We’re pleased to announce that Chimaira will be joining the second half of the US Ozzfest tour, straight from their tour with In Flames. The first show you can catch them at will be July 31 in Indianapolis, ending August 28 in West Palm. Chimaira will play the second stage, rotating with all bands except for Voivod and Cradle of Filth. Did you know? Labelmates Killswitch Engage are also playing the US Ozzfest tour.

Type O Negative will be shooting a new video this weekend. The video will be for the track “I Don’t Wanna Be Me” from their upcoming June 16th release Life Is Killing Me. The shoot will take place in Brooklyn (but, of course), and it kinda goes like this (very loose interpretation): a local New York City comic has been cast to play a fat guy. We will follow this guy to his apartment and watch as he acts out other personalities…all along the lines of the song’s title, “I Don’t Wanna Be Me.” Did You Know? The treatment for this video comes from Type O guitarist Kenny Hickey. In fact, ALL members of the band submitted their own treatments for the video. True. Video should be in house come June 26th. Did you know? The band are playing a special Friday the 13th free show this weekend at NYC’s legendary CBGB’s.

For those of you who are conoisseurs of all things HEAVY and with a memory that lasts beyond the past 2 months, then ‘The Vault’ is certainly for you. We’ve been digging around our archives to find the bands and albums that we’re constantly getting asked about but no one can find anymore. The grand plan is to make every piece of Roadrunner music, ever, available on-line. But, until then, we’ve put together a series called “TWO FROM THE VAULT” – basically 2 CD’s for less than the price of 1. So, who are we talking about here? Well, here’s 9 that are due to surface on Aug 18th: *Annihilator ‘Alice In Hell’ + ‘Never Neverland’ *Exhorder ‘Slaughter In The Vatican’ + ‘The Law’ *Obituary ‘Slowly We Rot’ + ‘Cause Of Death’ *Gang Green ‘You Got It’ + ‘Older Budweiser’ *Mercyful Fate ‘In The Beginning’ + ‘Melissa’ *King Diamond ‘Abigail’ + ‘Fatal Portrait’ *Pestilence ‘Consuming Impulse’ + ‘Testimony Of The Ancients’ *Suffocation ‘Effigy Of the Forgotten’ + ‘Pierced From Within’ *Front Line Assembly ‘Caustic Grip’ + ‘Gashed Senses & Crossfire’ For those that are scratching their heads now, we should point out that Mercyful Fate should be well known to fans of Metallica (they covered a medley of their songs on ‘Garage Inc’), while Exhorder had a great influence on the musical direction of a certain Mr Anselmo. As for Gang Green – if there’s a better album title than ‘Older Budweiser’, then I haven’t heard it. In the meantime, we’ll keep digging.

Type O Negative’s new album ‘Life Is Killing Me’ is released next Monday, June 16th, and is available as a single CD or a rather fantastic limited edition double CD with a bonus 7 rare tracks in an embossed (green & black of course) slipcase. If you’re wondering where to pick up what the press are hailing as the best TON record in ages, then how about these for starters: HMV – Get 퉌£2 off with your ‘Download 2003’ discount card. You can order your FREE card online HERE. VIRGIN – Get 퉌£2 off with the voucher in Rocksound (issue 18/6). ROADRAGE STORES – Both formats available at special low intro price while stocks last – for details of your local store click HERE. Plus all branches of SANITY & MVC.

Click HERE. Scroll down. You are seeing the brand new artwork for the forthcoming new Coal Chamber album ‘Giving The Devil His Due’, due out in August.

SLIPKNOT reconvene in August for work on their third album, the follow up to the UK No.1 album ‘Iowa’, which is set to arrive like a napalm bomb in 2004. Be prepared.

If you thought last year’s ‘Roadrage’ DVD compilation was a bargain, then wait until you check out this year’s. Set for release on September 1st, again at a ridiculously low-price, it will feature the likes of Stone Sour, Murderdolls, Chimaira, Spineshank, Type O Negative & Killswitch Engage as well as classic tracks from acts like Sepultura & Coal Chamber.

If you didn’t manage to get hold of the new ‘Download 2003’ discount card with last month’s Metal Hammer then don’t forget that you can order one FREE HERE. Remember, this card will allow you 퉌£2 off a whole host of Roadrunner new releases exclusively at HMV this year including: *Chimaira ‘The Impossibility of Reason’ – out now *Type O Negative ‘Life Is Killing Me’ – out now *Spineshank ‘Self-Destructive Pattern’ – out July 14th *Murderdolls ‘Beyond The Valley Of The Murderdolls’ special package – out July 21st

Word from Phil Kaso, in our office over in New York… “I just wanted to spread the word a bit…. Friday was doubleDrive in Hartford – we started out the day going to the PLANET OF SOUND studio where WCCC (the US rock station) was doing a live broadcast. The band Closure was on the air before we got there. doubleDrive got in, and were given free reign, the station told them they could do as many songs as they wanted! The band performed acoustic versions of “Imprint”, “Million People” and “Big Shove”, as well as parts of “Love Song” by Tesla and “Fade To Black” by Metallica. They were on the air for about an hour. Talking about Blue in the Face, the tour, etc. 12 stones was on after doubleDrive (they are the headliner of the tour) and they only did 1 song, and then Socialburn was on and they did 3 songs. The station was thrilled with doubleDrive’s performance. They said they thought that doubleDrive should be headlining the show, not 12 Stones! Then we were off the Webster theater. Closure was the first band on, and by my judgement – there was about 400 kids in the venue for them, and they got a decent reception. Next up was DoubleDrive was on. I’d say there was a good 600+ people there for them (by my eyeballing the crowd). The crowd went NUTS for doubleDrive . This was their second time thru Hartford, they had played the WCCC Rock Expo back in April on the 19th. There was a huge mosh pit for “Inside Out”. WHen the band played “Imprint” the crowd was singing along, and at the end of the song, the band even stopped singing, and let the crowd sing alone. ….it was very cool! The band later told me that was one of the best reactions they have had yet! And they will be going back to Hartford on June 29 for a benefit show. And when doubleDrive was done, the crowd emptied out -I’d say that Socialburn & 12 Stones only played to about 300-400 people. It was definately a doubleDrive crowd. Just wanted to let you know what’s going on out there.” Hey Phil, thanks for the line.

Time for a quick update on some of the latest features out there featuring our bands – check ’em out. doubleDrive *Read the new ‘Rising’ feature out in Kerrang! on June 14th. *Also, don’t miss an album review and band feature in Powerplay’s June issue. Type O Negative *Don’t miss the great KKKK album review of ‘Life Is Killing Me’ in the June 7th issue. *The current issue of Terrorizer has Type O on the cover and an album review…. *As does the current issue of Powerplay! *And for some more unusual reading, pick up the current issue of Bizarre for a Type O interview. *Not to mention reviews in Metal Hammer ( a very nice 8/10), Logo, Vice, Black Velvet (August issue), Cop Out, Meltdown, Guitar Techniques, Record Collector, & Classic Rock (July issue) to spotlight just a few.