Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 at 11:27am by Axl Rosenberg
Between the Somalis and Jerry Bruckheimer, it’s just not cool to be a pirate anymore. Luckily Swashbuckle are here to restore the good name of pirates everywhere.
Here’s the band’s video for “Cruise Ship Terror,” off their Nuclear Blast debut, Back to the Noose, which drops July 24. It was directed by the ultimate pirate documentarian, Cap’n David Brodsky.
Thursday, May 14th, 2009 at 1:30pm by Axl Rosenberg
I’m not really that familiar with The Agonist, which is kinda sad, because I’m fairly certain we sponsored their recent tour with The Haunted (although, in all fairness to me, they weren’t a part of the tour when we signed up). But a lof of you have e-mailed us about them as of late, and I think the split between those of you love ‘em and those of you who loathe ‘em is pretty equal.
So here’s the band’s David Brodsky-directed video for “…And Their Eulogies Sang Me to Sleep.” Check it out, and then let us know what you think of The Agonist below.
Monday, May 11th, 2009 at 11:12am by Axl Rosenberg
We’re up to our eyeballs in work here at the MetalSucks Mansion, which is why we’ve been kind of behind on reviews. To wit: the new Earth Crisis album, To the Death, which we think is totally excellent, and haven’t had any time to give a write-up. Shame on us.
What we do have time to do is post the band’s kick-ass new video, “To Ashes,” which was directed/shot/edited/everything else by our favoritest extreme music auteur, David Brodsky, and his team at My Good Eye (And by “team,” I pretty much mean Allison Woest.).
Is this the first ever hardcore/metal video to be “based on a true story?” I honestly can’t think of another. Maybe Ron Howard will buy the movie rights…
Thursday, March 19th, 2009 at 4:00pm by Axl Rosenberg
Some good news for thrash fans:
Warbringer have posted “Severed Reality,” the first single from their new album Waking Into Nightmares, on their MySpace page. The song sounds more or less like Warbringer – which is a good thing. ‘Cause you don’t throw on a Warbringer album when you’re in the mood for Jesu, y’know? Anyways, the band apparently just filmed a video for the track with perennial MetalSucks fave David Brodsky, and Nightmares was produced by Gary Holt (yes, that Gary Holt), so expect more Warbringery goodness in the near future. Waking Into Nightmares drops May 19 on Century – but you can see the band live as they wrap up their MetalSucks sponsored trek with Soilwork, Darkane and Swallow the Sun, or their upcoming tour with Exodus. Get dates here.
Bonded by Blood and their Masters of Disasters tourmates, Exmortus and Witchhaven, will be playing a FREE gig at The Water Grill in Brooklyn next Saturday, March 28. It’s thrash! It’s free! You live in America in 2009 and listen to metal so you’re probably poor! What’s not to love about a free thrash show? Details after the jump.
Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 at 3:00pm by Axl Rosenberg
If I was a betting man, I’d wager that at some point in their lives, the members of The Acacia Strain have been stuck with that most awful of labels – “wiggers” (I betcha thought I was gonna say “deathcore,” didn’t cha?). So there’s probably a deep, sociological statement being made with their new, David Brodsky-directed video, “Skynet,” which forgoes any obvious Terminator references in lieu of imagining a world where all the members of The Acacia Strain are African-Americans.
But, of course, you can also just enjoy the clip as a funny video powered by a br00tal death metal song. Your choice.
If you haven’t done so already, check out our interview with The Acacia Strain vocalist Vincent Bennett here.
Thursday, December 18th, 2008 at 11:30am by David Bee Roth
Being blessed by a slew of Vancouver metal shows recently, I set off last week to see a spectacular example at the conspicuously indie venue Richards on Richards. Black Dahlia Murder managed to attract the biggest mosh and gave an energetic performance even sans their lead guitarist and his parts. Soilent Green might have stolen the show managing to sound tight as bike shorts while playing their complex arrangements and with studly beast Ben Falgoust delivering his vicious stage presence with the occasional slice of Louisiana charm. However, I had already picked favorites before I even got in the door that night and I was more than excited to be able to see Misery Index dish it out in the opening slot and let me assure you that they fucking slayed. It all has to do with a little album called Traitors that turned me into an instant fan this year, front to back, riff to riff. After introducing myself to this brutal Baltimore quintet around their self-operated merch table, I stole away bassist/vocalist Jason Netherton backstage to the door of the venue’s massive walk-in beer fridge for a few questions about the making of the new album, being a political band and more.
Above, check out the band’s new, David Brodsky-directed video for the title track from Traitors; then, after the jump, read the complete transcript of our interview.
Thursday, November 20th, 2008 at 4:07pm by Axl Rosenberg
The latest Whitechapel video, “Possession,” was filmed in front of a real, live, paying audience at Worcester Mass’s legendary Palladium, and man oh man, does it make me wanna see these dudes live. Those kids look like they’re going nucking futs, don’t they? So much fun. Why did I ever stop going into pits, anyways?
The clip was directed by David Brodsky (who also did Whitechapel’s last video, “This is Exile”), who actually killed the director of Warrant’s “Heaven” video… with his mind! Sick.
Whitechapel’s This is Exile is out now on Metal Blade.
Monday, November 10th, 2008 at 5:00pm by Axl Rosenberg
Ohio Deathrashers Brother Von Doom are one of our favorite new metal bands on 2008. They have an awesome new album, Relentless, out now on Deathcote (read David Bee Roth’s review here), and an insanely sweet, metal as fuck new David Brodsky-directed video – with knights!!! – for their merciless single, “Eater of Days” (above). So when the opportunity to e-mail the band some questions arose, of course, I jumped at the chance.
After the jump, find out where the name “Brother Von Doom” comes from and get the band’s thoughts on their songwriting process, working with David Brodsky and producer Andreas Magnusson, the worst trends in metal today, and a whole lot more…
Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 at 4:00pm by Axl Rosenberg
When you think about it, being French Canadian must be the worst of both possible worlds. You’re not really French but you are, you’re not really Canadian but you are, and if you’re like most people, you probably don’t really wanna be Canadian anyway (All due respect to Sebastian Bach, William Shatner, Michael J. Fox, and MetalSucks’ own resident canuck David Bee Roth).
So maybe that’s why Despised Icon make such furious music. It can be hard to understand what they’re actually saying amidst all the br00tality and pig squeals, but I think it’s something along the lines of “FUCK! WE’RE FRENCH CANADIANS! GRRRRRR!!!”
ANYWAY, Century will release a decidedly intense, decidedly French Canadian Despised Icon DVD, entitled Montreal Assault, on January 27, 2009. I haven’t seen it yet, but it already has a few things going for it:
Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008 at 11:23am by Axl Rosenberg
Headbanger’s Blog just debuted Bleeding Through’s new, David Brodsky-directed video for “Death Anxiety.” Vocalist Brandan Schieppati says, “The only thing we told Dave Brodsky, the director, is that we wanted it to feature the band playing the song and we wanted lots of pyro. And that’s exactly what we got!”
So here’s Bleeding Through, in all their pyromanic glory…
Thursday, October 2nd, 2008 at 4:37pm by Axl Rosenberg
Headbanger’s Blog just debuted Bleed the Sky’s new video for the song “Sullivan.” They also have lead singer Noah Robinson’s thoughts of the making of the video, which was directed by MetalSucks approved headbanger auteur David Brodsky. Here’s an excerpt from Robinson:
“It was great filming the video with David Brodsky. He kept it very relaxed, not to mention that because we’re seasoned drinkers, he kept us stocked with the three cases of beer and a handle of Captain Morgan. That probably helped a bit!
“A funny thing we noticed was that guitarist Justin Warrick kept ritualistically brushing his hair. All the behind-the-scenes videos we shot for ourselves always had Justin brushing his golden locks somewhere in the background. HE NEVER STOPPED. He even tried to brush his hair between takes, but Brodsky told him no, but that didn’t mean Justin didn’t keep reaching for his brush.”
Now here’s the video… I’ve mentioned in the past how much I dig the rhythmic editing of Allison Woest, Brodsky’s producer/partner/sometimes editor, and while I’m not 100% certain that Woest edited this clip, it certainly has her fingerprints all over it – note how many of the cuts happen right on the beat every time (the first ten or fifteen seconds of the video are the most obvious example of this technique, but it does repeat throughout).
Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008 at 12:48pm by Axl Rosenberg
David Brodsky videos are usually full of the kind of fucked-up imagery we’re accustomed to in the metal world – zombies, blood-thirsty beasts, patricide, population-leveling plagues, bats flying out of people’s mouths, scary old dudes licking young women in bondage gear, Devin Townsend in a tuxedo, etc. – so the fact that the video he just directed for In This Moment, “Forever,” is so sun-shiney is, at a glance, kind of a shock.
But Brodksy has what Hollywood types call “range,” and these visuals completely fit the song. And I know for a fact that Brodsky wants nothing more than to create an honorable cinematic representation of whatever band he’s working with at the moment (pun not intended), something that will satisfy the artist and their fans alike. Also, this video really, really makes me wanna go to the beach.
Century will release In This Moment’s new album, The Dream, next week.
Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 at 10:55am by Vince Neilstein
Misery Signals — whose solid July release Controllercompletely caught me by surprise — have released a video for the album’s first single, “A Certain Death.” The David Brodsky-directed video was filmed in a truly dangerous locale. Relates vocalist Karl Schubach;
“We filmed our scenes in a burnt down hotel in a [sic] abandoned town in upstate NY. It was definitely condemned, I don’t know how they got us in there but it was dark, dirty with gutted wood beams, blackened walls and if you weren’t careful you could fall into the basement that was flooded with some kind of liquid.”
Sounds mysteriously like the MetalSucks Mansion. Hmmmm.
“A Certain Death” wouldn’t have been my choice for first single (I think “Parallels” and “Weight of the World” showcase the band’s originality more), but the video has some cool visuals intercut with the performance footage that make it a good watch, up to snuff with Brodsky’s consistently high standards.
Monday, June 30th, 2008 at 11:10am by Axl Rosenberg
Beneath the Scars of Glory and Progression, God Forbid’s first DVD, has been on store shelves for a few weeks now; if you still haven’t purchased a copy, well, please allow us to entice you further with the below footage of the band performing “End of the World,” taken from the David Brodsky-directed concert portion of the DVD. This song gets my blood pumping every time, and the footage might be the best ad for the DVD available.
If for some reason the clip still doesn’t convince you, you can also check out my review here. Whatever you end up paying for this thing, I promise you it’s totally worth it.
Monday, June 23rd, 2008 at 1:05pm by Axl Rosenberg
Like a lot of people, I imagine, I discovered horror movies and metal at roughly the same age. And even though they seem a little campy now, the George Romero/Stephen King Creepshow movies were some of my favorites.
So, needless to say, I’m head over heels in love with the new Black Dahlia Murder video for “Everything Went Black.” Not only is it a killer song, but the video, under the direction of David Brodsky, is a sweet recreation of the original Creepshow. Using that movie as a model for the video, the band is able to maintain their “We don’t take ourselves too seriously” vibe while making something considerably more impressive than their usual random-footage-of-the-band-acting-silly schtick (see: “Statutory Ape,” “What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse,” etc.).
Thursday, June 19th, 2008 at 11:12am by Axl Rosenberg
I feel like I’ve been hearing a lot about this band Whitechapel lately. I haven’t really heard any of their music, though – at least, not enough to really make any kind of judgement. I like the group’s name, though. Semi-clever serial killer references are always cool in my book.
Here’s David Brodsky’s video for the band’s title track from This is Exile, which will drop on Metal Blade on July 8. Two things I’m really digging about this video: i) it appears to have been filmed in Ted Bundy’s basement, and ii) the use of the color green… I mean, that particular shade, especially when contrasted with the corpse-white shade of the band members, the whole thing just looks so… diseased.
Anyways, Whitechapel are on the Summer Slaughter tour, so I’ll get to check them out next week.
Monday, June 16th, 2008 at 3:56pm by Axl Rosenberg
Is this whole debate about whether or not Cryptopsy are sell-outs still going on? If so, that’s retarded. I still haven’t heard their new album, The Unspoken King, but I have watched David Brodsky’s mindfuck of a video (the only word for that camera work is “dizzying,” and I mean that as a good thing) for their new song “Worship Your Demons” (below), and even if there’s no Lord Worm and the music isn’t super-duper technical, it’s still heavier than being caught beneath a fuck sandwich made of Dom DeLuise, Sally Struthers, and Charles Durning. So I have to think that anyone who who claims these dudes are doin’ it for the cha-ching (as opposed to a genuine desire to explore new sounds) either has cum in their ears or shit in their brains.
Friday, June 13th, 2008 at 4:12pm by Axl Rosenberg
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).
Tuesday, May 27th, 2008 at 12:02pm by Axl Rosenberg
I’ve never met Matt Fox in person, but reading his answers to this all-too-brief interview I recently conducted with him via e-mail, I really, really want to. Fox comes across as intelligent, funny, and, as his band’s name would suggest, a knowledgeable and opinionated sci-fi geek; in other words, he comes across as exactly the kind of dude I’d wanna be friends with.
Shai Hulud’s latest cock punch of metallicized hardcore, the excellently titled Misanthropy Pure, hits stores today via Metal Blade, and if you haven’t heard it yet, well, you need to: it’s a vicious, wholly unique entry into a genre that seems to be growing more tired by the day, an album that genuinely doesn’t sound like anything else on the market right now. Above, watch Shai Hulud’s David Brodsky-directed video for the title track; after the jump, check out Matt’s thoughts on the writing process, the metalcore genre, and, of course, all things sci-fi.