Is it just me, or have metal videos been getting, like, better recently? Sure, some bands still release crappy clips — that’s just the way of the world, and ain’t nuthin’ ever gonna change it — but just this month alone, Helms Alee, The Dillinger Escape Plan, The Black Dahlia Murder, In Defence, Metsatöll, and Caustic Casanova have all released really memorable vids. THAT’S SIX GOOD VIDEOS IN JUST A FEW SHORT WEEKS.

And now, with Wormrot’s new clip for the track “Breed to Breed,” we can make it SEVEN. Sheesh. I think that’s more than were released in all of 2006 combined.

ANYWAY, the Wormrot video works well because of all the weird-but-simple (in other words, unique and memorable) imagery — it will definitely stick in your brain. Of course, the fact that it’s a very short grind song doesn’t hurt. This would probably get boring if it were for, say, a ten-minute BTBAM opus or something. But for a one-minute Wormrot song? Perfect!

“Breed to Breed” appears on Wormrot’s EP, Noise, which you can still download for free right here.

-AR

[via Heavy Blog is Heavy]

Well, this is upsetting.

On New Year’s Day, Wormrot were arrested in Kuala Lampur by the Jabatan Agama Islam Selangor (Selangor Islamic Religious Department), according to True Cult Heavy Metal (via a posting on Wormrot’s Facebook page). Their crime? Daring to mingle with unmarried women.

Here’s the story from the band’s manager, Azean. I’m going to post this in full and then add my thoughts afterwards:

Click to read more…

UPDATE, 11:35 P.M.: Arif has confirmed that it’s just a shirt. Oh well. I’ll definitely buy one when it comes out, though!

Proving that Pig Destroyer can be quiet after all, tidbits about the band’s desperately-anticipated new album keep almost falling through the cracks. First, they performed some new songs live at a Seattle concert in February, footage of which somehow only just came to our attention; now, this little nugget of info almost got away from us, too. Seems that last Wednesday, while most of United Statesians were already checked out for Thanksgiving, Wormrot front man Arif was making this little announcement to the world via his Facebook page:

Click to read more…

via WWTDD

So much of this week ended up being devoted to the Big Four that I honestly don’t wanna think about any of those bands again for at least the remainder of the year. So to wrap this shit up, here’s everything Big Four-related we did this week:

• We live snarked the Big Four show at Yankee Stadium.
• We went to an Anthrax press conference.
• We went to the Metal Masters clinic and saw Phil Anselmo jam some Pantera with various Big Fourers.
• We debated the merits and demerits of Anthrax’s Worship Music.
• We listened to Lars Ulrich on Howard Stern.
• We had fun at the expense of Dave Mustaine’s faith.
• We had a Big Four edition of Show Us Your Metalsucks.
• We helped Metal Injection with their Big Four-themed Livecast.
• I also made an appearance in Metal Injection’s Big Four video recap, which you MUST watch because a) it’s awesome and b) I’m so handsome!

Y’know what’s not annoying? Wormrot. In less than two years, the Singaporean trio has become one of THE premiere grind bands in the world, and with good reason — their albums are absolutely disgusting (and we mean that as a compliment), and their live show is so hot it can cause scalding. Simply put, this band is the shit.

And this Tuesday, September 20, they have a new, 100% FREE five-song digital EP coming out —  Scion A/V Presents: WORMROT-NOISE. That’s right, we said FREE. You’ll be able to download it right here for nothing, zip, zilch, zero, nada.

But if you can’t wait ’til Tuesday — and we couldn’t blame ya if that’s the case — then we have some good news for you: MetalSucks is giving away a track from the EP, entitled “Outburst of Annoyance,” right now! You can stream it or download it via the below widget. So turn you speakers WAY THE FUCK UP and get ready for some of the sickest shit you’ll hear all year, courtesy of the on-their-way-to-being-legendary Wormrot.

Hopefully, you Suckahs have been following my Bleeders’ Lists this year. If not, you can play catch-up here – Missed Albums Finally Listened to from the First Half of 2011, June, May, April, March, February, January.

As of the end of June, I have listened to 356 new releases this year — each one all the way through. I have listened to several live releases and re-releases but did not include most of them on my lists. Surprisingly, just under 29% are Bleeders (or the best each month). This is nearly 15% higher than I expected, so that’s the first good thing. The second is that those 103 Bleeders comprise a vast array of what we call “heavy metal” and have made for a stellar year already.

Being a lifelong metalhead, there are obviously going to be certain acts I just don’t like — number one amongst those this year is Ghost. But my Bleeders’ Lists aren’t about what I don’t like, but rather what gets me stoked. I’ve listened to, literally, more than 10,000 metal releases and been to more than a 1,000 metal concerts. In other words, I’m jaded. So, when something excites me, I want to share it with everyone. Thankfully, I’ve been able to do that 103 times this year.

Below you will find my Top 10 of those 103 Bleeders with their original mini-reviews plus updated commentary.

Of course, I just heard the new Decapitated and have a sneaking suspicion it will be be firmly entrenched on my 2011 Top 15 list come December.

Enjoy. Despise. Eviscerate.

Click to read more…

MetalSucks tipster extraordinaire Hetal Bhatt sent us the below video, and while it has nothing to do with metal, it did make me laugh, and I did forward it to friends. So, enjoy:

And on that note, here’s some stuff we did this week:

• We debuted new music by Chimaira, Cannabis Corpse, and S.O.S.
• We debuted a new music video from Sleeping Giant.
• We got new gear tips from Periphery’s Misha Mansoor and Revocation’s Dan Gargiulo, and we spoke to Michael Amott from Arch Enemy.
• We checked out the latest releases from Decapitated, The Black Dahlia Murder, Limp Bizkit, and Wormrot.
• We pondered a world in which concertgoers can’t film shows with their iPhones.
• We marveled that anyone finds Tosh.0 to be funny.
• We wondered which deathcore frontman has the best tattoos.
• We found the worst line-up for a festival ever.
• We chose our favorite extras from the new Annotations of an Autopsy video.
• We broke the bad news that vocalist Chris Clancy and keyboardist Drew Stavola are both out of Mutiny Within.

You’ve got one more week with me and me alone before Vince comes back. Deal with it, fuckers.

See ya Monday.

-AR

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.

Here are the May 2011 releases that got under my skin, burrowed their way into my brain, made my ears bleed, or simply tickled my unmentionables:

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Best commercial ever?

ANYWAY, here’s how we filled our time this week:

• We mourned the loss of Anal Cunt’s Seth Putnam and Sirius XM Liquid Metal’s Mario Comesanas.
• We debuted new music by Intensus and, thanks to Decibel, Wormrot, too!
• Revocation’s Dave Davidson walked us through his live rig, and we spoke to Paul Ryan from Origin and Tommy “Two-Tone” Blankenship from My Morning Jacket.
• We checked out the latest release from Gigan.
• I told you which metal albums of 2011 have been my favorites thus far.
• We tried to figure out why people like August Burns Red.
• We discussed the new Machine Head single, “Locust.”
• We gave you The 16 Cardinal Rules for Running a Metal Record Label in 2011.
• We wondered who is dumber — Korn fans or Silent Hill fans?
• We pondered the upcoming Metallica/Lou Reed collaboration.

Next week is a big one — we’re debuting new tracks from two of our most favoritest bands, a video from one of our childhood heroes, reviewing a very, very, VERY highly anticipated new record (Hint: We definitely discussed it this week!), and we’ll have some other surprises in store for you, too. See ya then!

-AR

Before there were blogs there were these things called magazines, and the only metal magazine we still get excited about reading every month is Decibel. Here’s managing editor Andrew Bonazelli…

Pompous assholes make for great copy, but I would bet all of us are much happier to discover great bands who actually seem like down-to-earth, funny dudes. That’s Wormrot, who not only salvage snoozefests like SXSW, but deliver totally corrosive, sick-as-fuck album art. Decibel just profiled their second full-length, Dirge, in July [#81], and guitarist Raysid had plenty of frugal gourmet advice to share about fine dining on the road: “With four dollars, I can buy two McDoubles and save the rest of the $4 for dinner. If not, I can buy three cheeseburgers. But we’ve been hitting Church’s Chicken. Church’s Chicken has this deal every Monday and Tuesday: 99 cents per chicken [piece]. So, we’ll get two chicken [pieces] for $2. That’s awesome, man!”

I’d say that’s the opposite of awesome, man, but I pretty much do the same thing for lunch every day at Decibel, and our office is surrounded by healthy alternatives that generally don’t result in half-hour bowl-sprayings. But I digress. Wormrot are this month’s sexy Flexi superstars (order here), and the Singaporeans went out of their way to deliver three brand new tracks: “Eradicate,” “Fuck… I’m Sober” and “Vehemence of Denials.” Unlike last month’s Black Dahlia/Jeff Walker cover concoction,  is officially streaming, so you can blow your eardrums right here:

dB008 Wormrot Flexi Disc by Decibel Magazine

As always, only dB subscribers get these fine pieces of colorful molded plastic. That’s an extra value meal worth investing in.

-AB

Decibel’s August 2011 issue features Anthrax, Arch Enemy, Tombs, Origin, Weekend Nachos, and a Cradle of Filth Hall of Fame . That issue is available here, but why not get a full subscription to ensure you never miss one of these awesome flexi discs?

Before there were blogs there were these things called magazines, and the only metal magazine we still get excited about reading every month is Decibel. Here’s managing editor Andrew Bonazelli…

For this week’s FED, I was all ready to write something (more) idiotic (than usual) about how we usually parcel out shirts, six-month subscriptions and Flexi series streams gratis, but this month—for the privilege of hearing the Black Dahlia Murder and special guest Jeff Fucking Walker covering Carcass’s Heartwork deep cut “This Mortal Coil”—you’d have to actually buy the magazine. Well, believe it or not, some enterprising young reader already ripped the fucking thing and posted it to YouTube. Which is cool and all, since we’re not officially streaming it. We’re particularly chuffed by said reader’s Senator Davis-channeling minor complaint “God damnit. I hate when the vocals first start it skips. My flexi must be flawed i cant get it to not skip there… shittttttttttttt.”

Anyway, go there and check it out. Strnad and Walker execute the most scintillating line trading since Marvin Lee Aday and Lorraine Crosby in “I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That).” As always, it’s totally exclusive to the Decibel Flexi series, on commandingly virile royal blue. Sharpen your scalpels (read: set aside some money) and start slicing (read: subscribe).

-AB

Decibel’s July 2011 issue also features Morbid Angel, Coroner, Baroness, Autopsy, Revocation, Wormrot, and an incredible article about album packaging. That issue is available here, but why not get a full subscription to ensure you never miss one of these awesome flexi discs?

Before there were blogs there were these things called magazines, and the only metal magazine we still get excited about reading every month is Decibel. Here’s managing editor Andrew Bonazelli…

The only other time Decibel put Morbid Angel on the cover was our fifth issue, in March of 2005. David Vincent had just answered our dark prayers, returning to the fold to “focus on putting together a really brutal tour featuring classic Morbid Angel tracks.” That was radical enough, but what everybody was really rabid for was a new Vincent/Azagthoth collaboration, the first since ’95’s Domination. Predictably, Trey didn’t have much of a scoop for us: “We’re just taking this day by day. It takes so long to put an album together. I don’t think I’m at that point yet.”

Suffice it to say, it took him fucking long enough to get to that point. And in just under two weeks, if you’re not a metal journalist or friend of the band, you’ll finally get a thorough overview of what Tampa’s finest have been slaving away on: the deeply polarizing eighth album, Illud Divinum Insanus. And you’ll learn soon enough if your perspective mirrors the majority of those who have already heard it (mass facepalm) or if Azagthoth’s notorious experimental daring has paid off yet again. J. Bennett grills both principals and gets a pretty fascinating explanation for the startling new direction. It’s the big story in July’s dB, available in the webstore now, for subscribers within two weeks. This one doesn’t have a gushing Mars Volta review (sorry, J.), so it’s an improvement on multiple levels!

-AB

Decibel’s July 2011 issue also features Baroness, Coroner, Autopsy, Revocation, Wormrot, an incredible article about album packaging, and an awesome flexi disc of The Black Dahlia Murder covering Carcass’ “This Mortal Coil” with Jeff fucking Walker. That issue is available here, but why not get a full subscription to ensure you never miss one?

A rip-roaring good time was had at our inaugural South by South Death show in Austin, TX this past March; Kvelertak, Havok, Red Fang, Wormot and Meek is Murder packed Headhunters on Red River St. and kept the energy level high throughout the afternoon. We posted Roxwel.com-filmed video footage of Red Fang, Havok and Wormrot’s sets here, and now, for your viewing pleasure, we give you Kvelertak and Meek is Murder. You can also check out an interview segment with all five bands here.

Meek Is Murder at South By South Death 2011
Watch Music Videos at www.roxwel.com

Kvelertak, after the jump. And HOLY SHIT did they kill it, getting that entire room into a frenzied mosh:

Click to read more…

They came, they rocked, they conquered: Kvelertak, Havok, Red Fang, Wormrot and Meek is Murder played our inaugural South by South Death show at this year’s SXSW and a jolly old time was had. On Tuesday we showed you a wrap video featuring clips of performances and interviews with all five bands, and today we give you several songs each of the performances by Red Fang, Havok and Wormrot (tomorrow: Kvelertak and Meek is Murder). All of this fine multi-camera /soundboard footage was provided by sponsor Roxwel.com, consistent purveyors of excellent live metal videos; thanks dudes!

Havok at South By South Death 2011
Watch Music Videos at www.roxwel.com

Red Fang and Wormrot after the taco.

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New releases from Wormrot (available for free download!), Before the Dawn, Leaves Eyes, Samael, While Heaven Wept and Xerath officially see the light of day today. Vic Vaughn takes a look at each after the jump.

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No longer do you have to take our written word for it; thanks to South By South Death 2011 sponsors Roxwel.com you can now see first-hand just how much fun we had at our inaugural SXSW showcase with Kvelertak, Red Fang, Havok, Wormrot and Meek is Murder. Roxwel did an incredible job capturing all the madness with multiple cameras, soundboard audio and interviews with all the bands, and now we relay said madness to you, oh faithful MetalSucks reader.

The first installment is a wrap-up video featuring clips of performances and interviews with every band on the bill; it sets the stage nicely for all the full songs Roxwel filmed from each band, which we’ll post in the coming days.

South By South Death 2011 Recap
Watch Music Videos at www.roxwel.com

I’m going to put approximately as much work into this introduction as Zakk Wylde did the writing of the last BLS album.

I’m actually going to begin today with a video that I think is legitimately good, because I need to wash the taste of so much cinemetallic poo out of my mouth. The band is called Montezuma’s Revenge (you’d expect them to be of Aztec descent, but they’re actually Russian), the song is called “Dead Frost,” Vince suggested I watch it, and I’m glad he did. The animation isn’t amazing, but it still puts this clip way ahead of the pack.

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I may spend a lot of time bagging on head honcho Digby Pearson, but I gotta hand it to Earache Records: they’re definitely willing to experiment with the power of the Internet more than any other metal label. Exhibit A) Dig’s Ask Earache blog. Exhibit B) That free Gama Bomb album download experiment. Exhibit C) The Stagediving iPhone app. Exhibit D) They’re giving away Wormrot’s unreleased album Dirge away for free over a month ahead of its official release.

Wait, what? Dirge isn’t supposed to be released until May 3rd (May 23rd in Europe) and they’re giving it away for free download now? Zuh???

Click to read more…

Wormrot and Nails, both awesome bands that we hold in pretty high regard around these parts, have both released new videos, for the songs “Spot a Pathetic” and “Conform/Scum Will Rise” (Nails combined two short tracks into one video), respectively. They’re both pretty standard performance vids and neither one is especially killer nor especially awful. But, like I said, the bands are great, and the songs are great, so you should still check ‘em both out, especially if, for some nutty reason, you’re not already sold on these particular musical outfits.

So here’s the Wormrot vid…

…and after the jump is the Nails clip, which debuted on Metal Injection.

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[Read my recaps of Day One and Day Two. -Ed.]

The always-wise Antonin Skullia Esq. said to me on Friday that there’s no such thing as a “first annual,” just a “first ever.” Indeed. So please don’t think I’m gloating when I say that the first ever MetalSucks SXSW event South by South Death was a big success and surely worthy of creating a “second annual.” Meek is Murder, Wormrot, Red Fang, Havok and Kvelertak teamed up for for an excellent day of headbanging, beer-swilling, and sweaty, dirty metal in the cramped punk-rock confines of Headhunters.

And for the night-cap, the definitive most metal of non-metal bands: Chrome-E-Oh. Ohhhhh ohhh!

Click to read more…