MetalSucks

Australian metal troop The Amenta are currently touring the U.S. with Polish death troop Vader as one of way too many support bands who get abbreviated 20 minute sets on the tour. Thankfully, even with only a 20 minute set, The Amenta made traveling into Manhattan on a Saturday night worth it; their powerful set was equal parts modern death metal and neo-industrial and their stage presence was captivating. Place The Amenta firmly in the “bands to watch” category.

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Now the nausea’s
In my guts
And I’m wrestling with doubt
The kind you get when your heroes
Sell you out
And as I watch the drawbridge come down
There’s mass extinction
On my mind
Human cruelty stains my thoughts jet black
I’ve got this feeling
Like things have gone too far and now we can’t get back

Here’s more fun shit that happened in the world of metal this week:

• We debuted new videos from Cradle of Filth and Arsonists Get All the Girls.
• We got exclusive tour blogs from Bison B.C.’s Dan And and Woe of Tyrants’ Chris Catanzaro.
• We spoke to members of Winds of Plague, Decrepit Birth and Born of Osiris.
• I counted down 50 things I love about Pig Destroyer, and then added a 51st.
• Ulrich Vs. Mustaine Vs. Ian and Zakk Vs. Ozzy made us laugh with glee.
• Kerry King Vs. Killswitch Engage was pretty funny, too.
• Dallas Coyle answered more of your questions.

Vince gets back from vacation tonight right around the time Repulsion take the stage, and then tomorrow, hopefully, Craig’s List will lead us to some Tool tickets. See ya Monday!

-AR

I have only nice things to say about Decrepit Birth. Their music is br00tal, their influences are fucking legendary (Vader, Suffocation, Deicide), and there isn’t a single generic breakdown on either of their records. Singer Bill Robinson was the only member of the group ready and willing to sit down for an interview at this summer’s Dirt Fest (my review here), so I took him to the only comfortable place I knew of outside of the heat: the men’s bathroom. Although the smell of tour shits filled the air, the insight Bill gave me into the band and his life-style was nothing short of inspiring. He is homeless by choice and definitely looks it, but you would be surprised to know that he is cleaner then everyone on the tour combined. Living in the terraces of Santa Cruz, CA and growing herb for a living is not really the way I pictured the front man of a death metal band. But Bill does it, and does it well. He loves it so much that he feels the band is actually a sacrifice he makes for himself, and genuinely misses being away from the field he resides in (I slept in a field once  – it wasn’t by choice, and had everything to do with Jagermeister.).

Along with Bill’s love for weed comes hatred for the police. The pigs. All of the dick-knuckles in blue who cuffed and arrested more than two dozen people that very day (seriously, waaaaaay too many people got busted with pot and open containers in the parking lot). I’m with Bill on this one. All the fucking way. As far as Decrepit Birth is concerned, recording on a new album should begin sometime in the next eight months. As for the rest of 2009, with Summer Slaughter now officially dunzo, the guys will be embarking on a tour in the fall. Be there or be square, fuckers. Read on for full details…

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So the line-up for Summer Slaughter – a.k.a. the big summer package tour that isn’t Ozzfest, Mayhem, Warped, or Sounds of the Underground (R.I.P.) – has been announced, and, pretty much as expected, it’s totally solid. Yes, there are a few bands on the bill I don’t care for (I’m looking at you, Winds of Plague), but the presence of co-headliners Suffocation and Necrophagist, plus Darkest Hour, Origin, Born of Osiris, Dying Fetus and Blackguard pretty much guarantees this will be a day (well, late afternoon at least) worth your time and money. Especially since, unlike the aforementioned summer fests, this one plays smaller venues and comes at a cheaper price.

Also kind of advantageous: you’re basically just dealing with death metal on this tour. So… you pretty much know if you’re the audience or not for this tour.

No dates yet… stay tuned for more details.

-AR

We loved Neuraxis’ 2008 release, The Thin Line Between, so much that the opportunity to have the band do an exclusive tour blog for MetalSucks was too good an opportunity to pass up. Below, check out vocalist Alexandre Leblanc’s latest entry; you can read guitarist Rob Milley’s intial entry here, Alexandre’s last entry here, and Alexandre’s review of the Oscar nominated film The Wrestler here. Enjoy!

Portland, February 6th

After a killer set, we went to the bar for a drink with Tiffany and her friends.  She has been friends with the band since their tour with Necrophagist hit Portland in 2006.  She always invites us to her place and spoils us.  Anyway, I got my drinking ticket denied because I wanted a white russian or a 7up/Southern Comfort (favorite drinks of mine), so I got a whiskey and coke… more like a glass of whiskey with a bit of coke for color.  We ended up at her place for some food, smoking (it’s Oregon after all) and eating some special cookies made just for us.  The sad thing is we have to leave by 3am for a long long ride to California.

Quote of the night: ”Wow, they barely taste like cookies.”
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So many of you have e-mailed us this week to instruct us to post news about the fact that Opeth and Enslaved are touring together that I’m fairly certain posting news about the fact that Opeth and Enslaved are touring together is a complete waste of time; I mean, clearly, everyone and their mother is already aware of this tour.

I’m not saying this isn’t an awesome package – clearly, it is – I’m just saying, you’ve all sent us the news and the tour dates, so what can we tell you that you don’t already know? How about this: we will be at the show at the Starland Ballroom in NJ, and we will be high. Actually, you probably knew that already, too.

I’m putting tour dates after the jump, although I don’t for the life of me know why.

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The Black Dahlia Murder’s latest album, Nocturnal, has been out for just about two months now, and we still can’t stop listening to it. Guess that means it’s good.

We’ll finally get a chance to hear some of that awesome material live (pleaselpay”DeathmaskDivine” pleaseplay”DeathmaskDivine” pleaselpay”DeathmaskDivine”) when the band hits the road in January on a headlining tour with 3 Inches of Blood (whose Fire Up the Blades is also pretty sweet), Hate Eternal (RU-TAN! RU-TAN! RU-TAN!), and some band we don’t know called Decrepit Birth (Hmm… wonder if their logo is completely unreadable? I’ll have to remember to look into that). Given the size of the venues the tour is hitting, I can’t imagine tickets costing more than twenty bucks or so, and that’s at least three, possibly four really good bands for your money.

Tour dates after the jump.

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