QUESTION OF THE WEEK: SPECIAL THANKSGIVING EDITION

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Welcome to “Question of the Week,” a (sometimes) weekly debate amongst the MetalSucks staff regarding a recent hot button issue.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, which means we’re taking off early today and won’t be back ’til Monday. We’re sorry to leave non-American readers high n’ dry, but PLUS ONE FOR FREEDOM, MOTHERFUCKERS.

ANYWAY, in honor of the holiday, we decided to do a special Turkey Day-themed QOTW designed to make you feel all warm and cuddly inside:

WHAT (IN METAL) ARE YOU THANKFUL FOR?

The MS staff’s answers after the jump.

I’m thankful that the metal scene in 2010 is so vibrant and full of great bands. From a commercial standpoint metal might not be as big as it was in, say, 2004, but on the whole I think there are a lot more folks listening to metal now than at any time during the past 20 years. Thanks to the Internet and cheap recording technology the pool has widened and the playing field has leveled; sure, that means there are a lot more shitty bands, but where there are more bands overall there are more good ones too. I’m continually shocked by the amount of great material we get from unsigned bands on a daily basis. Even if there are fewer superstar-level metal bands out there today — or even mid-level ones that make a living — the quality and diversity of metal in 2010 is really something to be thankful for.

-Vince Neilstein

I’m thankful that metal, and the metal community, has allowed me to make a living being the total dick that I am anyway. As it turns out, being constantly sarcastic and surly to people 24/7 is frowned upon in an office enviornment. But when you listen to music known for such upbeat titles and band names as Humanure, “The Grudge,” “Dont Stop Bereaving,” Enslaved, “Piss Angel,” Morbid Angel, Prostitute Disfigurement, “Born Stupid,” “High on Hate,” Severe Torture, “We Die Young,” Defeatist, “Everything’s Ruined,” “Things Don’t Look Good,” Existence is Futile, “Crucify Your Beliefs,” “Hostile Youth,” “Master Failure,” “You Suck,” “Everything Sucks,” “Stronger Than Hate,” Hate Eternal, Hatebreed, Hatesphere, Hatehate, “I Can Only Disappoint You,” “I’m Broken,” “Act of Contrition,” Scenes from Hell, “Bonehead,” “Dead Skin Mask,” Slaughter, Poison, Venom, “Fixation on the Darkness,” Kingdom of Sorrow, “Homewrecker,” Despise You, “Pathetic,” “Detest,” “No God,” Deicide, Animosity, “Bleak,” “My World is Ending,” “My Friend of Misery,” “Consuming Misery,” Misery Index, Misery Signals, Miserable Misery, Slaughter of the Soul, “Fuck Your Enemy,” “Let’s Kill These Motherfuckers,” “People = Shit,” “Pure Hatred,” Death, Napalm Death, Decapitated, Cynic, Carcass, and Decapitated Cynical Napalm Death Carcass, well, you’re expected to be kind of a Gloomy Gus. So I guess the short way to say that is: I’m thankful that metal accepts me for who I am.

Now everybody leave me the fuck alone until Monday.

-Axl Rosenberg

I hate to get all grandma-who-grew-up-in-the-Depression-at-the-head-of-the-table here, but I’m thankful for metal itself right now. Despite how it may seem with labels shoving mall bands down your throat, I don’t think that, on the whole, metal sucks (hey!) at all. Obviously there are terrible bands, and there are terrible bands that are way more famous than the great bands ever will be, but metal is more expansive — both creatively and in terms of popularity — and diverse than it’s ever been. If enhoodied teenagers throwin’ ‘bows to breakdowns or nu-metal hangers-on like Disturbed aren’t your thing, there are still literally dozens of amazing records you won’t get the time to hear because you’ll be lost in the other great-and-classic records coming out every year, broadening already pretty broad parameters. And obviously, with the internet being what it is, it’s almost unfathomably easy to find whatever kind of metal you’re into. And because everyone everywhere has so much access to it, it’s changing, evolving, getting better, and, dare I say it, maturing. And when getting wrapped up in how bands that used to be great suck now (cough Mastodon cough), it’s easy to forget that that’s a pretty cool thing. So yeah, I’m thankful for that. That, and the girl from Bleeding Through. You know, what’s-her-face. She’s fine.

-Sammy O’Hagar

I am thankful that so many legends of metal are still alive and destroying. Just in the past year, I’ve either seen live, or heard incredible new studio records from: Atheist, Brutal Truth, Converge, Cynic, Earth, Eyehategod, Immolation, Immortal, Katatonia, Pestilence, Suffocation and Thomas G. Warrior (Triptykon). Who knew that metal could be an old man’s game?

-Satan Rosenbloom

Giblets.

-Gary Suarez

THE INTERNET.

-Leyla Ford

Okay, kiddies, now it’s your turn! Weigh in with your answer to the question of the week below. And we’ll see ya Monday…