As I Lay Dying
Photo: Metal Blade

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The rest of the week's metal news:

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Number 12 Looks Like You
Photo: Eyeball Records

It's impossible to compartmentalize a band as chaotic as the Number Twelve Looks Like You.

Hailing from the tainted soil of New Jersey's Bergen County, the frenzied six-piece — the masterminds behind Mongrel, which lands in stores June 19 — meld elements of extreme metal, death metal, jazz, grindcore and hardcore to create an unclassifiable sound that's poles apart from other bands'. And singer Jesse Korman says that's just the point.

"We don't want to sound like anybody else," he explained. "We stepped it up to the point where we've killed everything we've ever done previously, while a lot of bands that started out heavier have seemed to be going more melodic and easier on crowds — at least that's the trend. It seems to be the path a lot of these heavy bands are going these days, and we didn't want our fans to be like, 'Oh no, it's all just going to be melodic.' We wanted to make sure we really kicked some ass [on Mongrel]. I don't know where we fit in, genre-wise, but this record's definitely something you've never heard before. On top of being incredibly heavy, there's stuff in there that's just the catchiest stuff I've heard in so long."

The Number Twelve Looks Like You, who worked on Mongrel with producer Casey Bates (Heavy Heavy Low Low, Gatsby's American Dream) over a four-month period in Seattle, have attracted a wide array of fans since their formation in 2003. Lovers of many rock subcategories — including emo, metal, punk and hardcore — have fallen under the band's spell. And TNTLLY's fanbase is sure to swell this summer, as the band has been named as one of the acts for the third annual Sounds of the Underground Tour, along with Gwar, Shadows Fall, Chimaira and others.

"It's always funny to us, when we pull up to a show," Korman said. "We love looking forward to seeing who's going to show up, because we can never, ever figure out our fanbase — and when we think we have, we're just so wrong. It's a mutt of a crowd, but you never want to hold yourself back from more fans."

While there's no thematic link between the Mongrel and the LP artwork, Korman said the cover features a humanoid creature that suffers from schizophrenia and that it embodies the unruliness of the music.

"We tried to make every song as different as possible, so the whole theme behind the album is mongrel," he said of the album, which features 10 tracks in all, including "Jay Walking Backwards," "Alright, I Admit It ... It Was a Whore House" and "Paper Weight Pigs." "You can't really define what a 'mongrel' is — it's just a crazy mutt — and all of our songs are just all over the place. We wanted this album to be just complete chaos, with no direction at all. And I think people will be surprised that the songs are actually good. Musically, we've really touched upon some genres that have absolutely nothing to do with our scene at all. And it works, somehow."

Fans can catch the Number Twelve on the road with Horse the Band through Thursday in San Francisco.

The rest of the week's metal news:

Norwegian quartet Winds have finished mixing their fourth album, Prominence and Demise, which is scheduled for release later this year. The album is the follow-up to 2004's The Imaginary Direction of Time and features guest appearances by Dan Swanö (Edge of Sanity), Agnete M. Kirkevaag (Madder Mortem), Lars Nedland (Solefald) and Øystein Moe. ... Finnish folk-metal band Finntroll will release their next album, Ur Jordens Djup, Tuesday. The album was produced by Nino Laurenne at Sonic Pump Studios in Helsinki, Finland, and includes "Grynyng," "En Maktig Har," "Ormhaxan" and "Korpens Saga." The latter has been posted on their MySpace Page, and they'll release a video for the song in the coming weeks. ...

Still Remains have been added to this year's Warped tour. The band has spent the last 10 months writing and rehearsing their second studio album, The Serpent, and started recording the disc at a Los Angeles studio with producer Steve Evetts (Saves the Day, He Is Legend) on January 21. ... The third album by experimental grindcore band Pig Destroyer, Phantom Limb, is scheduled for release June 12. The disc, three years in the making, was recorded at Rockville, Maryland's Omega Studios, where Bad Brains previously recorded. Baroness singer John Baizley created the artwork. A series of East Coast record-release shows are currently being planned. ... Speaking of Baroness, the Savannah, Georgia, psychedelic-metal band has entered Jam Room studio in Columbia, South Carolina to record 10 tracks for their upcoming album. Kylesa guitarist Phillip Cope is producing. ...

High on Fire are scheduled to enter a Seattle studio in May with producer Jack Endino (Nirvana, Soundgarden) to record their fourth album. The yet-untitled disc is tentatively scheduled for release in September and will be accompanied by a headlining tour. ... Into Eternity have been handpicked by Dream Theater to open their monthlong summer U.S. tour. Dates have been announced from July 27 in Los Angeles through August 21 in Boston, and additional shows are forthcoming. "We are blown away to be going on tour with Dream Theater," guitarist/singer Tim Roth said in a press release. "There would be no Into Eternity without Dream Theater's influence on our music. The progressive sound that we have comes directly from them." Redemption, which features Fates Warning singer Ray Alder, are also on the bill. ...

Sludgy metal duo Jucifer will launch their spring tour Sunday in Lansing, Michigan. Dates are scheduled through June 22 in Johnson City, Tennessee. The group recently shot a video for "Hennin Hardine" with director Marc Pilvinsky of Bare Ruined Films. The clip is scheduled to go to video markets in the days ahead. Pilvinsky also shot the band's recent "Pontius of Palia" video. ... North Carolina's doom-metal outcasts Weedeater have signed to Southern Lord, which will release their next album, Good Luck and God Speed, this summer. The disc was recorded in January and February and produced by Steve Albini at Chicago's Electrical Audio Studios. The album has taken the band a while; Weedeater have long been under the watchful eye of the Lord, which placed them on the Southern Lord South by Southwest showcase in 2003 and featured them on the compilation Let There Be Doom in 2004. Weedeater launch a tour today in Raleigh, North Carolina, that runs through May 30 in Atlanta.

• The Number Twelve Looks Like You
• Still Remains
• Bad Brains
• High On Fire
• Into Eternity

Zao
Photo: Ferret Music/Jeremy Saffer

Two years ago Pittsburgh post-hardcore outfit Zao were in Chicago for a gig. Guitarist Scott Mellinger says he doesn't recall with whom but remembers that it was around the same time his band signed with Ferret Records. Before Zao took the stage, Mellinger said they were approached by a documentary filmmaker working on a project about underground music and bands.

"She told us her boyfriend recorded bands and that he liked our band," Mellinger said. "She offered us a tour of his studio and we kind of blew it off — we didn't think it was anything. Then later that night, we got a call at the club. I think [singer] Dan [Weyandt] answered the phone. And he hears, 'Hi, this is Steve Albini. If you want to tour the studio, I'll be here all night.' "

For Zao, it was sort of a shock to learn that Albini, who has worked with the Pixies, Nirvana, Neurosis and High on Fire, had even heard of them. "We were taken aback but we went there that night and found out he liked the band and was interested in what we were doing," Mellinger said. "We really wanted to do the first Ferret record with Steve, but it didn't work out. So for the second record, we knew we definitely wanted to do it with Steve."

On January 10 Zao returned to the Windy City, where they've been recording the follow-up to 2004's The Funeral of God in the engineer's studio. Surprisingly, just 10 days in, they're almost done with the entire album.

"We came here not knowing what to expect but being prepared and knowing what we wanted to do," Mellinger explained. "We rehearsed for about three months before we got here, so we knew what we wanted to sound like and what these songs were all about. So when we got here, we just started busting it out. The thing about Steve is, he records you — he doesn't produce you. He makes you what you are. You need to know who you are. He can't tell you who you are."

Most of the album was recorded live, which was something Zao wanted to do with this next record. The LP will be in stores in late May and features 11 tracks, including "Physician, Heal Thyself," "American Sheets on the Deathbed" and "It's Hard Not to Shake With a Gun in Your Mouth." The sessions will wrap before the band's upcoming tour with In Flames, Trivium and DevilDriver, which commences in Tempe, Arizona, January 25.

"A lot of records that come out today don't have life to them. They don't have that natural feeling of a band playing," he said. "This is definitely the most abrasive record we've ever done, and being able to do it live has changed a lot [on this album], because you actually get to put the energy of a song back into the song. You can really hear that on this record. It sounds like a band just destroying things, and Dan's vocal delivery sounds unhinged."

The rest of the week's metal news:

Mastodon recently shot a video for "Seabeast" at Atlanta's Madison Theatre with directors Jonathan Rej and Tom Bingham. The clip was filmed with a hand-cranked 35 mm camera and captures the look and feel of films from the 1920s and '30s. "Seabeast" chronicles the battles between Captain Ahab, Mr. Queequeg and the great whale from Herman Melville's epic "Moby Dick." The video will be the band's third from its album Leviathan, which came out in 2004. In related news a half-hour special entitled "Mastodon: The Workhorse Chronicles" will air on MTV2 on Saturday after "Headbanger's Ball." The show will feature live and behind-the-scenes footage taken directly from the band's forthcoming DVD, which hits stores February 21. ... Shadows Fall drummer Jason Bittner has been tapped to fill in for Anthrax's Charlie Benante for the last two dates of the band's current tour: Friday (January 20) in San Francisco and Saturday in Hollywood. Benante's wife Sandra gave birth to the couple's first child, Mia, on Thursday. ... Celtic Frost have signed with Century Media Records, which will release their new album Monotheist this spring. Look for the outing to include "A Dying God Coming Into Human Flesh," "Drown in Ashes" and "Domain of Decay." ... Silent Civilian, featuring former Spineshank frontman Jonny Santos, have been added to Nothingface's forthcoming trek, which kicks off February 11 in Baltimore. Dates thus far run through February 26 in Kent, Ohio. ... Manowar are returning on February 27 in grand fashion — their new single, "The Sons of Odin," runs an epic 10 minutes long. The song will appear on the band's upcoming, as-yet-untitled album, which drops April 3. ...

High on Fire, Goatwhore and Watch Them Die will hit the road together starting March 30 in Concord, California. Dates run through May 6 in Santa Cruz. ... Deicide will release The Stench of Redemption, the band's first record with new guitarists Jack Owen (ex-Cannibal Corpse) and Ralph Santolla (formerly of Death and Iced Earth). An untitled demo track from the album has been posted to the band's MySpace page. ... Poison the Well, the Fall of Troy, Horse the Band and Criteria will embark on a 15-date run that starts March 21 in Pomona, California, and wraps up April 21 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. ... Imperia, which features former Trail of Tears frontman Helena Iren Michaelsen, are working with producers Christian Moos and Oliver Philipps on the band's sophomore disc, which could surface later in the year. The album is expected to feature 12 tracks. ... Byzantine have shot a video for "Jeremiad," which is from their 2005 album And They Shall Take Up Serpents. The clip was shot by director Donnie Searls late last year. The band will launch a headline tour February 9 in Nashville. Dates run through February 28 in Kent, Ohio, and then Byzantine will support Shadows Fall, Agnostic Front and Still Remains for five shows starting March 1 in New Haven, Connecticut, and ending March 5 in Poughkeepsie, New York. ... Candlemass will re-release two classic discs, Epicus Doomicus, Metallicus and Ancient Dreams, and the live album Doomed for Live February 7. The band's Epicus debut was originally released in 1986 and influenced practically every doom band that followed. Ancient Dreams came out in 1988 and was nearly as influential. Both have been remastered and feature bonus live discs. Doomed for Live captures 17 tracks recorded in 2001 during the band's reunion tour. Three more titles, Nightfall, Tales of Creation and the CD/DVD compilation Essential Doom will follow February 21. ... Children of Bodom have added 13 more shows to their upcoming tour, bringing the total to 19. The first show will still be March 18 in New Haven, but dates now run through April 10 in Anaheim, California. Chimaira and God Forbid will open all shows and Bullet for My Valentine will play select dates. Children of Bodom's latest album, Are You Dead Yet?, came out in October. ...

Eyes of Fire will release their second album, Prisons, February 7. The album was recorded in January 2005 with producer Matt Bayles (Mastodon, Isis) at Grandmaster Records in Hollywood. A video for "It All Dies Today" was directed by Gary Smithson. Eyes of Fire will begin a tour with Losa starting February 3 in Phoenix. Dates run through March 8 in West Hollywood. ... Florida death/jazz-metal pioneers Atheist have reunited for select European shows. The band will play the Evolution Festival in Brescia, Italy, on July 16 and 17, and will rock the Wacken Open Air fest in Schleswig Holstein, Germany, August 3-5. Other shows will follow. "We would like to make a great festival run and expose as many people as possible to the music we lived and died for," frontman Kelly Shaefer said. ... The Devin Townsend Band will join Opeth on a tour that launches February 15 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Shows are scheduled through February 28. Dark Tranquillity are also on the bill. Townsend's new album Synchestra comes out January 31. A special edition of the disc features a bonus DVD of the band playing live in the studio. ... Ex-Crown guitarist Marko Tervonen has finished the debut album by his new solo project Angel Blake. The one-man-band's self-titled debut will come out April 4. Tracks include "The Force," "Lycanthrope" and "Self-Terminate." In a press statement, Tervonen described the album as "heavy melancholic songs with catchy hooks," adding, "there's no blast beats here." ... The Red Chord are once again seeking a full-time drummer. The band, which used rotating drummers for much of 2004 before hiring Brad Fickeisen, has parted ways with the drummer due to irreconcilable differences. Ex-Chimaira drummer Kevin Talley will join the band for its upcoming tour with Throwdown and the Black Dahlia Murder, which begins February 22 in Minneapolis and runs through March 24 in Denver. Players who wish to try out for the vacant slot should check out TheRedChord.com for audition requirements.

• Mastodon
• High On Fire

Brand New Sin
Photo: Century Media/Robert John

Starting next week, whenever the WWE's Big Show — a man infamous for finishing off the competition with his trademark "Chokeslam" move — enters the square circle, he'll do so to the Southern-influenced thrashing of Syracuse, New York's Brand New Sin. That's because the band, formerly known as God Below, was recruited a few weeks back to supercharge the 7-foot-plus, 520-pound behemoth's theme song by Vince McMahon's music director — who, coincidentally, was turned on to the Empire State metallers by Triple H.

"We went up to Stamford, Connecticut, [the home of the WWE's nerve center] and we spent the day there running around and looking at how they put everything together," frontman Joe Altier said. "And then we spent six, seven hours taking the song he's got now and taking it on, Brand New Sin style. Then on [November 7] we were invited to WWE Raw in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and we met Big Show."

And, not surprisingly, the dude was real big.

"To see someone who's 7'2", 520 pounds — I mean, it sounds big, but you cannot fathom it until the guy comes walking towards you," Altier said. "I'm 5'10", 230 pounds. I'm not a small guy. Our drummer's 6'3" — we're not a band of skinny little dudes. But we looked like little kids hanging out with him."

It turns out that Brand New Sin are just the first band to contribute a track to the WWE's forthcoming, tentatively titled Forceable Entry 2, which should hit stores sometime early next year. The first Forceable Entry compilation, released three years ago, featured Limp Bizkit, Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson, Sevendust, Disturbed, Kid Rock and Drowning Pool.

Brand New Sin, who've been on the road with Zakk Wylde's Black Label Society since last month on a tour that wraps November 20 in San Francisco, are in the midst of planning a two-week headlining trek of the Northeast — and will be touring the States for much of 2006, too. So how's it been, touring with Zakk?

"He's calmed his ways down a little bit since the first time we went out with him, because I think after all the things that have happened to him in the past year, he was like, 'OK, I need to chill out a little bit,' " Altier said. "But him calming down, even a little bit — I mean, he still has more fun than 98 percent of the rest of the bands out there."

The rest of the week's metal news:

As soon as they're through road trippin' with Slipknot and Unearth, As I Lay Dying will launch a new tour with A Life Once Lost, Norma Jean and Madball. The jaunt runs from November 26 in Atlanta through December 21 in Hollywood. ... Shadows Fall will release the DVD "The Art of Touring" November 15. The nearly two-hour disc will include live performances, behind-the-scenes footage and all six videos from the band's last two albums, 2002's The Art of Balance and 2004's The War Within. The disc also features a special tribute to "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, filmed during the Shad's tour with Damageplan. ... Trivium will start pre-production on their next disc, The Crusade, in January. The band will once again team with producer Jason Suecof (Capharnaum, God Forbid) for the outing, which is eyeing a fall 2006 release. ... Carcass frontman Jeff Walker will release an album of country and blues covers called Welcome to Carcass Cu--ry by March 2006. The disc will include versions of popular songs by Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Connie Smith, Skeeter Davis and John Denver. Contributing to the odd project was ex-Carcass guitarist Bill Steer, ex-Carcass drummer Ken Owen, ex-Faith No More bassist Billy Gould, Amorphis guitarists Esa Holopainen and Tomi Koivusaari, and H.I.M. frontman Ville Valo and drummer Gas. ...

Northern California experimental doom band Giant Squid will reissue their self-released debut, Metridium Field, in spring 2006. The band is currently writing songs for its sophomore offering, which it plans to unveil later in the year. ... Zao will enter Chicago's Electrical Audio Studio in two months with producer Steve Albini (Helmet, the Pixies), to record the band's as-yet-untitled seventh album. Zao's two-DVD set, "Zao: The Lesser Lights of Heaven," hits stores November 15. ... Drummer Jeff Lohrber has left Today Is the Day, thanks to "personal and musical differences with [frontman] Steve Austin." Lohrber, who was in the band for just eight months, will return to Harlots full-time. ... Stoner drone band Earth — whose frontman, Dylan Carlson, bought Kurt Cobain the shotgun he used to kill himself — will emerge from hiding to play a rare run of shows. Dates run from November 17 in Baltimore to November 21 in Boston, providing Carlson doesn't get arrested for something before then. ... South American black-metal band Goat Semen have finished writing and rehearsing tracks for their upcoming full-length and plan to begin recording in early 2006. ... Rumors of Infinited Hate's demise have been greatly exaggerated. While vocalist Rachel Kloosterwaard-Heyzer has left the band, the singing slot has been filled by ex-drummer Aad Kloosterwaard. The band's currently writing material for its third album, the follow-up to 2005's Heaven Termination. Drums on the album will be handled by Dirk Verbeuren (Soilwork, Aborted). ...

Animosity are set to shoot a video for "The Black Page" November 26 in San Francisco; director Richie Valdez (Taste of Blood, Contra) will helm it. ... xBishopx's forthcoming debut, Suicide Party, will surface January 10 through Ferret. Look for the album to contain "xBishopx Basically Owns Your Face," "Hookers & Blow" and "Go F--- Yourself." ... High on Fire will perform "Devilution" and "Brother in the Wind" during a taping of the Discovery Channel program "Monster Garage" Friday night (November 11). No word yet on when the episode will air. In the meantime, High on Fire will hit the road in January for a North American tour with the Bronx, Big Business and Buried Inside. The 29-date trek kicks off January 18 in San Francisco and winds down February 19 in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. ... Setherial will begin work on their fifth disc November 21; no word yet on album or song titles, but the band promises the tracks will be "more technical than previous albums — but the aggression still remains." ... Portuguese metal act Moonspell have signed with SPV/Steamhammer Records and are hard at work on Memorial, what will be the band's first post-Century Media release. The album will contain up to 10 tracks, including "Blood Tells," "Upon the Blood of Men" and "At the Image of Pain." ...

Faster Pussycat guitarist Brent Muscat underwent surgery on November 8 to remove oral cancer; he was diagnosed just a few weeks ago. In an online posting, Muscat's wife, EJ, wrote that that the surgery "went very well" and that "the doctors were very satisfied with the surgery. He's doing very good and everything seems [to be] going well so far." ... Thrashin' Swedes Raise Hell will release City of the Damned early next year through Black Lodge Records. ... Hate have a new guitarist: Hellbeast. That's all. ... Chilean thrash band Ammit will release their third album, Hammer of Darkness, November 28. The disc features a cover of Accept's "Fast as a Shark" and is the follow-up to 2003's Extreme Speed Satan. ... Lecherous Nocturne — which features Nile axeman Dallas Toler-Wade behind the kit — will issue their debut LP, Adoration of the Blade, early next year; look for the album to include "Release in Flame," "Singe Este Viata" and "Whorrified." ... Connecticut hardcore dudes the Distance have signed with Abacus Recordings. In two months the band will hit the studio with Shep Goodman (Bayside, Mandy Moore) to begin recording their debut, The Rise, the Fall, and Everything in Between. ... Love in the Time of Cholera have officially shortened their name to Time of Cholera. The Virginia metalcore band's forthcoming EP, Collapse of the Forsaken, hits stores December 6.

• Brand New Sin
• Zao
• High On Fire

Justin Timberlake previewed his new LP, Justified, Tuesday night at New York's Centrofly. Musiq, as well as one of the album's producers, Timbaland, were on hand to help the singer celebrate. Among the songs J.T. previewed was "Take It From Here," where he sings, "I wanna be your air/ So sweet and dear." ... To raise awareness about drunk driving, Timberlake will write and produce a 30-second public service radio and television spot for RADD, Recording Artists, Actors, and Athletes Against Drunk Driving. The singer was moved to become a spokesperson for the organization after a fan, Anna White, was killed by a drunk driver outside of a radio station in Los Angeles earlier this month. ...

Renegade 3LW member Naturi Naughton spent the weekend in Atlanta at producer Jermaine Dupri's studio, where they "just vibed." Although no tracks were recorded, she said a collaboration is possible. ... The Murderdolls, Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison's side project, will film an episode of the WB TV series "Dawson's Creek" in Wilmington, North Carolina, Thursday. The horror-flick-inspired quintet will play themselves performing at a Halloween party in the episode, which is titled "Living Dead Girl" and is set to air October 30. ...

Peter Gabriel will launch his first North American tour in nearly a decade on November 5 with a date at Philips Arena in Atlanta. The 20-date trek in support of his just-released studio album, Up, is currently slated to run through a December 15 date at the Compaq Center in San Jose, California; a dollar from each ticket will be donated to Witness, a human rights organization co-founded by Gabriel. ...

In the midst of sessions for their third album, Houston, Texas, punkers Fenix TX have thrown in the towel. The group cited the age-old "creative differences" as the reason for the split, and it is not known at this time if the songs the group completed for its follow-up to 2001's Lechuza will be released. ... A section of State Highway 19 near Nutbush, Tennessee, will be renamed the "Tina Turner Highway," after powerhouse diva Tina Turner, according to The Tennessean. Nutbush, Turner's birthplace, is the subject of her 1973 hit song, "Nutbush City Limits." ...

High on Fire have announced two separate tours through the U.S., one with Superjoint Ritual (starting October 7) ,the other with Mushroomhead and Shadows Fall (starting October 24). ... Earache Records has signed Matt Zane's band Society 1. Zane is the adult film director responsible for the "Backstage Sluts" series. The band will release Exit Through Fear in early 2003. ... Steve Von Till of Neurosis will release his next solo album, If I Should Fall to the Field on October 1. ... Traktor 7 Records has finally opened its doors and released the first album by the band Crash and Burn. ... Carnal Forge have returned to the studio to work on their next album, The More You Suffer. ... Lounge singer Bud E. Love has recorded lounge versions of a batch of Black Sabbath songs. The album is called, fittingly, Diary of a Loungeman. ...

English dance duo Basement Jaxx are currently in the studio working on the follow-up to their 2001 album, Rooty, which featured the dance hit "Where's Your Head At." So far, they've written about 30 new songs and hope to have the record ready for release next spring. ... The Chemical Brothers will release the appropriately titled U.S.-only AmericanEP on November 19. The five-track EP will feature rare and unreleased remixes of "Star Guitar (Trisco LA Funk Dub)," "Come With Us (H Foundation Mix)," the B-side "HIA," "Electronic Battle Weapon 6" and a live version of "Temptation/Star Guitar," in addition to videos for "The Test" and "Star Guitar." ... Chicago Tribune rock critic Greg Kot has signed on with Broadway Books to write "Wilco: Learning How to Die." Not just a history of the band, the book is said to be a study of music business politics as well. The book has a projected release date of spring 2004. ...

09.24.02

Britney Spears will be honored with the Children's Choice Award at the Neil Bogart Memorial Fund's annual Bogart Tour for a Cure on November 4 in Los Angeles. The pop princess has established both a namesake foundation and a performing arts camp to benefit sick and disadvantaged children and raised $1 million during her Dream Within a Dream Tour for children affected by the September 11 attacks. ... Ever since 'NSYNC's Joey Fatone joined the cast for "Rent" last month, ticket sales have doubled, to the tune of $100,000 more a week. Of course, that pales in comparison to the millions raked in by new entry "Hairspray" — this year's "The Producers" — but for a long-running production ("Rent" is in its seventh year), the box office rebound is setting Broadway records, "Rent" reps say. ... A pre-trial hearing of second-degree assault charges brought against R&B singer Keke Wyatt for allegedly stabbing her husband took place Tuesday (September 24) in Kentucky's Shelbyville County Circuit Court. Attorneys were given 20 days to file motions and 30 days thereafter for responses, before the judge determines whether the case goes to trial. ...

Backstreet Boy Brian Littrell and wife Leighanne are crossing over, and we're not talking about transcending radio formats. The couple will be featured on Thursday's episode of psychic TV show "Crossing Over With John Edward," during which Edward will connect Littrell with a late childhood friend with whom he once shared a hospital room (check local listings for airtimes). ... The "Crossing Over" episode was filmed in the home of Littrell's groupmate A.J. McLean, who will appear in a future episode of the series. ... Meanwhile, fellow BSBer Howie Dorough and his sister Pollyanna will co-host and perform at the United Catholic Music and Video Association's third annual Unity Awards, taking place October 26 on the campus of Washington, D.C.'s Catholic University. In addition to performing "Fly to Heaven" with his sister, Dorough and his family will be honored with the Inspiration Award for the Dorough Lupus Foundation. ...

Def Jam impresario Russell Simmons celebrated the 10th anniversary of his hip-hop fashion brand Phat Farm with a runway show Sunday at New York's Bryant Park. The spring 2003 lines of Phat Farm and its Baby Phat women's apparel brand were examined by fashion insiders as well as music celebrities like Mya, Tweety from Next, Queen Latifah, Damon Dash and Mario. ... Guitarist Trey Anastasio and bassist Mike Gordon performed publicly for the first time since Phish went on hiatus during an impromptu jam session Monday at the Woodstock Film Festival at a party for the Allen Woody documentary "Rising Low," which Gordon directed. Gov't Mule (Woody's band) drummer Matt Abts, Widespread Panic bassist Dave Schools, Deep Banana Blackout guitarist Fuzz and DJ Logic also sat in. ...

"Who's the Boss" star Tony Danza has released his first album, The House I Live In, named after the title track, a remake of Frank Sinatra's 1949 hit. The album also includes the actor's rendition of "God Bless America." ... Alanis Morissette has contributed a new song, "Offer," to a benefit album for the Sabera Foundation for abandoned girls in Calcutta organized by actresses Melanie Griffith and Penelope Cruz, according to the Los Angeles Times. Ricky Martin, Elton John, Bob Dylan and Sting are donating previously released tracks — some with a chorus made up of girls receiving health care and education from the foundation added to them — to the project, due November 19. ... Badly Drawn Boy (a.k.a. Damon Gough) has pushed back the release date of his third album, Have You Fed the Fish?, from October 22 to November 5. His tour kicks off on October 17 at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. and, after winding through New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Detroit, Chicago and Portland, winds up at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles on November 8. ...

The now-defunct Toadies will release the live album Best of Toadies - Live From Paradise on November 19. The 18-track collection, recorded before the band broke up in May 2001 at Boston's Paradise club, features a cover of the Pixies' "Where Is My Mind." ... A cover of Elton John's "Tiny Dancer" and "Fred Jones Part 2" featuring Cake's John McCrea are among the gems on the final track list for Ben Folds Live, due October 8. Folds will promote the album, the first 100,000 copies of which will include a bonus DVD with 35 minutes of live footage, with a tour beginning October 10 in Englewood, New Jersey and ending November 3 in Walla Walla, Washington. ... SR-71 have signed on for a residency at Los Angeles' famed Viper Room for three consecutive Wednesdays beginning October 2. The group are promoting their new album, Tomorrow, due October 22. ...

• Justin Timberlake
• *NSYNC
• 3LW
• Jermaine Dupri
• Peter Gabriel