MetalSucks

By all accounts, the Meshuggah / Cynic / The Faceless tour earlier year was exactly the masturbatory dude-fest it promised to be from the get-go. With a lineup like that, how could it be anything less than completely mindblowing? Before the show I had the opportunity to catch up with Meshuggah guitarist Marten Hagstrom. I asked him about the touring lifestyle, how the band’s sound has evolved and changed over the years, Meshuggah’s now near-legendary cult status, and one question that really got his goat about the hoardes of Swedish melodic death metal bands that have grown to popularity in recent years. Our chat, after the jump.

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A press release arrived last night after the gates of the MetalSucks Mansion had been shuttered announcing pretty much the best news ever: founding guitarist Peter Wichers has rejoined Soilwork. Wichers had departed to pursue a career in producing, working on such records as the Nuclear Blast all-star Out of the Dark compilation and Warrel Dane of Nevermore’s solo record Praises to the War Machine.

This news is particularly refreshing because without Wichers, Soilwork had been lumbering along as an imitation of its former self. Wichers was always the primary writer and creative force behind Soilwork until his departure in late 2005, so his return should come as welcome news to any fans who thought 2007’s Sworn to a Great Divide was lackluster effort (presently company excluded — I thought Sworn was a passable if even decent effort, but that it lacked that special touch). To make matters worse, second guitarist Ola Frenning quit earlier this year, removing any guitar links to the band’s glory days. With Wichers’ return, his replacement Daniel Antonsson has been let go and drummer Dirk Vervueren’s bandmate in Scarve, Sylvain Coudret, has been tapped for second guitar.

This great news comes just in time for the band’s massive North American headline tour with Darkane, Warbringer and Swallow the Sun! YES! Full list of tour dates after the jump.

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With One-Way Mirror, the not-quite supergroup of European metal not-quite royalty, this new band has created a surprisingly solid if not particularly revolutionary debut record. You get the impression that One-Way Mirror — which features Guillaume Bideau (Mnemic), David and Franck Potvin (Lyzanxia, Phaze I), Dirk Verbeuren (Soilwork) and Loic Colin (Scarve, Watcha) — aren’t trying at all to reinvent the wheel so much as write catchy metal songs with a groove and conventional structure, and at that they’re mostly successful.

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One Way Mirror, a new metal supergroup featuring Guillaume Bideau (Mnemic), David and Franck Potvin (Lyzanxia), Dirk Verbeuren (Soilwork) and Loic Colin (Scarve) have released some tunes on their MySpace page. It’s pretty much what you’d expect from this cast of characters, though I don’t mean that in a bad way — a big Gothenberg sound mixed with a more groovy, alt-metal feel. Truth be told, there is some element of American butt-rock in here too, but damn, these are some fucking good songs. In fact, these are some surprisingly really good songs.

One Way Mirror drops June 27 (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy), June 30 (Rest of Europe), and July 22nd (US) on Metal Blade Records.

-VN

[One Way Mirror on MySpace]