Three cheers for reader SeanN, who correctly answered last night’s trivia question — yep, Dan Lilker is Jewish. Several of you pointed out that he’s not a practicing Jew, but, alas, that’s not what I asked! So SeanN wins a mystery prize courtesy of Century Media, and a dreidel, courtesy of us. Hoo-ray for SeanN!

And now, onto tonight’s question:

• True or false: Periphery have at least one member who is Jewish.

E-mail your answer to axl [at] metalsucks.net with the phrase “HEAVY METAL HANNUKKAH – NIGHT 5″ in the subject line. All entries should include your name and mailing address in addition to your answer, and are due by 5 pm tomorrow (Monday, December 6) evening. Shortly thereafter we’ll announce the winner and post night 6’s trivia question. And while you don’t have to be Jewish to enter the contest, you do have to live in the U.S., ’cause unfortunately, there’s no such thing as a shipping mitsieh.

-AR

First of all, my apologies to Michael Beem and Doug Gross, who also correctly answered night 2′s trivia question. Your e-mails got stuck in my junk mail folder, fellas. I’ll obviously be checking that before choosing a winner from here on out. But three people actually got night 2′s trivia question, so you all did ever-so-slightly better than I initially thought.

But onward and upward: yarmulkes off to reader Jeff Bilello, who correctly identified The Metal Shop as Tel Aviv’s premiere retailer of metal music. I’ve only gotten to visit that place once, but it was like I died and went to heaven. So awesome. ANYWAY, Jeff wins a mystery prize courtesy of Century Media, and a dreidel, courtesy of us. Mazel tov, Jeff!

Here’s the question for night four:

• Dan Lilker: Jewish or not?

E-mail your answer to axl [at] metalsucks.net with the phrase “HEAVY METAL HANNUKKAH – NIGHT 4″ in the subject line. All entries should include your name and mailing address in addition to your answer, and are due by 5 pm tomorrow (Sunday, December 5) evening. Shortly thereafter we’ll announce the winner and post night 5’s trivia question. And while you don’t have to be Jewish to enter the contest, you do have to live in the U.S. Dreidels are surprisingly costly to ship.

-AR

Brutal Truth have released a new video, for the song “Get a Therapist… Spare the World,” which has to be one of the best song titles ever. It’s not a great video or anything, but it’s Brutal Truth, so they pretty much could have filmed Richard Hoak and Dan Lilker making out and I would have posted it.

Actually, note to Brutal Truth: For your next video, please just film Hoak making out with Lilker. That shit would get you a lot of attention, I can tell you that much.

“Get a Therapist… Spare the World” comes off of Brutal Truth’s latest awesome offering, Evolution Through Revolution, which is out now on Relapse.

-AR

We’re just days away from Maryland Deathfest 2010, which will take place from May 28-30 in Baltimore, Maryland. This year’s edition of the annual fest promises to be the best one yet, with a line-up that includes Gorguts, Autopsy, Obituary, Entombed, Sodom, Repulsion, D.R.I., and a ton of other kick-ass bands. In anticipation of the event, we thought it would be fun to get some recollections of past MDFs from artists who were there. So we’re teaming up with Relapse Records to do just that! Read the raucous inaugural entry by Matt from Rumpelstiltskin Grinder, memories of a jam-packed day from Tomas Lindberg of Disfear (and At the Gates), how Pete Benumb of Agenda of Swine got swindled, John from Weekend Nachos’ memories of the Bolt Thrower show, and today’s final entries, a double-shot from Dan Lilker of Autopsy, Brutal Truth and Nuclear Assault fame, and Marc from Fuck the Facts. Have fun at MDF!

I am definitely looking forward to this year’s MDF for a very good reason – I will be playing bass for Autopsy there.

I’ve had the pleasure of playing MDF a couple of times with Brutal Truth and once each with Nuclear Assault and Venomous Concept, but even with all that in mind this will be a special one for me due to the honor bestowed on me by Chris and the guys by asking me to fill in on bass. As most people know, Autopsy has not performed live since the early 90s, so this will be the first show in a very long time for a band that was “kult” before that word was intentionally misspelled by a bunch of message board members.

I hope all you motherfuckers come down to witness a little death metal history!!

- Dan Lilker / Autopsy, Brutal Truth, Nuclear Assault

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Dan Lilker is, to use a technical term, a badass motherfucker. As a founding member of Anthrax and un-PC crossover thrashsters S.O.D. and longtime bassist for Nuclear Assault, he had a significant hand in keeping metal filthy in a time when toy poodle hair and Day-Glo spandex were the norm. With deathgrind innovators Brutal Truth and grind supergroup Venomous Concept, he helped build upon the metal he himself innovated, synthesizing punk and hardcore in a way only someone with a true understanding of both could do. A prolific sideman in a lot of awesome/important bands (as well as a pretty decent bassist), Lilker is perhaps one of metal’s great unsung heroes. So, in theory, he’s entitled to a dud album by a lackluster band every now and again. And Crucifist, his shot at black metal, certainly tests his lifetime pass. And though its failures aren’t what plague other prominent musicians’ ill-fated black metal side projects – a lack of understanding of the genre and/or the inability to decide whether it’s paying tribute to or taking the piss out of it – that doesn’t stop Crucifist from being ultimately incredibly dull overall.

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So I’m a day late on this one, but when it comes to a band as cool as Sigh, better late than never.

Sigh have officially announced a September 2 release date for their aptly titled Venom tribute, A Tribute to Venom, via The End Records. A one-pressing-only limited edition will be available, with an LP with an etching as well as the CD. And, oh yeah, as if all of that wasn’t cool enough, Napalm Death’s Shane Embury and Brutal Truth’s Dan Lilker also make guest appearances on the album.

You know what? That cover art is fucking bad assed, man. What a perfect amalgamation of Sigh and Venom’s personalities. In fact, I wanna start a petition for that son of a bitch to be on a t-shirt, pronto. If the band managed to get that kind of sensibility into the music, too, this fucker is gonna slay.

Sigh are also gonna hit the road with Zimmer’s Hole (who are awesome) and Unexpect (who I don’t know but hear very good things about). Get tour dates after the jump.

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Sigh’s Tribute to Venom, Sigh’s very cleverly titled tribute to, um, y’know, still doesn’t have an official release date – but it will apparently feature guest appearances by Napalm Death’s Shane Embury and Dan Lilker of Brutal Truth/Nuclear Assault fame. According to a statement released by Sigh front man Mirai Kawashima, Embury will play on the song “Witching Hour” while Lilker will appear on “Countess Bathory.”

Gee, I wish I’d known about this back when I interviewed Mirai about the album, for I most surely would have asked him about collaborating with these two super-cool dudes. Oh well. You should still read the interview, ’cause, y’know, I told you to.

ANYWAY, here’s some live footage of Sigh performing “Witching Hour” in Tokyo last year. Without Shane Embury. But still…

-AR