Rob Zombie
Photo: Kevin Winter/ Getty Images

There are a lot of words you could use to describe Rob Zombie, but "indolent" isn't one of them. The shock rocker's always got a full plate, and is constantly working. Whether he's thumbing through scripts or writing riffs, Zombie is always thinking about the next project. At the moment, it's the follow-up to 2006's Educated Horses that's taking up most of his time.

"We're almost finished," Zombie told Metal File this week, about his forthcoming, still-untitled solo LP. "We'll probably finish with the record completely before Christmas, and it's great. The unique thing about this record is, it's the first time since White Zombie broke up [in 1998] that I've actually recorded with a band, in the sense that these are the guys that I tour with, that I hang out with, and we're a band, and we'll record as a band."

Zombie said he's been working on his next album — which he hopes to release this spring and which will feature the tracks "Jesus Frankenstein" and "Sick Bubblegum" — for the last few months, alongside guitarist John 5, drummer Tommy Clufetos and bassist Piggy D.

"The record's hard to describe, but it's just got a much more solid vibe, and it's going to be a much more intricate, interesting record just due to the fact that we have four people that are in the room all the time, contributing and working on it," he explained. "For me, it's great, because my solo records have been somewhat disjointed because there's always a changing roster of people. Great things usually come out of situations where you have a great vibe and you can usually feel it. And that's what's going on here."

The feel of the album, according to Zombie, is "all over the place." He said he didn't head into the studio with any specific goals in mind, other than to evolve his sound naturally.

"We just go into the studio and let it happen," he said. "Having a band helps because we change things at the spur of the moment. We'll start with something in the morning, and by the end of the day, it's morphed into something completely different. The lyrics — I'm pretty loose with that, in how I approach it. You just bang your head against the wall until something comes out. But I'm always trying to do something [with my records] that sounds fresh without making it so different that it's not you anymore. That's the problem with anything you do, as time goes on. If it's too different, everybody complains, and if it's too much of the same, everybody complains. So I'm always trying to find that tight rope, that middle ground, where it's your vibe and your thing, but it still sounds fresh."

On November 25, Zombie releases Let Sleeping Corpses Lie, a career-spanning five-disc box set, featuring everything White Zombie ever recorded. Zombie said he compiled the entire package on his own, not seeking the help of any of his former bandmates, whom he said he hasn't even spoken to since the group's last gig. But putting the box set together was an interesting exercise that made Zombie appreciate his current setup that much more.

"It made me appreciate the new band more, because going back and putting the box set together brought up a lot of things that I had forgotten about, and unfortunately, some of it was negative," he said. "So you really appreciate when you're in a good situation with a good group of musicians and a good group of guys. It took 20-something years, but I feel like I've finally found the three perfect people to work with."

Zombie, who claimed he'll be touring the States after next summer, said the time was right to release a White Zombie box set, and that it's been a project he had wanted to wrap up for years. "I would let everything take precedence over it — movies, records," he said. "I'm not big into revisiting the past. I like to move forward all the time, so whenever anything else would come up, [the box set] would go on the backburner. I had a little bit of a window and just knocked it out, and I also figured, 'If not now, when?' If I'd waited any longer, CDs aren't even going to exist."

He said that, with Let Sleeping Corpses Lie, he's essentially closing the door on White Zombie for good.

"There's really nothing more to be done," he said. "There's other crappy demos and stuff we could release, but they're probably not worth listening to. This is the last thing that will come from the band.

"The funny thing was, when I was putting it together, it seemed so long ago," he explained. "It felt like I was putting together a box set of somebody else's band, because even though it's not that long ago, it just seemed like forever ago, and some of the early songs are 20 years old. It seemed weird. Most of the really old tracks I hadn't listened to since we recorded them. It was just kind of weird. I found a lot of old flyers and junk. I was just happy I had saved a bunch of that stuff, because I was saving it for no apparent reason. Now, there's a reason, so I can throw it all away."

Zombie said he doesn't really miss the White Zombie days at all, and is glad that this chapter in his life has finally reached its end.

"When the band started, everyone was so young, and then you go through a lot of changes," Zombie said. "You start a band when you're 18, and I don't remember how old I was when it ended, but you're basically right out of high school. So you're not in a mind frame to sometimes handle what it takes to put that together, and then you do mature, and being in a band becomes a weird situation, because it's almost like the situation hasn't matured with you. So that band had a lot of growing pains and a lot of baggage all the way through. I think we did a lot of good stuff, and we were kind of ahead of the curve in the beginning, and we did some groundbreaking stuff. But it was a painful situation most of the time."

The rest of the week's metal news:

Deftones bassist Chi Cheng remains in a coma after sustaining injuries in a car accident two weeks ago. "Chi's condition remains the same — serious, but stable," the Deftones said in a statement. "He still lies in a coma, however his vitals (heart, lungs and blood pressure) all exhibit very stable functions and doctors have begun removing much of the excess monitoring equipment. Chi remains strong in his fight to recover." ...

The Dillinger Escape Plan are putting the finishing touches on a new DVD, as well as their next album. "We're wrapping up a DVD — a documentary on early-years Dillinger, from the beginning, all the way through the end of the Calculating Infinity cycle, which is going to be really cool for the 10 of you out there who weren't in elementary school when this band started," the band said in a statement. "For everyone else, it'll be a history lesson well worth watching, to see how this beast got started." ...

Is anyone else tired of these incessant Chimaira updates? The band's been hard at work on their new album, and it feels like every week, they're posting information about how that's been going. According to the most recent update, they're almost 40 percent finished with tracking the record, which will hit stores April 28. Hey, guys — how 'bout you save the next update for when the record's actually finished? ...

At last weekend's Vision of Disorder reunion show, the band revealed that they're eyeing a fall 2009 release for their next studio effort. Sweet! ...

Unearth will be hitting the road early next year with Emmure, Impending Doom and Born of Osiris. The F--- School, F--- Work, Let's Rage! Tour kicks off January 9 in Detroit, and dates are booked through January 30 in Portland, Maine. ...

God Forbid will release their forthcoming album Earthsblood on February 24 through Century Media. Metal File has heard some of the disc, and it's beyond brutal. ...

Cattle Decapitation, Psyopus, Book of Black Earth and Gigan will be hitting the road together starting January 21 in Santa Barbara, California. Gigs are scheduled through February 13 in San Marcos, California. ...

Extreme black metal outfit Satyricon have signed a North American recording deal with Koch Records. The band's forthcoming seventh studio album, The Age of Nero, lands in stores January 13, and will feature the tracks "Black Crow on a Tombstone," "My Skin Is Cold" and "Last Man Standing."

• White Zombie
• Rob Zombie
• Dillinger Escape Plan
• Chimaira

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

Disturbed's David Draiman and Dan Donegan
Photo: Frank Micelotta/ Getty Images

Last week, Australia's Beat magazine ran an article on New Jersey's Dillinger Escape Plan, in which guitarist Ben Weinman said he'd once witnessed one of Disturbed's soundchecks and spotted something rather curious. "[They were] practicing where they were going to walk and when they were going to put their leg up on the monitor and pose," Weinman said. "That was weird for us. There are times [during live gigs] where I don't even know where I am."

Weinman's remarks were an obvious dig at Disturbed, who release their fourth studio effort, Indestructible, on June 3. It's not the first time Dillinger have started beef with a band, and it probably won't be the last. But when asked about the claims about their "onstage posing," Disturbed guitarist Dan Donegan seemed stupefied.

"I never even remember meeting these guys, and I think we know anybody that's even in the room during our soundchecks, so that's shocking to me, because I would think that we would have met them if they were standing there during our soundcheck," Donegan said. "That's funny. When we do a bigger production, there may be certain lighting cues for certain highlights of the show, but I wouldn't call it 'posing,' just a cue for our lighting guy, so he can add more drama to the set. If [Dillinger] sold some records, and were at the level we're at, maybe they'd see that, for bands like Kiss and Metallica, there are certain highlight points during a set that you want to focus on. If I'm going to go over to one spot and do a guitar solo, my lighting guy may need to know that, so he can focus in on that.

"If that's posing, then so be it," the guitarist continued. "To me, I don't think we talk about when we're going to put our foot up on a monitor. That's just silly. It's a natural thing we do. Those guys can say whatever they want. If that's supposed to be a jab at us, am I offended? I don't give a sh--. If they're saying it because they're haters, why? Because we sell millions of records and lots of tickets? It sounds more like jealousy to me."

Plus, Donegan points out, Disturbed's stage shows often feature pyrotechnics displays — as they will this summer, when the band co-headlines the inaugural Rockstar Energy Mayhem Fest with Slipknot. "We have millions of fans, and we find ways to connect with them," he added. "We utilize theatrics and pyro, so we have to rehearse where the pyro is going to go off, because we don't want to have a James Hetfield moment and get caught in the flame. But that's something Dillinger Escape Plan would know nothing about, because they don't play arenas —: they play clubs."

Now that that's all sorted out, there's new material to be discussed: Indestructible, an album Donegan feels is Disturbed's finest achievement to date.

"To us, its even heavier than [2005's] Ten Thousand Fists, and there's more attitude to it," he said. "I know 'heavy' is a relative term, but to me, heavy isn't just Cookie Monster vocals and playing as fast as you can. Heavy metal, to me, was the classic metal bands like Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath and Judas Priest — guitar- driven bands with powerful, melodic vocals. [Frontman] David [Draiman] is a melodic singer, like Bruce Dickinson. For these hardcore fans who hear melody in a song and think a band's soft or that we're not metal enough for them, oh well. The metal I grew up on were those classic bands that are still playing today and are respected by everybody. That's the path we've always tried to go down, and we seem to be going down that path."

For Disturbed, the biggest challenge making Indestructible was the production of it. The band decided they wanted to handle it themselves, which their label and management weren't so sure about at first.

"We had to make sure they were OK with us doing it without another set of ears in there — someone who could referee those times where we might be battling it out," he said. "We're just so comfortable with each other, and just so respectful of what each guy's role is in the song writing and recording process, that once we got the first couple of songs tracked, it was enough to keep the label and management out of the way. Removing that producer role had people more on the edge of their seats, just making sure we could handle it that way, without somebody else, and we proved to them — and ourselves — that we can. And it gave us the best record we've made yet."

Thematically, the record's also one of the darkest records the band's churned out. The LP's first single, "Inside the Fire," may be the most personal of all the record's tracks, and the video is a reflection of that, Donegan said. Directed by Nathan Cox, it deals with the same theme the song tackles: suicide.

"It's the darkest song David's written, and it has a personal connection to him; it's about an ex-girlfriend of his, when he was a lot younger, who committed suicide — she overdosed," the guitarist explained. "The video has to do with that same subject, but it's his girlfriend hanging herself. At the front of the video, we wanted to get a suicide prevention hotline number up there, so there's no misinterpretation of what we're saying. We're not condoning suicide, but raising awareness to the issue, so anyone who feels suicidal or is depressed or going through a hard time, hopefully it will hit those people enough to make them know that there's somebody out there willing to listen to them, so maybe they should talk to someone else if they have those feelings."

After this summer's Mayhem Fest, Disturbed plan to head overseas for a few months of live gigs, and will be back in the states before Christmas for a little rest and relaxation. Then, they'll hit the road again with their "Music as a Weapon" tour, which Donegan said is now in the planning stages.

"We continue to evolve as players and songwriters," he said, when asked what fans can expect from Indestructible. "I don't know the magic formula to being able to do it, except that we go into it with the mindset that we're doing it for ourselves and meeting our own expectations. You can't guess what the rest of the world wants. But our fans have proven they're with us, and they're here to stay and we're certainly not going anywhere — whether you like it or not."

The rest of the week's metal news:

Within Chaos and the Destro have been added to this year's Ozzfest, which has been reduced to a one-day destination festival, set for August 9 at Pizza Hut Park in Dallas. The bill also features Metallica, In This Moment, the Sword, Goatwhore, Witchcraft and Soilent Green, among others. Oh, yeah, and they'll be dusting Ozzy off again so he can headline. ...

Norma Jean are in the middle of recording their fourth album, The Anti Mother, with producer Ross Robinson (Glassjaw, At the Drive-In) behind the boards. Slated for release later this summer, the band apparently collaborated on material separately with Helmet's Page Hamilton and Chino Moreno of Deftones. According to a statement from the band, the album's title's derived from "a character we created, which represents anything that is deceptive, and yet possesses an outwardly beautiful nature." ...

Six Feet Under have begun recording new material for their forthcoming Metal Blade Records set. According to the band, "It's great to be back in the studio, and we feel really psyched to lay these new songs down. They are some of the best stuff we have come up with, and [we] can't wait for all of our fans to hear the new stuff." ... The JonBenét have been touring the U.S., road-testing some new material, which they plan to record later this year. The band will be rolling through Anthony, Texas, Friday night (May 16), and dates are booked through June 14 in Austin, Texas. ...

It Dies Today have set Lividity as the title of their next album, which they'll be self-producing for a fall release. ... On August 19, the Acacia Strain will release their forthcoming album, Continent. The disc is being produced by Zeuss, who has worked with the likes of Hatebreed and Shadows Fall.

• Disturbed
• Dillinger Escape Plan
• Norma Jean (Metal)
• The Acacia Strain

Emigrate
Photo: Pilgrim Management / Motor Music

It was hard enough for Rammstein guitarist Richard Z. Kruspe to leave his friends and daughter in Berlin and relocate to New York to write an album for his side project, Emigrate. The last thing he needed was for the house he moved into to be haunted.

The residence, a former firehouse in SoHo, apparently revealed its spiritual energies to Kruspe soon after he set up his home studio there. He says the burglar alarm went off repeatedly without being triggered, tiny holes appeared in his window without explanation, and his girlfriend had to move out after just two weeks because she felt so unsettled by the house's vibe.

"I went online to research the history of the house, and I found a picture of it from 1874," Kruspe said a week before heading back to Germany to continue work on the next Rammstein album, which doesn't have a name yet. "I printed it up, and when I looked closely at it, I got goose bumps all over my body. The picture is of three guys standing outside the building, and one of them looks exactly like me."

While some of Kruspe's friends have found being in the house too unnerving, the former resident of East Germany has accepted the spirit and fed off its energy. "The house has a strange feeling to it, but that's why I love it," he said. "I made peace with the energy long ago, and now I'm basically talking to it, saying, 'Hello,' 'Good night' and 'What's going on?' But obviously, I'm doing that in my head — if I started talking out loud, I think I would have to check into a hospital."

Maybe some of the paranormal activity inspired Kruspe to write Emigrate's self-titled debut, which comes out January 28, but the songs on the disc are neither haunting nor ethereal. They're filled with feelings of loneliness, despair and rage that stemmed more from the isolation he felt in America.

"I moved here in 2001 because I needed a change in my life," he explained. "I had been living in Berlin for 18 years, and I was bored and wanted a new challenge. I felt I had to create something new, and one of the things you have to do as an artist is go the unsafe way, because this brings you into the suffering world, and if you're suffering, you can write good music. When I came to New York, I dealt with a lot of rejection and depression in the process of entering the new world and saying goodbye to the old one, and that was definitely inspirational."

Equally inspiring was Kruspe's desire to branch out from the sonic niche he had created with Rammstein. Before he moved to America, he was experiencing creative and personal friction with his bandmates. In the past, he had written nearly all the group's songs, and was extremely controlling about how the music was played and the role everyone served in the group. After years of putting up with his totalitarian perfectionism, his bandmates started to rebel.

"It got to the point where people couldn't be around me," Kruspe said. "If you want to eat a chocolate cake, one piece is nice, but if you eat the whole cake, you'll f---ing puke. And it was the same with me. It was too much to deal with, so I distanced myself from the whole situation and tried to find something else."

Kruspe found the outlet in Emigrate, a project that allowed him to explore new artistic avenues on his own and take on the role of lead singer as well as guitarist. While songs like "Emigrate," "Wake Up" and "My World" have elements in common with Rammstein — chugging metal guitars, ominous keyboards, militaristic percussion — other tracks, such as "In My Tears" and "Temptation," are softer, moodier and more subtle, interlaced with acoustic-guitar arpeggios, gloomy pop vocals and baleful samples of strings.

"At the time I did these songs, I felt like something was missing in Rammstein," Kruspe said. "To work for that band is almost like working for a soundtrack. You have to work with no vocals because those are the last things that will appear on the song. For Emigrate, I started to work more as a traditional songwriter. Also, I was singing and writing lyrics in English, which allowed me to experiment with all these things I had never explored before. Basically, that allowed me to balance myself out again so I could go back to Rammstein and be the happy guitar player."

Sometimes it's hard for musicians to return to their main bands after they get such a taste of freedom. But having complete creative control of Emigrate had the opposite effect on Kruspe. Rammstein are now working democratically, and Kruspe says he's coexisting with his bandmates more amicably than ever. So far, the group has written 30 basic tracks at a rental house near the Baltic Sea, and it plans to enter the studio in March and release the follow-up to 2005's Rosenrot sometime in 2008.

"It's looking like it will be the most heaviest record we ever did," Kruspe said. "The songs are faster, and it feels like we're really going back to our roots and rediscovering what we like and what Rammstein is all about. We're thinking of going to Los Angeles ... to record an album in America [for the first time]. And we're in a position right now where we don't have a contract with any record company, and that gives us peace of mind because there's no pressure from the outside."

For Kruspe, the only drawback about being back with Rammstein is he'll be unable to tour for Emigrate. After Rammstein finish their record, the band will embark on its first world tour in two years, which leaves no time for him to support his solo disc. But that doesn't mean he won't find time to write new Emigrate songs.

"Every time I'm in New York, I'm working for Emigrate," Kruspe said. "I'm trying to really separate the work I do by the city I'm in. It's almost like I'm living totally different lives. I never really believed in monogamy anyway, so I always like to live in a duality like that. And when the time is right, I'll take Emigrate on tour, also."

The rest of the week's metal news:

The team behind Metal File has come up with its Top 10 Metal Records of the Year lists, if you care. Here's writer Jon Wiederhorn's list: 1. Behemoth - The Apostasy; 2. Machine Head - The Blackening; 3. Down - Down III: Over the Under; 4. The Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works; 5. Every Time I Die - The Big Dirty; 6. Job for a Cowboy - Genesis; 7. Nile - Ithyphallic; 8. Ministry - The Last Sucker; 9. High on Fire - Death Is This Communion; and 10. Sigh - Hangman's Hymn. Next is writer Chris Harris' list: 1. The Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works; 2. The Number Twelve Looks Like You - Mongrel; 3. Watain - Sworn to the Dark; 4. Deathspell Omega - Fas - Ite, Maledicti, in Ignem Aeternum; 5. Chimaira - Resurrection; 6. The Red Chord - Prey for Eyes; 7. Opeth - The Roundhouse Tapes; 8. Behemoth - The Apostasy; 9. Xasthur - Defective Epitaph; 10. A Life Once Lost - Iron Gag. Lastly, Kurt Orzeck, who edits Metal File each week, submitted his own picks: 1. 3 Inches of Blood - Fire Up the Blades; 2. The Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works; 3. Baroness - The Red Album; 4. Big Business - Here Come the Waterworks; 5. Down - Down III: Over the Under; 6. Opeth - The Roundhouse Tapes; 7. Dethklok - The Dethalbum; 8. Yakuza - Transmutations; 9. Horse the Band - A Natural Death; and 10. Arch Enemy - Rise of the Tyrant. ...

Killswitch Engage, Every Time I Die, the Dillinger Escape Plan and Parkway Drive will hit the road next year for a spate of U.S. dates. The tour kicks off January 9 and runs through February 5, although the cities the band will perform on those two specific days have yet to be determined. A full list of the dates can be found on Killswitch's MySpace page. ... 36 Crazyfists have titled their forthcoming Ferret Music debut The Tide and It's Takers. Look for the record to drop March 4. ... Grindcore monsters Cephalic Carnage were robbed during a recent stop in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where they had to have their van worked on. "A backpack containing the recent earnings from the tour (close to $4,000), a laptop computer with over $2,000 in music-software programs loaded, an iPod and various personal items were among the items stolen," the band said in a statement. "We immediately called the police and suspected that an employee grabbed the backpack in the process of getting the work done. This could not have come at a worst time, as we were looking to use earnings from this tour to help cover the upcoming holiday expenses for our kids and families. As you might expect, we are extremely upset, as this tour was doing very well for us (both financially and morale-wise)." The band will continue with its tour and hopes to recover the pilfered items. On a related note, the Locust were also recently victimized, after a show in St. Louis over the weekend. The band's van was broken into, and "a large amount of personal possessions, including three computers, phone chargers, money and anything else you might think of" were pinched, according to a statement. ...

Bay Area metal vets Death Angel plan to release their upcoming LP, Killing Season, February 26. ... According to Nebula, the stoner rockers will be hitting the studio in the next few weeks to begin recording demos for the follow-up to 2006's Apollo. We'll keep you posted as more news becomes available. ... Firewind's Gus G. has offered an update on that band's forthcoming album. "Most of the recordings for the new album are done by now," he wrote in a post on the band's Web site. "We've been locked at Sweden's Studio Fredman for about a month now, and I'm super-excited with the way things are shaping up. Killer sounds on the drums, guitars and bass. We've recorded 12 original songs and a few covers, which will be revealed in time." No word yet on when the LP will hit stores. ... Gorgoroth-gate continues this week, as the bandmembers' feud rages on. Guitarist Infernus, now embroiled in a legal dispute with the rest of the group over the rights to the its name, has launched the "official" Web site and MySpace page for his version of Gorgoroth. According to Infernus, the band currently "consists of Infernus as the sole permanent member, which means that no live appearances are planned for the immediate future." Infernus said he's been working on material for Gorgoroth's next full-length, called Quantos Possund Ad Satanitatem Trahunt. ...

Swedish doom-metallers Eerie will release an LP in fall 2008 called As the World Comes to an End. The band claims in a statement that the set will feature "six to seven songs [that] will embrace your haunted and darkened lives." ... Doom-metal outfit the Gates of Slumber have announced that they, too, will have an active 2008. Next year the band will issue its next LP, Conqueror, which will boast "Black River," "Eyes of the Liar" and "Witch Throne." Look for it to hit store shelves in May. ... Swedish black-metallers Vanmakt have lost guitarist Satygh. The band's frontman, Gorgoth, said the rest of Vanmakt couldn't trust Satygh, and hence, they're now looking for a new guitarist. In the meantime, they've enlisted a substitute so that they can avoid missing any upcoming live gigs. ...

Eternal Ruin need a new singer following the departure of Chris Yuastella. "It seems the band and Chris have reached a plateau of complacency over the past few years," read the band's statement on the matter. "We firmly believe now is the best time to make this move based solely on the band's future. We've already begun working on the new stuff and [are] extremely pleased thus far. The new stuff will be a little more defined than previous efforts, plus will definitely have the brutality the band is known for." ... Matt Heafy is threatening to release another Trivium record. According to a post on the band's MySpage page, the singer/guitarist said, "it's [going to] be a very long while" before the band plays any more live gigs, as "[we've got to] take the time to go and make the greatest Trivium album ever (we have demoed [a lot of] tracks and so far ... it's already, in demo form, shaping up to be the best material we have ever created)." We'll take your word for it. ... Swedish melodic black-metal maelstrom Siebenbürgen have re-formed and crafting new material for an album that could drop sometime next year. According to a statement issued by frontman Marcus Ehlin, the band features several new members, but the "music is in the same vein as before: dark and atmospheric metal." ... XXX Maniak and Throatplunger have teamed up for a split 7-inch release that should be available in the next two weeks. The effort will boast "Golden Showers, Black Hearts," "Attending the Graduation of Someone I F---ed 10 Years Ago" and "Railing Lines at Ground Zero."

• Rammstein
• Killswitch Engage
• Behemoth
• Dillinger Escape Plan

Nick Bollea's car after the Sunday crash
Photo: Tim Boyles/ Getty Images

Nick Bollea, Hulk Hogan's 17-year-old son, was discharged from a hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Monday morning (August 27) after being involved in a car accident the previous evening. Police said Bollea, who was featured in VH1's "Hogan Knows Best" reality series, was driving his Toyota Supra at a high speed along state route 60 when he lost control of the vehicle and slammed into a raised median at 7:30 p.m. in Clearwater. The car reportedly flipped over, and the rear of the vehicle collided with a palm tree. Bollea and one of his car's passengers, 22-year-old John Graziano, were airlifted to the Bayfront Medical Center following the crash. The nature of both Bollea's and Graziano's injuries was not immediately known, but a police spokesperson characterized them as serious. Graziano remains under the hospital's care in critical condition. Alcohol is not believed to have played a role in the accident, but police continue to investigate the crash. No criminal charges have been filed. ...

Jordin Sparks doesn't have a name for her debut album yet, but she's got a release date set in stone: November 20. In anticipation of the 19 Recordings/ Jive disc, the "American Idol" champ drew back the curtains on her first single on Friday, debuting "Tattoo" on AOL's Pop Eater blog. The track hits radio Monday. Sparks told The Associated Press that the effort was partly modeled after one of her own idols, Kelly Clarkson — but that she's a bit nervous to be following in the wake of Clarkson and Carrie Underwood's success. "They've risen the bar so high and I'm like, 'I hope I can reach it,' " she said. "Hopefully [my LP will] sell well and people will like it." ...

The runner-up to Sparks, Blake Lewis, is following suit — he just signed to 19 Recordings/ Arista and is planning to drop his first album late this year as well. Hit-maker du jour J.R. Rotem is already on board for the effort. ...

It's no McDonald's parking-lot tour, but Missy Elliott will be featured in a new Doritos ad campaign debuting September 17, Billboard.com reports. In the clip, she is seen working on a new song and snacking on Doritos Collision, different-flavored chips that spur her to fuse a little country into her hip-hop track. A contest to be held on SnackStrongProductions.com will allow visitors to create their own mash-ups using Elliott's track, although the prizes have yet to be determined. The site also features a help section in which Elliott will give tips. ...

Listen up, punk-rockers: Unreleased and rare tracks by Panic! at the Disco, Gym Class Heroes, the Used, Cute Is What We Aim For, Sparta, Head Automatica and more fill up Press Play: Volume 1, a new comp that was put together by Photo Finish and Alternative Press. A portion of the proceeds from the September 25 release will go to the Keep a Breast Foundation, a nonprofit organization that fights breast cancer. ...

The Disney Channel will air a special dance-along version of "High School Musical 2" on September 8 at 8 p.m. ET, People reports. Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens and other castmembers will instruct viewers on how to mimic their dance moves during the opening and closing numbers. ... Russell Simmons has stepped down from his post as CEO of Phat Fashions, the company he founded in 1992 that spawned Phat Farm clothing. "I leave the division and the brand in great hands. There are so many things I want to achieve, and this is the appropriate moment for me to move on to my next business venture," the hip-hop mogul said in a statement. ...

Mos Def is sounding off about José Padilla, the Guantánamo detainee who was convicted earlier this week of supporting terrorism. "We all know the history of insufficient evidence or testimony under duress — at the very least, legal circumstances that demand some sort of reinvestigation ... basically saying these people are not the criminals they're being made out to be," he told The Associated Press on Thursday. Mos Def will participate this weekend in the 10th annual Black August benefit concert at New York's Nokia Theatre. The event serves to create awareness about people who its organizers, the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, believe have been unfairly convicted — Talib Kweli, Saigon and Dead Prez are also on the bill. ...

Music, martial arts and chess ... how could members of the Wu-Tang Clan not be involved? RZA and GZA are participating in the Hip-Hop Chess Foundation's first-ever Chess Kings Invitational, set for October 13 at the San Francisco Design Center. The rappers will talk on the tournament's Life Strategies panel about how music, martial arts and chess — activities the organization uses to promote nonviolence — have affected their lives. ...

Muse have plotted a handful of September dates with Juliette and the Licks: Seattle (September 9); Portland, Oregon (September 10); Orem, Utah (September 12); Dallas (September 16); Morrison, Colorado (September 18); Mesa, Arizona (September 20); and Irvine, California (September 21). Muse will also hit the San Diego Street Scene on September 22. ... Ben Kweller just squeezed out a new seven-track live EP, Ben Kweller: Live and Solo at the Artists Den, that was recorded December 13 at New York's Solo House. The disc of rarely performed songs is available now at digital outlets. ...

System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian will shoot a video for "Praise the Lord, Pass the Ammunition," from the rocker's solo debut, Elect the Dead, at an undisclosed venue in Hollywood next week with director Greg Watermann (Mudvayne, Lamb of God). Extras are needed for the video — those interested in auditioning can e-mail Watermann at serjvideo@gregwatermann.com. ... The track list for Thrice's upcoming LP The Alchemy Index: Vols. I & II - Fire & Water has been revealed. Fire will boast six cuts, including "The Messenger," "Backdraft" and "Burn the Fleet"; Water will also contain six tunes, among them "Open Water," "Night Diving" and "Kings Upon the Main." Look for the discs to hit stores October 16. ...

A writer/producer who worked on "In Living Color" and created Nickelodeon's "Roundhouse" is suing the Walt Disney Company, claiming it stole his idea for "Hannah Montana," Reuters reports. In the suit, Morris Taylor "Buddy" Sheffield says he pitched Disney Channel executives the idea for a kids' show about a high school student who leads a secret life as a pop star. Sheffield also claims Disney could owe him and his production company millions in lost profits and damages, and he wants compensation for legal fees. A Disney Channel spokesperson told the news service the network had no comment. ...

Kirsten Dunst's penthouse suite at a hotel in Manhattan, New York, was robbed earlier this month, according to court records obtained by AP. Thieves got away with a $13,000 handbag, cell phone, $2,500 in cash, an iPod, two digital cameras and ID cards belonging to the actress, who had been in the city to shoot scenes for her upcoming flick "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People." One suspect was arraigned Wednesday on burglary and grand-larceny charges, and is being held on $50,000 bond. ...

Hellyeah — the band featuring members of Mudvayne, Pantera and Nothingface — are on the hunt for a dozen women they'd like to act as their "Hellyeah girls." The winners will be featured in the band's 2008 calendar — to enter, contestants need to post an audition video to Break.com and send a link to the clip to hellyeahtv@gmail.com. ... The Dillinger Escape Plan will headline a U.S. tour this fall set to kick off October 4 in Cleveland, Ohio. Just five dates have been confirmed, but more will be announced in the coming weeks. The trek will also feature A Life Once Lost, Behold ... the Arctopus and Genghis Tron. Dillinger's forthcoming LP, Ire Works, lands in stores November 13. ...

The resurrected Jesus & Mary Chain are heading back to the studio to record their first studio album in nine years. The band will also treat four West Coast cities to more concerts: Las Vegas (October 20); Anaheim, California (October 22); Los Angeles (October 23) and San Francisco (October 26-27). ... Queen guitarist Brian May has finished his doctorate in a crazy little thing called astrophysics — he was awarded his Imperial College qualification on Thursday in London. May had been an astrophysics student before joining the band 37 years ago but dropped out as Queen became successful. His thesis? "Radical Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud." ...

Ted Nugent is at it again. The controversial right-wing rocker went on a profanity-spewed tirade at a concert last week, according to video footage posted on LiveLeak.com. With machine guns in his hands, a camouflaged Nugent yelled, "Obama, he's a piece of sh--, and I told him to suck on my machine gun. ... And then I was in New York. I said, 'Hey Hillary, you might want to ride one of these into the sunset.' " He also went off on Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer before saying, "Any questions?" and shouting, "Freedom!"

08.23.07

In one minute, out the next: Nicole Richie checked herself into the Century Regional Facility in Lynwood, California, on Thursday (August 23) to start serving her DUI sentence — only to find herself checking out less than an hour and a half later due to overcrowding. Richie had been sentenced to serve four days in jail. "At this time, the criteria for a female arrestee sentenced to 30 days or less for a nonviolent offense is as follows: the arrestee is booked, screened and usually released within 12 hours," the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said in a press release issued to MTV News. "This procedure is based on jail overcrowding to manage population levels mandated by federal court guidelines. Based on the mandated guidelines and Ms. Richie's 96 hours sentence, she will be treated in the same manner as other inmates with a similar sentence." The jail is the same one where Paris Hilton served a portion of her DUI sentence. ...

The Kelly Clarkson train is slowly getting back on the tracks. After the early-summer one-two punch of dumping her manager and canceling the tour in support of My December, the singer has booked the first two shows of what is expected to be a fall/winter outing. The dates — an October 10 show at Verona, New York's Turning Stone casino and another on October 15 at New York's Beacon Theater — are in venues decidedly smaller than some of the arenas Clarkson had been originally booked to hit as part of her scotched 35-date summer tour. The full itinerary for her rescheduled trek is expected in two weeks, according to a management spokesperson. ...

Justin Timberlake is joining the cast of "The Love Guru," a sports comedy starring Mike Myers, Verne Troyer and Jessica Alba. The Myers-produced film is set to begin production next month in Toronto and tentatively be released in theaters June 20. Timberlake will play a hockey player tangled in a love triangle with the top player on a team owned by Alba. ...

Though she's not likely to attend the ceremony given her doctor's orders to take a break from touring and making appearances for the rest of the year, Amy Winehouse is one of the leading nominees for England's Music of Black Origin awards with four nominations for Best U.K. Female, Best R&B Act, Best Video and Best Song for "Rehab." Also nominated for four awards is rapper Dizzee Rascal. The show will take place September 19 at the O2 arena in London, with the winner chosen by a tally of public votes on the event's Web site. A number of American acts are also nominated, among them Kanye West, Common and 50 Cent in the Best Hip-Hop category; and Amerie, Robin Thicke and Ne-Yo, who will battle Winehouse in the Best Song category. Rihanna has a pair of nominations, including one for Best International Act, in which she'll face off against Diddy, Akon and T.I.. ...

In related news, Paolo Nutini has reshuffled his tour plans following news that tour partner Winehouse tabled her U.S. trek until next year. The Scottish singer/songwriter's jaunt will now run from September 7 in Buffalo, New York, through October 28 in New Orleans. "I'll be thinking a good thought for her, she is a remarkable talent. In the meantime, I'm truly excited about this upcoming tour of North America — I guarantee it will be my best yet," Nutini said in a statement. ...

Rapper Saigon was arrested at 1:45 a.m. on Wednesday in New York on Manhattan's West Side after police stopped him for a traffic violation and allegedly found a switchblade-like knife in the car console. According to his lawyer Scott Leemon, the rapper (born Brian Daniel Carenard) was pulled over while driving someone else's car in what Leemon called "another example of NY's finest targeting a member of the rap and entertainment industry ... the small pocket knife was found in a console in the car, not in his possession. As such, I am hoping after further investigation this will be another example of a rapper being wrongfully arrested." Because of a prior felony assault charge, the weapon-possession charge was bumped up to a felony, according to Leemon. Saigon was released on $1,500 bail and is due in court again December 5. ...

On the hunt for killer B-sides? How about Killers B-sides? The band — which put out its last studio album, Sam's Town, less than a year ago — is planning to pump out a rarities disc before the end of the year, Brandon Flowers recently told Billboard.com. The band's cover of Joy Division's "Shadowplay," rendition of Mel Tillis' "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town" and "Spider-Man 3" soundtrack contribution "Move Away" are all on the tentative track list, which may include new material. The Killers have also teed up a different new song for release December 1: "Don't Shoot Me Santa," the band's next Christmas charity single for the Red Campaign. "Last year we were able to raise over $100,000 from the one song ['A Great Big Sled'], and hopefully we'll be able to do it again," Flowers said. ...

The Decemberists aren't planning just any old tour — on their upcoming trek, dubbed "The Long and Short of It," the indie-rockers will mix it up by playing at least two nights in 13 cities. They're also parsing the trek into "long" and "short" shows — the former ones will showcase their poppier material and the latter gigs will revolve around the band's epic songs. The jaunt runs from October 28 in Chicago through December 9 in Seattle. The Decemberists have also slapped together a new EP — The Perfect Crime #2 drops September 25 and features four tracks, including a remix by Junior Boys. ... Morrissey's tour plans are perhaps even more ambitious: For what is expected to be his last sweep through the States for a while, he'll hole up in Los Angeles for a marathon 10-night stand at the Palladium (October 1-13), play a four-night stand at San Francisco's Fillmore and a five-night one at New York's' Hammerstein Ballroom (October 28). Dates for the full trek are from September 21 (Las Vegas) through November 4 (Atlanta). ... Last but not least, Bright Eyes have beefed up their tour regiment, stretching their run from September 13 in Denver through November 19 in New York. ...

Sonic Youth frontman Thurston Moore doesn't have too many kind words to say about Avril Lavigne and John Mayer these days — although he's got plenty of respect for a certain avant-garde legend and another classic-rock hero. "I am playing with Yoko Ono, and she's well past 70 and she rocks," he told Spin for the magazine's September issue. "Neil Young rocks. It's certainly not John Mayer or Avril Lavigne. Those people don't rock. If that's the young generation in the culture, then [forget] it. In the underground, the old guys are cool. I like the fact that the older we get the more we can rock." ... Ramones fans, get ready to be bombarded: More than four hours of unreleased and rare concert material is being piled onto "It's Alive 1974-1996," a double-DVD set poised for an October 2 release. With performances of a whopping 118 songs, the set is highlighted by unissued video footage of the band's New Year's Eve 1977 gig at London's Rainbow Theatre — the show was previously captured in audio form, as the band's noted It's Alive live album. ...

Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder will perform at the world premiere of the Iraq war documentary "Body of War" at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11. The movie, which tells the story of paralyzed Iraq war vet Tomas Young — who appeared on stage with PJ at Lollapalooza — features two new songs written by Vedder, "No More" and "Long Nights." ... Talk about product placement. Southern-rap-news Web site MemphisRap.com claims Master P and his son Romeo have teamed up with T-Mobile to promote the new Sidekick LX by writing a song called "Sidekick" for their upcoming Miller Boyz album, due September 4 on P's new profanity-free label, Take a Stand Records. ... Fred Durst is in negotiations to direct "Comeback," an inspirational Pop Warner football drama starring Ice Cube, according to The Hollywood Reporter. ...

Samuel L. Jackson will emcee Save the Children's 75th anniversary event at New York's Lincoln Center on September 6. The event, to feature a performance by Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars, will also serve as a tribute to former Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush, as well as Melinda Gates, for their humanitarian efforts. ... If you have tickets to see enigmatic metal-masked rapper MF Doom anytime soon and the guy onstage doesn't look, or even sound like, the Super Villain you know and love, you might be onto something. Bloggers have been abuzz over the past week about several recent West Coast Doom shows that have reportedly featured an impostor taking the stage in place of the rapper and performing (some say lip-synching) in Doom's place. The first sign that something was up, according to a fan who wrote into the Byron Crawford blog, was that cameras at a recent San Francisco show were strictly prohibited. The disgruntled fan wrote that Doom appeared 100 pounds lighter than usual during the 20-minute headlining performance. A spokesperson for Doom had no comment. ...

A forensics expert backed up defense claims made in the Phil Spector murder trial — and refuted by a prosecution witness on Wednesday — that Lana Clarkson might have continued breathing after she was shot at the music producer's mansion. Prosecutors sparred with the expert, Dr. Werner Spitz, afterward. ... The biggest ticketing agency in the country and the world's biggest concert promoter appear headed for a breakup. According to reports in Hits magazine online and Variety, internal documents about the negotiations from Ticketmaster said it is "doubtful" that Live Nation will renew its agreement with Ticketmaster when their current agreement expires at the end of this year. The loss of the Live Nation business, which Variety said accounted for about 15-20 percent of Ticketmaster's U.S. business in 2006, could mean Live Nation is gearing up to launch its own ticketing venture.

[This story was originally published at 8:00 pm E.T. on 8.23.2007]

• System of a Down
• Thrice
• Hellyeah
• Dillinger Escape Plan
• The Joseph & Mary Chain

Ministry's Al Jourgensen
Photo: Steffab Chirazi

"Obviously, my muse for the past six years has been George W.," Ministry frontman Al Jourgensen admitted recently, "and he's going to be riding off into the sunset soon, so I figured I'd just go out with him."

That's right — Ministry's September 18 disc, The Last Sucker, will indeed be their studio-album swan song.

"Everyone seems to think I make sh--ty records when there are Democrats in office," he laughed. "Since I'm really on the top of my game right now, it would be nice to end on a high note instead of keep releasing sh--ty albums well into my 60s," he added.

Of course, Jourgensen isn't about to fade away without blasting a final cache of industrial-metal ammunition at the White House. The Last Sucker is venomous and brutal, filled with caustic riffs, political sound bites and ranting, distorted vocals. The new LP incorporates elements of Ministry's finest albums, including the mechanized precision of 1988's The Land of Rape and Honey; the blowtorch fury of 1992's Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed & the Way to Suck Eggs; the hazy, lumbering fear and rage of 1996's Filth Pig; and the shovel-to-the-skull thrash and anti-Bush bile presented on 2004's Houses of the Molé and 2006's Rio Grande Blood. However, while Jourgensen admits The Last Sucker provides a comprehensive closing chapter to the story of the band he formed in Chicago in 1981, he insists he wasn't making a conscious effort to write the equivalent of an on-the-deathbed flashback.

"Me, [Prong guitarist] Tommy Victor and [Prong/ Killing Joke bassist Paul] Raven just went in and jammed, and the only idea that we had going in was that we didn't have any ideas," Jourgensen said. "This is definitely a fitting end to it all, but that's just the way it came out. There's a couple songs left on a shelf somewhere in case I die in a plane crash and they want to release outtakes, but for the most part, we picked out the ones that made the record flow in a way that, as it turned out, encapsulated the Ministry sound."

Jourgensen and his cohorts started writing The Last Sucker in February and finished tracking the album in June. In part, the rapid pace of production was necessary for Jourgensen to adhere to his tight schedule. As soon as he finished the album, he started putting songs together for an upcoming disc of Ministry covers — some new, some old — called Cover Up. The disc will feature numerous guests, including Static-X's Wayne Static (singing "I Want You [She's So Heavy]" by the Beatles); Cheap Trick's Robin Zander (singing Golden Earring's "Radar Love"); Fear Factory's Burton Bell (Rolling Stones' "Under My Thumb"); and Victor and Mountain guitarist Leslie West (Mountain's "Mississippi Queen"). Cover Up will also include previously released covers of Black Sabbath's "Supernaut," Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay," the Doors' "Roadhouse Blues" (which is on The Last Sucker) and Magazine's "The Light That Pours Out of Me."

As if that's not enough, Jourgensen is currently producing and playing on the debut album by Ascension of the Watchers, Bell and Fear Factory keyboardist John Bechdel's new band. And Al is also getting ready to start working on the final Revolting Cocks record, which is due next year.

"In the '90s, I was releasing a new record every three years," Jourgensen said. "Now we do records in three to six months at most and just work our asses off. The old Ministry records took a long time partially because of drug-induced lethargy, but also because I was still learning my craft and experimenting with a lot of things. A lot of it wouldn't work and I'd scrap it and end up wasting, like, three weeks of time on a single thing. But now we're a bunch of old grumps and we know what we want, we know what we sound like, and we're pretty comfortable in our skins. So we can have a good time and still knock out a record really quickly that everyone's 100 percent happy with."

Ministry will support The Last Sucker with one final worldwide tour with a lineup including Jourgensen, Raven, Victor, guitarist Sin Quirin (Revolting Cocks), drummer Jimmy DeGrasso (ex-Megadeth) and keyboardist Bechdel. But while Jourgensen is looking forward to the tour, he also looks forward to putting the lid on the Ministry coffin.

"Man, I'm so looking forward to not being the front guy on a brand name," he said. "When I was growing up, I loved Led Zeppelin, and I always wanted to be Jimmy Page. But I ended up being Robert Plant by default. I was the singer and the frontman when I always wanted to be — like in 'Wizard of Oz,' the guy behind the curtain. I get so much more done when I'm on the sidelines, and it's more suited to my personality. I'm a studio rat. I always will be. And now I'll be able to do, like, six projects a year, so it's actually much better. You'll actually get more sick of Al Jourgensen faster than if I was to keep doing Ministry. So I view this as my second career, not a retirement."

The rest of the week's metal news:

Looks like Static-X will be touring the U.S. this fall with Shadows Fall, 3 Inches of Blood and Divine Heresy in tow. While confirmed, just one date has been announced for the trek: October 30 in Hollywood. More dates will be revealed in the coming weeks. ... They've been talking about it for months, and now, at long last, there's finally an official release date for the next Dillinger Escape Plan LP, Ire Works. Alas, we're all going to have to wait a little longer than originally expected: The record will hit stores November 13. ...

New Orleans sludge-metallers Eyehategod have lined up a handful of live dates, but if you want to catch them, you'll need to head South. The band plays September 14 in Metairie, Louisiana; September 27 in Lafayette, Louisiana; September 28 in Austin, Texas; September 29 in Fort Worth, Texas; and September 30 in Monroe, Louisiana. ... Cattle Decapitation will head out in October with Arsonists Get All the Girls, the Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza and Veil of Maya for a brief U.S. run that will start October 13 in West Hollywood, California, and run through October 29 in Tucson, Arizona. A mere nine dates have been scheduled so far, but more will be announced as they're confirmed. In related news, an unmastered version of the Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza's newest track, "I Am the Ocean," has been posted on the band's MySpace page. It's from the group's upcoming album, Danza II: The Electric Boogaloo, which will be in stores October 16. ...

Between the Buried and Me will tour this fall in support of their forthcoming album Colors, which is slated for release September 18. The trek, which kicks off September 26 in Greensboro, North Carolina, will also feature Horse the Band, Animosity and the End. Dates are scheduled through November 2 in Worcester, Massachusetts. ... The American Black Lung and I Am the Ocean kick off their Your Vultures Need Swallowing Tour on Friday night (August 17) in Salt Lake City. The tour runs through September 15 in Tucson, Arizona. ... Animosity's upcoming Animals LP will be chock-full of awesome guest spots. The record, out October 2, will feature singing by Cattle Decapitation's Travis Ryan, the Red Chord's Guy Kozowyk and A Life Once Lost frontman Bob Meadows. ...

In October, All Out War will begin recording an EP set for release through Innerstrength Records sometime later this year. Purity Through Annihilation will include five new songs, along with two covers and several demos dating back more than 15 years. ... Exodus, Arsis, Goatwhore and Warbringer will join forces this winter for a U.S. tour that is expected to kick off in West Hollywood, California, January 21. The tour is due to wrap in San Francisco on February 24. ... A brown recluse spider sunk its fangs into the Acacia Strain's Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz, forcing the metalcore act to cancel several shows — including the final date on this summer's Sounds of the Underground Tour. The band's future tour plans are up in the air as the guitarist undergoes treatment for the bite. ...

Speaking of bites, another one bites the dust, as they say: Sacramento, California's With Passion have called it a day — but they intend to take the stage one last time, on September 22 in Roseville, California. "We have been struggling to keep afloat in the business side of music for at least two years now," the band said in a statement. "We had high hopes that our new album would pull us out of that struggle, but instead, our album was released with less-than-expected promotion and distribution, and we ended up unable to even get on the road to support it. It simply seems ridiculous for us to continue on under this name since, as many of you have noticed, the last original member, [bassist] Mike Nordeen, departed the lineup about three months ago to go on to bigger and better things in the Human Abstract." Rising from the ashes, however, are Conducting From the Grave, the former band featuring several With Passion members. The group has been revived and plans to record soon. ...

The date has been set for Pennsylvania's Metalfest II: September 9. Here's how the lineup is shaping up: Full Blown Chaos, A Well Thought Tragedy, At the Throne of Judgment, Dim the Lights, Upon a Shallow Grave, Regain the Heart Condemned and Seas of David, plus several others. The shindig will start at 1 p.m. inside the Masonic Temple in Milton, and admission will set you back $15. ... Saosin will headline a U.S. fall tour, with Norma Jean and Alexisonfire opening. The trek launches October 1 in Fresno, California, and, 17 gigs later, wraps October 21 in Atlanta. ... Maryland Deathfest VI has been set for May 23-May 25 in Baltimore and will feature the likes of Monstrosity, Impaled, Sublime Cadaveric Decomposition, Hellnation, Martyr, the Day Everything Became Nothing, Engorged, Behold ... the Arctopus and others.

• Ministry
• Static-X
• Shadows Fall
• Dillinger Escape Plan
• The Red Chord

Dillinger Escape Plan's Ben Wienman, Greg Puciato and Liam Wilson
Photo: Relapse Records

Last month, when the Dillinger Escape Plan revealed that founding drummer Chris Pennie had left the highly technical mathcore outfit to join progressive rockers Coheed and Cambria, no one wanted to believe it. The surprise move baffled the band's allegiant fans almost as much as it confused the Dillinger dudes, who started to wonder if Pennie had been fostering some strange, secret obsession with unicorns and minotaurs.

"We found out about him playing with Coheed on the Internet," explained guitarist Ben Weinman. "[Frontman] Greg [Puciato] forwarded me a link to an announcement, and I'm like, 'What?!?' At that point, though, he was just going to record with them — it wasn't like he wasn't going to play with us, but we were questioning keeping him in the band every day because it was embarrassing. But obviously, we felt that his talent was so needed for the band that we tried to make it work, and we let him go through this little midlife crisis or whatever it was, because we never thought he'd join that band over this band. It doesn't make sense. They're not Linkin Park. If you're going to sell out, sell out, you know?

"It's unbelievable, and the funny thing is, before all of this started going down, he used to make fun of that band, left and right," Weinman continued. "He'd imitate [Coheed frontman Claudio Sanchez's] voice and would say, 'They f---ing suck' and all this sh--. It's funny, because everybody just looks at us like, 'Huh?' And we had the same reaction. The other day, we were hanging out with [(+44) kitman] Travis Barker, [and] the guy we have playing drums with us now [Stolen Babies' Gil Sharone] is good friends with him, and he's a big Dillinger fan, and he's like, 'What happened to your drummer?' We told him, 'He quit and joined Coheed,' and he just looked so confused."

But Weinman said there wasn't one specific reason behind Pennie's departure. It had nothing to do with internal strife or a difference of opinion within the band. It wasn't a matter of not liking the direction Dillinger's new material was going in. It just was.

According to Weinman, Pennie also came under fire from the band's label, Relapse Records, for working with other bands on their records without first clearing it with them — for instance, Pennie lent his talents to the forthcoming Idiot Pilot LP Wolves.

"We're contractually obligated to a record label, and when you are in a contract you can't just go playing with other bands without getting permission," he explained. "That's just how it is. You can't just go playing on people's records and not deal with the business side of it. Chris would do that all the time and didn't want to deal with the legal side of it and didn't understand why he had to. We were breaching our contract because of it. Really, at the end of the day, he ended up doing a session gig with Claudio for something he was working on for a soundtrack, and I guess [Coheed] were looking for a new drummer and they asked him to play. I guess they offered him a bunch of money."

Ultimately, though, Pennie didn't record a single note for Coheed's upcoming album, No World for Tomorrow. Instead, the band recruited Foo Fighter Taylor Hawkins for the task, leaving Pennie "a fill-in drummer for Taylor Hawkins. He's basically the f---ing live player for that dude."

Now that Dillinger have found a replacement for Pennie in Sharone, Weinman said the band can once again focus on finishing Ire Works, the much-anticipated follow-up to 2004's Miss Machine, which is being produced out in California by Steve Evetts (Sepultura, He Is Legend) and is being earmarked for an October release.

"When Chris hears our record, he's going to feel like a real a--hole," Weinman said, with confidence. "He blew it. This guy Gil we have playing on this, his drumming is unbelievable on this record. Some of the best drumming we've ever had on any of our records. And now, Gil is going to be known as the guy for this kind of thing. This would have been the record that set Chris up as a drumming dude — as a session guy, a clinic guy — and now, Gil's already got all these companies doing ads based on him playing on this record."

Dillinger Escape Plan will tour in support of Ire Works this fall. First, they'll head over to Europe for a run of gigs with Meshuggah, and the guitarist said the plan, for now, is to bring the same package over to the States this winter. As for how the record sounds? Weinman said fans can expect it to be "just as diverse as" Miss Machine.

"On this record, it's just sort of like a combination of almost everything we've done in the past, but on overdrive," he said of the album, which will include the tracks "Black Bubblegum," "Death's Head Moth" and "Saigon Whore." "Everything is just right. We figured it out. And everything is pretty emotional, too. Everything's really super angry, even when the music isn't all that aggressive. With these songs it's like, 'Oh, you're about to get complacent with where you're at with this song,' and then, all of a sudden, it hits you in the ass again and jerks you around. It's like being on a f---ed-up roller coaster."

The rest of the week's metal news:

Belgian grindcore quintet Leng Tch'e have hired drummer Tony Van den Eynde to replace founding member Sven de Caluwé, who quit in June because he was no longer enjoying the gig. "Many people heeded the call when the word was out that we needed a new skinsman and it was a tough decision to make in the end," the band said in a statement. "But we believe Tony has all the skills to take us to the next level. His power and technique will baffle you all." The new Leng Tch'e lineup will debut later this month with two performances in Holland. ... Cleveland thrash band Skeletonwitch have finished recording their debut album, Beyond the Permafrost, which is scheduled for release September 18. The disc was recorded in June with producer Corey Smoot (GWAR, Municipal Waste). Skeletonwitch will tour with Withered from July 13 in Nashville through July 28 in Savannah, Georgia. This fall, the band will hit the West Coast with Nachtmystium. ...

Hardcore metal musclemen Throwdown have posted two new songs, "Holy Roller" and "S.C.U.M.," on their MySpace page. Both tracks come from the band's upcoming album Venom & Tears, which is scheduled for release August 7. "We kinda went back to our roots as far as what got us into playing music, rather than sticking to what got us into hardcore," said vocalist Dave Peters in a statement. Throwdown are currently headlining the Ernie Ball Stage on the Warped Tour, and will remain there until the tour ends August 25 in Los Angeles. ...

New York metalcore bruisers It Dies Today will begin selling raffle tickets today to help fight leukemia. The tickets can be purchased at the band's merch table on the Warped Tour. Prizes include Fernandez guitars, Burton snowboarding gear, It Dies Today limited edition T-shirts and other merch. Proceeds from the raffle will benefit the Leukemia Lymphoma Society and a specific child in Grand Rapids, Michigan, who is battling the disease. Frontman Jason Wood is from Grand Rapids and chose the charities because of a recent experience with the disease. "My best friend, Chad Harjar, passed away from leukemia last year, and it really affected me because of how close we were and how similar our life aspirations were. We were in bands together and we were really ready to go some place. I joined It Dies Today a few months after his death, and he was the person who I wanted to share the experience with the most." The It Dies Today raffle will continue through August 10 in Buffalo, New York. ...

Alter Bridge, the band featuring three former members of Creed, have signed to Universal Republic Records and will release their new album in the fall. And, they swear, it won't sound anything like their former band. "The material we've been working on is really aggressive and I think it's the best work we've ever done," said guitarist Mark Tremonti in a statement. "We're very excited about beginning this chapter in our lives and career." Alter Bridge's debut One Day Remains came out in 2004. ... Heaven and Hell have added several shows to their fall tour, which they claim will be their last dates together before the members part ways. The fall tour launches September 5 in Binghamton, New York, and runs through October 6 in Irvine, California. As previously mentioned, Queensrÿche and Alice Cooper will open. After the tour, singer Ronnie James Dio is expected to work on a new album with his band Dio, and guitarist Tony Iommi and bassist Geezer Butler are expected to begin work with Ozzy Osbourne on a new Black Sabbath record. ...

To coincide with the Heaven and Hell Tour, on August 28 Queensrÿche will release Sign of the Times: The Best of Queensrÿche. The package will be available in single and double disc sets. Both feature 17 career-spanning tracks and the 2-CD set features 15 rare and previously unreleased recordings including the newly written "Justified," recorded with original guitarist Chris DeGarmo, who left the band in 1997. ... 36 Crazyfists have signed with Ferret Music and plan to release a new album in 2008. ... Montalvo, California's The F---ing Wrath have completed their debut album, Season of Evil, which is scheduled for release in August. An extensive tour will follow. ...

Members of Exodus, Death Angel and Forbidden are planning to attend the July 14 premiere of the film "Get Thrashed: The Story of Thrash Metal" in San Francisco. "I am totally stoked," said Exodus guitarist Gary Holt. "After all, San Francisco was the birthplace of this monster called thrash metal, and it is only fitting that it receives a proper showing right where it all started. After seeing the movie, all I could say was it's about time; and it couldn't have been done any better." ... Slipknot guitarist Mick Thompson plays a guest solo on the tenth album by Malevolent Creation, Doomsday X, which comes out July 17. A video of the studio recording sessions can be seen at SlickDrummer.com, where the new record can be streamed in its entirety.

• Dillinger Escape Plan
• Throwdown
• It Dies Today
• Coheed and Cambria
• Alter Bridge

Glenn Danzig
Photo: Scott Gries/ Getty Images

Instead of entering the studio to work on a full-length follow-up to 2004's Circle of Snakes, dark-metal godfather Glenn Danzig decided to work on a career-spanning double-disc set of songs that had never been released. More than a B-sides or outtakes collection though, The Lost Tracks of Danzig is more like a new record constructed from past data. And it might well be his best release since 1994's Danzig IV.

"These are definitely not throwaway songs," Danzig said. "A lot of them were supposed to be released as B-sides or singles, but it didn't happen. Other tracks were supposed to be included on older records but didn't get finished in time. And then some songs were good but just didn't fit the vibe of where a particular record was going."

The earliest songs on The Lost Tracks of Danzig, "Pain Is Like an Animal" and "When Death Had No Name," were written toward the tail end of Glenn Danzig's tenure in Samhain, the group he formed after leaving the Misfits in 1983 and dismantled in 1990. "I included two versions of 'When Death Has No Name' because I wanted to show how it developed," he said. "The first recording was really broad and very produced and the other one is more raw. I think we recorded that song at every Danzig session up until [1992's] Danzig III: How the Gods Kill."

Other standouts include the lumbering, distortion-drenched "Lady Lucifera," which was originally recorded for Circle of Snakes; the murky, mesmeric "Warlok," written for 1996's Blackacidevil; and the bluesy, moody "Crawl Across the Killing Floor," penned for 1999's 6:66 Satan's Child.

"I already shot a video for that one," Danzig said. "It would have been great if it could have been on the original album, but it wasn't done in time. You start working on a record and you get involved with some songs more intensely and the earlier stuff just gets left behind."

Danzig, who has never shied away from controversy, had no hesitation about including "White Devil Rise," a song he wrote about Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. "He said some inflammatory things at the time and Rick [Rubin] and I started talking and he said I should write a song about a race war. Farrakhan calls us 'The White Devil.' Well, I, personally, don't have a problem being called that. But no one wants to see a race war. It would be terrible, so the song's saying, 'Be careful what you wish for.' "

In addition to the many newly released originals, there are also three cover songs: T. Rex's "Buick McKane" ("I'm a big T. Rex fan, and most of their songs lend themselves to being Danzig-ized"); the Germs' "Caught in My Eye" ("I wanted to make it creepier and darker"); and David Bowie's "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" ("It's a great song. I made it a little more rocker-heavy").

While Danzig says he's happy with the end result, The Lost Tracks of Danzig was a lot more work than he thought it would be. Many of the tracks required additional parts, and when he got to an acoustic version of "Come to Silver" — which was written in 1995 for Johnny Cash — he discovered that his old engineer had erased the vocals.

"This whole record was a real pain in the butt," he said. "There were a lot of surprises along the way and a lot of work. I originally thought a lot of the songs were more finished, and [that they weren't] made everything harder."

Even after unearthing and resurrecting the 26 songs for the album, Danzig said he still has "a ton" of additional tracks that might surface in the future. For now, though, he's happy that his first round of nearly lost classics is on the shelves. "I think Danzig fans will really dig this stuff," he said. "A lot of them have already heard really bad demo versions of 20th generation copies, so for them to have a nice, mastered version of the songs is a lot better."

The rest of the week's metal news:

Of course, you all know that this summer's Ozzfest will be free to fans — and a lot of them are taking advantage of Sharon and Ozzy's "generosity." Since tickets were made available this weekend, passes for all 24 stops on the trek have been distributed to more than 428,000 metalheads — making this the largest number of free concert tickets ever distributed in the U.S. This summer's installment — which features Ozzy Osbourne, Hatebreed, Lamb of God and more — kicks off July 12 in Seattle and wraps August 30 in West Palm Beach, Florida. ... No one knows for sure what's going on with the Dillinger Escape Plan. Rumors suggest drummer Chris Pennie has left the band permanently to join Coheed and Cambria, and similar rumors have Stolen Babies' Gil Sharone taking his place. But the boys do plan on making a "major announcement" on Friday night (June 15) "concerning our band, its members and our future." Dillinger have been working on material for the follow-up to 2004's Miss Machine, which could be out before year's end. At least we hope it will. ...

Between the Buried and Me have set Colors as the title of their new album, which will be in stores September 18. ... Killswitch Engage's engaging cover of Dio's "Holy Diver" will be transformed into a medieval-themed video this weekend in California. Brian Thompson (Misdirection, Angels and Airwaves) is set to direct the clip, which will be included on the DVD portion of the upcoming re-release of the band's 2006's offering, As Daylight Dies. ... High on Fire will headline an upcoming North American run in support of their forthcoming LP, Death Is This Communion, due September 18. The trek will kick off September 20 in San Diego and crisscross the continent for five weeks, ending October 29 in San Francisco. Mono, Panthers and Coliseum have been tapped to open all dates. ...

Strapping Young Lad guitarist Jed Simon and his wife, Susanna, are proud parents after the May 29 birth of their son, Edward Malcolm. "Little Eddie is fine and healthy," Simon said in a statement. "You should see how long his fingers are. Maybe he and [SYL frontman Devin Townsend's] baby can start a band sometime." Metal File thinks that would be kind of awesome. ... The latest from thrash titans Dekapitator, The Storm Before the Calm, is set to drop July 24 and feature nine tracks, including "Toxic Sanctuary," "Deathstrike Command" and "Run With the Pack." You can catch Dekapitator on the road later this month, as they've booked gigs in Portland, Oregon (June 22); San Francisco (July 16); and Berkeley, California (July 21). ...

The Red Death, Diskreet, Whitechapel and the Partisan Turbine will hit the road this summer for a 24-date trek that launches June 29 in Rochester, New York, and is booked through July 21 in Mount Clemens, Michigan. ... Leng Tch'e have lost drummer and founding member Svencho, who is leaving the group to concentrate on his other band, Aborted. In a statement, the band thanked him "for the years [he'd] invested in Leng Tch'e and wish him luck in his future endeavors. This will definitely not be the end of the band." The remaining members are currently seeking a replacement for Svencho, and those interested in giving it a whirl should contact the band via its MySpace page. ... Into Eternity, Edguy and Light This City will join forces for a 20-gig North American jaunt set to get under way September 11 in Hartford, Connecticut. The bands will be on the road through October 8 in Detroit. ...

Two years of relative silence have been broken, as Columbus, Ohio, metallers Further Lo will soon return with both a brand-new video and LP. The album is titled Unresolved and being eyed for release later this summer. "The new material is a lot darker and faster than the last," the band said in a statement. "We are very proud of the material on this CD and can't wait for everyone to hear it." ... Try as they might, DevilDriver could not convince the folks over at the "Guinness Book of World Records" to recognize their proposal for "Largest Circle Pit" record, which they attempted over the weekend when they took the stage for this year's Download Festival in England. What's the big idea? Apparently, Guinness claims, "There is no way you can physically define where any circle/ mosh pit starts and ends." Fair enough. In the meantime, DevilDriver's third studio offering, The Last Kind Words, is set to hit stores July 31. ...

Cannae have been working on material for their fourth LP, the yet-untitled follow-up to 2005's Gold Becomes Sacrifice. Alas, they haven't a drummer to assist in the process. Those interested in trying out for the band should contact Cannae at cannaedrums@gmail.com. ... Tapping the Vein are all set to enter Rax Trax Recording studio in Chicago on July 14, at which point they'll begin mixing the follow-up to 2002's The Damage with producer Neil Kernon (Cannibal Corpse, Nevermore). According to singer Heather Thompson, the band "took a new approach to the writing of this album, and I am really pleased with the result. I think we've managed to streamline and 'pump it up,' so to speak, without sacrificing any of the emotional impact that we insist on." ... Emperor fans take note: On August 21, Candlelight will re-release some of the band's classic LPs in the form of limited-edition box sets. The sets will feature a digipak CD with CD-ROM extras, a double-sided poster boasting previously unseen photos and an interview booklet. Bad news is, only 5,000 copies of each will be pressed.

• Glenn Danzig
• Dillinger Escape Plan
• DevilDriver

Watain
Photo: Season of Mist

Anyone who has ever walked away from one of Gwar's gigs understands that, in all likelihood, by evening's end, they'll end up completely soaked in fake blood, urine, pus and vomit. It's become the extraterrestrial metallers' trademark, and they incorporate it into their performances to heighten the overall experience and inject a dose of flippancy into the proceedings.

Conversely, Erik Danielsson, the malevolent singer/bassist who fronts Satan-loving Swedish black-metal magicians Watain, doesn't have a flip bone in his body. To see Watain perform live is nothing if not a pestilent experience, which is just the way Danielsson wants it. Instead of fake blood, Watain drench the crowd with what the frontman maintains is real blood, collected "from the Watain cellars, of course." The band actually douses itself in the same blood during sets, which, when coupled with sweat, creates a pong on their bus a label spokesperson described as "that of an open grave."

From the stage, Danielsson has "seen people both crying and vomiting at the same time." He's even watched fans "taking the blood that we've thrown at them and licking it up off the floor, and giving this genuine impression of being psychopaths all of a sudden."

He said he often wonders "what those people thought when they woke up that morning, in their clean little beds at home. Did they think that they would stand and lick blood from the floor at the concert halls? We aim to present a different reality to them, because this reality exists far away from the nice little houses with clean beds. That is what happens at a Watain gig, and we look forward to bringing this to the U.S., because it's fertile soil for such experiments. It's all about wild, raw fire and getting loose. Some people can take it. Some can't."

In May, Watain's loyal American allegiance will get its first chance to lap up lots of "rotten" blood, when the band crosses the pond for a string of East Coast gigs. The tour will be in support of the group's April 17 release, Sworn to the Dark, which follows up its second album, 2003's Casus Luciferi. While Danielsson wouldn't discuss which bands will be touring with, he did promise "an extremely strong package" boasting "bands that know how to play black metal for real."

Sworn to the Dark, which Watain started working on three years ago during what was an "extremely intense period in the history of Watain," will feature 11 tracks, including "Satan's Hunger," "Dead but Dreaming" and "Storm of the Antichrist." The lyrics for two of the songs on the album were actually provided by some of the band's underground associates: Dissection guitarist Set Teitan penned the cut "Legions of the Black Light," and Ofermod's Belfagor — "who gave us one of his old lyrics because he went into prison and could not finish the album that he had planned," Danielsson said — wrote the song "Darkness and Death."

"We're trying to take away the superfluous parts, in favor of a more easily approachable feeling of the whole album," the frontman said of Sworn to the Dark. "We want to take away the parts that are just confusing and leave the primal, raw energy in there that everyone can understand. This whole album is more traditional. Each melody, each song, is much more powerful. We thought much more about it, and we felt much stronger when we wrote this record than anything we did previously. But it's a pretty natural evolution — to scale away the superfluous parts and leave room for the things that really mean something."

Danielsson claims he tried to "simplify things a bit" with his lyrics on this LP, because "before, I was using a lot of very obscure metaphors, while now, I try to take it to a level where even a kid, at parts, could understand what we're about. The lyrics on this album are, in a way, a lot more banal. It's a strange word to use, but you don't need a master's degree in philosophy to figure out what we're about."

What, ultimately, does Watain hope to accomplish with Sworn to the Dark? "World War III," Danielsson said, matter-of-factly. And while he doesn't advocate church burnings, murders or desecrations, he does see a correlation between black metal and actual physical violence.

"Many people say that they have all these dreams, and they want to do this and they want to do that, and one day they claim they will — but in the end, they end up in their caskets rotting," he explained. "Every thought, every word and every feeling doesn't really hold any relevance until it manifests on a physical plain. That is when it becomes alive. Black metal is not just a funny thing we do in our spare time. It's what we live and breathe. I think [violence is] a very natural component to the black-metal scene ... because black metal is growing grounds for extreme thought, extreme speeches and extreme feelings. At one point or another, these things always manifest. If you call upon death, death will come."

The rest of the week's metal news:

The Dillinger Escape Plan will begin recording their forthcoming LP with producer Steve Evetts (He Is Legend, Sepultura) within the next few weeks. The band hopes to have the disc — which will include "Saigon Whore," "Doll Keeper" and "Party Smasher" — out in September. ... Shadows Fall's Atlantic Records debut, Threads of Life, has been slated for an April 3 release. The album, produced by Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Velvet Revolver), will include "Redemption," "Burning the Lives," "Another Hero Lost" and "Venomous." ... Job for a Cowboy and Despised Icon will join forces for a two-week road trip across North America. The trek launches February 28 in Springfield, Missouri, and wraps up March 15 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. ... Bassist Valentin Rakhmanov has left Nebraska metal collective Cellador. A statement from the band claims "all parties involved in the decision agreed that it would work out best for everyone," and "the issues involved in reaching this conclusion were not personal-related, but rather simply musical differences and contrasting professional agendas." Cellador will audition potential replacements soon, and those interested should contact the band via its MySpace page. ...

Poison the Well, the End and This Is Hell will tour together next month. Just seven dates have been confirmed, and they run from February 22 in Tallahassee, Florida, through March 1 in Jacksonville, Florida. ... Hate Eternal have signed with Metal Blade and are working on fresh material for their forthcoming full-length, which they'll record in June. ... Immolation have wrapped the recording of Shadows in the Light, which is slated for release in April. Look for the set to feature 10 tracks, including "Hate's Plague," "The Weight of Devotion" and "Whispering Death." ... The Haunted and Dark Tranquillity will hit the road in March, with Into Eternity supporting. The tour commences March 19 in Orlando, Florida, and dates are booked through April 13 in Anaheim, California. ... Zao have announced that guitarist Russ Cogdell has rejoined the band following a brief hiatus during which he recovered from knee surgery. Meanwhile, the band has lost drummer Jeff Gretz due to a "difference in attitude and goals." Josh Walters, formerly of the Juliana Theory, has been enlisted as Gretz's replacement. ...

Southern Lord has signed San Francisco's Om, a duo formed by the rhythm section of the disbanded stoner-metal band Sleep. The recording of Om's forthcoming LP will begin this summer at Electrical Audio Studios with Steve Albini (Nirvana, High on Fire). No release date for the yet-untitled LP has been offered. ... From a Second Story Window, Heavy Heavy Low Low and the Cancer Bats will head out on a U.S. run next month. The trek kicks off February 8 in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and wraps February 21 in Bakersfield, California. ... With Deftones frontman Chino Moreno and Far's Shaun Lopez behind the boards, Will Haven recently tracked three new songs that will appear on the band's forthcoming summer studio offering. ... Deicide drummer Steve Asheim was recently detained by police in Innsbruck, Austria, and questioned on suspicion of bank robbery. While the drummer was inside a bank, depositing money from merch sales, staffers allegedly grew suspicious of Asheim's appearance. They were further alarmed by the fact that most of money was marked with red dye. The police were summoned, and the drummer was transported downtown, where he was interrogated about a recent bank robbery in the area. Several hours later, after having explained to police that the money was earned by his band and that a leaky pen caused the discoloration, he was released. ...

All-male Seattle stoner-experimental band Lesbian will release their four-song full-length album, Power Hör, March 27. The disc was recorded with producer Randall Dunn (Earth, Asva) at Avast! and Aleph Studios, and the music veers back and forth between ominous atmospheric sound waves and scalding, mid-paced death metal. ... The third album by Norwegian black-metal band Furze may not be heaviest thing you've ever heard, but surely you've never seen a disc with a longer name. UTD: Beneath the Odd-Edge Sounds to the Twilight Contract of the Black Fascist/ The Wealth of the Penetration in the Abstract Paradigmas of Satan will be released February 20 and include two songs featuring Satyricon and 1349 drummer Frost: "A Life Above My Sabbath" and "Beneath the Wings of the Black Vomit Above." ... Sicko Philly thrashers Rumpelstiltskin Grinder have returned to life following the departure of singer Eli Shaika in August. Guitarist Matt Moore and bassist Shawn Riley will now share singing duties. The band's first show in this form will be March 10 in Fleetwood, Pennsylvania. Rumpelstiltskin Grinder are currently writing songs for the follow-up to 2005's Buried in the Front Yard. ...

Alabama Thunderpussy recently shot a video for "Words of the Dying Man," which will be featured on the band's March 6 album, Open Fire. The video was shot in their hometown — Richmond, Virginia — in a house party setting with film team Day by Day (Lamb of God, Municipal Waste). "It'll be nothing too fancy or cerebral because, well, that's not what we do," drummer Bryan Cox said. "The goal for this thing is have something entertaining and fun to watch." Open Fire was recorded at the Etching Tin Studios in Richmond with engineer Ian Whalen (Lamb of God, Rah Bras) and will be the group's first recording to feature singer Kyle Thomas. ... Swedish black-metal veterans Naglfar will release their sixth album, Harvest, March 6. The disc includes "Into the Black," "Odium Generis Humani," "Feeding Moloch" and "Plutonium. In the days ahead, the band will shoot a video for "The Darkest Road" with director Roger Johansson (Arch Enemy, In Flames). Naglfar's last album, Pariah, came out in 2005. ...

British '80s thrash-metal band Onslaught will release Killing Peace, their first album in more than 15 years, March 6. The band started working on the new material after re-forming in 2005 to play festivals. Killing Peace will include "Tested to Destruction," "Shock 'N' Awe" and "Planting Seeds of Hate," which features sound bites of President Bush. ... Got $2? You can either get a slice of pizza or see the $2 Brawler Tour, which features Burn in Silence, Ligeia, Apiary and the Handshake Murders. Dates start February 9 in Dover, New Hampshire and run through March 2 in Saratoga Springs, New York. ... Australian goth-metal band Virgin Black will release their new album Requiem - Mezzo Forte on April 3. The disc will be the first release of a three-part series to be rolled out this year. The other discs will be Requiem - Pianissimo and Requiem - Fortissimo.

• Shadows Fall
• The Furze
• The Haunted
• Dillinger Escape Plan
• Immolation

Idiot Pilot
Photo: Reprise Records

Idiot Pilot's eclectic debut album, 2005's Strange We Should Meet Here, was a concept piece about someone who doesn't exist and lived a life that never happened.

But for the band's sophomore LP, Wolves, singer Michael Harris — one-half of the Bellingham, Washington, duo — turned his attentions inward.

"This record is a lot more introspective," he explained, calling the music he's been writing with his cohort Daniel Anderson — Idiot Pilot's chief music machinist — "dark pop." "It's a lot more personal, and a lot of the songs are about me and my experiences in life. It's sort of a therapy session, but not in an overbearing, cheesy way. It's much more personal, and the music is darker. But it's also more uplifting. It's the oddest thing. The overall mood is much darker, much more heart-wrenching and personal. But at the same time, I think it will be a source of relief for people to hear what we have to say."

Idiot Pilot have been working with producer Ross Robinson (Korn, Norma Jean) at his Venice Beach, California, home. They'll be recording 15 tracks total, but they don't think all of them will make the final track list. Wolves should be in stores before springtime and include the cuts "Red Museum," "Elephant" and "Scene From the Pit."

The LP's being co-produced by former Blink-182/ current Plus-44 bassist/vocalist Mark Hoppus, who first learned of the band after a pal caught the Pilot live.

"A friend of mine in the U.K. saw them at a show in London and e-mailed me and said, 'You've got to check out this band,' " Hoppus said. "So I went to their MySpace page, checked them out, and they were so inventive, so different, that I immediately wanted to work with them.

"They're really creative guys," he added, "and they're trying to figure out what they are and what they want to do with their music. It feels like they're doing that on this record, and so it's cool to be part of that process. They have all these ideas and all of this enthusiasm. Plus, they have the knowledge and control to bring it all together."

Because Idiot Pilot are a two-dude operation, Hoppus suggested that his pal Travis Barker come in and contribute to the effort, rather than relying on computers to create the drum tracks for the disc. Barker tracked drums for five songs, and "with their musical sensibility, mixed with what Ross brings as far as making it aggressive and cutting and heavy, with my pop sensibilities, with their lyrics and melodies, mixed with what Travis does on drums, has just a really cool effect on everything," Hoppus said.

In addition, the Dillinger Escape Plan's Chris Pennie appears on the album, augmenting several of Wolves' tracks with his drumming prowess. Anderson said the one-two punches of Hoppus and Robinson and Barker and Pennie are bringing something new to Idiot Pilot's established sound.

"With Travis and Chris, they're just at two different ends of the musical spectrum, and it just seems perfect with the music we're doing," he said. "And Mark and Ross bring two totally different vibes that are equally as important to the music, and we've kind of put them together into this really cool thing."

And with Wolves, Anderson said fans can expect to hear a more seasoned, more progressive Idiot Pilot — one that experiments with various soundscapes but in a more mature manner.

"Our sound hasn't changed, and it won't alienate any fans at all, but it's definitely different," he said. "It's kind of drawing on a sort of shoegazer/ My Bloody Valentine kind of thing, and maybe even going as far as to say that it's a post-rock album — bands like Mogwai and Explosions in the Sky, taking that influence in our music and really bringing it to the forefront on this one. It's heavy, but not in an aggressive way. It's just heavy in a really beautiful, kind of cinematic and epic way. ... We set out originally to make a really dark album that has just as many, if not more, hooks than any pop album you could put out."

• Idiot Pilot
• Travis Barker
• Mark Hoppus
• (+44)
• Dillinger Escape Plan