Italian prog metal maestros Ephel Duath are really just an Italian prog metal maestro, singular — the band has gone through something like 1,864,093 line-up changes since 1998, with guitarist Davide Tiso being the only constant. Do hardcore Ephel Duath fans consider that a total bummer, or do they not care? Regardless, this news should make them happy: their new line-up promotes Ephel Duath to a full-fledged supergroup.

For the band’s next release, Tiso has recruited Karyn Crisis (from, y’know, Crisis) to handle vocal duties, Steve DiGiorgio (Death, Testament, Obscura) to play bass, and Marco Minemann (Necrophagist, Kreator) to beat the drums. Holy shit, that’s an interesting collection of musicians, isn’t it?

Minemann is about to start recording drums for the band’s next EP, which will come out in 2012 via Agonia Records. And, clearly, it just became one of the more anticipated releases of next year. So there’s something to be excited for.

-AR

A 100% accurate portrayal of the research discussed in this article.

In college, I once took a course on literary representations of New York City, and one the texts utilized was Frank Miller’s graphic novel, The Dark Knight Returns.

My point being simply that it was only a matter of time until academia turned its eye towards extreme music.

From an official press release:

“A research group of a faculty member and graduate students in the University of North Carolina system and in the university of Oulu, Finland, are conducting a multi-year international study of the meaning of metal music. The research project was started in summer 2008 and its main data consists of questionnaires and interviews on the meaning of metal to the different participants of the global metal scene. So far, the researchers have received 370 survey responses, representing a diverse community of Metal fans—men and women between the ages of 13 and 70 from 25 different countries have participated in the research project thus far. Some of the artists interviewed in the project include members from Amorphis, Dark Tranquillity, Disturbed, Nonpoint, Swallow the Sun, Katatonia, The Black Dahlia Murder, Kreator, Epica, Scar Symmetry, As I Lay Dying, Barren Earth, Rotten Sound, and Cannibal Corpse.”

Click to read more…

The men of Coroner, with Kreator (shirtless and far left) around 1985

Coroner made a few of metal’s great records and that is impressive in light of our genre’s high failure rate. So when Coroner members talk, I listen. ‘Cuz hey I’d like to know what kind of people can conjure six sides worth of significant, singular, distinctive metal. That amounts to roughly thirty awesome jamz (and other great and good ones uh onez); compare that to zero and counting from fundamentally sound but horrible bands like the one whose name rhymes with lithium.

Anyway, fuck I’m wearing out your eyes with blather when you should already be rushing over to ASCAP’s official site to find the fucking awesome Q&A with Coroner drummer Marky Edelmann and bassist-rasper Ron Broder. Click to read more…

I’m at the point where I pretty much prefer animated movies to live-action ones. I passed up some big deal, hotshot movie that came out recently, whose name I don’t even remember, to see Rango. I’m usually a pretty good judge, too, because I knew Rango was going to be awesome ,and it was. It looks absolutely amazing, and if you’re a nerd for animation detail, the gross, crusty animals will thrill you. Not to mention the classic movie references from Chinatown to Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas. It’s also damn violent for a “kids movie.” And well, I’m a movie nerd with a deep love for filmic violence. My dad didn’t have any sons, ok? He raised me to love his Fab Four; Arnold, Bruce, Sylvester, and Jean-Claude. And Dolph, on days he felt generous.

This might be odd, but I always liked to think about what various characters’ personalities would be like. Down to their music and movie taste. I especially try to pick out the metalheads, because I want to find my animated brothers and sisters in arms. It was while musing on the subject on Twitter that I found out the talented Ms. Elise over at Reign in Blonde kind of does the same thing. Apparently, all my acquaintances are online these days. She actually compiled a list of the most metal Disney characters, and with her help, I’ve expanded the list. Here are the Ten Most Likely Metalheads in Animated Movies (excluding anime and other international releases, as the author has not done enough research on the subject.)

Click to read more…

Veteran touring musicians are able to tune all sorts of things out, from tinnitus-inducing treble to terrible opening bands to snoring bandmates. Still, it must have been quite the endurance test for Barren Earth’s Oppu Laine and Mikko Kotomäki to talk to MetalSucks from the balcony of L.A.’s Key Club, right in the middle of sound check for their first ever tour. They were there as part of the Finnish Metal Tour Part II package, in support of last year’s excellent debut Curse of the Red River. As snare drums thwacked repeatedly and guitars sprayed ear-splitting distortion at regular intervals, the Finnish band’s bassist/founder and lead vocalist (respectively) opined about their musical pasts and presents, why Finland seems to produce folk and funeral doom bands almost exclusively, and what excites them about being on the road.

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Ah, Valentine’s Day. Reviled by most, enjoyed by the smug, and shrugged off by the belligerently ambivalent. But while most of us couldn’t care less about this specific day in February, it’s still an annoyance that comes around every year. Kind of like the common cold.

Now, most places will have shitloads of “quirky” recommendations you can do with your special someone, even if you’re of the metalhead persuasion. You can hold sweaty hands in the privacy of your parents’ basement, pour each other some classy Motorhead wine, and share a blood pudding in the dreamy light of those church candles. It’s all very nice and sweet to be… nice and sweet.

But you know what’s better? DOING IT. With a killer soundtrack. So on this very special day, I’ve made you all a romantically inappropriate mix tape.

Picking “mood” songs is a little too obvious for my taste. I mean yeah, Faith No More’s “Stripsearch” (Actually, that might be more of a stripping song than a sexing one, but ,hmm, “Evidence” maybe? Heh, “Be Aggressive” might work for some. Either way, Patton’s voice = nudity.) and NIN’s “Closer” are both appropriate (for very different reasons), but that’s no fun. Go forth and find that special someone willing to get, get naked to these select songs. There’s a little something for everyone. St. Valentine would’ve wanted it that way.

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Welcome to “Question of the Week,” a (sometimes) weekly debate amongst the MetalSucks staff regarding a recent hot button issue.

Presumably inspired by this week’s announcement of a Big 4 show in the U.S., this week’s question was posed by MetalSucks contributor/author of the Reign in Blood entry into the 33 1/3 book series, D.X. Ferris. Mr. Ferris was even good enough to join us for this edition of QOTW! And his query was:

IF THE BIG FOUR WERE THE BIG EIGHT, WHICH BANDS WOULD BE THE NEXT FOUR IN THE GROUP?

The MS staff’s answers after the jump.

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Y’know what would be awesome? If the Teutonic Big Three (that would be Kreator, Destruction, and Sodom) all toured together. “Take that, American Big Four!” the line-up would seem to say, followed by spitting and some curses mumbled in German. And then everyone in the crowd would eat schnitzel and chug hefeweizen. I’d be so down for that, even if German people scare me the way change scares a redneck.

I came up with this ridiculous fantasy while watching the below excerpt from Sodom’s new DVD, Lords of Depravity, Pt II, in which they grace us with a performance of “Outbreak of Evil.” It debuted on Metal Injection today, and it looks pretty rad. And Kreator certainly killed it when we saw them live earlier this year. I’ve never seen Destruction live, but assuming they’re as good as these other bands, I think we could have a real night of fun drunken debauchery on our hands.

Lords of Depravity, Pt II was filmed at Sodom’s 25th anniversary (!) show at Wacken in 2007. It comes out July 27.

-AR

So Dimmu Borgir have been slowly unveiling the cover art for their new album — which we now know will be titled Abrahadabra - and the full thing is finally available for your viewing pleasure. It was created by Joachim Luetke, who also did Kreator’s Enemy of God and Arch Enemy’s Nemesis (amongst other things), so… I guess he really likes making art around the concept of a fucked-up looking head/skull/noggin whatever. But, hey, everyone’s gotta have a trademark! And this still looks pretty freakin’ metal.

Nuclear Blast will release Abrahadabra Germany on September 24th, in the rest of Europe on September 27th, and in North America on October 12th. The rumor is that Snowy Shaw (no, that’s not his real name), who recently quit Therion, is taking ICS Vortex’s place; I never thought Dimmu Borgir would have a member named “Snowy,” but he’s a way stronger choice than the douche I heard had the offer, so, y’know. Swell!

-AR

Our bro-bros over at Metal Injection have debuted the new Kreator video, “Destroy What Destroys You,” which you can check out below. I give it credit for being the video of an awesome Kreator song. And for debuting on Metal Injection. And, um… wow, it really looks like the people are moving and singing! The illusion of life on my screen is very impressive. And did I mention I like the song? Yeah. It’s a good song. Good song.

“Destroy What Destroys You” comes off of Kreator’s latest, Hordes of Chaos, which is out now on Steamhammer.

-AR

Musically speaking, I can think of way worse people than Ryan Adams. But insofar as haircut models and metal fans go, I’d really like to take a shit in the guy’s mouth.

First of all – and I say this as a dude who is often told he “doesn’t look metal” – if you marry Mandy Moore, you forfeit your right to wear a Kreator shirt. I know that’s a really arbitrary rule and, no, I can’t back it up with thought or logic, but it’s still a rule ’cause I say so.

Second of all, if you’ve ever called the lyrics on Death Magnetic “profound,” shove your favorite Kreator shirt up your ass. (“What don’t kill ya makes ya more strong.” Yep, that’s some John Donne shit right there.)

And third of all, if you’ve ever written an ironic metal song called “Evil Weekend” for a band called “Werewolph,”pull that Kreator shirt out of your ass and hang yourself with it.

Unfortunately, I am powerless to prevent the evils caused by this man who has the same haircut my mom had in the seventies. And so our friend Stabitha Christie at Metal Insider tell us that Mr. Adams “has written eleven songs inspired by Dio’s funeral.”

Click to read more…

#5 – Necrophagist

Technical German death metal that crushes!

Click to read more…

When I wrote an article in the wintry depths of December proclaiming Finnish melo-doomsters Barren Earth “Metal to Be Really, Really Cold To” and likened their dark, epic music to bands like Swallow the Sun (among others), I didn’t even realize that the genetic makeup of Barren Earth essentially makes them a melo-doom supergroup. For those filling out their roster cards in the stands, here’s the starting lineup:

Mikko Kotamäki – Vocals (Swallow The Sun)
Olli-Pekka Laine – Bass (Ex-Amorphis, Mannhai)
Kasper Mårtenson – Keyboards (Ex-Amorphis, Ben Granfelt Band)
Janne Perttilä – Guitar (Rytmihäiriö)
Marko Tarvonen – Drums (Moonsorrow)
Sami Ylisirniö – Guitar (Kreator, Waltari)

I mean, like, WOAH, right? Barren Earth’s Our Twilight EP, released this past fall, was a dark and doomy affair reminiscent of Swallow the Sun (duh), Agalloch, Daylight Dies and you know exactly what I mean if you’ve made it this far into the article. On the eve of the release of their new full-length, Curse of the Red River (March 29th in Europe, April 6th in the U.S.), Barren Earth have offered us an exclusive stream of their new track “The Leer.” Both this track and “Forlorn Waves” (available on their MySpace) are a bit more uptempo than the material on Our Twilight but no less characteristic of the parts from which the band is comprised.

Stream “The Leer” below and pre-order the new album here.

[this promotion has ended]

Last weekend I was lucky enough to be back in NYC for my spring break (even though the first week of March is clearly not spring), and was able to catch the Kreator, Voivod, Nachmystium, Evile, and Lazarus A.D. show. Considering that it had been a little while since I have been pushed up against someone bigger and sweatier than I am, I was pretty geeked.

While I was at the show it dawned on me that, unlike in most sports, there aren’t statistics that tell you how well a band performed. Soccer has the a similar problem, which they solve by giving each player a 1 – 10 ranking based on their overall performance. So in honor of the upcoming world cup and my brother, who both despises metal and introduced me to soccer, I give you the band ratings for the Kreator show in soccer style.

Click to read more…

Although at first glance at this photo makes it appear as though Ol Drake is stroking a massive hard-on, that’s actually a garbage bin just behind him. Alas, he was not that excited to be speaking with Axl Rosenberg.

Whatever the hell it is we’re calling Evile’s particular metallica subgenre these days – retro thrash, rethrash, nu thrash, or just plain old motherfucking thrash – they’re one of the better bands playing it right now. Like only a handful of their peers, they really seem to “get” the music – and so while their roots as a Metallica cover band might show, it doesn’t really matter ’cause, well, who can think about that shit while headbanging so damn hard?

It’s been a tumultuous time for the band as of late – founding bassist Mike Alexander passed away in October of last year – but they’ve managed to persevere, and now find themselves doing pretty much the best first North American tour any non-American (in this case, British) band could hope for: playing support for Kreator along with Voivod, Nachtmystium, and Lazarus A.D. And as if that wasn’t enough, almost immediately thereafter they hit the road with Overkill. Sheesh.

Following the band’s gig here in New York last weekend, I got to speak with guitarist Ol Drake, who, despite his almost Heavy Metal Muppet-ish appearance, is a very cordial, soft-spoken gentleman. After the jump, get Ol’s thoughts on playing the States for the first time, why it’s taken them so damn long to get here, new bassist Joel Graham, the status of the next Evile record, and more.

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Kreator’s twenty-fifth anniversary tour, which features the very strong supporting line-up of Voivod, Nachtmystium, Evile, and Lazarus A.D., rolled through NYC on Saturday night, and, yeppers, I was there. I don’t have tons to say about it, but I did wanna give you a quick run-down, in the event that you are somehow on the fence about whether or not to buy a ticket when the tour comes to your town… so here are some quick thoughts about all the bands, in the order in which they appeared:

Click to read more…

Did you know that if you eat before you start slamming shots, you’ll get a little less drunk, but you’ll also have something to vomit up later? It’s true. Also, sometimes when you smoke weed, you get the munchies. These are just two great reasons why you should care about Hellbent for Cooking: The Heavy Metal Cookbook by Annick “Morbid Chef” Giroux. Showcasing “a varied menu of over a hundred recipes from thirty countries,” Hellbent for Cooking features recipes by members of Accept, Anthrax, Anvil, Armored Saint, Brutal Truth, Death, Electric Wizard, Eyehategod, Gwar, Judas Priest, Kreator, Mayhem, Melechesh, Nuclear Assault, Obituary, Repulsion, Saint Vitus, Sepultura, Sigh, S.O.D., Slough Feg, Thin Lizzy, Toxic Holocaust, and about a trillion others (you can get a complete list of contributing bands here).

MetalSucks is teaming up with Bazillion Points Publishing to give away three (3) copies of Hellbent for Cooking. All you have to do to win is create a picture that somehow connects metal to food and post a link to someplace we can view said picture in the comments section below. Use Photoshop to create an image of Lemmy eating a hot dog, use MS Paint to do a portrait of Metallica as the pepperonis on a pizza, whatever you want – it just has to be both food and metal related, and it has to amuse us. Vince and I will choose the three pics that make us laugh the hardest and those pics’ creators win the book.

This contest will end at midnight EST on Monday, December 14. Please note that this contest is open to U.S. residents only, as shipping costs are a bitch. And if you’re too lazy to participate, you can always just order a copy of the book here.

Good luck, and good eats…

-AR

You know how I know things aren’t all terrible in the metal world right now? The people who run iTunes think there’s enough money to be made that they’ve now created an entire metal section.

Click to read more…

Here’s a picture of Ryan Adams, who would irritate the living shit out of me even if he wasn’t married to the equally annoying Mandy Moore, wearing a Kreator shirt at a recent art show:

If Ryan Adams can tell me the name of one Kreator song, I’ll suck his cock and film it for the site. Go for it, Ryan. I’m waiting.

See more photos here. Formerly cool D-Generation singer turned hipster tool bag Jesse Malin was there, too.

-AR

[via SMN]

This mash-up of Kreator and Alicia Keys (featuring Eve) is… well, it’s technically well done (by DJ Schmolli), insofar as it does sound like it could be a real song. Unfortunately, that would be a song I hate. Which is weird, because remove Ms. Keys and Ms. Eve from the equation, and, y’know, I dig Kreator. But, yeah. I can’t get behind the rapping. Sorry.

-AR

[via a tweet from Metal Blade]