Eyal Levi’s studio resides in the basement of his family’s home in suburban Atlanta. It’s a small room that couldn’t comfortably hold more than five, maybe six people; if your only mental image of a band making a record comes from A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica, it might be a little off-putting. You’re perpetually aware that you’re actually in the middle of someone’s house; various non-local metal denizens (including this blogger) populate the guest beds and couches, while members of Daath who live within driving distance but aren’t necessarily needed at the moment come and go as they please to share meals, jokes, vape rips, and the work-in-progress. It’s only when you really look around and soak in the details of your surroundings — the box full of copies of Daath’s self-released debut, Futility; the Misery Index vinyls; the post-it note by the door that makes reference to an incident involving Arsis’ James Malone, the house security system, and the local police department — that you realize: Oh, yeah. I’ve got albums on my iPod that were recorded in this room!

Daath have returned here to make their new, self-titled album after recording 2008′s The Concealers at producer Jason Suecof’s Audio Hammer Studios in Florida. The relaxed and homey environment was chosen deliberately for this outing. The name of the game this time is “creative freedom,” and the atmosphere at Eyaland (the studio doesn’t have an official name) definitely seems to breed open thinking — which is key, given that the group has only written and demoed skeletal versions of the songs, with the flourishes that, frankly, make Daath Daath still-to-be-added.

The decision to work this way came about because the band has felt, in the past, as though sometimes their preproduction demos “would sound better than the records we released,” Eyal explains. ”Lots of times we’d feel we were making better-sounding-but-more-stale-versions of what we did [on the demos], because lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place… This time we didn’t allow that. We got the songs to the point where we’re comfortable hitting ‘record,’ and we’re taking them to the next level in the studio.”

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Well, we’ve been talking about it for some time, but now you get to hear some of Daath‘s new, self-titled album and make up your mind for yourself — we’re giving away “Destruction/Restoration,” the second cut off the record, as a FREE download.

It should go without saying that we love this song. It sounds like Daath have been let off the leash: Emil Werstler is playing insane shit which should make guitar geeks everywhere cream their pants, Kevin Talley is going absolutely nuts and playing anything but what’s expected, the production, by Mark Lewis and Eyal Levi, is filthy, and the music is darker than Vince Neil’s liver and more misanthropic than Glenn Danzig at a doctor’s office. “Destruction/Restoration” is only about two-and-a-half minutes long, but you’ll never be able to appreciate it after just one listen; it’s just too layered and crazy for that. So download this one on us, get a good pair of headphones, and blow your ear drums to smithereens.

Daath comes out October 25 on Century.

DAATH – “DESTRUCTION/RESTORATION”

Daath – “Destruction/Restoration”

DOWNLOAD

That’s what producer Mark Lewis calls Werstler in the latest Daath in-studio video report from Skulls N’ Bones. And it’s obviously the kind of statement which is gonna get people really, really hot and bothered.

But there’s a very, very strong argument to be made that Lewis speaks the truth.

Personally, I knew that Werstler was a really talented dude, but I had no idea just how incredible he was until I watched him play in the studio. He’s one of those guitar players who can do pretty much anything — and he’s a workaholic who loves a challenge. Some of the stuff I watched him lay down for Daath’s new, self-titled album was really, really mind-blowing — doubly so when you consider that he was often coming up with it right there on the spot.

Daath comes out October 26 on Century. My own multi-part behind-the-scenes report will begin next month.

-AR

I think bassist Jeremy Creamer may be the biggest question mark for most Daath fans; he’s not front n’ center like vocalist Sean Z., and unlike guitarists Eyal Levi and Emil Werstler and drummer Kevin Talley, his work outside of Daath is not, at least currently, that well-known by the metal community (very likely because his work outside of Daath is often not metal music). But he’s an insanely cool dude and an insanely talented dude, and… I’m not gonna tell you more ’cause I’m gonna run an interview with him as part of the massive behind-the-scenes series I’m working on. So for the time being, just watch the below video that Skulls N’ Bones posted of him laying down bass for Daath’s new, self-titled album, which comes out October 26 on Century.

Daath has also released the track list for the album. Even with a band I love (like this one!), I don’t usually find track lists all that interesting, ‘case song titles don’t actually tell you much, but this being Daath n’ all, I’m gonna run it anyway. Check it out after the jump.

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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

I’ve already expressed my love of Levi/Werstler’s Avalanche of Worms (read my review here) so many times I’m running out of synonyms for “awesome,” so let me just put it this way: it’s one of the best albums of 2010 thus far. And as much praise has been heaped on Emil Werstler – whose day job is playing lead guitar for Daath – he deserves more. If you love great guitar playing, you need to hear this record, and then you need to bow down before Werstler with a cry of “I’m not worthy!” He is, simply put, the man.

Emil recently took time out from the writing and recording of the new Daath album – which, if all goes according to plan, will be out in the fall – to answer some questions for MetalSucks via e-mail. After the jump, learn how he started playing guitar, how he first hooked up Eyal Levi, his secrets for writing a great guitar solo, how he thinks the lessons of AOW will spill over into the new Daath release, and more.

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Just a friendly reminder that you can still enter the Levi/Werstler 4/20 Jager water pipe contest! The most impressive entry wins the wonderful instrument of smoke that you see Mr. Levi holding in the photo above (for novelty use only… we’d never encourage actual smoking here at MetalSucks). Here are the rules, in case ya forgot:

And that’s it! So if you haven’t entered yet, well… get crackin’!

A few months ago, we posted a series of select riffs and lines from the song Dura Mater on leviwerstler.com.  We had a lot of positive feedback about the parts and transcriptions, so we wanted to put together a post for all the guitar enthusiasts.  Here are all three “Dura Mater” video updates, along with transcriptions available in PDF and Guitar Pro formats.

(Editor’s note: click here to download the PDF and Guitar Pro files.)

“Dura Mater” Intro

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I’ve always hated top-whatever lists. Best guitarist, best band, best blowjob, best double anal with a horse, whatever. I think that those lists are pretty much all slanted by politics, or bought and paid for. I first got that idea in my head when Titanic won as many Oscars as it did. There were so many movies that year that were far more deserving of the title that my faith in the award system died.

Jump forward about ten years. I just got back in town from the Revolver Golden God Awards. I’ll just say that I’m stoked they exist. Metal needs that in the U.S. I have no issue with their nominees and obviously you can’t pick everyone so this is definitely not directed at them. Again, THIS IS NOT DIRECTED AT REVOLVER MAGAZINE, but the concept of picking “best shredder” or “shredder of the year “is just one of those things you can’t accurately do with the amount of talent that’s out there. You want to nominate Zack Wylde or Dave Mustaine? Okay. That’s cool. Those guys have earned it. But when you leave the circle of greats and legends, how exactly do you pick a BEST shredder? I mean am I alone in thinking that when so many amazing guitarists are overlooked that the award itself loses its meaning? What guitarists am I talking about? Okay… I’ll name a few. In my opinion these guys should be winning all the awards. If I left someone out, it’s because either I haven’t heard of them, I’ve heard them and I don’t think they’re among the very best, I forgot to mention them, or I’ve heard them and I know for a fact that what you think is shredding is just studio trickery.

So here it is. My personal list of whom I think should be winning all the metal guitar awards. Am I biased? Maybe. But I’d like to also think that considering what I do for a living that I’m a good judge of competency in the field. This is in no particular order. These guys all rule for different reasons. (DISCLAIMER: Sorry that there aren’t videos for every dude I mention, but sometimes finding quality footage is tough.)

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And that’s it! Good luck…

-Eyal and Emil

Since this is MetalSucks and I think quite a bit of newer metal DOES suck, I’d like to take the opportunity to talk about every metal musician’s worst nightmare:  modesty and people that can make a statement with or without the assistance of technology.  In most cases if you get past the mean face, band shirt, and disdain for a suntan you are left with music and it’s delivery:

I’m not ashamed to say it.  These days I’ll give a sloppier musician with something to say the benefit of the doubt over someone that is basically living a lie, trying to reproduce live what protools produced for them in the studio.  I think there are two ways to go about it – put on a hell of a show to make people believers, or reproduce the album and all of it’s elements note for note.  I was talking about J.Lo actually…

I think talent is really making a comeback.  Gotta love bands that reunite and forget to practice.  I heard fantastic things about the At The Gates reunion shows, though.  I also heard horrible things about the Rage Against The Machine reunion shows.  This is the best comeback ever:

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This MetalSucks takeover is in honor of today’s release of Avalanche Of Worms. Not to take the attention off of that, we just wanted to give you a quick rundown of what’s going on with our main band, DAATH.

We’re hard at work on our fourth album. It’s about halfway written. We’re set to start recording June 1st with an estimated October release. This one is going to have a much darker ambience to it than the last one. That’s as far as we’ll go talking about its sound. We’ve also got some European Summer festivals as well as some off dates lined up with Slayer and The Haunted.

-EL & EW

Don’t we all just love our cute cuddly animal friends? Funny how just because they’re cute, we trust them.

This video is an oldie but goodie. Great soundtrack too. Moral of the story… animals are bastards. I love my dog, but I know full well that hairy fucker could turn on me in an instant. Emil and I were talking about this tonight: somehow we tricked these savage beasts into putting up with our bullshit. I’m cool with animals, but I never let my guard down around one. Even mine. Like I found out tonight… The worst part about enduring a dog bite isn’t the puncture wound, it’s your bones being crushed. Sucky.

-EL

The only way he can get away with this is because he’s such a pimp…

-Levi/Werstler

You may know Emil and I from our band DAATH, my blogs on this site, Emil’s online guitar lessons, or just stumbling around Atlanta like the drunken bastards that we are. Axl and Vince were kind enough to let us hijack their site in honor of the release of our instrumental record, Avalanche of Worms. Even though the name of the project is Levi/Werstler, we feel that everyone involved was an integral contributor to what we feel is our truest artistic statement to date. That’s why today you’re not only going to get a glimpse into our world view, but you’ll also be able to read what’s on the mind of the entire team via their guest blogs. So that said, welcome to the 4/20/2010 Levi/Werstler Metalsucks Takeover!

-Eyal and Emil

Tomorrow, Levi/Werstler’s debut album, Avalanche of Worms - which we’re currently streaming right here – will finally be released! To celebrate, Axl and Vince and the rest of the MetalSucks staff are taking the day off to enjoy 4/20 properly – by getting really high and playing the album on repeat at eardrum-destroying volumes.

But lest we leave you in the lurch, we called up Eyal Levi and Emil Werstler and told them that since it’s their fault we can’t work on 4/20 because they made such a kick-ass record, they would have to take over MetalSucks for the day. Luckily, they agreed! And so tomorrow it’s gonna be all Levi/Werstler, all the time.

In addition to doing a whole bunch of blogging themselves, Eyal and Emil have also enlisted the help of the rest of the Avalanche of Worms posse – including Cynic drummer Sean Reinert, From Exile keyboardist Eric Guenther, bassist Kevin Scott, and AOW mixer Mark Lewis – to come up with some really, really entertaining stuff. So come back tomorrow to see what they have in store for you, oh beloved readers. It’s gonna be killer.

-Axl, Vince, and Everyone at MetalSucks

In case you didn’t read Axl’s four-and-a-half out of five horns rave review of Avalanche of Worms, the debut album from Levi/Werstler, we’ll sum it up for you: “Avalanche of Worms is a trippy, freaky, cinematic, vivid narrative that unfolds in multiple dimensions at once.” Axl also said that the album “is really is best enjoyed in a single sitting, as one large piece of work.”

Which you can do right now! We’re streaming the entire thing below before its release tomorrow on Magna Carta. And it’s already 4/20 in some parts of the world! So sit back, light up, and enjoy Avalanche of Worms…

[this promotion has ended]

I just wanna throw my two cents in…

True story: when I was a kid, I thought the lyrics to “Black No. 1″ were “You can’t go out ’cause your boobs are showing.” I was confused about what the song’s title meant, but otherwise, the words made perfect sense to me. Oh, misheard lyrics. You never cease to amuse.

Even if you weren’t a Type O Negative fan or a Carnivore fan, you have to admit that Peter Steele had one of the most distinctive voices in the history of metal. You never heard the guy and thought, “Gee, who is that?” And because my mother used to work with Josh Silver’s (now sadly also departed) dad, Type O Negative always felt, somehow, more tangible to me; Steele was iconic and often seemed larger than life, but I knew he wasn’t superhuman.That he passed away so young was a very unfortunate reminder that he wasn’t The Man of Steele. But he made his mark and left something to appreciated behind, and in the end, that’s all any of us can really ask for.

Here are some happier things that happened in the world of metal this week:

• We unveiled the line-up for Summer Slaughter 2010.
• We debuted a new video by Jungle Rot.
• We spoke to Kerry King and Dave Lombardo from Slayer, Chino Moreno from Deftones, and Stephen Pearcy from Ratt.
• Cynic’s Paul Masvidal contemplated depression, As I Lay Dying’s Nick Hipa contemplated L O S T, and The Austerity Program’s Justin Foley contemplated the perfect Taco Riff.
• We checked out new releases by Levi/Werstler, Wormrot, and Bison B.C. and Sweet Apple.
• Ever dreamed of singing with Nevermore? We’re running pretty much the coolest contest in the history of ever.

Next week brings at least one and possibly two big surprises, plus, knock on a wood, the debut of a new column by a writer you will hate. See ya then.

-AR

I know I’m gonna get shit for the review I’m about to give Levi/Werstler‘s Avalanche of Worms. Eyal Levi writes for this site! Sure, I could remind you that I’ve been pretty openly a non fan of Daath’s first album, The Hinderers, or tell you that we never even met Eyal until after we’d already heard (and were blown away by) Daath’s second album, The Concealers. But what’s the use? You either believe I’m unbiased or you don’t. So fuck me and don’t listen to it, if that’s how you feel. Your loss.

So, with that out of the way…

I have to admit that it’s only recently that I really sat down and examined Jorden Haley‘s cover art for AOW as anything more than a collection of abstract shapes. It’s really psychedelic, dude: either black clouds are raining hot pink goo (It is snot? Blood? It’s definitely too thick to be water.) on a trio of semi-skinned faces (the noses and giant, Pac-Man pupiled eye balls are perfectly intact), or the faces (One each for guitarists Emil Werstler and Eyal Levi and one for drummer Sean Reinert, perhaps?) are snotting/bleeding/whatever onto the black clouds. I almost wish there was no text on the cover, so you wouldn’t know which way is up, ’cause the piece looks just as cool no matter which direction it’s facing.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is a perfect marriage of cover art and music. Avalanche of Worms is a trippy, freaky, cinematic, vivid narrative that unfolds in multiple dimensions at once.

Click to read more…