HELP BRING IHSAHN TO THE U.S.

 Metal News  2 Responses »
Feb 022011
 

Lots of you thought Ihsahn‘s 2010 solo album After was one of the best albums of last year, and of course all of you are huge Opeth fans. Aren’t you?  Yes, of course you are. We know these things.

If advance press reports are correct, Opeth entered Atlantis studios in Stockholm on Monday of this week to begin recording their tenth album for a fall 2011 release on Roadrunner Records, with the engineering work to be handled by Jens Bogren (Soilwork, Katatonia, Paradise Lost, Bloodbath).

Now, it stands to reason that Opeth will tour the world in support of that album, and the world includes the U.S., which means Opeth will come here to play for us. How does Ihsahn fit into this story? Well, our metallic brother BadWolf brought to our attention that a petition has been started on Facebook to convince Opeth to bring Ihsahn with them in support of that tour — which would be Ihsahn’s first U.S. tour if that were to happen.

That sounds like a damned fine idea. Maybe if enough of us on Facebook “like” that petition page, someone might be convinced to actually make it happen, someday, some way. Certainly can’t hurt, can it? To support that petition, here’s the link.

CAN I CATCH A RIDE TO INDIA?

 Metal News  27 Responses »
Feb 012011
 

Hey, I was wondering whether any of you dudes or ladies might be driving to Darjeeling in the vicinity of September 30?  See, I just found out there’s a metal festival that’s gonna happen there from September 30 – October 2 called Underground Unleashed 2011. And wait til you see the line-up:

Incantation (USA)
Demonical (Sweden)
Cerebral Bore (U.K)
Nervo Chaos (Brazil)
Dethroned (U.S.)
Arsames (Iran)
InnerGuilt (Lebanon)
Perversion (U.A.E)
Morbid Devourment (Indonesia)

I don’t know all these bands — yet — but the first three pretty much made me start drooling uncontrollably. I would totally be willing to share driving duties and buy a tank or two of gas. I’d bring some good tunes, too. Maybe even treat everyone to a burger when we get there. Or whatever people in Darjeeling eat that doesn’t cost much money.  (more after the jump, including more hot-shit Incantation news . . .) Continue reading »

SCRIBE UPDATE

 Metal News  3 Responses »
Jan 212011
 

One week ago, we posted a piece by NCS contributor Siddharth Darbha introducing us (and many of you) to an Indian metal band called Scribe. You can read Siddharth’s article here. Siddharth noted that Scribe’s 2010 album, Mark of Teja, had been nominated for Best Album at the 2010 edition of The Jack Daniel’s Rock Awards.

By way of background, this is the sixth year for those awards, which are organized in association with Rolling Stone (India) magazine. This year, 280 entries were submitted for the 16 award categories, including Song of the Year, Band of the Year, and Album of the Year. The editors of Rolling Stone whittled the list down to five nominees in each category, and those were then presented to a nine-member jury of judges. The award winners were decided by a combination of weighted jury votes and popular votes on a specially created web site. Bear in mind that the nominees for each award came from a range of genres — not limited, for example, to extreme metal.

Last night, the awards were announced at a live event at The Hard Rock Cafe in Mumbai. And guess what? Scribe pretty much ran the table, winning the Popular Choice awards for Song of the Year (“1234 Dracula”) and Album of the Year, as well as the Critics’ Choice Awards for Song of the Year and Band of the Year. Scribe’s Srinivas Sunderrajan also won the Bassist of the Year award. For all the results, go here.

Congratulations to Scribe for carrying the flag of Indian metal to the top of the heap — and congrats also to Demonic Resurrection for winning the Popular Choice award for Band of the Year. Pretty damn cool to see two metal bands like this being named Band of the Year against competitors from “more accessible” genres.

And along the same lines, did you know that on Monday of this week none other than Watain‘s album Lawless Darkness won the Swedish version of the Grammy award for “Best Hard Rock” Album of the Year? It did. “Hard rock” clearly means something different in Sweden than it does in the U.S. Holy shit.

TODAY’S “A” LIST: AMON AMARTH, ARCH ENEMY, AND ARCHSPIRE

 Metal News  46 Responses »
Jan 182011
 

Yeah, I know I’m taxing your attention span with our third post of the day, but I continue to see eye-catching items and just can’t resist. But I will keep this one short and sweet. It’s about breaking news from three of our favorite bands.

ITEM ONE

You’re looking at Item One: The just-released cover art for Amon Amarth‘s new album, Surtur Rising. Talk about a fucking metal album cover. The art is by Tom Thiel. The album will be released in North America on March 29, 2011 via Metal Blade Records.

The track listing for the album is out, too, and includes such juicy titles as “Destroyer of the Universe”, “Live Without Regrets”, “For Victory Or Death”, and my favorite: “A Beast Am I”. I’m expecting epic levels of epicness.

Did you know that Surtur was (is?) the leader of the fire giants of Muspelheim (“flame land”) and the oldest being in the nine worlds of Norse mythology? Oh, fuck me, sorry about that; I said I would keep this short. On to the next item (after the jump). Continue reading »

BURY YOUR FUCKING DEAD IS BACK!

 Metal News  13 Responses »
Jan 172011
 

Some of you old-time readers will remember that this site, and its name, were the direct spawn of our crushing disappointment/pissed-off-edness over the voluntary departure of Mat Bruso from Bury Your Dead, his replacement by vocalist Myke Terry, and BYD’s ensuing transition from a heavy-ass, metal-infused hardcore band to generic metalcore with lots of clean singing. And if you’re not an old-time reader, you can catch up by going here.

Fast forward to December 22, 2010, when none other than Mat Bruso posted a very nice comment on our Contact page, which ended with these words: “Keep your standards high and your vocals low.” And that led to a further e-mail exchange in which Mat made it clear that we should keep our ears open, because he intended to continue singing and we would be hearing from him in the future.

Now fast-forward to a bit earlier today, and the official announcement that Myke Terry was exiting Bury Your Dead — and that Mat Bruso has rejoined the band to provide vocals on the new BYD album now being recorded.  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

WHAT DO EATING, FUCKING, AND LISTENING TO METAL HAVE IN COMMON?

 Metal News  13 Responses »
Jan 132011
 

We have a multiple choice quiz for you. We’re capable of many awesome things here at NCS, but reading your minds isn’t one of them (yet), so don’t worry — you won’t be graded. Here’s the question: What do eating, fucking, and listening to good metal have in common? Please select from the following answers:

(a) None of them is as much fun when your parents are in the room.

(b) All three are performed with your mouth open like a big-mouth bass (the fish, not the instrument)

(c) All three cause the release of dopamine in the brain

(d) I wouldn’t know because (so far) the only thing I’ve had sex with is my hand

(e) Stay out of my life, you fucking NCS perverts

Did you make your pick?

Okay, this was sort of a trick question, because the only definitely wrong answer is (e). Three of the other answers — (a), (b), and (d) — could be winners, but that all depends on you. The only definitely right answer, according to a recent scientific study from Canada, is (c).  After the jump, we’ll look at a story about that study — and of course we’ll add our typically tasteless commentary. Continue reading »

DECIBEL’S TOP 25 MOST ANTICIPATED RECORDS OF 2011

 Listmania, Metal News  41 Responses »
Jan 122011
 

I got home from my fucking day job last night and what do you think was waiting in my mailbox — other than more fucking bills?  No, it wasn’t cash from Hong Kong — not yet (see the post below this one). It was the February issue of DECIBEL magazine (the only metal mag worth reading any more).  And what do you think was inside the magazine? Well, lots of stuff, of course, but what immediately caught my eye was the magazine’s list of the Top 25 Most Anticipated Albums of 2011.

We try to keep up with news about forthcoming releases. In fact, we run a monthly list that collects news items about albums headed our way. But the DECIBEL list still included some albums we hadn’t yet heard about. Fuck, we hadn’t even heard of some of these bands. Beyond that, of course, is the question whether the albums on the list belong on the list, and whether other deserving releases were omitted. We’re curious what you think about those issues, so leave us some comments please.

Here’s the DECIBEL list:

TRAP THEM, Darker Handcraft
COFFINS, Fleshland
DIM MAK, TBA
PIG DESTROYER, TBA
KRALLICE, TBA
BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME, TBA
PRIMATE, Draw Back A Stump (EP)
AMON, Liar In Wait
SKELETONWITCH, TBA
DECAPITATED, TBA

(the rest of the list follows the jump, plus some names DECIBEL left off their list. . .)

Continue reading »

ULCERATE: THE DESTROYERS OF ALL

 Metal News  No Responses »
Jan 112011
 

The forthcoming album from New Zealand’s Ulcerate (their third) has been high on our list of anticipated 2011 releases. It will be called The Destroyers of All, it will be released on January 25 by Willowtip Records, and it’s now available for pre-order here.

The reason for this post is to make you aware (the one or two of you who don’t regularly read MetalSucks) that MS is now featuring an exclusive full-album stream of  The Destroyers of All at this location. I haven’t yet listened to the full stream (chalk it up to something I fondly call “my fucking day job”), but from what I’ve heard so far, it’s a worthy successor to the band’s stunning 2009 album, Everything Is Fire.

One more tidbit on the subject of the new Ulcerate album: The band has made one track from the album — “Dead Oceans” — available for download via its web site. To use a journalistic term of art, it’s good shit.

THE FINNS ARE COMING (AGAIN)

 Metal News  14 Responses »
Jan 102011
 

No, we’re not re-starting our seemingly endless series on Finnish metal. This is just a heads-up that the second installment of THE FINNISH METAL TOUR is on the horizon. The first installment last year was one of the best shows we saw in 2010, and the next one is already causing near-sexual forms of arousal here at NCS.

Okay, maybe that was too much information. Let’s just say we’re looking forward to the new tour and leave it at that.

Here’s the arousing line-up: Finntroll, Ensiferum, Barren Earth, and Rotten Sound.

Up above is a video trailer for the tour hosted by keyboardist Kasper Mårtenson (ex-Amorphis) and guitarist Sami Yli-Sirniö (Kreator) of Barren Earth. And in case your eyes cross as you try to read the dates and places as they scroll across the bottom of the video, we’ve got the full schedule after the jump.

Be still my beating . . . heart. Continue reading »

THE FAMINE: “AD MORTEM”

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jan 042011
 

Seems like it was only yesterday that we had a metaphorical orgasm over a new song from a forthcoming album.

Huh. It actually was only yesterday. No wonder it seemed like only yesterday. Well, yesterday we were raving about a new song from Omnium Gatherum. And it seems like only today that we came across a brand new song from a brand new forthcoming album by yet another band we’re very high on — The Famine.

Actually, it was only today when we came across this song. Because The Famine only posted the song a few hours ago.

If you don’t know The Famine, you should check out this song, or you can check out their 2008 album, The Raven and the Reaping, which is fantastic. The new album will be called The Architect of Guilt, and it’s scheduled for release on February 15 on Solid State Records. The Famine has had more than its fair share of trouble finishing this album. Among other things, their studio burned down last February, destroying all their equipment and all the tracking for the new album as it then existed.

But based on this song, the wait and the travails were worth it. This song is a blistering, hair-raising, full-on, high-speed assault — but with a mighty sweet groove. Continue past the jump, and listen to “Ad Mortem”. Continue reading »

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