NEILSTEIN SOUNDSCAM: A TESTAMENT TO LONGEVITY
20,000 is the magic number this week. The top seller on the Current Hard Music chart debuted with that number while five other recent releases surpassed or came close to hitting 20,000 units sold too. After the jump, debut numbers from Testament, Nachtmystium and Jackyl with progress reports on the latest from Baroness, Periphery, Whitechapel, Fear Factory, The Contortionist, Nile, Dying Fetus and more.
1 TESTAMENT – DARK ROOTS OF EARTH
Last week: 20,720 (debut)
The resurrection of Testament starting with 2008’s The Formation of Damnation was most unlikely, but it’s been remarkable to watch. I just listened to this album all the way through for the first time and it’s fantastic; best album Metallica never wrote!
2 RUSH – CLOCKWORK ANGELS
Last week: 20,026
Cume: 197,249
Remember when I goofed and thought this album sold only 1,500 units first week? LOL. Not sure what’s responsible for this week’s 258% spike, but man, Rush can still move units.
4 SLIPKNOT – ANTENNAS TO HELL
Last week: 10,754
Cume: 27,210
A Slipknot greatest hits comp — filled with songs everyone already owns — sells more units than most metal bands’ regular albums… combined, in their entire careers.
7 JACKYL – BEST IN SHOW
Last week: 5,361 (debut)
And the moral of the story is: use a chainsaw once, sell albums forever.
10 HELLYEAH – BAND OF BROTHERS
Last week: 4,050
Cume: 30,010
Vinnie Paul gonna eat this year! Phew.
18 BARONESS – YELLOW AND GREEN
Last week: 2,647
Cume: 19,969
It’s premature to be thinking about the next Baroness album just three weeks after the release of this one, but whenever that one finally does come it’s gonna be HUGE. IMO this is their best album yet.
27 TANKIAN*SERJ – HARAKIRI
Last week: 1,719
Cume: 19,797
Serj’s System of a Down bandmates ought to thank him for keeping the press fire stoked while they’re off not making new System of a Down music.
34 NACHTMYSTIUM – SILENCING MACHINE
Last week: 1,449 (debut)
Actually a lot less than I would’ve thought. I’m not sure what to make of this; this band isn’t popular? black metal fans don’t buy records? the core fanbase has deserted this band? This much I know for sure: Blake Judd did not do a good job of making himself available to press to promote this record.
35 WHITECHAPEL – WHITECHAPEL
Last week: 1,334
Cume: 21,116
I wouldn’t say I’m gaga for Whitechapel yet, but it’s definitely their least cliched and overall effort yet. They’re on the right track, and they’ve proven themselves as a career band that aren’t going to disappear as trends change.
40 PERIPHERY – PERIPHERY II
Last week: 1,195
Cume: 19,217
Pretty derned impressive for a project that started off as one kid in his bedroom.
67 FEAR FACTORY – INDUSTRIALIST
Last week: 693
Cume: 20,798
Apparently album sales don’t translate into festival headliners, otherwise this wouldn’t have happened.
73 CONTORTIONIST – INTRINSIC
Last week: 645
Cume: 5,387
When did this band blow up? Less than a year ago they were first of four on a package with Periphery, The Human Abstract and Textures and hardly anyone gave a shit. Now their music video premiere crashes MetalSucks, droves of people arrive at Summer Slaughter at 3pm to see them and they’re putting up numbers like this. Gotta hand it to the folks at Good Fight and eOne for great marketing and the band for nailing a killer record with the guys at Audiohammer Studios.
79 NILE – AT THE GATES OF SETHU
Last week: 594
Cume: 7,283
Nile should release a box set that’s shaped like a pyramid. A giant pyramid with blocks that slide out revealing each record. I’d buy that shit.
86 DYING FETUS – REIGN SUPREME
Last week: 476
Cume: 7,339
Dying Fetus should release a fetus-shaped box set. See above!
97 MESHUGGAH – KOLOSS
Last week: 419
Cume: 38,434
That pays Nuclear Blast’s overhead for the entire year right there.
-VN
