MetalSucks

In a time when being “heavy” in the world of metal all too often relies on generic chug or the most guttural vocals spewed forth, it’s always reassuring when a band can actually sing and still be “heavy.” And it’s even more reassuring when that band is Katatonia – because at this point in the game, you know what you’re going to get: an awesome record that relies more on feeling and flavor than overt technicality or balls-to-the-wall brutality.

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Here’s a great example of an excellent music video that was clearly made on a budget. Take a goth chick, go out to the middle of the woods, and film some shit in a style that is both a) intriguing and b) appropriate to the music, and what do you get? An excellent promotional tool that’s enjoyable to watch. Good for Katatonia.

Bonus: this video makes the tension in my shoulders dissolve. Not entirely sure why.

The song, “Day and then the Shade,” comes off of Katatonia’s latest, Night is the New Day, which is out now on Peaceville.

-AR

Holy shit. I wasn’t even out that late last night, but for some reason I am just so tired today that it feels like nothing is really happening. Am I really typing this? Did I really write something positive about Zakk Wylde? Can I please just go to sleep now? I’m just gonna go to sleep now.

Before I do, here’s some things that happened this week:

• We’re giving away a free download of Katatonia’s new song, “Forsaker.”
• We spoke to Hypocrisy’s Peter Tagtgren and Brian Cook from Russian Circles and These Arms Are Snakes.
• We checked out new releases from Slayer and Jesu.
• Otep Shamaya gives women in metal a good name – too bad she won’t be a woman much longer.
• Leaves’ Eyes singer Liv Kristine gives women in metal a bad name – or, at least, a silly one.

Alright, seriously, night-night time for Axl. I think Gary Suarez is going to the NYC Vader gig tomorrow; if anyone sees him there, give him a dead arm for me.

-AR

Congrats to the winners of last week’s funny photo caption contest, each of whom will receive a dandy Dying Fetus CD in the mail for their troubles. The winning entries:

Harahune: “Mister Nugent was not sure how to react to seeing Mustaine. After all, he had hunted deer and boar but never jackasses.”

Richard Michael Christopher Hall: “Hello me, meet the old me.”

That thar is comedic brilliance. This week we’re giving away one prize package from Katatonia: their new CD Night is the New Day, a hoodie, a t-shirt and a poster. Yowza, that’s a lot of Katatonia swag! Just come up with a funny caption to the below photo, and it’s all yours.

Katatonia’s Night Is the New Day comes out in the U.S. next Tuesday, November 10th and the rest of the world today… which basically means it’s out today! To celebrate, we’re offering the band’s first single “Forsaker” as a free download. If you like it (which you ought to if you know what’s good for you), believe you me when I say that the rest of the record has a lot more in store for you. Order Night Is the New Day here.

Download “Forsaker.”

For whatever reason, Katatonia is one of those bands that’s always just slipped beneath my radar. By all accounts I should be absolutely gaga about this band, so their impending release of Night Is the New Day (which I just got and will be spinning today) is providing a great excuse for me to go back and do some Katatonia edu-ma-cation. Here’s the video for “My Twin” from their 2006 release The Great Cold Distance; cool song, cool video.

What are your favorite Katatonia albums and songs?

-VN

But lucky for us, the track is really fucking good [thanks: SMNnews.com]. It’s called “Forsaker” and comes from Night Is The New Day, the new album from progressive metal masters Katatonia. The record drops on November 10th via Peaceville Records, and I personally can’t wait to hear what’s in store.

Keep up with the latest news from the band at NightIsTheNewDay.com.

-VN

It may be 80 degrees and Sunny today, but it’s not too soon to start thinking about the gloomy darkness of Autumn and the doomy goodness that the 2009 season is going to bring; Swallow the Sun and Paradise Lost both have new records on the way.

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We love Daylight Dies here at the MS Mansion and apparently Cosmo Lee of Invisible Oranges (and several other fine publications) does too:

I put on Lost to the Living (Candlelight, 2008) as Hurricane Hanna hit New York. As rain curtained my windows, my room darkened. It wasn’t just the sky. My thoughts went south to North Carolina, home of Daylight Dies, and where Hanna had just touched down. Few bands change the color of a room so effectively. Outside of metal: Joy Division and The Cure (for me, Disintegration (incidentally, this record was mixed at Fascination Street Studios)). In metal, Daylight Dies’ colleagues: Katatonia, Sentenced, Swallow the Sun, Insomnium. These are soundtracks for rainy days – blankets, hot tea, and metal.

If it’s raining wherever you’re reading this from, crank it up and curl up in front of a fire (or smoke a bowl). If it’s not, you can just pretend.

Daylight Dies – “A Subtle Violence”

Daylight Dies – “Cathedral”

-VN