DevilDriver’s sophomore release is taking shape – the album is titled, song names are known, in fact Dez is heading back to Texas today to complete laying down the vocals. That being said, we have the following press release below to share from our esteemed press department here at Roadrunner (and don’t forget to check out DevilDriver.com for the 2nd round of answers of your questions): Extreme American Metal will get a kick in the ass when DevilDriver release their sophomore album The Fury of Our Maker’s Hand on Roadrunner Records this coming Spring. The follow up to DevilDriver’s 2002 critically-acclaimed self-titled debut album, The Fury of Our Maker’s Hand will be a much more brutal, metal release for the Santa Barbara-based quintet that features lead vocalist Dez Fafara. Commenting from the mixing board at Sonic Ranch Studios in El Paso, TX Fafara says, ” We all stepped it up for this album. It is way heavier and much faster. Expect brutality.” Produced by Colin Richardson (Machine Head, Fear Factory, Napalm Death) The Fury of Our Maker’s Hand will feature such mind-expanding songs as “Grinfucked,” “Pale Horse,” and “End of the Line.” “The new DevilDriver material is a huge step up from the last record in every way imaginable, especially in terms of the guitar playing and the riffs,” says Roadrunner Records VP of A&R Monte Connor. “Mark my words, it will go down as both a benchmark metal release and the album that DevilDriver will be measured against for the rest of their career. I can’t wait for people to hear it.” Having already toured on the 2004 Ozzfest as well as with Superjoint Ritual, Morbid Angel, Opeth, In Flames, Caliban and more, DevilDriver will definitely have an extremely active tour schedule in 2005. In 2001, through the ashes of Fafara’s former group Coal Chamber, rose DevilDriver. Assemblying a group of hungry musicians who were bonded over their love of BBQing and extreme music they set out to awaken the dormant, extreme music scene with the release of their debut album. Since forming, they’ve toured with Superjoint Ritual, Morbid Angel, Opeth, In Flames, Caliban and more, including 2003’s Ozzfest (Fafara’s 6th time on the tour). DevilDriver is Dez Fafara (vocals), Jon Miller (bass), John Boecklin (drums) and Jeff Kendrick and Mike Spreitzer on guitar.

Bolt your doors, seal off your windows, and turn off your radio – it’s a scary world out there, full of mindless zombies and equally mindless rockstars, self-righteously preaching and self-indulgently whining to the herd. But help is on the way… The first step in saving yourself, read the new Wednesday 13 bio, now playing in Wednesday’s BIO section.

It’s in motion…last night at a packed CBGBs on the Bowery in NYC, Trivium played the first date of a week-long run with All That Remains (check out the band’s PHOTO GALLERY for pics from the show). For those of you at the show, you heard a good number of tunes from Trivium’s debut Roadrunner release, Ascendancy. And now, whether you were at the show or not, we kindly ask you to check out our MUSIC section to download an MP3 from the upcoming release, a song titled “Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr.” Enjoy. Trivium Ascendancy coming March 14th

If you haven’t got your tickets yet for the Killswitch Engage & Twelve Tribes tour, you better hurry up! Glasgow is SOLD OUT, and there are only about 50 tickets remaining for the shows in Newcastle, Manchester, & London! Few more tickets available for Wolverhampton… Tour starts Jan 19th.

A new joint venture between Detonator TV and Terrorizer has led to the launch of the monthly extreme TV show ‘Fear Candy’ starting from January 10th. This month you can watch videos from Dark Tranquillity, Death Angel, Deeds of Fleh, Napalm Death, Aborted, Spawn of Possession, Impaled Nazarene, Arch enemy, Cradle of Filth and see an exclusive interview with Nargal Behemoth. The next issue will be on DETONATOR on February 10th 2005! www.detonator.tv

Notice something different? Check out chimaira.com. It has changed. Enjoy the look back at 2003-2004 through the eyes of Chimaira via the QuickTime movie behind one of the Chimaira logos, and start looking ahead. Chimaira should be hitting the studio soon…

Trivium played in NYC this weekend, the kick-off date of a short tour run with All That Remains, and just the beginning of what should prove a long touring season 2005 for the band – hopefully including some UK dates! Meanwhile, check out THIS from the Jan 7th Metro New York newspaper featuring a great piece on the band.

Video’s added from today: Tin Foil Phoenix ‘Neopolitan’ Bleeding Through ‘Love Lost In A Hail Of Gunfire’ Killswitch Engage ‘The End of Heartache’ Twelve Tribes ‘Venus Complex’ Terror ‘Overcome’ Video’s already running on the channel : Caliban Machine Head Dirty Americans Type O Negative Sepultura Ill Nino Soulfly 36 Crazyfists Throwdown Murderdolls Stone Sour Slipknot Misfits Killswitch Engage Hatebreed Chimaira Fear Factory DevilDriver Cradle Of Filth Wednesday 13 interview

Everyone knows about the recent disaster in Asia on Boxing Day. What you probably didn’t know was that Jonas Kloge, the bass player from Illdisposed was on holiday in Phi Phi, Thailand at the time the terrible tsunami struck. Fortunately he managed to get himself and a little boy safe on top of a building before escaping up on a mountain. An email from Jonas says: “I was in a restaurant when lots of hysterical people suddenly came running into the place. Everything was chaos and at first I didn’t know what was going on. I went to the door and looked outside, at bit confused, the sight was shocking. Huge waves were filling the streets with water and the palms were breaking like matches. Water filled the restaurant and partly broke the staircase which led to the roof of the building. I climbed up the broken stairs and when I reached the top of the stairs I saw a woman and her 2 children struggling in the water under the stairs. I climbed down the stairs again, reaching out for one of the kids, carrying him up to the roof of the building where we were safe so far. Fortunately the woman and her other child were saved as well. On top of the building I could see how the wave destroyed everything, houses crumbled and trees broke. When the wave disappeared we ran like hell to a nearby mountain where we spent the night.” All at Roadrunner are relieved to hear he is ok and saddened by the massive losses suffered by so many people.

Have a browse over some new cool live shots from Most Precious Blood’s show at Axis, in Boston, Massachusetts a few days ago. Find them HERE on the ReturnToThePit.com site. In other kind-of related Most Precious Blood news, Rachel will be playing a few UK shows over the next week or so with her other band The Wage Of Sin. Check ’em out and say hello… maybe we’ll see you at the London Underworld show next Wednesday (Jan 12).