Century Media and Metal Blade now have more company in the room: Prosthetic Records is pulling out Spotify, according to an article at L.A. Weekly that includes quotes from Prosthetic owner E.J. Johantgen.

Before you all get uppity on me, I actually think Johantgen has some good reasons for deciding to pull his artists from Spotify, certainly the most well-reasoned I’ve seen yet. That doesn’t mean I agree with his final decision, but they’re good reasons nonetheless and should be discussed. So:

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Times change. When we started this site 4+ years ago there were certain labels (not these two) that were completely averse to the idea of giving anything away for free, even in the form of a track premiere. Nowadays releasing free downloadable samplers is pretty much an annual ritual for many of them. And with good reason; folks who download a sampler to own tracks by two or three bands they like undoubtedly end up getting into others by osmosis.

Prosthetic Records and Good Fight Music have both released free downloadable samplers this week, and you’d be wise to download them pronto if you dig good metal. Prosthetic’s sampler features tracks by Scale the Summit, Holy Grail, Animals as Leaders, Neuraxis, Withered, Skeletonwitch and many many more; download it from their Facebook page for the price of a “Like.” Good Fight’s sampler is available for free download from Amazon and features The Chariot, The Contortionist, Madball, S.O.S., among others.

They say nothing in life is free… or is it?

-VN

Photo by Jessica Harvey

We’ve been hearing rumors about this for awhile now, but MetalSucks can now exclusively confirm that experimental prog-metal sextet Last Chance to Reason have signed with Prosthetic Records. Expect their debut for the label next year.

We’re always stoked when an awesome unsigned band finds a good home. We first saw Last Chance to Reason this summer, and their brand of techy, spacey, brutal-yet-melodic metal reminded us of a young Between the Buried and Me; we knew right away that they were something special. The dudes from Metal Injection and 1000Knives agreed, and we were all thrilled when we were able to add them to our joint CMJ Music Marathon showcase.

So this band obviously has a bright, bright future ahead of them. If you’ve never checked them out before, you can hear some of their stuff on their MySpace page. And if you live in the New York area, definitely come check them out at the aforementioned MetalSucks/Metal Injection/1000Knives CMJ Music Marathon showcase this Wednesday, October 20 at Club Europa in Brooklyn. The bill also features Car Bomb, This or the Apocalypse, Baptized in Blood, and, in their first New York appearance in eighteen months, A Life Once Lost. It’s gonna be killer. Get tickets here.

I’ve indulged in enough posts about the crazy and random shit we did on the road, so now it’s time for what we were all traveling for in the first place: SXSW. The magnitude of SXSW is inconceivable to anyone who’s never been; every orifice of downtown Austin is literally oozing live music. As MS commenter Joel Bailey said yesterday, “Half the shows at SXSW are in the store room of some coffee house or the smoking patio at an Ihop.” While this is true it’s not for lack of real music venues — in fact, the venues in Austin are all top-notch and blow NYC’s rooms out of the water — but there’s just so much going on that even smaller places that normally have nothing to do with music want to get in on the action. For a glimpse of what the scene looks like, check out Metal Injection’s SXSW wrap-up video.

Kip and I decided months back that this year we’d splurge on a hotel room Downtown. Trying to crash with local friends in years past was economical but a pain in the ass; getting a cab at 2am at SXSW is nearly impossible, and hiking a mile or two just to get home (and not having the option of a mid-day stop-in, or even better a clean place to take a shit!) can be really tiring, or worse, result in injury (just ask Kip). Though the option of staying on the SlayRV for the duration of SXSW later presented itself, we opted for the space and comfort of the Omni Hotel and it ended up being well worth it.

After settling into our room we headed over to the Mohawk to get set up for the Prosthetic Records showcase we were sponsoring. With a killer lineup of Prosthetic bands playing inside and the Action PR showcase going on outside (feat. High on Fire, Priestess, NAAM and others) — all in the same venue for one price of admission — the night was off to a great start before it even began.

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MetalSucks is double-dipping this year at the annual showdown/brodown/hoedown in Austin, TX by bringing you TWO awesome metal shows. You already know about the amazing Full Metal Texas lineup during the day on Thursday, March 18th — featuring Darkest Hour, Howl, Fair to Midland, Iron Age, Karnivool, Iwrestledabearonce and more — and today we’re pleased to announce that we’re sponsoring the showcase for one of our favorite metal labels, Prosthetic Records. The lineup, starting at 7pm on the festival’s inaugural Wednesday night, features the future of Prosthetic’s roster: Scale the Summit, Landmine Marathon, Withered, Book of Black Earth and The Funeral Pyre. We haven’t heard of Clinging to the Trees of a Forest Fire or Lions of Tsavo before, but if Prosthetic gives them their stamp of approval they seriously must be excellent… and aren’t festivals like this supposed to be about discovering new music anyway?

But wait — there’s more! The Prosthetic showcase is taking place at the same venue as the Action PR showcase at the very same time, meaning once you’re in you’ll be able to freely roam between both stages, one inside and one outside. And check out THIS fucking lineup: High on Fire, Priestess, Bison B.C., The Gates of Slumber, Zoroaster and Namm. Holy fucktickles, are you kidding me? That’s 13 fucking awesome metal all for just $10 (free if you have a wristband) in one metal-filled evening. FUCK YES.

Coming soon: a MetalSucks-approved calendar of all the metal goings-on at SXSW 2010.

Last week I was galavanting around the west coast so we didn’t do a funny photo caption contest, but the week before we offered up two CD copies of Buzzov*en’s Violence From the Vault rarities collection. Here are the two lucky winners and their entries:

• Brian \m/(-_-)\m/: “Having completely lost all business after the departure of Joey Jordison, the remaining Murderdolls hire themselves out as Santa’s elves in an attempt to put dinner on the table”
• Jizzmaster3000: “And have you been a good boy….., girl……., whatever this year?”

This week we’re giving away a ten pack of CDs from Prosthetic Records; even if you don’t like everything on that label you’re guaranteed to get at least a few releases you do like. Just come up with a funny caption to the mind-boggling photo below, sent in by Suckalo Kyle, and post it in the comments section using a real email address (or if you’re logged in using Facebook, just post your email address in the comment itself).

Prosthetic Records, home to such artists as Gojira, Skeletonwitch, The Acacia Strain, and Through the Eyes of the Dead, has filed suit against Razor & Tie, Billboard reports. I don’t wanna re-type or misinterpret any of the legalese, so I’m just gonna cut and paste the nitty gritty from Billboard:

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Congrats to all five winners of last week’s funny photo caption contest. The first three winners listed below will all receive the Heavy Metal Killers vinyl and scarf courtesy of Earache Records, while the last two will receive just a scarf. The winners:

• Zel: “Stacy Wylde, sister to Zakk Wylde, practices the family tradition of putting one’s foot in one’s mouth.”
• Alkahest: “Former Attack Attack! singer’s new glam project seems to be coming along quite nicely.”
• James: “In a failed comeback bid, Marilyn Manson desperately tries to be shocking once again.”
• Jason Crispen: “the origin of swine flu”
• better than ezra: “Having arrived too late for the buffet, ziltoids mom was forced to eat her own foot.”

This week we’re giving away another 10-pack of assorted CDs from Prosthetic Records. Prosthetic has one of the most solid artist rosters in all of metal, so no matter what you get there are bound to be at least a few that you like (I promise it won’t be 10 copies of All That Remains). Come up with a funny caption to the below photo [sent in by "GoatRidersHorde"], and 10 CDs shall be yours.

All three winners to last week’s funny photo caption contest win a CD copy of The Fall of Troy’s In The Unlikely Event. Last week’s comments were actually quite funny for a change… it was hard to choose just three. The winning entries:

• kayn83: “evidently this black metal fan is not tr00 with the white frosting in all”
• Paul Quinn: “Cool. I always wanted a birthday cake with the Legion of Doom on it. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH WHAT A RUSH!”
• skoal: “they don’t make power ranger cakes in Norway”

This week we’re giving away one 10-pack of assorted CDs from Prosthetic Records. Prosthetic has one of the most solid artist rosters in all of metal, so no matter what you get there are bound to be at least a few that you like (I promise it won’t be 10 copies of All That Remains). Come up with a funny caption to the below photo, and 10 CDs shall be yours.

If I were a betting man and I wagered on the chances of any given band signed to any metal label in 2009 actually being good, I’d definitely put my money down on Prosthetic or Sumerian Records. Both labels are completely killing right now. Where Sumerian certainly wins in “scene points” and innovation stylistically speaking, Prosthetic takes a decidedly more varied but no less awesome route; all bands on Prosthetic sound completely different from one another (hello Kylesa, Gojira, Animals as Leaders, Grief of War, etc etc etc ad infinitum) but they’re all superb. Furthermore, their bands have little if anything to do with what’s hot in today’s metal scene — they just are what they are, and they’re damn good at it.

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Shortly after their new-asshole-rippingly good set at the 2nd stage of day two at the New England Metal and Hardcore Festival last month, I caught up with Unholy, the latest in the continuing stream of unbelievable bands to release records that have “Prosthetic Records” stamped onto them. Seeing them perform live just an hour or two prior was actually my introduction to the band aside from a brief pre-show MySpace listen, but it proved to be all the introduction I needed. Guitarist/band-mastermind Jonathan Dennison (right) and vocalist Billy Price (center) spoke about how their deal with Prosthetic came about, what it’s like to be a new band that doesn’t necessarily fit into a specific trendy “scene,” their musical influences, life on the road, and the misery of unavoidable day jobs. Our quick chat, after I say “jump.”

Jump.

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Can Prosthetic Records do any wrong? The record label that brought us top-notch records from Gojira, Byzantine and Beneath the Massacre in ’08 is off to a fucking stellar start in ’09, having already delivered with records from Scale the Summit, Animals as Leaders and Kylesa. It’s only May, but you can add another record to that hit list, Unholy’s New Life Behind Closed Eyes, which is currently streaming in its entirety over at Lambgoat.

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When we introduced you to Sikth, you thanked us. When we introduced you to Textures, you thanked us again.

So, when we say you absolutely need to hear something… you fucking need to hear it. And why not: it’s free!

LISTEN TO ANIMALS AS LEADERS!!!

The fine folks at the unfuckwithable metal label Prosthetic Records have hooked us up with a free track for you from the brand new Animals as Leaders album, out next Tuesday. This is intricate instru-metal of the highest caliber for the kind of metal fan who’s more concerned with musicianship, arrangement and composition than with “being fucking br00tal dudez!!” (though it certainly is heavy). It’s the brainchild of guitar wunkerkind Tosin Abasi, who is pretty much the Trent Reznor of this micro-genre of metal in that the band is basically just his project. Stream and download below. Enjoy.

Animals as Leaders – “Tempting Time”

-VN

Mostly this week I just watched the Puppy Cam. But when I could pry myself away for a few moments, this is what I focused on:

• Proto-jazz-metallers Intronaut released an artsy new video, as did Protest the Hero and Dir En Grey.
• We interviewed Brother Von Doom.
• Ozzy may be pretty good at shilling for Samsung phones these days, but we still like him better the old way.
• Arsis did some member-swapping. Yes, again.
• We reviewed new releases from The Faceless, The Bronx, and a bunch of awesome bands on Prosthetic Records.
• We contemplated the prospect of new releases by Carcass, Napalm Death and Down.

Party it up, it’s the weekend. See you next Tuesday Monday.

It’s should be no secret that this year has been jam packed with great extreme metal records, but what has really stood out for me in my recent listening is that for one reason or another the stars have aligned over the label Prosthetic Records. 2008 has seen their output of three new releases from recently signed, young bands. Besides having a label in common and touring together, all three of them have put out highly accomplished albums which we can only hope they’ll build a career on.

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