Headbanging Webslingers Plan A Metal SuckFest

Axl Rosenberg and Vince Neilstein run MetalSucks.net, a web blog that chronicles the wide world of metal with a healthy self-deprecating sense of humor. So yes, you’ll find reviews of new albums by bands like Cynic, Arabrot, and Warbringer, tour news, release schedules, free downloads and contests, videos and streaming audio, and interviews with musicians and behind-the-scenes members of the worldwide metal scene. But you’ll also find articles like “Completely Unreadable Band Logo Of The Week” or “James Hetfield <3’s Natalie Portman.”

Rosenberg and Neilstein (not, we suspect their real names; other staffers include Sammy O’Hagar, Bob Cock, Satan Rosenbloom, and Kip Wingerschmidt) are stepping up their game and rather than just covering concerts and metal festivals, they’re putting on one of their own: Metal Suckfest will take place at NYC’s Gramercy Ballroom on November 4 and 5. (Poster with complete lineups below.) We talked to Vince about the website, the metal scene, and the upcoming festival.


Graphic courtesy of Metalsucks.net


Q: What were your gateway bands to metal, and how did that lead to you starting the website?

Axl and I have known each other since we were five and really started to get into music when we were around 10. The big bands for us collectively were Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, Living Colour, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Motley Crue… basically anything around in the late ‘80s / early ‘90s on the more pop side of metal that still had balls. Of course we loved all the fluffy hair bands, too. MetalSucks is basically just a manifestation of the real-life conversations we were already having, put to paper. Beavis and Butt-Head in blog form, if you will.

Q: I love that your site has such a healthy sense of humor. You often remark that especially on the Internet, there’s a sizable portion of the metal community that’s completely humorless, especially about iconic bands like Metallica or Slayer. How do you address that mentality?

How do we address it? Well, I think the title of our site pretty much answers that. If you don’t get the fact that or aren’t interested in spending the 10 seconds it would take to find out that our site is not really about metal sucking (well, maybe sometimes it is), then MetalSucks is not for you.

Q: You seem pretty dubious about Loutallica. Have you listened to the album stream? Do you think this album will have any real impact, or wind up quickly forgotten like Chinese Democracy?

I listened to the first few songs on the album stream and then gave up. I’m someone who’s been fairly forgiving on recent Metallica – I thought Death Magnetic was semi-decent, and even acknowledge that like ONE song on St. Anger was sweet (and that’s saying a lot). This one is not for me.

It won’t have any meaningful effect on modern metal, but I gather that wasn’t ever really the point. Metallica are already working on an actual new Metallica album. As to whether THAT album will have any impact… well, I suppose you’d have to define “impact.” Death Magnetic didn’t change the game or up the ante for anyone, Metallica included, but it sure as hell reached a lot of people.



Q: To the outsider, the metal scene seems so fragmented – deathmetal, speedmetal, blackmetal, thrashcore, screamo, Christian metal/ Satanic metal, and so on. Then there’s the fact that it’s such an international scene; most punk rockers or even indie rockers don’t really need to keep up on what’s going on in every nook and fjord of Scandanavia, let alone South America and Europe. Does writing about the metal scene ever seem completely overwhelming? How do you cope with the seemingly endless sub-genres, and do any of those myriad labels really mean anything?

I challenge your assertion that outsiders think the metal scene is fragmented – that’s insider knowledge. Whenever I’m at parties hosted by my friends who aren’t into metal and I end up talking to someone random, people are baffled when I tell them what I do. To them, metal means AC/DC, Def Leppard and Guns N’ Roses… MAYBE they’ll come up with Metallica. But for the most part people have NO IDEA, a) how diverse metal is, b) that it still exists as a vibrant art form, and c) that’s is so overwhelmingly popular internationally.

Q: In terms of the website, you probably get deluged with way more music than you can listen to, let alone review. What’s your triage process? How do you weed out what gets written about and what gets ignored?

We have instructions on the site for how to send in submissions – digital streams only. If bands send in rapdishare download links, emails with mp3 attachments, or anything else, those get ignored. It’s amazing how many people can’t follow instructions, or even don’t realize that their Facebook page requires a “Like” to even listen to anything (like I’m gonna tell all my friends I like a band just to check out their shitty demo). Still, we get tons of bands who do follow instructions; hundreds per week. I try to listen to just about everything, but if it’s not grabbing me by a minute or two into the first song, it’s dunzo. In order for me to feel inspired to write about something, it’s just that – I really need to feel inspired.

Q: Going back to the fragmentation issue, what are the qualities a band needs to be considered “metal,” regardless of whatever sub-genre it gets pigeonholed into?

We’ve debated this quite a bit on the site. I don’t think there is any single defining characteristic of metal. You could say distorted guitars and counter with Opeth. You could say growled vocals and counter with every metal band that existed before 1990. You could say a certain tempo and counter with any doom band. You could argue it’s a certain harmonic/melodic structure as it relates to some kind of music theory tenet, and you’d alienate 99% of metal listeners. It’s impossible to define metal. I guess you know it when you hear it.


The inspiration for MetalSucks.net, buttmunch

Q: Mosh pits have been around for 30 years now but every day there’s another kid going to his first show, so the cycle always repeats. This is compounded by the fact that in the early days of hardcore, everybody at a show was 16 years old. Today you’ve got 300 lb. guys in their 40’s who still want to stage dive and crowd surf, not to mention throwing punches and banging into bodies. Is violence at shows still an issue, and if so, how does you as individual fans and your site address it?

Metal is an aggressive form of music, so I think that will always exist. It’s definitely still an issue. I deal with it by standing in the back, or as close to the front as I can get without putting my head in the potential projectile path of some kid’s karate-chop foot. I think that most of the people who read our site regularly are “stand in the back” types. Our style of writing doesn’t appeal to your average lunkhead.

Q: Let’s talk about Suckfest. I’m impressed by the fact that you’re combining so many different types of metal on two bills. Are there implicit dangers in this – like inviting vampires and werewolves to the same party? What percentage of your audience will be able to enjoy an entire night, and how many will stand outside smoking during certain bands because it’s “not their thing?”

Well, the festival’s two days are definitely split up such that bands are paired with other bands that are as similar as possible. Still, there’s bound to be some Cynic fans who stand outside and smoke while The Red Chord plays. Whatever – their loss. Hopefully a band like Howl, for example, opening for Municipal Waste, will pick up a few new fans in the process.

Q: One thing I’ve noticed lately – and I see you’ve commented on this – is that the hardcore scene seems to have been entirely overrun by reunions of 80’s and 90’s bands and reissues. Young bands with original ideas have been marginalized so bands like Youth of Today and Agnostic Front can take one more victory lap. Even DYS has reformed, and you have to figure it’s all about the almighty dollar. Or is it? Do these bands have anything left to say? Do you feel overall this trend is a problem, or a good thing?

I do think reunions are sometimes about the almighty dollar, but I think it’s way more complex than that. Yeah, it’s sweet to get paid. It’s also sweet to make music, and it’s doubly sweet to do so with your best buddies who you spent years doing it with. Fans are quick to call bands who reunite greedy, but these guys have spent their entire life invested in something, forgoing a college education, relationships, families, or any semblance of stability – what else are they gonna do?

Q: I suspect the Suckfest bills already come pretty close to your dream show. But let’s say you could get any band you wanted added to the bill. Who would you pick?

Lake Bukkake. We tried in earnest to track these guys down, but they are SO fucking hard to find… they didn’t make it easy. Maybe next year.

For more information, visit www.metalsucks.net