video via Metal Insider

Today is the last day of regular posting on MetalSucks for the remainder of the year. We’ll still have some posts now and then — our annual Heavy Metal Hanukkah contest starts next week, we might have a series of cool new guest blogs from an old friend for you, and, of course, if there’s any major breaking news, we’ll cover it —  but most of your regularly scheduled programming is going on hiatus while we enjoy the holidays.

But until we’re back, have fun reviewing our top stories from this week, won’t you?

• We debuted a new video from Novembers Doom, new music by Nylithia, and, thanks to our pals at Decibel, new music from Autopsy.
• Lazarus AD’s Jeff Paulick nominated Marion Barber for president and Jonah Livingston from Ramming Speed told us about his live drum set-up.
• We spoke to Devin Townsend and Repulsion.
• We checked out the latest release from Kevin Hufnagel and some free shit from Australia.
• We listened to more previously unreleased material from Metallica’s Death Magnetic sessions.
• We got excited about the line-up for this year’s New England Metal and Hardcore Festival.
• We got even more excited to learn that Puddle of Mudd’s Wes Scantlin is a criminal.
• We accepted an apology from the world’s most pretentious metal band.
• The future ex-Mrs. Vince Neilstein serenaded us with a piano cover of Mastodon’s “Oblivion.”
• Dummy Nosenothing continued to know nothing. How come we don’t fire this idiot?

Thanks for another sucky year, gang. See ya in 2012!

-AR

Vancouver’s Nylithia have become one of my favorite unsigned metal acts since I first discovered them a little over two years ago. Beyond their raw talent and their ability to take a thrash base and make it sound completely fresh and new (qualities they share with Revocation), over the two years and two albums I’ve been following them Nylithia have displayed that they know exactly what it is they want to be. In other words, Nylithia sounds like Nylithia and no one else; their sound is instantly recognizable and assignable to them, and they’re incredibly consistent.

So it’s with great pleasure that MetalSucks is premiering “Vein of Creation,” the third song to be released from Nylithia’s new album Hyperthrash. Nylithia are releasing one song at a time from the album for free download, and they’ll be releasing the full album in physical formats once they’ve cycled through all the tracks. They’re promising a music video with each song too — check out the first two vids here and here, both incredibly entertaining — so presumably we’ve got a video for “Vein of Creation” to look forward to in the near future.

More info at Nylithia’s official website.

[this streaming promotion has ended]

Nylithia have yet to let me down; they’re without a doubt one of the best unsigned bands out there today (someone grab them up right quick!). Their video for “Trainsaw” earlier this year was a blast, as was their 2010 video in which they simply broke a ton of shit in a junkyard. Even their cover of the Super Mario Bros. “Castle” theme we posted in 2009 was aces. A+++ WDBWA all around for Nylithia.

Nylithia write excellent songs with killer riffs — make no mistake about this, I wouldn’t be writing about them otherwise — but it’s their penchant for making entertaining videos that keeps me coming back for more every single time they release one. These guys are living proof of Axl’s theory that good music videos not shot in warehouses / open fields can be made on a shoestring budget. Let’s check out their new video after the jump [worth it, I promise!].

Click to read more…

• Nylithia: Last we heard from Nylithia these young Canucks were breaking tons of shit in a junkyard as their death-infused thrash made us headbang at our collective keyboards. The opening track from their new album Trainsaw sees them mature beyond the destruction fetish of their youth into a scintillatingly unclassifiable metal band with razor-sharp riffs, ass-tight chops and a developed sense of song, all while maintaining their sense of unrestrained energy and unabashed fun. Watch the video for the title track above. Nylithia will be releasing one song from the album per month along with a new video, all completely free, through their official website.
• Blunderbuss: You’ve no doubt heard metal with elements of electronica before (See: Genghis Tron), but not quite in this way, somehow simultaneously proggy and grindy. Horse the Band would be the closest comparison, but Blunderbuss strike me as way more “out there.” For some really I just really dig what these guys are doing.
• Blood Edition: Death metal that isn’t groovy, isn’t techy, isn’t Meshuggah-y, isn’t grindy, isn’t cheesy in the slightest… isn’t anything you’ve heard before, really. It is really heavy, it is fun, and most importantly it is quality and unique.

-VN

Sometimes the simplest and stupidest of videos are the best ones; look no further than Unsane’s legendary skateboard blooper “Scrape” clip or — though I think this band blows — CKY’s Jackass greatest hits clip for “96 Quite Bitter Beings.” Or for that matter, Exhibit A: the entire Jackass series itself. Good old stupid, dumb fun is often the best kind of all.

In that spirit comes the video for “Replicants” by Nylithia (whose cover of the Mario Bros. “Castle” music we featured in September 2009), in which the Canucks decide to wreak havoc upon an electronics recycling yard with a forklift, each other, and good old brute force. Nylithia aren’t about to win any awards for cinematography with this 2008 video so I’m not sure it would register on the Axl O’Meter of video worthiness; it’s just really fun to watch! The song is awesome too, and upon further listening on their MySpace page so is the band; if fun thrashy-influenced-but-not-re-thrash bands like Revocation and Rumpelstiltskin Grinder mean anything to you I’d be surprised if you didn’t instantly love Nylithia. Look out for a new album from them in the near future.

-VN

Last week Axl posted a metal cover of the Super Mario Bros. theme song; it was pretty fuckin’ cool, but with all due respect I think Nylithia‘s metal cover of the “castle” music theme, sent in by MS Maniac Scott Bahash, blows it away. You’ve got shred, you’ve got real drums (as opposed to programmed), you’ve got live video of the band playing, and I like that this version is way more interpretive as opposed to just a straight cover. The ending is absolutely epic, too:

MS Maniac Will Mellor sent in this 8-bit cover of Slayer’s “Angel of Death,” which is also pretty good:

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