If you still have any doubts that being in a band is for losers, watch Why You Do This, the documentary by Car Bomb’s Michael Dafferner. It is a cold, hard bitch slap of reality. Including interviews with Richard Christy, Randy Blythe, Joe Duplantier, Ben Falgoust, and a bunch of other cool dudes, Why You Do This premiered last year at the Queens World Film Festival, and is now streaming online in full. Check it out:

If you enjoyed that, you can order a DVD right here.

-AR

[via Metal Insider]

FEATURING MEMBERS OF GOD FORBID, SKELETONWITCH, CHARRED WALLS OF THE DAMNED, MUNICIPAL WASTE, TODAY IS THE DAY, LANDMINE MARATHON, AND SHAI HULUD

Every year year, MetalSucks asks musicians from across the vast spectrum of the metalsphere (or, in a few cases, the almost-metalsphere) what their favorite albums of the year have been. Death metallers, thrash metallers, black metallers, stoners, grinders, and djenters alike have graciously contributed lists to MS, and we’ll be running them in groups of nine to ten musicians at a time two to three times a day for the whole week.

After the jump, check out the next group… we hope you enjoy seeing what some of metal’s heaviest hitters were into this year as much as we have!

Click to read more…

We were lucky enough to have the legendary Richard Christy do a signing for the excellent new Charred Walls of the Damned album, Cold Winds on Timeless Days, at  the MetalSucks/Vertebrae 33 booth at New York Comic Con last weekend. And, no shock, the signing was a big success. A whole lotta peeps swung by to hang out with Richard, who very graciously chatted with each and every one, took photos, signed CDs, and even autographed some dude’s prosthetic leg. No, I’m not kidding. It was fucking nuts.

We also had ANOTHER signing at the booth, though, and I’m sad to report that this one didn’t go so well: self-proclaimed “guitar god” Thor Shredsteen attracted a total of zero fans. Thor complained it was because of the placement of our booth, but that makes no sense since a) like I said, Mr. Christy managed to attract plenty of fans, and b) we were literally right by the front entrance. So, yeah, uh, Thor probably won’t be invited back next year.

ANYWAY, Metal Injection captured the entire horrific (and embarrassing) experience on video… check it out and laugh at the poor bastard below.

-AR

As you hopefully know by now, we teamed up with our very good friend, Mr. Rodney Githens of Vertebrae 33 and Metal Band Art, to host a booth at New York Comic Con last weekend. And we had a blast! We can’t wait to do it again next year.

And now we have a video run-down of the event from our other very good friends over at Metal Injection, which you can and should check out below. They interviewed the great Richard Christy, metal artist extraordinaire Chuck BB, and, oh yeah, they got me offering to give James Hetfield a rusty trombone. Check it out:

-AR

MetalSucks and Vertebrae 33 descended upon New York Comic Con this past weekend to create the most METAL booth at the entire convention. We passed out loads of free shit courtesy of our friends at Metal Blade, Live Nation, and, of course, ourselves, and wherever there’s free shit at Comic Con there are hordes of people ready to take it from you. We counted dude ponytails to pass the time until we got bored because it was too easy. Charred Walls of the Damned drummer / Howard Stern writer Richard Christy stopped by to sign autographed for a couple of hours, Paul Booth and Metal Injection stopped by to say what’s up, and several loyal MS readers introduced themselves to us. Good times.

But the real fun was in the people-watching; the costumes people trek across town to Javits Center are pretty outrageous. Lots of nerdy dudes and nerdy babes parading around gave us plenty to look at during the convention’s three full days. Check out some photo highlights from the MetalSucks Comic Con booth after the jump.

Click to read more…

Friendly reminder: as of RIGHT THIS SECOND, the legendary Richard Christy from Death, Iced Earth, Control Denied, and, oh yeah, The Howard Stern Show, is at the MetalSucks/Vertebrae 33  booth at New York Comic Con signing copies of Charred Walls of the Damned‘s ridiculously rocking new album, Cold Winds on Timeless Days, which is out NOW on Metal Blade Records. He’ll be there ’til 7 pm, so there’s still time for you to hop on a bus, subway, or in a cab and get your ass down there — we’re booth #2625. Myself and/or Vince are also there now, and will be there tomorrow and Sunday, too, and we may have some other special guests in store for you yet. So come on by, pick up some free swag courtesy of Indie Merch and Metal Blade, hang out, whatever. It’ll be a blast! Get all the details here.

And now, some other fun shit we did this week:

• We premiered a new live recording of Death’s “Leprosy” and new music from Trapped Under Ice.
• We spoke to Grutle Kjellson from Enslaved, Rex Brown from Kill Devil Hill/Pantera/Down, producer Shane Frisby, and Skateboard Marketing’s Munsey Ricci.
• Valient Thorr’s Valient Himself occupied Wall Street, GWAR’s Dave Brockie gave us the blow-by-blow on the NFL, and Eyal Levi from Dååth and Levi/Werstler and Audiohammer Studios got all Pacino-in-Heat on us.
• We checked out the latest releases from Warbringer and Årabrot.
• We continued The Countdown to The Metal Suckfest and launched a contest in which you can win some sweet swag and a meet and greet session at the show.
• We watched some inter-Emmure drama unfold.
• We begged Sasha Frere-Jones from The New Yorker to stop writing about metal forever.
• We enjoyed the use of Nine Inch Nails in the new trailer for The Avengers.
• We got excited about Cynic’s new line-up + song.
• We celebrated the best Dragonforce cover ever.

Have a terrific, relaxing weekend everyone. See ya Monday, if we don’t see ya at NYCC!

-AR

To celebrate this week’s release of Cold Winds on Timeless Days, the awesome sophomore effort from Richard Christy’s Charred Walls of the Damned, we recently launched a contest in which we challenged readers to Photoshop Christy into unusual and hilarious situations for the chance to win a ton of cool swag. And now the winners have been selected by Richard Christy himself! Here’s a quote from the legendary drummer:

“Thank you so much to all of the fans who submitted entries for the MetalSucks Richard Christy photoshop contest! They all made me laugh and there were some that made me cringe! There was even me as a Teddy Bear and me as the old wrestler The Missing Link which I loved! The one I choose as the winner though is Ben Moreau’s photoshop of me at some sort of outdoor metal party! This one made me laugh the hardest and it has all the elements that I love, a drunk guy doing the metal horns, a pumpkin drawn on my chest and belly, and a cheap beer in my hand! Congrats Ben Moreau and enjoy your prize pack!”

Check out Ben Moreau’s grand-prize-winning entry below; Ben wins a signed Sabian cymbal, a signed Aquarian drumhead, a signed pair of Vater 3A Fatback drumsticks (the size Richard uses), a pair of Custom Vater full color Charred Walls of the Damned debut album art drumsticks, a signed adult diaper (worn — but not used — by Richard at the Big 4 at Yankee Stadium show last month), a copy of Cold Winds On Timeless Days, and a CWOTD “Shield” t-shirt!

After the jump, you can also check out the entries from the runners-up, each of whom will recieve a copy of Cold Winds On Timeless Days, and a CWOTD “Shield” t-shirt. is out NOW on Metal Blade, so make you sure check it out!!! And don’t forget that Richard Christy himself will be selling and signing copies of Cold Winds on Timeless Days at the MetalSucks/Vertebrae 33 booth at New York Comic Con tomorrow, Friday, October 14, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.; you can get more details and tickets here.  We’ll have tons of cool goodies from Indie Merch and Metal Blade, too, so buy tickets now to make sure you don’t miss out!!!

Click to read more…

Cold Winds on Timeless Days, the sophomore effort from Richard Christy’s Charred Walls of the Damned, comes out TOMORROW on Metal Blade, and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll pick it up. Trust us: you will thank us later.

Tomorrow at 11:59pm EDT is also the deadline for our current Photoshop Richard Christy Contest, in which you can win some cool swag, including signed cymbals and drumheads, and an adult diaper that was worn by Richard himself during the recent Big 4 show at Yankee Stadium. (Seriously. We’re not kidding about that part. Enter before it’s too late!!! You can get all the details on this awesome contest here.)

But wait!!! There’s more! MetalSucks is teaming up with our friend Rodney Githens from Vertebrae 33 to bring you an AWSOME booth at this weekend’s New York Comic Con! We’ll have tons of cool goodies from Indie Merch and Metal Blade, and — best of all — Mr. Richard Christy himself will be at our booth this Friday, October 14 from 5-7 p.m., selling and signing copies of Cold Winds on Timeless Days!!! The Con starts this Thursday night and runs through Sunday, so buy tickets now to make sure you don’t miss out!!!

-Axl, Vince, and Everyone at MetalSucks

At least here in New York, we are now experiencing full-on the-sun-never-comes-out-and-it’s-cold-as-fuck weather — y’know, in case we somehow failed to realize that it’s October. Luckily, we have two terrific records with uplifting, happy-go-lucky titles to stream this morning, so that should perk you right the fuck up.

• Cold Winds on Timeless Days, the sophomore effort from all-star outfit Charred Walls of the Damned, is now streaming here. Jokes about its icy title and cover art aside, it’s actually a total scorcher, and features top-notch performances from drummer/mastermind Richard Christy, vocalist Tim “Ripper” Owens, guitarist Jason Suecof, and bassist Steve DiGiorgio. Metal Blade will release the album a week from today, October 11; that day is also the deadline to enter our totally awesome CWOTD/Richard Christy Photoshop contest, in which you can win a ridiculous amount of cool swag, including autographed symbols, drumheads, and, uh, a diaper that Mr. Christy himself wore. Enter here.
• Hull’s second full-length, Beyond the Lightless Sky, is now streaming here. Like all Hull music, it’s massive and monstrous and terrifying… like the soundtrack to every horrible feeling through your brain right before King Kong crushes you with his little toe or something. It also comes out one week from today, ‘cept via The End Records.

Now if you’ll excuse me, my apartment is freezing, so I’m gonna go kill the neighbors and use their bones to start a fire.

-AR

We’ve already gotten some good entries for our Charred Walls of the Damned/Photoshop Richard Christy contest, but I’m still waiting for one that makes me laugh so hard I wet myself. There’s still time for you to enter — the deadline is October 11 — so I’m hoping that there are plenty of you just taking your time to make sure you come up with something totally fantastic and hilarious.

And while you do not, why not check out “Admire the Heroes,” another new CWOTD track, which just premiered over at Metal Underground? As we’ve been saying for the past few weeks, the new album on which the track appears, Cold Wind On Timeless Days, will kick your ass so hard yo’ mama gonna feel it. Besides Christy’s always-stellar drumming, the record features guitars, production, and mixing by Jason Suecof [Actually Mark Lewis mixed the album, and tracked drums with Richard, and got all of the guitar tones. I'm a big dummy who can't properly read a press release. A million apologies.], who is a genius if there ever was one, bass by the great Steve DiGiorgio (Death, Control Denied, Iced Earth, Testament, a million other awesome bands), and glass-shattering vocals by the one and only Tim “Ripper” Owens. Seriously, I can’t even believe you’re still reading this and not listing to the song right.

Headbang here, then come back and exchange bro-fives in our comments section. Cold Wind On Timeless Days comes out October 11 on Metal Blade.

-AR

As we’ve said multiple times in the past few weeks, Cold Winds on Timeless Days, the sophomore effort from Richard Christy’s Charred Walls of the Damned, friggin’ KILLS. This supergroup which is actually super — it also features Tim “Ripper” Owens on vocals, Jason Suecof on guitars, and Steve DiGiorgio on bass — have made an album which, as Vince put it, is impossible to listen to “without feeling like your invisible chalice full of your slain enemy’s blood absolutely must be raised to the sky.” This is one of those records that is just pure metal, through and through.

To celebrate the album’s October 11th release (pre-order it here!), MetalSucks is proud to be teaming up with Metal Blade and the legendary Mr. Christy (Death, Iced Earth, Control Denied, The Howard Stern Show, etc.) himself for what is easily one of our coolest, and most fun, contests ever. Here’s how it’s gonna work:

• Download this picture of Richard Christy.
• Photoshop Richard into the most ridiculous, fun scenario you can imagine. Seriously, there are no limits here — do what ya gotta do to make us laugh.
• Send your entry, along with your name and address, to news AT metalsucks DOT net, with CWOTD CONTEST in the subject line. Please note that this contest is open to U.S. residents only.

And that’s it! We’ll select the three funniest photos to be the grand-prize and runner-up winners, respectively… and those winners will win some really, really, REALLY cool stuff. Check it:

Click to read more…

I was just talking with a friend earlier this week about how much I miss Howard Stern. See, I used to wake up to his voice each and every morning while we were living together before he left me for that bitch Beth Ostrosky before he made the move to satellite radio, which, to this day, I do not have. As it stands, it’s literally been years since I’ve heard Howard’s show.

And I miss Stern all the more now that I’ve gotten to listen to the interview he did with Lars Ulrich this past Tuesday. It’s a great interview, even if it requires you to ignore Stern’s over-appraisal of Ulrich’s drumming skills. (The funniest part of The New York Times‘ review of yesterday’s Big Four show: “Rhythmically, [Slayer] swung, unlike Metallica, whose rhythm often grew unstable and plodding.”] There’s lots of juicy gossip in here, including how Ulrich is self-taught (shocking!) and had to take drum lessons for six months in-between Kill ‘Em All and Ride the Lightning, how he stole Dave Mustaine’s woman, how his wife left him, and how Hetfield isn’t exactly a social animal. Bonus: the great Richard Christy (Charred Walls of the Damned, Death, Iced Earth) — a drummer with, like, a gajillion times more skill than Ulrich — even gets to chime in.

Here’s part one…

…and you can listen to the rest after the jump.

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Charred Walls of the Damned are a rarity in the metal world — a supergroup that’s actually super. And because I’m a big dumb idiot, I didn’t really get that into their eponymous debut last year; but now that I’ve heard their sophomore effort, Cold Winds on Timeless Days, I know I’m a big dumb idiot, and I can now remedy my previous blunder.

Case in point re: me being a big dumb idiot and CWotD owning every and all asses: their new single, “Zerospan,” which you can check out below. I defy you to listen to it and not raise a pair of invisible elephantiasis-afflicted nuts towards the sky. It’s impossible. It just can’t be done.

Cold Winds on Timeless Days comes out October 11 on Metal Blade, and was produced by guitarist Jason Suecof. The rest of the band, in case you somehow don’t know, consists of legendary drummer Richard Christy, vocalist Tim “Ripper” Owens, and bassist Steve DiGiorgio.

-AR

Did you know that Car Bomb vocalist Michael Dafferner’s day job is working as a satellite engineer? No, no I did not. Well, did you know that he also directed a documentary, [why_you_do_this], about how difficult and shitty it is to be a touring metal musician? No, no I did not know that, either. Yeah, well, neither did I, but apparently both facts are true.

[why_you_do_this] (it’s a statement, not a question asked by an immigrant) is going to make its premiere next week at the Queens World Film Festival (as in a world film festival which takes place in Queens, not a film festival which takes place on a world full of royal women), and even though I didn’t know about it until like ten seconds ago, it look pretty interesting — Dafferner interviewed all kinds of cool people, like Richard Christy, Randy Blythe, Joe Duplantier, and Ben Falgoust, all about the very simple question posed by the title. Or, perhaps a little less succinctly, this move could be called Holy Shit There is No Money to be Made in Metal and Touring Fucking Sucks, Why the Fucking Fuck Do You Keep Subjecting Yourself to this Crap? Which is a question every aspiring metal musician should ask him or herself, since the chances of making a living at playing music are only slightly better than the chances that you’ll be struck by lightning while receiving a wristie from Marilyn Monroe.

ANYWAY, the movie premieres at the aforementioned film festival on Friday, March 4, at 7:00pm EST at The Renaissance Auditorium (81^st Street & 37^th Ave) in Jackson Heights, NY. You can get more details, as well as tickets, here; you can also watch the trailer here and a clip here (they’re not embeddable… I guess they’re trying to keep the film a secret). I don’t think I can make it ’cause I’ll be on an airplane just hours prior, but if anyone goes, please let me know how it is. Hopefully this thing will get a DVD release or something soon so the rest of us can check it out.

Also, the press release says that Car Bomb are working on new music. That’s what they told me in 2008, too, but maybe we’ll actually get a new album before I turn eighty.

-AR

Charred Walls of the Damned are barely even in their new video, for the song “Ghost Town,” and when they do show up, it’s in a manner that I find kinda cheesy. Still, I really dig this video overall, and I kinda wonder why more metal bands don’t remain absent from their own videos. That way they don’t have to stand there doing take after take of the same song, and they can just hire a director with some vision to go off and make something cool for them. I mean, it worked for Tool, right?

“Ghost Town” comes off of Charred Walls of the Damned’s self-titled debut, which Metal Blade will release on February 2. If you haven’t done so already, check our interview with CWOTD drummer/founder/main man Richard Christy… yes, that Richard Christy.

-AR

Alright! After an initial slow news week, 2010 is finally start to get back into the swing of things. Here are some highlights from this week:

• Vince got an exclusive interview with Obituary/ex-Andrew W.K. drummer Donald Tardy about the AWK conspiracy mystery. We also spoke to Richard Christy and Pelican’s Larry Herwig.
• We debuted new music by The Tony Danza Tap Dance Extravaganza, Karnivool, and Blood of the Tyrant.
• Dallas is giving away free music, Eyal’s faith in metalheads has been restored, and Justin pontificated on the format wars.
• These Arms Are Snakes are done…
• …but System of a Down are reuniting! Or maybe not. But maybe.
• The dude from Weedeater shot himself in the foot. Literally.
• We’re sponsoring The Red Chord’s Burgers & Bowling tour!
• Underoath don’t like abortions.

Next week we’ll have some previews of 2010 releases we’re stoked on for you. And Vince is gonna be in sunny Los Angeles, so you poor-ass muthafuckas is stuck with me. BWA-HA-HA-HA!!!

-AR

If all Richard Christy ever did was play drums on Death’s phenomenal final album The Sound of Perseverance, it would be enough to secure his place in heavy metal Valhalla. That death metal classic gained so much from Christy’s nuanced performance that it’s almost criminal that he isn’t mentioned alongside your Lombardos, Reinerts and Dailors as one of the most creative drummers in extreme music. But you won’t find Christy complaining about lack of recognition, especially since he’s been so busy in the decade since Death’s demise. To fill in the gaps between his film directing and acting gigs (Christy played a Ku Klux Klansman in Harold and Kumar Go To Guantanamo), Christy has drummed for Iced Earth, Incantation, Acheron and Demons and Wizards. Of course that was all before he began his tenure as the resident prank caller on The Howard Stern Show. In fact, the only thing missing on Christy’s CV is a successful musical project of his own. That’s all looking to change with the forthcoming debut album by Charred Walls of the Damned, his new metal band with the ridiculous lineup of guitarist Jason Suecof (member of Capharnaum; producer/mixer for The Black Dahlia Murder/Trivium/All That Remains), bass god Steve DiGiorgio (Sadus/Death/Autopsy) and caterwauling vocalist Tim “Ripper” Owens (Judas Priest/Iced Earth). Christy took some time to yak with MetalSucks about his many career paths and the truly bizarre genesis of that band name.

Click to read more…

Metal Inquisition posted the below video of former Death drummer/current Howard Stern lackey Richard Christy on CNN having a serious discussion about Lehman Brothers’ declaration of bankruptcy. And by “having a serious discussion,” I mean “making out with another dude.”

Well, at least he didn’t yell “Baba Booey.”

-AR