Music can have an incredible emotional impact on the listener, at times overwhelming. When you write about music for a living it’s impossible not to be become jaded, and those times when music completely takes you over grow ever farther between. But watching this live performance of “Flying” — Living Colour’s 9/11-inspired song and, IMO, the best 9/11-inspired song ever-written — is sending chills down my spine and had me on the brink of tears for a moment. It’s that powerful.

“Flying” is a moving song on its own, but this performance, filmed in New Jersey on the 8th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, takes it to another level. Cory Glover is one of the most emotional singers in the world; at a private performance of their new album The Chair in the Doorway in 2009, Glover broke down into tears after introducing and then launching into a song about his late mother. You can feel it in this performance of “Flying” too… Living Colour are a true New York band, and the 9/11 attacks affected all of us in a profound way. These lyrics, and the accompanying music — including Vernon Reid’s extended guitar solo — capture the emotions we all feel so perfectly.

I jumped out the window to get to the parking lot
I’m writing this little song on my way down
Never in my life have I felt a heat so hot
I had to get out

Such a lovely day to go flying
The sky’s so clear, the sun is shining
Fate has given me wings
Such a terrible funny thing

I was gathering up my nerve to ask out Carmen
She glanced out the window
Oh my God
The room It went away, now we’re holding hands
Just not the way I planned

Of course when you set out to make a list like, say, the one we’re doing right now, of The Top 25 Modern Metal Guitarists, you are bound to piss a lot of people off — that just comes with the job.

But I always find it hilarious HOW those people get pissed off. For example, this week I saw a lot of complaints that the guitar players we’ve been selecting aren’t “modern.” And I can’t believe we have to fucking define the word “modern” for some of you idiots, but apparently we do. So:

So… which one of you jackasses would like to call up Alex Skolnick or Vernon Reid or Adam Jones and let them know they’re antiquated and obsolete? ‘Cause I saw Testament and Living Colour and Tool live just last year, and I would not want to make that call. Just because those dudes have been playing this game for awhile doesn’t mean their best days are behind them.

My point simply being: I don’t care if you hate our choices. That’s fine. But at least try to hate our choices based on an argument that makes sense, y’know?

And on that note, here are other ways we entertained ourselves this week:

• We debuted new music from A Pale Horse Named Death and Oakhelm.
• We checked out the latest releases from From Exile, Godstopper, and Cruachan.
• We wondered which is better, old music or new music?
• We philosophized about Google’s new cloud service.
• We fretted that metal may soon be blamed for terrorism.
• We got excited about The Faceless’ new demo.
• We bemoaned the current state of In Flames.
• We wept because Dave Grohl is not going to be on the new Mastodon album after all.
• We enjoyed a vegetarian cooking lesson from a dude in corpse paint.
• We questioned the logic of the new Avenged Sevenfold video.

Next week we unveil numbers fifteen through eleven on our guitar player list; the average age of those five musicians is thirty-one, whereas the average age of this week’s selections was forty-two. So maybe you can go back to being upset because you think they suck, not because you think they’re too old to be “modern.”

-AR

MetalSucks recently polled its staff to determine who are The Top 25 Modern Metal Guitarists, and after an incredible amount of arguing, name calling, and physical violence, we have finalized that list! The only requirements to be eligible for the list were that the musician in question had to a) play metal (duh), b) play guitar (double-duh), and c) have recorded something in the past five years. Today we continue our countdown with Living Colour’s Vernon Reid…

If ever I was told that a certain guitar icon has been living a secret life as a crazed face-eating killer, my first guess at that guitarist’s identity: Vernon Reid. Don’t take that wrong. I know that, in reality, he’s wonderful, an ambassador, an explorer, and a cross-genre samplee (on Public Enemy’s “Sophisticated Bitch”). He’s a higher-consciousness dude, a high-concept artiste (what’s a Marcel Duchamp?), and a high-impact collaborator with outer-ring weirdos John Zorn, Bernie Worrell, DJ Spooky, and Mariah Carey. And he’s handsome, in good shape, nice hats, all that.

So, no, Vernon Reid is not a bad person. That’s not what I mean by these 100% hypothetical accusations of purely imagined murderous nose-chewings. All I’m saying is that if we consider his quiet exterior vs. the “Cult of Personality” solo — a three-act brow-singer that announced Reid as a major talent back in 1988 — we’d all be like, “Ah, that makes sense,” once confronted with evidence of his human face collection.

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I got home at about 1 a.m. on Sunday morning and my stomach started to hurt. I thought it was just indigestion, so I took a pill and went to sleep.

Then at 3 a.m., I woke up suddenly with that awful feeling. You know the one – GET TO A MOTHERFUCKING SINK OR TOILET RIGHT NOW.

I ran to my bathroom and I puked.

And then I didn’t stop puking until sometime around noon.

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Sebastian Bach and, to a somewhat lesser extent, Corey Glover and, to a definitely lesser extent, Paul Stanley have all had some success doing theatrical musicals, be it on Broadway or elsewhere; now Dee Snider wants in on that action, and has joined the cast of Rock of Ages, the hit Broadway jukebox musical that incorporates 80′s music that is still remembered fondly by the bridge and tunnel crowd — e.g., Poison, Journey, etc. He’ll be in the show for eleven weeks, from October 11 through December 24.

And why not? Snider’s vocal talents were never on the level of guys like Glover and Bach, but live videos that I just watched on YouTube (like the one above) tell me that his voice is still in surprisingly good shape. Plus, he already dresses like Liza Manelli, so he’ll fit right in on The Great White Way.

And it’s a genius stroke on the part of the producers; the people who wanna see this show are definitely gonna know who Snider is, and be all the happier to buy a ticket to see him. It makes you wonder why no one thought of this sooner, or if anyone besides Snider was ever approached to be in the show.

Also, if Snider’s eight-shows-a-week (!) commitment to Rock in any way slows the production of Strangeland 2, than it can only be a good thing.

Meanwhile, it was just about a year ago that a Rock of Ages movie adaptation was announced, to be directed by Adam Shankman, the man behind such Cannes Film Festival Palme D’Or winners as Cheaper by the Dozen 2. But there’s been no news of that project since, so it’s either dead or stuck in development hell. Either way, the human race wins… for now.

-AR

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

There weren’t any real hot button topics this week, so we decided to just play a fun game that used to keep Vince and Axl occupied for many a lunch period when they were kids:

The MS staff’s answers after the jump.

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In case there was any doubt, Living Colour are still one of the coolest bands on the planet.

Shortly before they were set to take the stage for a sold-out show in New Hampshire on Sunday night, they realized that vocalist Corey Glover had laryngitis, and couldn’t risk using his voice, lest he do serious damage and endanger the group’s upcoming European tour.

At this point, most bands probably would have cancelled, even if the venue was already full. But not Living Colour: according to Union Leader, they took the stage anyway, playing as a three-piece, and — apparently as a joke — invited fans to come up on stage and take Glover’s spot.

And guess what? Three fans — Nick David, Charles Davis and Dan Swanson — took them up on their offer:

“I’ve never heard of anything like it, not in my experience. It was like an open mic night, only with Living Colour as your backup musicians,” said [venue owner Scott] Hayward.

You may recall that Machine Head did something similar back in February; as in that instance, I’m sure Living Colour made these dudes’ lives. Hell, I can’t sing worth a shit, but I know all the words to every LC song and I probably would have jumped on stage given half a chance.

Here’s video of LC doing “Love Rears Its Ugly Head” with Nick David on vocals. He’s no Corey Glover, but then, who is?

Living Colour’s latest, The Chair in the Doorway, is out now on Megaforce.

-AR

I just listened to The Chair in the Doorway again for the first time in awhile, and, hey, guess what? It’s still better than almost anything else released last year, or this year, for that matter. I think I’ve seen Living Colour live seven or eight times now, but the album gave me an itch to go see ‘em again — these dudes really put on a good, old-fashioned performance, y’know? Like, with an ever-changing set list, and jamming and improvisations and showing the world they can play — y’know, like bands used to do. I don’t know why so many bands stopped doing that kind of thing, but I’m glad LC still do; at the risk of sounding like Yogi Berra, they never play the same gig twice.

The band has now made one of their shows from last year available for download on Livedownloads.com — you can get the mp3s for ten bucks, or the FLAC  files for thirteen. According to the show notes, “This was one of the only two Living Colour performances when two separate sets were performed with a brief intermission” — they first half of the set was old school stuff, and then the second half was the entirety of Chair (this was just before the album was released), plus some more classics for the encore. Download it here.

And while a good live recording of Living Colour is sweet, it’s not as sweet as the real thing, so here are LC’s upcoming tour dates, both in North America and abroad. If you have the chance to go see them and don’t, you are really robbing yourself of an awesome evening of music.

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WUT WUT

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Photo by Greg Aiello

On Friday night, Vince and I saw Living Colour live for what I think must have been the seventh or maybe eighth time. And it’s a testament to the abilities of this band that, in a day and age when so many groups are seemingly just going through the motions, we’ve really never seen the same Living Colour show twice. These dudes just seem to come from another time and place – an era when a live performance wasn’t about doing a note-for-note recreation of your albums so much as it was about creating a unique experience for the audience. In that regard, Living Colour still delivers in spades.

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Mr. O’Grady answered the question “WHICH LIVING COLOUR SONG HAS YOUR FAVORITE VERNON REID GUITAR SOLO?” with a very long, detailed, and well thought-out missive on “Cult of Personality;” for his troubles, he wins a free pair of tickets to tonight’s Living Colour show at the Highline Ballroom here in NYC.

Toxteth tells me he’s never seen LC live before; man, is he in for a treat! Toxteth, if you see us at the show tonight, feel free to buy us a beer. Thanks.

Read Toxteth’s essay-sized answer after the jump.

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Living Colour, one of the best live bands on the planet right now in pretty much any genre, are playing the Highline Ballroom here in NYC tomorrow night, and we just came upon a pair of tickets to give away! We’re gonna make this real simple because we have less than 24 hours to unload these babies, so all you hafta to do to win is:

TELL US WHICH LIVING COLOUR SONG HAS YOUR FAVORITE VERNON REID GUITAR SOLO, AND WHY

We’ll read through all the answers and choose a winner in the morning. The tickets will be at will-call under your name. The only requirement to enter is – duh – that you have to live in NYC, or near NYC, or be willing to get your ass to NYC by 8 pm tomorrow night, when the show starts.

This contest ends on Friday, October 30 at 6 am EST.

The show is nearly sold-out (actually, by the time you read this it might be totally sold-out) and is sure to be killer, so definitely go ahead and give it your best shot! And don’t forget that Living Colour’s awesome new album, The Chair in the Doorway, is out now on Megaforce.

Good luck everyone…

-AR

I know exactly two people who will be really really excited that Vince Neil is working on a new solo album: me and Axl. Woot woot!

Some time in 1993 Axl dubbed me a tape; on one side was Living Colour’s Stain, and on the other side Vince Neil’s first solo record Exposed. My life was changed forever. While my namesake hasn’t managed to hold onto much any credibility in the years since, Exposed still holds up thanks in no small part to the guitar wizardry of the indomitable Steve “Jew from the Bronx changed my name to be a rockstar” Stevens.

While I’m not sure who’s even in Neil’s solo band at the moment (Keri Kelli?) I’m certain it isn’t Stevens, making this record circumspect from the getgo. Not that there aren’t other good guitar players out there but let’s face it, Neil’s a complete hack who definitely needs song written for him ala Ozzy, nahmean? So let’s (as in me and Axl) just agree to be cautiously optimistic about this one.

Here’s Neil w/ Stevens performing “Look In Her Eyes” in Chicago in 1993.

-VN

It’s one of the best albums of the year, and less than 3,000 of you purchased it in its first week of release. C’mon, kids. What’s a copy gonna cost you? Like ten bucks? You can afford that. Just don’t go see whatever shitty movie is opening this weekend and spend the money on this album instead. It’s totally worth it.

Here’s the band performing the track “Bless Those” at Waterloo Records in Austin, Texas recently:

And just for shits n’ giggles, here they are covering “Crosstown Traffic” at the same in-store:

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Luckily for Five Finger Death Punch, being total assholes who completely lack any musical talent isn’t hurting their record sales: their new album, War is the Answer, is apparently going to sell to somewhere between 35,000 – 40,000 copies in its first week of release… and that’s just here in the U.S. That probably sounds like a lot of units moved, and you’re right. It is a lot of fucking units moved. To put it in perspective with the sales of some awesome albums that came out this week…

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Last Tuesday was a huuuuge week for new metal releases. Megadeth, Black Dahlia Murder, Shadows Fall, Living Colour, Dying Fetus, Porcupine Tree, Every Time I Die, Thrice and Ace Frehley all released new albums, and all charted in the Top 200! After the jump, let’s look at where they all ended up.

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Living Colour performing their new single,”Behind the Sun,” on WYNC’s Soundcheck this past Friday.

Getting to spend nearly an hour on the phone with Vernon Reid was another huge fanboy moment in my life. The band’s debut album, Vivid, was one the first cassettes (!) I ever purchased on my own, making Living Colour one of the first bands I ever listened to that weren’t introduced to me by my parents. Today, more than twenty years later, the band is releasing their fifth studio album, The Chair in the Doorway (Megaforce). The fact that it’s no less powerful or brilliant than Vivid made talking to Reid even more exciting, because my love of the music he and his band make isn’t at all rooted in nostalgia (read my review of the record here).

As you’ll see from the following transcript of our chat, Reid doesn’t exactly think in linear terms. There were definitely moments when I had thoughts such as “Why is he talking about Pokemon?”, for example. But he always comes back around to his original point, leading to many “Oooooohhhhh! I get it now!” moments in the conversation. And given the dude’s music, that makes perfect sense: while Living Colour is ostensibly a traditionalist hard rock band, they’re still constantly and thinking outside the box and trying to navigate unexplored terrain.

After the jump, check out Reid’s thoughts on the writing and recording of The Chair in the Doorway, the meaning of that album’s title, the joys of interacting with fans through the net, and more.

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Are Living Colour feeling doubtful about their own identity? The band’s first studio album in six years, The Chair in the Doorway, deals largely with questions of self. “Gonna strip it all away,” vocalist Cory Glover repeats over and over again during album opener “Burned Bridges.” “I am the role I play,” he declares on “The Chair,” before wondering “Who am I today?” On “Out of My Mind,” he talks about “losing myself” and “shedding my skin.”

If Glover and his band mates – guitarist Vernon Reid, bassist Doug Wimbish and drummer Will Calhoun – really are feeling doubtful about themselves, they’re being neurotic for no reason. The Chair in the Doorway cements the band’s identity as one of the best American rock bands of the past two decades.

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On Thursday night Vince and I got to go see Living Colour perform their soon-to-be-released new album, The Chair in the Doorway, in its entirety, for an audience of maybe fifty people in a small rehearsal space in Brooklyn.

Needless to say, it was friggin’ awesome.

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Where the hell does the time go? The year is more than half over already! Sheesh.

ANYWAY, here are, in alphabetical order, albums that have really knocked my socks off so far this year…

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