NEILSTEIN SOUNDSCAM: A KRUTCH FOR RECORD SALES

Not as many new metal releases this past week as the week before, but there are a few worth paying attention to and a slew of second-week numbers to look at. Dragonforce, Job For A Cowboy, Loomis, Primal Rock Rebellion and more:

1 THOUSAND FOOT KRUTCH – END IS WHERE WE BEGIN
Last week: 23,245 (debut)

Totally profound album name, brahs!! Ten years later, I never could have predicted that the band who wrote this modern-day nu-metal “classic” would not only still be kicking, but thriving:

I guess you never know.

3 HALESTORM – STRANGE CASE OF
Last week: 10,714
Cume: 34,701 (debut)

Only a 55% drop in Week 2… which is considered good these days. I guess someone somewhere deserved a pat on the back for that.

6 DRAGONFORCE – POWER WITHIN
Last week: 5,920 (debut)

That’s the sound of Roadrunner dropping Dragonforce before their next record.

10 EVANS BLUE – GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES
Last week: 3,773 (debut)

Active rock is active rock.

26 JOB FOR A COWBOY – DEMONOCRACY
Last week: 1,739
Cume: 6,756

64% drop in Week 2. Still, this will cross 10k before too long. It’s probably already shipped that many.

38 TOMAHAWK – EPONYMOUS TO ANONYMOUS
Last week: 1,055

Wait… what??? There’s a new Tomahawk record? Oh wait, no, just a vinyl reissue… and with 1k sold, that’s a complete Record Store Day sell-through. 

50 OSBOURNE*OZZY – OZZY LIVE
Last week: 793 (debut)

I had no idea this was coming out, but man, that number is horribly weak. I feel like interest in live albums is really waning these days.

51 LOOMIS*JEFF PLAINS OF OBLIVION
Last week: 752
Cume: 3727

74% drop in Week 2. Still, I’m in utter disbelief that an instrumental shred record is moving so many units in 2012. I mean, the record’s great, but ten years ago a record like this probably wouldn’t have sold 300 copies.

90 PRIMAL ROCK REBELLION – AWOKEN BROKEN
Last week: 545

Man, that stinks. This band — which features Iron Maiden’s Adrian Smith and SiKth’s Mikee Goodman — deserves better.

-VN