Gotta hand it to Megadeth — they really seem to have connected with the video game market. A few years ago, they unveiled their single, “Gears of War,” as part of the launch for the game of the same name; then last year they recorded a new song, “Sudden Death,” exclusively for Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock; and now they’ve got ANOTHER new song in ANOTHER video game. The game is called Never Dead, and the song appears in the trailer, which you can watch below — the trailer begins at the 22:22 mark, but the song doesn’t kick in ’til the 24 minute mark.

And I gotta say, I think exploiting video games as a promotional outlet is a really smart move (and Dave Mustaine must feel the same way, or he wouldn’t keep doing it over and over again). I have no idea how these songs do as singles (or, in the case of “Gears of War,” as parts of a larger album) sales-wise, but presumably the band gets a nice paycheck just for including the tune in the game. And if it attracts a new generation of fans, well, all the better.

ANYWAY, it’s a little hard to really listen to the song with all the audio from the trailer laid over it, but, uh… it basically sounds okay to me. Check it out, then weight in with your thoughts in the comments section.

-AR

Thanks to the anonymous reader who sent this in!

IMO the most important part of being a true metal fan is knowing your roots. There is nothing worse than a newjack poser who doesn’t know or care about the older bands who paved the way for the generations after them. For example, IMO you can’t consider yourself a real fan of Avenged Sevenfold without also being a fan of Pantera and 18 Visions/Velvet Revolver. I mean I love A7X but obviously they are pretty much just taking what those two bands did, only doing it a lot better. On the other hand, it also sucks when someone gets older and they stop liking stuff. I mean if you like Suffocation then you should also like Devourment, right?? But contrary to what you would expect, older metal fans do nothing but hate on newer bands.

Which one is right?? The younger fans, full of energy and enthusiasm, but unaware of the shitty bands that people used to like?? Or the jaded, bitter has-beens, with seemingly endless knowledge of irrelevant, music that nobody really cares about anymore??????

In this post I will do my best to tackle this topic and answer the question of which is better, NEW MUSIC or OLD MUSIC. I know it’s hard to compare things from different eras, but I think it will help all of us grow as metal fans!!

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Last December Dave Mustaine shocked anyone who was under the impression that he had relevant taste in modern metal by not only endorsing, but announcing his own collaboration with, DeuxMonkey, former Anthrax guitarist Dan Spitz’s horrendous new project.

And now we have good news, bad news, really bad news, and really, really bad news concerning these events:

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So we’re now five axe slingers deep into out list of The Top 25 Modern Metal Guitarists. We predicted that the list would get a lot of you angry, and, no shock, it has. Funny thing is, reading the comments, as of yet not one of you has correctly predicted which guitar player is gonna be #1. So, just lettin’ you know… you may be even angrier in the coming weeks, or maybe you’ll be less angry, but so far, it seems like you guys just do not see it comin’.

While you chew on that, here’s some other fun things we did this week:

• We premiered new music from Hate Eternal, Arch Enemy, and Nader Sadek.
• We enjoyed a new episode of “Cooking Contaminated,” this one featuring King Fowley of Deceased.
• We checked out the latest releases from Benighted and Zubrowska.
• We wondered if Metallica and friends have gone too far in their quest for the Big Fortune.
• We checked out some *real* hardcore.
• We weighed Donald Trump’s claim that President Obama was the first drummer for Overkill.
• We wondered why talent can’t be passed down via genetics.
• We weighed, compared and contrasted multiple metal concerts showcasing female-fronted bands.
• We prayed for Kurt Cobain to rise from his grave and off Miley Cyrus.
• We wondered whether or not Dave Grohl is gonna be on the new Mastodon album.

And so, in conclusion… I am going to get a slice of pizza now.

See ya next week.

-AR

Few of us are so naive as to expect the members of a huge band like Metallica to retain any connection to reality. If we, the fans, have learned anything from rock docs and hammy celebrity bios, it’s that mega-success ensures isolation, and constructs a treadmill for goal-crazed egomaniacs forever in search of their next round of applause. Hey, that’s human; we search out what feels good, even if we must disregard what is right.

And there is little right about Monday night’s announcement of ticket pricing structures for the upcoming Big Four gig at Yankee Stadium. At best, or least, a would-be ticketbuyer shells out about $100+ to squint stageward from a neighboring zip code, and possibly even provide band management with advance notice of impending weather changes. At worst, leather coat and V-neck sweater types can populate the “front general admission” area in exchange for $225 (plus the above- and below-table fees affixed by each link in the live music production chain).

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Since summer and, thus, summer festivals are almost upon us, I thought I’d take a closer look at Sonisphere, one of the biggest European music festivals. Mostly because I wanted to do some research on it, since  it’s the only festival in which I am indulging this year. Probably.

(Note: I don’t much like festivals, especially ones that are outdoors. The bands I like never play for that long ,and unless I want to be stuck in the way back, I have to suffer through all the other artists just to get a decent spot. Not to mention, the weather. I hate hot weather. I swear to God I was born with menopause, because I’m always having hot flashes. I try to spend my summers carefully planning my routes with air conditioning and avoiding any chance of getting damp that isn’t shower or pool/sea/any body of water-related. But no one likes a cranky, sweaty bitch, and I split my time between two especially humid cities, so I grit my teeth and steel myself for my few months of personal hell.)

The Sonisphere Festival has been around only since 2009, when Stuart Galbraith joined the events company Kilimanjaro Live. His idea was to hold a series of events that would change and adapt to wherever they were being held. That’s what is really interesting about Sonisphere — unlike a traveling festival with one specific list of musicians and bands that tour the continent, they have a changing roster of artists for each “territory.” In 2009, the Germany date featured Die Toten Hosen and The Prodigy, adding a more punk and house air to the festival, while the Sweden shows featured The Cult and Primal Scream to suit their audience. Of course, there are bands that headline each show (in this case it was Metallica), but I’ve never seen audience preference be such a priority for a huge festival.

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In news that should shock no one , following last week’s highly-discussable first-ever U.S. Big Four (I’ve decided I’m not writing “Big 4″ anymore, no matter what the posters say. I’m a grown up and I can take 2 extra seconds to actually type out a number.*) show, Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax have announced another concert — this one on the East Coast. It will take place at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday, September 14.

A Wednesday in September. What a bunch of fucking assholes.

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Okay so I know we’ve just about run this Big 4 shit into the ground this week, but this is so priceless I just had to share it.

My friend, who we will refer to here only as M.A., lives in Los Angeles, and is not a metalhead. But her boyfriend is — or, at least, he’s a fan of certain bands from a certain era — and so it was with some curiosity that she accompanied him this past weekend to the Big 4 show in California.

So I shot her an e-mail this morning to see how she liked the show. What follows is her response. As metal fan, you will most certainly appreciate all her observations about the show:

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Someone has to say it: of all the hype, real or imagined, surrounding the first U.S. Big Four show in California this weekend and I, for one, am not buying it. Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax playing together at one show? Yawn.

Dave Mustaine can’t sing / is a boring performer. Even when they aren’t down a member, Slayer are stiff as boards and one show isn’t distinguishable from any other. Anthrax are playing with Joey Suckadonna, which could nevertheless be mildly interesting. Metallica are always great live, even if their new material isn’t. So I’d basically be going to see a Metallica show with tepid warm-up act Belladonna Anthrax and two sets of statues in between.

The specter of such a show during the bands’ primes — or even close to their primes, between 25 and 15 years ago — would’ve been incredibly exciting. Now it just feels like a cash grab for the bands, duping fans looking to relive their glory years by paying insane ticket prices on top of whatever they’ve got to pay the babysitter and spend on $4.50/gallon gas to get out to Indio. To me it all seems like a waste. If I wanted to see Metallica I had nearly half a dozen chances in the past few years and will surely have more; if I want to see Belladonna butcher Bush-era Anthrax songs I will no doubt have the chance to see that in the near future. So what’s the point?

On the other hand, you would’ve gotten to see this: [from Invisible Oranges]

Weigh in with your thoughts on the Big Four below. Did any of you go out to Indio this weekend?

-VN

I’m at the point where I pretty much prefer animated movies to live-action ones. I passed up some big deal, hotshot movie that came out recently, whose name I don’t even remember, to see Rango. I’m usually a pretty good judge, too, because I knew Rango was going to be awesome ,and it was. It looks absolutely amazing, and if you’re a nerd for animation detail, the gross, crusty animals will thrill you. Not to mention the classic movie references from Chinatown to Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas. It’s also damn violent for a “kids movie.” And well, I’m a movie nerd with a deep love for filmic violence. My dad didn’t have any sons, ok? He raised me to love his Fab Four; Arnold, Bruce, Sylvester, and Jean-Claude. And Dolph, on days he felt generous.

This might be odd, but I always liked to think about what various characters’ personalities would be like. Down to their music and movie taste. I especially try to pick out the metalheads, because I want to find my animated brothers and sisters in arms. It was while musing on the subject on Twitter that I found out the talented Ms. Elise over at Reign in Blonde kind of does the same thing. Apparently, all my acquaintances are online these days. She actually compiled a list of the most metal Disney characters, and with her help, I’ve expanded the list. Here are the Ten Most Likely Metalheads in Animated Movies (excluding anime and other international releases, as the author has not done enough research on the subject.)

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I was inspired to put some thoughts down after reading Sergeant D.’s post about what a terrible decision it is to commit yourself to the band life at a young age, because eventually the wheels will fall off and you’ll end up just like some morose version of the Anvil story: Sad, old, broke, and disillusioned by shattered dreams of rock stardom.  I know his blog was supposed to be funny and sarcastic, and was even sprinkled with a hint of sour grapes: Not getting to be that “cool band guy,” but justice being served down the line by seeing how those guys ended up. But I have to say that post hit home for me, because in many ways it was about me. I mean generally, not specifically. I’m pretty sure Sergeant D. didn’t follow me around and base his post on me autobiographically.

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My dad had kidney stones once when I was a kid and I remember him being in all kinds of agony. So please understand that I am not making fun of him for playing a show despite suffering from this particular malady, because that is very admirable. The set at this gig was apparently abbreviated, for obvious reasons, but for him to do what he did for the fans deserves a big pat on the back.

I am, however, making fun of him for being pompous, and for thinking that he was healed by the power of prayer.

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Like every wise metal listener, I heeded Axl’s advice on Monday to get over to AOL for a free spin of The Human Abs Tract’s forthcoming collection of mega-jamz. A bit later, once I returned my thoroughly fucked face to its position atop my neck and cleansed it of A.J. Minette and crew’s milky load, a click or two led me down the queue to a free stream of Jag Panzer’s first record since 2004, The Scourge of the Light (you listen here now). I’ve only admired the Colorado quintet from afar for their contribution of studly guitarist Chris Broderick to Megadeth in 2008, for 2000’s nerdy Macbeth-based concept album Thane To The Throne, and also for their possession of the teeming confidence necessary to have such an easily mockable band name. (Srsly so easy.) Now I admire them from about two inches away from their ballz cuz Scourge is epic American power metal made exceptional by eminently sing-able choruses, themes of frustrated humanism, and impactful, genre-busting restraint. Click here and U R JAMMING!

-ADF

Jag Panzer’s first post-Chris Broderick record, The Scourge of the Light, is out today on Steamhammer/SPV. Order your CD, digital copy, and 2xLP here.

A brief period in the late ’80s and early ’90s yielded a fantastical number of cutting-edge metal bands. Today, fans of this pre-internet groundswell of proggy, arty, and otherwise undefinable bands can rejoice at the reactivation of Coroner, Anacrusis, and the great Atheist. But conspicuously absent is Milwaukee’s Realm, once most likely to succeed among their high-brow ilk. Realm is also noteworthy as Roadrunner A&R giant Monte Conner’s very first signing, one that preceded Sepultura, Obituary, and fellow Wisconsinites Last Crack. Aside from some classy but low-profile reissues of Realm’s dual masterpieces Endless War and Suiciety, Realm buzz has remained low — especially for a band who left fans hanging without completing their sure-to-be awesome third album. I tracked down founding guitarist Takis Kinis (also ex-Beatallica) to get answers to largely unasked questions, and his insights go beyond Realm minutiae to form a sort of Do’s and Don’ts manual for budding young bands. Incredibly, Conner himself took time to stroll down Realm’s memory lane and provide even more invaluable peeks behind the music business curtain (look for his comments in gray). Don’t understand how a brilliant band doesn’t “make it”? Want to avoid the pitfalls of youthful bravado? Thinking of covering a famous Beatles song? Just want to get hip to two of metal’s most overlooked masterpieces? Read on.

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

This week’s query was suggested by a reader identifying himself simply as “Andy” –

WHICH MODEL OF GUITAR IS THE MOST METAL?

The MS staff’s answers after the jump.

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Round Two of Heavy Metal Blunders brings us, who else? Vince Neil! Yes, the official MS Mansion punching monkey got shipped off to the can last week. At this point, I don’t really care. But I did get a chuckle out of his girlfriend, Alicia Jacobs, who was concerned for her bank account, err… boyfriend. Jacobs claimed Neil was “not eating much other than peanut butter, Doritos and stuff like that. He had a baloney sandwich one day. It’s not optimal conditions.” I wonder what Razzle thinks about dem apples?

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So, apparently Jeff Hanneman was hospitalized last month, and underwent emergency surgery for a serious infection in his right arm, which he may or may not have contracted from a spider bite. (Not to be insensitive, but I think it would actually be kinda funny if he contracted the infection from, I dunno, jerking off too much, or opening a jar of pickles, or something like that, and the band is just saying it was a spider bite because that sounds so much more metal.)

Hanneman is expected to make a full recovery, but he’s obviously not gonna be picking up his axe anytime soon, and the band has an Australian tour coming up… so they’re gonna do the tour anyway, with a yet-to-be-announced fill-in guitarist.

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As you are probably well aware, our favorite punching bag, Vince Neil, is heading to the pokey on February 15 for not knowing how to hold his booze and/or drop his car keys. But did you know he is also in trouble for not knowing how to file a 1040 tax form? Seems Vince forgot to mail in those pesky $1.1 million tax dollars last year. Oops!

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I remember a time when if a singer couldn’t sing, they either a) did not get to have a career, or b) fronted a really dirty-sounding band so that it didn’t matter that they sounded kinda, uh, off. I mean, Tom Araya was never exactly Ronnie James Dio, and no one gave a shit. It’s rock n’ roll, man! It’s not s’posed to sound perfect!

This tradition of “Fuck it if the singer doesn’t sound amazing” barely seems to exist anymore. And for that reason alone, I have to tip my hat to Duff McKagan. His band Loaded have a new album, The Taking, coming out in the spring, and they’ve released a bunch of new songs from that album. None of them are great songs by any stretch of the imagination, but I kind of admire the fact that McKagan’s vocals more or less sound like crap. I mean, they’re not modern-day Dave Mustaine bad, but they’re still really bad. He could have auto-tuned the fuck out’ve ‘em, but, no, the guy comes from a punk rock tradition, and clearly just does not give a shit about trying to convince the world that he’s any better than he is.

Check out some new tracks from The Taking after the jump to get a sense of what I mean…

Click to read more…

I remember a time when if a singer couldn’t sing, they either a) did not get to have a career, or b) fronted a really dirty-sounding band so that it didn’t matter that they sounded kinda, uh, off. I mean, Tom Araya was never exactly Ronnie James Dio, and no one gave a shit. It’s rock n’ roll, man! It’s not s’posed to sound perfect!

This tradition of “Fuck it if the singer doesn’t sound amazing” barely seems to exist anymore. And for that reason alone, I have to tip my hat to Duff McKagan. His band Loaded have a new album, The Taking, coming out in the spring, and they’ve released a bunch of new songs from that album. None of them are great songs by any stretch of the imagination, but I kind of admire the fact that McKagan’s vocals more or less sound like crap. I mean, they’re not modern-day Dave Mustaine bad, but they’re still really bad. He could have auto-tuned the fuck out’ve ‘em, but, no, the guy comes from a punk rock tradition, and clearly just does not give a shit about trying to convince the world that he’s any better than he is.

Check out some new tracks from The Taking after the jump to get a sense of what I mean…

Click to read more…