First, a little backstory. Back in 2006, Darkest Hour was making the promotional rounds for their latest disc, Undoing Ruin. I was working for my shitty college paper, doing a show preview for DH’s show in Omaha, Nebraska and emailed Kris requesting an interview. He called me five minutes after I sent the email. That’s how cool of a guy he is.

Besides being one hell of a nice dude, Kris is an extremely talented musician, and his new project, A Cancerous Affair, has completed their lineup and is starting to produce what will most definitely be some killer tunes.  Check out my interview with Kris below.

Click to read more…

Back in February of 2010, Machine Head invited a fan who was holding a banner that read “Let Me Play ‘Aesthetics Of Hate’ — Seriously, I Can Play It” up onto the stage to take a crack at that song, which is pretty much the coolest thing ever. Now they’ve done it again, and while you might be thinking “Yawn! Been there, done that!”, you should know that this time the fan, Anthony Potenza, was just thirteen years old. He even got to use Robb Flynn’s guitar. And unless that guitar was turned way low in the mix or something, it sounds like he did a mighty fine job! And to think, when I was thirteen, the only thing I was doing was masturbating to the bra section of the Sears catalog.

Machine Head are currently on tour with Darkest Hour, Suicide Silence, and Rise to Remain. You can get remaining dates here.

-AR

[via Roadrunner's official website... thanks to Rida for the tip!]

This is just me, but I attend Darkest Hour shows mostly to make goo-goo eyes at guitarist Mike Schleibaum, fellow devotée of my boner band The Crown (and The Cars). That’s my M.O. no judgements please. Still I was bummed when sweet drummer Ryan Parrish announced his departure from DH late last year. But dude is already in A Cancerous Affair, the project started by his former DH bandmate and guitar freak Kris Norris. And which now welcomes its newest member, keyboardist Knockerz Randall.

Click to read more…

Iron Reagan is a new band featuring two current members of Municipal Waste (Tony Foresta and Landphil) and one current and one former member of Darkest Hour (Paul Burnette and Ryan Parish), and that information alone should pretty much be enough to get you asking “Where I can hear this band?!?” And the answer is, right here, where the group is giving away their new demo for the low low cost of free.

I’m not clear who’s handling guitar duties — Burnette and Landphil are both bassists by trade, but presumably one of them is now rockin’ six strings instead of four — but that’s beside the point, I guess. ‘Cause the real point is this: the songs, which lean much more towards the Municipal Waste/neo-thrash side of things than the Darkest Hour/melodeath side of things, are more fun than wondering how Alzheimer’s-stricken Reagan was while he was running the United States. And I mean that as a high compliment, because I LOVE wondering how Alzheimer’s-stricken Reagan was while he was running the United States.

Iron Reagan will be playing their first show this Sunday, January 22, in Richmond, VA at Strange Matter; Weekend Nachos and Full of Hell are also on the bill, so if you live in the area you should definitely check that shit out. I do wonder how long the band’s set will be, ’cause this demo features four songs in five minutes. But presumably they have other tunes ready to roll, too, so they can stretch that shit to ten minutes, or maybe even fifteen, if they’re feeling ambitious.

Download the demo here, then weigh in with your opinions in the comments section below.

-AR

(photo credit: Phil A. Wickstrand of Metal Psalter)

Yesterday we reported on differing versions of press releases regarding ex-Darkest Hour guitarist Kris Norris’ new band, A Cancerous Affair; one version said that “ex-Darkest Hour drummer” Ryan Parrish was playing drums on the project while another version didn’t mention a drummer at all. Well, it turns out the former wasn’t just a slip-up: Ryan Parrish is indeed out of Darkest Hour (and will be joining his former bandmate Kris in the new project). Here’s an official statement from the band send directly to MetalSucks:

Click to read more…

If yesterday was the day for 2012 new album updates, today is the day for dudes quitting bands. Which always sucks. Nevertheless, here’s what’s been happening over the past 24 hours or so:

• We’re still selling MetalSucks t-shirts for only $10 and hoodies for just $20 through the holidays – order now to get them in time! We’ll be retiring these designs forever once they’re gone.
• Did drummer Ryan Parrish leave Darkest Hour? In yesterday morning’s news round-upwe reported on news we received via press release that ex-DH guitarist Kris Norris had teamed up with ex-Annihilator touring bassist Dave Sheldon (on vocals) for a new project called A Cancerous Affair. That press release made no mention of a drummer. But then this morning we received a tip from MS reader Huthaifa Al-Rawi linking us to this Blabbermouth article citing the same quotes and press release text as what we got except for this: “and ex-Darkest Hour drummer Ryan Parrish.” Zuh? If Parrish is indeed out of Darkest Hour and that article’s writer didn’t just make a mistake I’m sure we’ll be hearing confirmation shortly. Also, that would really suck; Parrish is a great drummer and an awesome dude.
• Cannabis Corpse have parted ways with vocalist Andy Horn (aka Weedgrinder) and guitarist Nick Poulos (aka Nikropolis) but will continue on with a new lineup, according to Phil “Landphil” Hall.
• Spin Magazine has decided to get into the “Best Metal Albums of 2011″ game by publishing their Top 20. Kudos for including great lesser-known bands like Hull and Batillus — and really, most of the list is pretty solid — but someone please smack whoever compiled this list for naming Liturgy’s album #1 and for including Korn at all. Lulz.
• The Vegan Black Metal Chef is movin’ up in the world; check out his newest instructional video for Yule Log Cake above, via Chow.com.
• The Safety Fire have a new music video for “Huge Hammers.” The song will appear on the band’s new album Grind the Ocean, out February 27, 2012 via Inside Out Music.

Today is seemingly “news about albums that are coming out in early 2012″ day. To that end:

• Soilwork are writing a new album called The Living Infinite. Generic quote time: Speed Strid says that “people can expect a continuation of the intensity and presence of The Panic Broadcast, only taken to a higher level” and wishes us all a merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Gee, thanks, Speed!
• Gojira have issued their third studio update video, this one showing bassist Jean-Michel Labadie laying down his tracks. Labadie is the member of Gojira I feel like I know the least about; I’d love to get to know that guy! Gojira are presumably all done or close to done recording their album by now… very exciting.
• Lamb of God released a new trailer for their new album Resolution (January 24th, Epic Records), and it features a good chunk of a previously unheard song. Check it out above, and listen to the first single “Ghost Walking” here if you haven’t yet.

FEATURING MEMBERS OF GWAR, DARKEST HOUR, REVOCATION, INTRONAUT, ABYSMAL DAWN, BRUTAL TRUTH, THE ATLAS MOTH, AND IKILLYA

Every year year, MetalSucks asks musicians from across the vast spectrum of the metalsphere (or, in a few cases, the almost-metalsphere) what their favorite albums of the year have been. Death metallers, thrash metallers, black metallers, stoners, grinders, and djenters alike have graciously contributed lists to MS, and we’ll be running them in groups of nine to ten musicians at a time two to three times a day for the whole week.

After the jump, check out the next group… we hope you enjoy seeing what some of metal’s heaviest hitters were into this year as much as we have!

Click to read more…

So hey, remember last week when we heard that rumor that Machine Head were planning a North American tour with Suicide Silence, Darkest Hour, and Rise to Remain? Well, it wasn’t a rumor at all, and now dates for the tour have been announced. You can get ‘em after the jump.

And, like I said when word about the trek first got out, it’s a really good bill. Machine Head, Darkest Hour, and Suicide Silence are all a lotta fun live, and I’m itching to see some of MH’s new Unto the Locust material performed before my very eyes. I’m not a fan of Rise to Remain, but I haven’t seen them in concert, so for all I know, they put on a good show, too. And even if they don’t, well, they go on first so you can just get there a little later or whatever.

And now, the promised tour itinerary…

Click to read more…

Here’s some stuff that’s not-at-all-terrible. The PRP has broken news on rumors — and even initial dates — for two very big tours, both of which you’ll want to see, and both of which will kick off early next year. And so –

• Lamb of God will do a headlining run, with support coming from The Acacia Strain. Which is a CRUSHING bill; like, a “I don’t know how I’m gonna survive the evening” kinda bill. I dunno if more bads will be added to the line-up or not (Remember the old days, when there were often just two bands on the tour?), but right now the only date which has leaked is January 24 at Irving Plaza in New York.
• Machine Head, meanwhile, will hit the road with Suicide Silence, Darkest Hour, and Rise to Remain. Hey, three outta four ain’t bad! Machine Head and Darkest Hour alone would have been enough to get me through the door, and Suicide Silence are always fun, too. The dates which have leaked for that tour are after the jump.

Click to read more…

The German version of Metal Hammer has debuted Darkest Hour’s new video, “Your Everyday Disaster,” which you can check out below. The editing is so fast and most of the shots so close-up I can barely tell what I’m looking at, but just hearing the song is enough to make me wanna chug a bottle of something powerful and kill things, so, basically, mission accomplished!!!

“Your Everyday Disaster” appears on Darkest Hour’s most recent release, The Human Romance, which is out now on eOne. I think I’m allowed to tell you that we tried to get them for The Metal Suckfest because they put on an AWESOME live show, but they were unavailable ’cause they’ll be touring Europe with Machine Head at that time. And that will probably be fun, too. If you’re one of European readers, get dates here and go support them — they rule.

-AR

[via Metal Underground]

The latest edition of Metal Injection’s “Ask the Artist” series — in which various artists are asked one uniform question (See what they did there?) —  poses the query “What are the best and worst stage moves in metal?” to various bands that were on this summer’s two biggest metal tours — Mayhem Fest and Summer Slaughter.

And it’s a great question to ask, because it’s certainly one that seems to come up in metallic circles quite a bit. Just recently, a publicist told me she understood that I didn’t like one of her bands because they played too much “breakdowncore,” and I told her the breakdowncore was silly, sure, but not as silly as they choreographed stage moves they used for each and every song. So it’s interesting to hear the thoughts of the musicians who actually have to be extra-conscientious of stage moves themselves.

Not shocking — a lot of the bands, including Trivium and Fleshgod Apocalypse, poke fun at crabcore and general scene-friendly stage moves. More shocking: so do Oceano.

Check out more of Metal Injection’s “Ask the Artist” videos here.

-AR

Last week I wrote a little bit about how a lot of modern production techniques I loathe may actually be aesthetic choices; and I tried to keep that in mind as I attempted to listen to Dead Throne, the latest offering from The Devil Wears Prada. If, for example, the band didn’t favor such excessive use of autotune and vocoder, would the songs at least be solid?

Click to read more…

(photo from old_skool_metal_head’s Flickr)

Axl and I went to Summer Slaughter in NYC yesterday. That second bottle of whiskey was a really bad idea. But before said second bottle we got to see Darkest Hour… and any time I see Darkest Hour I have an incredible urge to listen to nothing but Darkest Hour the following day. Thanks to Spotify I have their entire discography instantly at my disposal and I’m letting Undoin Ruin rock away my hangover at this very moment. If anyone else at the show had the same urge they could do the very same thing instead of being driven to piracy (because we all know people are cheap-asses and ain’t gonna shell out for DH’s ENTIRE discography at once), so at least Darkest Hour gets paid something instead of nothing at all.

What kind of ass-backwards world do we live in where Victory Records is doing something right and Century Media isn’t? Can I get an “AMEN”???

ANYWAY, the metalnets have been surprisingly quiet when it comes to bands voicing their opinions on Spotify, especially if those bands are on Century. Maybe they’re afraid to speak up, maybe they’re against Spotify and don’t wanna look like this generation’s Lars Ulrich, maybe they just aren’t sure yet; I don’t know. But Lazarus A.D.’s Jeff Paulick (whose band and label are on Spotify, btw) has broken the silence and come out in support of Spotify in a guest blog for Metal Insider, specifically with regards to the whole Century situation. What I like about Paulick’s rant is that it seems very representative of the new, young generation of musicians that understand and accept music is not going to be a huge source of income in their lives. Here’s the money quote:

I am not depending on selling music for my income. In fact, I have two jobs when I’m not touring to help with my income. I’ll take a page from a good friend of mine Buz McGrath of Unearth. On one of our first tours he told me that he wasn’t in the music business, but that he was in the ticket and t-shirt business, and there is nothing closer to the truth than that.

Click to read more…

Proving that performance footage mixed with found footage doesn’t have to make for a lame, clichéd videois the latest Darkest Hour clip, for the song “Love As a Weapon.” ‘Cause not only did director Scott Hansen do a great job shooting and editing the band, but the found footage he chose wasn’t just the same old shit you see in every other metal video, and the way he uses it, with all the various speeds, is not the same old way you see every other director of metal videos using that kind of stuff. Just proving what we’ve always said around here: a little thought and creativity goes a long, long way.

“Love As a Weapon” comes off of Darkest Hour’s latest, The Human Romance, which is out now on eOne. The band is currently touring as part of the MetalSucks-sponsored Summer Slaughter tour (dates here); Vince and I saw them last night, and, no surprise, they dominated. Definitely do not miss them.

-AR

As we mentioned yesterday, this past Friday, Miikka Skaffari,  our newest member of the MetalSucks Photo Squad, went to the MetalSucks-sponsored Summer Slaughter tour in San Francisco… and boy oh boy, did Miikka ever deliver for his first-ever MS assignment. Dude captured some really, really awesome pics of a bunch of the bands on the bill, including headliners The Black Dahlia Murder (above), Whitechapel, Darkest Hour, Dying Fetus, Six Feet Under, Oceano, and As Blood Runs Black. Check out all of Miika’s photos after the jump! And don’t forget that Summer Slaughter — which also features Fleshgod Apocalypse, Powerglove, and Within the Ruins — is still making its way across America right now! Get dates here.

Click to read more…

UPDATE: It looks like this is just temporary for Summer Slaughter, and Burnette is NOT out of Darkest Hour. So that ends me having five minds about this.

Last week, we got an anonymous e-mail from someone claiming that Salome drummer Aaron Deal had found a sweet new gig: bass player for perennial MetalSucks faves Darkest Hour. And at first we thought this tipster must be mistaken; after all, the band had made no announcement about parting with bassist Paul Burnette, who has been on all of their albums since 2003′s classic Hidden Hands of a Sadist Nation. And Burnette was still listed as a member on Darkest Hour’s Facebook page.

But then a Google search brought us to a website called American Aftermath, which in turn directed us to this tweet from Salome’s label, Profound Lore, which also said that Deal was now in Darkest Hour. So it was starting to look like, yes, the Deep Throat of Darkest Hour was telling the truth.

And then we sent our newest member of the MetalSucks Photo Squad, Miikka Skaffari, to shoot some pics for us at Summer Slaughter in San Francisco this past Friday night, and, hey, guess what? He just happened to capture an awesome picture of Deal playing bass for Darkest Hour:

So, we doubt no longer: Mr. Deal has found a new home.

Click to read more…

I’m a big fan of John Henry, the vocalist for Darkest Hour, and all that he adds to that band’s music. (I like screaming. What can I say?) That being said, I’m also a huge fan of the other four dudes in the band, and will pretty much never complain about a chance to listen to the awesome dual shred brought by The Two Mikes (that would be Schleibaum and Carrigan).

And so I embrace the newly-released instrumental version of DH’s latest offering, The Human Romance. In a statement announcing this version of the album’s (very sudden) unveiling, Mr. Schleibaum proclaims it to be for “geeks, shredders, stem junkies and Karaoke fanatics;” I guess I fall into at least one, and possibly two, of those categories.

ANYWAY, you can buy the instrumental edition of the album on iTunes for just eight bucks, so get on that shit. And don’t forget that Darkest Hour are part of the MetalSucks-sponsored Summer Slaughter tour, which starts TOMORROW, and also features The Black Dahlia Murder, Whitechapel, Dying Fetus, Six Feet Under, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Oceano, As Blood Runs Black, Powerglove, and Within the Ruins. Get dates here.

-AR

No disrespect to our pal Anso DF — I mean the guy’s a ridiculously studly writer and has darn near impeccable music taste, amirite? — but a new Van Halen album is hardly worth getting excited about. I mean, ok, maybe I’ll pop a little semi-stiffy, but if the facts that Fatty Ding Dongs Van Halen is friends with a member of Creed and David Lee Roth hasn’t even stepped foot in the studio doesn’t have “trouble” written all over it, then EVH also isn’t completely delusional and oh yeah, that tongue cancer was definitely caused by that metal guitar pick you use and had nothing whatsoever to do with smoking more cigarettes in an hour than a casino full of raggedy old ladies at slot machines smokes in a day. Still, ya know, I’m curiously optimistic; maybe there’ll be some sick solos.

Even if Van Halen’s 2k11 record does blow donkey balls, thankfully we’ve got Dann Halen to rock us into 2k12. The Texas-based VH cover band features Mike “Lonestar” Carrigan (Darkest Hour) on guitar, James Love (ex-Dillinger Escape Plan) on drums, Dann Miller (The Jonbenet) on screeches and leg kids, “and a couple other buddies doin it hard,” according to Sir Lonestar himself, who sent us the above video. What I love about this video — aside from the EVH-model guitar, Jack Daniels bass and HOLY SHIT NICE STARS AND STRIPES LEOTARD, DUDE! — is that Lonestar clearly did not have to learn much, if any of the guitar parts specifically for this gig; it’s clear he grew up on the stuff and knows it front to back. Because fuckin’ EDDIE VAN HALEN, mannnnnn! He’s the best metal guitar player of all time that no one ever talks about anymore.

-VN

I finally had to make myself stop listening to The Black Dahlia Murder’s new album, Ritual, on such a regular basis (e.g., twice a day for however many days since I’ve had it), because as a blogger I have a responsibility (or something) to listen to a wide variety of metal releases in order to discuss them on the site (or so I’m told).

My point being simply that the album is good to the point of total fucking distraction, and you should be prepared to be totally fucking distracted upon its release. And one such way to prepare yourself is to watch the twelve-minute-plus “making of” video the band has released to Bloody Disgusting. There’s some cool shit in there — Shannon Lucas being the sick drummer we all know him to be, Ryan Knight putting half the other guitar players in modern metal to shame, a live, real, flesh and blood violinist recording the album intro, and, of course, no small amount of BDM tomfoolery.

The video isn’t embeddable, but you can watch it by clicking on the below screen cap of guitarist Brian Eschbach’s ass forever traumatizing Jason Suecof’s dog, Stinky.

Ritual comes out June 21 on Metal Blade, and then TBDM hit the road to headline the MetalSucks-sponsored Summer Slaughter tour along with Whitechapel, Darkest Hour, Six Feet Under, Dying Fetus, As Blood Runs Black, Oceano, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Powerglove, and Within the Ruins. Get dates after the jump!

Click to read more…