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

There weren’t any real hot button topics this week, so we decided to just play a fun game that used to keep Vince and Axl occupied for many a lunch period when they were kids:

The MS staff’s answers after the jump.

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From left to right: Weatherman, Mullin, and Dean. Pic courtesy C.O.C.

C.O.C. is not only one of the best bands to come out of the old-school 1980s hardcore movement; technically, it’s at least five of the best groups to emerge from the scene. Over 28 years, every release – and later, every other album – has found the veterans with a new lineup and an all-new sound.

The band launched in North Carolina in 1982 as Corrosion of Conformity. In its first incarnation, the band played crusty, heavy, speedy hardcore. In 1984, the Eye for an Eye LP introduced the punk world to the group’s spiky skull mascot, one of the great extreme-music icons.

The lineup and sound reshuffled by 1985’s Animosity LP. The crossover disc was released on Metal Blade imprint Death Records, where they held their own against labelmates D.R.I. and the Ugly Americans. (The latter band featured singer Simon “Simon Bob Sinister” Bob, who would step as vocalist for C.O.C.’s 1987 Technocracy EP.)

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With dollar signs in my eyes, I have seen the next great supergroup: Heaven & Hell with Phil Anselmo as their new singer. I mean, I don’t think that’s actually gonna happen, but I think it would sell a lotta tickets.

Anselmo did, however, join the band on-stage at the Dio tribute performance at the High Voltage Festival in London this past weekend. According to Metal Insider, even guest vocalist Glenn Hughes “was surprised by the Superjoint Ritual mastermind’s unscheduled appearance” during “Neon Knights.” I hope this very not-good fan-filmed footage isn’t the only record that exists of the performance — hopefully something pro-shot, or at least some photos, will appear online soon.

-AR

Kirk Windstein is a poet. Of this, there can be no doubt. Since Kingdom of Sorrow took over our site on Tuesday, Vince and I have decided we really, really wanna take a trip to New Orleans and just go eat with the dude (well, probably get high and then go eat with the dude). But secretly, I have aspirations of someday being able to pay the man to teach my children how to speak good. I can dream, can’t I?

Here’s some other shit that went down in the Mansion this week:

• We debuted a clip from The Haunted’s new DVD, Road Kill.
• We also debuted new music by Early Graves.
• We spoke to Stephen Carpenter from Deftones.
• Ken Sorceron from Abigail Williams doesn’t wanna talk shit about Winds of Plague, so instead he just left a comment on our site saying “it its embarrassing to once again see our name next to theirs on another metal news site.” Way to not talk shit, Kenny!
• We checked out a new release by Black Pyramid.
• Sergeant D taught us about the history of metalcore and screamo.
• We engaged in debate about the new Maiden song, the new Maiden setlist, and the old Maiden album art.
• The new Methods of Mayhem song is the worst thing ever.
• Rose Funoral finally spoke out about the Uno Incident.
• Vince thinks the BP oil spill is Korny.

Next week will bring some more streams, interviews with Max Cavalera and Bobby Blotzer, and more self-righteous rage over fairly trivial topics. ‘Til then…

-AR

First of all, and on a note completely unrelated to the rest of this story, I just wanted to thank everyone for their well-wishes on Monday – both the ones left in the comments section and the ones that were e-mailed to me. Luckily everything turned out okay, but your support really meant a lot to me.

Now, onto the matter at hand. Just yesterday, Kirk Windstein made us simulataneously hungry and horny in equal measures, and Jamey Jasta correctly asserted that a new Crowbar album “needs to come out THIS YEAR.” It’s been five very long years since Crowbar’s last release, Lifesblood for the Downtrodden, and while Mr. Windstein has certainly used that time productively (you’ll never hear me bitch about Down time), I think we can all agree that a new Crowbar record would really hit the spot just about now.

And – hooray! – Crowbar played in NOLA over the weekend, and debuted two new tracks. And while we still don’t know when that new Crowbar album will be coming, as any scientist will tell you, writing new songs is the first step to making a record. So the very fact that these tunes exist is probably a good sign. Here’s the first one…

…and the second one is after the jump.

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My top 5 artists/rock bands constantly change but right now I’d have to say these are them!

# 5 – Robin Trower

One of the greats!

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#5 – Nina Hartley

Any dude born before 1979 has beaten off to Nina Hartley for sure!

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New Orleans isn’t just known for it’s metal and sludge music — it’s also a hot bed for good eats! If you’re planning on traveling here, give these dishes a whirl, and wash ‘em down with a daiquiri!

(YES, the picture is real. You can actually go to a DRIVE THROUGH and buy booze here in Louisiana!)

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While Arms of the Sun are probably best known in metal circles because their low end is provided by Down / ex-Pantera bassist Rex Brown, Rex’s participation is actually somewhat peripheral — the band is the brainchild of guitarist/singer Lance Harvill. But no matter; Arms of the Sun just write great rock songs, and folks really shouldn’t fixate on the fact that Rex is in the band as Arms of the Sun stand up on their own just fine. (And no, the irony that I just spent a paragraph fixating on Rex Brown’s membership in this band is not lost on me.)

Arms of the Sun have a new video for the track “March of The Dolls”; it’s a clip of stitched together live footage and as such it’s not an especially interesting video, but it does provide me with an excuse to plug this excellent band and hopefully turn a few more folks onto their music. So in that regard, mission accomplished. Enjoy the song below.

-VN

If you haven’t read Part One of my interview with Melvins frontman Buzz Osborne, you might want to check it out before you go any further. In this second and final installment of that conversation, King Buzzo pulls no punches. See below to learn his thoughts on grunge, crabcore, and why he’d rather open for Madonna than ever play Ozzfest again.

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I was really, really excited to hear Kingdom of Sorrow’s self-titled debut in 2008; unfortunately, the finished product didn’t do all that much for me. But I know Gary Suarez loved it, and I’m still curious to hear their sophomore effort, Behind the Blackest Tears, because, well, it’s Kirk Windstein and Jamey Jasta – they deserve the benefit of the doubt.

And if nothing else, the cover art is certainly capital-”M”-Metal.  The color scheme is similar to the cover art for the band’s first album, and the skull certainly seems to be sporting the same mask as the knight on that earlier cover – so I guess whatever task he set out on, he completely failed to achieve. Ah well.

Behind the Blackest Tears will be released on June 8 via Relapse.

-AR

The weather is beautiful out, it’s the weekend, and I have a ton of new albums to listen to. I’m gonna put some shit on my iPod, get stoned, go eat some ice cream, and crank some shit. It’s a rough life, but someone’s gotta lead it.

Before I do that, here’s a wrap-up of crap that happened this week:

• We spoke to Phil Anselmo, former Killswitch Engage/current The Empire Shall Fall vocalist Jesse Leach, and the dude who proposed to his girlfriend on-stage at a Fear Factory concert.
• We debuted a new column by Cynic’s Paul Masvidal.
• We’re streaming Unleashed’s new album, As Yggdrasil Trembles.
• Vince’s heavy metal road trip re-cap continues!
• We love Meek is Murder, and we’re not being sarcastic.
• Refused are reuniting! Well, they’re not, actually, but Far is!
• The end is nigh.

Okey dokey… sprinkles here I come! Have a good weekend everybody.

-AR

It’s worth questioning how much influence ex-Pantera/Down bassist Rex Brown has in his new band Arms of the Sun; to my knowledge he wasn’t a big songwriting contributor to either of his other main squeezes, and not for nothin’ Arms of the Sun sound like neither of them. But it really doesn’t matter because Arms of the Sun sound fucking sweet and are perfectly worthy of being judged independently of their very famous bassist.

The mid-paced, bluesy, guitar-driven rock that Arms of the Sun play kind of reminds me of latter day King’s X combined with the songwriting sensibility of the DeLeo brothers. Either you’ll like it or you won’t, and anyone expecting something even close to as heavy as Down (let alone Pantera) probably won’t. It’s rock, not metal. But Rex probably doesn’t care whether you like it or not. You don’t make music like this during your downtime from your main band unless it’s something you’re really into. It’s always cool to see what musicians do with their downtime when their main bands are still together — dudes from broken-up bands are a whole different story — because commercial success isn’t a concern meaning it’s all from the heart. And for the other dudes in this band it represents a chance to get a whole lot more exposure from sites like this one.

If any of this sounds interesting to you check out the songs that Arms of the Sun have posted on their MySpace page. Every single one of them is really good, but the first song “Falling to Pieces” which is also the heaviest is actually my least favorite one. If you live in Dallas you can catch Arms of the Sun live at the Lakewood Theater on April 17th.

-VN

I know I’ve written this phrase a few times in the past, but rarely is it so true: Phil Anselmo needs no introduction. You know who he is. You wanna read this interview. Period.

I will give you a little taste of the topics Mr. Anselmo and myself recently discussed via phone: his label, Housecore Records, and his upcoming autobiography, which will be co-authored by MetalSucks’ own Corey Mitchell. I did not utter the words “Pantera”or “Dimebag” even once, even after Phil did, because, well, what’s the point? The guy gets asked about Pantera literally all the time. It’s not like I was gonna be the interview where he suddenly slipped-up and revealed some new piece of information.

Luckily for you guys, Anselmo still has a lot to say even when he’s not talking about one of the most famous metal bands of ever. And so without any further bullshit…

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Of course not every band can be a Pantera or Down, but I’d argue that out of any member of Pantera, one Mr. Rex Brown has the best track record for non-Panteric projects. He wasn’t in Damageplan, a mediocre band we all pretend didn’t exist in the name of not doing any harm to Dime’s legacy; he’s obviously not in Hellyeah, who I still can’t quite believe are a real band and not some elaborate prank; Pantera and Down are only ones of Phil Anselmo’s 1,384 bands that Brown was in. Yeah, Rebel Meets Rebel was way too redneck for this Noo Yawk Jew, but at least they didn’t have a song called “Alcohaulin’ Ass.” So three cheers of Rex.

Of course, now Rex has another new band, Arms of the Sun, so I guess it’s possible he’s about to fuck-up his batting average. The three songs on AOTS’ MySpace page really generic bar-band stuff that sounds like it might have been cat nip for the guy who signed Candlebox fifteen years ago, but again. “Alcohaulin’ fucking Ass.” So Rex gets to keep his title belt… for now.

Check out Arms of the Sun here, then tell me why I’m being too hard on Damageplan/RMR/Hellyeah/Superjoint Ritual/whatever in the comments section.

-AR

I’d never heard of Suicide War before this morning, when MS tipster supreme Saul Hudson alerted me to a posting on their MySpace page announcing that Kirk Windstein has joined the band:

“Yes!! It is true…. Kirk will be doing vocal duties along side Ben in SUICIDE WAR. He will also be filling the bass duties, if and when SUICIDE WAR plans to do some shows. I know some people are expecting his signature Crowbar style vocals, but he has approached this project from a completely different angle.”

Kirk Windstein’s involvement with any project is a big deal – but in case you’re wondering, the “Ben” they’re referring to in the above statement is Ben Falgoust. As in, “The dude from Goatwhore and Soilent Green.” As in, “AWESOME!” Black Label Society drummer Craig Nunenmacher (who also used to play with Windstein’s Crowbar) is also in the band, which I find a little less exciting, but whatever. The group also sports two members of Valume Nob (that’s a not a typo, by the way), an outfit I’m not really familiar with.

But who cares? Any band that has Falgoust and Windstein is, at the very least, going to be worth paying attention to. More news as we get it. In the meantime, you can check out some instrumental demos here.

-AR

Remember last month, when we posted that awesome video of seven students from Aaron O’Keefe music-instruction school in Ohio playing Down’s “Ghosts Along the Mississippi?”

Well, Mr. O’Keefe has done it again, this time with seven different kids, ages twelve through sixteen, playing Pantera’s “Cowboys from Hell.”

There’s something kind of hilarious about a pre-pubescent voice doing Anselmo’s vocals, but there’s no getting around the fact that these kids are rule. And if you don’t think so, I’d like to ask you: could you play that well when you were that age? Is your child currently in his room practicing to play like Dimebag? No? Shut up, then.

Here are the names of the kids:

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I haven’t been able to shake this cold, and so I’ve actually been playing a lot of on-line Scrabble with a friend this week (because I’m just that cool). It would be really hard to play Scrabble at a metal show, though, not least of all because so many metal d00dz can’t spell.

When we weren’t beating this whole Uno debacle to death like it had just heckled us, here’s what was happening in the world of metal:

• We streamed Mutiny Within’s self-titled debut album, and premiered a track by Dallas Coyle’s new project, Genetic.
• God Forbid’s Doc Coyle defended mainstream metal, As I Lay Dying’s Nick Hipa discussed the cliffside cave list on L O S T, and, yeah, Intronaut’s Sacha Dunable and Daath’s Eyal Levi each weighed-in on a certain incident involving a certain card game.
• Each of the MetalSucks writers endorsed a finalist for the Scion No Label Needed Contest.
• We checked out new albums by The Breathing Process, Hayaino Daisuki, and Bane and Rhinoceros.
• We debated the morality of a label head posting a link to an album leak.
• We are woman, hear us roar.
• We looked at Mike Patton’s penis, and are now increasingly happy our shrink is coming back from vacation next week.
• Our homeboy Corey Mitchell is co-authoring Phil Anselmo’s autobiography!

Okay. Back to Scrabble! See ya Monday. Stay warm.

-AR

Back when I was a young ‘un and took guitar lessons, my teacher used to gather me and two other students once a week for some jam sessions (that’s not code for “molestion,” you wise guys), which were basically extended rehearsals for “concerts” (e.g., recitals). Each student would pick one song for the band to learn; the student who selected said song had to sing lead vocals and got to take the guitar solo for that song, while someone else played second guitar, someone else played bass, and the instructor played drums.

And it should go without saying that we never, ever sounded as good as this:

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Just wanted to give you guys the first official heads-up that I just signed a contract with former Pantera lead singer Phil Anselmo to help him pen his autobiography. Be on the lookout for an official press release next week.

This one has the MetalSucks handprints all over it, as MS co-head cheese Vince Neilstein hooked me up with Anselmo through the most unlikely of sources — Vince’s dad’s girlfriend and Phil’s aunt and uncle.

Rest assured, MS Maniacs will be privy to many exclusives as I help Phil tackle his incredible story. I will do my best to take you behind the scenes of the making of the book, post advance chapters before the book hits the stores, and post deleted material that won’t make the final cut but will be worth reading nonetheless.

Stay tuned to MetalSucks for more details.

-CM

Corey Mitchell is a best-selling author of true crime books and founder of In Cold Blog. Join him on Facebook and Twitter. His next book, SAVAGE SON, can be pre-ordered now.