As I Lay Dying Added To Taste of Chaos Tour

More details regarding Deftones' upcoming Taste Of Chaos tour have been disclosed. According to MTV, the trek will feature headliners Deftones, in addition to support from As I Lay Dying, Atreyu, Thrice, and Story Of The Year, with opening stints from Funeral For A Friend and Circa Survive. The tour will kick off in mid-February, with a full schedule to be revealed in the near future.

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The Haunted Plan Headlining US Tour

According to MTV.com, The Haunted are planning a headlining tour of the U.S. that will kick off in mid-February called the "Bad Seeds Tour". Jensen said the guys haven't decided on openers just yet but were considering a number of bands.

"We've done so many opening tours on this album [2004's rEVOLVEr] that we need to come back to the U.S. and treat everybody to a headlining set, playing an hour and 15, hour and 20 minutes instead of playing just the 30- and 40-minute shows," said Jensen, who's also known for his work with Witchery. The tour will last five weeks and will be the band's first U.S. headliner in over two years.

Despite the short sets, Ozzfest was certainly a memorable experience for Jensen. "It was cool hanging out with all the bands and getting to know all the people. Ozzfest is like a small community, traveling all across America," he said. "And I never expected the members of Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath would be in the backstage catering area and that I'd be able to talk to them." Still, he doesn't expect to see the Haunted ever returning to the package tour unless they were offered a better slot.

"We've done it once," he reasoned. "It would be better to maybe do the Gigantour and play in front of a new crowd again."

After this current jaunt, the Haunted will head overseas for a European trip with God Dethroned and God Forbid. In between the December 17 end of that tour and the start of Bad Seeds, Jensen said the band will write material for a still-untitled rEVOLVEr follow-up.

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Watch Turbonegro's 'City Of Satan' Video Online

Turbonegro are out with the video to their latest single 'City of Satan', from the album 'Party Animals'. You can watch it online at SVT.se.

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The Binary Code Replace Drummer

The Binary Code have replaced drummer Chris Hawkins with former singer, Thomas Gallagher. He will make his debut appearance with the band during the group's November mini-tour with Rossetta and East Of The Wall. Here are the dates:

11/4 Keansburg, NJ @ Chasers
11/5 Philadelphia, PA @ house show
11/6 Connecticut @ TBA

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The Ghost Next Door Post Live Video Online

THE GHOST NEXT DOOR, the new band featuring guitarist Gary Wendt (ex-SKINLAB, RELEASE, SACRILEGE B.C.) on guitar/vocals, have posted a new 10-minute downloadable video of the group playing two unrecorded songs ("Forever My Demon" and "Crickets") live in Los Angeles at the Dragonfly. You can check it out at this location.

The trio, whose lineup is rounded out by Seanan Gridley on bass and Sean Haeberman on drums, are in the process of recording new material which they hope to have completed by mid-to-late November.

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Pyro Writing Material For New Album

French melodic hard rock band PYRO are currently writing material for their fourth album, tentatively due early next year via CMP. Nine songs have been completed so far for the follow-up to 2004's "Breaking Point", which will be produced by the band's founding members, guitarists Joel Pyro and Bruno Pyro. The as-yet-untitled CD will feature new lead singer Stephane Collin, who was previously in SENDSIRK.

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Judas Priest Plan To Tour Russia

Launch Radio Networks reports that JUDAS PRIEST will play its first dates in Russia at the end of November, with shows slated for Kiev, Moscow and St. Petersburg. Guitarist Glenn Tipton told Launch that Russia is one country PRIEST has long wanted to visit. "We know there's a big demand for the band there 'cause a lot of Russian fans come to see us when we're in Germany or places like that," he said. "And for whatever reason, we had it scheduled and then it just hasn't happened, and so Russia's one place we would like to go to and play."

JUDAS PRIEST is touring in support of its reunion album, "Angel of Retribution", which came out earlier this year. PRIEST is currently wrapping up its fall North American tour. The band plays in Kelseyville, California tomorrow (Friday, October 28) and closes out the trek on Sunday (October 30) in Long Beach, California.

The band's upcoming live DVD, "Rising in the East", will be released on November 15. "Rising in the East" was filmed during PRIEST's May 18-19, 2005 shows at the Budokan in Tokyo, Japan.

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Exhumed Announce Fall/Winter Tour

EXHUMED have announced tour dates in support of their upcoming release Garage Daze Re-Regurgitated available on Parasitic Twin Records, distributed via Relapse Records. These west coast gore fiends kicked off their five week tour on October 27th in Aptos, CA. Throughout the course of the tour, EXHUMED will share stages with the likes of BEHEMOTH, RUMPELSTILTSKIN GRINDER, GRIEF and many others. A complete listing of tour dates can be found below.

Garage Daze Re-Regurgitated is a collection of cover songs that harken back to the band's filthiest roots (Master, Siege, Unseen Terror) and pays homage to influential classics (Pentagram, Amebix, Samhain and The Cure). Garage Daze Re-Regurgitated will see a U.S. release on November 8th.

Exhumed tour dates are as follows: More...

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DEP's "Unretrofied" Added to WWE Video Game

"Unretrofied", the third single and video from THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN's breakthrough album Miss Machine, has been selected for inclusion on the new WWE Smackdown vs. Raw video game available for Playstation 2 and PSP. The game is set for a November 5th release via Sony.

Look for the "Unretrofied" video on MTV2, Fuse and dozens of regional video shows throughout North America. Additionally, "Unretrofied" has also been added to rotation at tastemaker commercial rock stations KEYJ / Abilene, TX, KANR / Wichita, and WKQH / Wausau, WI.

THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN have also announced a full North American headlining tour, their first since late 2004. The tour begins November 6th in Ottawa. A full listing of tour dates is as follows: More...

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Neaera Reveal New Album Details

Neaera have issued the following update, touching on the new album and the Hell On Earth tour they just wrapped up:

"Hi everybody! It’s about time for another one of them steamin’ hot news updates! After having to spend the last week recovering from some more or less serious cases of sudden disease, and even being forced to cancel two concerts, we are finally back and able to frequently check our site and answer your people’s questions, should you have any.

"As you all know, we have spent the better part of the last month travelling and moshing through Europe with the HELL ON EARTH tour. We want to thank all the people who made this tour such a great and overwhelming experience for us, meaning especially our tour and stage managers Schlumpf and Danny of M.A.D tour booking, all the great people and our brothers in End of Days and Agents of Man and our friends in Evergreen Terrace, Heaven Shall Burn and As I Lay Dying, all the promoters who organized the shows, but most of all YOU, the fans, all you people who have embraced our music in such a positive and awesome way. What a great first tour to be on, what a great tour for EVERYBODY involved! More...

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Unearth Apologize For Kansas City Show

Unearth have issued an apology for technical difficulties on the Kansas City tour date with Slipknot:

"We apologize to everyone who came out to see us in Kansas City. The PA fried from all the rain and they cut every band from the bill except Slipknot. Needless to say, we were all bummed out as all hell that we didn't get to play. We will do our best to make it up to ya'll the next time we head out on tour."

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As I Lay Dying Plan Radio Appearances

As I Lay Dying’s Tim, Nick and Phil will be making in studio appearances in the tri-state area next week. On Tuesday November 1st listen in for an interview with the guys on WSOU 89.5 FM in South Orange, NJ. You can also listen at www.nj.com/wsou.

And, on Friday November 4th catch another interview with the guys on Sirius Satellite’s Hard Attack at 7pm EST or catch the re-airing on November 6th at 1pm EST. Enter to win tickets to see As I Lay Dying, Unearth and Slipknot at Sirius.com.

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More Slipknot Cancellations, Philly Rescheduled

Due to Shawn "Clown" Crahan's father passing away, SLIPKNOT has been forced to postpone its Philadelphia~~, PA (10/27 and 10/28) and cancel its New York, NY (10/30, 10/31 and 11/1) and Lewiston, ME (11/3) shows on its FINAL VOLUME tour.

The Philadelphia show will now take place on Tues Nov 8th. This date was previously slated to be that of the second show in Worcester, MA. The second Worcester date has been cancelled so that the Philly fans will have their fair chance to see the band. Any Philly fans who can't make the rescheduled show should try to attend the Atlantic City show on 11/9.

The tour will resume, with dates happening as scheduled, on 11/4 in Montreal, Canada.

All tickets will be refunded at point of purchase. The band deeply apologizes for all cancellations and changes.

There are no plans as yet for Unearth or As I Lay Dying to play during any of the cancelled show dates.

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36 Crazyfists Start New Album

36 Crazyfists' frontman, Brock Lindow has posted the following update on the band's site:

"Whats up everyone, hope all is well in your worlds.. It is the final week of practice before the long awaited start of our preproduction with producer Sal Villanueva..to say were excited is an understatement... We will be starting on the day after halloween, not sure what we are doing for halloween, but i think we should be pirates, and enter ourselves in a whiskey drinkin tournament... There's tons of good records out right now and Demon Hunter, Every Time I Die, Throwdown, Chimaira, and Matt Hopper are keeping my ears full of awesome new music, check them all out and support those bands if you can... Well, just wanted to let you all know that we are also working on a making of the record dvd with the new release so that should be a cool project when it's finished... Thanks to all of you as usual....respect.."

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HavocHate Makes The Ballot For Grammies

New York metal band HavocHate has made the ballot for Grammy nominations in three categories - Best Metal Performance, Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, and Best Rock Album - for its latest release, "Cycle of Pain."

HavocHate has passed through the screening process by the Grammy committee in each category and will now go up against other contenders for the Grammy nominations.

The nominations are Best Metal Performance: "Cycle of Pain," Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal: "Fiction," and Best Rock Album: "Cycle of Pain."

"Cycle of Pain," HavocHate's second album, was released earlier this year on Indecent Media and received a limited edition red vinyl release in September.

"We are grateful for all the support during the balloting process," said Indecent Media president Jurgen Korduletsch. "We are delighted that HavocHate are getting the recognition they so richly deserve."

Said guitarist Freddy Ordine: "There have been a lot of great releases this year, so it's very exciting for "Cycle of Pain" to have been selected out of all of them."

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Khoma Sign To Roadrunner Records

Roadrunner Records is proud to announce their latest signing - Khoma.

Hailing from Umeå, a hotbed of Swedish talent (Cult Of Luna, Refused, Meshuggah, International Noise Conspiracy etc), Khoma was born in 2002. Conceived from a fusion of the long established local hardcore scene and a more diverse, emotive pop scene, Khoma has two faces. One that writes, rehearses, and records songs, and another that gathers to play live.

The core of Khoma is always static - vocalist Jan Jämte, guitarist Johannes Persson, and Fredrik Kihlberg on guitar/piano - but the surrounding band members are a rolling collective of musicians. The band hail from varied musical backgrounds and all members still play in a number of different groups: Cult of Luna, The Perishers, and the Deportees to name three. Accordingly, Khoma began as a side project. “We weren't even a real band, merely a project filling a musical void, something we created because we felt a need to play together”, explains Jan. “Since we had no real goals and no one expected anything, we also had nothing to lose. It was all about the music.” With no pressure and total creative freedom, the members wrote the music they personally wanted to hear. The result was a harsh, emotional, and intense mixture of sweeping melodies and roaring guitars. “Khoma is a breathing space where the different styles fuse”, Jan elaborates. “We have a vision of creating heavy music that reflects more feelings than just sheer aggression. Sometimes whispering can be more powerful than screaming.” More...

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Nightrage Receive Endorsements

According to a posting on Nightrage's website, the band has received several endorsements. Guitarist Marios iliopoulos will be getting a new guitar endorsmement from J Nunis guitars. It's a signature Marios I. prototype Guitar with the NR logo on the body. Drummer Fotis Benardo is now a proud user of Masterwork cymbals exclusive. Also, guitarist Gus G. is now proudly endorsing the KRANK Revolution 1 amp.

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Dream Theater's Rudess Release Instructional DVD

The following was posted on the Dream Theater website:

"Critically-acclaimed Dream Theater keyboard artist and educator Jordan Rudess takes a deep look inside the world of live keyboard performance and shares his knowledge of what it takes to become a true keyboard master. Get an in-depth look at his unique approach to performance with Dream Theater using examples spanning across the entire Dream Theater catalog, as well as Jordan's numerous solo projects. Enjoy watching the wizard at work, while learning how to harness the power of today's keyboard technology. Jordan also shares his warm-up routine through a series of technical exercises that will sharpen your skills and get you ready to play. Also included is close-up bonus footage of Jordan performing three songs from his solo album, 'Rhythm of Time.' This DVD is jam-packed with two hours of pure 'keyboard madness.'"

The instructional DVD can be purchased at Jordan's online store.

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Column

Now Playing: deathbringer's Playlist

It's been about a month since I started the Now Playing column, and my CD changer has rotated a lot of new music in lately so I figured I'd share what I'm now playing once again.

Probably my favorite disc to spin lately is Roadrunner United's "The All Star Sessions." With 18 songs, there are lots of good ones to choose from. So many perhaps that I find myself skipping even the "ok" ones just to listen to my favorites over again. They've gone out of their way to include a song of nearly every metal style on this CD. Overall, my favorites are the ones with the best screaming vocals and combination of aggression and speed, including "The Dagger" with KSE's Howard Jones, "The Enemy" with Chimaira's Mark Hunter, "Independent" with Max Cavalera, as well as the death and black metal songs. There are many more good songs on this album as well, and the only ones I don't seem to like are the ones that sound too mainstream or clean on vocals. Watching the DVD that came with the CD was a treat as well and helped me put some faces to the songs and enjoy them even more. There is simply so much talent on this album that it's too much to remember or even recognize who is playing each song.

Children of Bodom's latest effort "Are You Dead Yet?" is also getting a good deal of play time in my car. I like their unique melodic sound and their use of keyboards is done with good effect usually and is something I don't hear often in my regular playlists. The riffing is heavy but often simplistic, however. I like the album overall, but have not decided on my favorite songs just yet, except for "In Your Face" which reminds me quite a bit of The Haunted's "Hate Song" by its main riff and tempo.

I recently picked up A Dozen Furies' "A Concept From Fire" for a cheap $10 and I'm glad I did. These guys sound like a combination of Unearth, Killswitch Engage and Shadows Fall at various points throughout the album. There is a lot of good metal riffing and less metalcore sound in the music and screaming style than I expected from hearing them on Battle For Ozzfest.

Another bargain buy was Devildriver's first album, which I bought used. It's a decent album with a few good songs - some which I recognize from hearing them live - but it can't hold candle to "Fury of the Maker's Hand" and will be nice to make a Devildriver mix CD with, taking the good songs and adding them to their new album, and then shelve this one.

Orange Sky has remained in my changer as the lone accessible (and with no vulgar language) music for when my wife or son are in the car. With my listening habbits going to the more extreme end of the spectrum lately, these guys are sounding less and less metal, so I can understand where some of the comments of "such and such band is not metal" can come from. When you listen to screaming death and speed most of the time, anything with a clean vocal and slower pace can sound "not metal". (It doesn't mean that's true, but that is another topic). That's the feeling I get when I hear their accessible sound and well-sung vocals with a Caribbean accent. But these guys have some decent nu-metal riffs and 80's style solos to come across as heavy in a rock sort of way as well are certainly enjoyable to listen to.

Also still in my listening rotation is Through The Eyes of the Dead. With all the new stuff in my CD changer, these guys aren't getting quite as much play time. But when I want something really heavy, I go back to "Bloodlust." I've grown to love tracks 4 and 5, "Bringer of Truth" and "Beneath Dying Skies" respectively for their thrash influences and excellent grooves and speed.

I've been checking out this death metal band while on my computer at home - Zaburon's "Sic Bellum Incipit." They play very interesting melodic death metal with some good death metal grooves and classic metal influences as well. The album is comprised of either short songs of 3 minutes and very long songs of 7, 8 or 13 minutes and keeps my attention the way few straight-up death metal albums can.

My work playlist has remained largely the same, comprised of melodic metal which plays well at low levels (Am I Blood, Shadows Fall, Manntis, Machine Head, Demons & Wizards as well as some Devildriver, Communic). I've added Freya to the mix, who play an interesting mix of hardcore music and screaming with more rock-style guitar work.

That's all I've got to report for this week. This is one hell of a year in metal and I have trouble even finding the time to listen to everything I want to, much less everything coming out. Until next time, stay metal! \m/

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