Son of Aurelius‘ The Farthest Reaches is an album that gets crazier as it goes along. It’s as though the music had rabies, and was getting progressively more and more dangerous by the minute. The first three songs (“Mercy for Today,” “Let Them Hate and Fear,” and the title track) are all catchy, epic, and executed to their most devastating effect. They wouldn’t seem out of place on a Black Dahlia Murder record, which is great, ’cause if more bands wrote songs as good as BDM’s, I’d be a much happier snarky blogger.

But then the fourth track, “Olympus is Forgotten,” comes along. There’s a gentle, soothing guitar and synths-as-strings intro. You might think that it’s just a brief respite from the killer-but-familiar melodeath songs you’ve been enjoying, but, really, it’s the overture for a whole new album. Because once the band kicks in on “Olympus is Forgotten,” The Farthest Reaches flies right off the fucking rails and shows its true colors as an album that is completely fucking fucknuts. And its fucknuttiness is what ensures its place as one of the strongest releases of the spring, and possibly the year.

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We’ve been telling you how stoked we are for Son of Aurelius’ new album, The Farthest Reaches, for awhile now, and guess what? It not only has an April 13 release date via the newly-formed Good Fight Entertainment, it’s now available for pre-order, too! This record is eleven songs of proggy tech awesomeness that should make any fan of bands ranging from The Faceless to The Black Dahlia Murder jizz their pants with delight. You can even purchase a bundle that comes with a sweet t-shirt, too! Go here to order.

To celebrate this impending release, MetalSucks is teaming up with Good Fight Entertainment to give away three (3) autographed copies of the album. Here’s how you can win:

1. Take a picture of yourself making your most metal face (if you don’t know what a “metal face” is, congratulations, you’re disqualified from the contest and probably should not even be reading this website).
2. Post a link to someplace we can view that photo in the comments section below. Make sure you register for the comments section with a valid e-mail address, as the winners will be contacted by e-mail.
3. You must live in the U.S. to win. What do you think, that shipping money grows on trees?

And that’s it! Axl and Vince will choose the three most metal faces, and the owners of those faces will now be the owners of autographed copies of The Farthest Reaches, too.

Good luck! And don’t forget to check out Son of Aurelius on MySpace, while you’re at it!

-AR

…then it’s gonna be one of the awesomer releases of the spring. Check it out:

Holy shit, I love that. It’s just as awesome as the cover art for the band’s previous release, Myocardial Infraction, which has been a cornerstone of my own personal rotation ever since reader Parker Werley recommended the band to us back in January.

The Farthest Reaches comes out April 13 on the newly-formed Good Fight Music, and was produced by Zack Ohren. Ohren has produced, mixed, and/or mastered such albums as Suffocation’s Blood Oath, Decrepit Birth’s Diminishing Between Worlds, Arsonists Get All the Girls’ The Game of Life, and all three releases by All Shall Perish, so his involvement can only be a good thing.

I can’t fucking wait to hear this record. If you’re still not familiar with Son of Aurelius, get off your ass and check out their MySpace page.

-AR

According to Lambgoat, Paul Conroy and Carl Severson, “former partners at Ferret Music, Warner Music and ChannelZERO,” have now left Ferret to start their own music and sports management company as well as a new label, all under the banner Good Fight Entertainment. And if you’re thinking right now “I’m a music fan, what the fuck do I care about who runs which label and management company?”, well, here’s why I’m telling you: because one of Good Fight’s first two releases is going to be a new album from Son of Aurelius, who I first wrote about in January, and who are absolutely awesome.

Better news still: the album is not just a re-release of the band’s prior outing, Myocardial Infraction (super-duper awesome cover art above). Which means we’re getting more new SOA already. Which is fantastic news.

The new offering from Son of Aurelius, The Farthest Reaches, will be out on Good Fight on April 13, alongside the label’s other inaugural release, Cancer Bats’ Bears, Mayors, Scraps and Bones. Get excited.

-AR

It’s been great getting to meet some of our readers over these past few years. There are few things more gratifying than putting a face with a name and seeing that someone really actually does a give a shit about what we’re doing here at MetalSucks. I mean, I know we’re not curing cancer, but finding new and inventive ways to insult people is challenging, y’know?

And while Parker Werley is one reader I’ve never met, if I ever do, I am going to buy the dude a beer or ten, or get him really high, or both. Because he introduced me to Son of Aurelius. And Son of Aurelius are AWESOME.

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