Horse the Band
Photo: Koch Records

As far as heavy music is concerned, there are several active bands — like, say, Trivium — that take themselves way too seriously. Other bands just aren't serious enough. And then there's experimental-metalcore outfit Horse the Band.

Last month, in a press release regarding the June 26 release of their forthcoming album A Natural Death, the members of Horse the Band described the LP as an examination of "the futility and arrogance of creation and destruction, the overwhelming scale of space and time, and the brutal majesty of nature, the horror of birth and the beauty of death." The band hopes the set might serve as "a warning to the human race, to stop taking itself so seriously, as we have seen the dire consequences of its actions in the future."

Supposedly, Horse the Band "consists of five demigods, running from a haunted past they can't possibly remember." Of course, this is just shtick. After all, these are the same guys that, while tracking A Natural Death, launched a YouTube channel through which they intended to post a series of in-the-studio videos, updating fans on the recording process. But in no time, the channel was transformed into a forum for the band to post episodes of its own drama, "Lawrence and Friends" — the show revolves around a love triangle involving a sugar cube, a suicidal pencil and, inexplicably, singer/songwriter Carla Hassett.

This is a band led by a man named Nathan Winneke — who, as it just so happens, has a destructive alter ego named General Beam.

"He's like Jim Beam in my clothing, essentially," the singer said. "I flipped out for the first half of our tour with Heavy Heavy Low Low [back in March], and I destroyed their trailer, which is sad, because I really like those guys. But I lost a little control, and I caved in their entire roof while telling everybody it was science, and then I took a fish-scaling knife and cut a triangle in my arm. I was just being a total idiot, but when the General comes, I have no explanations."

Horse the Band, who've made a name for themselves touring with like-minded metallers the Dillinger Escape Plan and Hella, are heavy metal's version of "Airplane." The band's sound is a spastic, brutal mix of metal, fused with synth-produced blips and bleeps, and inspired by the video games of the 1980s and early '90s. The band's music is crafted to not only scramble your brains but tickle your funny bone.

For example, there's a track on A Natural Death called "Murder" that Horse the Band added to their set while on a recent headlining run with the Number Twelve Looks Like You and Light This City.

"The kids have been loving it," Winneke enthused. "I tell them it's a song about killing white people, and they go crazy." The lyrics were written from the perspective of an American Indian in 1847, "So it's OK."

Horse the Band began writing for A Natural Death — which also includes "His Purple Majesty," "Sex Raptor" and "I Think We Are Both Suffering From the Same Crushing Metaphysical Crisis" — back in the fall and finished recording it in February. The band took its time with the follow-up to 2005's The Mechanical Hand and the 2006 EP Pizza — which, yes, was a concept piece all about pizza.

"With Mechanical Hand, Koch [the band's label] was relaunching [the now-defunct] Combat Records, and we did it as fast as we possibly could, because they wanted to have an album to put out on Combat at the time of the relaunch," Winneke said. Combat folded again, and Horse the Band have since been absorbed by Koch.

"We're the heaviest band on the roster," Winneke said. "They did the soundtrack to the Barbie movies, and I loved those. They have a wide array of stuff, and we're the heaviest band I know of."

On A Natural Death, fans can expect more layers of sound, the frontman said. The band has incorporated more synth elements into its sound, and keyboardist Erik Engstrom found "this programming game ... where you can write tracks on the Game Boy, using sounds from the Game Boy, so this record has an extra, extra retro-awesomeness to it." Winneke added that, "If you thought we were chaotic before, we're, like, probably doubly chaotic now — in stranger and more unique ways, hopefully."

So, what does Winneke think of his own band? "We're very reckless and immature and have no idea what we're doing, and we should probably break up as a band, because all we're going to end up doing is killing ourselves," he said. "But hopefully, it will be funny."

The rest of the week's metal news:

Pyromaniacs and German-language students take note: Rammstein will unleash three different versions of their DVD and CD package "Völkerball" on July 17. All versions will feature a full 2005 concert recorded in Nimes, France, plus select footage from shows in London, Tokyo and Moscow. The standard two-disc set features a 140-minute DVD and a 75-minute CD of the concert. The special edition also features a second DVD with 90 minutes of content, including the documentary films "Reise, Reise: The Making of the Album" and "Anakonda Im Netz" (Anaconda in the Net). Finally, the limited edition includes a 190-page tour photo book, which contains everything in the three-disc set plus an additional CD capturing the remainder of the 140-minute France show. ... Dutch pagan black-metal band Grimm will release their new album, Heksenkringen, Tuesday. Tracks include "Witte Ruiter," "Als Wederganger Dwalend" and "Van Drakenbloed Fel." ...

Three songs from Paradise Lost's upcoming album In Requiem — "Never For the Damned," "Ash & Debris" and "The Enemy" — are available on an e-card that can be found right here. The e-card also features the video for "The Enemy," which was shot by Ukrainian director Edward 209 in March on the Crimean peninsula in Yalta. In Requiem is scheduled for release June 5. ... Messy Peruvian black-metal band Goat Semen will release the live album En Vivo en Lima Hell May 8. The disc includes "Sodom Graves," "Madre Muerte," "Rotten Messiah" and "At Luzbel's Behest," as well as bonus rehearsal material. ...

For the first time in years, there's a reason to look forward to September 11. On that date, death-metal veterans Obituary will release their yet-untitled new album. The follow-up to 2005's Frozen in Time will also be the band's first for Candlelight Records. Obituary are currently hard at work on the disc and scheduled to complete tracking by June 1. "We are really looking forward to having a record company that wants to work with us," singer John Tardy said in a statement. "We feel rejuvenated, and this new album is gonna be sick." "This will mark a new chapter in death-metal history," bassist Frank Watkins added. Obituary will launch a U.S. headline tour the week the album is released. ... Voivod have finished the video for "Polaroids." The clip was created with Banger Productions and Ottoblix and includes some of drummer Michel "Away" Langevin's artwork. The same team is also working on a video for "The X-Stream." According to a recent update by Langevin, the band will start recording the follow-up to 2006's Katorz in the fall. ...

Technical Florida death-metal band Atheist, which reunited last year for a batch of reunion shows, are calling it quits for good. On Friday (April 27) and Saturday, the band will play two dates in its home state. The coup de grace will come at an unscheduled final show in New York. "It's very hard to just walk away from this music that is having its day in the sun," guitarist/singer Kelly Shaefer said in a statement. "The shows keep getting better. But the best and most important thing to us has been the outpouring of brand new people who have embraced our music. We will wrap this all up with one final show in New York that will be filmed for a DVD." ... Seattle noisemongers Himsa have entered the studio to start recording their fourth album. The band will track the drums, bass and guitars with Steve Carter. Strapping Young Lad's Devin Townsend will track vocals and Tue Madsen will handle mixing duties. The disc is tentatively scheduled for a late August release. ... Three noteworthy underground-metal albums are coming on Candlelight on May 22: New York metal vets Pro-Pain will release Age of Tyranny - The Tenth Crusade, Octavia Sperati will unleash Grace Submerged, and Carnal Forge will test their fans' mettle with Testify for My Victims.

• Horse The Band
• Rammstein
• Obituary
• Voivod
• Himsa

Aborted
Photo: Gregory Lamache/ Century Media

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The rest of the week's metal news:

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

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

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

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

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

Cellador
Photo: Tara Kearney

In May 2005, Black Dahlia Murder singer Trevor Strnad was hanging backstage at a venue in Omaha, Nebraska, before his band was to headline a gig. With nothing else to do, he waded through the crowd to catch the opening act, expecting yet another nameless metalcore group. What he saw, instead, blew his mind. The local band playing that night, a power-metal act named Cellador, were insanely tight and energetic, and their singer sounded almost exactly like Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson.

After the show, Strnad couldn't stop gushing to Cellador about their performance, and told them Black Dahlia's label, Metal Blade Records, was looking for a young melodic American metal group. So Cellador gave Strnad a copy of their demo, and within weeks they were signed to Metal Blade.

"We were so amazed because, from the beginning, we always thought that if we got signed it would be with some small European label, since that's where power metal is really popular," said guitarist and main songwriter Chris Petersen about three months after the late-June release of the band's debut Enter Deception. "Our perspective totally changed after that, and we realized that maybe there is a market in the U.S. for this style of music."

Strnad and Metal Blade were drawn to the band not only because of its epic songs, explosive guitar solos and dramatic vocals, but also by the black-metal beats and melodic death-metal elements Cellador weave into their music. Like Trivium — with whom Cellador are about to tour — and DragonForce, Petersen and his bandmates are part of a new generation of bands taking composition, melody and technical proficiency to new heights.

"I got into popular mainstream metal when I was about 11, but I soon discovered bands like In Flames, Soilwork and At the Gates — groups that could really play and were melodic, but still heavy," Petersen explained. "When I started playing guitar, that stuff had a big influence on me."

Petersen put together the first Cellador lineup in 2003 and quickly wrote a batch of songs, but within months, everyone quit — including his friend, who was the lead singer. Undaunted, Petersen placed a "musicians wanted" ad for players who were into melodic European metal, and 15-year-old drummer David Dahir was the first to respond. "At first I was like, 'I dunno, this guy is so young,' but then we started jamming and I realized he's an incredible drummer," Petersen said. "He's more of an extreme-metal-influenced dude, which is cool because it allows us to mix up the more aggressive, intense elements into my power-metal style."

Guitarist Bill Hudson, who relocated from Brazil, and Russian-born bassist Valentin Rakhmanov followed, as well as singer Michael Gremio, who cemented the band's soaring sound.

"He was a local singer here, and he was heavily influenced by Bruce Dickinson, Michael Kiske [formerly of Helloween] and Tony Kakko [of Sonata Arctica]. So I called him up and asked him to try out," Petersen said. "As soon as everyone heard him sing, he was in, and right away, he started recording vocals on our demo, which was already recorded."

Cellador entered a Tampa, Florida, studio with Erik Rutan (Goatwhore, Soilent Green) in December 2005 and recorded most of the main tracks by mid-January. In March, the bandmembers returned to finish the leads and record the vocals. But what they thought would be finished in 10 days wound up taking a month.

"Before we got out there, Mike was complaining that his throat hurt and he had a cough," Petersen said. "Sure enough, a day and a half later, he came down with the flu. So we took out time and waited for him to get completely better before we recorded the vocals."

With Enter Deception finally in stores, Cellador are making plans to storm shores east and west in search of recognition. On Sunday, they'll hit the road with Trivium, the Sword and Protest the Hero in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. But while the tour continues through November 5, Cellador are dropping off after October 9 in Toronto because ... well, some things are almost as important as rock.

"I'm finishing up college right now and I have obligations with my classes," Petersen explained. "But we're still super-excited about the tour, and there'll be lots of chances to play other shows after I finish school."

The rest of the week's metal news:

According to the Blackest of the Black tour site, this year's installment of Glenn Danzig's annual festival will feature Lacuna Coil, the Haunted and Belphegor, in addition to Danzig's own band, which will headline. Danzig told MTV News earlier this month that the tour would also feature Marduk, and though the tour's site does indicate that one additional act will be added to the bill, it has yet to be specified. Dates for the trek, which will hit cities along the West Coast over two weeks, have not yet been announced. ... In related news, Lacuna Coil, In Flames and Soil will hit the road for a string of dates in December. So far, it looks like the bands will embark on the trek December 5 in Norfolk, Virginia, and dates are booked through December 16 in Detroit. ... Bleeding Through, Saosin and Senses Fail will team up for a 19-date run launching November 24 in Boston and ending December 21 in Tempe, Arizona. ... Page Hamilton's Helmet have lost two members: guitarist Chris Traynor and drummer Mike Jost. Traynor released a statement on his departure, which, while gracious, failed to offer a reason for the move. Jost intends to focus on his home life. ...

Horse the Band frontman Nathan Winneke was arrested last weekend by police in Toronto following an incident that unfolded outside a gas station. According to the band, Winneke was booked on suspicion of "robbing a gas station and firing a pistol at a woman." The statement continues that the singer "drinks a bottle of whiskey a day and bought a cap gun, which he took the orange thing off of, and a 12-inch bowie knife, which he named 'Blue Duck.' " The gas station incident was a misunderstanding, according to the band, as a drunken Winneke fired the cap gun in the air twice outside the station before the band left in its van. "Two minutes later, [we were] lying face down in the middle of the freeway, handcuffed," with handguns and shotguns pointed at their heads. Close to 20 police officers closed down the road and detained the band following a complaint from a woman at the gas station who said Winneke "robbed the store and pointed the gun at her." The other members of the band were released, but the singer was held overnight. Winneke was freed the following morning, and the band didn't miss any of the stops on its current tour with DragonForce and All That Remains. ...

Early next year, Earache Records will reissue Napalm Death's debut, Scum, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the LP's release. The disc has been remastered and will boast a bonus DVD featuring interviews with the grindcore gurus. Napalm will come together this winter with A Life Once Lost, Dead to Fall and Animosity for the Death by Decibels Tour. It kicks off November 25 in Buffalo, New York, and runs through December 21 in Asbury Park, New Jersey. ... Pre-production for From Autumn to Ashes' next LP has commenced with producer and engineer Brian McTernan — who has worked with Cave In and Bane — at his Salad Days Studio in Baltimore. Look for the disc to drop early next year. ... Stretch Arm Strong have returned from the studio after recording a cover of Sick of It All's "Busted." The track will appear on an upcoming tribute album, which is also expected to feature Unearth's take on "It's Clobberin' Time," Rise Against doing "Built to Last" and Sepultura's rendition of "Scratch the Surface." The effort is slated for release before year's end. ... Doom-metal specialists Khanate are no more. The band, formed six years ago by Atomsmasher's James Plotkin and Stephen O'Malley of SunnO))), have decided to call it quits. Still, they are planning to mix their yet-untitled swan-song release, which should surface this winter. ...

Botch have been working with producer Matt Bayles (Isis, Mastodon) to remix their 1999 debut, American Nervoso. The end result should surface early next year. ... Canadian post-grindcore extremists the End have wrapped the recording sessions for their forthcoming full-length, which remains untitled. The band's frontman, Aaron Wolff, said in a press statement that "this is definitely a huge step for us in so many different ways. We tried a lot of new things that we have stayed far away from in the past, and also expanded on the ground that we have laid out in the past. We are so happy with the sound of the record and totally excited about the new songs." Look for the disc to hit stores in February. ... Mushroomhead, Brand New Sin, Soil and the Autumn Offering are on the road together and will play Flint, Michigan, on Friday. The trek runs through October 30 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Mushroomhead's latest, Savior Sorrow, was released last week. ... Norwegian black-metallers Immortal, who split back in 2003, plan to reunite for two U.S. gigs — but fans will have to wait more than 10 months to catch them. Immortal will invade B.B. King Blues Club & Grill in New York on July 13 and Hollywood's Avalon on July 15. Tickets for both shows go on sale October 13.

• Cellador
• Napalm Death
• Immortal
• Horse The Band

Beyoncé's <i>B'Day</i>
Photo: Columbia

Attack of the Killer B: What does Beyoncé want for her B'Day? How about a #1 album? And with the Labor Day weekend leading to a serious lack of competition, it's extremely likely she'll get what she wants. On the topic of gifts, she's been passing out a few herself to the ardent fans who preordered her LP. Those who relied on Sony Music's online store got a limited-edition hologram photo; people who bought it through Wal-Mart's music-download vehicle were presented with an exclusive remix of "Deja Vu"; and those who went the iTunes route got an exclusive song called "Lost Yo Mind" plus a "Deja Vu" download. If you didn't preorder, want some extra goodies and are willing to shell out a little more cash, the international version has four bonus tracks, including "Check on It" featuring Bun B and Slim Thug and three hidden songs: "Encore for the Fans," "Listen" (from the "Dreamgirls" soundtrack) and an extended mix of "Get Me Bodied." The Japanese pressing has those tracks plus "Creole." Now that's what you call generous.

Book of Revelations: Audioslave have been doing the preorder thing too, treating fans who bought Revelations at Sony Music's online store to a download of "Original Fire" and a coupon, and presenting those who shopped at iTunes with even more bonuses: a live video for "Show Me How to Live," a track-by-track description of the LP, the "Original Fire" video and a digital booklet. Best Buy will offer a deluxe edition of the LP that's upped with a bonus DVD containing a 16-minute film by Danny Clinch. But everyone will have a chance to check out "Wide Awake," about the Hurricane Katrina aftermath, "Jewel of the Summertime" and "Sound of a Gun," all of which appear on the regular edition.

Torturous CDs: Heavy-rock vets Iron Maiden and Alice in Chains have touring in their sights, but they'll be going head-to-head this week in the record racks. Maiden's ridiculously epic A Matter of Life and Death has only 10 tracks but clocks in at a CD-bending 71:52, and the limited deluxe edition is even heftier with a bonus DVD featuring interviews and a pair of in-the-studio performances. The Essential Alice in Chains is pretty chunky too, outdoing 2001's 10-track Greatest Hits with 29 songs splayed over two CDs. Highlights on the set, which was initially announced in 2004, include "Get Born Again" and "Died," the two songs the band recorded for its Music Bank box set, and remixes of "What the Hell Have I" and "A Little Bitter," which appeared on the "Last Action Hero" soundtrack when Governor Schwarzenegger was still busting up the big screen.

Deep Freeze: Speaking of Ahnold, who also played Mr. Freeze in "Batman & Robin," poet Black Ice slips up the racks this week with his CD debut. A mainstay on Russell Simmons' "Def Poetry Jam," the spoken-word prince increases his vocabulary with The Death of Willie Lynch, getting a boost from Musiq ("Takeyatime"), Floetry's Natalie Stewart ("Shine") and Chyna Black ("Lone Soldier"). Black Ice has an even bigger heavyweight in his corner in Mary J. Blige, with whom he's been touring this summer.

This week's remaining releases are a little thin, but even so, there's plenty of random trivia to be aware of: Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, JJ Cale and Waylon Jennings all contribute to Uncovered, the latest effort by Southern songwriter Tony Joe White. ...The big Boss man himself, Bruce Springsteen, gives his pal Joe Grushecky a boost by piping up on "Code of Silence," a track that appears on the ex-Iron City Houserocker's A Good Life. ... Yes, that really is Colin Hay from Men at Work joining Latin electro-rockers Kinky on their third LP, Reina. ... Also spotted: Afro-beat creator Fela Kuti, cropping up on "In Africa," a DVD by ex-Cream and Blind Faith member Ginger Baker. ... George Winston's Gulf Coast Blues and Impressions - A Hurricane Relief Benefit is pretty self-explanatory and has 100 percent of proceeds going to relief organizations. Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, James Booker and others help further the effort. ... Rex Moroux also has his mind on New Orleans, as his LP Royal Street Inn is named after a hostel in the city, as does folk singer David Rovics, whose Halliburton Boardroom Massacre features "New Orleans," "Paul Wolfowitz" and "Song for Cindy Sheehan." ...

Honkytonk Homeslice and Zilla are both String Cheese Incident side projects, and they'll be competing for jam-band attention with the digipak Honkytonk Homeslice and two-CD All Iz, respectively. ... Massachusetts hard-rockers Seemless recorded their What Have We Become at Longview Studios, the same studio that's been graced by Aerosmith and the Rolling Stones. ... It's been 10 years since NYC underground heroes Alice Donut recorded together with their original lineup, but that streak is being broken with Fuzz. ... Roman Numerals, who log a self-named LP this week, feature guys who used to be in Dirtnap, Shiner and Season to Risk. The latter band was featured in 1995's Ralph Fiennes-starring "Strange Days." ... Threatening duo Jucifer have put out three LPs, but each one has dropped on a different label. This week's If Thine Enemy Hunger comes courtesy Relapse. ... Vader's Impressions in Blood is the 18th item the 20-year-old metal band has logged in its catalog.

Song Titles of the Week:

The track list to Horse the Band's Pizza EP: "Anti-Pizza," "Crippled by Pizza (Pizzarrhea in the Pizzeria)," "Werepizza," "Pizza Nif," and, of course, "T.M.N.T."

Other Notables:

Grizzly Bear's Yellow House: Christopher Taylor has blossomed his formerly one-man, field-tape-dependent project into a four-piece act that will be opening for TV on the Radio for a handful of October gigs. Grizzly Bear now employ woodwinds, effects pedals and four-part harmonies, a new blend they show off on "Central and Remote," "On a Neck on a Spit" and "Colorado."

Sebadoh's III reissue: Widely considered to be essential indie-rock listening, the 1991 release is bolstered by a 17-track bonus disc chock-full of rarities. That includes the band's Gimme Indie Rock! EP from the same year, four-track demos of "The Freed Pig" and "Never Jealous" and more.

Made Out of Babies' Coward: This New York loud-rock foursome earns the honor for most unsettling album cover of the week: It features the up-close image of a kid who's been beaten to a pulp. Don't expect the music itself, documented by noise guru and noted engineer Steve Albini, to be any sweeter. Tracks include "Mr. Prison Shanks," "Gunt" and "Proud to Drown." Yikes.

New Releases:

• A Love Ends Suicide - In the Disaster (Metal Blade)
• Alice Donut - Fuzz (Howler)
  Buy Now: Fuzz (Howler)
• Criss Angel - "Mindfreak" soundtrack (Koch)
• Dave Aude - Audacious (Koch)
• Audioslave - Revelations (Epic)
  Read: "New Audioslave LP: 'Led Zeppelin Meets Earth, Wind & Fire' "
  Buy Now: Revelations (Epic)
• Beyoncé - B'Day (Columbia)
  Read: "Beyonce's Triple Threat: New Album, Film, Fashion Line Before Year's End"
  Buy Now: B'Day (Columbia)
• Black Ice - The Death of Willie Lynch (Koch)
• Blind Guardian - A Twist in the Myth (Nuclear Blast America)
• Kate Campbell with Spooner Oldham - For the Living of These Days (Large River)
• Dawn of Azazel - Sedition (enhanced; Ibex Moon)
• Dead Hearts - Bitter Verses (Ferret)
• Ecstatic Sunshine - Freckle Wars (Carpark)
• Elin - Lazy Afternoon (Blue Toucan)
• Billy Gilman - Billy Gilman (Image)
• Goatwhore - A Haunting Curse (Metal Blade)
• Grizzly Bear - Yellow House (Warp)
• Joe Grushecky - A Good Life (Schoolhouse)
• Robin Guthrie - Everlasting (EP; Darla)
• Hell-Born - Cursed Infernal Steel (Ibex Moon)
• Hem - Funnel Crowd (Nettwerk)
• Honkytonk Homeslice - Honkytonk Homeslice (digipak; Sci Fidelity)
• Horse the Band - Pizza (EP; Koch)
• Incantation - Primordial Domination (Ibex Moon)
• Iron Maiden - A Matter of Life and Death (limited-edition version with bonus DVD due same day; EMI)
  Read: "New Iron Maiden LP Is So Deep That Even The Band Doesn't Get It"
  Buy Now: A Matter of Life and Death (EMI)
• Jars of Clay - Good Monsters (Essential)
• Libby Johnson - Annabella (Wrong)
• Jucifer - If Thine Enemy Hunger (Relapse)
• Kinky - Reina (Nettwerk)
  Buy Now: Reina (Nettwerk)
• The Klezmatics - Woody Guthrie's Happy Joyous Hanukkah (JMG)
• Lakes - Photographs (EP; Militia Group)
• Lantana - Unbridled (BGM)
• Los Amigos Invisibles - Superpop Venezuela (Gozadera)
• Made Out of Babies - Coward (Neurot)
• Mark Mallman - Between the Devil and Middle C (Badman)
• Rex Moroux - Royal Street Inn (333)
• The Polyphonic Spree -
• Roman Numerals - Roman Numerals (Anodyne)
• David Rovics - Halliburton Boardroom Massacre (digipak with DVD; Mi5 Recordings)
• Seemless - What Have We Become (Equal Vision)
• Strike Anywhere - Dead FM (Fat Wreck Chords)
• Tall Paul - The Beat Technique (Koch)
• Teitur - Stay Under the Stars (digipak; Equator)
• Trainwreck Riders - Lonely Road Festival (Alive)
• Vader - Impressions in Blood (Candlelight)
• Tony Joe White - Uncovered (Swamp)
• George Winston - Gulf Coast Blues and Impressions - A Hurricane Relief Benefit (RCA Victor/ Windham Hill)
• Zilla - All Iz (Sci Fidelity)
• Various artists - "Phat Girlz" soundtrack (Lakeshore)

Notable Reissues and Archival Material:

• Alice in Chains - The Essential Alice in Chains (two CDs; Columbia/ Legacy)
  Buy Now: The Essential Alice in Chains (Columbia/Legacy)
• Michael Bolton - The Essential Michael Bolton (two CDs; Columbia/ Legacy)
• Miles Davis - Cool & Collected (Columbia/ Legacy Jazz)
• Kinky Friedman - Last of the Jewish Cowboys: The Best of Kinky Friedman (Shout! Factory)
• Laurent Garnier - Retrospective 94.06 (two CDs; Mute)
• Lowlife - Godhead (LTM)
• Yves Montand - Unreleased, Rare & Essential (DRG)
• Sebadoh - III (Domino)
• Aaron Tippin - Aaron Tippin: Now and Then (Rust)
• Joy Williams - Every Moment: The Best of Joy Williams (Reunion)
• Various artists - Sundown: A Windham Hill Piano Collection (Windham Hill/ Legacy)

Music DVDs:

• Ginger Baker - "In Africa" (Eagle Vision)
• Gary Burton and Makoto Ozone - "Live at Montreux 2002" (Eagle Vision)
• Jeff Healey - "Live at Montreux 1999" (with CD; Eagle Vision)
• Peggy Lee - "In Concert Series" (Passport)
• Roger Whittaker - "Roger Whittaker in Concert: Greatest Hits" (Foreign Media Group)
• The Who - "Music Box Biographical Collection" (Music Video Box)
• Various artists - "Gigantour" (two DVDs; Image)

Coming Attractions:

September 12:

• John Mayer - Continuum (Columbia)
  Preorder: Continuum (Columbia)
• Mastodon - Blood Mountain (Reprise; limited-edition version with DVD due same day)
  Read: "Mastodon LP Tackles Auto-Cannibalism, One-Eyed Sasquatch"
• N.O.R.E. y la Familia - Ya Tú Sabe (Roc-A-Fella)
• Justin Timberlake - FutureSex/LoveSounds (Jive)
  Read: "Justin Previews New Tracks At Hollywood Show With Help From Will.I.Am, Timbaland"
  Preorder: FutureSex/LoveSounds (Jive)
• TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain (Interscope)

September 19:

• Clay Aiken - A Thousand Different Ways (RCA)
  Preorder: A Thousand Different Ways (RCA)
• Fergie - The Dutchess (Interscope)
  Read: "Fergie's Split-Pea Soup: Reggae, Jazz, Ludacris, B Real On 'Crazy' Solo LP"
  Preorder: The Dutchess (Interscope)
• Jesse McCartney - Right Where You Want Me (Hollywood)
  Read: "In September, Get Jesse McCartney Right Where You Want Him"
  Preorder: Right Where You Want Me (Hollywood)
• New Found Glory - Coming Home (Geffen)
  Read: "New Found Glory Unveil Track List; New LP Is 'Different From Everything Out There' "
  Preorder: Coming Home (Geffen)

September 26:

• Janet Jackson - 20 Y.O. (Virgin)
  Preorder: 20 Y.O. (Virgin)
• Ludacris - Release Therapy (Def Jam)
  Read: "Therapy Is In Session: Kanye, Pharrell, R. Kelly Hop On Luda's LP"
  Preorder: Release Therapy (Def Jam)
• Mewithoutyou - Brother Sister (Tooth & Nail)
  Read: "Mewithoutyou Confront Rock's Limitations: 'You Can't Give People Hugs In A CD' "
  Preorder: Brother, Sister (Tooth & Nail)

• Beyoncé
• Audioslave
• Iron Maiden
• Alice in Chains
• Black Ice

"Heavy Metal Thunder"
Photo: Chronicle Books

A few years back, metal journalists James Sherry (Metal Hammer, Kerrang!) and Neil Aldis (Rock World, Terrorizer) decided to sift through their record collections and put the best of the bunch into coffee-table-book form. That spawned "Heavy Metal Thunder," an extensive archive of the most kick-ass metal-album art of the last four decades, set to land in bookstores June 1.

According to Sherry, the book's intended to guide lifelong metalheads down memory lane — a time when you'd buy an LP based solely on the image that graced the sleeve, a time when ridiculous album covers were a genuine art form.

"We wanted the book to be entertaining for people who aren't necessarily into metal," he said. "I wanted it to appeal to people who are really heavily into the music and can look through the book and go, 'Oh, I remember that record — I had it when I was a kid.' ... But we also wanted it to appeal to people who have no interest in the music and can look through it and go, 'These covers are hilarious.' We're not afraid to poke fun at it."

The book's documents everything from the earliest days of groundbreaking bands like Black Sabbath and Judas Priest through today's current class of metallers, like Mastodon and High on Fire. The book covers all the bases, with chapters devoted to black metal, death metal, nü metal, thrash, stoner rock and glam rock. There's even a forward penned by Anthrax's Scott Ian and an interview with Derek Riggs, the man who created Iron Maiden's symbolic Eddie icon.

"We were originally going to do each chapter in a different theme," Sherry explained. "We were going to have a chapter of all covers that just featured men with swords, which there are many. It's an ongoing theme in old metal records. We wanted a whole chapter on glam-rock covers, fantasy covers, ridiculous covers — even covers with babes on them. That became way too complicated, so we decided to do it genre by genre."

Several chapters are devoted to specific bands that've become known for their album imagery. "One of the first things we decided was that we had to give Manowar their own chapter," he said. "With this book, you get a taste for the imagery of each genre. I just think that metal, more than any other music, is very visually led. As a child, I would often buy records on the strength of the album cover, on how metal the cover looked. That doesn't happen anymore. Kids can hear stuff before they buy it."

One of the more amusing chapters is the one that examines the punk-inflected thrash era. "I love the thrash covers because it's all pre-computers, and these bands would have a friend who would say, 'Hey, I could draw you a picture for your cover,' " Sherry said. "That's why there was so much drawn artwork on those sleeves, and some of it's just terrible, but brilliantly funny as well."

Several album covers were cut from the book, including Marduk's 1995 masterpiece, F--- Me Jesus, and Autopsy's 2003 album, Sh--fun.

But Sherry's favorite album cover, and one of the first that readers encounter in "Heavy Metal Thunder"? "I love the first Black Sabbath album cover, because I think that one's genuinely creepy. You kind of look at it, and it's genuinely a quite scary album cover," he said. "I like a lot of the black-metal covers, too, because there's just something a bit creepier about them that's genuinely quite scary, whereas it's hard to get too scared by men with swords."

The rest of the week's metal news:

Megadeth have signed to Roadrunner Records for the release of their upcoming album, according to a source close to the deal. The studio sessions — held at Sarm Studios, outside of London — were filmed by director Michael Sarna (Anthrax, Obituary) and are available at Megadeth.com to fan-club members. ... The first batch of dates for Rob Zombie's American Witch Across America Tour with Anthrax has been revealed. The trek will kick off in El Paso, Texas, June 30 and last — at least until more dates are announced — through July 28 in Billings, Montana. ... Trivium have finished recording their upcoming CD The Crusade. On Thursday, frontman Matt Heafy started tracking vocals at Audiohammer Studio in Orlando, Florida, where the band also recorded guitars and bass. Heafy is co-producing the disc with Audiohammer owner and previous collaborator Jason Suecof, and the album will be finished by the end of May for a fall release. Songs include "Ignition," "Contempt Breeds Contamination," "And Sadness Will Sear," "Vengeance," "To the Rats" and "Contemporary Plague." "There's one acoustic song, a Skid Row/ Mötley Crüe-sounding song, a Def Leppard, Southern-rock metal song and then 11 ridiculously technical thrash songs," Heafy said. "It's a solo insanity CD, but in a good way." ...

Bloodsimple — which features ex-members of Long Island, New York, hardcore icons Vision of Disorder — are working on material for their sophomore LP. The band plans to record the effort this summer, and guitarist Mike Kennedy claims "the new tunes are sounding killer so far." ... Hold on to your horns: Cattle Decapitation have infiltrated the mainstream. Icing by Claire's, a teen girls' accessory shop, has built a storefront display of a trendy-looking punk-rock girl wearing a Cattle Decapitation T-shirt. Even more flabbergasting, the shirt she's wearing was only sold on tour. Icing shoppers will be pleased to know that the new Cattle Decapitation record, Karma Bloody Karma, comes out July 11 and the band will be on tour through July 22. ... Nepotism is one thing, but this is ridiculous: Incubus guitarist Mike Einziger has produced the debut album by Agent Sparks, which features younger brother Ben on guitar and stepbrother Paul Fried on bass. The disc, Red Rover, comes out June 20. Ben Einziger and Fried were previously in Audiovent, which featured Incubus frontman Brandon Boyd's brother Jason on vocals. The group released Dirty Sexy Knights in Paris in 2002, but broke up soon after. ...

Horse the Band will hit the road with Gatsbys American Dream, Portugal. The Man and Forgive Durden starting May 24 in Salt Lake City. Dates are scheduled through June 14 in Nashville. ... Candice Night, the singer for Blackmore's Night — ex-Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore's new outfit — will be crowned 2006 Queen of the Fairies at the Western Pennsylvania Fairie Festival, which takes place June 10-11. Attendees can enjoy the parade of the Fairie Queen and her court, special guest fairie artists, the astrologer to the queen, and holistic and metaphysical-medicine practitioners. ... When most metal singers shout "Kill!," they're living a fantasy, but Manowar frontman Eric Adams causes as much carnage with handheld weaponry as with his vocals. On June 27, Adams will showcase the brutality on the DVD "Wild Life and Wild Times," which he created with outdoorsman and wildlife journalist Chester Moore. The disc features the two bagging emus, American bison, snakes, elk and wild boar with shotguns, bows and arrows, and hunting knives. ...

Soilent Green, the Acacia Strain and Demiricous will tour together starting June 10 in Cleveland, with dates running through June 30 in West Palm Beach, Florida. ... This year's nominees for the second annual Peta2 World's Sexiest Vegetarian poll include Rob Zombie, System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian, Cannibal Corpse bassist Paul Mazurkiewicz, Dillinger Escape Plan's Liam Wilson and Atreyu guitarist Travis Miguel. Cast your vote at Peta2.com/OUTTHERE/o-sexyveg06.asp. ... Every Time I Die will re-release 2005's Gutter Phenomenon on June 13 with a bonus 30-minute DVD. The footage was edited from their upcoming DVD "Sh-- Happens," which is scheduled for release this fall. Every Time I Die will head out on the Warped Tour starting June 15 in Columbia, Maryland, and remain on it through August 13 in Montreal. ... Misery Signals have started working on their second album, Mirrors, with producer Ben Schigel (Zao, Chimaira). The album will feature new singer Karl Schubach, who replaced Jesse Zaraska in January. Mirrors will be the follow-up to 2004's Of Malice and the Magnum Heart and is scheduled for September. ... Progressive metallers Behold ... the Arctopus have signed with Black Market Activities. Look for their forthcoming LP to drop sometime in late summer or early fall. ...

• "Heavy Metal Thunder" Photos

• Megadeth
• Trivium
• Manowar
• Bloodsimple
• Horse The Band

Horse the Band
Photo: Combat Records

Guitarist David Isen says his group, Horse the Band, are in agreement about at least one thing when it comes to the video for "Birdo," the first single from their latest disc: "All we have agreed on is that it won't be us rocking out in a graveyard or a warehouse," he joked. "Aside from that, we're not too sure."

One of the first signings to Koch imprint Combat Records, Horse the Band, who've been hailed as champions of an experimental, demented metal sound some have dubbed "Nintendocore," isn't the sort of group you can take seriously — at least not when it's listing "gay porn and fried chicken" as musical influences and telling you its sound's reminiscent of "having sex with a dead body."

"We don't take ourselves very seriously at all," Isen said. "It used to be a problem because we also sucked. So, between us sucking and also not taking ourselves seriously, people thought we were a joke. But now that we're really awesome at playing music, it's a good balance of humor and talent there."

The Mechanical Hand, which will be in stores September 20, contains 13 tracks, including "A Million Exploding Suns," "Octopus on Fire" and "Lord Gold Throneroom." They enlisted none other than Matt Bayles (Isis, Botch, Mastodon) to produce the effort, which was written between January and April of this year. This summer, the five-piece released "Effing 69 2004 World Tour," a DVD featuring live footage and behind-the-scenes action.

"For some reason, everything I film involves someone putting something in someone else's [behind]," Isen said. "Every five minutes, that happens on the DVD."

Horse the Band are planning to head back out on the road this fall for a headlining tour that should launch in October — which is bad news for the nation's hotel chains.

"When we were recording the album, we stayed in a Motel 6 in Seattle for a month in a room we destroyed," he explained. "We were fined thousands of dollars for it. [Keyboardist] Erik [Engstrom]'s girlfriend came to town, and it was her birthday, so we threw a party for her. We hung a piñata from the fire sprinkler, and we were swinging at it, blindfolded, with a toilet plunger, and eventually I swung and took off the whole pipe — it snapped in half. It was like there was a fire hydrant in the ceiling. And then it was total pandemonium."

Thirty minutes later, "we had four inches of water throughout the room, and it soaked through the floor and started coming out of the light fixtures in the room below us. We basically flooded like three rooms. We ran away, and when we came back the next morning, we were charged a few thousand dollars."

The rest of the week's metal news:

Swedish metal act Opeth will embark on a North American headlining tour, with two different bands providing support on two separate legs of the 25-date run. The trek launches October 9 in Tempe, Arizona, and runs through October 22 in San Antonio with Pelican opening things up; and then resumes in Lawrence, Kansas, October 24 with Nevermore onboard. Opeth will make stops in Seattle, Denver, Chicago, Philadelphia and New York, among other cities, before winding down on November 11 in beautiful Fort Lauderdale, Florida. ... As I Lay Dying won the Artist of the Year prize at this year's San Diego Music Awards, held September 12. The band beat out Unwritten Law, Louis XIV, Karl Denson's Tiny Universe, Switchfoot and Nickel Creek to claim the honor. The award for Best Hard Rock Album went to the Locust for Safety Second, Body Last. ... As first reported by Metal File two months ago, Children of Bodom and Trivium will embark on a North American tour starting November 9 in Quebec City; Amon Amarth are also on the bill. Dates run through December 14 in New York. Children of Bodom's Are You Dead Yet? is released domestically October 25. ... Unearth will hit the road with Slipknot and Dillinger Escape Plan starting October 14 in Cincinnati (As I Lay Dying play in Dillinger's stead in Chicago on October 19). After the tour, Unearth will start work on the follow up to 2004's The Oncoming Storm, slated for release around August 2006. ... Fear Factory, Strapping Young Lad, Darkane and It Dies Today kick off their tour October 18 in Lawrence, Kansas, with IDT playing on the first nine dates only. Soilwork join the tour November 8 in New York and remain on the bill until December 1, when things wind down in San Francisco. ...

Rochester, New York, tech-metal outfit Psyopus have replaced drummer Lee Fisher with ex-Paria member Corey Barnes. The band will start writing songs for its second album immediately, with three weeks' worth of studio time booked for January at Watchman Studios in Buffalo. ... Phoenix black/death-metal band Vehemence have hired ex-Glass Casket singer Adam Cody to replace Sean Vandegrift, who is now pursuing other ventures. Cody's working on new lyrics and vocal parts for the band's next record. Vehemence are also in the process of remixing and remastering their 2000 outing, The Thoughts From Which I Hide, which they'll sell at shows and on their Web site. ... Grind surgeons Impaled and Disgorge will be joined by noisecore stars Blessing the Hogs for a tour that starts September 23 in Hollywood. Dates run through October 5 in Salt Lake City, with more to come. ... Italian goth-metal band Lacuna Coil will enter the studio September 3 to begin tracking their new album, Karmacode. It will be co-produced by the band and Waldemar Sorychta and mastered in Belgium. The album, scheduled for early 2006, follows 2002's Comalies, which broke the band in North America. ... Avenged Sevenfold and Death by Stereo will tour together starting October 6 in San Diego. Dates run through December 2 in Las Vegas. ... West Virginia doom-metal band Hyatari will release their debut, The Light Carriers, October 4. The band features ex-members of Chum and Karma to Burn. Tracks include "Sheet of Flames," "Fourth Realm" and "14,000,000,000 Years Ago." ...

Swiss hardcore-metal band Unfold will release their second album, Aeon-Aony, in North America October 18. The disc was issued in Europe in 2002 and includes "Baron Rouge," "Superman Diabolico" and "Enter Sinus." ... Director Chandler Owen will helm the video for "Breathe From Coma," the next single from Hopesfall's latest, A Types. The band is also mapping out a North American tour with Funeral for a Friend and A Static Lullaby that is expected to start in December, followed by the Trustkill Global Takeover Tour, a package run with Open Hand and Roses Are Red that'll bring the band to Japan and Australia early in the new year. ... British doom-metal act Esoteric are in need of a new drummer following Andy Semmens' recent decision to hit the bricks. Applicants interested in joining the band and working on its forthcoming fifth album should e-mail greg@bereft.co.uk or esoteric@bereft.co.uk. ... Domination Black's debut, Fearbringer, will drop this fall through Poison Arrow Records and feature "Nightmare Asylum," "Haunted Hellhouse" and "Frozen Tears." ... San Antonio's Power of Omens have thrown in the towel. In an official statement on the split, axeman David Gallegos said, "over the last several months, the progress of this band continued to deteriorate in regards to our original plan to release the new CD by the summer. The lack of dedication and heart soon became extremely evident, not only in myself, but with everyone else. I personally kept looking back to a time when this band was fun and enjoyable to play in."

• Horse The Band
• Opeth
• Lacuna Coil
• Children Of Bodom
• As I Lay Dying