fun bass players to go see live — not only is he an amazing musician, but he goes totally apeshit on stage.

More clips after the jump!

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“Supergroup” is a rough beat; that tag along seems to generate feelings that the sum will never equal the greatness of all its individual parts combined (see: Audioslave, Chickenfoot, Velvet Revolver, etc etc). But when said supergroup is a [comparatively] underground metal band and will be taking their face-fucking music across the country in a dirty, sweaty, fart-filled van, the danger of fan disappointment is automatically diminished. With that in mind, put this lineup in your pipe and smoke it:

Dimitri Minakakis (ex-The Dillinger Escape Plan) – Vocals
John Adubato (ex-Burnt by the Sun) – Guitar
Brett Bamberger (East of the Wall, The Binary Code [touring]) – Bass
Dave Witte (Municipal Waste, ex-Burnt by the Sun, Discordance Axis, Circle of Animals, a million other bands) – Drums

Amirite? We’ve actually known about this project’s super-secret desert bunker jam sessions for some time but had to keep a lid on it while these dudes got their shit tight. The band, called Argonauts, will hopefully be bringing their show on the road very soon.

-VN

Hopefully Dave Witte needs no introduction to MS readers, but for those who don’t already know him, he is a hardcore/death metal legend that’s been dropping jaws for nearly twenty years as the drummer for bands that include Municipal Waste, Black Army Jacket, Human Remains, Discordance Axis, Melt Banana, Iabhorher, Burnt By The Sun and probably several others I’m forgetting at the moment. He’s a pioneer of progressive metal, awesome drummer, and as far as I can tell, a very nice, approachable guy. Oh, and I was just trolling with the Assuck thing — I do think Rob Procter was overrated by hardcore kids back in the day, but like Dave says, I’m far too old to care about things like that anymore. I hope Dave doesn’t think I’m a dick :(

Thanks to Dave for taking the time to answer some questions, and be sure to check out the latest Municipal Waste album, Massive Aggressive, courtesy of the one-and-only Earache!

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When we interviewed Howard Jones about the new Killswitch Engage album earlier this year, we couldn’t help but ask about the rumored new offering from Blood Has Been Shed, too. Here’s what Howard told us:

There was some news a little while ago that there might be another Blood Has Been Shed album.  Are you involved in that still in any capacity?

Howard Jones:    Well… yeah [laughs].

They made it sound like you might not be coming back…

HJ:   We’re just trying to figure out what exactly it is that we’re going to do.  Blood Has Been Shed is just one of those things where none of us do it full time, barely part time.  We’ll get something out.

Of course, for any BHBS fan, this was fantastic news. A new album was really in the works! Howard was still on-board! What could possibly go wrong?

Well, for starters, it could turn out that Howard isn’t really involved.

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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?]

Well, we didn’t, and neither did Metal Injection, who have four clips from the gig. Their footage successfully conveys how awesome the show was; it does not successfully convey that the basement at the Cake Shop (where the show took place) was hot enough to melt the corpse paint off your face and then some. So I guess you should be grateful that you can watch them from the comfort of someplace climate-controlled.

Check out the other clips here.

-AR

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?]

For last week’s contest we offered up two prize packages, each consisting of the new CDs from Man Must Die and Howl. The two winning captions to the photo at right:

deathray76: “xNAMBLAcorex”

bearbomb: ““Note to self: Taking picture of From First To Last t-shirt in the mirror will NOT make it read From Last To First. I am still a loser.”

This week we’re offering up two copies of the asshole-ripping new effort from Burnt by the Sun, Heart of Darkness — recipient of a 4-out-of-5 horns review by our own Sammy O’Hagar — courtesy of Relapse Records. Since the Asian emo kid pics seem to have run their course, just come up with a lulz-worthy caption to the below photo, and it’s yours. Thanks to Juggalo Bob for the photo suggestion — simply typing in “gathering of the juggalos 2009″ on Google Images will provide us with an endless stream of funny photo caption contest candidates!

They don’t make bands like Burnt by the Sun anymore: dudes playing big metal riffs with genuine hardcore swagger while maintaining an air of authenticity and effortlessness. They never needed breakdowns (though they’ve had a few fucking righteous ones) or clean singing to get their point across: they simply stuck to what they did best, standing out even amongst the loftiest of peers, be it on their label (Relapse) or the countless tours and fests on which they played. Of course, while initial impressions hinted at a meat and potatoes-style excursion, they kept things interesting in the most subtle of manners: the riff was the main attraction, but ambiences and abstract asides provided sturdy support beams. Smarter than you think their aggressive, gruff, and unpretentious sound may have implied, Burnt by the Sun crafted some damn fine albums over the course of their career, and their decision to pack it in after a long hiatus is incredibly disappointing, especially considering the time in which they’re departing: a sea of kids combining hardcore and metal while managing to sterilize the soul out of both. But at the very least, their supposed final album – the mighty Heart of Darkness – is as good as anything they’ve ever done, if not significantly better. Whether a conscious decision to go out on top or an admitting that they have nowhere else to go after this, it’s a fine and fitting final album from the ridiculously powerful – and often criminally underrated – band.

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In June I ran an article simply entitled Brutal (Pt. 2) in which I extolled the virtues of a then-newly released Burnt by the Sun track “F Unit.” Only I cheated, ’cause I knew the entire record was just as brutal/awesome to follow it up — and now’s your chance to challenge me on that assertion. Burnt by the Sun have their entire new record Heart of Darkness, due to come out next Tuesday August 18th, streaming in its entirety at HeartOfDarkness.info. I really ought to have included this record on my list of early picks for my year-end Top 10, because really, Heart of Darkness is just impressing me that much.

Stream the whole record here, then report back and tell us what you think. Even that bastion of metal credibility The Village Voice loves it so you know it’s got to be good.

-VN

1. irrational; unreasoning.
2. of or pertaining to lower animals.
3. New music from Burnt by the Sun. Their new track “F Unit” is currently streaming on their MySpace… and good fucking lord is that some heavy shit! I’ve now heard all of the new record Heart of Darkness (August 18th, Relapse), and let me tell you… this is just the tip of the [brutal] iceberg.

-VN

[View Brutal (Pt. 1)]