Seth Putnam was one of metal’s great provocateurs and most colorful personalities. That’s why, even if you were never a huge Anal Cunt fan — and I profess, I am grateful to AxCx mostly for serving as my introduction to Scott Hull — Putnam’s death this past June feels like a profound loss to the community. Not many people will ever make an impression the way that guy did.

Now Realpse is getting to release a tribute to the man, the myth, the legend, in the form The Old Testament, a collection of demos, 7″s, EPs, and other assorted Anal Cunt rarities. And two tracks from that compilation — a seven-and-a-half minute demo which is apparently AxCx’s first, and a song called “Riverbottom Nightmare Band” — are now available for your listening pleasure over at The Deciblog. I’m not really gonna try to describe the music for you, because if you know Anal Cunt, you already have some sense of what to expect, and if you don’t, well… you just kinda need to listen, because Putnam and company were truly one of a kind and no words can really tell you what you’re in for. This shit was, uh, unique. Yeah, let’s say “unique.”

Headbang here. The Old Testament comes out November 22 via Relapse.

-AR

1) Be nicer to Sebastian Bach
2) Compare penis sizes with Tommy Lee
3) Hire Phil LaBonte as a vocal coach
4) Hire Billy Milano as a personal trainer
5) Hire Tripp Eisen as a baby sitter
6) Sleep with present-day Tawny Kitaen
7) Help Danzig clean up his motherfucking bricks, bitch
8) Listen to Ted Nugent talk about politics
9) Listen to Ted Nugent talk about romance
10) Listen to Ted Nugent talk about Ted Nugent

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Welcome to the latest edition of “Freeloader,” in which we review albums that you don’t have to feel like a douche for downloading for free. Today Satan Rosenbloom checks out Bedlam of Cacophony’s Neuroleptic.

Metal is essentially a modernist musical style. Since its very beginnings, metal has expanded what we think of as music by deconstructing – or outright doing away with – the schema we use to evaluate it. Metal bands constantly rub up against the limits of volume, speed, melody (or lack thereof) and other variables that all music engages in some way or another.

Even within a genre known for its pursuit of extremity, Neuroleptic, the debut album by Orange County’s Bedlam of Cacophony, stands out by hyper-extending pretty much every convention there is. Speeds alternate between grindcore fast and doom slow without notice. Riffs change quicker than your ears can process them, when they occur at all (much of the guitar playing is of the tap-heavy Psyopus variety). Sizzling distortion abuts clean fusion guitar tones. You’d be hard pressed to find two adjacent measures in the same time signature. Drummer Nate Cotton sounds like his kit is constantly exploding; three guest vocalists, including Cattle Decapitation/Murder Construct’s Travis Ryan, saddle the album with an intense case of multiple personality disorder. Hooks? Grooves? Tonal centers? All done away with. Neuroleptic blows by like four colliding tornados and dares you to keep up.

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Adam Jarvis of Misery Index!

Waitaminutehere… I didn’t even know PxDx had parted ways with now-former drummer Brian Harvey. But, there you have it… Adam Jarvis is the new Pig Destroyer drummer, as posted on Scott Hull’s Facebook and picked up by Metal Injection. Whether this means Jarvis has left Misery Index isn’t clear, but it doesn’t seem likely: Pig Destroyer shows are few and far between, making their drum throne exactly the kind of gig that another active drummer could handle.

I’m not nearly the Pig Destroyer fan Axl is, but I know that Axl and the legions of PxDx die-hards will be quite excited with this news, as it probably means recording for a new record will soon begin. Expect a new Pig Destroyer album in early 2012 via Relapse Records.

-VN

I LOLd for an hour straight on Tuesday cuz my Twitter was blowing up with metal people’s reactions to the Casey Anthony verdict (announced around 4PM EDT). It’s a serious situation, so dudes are mad and lending their two cents. That’s natural. But man, some people think dumb. Actually, know what? I’m just gonna c+p some metal celebrity tweets below. Remember, most of the following mini-declarations are wrought in awful logic, but not everybody on the internet is ignorant and high-horsing this shit to death. Um yeah just go ahead and keep reading and oooh the suspense…

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MetalSucks recently polled its staff to determine who are The Top 25 Modern Metal Guitarists, and after an incredible amount of arguing, name calling, and physical violence, we have finalized that list! The only requirements to be eligible for the list were that the musician in question had to a) play metal (duh), b) play guitar (double-duh), and c) have recorded something in the past five years. Today we continue our countdown with Scott Hull of Pig Destroyer and Agoraphobic Nosebleed…

Scott Hull might be the genre’s most verisimilitudinous exmaple of metal, for, surely, there is no one more metal than he. He has a job, so he isn’t dependent on music to make his living, so he has never had to commit that sin which most offends metal fans  – the compromise of artistic ideals. And that job just happens to be doing IT stuff for the government, which might not sound interesting, until you hear Hull use the phrase “The classified nature of my work,” at which point you realize that Holy shit Scott Hull knows where you live and what porn you download and the codes for the bombs and you had better not fuck with him.

Of course, while these two facts certainly add to Hull’s metalness, they are far too superficial to be the actual source of his metalocity. For no one would give a hoot about Scott Hull the Government IT Guy who Makes Music on the Side if not for the fact that his guitar playing has the ability to endanger entire species.

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As you probably know by now, Jucifer live on the road — literally! A truly mobile unit, the savage sludge metal duo are North American nomads who rest their head nightly in the same RV that gets them from show to show. So I was surprised to learn that Jucifer were crossing the pond for a headlining tour of Europe and Russia, which, unless they plan on hopping a ferry, implies that they’d be leaving their trusty vehicle behind. That’s probably as close to a vacation as Jucifer ever get!

The full list of dates are below, and most are supported by Italian metallers The Orange Man Theory, whose latest record was produced by Today Is The Day figurehead Steve Austin. There are a few festivals in the mix as well, including Wroclaw, Poland’s Asymmetry Fest (with Electric Wizard and the reunited Godflesh) and the Belgian Durbuy Rock Festival (with Korpiklaani and Triptykon). If you’re lucky enough to live close to any of these cities, here’s a super-duper rare opportunity to catch one of the noisiest bands around. Buy some merch from them as well, so they can buy souvenirs and finance a forthcoming re-release of the 1994 cassette-only Nadir EP, re-mastered by Scott Hull.

Now how are they gonna get all those amps overseas? Hmmm…

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I’ve been listening to Graf Orlock’s Doombox EP so much these past couple of weeks that I can now recite a movie quote from a movie I’ve never seen (that would be Harsh Times). The whole thing is under twelve minutes long (read Sammy O’Hagar’s rightfully-glowing review here), so it’s easy to listen to as an aid for short bursts of disrupted internet service/”FUCK YOU TIME WARNER CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!”-inspired rage. I’m so obsessed with the EP, in fact, that I now outright hate the people of Tacoma, Vancouver, and Portland, as those are the only three towns Graf Orlock will be hitting up on their upcoming mini-tour with the also-awesomeOwen Hart (whose contributions to this year’s second edition of Scott Hull-curated This Comp Kills Fascists were two of the highlights of that collection). Hopefully these dudes make it to other parts of the country in the not-too-distant future, ’cause I’m dying to see this shit played live.

So while we usually try not to cover regional tours ’cause so few of you will ever get to go, my envy of people who can attend these shows is such that I am going to post all three dates:

Dec 17 – Tacoma, WA @ The Redroom
Dec 18 – Vancouver, BC @ Garbage Mountain
Dec 19 – Portland, OR @ Branx

Go if you’re lucky enough to live in that part of the country.

Meanwhile, The PRP tells me that Scott Kelly and Wino are gonna be doing some shows together next year. They call the itinerary after the jump the “initial dates,” so hopefully there will be more soon, ’cause that sounds like a show that many of you might enjoy.

The aforementioned “initial dates” are…

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Image from J. Randall’s blog. I’m assuming he made this; the car model is actually called the “Hako.”

Hey, remember yesterday, when we told you about that free EP that Magrudergrind are giving away in conjunction with Scion? Well Agoraphobic Nosebleed’s J. Randall apparently isn’t too happy about Magrudergrind associating themselves with the corporate entity — or any metal band associating themselves with the corporate entity.

In a recent blog, Randall criticizes Integrity for failing to live up to their name “w/ their recent Scion showcase at the ROXY,” and then takes Magrudergrind to task for working with Scion, too: “Heres a band that was to ‘punk’ to give Relapse a record but is down to float a fuckin’ ‘SCION’ logo on the front of their album cover? WTF?” Randall doesn’t even think Scion is getting anything out the deal:

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Nowadays, fucking everyone is on Twitter — the President, Snooki, Napalm Death, Lady Gaga, and pretty much every famous/infamous/inconsequential figure imaginable is out there constantly micro-blogging away. One entity I never expected to stumble across on there was Agoraphobic Nosebleed vocalist/lyricist/mindfucker J. Randall, but lo and behold — he is indeed a tweeter. An offhand remark about his desire to do a few interviews about recent happenings in Agoraphobic Nosebleed’s world caught my eye, and I couldn’t help it: I took the bait.

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I didn’t know Kill the Client before they were on Scott Hull’s super-duper special This Comp Kill Fascists (that would be the original, not the recent Vol. 2), but I know them now. They are a dirty, filthy grind band, the kind that would make you glad you’re grand ma is already incontinent and therefore already wearing a diaper, ’cause if she wasn’t and she heard you blasting this, she’d crap her panties. In other words, you should listen to them.

The band have a new album, Set for Extinction, coming out via Relapse on October 26 — a.k.a. “The day every fucking album in the world is coming out” — and are now streaming a new song from that album, “As Roaches,” on their MySpace page. It’s only eighty seconds long, so don’t tell me you’re too busy to give it a listen ’cause I don’t wanna hear that shit, okay? Just fucking listen. If you’re not gonna do it for me, do it for Scott Hull, okay?

-AR

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Welcome to “Question of the Week,” a (sometimes) weekly debate amongst the MetalSucks staff regarding a recent hot button issue.

There weren’t any real hot button topics this week, so we decided to just play a fun game that used to keep Vince and Axl occupied for many a lunch period when they were kids:

The MS staff’s answers after the jump.

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It was just a month ago that Scott Hull’s This Comp Kills Fascists Vol. 2 was announced, and look! It’s coming out this Tuesday, June 22 on Relapse! I think our resident powerviolence expert, Sergeant D., is working on a semi-formal review, which I am honestly waiting for with baited breath, as it’s sure to be insightful, hilarious, and enraging pretty much all at once.  And I’m sure you’re excited, too.

While we all hold hands and wait, you can now actually stream the entire album right here. Like I said, it was compiled by the great Scott Hull (you either knew he was from Pig Destroyer and Agoraphobic Nosebleed or fuck yourself) and features Drugs of Faith, Crom, Apartment 213, Owen Hart, Noisear, and a plethora of other excellent grind, powerviolence and hardcore acts. And one of the most fun aspects of a project like this is that while you may know some of the bands, you may very well not know them all, and now you get to learn about some cool bands you didn’t know before from someone awesome (that would be the aforementioned Mr. Hull). I didn’t know Owen Hart before Comp Deuce, for example, and I’m really digging them. Thanks, Scott!!!

So go listen.

-AR

A couple of weeks ago we got word that Scott Hull was putting together a second edition of This Comp Kills Fascists; that news alone was enough to make us excited, because a) we loved Comp volume one, and b) we’ll spend money on pretty much anything that has the words “Scott Hull” on it. (Pretty much anything. There are obviously exceptions.)

Now a complete list of bands that Hull has selected to appear on the comp has been released – although not a track list. I just think that’s worth mentioning because with bands like these, the songs tend to be pretty short, and on the last comp, all the bands got multiple songs – so if you look at this list and think “Gee, that’s it?”, well, it’s safe to assume that there will still be plenty of music to be had here.

Maybe even more importantly – since I don’t think this line-up is as overtly impressive as the one for Comp. 1 (which had Brutal Truth and Insect Warfare and some other “flashier” bands, at least inasmuch as there’s such a thing as a flashy grind band) – there’s now a preview page for the album, which is currently streaming tracks by Despise You, Apartment 213, Owen Hart, and Idiot’s Parade. So if you look at this list and you’re all, “Fuck are these dudes?,” well, head over there to hear some awesome awesomeness.

List of the included bands after the jump. And because I’m a swell fella, I’ve included MySpace links for all of them, so you can check ‘em out now if you’re not already familiar with them.

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A deleted scene from Iron Man 2? Nope, just one of the many cinematically stimulating moments in Maryland Deathfest: The Movie

Alright, I kinda don’t wanna talk any shit about Maryland Deathfest: The Movie for a number of reasons. I don’t know David Hall, the dude who made it, but I know he’s worked with a lot of cool bands I like, including Fuck the Facts and Today is the Day. Scott Hull mastered the audio, and I don’t think it’s any secret that if Scott Hull asked me to walk a few feet ahead of him and sprinkle roses in his path, I would happily do so. Maryland Deathfest is clearly one of the best U.S. festivals in all of metaldom, and I don’t want anyone to think I’m speaking ill of that fine institution, ’cause I ain’t. The first twelve minutes of the movie premiered earlier today at Metal Injection, and the Metal Injection dudes are like brothers to me, so I don’t want anyone to think that I’m disparaging that site. And I certainly don’t want anyone to think I’m trashing any of the artists in the movie, ’cause they really had nothing to do with its creation.

With all of that said, those first twelve minutes of this movie really do not make me wanna see the next twelve minutes.

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2008′s Scott Hull-compiled This Comp Kills Fascists was pretty much the best thing ever; it seemed to feature half the world’s best grind/powerviolence/hardcore/whateverthefuck bands (Brutal Truth, Magrudergrind, Insect Warfare, etc.), and even introduced me to at least one awesome band with whom I was not previously familiar (Weekend Nachos). Also, the album art had a picture of George W. Bush with a swastika made out of cocks coming out of his head, so it’s hard not to get behind that as one of the greatest artistic achievements of the modern age, or possibly just recorded history in general.

Now Hull is curating (can you curate a metal comp?) a second volume, which Relapse will release in North America on June 22, and in Europe on June 28. You can pre-order a copy here. The tracklist hasn’t been released just yet, but announced bands include Lack of Interest, Noisear, Drugs of Faith, Apartment 213, Despise You, Triac, Social Infestation, and Crom. Some of those bands I already know and some I don’t, but it doesn’t matter – Scott Hull has impeccable taste. This comp is going to kill a lot more than just fascists.

No word on which political figures will be getting the genitalia treatment this time out.

-AR

1. They’re called Pig Destroyer.

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Given his godly tenure with Pig Destroyer, I’d never question Scott Hull’s songwriting skill. Given his confidential government IT dayjob, it’d be inadvisable to criticize the dude anyway, lest I find myself the unwitting victim of extraordinary rendition to Uzbekistan. But it’s still a welcome surprise that for the first time in over a decade, Hull’s other grind band, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, has songs notable for something other than their brevity. ANb’s third full-length, Agorapocalypse, has nothing on 2003’s 3-inch, 100-track Altered States of America in terms of novelty. What it does have is groove, structure and listenability up the ass. I just listened to it three times in a row and it’s not even 9am. And my ass hurts.

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It’s only April and it’s already turning out to be an amazing year for grind – Napalm Death’s Time Waits for No Slave is the tits (read my review here), Brutal Truth’s Evolution Through Revolution kills (Satan Rosenbloom’s review coming soon), and we still have new music from Graf Orlock, Magrudergrind, and, knock on wood, Pig Destroyer to look forward to.

And, of course, there’s a new Agoraphobic Nosebleed album, Agorapocalypse, out on Relapse today. We’ll get to a review sooner or later, but for now you can judge for yourself – the entire album is streaming right here. Aside from the usual Scott Hull awesomeness, the band now counts Salome’s Kat as one of its three (!) vocalists.

Seriously, I love this fucking record. It’s just so snotty and brutal and… I can’t say enough good things about it. Please please please go check it out, and if you dig it, remember you can buy an actual copy as of right now.

-AR

I’ve been trying for some time to figure out a way to articulate the feelings the created by listening to Agoraphobic Nosebleed, and here’s the only thing I’ve been able to come up with: AFDUTKASD’NAS#*%^^^DLABDNAPFUQ!!!NSDFW.

Now that we’ve gotten that out the way: AN have a new album coming out April 14, Agorapocalypse, and have now given fans a first taste of the music from that album – new song “Agorapocalypse Now” is currently streaming on the group’s MySpace page.

In case you didn’t think the band could get any crazier than they already are, brace yourself: this song is pure chaos in music form. And little wonder: the band has added Salome front chick Kat to their ranks, which means they now have three, count ‘em three, vocalists. The song they released with Kat last year, “Home Invasion,” was fucking wicked (and is also streaming on AN’s MySpace page); based on this new track, I’d say we’re in for some fucking aural violence come April 14.

-AR