No, seriously — COREY AND ANSO FUCKING KILLED IT THIS WEEK while we were at the Golden Gods, didn’t they? I’m still catching up, but I’ve been getting a serious boner from reading all the shit I didn’t write this week. Some of my favorite pieces that neither Vince nor myself had anything to do with:

• Phil Anselmo’s thoughts on weed, and, oh yeah, Corey’s update on the progress of Mr. Anselmo’s book.
• This awesome interview with Hate Eternal’s Erik Rutan. (Okay this one I actually had a little to do with, but Anso did the heavy lifting.)
• Mike IX Williams from EyeHateGod/Arson Anthem/Drip/Crawlspace/Outlaw Order’s thoughts on being underground and unsigned.
• Anso’s mourning for the loss of Nevermore.
• Corey’s analysis of the Columbine massacre on its twelfth anniversary.
• Anso’s assertion that Nicko McBrain wants to fuck Lady Gaga.
• Corey’s wrangling of about a million cool metal folk to give their thoughts on weed, too.
• Anso’s decisions to let his hatred for Kiss flow.
• Corey’s coverage of K.K. Downing’s retirement from Judas Priest.
• Anso’s coverage of Dream Theater’s ongoing search for a new drummer.

Unfortunately for all of you, Vince and I are now back full-time, and you’ll be stuck with us all next week. See ya then.

-AR

In case you can’t tell, we’re really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, REALLY stoked Phoenix Amongst the Ashes, the new Hate Eternal album. Phoenix Amongst the Ashes is the moment Erik Rutan’s entire career has been leading towards — it’s heavy, it’s catchy, and it’s innovative. This is the best death metal album of 2011 so far, and other bands are going to have to work pretty hard to top it.

And if for some reason you still doubt this assertion, here are two more pieces of evidence:

• The Deciblog is streaming a new song, “Lake Ablaze,” which will find your ear drums’ clit, or otherwise suffocate trying. It’s not just the best thing you’re gonna hear today, it’s the best thing you’re gonna hear this week and possibly until the next new Hate Eternal song is released, so go fucking listen to it right now.
• Metal Injection has posted the second of their exclusive series of Hate Eternal/Phoenix… making-of videos. You can check that out here. Also the first one is here if you need to catch-up. These vids should be icing on your Hater Eternal cake.

Phoenix Amongst the Ashes comes out May 10 on Metal Blade.

-AR

You’ve read the MetalSucks double-team interview of Erik Rutan, so you may know that while I was busy listening to the Hate Eternal frontman breathe while stroking a photo of his hair, Axl was wise to ask him what production work was keeping him busy. The answer? He just completed mixing work on Cannabis Corpse (yes!) and also on the docket is Japan’s Desecravity, described by Rutan thusly:

This stuff is really crazy. It’s like death metal and twisted, insane shit; if I had to compare it to something, [I'd say it's] in the vein of Origin as far as really technical kind of stuff.

That’s all the endorsement needed to bang over to the site of some Descravity jamz. Big surprise: Their jams jam! This + Rutan production = upcoming bonerz!

–ADF

Photo by Alison Webster

This month, brutal death metal trio Hate Eternal, led by producer/guitarist Erik Rutan, has been at the center of a pitched battle between MS co-lord Axl Rosenberg and MS writer-at-large Anso DF. The conflict? Is Hate Eternal’s forthcoming Phoenix Amongst The Ashes record awesomely killer (per Axl) or is it insanely ripping (per Anso)? Does it fuck the face and slam the nutz (Anso) or does it render each listener “so fucking happy to be alive” (Axl)? Can its production and performances better be described as a high watermark of contemporary metal (Axl) or as a gift from another realm to every living music listener (Anso)? Is Phoenix a shoo-in for metal album of the year (Axl) or does it crush every other record on earth (Anso)?

Welcome to our love war.

When the time came to phone up Rutan for a discussion of Phoenix and other Hate Eternal affairs, we at MetalSucks opted to settle this battle of agreement with an interview conducted by both Axl Rosenberg and Anso DF. Unsurprisingly, Rutan took on the task with good humor and ease, only succumbing to confusion at times when Axl and Anso simultaneously rushed to hail Phoenix and its predecessor Fury & Flames. In its unexpurgated glory, we present our very special double-team interview of the great Erik Rutan.

Click to read more…

It’s bizarre and unreal to contemplate a new Morbid Angel record without famed drummer Pete Sandoval, the eenventer of deh blazt beit. Even onetime Morbid Angel guitarist Erik Rutan of Hate Eternal gave it a passing mention last week to Axl and I in our interview. But alas, the drums on the forthcoming Illud Divinum Insanus are the domain of Tim Yeung and his excellent hair, though we can be reasonably certain of Sandoval’s involvement in some measure. Whatever, cuz Morbid’s radness is evident in Amazon’s clip of new jam “Nevermore” regardless of the absence of their ace skinsman. The shit JAMS — all 30 seconds of it. Now, the clip listed as the Combichrist remix of “Destructos Vs. The Earth” on the other hand …

–ADF

Morbid Angel’s Illud Divinum Insanus comes out June 7 on Season of Mist. Fuck yes.

Thanks to tipster Ashley Lee!

Last week, MetalSucks mega-hunk Axl Rosenberg and I spoke to producer and Hate Eternal frontman Erik Rutan (interview coming soon!). He gabbed at length with us, and I was super-pumped when he stated that his goal was to eschew uber-precise metal production and embrace the human vibe of older records. I love that! Perfect is perfectly boring. Rutan is the ru-Man! See what I did there?

In this spirit, we take hats off to Hypocrisy’s Peter Tägtgren, also a producer and frontman, whose stomping new Pain jam “Dirty Woman” instigates another nascent extreme metal movement: Rock! Yes let us all rock, even the most grizzled, frowny underground metal purists (cough Axl) alongside party-hardy crotch boys (like me)! And let us pack videos with writhing underwear chicks (knockerz!), a misbehaving and ignored drummer (funny cuz it’s true!), fire (hot!), and a suspiciously chummy pair of man-sized animals (fuck it, sure!). You might be rolling your tr00 eyes at me right now, but I’ll laugh last when a few months from now Nergal from Behemoth returns to the stage with a flying splits off of a fiery drum riser. Suck it!

–ADF

Peter Tagtgren and Pain release You Only Live Twice via Nuclear Blast on June 21.

It’s only a matter of time until fancy tech-death metallists Origin release an album of equal awesomeness to their hole-stretching live shows. I mean, my first Origin show took place in a room that could be generously described as decrepit on one of that year’s hottest, stankiest days; further, that tour saw the band taking on the dicey task of seeming cool while right next to Cephalic Carnage, the cuddliest, stoniest, joint-sharingest dudes in extreme metal. But it didn’t matter cuz that night Origin slammed.

But like a hot girl who parties hot but can’t hang in conversation, Origin has yet to deliver the balls-scorching record of which they are surely capable. Origin was embryonic; frustrating were the frantic blasts of sophomore outing Ignominious Intestinal Intricacies (or watevr) and its follow-up, Arpeggios of Decimation. 2009′s Antithesis, too, played like a roller-coaster ride: thrilling while in progress, impossible to recall once concluded. But now is a big time for Origin; fifth album Entity is out in June and then commences a bonery tour with Hate Eternal. So will Paul Ryan and crew put substance and composition before tweedly tech-wanking? Maybe there’s a clue in the band’s new video check-in from the studio (above).

–ADF

Origin’s Entity is out June 7 on Nuclear Blast. A couple weeks after that, Origin joins Hate Eternal, Vital Remains, and Abysmal Dawn on tour (dates here).

I mean their album cycles. Gosh, what did you folks think I was referring to?

ANWAY, the Origin/Hate Eternal album cycle. Hate Eternal’s new album comes out in May, and Origin’s Entity comes out in June. The bands are doing a co-headlining tour together this summer. And yesterday Hate Eternal released their first in-the-studio video, and today Origin have done the same.

And, honestly, Origin’s video isn’t as entertaining as Hate Eternal’s. But it does have some samples of new music in it, which is more than enough reason to watch it. I still haven’t heard Entity, but I have really, really high hopes for it.

Here’s the vid…

…Entity will come out June 7 on Nuclear Blast.

-AR

If you’re not excited about the new Hate Eternal album, Phoenix Amongst the Ashes, lick my calloused heel. Lick it with spicy mustard. I don’t even really know what the hell that last thing I wrote means, but, seriously, GET EXCITED BECAUSE IT’S SO GOOD.

I don’t have a good segue, but, knowing now, as you do, that this record rips, you should watch the below video, the first in a series of behind-the-scenes studio clips that the eternal haters over at Metal Injection are going to be running over the course of the next several weeks. Not only does it contain footage of the mighty Erik Rutan recording my favorite part of my favorite song on the album (that would be “Haunting Abound”), but it demonstrates that the atmosphere in the studio during the making of a Hate Eternal is really, really not what you’d expect based on the resulting music. I mean I would have guessed  that these guys all sit in complete silence on beds of nails in a windowless room with walls made of stone and lit only by candles resting atop human skulls, but, surprisingly, this is not actually the case.

Phoenix Amongst the Ashes comes out May 10 on Metal Blade. Seriously, my heel is now dipped in spicy mustard and awaiting licks from any who doubt its epic epicness.

-AR

Friday marked the third anniversary of the release of Origin’s Anthithesis, and three years in-between albums is too long for any band this good. Lucky for all of us, then, that the band has finally announced the release of a new album. It’s called Entity, and it’s coming out on June 7 via Nuclear Blast. Check out Colin Marks’ epic album art below:

We have yet to hear any new music from the album, but I’m willing to give Origin the benefit of the doubt. Between this and the co-headlining tour they’re doing with Hate Eternal, I think this band is gonna be one of metal’s dominating creative forces this summer. June 7 can’t come soon enough.

-AR

Alright, so I have no idea if I played any part in the decision to release “Haunting Abound” as the debut track from Hate Eternal’s Phoenix Amongst the Ashes. But last week I did say it was one of the five best songs of 2011 thus far. I’m just sayin’.

And it is. It’s all kinds of awesome. I love it so much, there are no words. This is one of those oh-so-incredibly-special songs that reminds why I ever fell in love with metal in the first place. The machine-gun-fire burst section that starts at 3:53 makes me SO FUCKING HAPPY TO BE ALIVE that I can’t even put it into words. And while this is, at least for the time being, my favorite song on the record, that doesn’t mean the rest of the album isn’t awesome. Erik Rutan is a god amongst little specks of shit as far as I’m concerned.

Listen here, and, no joke, fuck you with a knife that was just held over fire if you disagree with me about the song’s power.

Phoenix Amongst the Ashes comes out May 10 on Metal Blade. Those of you who do not own a copy will find your existence poorer for it.

-AR

My love of the new Hate Eternal album has inspired me to go back and re-listen to all the other Hate Eternal albums. And you know what? This band was always awesome… but they just keep getting awesomer and awesomer. And this song has to be some kind of goddamned masterpiece.

Especially when you add weed.

-AR

You are reading this on Wednesday morning (or maybe some other time, depending on various circumstances), but I am writing it on Tuesday night. And as I write it, I am about halfway through listening to Hate Eternal’s new album, Phoenix Amongst the Ashes, for the first time.

And it is glorious.

Click to read more…

“How do you feel about joining Origin, Jason?”

Well, hey now!, it was just last month that we were wondering, “Whatever happened to Skinless?” We weren’t really able to get a satisfactory answer, other than that the band was hoping to finally make a follow-up to 2006′s Trample the Weak, Hurdle the Dead this year.

Well, I’m thinking it might be another hot minute before that actually happens, because Skinless front man Jason Keyser has just been announced as the new vocalist for Origin.

Click to read more…

Our pals at Decibel and Metal Injection are sponsoring a co-headlining Hate Eternal/Origin tour this summer, with Vital Remains and Abysmal Dawn doing support. And you don’t really need to know anything else other than the answer to “Where can I buy my ticket?” I mean I’m sure some of you in the comments section will be like “This tour is no biggie,” and I just wanna let you know right now that I DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW WE’RE BOTH MEMBERS OF THE SAME SPECIES. That’s how excited I am for this tour.

This like last year’s Super Orgasm Tour, only for br00tal death metal bands instead of nerdy prog metal dorks. And I feel like I haven’t had the chance to see Hate Eternal or Origin live in a long, long time — like, a couple of years — so I’m even harder than I’d probably be under normal circumstances. But you’re eyes don’t deceive you, that is definitely a bulge in my jeans.

I am going to stop showering now in anticipation of fitting in with the rest of the crowd. While I go throw away all my soap, you can get dates after the jump.

Click to read more…

Welcome to the latest edition of “Freeloader” in which we review albums that you don’t have to feel like a douche for downloading for free. Today Satan Rosenbloom checks out the debut release from Derek Roddy’s Serpents Rise.

It seems like only yesterday that MetalSucks posted the he said/he said account of journeyman drummer Derek Roddy’s departure from Today Is the Day. We know from Steve Austin’s marathon bitch session with Axl back in 2008 that the TITD frontman found Roddy to be a whiny, egomaniacal toolbag that hated his fans and only cared about money.

While I don’t know enough about Roddy to confirm or deny those accusations, the distribution plan for the long-awaited debut by his instrumental Serpents Rise project paints Roddy as a lot more fan-friendly than Austin’s criticisms would suggest. Roddy’s talked to the press about his intention to release the album for free since 2006, the same year he left Hate Eternal; he released a number of free demo tracks via his website in 2008, and followed through with a free finished product in late 2010. And he’s also up-front about involving fans in the project. Quoth the Rowdy Roddy on his website forum: “Serpents Rise….is an instrumental entity…But, this does not mean that we are opposed to hearing what vocal possibilities exist….Whether in your car, in your bedroom, on stage covering one of our songs, posting clips of you singing our tunes on YouTube OR….in the event that we show up in your town…..you sing with us on stage! Have fun…create!” Does that sound like the sentiment of an egomaniacal toolbag?

Click to read more…

Before there were blogs there were these things called magazines, and the only metal magazine we still get excited about reading every month is Decibel. Here’s managing editor Andrew Bonazelli…

I’m one of those dipshits who has shamefully mumbled, “I kind of liked the first two Korn albums…” in casual conversation. The karmic penalty has been paid frequently over the last 15 years, from the time a 5’1” girl punched me in the dick during “Faget” at the Cleveland Odeon to every time I have to endure someone trumpeting that they were raised on Morrisound death and never listened to that “poser shit.” The latter of which being just so fucking annoying — the first band (or “band”) everyone got into was either a) something nightmarish your folks played every day, like the Eagles, b) some variation of a boy band, or c) GN’R, which is the most realistic best-case scenario.

Anyway, Korn and Limp Bizkit are the focus of an exceptionally well-written ongoing Onion AV Club series called “Whatever Happened to Alternative Nation,” and just seeing that pic of Jonathan Davis and Fred Durst under their umbrella triggers many still-unreconciled memories for perhaps a few of you guys, and quite a few Decibel staffers. Shane Mehling is among the latter — if “All in the Family” were actually available in a karaoke book, I have no doubt that we could perform it without looking at the screen once. He doesn’t just own up to this on the Deciblog, but even serves up a super classy yearbook photo cementing the sickness. Luckily, this paean to idiocy was preceded by Adrien Begrand’s typically sharp/mercifully not novel-length Justify Your Shitty Taste on Iron Maiden’s The X Factor!, a lifetime contender for most disquieting, yet not even close to cool album cover. Shit, it must be 1995 week on our blog, because evidently Chris Dick just let Dez Fafara write 550 words about, uh, redheads.

We’ll end on a much radder note. If you snap up a dB subscription by Monday at 5pm, we’ll throw you a Valentine’s Day boner — an exclusive, downloadable printable Valentine’s Day by the great extreme cover artist Paul Romano (Mastodon, Hate Eternal, Withered, other highly shitty bands, although a plenty of bands are highly shitty compared to those three).

-AB

You can buy the March 2011 issue of Decibel here, or get a full subscription to get down with the sickness each and every month.

Mark LeVine is a professor at the University of California, Irvine, who has spent the better part of his life trying to understand and teach about the Middle East and Muslim world.  Part of this has been fueled by his interest in music – Mark is both a performer and fan of heavy metal (and other, lesser genres).  This interest led Mark to write Heavy Metal Islam: Rock, Resistance, and the Struggle for the Soul of Islam, a book that upends the simple “us vs. them” ideas about the Islamic world that tend to lead to things like war and death.  The book’s stories and message have proven so compelling that a CD of the music covered – Flowers in the Desert – and an upcoming documentary continue to tell the story, as does Mark’s website.

I was able to grab an hour of Mark’s time over the phone on Friday.  I peppered him with some questions around a topic that has plagued Americans for over a century – “What the hell is going on over in the Middle East?”

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Why, it was just a couple of days ago that we learned that bassist Terry Butler and drummer Greg Gall have both quit Six Feet Under, and already, the band has announced a replacement for Gall: Kevin Talley, who is joining the group as part of his apparent bid to play with every band ever at least once. (Already on his resumé: Daath, Chimaira, Misery Index, Dying Fetus, Hate Eternal, Suffocation, The Black Dahlia Murder, The Red Chord, and probably fifteen other bands I’m forgetting about.)

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For some reason, internet metal nerds love to talk about drummers, even if they themselves do not play drums. Whether it’s “Who has the fastest double bass/blastbeats?”, “Should I use one bass drum or two?” or “What does Pete Sandoval’s drum throne smell like?”, there are few things more tiresome than the topic of metal drumming. What that in mind, in this post I will put the discussion of this topic to rest forever by conclusively saying all that there is to say about metal drumming. After this post has been published, anyone who still debates these points is as foolish, ignorant and stubborn as people who believe the Earth is flat or that God exists. So if you have anything to say, say it now, because this is it — this is your chance to become part of the moment in which we closed the door on dorky, redundant debates about metal drumming.

This is THE FINAL WORD on metal drumming!!!!

Click to read more…