MetalSucks

If you read this site regularly you know I’m fascinated with temporary team-ups, like Dave Lombardo playing drums for Metallica or Doc Coyle playing guitar for Lamb of God. I just love these little glimpses into some alternate reality where great bands traded great musicians.

So here’s a good one: according to Metal Underground, Children of Bodom’s Alexi Laiho will be playing guitar with Hypocrisy on their upcoming North American tour.

Says Hypocrisy mastermind Peter Tagtgren:

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It’s hard to believe there are two new Pirate Metal bands breaking in 2009, but here we are in June and both Alestorm and Swashbuckle have already toured the U.S. extensively. We’ve gotten 3 irate reader emails demanding we post the new Alestorm video “Keelhauled,” so here it is; and it’s pretty fucking bad-ass.

For reference, the new Swashbuckle video is posted after the jump. While both videos are pretty cool, I’m feelin’ the Alestorm track way more than I am the Swashbuckle track. The Alestorm track sounds like true, beer-swiggin’, raping and pillaging Scottish Pirate Metal, while the Swashbuckle track sounds like tongue-in-cheek thrash played by guys dressed up as pirates from… New Jersey. You be the judge, and tell us what you think in the comments.

-VN

Alestorm – “Keelhauled”

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Between the Somalis and Jerry Bruckheimer, it’s just not cool to be a pirate anymore. Luckily Swashbuckle are here to restore the good name of pirates everywhere.

Here’s the band’s video for “Cruise Ship Terror,” off their Nuclear Blast debut, Back to the Noose, which drops July 24. It was directed by the ultimate pirate documentarian, Cap’n David Brodsky.

-AR

Is it already that time of year? Holy shit, it is! The second annual run of the MetalSucks-sponsored Paganfest USA tour kicks off tomorrow in Toronto and runs through May 18th all over the U.S. and Canada! This is huge news for the following reasons:

1. You finally get to dust off that old viking helmet that’s been lying around since last year’s Paganfest.
2. You get to drink lots of beer, repeatedly pump your fist in the air and yell “hey!,” and generally act like an asshole at a concert without feeling bad about it.
3. You get to see this year’s lineup of ridiculously awesome pagan metal bands: Korpiklaani, Primordial, Moonsoorow, Blackguard and Swashbuckle.
4. Last year’s Paganfest was the most fun we had at a show all year; for serious!

We’ll be at the New York date on Monday, May 4th at Irving Plaza. Brownie points to anyone who dresses up in warpaint and loincloths. Bonus: after the jump, check out the chill-inducing Metal Injection-filmed live footage of Turisas performing “Rasputin” at last year’s Paganfest.

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We’re big fans of pagan metal here at the MS Mansion. BIG fans. Just last night Sammy O’Hagar waltzed in at about 5pm, still drunk and rowdy from the night before (!), dressed in a full get-up of warpaint and animal skins. Obviously there was no other choice at that point but to hand over control of the MS Mansion Mothership to the capable hands of the monkeys, so we put on Turisas’ The Varangian Way and started the party right back up again for the ol’ chap; the freight train kept rolling until at least 4am. Last thing I remember is Kip jumping on top of Axl’s desk and screaming something about “Battle!” and how we need to take vengeance against the other metal websites that constantly rip us off. As I type this, Sammy’s passed out in the bathtub clutching a bottle of Jim Beam while DBR and Satan Rosenbloom are snuggling in my bed; I had to sleep on the couch. Those fucking assholes.

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The second annual run of the MetalSucks-approved Paganfest USA tour — which one month ago announced it would include Primordial, Eluveitie, Moonsorrow and Blackguard (formerly Profugus Mortis) — has now announced the final lineup. Finnish folk-metallers Korpiklaani, whom to Kip W.’s dismay I once described as “Tetris metal,” will round out the bill along with New Jersey’s own Swashbuckle. If you can’t closely guess what a band called Swashbuckle might sound like, I suggest you get that eyepatch adjusted.

For more info check out the official Paganfest USA MySpace page. Dates are still TBA. Also check out the MySpace pages of Korpiklaani and Swashbuckle to dabble in the pagan/folk metal awesomeness.

-VN