msdavison3 (FMA Admin)

MetalSucks recently released the fantastic second half to their soopersized variety-bucket sampler of metal in New York. NYC Sucks Vols. 1 & 2 cover quite a bit of ground; across this collection's 27 tracks, the wide breadth of bands and styles are really only unified in their sonic intensity. To their credit, MetalSucks' definition of "Metal" in this compilation is markedly inclusive, even catholic. It's unlikely that you would ever see some of these bands sharing a live bill with each other, and perhaps that's what makes this such an enthralling listen. In Volume 1, you've got the ethereal melodies of Made Out Of Babies' Julie Christmas in one instance doing the cha-cha right up against Tiger Flowers' serrated assault on the following track. On Volume 2, Defeatist rub out a nasty grind in under two minutes with "Dawn of No Light", and then further on down the road, Krallice's majestic, nine-minute "Autochthon" gallops all the way down into the black. Awesome. Other cool and unexpected turns include the Travis Beans and drum machines of The Austerity Program whose textures and clinical prescision evoke Big Black, firing back at the bombastic saga of Brooklyn's Hull. Those clever genre-shifting juxtapositions happen throughout both volumes.  

NYC Sucks' stylistic expanse afforded the editors a luxury of being truly able to cherrypick the healthiest heavies of what's bubbling up around NYC (though a respectful nod is given to Abacinate's Jason Sica and Atakke). That makes it near impossible to single out any one band, but of course that's the idea. If you like to argue apples vs. oranges, Mods vs. Rockers with your friends, this is a pretty solid soundtrack for that kind of pointlessness. I'll start! Here's a few tracks that I enjoyed (come at me, bro):