MetalSucks

I am working on my first, full blown musical… and yes (much to some folks’ chagrin), it’s a new Ziltoid record. It going to be called Z2, and I’m taking it to the moon.

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MetalSucks photographer Diana Lee Zadlo was on hand at Philadelphia’s Electric Factory on November 1st to shoot the ruckus of Mastodon, Dethklok, Converge and High on Fire (for our own quick wrap of the NYC stop, check this out). Her stellar photography of all four bands, after the jump.

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When we interviewed Metalocalypse creator / Dethklok frontman Brendon Small on behalf of our readers last month, he told us that members of Mastodon, members of In Flames, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Slash and others would all be doing voice-over work on the coming season of Metalocalypse. This alone gives reason to be excited about the new season if for some reason you wouldn’t be psyched about it anyway. Now we’ve finally got a sneak peak of one of the episodes, sent in by MS reader Christopher Silverio… and, no surprise, it’s funny. Season 3 begins November 8th!

-VN

Mastodon were damn good last night. It was my third time seeing them this year (!) and nothing is ever going to top seeing them at a 500-cap venue this past May… but I’ll fight you if you say Mastodon aren’t one of the greatest bands of our generation.

Dethklok were actually a lot more entertaining than I was expecting. The idea of seeing a cartoon band live is off-putting at first, but the bandmembers certainly have the chops and the video screen presentation made the whole thing work. It was fun.

Anyway, here’s the official video for Mastodon’s “Oblivion”; I’d post a live video, but the vocals are always embarrassing. Love this video anyway.

Sadly no beards attacked me and took me on magical journeys at the show last night (though Kip’s man-whiskers are looking mighty tough as of late). Did you read Tres Crow’s piece of creative writing, “The Mastodon Beard“? You should.

-VN

Not that we had any doubt Baroness’ Blue Record would have a strong debut, but it’s always nice to see the proof. And Skeletonwitch’s ripping new record Breathing the Fire had a great debut too; I’m elated to see the band sell as many records first week as they did. Elsewhere it was the usual radio rock / alt-metal suspects dominating the charts. Click through to see chart positions and sales figures.

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I haven’t gotten to write a review of Brutal Legend yet because, well, I just haven’t had time to play all the way through the game, and it seems like writing a review of half a game or whatever isn’t fair. But I’ve enjoyed what I’ve played so far.

And it seems like the game owes a debt to Metalocalypse. Besides some similarities in general tone, style of humor, and a love of violence, there’s the fact that Legend takes place in a magical, faraway land where everything is related to metal and everything looks more or less like it belongs in Mordhaus. Obviously Metalocalypse already owes a debt to metal imagery as old as Sabbath itself, but… there’s definitely a connection between Dethklok and Brutal Legend.

So kudos to the fan who made the below video. At some point it might get yanked for copyright infringement, so enjoy it while you can… I have to say, it seems pretty impressive for something fan-made. And wouldn’t be awesome if there really WAS a Dethklok/Eddie Riggs crossover?

Major props to Christopher Silverio for sending this in… thanks, dude!

-AR

Pretty big week here at the MetalSucks Mansion. We laughed, we cried, we fired someone, we rocked out with our cocks out. Here’s a rundown of the highlights:

• We debuted a new song by The Devin Townsend Project, a new video by Skeletonwitch, a new song by Javelina, and the cover art for Sigh’s new album.
• Horse the Band’s Lord Gold blogged about Nawlins and cocaine, God Forbid’s Doc Coyle gave us an exclusive statement about that whole cup throwing incident, Dallas Coyle is giving away music for free, and Daath’s Eyal Levi talked about a run-in with the Polacks and drum triggers.
• We spoke to Dethklok’s Brendon Small, Converge’s Jacob Bannon, Gojira’s Joe Duplantier, and Liturgy’s Hunter Hunt-Hendrix.
• We checked out new releases from Baroness, The Red Chord, Skeletonwitch, Immortal, Vains of Jenna, Vampire Mooose, and Javelina. Also, some asshole really likes Oceano.
• We’re sponsoring the incredibly awesome Tyrants of Evil North American Tour 2010 with Arch Enemy, Exodus, Arsis, and Mutiny Within!

Alright. I’m going to see Where the Wild Things Are now. I’m fairly certain that it is going to make me weep like Gary Suarez. See ya Monday.

-AR

Last week we posted a call for questions to ask Metalocalypse creator / Dethklok frontman Brendon Small, and you all gave us your best questions in the comments. Later that day we hand-picked our favorite ones and got on the phone with Brendon to pass them along. Your questions his answers, below.

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Five heavy hitting heavy hitters — Alice in Chains, Hatebreed, Austrian Death Machine, Steel Panther and Dethklok — all released new records last week. Solid 2nd and 3rd week performances from Three Days Grace, Muse, Megadeth, Five Finger Death Punch and others made it an all-around big week for metal. Let’s see how everyone fared after the jump.

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Good morning, our fellow Metalocalypse and Dethklok lovers! So here’s the sitch. Vince is getting on the phone with Brendon Small in just a few hours, and he needs YOUR help getting some juicy questions for Brendon. Post a question in the comments section below by 3:30 pm EST today, and Vince will cherry-pick the best ones to pass onto Brendon. And if he chooses your question, well, maybe we’ll send you some banana stickers or something.

In case, for some inexplicable reason, you don’t know who Brendon Small is: the man – nay, genius – is the co-creator of Metalocalypse (as well as the equally awesome Home Movies), voices the characters of Skwisgaar Skwigelf, Pickles the Drummer, and Nathan Explosion, and will be the dude you see front n’ center when you go see Dethklok live. In other words, Brendon is the shit.

Dethklok’s Dethalbum II is out now on Williams Street Records, and the band is currently on tour with Mastodon, Converge, and High on Fire. Get a complete list of tour dates here.

The new season of Metalocalypse starts November 8 on Adult Swim. And the episodes are gonna be thirty minutes long now! Niiiiice.

-Axl & Vince

Wednesday night Vince and I went to Metal Insider’s totally bitchin’ Dethklok/Dethalbum II listening party, and while we did drink a lot of dollar beers and mack mad bitches (and by “mack mad bitches,” I mean “speak very politely to platonic friends of both sexes”), we could barely hear the album ’cause, y’know. It was in a loud bar and we were talking to people.

So we get to hear Dethalbum II for the first time with the rest of you. But I’m 99.9% sure it’s gonna rock.

It’s streaming right here. Give it a listen. It comes out this Tuesday on Williams Street Records.

-AR

Dethklok’s Dethalbum II promises to be twice as awesome as their Dethalbum – in fact, this record might actually make you kill people in horrifically violent ways, or be killed in a horrifically violent way, as the band’s fans often are on Metalocalypse. It’s that friggin’ good.

The album comes out September 29 on Williams Street, but our friends at Metal Insider are getting the party started early with a listening party here in NYC a week from today, Wednesday, September 23 at Fontana’s, the site of many an awesome metal party. This is your chance to get drunk, hear the record early, stalk Vince and myself, and throw yourselves at MI’s resident Quaker Jew, Bram Teitelman. Ladies, if you’re not a total cow and ask real nice, I’d wager Bram will sleep with you. Just putting that out there. He’s a very giving dude.

See ya there…

-AR

It’s past normal posting hours here at the MS Mansion, but as we were shuttering the gates for the day the Monkeys were going absolutely batshit so we went to go see what all the fuss was about… and apparently there’s a new Dethklok video that’s hit the web! The song is “Bloodlines,” and it’s on Dethklok’s new album Dethalbum II, available September 29th. Smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em.

-VN

Speaking of our friends at Metal Injection: they found these groovy clips which collect all the metal-celeb guest appearances on Metalocalypse. In case ya don’t know, everyone from Hetfield and Hammett to Corpsegrinder to King Diamond has done voice work for the show… one of many reasons why it’s worth your time.

Here’s the clips from season 1; check out season 2 after the jump. And don’t forget that Dethklok have a new album coming out, to be immediately followed by a ridiculously awesome tour with Mastodon, Converge, and High on Fire.

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Comes out September 8 [UPDATE: release date is now Sept. 29. -Ed.] on Williams Street Records.

Suh-weet.

-AR

My favorite cartoon characters are Brent Hinds and the members of Dethklok. Seriously. I once watched Hinds do a belly-flop onto a bar table covered in beer mugs. He came out of a coma and is only sillier for the experience. You could drop an anvil on that dude’s head and all that would happen is he’d see little tweety-birds buzzing around his head. And then he’d write an awesome concept album about them.

So: in what strikes me as only semi-strange news, Mastodon and Dethklok will co-headline a tour this fall, with support coming from Converge and High on Fire. I am slightly miffed that the mighty High on Fire and absolutely God-like Converge are opening for a make believe band, but since it’s Dethklok, I’ll let it pass… this time.

Complete list of dates after the jump.

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Dethklok fans – here’s a fun lil’ press release we just received at the Mansion:

“Konami announced today that a video game based on the hit Adult Swim series Metalocalypse is currently in development for Xbox LIVE® Arcade for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PlayStation®Network. Created by series co-creator Brendon Small and based on the top-rated Adult Swim animated series, the upcoming Metalocalypse: Dethgame will immerse players into the world of Dethklok, the world’s most brutal Norwegian heavy metal band.”

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You know what I’d enjoy even more than a new Dethklok album? Some new Metalocalypse episodes. When the frick is that show coming back?

While we all hold our breath and wait, here’s the cover for Dethklok’s The Dethalbum II, which comes out September 8 on Williams Street Records. Unfortunately the copy that was sent to us is teeny tiny. Hopefully we’ll get a better look soon.

And in case you’re wondering – yes, there is a “Murmaider II” on the record. Better than “Unforgiven IV,” I guess.

-AR

No, you’re not seeing things – those are Murderface socks. For when you feel like your feet just aren’t metal enough.

According to Topless Robot, the socks are part of Adult Swim’s new, “shockingly understated” clothing line, called – ahem – The Finer Things. And they’ll run you about $15. Which seems like too much to pay for Murderface socks, but, hey, I’ve certainly done dumber things with my money.

You can order yourself a pair here.

-AR

There’s gonna be an animated feature film version The Goon coming out later this year, which was produced by David Fincher (who directed Se7en, Fight Club, The Curious Case of Benjamin Boring, the videos for Nine Inch Nails’ “Only” and A Perfect Circle’s “Judith,” etc.). I guess in an early bid to get some hype going, Dark Horse Comics will be publishing a series in which The Goon takes on… Dethklok. Hm.

MTV (ugh!) has the first promo video for the comic; check it out below.

-AR

[via Topless Robot]