MetalSucks

First of all, for our non-Chosen readers: groyse metsie is Yiddish for a bargain. Don’t say I never taught ya nuthin’.

So. For the month of October (or “Rocktober,” as some clever marketing types are dubbing it), Earache is offering a whole bunch of truly righteous albums from their catalog for download on iTunes at a retardedly low price: $5.99 in the U.S., £4.49 in the U.K., and 4,99EUR in Europe. (The press release tells me that “prices may vary in other regions.” Ha-ha.) Now, I know that most of us music snobs don’t like iTunes because the audio quality isn’t as high as it could be, and there’s a better-than-average chance that a lot of you own most of these albums anyway. But if you can get past the whole “IT’S NOT AS GOOD AS FLAC! Snort snort” thing and/or for some reason DO NOT already own most of these albums, it’s a really, really killer deal.

A complete list of available albums after the jump. At least six or seven of these are classics, and nine or so are still awesome and could be classics, so they’re totally worth the six bucks or whatever.

And then one of them is by Oceano.

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While our government has used death metal to torture and interrogate prisoners, classically trained pianist-turned-music therapist Arthur Bloom has discovered that the br00tlest of the br00tal can actually serve another, more positive purpose: helping injured veterans of the war in Iraq recover from serious injuries.

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Up to this point, the Obituary that reunited in 2003 only bothered to resuscitate their exasperating tendencies. After two, um, unsatisfactory outings, a third post-reunion album must feel like a potential strike three to many. And like the ‘05 and ‘07 albums, 2009’s Darkest Day can be painfully simplistic and inattentively performed. But unlike those dull albums that preceded it, Darkest Day has stretches of greatness (at least 24 bars of most songs), a pair of classics (“Payback,” “Your Darkest Day“), their best-ever album closer (The Crown-hinted “Left To Die”), and brilliant performances from the inimitable John Tardy and frowny lead guitarist Ralph Santolla.

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Noisecreep have unveiled their list of the Top 10 Death Metal Debut Albums (although the list is in no particular order), courtesy Friend of MetalSucks, Carlos Ramirez.

And for once, I don’t actually have any complaints. The list is pretty good.

That being said, I’m sure you folks will find something to bitch about, so… have at it!!!

-AR

Alright. Last week one of you e-mailed me to tell me about this story (and my apologies that I don’t know your name – I’ve lost quite a lot of e-mails in this weekend’s server transfer), in which Obituary guitarist Trevor Peres revealed that his band has been trying to put together a package tour with great old school Floridian death metal bands including (beside Obituary, natch) Deicide, Morbid Angel, Six Feet Under… and Cannibal Corpse?

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Long time readers of this site should be fully aware that I was addicted to the initial season of Rock of Love, VH1’s completely fucktarded reality show in which Poison singer/wig wearer Bret Michaels basically moved into a mansion with a large amount of not especially attractive (or smart or personable or nice or any other quality one generally looks for in other human beings) sluts and makes them all do ridiculous things to determine which one is his one true love (And by “one true love,” I mean… I don’t know what I mean. It seems like Michaels fucks all the girls anyway, so what’s the fucking point?).

But I basically lost interest two episodes into season two. Like pretty much every reality show I’ve ever tried to watch (which, admittedly, is only three – hello Project Greenlight and The Apprentice), the gimmick go old quickly. Maybe watching a different washed up hair metal star make some groupies of Gumpian intellect jump through hoops for the chance to suck his cock would have kept me interested; as it stood, I’d had enough.

I’m not sure which season Rock of Love is on now – I think it might be the third, and I think it’s on a bus now, or some shit – but it looks like Deicide mainman/generally all around scary dude Glen Benton caught a few episodes, and, it should surprise no one to learn, he was not amused.

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Those uproarious chaps over at Metal Inquisition have compiled what they claim to be the Ultimate Florida Death Metal Mix (and, really, it’s tough to argue with them). The maverick known only as “Gene Hoglan’s Balls” writes:

“I love all kinds of death metal, but if I had to pick just one to listen to for the rest of my life it would be Florida Death Metal. And if I could only listen to one song from each of my favorite Florida Death Metal bands for the rest of my life I would come up with Metal Inquisition’s Ultimate Florida Death Metal Mix. If you’re a fan of Florida Death Metal, then you will love this. If you don’t know anything about Florida Death Metal, then prepare to be schooled.”

Fair enough. Lucky for all of you mavericks, copyright laws mean little to nothing these days, so the mix is avail as a free download. Get the full track listing and links to the download after the jump.

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Metal Injection posted the below British television spot for Till Death Do Us Part, Deicide’s latest (read my review here), and while some might think it reps a new low in marketing techniques, I think it’s pretty much the best t.v. ad I’ve ever seen for a metal album (and possibly just the best t.v. ad I’ve ever seen period). I mean, that old dude who says “Yes, I agree, this is their fastest and most brutal album yet?” PRICELESS.

-AR

Look: after nearly 20 years of making brutal death metal, Deicide ain’t exactly trying to reinvent the wheel. So while “The Beginning of the End,” the opening track of their latest offering, Till Death Do Us Part, is kind of surprising (it’s a slow, moody instrumental, as foreboding as the title would suggest, that is unsettling and in no way beautiful, like the negative version of the intro to every American New Wave album this century), everything after is exactly what you’d expect from these fearsome Floridians. Chuck Klosterman once suggested that the reason the Sunshine State spawned so much awesome death metal is because constantly being surrounded by old people makes one think about death all the time; maybe all that ponderin’ of the great beyond also makes these dudes desperate to maintain their youth, and so they just keep making the same album they did in 1990 over and over again.

In any case, it’s a moot point, ’cause like AC/DC before them and Children of Bodom after, the fact that they’re usually pretty good slides them from the “boh-ring” column to the one labeled “dependable.”

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[Via Metal Inquistion]

-AR

After I interviewed Deicide skinsman Steve Asheim a couple of weeks ago, I went back and listened to The Stench of Redemption for what must have been the first time in like a year. And you know what? The album still slays, and it just made me even more excited for the release of Deicide’s latest, ‘Till Death Do Us Part, which hits shelves April 28 in Europe and May 13 here in the States.

So now the band has made the title track avail as a free download on their MySpace page. And you know what? When Asheim told me that “A lot of people thought that Stench was too melodic and I think ‘Till Death has definitely tweaked that,” he wasn’t kidding. This track just relentlessly pummels, dude; Asheim’s drums are the aural equivalent of getting the shit kicked out of you by a drunk biker outside a bar you had no business being in in the first fuckin’ place. I’m saying it’s a good song.

It’s only April and it’s already turning out to be an awesome year for death metal; after new releases by Hate Eternal, Origin, and Arsis, ‘Till Death should be the next release on your “must own” list.

-AR

If you were to have a conversation about the most important and influential death metal bands of all time, you would, without a doubt, have to discuss Deicide. They are, simply put, iconic, and while many of their peers have fallen by the wayside over the years, they’re still going strong more than two decades later. In fact, after many had written them off, their last album, 2006’s The Stench of Redemption, was released to great acclaim by fans and critics alike. Now the band has a new album, entitled ‘Till Death Do Us Part, coming out on April 28 in Europe and May 13 in the U.S.; we haven’t gotten to hear it yet, but if “In the Eyes of God,” the song currently posted on the band’s MySpace page, is any indication, it will probably make Stench look like a Gordon Lightfoot record.

So when I was recently presented with the opportunity to interview founding drummer and primary songwriter Steve Asheim, I naturally jumped at the chance – so long as I could do the interview by e-mail. Truth be told, I feared that Asheim might be too evil, even for me.

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Normally we don’t just cut and paste press releases – there’s already a gajillion other sites that do that, and besides, who gives a fuck – but this one is just too funny not to post:

“DEICIDE SCORES A #1 HIT WITH U.S. TROOPS

Gathered from evidence obtained through various reports, leaked interrogation logs and the accounts of soldiers and detainees, a list of the top 24 songs strategically used on military prisoners in Iraq was recently made public, according to Mother Jones Magazine’s website.

Among a list of such musical luminaries as EMINEM, METALLICA and AC/DC (as well as non-luminary Barney The Dinosaur), was DEICIDE, coming in at number one with the song ‘Fuck Your God’ from 2004’s SCARS OF THE CRUCIFIX.

When word of this info first got to DEICIDE drummer, Steve Asheim,
the only thing he could really say was ‘It’s cool. If we’re upto military standards of audio abuse, it makes me feel like DECIDE’s doing our part for the troops.’ Of course this moment is not the only history that Asheim has with the armed forces. ‘My dad was a marine, as were my uncle and grandfather;’ says the DEICIDE skinsman. ‘I didn’t follow in their footsteps since I was so busy with the band thing, but I’m glad I was eventually able to contribute somehow.’

Some of the tactical circumstances where prisoners may have heard ‘Fuck Your God’ include sleep deprivation and interrogation disorientation. While some may see this information as a shock, other readers of the source article have taken a slightly different view of the situation. Commented one reader of the source article, ‘Honestly, the Barney theme song is more disturbing than DEICIDE’s F**k Your God.’”

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Scarface. Deicide. Excellent.

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-AR

Death metal lovers: you’re probably aware that Deicide have a new album coming out this spring, entitled ‘Till Death Do Us Part. Well, get excited, because the band just posted a new track from the album, “In the Eyes of God,” on their MySpace page.

I don’t have anything particularly intelligent, insightful, or witty to say about the track; like all of Glen Benton’s works, it’s fuckin’ Brutal with a capital “B,” and should incite riots and church burnings wherever it’s played. So turn your crucifix upside down and get head bangin’ already.

-AR

Okay okay okay, I had to get the lame Sebastian Bach pun out of the way.

ANYWAY, Sebastian Bach’s much ballyhooed new album, Angel Down, is now avail for streaming in its entirety on AOL music; I’ve listened to about half of it, and while I’m sure at least one of you will disagree with me, it’s really, really, really bad. Really bad.

Here’s the thing: it’s not impossible, in 2007, to make good hard rock or pop metal – hell, we’ve seen some pretty good examples of those genres this year – nor is the album bad because Bach is, as some have accused, “stuck in the 80s.” I mean, Bach is stuck in the 80s, but that’s not why this album is bad. This album is bad because the songwriting sucks. There are “hooks,” I suppose, but not good ones. It’s just boring, generic cock rock, and frankly, I don’t think anyone hanging out on the Strip in ‘85 would’ve enjoyed this crap, either (then again, Pretty Boy Floyd managed to have a career, so who knows). And no amount of guest appearances by reclusive singers from more famous bands in the world can save lousy songwriting (By the way, it’s recently come to my attention that at least one of these songs was written by Ralph Santolla of Deicide and Obituary fame; I find that incredibly hard to believe, but in any case, whatever Santolla contributed didn’t do much to raise the quality level here).

So for now I’ll go back to daydreaming about Baz reuniting with Skid Row, thank you very much. Only thing is, after awhile, I’ll probably remember that the last two Skid Row albums sucked monkey balls, too, and I’ll have to be content with my one trillionth spin of Slave to the Grind.

-AR