Ozzfest 2008 details announced!

Sadly, this year's Ozzfest will be restricted to a single day – August 9th, 2008 – and will be held in Pizza Hut Park in Dallas, Texas. Of course, the Dark Lord himself will be headlining, along with Metallica, and Serj Tankian from System of a Down. Other bands performing this year include Shadows Fall, Witchcraft, The Sword, and others. Run down the full band list, as it stands right now, below:

Main Stage:
OZZY OSBOURNE
METALLICA
SERJ TANKIAN
HELLYEAH
JONATHAN DAVIS
CAVALERA CONSPIRACY
SHADOWS FALL
APOCALYPTICA
IN THIS MOMENT
All-Star Tribute To "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott

Second Stage:
SEVENDUST
DEVILDRIVER
KINGDOM OF SORROW
SOILENT GREEN
WITCHCRAFT
GOATWHORE

Texas (Third) Stage:
THE SWORD
DROWNING POOL
RIGOR MORTIS

Cannibal Corpse to release 3-disc DVD retrospective!

Death metal legends Cannibal Corpse are preparing Centuries of Torment: The First 20 Years, a three-DVD retrospective that includes lots of goodies for the band's rabid fans!

Disc one of the set will feature a special three-hour history of Cannibal Corpse as told by the band members and other people that were there. Broken into two distinct sections, the first will cover 1987-1995, and the second section will cover 1995 to the present.

Disc two will blow out your 5.1 set-up with blistering Cannibal Corpse performances from the entire timespan of the band's lengthy existence. Included on this disc are CC performances from Toronto 2006, New York 2000, Nashville 1994, Buffalo 1986 and more – 30 songs in all! This disc will also feature seven different Cannibal Corpse music videos.

The third DVD of Centuries of Torment: The First 20 Years will include a wealth of bonus features. Expect the set in July from Metal Blade Records.

In other news, Cannibal Corpse has made Decibel magazine’s Hall of Fame for their album Tomb of the Mutilated. The current issue of Decibel (with Iron Maiden on the cover) includes interviews with the band members that recorded Tomb of the Mutilated, an interview with longtime Cannibal Corpse artist Vince Locke, and photos from the Tomb of the Mutilated era.

Soilent Green on tour near you....

Extreme metal faves Soilent Green have kicked off a tour in support of their latest and greatest album, Inevitable Collapse in the Presence of Conviction, released in mid-April by Metal Blade Records.

The band's fifth studio album, Inevitable Collapse in the Presence of Conviction is already collecting some amazing and highly positive reviews. Decibel magazine, for instance, says of the album, "A longtime New Orleans delicacy, the latest plateful of Soilent Green’s sludgy grind is just as toxic to the taste buds as anything the band’s released over a decade of ups and downs, coming together to cook up another batch of crusty comfort food...".

Watch for Soilent Green to be kicking ass and taking names in a venue near you:

Soilent Green w/ God Forbid, Death Angel, Light This City
05/16 - Houston TX @ Scout Bar
05/17 - Fort Worth TX @ Ridglea Theatre
05/18 - San Antonio TX @ Rock Bottom
05/19 - El Paso TX @ Chics
05/21 - Farmington NM @ Gator's
05/23 - Las Vegas NV @ Jillians
05/24 - Los Angeles CA @ House Of Blues
05/25 - San Francisco CA @ Slims
05/26 - Bakersfield CA @ The Dome
05/27 - Modesto CA @ Fat Cats
05/28 - Orangevale CA @ Boardwalk
05/30 - Portland OR @ Hawthorne Theatre
05/31 - Seattle WA @ Studio 7

Adult Swim Presents The Dethtour Summer 2008 featuring Metalocalypse’s Dethklok w/ Chimaira and Soilent Green
06/02 - Portland OR @ Roseland Theatre
06/03 - Seattle WA @ Showbox SODO
06/05 - San Francisco CA @ The Fillmore
06/06 - Los Angeles CA @ Wiltern Theatre
06/07 - Las Vegas NV @ House of Blues
06/08 - San Diego CA @ House of Blues
06/10 - Tempe AZ @ Marquee Theatre
06/11 - Albuquerque NM @ Sunshine Theatre
06/12 - Englewood CO @ Gothic Theatre
06/14 - Minneapolis MN @ First Avenue
06/15 - Lawrence KS @ Liberty Hall
06/16 - Chicago IL @ House of Blues
06/17 - Pontiac MI @ Clutch Cargos
06/19 - Cleveland OH @ House of Blues
06/20 - Toronto ON @ Kool Haus
06/22 - Buffalo NY @ Town Ballroom
06/24 - Worcester MA @ The Palladium
06/25 - New York NY @ Nokia Theatre
06/26 - Baltimore MD @ Ram's Head Live
06/27 - Philadelphia PA @ heatre of Living Arts
06/29 - Myrtle Beach SC @ House of Blues
06/30 - Orlando FL @ Hard Rock Live
07/01 - St. Petersburg FL @ Jannus Landing
07/02 - Atlanta GA @ Tabernacle
07/04 - Houston TX @ Meridian
07/05 - Dallas TX @ House of Blues
07/06 - Austin TX @ La Zona Rosa

(Click on the CD cover to buy Inevitable Collapse in the Presence of Conviction from Amazon.com)

Farflung's "Endless Drifting Wreck" video

Check out this fab new video from Farflung for their song "Endless Drifting Wreck." Taken from the band's new album A Wound In Eternity, available now from Meteor City Records, the vid reminds me, visually, of art-rock terrorists the Residents. The accompanying music is pure Hawkwind-inspired space-metal drone, however, with stinging fretwork, strong rhythms, drifting vocals and an altogether otherworldly vibe.

(Click on the CD cover to buy A Wound In Eternity from Amazon.com)

Darsombra's Eternal Jewel CD, new live video!

Darsombra's breathtaking new CD, Eternal Jewel, is available NOW on a grocer's shelf near you! The Reverend hears that this is a spanking masterpiece of droning guitars and haunting electronic soundscapes. Don't believe me? Lords of Metal sez "what makes this stand out is that it never gets dull or too vague like with many other dronesque colleagues. The melodies and interesting song structures prevail above all. Eternal Jewel is part narrating soundtrack, part psychedelic trip device."

Still not convinced? Then just check out this live video of Darsombra fret-burner Brian Daniloski bending the strings onstage in Baltimore. Then click on the CD cover above and buy a copy of Eternal Jewel for yourself....

New Black Halos disc coming!

Although not necessarily a "metal" band in the strictest sense of the word, the Black Halos nevertheless display a similar assault on the senses of polite society as the best hardcore bands. The Canadian band's sound is said to be a heady mix of the Stooges, New York Dolls-inspired sleaze-rock and the young, loud and snotty vibe of the Dead Boys. The Black Halos' fourth album, We Are Not Alone, will be released on June 10th, 2008 by Acetate Records.

Produced by Jack Endino (Nirvana, Soundgarden, the Melvins) – a well-known hand behind the board who knows a little bit about HEAVY music – We Are Not Alone features a dozen new red-hot songs that are guaranteed to kick up a few sparks. Over the past eight years, the Black Halos have been hitting the road hard, touring with folks like Social Distortion, Danzig and the Offspring, to name a few. The band has seen its music used in video games and on TV, so the new album can only further increase the audience for this rocking young band.

(Click on the CD cover to buy We Are Not Alone from Amazon.com)

Tesla is Comin' Atcha this summer!

It's been nearly 25 years since we first heard from hard rock heroes Tesla, and in that quarter-century the band has released a dozen albums, performed over 2,500 shows, and sold better than 16 million albums worldwide. On June 24, 2008 the band will release its third DVD, Comin' Atcha Live! 2008, which captures a February 2008 performance in Maplewood, Minnesota. The DVD will feature over two hours of live music along with behind-the-scenes footage and other extras.

"This DVD marks a new era creatively for TESLA because we put it all together ourselves, capturing the band’s concert and life on the road," says lead guitarist Frank Hannon. "Nowadays, we are more involved in every aspect of our music career than ever before. We are very excited about the creative results and it really shows in the new DVD."

Tesla has been on tour constantly over the past year, performing in support of the band's critically-acclaimed, two-disc Real To Reel covers album. Regardless, Tesla will be rocking throughout the summer. Scheduled tour dates are shown below, check with the band's MySpace page or the Tesla website for additional information.

Fri 6/6 - Solvesborg, Sweden @ Sweden Rock Festival
Sat 6/7 - Copenhagen, Denmark @ Vega
Tue 6/10 - Prattein, Switzerland @ Z7
Wed 6/11 - Ludwigsburg, Germany @ Rockfabrik
Fri 6/13 - Berlin, Germany @ Columbia Club
Sat 6/14 - Essen, Germany @ Weststadthalle
Mon 6/16 - Dudley, England @ JB’s Club
Tue 6/17 - Leeds, England @ Rio’s
Thu 6/19 - Sheffield, England @ Corporation
Sat 6/21 - Bilboa, Spain @ Kobeta Sonic Festival
Sun 6/22 - Zaragoza, Spain @ Oasis
Tue 6/24 - Paris, France @ Trabendo
Wed 6/25 - Zoetermeer, Netherlands @ De Boerderij
Fri 6/27 - Dessel Belgium @ Graspop Metal Meeting
Sat 7/12 - Boerne TX @ South Texas Rockfest
Sun 7/13 - Pryor OK @ Rocklahoma
Sat 7/19 - Waukesha WI @ Waukesha County Fair
Sun 7/20 - Cadott WI @ Chippewa Valley Rock Fest

G.G. Elvis & the TCP Band are "Back From The Dead"

OK, so every now and then something truly bizarre drops on the Reverend's desk, and this is one of those things...veterans of such stalwart punk bands as NoFX, Bad Samaritans, Agression, Ill Repute, Stalag 13 and the notorious Dr. Know have teamed up to record a "punk" tribute to the late King of Rock, Elvis Presley.

So, before you start looking at your calendars to see if it's April Fool's Day, here's the punchline: Back From The Dead by G.G. Elvis and the T.C.P. Band will be released by Mental Records on June 24, 2008! The collection features Elvis classics like "Viva Las Vegas," "In The Ghetto," "Burning Love" and "Suspicious Minds" delivered as a cross between Presley and extreme punk icon G.G. Allin by the "Taking Care of Punk" band.

G.G. Elvis and the T.C.P. Band were formed in the summer of 2006 by Elvis fan, guitarist Tony Cortez of Ill Repute, with guitarist Dave Cassillas (formerly of of NoFX, Stalag 13 & Agression). Originally known as "Punk Rawk Elvis," the band went through numerous lineup changes before settling on Cortez and Cassillas, vocalist Eric Lara (Bad Samaritans), drummer Larry White (Agression, Stalag 13 & Dr. Know) and bassist George "Horhay" Snow (Bad Samaritans & Jughead's Revenge). Backing vocals are provided by "Little Sister," Sara Jo Merin. After only three rehearsals, G.G. Elvis and the T.C.P. Band debuted at the BYO Records-sponsored Punk Rock Bowling Tournament in Las Vegas, Presley's former stomping grounds.

Back From The Dead will be released in a limited special "scratch-n-sniff" edition with a bonus DVD with shocking videos, band interviews, photos and other special features. The Rev sez "check it out!"

Meshuggah - Obzen CD review

Displaying less of an egghead Einstein approach to their metallic onslaught, this time out finds Sweden's Meshuggah – they of the mighty signature changes and predisposition towards formulaic improvisation – providing a welcome bludgeoning dominance to their normally scalpel-precise barnstorming. Obzen, thus, provides the best of all worlds for fans of the bombastic. Meshuggah slices-and-dices single notes unlike any metal outfit before or since, but with Obzen they add the soul-crushing dimension of hardcore HEAVINESS to their considerable arsenal.

A creepy, scraping riff and teetering cymbals kick off "Combustion," as appropriately-named a song as you'll experience this year, a blast-a-minute mindfuck of guttural vocals, blistering drumbeats and fretwork that will flay the skin from your bones before you know it. "Electric Red" ramps up the amps with powerful tribal rhythms, plodding discordant riffs and Jens Kidman's gutted-pig vox. Treading dangerously close to doom-turf, the song's down-tuned axes and stomping Killing Joke drumbeats are simply to die for….

If these first two songs set the stage for what will follow on Obzen, nothing could prepare the listener for the unrelenting barrage of noise-as-pain and pain-as-aural-pleasure that is to follow. Although Meshuggah's technical mastery has long been established, the machine-precision and robotic chaos of Obzen is truly staggering. Drummer/songwriter Tomas Haake ventures away from the computer for many of these songs, proving acidic live skins that beat the hell out of any other metal posse plying their trade in these dark streets today.

Haake's work on "Bleed" is outright scary, his bass drum bludgeoning the listener with a ferocity that even Fenriz can't muster, his machinegun rhythms complimented by the sting of Fredrik Thordendal's flippant guitar solos, while Mårten Hagstrom's rhythm guitarwork provides some of the strongest steel-beam construction that you'll find in contemporary metal. The song is simply exhausting on so many levels, but satisfying in a way that non-metal fans could never understand. The title track offers more of the same, monster riffs and syncopated rhythms forever melded with tortured vocals and an innate sense of musical outrage.

The textbook poly-noodle of "Pineal Gland Optics" starts with a snaky recurring riff and modal synth signature before descending into Kidman's own personal hell, his powerful vocals drowning amidst the rapidly-shifting quicksand of the song's ultimate confusion. The six-string work here blisters-and-peels any surface close enough to be impacted by the scraping riffage and bonfire rhythms, and the vox are guaran-damn-teed to give you nightmares for a week. "Dancers to a Discordant System" offers more of the big-bore chalkboard formula of previous Meshuggah albums, providing fans of the band's more scientific sound with some tasty integrated circuits to bite down on … though there's nothing here to alienate lunkhead purists, either, Kidman's death-throes vocals and Thordendal's switchblade solos fulfilling the perceived math-to-metal quotient.

Altogether, Meshuggah's sixth studio effort is a fine kettle of chaos, indeed, Obzen offering up plenty of everything that today's young headbanger could ever desire. Although the album further showcases the band's awestruck instrumental virtuosity and ability to change directions on a dime within a single song, there are also enough bone-crunching rhythms, surgical airstrike guitars, and city-destroying Godzilla bass lines to leave any listener a drooling mass of quivering cretinism … and what more could you ask for from any metal album? (Nuclear Blast Records)

(Click on the CD cover to buy Obzen from Amazon.com)

Buckethead's From The Coop to be released!

Six-string mangler Buckethead has a storied, glorious history of metallic shredding, strangled fretwork and manic riffing. Back when the chicken-lovin' fool was a mere egg, however, he recorded a bunch of songs for a friend who was the editor of a guitar magazine.

With a release date of June 10, 2008, MVD Audio will unleash From The Coop, a nineteen-song collection of the earliest Buckethead tracks known to exist. Digitally restored from the original 1988 multi-track tapes, and featuring a self-portrait drawing of a young bucket by the guitarist himself, the CD booklet will also include the handwritten notes from the original tapes and the first-ever Buckethead biography.

This is an important archival CD release illustrating the skilled six-string technician's developing sense of style and tone. One of rock music's most underrated progressive, metal-styled axe-wielding talents, Buckethead's From The Coop is a must-have CD for fans and the newly-acquainted alike.

(Click on the CD cover to buy From The Coop from Amazon.com)

The Early Daze of Controlled Bleeding

One of the forefathers of the '80s-era industrial-metal movement, Controlled Bleeding was a curious and controversial band. With roots in the punk and sleaze-rock of NYC bands like the Dictators, the New York Dolls and the Ramones, Controlled Bleeding mixed in a heady blend of progressive overtones, jazzy flourishes and industrial noise into its unique sound.

Before The Quiet, which will be released on June 10th, 2008 by MVD Audio, collects the band's initial recordings, circa 1978-1982, as chosen by CB mainman Paul Lemos. This 77-minute CD features better than two-dozen songs dating back to the band's earliest cassette tapes and first EP. Although Controlled Bleeding's music would gradually evolve over time from a barely-contained sonic fury to a mind-bending ambient soundscape, Before The Quiet will provide old and new fans alike with a valuable glimpse into the band's deepest, darkest past.

(Click on the CD cover to buy Before The Quiet from Amazon.com)

Boris announces tourdates in support of Smile

Straight from the land of the rising sun, doom-rock noisemakers Boris will be kicking off a month-long North American tour in June in support of the band's latest CD release, Smile. The band's first non-collaborative studio album in two years, Smile was released on April 29th by Southern Lord Records. Boris will hit the road with opening band Torche.

(Click on the CD cover to buy Smile from Amazon.com)

Tourdates
06/24 @ Casbah - San Diego CA
06/25 @ The Clubhouse - Tempe AZ
06/27 @ Rubber Gloves - Denton TX
06/28 @ The Mohawk - Austin TX
06/29 @ White Rabbit - San Antonio TX
07/01 @ Spanish Moon - Baton Rouge LA
07/02 @ Common Grounds - Gainesville FL
07/03 @ The Social - Orlando FL
07/05 @ The Earl - Atlanta GA
07/06 @ Cat's Cradle - Carrboro NC
07/08 @ Black Cat - Washington DC
07/09 @ First Unitarian Church - Philadelphia PA
07/10 @ Webster Hall - New York NY
07/11 @ The Middle East - Cambridge MA
07/12 @ La Sala Rosa - Montreal QC
07/13 @ Barrymore - Ottawa ON
07/14 @ Lee's Palace - Toronto ON
07/15 @ Tralf - Buffalo NY
07/16 @ Grog Shop - Cleveland OH
07/17 @ Diesel - Pittsburgh PA
07/18 @ St. Andrews Hall - Detroit MI
07/19 @ Turner Hall - Milwaukee WI
07/20 @ Pitchfork Music Festival - Chicago IL
07/22 @ The Waiting Room - Omaha NE
07/23 @ Granada Theatre - Lawrence KS
07/25 @ Marquis Theater - Denver CO
07/26 @ Urban Lounge - Salt Lake City UT
07/29 @ Neumo's - Seattle WA