Bright Eyes' <i>Cassadaga</i>
Photo: Saddle Creek

Indie-rock fans are scratching their heads as they watch bands like Modest Mouse and the Shins outsell artists like Joss Stone and Marques Houston. But while that seems to be a recent trend, a quick peek back to early 2005 calls to mind Bright Eyes selling 100,000-plus combined copies of their simultaneously released I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning and Digital Ash in a Digital Urn the first week the albums hit stores.

Modest Mouse earned their #1 by selling just 129,000 copies of We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank a couple of weeks ago ... could Bright Eyes be next with Cassadaga? Yes, if 27-year-old ringleader Conor Oberst; mainstays Mike Mogis and Nate Walcott; and visitors M. Ward, Gillian Welch, Tortoise's John McEntire and ex-Sleater-Kinney drummer Janet Weiss have anything to say about it.

Oberst touches on Hurricane Katrina, climate change and other topics over the course of the 13 tracks, which include "No One Would Riot for Less," "Clairaudients (Kill or Be Killed)" and "Coat Check Dream Song." But fans will be even more excited to know that the limited-edition import digipak, while pricey, comes with a set of decoder glasses that illuminate the album cover.

Bright Eyes' identity has historically been a source of confusion, especially in the band's infancy. Oberst has been the only consistent member of the project, which has also embraced various members of BE's label, Saddle Creek. So why not just call it "Conor Oberst & the Blazing Saddles" or something along those lines?

In the spirit of confused identity, here are three brand-new bands whose members are better known than the acts themselves:

Hellyeah: That's what Pantera fans will be yelling this week as Vinnie Paul Abbott gets behind the drums again, joining Chad Gray and Gregg Tribbett of Mudvayne, and Nothingface's Jerry Montano and Tom Maxwell. Perhaps invoking Black Sabbath, whose self-titled debut led off with the song of the same name, Hellyeah's eponymous release also opens with a track called "Hellyeah." The band, which will be part of this year's Family Values Tour, also chips in "Rotten to the Core," "Alcohaulin' Ass" and "Nausea."

Grinderman: Devout fans of disbanded Australian post-punks Birthday Party will be happy to know that frontman Nick Cave is taking a break from tickling the ivories — which he's done for the past few years as a solo performer — and reverting to his raucous ways with this new ensemble. Featuring Warren Ellis, Martyn Casey and Jim Sclavunos (who perform with Cave as the Bad Seeds) the band melds no-wave, avant-garde and metal — while somehow retaining Ellis' viola and violin. Look for "Electric Alice," "Love Bomb" and "Depth Charge Ethel."

Terrible Twos: Break out the sippy-cups — Matthew Pryor, formerly of indie faves the Get Up Kids and a current member of the New Amsterdams, has come up with probably the most unlikely project of the bunch. His side band's If You Ever See an Owl ... consists of 15 children's songs — and if you don't believe us, look no further than "We Can All Get Along With Dinosaurs," "When I Get to Eleven" and "Pizza & Chocolate Milk." The album is the first release from Vagrant's Poquito imprint.

There a few more rocks you'll want to overturn this week — here's what's beneath them:

· Yellowcard guitarist Ryan Mendez, Bayside singer/guitarist Anthony Raneri and ex-Stryder singer John Johansen lend support to Pennsylvania pop-punks Punchline on their new one, 37 Everywhere.

· Tom Waits, Mike Watt, David Thomas and other icons give New York's Book of Knots a boost on Traineater, a gloomy reflection on U.S. cities.

· Sufjan Stevens crops up on "Danielson: A Family Movie," a documentary that revolves around far-out indie gospel act Danielson Famile.

· Mastodon, Motörhead, Killer Mike, the Hold Steady and a slew of other acts you wouldn't expect to see on the same CD — not to mention affiliated with an animated program — are featured on Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters Colon the Soundtrack.

· Devendra Banhart, Oxbow, Her Space Holiday and Kid 606 cover songs by some of indie-rock's most treasured — and most damaged — art-rockers on Xiu Xiu - Remixed & Covered. The two-disc set closes with a monumental remix — the final track features To Live and Shave in L.A. reworking Xiu Xiu's The Air Force in its entirety.

· Nick Drake gets the covers treatment courtesy pianist Christopher O'Riley on his Second Grace, the Music of Nick Drake.

· Charlotte Martin and BT are featured on Elements of Life, the third studio album by renowned DJ Tiësto.

· Onetime Dismemberment Plan members Jason Caddell and Eric Axelson help Washington, D.C., indie-chamber-pop act Gena Rowlands Band with their Flesh and Spirits.

· Joan of Arc's Tim Kinsella, Town and Country's Ben Vida and others aid Ministry collaborator Chris Connelly on his latest solo disc, The Episodes.

Song Title of the Week:

"Horny in a Hearse" from Nekromantix's Life Is a Grave & I Dig It!

Other Notables:

From Autumn to Ashes' Holding a Wolf by the Ears: Punk bands with dueling singers continue to be all the rage, but what happens when one of them splits? In the case of this band from Long Island, New York, it meant drummer Francis Mark having to say goodbye to the drum set. FATA's fourth album is their first after Mark took command as the group's new frontman following the departure of Ben Perri. Songs include "Deth Kult Social Club," "Sensory Deprivation Adventure" and "A Goat in Sheep's Rosary."

Blonde Redhead's 23: The Italian/Japanese trio enlisted a few big names — including Alan Moulder (U2, Nine Inch Nails) and Mitchell Froom (Elvis Costello, Daniel Powter) — to help record and mix their seventh studio LP. The band is also encouraging fans to remix one of the album's tracks, "Signs Along the Path" — the alternate versions are being posted at BlondeRedhead23.com/remix.php.

Lou Rhodes' Beloved One: The first solo outing by the former Lamb trip-hopper earned her a nomination for the U.K.'s Mercury Prize last year. Now the singer/songwriter's set — much more delicate than her previous works — is hitting the States. Beloved One captures Rhodes' sentiments after she broke up with the father of her two children, moved out of her London house and moved into a van with her kids.

New Releases:

· Army of Me - Citizen (Doghouse) [Buy]
· Bang! Bang! - The Dirt That Makes You Drown (Morphius)
· The Bastard Fairies - Memento Mori (Adrenaline)
· Alvin Batiste - Marsalis Music Honors Alvin Batiste (Marsalis/Rounder)
· Bleed the Dream - Killer Inside (enhanced; Warcon)
· Bless the Fall - His Last Walk (enhanced; Record Collection)
· Blonde Redhead - 23 (4AD)
· The Book of Knots - Traineater (Anti-)
· Bright Eyes - Cassadaga (Saddle Creek) [Buy]
Read: "Bright Eyes Slim Down With Single LP, Fatten Up With Loads Of Collabos"
· Brother Ali - The Undisputed Truth (Rhymesayers)
· Chayanne - Mi Tiempo (Sony International)
· Chingon - Mexican Spaghetti Western (Adrenaline)
· Cloud Cult - The Meaning of 8 (Rebel Group)
· CocoRosie - The Adventures of Ghosthorse and Stillborn (Touch and Go)
· Chris Connelly - The Episodes (Jnana)
· Dubfire - GU31: Taipei (Global Underground)
· Bob French - Marsalis Music Honors Bob French (Marsalis/Rounder)
· From Autumn to Ashes - Holding a Wolf by the Ears (Vagrant) [Buy]
· Gena Rowlands Band - Flesh and Spirits (enhanced; Lujo)
· The Graduate - Anhedonia (Icon)
· Grinderman - Grinderman (Anti-)
· Guster - Satellite (EP; Reprise) [Buy]
· Hellyeah - Hellyeah (Epic)
Read: "Vinnie Paul Returns To Make 'Hellacious' Magic With Hellyeah"
· Jana Hunter - There's No Home (Gnomonsong)· Hutchy - My Time (Ruff Cut)
· Ijahlar - Life (Fire House)
· Bob James - Angels of Shanghai (Koch)
· Limbeck - Limbeck (Doghouse)
· Love of Diagrams - Mosaic (Matador)
· MiG - MiG (Decca)
· The Moog - Sold for Tomorrow (MuSick) [Buy]
· Nathan - Key Principles (Nettwerk)
· Nekromantix - Life Is a Grave & I Dig It! (Hellcat)
· New Atlantic - The Streets, the Sounds, and the Love (Eyeball)
· Night Kills the Day - The Study of Man ... (Score)
· Nostalgia 77 - Everything Under the Sun (Ubiquity)
· Christopher O'Riley - Second Grace, the Music of Nick Drake (World Village)
· Panthers - The Trick (Vice)
· Roxanne Potvin - The Way It Feels (Ruf)
· Rappin' 4-Tay - That's What You Thought (SMC)
· Seven Storey Mountain - At the Poles (Thick)
· Soular - Love Crash Heal (Astonish)
· Teleseen - War (Percepts)
· The Terrible Twos - If You Ever See an Owl ... (Vagrant)
· Tiësto - Elements of Life (Ultra)
· Laura Viers - Saltbreakers (Nonesuch)
· VNV Nation - Judgement (Metropolis)
· Witch's Hat - Mastery of the Steel (Emergency Umbrella)
· XBXRX - Wars (Polyvinyl)
· Jenny Owen Youngs - Batten the Hatches (Nettwerk)
· Various artists - Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters Colon the Soundtrack (William Street)
· Various artists - Ed Rec Vol. 2 (Vice)
· Various artists - Xiu Xiu - Remixed & Covered (two CDs; 5 Rue Christine) [Buy]

Notable Reissues and Archival Material:
· Monty Python's Flying Circus - Matching Tie and Handkerchief; Monty Python and the Holy Grail; and Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album (Arista/Legacy)
· Mr. Shadow - A Name You Kan't Touch (Silent Giant)
· Lou Rhodes - Beloved One (Cooking Vinyl)
· Sly & the Family Stone - A Whole New Thing; Dance to the Music; Life; Stand!; There's a Riot Going On; Fresh; Small Talk (digipaks; Epic/Legacy)
· Shearwater - Palo Santo (with bonus CD; Matador)

Music DVDs:
· Fred Eaglesmith - "The Small Beers Tour" (MVD Visual)
· Various artists - "Danielson: A Family Movie" (Image)

Coming Attractions:

April 17:
· Bucky Covington - Bucky Covington (Lyric Street)
· Avril Lavigne - The Best Damn Thing (deluxe limited edition with DVD due same day; RCA) [Buy]
Read: "Don't Know How To Spell 'Avril Lavigne'? Prepare To Be Scolded"
· Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero (Nothing) [Preorder]
Read: "Nine Inch Nails' Year Zero Preview: Beginning To Solve The Mystery"

April 24:
· Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare (Domino) [Preorder]
· The Nightwatchman - One Man Revolution (Epic)
Read: "Nightwatchman, Rage Reunion Have Morello Fired Up For Political Fights"
· Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet (limited-edition version due same day; Atlantic)
Read: "Porcupine Tree's Wilson Talks Complex New LP, Project With Opeth's Akerfeldt"

May 1:
· Tori Amos - American Doll Posse (special edition comes with DVD; Epic) [Preorder]
Read: "Tori Amos Forms Anti-Bush Posse By Mutating Into Greek Goddesses"
· Ne-Yo - Because of You (Def Jam) [Preorder]
Read: "Ne-Yo Getting To Know Jennifer Hudson While He Waits For Britney"
· Various artists - "Spider-Man 3" soundtrack (Record Collection)
Read: " 'Spider-Man 3' Soundtrack Features Killers, Snow Patrol"

• Bright Eyes
• From Autumn To Ashes
• Blonde Redhead
• Army of Me
• The Panthers

From Autumn To Ashes
Photo: Keith Kiiroja/ Vagrant Records

It wasn't just that Ben Perri left From Autumn to Ashes. What incensed his erstwhile bandmates was the way he left.

"I thought there was a more considerate way he could have gone about leaving the band," admitted Francis Mark, who served as the Long Island hardcore outfit's drummer until Perri's departure forced him to put his lead-singer hat on. "I definitely understand why he did it, now that we've talked. Ultimately I think it was the honorable thing to do. He could have come down to the studio and given a real halfhearted performance. Then we would have been in real trouble. But I think it was cool of him to recognize that he just didn't have the passion for the band anymore and couldn't deliver. It was probably a difficult thing for him to do."

Early last month, in a post on From Autumn to Ashes' MySpace page, Mark announced to the band's fans that Perri had gone AWOL. He revealed that he had ghostwritten the lyrics to the band's previous album, 2005's Abandon Your Friends, for Perri in a matter of days, and that from there, things had just gotten worse within the ranks.

Mark added that Perri hadn't shown up for a single practice during the month of September, when the band started writing material for the forthcoming Holding a Wolf by the Ears, and was later missing in action when the rest of the band expected him in the studio for the first day of the LP's actual recording. Perri responded two days later, in a MySpace posting of his own, saying he'd simply lost "the fire that kept me going for all these years."

"I think that maybe everything happened exactly the way it had to happen to get us to the point we're at right now," said Mark, who also wrote all of the lyrics for Wolf. "At the moment, I am very content with things."

While accustomed to hiding behind a drum set towards the back of the stage, Mark said the leap to frontman hasn't been much of a leap at all. He still fronts his own indie-rock side project, Biology, and as a youth he screamed into the microphone for defunct hardcore act Who's to Blame. With Perri gone, Mark said FATA actually feel like a brand-new band and are composing the finest material of their career.

"Part of me is hoping that some people can look at this as a new band and not draw too many comparisons between this record and the past three, because I feel like it's kind of a new beginning," he said. The guys decided to keep the name because they'd already been recording the disc as FATA when Perri quit. "The hardest part is, I know we're a heavy band, and maybe some people want some intimidating, tough frontman to reflect the style of music we play. But that's certainly not in my personality.

"This record is the closest we've come to capturing how I think this band should sound," Mark continued. "I think it's what we've been trying to do since the start and have come close to before. This time we got exactly what I wanted, and it's exciting to finish a record and have something you're really proud of. I just want to get out and play it for people."

According to Mark, before Holding a Wolf by the Ears hits stores on April 10, FATA will be hitting the road March 1 for a full U.S. tour with Haste the Day, the Sleeping and Maylene and the Sons of Disaster. And now he'll be able to deliver the lyrics he wrote the way he feels they should be delivered.

"I really put a lot of effort into the lyrics and was left with something I consider very personal to me, something I put my heart into," he said of the songs he'd written for Abandon Your Friends and Wolf. "To just have to hand it over to someone else is kind of the musical equivalent of having to put your kids up for adoption. I kind of freaked out when I heard [Perri] wasn't coming back, but then I was relieved that [those lyrics] were mine again and I could execute them the way I felt they should be delivered."

FATA are in the process of auditioning drummers to man the kit for the upcoming tour. Mark said that if the band gets along with whoever heads out with them, they may make that drummer a permanent member of the fold. Otherwise they'll remain a four-piece. Mark said his sole worry with regard to FATA's future is the reaction fans will have to all this change.

"I think a lot of people are probably expecting that it's going to be all, like, singing singing, and no screaming," he said. "People heard that happen with our last record, where half the disc was just singing songs. But I think people are going to be surprised at how aggressive this record is. To me, it's heavier than anything we've ever done. Either way, I personally believe in this record more than anything we've ever done and for that reason alone, it's already our most successful record."

• From Autumn To Ashes

From Autumn to Ashes (file)
Photo: Vagrant Records

Benjamin Perri didn't get much shut-eye during the three weeks it took him and the rest of his Long Island metalcore band, From Autumn to Ashes, to write the 12 songs for their forthcoming third album, Abandon Your Friends.

In January, frontman Perri and his FATA chums — drummer/vocalist Francis Mark, guitarist Brian Deneeve, and the newest members of the band, guitarist Jonathan Cox and bassist Josh Newton — locked themselves inside a sprawling, weathered house surrounded by more than 40 acres of snow-swathed terra firma in the middle-of-nowhere town of Hunter, New York.

"The driveway was like a mile long," explained Perri. "There were zero things to do up there. It got bad. It was the sort of house that would remind you of the hotel from 'The Shining.' Oh — and it was haunted."

According to Perri, doors throughout the house would swing open by themselves, and every once in awhile, Mark would be greeted by an apparition that would appear inside the house's raging fireplace.

"We had this fire going one night, and had this huge party with all of our friends who drove up, and we saw what — it's actually in one of the song's lyrics — we saw a mother breastfeeding a child," said Perri, noting that the band had not imbibed any hallucinogens. "We later learned that a woman first owned the house when it was built 70 years ago, and she had a child. I think she was trying to tell us to get out of her house.

"It was insane," he continued. "If we had been up there a few months rather than a few weeks, we probably would have killed each other. Not that we hate each other — but one of us would have gone all Jack Nicholson on the rest of the band."

Fortunately, Johnny never showed himself, and FATA not only emerged safely, but with the songs for a beautiful-as-it-is-brutal hardcore record, Abandon Your Friends. Still, not all of Abandon is as brutal as FATA of old: The record's split into two parts, with six savage cuts and six wispy rockers.

"It's all across the board," he said. "Fran wrote a bunch of songs about his girlfriend and the love he has for her, which is kind of a different thing for the kind of music we make, where everyone writes about hating their girlfriend or having their heart broken. He's writing songs about how his heart's being mended." Other tracks levy scathing blows against the "fake and jaded" music scene, and others convey self-affirming messages of hope to help fans persevere through "tough times."

Abandon, the second straight the band has made with producer GGGarth Richardson (Rage Against the Machine, L7), is scheduled for an August 30 release through Vagrant Records, and was, as Perri explained, a completely collaborative effort. "The five of us sat down and worked together 100 percent on this record. No idea was off the table."

However, the band did get some outside help from a member of Coheed and Cambria for the album's memorably named "Placentapede."

"We had one song title to go," Perri recalled. "We were in Belgium and we ran into [Coheed drummer] Joshua [Eppard], and we asked him for the first word that popped into his head. He sat there for a second, then blurted out 'Placentapede,' and we were like, 'That's a song title!' It's not a very pleasant visual word."

FATA fans may be disappointed to learn that the band has pulled itself off of this summer's inaugural Sounds of the Underground bill after just two dates. According to the band's publicist, "They just weren't getting anything out of the tour; it wasn't right for them," and "They [are] dealing with personal things." However, Perri said FATA will be touring extensively throughout the fall and the following year, in support of Abandon.

Fans can also look forward to an interesting video from the band for the track "Where Do You Draw the Line," judging from some of the treatments they've been pitched for it.

"The one we just got was a cross between 'The Matrix' and 'Alien,' " the singer said. "He's like, 'You'll be in an Orwellian world, using your instruments as weapons.' We were like, 'What the f---? We're a little band from Long Island! Who do you think we are?'"

• From Autumn To Ashes

Atreyu frontman Alex Varkatzas (file)
Photo: Victory Records

Alex Varkatzas is totally pissed off.

That's nothing new for the high-strung singer of Atreyu, who routinely lashes out in song about complacency, mortality and head games. But this time he's got a different reason to fume.

His band has just arrived at the Las Vegas club it's supposed to headline — and the marquee lists Atreyu as the opening act, below From Autumn to Ashes. The fliers hanging inside feature Atreyu's name in tiny letters on the bottom of the page, and a local radio station recently announced that the show starred "From Autumn to Ashes plus guest."

"Everyone thinks we're some piddly-ass opening band," Varkatzas grumbles. "And our tour manager called in advance to tell them we were headlining and make sure this kind of sh-- wouldn't happen. And it didn't do a f---ing bit of good."

Such exasperation helps keep Atreyu's fire burning — but circumstantial misfortune pales in comparison to the soul-rending stories of betrayal and breakup that have helped turn Atreyu into a major new force in heavy metal. Along with a host of other heartbroken, hate-filled noisemongers like Bleeding Through, From Autumn to Ashes, Every Time I Die, Unearth, Avenged Sevenfold, Poison the Well and Funeral for a Friend, they're turning headbangers on to music that's more cerebral, unpredictable, volatile and lyrically articulate than much of the nü-metal that has permeated airwaves for the past five years.

Dubbed "screamo" or "extreme" by those who invent categories for such things, the groups write scathing, turbulent songs rooted equally in hardcore, metal and emo. Typically they play aggressive, chaotic passages flush with larynx-shredding vocals, then balance them with swooping melodies and vocal harmonies. But while there's certainly a formula at play, it's not as predictable as the soft verse/ loud chorus formula followed by most neo-grunge acts.

"This is extreme music for extreme times," said Maria Fererro, an independent publicist who has worked with metal and screamo bands for well over a decade. "Metal isn't what it used to be, but 20 years later it's still about the same things. These kids are dressed differently, but they're still rebelling."

Over the past year, screamo has surfaced in a major way: just check out your local Hot Topic, turn on "Headbangers Ball" or leaf through the major metal mags. And Ozzfest has caught on like a shark following the scent of blood. The festival, whose second stage has proven to be the litmus test of all things loud — it booked System of a Down in '98, Slipknot in '99, and the Used in '02 — is making its boldest strides to date by enlisting screamers Atreyu, Every Time I Die, Unearth, Hatebreed and Throwdown for this year's festival.

"Before we left for a European tour with Chimaira, our manager told us he was putting in a shot-in-the-dark bid for Ozzfest," recalls Every Time I Die singer Keith Buckley. "No one had their hopes up or anything, so we just focused on the tour. Then, when we were on the road, we got a call saying it was looking real good, and by the time we got home it had already gone through. We were pretty blown away."

As thrilled as he is to go from playing small clubs to festival crowds, Buckley is shocked to be embraced by today's metal fans. Like many of his screamo peers, who enjoy elements of metal but align themselves more closely with the ethics and aesthetics of hardcore, he has little respect for stereotypical heavy metal.

"When I was younger, my older second cousin used to listen to metal, and it was all about big work boots, hair down to your ass and tapered jeans," Buckley said. "You'd enter your car at the crash-up derby at the county fair and listen to Guns N' Roses and Slayer. Compared to that, there's no way we're metal — but today metal kids are [different]. ... Maybe the aggression and the energy we have in our music is something those people can relate to."

Screamo's progression to Ozzfest didn't happen in a weekend, and it required the right climate and circumstances to prosper. In the late '90s, while punk rockers were getting turned on by Slayer, Pantera and melodic Scandinavian metal, some rivetheads were discovering the social and political messages of '80s D.C. punk bands like Minor Threat, Fugazi and Rites of Spring. What followed was a rash of metallic but lyrically poignant hardcore outfits including Earth Crisis, Hatebreed, Neurosis and Cave In, which inspired a legion of other musicians to push the boundaries of both punk and metal styles.

On one side of the fence were more punk-oriented bands like Converge, Dead Guy, Coalesce and Botch. And on the other were metallic groups such as Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall, Lamb of God and All That Remains. Different though they were, all were united in their efforts to experiment with the parameters of extreme sound. Then, as heart-on-sleeve screamo outfits including Thrice, Thursday and the Used poked their heads into the mainstream, the floodgates opened for the new breed to feed. Almost immediately, an audience tired of formulaic nü-metal began lapping it up.

"Some of that old metal sounded cool, but lyrically, none of those bands were speaking to us," said Bleeding Through guitarist Scott Danough. "So many of the new bands are singing about real relationship issues and personal sh-- that means so much more than the 'I'm harder than you' wall that a lot of the metal bands put up."

To Varkatzas, the growing popularity of screamo has more to do with kids getting tired of being spoon-fed trends, stereotypes and capitalistic values. "People want to be able to make up their own minds about things, and they want to feel like the music they listen to is written for them," he said. "These bands are doing better now because they have real sincerity and passion. Kids know the sh--'s for real. I'm not singing about cocaine and fast cars and bling and bitches and hoes. I'm singing about my everyday sh-- that everyone goes through. I can't relate to pimping it. ... I don't even know how to pimp it — and there are lots of kids out there who can't pimp it, either."

• Atreyu
• From Autumn To Ashes
• Every Time I Die
• Unearth
• Hatebreed