MetalSucks

Australian metal troop The Amenta are currently touring the U.S. with Polish death troop Vader as one of way too many support bands who get abbreviated 20 minute sets on the tour. Thankfully, even with only a 20 minute set, The Amenta made traveling into Manhattan on a Saturday night worth it; their powerful set was equal parts modern death metal and neo-industrial and their stage presence was captivating. Place The Amenta firmly in the “bands to watch” category.

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If you say it three times, they will appear and wreak havoc on your life. Like Beetlejuice.

“Never Say My Name” comes off of Vader’s latest, Necropolis, which is out now.

-AR

More new music for your Monday. Hoo-ray!

• Vader have a new song, “We are the Horde,” streaming here. The track comes off the band’s forthcoming, uniquely titled Necropolis, which comes out September 22. At this point, Vader is barely the band that made Kingdom, but, hey, it still sounds nice n’ brutal.
• Winds of Plague are streaming a new song, “Soldiers of Doomsday,” here. It comes off their new album, The Great Stone War, which comes out August 11 on Century. And here’s the thing about the record: yes, Johnny Plague dresses like a mo’ron, and yes, Kristen Randall really could have handled that whole boobie incident better. But the band can clearly play, and seem to be moving in a more Sumeriancore direction. I’m not sure that this album is the greatest thing ever, but it is wwwwaaaayyyyy better than I assumed it would be. So at least give the song a listen before you start bitching. ‘Cause I’m legitimately curious to hear what peeps think of it.

-AR

John Kempainen’s awesome guitar solos were major part of the appeal of The Black Dahlia Murder, at least for me. That being said, his replacement, former Arsis axeman Ryan Knight, is no slouch, so I’m definitely down to hear whatever the band comes up with next.

Our pals at Metal Injection captured some lo-fi footage of BDM doing a new song, “Necropolis,” and although it’s hard to hear much besides Trevor Strnad’s vocals, the track sounds heavy as a hippo (And I’ll even forgive the fact that The Absence, as well about as a gajillion other bands, already have a song called “Necropolis.”). Check it out:

Meanwhile, Blabbermouth posted footage of Vader doing a new song, “Rise of the Undead,” which will appear on their new album, entitled… Necropolis. Jesus H. Christ death metal bands, get some new fucking ideas already.

Check out the Vader video after the jump. Their Necropolis drops September 22.

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Last year Vader joined the re-recording club with the time-wasting and completely pointless XXV – and now I’m starting to wonder if the ridiculous exercise has sucked all the juice out of their mind grapes. The band has posted a demo for a new song, “Rise of the Undead,” on their website, and the song is the very definition of “forgettable.” And I say this as a Vader fan – it just doesn’t make me excited to hear their new album, Necropolis. In fact, it just makes me want to listen to The Absence’s album Necropolis, as everything on that record is vastly superior to this song.

Download the song below, then hit me with your best thoughts. Necropolis, the band’s first album with their new line-up, will be out later this year.

Vader, “Rise of the Undead” (Demo) – Necropolis

-AR

Vader recently lost one of their guitarists*, Mauser, who apparently split to concentrate on his other band, the horribly-monikered Unsun. Based on the songs on the band’s MySpace page, it would appear that this group is the eight trillionth pop-metal band with a female lead singer who is just okay-looking enough for crater-faced metal nerds to put in their spank bank. I don’t mind that kind of thing so much when we’re talking about, say, Christina Scabbia, mostly because I don’t find Lacuna Coil’s music annoying and because Scabbia is more than just okay-looking; but this band just sucks, the same way Nightwish just suck, the same way In This Moment just suck.

I’m sure Unsun have an album coming out or something, but I don’t give a fuck. Here’s a teaser for their new whatever-the-fuck they want you to purchase:

-AR

*And their drummer, but since he wasn’t Doc, are we really supposed to give a rat’s ass?

Vader are getting their own energy drink in their native land of Poland. I can’t fucking believe it, but there’s the non-photoshopped picture as proof. It’s not just like some energy drink company HAPPENED to choose the name Vader – they actively WANT to do a tie-in with this metal band.

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Summer Slaughter Tour Terrorizes Texas on Independence Day

One problem with being an Old Fart in the metal scene is that you have to do Old Farty kind of things, like celebrating 4th of July with your family and friends. The problem arises when said celebration coincides with one of the biggest concerts of the year – the Summer Slaughter Tour.

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Last night I heard the “new” Vader album, XXV, for the first time. In case you’re not hip to this release, it’s the Polish death metal masters’ 25th anniversary album, and is basically a greatest hits compilation – except that all the songs have been re-recorded with the band’s current line-up. Which, naturally, means that late drummer Krzysztof “Doc” Raczkowski appears nowhere on the album (or, at least, not in the audio content – I still don’t have a copy of the DVD which will accompany the disc’s release).

Of course, Vader aren’t the first band to embark upon such an endeavor. Living Colour, Twisted Sister, and even The Sex Pistols have all re-recorded some of their old songs for purpose of being able to license them without having to share the wealth with their former record labels, which is a brutal, and brutally honest, reason to re-visit your old catalogue. Dave Mustaine re-recorded “A Tout Le Monde” as a duet with Cristina Scabbia just last year; Anthrax re-recorded a bunch of old Joey Belladonna tunes with John Bush for their Greater of Two Evils* collection; hell, Dimmu Borgir re-recorded their entire album Stormblast because they were so unhappy with the original, and as I understand it, it’s only by the grace of God that we don’t have Appetite for Destruction 2000, featuring Axl Rose’s “revamped” GN’R in place of the original (although a half of a re-recorded “Sweet Child O’Mine” does roll over the closing credits of the Adam Sandler vehicle Big Daddy).

What, one has to wonder, is the point of re-recording all the band’s old songs?

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