MetalSucks

Friendly reminder: our own Vince Neilstein will be DJing “Heavy Metal Happy Hour” this Friday the 13th at The Arrow Bar in Manhattan (Ave A and 5th St., downstairs). All drinks are 2-for-the-price-of-1 from 6pm-9pm, and Vince will be spinning the best of 2009’s metal offerings. At least for the first two hours, after which he’ll surely break down and start playing Ratt and Skid Row. Come on down and get your drink on, and since your inhibitions will be lowered feel free to tell Vince how much his taste in metal sucks.

Afterwards, there are THREE killer metal shows taking place in NYC. There’s the Krallice/Liturgy joint at Union Pool. Hung are headlining a bill that also includes Ikillya and Devil to Pay at Ace of Clubs. Hecate and The Austerity Program are performing with Rise of Because, Theologian, Chaos Majik and Statiqbloom at S.I.R. studios as part of the two-day Apex Fest III. Yowza! So many choices. But Heavy Metal Happy Hour with Vince is the obvious choice for your early evening activity!

When it comes to black metal guitar pedals my first choice bar none is the Valnøtt, made famous by The Austerity Program’s Justin Foley. But MS Maniac Joseph Griesel sent us a link to the new Dragonfly BM-1 Black Metal Guitar Distortion Pedal, so trve and kvlt that production is limited to just 666 units worldwide.

The BM-1 advertises itself as “A tribute to the first wave of Black Metal of the 1980’s. Raw, primitive, old school Metal Tone!” And against all expectations, the thing actually sounds pretty damn good… check out the demo below.

While the BM-1 does admittedly deliver a pretty killer tone, we much prefer the Valnøtt for its versatility as a bass, vocal and drum pedal in addition to just guitars. Check out Justin Foley’s Valnøtt demo video after the jump.

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When you have the CFO of Freddie Mac killing himself, you can’t deny we’re in some pretty fucking awful economic times. Of course, The Austerity Program anticipated our financial ruin from the start, as the phenomenal noise rock band’s name suggests. Creating a big ugly sound like an even-angrier Shellac, this New York based duo shares your frustration and, as such, invite you to vent in the pit at during its headlining gig this Sunday April 26 at Brooklyn’s Union Pool with Wetnurse and Tournament.

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It is with a heavy, cholesterol-afflicted heart that I report the news that Big Business has posted a new song to their Myspace page that kinda sorta sucks.

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One of the very first “sign this awesome local band” posts I wrote for this site way back on June 20th of 2007 was a show review of the crushingly heavy New York stoner/doom metal band Hull. They opened for Big Business that night and literally blew them away; several months later I saw them open up for Early Man at the same venue, and once again they stole the show. Hull’s live shows are just that powerful. So it is with extreme pleasure and excitement that The End Records has given me the opportunity to announce to the world that they have signed Hull to the label.

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From The Austerity Program to Made Out Of Babies, it seems that some of my favorite acts in noise rock these days are coming from NYC, something that makes this native beam with hometown pride. Wetnurse is the latest addition to this list.

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Anaheim purports to be The Happiest Place On Earth, but the only cool thing I saw there this weekend was a drug-addled young prostitute staggering and swaying in a Carl’s Jr. drive thru like a plastic bag majestically caught in the wind. I swear to God, officer, I never touched her. With that in mind, here’s your noise news.

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