It’s no secret that the music industry is in shambles. What was once an industry that could stand neck and neck with Hollywood is now just a series of competing guerilla operations. Some richer than others. This is not news. This is talked about every day. All I hear about is how the sky is falling and there’s no hope.

Well… I beg to differ. I think there’s nothing but hope. You see, I attended an Opeth concert in L.A. two weeks ago. as well as one held by Muse in Atlanta about a month and a half ago. Both shows were completely sold out. The audiences were in awe of the performances. Both bands sounded incredible. Both bands had great staging. I’m sure both bands cleaned house in merch. The sorry state of the music industry didn’t seem to be affecting them too harshly.

I once read someone in Dream Theater saying something to the effect of, “We’re in a bubble that somehow protects us from what’s going on with the rest of the industry.” Why is it that some bands can clean house in any economic climate, while so many other bands that just two years ago were living the life, are now downsizing back to vans, getting real jobs, etc.? People point to the the sheer amount of tours leading to poor ticket sales. Other people say it’s just that people don’t have money due to the bad eonomy. Well, somehow they seem to have money when Opeth, or Dream Theater, or Muse, or Slipknot, or any other mega-band comes around. Kinda like your pothead friend that’s always broke, but can always find money for weed.

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Musicians are strange creatures. Their work hours and habits are almost always odd, hygiene is often suspect, and sanity questionable.

If I had to point out one thing that ties all musicians together, it would be inspiration, often drawn from a simple but strong love for music. Inspiration comes from all varieties of thoughts and experiences though, and most will agree that it is a mystical and almost spiritual matter that is difficult to qualify. For me, personally, my inspiration is the most important thing I have in life because it guides all of my goals and efforts to blast through them. Although it may be oriented around music for whatever reason, the specifics of what I am inspired to do are not crystal clear. It is not instrument, genre, or socially based. It is just to create.

I have always been in awe of musicians that are able to look past the world’s conceptions of genre. For some bands, it is absolutely correct for them to do their thing 100% their way and use their tested process over and over, record after record. I don’t mean being stale, either… Development and growth between records is an assumed necessity for me to take a band seriously. Examples of bands that know their sound or process well and tend to stick to it (with great results) would include bands like Meshuggah, Megadeth, Behemoth, Muse, Deftones, and even more progressive bands like The Mars Volta, Opeth, and Dream Theater. But the musicians that REALLY get me thinking these days are ones who understand how to take a complete 180 degree turn: drop the world’s, or maybe just critics’, perception on its head, and use new influences from a completely different angle. It is almost as if they side-step into a bizarro dimension and are running two or more separate careers. Musicians that can accomplish this demonstrate a certain type of understanding and mental clarity that is all too rare. Here are some of my favorite examples:

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Photographer Jackie Cheng was on hand at Otep’s Opeth’s 20th Anniversary show in New York City last Thursday, April 7th, at which the band played all of Blackwater Park followed by a set consisting of one song from each of their other albums. Check out her captivating photos after the jump.

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Alright, so what the fuck? Last week my lady says “Hey did you get tickets to Otep’s 20th anniversary show or what?” And I didn’t get tickets. Fuck, I’ve only been listening to Otep for a few years, I didn’t know she’d been around for twenty years. So I tell my lady, “I didn’t get the tickets, baby, I’ll go on the internet and get them right now.” And she goes, “You can’t get them right now! The show is sold out, Dummy!”

Now, I don’t want my lady to be mad at me, so I go on Craig’s List and I hunt down some tickets. And they were totally fucking expensive, but like I said, I don’t want my lady to be mad at me. So now we’re off to see Otep.

Well, fuckin’ Otep comes out, and right off the bat, I’m confused. She dyed her hair brown and stopped waxing her lip? Why? Doesn’t she want boys to like her anymore? Blondes are so freakin’ HOT! And she’s playing a guitar, and talking funny. What the fuck is she doing? Is this like one of those performance art comedy things? Who does she think she is, Tom Green or something?

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It doesn’t feel like spring out today – it feels like summer. The sun has been going down later and later and the weather has been getting nicer and nicer, and now, all of sudden, it’s 90 (!) degrees out. I don’t think it will last all that long – the East Coast often gets one last snowstorm in April before the nice weather begins in earnest – but it has made for some very relaxing, long walks as of late. (Not hurting: that the ladies of NYC have wasted no time adjusting their wardrobes appropriately. It’s like a Rock of Love casting call out there, except, mercifully, with fewer surgical “enhancements.”)

The problem is, when the doom n’ gloom of metal is your music of choice, it can be hard to find an appropriate soundtrack for such a beautiful day.

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I’ll admit it: I still do check Blabbermouth from time to time. Hard not to. It’s kind of a metal institution at this point. Here and there, when they publish first week numbers, I’ll read those if they concern a band I like, or am curious about for whatever reason.

I’m not a Demon Hunter fan, but I was down at Audiohammer when Jason Suecof was mixing their record, and so I’m familiar with their new record by twist of circumstance. (Believe me, I would have never gone looking on my own.) Anyways, when their first week numbers were published, I decided to check on that, and goddamn guys. 14k approximately. That’s what Suicide Silence does. That’s what DevilDriver does. That’s what bands that tour all the time and are always in the media do. Good for them. Congrats dudes.

Here’s why I find this interesting. Demon Hunter has never really been a touring act. They’ve never really been in the media too much before the present.  So what explains them selling records on par with bands that are always out there hustling? To answer this, I thought about what some bands in the past have pulled off without too much touring.

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I am going to assume that a decent portion of the followers of this site are themselves musicians with bands of their own. That is generally how it goes with metal. There are seamless lines blurred between the “fans” and the “bands” because, like myself, many metal patrons represent both categories. Without this large sector of musician fans, technically proficient bands that cater directly to this base (like Dream Theater, Meshuggah, and Necrophagiast) would be much less successful. So to those musicians, I would like to use this blog to shine a light on one of the harsh truths in all music and entertainment that many musicians choose to ignore -

Image matters a lot in this industry. In fact, it’s probably just as important as the music.
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I’m really, really disappointed in you, male MetalSucksians. After reader Ashley sent in some epic photos of herself in a MetalSucks hoodie and not very much else, I predicted we’d get an identical pic from a wise-ass dude by the end of the week. Nope. Either no one thought of it, or no one had the balls to do it. For shame. And now what are the three ladies who actually read this site to look at? Pics of Lars Ulrich’s dick?

Oh well. Here are some other things that happened this week:

• We debuted new music by Daughters, Woe of Tyrants, Stigma and Nails.
• As I Lay Dying’s Nick Hipa wondered “Who is coming to the island on L O S T?”, while Eyal pondered whether it’s better to burn out or fade away.
• We listened to the God of War EP and new releases by Shining, Burzum, and H.I.M.
• Antonin Skullia taught us about the law of Metalocalypse.
• Did this shitty Matthew Fox show steal The Haunted’s logo?

And next week I expect you, our beloved readers, to be back up to your usual level of witty repartee.

-AR

I’m not sure what the consensus is on track-by-track reviews of albums these days, but given that Roadrunner’s God of War: Blood and Metal EP – a soundtrack to the latest installment of the popular video game – features six songs by six different artists, it seems only fair to give each song its due, rather than consider the release as a cohesive whole. And so, without further bullshit:

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OMG did you hear there’s a 30 preview of a new Opeth song on Amazon??? Holy @*$&!!!!!

To me nothing could be more useless than hearing 30 seconds of a song that isn’t out yet, but people always send us these Amazon pre-order pages anyway. I bet these are the same people who shell out Benjamin after Benjamin for lap dances in strip clubs. What’s the fucking point? It is, quite literally, a cock-tease. I’d rather watch porn in the safety of my own home where I can at least beat off instead of having to walk around with a raging hard on and a constant barrage of tits in my face. What a waste of money.

Anyway, Suckalo Dan Wolfson thinks you all might like to hear 30 seconds of the new Opeth song “The Throat of Winter,” which comes from the God of War: Blood & Metal video game soundtrack (out march 2nd on Roadrunner). It sounds like it’s got acoustic guitars, and it sounds like Mikael Akerfeldt is singing on it… and that’s about all we can tell. I mean new Opeth music is always an exciting proposition, but come on.

For those keeping track, the new Trivium song “Shattering the Skies Above” from the God & War soundtrack is floating around the Interwebs (currently here).

-VN

“Shattering the Skies Above,” the new Trivium song the band recorded for the video game God of War III, has found its way onto YouTube, which in this day and age was inevitable, I guess. The song is notable because it marks the recording debut of Trivium’s new drummer, Nick Augusto, late of the grindcore band Maruta. (And if you’re not familiar with Maruta, Cosmo Lee has a good piece on them, mouring their loss of Augusto, at Invisible Oranges.) To be honest, I don’t hear a huge difference in the quality of the drumming here, but then, recorded performances were never really previous drummer Travis Smith’s problem – live shows were. It’s also not clear how involved Augusto was in the creation of this song, given that he’s only been in the band for a short while; I imagine his contributions will be much more noticeable on the next Trivium album.

Check out the song and see what you think:

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I recently contacted Bazillion Points book publisher and heavy metal author Ian Christe about reviewing his books for MetalSucks. Bazillion Points is best known as the home of Daniel Ekeroth’s excellent tome, Swedish Death Metal.

Ian was kind enough to send me a hardcover of Hanoi Rocks guitarist Andy McCoy’s autobiography Sheriff McCoy. I was not able to start on that book as I was neck-deep into Slash’s autobiography. Luckily for me, Ian also enclosed a DVD of a feature-length documentary, Mellodrama.

During one of my reading breaks I decided to pop in this film and am I glad I did. Mellodrama is easily one of the most entertaining, informative, and educational music documentaries I have seen in ages. It even has a little something for you metalheads, prog rock types, and horror film score fans in MetalSuckistan.

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Suckalo Zoker emailed us yesterday to plead with us “Forget Opeth… In Mourning is the real deal…” and Suckalo Viking_xxx did the very same today, demanding “Don’t be gay, you know you like them!” While I find both claims to be overly exaggerated, it’s the thought that counts; In Mourning ARE the shit!

The Falun, Sweden outfit just released their new album Monolith in Europe this week; Americans will have to wait until February 16th to get a physical copy, but hey, newsbreak, The Internet exists and international release dates don’t matter! iTunes Sweden has the album available right now*, and you can also stream all 8 tracks on In Mourning’s MySpace page for the time being.

While Opeth are certainly an apt comparison, In Mourning are definitely not mindless imitators. But don’t take our word for it… go listen to Monolith now. This is some seriously good shit.

-VN

*You can access international iTunes stores by clicking the US flag (or UK, or wherever you are) in the bottom right-hand corner of your iTunes Store homepage.

A press release just arrived at the Mansion telling us that Opeth are turning twenty – TWENTY!!! – and are celebrating their anniversary “with six exclusive shows that will take place across the globe in various international locales such as Stockholm, Sweden; Essen, Germany; Paris, France; London, UK; New York City, NY; and Los Angeles, CA.” Opeth mainman Mikael Åkerfeldt says the band is going to spend most of January through March just rehearsing in order to make sure these shows are really, really special. That’s a long time to rehearse.

And when are Opeth shows not special? I’ve never seen this band give a bad performance. But if they’re pulling out all the stops for these gigs on top of all the stops they usually pull out, well, I’m sure these shows will be legendary. If you can make it, I feel bad for you – but hopefully the band will film and/or record at least one of the shows for posterity’s sake.

Get the dates and locations of the show after the jump!

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In no particular order…

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These are some of my favorite producers and mixers for heavy music… It’s a challenging genre, and these guys are great in my opinion.

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I’m in my bunk. Everyone else is asleep. We’re riding through some windy dark mountain roads somewhere in Germany on the way to the next show. I’ve got “Ghost of Perdition” by Opeth blasting on my headphones. Figured that I would give that a spin. I haven’t really listened to them very much lately. I kinda burned out on them for a while. I never stopped loving their music, but I think I just had more than my brain could handle. When I got into after the release of Blackwater Park, all the way through the release of Ghost Reveries, I’d say that Opeth were on my iTunes at least once a day. They are a band that I’ve listened to, and listened to again, and again, and again. There’s always something new to find in their music. Not only did I listen my ass off but I went to their shows whenever possible. I saw them at least six times before I even met them. I ended up dating a member of their crew for a little while, so that meant more and more Opeth shows. Basically, I know my Opeth, and from the musicianship to the composition I think that they are one of the greatest bands of all time.

That said, I haven’t decided to listen to them in about a year before tonight. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Albums that I just absolutely love, I would consider and just be like, naaah. Maybe it’s the mental equivalent of a water-soluble vitamin like C. Once you have your dosage, the rest just gets released with your urine. Maybe your brain can only handle so much of one type of stimulus for so long before it shuts off to it. I mean that’s happened to me with other bands.

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I haven’t done a blog in a while because the last blog I did really got me thinking about the mentality of people in the metal scene. Most particularly, the mentality of shit talking. We’re all guilty of it. I admitted to shit talking Bring Me The Horizon in magazines over in Europe when I was in God Forbid. I never heard them at that point. But now, I dig them and I feel pretty stupid for slagging them.

In my last blog I mentioned my excitement for the band Eryn Non Dae and how I was going to “borrow” some of their ideas for my new project. First of all, my last blog was PACKED with information about band business, touring and juicy tidbits of amazing knowledge :) But, the funny thing about the last blog was this guy ‘Jamie.’ Out of a five hundred word blog, he took the phrase “borrow ideas” and accused me and God Forbid of riding the coat tails of other popular bands. Killswitch was his biggest gripe. Then it was Opeth.

He claimed Gone Forever (2004) was a Killswitch rip and Earthsblood (2009) was an Opeth rip. This type of thing usually doesn’t bother me. In this instance I was fucking bothered. Jamie and I entered into a written brawl about the history of God Forbid and the intentions of our song writing for the last ten fucking years. Why would I waste my time to defend myself from this sort of claim?

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We’ve all fucked up. Some worse than others, but we have all fucked up. And if you haven’t fucked up, it’s because you haven’t had the chance. It’s hard to fuck up if all you ever do is go back and forth between this website and World Of Warcraft. Unless you fucked up at that. But that doesn’t count because it’s not real life.

I’m talking about real life. We’ve all fucked up. And most of us have gotten away with some shit we shouldn’t have gotten away with. GUILTY. I have done so many idiotic things that sometimes I wonder why I’m not dead or have a record (Criminal, not musical.). I could write a leaflet entitled, “The Joys of Driving Drunk,” but I won’t. I’m just gonna tell you guys here about some stupid shit I’ve done. I learned my lesson. You guys shouldn’t do this, but those of you who will aren’t gonna listen to me anyways so whatever… have fun!

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I know you’ve all experienced this. You get into a band. Your friend introduces their music to you, or you find them online, or however it is you discover bands. Their album or songs start to get stuck in your head. You start listening to them on your iPod, in your car, at the gym, wherever. You start reading up on them. You look for tour dates. You get excited because one’s coming up. You go see them. Lights go down. Its go time! AAANNNNNDDDD your dick goes limp, or pussy dries up, whatever the case may be, because these dudes just can’t pull off what you heard on their CDs.

But wait, everything sounds like shit in this club. Maybe it’s the soundguy. Maybe it’s just an off night. Maybe somebody’s mom just died. Who knows? So you give them the benefit of the doubt and you remain a fan. Then a few months later you get a chance to see them again, and same story. Limp dick bullshit. I’ve experienced that soooo much. In fact, I’d say that the majority of bands I’ve heard in this genre give me that feeling.

There are only a small percentage of bands that I think can really stand up to what they put down on CD. It’s not hard to understand why this happens.

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