Tuesday, January 31st, 2012 at 2:30pm by Axl Rosenberg
Back in February of 2010, Machine Head invited a fan who was holding a banner that read “Let Me Play ‘Aesthetics Of Hate’ — Seriously, I Can Play It” up onto the stage to take a crack at that song, which is pretty much the coolest thing ever. Now they’ve done it again, and while you might be thinking “Yawn! Been there, done that!”, you should know that this time the fan, Anthony Potenza, was just thirteen years old. He even got to use Robb Flynn’s guitar. And unless that guitar was turned way low in the mix or something, it sounds like he did a mighty fine job! And to think, when I was thirteen, the only thing I was doing was masturbating to the bra section of the Sears catalog.
Machine Head are currently on tour with Darkest Hour, Suicide Silence, and Rise to Remain. You can get remaining dates here.
Monday, November 14th, 2011 at 12:30pm by Axl Rosenberg
So hey, remember last week when we heard that rumor that Machine Head were planning a North American tour with Suicide Silence, Darkest Hour, and Rise to Remain? Well, it wasn’t a rumor at all, and now dates for the tour have been announced. You can get ‘em after the jump.
And, like I said when word about the trek first got out, it’s a really good bill. Machine Head, Darkest Hour, and Suicide Silence are all a lotta fun live, and I’m itching to see some of MH’s new Unto the Locust material performed before my very eyes. I’m not a fan of Rise to Remain, but I haven’t seen them in concert, so for all I know, they put on a good show, too. And even if they don’t, well, they go on first so you can just get there a little later or whatever.
Tuesday, November 8th, 2011 at 10:30am by Axl Rosenberg
Here’s some stuff that’s not-at-all-terrible. The PRP has broken news on rumors — and even initial dates — for two very big tours, both of which you’ll want to see, and both of which will kick off early next year. And so –
Lamb of God will do a headlining run, with support coming from The Acacia Strain. Which is a CRUSHING bill; like, a “I don’t know how I’m gonna survive the evening” kinda bill. I dunno if more bads will be added to the line-up or not (Remember the old days, when there were often just two bands on the tour?), but right now the only date which has leaked is January 24 at Irving Plaza in New York.
Machine Head, meanwhile, will hit the road with Suicide Silence, Darkest Hour, and Rise to Remain. Hey, three outta four ain’t bad! Machine Head and Darkest Hour alone would have been enough to get me through the door, and Suicide Silence are always fun, too. The dates which have leaked for that tour are after the jump.
Tuesday, August 30th, 2011 at 1:00pm by Axl Rosenberg
The latest edition of Metal Injection’s “Ask the Artist” series — in which various artists are asked one uniform question (See what they did there?) — poses the query “What are the best and worst stage moves in metal?” to various bands that were on this summer’s two biggest metal tours — Mayhem Fest and Summer Slaughter.
And it’s a great question to ask, because it’s certainly one that seems to come up in metallic circles quite a bit. Just recently, a publicist told me she understood that I didn’t like one of her bands because they played too much “breakdowncore,” and I told her the breakdowncore was silly, sure, but not as silly as they choreographed stage moves they used for each and every song. So it’s interesting to hear the thoughts of the musicians who actually have to be extra-conscientious of stage moves themselves.
Not shocking — a lot of the bands, including Trivium and Fleshgod Apocalypse, poke fun at crabcore and general scene-friendly stage moves. More shocking: so do Oceano.
Check out more of Metal Injection’s “Ask the Artist” videos here.
Last week I wondered aloud how Trivium’s first-week showing for In Waves compared to the first weeks of their past albums, and my secret Soundscam correspondent came through once again. Here’s how their past three albums performed in their first weeks of release:
The Crusade (released October 8, 2006): 31,156 Shogun (released September 28, 2008): 23,577 In Waves: 20,635
A downward trajectory to be sure, but 20,000 is still quite an impressive number in this day and age. I wonder how Roadrunner Records views it?
Onto other matters: Chimaira, Attila and Revocation all had big debuts last week. Let’s take a look.
Ask 100 people their definition of deathcore, and you’ll get 101 answers, each different than the last. But the truth is that deathcore is actually really easy to define: it’s mallcore kids trying to play death metal, and try as they might, they will never quite get it right. Although that sounds like a criticism, it isn’t — the same raw, amateurish charm that made 80s hardcore like DRI and MDC great is the same reason why deathcore bands are awesome, even if they fail at their original goal of playing “sweet metal.”
Sure, their ham-fisted, clumsy attempts at playing “real metal” might be a little facepalm-worthy and/or lulzy at times, but on the other hand, they are a lot more interesting than the same old generic bullshit the br00tal death metal scene has churned out for years. Moreover, hardcore as a whole is just kids who try to play whatever kind of metal was cool 10 years earlier, so if you hate on deathcore you’re hating on the last three decades of hardcore!
In this article, I will present both a framework for assessing the history of deathcore, and my hypothesis about the future of the genre. Specifically, that deathcore has three, clearly-defined phases in its short history: Deathcore 1.0 (ripping off Gothenburgcore/melodeath), Deathcore 2.0 (ripping off br00tal death) and Deathcore 3.0 (ripping off djent/prog/wank/etc).
It’s been interesting to watch chart patterns change over the past few years; there is so much emphasis on first-week numbers now that it’s considered totally normal for a record to drop between 60% and 70% from week one to week two. I don’t have hard data to back this up, but I’m pretty sure the record execs of the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and even early ’00s would’ve scoffed at front-loading a record’s sales like that. Why so much initial hype? Why let the ball drop so quickly thereafter? It’s about the long-term career of a band, not making an initial splash; those who burn brightly at the beginning often die off faster anyway.
As the industry moves away from ownership towards streaming with services like Spotify (and the service Apple will surely launch soon), emphasis will move away from that first-week hype. As pointed out by Bob Lefsetz in a recent newsletter, if a track leaks, no big deal… just post it to Spotify and start earning income right away, even before release date. Same if an album leaks. Nothing lost, the leak is nullified. But I digress.
Let’s look at last week’s debuts, second week drops and more after the jump.
Last week we focused on the complete inertia of modern rock radio over the past 10 years, as manifested in the top ten selling records of the week. Rest assured, all ten of those releases are still selling well… no need to re-hash them in this space again. Instead let’s look at newer records, including debuts from All Shall Perish, Wirestledabearonce, Jamey Jasta’s solo effort and more.
Axl and I were joking the other night that we might have invented the phrase “still a thing” as applied to bands/people/trends that seem to have vanished from view but are apparently not just still around but quite popular. Only fitting then that the theme of this week’s Top Hard Music Soundscan charts is “still a thing.” I mean, the molasses-like state of inertia fixed upon modern hard rock radio and the associated bands over the past decade is just astounding to look at; nothing has changed in ten years.
Since there weren’t any notable metal debuts last week to crack the Top 100 aside from those in the Top 10, this week let’s look at all of numbers 1 through 10 on the Top Hard Music chart. Prepare to be astonished and baffled by the “still a thing”-ness of every single band.
A bunch of big records came out last Tuesday: Suicide Silence, Fair to Midland, Sepultura and Decapitated. After the jump we’ll take a look at how those and a few recent releases sold over the past week.
But first, a follow-up on a question I asked in last week’s column: how do the numbers for Arch Enemy’s Khaos Legions stack up against their past releases? I don’t have week-by-week breakdowns for each album to compare to Khaos Legions‘ cumulative total of 13,944 after five weeks, but these total sales figures for Arch Enemy’s best-selling albums should provide some frame of reference:
Anthems of Rebellion: 74,712
Doomsday Machine: 108,036
Rise of the Tyrant: 55,812
Wages of Sin: 71,688
With Khaos Legions falling off the charts in week six, that means they sold less than 1,092 units last week, the minimum number required to crack the Top 100 Hard Music Chart. Based on that I’d say it’s going to be a tough climb for Gossow, the Amotts and co. to match their past success this time around.
Wednesday, July 13th, 2011 at 2:00pm by Vic Vaughn
MS staffers have lives too, and as such we can’t always get to the record store the very day new releases come out. We’re guessing it’s the same for you guys, too, but that doesn’t mean you’re not interested in the week’s new releases, right? With that in mind, here’s Vic Vaughn on all the shit that came out yesterday including new records from Decapitated and Suicide Silence.
Wednesday, July 13th, 2011 at 10:00am by Axl Rosenberg
I’m going to put about much effort into this introduction as Vince Neil puts into having a designated driver.
First up today is Weedeater’s new video, for ”Mancoon/Turkey Warlock,” which debuted over at Brooklyn Vegan. Guys, this is probably the best video you’re going to see today. It’s done in the style of a silent film, which isn’t a new idea, but the execution is great. And the storyline to the video is funny — basically, there’s a giant racoon (Mancoon) who wants the band to… eat large sandwiches. Hm. Anyways, clip ain’t embeddable, but you can check it out by clicking on the below screen cap.
Have you ever noticed that the bands who metal nerds fawn over today were universally-despised rage magnets just a few short years ago? For example, trashing Pantera in 2011 is asking to get chased with torches and pitchforks — the polar opposite of 1993, when you would be hard-pressed to find a band that metal nerds hated more. Or how everybody jizzes over Suffocation now, but in the mid-90s you couldn’t read two pages of Metal Maniacs without someone pissing and moaning about “Suffoclones.” Are metal nerds crazy, or is there some rhyme and reason to their seemingly-contradictory behavior?? I believe that there is indeed a way to understand metal nerds, but it’s not what you might think!
Psychologists have long compared metal nerds to women. The similarities are certainly undeniable: like the fairer sex, they are fickle, emotional, and irrational. They even have long hair! However, my research suggests that, unlike women, they actually operate by a primitive form of logic and are highly predictable. After the break: my SCIENTIFIC MODEL OF METAL NERD PSYCHOLOGY, the FOUR KINDS OF METAL BANDS, and an exclusive METAL NERD CHEAT SHEET that reveals a foolproof formula for whether you should like a band or not!
I like Suicide Silence, and I’m happy for them that they are now big enough to be able to get Korn’s Jonathan Davis to guest on a song. But I’m sad that they used their current stature to get Korn’s Jonathan Davis to guest on a song.
I guess in all fairness, the Silencers have always been open about their love of Korn, and I imagine it was a dream come true to have Davis appear on “Witness the Addiction,” which is definitely the second best song I’ve heard today that uses the word “addiction” in its title. Still, Davis’ presence pretty much ensures that this is my least favorite Suicide Silence song ever, or until they do a song with someone even worse than Davis, whichever comes first.
But feel free to check out “Witness the Addiction” here, then let us know what you think in the comments section. Suicide Silence’s new album, The Black Crown, comes out tomorrow on Century Media.
Everywhere ya look, there’s an announcement of a new and unexpected pairing: Mastodon/hip hop producer, Metallica/Lou Reed, Mike Portnoy/butt-rock, and Rob Zombie/garment care. Well, Strange Bedfellows Month continues with news that Warbringer’s just-completed third album, Worlds Torn Asunder, was produced by Steve Evetts. His name is on good punk records (Saves The Day, Lifetime), veiny hardcore (Snapcase, Earth Crisis), and Symphony X; and, natch, he’s the Flemming Rasmussen to Dillinger Escape Plan’s Metallica. So dude has some stats.
I don’t believe that Job for a Cowboy or Suicide Silence created deathcore, but they seem to be the two bands that everyone points to as the epitome of that genre, perhaps because they’re two of the most popular bands to emerge after the tag gained some steam (no one ever called The Red Chord “deathcore” when they started), or perhaps because they’re both so-called “MySpace bands” whose careers took off roughly around the same time. In any case, it’s been interesting to watch their paths diverge; there might have been some similarities between the two bands circa Doom and The Cleansing, but there sure as shit isn’t anymore. JFAC have gradually turned into a traditionalist death metal band (and a very fine one, I might add — their new EP, Gloom, features what is easily their best work to date) while Suicide Silence have pursued a musical direction more reminiscent of Slipknot.
Case in point: the band’s new song, “You Only Live Once.” Mitch Lucker’s vocals are still DM (unlike Corey Taylor, he’s not doing any clean singing… yet), but “Unanswered” this ain’t. In fact, the intro, the bridge, and and the section starting around the 2:22 mark could very well be from a Slipknot song.
I’m not saying any of this as an insult, by the way. I like Suicide Silence, and I like this song. I think this band serves as a gateway for a lot of fans, and I’m absolutely fine with that — I can see how kids might take the leap from this to Morbid Angel (but hopefully not the new Morbid Angel, ’cause that shit is terrible) much easier than I can see how kids might take the leap from, say, Hollywood Undead to anything that isn’t a life of stupidity and waste. I’m just observing that this band has a different set of aspirations from some of their peers.
And then I found twenty bucks.
“You Only Live Once” comes off of Suicide Silence’s new album, The Black Crown, which is out July 12 on Century Media.
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011 at 11:00am by Axl Rosenberg
One of the best parts of my job is reading Sergeant D. posts in advance of their being published and just knowing how upset people are gonna get; and then, of course, there’s the satisfaction of actually reading the comments once the posts are published and seeing that, yep, people are really not happy.
And one of the best recent complaints I’ve seen about Sergeant D.’s work is that he keeps misspelling Suicide Silence as “Suiside Silence.”
Boy. I think a lot of you guys are alright, but there are some of you who are just not too quick, y’know?
ANYWAY, Suiside Silence have now unveiled the cover art for their new album, The Black Crown. I think it’s pretty badass (that looks like the skeleton of a facehugger to me, and I’m never opposed to facehuggers in metal album cover art). But I also know that 99% of you have already made up your mind about this band, and if you think they suck you’ll complain that it looks too much like an Affliction shirt, and if you think they rule you’ll praise the profundity of its play on imagery from the American dollar bill, and really why am I still typing this when I could just post the album cover and sit back and watch you all engage in what is sure to be intelligent and polite debate?
The Black Crown comes out July 12 on Century Media. If you like this band in real life you should go like them on Facebook, because they’ve promised to release a new song as soon as they hit a million followers, and they’re getting pretty close.
Teenagers are always doing stupid, embarrassing shit in public, especially the ones who listen to metal. One of the most popular (and potentially humiliating) things a kid can do is enter their high school’s talent show, in particular if they make the mistake of playing a metal song in hopes of impressing their peers. For example, when I was in 9th or 10th grade, I was in a horrible band that played a Black Flag song in front of our school. Nobody thought it was cool, they just laughed at us. Thank god Youtube didn’t exist then, like it does for these dumb kids who embarrassed themselves by trying to be cool in front of their peers.
Sorry to be a tease! But our bestest friends over at Metal Injection deserve a pat on the back. They scooped the entire metal world this week when they got Suicide Silence guitarist Mark Heylmun to call into their Livecast, and not only tell them the name of the band’s new album, but also several track titles, and bunch of other juicy stuff, too.
And fair is fair. You’re gonna hafta head over to Metal Injection and listen to the interview if you wanna know what Heylmun said. My lips are sealed.
To hear the chat, you can click either on the links I just provided, or you can click on the graphic below.
Wednesday, April 6th, 2011 at 2:00pm by Axl Rosenberg
I’m going to put approximately as much work into this introduction as Zakk Wylde did the writing of the last BLS album.
I’m actually going to begin today with a video that I think is legitimately good, because I need to wash the taste of so much cinemetallic poo out of my mouth. The band is called Montezuma’s Revenge (you’d expect them to be of Aztec descent, but they’re actually Russian), the song is called “Dead Frost,” Vince suggested I watch it, and I’m glad he did. The animation isn’t amazing, but it still puts this clip way ahead of the pack.
