When it comes to the bailout, I tend to be more in the “it was definitely needed” camp*; but regardless, this shit is damn funny. Someone should actually try this on the phone with a recorder going; I’d pay to hear the other end!

* Like it or not, the bank crisis affects every working American and the bailout is necessary. I have big issues with the government (aka our taxes) taking on this massive debt, and I loathe the financial advisors who caused this crisis in the first place. But everyone’s job and well-being is seriously jeopardized without a bailout, not just the wall street tycoons. On a micro level, when one wall street firm goes down so do all the supporting businesses; their car drivers, the food service workers, the cleaners, and pretty much anyone whose lives they touch — and they touch a LOT of people. On a macro level, business is done by borrowing credit. I promise that your employer doesn’t just always have reserves of cash sitting in a bank; they often have to borrow to make payroll and buy supplies. Can you imagine them saying to you, “oh, we’re owed a bunch of money. Just hang tight for a couple of weeks and THEN you’ll get your paycheck!” No, they sometimes have to borrow to get you paid on time every week. This is reality. And it extends to every job in every walk of life. No credit = you don’t always get paid. No credit = no new construction. No credit = no public improvements. Etc. Without the bailout, our economy grinds to a halt.

After all the Metallica hooplah from the last couple of weeks, I decided to take last week off. I thought about all of the responses to the blog I wrote last week and thought that people needed a break from my stupid face. It’s cool to see a blog get a big response but sometimes it can become too much for your own good. I felt I needed to step back from it and let the dust settle. With that said, the overwhelming consensus of people’s views regarding my last blog was, “Yes, the Metallica album kicks ass.” I give credit to the people out there who know a good thing when it’s staring them in their face.

The new album is out, its selling like wildfire and we should all agree to disagree at this point. One thing I will say is that Metallica doing well means that metal does well, so I’m happy I can enjoy the album and it’s effect on the metal scene.

One thing that became very apparent to me was the sensitivity in the ‘blogosphere.’ I hate that word but I don’t know what else to call it. When a new Metallica album comes out, every site that’s worth it’s salt always has a wealth of responses from ‘mostly’ faceless names spitting out their worthless opinions. I say worthless because when you talk shit you should at least say who you are so you’re held accountable.

Click to read more…

Why The World Needs Metallica…

It’s funny. It really is. I’ve been bothered by the bullshit I’ve seen regarding the new Metallica album. People are shitting on the album left and right, not paying respect to one of the greatest bands ever and it’s complete fucking bullshit… I’m not saying you should like something just because it comes from a certain band, I’m saying you should like it if it’s good. And news fucking flash: THE NEW METALLICA IS THE SHIT!

The really sad thing is Blabbermouth got it right with the new Metallica record! What in the fuck world are we living in? With this new Metallica album and the reviews I’ve been seeing, I feel we’re living in an opposite reality. How is it that Blabbermouth gets it right and the majority of Metalsucks reviews looked like an Iann Robinson night at the movies? Straight haterade. It makes me think of politics (again). Why is McCain holding on? People just don’t see good shit in front of them when it’s there. Or it’s like Katt Williams says: people hate good shit.

To those people who gave the Metallica album a BAD review, give a good fucking reason why. And spare me your Barack Obama voting, elitist post-Black album bullshit. Give me something real. How does this new record NOT sound like Metallica? Cause it’s not TR00? Fuck all that. My bro and I were chilling out and listening to the new Metallica rocking out like when we were kids. It was crazy. We’re talking about the record and he says,’You were the first person to give the album a good review…’ I thought about it and I thought, ‘That is fucking sad.’

Click to read more…

Dallas Coyle just e-mailed us to let us know that a new God Forbid song, “Empire of the Gun” (somewhere Spielberg is smiling), has just been posted on the band’s MySpace page.

The song is the shit. It has everything you want from a God Forbid song – aggression, melody, strong hooks, a killer guitar solo, groove, chunky riffs, all that good shit.

God Forbid’s new album still doesn’t have an official release date or title, but it will drop sometime in early ’09. Personally, I vote for just calling the whole album Empire of the Gun, but maybe the band has something cooler up their collective sleeve.

GO CHECK OUT THE SONG RIGHT FUCKING NOW.

-AR

For all of you who may call bullshit on my last blog regarding the St. Nigger idea, our old management The Syndicate sent me the artwork that we mocked up for a St. Nigger album cover. The original idea was to do a St. Nigger medley taking all the best parts from St. Anger and making them into one song reminiscent of the And Justice For All… medley Metallica did on Live Shit Binge & Purge. If you notice the old GF logo is on the artwork which means this was before we released Gone Forever. Once again the power of Metallica is within the history of God Forbid. One question: Would you have liked to hear a St. Nigger medley from God Forbid? If so, would it have ruined our second-rate metalcore (emocore according to Blabbermouth posters) career? Thanks to the Rev for the artwork!

We’re signing off early today here at the MS Mansion. There are bowls to be smoked, beers to be drank, and barbecues to attend in the waning days of summer. Enjoy your weekend! Meanwhile, some stuff that happened here this week:

• We posted interviews from our trip to the Rockstar Mayhem Festival with Mastodon, Machine Head and Black Tide. Well, the latter was not so much an interview.
• Even Dallas got in the ring to weigh in on the politics of Metallica, and we had some fun with Metallica haiku and pontificated the 3rd new song.
• Rage Against the Machine raged against the machine. So did we.
• The new AC/DC single sounds like the old AC/DC single sounds like the old…
• Axl Rose called the FBI on the Chinese Democracy leaker.
• Slipknot goes in another new musical direction with All Hope Is Gone… and possibly has a #1 record.

Toodaloo!

-VN

The other day I went to NYC to check out In This Moment at their record release party. Needless to say, I had a good night because I got to see a lot of people I haven’t seen in a little while and the night turned out to be very interesting. In This Moment were very good and their new direction gave me hopes about the type of success they may have. I kept joking with them and telling them I can’t wait for them to sell really well so GF can have some cash for fine foods, wine and expensive sex! They are label-mates and we’re supposed to share.

I was joking obviously — well, half joking…

I saw Vince there channeling Hetfield with his new handlebar mustache. It kind of makes him looks like a child-killer. It was an open bar so people were getting their buzz on and just shooting the shit; getting hungover is more precise. Well-liquor is shit-pile! In the midst of all this buzz worthiness, at a bar around the corner Vince, myself and one of the first MetalSucks readers Factor got on the subject of Metallica. In all reality, I’m the biggest fucking Metallica fan. I bought all of their albums and they can do no wrong as far as I’m concerned. Well, as far as I was concerned. Now that I do this blog for Metalsucks I’ve turned into an opinionated asshole who has to dissect everything.

I love Metallica so much that I wanted to do an EP of all my favorite parts on St. Anger and call it “St Nigger.” That’s for real shit. No lie. It was discussed and we decided we wanted to have a 2nd rate metalcore career instead of no career…

Long story short, the St Nigger EP was panned.

Click to read more…

What Is Real, Neo…

Most of us have had those moments where an opportunity comes up that hits our senses so hard that there are three ways which things go down in our body: there’s a good feeling, a shady feeling and a bad feeling. There is a rush of blood that hits our brain so fast that the only reaction we get is of the gut.

When we found out we were going to be signed I got that GOOD feeling. The feeling of goose bumps. The nervous energy in the pit of your stomach we call butterflies. That was a good feeling. Those moments where you wonder,”Am I dreaming? Is this real?” Then there’s the fear that something can go terribly wrong and you don’t want to look like an idiot for having that feeling that things are going to be OK. Misery is an easy friend and feeling good has it’s consequences. In most cases, the better you feel the worse it can get.

Click to read more…

I’ve lost track of how many of these blogs I’ve done so far. I used to number them but now I don’t know what number I’m up to. Speaking on the phone with Vince, we both realized I’d been doing this blog for over six months and it blew my mind.

Where does the time go?

I let the cat out of the bag when I mentioned we were covering a MUSE song. I’m not sure if I should have told everyone but I don’t think that information needed to have a chastity belt on it. Just to clarify though, the cover is NOT going on the album. We just recorded the song for some extra diddies and maybe some extra sack action! Women love angelic voices and skinny dudes with pale skin. We’re the exact opposite of that but maybe sack action can be in our future because of that song! I’m sure MUSE will hear our cover and say in an English accent, “Ian, these niggas have ruined a fucking classic…”

Ok, enough heehawing. On to the real news! I was blown away by the Poison vs. Def Leppard debacle. I mean come the fuck on. What the hell is our world coming to? Remember East Coast vs. West Coast rap? Motherfuckers were getting shot. Back then it was who was the hardest most stone cold motherfuckers out there. With Poison and Def Leppard this shit reminds me of one of those Ben Stiller movies like Zoolander or Tropic Thunder. What are they fighting about? Who sucks worse? What over-40 chick wants you more?

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Please, Enough Already!

I don’t know about you guys but I’m getting sick of this presidential campaign. The moment Paris Hilton is giving advice on energy policy is the moment things need to take a ‘Slow Down’. I have an idea. Instead of people forcing Congress to have a vote on offshore drilling let’s have ‘W’ call congress together for a vote to force both candidates to take a month off. Not for them. But for us. The American people need some time off of this fucking campaign.

Now the two candidates are searching for shit to say and do. I’m an Obama supporter but I can’t even watch his speeches anymore. Speeches that once inspired me seem like reruns of a TV show I used to enjoy but now they just kind of annoy me. Why? He HAS to do them. He must stay out there and give these speeches because people aren’t ‘sold’ on him. Running for president is like a long, grueling, shitty job interview. But the people who hire you are mostly uninformed, scared and just plain following what their parents have done in the past. People say they are Republican so they vote Republican. Hey, I’m guilty of that shit too. I voted Democrat.

Click to read more…

Last week I talked about recording a record and how tough it can be. Some people were giving me props for being honest about how I felt about the recording of our new record and the doubts I had. I think this is a natural thing when you’ve been doing something for so long.

When we first started optimism was the name of the game. Every record we did it got better and better. It was like living in a dream. But now that certain things have bottomed out, from our scene to the music industry in general, there is a true question mark revolving around the release of our new record. Can our next record be bigger? Is it the right record at the right time?

Click to read more…

[That's right bitches, God Forbid guitarist Dallas Coyle's "The Hard R" blogs now have podcast brethren. We aren't really sure whether these will be in addition to or in place of Dallas' 'Hard R' column, or whether they'll evolve into some sort of MetalSucks official podcast, or something else entirely. But for the time being, enjoy it for what it is -- an audio version of The Hard R column that you've come to know and love. In this inaugural edition of The Hard R Podcast, Dallas plays some music, talks about politics, the latest God Forbid news, his thoughts on the Dino Cazares / Tommy Vext drama, Blabbermouth, and a whole bunch of other shit. Enjoy! - Ed.]

The Hard R Podcast #1 (click to download)

A sample excerpt from the podcast (thanks to Blabbermouth for transcribing!):

“I read Blabbermouth ’cause the shit is really just great. I mean, the guys on Blabbermouth, whoever is responding to this stuff, you guys are geniuses, really. I’m not saying that with any malicious intent either — I actually really love the disses. It gets really… Some people give you guys shit, but I respect the fact that you guys hate a lot of shit and you guys love Meshuggah. I love Meshuggah too. I love Meshuggah so much that I would like to scream it the way you guys type it in all caps and fourteen thousand exclamation points, but I have to keep my composure because I’ve gotta ‘act cool.’”

Dallas Coyle a prophet? Maybe not — but his prediction that myriad summer tours would be canceled this year because of the prohibitively high price of gasoline has proven true. Day after day I see tour cancellation announcements dropping into the MetalSucks Mansion inbox and RSS reader, most recently the “Summer of Scum” tour with Shai Hulud and Full Blown Chaos. Inevitably these press releases include vague language such as “uncontrollable circumstances” or issues “out of our hands,” which is not-so-secret code speak for financial issues, aka gas money. If respectable, successful bands like Shai Hulud and Full Blown Chaos are being forced to cancel tours, it begs the question: what lies ahead for the touring industry in these tough economic times?

Click to read more…

What’s up party peoples? I just got back from LA after finishing up the vocals for the new album. After hearing this record for almost a year now I can say I’m tired of it and excited for it at the same time. Is that possible?

We worked on the vocals for a month when we thought it would take two weeks. This has been the M.O. with this record. The label is pissed off because we didn’t meet certain deadlines, we’re pissed because the person who was supposed to mix it pulled out on us last minute. In all honesty, we deserved it because we did the same thing to him when we couldn’t finish up everything before the Death Angel tour. The tit for tat was well deserved. Karma.

With a ridiculously saturated fall schedule it may be a blessing. Metallica, Trivium, All That Remains, Mastodon, Gojira, Dragon Force, etc, etc. Would you want to put out a record with all of those records coming out too? We seem to be a band that gets lost in a shuffle if our timing is shit.

Click to read more…

The Past

After reading a lot of responses to my blogs I decided to do something a little different. I’m going to post a DRUG induced blog I did over a year ago. I could really give a shit what anyone thinks about me, especially if they don’t know me. So if my use of the word ‘nigger’ bothers you, or my political talking points annoy you — Good.

Maybe this will just cause you to be outraged…

Rock…

June 9th 2007

Armageddon: The Age of Aquarius

What up people?! I haven’t been up on here too much lately because I haven’t had much to say. But, now I think I’ve got a ton of shit to say. What will I say? I don’t even know. I talk a lot. Any of you who really know me, know that I’m a living mouthpiece and I love to hear the sound of my own voice. Even when I’m wrong. Actually, no, especially when I’m wrong — Have you ever convinced someone of something you knew was wrong but actually succeeded in convincing them? I have. It’s fun. And cruel. But that’s why I can usually always get what I want.

Now what am I actually saying here? What am I trying to project to you — The ones who are reading this? I have close to 2000 friends on myspace and it’s quite funny to me because I don’t understand why so many people would request to be my friend. But since I do have an “audience”; what am I trying to say about influence and convincing someone of something you know not to be true?

Click to read more…

Conservative Vs Liberal

Now that Obama is the presumptive Democratic nominee, things have become really boring with this presidential race. The best thing about it now is watching these Republican and Democratic strategists push their agendas. It truly is sad sometimes when you see a person give themselves a title that paints them into a corner so they have a place to fight from. Conservative. Liberal. Progressive.

These titles people give themselves show how hard it is for them to find their own opinion. Sometimes if you ask someone why they are voting Republican they’ll say,’I have conservative values. I’m a conservative.’ You ask them why they vote Democratic they’ll say,’Because Reagan was an asshole! He took a lot of jobs from people.’ Usually responses like this are from people who haven’t done their homework. In this day and age getting on a computer to get info shouldn’t be a chore. The info is out there.

Click to read more…

Today is the longest day of the year. Why are you sitting there reading this summary of the meaningless events that took place in the metal world this week? Go outside, asshole.

• Nine supposedly mixed and mastered Guns N’ Roses tracks from the 14-years in the making Chinese Democracy leaked. Sites posted, lawyers threatened to sue, more sites posted, lawyers threatened to sue.
• Kid Rock released a “PSA” telling all of his fans “I’m Rich!” and to steal his music… check that, to steal everything.
• A new Slipknot track leaks and then they decide to “release” it for “free.” Me smells a conspiracy, but smart business.
• Dallas writes an open letter to Light This City; Lambgoat members write an open letter to Dallas.
• MetalSucks readers declare new Judas Priest record Nostradamus a big fat “meh.”
• Mastodon play three new songs at Bonnaroo which are captured on film but promptly removed from the Internet (though we’re sure you can find ‘em if you have a brain).
• Metallica did nothing of note.

Until next time, this is Vince Neilstein saying “until next time.”

-VN

The Touring Problem

After doing the open letter to Light This City, which I don’t consider a true blog, I saw that The Fresh Meat Tour that Metalsucks sponsored was canceled. It didn’t surprise me at all considering the money problems we had on the latest tour we just finished. In my past blogs, I talked about how we went over budget on tours because of dumb mistakes. On this tour I can say we didn’t make any dumb mistakes. We were totally on budget but what put us over budget was the fact that gas went up about 50 cents a gallon in about a 5 week period. Diesel actually was close to 5 dollars a gallon towards the end of our tour.

One night on the road I was HAMMERED and we stopped at a rest stop to go get food after a night of drunken shenanigans. It was daylight and as I stepped out of the bus I looked at the price for diesel and I immediately became sober. It was like getting hit by a fucking car. This was two weeks ago and gas was cheaper then than it is now.

At that point, I realized that the touring world and the metal touring world specifically was in a very shaky position. I knew that God Forbid was not going to be able to tour. We’ll go on tours if we’re a little over budget these days because we generally do well enough on merch to balance out those sorts of things but with the oil market it’s just too much of a risk to go out there and piss in the wind. Now imagine going out as a band who doesn’t have the name to be able to go out and headline and must rely solely on support tours?

Fucking impossible.

Click to read more…

Open Letter To Light This City

Tonight was the last night of the “In Thrash We Trust’ tour with Death Angel, Arsis, Soilent Green and Light This City. The first thing I want to do is thank every single person who came out to this tour and rocked out with us. Some shows were packed and some shows weren’t but in the end none of that matters. The shows we played were for the people who came out to rock! I sound like a broken record but we get to play a show every day. Most of the people who come out to the show make this their one time of the week, their one time of the month — hell, their one time of the year to escape and lose themselves in some heavy fucking metal!

To those people, I THANK YOU!

After this six week run a lot of things have happened. No matter how many tours you do you never have the same story. You are always surprised. It could be the people you encounter that you haven’t seen in a long time. It could be the new bands you meet on tour who become new friends. There is a bond that is established between everyone on tour; from crew, to promoters, to bands, to fans. It really is an amazing animal. Honestly, if any of you out there are scientists in behavior you’d do well to do a study of the rhythm and mechanisms of a tour. I bet you’d find some anomalies that may coincide with the patterns of weather currents.

It is true energy.

Unfortunately, Light This City had to leave this tour early. It really sucked because I really liked everyone in the band. When a band leaves a tour prematurely it can affect you. Soilent left the tour early to do the Dethklok/Chimaira tour. I was happy as hell for them because that tour is kicking ass and they deserve to play for new people. When Soilent left we felt it. It was a blow. It was like our package had to reset itself.

Click to read more…

Holy crap. After what seems like forever, God Forbid finally released their first DVD, Beneath the Scars of Glory and Progression, earlier this week (trailer and clip above).

And you know what?

It was totally worth the wait. Click to read more…