What's up, metallers? How's everything going? Iann Robinson here. It's been awhile since I wrote — thanks to the VMAs — but I'm back, and all is well. The biggest story right now is the crap that went down with Darkest Hour while they were out on tour. Apparently the band was in Toronto playing a gig at Club Rockit when its van was broken into. Thieves got away with $12,000 in cash (the band hadn't had a chance to deposit while on the road) as well as CD players, their tour manager's prescription drugs and other personal items. The band has set up a donation jar at shows and may also do a benefit show to recoup the money, most of which was owed to their merch guys, soundman and other folks who work for them. For more on how you can help, check out their Web site. Well, that's it for me. Have a good week, and I'll see you at the shows.

A long-delayed Quiet Riot DVD titled "Quiet Riot Live in the 21st Century — 20 Years of Metal Health" is now scheduled for release October 7. ... The new King Diamond CD, The Puppet Master, will hit stores on October 28. The CD will contain a bonus disc of King Diamond telling the story of the Puppet Master in full makeup. ... Disfear, the new offering from At the Gates/ the Crown frontman Tomas Lindberg, have released their debut album, Misanthropic Generation, on Relapse Records. ...

Hammerfall guitarist Oscar Dronjak is still recovering from a broken arm caused by a motorcycle accident that already forced the Swedish power metal band to cancel a U.K. festival appearance. Doctors have told him it will take at least another six weeks for to recover, according to a post on the band's Web site. ... Like Darkest Hour, Hopesfall were also recently victimized by thieves. The band's practice space was broken into, according to their record label, and someone made off with a custom drum kit, guitar cabinets, amplifiers and more. ...

Madball have signed to Thorp Records for a four-song EP due in January. The EP boasts three new songs as well as "Pride" re-recorded in Spanish. It will also have enhanced footage with interviews. ... Veteran death metal pioneers Cannibal Corpse will commemorate their 15th anniversary as a band with 15-Year Killing Spree, a box set consisting of two greatest-hits discs, a disc of rare material (including their demo and the unreleased Created to Kill album) and a live DVD that will include, among other performances, Cannibal's first gig back in 1989. The set is due November 4. ...

Despite previously announcing plans to take a hiatus from the road, Skinlab have accepted an invitation to join Slayer, Hatebreed and Arch Enemy for a handful of November dates on the upcoming Jägermeister Tour. "It's a childhood dream come true," frontman Steev Esquivel wrote on the band's Web site. "We were just saying to ourselves the other day ... 'If we could only go on tour with Slayer!' Then bam, the phone rings." ... Kingdom Come entered the studio on August 28 to begin recording a new album. ...

Morbid Angel have shot a video for "Enshrined by Grace" with U.K. director Peter Bridgewater. The group — whose new record, Heretic, hits September 23 — has been added to this fall's Blackest of the Black Tour, with Danzig, Superjoint Ritual, DevilDriver and Behemoth. ... Walls of Jericho are busy recording All Hail the Dead, the reformed Michigan band's first album since 2000's The Bound Feed the Gagged. ...

Following an appearance at the recent Las Vegas Metalfest, reformed death metal legends Suffocation will spend a large chunk of the fall preparing a new album for Relapse Records, the label that issued the group's debut back in 1991. ... Soilent Green have returned from an East Coast tour with Lickgoldensky and have resumed writing material for their next album, the follow-up to 2001's A Deleted Symphony for the Beaten Down, which is expected to surface next year. Meanwhile, the band's friends and fellow Louisiana natives Skinkrawl have launched a new Web site, skinkrawl.com, and will launch a 17-day East Coast tour next month. ...

Dutch label Hammerheart, home to bands like Dismember, Monstrosity, Skyfire and Severe Torture, is changing its name to Karmegeddon Records. ... On the heels of their most recent split late last year and two "reunion" appearances at festivals, Zao have officially reformed and are working on new material while negotiating with a new label. The current lineup includes drummer Jesse Smith, guitarists Russ Cogdell and Scott Mellinger, bassist Rob Horner, and singer Dan Weyandt. ...

Metalcore band the Promise, which includes ex-members of Another Victim and Santa Sangre, lost personal belongings and all of their equipment when their van was suddenly engulfed in 25-foot flames near the Arizona/California border. No one was hurt, and the band's road mates in Bane and other friends have pitched in to help them continue their tour. ... English black metal band Akercocke have hired renowned U.K. rock photographer Fin Costello to shoot the cover of their new album, Choronzon, due November 4. Costello has previously shot cover art for Ozzy Osbourne's Bark at the Moon and Rush's Permanent Waves. ...

Polish acrobatic death metal band Decapitated have finished recording a new album tentatively titled The Negation. Due in February, it was recorded at Hertz Studio in Poland. Tracks include "The Negation," "Three-Dimensional Defect," "The Fury" and "Sensual Sickness." ... Children of Bodom's fourth album, the nine-track Hate Crew Deathroll, will be released September 23. In November the Finnish group will tour North America with Dimmu Borgir, Nevermore and Hypocrisy. ...

Texas band Pissing Razors will release their fifth record, Evolution, on September 23. The disc will be their first with new vocalist Andre Acosta. Before hitting the road with Pissing Razors, guitarist Matt Difabio will tour with side project Single Bullet Theory in support of their new disc, 666. ... Danish power metal band Mnemic will release their debut, Mechanical Spin Phenomena, on September 23. The disc was recorded in March at AntFarm Studios in Denmark and produced by Tue Madsen (Haunted, Grope). ...

—By Iann Robinson, Ryan J. Downey, Robert Mancini and Jon Wiederhorn

• Cannibal Corpse
• Quiet Riot
• Kreator
• Skinlab
• King Diamond

Fireball Ministry
Photo: Bong Load Records

Greetings fellow metalers, how goes it? Iann Robinson here. This week was particularly good for me. I got to check out the Black Flag reunion in NYC with Henry Rollins, Keith Morris and the Rollins Band. I know a lot of people are complaining that there's no Greg Ginn or Chuck Dukowski, but I gotta tell you, you'd be a fool to miss this show. First off, it's for a great cause, the West Memphis Three Defense Fund, and if you don't know about the West Memphis Three, then check out www.wm3.org and the movies "Paradise Lost" and "Paradise Lost 2." Plus, the show is just killer. Keith comes out and does like 10 songs, and then Rollins steps out and does an hour or so of pure high-octane Black Flag magic.

I'm an old Black Flag fanatic and I was totally impressed by this show. There's also a raffle at the show that could win you a Lucite Dan Armstrong guitar signed by everybody involved with the Black Flag tribute album for the West Memphis Three. The guitars come with signatures from guys like Corey Taylor from Slipknot, Nick Oliveri of Queens of the Stone Age, Mike Patton and on and on. If you haven't checked out Rise Above: A Tribute to Black Flag, the West Memphis Three benefit album, then you should do so. If you want to catch the show, go to www.henryrollins.com and see when the tour hits your town. That's it for this week — on to the news ...

Powered by their recent success, organizers of the New England Metal and Hardcore Festival are branching out. Promoters will launch the New Jersey Metal and Hardcore Fest on November 14 and 15 at Asbury Park's Convention Hall complex. A lineup is expected to be announced soon. ... Iron Maiden will roll out a new album, Dance of Death, in September. The album, the group's 13th, once again sees the band teaming up with producer Kevin Shirley, who co-produced Maiden's last effort, Brave New World. ...

Superjoint Ritual, the metalcore band featuring Pantera singer Phil Anselmo and bassist Hank Williams III, will tour the United States in July. The tour kicks off on July 4 in Orlando, Florida, and ends July 19 in Flint, Michigan. The band's second album, A Lethal Dose of American Hatred, comes out July 22. ... The second album by Fireball Ministry, The Second Great Awakening, is tentatively due in late September. The disc was produced by Nick Raskulinecz and includes the songs "Master of None," "Flatline" and "The Sinner." ... After their tour with In Flames, Chimaira will take a second stage spot on this summer's Ozzfest. The band's stint starts July 31. ...

Kreator's live DVD Live Kreator: Revisioned Glory will turn up in stores on July 22, coming on the heels of the band's upcoming live album. The release features 17 live tracks, plus a 55-minute history of the band that includes new interview footage. … Type O Negative's Kenny Hickey and Johnny Kelly have teamed up with Dust to Dust's Rob Traynor to work on a new project. Details, including a name for the group, have yet to be hammered out. ...

Repulsion have reunited 14 years after the release of their one and only influential LP, Horrified. Relapse Records reissued a deluxe double-disc version of the album in February, and the band will perform at the 2003 Milwaukee Metalfest, July 25-26. ... Six Feet Under have finished mixing and mastering their fifth studio disc, Bringer of Blood, due September 23. The album is the follow-up to 2001's True Carnage, which featured guest vocals by Ice-T on the track "One Bullet Left." Six Feet Under issued the half-live, half-compilation disc Double Dead in late January. ...

Zyklon — a band featuring ex-Emperor members Samoth (guitar) and Trym (drums) and Myrkskog's Destructhor (guitar) — will release their latest disc, Aeon, in early September. Emperor's Faust penned lyrics for the record. The album was produced by Fredrik Nordstrom and includes the tracks "Psyklon Aeon," "Core Solution" and "Subtle Manipulation." ... Black metal outfit Abigor have split up, according to main man Peter Kubik. ... Amorphis will release the single "Evil Inside" on June 20, the first from the band's upcoming album, Far From the Sun. ... Soilwork have tapped drummer Richard Evensand (Ebony Tears, Dog Faced Gods) to replace recently departed Henry Ranta. ...

—compiled by Iann Robinson, Jon Wiederhorn, Robert Mancini and Joe D'Angelo

• Iron Maiden
• Fireball Ministry
• Repulsion
• Superjoint Ritual
• Kreator

Korn's Jonathan Davis
Photo: Amy V. Cooper

Hello metal children, what's up? Iann Robinson here with this week's Metal File. Well the New England Metal and Hardcore festival was the complete package I hoped it would be. Big props to Scott Lee for organizing the thing and making it run like clockwork, not to mention picking amazing bands. I hung out there and filmed a lot of acts. Hopefully those bands will make MTV News and "Headbangers Ball" next week.

There were too many groups to just slap into highlights, but if I were forced to I'd have to say Lamb of God, Shadows Fall, Himsa, Hate Eternal, Premonitions of War, Pig Destroyer, the Haunted, Lacuna Coil (she is so hot it's almost painful), Killswitch Engage, Unearth and Shai Hulud, and of course the newly reunited Suffocation were awesome to see back in action. The Suffocation guys gave me a song they'd just written, and it kills, trust me. I also got a burn of a new album from a band called Tragedy, which I was stoked about because it features former members of one of my favorite bands, His Hero Is Gone. I can't wait to tear into that. Other than the festival, little is going on; just getting stoked for the Nuclear Blast reunion — that'll be killer. Well, until next time, metalers, I'll see you at the shows:

Rob Zombie returns to the chair this week, hosting "Headbangers Ball" from the New England Metal and Hardcore Festival. Zombie talks to members of Lamb of God, Killswitch Engage, Meshuggah, Hate Eternal, Superjoint Ritual, Eighteen Visions and Shadows Fall on the show, which premieres Saturday at 10 p.m. ET/ 7 p.m. PT on MTV2. ... Speaking of Lamb of God, the band recently a shot a video for the song "11th Hour" off of its new album, As the Palaces Burn. ... Korn and Nickelback will play at the Labatt Blue Hometown Bash on August 16 in London, Ontario. Other acts include Simple Plan and Three Days Grace. ...

Morbid Angel have reunited with original singer/bassist Steve Tucker and have been locked in a studio recording their new album. ... Slayer's War at the Warfield DVD has been pushed back for production reasons to July 29. ... Former Stabbing Westward frontman Chris Hall and ex-Star 69 bassist Warren Huart and drummer Johnny Haro have formed a band called the Dreaming. The group is recording demo material with Bryan Carlstrom, who engineered Stabbing Westward's Darkest Days. ...

Rock City Morgue, the new project of former White Zombie bassist Sean Yseult, will release the six-song EP Some Ghouls on June 10. The record will include a cover of the Rolling Stones' "Shattered" as well as the originals "Beware," "Cut You Loose," "Get Out of My House," "Falling Apart" and "Guilt Trip." ... Producer Matt Bayles (Isis, Mastodon) is mixing Burnt by the Sun's The Perfect Enemy of the Good in Seattle. The band recently finished recording at New Jersey's Trax East Studios. ... Vader have announced a fall tour with Nile, Kreator, Amon Amarth and Goatwhore. ...

Orange County, California, metalcore merchants Eighteen Visions will embark on a U.S. tour supporting Strung Out in August. ... The Icarus Line will be recording their new full-length in London with Kevin Shields of Primal Scream fame. ... Arch Enemy/Mercyful Fate bassist Sharlee D'Angelo has teamed up with Mercyful Fate/King Diamond guitarist Mike Wead, Dream Evil/King Diamond drummer Snowy Shaw and Simon Johansson of Memory Garden/Abstrakt Algebra in a new band called Firegod. No singer has been announced yet. ... Stabwound have signed to Brutal Bands Records for a two-album deal. ...

—compiled by Iann Robinson, Ryan J. Downey, Jon Wiederhorn and Robert Mancini

• Korn
• Lamb of God
• Slayer
• Killswitch Engage
• Meshuggah