So it seems like potentially-excellent 2012 tours are now being announced left and right — no joke, this is the second of four consecutive posts about tour itineraries you’ll see on MetalSucks this morning. Of course, this is a terrific problem to have; no one ever laid on their death bed and thought, “I saw too many awesome rock concerts,” y’know?

So… Every Time I Die! They’ve announced a headlining trek which will feature Terror, Stray from the Path, and Former Thieves. ETID and Terror are both terrific, in my estimation; I’m not really a Stray from the Path fan, but I’ve also never seen them live, and Vince says they’re great; and I don’t know Former Thieves. I guess my point is, all in all, this seems like it could be a really fun night at the opera. And now that ETID is breaking out new songs live (like the one above, “Underwater Bimbos from Outer Space”), you’ve got some extra incentive to check this tour out.

Here are dates, via Metal Underground:

Click to read more…

And if you think I’m insulting Jett, you should know that I am not. He quite literally goes around smelling women’s asses in the below video, which has been given the wonderful title “Booty Smells Good Doe.” He even got some friends to help him out, I guess because there were just too many butts for one man to sniff all by himself.

The video is kinda NSFW since it begins with a naked tush and then features many more rear ends in thongs/boy shorts/etc. But even without the nudity and revealing underwear, you probably don’t what your boss/mom/librarian/whatever seeing you watching a video with lots of dudes smelling lots of dudess’ brown eyes, because, well, let’s be real, that is not socially acceptable behavior unless you’re a dog.

Now seems like a good time to remind you that Terror are currently on the God Damn tour The Acacia Strain, Stray from the Path, Harm’s Way. Get remaining dates so you can let Nick Jett smell your booty here.

-AR

[via Stuff You Will Hate]

Look, if someone says to you, “Hey! The Acacia Strain are touring with Terror, Stray from the Path, and Harm’s Way!”, you’ll know in three seconds whether or not you’re interested in going to that tour. ‘Cause maybe you’re a fan of those bands, and maybe you ain’t. And if you are a fan, you could just go here, where we premiered an awesome live track by Terror yesterday, and see in another three seconds if the tour is coming anywhere near you. So I guess what I’m saying is, in theory, there’s really no reason for you to watch the below video of TAS front dude Vincent Bennett hyping said tour.

Except that the video is only two minutes long, and it’s funny as hell. The best part is Bennett discussing how “We might be coming to your town, we might not be coming to your town,” and going on to say “it’s really out of our hands,” because, well, TRUTH. I know every time we sponsor a tour people are like “Why isn’t it coming to [whiney reader's town here],” and they don’t realize how many different factors going into making those decisions, and how little say 98% of everyone involved in the tour had in said decision… but Bennett’s explanation is way more entertaining.

BONUS: Here’s a fun drinking game — do a shot every time Bennett says the name of all four bands on the tour. You will be no longer be feeling feelings by the time the video is over.

Like I was saying, you can get dates for the God Damn tour, whatever it’s called, here.

-AR

[via Metal Injection]

No modern hardcore band defines the genre better than Terror; these guys bring the extreme mosh each and every time, and they bring that shit hard n’ heavy. And whether or not you’ve already heard their unsurprisingly monstrous 2010 release, Keepers of the Faith, you should be excited for the upcoming reissue — ’cause it will include a DVD, Defining the Faith, that not only includes a full live set that is composed of three different, all totally insane Terror shows (a small club gig at Cafe Central in Weinheim on June 28, a big hall concert at Essigfabrik in Köln on June 29, and a massive European festival performance at the Mach1 festival in Montabaur on June 24), but also features a European tour documentary with band interviews and backstage footage, all four music videos from Keepers Of The Faith (“Stick Tight,” “Keepers Of The Faith,” “Return To Strength,” and “You’re Caught”), and a making-of for the “You’re Caught” vid. Pretty sweet, right?

And you can get a little taste of the madness right now: MetalSucks is proud to be debuting the audio for the live performance of “Keepers of the Faith,” which you can stream below. Turn that shit way, way the fuck up, and clear some space, ’cause it’s pretty much impossible to listen to it without starting a pit. Then, once you’ve scared the neighbors and possibly broken a few bones, go here to pre-order the Keepers of the Faith reissue with the Defining the Faith DVD in advance of its November 1 release via Century Media.

[this streaming promotion has ended]

And don’t forget that Terror will be co-headling the God Damn tour with The Acacia Strain starting in October! Support will come from Stray from the Path and Harm’s Way. Get dates after the jump!

Click to read more…

Terror’s new video, for “You’re Caught,” isn’t, like, the greatest thing ever or anything, but it is a nice change of pace from the same ol’ same ol’. In fact, that was the band’s intention, according to front man/hardcore Buddha Scott Vogel, who tells Bloody Disgusting, where the clip debuted –

“TERROR is always known for the generic hardcore video, and we wanted to do something different—something that had nothing to do with us playing instruments or jumping around all mad. I don’t think this is brutal or disturbing—it should make you laugh at us and see a new side to us. Come on, can you really take this thing seriously?? “

The video is, indeed, pretty funny… assuming, like me, you find pain and violence hilarious.

Check out the clip below… but be forewarned that it’s NSFW due to the aforementioned pain and violence. Terror will be part of The God Damn Tour with The Acacia Strain starting in October; get dates here.

-AR

I don’t really know enough about Stray from the Path and Harm’s Way to talk about them in either a positive or negative light, but I do know that The Acacia Strain and Terror are good bands who put on really fun live shows. And so I am here to tell you that all four bands will be touring together this fall, under the moniker of the “God Damn Tour.” Which isn’t the funniest name for an Acacia Strain tour ever, but is still pretty good.

ANYWAY, seriously, go check out TAS and Terror if you can. And if I need to know who Stray From the Path and Harm’s Way are, someone feel free to tell me.

Here are tour dates, courtesy of The PRP:

Click to read more…

ATTN MOSHBROS, GTFIH

I’ve been waiting for this video to drop for weeks, because this track is easily my favorite hardcore song in years. Featuring guest vocals by Martin Stewart of Terror/Donnybrook, it’s pretty much the best song Madball never wrote. Actually, it’s even better, because most Madball songs are about New York, which is a hipster-filled shithole, and this song is about the best place on earth: SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA!

My notes:

Click to read more…

S.O.S. are a bonafide hardcore supergroup featuring current and former members of Agnostic Front, Hatebreed, Madball, Terror, and Trapped Under Ice. And, for once, a supergroup has lived up to expectations, and is more than just the sum of its parts. S.O.S.’s forthcoming EP, I Owe You Nothing, seems like a love letter to hardcore, a respect-laden tribute to the bands that inspired and creatively challenged its membership. Or, put more simply: this shit rips.

MetalSucks is proud to debut “Never a Brother,” one of the tracks from I Owe You Nothing, which you can stream below. The album comes out today via Goodfight Entertainment (as we exclusively reported it would back in March). You can order it from Good Fight in a variety of editions here, or get a vinyl version from Reaper Records here. And if you haven’t already, be sure to check out our interview with S.O.S. guitarist Matt Henderson (also of Agnostic Front, Blind Approach, and Madball fame) here.

[this streaming promotion has ended]

At this year’s Black N Blue Bowl, performers gave shout-outs to Trapped Under Ice so consistently that it became absurd that the Baltimore hardcore act wasn’t even playing the event. (They did play a rather memorable set at last year’s fest.) The band’s rise can only be described as meteoric these past couple years, but apparently that’s not enough for these guys. Drummer Brendan Yates fronts the SGT D APPROVED Turnstile, which recently released the Pressure To Succeed 7″ on Reaper, while guitarist Sam Trapkin is part of S.O.S., the supergroup we can’t stop talking about featuring dudes from Hatebreed, Madball, and Terror.

Now, TUI frontman Justice Tripp has gotten into the act with SAI NAM, a new project featuring two notable names in the world of NYHC: guitarist Mike Dijan (Breakdown, Crown Of Thornz, Skarhead) and drummer Lou Medina (Breakdown, All Out War, District 9). Justice first hinted about this project some months back via Twitter, but this week the band unveiled one of their tracks via Soundcloud and Facebook. “Comeback” is a barbed-wire wrapped brick of a track, and if this is what SAI NAM is all about, then I’m game for the pit beast of an LP these guys have in them. Check it out below.

Comeback by SAI NAM Band

-GS

Agnostic Front. Blind Approach. Madball. Guitarist Matt Henderson made his mark on all of them, and in doing so, on the still-thriving institution that is hardcore. It seems downright criminal that his name isn’t mentioned in the same sentence as Greg Ginn, given that most bands in the scene these days sound more like 90s Madball than Black Flag. Not that it matters to Matt, mind you, as I learned in my chat with this down-to-earth guy. Industry-hardened yet still affable, he’s more interested in S.O.S., the project he’s formed with members of Hatebreed, Terror, and Trapped Under Ice. The veritable supergroup’s forthcoming I Owe You Nothing EP seems like a love letter to hardcore, a respect-laden tribute to the bands that inspired and creatively challenged its membership. While we have to wait until June 21 for the Good Fight / Reaper release (pre-order here and here), Matt’s answers regarding the band as well as his place in the history of hardcore are worth reading.

Click to read more…

S.O.S., the new hardcore supergroup featuring current and former members of Agnostic Front, Hatebreed, Madball, Terror, and Trapped Under Ice, have a new song, “Part of the Disease,” streaming over at Stereokiller. And while I do not really spend all that much time listening to hardcore these days, I gotta say, I’m digging this. It’s simple , it’s catchy, and it’s short. Kinda like that midget in Vegas who gave me the clap.

You’re moshing here. As our own Gary Suarez exclusively reported in March, S.O.S. have signed with Goodfight Entertainment, who will releases the band’s debut, I Owe You Nothing, on June 21; Reaper Records will release a vinyl edition that same day.

-AR

In a scene where yearly festivals are as abundant as they are sweaty, This Is Hardcore has emerged as the leader of the pack, unequivocally the most anticipated of all hardcore music events in America. Combining coveted reunions with plentiful appearances by modern acts big and small, the event brings revelers and pit beasts to Philadelphia for a humid August weekend. Part of the fest’s success stems from its notorious secrecy, and 2011′s is no exception. The lineup was embargoed until noon EST on Monday May 30, at which point tickets immediately went on sale online and at AKA in Philly. Extended from three to four days of music, the fest boasts performances from metallic acts like Madball, Maximum Penalty, Mother of Mercy, Nails, Reign Supreme, Ringworm, Suburban Scum, Terror, and Victims.

If you’re reading this now and you haven’t bought your ticket yet, you’re not attending This Is Hardcore 2011. Four-day as well as weekend passes sold out in less than 24 hours, and at the time of this writing, extremely limited numbers of single-day tickets were available. The full lineup, organized in order by day, can be found below.

Click to read more…

Gorilla Biscuits, Agnostic Front, Sick Of It All, Terror, Absolution, Antidote, Maximum Penalty, Backtrack, Down To Nothing, No Turning Back, Take Offense and Bottom Out. Every single one of these bands i scheduled to play what is arguably the best damn daylong hardcore event of 2011: the Black N Blue Bowl! The names at the very top of that bill should send hardcore devotees of all ages into violent ecstatic seizures. We’re not likely to see a Gorilla Biscuits reunion last very long and, after a breathtaking Victim In Pain tour and a newly released LP, Agnostic Front are rejuvenated. Sick Of It All’s recent sold-out anniversary gig at Webster Hall–the very venue the Bowl is held at–was epic, and Terror are destined to bring the pain.

May 28, 2011 at New York’s Webster Hall: This is a must-attend event, people!

Click to read more…

Last month, I told you about S.O.S., a bonafide hardcore supergroup featuring current and former members of Agnostic Front, Hatebreed, Madball, Terror, and Trapped Under Ice. Obviously, a band with that sort of pedigree surely couldn’t stay unsigned for very long. You’ll read it here first, folks: S.O.S. has partnered with Good Fight Entertainment, home to The Chariot, Disembodied, and, oh yeah, Madball.

Sometime in late Spring/early Summer, Good Fight will drop S.O.S.’s first release, an as-yet untitled CD-EP. (Hardcore elitists, fear not, Reaper Records will cover the vinyl.) But you can finally hear what the band sounds like in this awesome (and yes, exclusive) video below featuring the band recording with producer Dean Baltulonis (Goes Cube, Madball, Sick Of It All) at Wild Arctic Studios in Queens, NY. This short preview should leave no doubt in the hearts and minds of hardcore fans that this is going to be fucking solid.

-GS

Terror have a new video, “Return to Strength,” and if you ask me — and you’re reading this, so you did ask me — it’s a great example of how a tried n’ true formula, the concert video, can be made to feel exciting again.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the song is good, but beyond that — the video actually feels authentic and chaotic, like being at a Terror show. I don’t know who directed this, but he or she was smart enough to get in there with the crowd and make the footage gritty, not just invite a bunch of fans to stand around while capturing phony-looking vanity close-ups of the band (ahem), who were probably actually performing for an audience of no one. The editing is rhythmic, too, an easy enough trick that not enough directors and editors of modern metal videos utilize.

“Return to Strength” comes off of Terror’s latest, Keepers of the Faith, which is out now on Century.

-AR

As a world-renowned music journalist, I am subjected on a daily basis to a barrage of emails from bands and publicists, all pleading for me to type something on their behalf. Each morning after my standing massage appointment, I set aside some time (usually 6-8 minutes) to quickly scan devote considerable attention to these promotional notices in case one would for make a juicy MetalSucks blog post. Lo and behold, in the latest Reaper Records update I found such a newsworthy item.

If you’ve read the headline of this post, then you’re already ahead in the game, kiddo. It seems that Terror frontman Scott Vogel and drummer Nick Jett have joined forces with Hatebreed bassist Chris Beattie, Trapped Under Ice guitarist Sam Trapkin, and noneother than Matt Henderson formerly of Madball and Agnostic Front. (If you don’t recognize who Matt Henderson is and why this is a big deal, catch up on your hardcore history here.) The most unexpected hardcore supergroup since Hazen Street, the appropriately named S.O.S. have yet to release any music, yet their very existence will bring excitement to all who care about metallic hardcore. Rumors of the group’s existence have been circulating for some time and the band’s Facebook page (which doesn’t even mention who’s in it!) is more barren than the cast of Sex And The City 2. A 7″ is due out this May on Reaper.

Click to read more…

INTRO BUST

Everybody knows that Hatebreed is by far the most popular hardcore band in the history of the planet, but not everybody knows that they are beyond a doubt the best hardcore band of all time. I can feel the butthurt starting already, but lettuce be srs, brahs: no other hardcore band has consistently dropped album after album of brutal mosh jams. Don’t believe me? Let’s take a step through history and prove it! In more-or-less chronological order, I will go through the bands who some might say hold the title of “best hardcore band of all times” and illustrate why Hatebreed is #1.

Go!

Click to read more…

Well, the line-up for this year’s New England Metal & Hardcore Festival — one of the oldest and most revered extreme music fests in the U.S. — has been announced, and it’s… interesting. The fest returns to a three-day format after being only two days last year, but if I’m not mistaken, this is the first time that the initial day will be a Thursday, not a Friday. And as reader Brian Kessler pointed out to us via e-mail, there are two noteworthy aspects to the lineup:

• It seems like metal and hardcore have been further segregated on the bill — Thursday appears to be almost entirely dedicated to deathcore and crabcore bands, Friday seems to be entirely devoted to hardcore bands, and Saturday is dominated by metal bands. There are pros and cons to this approach — the pro being that if you’re only a fan of one particular style of extreme music, you can cherry pick which day you’re going to attend, and the con being that new fans are less likely to be exposed to bands with whom they were not already familiar.
• There seem to be fewer “big name” acts. Sure, Hatebreed and Biohazard are on there, but that’s still a far cry from years’ past. In fact, plenty of big name who have new albums scheduled to come out this year — like Amon Amarth, DevilDriver, Arch Enemy, In Flames, and Children of Bodom — aren’t playing the fest.

Please note that I’m not knocking the fest — in fact, I think Saturday, April 16 is full of killer bands — and I don’t think every fest needs to be headlined by a band of Megadeth’s stature. I just think this particular line-up is… interesting.

Anyway, here’s the full bill:

Click to read more…

Well, the line-up for this year’s New England Metal & Hardcore Festival — one of the oldest and most revered extreme music fests in the U.S. — has been announced, and it’s… interesting. The fest returns to a three-day format after being only two days last year, but if I’m not mistaken, this is the first time that the initial day will be a Thursday, not a Friday. And as reader Brian Kessler pointed out to us via e-mail, there are two noteworthy aspects to the lineup:

• It seems like metal and hardcore have been further segregated on the bill — Thursday appears to be almost entirely dedicated to deathcore and crabcore bands, Friday seems to be entirely devoted to hardcore bands, and Saturday is dominated by metal bands. There are pros and cons to this approach — the pro being that if you’re only a fan of one particular style of extreme music, you can cherry pick which day you’re going to attend, and the con being that new fans are less likely to be exposed to bands with whom they were not already familiar.
• There seem to be fewer “big name” acts. Sure, Hatebreed and Biohazard are on there, but that’s still a far cry from years’ past. In fact, plenty of big name who have new albums scheduled to come out this year — like Amon Amarth, DevilDriver, Arch Enemy, In Flames, and Children of Bodom — aren’t playing the fest.

Please note that I’m not knocking the fest — in fact, I think Saturday, April 16 is full of killer bands — and I don’t think every fest needs to be headlined by a band of Megadeth’s stature. I just think this particular line-up is… interesting.

Anyway, here’s the full bill:

Click to read more…

Though the year has only just begun, it’s never too early to start speculating about and dissecting this year’s hardcore festivals. The organizers behind the Black N Blue Bowl have already announced a date–May 28th–and are boasting of a lineup worthy of pants-shitting. Given last year’s Supertouch and Yuppicide reunions as well as co-headliners Cro-Mags and Madball, that’s a mighty boast. (Agnostic Front has a new album coming out this year–just saying!)

United Blood, the two-day Richmond Virginia fest, has not only revealed its 2011 dates and location, but a chunk of the roster of artists scheduled to play. And while the initial band list is certainly representative of hardcore today, as it lacks the punch of a cult reunion or surprise headliner. By contrast, last summer’s This Is Hardcore fest included sets from the rebooted Kid Dynamite, Ink and Dagger, and Sheer Terror–and it sold out in less than two days. Furthermore, an overwhelming majority of these bands lready performed at last year’s United Blood, begging the question as to why others aren’t being subbed in. I’d love to see bands with profiles like First Blood and Most Precious Blood on the bill, or artists like Hivemind or Incendiary that could surely benefit from the exposure given by a prominent fest like this.

Click to read more…