First, a little backstory. Back in 2006, Darkest Hour was making the promotional rounds for their latest disc, Undoing Ruin. I was working for my shitty college paper, doing a show preview for DH’s show in Omaha, Nebraska and emailed Kris requesting an interview. He called me five minutes after I sent the email. That’s how cool of a guy he is.

Besides being one hell of a nice dude, Kris is an extremely talented musician, and his new project, A Cancerous Affair, has completed their lineup and is starting to produce what will most definitely be some killer tunes.  Check out my interview with Kris below.

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I was more than a little intrigued yesterday when we received a press release announcing the line-up for the 2011 edition (Have there been previous editions?) of Dame-Nation, “Chicago’s premier female-fronted metal festival” (Does Chicago have other female-fronted metal festivals?). The idea of doing a whole show based around bands that are fronted by women isn’t new; as I write this, the Revolver Hottest Chicks in Hard Rock tour is about half complete. And the organizers of Dame-Nation seem to only kinda-sorta know what they’re doing. But it’s their complete lack of polish that I find, well… admirable, really.

One key difference between the Hottest Chicks in Hard Rock tour and Dame-Nation is that none of the bands on Dame-Nation are famous. In other words, if the Hottest Chicks in Hard Rock tour features bands that no one would care about if not for the fact that they have attractive girls in the group, then Dame-Nation features bands that no one cares about despite having attractive girls in the group.

Maybe the bands on HCIHR have ascended somewhat higher on the metallic food chain (fiscally if not creatively) than the bands on Dame-Nation because they know how to sell themselves; HCIHR makes no bones about its own marketing ploy. Just check out the poster… what product is it actually advertising?

Maria Brink has a nice pair of sunglasses.

Now contrast this with the poster for Dame-Nation:

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That headline doesn’t even make sense. So what? Seven of the Top 10 Hard Music albums on this week’s Soundscam charts are actually new(ish) releases! And only one is a greatest hits! Hallelujah!

Rise Against continued to dominate, while new releases by Soundgarden (sorta), Protest the Hero, Born of Osiris and Tesseract sold well. A bunch of other records came out, too (uhhh… Saliva, uhh…. CKY, uhhh… Straight Line Stitch) and some solid sellers from weeks past remained on the charts. Numbers after the break.

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So as it turns out, Periphery have a rather sizable online following. Hm. Who knew?

ANYWAY, here’s how we amused ourselves this week:

• We debuted new music by the aforementioned Periphery, as well as Meek is Murder.
• Gwar’s Oderus Urungus answered some more reader questions, and we spoke to Fredrik Andersson from Amon Amarth.
• We checked out the latest releases from Drugs of Faith and Throatruiner Records.
• We reported on all the awesome metalocity at SXSW.
• We wondered if metalheads support gay marriage.
• We offered a retort to Sumerian Records head honcho Ash Avilldsen’s anti-piracy argument.
• We started the “Best of 2011″ argumentswwwaaaaayyyy early.
• We watched the best school assembly ever.
• We wondered why good musicians join terrible bands.
• We steeled ourselves for the release of the worst album of the year.

Alright, have a good frakin’ weekend everyone! See ya Monday.

-AR

I understand that musicians have bills to pay and mouths to feed like anyone else, and that if there’s a way — any way — for you to make your living by playing music, well, that’s pretty fortunate.

Still, I’m always a little put-off when a musician I admire either has to or chooses to squander his talent by playing with some crappy band. Does anyone really believe that there aren’t better ways that current Korn-holers Ray Luzier and Shane Gibson could be spending their time?

So. Recently two more dudes I admire have joined bands I could live without: Kris Norris, formerly of Darkest Hour, has joined Straight Line Stitch, apparently on a full-time basis, while Gil Sharone, formerly of The Dillinger Escape Plane, plays on the new Otep album, Atavist. (I don’t get the impression that he’ll be touring with the band or anything like that, though.)

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When  the line-up for this year’s Mayhem Fest was announced last week, we were told that more bands would eventually be announced. Not to sound like gloating pricks or anything, but we here at MetalSucks already knew that Trivium were gonna be on the bill, even if their involvement hadn’t been made public yet.

Well, now it’s public. Trivium are on the bill. They’ll be on the main stage along with Disturbed, Godsmack, Megadeth, Machine Head, and In Flames; the line-up is rounded out by second stage acts Unearth, Suicide Silence, Kingdom of Sorrow, All Shall Perish, Red Fang, and Straight Line Snooze.

When we saw the band at Mayhem in 2009, they were one of the dominant acts on the second stage; I will never forget wondering “Where the fuck is Paolo Gregoletto?” before realizing that he had jumped into the crowd and was playing amongst the thousands of rabid fans. And Trivium’s live show has increased in quality by 100% since they traded drummer Travis Smith for Nick Augusto last year. (Read Vince’s article on the matter here.) In other words: Trivium’s addition to the bill is a good thing.

Trivium are at Audiohammer Studios in Florida working on a new album with producer Colin Richardson even as I type this; I’ve heard that the goal is to get that record out in time for Mayhem. While we wait for more news of that release, here are Mayhem dates:

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I don’t think anybody ever really reads these little intros Vince or myself write every week, so I’m gonna dispense with one today, and if that makes you sad, uh, you’re weird.

Here’s how we got our pull this week:

• We debuted new music by Abysmal Dawn, Full Blown Chaos, and Årabrot.
• We spoke to Jeff Paulick from Lazarus A.D. and Ginger from The Wildhearts.
• We checked out new releases from Xasthur, haarp, and Hesper Payne.
• We watched a nerd’s video about seeing Sunn O))).
• We tried to understand why The Big Four are only doing one show in America.
• We debated the merits and demerits of this year’s Mayhem Fest line-up.
• We celebrated the way that metal makes everything better.
• We enjoyed some new All Shall Perish music (kinda).
• We prepared for Zakk Wylde to boldly go where no guitarist has gone before.
• We got even MORE excited for Meek is Murder’s Algorithms.

Next week we’re gonna, like, totally talk about metal n’ stuff. You should come back and read it, it will be fun.

-AR

The line-up for this year’s Mayhem Fest wasn’t s’posedta be announced ’til tomorrow, but Blabbermouth has posted it so I guess it’s go time. There are supposed to be more bands announced — I know of at least one group who are definitely doing this tour and aren’t on this list — but for now, here are the bands playing, and my thoughts on those bands (UPDATED with tour dates):

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Y’know what really makes me happy? When a band I previously did not enjoy releases new material which makes me do a total one-eighty. Creative growth! More good art in the world! A better chance that my ulcers might subside! These are all good things. I will happily eat my hat when a band I used to feel was “meh” or worse suddenly get their act together.

Alas, no such luck in the case of Straight Line Stitch, whose new song, “Conversion,” failed to, uh, convert me.

I have the same problem with SLS now that I did with SLS before, which is that they seem to be chasing a trend which doesn’t exist anymore. It’s not just the lack of originality that sinks “Conversation” — it’s that no one is looking to fill slots for the second stage at Ozzfest ’03 right now. (No wonder they’re about to start touring with Nonpoint.)

Of course, the fact that they’re so artificial ain’t helping, either. I mean, look at this new band pic, which was taken by Tom Medvedich:

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Well, I didn’t see this coming: Times of Grace, a.k.a. the Alive or Just Breathing-era Killswitch almost-reunion, are gonna do a tour. And I’m not being facetious when I say I didn’t see it coming — I sincerely didn’t think they’d tour, ’cause both Adam D. and Jesse Leach have, like, a gabillion other commitments. But I guess they’ve each cleared the month of February to hit the road. Support will come from Straight Line Stitch and War of Ages.

This announcement, of course, raises a few questions, like:

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You all know Dale “Rage” Resteghini, right? He’s the music video director who somehow ended up managing and helping to sign Straight Line Stitch; then, when Vince wrote something negative about the band and MS readers chimed in to agree that they do, indeed, suck the big one, Rage actually started leaving comments here defending the band. Here’s a sample:

“I have been in ‘metal’ most of my entire life as a fan and professionally as a video director of over 250 videos…so I do have the cred, the respect, the understanding and a whole lotta ‘other stuff’ that makes my opinion the one that trumps all of yours.”

It’s good to know that he’s been into this kind of music for “most of his entire life” and not just most of most of his life, but I don’t know why the word “metal” is in quotes like that; did he used to be into Poison or something, and feels the need to let us know it wasn’t really metal? Whatever, not important. I shouldn’t question him. He has the cred and the respect and the “other stuff” that makes his opinion the one that trumps all of ours. Anyway, here’s another pearl of wisdom:

“Metal Edge and EAT a substantial Japanese music rag are interviewing the band for coverage…the buzz and support o this band is amazing so no matter how many rehashed hate blogs some of you want to throw into the mx…it just doesn’t matter as you can see and you will continue to see and hear throughout this band’s career!!!”

Well, I sure am glad that they’ve got Metal Edge on their side. I look forward to SLS’ July 20never cover story. But why did they eat a substantial Japanese music rag? Were they not given a per diem for some reason? You don’t think he meant “EAT, a susbtantial Japanese music rag, are interviewing the band for coverage,” do you?

And while we’re asking questions, if it “doesn’t matter” what the people on sites like this one say, then why do you think that this successful, presumably very busy dude was leaving comments on MetalSucks at 9:45 at night and 2:30 in the morning?

Sorry, sorry, I’ll shut up. Rage has the cred and the respect and… y’know. His opinion trumps ours.

Why the hell am I talking about this again?

Oh, right. Rage has been hired by Axl Rose to shoot stills for the band’s upcoming South American. tour, and to direct some videos for Chinese Democracy. So that should go swimmingly.

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It was back in December of ’08 that my man Vince first observed that E1 (then still called Koch) was signing every fucking metal band in the world. At that point, the label had recently made deals with or released albums by In Flames, Hatebreed, High On Fire, Satyricon, Otep, Throwdown and Straight Line Stitch; now there’s a rumor that they’ve added Black Label Society to their roster, too.

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I had the displeasure of seeing Dope live once (don’t ask). They were playing at Don Hill’s, a club here in NYC that holds about 300 people, and, to my surprise, they actually managed to pack the place pretty full. So after the band before them concluded their set, Dope kept the crowd waiting for 45 minutes while their roadies set up elaborate stage dressing fit for an arena show: extra platforms and a new PA system and lighting rig (I guess the house systems weren’t good enough for the band) and giant wooden backdrops and a chain link fence (!) and who the fuck knows what else. This kind of shit really isn’t necessary for a small club gig, but it might have been forgivable had the band come out and rocked the kids’ faces off; instead, they came out and played for… 45 minutes. To repeat: the band played for as long as they kept the crowd waiting for them to play. In hindsight, it seems clear that all the rigmarole was really because without the fancy lights and props, the band knew they didn’t have much to offer.

I’m telling you this story because Dope will be opening for Black Label Society and Sevendust on their upcoming tour, which still strikes me as an odd package – that Zakk Wylde, who once proclaimed “Fred Durst can eat a dick” on his band’s DVD, would share a stage with not one but two nu-metal bands just seems weird.

Weirder still: Wylde has now recorded a track with Dope. Let me type that again, lest you think your eyes are failing you: DOPE HAVE A SONG ON THEIR NEW ALBUM WITH ZAKK WYLDE ON GUITAR.

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It seems like every day we get a press release here at the MS Mansion announcing that some respectable metal band has signed to Koch Records. High On Fire, Satyricon and Throwdown are the latest crop, having all signed to Koch within the past few weeks. Add that to the already formidable metal roster of In Flames, Otep, Hatebreed and Straight Line Stitch… despite a couple of admittedly terrible bands in that bunch, from a business perspective that’s some serious fucking firepower there, all added within the last year, give or take.

So what the hell is going on over there?

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I knew that day would come. There I was having the time of my life; tanning poolside at the MS Mansion, enjoying my dream of writing reviews for decent and better metal albums, then I was suddenly woken from my dream with a sunburn and a steaming pile of Straight Line Stitch in my lap. I sighed deeply because I knew this wasn’t going to go down easy, but I had to see it through. This is my job after all and I may not be a professional but I am honest. Sort of the opposite of the twit that wrote SLS’s MySpace bio:

“Armed with an unstoppable work ethic and a musical vocabulary that stretches from face-ripping metal to soulful, stratospheric rock … STRAIGHT LINE STITCH are poised to grab heavy music by the horns with… When Skies Wash Ashore. Though just 11 tracks in length, the album packs more dynamics and diversity than many bands’ entire catalogs.”

I think I just rolled my eyes hard enough to give me whiplash.

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Happy July 4th, everyone. Axl and I are closing down the MetalSucks Mansion a day early to get off of this swampy, hot, over-crowded island…. so this is it for us until next Monday. Enjoy your time-off; for our international readers, well… revel in the fact that you get *way* more days off than we lame Americans do throughout the whole year! Anyway, here’s what happened this week:

• Motley Crue and Shinedown had big sales debuts, while Disturbed and Kid Rock kept it going strong.
• The Human Abstract debuted more killer new music.
• We interviewed the brains behind one of our favorite albums of 2008 so far.
• David Draiman insists on having the last word in the ongoing Disturbed vs. Dillinger Escape Plan drama.
• The new Slipknot masks look kinda like the old Slipknot masks, but we like their new song.
• We asked what you thought of Straight Line Stitch; you answered loud and clear.

Cheers, everyone. Enjoy your time off.

-VN

That was the question asked by our own Axl Rosenberg in an editorial he wrote approximately 3 months ago; “Gee, I bet MetalSucks readers would LOVE to argue about this band.” As usual, the prophetic powers of Reb. Axl proved true, as Straight Line Stitch lovers and haters came out of the woodwork in equal measures to argue and argue and argue in our comments section, ranging from praise (“They really are an entertaining band to see.”) to hatred (“I only got through a minute of the song before I got bored.”) to elitist (“four outta five thumbs down, this mighta sucked a little less had the year been 1996″) to the adequate (“they are tight, fairly strong musicians it seems”) to the non-committal (“I can’t decide if I like them or not.”).

The band is back with a video for their song “Black Veil” from the album When Skies Wash Ashore, due later this summer via Koch Records (release date TBA). So, um, what do we think this time around?

-VN

I saw Straight Line Stitch’s video for “Remission” on Headbanger’s Ball over the weekend and thought to myself “Gee, I bet MetalSucks readers would LOVE to argue about this band.” There just seem to be so many different elements which you peeps will either love or hate. So I’m going to reserve my own judgement for now and just let you guys and gals duke it out. Watch the below and let us know what you think. I’m betting we get 50/50 positive versus negative reactions…

[kml_flashembed movie="http://youtube.com/v/JsXK1w0Yrm4" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

-AR