MetalSucks

“Luminance” — from the Creative Eclipses EP — was the very first Cave In song I ever heard, sandwiched incongruously between I-don’t-even-remember-what on a mix-tape my friend XandrewX made me in… 1999, I guess. From thereon in I jumped headlong into the world of Cave In, and Jupiter pretty much blew my mind when I heard it. Though it didn’t make the MetalSucks 21 Best Albums of the 21st Century… So Far clusterfuck list, it was damn close to the top of my own list for that poll.

Needless to say I was pretty fucking stoked when super-drummer J.R. Connors launched into the drum-roll intro of “Luminance” at last night’s Cave In show in Brooklyn. I was equally stoked when the band began playing “Big Riff” with, ya know, that big riff; I got goosebumps multiple times during that song. But on the whole I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t just a little disappointed by last night’s show, just like our own Anso DF when he saw Cave In play Los Angeles last month. The sound in the venue left something to be desired, but that wasn’t it. The band was tight. They sounded good. They were energetic. They played good songs.

But I left the show feeling… un-satisfied?

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Axe to Fall, Converge’s once-again excellent new album, is yet another stylistic shift: the majority of it is devoted to the band playing harder and more technically than they have in their post-Jane Doe era, while the closing two songs finding them venturing further away from their comfort zone than they ever have before. But even though guitarist Kurt Ballou darts all over the fretboard more than usual, vocalist Jacob Bannon changes nothing about his performance, from the breathless rambling on opener “Dark Horse” to his trademark pterodactyl-like shriek over the course of the album. But this isn’t to say that he’s in a state of creative stasis while the rest of the band moves outwards: Bannon’s hellacious scream is just as much a part of Converge’s uniqueness as is Ballou’s nimble riffing. Bannon’s work on Axe to Fall is as savage as it’s ever been, and once again adds weight and disturbing depth to the album’s metallic hardcore-fueled chaos.

Jacob Bannon’s place in metal, hardcore, and—for better or worse—metalcore is massive, with his trademark vocals incalculably influential and lyrics favoring the abstract over the melodramatic. Even outside of Converge, Bannon manages to be prominent, with a successful visual art career and running hardcore label Deathwish Inc. A surprisingly normal sounding (at least in terms of how he sounds on record), introspective guy, Bannon comes off as both wise about the metal and hardcore world while still impressed by and interested in it. In a lengthy interview with MetalSucks, he discussed the musical and lyrical intricacies of Axe to Fall, his approach to artwork in comparison to his vocal work, and people’s changing attitudes toward heavy music as they age.

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Cave In shows weren’t always fraught with apprehension, as was last week’s support set to Coalesce at Hollywood’s Knitting Factory. It’s weird but the whole experience came into sharp focus, actually, upon my exit from the club. Opposite the silly L. Ron Hubbard library stood a vendor and her rack of sizzling, spitting hot dogs. The price was right, dinnertime was hours past, and I love hot dogs. And though each was wrapped in unnecessary bacon, I happily forked over my three bucks only to be handed a cold frank on a foam-rubber bun topped with streaks of revoltingly white mayonnaise. Staring down at Anita Baker’s star on the Walk of Fame, I felt like crying. Was I hungry enough to choke down this corruption of an American classic?

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One of the most buzzed about new releases of the fall (along with Between the Buried and Me, Baroness, Converge and others) is Doomriders’ Darkness Comes Alive, out September 29th on Deathwish. For the uninitiated, the blues-tinged punk metal/rawk of Doomriders is played by Converge’s Nate Newton, Cave In’s John-Robert Conners, alongside Jebb Riley and Chris Pupecki. Bluesy breaks abound underneath furious hardcore vocals… think heavier Thin Lizzy riffs updated for the modern age.

Lucky for you the band has two brand new songs from Darkness Comes Alive streaming on their MySpace page, so you don’t have to take my word for it. You can also pre-order the record now in all sorts of nifty vinyl/CD/t-shirt configurations.

-VN

Miss the much celebrated Cave In reunion show in Boston last month? No problem. MS Maniac Joel L. has assembled several of the best video captures from the performance and sent them in for posting. Enjoy the first one below, and a whole bunch more after the jump.

“Luminance” (semi-professional, multi camera, good quality):

Click through for the rest…

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In case you haven’t already noticed we’re super-stoked that Cave In are back together and once again creating new music. Their new single “Retina Sees Rewind” is currently available on iTunes with the rest of the record Planets of Old coming on 12″ on July 28th. Oh hey guess what? The entire record is now streaming live at www.planetsofold.com, starting… this instant!

The folks at Hydra Head Records have been kind enough to hook us up with 3 limited edition vinyl copies of Planets of Old to give away to ya’ll. Each 12″ is on a color of vinyl called “All Natural Vanilla Pistachio Ice Creams,” a color that’s exclusively available either via this contest or at Vacation Vinyl, the metal record store Hydra Head co-founder Mark Thompson opened this past February.

All you have to do to win is post a comment below (with a valid email address) telling us which Cave In record is your favorite and why. We’ll be picking our three favorite entries (independent of our personal favorite Cave In record preferences) and notifying the winners next week.

-VN

The general consensus around the palatial MetalSucks Mansion is that the Cave In reunion is fucking awesome. With the members now focused on the main project, it stands to reason that the side-projects that emerged in the band’s wake would lie dormant. While that’s not necessarily a bad thing (the Stove Bredsky disc was fucking awful), I’m pretty devastated to hear that Clouds will essentially call it a day after one last show at the end of the month.

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Yesterday I Tweeted thusly in a rage of excitement:

Holy crap new CAVE IN single available for purchase!!! http://tinyurl.com/nog86k

In April I reported the imminent Cave In reunion and wondered aloud what new material would sound like. Wonder no more. The new album Planets of Old will be released on 12″ only on July 28th via Hydra Head, and the new single “Retina Sees Rewind” is now available for purchase on iTunes.

So nevermind the facts; is it any good?

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Last night Messieurs Neilstein, Wingerschmidt and Suarez attended the Brooklyn Vegan metal showcase at Club Europa where Wetnurse, Javelina, Howl, Clouds, Doomriders and a bunch of other sickly good metal bands slayed a devoted audience of Brooklyn metal die-hards.* Our hetero life-mates at Metal Injection were there to capture the rockage of Doomriders — the punk/noise/metal/blues-rawk band featuring Nate Newton of Converge and John-Robert Connors of Cave In — and they’ve already posted videos of four, count ‘em four, songs. Check them out performing “Black Thunder,” aka the best song ever, below, then after the jump check out footage of 3 brand new songs all set to appear on their forthcoming Deathwish Records summer release.

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Some of you seem to find it shocking that we actually read your comments (and often reply to e-mails, for that matter). To which I say: why the fuck else would we even have a comments section? We love to read the comments. To wit:

• Daisy May Tinklepants accused us not once but twice of giving positive reviews to artists who granted us interviews. I guess poor David Bee Roth didn’t get the memo when he interviewed and then reviewed Believer. In any case, both of those interviews were actually offered, not granted, but we appreciate the conspiracy theories.
• disappointed called us “dickless jew faggots” because I apologized for a swine flu joke (but not really). We don’t mind being called “Jew faggots,” but to suggest that we have no penises is just uncalled for. Also, the word “Jew” is generally capitalized, you wide-set vagina’d Goy retard.
• teaches of peaches says that no one cares about Dallas Coyle’s column “The Hard R” now that he’s not in God Forbid. Comments left by 114 other people would suggest otherwise, but just to be safe, Dallas is joining the latest touring incarnation of Sha Na Na so that he can continue to write for us.
• Revealing themselves to be the anti-Matt McChesneys, the dudes from YEAH! Destroyer spent more time writing for the site this week than anyone on the MetalSucks staff did. Whatever keeps them from playing music…
• Cahiers du Cinema contributor CrapMcPoopin announced that he’s leaving us for our friends at Metal Insider. Then he left 13 more comments over the course of the week.
• Conduit is having a hard time reconciling the fact that we like “commercial crap” and “random bands from Europe/elsewhere.” Sorry, Conduit. But, yeah, we liked the most recent Slipknot album. Shrug.
• Ricky doesn’t like the fact that Dope are basically paying us to talk shit about them. Ricky, have you spoken with Daisy May? ‘Cause in reality, we only hate Dope because they won’t grant us an interview.

And next week we’re gonna try to really piss you cats off.

-AR

Our bro-bros at Metal Insider brought up a good point yesterday; what’s the point of saying your band is breaking up or going on hiatus if it don’t mean shit in the end? Srsly wtf lolz! With the pending Faith No More and Cave In reunions this Summer literally every band to ever break up that still has enough living members to do so — and even some without — is doing a reunion in some capacity. Last summer’s roster of reunionites included Carcass and At the Gates, amongst others. And don’t front; the Soundgarden reunion will happen eventually. I’d put money on it.

So I hereby declare a moratorium on breaking up. Artistic differences? Don’t wanna hear it. Tired of touring? Tell me that again in a year when your records ain’t selling, you’re flat broke and you’re tired of flipping burgers. Fucked a band member’s girlfriend? Kiss and make up, then have a threesome. Don’t give me no “on hiatus” crap either ’cause that’s just a way of pussyfooting around the fact that you do plan on eventually playing together again. Just say nothing! Is that so hard? Quietly disappear, then come back years later and take the world by storm. Your lives, and ours, will be henceforth be much more drama-free.

-VN

With regards to this morning’s post about a potential Cave In reunion, it seems there was some confusion on the Interwebs. Thankfully we just received this press release directly from Cave In’s camp, delivered by carrier pigeon and left at the gates of the MS Mansion:

After 3 1/2 long years, Cave In has decided to end its hiatus. Please join us for an EP release show at Great Scott’s (1222 Commonwealth Ave., Allston MA) on Sunday, July 19th @ 9PM. Also playing will be our friends Disappearer and Phantom Glue. Copies of the “Planets Of Old” limited 12″ (recorded by Adam Taylor, Alex Hartman & Johnny Northrup @ Camp St. Studio) from Hydra Head Records will be available that night.

We hope to see your lovely selves.

Steve, Adam, J.R., Caleb
CAVE IN

So, that’s that. Of note is the phrase “decided to end its hiatus,” indicating that the band never fully intended to “break up” so much as take a break. Which, in hindsight, is true: at the time, the band was deliberate in saying that they planned to go on hiatus. [System of a Down fans, take note: that band also said they were going "on hiatus," not breaking up. Don't get your panties in a tizzy over the eventual "reunion."]

Semantics aside, the result is the same: new Cave In in July. Now it’s official. Hoo-ray.

After the jump, live footage of the band performing “Anchor” on… MTV’s (!) Last Call with Carson Daly. Woah!

-VN

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[UPDATE: The band has posted an official update clarifying the matter.]

It was inevitable, right?

MetalSucks Maniac Scott Reisher sent in a now-defunct link from the Boston Phoenix announcing that the classic Jupiter-era lineup has reunited for a new vinyl-only EP, to be called Planets of Old, which will see a July release through Hydra Head Records.

The fact that the Boston Phoenix story is now down is worth noting; perhaps someone leaked info prematurely or perhaps all the facts weren’t straight. A Lambgoat report corroborates the above news but also cites the pulled Phoenix link as a source.

So, assuming this news is true, it begs the question:

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As reported here previously, on Tuesday March 24, 3/4 of the incomparable Soundgarden reunited onstage at a Seattle concert venue. Kim Thayil, Matt Cameron, and Ben Shepherd tore through a short but potent set that featured three classic tracks: “Hunted Down”, “Nothing to Say”, and “Spoonman”. On the microphone was none other than MR. TAD DOYLE, the Seattle legend that previously brought us TAD and HOG MOLLY, two heavy ass projects that demolished any attempt to define the so-called grunge sound. (His latest endeavor BROTHERS OF THE SONIC CLOTH continues in that awesome tradition.)

Some reporters would have hounded absent frontman Chris Cornell for comment (full disclosure: I sent him an unanswered tweet), but being me I knew the man I really needed to talk to was Tad himself. Thankfully, he was gracious enough to reply to my inquiry and we efficiently arranged a call. If I learned anything from my twenty minutes on the line with him last week, it’s that your musical heroes can sometimes turn out to be totally awesome, down-to-earth people. Tad Doyle is a rock star devoid of ego and bursting with passion and sincerity under an otherwise laid-back personality. As you’ll discover for yourself below, he totally fucking rules.

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Holy motherfuck was this band good. And for the love of jeebus, Jupiter was a great fucking album! If you disagree, you’re a ninny. Riffs this big don’t just write themselves, after all.

If anyone were to ever ask me what my favorite albums of the 21st Century were, Jupiter would surely be near the top of it. Hmmm.

Watch the Bostonians slay live in Baltimore in 2004.

-VN

Here’s all you need to know about Doomriders:

1) Nate Newton of Converge, J.R. Connors of Cave In
2) dirty, beer-fueled, hardcore-tinged southern rawk (think: Thin Lizzy for the modern era)
3) Awesome.

While the band promised but didn’t deliver a new record in ‘08, Lambgoat reports that ‘09 is the year; the band is reportedly recording at Godcity Studios in Massachusetts as we speak with producer-of-the-moment / Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou at the helm (!). The band’s put 12 songs to tape and plans on releasing an album later this year. Peep this track for a preview of what you might be in for.

Doomriders – “Black Thunder”

-VN

In the “everyone’s doing it, so why won’t they?” department, Cave In bassist Caleb Scofield took a shot at his ex (or “on hiatus,” as it were) bandmates and ever-so-subtlely revealed his desire to reform the band. The interview, published on Exclaim.ca was actually about his current project Zozobra — whose thundering low-end stoner metal album Bird of Prey dropped a couple of months back (listen to “In Jetstreams” and The Blessing” from their prior album Harmonic Tremors). But the subject matter quickly turned to Cave In:

Where do you stand with Cave In? Any chance of a reunion, since everyone is doing it?
If Cave In were to play live again I’m not sure it would be a reunion. I think it would be more of a return from an extended hiatus. If it did happen I know for a fact we would have at least three new songs to play.

Obviously Zozobra is the heaviest of the post-Cave In bands. What do you think of the quality of their output, especially the new stuff?
I would normally take this opportunity to make a sarcastic joke about those guys but I won’t. I have to be honest and say that both Clouds and Steve [Brodsky] have just put out some of the worst shit I think I’ve heard in a long time. I wish those guys would stop fucking around with that nerdy fucking stoner party rock, 16-bit-sounding bullshit and just get Cave In back together.

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Are you hip to Zozobra yet? Well goddammit–be the fuck down; they’re AWEZSOME with an unnecessary Z in the middle…last year’s Harmonic Tremors was really excellent, and this year’s recent release Bird of Prey is quite good, although it did take me a few listens to get really into it (and I do still need like I may need a couple more to fully dig on what the album has to offer).

The project is the brainchild of Caleb Scofield, the former bass player of an on-hiatus-for-two-years-now space-rock/alt-hardcore band that Vince will forever be on the nuts of, as well as the underappreciated Old Man Gloom (a SSTGST alum — the very first of this year, if I’m not mistaken), but Zozobra really has its own sound, a sludgy, often monotone, pedal note-heavy groove thang that keeps its riffs somewhat simple but the tone decidedly bombastic.

If you’ve never heard Harmonic Tremors, by all means track down a copy; if you dig, then move on to the recent record. If you don’t dig, I guess I’ll still be your friend, but I will openly talk shit about you behind your back.

ZOZOBRA – “The Blessing”, from Harmonic Tremors (2007)

[Visit Zozobra on MySpace]

[Read a January 2007 Boston Phoenix article on Cave In side projects (Zozobra, Clouds, Octave Museum, etc.]

Catch Zozobra on select dates of the Champions of Sound 2008 tour this fall, with Pelican, Kayo Dot and Stove Bredsky (Steve Brodsky of Cave In) also on the bill. Tour dates after the jump.

-KW

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Back at the end of May, Vince and Kip stormed into The Ocean’s show at New York’s Knitting Factory with an arsenal of questions for the band’s mastermind/guitarist Robin Staps (above, far right). So many questions, in fact, that combined with Staps’ incredibly verbose and articulate answers, we ended up with a fucking book instead of the normally terse interview pieces we do, which is the reason it’s taken us so long to transcribe (well, part of the reason anyway!). But for fans of The Ocean — and I know there’s a lot of you who read MS — the wait will be well worth it when you read what Staps had to say about his band, his thoughts on touring in the U.S., the writing and recording of the band’s incredible album Precambrian, and a whole assload of other shit. Enjoy!

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At least someone from Cave In is currently doing something with balls. And holy fuck does Zozobra have balls. Zozobra, the sludge/doom/skullcrushing brainchild of Caleb Scofield (also of Old Man Gloom) hasn’t waited long since last year’s Harmonic Tremors to follow up with a new album Bird of Prey, a punishing slab of metal full of fuzzed-out, low-end Isis-like riffs and an unmistakable sense of melody not heard since Cave In’s early work.* No surprise then that Bird of Prey was recorded and mixed by Isis drummer Aaron Harris, who also plays drums on the record.

MetalSucks can exclusively debut (at least for the 2 seconds it takes you steal, seed, and torrent it) the new track “In Jetstreams” from Bird of Prey. Enjoy this sucker.

Zozobra – “In Jetstreams” (mp3)

-VN

* I love Cave In’s later work too, for the record, if not moreso. But it’s different, ya hear?