Evil Bells aka Slay Bells by guitarstevecc

I’m not one for Christmas music, but I enjoyed the above doom interpretation of an Xmas classic very much. Click “play” while you catch up on this morning’s news:

• Tool have announced the opening acts for their string of winter 2012 dates… and it’s wonky stoner-prog outfit Intronaut (as rumored) on the first half of the tour and doom metal titans Yob on the second half! It’d be easy enough for Tool to take out a commercial hard rock band because their agent or manager said so, an established act that could help put some butts in seats, or no one at all… but nope, they march to their own drum and chose Intronaut and Yob, two acts that will seem completely out of left field to most of Tool’s fanbase. That’s Tool for you; just one of 1,697 reasons I love this band so much.
• Paganfest will come back to America in spring 2012 for its third U.S. incarnation. Despite the pagan/folk metal trend being long over, Paganfest III actually features a really cool lineup: Turisas, Alestorm, and Ex Deo are the bigger bands, and they’ll take along with them Arkona and Huntress, neither of whom I know much about. Get dates here.
• Gwar’s Oderus Urungus and Balsac the Jaws of Death review the new Spielberg movie War Horse for NextMovie.com on video.
• Alternative Press readers have chosen Asking Alexandria’s Ben Bruce as “Guitarist of the Year” for 2011. MetalSucks editors have nominated Alternative Press readers as having the “Worst Taste in Metal” for eternity.
• Gory death metal vets Exhumed have posted their entire live set from Maryland Deathfest 2011 on NPR’s website. Stream it here. And oh hey look at who wrote that article! (hey hey)

FEATURING MEMBERS OF KYLESA, DARKTHRONE, BRUTAL TRUTH, KATAKLYSM, 3 INCHES OF BLOOD, TEXTURES, SWASHBUCKLE, THIS OR THE APOCALYPSE, DISFIGURING THE GODDESS, BURNING THE MASSES, CHRISTIAN MISTRESS, MISERY, AND GRIFTEGARD

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 twelve musicians at a time twice a day for the rest of the week.

After the jump, check out the seventh 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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According to reports by SMN and other various metal sites across the web, Pathology, who are currently part of the MetalSucks-sponsored Nile headlining tour (along with Ex Deo, Psycroptic, and Keep of Kalessin), ”have been involved in a serious bus crash.” No further details are available at this time.

This is obviously horrible news… hopefully everyone is okay. We’re sending out good thoughts for the dudes in Pathology.

More info as we get it.

-AR

For a hot minute my friend and I contemplated inviting Karl Sanders on our big trip to Egypt this past February. It had come to our attention that Nile’s guitarist had never been to the country all of his songs are about, and wouldn’t it be badass to take him around? But then we reconsidered; assuming he would ever even accept an invitation from us buffoons, what if we ruined Egypt for him? What if the mighty Karl Sanders was underwhelmed by the knowledge and ambition of us peons? Would we be embarrassed to jam Nile songs on our headphones whilst staring at the pyramids in awe? What if he got annoyed with our constant farting? Please Mr. Sanders, spare us for we must pass peacefully to the underworld! No, better not to take the risk; Mr. Sanders, you’ll have to make it to Egypt on your own time.

Nile have a new video for “Permitting the Noble Dead to Descend to the Underworld” which we’re premiering exclusively for you all below. They are about to embark on their second MetalSucks-sponsored U.S. tour in support of their recent album Those Whom the Gods Detest — with the incredibly awesome support bands Ex Deo, Psycroptic and Keep of Kalessin in tow — starting on Halloween. Get dates here. In the meantime, watch this video and ponder how we can get Karl Sanders a plane ticket to Egypt; think of the awesome music that would follow.

[this streaming promotion has ended]

If you missed Nile earlier this year on the MetalSucks-sponsored Those Whom the Gods Detest Tour, this fall is your chance to get your fix of Egyptian-themed death metal. MetalSucks is proud to once again bring you a Nile tour, but this time around Karl Sanders and co. will be hitting cities they didn’t visit on their first go-round. And it’s a sweet deal too, ’cause in addition to Nile you’ll also get to see Maurizio Iocono’s Roman-themed Ex Deo, a rare U.S. appearance by Tasmanian tech-deathsters Psycroptic, Norwegian epic black metal maestros Keep of Kalessin and Sergeant D-approved slam deathsters Pathology.

Dates after the jump.

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November seems like an eternity from now given that April is almost over but it’s still blustery and cold outside, but when you’re a foreign band trying to tour the U.S. it’s never too early to book a tour; just ask any of the countless bands who’ve been denied entry to the U.S. because they couldn’t get their visa papers together in time. So although it’s more than 6 months away, Egypt-themed (but U.S. born) death metallers Nile — who recently wrapped up their MetalSucks sponsored Those Whom the Gods Detest Tour — have announced a Fall U.S. tour with Ex Deo, Psycroptic and Keep of Kalessin in tow. That’s a damn solid lineup, and at this early juncture I proclaim it the best Fall tour to be announced so far!

Nile are Nile, and I’ve actually never seen ‘em live; I look forward to getting pummeled live by the soundtrack that guided my camel journey to the Pyramids of Giza. I dig Maurizio Iacono’s Roman-themed Ex Deo project a whole lot more than I do his main squeeze Kataklysm, and ever since seeing the beyond-epic music video for “Romulus” I’ve wanted to see the band play live. Psycroptic are one of my absolute favoritest tech-death bands; their 2008 release Ob(servant) was one of my favorites of the year, and since they’re from Tasmania it’s rare for them to visit the U.S. And I’ve already waxed ecstatic about Keep of Kalessin enough in recent months for you all to know that I’d be stoked to see them live, especially since last time they reminded me of a troupe of Legolas look-a-likes.

Tour dates for the Those Whom the Gods Detest Tour II after the jump.

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“Epicer” is a word, right?

You might remember Ex Deo’s video for “Romulus,” which Vince described as being “epic, grand, colossal, and monolithic;” the group’s new video, for the song “The Final War (Battle of Actium)” takes that shit to a whole other level. Sure, the special effects are a little cheesy and the director was clearly taking a lot of his visual cues from 300, but compared to what most bands are passing off as music videos these days, Ex Deo have pretty much hit a grand slam. Judge for yourself:

-AR

If you read this site regularly you know I’m fascinated with temporary team-ups, like Dave Lombardo playing drums for Metallica or Doc Coyle playing guitar for Lamb of God. I just love these little glimpses into some alternate reality where great bands traded great musicians.

So here’s a good one: according to Metal Underground, Children of Bodom’s Alexi Laiho will be playing guitar with Hypocrisy on their upcoming North American tour.

Says Hypocrisy mastermind Peter Tagtgren:

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Haven’t done one of these posts in a while because, well, there hasn’t been a Tuesday this important in quite some time. The following albums are available for legal, legit purchasing today:

• Killswitch Engage – Killswitch Engage: The band everyone hates to love or loves to hate. Prediction: this record goes Top 10 first week, possibly even Top 5.
• Suicide Silence – No Time to Bleed: Deathcore upstarts attempt to [suicide] silence the naysayers with their second Century Media full-length. This writer thinks they’ve done it.
• Obituary – Darkest Days: O.G. death metallers return with their eighth full-length.
• Ex Deo – Romulus: Roman-themed metal helmed by Kataklysm frontman Maurizio Iacono. We think the tunes are solid and the music video is beyond epic.

Oh hey look, rock’s resident asshole Ted Nugent also has a CD/DVD out today! Killer! Psych.

If you’ve already heard these albums tells us what you think of them in the comments. We’ll report the sales figures for all of these albums as soon as we get them in next Wednesday. In the meantime, go n’ buy some music so some broke-ass dudes can eat! Except Ted Nugent, unless you want your money to go straight to the NRA.

-VN

Last week we told you about the epic, Roman-themed band Ex Deo, spearheaded by Kataklysm’s Maurizio Iocono. You could be a hipster-metal fart-knocker and roll your eyes at yet another pagan metal band, or you could take my word for it and click “play” on the fittingly epic video for “Romulus,” the album’s title track, below. This shit is epic. Did I say “epic” enough times yet? Grand. Colossal. Monolithic. All of these adjectives describe both the band and this video.

The video (and song) tells the ancient Roman tale of Romulus and Remus, and was filmed by director Stanimir “Staca” Lukic in Belgrade, Serbia. Romulus comes out on June 19th in Europe and June 30th in North America on Nuclear Blast Records. Catch Ex Deo on the Paganfest Europe tour this fall.

-VN

When news of Ex Deo, the new band featuring Kataklysm’s Maurizio Iacono, first began to bubble this winter, I yawned. I’ve always thought of Kataklysm as a solid, serviceable but not especially interesting group, so the prospect of a side-project of a band I’m not especially into in the first place wasn’t all that appealing. But now that new tracks from the Ex Deo debut Romulus are starting to surface I’m being forced to reconsider.

This shit is epic!

Click to read more…