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]

A few hours ago authorities evacuated Times Square for the second time in a week after someone found a “suspicious cooler” on the street. Of course, everyone was just being overly cautious, but as long as it doesn’t infringe on my civil rights, there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that. I think Vince was in Michigan when 9/11 went down, but I was here, and if I never see another tank rolling down my street again or run all over the city because there’s no cell service and I need to make sure that all of my friends and family are still alive, well, I’ll be good.

While I nurse my PTSD, here are some happier, metalier things that happened this week:

• We’re streaming Keep of Kalessin’s new album, Reptilian. We also debuted new music by Lamb of God and The Funeral Pyre.
• We also also also debuted new videos by Soulfly and Cancer Bats.
• We also also also also debuted our new cooking show, Cooking Contaminated.
• Cynic’s Paul Masvidal discussed the shape of silence, Periphery’s Bulb taught you how to get that “big” studio tone, As I Lay Dying’s Nick Hipa had some questions about L O S T, Matt from Rumpelstiltskin Grinder fondly recalled Maryland Deathfest, and Batillus bassist Willi Stabenau gave us a studio update.
• We talked to Darkest Hour’s Mike Schleibaum, Reign Supreme’s Jay Pepito,  Jackyl’s Jesse James Dupree, and unveiled part one of our massive two-part interview with Buzz Osborne.
• We checked out the latest release by The Howling Wind.
• Does the fact that Mike Portnoy is touring with Avenged Sevenfold make you wanna see ‘em?
• We don’t want Joey Belladonna to return to Anthrax. Seriously.
• Sergeant D. wants to know if u mosh 4 Christ???
• Damnocracy’s Evan Seinfeld and his porno Howdy Doody also do bar mitzvahs.
• We wish there was really such a thing as a Slayer burrito.

Next week brings even more betterer br00tal goodness – interviews, debuts, guest blogs, all that shit. It’s gonna get real up in this bitch. See ya then.

-AR

The Metal Sucks staff may have more “-stein” and “-berg” surnames than the trading floor of a Wall Street investment bank, but I know Axl and Vince are open to exploring the entire spectrum of global faiths. I am sure we can also agree that music is the one common thread that unites all of us, so what better way to learn about Jesus Christ than through my favorite thing: BREAKDOWNS!

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I hadn’t eaten at a Taco Bell for a long, long time, until somehow Metal Injection‘s Rob “Tall, Dark and Handsome” Pasbani, Justina “I’m at Every NYC Metal Show” Villaneuva, and myself ended up there after the DEP show in March. And, uh, eating there more or less confirmed why I don’t do it anymore. If I wanted to put something insanely unhealthy into my system and then shit out my intestines, I’d just inject myself with ebola.

But I could be lured back to Taco Bell if there was really such a thing as the Slayer Burrito.

Unfortunately, it’s clear that this is just a case of someone being too lazy to properly space out the letters and number for a 5-Layer Burrito. Oh well. A man can dream, can’t he?

-AR

Thanks to Brian Farneth for the pic!

Max Cavalera is still the fucking man. He’s been going strong with Soulfly for over a decade, continuing to carve his place in metal history and show the kiddies how it’s done. In fact, Soulfly’s seventh album, Omen, comes out May 25 on Roadrunner, and shows that Max is just as relevant to metal today as he was when Sepultura released Morbid Visions nearly twenty-five years ago.

MetalSucks is proud to bring you the exclusive worldwide debut of “Rise of the Fallen,” the new video for the first single off of Omen. It intercuts awesome performance footage with a you-are-there representation of Soulfly’s brutal pits and, of course, even features an appearance by The Dillinger Escape Plan’s Greg Puciato, who contributes guest vocals to the track. Check out the clip below – and don’t forget to pre-order a copy of Omen!

[This exclusive has now ended.]

For a limited time only, Soulfly are giving away a free mp3 of a new song, “Rise of the Fallen.” I found out via a tweet from Roadrunner, so I didn’t have any of the usual details of the track that come with a press release. And so when it started playing, I was all, “Gee, that’s not Max Cavalera singing. But the voice is so familiar. Is that Greg Puciato? It is Greg Puciato!” I’d like to think I would have recognized his voice even if I hadn’t been cranking Option Paralysis all week.

ANYWAY, “Rise” sounds pretty much like Puciato singing over a Soulfly song, which is to say that it sounds very much like Puciato singing over a Roots-era Sepultura song.  And while it’s kinda bizarre to Puciato singing on such a nu-metalish tune, his vocal performance really is top notch; I especially like the section that begins at the 2:41 mark. That’s some epic mosh-pit shit, dude.

Download the song here. It comes off of the new Soulfly album, Omen, which will be released May 25 on Roadrunner.

-AR

At this point, how much of an introduction do The Dillinger Escape Plan really need? They’re one of the most talked-about bands of the last decade, and that talk hasn’t quieted down very much in the face of their latest release, Option Paralysis, which comes out today. The album is a very natural evolutionary step from Ire Works, and has (rightly) been met with the heaping tons of praise we’ve come to expect DEP to garner.

When I went to interview vocalist Greg Puciato, bassist Liam Wilson, and drummer Billy Rymer – the latest addition to the band’s line-up – they were right in the middle of signing a table-full of Option Paralysis CD booklets, and only had about twenty minutes to spare before they had to participate in a live web-chat; then they were set to kick-off their headlining tour the next night. You might think that such an abundance of promotional activities would leave these fellas frazzled or at least exhausted, but they were clearly far too excited about the impending release to be bothered by having to talk to a schmucky blogger like me.

After the jump, get Greg, Liam, and Billy’s thoughts on Option Paralysis, the pressure of following Ire Works, their search for a new drummer, fans who wish they’d just stick to crazy-ass mathcore, the joys of their ever-increasing fame, and more.

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Hoo-ray for reader Dave Kaminsky, who correctly identified last week’s logo as belonging to the charmingly monikered band, Sphinctral Impalement. Dave wins an autographed copy of Shovel Headed Tour Machine, the excellent new two DVD/CD set from legendary thrashers, Exodus! Cherish it forever, Dave.

March is Metal Month rolls on! This week we have a nice little piece of metal memorabilia in the form of this neat DEP Option Paralysis cube thingie. This is a nice tchake to play with when you’re high, no?

All you have to do to win is identify the name of the band whose logo appears below, then shoot me an e-mail at axl AT metalsucks DOT net with your answer, your name, and your address. From everyone who gets it right, we’ll randomly select one winner and announce his or her name next week.

For the third week in a row, we have a logo suggested by reader Isaac Schwarz. Please keep doing my job for me, Isaac, it makes my life so much easier.

-AR

Short n’ sweet: as you probably already know, DEP’s new album, Option Paralysis, comes out one week from today. As is so often the case in modern times, the band is now streaming the entire album here. Go listen. Then come back and let us know what you think.

And sometime real soon we’ll be posting an interview with the band.

-AR

Readers Matthew Mitchell and DruM both sent me a link to this Fox News interview with Ben Weinman, Greg Puciato, and Liam Wilson from The Dillinger Escape Plan. Needless to say, the joksters in DEP keep it entertaining – and bonus points to Puciato for his explanation of why Bill O’Reilly is a great inspiration to his vocals. (And if you don’t know what incident Puciato is referring to here, watch this.)

The video isn’t embeddable, but you can watch it by clicking on the screen cap below!

And by the way, in case you’re the only person in the world who doesn’t know this, DEP’s new album, Option Paralysis, is March 23. That’s just out one week from tomorrow!

-AR

So Vince is now out of town. Again. Luckily, we really do take after our namesakes; he loves to be out there among the people, partying like he might die tomorrow, and I am a grumpy, mean-spirited recluse. So expect lots of Axl crankiness next week.

In the meantime, here are some things that happened this week:

• Genetic’s Dallas Coyle discussed the importance of positive thinking, As I Lay Dying’s Nick Hipa pondered the various timelines on L O S T, Intronaut’s Sacha Dunable listed the five raddest sets of teeth in metal, Eyal Levi from Daath and Levi/Werstler wondered if anyone cares about guitar solos, and adult film actress Bobbi Starr told us the ten metal bands she wishes would gangbang her.
• We debuted new music by The Dillinger Escape Plan, Landmine Marathon, and Jucifer.
• MetalSucks readers interviewed Dark Tranquillity’s Mikael Stanne and Vince interviewed Sevendust’s Clint Lowery.
• Sammy O’Hagar reviewed Ov Hell’s The Underworld Regime.
• Is Nergal from Behemoth going to jail for destroying a Bible?
• The singer from DragonForce is available for a White Lion reunion.
• We raged against “Rage.”

And that’s it! Next week will see the debut of our irritating new list, as well as some other fun shit. Have a nice weekend…

-AR

So last night I went to the kick-off date for The Dillinger Escape Plan’s headlining tour with Darkest Hour, Iwrestledabearonce, and Animals as Leaders. All of the bands were pretty great, but after the show, it was really hard to talk about any of them but DEP; their live act is just some other-level shit. They might be one of the last bands on the planet where their live show feels legitimately spontaneous and dangerous; there always comes at least one moment during their show when I become concerned that we might be watching the process of Greg Puciato killing himself. Even if you think you hate this band, you should go check them out, just to see how absolutely nuts it can get.

So. Rob from Metal Injection has a nifty new toy, called the Samson Zoom Q3, and he filmed the band doing their new song “Chinese Whispers” (we debuted the studio version earlier this week). You can view the footage below. The audio quality is actually better than the video quality, but it’s still pretty good. It was not one of the songs where I feared for Mr. Puciato’s life, but it still kicks major ass.

Get Dillinger tour dates here.

-AR

Hello MetalSucks readers! I realize that most of you don’t know who I am, so I figured I’d take some time to tell you and maybe shed some light on the subject of why I’ve been asked to write a few fun pieces for all of your enjoyment.

My name is Bobbi Starr and I am a girl who over the past three and a half years has made a living off of all of you who buy pornography and blow your loads to the site of my asshole being impaled by the giant members of pornography legends such as Lexington Steele, and I thank you for that.

Now, those who steal porn off of bit torrent and tube sites: shame on you, and I just might hunt you down, cut your wiener off, put it on a post and do a little, non-sexual, dance, ridding you of all porno-steeling-desires. Granted, at this point you would be without a penis, but you should of thought of that before you stole my porno.

I’m just kidding. In reality, I’d probably tell you that you are a very bad boy, and then suck you off.

Anyway, back to metal. Some of you may know, I’ve pretty much always been a music nerd, and therefore a fan of the ye ol’ metal. I think those important people at MetalSucks picked up on this and thought, “We should get this chick to write nasty things for our website! That would be awesome!” I love delving into the dark, slimy depths of the music world, and sinking my teeth into some crunchy metal bands.  It may be an acquired taste for many, but I must admit that I constantly find myself craving more of those down-tuned riffs and growling vocals.

Not only is it my desire to explore the music of each band, but also my primal urge to become intimately acquainted with the nether regions of all of the band members as a whole. So, I figured, what the hell, why not make a list of the top ten metal bands that I’d like to get gangbanged by? Maybe I’ll get lucky and one of them will come through for me.

And so, in no particular order…

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Yesterday I interviewed Greg Puciato, Liam Wilson, and Billy Rymer from The Dillinger Escape Plan (transcript coming soon); because Rymer is the band’s new drummer and this is his first album with DEP, it should go without saying that a portion of the conversation was devoted to how he joined the band, his experience as “the new guy,” and his predecessors – namely Gil Sharone and, of course, Chris Pennie. Unless you live under a Dino Cazares, you already know that Pennie is now the drummer for Coheed and Cambria; since I’m a wwwwaaaaayyyyy bigger fan of DEP than I am of C&C, I don’t spend much time thinking about Pennie these days. Which isn’t to take away from his incredible talent; I’m just saying, it’s unusual for me to have Pennie on the brain at this particular moment in time.

But now here we are, I was just thinking about him yesterday, and he’s already back in the headlines! It turns out that Pennie is in the whole other band I didn’t even know about, Return to Earth, who released an album called Captains of Industry in 2007; now they’ve signed with Metal Blade, who will release their sophomore effort, Automata, sometime this summer.

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The video for The Dillinger Escape Plan’s “Farewell, Mona Lisa” just debuted on Justin.tv,  and while the image quality, at least on my computer, isn’t that hot, what I can see looks pretty cool. And the fact that the song is so awesome – especially the kind of melancholic, epic second section – means that they could probably have just posted footage of Greg Puciato taking a crap and I would’ve been happy.

“Farewell, Mona Lisa” will be on Option Paralysis, which comes out March 23 on Party Smasher/Season of Mist.

-AR