MetalSucks

The Faceless’ Planetary Duality was one of our most favoritest albums of 2008, making both Axl’s (#2)and Vince’s (honorable mention) year-end lists. Since its release the band has been touring non-stop opening up for pretty much everyone — Meshuggah/Cynic, Cannibal Corpse, Obscura/Neuraxis, Misery Index, Atheist… these are all tours that have taken The Faceless out as openers over the past year, and that doesn’t even include stuff they’ve done outside the U.S. Jeez! It’s finally time for the band to headline their own tour (or at least co-headline with Dying Fetus), the Planetary Depravity Tour, which starts this Saturday night. If Warbringer are any indication, the scheme of having a young band support every band under the sun in order to build a fanbase can actually work, but I’ll still bet The Faceless camp are just a tad bit nervous to finally headline.

SO. The Faceless have announced via their MySpace page that they’ll be playing Planetary Duality in its entirety every night on the Planetary Depravity Tour:

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MetalUnderground.com is reporting that Meshuggah will release a live DVD in early 2010. This is great news for us U.S. Meshuggah fans who get to see the band live, like, never. Except when we got to see them at BonerFest 2009, aka with Cynic and The Faceless — that ruled.

No details have been released yet about when and where the footage for this new DVD was filmed. In the meantime here they are performing “Straws Pulled at Random”; this clip was included on the DVD portion of the re-release of Nothing.

-VN

When we saw In Flames tour with Gojira last year, there ended up being a kind of major problem: the Frogs blew the Swedes off the stage. See, as much as I love In Flames, their set was kind of A Sense of Purpose-heavy, and, well, they just couldn’t match Gojira for sheer goose-bump-inducingness.

Now the melodeath stars have announced a trek with Between the Buried and Me, The Faceless and 3 Inches of Blood. Holy crap, that’s a great bill – there isn’t a weak band on the tour.  Hopefully BTBAM get a long enough set time to play more than just two or three songs, The Faceless are just a goddamn sight to behold live, and y’know 3IOB will slay. If In Flames don’t bring their A-game, they’re gonna get upstaged by their support bands again.

Announced tour dates can be found here.

-AR

Back in March we reported that French tech-metallers Gorod had released a new song from their forthcoming Listenable Records album Process Of A New Decline, and that said song was ridiculously awesome. Gorod have just posted another new song on their MySpace page entitled “Programmers Of Decline,” an equally orgasm-inducing nugget of progressive tech-death that makes my dick hard in anticipation of the new record (for which no official release date has been announced). The new song is five solid minutes of techy, deathy, shreddy goodness; while I listen, I’m fantasizing about a utopian U.S. tour dream lineup featuring Obscura, Psycroptic, Arsis, The Faceless and Gorod. Never gonna happen, right?

-VN

I’m loving this new subgenre title Vince has coined - “Sumeriancore.” I love it because a) it instantly lets you know the band in question plays proggy tech deathcore, and b) if we’re gonna get silly with these subgenres names, let’s get really silly with them, right?

So, besides The Faceless, I guess my favorite Sumeriancore band (or, at least, my favorite Sumeriancore band that is actually on Sumerian) is Born of Osiris (whose debut, The New Reign, was actually produced The Faceless’ Michael Keene). Born of Osiris have the adorable nickname “BOO.” Just makes me wanna play with puppies every time I say it. “BOO!” Like the little girl in Monsters, Inc. Don’t ask how I know that. It’s definitely not because I use Pixar movies to lure small children back to the MetalSucks Mansion.

But I’m getting way off-topic here. Born of Osiris have posted a new song, “Now Arise,” on their MySpace page.

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All this talk of the Faceless touring with Atheist (are they literally the luckiest band ever or what?) inspired me to trawl YouTube for anything Atheist-related to share with ya’ll. In a moment of naivete I simply typed “atheist” into the search field and ended up with a bunch of religious propaganda videos. I even watched a few of them, and let me tell you, people on the Internet are fucking nuts. But you’re reading this here webernet site, so you knew that already.

Once I’d scratched my morning itch for hard-line right-wing religious propaganda I wised up and typed “Atheist band,” ending up on the following live clip of the band Atheist performing “Piece of Time” at Wacken in 2006. Considerably less crazy than the shit I’d watched earlier, but still pretty fuckin’ gonzo.

-VN

By all accounts, the Meshuggah / Cynic / The Faceless tour earlier year was exactly the masturbatory dude-fest it promised to be from the get-go. With a lineup like that, how could it be anything less than completely mindblowing? Before the show I had the opportunity to catch up with Meshuggah guitarist Marten Hagstrom. I asked him about the touring lifestyle, how the band’s sound has evolved and changed over the years, Meshuggah’s now near-legendary cult status, and one question that really got his goat about the hoardes of Swedish melodic death metal bands that have grown to popularity in recent years. Our chat, after the jump.

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If you like Oceano or have no particular problem with the fact that Emmure shamelessly ripped-off The Acacia Strain, then boy do I have an album for you.

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So, as Vince mentioned, we went to see the Mesuggah/Cynic/The Faceless last night. It should go without saying that the show was killer – still, having never seen Cynic or The Faceless live before, I was somewhat unprepared for just how killer the evening turned out to be.

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Saying we’re not beyond stoked for the Meshuggah / Cynic / The Faceless pummeling we’re going to receive tonight would be like saying Wes Borland didn’t re-join Limp Bizkit for the moolah (it’s the nookie… yeah… that’s it). I mean this is pretty much the ultimate prog-metal erectionfest of 2009, whatwith the certain non-metal-itude of this year’s Prog Nation tour, amirite?

Lucky for you, Meshuggah and Cynic have been keeping their own online video channel from the tour. Check this clip of Meshuggah performing “Bleed” in Hollywood, and scroll through the arrows to watch Tomas Haake sound check footage, a Cynic performance, tour diaries and more. Listen to and download two free mp3s below while you’re at it.

Side note: certain MS staffers are still looking for tickets to this. If you got extras, email vince AT metalsucks DOT net.

Meshuggah – “Bleed”
Cynic – “Evolutionary Sleeper”

-VN

The more I listen to Evisceration Plague, the most I wanna have Cannibal Corpse’s abortion (And it’s streaming on their MySpace page right now!).

The album just rocks so fucking hard, and it makes me so happy to listen to, I really can’t even begin to tell you.

So. By June of 2009 – not even a full half way through the year – The Faceless will have toured with Cynic, Meshuggah, Arsis, Misery Index, The Tony Danza Tap Dance Extravanganza, and, now CANNIBAL FUCKING CORPSE.

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Finally… we have a capable, intelligent, forward-thinking new U.S. president. No, it’s not Dave Mustaine. Here’s what else happened this week:

• We wondered aloud and speculated about Slayer’s co-headline tour, New England Metal & Hardcore Fest, Scion Rock Fest (aka Atlanta Metalfest), and The Faceless’ headline tour. This spring just got awesome.
• We ran to the hills to avoid a shitty classic metal cover. Meanwhile, we found Iron Maiden in Iran and on the big screen.
• We got sexi(vious) with members of Cynic and Textures.
• We looked at new releases from Satyricon, Cattle Decapitation, 16 and Rumpelstiltskin Grinder.
• Maynard got all Jiu-Jitsu on our asses and Carcass played a wedding.

Axl, myself and our girlfriends (we have girlfriends… whowouldathunkit???) are going to see The Dark Knight on the IMAX tonight. Hopefully weed will be involved. Later, suckaz!!

One of the many stories we didn’t actually get to discuss this week is the news that The Faceless are the latest metal act to be banned from The Disney-owned House Of Blues in Anaheim, California. Oddly enough, their tour mates in Meshuggah and Cynic were not banned; what makes The Faceless any more (or less) offensive than Meshuggah or Cynic is kinda beyond me (Also beyond me: why people keep booking metal shows at this club that has repeatedly acknowledged it wants nothing to do with metal. But I digress.).

But the dudes in The Faceless can take consolation in these two facts:

1. Walt Disney was a Nazi cock sucker.
2. Immediately following the conclusion of their jizz inducing tour with Meshuggah and Cynic, they will HEADLINE their own jizz inducing tour with Arsis, Misery Index and The Tony Danza Tap Dance Extravanganza.

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Animosity’s Leo Miller is not a man of large stature, which is why it was so surprising to see him command the stage like a rabid dog upon catching them on the Metal Sucks-sponsored Job for a Cowboy/ All Shall Perish/ Annotations of an Autopsy tour. Miller and company brought the sort of frenetic energy necessary to translate their last two stellar full lengths – Empires and last year’s Animal – to life, which is by no means a small feat. In a time when death metal bands rely on either predictability or shifting between riffs too rapidly to savor, Animosity jump from thought to savage thought masterfully, producing blink-and-you’ll-miss-it excellence reminiscent of old Dillinger Escape Plan through a DM lens. Their records demand repeat listens, and reward greatly upon them. Miller’s gruff vocals and atypical lyrical approach help elevate the band to thinking man’s level, counteracting metal’s brutish stereotypes.

I managed to catch him – after three botched attempts – on my way out the door after Job for a Cowboy’s set in Providence at the end of last November, and goddamn, I’m glad I caught him. He possesses the kind of eloquence and thoughtfulness an examination of his lyrics would imply, and it was interesting to get a glimpse into the thought process behind the gut-wrenching Animal, easily one of my favorite metal records of 2007, if not in the last few years. Despite the difficult personal events that lead to the album, Leo had a positive tone to his voice throughout our entire conversation, touching upon the band’s plans for the future and his feelings on our next president.

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It’s only January 7th but already three ridiculously awesome North American tours are planned for the early part of the year:

Soilwork + Darkane + Swallow the Sun + Daylight Dies (in some markets)

Meshuggah + Cynic + The Faceless

The Haunted + Nachtmystium + Kylesa + Intronaut

Like, woah.

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Tasmanian metallers Psycroptic’s Ob(Servant) didn’t make any MetalSucks writers’ year-end lists, (though it did make my initial short-list of albums to be considered for year-end top honors.) MetalSucks commenter “Anal Beadz” was quick to point out this omission in our final tally of year-end honors:

number of time[s] psycroptic’s ob(servant) mentioned in year end lists

…0

YOU FUCKING CUM DUMPSTERS

Mr. Beadz, I hate to say it, has us pegged. The more I listen to it, the more I’m starting to think I made a mistake by leaving Ob(Servant) off the final list; the album straight up pulverizes in the most artful way. Psycroptic’s brand of extraordinary mind-bending tech-death hits in all the right spots; crushing brutality, punishing grooves, weaving riffs, and stellar technical death metal musicianship. Anyone who splooged their pants over The Faceless’ excellent Planetary Duality (i.e. all of you) ought to give this band a fair shake.

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This coming Monday the entire MetalSucks staff will each release Top 10 lists for the entire year in metal of 2008. Get psyched! Things have been slowing down here at the MS Mansion as the holidays approach, but we still found ways to keep it fun this week:

• Axl Rose finally did some press to support Chinese Democracy… but as usual, there’s an asterisk.
• We debuted a new, exclusive Daath track — a medley of Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel and Dying Fetus covers.
• We interviewed members of Clutch, Bison B.C., Dir En Grey, and Fear Factory / Arkaea.
• Job For a Cowboy’s Jonny Davy blogged about urination and hotel trashing, while Darkest Hour’s Mike Schleibaum’s guest blog claimed that Entombed’s Uprising and Morning Star are two of the most underrated albums of all time. Oh, and The Haunted’s Peter Dolving blogged about sleep.
• Gojira’s Joe Duplantier orders you to stop the killing of baby seals but apparently has no problem with ripping New York City a new arsehole.
• Meshuggah + Cynic + The Faceless = The Erection Tour of 2009.
• The metal industry lost a kindred soul. R.I.P. Adrian Bromley.

2008 has been a fucking great year for metal, and in due time — Monday, Dec. 15, to be exact — Axl, myself and the rest of the writers of MetalSucks will all release our Top 10 year-end lists so you can incessantly argue over which great album was left off or tell us we’re assholes for ranking a certain album higher than it should’ve been.

But for now, ya’ll can argue about something else: here’s my personal short/working list for said year-end list containing all of my favorite metal releases from this year as well as a few that aren’t likely to make my own list but will surely be appearing on others’. Feel free to pipe in with your thoughts or to notify us of any egregious omissions before we put together our final, ordered lists. Regardless, it is going to be really fucking hard to pick just 10 of these and put them in order of awesomeness.

And, my favorite metal records of 2008 in no particular order are…

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It was a crazy week at the MS Mansion. Vince passed out in the bathroom after a 48 hour coke binge only to be awakened by Axl, whom, after coming home that morning from a strip club with The Blogronaut and Dallas, was viciously attacked by a bunch of angry Hinder fans stalking him outside the MS Mansion gates. Actually, none of that happened. But here’s what did:

• Axl offered up a bounty on Hinder’s Austin Winkler.
• Chinese Democracy leaked, and almost two decades of waiting finally ended.
• Whitechapel became the new controversial band du’jour.
• The Faceless killed it on the Soundscan charts.
• Today Is the Day’s Steve Austin’s house almost burned down.
• A video of a fat kid singing along to Dimmu Borgir. Nuff said.
• Vince went Jew on Jew with Genghis Tron’s Mookie Singerman, only to find out he’s not as Jewish as he once claimed.
• Tommy Lee reformed Methods of Mayhem and Vince Neil announced plans for another solo record, sans Steve Stevens. We scratched our heads.

We’ll see you next week, albeit it’ll be an abbreviated one due to the Thanksgiving holiday here in the U.S. Toodles.

All is not lost in the world of metal; in fact, this past week brought some nice surprises, along with the usual mish-mash of shitty radio rock bands. Last week’s sales numbers, with our usual sardonic commentary, after the jump. (Hint: look at the tags below, and click “read more” if any of those bands interest you!).

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