Last month,  A389 Recordings celebrated their eighth anniversary by inviting a ton of awesome bands — including Eyehategod, Integrity, and Pulling Teeth, playing THEIR LAST SHOW EVER — to come destroy the Sonar in Baltimore. And if that sounds like a blast and you’re suddenly very depressed that you couldn’t be there, well, we have the next best thing for ya — killer pics of the show, courtesy of MetalSucks’ own Alyssa Lorenzon.

After the jump, check out the latest round of Alyssa’s amazing photos — including shots from Pulling Teeth’s final performance ever!!!

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Newt may seemingly have Mitt on the ropes right now, but that’s no reason to hold up your Pit Romney coverage! Here’s the latest update on the hardcore festival season…

After a 2011 announcement that didn’t exactly thrill me, United Blood seems to have rebounded for 2012, if this initial lineup is any indication. Big names like Agnostic Front and Ringworm stand out, as do pleasant surprises like New Lows and Power Trip. I count five bands that were part of the 2011 initial lineup announcement: Backtrack, Bitter End, Fire and Ice, Naysayer, and Stick Together. The rest of the list is rather robust as well: Beware, Break Away, Dead End Path, Free Spirit, Harms Way, Lockdown,Outcrowd, Soul Search, Suburban Scum, Take Offense, Tough Luck, United Youth, Wisdom in Chains, and Xibalba. Weekend passes are on sale here and here, and with March 30-31 as the dates, you probably want to snag those tickets sooner rather than later.

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If you live near Baltimore and you just can’t wait for Maryland Death Fest, great news: there’s ANOTHER ridiculously cool fest coming to destroy your town next week! Its’s the A389 Recordings VIII Anniversary Bash, and as you can see from the above poster, the line-up is disgusting: Eyehategod and Integrity are co-headlining, while other bands on bill include Gehenna, Pulling Teeth, Magrudergrind, Weekend Nachos, and a ton of other excellent artists.

It’s a very rare occurrence that I wish I lived in Baltimore. This is one of those times.

Tickets are currently on sale here, and if for some reason you don’t know these bands or you’re not sold on the line-up, you can listen to a sweet, sweet A389 Recordings VIII Anniversary Bash playlist at Stereokiller. Heck, you might just wanna listen to it even if you can’t make it to the show, ’cause it’s an awesome playlist.

Finally, you can also go here to get more info on A389 Recordings.

-AR

In a scene where yearly festivals are as abundant as they are sweaty, This Is Hardcore has emerged as the leader of the pack, unequivocally the most anticipated of all hardcore music events in America. Combining coveted reunions with plentiful appearances by modern acts big and small, the event brings revelers and pit beasts to Philadelphia for a humid August weekend. Part of the fest’s success stems from its notorious secrecy, and 2011′s is no exception. The lineup was embargoed until noon EST on Monday May 30, at which point tickets immediately went on sale online and at AKA in Philly. Extended from three to four days of music, the fest boasts performances from metallic acts like Madball, Maximum Penalty, Mother of Mercy, Nails, Reign Supreme, Ringworm, Suburban Scum, Terror, and Victims.

If you’re reading this now and you haven’t bought your ticket yet, you’re not attending This Is Hardcore 2011. Four-day as well as weekend passes sold out in less than 24 hours, and at the time of this writing, extremely limited numbers of single-day tickets were available. The full lineup, organized in order by day, can be found below.

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I mean, talk about a snub, right?!?

ANYWAY, tomorrow afternoon, Vince and I will attend the wedding of one of our oldest friends. A guy I have known since I was two years old. The very dude who was by my side the first time I heard Guns N’ Roses. I don’t think he had any idea at the time that I had just headed down a path from which I would never return. He works for a classy magazine now, and wears a suit and tie to work. I do this, and usually do it in boxers and a stinky shirt with some metal band on it.

I don’t have a point or anything. I’m just feeling reflective right now.

And now that I got that out of my system, here’s the rundown of things we did this week:

• We got a tour update from Valient Thorr’s Valient Himself.
• We spoke to Tommy Rogers from Between the Buried and Me, Oppu Laine and Mikko Kotomäki from Barren Earth, Kenn Nardi from Anacrusis, and Mike Riley and Dom Romeo from Pulling Teeth.
• We checked out new releases from As Blood Runs Black, Capsule, and Crucified Mortals and Nunslaughter.
• We checked out the newest lucky band to sign to leading independent music retailer VICTORY RECORDS.
• We made the mistake of following Vinnie Paul onto his tour bus.
• We helped our friends at the Deciblog defend Guns N’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy.
• We listened to the worst dubstep metal bastardization yet.
• We got excited about the new Scar Symmetry album.
• We sent out well wishes to Vince Neil while he’s in prison.
• We read some fan mail.

Okay now I’m gonna go pick up my new suit for tomorrow! WHOO-HOO TO BEIN’ A BIG KID! See you peeps Monday.

-AR

Since their emergence in 2006, Baltimore’s Pulling Teeth have become one of the most vicious, ready-to-rumble hardcore bands out there; this band makes some real take-no-prisoners, burn-your-neighbor’s house down shit that isn’t for the weak of heart or mind.

Which is why we’re only too happy to be debuting Scion A/V’s video interview with vocalist Mike Riley and bassist Dom Romeo. In the clip, the duo discuss the formation of the band, the importance of the message in their music, and how they’ve come to be that rare hardcore act who actually place a ton of emphasis on their studio work, as opposed to just fuckin’ shit up live. Check it out below… and cross your fingers that we get a new Pulling Teeth album this year.

If you’re one of those people who read this site every day (God bless you, you fucking masochists!), you may have noticed a lack of premium content from yours truly these past couple of weeks. That’s because I’ve been in Japan soaking in neon, dining on fresh sushi, and recoiling in horror at the perverse underbelly of otaku. I did manage to hit up a few rock bars in Osaka (Rock Rock — check out who else has been there!) and Tokyo (Beat Cafe), but otherwise this was a pretty metal-free trip–and that’s okay with me.

So, shit, man. Quite a bit happened in the wonderful world of hardcore while I was away! Ruiner broke up. This Is Hardcore 2010 finally revealed its drool-inducing lineup and sold out in less than two days. (I wasn’t able to get my tickets in time, sadly.) Unsane announced a series of U.S. dates where they’ll play 1995′s awesome Scattered Smothered & Covered live in its entirety. Notable releases included Ceremony’s Rohnert Park, for which I’ll be posting a review later this week. Some pretty awesome tours were announced as well. Check out the dates for some of these below.

Looking forward to your “Welcome Back” sentiments in the Comments section!

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What’s better than great music? Great music for free, of course! And we know you downloading motherfuckers agree with us, because you’re always e-mailing us about leaks n’ shit.

So why not download something that will neither a) make you feel guilty for stealing nor b) possibly condemn you to a life of living in a cage and being anally gang raped in the shower?

Deathwish have a new sampler, entitled MMIX, which they are making available for free download. And there’s some pretty cool artists on it, including Coliseum, Doomriders, The Hope Conspiracy, Converge’s Jacob Bannon, Pulling Teeth and Trap Them (who Vince and I don’t get but I know a lot of people really dig so I guess I should give them another chance).

After the jump, get the complete track list and download links.

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According to the website of Brooklyn’s Europa club, noisy hardcore heroes Converge will headline a show there on Friday March 27th with MetalSucks faves Genghis Tron. (Also on the bill: Ceremony, Rise and Fall, and Pulling Teeth.) Tickets are on sale right now, people!

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