Interview with Caliban in Cologne. Not many bands from Germany made it on an international level í¢ä‰åäóì except for maybe Rammstein or the Scorpions. Do you think it’s an advantage or a disadvantage for a band to come out of Germany? I think it’s a quite good thing like a band from Germany touring in the States, because people don’t have the chance to see us that much like American bands. So, if there is like another show like on the same day, people probably come over to our show, because they can’t see us. They can see us like maybe one or two times a year. If we have the same success as Rammstein or the Scorpions? I don’t know, probably not, but we’ll see. You never know. Metalcore is going through a hype at the moment. Do you think it’s good or bad for the band in the long run? It’s like a two-sided sword. It’s good for bands to come out, to have a say, like good bands getting the chance for a good signing, but on the other side you got to be careful not to be abused by the music industry. You should keep your eyes a little bit more open, I think, than in the past. Like there has been hypes like all the time, you know, it’s an up-and-down, like all the time. So, it’s probably an up. You never know what’s up like in a year or so. We’ll see about that. What are the metal and the hardcore ingredients in Caliban? Like the metal part like from the metalcore thing is like the music that we play, and the hardcore part is the attitude that we carry in our heads and hearts. There is like a good mix. Music is metal, and the attitude is the hardcore. So, that’sí¢ä‰åŒ_ I think, it’s quite a good combination. What would you say are the main differences to your prior records? The song writing became more accessible. It’s likeí¢ä‰åŒ_ we have like a little bit more like melody parts in it which is like, I think, a normal process compared to the records that we released before. And like the production is way better, due to Anders Friden who worked as a producer, and Andy Sneap who mixed and mastered the whole record. And it’s justí¢ä‰åŒ_ it’s way more professional, it sounds way more mature. This would be like the most, like the biggest difference to the prior records that we released.

Soulfly drummer Joe Nunez has launched his official web site at JoeNunez.com. Included on the site are several audio clips of Nunez’s other bands, STRIPPING THE PISTOL and SLAMPEDE, along with various SOULFLY and STRIPPING THE PISTOL videos and a host of other information. blabbermouth.net

Listen up, deadly sinners, 3 INCHES OF BLOOD has been getting quite a bit of press lately… First off, webzine Pivotal Rage conducted an interview with Cam, Matt, Brian and Jamie which can be accessed here. They talk about touring with Satyricon, lineup changes, their favorite albums and more. Also, 3 INCHES OF BLOOD recently got some press being featured in 2 US mags – OUTBURN magazine as well as ANVIL MAGAZINE. Both those magazines are in stores right now. As you can’t pick it up here, we have scanned in the features to their photo gallery.

We have added a new photo gallery of Ill Nino from their recent tour stop at the Starland Ballrom. You can check it out here. Big thanks to Kristina Sisti of www.showandtellonline.com for those amazing shots. Also, don’t forget you can get the full Ill Nino experience right in your living room with Ill Nino’s DVD release Live From The Eye Of The Storm DVD which features full concert recorded live in Pennsylvania in early 2004, exclusive interview footage, a “Confessional” featurette, all of the band’s videos, and a photo gallery commemorating the last 2 years of Ill Nino. The DVD is in stores now.

Fear Factory are writing a new song for the game ‘Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Lockdown’. The guys will also be revamping the theme. The game sees the player lead Team Rainbow, a counter-terrorist unit, as they battle against bioterrorists.

CALIBAN. CHIMAIRA. LACUNA COIL. IN FLAMES. London Hammersmith Apollo. Monday December 27th. Watch out for goodies being thrown out into the crowd between the Caliban & Chimaira sets from us. See you down the front.

Over at ShoutWeb they’ve been polling artist’s favourite albums of 2004. Here’s the choices from some of our guys, but you can check out the whole lot HERE. Do take a look, nice to see lots of our guys appearing in other band’s Top 10 releases. DAVE PYBUS (CRADLE OF FILTH) 01. Genocide Superstars Hail The New Storm 02. Hanzel Und Gretyl Scheiss Messiah 03. Zeke ‘Til The Living End 04. The Passion Of The Christ Soundtrack 05. Ghoulunatics Speakerboxx/The Love Below 06. Nekromantix Dead Girls Don’t Cry 07. The Haunted rEVOLVEr 08. Bad Religion The Empire Strikes First 09. Killswitch Engage The End Of Heartache 10. Mastodon Leviathan MIKE NOVAK (EVERY TIME I DIE) 01. Helmet Size Matters 02. Lamb Of God Ashes Of The Wake 03. My Chemical Romance Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge 04. Eighteen Visions Obsession 05. Killswitch Engage The End Of Heartache 06. Dillinger Escape Plan Miss Machine 07. Clutch Blast Tyrant 08. Converge You Fail Me 09. Slipknot Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) 10. Head Automatica Decadence BOBBY BURNS (SOULFLY) 01. Social Distortion Sex, Love And Rock N’ Roll 02. The Killers Hot Fuss 03. Every Time I Die Hot Damn 04. The Used In Love And Death 05. My Chemical Romance Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge 06. Helmet Size Matters 07. Battles EP 08. Soulfly Prophecy 09. Hiding Place Fear And Loathing 10. Skindred Babylon MIKE D’ANTONIO (KILLSWITCH ENGAGE) 01. The Cure The Cure 02. All That Remains This Darkened Heart 03. 36 Crazyfists A Snowcapped Romance 04. Eighteen Visions Obsession 05. Shadows Fall The War Within 06. In Flames Soundtrack To Your Escape 07. God Forbid Better Days 08. Unearth The Oncoming Storm 09. Martyr AD On Earth As It Is In Hell 10. Lamb Of God Ashes Of The Wake ACEY SLADE (MURDERDOLLS) 01. Amen Death Before Music 02. The Horror Pops Hell Yea 03. The Wildhearts Wildhearts Must Be Destroyed 04. Eighteen Visions Obsession 05. The Bronx The Bronx 06. Lars Fredrickson & The Bastards Viking 07. Anti-Flag Terror State 08. Cheap Trick The Essential 09. Slipknot Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) 10. Trash Light Vision MyFU2U CARL SEVERSON (HEAD OF FERRET RECORDS) 01. Zao Funeral of God 02. Converge You Fail Me 03. Muse Absolution 04. Scarlet Cult Classic 05. My Chemical Romance Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge 06. DJ Dangermouse Grey Album 07. Demon Hunter Summer of Darkness 08. Lamb Of God Ashes Of The Wake 09. Phantom Planet Phantom Planet 10. Head Automatica Decadence By the way, ShoutWeb voted KsE’s The End Of Heartache #5 in their poll. This is the second time Killswitch Engage has appeared on Shoutweb’s Top 10 Artist Picks for Record of the Year, the most by any artist. In 2002, they pulled out a #4 spot with Alive or Just Breathing?!

“First we want to thank you for all of your support during the last year, 2004 was a really good year for us and we look forward to better things to come in 2005. Without your support none of this would be possible – here’s hoping you have a safe, happy and very Metal Holiday season – Peace. New York, The “Troc”, The Palladium & The NorVa Updates What a great week it has been – we had a lot of fun partying and meet a lot of great people while in New York for a few days. Thanks to everyone at Roadrunner, The Syndicate, Face The Music Touring, Revolver Magazine, The Music Choice Channel and Guitar One for taking good care of us and making sure we had a great time while in the city. We also want to thank the Dark Angel (Justin) for keeping an eye on things and making sure everything was well organized and taken care of. We then hit it in Philly, Wooster, and man, what can we say about the NorVa – just incredible – we’ve really had a great time so far – for those of you we have meet at the shows and for all of you that tore it up supporting us – Thank You – it’s been a blast, glad you liked our cover of “Cemetery Gates”, looked like you had almost as much fun as we had playing it. Looking forward to tearing it up at the Jaxx. Next update with pictures from the tour will be after Christmas – until then have a safe and very Metal XXX-mas.” m/-_-m/ Corey, Travis, Paolo & Matt

The new Soulfly DVD ‘The Song Remains Insane’ is set for release on February 28, 2005. View the cover artwork HERE.

If you haven’t already picked up the latest Roadrage DVD from Virgin, you’ll now be able to find it at HMV, MVC, Music Zone and all official ‘Roadrage’ stores from Jan 31st. And… the price is still only 퉌£7.99. Bargain!