Hey, what's up, metallions? How's everything been with you? Iann Robinson once again. Some pretty cool things are happening this week. First off is the Headbangers Ball Tour, featuring Lamb of God, Shadows Fall, Killswitch Engage, Unearth and God Forbid -- that's an amazing lineup. Anybody who's seen any of those bands live knows that one-on-one they kill, so all together, man, it's gonna be nuts. I've also been getting into these two new albums I got, one is the Darkness record Permission to Land, and the other is Danko Jones' new one, We Sweat Blood. I know, I know, it's not 100 percent metal, but they are heavy-ass rock that totally kill. The Darkness sound like AC/DC smashing into Urge Overkill on the Cult freeway --good stuff. Danko is straight-up rock, like what would happen if James Brown started a band with AC/DC. Metalhead or not, I suggest checking them out. Well, that's it for this week. Enjoy Metal File, and I will see you at the shows.

Legendary New York art-rockers Unsane will release Lambhouse on October 21. The album is a greatest-hits collection that includes a bonus DVD of all their music videos. ... Six Feet Under are steering away from blood-slicked paths a little and singing about social issues on their new album, Bringer of Blood, due September 23. The disc features songs like "Amerika the Brutal," "My Hatred" and "Sick in the Head," which lambastes the Bush administration and the nation's policies concerning free expression. ...

Skinlab have signed on for part of the Jägermeister Tour, which features Slayer, Hatebreed and Arch Enemy. Dates kick off October 8 in St. Paul, Minnesota, with Skinlab joining on November 11. The band will be playing with guitarist Scott Sergeant, who played with the band on 1999's Disembody: The New Flesh. The band's B-sides album, The Nerve Damage Sessions, is due early next year and will include two new studio tracks, an acoustic version of "Purify" and previously unreleased songs. ...

Ex-Coal Chamber frontman Dez Fafara has commented on Sevendust drummer Morgan Rose's recent revelation that Sevendust's new single, "Enemy," is a scathing rant about Fafara. "I would like to say I am glad that I did not inspire a love song for their lite-rock ballad single, and for Morgan Rose to please grow up." In response, Rose quickly retorted, "If Dez Fafara thinks my comments were out of line and childish, it's interesting that he's calling up my wife crying for forgiveness while still talking sh-- on the Internet. The reason Coal Chamber isn't together anymore is because his bandmates hated him. And I think most people in my shoes would have taken harsher actions if their wife was treated the way Dez treated [my wife] Rayna [Foss-Rose] when she was in Coal Chamber." ...

Suffocation have signed a deal with Relapse Records and should have an album out by early next year. It will be their first full-length since 1995's Pierced From Within. ... New Jersey's God Forbid have finished recording their third full-length, Gone Forever. The record is also due in 2004. ... Napalm Death have pushed back the projected release date of the covers collection Leaders Not Followers 2 to early next year. Due on the band's own Feto label, it'll include 18 covers of bands including Die Kreuzen, Hellhammer, Cryptic Slaughter and Sepultura. ...

Morbid Angel will be releasing their new album, Heretic, in five different versions. One is a box set featuring the new album plus the 18-track CD Bonus Levels and a Heretic sticker; the second is a double-disc slipcase of both CDs; the third option features both discs in a double-CD jewel case; the fourth is a 12-inch picture disc with no bonus CD; and of course one version simply contains Heretic in a CD case. ... Burnt by the Sun's new The Perfect Is the Enemy of Good will hit stores on September 23. ...Mastodon will re-release their masterpiece Remission on October 21 with a bonus DVD. ...

—compiled by [article id="1453177"]Iann Robinson, [/article]Robert Mancini and Jon Wiederhorn