It's been close to two years since Connecticut hardcore innovators Hatebreed injected the scene with 5,000 CCs of their aboveboard brand of brutality, but frontman Jamey Jasta's been sort of busy. Jasta not only serves as host for MTV2's "Headbangers Ball" (a gig he'll be keeping for a while, as his contract was renewed last week), he's been working with two side projects -- Icepick, with Crown of Thornz and Skarhead frontman Lord Ezec; and Kingdom of Sorrow, known formerly as Crowbreed, with Crowbar singer/guitarist Kirk Windstein -- on top of writing lyrics for Hatebreed's forthcoming fifth offering.

"I had to get these two other records out of my system," he said, referring to debut LPs by Icepick (which should be in stores before the end of the year through his Stillborn imprint) and Kingdom of Sorrow (which will drop early next year). "With Icepick, we just wanted to do a classic, real straightforward hardcore record. We're sort of paying tribute to all the New York hardcore bands that influenced me, like Sick of It All, Agnostic Front, Leeway, Killing Time. It's different from Hatebreed -- it's not down-tuned. And Kingdom of Sorrow, I was able to do stuff I would never do in Hatebreed. It's still brutal, it's still totally heavy, but I actually do have some melodic vocals in there -- it's pretty gruff, so it's not like I'm crooning. It's just stuff I wouldn't do in Hatebreed because it's just a different emotional experience."

Starting November 1 in Burlington, Vermont, Jasta and the rest of Hatebreed will take a break from writing the as-yet-untitled next disc -- which the singer projects will be out in April -- to commemorate a decade as a band with the 10 Years of Brutality Tour.

The monthlong trek will run up and down the Eastern seaboard and extend slightly into the Midwest before ending, appropriately, with a pair of gigs in the Nutmeg State: November 25 and 26 in New Haven, Connecticut, with Skarhead, All Out War, Neglect and One 4 One the first night, and Converge, Crowbar, Subzero and Irate the next.

Jasta said he and the guys will be practicing every day this month in preparation for the run, which features openers Most Precious Blood, Full Blown Chaos, Gizmachi, If Hope Dies and Manntis. They'll also be test-driving two new tracks on the tour: "Spitting Venom" and "Defeatist."

"We're just going to see how the kids react and give them a taste of something new," Jasta said. "We've had a ton of song ideas done for a while yet, but being on the road and not having an actual producer lined up has sort of delayed [this record]. We have our eyes set on some bigger names [for a producer], and we'll see what pans out. In a dream world, it would be nice to maybe get someone like Rick Rubin, who's obviously a much sought-after person. Either way, we're going to experiment with new formulas. We won't do anything that's too out of our realm. After a decade of playing this style, we're an institution in the scene where you wouldn't want to go rock the boat or disappoint any of our diehard fans. But to challenge ourselves as artists and look for new avenues to go down, we're definitely going to do that. Just nothing that'll be too out of left field."

The rest of the week's metal news:

According to Shadows Fall frontman Brian Fair, the band's recovering from this summer's Ozzfest but plans to start writing material for its forthcoming fifth disc before year's end. ... Did you miss Dave Mustaine's Gigantour this summer? You're not alone. But there's some good news: a DVD and CD are on the way that'll contain live footage and songs of all the trek's bands, including Dillinger Escape Plan, Nevermore, Life of Agony, Dream Theater and, of course, Megadeth. ... Austria's Tristwood have signed to Sound Riot Records, who'll release the band's forthcoming outing The Delphic Doctrine early next year; look for it to feature 10 tracks, including "By the Call Ov Seth - Invocation of the God of Blood and War," "Pandaemonic Paradoxon" and "Through the Nineth Hall of Utuk'Ku." ... Arch Enemy will launch their first-ever headlining tour on November 11 in Tempe, Arizona, with All That Remains, Mnemic and A Perfect Murder in the support slots. A full list of confirmed dates will be announced next week. ... Chicago jazz-metal outfit Yakuza are newcomers to Prosthetic Records' roster. The band's Samsara is slated for a March 2006 release. ... Vainglory are in the studio working on the follow-up to their 2001 conceptual opus, 2050. Chastain singer Kate French is currently tracking lead vocals for the album, which should be out in early 2006. ...

Dutch melodic-metal band Detonation will release their U.S. debut, Portals to Uphobia, October 11. The disc will include "Into Sulphur I Descend," "Chaos Banished" and "End of Sight, End of Fears." ... Indianapolis thrashers Demiricous will release their first album, One, January 24. You can listen to three cuts from the Zeuss-produced disc -- "Repentagram," "Withdrawal Divine" and "Vagrant Idol" -- at MySpace.com/demiricous. ... Virginia hardcore metallers Winter Solstice and Michigan metalcore outfit Bloodlined Calligraphy will launch a tour on October 12 in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Dates run through November 4 in Williamsburg, Virginia. ... Five.Bolt.Main underwent some turmoil recently when guitarists Jason Chandler and Aaron Welenken and bassist Ben Patrick bolted because of "musical differences and unforeseen rigors of the road." They've been replaced by three members of the group Alston: guitarist Kobie Jackson (ex-Primer 55), bassist Alex Cando (ex-Darwin's Waiting Room) and guitarist Ron Paige. Alston will continue to open for Five.Bolt.Main for the remainder of their October tour. ... Communic will start recording their second album in February at Hansen Studios in Hamburg, Germany. Like their 2005 debut, Conspiracy of Mind, it will be produced by Jacob Hansen. ... Road warriors Clutch will launch a new tour October 25 in Greenville, South Carolina. Dates run through November 26 in Royal Oak, Michigan. ...

The Beginning of the End, the debut by Toronto's Warmachine, was set to hit stores here on October 25 but has been pushed back to November 22. The album will feature former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson on a trio of tracks: "Betrayed," "Empty" and "Taunted Souls." ... In December Dysrhythmia will start working on their next offering, Barriers and Passages, which is being eyed for a spring release. But first the band will tour the U.S. starting October 21 in New York; dates run through November 18 in Dubuque, Iowa. ... Stigmata are regrouping after a five-year split for a gig at Saratoga Winners in Latham, New York, on November 25, with original and current Shadows Fall drummer Jason Bittner. ... Scarlet will release This Was Always Meant to Fall Apart -- their first batch of new material in close to two years -- January 24. ... Onetime From a Second Story Window vocalist Sean Vandegrift's got himself a new band called Alcmaeon. The group's still in need of a drummer and bassist, preferably in the Ohio area, who "can play fast as nuts," according to the band's MySpace page. ... The Number Twelve Looks Like You booted drummer Chree for some reason, replacing him with Jon Karel. It was Karel's "hunting and trapping" skills that earned him the gig, according to the band's Web site.