So yesterday, now-former Chimaira guitarist and current Six Feet Under six stringer Rob Arnold tweeted that “Work has begun on the new project with” Andols Herrick — the twice-departed Chimaira drummer whose most recent split with the band came about over a year ago and was announced this past April — and posted the above photo, I guess in case there was any doubt that, yes, work has indeed begun on a new project with Herrick. (Although this picture, which was posted a little while later with the caption “Metal is timeless,” is much more fun.)

And, hey, it’s no secret that I’m a massive Chimaira fan — so it’s not like I bummed that these dudes are working on something new together. I am, however, a little surprised. ‘Cause remember what Herrick said following his second departure from that band? Here, I’ll remind you:

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So it looks like Chimaira kept pretty busy while we were away.

First: as announced in November, last week’s twelfth annual Chimaira Christmas marked the band’s final performance with guitarists Rob Arnold and Matt DeVries. And, unfortunately, DeVries’ parting gift to vocalist Mark Hunter – who is now the band’s sole remaining original member — was to knock him over in the middle of “The Age of Hell,” resulting in Hunter taking a nasty spill and spraining his ankle. You can watch video of the incident below courtesy of The PRP (the fall comes just after the 1:18 mark), and see a photo of Hunter’s swollen ankle here.

Potentially better news is that while Hunter had thus far remained mum on his plans for Chimaira’s future, the band has since announced replacements for Arnold and DeVries.

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Maybe it’s something in the water (The Indian Ocean), but Nothnegal aren’t the first band MetalSucks has featured from the tiny Maldives island chain, some 400 miles off the southern tip of India. I wouldn’t be too quick to call the Maldives a hot-bed for metal just yet, though; cousins Hilarl and Fufu, the band’s main creative forces, had to import musicians from as far away as America and Finland to round out their lineup. The cousins are supported by Six Feet Under, Dååth, ex-Chimaira drummer Kevin Talley and Finnish keyboard player Marco Sneck (Kalmah, Poisonblack) on their new album Decadence, which comes out on January 24th via Season of Mist. But the results paid off; Nothnegal are definitely worth a look by MetalSucks readers.

“Janus” is one of the record’s slower tracks, but that’s why we like it. The song’s deliberate pace allows plenty of room to breathe for the keyboards, which at times throughout Decadence can become overbearing. The result is a moody, doomy and dark yet aggressive slice of genre-melding metal that reminds me somewhat of Ihsahn or his backing band Leprous. Stream “Janus” below.”

Bonus: if you pre-order a copy of Decadence you’ll be automatically entered to win an all expenses paid trip to the Maldives! The 5-day journey will take place at the Fihalhohi Island Resort in Summer 2012. The winner will receive one return flight to the Maldives, an all-inclusive stay (including scuba-diving and other water sport activities) for two people and a meet and greet with the band.

[this streaming promotion has ended]

Ridiculously cool cover art by Jorden Haley

Welcome to the latest edition of “Freeloader” in which we review albums that you don’t have to feel like a douche for downloading for free. Today Axl Rosenberg checks out From Exile’s latest release…

Any band considering making a covers album, let alone a tribute album to one particular band, should be made to listen to From Exile’s new, 100% free Nine Inch Nails cover EP, Just Like You Imagined. These aren’t just rote retreads that make you think “Oh yeah, I love this song!” before shutting it off and digging out the originals. Nor are they ill-conceived drek which utilizes the originals’ lyrics and little else. They’re bona fide reimaginings of the original material, wholly recognizable as the Nine Inch Nails classics we love, but From Exile have never failed to put their own stamp on the tunes.

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Alright, so I was out of the office this afternoon at a meeting, and I walk out and check my e-mail on my phone to find like a thousand e-mails from readers pointing us towards this post on The PRP, in which drummer Andols Herrick announces his departure from Chimaira.

Here are some excerpts from Herrick’s statement:

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The new version of Six Feet Under — which, in addition to founding and longtime members Chris Barnes and Steve Swanson, now features Chimaira’s Rob Arnold and Matt DeVries and Daath’s Kevin Talley amongst its ranks — made its live debut in Europe over the weekend. So, of course, we now have cell cam footage! Whoo-hoo!

There’s no new material here so the footage doesn’t really tell us that much about this reincarnation of the band, but… they do play killer covers of the Cannibal Corpse classics “Hammer Smashed Faced” and “Stripped, Raped, and Strangled” (which might be my personal favorite Corpse riff of all time).

Six Feet Under will be touring North America as part of the MetalSucks-sponsored Summer Slaughter 2011; dates for that trek will be announced on April 20.

-AR

[via The PRP]

The new Chimaira-tastic Six Feet Under rehearsing. Photo via SFU’s Twitter account.

In April, the new line-up for Six Feet Under — which includes Chimaira guitarist Rob Arnold (read my interview with him regarding the matter here) and ex-Chimaira drummer Kevin Talley — will make its live debut in Europe. Now Arnold’s co-guitarist in Chimaira, Matt DeVries, has been added into the mix, to play bass — although it sounds like he’s just stepping in for this initial tour and is not a permanent addition to the band.

Still, it’s kinda funny that past and former members of Chimaira now outnumber members of Six Feet Under in Six Feet Under. I’m sure this is just wishful thinking, but maybe they’ll throw a cover from Chimaira onto the setlist? I could hear Chris Barnes doing a pretty mean rendition of “Bloodlust”… In any case, it would seem that they’re definitely gonna do some Cannibal Corpse tunes, which should be fun.

Here are those tour dates for our European readers:

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Photo by Scott Ferrara

Rob Arnold is a busy dude. As lead guitarist and one of the principal songwriters for Chimaira, he’s been one of the leaders of the New Wave of American Heavy Metal for more than a decade now; in 2009, he launched The Elite, a new project, with Bleed the Sky drummer Austin D’Amond; and then, just yesterday, it was announced that he’s the new guitar player for Six Feet Under, original Cannibal Corpse vocalist Chris Barnes’ legendary death metal band that has long been known as one of Arnold’s favorite acts. Phew! Can’t accuse Rob Arnold of slacking off, that’s for sure.

The very first thing I did when I heard that Arnold was the latest addition to SFU (along with new drummer Kevin Talley, who, coincidentally, was in Chimaira from 2004 to 2006) was shoot him an e-mail to see if he’d be down to answer some quick questions about his latest creative endeavor. Luckily for us, he agreed! After the jump, read about how Arnold came to join Six Feet Under, the new material he’s working on with SFU, the band’s future touring plans, and, oh yeah, that new album that Chimaira is currently recording…

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Earlier this month Six Feet Under shed 50% of their line-up, and I cracked wise that they should hire Chimaira’s Rob Arnold as their new guitar player. He’s a known SFU fan (check out the video of him singing “Remains of You” above), and he writes great riffs, so, yeah, I thought he’d be a killer addition to the band’s ranks.

And, hey, guess what? Even though I was just fucking around when I said Arnold should join the band, he has now done just that! Says Six Feet Under vocalist Christ Barnes (who also used to be in some band called Cannibal Corpse):

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Why, it was just a couple of days ago that we learned that bassist Terry Butler and drummer Greg Gall have both quit Six Feet Under, and already, the band has announced a replacement for Gall: Kevin Talley, who is joining the group as part of his apparent bid to play with every band ever at least once. (Already on his resumé: Daath, Chimaira, Misery Index, Dying Fetus, Hate Eternal, Suffocation, The Black Dahlia Murder, The Red Chord, and probably fifteen other bands I’m forgetting about.)

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I’m sad to say that Eyal wasn’t able to do a new “Jumping Darkness Parade” this week — but cut the dude some slack, he’s currently on tour in Europe!

So to make sure you get your Levi fix this week, I thought that now would be an ideal time to post the below live footage of Daath performing at the Crocodile Rock in Allentown, PA last weekend, as part of the band’s recent tour with Chimaira, Impending Doom, and This or The Apocalypse. It starts with a drum solo from the always-excellent Kevin Talley, and the goes into “Double Tap Suicide,” one my favorite songs from the band’s new, self-titled album. I haven’t had a chance to see the band perform any of the new shit live yet, so this video made my day.

If you’re one of our European readers, Daath’s current tour with Fear Factory and High on Fire continues through December 20. That’s a great fuckin’ bill, ain’t it? Get dates here.

-AR

[via Metal Injection]

We’re just a week away from the release of Dååth’s new, self-titled album (pre-order it here!), and so we’re nearing the end of this almost two-month long look into the making of the record. I’m honestly kinda sad about that.

Today’s penultimate interview is with guitarist Emil Werstler. There was some web-nerd rage back in August when Dååth co-producer/co-engineer/mixer Mark Lewis called Werstler “the best guitar player in metal,” and while I tend to agree with Werstler’s band mate, one Mr. Eyal Levi, that the word “best” is basically impossible to define, I do think there’s a strong argument to be made that Lewis’ assessment is correct. During my brief time in the studio watching Werstler record, I saw him pull off ridiculously sick move after ridiculously sick move — I mean, the guy plays some really, really mind-blowing shit on this album. And little wonder he’s so good: Werstler professes himself to be a “learning addict” and is a tireless perfectionist. I watched him get so wrapped up in his work that he quite literally forgot to take breaks or make sure he was taking care of some of his basic human necessities, like eating.

After the jump, get Werstler’s thoughts on the recording of Dååth, how the band has evolved, his ongoing creative relationship with Eyal Levi, why he enjoys teaching guitar lessons when he’s not busy with the group, and more.

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Because there is. It’s also called Daath. And we love it. And we’re very excited for you to hear it. And we know that some of you think we’re biased because we’re friends with Eyal, and all we can say is, you’re right. We would never actually be friends with a talented person who is a member of a good band, only a hack whose album we can promote because we don’t really believe in it. Eyal was actually, like, our eighth choice of guest columnists, after members of Attack Attack!, The Devil Wears Prada, Oceano, Bring Me the Horizon, and this band, amongst others, turned us down.

SO. While two tracks have already been released — “Destruction/Restoration” debuted right here at MetalSucks, and “Indestructible Overdose” is streaming on the band’s MySpace page — now you’ve got a chance to hear a third: “N.A.T.G.O.D.” has just debuted over at Metal Injection. Go here to listen.

And now that you’ve heard approximately 23% of the album and you’ve come to realize that we’re not just biased and this album really does rule and you’re so excited to hear the rest of it that the October 25 release date can’t come soon enough, go here to pre-order the thing.

And while you’re jonesin’ to hear the remainder of the record… Skulls N’ Bones have now completed their series of in-studio videos chronicling the creation of Daath, and I’ve collected them all right here for you, ’cause these are really fun and I’m a nice guy like that. Here’s the one centering on Eyal…

And here’s the one about drummer Kevin Talley…

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Eric Guenther may end up being the unsung hero of Dååth’s forthcoming, self-titled album, which Century Media will release on October 25 (pre-order it here). He’s not even technically a member of the band; his main gig is being the guitarist/vocalist for From Exile (read my love letter to that band here). But as he did for Levi/Werstler’s Avalanche of Worms earlier this year, he has made some truly invaluable contributions to Dååth. His synths aren’t of the “Dead on the Dance Floor” variety; they’re far more subtle, adding layers of sound and atmosphere that up the record’s epicness quotient, increase its replay value (I guarantee you, you’re not gonna pick up on everything Guenther is doing the first time you hear the album), and increase the music’s insistence that it be listened to with a good pair of earphones. Praise for Guenther’s augmentations may get lost amidst all the insanity that the rest of the band brings to the table, but without his presence, Dååth would be a completely different record.

I sat down with Guenther this past June, when I was in Atlanta visiting Dååth in the studio. He’s an incredibly smart guy (read the guest blog he wrote for us this past April here), and I think his approach to his particular job on the album was just right. Check out the full transcript of our chat after the jump.

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I’m sitting here editing an interview with Eric Guenther, which we’re gonna run tomorrow afternoon. Guenther plays synths on the new Daath album, and did the same on Levi/Werstler’s Avalanche of Worms earlier this year, but his main gig is as guitarist and vocalist for Atlanta’s From Exile. And even though I’ve had From Exile’s self-released Monolith forever, and even though I love and listen to it constantly, I’ve never gotten around to writing about it. It doesn’t say anything about the music; it’s just one of those things.

But I’m gonna write about From Exile now, damn it. ‘Cause this is a damn fine band, and you should all be listening to them.

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Whether you realize it or not, you probably own an album that Mark Lewis has worked on. He started working with Jason Suecof at the already-legendary Audiohammer Studios for 2005′s Roadrunner United collection; since then, either working with Suecof or on his own, he has produced, engineered, and/or mixed a ridiculous number of major metal releases, including albums by Death Angel, Chimaira, The Black Dahlia Murder, DevilDriver, Trivium, Six Feet Under, Whitechapel, Demon Hunter, Charred Walls of the Damned, The Autumn Offering, and more. Hell, just last week we debuted a Holy Grail track, and didn’t even realize that Mark mixed the song until after the fact!

Mark is obviously ridiculously good at what he does, but he also happens to be a super cool dude — which is probably why artists are so ready to work him over and over again. In fact, Daath’s self-titled album, which Century Media will release on October 25 (pre-order it here), is his second time working with guitarists Emil Werstler and Eyal Levi (who co-produced and co-engineered the album with Lewis) just this year — he was also on-board for their excellent Avalanche of Worms album (and wrote a great guest blog for MetalSucks upon that album’s release).

When I was in Atlanta for a few days this past June visiting Daath in the studio (read my report here), I managed to pull Mark away from his console for a little while to pick his brain on the creation of this ridiculously good album. Read the full transcript of our chat after the jump.

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Eyal Levi’s studio resides in the basement of his family’s home in suburban Atlanta. It’s a small room that couldn’t comfortably hold more than five, maybe six people; if your only mental image of a band making a record comes from A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica, it might be a little off-putting. You’re perpetually aware that you’re actually in the middle of someone’s house; various non-local metal denizens (including this blogger) populate the guest beds and couches, while members of Daath who live within driving distance but aren’t necessarily needed at the moment come and go as they please to share meals, jokes, vape rips, and the work-in-progress. It’s only when you really look around and soak in the details of your surroundings — the box full of copies of Daath’s self-released debut, Futility; the Misery Index vinyls; the post-it note by the door that makes reference to an incident involving Arsis’ James Malone, the house security system, and the local police department — that you realize: Oh, yeah. I’ve got albums on my iPod that were recorded in this room!

Daath have returned here to make their new, self-titled album after recording 2008′s The Concealers at producer Jason Suecof’s Audio Hammer Studios in Florida. The relaxed and homey environment was chosen deliberately for this outing. The name of the game this time is “creative freedom,” and the atmosphere at Eyaland (the studio doesn’t have an official name) definitely seems to breed open thinking — which is key, given that the group has only written and demoed skeletal versions of the songs, with the flourishes that, frankly, make Daath Daath still-to-be-added.

The decision to work this way came about because the band has felt, in the past, as though sometimes their preproduction demos “would sound better than the records we released,” Eyal explains. ”Lots of times we’d feel we were making better-sounding-but-more-stale-versions of what we did [on the demos], because lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place… This time we didn’t allow that. We got the songs to the point where we’re comfortable hitting ‘record,’ and we’re taking them to the next level in the studio.”

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Well, we’ve been talking about it for some time, but now you get to hear some of Daath‘s new, self-titled album and make up your mind for yourself — we’re giving away “Destruction/Restoration,” the second cut off the record, as a FREE download.

It should go without saying that we love this song. It sounds like Daath have been let off the leash: Emil Werstler is playing insane shit which should make guitar geeks everywhere cream their pants, Kevin Talley is going absolutely nuts and playing anything but what’s expected, the production, by Mark Lewis and Eyal Levi, is filthy, and the music is darker than Vince Neil’s liver and more misanthropic than Glenn Danzig at a doctor’s office. “Destruction/Restoration” is only about two-and-a-half minutes long, but you’ll never be able to appreciate it after just one listen; it’s just too layered and crazy for that. So download this one on us, get a good pair of headphones, and blow your ear drums to smithereens.

Daath comes out October 25 on Century.

DAATH – “DESTRUCTION/RESTORATION”

Daath – “Destruction/Restoration”

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I think bassist Jeremy Creamer may be the biggest question mark for most Daath fans; he’s not front n’ center like vocalist Sean Z., and unlike guitarists Eyal Levi and Emil Werstler and drummer Kevin Talley, his work outside of Daath is not, at least currently, that well-known by the metal community (very likely because his work outside of Daath is often not metal music). But he’s an insanely cool dude and an insanely talented dude, and… I’m not gonna tell you more ’cause I’m gonna run an interview with him as part of the massive behind-the-scenes series I’m working on. So for the time being, just watch the below video that Skulls N’ Bones posted of him laying down bass for Daath’s new, self-titled album, which comes out October 26 on Century.

Daath has also released the track list for the album. Even with a band I love (like this one!), I don’t usually find track lists all that interesting, ‘case song titles don’t actually tell you much, but this being Daath n’ all, I’m gonna run it anyway. Check it out after the jump.

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Its 4:21 am on June 14th, 2010. We’re exactly one week into the drum sessions for the new DÅÅTH record. I’m sitting in a makeshift control room that was constructed for us at the Atlanta Institute of Music. After a very insane start, we’ve hit a great workflow.

Let me explain what I mean by “insane.” One of our stated goals for this record is to make it real. What I mean by “real” is that what you will hear is what we played. No smoke and mirrors, no trickery, no using the studio as a crutch. In the older days, when albums actually sold and recording budgets were high, albums would take months and months to create. Of course, the technology that is available to us today was not around back then, so things that now can be done in an hour would take a day or more. Like editing drums, for instance. It’s much easier to edit drums on a computer with a monitor than on tape that you have to cut together. For a good example of what I’m talking about ,check out that scene in A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica where they’re talking about editing together the drum fills. While the editing capabilities have gotten better, lots of people have taken these new tools to the level of completely manufacturing what in the 90’s and earlier would be performed. Why do you think bands these days sound so damn tight on record? Its not that they’re actually tighter. It’s that they’re edited better. Bands, for the most part, were actually tighter in the analog days, because they HAD to perform their parts. They couldn’t rely on the editing skills of the engineer to fix their shortcomings.

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