Nuclear Blast is having one hell of a year. The German label set a record in April when Meshuggah’s Koloss sold over 18,000 copies. Now they’ve broken it just four months later with Testament’s 10th album. Dark Roots of the Earth sold over 8,000 copies more than 2009’s The Formation of Damnation. The Bay Area thrash band has undergone quite a career renaissance starting with Damnation, but this is easily their best chart position ever, and one hell of a victory for metal.
Notable Debuts
Testament, Dark Roots of Earth (Nuclear Blast) #12, 20,500 sold
The anticipation was high and so is their chart position in week one. Even when the band was in the middle of their initial run, their peak chart positions were in the ’70s.Welcome back, Testament!
Nachtmystium, Silencing Machine (Century Media) 1,400 sold
Despite the fans having mixed emotions about the less-prog/more black metal direction ofSilencing Machine, the band around frontman Blake Judd is off to a solid start.
Charm City Devils, Sins (eOne) 1,100 sold
The hard rock band from Baltimore is off to an equally solid start.
The Company Band, Pros & Cons (Weathermaker) 925 sold
The band consisting of Clutch, CKY, Fireball Ministry, and Fu Manchu members intended for things to be all corporate (read our interview with them here), and they almost reached a thousand sold CDs before the closing bell.
A Bullet for Pretty Boy, Symbiosis (Artery/Razor & Tie) 850 sold
The Texans aren’t doing too badly either.
Attika 7, Blood of My Enemies (Rocket Science) 390 sold
With former Biohazard singer Evan Seinfeld in the band we might have expected more in their debut week.
Notable Sales
Rush, Clockwork Angels (Roadrunner) #12, 20,000 sold
With almost four times as many albums sold as in the previous week, Rush is rising up to #13 with the newly released Testament album just above them. The buzz might be related to the recent news about Rush being inducted to receive the RockWalk Award 2012, an honor previously given to artists like Jimmy Page or AC/DC. Or it’s the other way around, either way they are having a great run in Clockwork Angels’ eighth week.
Slipknot, Antennas to Hell (Roadrunner) #28, 10,800 sold
Their Mayhem Fest tour closed last Sunday in Hartford, CT, and the Mayhem Fest Cruise being canceled isn’t great news either, but the band is still going strong, dropping only ten positions with a devilish 66% of last week’s sales.
Pierce The Veil, Collide With the Sky (Fearless) #65, 5,900 sold
Almost immediately after the Vans Warped Tour 2012 draws to a close, the veil of their success seems indeed pierced as the band’s third album drops almost 30 positions.
Five Finger Death Punch, American Capitalist (Prospect Park) #88, 4,500 sold
Another tour that will still be happening for another three weeks is the Trespass America Festival featuring these guys. If they manage to stay in the charts for another nine weeks they will be able to celebrate their one-year anniversary before heading back to the studio for their follow-up album in January.
Shinedown, Amaryllis (Atlantic) #93, 4,100 sold
The single “Unity” is still going strong and has been the object of not one, not two, but three remixes (and yes, a dubstep-y version is one of them, lucky us…) but the album stays in the lower Top 100 regions.
Hellyeah, Band of Brothers (Eleven Seven) #94, 4,000 sold
Not only has the third album of the supergroup fallen almost 50 positions, but it also landed on the exact same spot as…
Various Artists, Rock of Ages Soundtrack (Water Tower Music/Warner Bros.) #94, 4,000 sold
…which kind of feels like the universe telling the two that there is only so much space for albums that try too hard.
Falling In Reverse, The Drug In Me Is You (Epitaph) #123, 3,000 sold
There are 20% less Drugs in the streets this week. That’s a good thing, right?
Halestorm, The Strange Case Of… (Atlantic) #132, 2,900 sold
The Carnival Of Madness tour featuring Halestorm and others recently kicked off and will take the band to another 17 cities across the States, and for now it also takes it up more than 30 positions in the charts. Charlotte, NC – tonight is your chance.
Slash, Apocalyptic Love (Dik Hayd) #142, 2,700 sold
With only 60% of last week’s sales, there seems to be a little less love and a little more apocalypse. Maybe it is time to re-think that whole GN’R reunion thing?
Baroness, Yellow & Green (Relapse) #152, 2,700 sold
With the dust slowly settling, there is no throne for Baroness in the charts anymore. They drop another painful 70 positions, and their tour is still another three weeks away. Come on people, it’s a double album! That’s like 2-for-1 pizzas!
P.O.D., Murdered Love (Razor & Tie) #161, 2,500 sold
The Christian metal band falls further and sells 25% less than last week, but as they stated recently in an interview, kickass sales numbers and a place in the sun in the charts wasn’t what they were after to begin with, they just wanted to have fun. Good call guys.
Volbeat, Beyond Hell/Above Heaven (Universal) #174, 2,400 sold
Last weekend, the Danish metal band played the Wacken Festival, Germany’s biggest metal festival, however their sales numbers here in the US are almost unchanged compared to last week.
Otherwise, True Love Never Dies (Century Media) 950 sold
The band’s album sales increase by 33% this week – unfortunately they are also affected by the cancelation of the Mayhem Fest cruise, which may or may not have to do with Randy Blythe having been released from a Czech prison only recently.
Vampires Everywhere!, Hellbound and Heartless (Century Media) 800 sold
Hellbound and Heartless: Vampires Everywhere! Album title as well as a name for vampire teen queen Kristen Stewart’s biography?
The Contortionist, Intrinsic (eOne/Good Fight Entertainment) 650 sold
The band’s album sales drop another 40%, but at least they still seem to be having a good time hanging out in NYC.
Abandon All Ships, Infamous (Rise) 650 sold
Everyone’s still on board, sales numbers are constant for now. Ahoy maties, hoist the autotune!
Nile, At the Gate of Sethu (Nuclear Blast) 600 sold
They cracked the number of 7,000 sold albums now, with about as many sold copies as in the week before.
Glass Cloud, Royal Thousand (Equal Vision) 590 sold
People who sit on glass clouds… if you figure out where we could have been going with this give us a shout!
Om, Advaitic Songs (Drag City) 550 sold
The album title refers to “oneness”, an aspect of the Hindu philosophy. If that’s what they’re about, they shouldn’t be too concerned about their material losses, right? Om sells 50% less than in their first week.
Dying Fetus, Reign Supreme (Relapse) 460 sold
If you live in New York or New Jersey you will have the chance to see them live in September.
For the Fallen Dreams, Wasted Youth (Artery/Razor & Tie) 450 sold
Not too much falling this week, not too much dreaming either. Wasted Youth keeps it pretty steady around the 400-500 sales mark.
Kreator, Phantom Antichrist (Nuclear Blast) 410 sold
They might not sell many albums, but their vocalist just got a Jackson King V signature guitar.
Memphis May Fire, Hollow (Rise) 400 sold
They dropped the Adele act and remain in the charts with one album only. The weird thing is that their album Challenger, which was still on #182 last week, is the one that disappeared entirely while Hollow is the one that’s still around.
