Brutal Bastards Machine Head have posted details of their forthcoming album ‘The Blackening’ on their official site MACHINEHEAD1.COM The band are set to enter Sharkbite Studios in Oakland, CA on Monday, August 21st to record their newly titled upcoming album, “The Blackening”. Vocalist/Guitarist Robert Flynn will be returning to the producer’s chair for the band’s sixth studio album, with Mark Keaton once again handling engineering duties. Longtime Machine Head collaborator Colin Richardson (Machine Head, Cannibal Corpse, Trivium, Bullet For My Valentine) will also be returning to mix the record alongside Flynn this October in London. “Words can’t really describe how excited we are to get into the studio and record this record,” exclaims drummer Dave McClain. “The shows that we just played on the Sounds of the Underground tour were as amazing as we’d hoped they’d be, the raw energy and excitement level of our fans right now is just incredible, we’re fired up!” Tentative song titles for “The Blackening”, set for release in early 2007, currently include “Clenching The Fists Of Dissent”, “Aesthetics Of Hate”, “Halo”, “The Beautiful Mourning”, “Now I Lay Thee Down”, “Slanderous Love”, “Wolves” and “A Farewell To Arms”. Guitarist Phil Demmel adds, “We’re still smoothing out some rough edges but what we have, we’re extremely proud of. I’m not one to go off on ‘Heavier than blah-blah-blah!!!!’ and ‘Crushes your-these-and-those!!!!’, but I will say that fans of what we call ‘Just Fuckin’ Metal’ will be digging this new material”. The band have also tapped longtime Machine Head artist Paul Brown (Machine Head, Marilyn Manson, Michael Moore) to begin working on album art in the upcoming weeks. MORE INFO: CLICK HERE to watch a preview for the album SOURCE: MACHINEHEAD1

We know, it sucks! But due to events completely out of the bands control, Bleeding Through will be unable to play at this years Reading & Leeds festival. However, there is some salvation as the band will be coming in this NOVEMBER for a storming 12 date tour with Bullet For My Valentine. Tour Dates Mon November 13 – Leeds University Tue November 14 – Liverpool University Thu November 16 – Norwich UEA Fri November 17 – Camrbridge Corn Exchange Sun November 19 – Glasgow Barrowlands Mon November 20 – Edinburgh Corn Exchange Tue November 21 – Newcastle Academy Wed November 22 – Manchester Apollo Fri November 24 – Cardiff Uni Sat November 25 – Brighton Dome Mon November 27 – Birmingham Academy Tue November 28 – Hammersmith Apollo

BLENDER‘s got a hysterical video interview with DragonForce from a recent stop on Ozzfest.

To witness minge-grabs, public drunkeness and the best pre-show fight song ever, click HERE

The mighty DragonForce has got a whole slew of tour dates going on through the end of the year.

TOAZTED.COM has got another great interview up their sleeves, this time featuring Trivium guitarist, Corey Beaulieu.

Get an education on riff writing and the making of The Crusade by clicking HERE

The Crusade hits stores on October 9th.

What can you say about Grum Lee? The man likes his Roadrunner. He has recorded acoustic covers of some of his favorite Roadrunner tunes and is sharing them with the world on his MYSPACE and on his HOMEPAGE where other Roadrunner favorites, as well as a host of other acoustic covers from the world of hard rock and heavy metal can be heard. Run, don’t walk to listen to the genius that is Grum!

Last weekend Satyricon shoot their latest video for ‘The Pentagram Burns’. Filmed by H퀌«vard Arnsta the band describe the video as “strongly linked with the look and the style from the album cover, hence we find ourselves covered with minor burns all over bodies and it feels nothing but good,” To see photographic evidence of this blacker than black video CLICK HERE.

Jesse Truesdale of Bonner Springs, Kansas’ The Chieftain reports that a note containing lyrics to the song “Surfacing” by SLIPKNOT was located near a grave that was found robbed Tuesday morning (August 15) at the Bonner Springs Cemetery.

Kenneth Brooks, sexton of the cemetery, was working at about 11 a.m. that day when he found evidence of a crime unique in his experience.

“The ground was turned up,” Kenneth Brooks said, on the recently laid grave of Justin Manning.

Manning died July 25 in a car wreck on I-70 near the I-435 exit when the pickup truck he was riding in rammed a highway sign pole.

The container with the ashes that had been in the grave was taken.

Manning‘s mother, Angela Bickham, said, “I don’t know what I think now. It’s unbelievable í¢ä‰åäó it’s beyond even being able to comprehend how someone can kidnap an urn.”

Bickham said she didn’t know who could have robbed the grave. There had been some trouble at Manning‘s funeral, where his friends wanted to bury a hat and some CDs with his urn.

Bickham said she didn’t want to name those friends while the police investigation is ongoing.

Read more at www.bonnersprings.com. SOURCE: BLABBERMOUTH

We can now confirm that Trivium & Dragonforce are both up for nominations for this years Kerrang! Awards. The bands have been nominated in the following categories: Best Live Band Trivium Dragonforce Muse Bullet For My Valentine Mastodon Best Single Trivium – ‘Dying In Your Arms’ Fall Out Boy – ‘Sugar, We’re Going Down’ Bullet For My Valentine – ‘Tears Don’t Fall’ Muse – ‘Supermassive Black Hole’ Lost Prophets – ‘Rooftops’ Placebo – ‘Infra Red’ Best Band On The Planet Trivium Lacuna Coil My Chemical Romance Fall Out Boy Avenged Sevenfold HIM We’d like to thank all of you who took the time to vote. However, it has been rumoured that the votes were rigged by one repeat offender.

Justin Donnelly of Australia’s The Metal Forge recently conducted an interview with SLIPKNOT/STONE SOUR guitarist Jim Root. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

On the expectations for the new STONE SOUR album, “Come What(ever) May”:

“The album is pretty close to us, and we’re all a little bit concerned about it being a departure from what people may know us as with our debut. I wouldn’t say that I’m really nervous about the album, because we’ve been hearing a lot of good things from outside sources from those who have already heard it, such as yourself. I think it’s more a case that we don’t want to jinx it. We don’t want to expect too much out of this album. We’re just going to see how it goes. We don’t want to put any expectations on it. If it does as well as our debut did then that’s all we can really hope for. You do something, and you hope that it shows you growing as both a musician and as a songwriter. If you spend too much time worrying what the rest of the world thinks about it, then you’ll eventually drive yourselves nuts. So at the end of the day, we’re happy with it. If we have a gold album in the U.S. (Which is the same level of sales that the band’s debut enjoyed), and we’re able to tour the world on it, then that will be a success in my book.”

On the new album’s diversity:

“I guess that diversity just kind of happened as a result of the way that we write. All of us are kind of separated by force in a way with STONE SOUR. Taylor and I have to do the SLIPKNOT thing, while the other guys tend to do their own things away from us as well. So with all of us writing for the band, having different influences, different styles in writing and having different approaches in the way we write, all that stuff put together ends up giving us the results that we have when we do an album. Without speaking for the others in the band, it’s that real diversity on this album that I’m personally kind of worried about. You never know how people are going to take or accept that. At the end of the day, I think that’s what sort of defines us as a band, the fact that we’re all able to have our own voice in the end. I think that’s what also makes this thing work. We’re all open to each other’s ideas, and none of us ever shoot down anyone’s idea. If anyone has an idea, we’ll work on it no matter what. We’ll then funnel all the ideas down to which ones we like the best, and which ones we have the most time to work on. You hear about a lot of bands that split because of musical differences or things like that. I think our musical difference in a way is what kind of defines us and keeps us together.”

On the departure of drummer Joel Ekman:

“Ekman was having some problems at home at the time. His son was terminally ill, and he just passed away not too long ago. So between that and the kind of pressure that we were experiencing in the studio meant that we decided to end our relationship as band mates at that point. The split was amicable, but at the same time not if you know what I mean. Every time you do something like that, it’s hard. There are a lot of emotions involved. It was definitely very tough, but at the same time, he’s got some things in his life that are far more important than going out and playing rock star. I think everything kind of happens for a reason, and in this case it introduced us to Mayorga. Mayorga came in to help Ekman out when he was having some troubles in the studio, and everything had a real vibe and was happening so well. After Mayorga helped us out, he left to go out on tour with SEPULTURA, while we finished doing the album. Ekman went home, and we basically left without a drummer for a while. We were kind of scared because we didn’t know what the future of the band was going to be. It’s not like you can go out and tour without a drummer! (Laughs) We didn’t want to have this constant revolving door of drummers from this point on. This band has been pretty much a kind of family unit since we started, and we wanted to keep it that way. It’s like a brotherhood. We got along with Mayorga so well in that short time we worked with him, so we kind of took a chance and asked him while he was out on tour with SEPULTURA, ‘Hey? Do you want to be a part of this? You recorded on the album, so you’re a part of it that way. Let’s just take it a step further.’ He took a few days to think about it. In that time, we were sweating our asses off wondering what the hell he was going to say! (Laughs) He came back and said that he was in. He’s a little monster behind the kit, and we’re so glad to have him as a member of the band! (Laughs)”

Read the entire interview at www.themetalforge.com. SOURCE:BLABBERMOUTH

Stone Sour rocked the Billboard Top 200 US Albums Chart this week, debuting at a colossal #4 with their first studio album in over four years, Come What(ever) May. Proclaimed by Blender Magazine as an album that “makes anger and angst seem almost fun,” Come What(ever) May moved 80,786 units its first week, triple what their Gold-selling debut album scanned week one. Come What(ever) May also out-scanned the first week numbers of current major acts such as Gnarls Barkley, Fall Out Boy, Avenged Sevenfold and others. REMEMBER: Stone Sour – Come What(ever) May – Out Now