Although at first glance at this photo makes it appear as though Ol Drake is stroking a massive hard-on, that’s actually a garbage bin just behind him. Alas, he was not that excited to be speaking with Axl Rosenberg.

Whatever the hell it is we’re calling Evile’s particular metallica subgenre these days – retro thrash, rethrash, nu thrash, or just plain old motherfucking thrash – they’re one of the better bands playing it right now. Like only a handful of their peers, they really seem to “get” the music – and so while their roots as a Metallica cover band might show, it doesn’t really matter ’cause, well, who can think about that shit while headbanging so damn hard?

It’s been a tumultuous time for the band as of late – founding bassist Mike Alexander passed away in October of last year – but they’ve managed to persevere, and now find themselves doing pretty much the best first North American tour any non-American (in this case, British) band could hope for: playing support for Kreator along with Voivod, Nachtmystium, and Lazarus A.D. And as if that wasn’t enough, almost immediately thereafter they hit the road with Overkill. Sheesh.

Following the band’s gig here in New York last weekend, I got to speak with guitarist Ol Drake, who, despite his almost Heavy Metal Muppet-ish appearance, is a very cordial, soft-spoken gentleman. After the jump, get Ol’s thoughts on playing the States for the first time, why it’s taken them so damn long to get here, new bassist Joel Graham, the status of the next Evile record, and more.

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Kreator’s twenty-fifth anniversary tour, which features the very strong supporting line-up of Voivod, Nachtmystium, Evile, and Lazarus A.D., rolled through NYC on Saturday night, and, yeppers, I was there. I don’t have tons to say about it, but I did wanna give you a quick run-down, in the event that you are somehow on the fence about whether or not to buy a ticket when the tour comes to your town… so here are some quick thoughts about all the bands, in the order in which they appeared:

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One of the dozens of things to dislike about Milwaukee is that it’s home to Hal Leonard, the publishers of history’s worst guitar tab book, Metallica’s …And Justice For All. I hate that goddamn book of lies. The authors of the alleged “note-for-note transcriptions” apparently are crotchety old uncles whose wedding band just celebrated their 10,000th gig. I mean c’mon! In my neighborhood, “Blackened” and “One” at minimum were mandatory learning, so even we knew something was rotten on the day we grabbed the tab book to compare notes: It turns out that the transcribers settled on ball-park estimation of metal’s greatest fucking guitar songs while also displaying a dazzling ignorance of distortion.

And the nutfucked thing is how Hal Leonard continues to sell this faulty piece of shit since fucking 1988. I pointed out its crappiness to HL in several curtly-phrased and progressively vulgar emails. Those went unanswered. One night, I helpfully grabbed a red sharpie to correct it with frowny faces and clusters of distraught question marks. That got me banned from Guitar Center. Then the worst happened: I began to doubt my own ear. After all, I reasoned, a lot of weed gets smoked in here; these “mistakes” in the tabs might’ve been the product of my imagination. But nay, the essence of Metallica riffs is embedded in my spine. I am right; these Justice tabs suck.

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Thus spake MS Maniac Michael Arose.

Ask, and ye shall receive.

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Metal Legacies is an ongoing memorial to extreme music pioneers who kicked the proverbial bucket way too soon.

This is only my third Metal Legacies entry, yet it is by far the hardest to write. As a college radio metal/hardcore DJ at The University of Texas from 1988-1990 I was a huge Voivod fanatic.

It was War and Pain that did me in first.

Then Rrröööaaarrr.

Then Killing Technology blew my mind.

By the time I started playing cassettes and LPs (remember those?) late Friday nights for the imaginatively titled The Metal Show, Voivod released what I believe was their greatest album, Dimension Hatröss. And while I admired every aspect of the Quebec, Canada-based futuristic space thrashers — from Snake’s wailing vocals to Blacky’s angular bass playing to Away’s soulfully robotic drumming and one-of-a-kind artwork — the key selling point was always Piggy’s guitar playing.

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So, there are two ways I can approach this review: I can do some haphazard research and come up with a semi-informed opinion of Voivod to judge their new album Infini, or disclose right out of the gate that Voivod is one of those blindspots all enthusiasts of metal have and judge Infini on its merits as a stand alone album. Clearly, I’ve chosen the latter, even if I didn’t intend to, and must admit that while I have not intentionally avoided Voivod, I’m not familiar with their work with the intimate detail that their many of their very dedicated followers are. A number of my favorite bands will mention them in their first breath when talking influences, and their current bassist played on my favorite Metallica album (and, of course, the three boring-to-horrible ones after that). But regardless, I’ve never made time for them, which, depending on who you ask, is a sin punishable by casting me out from the metal Garden of Eden and into the cold, harsh wasteland occupied by Fall Out Boy, or a wise decision on my part. Add to that the fact that Infini consists of the last recorded guitar tracks by Denis “Piggy” D’Amour – a founding member who succumbed to colon cancer in 2005 – and will most likely be their last studio album, and the latter choice is even more of an ordeal.

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Congrats to Mr. Lun, the winner of new Darkane, Devin Townsend and Edguy CDs from last week’s funny photo caption contest. Mr. Lun’s winning caption to the photo at right:

“Jimmy gets a taste (and whiff) of the good life at the 2009 Wigger Slam Initiate orientation.”

This week the good folks at Relapse Records have donated copies of Voivod’s Infinfi and Coalesce’s Ox, both brand spankin’ new, to send to one lucky winner. Just come up with a caption to the below photo and they’re yours.

• Suffocation’s new album, Blood Oath, is streaming here. Our own David Bee Roth called it “the best death metal record released this year,” so ya best check it out. Nuclear Blast will release the album July 7. And don’t forget that Suffocation are one of the headliners on this year’s edition of Summer Slaughter, which we are co-sponsoring. Get tour dates here.
• Infini, the final album from Voivod, is streaming here. It is also, of course, the last recording made by the late Denis “Piggy” D’Amour. Relapse actually released the record yesterday, but if you feel the need to sample before you buy, here’s your shot.

-AR

Voivod and He Is Legend both released new songs this week on their MySpace pages. There is no common theme here other than that I dig the new stuff from both bands and that they’re both worthy of ya’ll’s attention. And since it’s Friday, the MetalSucks Monkeys are cranky and aren’t coming up with any clever headlines or puns.

The new Voivod sounds pretty much like Voivod; it’s the last album that will feature contributions from the late guitarist Piggy, and the band claims it’ll be their last effort ever. The new He Is Legend is easily their best and most focused work yet… I’ve listened to this song at least 5 times already this week.

Voivod releases Infini on June 23rd via Relapse Records (pre-order here) and He Is Legend drops It Hates You July 21st on Tragic Hero (pre-order here).

-VN