FEATURING MELISSA AUF DER MAUR AND MEMBERS OF WATAIN, CATTLE DECAPITATION, FORBIDDEN, VANISHER, HOWL, THE CONTORTIONIST, DISEMBODIED, EVOCATION, AND ROSALINE

For 2010, we decided to do something special as part of our regular end-of-year festivities here at MetalSucks — namely, ask musicians from across the vast spectrum of the metalsphere (or, in a few cases, the almost-metalsphere) what their favorite albums of the year were. Death metallers, thrash metallers, black metallers, stoners, grinders, and djenters alike graciously contributed lists to MS, and we’ll be running them in groups of ten to eleven musicians at a time twice a day for the rest of the week.

After the jump, check out the third group… we hope you enjoy seeing what some of metal’s heaviest hitters were into this year as much as we have!

(And please note that these are musicians and that they, um, have a lot on their minds. So some of ‘em named albums that actually came out last year. Please don’t freak out.)

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Last night at NYC’s Mercury Lounge, after Earthless tore my face open (psychedelically speaking) and I spent the entire duration of Iron Age’s set talking shit at the bar trying to wingman one of the dudes in Priestess with a kinda lame chick, Disembodied stepped up to the plate and took an enormously heavy and dissonant dump all over the crowd.  Musically speaking.  In a good way.

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One of the most thrilling performances at this year’s New England Metal/Hardcore Fest came from a reunited Disembodied. Having arrived at the venue mere minutes before their scheduled start time, the Minneapolis band rushed their gear onstage and put on a cathartic, vicious performance of their savage, noisy brand of sludgy hardcore. I stood up front for the entire set, stunned and delighted by how intrinsically menacing they managed to be compared to the fest’s largely toughguy-heavy lineup.

After their set, I managed to get some time in with bassist Tara Johnson, who confirmed that they were working on new material. Finally, the first of these new tracks has been revealed, as the above exclusive video shows. Entitled “Caveat”, it wont come as any surprise to those familiar with Disembodied’s slow, crushing sound — and it gives a great deal of hope to fans that their next, as yet untitled album will slay. Perhaps this will be part of their set tonight at New York’s Mercury Lounge, where they open for the recently reunited hardcore act Strife.

-GS

Dio died. Isis broke-up. Bret Michaels is back in the hospital. And I just used Dio, Isis, and Bret Michaels in one thought-stream, which, I’m sure, offended somebody.

Luckily, we did manage to have some fun this week:

• Sick of it All’s Lou Koller is counting down his top ten hardcore albums, As I Lay Dying’s Nick Hipa is counting down to the end of L O S T, Batillus’ Fade Kainer is counting down ’til the band can get the fuck outta the studio, Agenda of Swine’s Pete Benumb is counting down to MDF, and Cynic’s Paul Masvidal is counting down to achieving a higher level of being.
• We spoke to Steve Joh from Century Media, Tara Johnson from Disembodied, Emil Werstler from Daath and Levi/Werstler, and Travis Stever from Coheed & Cambria.
• We checked out the latest release from Rosetta.
• Sergeant D. has new slamz 4 u.
• The best music video ever of the week is by… Goldfrapp?
• There are plenty of things we’d rather do than listen to a new Attack Attack! song.
• Endorsement of the new Avenged Sevenfold single = flame war.
• You guys are still arguing about my Korn review. Seriously?
• I’m still upset about John Bush leaving Anthrax again. Seriously.
• We used to love Sweden, but we had to kill it.

And hopefully no one awesome will die or break-up next week.

-AR

One of the interviews I’d managed to line up for this year’s New England Metal And Hardcore Festival was with Disembodied. But as the second day went on, it started to seem like I might not get that chance. Stuck in interminable traffic, the reunited metallic hardcore band was in danger of missing their set. Their publicist texted me updates from the road, and they literally arrived barely a few minutes before their scheduled headlining slot on the upstairs stage. I’d never seen Disembodied live before, so my basis for comparison didn’t exist, but I suspect the Minneapolis pioneers must’ve channeled their road rage into their churning, fiery, savage show. Afterwards, I let the group load out before walking over with bassist Tara Johnson to a quiet spot in the Worcester Palladium parking lot to chat.

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Originally, I had planned on livetweeting this year’s New England Metal and Hardcore Festival for the purposes of turning my pithy comments into some sort of proper show report. Looking back on some of those 140-characters-or-less entries, I realized that there was really no need to do so. Instead, below you’ll find a selection of my most poignant tweets from the two day weekender. Enjoy!

DAY ONE
So nice of @metalsucks to have this limo waiting for me at Union Station. My driver Tito has already taken a shine to me. #nemhf 12:42 PM Apr 23rd

My limo driver Tito and I stopped at Uno’s for a quick bite. I wonder if Rose Funeral refuse to eat here on principle. #nemhf 12:52 PM Apr 23rd

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Last year, my esteemed colleagues Vince Neilstein and Van Arseface covered the New England Metal & Hardcore Festival for this site, resulting in a plethora of posts about their experience and the bands. Pretty good stuff, I’d say. For the 2010 Worcester, MA event, I volunteered to be the official correspondent in my capacity as the resident “hardcore expert” (not to be confused with the resident “hardcore sexpert“). With big names like Cro Mags and Disembodied playing the second stage, how could I not?

So, yeah, throughout the weekend, you can follow all of my witty, ascerbic livetweets here (that is, if you have a Twitter account and a major credit card). Show reports will appear here on MetalSucks next week, with some interviews with select bands following in the subsequent weeks (because monkeys can only transcribe so fast). To answer your lingering questions:

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The organizers behind New York’s annual Black N Blue Bowl / Superbowl of Hardcore have been steadfastly tight-lipped about the lineup at this year’s event. Though apparently something this big can’t stay hidden very long, as Madball frontman Freddy Cricien let a few names slip at a a recent concert in Poughkeepsie, NY–and subsequently that tasty bit of hardcore intel was confirmed.

Thanks Freddy!

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