Lock Up — the supergroup (for lack of a better term) featuring Tomas Lindberg of At the Gates/Disfear fame, Napalm Death’s Shane Embury, super-famous-drummer-dude Nicolas Barker, and Pentagram’s Anton Reisenegger — have never tour the U.S. before… but that’s gonna change in February, when the band will cross the ocean to do a headlining run here in the States. The dudes involved in the group are probably enough on their own to make you wanna go see ‘em, but just in case, the band is bringing Goatwhore and Strong Intention along for support. I can’t speak intelligently about Strong Intention, but Goatwhore fucking rules so hard, so I’m pretty much already onboard with this tour.

Here are dates, courtesy of Lambgoat:

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The answer should be “everyone.” Each and every one of you should want an update on the new Napalm Death album. Why? Because they’re Napalm fucking Death, that’s why.

So you should head over to The Deciblog, where they have a brand new interview with bassist/awesome hair style Shane Embury, getting lots and lots of info on the latest offering from one of the greatest grind bands in history. The album is apparently “pretty much done,” which is great, but the really fascinating parts of the interviews are about the band’s working process. For example, here’s Embury on lyrics and vocals:

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There’s a bunch of new shit streaming right now that I think may be worth your time, even if I don’t love of all it… if that makes sense. Anyways, rather than do a bunch of separate posts, I’m just collecting it all here, because I’m lazy like that. And so…

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In the first installment of “OLD BANDS U MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT“, I shared a bunch of old bands that I like. Instead of coming up with a new description, I will just reuse the old one:

When I am not trolling simple-minded, entry-level elitists, I enjoy the soothing, dulcet tones of some classic thrash or death metal. I am definitely not any kind of metal encyclopedia or authority on the subject, but I have realized that (sadly) I’m old enough to have heard a few bands that many younger metal fans have not, just because I have been exposed to a lot of bands over the years — sort of like an ancient desert tortoise who is not a historian, but has seen history unfold before his eyes simply because he is old as fuck. Because I enjoy giving back to my community, I will share some of my favorite older bands in case any of you might like them. If you want to hate on me, that’s OK, too, so feel free to tell me I’m a poser, that everybody already knows about these bands, that I got some trivial detail wrong, or whatever else you think makes you “sound like u rly know what ur talking about.”

With that out of the way, here’s volume 2!

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While Anthrax, Testament, Heaven and Hell and motherfucking Motorhead are among the most anticipated bands that metal pilgrims are converging on western Germany to see, it would appear that my favored people, those crafty Norwegians, also have a few things planned for the mayhem. While Enslaved will be appearing (and hopefully represented on a good stage, because you know they fucking deserve it) some others are teaming up with foreigners in combinations that are hard to ignore.

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Today is the kind of day that makes me wanna go up to the roof of the MetalSucks Mansion with a gun and just start picking people off. Luckily for everyone, then, that a) I don’t actually own a gun, and b) there’s new music from the UK’s extreme industrial blackened death grind act, Anaal Nathrakh, currently streaming on the band’s MySpace page.

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So I’m a day late on this one, but when it comes to a band as cool as Sigh, better late than never.

Sigh have officially announced a September 2 release date for their aptly titled Venom tribute, A Tribute to Venom, via The End Records. A one-pressing-only limited edition will be available, with an LP with an etching as well as the CD. And, oh yeah, as if all of that wasn’t cool enough, Napalm Death’s Shane Embury and Brutal Truth’s Dan Lilker also make guest appearances on the album.

You know what? That cover art is fucking bad assed, man. What a perfect amalgamation of Sigh and Venom’s personalities. In fact, I wanna start a petition for that son of a bitch to be on a t-shirt, pronto. If the band managed to get that kind of sensibility into the music, too, this fucker is gonna slay.

Sigh are also gonna hit the road with Zimmer’s Hole (who are awesome) and Unexpect (who I don’t know but hear very good things about). Get tour dates after the jump.

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Sigh’s Tribute to Venom, Sigh’s very cleverly titled tribute to, um, y’know, still doesn’t have an official release date – but it will apparently feature guest appearances by Napalm Death’s Shane Embury and Dan Lilker of Brutal Truth/Nuclear Assault fame. According to a statement released by Sigh front man Mirai Kawashima, Embury will play on the song “Witching Hour” while Lilker will appear on “Countess Bathory.”

Gee, I wish I’d known about this back when I interviewed Mirai about the album, for I most surely would have asked him about collaborating with these two super-cool dudes. Oh well. You should still read the interview, ’cause, y’know, I told you to.

ANYWAY, here’s some live footage of Sigh performing “Witching Hour” in Tokyo last year. Without Shane Embury. But still…

-AR