Update, 6:23pm EST:

It appears this track was leaked intentionally. According to Got-Djent, the domain name on which the above was first posted, iamaleak.com, is registered to Meshuggah’s manager. The leak was revealed via the puzzle below, posted at various places throughout the Internet:

the ophidian whispered those who seek shall be rewarded….

a sonic declaration of spIte And resentMent
its resonAnce grinding to dust our souls
the twine of revenge tightLy strung
its subharmonics thE undoing of All

and for those who asK for my name? / dotcom

Original Post:

iamaleak by gregoriev_suckalotsky

Koloss comes out on March 27th via Nuclear Blast Records.

-VN

Thanks: Tim Shanks and Dantera

Meshuggah recently revealed during an online chat that they’d be embarking on a North American tour with Baroness and Decapitated starting in May, and it turns out they were lying — the tour actually starts at the end of April. GOSH, MESHUGGAH, GET IT TOGETHER!

I’m kidding, of course. This tour is gonna be awesome. And, much like the just-confirmed Mastodon/Opeth/Ghost tour, I don’t really think there’s much else I need to say about this — the chances that any of you need to be sold on checking these shows out is about as likely as the chance that Cliff Burton is going to be on the next Metallica album.

And so, without any further bullshit, here’s the tour itinerary:

Click to read more…

Axl wore his most vile death metal shirt in an attempt to avoid being selected as a juror in this great City of New York, but lo and behold, his plan backfired and he was chosen anyway. So it’s been the Vince party over here since Wednesday with plenty of help from all of our most excellent contributors — special big ups to Anso DF for pitching in extra! Here’s what went down:

• We lost Riot guitarist Mark Reale. R.I.P.
• We premiered a new track by Pyscroptic, one by Exotic Animal Petting Zoo and all of Primal Fear’s new album Unbreakable.
• The Rockstar Mayhem Festival announced the first slate of bands on its 2012 lineup. Slipknot later spilled the beans that High on Fire are confirmed too.
• Ihsahn is guesting on the new Jeff Loomis solo joint and Jeff Loomis is guesting on the new Ihsahn solo joint. Will those two get a room already?
• The Dillinger Escape Plan’s Ben Weinman went all anti-drug on our asses.
• Tours and rumours of tours: The Mastodon / Opeth / Ghost tour is really gonna happen, Meshuggah, Decapitated and Baroness will hit the U.S. together (no dates yet), dates were announced for the Decibel Magazine Tour featuring Behemoth, Watain, The Devil’s Blood and In Solitude, while All Shall Perish, Fleshgod Apocalypse and other cool bands announced a tour too.
• Sammy O’Hagar reviewed Lamb of God‘s new album while Gary took a look at new hardcore 7-inches by Daylight, Unholy Majesty and Wrong Answer.
• We realized that Maynard James Keenan poops and pees and eats just like the rest of us.

We’ll be back next week for Axl’s triumphant return to the blogosphere. See you then.

-VN

UPDATE, 4:29 p.m.: MSN/Terrorizer/Decibel scribe Adrien Begrand tells us via Twitter, “I can confirm the Meshuggah tour, I talked to Tomas [Haake, Meshuggah drummer] last night. It’s happening in May.” HOLY SHIT! Major props to Adrien for the info. Follow him on Twitter to thank him, okay?

UPDATE #2, 5:10 p.m.: The PRP now tells us that you can watch the video in which the tour is discussed online right here. The part of the video with the relevant info comes at roughly the 31:40 mark.

Meshuggah just completed a live Q&A video session, and according to reader Dan Wolfson, the band did, indeed, say there was going to do a U.S. tour with Decapitated and Baroness.

We don’t have confirmation of this yet, but if it’s true… holy shit, what an amazing line-up that would be. Unusual, sure — Baroness seem way outta place there, no? — but awesome.

More details as we get ‘em. In the meantime, fingers crossed…

-AR

Last week Vince did his Woodward n’ Bernstein thing and, discovering that Nuclear Blast’s German webstore listed the new Meshuggah album under the title Koloss, deduced that the album was actually titled Colossus — because “koloss” is German for “colossus.”

And he was so close! In fact, the album is actually just called Koloss. They’re tricky, that Meshuggah!

ANYWAY, the album’s cover art has now been unveiled, and while at first glance I’m not entirely sure I understand what’s going on, I do know that a) I want to study it further, and b) I’m feeling a little intimidated by it. In other words, it is the perfect visual representation of Meshuggah’s music. Check it out:

Koloss comes out March 27 via Nuclear Blast.

-AR

When Meshuggah released a brief message last week announcing the release date of their new album, I don’t think anyone even stopped to think that the album’s title might be hidden within:

After a long time of deep soul searching and intense wrecking of the psyches, the new album is finally done. Soon you will meet this colossus that will pulverize your being. Welcome to the other side on March 27.

But then came an email from stealthy MetalSucks informant Ashley Lee linking to a page in Nuclear Blast’s German webstore showing an album by the name “Koloss” — “Colossus” in German –  set for release on March 23rd (releasing an album on Friday in Europe and the following Tuesday in the U.S. is still par for the course these days despite many record labels’ willful ignorance of the existence of the Internet). Here’s the English translation of the text on the NB Germany page:

Exclusively at NUCLEAR BLAST mailorder! The limited edition ”colossus” digipakincluding bonus DVD MESHUGGAH plus the magic cube! Limited to 500 bundles!

So, that begs the question… what the fuck is a magic cube??? Color us interested.

-VN

Here’s some happy-making news to kick off your day: Meshuggah have announced a March 27 release date (via Nuclear Blast, natch) for their new album. Sure, they haven’t announced the title, unveiled the cover art, or released any new music, but… hey, it’s Meshuggah! At their best, they’re great, and at their worst, they’re still a thousand times more thought-provoking than most of their peers! We’ll be talking about this album for months and months and months and possibly years and years and years pretty much no matter what. So it’s worth marking the release date on your calendar now, even if there isn’t much actual news to report.

Here’s a statement from the band, which also tells you pretty much nothing:

Click to read more…

photos by Gabrielle Duplantier

November 12, 2011. I’m in Long Island City, heading towards Spin Recording Studios, where the mighty Gojira have recently begun recording their new album with producer Josh Wilbur. It’s a big deal because a) it’s Gojira’s first album in more than three years, b) the band has just announced that they’ve signed with Roadrunner Records, and c) Gojira fucking rules, and I’m a massive, massive fan.

I’m still a good block-and-a-half away when I hear it. It’s so incredibly LOUD and metallic, it almost sounds like machine gun fire — but it’s too rhythmic to be a weapon. I decide it must be a street performer, banging on some sheet metal or something… except that I can see the street all around me, and it’s completely deserted. If it is a street performer, he’s very well concealed, and is apparently playing to an audience of no one.

By the time I arrive at the front door of Spin Studios — a large, steel entrance — the sound has become deafening. And as I peek through the small, submarine-like door window, I finally see the source of the sound: it’s Gojira skinsman Mario Duplantier, drumming on the door like the thunder god that he is.

Click to read more…

Not Seth Putnam

One mind-blowing aspect of Devin Townsend’s Deconstruction album is its coterie of guest personnel. A who’s-who of pivotal screamers, the list includes that awesome dude from Gojira, legendary super-stud Ihsahn, and extreme metal’s loveliest alto, Tommy Rogers from Between The Buried And Me. And though Townsend rightly rushes to downplay the distraction/sketchy motives of high-profile guest contributions, it’s exciting as shit for metal fans to have those guys — plus studz from Meshuggah, Cynic, and Gwar — all in one place.

Likewise, I super-hail Chino Moreno and his 2005 Team Sleep record, which finds the Deftones frontman enlisting the non-metal voices and pens of Helium’s Mary Timony and Rob Crow of Pinback (above). Each sings awesomely on at least two of the self-titled album’s jamz (e.g. “Our Ride To The Rectory” with Crow here). Just like Townsend’s gang on Deconstruction, Crow’s and Timony’s presence legitimizes the album (ie. busy, inspired aces wouldn’t appear on some hack shit) and helps it to achieve a specialness, like the NBA All-Star game or the time I ate a pizza that a bag of Cheetos had spilled onto (aka Cheetzza©). Best of all, it makes me feel in sync with another human being (Moreno) who happens to ass-worship Timony and Crow and um Moreno. It’s like finally somebody put my needs first when making an album!

Okay here we are at paragraph three, so I bet my editors would like me to deliver on the headline’s promise :) Speaking of Team Sleep MVP Rob Crow, you love the dude cuz he’s awesome (see also: Optiganally Yours’ Exclusively Talentmaker!), and cuz he’s metal (see: his non-serious doom metal project, Goblin Cock), and cuz on his new solo album He Thinks He’s People, he offers an affectionate tribute to Seth Putnam, the recently deceased Anal Cunt mainman and author of history’s best song titles. Check it out and chuckle after the jump!

Click to read more…

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 Meshuggah’s Fredrik Thordendal…

We could have easily chosen Meshuggah’s rhythm guitarist, Martin Hagström, for this list. As the primary music writer on about half of Meshuggah’s songs from Chaosphere onwards, Hagstrom is equally responsible for Meshuggah’s deliriously complex rhythm schemes, which have largely defined the band’s music for nearly twenty years and more or less inspired the entire djent movement. In 2004, Guitar World threw up its hands trying to decide who was better, and inducted both guitarists to the #35 spot on the magazine’s list of 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists of All Time. Let’s not forget that Thordendal and Hagström also made seven and eight-string guitars cool again, after the scourge of nu-metal tainted the reputation of the extended range axe.

But there are a couple things that give Thordendal the upper hand.

Click to read more…

Everyone whose parents raised them correctly loves Gojira, and so everyone whose parents raised them correctly has been eagerly anticipating the band’s seemingly-forever-in-gestation Sea Shepherd EP since, well, seemingly forever.

But now it looks like we might actually be getting close to its unveiling! Last week we got to hear a new song, “Of Blood and Salt,” which features guest appearances from Meshuggah’s Fredrik Thordendal and Devin Townsend’s Devin Townsend; now Gojira’s guitarist/vocalist/mastermind, Joe Duplantier, has given an interview with Metal Hammer in which he reveals that Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe (who previously appeared on the group’s “Adoration for None”), In Flames’ Anders Friden, and some dude named Max Cavalera are all going to appear on the release, too.

Click to read more…

If you’re American, you already know it’s Memorial Day weekend, and, in fact, you’re probably either already on your way to the beach/a BBQ/a terrible summer movie/whatever, and are reading this after it was published. If you’re not American, all you really need to know is that we’re breaking out right now, and won’t be here on Monday. Usual tomfoolery will resume on Tuesday, May 31.

In the meantime, here’s how we kept busy this week:

• We debuted new music from Job for a Cowboy, Tombs, Unearth, and Vaulting.
• We spoke to Neil Fallon from Clutch.
• We continued to unveil our list of The Top 25 Modern Metal Guitarists.
• We checked out the latest releases from Dark Castle and Embers.
• Sergeant D. examined comedy metal.
• Leyla Ford examined Lady GaGa’s metal-ness.
• Anso wondered if Slayer pinball is better than recent Slayer albums.
• We got really excited about the new Gojira song.
• We got less excited about the new Bury Your Dead song.
• We watched you folks debated about the new Trivium song.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I am going to put these tips for using the toilet to good use before I head out for the weekend. See ya Tuesday!

-AR

I’m disrupting our usual posting schedule because some things are just too damn important to wait until tomorrow. And, clearly, this is one of those things.

It seems like forever now that we’ve been hearing about a new Gojira EP, the proceeds of which would benefit anti-whaling organization Sea Shepherd. And we knew that the EP would feature “guests from the international metal community.” Now one of those songs, “Of Blood and Salt,” featuring two of those guests — some dudes named Devin Townsend and Fredrik Thordendal (What a letdown, Gojira. Whassa matter? Dio and Hendrix weren’t available?) — is scheduled to be released with a sampler that will accompany next week’s issue of Metal Hammer. This being 2011, though, the song is already on YouTube. You can listen below.

Do I even have to tell you it’s awesome? It’s classic Gojira — I mean, I think at least 95% of the song consists of a massive elephants marching riff. Add a little Devy and Thordendal (I assume that’s him playing the guitar solo, although I could be wrong) and, well… get ready to have a six and a half minute orgasm.

Hopefully the EP will have an official release date soon. Meanwhile, keep in mind that Gojira’s Joe Duplantier appears on the song “Sumeria” on The Devin Townsend Project’s new album, Deconstruction, which comes out on June 21 via InsideOut.

-AR

Thanks to everyone who e-mailed us about this.

Remember that time that you were trying to watch Once Upon A Time In The West while your roommate was blasting Meshuggah in the next room? Then you’re ready for UK’s Xerath, who fuses slamming prog-tinged death metal with soaring, tasteful film score symphonics. For some bands, this melange may stay a gimmick, an excuse to be so-so on the strength of their slick band concept. Not here. Xerath is awesome at it, and II is equal parts high drama and snug, well-built riffage (including a guest spot from our brah Emil Werstler from Daath).

Listen here now but close your curtains unless you wanna be spotted headbanging and air-conducting like this dude!

–ADF

Xerath’s second album II is out May 3 on Candlelight. Pre-order here.

Oh my fuck, you guys, IT IS 71 DEGREES OUTSIDE. I was gonna stay home and watch Vanilla Ice’s underrated cinemetallic classic, Cool as Ice, but instead I am getting stoned and going for a long, long walk in the sun. Quickly, before I ditch you losers to actually enjoy life, here’s what we did this week:

• God Forbid’s Doc Coyle weighed-in on Sergeant D.’s “band life is for losers” theory.
• We broke the news that hardcore supergroup S.O.S. has signed with Good Fightand got an exclusive report on the status of He is Legend from the band’s manager.
• We debuted new music by Napalm Death (thanks, Decibel!), The Haunted and Clutch.
• We said cel-lo to Grayceon’s Jackie Perez Gratz and got the skinny on the new Today is the Day album from drummer Curran Reynolds.
• We checked out the latest release from Total Fucking Destruction.
• We wondered if women make better metal singers than men.
• We examined the Kid Rock-Confederate flag controversy.
• We watched the worst video of 2011 so far.
• Dummy Nosenothing listened to the new Meshuggah song and then chased an ice cream truck.
• WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK…

Alright, I’m gonna go have some ice cream! ICE CREAM! YYYYAAAAAYYYYY!!!

-AR

After listening to Psycho’s female blowtorch, Penny Torture, and Ava Inferi’s haunting distaff elemental, Carmen Susana Simões, I realized it’s time we just chill and admit that women are all-around better at this metal-singing thing.

Is this mad exaggeration? It feels like that when I’m away from an MPEG player, but then I listen to those two radically different bands, to Psycho’s primal-scream old school death or Ava Inferi’s doomed-out, gothy whatsit, and it feels I’m not over-reaching, I’m underselling.

And it’s not just two superior releases (Ava Inferi’s Onyx and Psycho’s Pain Addict Pigs). It’s just become impossible to ignore the fact that females are not only doing equal or better work in the same genre jobs as male counterparts, they’re also making metal records that go places no male on Earth — none, nada, zip-ol-lina — could go. That 2011’s best metal so far — Subrosa’s No Help for the Mighty Ones — is an almost all-femme effort of relentless pan-genre awesomeness only adds arsenic and new lace to my argumentative cake.

All of which may have the reader thinking, “You do realize, you silly person, that you’ve just written off the work of one half the human race.”

To which I say, “Yeah, well, I guess I’m pimping a little irony here, since that’s business as usual with women and the metal press. But irony aside, please bear with me.”

Click to read more…

Have you guys heard this new Meshuggah song? It’s called “Two Worlds of Design.” I was listening to it, and at first I was like, “Oh YEAH! Mesuggah is back, bay-bee!” I mean, Jens Kidman’s voice sounded a little less like the Cookie Monster and a little more like that singer from that band my nephew likes, but whatevs. NEW MESHUGGAH FUCKING RULES. Amiriteoramiriteoramirite?

Then, partway through the song, I heard the ice cream truck outside. So I paused the tune to run and catch it, ’cause as much as I love Meshuggah, the internet ain’t goin’ nowhere, bu the ice cream truck only comes by once a day!

So I run outside, and there’s no ice cream truck. And I’m real bummed ’cause I musta just missed it. But I go back inside and decide to finish the Meshuggah song, ’cause that should cheer me up.

And as soon as I hit “play,” guess what happens? I HEARD THE ICE CREAM TRUCK AGAIN! God answered my prayers and gave me a second chance! So, again, I pause the song and I run outside.

Click to read more…

(click to enlarge)

Remember that “Map of Djent” published by Got-Djent.com in December? With more fan data now in the site’s database, Got-Djent.com has published an updated version of the map showing a better representation of the tastes of the site’s visitors. The new version still shows that four bands, Meshuggah, Periphery, TesseracT and Animals as Leaders — the “Big Four” of djent, if you will — dominate the scene, but it also shows a much tighter and bigger cluster of bands immediately surrounding them. Make sure you click the above image to enlarge it and view it in full.

This “map” has the same minor flaws as the previous version: 1) The site is based in the U.K. and as such best represents that country’s musical taste (which in a few cases lean towards native bands such as TesseracT, Fellsilent and Monuments), not necessarily those of the entire world, 2) Some of these bands definitely aren’t djent, 3) The results certainly weren’t collected scientifically. But that doesn’t mean the data should be discounted, just that it should not be viewed as definitive; this is an AWESOME visual representation of the musical tastes of a certain subset of metal fans. At some point I’d love to see a chart, graphic or animation that takes the data used to compile this map and uses it to show a growth (or demise) in a band’s popularity over time.

-VN

Remember how 2011 is The Year of the Prog Dork and how Meshuggah hinted at the possibility of a new album in a recent live webcast? Well, my fellow Internet nerd constituents, today’s excitement comes in the form of more information from Meshuggah about their forthcoming 2011 release.

Tomas Haake and Jens Kidman recently sat down with The Deciblog to share their thoughts on what to expect from the follow-up to 2008′s ObZen. Or, rather, Haake shared his thoughts and Kidman just stared at the camera and nodded. But really, let’s not kid ourselves; despite any minor adjustments the band might make in their writing and recording processes this record is still going to sound like Meshuggah. If you think Meshuggah are overrated hacks splooged upon by wannabe musicians then you’re not going to like it, while if you think Meshuggah are masters of a generation then you’re probably gonna love it. As for me… MESHUUUUGAAAAHHHH!!!

-VN

The Year of The Prog Dork just keeps getting better and betterer. Monday we heard new music from Devin Townsend, yesterday Protest the Hero announced they’d release their new record Scurrilous on March 22nd, and today we get some clips of new music from pioneering metal record label METAL BLADE RECORDS recording artists Between the Buried and Me in the form of a new studio clip (watch the first one here) from their forthcoming David Bottrill-produced EP:

More prog metal dorkery: on Monday I off-handedly suggested that we might end up with a new Meshuggah album in 2011, but that was pure speculation based simply on the fact that, ya know, it’s been a little while. As it turns out, there’s a very good chance I was right:

Click to read more…