Do you want to be there at the exclusive Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards in London on June 3?? Hobnob with some stars? Take a mate to share the fun? Here’s your opportunity. We’re giving away 60 pairs of tickets to some lucky winners & their friends right now in our FREE SHIT section. Get in there fast, coz this super cool competition ends very soon!!

Are you in desperate need of a sonic pummeling? Well, 36 CRAZYFISTS, who take their name from a Jackie Chan flick, will be more than happy to oblige your desires with their upcoming sophomore release for Roadrunner Records. The band is currently holed up in Fort Lauderdale, FL, considerably warmer than their hometown of Anchorage, working on new material for the follow up to last year’s emotionally jarring Bitterness The Star. The ‘Fists have tapped James Wisner, who has worked with post-hardcore acts such as Dashboard Confessional and Further Seems Forever, to produce the effort. Veteran Andy Sneap (Killswitch Engage, Arch Enemy and Opeth) has been recruited to mix. The band begins tracking on May 28 and hopes to complete the album by the end of July to ready for an Autumn release. For those of you who are dying to know, some tentative song titles are í¢ä‰åñBloodworkí¢ä‰åŒ and í¢ä‰åñAt The End Of August.í¢ä‰åŒ 36 CRAZYFISTS singer Brock Lindow says, í¢ä‰åñThis sophomore effort will definitely be a more aggressive and dynamic feeling record.í¢ä‰åŒ The band feels they are writing some of their heaviest material ever, while still maintaining the emotional vocal melodies that hooked fans on their first record. Stay tuned for more studio updates on the band and their upcoming release.

Hot from the NY Press Office… New York, NY: Whether or not life kills Type O Negative remains to be seen, but the band’s upcoming album Life Is Killing Me is certainly making a killing at Metal Radio and at Rock Radio, the formats that launched the band’s career and propelled Type O to Platinum-status. In the words of imposing Type O frontman Peter Steele, the material on Life Is Killing Me is “somewhere between Bloody Kisses and October Rust”, the two albums considered by many to be the band’s best work. While a dirge or two still gives the 70+ minute album the right to it’s moniker, fans can expect a far more up-tempo and (dare we say?) slightly more light-hearted approach than on the band’s last studio album, World Coming Down. A 4-song sampler was launched at Metal Radio this week, and while only 4 songs in length, metal specialty shows on commercial stations and a slew of college radio stations have latched onto the sampler for dear life. The sampler came in at a resounding, dominant #1 Most Added at FMQB and CMJ Crucial Spins, debuting on the charts at #8 with 178 spins and #18 with 123 spins, respectively. The sampler landed at #1 on WSOU/South Orange, NJ playlist, with a whopping 50 spins and #6 on Sirius Satellite Radio’s playlist, with 29 spins. Clearly, the format was salivating over the new Type O. We can only imagine what the reaction to the full-length will be. Over in the Rock Radio arena, the single “I Don’t Wanna Be Me” landed at #2 Most Added on both the Active Rock and Mainstream Rock charts. Stations in major markets such as Boston, Chicago, Phoenix and Detroit are already on board with “I Don’t Wanna Be Me.”

A little message from Wednesday 13 for you all… Greetings Fiends & Ghoulscouts! United Kingdom here we come, motherfucker! The Dolls have had a couple of months break, while Mr. Jordison worked on the new Slipknot tunes, but we are now back in action and rehearsing in a studio in the Valley, outside of Hollywood. We’ve never looked or sounded so cool in our fucking lives and to make it even better our studio is right next door to POISON….how’s that for a blast from the past? We’ll be creating some havoc in Hollywood this week – we’re going to see Powerman 5K and Stone Sour tonight, shooting a video for WHITE WEDDING on Sunday (get ready for this!), playing 2 shows in the Hollywood area, then we’re off to Japan for 3 shows with Balzac supporting. Then get ready for us to take over the UK at Download, Madam JoJo’s (we promise this will be insane, so come see this!) and much, much more. We want to meet everyone of you motherfuckers this summer and thank you for the support – so come track us down and say hello. 13

MURDERDOLLS and STONE SOUR are set to terrorize the UK this July when they team up for a string of shows. The ‘DOLLS were all set to play their own shows, but when they realised STONE SOUR were also in Europe, it seemed a fun idea to invite them along for the ride. Both bands are about to take a break to allow Joey, Corey and Jim return to the SLIPKNOT fold to work on the new album. MURDERDOLLS guitarist Joey Jordison states, “Murderdolls played with Stone Sour in Des Moines on New Years Eve and we had a blast. When we started booking our UK headline tour, we thought let’s give them a call and see if they wanted to join up. We share some fans and have different fans so we thought it could be a great tour for everyone. This will be the last tour this year for Murderdolls and Stone Sour before we go back to Slipknot, so why not go out on top creating mayhem and destroying clubs together! Don’t miss this tour!” STONE SOUR frontman Corey Taylor was equally enthusiastic – “The UK is going to fucking burn under the sheer power of both STONE SOUR and MURDERDOLLS. It is an honour and a privilege to wreak havoc over there again.” Although the shows are ‘double-headline’, partying rules dictate that MURDERDOLLS will close each show. 7th July – CARDIFF Uni (Murderdolls only) 8th July – NOTTINGHAM Rock City 9th July – BIRMINGHAM Academy 10th July – GLASGOW Barrowlands 11th July – MANCHESTER Apollo 12th July – LONDON Brixton Academy Both bands will be releasing singles to coincide with the tour. STONE SOUR set the pace with ‘Inhale’ on 7th July and MURDERDOLLS follow it up with their take on the Billy Idol classic ‘White Wedding’, which hits the stores on 14th July. 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 early 2004. Be prepared.

It’s 7 a.m. out in the US, somewhere between Chicago and Detroit, when we receive a phone call from Mark Hunter, Chimaira’s excited vocalist. “So,” he demands to know, “our album came out there yesterday, how is it doing?!? Our album comes out today in the US. It’s like 7 a.m. here and no-one’s been to sleep yet! We can’t sleep!” It transpires the band played an “utterly awesome” show last night in Chicago, where the crowd were just “totally insane”… “We sold over 100 t-shirts at this one show!” “We’re on our way to Detroit now, but we got stuck in this huge traffic jam so have taken some time out…” he says and laughs, “I haven’t taken a shower in ages so I just managed to take one!” Touch wood, the bus hasn’t broken down, caught on fire, driven itself away, or any such normal disaster as usually befalls Chimaira trips. Disasters or no, Chimaira are excited about their upcoming UK shows with Spineshank. “We’re so psyched!” The excitement in his voice is almost tangible. “We just so can’t wait to get over there, and it’s only 2 weeks away!” And as if it’ll make the dates get here faster, he demands…“I wanna talk to everyone else in the office… NOW!” Chimaira ‘The Impossibility Of Reason’ in stores now… (you can get a free logo patch when you buy it at an official Roadrage store).

Bringing you the latest Junkie XL updates… * The video for ‘Catch Up To My Step’ is now added to The Amp on Sky TV. Call 09014 900351 to request it! Current selection number is 012, but please check before requesting as this number will change often! * The video has also been moved up to the Super A playlist at MTV Dance! That’s the highest it can go! Thanks to everyone over at MTV Dance for supporting. * You can currently watch the video online exclusively on the Radio 1 website in the dance section! Check it out HERE. * Upcoming Press… wrap your eyes around this lot: Mixmag ‘Big Tunes’ piece & ‘Barometer’ feature out 15th May, Muzik album & single review out 12th May, Hot Press single review out 19th May, NME single & album review out mid May, Front’s ‘Album Of The Month’ also out mid May, the leading music feature in the Daily Record Saturday supplement out 17th May, & a ‘Buzz’ feature in Upfront out mid May as well! And more to come… * Get yourself a free exclusive new Junkie XL MP3 by joining Junkie XL’s mailing list HERE. What else? Junkie XL will actually be in the UK for a couple of days next week, doing some interviews to promote his forthcoming single and album releases!

Remember we told you about the very special Chimaira show at the Northampton Soundhaus, on Tuesday, May 27th? The support act will be US nu-metallers The Height Of Callousness. Tickets are on sale now!

Buy it or we’ll kick your teeth in, says Mark, Chimaira’s vocalist. “Yo amigos… so the record comes out today!! I know you are all going to rush to the store and pick it up right? Or do we have to come over there and kick your teeth in first??! Let me tell you how this tour with our sorta label mates Lamb Of God is going….it is brutal! We are tearing the crowd’s a new asshole! Have not been getting that drunk as of late, we needed some rest after that week of mayhem. We are so proud of this new record, and we know you will all LOVE it. Only 2 weeks and we will be there, we are so pumped you have no idea! For a change the press has been really nice to us, and expect to see us in your favorite mags soon…shit, expect to see us in person soon!! Can’t wait to meet you all and tear it up on the stage till then…” Mark

hot off the presses…what follows is an official press release regarding the latest on Ill Nino in the studio, and a change in the band’s line up… Ill Nino is currently tracking the follow-up to 2001’s Revolution/Revolucion at a New Jersey recording studio with producer Bob Marlette (Saliva, Black Sabbath), with co-production handled by Ill Nino drummer Dave Chavarri. Due for release in Fall of 2003, Ill Nino’s sophomore effort translates the ferocious vibe and Latin soul of the band’s celebrated live show to disc. The mixing will be handled in June by Jay Baumgardner (Evanesence, Drowning Pool). The making of the record has also seen a change in Ill Nino’s membership: percussionist Roger Vasquez and guitarist Marc Rizzo amicably parting ways with the band. “We’re parting as friends,” states Chavarri. “In fact, Marc is playing guitar on the record totally living up to his commitment to the band. Those guys are great musicians and totally part of the Ill Nino family. It was time for them to pursue other directions in musicí¢ä‰åŒ_nothing more, nothing less. We’ll all go on to better days both as individuals and as Ill Nino. I wish them well.” At this time, Ill Nino is firming up two new members and will announce their joining in the month of June. And how are things going for Ill Nino in the studio? According to Chavarri, vocalist Cristian Machado, bassist Laz Pina and guitarist Jardel Paisante: “It’s been unbelievably easy and really the most fun we’ve ever had making a record. We’ve all opened up a lot as musicians and it’s really showing as the songs are being recorded. It’s everything Ill Nino is: heavy, melodic and tribal. The vibe is amazing. We want to let our fans know how good things are going and simply thank them for supporting Ill Nino through thick and thin. The revolution will be back in your town this summer!”