We’re back! January 24th marked the first big release date of 2012, and now the numbers are in for the final first-week tallies. As expected, Lamb of God took the top spot in the Current Hard Music Chart (and #3 overall behind Adele [115,972] and Tim McGraw [67,530]), while Lacuna Coil landed at #2. New records by Blessed by a Broken Heart, Aborted, Primal Fear and Abigail Williams also ended up in the Top 100. Check out the numbers after the break.

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Following their A+++++ WDBWA work on the videos for “Prehistoric Dog” and “Wires,” you might be concerned that Red Fang and director Whitey McConnaughy had run out of ideas for clips that are awesome, hilarious, and awesomely hilarious. But the behind-the-scenes pics we saw last year for the band’s latest vid, “Hank is Dead,” promised something just as fun as “Dog” and “Wires,” and the finished product does not disappointment. I mean, I was pretty much crying with laughter right from the opening scene. And I’m writing this after a full day in a hot, dank, roach-infested jury room, listening to two lawyers duke it out for the “Least Articulate Attorney Who Can Get Yelled at By the Judge Most Often” award, so I was in a pretty shitty mood, and not really predisposed to laughter.

Bravo, Red Fang and Mr. McConnaughy. Bra… fuckin’… vo.

“Hank is Dead” appears on Red Fang’s most recent release, Murder the Mountains, which is out now on Relapse.

-AR

Red Fang and director Whitey McConnaughy make pretty much the best music videos in the history of the medium. Okay, so that might be a slight exaggeration, but no joke, the videos these dudes make together completely fucking rule. If you doubt me, you need to check out their previous clips here and here.

So it is all-around great news that the Fang and McConnaughy have teamed up to make another video, this time for the song “Hank is Dead,” from RF’s current Relapse release, Murder the Mountains. And while I can’t quite tell what the concept of the video is based on the behind the scenes pics the band posted to their Facebook page, based on the below photo alone, I would wager that it’s going to be another unforgettable slice of cinemetal:

So get stoked for this. You can check out more photos from the video shoot here.

Meanwhile, the band is also offering a free download of the tune “Number Thirteen,” from the same album, right here. If you don’t already have the song or somehow aren’t hip to how great this band is, you need to get on that shit ASAP.

-AR

It was a week of polar opposites: on one hand, butt rock ruled as Disturbed nabbed the #1 spot on the Current Hard Music charts with Five Finger Death Punch and Evanescence firmly entrenched in second and third place. On the other hand Animals as Leaders scored a big debut, a big victory in the name of all that is right in the music world. As I Lay Dying and Rush also sold well. Let’s take a look at those and more after the jump.

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Fall has become the de-facto touring high season for metal bands in the U.S. Aside from a small handful of medium-sized tours, there’s rarely much to go see during the summer: bands spend May, June, and part of July touring the European festival circuit, and no one wants to compete with the big package tours like Mayhem and Warped during July and August. By the time September rolls around bands are chomping at the bit to hit the road, and this year is no different. Holy shit. So many shows. I’m overwhelmed. First World Problems.

To start: Arch Enemy, Anthrax, Opeth, Periphery, Enslaved, Kvelertak, Immolation, Dream Theater, Firewind, Devin Townsend, The Atlas Moth, Warbringer and Decapitated are all out now or about to head out. Those are only the headliners, and those are only the dates I actually bothered to put into my calendar or can remember off the top of my head. To say nothing of our very own Metal Suckfest, 3 days of madness. Add this blockbuster bill to the list: Mastodon, The Dillinger Escape Plan and Red Fang. The fall touring season just got that much more awesomer. Full list of dates, via The PRP, after the jump:

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The latest edition of Metal Injection’s “Ask the Artist” series — in which various artists are asked one uniform question (See what they did there?) —  poses the query “What are the best and worst stage moves in metal?” to various bands that were on this summer’s two biggest metal tours — Mayhem Fest and Summer Slaughter.

And it’s a great question to ask, because it’s certainly one that seems to come up in metallic circles quite a bit. Just recently, a publicist told me she understood that I didn’t like one of her bands because they played too much “breakdowncore,” and I told her the breakdowncore was silly, sure, but not as silly as they choreographed stage moves they used for each and every song. So it’s interesting to hear the thoughts of the musicians who actually have to be extra-conscientious of stage moves themselves.

Not shocking — a lot of the bands, including Trivium and Fleshgod Apocalypse, poke fun at crabcore and general scene-friendly stage moves. More shocking: so do Oceano.

Check out more of Metal Injection’s “Ask the Artist” videos here.

-AR

Word to the wise: don’t give up on the above video just ’cause it’s not metal. Stick with it. You will be pleased. Honest Injun.

And after you’ve watched, why not review some of our top stories from this week? For example –

• We debuted new music from Leprous and Ihsahn.
• Daath’s Eyal Levi declared that not all people are created equal.
• Francesco Artusato from All Shall Perish and Aaron Beam from Red Fang told us about their live rigs.
• We checked out the latest releases from Today is the Day and Eschaton.
• Vince, Anso, Gary, and Leyla unveiled their respective favorite albums of 2011 thus far.
• We started celebrating 31 days of Faith No More.
• We got an in-depth analysis of the genius of Crazy Town.
• We suggested that the Insane Clown Posse might wanna re-think their stance on concert security.
• We hired Manowar to play our next office party.
• We broke the news that Last Chance to Reason have parted ways with two members.

Next week we make the biggest announcement of our lives. Be there or be be square.

-AR

(photo from Oregon Live)

As part of our coverage of this year’s Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival – currently winding its way through North America — we’re bringing you a series of “Rigged” columns in which several of the tour’s musicians take you on piece-by-piece guides of their current live rig setups. Check out the rigs of Machine Head’s Phil Demmel, Unearth’s Buz McGrath and Ken Susi, Hatebreed’s Wayne Lozinak, In Flames’ Peter Iwers and Dethklok’s Brendon Small. Here’s Red Fang bassist Aaron Beam:

My live and recording set-ups are exactly the same, and it is very, very simple. I play a mid-80s G&L SB-1 bass (which is the only piece of equipment I own that I have absolutely no recollection of buying) through a Sunn Beta Bass amp running a Traynor 4×12 speaker cabinet. The only pedals I have are the channel switcher that comes with the amp and a Boss TU-2 tuning pedal.

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A rip-roaring good time was had at our inaugural South by South Death show in Austin, TX this past March; Kvelertak, Havok, Red Fang, Wormot and Meek is Murder packed Headhunters on Red River St. and kept the energy level high throughout the afternoon. We posted Roxwel.com-filmed video footage of Red Fang, Havok and Wormrot’s sets here, and now, for your viewing pleasure, we give you Kvelertak and Meek is Murder. You can also check out an interview segment with all five bands here.

Meek Is Murder at South By South Death 2011
Watch Music Videos at www.roxwel.com

Kvelertak, after the jump. And HOLY SHIT did they kill it, getting that entire room into a frenzied mosh:

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I’m going to put approximately as much work into this introduction as Osama bin Laden did to constantly changing locations so the American military couldn’t find him. Here’s a bunch of clips that aren’t as good as the new Red Fang video.

To being today we have Steven Tyler’s first-ever solo video, for the song “(It) Feels So Good.” And by the way, if anyone can explain (to) me why the word “it” is (in) parenthesis, (I) would grateful. Because (it) seems pretty fucking random, doesn’t (it)? And also, the song really isn’t that great, although it’s not terrible or anything. The video, on the other hand, is about as exciting as being stuck in traffic in a venue parking lot after a concert lets out. That Red Fang took what looks to me like a very small budget and made something so awesome and Steven Tyler hired some big name L.A. fashionista and Christ knows how much money and only came up with this is fucking embarrassing for Steven Tyler and the big name L.A. fashionista. Really all this video has going for it is a scantily clad hot girl, and not to be a dick or anything, but I live in downtown Manhattan and its spring time, so I can see a hot girl anytime I want just by stepping scantily clad hot girl by stepping right outside my door. And I don’t even need to listen to a mediocre song to do it!

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I’m working on a big “Cinemetal Round-Up” for today, because a bunch of notable artists have released new clips in the past forty-eight hours. But as I was watching — and uncontrollably grinning at — “Wires,” the new video from Red Fang, I thought to myself, “No. This is just too damn good to be lumped in with a bunch of other shit. People must see this. Attention must be paid.”

What a great fucking example of doing something awesome with what, I’m guessing at least, was not a lot of money. (If the video is to be believed, it cost less than $5,000. That may sound like a fair sum of cash, but in the filmmaking world, it’s practically nothing.) “Wires” isn’t the prettiest video you’ve ever seen, but it’s well shot, it’s well edited, and, clearly, a lot of thought went into its creation.

And the results are top notch. AND this the second the band and their collaborator, Whitey McConnaughy, have pulled off such a feat — their video for “Prehistoric Dog” is also fucking incredible. These clips are funny as hell and metal as fuck. I almost don’t wanna talk too much about it because I don’t wanna give anything away. But I implore you to check it out. It’s not currently embeddable, but you can watch it by clicking on the screen cap below (and God help you if the screen cap doesn’t make you wanna watch the video right now.)

Fucking AWESOME, right?

“Wires” comes off of Red Fang’s latest, Murder the Mountains, which is out now on Relapse. The band will spend their summer on the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival; get dates here.

-AR

They came, they rocked, they conquered: Kvelertak, Havok, Red Fang, Wormrot and Meek is Murder played our inaugural South by South Death show at this year’s SXSW and a jolly old time was had. On Tuesday we showed you a wrap video featuring clips of performances and interviews with all five bands, and today we give you several songs each of the performances by Red Fang, Havok and Wormrot (tomorrow: Kvelertak and Meek is Murder). All of this fine multi-camera /soundboard footage was provided by sponsor Roxwel.com, consistent purveyors of excellent live metal videos; thanks dudes!

Havok at South By South Death 2011
Watch Music Videos at www.roxwel.com

Red Fang and Wormrot after the taco.

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No longer do you have to take our written word for it; thanks to South By South Death 2011 sponsors Roxwel.com you can now see first-hand just how much fun we had at our inaugural SXSW showcase with Kvelertak, Red Fang, Havok, Wormrot and Meek is Murder. Roxwel did an incredible job capturing all the madness with multiple cameras, soundboard audio and interviews with all the bands, and now we relay said madness to you, oh faithful MetalSucks reader.

The first installment is a wrap-up video featuring clips of performances and interviews with every band on the bill; it sets the stage nicely for all the full songs Roxwel filmed from each band, which we’ll post in the coming days.

South By South Death 2011 Recap
Watch Music Videos at www.roxwel.com

Two days late but not two dollars short, I figure ya’ll might like to know how all the albums that came out last Tuesday (April 12th) fared sales-wise, even though I think we can all agree that album sales aren’t the be-all-end-all measure of a band’s success. So without further ado, here’s how the new Between the Buried and Me, Foo Fighters and Red Fang albums sold last week.

Also, Dave Grohl is a very rich man; in addition to the ginormous debut of his new Foo Fighters album, seemingly every Foo catalog album made a return back onto the charts this past week.

Right, the numbers:

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This week sees new releases by Believer, Between the Buried and Me, Indian, Last Chance to Reason, Pentagram, Red Fang, Young Widows and more. MS new release expert Vic Vaughn takes a looksee at each after the jump!

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Congrats to reader Ross Hodo, who correctly identified last week’s logo as belonging to the band Arboris Mortuus. Ross wins five CDs from the MetalSucks Mansion Archives! GO, ROSS, GO!!!

This week we have another super-duper-awesome-fun-time prize for you, courtesy the fine folks at Relapse Records: two, count ‘em two, copies of Red Fang’s latest scorcher, Murder the Mountains. It comes out one week from today, on April 12, and you can pre-order it here, or, of course, just enter this contest. And if you’re too stupid to know how badly you want a copy, you can now stream the entire record here and get educated.

All you gots to do to win is identify the name of the band whose logo appears below, then shoot me an e-mail at axl AT metalsucks DOT net with your answer, your name, and your address. ALL ENTRIES WITHOUT AN ADDRESS WILL BE DISQUALIFIED. From everyone who gets it right, we’ll randomly select two winners and announce their names next week.

This week’s logo was sent in by reader Amelia Rupp, and it’s a doozy…

-AR

[Read my recaps of Day One and Day Two. -Ed.]

The always-wise Antonin Skullia Esq. said to me on Friday that there’s no such thing as a “first annual,” just a “first ever.” Indeed. So please don’t think I’m gloating when I say that the first ever MetalSucks SXSW event South by South Death was a big success and surely worthy of creating a “second annual.” Meek is Murder, Wormrot, Red Fang, Havok and Kvelertak teamed up for for an excellent day of headbanging, beer-swilling, and sweaty, dirty metal in the cramped punk-rock confines of Headhunters.

And for the night-cap, the definitive most metal of non-metal bands: Chrome-E-Oh. Ohhhhh ohhh!

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I was not aware of the existence of Singlish until just now, when I watched the below video interview that Invisible Oranges‘ Cosmo Lee conducted recently with Wormrot — but I’m not at all surprised that it exists. Are the band’s lyrics in Singlish? I’ve honestly never really paid attention to what front man Arif was screeching, and, kind of unbelievably, I can’t seem to find any of the band’s lyrics online. One way or the other, though, this is pretty interesting stuff.

While we’re on the topic of Wormrot: if you’re at SXSW this week don’t forget that they’re playing MetalSucks’ ABSOLUTELY FREE South by Southdeath party at Headhunters, at 720 Red River, from 2-6pm this Friday, March 18th. Kvelertak, Havok, Red Fang, and Meek is Murder are also on the bill, and Full Blown Chaos’ Ray Mazzola is MCing. It’s gonna be a killer time so be there. And bring some weed for Vince — he does so much for you!

Wormort’s new album, Dirge, will be out May 3 on Earache. I’ve heard it. It will not disappoint you.

-AR

After seeing that Red Fang are streaming a new song, “Dirt Wizard,” over at AP, I Googled the phrase “dirt wizard” to see if it has any special meaning of which I was unaware. But Google assumed I meant “dirty wizard,” which, according to the Urban Dictionary, is actually a sexual act I personally have yet to try:

“When one waves their dick around while saying ‘abracadabra’ and then cums on the girl’s face.”

It can also mean a dude with long, greasy hair. Red Fang probably meant that. That would make more sense for a metal band.

ANYWAY, the song rocks, and you should check it out. It comes off of Red Fang’s new album, Murder the Mountains, which Relapse will release on April 12.

And don’t forget that Red Fang are playing at our absolutey FREE SXSW party, South by Southdeath, from 2-6pm this Friday, March 18th at Headhunters, 720 Red River Street. Kvelertak, Wormrot, and Meek is Murder are also on the bill, and Full Blown Chaos’ Ray Mazzola is MCing. There are probably other SXSW  shows you could go do at this same time, but only if you’re lame. You’re not lame, are you?

-AR

Havok, the neo-thrash band that makes all other neo-thrash bands look bad, have a new album coming out on Candlelight on March 29. It’s called Time is Up. Yes, it’s terrific — if you dug Havok’s 2009 debut, Burn, you will dig this, and if you didn’t hear Burn, you should hear this, and if you didn’t like Burn, go jump in a fire.

I mention this because Metal Injection have a behind-the-scenes video of Havok in the studio making Time is Up. And you should watch it! Here, I’ll make it easy for you:

If you’re going to SXSW next week, don’t forget that Havok are playing MetalSucks’ ABSOLUTELY FREE South by Southdeath party at Headhunters, at 720 Red River, from 2-6pm on Friday, March 18th. Kvelertak, Red Fang, Wormrot, and Meek is Murder are also on the bill, and Full Blown Chaos’ Ray Mazzola, a.k.a. “One of the Funniest Motherfuckers in Metal,” is MCing. Be there.

-AR