MetalSucks photographer extraordinaire Miikka Skaffari has done it again! This time he braved the pits of the Regency Center in San Francisco to bring you some totally awesome shots from The North American Khaos Tour, which we are very proudly co-presenting with Full Metal Jackie. Miikka was able to capture some totally killer photos of headliners Arch Enemy along with support acts DevilDriver and Chthonic. (For reasons beyond his control, he wasn’t able to get any pics of Skeletonwitch. We’re as bummed as you are. But we’re sure we’ll be able to get you some awesome SW shots during the band’s upcoming co-headlining tour with Kvelertak, which we are also proudly presenting.)

And don’t forget, there are still four dates left on the tour! They are…

Sept. 30 – Albuquerque, NM – The Sunshine
Oct. 01 – Denver, CO – The Gothic
Oct. 03 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
Oct. 04 – Chicago, IL – House of Blues

Definitely check the tour out if you can, ’cause it rips.

And now, enjoy the awesome photos!

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The North American Khaos Tour, which we are very proudly co-presenting with Full Metal Jackie, is winding down — there are only five dates left! Hopefully you caught a show, or live in a city/town where you will be able to catch one of these last few shows, ’cause the line-up is killer, and the concerts have been a total blast.

Now headliners Arch Enemy have posted a behind-the-scenes video from the tour, which you can watch below. Support, in case you didn’t know, comes from DevilDriver, Skeletonwitch, and Chthonic.

Don’t forget to check out the special Khaos-themed editions of “Rigged” that Arch Enemy bassist Sharlee D’Angelo and DevilDriver guitarist Mike Spreitzer did for us, too. And you can get those last five tour dates after the jump!

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For the latest edition of their ongoing series “The Fix,” our number one homies over at Metal Injection got Michael Amott and Sharlee D’Angelo to pick out some of their favorite videos, including clips from Fates Warning, King Diamond, Savatage, Queensrÿche, and Crimson Glory. Check that shit out below, ’cause it’s, like, way entertaining.

Don’t forget that Arch Enemy is currently headlining the North American Khaos tour, which we’re proudly co-presenting with  Full Metal Jackie. Support comes from DevilDriver, Skeletonwitch, and Chthonic. You can get dates here.

And, of course, you can and should check out more episodes of “The Fix” over at Metal Injection.

-AR

While we continue to wait for that Killcorpse Murder project with Adam D., Corpsegrinder, and Shannon Lucas to get off the ground, here’s another newly-teased supergroup to get you all hot under the collar.

Noisecreep noticed on Friday afternoon that DevilDriver vocalist Dez Fafara and Lamb of God guitarist Mark Morton announced — via their respective Twitter accounts, natch — that they were collaborating on “a bunch of KILLER tunes,” with Circus of Power, Soundgarden, and Trouble being cited as influences. And, uh, I really have no idea what that would sound like. I hear the aural relationship between Trouble and Soundgarden, but Circus of Power is where I get thrown for a loop.

ANYWAY, on Saturday The PRP strung together a bunch more of Fafara’s tweets, which seek to clarify/update the news:

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Nope. Not if their new song, “Reduced to the Failure of Prayer,” is any indication. ‘Cause that shit is positively Satanic. In fact, it’s hard to listen to it and not picture cities tumbling, populations ravaged by plague and forced to watch Kevin James movies, fire, brimstone, torment, and complete fucking misery — y’know, all the most fun parts of the Bible. Get your neck-snappin’ windmill on here.

And good timing on the release of the tune, too, ’cause guess what? The awesome North American Khaos tour that we’re co-presenting with Full Metal Jackie, and which features Arch Enemy, DevilDriver, Skeletonwitch (natch), and Chthonic, starts this Thursday, September 8!!! You do no wanna miss out. Get dates here. Skeletonwitch are also doing a bunch of off-dates with DevilDriver, and a bunch of headlining shows in the Midwest; you can get those dates here.

Forever Abomination comes out October 11 on Prosthetic.

-AR

Chthonic, Monstro and Saviours have the big metal releases of the week. Let’s take a look at those and a couple of others after the jump.

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You know what’s an awesome way to prepare for the North American Khaos Tour, the super-incredible Arch Enemy/DevilDriver/Skeletonwitch/Chthonic trek we’re co-presenting with Full Metal Jackie? By checking out this stream of Chthonic’s new album, Takasago Army.

Chthonic are the only band on that tour I’m only kinda-sorta familiar with — which is to say, I’ve heard some of their music before, but I’ve never seen them live. But this Takasago Army makes me wanna check them out that much more. It’s kinda like Dimmu Borgir, if Dimmu Borgir has more Asian elements to their music, and hadn’t completely lost the thread. This is some catchy, catchy stuff.

Headbang here, then come back and let us know what you think in the comments section. Takasago Army comes out September 6 on Spinefarm; the North American Khaos Tour starts September 8. Get dates here.

-AR

Arch Enemy’s North American Khaos headlining tour — which we’re co-presenting with Full Metal Jackie and which also features DevilDriver, Skeletonwitch, and Chthonic — starts next week!!! I’m so goddamned excited I can’t even tell you. I haven’t seen Arch Enemy live in, like, I dunno, two years I think? And they ALWAYS MURDER in concert.

The band’s new video, for “Bloodstained Cross,” isn’t doing anything to lessen my enthusiasm, either. It’s a collection of live footage — I’m assuming filmed at the band’s recent appearances at various summer European festivals, although don’t quote me on that — and just seeing how rabid those crowds are… man. Can I go see Arch Enemy tomorrow, pretty please?

“Bloodstained Cross” comes off of Arch Enemy’s latest, Khaos Legions, which is out now on Century Media. You can get dates for their upcoming tour right here.

-AR

Skeletonwitch have released the first in a series of webisodes chronicling the making of their new album, Forever Abomination. And I know there’s a real glut of in-studio webisodes being released in this day and age of flip cams and iMovie, but you should seriously check this one out, ’cause a) Skeletonwitch rules, b) you get to hear a little bit of new music, c) you actually do get some really good dish on the album, d) you get to learn a lot about new drummer Dustin Boltjes, e) it looks like it was shot by the people who made that movie Bellflower, and f) all of the above.

Forever Abomination comes out October 11 on Prosthetic. Skeletonwitch are going to be one of the support bands on Arch Enemy’s upcoming North American headlining tour, which we’re co-presenting with Full Metal Jackie; DevilDriver and Chthonic are also on the bill. You can get dates for that tour here. Skeletonwitch are also doing a bunch of off-dates with DevilDriver, and a bunch of headlining shows in the Midwest; you can get those dates here.

-AR

Skeletonwitch must be one of the most metal metal bands out there right now; there’s no pretense to their music, no core, nothing about it that’s retro, nothing about it that’s trendy, no way to describe it as anything other than “fucking metal.” Combine this with the fact that Chance Garnette is absolutely one of the most entertaining frontmen on the scene today, and, well, it is absolutely no shock that people love this band. They are worth loving.

So you’ll be happy to know that their just-released new song, “The Infernal Resurrection,” does not disappoint. It is EXACTLY what a new Skeletonwitch song should be. Check it out:

The band has also unveiled the cover art for their new album, Forever Abomination, via that album’s pre-order page. Although it’s at a slight angle for some reason. Still looks pretty fucking cool, though:

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That’s right! As many of you have correctly guessed by now, the headliner of the Magical Mystery Tour 2011 we’re co-presenting with Full Metal Jackie is none other than the great Arch Enemy. Yep. We basically pulled the same trick on you that we did the last time we sponsored an Arch Enemy trek. Hey, we did say that this tour has a different line-up, and, technically, we weren’t lying!

And what a line-up it is! As you now know, Arch Enemy will be joined by DevilDriver, Skeletonwitch, and Chthonic. Arch Enemy’s latest, Khaos Legions, might be their strongest album in years, which is saying something, since they’ve never made a bad record; DevilDriver’s recent Beast is, well, a beast; and while we haven’t gotten to hear any new Skeletonwitch or Chthonic material yet, people in the know assure us that it’s awesome — certainly all their old stuff is!

In other words: These shows are going to be ABSOLUTELY FUCKING INSANE, so make sure you get your ass to a gig!

Get tour dates after the jump! And don’t forget that Khaos Legions is out now on Century Media.

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I’m going to put about as much effort into this introduction as King and Hanneman put into writing coherent solos.

We’re actually gonna begin today with two videos that are really cool, before moving onto the total crap.

The first cool video — and the cooler or the two cool videos — is Amebix’s clip for “Knights of the Black Sun.” Sometimes it seems a bit literal-minded (when vocalist Rob Miller sings about time, we see a clock, when he sings about birds frozen in flight, we see a flying bird, etc.), and the storyline could have maybe used some more variation (there really are a LOT of shots of that flying bird), but the visuals are so fantastic that it ultimately doesn’t matter.

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So this being metal, the powers-that-be decided they wanted to shift the schedule for this tour announcement slightly. Apologies to those who were waiting impatiently for the reveal of the identity of the next band.

The good news is, many of you correctly guessed last week that the third of the four bands on the upcoming super-duper awesome tour we’re sponsoring is, indeed, DevilDriver. They’ll join the previously announced Skeletonwitch and Chtonic on the trek, which is sure to cause chaos and cruelty without beauty wherever it goes.

But who will headline this godless entity of a tour?!?! We’ll let you know one week from today — but for now, here are some clues…

• Like Skeletonwitch, two members of this band are related.
• This is their first U.S. tour in almost two years.
• They have a new album coming out very, very, VERY soon. Like, very soon.

So get with the guessin’… come next Monday, the complete line-up shall be unveiled!!!

-Axl, Vince, and Everyone at MetalSucks

Last week we began to unveil the line-up for the awesome new tour we’re sponsoring by providing you with three clues as to the identity of the first two bands (out of four total) on the bill; by now you already know that orient metal masters Chtonic are on the trek, and a lot of you correctly guessed that the second band is Skeletonwitch. And we’d be sad that you’re all so damn good at this, only we’re way too excited about this tour to be sad about anything!

So here are your three clues as to the identity of the third band on the bill…

• They have released a new album every other year since 2003.
• They have debuted multiple music videos on MetalSucks!
• One of their most famous anthems is about the weather on the West Coast.

Have you figured it out? Get all your guessin’ in now before we reveal who it is on Friday, June 3!

-Axl, Vince, and Everyone at MetalSucks

Earlier this week we began to unveil the line-up for the awesome new tour we’re sponsoring by providing you with three clues as to the identity of the first band, and asking you to guess who they were. Well, it seems like you had no trouble figuring out that it was Chthonic, masters of orient metal. They’ve got a new album, Takasago Army, coming out later this year, and they’ll be the first band of four on this oh-so-killer line-up.

Wondering who the other three bands on the bill will be? Here’s the set of clues to help you figure out the next band up:

• Their  fourth studio album will be out later this year.
• It will be their first album with their new drummer.
• Two of their members are related.

Get crackin’ on those guesses, and we’ll give up the name of the band this Tuesday, May 31.

-Axl, Vince, and Everyone at MetalSucks

The band’s Doris Yeh recently did a photo shoot for the Taiwanese edition of softcore mag FHM. So take that, Revolver’s Hottest Chicks in Metal.

There’s nothing else to say, really. And besides, my guess is that by now a portion of you have stopped reading in favor of touching yourselves.

If you feel so inclined, you can look at more pictures here.

-AR

[via The Deciblog]

Band press releases are really fucking ho-hum most of the time. They’re just all the same. One day I’ll get to writing a band press release mad-lib and you guys will laugh a lot; well, at least Axl, myself and all of our publicist friends will laugh a lot.

But every now and again a press release comes around that not only is worthy of reading start to finish, but is quite entertaining. Like this one about the Taiwanese metal band ChthoniC which in a really long-winded manner explains that Pandas are actually from Tibet, not China. What this has to do with music we aren’t really sure, but whereas before I didn’t care much about this band at all, now I do. Don’t ask, just read. The entire press release copied and pasted, after el jumparino.

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