So Axl and I are shuttering up the gates to the MS Mansion when we get wind that there’s a new Lamb of God video for “Set to Fail” available. Fucking BAD ASS!!!

Before this event of over-arching importance occurred, here’s what we would’ve said was important this week:

• We spoke with Salome’s Aaron Deal and Chimaira’s Mark Hunter.
• No Ozzfest this year. We don’t buy the excuse that it’s because Ozzman’s working on a new album, but at least the Osbournes will be making asses of themselves on national TV again… oh wait.
• We watched Mastodon in the recording studio while we falsely assumed a new track of theirs appeared in a videogame trailer. No matter; Crack the Skye is coming March 24th and there’s a super-special limited edition package available for pre-order.
• Limp Bizkit announced their inevitable reunion. With Wes Borland. No surprise.
• We joined Twitter. Webernets, watch out!
• We looked at new releases by Scale the Summit, Obscura and the new DVD by Dir En Grey. The world previewed the new God Forbid record… and overwhelmingly liked it, by golly! In the Coyle Commune annex of the MS Mansion, Dallas slyly grinned while tapping his fingers slowly together and saying, “Exxxxxxcellent.”
• We pontificated the seemingly complete irrelevance of the Grammies and then immediately forgot about them.

Enjoy cuddling up with your shnookums (metal!) on Valentine’s Day tomorrow and celebrating a day called “Presidents Day” — even though no U.S. presidents were actually born on said day — by not going to work on Monday. Seeya Tuesday.

-VN

More succinctly, the MetalSucks-relevant Grammy nominees are…

Best Metal Performance:

As I Lay Dying – “Nothing Left”
King Diamond – “Never Ending Hill”
Machine Head – “Aesthetics Of Hate”
Shadows Fall – “Redemption”
Slayer – “Final Six”

Best Hard Rock Performance:

Evanescence – “Sweet Sacrifice”
Foo Fighters – “The Pretender”
Ozzy Osbourne – “I Don’t Wanna Stop”
Queens of the Stone Age – “Sick, Sick, Sick”
Tool – “The Pot”

Best Rock Instrumental Performance:

Metallica – “The Ecstasy Of Gold”
Rush – “Malignant Narcissism”
Joe Satriani – “Always With Me, Always With You”
Bruce Springsteen – “Once Upon A Time In The West”
Steve Vai – “The Attitude Song”

I love any category where Steve Vai is up against Joe Satriani, but how the fuck did Metallica get in there? Is that from a Bridge School performance, or from LiveMetallica.com or some shit? Anyway, they’re all gonna lose to Springsteen, ’cause the Grammies, like the major awards, are decided by the blandest people in any given industry, so they’ll just check the box next to the name they recognize.

To that end, let’s look at the other categories…

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