MetalSucks

HOLY CRAP FILLED VAGINA! I’ve more or less deliberately avoided Nights Like These like the plague since they appeared on the scene last year because, like Dave Fonseca at Metal Review, “I was expecting this album to be a lot more … well … gay.” I mean, c’mon: they’re on Victory and their name is “Nights Like These.” Surely, this must be some third rate screamo crap, right? WRONG. Nights Like These combine the fierce hardcore edge of Converge with the ADHD spasms of prog metallers Between the Buried and Me, and the results are pretty breathtaking: the section that begins around the 1:08 mark is like stripped-down KsE – epic, elegiac – and, in contrast to the work of most bands these days, the breakdown at 1:56 barely announces that it’s coming before it EXPLODES – and becomes something legitimately horrifying. This. Shit. Is. Vicious.

Sunlight at Secondhand comes out October 16 on Victory. Trust us: you want a copy.

Steal This Track: Nights Like These – “Samsara” mp3

-AR

All suck and no originality makes Mudvayne a dull band.

Sorry, I don’t actually dislike Mudvayne that much (dig some of their earlier stuff), but it was way too easy.

What’s more, there’s this bit of news announcing that Mudvayne are holding a contest offering fans the opportunity to participate in writing their biography on Friendster. Yes, you read that correctly. FRIENDSTER. It’s good to know that Mudvayne have really grown and matured with the times, staying up to date with the current market trends… of 2003.

By the People, For the People is a (mostly) greatest hits collection that will drop November 27 via Epic Records.

[Ed: track has been removed.]

-VN

Those who remember the late ’90s / early ’00s German rock band Guano Apes will surely also remember their foxy lead singer Sandra Nasic. Even though the Apes disbanded a couple of years back, Ms. Nasic is back with her first solo record The Signal, out today on Supersonic/G.U.N. Records in Europe. The whole of the record sounds surprisingly (or unsurprisingly, I guess) like Guano Apes, which in my opinion is a good thing; rhythmic, up-beat and mid-tempo hard rockers with plenty of ’90s style fuzzed out guitars and Nasic’s trademark voice.

The Signal comes out today. Check out Sandra Nasic on MySpace, and also check out two music videos there including one for this track, “Fever.”

Steal This Track: Sandra Nasic – “Fever” mp3

-VN

Thanks to MetalSucks reader Ken M. for tipping us off to the leak of the new Monster Magnet record 4-Way Diablo, set to be released Novemebr 2 (Europe) and November 6 (U.S.) on SPV Records. Strangely little fanfare has surrounded the release of this record; we hadn’t ever heard about it until Ken emailed us. Even the band’s own MySpace page barely mentions it. Apparently this album almost never came to fruition, as mainman Dave Wyndorf suffered a nearly fatal drug overdose in 2006. But he’s back and in good shape, and the result is a pretty kickin’ retro-rock Monster Magnet record.

Steal This Track: Monster Magnet – “4-Way Diablo” mp3

-VN