The pressure was on when Vancouver power metal/classic metal band, 3 Inches of Blood, headed into the studio to create, Fire Up the Blades, the follow-up to their 2004 album, Advance and Vanquish. The success they've achieved over the past two years gave them plenty to live up to and they were working on the new album with almost an entirely different lineup; only shrieky vocalist, Jamie Hooper, and growling singer Cam Pipes remained since they last recorded.

But cleaning house was the best thing that could have happened, says Hooper. "War is never easy, but sometimes reinforcements are a necessity to make you stronger," he told MTVnews.com's Metal File. "We're definitely in a better place now. The new guys are more into what we're doing and they're better players, so there are skills there that weren't before. And with [newcomer] Alexei [Rodriguez] on the drums, we're able to play faster than ever."

The band began writing last year in Tacoma, Washington at a house they rented, and were joined in the studio in October by Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison, who produced the album. He also guested on the drums and sang back-up vocals.

We were so stoked to find out he was a fan of our band," Hooper says. "We met him when we were on tour with Satyricon and he was playing drums with them. And that's where we really got to know him. He's an amazing producer and an even better beer drinker."

For the complete interview with 3 Inches of Blood and the rest of this week's metal news, read MTVnew.com's Metal File.

For 3 Inches of Blood's video for, "Deadly Sinners," look no further:

Ozzy Osbourne has announced that "I Don't Want to Stop," the first single from his upcoming CD, Black Rain, will be premiered online on April 13. A preview of this and other album tracks can be heard on Ozzy's official Web site by scrolling the cross-cursor over the books in the darkened flying bookshelf.

In a recent interview, Osbourne said that the direction of album was influenced by the turmoil in the Middle East and his visits to see injured soldiers in military hospitals. Still, he says he didn't want Black Rain to be blatantly political. "I try to mask it so you can think what you like," he told Rolling Stone. "The things around you affect you but you don't realize it. You look at CNN, and a car bomb has gone off."

So far, Osbourne has recorded 11 new songs with the same band he played with on last year's Ozzfest, guitarist Zakk Wylde, bassist Rob "Blasko" Nicholson (Ex-Rob Zombie) and drummer Mike Bordin (ex-Faith No More). Tracks include "Not Going Away," which was written about Sharon Osbourne's bout with cancer, "Lay Your World on Me," "The Almighty Dollar" "Countdown's Begun" and "Civilize the Universe."

Black Rain is schedule for release in early June.

headbangersblog.mtv.com proudly presents the World Wide Premiere of
STATIC X "DESTROYER"

Their new album "CANNIBAL" is in stores now!!!

See the video here all day, catch it again on Headbangers Ball Saturday 4/07 10pm on MTV2!!!

TEN ALBUMS THAT CHANGED MY LIFE written by Wayne Static

1) KISS "ALIVE" Before discovering Kiss I was not really into music. I was very young and all I knew of music was what my parents listened to (mostly Elvis) and whatever pop song was on the radio. I remember going to the drug store (there was no record store in my town, the drug store had a small music section) and staring at the cover photo and thinking "this is the coolest thing I've ever seen." I saved my allowance money for two weeks and purchased the record. After that Kiss was my life.
They were all I thought about. I wanted to be Paul Stanley. I started my first band shortly after that. We called ourselves Black Diamond and played all Kiss songs.

2) RUSH "HEMISPHERES" At some point I started getting burned out on Kiss, and saw a music video by Rush. Their music immediately drew me in. There was a certain darkness to it, I loved all the moody sections of the songs. I went down and purchased the only Rush album I could find in the racks, Hemispheres. Alex Lifeson became my new guitar hero and I strived to make my guitar sound like his. I learned as many Rush songs as I could figure out. My band started playing a lot of Rush cover songs. Then my voice changed and that was the end of covering Rush songs!

3) JOY DIVISION "UNKNOWN PLEASURES" The first time I heard Joy Division was at a small party. I remember walking into the house and hearing this haunting dark music playing in the background. I asked my friend what was playing on the stereo. I ran out the next day and bought the record. That was the beginning of the Goth years for me. This was in 1984, there was no Hot Topic or any other store selling that type of clothing, so I put all of my clothes into a big bucket with some black fabric dye.

4) THE SISTERS OF MERCY "FIRST AND LAST AND ALWAYS" Fully entrenched in the idea of being Goth, I spent time at record stores seeking out more music. I came across The Sisters and fell in love with the dance beats, the melodic guitars, and that deep voice. This band was the inspiration for dying my hair black and spiking it. The Sisters were the epitome of Goth.

5) MINISTRY "TWITCH" I first discovered Ministry in 1984. My sister's boyfriend's brother was in the band at the time and I went to see them play in Chicago. At this time Ministry was moving away from their early synth pop sound and beginning to create a new genre of dark music called Industrial. I was getting into dance beats a lot, and this album was cutting edge at the time. This is still my favorite Ministry record, even though Al Jourgensen won't even talk about it or play it live.

6) THE CULT "LOVE" I first heard the song "She Sells Sanctuary" while
hanging out at The Smart Bar, a dance club in Chicago. I was underage
but no one seemed to care back then. That song was the perfect mix of dance floor beats, hooky guitars, and one of the best voices in rock.
Add in some Goth sensibility and The Cult became my new favorite band.
I wanted to be just like singer Ian Asbury so I grew my hair long just like his and started wearing tuxedo shirts and bell bottom pants.

7) PRONG "BEG TO DIFFER" I happened to be watching the original Headbanger's Ball one night. I was not really into Metal at the time, but I heard this cool music at the start of the show, and then Ricki Rachman said the music was by a band called Prong. Then they played the video for the song Beg To Differ. I had never heard guitars that sounded like that, mixed with the non-melodic rhythmic vocals and funky drum beats. I fell in love with this album, and started getting into Metal because of it.

PANTERA "VULGER DISPLAY OF POWER" As I was seeking out Metal bands (the entire genre was new to me still) I heard the song Walk on a college radio station. I thought to myself, "this is the most amazing
shit I've ever heard!" I did everything I could to make my guitar
sound like Dime. I bought a noise gate pedal and started writing tight rhythmic riffs. This is also when I started trying to scream instead of sing. I had never heard anyone sing like Phil. To sum up: This band blew my f*cking mind!

9) CROWBAR "OBEDIANCE THROUGH SUFFERING" In my never ending quest to discover new Metal bands I came across Crowbar. I had never heard music this slow and low. I tuned my guitar down to B so I could play along with the record. I heard somewhere that the band was looking to replace their guitar player who had just quit. I called their record label and they gave me band leader Kirk's home phone number! I called him up, introduced myself, and asked for an audition. I flew down to New Orleans prepared to play all their songs. Instead of jamming, the band and myself sat around all weekend and drank beer. I guess that was my audition! I weighed about 120 pounds at the time and just couldn't keep up with those guys. I didn't get the gig, but I never tuned my guitar back up after that.

10) PRODIGY "THE FAT OF THE LAND" Around 1994 I moved to Los Angeles and started getting back into dance/industrial music again. This was around the time I was forming Static-X and was searching for a new and exciting musical direction. The Fat Of The Land was certainly new and exciting. Most of the dance music at that time got boring very quickly because there were no songs. Prodigy proved that you could have songs with vocals and still keep the dance floor pumping. This band put the idea of Evil Disco in my head and marked the birth of the Static-X sound.

Mark St. John, who played guitar for Kiss on their 1984 album, Animalize, died this morning from a cerebral hemorrhage, reported radio station KNAC. He was 51.

St. John was born in Anaheim, California and was teaching guitar when he was discovered by Kiss following the departure of Vinnie Vincent. Soon after appearing in the video for "Heaven's on Fire," St. John's hands were stricken with arthritis, which prevented him from playing. Bruce Kulick was hired to fill in on numerous tour dates, and by the end of the year, Kulick had replaced St. John entirely.

After leaving Kiss, St. John formed the glam metal band, White Tiger, which put out a self-titled disc in 1986. Following the group's break up, St. John briefly joined ex-Kiss drummer Peter Criss, then released his own solo EP, Mark St. John Project in 1999.

In memory of St. John, check out his only video with Kiss, "Heaven's on Fire."
Kiss HEAVENS ON FIRE

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Even though this St. Louis area pizza chain doesn't have anything to do with one of metal's greatest ever quartets, they would clearly benefit from some clever marketing.

We recommend the following Pantera menu items: Cowparts From Hell (ground beef, steak, roast beef, pot roast, extra jalapenos); the Great Southern Overkill (BBQ beef, pork, mushrooms, bacon, sausage, green peppers, onions, olives, pineapple, corn, pasta, ham, chitlins, grits, extra jalapenos); Strength Beyond Strength (ham, bacon, beef, pork, chicken, broken glass, staples, safety pins, extra jalapenos); Dimebag Deluxe (extra cheese, BBQ sauce, sausage, Crown Royal, Sky Vodka, Pabst Blue Ribbon, firecrackers, extra jalapenos); and finally, the Vinnie Paul (extra beef, extra pork, extra cheese, extra ham, extra sausage, extra pepperoni, diced panties, quartered bra cups, vodka, gin, whisky, bourbon, beer, moonshine, extra jalapenos).

Before they could pay homage to the greats, though, they'd have to redecorate a bit. Pink lettering for "Pantera," after all, is grounds for a major lawsuit for defamation of character -- or at least facial reconstruction from singer Phil Anselmo.

This is what he looks like when he's screaming mad:

We're as fed up with PC rock stars as the next cranky cynic, but this one just seems to fall under the "maybe you shoulda thought twice before doing that" department.

Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil -- who battled the bottle for years and was once so drunk behind the wheel, he flipped his car and killed the drummer of another band -- is opening a bar in West Palm Beach called Dr. Feelgood's Rock Bar, after the 1989 Mötley Crüe disc, Dr. Feelgood, reports the Florida Palm Beach Post.

The building, which currently houses the MonkeyClub, will feature Vince's rock memorabilia and his collection of Harleys, but not any pieces of the car he flipped. Also in a move of questionable taste, the bar area will be modeled after a pharmacy, with liquor bottles displayed between oversized pill bottles and heroin needles -- just kidding about the needles thing. Those will be available behind the bar.

Not to be outdone by Hooters, the barmaids will be dressed in skimpy nurses uniforms. Neil is expected to give a free concert for the opening. Who says the Osbournes are the only philanthropic metal celebrities?

Other investors in Dr. Feelgod's Rock Bar include former Miami Dolphins offensive tackle, Todd Wade and ex-Florida Gator quarterback Bob Hewko.

Now for someting that's actually worthwhile: the video for Mötley Crüe's "Looks that Kill."

Between volcanic gigs with Lamb of God, Trivium and Gojira, Machine Head somehow found the time to shoot a video for "Aesthetics of Hate" in Virginia.

"We couldn't have done it without the Lamb of God guys, who helped with everything from finding locations, bringing food, keeping us company and even giving up their soundcheck so we could have some needed stage time," drummer Dave McClain told Blabbermouth.net. I think the video is going to be killer, lots of crusty locations and pure raw energy."

Machine Head will begin their next U.S. tour with Heaven and Hell and Megadeth, starting April 22 in Phoenix, Arizona. "We're super stoked to be going out on the Heaven and Hell tour in America," wrote frontman Robert Flynn on the band's Web site. "Megadeth is also on the bill which is killer, those two bands are the reason there's a Machine Head, and we are honored to be a part of it. This is gonna be all about paying homage to The Masters."

Machine Head's new album, The Blackening, debuted this week on the Billboard album chart at #54, the band's highest ever chart number.

Let's celebrate with "Days Turn Blue to Gray":

Catch Chimaira on the No Fear tour with Killswitch Engage, Dragonforce, and He Is Legend. See dates below...

Until then, Watch "Ressurection":

Apr 26 2007 7:00P
Cafe Iguana Monterrey, MX
Apr 27 2007 7:00P
Circo Volador Mexico City, MX
Apr 29 2007 7:00P
Teatro Teleton Santiago, CL
Jun 1 2007 12:00P
Earthshaker Days Zurich, CH
Jun 7 2007 7:00P
Academy Glasgow, UK
Jun 8 2007 7:00P
Balmoral Hall Belfast, IE
Jun 9 2007 7:00P
TBA Sheffield, UK
Jun 10 2007 12:00P
Download Festival Donington, UK
Jun 15 2007 12:00P
Provinssi Rock Seinäjoki, FI
Jun 17 2007 12:00P
Nova Rock Nickelsdorf, AT
Jun 20 2007 7:00P
TBA Berlin, DE
Jun 21 2007 7:00P
013 Tilburg, NL
Jun 22 2007 12:00P
Hellfest Clisson, FR
Jun 24 2007 12:00P
Graspop Festival Dessel, BE

Combining the words of the '60s political rockers MC5 with those of Black Panther, Eldridge Cleaver -- a dude we're not sure would have been such a big fan of crossover metal -- North Carolina's Corrosion of Conformity called for fans to help build an army that could help overthrow the system, or at least have a good, violent time at their shows.

Don't bother calling the phone number on the flyer. No one in the band lives there anymore. At the moment, the members of Corrosion of Conformity are actually scattered. Frontman Pepper Keenan is performing in Down, and who knows where guitarist Woody Weatherman and bassist Mike Dean are?

The band's last album, 2005's excellent In the Arms of God, would be a great disc to go out on. Still, we certainly hope C.O.C. will be back -- and not just because they have one of the coolest logos in metal.

Just check out that skull with bad-ass spikes and vicious teeth. And notice how the eyes and nasal cavity form the symbol for dangerous radiation. Rad.

Anyone for "Dance of the Dead"?