Jeff Loomis has been teasing a new solo album since July of last year, with increasingly juicy bits of information slipping out all the time — like the fact that it will feature guest appearances from multiple former Megadeth guitarists (namely, Marty Friedman and Chris Poland), PLUS Tony MacAlpine, PLUS, oh yeah, some dude named Ihsahn.

Now here’s the most important tidbit yet: the album will be called Plains of Oblivion, and will be out on April 10. That’s the cover art below, and it looks appropriately epic to me.

One more thing: the track list for the album has also been released. I generally find track lists boring and not-newsworthy (“Ooh! There’s a song called ‘Escape Velocity!’” Okay, whatever, let me know when I can actually hear the damn song.), but in this particular instance, I think the track list actually is kinda newsworthy, for one simple reason: it lets us know that Attila Vörös, who was a live co-guitarist for Loomis in Nevermore, is also on the album. So, y’know, more reasons to get excited.

April 10 cannot come soon enough…

-AR

Axl wore his most vile death metal shirt in an attempt to avoid being selected as a juror in this great City of New York, but lo and behold, his plan backfired and he was chosen anyway. So it’s been the Vince party over here since Wednesday with plenty of help from all of our most excellent contributors — special big ups to Anso DF for pitching in extra! Here’s what went down:

• We lost Riot guitarist Mark Reale. R.I.P.
• We premiered a new track by Pyscroptic, one by Exotic Animal Petting Zoo and all of Primal Fear’s new album Unbreakable.
• The Rockstar Mayhem Festival announced the first slate of bands on its 2012 lineup. Slipknot later spilled the beans that High on Fire are confirmed too.
• Ihsahn is guesting on the new Jeff Loomis solo joint and Jeff Loomis is guesting on the new Ihsahn solo joint. Will those two get a room already?
• The Dillinger Escape Plan’s Ben Weinman went all anti-drug on our asses.
• Tours and rumours of tours: The Mastodon / Opeth / Ghost tour is really gonna happen, Meshuggah, Decapitated and Baroness will hit the U.S. together (no dates yet), dates were announced for the Decibel Magazine Tour featuring Behemoth, Watain, The Devil’s Blood and In Solitude, while All Shall Perish, Fleshgod Apocalypse and other cool bands announced a tour too.
• Sammy O’Hagar reviewed Lamb of God‘s new album while Gary took a look at new hardcore 7-inches by Daylight, Unholy Majesty and Wrong Answer.
• We realized that Maynard James Keenan poops and pees and eats just like the rest of us.

We’ll be back next week for Axl’s triumphant return to the blogosphere. See you then.

-VN

Ten out of ten MetalSucks readers agree: Ihsahn is awesome! Proving that I am not completely delusional (ok, maybe a little), you all voted Ihsahn’s second solo album After as your collective favorite album of 2010. That same year I named it as my #2 favorite record of the year; despite all the shit you guys constantly throw at me in the comments, at least we agree on something.

So it should get you all very excitebike to know that Ihsahn is already working on a follow-up. Ex-Nevermore shredder Jeff Loomis announced Tuesday that Ihsahn was the latest in a star-studded cast of guests that have contributed to his forthcoming solo album, after which Ihsahn went on the record to share his jubilation as well, revealing a juicy little tidbit in the process:

Click to read more…

It’s pretty cool that we live in a time where it’s once again cool to be able to play your instrument, like, really well. Even five years ago a dude like ex-Nevermore guitar god Jeff Loomis would never have had a chance for his instrumental shred solo album to be celebrated in the media; shit, it probably would’ve just been outright ignored outside of instrumental guitar metal circles and guitar magazines. I mean, even with widespread appreciation for instrumental metal in 2012 it’s not like Pitchfork, Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan or NPR are suddenly gonna start jocking Jeff Loomis — being really good at an instrument is still uncool in those places and will be forever uncool (“it’s, like, totally soulless, man!”) until it’s ironic and meta to shred — but hey, differing opinions make the world go ’round, those metal outlets are all great at what they do, and fortunately for you we happen to be of the opinion that playing a million notes a minute fucking rules.

So: Loomis has been teasing his second solo album ever since quitting Nevermore and we’re finally starting to see what that album might look and sound like. Last week we learned that Marty Friedman, Tony MacAlpine and Chris Poland have all done guest solos for the album — how’s that for a legendary triumvirate? — and today we come to find out via a press release that the mighty IHSAHN — formerly of Emperor, currently of his own absolutely phenomenal solo band — will be lending his trademark black/death metal snarl to one track. Sez Loomis on how the collabo came together:

Click to read more…

Ihsahn has only performed once in North America thus far — at this year’s ProgPower Festival — which means that most of us who live in these parts have never had the opportunity to see the man perform his awesome, awesome solo work live in the flesh.

So hoo-ray for the below video, which is a relatively high quality of an Ihsahn performance in Tokyo from earlier this week. His backing band, of course, is the mighty Leprous, who are also quite cool, so this video is twice as must-watchable as it woulda been already. Enjoy!

-AR

[via Heavy Blog is Heavy]

The new video for “Restless” by Leprous — aka Ihshan’s live backing band — is a doozy. It’s given me with an opportunity to remember why I liked Bilateral enough to premiere a track from it back in August; it’s also really… fucking… weird.

The press release touting the “Restless” video boasts that the band “expect[s] you to understand the entire chain of events during the first watching.” Well, I’ve watched this thing three times now and I still have no idea what the fuck is going on. Help me out here.

Click to read more…

Not Seth Putnam

One mind-blowing aspect of Devin Townsend’s Deconstruction album is its coterie of guest personnel. A who’s-who of pivotal screamers, the list includes that awesome dude from Gojira, legendary super-stud Ihsahn, and extreme metal’s loveliest alto, Tommy Rogers from Between The Buried And Me. And though Townsend rightly rushes to downplay the distraction/sketchy motives of high-profile guest contributions, it’s exciting as shit for metal fans to have those guys — plus studz from Meshuggah, Cynic, and Gwar — all in one place.

Likewise, I super-hail Chino Moreno and his 2005 Team Sleep record, which finds the Deftones frontman enlisting the non-metal voices and pens of Helium’s Mary Timony and Rob Crow of Pinback (above). Each sings awesomely on at least two of the self-titled album’s jamz (e.g. “Our Ride To The Rectory” with Crow here). Just like Townsend’s gang on Deconstruction, Crow’s and Timony’s presence legitimizes the album (ie. busy, inspired aces wouldn’t appear on some hack shit) and helps it to achieve a specialness, like the NBA All-Star game or the time I ate a pizza that a bag of Cheetos had spilled onto (aka Cheetzza©). Best of all, it makes me feel in sync with another human being (Moreno) who happens to ass-worship Timony and Crow and um Moreno. It’s like finally somebody put my needs first when making an album!

Okay here we are at paragraph three, so I bet my editors would like me to deliver on the headline’s promise :) Speaking of Team Sleep MVP Rob Crow, you love the dude cuz he’s awesome (see also: Optiganally Yours’ Exclusively Talentmaker!), and cuz he’s metal (see: his non-serious doom metal project, Goblin Cock), and cuz on his new solo album He Thinks He’s People, he offers an affectionate tribute to Seth Putnam, the recently deceased Anal Cunt mainman and author of history’s best song titles. Check it out and chuckle after the jump!

Click to read more…

The only bummer resulting from The Devin Townsend Project’s totally sexcellent Deconstruction is that the fans’ collective fantasies of seeing the whole thing performed live with all the incredible guest musicians will never, ever be a reality. Even if you had an unlimited budget with which to transport and house all the necessary players, scheduling the thing would be a total nightmare.

But we may get to see the album performed with its guests piecemeal…

For example: the below footage of Ihsahn joining Devy on-stage during a festival set in Portugal this past weekend to perform — duh – “Juular,” the Deconstruction track on which he appears. This is one of those moments where any reasonable person would have killed to be present… so thank heavens for cell phones with cameras in ‘em!

-AR

[via Metal Insider]

Word to the wise: don’t give up on the above video just ’cause it’s not metal. Stick with it. You will be pleased. Honest Injun.

And after you’ve watched, why not review some of our top stories from this week? For example –

• We debuted new music from Leprous and Ihsahn.
• Daath’s Eyal Levi declared that not all people are created equal.
• Francesco Artusato from All Shall Perish and Aaron Beam from Red Fang told us about their live rigs.
• We checked out the latest releases from Today is the Day and Eschaton.
• Vince, Anso, Gary, and Leyla unveiled their respective favorite albums of 2011 thus far.
• We started celebrating 31 days of Faith No More.
• We got an in-depth analysis of the genius of Crazy Town.
• We suggested that the Insane Clown Posse might wanna re-think their stance on concert security.
• We hired Manowar to play our next office party.
• We broke the news that Last Chance to Reason have parted ways with two members.

Next week we make the biggest announcement of our lives. Be there or be be square.

-AR

If you’re a regular MetalSucks reader and you like Ihsahn — and there’s a good chance you do like Ihsahn very much considering MS readers voted his album After as their collective #1 favorite of 2010 — then you’re already familiar with Leprous whether you know it or not. The entirety of the dudes that make up Leprous are Ihsahn’s live backing band, meaning European readers who’ve been lucky enough to see Ihsahn live have basically already seen Leprous and any Americans attending ProgPower in Atlanta next month will get to see them too. That should be enough to immediately validate Leprous… but we’ve got new music for you too.

No coincidence then that the Leprodudes convinced Ihsahn to lend his trademark vocals to the track “Thorn” on their forthcoming album Bilateral, out August 22nd in Europe and August 23rd in North America via InsideOut Music (pre-order here). Leprous are more outwardly proggy than their work with Ihsahn might suggest, but no less skilled; Bilateral is an engaging and unique listen that’s sure to appeal to progressively minded metal-heads. Check out the worldwide exclusive premiere of “Thorn” below.

[this streaming promotion has ended]

Last month, to celebrate Ihsahn’s  live U.S. debut at ProgPower USA on Friday, September 16, we launched what has to be one of our most exciting contests ever — the chance for one lucky MetalSucks reader and a guest not just to meet the former Emperor mainman, but actually hang out with him, share a few beers, pick up free swag, and watch his set from in front of the stage barrier, too.

Well, all the entries are in, and a winner has been selected: MetalSucks reader Jenn Lee. Congrats, Jenn! It’s not often that we’re actually jealous of the winner of one of our own contests, but we’re jealous of you!

And if you didn’t win, you can still attend ProPower USA and have a great time — beside Ihsahn, there’s lots of other cool artists playing the fest, including Sanctuary, Therion, and Dream Evil — so you know this is gonna be a good time! Get tickets here.

MetalSucks readers know we’re HUGE fans of Ihsahn, and were completely blown away by his solo release last year, After – which is why we’re beyond stoked that he’ll be making his live U.S. debut at ProgPower USA on Friday, September 16.

To celebrate, we’re giving one lucky MetalSucks reader and a guest the chance not just to meet Ihsahn at the festival — but to actually hang out with the legendary musician! Here’s how this is gonna work:

• Between now and Friday, June 10, purchase a ticket to ProgPowerUSA. Tickets are available here. In addition to Ihsahn, there’s lots of other cool artists playing the fest, including Sanctuary, Therion, and Dream Evil — so you know this is gonna be a good time!
• E-mail proof of your ticket purchase to progpowerusa AT gmail DOT com with the phrase “IHSAHN/METALSUCKS CONTEST” in the subject line.
• A random drawing will be held to determine the winner, who will be announced on Monday, June 13.
• That winner and a guest will get a private meet and greet with Ihsahn the day of the show. This will not be a simple stand in line/photo/autograph/ass out the door kind of situation — the winner will be able to hang out with Ihsahn for awhile, have a beer or two, get some cool swag, etc.
• The winner will also be given a special pass to watch Ihsahn’s entire set from in front of the stage barrier.

And that’s it! This has to be one of the coolest contests we’ve ever run. So go buy your tickets and enter now!

Good luck…

-Axl, Vince, and Everyone at MetalSucks

“Hey guys, why haven’t you posted this yet?!! It only sounds like the single greatest piece of music ever, brah.”
-Drew Webb

“This should give you another Devin boner.”
-Brian Kessler

“MY DICK IS AFLAME WITH SEMEN.”
-Sam Payne

Well don’t hold back, fellas! Let us know how excited you really are about about this latest behind-the-scenes video from Devin Townsend.

Pretty cool, right? But wait! That’s not all. It seems that Devin recently made a love connection with The Dillinger Escape Plan’s Greg Puciato… via Twitter!

Click to read more…

I love Ihsahn, you love Ihsahn, we all love Ihsahn. His 2010 album After was my second favorite of the year, you all voted it as your #1 favorite of the year, and everyone seemed pretty darn excited when he announced last week that he’d contribute vocals to a new Devin Townsend track. Seeing as 65% of this site’s viewership is based in the U.S. and we get like a gazillion hits, wouldn’t you think it’s high time for Ihsahn to tour these United States?

MS reader Richard Donahue sure thinks so, and he’s even created a Facebook page to support the cause. The Facebook page specifically calls for Opeth to bring Ihsahn to the U.S. as support, which strikes me as overly ambitious since that’s asking two parties to get their acts together instead of just one (on top of which Opeth haven’t announced a U.S. tour or even their new album yet). But it’s the thought the counts, and if Ihsahn and his people see that there’s enough interest to launch a U.S. tour then presumably they will, with Opeth or otherwise.

So go on and “sign” the petition by clicking the “Like” button on the page. You’ll be glad you did when Ihsahn finally makes it here and you feel partially responsible.

-VN

You love Ihsahn; you named his 2010 album After as the MS readers’ collective favorite album of the year, and with great reason. You love Devin Townsend; no qualifier needed, because obviously you do unless you’re a complete ninny. So how do you feel about Ihsahn and Devin Townsend together… on one recording??

From Ihsahn’s official Facebook page, via MS reader (and fellow Ihsahn and Devin Townsend lover) “Deeds”:

“I have been a long time fan of Devin and his work, and when he asked me to do some vocals for his upcoming Deconstruction album, I said yes right away. Devin is one of those few uncompromising artists who goes anywhere with their music, wherever that takes them. Nothing but respect!”

Click to read more…

You love Ihsahn; you named his 2010 album After as the MS readers’ collective favorite album of the year, and with great reason. You love Devin Townsend; no qualifier needed, because obviously you do unless you’re a complete ninny. So how do you feel about Ihsahn and Devin Townsend together… on one recording??

From Ihsahn’s official Facebook page, via MS reader (and fellow Ihsahn and Devin Townsend lover) “Deeds”:

“I have been a long time fan of Devin and his work, and when he asked me to do some vocals for his upcoming Deconstruction album, I said yes right away. Devin is one of those few uncompromising artists who goes anywhere with their music, wherever that takes them. Nothing but respect!”

Click to read more…

After posting our own year-end lists for 2010, we asked you, oh ye MetalSucks faithful, to tell us what you thought the best metal album of the year was. And while Ihsahn’s After didn’t win by a landslide the way Mastodon’s Crack the Skye did last year, it did, ultimately, get the greatest number of “yays,” beating Kvelertak’s self-titled album by a mere three votes.

We’d like to congratulate MetalSucks readers for once again demonstrating excellent taste. Now we can all stop arguing about what sucked so bad about 2010, and start arguing about what’s going to suck so bad in 2011!

Agalloch’s Marrow of the Spirit: Apparently not a candidate for best album of the year.

Yep yep yep: the right honorable Mr. Phil Freeman of MSN’s “Headbang” blog has revealed the 135 finalists which will soon be whittled down for his “Twenty Best Metal Albums of 2010″ list, which will presumably be published sometime in the coming weeks. You can go here to read it, and then leave Phil angry comments about how your favorite album isn’t even on this list of 135 records.

Click to read more…

It’s rare when I hear a black metal band these days that really makes me sit up straight and listen intently; so many recent bands in the genre are repetitive and boring. I’m not even a particularly big of a fan of black metal. However, Sear Bliss‘ performance on The Arcane Odyssey certainly has rekindled my hope and love of black metal. It combines symphonic, melodic, and raw elements to create a truly epic album – in terms of both songwriting and expert instrumentation.

Click to read more…

2010 is shaping up to be a great year for black metal; Ludicra’s fantastic The Tenant and Burzum’s comeback album Belus (love Varg or hate him) have already impressed and ex-Emperor frontman Ihsahn released a stellar new solo album in After (which admittedly isn’t very black metal at all). Much-hyped new releases from Nachtmsytium and Keep of Kalessin are on the way, Krallice are keeping busy on the road, and then there’s this: a rousing new track by New York City newcomers Castevet.

Castevet are new to me, although they released a 7″ in 2009; thanks to the gents at Crustcake for putting me onto them, both in person (thanks Gerf) and on the blog. Like Crustcake, new song “Grey Matter” has piqued my interest in new album Mounds of Ash, recorded by Krallice’s Colin Marston and scheduled to see the darkness of night on May 25th. The Marston matching is definitely a good fit; like Krallice, Castevet bring a certain amount of technicality to the table that isn’t usually present in black metal and mix it with blackened psychedelia. Maybe we’re witnessing the birth of progressive black metal first hand.

Check out “Grey Matter” below, courtesy of the band’s label Profound Lore.

Castevet – “Grey Matter”

-VN