“Somebody get me a goddman second band!!!”

Paul Romanko is now the only member of Shadows Fall who doesn’t have a side project — or, if he does, he hasn’t gone public with it yet. What’s that about? I’m sure he has no recollection of this whatsoever, but back in my lowly fanboy days, before I was a super-cool blahger d00d, I had beers with Romanko, and he was a totally cool guy! And he had no B.O. problems that I noticed. So how come no one wants to play with him? Let him in the sandbox, damn it!

While you ponder that completely meaningless question (I mean for all I know the dude is just enjoying his time off and has no desire to be in a second band), feel free to head over to Noisecreep and check out the song “Shades of Grey,” the new song from Dead of Night — a.k.a. the side project of Shads’ guitarists Matt Bachand and Jon Donais (ex-Unearth skinsman Derek Kerswill plays drums, making this somewhat of a NWOAHM supergroup).

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When  the line-up for this year’s Mayhem Fest was announced last week, we were told that more bands would eventually be announced. Not to sound like gloating pricks or anything, but we here at MetalSucks already knew that Trivium were gonna be on the bill, even if their involvement hadn’t been made public yet.

Well, now it’s public. Trivium are on the bill. They’ll be on the main stage along with Disturbed, Godsmack, Megadeth, Machine Head, and In Flames; the line-up is rounded out by second stage acts Unearth, Suicide Silence, Kingdom of Sorrow, All Shall Perish, Red Fang, and Straight Line Snooze.

When we saw the band at Mayhem in 2009, they were one of the dominant acts on the second stage; I will never forget wondering “Where the fuck is Paolo Gregoletto?” before realizing that he had jumped into the crowd and was playing amongst the thousands of rabid fans. And Trivium’s live show has increased in quality by 100% since they traded drummer Travis Smith for Nick Augusto last year. (Read Vince’s article on the matter here.) In other words: Trivium’s addition to the bill is a good thing.

Trivium are at Audiohammer Studios in Florida working on a new album with producer Colin Richardson even as I type this; I’ve heard that the goal is to get that record out in time for Mayhem. While we wait for more news of that release, here are Mayhem dates:

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I don’t think anybody ever really reads these little intros Vince or myself write every week, so I’m gonna dispense with one today, and if that makes you sad, uh, you’re weird.

Here’s how we got our pull this week:

• We debuted new music by Abysmal Dawn, Full Blown Chaos, and Årabrot.
• We spoke to Jeff Paulick from Lazarus A.D. and Ginger from The Wildhearts.
• We checked out new releases from Xasthur, haarp, and Hesper Payne.
• We watched a nerd’s video about seeing Sunn O))).
• We tried to understand why The Big Four are only doing one show in America.
• We debated the merits and demerits of this year’s Mayhem Fest line-up.
• We celebrated the way that metal makes everything better.
• We enjoyed some new All Shall Perish music (kinda).
• We prepared for Zakk Wylde to boldly go where no guitarist has gone before.
• We got even MORE excited for Meek is Murder’s Algorithms.

Next week we’re gonna, like, totally talk about metal n’ stuff. You should come back and read it, it will be fun.

-AR

The line-up for this year’s Mayhem Fest wasn’t s’posedta be announced ’til tomorrow, but Blabbermouth has posted it so I guess it’s go time. There are supposed to be more bands announced — I know of at least one group who are definitely doing this tour and aren’t on this list — but for now, here are the bands playing, and my thoughts on those bands (UPDATED with tour dates):

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I was thinking the other day about how some bands make a lot of money even though they always get bad reviews and it seems like nobody likes them. Like how everybody is all “I H8 DEATHCORE/METALCORE;;;ALL THE BANDS SOUND THE SAME;H8 U SUISIDE SILENCE;;H8 U ATTACK ATTACK,” and then they are like “U SHOULD LISTEN TO THIS BAND BECAUSE THEY ARE DOING SOMETHING REALLY ORIGINAL AND UNIQUE” and link to some obscure band I have never heard of. I guess it is cool to be original if you are OK with being a poor artist, but sometimes I think it’s stupid to be “original.” I think it is smarter to wait until someone else invents something, then after they make it popular, copy them (only do it a little better so you get more popular than the band who invented it).

I am going to list some bands who were stupid, because they were the ones who invented something that other people copied — metalcore, djent, and other popular styles of metal. Most of these bands were really good, but because they were one of the first bands to play that style of metal, nobody liked them and they didn’t make any money. I feel bad for them, but I want to share their stories here so you don’t make the same mistakes they did!!

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A screencap of the hard drive on which Unearth are tracking their new album. These are all working titles, natch.

Since Unearth split with drummer Derek Kerswill back in October, fans have been wondering who the metalcore pioneers would find to fill his spot. And while a full-time replacement has yet to be decided, the band has announced that Killswitch Engage (and maybe still Blood Has Been Shed?) skinsman Justin Foley (no, not the Justin Foley that sometimes graces this site with his presence) will play all the drums on their album. The band explains in a statement:

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For my opening salvo, I suppose I should mention that it has been a long break between blogs. I’ve been meaning to get back to it, but this summer has been a very busy one filled with the musical composition of the new God Forbid album as well as a new project I’ve been working on, in addition to the daily pursuit of living life and getting by. I hope to contribute more frequently in the near future.

If you’ve followed my articles in the past, you may notice that I often address music history, and pertaining to this site, heavy music specifically. I have a great respect for artistic pioneers and the roots of where the most admirable and brilliant music stems from. I was the type of kid who would read liner notes and interviews by my favorite bands to find out who influenced them. I would always want to climb that musical family tree to see where it lead.

In my process of discovery, there was a common thread that jumped out at me that has been consistent through metal and rock history.  There seemed to be an intercontinental ping-pong match between the USA and Europe in terms of trailblazing the cutting edge of whatever musical genre was the dominant force of the time. This goes way back before metal existed — and yet, it has helped shape the musical landscape that exists today. The torch keeps being symbolically passed from one shore to the other.

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Derek Kerswill, who has been the drummer in Unearth since 2007, is now out of the band. The oft-utilized “creative differences” explanation was the only one given; the band promises to that they “will be announcing a replacement drummer for our upcoming European stint” shortly, and still plan to release a new album next year.

Kerswill is a great drummer but this news doesn’t really get me down. He’s the band’s third skin beater (that means “drummer,” right?), and The March, the 2008 release on which he played, wasn’t my favorite Unearth album, but it also wasn’t my least favorite Unearth album, and I really don’t think that any of Unearth’s albums are bad. I guess what I’m saying is, Kerswill was not the driving creative force behind this band, and I somehow suspect that they’re gonna bounce back pretty quickly.

And in the meantime, Kerswill’s Tangents project released their debut album, One Little Light Year, yesterday. It’s not my thing but I know some fine people who dig it. Hopefully it will keep Kerswill busy.

-AR

I lurrrvvved Damone‘s Out Here All Night when it was released in 2006. I discovered it from a listening booth — remember those? — at Tower Records — remember those? — and was instantly hooked to their blend of glammy hard rock and crunchy power-pop. I thought that Island Records had given the band the boot and I subsequently lost track of them, but apparently they released a new album called Roll the Dice in 2008 which I’m downloading from Amazon as we speak.

I’m not sure of the present day status of Damone, but lead singer / guitarist Noelle Leblanc is fronting a new Boston band called Lipbite. Their music is in the same vein as Damone’s, which is to say that most tr00/kvlt/br00talz metalheads probably won’t care about it all, but Unearth’s Ken Susi makes a guest appearance in their new video… which I suppose also means that most tr00/kvlt/br00talz metalheads probably won’t care about it all. But I do, ’cause 1) The song rocks, 2) Ken Susi is always hilarious. I’m not sure if Susi has any role in producing/managing/boning Lipbite or if he’s just friends with these fellow Bostonians, but at the very least his presence in the video got me to pay attention to it. Here it be:

Lipbite have a MySpace page with a mockingly hilarious bio (yeah, I read all of it) but not much else, if anyone cares.

-VN

At the Accept show I went to last week, I had a pretty funny moment with the boy when I said that it sounded like they were singing “We are nice” instead of “Neon nights.” Which got me thinking: I mishear lyrics a lot. It could be because I’m deaf, or people just don’t enunciate, or that most of the bands I listen to don’t really know English that well so they probably are singing stupid shit. Or it could be that I’d rather hear something than what I actually do — I mean, Bob Ezrin wanted a new, edgy song to appeal to those hip youngsters and thought Alice Cooper was singing “I’m edgy,” instead of “I’m eighteen.” Personally, I’m way more entertained with what my brain, or other people’s brains (as I got some volunteers for this task), comes up with. So here are a few songs that made it to my Misheard Lyrics Hall of Fame.

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“One Step Away,” from The Stings of Conscience, featuring Chris “Rover” Rybicki on bass

Unearth’s original bassist, Chris “Rover” Rybicki, passed away yesterday. The cause was injuries sustained from a traffic accident three weeks ago, in which Rybicki, who was all of 39 years old, was riding a scooter when an allegedly drunk driver, 25 year-old Beth MacGillivary, hit him with her car.

A statement from Unearth reads as follows:

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Derek Kerswill is the current drummer for the mighty Unearth, and has also worked with Kingdom of Sorrow, Seemless, Icepick, and, uh, Stryper. So I was curious to hear Tangents, his new, non-metal side project, ’cause, well, I’m always curious to hear the non-metal talented metal dudes make — it always feels like it gives me some deeper insight into where they’re coming from, for lack of a better term.

Well, Noisecreep is now streaming a new Tangents track, “The Pieces Fall,” and while I’m digging the music, which is as catchy as anything you’d get from making out with Tommy Lee, Dave Witham’s vocals just don’t do it for me. I don’t think Witham is a bad singer, from a technical standpoint; which is to say, he doesn’t sound like so much of the autotuned crap I hear these days. They’re just a little too thin. It’s kinda like how when I was a kid, I’d go to the movies and see dudes like Harrison Ford and Bruce Willis, and they were man; now I go see guys like Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon, and while they’re certainly talented, they all look kinda like boys, still waiting for the facial hair to come in and their voices to drop. Witham’s vocal style gives me the aural equivalent of that same feeling.

But like I said, the music is good, and I’m sure that, as always, plenty of you will disagree with my assessment. Check out Tangents’ “The Pieces Will Fall” here, and then come back and let us know what you think in the comments section. Tangents’ debut album, One Little Light Year, comes out October 26.

-AR

Allow me to preface this by saying that I really, really, really like Unearth.

But this is kinda funny.

-AR

[via SMN]

We’ve all been there. Tensions are high in some packed, sweaty venue, sparked by feverish excitement and the potential for violence. These people paid good money to enjoy some type of cathartic release. The frontman for whatever hard-nu-death-crab-metal-core outfit is brazen and demanding. Can you believe this shit? You PAID to be entertained, and this guy is telling YOU what to do! The speech goes something like this: “I want everybody in this room moving! Front to back, side to side, NO ONE STANDS STILL! When this part kicks in, I want total [Insert destructive word here like "chaos," "mayhem," or "bedlam" if you're witty]. If the person next to you isn’t moving, MAKE THEM MOVE!” Than, if the action is not adequate, this screamer/pep rally organizer calls YOU some variation of “pussy” or “faggot” or really anything to make you feel like a soft, womanly bitch of a man in order to get in that pit and kick another grown man in the face, all in the spirit of making this band look like they are awesome. But then something happens, as if the air is sucked out of the room at the moment of impact – when those glorious staccato chugs kick in, the crowd is almost always powerless to its charms regardless of the obvious lack of substance. Like junk food and reality TV, we have a love affair with breakdowns.

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So those covers for the Metal Hammer Dimebag tribute album are starting to surface I guess. First one up is Unearth’s version of “Sandblasted Skin,” which they’re now streaming on their MySpace page.

And it’s pretty good. I mean, Unearth are a good band, they’re certainly heavily influenced by Pantera, and they didn’t really that many changes to the track. So, y’know. Hopefully this will help make some new Pantera fans – ’cause really, what else are covers good for?

Nuthin’ but nuthin’ will ever beat the original, though… God, this song is brutal.

-AR

It’s hard to believe that Dime has been gone for five years, but December 8 will be the anniversary of one of metal’s bleakest moments. To cash-in on commemorate the event, Metal Hammer have enlisted a bunch of well-known acts to record Pantera covers (but not Damageplan covers, because, y’know, let’s get real here) for a CD that will come with the magazine. Metal Hammer has done this a few times in the past – I remember they had they entire Master of Puppets album re-recorded by various bands, including Mastodon, Machine Head, Chimaira and Trivium when that album reached its twentieth anniversary, and some of it was pretty good.

Get the complete track list for Metal Hammer’s Dime tribute disc after the jump, along with my thoughts in bold.

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On November 10th, Unearth will offer up a special edition of their latest album The March. The special edition will come with a bonus DVD featuring a tour documentary entitled The Three Day March, with footage shot by acclaimed director Doug Spangenberg during Unearth’s recent tour of the Northeastern US. The DVD will also feature footage from inside the studio during the band’s recording sessions for The March as well as party footage from the band’s recent tour with Testament. Anyone who’s ever met the dudes from Unearth or even seen them live should know that they’re a perpetual party machine… so this should be fun to watch. In addition to the candid behind the scenes footage, the DVD will also feature live footage of four songs from the 2008 Wacken Festival and the three music videos shot for The March.

Check out an exclusive preview clip from the DVD below, and pre-order the special edition set here. Unearth go on tour in early November with Hatebreed, Cannibal Corpse, Born of Osiris and Hate Eternal; full list of dates after the jump.

[This exclusive has now ended.]

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Dude, I haven’t played Guitar Hero (or Rock Band, for that matter) in for-ever. But apparently their song “Graves of Opportunity” is available as part of a track pack for Guitar Hero world tour, alongside an awesome Chimaira song (“Walking On Broken Glass”) and something by a band I don’t care to mention who are named after a Meryl Streep movie, so maybe it’s time I picked up my plastic guitar and rocked out again.

The “Graves of Opportunity” certainly gives me the desire to do so – I mean, it looks like it was more fun to film than it is to watch. Phil Labonte looks like he’s having a good time, at least.

If there really were Unearth avatars for Guitar Hero, it would be awesome if when you hit “overdrive” or whatever the fuck it’s called, the digital Ken Susi would spit in the air, catch it in his hand, and then run it through his hair. Ah. I can dream, can’t I?

“Graves of Opportunity” comes off of Unearth’s excellent album The March, which is out on Metal Blade now.

-AR

Shady times in Poland. We were a little bummed to begin with. Warsaw was coming up and we found out that Behemoth was playing in the same town as us. In their homeland. Ouch. When you get news like that your first feelings are, “Why bother with our show? Why not go hang out at their show?” That’s never a good idea. I remember when we were on the Dark Funeral/Naglfar tour in 2007 and we hit Phoenix, Arizona the same day as Behemoth and Job For a Cowboy. It seemed like a serious bummer, but somehow there were still around 200 kids at our show, which was on par for that tour. Same thing happened on this tour. There were like 400-500 kids at our show. I heard there were 2,500 people at the Behemoth show, but still, 400-500 kids made for good times.

The crowd was enthusiastic and other than the intense heat onstage, I thought it was great times. The promoter was super cool. The food spread he gave us was fit for an army. So many different kinds of everything. Meats, cheeses, breads, drinks, cereals, candies, fruits, yogurts, spreads, etc., etc., etc. His dinner was amazingly catered as well. So many different choices of pastas, meats, salads. The backstage area was huge. We were treated great.

Until the end of the night, that is.

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I am SO PISSED that I missed Chimaira’s most recent tour (with Hatebreed), because a) Chimaira slay live and b) I’m fucking dying to hear some more material from The Infection in a live setting – when I saw the band on this spring’s Music as a Weapon tour, the album had literally just come out that day and the band were, consequently, only playing two new songs.

So. Rhythm guitarist Matt DeVries had to pull a Mark Morton and leave the tour early so he could get home for the birth of his new child, Austin (Mazel tov, Matt!); filling in for him is Daath co-guitarist/all around cool dude Emil Werstler. I am using this little fact as an excuse to post this video I saw on Blabbermouth of the Wersterful Chimaira performing “The Venom Inside.” Also, to point out that bassist Jim LaMarca seems to have shed his signature locks. That leaves DeVries as the only dude in Chimaira capable of windmilling. Just sayin’.

Chimaira continue to decimate Europe alongside Unearth, Throwdown, and our friends in Daath through October 12; then, at the end of the month, they hit the States again with Trivium, Whitechapel and Dirge Within. Get dates here.

-AR