We’ve gotten a number of emails over the years about Australian heavy drum and bass group Pendulum arguing that they’re “metal,” or at the very least worth seeing live. And having finally seen the band live in New York last Summer I can say with certainty that both things are true. Though they’re a drum and bass band at heart, they are definitely a band — as in, lotsa guys up there on stage playing the music live as opposed to just a DJ and an MC or something — and they certainly incorporate elements of metal into their explosive, mind-blowing live show. They also covered “Master of Puppets,” a nod to their metal roots.

In the run-up to the new Pendulum record Immersion we’ve gotten a ton of emails that the record contains a a collabo with In Flames. In the metal world, seeing a “featuring” credit in a song-title is pretty rare — and yeah, In Flames recent output hasn’t been all that — but still, I was more than a little curious to hear this collaboration. Until now we’ve only gotten to see crappy live footage or we’ve been sent dead links, but finally, here it is: “Self vs. Self.” And it sounds more or less exactly like you’d expect — an In Flames song in all its dual-lead guitar harmony and Anders screaming glory — on top of a mild drum and bass backdrop. It’s pretty cool, and though I’m sure the rest of Immersion sounds nothing like this I’m still interested in checking it out.

-VN

Thanks: Raezzer

I remember a time – seems like it wasn’t all that long ago, really – when Vince and I were pretty much convinced that they just put special drugs in the water in Sweden to help the human brain devise awesome metal. That country could do no wrong. We often spoke of taking a pilgrimage to Gothenburg, where we assumed that every garage would be full of kids in the earliest stages of becoming the next At the Gates, the next Dark Tranquillity, the next In Flames.

It’s good to be young and naive, but everyone eventually has to face the fact that the romantic ideals we so cling to as children must fall away as we enter adulthood. When I was a child I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but then I grew the fuck up. Or however that quote goes.

And if you don’t agree with my stance on Sweden, then you haven’t seen the new Sonic Syndicate video.

Holy crap. Everything about that video is terrible. I don’t even care that the girl is cute, ’cause her taste in music is so awful I can’t imagine what our pillow-talk would be about. (“You like the color black? I like the color black, too.”) Even just sticking mics in the singers’ hands would have been a step in the right direction, ’cause then their arms wouldn’t have been free to do those big New Kids on the Block movements. Another thing that would have been a step in the right direction: making a video with a different band for a different song.

And in case Sonic Syndicate alone don’t make you wish Sweden had some brown people so we could declare war on them right now, there’s Audiovision:

Click to read more…

Many of you expressed a deep satisfaction last week when I goofed and [accurately] proclaimed Demon Hunter’s “Collapsing” a Figure Number Five-era Soilwork ripoff, not realizing that Bjorn “Speed” Strid actually made a guest appearance in the song. Oops! Congratulations folks, you really pwned me on that one. But hey, guess what? You still like Demon Hunter and therefore fail at metal. QED.

Here’s the video for “Rejection Role,” the opening track on said Soilwork album. This video is particularly appropriate because it features a guest appearance by Soilwork’s own forebears in In Flames. The difference is that this song doesn’t suck.

Soilwork are working on their new album The Panic Broadcast right now… as in probably right this very minute. They’ve been posting updates over at The Deciblog, including this nugget from Speed in the most recent entry: “… we really feel that it’s a schizophrenic masterpiece. There’s a lot of surprises and trippy parts and sometimes so full-on that it leaves you absolutely breathless. It is the most intense Soilwork album so far, without a doubt.” That quote gets me more excited for the new album than watching bassist Ola Flink do his goofy stage moves… and those get me really excited!

-VN

I was just reading at /Film about “The Lost Art of Inglourious Basterds,” a benefit for Haiti that will feature thirteen different artists’ own posters for – duh – Inglorious Basterds (which was one of the best, if not the best, movies of 2009, if you ask me). So I was looking at some samples of the various pieces of art, when I came across this one:

And I thought, “Gee, that looks kinda familiar.” Which is when it hit me… the poster looks just like…

Click to read more…

Well, this blows goats.

From In Flames’ MySpace page:

“I have decided it is best for me to leave In Flames and to quit the band permanently.

The last 17 years have been a blast, and I am proud to have been part of this great journey, with the most talented and amazing people anyone can wish to have the privilege to work with.

I’m also the luckiest guy in the world, to have the BEST fans in the world, who have been supporting me during my difficult times. It means the world to me, and I’m determined to fight and defeat my demons once and for all…. and by the help from you guys, I’m on my way.

I’m far from done with music, metal, or whatever my direction is taking me, so be sure to hear from me in the future.

.… May the Force be with you!” – Jesper Strömblad

A statement from the rest of the band after the jump.

Click to read more…

It was back in December of ’08 that my man Vince first observed that E1 (then still called Koch) was signing every fucking metal band in the world. At that point, the label had recently made deals with or released albums by In Flames, Hatebreed, High On Fire, Satyricon, Otep, Throwdown and Straight Line Stitch; now there’s a rumor that they’ve added Black Label Society to their roster, too.

Click to read more…

There’s nothing terribly innovative or groundbreaking about Italy’s Disarmonia Mundi but sometimes a healthy dose of pop-melodeath is just what I need (and God no, I’d never listen to that Sonic Syndicate abortion). More known for often partnering up with Soilwork vocalist Bjorn “Speed” Strid than anything else, Disarmonia Mundi are actually quite good at what they do even if they are essentially to Soilwork as Soilwork are to In Flames, a slightly poppier version of their forebears. I stumbled upon Disarmonia Mundi years ago because I was totally obsessed with Soilwork — ok fine I still totally love everything Soilwork do — and uncovered their linked histories via that bastion of music minutae AllMusic.com.

So Disarmonia Mundi have a new album on the way December 9th called The Isolation Game. The new record does in fact feature guest appearances by Speed Strid, a press release tells us, but to what extent isn’t quite clear. The band has a couple of new tracks streaming up on their MySpace. If you like this sort of music I imagine you’ll eat this up. If not… sucks for you.

-VN

An e-mail I received from long time reader Seveword earlier today:

Click to read more…

Soilwork, Natural Born Chaos (Nuclear Blast, 2002)
Björn “Speed” Strid − Vocals
Peter Wichers − Guitars
Ola Frenning − Guitars
Ola Flink − Bass
Sven Karlsson − Keyboards
Henry Ranta − Drums
Produced by Devin Townsend

When Soilwork dropped Natural Born Chaos in 2002, “metalcore” was not yet a twinkle in the eye of a million American copycats. Just pure. Fucking. Swedish. Heavy metal. Though their countrymen In Flames may have melodicized death metal first (or second, after At the Gates, I suppose), Soilwork arguably did it better, and the Devin Townsend-produced Natural Born Chaos stands as the band’s defining moment.

Click to read more…

When we saw In Flames tour with Gojira last year, there ended up being a kind of major problem: the Frogs blew the Swedes off the stage. See, as much as I love In Flames, their set was kind of A Sense of Purpose-heavy, and, well, they just couldn’t match Gojira for sheer goose-bump-inducingness.

Now the melodeath stars have announced a trek with Between the Buried and Me, The Faceless and 3 Inches of Blood. Holy crap, that’s a great bill – there isn’t a weak band on the tour.  Hopefully BTBAM get a long enough set time to play more than just two or three songs, The Faceless are just a goddamn sight to behold live, and y’know 3IOB will slay. If In Flames don’t bring their A-game, they’re gonna get upstaged by their support bands again.

Announced tour dates can be found here.

-AR

It’s raining in New York today. AGAIN. At least it’s warm; it’s been fucking rainy and cold for all of June (seriously… hoodie weather in June??). I feel like I’ve been cheated out of an entire month of summer. Fuck the world.

Here’s what happened this week:

• More arguing ensued over our 21 Best Metal Albums of the 21st Century… So Far list. You bitched and moaned to the tune of 444 comments (and counting) about the #11 pick of Deftones’ White Pony — just as you did last week with the debatably metal Tool (#12) and System of a Down (#14) picks — and then when we finally announced more trve/cvlt/br00tal albums you approved of (#10 Opeth, #9 Gojira, and #8 In Flames), comments were few and far between by comparison. You people are fucking morons. Especially Ziltoid.
• Rumors flew about the resuscitation of Headbanger’s Ball in 2010 with Jose Mangin as the host.
• More shit-talking between the two sparring Fear Factory camps provided us with endless amusement. We wondered aloud whether or not FF should be considered nu-metal.
• Shinedown’s Brent Smith claimed to have insider knowledge of a Soundgarden reunion, to which Axl — and possibly but not definitely Soundgarden’s own Ben Shepherd — took offense.
• We spoke with Scott Kelly of Neurosis and Vinnie Fucking Paul.

We out. Stay tuned in a couple of hours for our #7 Best Metal Album of the 21st Century… So Far. I’ll be at tomorrow night’s Black Anvil show at the new Duff’s location in Brooklyn if anyone wants to come out and hang. See you next week for more shenanigans!

We recently polled a wide array of musicians, managers, publicists, label reps, and writers from within the world of metal to find out what they thought the 21 Best Metal Albums of the 21st Century So Far have been. Eligible albums were released between January 1, 2000 and  April 1, 2009. Each panelist turned in a ballot, with their #1 album worth 21 points, their #2 album worth 20 points, and so on and so forth. The ballots are now in and we’ll be counting down one album a day until we reach #1. Today we present the #8 album, coming in with a total of 170 points…

In Flames, Clayman (Nuclear Blast, 2000)
Anders Fridén – vocals
Jesper Strömblad – Guitar
Björn Gelotte – Guitar
Peter Iwers – Bass
Daniel Svensson – Drums
Produced by Fredrik Nordström

It was my senior year of college in 1996, sitting in coffee shop, reading the latest music rag (taking a break from my Old Testament studies) when I came across a review for In Flames’ The Jester Race. Something about it caught my eye as that was the time I was getting more into of the Scandinavian metal like At The Gates and Amorphis. I picked it up and was blown away how they had made “death metal” so “melodic.” I almost denounced my religion and started a cult dedicated to this semi-new genre of metal!

Click to read more…

MetalSucks Maniac Matt Clark sent us the link to the below video of the unsigned band YEAH! Destroyer covering Katy Perry’s “Hot N’ Cold.” And while I’m fairly certain Matt meant for us to see this cover as a good thing, I have to say – it fucking sucks. And I’m sick of bands doing this kind of shit.

Click to read more…

Then again, A Sense of Purpose is the first In Flames album that I have truly not liked – yes, I’m including Soundtrack to Your Escape – so I guess it’s a wonder that I remember anything about the disc besides its bizarre psychosexual cover art.

Here’s the group’s new video for “Delight and Angers.”

-AR

Pretty sure this is from the Used and Abused DVD filmed on the Soundtrack to Your Escape tour, a must-own if you’re a fan of In Flames / awesome concert DVDs. Great shit.

-VN

Last week’s funny photo caption contest was a doozy… but MS Maniac “Sacajawea” has emerged victorious and will receive the deluxe This Comp Kills Fascists boxset from our pals at Relapse Records for coming up with the following caption to the photo at right, actually the box set cover:

“At the base of every penis you’ll find a Bush.”

Touche. This week we’re giving away one prize package of THREE classic CDs from Sweden’s kings of melodic death metal, In Flames. Each album has been remastered, re-released and re-packaged with bonus material and extra tracks by Nuclear Blast as part of their “Reloaded” series. One lucky winner will receive the “Reloaded” versions of Whoracle, Colony and Clayman — In Flames’ best albums, if you ask me. Just come up with a funny caption to the photo below and they’re yours.

By now you’ve probably seen the viral YouTube clip “David After Dentist,” now approaching 8 million views, in which a drugged up 7-year old says some seriously hilarious shit after being put under at the dentist’s office. A slew of remixes have since hit the webernets including this one [sent in my metalgf] set to an In Flames jam. ‘Cause nothing is more metal than a drugged up 7-year old… rocking out to In Flames.

-VN

It seems like every day we get a press release here at the MS Mansion announcing that some respectable metal band has signed to Koch Records. High On Fire, Satyricon and Throwdown are the latest crop, having all signed to Koch within the past few weeks. Add that to the already formidable metal roster of In Flames, Otep, Hatebreed and Straight Line Stitch… despite a couple of admittedly terrible bands in that bunch, from a business perspective that’s some serious fucking firepower there, all added within the last year, give or take.

So what the hell is going on over there?

Click to read more…

As I mentioned earlier today, we saw Gojira live Sunday night, and they decimated Terminal 5 here in Manhattan. But seeing as they were sandwiched in between Alaskan metalcore masters 36 Crazyfists and Gothenburg gods In Flames, I thought I should share some not particularly well organized thoughts on those bands’ sets as well.

Click to read more…

From the event listings in this week’s issue of The L Magazine:

Now obviously this was written by someone who is anti-metal, or at least extremely un-metal — for those of you not “in the know”, Vampire Weekend is a super-buzzy indie-rock band from NYC that recently blew up (pretty sure one of their tunes is in some boppy commercial or another) — but for realz, it’s like comparing apples n oranges…the fact that a self-respecting journalistic rag could make reference to a metal show but describe under a clearly “indie” lens seems to miss the point of having show listings in the first place.

I am not only offended as a fan of aggressive music (duh), but also as a music lover and show-goer of all different genres. If I were genuinely curious about this show (and rest assured, I already have a ticket, natch), a description such as this wouldn’t help in the least.

Word to the un-wise, L Magazine: Gojira’s new album is among the best of the year, and perhaps you ought to employ a “metal” aficionado that can accurately report on “earsplitting” shows/albums. The truly hep kids know how cool and “cool” metal is, especially in our current musical climate. You also might wanna stop pretending to be anything more than a softie one-dimensional ‘zine.

After the jump, a much more reputable (and diverse) NYC publication’s blurb on the same show…

Click to read more…