MetalSucks

I can’t even believe that shit like this still happens in America in 2009, but that’s progress for you. Reader Andrew Morales sent us a link to this story from the Examiner – which I gather is either a Christian publication, or one where the reporters are very, very biased – that reports on a controversy brewing with regards to Toxic Holocaust and The Black Dahlia Murder playing at a Christian-run venue in Nashville last night. The biased writing of the article makes the whole thing inadvertently hilarious – check out some excerpts:

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It’s the guitar solo on “Christ Deformed” that really gets me (go to 1:52ish). And not just the solo part of the solo – although Ryan Knight is playing a killer solo – but also what the rest of the band is doing during the solo. That whole start-stop thing makes me wanna stab someone in the neck with a screwdriver or pen every time I hear it, and I mean that as a compliment.

And listen to that crowd, man! The chanting! Few things are more metal than a good chant. It’s part of the fundamental dichotomy of being a headbanger: we’re supposed to be sullen, serious people, but we love  a good opportunity to all cheer in unison like some date raping fratboy at a kegger.

Deflorate is out now on Metal Blade. There are a lotta other good songs on it, too. If you have a favorite that isn’t “Christ Deformed,” why don’t you share with the group?

-AR

Luckily for Five Finger Death Punch, being total assholes who completely lack any musical talent isn’t hurting their record sales: their new album, War is the Answer, is apparently going to sell to somewhere between 35,000 – 40,000 copies in its first week of release… and that’s just here in the U.S. That probably sounds like a lot of units moved, and you’re right. It is a lot of fucking units moved. To put it in perspective with the sales of some awesome albums that came out this week…

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‘Cause the muthafuckin’ man himself, Trevor “Heartburn” Strnad, is going to call in. He’ll be discussing BDM’s excellent new album, Deflorate (in stores now!), taking questions from other callers, and participating in MI’s patented “Death or No Death” game, where you try to guess which death metal band names are real, and which ones are fake. The last time Rob Pasbani and the gang played that game, it was with The Red Chord’s Gunface, and he won. Can one Metal Blade artist who likes to act silly out perform another Metal Blade artist who likes to act silly? You’ll have to tune in to find out!

The show starts at 8 pm EST tonight; you can listen by going here. The Metal Injection Livecast is on Wednesday nights now, not Fridays, so you’re shit out of excuses to miss it!!!

-AR

Holy shit there’s a lot of good music coming out Tuesday. In addition to new albums from Living Colour, Megadeth, Shadows Fall and Dying Fetus, The Black Dahlia Murder’s latest, Deflorate, drops via Metal Blade. And the entire album is streaming right now at Revolver.

I love this record. But I don’t know if it will do anything to win over anyone who hates The Black Dahlia Murder. This is a band that has evolved as musicians and songwriters, but haven’t strayed very far from their musical roots. So if you’ve enjoyed BDM in the past, you’ll most likely enjoy this; if you haven’t, you won’t. And if you’re not familiar with The Dahl (I’m starting a new nickname for them… think it’ll catch on?), now’s a good time to check ‘em out. ‘Cause Deflorate rocks.

-AR

It’s Labor Day weekend here in the U.S., which means we’re shuttering the Mansion early this week, and won’t be back ’til Tuesday. We’re sure you’ll find some way to live without us.

Here’s some shit that happened this week:

• We debuted a new track from Salome.
• Sigh’s Mirai Kawashima sent in his final guest-blog from the studio, and revealed the track listing for the band’s upcoming album, Scenes from Hell.
• We chatted with Trivium’s Matt Heafy, The Black Dahlia Murder’s Trevor Strnad, Job for a Cowboy’s Brent Riggs, and All That Remains’ Phil LaBonte.
• We celebrated the triumphant return of Beavis & Butt-Head, and decided that in their particular relationship, Vince is the Beavis to Axl’s Butt-Head.
• Tom Araya thinks Dave Mustaine is a dick, Kerry King thinks Dave Mustaine is a dick, Scott Ian thinks Kerry King is a dick, and everyone in Dimmu Borgir thinks that everyone else in Dimmu Borgir is a dick.

Alright. I’m going to enjoy a little sunshine while I still can. See ya Tuesday!

-AR

Not much to say here… Deflorate is awesome, and so is this video for “Necropolis.”

Deflorate is out September 15 on Metal Blade.

-AR

Job for a Cowboy bassist Brent Riggs ended up being one of the most fun interviews we did at this year’s Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival. For one thing, it may or may not come across in this transcript, but the dude has a really dry sense of humor that matches our own. For another thing, it seemed as though the dude barely wanted to talk about JFAC – he must have to talk about JFAC all the time, so it’s hard to blame him – but when the topics of weed and weightlifting arose, his eyes lit up like a little kid on Christmas, and he suddenly became quite garrulous. A man after our own heart.

JFAC’s new album, Ruination, is out now on Metal Blade. After the jump, check out our full chat with Brent Riggs.

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So I’m sure you’re all aware of this major lineup change for Dimmu Borgir. I’ve been a fan of that band since ’98, and I’ve liked every single one of their records except For All Tid. My favorite lineup of theirs was the Puritanical and Deathcult lineup. For me as a fan, the music those dudes made together is what really sealed the deal for me with that band. I still enjoyed some later stuff, but for me those two records are where it’s at.

I’m sure they’ll find some amazing people and continue to put out great records, but the band that I became a fan of is now altered. And that got me thinking. How many times has this happened, and when does it really matter?

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Between their music videos, goofy photo shoots, and Majesty DVD, one gets the impression that even if the members of The Black Dahlia Murder take their music seriously, they don’t take themselves too seriously. The portrait that’s been painted of this band over the years is not that of a brooding death metal band, but that of a group of dudes who want to have fun (remember fun?) while making the most brutal death metal possible.

So we weren’t surprised to find that vocalist Trevor Strnad is a pretty chill fella. Speaking to Axl and Vince backstage at the Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival, Strand was only too happy to openly and honestly discuss the band’s new album, Deflorate (out September 15 on Metal Blade), the differences between new guitarist Ryan Knight and old guitarist John Kempainen, the joys of big band music, and the worst puke he’s ever smelled. Check out our full conversation after the jump.

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Yesterday Metal Blade sent out a digital sampler containing four of the ten songs which will appear on The Black Dahlia Murder’s upcoming Deflorate (out September 15). While this obviously isn’t nearly enough to write any sort of credible review, I did want to give my thoughts on what we’ve now heard.

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Did anyone else have the Faith No More Video Croissant VHS back in the day? It was a collection of all the band’s music videos up ’til that time (through Angel Dust, if my memory serves correctly) interspersed with band interviews. One of said interviews was Roddy Bottum recalling a time when FNM were doing a support stint on the Guns N’ Roses/Metallica stadium tour; apparently someone threw a bottle full of urine up on stage, and Mike Patton decided to pour said urine all over himself. That’s not quite as bad-assed as the members of The Black Dahlia Murder drinking urine – as they claim to have done on their Majesty DVD – but then again, BDM did it by accident, Patton did on purpose. So I think Patton wins the “batshit crazy” award.

Not quite as batshit crazy but still at least bird poop nutty: this video of Patton swallowing a shoelace from a sneaker thrown on-stage during a recent show in Budapest. Why would he do this? To cement his reputation as one of the best front men of the past twenty years? Because he has an actual chemical imbalance? Because he was just really hungry? Who the fuck knows.

Skip to the six minute mark to watch.

Meanwhile, FNM still have yet to announce any U.S. tour dates. I’ve heard people closely connected to the band speak with confidence that the dates are forthcoming, and I’ve heard people closely connected with the band swear that Patton is being a pain in the ass and the dates won’t happen. Let’s hope the people in the former category are correct.

-AR

[via Blabbermouth]

UPDATE: According to Lambgoat, this story is bunk. Oh well.

Is this summer’s Rockstar Mayhem Festival trek the nail in Marilyn Manson’s coffin? Manson appears to be fucked up beyond belief in the press he’s done this year, and by all accounts his headlining stage show is a complete wreck night after night (we didn’t even watch). And now this: Manson has threatened to “rape” Black Dahlia Murder frontman Trevor Strnad’s face at a recent fan meet-and-greet in Florida.

Reports the New Zealand Herald:

The incident erupted as Marilyn was signing autographs for fans at a meet-and-greet in Florida, US, when Strnad shouted: “Welcome to the freak show,” prompting Marilyn to write “I hate those ****s” on the tablecloth in front of a fan.

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Where the hell does the time go? The year is more than half over already! Sheesh.

ANYWAY, here are, in alphabetical order, albums that have really knocked my socks off so far this year…

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The Black Dahlia Murder’s new album, Deflorate, will come with one of those nifty bonus DVDs we get so often these days, and the band has released a short preview of said DVD, which you can check out below. I just watched the band’s other, gajillion hour DVD, Majesty, and if this is half as fun as that one – and the below clip suggests that it will be – then it’s gonna be totally worth buying a physical copy of the album to get the bonus disc.

Deflorate comes out September 15 on Metal Blade.

-AR

P.S. You should not actually attempt to deflower your DVD. For one thing, you’ll probably break the DVD, and I’d wager you’ll hurt yourself, too.

There’s all sorts of crazy shit going on behind-the-scenes here at the MetalSucks Mansion today, so I gots to makes this brief.

Baroness have named their follow-up to The Red Album… The Blue Record. Okay. I can get behind that. There’s still no release date, but here’s John Baizley’s cover art. Pretty sweet, me thinks:

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Well, we are just drowning in new metal this fine Tuesday.

Revolver is hosting a stream a new song by The Black Dahlia Murder, “A Selection Unnatural,” off the band’s forthcoming Deflorate, which Metal Blade will release on September 15. Vocalist Trevor Strnad gives some background on the track:

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John Kempainen’s awesome guitar solos were major part of the appeal of The Black Dahlia Murder, at least for me. That being said, his replacement, former Arsis axeman Ryan Knight, is no slouch, so I’m definitely down to hear whatever the band comes up with next.

Our pals at Metal Injection captured some lo-fi footage of BDM doing a new song, “Necropolis,” and although it’s hard to hear much besides Trevor Strnad’s vocals, the track sounds heavy as a hippo (And I’ll even forgive the fact that The Absence, as well about as a gajillion other bands, already have a song called “Necropolis.”). Check it out:

Meanwhile, Blabbermouth posted footage of Vader doing a new song, “Rise of the Undead,” which will appear on their new album, entitled… Necropolis. Jesus H. Christ death metal bands, get some new fucking ideas already.

Check out the Vader video after the jump. Their Necropolis drops September 22.

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Some of you seem to find it shocking that we actually read your comments (and often reply to e-mails, for that matter). To which I say: why the fuck else would we even have a comments section? We love to read the comments. To wit:

• Daisy May Tinklepants accused us not once but twice of giving positive reviews to artists who granted us interviews. I guess poor David Bee Roth didn’t get the memo when he interviewed and then reviewed Believer. In any case, both of those interviews were actually offered, not granted, but we appreciate the conspiracy theories.
• disappointed called us “dickless jew faggots” because I apologized for a swine flu joke (but not really). We don’t mind being called “Jew faggots,” but to suggest that we have no penises is just uncalled for. Also, the word “Jew” is generally capitalized, you wide-set vagina’d Goy retard.
• teaches of peaches says that no one cares about Dallas Coyle’s column “The Hard R” now that he’s not in God Forbid. Comments left by 114 other people would suggest otherwise, but just to be safe, Dallas is joining the latest touring incarnation of Sha Na Na so that he can continue to write for us.
• Revealing themselves to be the anti-Matt McChesneys, the dudes from YEAH! Destroyer spent more time writing for the site this week than anyone on the MetalSucks staff did. Whatever keeps them from playing music…
• Cahiers du Cinema contributor CrapMcPoopin announced that he’s leaving us for our friends at Metal Insider. Then he left 13 more comments over the course of the week.
• Conduit is having a hard time reconciling the fact that we like “commercial crap” and “random bands from Europe/elsewhere.” Sorry, Conduit. But, yeah, we liked the most recent Slipknot album. Shrug.
• Ricky doesn’t like the fact that Dope are basically paying us to talk shit about them. Ricky, have you spoken with Daisy May? ‘Cause in reality, we only hate Dope because they won’t grant us an interview.

And next week we’re gonna try to really piss you cats off.

-AR

Between the Buried and Me are one of those kinda-polarizing metal bands; you other love ‘em or you don’t get ‘em. But judging by feedback on this site, it seems like most of you love ‘em, and I’m 100% certain that more of you would love them if not for the fact that they’re on a record label not exactly known for its quality metal output. And what’s not to like? Their 2007 opus Colors ranked on not only the year-end lists of Kip Wingerschmidt and yours truly, but sent shockwaves that emanated through musical circles not usually known for embracing heavy music in the slightest.

So: Lambgoat reports that the band is wrapping up writing for their next record which they plan to begin recording May 31st with long-time producer / genre-master Jamie King.

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