THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2009 – TOO SOON? (AXL’S PICKS)
Where the hell does the time go? The year is more than half over already! Sheesh.
ANYWAY, here are, in alphabetical order, albums that have really knocked my socks off so far this year…
Posts Tagged ‘hull’
MORE BANDS HOP ONTO THE PLANET CARAVAN
A couple of weeks back we reported on the sudden glut of U.S. metal festivals this year, the latest of which is the MetalSucks-sponsored Planet Caravan 2-day metal festival being held in Asheville, NC this September. Quick refresher: Clutch, Pentagram, Kylesa, Burst (first and last U.S. tour ever!), Wino and many others. Today we’re thrilled to announce that the already strong bill has gotten that much stronger with a slew of heavyweight bands added: Tombs, The Gates of Slumber, Zoroaster, Bison B.C., Sourvein, doom kings/queen Salome, and friends of MetalSucks Hull and Battilus, the latter 3 of which will be touring the U.S. together around that time. All of the newly added acts will perform on the also-newly added second stage, right next door to the Orange Peel mainstage at Mo Daddy’s.
If you live anywhere close to North Carolina, how can you even consider not going to this event? It’s going to be a fucking rager. Tickets are on sale here or at the Orange Peel box office.
-VN
HELP SALOME, HULL AND BATILLUS BOOK THEIR TOUR!
For my money, Salomé are one of the best doom metal bands out there right now. The self-titled EP they released last year is the shit, and they absolutely blew me away at Scion earlier this year (the friends I was with were equally floored). They are a band of unusual evil and power, and must be experienced live if you get a chance.
The band’s MySpace page says that they’ll be embarking on a tour with two other kick-ass bands, Hull and Batillus, starting in Septmebr. Thing is, while the tour itinerary is apparently mapped out already, lots of the venues remain TBD, accompanied only by the note “please help!”
If you live in one of these still-unbooked cities or towns, I would plead with you to help out these excellent bands. If you’re a position to book them somewhere, great, but even if you’re just in a position to nag your local club/basement/whatever to give them a place to play, you should really do that, to.
The page doesn’t list a booking agent for the band or tour, but they can be reached at salomedoom AT hotmail DOT com. Do something to help ASAP. To miss these bands live would be to deprive yourself of a seriously excellent evening of metal.
-AR
Major props to Charles Hedrick for the tip!!!
IN WHICH WE STARTED MAKING A LIST
It was a short week, but despite Axl being under the weather and Vince gettin lucky in Kentucky, we still managed to get shit done around the ol’ Mansion, even without the help of our favoritest MS Mansion Monkey, Higgins:
- We’re making a list: we give you a hint, another hint and yet another hint. No, it’s got nothing to do with Jacob.
- Ozzy Sharon filed another ridiculous lawsuit, while Dillinger Escape Plan left Relapse Records sans-lawsuit.
- IWABO and Bloodbath released new videos.
- Killswitch Engage gave you a new song for free, we gave you a new Hull song for free, and Job For A Cowboy and Darkest Hour let you hear new songs for free. Crikey!
- We spoke with Nick Hipa of As I Lay Dying and J. Costa of Thy Will Be Done, the former about music and the latter about beards.
- Dallas, The Blogronaut and Eyal all wrote blogs.
- Best Band Ever announces festival appearance atop worst lineup ever.
I had a wisdom tooth pulled this morning so I feel like a giant sack of assholes at the moment, but hey, Percocet! See you tomorrow.
-VN
HULL – “IMMORTAL” EXCLUSIVE MP3 PREMIER!
We’ve been raving at NYC’s princes of doomy, sludgy, crushingly heavy metal goodness HULL for months years now. If you still haven’t listened to them you’re just a ninny, but there’s no longer any excuse. You can do so for free below, and shit, the good folks at The End Records are even letting you keep the track for free if you so desire!
“Immortal” comes from Hull’s The End Records debut Sole Lord which comes out today! Those in the NYC area should hit up the official CD Release party tonight at the Charleston in Williamsburg. Witches Tit and Flaming Tusk will be performing, and it promises to be a rowdy good time.
Hull – “Immortal” (from Sole Lord)
-VN
HULL CRUSH PUNY HUMANS
Are you hip to Hull yet? They’re one of our most favoritist local NYC bands, and we’ve been telling you shitheads to check them out for-ever. We were insanely excited when they signed to The End Records last year, and are even more excited now that the first album from that partnership, Sole Lord, has a release date: May 26.
Let me type that again: HULL’S SOLE LORD COMES OUT MAY 26. Brand it upon your brain.
Above is the cover art by Josh Graham (Neurosis, A Storm of Light), which I think is a pretty good visual representation of this group’s sound. But as they said on Reading Rainbow – don’t take my word for it. Check out their MySpace page or sweet new website. And if you live in the NYC area – they’re playing Union Pool in Brooklyn tonight with Withered, Book of Black Earth, and Hallux.
-AR
SOUTHERN DISCOMFORT, VOL. 2: A BOOZE-FUELED FRENZY THRU FOUR DAZE OF SCHLOCK N SHLOLL AT SXSW 2009
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.
SXSW METAL REPORT: DAY 2
After yesterday morning’s scare, thankfully Kip turned up. On the couch downstairs at the flophouse we’re crashing at. Phew!
It was another fine day in Texas; 80 degrees, sunny, lots of metal. First up was Full Metal Texas, at which I saw Black Math Horsemen, Kylesa, Skeletonwitch and Fact. The End Records / MetalSucks showcase followed, at which Junius, Hull, These are They, Goes Cube, Tub Ring and Early Man rocked the confines of a tightly packed room that looked like an old European castle. My quick summary after the jump.
JOIN US AT SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST!
MetalSucks is proud to present, along with our friends at The End Records, an actual Official South by Southwest 2009 Showcase! Kip and I will be rockin’ with our cocks out in Austin, TX non-stop from Wednesday through Saturday while Axl and a particularly clever MS Mansion Monkey named “Higgins” hold down the fort here in NY. You’re likely to catch us at many of the awesome metal-flavored SXSW events going down this year (including but not limited to Full Metal Texas), but you will absolutely catch us at the kick-ass MetalSucks / The End Records showcase at The Ale House Pub on the eve of Thursday, March 19th. The killer lineup includes Junius, Hull, These are They, Goes Cube, Tub Ring and Early Man — holy fuckin’ shit!!
Set times and location after the jump. See you there.
IN WHICH 2008 SUCKED
Monday was 2008 Sucks day here at MetalSucks, but we rocked out the rest of the week with some ridiculous shit as per usual:
- We announced our best-of lists for 2008. Check ‘em out.
- Contest: You tell us why you hate the holidays, we send you 100 CDs. Sweet deal.
- PA woman tortures kitties with piercings.
- We spoke with Misery Index’s Jason Netherton and Three Inches of Blood’s Cam Pipes.
- Corporate rock still sells, but Chinese Democracy apparently doesn’t.
- We hated on this band, this band and this band, the latter of whom sent their fans here in droves to hate us back.
- We wondered whether Roadrunner Records actually dropped Amanda Palmer because of her “belly fat” (hint: they didn’t even drop her).
- God Forbid released the cover artwork and tracklisting of Earthsblood, and Pack of Wolves (ex-At All Cost member) released new music.
Tonight it’s new The End Records-signees Hull for Kip and me. Have a good one, everybody.
HULL SIGN TO THE END RECORDS!
One of the very first “sign this awesome local band” posts I wrote for this site way back on June 20th of 2007 was a show review of the crushingly heavy New York stoner/doom metal band Hull. They opened for Big Business that night and literally blew them away; several months later I saw them open up for Early Man at the same venue, and once again they stole the show. Hull’s live shows are just that powerful. So it is with extreme pleasure and excitement that The End Records has given me the opportunity to announce to the world that they have signed Hull to the label.
