New releases from Hate Eternal, The Gates of Slumber and Zombi highlight this week’s new metal. MS new release kingpin Vic Vaughn breaks those and more new albums down after the break.

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Hey dudes and ladies, sorry I haven’t been posting much this month. I’ve been travelingeven more than usual, and haven’t had much time to sit down and write down much of anything besides flight confirmation numbers and directions to wherever I happen to be sleeping any given evening. Cheers once again to those of you who went out and soaked up the riff-tastic metal circus that was Metalliance (especially those wonderful souls who came up to hang out or bought me a drink!), and mad love to everyone who survived that tour, especially the eternal road dogs in The Atlas Moth and Howl and my tour family on the Saint Vitus/Crowbar bus.

As soon as that madness ended, I flew over to Ireland to stay with my boyfriend J. for a couple days and get ready for my next adventure: reprising my now-yearly pilgrimage to the mighty Roadburn festival in Tilburg, Netherlands. He and I met there last year (he was playing, I was covering, the rest is history) so it was due to be special for more than the usual reasons, which are pretty fucking good reasons in and of themselves!

Roadburn is the best heavy music festival in the world, hands down. A bold statement, sure, but anyone who’s ever played, worked, or attended the event will agree with me. Yeah, the lineups are always amazing, and yes, the venues – the 013, which is separated into the Main Room, Green Room, and Bat Cave, and the Midi Theatre — are killer. The separate building for merchandise, vinyl distros, and movie screenings doesn’t hurt, nor does the charming ambiance of Tilburg itself.

The real heart and soul of this festival comes from outside, though; from the big-hearted organizers Walter and Jurgen, from the efforts of Roadburn public relations guru Yvonne (without whom the whole damn thing would have fallen apart), and from the thousands of fans and bands that have come together, united by an overwhelming sense of community and goodwill. Everyone at Roadburn is absolutely 100% thrilled to be exactly where they are. There is a reason that this year’s edition sold out – sold OUT – in fifteen minutes, and it’s not just because Swans, Godflesh, Winter, and Sunn 0))) were playing (though that can’t have hurt, either). I made it to my first Roadburn in 2009, and have made it a point to come backevery year since – I’ve heard the same pledge from a lot of first-timers, and I know a few people that are already saving pennies for next year!

This year’s lineup was insane (as always). To give you an idea, I wanted to be sure to catch Alcest, Year of No Light, Acid King, Winterfylleth, Zoroaster, Wovenhand, Naam, Blood Ceremony, Pentagram, Today is the Day, Cough, Godflesh, In Solitude, Wardruna, Soilent Green, Count Raven, Earth, Place of Skulls, Winter, Trap Them, Sabbath Assembly, Summon the Crows, Corrosion of Conformity, Menace Ruine, Sunn 0))), Hooded Menace, Grave Miasma, Scorn, Candlemass (performing Epicus Doomicus Metallicus in its entirety!), Black Math Horseman, Master Musicians of Bukkake, Weedeater, Rwake, Ludicra, Evoken, Ramesses, Shrinebuilder, Yakuza, The Gates of Slumber, Swans, Ufomammut, Blood Farmers, Coffins, Dead Meadow, and Sourvein … and that’s just me. There were plenty of other bands that I either had seen many times, was unfamiliar with, or just didn’t want to see (which is rare at Roadburn, but there’s a first time for everything).

Of course, since it’s a massive festival full of people from all over the world, a lot of whom I love dearly, I managed to miss tons of bands, but I’m okay with it. I’ll see most of them again, and Roadburn isn’t totally about the music. It’s about the experience, man.

Here are a few highlights from this year; third time’s the charm!

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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…

If any band ever needed to run a “name our next album” contest, it’s the Gates of Slumber. Indy’s preeminent ripping doom trio are fixtures on not only Decibel’s but plenty of metal mags/blogs’ year-end best-of lists. Each successive record earns more acclaim as Karl Simon, Jason McCash and J. Clyde Paradis gradually fine-tune their righteous narco-trad metal assault. And yet, the titles of their last two records—2008’s Conqueror and 2009’s Hymns of Blood and Thunder—unintentionally evoke Jesu and Mastodon (they don’t sound like either), and TGOS have done it again on new platter The Wretch (see: Kyuss), due out May 10 on Rise Above/Metal Blade. Hell, at least they’re name-checking good bands.

Of course, that didn’t stop us from commemorating Gates on the latest Decibel Flexi. The metallic silver-on-red slab is the most color that anything from Indiana has ever been afforded. As for the tune, it’s the 2011 version of “The Jury,” originally found on 2004 full-length debut  …The Awakening. It’s the longest dB Flexi to date at nearly seven minutes, meaning we had to press it at 33 1/3 rotation, as opposed to the conventional 45. (Brevity is the soul of shit, right?) Subscribers should have the issue within the next two weeks, but non-subscribers can order it here or simply try it on for size below.

The Gates of Slumber “The Jury” by Decibel Magazine

-AB

You can buy the June 2011 issue of Decibel here, or get a full subscription to ensure you never miss one of these awesome flexi discs!

Sorry, kids, but I am not a Gates of Slumber fan. They’re one of those bands, like The Sword, whose sound is ultimately just too self-consciously retro for my tastes. There are bands doing the whole classic-hard rock/metal thing but putting their own spin on it, like Dawnbringer and High on Fire, and then there are bands like this. Thank you but not thank you.

But I know that The Gates of Slumber have their following, and I know that at least some of that following reads this website, so they may be curious to know that TGOS have a new song, “Coven of Cain,” now streaming at The Deciblog. It does nothing for me, but, of course, you shouldn’t let my opinion influence you — just listen here and make up your own damn mind.

“Coven of Cain” from The Gates of Slumber’s latest, The Wretch, which comes out May 10 on Rise Above Records.

-AR

I’ve indulged in enough posts about the crazy and random shit we did on the road, so now it’s time for what we were all traveling for in the first place: SXSW. The magnitude of SXSW is inconceivable to anyone who’s never been; every orifice of downtown Austin is literally oozing live music. As MS commenter Joel Bailey said yesterday, “Half the shows at SXSW are in the store room of some coffee house or the smoking patio at an Ihop.” While this is true it’s not for lack of real music venues — in fact, the venues in Austin are all top-notch and blow NYC’s rooms out of the water — but there’s just so much going on that even smaller places that normally have nothing to do with music want to get in on the action. For a glimpse of what the scene looks like, check out Metal Injection’s SXSW wrap-up video.

Kip and I decided months back that this year we’d splurge on a hotel room Downtown. Trying to crash with local friends in years past was economical but a pain in the ass; getting a cab at 2am at SXSW is nearly impossible, and hiking a mile or two just to get home (and not having the option of a mid-day stop-in, or even better a clean place to take a shit!) can be really tiring, or worse, result in injury (just ask Kip). Though the option of staying on the SlayRV for the duration of SXSW later presented itself, we opted for the space and comfort of the Omni Hotel and it ended up being well worth it.

After settling into our room we headed over to the Mohawk to get set up for the Prosthetic Records showcase we were sponsoring. With a killer lineup of Prosthetic bands playing inside and the Action PR showcase going on outside (feat. High on Fire, Priestess, NAAM and others) — all in the same venue for one price of admission — the night was off to a great start before it even began.

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MetalSucks is double-dipping this year at the annual showdown/brodown/hoedown in Austin, TX by bringing you TWO awesome metal shows. You already know about the amazing Full Metal Texas lineup during the day on Thursday, March 18th — featuring Darkest Hour, Howl, Fair to Midland, Iron Age, Karnivool, Iwrestledabearonce and more — and today we’re pleased to announce that we’re sponsoring the showcase for one of our favorite metal labels, Prosthetic Records. The lineup, starting at 7pm on the festival’s inaugural Wednesday night, features the future of Prosthetic’s roster: Scale the Summit, Landmine Marathon, Withered, Book of Black Earth and The Funeral Pyre. We haven’t heard of Clinging to the Trees of a Forest Fire or Lions of Tsavo before, but if Prosthetic gives them their stamp of approval they seriously must be excellent… and aren’t festivals like this supposed to be about discovering new music anyway?

But wait — there’s more! The Prosthetic showcase is taking place at the same venue as the Action PR showcase at the very same time, meaning once you’re in you’ll be able to freely roam between both stages, one inside and one outside. And check out THIS fucking lineup: High on Fire, Priestess, Bison B.C., The Gates of Slumber, Zoroaster and Namm. Holy fucktickles, are you kidding me? That’s 13 fucking awesome metal all for just $10 (free if you have a wristband) in one metal-filled evening. FUCK YES.

Coming soon: a MetalSucks-approved calendar of all the metal goings-on at SXSW 2010.

I was seriously worried about the fate of Demiricous, and with good reason, I’d say. The best band ever to sound exactly like Slayer that aren’t actually Slayer, the Hoosier quartet made two killer albums on Metal Blade (produced by Zeuss and ERIK FUCKING RUTAN, respectively) and were endorsed by no less a figure than Mr. Kerry King himself. But then they were, at least as I understand it, more or less completely ripped-off by their then-manager, and they finally parted ways with Metal Blade last year. No one could blame them if they broke up. Bands break up over much less these days.

But now Lambgoat is reporting that Demiricous is, in fact, alive and well, and will enter the studio in November to record a new five-song demo with Gates of Slumber drummer “Iron” Bob Fouts. They still don’t have a label and “will issue the material themselves.” That part confuses me a bit – I mean, I’m thrilled to get to hear new Demiricous music, but is it a demo to try and land them a new label, or is it a self-released EP…? Whatever. Why look a gift horse in the mouth?

Here’s the band’s video for “Vagrant Idol.” Holy shit, this song is heavy.

-AR

I haven’t sung the praises of Salome in awhile, so here goes: this band crushes. Everyone I know who has seen them live has just been floored with them. Guitarist Rob Moore and drummer Aaron Deal (read my interview with Mr. Deal here) play as though they’re actively attempting to use soundwaves as a weapon, and vocalist Kat… well, she goes to some other place. Like, she temporarily becomes psychotic or something. (Actually, maybe she’s always psychotic. I’ve never actually met her, but her art is pretty dark. I once considered buying a piece because I think it’s so cool, but I was afraid if women saw it on my wall, I’d never get laid again. Of course, right now I’m having trouble finding the link to the page where you can buy her art, but just take my word for it. It’s bleak.)

Now Salome have signed a deal to release their next full-length – actually, I think it’s their first full-length – through Profound Lore. That makes them label mates with Agalloch, The Gates of Slumber, Cobalt, Alceste, and some other awesome bands. In other words: it seems like a good fit.

The band is still writing said full-length, but they have a split with Thou coming out sometime soon (more details as I get them!), and I strongly encourage you to check out their EP in the meantime – or, even better, go see them live. As we reported before, they’ll hit the road in September on a tour with the equally fantastic Hull and Batillus, and will even be playing the MetalSucks co-sponsored Planet Caravan fest in North Carolina alongside Clutch, Kylesa, Burst, Wino, and a whole bunch of other great groups. Really. Go see them. It is truly a fucking experience.

Complete tour dates after the jump. If you don’t know Salome, visit them on MySpace ASAP.

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A couple of weeks back we reported on the sudden glut of U.S. metal festivals this year, the latest of which is the MetalSucks-sponsored Planet Caravan 2-day metal festival being held in Asheville, NC this September. Quick refresher: Clutch, Pentagram, Kylesa, Burst (first and last U.S. tour ever!), Wino and many others. Today we’re thrilled to announce that the already strong bill has gotten that much stronger with a slew of heavyweight bands added: Tombs, The Gates of Slumber, Zoroaster, Bison B.C., Sourvein, doom kings/queen Salome, and friends of MetalSucks Hull and Battilus, the latter 3 of which will be touring the U.S. together around that time. All of the newly added acts will perform on the also-newly added second stage, right next door to the Orange Peel mainstage at Mo Daddy’s.

If you live anywhere close to North Carolina, how can you even consider not going to this event? It’s going to be a fucking rager. Tickets are on sale here or at the Orange Peel box office.

-VN

What’s that? Yet another of the summer’s best tour lineups will be sponsored by MetalSucks? Yes, yes, ya’ll!

Avant-garde psych metal band ZOROASTER, Indianapolis, IN doom metal trio THE GATES OF
SLUMBER and Belgian “über doom” unit SERPENTCULT (read DBR’s clever official review) will team up for the “North America is Doomed” tour this summer. Presented by Action! PR, Decibel Magazine and MetalSucks.net, the 14 city trek will kick off on August 1 in Chicago, IL and will hit major markets including NYC, Philadelphia, Boston, Cleveland, Toronto and Montreal.

On the topic of the tour, Zoroaster guitarist / vocalist Will Fiore states, “This tour is going to be so heavy, it’s scary! Each and every show is going to feature an amazing night of massive riffs, so come out and get lost. This is going to hurt…in all the right ways.”

Indeed, this tour promises to be even more metal than this guy. Tour dates and venues after the jump.

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Apparently there’s a new Strapping Young Lad video floating around the Interwebs for the song “Almost Again,” from 2006′s The New Black. The video is intensely dark and morose with twisted imagery that could come only from a demented mind like Downward Spiral-era Trent Reznor… Or, naturally, Devin Towsend. The timing of the video seems odd given the band broke up last year and their greatest hits collection 1994-2006: Chaos Years came out several months ago already… But hey, we’ll take it.

With the death of SYL came the demise of Devin’s skullet, but at least Ronnie James Dio and Karl Simon of The Gates of Slumber still carry the torch.

-VN

[via Buzzgrinder]

Devin Townsend may have ditched his skullet for the simple pleasures of domesticity and lounging back in the producer’s chair, but thankfully Karl Simon of The Gates of Slumber is single-handedly making sure that the next generation of metalheads revere the power of the skullet.

His front-of-the-head tuft is in a league of its own.

-VN

[Thanks: Michael Hanson]