Don't miss the debut of Clutch's new video for "Electric Worry" on this weekend's "Headbangers Ball."

The band filmed the clip earlier this year at the historic Maryland Theatre in Hagerstown, Maryland. The track comes from the band's new album From Beale Street to Oblivion, which came out March 27 and entered the Billboard album chart at #52, the highest-ever debut for the eclectic metal veterans.

The disc was produced by Joe Barresi and is full of stoner metal riffs, southern rock licks, blues metal rhythms and straight out rock jams.

"This is probably the most 'live' album we have recorded," said frontman Neil Fallon on the band's Web site. "We went out for a few weeks, and played the music on the road. So, when we went into the studio, all of us knew exactly what was going to happen — a first for Clutch. I don't know why we haven't done it this way all along; it's so much easier."

The band also recorded the basic tracks directly to tape, a technique they haven't used since their 1998 album, The Elephant Riders. "There's nothing digital on there at all," Fallon says. "And this record has a few more bluesy elements than has been the case in the past, but nothing so blatant that it could be called alien to what we do. Musically, we've become much more of a rock 'n' roll band now, as opposed to being metal or hardcore. "Our style is riff-oriented, with a swing."

Clutch return from their current European tour following a show in Copenhagen, Denmark on April 29. They begin their next U.S. tour on May 11 in Washington, D.C. Dates are scheduled through June 17 in Jacksonville, North Carolina.

Now watch the strange and wonderful "Burning Beard"

Showtime's recent "Masters of Horror" series was pretty rockin' and even spawned two soundtracks of metal and metalcore bands. But Brain Damage Films' "Goregoyles 2" makes "Masters" look about as extreme as a Tesla concert. Like "Masters," "Goregoyles 2" is comprised of short films by talented directors, but these flicks don't skimp on blood, skin or controversial subject matter.

The first of the two movies, "Clean" was written and directed by Alexandre Michaud (Urban Flesh), and is about a serial killer, Crane, who decides to do something good for mankind, while still satisfying his lust for blood. So, he befriends a group of other murders and sadists through un underground Web site, and is eventually invited to their yearly snuff party. Instead of a gift, he brings a knife and an appetite for death; he also comes with a secret agenda.

At first, he goes along with the other killers' plan to torture and murder a stripper, and even partakes in the slaughter, but after the ritual, he directs his misanthropic impulses at his fellow degenerates. The manhunt that follows is filled with tension and graphic violence and by the end, Michaud has delivered a political message along with buckets of gore.

"Clean" comes from the perspective of a fan of splatter metal, something with which Michaud seems more than familiar. The leader of the murderous cult in "Clean," Joe, is Sebastien Croteau, who used to sing for the Canadian death metal band, Necrotic Mutation. Crane is played by Marco Calliari, the vocalist for hardcore metal band, anonymous, whose songs are featured in the movie. Other metal artists on the soundtrack include The Project Hate, Sexhead and The Murder Squad.

The second short film on "Goregoyles 2" is "The Walkers," which is far less gory and, well, metal, than "Clean," yet is equally entertaining. The story involves husband and wife bank robbers who are forced to flee into the woods after their getaway car breaks down. When a cop finds the abandoned vehicle, he and a deputy officer begin their chase.

It isn't long before both pairs are lost and struggling to survive. As the days pass, they battle starvation, sickness and insanity in their quest to escape the suffocating forest, their own fears and delusions and a strange creature made of moss. While "The Walkers" isn't exactly a "gore" film, there's still plenty of mayhem, including graphic shootings, slashings, a dismemberment and cannibalism.

The acting in both "Clean" and "The Walkers" is decent for indie films, and while the former is gritty and shot on video (which benefits its savage content), the latter was seeminly executed on film, and, comes across as more professional. The DVD includes introductions by a dude who looks like he sustains himself on exhumed corpses, interviews with the directors, biographies of the cast members and lots of previews of other gore flix.

More movies of note:

The Mario Bava Collection Vol 1 (Anchor Bay) This "Collection" features five movies by influential Italian horror director Mario Bava, whose "Twitch of the Death Nerve" (aka "Bay of Blood") was a direct inspiration to the "Friday the 13th" movies, and whose cinematic techniques were copied by other Italian directors, including Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci. The films in the package are: "Black Sabbath" (which so impressed Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward they changed their name from Earth to Black Sabbath), "Black Sunday," "The Girl Who Knew Too Much," "Knives of the Avenger" and "Kill, Baby... Kill!" The tales within cover gothic horror, violent crime and marauding Vikings.

Kidnapped (Anchor Bay) This is a long-lost film by Mario Bava about a robbery, a botched getaway and a hostage situation that erupts in cruelty, violence and degradation. "Kidnapped" was made in 1974, but after it was shot, the movie's financier was killed and his entire estate, including the movie, was seized and impounded by an Italian court. For nearly 23 years, "Kidnapped," was a hostage of the hostile takeover and was virtually unseen. Here's your chance.

Bottom Feeder (Genius) This low budget thriller stars Tom Sizemore as the leader of a team struggling to lock down an abandoned medical facility. Lurking within the compound is a doctor who has consumed a formula that turned him into a giant rodent-beast. And, the Bottom Feeder hungers for food.

So, is this: a) Ihrone Atarsi b) Throes Eatapsi c) Judas Priest d) Throne of Katarsis

or e) The One Zoatarsis?

The correct answer is d) Throne of Katarsis.

The band's page on allmusic.com says Throne of Katarsis hail from Kansas, which is wrong, but would be pretty funny if true. Nope, these guys are actually from Norway, which should come as no surprise to anyone remotely familiar with any other black metal band.

Even so, Throne of Katarsis have their own sinister voice. The band's debut album, An Eternal Dark Horizon, which comes out today, is dark, blasphemous and atmospheric, featuring five generally mid-paced songs, each over nine minutes long.

The band is composed of just two musicians, Grimnisse (vocals, guitar, bass) and Vardalv (drums), but they create as much noise as a small army in combat. We're particularly partial to "Under Guds Hud," but maybe that's because the name makes us giggle like a little girl smoking crack.

The title track, "Nattaander" and "Symbols of Winter" are equally fierce, combining moody sound effects with blazing riffs and harsh black metal vocals. Throne of Katarsis embellish their music with a bunch of rhythm and tempo shifts, and are even capable of playing pleasantly melodic guitar lines, preventing their music from becoming a redundant blur.

An Eternal Dark Horizon was recorded at Black Dimension Studio in Topeka, Kansas... Just kidding. It's in Norway.

The folks at Century Media announced last week that Behemoth will join Ozzfest this summer opening for Second Stage Headliners Hatebreed.
Check out their video for "Conquer All":

This slammin' guitar, painted by Slayer guitarist Kerry King, is just one of more than 60 artist-decorated axes that will be pawned off on May 17 at the Six String Masterpieces Auction. All proceeds from the event will benefit Little Kids Rock (LKR), a non-profit organization that provides free instruments and rock lessons to low-income youth in public schools.

Other guitars up for bid at the show were designed by: Metallica's James Hetfield, Kiss' Ace Frehley, Korn's Jonathan Davis and Munky, Lamb of God's Will Adler, Alice in Chains' Jerry Cantrell, Anthrax's Scott Ian and Charlie Benante, Rob Zombie, Ozzy Osbourne, Deftones' Chino Moreno and many more. The auction will take place at the Hollywood House of Blues.

The guitars spent much of the last year on exhibit at the Six String Masterpieces gallery, which toured with 2006's NAMM show, Ozzfest and Family Values. Six String Masterpieces was organized by Dimebag Darrell's guitar company, Dean Guitars, to pay tribute to the fallen hero.

After the auction, there will be an all-star concert featuring Dime's brother Vinnie Paul, Janes Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro, Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian, Slayer guitarist Kerry King, Staind singer Aaron Lewis and more. The event will be emceed by former Headbangers Ball host and Hatebreed frontman, Jamey Jasta.

Tickets for the auction and concert will go on sale tomorrow for $18 at www.hob.com.

Not only do we have a bunch of unreadable letters here, but the logo is framed in a pentagram -- which is key for evil metal bands. Also, one of the letters seems to be an upside-down cross -- which, last we knew, was more of a symbol than a letter. Or, maybe it's a sword -- which would make you yell, "EEE" if you were stabbed with it, but it's still not a letter.

Anyhow, you'd be right if you figured these guys were from Norway. Now try to guess their name.

a) Ihrone Atarsi b) Throes Eatapsi c) Judas Priest

d) Throne of Katarsis e) The One Zoatarsis

Answer coming tomorrow, if you dare...

Dude, photo passes rock!

It seems unfair that the only way to take pictures from the front of the stage is to be a member of the media, and jump through hoops to get a little sticker that allows you to shoot the first three songs of a group's set. After all, the people who really want souvenir photos of their favorite bands are the fans, and they risk decapitation to sneak in camcorders and portable cameras, and even use their cell phone cams to shoot from wherever they're sitting. Sadly, their photos always end up looking like they were shot from a speeding train a mile away.

Fortunately for us, we've become part of that self-important media organization thingy, and now we can sometimes get our camera into shows. But we have to admit it's a little intimidating shooting with a dinky $150 Olympus digital zoom when everyone else in the photographer's pit is carrying around one or two of those $1,800, 40 pound Nikon SLRs that have about a dozen switches and buttons and run on diesel gas or propane. You have to have a stock broker's salary to afford the fuel.

Still, we think our photos speak for themselves. They're not New York Times quality, surely, but they're a whole lot better than anything we could have gotten from the 35th row.

Anyway, these were all taken Friday night in New York at the Heaven and Hell show. The band, which features ex-Black Sabbath singer Ronnie James Dio and current Sabbath members Tony Iommi (guitar) and Geezer Butler (Bass), probably would have been called something like "Black Sabbath with Dio" had Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne not had such a tight grip over the trademark. Still, H&H could have been called Moose Excrement and they still would have kicked ass at their only U.S. appearance so far.

The show was taped for an upcoming DVD and featured all the classics, including "Neon Knights," "The Mob Rules," "Children of the Sea," "The Sign of the Southern Cross," "Voodoo" and "Lady Evil. Sabbath, err, Heaven and Hell also played "Lonely is the Word" and "The Devil Cried," two of the three new songs written for the compilation, Black Sabbath: The Dio Years.

We were so mesmerized by the performance we almost forgot to take pictures -- which is what we were there for in the first place.

Heaven and Hell will take a few weeks off, then they'll return on April 22 to start their proper U.S. tour, which begins in Phoenix, Arizona and ends in Holmdel, New Jersey on May 19.

It's a pretty good time for metal. This week, you'll find Shadows Fall's first new studio album in three years, as well as some premo emo metal from the drummer of Underoath and the screamers in Poison the Well. And let's not forget Black Sabbath: The Dio Years, which features three new songs from the only other Sabbath singer that matters.

Shadows Fall — Threads of Life (Atlantic) Okay, here's the question. Will Shadows Fall's ascension from the minor leagues to the majors make them pennant champions or will they be lost in the shuffle? It's too early to say, but they've sure delivered the album that could make them the next Lamb of God. Threads of Life is heavy, immediate and packed with the kind of infectious hooks that echo in your head, even as you sleep. Songs like "Redemption," "Stormwinds" and "The Great Colapse" are less derivative than those of most new American metal bands and they're just as endebted to thrashers like Testament and Exodus as they are to Scandinavians such as At the Gates and In Flames. Seek refuge from the heat in the comfort of the Shadows.
All out War — Assassins in the House of God (Victory) Hardcore metal that combines the minor-key guitar violence of Slayer with the pummeling screamscapes of Sick of it All. The band's fifth release should further help unite fans of hardcore and thrash metal without ever resorting to melodic, sing-songy choruses.

The Almost — Southern Weather (Victory) A more rock-based side project from Underoath drummer Aaron Gillespie, The Almost combines jangly emo guitars, ripping riffs, strained vocal yowls and some pretty irresistible melodies that should appeal equally to fans of Fall Out Boy and Underoath.

American Head Charge — Can't Stop the Machine (Nitrus) The band's third album is a surging mix of metal, alt-rock and industrial music that proves there is still life after nu-metal. Tracks like "JSYK Wired all Wrong" and "Take What I've Taken" could help return the band to the public eye following a few years in limbo.

Black Sabbath — Black Sabbath: The Dio Years (Rhino) For years, Ozzy Osbourne has been the focal point of Black Sabbath. Now it's Ronnie James Dio's turn. In the ‘80s, Dio replaced Ozzy in the band after the Ozzman was fired, and played on three killer albums before drifting into the mist. Black Sabbath: The Dio Years compiles the best of the Dio Sabbath era and features three new songs that fit in well with the rest of their catalog. In case you're still not sold, have a flashcard. Devil horns now, please. http://www.rhino.com/flashcards/blacksabbath/

Poison the Well — Versions (Ferret) Screamo metal fans, this is the album you've been waiting four years for. Following a puzzling stint on Atlantic Records, Versions marks Poison the Well's return to an indie label and a resurrection of the fury and craft that defined them on their debut album, 2002's Tear From the Red. Now mosh and cry.

Static-X — Cannibal (Warner Bros.) This industrial metal band has flirted with various styles including nu-metal, technical metal and hard rock, but with their sixth album, Cannibal, the group has return to the short, sharp shocks and simple arrangements of their 1999 debut, Wisconsin Death Trip, and with crushing results.

Saxon — The Inner Sanctum (SPV/Steamhammer) One of the forefathers of the new wave of British heavy metal, Saxon simply refuse to go away. Their new album, The Inner Sanctum is packed with dramatic arrangements, galloping rhythms and fist-in-sky choruses that'll make you swear 1981 never ended.