Arsis
Photo: Nuclear Blast

On Wednesday afternoon, at around 2 p.m. ET, Arsis frontman Jim Malone told MTV News that one of the toughest things about being in the technical death-metal outfit is the unpredictability of the road. Then, not even three hours later, while Arsis were on their way to Minnesota, the band's trailer flipped and settled deep in a snow bank alongside an ice-coated highway somewhere in Iowa.

"Everyone's fine," Malone reported from the scene of the accident. "The trailer flipped, broke loose of the hitch and is now stuck. Better the trailer and not us. We're waiting to get it towed, since it's unusable. It's lodged in ice, and we can't get to our gear, but we're sure it's all smashed."

As a result, Malone said that in all likelihood, the rest of the band's headlining tour — which had been scheduled to run through March 15 in West Springfield, Virginia — will be nixed, as Arsis won't be able to afford a new trailer.

For Arsis, Wednesday's incident was just more of the same bad luck they've been dealing with throughout their career. Take last summer, when Arsis had to drop off of the Summer Slaughter tour with Necrophagist, Decapitated, Cephalic Carnage, Cattle Decapitation and others.

"Our van broke down in Sacramento, and we were told it would be a day or two to fix," Malone recalled during his chat with Metal File. "We decided to wait it out in a motel, and soon, a day or two turned into two weeks. So, we were stuck in a motel for two weeks with no transportation. I think we drank the gas station down the street out of Natural Light — and I know that I personally drank them out of their cheap Merlot."

After two weeks, the band headed home to Virginia, and two months later, Malone got the call — their van had been fixed. He drove out to California, and ended up driving the van back home by himself.

Then there was last week, when Internet rumors of Arsis' demise caught steam and inevitably ended up being reported as actual news by several heavy-metal sites. But it wasn't true, and Arsis had to do some damage control.

"We were just having some difficulties on this Exodus tour, and a situation arose — getting into Canada is hard for us anyway, and I lost my passport on top of that," he said. "So, we decided to go home for a few days, to regroup and finish out our headlining dates. People make assumptions and whatnot. We did miss shows, and we didn't make the proper press statements to explain why we were missing these shows, I guess. So, people made their own conclusions. And that's fine."

But the rumor was actually the handywork of a jealous longhair.

"Essentially, there is a guy from the same area Arsis originated from, and he's currently in a band with a former member of Arsis," Malone confessed. "There was an issue with a girl that I think this guy was interested in, and she was paying me more attention. I don't think that helped the situation at all, and this guy went online and started these rumors. The thing is, playing eight-string metal is not the place for groupies. Girls that are at our shows are usually with their boyfriends, and if they're alone, they probably have issues."

With any luck, Arsis' bad-luck streak won't impact their upcoming tour with Death Angel and God Forbid, kicking off in early May. The band will be touring in support of We Are the Nightmare, which hits stores April 15.

"We all feel really amazing about the album," Malone said. "We wanted to raise the heaviness bar, but at the same time, we also wanted to have catchy songs. I think the songs are all technical and brutal, but they're still catchy and well-written at the same time. That's what we were trying to do, which is something Arsis has always tried to do, to a degree. We just took it up a notch, all the way around. I finally feel we have an album that has production, that really fits our sound. We didn't go into it thinking we'd make it crazy brutal, it just came out that way.

"Lyrically, it deals with my own life experiences — whatever emotions I'm feeling at that time," he continued. "I think when one's writing, they can write better about things they've experienced and what they know. We're not the death-metal band that's going to write about hacking up bodies. I've never done anything like that and don't plan on it. We'll leave that to Cannibal Corpse."

The rest of the week's metal news:

Metal File can exclusively reveal the details of the second annual Metal for the Masses tour, which kicks off on April 12 in Wilmington, Delaware. The lineup will feature As Blood Runs Black, Stick to Your Guns and Winds of Plague, along with openers Veil of Maya. Dates for the six-week trek are booked through May 25 in Fresno, California. ... At long last, reunited Swedish metal legends At the Gates have booked a U.S. gig. The band will perform at the Fillmore at Irving Plaza in New York on July 10, along with openers Darkest Hour and Municipal Waste. The show is believed to be the first of many the band will roll out over the coming weeks. ...

Iron Maiden are warning their fans not to believe everything they read. In a message on their Web site, the band said those unannounced tour dates that have made their way onto Maiden's Wikipedia page are bogus. "It's very much a work of fiction," the message says. "Dates aren't official until they are announced here on [IronMaiden.com]." ... This week, head on over to MTV's Headbangers Blog to catch a clip of 3 Inches of Blood frontman Cam Pipes and Slipknot kitman Joey Jordison — who produced 3 Inches' last LP — talking about the making of the band's video for the song "Trial of Champions." ...

The dudes from Belgian death-grinders Aborted have begun tracking their next album, which they've yet to christen. "Things are going very smoothly — we are scheduled to finish up all rhythm guitars, then go on to leads and finish up the bass," the band reports. "After that, vocals and samples." No word yet on when we can expect the record to hit stores. ... The lineup for this year's Dude Fest, set for Indianapolis on June 20-22, has been revealed. Set to take the stage that weekend are Demiricous, Lords, Nachtmystium, Plague Bringer, Skeletonwitch, Torche, Transistor Transistor and Weekend Nachos. ...

108 have a new member in Alan Cage, known for his work with both Seaweed and Quicksand. Cage replaces drummer Tom Hogan, who left the band for other musical pursuits. 108 are hard at work on their new album, which will be released later this year. ... Tennessee death metallers Whitechapel have booked studio time for next week. That's when they'll begin tracking their Metal Blade Records debut, which is being produced by former Red Chord guitarist Jonny Fay. ... French metallers the Old Dead Tree have found a new drummer: Raphaël Antheaume, who had been in French symphonic-metal band Penumbra.

• Arsis
• As Blood Runs Black
• Stick to Your Guns
• Winds of Plague
• At The Gates

Aborted
Photo: Gregory Lamache/ Century Media

To characterize Sven de Caluwé as a "busy dude" would be like calling Satan a "bad egg."

The frontman for Belgian death-grinders Aborted also moonlights as the drummer for grindcore group Leng Tch'e, which also features members of Permanent Death and Dark Ages. Both Aborted and Leng Tch'e released fresh material within the last month, so at the moment de Caluwé is a bit overwhelmed trying to get the word out about both offerings while maintaining some semblance of sanity.

"Both bands have toured together in the past, but only for a week and a half, and then I was about ready to go to a hospital," he joked. "If we decided to go out for month or more, I would need to rest a lot. But right now, this whole system kind of collapsed on me."

The "system," he explained, worked brilliantly for many years: Aborted would issue an album, then tour for several months, and the following year, the world would be gifted with some fresh Leng Tch'e to devour. Then that band would tour the world — that is, until it was time for de Caluwé to head back into the studio with Aborted. But it didn't work out that way this time around, and it's starting to take its toll on de Caluwé. Still, he admits, "I'd rather be busy than bored."

A band accustomed to chronic lineup shifts, Aborted's fifth album, Slaughter & Apparatus: A Methodical Overture, is a punishing, bona-fide face-peeler, de Caluwé said. The LP, which hit stores in late February, also signals a rebirth of sorts for the band, he said.

"The new lineup and the making of this record brought a lot of fun back to this band," he explained. "We wanted to have a more metal, more extreme-sounding record, and I think on many levels, we improved on what we had. It's not our most brutal record, but we definitely did want to make it a lot heavier-sounding than [2005's The Archaic Abattoir]. There were several things I wasn't really happy about with the last one, and we wanted this one to be more metal, more complicated. There's a lot more solos on this one, and we worked really hard to create a more diverse and aggressive record."

While the LP's drum tracks were recorded by Psycroptic's David Haley, Aborted have — after several months of auditions — recruited some new blood to take over behind the kit.

"Honestly, [drummer] Dan Wilding was the only one who was really able to play these songs at the level that we wanted them, and even more," de Caluwé said. "Musically, his brain is beyond impressive. We were pretty much floored by his abilities, especially when you consider he's only 18 years old."

Slaughter & Apparatus: A Methodical Overture was produced by Tue Madsen (Himsa, the Haunted) and features guest appearances by Hatesphere's Jacob Bredahl and former Carcass frontman Jeff Walker on "A Methodical Overture." De Caluwé said he e-mailed Walker, asked him to be on the album, and "a day later, he responded, 'If you want me to ruin your album, I'll do it.' And we were all screaming like little girls."

Leng Tch'e's latest full-length, Marasmus, was released Tuesday. It's an album that, to de Caluwé, "sounds completely different from anything we've done.

"With the previous album [2005's The Process of Elimination], we were kind of making a bridge of where we wanted to go with the music," he continued. "It's been very much evolving since then, and Marasmus is the first album where we've achieved what we wanted to with this band. There's a lot more variation — the songs are longer, there's a little rock and roll, there's death metal, hardcore, grind ... it's a good mixture of everything."

At the moment, Aborted don't have any U.S. tour plans, but the band's video for "The Chondrin Enigma" is attracting a considerable amount of attention. In the video, which was shot in Paris over two days by director Michaël Bernadat, a man is led away to a government-owned warehouse, where he's compressed into liquid sustenance.

"It pretty much sums up the lyrics of the song — we're turning some guy into jello," the singer said. "Chondrin is a substance you get from boiling or crushing bones, and the whole idea is that in a future situation, you've got way too many people on this planet, and governments decide that the best way to take care of it is to create these facilities to process the undesirable elements, and turn these people into food for the others."

Truly a disturbing thought, but as de Caluwé points out, Aborted aren't the types of guys "that would write about flowers." Touché.

The rest of the week's metal news:

3 Inches of Blood and Daath have been added to the second stage of this summer's Ozzfest. They will join previously announced acts Lamb of God, Lordi, Hatebreed, Ankla, the Showdown, Nile, Mondo Generator, Circus Diablo and, of course, Ozzy Osbourne. The 24-city trek launches July 12 in Seattle and runs through August 30 in West Palm Beach, Florida. ...

Two of metal's most recognizable siblings have reunited: Arch Enemy have announced the return of original guitarist Christopher Amott. The younger brother of guitarist Michael Amott (ex-Carcass, Carnage), Chris left the band back in 2005, taking some personal time away from music to see the world. "This is very exciting for me, returning as a full-time member," Chris Amott said in a press release about his rejoining Arch Enemy. "Right now we are working on our forthcoming album, and I'm very pleased about the way it's turning out. The new songs are fast and furious with lots of melody. After this (much needed) two-year break, I'm looking forward to getting back on the road." ... Detroit's the Black Dahlia Murder have ended a nearly five-month-long drummer search by hiring ex-All That Remains member Shannon Lucas. "He is an extremely sick player, and we can't wait to do the next album together," the band said in a statement. "We also would like to thank everyone that tried out for the band. We had the chance to jam with some amazing dudes throughout the process." The Black Dahlia Murder's first show with Lucas will be at the New England Metal & Hardcore Festival, which takes place April 27-28. The band is currently writing songs for the follow-up to its 2005 album Miasma. The new effort should be out this fall. ...

Horse the Band, Light this City, the Number 12 Looks Like You and So Many Dynamos will tour together starting March 30 in South Hackensack, New Jersey. Dates run through April 26 in San Francisco. Horse the Band's new album, A Natural Death, is scheduled for release June 26. "It's about the futility and arrogance of creation and destruction, the overwhelming scale of space and time, and the brutal majesty of nature, the horror of birth and the beauty of death," keyboardist Erik Engstrom said. "Everyone who will ever live will die a natural death and will soon after be forgotten for eternity. Hopefully, this album will serve as a warning to the human race to stop taking itself so seriously, as we have seen the dire consequences of its actions." Errr, yeah. ... Swedish black-metal veterans Marduk will release their new album, Rom: 5:12, May 22. The disc was recorded at Endarker studio and includes "The Levelling Dust," "Imago Mortis" and "Through the Belly of Damnation." The album features the last appearance of ex-drummer Emil Dragutinovic performing with the band. Dragutinovic, who quit in November, has been replaced by Lars B — no relation to Metallica's Lars U. ... Austin, Texas' At All Cost, which combine thrash, melodic metal and hard rock, have signed with Century Media. The group is currently working on its sophomore album, which should be released later this year. At All Cost's debut, It's Time to Decide, came out in 2005. ...

London metalcore press darlings Fightstar will drop their album Grand Unification April 17. Tracks include "To Sleep," "Waste a Moment" and "Open Your Eyes." ... Ion Dissonance have finished their third album, Minus the Herd, which is scheduled for release June 5. The Montreal band recorded the disc with producer Zeuss (Shadows Fall, Agnostic Front). "This is by far some of the best stuff we have ever written," singer Kevin McCaughey said in a statement. "There are some changes in direction with this new release, but I definitely think the die-hard Ion followers will still be into the new stuff. I guess the only word to describe this new album would have to be 'brutal.' Just plain heaviness." ... Swedish black-death-metal band Lord Belial's seventh album, Revelation, has been bumped from April 30 to May 8. Look for the disc to include "Unspoken Veneration" and "Vile Intervention." ... Apparently, death metal is so popular in Scandinavia that everyone wants a piece of the action. On May 8, Swedish singer/songwriter Tony Naima and his band the Bitters will release an album of Dismember covers simply called Dismember. The bizarre idea came together in February 2006 when, at a Dismember record-release party, Naima was asked to take the stage to perform interpretations of two of the band's songs. The gag went over so well that Naima, with full consent of the band, decided to record an entire record of covers. Selections from the disc can be heard at Tony Naima's MySpace page.

• Aborted
• Arch Enemy
• Marduk
• The Black Dahlia Murder
• Horse The Band