And, I mean, they’re not wrong — we did, in fact, report the mid-tour (well, after only one date) departure of bassist Nathaniel Carter before anyone else did thanks to our army of sleuthing tipsters. Check out the above video interview from Aux.tv conducted during Arsis’ MetalSucks-sponsored Facemelter Tour with Dying Fetus in which they name-check your favorite metal gossip site.

For whatever reason I really haven’t listened to Arsis’ latest album Starve for the Devil all that much since it came out, which is too bad, because it really is good. I don’t love it as much as I did its predecessor We Are the Nightmare, but like vocalist/guitarist/genuisman James Malone says in this interviewit’s just as technical as Nightmare but it’s more song-focused. And Malone most certainly lets his inner hair metal fan shine brightly: “Skid Row with blast beats.” I love that description… so true!

-VN

Thanks: Lauren Vega

Let me begin by saying that this should be treated as hearsay until further notice. There’s been no official statement by the band, so we’re really just going on a reader e-mail here. And while we love you guys, y’know. We also love not reporting false information and/or getting sued.

So ANYWAY, MS Maniac Brutal Jay e-mailed us about the MetalSucks-sponsored Facemelter Tour‘s recent stop in Spartanburg, SC – and, specifically, the fact that the band now seems to be a member short. Says Brutal Jay:

“When Arsis took the stage the first thing I noticed was the absence of a bass player. Now, on stage Jim [Malone, guitarist/vocalist] tried to play it off by saying ‘We had a bass player last night but… I guess his face melted… or something.’ So of course after their set I went up to Nick [Cordle, guitarist] to see what actually happened. And Nick said ‘[Bassist Nathanial Carter] smelled pot on the bus and got all pissed off. We didn’t know this but apparently he’s real militant about this sorta thing. He pulled his cell phone out and was threatening to call the cops and shit. So we got him a plane ticket back to Texas and I guess we’ll be without a bass player for a few shows.’”

Click to read more…

I’ve always hated top-whatever lists. Best guitarist, best band, best blowjob, best double anal with a horse, whatever. I think that those lists are pretty much all slanted by politics, or bought and paid for. I first got that idea in my head when Titanic won as many Oscars as it did. There were so many movies that year that were far more deserving of the title that my faith in the award system died.

Jump forward about ten years. I just got back in town from the Revolver Golden God Awards. I’ll just say that I’m stoked they exist. Metal needs that in the U.S. I have no issue with their nominees and obviously you can’t pick everyone so this is definitely not directed at them. Again, THIS IS NOT DIRECTED AT REVOLVER MAGAZINE, but the concept of picking “best shredder” or “shredder of the year “is just one of those things you can’t accurately do with the amount of talent that’s out there. You want to nominate Zack Wylde or Dave Mustaine? Okay. That’s cool. Those guys have earned it. But when you leave the circle of greats and legends, how exactly do you pick a BEST shredder? I mean am I alone in thinking that when so many amazing guitarists are overlooked that the award itself loses its meaning? What guitarists am I talking about? Okay… I’ll name a few. In my opinion these guys should be winning all the awards. If I left someone out, it’s because either I haven’t heard of them, I’ve heard them and I don’t think they’re among the very best, I forgot to mention them, or I’ve heard them and I know for a fact that what you think is shredding is just studio trickery.

So here it is. My personal list of whom I think should be winning all the metal guitar awards. Am I biased? Maybe. But I’d like to also think that considering what I do for a living that I’m a good judge of competency in the field. This is in no particular order. These guys all rule for different reasons. (DISCLAIMER: Sorry that there aren’t videos for every dude I mention, but sometimes finding quality footage is tough.)

Click to read more…

WOW. In the “I did not see that coming category” is Arsis mainman James Malone’s list of “The Top Five Records that Influenced Starve for the Devil,” which was published last week on The Deciblog. I would have expected to see some thrash, some death metal, and some hair metal, but really never would have guessed at least three and possibly four of the albums Malone selected. And if you’re one of those nitwits who was so offended that Malone plays a pink guitar in the “Forced to Rock” video, than you should call 911 right now and make sure the ambulance has already arrived before you start reading the list, because you’re definitely gonna choke on your own tongue.

Go to The Deciblog to read Malone’s entire list. I don’t wanna give too much away, but I will say one of the more surprising releases on the list was Walking with Strangers by The Birthday Party Massacre, who Malone calls “One of the better bands to come out in the last seven years or so.”

Arsis Starve for the Devil is awesome, by the way, and is out now on Nuclear Blast!

-AR

The MetalSucks-sponsored Tyrants of Evil North American Tour 2010 featuring Arch Enemy, Exodus, Arsis and Mutiny Within kicked off last night in Maryland! And just in time for the tour launch, Arsis have released their new video, “Forced to Rock.” Maybe I’m reading into this too much, but it seems to me that the David Brodsky directed clip was at least partially inspired by Van Halen’s “Hot for Teacher” video – I mean, I know there’s no direct corollary between the two beyond a classroom setting, but I know for a fact that Arsis’ James Malone is a Van Halen fan. Plus, I’m still convinced that there’s a bigger hair metal influence on Malone than some death metal fans would like to admit.

But who knows? Maybe Malone just really, really likes My First Sex Teacher.

By the way, the role of “Miss Rock” is played by Kym Dylla, vocalist for Virginia’s Thismeansyou. I’m not familiar with that band, but if they’ve got Arsis’ seal of approval…

If anyone was at last night’s Tyrants of Evil show in Maryland, drop me line and let me know how it was. For everyone else: get tour dates here. It’s gonna be such a killer show.

-AR

Or, rather, be forced to rock.

For “Forced to Rock” is the name of the new song that Arsis posted on their MySpace page while we were chillin’ during the holidays. And it probably won’t have to force you to rock. It will most likely just induce rocking that is completely consensual.

Arsis mastermind James Malone says that he ” came to the conclusion that the death metal world needed an anthem,” and that the need for said anthem was the impetus for this song. And it’s certainly anthemic. In fact, I’d like to once again point out Malone’s self-professed love of hair metal, and posit that there’s a distinct hair metal influence on this song. I mean, there’s definitely a thrash/death element, too (duh), but c’mon. The death metal world needed an anthem, so he wrote “Forced to Rock,” not “Fuck Her with a Knife.” That says something. Or, at least, I think it says something.

ANYWAY, it’s a killer song, and it’ll be on Arsis’ new album, Shout at Starve for the Devil, which drops February 5 in Europe and February 9 in America on Nuclear Blast. By which point Arsis will already have started the MetalSucks-sponsored Tyrants of Evil North American Tour with Arch Enemy, Exodus, and Mutiny Within! HEY-O!!! Get tour dates here.

-AR

I’ve met Jim Malone twice, for an amount of time totalling maybe 120 seconds, maybe. The guy would not be able to pick me out of a line-up, I’m sure. But the last time I saw him, I didn’t even recognize him at first – he’d lost an incredible amount of weight. To tell the truth, I didn’t think he looked unhealthy – he wasn’t, like, Calista Flockhart thin or anything – in fact, I thought he looked pretty damn good.

But Arsis has cancelled a whole shit load of tour dates recently, and combined with the fact that they’ve gone through more line-up changes than Guns N’ Roses and Megadeth combined, it was getting to the point where our pals at Metal Injection were even worried that Arsis might be dunzo.

Luckily for fans of melodic tech death everywhere, this isn’t the case, and Malone has now explained all the Arsis drama in a statement:

Click to read more…