Trivium's Matt Heafy
Photo: Paul McConnell/ Getty Images

When Trivium released their third album, 2006's The Crusade, it was immediately condemned by the metal elite, as it marked a drastic change in style for the Floridian thrashers. Most of the band's critics took issue with frontman Matt Heafy's decision to ditch the high, raspy screams he'd become known for. The singer took a more melodic vocal approach, which the band's detractors disparaged as sounding too James Hetfield-like.

Of course, Heafy, a self-professed Metallica fanboy, absorbed that criticism, but claims he didn't take it into the writing and recording sessions for Trivium's next studio offering, Shogun, which hits stores September 30.

"I knew it was going to turn heads and that it was going to make a statement, and we really appreciate that," Heafy said of his decision to go clean on The Crusade. "We've always been a band that's had things about us and things that are going on that creates big, bold waves, and what's so weird about the perception of The Crusade is we wanted to show people that we're not just a band that's going to stick to the same formula every time. On that record, we accomplished our main goal, and that was to make it the exact opposite of [2005's] Ascendancy. We didn't want to do anything that happened on that record on the next one, but we still wanted to keep it us, because we feel we're a band that can broaden its sound and not just stick with one thing. It was still metal, and it was still Trivium, just different and diversified."

And while Heafy defends the decision to switch to clean vocals for The Crusade, he has reverted to his old ways. In fact, Heafy screams more on Shogun than he ever has — but he sings more on it, too.

"With this new record, it basically summarizes everything we feel we've done right as a band, that we feel are key ingredients of Trivium, all rolled into one, with a new direction on top of it," he explained. "So, it does have a little bit of everything we've done, and some more. It has as much singing on it as The Crusade, but it has just as much, if not more, screaming than Ascendancy. The songs are longer, and there are more vocal parts. So, I do everything from the lowest possible singing notes I can do to the highest [Rob] Halford-wannabe notes, and everything in between, and the same goes for all the screaming, because we felt the music called for that stuff.

"With The Crusade, we were done with screaming — done with bands that did it, done with doing it ourselves," he continued. "We just didn't want to do it anymore. But when we started jamming for Shogun, and we heard how brutal and heavy some of the stuff was — it's the heaviest sh-- we've ever done before — we tried singing over it, and it wasn't right. What was it missing? The screaming, and that's exactly what it needed."

For Shogun, Trivium decided against working with longtime producer Jason Suecof (All That Remains, God Forbid) and instead enlisted Foo Fighters producer Nick Raskulinecz, who, Heafy said, brought a new energy to the songs.

"We decided to take an old-school approach to the record, using new-school technology, purely for convenience, because tape takes so f---ing long to record with," he said. "Nick made us play this record. The way metal is done these days, you track it a couple of times, make sure its perfect, and then you go in and fix a couple of the pieces — retrigger the guitars and drums. That's just the way it is. But we wanted to go back to the old-school way — record everything right, with no triggers on our drums. We had to make sure the performance was there and the energy was there, and hearing the end result, the stuff Nick drew out of us is just unreal. In terms of heaviness and brutality, it's the best thing we've done. Before, we'd never really considered ourselves a contender for even the word 'heavy' or 'brutal,' but this time, things are different."

Heafy said the new disc incorporates elements of death, thrash and extreme metal — "just a big combination of everything we'd loved as kids" — and that it's evidence of the progression the band's taken with its sound.

"Everyone we've played it for, they're all really excited about it," he said. "I think we've found our sound. We've just discovered it, and with the next one, I think we'll define it. It takes a band a little while to find their sound. Some bands get it on the first record, and some bands it takes several. I think we're one of those bands that's going to develop and fully come into our sound someday. We don't know what record that will be, but this record is even closer to what it's going to be."

This fall, Trivium will be heading out with All That Remains, 36 Crazyfists and the Human Abstract, for a tour that's set to launch September 9 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. After that, Heafy said, the band will hit the international circuit before returning to the States next year for Slayer's Unholy Alliance Tour. He said that as far as he knows, it's coming back and "we'll probably be on it."

The rest of the week's metal news:

Unearth have completed recording their new album, The March. It'll be in stores on October 14 and was produced by Killswitch Engage's Adam Dutkiewicz. Look for the LP to feature 10 new cuts, including "Crow Killer," "We Are Not Anonymous" and "Truth or Consequence."

Overcast , the band Brian Fair was in before Shadows Fall, has posted a track called "Root Bound Apollo" over on their MySpace page. The song comes from the band's re-recorded collection of old material, Reborn to Kill Again, which hits stores August 19.

According to Metal Injection, Lamb of God plan to enter the studio next month to begin recording the follow-up to 2006's Sacrament.

The rumors were true: Black Dahlia Murder will, in fact, be added to Children of Bodom's upcoming headlining run with Between the Buried and Me. That tour commences September 11 in Baltimore.

For Today, Dr. Acula and With Dead Hands Rising will be touring together next month. The first date's been set for September 1 in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and the trek runs through September 24 in San Antonio, Texas.

Suicide Silence, the Dillinger Escape Plan, Beneath the Massacre and Emmure have lined up a tour that kicks off October 10 in New York. More dates will be revealed as they're confirmed.

Hatebreed, Soilent Green, Emmure, War of Ages and Catalepsy will be touring together next month too. That jaunt starts in Detroit on September 2, and dates are scheduled through September 14 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

The lineup's been set for the sixth annual Robot Mosh Fest, which takes over Country Skate in West Bend, Wisconsin, this weekend. Taking the stage August 2 will be A Life Once Lost, the Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza and With Dead Hands Rising, while Darkest Hour, Misery Signals, Winds of Plague, Arsis and Arsonists Get All the Girls play August 3.

• Trivium
• Lamb of God
• Unearth

As I Lay Dying
Photo: Metal Blade

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The rest of the week's metal news:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Otep
Photo: Capitol Records

Otep's forthcoming third full-length album, The Ascension, was written long before the Los Angeles metallers boarded a plane bound for New Orleans — where they'd track the effort with Grammy-winning producer Dave Fortman (Evanescence, Mudvayne) over the course of several months.

During the band's stay, though, frontwoman Otep Shamaya said she couldn't help but get caught up in the emotion of living and working in this forgotten, battered metropolis, left devastated in the wake of 2005's Hurricane Katrina. Shamaya said the cheerless vibe that permeated this once grand city, and the hopeful spirit of the resilient survivors who continue to rebuild their lives down there, bled into Otep's new material.

"We went there for a couple of reasons: Dave was there, and we wanted to get out of L.A.," she explained. "It's very easy for bands to make records where they live, but when you go home every night, it becomes more of a job. You can't live the album all day, every day. In New Orleans, we could never escape that energy. We also really wanted to try to bring something to the economy of that area, but we didn't realize how bad it was. Nothing's happening there."

When Otep arrived, Fortman drove the band through the city's Ninth Ward, "and it was shocking. Absolutely shocking. There are entire neighborhoods that are just gone — pulverized. Boats pinned beneath houses. So that kind of seeped into the songs a bit. A part of that energy — part of the people who asked us when they saw us not to forget about them — that did seep into what we were doing. It had to. It was very important for us to include that energy in our music and remember how important art is and what it can do."

Working with Fortman on The Ascension, which hits stores March 20 and features a cover of Nirvana's "Breed," was important for the bandmembers, Shamaya said, because they are huge fans of his previous collaborations.

"We liked the sound of his albums, the tonality of them," she said. "For the type of band that I think we are, where every instrument counts, I wanted every instrument to have its own voice and tell its own story. With Dave, when you listen to the records he's made, every instrument has a clear, signature sound. That was really important for us for this album; that's what we wanted to happen."

Otep — made up of Shamaya, guitarist Karma Cheema, bassist "Evil" J. McGuire and drummer Brian Wolff — had to refocus their attention for this effort, the singer said, and forget about anything they'd done in the past.

"From my perspective, knowing a lot of bands and listening to a lot of bands, the first record — even if it isn't their best record — has this energy about it, this risk," Shamaya said. "It seems that there's this sophomore curse for most bands, but they still seem to become confident in the idea that they can write the music. But there's something missing sometimes. I wanted to refocus our attention and pretend this was our first record and really try and not look at what we know, what's worked and get mixed up in that whole corporate mentality. I wanted to fall back on our instincts and write songs that are important to us."

On her end, Shamaya feels she's grown as a growler and that, through her lyrics, she's become a better storyteller. "I just wanted to be better at what I do. I think our strength lies in our ability to be a fusion band. Every player has their own influences and own styles, and that helps us create something different and new each time."

But longtime fans shouldn't expect a complete shift in Otep's sound. Shamaya said this third set contains the same elements found on the band's previous LPs, along with several fresh sonic elements. Lyrically, the singer said she derived inspiration from her own observations on society. The track "Invisible," for instance, is a commentary on conformity, while "Perfectly Flawed" is a song that celebrates "uniqueness, and how we don't all have to look like supermodels." "Noose and Nail" is an attack "on the pharmaceutical culture in this country," while "Home Grown" addresses the issues of domestic violence. "Eat the Children" was inspired by "those mothers who've been murdering their children, sometimes in the name of God," she said.

"Sometimes," she added, "I wish I could just sit back and write a song about a sunny day or a car passing, but that's just not the way my instincts work at this point."

The rest of the week's metal news:

How's this for a killer metal package? Dimmu Borgir, Unearth, Devildriver and Kataklysm have announced that they'll tour the U.S. this spring, hitting more than 25 cities, including New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Seattle and Los Angeles. The trek kicks off April 20 in Cleveland, with dates booked through May 29 in Atlanta. Dimmu's forthcoming album, In Sorte Diaboli, has been set for an April 24 release. ... The Red Chord are in need of a new guitarist, given Jonny Fay's departure this week. Fay said he wants to devote more time to running his New Hampshire recording studio, hence, the Chord will hold auditions in March. Those interested should make a video or audio recording of themselves playing "Black Santa," from the band's 2005 LP Clients. Touring experience is a must, and candidates should be willing to give up eight to 10 months of the year to the road. Interested? Contact the band through its MySpace page for more details. Fay, who will still contribute to the Red Chord's forthcoming album, said the decision "was not an easy [one] to make. I have loved every second of my time in this band, and I will miss it dearly. However, as long as I have been involved in music, my true passion has been recording, and I feel that the time has come for me to give it my undivided attention." ...

Mastodon's recent stroll across the Grammy Awards' red carpet caught the attention of E!'s "Fashion Police." The boys were slammed for their "greasy hair" and offending "rat tails." Not that the 'Don's about to take fashion advice from anyone, but you can watch them get raked over the proverbial coals in an arresting clip on YouTube. ... Comeback Kid, It Dies Today, This Is Hell and Endwell will be hitting the road together next month for a series of 25 gigs. The tour will get under way March 21 in Philadelphia and run through April 17 in Seattle. Parkway Drive will also be on the trek between April 5 in Metairie, Louisiana, through the Seattle date. ... Century Media's inaugural "Metal For The Masses" tour, which will be co-headlined by the Haunted and Dark Tranquillity, with Into Eternity and Scar Symmetry providing support, will launch March 19 in Orlando, Florida. The trek will make 22 stops, including Atlanta, New York, Detroit, Chicago and Seattle, before wrapping up in Hollywood on April 14. ...

Lacuna Coil and Shadows Fall will play a number of off-dates during the upcoming Jägermeister Music Tour, which also features Stone Sour. The bands will be rattling the floorboards of Piere's in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on March 29; Northern Lights in Clifton Park, New York, on April 2; the Lincoln Theater in Raleigh, North Carolina, on April 11; the Rialto Theater in Tucson, Arizona, April 26; and on April 27, the Sunshine Theater in Albuquerque, New Mexico. ... Massachusetts metallers — and Ozzfest 2006 vets — All That Remains, who are on their first North American headlining jaunt, will film their February 25 gig in Philadelphia. The footage will be featured on the band's forthcoming, yet-untitled DVD, which should hit stores before year's end. The band has been compiling footage for the effort for more than two years. ... Italian black metallers Graveworm have put the finishing touches on their sixth, yet-untitled LP with producer Andy Classen (Krisiun, Belphegor) at the helm. The album will feature 10 fresh cuts, with guest appearances by Kataklysm's Maurizio Iacono and the Sorrow's Matze. Look for the disc in stores May 11. ...

Victory Records has signed South Dakota's Nodes of Ranvier. According to frontman Jon Parker, the band "could not be any more excited about the opportunity to continue to do what we love with a label that understands what it means to have humble beginnings and achieve big dreams." The band plans to hit the studio later this month to start working on its Victory Records debut, which should surface in July. ... Will Haven's reunion LP, Hierophant, has been set for a June release through Bieler Bros. In other album-release news, Porcupine Tree's Fear of a Blank Planet has now been slated for an April 24 release. ... Canadian power trio Rush will release their new album, Snakes & Arrows, on May 1. The first single, "Far Cry," will hit radio in March, and a full North American tour is being scheduled for this summer. The album was recorded in fall 2006 and was co-produced by the band with Grammy-winning producer Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Velvet Revolver). ...

Prog-rock maestros Dream Theater have signed with Roadrunner Records for their next album, Systematic Chaos, which is scheduled for release in June. "This album's got all of the elements we've become known for," drummer Mike Portnoy said in a statement. "The focus on musicianship, the skull-crushing riffs, the big progressive epics and the heart-wrenching melodies are all there." A world tour will follow the album's release. ... Slipknot guitarist Jim Root and axe maestro Joe Satriani will guest on the new solo album by Rob Zombie guitarist John5 (ex-Marilyn Manson). The disc, The Devil Knows My Name, comes out April 3, and the songs are all about serial killers. "I wanted a different tone to the instrumental with twisted imagery of sounds," John5 said. "Utilizing serial killers came to light for this project while looking at their crimes and how distorted their minds work." If that's not scary enough, the disc will include a cover of Guns N' Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle." Backing John5 on the album is Zombie drummer Tommy Clufetos and bassist Piggy D. ...

Demiricous will enter the studio on February 15 to start recording the follow-up to their self-titled 2005 debut. The disc will be the band's first to feature new drummer Justin Boltjes (ex-The Dream is Dead). ... Canadian misanthropes Unexpect have hired a new violinist named Blaise. "His talent will undoubtedly contribute to the developing mutation of our music," the band said in a statement. Unexpect's debut, In a Flesh Aquarium, came out in 2006.

• Otep
• Dimmu Borgir
• Unearth
• DevilDriver
• The Red Chord

Converge
Photo: J. Bennett/ Epitaph Records

Converge don't ascribe to the old punk axiom "kill your idols" — they just think you should maim them a bit. The Boston band's upcoming album No Heroes is a harsh declaration of individuality that stems in part from being called pioneers of a wave of post-hardcore and metalcore outfits.

"Any time we see our name associated with a band as a selling point, we bum out," singer Jacob Bannon said, shortly after Converge finished touring as part of this year's Sounds of the Underground tour. "You should make your own way. Do something interesting. Have your actual art speak for itself."

Converge's music doesn't just speak for itself — it roars like a 6 a.m. wakeup call from a jackhammer. Other bands may be as loud or discordant, but few are as gloriously unhinged. The group's No Heroes, which comes out October 24, is more straightforward than 2004's You Fail Me, but it's also heavier. Whether trading off between lumbering riffs and punishing blast beats ("Heartache"), combining tumbling rhythms with Fugazi-style screams ("Trophy Scars") or dragging melancholy textures and melodic vocals through a scalding sea of tar ("Grim Heart/ Black Rose"), Converge are consistently more innovative and unsettling than most of their contemporaries.

"There are so many bands that are so loud but say absolutely nothing," Bannon said. "When I was a kid and I skated every day, when you saw someone like that, you called them a poser. They walk the walk but don't talk to talk, and I see so much of that in today's music scene. It's really discouraging because I'm a music lover and a listener."

One reason No Heroes is so crushing and urgent, Bannon says, is because the band didn't over-think things in the studio. Sure, over the past year, the band was meticulous about writing the new songs, but when it was time to record, many of the tunes were tracked in their entirety in just one or two takes.

"We really don't like putting too many things together on a computer or a tape machine if we don't have to," Bannon said. "We're all about the live, organic feel and there's an amazing energy that comes forth when you record like that."

Another way Converge kept No Heroes undiluted was by keeping everything in the family. Instead of hiring a producer, they put their faith in guitarist Kurt Ballou, who works as a professional producer and engineer when he's not with Converge.

"We've always practiced in his studio, but now we recorded there as well," Bannon said. "We just figured if lots of other bands can come to him for guidance, then we should trust him as well. And it worked out great. There was no pressure and no deadlines. We just did it all ourselves."

Despite their challenging sound, Converge — who always seem to be on the road — have cultivated a loyal following over the years. And while their music probably won't bring them the kind of success enjoyed by the dozens of bands they've inspired, Bannon says that, as long as they can keep their audiences happy, that's perfectly fine with them.

"We know we're not easy to digest," Bannon said. "We're a band that you need to spend time with to really understand what we are. Without that, we're a big barrage of noise. And as long as some people know there's a little bit more to us than that, we'll keep doing what we're doing."

Converge will be on tour with Mastodon and the Bronx this fall, starting September 6 in Baltimore, with dates scheduled through September 30 in San Diego.

The rest of the week's metal news:

Unearth, Bleeding Through, Terror and Through the Eyes of the Dead will hit the road together in September for the Sanctity of Brothers tour. The trek will kick off in Cleveland on September 7, with dates scheduled through September 30 in Worcester, Massachusetts. ... Long-running metallers Machine Head will head into Oakland, California's Sharkbite Studios on Monday to begin recording their sixth studio LP, The Blackening. The album is being primed for an early 2007 release. Frontman and guitarist Robert Flynn will produce the effort, which will feature "Clenching the Fists of Dissent," "Aesthetics of Hate," "Halo," "The Beautiful Mourning," "Now I Lay Thee Down," "Slanderous Love" and "A Farewell to Arms." "Words can't really describe how excited we are to get into the studio and record this record," drummer Dave McClain said in a statement issue by the band's label, Roadrunner Records. "The shows that we just played on the Sounds of the Underground tour were as amazing as we'd hoped they'd be, [and] the raw energy and excitement level of our fans right now is just incredible. We're fired up." ... Shadows Fall will commence pre-production for their yet-untitled major-label debut next week, with plans to begin recording the CD in Los Angeles next month, according to an online update from drummer Jason Bittner. "That means the new record will definitely make it on the shelves by early 2007," he wrote on the band's site. ...

Ex-Vision of Disorder and current Bloodsimple frontman Tim Williams has also posted an update on his band. "We've been hitting the studio daily," he wrote. "Last week was actually really productive. We cranked out three more songs and that brings the total to 14 new songs. Tales of heartache, pain and loss — some good old-fashioned hatecore to the extreme. We are gonna have you spitting out your own teeth in no time." The band is once again working with producer Machine (Bloodsimple's Cruel World, Lamb of God) on the disc. Look for the album early next year. ... Defunct melodic-death-metal pioneers At the Gates' 1995 LP Slaughter of the Soul will be reissued September 19 as a DualDisc CD/DVD. Look for it to include a making-of documentary along with a video for the track "Blinded by Fear." ... Cradle of Filth are planning to hit the road in the new year in support of their upcoming album Thornography, which is due in stores October 17. Official tour dates and information regarding the trek's opening acts will be revealed in the next few months, according to a spokesperson for the band. ... Dark Tranquility are in the throes of writing new material for the next LP and have demoed between 10 and 11 tracks thus far. The effort will be produced by Tue Madsen (Panzerchrist, Mnemic) and will feature "Blind at Heart," "The Lesser Faith" and "Insignificu--." ...

On Tuesday, Celtic Frost wrapped shooting on the video for "A Dying God Coming Into Human Flesh," which should be set for air next month. ... With DevilDriver unable to make Venom's rescheduled tour dates, New Orleans black-metallers Goatwhore have stepped up to take their place. Dates are scheduled from Thursday in Tempe, Arizona, through September 8 in Philadelphia. In related news, Goatwhore shot a video in New York earlier this month for the track "Alchemy" with director David Brodsky (Strapping Young Lad, the Red Chord); the song appears on the band's forthcoming disc, A Haunting Curse, which hits stores September 5. The album will feature a dozen tracks, including "Bloodletting Upon the Cloven Hoof," "My Eyes Are the Spears of Chaos" and "Silenced Marked by the Breaking of Bone." The 'Whore will tour with Celtic Frost this fall, starting in San Francisco on October 3. ... German power-metal titans Grave Digger have begun work on their next album, Liberty or Death. The album's set for a January 12 release. ...

Canadian post-grindcore extremists the End are also in the studio, beginning work on their next full-length. Says frontman Aaron Wolff: "There was a very conscious effort to create the album that people won't be able to predict and won't get tired of. We truly feel that there is something in this record for anyone, as long as they are willing to let themselves forget about everything around them and focus on where the sound takes them. We are extremely happy with the progress we have made thus far." Look for the yet-untitled outing early next year. ... Austrian extreme-death band Belphegor have lost drummer Nefastus, although he'll be featured on the band's upcoming album Pestapokalypse VI, set to hit stores October 31. With Nefastus gone, the rest of the band's in need of a replacement. Interested? Visit the group's Web site, Belphegor.at, for all the pertinent details. ... The lineup for next spring's Maryland Deathfest V is starting to take shape. The annual metal convention, set for May 26 and 27 in Baltimore, will feature Brutal Truth, Cripple Bastards, Origin, Nunwhore Commando 666, Exhale and Putrescence.

• Converge
• Machine Head
• At The Gates
• Unearth

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

Unearth
Photo: Metal Blade

Last month sources close to Unearth confirmed that the New England metallers would be one of the rotating co-headliners on the second stage at this summer's Ozzfest. But guitarist Ken Susi can't say for sure what his band's going to be doing ("I've heard rumors we may be attending, and it would be great if we're lucky enough to do it," he said). What Susi does know is that next week Unearth will board a plane bound for Seattle, where they'll spend the next two months recording their forthcoming, yet-untitled LP — which hits stores August 8.

Unearth chose producer Terry Date (Pantera, Deftones) to helm the project — a decision made over some of Susi's mother's home cooking.

"We had other producers in mind, and we'd locked in a producer who's an amazing talent and shall remain nameless," Susi explained. "But Terry stepped in at the right time and had the right things to tell us. He had dinner over my family's house, and we just sat around talking about music and life. He just seemed like he's laid-back enough to help us find what it is inside that needs to come out on tape, but he also has the type of stern attitude where he'll tell you if something's wrong."

Unearth have written 10 songs for the album and have assigned working titles — like "Circus Metal" and "Centrifigal Fist" — to most of them. Susi hopes to record at least 12 tracks in all and thinks, based on some of the other material the band's come up with, that shouldn't be too daunting a task.

When Unearth started writing the follow-up to 2004's The Oncoming Storm, "we just wanted to simplify a little bit," Susi said. "We wanted to do what we normally do, as far as writing intricate riffs and really hard things to play — things that come together really well. But we wanted to strip everything down and have a more organic record — just a more natural feeling, with fewer triggers and more power and realness. We've always been a live band more than a recorded band, and I think we need to start transporting what we do live onto record."

While in Seattle, Susi said the band plans to record a cover of "It's Clobberin' Time," which will appear on an upcoming tribute to New York hardcore legends Sick of It All. And for his part, Susi hopes he can continue racking up more producer credits of his own: He's twiddled the knobs for Burn in Silence and worked with Ligeia on that band's sophomore album, Your Ghost Is a Gift. But first things first — Unearth need to take care of their own opus before Susi can line up any side gigs.

"I'm a little nervous, man," he said about Unearth's upcoming disc. "It's like getting a science project together. You want do what you can to get an A. We're on our way, though — the general vibe of the band's pretty positive. I just hope [the record] doesn't suck."

The rest of the week's metal news:

Monster Magnet frontman Dave Wyndorf was hospitalized on February 27 following a drug overdose. Wyndorf, who has struggled with drugs in the past, but was clean for years, is expected to make a full recovery. "The battle with one's inner demons is the most personal fight any of us can undertake," read a statement from the band's management. "Wyndorf suffered a setback in his own fight. ... We ask that all those he has encountered over the years or simply [those] affected by his music take a moment to think good thoughts of and for him." Following the incident, Monster Magnet canceled their European tour. The band had been working on the follow-up to 2004's Monolithic Baby! at Paramount and Sound City studios in Los Angeles. The album, which is being produced by Matt Hyde, is tentatively scheduled for release this summer. ... German death-metal band Necrophagist will play their first-ever U.S. headlining tour starting April 28 at the New England Metal and Hardcore Festival. The tour will run through May 31 in Philadelphia. The band was originally scheduled to play an an additional 10 dates in Canada, but the shows were canceled because of a conflict with the tour producer. Necrophagist will be playing with new guitarist Sami Raatikainen, who replaced Christian Muenzner. The former axeman departed in early February due to "scheduling conflicts." The band's most recent record, Epitaph, came out in 2004. ...

According to a spokesperson for the band, Mastodon's forthcoming Warner Bros. debut, tentatively titled Blood Mountain, should surface in late May/ early June. ... The 10th annual Skylar Neil Memorial Golf Tournament has been set for May 5 at Lost Canyons Golf Club in Simi Valley, California. The event raises money for the Skylar Neil Memorial Fund for Cancer Research, which is named for Mötley Crüe frontman Vince Neil's daughter, who succumbed to stomach cancer in 1995. ...Soulfly's approaching trek with Incite, Manntis and A Perfect Murder will kick off April 21 in Anaheim, California, with dates running through April 30 in Boise, Idaho. ... Chimaira will hit the road with Arch Enemy for a co-headlining tour that launches April 3 in Denver. Hate Eternal have been named as one of the support acts for the trek; Nevermore will also be on the bill for the first half of the tour, with God Forbid confirmed for the remaining gigs. Dates run through April 30 in Washington, D.C. ... Orange Goblin, Scissorfight and the Capricorns will team up for a 12-date run that kicks off May 16 in Boston and wraps May 27 in Rochester, New York. ... Candiria have begun recording tracks for their forthcoming album, which could be released early this summer. According to the band's MySpace page, Candiria have about 16 songs written for the yet-untitled effort. ... Swedish death-metal pugilists Gadget have finished recording their third album The Funeral March, which comes out May 2. The follow-up to 2004's Remote includes "Day of the Vulture," "Let the Mayhem Begin" and "5HN1." ...

Loser, the new band featuring ex-Marilyn Manson guitarist John 5, are helping launch a contest to hook up the hottest chick and the biggest loser. The contest will be announced on LoserNation.com and contestants can sign up starting April 1. Applicants for both categories should submit a photo of themselves along with a brief description of why they should win. The hottest chick will win a trip to Hollywood and a professional photo shoot if she agrees to go on a date with the biggest loser, and both winners will be flown to Hollywood to attend an upcoming Loser concert. Loser's debut album, Just Like You, comes out June 13 and includes "Nobody Knows," "The First Time," "Away" and "Disposable Sunshine." ... German metalcore outfit Caliban have bumped the release date for their next album, The Undying Darkness, to April 4. The disc was recorded with In Flames singer Anders Fridén at Principal Studios near Munster, Germany. Tracks include "I Rape Myself," "It's a Burden to Bleed" and "My Fiction Beauty." ... Burbank, California noise quartet Bleeding Kansas will release their full-length debut, Dead Under Décor, March 21. "Retract the Altitude," "Drowning in a Sea of Sh--" and "Hypocrites, Be Alive Again" are among the 13 track titles. The band's debut EP, 1859, came out last year. ... Glendale, Arizona emo-metal band Desole will release their debut album, A Story to Tell, March 7. Tracks include "Personal," "Gossip" and "Shadow Girl." ... Belgian black-metal veterans Ancient Rites will release their fourth album, Rubicon, May 15. The disc was recorded at Spacelab Studio in Germany and produced by Oliver Phillips and Christian Moos. Tracks include "Crusade," "Mithras" and "Invictus." ...

Threshold of Revelation, the second album by Chicago power-metal band Twelfth Gate, will be released March 20. Songs include "Loyal," "Come Alive," "Critical Elements" and "Inner Core." The latter two can be heard on MySpace.com/TwelfthGate. ... Misery Index have chosen Discordia as the title of their forthcoming Relapse Records debut. The album, scheduled for a May 16 release, will boast 10 new tunes, including "Breathing Pestilence," "Sensory Deprivation" and "Dystopian Nightmares." ... I Killed the Prom Queen have recruited Ed Butcher as their new singer. He replaces Michael Crafter, who jumped ship in late January. ... Horse the Band, Gatsby's American Dream, Portugal. The Man and Forgive Durden will tour together this spring. So far just eight dates have been announced: the first will be May 23 in Boise, Idaho; and the final gig is set for June 13 in Huntington, West Virginia. ... One Dead Three Wounded will hit the road March 3 in Bordentown, New Jersey, for a three-week spate of East Coast dates set to conclude March 26 in Nashua, New Hampshire. ... The first California Metal Festival will take place May 13 in San Bernardino, California. Suffocation, Darkest Hour, Necrophagist, Caliban, Cattle Decapitation, From a Second Story Window, Sworn Enemy, Animosity and Job for a Cowboy are among the 20-plus acts that will take the stage. ... The Showdown, August Burns Red and Project 86 will hit the road come April 14 in Modesto, California. Dates thus far run through April 28 in Minneapolis. ... Goatwhore have christened their forthcoming, Erik Rutan-produced LP as A Haunting Curse. The album should be in stores sometime in September and feature "I Avenge Myself," "Alchemy of the Black Sun Cult" and "Bloodletting Upon the Cloven Hoof."

• Unearth
• Monster Magnet
• Necrophagist

Dillinger Escape Plan
Photo: J Hubbard

New Jersey-bred maniacal metallers the Dillinger Escape Plan spent the end of last summer as part of Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine's inaugural Gigantour, sharing the bill with established, long-running bands that all sound, well, not as frenzied: Fear Factory, Nevermore, Life of Agony and Dream Theater, among others. While it was an experience the band's not so sure it would repeat, bassist Liam Wilson isn't harboring any regrets about the move.

"Our initial reaction [to the Gigantour invite] was, 'Well, that'd be a hoot — let's f---ing do it,' " he explained. "We're always looking for ironic ways to do what we do, and we knew that all the people on that tour and all the people watching that tour had never seen anything like what we bring to the table. We figured it could be awesome, and if not, we'll learn something and get our name out there in a weird way. It was a halfway decent way to spend the summer."

Really, hopping on the Gigantour train was sort of a last resort for the Dillinger dudes. "When we started planning our summer, somebody contacted us [and said], 'Do you guys wanna play with Lamb of God this summer?,' " Wilson recalled. "We were like, 'Not really.' A month and a half later, we realized that call was the Sounds of the Underground call, but it wasn't explicit. We had no idea it was going to be what it was."

Wilson's not sure what his band will be doing this summer. At the moment, he and the rest of the Escape Plan are writing material for the group's fourth studio LP, the follow-up to 2004's Miss Machine. The writing process has been stymied, as guitarist Ben Weinman's been sidelined for close to two months.

"He just had rotator cuff surgery, so he's just starting to be able to pick up his guitar and play it aggressively," Wilson said. Weinman has been enduring brutal physical rehabilitation and is constrained to a constant passive motion machine six hours a day. "He should have had [the operation] six months ago. It was an injury he sustained in a car accident. We're sort of the Dillinger Insurance Plan for the moment."

Wilson says the band could be back in tour mode by April, but there are no definite plans yet. For the time being, he says Dillinger will continue crafting fresh tracks for the forthcoming disc, which they hope to have out by the fall.

"I'd say there are three songs finished," he said. "It's kind of an intense writing process, and the stuff we have so far is pretty detailed. We're spending a lot more time on the individual parts, and it's building slowly. But once you've got the ball rolling, it takes off."

Wilson added that he hasn't heard about Dillinger being on this summer's Ozzfest, beyond some of the speculation that's been surfacing online in recent weeks.

"Would we do it? Maybe, but if we have to pay to be on it, chances are we won't," he said. "If we did do it, like anything else, it would be on our terms."

Two Dillinger DVDs are in the works: one featuring pre-Miss Machine material and videos and another filled with footage captured during the making and touring in support of Machine. He doesn't know when those two projects will materialize.

The rest of the week's metal news:

Sources close to the band have confirmed that Unearth will be rotating co-headliners on the second stage at this year's Ozzfest. ... New Jersey's E-Town Concrete are throwing in the towel after 11 years in the hardcore business. The band's final live gig is set for May 20 at the Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, New Jersey. In a posting to the band's message board, frontman Anthony Martini wrote that the band "would rather go out with dignity than to quietly become irrelevant. Although this is difficult for all of us, sometimes the most admirable thing is knowing when to let go." ... King Diamond will start recording their next release in Dallas next month before heading to Gothenburg, Sweden, where they'll put the finishing touches on the effort. According to the band's Web site, the album could be finished this fall. No official release date has been unveiled. ... Deicide's forthcoming album, The Stench of Redemption, has been scheduled for a June 6 release. ... Demon Hunter, Zao, August Burns Red and Becoming the Archetype will hit the road together starting June 13 for a four-week jaunt that will make stops at the Cornerstone Fest in Bushnell, Illinois (set for July 5 through July 8), and at Michigan's Lifefest. ... Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider will undergo throat surgery on March 1, forcing the band to nix its previously scheduled appearance at this year's Atarfe Vega Rock Festival in Spain, set for March 10 and 11. Snider wrote in a band statement, "I have been told by my doctors that the recovery period will be about eight weeks." There's no word on what condition the operation will be correcting. ...

In Flames will be the in-studio guests on this weekend's "Headbangers Ball." ... Cretin's forthcoming debut LP, Freakery, will land in stores April 18 and feature 16 cuts, including "Daddy's Little Girl," "Cook the Cupcake" and "Making Roadkill." Repulsion guitarist Matt Olivo makes a guest appearance on the latter track. ... A Life Once Lost have announced that they'll be the headliners for an East Coast and Midwest trek launching sometime in April. Cephalic Carnage, Through the Eyes of the Dead and Scarlet will serve as the tour's support acts. ... Buffalo, New York's Herod will issue Rich Man's War, Poor Man's Fight March 7. It will include "Assimilation," "All Night" and "Lies and Betrayal." ... On April 4, death-metal legends Venom's latest, Metal Black, will hit record stores. The LP features 14 tracks, including "Burn in Hell," "A Good Day to Die" and "Lucifer Rising." ... Dragonforce have a new bassist to replace Adrian Lambert, who left the band last year to spend more time with his kith. The band's current touring bass-pounder Frederic Leclercq has been elevated to full-time member status. There's still no word on when the band's latest offering, Inhuman Rampage, will surface in the U.S., although the disc should see release before the summer. ...Thine Eyes Bleed are in the studio working on the follow-up to their debut, In the Wake of Separation. The band will start a tour with Darkness Rites in Oshawa, Ontario, March 13. Dates run through March 20 in Toronto, after which Thine Eyes Bleed will join Six Feet Under, Sworn Enemy and Animosity on the Crossroads to Armageddon Tour. Dates are scheduled from March 28 in Portland, Oregon, through April 9 in Wilmington, North Carolina. ...

Philadelphia instrumental prog-metal jazz freaks Dysrhythmia have finished working on their third album, Barriers and Passages, which is scheduled for release May 2. The trio recorded the disc at B.C. Studio in Brooklyn, New York, with engineer Martin Bisi. The album track "Appeared at First" is available at the band's Myspace page, MySpace.com/DysrhythmiaBand . ... Oakland, California NWOBHM-embracers Saviours will release their debut album Crucifire on May 16. The track "Invaders" will also appear on an upcoming metal compilation of the same name. Saviours features members of Santa Cruz emo band Yaphet Kotto and Oakland stoner group Drunk Horse. Saviours will tour the U.S. in March with Kalas. ... Boston dirge-rockers Defcon 4 will release their debut, File Under F---, this spring. The album was recorded by Today Is the Day frontman Steve Austin. Defcon 4 will tour the U.S. this spring. ... Three-quarters of the late Washington, D.C., band Carrion have resurfaced in the Wayward. The band, which plays a bizarre hybrid of Amphetamine Reptile-style noise, Dischord post-punk and epic prog rock, will release its self-titled debut this spring. The disc was recorded by ex-Anodyne frontman Mike Hill. ... Ex-Emperor bassist and ambient keyboard goblin Mortiis spent Valentine's Day remastering three of his early solo albums at Rubber Biscuit Studios in Nottingham, England. Fodt Til a Herske, Crypt of the Wizard and The Stargate will be released in April. In addition, the cryptic keyboardist will release his first DVD, "Soul in a Hole," which includes a full live set shot during his seven-week European tour to support The Grudge.

Get your MTV News fresh daily as a podcast — in video or audio. Click on or PC for more info.

• Dillinger Escape Plan
• Unearth
• King Diamond
• Life of Agony
• In Flames

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 Bled's Mike Pedicone, James Muñoz and Darren Simoes
Photo: Vagrant Records

When you're a relatively unknown band trying to cut your teeth in the metal-and-hardcore scene, an air-conditioned tour bus is the sort of lavish convenience you've got to work your way up to. Luckily for Tucson, Arizona, metalcore band the Bled — who'll release their second album, the Mark Trombino-produced Found in the Flood, on August 23 — they've graduated from RV rentals and cramped vans, good news considering the band's fall includes a U.S. tour with Underoath and Thrice.

But James Muñoz, who handles "all things vocal," according to the band's press materials, will miss those rough-going early days — if only for the laughs they'd produced.

"Last summer, we rented this RV, and we just wrecked it," the vocalist said, guffawing as he recalled the destruction. "The guy we rented it from was pissed and wanted $10,000 from us, and we somehow squirmed our way out of that one. Our old bass player sucked at driving, but always insisted on driving, and crashed into a parked semi and hit cars on multiple occasions. The RV was brand new when we got it, and the generator was shot and the side had a huge gash when we were finished with it."

The Bled have a knack for pissing people off. Take the band's debut, 2003's Pass the Flask, which incensed NASCAR fans thanks to the track "Dale Earnhardt's Seatbelt." The song, with lyrics like, "We'll scrape the guardrail from our teeth and start again," was later renamed "You Know Who's Seatbelt."

"For a while, when we just had the promo samplers, we sent it out to some college radio stations who would play it in the South somewhere, and these redneck dudes started calling in, going, 'What the f--- is this sh--?' " Muñoz said. "Some people got stoked on it too, because they thought it was a tribute. But we didn't want to get in legal trouble, with the trademark on the name and whatever. But also, we would have had dudes with Confederate-flag tattoos on their foreheads trying to kill us."

The rest of the week's metal news:

According to Fear Factory frontman Burton C. Bell the Gigantour has been treating them just "OK." The techno-driven metal band's been performing around 6 p.m. each night, but Bell finds "85 percent of the people at these shows are Megadeth and Dream Theater fans, and maybe 15 percent Fear Factory fans." But the small contingent of Factory followers seems to be digging the group's new songs, which will be released in the form of Transgression on August 23 through Calvin Records. "On this record, we decided to actually get a producer who has some weight in this industry, Toby Wright (Metallica, Alice in Chains)," he explained. "We've never worked with a producer of that caliber, and this is the first time I've ever worked with a producer, at least this intently, with the vocal tracks. This record's sonically better than anything we've done in the past." Gigantour runs through September 11 in Portland, Oregon. ...

A host of underground icons will join forces for the Melvins tribute album, We Reach: The Music of the Melvins, which comes out August 23. The disc will include collaborations between High on Fire and Keelhaul, Isis and Agoraphobic Nosebleed and CKY and Gnarkill. Dillinger Escape Plan, Mastodon and Eyehategod have also contributed tracks. ... Iron Maiden will be inducted into Hollywood's RockWalk on August 19 at 7:30 p.m. August 20 marks the band's final Ozzfest date, after which they will play headlining spots on the Reading and Leeds Festivals in the U.K. on August 26 and 28. Two days later, Maiden will release the double live album Death on the Road, which was filmed at various stops on the band's 2003 tour. A triple DVD of the same tour will follow soon after. ...

Thrash titans Unearth embark on a U.S. club tour on September 16 in Erie, Pennsylvania; Nora and A Life Once Lost will open the first two dates of the 21-city trek, with Zao and Dillinger Escape Plan taking over support duties for the remainder of the run, which concludes October 8 in Rochester, New York. ... Finnish classical-metal band Stratovarius will launch their North American tour September 27 in Atlanta at the ProgPower USA festival. Additional dates with Into Eternity are scheduled through October 10 in Los Angeles. ...

Anthrax will release their double-disc anthology, Anthrology: No Hit Wonders (1985-1991) and their latest concert album, Alive 2, on September 20. Both are currently available for pre-order on the band's official Web site, www.anthrax.com. Anthrax will replace Dream Theater for the last five dates of Gigantour, beginning September 6 in Edmonton, Alberta, and ending September 11 in Portland, Oregon. ... A DVD of an early Samhain performance, "Samhain Live 1984 at the Stardust Ballroom," will be released on September 13. The disc was filmed on November 21, 1984, at the band's first Los Angeles show and includes "Macabre," "The Shift," "The Howl," "I Am Misery" and "Halloween II." Frontman Glenn Danzig played with Samhain between the breakup of the Misfits and the formation of his current band, Danzig. ...

The Fury of the Fall Tour, featuring Meshuggah, God Forbid, the Haunted and Mnemic, will kick off on October 4 in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and run until at least October 31 in Santa Ana, California; more dates are expected to be announced in the coming weeks. ... British prog rockers Porcupine Tree's American tour launches September 23 in Tampa, Florida. The band will hit a total of 20 cities, including Boston, New York, Detroit and Los Angeles before wrapping things up on October 23 in Anaheim, California. Guitarist Robert Fripp will open on most of the tour's dates. ...

Norwegian party rockers Turbonegro will launch a tour in Baltimore on October 7. Dates are scheduled through October 21 in Seattle. The (International) Noise Conspiracy and Early Man will open all shows. Turbonegro will be on the road to support their latest album, Party Animals, out August 23. ... Beantown hardcore kings Diecast will be hitting the road with 3 Inches of Blood and If Hope Dies starting August 31 in Little Rock, Arkansas. Currently confirmed dates run through September 11 in Seattle, but more tour stops are expected to be added in the next few weeks. ...

Belgium gorecore band Aborted will launch their first U.S. tour on September 28 in Farmingdale, New York. The tour ends November 7 in New York. Suffocation, Cryptopsy and Despised Icon will play all dates, while Cattle Decapitation, With Passion, Vader and Decapitated will perform at select shows.

• Fear Factory
• Unearth

Atreyu frontman Alex Varkatzas (file)
Photo: Victory Records

Alex Varkatzas is totally pissed off.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MTV2 Headbangers Ball Tour April 1, 2004 at Roseland Ballroom in New York City

• Hatebreed
• Damageplan
• Drowning Pool
• Unearth