Holy crap, what a great week to be an Immolation fan. Not only did the death metal legends kick off their North American headlining tour with Jungle Rot and Gigan… but they also announced that next week they’ll be releasing a free digital EP, Providence, via Scion A/V… and they give away the title track for that EP via our friends at Metal Injection… and now they have bestowed yet ANOTHER track from that EP, “Swallow the Fear,” for us to give away right here at MetalSucks.

And we couldn’t be happier about it. Speaking of the title track yesterday, one of our readers wrote that “The words ‘Fucking’ and ‘Epic’ come to mind,” and we think that goes double for this spine-crusher of a song.

You can stream it or download “Swallow the Fear” via the below widget; Scion A/V will give the entire Providence EP to the world for the low low cost of nothing starting this Tuesday, October 11. Meanwhile, you can get those Immolation tour dates here — and don’t forget that Scion is also giving away free tickets to these sure-to-be-brutaler-than-brutal shows via their Twitter account, so you best follow start following ‘em.

And now, without any more B.S. from us, enjoy “Swallow the Fear”…

Just yesterday we learned that Immolation will release a new, free EP called Providence for download next week via Scion A/V. But in case less-than-seven-days is too long for your impatient ass to wait for some new ‘lation — and I don’t blame you if it is — you’re in luck. ‘Cause our hebros over at Metal Injection are now giving away the title track.

And, no, it absolutely does not disappoint. It’s very much in line with last year’s Majesty and Decay (out now via Nuclear Blast), which is great, because Majesty and Decay impaled aardvark babies in a pretty major way.

So check that shit out right here. Providence will be released on October 11; Immolation are doing a North American headlining tour right now with support from Jungle Rot and Gigan. Get dates here. You can also win tickets by following Scion A/V on Twitter.

-AR

Immolation’s North American headlining tour kicks off tonight, and that news in and of itself should be enough to make you giddy; after all, Immolation rule, and last year’s Majesty and Decay was nothing short of spectacular. PLUS support is coming from Jungle Rot and Gigan, so whatever you pay for your ticket will most surely come back to you tenfold in joy and mosh sweat.

But now events have taken a turn for the even-more-exciting: Immolation has announced that starting this Tuesday, October 11, they’ll be giving away a new five-song EP, Providence, via Scion A/V, the entertainment division of the evil car company that keeps funding talented metal and hardcore bands in exchange for not making any money in return. WHAT A BUNCH OF FASCISTS.

And, oh yeah, to top it all off, Scion A/V is also giving away thirty-six free tickets to the aforementioned Immolation headlining tour via their Twitter feed. That giveaway will start on October 11, so you should probably start following them now.

Majesty and Decay is out now on Nuclear Blast. You can get those Immolation/Jungle Rot/Gigan tour dates here.

-AR

I hope everyone has been stashing loose change in their piggy banks, because it seems like there’s an awesome new tour for the fall being announced every few days recently. There’s the four incredible bills we’re sponsoring — Arch Enemy/DevilDriver/Skeletonwitch/Chtonic, Decapitated/Decrepit Birth/Fleshgod Apocalypse/Rings of Saturn/The Haarp Machine, Toxic Holocaust/Holy Grail/Krum Bums, and Exhumed/Goatwhore/Cephalic Carnage/Havok — plus the incredible bills with which we have no official connection — like Periphery/The Human Abstract/Textures/The Contortionist, and a bunch more you can find by perusing our “Tour de Force” section.

And the season just got that much more exciting: the mighty Immolation have announced a North American headlining tour, with support coming from Jungle Rot and Gigan, just to make the whole affair that much more worthy of your hard-earned dineros. It’s hard for me to imagine these shows won’t be a lot of fun; I mean, they basically had me at “Immolation.”

So, yeah… holy shit. It’s going to be impossible to be bored this fall.

Here are dates:

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Best commercial ever?

ANYWAY, here’s how we filled our time this week:

• We mourned the loss of Anal Cunt’s Seth Putnam and Sirius XM Liquid Metal’s Mario Comesanas.
• We debuted new music by Intensus and, thanks to Decibel, Wormrot, too!
• Revocation’s Dave Davidson walked us through his live rig, and we spoke to Paul Ryan from Origin and Tommy “Two-Tone” Blankenship from My Morning Jacket.
• We checked out the latest release from Gigan.
• I told you which metal albums of 2011 have been my favorites thus far.
• We tried to figure out why people like August Burns Red.
• We discussed the new Machine Head single, “Locust.”
• We gave you The 16 Cardinal Rules for Running a Metal Record Label in 2011.
• We wondered who is dumber — Korn fans or Silent Hill fans?
• We pondered the upcoming Metallica/Lou Reed collaboration.

Next week is a big one — we’re debuting new tracks from two of our most favoritest bands, a video from one of our childhood heroes, reviewing a very, very, VERY highly anticipated new record (Hint: We definitely discussed it this week!), and we’ll have some other surprises in store for you, too. See ya then!

-AR

Maybe it’s hardened cynicism, but I’m always wary of stuff that seems to be too much of a good thing. Several great elements in the same place doesn’t necessarily denote something great: if you put Nietzsche, Stravinsky, Monet, and Ingmar Bergman in a room together, you wouldn’t get a challenging, dense, beautiful piece of genre-defying art, but most likely some awkward conversation, a lot of black clothing, and probably some pockets stuffed with hors d’oeurves before heading back to wherever they came from (probably using a time machine in some cases). Same thing goes for bands: whenever a band combines two or more things you like, it’s usually just those two or more things independent of eachother in the same place, never really working off each other to produce some substantive.

That substantive quality is what makes me REALLY wary of bands like progressive deathgrinders Gigan, especially considering the glut of (extreme metal genre) + (psychedelic noise) = QUALITY METAL, RIGHT??? acts from the last few years. But though proggy inclinations aren’t anything particularly fresh right now, Gigan utilize them well, breaking up vicious deathgrind with a spirited jaunt on the outskirts of metal before running back in. The difference between them and the throng of Cynic-fellating bands that have been kicking around as of late is that Gigan have personality beneath their guitar wanking and trippy asides, particularly evident on their sophomore effort, Quasi-Hallucinogenic Sonic Landscapes. It all goes together because it has to, not because they want it to. Though that may be a subtle distinction, a little goes a long way in this case.

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Why oh why are By Any Means Necessary still unsigned? Their three-song demo/EP or whatever rocked. I know they’re young, but so are half the bands out there right now. And most of them aren’t as good as BAMN (there’s an awesome abbreviation if ever there was one).

Hopefully this news will lead to good things, though: the band will be playing support for Divine Heresy and Gigan (featuring former members of Hate Eternal) on six tour dates next month. I’ve still never seen this band live, but if their shows are as good as their songs, I’d wager it’ll be a lot of fun – way more fun that, say, Divine Heresy.

By Any Means Necessary recently completed tracking for their new EP and are currently mixing those songs. Hopefully we’ll more updates on that soon; in the meantime, get tour dates after the jump, and please check these guys out if you can.

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