It’s funny. It seems like whenever I’m lukewarm on a blockbuster act, there comes along a different band that does their thing in a deeper, less entry-level way. Example: When I heard At The Drive-In’s Relationship Of Command, I felt like that energy was what Rage Against The Machine had been driving at. Same for Minus’s Jesus Christ Bobby and Converge. Or here’s an obvious one: Lacuna Coil and Evanescence.

Likewise, Blessed By A Broken Heart’s 2009 album Pedal To The Metal is what I’d hoped for from Avenged Sevenfold: A reformed metalcore band’s full-bore arena jamz no fucks given. Blessed, their name a vestige of their frowny past, still rocks the occasional breakdown, but mostly new album Feel The Power (out today) grafts high-level riffing to the sugary vibe of Journey and the pro-party platform of Andrew WK, like a perkier, shred-based Lostprophets for Christ. I phoned up singer Tony Gambino to talk all about Power, the mental stamina it takes to endure tr00 metal attitude, partying, the ’80s, and their rift with Century Media.

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Holy shit it is time to get super-pumped for new Van Halen music. That is for sure, fun lovers! Of course, it has been like thirteen years since their most recent album, so the music-makers of VH had some dust to shake off. No biggie. The more daunting task before Team Van Halen now is succeeding at their first album campaign since the upheaval of the record sales and of marketing practices.

Again, music is not the question, but rather how will these recording artists — once kings of presentation, promotions, and imagery during pop music’s last big shake-up, the MTV revolution — fare in the age of non-sales, lightning-fast rumors, and insidious internet marketing, and with the thud of Chinese Democracy still echoing and Aerosmith’s next winner looming ahead?

So far, the pre-natal life of A Different Kind Of Truth (out February 7 oh baby!!) is kinda wonky and marked by weird decisions and missed opportunities for coolness. Let’s take a friendly look: Click to read more…

Axl and I were joking the other night that we might have invented the phrase “still a thing” as applied to bands/people/trends that seem to have vanished from view but are apparently not just still around but quite popular. Only fitting then that the theme of this week’s Top Hard Music Soundscan charts is “still a thing.” I mean, the molasses-like state of inertia fixed upon modern hard rock radio and the associated bands over the past decade is just astounding to look at; nothing has changed in ten years.

Since there weren’t any notable metal debuts last week to crack the Top 100 aside from those in the Top 10, this week let’s look at all of numbers 1 through 10 on the Top Hard Music chart. Prepare to be astonished and baffled by the “still a thing”-ness of every single band.

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As I write this, the insanity of week fucking 17 (!) of American Idol‘s season ten (!!) hasn’t really sunk in yet. It was that mind-fuckingly insulting, pandering, and retardening. See, the guest mentor was Lady Gaga (attired in a way that could not be more distracting to the Idol hopefuls) and she, like Poochie, is just so damn edgy and extreme and viral; in the face of her um I guess pernicious influence, American Idol producers opted to strenuously counteract any potential disapproval from the mythic moral heartland with shitloads of god, 9/11 rhetoric, and peckerwood platitudes. One singer’s antidote to a making Gaga’s acquaintance was to fervently kiss a neck-worn cross; another refused to sing the line “I am evil.”

Fucking pussies.

After this abominable week, Idol producers, judges, contestants, and sponsors would be wise to acknowledge something: Some people are your sworn enemies. They work behind the scenes. They know people. They move with invisibility. They are like Fight Club. And if they so choose, no Idol people shall ever again encounter a meal that hasn’t been farted on, a hotel towel that hasn’t been dick-wiped, or a mic that hasn’t been incubated between two hot, hairy asscheeks. These things happen.

Ahem until then, here comes your Idol Remains recap of crap, your scorecard of hardcore bore, your summary of bummary. Man, this show sucks donkey dicks.

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Tomorrow sees the release of Crowbar’s new album, Sever the Wicked Hand, on eOne (you can pre-order a physical copy here or a digital copy here, and watch an EPK for the album here). To celebrate, Crowbar main man Kirk Windstein offered to tell MetalSucks readers fifteen things they did not already know about him. And far be it from us to say “no” to Kirk Windstein! And so, enjoy a rare intimate look into the mind of Kirk Windstein, directly from the man himself…

15) I’m addicted to diet soda and sparkling water! I’m always drinking one or the other.

14) I like to wake up no later than 7:00 a.m.

13) I love Journey.

12) My first arena concert was Van Halen, “The 80′s Invasion,” on the Women and Children First tour.

11) Ace Frehley is the reason I play guitar.

Ten more things you didn’t know about Kirk after the jump!

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We’ll dispense with the usual bullshit: chances are, you’re already familiar with Mastodon. They’ve been, inarguably, one of the most important metal bands of the 21st century thus far, and a band that we pretty much revere at MetalSucks.

We recently got the chance to interview bassist and co-vocalist Troy Sanders during some pre-show downtime at the Rockstar Mayhem Festival’s stop at Nassau Coliseum. Adorned in sweat pants and flip-flops and, by his own admission, fighting a hangover, Sanders was amicable as he led us into the band’s dressing room, offered us Gatorades, and then plopped down on the band’s cooler to get down to business. After the jump, read Sanders’ thoughts about playing in front of huge crowds that are by and large not at the show to see Mastodon, the band’s forthcoming new album, and, yes, even barbecuing.

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