Happy tax day, everyone! Hopefully by now you’ve long since sent in your tax returns and are due a healthy refund, or at the very least if you’re freelancers like us don’t owe the government too much money. But if you’ve waited until this very last minute I recommend avoiding the post office while doing your taxes metal-style at TaxSlayer.com. I don’t envy you though ’cause man that shit is always way more stressful than you think it’s gonna be!

Might I suggest a soundtrack to help alleviate said stress? The new Neuraxis album Asylon that came out in February is a ripper and a half; as Axl said when it came out, Neuraxis “make every other deedily-deedily-doo band you fuckers send us look bad; they are the definition of “good tech death.” The entirety of Asylon is still streaming over at StereoKiller; two of my favorite songs on the record are “Purity” and album-closer “Left to Devour;” check ‘em out, headbang, do taxes.

Of course, if you’re Canadian like Neuraxis you’ve got two more weeks to finish your taxes… c’est la vie.

Order Asylon on CD or with a killer t-shirt for only $15 here.

-VN

New releases by Deicide, Neuraxis and Total Fucking Destruction top this week’s list of new metal albums available in the States. While the new one from Emmure is guaranteed to outsell them all (combined!), we can take solace in the fact that there a smattering of other great new releases too from the likes of Ava Inferi, Darkest Era, Rabbits, The Famine, and a whole lot more. Vic Vaughn breaks ‘em all down after the fold.

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HEY-OOO!!! Here’s a not-at-all-terrible way to kick off your Tuesday morning: two killer bands are now streaming their new albums in full. Depending on your tastes, you can get all slow n’ sloppy with it, or fast and technical. So:

• Crowbar’s Sever the Wicked Hand, which comes out today on eOne, is streaming here. I honestly don’t know what I can tell you about Crowbar that you don’t already know, unless you’re a noob; and if you are a noob, all you really need to know is LISTEN TO CROWBAR. Do it do it do it. BONUS: you can also read “Fifteen Things You Didn’t Know About Kirk Windstein,” by Kirk Windstein himself!, right here.
• Neuraxi’s Asylon, which comes out next week (specifically, February 15) on Prosthetic, is streaming here. Neuraxis make every other deedily-deedily-doo band you fuckers send us look bad; they are the definition of “good tech death.” So I hope you’re already hip to their talents. If not, here’s yer shot. Do it do it do it.

And if neither of those records make you happy, you’re a spoiled brat and you should go sit in the corner and think about what you’ve done. No joke, your mother and I are very disappointed in you, you little shit.

-AR

It’s cold, icy, and raining here in New York. In other words, I suddenly understand how it feels to be French Canadian.

No wonder the dudes in Neuraxis are so angry. I mean, just listen to all the vitriol coming through in their new song, “Savior and Destroyer.” They might as well have called it “French and Canadian and Neither Really.” I feel your pain, dudes.

ANYWAY, listen to the song here. It comes off their new album, Asylon, which will Prosthetic will release on February 14. How romantic!!!

-AR

DEICIDE. The very mention of the name strikes fear into the hearts of parents, teachers, religious leaders, politicians, and total fucking pussies everywhere. They are one of the most legendary death metal bands of all time — nay, just one of the most legendary metal bands of all time, period. And on February 15, Century Media will unleash Deicide’s latest catastropiece, To Hell With God, upon the world.

MetalSucks is beyond proud to be debuting a brand new track from that album, the eloquently titled “Hang in Agony Until You’re Dead.” No joke, this is one of those days when we have to pinch ourselves — holy shit, we started this website as a joke, and now we’re debuting a Deicide track. And an AWESOME Deicide track, at that — one that’s just as fucked up and wicked as you’ve come to expect from the band fronted by a dude who burned an inverted cross into his forehead, but that displays the band’s ever-evolving skills as songwriters and musicians, too. And Mark Lewis’ production and mixing gives Deicide a crisp, clear sound they’ve never quite achieved before, without sacrificing any of the nut-crushing heaviness we’ve come to expect from this most venerated of bands.

Check out “Hang in Agony Until You’re Dead” below, and then pre-order To Hell With God here. Believe us when we tell you that the entire album is this good. And don’t forget that Deicide kick off a headlining tour in support of Hell the day of its release, with support coming from Belphegor, Neuraxis, Blackguard, and Pathology; you can get dates after the jump.

[this streaming promotion has ended]

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Let’s use this opportunity to review not one but two of today’s lessons, shall we? Okay, here we go:

BEGINNING: You read on MetalSucks that Neuraxis are streaming a new song, “Asylum,” here.

MIDDLE: You listen to the new Neuraxis song and think, “Ah, this is how tech death is done!”

END: You don’t e-mail us about bands like this one ever again.

“Asylum” will appear on Neuraxis’ latest, Asylon, which comes out on February 14 via Prosthetic.

-AR

So three well  known bands released their new album art today, and rather than give each one its own post, it just seemed to make sense to lump ‘em all in together. So here comes the lumping.

First up is the cover for DevilDriver’s new, Mark Lewis produced beast, uh, Beast. It’s kind of a meh album cover (what, no owls this time?); the image seems designed to appear as though it’s been held under a blacklight, when it would be way cooler if they went the Mudvayne route and made something that would actually look good under a blacklight. Obviously this doesn’t say anything about the music, though, and in this day and age, with all the downloading goin’ on, who the fuck knows if anyone besides decaying old fogies like me even gives a shit about album art.

ANYWAY, Beast will come out on Roadrunner on February 22. The cover debuted earlier today on Bloody Disgusting.

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I keep forgetting that it’s basically October already, ’cause the weather here in New York has still been, by and large, quite warm — but there ya have it. The year is rapidly drawing to its conclusion.

And so now we’re talking about shows for next year. But at least those shows sound potentially killer.

So. Deicide have apparently completed work on their new album, To Hell with God, which was produced by the great Mark Lewis and should be out sometime next year. While we wait, they’ve announced a headlining trek with support coming from Belphegor, Blackguard, Neuraxis, and Pathology. That is a not-at-all shabby line-up, wouldn’t you say? And it’s DEI-FUCKING-CIDE. You know you wanna go.

Dates after el jumperooni.

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The defining moment of the first day of this year’s New England Deathfest – in its second year and already a promising presence on the US metal festival circuit – was the late in the evening set by Wisconsin brutal death outfit Putrid Pile. Or, rather, by Shaun LaCanne, the one man behind the band. Dressed in baggy shorts, a completely unreadable death metal logo shirt, a Devourment hat, and cheapest-frames-they-had-at-Lenscrafters glasses, the man proceeded to play an unrelenting array of blistering death grind with ridiculous slam riffs, croaking gutturally on top of it. While he didn’t headbang or thrash around – his hat remained on his head throughout the whole set – the crowd adored it. As he slammed, the crowd moved with him: a quick survey of the audience during his/the band’s performance revealed a few flailing bodies in a sea of sweaty heads all nodding to the beat in eerie unison. It was a strangely beautiful sight: a relatively sizable crowd of people, half warmed by a glut of $2.50 Presidentes from the bar and half overjoyed by the presence of a pretty obscure death metal band (thought there was obviously a considerable overlap), all incredibly fixated on one average-as-fuck looking guy playing brutal death riffs to a drum machine, with nothing else accompanying him onstage. It should have been boring and unwatchable – the other two one-man acts on Deathfest that day certainly tried one’s patience over the course of their thirty-five minute sets – but instead, it demanded your attention, and rewarded it upon its receipt.

This was the beauty of Deathfest personified: in an age where death meta — a genre initially extreme and violently uncommercial by nature – has become triggered, watered down child’s play fit for the consumption of hardcore kids sick of breakdowns and barking, New England Deathfest exists for those who view it as an invaluable commodity and not a layover between trends. The festival’s downsides – an overwhelmingly disproportionate ratio of men to women and the risk of homogeneity among them – were overshadowed by the purity of the event, the idea that the metal underground isn’t a waiting room for the Lambs of God and Mastodons of tomorrow, but a place where people who like this one thing – this one abrasive, horrific, indigestible-to-99%-of-the-populous thing – can adore and revere it communally, fostering a beautifully dogged loyalty. There were no pretensions of Hot Topic-elevated fame or pseudo-stardom, but instead the idea that the man up on stage could be you or me – hell, I’m pretty sure he may be my IT guy – but happens to play a seven string really fucking fast and have a good sense of how to slow things down as menacingly as possible. In a world as splintered as metal, it’s fascinating to see that there’s this corner of it with dozens of bands you’ve never heard of, complete with fans that will sit through eight hours of blasting and slams to see them onstage, even if it’s just one guy. Deathfest was as much Star Trek convention as it was metal festival: for two days, people mingled with other people to whom extremer-than-extreme death metal was the greatest thing in the world, an alternate universe where people took death metal seriously and treated it not as an occasion to put their fingers in their ears.

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You bitched and moaned about daylight savings time, even though you were asleep when the clocks changed and you get an extra hour of daylight every day until November. You are all retards.

Here’s what else happened this week:

• Sigh’s Mirai Kawashima gave us another studio report (no naked Dr. Mikannibal pics, sorry), Early Man’s Mike Conte got his cheesesteak on, and Neuraxis’ Alexandre Leblanc gave us his final tour blog.
• We spoke with Darkane’s Christofer Malmstrom, Meshuggah’s Marten Hagstrom, Soilwork’s Peter Wichers and Ross the Boss (ex-Manowar)
• Our man-crush on Trent Reznor grew ever greater.
• You argued over who was the most important member of Metallica, past and present.
• We looked at new releases by Razor of Occam and Karl Sanders.
• It was a big week in the Norwegian courts… the Gorgoroth case was settled, and Varg was granted parole.
• Crazytown and Skunk Anansie are getting back together.

Next week Kip and I take off for Austin, TX on Wednesday. We’ll be live-blogging whenever possible. To everyone else, have fun not being there, suckazzz!!

-VN

We loved Neuraxis’ 2008 release, The Thin Line Between, so much that the opportunity to have the band do an exclusive tour blog for MetalSucks was too good an opportunity to pass up. Below, check out vocalist Alexandre Leblanc’s final entry; you can read guitarist Rob Milley’s intial entry here, Alexandre’s last two entries here, and Alexandre’s review of the Oscar nominated film The Wrestler here. Enjoy!

Raleigh, February 21st

A small venue packed with (more or less) 250 people. So many that I’m hoping for a good show. Which we don’t (didn’t) have. I mean we get the 10% that digs what we do but the others are just rude. I mean, it’s ok. They don’t dig us and it’s their right. I later went to a coffee place for some internet. When I come back in the venue. Apparently there had been a fight night. Scott from Carnifex told us (when) he left the people didn’t even care about music…only moshing and fighting. Apparently, a brawl erupted in front of the merch and 6 people, we’re bashing on this huge 6’5 black bouncer fit to be in professional wrestling. We were kind of glad of leaving this place….

Quote : “That bouncer is gonna kill somebody….”

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We loved Neuraxis’ 2008 release, The Thin Line Between, so much that the opportunity to have the band do an exclusive tour blog for MetalSucks was too good an opportunity to pass up. Below, check out vocalist Alexandre Leblanc’s latest entry; you can read guitarist Rob Milley’s intial entry here, Alexandre’s last entry here, and Alexandre’s review of the Oscar nominated film The Wrestler here. Enjoy!

Portland, February 6th

After a killer set, we went to the bar for a drink with Tiffany and her friends.  She has been friends with the band since their tour with Necrophagist hit Portland in 2006.  She always invites us to her place and spoils us.  Anyway, I got my drinking ticket denied because I wanted a white russian or a 7up/Southern Comfort (favorite drinks of mine), so I got a whiskey and coke… more like a glass of whiskey with a bit of coke for color.  We ended up at her place for some food, smoking (it’s Oregon after all) and eating some special cookies made just for us.  The sad thing is we have to leave by 3am for a long long ride to California.

Quote of the night: ”Wow, they barely taste like cookies.”
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Here’s an interesting factoid Neuraxis fans might now know: vocalist Alex LeBlanc has actually worked a few matches as a pro wrestler on the Canadian indie circuit! So we asked him to review Darren Aronofsky’s new, Oscar nominated film, The Wrestler. Here are Alex’s thoughts on the film and its portrayl of pro-wrestling. Enjoy!

Being into wrestling for eight years now, I went to see The Wrestler with an opened mind. I knew it was going to be good since I’m a fan of Mickey Rourke and [director] Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream. The thing I was particulary interested in is the portrayal of the wrestling world. Let me tell you: it is so accurate.

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We loved Neuraxis’ 2008 release, The Thin Line Between, so much that the opportunity to have guitarist Rob Milley do an exclusive tour blog for MetalSucks was too good an opportunity to pass up. Below, check out Rob’s first entry; then, after the jump, check out the super duper special exclusive premiere of the new video for the band’s face melting “Darkness Prevails.” Enjoy, and check back here for more updates from Rob!

Hey people, Rob from Neuraxis here. Welcome to the first installment of “The Montreal Assault Tour Blog.” I want to send a huge hails to MetalSucks for giving us the chance to post our “extraordinary” road stories for you for the next month.

To start things off, for those who aren’t familiar with Neuraxis, we are from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Our name might sound like the band Neurosis, but we sound nothing like them. Imagine a sound that can be extreme and brutal and at the same time display a sense of melody and detail to challenging music. Neuraxis has been around for almost 15 years, with 6 albums under our belts including our new album The Thin Line Between, which was released this July on Prosthetic Records worldwide.

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The more I listen to Evisceration Plague, the most I wanna have Cannibal Corpse’s abortion (And it’s streaming on their MySpace page right now!).

The album just rocks so fucking hard, and it makes me so happy to listen to, I really can’t even begin to tell you.

So. By June of 2009 – not even a full half way through the year – The Faceless will have toured with Cynic, Meshuggah, Arsis, Misery Index, The Tony Danza Tap Dance Extravanganza, and, now CANNIBAL FUCKING CORPSE.

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Not too far north of the MetalSucks Mansion, in a land of icy wilderness and hydroponics chronic there lies a province that retains some of the last remnants of French expansion into North America, and within it, the Canadian cultural jewel of Montreal.

Though most Canadians know the music of Montreal for its female-fronted indie snore-fests, it is a also secret wealth of death metal. Montreal has been reigning strong for a good decade spawning many excellent bands, and Despised Icon. Neuraxis are long running veterans who are perhaps only beginning to gain the recognition they rightly deserve after being placed on bigger and better tours. The Thin Line Between could be the springboard to launch them towards greater fame abroad; it’s just the ferocious follow-up to the 2007 tours they needed to prove that they’re only getting better and that they are entirely deserving of your attention.

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