MetalSucks

It’s easy to be jaded after attending a billion or so live shows, but climbing the hill up to San Manuel Amphitheatre, the site of Cypress Hill’s MetalSucks co-sponsored SmokeOut festival, I was transformed into a gawking greenhorn. (I would soon be treated like one, as well.) Behind my rib cage,  calm battled with rising euphoria, and not only because I stood with a hefty joint in my shoe at the gates of a tri-county puff-athon on the nicest late-October Saturday ever; mostly, I was just tweaking to look in on a magnificent but savagely wounded band at this early stage of recovery. Yes, the SmokeOut would feature the Deftones, who have played around ten shows since an auto accident left their bassist, Chi Cheng, in a coma. And despite the puzzling news that to-be sixth album Eros had been shelved, the band already had been showing positive signs and seemed poised to reintroduce themselves via a violent new song (“Rocket Skates”) and a spritely, newly-slimmed singer (the gossip had Chino Moreno at anywhere between twenty and eighty pounds lighter). Exciting!

Two hours later, right before the Deftones took the stage, night had fallen, the denizens of the cheap seats waded ankle-deep in litter, and I was pissed off as shit.

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Altitude TV [via Blabbermouth] has posted some footage of Deftones performing a new song called “Rocket Skates” at the MetalSucks co-sponsored Smokeout Festival a couple of weekends back. It’s pretty fuckin’ heavy and, not surprisingly, it’s a step forward for a band that’s always sought to push musical boundaries (though it still sounds distinctly Deftones). I mean it’s not as if the Deftones have suddenly gone prog, but… you get the point… as far as Deftones songs go, this one doesn’t sound like the band is trying to re-live or re-create the past so much as take the next step.

For those wondering, I believe that’s Quicksand bassist Sergio Vega stepping in for the still-ailing Chi Cheng. And hey doesn’t Chino look like he’s in awesome shape? For reasons that aren’t entirely clear, Deftones have shelved their completed but unreleased album Eros and are said to be working on something else. It’s never easy for those guys to release a record, is it?

-VN

We’ve got a pair of tickets for the two-day Smokeout Festival in California next weekend, featuring Slipknot and the Deftones, and we wanna give them away to you. The festival is a celebration of weed culture and music, featuring all sorts of seminars and informational sessions about Marijuana as well as band performances all weekend long. If we weren’t based out of NYC, we’d definitely be there.

Alls you gotta do to win our pair of tickets: tell us which member of Slipknot you’d most like to get high with, and why. Leave a comment below, and be sure you fill in a valid email address in the appropriate field. Winners will be contacted by email this Friday.

I hope you guys enjoyed the 21 Best Metal Albums of the 21st Century… So Far. I thought it was awesome that it got so much feedback, and shows that the site is really picking up steam. I was drawn to this site because of the humor and I think it’s coming into it’s own. I called to ask them for the blog and they were gracious enough to say, ‘yes.’ Now that I’m not in God Forbid, they may feel gyped!

With that said, a lot of my blogs have been controversial, and with me leaving God Forbid, everyone is wondering why I still have a blog here. I’ve wondered the same thing. I want to help people out in the biz the best way I can. So for a while I’m going to make this blog a question and answer sort of thing. You can ask any question but if it’s stupid, I won’t answer. If it asks about my decision to leave GF, I won’t answer. Those questions don’t help anyone. Post your questions in the comments section and I’ll try and answer as many relevant ones as possible. I will keep it up weekly if the questions keep coming.

On a side note, I am working on new music that is turning out to be pretty bad ass. Axl and Vince have heard some of the stuff, although rough, and it’s pretty heavy. The vocals are all singing. Think Gojira mixed with Alice In Chains. I’m diggin’ it, bigtime!

OK, on to some questions.

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It’s raining in New York today. AGAIN. At least it’s warm; it’s been fucking rainy and cold for all of June (seriously… hoodie weather in June??). I feel like I’ve been cheated out of an entire month of summer. Fuck the world.

Here’s what happened this week:

• More arguing ensued over our 21 Best Metal Albums of the 21st Century… So Far list. You bitched and moaned to the tune of 444 comments (and counting) about the #11 pick of Deftones’ White Pony — just as you did last week with the debatably metal Tool (#12) and System of a Down (#14) picks — and then when we finally announced more trve/cvlt/br00tal albums you approved of (#10 Opeth, #9 Gojira, and #8 In Flames), comments were few and far between by comparison. You people are fucking morons. Especially Ziltoid.
• Rumors flew about the resuscitation of Headbanger’s Ball in 2010 with Jose Mangin as the host.
• More shit-talking between the two sparring Fear Factory camps provided us with endless amusement. We wondered aloud whether or not FF should be considered nu-metal.
• Shinedown’s Brent Smith claimed to have insider knowledge of a Soundgarden reunion, to which Axl — and possibly but not definitely Soundgarden’s own Ben Shepherd — took offense.
• We spoke with Scott Kelly of Neurosis and Vinnie Fucking Paul.

We out. Stay tuned in a couple of hours for our #7 Best Metal Album of the 21st Century… So Far. I’ll be at tomorrow night’s Black Anvil show at the new Duff’s location in Brooklyn if anyone wants to come out and hang. See you next week for more shenanigans!

SPECIAL GUEST BLOGGER CARLOS RAMIREZ OF NOISECREEP AND UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP

We recently polled a wide array of musicians, managers, publicists, label reps, and writers from within the world of metal to find out what they thought the 21 Best Metal Albums of the 21st Century So Far have been. Eligible albums were released between January 1, 2000 and April 1, 2009. Each panelist turned in a ballot, with their #1 album worth 21 points, their #2 album worth 20 points, and so on and so forth. The ballots are now in and we’ll be counting down one album a day until we reach #1. Today we present the #11 album, coming in with a total of 162 points…

Deftones, White Pony (Maverick, 2000)

Chino Moreno — Vocals, Guitars
Stephen Carpenter — Guitars
Chi Cheng — Bass
Abe Cunningham — Drums
Frank Delgado — Sampling, Electronics
Produced by Terry Date and Deftones

1999 was the year that the Deftones truly created their own little universe. Their first two albums, Adrenaline (1995) and Around the Fur (1997), were both chock full of bombastic guitars, new wave kissed vocal lines, and post-hardcore informed arrangements and their wide-scoped sound helped the Sacramento, CA band find audiences in various facets of the underground music scene. After taking a break from a tour supporting the gold-selling Around the Fur, the group got into their rehearsal space to work on the material which would become their third album.

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According to an article on The Gauntlet published Wednesday [sent in by MS Maniac Adam W.], Deftones’ bassist Chi Cheng — who has been in a coma since November following a horrifying car crash — is now out of the Intensive Care Unit, is breathing on his own, and his condition has improved dramatically. A follow-up post on the site One Love For Chi clarifies the information in the Gauntlet report; apparently Chi is still in a sort of semi-coma, able to breath on his own, track with his eyes, and say a few words, but is by no means completely “awake.”

Regardless, this is great news. We wish Chi and his family the best.

-VN

The United States has a brilliant new President in Mr. Barack Obama, and here we are debating whether or not Christians can make tr00 black metal. What can I say? Here are some other things that happened this week:

• We debuted new music from The Giraffes.
• Marilyn Manson splits with young, ghostly-looking female, contemplates future life (hint: it probably involved another ghostly-looking female 20 years his junior).
• Mastodon divulge some details about their new album (hint: lots of drugs had to have been involved).
• Sammy O’Hagar interviewed Enslaved’s Grutle Kjellson and Vince went Jew on Jew with Daath’s Eyal Levi.
• Deftones bassist Chi Cheng was in a tragic car accident and remains in a coma. Godspeed.
• Stoner legends Sleep announce reunion shows; as Led Zep contemplates life without Robert Plant, we pray to God that decision doesn’t spawn a Creed reunion.

Til Monday…

Deftones bassist Chi Cheng was in a terrible car accident on Monday, and is in serious but stable condition after having been in a coma immediately following the accident. In a statement on the Deftones’ Studio blog, frontman China Moreno has posted the following:

It deeply saddens me to inform you all that our brother Chi Cheng was involved in a terrible car accident last night. He is currently in a Northern California Hospital in serious, but stable condition. I am on my way up North right now to be by his side along with the rest of our band mates and family. Chi is one of the strongest people I know, and I’m praying that his strength will get him through this. Please say a prayer for him as well.

-chino

Our thoughts and prayers are with Chi, his family, and his band. We wish him a speedy recovery and return to the studio to finish working on the new Deftones record Eros.

-VN

Here’s a fucking fresh new band for ya’ll to check out. Despite their puzzling name, Don the Reader are the explosive result of what happens when you mix the dissonant, raw energy of The Dillinger Escape Plan with the aggression and riffage of the Deftones and the post-punk melodic sensibility of Helmet or Quicksand. The LA-based band have a new album called Humanesque available on October 7th via Deathcote Records — and we have the exclusive leak of their song “Teethgrinder.” Enjoy it below, and send out to the masses.

Don the Reader – “Teethgrinder” (mp3)

Listen to more Don the Reader on their MySpace page.

-VN

Despite being the universally-heralded godfathers of the dreaded nu-metal movement, The Deftones have always been kind of left-of-center and have somehow manages to remain kind of cool. Throughout their now 15+ year career, the Deftones have evolved into some kind of quirky, alternative (in the true sense of the word) metal band that has somehow managed to straddle the line between art and commercial viability quite well.

That said, the band’s last two albums — 2003’s self-titled and 2006’s Saturday Night Wrist — have been solid but ultimately lacking in that intangible element that made the band’s earlier output special. The band has kind of drifted down an experimental path that they’ve dabbled in but not fully embraced, but these dabblings have hinted at something that I feel the band has yet to explore.

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Sometimes when I’m angry I just want to crank Adrenaline up to 11 and beat the living shit out of something, like that time in college when a spontaneous moshpit erupted in my bedroom and I sent a TV out the window. I’m not particularly angry today, but this song still gets my blood going every time I hear it.

-VN

So, yes, we saw Unearth on Friday night*, and they pretty much slayed it. There wasn’t quite as much jumping off of amplifiers as I might have liked, but their set was violent – I mean, I saw one dude come out of the pit with blood absolutely gushing from his head – so I guess that more than makes up for it.

The big news of the night (at least for music dorks like us) though, was that vocalist Trevor Phipps announced from the stage that the band will be entering the studio to record a new album in June – with producer Adam D. Unearth fans will remember that Adam D. produced most of the band’s old albums (including their breakthrough, The Oncoming Storm), but that the band’s most recent release, III: In the Eyes of Fire, was done with Terry Date (Pantera, Deftones, etc.).

I’m more than a little curious to know why Unearth are going back to Adam D. – not that I think the reunion is a bad thing (I actually much prefer Storm to Fire). The documentary included on the band’s recent DVD, Alive from the Apocalypse, indicates that they had a good working relationship with Date. So was it a money issue? A scheduling issue? Or, having seen other people and sown their wild oats (so to speak), is Unearth now ready to settle down with their high school sweetheart?

In any case, hopefully we’ll get a new Unearth album before the end of the year (the band played a single new riff on Friday night – it sounded suspiciously like the breakdown from Pantera’s “Domination”). In the meantime, if you haven’t watched Alive from the Apocalypse, you probably should – both the documentary and the concert film included on it are killer.

-AR

*It’s more than worth mentioning that Shadows Fall headlined, and I think they played the most energetic set I’ve ever seen them perform. Craziness.

A month or so ago we gave a rave review to the new Emanuel album Black Earth Tiger, which is some sort of modern amalgamation of the Deftones, Quicksand, Helmet, Faith No More etc. What’s more, Terry Date produced it and it sounds fucking killer. In short, it rules. Check out the video for the first single “Cottonmouth,” in which hot metal chicks beat the shit out of each other intercut with fake live footage of the band.

-VN

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