Before there were blogs there were these things called magazines, and the only metal magazine we still get excited about reading every month is Decibel. Here’s managing editor Andrew Bonazelli…

I’ve only met Dave Witte once, at the editor-in-chief’s palatial Playboy Mansion-esque estate over the Fourth of July (all metal folk remained fully clothed, thank god). He’s a startlingly accomplished whiffle ball pitcher and an otherwise gregarious dude, which in my book is good enough to put his beret-ed mug on the March cover. More notable to you, perhaps, is his long, varied and unfuckwithable extreme music c.v., which branches furthest from the underground in the form of Municipal Waste. The party-thrash institution’s fifth album, The Fatal Feast, isn’t merely an excuse for Dave, Ryan, Phil and Tony to do a gross-out cover/interior spread—it doubles as an interstellar concept album that you really must read about to believe. It’s in the Decibel webstore now, bolstered by the pink-on-white, two-track Torche flexi disc of your dreams.

In other news, as you’re by now well aware, we’ve corralled four bands who are big fans of beer-buzzed suburban backyard whiffle ball games—Behemoth, Watain, the Devil’s Blood and In Solitude—for our inaugural Decibel Magazine Tour, starting in April. Well, dates and ticket info have finally been released, with all sorts of insane deals that are selling out already. Pig out here while there’s still time.

Those mighty scum sucking space dogs in GWAR recently announced not only that they were doing a massive tribute concert for their fallen guitarist, Cory Smoot, but that they’d soon be embarking on a tour with Municipal Waste and Ghoul. Which is, like, the perfect line-up for a GWAR tour. ‘Cause if you split GWAR’s two personalities — fun fun fun and monstrous vicious violent — in half, you’d probably end up with two bands very much like Municipal Waste and Ghoul. So, A++++ job, whomever thought up this line-up.

ANYWAY, my point being, dates have now been released, so you can begin to make plans to attend. And I know I keep saying it over and over and over again, but seriously, do not forget that you can make donations to The Smoot Family Fund here.

And now the tour itinerary…

Click to read more…

The first Cory Smoot memorial show, benefitting The Smoot Family Fund, was, by all accounts, a huge success (see footage from the concert here). So it’s no surprise that the band has announced a second memorial show, which will probably be an even bigger success, given that not only are GWAR themselves headlining, but they’re bringing Municipal Waste, Ghoul, and Suppression along with ‘em.

Here’s the announcement from GWAR’s Facebook page, which also announces that the band will be hitting the road soon with Municipal Waste and Ghoul… in other words, there’s gonna be another awesome tour for you to look forward to in the coming months:

“On Thursday, March 15th, 2012, the National Theater in Richmond, Va., will host the biggest Cory Smoot Memorial Show yet…join GWAR, Municipal Waste, Ghoul, and Suppression in an evening of bone-crushing delight…there will be raffles and prizes and excessive drinking and plenty of group hugs as we send off our Scumdog brother in the most grandiose fashion yet!!! ALL proceeds go to the Smoot Family Fund.The next day GWAR, Municipal Waste, and Ghoul shall depart on the second half of their U.S. ‘Return of the World Maggot’ tour. There will be a big press release next week with all the dates and details, so hang in there faithful bohabs, our Masters are returning to us!”

More details as we get ‘em. In the meantime, don’t forget that you can make donations to The Smoot Family Fund here.

-AR

[via Metal Insider]

Iron Reagan is a new band featuring two current members of Municipal Waste (Tony Foresta and Landphil) and one current and one former member of Darkest Hour (Paul Burnette and Ryan Parish), and that information alone should pretty much be enough to get you asking “Where I can hear this band?!?” And the answer is, right here, where the group is giving away their new demo for the low low cost of free.

I’m not clear who’s handling guitar duties — Burnette and Landphil are both bassists by trade, but presumably one of them is now rockin’ six strings instead of four — but that’s beside the point, I guess. ‘Cause the real point is this: the songs, which lean much more towards the Municipal Waste/neo-thrash side of things than the Darkest Hour/melodeath side of things, are more fun than wondering how Alzheimer’s-stricken Reagan was while he was running the United States. And I mean that as a high compliment, because I LOVE wondering how Alzheimer’s-stricken Reagan was while he was running the United States.

Iron Reagan will be playing their first show this Sunday, January 22, in Richmond, VA at Strange Matter; Weekend Nachos and Full of Hell are also on the bill, so if you live in the area you should definitely check that shit out. I do wonder how long the band’s set will be, ’cause this demo features four songs in five minutes. But presumably they have other tunes ready to roll, too, so they can stretch that shit to ten minutes, or maybe even fifteen, if they’re feeling ambitious.

Download the demo here, then weigh in with your opinions in the comments section below.

-AR

FEATURING MEMBERS OF GOD FORBID, SKELETONWITCH, CHARRED WALLS OF THE DAMNED, MUNICIPAL WASTE, TODAY IS THE DAY, LANDMINE MARATHON, AND SHAI HULUD

Every year year, MetalSucks asks musicians from across the vast spectrum of the metalsphere (or, in a few cases, the almost-metalsphere) what their favorite albums of the year have been. Death metallers, thrash metallers, black metallers, stoners, grinders, and djenters alike have graciously contributed lists to MS, and we’ll be running them in groups of nine to ten musicians at a time two to three times a day for the whole week.

After the jump, check out the next group… we hope you enjoy seeing what some of metal’s heaviest hitters were into this year as much as we have!

Click to read more…

So, hey, I dunno if you guys heard, but earlier this month we put on this totally rad festival, The Metal Suckfest? No big deal, it was just twenty awesome bands in two days, whatever.

So ANYWAY, our brahs over at Metal Injection were there to film another edition of their awesome “Ask the Artist” series, in which they — duhskis! – ask a variety of artists one particular question… in this case, “What sucks about metal?” Check out the answers from the bands that played The Metal Suckfest — plus a couple of incredibly handsome non-musicians (cough, Vince and I, cough, cough) below:

And don’t forget that you can check out more awesome installments of “Ask the Artist” right here. DO IT!!!

-AR

So, uh, hey, did we happen to mention that The Metal Suckfest took place this past weekend at the Gramercy Theatre here in New York? Well… it did! And we had an awesome time. Twenty incredible bands all kicked our asses and shredded our reproductive organs; we are truly exhausted, and can’t wait to do it again.

In case ya weren’t able to attend, our friend Justina Villanueva was there to capture all the action. After the jump, check out some killer photos of Municipal Waste, God Forbid, Today is the Day, This is Hell, Howl, Black Tusk, Magrudergrind, All Pigs Must Die, and Ramming Speed. We’ll have some more great pics from night two of the fest later this week!

Click to read more…

The Metal Suckfest is this weekend!!! And in case you’re not familiar with, or are somehow not sold on, the twenty incredible bands we’ve booked to play THE party of the year, we have scoured YouTube for recent live footage of ALL the artists playing the fest… so you can have a little taste of the madness we have in store for ya! (The exception is Prime Evil, who are actually reuniting after being dormant for some time. So their live footage is from back in the day.) Today, we’re posting clips of all the bands playing on Friday, November 4; tomorrow, we’ll post clips of all the bands playing on Saturday, November 5.

And don’t forget: TOMORROW and TOMORROW ONLY, ALL TICKETS TO THE METAL SUCKFEST ARE JUST $25 EACH with no added fees, regardless of whether you buy tickets online, or just walk up to the box office at the Gramercy Theatre. So if you don’t already have your tickets, make sure you take advantage!!!

And now, without further ado, enjoy concert footage of all the bands playing Day One of The Metal Suckfest!

MUNICIPAL WASTE

More after the jump!

Click to read more…

photo by Jordon Josepher

The Inaugural Metal Suckfest is almost here!!!! Twenty bands will DESTROY The Gramercy Theatre on November 4 and 5, PLUS there’s an awesome, five-band pre-party at the venue the night before, making this THE can’t-miss hang of the year.

Tickets are on sale now right here, and you can hit up the fest’s official website for more info on the shows, including the complete line-up. In the meantime, we’re counting down to this weekend of chaos and debauchery by speaking to one member from each band on the bill. We continue today with legendary drummer Dave Witte of Municipal Waste, who are scheduled to release a new album next year via Nuclear Blast Records.

Read our chat after the jump. And don’t forget to check back in the coming days and weeks for interviews with more of the musicians participating in this awesome event!!!

Click to read more…

On Saturday afternoon, ABC No Rio hosted the first-ever NYC show ever by Argonauts, the new band featuring vocalist Dimitri Minakakis (ex-The Dillinger Escape Plan), guitarist John Adubato (Burnt by the Sun), bassist Brett Bamberger (East of the Wall, The Binary Code’s old touring line-up), and drummer Dave Witte (seriously if you don’t know who Dave Witte is stop reading this right now and go do some homework). And for those of us who were lucky/smart enough to be there, the consensus was unanimous: ARGONAUTS. ARE. AWESOME.

If you weren’t lucky/smart enough to be there, though, you don’t have to take my word for it: the always-helpful (((unartig))) was there, and he filmed one of the six songs the group played. This is far superior to the footage of the band’s live debut which we saw last month, and it gives you a much better sense of their sound — although I still don’t think it comes anywhere close to conveying the energy in the room that afternoon, which was postively electric.

Apparently Argonauts’ current live set consists of every completed song they have right now; hopefully they’ll either write s’more and put out a full-length, or otherwise just record an EP, sometime in the very, very near future. I am seriously bummed that I can’t walk around listening to this band on my iPod right now. They fucking RULED. If you’re smart, you’ll keep a very, very close watch on their future activities, ’cause they are the real fucking deal.

-AR

[via The PRP]

It seems like there’s a new supergroup announced every week now, but few such projects get us excited the way news of Argonauts did. The outfit — which features original Dillinger Escape Plan vocalist Dimitri Minakakis, Burnt by the Sun guitarist John Adubato, East of the Wall bassist Brett Bamberger, and legendary drummer Dave Witte from Municipal Waste, Burnt by the Sun, and eighteen bajillion other awesome bands — made their live debut at GWAR’s GWAR-B-Q over the weekend, and now, of course, fan-filmed videos of the quartet have emerged. They’re not the highest quality, but they do kinda-sorta give you a sense of how the band might sound. And, if nothing else, they show why Bamberger is one of the most fun bass players to go see live — not only is he an amazing musician, but he goes totally apeshit on stage.

More clips after the jump!

Click to read more…

That’s right! Tickets for The Metal Suckfest — the two day festival with a line-up so ridiculously awesome we can’t believe we actually put this thing together — are ON SALE RIGHT NOW.

You can buy tickets to Day 1 (November 4) or Day 2 (November 5) individually for thirty bucks a pop — that’s just three dollars per band!!! — or, for your best value, buy a THREE DAY PASS! for seventy-five bucks.

“Wait, there’s a THIRD day?” you ask. That’s right! On November 3, the night before the fest officially kicks off, we’re hosting The Metal Suckfest Pre-Game, which will be headlined by legendary black metallers Mayhem and will also feature Keep of Kalessin, Hate, Abigail Williams, and Woe. Individual tickets to that show cost twenty-five dollars, but with your Metal Suckfest 3 Day Pass, you get a ten dollar discount. Pretty sweet, eh?

So GO BUY TICKETS NOW. The full line-up is after the jump, in case you forgot… do not forget that four more bands are still yet to be announced!!!

Click to read more…

Click to enlarge the ridiculously sweet poster art by Rodney Githens from Vertebrae 33 and Metal Band Art

When we first announced The Metal Suckfest, we promised you that it was NOT just a bunch of tours already-in-progress, routed so that they all converge for one event. That it was NOT just bands that all sound alike and one would normally expect to find on the same bill. That it would be a wholly unique concert in which some truly incredible artists are coming together JUST to play THIS ONE SINGLE EVENT.

And now you know — we weren’t lying.

We are SO PROUD to announce the line-up for the inaugural Metal Suckfest, which will take place November 4 and November 5 at The Gramercy Theatre in Manhattan. As you can see, the bands range from thrash to death to grind to prog to noise rock to NWOAHM to stoner to we don’t even know what you call it, but they all have one thing in common — they are all fucking awesome, and they are all 110% MetalSucks approved. This fest is gonna be so great, we keep having to pinch ourselves to make sure it’s real.

Tickets go on sale Friday at LiveNation.com at 10 am. 12 noon. We’ll be announcing the final four bands on the bill shortly, but trust us — you don’t wanna wait to get your ticket.

Here’s the rest of the line-up:

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4
Municipal Waste
God Forbid
Today is the Day
This is Hell
Howl
Black Tusk
Magrudergrind
All Pigs Must Die
Ramming Speed
Prime Evil

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5
Cynic
Obscura
The Red Chord
3
A Life Once Lost
Scale the Summit
Last Chance to Reason
Fight Amp
Rosetta
Ultrageist

-Vince, Axl, and Everyone at MetalSucks

We really cannot wait to share with you the entire lineup of the inaugural Metal Suckfest, our very own metal festival in New York City featuring 20 bands over the course of two full days; you will like, very, very much!

Last week we unveiled Cynic and Municipal Waste as the headliners. You’re gonna have to wait a little longer to see what the entire bill will look like, but for now you can get a sneak peak via the sleuths at Brooklyn Vegan. First they noticed a post on The Red Chord‘s Facebook page announcing themselves and Obscura on the same day as Cynic, and then they got a tip from a reader that Rosetta will be playing that very same day. All true; we can’t deny it.

November 5th: Cynic, Obscura, The Red Chord, Rosetta + 6 TBA
November 4th: Municipal Waste + 9 TBA

Stay tuned for the rest of the lineup.

The week before last, we hinted it at. Today, we are elated to tell you that the dream is real.

The Metal Suckfest.

Twenty incredible bands in two mosh-filled, headbang-fueled days.

NOT just a bunch of tours already-in-progress, routed so that they all converge for one event.

NOT just bands that all sound alike and one would normally expect to find on the same bill.

A wholly unique concert in which some truly incredible artists are coming together JUST to play THIS ONE SINGLE EVENT.

This is gonna be the best hang of the year.

It’s happening November 4 and November 5 at The Gramercy Theatre in Manhattan. We are ELATED to announce that Municipal Waste are headlining the first night, while Cynic will close the festival the following evening.

The other eighteen bands that fill out the lineup will be announced in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!!!

-Vince, Axl, and Everyone at MetalSucks

Hello wrestling fans! Last week I started a two part series on ‘Shoot’ fights (meaning real fights) that have happened in the scripted world of professional wrestling. But before I gt back into that madness, I wanted to tell you guys about how my bro and I wentand saw Ring of Honor last weekend in Richmond,Virginia. There was a huge, insane thunderstorm annihilating Richmond when the first bell rang, and I think that may have left a few of the performers stranded at the airport, so we ended up seeing alot of the same guys come out for more than one match. So that kind of sucked. Needless to say, I got hammered and had fun anyway.

Okay — now back to the shoot fights!

Click to read more…

OK WWE, you got me. I fell for it hook line and sinker, I actually thought that last week CM Punk had gotten away with speaking his mind about the sad state of WWE’s product live on RAW. I can’t believe they had me with the whole “CM Punk has been suspended” shtick. I have to admit that this story line is pretty good and for the first time in a very long time I am actually interested in seeing where they take this.

It did however get me thinking about whether or not anyone has actually gotten away with doing something unscripted live on Vince McMahon TV. After a little research I did find some really interesting stuff. Some stories about things that happened on televison but some other stories about fights between wrestlers that happened backstage. Here are some of the interesting tidbits I dug up. I tried to double reference these stories to weed out the ones that were total bullshit:

Click to read more…

Yay, Vince is back! And guess what? Now it’s my turn to take a vacation! I haven’t had once since the summer of 2006, about six months before we started the site. So, yeah, I’m looking forward to getting away. Try not to miss me too much, m’kay?

And, oh yeah, it’s July 4 weekend, so we’re leaving early today and won’t be here Monday. That might be worth mentioning for non-American readers.

ANYWAY, here’s what we did this week:

• We debuted new music by Exhumed.
• Landphil from Municipal Waste and Cannabis Corpse pondered the CM Punk WWE Raw “shoot.”
• Our pals at Decibel spoke to the members of Cradle of Filth about about their album The Principle of Evil Made Flesh.
• We wondered why teenagers are still butthurt about Hot Topic in 2011.
• We celebrated the Stephen Colbert/Ted Nugent showdown.
• We checked out the first Portnoy-free Dream Theater song.
• We enjoyed some lulz at the expense of Staind and their record label.
• We bemoaned the fact that Behemoth’s Nergal is back on trial for tearin’ up a Bible.
• We celebrated the gloriousness that is the new Mastodon video.
• Best. “Show Us Your MetalSucks.” EVER.

And now it’s time to start partying. Lates.

-AR

Hello wrestling fans! I am sitting in JFK Airport getting ready to board a flight to Nantes. France to play Hellfest. The line-up looks retardedly awesome, and I have a couple hours to kill, so I am hammering down alcohol in preparation for the Flight. I figure since I have nothing to do but look at my computer screen for awhile, I would write the second installment of my blog for MetalSucks!

There has been alot happening in the world of wrestling in the past couple of weeks, most notably the passing of Randy “Macho Man”
Savage, a true wrestling legend and my peronal favorite wrestler of all time. Savage suffered a heart attack behind the wheel of his Jeep Wrangler. Anyone that has lived on this planet for more than fifteen years has to know exactly who he is — he was the most entertaining and memorable character to ever step into the squared circle.

Click to read more…