Metal By Numbers is a weekly column in which we look at the top metal sellers and debuts of the week as well as what’s getting played at Metal radio courtesy of radio trade magazine FMQB, whose metal panel consists of about 80 college and commercial stations that have metal shows, as well as SiriusXM, Music Choice, and more.

You’d think Rammstein might have the deck stacked against them. They haven’t put an album out in America in four years, don’t tour here regularly, and with the exception of the NSFW single and video “Pussy,” the entire album is in German. But they have not only the top metal album of the week, but the biggest debut of their career. Converge have a very solid debut as well, perhaps because it’s one of the best albums of the year. They’re also most added at FMQB, while the largely static top ten has a new entry with Five Finger Death Punch.

Notable Debuts:

Rammstein, Liebe Ist Für Alle Da (standard version) (Vagrant) #13, 22,000 sold
Or you could spring for the dildo-tastic box set. I said “box…” With the success of this album, look for the band to at least consider playing some shows over here.

Converge, Axe to Fall (Epitaph) #74, 7,250 sold
A 10/10 review in the latest issue of Decibel for a star studded album with cameos from the likes of Genghis Tron, Cave In, and Steve Von Till, we’re not going to stop telling you how great this album is.

Scar Symmetry, Dark Matter Dimensions (Nuclear Blast) 1,520 sold
The band’s “Death Jovi” sound, as our bros at Metal Sucks call it, got a prett decent amount of non-Swedes to pick it up.

Russian Circles, Geneva (Suicide Squeeze) 1,500 sold
This is the instrumental Chicago trio’s third album in four years. I guess they can work faster without waiting for someone to write lyrics.

Gwen Stacy, A Dialogue (Solid State) 1,200 sold
The best band name to come from a Spider Man character since Venom? (OK comic book geeks, I know Venom the band was around before 1984, when the alien symbiote first bonded to Peter Parker in Secret Wars #8).

Fu Manchu, Signs of Infinite Power (Century Media) 1,000 sold
1,000 people put down the bong and picked up the latest Fu Manchu album.

Belphegor, Walpurgis Rites: Hexenwahn (Nuclear Blast) 900 sold
First person to use “Hexenwahn” in a sentence not pertaining to Belphegor wins a prize.

Shrinebuilder, Shrinebuilder (Neurot Recordings) 800 sold
A sludge metal supergroup consisting of Wino and members of Sleep, the Melvins and Neurosis? Wow!

Notable Sales:

Breaking Benjamin, Dear Agony (Hollywood Records) #15 21,000 sold
This album will be halfway to gold next week in only four weeks. That’s pretty amazing, even though they’re about as metal as Paris Hilton in a $250 Judas Priest replica shirt.

KISS, Sonic Boom (KISS Records) #17, 20,000 sold
Up to almost 160,000 records sold in three weeks. Pretty impressive – except for the fact that The Eagles’ Wal-Mart exclusive record sold 711,000 copies only two years ago.

Alice In Chains, Black Gives Way To Blue (Virgin) #24 17,000 sold
If you want to have fun, play this album for someone that liked the band in the ’90s, but didn’t hear any of the new stuff yet. I did that yesterday, and they’re buying it today (Hi Holly!).

Dethklok, Dethalbum II (Williams Street) #65 8,300 sold
This is performing really solidly. It’s the best manufactured band since Black Eyed Peas decided picked up Fergie and lost their soul.

Five Finger Death Punch, War Is The Answer (Prospect Park) #70 7,600 sold
This will be at a solid 100k sold next week.

Hollywood Undead, Swan Songs (Octone/A&M) #101, 5,000 sold
This has been on the album charts for 60 weeks. That’s more than ICP or Slipknot can say.

Chevelle, Sci-Fi Crimes (Sony) #102, 5,000 sold
The best band named after a car since Pantera? Sorry guys, Pantera wins hands down. We’ll give a point to White Wizzard’s “High Speed GTO” for the awesome video though. That’s all the time we have today on “Metal Insider Car Talk.” Tune in next week…  

Rodrigo y Gabriela, 11:11 (ATO) #134, 4,000 sold
You should probably pick this up if you get a chance and like guitar. Especially acoustic guitar played at the speed of light.

Megadeth, Endgame (Roadrunner) #150, 3,250 sold
Whaddya mean you haven’t heard this yet? This is the best record that they’ve put out in years. If Dave needs to replace a player here and there to restore the spark, then so be it, because it’s working.

Steel Panther, Feel the Steel (Republic) #184, 2,600 sold
“Death to all butt Metal?” Thanks for saving the video, Sarah Silverman. Apparently, that cameo was enough to get Comedy Central to greenlight a show for the band.

Hatebreed, Hatebreed (E1 Records) #193, 2,500 sold
What’s the new Hatebeak record sold?

Chickenfoot, Chickenfoot (Redline/Fontana) #199, 2,400 sold
Speaking of beaks… up to 330,000 sold so far.

Baroness, Blue Record (Relapse)  1,850 sold
A 61% drop off. Stay tuned for a contest to win this album and some other cool Relapse stuff!

Austrian Death Machine, Double Brutal (Metal Blade) 1,300 sold
As far as sequels go, this one if performing more like Batman and Robin than Terminator II.

Despised Icon, Day of Mourning (Century Media) 1,100 sold
This sells almost the exact same as they did last week five weeks in. A rare sign of steady/slightly increased sales at metal.

Skeletonwitch, Breathing the Fire (Prosthetic)  1,000 sold
A steep 71% drop off from last week, but these guys will live and die by what they do on the road.

Immortal, All Shall Fall (Nuclear Blast) 860 sold
Do you think for Halloween, Immortal take off the corpse paint and dress up as lawyers or accountants?

Anvil, This is Thirteen (VH1 Classic) 650 sold
650 is probably more than some of their albums in between Metal on Metal and this one sold total.

Bring Me The Horizon, Suicide Season (Epitaph) 550 sold
75,000 sold. Must mean it’s time for a remix album.

Attack Attack!, Someday Came Suddenly (Rise Records) 520 sold
I hope they never put out a remix album. Or, like, another album.

Skindred, Shark Bites and Dog Fights (Beiler Bros Records) 500 sold
Bring back Dub War!

FMQB Most Added    

1) Converge, Axe To Fall (Epitaph)
2) Throwdown, Deathless sampler (E1)
3) The Red Chord, Fed Through the Teeth Machine (Metal Blade)
4) Saviours, Accelerated Living (Kemado)
5) 2 Cents, Dressed To Kill (Eight O Five Records)

Bram Teitelman

See Full Bio