Cosmo Lee of Invisible Oranges unearthed these phone calls that Glen Benton made to evangelical radio personality Bob Larson back in 1992, and, as Lee writes, they’re a good reminder that Benton was once “ the poster boy for everything the religious right hates about heavy metal,” and not a guy who “ loves motorcycles, wrote a record about his divorce (Till Death Do Us Part), and records anti-Christian music with guitarist Ralph Santolla, a practicing Catholic.”

But, mostly, they’re a reminder that Glen Benton is just a big ol’ silly-face — in fact, I’d argue that he’s only marginally less silly than Marilyn Manson. I mean, listen to the voice he’s using in these calls, and the things he’s saying, and keep in mind (as though you could forget) that Benton is the dude who burned an inverted cross into his forehead (Benton into mirror every morning: “Still a good decision! No regrets here, friend.”), and the whole thing seems pretty ridiculous. “I’M GOING TO DEAL WITH YOU,” Benton says in a bizarrely sing-songy voice, and then he breaks into an “evil” cackle that would not have seemed out of place on an episode of He-Man. So, yeah, this is way entertaining, but it’s still pretty ridiculous.

Check out more at Invisible Oranges.

-AR.

Quebecois epic metallers Blackguard just wrapped up a tour with Decide, Neuraxis and Pathlogy. Having a snowball fight with Glen Benton wasn’t the only highlight of the tour; the shows were pretty sweet too, according to frontman Paul Zinay. Paul shares his thoughts on Benton, haters, his band’s new deal with Victory Records and the band’s conscious move away from the folk metal scene in this exclusive MetalSucks interview.

Click to read more…

MetalSucks is oh-so-very happy to be teaming up with RED Distribution to bring you, our most beloved readers, the MetalSucks Fan Pack, which will be available exclusively at all FYE stores starting this Tuesday, April 12. Not only does this limited edition box full o’ metal come with a CD featuring twenty brootal tunes by twenty brootal bands (including Kvelertak, Trap Them, Believer, Napalm Death, TesseracT, Thomas Giles, Deicide and a bunch more) but it also comes with that HOLY SHIT THAT IS SO KILLER t-shirt you see above, which was designed by our friend Rodney Githens from Vertebrae 33 (you might also recognize his work from this sexy t-shirt and this Louvre-worthy poster that he did for us).

How much would you expect to pay for this incredible package? Twenty bucks? Fifteen bucks? Try $9.99. That’s right, gang — twenty songs from twenty bands and that guaranteed-to-get-you-laid t-shirt for under ten bucks.

But wait! There’s more! If you act now and head over to the official MetalSucks Fan Pack web page, you can get a coupon for 30%, which brings the price down to a mere seven dollars. Holy crap, that’s a metsieh if ever there was one.

So go here to get a complete track list of all the bands on the comp, and to use the nifty store-finder to locate the f.y.e. nearest to you. And, oh yeah, you can also enter to win this custom guitar:

So, yeah, that’s pretty fuckin’ bad-assed.

-Axl & Vince

Major props to reader Derek H., who noticed the following on the Wikipedia page for Deicide’s new album, To Hell with God (click to enlarge):

I really like To Hell with God, but I have to admit, this shit is hilarious.

Go look at it now before the Wiki Police take it down.

To Hell with God is out now on Century Media. While it doesn’t come with a jack-in-the-box penis, you can download it for less than ten bucks on Amazon.

-AR

Last year (and the year before) I got way too busy with this thing called life and missed out on a lot of quality music. I am here to rectify the error of my ways, month by month.

Here are the February 2011 releases that got under my skin, burrowed their way into my brain, made my ears bleed, or simply tickled my unmentionables:

Click to read more…

Before there were blogs there were these things called magazines, and the only metal magazine we still get excited about reading every month is Decibel. Here’s managing editor Andrew Bonazelli…

So, yesterday on the Deciblog we posted a long-ass Justify Your Shitty Taste on “Guns N’ Roses”’ Chinese Democracy, which your fearless co-leader Axl Rosenberg boldly cosigned, followed by, frankly, a surprising amount of you guys (which is to say, more than one). I’m not trying to be a dick here. I mean, I can get behind about 25 percent of this mess (the ballads), but I have fairly shitty taste in rock music. As in, I still think Eight Arms to Hold You kicks ass. Whatever. It was just interesting surveying our entire staff of about 20 writers in an effort to get Chinese Democracy written up, and the only person that responded with a modicum of enthusiasm was Shawn Macomber. Fair enough. But then, cue a minor avalanche of vehement, assured hell yeahs. That’s probably the most satisfying thing about this series — watching that groundswell of minority voices band together for a day or two with a shared “fuck you, I told you it was good!”

Anyway, scrolling through the new issue’s reviews section, I don’t really see any future JYSTs. (Just wait ’til May’s The Haunted review, though.) April is more about giving credit to things that don’t hopelessly suck. Hence, we gave Jonah Hegg his second solo cover (order here). I don’t think the other four Amon Amarth dudes are sweating it; they get their chance to Vike out (ahem) in the table of contents and the actual story. Elsewhere, if you’re a J. Bennett fan, this is your issue — he goes head to head with Glen Benton (I’ll leave the obvious jokes to him), bros down in Alaska with Every Time I Die and files a long-overdue Hall of Fame on Mercyful Fate’s Melissa. If you’re a fan of any other writer on staff, well, they do stuff, too: features on Trap Them, Drugs of Faith, Primordial, Rotten Sound and Subrosa — the latter of which being almost as good as Veruca Salt in their prime.

-AB

You can buy the April 2011 issue of Decibel here, or just get a full subscription to ensure that you never miss a review of a future “Justify Your Shitty Taste” entry.

If you don’t understand what that headline is a reference to, you’ve probably got the intelligence of the average fan of said band. And you probably believe in real-life transformers, characters from Street Fighter and the planet Nibiru.

Elsewhere, Deicide had a solid first week while Motorhead and Crowbar had solid second weeks on the Soundscan charts. Let’s check those out and see what else was poppin’.

Click to read more…

New releases by Deicide, Neuraxis and Total Fucking Destruction top this week’s list of new metal albums available in the States. While the new one from Emmure is guaranteed to outsell them all (combined!), we can take solace in the fact that there a smattering of other great new releases too from the likes of Ava Inferi, Darkest Era, Rabbits, The Famine, and a whole lot more. Vic Vaughn breaks ‘em all down after the fold.

Click to read more…

The announcement came in too late on Friday for us to get a story up before the weekend, but Deicide’s new album, To Hell With God, is now streaming in full online prior to its release tomorrow. Headbang here.

I’m curious to hear what you guys make of this record. Personally, I think it’s pretty sweet — there’s a lot of great material on here, and it might be one of the best-produced, if not the best-produced, albums they’ve ever made. But I know that there people who think this album is too melodic/glossy, which I believe is akin to thinking that shooting someone in the head just isn’t murder-y enough. But I respect your opinions.*

So give it a listen, then weigh in with your thoughts in the comments section below…

-AR

*Vince tells me I have to say that. I do not actually respect your opinions.

In 1968, Gary Moore (above, top left) was just 16 years old when he joined future Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott in the Dublin blues-rock quartet Skid Row*. So, Moore was a charter member of the Society of Overachieving Teen Guitarists that would later include Steve Vai (19, Frank Zappa), Zakk Wylde (19, Ozzy Osbourne), and Devin Townsend (19, Steve Vai). Pretty elite company.

After a pair of short stints in Thin Lizzy, Moore again reunited with Lynott in 1979 for the band’s seminal Black Rose: A Rock Legend (see Axl Rose’s Black Rose-themed tattoo here, upper left). More than twenty solo albums followed, including 2008’s Bad For You Baby.

British tabloid The Sun reports that Moore, 58, was discovered unresponsive by medical staff in a Spain hotel suite where there were “definite signs of alcohol.” The Sun also quotes a source at the hotel who has stated that Moore “seemed fine when he left [the hotel bar] around 11 pm.” A post mortem has been scheduled.

After the jump, check out the MetalSucks round up of tributes to Moore by members of Obituary, Opeth, Black Flag, Testament, Black Sabbath, and mo(o)re.

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A couple of weeks ago, we premiered a new Deicide tune, “Hang in Agony Until You’re Dead;” now Invisible Oranges has another Deicide debut, this time for the track “Into the Darkness You Go,” a.k.a. “What Axl Told His First Wife Before Shutting the Trunk.”

Click to read more…

So 2011 is officially underway! I mean, we’re two full weeks in — time to stop accidentally writing “2010″ as the date on shit, y’know? We started to preview some albums we’re stoked about, and will continue to do so next week. In the meantime, here’s some other fun crap we did this week:

• The Human Abstract’s A.J. Minette continued his discussion regarding the merits of creative limitation.
• We debuted new music by Deicide, Ulcerate, Owen Hart, and Roger Miret.
• We also reviewed the new Owen Hart album.
• We played a metal edition of “Marry, Fuck, Kill” with both chicks and d00dz.
• We checked out some awesome pictures from Vince and the metalgf’s vacation to Amsterdam and Paris.
• We joined the Scotty Griffin Fanclub.
• We confirmed that Tool are the coolest band ever.
• We felt bad for Mike Portnoy.
• We were upset by Wrest’s arrest for sexual assault and domestic battery.
• And while it was news to us until we heard it from Rush Limbaugh, we were apparently responsible for the Tucson shootings.

Next week brings more debuts, more interviews, and more general Suckitude. See ya then.

-AR

DEICIDE. The very mention of the name strikes fear into the hearts of parents, teachers, religious leaders, politicians, and total fucking pussies everywhere. They are one of the most legendary death metal bands of all time — nay, just one of the most legendary metal bands of all time, period. And on February 15, Century Media will unleash Deicide’s latest catastropiece, To Hell With God, upon the world.

MetalSucks is beyond proud to be debuting a brand new track from that album, the eloquently titled “Hang in Agony Until You’re Dead.” No joke, this is one of those days when we have to pinch ourselves — holy shit, we started this website as a joke, and now we’re debuting a Deicide track. And an AWESOME Deicide track, at that — one that’s just as fucked up and wicked as you’ve come to expect from the band fronted by a dude who burned an inverted cross into his forehead, but that displays the band’s ever-evolving skills as songwriters and musicians, too. And Mark Lewis’ production and mixing gives Deicide a crisp, clear sound they’ve never quite achieved before, without sacrificing any of the nut-crushing heaviness we’ve come to expect from this most venerated of bands.

Check out “Hang in Agony Until You’re Dead” below, and then pre-order To Hell With God here. Believe us when we tell you that the entire album is this good. And don’t forget that Deicide kick off a headlining tour in support of Hell the day of its release, with support coming from Belphegor, Neuraxis, Blackguard, and Pathology; you can get dates after the jump.

[this streaming promotion has ended]

Click to read more…

I’ve always felt indifferent towards Belphegor, but enough of you e-mailed us about their new song, “Impaled Upon the Tongue of Satan,” that I feel obligated to post about it.

So: Belphegor have a new song! It’s called “Impaled Upon the Tongue of Satan,” which is an early contender for “Silliest Song Title of 2011,” but I’ll let it slide if the band makes a shirt bearing that phrase and a graphic of The Dark Lord going down on some poor girl. You can listen to the track here. It sounds like Belphegor to me, but, again, I’m not the hugest fan of this band (don’t hate ‘em, just kinda don’t care), so maybe one of you can find a more articulate way to describe it in the comments section.

“Impaled Upon the Tongue of Satan” comes off of Belphegor’s new album, Blood Magick Necromance, which comes out in North America on February 8 and in Europe on January 14 via Nuclear Blast. The band is touring with Deicide in February and whatever is currently passing for Sepultura in April, so it looks like they’re going to have an eventful 2011. You can get dates here.

-AR

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Welcome to “Question of the Week,” a (sometimes) weekly debate amongst the MetalSucks staff regarding a recent hot button issue.

This week, Anso DF suggested the Question of the Week; unfortunately, he did so before Slipknot announced that they’re headlining the Sonisphere Festival this year, so it doesn’t seem quite as relevant anymore. Still, it was a fun question to answer, so:

TO WHAT EXTENT WOULD A SLIPKNOT BREAK-UP BE BAD FOR METAL?

The MS staff’s answers after the jump.

Click to read more…

I don’t really know what to say about the new Deicide album art. It’s pretty epic, even if it’s more or less exactly what you’d expect from these dudes. The now-announced song titles, like “Hang in Agony Until You’re Dead” and “Empowered by Blasphemy,” are also more or less exactly what you’d expect. So I guess this is a Deicide album for fans of Deicide. It’s good to know that some things in life are still dependable.

To Hell with God comes out February 15 on Century, and was produced by Mark Lewis. The band  is hitting the road for a headlining trek the day of the record’s release, but they apparently didn’t wanna soil their beautiful web page with tour dates, so I’ve gone ahead and printed them for you after the jump.

Click to read more…

Earlier today, I downloaded Earache’s new, completely free Extreme Stage Diving app, a video game in which “you take control of a burly bouncer and throw the pesky stage invader as far into the crowd as possible.” And I’m happy to report that it’s going to make an excellent time waster (that’s a compliment), and may soon usurp Slayer Pinball (or whatever the fuck it’s called) as my favorite metal-themed smartphone procrastination tool. It’s simple yet challenging, it appeals to my 8-bit sensibilities, there’s plenty of blood, and, oh yeah, the soundtrack is killer.

Yes, of course, this is meant to help Earache promote their shit. But the game features a bare minimum of songs by Earache bands I don’t like (cough, Oceano, cough cough), and those songs are more than offset by the inclusion of groups like At the Gates, Deicide, Brutal Truth, Decapitated, and Wormrot. And whomever designed the game was smart/cool enough to make it so that you can skip to whichever of the ten featured songs you like — in other words, if Bonded by Blood comes up and you don’t like Bonded by Blood, you can easily move along to The Haunted or whatever your particular cup of tea might be. (And apparently there’s a bonus track that you can unlock, but I haven’t gotten that far yet. I’m hoping it’s a Godflesh song, even though that would make no mothertruckin’ sense whatsoever.)

Check out a sample video below…

If you go here and give Earache your e-mail address, you can also potentially win the helmet the charcter in the game wears, although I think the game itself is a much cooler prize, and you don’t need to enter no contest to get it.

You can download the game here. Like I said, it’s totally free, so you really have nothing to lose by trying it out (other than the time you’re going to spend playing this instead of doing something productive). And you can get the full track list after the jump.

Click to read more…

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Welcome to “Question of the Week,” a (sometimes) weekly debate amongst the MetalSucks staff regarding a recent hot button issue.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, which means we’re taking off early today and won’t be back ’til Monday. We’re sorry to leave non-American readers high n’ dry, but PLUS ONE FOR FREEDOM, MOTHERFUCKERS.

ANYWAY, in honor of the holiday, we decided to do a special Turkey Day-themed QOTW designed to make you feel all warm and cuddly inside:

WHAT (IN METAL) ARE YOU THANKFUL FOR?

The MS staff’s answers after the jump.

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In case you can’t tell by all the posting I’ve been doing about the soundtrack, I really wanna see The Social Network. It’s just like the story of how MetalSucks was created, only we didn’t go to ivy league schools, we’re not billionaires, and we haven’t sued each other (yet). How dare David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin steal our life story!

Speaking of our life story, here’s how we amused ourselves this week:

• We debuted new music by The Fucking Wrath.
• Intronaut’s Sacha Dunable wondered if America really has any talent, The Red Chord’s Greg Weeks discussed the NFL with Job for a Cowboy’s Charn, and Daath’s Eyal Levi taught us about proper etiquette for being a houseguest.
• We spoke to Eric Guenther from From Exile and the new Daath album.
• We checked out new releases by The Serpent & The Siren as well as Mutant Supremacy, Pyrrhon and Parasitic Extirpation.
• We found out that way more of you like nu-metal than we thought.
• We learned how to look like a hot metal chick.
• We bemoaned the latest batch of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees.
• We watched the new Cephalic Carnage video and now we’re afraid we’ll never get a boner again.
• We got excited about the first awesome tour of 2011.
• We declared Cradle of Filth to be a glam band now.

Have a good weekend, folks. See ya Monday!

-AR

I keep forgetting that it’s basically October already, ’cause the weather here in New York has still been, by and large, quite warm — but there ya have it. The year is rapidly drawing to its conclusion.

And so now we’re talking about shows for next year. But at least those shows sound potentially killer.

So. Deicide have apparently completed work on their new album, To Hell with God, which was produced by the great Mark Lewis and should be out sometime next year. While we wait, they’ve announced a headlining trek with support coming from Belphegor, Blackguard, Neuraxis, and Pathology. That is a not-at-all shabby line-up, wouldn’t you say? And it’s DEI-FUCKING-CIDE. You know you wanna go.

Dates after el jumperooni.

Click to read more…