Like a lot of people, I used to feel really confused about the differences between slam metal and deathcore. Luckily, our good friend Sergeant D. enlightened me with this lesson in the difference between the two genres, and since then, I’ve actually found myself — gulp –ENJOYING some slam metal (like the most recent Pathology album). Strange, I know, but there ya have it.

Still, I’m no expert in slam. Which is why I’m looking forward to reading The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding Slam 2.0, an updated and revised guide to all things slam written by DJ Two Stacks. And, yes, it’s funny that someone actually took the time to write this thing, but funnier still is that author is, according to Stuff You Will Hate, “best known for making the beat in Kreayshawn’s ‘Gucci Gucci’.” Y’know, this song:

Weird, sure, but MLK had a dream, and that dream was that one day Kreayshawn fans and Cephalotripsy fans would all get along and hold hands and sing and stuff. So, yeah, get with the program.

Download The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding Slam 2.0 here.

-AR

When it comes to guttural slamming brutality, crushing slamz, and unrelenting pitt riffment, nobody does it better than San Diego’s CEPHALOTRIPSY. Their album still stands as far and away the best slam metal recording ever released, but they’ve been pretty quiet since then, only releasing two new demo songs. I kind of thought they were a one-and-done band, but I’m happy to say I was wrong. That’s right culeros, CEPHALOTRIPSY IS BACK!!!

New studio song — every bit as brutal and unforgiving as I could have hoped for, but just a tiny bit more progressive than their old stuff (in a non-pussy way, though). Oh and DAT SNARE!!

Click to read more…

¿¡Q-VO, CULEROS?! Te gustan EL MOSH?! Pienso que sí! Escuchame si te quiero EL MOSH tambien!!!

As you can tell from my terrible Spanish, I’m just a dumb güero who can barely tell a tamale from a taqueria. I might not be the master of foreign languages, but I do know that Latinos always been a big part of metal/punk/hardcore (even though nobody ever talks about it). Not only that, but Latinos might be a driving force in the future of the genre — in fact, I think the next big thing will be middle-class white kids jocking Mexicans!

In this post, I will discuss the past, present and future of Latinos in metal/hardcore/etc. Whether you’re a pinche white person like me or a Latino, tell me if you see things the same as I do. Feel free to tell me I’m an idiot/racist/troll if you want, but I would prefer legitimate discussion since I am genuinely interested in this topic.

Click to read more…

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…

For some reason, internet metal nerds love to talk about drummers, even if they themselves do not play drums. Whether it’s “Who has the fastest double bass/blastbeats?”, “Should I use one bass drum or two?” or “What does Pete Sandoval’s drum throne smell like?”, there are few things more tiresome than the topic of metal drumming. What that in mind, in this post I will put the discussion of this topic to rest forever by conclusively saying all that there is to say about metal drumming. After this post has been published, anyone who still debates these points is as foolish, ignorant and stubborn as people who believe the Earth is flat or that God exists. So if you have anything to say, say it now, because this is it — this is your chance to become part of the moment in which we closed the door on dorky, redundant debates about metal drumming.

This is THE FINAL WORD on metal drumming!!!!

Click to read more…

While these days metal fandom is basically just a contest to see who can fap harder and faster to obscure technical death metal, it wasn’t always that way. In fact, many of the bands that internet metal nerds regard as legendary icons today were either hated or ignored when they were at their peak — fellow oldz will know exactly what I’m talking about. In this post, I will remind us all what fickle, trendy conformists metal fans can be by taking a stroll down memory lane and recalling vintage popular opinion of a few of your pet bands (hint: it wasn’t good!).

Click to read more…

It has been my life’s work to find the heaviest band on the face of the planet, and I believe that I may have found my holy grail: a young metalcore band called DEMOLISHER. Purists will be outraged I’m sure, but if the intro riff to “Decimated” doesn’t make you mosh the instant that you press “play,” you have no soul. Not since I first heard Suffocation, Devourment, and Cephalotripsy have I been so floored by a band — it’s almost comical how fucking heavy this band is, like the groove of 16 meets the absurdly downtuned-breakdowns of Hemdale with a heavy dose of 90′s beatdown hardcore ala Bulldoze or Merauder. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever heard anything this crushingly sludgy and over the top.

Click to read more…

In my humble opinion, Cephalotripsy’s 2007 LP was and still is the standard by which all other slam is measured. I’ve been waiting for an heir to their seemingly-abandoned throne, and I may have found it in the slamming slamz of INFERTILE SURROGACY. Hailing from the incredibly obscure, klvt Democratic Republic of Congo (does that make them tr00 black metal?? Hay-o!), these guys are vying with CEREBRAL INCUBATION for the title of MOST CRUSHING SLAMZ 2K10.

Perhaps due to an unreliable, third-world internet connection, the gents in Infertile Surrogacy don’t have a lot of news available. Anybody have more detail on this mysterious group of African slammers?? How do you think they stack up to genre titans like Cephalotripsy, Disconformity, and Gorevent????

-Sergeant D.

Peer review is at the heart of good science. Without the scrutiny of a diverse panel of experts, one cannot hope to hone one’s research into a body of knowledge whose integrity is above reproach — as Randy Couture says, “iron sharpens iron.” I actually don’t think that’s true (I think you use some kind of rock to do it?), but you get the point. With our methods clear, we turn to the matter at hand: CRUSHING SLAMZ!

In any case, while most think of Devourment as the first band to play slam metal, many scholars (including me) believe that there is more to the story. While perusing a few of my journals this morning, I uncovered a few examples of bands who arguably beat them to the slam punch. In this post, I will share my finds and ask you, our readers, “WHO WAS THE FIRST 2 SLAM???”

Click to read more…

You know him, you loathe him… it’s Stuff You Will Hate‘s Sergeant D! When he’s not busy blogging about scene bands and other stuff that you will, well, y’know, we’re hoping to be able to trick him into making this new MS column an almost-regular thing. Please give him a warm MetalSucks flame war welcome!

Put down those limited edition Hydra Head CD-Rs and pick up your atrophied testicles — the weather is nice, it’s time for some slam metal! Dinosaur metal and beard metal are very popular here on MetalSucks, but the metalscape doesn’t have to begin with Baroness and end with Behemoth.

Much like Pride’s legendary fights of 2005-2006 may never be equalled, I’m not sure we’ll ever see a slam scene as exciting, fresh, and wiggerish as when Rest In Gore, Glossectomy, Gorevent, and Disconformity surfaced. Those were the salad days, and we may never see such a vibrant micro-community of pitt riffment, but the slam train keeps on rolling, with a ton of new bands keepin’ it fuckin’ sick.

On that note, here’s what I’ve been slamming to this spring…

Click to read more…

Here’s the heavy metal blog-crossover project of the season: Invisible Oranges‘ Cosmo Lee has recruited Metal Inquistion‘s Sergeant D (Hey, those names rhyme!) to “compile a mixtape that would be a slam metal primer.” The mix includes fifteen songs from bands such as Devourment, Putrid Pile and “Completely Unreadable Band Logo of the Week” alum Guttural Secrete, and can be downloaded for free here. The Sarge even wrote some “liner notes” about each track to help educate those of us unfamiliar in the ways of slam.

Bonus: Cosmo admits that “After listening to [the mix], I still can’t tell any of this stuff apart.” So at least I’m not the only one.

-AR