MetalSucks

Holy shit. I wasn’t even out that late last night, but for some reason I am just so tired today that it feels like nothing is really happening. Am I really typing this? Did I really write something positive about Zakk Wylde? Can I please just go to sleep now? I’m just gonna go to sleep now.

Before I do, here’s some things that happened this week:

• We’re giving away a free download of Katatonia’s new song, “Forsaker.”
• We spoke to Hypocrisy’s Peter Tagtgren and Brian Cook from Russian Circles and These Arms Are Snakes.
• We checked out new releases from Slayer and Jesu.
• Otep Shamaya gives women in metal a good name – too bad she won’t be a woman much longer.
• Leaves’ Eyes singer Liv Kristine gives women in metal a bad name – or, at least, a silly one.

Alright, seriously, night-night time for Axl. I think Gary Suarez is going to the NYC Vader gig tomorrow; if anyone sees him there, give him a dead arm for me.

-AR

Instru-metallers Russian Circles’ new album Geneva is out now. Even Axl, who usually doesn’t get into all of the same instrumental / trippy / wank stuff that I do, is enjoying the album and described it as “really cinematic.” If you’ve yet to experience this amazing band, be sure to listen to a few tracks on their MySpace page and catch them on their current tour with Young Widows and Coliseum.

Current These Arms Are Snakes / ex-Botch bassist Brian Cook recently became a full-time member of Russian Circles after having recorded and toured with them on their last record Station. I recently emailed Brian a batch of questions about joining the band, recording the new album, balancing the workload between all of his projects, and what the future holds for Russian Circles, to which he was more than happy to respond in detail. My questions, his answers… after the jump.

Click to read more…

In celebration of their upcoming tour — or perhaps just because they felt like it — Seattle post-metallers These Arms are Snakes have released a new digital single called “Washburn,” streaming exclusively at Spinner.com. The song, originally half of a super-limited edition split 7″ with All the Saints, is exactly what we’ve all come to expect from TAAS: jarring rhythms, angular dissonance, and intricate post-metal riffs in a raw, punk package.

Monsieurs Rosenberg, Wingerschmidt and myself are all going to attend the insanity that is a TAAS show on September 25th at a grimy, DIY Brooklyn venue called “Shea Stadium” (!!). That show will undoubtedly blow the frickin’ pants off the following night’s hang at the relatively pedestrian (but still awesome) Mercury Lounge in Manhattan… it’s gonna be “batshit crazy,” in the words of Mr. Wingerschmidt.

Full list of tour dates after the jump.

Click to read more…

“Russian Circles” is like an onomatopoeia of band names; I have no idea what a Russian Circle is, but I do know that if the band name is spoken — not written — it’s accurate as fuck. Listen to any Russian Circles song and tell me their music doesn’t sound just like circles that are rushing, spiraling and spinning (hint: it helps if you’re stoned). Their excellent 2008 release Station was one of my favorite instru-metal releases of that year, and judging from the new track “Malko,” their new record Geneva (October 20th, Suicide Squeeze) will bring more of the same rushing, circling goodness.

Noise/post-rock fans, take note: ex-Botch, current-These Arms Are Snakes bass player Brian Cook is now a permanent member of Russian Circles. Yeah!

Listen to “Malko,” courtesy of The Fader, below:

Russian Circles – “Malko”

Catch the band on tour with Young Widows and Red Sparowes this fall. Dates after the jump.

-VN

Click to read more…

“You may think you know what a These Arms Are Snakes live show looks and sounds like… But if you’ve never seen them, I can guarantee that you have no idea.  Broken ribs, black eyes, self-induced concussions, and that is on a tame night!  Whether this is the first or the fiftieth time you have seen the band play, it’s safe to say that your face WILL BE melted by awesome!”

So begins the press release announcing this fall’s These Arms Are Snakes U.S. tour, and I really couldn’t've summed it up any better myself. Kip W. and I got pummelled by TAAS on Night 1 of this year’s SXSW, and having somehow never seen this amazing band live before we had no idea what we were in for. Vocalist Steve Snere hung from the rafters and drummer Chris Common is one of the most buttery smooth, finesse-style drummers I’ve ever seen in my life; I was transfixed. Don’t miss this one, kids!

Here’s the band performing “Abracadabra” live in 2007. Tour dates after the jump.

Click to read more…

The name Dave Verellen should mean something to anyone who laments the 2002 breakup of Botch, the esteemed hardcore act whose legacy has made it more popular now than when it was an active unit. As the voice of that group, Verellen deserves partial credit – and perhaps a little blame – for the glut of roaring metalcore vocalists that came in his wake. From a publicity perspective, this influence strengthens the already impressive pedigree of Narrows, his latest band featuring members of noteworthy heavy ensembles such as Unbroken and These Arms Are Snakes. As evidenced by its full-length debut New Distances, the group refuses to rest on its proverbial laurels and instead goes above and beyond its participants’ discographies, yielding something truly exceptional.

Click to read more…

Where to begin? So many debaucherous moments — too many beers, not enough whiskeys, a shit-ton of BBQ, and a helluva lotta MUSIC….yes yes, it was another sleep-deprived week in Austin, Texas, and at the end of it all, it was the best one yet.

Click to read more…

I couldn’t find any footage of These Arms are Snakes performing live that accurately captured the spectacle I witnessed first-hand on Wednesday, but this video for “Horse Girl” has some shots of the band rocking out so it’ll have to do for now. While I can see many of our readers not being able to get into this band because of the higher punk to metal ratio, just trust me when I say that I was the same until I saw them live; and you will be too. TAAS still have some live dates in the Western U.S. on their current tour, so if you live out that way make absolutely sure you go see them.

-VN

These Arms Are Snakes just released a video for the song “Red Line Season” from their Suicide Squeeze Records release Tail Swallower and Dove. The Artificial Army-directed clip is a trippy mothafuckin experience. Kinda reminds me of that time Axl and I drove from New York to Los Angeles with an ounce of mushrooms, got sidetracked in El Paso at a roadside diner-turned-whorehouse, went on a 48-hour bender with the dudes from Lake Bukkake and woke up in a jail cell next to some dude named Biff. Oh wait… I’ve never even been to El paso? Never met the mysterious geniuses of Lake Bukkake? None of that even happened? Oh yeah…. right. Carry on.

-VN

These Arms are Snakes are a band that I only became conscious of in one of those classic concert-going situations: “Hey, who’s opening for [headlining band]? Who the fuck is that?” These situations are always filled with potential goodness, because ultimately an opening band that you’ve never heard of simply cannot ruin the concert for you short of lighting the venue on fire or boob-slapping your girlfriend; you’re there to see the headliner, and no matter how crappy the support is, there’s usually a bar that’s more deserving of your 45 minutes of attention. On the other hand, if the band is respectable, it’s a bonus to what was hopefully going to be a sweet show anyway.

Luckily for me, TAAS was in the latter category and put on a spectacular live show.

Click to read more…

A few weeks ago, the Chicago-based rising instrumental metal band Russian Circles played at New York City’s Mercury Lounge as part of a short tour to whet the appetite of the masses for the release of their new record Station, out May 6th on Suicide Squeeze Records. Russian Circles were nothing short of fantastic, their aggressive brand of stoney metal punctuated by Floydian guitar work, ethereal soundscapes and dynamic drumming. Before the show, MetalSucks had the opportunity to sit down with Russian Circles’ drummer Dave Turncrantz to ask him about the new record, working with producer Mat Bayles (Mastodon, Botch, Vendetta Red, Norma Jean) the band’s formation and musical evolution, and their plans for the future. The full chat transcript after the jump.

Click to read more…

In my ongoing quest to talk about bands who have thus far been given the shaft by MetalSucks, here’s the video to a track from Botch’s seminal album, We Are the Romans. Botch’s members went on to form a bunch of other good bands after they broke up in ‘02, including These Arms are Snakes, which, if memory serves, is one of Kip Wingerschmidt’s very favorite groups.

In any case, like most really awesome acts that disbanded, I have a hard time believing that Botch won’t someday sully their legacy with a reunion tour. Until that day…

[kml_flashembed movie="http://youtube.com/v/OI0_jmR8HeY" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

-AR