Talk about a first world problems: there are too many awesome tours coming down the line in the next few months! Too many great bands to see! Too many excuses to leave the house even though I’m high and it’s freezing out side! THERE’S TOO MUCH FUN TO BE HAD! AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!

The latest “Holy crap I have to go to that show” news comes in the form of a mini-tour from East of the Wall and Black Tusk, two great bands who put on killer live shows. On top of that, some of these shows are going to also feature Intronaut, and some of them will also feature Hull and Royal Thunder. I don’t know Royal Thunder, but if they’re on this bill, I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Here are dates, courtesy of The PRP:

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FEATURING MEMBERS OF MELVINS, RED FANG,  JUNIUS,  EXHUMED, RWAKE, ORPHANED LAND, HULL, EARTH, AND KILL THE CLIENT

Every year year, MetalSucks asks musicians from across the vast spectrum of the metalsphere (or, in a few cases, the almost-metalsphere) what their favorite albums of the year have been. Death metallers, thrash metallers, black metallers, stoners, grinders, and djenters alike have graciously contributed lists to MS, and we’ll be running them in groups of nine to ten musicians at a time two to three times a day for the whole week.

After the jump, check out the next group… we hope you enjoy seeing what some of metal’s heaviest hitters were into this year as much as we have!

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We have a decent amount of new stuff this week, including quality releases from Skeletonwitch, Black Cobra, Hull, Fuck The Facts and more. This writer’s opinion on all of it after the jump.

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At least here in New York, we are now experiencing full-on the-sun-never-comes-out-and-it’s-cold-as-fuck weather — y’know, in case we somehow failed to realize that it’s October. Luckily, we have two terrific records with uplifting, happy-go-lucky titles to stream this morning, so that should perk you right the fuck up.

• Cold Winds on Timeless Days, the sophomore effort from all-star outfit Charred Walls of the Damned, is now streaming here. Jokes about its icy title and cover art aside, it’s actually a total scorcher, and features top-notch performances from drummer/mastermind Richard Christy, vocalist Tim “Ripper” Owens, guitarist Jason Suecof, and bassist Steve DiGiorgio. Metal Blade will release the album a week from today, October 11; that day is also the deadline to enter our totally awesome CWOTD/Richard Christy Photoshop contest, in which you can win a ridiculous amount of cool swag, including autographed symbols, drumheads, and, uh, a diaper that Mr. Christy himself wore. Enter here.
• Hull’s second full-length, Beyond the Lightless Sky, is now streaming here. Like all Hull music, it’s massive and monstrous and terrifying… like the soundtrack to every horrible feeling through your brain right before King Kong crushes you with his little toe or something. It also comes out one week from today, ‘cept via The End Records.

Now if you’ll excuse me, my apartment is freezing, so I’m gonna go kill the neighbors and use their bones to start a fire.

-AR

Hull are one of our favoritest Brooklyn metal bands. We’ve been covering them since WAY back when, we included a song of theirs on Volume 2 of our free NYC Sucks compilation, and if we’ve rocked out to their suspense-filled, wall-of-sound live sets so many times that Hull and Hull alone are probably responsible for giving me and Axl noticeable hearing loss. So today let’s allow the Village Voice’s Christopher Weingarten to sing the praises of their new album Beyond the Lightless Sky:

Its 11-minute suites and placid interludes detail a Mayan-themed epic that mixes the savage chug of Southern doom with Brooklyn-hewn misanthropy—although it is occasionally inspired by what Palmirotto says is “The struggle and hope that is life.” The roiling, nine-minute “Fire Vein” is the album’s most punishing track, mixing a skin-scraping Eyehategod groove, some disjointed Harvey Milk life-sludge, serene breaks of Mogwai gargling acid moonshine and a coda that marches right into the sun.

Have a listen to the “roiling, nine-minute ‘Fire Vein’” over at Village Voice’s website. Like most Hull songs, it constantly sounds like it’s about to end but just. keeps. going. which only serves to up the epic factor and increase the suspense. Check out the album’s title track, previously released, here.

Beyond the Lightless Sky comes out on October 11th via The End Records. Pre-order it here, including a number of sweet bundles.

-VN

It seems like we’re getting a ridiculous amount of good new music today, doesn’t it? It’s almost overwhelming. It’s also pretty much, like, the best problem to have ever.

So. Next up on the docket is “Beyond the Lightless Sky,” the title track for the new album from Brooklyn’s own Hull. And, yeah, it’s fucking great. As the cover art suggests, it’s totally off-the-wall stoner metal that’s somehow fun and scary at the same time. In fact, if you get stoned, put the song on repeat, and just stare at that cover art, you could totally get lost in it and suddenly realize you’ve been trying to write about it for the past half-hour. I’m not speaking from experience or anything. My, uh, friend, who is also a blogger, told me that.

So yeah what were we talking about? Right. Hull’s “Beyond the Lightless Sky.” Check it out here. The album comes out October 11 on The End. It has guest appearances from Jarboe and Batillus’ Fade Kainer, so be twice as excited as you already were.

-AR

[Read my recaps of Day One, Day Two and Day Three. -Ed.]

No Austin excursion for me and Kip is complete without another round of savory, tasty meat courtesy the Salt Lick, but due to our inability to find a ride out to Driftwood we had to get our BBQ on elsewhere. Rudy’s just outside of town came highly recommended by this trusted guy, so we piled into two cabs and headed out to… a gas station.

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It’s that glorious time of the year when all the bands who have braved the unknown and trudged down to Austin for FXFW triumphantly (one hopes) return to rock their hometowns one more time before fucking their own girlfriends and crashing in their own beds…

And in these here parts we can celebrate another successful run for Hull and Batillus, who both never fail to bring the thunder and ride the lightning.

I’ll be representin’ for our homies; will you??

Caltrop and Horseback will further fuel the fire…

Rock Hull on th’interweb

Blast Batillus on th’information superhighway

-KW

Not as painful as missing this tour.

Speaking of NYC Sucks: two of the bands appearing on that collection, proggy stoner rockers Hull and crushing doomsters Batillus, are doing a tour together starting next month. If you read MetalSucks on the regular, you already know that we love these bands. And I’d wager that these shows will result in lots and lots of broken bones. Not so much from the moshing, ’cause I don’t think these are really mosh bands, but just from the sheer fucking weight of the music.

And as if the fact that the shows themselves are gonna be killer wasn’t enough to get you off your ass, know this: Batillus will be selling a special tour-only vinyl pressing of their new album, Furnace, limited to 55 copies, each with with a silk-screened jacket. And these shows will be the only place you can get ‘em.

And as if the the fact that the shows themselves are gonna be killer AND Batillus will be selling the Furnace vinyl STILL isn’t enough to entice you, well, know THIS, friends: Hull have just announced a vinyl release of their abso-fucking-lutely EPIC 2005 EP, Viking Funeral, via Science of Sleep Records, and they’ll be selling that on the tour as well. That will feature a blood red/black swirl vinyl with the song on one side, and a laser etched image on the other, PLUS parchment insert with the detailed Viking Funeral saga, PLUS a sticker and digital download info, PLUS a Viking Funeral poster, AND it will be wax-stamped with the band’s logo. Phew!

So, yeah. Go to these shows. And bring your wallets, motherfuckers.

Here are dates…

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FEATURING MEMBERS OF GOD FORBID, AT THE GATES, DISFEAR, MACHINE HEAD, BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME, THE OCEAN, JUCIFER, THE BINARY CODE, HULL, DYSRHYTHMIA, INDIAN, AND DARKEST ERA

For 2010, we decided to do something special as part of our regular end-of-year festivities here at MetalSucks — namely, ask musicians from across the vast spectrum of the metalsphere (or, in a few cases, the almost-metalsphere) what their favorite albums of the year were. Death metallers, thrash metallers, black metallers, stoners, grinders, and djenters alike graciously contributed lists to MS, and we’ll be running them in groups of ten to eleven musicians at a time twice a day for the rest of the week.

After the jump, check out the sixth group… we hope you enjoy seeing what some of metal’s heaviest hitters were into this year as much as we have!

(And please note that these are musicians and that they, um, have a lot on their minds. So some of ‘em named albums that actually came out last year. Please don’t freak out.)

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Didja hear the good news? New York’s own awesomer-than-thou Hull are currently working on the follow-up to last year’s nut-crushingly heavy Sole Lord! Metal Injection tells us that the still-to-be-titled record will be co-produced by “former drummer Brett Romnes and will be mixed by Bill Anderson (Sleep, High On Fire, Neurosis, EHG, Melvins).” Not a bad start, eh?

And here’s even better news: The band debuted a new track while opening for Kylesa a couple of weeks ago, and the always-reliable unartig captured the song on video. Which means we get to enjoy it right now! It’s turning out to be a pretty good day for new music, no?

Enjoy the song below…

-AR

There’s a shitload of new releases out today, including the latest from Daath, Firewind, and Kylesa. Albums are normally released on Tuesdays here in the States, so I don’t know what’s up with this industry-wide one day exception, but there ya have it. You can start your week with some awesome new metal.

One of those releases, Kylesa’s Spiral Shadow, is now streaming in-full here, so you can preview it before you buy it. I’m not gonna weigh in on this one ’cause a) I honestly haven’t had a chance to listen to it and b) my number one homie Sammy O’Hagar is writing a review, and he’s a way bigger Kylesa fan than I am, so he’ll surely be much more insightful with regards to the music than I could ever be.

In the meantime, go here to stream the album and form your own opinion. Then come back and let us know what you think.

And if you live in the NYC area, Kylesa are doing a special surprise (oops, just ruined the surprise!) show tonight at Public Assembly in Brooklyn, alongside the mighty Hull. Should be a good time. Hit it up if you can!

-AR

I like this time of year. Yeah, the weather’s great; it’s warm enough that you don’t really have to worry about bringing a coat or hoodie out most of the time, but not so hot and sticky that you can’t sleep.

But I’m talking about the metal: a lot of the bigger bands are over in Europe doing the festival circuit, so the show schedule Stateside is a little more laid back than the craziness of Spring and Summer and the shows that we do get are more of the smaller bands / intimate venue variety. The kind of shows where you can hang out with your buddies (and likely the bandmembers themselves), drink casually at a decent price, walk around the corner to smoke a doobie, check out the bands without having to worry about getting karate chopped by some white-studded belt asshole kid, and just generally have a good time.

On Friday, Hull, Fight Amp, Millions, Mose Giganticus and Dark Vibe played the intimate but awesome Glasslands venue in Brooklyn, brought to us by Brutal Panda Records and Chronic Youth, and it was exactly that kind of show. A laid back night full of metal, booze, doobies, and friends. And it was one for the ages.

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“The last day of SXSW is always the most metal.” – Kip Wingerschimidt, the morning of the last day of SXSW 2009, before staying up all night partying with Dredg and then tearing the insides of his knee to shreds in the most non-metal of ways whilst getting ready to go to the airport. Fortunately there would be no injuries this year, but the last day of SXSW was indeed quite metal, we did stay up all night, and we worked out some really sweet deals.

Only one problem: it was fucking cold outside. Not just Texas cold… actual cold, like low 40s / high 30s. We New Yorkers are used to that kind of weather (on a good day in the winter) but having to endure it in Austin in the Spring was a major buzzkill.

The calm before the storm… E. 6th St. at about noon, while trucks are making their beer deliveries and everyone else is still sleeping off their hangovers from the night before.

But we had our own method of keeping warm. With at least half of the bag o’ herbals left and only one day to smoke it, it was do or die time for the sweet leaf we purchased in Dallas. First mission of the day was to roll it all up. Fifteen minutes later we were ready to begin our final mission, five joints in tow.

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On Sunday night we caught the Beard Destroyer 2009 tour with Hull and Batillus (sadly for us, Salome didn’t play that date). It crushed even harder than we thought it would, so we asked our friend, Batillus skinsman Geoff Summers, to do a tour wrap-up for us. We hope you enjoy!

So, here I sit with a mild case of PTD (post-tour depression) writing up this wrap report for the so-called Beard Destroyer tour featuring Salome, Hull, and my band, Batillus. We had some good times, and we had some bad times. It rained. A lot. Everywhere we went. Fortunately, though, the good dwarfed the bad. Let’s recap…

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Hull, one of our very favorite New York metal bands, have been robbed at gunpoint while on tour with Batillus and Salome. No one was hurt, but the band did lose their wallets and now need to figure out some way to get home. Donations can be sent via PayPal to hullsounds AT gmail DOT com.

Hull aren’t just a great band – they’re also a great bunch of dudes, and totally undeserving of such a fucked-up occurrence. If you can afford to speare a few dollars to help them out, please do so. It is the very definition of “a good cause.”

-AR

This is just a friendly reminder that one of the best tours of the year that MetalSucks isn’t actually associated with starts tonight. Hull. Batillus. Salome. What the fuck else could you want?

Get the complete tour itinerary after the jump. And don’t forget that you can download an awesome new Salome track, “With Hell for a Mouth,” absolutely free, right here.

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New York’s own Batillus are a band we don’t write about nearly enough. But you should definitely know who they are; like Salome, they make awesome, nut-crushing doom. In fact, they’re about to hit the road with Salome and Hull as part of the awesomely-monikered Beard Destroyer Tour 2009, and are celebrating by unveiling a new song, “The Division,” on their MySpace page.

A press release tells us the following:

The song, entitled “The Division,” is the first BATILLUS song to feature vocalist / synthesist Fade Kainer (Inswarm, Jarboe) and will only be available on a special limited-edition (75) Beard Destroyer Tour CDR-EP. The EP features hand-crafted packaging by Northern Owl and contains three songs at a total running time of 24:10. The tracks were recorded at Sterling Audio in Brooklyn, NY by Brendan Tobin (Red Sparowes, Made Out of Babies) and mastered by Josh Bonati.

The band is looking for additional gigs and places to crash; if you can help out, please drop them a line ASAP.

Get a complete Beard Destroyer Tour itinerary after the jump – it includes a stop at the awesome, MetalSucks-sponsored Planet Caravan festival.

And on a semi-related note, don’t forget that we’re giving away an awesome new Salome song, “With Hell for a Mouth,” for free download right here. I listened to it like five times in a row last night. It slays.

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Salome, who just might be our favorite modern doom metal band on the planet, are about to hit the road with Hull and Batillus as part of the Beard Destroyer Tour 2009 (Best tour moniker ever? We think so!). The band also recently completed a split with Thou (cover art above), which is being mastered by James Plotkin (Khanate, OLD, Sunn O))), Isis, etc.) and should be out on Vendetta Records in the next couple of months.

But why wait a couple of months when you can hear some new shit right this very second? The band has been cool enough to graciously allow us to debut a brand new track, “With Hell for a Mouth,” as a free download. Like all Salome, the song is slow like honey and crushing like an anvil, with Kat’s inimitable vocals from the bowels of hell bolstering the performance of guitarist Rob Moore and drummer Aaron Deal. It also marks the next evolutionary step for Salome, as it features slightly brighter production than their EP and even has – gasp! – some sections that are kinda bouncy. It is, in a word, awesome.

Download the song, absolutely free, below. Then, after the jump, get dates for the Beard Destroyer Tour 2009. You need to see Salome live; they are truly otherworldly.

Salome, “With Hell for a Mouth”

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I haven’t sung the praises of Salome in awhile, so here goes: this band crushes. Everyone I know who has seen them live has just been floored with them. Guitarist Rob Moore and drummer Aaron Deal (read my interview with Mr. Deal here) play as though they’re actively attempting to use soundwaves as a weapon, and vocalist Kat… well, she goes to some other place. Like, she temporarily becomes psychotic or something. (Actually, maybe she’s always psychotic. I’ve never actually met her, but her art is pretty dark. I once considered buying a piece because I think it’s so cool, but I was afraid if women saw it on my wall, I’d never get laid again. Of course, right now I’m having trouble finding the link to the page where you can buy her art, but just take my word for it. It’s bleak.)

Now Salome have signed a deal to release their next full-length – actually, I think it’s their first full-length – through Profound Lore. That makes them label mates with Agalloch, The Gates of Slumber, Cobalt, Alceste, and some other awesome bands. In other words: it seems like a good fit.

The band is still writing said full-length, but they have a split with Thou coming out sometime soon (more details as I get them!), and I strongly encourage you to check out their EP in the meantime – or, even better, go see them live. As we reported before, they’ll hit the road in September on a tour with the equally fantastic Hull and Batillus, and will even be playing the MetalSucks co-sponsored Planet Caravan fest in North Carolina alongside Clutch, Kylesa, Burst, Wino, and a whole bunch of other great groups. Really. Go see them. It is truly a fucking experience.

Complete tour dates after the jump. If you don’t know Salome, visit them on MySpace ASAP.

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