There was something of a tornado here in Brooklyn yesterday, and even if you didn’t see the tornado itself you saw some of the craziest fucking weather ever. I know you folks out in Nebraska are thinking “So what?” but for us something like this happens about as often as an earthquake does for you. Shit was positively epic. Thankfully even the monkeys didn’t get all riled up like the dudes in the above video — although I think I saw Sammy hiding in the bathtub — and business carried on as usual as it did all week:

• We stroked ourselves just a little bit by celebrating our 10,000th post with a list of our top ten favorite posts ever.
• The return of Ask Oderus: You asked Gwar’s frontman your burning questions and he answered them. Also, Eyal wondered what makes a guitarist “great.”
• We premiered new tracks by Titan, Holy Grail, These are They and we premiered the new Firewind video.
• We spoke with Valient Thorr’s Valient Himself.
• Rumpelstiltskin Grinder changed their name to The Devil. Oh wait, no they didn’t.
• We ranked the Top 10 t-shirts worn by High on Fire frontman Matt Pike.
• We looked at new records by Drudkh and Winterfylleth and Skunk Anansie.
• We looked at our favorite new-school Iron Maiden jams and we wondered if Demolisher is the heaviest band on the planet.
• Tomas Haake may or may not have actually commented on my post about some dude covering Meshuggah’s “Bleed” by playing drums on his pillows. Tomas, if you’re reading this, I have mad respect for your drumming!
• Axl released Part 1 of his Daath in-studio report.

Hopefully no more tornados hit Brooklyn this weekend. Actually, if one could swoop right over Jerry Manuel’s home then hop-scotch over to Omar Minaya’s, I’d be OK with that.

-VN

Last week I saw a friend I literally have not seen and have barely spoken to in several years. I was a little worried that things might be awkward; after all, we had some catching up to do, and people can change an awful lot in a few years. And yet, within moments of sitting down together, it was as though no time had passed whatsoever; we picked up exactly where we left off, and by the end of the night, we vowed not to let so much time pass before we hung out again.

Skunk Anansie’s Wonderlustre, which comes out today, is the band’s first offering in more than a decade. Luckily, it is the musical equivalent of chilling with that old friend and finding that your relationship hasn’t missed a step. Skunk Anansie still sound just like Skunk Anansie, and they still rock.

Click to read more…

Every time I write about Skunk Anansie, a certain contingency of MS readers throw a hissy fit so bad you’d think I raped their father or something. I don’t really understand all the hatred towards this band, but I also don’t care. I fucking love Skunk Anansie, so suck it.

The band reunited last year, and have now recorded a new album, Wonderlustre, coming out September 13, and even though the cover art isn’t the greatest thing or whatever, I don’t even care none. This band has never really had great cover art, so fuck it. If Wonderlustre is half as good as 1999′s Post Orgasmic Chill (the band’s last full-length studio effort) and they tour the States, I’ll be a happy camper. So some of you best start learnin’ to just ignore any posts I write about this record, ’cause I have a feeling there’s gonna be a lot of ‘em.

Tell me what a douche I am for liking this band in the comments section.

-AR

I’m extremely pleased that Skunk Anansie have reunited. I wish they were making a new full-length album instead of just doing three songs for a greatest hits package (Smashes and Trashes, out November 9), but I also understand their desire to make money ASAP. So there’s that.

Here’s the video for the first of the new tracks, “Because of You.” I know a lot of you have expressed a dislike for this band; I invite you all to take over MetalSucks for a day and write about terrible they are. Anton OyVey and I will still be rockin’ out to Skunk over in the corner.

-AR

One of the problems with reunions is that there’s always the possibility that a band has lost that old special magic. This potential issue is, naturally, amplified when said reunited group decides to record material.

So I’m over the moon that the new Skunk Anasie song, “Tear the Place Up,” sounds pretty much like vintage Skunk – which is to say, it rocks. You can check out the video below; the song will appear on a greatest hits package sometime later this year.

-AR

I was very, very excited to learn that Skunk Anansie have reunited. But judging from the comments left below my post, the vast majority of you were not. Some of my favorite observations included “you’re a faggot,” “Axl=stroke,” and, my personal favorite, “you would love a band just because they have a black singer.” Which is totally true. It’s why I like Oceano so much.

ANYWAY, lucky for all of you, it’s our website and we can post whatever we want! And – BONUS! – you don’t have to read every post. You can pick and choose. It’s à la Carte here at MetalSucks.

So. Skunk played some small club shows in London last week, and Blabbermouth posted the below footage of a new song, apparently entitled “You Know.” The quality of the bootleg is pretty weak, but the idea of Skunk Anansie making new music gives me reason to grin.

See? It’s good. It’s good because they have a black singer. Stroke.

-Faggot

You bitched and moaned about daylight savings time, even though you were asleep when the clocks changed and you get an extra hour of daylight every day until November. You are all retards.

Here’s what else happened this week:

• Sigh’s Mirai Kawashima gave us another studio report (no naked Dr. Mikannibal pics, sorry), Early Man’s Mike Conte got his cheesesteak on, and Neuraxis’ Alexandre Leblanc gave us his final tour blog.
• We spoke with Darkane’s Christofer Malmstrom, Meshuggah’s Marten Hagstrom, Soilwork’s Peter Wichers and Ross the Boss (ex-Manowar)
• Our man-crush on Trent Reznor grew ever greater.
• You argued over who was the most important member of Metallica, past and present.
• We looked at new releases by Razor of Occam and Karl Sanders.
• It was a big week in the Norwegian courts… the Gorgoroth case was settled, and Varg was granted parole.
• Crazytown and Skunk Anansie are getting back together.

Next week Kip and I take off for Austin, TX on Wednesday. We’ll be live-blogging whenever possible. To everyone else, have fun not being there, suckazzz!!

-VN

HOLY FUCKING SHITBALLS, how the fucking fuck did I manage to miss the news that Skunk Anansie have reunited?!?!

If you don’t know this band, fuck you. They were amazing. ARE amazing. I am now going to have pray ever night that they come tour the States. Preferably as support for Faith No More. Or Living Colour. No, not just because lead singer Skin is black. Because it would be awesome.

Now, for better or worse, I think SA’s biggest hit was “Selling Jesus,” from the soundtrack to the terrible movie, Strange Days. It’s a good song and pretty “metal” but there are a lot of awesome Skunk tunes.

Like “Cheap Honesty.” Here’s the band performing that track live. I’ll be sure to post lots and lots more Skunk Anansie videos in the coming days/weeks/months whatever as part of ongoing effort to convince you all that this band was, is, and always will be the shit.

-AR