MetalSucks

An initial impression of Axe to Fall, Converge’s latest bruiser, is that it’s a little too simplistic: the vast majority of the album find the band rocking more balls out than they have since their early days. Even “Worms Will Feed” and “Damages,” two slower tracks, feel more like uneasy breathing room than the expansive, emotional dalliances of You Fail Me’s “In Her Shadow” or No Heroes’ “Grim Rose/Black Heart.” Even despite Axe to Fall’s two further-out-than-ever-before closing songs, the majority of the album feels slight, missing a key element of what had made the band as exceptional as they are up until now. With No Heroes finding the band at once at their grindiest and most experimental, something about Axe to Fall feels empty.

Of course, initial impressions don’t do a Converge album justice; if the band are known for anything, it’s marrying the deceptively simple and the brilliantly complex. Despite its tendency to be more gruff than any modern Converge release, Axe to Fall features some of the band’s tightest, most interesting songwriting, as well as providing one of the most satisfying repeat listens of any Converge album. Compact but alarmingly dense, the band have never been this comfortable putting their heads down and charging at you, with a relentlessness that’s almost militaristic in its approach. More than just a bunch of throw-aways before its wildly expansive ending, Axe to Fall stands eye level with their genre-defining full length debut (Petitioning the Empty Sky) or their genre-shattering masterpiece (Jane Doe). Though foolish and cynical to think otherwise, the band are still as good as they’ve ever been, with no signs of coasting despite having been around exponentially longer than most of the hardcore bands they came up with.

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Axe to Fall, Converge’s once-again excellent new album, is yet another stylistic shift: the majority of it is devoted to the band playing harder and more technically than they have in their post-Jane Doe era, while the closing two songs finding them venturing further away from their comfort zone than they ever have before. But even though guitarist Kurt Ballou darts all over the fretboard more than usual, vocalist Jacob Bannon changes nothing about his performance, from the breathless rambling on opener “Dark Horse” to his trademark pterodactyl-like shriek over the course of the album. But this isn’t to say that he’s in a state of creative stasis while the rest of the band moves outwards: Bannon’s hellacious scream is just as much a part of Converge’s uniqueness as is Ballou’s nimble riffing. Bannon’s work on Axe to Fall is as savage as it’s ever been, and once again adds weight and disturbing depth to the album’s metallic hardcore-fueled chaos.

Jacob Bannon’s place in metal, hardcore, and—for better or worse—metalcore is massive, with his trademark vocals incalculably influential and lyrics favoring the abstract over the melodramatic. Even outside of Converge, Bannon manages to be prominent, with a successful visual art career and running hardcore label Deathwish Inc. A surprisingly normal sounding (at least in terms of how he sounds on record), introspective guy, Bannon comes off as both wise about the metal and hardcore world while still impressed by and interested in it. In a lengthy interview with MetalSucks, he discussed the musical and lyrical intricacies of Axe to Fall, his approach to artwork in comparison to his vocal work, and people’s changing attitudes toward heavy music as they age.

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WRITTEN BY GUEST BLOGGER REVEREND DAVID J. CIANCIO OF BURGER CONQUEST

[Earlier in the summer, MetalSucks ran a special feature in which Shadows Fall went for a Burger Conquest at the Arctic Roadrunner in Anchorage, AK. You liked the story and demanded more like it. So: more like it. -Ed.]

With a 3rd Shake Shack location opened at Citi Field, home of the woeful MetalSucks favorite New York Mets, we had a perfect target for another Burger Conquest. But why stop at 2 blogs? We like to go big so we invited the Jose’s Chin Pubes from The Wright Stache (”The Internet leader in encouraging David Wright to grow a mustache”) and Mookie Singerman from the metal band Genghis Tron and our good friend Chuck — who somehow managed to hook up 5th row seats behind the 3rd base dugout, and also happens to run the road merch operation for Alice in Chains and others — to join in on our pursuit for a tasty burger.

If you’re a foodie like we are, you know all there is to know about the Danny Meyer “roadside” burger stand, the Shake Shack. If this is the first you have heard of it, there’s a reason for the hype; it’s awesome. You can read more by clicking here. One of our favorite summer pastimes is drinking and eating our way around a baseball park (See Yankee Stadium / Dodger Stadium Burger Conquests) this was lined up to be a lot of fun. With Mustaches adorned, we set off on our Conquest.

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Converge have announced Axe to Fall as the title of their new album. It’ll drop October 20 on Epitaph.

Not much else is known about the record right now, except that a) Genghis Tron’s Mookie Singerman does guest vox on one track and b) it is going to be awesome. I mean, maybe it won’t be awesome, but if that’s the case, it’ll be the first not-awesome Converge album, um, pretty much ever.

If you’re not excited about this, you must not have a pulse.

-AR

From a tweet by Converge (follow them!):

Mookie Singerman from GENGHIS TRON coming into the studio this weekend to work with us…

Holy shit, this album is gonna be sick…

-AR

Our hetero life partners are Metal Injection have captured some typically testicle-tickling footage of Genghis Tron, Tombs, Wetnurse and Black Anvil at a recent “Show No Mercy” gig – the concert writer Brandon Stosuy puts on in Brooklyn one Sunday out of every month.

Here’s a sample – more specifically, Genghis Tron performing one of my most favoritist songs of theirs, “Ride the Steambolt.” Go here to check out more awesome clips of GT as well as Tombs, Wetnurse and Black Anvil!

-AR

After the antics of the first day of the festival, I felt more than ready to get into day two with a healthy dose of music from the beginning. Unfortunately, that was not to be so for me, as at the time I thought I would be continuing on after SXSW into further ridonkulousness, all the way to a family vacation during Spring Break in Mexico….and today was the day that my renewed passport was meant to be FedExed to the flophouse where Vince and I were crashing.

When I had returned to said flophouse the night prior and to my surprise found an open couch in the living room right by the front door (where I was told FedEx homeboy would appear bright and early), I figured it prolly made the most sense to sleep right there on the ground floor as opposed to the stank upstairs sweat lodge where I would be sure to miss any sounds of door knocking.

Sadly, no FedEx arrived in the morning as promised — I was actually awoken by a phone call from Vince around noon wondering where the hell I had ended up last night. After a couple more hours my passport finally arrived, at which point I had to wait at least another hour for a cab to take me down to the action.

HOLY SHIT.

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According to the website of Brooklyn’s Europa club, noisy hardcore heroes Converge will headline a show there on Friday March 27th with MetalSucks faves Genghis Tron. (Also on the bill: Ceremony, Rise and Fall, and Pulling Teeth.) Tickets are on sale right now, people!

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2008 has been a fucking great year for metal, and in due time — Monday, Dec. 15, to be exact — Axl, myself and the rest of the writers of MetalSucks will all release our Top 10 year-end lists so you can incessantly argue over which great album was left off or tell us we’re assholes for ranking a certain album higher than it should’ve been.

But for now, ya’ll can argue about something else: here’s my personal short/working list for said year-end list containing all of my favorite metal releases from this year as well as a few that aren’t likely to make my own list but will surely be appearing on others’. Feel free to pipe in with your thoughts or to notify us of any egregious omissions before we put together our final, ordered lists. Regardless, it is going to be really fucking hard to pick just 10 of these and put them in order of awesomeness.

And, my favorite metal records of 2008 in no particular order are…

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It was a crazy week at the MS Mansion. Vince passed out in the bathroom after a 48 hour coke binge only to be awakened by Axl, whom, after coming home that morning from a strip club with The Blogronaut and Dallas, was viciously attacked by a bunch of angry Hinder fans stalking him outside the MS Mansion gates. Actually, none of that happened. But here’s what did:

• Axl offered up a bounty on Hinder’s Austin Winkler.
• Chinese Democracy leaked, and almost two decades of waiting finally ended.
• Whitechapel became the new controversial band du’jour.
• The Faceless killed it on the Soundscan charts.
• Today Is the Day’s Steve Austin’s house almost burned down.
• A video of a fat kid singing along to Dimmu Borgir. Nuff said.
• Vince went Jew on Jew with Genghis Tron’s Mookie Singerman, only to find out he’s not as Jewish as he once claimed.
• Tommy Lee reformed Methods of Mayhem and Vince Neil announced plans for another solo record, sans Steve Stevens. We scratched our heads.

We’ll see you next week, albeit it’ll be an abbreviated one due to the Thanksgiving holiday here in the U.S. Toodles.

When I posted the inaugural edition of Jew on Jew a couple of weeks back with Daath’s Eyal Levi, MetalSucks commenter nick abrahamson made a suggestion: “how about that dude from Ghengis Tron, he gonna be next??” Ye ask and ye shall receive, Nick.

Only when I pitched “that dude” (aka vocalist Mookie Singerman), I got the following response, despite what he said in a past interview with Paper Thin Walls: “This is a funny idea but technically i’m not even really jewish–only half on my dad’s side and from my understanding you gotsta come from a Jewish vagina to be a real Jew.  I’ve never celebrated any jewish holidays and the only time I’ve been in a synagogue was for friends’ bar mitzvahs in 7th grade so I don’t know how good of an interview i’d be about this…” That’s alright, Mook, fear not; we’re all inclusive Jews here at the MetalSucks Mansion. After the jump, the half-Jew centric interview I conducted with Mookie.

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Because we don’t always agree on shit here at the MetalSucks Mansion, and because I didn’t get my say in Vince’s column, I’m gonna throw in my two cents about some albums that weren’t on Vince’s “Best of ‘08 So Far” list that I would have included:

• Genghis Tron – Board Up the House. Except for Nachtmystium’s new album, this is still the best thing I’ve heard so far this year. Read my review here.
• Made Out of Babies – Ruiner. Holy shit does this album rule. My review is coming up real soon, but everyone should either pre-order a copy or just be prepared to buy one when it drops on June 24.
• Jarboe/Justin K. Broadrick – J2. Like a less industrial Jesu. Gorgeous, aching, awesome. Read my review here.
• Hate Eternal - Fury & Flames. Erik Rutan makes discordance into an art… again. Easily his best work since the Morbid Angel days. Read my review here.
• Origin – Antithesis. The ten minute epic mindfuck of a title track alone means you need to either own this album or beat yourself in the face with a hammer. Read my review here.
• Meshuggah – Obzen. And on the 8th day, God created Meshuggah. And He saw that it was good. Read Kip’s review here.
• Virgin Black – Requiem: Fortissmo. Read My review here.

Believe it or not, I still haaven’t heard this fucking Harvey Milk album everyone is going on about. I think I’ll go do that now.

-AR

Board Up the House is still one of the strongest releases of 2008 so far – and now Genghis Tron have a video to help get the word out. The clip for “Things Don’t Look Good” was directed by Ravi Zupa and debuted on Pitchfork.TV this morning.

And it’s an awesome video. Like GT themselves, it’s totally metal without in any way, shape, or form conforming to the clichés that bog down so many of the band’s peers. So check it out below, read my review of Board Up the House, and then, if for some reason you still don’t own a copy of the album, go friggin’ buy one already.

-AR

At the beginning of April, just as genre-bending metal masters The Red Chord were kicking off a tour with Converge, Genghis Tron, Baroness and Coliseum, we were given the opportunity to e-mail bassist Greg Weeks some questions. Of course, we jumped at the chance.

And then we never heard back.

At the time, we assumed that Greg had decided our questions were just too stupid to answer (and who could blame the dude?); in fact, there was another culprit at fault for Greg’s delayed response.

After the jump, find out why it took Greg so long to get back to us, and read his thoughts on such incredibly relevant political topics as why no producer will work with the band more than once, touring with Disturbed, and the current state of large beards in metal. For, surely, this interview proves our journalistic integrity.

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YYYYEEEEEESSSSSSSSS………this is why we are fucking here; this is the evolution in so many goddamn ways of what we call heavy music — each of the bands on this bill is pushing the boundaries in some way or another, and it’s all future-forward…how accessible it is, for anyone, let alone fans of aggressive music, remains to be seen, but in any case — no matter how into any of these bands you are, it is important to know that this grouping will go down as MOTHERFUCKING LEGENDARY. And therefore, whether you like it or not, it is worth your while to be a part of this marker in the historical record.

Think about it…

GENGHIS TRON — “Board Up The House” / “I Won’t Come Back Alive”

BARONESS – “Rays On Pinion” / “Vision”

THE RED CHORD — “Dragon Wagon” / “That Certain Special Ugly”

CONVERGE — “Letterbomb” / “Last Light” / “Versus”

There is no debate; if you are in New York City and you are a fan of heavy music, I will see you there.

COME ON YOU FUCKING FUCKERS — – — Y O U K N O W W H A T T O D O

Me and my broken bones are going to try our hardest to stay out of the pit, but I just might throw a plate on my arm for old time’ssake and kkkkrankit…

Visit The Red Chord on MySpace

Visit Genghis Tron on MySpace

Visit Baroness on MySpace

Visit Converge on MySpace

(PS — wherever the frick you live, do yrself a favor, go seek out complete tour dates for what I’m calling the future of metal tour on this here interweb, and go support these freshest of artists — no heroes, and no fronting!!)

-KW

Joining recent car accident alums Arsis and The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravangaza, Genghis Tron crashed their van in Ohio yesterday, Lambgoat reports. A statement reads as follows:

“While traveling north on I-71 through Ohio this afternoon, we got into a wreck on the highway. We were about 90 miles North of Columbus when, very inexplicably, the right rear wheel of our van completely FELL OFF, sending our van and trailer flying out of control. Not just the tire — the whole wheel.

“Any amount that ANYONE could give to chip in to our costly repairs, towing, and transportation would be incredibly helpful. As is, we were already beneath a sizable chunk of debt and this accident is only going to make it worse, blah blah blah. Our trailer was brand new, fresh out of the factory for less than ten days…”

We’re glad the band is okay, and, from a more selfish perspective, that they’ll still be able to play their show here in NYC next month with Converge, The Red Chord and Baroness.

Rock on, Genghis Tron.

-AR

After a nice long, hot shower and a little grub it was time to head back downtown. The nightcap for my full Day One of metal would be…

VVEREVVOLF GREHV/COLISEUM/GENGHIS TRON/MUNICIPAL WASTE/HIGH ON FIRE @ EMO’S ANNEX, Thursday, March 14, 9:00 P.M. – 2:00 A.M.

Yes, I’m sure you see the name Emo’s up there. Don’t fret. Emo’s in Austin is a longstanding hardcore/punk/metal institution that has existed long before the incredibly pussified musical genre that co-opted its name emerged. In fact, the venue is so revered that it did not limit itself to only two stages this year – it had its usual indoor stage, a smaller lounge stage, and a third stage across the street on the corner of the infamous Sixth Street in a giant tent called Emo’s Annex.

I showed up around 8:45 p.m., paid $13 to get in (…to hell with SXSW badges!), missed opening act Mala Suerte, and grabbed a makeshift seat close to the temporary stage. While listening to some guy hit on a chick by saying he “smoked out” with Enslaved, I was curious to see one man setting up gear on stage. That man was…

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Photos from yesterday’s Motorhead show at Stubb’s and Relapse Records showcase at Emo’s Annex featuring High on Fire, Municipal Waste, Genghis Tron, Coliseum and Vverevvolf Grehv. And Jamey Jasta hangin’ out at the show. Click on the thumbnail to see a full-size picture. Also, a short video clip of Genghis Tron after the jump!

Motorhead:

Vverevvolf Grehv:

Click through for photos of Genghis Tron, Coliseum, Matt Pike and Jamey Jasta + video of Genghis Tron!

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Living in hepster Brooklyn, I am continually given access to some of the coolest new music in the world. At one point I even gave a rat’s ass. And being the only third of MetalSucks.yrmom that resides in Brooktown, USA (thus far), I do feel somewhat obligated to report on what the kkkkool kidz are listening to, but when a band so directly intersects with one of my fellow writer’s strongest predilections as of late, I have no freakin’ choice, right?

It was pushing 1:30 in the ultra-AM this past Friday when Dizzy Winnz and me, we stopped back by the Wingerschmidt Wing of the MetalSucks Mansion (aka the newly annointed Slam Palace) to take a brief pause from a nearby party and check out the MySpace tracks of Pony Pants, the next band that was to play at said nearby party, in order to decide whether we should return to said said party or move onward into the night towards more debaucherous venues. Once knee-deep into the plasma pit of PP’s miniscule hold on the intranut, I was struck by the listing for an upcoming show at which Pony Pants is to share the stage with super-sweet art-punk-psych-funk Brooklyn superstars Oneida (one of my very favorite [non-metal] bands I’ve experienced this side of the goddamn millenium) and our own Axl Rosenberg’s nocturnal emission for 2008, Genghis Tron.

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Okay, so here’s the thing: every time we run a story about electro-grind masters Genghis Tron, we get no response from you people. And that makes no sense to me, ’cause this band is AWESOME. Seriously, YOU NEED TO BE LISTENING TO THIS BAND.

So now their new album, Board Up the House, has leaked. Produced by Converge’s Kurt Ballou, it is just a mind-blowing, orgasm inducing piece of work, and you really owe it to yourself to give it a listen (preferably with a really, really good pair of headphones that will allow you to explore every nook and cranny of aural delight). What have you got to lose? It’s free, fer Chrissakes.

Head over to Deathcore is Sexy to download the whole album. Then haul ass over to the your local music store – assuming you still have a local music store – to buy an actual copy when Relapse releases the album on February 19.

-AR