Last year (and the year before) I got way too busy with this thing called life and missed out on a lot of quality music. I am here to rectify the error of my ways, month by month.

Sorry for the delay. Been extra busy writing books, covering film festivals for Bloody Disgusting, and watching zee American football (Go Steelers!). Also, my listening tally (165 releases for September alone!!) practically quadrupled with the introduction of Spotify into my home.

I won’t have another Bleeders’ list until December as I am fast approaching a deadline on my next true crime book, Teach Me To Kill. I will, however, be contributing my Top 15 picks of the year before I resume the Bleeders’ lists.

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The “Top Hard Music” Chart I’ve been using for this column for the past couple of years is a mixed bag; on one hand, a lot of the “Top Hard Music” albums are really old albums that continue to sell (Metallica’s Black Album, various greatest hits collections, catalogue albums of whatever big band happens to be on tour at the time, etc) which paints a skewed picture of what I’m really interested in, namely the new stuff. On the other hand, it’s interesting to see how those older albums continue to sell.

I was recently alerted to the existence of a different chart, “Current Hard Music;” I’m not sure what the criteria is for what constitutes “Current” as some albums on this chart have been on for 90+ weeks and some artists are certainly not “current” by any means, but it does seem to paint a much better picture of the sales of newer albums. Without perrenial classics and greatest hits comps hogging up precious chart space, fewer units need to be sold for a band to get into the Top 100 on the “Current” chart. I am contemplating a move to focusing on that chart in the future. For now, I’ll stick with Top Hard Music with some added albums from the bottom of the other chart. What do you guys think?

Anyway, this week we’ve got big debuts from Pearl Jam and Opeth, big second week drops from a number of artists (Anthrax, Dream Theater and more) that still have pretty big sales numbers, and a look at some albums that came out earlier this year (Black Dahlia Murder, All Shall Perish, more).

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Last week was a big, big sales week for new metal releases, I’d imagine one of the highest cumulative tallies of the year so far. The #1 through #6 entries on the Top Hard Music charts could all be considered smashes in today’s relative terms, with Dream Theater, Anthrax and others making big splashes. Arch/Matheos, Vader and Wolves in the Throne Room also had nice debuts. Let’s look at the numbers:

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Damn. After a few slow weeks of new releases, we have a ton of new stuff coming out this week, including new stuff from Anthrax, Dream Theater, Wolves in the Throne Room, Haste the Day, Vader, Primus and my personal favorite, Elks, plus many more. We have officially entered the fall new release season!

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Polish baby aardbark impalers Vader have released a new track, and said track is free for the taking if you don’t mind sifting through the German language download page and parting with your email address. Click here to download “Come and See my Sacrifice” from Nuclear Blast.

And what can I say about the new track? It sounds like Vader. Pummeling death metal grooves, brutally catchy riffs, relentless double-bassing, plenty of blasts, a classic, ripping guitar solo… you know, Vader!

Because apparently Nuclear Blast still doesn’t understand that staggered international release dates in 2011 make about as much sense as Scientology (hint: it’s because of the Internet!), Welcome To The Morbid Reich will be released on August 12 in Europe and September 13 in North America, according to Gun Shy Assassin. Our U.S. readers will surely look forward to pirating this release as soon as the European release date hits, if they haven’t already done so by then.

-VN

…and now that album, Welcome to the Morbid Reich, has cover art (below) and a release date of August 12 via Nuclear Blast. The album art is by Zbigniew Bielak, who has also done work for the wicked Watain (among other bands), and I think it’s pretty cool… very lo-tech feeling, which is certainly appropriate for a band like Vader. Check it out, then weigh in with your thoughts in the comments section.

-AR

When I’m in the right mood, I loves me some Vader. Still, 2009′s Necropolis didn’t do much for me for some reason. I mean I can’t even really remember any of it, which is not great.

Will the band’s new album, Welcome to the Morbid Reich, do more for me? Hard to say, based on the so-so quality of the below video, in which the Polish death metal masters debut a new song, “Come and See My Sacrifice,” live.  But, man, I’d love it if the new Vader album just slayed.

Check out the new song below, then make some premature judgments in the comments section. Welcome to the Morbid Reich should be out later this year on Nuclear Blast.

-AR

[via Metal Underground]

Cheese for breakfast, anyone? Great! Come join the party. The Power Metal Party!

Poland’s UnSun probably wouldn’t call themselves power metal — probably more like gothic melodeath or something equally lame sounding — but there’s something so sugary sweet and unabashedly catchy about their music that I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch. Replace Aya’s soaring vocals with a male croon and you could easily pass this off as new Mercenary or Raintime, no questions asked. And hey, the band was founded by ex-Vader guitarist Maurycy “Mauser” Stefanowicz; instant cred!

The band’s new album Clinic For Dolls is decent if not terribly distinguishable from a lot of other bands playing metal like this (save for Aya’s vocals), but the first track “The Lost Way” is SO fucking catchy. From Aya’s Polack-inflected “What cahhn I deuuuu” on I’m hooked, every time, can’t stop listening. A true pop metal gem.

-VN

I got an e-mail from reader Will Kriss over the weekend, very politely asking me to check out a Swedish death metal band, Godhate. “I did a search on MetalSucks,” Will told me, “and you guys have NO articles related to them.” He also included a link to the band’s MySpace page.

And since so few of you actually take the time to do a search before e-mailing us (We’ve recently received e-mails asking why we’ve never written about Gojira or The Gathering of the Juggalos. Seriously.), or bother to include links, well, I was only too-happy to take Will’s advice and check out Godhate. And while I wasn’t exactly blown away, they’re not a bad band by any stretch of the imagination. Just super-generic. But if you like groups such as Vader and Dew-Scented, I imagine you’ll at least kinda-sorta dig this.

Listen to Godhate here, then let Will know what you think in the comments section below.

-AR

I guess yesterday’s story about Rose Funeral beating up on some concertgoers for playing Uno during a recent set in Tulsa has caused a stir – because people are still e-mailing us about it. Here are some tidbits from those e-mails, both directly and indirectly related to the incident:

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Cosmo Lee posted a fun piece the other day about band name pronunciations: “Let’s help each other out. Use English words and syllables to denote pronunciation, with all caps for syllabic stress. For example, Metallica’s bassist is Robert True-HEE-yo. Got it? Good.” Among the band names and metal personalities he explores are Marduk, Dan Swanö, Mikael Åkerfeldt and Peter Tägtgren. The European readers of Invisible Oranges are really helping out.

I’d like to add a couple more to the debate:

Necrophagist

Necro-FAY-jist? Neck-RAH-fuh-jist? Necro-FAH-jist?

Vader

VAY-der or VAH-der?

Are there any bands with awkwardly written (or foreign) names that you’re wondering how to pronounce? Posit your theories in the comments.

-VN

After a brutal and packed weekend of Municipal Waste, Brutal Truth, Gwar, and partying, I headed to the Trocadero in Philadelphia a little late to catch half of the Vader show, unfortunately missing the first three bands [Vince caught openers The Amenta and Augury earlier on the tour. -Ed.].

Deathcore kids Rose Funeral played to a small but excited crowd. Decrepit Birth totally ripped through an amazing set, pulling classic moves like singer Bill Robinson jumping completely over the crowd right into our favorite metal head, Grim Kim Kelly. As Vader took the stage, the sea of long hairs started moving and continued to headbang through Vader’s last show in America until the Spring, when they’ll return to Philadelphia to kick off another nationwide tour. There were many thanks given out from the Vader men and as the night ended, I was thankful that I could finally go and get some sleep for the first time in days.

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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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