The Fear Factory album was officially finished on January 6th. Mastering was completed at Masterdisc in New York with Howie Weinberg. ‘Archetype’ is set for release in April. Meanwhile, check out a NEW interview at www.teamxbox.com with Raymond HERE. Other FF goodness: In case you’ve wondered what kit the band use to get that ‘Fear Factory’ sound check out some the following… Jackson guitars – jacksonguitars.com Fender amps & guitars – fender.com Marshall amps – marshallamps.com Tech 21 amps & pedals – tech21nyc.com EMG pickups – emgpickups.com Dunlop strings – jimdunlop.com Throdown lighting design – throdown.com St. Louis music – stlouismusic.com Emagic studio software – emagic.de Tama drums – tama.com Promark sticks – promark-stix.com Zildjian cymbals – zildjian.com Universal percussion distribution – universalpercussion.com King double basses – kingdoublebass.com Native Instruments – native-instruments.com

So, what’s going down with Hatebreed right now? The guys have recently confirmed 4 club shows – and for those of you over on the East Coast, here they are: Jan. 28th – Long Island, NY @ The Downtown Hatebreed, Freya, Agents Of Man, Coretez & Through The Discipline Jan. 29th – Long Island, NY @ The Downtown Subzero, On The Rise, Blacklisted & Step 2 Far Jan. 30th – Danbury, CT @ Empress Ballroom Hatebreed, Freya (ex-Earth Crisis), Coretez (ex-Ill Nino), Redefined Jan. 31st – Danbury, CT @ Empress Ballroom Hatebreed, 100 Demons, Bloodshot Hooligans, Call To Power Jamey sends this message from the studio… “What’s up! Right now I’m in at Planet Z studios doing preproduction for the new Agnostic Front album that is tentatively titled “Another Voice” and let me tell you this stuff is amazing. It’s easily their heaviest most crossover album yet! Be on the lookout for this record later this year! Roger leaves for tour with his other band The Disasters soon so when we finish up with the AF stuff a new band on my label called The Autumn Offering will be entering Planet Z with me and I will be co-producing their album with Zeuss. I will have much more to report on this soon so keep your eyes peeled! Thanx for all your support! 2004 is gonna be a great year. Now that Hatebreed is off until the end of the month I will be back and forth from the studio to NYC shooting the Headbangers Ball. Tune in this week, my guests are The Darkness from the UK. More soon.” Jamey Jasta As for the other guys: 1. Matt Byrne is going to NAMM in California from January 15th – January 18th. He’ll be doing an autograph signing on January 18th at 11am for TAMA. 2. Sean Martin is working hard at Brass City Tattoo. 3. Beattie is on holiday.

Have you stopped by www.DevilDriver.com since the new year began? Both Dez and Boecklin have posted a band update, and of course, a New Year’s message. Happy New Year. I always love a fresh start. Feels good, don’t it? So, it is confirmed, we will be heading out with Opeth and Moonspell starting January 20th. We will be flip-flopping spots with Moonspell each night. All the dates known so far are up in our TOUR section. Moonspell opens the first show, meaning we play directly before Opeth. The next show we will open. We in DevilDriver would like to say hi to these two bands, we’re looking forward to having a drink with you guys, and playing on the same stage. So with that, thanks for the support, everyone. We are in the works of editing a bunch of shows that we videotaped during the last three months of touring. Look forward to seeing some of these live shows on the site in the coming weeks. Dez Fafara ****** Happy New Year to all from the DevilDriver boys. This is Boecklin (John, drums). Hope everyone’s holiday was as fabulous as ours. I’ve spent the past couple days rearranging our rehearsal room and setting up all our gear for rehearsals for the upcoming Opeth / Moonspell tour. Speaking of rehearsing, we’ve been doing them without Jeff (guitar). His flight from Boston to Santa Barbara got messed up, and he ended up spending two days stuck in a snow storm in Utah. But, he finally made it back last night. So all is good. We’ve actually been writing new material as well, two new songs, to be exact. We’d like to thank the Opeth guys for taking us out, we can’t wait for this tour, and to hit all the states we haven’t touched yet. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year…we’ll see you soon. Starting January 20th. – Boecklin

Over the part 20 years Roadrunner has developed one of the best catalogues of heavy metal and hard rock music – and the ‘Two From The Vault’ is a new ongoing series packaging together 2 ground-breaking releases for the price of one! The series will feature many hard-to-find and even deleted releases and will come as 2-disc sets in a brilliant box with original artwork from both albums! Check out these forthcoming ‘Two From The Vault’ releases… January 26 King Diamond – Them/Conspiracy Obituary – The End Complete/ World Demise February 23 Vision Of Disorder – Vision Of Disorder/Imprint Biohazard – Urban Discipline/No Holds Barred

Soulfly is back with a new album, Prophecy, on the way–and with the new era the band is about to embark upon we have a new bio for all of you to check out on Soulfly’s ARTIST page. Check it out kids, we know you’re hyped about this one. Also, if you’re wondering when Soulfly will return to the music video world, the video for “Prophecy” is in the works and should be done by the end of February! So keep an eye out for that too.

Vocalist Jonny Santos has parted company with SPINESHANK. Over the last week there had been rumours circulating on the web that Jonny had left the band, a fact confirmed by the band yesterday. In a statement, drummer Tommy Decker commented: “The rumour is true. It is an amicable split and is mainly due to musical differences. The four of us have accomplished a lot of things together, the biggest being our most recent Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance for “Smothered”. We are all very proud of the music that we have made over the years but the time has come for us all to move on. As for the future of Spineshank – Mike, Rob and myself will begin the search for a new singer as we write new material and continue to build upon the foundation we have made as Spineshank. We wish Jonny the best of luck in all of his future endeavors.”

Chimaira have confirmed another instore appearance on their UK February tour. You can also meet the guys in Nottingham on Monday February 9th at 4 pm at: Selectadisc 21 Market Street Nottingham NG1 6HX Tel: 0115 947 5420 A London instore may be confirmed next week.

Apparently here at Roadrunner, we am video-makin’ fools. Example: What does Nickeback, Ill Nino, 36 Crazyfists, and Red Tape all have in common? New videos on the way… Nickelback – technically, their new video is not on the way, it is in. The song, “Figured You Out,” and the final video for this track came in just this week. Did You Know? For the most part, this is a ‘live’ video. In fact, there is a shot in the video where you see some cat in the front row of a concert wearing a Slipknot t-shirt. True. Video will be making its way online shortly. Stay tuned. Ill Nino – somewhere up in Spanish Harlem in NYC come Monday or Tuesday of next week (w/o Jan 12), Ill Nino will be shooting a video for “This Time’s For Real.” This should be complete and in-house come 2nd week in February. 36 Crazyfists – out in Cali (where exactly, not quite sure), a new 36 Crazyfists video will be born. Come Jan 24, the band will be shooting the video for “At The End Of August,” and it should be completed and in-house at the middle of February. Red Tape – shoot it…come January 17th, the first-ever Red Tape video will be shot. Locale: Sacto. That’s Sacramento, for the layman. The song: “Stalingrad.” Not to mention, surely a Soulfly video will be coming down the chute shortly as well… There you have it…we am video-makin’ fools.

Well, well, well…check this out – the Ahrue Luster and Jardel Paisante signature series guitars from ESP are in. The AL-600 LTD and the JP-600 LTD, respectively. The Ahrue guitar can be seen at THIS LINK, and the Jardel guitar can be seen at THIS LINK. The specs on the Ahrue axe are as follows: Construction: Set neck Scale: 24.75í¢ä‰åŒ Body: Mahogany Neck/Fretboard: 3-pc. mahogany/ebony Inlays: Spades w/model name at 12th fret Pickups: EMG-81 active set Electronics: Volume, tone, toggle Hardware: Chrome + Sperzel locking tuners Bridge: TonePros locking w/string-thru-body Binding: White (neck, headstock) Frets: 24 XJ Colors: 3TB Specs on Jardel’s axe as follows: Construction: Set neck Scale: 24.75í¢ä‰åŒ Body: Mahogany Neck/Fretboard: 3-pc. maple/rosewood Inlays: Flags w/model name at 12th Fret Pickups: EMG-81 active set Electronics: Volume, tone, 3-way slotted toggle Hardware: Chrome + Sperzel locking tuners Bridge: TonePros locking w/stop tailpiece Binding: White (neck, headstock) Frets: 22 XJ Colors: BLK

Hello people! This is Ricky the new drummer of Chimaira. Sometimes in our lives we get a chance to do something special. I think that for me, the opportunity to join the Chimaira family is one of those chances. I have toured with them twice in the past year with my old band Soilwork. The first was supporting In Flames with Chimaira. The last one was supporting Chimaira. As I started to get to know the guys in Chimaira and their music throughout the last year, I started to get more and more into what they were doing. I think that the metal and energy on stage and on the albums make them one of the best acts there is today! The fact that they’re all awesome people to hangout with also made my choice a lot easier. At the same time, it wasn’t easy for me to leave the guys in Soilwork. The fact is that I’ve always been a big fan of their music and each member of Soilwork is my family and my friends. I spoke with the guys in Soilwork and they gave me their blessing, so we will always remain good friends. I wish them all the best in the future, and am confident that they will continue to produce great music. Now Chimaira is going to be my family. I can’t wait until we begin our rehearsals for the headlining tour in the UK/Europe. It’s time for world domination hahaha! I want to send my best wishes to Andy, my friend, and the old drummer of Chimaira. “Whatever you do, don’t ever quit playing because in time you’ll be one the few… I wish you all the best man and hopefully we’ll see each other soon.” Your friend, Ricky To all the Chimaira fans, I can’t wait to go on tour so I can meet and share many brews with each and every one of you. Have a metal new year and Chimaira will see you soon! Have a good one, Ricky