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This Week In Metal - August 24th, 2006

A third week, and to my surprise Slayer isn't number 1. Strapping Young Lad keeps the #1 spot for the second straight week. Meanwhile Slayer is at their heels and I would bet good money they takeover the top spot next week. Hatebreed's new album Supremecy could be the only thing that comes inbetween all of that but I highly doubt it. All That Remains holds strong as one of 4 bands that have stayed in the top 10 since TWIM was brought back. The second biggest highlight of the chart is the fact that All Shall Perish has broken thru and taken a spot inside the top 10. I've been a fan of these boys for a while and its amazing to see their name share spots with the likes of Shadows Fall and Unearth. And now for the chart courtesy of CMJ :

And now for the tunes, with a drastic change in this weeks chart. Unearth jumps from seven to first, while Slayer's Cult drops from first to tenth. Only six songs stayed on the chart, while we had four really strong debuts from great bands. Hatebreed, Mastodon and the new ATR single. Not to mention the ever-growing popularity of Human Abstract debuts. The singles chart is always shaky as the seeming flavor of the week is always ahead here, and now for the music, courtesy of MusicMatch:

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Nuclear Blast Prepare Monsters of Metal 5

Nuclear Blast will be issuing the latest iteration in their annual 2-DVD set "Monsters Of Metal, Vol. 5" on October 17th. The latest will feature videos from Mastodon, Unearth, Shadows Fall, The Black Dahlia Murder, In Flames Dimmu Borgir and various others.

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This Week In Metal - August 17th, 2006

A new top album ? Its true, this week Strapping Young Lad takes over the top spot from Shadows Fall. Both of these bands are very deserving, but we crown our second #1 in as many weeks. Last weeks top 7 managed to stay on the chart, but jump around a little bit. While we have 3 brand new albums debuting this week, with one going as high as #6 in Voivod's Katorz. This is quite possibly the best album these guys have released and they are finally getting the notority they deserve. Not far behind them in the new releases is Unearths' III: The Eyes Of Fire, which is amazing considering it hasnt been released in alot of areas yet but the pre-orders are astounding. I see a #1 in the future for these guys, but who can knock off the consistancy SYL is showing. All That Remains also leapfrogged The Shads into the #2 slot and the big jumper was Between The Buried And Me gaining three slots, which is hard to do considering the company they are in. Meanwhile, Cellador dropped from 8th to 11th. Acacia Strain from 9th to 14th and BYD to 12th. New albums already making a storm up the charts are Slayers "Christ Illusion" with pre-ordering alone landing it inside the top 20. Hatebreed's Supremecy is also showing strong and will reach the top 10 next week. Also in responding to the comments I am considering making this, and the singles list a top 15. If you think its a good idea please respond so, or if thats too much tell me to keep it at 10. \m/.

Now for the singles, with a very familiar band to anyone who visits this site, taking over as #1. Lamb of God also stays strong moving up 1 to #2. Shadows Fall and Stone Sour round out the top 4 with a big jumper for the week Celtic Frost's Ground moving up to number 5. Threat Signal holds strong and then we get to three really strong debuts by 3 really strong bands. SYL's new ozzfest anthem boasts the #9 spot as a highlight of the new songs. Roudning out the top 10 is BLS with Concrete Jungle.

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Shadows Fall Enter Studio In September

Drummer Jason Bittner of SHADOWS FALL has issued the following update:

"Well, it's been a few weeks since our last update, but forgive us, we were busy on the road bringing the rock!!! The Sthress tour came to an almighty close this past weekend in Worcester, Massachusetts to a dynamite crowd. The show rocked, V.O.D. [VISION OF DISORDER] reunited and kicked ass, plus we had the godly LEEWAY with us as well. Towards the end of our set, we let Matt and Jon take a break and Paul Brian, and myself took the stage with Eddie, AJ, and Mike from LEEWAY to perform 'Mark of the Squealer'. As a certain guy from Jersey would say, 'It was FREAKIN' AWESOME!'

"So now what's in store for the SHAD, you might ask... Well, no rest for the wicked. We start rehearsals again this week, and then pre-production starts next week for the new album.

"Due to some unfortunate changes in scheduling, we'll be hitting L.A. to record in September instead of the originally planned November, but that's OK, because that means the new record will definately make it on the shelves by early 2007 followed by EXTENSIVE touring, I'm sure. More...

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This Week In Metal - August 10th, 2006

Welcome to the return of This Week In Metal, a column I used to do before I was forced to take a hiatus from metalunderground.com. In this weekly column, we will update the top 10 selling albums in the metal industry (courtesy of CMJ) and the top 10 radio singles (pulled from Music Match). They use a number of sources for the list, including all satellite radio. While you may find a few bands that are too soft for the list, I assure you there will be more then enough surprises. Feel free to comment on the list and who you think is over/under-rated, what bands you expected to see and which ones you didn't. Again this column will run weekly, so be sure to check for it every Thursday in the columns area of MetalUnderground.com.

Now for the music, we will start each week with the albums. It's a good mix of what bands are bursting the underground, and some bands that have been killing for quite a while now.

Now for the tunes. These singles are a real who's who amongst metal right now. I find the list to be powerful and only really have one flaw. Keep in mind some songs have been out longer then others and have picked up a good fanbase on the radio, other songs have just come out and are sure to see their time at the top.

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Shadows Fall Frontman Speaks Up

Tommy Mann, Jr. of The Orange Leader recently conducted an interview with SHADOWS FALL frontman Brian Fair. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

On the band's musical influences:

"We're old-school metal fans. We're fans of bands like JUDAS PRIEST, OZZY, and IRON MAIDEN, as well as the bands from the Bay Area metal scene. The average age of the guys in the band is about 32, so we're the old guys in the music biz, I guess."

On touring behind their latest CD, "Fallout from the War":

"It's a pretty short tour. It really just got under way on July 10. We couldn't do a big eight- or 10-week tour because we are planning to enter the studio in August for pre-production work on our next record."

"We just drove 800 miles from California for this show in Albuquerque. We have a lot of drives like this because we have to keep working our way around the big tours like Ozzfest, the SLAYER tour, and the Warped Tour."

On their two stints on Ozzfest:

"We played on Ozzfest in 2003 on the second stage. It was a great platform for us. We felt validated when we were asked to play on the main stage on the 2005 Ozzfest tour. That kind of exposure has helped earn us so many fans."

On doing his best to take care of it when he is out on the road.

“I work out a lot when we are on the road. Keeping myself in good physical shape is just one aspect, and I make sure I don't drink before shows. This tour isn't so bad since it is so short, but we do perform about an hour or so of total insanity each night."

Read the entire interview at www.orangeleader.com.

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Slayer Drummer Slams Shadows Fall Drummer

Cam Lindsay of Canada's Exclaim! magazine recently conducted an interview with SLAYER drummer Dave Lombardo. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Exclaim!: What are your current fixations?

Lombardo: "Right now it's music and it's been that for a while: rhythm and music, immersing myself in as much good stuff as possible. There's a Bulgarian band TARAF DE HAIDOUKS and their album 'Band of Gypsies'. Their music is fast and resembles the intensity and the speed of SLAYER. It's a whole different genre, gypsy folk music. But let me tell you, it's some of the fastest stuff that I've ever heard in my life. I'm just intrigued by these guys who enjoy playing fast like we do, so there's a common thread there. It gives you a good rush."

Exclaim!: What has been your most memorable or inspirational gig and why?

Lombardo: "In Paris at a jazz festival. I played there with John Zorn and Bill Laswell, the dub producer, and Fred Frith, the guitar player/sound effects guy. We did an improv there that brought the people to their feet — it was just amazing. We clicked so well that night that I don't think it was ever recreated again. That showed what could come out from your inside naturally — a musical experience that only happens not very often."

Exclaim!: What have been your career highs and lows?

Lombardo: "Career lows would probably be leaving SLAYER and starting my next band [GRIP INC.]. When I was trying to think of what kind of music I was going to do. I didn't know, so it took four or five years till I released 'Power of Inner Strength'. I think I've been consistently at a high point since 1999, at least personally I feel like I've been up there since then, when FANTÔMAS started. The one year [1999] that I did 'Vivaldi: The Meeting', which was me playing drums to some chamber instruments and soprano singers, I did FANTÔMAS, TESTAMENT, GRIP INC. and I released my drum methods book. Ever since that point I got to a certain height and I think I'm still up there, which is kind of cool."

Exclaim!: What's the meanest thing ever said to you before, during or after a gig?

Lombardo: "The meanest thing that was done to me was being tackled by security guards at L'Amour in Brooklyn in, I don't know what year, 1985 or '86? I was with the crowd, throwing my sticks and pretending I was going to jump in the crowd, and the security guys came up and just grabbed me. I kept fighting them away, we knocked down these Marshall stacks and we got down to the floor and he let me go. I said, 'You son of a bitch, I'm in the band!' and he turned around and punched me in the face. That's the worst situation that ever happened to me."

Exclaim!: What should everyone shut up about?

Lombardo: "I'm trying to watch my words; this is a hard one. Jason Bittner. SHADOWS FALL. Sorry, I just have two drum magazines here and I guess he's getting a good profile. I've known him for years, ever since he was a little kid. But come on!"

Exclaim!: What traits do you most like and most dislike about yourself?

Lombardo: "I drink a lot of coffee and Red Bull so I'm bubbly. I like that trait. I hate when I have bad days. I don't react well."

Exclaim!: What advice should you have taken, but did not?

Lombardo: "To stay in technical drafting. No, probably to learn the piano when I was a kid. I don't know it fluently, but I can play it and make up my own stuff. When you're a child you've learned all the hard stuff that you don't want to remember now. At that time, you're like a sponge so you remember everything that you're taught. And then it becomes second nature when you're an adult.

Exclaim!: What are your feelings on piracy, Internet or otherwise?

Lombardo: "It sucks if you don't write any of the music because those musicians get royalties from the whole record being sold. So, I think downloads do suck."

Exclaim!: What makes you want to take it off and get it on?

Lombardo: "My wife does, man. My wife Theresa, man, she really makes me want to take it off and get it on. I'll see her up in Vancouver and I already have a boner."

Exclaim!: What has been your strangest celebrity encounter?

Lombardo: "There was a time where I met Bono [from U2] that was really funny he was with Gwen Stefani. I walked up to him and said, 'Hey, I'm Dave Lombardo from SLAYER.' And he goes, 'You're the drummer, right?' I go, 'Yeah.' Then he just says, 'Oh…' And that was it."

Read the entire interview at www.exclaim.ca.

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Jason of Shadows Fall Checks In From The Road

Jason checks in from the road:

"Hey Everyone........ JB here with a little update for ya...............just a little reminder that we're out here on the STHRESS tour 2006, and it's been going great. We have had a great time on stage so far playing some new music for all you crazy Shad fans out there. Tour's been going real well, the days have been hot, and the shows even hotter. We spent our last day off in Bigfoot country Oregon...........nothing but resturants and motels!! AND it was 110 degrees out, I sat at the pool and tried to maintain my sanity. Well were nearing the half way mark this week, and we hope to see the rest of you guys out in the southern states and back up the east coast where we wrap up on August 12th and then go right back to writing for the new record!

All our Best,

The Shads"

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UFC Ultimate Beatdowns To Be Re-Issued

The UFC backed compilation "UFC Ultimate Beatdowns Vol. 1" will be reissued on August 29th via Nitrus with a revised track listing. Here's how it will now shape up:
01 - UFC Intro - "Optimus Bellum Domitor"
02 - Stemm - "Face The Pain"
03 - Slayer - "Warzone"
04 - Damageplan - "Blunt Force Trauma"
05 - Hatebreed - "Live For This"
06 - American Head Charge - "Cowards"
07 - Shadows Fall - "Power Of I And I"
08 - Sepultura - "Bullet The Blue Sky" (U2 cover) 09 - Fear Factory - "Slave Labor"
10 - Icepick - "Born To Crush You"
11 - Killswitch Engage - "Breathe Life"
12 - Chimaira - "Indifferent To Suffering"
13 - U.P.O. - "It's Alright"
14 - Index Case - "Listen"
15 - Black Flood Diesel - "Lost Cause"
16 - Scars Of Life - "Dying Here"

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Third Drummer Nation Announced

The drummers from Lamb Of God, Shadows Fall, Candiria, the Dillinger Escape Plan, Killswitch Engage, Unearth, As I Lay Dying and more will all be featured on the upcoming third installment of the "Drum Nation" series. Dubbed "Drum Nation Volume 3", The effort will see a release on August 15th through Magna Carta and along with audio, will also feature various off-color video footage from the participants. More on it can be found here.

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Shadows Fall Post 'In Effigy' Video Online

SHADOWS FALL's video for the track "In Effigy" has been posted online at Yahoo! Music. The song comes off the Massachusetts-based band's "Fallout from the War" CD, which features songs that didn't make it onto their breakthrough "The War Within" album, some B-sides from Japan releases and a few cover songs.

Released last week, "Fallout from the War" has sold just under 13,000 copies in its first week of release to debut at position No. 83 on next week's The Billboard 200 chart. This is substantially less than the 39,000 first-week tally registered by its predecessor, "The War Within", which came out in September 2004 and debuted at No. 20 on The Billboard 200 chart. "The War Within" has since sold a total of 259,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

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Shadows Fall's Entire New CD Streaming Online

Shadows Fall's entire CD of "Fallout From The War" is available for streaming on AOL Music. Due out on June 13, the record's sessions were again produced and mixed by long-time friend, Zeuss (Hatebreed, God Forbid), at Planet Z Studios in the band's home state of Massachusetts. The "Fallout from the War" tracklisting is as follows:

1. In Effigy
2. Will To Rebuild
3. Haunting Me Endlessly
4. Seize The Calm
5. Carpal Tunnel
6. Going, Going, Gone
7. Deadworld
8. This Is My Own
9. December (Only Living Witness cover)
10. Mark Of The Squealer (Leeway cover)
11. Teasin’, Pleasn’ (Dangerous Toys cover)

In other AOL Music features, also streaming in its entirety is Trustkill's Spring 2006 Sampler and Rob Zombies's new video for "American Witch" is online as well.

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Shadows Fall Frontman Discuss Label Change

SHADOWS FALL frontman Brian Fair recently spoke to MTV.com about jumping ship from Century Media Records to Atlantic for their forthcoming studio effort, tentatively due in early 2007.

"We were friends with [the folks at Century Media] before we signed with the label, and they definitely went above and beyond what we thought an indie label could possibly do," he said. "They did offer us a great deal, but we wanted to ... see if we could take it to another level.

"It was a tough decision, but one we felt we really needed to make. We've been together 10 years, so we came with a contract and we knew exactly what we wanted. If people weren't into that initial thing, we knew we could cut them off right away. We weren't settling. We were brutally honest right at the beginning, and it stopped a lot of those dinners right away.

"These labels knew they weren't signing BRITNEY SPEARS," Fair continued. "They were just getting a bunch of Ma--hole metalheads. We were just psyched to get some free pizza and beer."

Read the full article at MTV.com.

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Shadowsfall's Bittner Lands Cover of DRUM! Mag.

SHADOWS FALL drummer Jason Bittner will be Drum! magazine’s July 2006 cover feature, which hits stands on June 12. The seven-page cover feature contains a sidebar with DREAM THEATER's Mike Portnoy's thoughts on Bittner, a "Locking The Low End" sidebar with SHADOWS FALL bassist Paul Romanko and transcriptions of the tracks "In Effigy" and "Seize The Calm".

Bittner recently scored major accolades in Modern Drummer's 2006 Readers' Poll, as he was named the No. 1 drummer in the "Metal" category for the second year in a row, beating out such acclaimed peers as Joey Jordison (SLIPKNOT) Morgan Rose (SEVENDUST) and Chris Adler (LAMB OF GOD). The Readers' Poll results also appear in the July 2006 issue of the magazine, which will hit the stands in early June.

Bittner recently joined up with ex-MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson for two highly successful clinics that took place in the Massachusetts area.

SHADOWS FALL's new CD, "Fallout from the War", is scheduled for release on June 13 via Century Media Records. The record's sessions were again produced and mixed by longtime friend Zeuss (HATEBREED, GOD FORBID), at Planet Z Studios in the band's home state of Massachusetts. "Fallout from the War" is a must-have for the band's dedicated following as each of the album's eleven tracks is either a brand-new, original SHADOWS FALL track, an exclusive, brand-new cover song, or a newly re-recorded version of rare material from over the years.

"Fallout from the War" follows the group's most acclaimed disc to date, "The War Within", which originally debuted at No. 20 on The Billboard 200 chart. It has since gone on to sell over 250,000 units in the U.S. alone, and features the Active Rock hit and Grammy-nominated track "What Drives The Weak".

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Machine Head To Play Select Dates On SOTU Tour

Machine Head, Converge, Vision of Disorder, Horse the Band and other special guests have been added to select dates on the Sounds of the Underground tour, featuring As I Lay Dying, In Flames, Trivium, Cannibal Corpse, Gwar, Terror, The Black Dahlia Murder, Behemoth, the Chariot, Through the Eyes of the Dead and Evergreen Terrace.

The tour, which represents some of the best independent-minded music available today, begins appropriately over the Independence Day holiday week, on July 8 in Cleveland and runs through August 12 winding up in Universal City, California.

The new additions are: More...

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Zao Added to Strhess Tour

Zao has been added to the last two dates of the Strhess tour which includes, Poison the Well, Suffocation, Shadows Fall, and It Dies Today. Dates with Zao are as follows:

August 11 - Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory
August 12 - Worcester, MA @ The Palladium

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Shadows Fall Set Release Date For New Album

On June 13th, metal titans SHADOWS FALL return with their much-anticipated new release, Fallout From The War. The record's sessions were again produced and mixed by long-time friend, Zeuss (Hatebreed, God Forbid), at Planet Z Studios in the band's home state of Massachusetts. Fallout From The War is a must-have for the band's dedicated following as each of the album's eleven tracks is either a brand-new, original SHADOWS FALL track, an exclusive, brand-new cover song, or a newly re-recorded version of rare material from over the years.

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Members of KSE, Shadows Fall Bring Overcast Back

MTV.com has a nice piece on the background of Overcast, featuring current Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall and Seemless memebers, who are re-recording their old material for a formal release. Here's an excerpt:

Killswitch Engage bassist Mike D'Antonio remembers the exact moment when Overcast — his influential, erstwhile Massachusetts metal band that counted among its members Shadows Fall frontman Brian Fair — ended. It was a week or so after the band's first U.S. tour (with Disembodied and Shai Hulud) had concluded, and the guys in the band returned from a six-week road trip with about $500 to their names.

"We were all just kind of beaten to death," D'Antonio recalled. "We had worked so incredibly hard to get the band to where it was, with little or nothing to show for it besides just fans coming out and seeing us and being really into the band. We just needed to cut our losses and go home, and unfortunately, that was the way most of the people felt in the band. We had gotten done with a practice, and everyone told me how they were feeling. [That band] was my baby — something I cared about more than almost anything else in the world at that point. So when people were telling me they didn't want to do it, I didn't want to face reality. It really bothered me."

...

Before year's end, D'Antonio said he hopes to release Reborn to Kill Again, an album featuring more than 10 classic, revisited Overcast tunes and two previously unreleased cuts the band wrote before disbanding but never recorded. Neither song has a title, D'Antonio said, and for one of them, Fair "actually took the lyrics and used them for a Shadows Fall song" called "Root Bound Apollo," from the 2000 album Of One Blood; Killswitch guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz (Unearth, Underoath) will helm the new Overcast project. The band's recorded all the drum tracks so far and will start working on the guitar parts next week. The plan's to finish the LP by the end of May. D'Antonio said several labels are vying for the disc, but not Killswitch's label, Roadrunner — they've passed on it.

Overcast will perform this weekend in Worcester, Massachusetts, during the New England Hardcore and Metal Festival. The band's also booked a gig at Club Hipnotic in New London, Connecticut, for June 3 and is in talks to take the stage inside New York's CBGB next month.

In addition, Killswitch Engage will begin writing fresh material in July for the follow-up to 2004's The End of Heartache — an album Roadrunner hopes to be able to release in November, D'Antonio said. He added that the band's also just recorded a cover of Dio's "Holy Diver" for a forthcoming Kerrang! magazine-commissioned compilation. That disc is going to feature some of today's heaviest metal acts tackling a number of genre classics.

"[Frontman] Howard [Jones] sang in falsetto," he said. "It came out super good. Everyone's really excited about it. The guitar riffs are definitely modified to sound way, way heavier."

Read the full article at MTV.com.

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Sthress Tour Dates Announced

Dates have been announced for this year's Strhess tour which will feature Shadows Fall as headliners. Also, Poison the Well, It Dies Today, Still Remains, Darkest Hour, Bury Your Dead, Himsa, Suffocation, and Throwdown will be featured as support acts. Dates are as follows:

July 12 - Norfolk, VA @ The NorVa
July 13 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
July 15 - Detroit, MI @ Harpo's
July 16 - Milwaukee, WI @ Eagle's Club
July 17 - Minneapolis, MN @ The Quest
July 19 - Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
July 21 - Boise, ID @ Big Easy
July 22 - Seattle, WA @ Showbox
July 27 - San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
August 1 - Dallas, TX @ Gypsy Tea Room
August 2 - Houston, TX @ Meridian
August 7 - Cincinnati, OH @ Bogart's

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"WWE Wreckless Intent" Tracklisting Revealed

Columbia Records has announced details of WWE Wreckless Intent – a compilation of World Wrestling Entertainment’s Superstars’ entrance theme music perform by today's hottest hardcore rock, alternative and hip-hop artists.

The songs on WWE: Wreckless Intent are the wrestlers' themes heard during the WWE's enormously successful TV shows -- "SmackDown!®", "RAW®", "WrestleMania®", and "Saturday Night's Main Event™" -- as performed by today's top-selling aggro-rock and rap artists. The album features the first new music -- "Some Bodies Gonna Get It" (as associated with the WWE talent Mark Henry™) -- from Three 6 Mafia since the dirty south rappers took home the Academy Award for Best Original Song earlier this month.

You can pre-order here to get an autographed booklet and keychain.

The track listing is as follows:

Artists - Tracks - WWE talent:

1. Saliva - "I Walk Alone" - Batista™
2. Mercy Drive - "Burn In My Light" - Randy Orton®
3. Homebwoi - "Hard Hittin'" - Coach™
4. Brand New Sin - "Crank It Up" - Big Show®
5. Desiree Jackson - "Holla" - Candice™
6. Eleventh Hour - "A Girl Like That" – Torrie Wilson®
7. Kaballon - "Quien Soy Yo (Who I Am)" - Carlito™
8. Theory of a Deadman - "Deadly Game"
9. Silkk the Shocker - "I'm Comin'"
10. Shadows Fall - "Fury Of The Storm" - Rob Van Dam®
11. Three 6 Mafia - "Some Bodies Gonna Get It" - Mark Henry
12. Zebrahead - "With Legs Like That" - Maria™
13. Killswitch Engage - "This Fire Burns"
14. P.O.D. - "Booyaka 619" - Rey Mysterio®
15. Motörhead - "King of Kings" - Triple H®

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