Chalk it up once again to great European metal labels just not having enough juice to work their bands Stateside — but holy fuck, how have all of us been missing out on the orgasmicity that is Centaurus-A?? The band doesn’t have an American record label yet, but on the other side of the pond they’re on Listenable, which is really no surprise considering the same label puts out Gojira and Textures. Centaurus-A may be as good as either of those bands even if they sound like neither. The lazy journalist in me is just going to say they’re “progressive death metal,” though that simple classification doesn’t capture the nuance of their sound; there’s plenty of brutality, off-kilter time signatures, groove, wicked chops and occasional shred. If you enjoy Obscura, Arsis, Psycroptic, Gojira, Meshuggah and the like, you’ll eat this shit up; it’s fucking intense and you need to hear it for yourself. Check out the video below, then listen to more tunage on their MySpace page.

-VN

It snowed 8 inches in NYC on Monday, but we got back from the Scion Rock Fest in Atlanta just in time to deliver you our usual drudge report. Can you imagine if we’d been stranded? No MetalSucks for two days. What would you have done? Contemplate these noteworthy events of the week as you get ready to enjoy your weekend (65 degrees Sunday in NYC!):

• Mastodon release early contender for best metal video of ’09.
• Watchmen got metal… or not.
• We spoke with NEMHF founder Scott Lee.
• Lamb of God and God Forbid make strong Soundscan debuts.
• We looked at new releases from Hatesphere, Wolves in the Throne Room, Abacabb, Centaurus-A and General Surgery.
• Chimaira released a new single and a super-duper-deluxe pre-order.
• We waxed ecstatic about the weed in Atlanta… oh yeah, and some bands played at the Scion Rock Fest too.
• Doc Coyle struck back at the Internet.
• MetalSucks got nominated for a Metal Hammer “Web of Death” Award!