MetalSucks

Holy shit. I wasn’t even out that late last night, but for some reason I am just so tired today that it feels like nothing is really happening. Am I really typing this? Did I really write something positive about Zakk Wylde? Can I please just go to sleep now? I’m just gonna go to sleep now.

Before I do, here’s some things that happened this week:

• We’re giving away a free download of Katatonia’s new song, “Forsaker.”
• We spoke to Hypocrisy’s Peter Tagtgren and Brian Cook from Russian Circles and These Arms Are Snakes.
• We checked out new releases from Slayer and Jesu.
• Otep Shamaya gives women in metal a good name – too bad she won’t be a woman much longer.
• Leaves’ Eyes singer Liv Kristine gives women in metal a bad name – or, at least, a silly one.

Alright, seriously, night-night time for Axl. I think Gary Suarez is going to the NYC Vader gig tomorrow; if anyone sees him there, give him a dead arm for me.

-AR

And I don’t mean a man-whore.

Metal Insider found this blog, hilariously titled “That New Car Smell,” in which extreme music’s most famous lesbian announces that she is undergoing sexual reassignment surgery in order to legally marry her lover, an unnamed “A-list actress.” Some excerpts follow:

Click to read more…

Seems some beef’s been abrewin’ around Otep Shamaya’s politics over at The Gauntlet. Surprising, right? Here’s the short version:

1. Otep blogs about healthcare reform, blasts Republicans for spreading anti-healthcare reform propaganda (i.e. “death panels”)
2. Gauntlet commenter “CM” responds, accusing Otep of only “smashing the control machine” when Republicans are in office, thereby rendering her points moot.
3. Otep responds to CM saying she often criticizes Obama (i.e. marriage equality, indefinite detention), attacks credibility of anonymous Internet poster.

Generally speaking, I agree with Otep. I actually find Otep Shamaya to be an incredibly charming, intelligent and thoughtful, articulate person. I can’t stand her music, but that’s besides the point — Otep’s the kind of person who, if she were my upstairs neighbor or something, we’d probably hang out a lot, you know? I also have the utmost respect for what she represents as an outspoken woman in rock and roll. However, I wish she’d stop using hyperbole to emphasize her points. There’s no need to call Republicans “colostomy bags” (for example); this will only infuriate the opposition and draw attention away from the true issues at hand. Dear Otep: if you’re reading this, please try and stay away from these kinds of thin insults. It dilutes the issues and paints you as an angry liberal when you seem to be able to transcend this stereotype using ordinary words, logic and reason. You’re above that kind of name-calling, I know it.

Oh hey, and since this is a music website, Otep’s got a new album out this week that is apparently on track to sell nearly 15,000 copies. Holy crap!

-VN

I appreciate what Otep Shamaya is trying to accomplish as a human being far more than I appreciate what she does accomplish as an artist. I’m all for trying to get metal fans to take a political stance. I’m glad that she’s continuing the tradition of using metal as protest music. Good for her. Seriously. I’m not being sarcastic.

But “Rise, Rebel, Resist,” the new song currently streaming on Otep’s MySpace page, sounds exactly like every other Otep song I’ve ever heard. I guess that will please her old fans, but I don’t think it will make her any new ones.

The song comes off of Smash the Control Machine, which Victory will release on August 18.

Anyone else think it’s weird that Otep is on Victory now?

-AR

It seems like every day we get a press release here at the MS Mansion announcing that some respectable metal band has signed to Koch Records. High On Fire, Satyricon and Throwdown are the latest crop, having all signed to Koch within the past few weeks. Add that to the already formidable metal roster of In Flames, Otep, Hatebreed and Straight Line Stitch… despite a couple of admittedly terrible bands in that bunch, from a business perspective that’s some serious fucking firepower there, all added within the last year, give or take.

So what the hell is going on over there?

Click to read more…

It’s a shame Otep’s music sucks so much, because it’s such a waste of a pretty awesome person. Otep Shamaya is smart, articulate, and consistently on point with her messages. She is, in my opinion, the very archetype of what a woman in metal should be. It’s just a shame her music is so mundane and unspectacular, seemingly at complete odds with her personality. Check out her recent appearance on Dave Navarro’s new show Spread TV, plugging her new site allshapesandsizes.org and the MetalSucks-approved Carbon Rally. Listening to her talk it’s hard for me NOT to love this person; she’s the type I could easily imagine running into in my building and being like, “hey Otep, what’s up, wanna come over and smoke a bowl?” and then proceeding to do just that and talk about important issues for hours.

ANYWAY, here’s the clip. Dave Navarro has sunken to levels of tool-ness previously thought unfathomable; some of his between-question banter is jut cringeworthy. Navarro peaked with RHCP’s One Hot Minute, and it’s been all downhill from there. But hey, at least he’s still got a career, so I’ll give him that.

-VN