MetalSucks

Way back in March, I expressed my sheer delight at the promise of Celan, a new group that unites Unsane frontman Chris Spencer with Oxbow guitarist Niko Wenner. The other week, the formidable noise rock combo quietly released its debut Halo (buy it buy it buy it) on Exile On Mainstream Records (whose site was recently hacked) during a month that yielded far more publicized metal albums from dinosaurs like Megadeth and Europe, as well as an embarrassingly over-promoted record from (ugh) Shadows Fall. Of course, my role on this website (other than indulging my love for 90s grunge acts) is to expose you to the kind of awesome stuff you probably missed or haven’t even heard of. Celan is one such example.

Europeans who read this site should be forewarned that Celan is about to begin a three-week tour of the continent that hits cities in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. No word yet on U.S. dates, but perhaps if some of you go out and buy the album, we may have a chance.

-GS

[Gary Suarez is madly in anger with you. He usually manages the consistently off-topic No Yoko No. Say, why don't you follow him on Twitter?]

16 is a fucking brutal band on Relapse that doesn’t get nearly enough coverage here, largely due to the band’s apparent refusal to embark on a lengthy tour to promote its latest collection of furious violent outbursts Bridges To Burn, which our own Satan Rosenbloom reviewed back in January. I actually dig this album way more than my colleague, and it ranks among my favorite records released this year thus far. In order to express my love for this band, in the hopes that you’ll check 16 out and become a fan of its de-motivational music, here’s an update on the group’s current goings-on.

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Andrew W.K., I Get Wet (Island, 2002)
Andrew W.K. – vocals
Jimmy Coup – Guitar
Erik Payne – Guitar
Frank Werner – Guitar
Gregg Roberts – Bass
Donald Tardy – Drums
Produced by Andrew W.K., John Fields, Scott Humphrey, TSD, Frank Vierti

It has been suggested by some of our commenters that I don’t belong here. Be it my distaste for deathgrind, my inability to appreciate the tr00 kvlt nature of Norwegian black metal, or the fact that I don’t give a flying fuck about Protest The Hero, I’ve always felt like an outsider around you people. Yet at no point did I feel so out of place than during the countdown of the 21 Best Metal Albums of the 21st Century… So Far. Sure, I participated. I submitted a list. I presumed many of my picks would never make the cut (Unsane’s Visqueen; Zozobra’s Harmonic Tremors), but also acknowledged less esoteric favorites of mine from the past nine-and-a-half-years (Boris Pink; Down’s III: Over The Under) that I thought had a shot. Still, nothing could have prepared me for the sheer disappointment these past few weeks when none of my favorite albums made the goddamn list.

Rather than be mature about this sad state of affairs, I am now going to explain why everyone who voted in this poll is a fucking butthole for not selecting Andrew W.K.’s 2002 masterpiece, I Get Wet.
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I’m very pleased to share with y’all the exciting news that San Francisco’s bad-ass motherfuckers Kowloon Walled City will release its new album with Perpetual Motion Machine, home to other rad acts such as The Catalyst. Boasting a sound that gives noise rock royalty like Unsane a run for its money, the sludgetastic band has been blogging away about at its website about the recording of this as-yet untitled album, which will be available in LP and CD formats. From the studio photos I’ve seen, they’re subsisting primarily on Easter candy and energy drinks, though I’m sure there’s some Rice-A-Roni around there somewhere.

If you weren’t paying attention the last time I talked about this awesome band, you can still download a free copy of the Turk Street EP. Or, you can continue to be a fucking douchebag and not get wise to one of the best contemporary acts representing The New Wave Of American Noise Rock.

-GS

[Gary Suarez would really like to know whatever happened to predictability. He also writes for Brainwashed and usually manages the consistently off-topic No Yoko No. Say, why don't you follow him on Twitter?]

I’ve got a bit of a cold, so I’m not really up for writing some long drawn out post replete with nautical allusions, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t try and turn you on to a stellar post-hardcore band I’ve only just discovered. City Of Ships is a Virginia-based trio that recently signed to Translation Loss Records. Due out this June, the full-length debut Look What God Did to Us was produced by Andrew Schneider at Brooklyn’s Translator Audio, a studio that has served such Scraping Genius… faves as Made Out Of Babies and Zozobra, as well as the upcoming Celan (Chris from Unsane) album I’m so fucking stoked about.

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The lack of new music from New York’s noise rock royals Unsane has been a source of sadness for me considering the vicious and vibrant Visqueen record on Ipecac a few years ago. Every few months, I find myself visiting their MySpace page in the hopes that we might get a news of another album or even some tour dates. Thankfully, as I learned today, its members have gone on to new and interesting projects. Vinnie Signorelli drums for the talented post-metal combo A Storm Of Light, while bassist Dave Curran is making some cool shit with his fellow Pigs. I already knew about those two, but I was especially pleased to discover that Unsane’s founder Chris Spencer has a new project called Celan, which unsurprisingly bears a sonic semblance to the project he’s been toiling in since 1988. Check out tracks like “One Minute” or “All This And Everything” from the band’s upcoming album for Germany’s Exile On Mainstream Records and tell me they wouldn’t be out of place on an Unsane album. Other members of the band include Niko Wenner from Oxbow, so needless to say, I’m pretty fucking pumped for the forthcoming debut Halo, which will hit America officially this coming September.

If anyone needs me, I’ll be watching the Lambhouse bonus DVD from Relapse and laughing my ass off at the abundance of SKATEBOARD FAIL in the classic “Scrape” video.

-GS

My stars and garters, there sure are some super-spectacular noise rock bands plowing through their local scenes these days, a number of which remain criminally unsigned. Boston’s Disappearer is one such unseemly gang of morally bereft marauders, performing hard charging tunes that recall Unsane’s best moments cut with a moderate dose of stonerdom and even some Jesu-type metalgaze. The Stephen Brodsky produced demo (which you have no choice but to download for free!) will leave you dizzy with rage and hazy with bewilderment. The band is due for some shows soon in Allston Student Ghetto, MA and New York with such fine artists as Zozobra and prior “Why Haven’t You Heard Of…?” featured act Gods And Queens, the latter having recently released a sweet-as-hairpie debut on Robotic Empire.

-GS

[Gary Suarez can't believe it's not buttsecks. He also writes for Brainwashed and usually manages the consistently off-topic No Yoko No.]