I was bored and clicking around on the Internet like you do, when I discovered two things on the Crashdiet site. First of all, I realized what their merch mascot reminds me of. I love you, Crashdiet and your extremely marketable new singer, but, um, you’re sort of ripping off The Casualties.

To be fair, every other punk band has done it too (The Exploited, Bad Religion, etc.,) but to be even fairer, you’re not punk.

Click to read more…

And thankfully, Sergeant D of MetalInquisition is inclined to agree:

Let’s be perfectly clear: If you don’t like Nitro, you’re not my fucking friend. Obviously Nitro are completely ridiculous, but I 100% non-ironically love this band as Skullkrusher and Lucho Metales [other MI writers] can attest to. They had the biggest hair, the highest screams, the fastest solos, and the sickest riffs. I can listen to “OFR” a million times in a row. Also, the liner notes and lyrics are priceless, like the note that admonishes “DRUGZ R 4 DUMBFUKKS, DON’T BE A DUMBFUKK.” Everything about the band is totally absurd, but their songwriting is fucking awesome and the retarded lyrics just make me love them that much more.

Perfectly said, Mr. D. For similar non-guilty pleasure missives on the likes of Vinnie Vincent Invasion, Ugly Kid Joe (complete with baja jackets!), Tuff, and Pretty Boy Floyd, pay the cats at MetalInquisition a visit.

In the meantime, enjoy the video for Nitro’s “Freight Train:”

-VN

<begin sarcasm> It may not be as headline-grabbing as the Pretty Boy Floyd or Warrant reunions <end sarcasm>, but Buzzgrinder reports that Arkansas-based metalcore pioneers Living Sacrifice have reformed, will tour this summer, and are prepping a new album for release in 2008.

For those not in the know (like, um, me) Living Sacrifice formed in 1990 and released three records locally before getting picked up by Tooth & Nail / Solid State Records in 1996. Around this time the band fused their death and thrash metal influences with a punk and hardcore element, creating “metalcore” long before anyone called it that and even longer before it became a bad word. Perhaps we missed the boat on these dudes because of their Christian-leaning tendencies, but frankly they’re a damn good band and shouldn’t be overlooked. By all accounts, the band absolutely rips it live. Hopefully we’ll have the chance to catch them this summer.

-VN

[Living Sacrifice on MySpace (updated link)]

If you thought 2007 was a reunion-happy year with the likes of Van Halen, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath / Dio (Heaven and Hell), The Police, Testament and The Smashing Pumpkins all getting back together for another go-round, wait until you see the crop of bands padding their retirement funds getting back together for the love of the music, man, in 2008. By our tally, the list so far includes the following:

• At the Gates
• Carcass
• Stone Temple Pilots
• Sex Pistols
• Biohazard
• Warrant

And now, in a slightly less headline-grabbing announcement, Pretty Boy Floyd will hit the road with all four original members for the first time in 17 years. Well, we know of at least one person who will be REALLY excited to hear this news. What’s next, will both versions of L.A. Guns kiss and make up in time for Rocklahoma for one big, bad, super 14-member extravaganza?

-VN

Back in May, our own Axl Rosenberg wrote about the once mighty poo-flinging metal site Metal Sludge, how amazing it used to be, and its subsequent downfall in recent years:

“As of this writing, the site hasn’t been updated in over a month; alas, that’s actually not so unusual for them these days. But the result is that the site is starting to seem as old and faded as the rock stars it covers. I used to check the site on a daily basis to find who Nikki Sixx was cheating on his wife with now, how recently Steven Adler had gone down on some dude to score some smack, who was winning in the competition between Vince Neil and Jani Lane to become a fatter, drunker fuck, and look at pictures of Fred Durst looking like the dude from Flock of Seagulls; now, there’s almost never anything to check.”

Thanks to MetalSucks commenter ERiK for alerting us to a current thread on the Metal Sludge message board debating Rosenberg’s article. Not surprisingly, there seems to be some hate from the MetalSludgers directed our way. But need I call into question the legitimacy of any argument coming from people who 1) think L.A. Guns and Pretty Boy Floyd were great bands, and 2) still think L.A. Guns (pick a version) and Pretty Boy Floyd are great bands? Case closed.

-VN