Today really IS the day! After four long years, Today is the Day having an awesome new album, Pain is Warning, is out as of right now via Black Market Activities (read our own glowing review here). And we couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate than to debut one more song from the album. And so we proudly bring you “Death Curse,” a kick-ass metal anthem that could only have come from the twisted, brilliant mind of Steve Austin.

Stream the track below, then buy the album on iTunes for just eight bucks!!! It may be the best money you spend all week.

Today is the Day’s new album, Pain is a Warning, comes out on Tuesday, and all of the reasons you’re going to buy it are contained within our own Sammy O’Hagar’s review. Here’s a sample of that review:

“Pain is a Warning is filled with fucking cock rock. AC/DC riffs, fiery solos, twangy ZZ Top chorus riffs, and other pleasantly surprising flourishes pop up everywhere. That being said, implying that it’s a straight-up cock rock album — or a straight up any kind of album — is misleading. The band shifts gears from song to song, from the aforementioned cock rock… to breathy Sonic Youth quietness… to hardcore, complete with gang vocals. Even the more typical TITD fare… sounds bigger, more brash. Don’t get me wrong, this is clearly a Today is the Day album (Austin’s scream is pretty hard to mistake for anyone else, after all), but the revelations and asides feel fresh. It’s also the most listenable thing the band has released, and easily the most rocking.”

If that all sounds awesome, it’s because Pain is a Warning is, indeed, awesome. And you have one last chance to stream a new song before the album’s release: Brooklyn Vegan has debuted the track “This is You.” Check it out here, then celebrate the end of a too-long wait for a new TITD album in our comments section.

Pain is a Warning is out this coming Tuesday, August 16, on Black Market Activities.

-AR

Even in Today is the Day’s hard-to-classify catalog (Deeply disturbed psychogrind/doom with apocalyptic deathfolk influences? Intense grindy noisecore with suicidal outlaw country asides? Christ, who the fuck cares?), Pain is a Warning is somewhat of an anomaly. Granted, there are elements on it that have been touched on my the band before — big-ass riffs and quiet, contemplative moments — but… something’s missing. Early TITD albums (and Kiss the Pig, of course) were akin to starting up a conversation with the guy standing alone and twitching at the train station: he’ll be intense, at times hard to relate to, have some interesting things to say, and ultimately very much not for everyone. There’s been a tense wall of standoffishness to the band’s stuff, and that’s what made it great. If it was your thing, it was like someone was speaking to an intensely personal place. If it wasn’t your thing, it was incredibly unnerving. Even the folks in the middle would at least say it wasn’t a band they could listen to every day. That element is missing on Pain is a Warning.

Well, not completely, but it’s more manageable on their new album. And while the NEW THING=NO DEAL! kneejerk reaction awaits, Pain is a Warning, a curveball in a career full of them, is boldly different, and thus, fucking excellent. Whereas something like In the Eyes of God is taut and jittery like a rabid animal, Pain is a Warning is elephantine. We know what Steve Austin sounds like when he’s pissy, losing his religion, furious, murderous, bummed out, depressed, despondent, and fairly angry; what does he sound like when he just wants to bowl shit over? Pain is a Warning answers that question.

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What an awesomely massive week for Today is the Day fans. Just this past Monday, the new and improved TITD released the title track for their new album, Pain is a Warning, as a free download; now they’re streaming another new track, “The Devil’s Blood,” over at Revolver.

I’m a little wary of saying too much about Pain is a Warning, since our own Sammy O’Hagar is working on a review of the album, and I don’t wanna steal his thunder. The mere fact that it’s Today is the Day should make you wanna check out the song. And the added bonus of TITD now counting two members of Wetnurse among their ranks should really make you wanna check out the song. And now me telling you that song is some kinda goddamn awesome death n’ roll anthem (and I do mean ANTHEM) should make you really, really, REALLY wanna check out the song.

So check out the damn song already.

The Kurt Ballou-produced Pain is a Warning comes out August 16 on Black Market Activities.

-AR

Somehow, it’s fucking August already. So the bad news is, I forgot to send in my rent check on time again, and the good news is, we’re just a couple of weeks away from the release of Pain is a Warning, the awesome new album from Today is the Day.

And — HOO-RAY!!! — the increasingly-metal-friendly NPR is now giving away a free download of the title track. When I spoke to new TITD drummer Curran Reynolds (who also plays with the totally righteous Wetnurse, along with TITD bassist Ryan Jones) this past March, he told me that Pain is a Warning “is the most accessible Today is the Day record” and that mainman Steve Austin “is embracing rock more so than ever before” — and this song certainly demonstrates that. It manages to be a huge rock anthem — some of it reminds me of pre-pussification Queens of the Stone Age — without sacrificing any of the fucknutsness that has drawn so many of us to Mr. Austin’s work in the past. It’s friggin’ great.

Download the track here, then tell Josh Homme to toss Steve Austin’s salad in our comments section. Pain is a Warning – which, it’s worth mentioning, was produced by the legendary Kurt Ballou — comes out August 16 on Black Market Activities.

-AR

Oh, hell to the muthafuckin’ yes. After a long four-year wait, Today is the Day will finally release a new album, Pain is a Warning, on August 16 — and now they’re streaming a brand new track from the record, the appropriately titled “Expectations Exceed Reality,” over on their Facebook page.

And, no shock, it’s awesome. TITD mastermind Steve Austin brings his usual, singular brilliance to the song, and the band’s new members — Wetnurse’s Curran Reynolds (drums) and Ryan Jones (bass) — more than live up to the challenge of filling the humongous shoes of previous TITD members (like Mastodon’s Brann Dailor and Bill Kelliher, Derek Roddy, and Mike Rosswog, to name but a few… like I said, some humongous shoes to fill).

Headbang here, then celebrate the return of Today is the Day in our comments section below. And don’t forget to check out the interview I conducted with Curran Reynolds back in March, right after the band had completed recording the album.

Like I was sayin’ before, Pain is a Warning comes out August 16 via Black Market Activities.

-AR

As you probably know by now, Jucifer live on the road — literally! A truly mobile unit, the savage sludge metal duo are North American nomads who rest their head nightly in the same RV that gets them from show to show. So I was surprised to learn that Jucifer were crossing the pond for a headlining tour of Europe and Russia, which, unless they plan on hopping a ferry, implies that they’d be leaving their trusty vehicle behind. That’s probably as close to a vacation as Jucifer ever get!

The full list of dates are below, and most are supported by Italian metallers The Orange Man Theory, whose latest record was produced by Today Is The Day figurehead Steve Austin. There are a few festivals in the mix as well, including Wroclaw, Poland’s Asymmetry Fest (with Electric Wizard and the reunited Godflesh) and the Belgian Durbuy Rock Festival (with Korpiklaani and Triptykon). If you’re lucky enough to live close to any of these cities, here’s a super-duper rare opportunity to catch one of the noisiest bands around. Buy some merch from them as well, so they can buy souvenirs and finance a forthcoming re-release of the 1994 cassette-only Nadir EP, re-mastered by Scott Hull.

Now how are they gonna get all those amps overseas? Hmmm…

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Today is the Day, 2011: from left to right — Ryan Jones, Steven Austin, and Curran Reynolds. Photo by Karen Novak.

Curran Reynolds is not just a staple of, but a bona fide blessing to, the New York City metal scene. As both the drummer for Wetnurse and the mastermind behind Precious Metal, the city’s “best and longest running weekly event dedicated to heavy music,” the guy is a FORCE, and anyone who loves metal and lives in NYC should be grateful for him.

So. Wetnurse’s follow-up to Invisible City was my pick for Album That Will Fuck Your Face Off in 2011 (and if you’ve never heard Wetnurse before, please please please go listen to the on the second volume of our free NYC Sucks comp), but before that yet-to-be-recorded record ever sees the light of day, Ryenolds and his Wetnurse band mate, bassist Ryan Jones, will appear on another insanely exciting new release: Today is the Day’s Pain is a Warning. This will be Steve Austin’s ninth release for the constantly-pushing-the-envelope outfit, but it will be the first time Reynolds and Jones have recorded with the band — and you can hear the excitement in Reynolds’ voice. He is a huge fan living the dream — he really did get to go and join one of his favorite bands.

As I’m writing this, TITD is about ten days away from completing the album. Immediately thereafter they’re off to do a five-week tour of Europe (get dates here); in typically fuck-nuts TITD fashion, the very first show of that tour will take place at Litla Hraun prison, the only Maximum Security correctional facility in Iceland, which currently holds violent offenders, burglars, and drug traffickers, and Lucifer knows who the hell else. And yet, despite the busy schedule of completing the album/preparing for the tour/praying there isn’t a prison riot, Curran was cool enough to take some time out of his day and answer a few of my questions.

After the jump, read what he had to say about the new Today is a Day album, how he came to join the band, working with Austin and producer Kurt Ballou, and more.

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Welcome to the latest edition of “Freeloader” in which we review albums that you don’t have to feel like a douche for downloading for free. Today Satan Rosenbloom checks out the debut release from Derek Roddy’s Serpents Rise.

It seems like only yesterday that MetalSucks posted the he said/he said account of journeyman drummer Derek Roddy’s departure from Today Is the Day. We know from Steve Austin’s marathon bitch session with Axl back in 2008 that the TITD frontman found Roddy to be a whiny, egomaniacal toolbag that hated his fans and only cared about money.

While I don’t know enough about Roddy to confirm or deny those accusations, the distribution plan for the long-awaited debut by his instrumental Serpents Rise project paints Roddy as a lot more fan-friendly than Austin’s criticisms would suggest. Roddy’s talked to the press about his intention to release the album for free since 2006, the same year he left Hate Eternal; he released a number of free demo tracks via his website in 2008, and followed through with a free finished product in late 2010. And he’s also up-front about involving fans in the project. Quoth the Rowdy Roddy on his website forum: “Serpents Rise….is an instrumental entity…But, this does not mean that we are opposed to hearing what vocal possibilities exist….Whether in your car, in your bedroom, on stage covering one of our songs, posting clips of you singing our tunes on YouTube OR….in the event that we show up in your town…..you sing with us on stage! Have fun…create!” Does that sound like the sentiment of an egomaniacal toolbag?

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Kip sang the praises of Today is the Day’s In the Eyes of God back in 2008, but the album has just been re-issued by Relapse in a spiffy expanded edition that includes bonus tracks and Steve Austin-directed DVD. It’s streaming here, and if for some reason you’ve never listened to this record before, you should so that ASAP.

Promotional materials refer to the 1999 release as “noisecore,” which I guess is as apt a description of the album as you’re gonna get — but I’m a little wary of affixing the “core” tag to this music, for fear it might turn people off, and, really, TITD are genre-benders anyway. The album traffics in the same questioning of religion that’s so prevalent in death and black metal, but the music also contains elements of grind, crust, and drugged-out expermental shit. Regular readers of MetalSucks will know that I appreciate music that maintains a strong structure even as it thinks outside the box and kind of does whatever the fuck it wants, incorporating a vast array of influences; In the Eyes of God certainly meets that description.

And if that wasn’t enough to make you wanna check it out, this particular incarnation of TITD featured Mastodon’s Brann Dailor and Bill Kelliher.

Listen to In the Eyes of God here. And in case you’ve never read them, here’s a completely fucking insane interview I did with Steve Austin in 2008, and here’s a completely fucking insane guest blog he wrote for us later that same year.

-AR

We loved the last tour blog that Bison B.C.’s Dan And did for us so much, we’re only all-too-happy to present another! Below, please enjoy part 1; check back tomorrow for part 2!

Sep 11 ’09 (Vancouver BC @ Commodore)

I always love kicking off a tour with a show in Vancouver. It’s great to have one last chance to get completely loser pissed with our friends before we hit the road for however long. This time we were fortunate enough to finally share the stage with local good ‘ol boys The Golers and old pals 3 Inches of Blood. The Golers have been around forever and everyone should fucking hear them. They’re basically Vancouver’s Venomous Concept: relentless, break-neck speed pummeling. Is grind-punk a genre?

Show was fucking fun as all hell. It was 3 Inches record release show for Here Waits Thy Doom (which may or may not feature all of us doing backups on the song “Preacher’s Daughter”) and the place was packed! The cap of the Commodore is somewhere between 950 and 1000 and apparently it was like 15 tickets away from being sold out. Jesse from local grinders Zuckuss pointed out how fucking crazy it is that three local bands brought that many metal heads out of the woodwork. The night was bitter sweet though because not only was our good friend Ian unable to be there because of surgery but that night would also be my last chance to ever set foot in local punk/metal institution the Cobalt. I can’t even describe how awesome that bar and the staff are. The thought that it’s getting shut down by the fucking slum lords that own the building so they can cash in on Olympic fever makes me wanna tear someone’s head off. I’m consoled by the fact that I know bar legend/honcho Wendy 13 will soon enough have a new venue I can crawl out of at 5am reeking of Jager bombs. COBALT FOREVER!
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Did anyone see Today is the Day’s Axis of Eden DVD? I only got to see some of it, but it was some pretty trippy shit, and clearly there was a mind behind it that was as willing to think outside the box as TITD main man Steve Austin.

That mind belonged to filmmaker David Hall, who now returns with Disgorge, Mexico, a film based on the album of the same name (minus the comma) by Fuck the Facts (read our review of that record here). A press release tells us the following about the flick:

Described by Hall as “a substance abuse art house riff on the destructive and volatile nature of love,” Disgorge, Mexico: The Movie is a violent, hallucinatory depiction of one woman’s strange journey, set to the soundtrack of Fuck The Facts’ Disgorge Mexico.

Costumes for the film were created by Nekro, known for her costume design work for Arch Enemy’s Angela Gossow.

Plus, Agoraphobic Nosebleed’s Jay Randall (who is easily one of the best tweeters in the world) says that “It’s like your eye is a cock, balls deep in a peyote button butthole.” So there’s that.

Disgorge, Mexico doesn’t have an official release date yet, but it should be out soon on DVD and as a digital download. You can check out the trailer by clicking the image below. If said image doesn’t make you extrememly curious, something is wrong with you.

-AR

It was a crazy week at the MS Mansion. Vince passed out in the bathroom after a 48 hour coke binge only to be awakened by Axl, whom, after coming home that morning from a strip club with The Blogronaut and Dallas, was viciously attacked by a bunch of angry Hinder fans stalking him outside the MS Mansion gates. Actually, none of that happened. But here’s what did:

• Axl offered up a bounty on Hinder’s Austin Winkler.
• Chinese Democracy leaked, and almost two decades of waiting finally ended.
• Whitechapel became the new controversial band du’jour.
• The Faceless killed it on the Soundscan charts.
• Today Is the Day’s Steve Austin’s house almost burned down.
• A video of a fat kid singing along to Dimmu Borgir. Nuff said.
• Vince went Jew on Jew with Genghis Tron’s Mookie Singerman, only to find out he’s not as Jewish as he once claimed.
• Tommy Lee reformed Methods of Mayhem and Vince Neil announced plans for another solo record, sans Steve Stevens. We scratched our heads.

We’ll see you next week, albeit it’ll be an abbreviated one due to the Thanksgiving holiday here in the U.S. Toodles.

Fire!!!

It’s 1:30 in the morning and I just can’t sleep. My stomach is rumbling and I head to the bathroom to take a shit, hoping my pained stomach will relax and let me go to sleep. As I am walking down the hallway to the bathroom, I smelled a wood-burning type of smell. The type of smell an outdoor BBQ makes when you add hickory wood to it. Though I am half asleep, I think it’s odd and just for safety’s sake I check all of the rooms in my house to see if anything is burning. A quick check and fast dump and I am on my way back to the futon in the living room to try get some sleep. My wife and sons had fallen asleep earlier in the kids’ room and I was trying to do the same in front of the TV.

An hour went by and I awoke with my stomach in knots, twisting and turning and in general feeling I needed to once again take a major dump. I begrudgingly went to the bathroom and proceeded to blast out dump #2. Back down the hallway to the living room to resume the light sleep I had going. I smelled the burning wood smell again and shrugged it off as my white trash neighbors just up late and cooking out on the grill. It’s the beginning of fall and the temperature outside in Nashville is in the mid-70′s at night, so I could understand a little late night grillin’. When my head hit the pillow, I drifted off to sleep just like that. A comfortable, hopeful feeling that whatever evil demons that were in my stomach had been clearly shit out in my two thorough and involved attempts at clearing myself. The sandman came and off I went into a very deep sleep. I had been working late nights trying to wrap up mixes for two different bands from Italy, working out a deal recording and producing weapon sounds for a Major Video Game Company, and getting together the final edits of “Axis of Eden: The Film”. All usually a one-man job, handled by me with not enough hours in the day for sleep or personal life sometimes. Yes, this had been a very long and tiring week.

My nose wiggled and my cheek twitched. Something just woke me up. In a flash I looked straight up and then to the wall to see Smoke. Smoke that filled the Air like a thick blanket of black insulation that measured 3-4 feet from the ceiling down. My Whole House was consumed with black smoke. It was at this moment I remembered the smell I had picked up on the way to the bathroom. I didn’t understand and was chaotically confused, paranoid and freaked out all at one time. The first thing I thought was someone had set fire to my house from the outside because I had checked the whole house earlier and nothing was on fire or burning. It didn’t matter who or what caused it, because after the 2 seconds that all of this blasted my mind, I realized my house was on fire.

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This past spring, the opportunity presented itself for me to do a phoner with Steve Austin, mastermind for Today is the Day. Since I a) think Today is the Day is brilliant and b) knew that Austin had recently started his own label, Supernova Records, I jumped at the chance. And when I called him, I thought I was gonna get the usual ten to fifteen minute chat full of the usual B.S.

Boy was I wrong. Not only did Austin stay on the phone with me for close to an hour, but he answered every question with a level bridge-burning honesty not usually found by even the most hardcore of the most hardcore. It should go without saying that Steve’s opinions are his own and not necessarily those of MetalSucks, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t find the dude fascinating. After the jump, read his thoughts on pretty much any and every topic under the sun.

And, uh, oh yeah: this is easily the longest interview we’ve ever done. Fair warning.

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Vince Neilstein isn’t at the MetalSucks Mansion today. He told me he had to rush to Washington to save America from our financial crisis, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find him blogging for the guys over at Metal Injection instead. He’s a slippery one, that Vince.

ANYWAY, some cool tours have been announced over the past couple of weeks, and yesterday came the announcement of a tour that strikes me as especially odd, and I feel like discussing, so let’s discuss.

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So Derek Roddy is out of Today is the Day, which is a cryin’ shame, because a) Roddy is an awesome drummer and b) TITD is an awesome band (whose initials would seem to spell out the word “tit,” but only if you’re speaking in the past tense). Roddy left over what seems to be a financial dispute, as posted on his blog:

“I settled for almost half of what he owes me…just to have this done and over with. I’ve agreed to take less than HE agreed to pay me… I’m trying to work with this dude and he’s fucking me… I know dude doesn’t have much money but, shit man….send me 20 bucks a week…..something… He’s proven what he is to me and I have NO respect for Steve Austin.”

So those are some pretty harsh words.

But then Blabbermouth goes and posts a statement from Austin:

“Derek stepped away from underground touring back in October… Wishin’ Derek the best as he is one of the best there is!”

Man, you know when your friend breaks up with his girlfriend, and he’s a total mess and all he can do is get drunk and bitch and moan about it, and then you see the girl one night and she’s totally fine and with a new guy and everything?

Ladies and gents, Mr. Derek Roddy and Mr. Steve Austin.

-AR

I have no idea if this is true or not, but someone recently told me that Steve Austin (the legendary musician, NOT the pro-wrestler and NOT the Six Million Dollar Man) made current Today is the Day drummer Derek Roddy wear a bullet proof vest during his audition for the band so that Austin could shoot him as he played in order to test his skill under pressure. That seems incredibly extreme and totally fucking fuck nuts if it’s true, especially since Roddy’s skills have already been tested in Hate Eternal, but, uh, hey, it’s still a pretty cool story.

ANYWAY, Austin taking his band out on the road is always cause for excitement, but the fact that’s he taking a rotating support line-up of some of our favorite bands out there right now with him – including Rwake, Lair of the Minotaur, Fuck the Facts, and our friends in the most excellent At All fucking Cost – just makes this tour that much more worthy of your time and money.

After the jump, get a complete list of tour dates, along with a list of which bands will playing which shows.

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