NEILSTEIN SOUNDSCAM: SLAVE TO THE DEMONOCRACY

Apologies for the lateness of the column this week; the MS Mansion Monkey who’s usually in charge of sending me the weekly Soundscan numbers went on a banana-eating binge Tuesday night and is only just now recovering from two solid days of vomiting and explosive diarrhea. But fear not, because there a ton of big debuts last were to cover: Job For A Cowboy, Jeff Loomis, Pelican, Municipal Waste, Demon Hunter, Emmure, The Safety Fire, Upon a Burning Body and more. Check out those numbers after the break:

1 HALESTORM – STRANGE CASE OF
Last week: 23,987 (debut)

Even if you don’t especially dig Halestorm (which I’m guessing is true for most of you), there’s nothing you can really hate on; Lzzy Hale is a super-talented vocalist, and Halestorm are nothing like the radio rock bands in the Theory of a Nickelseether school. I’m shocked at this number though, wow, that’s a lot.

3 DEMON HUNTER – TRUE DEFIANCE
Last week: 12×495 (debut)

God smites MetalSucks for not liking this band.

6 EMMURE – SLAVE TO THE GAME
Last week: 7,078 (debut)

Sellouts! Read Sergeant D’s official review here. 

7 ACCEPT – STALINGRAD
Last week: 5,482 (debut)

Zeze Germans have still got it! Gave this record a spin yesterday and it is just as solid as Blood of the Nations. 

8 JOB FOR A COWBOY – DEMONOCRACY
Last week: 5,017 (debut)

That’s a pretty solid number, yeah? This is probably their best record yet; we’ve been jamming the shit out of it at the Mansion.

10 CAVO – THICK AS THIEVES
Last week: 4,490 (debut)

I am listening to this record right now, and I decree it a pretty good, above average radio hard rock record! I think what it really comes down to with these radio hard rock bands — like with Halestorm, above — is the singer, and Cavo, thankfully, do not have a “yarler” on the mic; this guy’s voice is full, rich, and almost a little Chris Cornell-ish. And the songs are catchy in an un-cliched way to back it up.

11 UPON A BURNING BODY – RED. WHITE. GREEN.
Last week: 4,144 (debut)

The Latino takeover Sergeant D predicted would befall metal is upon us. Red, white and GREEN, bitches, viva la Mexico!!!!

16 LOOMIS*JEFF – PLAINS OF OBLIVION
Last week: 2,975 (debut)

If you’d have told me 10 years ago that an instrumental shred record would chart at #16 on any chart I would’ve laughed at you. My, how times have changed. Congratulations are in [zero]order[phase] to Jeff for sticking to his guns for the past 20 years. 

20 MUNICIPAL WASTE – FATAL FEAST
Last week: 2,747 (debut)

People laugh the Waste!

21 TAPROOT – THE EPISODES
Last week: 2,673 (debut)

This has to be an all-time low for Taproot. Honestly, these guys should feel blessed to still have a career. I love Stephen Richards’ voice, though.

39 PELICAN – ATARAXIA/TARAXIS
Last week: 1,377 (debut)

Not bad for an EP, but I would’ve expected Pelican to sell more units first week.

45 THE SAFETY FIRE – GRIND THE OCEAN
Last week: 1,097 (debut)

Not a bad number by any means for a brand new band, and one that’s not even from the U.S. to boot. I have a feeling these guys have a solid career ahead of them if they choose to stick with it long enough.

-VN