After my recent post about Swallow the Sun’s new music video went up, Mr. Angry Keyboard Player himself — some people call him Aleksi Munter, but that name’s for losers — saw the piece, found it funny (phew!), and re-posted it on his own Facebook wall. Here’s what he had to say:

Hahahah! Dear MetalSucks.net, I can assure you that I’m as angry as ever, if not even more so for not having any hair.

-AKP

So much win! Now AKP and I are Facebook friends and we’re total besties! At some point in the near future, whenever Swallow the Sun gets back to the U.S., I hope to bro down with AKP and share some vodka, weed, tea or any beverage/food of his preference (’cause I wouldn’t wanna make him too irate) whilst AKP serenades me with his angry philosophies on life. I can’t wait!

Meanwhile, I’m enjoying listening to the new Swallow the Sun album Emerald Forest and the Blackbird, now streaming in full over at the Finnish site Inferno (out officially February 1st). Each song is accompanied by one quote from David Lynch’s freako bizarre TV series Twin Peaks — so fitting, right??? — selected by guitarist Juha Raivio. I’m just one song in right now, and already I’m absolutely in love — I can’t WAIT to crank this thing at full blast tonight.

-VN

[via No Clean Singing]

Thoughts that went through my mind while watching “Cathedral Walls,” the first video from Swallow the Sun’s new album:

• Where’s their Angry Keyboard Player?
• Swallow the Sun are one of very few metal bands that can use a semi-hollow body and pull it off.
• Vocalist Mikko Kotamäki has been wearing that black skull cap in literally every single photo, video or live performance I’ve ever seen.
• Wouldn’t it be kinda neat if they shot this video in the middle of the summer but bundled up in winter coats for effect?
• Still no shots of Angry Keyboard Player.
• This song is slow and melancholy. Perfect first single for this band.
• What’s synchronized flag-waving got to do with anything? And what’s in that white urn?
• Oh! Female vocals! I like. The Interwebs tells me it’s Anette Olzon of Nightwish.
• 2:44: There he is! Angry Keyboard Player! YES!
• What the… angry keyboard player cut his hair! No! Noooooooooo!!!! This can’t… this can’t be… noooo!
• 3:40: YES! The heavy part.
• 3:44: Did the drummer really just hit his cymbals UPWARDS from the bottom?
• 4:05: Angry Keyboard Player’s windmill doesn’t quite have the same effect without the long hair :( Man, this sucks. He may as well just start taking Prozac and stop being so angry all the time.
• OK, I totally get it now. This video is about AKP cutting his hair, and his shorn locks are obviously what’s in that white urn. The synchronized dancers are doing some kind of ritual to mourn this very sad loss.

Swallow the Sun’s slightly less angry and less hairy Emerald Forest And The Blackbird comes out on February 1st via Spinefarm Records.

-VN

For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere of Planet Earth today marks the winter solstice, which also means it’s the longest night of the year. Here’s some appropriately dark metal to get you through:

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Lots of new metal is out or is about to come out! I’ll put about as much effort into writing this intro as the Red Sox did into playing good baseball in September, so let’s just cut right to it:

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A 100% accurate portrayal of the research discussed in this article.

In college, I once took a course on literary representations of New York City, and one the texts utilized was Frank Miller’s graphic novel, The Dark Knight Returns.

My point being simply that it was only a matter of time until academia turned its eye towards extreme music.

From an official press release:

“A research group of a faculty member and graduate students in the University of North Carolina system and in the university of Oulu, Finland, are conducting a multi-year international study of the meaning of metal music. The research project was started in summer 2008 and its main data consists of questionnaires and interviews on the meaning of metal to the different participants of the global metal scene. So far, the researchers have received 370 survey responses, representing a diverse community of Metal fans—men and women between the ages of 13 and 70 from 25 different countries have participated in the research project thus far. Some of the artists interviewed in the project include members from Amorphis, Dark Tranquillity, Disturbed, Nonpoint, Swallow the Sun, Katatonia, The Black Dahlia Murder, Kreator, Epica, Scar Symmetry, As I Lay Dying, Barren Earth, Rotten Sound, and Cannibal Corpse.”

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Veteran touring musicians are able to tune all sorts of things out, from tinnitus-inducing treble to terrible opening bands to snoring bandmates. Still, it must have been quite the endurance test for Barren Earth’s Oppu Laine and Mikko Kotomäki to talk to MetalSucks from the balcony of L.A.’s Key Club, right in the middle of sound check for their first ever tour. They were there as part of the Finnish Metal Tour Part II package, in support of last year’s excellent debut Curse of the Red River. As snare drums thwacked repeatedly and guitars sprayed ear-splitting distortion at regular intervals, the Finnish band’s bassist/founder and lead vocalist (respectively) opined about their musical pasts and presents, why Finland seems to produce folk and funeral doom bands almost exclusively, and what excites them about being on the road.

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So last week some worthless human tampon stole a couple of guitars from Kataonia. And even though we all knew that the joke was the thief or thieves, since our main man Anso made sweet, sweet love to those instruments, we were pretty peeved about it.

Luckily, the guitars were recovered last week, according to a posting on the band’s Facebook page:

As much as I’d love to know the full story behind the guitars’ return — ’cause there’s obviously way more to it than this — I’m mostly just happy that it all worked out in the end. I don’t know what’s gonna happen to the culprit, but I think we can all agree on one thing: Anso should decide the punishment.

Don’t forget that Katatonia are still doing their MetalSucks-presented headlining trek with Swallow the Sun and Orphaned Land until October 7; you can get remaining dates after the jump.

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Even some douche bag stealing their shit can’t stop Katatonia’s MetalSucks-sponsored “New Night Over North America 2010″ tour, which is roughly at the halfway point. That means that if you live in California, Arizona, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, Kentucky, or Virginia, you have not yet blown your chance to see one of Sweden’s finest exports do their thing live (AND Swallow the Sun AND Orphaned Land, both of whom also rule).

Frank from Metal Injection recently sat down with Katatonia’s Jonas Renkse. He asked him lotsa interesting questions, but did not tell him how he’d like to spend a day together, which is too bad, ’cause now Frank can’t win a signed a guitar. Still, we love Frank, and this is a great interview, so check it out.

Remaining Katatonia tour dates after the jump!

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Back in July, my main man Vince told you about Chile’s Mar de Grises, and compared them to Insomnium and Swallow the Sun; I’ve been listening to their latest album, Streams Inwards, a fair amount recently, and I’m basically just here to tell you that he’s right. (And I’d probably add Daylight Dies to that list, too.) If you dig the aforementioned bands and you aren’t listening to Mar de Grises, you are depriving yourself of some music that I can pretty much guarantee you’ll flip for.

Because like the music made by those other bands, Stream Inwards is epic, cinematic, melodic, and haunting. I don’t know that if it brings anything new to the melodoom table, but I also kinda think this is an instance of lack-of-innovation not really mattering; it feels good to listen to Stream Inwards, and sometimes, feeling good is good enough. Don’t forget that Insomnium have basically been making the same album over and over and over again, and at the end of the day, their fans (including me) don’t really seem to care because it’s all so capital-”A” Awesome. Ditto Streams Inwards.

Streams Inwards is out now on Season of Mist. You can check out the track “Shining Human Skin” here.

-AR

“We can’t believe this,” Katatonia frontman Jonas Renkse announced between songs at their sold-out NYC show this past Friday, the third stop of their MetalSucks-sponsored U.S. tour with Swallow the Sun and Orphaned Land. “Flying all the way across the ocean to play for a sold out crowd in New York City… this is our childhood dream come true.”

Nearly twenty years into their career, these Swedes’ newfound success was the theme of the night. Of their 1.5 hour set no less than seven songs came from their latest album Night is the New Day. And this was no decision fueled by ego and stubborness; Katatonia knew exactly what they were doing, proven by the instant cheers that erupted from the audience whenever the opening notes of a new song rang out. The reaction to the new material was positively stunning; this is Katatonia, not Cannibal Corpse, so moshing wasn’t quite par for the course, but a whole lot of concerted headbanging most certainly was.

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Katatonia’s MetalSucks-sponsored “New Night Over North America 2010″ tour kicks off today! Featuring support from the always-excellent Swallow the Sun and Orphaned Land, the Swedish metal legends’ latest trek is guaranteed to be a killer time. And to celebrate, MetalSucks is teaming up with Peaceville Records and Omerch to give away a Mayones guitar played and signed by played and autographed by Katatonia during the tour! How awesome is that?

Here’s how it’s gonna work:

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Katatonia are awesome, and we’re pretty awesome, so when they were like, “We’re gonna do this awesome North American tour with two other awesome bands, Swallow the Sun and Orphaned Land, do you wanna sponsor it?”, we were like, “AWESOME!” And thus it was so.

And now the band has released an awesome trailer for the tour! I know, I know, tour trailers are not usually awesome, but this one is — ’cause it features critical praise from both us and — wait for it — Mikael motherfucking Åkerfeldt. And if you don’t take us seriously for some reason, well, Mr. Åkerfeldt is what the kids call “unfuckwithable.” Awesome!

If you don’t go to this tour, you’ll never have sex again. Get dates here.

-AR

I can’t keep all these fucking bands straight. Destroy the Runner and Haste the Day and Escape the Fate and Salt the Wound and blessthefall and Bleed the Sky and Scatter the Ashes and Clone the Fragile and Pierce the Veil and Remove the Veil and Kiss the Ass and every other “verb the noun” band – holy shit, guys, you gotta start coming up with names that will allow potheads like me to more easily distinguish you from one another. ‘Cause your music certainly ain’t doing the trick.

Although I do like Protest the Hero. And Poison the Well. And Swallow the Sun. So I guess there are exceptions to every rule. But still.

Wait… how did I get on this rant again?

Oh, yeah, Destroy the Runner.

So anyway, they broke up.

-AR

The last time I saw Katatonia was a truly unforgettable night, a Scandinavian metal boner-fest to be sure: they played New York City along with Swallow the Sun, Insomnium and Scar Symmetry. I also picked up my beloved Insomnium t-shirt, which I still get questions about (“When did Insomnium come to the U.S.?”). Truth is that I really wasn’t familiar with most of Katatonia’s music at that time so I couldn’t fully appreciate their set, but now that I’ve been versed in the epic ways of these mighty Swedes I’m very glad that I’ll get another chance this Fall when they return to the U.S. on the MetalSucks-sponsored “New Night Over North America” 2010 Tour. Swallow the Sun are tagging along in support once again (maybe I’ll get to bro down with their super awesome keyboard player!) along with Israeli prog metallers Orphaned Land, so this promises to be another night to remember.

In case you missed the dates when they were announced a couple of weeks ago, we’ve reposted them for your convenience after the jump. Check out Katatonia’s new EP The Longest Year, featuring one new song and a couple of Night is the New Day remixes, out now on Peaceville.

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Last year I wrote about Finnish melo-doomsters Black Sun Aeon, and just a couple weeks ago Axl wrote about ‘em too. Call it a unanimous Suckitude, but both Axl and I are really digging these guys. Must mean something. But really, if you enjoy dark, doomy, melodic metal bands (and in particular the Finnish ones) like Swallow the Sun and Insomnium there’s no reason you won’t like these guys.

Black Sun Aeon have a new video for “A Song For My Funeral” from their recently released album Routa. It’s just a bunch of stitched-together live clips, but as with most videos these days it’s a perfectly fine excuse to listen to an awesome song and talk about it. Check it below, then listen to some more (sans video) Black Sun Aeon on their MySpace page.

-VN

Vince gave his thoughts about the MetalSucks-sponsored Finnish Metal Tour 2010 last week, and I agree with every word he said, even if my own man crush on the keyboard player from Swallow the Sun is somewhat less than his own. Still, this is the third time we’ve seen Swallow the Sun, and I did wanna throw in one random observation…

Every time we see this band, five of its six members are lined up in a perfectly even row at the lip of the stage. They’re not staggered, as is the case with most bands, where the lead singer is out front  and the lead guitarist is out front but maybe the bassist and/or rhythm guitarist and/or keyboardist is a little further back; nope, they’re all standing together in a straight line, as though waiting for a firing squad. It’s a very powerful image – just a fucking WALL of metal dudes – that I think really helps set the band’s live show apart from that of their peers. It also helps give Vince a better view of their keyboard player… but that’s beside the point.

Anyways, if you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out this video of them at a tour stop in Montreal last Sunday:

And here’s another video of them, this time playing the show we attended here in New York… it has some excellent close-ups of Vince’s new boyfriend:

Are there any other bands that do this? It seems so unique to me…

The Finnish Metal Tour 2010, featuring Swallow the Sun and their own personal wall of death, is still underway! Remaining dates after the jump.

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The MetalSucks-sponsored Finnish Metal Tour 2010 is currently winding its way across North America, having stopped at New York City’s Gramercy Theater last Thursday on the third night of the tour. You pretty much know what you’re gonna get with bands like Finntroll, Moonsorrow and Swallow the Sun — epic fucking metal. And epic it was.

My chronological but otherwise disorganized thoughts on the concert:

• Swallow the Sun’s keyboard player is so serious. That guy rules.
• How do Swallow the Sun afford to tour the States so often?
• Holy shit… Swallow the Sun’s keyboard player rules so hard. Most metal stage faces I’ve ever seen.
• Is that dude in the audience wearing a loincloth? Yes… yes, he is.
• This is the best I’ve heard Swallow the Sun sound in the three times I’ve seen them.
• So when can we meet and hang out with Swallow the Sun’s keyboard player? I wanna shoot heroin and talk about the meaninglessness of life with this dude.
• Moonsorrow sound pretty good, but they were better at Paganfest II last year (where they blew every other band away).

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I’ve been advocating videos that don’t actually feature the band – particularly animated ones – for some time now. It’s come to my attention that there are a number of reasons why we don’t see these more often. Still, from a creative stand point at least, I’m convinced that they’re often the way to go.

Case in point: Finntroll’s new video for the song “Under Bergets Rot,” which debuted on Bloody Disgusting this morning. Sure, the animation isn’t the best in the world, but it looks cool, it has the right vibe for the song, and it makes you feel like you’re not watching something you’ve seen ten trillion times before.

The song comes off the band’s latest album, Nifelvind, which is out now on Century. And don’t forget that Finntroll are headlining the MetalSucks-sponsored Finnish Metal Tour 2010 with special guests Moonsorrow and Swallow the Sun – it kicks off tomorrow!!! Get dates here.

-AR

Finntroll, Moonsorrow and Swallow the Sun are coming to the U.S. and Canada. That alone gives us goosebumps. That the tour starts next week and hits NYC the day after Opeth’s Blackwater Park commemorative concert gives our collective nipples the ability to cut glass. Those two days are going to be absolutely epic… and we’re going to have wicked weed hangovers when they’re all over.

Unfortunately Survivors Zero had to drop off this tour due to visa issues. Nothing against them, but that really doesn’t affect how great this night will be; I dug what I heard of their music though, so hopefully they’ll be able to make it over here soon.

Find a full list of dates for the MetalSucks-sponsored Finnish Metal Tour 2010 after the jump.

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When I wrote an article in the wintry depths of December proclaiming Finnish melo-doomsters Barren Earth “Metal to Be Really, Really Cold To” and likened their dark, epic music to bands like Swallow the Sun (among others), I didn’t even realize that the genetic makeup of Barren Earth essentially makes them a melo-doom supergroup. For those filling out their roster cards in the stands, here’s the starting lineup:

Mikko Kotamäki – Vocals (Swallow The Sun)
Olli-Pekka Laine – Bass (Ex-Amorphis, Mannhai)
Kasper Mårtenson – Keyboards (Ex-Amorphis, Ben Granfelt Band)
Janne Perttilä – Guitar (Rytmihäiriö)
Marko Tarvonen – Drums (Moonsorrow)
Sami Ylisirniö – Guitar (Kreator, Waltari)

I mean, like, WOAH, right? Barren Earth’s Our Twilight EP, released this past fall, was a dark and doomy affair reminiscent of Swallow the Sun (duh), Agalloch, Daylight Dies and you know exactly what I mean if you’ve made it this far into the article. On the eve of the release of their new full-length, Curse of the Red River (March 29th in Europe, April 6th in the U.S.), Barren Earth have offered us an exclusive stream of their new track “The Leer.” Both this track and “Forlorn Waves” (available on their MySpace) are a bit more uptempo than the material on Our Twilight but no less characteristic of the parts from which the band is comprised.

Stream “The Leer” below and pre-order the new album here.

[this promotion has ended]