New Morbid Angel album

Alright guys, once again this one's gonna have to be quick and simple 'cause I have prior engagements (and no, it's not JUST getting high and playing Dead Space), but this is still too cool of news to not report. Earlier today, Metalsucks gave us the scoop on a brand new album from the legendary Morbid Angel, their first since 2003's Heretic. Entitled Illud Divinum Insanus, the new album will be the first (and possibly only) to feature the mighty Tim Yeung (Divine Heresy, Vital Remains, Decrepit Birth, etc.) on drums. I say "possibly" because Pete Sandoval is still recovering from the back surgery he had a while ago, but there's no official word on whether or not his departure is permanent. Now don't get me wrong, Tim is one of my all time favorite drummers, the dude's a fucking monster behind the skins, but as with Kevin Talley and Six Feet Under I can't help but feel that he's a little bit overqualified for the job. Morbid Angel may have been one of the first bands to start using blast beats and all that stuff that we pretty much take for granted on a regular basis, but their drums have always been more like a faster Cannibal Corpse, whereas Tim Yeung's drumming falls more into the category of "holy shit, are you absolutely positive that's not a drum machine?" I personally don't think this is a bad thing, I like it when old school bands adopt newer, younger members who make them play faster and sound more modern, but I guarantee with a band as long-standing as Morbid Angel there will be plenty of elitist purists who won't accept anything that isn't Pete Sandoval. Time will tell as to whether or not they'll be able to get their heads out of the mid-Nineties, but in the meantime I'm still very excited to hear what these death metal veterans have in store. Illud Divinum Insanus is set to drop in America on June 7th via Season of Mist Records, and I'm sure there will be plenty of shows announced shortly before or after it comes out. I know I would definitely be interested in seeing a Morbid Angel show, I wonder if they still bloodlet on stage...? Oh well, gotta run, stay cool everyone.

-BK

New Hate Eternal song

Alright guys, this one's gonna be a quickie, but it's still exciting, kinda like a BJ from your high school crush. Earlier today, Hate Eternal unveiled a new track from their highly anticipated upcoming album Phoenix Amongst the Ashes, and while at first it seems like it's not as heavy as the rest of their stuff, once you give it a listen or two you'll realize that this is true, but that's because there's much more going on here than we're used to. Hate Eternal has pretty much always been America's answer to Behemoth, a band that is all about nonstop balls-out brutality at breakneck speeds, and don't get me wrong that's great, it's why I got into them in the first place, but this time around the band is really stretching their musical muscle. The music is much more atmospheric and ambient, almost melodic (in fact it pretty much is melodic), but then Erik Rutan's roars and Jade Simonetto's inhuman blasts come in and balance everything out, and this happens sporadically throughout the song. See for yourself as we present the song "Haunting Abound".

http://www.metalblade.com/hateeternal/

I think it's safe to say that May 10th is a date that needs to be marked down on everyone's calendar. Phoenix Amongst the Ashes will be available then via Metal Blade Records, and don't forget that Hate Eternal are going to be headlining one of the best tours this summer. Looks like these guys have a hell of a summer ahead of them, best of luck dudes. Tell your friends about this article on Twitter and all that jazz, and keep tuning in for more cool things.

-BK

Two for one special: new vids from Protest the Hero & Wormrot

I was going to do two separate articles for these two videos, but then I got to thinking, why not be lazy and efficient? After all, this is 'MERICA! So just for you, we have two brand spanking new music videos from two bands that are both great, if for completely different reasons. First up, fresh off their newest release Scurrilous, we have mathcore maniacs Protest the Hero giving us the track "C'est la Vie". Everything sounds like Fortress 2, but that's not a bad thing at all. In fact, that's actually what most of us were secretly hoping for in the first place. There's not much else I can say, the shit pretty much speaks for itself, so here it is, courtesy of Metalsucks.

http://www.metalsucks.net/2011/03/28/exclusive-video-premiere-protest-the-heros-cest-la-vie/

And next, all the way from good old, uh, Singapore, we are also very excited to announce the release of a new video from one of my favorite grindcore bands, Wormrot. Their last album, 2009's Abuse, was some of the most top quality grind my friends and I have ever heard, and with the release of their last couple of new songs, we felt confident that the new album was going to be just as good. Unfortunately we still have to wait until May 3rd to know for sure, but in the meantime the band have released the first official video from the album, for the song "Spot a Pathetic", and it's just as Wormrot-esque as the others. Obviously this is a good thing, so see for yourself below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpGLXau0RVQ

The live footage just reminds me that the Philly show for these guys on their upcoming tour is 21 and over, so I won't be able to go. Note to booking agents: just because someone's too young to drink doesn't mean they don't listen to the bands you're booking. There needs to be more all age shows, dammit! I'm almost 21 so this isn't going to be a problem for me much longer, but I promise you I'm not the only one, and there will always be more with the next generation. Take that to heart, people. That's all for tonight, be safe and stay brutal.

Yes, I know that's a contradiction, get over it.
-BK

New Bloodsoaked album

Happy Monday, everyone. Hope everyone had a fun weekend, but it's time once again to pretend to be a metal news site, so let's get this shit going. To kick the week off, there's some exciting news in the world of the one man North Carolina death metal machine Bloodsoaked, aka Pete Hasselbrack. As of last night, he announced that he is due to enter the studio within the next couple of weeks to begin recording his third full length, The Death of Hope. For those who don't know, Bloodsoaked is one of what many consider to be the Big Three of one man bands, alongside Putrid Pile and Insidious Decrepancy, and with good reason. 2009's Sadistic Deeds, Grotesque Memories was an instant underground hit, garnering him enough attention to get not just one, not two, but THREE music videos on Headbanger's Ball. I can't tell you how happy I was to finally see the monotony of hair-core and Hatebreed videos broken when it first happened. Unfortunately MTV has still kinda kept up that tradition of only playing boring trendy videos with occasional gems thrown in, but Bloodsoaked has continued to break faces the world over, and needless to say I'm very excited to hear what Mr. Hasselbrack has in store for us this time around. For a taste of the new material, check out this video of a recent jam session below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1m55tVbrWg

As of this writing there is no word yet on whether this anonymous drummer is a new member or if he was just there for the purposes of that particular rehearsal, but either way I wouldn't be disappointed. Hasselbrack has done two albums already that sounded fucking dirty even without a drummer, and if this guy ends up joining the band then great, he's really good too. Only time will tell, but in the meantime if you liked what you heard, here's one of the videos I was telling you about that saw its fair share of airtime on Headbanger's Ball not long ago. It's my personal favorite, from the Sadistic Deeds, Grotesque Memories album, entitled "Rotting In Filth".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbDGgpbrmDA&feature=fvst

This album, as well as his first, Brutally Butchered, are available now via Comatose Music, and I strongly suggest you get them both. Leave your thoughts below, and stay tuned for more.

-BK

Breaking news: Circle of Dead Children announce big lineup change

We interrupt your regularly scheduled Youtube and porn session Saturday afternoon to bring you this bittersweet news about Pennsylvania deathgrinders Circle of Dead Children. Less than an hour ago, the band announced that they have said their goodbyes to guitarist and founding member Jason Andrews. Andrews has been with the band for more than a decade, so this certainly comes as a shock to any and all fans of the band (myself included), and worries of the band splitting up were certainly not unjustified, but luckily the band went on to say that this is not the case. The split was amicable, and long-time bassist Drew Haritan has stepped up to take Andrews' place. As for Haritan's replacement, the band also announced that they are recruiting an outside party that they call a "long-time friend and Pittsburgh metal/punk veteran", named only as Brooks. Well Mr. Brooks, you certainly have your work cut out for you, but if Circle of Dead Children has faith in you, then Mosh Rebellion does as well. The band also said that rather than letting this whole situation get them down, the new lineup has them feeling invigorated and they're already working on a follow up to last year's Psalm of the Grand Destroyer, which you guys may remember from my Best of 2010 list. I know I'm excited, and you should be too, because CODC is one of the unsung heroes of grindcore and extreme metal. Horns up to Jason Andrews, best of luck to you sir, and to the rest of Circle of Dead Children for soldiering on through some potentially very trying times. Can't wait to hear the new tunes, and you can bet they'll be up here when they're unleashed. And now you may resume your day, ladies and gentlemen.

-The Baby Killer

New Melechesh video

It's been a pretty slow news day today, but there is one cool thing, and that's a brand new music video from Melechesh to start your weekend off. The video in question is for "Grand Gathas of Baal Sin", my favorite Melechesh song hands-down, and although it's a pretty standard performance video of the band playing the song in various Middle Eastern locales, it's still a great song, and the editing makes the whole thing still feel very exhilarating. Almost as exhilarating as their live show, even. Not quite, but almost. Check it out below at Blabbermouth.net:

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=155833&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blabbermouth+%28Blabbermouth.net%27s+Daily+Headlines%29&utm_content=Twitter

Love it. Melechesh's newest album The Epigenesis is available now via Nuclear Blast Records, and if you haven't gotten it yet you're missing out on some quality black/thrash metal, my friend. Have a great weekend everyone, see you soon.

-BK

Oh yeah, Skeletonwitch have a new drummer, too

I was actually going to put this one up yesterday, but two things happened simultaneously. First I ran out of time, and then I forgot about it completely until just now. But as is so often the case, better late than never, so off we go. A couple days ago, Skeletonwitch announced that their old drummer Derrick Nau has decided to quit the band in order to direct his focus on art school. This is obviously kinda sad, because losing a band member under any circumstances is mega-lame, but Nau and the rest of the band have assured that it was an amicable split, and it's not like he's leaving the band to go do some stupid lame solo project that we'll never hear from ever again. Yes, I'm talking about you, Kristen Randall. Why don't you stick to what you're good at and show us your tits again. And in any case, Nau's departure doesn't mean the end of Skeletonwitch, because they've already announced Tony Laureano as his replacement, and he's awesome. He's done fill-in jobs for bands like Dimmu Borgir, Nile, Malevolent Creation, Angelcorpse (damn, that's a throwback), 1349, God Dethroned and more. Basically this guy's the Kevin Talley of, uhhh... drums... wait a minute, I fucked that up. You get what I mean, he makes a living drumming for awesome bands (and All That Remains), and now he's in Skeletonwitch, who are also awesome. In their statement, the band said that Tony is scheduled to play with the band "for the foreseeable future", including their next record and their upcoming mini-tour with 3 Inches of Blood (ffffffffffffu-!), the dates for which can be found over yonder. As per usual I won't be able to see them, but this is a fucking crazy lineup, and it's their first tour with the new drummer, so get your tickets if they're coming to your neck of the woods. In the spirit of that tour, smoke weed and hail Satan!

-BK