MetalSucks

It was a mere two weeks ago that I was feeling pretty cynical about the prospects of a rumored Big Four tour becoming a reality. It just seems like there’s too much bad blood between too many of the bands for everyone to hit the road together.

But there’s also a lot of money to be made there, and in 2009 money wins every fight, even in the world of metal.

So here comes Robert Trujillo to get the rumor pot a-stirrin’ again. In a recent interview, the man/crab hybrid had this to say:

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Our pals at Noisecreep debuted the new Megadeth video this morning, for the single “Headcrusher.” It’s not a great video – the whole concept kinda strikes me as having been done to death at this point. But it is a great song.

Megadeth’s Endgame comes out this Tuesday on Roadrunner.

-AR

It’s certainly no secret that Dave Mustaine is a dick… just look at the seemingly endless feud between him and Kerry King. But the guy doing this interview for Rockerrazzi.com easily out-does Dave in the douche-tard department. The guy is completely unqualified; he asks “When was that?” when Mustaine tells him that Megadeth took Stone Temple Pilots out on their first tour, then quips that “You obviously had your shit together at the beginning,” as if Megadeth were newborns in 1992. But the best part by far is when the interviewer tells Dave that he’s heard that the new stuff “is quintessential Alice in Chains.” Dude. And to Dave’s credit, he totally rolls with it and doesn’t say a thing. Watch.

-VN

I’ve been saying it since July: Megadeth’s Endgame their best album since Countdown. It’s the first Megadeth album that I’ve wanted to listen to all the way through more than twice since that record, and the first Megadeth album that didn’t make me pine for the return of Marty Friedman. It rocks.

Roadrunner will release the album this coming Tuesday, but you don’t have to ’til then to hear it: it’s streaming in its entirety right now on ‘Deth’s MySpace page. So enjoy it, kiddies. I especially like the song “Bodies.” It has kind of a “Symphony” feel to it.

Oh, and because I like stirring up shit, I’m going to end this post with this statement:

Endgame > Death Magnetic

I look forward to reading as you all argue.

-AR

It’s Labor Day weekend here in the U.S., which means we’re shuttering the Mansion early this week, and won’t be back ’til Tuesday. We’re sure you’ll find some way to live without us.

Here’s some shit that happened this week:

• We debuted a new track from Salome.
• Sigh’s Mirai Kawashima sent in his final guest-blog from the studio, and revealed the track listing for the band’s upcoming album, Scenes from Hell.
• We chatted with Trivium’s Matt Heafy, The Black Dahlia Murder’s Trevor Strnad, Job for a Cowboy’s Brent Riggs, and All That Remains’ Phil LaBonte.
• We celebrated the triumphant return of Beavis & Butt-Head, and decided that in their particular relationship, Vince is the Beavis to Axl’s Butt-Head.
• Tom Araya thinks Dave Mustaine is a dick, Kerry King thinks Dave Mustaine is a dick, Scott Ian thinks Kerry King is a dick, and everyone in Dimmu Borgir thinks that everyone else in Dimmu Borgir is a dick.

Alright. I’m going to enjoy a little sunshine while I still can. See ya Tuesday!

-AR

When we interviewed Tom Araya a few weeks back, I asked him if the Megadeth/Slayer tour that hit Canada earlier this year and will now make its way to Australia and New Zealand is ever coming to the States. His response?

“You know, [Dave Mustaine is] lucky we did the Canadian dates.”

Araya chuckled when he said it – the dude is too chill to really get angry angry, or at least that was my impression of him – but there was obviously some bad blood there. Shit-stirrer that I am, I made a feeble attempt to draw more ire out of Araya, with no love.

So kudos to Mark Eglinton from The Quietus, who Blabbermouth tells me got this little exchange out of Araya:

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Yesterday, Scott Ian tweeted a response to Kerry King’s accusation that Anthrax have “been in pieces for quite some time.” The tweet pointed towards a recent, possible one-off reunion show with John Bush; I eagerly hoped it was a sign that Bush is coming back to the band for good.

Well, we still don’t know if he is or not. But we do know that he’s gonna do another gig with the ‘Thrax, this time at the Loud Park festival in Japan this October. (Interestingly enough, Slayer and Megadeth are also on the bill.)

I take that as a good sign that Bush is, indeed, negotiating (or something) to re-join Anthrax. But obviously we need to wait for some kind of official confirmation from the group.

Fingers crossed…

-AR

If any two of the big four bands tour together, I think it’d be a pretty sweet show. Any three? Fucking amazing. But all four? That would have to be some kind of miracle, right? I mean, half these dudes hate each other. King and Mustaine practically make their living talking shit about Metallica – and one another, for that matter. So it’ll never happen, right?

Well, King now tells Metal Hammer otherwise. Sort of.

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So maybe the Megadeth/Slayer tour won’t be coming to the States after all.

After successfully completing a very short Canadian run together, it looked like the two thrash giants had finally kissed and made-up. (The long-standing King/Mustaine feud is infamous.) Then Mustaine had to go and be a dick.

Well, now it seems that Kerry King has responded, albeit indirectly. Blabbermouth, transcribing from a video from a site called Metal Sickness, reports that King said the following at a press conference in Paris on Monday:

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So I’m sure you’re all aware of this major lineup change for Dimmu Borgir. I’ve been a fan of that band since ’98, and I’ve liked every single one of their records except For All Tid. My favorite lineup of theirs was the Puritanical and Deathcult lineup. For me as a fan, the music those dudes made together is what really sealed the deal for me with that band. I still enjoyed some later stuff, but for me those two records are where it’s at.

I’m sure they’ll find some amazing people and continue to put out great records, but the band that I became a fan of is now altered. And that got me thinking. How many times has this happened, and when does it really matter?

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Tom Araya needs no introduction. Seriously. We’re not introducing him. If you don’t know who he is, you have no business reading this website. Axl recently found out that our intern had never listened to Slayer, and you know what he did? First he got all the MetalSucks Mansion Monkeys to throw feces at the intern, and then he locked the intern in a room and made him listen to Slayer’s entire discography for days and days on end.

We will tell you this: Araya is a very chill, jovial dude; Slayer have a new album, World Painted Blood, coming out in October; and we successfully managed to make it through this interview at Mayhem Fest without peeing ourselves or dropping to our knees and shouting “WE’RE NOT WORTHY! WE’RE NOT WORTHY!” Although it was a struggle.

Our full chat with Araya after the jump.

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In his “Tell Us Why MetalSucks Sucks” contest entry, finalist Malacoda accused us of not covering Nevermore at all. To this I have two things to say:

1) this is clearly not true. (ditto for All Shall Perish, the other band Malacoda suggested we gave the short shrift, whom we have covered in abundance)

2) fuck you.

To that end, here’s a video of a shred-off between Chris Broderick (now in Megadeth) and Jeff Loomis filmed at Jaxx in Springfield, VA in 2006. SHRED!

Nevermore are currently recording a new album. No word on a release date yet, but you’ll definitely know as soon as we do.

-VN

I’ve had Endgame for over a month now, and I still find the following to be true:

1. It’s the best Megadeth album since Countdown.
2. The best material from the album still hasn’t been released for public consumption.

Still, the most recently-unveiled new song, “1,320,” is pretty friggin’ sweet. And I’m sure if I listened to the lyrics, the title would make more sense to me. But after United Abominations, I vowed never to pay close attention to Dave Mustaine’s lyrics again. It’s for my own personal enjoyment, y’know?

Endgame comes out September 15 on Roadrunner.

-AR

MEGADETH, RUST IN PEACE

Ok, I was like, what, eleven when this shit came out? More like thirteen when I discovered it. Back then, Dave Mustaine was almost like a political figure as far as metal goes. Who knows how I’d look at his role now, but back then, he was a hero.

And then there was the songwriting. Nobody was writing music as creative as them. Listen to the guitar breaks in songs like “Five Magics” or the entire masterpiece, “Rust in Peace.” Nobody was writing stuff like that, and for the time, I felt like the lyrics actually meant something. And the solos – try playing a Marty Friedman solo when you’re thirteen. Try playing one now. The dude is/was/ and will forever be untouchable.

This band meant the world to me back then. I’m not crazy about the new directions the band has gone in, but that doesn’t diminish that they changed my life back when I was younger. I always felt like their rival bands were playing it safe, and that Megadeth was taking all the musical risks. I definitely think that this would be the musician’s choice for those of us who are and were still into real metal with real songs. Not just shred wankery.

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We got to interview Tom Araya at Mayhem this past Friday, and once we got past the initial fanboy “HOLY SHIT IT’S TOM ARAYA PEE” shakes, I think we actually got some pretty decent questions in – including asking Mr. Araya when the Slayer/Megadeth tour that’s already played Canada and will soon be decimating Australia and New Zealand is coming to America. His response?

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We all love metal. That goes without saying. That’s why we all read this site and keep up with what our favorite, and not so favorite, bands are doing. From people in bands to fans, we all pretty much live, breathe, sleep, and bleed metal.

So I guess what I’m wondering is: does it ever get old to any of you?

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Metal Injection has posted a video clip from David Ellefson’s industry-centric video blog The Rock Shop, in which the ex-Megadeth bassist explains in detail how artists get paid from sales of their recorded music. We see retarded comments all the time by people who just don’t understand how the industry works, so if you’re one of these people (as if any of you would be self-aware enough to realize) or you’re in an unsigned band gunning for a record deal, you should definitely give this 5-minute clip a watch. Personally I think he’s being quite generous with his $2 per record figure, but I guess the math works out nicely for his example. The takeaway: your band needs to sell a shitload of records before you start seeing any money from those sales.

-VN

Now the nausea’s
In my guts
And I’m wrestling with doubt
The kind you get when your heroes
Sell you out
And as I watch the drawbridge come down
There’s mass extinction
On my mind
Human cruelty stains my thoughts jet black
I’ve got this feeling
Like things have gone too far and now we can’t get back

Here’s more fun shit that happened in the world of metal this week:

• We debuted new videos from Cradle of Filth and Arsonists Get All the Girls.
• We got exclusive tour blogs from Bison B.C.’s Dan And and Woe of Tyrants’ Chris Catanzaro.
• We spoke to members of Winds of Plague, Decrepit Birth and Born of Osiris.
• I counted down 50 things I love about Pig Destroyer, and then added a 51st.
• Ulrich Vs. Mustaine Vs. Ian and Zakk Vs. Ozzy made us laugh with glee.
• Kerry King Vs. Killswitch Engage was pretty funny, too.
• Dallas Coyle answered more of your questions.

Vince gets back from vacation tonight right around the time Repulsion take the stage, and then tomorrow, hopefully, Craig’s List will lead us to some Tool tickets. See ya Monday!

-AR

CORRECTION: PRATO’S QUESTION COMES FROM HERE. MY APOLOGIES TO PRATO. NO APOLOGIES TO MUSTAINE.THANKS TO BORIVOJ AT BLABBERMOUTH FOR SHOWING ME THE ERROR OF MY WAYS.

It has been a fantastic summer for feuds. Just, really top notch. Isis is mad at Revolver and I’m fairly certain that Revolver is mad at MetalSucks. Fear Factory would be like the new Van Halen, if Van Halen wasn’t still the new Van Halen. And I think it’s safe to say at this point that, pretty much no matter how this whole Dan Nelson/John Bush drama plays out, no one will ever take Anthrax seriously again (assuming they were still taking Anthrax seriously at all).

And now this. Ladies and gentleman, key founding members of three of the Big Four are now all ready to throw down. This is a clusterfuck of epic proportions. I wish you could all see my face right now, ’cause rarely am I this happy.

It’s a long story, and, as is so often the case, I am really just playing The Daily Show to Blabbermouth’s CNN. Here we go:

Click to read more…

I’ve of two minds with regards to the just-released album art for Megadeth’s Endgame. On the one hand, it looks pretty cool. I on the other hand, I have no idea what the fuck I’m looking at. It appears to be a bunch of dudes… with mohawks… in prison jumpsuits… walking amongst rows of books… surrounded by flowers… in outer space. If you told me that Dave Mustaine was about to ask us all to drink some very special Kool Aid, I’d believe you.

No matter. Endgame is a very good album, and I’m all for anything that isn’t the cover to United Abominations. Yech!

Endgame comes out September 15 on Roadrunner.

-AR