MetalSucks recently polled its staff to determine who are The Top 25 Modern Metal Guitarists, and after an incredible amount of arguing, name calling, and physical violence, we have finalized that list! The only requirements to be eligible for the list were that the musician in question had to a) play metal (duh), b) play guitar (double-duh), and c) have recorded something in the past five years. Today we continue our countdown with The Dillinger Escape Plan’s Ben Weinman…

When I was a kid, one of the reasons I loved metal, hard rock, and punk was because it felt legitimately dangerous. By and large, I do not get that feeling very much anymore. Maybe that was just youthful naivety, but somehow, I don’t think so, and the reason I don’t think so is this: The Dillinger Escape Plan still sound like an incredibly dangerous band to me, both as a performance act and as a creative force. Every time I hear a new DEP album, I think, “Boy, people are going to be pissed.” And every time I go see the band live, I think, “Holy shit, one of these dudes is going to die right here in front of this audience.” And I know it sounds weird, but those are both invigorating feelings to experience. They make me feel like I’m ten years old again.

And Ben Weinman, as the most consistent and driving creative force behind the band throughout their entire career, obviously has a lot to do with the band’s seemingly limitless ability to induce these feelings.

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I’m not going to do a full, detailed show review of The Dillinger Escape Plan’s headlining gig at at The Music Hall of Williamsburg this past Sunday night because at this point I don’t really know what else to say about the band’s performance that I haven’t already said. They put on one of the most fun live shows of any band out there right now, and they never disappoint — especially at a smallish venue like this one, where security is more likely to let them truly embody the spirit of punk, as they were born to do.

Case in point: for the last two songs of the pre-encore set, “Sunshine the Werewolf” and, of course, “43% Burnt,” Greg Puciato demanded that everyone on the floor get up on the stage… and everyone was only too-happy to oblige him. (And keep in mind that, on top of this, Puciato and Weinman were both already bleeding from their respective heads by this point.) Now, I know this isn’t exactly a new idea — Iggy and The Stooges do it at the end of every show — but that doesn’t make it any less fun/crazy.

Check out video below, courtesy The PRP:

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Teenagers are always doing stupid, embarrassing shit in public, especially the ones who listen to metal. One of the most popular (and potentially humiliating) things a kid can do is enter their high school’s talent show, in particular if they make the mistake of playing a metal song in hopes of impressing their peers. For example, when I was in 9th or 10th grade, I was in a horrible band that played a Black Flag song in front of our school. Nobody thought it was cool, they just laughed at us. Thank god Youtube didn’t exist then, like it does for these dumb kids who embarrassed themselves by trying to be cool in front of their peers.

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I’m going to put approximately as much work into this introduction as Billy Milano does into staying in shape.

We begin today with The Dillinger Escape Plan’s new video, for “Gold Teeth on a Bum.” I really love this song, so I wish I really loved this video. Unfortunately, whomever shot this live footage decided to use the same camera move over and over again starting at roughly the fifteen second mark, and by the thirty second mark, it has become insanely annoying. Rapid zoom in/zoom out. I mean it works the first go-round because it’s in time with the music. Rapid zoom in/zoom out. But then it just keeps happening over and over and over again for no discernible reason. Rapid zoom in/zoom out. Seriously, go get a bottle of something, not even something all that strong, and take a shot every time there’s a rapid zoom in/zoom out. You’ll be dead from alcohol poisoning before the halfway mark.

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So this is pretty cool… in theory at least. Last week, the videogame Homefront was released (I haven’t played it so I have no idea how it is, although I read some decent reviews), and yesterday, the makers of the game started giving away a FREE compilation of metal bands doing covers of war-appropriate songs, sometimes by other metal bands, sometimes by non-metal artists. You can download it here, and should get on that ASAP, as they’re only giving away 25,000 of the free downloads. As of this writing, DLs are still avail, though. Also, I’m sure this thing will remain all over the internet forever and ever, so don’t freak too hard if they’re all gone by the time you get there.

Another reason no to freak out too hard if you don’t get to download this puppy? Even though this is 100% free, like most cover albums, it’s not actually all that amazing. Let’s take a look at what the album has to offer, shall we?

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I understand that musicians have bills to pay and mouths to feed like anyone else, and that if there’s a way — any way — for you to make your living by playing music, well, that’s pretty fortunate.

Still, I’m always a little put-off when a musician I admire either has to or chooses to squander his talent by playing with some crappy band. Does anyone really believe that there aren’t better ways that current Korn-holers Ray Luzier and Shane Gibson could be spending their time?

So. Recently two more dudes I admire have joined bands I could live without: Kris Norris, formerly of Darkest Hour, has joined Straight Line Stitch, apparently on a full-time basis, while Gil Sharone, formerly of The Dillinger Escape Plane, plays on the new Otep album, Atavist. (I don’t get the impression that he’ll be touring with the band or anything like that, though.)

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“Hey guys, why haven’t you posted this yet?!! It only sounds like the single greatest piece of music ever, brah.”
-Drew Webb

“This should give you another Devin boner.”
-Brian Kessler

“MY DICK IS AFLAME WITH SEMEN.”
-Sam Payne

Well don’t hold back, fellas! Let us know how excited you really are about about this latest behind-the-scenes video from Devin Townsend.

Pretty cool, right? But wait! That’s not all. It seems that Devin recently made a love connection with The Dillinger Escape Plan’s Greg Puciato… via Twitter!

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They’re both gonna have members on tonight’s extra-special 100th episode of the Metal Injection Livecast, that’s what!!!

From a press release (What, you think we actually like the Metal Injection dudes? We only communicate via press releases!):

“The Metal Injection Livecast will be celebrating a milestone tonight, 100 first run editions of the live podcast. To celebrate this momentous occasion, the crew will be joined by some great guests. In the first hour of the show, Ben Weinman and Greg Puciato of The Dillinger Escape Plan will call into the show, and in the second hour, Mike ‘Gunface’ McKenzie and Greg Weeks of The Red Chord will join the show. Fans will be able to listen live starting at 8pm Eastern Time, and interact with the guests via a live chatroom as well as by calling into the show directly, via our fan line at 646-929-1357. An archived version of the episode will be posted shortly after the conclusion of the show.”

So if you’ve ever wanted to talk to these dudes without threat of one of them killing you (Puciato is a short guy, but not a small guy), here’s your chance!  Call in, talk to Greg Weeks about football… I’m sure he’s not sick of that. But above all else, just make sure you listen.

-AR

Hoo-ray! It’s the first cinemetal round-up of 2011! Let’s see who made me pissy today.

First up we have “Hammer of the North,” from Grand Magus. It’s just a performance clip, but as far as performance clips (or “perflips,” as they’re known in the biz) go, it’s not bad — I mean, the song is catchy, which helps, and the footage is basically well shot, and clearly at least a little bit of thought went into the editing (all the cuts are on drum beats), so that’s good. In fact, I almost wish they’d taken out all the shit with the forest and the wolf at the beginning, because I kept thinking it was gonna come back and be important, but it doesn’t come back ’til the end, by which point its placement seems as arbitrary as at the start. So as it stands, it almost seems like the video was supposed to be something else, or maybe they didn’t have confidence in the video — “Oh, this sucks, we’d better throw a random shot of a wolf in there somewhere.”

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Well here’s a fun, intelligent, and above all else, exceedingly polite e-mail we got from reader Dan Wolfson last night:

Subject: PAINTED IN FUCKING EXILE YOU IDIOTS
From: dan wolfson
To: MetalSucks

WHY HAVE YOU NOT JIZZED OVER THIS VIDEO YET

FOOLS

So Vince actually had nice things (well, really, a nice thing) to say about this band as part of a Reader’s Choice round-up back in 2009, but as regular readers are aware, Vince is a much nicer person than I am. So please allow me to explain why I have not yet jizzed all over this video or this band:

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Before there were blogs there were these things called magazines, and the only metal magazine we still get excited about reading every month is Decibel. Here’s managing editor Andrew Bonazelli to get in on today’s needless-listing fun…

Demon Hunter — 7
The World Is a Thorn
Solid State

Admittedly, I’m just singling these guys out. My dream version of Decibel = no Jesus bands under any circumstances. Mind you, that version also entails a Hall of Fame on Nine Inch Nails’ Broken EP, which would have included a sidebar about the long-form video’s cock torture, butt rape and sewage guzzling. If Peter Christopherson and Bob Flanagan weren’t dead, that is. Good thing I’m not in charge.

GET ISSUE HERE.

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At least, it was my last time. I feel like I shaved years off my life drinking that crud. Yucky!

Here’s what else we did this week:

• The Human Abstract’s A.J. Minette kicked off his new MetalSucks column, Periphery’s Misha Mansoor checked in from The Legacy Tour, and The Red Chord’s Greg Weeks thinks that Scott Stapp will sore.
• We spoke to R. Loren of Sailors with Wax Wings and White Moth fame.
• We checked out the latest offerings from Deathspell Omega and Nekorgoblikon.
• Speaking of The Legacy Tour: if you’ve ever wanted to see what the blood in Revocation front man Dave Davidson’s head looks like, well, here’s your chance!
• We did our annual bitchfest about the Grammy noms.
• We got lost in a Map of Metal.
• We speculated about which label will land Between the Buried and Me.
• We were envious of the music criticism skills of The Dillinger Escape Plan’s Jeff Tuttle.
• System of a Down are getting back together! Just don’t call it a reunion.
• We spent way too much time talking about Slipknot.

The third night of Heavy Metal Hanukkah is coming a little after 5 pm. Have a good weekend, folks.

-AR

A reader calling himself “sojdsaoj pkpkpas” — which I believe, coincidentally, is also the name of a band currently featured on the “Cats on the Keyboard” tour along with Jumalhämärä, Malhkebre, and Knwøgfpieπbgejsfna[f9 — sent us the below photos of The Dillinger Escape Plan guitarist Jeff Tuttle standing on-stage during Forever the Sickest Kid’s set at the Soundwave Festival in Australia earlier this year. I don’t know if these have been floating around for awhile or what, but it’s the first time we’re seeing ‘em.

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Reader Dan Arminio sent us an email yesterday with the subject “dillinger+envy on the coast=north korea” which I immediately took to mean that the aforementioned bands would be doing a show in the long-blockaded North Korea. That would be insanely cool, although highly improbable/impossible. Instead, it seems as if two members of funky progressive alt-metallers Envy on the Coast, who have apparently broken up, are teaming up with some member of Dillinger Escape Plan in a new band called North Korea.

Which member of DEP is involved is a mystery; since the members of Envy on the Coast involved are confirmed as their singer and guitarist, that’d leave me to believe the DEP member is either playing bass, drums or 2nd guitar. Check the above rehearsal footage clip of North Korea; that don’t look like Liam Wilson on the bass (though it’s hard to see. where’s the beard???), the drummer isn’t visible at all and there’s no 2nd guitarist… is that Liam Wilson in the right foreground on guitar?

Anyway, the music sounds pretty rad and it’s sure to piss off l33t metalheads who can’t listen to anything that doesn’t have screams, blastbeats and breakdowns.

-VN

Once upon a time in the magical land of Roadrunner, there was a sweet death metal band called Gorguts. While the gods did not smile upon them enough to make them very popular, their first two albums were masterpieces of 90s death metal– especially their second LP, Erosion of Sanity. Nobody would accuse them of being the most original band, but all of the good people throughout the land of Roadrunner agreed that these albums were full of sick pitt riffment, and we asked the Lord to bless them for providing us with these two archives of brutality.

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Here’s a fun story. The interwebs were aflutter on Saturday after Every Time I die posted two messages on their official Facebook page which seemed to suggest that they were breaking up. Here are screen caps of the posts in question:

So it’s easy to see how fans might misconstrue those messages to mean that the band were done.

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How awesome is Chris Pennie? If the answer is not “very, very awesome,” then the question’s rhetorical. His spazzy, ADD drumming constructed the perfect backbone to one of the best heavy music albums ever made (Dillinger Escape Plan’s Calculating Infinity), as well as his subsequent work with DEP up until he joined Coheed and Cambria (some would say confusingly, others would point out that the dude, like most of us, has rent to pay, and Coheed certainly aren’t the worst band in the world). He shines at the sort of all-over-the-kit fills Mastodon’s Brann Dailor is also known for, but is keen as to when to dial it back. His talent, like performance-enhancing drugs, hypothetically has the ability to vault a good band into being a great band. However, it doesn’t necessarily do the same in making a mediocre band into a good one. The latter is best illustrated on Automata, the new album by his rock/industrial/metal/whatever collective, Return to Earth. The band’s biggest issue — the fact that it isn’t necessarily sure what it wants to be — is ultimately what keeps it from being anything great. Which is a shame, considering that there are moments when they appear to really be on to something.

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Holy shit, is it seriously August already? It’s gonna start getting cold soon. Motherfucker. Here’s what we did this week when we should have been enjoying the sunshine and fresh air:

• We’re streaming Dementia/Dyslexia, the Metal Blade debut of Fleshwrought,  a new project from Animosity/Animals as Leaders’ Navene Koperweis and Job for a Cowboy’s Jonny Davy.
• We debuted an EPK for Iron Thrones’ The Wretched Sun.
• We also debuted “Fear, Emptiness, Decibel,” a new column from the editors of our favorite metal rag.
• We had a little beard on beard action with Andy Williams from Every Time I Die and Liam Wilson from The Dillinger Escape Plan. We also spoke to Avenged Sevenfold’s Johnny Christ, The Dillinger Escape Plan’s Jeff Tuttle and Pathology’s Dave Astor.
• We checked out the latest releases from Chimaira and Decrepit Birth.
• We schooled Korn’s Jonathan Davis on the BP Oil Spill.
• We questioned the sincerity of Max Cavalera’s claim that his collaboration with Fred Durst is all Ross Robinson’s fault.
• We questioned Glenn Danzig’s sanity. Again.
• We got pissy that Eddie’s not on the cover of the new Maiden album.
• We got boners watching 72 minutes of pro-shot Gojira footage.
• We did not get boners looking at Emmure noodz.
• We found the best bass player in the history of forever-ever-ever.

We’ll be hanging out at the Summer Slaughter show this Sunday here in NYC; if you spot us, please bring us presents. We like presents. Thanks.

-AR

We love The Dillinger Escape Plan… and how could we not? Their live shows are among the wildest, most energetic and memorable today. Their discography both defines and defies mathy hardcore, throwing us for a loop yet again with their tight, ferocious new record Option Paralysis. So even though Axl had a chance to talk to some of the members right when the album dropped in March, I couldn’t pass up the chance to interview someone who wasn’t part of that chat: guitarist Jeff Tuttle. During the band’s Long Island, NY stop on this summer’s Warped Tour, I sat down with on a bench in a shaded area on the grounds of Nassau Coliseum to ask Jeff the Million Dollar Question: why the hell are The Dillinger Escape Plan playing Warped Tour???

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I know that some of you are so opposed to having fun that you’ll dismiss this video out of hand, but y’all can toss my salad, ’cause this is awesome.

As we first reported in March, actor Dennis Haskins – better known to the world as “Mr. Belding” from Saved by the Bell – reprises his most famous role in Iwrestledabearonce’s new video, “See You in Shell.” The clips also features references to a number of other classic vintage portrayals of teen life, but I’ll let you pick those out for yourself.

The clip was directed by Justin Beasley from KOTK Productions; he also did that video for The Demonstration’s cover of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance.” Needless to say, I think that this is considerably better.

There’s a special edition of IWABO’s Century debut, It’s All Happening, coming out on June 29; in addition to the original, genre-defying album (see my review here), it will come with a bonus CD, It’s All Remixed, featuring – ah-doy! -  remixes by The Dillinger Escape Plan’s Ben Weinman and Mindless Self Indulgence’s Jimmy Urine, amongst others, as well as a DVD with studio footage and music videos.

-AR

[via The PRP]