A Life Once Lost
Photo: Tim Harmon

During last summer's Ozzfest, a disturbing yet somewhat amusing tradition of sorts was birthed — one several second-stage acts ritualistically ended their days with.

After the shows, some bandmembers would plop themselves down in a long line of lawn chairs situated across the street from the parking lot of whatever venue they'd just collectively rattled. There, the musicians would sit and chug cans of lukewarm beer while brutally taunting the hundreds of kids — who'd just paid good money to roast the day away in the blistering sun and take in the metal — as they returned to their cars.

The bands dubbed it "Lurker's Row." Bob Meadows, frontman for Philadelphia metalcore extremists A Life Once Lost, witnessed these nightly roasts from time to time — but as a spectator, he said.

"It was kind of funny, but really, I was always like, 'Dang — I can't believe we're sitting here, just belittling all of these people who came out to a festival that we just played. This is how we're treating our friends and new guests — let's just torment them and make fun of them while they're leaving,' " he said. "Don't get me wrong — I will make fun of someone if I know them. But I think that kind of stuff is a little weird. I was made fun of in school a lot, so I try to stay away from making fun of people I don't know. I need positivity in my life."

"Lurker's Row" was just one of the ways the bands battled the boredom that comes with touring. Whether it returns in '07 remains to be seen; its revival rests solely with Hatebreed, the one act that'll be coming back for this summer's rendition.

While A Life Once Lost don't condone such tomfoolery, on their forthcoming LP — the head-crushing, incredibly abrasive, self-produced Iron Gag — Meadows does call out a few of the people who've pissed him off in recent years. But not by name, of course.

"There's just a lot of things I've wanted to say to a lot of people on this record," he explained. "Even within a song, there could be two or three people I'm talking about. It was just inspired by a lot of things I've wanted to say but haven't because I had to watch myself. There are so many ugly things going on in the music scene and life, and I was just like, 'F--- it, if I say something that's going to piss someone off, then it wasn't meant to be anyway. Let me just get this all off my chest.' So, this album's just really pissed, and it's just very vicious."

The songs on Iron Gag — like "Ill Will," "Firewater Joyride" and "Worship" — take jabs at womanizers, racists, addicts and those who Meadows believes aren't living up to their full potential. The singer said Iron Gag "sounds nothing like [2005's] Hunter," adding that, "the recording quality, to my ears, is just a million times better.

"The songs are just way more fierce," he continued. "There's just an element about it that Hunter didn't have, and I think maybe that was just us doing it ourselves. It was us learning from [Hunter producer and Anthrax guitarist] Rob Caggiano how to actually approach the songs and my working with [Lamb of God's] Randy Blythe on the vocal production, which taught me how to approach the songs well. And with all of that working together, we've definitely put out a record that's going to move a lot of heads — make people turn around and be like, 'Holy sh--.' It's a monster of a release."

The band spent four months — or more specifically, six hours a day, five days a week — working on Iron Gag, and Blythe's guidance helped Meadows turn in what he says is the best performance he was capable of.

"Randy came in, and I would say it was more like he helped me with certain accents on the words — certain ways of approaching my delivery," he said. "The lines and the phrasing, that was already done before we met up. To me, to come into the studio and to have him sitting in there and never hearing the songs before and being like, 'Dude, that's pretty sick. I never would have thought of that,' or, 'I like what you're doing there, but how about you bring that word up a little higher at the end, to give it that extra oomph.' "

The band also benefited from Blythe's past work with the producing likes of Machine and Devin Townsend. "You can just hear it coming out of him," Meadows said of the noticeable influence the producers have had on the Lamb of God frontman. "This guy's been wrapped up in it for years, and he really knows what he's talking about. I knew exactly how I wanted it to sound like, and how pissed I wanted it to be, but having someone like Randy come in only adds so much more intensity to it."

Look for Iron Gag to land in stores in August, Meadows said.

The rest of the week's metal news:

Necrophagist have a new drummer in Marco Minnemann. He replaces Hannes Grossmann, who left the band earlier this year. "The band is absolutely stoked to announce that Minnemann will be drumming on the new Necrophagist album, due in 2008," read a statement from the German technical death metallers. "We can't wait to work on arranging the new songs with such an incredibly talented, proficient and complete musician." ... Behemoth's forthcoming LP The Apostasy is in the bag. Recorded in the Polish band's hometown of Gdansk with frontman Nergal and longtime sound engineer Malta behind the boards, the disc is due in July. ... Swedish metal titans Soilwork continue to work on their next opus, which should surface later this year. Frontman Björn Strid is currently in Canada tracking vocals for the yet-untitled LP with producer Devin Townsend, who helmed 2002's Natural Born Chaos. The band does admit, though, that it's still got "a long way to go" before the album is completed. Look for the disc to include "Your Beloved Scapegoat," "Light Discovering Darkness" and "The Pittsburgh Syndrome." ...

Nile, who'll spend this summer playing Ozzfest's second stage, have entered the mixing phase for their forthcoming LP, Ithyphallic. "There are nine songs and one short acoustic piece," writes the band, "yet overall, a wide range of tempos, some doomy, exotic elements as well as some unbelievably fast and catchy metal." The record will boast "Language of the Shadows," "Even the Gods Must Die" and the brevity-challenged "Papyrii Containing the Spell to Preserve Its Possessor Against Attacks From He Who Is in the Water." ... If you're craving something more extreme and violent than Sounds of the Underground or Ozzfest, you might wanna check out the Summer Slaughter tour. The gore-drenched traveling fest features Necrophagist, Decapitated, Cephalic Carnage, Cattle Decapitation, Beneath the Massacre, the Faceless, As Blood Runs Black, Arsis and Ion Dissonance. Dates run from June 1 in Clifton Park, New York, through July 8 in New York. Careful in the mosh pit: Spilled blood is way slippery. ... Thine Eyes Bleed, the Canadian thrash band featuring bassist Johnny Araya (brother of Slayer frontman Tom), are hard at work on their second full-length album. The band tracked the disc at Beach Road Studios in Goderich, Ontario, with producer Siegfried Meier and are getting ready to mix. "Things couldn't have been better this time around," singer Justin Wolfe said. "We were able to listen and create without the pressures of budget and time and it's really going to show." The yet-untitled album is scheduled for release this summer. ...

Austin, Texas, black-metal band Averse Sefira will remain on tour with 1349 through Monday in Albuquerque, New Mexico, then they'll return home to continue working on their next album. While the release of the disc is still many months away, the band has already hired Jos. A. Smith — best known for painting the goat on Bathory's 1984 self-titled debut — to create the cover art. Earlier this month, Averse Sefira reissued their long-out-of-print debut album, Battle Clarion. ... Riverside, California, hardcore-metal band Suicide Silence have just finished recording their debut album, which was produced by John Travis (Static-X, Zebrahead) and mixed by Tue Madsen (Witchery, Kataklysm). The yet-untitled disc will be released this summer. "Working with John Travis was definitely an amazing experience," singer Mitch Lucker said. "He had us track everything live in order in order to capture the intensity we were aiming for." The disc will feature guest vocals by new Through the Eyes of the Dead singer Nate Johnson. Suicide Silence are on tour with Stick to Your Guns through Wednesday in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Two days later they'll launch a tour with Bury Your Dead in Rochester, New York, with dates running through June 3 in Chicopee, Massachusetts. ...

Terror have been added to the Monsters of Mayhem II tour, which also features Hatebreed, God Forbid, Evergreen Terrace and the Acacia Strain. "Overall, this tour has a great lineup," Terror frontman Scott Vogel said. "For starters, we are very excited to be going out with Hatebreed again. They are influential and inspirational, and there is no other band we would rather tour with. And God Forbid is a band we always thought we should tour with, so we are glad to finally be going out with them." The tour launches May 18 in Rochester, New York, and runs through June 7 in Omaha, Nebraska. ... Lacuna Coil have posted the new video for "Within Me" on their MySpace page. The clip was shot in February in Italy. The band will remain on the road with the Jägermeister Music Tour, which also features Stone Sour and Shadows Fall, through May 4 in Des Moines. On May 7, Lacuna Coil will launch a headline tour in Louisville, Kentucky, with Within Temptation, In This Moment and Stolen Babies. Stolen Babies will support LC throughout, while the other bands will only play select shows — as will the Gathering and Kylesa. For the tour, Lacuna Coil are inviting fans to choose the set list — right here. Voting ends April 20. ...

Industrial-metal band Hardwire: The Industrial Hardcore Tech will write a song for an upcoming horror film tentatively titled "The 3rd Night on Winter Drive." Guitarist/singer Mike Marsh is currently scoring the film, which he also co-produced, co-wrote and acted in with costar Patti Tindall ("Machined"). "The film centers on a paranormal investigator who is hired to investigate a house where an upstanding religious family lived and was murdered," Marsh said. "It's like a cross between 'The Amityville Horror' and the television show 'Ghost Hunters.' " Postproduction is expected to be completed in May in time to submit the movie to film festivals. ... Testament singer Chuck Billy, ex-Exodus singer Steve "Zetro" Souza and Laaz Rockit's Willy Lange have re-formed their '80s Dublin, California, outfit Dublin Death Patrol. Over the past six months, the guys have been rearranging and restructuring old songs and working on new material. An album recorded with Vinnie Wojno is forthcoming. "This is what we have to give to the metal world," Souza said, "a kick-ass, straight-up, aggressive and in your f---ing face album of music by guys just from Dublin, California."

• A Life Once Lost
• Lamb of God
• Behemoth
• Soilwork
• The Acacia Strain

Lordi
Photo: The End Records

Life is good for Lordi.

The empire is strong and the franchise is booming. With his stomach full from a multi-course meal at Lordi's Rocktaurant in Rovaniemi, Finland, frontman Tomi Petteri Putaansuu — a.k.a. "Mr. Lordi" — picked up the phone to spread the gospel of his band to North America.

"It's a cool thing to have your own restaurant," he said as he prepared for dessert. "You can taste a little of everything on the menu and not worry about missing anything."

If he had wanted to, Putaansuu could have washed down his meal with a bottle or two of Lordi Cola, but he ordered Pepsi because the restaurant doesn't have the Lordi drink on tap — yet. And, if he had to pay for the sumptuous meal, he could have used a Lordi credit card. Fortunately he owns the restaurant. Even more fortunately, he doesn't have an active credit card.

"That would actually ruin me to bankruptcy," he said. "It would lead me to order Kiss artifacts from the 'Net. I'm a big collector of these things, and to this day I'm the president of the Kiss Army in Finland."

It goes without saying that without Kiss, Lordi — Putaansuu, guitarist Jussi Sydänmaa ("Amen"), bassist Samer el Nahhal ("Ox"), keyboardist Leena Peisa ("Awa") and drummer Sampsa Astala ("Kita") — wouldn't exist. Like Putaansuu's heroes, Lordi wear makeup and costumes, play anthemic melodic metal and believe strongly in branding. And like Kiss, Lordi are huge. Sure, they're still relatively unknown in North America, but their 2006 album, The Arockalypse — which comes out on these shores March 20 — is triple-platinum in Finland and nearly as huge across the rest of Europe.

But there's a major difference between Lordi and Kiss. While Kiss' image stems from cartoons and comic books, Lordi's comes straight from horror movies, which has drawn them comparisons to Gwar. "I am not offended, but I didn't know [about] Gwar until people in Germany asked me about them in interviews," Putaansuu said. "They are so obscure in Europe that it's easy to miss them. I was much more influenced by people like Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, Leatherface and Pinhead and the Cenobites from 'Hellraiser.' I have always been fascinated with monsters and learned to do prosthetic makeup when I was 10 years old."

Putaansuu started Lordi in 1992 as a one-man project and released the band's first demo. Three years later, he recruited friends from the Kiss Army and wrote songs that blended the simplicity of Kiss, the edge of W.A.S.P. and the drive of Accept. Numerous label auditions fell on deaf ears before Lordi were signed in 2002 and released their debut, Get Heavy. They followed two years later with The Monsterican Dream, but Lordi remained an underground phenomenon until last year, when they were contacted by staffers at the pop-music Eurovision Song Contest to represent Finland.

"It's a really kitschy competition, and there was no way in hell any band in Europe would join if they wanted to take themselves seriously," Putaansuu said of the event that launched his band's mainstream career. "But at the time, we had nothing to lose because we were kind of marginal. Metal people thought we were too melodic and mainstream audiences thought we would come and burn their churches."

Lordi played the stomping "Hard Rock Hallelujah" on the televised program and swept the semifinals with 42 percent of the total vote for 12 different contestants, many of whom played Finnish folk music or pop. Then, in January 2006, Lordi competed at the finals. "We felt so out of place there," Putaansuu said. "It was like if Bob Dylan went to a black-metal festival. But all the hard-rock people and metal people came out of the woodwork and voted for us and we won with the highest-ever points in Eurovision history."

The victory propelled Lordi to stardom and piqued the interest of former Kiss manager Bill Aucoin, who linked up with the band. Lordi will make their U.S. debut May 5-6 at the Bamboozle festival in East Rutherford, New Jersey. A full U.S. tour is also being planned.

"I don't know if we'll have the same success in the States, but we'd like to," Putaansuu said. "All of our influences come from the States — metal and movie culture. So it would be a great way of saying we have arrived."

The rest of the week's metal news:

The dates have been revealed for the upcoming Jägermeister Music Tour featuring Stone Sour, Lacuna Coil and Shadows Fall. The tour kicks off March 23 in Maplewood, Minnesota, and is scheduled to hit Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Chicago, Detroit, New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Atlanta before wrapping up May 4 in West Des Moines, Iowa. ... Sevendust and Killswitch Engage have been tapped to headline the Red, Black and Blue Festival, which will take place February 22 at the Glens Falls Civic Center in Glens Falls, New York. Joining them on the bill will be DragonForce, Chimaira and Diecast. ... Caliban are entering the studio this week to begin working on their forthcoming LP From Sorrow to Serenity with producer Benny Richter. The disc is slated for release this summer. ...

Frontman Nick Brooks has skipped out on It Dies Today and been replaced by Jason Wood of the Orphan. "The last six years have been incredible and I've seen and done more things than I ever thought were possible with this band," Brooks said in a statement. "I also met so many amazing people along the way and I want to thank all of the fans for being so supportive. ... I've decided to leave the band because that is what is best for everyone at the moment. I will miss everyone, but be sure that you will be hearing from me again. I have a new band called Queen City Station and we should be recording sometime this spring." ... According to drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott, the forthcoming self-titled album from his new band Hellyeah — which features current members of Mudvayne and erstwhile members of Nothingface — "is the best record I've collaborated on since [Pantera's 1992 LP] Vulgar Display of Power. The vibe is 'positive with a kick-your-ass-attitude.' The incredible music we've created [has] brought me back to what I love." The disc is slated for release April 10. ...

Through the Eyes of the Dead have decided on Malice as the title for their upcoming sophomore LP, the follow-up to 2005's Bloodlust. The album is being produced by Hate Eternal's Erik Rutan (Goatwhore, the Absence) and recording will get under way February 16. The band plans to have the effort in the bag by March 15. ... Metal extremists Vital Remains have finished recording their forthcoming album with said producer Rutan. It is the group's second LP with Deicide's Glen Benton on vocals and will be in stores April 3. ... Swedish metallers Carnal Forge have signed with Candlelight Records, and new material from the band is expected to land in stores later this year. Carnal Forge had previously released several albums through Century Media Records, including their most recent, 2004's Aren't You Dead Yet? ...

Drummer Eric Schnee has left Nebraska metal outfit Paria and returned to his native New Jersey to revive his former band the Binding. "After a year or so of being away from the band, we have decided that it is time to resurrect this beast again and continue with what we started," Schnee explained in a statement. "We will be touring this coming summer, promoting our now critically acclaimed self-titled EP starting in late June and going until July. I can't even begin to express how excited we are." ... Naglfar's next album Harvest will see release March 13. The effort will contain nine tracks in all, including "Into the Black," "The Mirrors of My Soul" and "Feeding Moloch." ...

Swiss mathcore conjurers Knut are down a guitarist following the departure of Jeremy (just Jeremy), who has split to focus his energies on Mumakil, a grind side project. "This marks the end of an eight-plus-year partnership and a big letdown considering the atmosphere that prevailed within the band and the amount of enthusiasm towards our latest performances," the band expressed in a statement. "We can't help thinking that the best Knut lineup is history. What the future holds for Knut after 12 years of incredibly fulfilling activity, and what might be one too many changes in its shape and form, remains to be determined." ... Obituary, Atheist and Repulsion have been confirmed for the Los Angeles Murderfest Version 3.0, which is set for March 24-25 at the Knitting Factory Hollywood. Also on the festival's bill are Kylesa, Genghis Tron, Brutal Truth, Pig Destroyer and Cretin. ...

Machinemade God have lost guitarist Holger Kiparski but didn't' waste any time finding his replacement, as they've added Marc Niedersberg to the fold. "With this new and strong lineup, we're hitting the road in February for a short headlining tour together with our friends in Deadsoil and Koroded," read a statement from the band. Machinemade God plan to hit the studio in March to begin tracking their second album. ... Thrash titans Byzantine will issue Oblivion Beckons in July. The LP will boast a dozen tracks, as well as note-for-note guitar transcriptions with standard musical notations and guitar tablatures. Byzantine will head out on the Chains of Humanity tour with God Forbid, Goatwhore, Mnemic and Arsis starting January 31 in Houston. In related news, Arsis have parted company with drummer Mike Van Dyne, replacing him with Darren Cesca of Burn in Silence and Goratory note. ...

Suicide City, which features former Biohazard lynchpin Billy Graziadei and former Kittie bassist Jennifer Arroyo, began tracking their forthcoming full-length earlier this month. The effort should be out this spring. "The new material is taking Suicide City to the next level, and we can't wait to share it all with you," the band said in a statement. ... Norwegian black-metal legends Emperor will return to the U.S. for three shows this spring. The band played four Stateside gigs last summer, all before sell-out crowds. "The shows last summer were very successful and we had an amazing turnout and support from all the fans," the band said in a statement. "We feel a few more shows are due and this time, all visas are in order and the band will appear in its full command." Emperor will storm Chicago on May 30, hit New York on June 1 and plays West Hollywood, California, on June 3.

• Lordi
• Emperor
• Knut
• Vital Remains
• Stone Sour

Black Dahlia Murder
Photo: Mark Coatsworth/ Metal Blade Records

"I think this third one's going to be a beast," Trevor Strnad, frontman for Detroit death-metallers the Black Dahlia Murder, recently proclaimed of the band's fresh material.

There was genuine excitement in Strnad's voice as he spoke about the yet-untitled album they'll record in March. Could it be that these tracks are just that good? Or could it be that he was actually excited about something else: making significant progress in the 1987 Nintendo game "Friday the 13th," based on the masked-murderer horror flicks? He's been playing the game for years but has yet to beat it. "Today I killed Jason's mom's flying severed head," he boasted.

But there's much more going on in Strnad's life these days than tracking down a hockey-masked psycho and sauntering around a virtual Crystal Lake. The first item of business for the Black Dahlia Murder — who fired former drummer Zach Gibson early last year — is finding a replacement to help them finish the LP they're nearly done writing.

"Writing and looking for a drummer simultaneously has been a pain in the ass," he said. "We're trying to keep things on schedule. We have the album written, largely. We just need to get the drummer in and work everything out with him."

Strnad said Black Dahlia have auditioned several hopefuls, like Nick Pierce of technical-metal outfit the Faceless, and that he wants the band to make a decision before the end of the month. But finding a new drummer has been tough "because we have a bad reputation now. When we lost Zach, he slandered us pretty bad" on his MySpace page, according to Strnad. Gibson wrote that the band was "nothing without me," "were nothing until I joined" and that some bandmembers didn't care "about anything accept making money."

"It's still hanging over us, kind of," Strnad said. "[The posts] went public, and it was all over the place. ... There are still people who talk about that, and we're trying to dispel those rumors."

So far the Black Dahlia have written eight cuts for the follow-up to 2005's Miasma and have been using computer programs to craft drum tracks for the songs. "It's going to be an impressive record," Strnad promised. "[Guitarist Brian Eschbach] is the songwriter usually, and we all help with arrangements, but that kid never ceases to amaze me. The longer we're together, the more that we play, and the more experience we have on the road, it all makes you into a better player. So, whenever it comes time to start writing, he's just full of surprises. He's really been blowing me away with the new sh--. It's definitely in the same vein as our older stuff. Nothing drastically changed. It's just more tasteful, and some of this new stuff will be faster than the last record."

When the band does enter the studio in March, it'll do so without the benefit of a producer. Instead, the Black Dahlia will record with Eric Rachel, who mixed Miasma. "There's going to be a lot more soloing than we've done previously," he explained. "This record's a bit more European-sounding, I think. More so than we already were, if you can imagine that. The solo stuff has a black metal-ish flavor to it. We messed around with that a little bit previously, but some of the songs have a major Dissection kind of feel to them."

Lyrically, Strnad said the record — due in the fall — will be "more horror-oriented" than Miasma. "As far as gore and death and stuff like that goes, I mean, that's all been done — into the ground," he said. "I am just trying to do something like that, but with my own flavor to it. There are still ways to repulse people out there — I just need to figure it all out."

The Black Dahlia Murder will preview several new tracks when they head out on a U.S. tour in April. Strnad can't say who they'll be touring with just yet, but he did confirm that his band will appear at this year's annual New England Metal & Hardcore Festival, which has been set for April 27-28 in Worcester, Massachusetts. He said the Black Dahlia are also working on their first DVD release, which he hopes will include footage documenting the making of their next record.

The rest of the week's metal news:

The debut album from Hellyeah — the new band featuring Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott, Mudvayne's Chad Gray and Greg Tribbett, and Tom Maxwell and Jerry Montano of Nothingface — will hit stores April 10. In the meantime, check out some song samples over at the band's MySpace page. ... Stone Sour, Lacuna Coil and Shadows Fall will tour together under the Jägermeister Music Tour banner. The routing has yet to be revealed, but the tour is expected to launch March 23 and hit St. Paul, Minnesota; Milwaukee; Chicago; Detroit; New York; Boston; and Atlanta. ... A compilation of post-'80s songs by Bay Area thrash-metal legends Testament will come out February 13. The Spitfire Collection will include newer tracks like "Careful What You Wish For" and "The Burning Times," as well as live versions of classics such as "Practice What You Preach" and "Souls of Black." ... Kittie will launch a North American tour February 9 in Hartford, Connecticut, with dates running through March 24 in Warren, Michigan. Support will come from Walls of Jericho, 36 Crazyfists and Dead to Fall. Kittie's new album, Funeral for Yesterday, comes out February 20 on their own X of Infamy label. ...

Job for a Cowboy have added drummer Jon "The Charn" Rice to the fold. "For me, it's a dream come true," he said via press release. "It's one of those things where you take a chance and send a demo over and then your life is changed. I'm really looking forward to living on the road." The band recently wrapped the recording of its Metal Blade Records debut, which is slated for release this spring. ... Metal-influenced prog band Porcupine Tree are wrapping up their new album, Fear of a Blank Planet, at Galaxy Studios in Belgium. The album is scheduled for release April 24. On March 6, a collaboration between Porcupine Tree frontman Steven Wilson and Israeli songwriter Aviv Geffen, Blackfield II, will also be released. ... Nora are expected to enter the recording studio this month to begin recording their next LP, Save Yourself. Frontman Carl Severson said there are 10 songs written and ready to be put to tape, and that the tracks "are definitely heavier, and we have our fastest songs on here and our most plodding and slow, sludgy material as well." ...

Obsessed Pantera fans A Perfect Murder will enter the studio January 29 to record their third album, War of Aggression. The disc will be produced by Pierre Rémillard (Cryptopsy, Gorguts) at Wild Studio in Quebec and is scheduled for a June 12 release. According to guitarist and songwriter Carl Bouchard, the disc will be "more structured and well-balanced. Having more experience as a performer has impacted my songwriting, but just growing up as a person has helped create a more mature sound in the band." The Canadians' new disc will mark the debuts of guitarist Kyrill Ducharme and bassist Francois-Michel Labrie. ... Lamb of God frontman Randy Blythe will assist A Life Once Lost with the recording of their forthcoming album, Iron Gag, which they'll start putting to tape February 8. Blythe will brainstorm with singer Bob Meadows on the album's vocal direction. ... Cory White, guitarist for the Esoteric, has left the band for personal reasons. His replacement will be announced shortly. In addition, drummer Marshall Kilpatric has been ousted and replaced by the group's old drummer, Adam Mitchell, who played on the Esoteric's early material but left after the release of their 2002 EP, A Reason to Breathe. "This band is a living, breathing entity, and in the life of a band that makes music for music's sake, change is an undeniable part of evolution," read a group statement. ...

Watain have posted some fresh darkness on their Web site, in the form of a track called "Sworn to the Dark." The song will be the title cut to the Swedish black metallers' forthcoming third LP, which lands in stores April 17. ... From a Second Story Window, Nights Like These and See You Next Tuesday will team up in February for a spate of gigs. The trek commences February 24 in Memphis and runs through March 4 in Columbus, Ohio. ... Hardcore metal/ screamo howlers Poison the Well will release their new album, Versions, in April. The disc is being produced in Umea, Sweden, by Pelle Henricsson and Eskil Lovstrom, who recorded 2003's You Come Before You. "It's going to be a really different sounding album in hardcore," frontman Ryan Primack said of the effort, which will feature slide guitar, horns and banjo. ... Finnish death-metallers Omnium Gatherum have put the finishing touches on their new one, Stuck Here on Snakes Way, which will be in stores April 3. The set will feature a dozen tracks, including "Dysnomia," "Undertaker" and "In Sane World." ...

Finnish heavy-metal cellists Apocalyptica will release the double-DVD "The Life Burns Tour" February 6. The package will include covers of Metallica's "Fight Fire With Fire" and "Master of Puppets," as well as Sepultura's "Refuse/Resist." Many of the songs feature guest vocalists too: Soulfly's Max Cavalera and Bullet for My Valentine's Matt Tuck perform on "Repressed"; H.I.M.'s Ville Valo and the Rasmus' Lauri Ylönen contribute to "Bittersweet"; and "Seeman" features Nina Hagen. Apocalyptica are currently working on a new album for release later this year. ... Angtoria singer Sarah Jezebel Deva and bassist Dave Pybus will perform on Cradle of Filth's upcoming U.S. tour. Dates run from January 23 in Sayreville, New Jersey, through March 4 in New York. Angtoria's critically acclaimed symphonic-metal album God Has a Plan for Us All came out in October. ... Frontman Ian Campbell has left Neuraxis and has been replaced in short order by Atheretic's Alex Leblanc.

• The Black Dahlia Murder
• Stone Sour
• Lacuna Coil
• Shadows Fall
• Testament

Avenged Sevenfold's M. Shadows (file)
Photo: Giuseppe Cacace/ Getty Images

AUBURN, Washington — Some of the sun-crisped metalheads packed into the White River Amphitheatre for the first stop on this year's 11th annual Ozzfest were skeptical of "TRL" favorites Avenged Sevenfold being on the festival's main stage. But there they were on Thursday, and the naysayers weren't about to distract the band from the mission at hand: Trying to win the crowd over.

So, Avenged, led by the diamond-grilled, Axl-Rose-imitating M. Shadows, pulled the proverbial rabbit out of the hat by covering — and handily at that — a tried-and-true metal classic: Pantera's "Walk." Shadows dedicated the tune to the memory of slain Pantera guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott (see " Dimebag Darrell, Four Others Killed In Ohio Concert Shooting"), and about three riffs in, the audience — even the cynics — were sold, pumping their fists and barking the song's stilted refrain: "Re! Spect! Walk!" And for the rest of the band's set, which ended with "Bat Country," Avenged owned them all.

In short, when in doubt at Ozzfest, cover Pantera. Following the group's debut as part of the festival, Shadows — covered in sweat and chugging bottled water — seemed relieved. How would Avenged celebrate this triumph? A few hours later, they boarded their tour bus and headed for Oregon, where they'd spend Friday (June 30) fishing at a lakeside cabin.

On Thursday, with the majestic, snowcapped Mount Rainier as its backdrop, Sharon Osbourne's traveling circus of heavy metal and hard rock, bad tattoos and worse habits, launched in Auburn. The small town is about 50 minutes from Seattle and its main road is lined with smoke shops, casinos and dilapidated shacks that double as residences and pyrotechnics shops.

Fans started lining up outside the venue at around 5:30 a.m, some coming from as far as Texas for an afternoon and evening filled with debauchery and ear-splitting metal. While Avenged's set was one of the day's many highlights, the majority of the 15,000 fans were there for the same reason: Ozzy Osbourne, the festival's unstoppable namesake.

Ozzy, who closed out the kickoff's main stage but will be playing only half this year's Ozzfest dates (see "Ozzy Playing Ozzfest's Second Stage For The First Time"), whipped the audience into a jubilant frenzy Thursday night. Focusing on his post-Black Sabbath career, Ozzy pleased the crowd with "I Don't Know," "Goodbye to Romance," "Suicide Solution" and "Mama, I'm Coming Home."

Of course, it wouldn't have been an Ozzy show without songs like "Crazy Train" and the set's closer, "Paranoid." But in the end, fans were pleased that the singer not only showed — with guitarist Zakk Wylde shredding away — but finished what he started. When Ozzfest rolled through town last year, he stormed off the stage when his voice went out, abandoning his Black Sabbath bandmates (see "Ozzy Retires As Ozzfest Headliner: 'It's Time For Me To Move On' "). Ozzy was in fine form Thursday, though. He delivered an energetic performance and his voice sounded stronger than it has in years.

Of course, Ozzy wasn't the main stage's sole attraction. Following Avenged, Disturbed mounted the stage for what ended up being one of the night's more commanding sets.

Frontman David Draiman, with his crisp, potent voice, directed fans to thrust their fists above their heads, in effect re-creating the cover of the band's latest LP, Ten Thousand Fists (see "Disturbed Pummel Billboard Competition With #1 Fists"). At one point during Disturbed's performance — which was highlighted by "Liberate," "Stricken" and the closer, "Sickness" — the audience hoisted a fan strapped to a wheelchair high above their heads for a brief crowd-surf. Draiman told his stagehands to bring the fan onstage, shook his hand and wheeled him near the drum kit, where he watched, wide-eyed, as Disturbed continued to instigate the more-than-willing circle-pit moshers who raged in the arena's general-admission area.

Ozzfest vets System of a Down, who'll be going on an indefinite hiatus following Ozzfest (see "System Of A Down Aren't Breaking Up — They're Going On Hiatus"), arrived Wednesday on separate buses. They were the show's most distracting performers — or maybe the most distracted.

At first, through the opening "Soldier's Song" and the next four that followed, guitarist Daron Malakian seemed to be struggling to keep up with the rest of the band, improvising lyrics when it was his turn to bark into the microphone (although during "B.Y.O.B.," he rethought the lyric, "We don't live in a fascist nation," by quickly muttering, "Yes, we do").

Frustration manifested itself on "Lonely Day," when he improvised, "Such a lonely day, hanging out with the band/ This mother----er I can't stand." The band later told us Malakian's impromptu lyric referred to the day (as it does on the album version of the song) and not to any tension between band members, as we had originally surmised: "The only thing that makes a lonely day livable on tour is each other's company," Tankian and Malakian wrote in an e-mail. [The lyric was] referring to the day ... Not each other." None of that seemed to matter to the rabid crowd, though, which leaped, bounced and clawed its way through the pit.

System appeared bored at the beginning of the set, but by the end, they worked the crowd into an abusive mob of fist-pumping fanatics with "Sugar" and other songs. Tankian danced around goofily with his eyes closed through "Hypnotize" while Malakian mounted his guitar.

Long before Avenged even left their dressing rooms, Italian metallers Lacuna Coil led the Ozzfest faithful through a 30-minute set, which included a cover of Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence" and ended with "Our Truth." England's DragonForce, Ozzfest first-timers, played a frantic, high-energy set that ended with "Through the Fire and Flames" and was followed by dozens of kids sprinting for the merch stands to buy the band's shirts.

Hatebreed, making their mainstage debut following a stint two years ago on the second stage (see "Slayer, Hatebreed Doing Double Duty On This Year's Ozzfest"), did what they always do: inspire utter mayhem. Singer Jamey Jasta growled at the audience through "Tear It Down" and then calmly asked fans to take a few steps back during "To the Threshold," as several people had become pinned against the metal barricade separating the pit from the stage. By the finale, "I Will Be Heard," the barricade had buckled, eating into Avenged's time as security crews worked to amend the situation.

As usual, this year's Ozzfest began at the ungodly hour of 9 a.m., with the always-spastic Bad Acid Trip kicking off the dingy second stage. Following A Life Once Lost's crippling cache of metal mischief, it was All That Remains' turn to pound the audience into submission. Led by frontman Phil Labonte, who ran from one side of the stage to the other, the Massachusetts metallers ripped through tracks including "Tattered on My Sleeve." After demanding the audience mosh, pogo or just wake up, during the finale, Labonte jumped into the crowd — a violation of the Ozzfest mandate — and fed the microphone to adoring fans who belched out the lyrics.

"Are you ready for some fast, brutal sh--?," asked the Red Chord's Guy Kozowyk, who, despite suffering from a nasty case of bronchitis he's failed to kick after 10 days of antibiotics, delivered one of the day's most severe and intense sets. He stared maniacally at the audience as it tore itself apart during "Love on the Concrete" and smiled at the pit, from which sneakers flew one after the next. Kozowyk screamed his lungs out — and eventually his breakfast too, as he rushed off the stage following the set and threw up near his band's bus.

Strapping Young Lad rolled out "You Suck," the first single from the technical Canadian group's forthcoming album, The New Black. Strapping abused their instruments for five songs before eventually ending with "Detox," after which frontman Devin Townsend instructed the audience to "Go right to the merch stand and buy all our sh--." He does, after all, have a baby on the way.

Later on, following a performance by Walls of Jericho, Full Blown Chaos' Ray Mazzola fought back tears as he purged the lyrics to "Solemn Promise." He told the audience he'd written the song for his mother, who has been battling cancer for more than a decade. Mazzola regained his composure and resumed barking like a pit bull into the mic.

The stage looked as though a bomb had hit it when Norma Jean dove into "Shotgun Messiah," with their amps strewn, scraped up, torched and melted in various spots. The bandmembers donned torn shirts and jeans and their faces were smeared with dirt, as if they'd just climbed out of a coal mine, as they raced through their guitar-flailing set.

Following Bleeding Through's bone-snapping performance, the crowd — slurping Sno-Cones and sporting body paint on their topless, out-of-shape frames — was wall-to-wall by the time Unearth made their way onstage. The stage undulated as the band delivered a crushing set, highlighted by the punishing "Black Hearts Now Reign."

Atreyu played next, and after they vacated the stage, it was time for Zakk Wylde's Black Label Society, a band that has become as emblematic of the fest as Ozzy himself. Wylde's leather-clad outfit unleashed a sludgy, whiskey-fueled onslaught of razor-sharp guitars, caustic drum work and blasting bass that lived up to the band's reputation of rockin' hard with no-holds-barred.

For more sights and stories from concerts around the country, check out MTV News Tour Reports.

• Avenged Sevenfold
• System of a Down
• Ozzy Osbourne
• Disturbed
• Hatebreed

From a Second Story Window
Photo: Jeremy Saffer

Ask Will Jackson and he'll tell you that the forthcoming sophomore LP by metal extremists From a Second Story Window isn't a concept album — it's more of a musical piece that a single word helped inspire.

That would be delenda, a Latin term that means "the promise to destroy everything," the frontman said. "The Greeks used the delenda campaign when they were destroying Carthage."

FASSW were so intrigued by the term that they're using it as the name of their new album.

"It's an inspiring word, because the promise to destroy everything means you understand there is an end to everything," he elaborated. "That's ultimately what this record is about: It's about the human understanding of an end and all the emotional stuff that goes along with that understanding. So each song is written from an emotional human standpoint, through some sort of scripted dialogue. This album delves into the idea that as humans we're all living everything day to day, but that we're all going to face a sudden end. A lot of people choose not to deal with that."

But not FASSW, who're on the road with Cattle Decapitation, Misery Index, Animosity and Job for a Cowboy through the end of next month. Delenda, the follow-up to 2004's Not One Word Has Been Omitted, lands in stores July 11.

"I would say it's the most accomplished thing we've put together," Jackson said. "It's leaps and bounds beyond the last record they'd done [Jackson joined the band in 2005 following the departure of Sean Vandegrift]. We put our minds together and we put everything we have into this record. We want to create music that will leave a lasting message and impact the music scene in general. The music that we've tackled on this new record is more approachable, more listenable than the last record, and we're trying to take this more extreme approach to music and apply it to the masses and make it to where everyone can get into it. The scene we're a part of has always been super-underground, and if we can do anything that's going to take it to more people ... that's what we're trying to do with this record."

But at the same time, Jackson said FASSW want to push the boundaries of musical experimentation and ingenuity because, "if you're not bringing something new to the table, you are just imitating or repeating," he said. "Taking ideas or being inspired by something is a lot different than regurgitating. Nowadays, it doesn't seem like a lot of people are thinking about the music they make, they just want to write songs with breakdowns, because kids are addicted to breakdowns. It's like we can't overcome that at all as a genre. Breakdowns are the new solo. But this record's one kids will have to read the lyrics to and sit down and listen to instead of just waiting for the breakdown."

In late August, FASSW will hit the road in Seattle with Darkest Hour, Misery Signals and Versus the Mirror for a string of dates that'll keep them busy through September 8 in Baltimore. Jackson said the band's got several irons in the proverbial fire for the fall but nothing's concrete yet. Within the next year, Jackson's hoping the band can elevate its profile enough to where it's fielding even bigger touring offers.

"We'd been approached for [this year's] Sounds of the Underground, but it was all booked up," Jackson said. "We've been very close to landing a lot of giant package tours, and I think that is definitely something that's going to happen for us more in the future."

The rest of the week's metal news:

Lacuna Coil have lined up seven off-date Ozzfest gigs just as "Enjoy the Silence," the second single from their latest offering, Karmacode, is set to impact commercial-rock radio. The Coil will perform with Disturbed, Avenged Sevenfold and Atreyu in Englewood, Colorado (July 5); Rob Zombie and Anthrax in Oklahoma City (July 12); DragonForce and Between the Buried and Me in Minneapolis (July 14); Atreyu in Grand Rapids, Michigan, (July 20); Avenged and Bleeding Through in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, (August 8); Atreyu in Nashville (August 10); and DragonForce and Between the Buried and Me in Atlanta (August 11). ... In related news, Between the Buried and Me and DragonForce are teaming for more off-dates: June 30 (Eugene, Oregon); July 5 (Colorado Springs, Colorado); July 12 (Fort Worth, Texas); July 13 (Columbia, Missouri, with the Red Chord and A Life Once Lost); July 17 (Traverse City, Michigan); July 24 (Louisville, Kentucky, with Bleeding Through); July 31 (Poughkeepsie, New York); August 2 (Burlington, Vermont); August 12 (Tallahassee, Florida); August 14 (Lake Buena Vista, Florida); August 15 (St. Petersburg, Florida); August 17 (New Orleans); and August 18 (Houston). ...

Soilwork will hit the road this fall with Mnemic, Threat Signal and Darkest Hour for a North American run that kicks off October 5 in Springfield, Virginia. The bands will make stops in Cleveland, San Francisco, Atlanta, New York and Philadelphia before winding down November 11 in Detroit. ... Speaking of Threat Signal, the Ontario technical thrashers will release their debut, Under Reprisal, August 22. The disc was produced by Fear Factory bassist Christian Olde Wolbers and includes "Counterbalance," "One Last Breath" and "Rational Eyes." Dave Brodsky (Bury Your Dead, God Forbid) shot a video for the latter in late April. ... All Shall Perish shot a video last weekend in California with Richie Valdez (Ed Gein, the Red Chord) for "Eradication," the first single off the technical death-metallers' August 8 release, The Price of Existence. ... Fear Factory's upcoming Machines at War Tour, featuring Suffocation, Hypocrisy and Decapitated, will launch October 26 in San Francisco. Dates are booked through December 9 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. ... The track list for Unearth's next album, III: In the Eyes of Fire, has been finalized. The LP will boast 11 tracks, including "This Glorious Nightmare," "The Devil Has Risen" and "Big Bear and the Hour of Chaos." The set hits stores August 8, as does a limited-edition version that will include a DVD containing a making-of segment and four live videos. ...

Two new tracks from Ozzfest second-stagers Full Blown Chaos have surfaced on — where else? — their MySpace page. "Chopping Block" and "Solemn Praise" come from the Connecticut metallers' upcoming disc Within the Grasp of Titans, which will be in stores July 11. ... Springfield, Massachusetts, hardcore-metal band the Acacia Strain recently shot a video for "Angry Mob Justice" with Dave Brodsky. The band will tour North America later this summer before heading to Europe in the fall. Before that, though, the Acacia Strain — whose second album, The Dead Walk, came out last week — will continue touring with Soilent Green through July 9 in New York. ... Ion Dissonance singer Gabriel McCaughry has quit the band to focus on other ventures. "It's time for me to concentrate more on different styles of music, different artistic mediums and more on personal issues," he said in a statement. "There are so many things I wanna achieve in life that were impossible for me to undertake and still be committed to the band." McCaughry's last show with Ion Dissonance will be July 9 in Ontario and, from July 15 to July 24, Despised Icon singer Alexandre Erian will fill in. Singers interested in filling the spot permanently should e-mail iondissonance@hotmail.com. ...

Pennsylvania's Circle of Dead Children have parted ways with drummer Mike Bartek. In a vague and angry statement, the band said, "He crossed way over the line and defecated on any concepts of friendship and respect possible and stooped lower than we thought even he would ever go. ... Mike's departure will be a huge blessing in disguise." The band is on indefinite hiatus while it searches for a replacement. Drummers wishing to try out for the position should e-mail salo120@circleofdeadchildren.net. ... Through the Eyes of the Dead are about to release their Jonathan Covert (Nine Inch Nails, Mortiis)-directed video for "Two Inches From a Main Artery" from their 2005 album, Bloodlust. TTEOTD are currently on tour with Terror and Death Before Dishonor and are gearing up for Sounds of the Underground, which launches July 8 in Cleveland with As I Lay Dying, In Flames, Gwar and others. ... Double CD and DVD packages of last year's Gigantour will be released August 22 and September 5, respectively. Expect to see footage of Megadeth, Dream Theater, Fear Factory, Nevermore, Life of Agony, Symphony X, Dry Kill Logic and Bobaflex. Both packages will feature performances by each band and the CD also includes two songs by Anthrax's reunited late-'80s lineup. Dave Mustaine is currently assembling Gigantour 2006 and plans to announce the dates and lineup in the coming weeks. ...

Amon Amarth have decided to name their sixth album With Oden on Our Side. The disc, produced by Jens Bogren (Opeth, Katatonia) and tentatively scheduled for a fall release, will include "Gods of War Arise," "Prediction of Warfare" and "Hermod's Ride to Hell (Lokes Treachery Part 1)." ... Straight-edge metalcore band If Hope Dies need a new guitarist. Interested players must be willing to tour for seven to 10 months out of the year and preferably be straight edge. Applicants should download "Burned Out," "Anthem for the Employable" and "Death of a Salesman" on the band's MySpace page and learn the songs. For more information, e-mail band@ifhopedies.com. ... Daughters, the Number Twelve Looks Like You, Premonitons of War and See You Next Tuesday are among the more than 50 acts confirmed for Dirt Fest, set to take place August 19 in Birch Run, Michigan. ... Mikoto have replaced drummer Dan Tracy, who left the group in April, with Mike Trevino, formerly of Vela. ... Nevermore will tape their August 25 gig at Studio Seven in Seattle for a forthcoming live DVD, which should be in stores sometime next year. ...Walls of Jericho's next LP, With Devils Amongst Us All, has been scheduled for an August 22 release. ... Deicide, Jungle Rot, Hurtlocker and Desolation will tour the continent this fall starting September 20 in Huntington, West Virginia. Dates are scheduled thus far through September 31 in Cudahy, Wisconsin, with more to be announced shortly.

• From a Second Story Window
• Soilwork
• Daughters
• Circle Of Dead Children
• Lacuna Coil

• The Black Dahlia Murder
• Lacuna Coil
• Shadows Fall
• Cephalic Carnage
• Overcast

Lacuna Coil's Cristina Scabbia
Photo: Clay Patrick McBride

Lacuna Coil's Cristina Scabbia thinks too much is made about ... well, how freakin' gorgeous she is. In the Italian metalists' press shots, all six members are present, but Scabbia's front and center, striking a seductive pose. She even graces the cover of Revolver's March issue, next to the headline, "The Hottest Chicks in Metal." When the band's on the road, countless male fans seek Scabbia out, proposing marriage. But while the media seems to be fixated on her looks, she said she wants fans to focus on the Coil's music.

"You'll never see 'The Hottest Men in Metal,' because it's not that common for the metal scene to have girls up front," she said. "So it's the easiest thing to [comment on], because it's obvious I'm the different element to the band. You can take advantage of [the attention] if you're sure of your own potential, if you're sure of what the band can give. You can play with your image and the image of the band itself. But when people buy the record, they don't buy the image. They buy it for the music. So when you're sure you can put out a good album, it doesn't matter. It's just more appealing. Even if you advertise tires for a car, you see a naked woman in the ads — and that's not the point, but it's just more appealing. It's a representation of art, in a way."

The Milanese band's latest album, Karmacode, hit record stores on Tuesday — some four years after the band's previous LP, Comalies. According to a spokesperson for the band's label, the album's on track to sell about 40,000 copies in its first week, which could earn Lacuna Coil a Billboard top-20 debut next week.

During those four years in between records, Scabbia said the band has evolved as people and as musicians, and that's reflected on Karmacode.

"We've grown, so this time we spontaneously decided to mix up the European [metal] sound with the American one," she said. "You can still recognize our style, which is more melodic and aggressive, but you can also feel the European vibe given by the real strings we put in the album, the Mediterranean influences. We have some Arabian sounds on the record. But at the same time, every single instrument has a bigger importance. The rhythm section is huge, the guitars are really loud — there is an American sound, which is really big compared to European productions. I cannot think of a band that mixed up the two things; most bands are doing one style or the other."

And this summer, Lacuna Coil will be bringing that sound to American audiences, as the main-stage openers on this year's Ozzfest. Coil co-vocalist Andrea Ferro (who is male, by the way) said with pride that it marks the first time an Italian band has been asked to perform on the main stage, as well as the first time a female-fronted group has been asked to do it.

While Karmacode isn't an out-and-out concept record, Scabbia said the lyrics have a common thematic thread. "It's about how spirituality can live in the modern days. We're not talking about any religion, but a relationship you can have with people and the environment around you. Today, everything is so chaotic, everything is so fast with the Internet. Everyone has a cell phone and laptop, and sometimes you lose touch with reality."

The band's video for "Our Truth," the album's first single, was filmed in Los Angeles with the Fort Awesome (Disturbed, System of a Down) directorial duo. In it, the band is seen performing within the confines of a snow globe. The shoot was exhausting, as "they wanted us to do everything at double the speed, because they needed to slow down the tape so it looked like the snow was falling slower, like in an actual snow globe," Ferro said. "We had to do it a lot of times, because they need to shoot from different angles, so you end up hating the song at the end of the day! You don't want to hear it anymore," Scabbia said.

The group has also shot a video for the second single, "Closer," which should start airing in late June. Neither Scabbia nor Ferro would discuss the concept, other than to say it includes no performance footage and is "more like a little movie."

Fans can catch the band on tour with Rob Zombie and Bullet for My Valentine; dates for that trek run through May 5.

The rest of the week's metal news:

Queensrÿche's 1988 conceptual masterpiece, Operation: Mindcrime, will be getting the big-screen treatment, according to frontman Geoff Tate. He said the band has hired a screenwriter to adapt the LP into a feature film, and that they're in the midst of shopping it to Hollywood studios. "I worked over the last year and a half with a Hollywood screenwriter named Mark Shepherd," Tate said. "He developed a screenplay out of the story. It's incredible; I hope that it can be made into a movie soon. Our agency is shopping it around Hollywood. I think it's going to be an incredibly powerful film. It starts with one part, and then we have plans for a sequel as well." The band's latest disc, Operation: Mindcrime II, hit stores this week. ...

After Canadian documentarian Sam Dunn interviewed members of Voivod for his upcoming movie "Metal: A Headbanger's Journey," Voivod recruited him to make a film about their group. "It was a real honor to be asked, and we've already started shooting," said Dunn. "The documentary is going to be about Piggy's life [the band's founding guitarist, Denis D'Amour, who passed away of colon cancer last year] and the making of the new record and how those are tied together." No release date has been set for the project. "Metal: A Headbanger's Journey" will come out as a double-DVD on May 23. ...

Trivium's breakout 2005 LP Ascendancy will be re-released on May 9 as a special expanded edition with a DVD, exclusive previously unreleased tracks, live and promo video footage and new artwork. Fans can catch the band this summer, on the second installment of the Sounds of the Underground festival. ...

Walls of Jericho, who are on the bill for this summer's Ozzfest, finished recording the forthcoming With Devils Amongst Us All on Wednesday; the album is being produced by Ben Schigel (Allele, Chimaira). A June 27 release date has been set. Frontwoman Candace Kucsulain said the disc will feature either 11 or 12 tracks, none of which has been titled yet. ...

Who knew Dane Cook was a stoner metal fan? The clean and sober comic has decided to use Nebula's "Lightbringer" in his new HBO series "Tourgasm," which starts airing May 7. The track, which is from the band's new album Apollo, will play while Cook addresses the camera to explain the setup for one of the scenes in the show. ...

San Diego's gore-grind dudes Cattle Decapitation will issue Karma.Bloody.Karma in either June or July. According to a statement from the band, "This will be the most nihilistic, pessimistic and hateful record we've ever done lyrically, and musically you can expect, [as] one of our friends has said perfectly about it, a very 'schizophrenic' release." The disc will feature a dozen songs, including "Success Is ... (Hanging By the Neck)," "Total Gore" and "Of Human Pride & Flatulence." The band is also searching for a new drummer, following the departure of Michael Laughlin; he cited "personal reasons" for his decision. Want to audition? Check the band's MySpace page. Cattle Decapitation has also added a second guitarist, Kevin "Fetus" Bernier. ...

Shai Hulud's 1997 albums A Profound Hatred of Man and Hearts Once Nourished With Hope and Compassion have been remastered and will be released this summer via Revelation Records. Both will feature new artwork and unreleased bonus material. ...

British chaoscore act Sikth's forthcoming Death of a Dead Day will hit stores on June 6; look for the release to boast a dozen cuts, including "Flogging the Horses," "Way Beyond the Fond Old River" and "Sanguine Seas Of Bigotry." ...

Atlanta extreme death metallers Daath have signed with Roadrunner Records. Look for the band's forthcoming LP, which is being produced by ex-Obituary guitarist James Murphy — to land in stores this fall. Called The Hinderers, the disc will feature the tracks "Festival Mass Soulform," "Ovum," and "Who Will Take The Blame." ...

British metallists DragonForce have also inked a deal with Roadrunner. The label will release the band's Inhuman Rampage LP, which was released overseas back in January, this summer.

• Lacuna Coil
• Voivod
• Queensryche
• Carpathian Forest

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

The White Stripes' Jack White (file)
Photo: Jason Squires

It seems Jack White has fallen out of love with a girl. The White Stripes frontman, 29, and his actress girlfriend, Renée Zellweger, 35, have called it quits after more than a year and a half together. Zellweger's publicist told People magazine that the couple broke up in September but "remain good friends. No scandal. No new relationships." ... Meanwhile, the White Stripes, known to have Luddite tendencies, are actually embracing the 21st century. The band has made The Blackpool Deluxe EP, a collection of live tracks from its performance at the Empress Ballroom in Blackpool, England, available for download at the iTunes Music Store. The three-song EP, featuring versions of "Jolene," "Seven Nation Army" and "Hotel Yorba," is available for just $2.97. ...

Lindsay Lohan, Hilary Duff and Paris Hilton all made the top 10 of the Internet Movie Database's 2004 STARmeter, which lists IMDb.com's top 25 stars of the year, based on the search behavior of the site's more than 20 million users. Johnny Depp took the #1 spot. ... Earlier this month, New Found Glory announced the first batch of dates for their Back to Basics Tour of smaller venues throughout the country. Now, they've added more shows: They'll hit Hartford, Connecticut, on April 1, then head up to Canada for a string of dates. The last date listed for the tour — which also features Reggie and the Full Effect and Eisley — is April 24 in Seattle. ...

Following the passing on Tuesday evening of actor Jerry Orbach, NBC has announced that it will debut the new series Orbach was set to star in, as planned, according to The Hollywood Reporter. A spokesperson for "Law & Order: Trial by Jury" issued a statement on Wednesday confirming that the episodes already taped with Orbach will air in the midseason of 2005. Orbach had recently left the cast of "Law & Order" to star in the spinoff series. ... Dick Clark, who has been as much of a New Year's Eve fixture as the ball that drops at midnight in New York's Times Square, will be forced to watch his "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" show from a hospital bed in California, where he is recovering from a mild stroke he suffered on December 6, according to The Associated Press. "Even though I won't be in New York this year," Clark said in a statement, "I will be watching 'New Year's Rockin' Eve' on TV." Regis Philbin will take over hosting duties for the show. ...

112 will play legendary Motown quartet the Four Tops on NBC's "American Dreams." The Atlanta group will sing the Tops' classic "Reach Out I'll Be There" on the show. Slated to air Sunday, the episode will also feature an appearance by "American Idol" judge Randy Jackson, who will play the Four Tops' manager. ... Italian goth-rockers Lacuna Coil are slowly revealing information about their new album. Lead singer Cristina Scabbia told Coil fan site EmptySpiral.net that "we have a couple of songs that are 90 percent done ... and they sound really, really good." Scabbia goes on to explain that the new album will be "an evolution" from 2002's Comalies album, and that the new songs feature "a lot of aggressive parts and a lot of melody at the same time." ...

12.29.2004

Musician, activist, iPod pitchman — Bono's résumé is already pretty full. But now he's taken on another title: editor. On Tuesday, the U2 frontman served as "guest editor" for British radio station BBC Four's "Today" news program. His responsibilities included assigning beats to writers and lining up guests for the show. Bono chose topics like the relationship between Irish and North African music, combating poverty around the world, and Britain's foreign policy. Guests who contributed pre-recorded commentaries included former President Bill Clinton and a German nun named Sister Benedicta. ...

Guitarist Walter "Hank" Garland, who played with the likes of Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison, died on Monday in Orange Park, Florida, of a staph infection, according to The Associated Press. Garland, 74, performed on Elvis singles including "Little Sister" and "Big Hunk O' Love," and had his first million-selling hit at the age of 19 with the country song "Sugar Foot Rag." Garland had been battling illness since 1961 when a car crash put him in a coma for several months. ... Queens of the Stone Age associate Chris Goss, who has produced and played with Queens mastermind Josh Homme's former band Kyuss and various side projects, was rushed to a hospital in Rancho Mirage, California, over the holidays. According to posts on QOTSA.com and MastersOfReality.com (the band Goss fronts), he was suffering from a "severe internal infection" and was listed in critical condition at Eisenhower Medical Center. Over the weekend, though, he recovered and is now "resting comfortably." ...

Ash are going to release a U.S. version of their album Meltdown, already certified gold in the U.K., to coincide with a new "Star Wars" video game called "Republic Commando" that features their song "Clones" as the theme song. Meltdown, due out March 8, was produced by Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, System of a Down) to give it more of an "American" sound. "I always think American records sound better sonically," frontman Tim Wheeler said in a statement. "They always seem to have better engineering, better studios, so we wanted to check it out firsthand." The U.S. version will also feature bonus tracks and DVD footage not available on the European full-length. ... Boy George is slated to DJ at WinterFest, an annual gay and lesbian ski week held in Lake Tahoe. The former Culture Club frontman's gig will take place toward the end of the seven-day long WinterFest, on March 12 at the Horizon Casino Resort. ...

• The White Stripes
• Lindsay Lohan
• Hilary Duff
• New Found Glory
• Eisley

Lacuna Coil (file)
Photo: Dario Plozzer

WANTAGH, New York — "If you like Evanescence, you'll love these guys," a Mohawked dude in a Dimmu Borgir shirt told his less metal-savvy date at Ozzfest just moments before Italian gothy slammers Lacuna Coil took the second stage. The assessment was somewhat apt. Lacuna Coil play swooping, melodic metal driven by Cristina Scabbia's haunting vocals. However, they're more rooted in the underground than Evanescence, and their ethereal songs are balanced by co-singer Andrea Ferro's sometimes menacing vocals and the abrasive guitar attack of Cristiano Migliore.

Some artists would take umbrage at being compared to Evanescence, especially an act like Lacuna Coil that has been together since 1994, four years longer than Evanescence. But Scabbia isn't at all frustrated. "They're a good band and people like them, so why should I be upset?" she said a few hours after stepping offstage at the Jones Beach Theater. "It's funny, because in Europe we've been known for a while, so people say the opposite thing. They hear Evanescence and say, 'Oh, is this the new single from Lacuna Coil?' "

What does kind of frustrate Scabbia is that Lacuna Coil remain on the road two years after the release of their third disc, Comalies. The band had planned to return to the studio last year to work in its next album, but when its single "Heaven's a Lie" started catching on in North America, the group decided to stay on tour. The move worked — Comalies has sold more than 100,000 copies.

"It's strange to me that Americans are getting into the album two years after it came out," Scabbia said. "People are maybe like, 'Hey, they sound kind of like Evanescence, I like this.' And they don't know that the album is two years old. So, we have all this new material we've written on tour, but we would have to stop to record it, and we've never at home, we're always on tour."

Lacuna Coil's melodramatic set is one of the highlights of the Ozzfest' second stage, offering some diversity to an otherwise overwhelmingly brutal bill. Of course, when you're a club band that's used to going onstage after 11 p.m., playing before noon provides certain challenges and hazards. "It's really tough to wake up in time to play," Scabbia admitted. "And of course, we're not used to performing in sunlight, so we have to watch out to get sunburns, but it's good to be finished early because then you have the rest of the day free, and you can enjoy the festival."

So far, Lacuna Coil have been doing just that. In addition to watching many of their favorite acts perform daily, they've been able to meet some of their idols. "You'll just be hanging out backstage with the guys in Slipknot, then Zakk Wylde from Black Label Society will come by. Then you'll see Rob Halford walking in," Scabbia says. "The whole situation is completely surreal."

And the kids in the crowd aren't the only ones turning on to Lacuna Coil's music. "[Drummer] Bill Ward from Black Sabbath has become a fan, which is a real honor," she said. "We talk to him almost every day, and he's hosting a radio program that's playing our songs, which is a real honor to us."

The only minor hiccup Lacuna Coil have experienced so far has been generated by religious organizations critical of the song "Heaven's a Lie." Ironically, the tune isn't even about religion.

"It's just about the freedom of ideas," Scabbia said. "Religion and politics are two things we don't like to talk about because they're things that are too personal. We don't want to teach anybody anything."

So when will Lacuna Coil finally get a chance to record the songs they've written over the past 18 months? Probably not until at least the end of the year, a reality Scabbia takes in stride. "Waiting for that to happen will just make me more excited for when we do the actual recording of the album," she said. "The new songs we have will be an evolution of Comalies, but not a huge change. I hate bands that are changing every album, because that's not a natural evolution. Lacuna Coil will be recognizable on the next album. This is how it has to be."

• Lacuna Coil

New England Metal & Hardcore Fest: The Visuals

• The Black Dahlia Murder
• Overcast
• Lacuna Coil
• Dragonforce
• God Forbid

Ozzfest at the CTNOW.com Meadows Music Centre in Hartford, CT 07.10.2004

• Slipknot
• Slayer
• Otep
• Lacuna Coil
• Lamb of God