This morning, I received the following e-mail from reader Parker Werley:

“How does a band get to earn the proud badge of having -core in their genre?”

That’s a pretty simple question, but it’s also kind of thought provoking. So I thought maybe we could explore it here a little bit. Because, honestly, I’m not sure that I know what the answer is.

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Below is video of Shadows Fall on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon last night. It’s an awesome performance of the new song “Still I Rise,” but unfortunately, it doesn’t show what might have been the best part of the show: our favorite Massholes completely destroying Fallon’s personal green room (NOT his guest green room) during a live, on-air promo right before they played. If anyone saw that – you should know that it was not staged, and no one on Fallon’s team (or The Shads’, as I understand it) had any idea what the band had planned (these promos usually consist of just waving to the camera and being boring). You can watch video of the band going all GN’R/Headbanger’s Ball on the green room’s ass here.

You might think Fallon was pretty pissed, but apparently he thought it was awesome and is only too-excited to have SF back on his show in the near future – the above photo was actually taken after the green room incident. So props to Fallon for being a cool dude.

Shadows Fall’s new album, Retribution, drops September 15 on Everblack Industries/Ferret.

-AR

Those in the NYC area, pay close attention: TONIGHT, there is a very, very special MetalSucks co-sponsored Tones of Death show going down at Fontana’s in Manhattan. Observe:

• Black Anvil CD release party (download “Margin For Terror” for free here)
• MetalSucks local faves The Binary Code are opening.
• Special guest DJ is Brian Fair from Shadows Fall
• There is a super-awesome, super-secret special guest band giving a surprise performance. We can’t tell you who this super-secret special guest is, but we promise you that you’ll be very, very sorry if you miss this opportunity.
• THE SHOW IS FREE!
• There will very likely be free alcohol of some kind.

See? The madness starts at 8pm, and the show is 21+. See you there!

Here’s the new Shadows Fall video, for the song “Still I Rise.” It’s full of dudes working out and running and fighting and stuff. Mostly, though, it’s just a good chance to hear a new Shadows Fall song.

The band’s latest, Retribution, comes out September 15. A little birdie told me it’s heavy as fuck.

Shadows Fall just announced a tour with Five Finger Death Punch. Well, nobody’s perfect.

-AR

Last week, Elise at Reign in Blonde wrote a piece entitled “TOP 5 SONGS I WOULD PROBABLY USE AS MY STRIPPER SONG.”

Improbably enough, this led to a stoned think-session where I came up with a list of the top five songs I would probably use as my own stripper song. ‘Cause I know you all wanna see me strip so badly.

Okay, here we go:

Click to read more…

Word on the street is that the new Shadows Fall album, Retribution, is one heavy motherfucker, and the first song released off the record, “King of Nothing,” would seem to confirm this. It’s already a shitton heavier than anything off of Threads of Life; this sounds like classic Shads, with enough of a musical progression to keep it interesting. If anyone still doubts that Bachand and Donais can bring the shred, this should shut ‘em up, and my neck already hurts from just one quick listen/headbanging session.

And, of course, having a guest spot by Randy Blythe doesn’t hurt.

Check out the song here. Retribution comes out September 15.

And just for shits n’ giggles, if you’re really bored at work, watch the mediocre Metallica video for the mediocre Metallica song of similar name after the jump.

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[Reverend David J. Ciancio, owner of Yeah! Management (Shadows Fall, Cancer Bats, Poison the Well, many more), likes his meat as much as he likes his metal; the man has two meat-themed websites, Steak Club 7 and Burger Conquest, the latter of which is devoted to seeking out and reviewing the burgers of the world, an ambitious and worthy mission if ever there was one. Anytime I'm in a random city I'll text The Rev to ask him where the best burger is, and he inevitably comes through (aside: if you're ever in San Diego hit up Neighborhood). The Rev was recently on tour with Shadows Fall in Alaska and took them on a Burger Conquest, the writeup of which is below, exclusive to MetalSucks. Enjoy!]

Arctic Roadrunner Local Burgerman
http://www.lastfrontier.org/morsel_apr_2008.htm
5300 Old Seward Hwy
Anchorage, AK 99518

THE STORY
Before I go anywhere, I Google “best hamburger (insert city name)” and results for Anchorage seemed unanimous, Arctic Roadrunner Local Burgerman is reported to have the #1 burger in town. Located just South of the city center next to Campbell Creek, the Arctic Roadrunner has been slingin’ up burgers since 1964. It’s short-order counter service and cash only but it’s an award winning institution. Sparing no details in decorating the log cabin, you’ll find a tusk of a woolly mammoth, antlers, a fire place, pictures of famous patrons and all sorts of local oddities.

I was up here on tour with Shadows Fall who played 2 shows while in town with Family Tree Presents. We played a 21+ gig at the world famous Chilkoot Charlie’s and an all-ages show at Club Millenium. Both shows were fantastic and the fans were insane. Metal is alive and well in Alaska!

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The album drops September 15.

-AR

Also quickly:

-AR

I guess having successfully attained “Redemption,” Shadows Fall are just gonna kick ass and take names with their latest album: they’ve chosen the title Retribution, according to Blabbermouth. The album will drop September 15, which is now shaping up to be a truly righteous day for new records.

Here’s some lo-fi footage of the band playing a new song, “A Public Execution.” And Matt Bachand is wearing a God Forbid tee. Nice.

-AR

So I just watched Faith No More’s Download Fest perf. I only saw one pair of boobies, and they were terrible boobies. On the other hand, FNM killed it and played “Take This Bottle” and Patton did part of “We Care A Lot” while doing sit-ups with the mic in his mouth, so ya take the good with the bad.

Speaking of the good with the bad: we started to unveil the results of our 21 Best Metal Albums of the 21st Century… So Far poll/list this week, and as usual, y’all had something to say about it:

• SP420 thinks it’s “unbelievable that so many people hold” the #17 album, Hatebreed’s Perseverance, “in such high regard.” Sp420, Jamey Jasta will be at your house in one hour to discuss.
• ionlanach thinks that the #18 album, Lamb of God’s New American Gospel, is “Mediocre, just like everything Lamb of God have ever done.” Even Randy Blythe’s BBQ sauce is offended
• I hate you thinks that if the #19 album, Mastodon’s Remission, “was your first metal album, you are gay” and that “metal is obviously not your fortay.” In other news, I hate you doesn’t know how to spell “forté” correctly.
• Fufkin calls the #20 album, Shadows Fall’s The War Within, “metalbore.” While I don’t agree with him (her?), that’s just clever enough for me not to make fun of Fufkin.
• Robert thinks that the #21 album, Slipknow’s Vol 3: The Subliminal Verses, is “sort of a pile of shit.” Which leads me to wonder: at what point does something go from being “sort of” a pile of shit to, y’know, an actual pile of shit?

Next week we’re countin’ down albums #16 through #12. The picks are clearly either gonna make you guys really fuckin’ happy or really fuckin’ mad. I’ll give you a hint, though: they’re all metal albums.

-AR

SPECIAL GUEST BLOGGER BRAM TEITELMAN OF THE SYNDICATE & METAL INSIDER

We recently polled a wide array of musicians, managers, publicists, label reps, and writers from within the world of metal to find out what they thought the 21 Best Metal Albums of the 21st Century So Far have been. Eligible albums were released between January 1, 2000 and  April 1, 2009. Each panelist turned in a ballot, with their #1 album worth 21 points, their #2 album worth 20 points, and so on and so forth. The ballots are now in and we’ll be counting down one album a day until we reach #1. Today we present the #20 album, coming in with a total of 105 points…

Shadows Fall, The War Within (Century Media, 2004)
Brian Fair – Vocals
Jonathan Donais – Lead Guitars
Matt Bachand – Rhythm Guitars
Paul Romanko – Bass
Jason Bittner – Drums
Produced by Zeuss

In 2009, “metalcore” is a polarizing word. Mainly because the fusion – of metal and hardcore, of screamed and sung vocals, of Sweden and America – is a cliché by now, a dead horse that’s been beaten by countless formulaic bands that forgot to write actual songs. Go back almost exactly five years, however, and the sound was as close to a revolution in metal as there has been this decade. Killswitch Engage’s The End of Heartache made an impressive debut at #21 on Billboard’s top 200 chart in May of 2004, but on September 28th of the same year their New England brethren Shadows Fall’s fourth album, The War Within, did them one better, debuting at #20. While neither of the New England trifecta of those two bands and Unearth would probably want to label themselves as “metalcore,” they represent the heights of the genre, for better or worse.

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You know what I love about Shadows Fall? They’re just pure fucking shredders. It’s unfortunate that they got caught up in the whole “metalcore” tag, or for that matter any scene-y genre label at all, because if not for this fact they’d be in a completely different position today. Think about it: when Of One Blood came out in 2000 (and to an even greater extent, Art of Balance in 2002), no one in America was pedaling the kind of ’80s-influenced shred Shadows Fall were offering up on the regs. If the whole Massachusetts scene hadn’t blown up the way it did Shadows Fall would’ve surfaced as an oddity in the American metal scene, shredders amongst hordes of non-shredding masses. A true metal band in a sea of… not true metal bands.

All this occurred to me for two reasons:

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There are a few phrases that tweak the highly attuned sensors of professional music journalists. The one that frequently sets off the bullshit detectors is “highly anticipated debut.” Debuts, by their very nature, are seldom anticipated by anyone not in a band, working for a band or related to or fucking a member of the band. (And in the case of the latter, the anticipation is mainly along the lines of “Now maybe they’ll please just shut up about how the record’s coming out soon.”) The entire rest of the world is unlikely to be anticipating a debut because they don’t know anything about the band in the first place… because, after all, this is their debut we’re talking about.

In the case of Burning Human, however, a considerable amount of slack should be given to their describing their own studio debut album as “highly anticipated.” Why? Because after nearly a decade and a half of forming the band, these guys finally got around to releasing a full-length studio album. Burning Human was founded in upstate New York way back in 1995 and, based on the strength of a pretty rad demo tape (Death is Mercy), looked to be ready to take on the death metal world. As you may have realized, they did not (although drummer Jason Bittner hasn’t done too poorly for himself in Shadows Fall) and they split up in 1997, coming back together for the inevitable Reunion Nobody Asked For in 2007.

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Earlier this month, to help celebrate the fact that our favorite Massholes, Shadows Fall, are going to play decimate Bonnaroo, we asked you to tell us the best way to stop a hippy using metal. We got a lot of great entries but there was only room for ten winners. And those winners each get an awesome Shadows Fall shirt (pictured above). Congratulations everyone!

Read the ten winning entries after the jump. And don’t forget to check out Shadows Fall’s website and Shadows Fall’s MySpace page for all the latest updates on the band!

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So this Burning Human record ended up being really fucking cool. Any time early press about a band loudly touts the fact that the band features a member of another more famous band (in this case drum-guru Jason Bittner of Shadows Fall) I’m naturally skeptical; but about 5 seconds of the new song “Tormented Mind” was really all I needed to convince me that Burning Human is completely capable of standing on their own as a brutal, crushing death metal band. Honestly, this is some of the finest straight up death metal I’ve heard since Bloodbath’s The Fathomless Mastery decimated my brain last year. “Tormented Mind” comes from their new album Ressurection Through Fire, produced by the legendary James Murphy (Death) and out on Koch/E1 tomorrow. Download it for no charge, guilt-free, below! Check out Burning Human’s MySpace page for an extra streaming track. Enjoy. [Click the below link to stream and download]

Burning Human – “Tormented Mind”

-VN

In case you haven’t heard, Shadows Fall are playing Bonnaroo. No no no, fuck that – they are going to decimate Bonnaroo. All those filthy hippies won’t know what the fuck the hit ‘em. They’ll see Brian Fair take the stage with his awesome, long-ass dreads, and they’ll be all “Cool, he likes patculli, I like patculli!” and then WHAM! The band’ll play “The Light that Blinds” or “Destroyer of Senses”  or whatever and it’ll make the Great Quake of 1906 look like a Pixar movie.

To celebrate our favorite Massholes’ contribution to the decimation of these wretched fiends, we’re teaming up with the band to give away ten (10) awesome Shadows Fall t-shirts.

All you need to do to win is leave a comment below telling us the best way to stop a hippy using metal (consult the episode of South Park where Cartman drives the hippies mad by blasting Slayer for an excellent example). Remember that this is MetalSucks, not the New England Journal of Medicine, so you’d better make us laugh if you want a shot at winning.

And PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU REGISTER FOR THE COMMENTS SECTION USING A REAL E-MAIL ADDRESS AS ALL WINNERS WILL BE CONTACTED BY E-MAIL. We’ll also have various shirt sizes so don’t worry about that for now.

And don’t forget to check out Shadows Fall’s website and Shadows Fall’s MySpace page for all the latest updates on the band! They’re working on a new album! HORNS!

-Axl, Vince, and Everyone at MetalSucks

• FORMER MEMBER OF GN’R NOBODY GIVES A SHIT ABOUT DELIVERS HIS REACTION TO CHINESE DEMOCRACY TO A MIRROR: “Yes, I listened to it on a long drive to Phoenix, Arizona,” ex-GN’R rhythm guitarist Gilby ‘I Swear I’m Not Izzy’ Clarke allegedly told “a fan” (actually his reflection). “But there was [sic] too many slow-to-midtempo songs on it for my taste and some of the solos are a little overdone; they don’t match the song.” When the “fan” flattered Clarke by saying the album’s solos would have been vastly superior had Clarke played them, he chuckled modestly: “You’re too kind. Too kind.”
• CLINT LOWERY SAYS DARK NEW DAY’S FUTURE “DOESN’T LOOK GOOD.” Also: water is wet.
• MEMBERS OF SHADOWS FALL AND FATES WARNING JOIN FORCES IN 80′S METAL COVER BAND NAMED AFTER THE “BAD” DOJO IN THE KARATE KID: Still less fucktarded than being named after the dude from The Neverending Story.

-AR

We haven’t done “Ask Anton OyVey” in awhile because Anton went to the old country to visit the shtetl. But before he left he once told me that he was on the hunt for an original, vintage Dangerous Toys shirt, and was having no luck locating one on eBay. Since I know Anton is tight with Shadows Fall’s manager, I told him he should give the dude a call – the Shads recorded a cover of “Teasin’ Pleasin’” a few years ago with Jason McMaster doing guest vocals, and if they could put Anton in touch with McMaster, it was hard for me to imagine that McMaster wouldn’t help out; I mean, what the fuck else does the guy have to do these days?

So apparently Dangerous Toys reunited for a 20th anniversary gig last week (see video footage below). I imagine a tour will follow shortly, at which point Anton will be able to get an original (if not vintage) Dangerous Toys shirt. I can’t wait to see the look of joy on his face when he does.

-AR

The economy’s in the shitter and the sun is setting earlier and earlier every day. Still, there was reason to rejoice this week in the world of metal:

• The members of Twisted Sister are apparently now willing to “take it.”
• We interviewed Dani Filth of Cradle of Filth, Ronny Munroe of Metal Church, and Brian Fair of Overcast / Shadows Fall.
• Dallas raged against the McCain machine (as did the Foo Fighters). You raged against Dallas.
• Crikey! Scar Symmetry hire two new vocalists to take the place of one.
• Scars on Broadway call off their tour; we call bullshit.
• FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK. And Fuck.
• Gojira got heavy in every sense of the word.
• Bam Bam Bigelow + Marty Jannetty = ’80s Vinnie Paul.

Sayonara suckers. See you next week.

-VN