Vince is really the resident Skindred fan at the MS Mansion — I understand their spot in metal history, I’m just far too close-minded to be into their music — but I gotta admit, their new video, for the song “Cut Dem,” is pretty good. I mean, it’s not as good as, say, the new Mastodon video, but I appreciate that the band did more than just another shitty performance video, and while there have been other metal videos that mimicked the style of silent films, director Tim Fox’s execution here is not at all shabby. Almost makes me wish I liked the music more!

“Cut Dem” comes off of Skindred’s latest, Union Black, which is out now on BMG.

-AR

It’s easy to see why youngins and metal noobz might think Skindred are 3rd-gen nu-metal drek, but despite what MS commenters will surely tell you following this post that couldn’t be further from the truth. Know your metal history, brah. Benji Webbe was doing this shit way before Durst ever stumbled into his first piece of nookie, and he still does it better than anyone. Plus, reggae = instant cred…. prove me wrong. Let’s ignore the identity of the other man singing in this song… yes, let’s just ignore that.

As Sergeant D would say (although about this band, I don’t know): Skindred = you’re moshing! Sarge, advance apologies if I just desecrated the piety of the mosh.

Warning comes from the new Skindred album Union Black, out April 25th.

-VN

If Horatio Alger were alive today, he’d be tempted to write about Slayer. Defying logic, popular fads and the moral majority, the band is an American thrash-to-riches story, having not just survived, but thrived on a regimen of non-compromise. Future musicologists will no doubt struggle to explain how four guys from Huntington Park forced Reign in Blood down the world’s collective throat, then went on to sell millions of records, win two Grammys, and amass a huge, rabid fanbase. And does any other band have a holiday dedicated to them?

As the curtain closes on their third decade in the music business, Slayer’s Dave Lombardo was good enough to shoot the proverbial shit with MetalSucks when the American Carnage Tour stopped in St. Paul, MN. Read the full transcript of our chat after the jump.

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When I first saw this headline on SMN News I got all excited; new Dub War music? Could it be? Well, not quite; Benji Webbe is still doing Skindred and I’m not quite sure what the other two dudes who make up the UK ragga-metal pioneers are up to these days. But on September 13th, the band’s longtime label Earache will release a compilation called The Dub, The War, and The Ugly.

Precious little information is easily available about the compilation on any news sites or the band’s official site (no mention), but I’ve done some Internet sleuthing to take away the guess work for you. The comp is available for pre-order in Earache’s webstore, and here’s what they have to say about it there:

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Benji Webbe is like the Mike Patton of reggae metal… or something. Many bands followed in the footsteps of Dub War but none approached the creative genius of that band. He’s a total badass and strikes me as kind of a weird/interesting dude, too.

So Benji’s new(er) band Skindred have a new mini-album Shark Bites and Dog Fights out September 22, and a video for the first single “Stand for Something” came out last week. It’s predictably pretty solid and positive in tone… par for the course for Skindred. One day perhaps this band will go on tour in the U.S. with bands that don’t suck and I will finally get to see them live.

-VN

By all accounts I should hate Skindred. They border on nu-metal and there’s nothing particularly innovative about their sound. Yet even though these Brits didn’t invent reggae-metal, they do a damn fine job of it and have put out plenty of quality material. There’s nothing particularly spectacular about their latest video for “Trouble” either, but just watching Benji Webbe do his thing is enough for me. Plus, there are choice lyrical nuggets like this one:

“why so close up to me? / dangerous place to be / and you’re rockin’ halitosis, a little. // Do you think I wear a vest? Putting me to the test / you’re gonna get yourself in a pickle.”

If that’s not tr00 / br00tal / kvlt, then for fuck’s sake I don’t know what is.

-VN

MetalSucks takes a quick look at the latest releases from alt-metal stalwarts Nonpoint and Reggae-metallers Skindred. Our brief opinions and ratings after the jump.

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Obviously Skindred aren’t the first band to infuse reggae into metal (see Bad Brains, Living Colour, and I’m sure many others), but Dub War — featuring Benji Webbe from Skindred — may have been the first to inject a dose of straight dub. Dub War put out four records on the legendary Earache label between 1995 and 1998. Enjoy this video for the title track of 1996′s Enemy Maker — dig those dubbed out guitars, snare echoes, and ragga vocals. Way ahead of its time.

Skindred’s new album Roots Rock Riot came out yesterday (Oct. 23) on Bieler Bros. records.

-VN

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