Seas Will Rise have a strong connection to Landmine Marathon — the band features founding Marathoner Eric Saylor, and their debut album, Disease is Our Refrain, was recorded and mixed by current Landmine Marathon guitarist Ryan Butler. And if you’re sitting there wondering “Gee, does that mean that Seas Will Rise play brutal, filthy, hardcore-flavored death grind?”, then you will be happy to know that the answer is, “Yes. Yes they do. And they are AWESOME AT IT.”

And should you doubt us, well, we’ll prove it, fuckers — we’re debuting the track “A Sleeper’s Cell” below. It is some epic curb-stomping shit.

Here’s what Saylor had to tell us about “A Sleeper’s Cell” –

“Cormac McCarthy’s The Road has been a really big influence on this band. When I started thinking about what I wanted to do for this record, I really wanted to work on a cohesive theme of this post-apocalyptic world. Since we’re from Arizona, I wanted everything to be set in the desert. This is the first song on the record, so I wanted to set up everything that follows and capture that sort of desperate, exasperation that would come with literally being on a run for your life 24/7.”

Mission accomplished, Mr. Saylor. Mission accomplished big time.

Check out “A Sleeper’s Cell Below.” Disease is Our Refrain comes out March 6 via Man in Decline and Anxiety Machine Records. It’s gonna be limited to 500 LPs, 100 of which are bone colored, so if you want one, you should buy it up quick. You can do so here.

I am an ignorant slut.

Even though both Ryan Butler and Matt Martinez from Landmine Marathon put Vastum’s Carnal Law on their 2011 year-end lists, and even though MetalSucks’ own Satan Rosenbloom was strongly considering the album for his own list, and even though Corey Mitchell… well, actually, Corey thought it was “meh.” But he “almost thought” it was good, so that’s something!

And yet, I never checked out Carnal Law until this afternoon, when Brad Fickeisen, former drummer for The Red Chord, recommended it to me via Twitter.

For shame, Axl. For shame. Carnal Law is ugly, raw death metal, but what sets it apart is the pace and the quality of the riffs. Everything — including the guitar solos, which are never unstructured King/Hanneman stuff — is catchy as hell, and played at a… well, maybe not quite an elephants marching speed, but certainly an elephants galloping speed. The combination of these two elements pretty much ensures that, yes, you will be bouncing your head in time with the music. Seriously. Don’t try to fight it — you’ll lose.

Vastum’s Carnal Law is out now on 20 Buck Spin. You can stream and/or purchase the entire thing here. The cost of legally downloading the album is $6.66, which should really be the cost of all heavy metal mp3 downloads from now on.

In the event you’re too lazy to click a fucking link, here’s “Devoid,” the track which Brad recommended, and which sold me on the whole thing in the first place.

Also, if you’re not already, you should be following Brad Fickeisen on Twitter.

-AR

One of the albums I most agonized over not being able to squeeze onto my year end list in 2011 was Landmine Marathon’s Gallows, a truly brutal piece of work that may very well be the death-grind quintet’s best yet. And the fact that the release didn’t end up on the list was really one of those semi-arbitrary decisions that just goes to show that these lists are more or less complete bullshit; Gallows could easily have been somewhere in my ranking, and I’d be just as happy and unhappy with that ranking as I am now.

All of which is my long-winded way of asking you to check out the band’s new video for the Gallows track “Beaten and Left Blind.” If you don’t already know and love Landmine Marathon, this is a great chance for you to get to know them at their most evil; and if you do already well know them, well, watch it anyway, ’cause it’s like a fucked-up Alice in Wonderland or something, where Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum are these two goth chicks, and there’s blood and gore and stuff.

Enjoy!

Gallows is out now on Prosthetic.

-AR

[via Metal Hammer]

HUGE drop of new releases this week including much-anticipated new records from Mastodon and Machine Head, as well as a ton of excellent other stuff from Craft, Dead In The Dirt, Landmine Marathon and more. My release reviews are a bit shorter than usual just due to the sheer volume of material coming out this week, but I think I covered most points of interest. Check it out after the jump.  On a side note, Metalsucks wants to send a birthday shout-out to Rodney Githens, member of Vertebrae 33 and the artist behind the awesome Metal Suckfest poster.  Have a good one, dude.

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Earthquakes. Hurricanes. New records by The Devil Wears Prada. Come at us, brah! We can survive anything.

Here’s what we did while shit conspired to kill us:

• We debuted new music by East of the Wall and 400 Blows.
• We spoke to Amos Williams from TesseracT about the band’s recent vocalist swap.
• We checked out the latest release from Landmine Marathon.
• We wondered: Which is better, grindcore or doom metal?
• We also wondered: Is it better to make great albums but suck live, or to be great live but put out sucky albums?
• We also also wondered: Who are the top ten metal lyricists?
• We learned what not to do if you’re in an unknown band.
• We were bummed to learn that vocalist Travis Richter has split with The Human Abstract.
• We continued to count down 31 Days of Faith No More.
• We confirmed The Red Chord, Obscura, and Rosetta for The Metal Suckfest.

Alright, I’m gonna go set up my slip n’ slide and get ready for the rain. Come hell or high water (pun intended), I promise you we will be back on Monday. See ya then.

-AR

Landmine Marathon are a competent death metal band. To their fans, that may sound blasphemous; to casual admirers, it may sound like I’m underselling them. But, really, isn’t that a compliment? To be a band that a) can play their instruments, b) can play their instruments without Pro-Tools tinkering, c) leave something of an impression all while d) still playing ball in the rigid rules and orthodoxies of death metal is quite a feat; we’re so conditioned to seek out the BEST OF THE BEST that sometimes it’s easy to forget that there are competent bands out there doing great work. So while I don’t think the metal world would be any different if Landmine Marathon weren’t in it, I’m certainly glad they’re around to roundhouse kicking motherfuckers in the face. And Gallows, their latest, is a great front-to-back listen of gruff, unpretentious death metal. Nothing more, and that’s for the best.

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I really enjoyed “Living Weapon,” the new Warbringer track the band debuted last month; I’m enjoying the new new Warbringer song the band has just released, “Shattered Like Glass,” less. I think it boils down to the very simple fact that I don’t like the riff in the new new song as much as I like the riff in the old new song.

But it’s not a bad song, and there were bound to be some tunes on Warbringer’s new album, Worlds Torn Asunder, that I liked more than others, soooo… yeah, you should definitely check out this little ditty for yourself and make up your own mind. In fact, I’m curious to see what other Warreceivers (That’s what the band calls their fans, right?) think of “Glass” in comparison to “Weapon.”

Worlds Torn Asunder comes out September 27 on Century Media. The band will follow its release with a North American headlining run featuring Lazarus A.D., Landmine Marathon, and Diamond Plate as support. Get dates here.

-AR

Can I say something that might sound kinda weird, but I mean as a total compliment? Listening to the new Landmine Marathon album, Gallows, is fucking exhausting. It’s short — like just under thirty minutes — and yet, each song so is such a whirlwind of fury, by the time you’ve completed the record, you feel like you’ve just run a… well… y’know.

Now the band has unveiled another new track from the album, “Three Snake Leaves,” right here. There’s been a live bootleg of the tune online since July, but the quality of this recording is obviously much higher, and also, like I was just saying, Landmine Marathon are fucking great, so you really check it out.

Gallows comes out September 27 on Prosthetic. Shortly thereafter, the band will start a tour with Warbringer, Lazarus A.D., and Diamond Plate, and if you’ve never seen Landmine Marathon live, holy shit do you ever need to do that. I’ve never seen them play a really big room before but I assume they’ll just be fucking shit up on a much more massive and potentially life-threatening scale, which will be SO MUCH FUN to watch/be an accidental participant. Get dates here.

-AR

I’m sitting here trying to think of what to write about the new Landmine Marathon song, “Cutting Flesh and Bone,” but, really, you shouldn’t even be reading whatever I have to say. You should just be listening to the song.

So go fucking listen. This is probably the best thing you’re going to hear today; it already suggests to me that Gallows, the band’s latest, is going to be superior to last year’s Sovereign Descent, and that album was really good anyway. But this new track is some vicious, vicious, vicious shit, and if, like me, you are feeling extra-cranky today, it will provide a fine outlet through which to vent.

Gallows comes out September 27 on Prosthetic Records. Landmine Marathon are touring this October with Warbringer, Lazarus A.D., and Diamond Plate. Get dates here.

-AR

Landmine Marathon have unveiled the cover art for their latest offering, Gallows, and… holy shit, do I ever love it. It’s by Rob “Mid “ Middleton, and it immediately made me think of Peter Shaffer’s play, Equus, although in that story, the horses are blinded, not… uh… whatever the hell is going on here. But for whatever reason, I get that same kind of fucked up psychosexual vibe from this art.

Gallowscomes out September 27 on Prosthetic Records. Our pals at Metal Injection have a video in which guitarist/producer Ryan Butler discusses the above album cover; you can and should check that out here. And, finally, don’t forget that Landmine Marathon are touring this October with Warbringer, Lazarus A.D., and Diamond Plate. Get dates here.

-AR

Warbringer are streaming a new song, “Living Weapon,” on Hails and Horns, and I gotta say, literally within seconds of it beginning, I liked it a million times better than anything from Waking Into Nightmares. In fact, I think I liked it better than anything I’ve heard the band do since One by One, The Wicked Fall, their free EP that we were giving away back in the early days of MetalSucks.

Now, is the song ACTUALLY better than anything the band has recorded in several years, or am I just over  being over  the whole rethrash thing? It seems like the band was playing here in New York once a month for awhile there, and, honestly, it started to feel like overkill after awhile — so maybe the fact that I haven’t actually seen them in at least a year is helping my opinion of the music. But both the riffs and John Kevill’s vocal performance sound a lot more vicious to me than the material on their last couple of albums. But I dunno, maybe this is just the cloud of jadedness lifting.

ANYWAY, check out the track here, then debate its quality in our comments section. Warbringer’s latest offering, Worlds Torn Asunder, comes out September 27 on Century Media. The band will follow its release with a North American headlining run, natch; Lazarus A.D., Landmine Marathon, and Diamond Plate are playing support. Get dates here.

-AR

We still don’t know the title or the release date of the new Landmine Marathon album, Yes we do. It’s called Gallows, and it’s coming out September 27 on Prosthetic. but now, thanks to the magic of technology, we do have live footage of the band performing two new cuts off that eventual release: “Three Snake Leaves” (which I assume has something to do with this, in case you’re curious) and “Cutting Flesh and Bone,” which you can check out below. As is so often the case with these kinds of videos, the audio quality isn’t quite good enough to make any real judgments, but it does sound pretty Landmine Marathon-y, which is never a bad thing.

So here’s “Three Snake Leaves”…

…and “Cutting Flesh and Bone” is after the jump. Hopefully we’ll have some more concrete news about the band’s new offering soon.

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So Warbringer have a new album coming out, which means, of course, that it’s time for a tour! And while I feel like I’ve seen Warbringer live approximately eighteen gajillion times (is there any other band that tours as much as these dudes?), support is going to come from Lazarus A.D., who are great live, Landmine Marathon, who are GREAT GREAT GREAT live, and Diamond Plate, who I’ve never seen before but I know are beloved by our own Bob Cock.

So if you love Warbringer, you’re obviously going to this, but even if you don’t, I’d encourage you to check out Lazarus A.D., Landmine Marathon, Landmine Marathon, and Landmine Marathon. Stand near the front, and Grace Perry may even jump into the crowd and knock a few of your teeth out. That lady has force, dude.

Here are tour dates:

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photo by Jeremiah Cooper

For those of you too young to remember ‘em, cassette tapes were a total pain in the ass. If you wanted to listen to a specific song on a specific album, you either had to know the exact time it appeared on said album, or otherwise you had to engage in a process that went something like this:

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I’ve never seen Skeletonwitch do a full headlining set. But assuming that they up the intensity even further from their support and festival slots, I’d have to imagine that such a gig would leave many audience members maimed or killed, a la Dethklok.

And I’m all for a good metal maiming. Really. If music can’t fuck your shit up, then what’s it good for?

So. Skeletonwitch have, indeed, announced a full headlining run, with Withered and Landmine Marathon doing support. That is an awesome, awesome bill. The PRP also says that the band have been working on new material, “and tentatively plan to debut some of it during the tour.” So, y’know. You’ve already pretty much bought a ticket in your mind, right?

The only bad news is it’s kind of a short tour. Still, if you can go and you don’t, I’m not sure that we can be friends anymore. Just putting that out there.

Here are dates, again via The PRP:

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Video from the show in question by unartig

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a mosh pit at Union Pool before — there might have been one at the Unsane show earlier this year, but I was so far back in the tiny room that I couldn’t see shit. Generally speaking, though, the small space combined with the bar’s proximity to hipster territory (zero feet, zero inches) means that the polite head bob is usually the preferred expression of appreciation. Which is fine with me, really. I’m an old man. My back hurts. It’s late and I’m tired. I need a mosh pit like I need a new Kill Your Ex album, y’know?

But there were pits a-plenty last night. In fact, all three of these excellent bands got the place moving to some extent or another (with a little help from a trio of zealous female fans). And even the cranky gramps in me couldn’t get too irritated about that; all three bands killed, and deserved every ounce of love the crowd showed them. (“I’m not used to seeing you happy,” Vince told me. “Aren’t you supposed to be angry about something?”)

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Bad luck and terrible timing are the culprits responsible for the fact that I’ve yet to see Landmine Marathon live, but all that’s gonna change when they play Union Pool in Brooklyn with the equally-excellent Salome and Wetnurse next Tuesday. And as if I wasn’t stoked enough already, now here comes the band’s new, David Brodsky-directed video, for “Shadows Fed to Tyrants,” which portrays what appears to be pretty much the best house show ever.

Of course, Union Pool is way more chill (and possibly even smaller?) than this party; I’ve never really seen a pit there, for example. Still, I expect to have a lot of fun, or leave incredibly disappointed.

“Shadows Fed to Tyrants” comes off of Landmine Marathon’s latest, Sovereign Descent, which is out now on Prosthetic.

-AR

Photo by Jeremiah Cooper

Everyone says that Landmine Marathon kill live, but for no reason better than stupid ol’ shit luck, I’ve never actually seen them in the flesh. But guess what? They just announced a summer headlining tour! Which means I’ll get to check them out at last. I suddenly feel all tingly with excitement!

Bonus: for four of the dates – the two here in NY, the one in Philly, and the one in Baltimore – they’ll have Salome with them. And Salome are absolutely punishing live. Seriously. If you’ve never seen them live, feel bad for yourself.

But even the Salome-less dates oughta be a blast. Get dates after the jump…

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The fates have aligned in such a way that I’ve repeatedly missed opportunities to see Landmine Marathon live. That’s a bummer, because I really dug their last two albums, 2008′s Rusted Eyes Awake and the just recently released Sovereign Descent. I’m sure I’ll get to finally check ‘em out sooner or later, though.

While I wait for that glorious event, a YouTube user known as “dstanfie23″ has uploaded an entire concert that the band recently did in Scottsdale, AZ. The quality of the footage is just okay, but, hey, better than nuthin’!

More after the jump…

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The MetalSucks co-sponsoders Prosthetic Records SXSW showcase is tomorrow, March 17 at Club Mohawk in Austin. And as if performances by Scale the Summit, Landmine Marathon, Withered, Book of Black Earth, The Funeral Pyre, Clinging to the Trees of a Forest Fire and Lions of Tsavo weren’t a good enough reason to attend, one lucky attendee will win an Epiphone Prophecy Les Paul EX guitar signed by the all the bands.

But if you’re not in Austin and can’t get to the show, don’t fret: a second signed Epiphone guitar — a Prophecy Futura Custom EX, to be exact — has been posted for auction on eBay, with all proceeds benefitting the T.J. Martell Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports research for cancer, AIDS and leukemia. The T.J. Martell Foundation came to Prosthetic’s attention after a recommendation from management for the legendary, unfuckwithable Ronnie James Dio, who was diagnosed with stomach cancer this past November. Says Dio himself:

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