Our friends at The Deciblog are killing it today. I could do two separate posts pointing you towards each of the terrific stories they ran just this morning, but I’m a jerk, so I’m just gonna lump ‘em both together:

• Did you know that legendary pretty boy Danny Lilker has a black metal band now? Because he felt that being a current or former member of Brutal Truth, Nuclear Assault, Anthrax, and S.O.D. wasn’t enough to cement his place in the annals of metal history, I guess. Either that, or he just wanted to try something new. In any case, the band is called Nokturnal Hellstorm, and The Deciblog is streaming a new track from the band, “Naan Kadavul,” here. It doesn’t do that much for me but maybe you’ll like it better. They also have an interview with Lilker in which he explains the history of Nokturnal Hellstorm, possibilities for the band’s debut full-length, and, oh yeah, the new Brutal Truth album. Check that shit out.
• The Deciblog also posted footage of a record store in Berkley, Rasputin Music, enjoying a lively in-store performance from Trash Talk (below). And, uh… wow. That ain’t like no in-store performance I’ve ever seen. It doesn’t look like an inventory was actually damaged in the mayhem, but I do have to wonder how many potential customers were scared away as a result of walking in and seeing dudes moshing/figuring out ways to stage dive despite the lack of a stage. I just can’t imagine, for example, Mama Rosenberg putting up with that shit when all she wanted was a copy of the new George Winston album or whatever, y’know?

-AR

Ever since the dawn of the nuclear age, mankind has been fascinated with The Bomb and its terrifying capabilities. Even before The Manhattan Project bore fruit, countless nuke-themed songs, movies, books, and of course, good ol’ propaganda flooded the American consciousness and captivated our over-reactive imaginations. Some truly masterful books (Level 7, Alas, Babylon, A Canticle for Liebowitz) and truly abominable pulp fiction novels were written, the government cheerfully advised its citizens to build bomb shelters out back and stockpile creamed corn “just in case!” (better an oblivious populace then a nation of protestors, right?), and Bert the talking turtle advised kiddies on the best way to protect themselves during an atomic blast (hide under your desk and cover your head, and everything will be swell!).

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

Presumably inspired by this week’s announcement of a Big 4 show in the U.S., this week’s question was posed by MetalSucks contributor/author of the Reign in Blood entry into the 33 1/3 book series, D.X. Ferris. Mr. Ferris was even good enough to join us for this edition of QOTW! And his query was:

IF THE BIG FOUR WERE THE BIG EIGHT, WHICH BANDS WOULD BE THE NEXT FOUR IN THE GROUP?

The MS staff’s answers after the jump.

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Three cheers for reader SeanN, who correctly answered last night’s trivia question — yep, Dan Lilker is Jewish. Several of you pointed out that he’s not a practicing Jew, but, alas, that’s not what I asked! So SeanN wins a mystery prize courtesy of Century Media, and a dreidel, courtesy of us. Hoo-ray for SeanN!

And now, onto tonight’s question:

• True or false: Periphery have at least one member who is Jewish.

E-mail your answer to axl [at] metalsucks.net with the phrase “HEAVY METAL HANNUKKAH – NIGHT 5″ in the subject line. All entries should include your name and mailing address in addition to your answer, and are due by 5 pm tomorrow (Monday, December 6) evening. Shortly thereafter we’ll announce the winner and post night 6’s trivia question. And while you don’t have to be Jewish to enter the contest, you do have to live in the U.S., ’cause unfortunately, there’s no such thing as a shipping mitsieh.

-AR

First of all, my apologies to Michael Beem and Doug Gross, who also correctly answered night 2′s trivia question. Your e-mails got stuck in my junk mail folder, fellas. I’ll obviously be checking that before choosing a winner from here on out. But three people actually got night 2′s trivia question, so you all did ever-so-slightly better than I initially thought.

But onward and upward: yarmulkes off to reader Jeff Bilello, who correctly identified The Metal Shop as Tel Aviv’s premiere retailer of metal music. I’ve only gotten to visit that place once, but it was like I died and went to heaven. So awesome. ANYWAY, Jeff wins a mystery prize courtesy of Century Media, and a dreidel, courtesy of us. Mazel tov, Jeff!

Here’s the question for night four:

• Dan Lilker: Jewish or not?

E-mail your answer to axl [at] metalsucks.net with the phrase “HEAVY METAL HANNUKKAH – NIGHT 4″ in the subject line. All entries should include your name and mailing address in addition to your answer, and are due by 5 pm tomorrow (Sunday, December 5) evening. Shortly thereafter we’ll announce the winner and post night 5’s trivia question. And while you don’t have to be Jewish to enter the contest, you do have to live in the U.S. Dreidels are surprisingly costly to ship.

-AR

We’re just days away from Maryland Deathfest 2010, which will take place from May 28-30 in Baltimore, Maryland. This year’s edition of the annual fest promises to be the best one yet, with a line-up that includes Gorguts, Autopsy, Obituary, Entombed, Sodom, Repulsion, D.R.I., and a ton of other kick-ass bands. In anticipation of the event, we thought it would be fun to get some recollections of past MDFs from artists who were there. So we’re teaming up with Relapse Records to do just that! Read the raucous inaugural entry by Matt from Rumpelstiltskin Grinder, memories of a jam-packed day from Tomas Lindberg of Disfear (and At the Gates), how Pete Benumb of Agenda of Swine got swindled, John from Weekend Nachos’ memories of the Bolt Thrower show, and today’s final entries, a double-shot from Dan Lilker of Autopsy, Brutal Truth and Nuclear Assault fame, and Marc from Fuck the Facts. Have fun at MDF!

I am definitely looking forward to this year’s MDF for a very good reason – I will be playing bass for Autopsy there.

I’ve had the pleasure of playing MDF a couple of times with Brutal Truth and once each with Nuclear Assault and Venomous Concept, but even with all that in mind this will be a special one for me due to the honor bestowed on me by Chris and the guys by asking me to fill in on bass. As most people know, Autopsy has not performed live since the early 90s, so this will be the first show in a very long time for a band that was “kult” before that word was intentionally misspelled by a bunch of message board members.

I hope all you motherfuckers come down to witness a little death metal history!!

- Dan Lilker / Autopsy, Brutal Truth, Nuclear Assault

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Did you know that if you eat before you start slamming shots, you’ll get a little less drunk, but you’ll also have something to vomit up later? It’s true. Also, sometimes when you smoke weed, you get the munchies. These are just two great reasons why you should care about Hellbent for Cooking: The Heavy Metal Cookbook by Annick “Morbid Chef” Giroux. Showcasing “a varied menu of over a hundred recipes from thirty countries,” Hellbent for Cooking features recipes by members of Accept, Anthrax, Anvil, Armored Saint, Brutal Truth, Death, Electric Wizard, Eyehategod, Gwar, Judas Priest, Kreator, Mayhem, Melechesh, Nuclear Assault, Obituary, Repulsion, Saint Vitus, Sepultura, Sigh, S.O.D., Slough Feg, Thin Lizzy, Toxic Holocaust, and about a trillion others (you can get a complete list of contributing bands here).

MetalSucks is teaming up with Bazillion Points Publishing to give away three (3) copies of Hellbent for Cooking. All you have to do to win is create a picture that somehow connects metal to food and post a link to someplace we can view said picture in the comments section below. Use Photoshop to create an image of Lemmy eating a hot dog, use MS Paint to do a portrait of Metallica as the pepperonis on a pizza, whatever you want – it just has to be both food and metal related, and it has to amuse us. Vince and I will choose the three pics that make us laugh the hardest and those pics’ creators win the book.

This contest will end at midnight EST on Monday, December 14. Please note that this contest is open to U.S. residents only, as shipping costs are a bitch. And if you’re too lazy to participate, you can always just order a copy of the book here.

Good luck, and good eats…

-AR

Dan Lilker is, to use a technical term, a badass motherfucker. As a founding member of Anthrax and un-PC crossover thrashsters S.O.D. and longtime bassist for Nuclear Assault, he had a significant hand in keeping metal filthy in a time when toy poodle hair and Day-Glo spandex were the norm. With deathgrind innovators Brutal Truth and grind supergroup Venomous Concept, he helped build upon the metal he himself innovated, synthesizing punk and hardcore in a way only someone with a true understanding of both could do. A prolific sideman in a lot of awesome/important bands (as well as a pretty decent bassist), Lilker is perhaps one of metal’s great unsung heroes. So, in theory, he’s entitled to a dud album by a lackluster band every now and again. And Crucifist, his shot at black metal, certainly tests his lifetime pass. And though its failures aren’t what plague other prominent musicians’ ill-fated black metal side projects – a lack of understanding of the genre and/or the inability to decide whether it’s paying tribute to or taking the piss out of it – that doesn’t stop Crucifist from being ultimately incredibly dull overall.

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It seems like the entire metal world has gone kuh-rayzee with mash-up fever. The latest come from Nick Green at The Deciblog…

First up we have Nuclear Assault mashed up with Snoop Doggy Dogg, or Snopp Dogg, or Snopp, or Calvin, or whatever the fuck he’s calling himself these days. And, kinda oddly, this mash-up doesn’t bother me so much. Maybe it’s just my fond memories of Doggystyle (1993 woot-woot!) and the pornographic cartoon that came with it, or maybe it’s just because, against all odds, the visibly stoned-out-of-his-gourd Snoop ended up being far and away the most entertaining act at Metallica’s MTV Icon thing (including Metallica). But this somehow works for me:

If you head over to The Deciblog, Mr. Green has also posted a mash-up of Meshuggah and Lil’ Wayne. I hate that one, although it does make me wanna listen to the actual “Bleed.”

-AR

So I’m a day late on this one, but when it comes to a band as cool as Sigh, better late than never.

Sigh have officially announced a September 2 release date for their aptly titled Venom tribute, A Tribute to Venom, via The End Records. A one-pressing-only limited edition will be available, with an LP with an etching as well as the CD. And, oh yeah, as if all of that wasn’t cool enough, Napalm Death’s Shane Embury and Brutal Truth’s Dan Lilker also make guest appearances on the album.

You know what? That cover art is fucking bad assed, man. What a perfect amalgamation of Sigh and Venom’s personalities. In fact, I wanna start a petition for that son of a bitch to be on a t-shirt, pronto. If the band managed to get that kind of sensibility into the music, too, this fucker is gonna slay.

Sigh are also gonna hit the road with Zimmer’s Hole (who are awesome) and Unexpect (who I don’t know but hear very good things about). Get tour dates after the jump.

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Sigh’s Tribute to Venom, Sigh’s very cleverly titled tribute to, um, y’know, still doesn’t have an official release date – but it will apparently feature guest appearances by Napalm Death’s Shane Embury and Dan Lilker of Brutal Truth/Nuclear Assault fame. According to a statement released by Sigh front man Mirai Kawashima, Embury will play on the song “Witching Hour” while Lilker will appear on “Countess Bathory.”

Gee, I wish I’d known about this back when I interviewed Mirai about the album, for I most surely would have asked him about collaborating with these two super-cool dudes. Oh well. You should still read the interview, ’cause, y’know, I told you to.

ANYWAY, here’s some live footage of Sigh performing “Witching Hour” in Tokyo last year. Without Shane Embury. But still…

-AR