Sean Reinert is quite the accomplished drummer; aside from his job as the skinsman in Cynic, Reinert’s talents have long been appreciated and worshipped by drummers the world over. If you can remember all the way back to Spring of this year (long time ago, I know) you’d also remember that he played drums on Avalanche of Worms, the instrumental record composed by Daath’s Eyal Levi and Emil Werstler.

Of all of Reinert’s many accomplishments “instructional DVD” hasn’t been one of them until now. And you can be a part of it; the cleverly named It’s About Time, which is being presented by Sick Drummer Magazine, will cover topics requested by you, the fans. All you need to do is record a video of yourself asking Sean a question about his playing and upload it to YouTube as a response to this video on the SickDrummer YouTube Channel, and if you are selected your video will appear on the DVD.

I can’t imagine how my life might’ve been different if the now-standard technology that makes this possible were available to me as a kid. Asking Zakk Wylde a question to be included on one of his instructional videos?? Ohmigod, I would’ve freaked.

-VN

The PRP has debuted a deleted scene from Chimaira’s excellent DVD/CD set, Coming Alive (read my review here), which you can watch below. You’ll understand pretty quickly why this didn’t make director Todd Bell’s final cut, and now it’s basically been turned into a commercial for the band’s upcoming “Blue Collar Brawler” tour with Impending Doom, Dååth, and This or The Apocalypse. But I’m totally okay with that, ’cause I think it’s a cool tour that you should go to.

Also, because this makes me laugh. You’re trying to tell me you’ve never done something like this when you were alone? Puh-leeze.

-AR

Axl tried to explain to me the other night why so many bands moved their release date from today to yesterday, for a rare Monday U.S. release date; something about not wanting to compete with Taylor Swift? Whatever the reason, I don’t understand it and apparently after all that neither does Axl… maybe one of you can clarify.

One of said releases is King’s X’s Love Live in London DVD/CD, which you can order here. I’ve already expressed my enthusiasm for this release, but I just can’t contain my excitement for it: King’s X are just so much fun live and I cannot wait to watch this DVD at home. So while you’re mulling over purchasing the new Daath, Firewind and Kylesa releases this week — ’cause in the end they still all come out this week — add this live DVD/CD combo to the list to make your money-spending decision that much more difficult. Check out the trailer above then dare to claim you’ll be as fit at age 60 as Doug Pinnick is.

-VN

So. The wait is over — Dååth‘s self-titled Century Media release is out today. If you haven’t already purchased a copy, you can still order it here, or download it from iTunes or Amazon. I’ve made it clear how much I really love and admire this album, but I’ll do it one more time to emphasize to you how great I think it is: It’s dark. It’s misanthropic. It’s really raw. It’s really, really heavy. It’s dense. It’s not as “easy” as The Hinderers or The Concealers — you’re gonna need to give it multiple listens before you’ll be able to really wrap your head around it. But if you fully engage with this album, it will engage with you. It’s rewarding that way.

After the jump, check out my seventh and final behind-the-scenes report on the making of Daath: an interview with Eyal Levi. i. If you read this site regularly, hopefully you also read his column, in which case you know that the guy has really interesting things to say. I’ve referred to him as “The Godfather of Dååth” before; I don’t intend for that statement to take away from any of the contributions of the other members of the band, all of which are obviously extremely important to the music’s success. But at the end of the day, Eyal is very much the dude behind the steering wheel, the first one to arrive and the last one to leave, or whatever other cliché you’d like to use. He’s the man.

Here are his thoughts on the new record, the evolution of Dååth, being a producer versus being a performer, and more. Enjoy.

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There’s a shitload of new releases out today, including the latest from Daath, Firewind, and Kylesa. Albums are normally released on Tuesdays here in the States, so I don’t know what’s up with this industry-wide one day exception, but there ya have it. You can start your week with some awesome new metal.

One of those releases, Kylesa’s Spiral Shadow, is now streaming in-full here, so you can preview it before you buy it. I’m not gonna weigh in on this one ’cause a) I honestly haven’t had a chance to listen to it and b) my number one homie Sammy O’Hagar is writing a review, and he’s a way bigger Kylesa fan than I am, so he’ll surely be much more insightful with regards to the music than I could ever be.

In the meantime, go here to stream the album and form your own opinion. Then come back and let us know what you think.

And if you live in the NYC area, Kylesa are doing a special surprise (oops, just ruined the surprise!) show tonight at Public Assembly in Brooklyn, alongside the mighty Hull. Should be a good time. Hit it up if you can!

-AR

Damn. I haven’t written a blog for you guys while flying in quite a while. (Don’t worry, I still hate it, but 2.75mg of Xanax helps me forget.) So the question is, “Why have I not been writing to you from the air like I used to all the time?” Well, the fact of the matter is that I’ve basically been in a cave for the past few months making an album. Sure, we took a brief break and went to Germany for a few days for some Slayer shows (who wouldn’t),  but I was in no mental condition to write. I’m only now, five weeks from having finished the album, regaining my sanity, creativity, and motivation.

As I was packing for this trip to Mexico City I put my iPod in my carry-on (if you find the concept of rape disturbing, try to never check bags), and I realized that I haven’t added any new music to it in months. My two biggest gripes, both of which you are very familiar with by now, is the dismal state of metal audio production, and that the different scenes are just getting tired. I stand behind my idea that the “modern” metal sound of the early 2000s is going to sound as dated to us as 1980’s production pretty soon. I’m pretty confident that dudes who are all-out “scene” in their appearance will look back at themselves the way that we see Nu Metal bands from the late 90’s and wonder, “How was that the ‘in’ thing?” while privately hoping that their kids never see those photos. I feel like there’s an endless wave of copycat bands out there right now, and that the overall state of heavy music is such that we’re about to enter a down period, much like when death metal went back underground in the mid 90’s.

That’s not to say metal will die; it is time for innovation and rebirth.

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We’re just a week away from the release of Dååth’s new, self-titled album (pre-order it here!), and so we’re nearing the end of this almost two-month long look into the making of the record. I’m honestly kinda sad about that.

Today’s penultimate interview is with guitarist Emil Werstler. There was some web-nerd rage back in August when Dååth co-producer/co-engineer/mixer Mark Lewis called Werstler “the best guitar player in metal,” and while I tend to agree with Werstler’s band mate, one Mr. Eyal Levi, that the word “best” is basically impossible to define, I do think there’s a strong argument to be made that Lewis’ assessment is correct. During my brief time in the studio watching Werstler record, I saw him pull off ridiculously sick move after ridiculously sick move — I mean, the guy plays some really, really mind-blowing shit on this album. And little wonder he’s so good: Werstler professes himself to be a “learning addict” and is a tireless perfectionist. I watched him get so wrapped up in his work that he quite literally forgot to take breaks or make sure he was taking care of some of his basic human necessities, like eating.

After the jump, get Werstler’s thoughts on the recording of Dååth, how the band has evolved, his ongoing creative relationship with Eyal Levi, why he enjoys teaching guitar lessons when he’s not busy with the group, and more.

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Seriously, if you haven’t read Vince’s epic story about how MetalSucks Maniac “whiskey” won last week’s last week’s photo caption contest, you need to go read it now. It’s pretty amazing. Whiskey’s mom even left a comment! We like to think of MetalSucks as something the whole fucking family can enjoy together, so that warmed the cockles of our collective heart.

Here’s some other fun stuff that happened this week:

• We debuted a performance clip from the new Shadows Fall live DVD, the new Intronaut album, and a new Madball song. PHEW!
• We spoke to Jeremy Creamer from Daath, Johnny Plague from Winds of Plague, Adam Warren from Oceano, and Ashmedi from Melechesh. Oh, and Anso unveiled part one of his massive two-part interview with Atheist’s Kelly Shaefer.
• We checked out new releases by Salome, Madball, Woe, and Arson Anthem and Ender. And a DWARR reissue!
• Greg Weeks from The Red Chord said good-bye to Randy Moss and hello to men wearing pink tights, Sacha Dunable from Intronaut contemplated the legalization of recreational marijuana use in California, and Eyal Levi from Daath discovered DestinAsian.
• Sergeant D. celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of Pantera’s Cowboys from Hell. Wait, what?
• We couldn’t figure out why everyone was so surprised that ICP are evangelical Christians.
• We found out the hard way that Attack Attack!’s music could be even worse than it already is.
• We took a slow ride on Metallica’s Lightning.
• We laughed at one shit stain calling another shit stain “a shit stain.”
• And, oh yeah! Gary Suarez took over the site for a day.

Next week is CMJ here in New York! If you’re in the area and looking for some awesome metal, check out our handy guide to all the festivities — including not one but TWO showcases sponsored by MetalSucks. We’re not gonna lie — we are going to be very hungover and tired next week. But that just means we’ll be crankier than usual. We’ll still be here with lots of debuts, interviews, and other assorted nonsense. Bring your mom! It’ll be fun.

-AR

Ever had something happen to you that was so out of the blue and unexpected, yet so fucking hilariously strange that you wished you could go back in time and let the younger you know it was going to happen just so the two of you could laugh about it? I just had one of those experiences, and I don’t quite know how to categorize this one. So I figured I would share it with you guys. I’ve already shared it with all my friends, but I feel like the community at large should know. And maybe you guys can help me form an opinion on this. So here goes:

Last night, around 3 a.m., I was Facebook lurking after a night on the town. To my surprise, an old middle school teacher hit me up. We’ve had no contact since I got out of that school. I haven’t gone to reunions. I’ve made no effort to keep up with anyone. That part of my life was effectively over the day I graduated. But I was happy to hear from him and we made some small talk. Eventually he said this to me: “Eyal – this has been a real treat!! Please look for me again and please drop me a message from time to time. I mean this sincerely – it was a pleasure to teach you – I loved the creativity of your mind and that you always were a self-made man! LOVE>”

Nice thing to say right? Nice to get a compliment like that from an old teacher considering what a horrible student I was. And then comes the left turn. Abruptly he changed the subject and told me there was a video he wanted me to check out. To “get my thoughts on it.” I said okay. Here’s what he sent me:

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I thought I’d already publicly waxed ecstatic about the fact that Colorado instrumetal young guns Scale the Summit are recording a new album this year, but I guess I actually only did so in my mind. Which is absolutely unacceptable, because I know there’re plenty of other prog dorks out there who will be just as excited as me to hear about this:

Scale the Summit are back in the studio!

Scale the Summit’s debut Carving Desert Canyons ranked #11 on my list of most favoritest albums of 2009, and they rocked our faces off live on the Progressive Nation tour earlier that same year. They rocked our faces off again when they opened for BTBAM, Cynic and Devin Townsend this past winter (that lineup still gives me a raging hard-on), and then yet another time when they played our co-sponsored SXSW showcase in March. You could say I really like this band a lot and you’d be understating it.

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They’re all touring with Daath! Not all at once, unfortunately. In two separate groups. But still! These are good bills.

The U.S. tour will see Chimaira headlining with Impending Doom, Daath, and This or The Apocalypse providing support.The Chimaira/Daath bill alone is enough to get my money. When those bands toured Europe together last year, I was jealous of the Europeans. Now I’m jealous of people who live in Poughkeepsie, which has never happened before and may never happen again.

Europe, meanwhile, gets a Fear Factory headlining run with Daath and High on Fire. Those aren’t three bands you’d necessarily expect to see touring together, but they’re all bands of a certain quality, and that’s what makes this tour cool. When I criticized the line-up for Fear Factory’s U.S. tour earlier this year, a member of one of the supporting bands e-mailed me to a) call me a dick, and b) ask who I thought Fear Factory should be touring with. Well… THIS is who I think Fear Factory should be touring with. THIS is an exciting tour. I’m not even a Fear Factory fan, and I’d go to this.

So if you’re in a position to go to either tour, do it. Buy some merch. Give Eyal a high-five. It’ll be fun.

Get dates for both tours after the jump.

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Jeremy Creamer is a crazy motherfucker, and I mean that in the best possible way. He’s often the quietest guy in the room, but his mind is always working, working, working. When he speaks up, everybody listens. I’ve mentioned this before, but, at least during my time vising Daath in the studio this past June, his ideas were the ones most quickly and consistently adopted into the music. It’s the old cliché: The man who speaks the least is actually the most worth listening to.

And Creamer is worth listening to. After the jump, get his thoughts his particular place in the scheme of the band, the ills of modern metal production, why he doesn’t like to plan things out too far in advance, and a remix/reimagining of Daath that will hopefully be released for free in the not-too-distant future.

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Earlier this week I had a dream that I was working with Atreyu. I don’t know in what capacity I could possibly find myself “working with” Atreyu, since I’m not a manager, nor a publicist, nor a label rep, and they’re about as likely to end up doing a guest column here as I am to give the new In This Moment album a perfect 5-horn review, but, hey, the subconscious works in mysterious ways. Why did I have Atreyu on the brain? Was my mind trying to tell me “The glass is half-full?” Do I have  a hankering to re-watch The Neverending Story? Did I just ingest too many different substances that night? I’ll have to bring it up in therapy next week.

Here’s other shit that happened this week, some of which, believe it or not, is even more terrifying than the thought of working with Atreyu:

• Freddy Madball is counting down his favorite hard and heavy non-hardcore bands of all time, TesseracT’s Acle walked us through the history of djent, The Austerity Program’s Justin Foley spoke to Converge’s Kurt Ballou about Taco Riffs, The Red Chord’s Greg Weeks made some suggestions for losing NFL teams, Intronaut’s Sacha Dunable contemplated the ways in which technology has changed touring, Daath’s Eyal Levi wondered, “Is this it?”, and a wide array of metal stars previewed the just-begun NHL season.
• We spoke to Kirk Windstein from Crowbar/Down/Kingdom of Sorrow, Sean Z. from Daath, Daddy X and Dirtball from Kottonmouth Kings, and Yoshiki Hayashi from X Japan.
• We checked out the latest releases from Abysse and Deafheaven.
• We contemplated trancecore.
• As the headline says, we heard the worst thing ever.
• We reviewed the history of terrible Limp Bizkit cover songs.
• We had fun with misheard song lyrics.
• We bemoaned the signing of another re-thrash band.
• We applauded Slayer fans’ desire to help the physically disabled.
• We had yet another laugh at Winds of Plague’s expense.

We have a special surprise for you next week. I can’t promise you’re going to like it, but I can promise you’re going to have a strong reaction to it. See ya then.

-AR

I know that suicide happens in all walks of life. I realize that when celebrities do themselves in, it’s enlarged to disrespectful proportions compared to when non-celebrities choose death. That said… Have you ever wondered why some rockstars kill themselves? Why do we hear about that CEO that threw himself off a seven-story building? Why do people who survive plane crashes kill themselves a year later with drugs? Why is it almost cliché for someone to die by their own doing after achieving their dreams in life? How is it that people who have won at life so hard can feel so miserable that living is no longer an option?

I’m positive that someone trained in the art of mental health would tell me that each case is unique. I realize that I’m not an expert on mental health, but I think there’s got to be some common denominator there. One thing I’ve noticed around a lot of people who have in fact achieved what would be most people’s dreams is that a lot of them will never be satisfied with that alone. That’s because a dream can only feel like a dream when it’s in your mind. It’s easy to be in love with a simple idea, or goal. In reality we have many more complex needs and pressures affecting us than those we create in idealized lottery winner-like scenarios.

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If you do a shot every time Daath vocalist Sean Z. uses the phrase “more real” during the course of this interview, you will definitely be good and drunk by its conclusion. But it’s hard to blame him for recycling those words again and again: While a former member of the band’s pre-occupation with mysticism cast a pall over the group’s lyrical content in the past, their new, self-titled album, which Century Media will release on October 25 (pre-order it here), does away with all that in favor of dealing with issues that listeners can actually relate to. And it’s all the stronger for it.

For a dude with such a ferocious vocal attack and intense stage presence, I found Sean Z. to actually be incredibly laid back, easy going, and just plain fun to hang out with. After the jump, read our chat about his lyric writing process, why Daath is actually the band’s first album, hallucinogenics as a creative tool, plane crashes, and more real shit.

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Because there is. It’s also called Daath. And we love it. And we’re very excited for you to hear it. And we know that some of you think we’re biased because we’re friends with Eyal, and all we can say is, you’re right. We would never actually be friends with a talented person who is a member of a good band, only a hack whose album we can promote because we don’t really believe in it. Eyal was actually, like, our eighth choice of guest columnists, after members of Attack Attack!, The Devil Wears Prada, Oceano, Bring Me the Horizon, and this band, amongst others, turned us down.

SO. While two tracks have already been released — “Destruction/Restoration” debuted right here at MetalSucks, and “Indestructible Overdose” is streaming on the band’s MySpace page — now you’ve got a chance to hear a third: “N.A.T.G.O.D.” has just debuted over at Metal Injection. Go here to listen.

And now that you’ve heard approximately 23% of the album and you’ve come to realize that we’re not just biased and this album really does rule and you’re so excited to hear the rest of it that the October 25 release date can’t come soon enough, go here to pre-order the thing.

And while you’re jonesin’ to hear the remainder of the record… Skulls N’ Bones have now completed their series of in-studio videos chronicling the creation of Daath, and I’ve collected them all right here for you, ’cause these are really fun and I’m a nice guy like that. Here’s the one centering on Eyal…

And here’s the one about drummer Kevin Talley…

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In case you can’t tell by all the posting I’ve been doing about the soundtrack, I really wanna see The Social Network. It’s just like the story of how MetalSucks was created, only we didn’t go to ivy league schools, we’re not billionaires, and we haven’t sued each other (yet). How dare David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin steal our life story!

Speaking of our life story, here’s how we amused ourselves this week:

• We debuted new music by The Fucking Wrath.
• Intronaut’s Sacha Dunable wondered if America really has any talent, The Red Chord’s Greg Weeks discussed the NFL with Job for a Cowboy’s Charn, and Daath’s Eyal Levi taught us about proper etiquette for being a houseguest.
• We spoke to Eric Guenther from From Exile and the new Daath album.
• We checked out new releases by The Serpent & The Siren as well as Mutant Supremacy, Pyrrhon and Parasitic Extirpation.
• We found out that way more of you like nu-metal than we thought.
• We learned how to look like a hot metal chick.
• We bemoaned the latest batch of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees.
• We watched the new Cephalic Carnage video and now we’re afraid we’ll never get a boner again.
• We got excited about the first awesome tour of 2011.
• We declared Cradle of Filth to be a glam band now.

Have a good weekend, folks. See ya Monday!

-AR

Ever had a free loader, moocher, or destructive human parasite stay with you? I’ve had all kinds of them stay with me. My residence has kind of become a bed and breakfast for nomadic creative people. Actually, it’s not a “kind of.” It HAS become that. And it’s been that way for the better part of a decade.

After that much time you start to notice patterns. History will sometimes repeat itself, and if there’s one thing that’s stood out, it’s this: Bands or disgruntled ex-band dudes are typically the worst. I let bands stay at my place because I have enough space for them and I know that even one night of comfort on tour can do SO much good. Getting to sleep comfortably, shower, do laundry, get fed, etc. These things all mean a lot more to you when you can barely do them, and especially if you get to take care of them in an environment created for your ilk. I also really appreciate it when we (DÅÅTH) get that type of kindness out in the world (I love you Nick Hipa). That’s why I’ve decided that if a friend of mine’s band has to choose between their van and my house, well, they’re coming to my house.

Sometimes bands have multiple days off in Atlanta and they’ll end up hanging out for a few days at a time. It’s no problem. Really. Promise. It’s cool. I’ve got the space and I love hanging out with friends. If there’s room, come on by… BUT DON’T BREAK MY SHIT, DON’T LEAVE MY PLACE WORSE THAN YOU FOUND IT, AND WHEN YOU GET A CHANCE, TELL THE ASSHOLES IN YOUR CREW TO AT LEAST DROP THE FRONT WHILE YOUR FRIEND IS HOOKING THEM UP! ITS FUCKING WEIRD TO HAVE SOME GUY STAY IN YOUR HOUSE FOR THREE DAYS AND NOT GIVE YOU MORE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT THAN THE TOUGH GUY NOD!

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Eric Guenther may end up being the unsung hero of Dååth’s forthcoming, self-titled album, which Century Media will release on October 25 (pre-order it here). He’s not even technically a member of the band; his main gig is being the guitarist/vocalist for From Exile (read my love letter to that band here). But as he did for Levi/Werstler’s Avalanche of Worms earlier this year, he has made some truly invaluable contributions to Dååth. His synths aren’t of the “Dead on the Dance Floor” variety; they’re far more subtle, adding layers of sound and atmosphere that up the record’s epicness quotient, increase its replay value (I guarantee you, you’re not gonna pick up on everything Guenther is doing the first time you hear the album), and increase the music’s insistence that it be listened to with a good pair of earphones. Praise for Guenther’s augmentations may get lost amidst all the insanity that the rest of the band brings to the table, but without his presence, Dååth would be a completely different record.

I sat down with Guenther this past June, when I was in Atlanta visiting Dååth in the studio. He’s an incredibly smart guy (read the guest blog he wrote for us this past April here), and I think his approach to his particular job on the album was just right. Check out the full transcript of our chat after the jump.

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I’m sitting here editing an interview with Eric Guenther, which we’re gonna run tomorrow afternoon. Guenther plays synths on the new Daath album, and did the same on Levi/Werstler’s Avalanche of Worms earlier this year, but his main gig is as guitarist and vocalist for Atlanta’s From Exile. And even though I’ve had From Exile’s self-released Monolith forever, and even though I love and listen to it constantly, I’ve never gotten around to writing about it. It doesn’t say anything about the music; it’s just one of those things.

But I’m gonna write about From Exile now, damn it. ‘Cause this is a damn fine band, and you should all be listening to them.

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