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.

ANYWAY, back to last week’s big releases:

Click to read more…

In a wise move, VH1′s fossil-rock chat program That Metal Show has expanded to sixty minutes for its sixth season. As a result, there’s a huge improvement to the ratio of guest interview content to idiot host blathering. Too much of the half-hour TMS format depended on rushed segments which pitted one host’s poorly-explained preferences against another’s; now, even a seemingly negligible amount of additional interviews/gabbing gives TMS an actual shot at resonant entertainment. Impossible before now were particularly inspired production moves like the booking of Tesla’s Jeff Keith (so smiley!) and Frank Hannon on the same episode as Testament’s Chuck Billy (above). If VH1 brass has any brains, they’ll holiday bonus the shit outta whomever was responsible for pairing these superficially different but geographically and alphabetically neighborly acts. It’s TV gold! Watch here and you’ll see that the two camps endorse the same sports team, play the same clubs, and share members (!). Best of all, Billy expounds on the fun CD-shopping quirk that sorta cosmically partners similarly-named bands, i.e. you have to go through the Tesla section to reach Testament. (And through The Cult to get to Curve, and, by design, through Megadeth to Metallica.) This stuff might seem like filler or minutiae, but priceless spontaneity and shared giggle sessions are the key to entertaining talk programming. Now all they have to do is replace host/Howard Stern wannabe Jim Florentine with an at-large correspondent who focuses weekly remotes on, oh, bands formed after 1983 maybe? I know just the dude!

-ADF

That Metal Show premieres new episodes Saturdays on VH1 Classic. View full episodes here.

Banner Designed by Cysquatch

Welcome to “Question of the Week,” a (sometimes) weekly debate amongst the MetalSucks staff regarding a recent hot button issue.

Since it’s hair metal week here at MetalSucks, it seemed only appropriate to consider a glamtastic question. So we asked our writers:

WHICH HAIR METAL BAND FROM THE ’80s BEST STANDS THE TEST OF TIME IN 2010?

The MS staff’s answers after the jump.

Click to read more…

After the 2009 edition of Rocklahoma – a.k.a. the Wacken of Hair Metal – turned out to be an epic fail,  it was announced that AEG live, “the world’s largest producer of music festivals,” had been put in charge of “revamping” the fest for the 2010 version – including helping with “talent booking.” At the time, I suggested that this might be code for “no more hair metal bands,” and as it turns out,  I was right. Here’s the line-up for this year’s fest, in nifty poster form (via Bring Back Glam):

Click to read more…

WHEN: Wednesday, February 11, 2009
WHERE: Scout Bar, San Antonio, Texas
WHO: Tesla

By the time Tesla’s 1986 debut record Mechanical Resonance was released, this Old Fart had fallen far down the metal rabbit hellhole, migrating from the chick-friendly hair metal stylings of Motley Crüe, Ratt, and Black ‘n Blue to the not-so-chick-friendly thrash growls of Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer.

Having moved on from wearing torn black fishnet armbands for the Crüe at The Summit in Houston to trying to avoid getting killed by a mob of angry skinheads at a Fearless Iranians From Hell gig at The Ritz in Austin, the last thing I ever expected back then was to have my head turned by a seemingly second-rate Bon Jovi wannabe group. I mean this was the same year the world was inundated with Metallica’s Master of Puppets, Slayer’s Reign in Blood, Megadeth’s Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying?, Cro-Mags’ The Age of Quarrel, and Watchtower’s Energetic Disassembly. But Tesla’s aural introduction to the world reminded me why I got into hard rock and heavy metal in the first place – rocking guitars, soaring vocals, and infectious-as-hell choruses will always do the trick.

Twenty-three years later, however, I have plummeted even further into the abyss as is evidenced by my Top 10 list from last year – Jucifer, Trinacria, Matriden, The Berzerker – these are not common household names with chant-along verses that make women rock out and big burly dudes scream about love. Subsequently, I was not expecting much from Tesla, despite the fact that 2008 was The Return of the Old Fart with everyone from Testament to Heaven and Hell to Mickey Rourke making unbelievable comebacks.

I am happy to report that Tesla most definitely receive the Old Fart seal of approval.

Click to read more…

An anonymous source close to the negotiations has reported to MetalSucks that the following bands have been locked in for the 2008 incarnation of Rocklahoma, the 4-day ’80s rock festival in Pryor, Oklahoma:

• Extreme
• Cinderella
• Tesla
• Black N’ Blue
• Kix
• Bang Tango
• Enuff Z ’nuff (w/ Donnie Vie)
• Faster Pussycat
• Zebra
• Pretty Boy Floyd

The same source revealed to us Friday that Motley Crue would headline the festival’s Sunday night. None of the above bands have been officially announced yet; the press conference will be held on Tuesday, March 4th. For a list of officially confirmed bands, check out this article.

-VN