As regular readers are aware, I’m usually dead-set against cover albums, which tend to feature meaningless, generally inferior versions of great songs the listener already owns in their original, classic forms.

But I’m willing to give Dying Fetus the benefit of the doubt that if they’ve made a covers album, it’s worth listening to. They’ve earned that much. Why? BECAUSE THEY’RE DYING FUCKING FETUS, that’s why. Duh.

So. In celebration of both their twentieth anniversary and their stint on the year’s edition of the MetalSucks-sponsored Summer Slaughter tour, this July the  band will release History Repeats…, which will not only feature the band re-imaging tracks from some of death n’ grinds finest (Napalm Death, Cannibal Corpse, Bolt Thrower, etc.), but will also feature “Rohypnol,” a brand new song. You might know rohypnol as “roofies,” or “the date rape drug.” So this tune is probably a charming power ballad in the vein of Bon Jovi’s “Bed of Roses.”

History Repeats… comes out July 19 on Relapse, and is limited to 5,000 copies. You can get it a f.y.e. stores, or just pre-order it directly from Relapse.

The full track list for this bad mother is after the jump, along with those Summer Slaughter dates. Other bands on the bill are The Black Dahlia Murder, Whitechapel, Darkest Hour, Six Feet Under, Oceano, Fleshgod Apocalypse, As Blood Runs Black, Powerglove, and Within the Ruins.

Click to read more…

Remember when this year’s Summer Slaughter (which we’re sponsoring!) was announced, there was this fan poll to determine who the last band added to the bill should be?

Well, Within the Ruins have been announced as the winners! They’ll join The Black Dahlia Murder, Whitechapel, Darkest Hour, Six Feet Under, Dying Fetus, As Blood Runs Black, Oceano, Fleshgod Apocalypse, and Powerglove for all dates on the trek. Our own Dave Mustein wrote of the band, “WTR don’t suck live; their performance is nearly as good as on record, which is pleasantly surprising due to the ferocious technicality of their music.” So the band’s presence should just enhance your Summer Slaughter excitement.

Here are dates again, in case you need ‘em:

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When I was growing up, summer Slaughter meant a hot July night listening to Mark Slaughter complain about Vinnie Vincent’s body odor between songs at your local Enormodome. But life in America is awesomer now (not srs) and Summer Slaughter now means extreme metal piled eyeball-high and ballz-deep, plus your chance to make kissy faces at Mike Schleibaum, not Dana Strum. And since MetalSucks is an official Summer Slaughter sponsor, you can give us your thanks for the fun. We’ll pass them on to the other sponsors, promise. Dates after we jump you:

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MetalSucks is proud to once again be sponsoring the best mega-package tour of the summer — Summer Slaughter, of course! As you can see from the above poster, the mini-fest’s organizers have once again put together line-up that show cases a who’s who of the current metal scene.

And they’re taking it one step further this year — they’re letting YOU, the fans, decide who the last band added to the bill should be! Go to the official Summer Slaughter Facebook page to cast your vote.

Cities and dates for the tour will be announced on 4/20. ‘Til then… get ready to get slaughtered…

There’s really almost nothing to say about a tour headlined by Suffocation and featuring The Faceless, Through the Eyes of the Dead, Decrepit Birth, and Fleshgod Apocalypse, other than, “Where can I buy a ticket?” Kind of amazingly, I still haven’t seen TTEOTD live yet, and I’m not even sure that Fleshgod Apocalypse, who are Eye-talian, have ever played North America before; but I can vouch that the other three bands all crush testicles live, and based on how much I enjoy their recordings, I’d like to believe that the other two bands will as well.

This is pretty much a perfect line-up. No dates have been announced yet, but you should fall to your knees and pray that the tour is coming to your town.

More as we get it.

-AR

MetalSucks Maniac Mark Mortiz-Rabson e-mailed us about Italy’s Fleshgod Apocalypse back in February, and Patrick Neely tried to tell me about them way back in April of last year; but for whatever reason, the band didn’t click with me until last night, when reader Russell Warnhoff sent me the following song, “Thru Our Scars” -

The group classify themselves as “death metal/classical,” but I’m not sure I hear any more of a classical influence than I would in any number of other skilled death metal bands (unless you’re counting those operatic vocals in the middle, but dozens of metal bands utilize that style of singing in their music, so…). In any case, I really, really like this song, and will have to investigate further. The band’s new EP, Mafia, is out in Europe now, but Willowtip won’t release it here in the States ’til June 8. While we wait, check out Fleshgod Apolcalypse on MySpace, and then weigh in with your thoughts below.

-AR