During our Big 4 Live Snark on Wednesday, we reported that during Megadeth’s set, Dave Mustaine told the crowd he needed neck surgery, and had been in a hospital as recently as Tuesday; in fact, not only was there a rumor on Monday that Megadeth were gonna miss the show, but word around the campfire was that Exodus had even been approached about possibly taking ‘Deth’s spot should the Davester have to drop out. (Fans offended that Exodus and not Testament were approached should keep in mind in that Gary Holt was already playing with Slayer anyway, so, y’know.)

Now Rolling Drone has scored a non-scoop by getting Mustaine to say in print that which he already said at the concert: he needs neck surgery. So, in case you didn’t believe him the first time he said it, now you should believe him because he told the magazine that gave St. Anger a positive review.

The interesting part of the interview, though, is Mustaine’s claim that G-O-D fixed it so he didn’t have to miss the Yankee Stadium show despite his neck issues:

Click to read more…

Hey-o!!! If you’re not sick of listening to us ramble on and on about The Big Four yet, I’m gonna be on the Metal Injection Livecast tonight at 8 pm eastern/7 pm central to continue to discuss the show. You can even call in at 646-929-1357 if you wanna ask a specific question, or tell us what assholes we are for not saying unconditionally nice things about each and every band and daring to have an opinion. (I know one of you left a comment under our live snark yesterday saying you hope I die in front of my parents, which seems like a pretty reasonable punishment for daring to suggest that Metallica in 2011 might not be the best thing ever.)

Listen here. The fun starts at 8 pm eastern/7 pm central.

-AR

We have successfully arrived at Yankee Stadium and are sitting in the press box. We feel so professional!

We’re gonna put the live blog after the jump so it doesn’t eat up the entire page. You’ll hafta refresh to get updates. Sorry.

And now, enjoy the snark…

Click to read more…

That’s right! The wait is finally just about over; tomorrow, Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax will play Yankee Stadium in the Boogie Down Bronx. If you can’t make, fret not — thanks to a last minute invitation to hang out in the press room, we’ll be there, and Rob from Metal Injection and myself are going to live blog the whole event right here on MetalSucks! Come for the descriptions of all the fun and excitement that you’re missing, and stay for what is sure to be witty commentary completely lacking in sarcasm and/or sophomoric humor.

Anthrax are scheduled to take the stage at 4 pm; I imagine we’ll get started shortly beforehand, and, internet connectivity and sobriety level allowing, continue to give you the blow-by-blow throughout the afternoon and evening. Join us, won’t you?

-AR

Whether you’re going to the Big Four show at Yankee Stadium tomorrow and wanna start pre-gaming early or you’re just in the NYC area and looking for something fun to do this evening, do not forget: we’re teaming up with  Metal Injection, Metal Insider, and Metal Army to throw a massive Big 4 pre-party at our favorite bar, Idle Hands. John Jospeh from Cro-Mags is DJing, and there are gonna be some other metal celebs in attendance, although if you wanna know who… we’ll, you’ll just have to be there, won’t you?

$4 drafts starting at 7 pm; you can get even more details from Idle Hands’ website. See ya there!!!

-Axl & Vince

If you’re not a musician, last night’s Metal Masters Clinic 2 — held prior to Anthrax’s so-secret-everyone-knew-about-it show at the Best Buy Theater in NYC — was probably a massive bore. But to everyone else (like me!) it was a wet dream come true; Mike Portnoy having a drum-off with Charlie Benante, Ellefson talking about famous Megadeth bass riffs, Frankie Bello talking about watching porn and playing bass at the same time, all of them jamming on some classic tunes together, and, most notably, this:

Ian, Bello, Benante, Ellefson, Portnoy, Kerry King and Phil Anselmo performing two Pantera cuts. It’s the kind of staged event that might otherwise be cringe-worthy in its attempt at spontaneity, but who gives a shit? As a fan it was really cool to see all those guys jamming up there at once. It was also my first time seeing Anselmo perform Pantera songs live.

Click to read more…

I meant to remind you guys yesterday but I’m a dick so I forgot — Arch Enemy’s North American Khaos Tour, which we here at MetalSucks are very proudly co-presenting, is now underway! I’ve been trying to find fan-filmed footage from last night’s kickoff show in Baltimore to no avail, but I hear the concert was great… which is really no shock. Especially given that the three support bands — DevilDriver, Skeletonwitch, and Chthonic — are all as much fun as Arch Enemy! You can get dates here. If anyone is gonna be at the NYC show tonight, come find us. I’ll be the really, really not-sober guy in the back screaming for them to play “Savage Messiah” over and over again.

Now, here’s some stuff we did this week:

• We debuted new music from Black Cobra.
• We also debuted an outtake from the movie Hesher and a clip from Fantomas’ new live DVD.
• We spoke to Charlie Benante from Anthrax and Avi Kulawy from Magrudergrind.
• We checked out the latest releases from Brutal Truth, Wolves in the Throne Room,and Bloodsoaked.
• We debated the merits of new songs from Mastodon, Opeth, and Megadeth.
• We launched The Third Annual “Run MetalSucks for a Day” contest.
• Vince listed “The Top Fifteen Reasons Metallica are the Yankees of Metal,” and then The Austerity Program’s Justin Foley offered a retort.
• We fucked Bret Michaels in the motherfucking eye.
• We voted for Sergeant D.’s acoustic cover of The Acacia Strain.
• We almost had to kill a puppy.

And, oh hey, did we mention that tickets for The Metal Suckfest are on sale now? We did? Okay, swell!

Have a good weekend, y’all. See ya Monday.

-AR

Just yesterday we got our first look at the album art for Megadeth’s forthcoming TH1RT3EN, as well as the cover art for the first single from that album, “Public Enemy No. 1.” Now the song itself has made it out into the world! Check it out below.

I’ve only had a chance to listen once, but I’m digging it. It sounds like vintage Megadeth, which is obviously a good thing. Endgame, Megadeth’s last album, was a real return to form for Dave Mustaine and company*, and my fear — and, I’d wager, the fear of many a Megafan — was that the band wouldn’t be able to pull it off a second time. But assuming every song on TH1RT3EN is this good, we may be in for a real treat. Amazing. If you’d told me five years ago that Megadeth would have a creative renaissance, I’d of written you off as an old clinging too tightly to the past. Just goes to show ya…

It also seems worth noting that this is the band’s first recording with bassist Dave Ellefson in a decade. I honestly did not miss him on Endgame, but I imagine his return will make some folks dig this tune all the more.

TH1RT3EN comes out November 1 via Roadrunner.

-AR

*I know some people thought that The System Has Failed and/or United Abominations were returns to form, but I don’t think ‘Deth quite stuck the landing on those releases.

[via No Clean Singing]

We got an almost funny number of e-mails complaining about the title of Megadeth’s new album, TH1RT3EN*, after it was announced. And, yes, it’s a very silly album title, and, yes, it seems to be stolen and only slightly altered from the name of a very boring horror movie. But, really, what does it matter? I thought The System Has Failed was overrated, but United Abominations was pretty good, and Endgame was a complete return to form for ‘Deth. If Mustaine and company can maintain (or maybe even surpass) that level of quality, they could call the album We <3 Hollywood Undead and it wouldn’t bother me that much.

Now the band has unveiled the cover art for TH1RT3EN, and, uh, okay. I know I’m one of the last .0001% of the population that actually cares about cool album art, and like I was just saying, if the record is good it really doesn’t matter, but… yeah this is pretty much a total bummer. The concept isn’t necessarily terrible, but the execution… maybe it’ll look better when the large, high-res version is released, but right now it looks like someone who isn’t very good at Photoshop (like me!) cut out the image of Vic and pasted it onto something else. This is the kind of sloppy thing unsigned bands usually send us — not legends like ‘Deth.

In fact, I actually prefer the cover art for the first single from the album, “Public Enemy No. 1″:

Click to read more…

That’s right, kids: On Tuesday, September 13 — the evening before The Big 4 show at Yankee Stadium — MetalSucks is teaming up with our pals at Metal Injection, Metal Insider, and Metal Army to throw a massive Big 4 pre-party at our favorite bar, Idle Hands. As you can see from the poster above, there’s gonna be $4 drafts starting at 7 pm, and you should really and try and get so drunk so as to be still drunk at the show the next day, ’cause four bucks is approximately 1/1,000th the cost of a beer at Yankee Stadium.

And to make the whole affair that much more fun, John Jospeh from Cro-Mags is DJing! And a little birdie told me there may some other very special guests may be on hand. So whether you’re coming to NYC specifically for the event, or you’re just looking for an awesome hang to get the party started a little early, Idle Hands is the place to be the night before the show.

Get more details from Idle Hands’ website. See ya there!!!

-Axl & Vince

I hail Roadrunner Records for their success at landing major label-weened acts like Megadeth, Ratt, Dream Theater, and as of today, fuckin’ RUSH. These are high-performance, self-steering acts with little need for career guidance or image interference, and who shouldn’t allow their profits’ to be diverted to cover losses incurred by ten shitty signings this year by Belinda the 22-year old A&R prodigy whose aged bf got her the job or Dan the radio personality’s son who spent $19 million on promotions for an Amerie collection.

Anyway, how about some exciting details of Rush and Roadrunner’s deal?! First, know that a RR press release states that a live album will come out ahead of new set Clockwork Angels; also, it calls this deal a “partnership,” which I’ve seen translated to “distro services and profit share.” But in an email today, RR A&R super-stud Monte Conner told me that Rush will be worked like any other RR band (i.e. publicity, promo, the whole whack). I also asked if RR bought out “Caravan” and “BU2B,” the jamz that Atlantic released as a single last summer; Conner said that the songs will appear on the album as planned. Next I’ll ask him how he plans to repair the rip in the fabric of time caused by having Rush, Dream Theater, and Opeth on the same roster. Stay tuned.

-ADF

Rush’s freaking 19th studio album Clockwork Angels is slated for 2012 release. Get “Caravan” b/w “BU2B” here. 

No. No he is not.

Mustaine’s latest declaration sure to elicit responses only of “Okay, sssssuuurrre, Dave, whatever you say,” from all rational people was delivered to a Dallas Radio station earlier this week:

“I’ve talked to Lars and James about me and David [Ellefson] doing a supergroup record with Lars and James. Well, James said ‘no,’ but it’s still kind of out there in the air. I’m gonna keep hammering on him. It’s on my bucket list.”

Click to read more…

Would you like have any and all future listenings of Rust in Peace and Countdown to Extinction ruined for you? Then, by all means, please check out “Fantastic Love,” the debut video from the Fanta band, featuring Marty Friedman on lead guitars.

Of course, this is not the first time that Mr. Friedman has worked with Fanta, but it is way, way more likely to create sufferers of PTSD than his previous commercial for the soda brand. Fanta must know it, too — they’ve disabled commenting from the YouTube page on which the spot appears. ‘CAUSE DON’T YOU SAY NUTHIN’ BAD ABOUT FANTA!!!

-AR

Thanks to Chris for the tip!

Spurred by a lazy crossword clue in The Onion (36 down, four letters: “Faith No More’s only hit”), MetalSucks contributor Anso DF dedicates every single day in August to celebration and exploration of the San Francisco alt-metal greats. Here we prove that history’s greatest band landed more than one commercial hit (crossword answer: “Epic” natch), we revel in FNM’s embarrassing wealth of winning album tracks (themselves often fit for chart topping), and we dip into the staggering best of the b-sides (ditto). Along the way, we survey the context of FNM’s big break (amid similarly seminal acts Jane’s Addiction, Nine Inch Nails, and Ween) to the post-Nevermind, panic-based recording industry in which the brilliantly versatile, fearless powerhouse band operated until their 1998 demise. It’s a dirty job, but someone’s gotta do it.

Song “From Out Of Nowhere”

Written by Patton (L); Gould, Bottum (M)

Released 1989

Appears on The Real Thing album

Produced by Matt Wallace

Guitars by Jim Martin

Key lyric ”Don’t know if I’ll laugh or cry.”

Single? Yes, The Real Thing’s first. And so life began.

Click to read more…

I was listening to an interview with Sarah Vowell last weekend, in which she proclaimed that, as a writing exercise, she did not allow herself to use any F-bombs in her new book, Unfamiliar Fishes. I decided to do her one better this week — I did not swear at all. Unless you count “crap,” “drek,” or “sucks” as swear words, which I do not.

So that was fun.

ANYWAY, here’s some stuff we did this week:

• We debuted new music from All Shall Perish and Thou.
• We debuted new videos from Valient Thorr and Meek is Murder.
• Unearth’s Buz McGrath, Hatebreed’s Wayne Lozinak, and In Flames’ Peter Iwers told us about their live rigs.
• We spoke to Aaron Turner from Isis and Helms Alee.
• We checked out new releases from The Bronx Casket Co. and Bedlam of Cacophony.
• Even though Dime would never approve, we made fun of some poor kid.
• We continued to sing Spotify’s praises.
• We voted on our favorite album from The Devin Townsend Project.
• We were sexually aroused by the prospect of Disturbed breaking-up.
• We wondered whether or not the return of Megadeth’s Gigantour is a good thing or not.

Alright, we’re out. Have a nice weekend, gang!

-AR

Last Thursday we offered our readership a chance to win the most excellent prize of a Wayne’s World DVD, so naturally today we’re announcing our three winners. And they are:

• Christopher Ott: “Guess the owner didn’t realize what the car wash meant when they said his car sure could use Abbath.” [Editor's note: L-O-fucking-L, amirite?]
• Sacajawea: “Dimmu Fourthgear”
• nonameisfinetoo: “Imp my ride.”

Good jobs, kids… enjoy the DVD, especially longtime commenter / multiple-Caption-Contest-winner Sacajawea (who claims to have never seen Wayne’s World, as unfathomable as that may sound).

As you probably already know, Megadeth released a special 25th anniversary reissue of their classic album Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying? last week. To celebrate, we’ve got two beautiful hologram flats of the original artwork signed by Mr. Dave Mustaine himself. To win, just leave a comment with the funniest caption to the photo below. Remember to use a real email address (or post it along with your comment if you’re using FB Connect).

A bunch of big records came out last Tuesday: Suicide Silence, Fair to Midland, Sepultura and Decapitated. After the jump we’ll take a look at how those and a few recent releases sold over the past week.

But first, a follow-up on a question I asked in last week’s column: how do the numbers for Arch Enemy’s Khaos Legions stack up against their past releases? I don’t have week-by-week breakdowns for each album to compare to Khaos Legions‘ cumulative total of 13,944 after five weeks, but these total sales figures for Arch Enemy’s best-selling albums should provide some frame of reference:

Anthems of Rebellion: 74,712
Doomsday Machine: 108,036
Rise of the Tyrant: 55,812
Wages of Sin: 71,688

With Khaos Legions falling off the charts in week six, that means they sold less than 1,092 units last week, the minimum number required to crack the Top 100 Hard Music Chart. Based on that I’d say it’s going to be a tough climb for Gossow, the Amotts and co. to match their past success this time around.

ANYWAY, back to last week’s big releases:

Click to read more…

The Metalnets are aflutter with today’s news that Megadeth’s Gigantour will return for a fourth run in the summer of 2012 following three years of lying dormant. The travelling festival will feature only one stage (as it did in 2008), as opposed to the two-stage format of the 2005 and 2006 editions. The return of Gigantour after a three year hiatus begs the question: do we really need this?

Click to read more…

I LOLd for an hour straight on Tuesday cuz my Twitter was blowing up with metal people’s reactions to the Casey Anthony verdict (announced around 4PM EDT). It’s a serious situation, so dudes are mad and lending their two cents. That’s natural. But man, some people think dumb. Actually, know what? I’m just gonna c+p some metal celebrity tweets below. Remember, most of the following mini-declarations are wrought in awful logic, but not everybody on the internet is ignorant and high-horsing this shit to death. Um yeah just go ahead and keep reading and oooh the suspense…

Click to read more…

Dave Mustaine might be a drama queen, but he’s no idiot. So when Megadeth played a new song called “Public Enemy Number 1″ live in Hamburg last night — before which he proclaimed, “We’re gonna play a new song for you. This song is from our new record. It’s never been played anywhere. It’s never been heard by anyone but us,” — he had to know that some audience member(s) would film it and have it up on the youtubes by night’s end. And that was probably his intent; play it live, let the Interhole gossip machine do it’s thang, and sit back and watch as the hype for Megadeth’s new album builds all on its own. And hey, look, that’s exactly what’s happening!

Check out the above footage of the new song being played live in Hamburg, courtesy of MS Reader GK3. The song sounds good; I love that classic-sounding riff that comprises the main part of the verses, although the chorus feels a bit stock. Mustaine’s voice… well, if you’ve seen Megadeth live in the past few years you should well know how bad it sounds. Still, the song is good enough to hold my interest in the forthcoming Megadeth album, on which Mustaine will have as much time and technology as he needs to make his vocals sound right.

-VN