The Faceless have been confirmed for Summer Slaughter 2012. That’s not shocking news, seeing as the band — like the fest’s previously announced co-headliners, Cannibal Corpse and Between the Buried and Me — have been rumored to be participating in the tour for three weeks now.

But it is still good news! Anyone who complains about a show where they’ll get to see Cannibal Corpse, BTBAM, and The Faceless should be hit in the head with a Halestorm album. Plus, there’s still at least seven other bands still to be announced; assuming the rumors continue to be true, those will include Job For A Cowboy, Veil of Maya, and Hate Eternal, all of whom are also awesome. And Vince and I got word of yet ANOTHER great band set to be on the tour over the weekend. So, yeah, everyone is going to this.

The next band will be officially announced on Sunday via the Summer Slaughter Facebook page.

-AR

When I got on email from Cephalic Carnage / Job For A Cowboy bassist Nicholas Schendzielos about a new jam video he’d posted, I expected some kind of metal music dorkery to be contained therein. What I got was something entirely different, no less interesting, and a helluva lot more fucknuts:

So, uh… that was interesting! Strangely, I find myself wanting more; hopefully he makes these into a series or something.

From one bearded guy to another, I can totally relate to Nick on the whole sandwich dilemma: sandwiches are the most difficult food to eat because shit’s ALWAYS getting stuck in the ‘stache! Worst.

-VN

The rumors are true: Cannibal Corpse and Between the Buried and Me will co-headline this year’s edition of the Summer Slaughter festour. BTBAM and The Corpse obviously play very, very different forms of death metal, but they’re both great. It’s hard to imagine any metal fan who isn’t a total fun-hating grump not being excited about this bill.

None of the other rumored acts — which include The Faceless, Job For A Cowboy, Veil of Maya, and Hate Eternal — have been confirmed yet, and, as Lambgoat reports in a tone I very much appreciate, “Unfortunately, it looks like the Summer Slaughter people are going to string this out, with remaining participants to be announced each Sunday (one-by-one) via Facebook.” The past two Summer Slaughters have featured ten bands apiece, so we should know the full line-up by the end of March.

In any case, between this and the solid line-up Mayhem Fest has put together this year, it looks like it could be a really fun summer…

-AR

Oh. Fuck. YES.

MetalSucks and Dead End Threads are proud to present what has to be not one, but really two of the sickest, most brutal tours of the new year. From February 26 to March 3, death metal legends Dying Fetus are hitting the road with death metal legends-in-the-making Job for a Cowboy and Volumes, plus Last Chance to Reason, one of the most exciting up and coming young prog acts on the scene today. That’s a line-up so solid you’d need a jackhammer to break it. And while you might be bummed to learn that Job for a Cowboy leave the tour after that, not one but two bands will be hopping on to make up for their absence: tech-death spacelords The Faceless and one of the most evil bands ever spawned, the mighty fucking Goatwhore.

So, like we were saying:

Oh. Fuck. YES.

These shows are gonna be beyond insane. Like, a make-sure-all-your-affairs-are-in-order level of nuts. You absolutely cannot miss these bands when they come to your town. So get dates after the jump!!!

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Out of all of the big summer package tours, Summer Slaughter has easily become our favorite; it’s so much fun every year that we’re even willing to forgive the to-be-expected presence of some bands we can’t stand (e.g., Oceano, As Blood Runs Black, etc.), because the rest of the line-up built around them is usually so fantastic that having a few built-in beer breaks isn’t the worst thing in the world (as opposed to some of SS’s competitors, where the beer-break-to-cool-band ratio makes the whole endeavor just not worth it). So, yeah, we’re on the edge of our seats to see who makes it onto the bill this year.

To that end, prog metal social network czar Alkahest of Heavy Blog has done it once again, today with some pretty juicy rumors about the lineup for Summer Slaughter 2012.

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Today is seemingly “news about albums that are coming out in early 2012″ day. To that end:

• Soilwork are writing a new album called The Living Infinite. Generic quote time: Speed Strid says that “people can expect a continuation of the intensity and presence of The Panic Broadcast, only taken to a higher level” and wishes us all a merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Gee, thanks, Speed!
• Gojira have issued their third studio update video, this one showing bassist Jean-Michel Labadie laying down his tracks. Labadie is the member of Gojira I feel like I know the least about; I’d love to get to know that guy! Gojira are presumably all done or close to done recording their album by now… very exciting.
• Lamb of God released a new trailer for their new album Resolution (January 24th, Epic Records), and it features a good chunk of a previously unheard song. Check it out above, and listen to the first single “Ghost Walking” here if you haven’t yet.

Hey, so remember last week when we told you this year’s Metal Alliance Tour* featuring DevilDriver, The Faceless, Dying Fetus, Job For A Cowboy, 3 Inches of Blood, and Impending Doom? Well, the full tour itinerary has been released, so now you can, like, go n’ shit. I don’t really know what else there is to say about this tour… it’s such a killer line-up, I’m just stoked to go.

Here are the dates, courtesy of Lambgoat:

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Last year’s first annual Metalliance Tour had a sweet line-up — Helmet, St. Vitus, Crowbar, Kylesa, Red Fang, Howl, and The Atlas Moth — and it’s looking like this year’s edition will as well… although, holy tonal shift Batman, y’know? According to Lambgoat, the bill this year will consist of Devildriver, The Faceless, Dying Fetus, Job For A Cowboy, 3 Inches of Blood, and Impending Doom, six bands who are obviously way, way different from the groups that played last year.

But who cares? There’s literally only bad band on the bill — Impending Doom — and if they play first, they’ll be easy to miss anyway. The rest of this bill is a total beast.

Only a few dates have gotten out so far, but more are sure to follow. So, for now:

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Last week, I saw some kid outside of a Chimaira show compliment keyboardist Sean Z. on his vocal performance. “I had no idea you could scream like that!” the lil’ dude proclaimed. Presumably, the young fan was somehow unaware that Z. is also the vocalist for Dååth, meaning that, yes, he is a helluva front man who can scream his guts out with the best of ‘em.

I have no idea if incidents like that one were the inspiration for what Sean Z. has done now or not, but it’s easy to imagine the epicly bearded musician going “Hey, I’m getting all this new attention because of Chimaira, might as well put it to extra-good use!”

And so, whatever his motivation may be, Sean Z. has posted on his Facebook page links to download — for free, natch — not only the two Dååth albums on which he appears, but also b-sides and demos from those albums.

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Hey, remember that awesome tour with Between the Buried and Me and Job for a Cowboy that we sponsored earlier this year? Well, I guess JFAC decided to prank BTBAM on the last night of the tour (and fairly common tradition), and now video of that event has surfaced. And by “and now,” I mean, “back in May, although it’s only just now coming to your attention.”

ANWAY, I thought you might enjoy said video of said prank, so it’s below for your viewing pleasure. It’s not as good as Kvelertak’s end-of-tour-prank on Converge from last year, but it’s still fun.

-AR

Thanks: ton0290

This has to be the best-yet edition of “Ask the Artist,” the new video series in which our partners in crime at Metal Injection ask musicians to answer one uniform question. This week, the question is “How easy is it to score girls while on the road?” And, confirming what Sergeant D. has been telling us all along, the answer seems to be, “Not very easy at all.” Check it out:

Don’t forget that you can watch more episodes of “Ask the Artist” at Metal Injection.

-AR

As we mentioned a few weeks ago, Metal Injection has launched this great new video series, “Ask the Artist,” in which they give you helpful tips for getting out tough stains. No, I’m kidding, they ask fucking artists things, that’s why it’s called “Ask the Artist.”

ANYWAY, the latest installment of the series has the MI dudes posing the question “What band got you into metal?” to current and former members of Dying Fetus, Killswitch Engage, Job for a Cowboy, Cephalic Carnage, Revocation, The Ocean, Lazarus A.D., and more.

My personal favorite answer probably comes from A Life Once Lost’s Doug Sabolick, not because I have any special affinity for the album he cites, but because a) it’s a pretty unique answer and b) I remember exactly where I was the first time I heard that album, and I like thinking that while I was rocking out to it with Vince in my parents’ living room, Sabolick was somewhere having his mind blown and his life forever changed. I like that we have that connection now. We’re like Fievel and Tanya from An American Tail, singing “Somewhere Out There.” Only not really at all.

Check out the rest of Metal Injection’s “Ask the Artist” series here. And, hey, while we’re on the topic, feel free to discuss the bands and albums that got you into metal in our comments section below.

-AR

Vince isn’t here, so I guess it falls to me to take over his regular “Neilstein SoundScam” column… BWA-HA-HA!!!

Some of the more noteworthy sales stats from the latest Top Hard Music charts after the jump!

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June is going to be a huge month for metal releases and it starts with a bang today, the month’s first Tuesday. New releases by Morbid Angel, Arch Enemy, Job For A Cowboy and Amorphis are the biggest hitters, while new ones from Origin, Engineer, Gigan, Khann and Tombs are sure to put some hair on your chest. And that’s just a small sampling of all that comes out today. Vic Vaughn on each and every one of ‘em after the jump.

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If you’re American, you already know it’s Memorial Day weekend, and, in fact, you’re probably either already on your way to the beach/a BBQ/a terrible summer movie/whatever, and are reading this after it was published. If you’re not American, all you really need to know is that we’re breaking out right now, and won’t be here on Monday. Usual tomfoolery will resume on Tuesday, May 31.

In the meantime, here’s how we kept busy this week:

• We debuted new music from Job for a Cowboy, Tombs, Unearth, and Vaulting.
• We spoke to Neil Fallon from Clutch.
• We continued to unveil our list of The Top 25 Modern Metal Guitarists.
• We checked out the latest releases from Dark Castle and Embers.
• Sergeant D. examined comedy metal.
• Leyla Ford examined Lady GaGa’s metal-ness.
• Anso wondered if Slayer pinball is better than recent Slayer albums.
• We got really excited about the new Gojira song.
• We got less excited about the new Bury Your Dead song.
• We watched you folks debated about the new Trivium song.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I am going to put these tips for using the toilet to good use before I head out for the weekend. See ya Tuesday!

-AR

Job for a Cowboy’s first EP was called Doom, and their new EP is called Gloom, and, obviously, when you put those things together, you get… well, y’know. But it’s not all doom n’ gloom for JFAC — quite the contrary, in fact. It’s fitting that they’re re-introducing themselves into the world with another EP as they begin this new chapter in their careers, because the four songs on the Jason Suecof-produced Gloom — the band’s first release with a revamped line-up — are the best they’ve ever written or recorded. We don’t even think there can any argument against that statement. Their transition from deathcore band into a straight-up death metal band is now complete. JFAC are firing on all cylinders, baby.

But don’t just take our word for it. Metal Blade won’t release Gloom until June 7, but we worked it our special for you so you can hear all its brutal glory for yourself right this very second. No need to thank us, it’s just the kind of cool dudes we are.

So listen below, and then, afterwards, when you’ve managed to catch your breath, pre-order Gloom here.

[this streaming promotion has ended]

I don’t believe that Job for a Cowboy or Suicide Silence created deathcore, but they seem to be the two bands that everyone points to as the epitome of that genre, perhaps because they’re two of the most popular bands to emerge after the tag gained some steam (no one ever called The Red Chord “deathcore” when they started), or perhaps because they’re both so-called “MySpace bands” whose careers took off roughly around the same time. In any case, it’s been interesting to watch their paths diverge; there might have been some similarities between the two bands circa Doom and The Cleansing, but there sure as shit isn’t anymore. JFAC have gradually turned into a traditionalist death metal band (and a very fine one, I might add — their new EP, Gloom, features what is easily their best work to date) while Suicide Silence have pursued a musical direction more reminiscent of Slipknot.

Case in point: the band’s new song, “You Only Live Once.” Mitch Lucker’s vocals are still DM (unlike Corey Taylor, he’s not doing any clean singing… yet), but “Unanswered” this ain’t. In fact, the intro, the bridge, and and the section starting around the 2:22 mark could very well be from a Slipknot song.

I’m not saying any of this as an insult, by the way. I like Suicide Silence, and I like this song. I think this band serves as a gateway for a lot of fans, and I’m absolutely fine with that — I can see how kids might take the leap from this to Morbid Angel (but hopefully not the new Morbid Angel, ’cause that shit is terrible) much easier than I can see how kids might take the leap from, say, Hollywood Undead to anything that isn’t a life of stupidity and waste. I’m just observing that this band has a different set of aspirations from some of their peers.

And then I found twenty bucks.

“You Only Live Once” comes off of Suicide Silence’s new album, The Black Crown, which is out July 12 on Century Media.

-AR

From what I understand, it is not okay for “real metal” fans to like any deathcore bands. For example, you are not allowed to be into both Deathspell Omega and Winds Of Plague, because WoP don’t have the right haircuts or clothes to be considered a “legit metal band.” It is also important to share your unsolicited, excessively strong opinions whenever deathcore bands come up, letting everybody know that you “are into real metal,” and that “deathcore is the worst shit ever.”

With that said, I’m confused about how there are a few deathcore bands that seem to get a pass from metal nerds: Darkest Hour, The Faceless, Between The Buried And Me, etc. The same people who get very, very angry about the popularity of bands like Suiside Silence or Miss May I love The Black Dahlia Murder, All Shall Perish, and The Red Chord, which is weird to me because they do not really sound any different.

Can anyone help me understand this??? Why are some deathcore bands considered “generic garbage for idiots who shop at Hot Topic” but other deathcore bands are “brilliant musicians who keep pushing the boundaries of the genre,” according to metal nerds???

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Do I seriously need to write an intro? The headline just told you what this article is gonna be about, right? If any of you are thinking this might this piece might contain information about who’s producing the new Megadeth album or whatever, off yourself.

So. Here is the album art for Unearth’s latest, Darkness in the Light, which now has a July 4 European release date via Metal Blade — which, presumably, means the album will be out sometime around then here in the States, too. I don’t love this album art but I don’t hate it, and now that I think about it, I don’t know that I’ve ever out and out loved an Unearth album cover. But that doesn’t matter, because the music contained on the album is usually very good.

And here’s the album art for Job for a Cowboy’s new EP, Gloom, which will also come out on Metal Blade, albeit on the less-patriotic date of June 7. I really like this art, although I’m a little sad to see that Demonic Antelope Skull dude seems to have been the victim of some sort of uprising. Although he’s usually portrayed as a slimey politician or a slimey king or whatever slimey thing this is, so maybe that’s a good thing. But the album is called Gloom, so maybe it’s bad! I dunno, I dunno, I gotta think about it some more.

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Job for a Cowboy are killing it lately. I’ve heard nothing but good things about their performances as part of their current MetalSucks-sponsored tour with Between the Buried and Me and The Ocean, and the two songs we’ve heard from their forthcoming EP, Gloom, both suggest that all the behind-the-scenes folks who have told me that mini-album is the best thing JFAC have ever made aren’t lying. Simply put: shit rocks.

One of those songs, “Misery Reformatory,” has been available on Amazon for nearly a month now, but in case you’re seriously so cheap/broke/whatever that you won’t pay a dollar for this excellent song, the bad is now streaming it online. Check it out below. That guitar solo RIPS, doesn’t it?

The band has just announced a June 7 release date for Gloom, via Metal Blade, natch. I’m seriously stoked to hear the rest of this EP. While we wait, be sure to check out some live footage of another new song, “Signature of Salvation,” which also sounds really promising.

And after the jump, get remaining dates for the aforementioned BTBAM/JFAC/The Ocean tour.

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