Demi Lovato
Photo: Scott Gries/ Getty Images

About a month ago, a colleague of mine stopped at my desk, handed me the latest issue of Rolling Stone and told me I had to read the feature Jason Gay had written on the Jonas Brothers. I thought he was kidding. See, I'm the resident metalhead around these parts, which means I have little (if any) interest in the Jonases. Halfway through reading the article, though, it became apparent why it was suggested I read it: Gay's piece claimed that Demi Lovato, the opener on the Jonas Brothers' summer tour, is into metal.

I immediately called bullsh--. No way Demi Lovato, the squeaky-clean 16-year-old star of the Disney Channel's "As the Bell Rings," who got her start in the business at age 7 as one of the tykes on "Barney & Friends," is into metal. It just couldn't possibly be; I simply couldn't get my head around it.

I decided I needed to confirm this factoid for myself — I had to speak to Lovato to determine if she's an honest-to-goodness metal fan. Not that I was questioning Gay's reporting, but I just thought to myself, "Well, people have different ideas about what truly constitutes metal, so maybe there was some confusion." Perhaps, I figured, she's a fan of hard-rock acts like Staind or Disturbed, who are often mistaken as metal — hence, the misunderstanding.

Even though I knew some regular readers of the File might rip me a new one for doing this, I went ahead and scheduled a phone interview with Demi — only after her mom gave the thumbs up. She is a minor, after all. And sure enough, the girl knows what she's talking about.

"[Metal isn't] all I listen to, of course, but there was a period of time where it was," Lovato told me. "I guess it started in school. I started listening to stuff with screaming in it, and then I started [exploring] more metal. MySpace helped me a lot, and friends will tell me about certain bands. And some of the bands I like aren't necessarily too metal. It's funny, because the Jonas Brothers dance and play dance music in their dressing room, and I'll be across the hall, and I just blare metal. People walk by and go, 'Really?' "

So who does Demi dig? Well, she's a fan of Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, Abigail Williams, Lamb of God and Dr. Acula, to name just a few. "I love the Devil Wears Prada; they're more hardcore, but they're awesome," she said. "And Job for a Cowboy is another band I love."

What is it about metal that drew Lovato? She respects the musicianship that goes into crafting brutal tracks. "It's so completely different from anything else," she said. "You've got vocals that I can't do, the double bass drums, the incredible guitar solos ... every part of the band does more difficult stuff than your average rock band does. I listen to these bands, and I wish I could do all of that, but I can't."

Lovato said she tries to catch as many shows as she can and that one of her favorite live acts is symphonic black metallers Dimmu Borgir (whose 1997 LP Enthrone Darkness Triumphant has been in heavy rotation at my desk all week). "I was the little girl in the red dress and red lipstick, and I totally didn't fit in, but I had so much fun," she explained. "It was awesome. I lost my shoes, I was going crazy ... it was awesome."

Lovato, who has an album called Don't Forget slated for a September 23 release, said she'd consider collaborating with a metal band in the future, but she's not so sure it would be for one of her own albums.

"I would love to secretly do some work on a metal band's album," she said, adding that Underoath would be her first choice for a collaboration. "I wish I could just secretly do vocals, and nobody would know it's me. I would love to just do a couple of screams. One time I was at soundcheck and I told my musical director that I really want to pig squeal, and he said, 'Go ahead — I don't care.' I didn't want to, because I could see there were fans nearby, and he said, 'Just do it.' And I did, and these fans reacted. They were like, 'Wow, that's awesome — I don't even know what that is, but it's cool.' "

So what do the Jonas Brothers think of her metal proclivities? "One time, they were actually listening to metal, and I was like, 'What are you guys doing listening to metal? I was always afraid to tell you I listen to metal, because I thought you'd think I'm crazy,' " she said. "They [took] a lot of their stage ideas from metal bands from, like, Europe, and they use a lot of pyro and stuff like that. But they like metal — they don't listen to death metal, but they're definitely not opposed to it, which I think is really cool. It shows that they're not just some pop band."

The rest of the week's metal news:

Did drummer Gil Sharone leave Dillinger Escape Plan? That's the rumor, but confirmation has yet to come from either the band or Sharone himself. On Dillinger's MySpace page, in a blog post titled "It's true," the band simply wrote, " ... everybody loves a rumor." And that rumor suggests Sharone has rejoined his old band, Stolen Babies, and that DEP have been talking to Raanen Bozzio — son of drummer Terry Bozzio — about taking over behind the kit. Only time will tell if there is any truth to all of this, but we'll keep you posted. ...

As I Lay Dying frontman Tim Lambesis' side project Austrian Death Machine will perform live for the very first time during the End of Summer Scorcher, which is scheduled for September 20 at the Peoria Sports Complex in Peoria, Arizona. ... The lineup for next year's Maryland Deathfest VII is starting to take shape. Scheduled for May 22-24 in Baltimore, the bill will feature Pestilence, Mayhem, Immolation, Brutal Truth, Today is the Day, Flesh Parade and Triac, among others. ...

The search is finally over: Brain Drill have a new drummer. Joe Bondra has joined the fold, and says he's "extremely excited to be part of that band," and is "even more amped to be able to start playing shows and work on our new material." But the band is still looking for a bassist. If interested, send them a message via their MySpace page. ...

DragonForce will be hitting the road in November for a nearly two-month tour, with Turisas as direct support. That trek commences November 1 in Honolulu, Hawaii, and wraps December 19 in Vancouver, British Columbia. ... Nachtmystium and Wolves in the Throne Room will also be heading out on tour together starting in October. They have a dozen gigs booked from October 10 in Portland, Oregon, through October 25 in Chicago. ...

Reunited Long Island hardcore heathens Vision of Disorder will be performing in New York on November 16. Joining them on the bill are Indecision, Overcast and Nassau Chainsaw — this is one show you shouldn't miss. ... Ava Inferi plan to enter a recording studio in November to start work on their third LP, Blood of Bacchus. The album, which will feature the songs "A Witch She Was, the Witch I Am," "Lights" and "Last Sign of Summer," should be in stores early next year.

• Demi Lovato
• Dillinger Escape Plan
• As I Lay Dying
• Dragonforce

As I Lay Dying
Photo: Metal Blade

As I Lay Dying frontman Tim Lambesis isn't ashamed to admit it: He's an Arnold Schwarzenegger fan, through and through.

"I love watching his movies," the singer told Metal File last week, just as his band prepared to hit the road as part of this summer's Warped Tour. "I don't see how you could put an Arnold movie on and not be entertained. Even the lesser of his films, like [1994's] 'Junior,' the ones that were goofy and sort of out there for him, they're still pretty great."

But Lambesis' unusual adulation for the Governator extends beyond his action-packed DVD collection. In fact, his appreciation runs so deep, the "Twins" thespian inspired Lambesis to strike out on his own, with a new side project inspired by Arnie, called Austrian Death Machine. Lambesis plans to release his band's forthcoming debut album, Total Brutal, on July 22.

In essence, though, it's really a Lambesis solo LP. Not only did he write all the band's songs, he performs all of the material on Total Brutal, which was recorded inside his home studio in between As I Lay Dying tours.

"This is one of the albums where the recording took longer than the writing process," Lambesis explained. "I actually wrote most of the songs in about a week, because I just wanted to write 'em all before I ran out of time between tours. Then we went on tour for a while, and I came back and started recording the tracks. Because it's not a full band, and just one person, it was a lot harder to get everything right. When As I Lay Dying records, everyone knows their parts perfectly well, and they're all more than capable of playing everything perfectly. In my case, I had to pull a little studio magic to make everything right. It's a solo project where I'm trying to do everything, and there's no shame in a little ProTools trickery."

The idea for Austrian Death Machine — which Lambesis hopes to tour with this fall — came to him during a casual conversation with some friends backstage while AILD were on the tour.

"I think an Arnold one-liner came up in the conversation, and I was saying how amazing it would be to start a band where people were actually piling up at the front of the stage to sing along to those one-liners," he said. "It was just a thought at first, but about a year later, I had some time off, and so I just made it happen. I wrote as many songs as I could, recorded them, and now, I have a full album. It actually surprised me how easily it came together, because it was something that I just did on a whim. And it sort of surpasses my own expectations.

"[Austrian Death Machine] is a chance for me to show, musically, what I'm capable of," he continued. "I didn't try to write the most technical music in the world; I just wanted to write music that had a certain type of aggression that I think Arnold would want to sing over. A lot of [As I Lay Dying's] fans don't realize that, in addition to being a singer, I'm also very involved in the songwriting process."

Total Brutal will feature 17 tracks, including "Come With Me If You Want to Live" (which boasts a guitar solo from Killswitch Engage's Adam Dutkiewicz), "Who Is Your Daddy, and What Does He Do" and "It's Not a Tumor." Producer Jason Suecof (God Forbid, Trivium); AILD's Nick Hipa; Haste the Day's Jason Barnes; and Daath's Eyal Levi and Emil Werstler all contribute guitar solos to the effort. While Austrian Death Machine's songs do feature some of Arnold's most famous lines, as provided by a Schwarzenegger impersonator, the actual singing is handled by Lambesis.

"Part of what I wanted to do with this band was do things stereotypically on purpose," he said. "Every band wants to be unique and avoid doing what's typical for the genre. In this case, I wanted it to be absolutely typical, so it's everything you'd expect to hear from a metal band, everything that embodies metal, and I think that's what makes Arnold the perfect frontman. At least as a character in movies, he embodied everything that's metal: He's a huge, muscular guy, and he knows how to win a fight. I think the ability to poke fun at heavy music, while at the same time writing really brutal music, is a fun combination. I'm really proud of the record came, and I think As I Lay Dying fans will definitely be able to latch onto it. It's less melodic and more thrash brutality. It has a little more of a tough-guy feel — on purpose."

For Lambesis, working on the Austrian Death Machine record wasn't nearly as intense as his work with AILD, because he didn't have to endure the same emotionally draining experience he does when he writes lyrics for that band.

"Everything in As I Lay Dying is really very passionate for me, vocally and lyrically, and there's a lot of conviction behind what I write, so I wanted to do something that was a little bit on the lighter side," he said. "I felt Arnold was the perfect guy to be in a band with. He's the most brutal guy in the world, and his movies are just pure testosterone. It seems to be perfect for the genre of metal — this brutal warrior who is able to destroy all these villains."

The rest of the week's metal news:

Underoath have titled their forthcoming album Lost in the Sound of Separation. We recently spoke to the band about the effort, and you can read all about it here. ...

Looks like those rumors about Mastodon's next album being a concept piece inspired by Czarist Russia are true. This image of Rasputin has been making the Internet rounds as of late, adding more credence to the tittle-tattle. Mastodon recently entered the studio to commence tracking of the disc, alongside producer Brendan O'Brien (Rage Against the Machine, Stone Temple Pilots). It's believed the record will be ready in time for release later this year. ...

While the rest of Velvet Revolver continue to search for Scott Weiland's replacement, guitarist Slash is apparently working on his solo debut. He told Spinner.com that he's "working on it pretty aggressively right now, while I have the time, because as soon as Velvet finds its singer, then it's going to be off to the races with that." Slash doesn't know when the record might be ready for release but is hoping to have it out before the next VR LP hits stores. "It'll be my first solo record," he added. "All the other ones were just me putting other bands together and going out and just jamming. This will actually be a little bit more personal." ...

If you haven't already, you should head on over to MTV's Headbangers Blog, where right now, you can stream Judas Priest's entire new album, Nostradamus. In next week's Metal File, we'll be bringing you an interview with guitarist Glen Tipton, in which he talks all about the LP and the possibility of his band being voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. ...

Did Light This City break up? That's what we're hearing, but no official word has come down from the band or the label, but a statement should be released before the weekend, according to one member of the group, who asked not to be named. The rumors started soon after the band pulled out of its current tour with Death Angel, God Forbid and Soilent Green and nixing an appearance on the upcoming Thrash and Burn Tour, with Darkest Hour. ...

In other breakup news, it seems Long Island's From Autumn to Ashes have gone the way of the dodo — maybe. Frontman Francis Mark said in an online post: "At this point, I feel that we have accomplished everything we could have hoped for with FATA. It doesn't feel much like a breakup; just feels like the end. It's complete. I would say that we are going on indefinite hiatus, because the term breakup suggests a more negative circumstance." ...

Warbringer and Finntroll have lined up a U.S. run for August and September. The trek gets under way August 22 in Springfield, Virginia, and dates are booked through September 12 in San Marcos, California.

• As I Lay Dying
• Underoath
• Light This City

Fires rage in Lyons Valley, California, on Wednesday
Photo: David McNew/ Getty Images

Just over a week ago, the members of Relient K and Switchfoot sat down to write a song called "Rebuild" in honor of their current tour in support of Habitat for Humanity.

On Thursday (October 25), Switchfoot singer and San Diego native Jon Foreman was trying to get his head around the irony of the song's title.

"That song was written a few hours before [Relient K's] bus burned up, and we wrote it not knowing their bus would burn up — or that our town would burn down," he said.

Less than two weeks after finishing construction on a Habitat home in San Diego, Foreman isn't sure the building is even still standing, in light of the devastating wildfires that have scorched hundreds of thousands of acres and, at one point, forced more than a half-million people from their homes. While the disaster continued Thursday, some hope began to arise as the strong winds that had been exacerbating the fires began to subside. More than half the fires were completely under control by the evening.

MTV News reached out to a number of Southern California artists to hear their stories about surviving one of the worst wildfires in California history, and thankfully, nearly all said they were out of harm's way, but clearly shaken by the experience.

Foreman, who is from North County, said he feels fortunate that his home was spared in the fires, but he and his bandmates have been checking in with loved ones and friends constantly from the road to get updates on the fires. "I just got an e-mail from my wife describing what she was going through," Foreman said. "The whole scene sounds incredibly apocalyptic, where you wake up in the morning when it should be light and it's still pitch black and there's no power and you look outside and there's ash falling from the sky. Those are the moments when I wish I could be home with her."

Though his neighborhood was not evacuated, Foreman said his grandparents were forced to leave their homes and quite a few friends were evacuated, many of whom came to his home to wait out the fires. With $1 from each ticket on their current tour, called "Appetite for Construction," going to Habitat for Humanity, Foreman said the charitable tie is much more poignant given the destruction in his own backyard. To date, eight people have died, more than 1,500 homes have been destroyed in the San Diego area and almost half a million acres have been scorched, with damage estimates topping $1 billion.

"The thing I love about San Diego, more than the climate or the views, is the people," he said. "There is a real great community I grew up in, both the music community and the surrounding one, and I hope to see a lot of people coming together to help each other."

Among the other musicians from San Diego and the areas in Southern California thought to be affected by the fire are Angels and Airwaves/ Blink-182 singer Tom DeLonge, System of a Down's Serj Tankian, the members of P.O.D., Jewel, Dave Mustaine, As I Lay Dying, Augustana, Jason Mraz, Louis XIV and former members of Rocket From the Crypt. (MTV News could not reach all of the above artists to check on their status.)

One of the first fires to break out was near the San Marcos home of As I Lay Dying singer Tim Lambesis; he and his wife fled at 2 a.m. on Monday after getting a call from a friend. That fire was quickly snuffed out and Lambesis and his wife returned home on Tuesday morning — only to be evacuated again six hours later when a fire in a neighboring community threatened San Marcos again. "That first night I could see the fire coming toward us on the hill we're on, and I was scared," said Lambesis, who has lived in San Diego his entire life but never seen such powerful fires. Luckily, the winds died down again and his home was spared.

Asked what he grabbed in his rushes to beat the flames, Lambesis said, "I grabbed important photos, my dog, documents. I have a studio at my house, so I have 15 hard drives with recordings that I had to pile up along with three computers. It was hectic. My wife grabbed her wedding dress." Luckily for Lambesis, the band's van and trailer were parked outside his house, so most of their equipment was already ready to roll.

DeLonge's former Blink bandmate, Mark Hoppus of (+44), now lives in Los Angeles but said his sister, grandmother, mother and stepfather were all evacuated. "My mom and sister and grandma were some of the first evacuees and they went as far as they could, to Oceanside, which is 45 minutes away. They stayed in a hotel there and watched it happen," Hoppus said — adding that just days after his family fled to the hotel, it almost burned down when the fire caught up with them again.

As far as he knows, his mother and sister's homes are covered in ash but OK, though his grandmother's residence is in an area that was totally destroyed. "It was strange being in Los Angeles because there are so many fires across Southern California and the news here is focused on the Malibu fires and it's been hard to find out what's going on down there," he said. "I couldn't get hold of my mom for a bit there when the fires first started, but I knew she'd grab the important stuff, the family photo albums and documents." Hoppus said he's already started hearing from friends on the San Diego scene about benefit shows, and he's willing to sign on to do whatever he can to help out his hometown.

Also spared in the fires so far was one of the area's most high-profile recording studios, Big Fish Recordings in the coastal hills near Rancho Santa Fe, which has hosted sessions by P.O.D., Blink-182, As I Lay Dying, Megadeth, Rocket from the Crypt and Jimmy Eat World.

Almost 11 years to the day after studio owner Paul Waroff fought off another giant blaze that came within 20 feet of the studio — by standing on its roof with his dad dousing the grounds with garden hoses — Waroff was again packing up his prized possessions on Monday and hoping he'd be spared. "This whole area was evacuated and around 10 p.m. on Monday they said [the fire] was heading right this way and I could see the flames," said Waroff, who is nursing a dislocated shoulder he suffered when scrambling to try and corral his cat as he prepared to abandon his property. "I could see a fireball in the distance and the wind was pushing it right this way."

Waroff rushed to load up his most valuable studio equipment and although he was supposed to evacuate, he didn't — and ended up alone on the property as the fire loomed. Luckily for him, he said (but not for those in a neighboring community), the fierce, blazing Santa Ana winds that have been feeding the fires — at some points nearing hurricane strength — shifted and the studio was once again spared.

In a scene eerily reminiscent of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium was turned into a makeshift refugee camp for evacuees this week, albeit one with free WiFi, plenty of food and clothes, toiletries and massages. Clay Colton was one of the many people who went to the evacuation center to offer support to the evacuees. The local musician, who was himself evacuated for a few days, said he felt like he had to find a way to help — so he performed. "We had to go north to escape the flames, and we came back and I'm sitting around and like, 'I have to do something,' " he said. " 'All these people are sitting around here without entertainment, so just go out and play.' It's cool to bring music to people who actually need it, rather than people at a bar who'd just enjoy it.

"This is special ... seeing the reaction from the people is a lot more fulfilling than it usually is."

From a tour stop in London, San Diego singer Jason Mraz posted a long, irreverent diary of his experience with the fires on his blog. "I'd been receiving all kinds of reports of and from San Diego regarding the fires," he wrote. "Anytime I turned my phone on or checked my e-mail in the last week it would light up so full of messages that it was almost annoying. I only wanted one report and that was the one from my roommates, Bush or Eric, currently evacuating the premises. It seemed a few of the fires were too close for their comfort.

"Plus, the police had arrived in the middle of the night to suggest the early departure. It was a harrowing feeling just experiencing some of it on the phone. Bush sounded slightly nervous asking, 'Is there anything you want?' He and Eric were loading up their cars to flee the valley. I was standing in a busy coffee shop in London. Helpless. I scanned the bedroom and closet in my head. I couldn't think of one thing I needed them to grab."

Before long, he wrote, he was on his way back home, hoping that the strong, old trees that hug his home would help protect it from the flames. He managed to get through a police line and get to his home, adding, "I walked thru every room in the house and surveyed it as if I'd sold the place and wasn't coming back. I flipped the lights on in the studio and sang a loud note and listened to it merge with the silence near the ceiling. I thought the piano looked a bit dusty."

To help victims of the fire, go to the Web site for the San Diego Red Cross.

To donate clothes or household goods, the Red Cross recommends:

St. Vincent De Paul: (619) 446-2100

Goodwill: (888) 446-6394

The Salvation Army: (619) 231-6000

And to donate food, contact the San Diego Food Bank: (866) 350-3663

[This story was originally published at 6:27 pm E.T. on 10.25.2007]

• Southern California Wildfires: How Are People Coping?

• (+44)
• As I Lay Dying

Mariah Carey
Photo: Mariah Carey/Getty Images

Mariah Carey got a win in court last week when a federal judge decided that a copyright-infringement case against her had no merit. Singer Rachele Chafir had sued Carey in April 2006, claiming that Carey's hit "It's Like That" was copied from her song "Sexy" and lifted key pieces, including the music, for the chorus. Chafir, who copyrighted the song in 2004, claimed Carey had access to "Sexy" since it was available on a Web site, but U.S. District Court Judge Kimba Wood decided that wasn't proof Carey or her collaborators had gone to the Web site or lifted the material, which wasn't "strikingly similar" enough to be considered infringement. With "no genuine issues of material fact," Wood closed the case. "It was the right decision," Carey's lawyer Ilene Farkas told MTV News. "The record was clear in this case." Meanwhile, Carey is moving on with her yet-untitled follow-up to The Emancipation of Mimi, which her record label confirmed is now due December 4. ...

Going, going ... to Cooperstown. And with an asterisk on it. Baseball star Barry Bonds' record-breaking home-run ball, which was purchased two weeks ago in an online auction by hip-hop fashion mogul Marc Ecko, will be heading to the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum after all. Ecko bought the ball and launched a Web site giving fans the chance to vote on the ball's final destination: outer space or to Cooperstown, with or without an asterisk signifying Bonds' alleged steroid use in helping him become the all-time home-run king. The announcement was made Wednesday morning (September 26) on the "Today" show after a week of voting. According to Vote756.com, over 10 million votes were cast, of which 47 percent chose to send the tagged ball to the famed baseball museum. ...

The twisted saga of the investigation into the unsolved 1997 murder of the Notorious B.I.G. took another turn this week when Waymond Anderson, an inmate serving life for murder, recanted testimony in which he had implicated the Los Angeles Police Department in the rapper's murder. The Los Angeles Times reports that Anderson said in a recent deposition that he lied about LAPD involvement as part of a "scam" cooked up with two other convicts to get a big monetary settlement from the city of Los Angeles. Most shockingly, Anderson accused the rapper's family — which has filed a wrongful-death suit seeking damages from the city — and its lawyer of taking part in the scheme and offering to pay him a percentage of the settlement for false testimony against the LAPD. In the August 20 testimony, Anderson said he had never met the officers he implicated, despite earlier statements in which he described conversations with the two disgraced ex-LAPD cops. A lawyer for Biggie's family, Perry Sanders, called Anderson's allegations "100 percent, demonstrably false," adding yet another twist to the already-knotted-up story by saying that Anderson appeared to be changing his story at the behest of Chuck Philips, a Times reporter who has written extensively about the murder investigation and has questioned the theory of LAPD involvement. Phillips and the Times dismissed the allegations. ...

In other Biggie news, the recently released documentary "The Notorious B.I.G.: Bigger Than Life" follows the rapper's life from his early days to his death with interviews from many of the behind-the-scenes music-industry figures and friends who watched the rapper rise from a street-corner hustler to one of the biggest rap stars in the world. The film also features several minutes of previously unreleased footage shot by a bystander of the scene on the night Biggie was gunned down. The fan's video — which director Peter Spirer ("Beef," "Tupac Shakur: Thug Angel") said has been reviewed by authorities — doesn't capture the moment Biggie's car was shot at, but it does have audio of the shots and shaky footage of the chaotic aftermath. ...

Embattled football player Michael Vick is facing stricter release conditions after testing positive for marijuana earlier this month, The Associated Press reports. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson imposed the new conditions, which include restricting Vick to his home between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. with electronic monitoring and making him submit to random drug tests. He was ordered to continue participating in substance-abuse and mental-health counseling. Vick was put under pretrial release supervision in July, and the restrictions included refraining from the use of narcotic drugs or other controlled substances. The Atlanta Falcons quarterback, who pleaded guilty in August to federal dogfighting charges, is awaiting sentencing December 10 — and Vick's violation of the conditions of his release could be taken into consideration by the judge. He faces up to five years in prison for the federal charges, and has been indicted on additional state charges in Virginia as well. ...

A second woman has filed a lawsuit against Lil Wayne over a melee that broke out during one of his shows at Morgan State University in Baltimore in October. According to an AP story, Carlisa Dixon said she was impaled on a metal pole after the crowd surged to snatch up money that was being tossed from the stage. Dixon is seeking $1 million from Wayne's record label and touring companies, and another $1 million from the university, claiming she underwent surgery for a puncture wound as a result of the crowd surge. A lawsuit was filed in August by another woman who claimed she was trampled in the same money-throwing incident. A spokesperson for Wayne could not be reached for comment at press time. ...

A man died at a Smashing Pumpkins concert in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Monday night in what police think may have been a crowd-surfing or moshing accident. The Canadian Press reports that Vancouver police say the man was unconscious when he was dragged out of the crowd at the Pacific National Exhibition Forum during the show and worked on by first-aid personnel on site before being transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police have ruled out foul play. ... The Voodoo Music Experience is shifting locations, but just slightly. The fest, to take place October 26-28, has a new site in New Orleans City Park to accommodate ongoing restoration and improvement of the park. The shift brings the fest closer to Tad Gormley Stadium, where Voodoo was first held in 1999. ...

Do you march to Nelly's beat? The rapper is cobbling together a marching band for his performance at the BET Hip-Hop Awards on October 13. Auditions will be held Sunday starting at 11 a.m. in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, New Orleans and St. Louis, and Nelly is looking for girls who can play drums, tri-toms, bass drum, tuba or trumpet. Prospective players need to know how to perform his song "Grillz" and move to the beat of the song while playing their instruments. Final auditions will be held October 8 in Atlanta, and those who can't make the auditions in person can post a one-minute video clip on Nelly's drum-line-audition site. ... If you've been doubting Swizz Beatz's fashion sense, think again — Gap has tapped the hugely popular producer for its spring ad campaign. ...

VH1 Rock Docs picked up its first Emmy win on Monday as "DMC: My Adoption Journey" earned the award for News & Documentary Emmy for Outstanding Arts & Culture Programming. The program, which revolves around the Run-DMC member's search for his birth mother, premiered in February 2006 and will re-air on VH1 on Saturday at 10 p.m. ... Have you already imported Babyface's Playlist into your own playlist? Then mark you calendar — the singer is putting together a tour in support of his recently released LP. Babyface will play a gig in the Philippines on October 13, followed by a stretch in Japan; after that he'll hit Oakland, California, on November 23, and Sparks, Nevada, the following day. ...

During a recent visit to "The Howard Stern Show," Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx spoke out about drummer Tommy Lee and his apparent departure from the band. He told Stern that Lee quit, and Sixx blamed the current legal problems the band is having with one of its former managers for the turmoil. Sixx said that, since Lee isn't the Crüe's frontman or chief songwriter, the band should be fine without him. He added that he harbors no ill will toward Lee. ... Snow Patrol keyboardist Tom Simpson was expected to appear in court in Glasgow, Scotland, on Tuesday to answer to drug-possession charges filed against him this summer. While the charges weren't dropped, the prosecution doesn't intend on taking "further action," meaning the charges will either have to be re-raised again or dropped altogether. ...

Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard's side project Brad are getting back together for a one-night-only show on October 17 at New York's Webster Hall. The benefit event will also feature Billy Bragg and be hosted by Tim Robbins. It is being held to support Woody and Marjorie Guthrie, and the 40th anniversary of the Huntington's Disease Society of America, which was founded by Marjorie. ... Puddle of Mudd aren't ones for Southern hospitality, apparently. Frontman Wesley Scantlin has been banned from Memphis' Graceland after hopping in the pool in Elvis Presley's mansion during a tour on Monday. ...

The Eagles will perform on an awards show for the first time when they take the stage at the Country Music Awards, which will air November 7 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS. Carrie Underwood is also slated to perform. ... The Rolling Stones' recent tour didn't just carry the band to the top of Forbes' list of biggest-earning music acts — it landed them in the Guinness World Records, according to Reuters. The classic-rockers' A Bigger Bang tour took $437 million dollars to give them a new record, for the world's most successful music tour. ...

Killswitch Engage and Lamb of God will be teaming up for a late-fall co-headlining tour, which is set to kick off November 28 in Lowell, Massachusetts, with dates booked through December 17 in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. DevilDriver and Soilwork will open on all dates. ... Chris Cornell has added another round of dates to his North American tour, which began in the spring. He has booked another 28 gigs, meaning the trek will continue through November 23, when he's expected to perform at the Pearl Concert Theater at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. ...

A photo from Elton John's collection has been pulled from a British gallery where it was to be displayed over concerns by police that it might be child pornography. The photo — which was taken by award-winning American photographer Nan Goldin — shows two young girls, one with her legs spread apart, and was to be displayed at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in northern England before it was seized by police, according to London's Times Online. John released a statement, explaining, "The photograph entitled 'Klara and Edda belly-dancing' (1998) is one of 149 images comprising the 'Thanksgiving' installation by renowned U.S. photographer Nan Goldin ... The photograph exists as part of the installation as a whole and has been widely published and exhibited throughout the world [and] has been offered for sale at Sotheby's New York in 2002 and 2004, and has previously been exhibited in Houston, London, Madrid [Spain], New York, Portugal, Warsaw [Poland] and Zürich [Switzerland] without any objections of which we are aware."

09.25.07

While her fellow Black Eyed Pea Will.I.Am is hyping his new project, Songs About Girls, Fergie isn't slowing down with her own solo affair, last year's The Dutchess. The singer just shot a clip for the song "Clumsy" with directors Marc Webb (Diddy, the Pussycat Dolls) and Rich Lee (Chamillionaire, Dashboard Confessional). The surreal, humorous clip features Fergie falling head over heels — get it? — for love in various scenarios. ...

A House panel cast a congressional light on hip-hop lyrics on Tuesday (September 25), with David Banner and Master P giving sharply different views. The Associated Press reports that the latter rapper (real name: Percy Miller) told the Energy and Commerce subcommittee that he is determined to create clean lyrics. "I want to apologize to all the women out there. I was honestly wrong," he said of his prior material. Banner (real name: Levell Crump), on the other hand, defended his profane lyrics, saying, "Change the situation in my neighborhood, and maybe I'll get better." But while P and Banner didn't see eye to eye in terms of who is responsible for derogatory language in hip-hop, they agreed that the government shouldn't censor lyrics. "If by some stroke of the pen hip-hop was silenced, the issues would still be present in our communities. Drugs, violence, sexism and the criminal element were around long before hip-hop existed," Banner said. According to AP, the hearing was similar to the 1985 event in which late rocker Frank Zappa made a feisty appearance also railing against censorship. ...

Like the sound of the "Rocawear Arena" instead of the "Continental Airlines Arena"? Yeah, so does Jay-Z. The ambitious hip-hop mogul is bidding for the arena's naming rights, according to New Jersey's Star-Ledger. Although he is the co-owner of the New Jersey Nets and his Rocawar is a sponsor of the NBA team — which currently plays at Continental — sportswear maker Southpole has made the highest bid so far, $2 million. But there's a catch: The reason the name is up for grabs is because Continental is backing out of its deal with the arena, and both the Nets and hockey team the New Jersey Devils are planning to move to other venues. ...

Life isn't getting any easier for Britney Spears. Kim Robard-Rifkin, the reported woman whose car the singer hit in August — for which she was charged with two misdemeanors on Friday — has spoken out to CelebTV.com. "I was not surprised with the criminal charges — this is what happens when somebody hits your car and runs — especially when it is all caught on video," she said in a statement. Spears' former bodyguard Tony Barretto also spoke out on Monday, telling "Today" show host Matt Lauer that he had witnessed her using drugs on two occasions. While Barretto did not specify which drugs he supposedly saw her taking, he said both incidents occurred at a nightclub in Los Angeles, one at the table she was sitting at and the other in a private restroom. When Lauer asked him about a third incident in which he alleges to have seen her strung out in a Los Angeles hotel room, Barretto replied, "I did." ...

Sarah Silverman was surprised by the reaction that met her controversial VMA monologue, in which she flung derogatory insults at Britney Spears, among others, she told Us Weekly. Regarding one of her saltiest remarks — that Spears' kids "are the most adorable mistakes you will ever see" — Silverman replied, "The joke that everyone was upset about ... was the most innocuous joke. It never occurred to me that [it] would be deemed hurtful or over the line." She also told the magazine for its new issue, which streets Friday, "I don't want to get into feuds with girls half my age. I'm in it to be funny and not for the drama. It's embarrassing." ...

Look, up in the sky, it's a new Gnarls Barkley album! And as Cee-Lo recently told MTV News of the follow-up to St. Elsewhere, "It sounds otherwordly. ... It sounds like an original, if I do say so myself. The theme is progression and how there's a first time for everything. You just have to go for it." Beyond that, though, Cee-Lo didn't want to give up too much. Asked about collaborators, he demurred: "Danger Mouse is my special guest. He's my counterpart in the enigma of Gnarls Barkley." No duh — we meant, anyone else? "Let me continue to surprise you," Cee-Lo smiled. For those who caught Cee-Lo's take on Prince's "Darling Nikki" with the Foo Fighters at the VMAs, he wants fans to know that his performance at the show was supposed to be a surprise appearance with Amy Winehouse, "believe it or not." But since she had to bail from the show, he's saving that collaboration for a future appearance. ...

The Sex Pistols — who just tacked two more gigs onto their upcoming November reunion in London, according to BBC News — have another trick up their collective sleeve: A newly recorded rendition of their punk staple, "Anarchy in the U.K." The band entered the studio for the first time in 30 years to record the track, which will surface on "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock." ... As I Lay Dying clearly have more than a few gasps left — the metal band edged out Switchfoot, Jason Mraz and others to win the San Diego Music Award for Artist of the Year. AILD nabbed the same honor in 2005. ... Canadian singer/songwriter Patrick Watson and his band have pulled off an arguably more impressive feat: The Montreal quartet have nudged by Arcade Fire and Feist to land the Polaris Music Prize for Best Album. ...

Despite the recent head injuries sustained by guitarist Brent Hinds, Mastodon have booked a gig, opening for the Queens of the Stone Age on October 29 in Los Angeles. The band is also scheduled to appear at the Vegoose festival on October 27 in Las Vegas, where Hinds was jumped following Mastodon's performance at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards. Police claim Hinds was attacked outside the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on September 10 during an encounter with System of a Down bassist Shavo Odadjian and his friend William Hudson. According to police, Hudson assaulted Hinds, and Odadjian witnessed the incident. ... While at the VMAs, Mastodon told MTV News that they wrote their best song ever — even though it's not quite finished yet — while on the way to the big show. "It's pretty much the best record we've yet to write," guitarist Bill Kelliher said before singing a couple of the riffs with Hinds. "That's how it goes — du-duh-du-duh na-nah-nah. We wrote it in the car on the way over here, at least the intro of it. Part one. We're at the really beginning stages. It's going to be awesome, though. Everything we do is amazing." ...

The Game entered his expected not-guilty plea on Tuesday to three felony counts stemming from a pickup basketball game in Los Angeles in February. The rapper (real name: Jayceon Taylor) is free on $50,000 bail and has a pretrial hearing set for October 30. ... Jack Bauer might not be such a hero after all: Kiefer Sutherland was arrested early Tuesday morning for drunken driving in Hollywood, Reuters reports. The actor was pulled over after making an illegal U-turn and blew more than the .08 legal limit upon taking a breathalyzer test. He posted $25,000 bail at a Hollywood police station and is due in court on October 16. ...

The Phil Spector murder trial is in the hands of the jury now, but that hasn't stopped more bizarre developments from emerging in the case. According to AP, over the weekend, a threatening post appeared on a MySpace page possibly belonging to the music producer's wife, Rachelle. "I love Phil Spector!!! The Evil Judge Should Die!!!! Xoxo Chelle," read the post, a police spokesperson told the news outlet. The page, which features an image of Rachelle wearing a "Team Spector" tee, was referred to a sheriff's department unit that investigates such threats. The post has since been removed. ...

Amazon's new digital-music store is up and running, with songs going for 89 to 99 cents and albums selling for around $6-$10. The songs, which don't have copyright protections, can be burned onto CDs and copied to multiple computers. Record-label giants Universal and EMI, in addition to a flood of indie labels, are selling their songs through the site. ... A former trustee in James Brown's estate might have misappropriated up to $7 million of the late music legend's money, special administrators told a South Carolina judge on Monday. State Circuit Judge Jack Early told David Cannon, the former co-executor of Brown's will, to pay $400,000 and produce additional documents. Early also said Brown's family could pursue the claims. ...

The Cult will headline the fall installment of the Jägermeister Music Tour, which is set to launch October 17 in Pala, California, and run through mid-December, with the full list of dates coming soon. Rounding out the bill will be Vietnam, the Cliks and Action Action. ... Former L7 leader Donita Sparks is going out on her own with her debut solo effort, Transmiticate, due January 22. The effort, which will feature her new backing band, the Stellar Moments, shifts away from the grunge and metal sounds that defined L7 and tinkers with more pop and dance elements. ...

Fans of Los Angeles ska act Hepcat are mourning the passing of bassist Dave Fuentes, 36. While details are scarce, the band did issue a statement, saying, "We are sad to announce that our brother, beloved bandmate and amazing friend, David Fuentes, is no longer with us. He will be missed by everyone but especially everyone in the Hepcat family." He leaves a wife, Yohanna, and two sons, Andrew, 7, and Darren, 3. A memorial fund has been established to help his family. ... A special-effects technician working on the set of the Batman sequel "The Dark Knight" was killed when a truck carrying a camera platform rammed into a tree on Monday in London, AP reports. Filming was not taking place at the time of the accident, which is under investigation.

• Mariah Carey
• Notorious B.I.G.
• Lil Wayne
• The Smashing Pumpkins
• Killswitch Engage

Photo: Warner Bros.

As far as contests go, this one was the very definition of lopsided.

A margin of nearly 306,600 separates next week's #1 album, the soundtrack to the Disney Channel original movie "High School Musical 2," from next week's #2, Brooklyn rapper Talib Kweli's Eardrum. A trouncing if there ever was one, but not an unexpected development. The soundtrack sold 615,000 units the week before and is the follow-up to one of last year's biggest sellers.

Remarkably, in just two weeks, "HSM2" fell just shy of clearing 1 million in total sales, landing it atop the Billboard albums chart for the second week. According to the latest SoundScan figures, the album — featuring the film's stars Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Corbin Bleu, Lucas Grabeel and Monique Coleman — sold another 367,000 units, despite suffering a 40 percent drop in sales, for a total of 982,500.

Meanwhile, Kweli will have to settle for the chart's #2 position, having generated week-one sales of 60,500 for his latest studio offering. While it marks the highest-charting debut of Kweli's career, his previous outing, 2004's The Beautiful Struggle, sold more than 62,000 units to bow at the chart's #14 slot. Following him at #3 is Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus, the Disney teen sensation's latest opus, which slips one spot on next week's chart with 57,700 scans. And coming in at #4 with 52,900 sold is the soundtrack to "Hairspray," which is closing in on 500,000 in total sales, a mark it should surpass on next week's top 200.

Ending the week at #5 with 52,500 sold is the 25th edition in the ever-growing Now That's What I Call Music! collection, followed at #6 by Fergie's The Dutchess, which sold another 50,400 copies.

As far as new releases go, Kweli's in good company in next week's top 10. One Man Band Man, the new album from hip-hopper Swizz Beatz, opens at #7, having generated 45,200 in first-week sales, while San Diego metallers As I Lay Dying's An Ocean Between Us bows at #8 with 39,500 copies scanned. The remainder of the top 10 is rounded out by two repeat offenders: Nickelback's All the Right Reasons, which claims the #9 slot with 39,200 in sales, and UGK's Underground Kingz, which sold 35,000 units for the #10 spot.

In all, there were 20 new additions to next week's Billboard chart, including Kala, the latest from M.I.A., which debuts at #18 with 28,800 scans. Cartel's self-titled new one follows at #20 with 28,100 sold. Rilo Kiley's Under the Blacklight takes the chart's #22 position, selling 26,600 units, while country crooner Joe Nichols' Real Things trails in the #23 slot, scanning 25,800 copies. Travis Tritt's The Storm opens at #28 with 22,600 copies snatched up, while the New Pornographers' Challengers debuts at #34 with sales reported at 20,000 and change.

Just missing the top 50 cut is Aiden and their new one, Conviction, which takes the chart's #55 spot with 12,300 copies sold. The Devil Wears Prada follow at #58, selling 11,600 copies of their latest LP, Plagues, and coming in at #62 with 10,600 sold is The Heroin Diaries, the debut disc from Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx's Sixx: A.M.

Planet of Ice, the latest from Minus the Bear, makes its debut at #74 with sales of 9,300 and then some, while Josh Ritter's The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter comes in at #79 with 8,800 sold. The soundtrack to Rob Zombie's upcoming "Halloween" flick bows at #82 with 8,400 scans; and with 7,000 copies flying off store shelves, Blaze Ya Dead Homie's Clockwork Gray claims the chart's #100 position. Joe Bonamassa's Sloe Gin opens at #184 with 4,160 in sales, while the Flaming Lips' U.F.O.'s at the Zoo: The Legendary Concert in Oklahoma City MVI album sold 4,100 copies, for a #186 opener. And finally, debuting at #193 with 3,900 copies scanned, is Andorra, Caribou's latest.

Seen a great show? MTV News wants your photos, videos and reports from all the latest concerts for our new You R Here community. Check out the site to read, rate and comment on reviews from around the globe. We'll put the best stuff on our You R Here blog, and even in on-air news!

• Talib Kweli
• Fergie
• Swizz Beatz
• As I Lay Dying
• Nickelback

As I Lay Dying
Photo: Metal Blade

As I Lay Dying, along with Killswitch Engage and Unearth, have been at the forefront of metalcore for the last five years. But according to frontman Tim Lambesis, the band's forthcoming LP An Ocean Between Us was largely influenced by what he perceives is the deterioration of the genre.

Before they began writing material for the disc late last year, the San Diego metallers "spent some time listening to our last album [2005's Shadows Are Security] and, just from being on tour, we became a little bit jaded by how the genre — as a whole — has sort of copied itself over and over again," he explained. "We decided we wanted to be more diverse, even down to the point where we sort of felt like we should really focus on writing songs in different categories, and then pick the best songs from those categories and use them for the record."

Produced by Killswitch guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz (Every Time I Die, All That Remains), the album — which hits stores August 21 and features backing vocals from members of Destroy the Runner — will include a dozen tracks, including "Separation," "Within Destruction" and the likely first single, "Nothing Left." Lambesis said listeners will find that each song differs from the next, with some cuts bordering on chaotic and foreboding, others more driven by melody, and a couple that are just straight-up, balls-to-the-wall thrashy.

"On the tempo side of things, we wanted the record to be pretty fast as a whole, so we wrote some real thrash-influenced songs," he said. "We even wrote songs that have a more emotional depth to them — songs that aren't just pound-your-face-in all the time."

Most metal acts pride themselves on releasing consistently heavier records, and An Ocean Between Us is indeed the heaviest As I Lay Dying LP to date. But what makes Lambesis proud of the album is that he thinks it's the band's most memorable one to date. "It's definitely our fastest record," he added.

Lambesis said it was important for As I Lay Dying to work with Dutkiewicz on An Ocean Between Us because "it was good to have that outside perspective." The band had finished pre-production on the record well before Dutkiewicz journeyed out to California, to the singer's home studio.

"We really went out of our way to have the record completely recorded and done before Adam even got here, so when he did, it would be the right time for that fresh perspective," Lambesis said. "He has great ears, and even if he ended up going with one of the original ideas we had from pre-production, it was confirming that it was his set of ears that gave it the thumbs up."

Lyrically, Lambesis said the album deals with the idea that "we no longer have the same dreams as the rest of the world, that all of the qualities of life that it seems we're taught we should focus on, whether it be money or a certain type of education or a certain type of job — the dreams that are handed down to us — it's about how we have nothing in common with those dreams anymore. It's about the whole idea of fulfillment — if you do these things and take these steps, you will be happy — and how really, wealth, the prestige of being in a band, all that stuff is ultimately meaningless."

But putting that message to disc wasn't all that easy, Lambesis admits. He said the band "had all the bad luck in the world" while making the effort.

"When we were recording drums, the computer crashed," he said. "When we started guitars, we had some bad cabling, so the first few days of guitars, we had distorted lines. And then we had a bad batch of strings, where every string in the entire box was buzzing on the frets.

"Then one day, I just woke up and came downstairs, and inside the vocal booth, there were just flies all over the wall — maybe 30, 45," he continued. "And there are no windows in my vocal booth, so I couldn't figure out how they got in there. It was pretty surreal going in there. That confirmed for us that we had the ultimate bad luck during this record. It seems the better something is, the more opposition there is towards it."

As I Lay Dying plan to spend all of August on the road as part of this summer's Warped Tour. A headlining tour is in the works for late October.

The rest of the week's metal news:

The Emperor reunion may be over at the end of the month, but the band's frontman, Ihsahn, will continue to push musical boundaries with his other projects. His latest is Hardingrock, a collaboration with Star of Ash (ex-Peccatum member Heidi S. Tveitan, a.k.a. Ihriel) and Norwegian folk artist Knut Buen. The band's debut, Grimen, will be released in Europe on June 11 on Nyrenning Forlag (no U.S. date has been scheduled). The album features folk songs played on Norway's national instrument, the harding fiddle, with lyrics and melodies based on Norwegian mythology. The music will also feature strong doses of heavy metal and classical-inspired electronica. "Even though the elements the three of us brought to the table were very contrasting, I think we're all very pleased with how it came together," Ihsahn said. "The material provided to us by Knut is a huge part of Norway's cultural treasure, and I think the album definitely is a worthy development that rocks." Sample the group's eccentric tunes on its MySpace page. ...

High on Fire will tour the Midwest after they finish their current studio session in Seattle with producer Jack Endino (Nirvana, Soundgarden). Dates start July 20 in Teton Village, Wyoming, and run through July 31 in Denver. The band's yet-untitled new album is tentatively scheduled for release in early fall. ... Obituary have finished tracking their seventh album, Xecutioner's Return, and are now preparing to mix and master the effort. Because of their expediency, the release date for the disc has been pushed forward to August 28 from its earlier-announced date of September 11. The legendary Florida death-metal band will launch a full U.S. tour in early September. ...

Samael will release their seventh studio album, Solar Soul, July 17. According to the band's label, the album marks a return to the type of sweeping post-industrial black metal of the Swiss group's 1996 record, Passage. ... Genghis Tron will play three dates with the Red Chord, Through the Eyes of the Dead and All Shall Perish Friday (June 1) through Sunday, and a pair of shows with Pig Destroyer and Car Bomb on June 15-16. Then the avant-garde rock extremists will team up with Ed Gein and Gaza for an East Coast tour that runs from July 17 in Poughkeepsie, New York, through July 29 in Midland, Michigan. The Philadelphia band is currently working on songs for its next disc, the follow-up to 2006's Dead Mountain Mouth. "We're building a bold, psychedelic bridge to GodCity [Recording] Studio, where we'll be recording our next album in August with [Converge guitarist] Kurt Ballou," Genghis Tron said in a statement. "Thanks to some serious unemployment, we've been fully immersed in erecting said bridge — working eight hours or more a day, seven days a week on new material. It's sounding insane and awesome and entirely indescribable. We're stoked." ...

Swedish doom-death band Katatonia will headline their first U.S. tour starting September 4 in West Springfield, Virginia, and ending September 26 in Houston. Scar Symmetry, Insomnium and Swallow the Sun will open all shows. Katatonia's new live CD/DVD package, Live Consternation, comes out Tuesday. ... It took combing through more than 2,000 applications, but Finnish symphonic-metal band Nightwish have finally found a singer to replace Tarja Turunen, who was asked to leave the band in October 2005. Swedish chanteuse Anette Olzon, formerly of the band Alyson Avenue, is currently working with Nightwish in the studio on the follow-up to 2004's Once. "She's already so much more than we were ever expecting to get," said the band in a statement. "Long live new Nightwish. The new album will be a monster." The yet-untitled disc is scheduled for a fall release. ... The new record by Swedish doom legends Candlemass, King of the Grey Islands, will be unearthed June 22. The disc marks the debut of the band's new singer, Robert Lowe (Solitude Aeturnus), who replaced Messiah Marcolin after his departure in April 2006. ...

Polish death/black-metal band Behemoth have posted the new track "Prometherion" on Ozzfest.com. The song comes from the band's upcoming disc, The Apostasy, which comes out July 17. Between dates on Ozzfest this summer, Behemoth will play one-off shows with Lamb of God, Hatebreed and 3 Inches of Blood. ... Swedish death-metal band Zonaria will release their debut album, Infamy and the Breed, September 4. The album was recorded by Per Nilsson and mixed and mastered by his Scar Symmetry bandmate Jonas Kjellgren at Black Lounge Studios in Gälve, Sweden. Tracks include "Infamy," "The Last Endeavor," "Pandemic Assault" and "Descend Into Chaos," which is available on the band's MySpace page. "We encourage everyone to give us feedback and to let us know what they think of the new song," guitarist Emil Nyström said in a statement. "We can assure each and every one of you that the wait will be well worth it and 'Descend Into Chaos' is just a small taste of the full on assault that is Infamy and the Breed."

• As I Lay Dying
• Candlemass
• Killswitch Engage
• Unearth
• High On Fire

New Found Glory's Jordan Pundik
Photo: Bryan Bedder/ Getty Images

When an event has been around for 13 years, it's usually time to shake things up. And while Ozzfest chose to do that by going free, the Vans Warped tour opted to piece together one of its most diverse rosters to date.

The tour, which will kick off June 28 at Chula Vista, California's Coors Amphitheater, is currently slated to play 45 shows through an August 25 date in Los Angeles with a lineup that includes Coheed and Cambria, Bad Religion, New Found Glory, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Cute Is What We Aim For, Bayside and Canadian rapper K-os.

Among the other groups that will be on the road with Warped all summer are Amber Pacific, Circa Survive, Tiger Army, Escape the Fate, Hot Rod Circuit, Big D and the Kids Table, Paramore, Gallows, the Matches, the Fabulous Rudies, Meg and Dia, All Time Low, Bleed the Dream, the Unseen, Escape the Fate, Spill Canvas, Evaline, Bless the Fall, Boys Like Girls, My American Heart, Vincent Black Shadow, Throw the Fight and Pepper.

Tour founder Kevin Lyman said he had plenty of options to choose from when putting together the roster. "We received over 4,000 submissions, so in booking the tour this year I felt that a diverse lineup was in order," he said in a press release announcing the dates. "The tour has always been a place to explore and discover new music. This year's lineup has old school, emo, punk, screamo, hip-hop, more ska than you have seen in a long time and everything in between. If you're open-minded, this will be a great show."

Members of the online Warped community will get their annual shot at Internet presale tickets starting April 1, where they'll be offered a ticket and a copy of the Warped Tour double-disc compilation for $19.99.

Among the other acts scheduled to play select dates are: A Static Lullaby, the Actual, Agent Orange, Alesana, Alkaline Trio, the Almost, Anberlin, As Cities Burn, As I Lay Dying, the Automatic, Biffy Clyro, the Briefs, the Briggs, Buck O Nine, Cinematic Sunrise, the Confession, the Dear and Departed, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Envy on the Coast, the Fall of Troy, Family Force 5, Fishbone, Flogging Molly, the Fold, Funeral for a Friend, the Graduate, Haste the Day, Hawthorne Heights, Human Abstract, I Am Ghost, Madina Lake, Mayday Parade, Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, New Year's Day, Norma Jean, Parkway Drive, Pennywise, Pistolita, Play Radio Play, POS, Poison the Well, Scary Kids Scaring Kids, Set Your Goals, So They Say, the Starting Line, Straylight Run, Supernova, the Toasters, Underoath, the Used, Valencia, The Vandals and Yellowcard.

More bands and dates are expected to be added in coming months.

Warped Tour dates, according to the tour's spokesperson:

· 6/28 - Chula Vista, CA @ Coors Amphitheatre
· 6/29 - Pomona, CA @ Los Angeles County Fairgrounds
· 6/30 - Ventura, CA @ Seaside Park
· 7/1 - Mountain View, CA @ Shoreline Amphitheatre
· 7/3 - Vancouver, BC @ Thunderbird Stadium
· 7/5 - Calgary, AB @ Race City Speedway
· 7/7 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Utah State Fairgrounds
· 7/8 - Denver, CO @ TBA
· 7/11 - Phoenix, AZ @ Cricket Pavilion
· 7/12 - Las Cruces, NM @ NMSU Practice Field
· 7/13 - Selma, TX @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre Lot
· 7/14 - Dallas, TX @ TBA
· 7/15 - Houston, TX @ Reliant Center
· 7/18 - Atlanta, GA @ HiFi Buys Amphitheatre
· 7/19 - Jacksonville, FL @ Metropolitan Park
· 7/20 - Saint Petersburg, FL @ Vinoy Waterfront Park
· 7/21 - Miami, FL @ Bayfront Amphitheatre
· 7/22 - Orlando, FL @ Tinker Field
· 7/23 - Charlotte, NC @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
· 7/24 - Virginia Beach, VA @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
· 7/25 - Washington, DC @ Merriweather Post Pavilion
· 7/26 - Scranton, PA @ Montage Mountain Amphitheatre
· 7/27 - Detroit, MI @ Comerica Park
· 7/28 - Tinley Park, IL @ First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
· 7/29 - Minneapolis, MN @ HHH Metrodome
· 7/31 - Milwaukee, WI @ Marcus Amphitheatre
· 8/1 - Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Centre
· 8/2 - Cleveland, OH @ Tower City Amphitheatre
· 8/3 - Camden, NJ @ Tweeter Center at the Waterfront
· 8/4 - New York, NY @ Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
· 8/5 - Englishtown, NJ @ Raceway Park
· 8/7 - Noblesville, IN @ Verizon Wireless Music Center
· 8/8 - Burgettstown, PA @ Post Gazette Pavilion
· 8/9 - Mansfield, MA @ Tweeter Center Lot
· 8/10 - Darien Center, NY @ Darien Lakes Field
· 8/11 - Oshawa, ON @ Park Place
· 8/12 - Montreal, ON @ Parc Jean-Drapeau
· 8/14 - St. Louis, MO @ UMB Bank Pavilion
· 8/15 - Bonner Springs, KS @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
· 8/17 - Boise, ID @ Idaho Center Amphitheatre
· 8/18 - Seattle, WA @ Gorge
· 8/19 - Saint Helens, OR @ Columbia Meadows
· 8/23 - Fresno, CA @ Selland Arena
· 8/24 - Sacramento, CA @ Sleep Train Amphitheatre Lot
· 8/25 - Los Angeles, CA @ Home Depot Center

• Pink Spiders, Gym Class Heroes And More At Warped Tour 2006

• New Found Glory
• Coheed and Cambria
• Bad Religion
• Hawthorne Heights
• k-os

Cradle of Filth
Photo: Roadrunner Records

After Cradle of Filth recorded all the material for their new album, Thornography, Dani "Filth" Davey ran into a major obstacle: He could growl and scream as well as ever, but no matter how hard he tried to hit a pitch or sing a passage, he sounded completely tone-deaf.

Discouraged and depressed, he started drinking heavily, but that only made him feel sicker than ever. He saw doctors, vocal coaches and dieticians, all to no avail. Davey was starting to think he was suffering a mental breakdown until the band's producer, Rob Caggiano, recommended a homeopathist who had cured Caggiano's life-threatening stomach parasite when he was working with Bleeding Through.

"The first thing the doctor told me was that I was going to die if I carried on with my lifestyle," Davey said. "Then he found that I have this weird disease called candida, which sits down low in your system so it's hard to detect, then acts as a springboard for other illnesses."

The doctor also determined that Davey was allergic to alcohol — more than a minor inconvenience for a touring musician with a strong appetite for beer. "I had to take 49 tablets made of plants for six months, and I had to limit my diet to rice cakes and mineral water."

At first, Davey ignored the prescribed treatment and started drinking heavily again. After that spell, he decided to follow his doctor's advice — but promised to reward himself for his efforts. "I said, 'If I get over this, I'm going to [drink again] and eat loads of cake.' And I did. And now I can just live my life. I've decided that I'm keeping to this diet and once a week, I'm going to splurge and have sugar or something bad."

While he desperately missed not being able to eat and drink like a normal heathen, Davey soon regained his health, and with it, his voice. So he flew to Millbrook Studio in upstate New York and easily recorded all the vocals for the album. "We did it [near] Alfred Hitchcock's estate, so you can imagine how excellent the vibe there was," Davey said.

He named the album Thornography due to the ever-present religious overtones of the disc, and also because the implied imagery reminded him of his ordeal. The LP drops October 17.

"Thornography implies a self-hurt," Davey explained. "Mankind's will to hurt God. It's like being an alcoholic and knowing you're not supposed to drink but you enjoy it so much so you do it anyway. Everything on the record has got a religious edge to it in a good or bad way. And it's not overtly satanic because sometimes you find that the darker stuff in life exists within the people who wield the power, who are supposedly in the light."

Sonically, Thornography strays little from Cradle of Filth's established brand of symphonic metal. Tempos vary from the slow, cinematic chug of "Rise of the Pentagram" (which features a spoken introduction by Doug Bradley, who plays Pinhead in the "Hellraiser" films) to the hellfire blaze "I Am the Thorn."

"Much of this album is traditional Cradle of Filth, just better," Davey said. "It's like Slayer meets Napalm Death in a vat of acid."

The rest of the week's metal news:

New England metalheads Shadows Fall have switched coasts, setting up camp in California to record their Atlantic Records debut. The band is holed up in Studio 606 in Northridge and, with producer Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Stone Sour), hammering out the follow-up to this year's Fallout From the War. Look for the Shad's yet-untitled LP to hit stores early next year. ... According to an interview with As I Lay Dying's Tim Lambesis that ran in San Diego State University's The Daily Aztec, the metalcore lads have been writing and recording material for their forthcoming fourth album. "The new album will definitely be faster," Lambesis told the paper. "We like to challenge ourselves and create songs people remember. We're going to have a few songs that catch people by surprise." A spokesperson from the band's management confirmed that As I Lay Dying are hard at work on new material, but no release date has been set for the effort yet. ...

Lacuna Coil have scrapped plans for a U.S. headlining run with Soil, 36 Crazyfists and 69 Eyes that was scheduled to kick off November 15 in Tempe, Arizona. No reason for the cancellation has been offered. ... On October 3, Victory will reissue Between the Buried and Me's 2003 LP, The Silent Circus, with a bonus DVD. The revitalized effort will feature live footage as well as the music video for "Mordecai" and an interview with the Ozzfest 2006 veterans. ... Ohio hardcore cretins Chimaira are continuing to work on material for the follow-up to 2005's self-titled effort. The band, which is said to be on the verge of announcing a new label home, has tracked seven new songs, with vocals, and has another four waiting to be completed. "Musically, this record reminds me a lot of [2003's] The Impossibility of Reason," frontman Mark Hunter said. "I don't think the songs are similar, I just have the vibe of intensity that I did back then." The band parted ways with Roadrunner Records earlier this year. ...

Indiana thrashers Demiricous have found a permanent replacement for drummer Chris Cruz in Dustin Boltjes, who has been touring with the band for more than a year. Boltjes is also a member of the Dream Is Dead and plans to remain in that group as well. Demiricous are on the road with Byzantine through October 13 in Boston and have commenced writing the follow-up to 2005's One (Hellbound). ... Children of Bodom, Amon Amarth, Gojira and Sanctity will hit the road in late November. So far, just 15 North American dates have been confirmed, with more to be announced in the coming weeks. The trek will kick off in Philadelphia on November 29, and dates run through December 18 in Montreal. ... Maryland grindcore ghouls Magrudergrind will be in the studio December 8-10 to record Blasting Sessions, their forthcoming LP. Look for the disc to drop in the spring. ...

Sworn Enemy and Bloodlined Calligraphy will team up for a brief run next month — prior to Sworn's Canadian trek with Hatebreed. Dates are scheduled from October 6 in Rochester, New York, through October 17 in Spokane, Washington. ... The bill for the Colorado Winter Metal Chaos Festival keeps growing more and more brutal. Entombed, Grave, Dismember and Cattle Decapitation are among the most recent lineup additions. The festival is booked for December 9 at Hubba's House of Rock 'N' Roll in Aurora and will also feature the Absence, Daath, Dog Fashion Disco and Lair of the Minotaur, as well as several others. In related news, Cattle Decapitation were named Best Hard Rock Band at the San Diego Music Awards, which were held on Monday. The band will tour with Dog Fashion Disco and Daath from November 17 in Austin, Texas, through December 7 in St. Paul, Minnesota.

• Cradle of Filth
• As I Lay Dying
• Chimaira
• Magrudergrind

Diecast
Photo: Century Media

When a woman rips a guy's heart out of his chest, tosses it into a blender and presses "frappe," he either falls in love with his depression or does something practical with the pain — just ask any emo fan. So when Diecast singer Paul Stoddard sat back and witnessed the recent collapse of his own relationship, one that had lasted more than four years, he took his pain and channeled it into his lyrics. The result, he said, is the Boston metalcore band's fourth LP, Internal Revolution, which is set to drop Tuesday.

"Any time you can take any emotion — whether it's anger, sadness, even happiness — if you can take that emotion and squeeze it for all its lifeblood, you're going to get amazing songs," Stoddard explained. "Initially I was toying with the idea of maybe doing a theme record this time around. But when it came time to start writing these songs, I had so much stuff inside that I wanted to get out and write about, I just said, 'Forget it — I'm going with this.' "

Not that the inspiration behind his words will be blatantly obvious to the casual listener. But while Diecast's frontman uses some symbolism on the record, he didn't exploit it to make his point.

"I try not to hide things too much," he explained. "I think people can pretty much get the point of where I'm going with a lot of the songs. I don't want it to be too clear and come off cheesy: 'I loved her. She's gone. Boohoo.' I think you have to have some fun with it and be artistic with [music]. People will always identify with it in their own way."

Heartbreak aside, the road to Internal Revolution was riddled with numerous obstacles, Stoddard said. Within the last year, Diecast have lost — and replaced — two of their members, sidelining them for a spell from touring and recording the follow-up to 2004's Tearing Down Your Blue Skies. Drummer Jason Costa left in November, following a heated argument concerning Brendan Fraser's acting prowess, and in May, the band announced that bassist Jeremy Wooden, the band's only remaining original member, had split. Dennis Pavia and Brad Horion were later named as their respective replacements.

A scheduling conflict delayed the effort even further. The band had recruited producer Zeuss (Shadows Fall, Hatebreed) to helm Internal, but he had to pull out at the last minute. Instead, Diecast turned to Tearing Down's producer, Paul Trust.

"Jason was an absolutely incredible drummer," Stoddard said. "He was something Diecast had become known for, and so you tended to write songs that really showcased his abilities. And then you'd write good songs around that. But this time around, we started without a drummer, and we just wanted to write the best songs possible. We tried to eliminate all of the walls. We just wanted to make the best record we could, and get the best songs possible. We didn't want to set any boundaries, which is what the scene tends to do. If it makes sense, it will be there. If it doesn't make sense, we're going to replace it with something that does.

"I feel like my vocals have come a long way too," he continued. "We went the extra mile on this record, and I'm so excited about it. I'm ready to start writing and recording the next one, because we're in such a good zone and we're just connecting so well that I don't want to stop."

The album's theme comes through in several of Internal Revolution's tracks, but none more so than the first single, "Fade Away." Diecast recently shot a video for the tune in a vacant building in Brooklyn, New York, with director David Brodsky (God Forbid, the Red Chord).

"It has to deal with breakups, and everybody in the band was involved in different relationship scenarios," Stoddard explained. "I got to smash some windows and break through a wall like the Kool-Aid man. For my part, there's this woman on the other side of the glass, and I break through it to get to her. It's symbolic."

Diecast will spend much of next year on the road but have no concrete touring plans just yet. The band will play a semi-acoustic record-release gig at Newbury Comics in Nashua, New Hampshire, on Tuesday, and a headlining show in Bedford, New Hampshire, the following evening.

Really, what Stoddard wants is what most metal and hardcore bands want: an Ozzfest slot.

"I've been to every single Ozzfest, except for 2005's," he said. "For the last 10 years, I would go to that festival, and my dream has been to make it onto one of those stages. I'll feel like I've made it if that happens. We were up for it last year, but it didn't work out. But it would be great to do Ozzfest. That would be a dream come true, and we hope the stars align, and this time, it will be our turn."

The rest of the week's metal news:

Despite reports that they'd be touring this fall as one of the support acts on Avenged Sevenfold's upcoming North American tour, set to kick off in November, Killswitch Engage will not be on the bill. ... Technical death-metal stalwarts Suffocation shot a performance video last weekend for "Abomination Reborn," from their self-titled album, dropping Tuesday. The video was filmed in Brooklyn with director Frankie Nasso (Mudvayne, Hatebreed) and producers Dale Resteghini and Melissa Manousos of Raging Nations Films and will be sent to video outlets at the end of the month. ... An October 24 release date has been set for the soundtrack to the forthcoming film "Saw III." The disc will include tracks from several heavy hitters, including Slayer, Mastodon, Lamb of God, All That Remains, DragonForce, As I Lay Dying, Every Time I Die and more. ... Cartoonish metal legend King Diamond will play a role in an upcoming episode of Cartoon Network's "Deathklok Metalocalypse." Diamond recorded his part for the program on August 21, joining a short legacy that includes Metallica guitarists James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett, Arch Enemy guitarist Michael Amott and three members of Nevermore. ...

Several major metal bands have been nominated for this year's San Diego Music Awards, the winners of which will be announced September 18. As I Lay Dying are vying for the top award, Artist of the Year, and are up against Jason Mraz, Louis XIV, Pinback, Slightly Stoopid and Switchfoot. "I love awards like this because they're not political, and it's about the fans being there for us," As I Lay Dying singer Tim Lambesis said in a statement. In other categories, Cattle Decapitation, Divided by Zero, Mower, Underminded and Media Lab are up for Best Hard Rock, and ex-P.O.D. guitarist Marcos Curiel's new band the Accident Experiment are nominated for Best Hard Rock Album along with Goblin Co--, Divided by Zero, Mower, Earthless and Nihilist. ... Melodic death-metal band If Hope Dies have officially hired guitarist Naren Ananda, who started working with the band after the departure of Thad Jackson this spring. "We're all really excited to have him with us and are looking forward to getting back on the road very soon," the band said in a statement. The band will hit the road in October as part of the Radiotakeover Tour, which starts October 7 in Albany, New York. Dates are currently scheduled through November 11 in Akron, Ohio, with additional shows to be announced soon. ...

Full Blown Chaos, Remembering Never and War of Ages will head out together in late October for a U.S. run that'll conclude on November 7 in Oklahoma City. The trek launches October 20 in Cleveland. ... Bleed the Sky is down a guitarist. Kyle Moorman left the Orange County, California, metallers to "pursue other elements of the music business," according to frontman Noah Robinson. "He has plans to be involved in studio production and engineering and we wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors. We are in the midst of looking for a new lead guitarist and are accepting open submissions." Those interested in trying out should e-mail the band at bleedtheskytryouts@yahoo.com. ... More dates have been added to the upcoming Gwar tour, which will include dates with the Red Chord and Municipal Waste. The tour now launches October 13 in Philadelphia, and dates are scheduled through December 1 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Gwar's latest album, the Devin Townsend-produced Beyond Hell, came out August 29. ... The first SoCal Deathfest has been set for October 14 in Riverside, California. Look for the bill to boast Cattle Decapitation, Condemend, Cryptic Gallbladder Splatter, Horseman of the Apocalypse and Super.Ninja.Robot.Fighter. ...

Want to ring in '07 with Clutch? You can on December 31 (duh!) at Rams Head Live in Baltimore; the Sword and William Elliott Whitmore are also on the bill. Clutch will begin recording the follow-up to 2005's Robot Hive/Exodus next month, with a tentative spring release in the works. ... Entombed, Dismember, Grave and the Absence will hit the road together for a U.S. run that kicks off in Hollywood on December 1. Gigs are booked through December 16 in San Marcos, California, with more to be announced in the coming weeks. ... Generations will be spanned when Facedownins--- release their cover of Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode," which they recorded with drummer Don Bolles, a member of the legendary '80s L.A. punk band the Germs. Facedowninsh-- tracked the tune on Wednesday in Los Angeles and have been playing it live on the Relapse Records Contamination Tour, which runs through September 28 in Baltimore and also features Unearthly Trance, Jucifer, F--- the Facts and Hex Machine. ... Looking for something sicker and heavier than black and death metal? Check out Skullflower, whose latest album, Tribulation, has just been released on Crucial Blast. The band's sonic architect, Matthew Bower, has been crushing skulls since 1992 with deafening washes of feedback, grinding sound effects, crashing percussion and harrowing howls. Test your mettle — if you dare.

• Diecast
• Killswitch Engage
• King Diamond
• GWAR
• Avenged Sevenfold

Poisonblack
Photo: Veli-Veikko Elomaa/ Century Media

Poisonblack's Ville Laihiala says the band's forthcoming second album Lust Stained Despair sounded "like sh--" the first time he heard it. The band recorded the LP more than two years ago, but it didn't quite live up to the ex-Sentenced frontman's standards. "That's the reason why we postponed it," he explained. "And also, I opened a bottle, and it stayed open for six months, so that was also a reason."

But this spring, the Finnish gothic metallers headed back into Tonebox Studio, in the band's hometown of Oulu, Finland, to record several new tracks and revisit others. "We recorded three new songs and some additional keyboards here and there, and then I flew to Denmark to mix it, so it would sound the way it sounds right now," Laihiala explained. "I am happy with it now. Everything feels great. We know we have a pretty strong album that we really feel honest about, and we've been rehearsing like apes."

The album, which is due in stores August 22, features 11 mind-melting tracks, including "Hollow Be My Name," "Soul in Flames" and "Pain Becomes Me." The singer said he tried to make the lyrical content "clever, and talk about getting rid of stuff through sex and whatever, because when I was 12, the only two things I had in life were music and masturbation. I know what I was thinking when I wrote those things, and the lyrics should have their own meaning to people."

But the follow-up to 2003's Escapexstacy is a different sound for Poisonblack, according to Laihiala. "We were really trying to find a sound of a band playing live," he said. "Obviously, we wanted to do effects with keyboards. But there's only two rhythm guitarists, and we don't sound like eight guitarists live." So the album needed to sound more simplified than the band's debut offering.

Last month, Poisonblack shot a clip for the track "Rush," even though Laihiala didn't want to. "I've always hated doing them, because I think they're a waste of money. Obviously, I care about how it looks — that it's not us eating diapers or whatever. But still, it doesn't play a big role in this [band]. It's not the reason why people do music."

This fall, Poisonblack will tour Europe in support of Lacuna Coil — the trek begins September 22 and runs through November 8. Laihiala said he'd eventually like to tour the U.S. but added that "in the past, we've had a lot of issues with alcohol, and I kind of have this weird feeling of self-confidence to go back out on tour, but not too much immediately — I need to adjust my head again to the bus and that lifestyle."

Laihiala says he has managed to get his drinking under control, and gone are the days when he'd be drunk for three weeks straight, eating nothing but potato chips. But that doesn't mean he doesn't still like to imbibe.

"Some of us, including myself, drank booze for the wrong reasons," he said. "We dealt with those reasons, and the level of alcohol use is pretty much the same as it used to be — but for the right reasons."

The rest of the week's metal news:

Norma Jean's forthcoming album Redeemer has, after numerous scheduling changes, an official release date: September 12. Look for it to include "A Small Spark vs. a Great Forest," "The End of All Things Will Be Televised" and "No Passenger: No Parasite." ... As I Lay Dying frontman Tim Lambesis has teamed with Metal Blade Records to start his own imprint, High Impact Recordings. "After being on tour for the past five years, I decided I should start a record label," he said. "I've met so many amazing musicians and I know this is the right way to give exposure to those bands I believe in." The label's first signing, A Love Ends Suicide, is a progressive-metal band from Covina, California. Its sophomore album, In the Disaster, will come out September 5. ... Venom have started rescheduling the North American tour they canceled this week due to immigration problems. The tour was due to get under way in New York on August 13. DevilDriver had been tapped as the support act but will not be appearing with Venom on the rescheduled dates, which, so far, includes September 5 in New York; the following day in Springfield, Virginia; and September 8 in Philadelphia. ...

Experimental Swedes Meshuggah will reissue their classic 2002 album Nothing on October 31. The frantic, brutal disc will include a bonus DVD featuring frantic, brutal performances from the band's recent European tour. ... It's looking like November 21 will be the day the next Killswitch Engage LP lands in stores. The New England metallers have yet to come up with a title for the effort. ... Shai Hulud, who recently reunited, have signed with Metal Blade Records. There are no details yet regarding the band's forthcoming debut outing for the label. ... Orthodox black-metallers Watain have booked studio time and plan to start recording their third LP soon, with plans to finish the effort "during the last death spasms of 2006," according to the band. The disc, for which a release date hasn't even been hinted at, will include "eight songs of darkest metal magic" and, "as a warning of what is to come," Watain have posted a sample of a track called "Storm of the Antichrist" on their Web site. ... Brooklyn, New York, hardcore dudes Most Precious Blood will begin working on new material in the next few weeks. The band hopes to release the tentatively titled Do Not Resuscitate in late 2007. ...

This Is Hell have welcomed guitarist Chris Reynolds to the fold; Reynolds, formerly of Scraps and Heart Attacks, replaces Joe Osolin, who jumped ship last month. In other comings and goings, bassist Jeff Tiu has also left the group so that he can attend medical school and get married. The band has already replaced him with former Subterfuge member John Moore, who will make his live debut with the band on August 23. ... American death-metallers Arsis will release their new one, United in Regret, on October 24. Eyal Levi (Daath) produced the effort. ... Byzantine and Demiricous will team up next month for a brief run of Midwest gigs, starting September 20 in Cincinnati. The brief tour's final date will be September 28 in a venue and city still to be determined. ... Viking metal band Unleashed will release their eighth studio full-length Midvinterblot this fall. "Our mission is to create one of the most memorable records in the history of death metal," frontman Johnny Hedlund said in a statement. "The songs will be anthems in the true traditional Unleashed way and will have you screaming along with the choruses." The band's last disc, Sworn Allegiance came out in 2004. ...

The new Blind Guardian video for "Another Stranger Me" can be viewed here. The clip depicts a detective several seeds short of a full melon, searching for a murderer who may be the sanest person in the video — excluding the bandmembers. "It has very vivid power," singer Hansi Kürsch said in a statement. "The song is about a schizophrenic person who discovers his multiple eyes and tries to find a way out." "Another Stranger Me" is the first priority track from the kraut band's new album A Twist in the Myth, which comes out September 5. ... Austrian killjoys Belphegor will release their sixth album Pestapokalypse VI on October 31. The disc was written over the last 11 months and produced by Andy Classen (President Evil, Krisiun). "Never before have we spent so much time in the rehearsal room, and never before have we put so much energy [into] our new material," said singer and guitarist Helmuth. Pestapokalypse is our masterpiece so far. Hell awaits." Tracks include "Belphegor - Hell's Ambassador," "Seyn Todt in Schwartz" and "Bluhtsturm Erotika." ...

Some Girls will be hitting the road with the Plot to Blow up the Eiffel Tower starting October 5 in San Francisco. Dates are scheduled through November 19 in Tucson, Arizona. ... Alabama Thunderpussy will enter the studio next month to start working on their next album, tentatively titled Open Fire. The disc, due in the spring, will be recorded at Etching Tin Studios in Richmond, Virginia, with engineer Ian Whalen. It will be Alabama Thunderpussy's first offering to feature new singer Kyle Thomas, who replaced Johnny Weils in May. ... The first video from North Carolina doom band Daylight Dies, for the track "Lies That Bind," has been posted at the band's MySpace page. The clip was filmed on location near Raleigh and directed by Ramon Boutviseth. "It was a scorching-hot and humid summer day," drummer Jesse Haff said on the site. "We filmed inside a filthy, decaying building complex and later moved on to a rickety wooden salt-mine platform." The song can be found on the band's second studio album, Dismantling Devotion, which came out in March.

Where do your favorite metal bands rank on our list? Find out in the feature "The Greatest Metal Bands of All Time."

• Poisonblack
• Meshuggah
• Shai Hulud
• Norma Jean
• As I Lay Dying

MTV2's All That Rocks: Winners

• Panic at the Disco
• As I Lay Dying
• Lupe Fiasco
• T.I.
• My Chemical Romance