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…

Decibel Deleted Scenes time. We couldn’t quite cram this into the splattered entrails of January’s Cryptopsy HOF, but Adrien Begrand compiled some stirring None So Vile testimonials from the technical death metal legends’ peers. Here are those musicians’ choice cuts on our latest inductee.

John Longstreth (Gorguts, Origin)

“Slit Your Guts”—what an amazing death metal song, right? That screamy, shrill intro piece—it sounds like they were paying homage to a drill press. The stop at 0:25, the solo is beautiful, the opening lyrics are “Pardon, please…” Holy cow, what went wrong with these guys? Some sort of rotten black brilliance was causing some serious torment in these dudes’ heads. How else could it be written? Definitely a poignant and early representation of how nail-biting, nervous and strung-out death metal would come to sound. A definite influence for me and Origin. Thank you for this song and album! Congratulations, gentlemen! You deserve it!

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By the time Hate Eternal took the stage on a hot Saturday night early this month, I was gonna barf and pass out. My day had been spent at sea, teetering and bobbing aboard an overloaded and hot-rodded pontoon boat. The captain: a winner brah of mine; the craft: a two-tiered party tub with bar, arena-sized bank of speakers, and water slide (!), like something out of Caddyshack if Al Czervik were a Volcom rep. Fun!

And though dude is my super-brah, I dispute his shipboard music policy, which can be described as inescapable dance music at levels meant to blast the clothes off sluts. Add a merciless sun, the actual sluts, and drugs? Bam, you’re woozy as fuck.

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Best commercial ever?

ANYWAY, here’s how we filled our time this week:

• We mourned the loss of Anal Cunt’s Seth Putnam and Sirius XM Liquid Metal’s Mario Comesanas.
• We debuted new music by Intensus and, thanks to Decibel, Wormrot, too!
• Revocation’s Dave Davidson walked us through his live rig, and we spoke to Paul Ryan from Origin and Tommy “Two-Tone” Blankenship from My Morning Jacket.
• We checked out the latest release from Gigan.
• I told you which metal albums of 2011 have been my favorites thus far.
• We tried to figure out why people like August Burns Red.
• We discussed the new Machine Head single, “Locust.”
• We gave you The 16 Cardinal Rules for Running a Metal Record Label in 2011.
• We wondered who is dumber — Korn fans or Silent Hill fans?
• We pondered the upcoming Metallica/Lou Reed collaboration.

Next week is a big one — we’re debuting new tracks from two of our most favoritest bands, a video from one of our childhood heroes, reviewing a very, very, VERY highly anticipated new record (Hint: We definitely discussed it this week!), and we’ll have some other surprises in store for you, too. See ya then!

-AR

Between the inclusion of Paul Ryan on our Top 25 Modern Metal Guitarists list, the release of their latest album, Entity, and their co-headlining tour with Hate Eternal, which begins tonight, Origin have been crowding the metal spotlight of late. I took some time to talk with Ryan about the new album, the current metal scene, the band’s progress, and the tour. Read our complete conversation after the jump!

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Why, it was just yesterday that we got wind of Origin releasing samples of every song on their new album, Entity, and now the band is already streaming another one of those songs, “Saligia,” in its entirety over at Guitar World. And I am only too happy to write about the band two days in a row, because, well, Origin rule.

So headbang here… actually, it’s kinda hard to headbang to Origin without getting whiplash, so be careful! The post also includes an interview with Paul Ryan (the twenty-fifth top modern metal guitarist today, say we) in which he not only discussed Entity, but talks about his gear, too, which I know is always a popular topic amongst metalheads.

Entity comes out this Tuesday, June 7, on Nuclear Blast. Then, a week later, the the band begins a co-headlining tour with Hate Eternal and support acts Abysmal Dawn and Vital Remains, which is a bill that makes me hard just typing about it. Here are dates for that tour…

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The new Origin album, Entity, comes out this Tuesday, which you already knew, because you know how awesome Origin (and their guitarist, Paul Ryan) are and you’re super excited for the record. But I’m telling you anyway on the off chance it slipped your mind.

I don’t know if the band plans to do a full album stream in advance of Entity‘s release or not, but it doesn’t really matter, because the below video, which features clips from every song on the album, should really be enough to sell you (although you didn’t need to be sold because, again, you already know that Origin rule). It even features my favorite section from my favorite song on the release, “Choosing Death.” That part of the tune has a real sense of, like, derring-do, y’know?

Entity comes out June 7 on Nuclear Blast. Possibly even more exciting is that a week later, the band begins a co-headlining tour with Hate Eternal and support acts Abysmal Dawn and Vital Remains, which is a really, really, REALLY good line-up. Dates after el jumperooni…

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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 kick off our countdown with Origin’s Paul Ryan…

Tragically, it seems like there are a lot of people don’t even know who Paul Ryan is, and a lot of those who do know who he is dismiss him as just another trend-following guitarist — albeit a talented one — in the death metal scene. An awfully large amount of metal fans just view Origin as “that tech death band with that really fat vocalist and crazy sweeps,” but James Lee’s recent departure should hopefully clear shit up for people.

Paul Ryan is actually one of the most skilled pioneers of the tech death scene, primarily because he doesn’t just use technicality to create mindless and forgettable wankery (see: Brain Drill et al.) and because he doesn’t just use heaviness to create mindless and forgettable breakdowns (see: Oceano et al.) It’s pretty sad that the majority of other bands these days are so bad, but it’s great for Ryan — his skill stands out from among the masses.

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“How do you feel about joining Origin, Jason?”

Well, hey now!, it was just last month that we were wondering, “Whatever happened to Skinless?” We weren’t really able to get a satisfactory answer, other than that the band was hoping to finally make a follow-up to 2006′s Trample the Weak, Hurdle the Dead this year.

Well, I’m thinking it might be another hot minute before that actually happens, because Skinless front man Jason Keyser has just been announced as the new vocalist for Origin.

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Hm.

So vocalist James Lee has parted ways with Origin after nearly a decade in the band. No reason has been given as of yet. He’s been replaced by Mica ‘Maniac’ Meneke (photo above), who has played with The Faceless and a bunch of other bands – so I’m assuming he knows what’s what.

And that’s why, as much as I’ve enjoyed Lee’s past vocal performances, I’m not too worried about this. Is Paul Ryan still in the band? He is? Yeah, I think we’re good to go, here. Origin is gonna be just fine.

-AR

MetalSucks recently had the opportunity to have a quick chat with Origin guitarist Paul Ryan on the set of the band’s shoot for their new video, “Finite.” Ryan had some interesting things to say about life on the road, the band’s new album, Antithesis (read Axl’s review here), and what lies ahead for these death metal masters. Above, watch the David Brodsky-directed video for “Finite;” after the jump, read the full transcript of our chat with Paul.

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