By the time Hate Eternal took the stage on a hot Saturday night early this month, I was gonna barf and pass out. My day had been spent at sea, teetering and bobbing aboard an overloaded and hot-rodded pontoon boat. The captain: a winner brah of mine; the craft: a two-tiered party tub with bar, arena-sized bank of speakers, and water slide (!), like something out of Caddyshack if Al Czervik were a Volcom rep. Fun!

And though dude is my super-brah, I dispute his shipboard music policy, which can be described as inescapable dance music at levels meant to blast the clothes off sluts. Add a merciless sun, the actual sluts, and drugs? Bam, you’re woozy as fuck.

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Between the inclusion of Paul Ryan on our Top 25 Modern Metal Guitarists list, the release of their latest album, Entity, and their co-headlining tour with Hate Eternal, which begins tonight, Origin have been crowding the metal spotlight of late. I took some time to talk with Ryan about the new album, the current metal scene, the band’s progress, and the tour. Read our complete conversation after the jump!

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Why, it was just yesterday that we got wind of Origin releasing samples of every song on their new album, Entity, and now the band is already streaming another one of those songs, “Saligia,” in its entirety over at Guitar World. And I am only too happy to write about the band two days in a row, because, well, Origin rule.

So headbang here… actually, it’s kinda hard to headbang to Origin without getting whiplash, so be careful! The post also includes an interview with Paul Ryan (the twenty-fifth top modern metal guitarist today, say we) in which he not only discussed Entity, but talks about his gear, too, which I know is always a popular topic amongst metalheads.

Entity comes out this Tuesday, June 7, on Nuclear Blast. Then, a week later, the the band begins a co-headlining tour with Hate Eternal and support acts Abysmal Dawn and Vital Remains, which is a bill that makes me hard just typing about it. Here are dates for that tour…

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The new Origin album, Entity, comes out this Tuesday, which you already knew, because you know how awesome Origin (and their guitarist, Paul Ryan) are and you’re super excited for the record. But I’m telling you anyway on the off chance it slipped your mind.

I don’t know if the band plans to do a full album stream in advance of Entity‘s release or not, but it doesn’t really matter, because the below video, which features clips from every song on the album, should really be enough to sell you (although you didn’t need to be sold because, again, you already know that Origin rule). It even features my favorite section from my favorite song on the release, “Choosing Death.” That part of the tune has a real sense of, like, derring-do, y’know?

Entity comes out June 7 on Nuclear Blast. Possibly even more exciting is that a week later, the band begins a co-headlining tour with Hate Eternal and support acts Abysmal Dawn and Vital Remains, which is a really, really, REALLY good line-up. Dates after el jumperooni…

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OH SO MUCH YES RIGHT NOW.

There’s a new Origin song in the world right now. I don’t really know what else I need to tell you. If you have even 25% of a functioning brain, you’re no longer reading this but listening to it. So it shouldn’t even matter what I type here. Sometimes Lars Ulrich like to spike his Dunkin’ Donuts Coffee Coolatta and masturbate to pictures of panda bears he has photoshopped to look like fuzzy versions of Randy Rhoads. Karyn Crisis secretly aspires to be more like Cyndi Lauper. Blue bed bugs beg for blumpkins. See, these things I’m typing don’t even make any sense, but it doesn’t matter because no one is reading this right now.

On the off chance you are still reading this for some reason, OMG IT’S SO GOOD STOP READING THIS AND GO LISTEN RIGHT NOW.

Origin’s new album, Entity, comes out June 7 via Nuclear Blast. The band is also doing an incredible summer co-headlining tour with Hate Eternal, and support will come from Abysmal Dawn and Vital Remains. Get dates after the jump.

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Photo by Alison Webster

This month, brutal death metal trio Hate Eternal, led by producer/guitarist Erik Rutan, has been at the center of a pitched battle between MS co-lord Axl Rosenberg and MS writer-at-large Anso DF. The conflict? Is Hate Eternal’s forthcoming Phoenix Amongst The Ashes record awesomely killer (per Axl) or is it insanely ripping (per Anso)? Does it fuck the face and slam the nutz (Anso) or does it render each listener “so fucking happy to be alive” (Axl)? Can its production and performances better be described as a high watermark of contemporary metal (Axl) or as a gift from another realm to every living music listener (Anso)? Is Phoenix a shoo-in for metal album of the year (Axl) or does it crush every other record on earth (Anso)?

Welcome to our love war.

When the time came to phone up Rutan for a discussion of Phoenix and other Hate Eternal affairs, we at MetalSucks opted to settle this battle of agreement with an interview conducted by both Axl Rosenberg and Anso DF. Unsurprisingly, Rutan took on the task with good humor and ease, only succumbing to confusion at times when Axl and Anso simultaneously rushed to hail Phoenix and its predecessor Fury & Flames. In its unexpurgated glory, we present our very special double-team interview of the great Erik Rutan.

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You are reading this on Wednesday morning (or maybe some other time, depending on various circumstances), but I am writing it on Tuesday night. And as I write it, I am about halfway through listening to Hate Eternal’s new album, Phoenix Amongst the Ashes, for the first time.

And it is glorious.

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“How do you feel about joining Origin, Jason?”

Well, hey now!, it was just last month that we were wondering, “Whatever happened to Skinless?” We weren’t really able to get a satisfactory answer, other than that the band was hoping to finally make a follow-up to 2006′s Trample the Weak, Hurdle the Dead this year.

Well, I’m thinking it might be another hot minute before that actually happens, because Skinless front man Jason Keyser has just been announced as the new vocalist for Origin.

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Our pals at Decibel and Metal Injection are sponsoring a co-headlining Hate Eternal/Origin tour this summer, with Vital Remains and Abysmal Dawn doing support. And you don’t really need to know anything else other than the answer to “Where can I buy my ticket?” I mean I’m sure some of you in the comments section will be like “This tour is no biggie,” and I just wanna let you know right now that I DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW WE’RE BOTH MEMBERS OF THE SAME SPECIES. That’s how excited I am for this tour.

This like last year’s Super Orgasm Tour, only for br00tal death metal bands instead of nerdy prog metal dorks. And I feel like I haven’t had the chance to see Hate Eternal or Origin live in a long, long time — like, a couple of years — so I’m even harder than I’d probably be under normal circumstances. But you’re eyes don’t deceive you, that is definitely a bulge in my jeans.

I am going to stop showering now in anticipation of fitting in with the rest of the crowd. While I go throw away all my soap, you can get dates after the jump.

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For some reason, internet metal nerds love to talk about drummers, even if they themselves do not play drums. Whether it’s “Who has the fastest double bass/blastbeats?”, “Should I use one bass drum or two?” or “What does Pete Sandoval’s drum throne smell like?”, there are few things more tiresome than the topic of metal drumming. What that in mind, in this post I will put the discussion of this topic to rest forever by conclusively saying all that there is to say about metal drumming. After this post has been published, anyone who still debates these points is as foolish, ignorant and stubborn as people who believe the Earth is flat or that God exists. So if you have anything to say, say it now, because this is it — this is your chance to become part of the moment in which we closed the door on dorky, redundant debates about metal drumming.

This is THE FINAL WORD on metal drumming!!!!

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Have you ever wanted something so badly that your whole body aches, even down to your taint??? That’s how much I’ve wanted to see Devourment, but I guess they all have “real jobs,” so they don’t tour much, and I would rather smash my penis into paste with a filthy cinder block than attend one of the festivals they played at, so I never got a chance to see them until now.  Thanks to the good people at leading beard-metal label RELAPSE RECORDS, I finally got to check out Devourment after over a decade of fandom — and let me tell you, it was worth the wait!

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Welcome to “Question of the Week,” a (sometimes) weekly debate amongst the MetalSucks staff regarding a recent hot button issue.

This week, we have our first ever reader-suggested QOTW, coming from MetalSucks Maniac Cougar Party:

WHAT BANDS DO YOU HATE THAT YOU HAVE SEEN LIVE MULTIPLE TIMES BECAUSE THEY ARE ALWAYS OPENING FOR SOMEONE YOU LIKE?

The MS staff’s answers after the jump.

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Kind of amazingly, I haven’t seen Cannibal Corpse live since they absolutely wrecked the Rockstar Mayhem Fest’s second stage last summer — but I’m dying to do so. That was just a thirty minute set, after all, and you need way more than a half hour to really enjoy the Corpse.

And I’ll get my shot this fall: the band has just announced another headlining trek, this time with Dying Fetus, Vital Remains, and Devourment in tow. Devourment is the only one of those bands I’ve never seen live before, so I can vouch for Dying Fetus and Vital Remains — those bands put on killer shows. What an excellent line-up. If I close my eyes and think about this tour, I can already feel the stench of dude sweat permeating my nostrils.

Dates after el jumperoo.

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We don’t like Carnifex — in fact, we think they’re the only blemish on the otherwise pristine Summer Slaughter line-up — but we know at lot of you do really like Carnifex. Because you e-mail us about them. Constantly.

So here’s the band’s new video, for “Sorrowspell,” which sounds like the name of a pagan metal band but whatever. I think it’s a pretty standard performance clip, but, again, I’m really only posting it to remind you about Summer Slaughter, which is currently underway, also includes Decapitated, The Faceless, All Shall Perish, The Red Chord, Veil of Maya, Cephalic Carnage, Decrepit Birth, Animals as Leaders, and Vital Remains, and is, oh yeah, partially sponsored by us. Get dates here.

-AR

Yes, YES, YES!!! Talk about an awesome way to kick off the weekend. Cephalic Carnage have given the world its first taste of their new album, Misled by Certainty, in the form of “Abraxas of Filth,” which you can stream here. It’s awesome. From its opening notes I knew it was awesome, but then it just got more and more awesome, and then it exploded in a mushroom cloud of awesomeness. Well, awesomeness and weed smoke. I mean, you don’t listen to Cephalic Carnage sober, do you? I don’t think they’d want you to do that.

Holy shit. Listening to the song for a third time now, and it just keeps getting better and better. Go check it out already.

Misled by Certainty is out August 31 on Relapse, and is now avail for pre-order. And don’t forget that the band will be on the MetalSucks co-sponsored Summer Slaughter tour, along with Decapitated, The Faceless, All Shall Perish, The Red Chord, Veil of Maya, Decrepit Birth, Animals as Leaders, Vital Remains, and Carnifex. The trek kicks off next week! Dates here.

-AR

It was just Monday that I was saying how stoked I am to hear Decrepit Birth’s new album, Polarity, and now the band are streaming a track from that forthcoming release, “(A Departure Of The Sun) Ignite The Tesla Coil.”

And it’s sssssssiiiicccckkk. Technical and proggy and just as shove-a-fist-up-your-enemy’s-ass-and-rip-out-his-intestines brutal as you’d expect from, well, any band that would call itself “Decrepit Birth.” And none of what I’ve just written is news to DB fans, but, y’know. Now there’s more of it! And it seems a lot “er,” too. As in, “proggier,” “heavier,” “betterer,” etc. So check that shit out and let us know what you think.

Polarity comes out July 27 on Nuclear Blast. Cutting and pasting from myself on Monday: Decrepit Birth will be part of the MetalSucks co-sponsored Summer Slaughter tour, along with Decapitated, The Red Chord, The Faceless, All Shall Perish, Veil of Maya, Cephalic Carnage, Animals as Leaders, Vital Remains, and Carnifex. Get dates and details here.

-AR

The MetalSucks-sponsored Pestilence Reigns Upon North America tour is now more than half complete, with the action set to wrap in New York City this Thursday at the Gramercy Theater. In addition to the technical metal legends, Warbringer, Vital Remains, Enfold Darkness and Sacrificial Slaughter will also be in tow; in addition to NYC, those of you in Chicago (tonight!), Montreal and Toronto still have a chance to catch this excellent tour, so don’t snooze and lose.

Axl and Vince will be in attendance at the NYC show on Thursday; as usual, feel free to buy us beers.

-VN

The Deciblog unveiled the cover art for the new Decrepit Birth album, Polarity, this past Friday evening, and, y’know… it’s Dan Seagrave. He has a very distinct style, which you either dig or do not dig. Personally, I think it’s pretty cool, and it makes me that much more excited to hear the record.

Polarity comes out July 27 on Nuclear Blast. And don’t forget that Decrepit Birth will be part of the MetalSucks co-sponsored Summer Slaughter tour – a.k.a. “The only can’t-miss summer festival this year” – along with Decapitated, The Red Chord, The Faceless, All Shall Perish, Veil of Maya, Cephalic Carnage, Animals as Leaders, Vital Remains, and Carnifex. Get dates and details here.

-AR

I don’t remember which show it was at, but Vince and I recently saw the ridiculous amount of cell phones snapping photos and video at a concert and started to reminiscence about that time in 1991 when Axl Rose jumped into a crowd in St. Louis to punch some dude who taking unauthorized photos of the show, thus inciting a riot (Rose’s first of at least four). If he pulled that shit today, it would seem even more ridiculous. Hell, before I ever saw Metallica live, I had some bootleg cassette of one of their shows that I bought off some dude at a flea market (seriously) for ten bucks. The audio quality was atrocious, but I still listened to the thing like eighteen-thousand times. Today, bootlegs of live shows are just a given; security doesn’t try and stop anyone from recording the show, because seemingly everyone is recording the show. Even if they find an audio recorder on me during the traditional pat-down, just saying “I’m interviewing the band” is sufficient to get them to ignore it. But they never ask to see my press credentials or anything, ’cause they don’t really care – they can’t take away every cell phone that comes through the place.

Which is all just a long-winded introduction for the very good quality fan-filmed footage of Pestilence playing at Neurotic Deathfest last week. We would have killed to have such easy access to this kind of footage when I was younger; now it’s pretty much expected that if you play a show, it’ll be all over YouTube within a matter of hours. Check out a clip below; you can watch more at Shut Yo’ Mouth.

And if that footage makes you feel all warm and tingly where your bathing suit covers, then don’t forget that MetalSucks and Decibel are teaming up to bring you Pestilence’s first U.S. tour in sixteen years (!) starting at the end of May; Warbringer, Vital Remains, Enfold Darkness and Sacrificial Slaughter are also on the bill, so you know it’s gonna be a good time. Get dates here.

-AR

[UPDATE: Some dates have been changes since the above poster was released. Updated cities and venues after the jump.]

A lot of you thought that the “big surprise” we hinted at last week was the announcement of Summer Slaughter 2010 dates. By now it’s obvious that that wasn’t the big surprise, but lucky for you we’ve got Summer Slaughter dates today anyway!

In case you somehow missed the news, the MetalSucks co-sponsored Summer Slaughter tour is without a doubt THE metal package tour to be at this summer with a lineup that’s sexier than Sammy O’Hagar and Kip W. having an orgy with the MS Mansion Monkeys. Decapitated, The Faceless, All Shall Perish, The Red Chord, Veil of Maya, Cephalic Carnage, Decrepit Birth, Animals as Leaders, Vital Remains… and, uh, Carnifex… will be taking the U.S. by storm this July and August. We’re beyond stoked for this lineup, and you should be too.

Dates are after the jump.

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