I meant to remind you guys yesterday but I’m a dick so I forgot — Arch Enemy’s North American Khaos Tour, which we here at MetalSucks are very proudly co-presenting, is now underway! I’ve been trying to find fan-filmed footage from last night’s kickoff show in Baltimore to no avail, but I hear the concert was great… which is really no shock. Especially given that the three support bands — DevilDriver, Skeletonwitch, and Chthonic — are all as much fun as Arch Enemy! You can get dates here. If anyone is gonna be at the NYC show tonight, come find us. I’ll be the really, really not-sober guy in the back screaming for them to play “Savage Messiah” over and over again.

Now, here’s some stuff we did this week:

• We debuted new music from Black Cobra.
• We also debuted an outtake from the movie Hesher and a clip from Fantomas’ new live DVD.
• We spoke to Charlie Benante from Anthrax and Avi Kulawy from Magrudergrind.
• We checked out the latest releases from Brutal Truth, Wolves in the Throne Room,and Bloodsoaked.
• We debated the merits of new songs from Mastodon, Opeth, and Megadeth.
• We launched The Third Annual “Run MetalSucks for a Day” contest.
• Vince listed “The Top Fifteen Reasons Metallica are the Yankees of Metal,” and then The Austerity Program’s Justin Foley offered a retort.
• We fucked Bret Michaels in the motherfucking eye.
• We voted for Sergeant D.’s acoustic cover of The Acacia Strain.
• We almost had to kill a puppy.

And, oh hey, did we mention that tickets for The Metal Suckfest are on sale now? We did? Okay, swell!

Have a good weekend, y’all. See ya Monday.

-AR

September 27th might be the grandaddy of all metal release days of 2011, but there’s one big release coming out exactly a week before, too. It’s the album that metalsphere pundits are calling “not metal.” The album that Mikael Akerfeldt says is an ode to his prog rock influences. The album with awesomely ridiculous (and ridiculously awesome) cover artwork. Opeth’s Heritage.

Listening to the previously released song “The Devil’s Orchard” and this here new jam “I Feel The Dark,” one thing comes to mind: old school Opeth fans gonna be P-I-S-S-E-D pissed about the band’s sound on this record. I take the opposite viewpoint: I think it’s exciting and bold that they’ve decided to ditch boring growled vocals altogether in favor of something more dynamic and challenging. I really can’t wait to hear the full album.

-VN

Thanks: Nic Toumayan

I hail Roadrunner Records for their success at landing major label-weened acts like Megadeth, Ratt, Dream Theater, and as of today, fuckin’ RUSH. These are high-performance, self-steering acts with little need for career guidance or image interference, and who shouldn’t allow their profits’ to be diverted to cover losses incurred by ten shitty signings this year by Belinda the 22-year old A&R prodigy whose aged bf got her the job or Dan the radio personality’s son who spent $19 million on promotions for an Amerie collection.

Anyway, how about some exciting details of Rush and Roadrunner’s deal?! First, know that a RR press release states that a live album will come out ahead of new set Clockwork Angels; also, it calls this deal a “partnership,” which I’ve seen translated to “distro services and profit share.” But in an email today, RR A&R super-stud Monte Conner told me that Rush will be worked like any other RR band (i.e. publicity, promo, the whole whack). I also asked if RR bought out “Caravan” and “BU2B,” the jamz that Atlantic released as a single last summer; Conner said that the songs will appear on the album as planned. Next I’ll ask him how he plans to repair the rip in the fabric of time caused by having Rush, Dream Theater, and Opeth on the same roster. Stay tuned.

-ADF

Rush’s freaking 19th studio album Clockwork Angels is slated for 2012 release. Get “Caravan” b/w “BU2B” here. 

I may not be a huge Puscifer fan, but nothing is going to top this this year. Not even Opeth’s heads in a tree.

Conditions of My Parole is out October 18.

-AR

[via The PRP, who think it may be the best album art of the decade]

Congrats to reader Peter Eisenberg. He correctly identified last week’s logo as belonging to the band Aposepsy, and for his troubles, he wins five CDs from the MetalSucks Mansion archives. Enjoy ‘em, Pete!

This week we have a really super awesome prize: a copy of the CD booklet for Opeth’s Watershed that has been signed by the entire band, courtesy of the nice people at Roadrunner Records. I only have one of these, and, obviously, it’s pretty bad-ass. So you best be enterin’ this weeks contest, ya heard?

All you gotta do to win is identify the name of the band whose logo appears below, then shoot me an e-mail at axl AT metalsucks DOT net with your answer, your name, and your address. ALL ENTRIES WITHOUT AN ADDRESS WILL BE DISQUALIFIED. From everyone who gets it right, we’ll randomly select one winner and announce his or her name a week from today.

This week’s logo was suggested by the reader known as “Black Shuck.” Thanks, brutha!

-AR

Man, I really, really hope that some day, some Korean animators see fit to make a short about MetalSucks. And that it is one-eighth as awesome as the above video.

ANYWAY, here’s how we kept ourselves entertained this week:

• We debuted new music by Revocation, White Arms of Athena, Goreaphobia, and Sixx A.M.
• We did not debut, but got really excited about, new music from Mastodon and Opeth.
• Unearth’s Ken Susi and Dethklok’s Brendon Small told us all about their live rigs. BONUS: Brendon Small also gave us the skinny on his new solo album!
• We spoke to All Shall Perish’s Fracesco Artusato and Kaoru and Die from Dir En Grey.
• We checked out the latest releases from All Pigs Must Die and Axel Rudi Pell.
• We were easily able to come up with twenty-five things we’d rather do than listen to the new Five Finger Death Punch song.
• We tried to figure out which label will snag Gojira.
• Gary Suarez urged metalheads to cut the shit and stop supporting Burzum.
• Sergeant D. wondered if breakdowns are the new guitar solos.
• Corey Mitchell discussed his ten favorite albums of the year thus far.

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…

Very few things get our bikini briefs twisted like clean vocals. Most often, because they’re in the horrific and pandering context of the “good cop/bad cop” approach. But also because our bullshit detector redlines when we perceive bands making a concentrated, contrived effort to expand their audience. (I’m sure many messageboards have thoroughly noted how you can comprehend every word in the new Mastodon single.)

Opeth—specifically mastermind Mikael Åkerfeldt—has gotten a pass for that, I presume, because over the last two decades he’s integrated a startlingly vast variety of influences into his singular progressive extremity. So, is it really a shock (or anything approaching “sellout”) when tenth record Heritage is not only entirely sung, yet is already one of the best “extreme” records of the year?

That paradox is explored in our September cover story, the first in-depth piece about Heritage—which isn’t out until September 20—anywhere in the world. Chris Dick trekked all the way to Sweden to pick Åkerfeldt’s brain about lineup turnover, a near-implosion and well-timed creative breakthrough that led to this challenging new record. It’s in our webstore now, but here’s some “bonus footage” from Mike deconstructing his evolved vocal approach:

 “I’m a rock ‘n’ roll vocalist now. I didn’t dare do that before. I was shy. Because there are no death metal vocals, I wanted to make the clean vocals more aggressive. I remember, when I was recording the vocals, they’d say to me, ‘OK, now do that line with more guts!’ I was like, ‘I don’t know how to do that!’ I’m so used to singing nice, like a minstrel. But now I’m not afraid of really going for it. I think growling for such a long time has fucked up my voice, so I can get the sounds l like without really trying. They’re just there when I want it. I think I developed my voice a little, and that excites me. Being a better vocalist is important to me. I don’t have any formal training, so I don’t know if my technique is shit, but I realized my limitations as a vocalist have been in my head. I didn’t dare think like I do now.”

-AB

Decibel’s September 2011 issue also features Toxic Holocaust, Sepultura, Cradle of Filth, All Shall Perish, Skeletonwitch, and an awesomeKrallice flexi disc. That issue is available here, but why not get a full subscription to ensure you never miss an issue?

In case that new Mastodon tune that debuted yesterday wasn’t enough to make your panties wet, now we have new Opeth, too — the song is called “The Devil’s Orchard,” and you can check it out below.

As we’ve been hearing, it’s not quite as metal as Opeth’s most famous material, which is to say, there’s no screaming, and the music, while still proggy as hell, is not especially aggro. That being said, I happen to think it’s swell, metal or not.

Opeth’s new album, Heritage, comes out September 16 on Roadrunner.

-AR

[via HBIH]

I have a friend who swears that the basement of her workplace is haunted by a g-g-g-g-ghost… She also mentioned an affinity for reality shows about paranormal activity. So naturally I asked her if the ghost at her workplace came before she started watching said reality shows or vice versa. What do you think her answer was?

My humble apologies to the apparition-believers among us — I don’t mean to sound so skeptical. As a matter of fact, I suspect there are plenty of cosmic/extrasensory phenomena I have faith in that many of you might scoff at.

Destiny?

Fate?

G-d?

Unicornzzz?

MS Mansion Monkeys????

(That last one is undeniably real)

In any case, it’s hard not to appreciate m-m-m-m-music about g-g-g-g-ghosts, right?  Let’s get our spook on after ze jump…

Click to read more…

Last week some initial dates for Opeth’s upcoming North American headlining tour got out on the interwebs; now the full itinerary for the tour has been released, along with the news that Katatonia will be providing support. So, y’know. Look. You were gonna go to one of these shows anyway, seeing as it’s Opeth, but now that Katatonia is involved, it’s really gonna be a series of can’t-miss gigs, y’know?

And what else is there to say, really? Here are those dates:

Click to read more…

[via Badass]

So the three-day weekend kinda threw our schedule out of whack; you may have noticed that we still haven’t finished announcing the line-up for our Magical Mystery Tour, and we didn’t get to finish our list of The Top 25 Modern Metal Guitarists, either. Both of those blessed events will go down next week, though, when we’re back for a full five days! So get stoked.

In the meantime, let’s review all the fun we managed to pack into this week’s abbreviated set:

• We debuted new music from four bands signed to Black Market Activities — Ed Gein, Engineer, Fit For An Autopsy, and Khann — as well as new music from Bloodlights.
• We spoke to some guy named Devin Townsend.
• Woods of Ypres’ Shane Madden continued his exclusive tour blog for us.
• We checked out the latest release from Autopsy.
• We celebrated the amazing amazingness that is the album art for Opeth’s Heritage.
• We were not surprised to learn that Emmure’s Frankie Palmeri is completely lacking in originality.
• We wondered if metal is a movement of the youth, inapplicable in its rebellion and ferocity to us olds.
• We made the case for the movie Jennifer’s Body as an underrated cinemetal masterpiece.
• We actually had something nice to say about Limp Bizkit (sort of).
• We introduced you to the future of appliancecore.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone. You will always be at the forefront of our thoughts, dreams, and prayers.

-AR

Opeth (featuring Mikael Åkerfeldt, the eleventh top modern metal guitarist in the world today, according to us) have a new album, Heritage, tentatively scheduled to come out in September, which means — but of course — touring!!! And now the reader known as “Deth” has noticed that the first six dates of the band’s North American fall headlining tour are up on Ticketmaster, even though there’s been no official press release as of yet. THREE CHEERS FOR DETH!!!

ANYWAY, here are those dates… presumably there will be more very soon. I’m assuming that most of the MS faithful don’t really need to be told to go see this band live, but, seriously, GO SEE THIS BAND LIVE.

Click to read more…

Opeth have just uploaded the cover for their new album, Heritage, to their Facebook page, and hol-ee crap, is it ever cool. I imagine a lot of people will object to the fact that the faces of the band members are in the tree, but I think even that is awesome; it’s very easy to imagine Mikael Åkerfeldt saying, in his usual deadpan manner, “Yeah, put our faces in the tree, that’s metal.”

I’m saying I feel like this is incredibly epic and metal, but in no way takes itself too seriously.

Opeth’s Heritage is tentatively scheduled for a September release via Roadrunner.

-AR

Thanks to Tim for the tip!

The intrepid sleuths / social media stalkers at Heavy Blog is Heavy have done it again, this time in the way of noticing a Facebook post by the legendary Opeth:

Even amongst the naysayers and trolls that comprise the MetalSucks commenter base I think we’re gonna be hard pressed to find someone not excited by this news (although of course the act of saying so will surely incite someone). Needless to say, everyone at the MS Mansion is bananas over Opeth. Mastermind Mikael Akerfeldt ranked #11 on our Top 25 Modern Metal Guitarists list, and for good reason: he and his Opeth co-conspirators are still pumping out metal jams of startlingly high quality some nine albums into their career (Heritage will be their 10th). 2008′s Watershed as as good as anything the band’s ever done. We’ll see what Opeth have left in the tanks come September.

-VN

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 Opeth’s Mikael  Åkerfeldt…

Everyone knows Mikael Åkerfeldt as the leader of Opeth, as well as the vocalist and contributor to countless other widely regarded musical projects, like Bloodbath and Katatonia. But really, Akerfeldt isn’t just a superior songwriter and all-around musician — first and foremost, he’s a ridiculous talented, incredibly versatile guitarist, and is far and away one of my favorite modern players.

Click to read more…

You guys dig Bloodbath, right? Of course you do. Everyone does. I literally do not know any metal fans that claim not to appreciate their brand of old-school death metal. They’re the kind of band it just feels too goddamn good to listen to not to love.

So. Tomorrow sees the release of Bloodbath Over Bloodstock, a live DVD of the band’s performance at — duh — the Bloodstock Open Air Festival last summer in Bloodstock, England. (Okay that might not actually be the name of the place where the festival is staged. I’ll have my researchers check on that.) And in case the mere fact that a Bloodbath DVD exists isn’t enough to make you wanna buy it, the helpful folks over at Noisecreep have debuted a video from the performance, of the song “Eaten.” Which just might be the best song ever written about wanting to be a meal for a cannibal. It really captures the desire and longing of the would-be human snack so well, y’know?

It’s kinda awkward to watch Mikael Åkerfeldt rock the mic sans guitar (and to do vocals for a song originally performed by Peter Tägtgren), but this still looks pretty promising. Check it out below and then sound off with your opinions, which we all care ssssssoooo much about, in our comments section below.

-AR

Brrrrraaaaaahhhhhh…………it’s 4:20 on 4/20!!!!  Ganjaleel?

Speaking of trippy-hippie-nings — I’ve never been to ten year-old Bonnaroo, but I imagine it’s not too much different from most jamband fests I have attended in my day.  Sure, the ‘roo offers a bit more diversity than its twice-baked counterparts, but c’mon you can’t convince me of your multi-faceted-ness just cuz you got Eminem & The Sword.  Really, Bonnaroo — really?  However, looking over the lineup I can’t just write it off as a larger, more commercialized jamband fest, since the bookers did in fact happen to lock in many indie/alternative acts that are pretty awesome.  So…..let’s call it a draw.

In the metal realm, nitrous abusers can enjoy aforementioned The Sword, Primus, Kylesa, and ultimate stony bros Opeth.  Whoa.

I’d be curious to see how all the white dreadlock’d mofos hacky-sackin at the ‘roo might react to Mikael’s death growl, but naturally the psychedelic-imbibers will revel in the acoustic/heady parts.

“Dude…….this is like, totally hardcore metal — but it’s not…”

Although — Baroness played last year and the kids seemed to dig it.  Wanna see the softest mosh pit ever?

Don’t get too stoned today.

-KW

-VN

Thanks: Tim Bartolini

Yep: Per Wiberg now joins Chris Spicuzza in the Keyboardists No Longer in Bands Club. In a statement, Mikael Åkerfeldt says that he and the other members of the band “came to the decision that we should find a replacement for Per right after the recordings of the new album,” which sounds like they let him do a bunch of work and then fired him. But then Åkerfeldt goes on to say that the sacking “this came as no surprise to Per” who “been thinking about leaving” anyway. Which sounds like a “You can’t fire me, I quit” scenariom but nice of Åkerfeldt to not rage on Wiberg.

I’m sure this will make many of you sad, as Wiberg is clearly a talented dude. Just try not to forget that Åkerfeldt is the band; he might as well just change his name to “Opeth.” Wiberg wasn’t even in the band for many of their most famous albums. I’m sure Åkerfeldt will be able to find a suitable replacement.

The good news is, this means the new Opeth album is finished, and we should get to hear it sometime this year.

-AR

No, that is not a reference to erectile dysfunction.

Remember back in the early aughts when the almighty Opeth released two albums mere months apart?  Originally intended as a double album, their record label at the time opted instead to separate the project into two releases, which in retrospect made a lot of sense, considering Deliverance is perhaps their heaviest offering ever, while Damnation is undoubtedly their softest.  This decision surely garnered more moolah for both the band and the powers that be’d (ahem…..show BUSINESS), not to mention gave the fans more to drool over, so let’s chalk this one up to win-win (win).

I wish I had gotten to see one of their legendary “heavy” and “soft” double set shows, but alas I was only just getting into these superb Swedes around that time.  Soon after I became hooked and never heard progressive music the same. The rest is history.

-KW