My heavy metal DVD shelf was once pretty bare, displaying only The Decline Of Western Civilization and a load of one-view concert films. But just since 2005, it’s been sagging under the weight of classy, addictively watchable feature-length documentaries like Heavy Metal In Baghdad, Get Thrashed, Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey, Global Metal, and the Iron Maiden and Rush movies. The latter four come courtesy of industrious heavy metal anthropologists Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen, both responsible for the launch of metal’s overdue efforts to canonize itself and shout down mainstream media’s 40-year campaign to paint metal as dumb, violent ape music. Pssht. Everybody knows it’s awesome, fun ape music.

Cough anyway Dunn and McFadyen are back with an 11-part mini-series airing Saturdays on VH1 Classic titled Metal Evolution. Think about it for a sec: That’s a total running time of about 440 minutes. If you’re not bonered about that, then … gosh, get your boner checked, okay? To date, three episodes have aired, each detailing the roots of metal in blues, jazz, and classical music; Saturday’s episode (above) traveled to England to gab with/about Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin (who, according to Dunn, declined to be interviewed due to an aversion to being associated with metal), and concluded with Judass Priest circa Sad Wings Of Destiny. Spoiler: Bruce Dickinson calls Eric Clapton “tame” compared to Ritchie Blackmore. SWISH! Episode schedule after the jump:

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As I Lay Dying have released a new,  P.R. Brown-directed video for their cover of Judas Priest’s “Electric Eye,” and while the special effects are undeniably cheesy, I still enjoyed the clip quite a bit. Why? ‘Cause it takes place in a world where, following the breakdown of their van, a road-crew-free AILD opt to carry their equipment through the desert, where they are attacked by a giant scorpion, at which point Jordan Mancino begins to play drums on the monster’s exoskeleton. My point being that the shoddy effects work adds to the charm of the thing — y’know, like the giant ants in Them!, or Sarah Jessica Parker passing for a human and not a horse in anything.

The video isn’t embeddable right now, so click here to see it. ”Electric Eye” appears on Decas, As I Lay Dying’s tenth anniversary celebration, which is out now via Metal Blade.

-AR

The fine folks over at Noisecreep had not one but two big track debuts today. And so, although it is unfair to the bands, I am lumping them into one post. Sorry.

And so –

• As I Lay Dying have debuted their cover of Judas Priest’s “Electric Eye,” which is actually one of two Priest covers which will appear on their upcoming tenth anniversary release, Decas. (The other JP tune is “Hellion,” in case you’re curious.) The structure and music of the original haven’t been changed much for this cover, but the band definitely changed the whole vibe and style of it, making it appropriate AILD-esque. Check it out here. Decas comes out November 8 on Metal Blade, and then then the band heads out for a headlining tour. You can get dates here.
• Spineshank have unveiled a new tune called “Murder Suicide” here. I was never really a Spineshank fan, but there were certainly far worse bands to emerge from that scene/era, and that’s basically how I feel about this song — it’s no masterpiece, but it didn’t make me wanna tear my eardrums out with a pair of tweezers, so there’s that. And in their defense, they haven’t changed their sound much since the last time I heard them, so at least they’re not chasing trends. The band has apparently completed a new album, entitled Anger Denial Acceptance, and searching for a label to release it sometime next year. So, uh, if you, like, own a label or something, maybe give these dudes a ring?

To help promote their upcoming tour, on October 11 Judas Priest will release The Chosen Few, their umpteenth career retrospective, and one which does not feature any new material. The Chosen Few does have a hook, though — I mean, beyond the fact that the band members appear on the cover only as silhouettes, I assume at least in part to downplay the fact that a certain key member is no longer in the group.

No, the hook  (and this is actually a neat idea) is that the band has let a lot of other celebrity musicians — including Ozzy, Lemmy, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kerry King, Slash, and Vinnie Paul  – choose which songs would appear on the collection. And, yeah, it’s interesting to know that Zakk Wylde is way into “Grinder,” and and that Randy Blythe and David Coverdale might actually have something to talk about at a cocktail party, and that Joe Satriani likes his Priest heavier than I might have suspected.

But like I said, there’s no new material here, so I can’t quite imagine why anyone would want this album anyway. The coolest thing about The Chosen Few is seeing which dude chose which song, and you can do that after the jump. So, look, we just saved you ten bucks.

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Few records could be as intrinsically polarizing as Anthrax’s Worship Music, the thirteen-song set whose release tomorrow ends a maddening period of band tumult while launching a new era with singer Joey Belladonna. It’s an album with history, having been completed with a new vocalist, imperiled by the new vocalist, shelved, shuffled, completed again by Belladonna and producer Jay Ruston, and now, at least, unveiled for the world to hear. In other words, Worship Music has arrived with baggage; how much of it will fit in your trunk?

Representing at least two attitudes toward Anthrax 2011, our MetalSucks official roundtable review of Worship Music is co-authored by a John Bush era devotee (MS Co-Editor-In-Chief Axl Rosenberg) and a long-suffering Belladonna booster (MS Senior Editor Anso DF). On the fence about Worship Music? Sick of one-sided, insight-free criticism? Bemused by the way MetalSucks disagrees with itself? Then join Axl and Anso as they grapple with the meaning of this year’s most dangerous album.

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My own fragile sense of mortality means that I’m still adjusting to the fact that the original bands from the New Wave of American Heavy Metal — commonly mislabeled as “metalcore” — are now hovering somewhere around their tenth year of existence. As I Lay Dying are the latest band to hit the one decade mark, and while I can’t say I was one of the cool kids who has known about them since the release of Beneath the Encasing of Ashes, I do remember when I first heard Frail Words Collapse, and it really seems like it was just last week.

But enough about my own neurosis. The story here is As I Lay Dying’s tenth anniversary, which they’ll celebrate by releasing an album entitled Decas. Mercifully, it’s not just a lame greatest hits collection — instead, it will feature three new songs, covers of classics by Slayer, Judas Priest, and Descendents, and remixes of old AILD tunes by the likes of The Dillinger Escape Plan’s Ben Weinman, Big Chocolate, and Kelly “Carnage” Cairns. You can check out the first new tune, “Paralyzed,” below. It’s equal parts heavy and catchy, which is to say, it’s an As I Lay Dying song, and a good reminder of why the band grew to be so popular in the first place.

Decas will come out November 8 on Metal Blade, and you can already pre-order it here. And if that isn’t enough to give you your As I Lay Dying fix, the band will continue the celebration of their birthday with the ”A Decade of Destruction,” which starts at the end of November and will feature support from Of Mice & Men, The Ghost Inside, Iwrestledabearonce, and, maybe best of all, Sylosis, who I personally am absolutely dying (no pun intended) to see. Here are dates, courtesy of AP:

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Metal Insider tells me that both Rob Halford and חיים ויץ‎ turned sixty yesterday, which isn’t really that old in the scheme of things, but is still most certainly a reminder that Metal’s Founding Generation is getting closer and closer to death. Then again, you know who isn’t getting closer and closer to death? Dead people. So, yeah.

ANYWAY, I remember when Mick Jagger turned fifty, The New York Times did a big article about it, ’cause I guess it was unfathomable that a rock star sex symbol would ever turn fifty. And sixty is obviously older than fifty. So I kinda feel like we should be writing some monumental piece about these two. Only, no fucking way am I spending time doing that. Instead, I think I’ll just prepare their obituaries, so we have ‘em ready for publication when these dudes finally go the way of Joey Bellardini’s voice. That seems like a much more constructive use of my time.

In conclusion: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ROB AND CHAIM!!!

-AR

A reader calling himself “J.A.M.” forwarded us an e-mail he received yesterday, in which Judas Priest — or, probably more accurately, their marketing team — ask fans to take a survey. Here’s a photo of the e-mail, with the reader’s real name blocked out in the event he doesn’t want the world to know it:

Now, one of the phrases in that e-mail which might jump out at you is “your thoughts on new guitarist Richie Faulkner,” a.k.a. “The Due Who Replaced K.K. Downing.” Keep that in mind moving forward.

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Have you ever noticed that the bands who metal nerds fawn over today were universally-despised rage magnets just a few short years ago? For example, trashing Pantera in 2011 is asking to get chased with torches and pitchforks — the polar opposite of 1993, when you would be hard-pressed to find a band that metal nerds hated more. Or how everybody jizzes over Suffocation now, but in the mid-90s you couldn’t read two pages of Metal Maniacs without someone pissing and moaning about “Suffoclones.” Are metal nerds crazy, or is there some rhyme and reason to their seemingly-contradictory behavior?? I believe that there is indeed a way to understand metal nerds, but it’s not what you might think!

Psychologists have long compared metal nerds to women. The similarities are certainly undeniable: like the fairer sex, they are fickle, emotional, and irrational. They even have long hair! However, my research suggests that, unlike women, they actually operate by a primitive form of logic and are highly predictable. After the break: my SCIENTIFIC MODEL OF METAL NERD PSYCHOLOGY, the FOUR KINDS OF METAL BANDS, and an exclusive METAL NERD CHEAT SHEET that reveals a foolproof formula for whether you should like a band or not!

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Maybe next week we’ll finally stop making fun of Morbid Angel for thinking that Illud Divinum Insanus was a good idea, but then again, probably not. As long as videos like this one exist, the lulz shall continue!

Speaking of lulz, here’s what else we did this week:

• We completed our list of The Top 25 Modern Metal Guitarists!
• We debuted the new Children of Bodom video.
• We also debuted new music by Sepultura and Isis.
• We introduced a new column by Landphil from Municipal Waste and Cannabis Corpse, and had a special edition of “Rigged” by Forbidden’s Steve Smyth.
• We spoke to Matt Henderson from S.O.S.
• We checked out the latest releases from the aforementioned Morbid Angel as well as Nitro and Wildestarr, and Kuldvas, Adam Emanon, Surachai, and Undying.
• We enjoyed seeing you not enjoy this Lady Gaga/Judas Priest mash-up.
• We assured our parents that metal isn’t getting too mainstream.
• We had our annual laugh at the most recent Gathering of the Juggalos infomercial.
• We got ready for the monotony of Metallica Monopoly.

And hopefully next week no legendary bands will release anything that’s completely unlistenable. ‘Til then, dear friends…

-AR

Last month our own Leyla Ford admitted to being a Lady Gaga fan and even declared Uglier Madonna to be “one of us,” and the reaction from the MS readership was something typically calm and reasonable, along the lines of “!?#@$%?!*?!!!!” Which I didn’t really understand – I don’t like Lady Gaga, either, but at this point it’s pretty hard to argue that she’s just another poseur wearing metal t-shirts for ironic and/or fashion reasons. I mean, she likes Maiden. She really, really likes Maiden. And she got the thumbs-up from Kirk Windstein and Dave Wyndorf. Free pass, Lady Gaga is thy possessor.

But this is the internet, so logic be damned — LET’S ROAST THIS BITCH ON A SPIT!

So. If a blogger declaring her love for Gaga made you upset, well, this should give you a fucking heart attack.

It’s a mash-up of Lady Gaga’s “Judas” and Judas Priest’s “Painkiller,” and, I have to say, it’s pretty well done. I mean, I’m not gonna put it on my iPod or anything, but you can’t say that its creator, Wax Audio, didn’t do a fine job blending the two songs together.

Go totally apeshit for no discernible reason in the comments section.

-AR

[via Metal Insider]

Devin Townsend has so much explaining to do. As a tireless songwriter and producer, he’s set to release two albums on June 21, Ghost and Deconstruction, to complete the Devin Townsend Project cycle that he started with 2009′s Ki and Addicted. That’s four full-length records, 43 songs, and 260 minutes of music unleashed over about two years. But for Townsend, discussion goes beyond song ideas and his exhaustive studio work required to bring them to life; he could talk all day and yet only touch on the subjects of touring, sales, and modern music industry calamity; and, shit, his back catalogue is too huge and varied to even approach in a Q&A of any reasonable length.

You see, being a modern musician and being Devin Townsend are not the same thing. Sure, he grinds out records and then tours like everybody. However, our latest MetalSucks interview with Townsend reveals an artist unbound by the limits of imagination, but pretty aware of averse reactions to his art; his self-expression is total and unapologetic — until fans and media misinterpret him or disapprove of his humor. He’s confident as a person, but shakeable as a virtuosic guitar player, a theater and puppet enthusiast, and a production wiz. He lets no truth about his world go unexpressed, beit via the hair-raising cacophony of Deconstruction (think Strapping Young Lad’s Alien: The Ride) or Ghost‘s murmuring calm. He puts himself out there all the way; now, let him explain why.

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It’s easy to forget that the winner of American Idol is not a good singer, a sustainable product, or an interesting personality. The crowned Idol is nothing more than a flavorless, featureless zombie who most spurs votes from sofa-bound ‘Mericans and squealing little kids — each group a stronghold of high artistic standards.

So Idol is definitely not music. It’s not even good entertainment. It’s like Scooby-Doo or Mission: Impossible, in which any plot hole can be covered by a character’s sudden removal of a life-like mask; it’s ugly theater played by young adults in sweaty pursuit of suicide-averting popularity, for which they’ll mindlessly comply with any tossed-off suggestion from the Idol judges table; it seeks credibility by osmosis via guest spots for legendary musicians (and Beyoncé) who aim to plug a tour/record/book.

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You may agree with MetalSucks stud Axl Rosenberg (pictured here), who expressed today his waning respect for the totally petering-out Judass Priest. He’s right that there’s too much silliness — K.K. Downing’s departure, the half-committal end of major touring (whatever that means), crappy albums like Nostradamus — for all but superfans to maintain any reasonable level of excitement for this, the final act in the Priest saga. Surely, Judass Priest is one of metal’s first and finest; sadly, few tours have less juice than their newly-announced/unpromotable trek with BBQ-core bores Black Label Society and that Thin Lizzy cover band.

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Judas Priest are probably one of the best metal bands in the history of the genre, and certainly one of the most important. And, sure, their post-reunion-with-Halford studio albums haven’t been so great, but they haven’t been unbearably terrible, either, and the band still puts on a really, really fun show live.

So why am I feeling so over it with them? Well, let’s begin by going over all the drama that has surrounded the group just in the past seven months.

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Last week, Idol bid adieu to contestant Heavy Metal James Durbin and that’s sad. Not only did Durbin leave behind two no-singing country hacks and the tight-assed, moderately skilled classic rocker Haley Reinhart, but he took with him the show’s only smidgeon of, like, real life. Dude has seen some trouble; that tiny measure of authenticity carried him past crappy technique and, later, malproductive cockiness. Plus, he was semi-metal and therefore good for a Judass Priest jam once in a while. Well, exactly once.

In Durbin’s wake, Idol is now a desert of arid suckiness (Countreh Boah Scotty McCreery, Lauren The Winner) pocked by the occasional cactus of pretty goodness (Haley Reinhart). This week, we accompanied each back home to visit all the fake-ass fame humping nobodies from whom each Idol wannabe wishes to escape. How depressing. I mean, let the little kids are excited, but grown adults in tears for these fireflies, these off-brand pan-flashes, these Hostess Twinkie motherfuckers? Yes, people of the heartland, hats off to the inanimate carbon rod!

The good news is the shit is nearly over and I, Anso DF, get my life back in time for summer. Back in fall, I pitched Idol Remains to Axl and Vince as a means for MetalSucks rubberneckers to gawk at the continuous Idol trainwreck and to ride along every week with Steven Tyler, American rock’s greatest frontman. He’s a producer, writer, dancer, singer, druggie, and bon vivant — not a live TV personality or dutiful judge of weak, flavorless singers. (Oh, plus, he sucks at writing books.) So, Tyler the Idol goof may be of little help to me, Aerosmith fans, Aerosmith members, or Idol contestants, but he rescued ratings (aw nuts) and, for a time, managed to counteract the idiocy of fellow judge Jennifer Lopez (uh thanks). Not a good trade-off for all the strife it caused with his band. Sigh.

Anyway, with three performers left, gaze in horror on your penultimate Idol Remains scorecard of hard sores and lard-ass bores.

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IMO the most important part of being a true metal fan is knowing your roots. There is nothing worse than a newjack poser who doesn’t know or care about the older bands who paved the way for the generations after them. For example, IMO you can’t consider yourself a real fan of Avenged Sevenfold without also being a fan of Pantera and 18 Visions/Velvet Revolver. I mean I love A7X but obviously they are pretty much just taking what those two bands did, only doing it a lot better. On the other hand, it also sucks when someone gets older and they stop liking stuff. I mean if you like Suffocation then you should also like Devourment, right?? But contrary to what you would expect, older metal fans do nothing but hate on newer bands.

Which one is right?? The younger fans, full of energy and enthusiasm, but unaware of the shitty bands that people used to like?? Or the jaded, bitter has-beens, with seemingly endless knowledge of irrelevant, music that nobody really cares about anymore??????

In this post I will do my best to tackle this topic and answer the question of which is better, NEW MUSIC or OLD MUSIC. I know it’s hard to compare things from different eras, but I think it will help all of us grow as metal fans!!

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Judas Priest are moving forward with their farewell tour (they’re calling it the “Epitaph Tour,” strongly suggesting they don’t know what an epitaph is) despite the fact that guitarist K.K. Downing is calling it quits. And now they’ve released a photo of the new line-up. By which I mean they got the new guy to pose for a photo and stuck it on the poster with a bunch of other photos of the rest of the band, because no one could even be bothered to get into one room together for two minutes to say “Cheese.”

See if you can spot the new guy:

If you guessed “It’s the dude who’s half the age of everyone else in the band and is dressed like a Beatle!”, you’re right!

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So we’re now five axe slingers deep into out list of The Top 25 Modern Metal Guitarists. We predicted that the list would get a lot of you angry, and, no shock, it has. Funny thing is, reading the comments, as of yet not one of you has correctly predicted which guitar player is gonna be #1. So, just lettin’ you know… you may be even angrier in the coming weeks, or maybe you’ll be less angry, but so far, it seems like you guys just do not see it comin’.

While you chew on that, here’s some other fun things we did this week:

• We premiered new music from Hate Eternal, Arch Enemy, and Nader Sadek.
• We enjoyed a new episode of “Cooking Contaminated,” this one featuring King Fowley of Deceased.
• We checked out the latest releases from Benighted and Zubrowska.
• We wondered if Metallica and friends have gone too far in their quest for the Big Fortune.
• We checked out some *real* hardcore.
• We weighed Donald Trump’s claim that President Obama was the first drummer for Overkill.
• We wondered why talent can’t be passed down via genetics.
• We weighed, compared and contrasted multiple metal concerts showcasing female-fronted bands.
• We prayed for Kurt Cobain to rise from his grave and off Miley Cyrus.
• We wondered whether or not Dave Grohl is gonna be on the new Mastodon album.

And so, in conclusion… I am going to get a slice of pizza now.

See ya next week.

-AR

One of you recently sent us the video for “No Salvation” by the band Hostile (and I lost your e-mail so I apologize for not properly crediting you by name), pointing out that the band was noteworthy because their bassist, Alex Hill, is the offspring of Ian Hill, who, in case you know nothing about anything, is the bass player for Judas Priest. In fact, it turns out that Hostile’s debut album, Eve of Destruction, was produced by K.K. Downing, who, of course, just recently left Judas Priest. And you’d hope that a) Ian Hill had transferred some of his talent via his sperm, and/or b) Downing was able to bring some of his Judas Priest magic to these Hostile proceedings.

Alas, your hope would all be for naught. Hostile is pretty terrible. I mean, I guess it starts off as passable enough Swedecore, but then the singer, who apparently has no higher aspiration than to be in Five Finger Death Punch, starts his bit, and the whole thing becomes more or less completely fucking awful.

And what’s kind of amazing about this is that Ian Hill is not the only child of a metal star who somehow totally failed to inherit any of his father’s talent.

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