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Last week we focused on the complete inertia of modern rock radio over the past 10 years, as manifested in the top ten selling records of the week. Rest assured, all ten of those releases are still selling well… no need to re-hash them in this space again. Instead let’s look at newer records, including debuts from All Shall Perish, Wirestledabearonce, Jamey Jasta’s solo effort and more.
Well, this is a strange week. On the one hand, we have some great stuff coming out, including new music from Big Business and Iwrestledabearonce, as well as World Under Blood’s first record, All Shall Perish’s new one and the solo effort from Jamey Jasta. We also have some complete garbage piles from faceless, nameless bands such as As Hell Retreats. Enjoy!
Alas, there won’t be a new installment of “Landphil Marathon” today. So I thought all you pro-wrestling fiends might instead enjoy the below video, which is a mash-up of Hatebreed’s “Tear it Down” with various Hulk Hogan sound bites. And, I gotta say, it’s done pretty artfully! Jamey Jasta’s lyrics are already kinda rasslin’-ready (I always say he’s like the Tony Robbins of hardcore… there is nothing better at the gym than having Jasta literally shout “PERSEVERANCE!” in your ear when you get tired.), so this doesn’t seem like too much of a stretch.
And we should have a new “Landphil Marathon” soon!
-AR
Thanks to Skyler Diotte for the tip!
Sebastian Bach has announced a September 27 release date for his new album, Kicking & Screaming. The press release makes no mention of any collaborations with Jamey Jasta or John 5, which would have been the reasons to at least be curious about this record, especially after the awfulness that Bach’s last outing, Angel Down. So… oh well.
But the press release did include a link to the below promo photo, by Gabriel Goldberg, and it might be the most inadvertently hilarious promo photo ever for a professional musician of whom you’ve actually heard. I can’t believe that anyone, let alone what was probably a team of people, thought it was a good idea to release a photo where Baz looks like he’s just about to start weeping. Because nothing screams “ROCK!” like a depressed blonde man with too much make-up on.
Vince is away on vacation, so there won’t be any of his patented photo caption contests for awhile. But if anyone can come up with a caption for this that actually makes me laugh, I will send them a goody bag of assorted whatever-the-fuck we have lying around.
So have at it…
-AR
We at MetalSucks got first crack at a Q&A with leukemia survivor Adam “Nergal” Darski in late March, at which point the Behemoth frontman sounded pumped for a return to action but still in the early stages of recovery; that is to say, the spirit was willing but the flesh weak, like in that Sting song. Since then, we tireless reporters/nosy jerks have been keeping two eyes on Nergal’s progress on the path to his band’s upcoming shows in October and, natch, to a lasting recovery.
And so we thank Hatebreed singer Jamey Jasta for sharing a pic (above) of himself and Nergal (probably) at the Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards in London on Monday, at which Behemoth took home the Metal As Fuck award over Slipknot, Slayer, Deftones (?), and Zakk Wylde. For that big win, for his birthday on Friday, and mostly for his good and improving health, we say cheers brah! Win!
-ADF
Go here for info on how to help the battle against Leukemia. Here you can order Behemoth’s Abyssus Abyssum Invocat, a collection of out-of-print EPs Conjuration (2003) and Slaves Shall Serve (2005), live bonus tracks, lyrics, and new artwork.
Uhh…
Uhh…
Uhh…
Huh?
-AR
Jamey Jasta’s Jasta is out Jastaly 26 via eJasta Jastas.
Jamey Jasta has a solo album, simply entitled Jasta (I wish it were called Jasta! for some reason but okay), out on July 26 via eOne, I guess because he’s getting restless on account of the fact that it’s been five minutes since he released anything with Hatebreed, Kingdom of Sorrow, or Icepick, or started a clothing line, or a record label, or a festival tour, or hosted a television show, or pulled a lttle girl from burning wreckage while simultaneously delivering a brood of puppies and curing herpes. (I’m saying the dude keeps busy.) And now there’s a track from that album, “Mourn the Illusion,” streaming here.
It’s definitely a catchy song and I have a ton of respect for Jasta. Thing is, Jasta said he’s doing a solo album because “these are all songs that… didn’t really fit with Hatebreed or Kingdom of Sorrow. Plus, those recipes are so successful that I wouldn’t want to change it or switch it up.” And I’m really not convinced that this couldn’t, or shouldn’t, have been a Hatebreed song.
I somehow completely missed this until I read about it on Metal Injection, but it seems that Sebastian Bach will be performing “Youth Gone Wild” with Asking Alexandria as his backing band at the Revolver Golden Gods Awards next month. (DevilDriver and Jamey Jasta will also be doing a tribute to Black Flag, but I have nothing funny to say about that.)
INTRO BUST
Everybody knows that Hatebreed is by far the most popular hardcore band in the history of the planet, but not everybody knows that they are beyond a doubt the best hardcore band of all time. I can feel the butthurt starting already, but lettuce be srs, brahs: no other hardcore band has consistently dropped album after album of brutal mosh jams. Don’t believe me? Let’s take a step through history and prove it! In more-or-less chronological order, I will go through the bands who some might say hold the title of “best hardcore band of all times” and illustrate why Hatebreed is #1.
Go!
Kirk Windstein is one of metal’s busiest men; between his three bands — Crowbar, Down and Kingdom of Sorrow — dude’s got his hands full churning out down-tuned, gut-rumbling bad-assery constantly, and according to him that’s just the way he likes it. Unfortunately for Kirk his alcohol abuse problem forced him to take a break this summer as he sat out Kingdom of Sorrow’s 7-date Ozzfest tour to get healthy and sober.
Kirk’s recovery was the first topic we tackled in my phone interview with him last week; it turns out that Kirk did not enter rehab as reported but decided to lay off the booze on his own volition with the help of AA meetings and the assistance of his many bandmembers that’ve been through the process already. As of the day we chatted he was 48 days sober, sounding optimistic and energized about the prospect of turning himself around. We also chatted about all three of his bands, naturally: Kingdom of Sorrow are working on putting together a U.K. tour; Kirk was on his way to jam with Pepper Keenan on new material later that same day, and the band’s DVD chronicling their 2006 reunion run will finally see the light of day tomorrow; and last but certainly not least, Crowbar have a brand new record coming out soon through E1, and a live CD to follow closely after on Phil Anselmo’s Housecore label. Kirk also shed a little light (I said “a little”) on the reasons behind the Down DVD’s many delays, and shared his thoughts on the pride he feels when Crowbar are cited as an influence by today’s young metal bands.
Read the interview after the hop and skip.
To the MetalSucks Maniac known as “Sacajewea,” we would like to say the following: YOU ARE A FUCKING RETARD. It’s incredible how retarded you are, you stupid fucking idiot mongoloid half-wit retard.
We send this message because in October of ’09, Sacajewea left a comment on the very first post we ever wrote, saying he was “Just here to dig up the past;” then he left another comment, just this past June, which read:
“I did it twice. Fuck I’m retarded. If anyone sees this please find me in a recent post and tell me how retarded I am.”
On December 26, 2006 — a date that will live in infamy — we did what professionals call a “soft launch” but we just call “the day we first posted on this blog.” Our slogan was “Smart About Metal,” a play on the slogan for Film Comment magazine.
We had these two stupid South Park caricatures that Axl made at his then-job when he was bored. (Axl forgot until just now that he had a really long goatee in ’06; Vince still had phantom Jew ‘fro, where some days he can feel it, man!) We only posted once or twice a day, throughout the week, pretty much when we had time/interest. We didn’t use tags. We often didn’t post graphics or videos. Our headlines weren’t capitalized. We interviewed members of Stuck Mojo and Twisted Sister, because that’s who we could get interviews with. Believe it or not, we tried to get an interview with God Forbid… and we failed.
Basically, we had no fucking idea what we were doing.
We can’t believe that this is our 10,000th post. We can’t believe we’re still doing this almost four years after we started. We can’t believe that so many of you are reading it. Seriously: WE WERE ONLY FUCKING KIDDING.
So…
Thanks to Kip (who has been here longer than anyone besides Vince and Axl!), Sammy, Gary, Anso, Satan (the MetalSucks contributor and the deity), Sergeant D., Bob, Leyla, Corey, Urbandale, Dave, Matt, Ferris, Dallas, Eyal, Sacha, Paul, Bulb, Arthur, Anton OyVey, Rich Hallford, David Bee Roth, Van Arseface, Mike Pattongill, Angela Gossowski, Joey V., and everyone else who has ever written for us… MetalSucks would not be where it is if not for all of you.
Thanks to everyone in the music industry who has helped us over the years, even as they must have been secretly hoping we would van flip.
And of course, thanks to all the MetalSucks Maniacs, Suckalos, annoying people who can’t use the “search” function, and dudes that have sent us death threats. We can’t tell you how grateful we are that you read our site. Thank you thank you thank you.
Now, with a complete lack of humility, Axl and Vince present their ten favorite MetalSucks posts of all time. Enjoy.
When Randy Blythe was nineteen years old and Jamey Jasta was thirteen years old, a really silly white dude who is named Rob Van Winkle but insisted on calling himself “Vanilla Ice” released a song entitled “Ice Ice Baby,” which was a huge megahit. There can be no doubt that Blythe and Jasta were aware of the song’s existence, for such was its prevalence in pop culture. Of course, we have no way of knowing what these someday-modern metal legends thought of the track, but I think we can reasonably assume that at no point did the thought “Someday Vanilla Ice will come see me perform and we will hang out backstage after the show” cross their respective minds.
And yet, this:
Kirk Windstein is a poet. Of this, there can be no doubt. Since Kingdom of Sorrow took over our site on Tuesday, Vince and I have decided we really, really wanna take a trip to New Orleans and just go eat with the dude (well, probably get high and then go eat with the dude). But secretly, I have aspirations of someday being able to pay the man to teach my children how to speak good. I can dream, can’t I?
Here’s some other shit that went down in the Mansion this week:
Next week will bring some more streams, interviews with Max Cavalera and Bobby Blotzer, and more self-righteous rage over fairly trivial topics. ‘Til then…
-AR
First of all, and on a note completely unrelated to the rest of this story, I just wanted to thank everyone for their well-wishes on Monday – both the ones left in the comments section and the ones that were e-mailed to me. Luckily everything turned out okay, but your support really meant a lot to me.
Now, onto the matter at hand. Just yesterday, Kirk Windstein made us simulataneously hungry and horny in equal measures, and Jamey Jasta correctly asserted that a new Crowbar album “needs to come out THIS YEAR.” It’s been five very long years since Crowbar’s last release, Lifesblood for the Downtrodden, and while Mr. Windstein has certainly used that time productively (you’ll never hear me bitch about Down time), I think we can all agree that a new Crowbar record would really hit the spot just about now.
And – hooray! – Crowbar played in NOLA over the weekend, and debuted two new tracks. And while we still don’t know when that new Crowbar album will be coming, as any scientist will tell you, writing new songs is the first step to making a record. So the very fact that these tunes exist is probably a good sign. Here’s the first one…
…and the second one is after the jump.
What’s up everyone! In celebration of the new KINGDOM OF SORROW album coming out today, MetalSucks have been nice enough to let me takeover their site! I figured I’d better make the reading interesting and at least cause some discussion, so here goes, this is probably the longest run on sentence you’ll ever read, haha, enjoy!
Since we’re well into 2010. I figured I’d start my blog with my top ten “most listened to” metal and hardcore albums of the last decade, and the top ten albums I hope to enjoy this decade!!! It’s not a top ten “best of” the decade or anything like that, it’s just what I’ve listened to the most while on the road, at home, in the gym, in the office or in my car. Keep in mind that the criteria for these albums to make this list was that they were released between 2000 and 2010, that is all.
The top 10 records I’m “most hopeful & excited for” are more like a wish list. It will be cool to see some of that stuff happen!
I’ve been making music, touring, playing shows and doing what I love for well over fifteen years, and I’m very grateful. I barely have a 9th grade education and I’ve never had any musical training or lessons. I’ve just worked hard and stayed focused on what I wanted to achieve. I’ve played everywhere from basements, backyards, skateparks and VFWs right up to clubs, theaters, arenas and fucking stadiums! So keep doing what you love and fuck everyone who tries to bring you down or hold you back!
1995
My top five show flyers… okay, it’s really six, but only because I had a tough time deciding! Keep in mind this is based on the memories, not the flyers themselves!
Every time I come home from tour, I ask myself: “What the fuck am I going to do with all these CDs?!” Because when I go to my storage room to drop off gear and tour supplies, there they are. Literally, thousands of CDs stacked to the ceiling in multiple storage rooms. Bands like The Program, Right Brigade, Oblige, AK Corral (The country CD I put out! Haha… that’s a completely different blog I will one day write.), A Thousand Falling Skies, The Autumn Offering, Full Blown Chaos, etc., etc., etc. Basically stuff that I put out on my labels that didn’t sell well or that we pressed too many of. Now I really don’t want them going in a landfill or polluting the ocean. The thought of a baby seal choking on a Sworn Enemy CD really doesn’t sit well with me. So I figured I would take to the internet to see what could be done. Now if you really want to be a great person and buy any of them, please visit martyrstore.com or stillbornstore.com – they’re cheap! Okay? So here’s some videos to check out, you decide what I should do with this stuff!
Should I make jewelry?
New Orleans isn’t just known for it’s metal and sludge music — it’s also a hot bed for good eats! If you’re planning on traveling here, give these dishes a whirl, and wash ‘em down with a daiquiri!
(YES, the picture is real. You can actually go to a DRIVE THROUGH and buy booze here in Louisiana!)
