So yesterday afternoon, Born of Osiris announced that guitarist Jason Richardson was no longer in the band. In an official statement, BOO called the split “something that just needed to happen” and promised that the group “will be a more creative, energized, and focused unit as a result.” And even though the subtext of that assertion isn’t so nice to Richardson (’cause it implies that he was in some way impeding the band’s creativity, energy, and focus), the actual text of the statement was completely cordial, advising fans that there is “No reason to tear Jason down for this” and declaring that “We still love Jason.”

Alas, when Richardson later released his own statement, he wasn’t so kind to his now-former bandmates, basically saying that he was let go for confronting the other members about what he perceived to be their substance abuse issues:

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Last week I wondered aloud how Trivium’s first-week showing for In Waves compared to the first weeks of their past albums, and my secret Soundscam correspondent came through once again. Here’s how their past three albums performed in their first weeks of release:

The Crusade (released October 8, 2006): 31,156
Shogun (released September 28, 2008): 23,577
In Waves: 20,635

A downward trajectory to be sure, but 20,000 is still quite an impressive number in this day and age. I wonder how Roadrunner Records views it?

Onto other matters: Chimaira, Attila and Revocation all had big debuts last week. Let’s take a look.

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The line-up for this year’s edition of the annual Thrash and Burn tour has been announced, and it’s terrible; so terrible that I don’t even have any witty way of expressing it’s terribleness. So I’m not here to make more jokes at the expense of some deathcore bands; I hope they all have fun on the tour, and I hope everyone who attends the tour has a terrific time, and I hope that all parties involved cherish the memory forever and ever and ever.

I would, however, like to discuss the fact that, as was the case with this year’s Summer Slaughter trek (which is organized by the same folks who do Thrash and Burn), fans are being asked to vote for one final band to join the bill. Because while some of the candidates are awful (Dr. Acula, The Devastated, etc.) and I don’t know some of the candidates enough to have any real opinion of them, one of the candidates is a band I actually like: White Arms of Athena.

Which is why I am here to ask you to please vote against White Arms of Athena being on this bill.

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It’s been interesting to watch chart patterns change over the past few years; there is so much emphasis on first-week numbers now that it’s considered totally normal for a record to drop between 60% and 70% from week one to week two. I don’t have hard data to back this up, but I’m pretty sure the record execs of the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and even early ’00s would’ve scoffed at front-loading a record’s sales like that. Why so much initial hype? Why let the ball drop so quickly thereafter? It’s about the long-term career of a band, not making an initial splash; those who burn brightly at the beginning often die off faster anyway.

As the industry moves away from ownership towards streaming with services like Spotify (and the service Apple will surely launch soon), emphasis will move away from that first-week hype. As pointed out by Bob Lefsetz in a recent newsletter, if a track leaks, no big deal… just post it to Spotify and start earning income right away, even before release date. Same if an album leaks. Nothing lost, the leak is nullified. But I digress.

Let’s look at last week’s debuts, second week drops and more after the jump.

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Last week we focused on the complete inertia of modern rock radio over the past 10 years, as manifested in the top ten selling records of the week. Rest assured, all ten of those releases are still selling well… no need to re-hash them in this space again. Instead let’s look at newer records, including debuts from All Shall Perish, Wirestledabearonce, Jamey Jasta’s solo effort and more.

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Axl and I were joking the other night that we might have invented the phrase “still a thing” as applied to bands/people/trends that seem to have vanished from view but are apparently not just still around but quite popular. Only fitting then that the theme of this week’s Top Hard Music Soundscan charts is “still a thing.” I mean, the molasses-like state of inertia fixed upon modern hard rock radio and the associated bands over the past decade is just astounding to look at; nothing has changed in ten years.

Since there weren’t any notable metal debuts last week to crack the Top 100 aside from those in the Top 10, this week let’s look at all of numbers 1 through 10 on the Top Hard Music chart. Prepare to be astonished and baffled by the “still a thing”-ness of every single band.

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As I peel the skin off my back while I endure the summer of scenic Nebraska, metal as a whole has dropped a ton of new releases in my lap. Yes, this was a great excuse to stay in the air conditioning for a day to do my column this week, but with new releases from Hail!Hornet, Ringworm, City Of Ships and Toxic Holocaust, sitting at a laptop in the summer was a double win. Check out my anger-inducing opinions below.

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From Beastmaster:

“Over the last week I’ve noticed on the PRP that both Chelsea Grin and Within The Ruins have been denied entry into to Canada for their separate respective tours. Now granted, I don’t necessarily love these two bands, but I’m wondering if they are possibly related in some way…. Dun dun DUNNNNNNNN.”

Yes. They are both related in that I don’t like either of them. Unfortunately, I don’t control the Canadian government, so my guess is that they actually both just have merch dudes with records for possession or something idiotic like that. In any case, yes, I agree it’s ridiculous that Canada gets to be spared Chelsea Grin while Americans have to continue to endure them.

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Our pals at Metal Injection have debuted Chelsea Grin’s new video, for the song “Recreant,” and in a clever bit of filmmaking, the director decided to have the camera bob up and down along with the band’s choreographed crabcore bouncing — y’know, so that if the song doesn’t make you vomit, the motion sickness will.

ANYWAY, I liked this song better when it was first recorded by Suicide for a Whitechapel Cowboy. But lacking anything even approaching originality or creativity has its benefits, too — for example, your video might be posted on MetalSucks, followed by the words “GET FUCKED.”

GET FUCKED.

-AR

Agalloch’s Marrow of the Spirit: Apparently not a candidate for best album of the year.

Yep yep yep: the right honorable Mr. Phil Freeman of MSN’s “Headbang” blog has revealed the 135 finalists which will soon be whittled down for his “Twenty Best Metal Albums of 2010″ list, which will presumably be published sometime in the coming weeks. You can go here to read it, and then leave Phil angry comments about how your favorite album isn’t even on this list of 135 records.

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As one of the few MetalSucks writers willing to wax poetic on the merits of deathcore, I am often subjected to a litany of nasty, grammatically incorrect comments below my posts on such notable artists as Emmure and Suicide Silence. Several basement-dwelling, WiFi-leeching mouthbreathers regularly feel the need to slag the subgenre for perceived crimes against metal. Yet today, I empathize somewhat with these pimple-faced sex-starved haters, feeling especially vexed by a troubling turn of events in the community. Chelsea Grin vocalist Alex Koehler, having suffered a jaw fracture, has had to bow out of a planned Canadian tour with Blind Witness and Attila. Rather than cancel, the group has instead recruited Oceano vocalist Adam Warren to take on pig squealing duties for these dates (which you’ll find below).

And while this does sound like a unique and special opportunity for my neighbors to the north, it does raise an ugly nagging question that I pose to you, faithful reader: are deathcore vocalists interchangeable?

n

Feel free to elaborate in the comments section!

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The Summer metal tour market for 2010 is crowded, yo.We’ve got the older and mainstream metal-skewed Rockstar Mayhem Fest (Korn, Zombie, 5FDP, Atreyu, Winds of Plague, Hatebreed) the Rockstar-branded radio metal “Uproar” Tour sure to be a hit in Red States (Disturbed, A7X, Hellyeah), the Christian, metalcore and Christian metalcore fest known as The Cool Tour (As I Lay Dying, Underoath, War of Ages, Blessthefall, and uh… BTBAM) and the sexiest of all sex kittens, Summer Slaughter (Decapitated, The Faceless, All Shall Perish, The Red Chord, other cool bands). And, if you count 6 dates as a “tour” you’ve got Ozzfest, which does a surprisingly good job of combining the old (Ozzy, Motley Crue, Rob Halford, BLS) with the new/cool (Kingdom of Sorrow, Skeletonwitch, Goatwhore, Saviours).

So with all that on our plates, we’ve got yet another tour coming down the pipe this summer? As you’ve no doubt gathered from this article’s headline and image, yes, indeed we do.

My thoughts on the 2010 Thrash & Burn lineup — and dates — after the jump.

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Gaza? Guh-ZAH? GAY-zuh? What is the proper pronunciation??? Add it to the list.

Find out the answer to this burning question in Metal Injection’s NEMHF interview with Gaza, in which the Salt Lake City bruisers also talk some trash about fellow-SLC choreographed stage move specialists Chelsea Grin. Yay trash talk!

-VN

Originally, I had planned on livetweeting this year’s New England Metal and Hardcore Festival for the purposes of turning my pithy comments into some sort of proper show report. Looking back on some of those 140-characters-or-less entries, I realized that there was really no need to do so. Instead, below you’ll find a selection of my most poignant tweets from the two day weekender. Enjoy!

DAY ONE
So nice of @metalsucks to have this limo waiting for me at Union Station. My driver Tito has already taken a shine to me. #nemhf 12:42 PM Apr 23rd

My limo driver Tito and I stopped at Uno’s for a quick bite. I wonder if Rose Funeral refuse to eat here on principle. #nemhf 12:52 PM Apr 23rd

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I resisted checking out The Tony Danza Tap Dance Extravaganza for the longest time, a decision which was based purely on their name. This was poor judgment on my part – this band is just swell! Which just goes to prove, you can’t judge a book by its cover. Unless that cover belongs to Kamelot.

ANYWAY, I mention this ’cause TTDTDE (holy shit, even typing their initials takes a fucking hour) are streaming a new song, “The Union,” on their MySpace page. It’s a discordant mind-melter, which should come as no great shock. But, seriously, if I ever listened to it drunk, I think I might puke. This is the aural equivalent of one of those times when you’ve had a few (or way) too many, and even when you close your eyes, the darkness spins.

“The Union” will be on TTDTDE’s latest, Danza III: The Series Of Unfortunate Events, which comes out July 6 on Guy Kozowyk’s Black Market Activities label. You can also stream the band’s cover of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” right here at MetalSucks! And don’t forget that they’ll be on the MS-sponsored Road to MetalFest Tour with Through the Eyes of the Dead, Impending Doom, Arsonists Get All the Girls, and Chelsea Grin. Get dates here.

-AR

BBBBBRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOTTTTAAAAAAALLLLL!!!

That’s really the only way to describe the Road to Metalfest tour, which will be co-headlined by Impending Doom and Through the Eyes of the Dead, with support coming from Arsonists Get All the Girls, The Tony Danza Tap Dance Extravaganza, and Chelsea Grin. This are five bands that don’t know the meaning of the words “tread lightly.” They might as well have called this the “FUCK MELODY RIGHT IN THE EAR” tour. You know who won’t be going to this tour? Pussies. You’re not a pussy… are you?

We’re really stoked to be a part of this one. Get dates after the jump!

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Do you like burgers? Do you like bowling? Do you love The Ultimate Warrior and have a strong desire to listen to loud, obnoxious death grind and kill every fucking thing in your fucking way? Well then you’ll love the MetalSucks co-sponsoried Burgers & Bowling tour! It’s being headlined by The Red Chord, who are one of our most favoritest bands in modern metal, and My Children My Bride, Those Who Lie Beneath, and Chelsea Grin are on all on the bill, just to sweeten the deal. Plus, if you don’t go, we’re sending The Ultimate Warrior to your house to fuck your mom and put you in traction. Just throwing that out there. Y’know. No pressure.

Complete list of dates after the jump. These shows are gonna be INSANE.

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Last week we told you about the awesome Burgers & Bowling tour, which will be headlined by The Red Chord with support to be provided by Mychildren Mybride, Those Who Lie Beneath, and Chelsea Grin. Well, today we’re proud to announce that we’re sponsoring the tour, which means we can personally guarantee it’s going to be kick-ass. But, then, The Red Chord have the Midas touch – everything they come into contact with turns to kick-ass.

Get a complete list of dates after the jump. We’re so excited for this thing we can’t even tell you.

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Holy shit, do I wanna see The Red Chord play a full headlining set. If you ask me, Fed Through the Teeth Machine was the best album of 2009, and I wanna hear them play a substantial portion of it – but I also wanna hear them play a substantial portion of their other records, too. That’s gonna take more than thirty minutes I think.

Luckily, the band has announced a headlining trek: the Burgers & Bowling tour will find TRC with support from Mychildren Mybride, Those Who Lie Beneath, and Chelsea Grin, who, for better or worse, I once made fun of while playing “Thrash It or Trash It” on the Metal Injection Livecast. Oh well.

The tour doesn’t seem to have any dates especially close to the Mansion, so I’m considering driving to South Hackensack, NJ. SOUTH HACKENSACK. The Red Chord will make a man do crazy things.

Complete list of dates after the jump.

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