Congratulations to Isaac Schwarz, the winner of our MDF MVP contest! We had a bunch of great entries, but Isaac’s was chosen above all others by an illustrious panel of Maryland Death Fest veterans, including Andres Erickson (General Surgery/Sayyadina), Matt Harvey (Exhumed/Depakitator), Rich Hoak (Brutal Truth/Total Fucking Destruction), Mike Hrubovcak (Monstosity), Mike Majewski (Devourment), Matt Moore (Absu/ Rumpelstiltskin Grinder),  and Proscriptor (Absu). Isaac any 2 shirts, 1 LP, 2 CDs , and a  mystery prize from the Relapse booth at this year’s MDF (Relapse titles only). Not bad, eh, Isaac?

And don’t forget that Maryland Death Fest starts tonight, and rages all weekend! Four day passes are now sold out, but three passes and tickets to individual days are still available here. This year’s line-up is incredible, and includes Neurosis, Coroner, Voivod, Nuclear Assault, (the soon to be departed) Cathedral, Corrosion of Conformity, Exhorder, Exhumed, Kylesa, Ghost, Skinless’ farewell gig, and tons more. If you have the chance to go and you don’t, you’re a damn fool.

And on that note, here’s Isaac’s contest-winning essay…

Click to read more…

The Sonar in Baltimore, Maryland has been shut down due to an expired liquor license and a subsequent dispute amongst several of the people who run the venue.

“So?” you may be thinking. “Venues get shut down all the time. Such is life. Why should I care?”

Well, this particular venue was supposed to host Maryland Deathfest (plus two sold-out Deftones/Dillinger Escape Plan shows) at the end of this month. Which means the MDF, one of, if not the, most revered extreme music festivals in North America, only has a few weeks to find a new venue.

But don’t fret! According to Metal Underground, “The festival organizers claim to have a backup plan that should involve little to no inconvenience to ticket holders (even those coming from out of town) and will be releasng more details soon.” So it looks like the festival is going forward as planned, which is obviously a major relief. It would be a serious tragedy if the festival had been derailed because somebody couldn’t keep track of an important date.

The final line-up for the fest, as well as set times for each band, is after the jump, although please note that it’s all subject to change once the new venue is announced.

In the meantime, don’t forget that you still have ’til Monday, May 16 at midnight EST to enter the awesome MDF MVP contest we’re doing with Relapse. You could win any 2 shirts, 1 LP, 2 CDs , and a  mystery prize from the Relapse booth at this year’s MDF (Relapse titles only), and the contest is being judged by a who’s who of MDF luminaries: Andres Erickson (General Surgery/Sayyadina), Matt Harvey (Exhumed/Depakitator), Rich Hoak (Brutal Truth/Total Fucking Destruction), Mike Hrubovcak (Monstosity), Mike Majewski (Devourment), Matt Moore (Absu/ Rumpelstiltskin Grinder),  and Proscriptor (Absu)! Go here for all details on how to enter.

And now those set times…

Click to read more…

IN CASE Y’ALL SOMEHOW FORGOT!!!

The ninth annual installement of Maryland Deathfest, arguably America’s best extreme music festival, will take place from May 26 – 29, and will feature performances from Neurosis, Coroner, Voivod, Nuclear Assault, Corrosion of Conformity, Cathedral, Exhorder, Ghost, Kylesa, Exhumed, and tons more! You can get more details and tickets here.

To celebrate this stupendous occasion, MetalSucks is teaming up with Relapse Records for an incredibly cool contest: THE MDF MVP. Here’s how it’s gonna work:

Click to read more…

The ninth annual installement of Maryland Deathfet, arguably America’s best extreme music festival, is just around the corner! This year’s fest will take place from May 26 – 29, and, as usual, has a ridiculously strong line-up: Neurosis, Coroner, Voivod, Nuclear Assault, Corrosion of Conformity, Cathedral, Exhorder, Ghost, Kylesa, Exhumed, and tons more will all be playing during the course of the weekend. You can get more details and tickets here.

To celebrate this stupendous occasion, MetalSucks is teaming up with Relapse Records for an incredibly cool contest: THE MDF MVP. Here’s how it’s gonna work:

• Anytime between now and Monday, May 16 at midnight EST, send an e-mail to news AT metalsucks DOT net with the subject line “MDF MVP.”
• The contents of the e-mail should include anything and everything you think proves that you should be this year’s MDF MVP. How many other installments of the fest have you attended? Have any great stories? Pictures? Memorabilia? Memories of great or terrible bands? It’s up to you to convince the panel of judges that you deserve to win.
• Speaking of the panel of judges, look at the MDF MVPs we ‘ve rounded up to reign over this contest! Andres Erickson (General Surgery/Sayyadina), Matt Harvey (Exhumed/Depakitator), Rich Hoak (Brutal Truth/Total Fucking Destruction), Mike Hrubovcak (Monstosity), Mike Majewski (Devourment), Matt Moore (Absu/ Rumpelstiltskin Grinder),  and Proscriptor (Absu) will look over the entries and choose the MDF MVP!!!
• The winner gets  any 2 shirts, 1 LP, 2 CDs , and a  mystery prize from the Relapse booth at this year’s MDF (Relapse titles only).
• The winner will be announced the week of May 23.

And that’s it! This should be a really fun contest that separates the real fans from the chumps… so get crackin’ on those entries!!!

-Axl, Vince, and Everyone at MetalSucks

It snowed 8 inches in NYC on Monday, but we got back from the Scion Rock Fest in Atlanta just in time to deliver you our usual drudge report. Can you imagine if we’d been stranded? No MetalSucks for two days. What would you have done? Contemplate these noteworthy events of the week as you get ready to enjoy your weekend (65 degrees Sunday in NYC!):

• Mastodon release early contender for best metal video of ’09.
• Watchmen got metal… or not.
• We spoke with NEMHF founder Scott Lee.
• Lamb of God and God Forbid make strong Soundscan debuts.
• We looked at new releases from Hatesphere, Wolves in the Throne Room, Abacabb, Centaurus-A and General Surgery.
• Chimaira released a new single and a super-duper-deluxe pre-order.
• We waxed ecstatic about the weed in Atlanta… oh yeah, and some bands played at the Scion Rock Fest too.
• Doc Coyle struck back at the Internet.
• MetalSucks got nominated for a Metal Hammer “Web of Death” Award!

CENTARUS-A, SIDE EFFECTS EXPECTED

Death metal that is
technical, infectious, if
not uniquely so.

(3 out of 5 horns)

GENERAL SURGERY, CORPUS IN EXTREMIS – ANALYSING NECROCRITICISM

Competent, but I
would really rather just put
on Carcass instead.

(2 ½ out of 5 horns)

-AR