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Lotsa stuff happened over the long weekend while we were away, so yesterday we did our best to catch ya’llup. But Vic Vaughn would never leave you hanging, and as such here’s his take on all the new metal hitting the waves this week.
MetalSucks is super-duper-uper psyched to be co-sponsoring the U.S. fall tour for Baroness, whose forthcoming Blue Album is so good that Axl will buy you a hooker if it’s not his favorite album of 2009. Baroness definitely bring the goods live, too. Some time shortly after the release of Red Album I saw the band in a shitty, hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant in Bushwick that was so makeshift that the furious moshpit kept running up against the restaurant’s tables and chairs stacked against the walls. It was complete fucking mayhem, and though Baroness have now moved on to considerably bigger and better venues, their intensity and passion for their live shows is just the same. Support on the run comes from a rotating cast of characters consisting of Earthless, U.S. Christmas, MetalSucks faves Iron Age, and Dark Castle, all of whom are sure to sweeten up the deal just that much.
Full list of tour dates (with relevant support act info) after the jump.
Let me just make myself clear in saying that I am not opposed to experimentation. Without experimentation, The Beatles would have never progressed beyond playing narrow teen pop songs, Led Zeppelin would have never dabbled in Eastern tonalities for the crushing result of “Kashmir” or and taken heavy psychedelic blues to the (arguably still untouched) higher plain of Presence, Husker Du would have never lifted hardcore out of its confining parameters, Death would have never brought jazz and prog rock to death metal, and Neurosis and Isis would have ceased to exist after a few mediocre hardcore albums. Almost any good band experiments, and it’s what brings us further not only in metal, but in music in general.
That being said, the sheer nature of experimentation calls for failed experiments, as how will one knows what it takes to succeed if not for witnessing others’ failures? It’s because of this that “experimental” rock and metal gain the bad connotation they do: endless wanking for the purpose of wanking, sounding interesting to no one but those playing on the album. Experimenting is vital, but yes, sometimes, without knowing it, bands that are looking to push the envelope are just jerking off on tape, failing to realize the sound of their aural masturbation falls flat on the ears of most. Though U.S. Christmas don’t completely embody that last statement, there is a sense of purposeless to their approach, leading one to ask, “Wait, what the fuck is going on?” five songs in, and not in a good way.
