Chimaira, The New Wave Of American Heavy Metal? One listen of their upcoming album and surely you’ll agree (psst, you can listen to the whole thing HERE). Here’s another one…how about, Chimaira, The New Ambassadors of Roadrunner Records? Read below, and apparently this one is true too. Words in italics courtesy of a 3am phone call somewhere in Portland from Mark, Chimaira’s singer… tales from the scene of the crimes. Chimaira is currently on the road with Lamb Of God out there in the USA… but that’s not the only band they’re with… “Lamb Of God. Cool guys. They like to drink and headbang like us…” Monday, May 5, the band was in Portland, Oregon. What was the Portland situation? Bear-ca-bobs with 36 Crazyfists. Chimaira had a hang last night in Portland with the guys from 36 Crazyfists (currently working on pre-production of their new album). As for the ‘bear-ca-bobs,’ that would be a shish-ca-bob made by 36 CF bassist Mick Whitney (he is affectionately called ‘bear’). We took 36 out on their first tour ever. We spent 2 months on the road with these guys, so we are great friends! We’ve been doing some partying with these guys and the Lamb Of God guys tonight. We went to this stripclub, the broads were real real nasty! Actually, I think I have to go real soon, some of the strippers are on the tour bus and I have to go round up the rest of the guys….” Go back in time three days to L.A. (May 2), and Chimaira was keeping company with Dino from Fear Factory, Meegs from Coal Chamber, and the boys from Spineshank. “Ah man, I woke up that morning still drunk from the Pomona, California show when we got drunk with Kerry King from Slayer… and Spineshank were at that show too. This show was just Drunken Debauchery Part 2. I was vomiting profusely before we played, just trying to get it all out of my system!” Fast forward two days to this past Sunday (May 4), and it was a night with Machine Head’s Robert Flynn and Dave McClain. “We got Rob up on stage with us to do our song ‘Severed’. That was cool. And then we had Dave on drums, I sang and played guitar, Rob sang and we covered ‘Davidian’. That was awesome, everyone went fuckin’ nuts! And then we all got drunk again… just picking up where we left off… the night before we played Vegas, and all there is to do in Vegas is drink, and gamble…” Furthermore, this past Thursday (May 1) in Pomona, it was a night with Slayer’s Mr. Kerry King. All right, so Kerry and Slayer are not on Roadrunner Records, but you see where we are going with this… “That night: Drunken Debauchery Part 1. Spineshank hung out that night too. They have warned us there won’t be one sober night in the whole UK tour.” The Five Degrees Of Roadrunner, indeed. “The shows have been great, but the aftershows have been even greater! We’ve got 17 shows left on this US tour, and we just can’t turn it down when our friends come out. We’ve been very ‘pissed’ as you would say!! Life is good. Tonight we’ve just been watching the Slipknot DVD, and now we’ve seen all the London crowd in that, we just can’t wait to come over and make our mark on the UK. We’re ready to destroy!” Hey, now it’s your turn to see Chimaira, check our TOUR section for all upcoming Chimaira dates.

Dez Fafara and company – collectively known as Deathride – are in the midst of recording their debut release. Along the way, they are taking loads and loads of pics. Curious to see the latest? Sure you are. Courtesy of director Joe Lynch, we have Deathride, The Making Of…Part II up in our VIDEO section. Go on now…Check it out. Much love from Deathride.

What to do when it rains all bank holiay weekend and you’re sat indoors surfing the web…. Check out our FREE SHIT section.. we’ve got an absolute ton of competitions to keep you busy all weekend looking for the answers so you can win yourself some really cool shit. Loads. Have a great 3 days… normal service will be resumed on Tuesday.

Just a note: The track formerly known as ‘Sleepy Policeman’ featuring Peter Tosh on the forthcoming Junkie XL album, will hence forth be known as ‘Don’t Wake Up Policeman’. Let sleeping policemen lie we say.

Hot news from the RR US press office… HONORS AT ROCK RADIO! BAND ON NATIONAL TOUR WITH STEREOMUD New York, NY: Roadrunner Records recording act ETHER SEEDS is off to a booming start at Rock Radio. Just one week after the band returned from a short stint on the road with Sevendust, the band’s first single, “Save Your Own Life,” went for adds at the Active Rock and Rock formats. Week 1 was a huge success, landing the Atlanta-based foursome at #2 Most Added at R&R Active Rock and Rock – just behind the Deftones, raking in 25 adds from quality call letters in major markets! Stations nationwide responded to the anthemic single right out of the box, picking up adds on WAAF/Boston, WCCC/Hartford, WKLQ/Grand Rapids, WAQX/Syracuse, WIIL/Chicago, KRZR/Fresno to name a few. More stations are sure to react to the song in the weeks to come, so keep your ears peeled. ETHER SEEDS are currently enjoying their first national tour, with Stereomud, Pacifier, and Fingertight. The quartet’s self-titled debut streets June 17.

Even more Junkie XL for you. We told you originally there was 17 tracks on the 3pm CD of the new Junkie XL double album ‘Radio JXL: A Broadcast From The Computer Hell Cabin’. Total so far: 17 tracks. Then we told you the 3am CD had another 11 tracks. Total so far: 28 tracks. Next we told you the 3pm had an extra 2 tracks added. Total so far: 30 tracks. Now, we’re telling you that the UK & Japanese editions of this double album will have yet another new track on it. This track is to be called ‘Tennis’. Total complete: 31 tracks.

For those of you that like a bit of VFM (that’s value for Metal), you’ll be pleased to hear that the Roadrunner/HMV/Metal Hammer Download card is making a welcome return this year. Available FREE with the issue of Metal Hammer that hits the stores on May 20th, the card will allow you 퉌£2 of a whole host of mentally brilliant Roadrunner releases this year exclusively from HMV. The first batch of titles are: Chimaira ‘The Impossibility Of Reason’ – out now Type O Negative ‘Life Is Killing Me’ – out now Spineshank ‘Self-Destructive Pattern’ – July 14th So grab your card, stick it in your wallet/purse and have all those rocking bargains close to hand.

You could pick up a rather tasty FREE Chimaira logo patch when you buy the band’s blistering new album ‘The Impossibility Of Reason’ from May 12th. The patches are available exclusively from the official ‘Roadrage’ Indie stores (click here for your nearest store). But be quick as they’re very limited!

Why are we giving you a Roadrunner history lesson? Today, May Day, whilst people riot on the streets of London, our US office has just launched the almighty Vault, which we’ve been talking about on both our music pages for some time. What is the Vault? The Vault is where you can buy digital files of all Roadrunner music – past and present, deleted and current. Yes, all Roadrunner music, even those obscure releases by Xentrix (25 tracks by Xentrix available in fact). Cool, yes? Currently, the Vault is only available to US residents – call it a roadtest. However, we hope to bring the Vault to the UK soon… so watch this space. Meanwhile, in celebrating the rebirth of Roadrunner ancients, Joey Jordison’s given us his lowdown on 10 old Roadrunner tunes. Joey’s quote: “No motherfucker knows more about the history of Roadrunner than me… Check this shit out…’ 1. Realm – “Slay The Oppressor” off the album Endless War. Reason I pick this is because this is the first band Monte (squirt) Conner ever signed. So this is a major step in moves that would shape Roadrunner history forever. I was never a big fan of Realm but I did own both Roadrunner releases “Endless War” (1988) and “Suiciety”(1990), and then the band broke up and teamed up later on w/ members of the funk/metal group Last Crack..which remind’s me…. 2. Last Crack – “Blood Brothers Of The Big Black Bear” off of Sinister Funkhouse #17 This is during the movement of underground metal/weirdshit/funk…like Into Another and Psykafunkupus and Mordred…I loved this band…they released another record after to since which I’ve lost called uhhhh…..shit….”Burning Time”….Buddo the lead singer split after this release teaming up with…. yes you guessed it…members of Realm (YES!!!!)….to form a band called White Fear Chain…never heard them though….long live Last Crack…they sounded like they might be on crack…anyway… 3. Buzzoven – “Unwilling To Explain” off the record Sore Fuckin’ total southern white trash, pissed off, mushroomed outta their minds sludgerock from Richmond, Virginia. This record smokes and is their one and only release on Roadrunner. They released another record called “AT A LOSS” on a independent called Off The Records…..I still enjoy listening to this…although it gives me occasional night terrors. 4. Star Star – “Science Fiction Boy” off the record The Love Drag Years The Murderdolls jam this album on a regular basis in our dressing room. This is the only glam band that the mighty Monte Conner ever signed… well until the Murderdolls… see even the mighty Monte that signed Disincarnate liked the glam at one point….BUSTED!!!! 5. Cerebral Fix – “Tower Of Spirit”…off the record Tower of Spirit Okay, I never got into this band all that much but no one has fuckin’ given them any props at ALL!!!…I did carry this cassette in my walkman for probably 2 weeks straight at one time while in High School trying to get into them fully….. this band is a big memory of mine for some odd reason and I don’t think I’ll ever understand why. 6. Artillery – “Khomaniak” off the record By Inheritance Thrash that Denmark sound!!!!!!….. I don’t recall any thrash bands really emerging from Denmark during the late eighties unless you count Mercyful Fate…but I never really considered them Thrash. Artillery was never the best thrash band on the scene, but was also never really given a fair chance like the American bands got….again this is the only release they did for Roadrunner….pretty odd vocals and quality playing…I liked it..Monte’s probably shitting that I know this one!!!! 7. Exhorder – “Desecrator” off the album Slaughter in the Vatican FUCK THIS IS HEAVY!!!!!!…This band hailed from New Orleans, and was arguably one of the best thrash groups of its time…this song here has more great riffs within it than most bands have altogether…..check it out if you don’t believe me. Awesome. 8. Amen “When A Man Dies A Woman” off the self titled debut. This is one of the most honest records I’ve ever had the privilege of hearing. You can literally see the sweat almost pouring out of the speakers throughout this whole album, one of my top 5 records of all time. Amen to that. 9. Type O Negative – “The Misinterpretation Of Silence And Its Drastic Consequences” off the record Slow Deep and Hard hahaha..now some people might think I’m slamming the band …but I’m not…. Type O Negative is a band that would appreciate me picking this, cause they have the best sense of humour I’ve ever seen (even though they might not consider it being a so called sense of humour). But how much balls does it take to put minute or so of SILENCE as a track on your DEBUT album …..on the contrary, Type O Negative stands as one of my favorite bands in all Roadrunner history, in my opnion they’ve never written a bad song. Never…. 10. Mercyful Fate – “Doomed By The Living Dead” off the compilation The Beginning What Roadrunner list would be complete without the fuckin’ KING? King Diamond, that is. I signed to RR almost for this fact alone.. LABLEMATES WITH THE KING. Anyway….Doomed is actually not on any full length release from the Fate (being Melissa and Don’t Break The Oath) but appeared as lead off track on “The Beginning” which is basically a best of…I got this album for Christmas 1990 and “Doomed…” is still my favorite MF track…so there you have it. I dedicate my vault picks to the man, the myth, the slam dancer, the squirt… Monte Conner…. for signing all the greats I grew up w/. When is that Realm box set comin’ out? Schools out… I hope you learned a thing or 10!…hahahaha…. see you soon…… see ya joey

Hey everyone, so this tour with Lamb Of God is fucking unreal. Packed houses, great crowds, and the new material is going over so fucking well live it is insane. We just saw the first batch of our UK dates and we could not be any happier to get over there and bring this live show over to you. We are 2 weeks into a 5 week stint of the US and the stand out shows so far have been Texas (as usual). Every time we play there it is pure insanity. I wish I could write more but we have been so busy, I need to get my head examined!! See you all very soon…. Mark, Chimaira