MetalSucks

We’re shuttering the Mansion early this week in celebration of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. Axl closed down his Annex hours ago, and I’m bidding farewell to the Vince Division as soon as I finish this here “Worst Week Ever” column. The Monkeys will have to make due on their own ’til Monday.

• Devin Townsend sold some records.
• Noisecreep released their “Best Songs of the Decade” and “Best Albums of 2009” lists. Predictably, arguing ensued.
• Cristina Scabbia posed for a PETA with clothes on (imagine that!), then she took our joke a little too seriously.
• We looked at new releases from supergroups Shrinebuilder and Them Crooked Vultures.
• There’s drama in The Human Abstract camp.

That’s it. We out. Maybe we’ll do SSTGST and Black Metal Brunch columns. Adios!

-VN

It always comes down to that when a band loses a member, doesn’t it? And usually there’s a long, drawn-out battle — graciously conducted via the media — in which each side explains their version of the story.

So, it seems The Human Abstract and singer Nathan Ells have parted ways. The band released a statement via their MySpace blog at 3:22pm on Friday afternoon simply stating “The Human Abstract will no longer be working with Nathan Ells. We want to wish Nathan the very best in his future endeavors. With that being said, we are now looking for our new lead singer.” 48 minutes later, Ells fired back from his own MySpace blog thusly: “I want it to be known that the decision made by my band was not mutual, and I was fired.”

Was he fired or did he quit?

Click to read more…

If you’ve never seen IWRESTLEDABEARONCE live, you’re missing out. We’ve seen these guys and girl a few times now, including when they absolutely demolished The Bowery Poetry Club (of all places) at CMJ last year, and they are all that and a bag of chips (the kids still use that expression, right?).

Luckily for you, HardTimes.ca has an entire set from the band online right now, which you can check out below. Unfortunately the quality of the footage is sub-Metal Injection, but, still, it’s good to be able to watch the show from the same chair in which you usually masturbate.

In case I haven’t mentioned it before, IWABO’s Century debut, It’s All Happening, drops June 2 on Century, and the band is currently on a MetalSucks-sponsored trek with The Human Abstract and a bunch of other awesome bands. Get tour dates here.

-AR

Thanks to all the hep cats who e-mailed this to us!

Here’s an interview our friends at Metal Injection conducted with our friends in IWRESTLEDABEARONCE at New England Metal & Hardcore Festival a couple of weeks back. It’s a spirited romp, as are most conversations led by MI’s Rob Pasbani (or, as many of you call him when he’s spotted out at shows, “Metal Injection Guy!”).

But in the interest of being completely honest, I should let you know that I’m really posting it as an excuse to remind you that IWABO are out on the road RIGHT NOW as part of a MetalSucks co-sponsored trek being headlined by The Human Abstract and also featuring Oh, Sleeper, Vanna, A Tragic Victory and To Speak of Wolves. All the cool kids are going. And if you don’t go, they’ll know you’re not cool and no one will ever want to make out with you or touch you where your bathing suit covers again. Seriously, I know a kid who missed the tour when it came through his town last week, and then he was instantly made a social outcast and hung himself. Peer pressure peer pressure peer pressure.

So watch this interview, then get tour dates after the jump, so that mommy and daddy will still love you and God won’t send you to hell.

Click to read more…

If you haven’t yet seen The Human Abstract you’re missing out on one of the finest progressive metal bands in today’s scene. And if you haven’t seen Iwrestledabearonce you’re missing out on one of the most mindfuckingly awesome experiences short of watching Fred Durst punch himself in the nuts repeatedly. Fitting, then, that MetalSucks is sponsoring a Spring tour featuring these two awesome bands as well as metalcorers Oh, Sleeper and Vanna! The tour kicks off April 30th in Anaheim, CA and winds its way east before returning to the left coast and wrapping up on May 28th in Hollywood. Expect more good things related to this tour from MetalSucks in the near future, including exclusive tour blogs and the latest updates. Be there!

Ice cream sandwiches… mmmmm.

-VN

AND THE HITS KEEP COMING!

As part of our ongoing effort to bring you the best live metal for your dollar, I’m proud to announce on behalf of everyone here at MetalSucks that’ll be sponsoring The Human Abstract’s headlining trek this Spring. 2006’s Nocturne announced THA as one of the most exciting prog-metal acts on the scene today, a status which last year’s Midheaven only expanded upon. And if you think that shit’s impressive on record, you’ve GOT to see them do it live – it is 100% guaranteed to induce orgasm. Add metalcore mavericks Oh, Sleeper and Vanna, PLUS MetalSucks perennial  favorite experimental electrogrind mind fuck act, IWRESTLEDABEARONCE, and you have one hell of a bill that you simply cannot afford to miss. And A Tragic Victory and To Speak of Wolves are playing select dates, too! Holy shit, these shows are gonna be fun.

Tour dates are on the poster above. We’ll post any updates we get, and, of course, check in from time to time to remind you that you need to go to these shows. ‘Cause you need to go to these shows. Seriously. Shouldn’t you be on line already? You better go get on line now.

-AR

Interviewing Japanese rockstars Dir En Grey — whose excellent new album Uroboros is out now on The End Records — was one of the more challenging tasks I’ve been faced with as a journalist hack blogger. Interviewing a band you don’t know that much about and doing so on short notice? Been there, done that, easy. Having to do so in a completely foreign language through an interpreter? That threw me for a loop. Who do I look at while asking the questions — the interpreter or the band? Like, obviously I’m talking to the band, but in essence I’m talking to the interpreter since he’s the only one who understands what I’m saying. Kinda awkward. Did my questions get through as I intended them? Did the band members say I was a complete asshole? I’ll never know.

In any case the band’s two guitarists Kaoru (blue guitar in below pics) and Die (red guitar in below pics) were good sports, the interpreter did a fine job (at least as far as I know!) and the interview came out pretty well. My chat with Dir En Grey — which in retrospect seems really short because every question and answer had to be repeated — after the jump.

Click to read more…

That I don’t know what the fuck “Dozing Green” is about is understandable given it’s entirely in Japanese; but apparently Dir En Grey even make their videos in Japanese, because I have no fucking clue what the hell is going on in this one. Nevertheless the song is pretty cool and so is the video, both in unexpected and non-cliche ways. Psyched to see these dudes play in NYC this Friday with The Human Abstract.

-VN

Things are heating up in the U.S. presidential race, and everyone from Vince to Axl to Dallas to the Blogronaut expressed their opinions; naturally you all got fired up too. But even politics as usual couldn’t stop the flow of happenings this week in the world of metal:

• Dallas apologized. Woah.
• Best Buy claims Chinese Democracy is finally coming out, but we’re skeptical. No word yet from Axl Rose.
• We debuted a new Early Man track and spoke with singer/guitarist Mike Conte, while Nathan Ells of the Human Abstract spilled the beans on just about everything.
• Testament was deemed one of the Top 40 greatest thrash bands of all time.
• We loved new albums from Gojira and Psycroptic. You loved arguing about them even more, especially the former. Meanwhile, new releases from Unearth and Cradle of Filth proved controversial.
• Protest the Hero’s van broke down; they danced.
• AC/DC’s Brian Johnson proved himself old and out of touch, but that didn’t stop us from asking for freebies to see his band live.

We out. See you Monday.

Nathan Ells of The Human Abstract was one of the most interesting interview subjects I’ve spoken with all year, mostly because he was completely honest and so willing to speak about what makes him tick. Nathan came off sounding like a true artist in it for the long haul for the love of his craft, and I’ve got nothing but respect for musicians who take that approach and wear it so openly on their sleeves. The Human Abstract’s music itself is telling of that attitude also; this summer’s new release Midheaven certainly stands on its own as an artistic statement not bound by the confines of the modern metal scene.

In the interview that follows, Nathan told us all about the change in musical direction from Nocturne to The Human Abstract’s recent release Midheaven, the reasons behind A.J. Minette’s split with the band, whether he takes critics’ and fans’ opinions to heart, his prog-rock heroes, the importance of talking directly with fans, creating music for the sake of art, and what went wrong in the initial Midheaven recording sessions with producer Toby Wright.

Click to read more…

The chill of fall is in the air but the gossip mill never cools off at the MetalSucks Mansion. This week’s notables and quotables included:

• Original guitarist Peter Wichers returned to Soilwork and ex-At All Cost guitarist Mike Carrigan replaced Kris Norris in Darkest Hour; we rejoiced that great Soilwork music will once again be made and that Mike’s got a job. But the good was tempered by the bad as Christian Alvestam left Scar Symmetry and Spineshank reunited. There is no justice.
• Winds of Plague’s Kristen Randall showed the world her bewbs!
• We reviewed solid new albums by Into Eternity, Enslaved and All Shall Perish, and waxed ecstatic about Burst, Vince’s new proverbial wet dream.
• New videos from The Human Abstract and Amon Amarth are unbelievably epic.
• A scandal erupted involving the audio quality of Death Magnetic, alternate Guitar Hero mixes, and the now infamous “Better, Shorter, Cut” abridged edition.
• Vince & Axl [almost] reveal their true identities.

See ya next week.

Headbanger’s Blog just debuted “Procession of the Fates,” the video for the first single off of The Human Abstract’s excellent new album Midheaven. Given the subject matter and scope of the music, the tone and style of the clip is, as a man more annoying than myself might say, “perfectamundo.”

Unfortunately, the vid can’t be watched by anyone in the UK (Damn you, Viacom!), but for the rest of you…

-AR

It was a good week for metal last week — we’ll politely ignore the fact that Kid Rock’s Rock N’ Roll Jesus shifted an astounding 100,000 copies in its 46th week on the charts (!) to move up to #2 — and that Staind’s The Illusion of Progress netted a #3 debut by the band’s constant refusal to actually progress at all. Instead, how about some big first weeks for bands we actually care about?

Click to read more…

The inhabitants of the MetalSucks Mansion don’t agree on everything all the time. Case in point: Midheaven, the new album by The Human Abstract (out tomorrow on Hopeless Records). Axl Rosenberg loves it, Sammy O’Hagar, not so much. Since we’re all about intelligent debate here at MS, it seemed like the only logical thing to do was to allow both MetalSuckers their five minutes to express their views on the album.

So after the jump, check out not one, but two reviews of Midheaven, one positive, the other negative. Then go buy the damn thing so you can make up your own mind, and weigh in with your opinion in our comments section.

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Last week’s Funny Photo Caption Contest (pictured, right) inspired several truly funny comments, although anyone who went the obvious Hot Topic joke route was automatically disqualified for unoriginality. These are the lucky winners who will receive a copy of God Forbid’s recent DVD release Beneath the Scars of Glory and Progression:

• You Don’t Know Me: “Even Juggalos disown these kids.”
• b-rad: “Even the most Blackend souls enjoy the allure of floral print curtains.”

Nice works guys. This week we’ve got a truly special prize package: one grand-prize winner will receive a signed CD of The Human Abstract’s new record Midheaven (which hits stores August 19th) as well as a Human Abstract T-shirt, and four runners-up will receive just the Midheaven CD (not signed), still a pretty cool prize if you ask us. Just post a funny caption to the below photo, andwe’ll announce the winners here next week.

Are you guys excited about the new Human Abstract album Midheaven yet? Because holy crapticles, it’s going to be awesome. The madness begins on August 19th (Hopeless Records); but for now there’s a new video teaser to tide you over thanks to Hot Topic. Does it make up for adorning thousands of pre-pubescent teens in Slipknot hoodies and parachute pants? No; but at least Hot Topic’s done something good for metal.

-VN

Happy July 4th, everyone. Axl and I are closing down the MetalSucks Mansion a day early to get off of this swampy, hot, over-crowded island…. so this is it for us until next Monday. Enjoy your time-off; for our international readers, well… revel in the fact that you get *way* more days off than we lame Americans do throughout the whole year! Anyway, here’s what happened this week:

• Motley Crue and Shinedown had big sales debuts, while Disturbed and Kid Rock kept it going strong.
• The Human Abstract debuted more killer new music.
• We interviewed the brains behind one of our favorite albums of 2008 so far.
• David Draiman insists on having the last word in the ongoing Disturbed vs. Dillinger Escape Plan drama.
• The new Slipknot masks look kinda like the old Slipknot masks, but we like their new song.
• We asked what you thought of Straight Line Stitch; you answered loud and clear.

Cheers, everyone. Enjoy your time off.

-VN

Well, no one can ever accuse The Human Abstract of losing their DIY sensibility: the band has a very good publicist and a team of hard working managers, but that’s not stopping drummer Brett Powell from sending out his own mass e-mails to the press every time the band has an update. And good for him, I say.

So. Mr. Powell’s latest e-mail alerted us to the fact that “A Violent Strike,” the opening track from the band’s forthcoming new album Midheaven, is now streaming on THA’s MySpace page. And I think the title tells you everything you need to know about the song.

Midheaven drops on August 19 on Hopeless Records. Trust me when I tell you that you haven’t heard the best material from this album yet – not even close.

-AR

Well, the headline couldn’t really be anymore straightforward. Head over to The Human Abstract’s MySpace page to hear a brand new track, “Procession of the Fates,” from their forthcoming album, Midheaven, which drops August 19. It’s a catchy lil’ ditty that features a decent amount of the fretboard-on-fire shredding that THA fans (well, me at least) crave so very much from this band.

Also, check out the Midheaven cover art above. I don’t know if it was directly inspired by Christopher Nolan’s cinematic adaptation of Christopher Priest’s novel The Prestige or not, and if it IS an homage, I’m not entirely sure yet what the thematic significance is, but… it’s pretty cool I think.

The Human Abstract will be on the second half of this summer’s edition of The Warped Tour, too. We’ve heard rumblings that they’ll follow that up with some “more metal” tours… stay tuned for details.

-AR

Hey! So remember that sweet vid of The Human Abstract guitarist Andrew Tapley recording in the studio with producer Toby Wright? Well, we have some good news and some bad news.

The good news is that the group’s new the album, now titled Midheaven, is complete, and will be released on August 19 on Hopeless Records.

The bad news (well, from a certain perspective I guess it’s “indifferent” news) is that Toby Wright “was wiped off of all the credits and the band finished the record with a different producer,” according to a mass e-mail sent out by drummer Brett Powell. We’ve heard rumors about Wright’s dismissal and the reason behind it, but we’ll wait for the band to make some kind of official statement with regards to what exactly went wrong before commenting.

Hopefully Vince and I will get to hear this album very soon, ’cause we’re very excited about it (seriously, that video of Tapley soloing gets me sexually aroused every time I watch it, and not just ’cause of the dude’s ‘fro). In the meantime, here’s the band’s video for the sweep picktacular “Vela, Together We Await the Storm” off of their last release, 2006’s Nocturne. Enjoy.

-AR