So Vince is now out of town. Again. Luckily, we really do take after our namesakes; he loves to be out there among the people, partying like he might die tomorrow, and I am a grumpy, mean-spirited recluse. So expect lots of Axl crankiness next week.

In the meantime, here are some things that happened this week:

• Genetic’s Dallas Coyle discussed the importance of positive thinking, As I Lay Dying’s Nick Hipa pondered the various timelines on L O S T, Intronaut’s Sacha Dunable listed the five raddest sets of teeth in metal, Eyal Levi from Daath and Levi/Werstler wondered if anyone cares about guitar solos, and adult film actress Bobbi Starr told us the ten metal bands she wishes would gangbang her.
• We debuted new music by The Dillinger Escape Plan, Landmine Marathon, and Jucifer.
• MetalSucks readers interviewed Dark Tranquillity’s Mikael Stanne and Vince interviewed Sevendust’s Clint Lowery.
• Sammy O’Hagar reviewed Ov Hell’s The Underworld Regime.
• Is Nergal from Behemoth going to jail for destroying a Bible?
• The singer from DragonForce is available for a White Lion reunion.
• We raged against “Rage.”

And that’s it! Next week will see the debut of our irritating new list, as well as some other fun shit. Have a nice weekend…

-AR

DragnForce have parted ways with vocalist ZP Theart “due to insurmountable differences of musical opinion.” I’m not sure what qualifies as “insurmountable differences of musical opinion” in DragonForceland; did Theart want the music to get even faster? Slower? More keyboards? Fewer guitar solos? A horn section?

Who knows, and, more to the point, who cares? Metalheads seem to fall into one of two categories: people who hate DragonForce with every ounce of their very being, and people who don’t give a shit about ZP Theart. The singer in DF could not be a less important element of their music if his name were “James LaBrie.” Any eunuch can sing about wizards and video games and dying a virgin; what matters in this band is the ridiculousness of their musicianship, not the transvestite standing near the front of the stage.

In other words: I think DragonForce are gonna make it through this, kids.

-AR

‘Cause Phil Freeman, who was the editor-in-chief of Metal Edge until that mag shuttered earlier this year, is doing his Top 100 albums of the 2000s, unveiling twenty albums a day over throughout this week.

I’m just gonna say one word to get the debate rolling:

DragonForce.

Go.

Day 1.

Day 2.

-AR

I’m not actually anti-Guitar Hero/rhythm games the way some people are, and this is only sorta kinda related to metal, but this satirical look into the making of Guitar Hero: The Beatles (not a real game, obviously) is too funny not to share.

-AR

[via CHUD]

I haven’t smoked weed in about three weeks now. I haven’t wanted to. Getting sick kind of took that wind out of my sails and then I had no choice but to abstain in the hospital. Two nights ago I was at my girl’s place watching her and her roommate spark joint after joint after joint, and the craving came back. I didn’t partake. And I’m not going to for awhile, but I wanted to. And I still kinda do.

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Daath just completed our first tour for The Concealers album cycle. The tour was with Dragonforce and our personal heroes, Cynic. It was a US Secondary Markets tour. For those of you who sent us angry messages about why we didn’t play your city…. We appreciate that you care and we promise we’ll be there are soon as we can.

Anyways, after our portion of the tour was over Dragonforce was scheduled to play some South American dates on their own before returning to France. Their last dates were in Brazil I believe and they would have been flying the same, if not similar route as Air France flight 447 which peaced out mid flight over the Atlantic Ocean last week.

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If you don’t know who Amy Sciarretto is, well, ya should. She’s Roadrunner Records in-house PR goddess (and often writes the very funny “Ask Amy” column for the Roadrunner website) and also writes for NoiseCreep. She’s also written for Revolver, Kerrang!, Guitar World, and a butt load of other publications and websites. In other words, she knows her shit.

Now Amy has teamed up with Rick Florino – founder or Ruined magazine and a contributor to Inked, Revolver, Hit Parader, etc. – to write Do the Devil’s Work for Him: How to Make it in the Music Industry (and Stay in It!). Featuring interviews and music biz advice from members of System of a Down, DevilDriver, Dragonforce, Matt Sorum (current Velvet Revolver/ex-Guns N’ Roses drummer) and Roadrunner A&R guru/blade runner Mike Gitter, this promises to be much, much cooler than your average “how to” guide.

The book hits shelves on June 26. In the meantime, you can get more info here.

-AR

Hats off to MetalSucks Maniacs Tony Cordone, John Douglass, Joe Pitz, Ben Russo and Carrick McClane. They each correctly identified last week’s logo as belonging to to theband Guttural Secrete, and each win an autographed New York Dolls One Day it Will Please Us to Remember Even This CD booklet. And, hey, don’t be sad if you really wanted that booklet and didn’t win: we’re gonna have lots more to give away in the coming weeks.

But this week, the fine ladies and gentlemen at Roadrunner Records have bestowed upon us five copies of Dragonforce’s most excellent 2008 release, Ultra Beatdown, to give away. This album is metal’s answer to a crazy friggin’ sugar rush, and if you don’t already own a copy, here’s your chance.

All you have to do to win is identify the name of the band whose logo appears below, then shoot me an e-mail with your answer, your name and address at axl [at] metalsucks.net. We’ll randomly select five winners from everyone who gets it right, and announce his or her names next week.

Good luck, everyone…

-AR

Even before we were an “industry type” (I think we can safely call ourselves that now), I loved the fact that Roadrunner Records posts their staffers and some of the artists “best of” lists every year; these people work at/with one of the biggest metal labels out there, so it’s pretty interesting to see what they were grooving on from year to year.

The 2008 lists are on Roadrunner’s website now. Here are some highlights:

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I know there’s a contingent of the metal community out there that’s completely offended by Dragonforce; generally speaking, I’m not a member of that contingent.

Still, this is pretty fuckin’ hilarious/sad/shameful.

Thanks to MetalSucks Maniac Steve Stamopoulos for the video!

-AR

Even now that Slayer are Grammy winners, I don’t think any metalhead really gives a flying fuck about the Grammys. But, what the fuck – here are this year’s nominees for “Best Metal Performance”:

Click to read more…

It seemed as if Slipknot was destined for their first-ever #1 album on the U.S. Soundscan charts. Not so, thanks to hip-hop artist The Game, whose new release LAX sold 238,285 copies, a whopping 13 more than the 238,272 units shifted of Slipknot’s All Hope is Gone — still an extremely respectable and awesome number. And yes, these numbers include full albums purchased digitally.

It was a big week for Roadrunner all around; Dragonforce’s Ultra Beatdown debuted at #19 with 23,977 copies sold. We hope the RR braintrust throw a kegger for all the fine folks working over there; and we hope we’re invited!

Elsewhere, radio mainstays Kid Rock, Staind and Disturbed unsurprisingly continued to sell a lot of records in Middle America.

-VN

A very, very, VERY special thanks to Rosa Henriquez for the awesome photos. Now we’re that much closer to being like a real big kids’ website!

I think one of the things Slipknot’s fans love most about them is one of the very same qualities that their detractors so violently hold against them: their theatricality. I mean, these are nine dudes who dress up in matching outfits and wear “spooky” masks. The band’s members talk about death metal an awful lot, and, musically speaking, that influence is certainly present. But aesthetically, they belong to a line of bands like Kiss and Motley Crue. They’re showmen.

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DragonForce, like most good bands, either hits you the right way or doesn’t. And one could totally understand how their music could hit someone the wrong way – when looking at DragonForce from a distance (unendingly optimistic metal played at relentless speed, nuts-in-a-vice vocals, keyboards straight out of Mega Man 4, the fact that the name of the band is DragonForce, etc.), they are undoubtedly obnoxious on paper. But as those of us who like them know, the band’s execution usually ascends that obnoxiousness to come up with a seemingly infinite canon of uplifting, complexly performed power metal songs. So it’s good to know that at the very least, DragonForce haven’t done anything drastic to their formula for their latest fell length, Ultra Beatdown. In fact, in its best moments, the album showcases the band’s most enjoyable material, which for a band that is at the moment best known by the general populous as the hardest part of Guitar Hero III, is quite refreshing.

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Sorry for the lack of posting today, folks. Metal Injection, Crustcake and Nonelouder all stopped by the MetalSucks Mansion at once with an SUV full of groupies and a cooler full of mushrooms. Bad, bad things occurred. You do not even want to know.

Anyway, an intrepid anonymous MetalSucks reader sent us this comp for a never-used poster advertising a recent MySpace secret show for Dragonforce. Awesome, no? Totally hits the spot in that Legend of Zelda kind of way. After the jump, check out the extremely lame version that was actually used to promote the show.

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Ultra-shred power metallers Dragonforce have a new album Ultra Beatdown scheduled for release on August 25th. I recently had a chance to chat with singer ZP Theart about the new album, the effects of the band’s inclusion in Guitar Hero, and the perception amongst some music fans that the band are just a bunch of musical masturbation wankers (my words, not his). Things started off a little slow, but once he got into it, he got into it — after the jump, read ZP’s insights and hilarious responses. Also, peep their new video for “Heroes of Our Time,” above.

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At least two of you emailed us about the new Dragonforce song “Heroes of our Time,” which was posted on the band’s MySpace page over the weekend. But MetalSucks Maniac Kye summed it up quite nicely:

DragonForce posted their new song “Heroes of Our Time” on myspace the other day. It’s fast and has lots of video game sounding noises…and they talk about warriors and fighting and victory. Hell they probably say something about fire and flames somewhere in there.

And that is precisely how I feel about it. In short, it sounds just like Dragonforce.

I have nothing against Dragonforce per se, but at this point I’m kind of over it; their shtick got old for me in a hurry. I suspect the same is true in a lot of metal circles, but for some reason young hardcore kiddies in white studded belts and sideways hats go apeshit over this band. In any case, their new album Ultra Beatdown drops August 25th on Roadrunner, so if you’re into this band check out the new track. I’ll certainly give it a listen and marvel at their technical proficiency.

-VN

After years of mis-management, losing a key songwriter / founding member, and a string of mediocre but decent enough albums, things were looking up for Sevendust. They weathered the storm of the nu-metal fallout to emerge unscathed by the critical backlash to beset pretty much every other band to whom that term ever applied. They’re set with their own label imprint through WMG’s Independent Label Group, they have a new album coming out a mere year after the last one, and they signed on to headline one of the side-stages at this Summer’s Rockstar Energy Mayhem Tour. Yes, Sevendust were poised for a new start; and now they go and fuck it it all up.

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Come on, you know exactly what this band sounds like just from their name, don’t you? Epic, bombastic, soaring European power metal, but not necessarily of the “extreme” non-stop 164th-note Dragonforce nature. Lots of delicious keyboards, big sounding drums, shredding, guitar harmonies, and soaring vocals that leave you utterly helpless against the overwhelming urge to raise your fist to the sky. And yeah, it’s cheesy as all hell, just the way we like it.

Guitar whiz-kid and primary songwriter Gus G. and the rest of his Greek bandmates are back with a new song called “Mercenary Man” on their MySpace page (no relation to the Danish metal band Mercenary — though that would certainly make for a killer tour combo). Firewind’s new album The Premonition comes out March 24th via Century Media (Europe), and they’ll be promoting the new record with a lengthy European tour throughout April and May (with festival appearances to follow, we hope. hint hint, Download Festival).

-VN

Over the past several days there have been a spate of press releases more or less confirming that the biggest metal tour this summer is going to be the newly corporate controlled christened Rockstar Energy Mayhem Tour, whatwith Sharon Osbourne promising a limited run of Ozzfest dates this summer. So far the lineup is shaping up as follows:

• Slipknot and Disturbed will be co-headlining
• Dragonforce and Mastodon will round out the mainstage lineup
• Two sidestages:
  • Sevendust, Airbourne, Five Finger Death Punch, and 36 Crazyfists on one.
  • Machine Head, Black Tide, Suicide Silence, The Red Chord and Walls of Jericho on the other.

What a mess of conflicting emotions I have about this. I think it’s safe to say that no one who comes to this site gives two shits about Disturbed. I’m not big on Slipknot but I certainly respect what they’ve accomplished and haven’t ever witnessed the spectacle that is their live show, and I know Axl is gonna be psyched about this. Dragonforce and Mastodon: sweet. As for the side stages, there could be some difficult choices to make but hopefully the timing will stack up in such a way that Five Finger Death Suck and Black Tide are playing while other, cooler bands are on the other stage. Machine Head? Seen ‘em twice in 2007 but still, sweet. As for Sevendust, say what you will about their past several very mediocre albums, but the band always brings it live, and this is the first package tour of any sort they’ve been a part of since… man, I can’t even remember. Airbourne could be a good time in that AC/DC sort of way, and Axl’s been hyping Suicide Silence so I’ll give ‘em a shot. Our boys at Metal Injection love the Red Chord, so I’ll check that out too. Couldn’t care less about Walls of Jericho, except that my friend is in their music video.

On second thought, I guess there isn’t really that much of a dilemma: the Rockstar Energy Mayhem Tour is the tour to be at this summer, despite a few shitty acts. But when are there ever not any shitty acts?

-VN