First, a little backstory. Back in 2006, Darkest Hour was making the promotional rounds for their latest disc, Undoing Ruin. I was working for my shitty college paper, doing a show preview for DH’s show in Omaha, Nebraska and emailed Kris requesting an interview. He called me five minutes after I sent the email. That’s how cool of a guy he is.

Besides being one hell of a nice dude, Kris is an extremely talented musician, and his new project, A Cancerous Affair, has completed their lineup and is starting to produce what will most definitely be some killer tunes.  Check out my interview with Kris below.

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Rarely do we just cut and paste press releases here at MetalSucks, but this is obviously a special circumstance, and you should know all the details without any of our usual editorializing. And so:

James Murphy, former guitarist of both Death and Testament, As well as founding member of the death metal band Disincarnate, has had a relapse of the  brain tumor that sidelined him back in 2001. Murphy stated that the tumor had returned but that it was a non malignant and that it was being treated pharmacologically. Unfortunately, those medications have serious side effects that have left him unable to work. The option for different medications is available, but at a cost of over $1000 a month, and he needs a minimum of 6 months of medication for treatment to be effective. With his medical expenses extremely high and James not being able to work due to the side effects of the current medications, the metal community is being asked to come together and help one of their brothers and donate to help him beat this once and for all.

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When I am not trolling simple-minded, entry-level elitists, I enjoy the soothing, dulcet tones of some classic thrash or death metal. I am definitely not any kind of metal encyclopedia or authority on the subject, but I have realized that (sadly) I’m old enough to have heard a few bands that many younger metal fans have not, just because I have been exposed to a lot of bands over the years — sort of like an ancient desert tortoise who is not a historian, but has seen history unfold before his eyes simply because he is old as fuck. Because I enjoy giving back to my community, I will share some of my favorite older bands in case any of you might like them. If you want to hate on me, that’s OK, too, so feel free to tell me I’m a poser, that everybody already knows about these bands, that I got some trivial detail wrong, or whatever else you think makes you “sound like u rly know what ur talking about.”

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There are a few phrases that tweak the highly attuned sensors of professional music journalists. The one that frequently sets off the bullshit detectors is “highly anticipated debut.” Debuts, by their very nature, are seldom anticipated by anyone not in a band, working for a band or related to or fucking a member of the band. (And in the case of the latter, the anticipation is mainly along the lines of “Now maybe they’ll please just shut up about how the record’s coming out soon.”) The entire rest of the world is unlikely to be anticipating a debut because they don’t know anything about the band in the first place… because, after all, this is their debut we’re talking about.

In the case of Burning Human, however, a considerable amount of slack should be given to their describing their own studio debut album as “highly anticipated.” Why? Because after nearly a decade and a half of forming the band, these guys finally got around to releasing a full-length studio album. Burning Human was founded in upstate New York way back in 1995 and, based on the strength of a pretty rad demo tape (Death is Mercy), looked to be ready to take on the death metal world. As you may have realized, they did not (although drummer Jason Bittner hasn’t done too poorly for himself in Shadows Fall) and they split up in 1997, coming back together for the inevitable Reunion Nobody Asked For in 2007.

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When Billboard Magazine recently asked some metal industry insiders (including our own Vince Neilstein!) to name some bands that they thought were poised to be the next big thing in metal, only one band got multiple mentions: Lazarus A.D.

Little wonder. As evidenced by the recent release of their Metal Blade debut, The Onslaught, the band’s unique of modern thrash is a breath of fresh air in a scene increasingly dominated by kids interested in little else besides just recycling their favorite Exodus riff from twenty years ago.

As the band prepares to hit the road this May and June with Testament and Exodus, I got the chance to e-mail vocalist/bassist Jeff Paulick some questions. After the jump, get Jeff’s thoughts on the band’s new album, working with the legendary James Murphy, the pleasures of pissing off fans who claim to be “tr00,” and more.

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A full 4 days before the March 3rd release of their Metal Blade Records debut The Onslaught, MetalSucks is pleased to offer the entire record of Wisconsin thrash upstarts Lazarus A.D. for free, streaming right here. The Onslaught was mixed by the infamous James Murphy (Death, Testament, Obituary) and contains 10 tracks of vicious thrash that pay due respect to their ’80s forefathers without simply ripping them off; there’s a slew of modern influences here too. The Onslaught will be streaming here until release day, so listen while you can and then be sure to buy the record when it comes out. Enjoy! Click the “read more…” link to listen.

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I somehow missed this story until I was browsing Metal Injection last night, but there’s been another twist in the saga that is the young band Abigail Williams. A statement on the band’s MySpace blog reads as follows:

“We’re currently working through the pre-production stage of our yet-to-be-titled full-length album due out through Candlelight Records later this year. James Murphy (Daath, Resurrection, Rise) will be producing the effort set to be tracked this Feb/March in Florida. We’re excited to announce that the drumming on this album will be handled by the legendary Trym (Emperor, Zyklon). Our previous drummer, Zach Gibson, has recently parted ways with the band and we wish him the best of luck in the future. The current lineup also features the return of original keyboard player, Ellyllon. A new pre-production demo titled ‘Floods’ has been posted on our page, which features Zach Gibson on drums, but will be re-recorded by Trym on the actual full-length release. Let us know what you think!”

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