I’m going to put about as much effort into this introduction as the writers of The Artist put into that movie’s dialogue.

First up we have Anthrax’s new video, for “The Devil You Know.” The song is catchy as heckfire, but it’s really just a boring clip video, with a bunch of footage of shit the band did in the months since Worship Music has been released. The only thing even kinda interesting about it is that there’s a bunch of Yankees shit in there, which will make Vince mad. But it’s not even like he’s gonna get upset enough to burn all his ‘Thrax albums, so that’s no fun.

[UPDATE: Embeds have been disabled, so go watch the video here.]

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The release year is winding down. Aside from new Megadeth and Animals as Leaders records, I think we’re pretty much done with bigtime new albums until 2012.

The #1 record on the Current Hard Music chart last week came from a band whose music it’d be a stretch to call “hard.” Click through to find out who it was. Blessthefall, Misfits and Wayne Static had solid debuts, while a number of last week’s releases jumped off the second week cliff. All that and more, right here:

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I’m officially making the switch from the Top Hard Music chart to the Current Hard Music chart for the purposes of this column. While it’s interesting to see what classic Metallica and Aerosmith albums are charting and I still may occasionally reference the former, the latter chart paints a much clearer picture of the modern metal landscape by opening up more room for new records that sell less than classics, allowing a larger number of relevant new releases to place in the Top 100.

This chart has a slightly different way of tallying new releases, where sometimes they appear as having already been on for one week before official release — I’m still sorting through precisely what that difference is — so occasionally the chart positions are a little mixed up. But this only comes into play much farther down the list and this chart still provides a good gauge of relativity.

Now, onto the releases: as you all no doubt know, Mastodon and Machine Head were the biggies last week, and both did quite well — but the album that ended up at #1 is also a debut, and none of us saw it coming. Sebastian Bach, Warbringer and Maylene & The Sons of Disaster fared well in Week 1, while new records from Rose Funeral, Textures, Suffokate, Rwake, Brutal Truth and many, many more also appeared in the Top 100.

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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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Yes, we know we didn’t get to make our big announcement this week. Don’t worry — we’re just ironing out a few final details. It’s still happening. And we’re confident we’ll get to tell you next week.

In the meantime, here’s how we occupied ourselves these past five days:

• We debuted new music by Ghost Brigade.
• We spoke to Chris Reifert from Autopsy and producer Jay Ruston.
• We checked out the latest releases from Harm’s Way and Skin Like Iron.
• Vince went several rounds with Century Media over their decision to drop out of Spotify.
• We made fun of Dream Theater’s use of clip art on their new album cover.
• Sammy O’Hagar, Satan Rosenbloom, and Grim Kim counted down their favorite releases of the year thus far.
• Sergeant D. searched for the best neo-nu-metal band.
• We asked what you think of Maylene and the Sons of Disaster.
• We continued to celebrate 31 Days of Faith No More.
• ‘Merica.

Maylene and the Sons of Disaster aren’t really a metal band anymore even though they still tour with heavy bands that are much closer to their old metalcore sound. Modern-day Maylene sounds more like Clutch than, say, The Showdown, another band in their scene who heavily incorporate a “southern” rock sound into their metal. Axl thinks they sound like Brother Cane (and I can’t disagree). But metal or not, I like ‘em; they write catchy, southern-infused hard rock songs that don’t take much mental effort to wrap your head around.

So where does the metal community stand on this band? I ask because I really have no idea; they tour with crappy Christcore bands like Underoath on a regular basis despite having little or nothing to do with that whole scene anymore. Are Underoath fans also Maylene fans? Do Maylene have their own fanbase? Do people care that they’re not really “metal”?? Stream their new track “In Dead We Dream” over at Revolver Magazine’s website – from their new album IV, out on September 27 via Ferret Music – then come back here and tell us what you think.

-VN

Thanks: Ryan Kockentiet

It’s always refreshing when bands are as good live as they are on record — it’s a silly thing to have to say, but it’s a necessary thing to point out in these ProTools happy times — and this especially holds true for vocalists. Growlers are a dime a dozen, and even in the live setting their voices are often beefed up with instant ball-enlargeing effects to make them seem like the manly men they aren’t. So it’s the real vocalists, the dudes that, ya know, sing, and have a real genuine talent (not that growling doesn’t take effort to learn too, but c’mon) that really impress me live when they nail the shit they do on record.

Protest the Hero’s Rody Walker is about as unique and talented of a vocalist as you’ll find in all of metal today. This live PtH footage filmed last week in Ottawa proves that the dude isn’t just propped up by studio chicanery; first note, BAM, perfect, and with that patented vibrato neatly centered on-pitch. Much respect, Mr. Walker. Side note: Walker is quickly working his way up the list of sour metal lead singers that hilariously antagonize the audience. Watch out, Guy Kozywyk and Frank Mullen!

More footage from the Ottawa show filmed by reader Matt M., along with remaining PtH / TesseracT / Maylene tour dates, after the jump. Stoked for this tour to hit NYC in May.

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In yesterday’s post about 2011 being The Year Of The Prog Dork I somehow neglected to include one of the albums I’m most excited about: the follow-up to Protest the Hero’s jaw-dropping 2008 list-topper Fortress. Can ya feel me?

That album now has a name — Scurrilous — and a release date — March 22nd, via Vagrant Records. The album was one again produced by Julius Butty, and judging by the short clips we’ve heard so far in the very entertaining series of studio videos (#3 above) it’s gonna be all sorts of bonertastic.

But Protest the Hero aren’t stopping there. They’ve also announced a giant North American tour to coincide with the album release! Protest the Hero will begin their world tour with dates in Europe and the UK from January 26th through February 12th supporting Darkest Hour. Following an appearance at Australia’s 2011 Soundwave Festival, the band will begin an extensive Canadian and U.S tour March 23 with support acts Maylene and the Sons of Disaster and TesseracT.   Dates for the tour are as follows:

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If any of you guys know me, you know that I have a permanent hard-on for my Fractal AxeFx Ultra, and although some of you may hate my tone, you would be silly to think that you couldn’t dial in a tone that your weird ears like, and then some. This one is for the gear nerds out there.

This is more than a Fractal plug, I swear. Let’s call this more of an open test/experiment in progress because I am in the midst of quite an awesome dilemma at the moment. I am stuck between deciding on how best to use my AxeFx in a live situation, because both options it affords are amazing.

We just did a little tour in Australia with Dillinger and Maylene, and on that tour we were getting amps from backline companies (read: different amps every day). So we figured the best way to get some consistency would be to plug our AxeFxs into the effects loop return of the amps and use them for their tube power sections. This worked out pretty damn well for the most part; you could hear how each different poweramp had its own distinct sound, but when it was awesome, it was AWESOME. Only at one show did I actually get the amp I had asked for, and that was an Engl Invader (150 to be more precise) and that EL34 poweramp sounded so godly that I thought perhaps that was the way to go. Or at least something similar: a good tube poweramp (may make more sense for a rack unit ala Fryette 2/50/2 or Mesa 2:90) through a 4×12 cabinet. Good old Preamp->Tube Poweramp->Cab->Mic->PA in a live context, which is what 99% of bands do nowadays. And with this setup you get that amazing feel of a tube amp and that response they are known for.

However there is another option with the AxeFx, and that is going direct.

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Did anyone see South Park last night? I watched it in a drunken stupor but I think I enjoyed it. It was about rasslin’.

Speaking of which: while my childhood dog was named after Lex Luger, I haven’t watched wrestling since roughly 1992. But apparently Maylene and The Sons of Disaster have recorded a new song for the Jeri-Show Tag Team, whomever the fuck that is. Maybe these dudes know.

ANYWAY, the aforementioned Maylene have been interviewed by the WWE, which I think will excite some of you – if nothing else, they’re a pretty cool band. The video interview isn’t embeddable, but you can watch it by clicking on the photo below.

-AR

According to Lambgoat (who MS tipster Kye says “are about as reliable as my dog when it comes to news”), trouble is a brewin’ in the He Is Legend camp. Says Lambgoat:

Word on the street is that Wilmington, North Carolina group He Is Legend has disbanded. This could very well be the reason that singer Schuylar Croom was available to fill in for Dallas Taylor on the current Maylene and the Sons of Disaster tour. In any case, this news is unconfirmed, so don’t call your mom just yet.

He Is Legend supported their latest album It Hates You (which our own Anso DF awarded a four-out-of-five horns rating) with just one tour, and there’s nothing currently listed for the future on their MySpace page. At this point any reports of the band’s break up are purely rumors, but there is certainly cause for speculation. We encourage any MetalSucks readers with insider knowledge on the situation to email us at news [at] metalsucks [dot] net.

-VN

There must be some kinda smart juice in the Jameson. ‘Cause two months ago the record label gave me free reign to choose a track to premier from Maylene and the Sons of Disaster’s rippin’ new record III, from which I chose “Step Up (I’m On It),” and lo and behold it’s now been chosen as the second single. Vince 1, everyone else 0. It’s the small victories in life, people.

This is a bad ass video for a bad ass song. From the looks of it the clip was filmed somewhere in the U.S. south, possibly near the band’s hometown of Birmingham, AL. For those wondering what the newly minted MetalSucks Mansion Kentucky Korner looks like, this is a close approximation.

NOW ROCK.

-VN

A friend sent us the below clip of Demi Lovato talking about her appreciation of Job for a Cowboy, Abigail Williams and Maylene and the Sons of Disaster (go to 3:16 in the clip). Of course, I had to use Wikipedia to figure out who the fuck Demi Lovato is, and turns out she has exactly the kind of career you’d expect her to based on her appearance. Still, I guess if she can get some twelve year old girls into JFAC, it’s all good… right?

In other news, good to see that Jimmy Fallon is still a massive tool.

-AR

Last week was a ginormous week for new metal releases, and with new ones from Killswitch and Suicide Silence this week promises to be the same. Topping last week’s crop was Dream Theater’s Black Clouds & Silver Linings which debuted at #6 on the Soundscan Charts. Wait a minute… Dream Theater debuted at #6?? Holy fuckity-fuck. Darkest Hour, The Mars Volta, Maylene and the Sons of Disaster and Goatwhore also had strong debuts. Click through for chart positions and sales numbers.

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Southern hard-rock/metallers Maylene and the Sons of Disaster are back with their latest concoction of swampy, humongous grooves, their third album aptly titled III. This is just straight up, metal-influenced southern hard rock — no gimmicks, no shenanigans, just maximum rockage. The first single, “Just a Shock,” is currently streaming on their MySpace page and we’ve got an exclusive stream of the track “Step Up (I’m On It)” for you right here.

III comes out next Tuesday, June 23rd on Ferret Music, and the band will be on tour for 2 months starting in July with Emery.

-VN

[this promotion has ended]