Maybe 13 is gonna be a lucky number for Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson.

After over 12 years of working to have a script he wrote about the life of renowned occult author and magician Aleister Crowley turned into a full-length motion picture, it looks like he might finally be making some serious progress. Blabbermouth.net has reported that Dickinson told UK journalist Dave Ling that the film will go into production soon and actor Simon Callow (“Amadeus,” “Shakespeare in Love,” “The Phantom of the Opera”) will play the lead role.

Dickinson’s film is reportedly about an English university professor who becomes “obsessed with Crowley’s soul” and “enchanted by a very beautiful red-haired student.” Blabbermouth adds that Crowley was “very much into red-haired women.”

In an interview last year with Revolver magazine, Dickinson said “We’ve got producers, we’ve got a director, we’ve got a casting director, we’ve got finance and letters in place and we’re talking to distributors now for the remaining 50 percent of the finance. So we’re quite close to making this thing happen.” The singer added that the budget for the movie will likely be between $2 million and $3 million.

“Aleister Crowley was quite an interesting man and nobody ever made a movie about him,” Dickinson told Revolver. “I’ve read far more of his material than I should have and still be a sane man.”

Dickinson told Ling that he and producer/guitarist Roy Z. may get together soon to write new music for the soundtrack. “This would be my first soundtrack, so that’s why I’m looking forward to it,” Dickinson told Revolver.

This isn’t the first time Dickinson’s movie has been close to going into production. In 2000, MTVnews.com reported that Monty Python alumnus Terry Jones’ Messiah Pictures would be financing the film, which was reportedly going to be called “The Chemical Wedding,” after his 1998 solo album of the same name.

The script for the film, reported MTVnews.com in 2000 was conceived in the early 1990s, and is a “light fantasy about Crowley, who is conjured up in the story.”

Crowley was born in 1875 and died in 1947, and has reportedly been Dickinson’s idol for years. MTVnews.com reported that occult hero was the subject of Dickinson's song "Man Of Sorrows" from his 1997 album Accident Of Birth album, and, according to Blabbermouth.net, the Iron Maiden song “Revelations” is about Crowley’s claim that he was the “anti-Christ 666” reincarnated.

Funny, we thought that was Justin Timberlake.

Props to Relapse Records for coming up with the most amusing press release of the week. Now, there's nothing inherently clever or creative about David Letterman style Top 10 lists, but we gotta hand it to 'em for concocting some pretty funny entries. They even formatted the thing with a picture of Letterman, the "Late Show With David Letterman" logo and the CBS.com logo -- though we'd have to check with out legal department to see if that's all kosher. Anyway, here's the pitch they sent us for Nile's Ozzfest gig:

The Top 10 Reasons Why You Should Cover Ozzfest's Nile

10. NILE members know where the other half of Ozzy's brain is buried and they won't give it back unless you do.

9. NOT covering them would mean you're in de-NILE about how much smarter they are than you about ancient Egypt.

8. They're the ONLY ones who can protect you from the evil Sun God Ra at Ozzfest.

(We'd still recommend wearing a sun block of at least SPF 50, though.)

7. You've been dying to yell "Isis, Isis... Ra Ra Ra" at a show without someone looking at you funny, but were never able to until now.

6. Because your Mummy would want you to.

5. When was the last time your kids paid attention to anything historical and educational, anyway?

4. The way they play their instruments would win them a Grammy faster than the acting in "The Mummy" and "The Mummy Returns" would earn a used Oscar.

3. Because even though revolving line-ups aren't Phar(aoh), a recent Gallup poll states NILE's presence on Ozzfest upped the extremity rating by 1,000%!

2. They'd cause LESS spinal injuries than that "Crocodile Mile" slip 'n' slide you used to have as a kid.

1. Like your high school cheerleading squad, NILE have erected more than just pyramids.

Now check out Nile's "Sacrifice Unto Sebek":

Last year, Headbangers Ball Blog received a call from writer Zac Crain requesting an interview about the late Dimebag Darrell Abbott. Since we had followed Pantera for nearly their entire career and interviewed Dime and his brother drummer Vinnie Paul on numerous occasions, we happily set up an appointment to talk with Crain.

However, not long after, we received a mass email from Vinnie's publicist stating that the family of Dimebag didn't endorse the book and wanted members of the media to deny interview requests from Crain.

Although we were curious, we made no inquiries and soon forgot about the whole thing. Then, late last week we received another mass email badmouthing Crain and his book "Black Tooth Grin: The High Life, Good Times, and Tragic End of 'Dimebag' Darrell Abbott," which is scheduled for release on November 5.

"The family of the late Dimebag Darrell Abbott has not authorized nor cooperated with Zac Crain on his upcoming book on Dimebag," said the statement. "In addition, Mr. Crain did not know Dimebag personally."

Judging by the rest of the letter, it seems like Crain's requests for cooperation from Dime's family were denied primarily because of a scathing review he wrote of Pantera's "The Great Southern Trendkill" when he was music editor of the Dallas Observer. The review included the lines, "The Cowboys from Hell should stick to running low-class strip joints instead of trying to record albums that would be played in them. Fortunately, it looks like they've decided to do just that. Oh, except for that horrendous Dallas Stars theme song. But, hey, whatever keeps them from working on new material in the studio. And, yes, I'm fully aware that Vinnie Paul could kick the s--t out of me."

In response to the heat being generated by the Abott family, Crain contacted Blabbermouth.net to tell his side of the story.
"The idea for the book wasn't to cash in on a tragedy, but to do what I could to let people outside of the metal/hard rock community know about him," Crain said. I'm sure, outside of that world, the first that people ever heard of him was on CNN. It didn't seem right to let some moron with a gun have the last word."

Crain added that the review of "Great Southern Trendkill" was the only negative review he wrote and that he's actually a Pantera fan, but still doesn't like that album. "I sincerely regret throwing The Clubhouse (Vinnie's strip club) under the bus," he joked "That place is awesome — specifically Dr. Rock — and I even wrote a cover story that was, in part, dedicated to it."

Then Crain got serious and defended his decision to write about book about the life and death of Dimebag. "Darrell had a great story to tell, and I spent a year doing my best to tell it," he said. "I did everything I could to involve Vinnie and Rita [Dimebag's longtime girlfriend]. They didn't want to participate, and I understand. No hard feelings on my end (as if there could be)."

Crain added that he plans to donate a percentage of profits from the book to the Dimebag Tribute Fund. "I told Vinnie that at the beginning," he said. "And I'm a man of my word, whether he (or anyone) believes that or not,"

Before this, director Nacho Cerda was best known for the gruelingly beautiful short-film "Aftermath," which depicted some of the most graphic and vile acts of necrophilia and dismemberment next to Jorg Buttgereit's two "Nekromantik" movies. Compared to that stuff, "The Abandoned" (Lionsgate) is about as disgusting as "The Little Mermaid," but as a haunting tale of the supernatural, the movie is original, cinematically stunning and unsettling as a surreal nightmare.

Anastasia Hill stars as an adopted American who travels to Russia after she inherits her birth parents' decrepit farm. There, she meets the twin brother (Karel Roden) she didn't know she had and together, the two search for clues to their past and what happened to their parents. As the mystery deepens and turns blood-red, she and her twin find their attempts to escape thwarted, and the more they delve into the horrors of the past, the more they become a part of it until their past and present become inextricably linked and they come face-t0-face with their own ghosts.

While "The Abandoned" isn't especially grisly, the tale's dizzying storyline will keep you guessing and the imagery will keep you glued. Overall, it's a compelling and unsettling 90 minutes of fun, and a likely springboard for Cerda to break out of the underground and into the mainstream. This guy could be the next Peter Jackson.

Silk (Tartan) Compared to the slew of Asian ghost stories about long-haired apparitions that scare people to death, this Taiwanese flick is stunningly original. Combining elements of horror, science fiction and existential drama into a story that's somehow less confusing and more rewarding than many of its contemporaries, "Silk" claws at the psyche and tugs at the imagination.

The plot involves a team of government scientists that isolate the ghost of a boy with an anti-gravity device called the Menger Sponge, which feeds off of energy and is highly sought after for its potential military applications. While the ailing head scientist is conducting research for his boss, he has his own agenda -- to attain the pain-free immortality of the ghost he has discovered. So, he frees the ghost and hires an ace detective to follow the boy, using a liquid spray derived from the Menger Sponge to allow him to see the apparition, which can kill at a glance and leaves spider-like strands of silk between himself and his victims.

The detective is instructed to find out how the boy died and why his spirit hasn't left this realm, but the cop, too, has an ulterior motive. For years, he has kept his dying mother is on life support, and he yearns for some proof that what lay beyond is better than what she has left on earth. Wonderfully shot and acted, "Silk" is gripping and innovative proof that there's still life in the old ghost story. But as well as "Silk" holds up until the closing credits, the alternate ending on the DVD is far more satisfying than the original.

The Mad (Genius) For his third feature, director Johnny Kalangis wanted to create a horror/comedy in the vein of "Shaun of the Dead." But while "The Mad" feature a gory and absurd premise that leaves plenty of room for laughs, the scares aren't especially frightening and the comedy feels forced. The movie stars Billy Zane is a emotionally stunted dad who takes a family vacation to a backwoods town fair with his new girlfriend, his bratty daughter and her deadbeat boyfriend.

Before you can shout "dead meat," half the population in a diner consumes tainted burgers, turn into zombies and start to eat everyone around them. The action that ensues borrows the comedic styles of "Evil Dead 2" and "Return of the Living Dead 2," but somehow lacks the self-deprecating silliness. Even a pure moment of slapstick, like when an infected burger attacks a character's face, if feels like Kalangis is trying to turn trash into art. Or maybe living burgers, tangoing zombies and heart-to-heart father-daughter conversations in the middle of sock-em-up fight sequences just aren't funny.

Zombie Blood Bath Trilogy (Camp Motion Pictures) -- Taken as splatter films sharing shelf space with movies like "Dawn of the Dead," "The Evil Dead" and "The Beyond," there's little to recommend about "Zombie Blood Bath" and its two sequels. The plots are ridiculous, the acting is terrible and the gore effects are ludicrous. But as bad as they are, there's something endearing about the three signature movies of Kansas City's no budget video director Todd Sheets.

Clearly, Sheets loves to make gore movies that overflow with spilling innards, severed limbs and gut-munching zombies. And while he's been restricted by homemade effects, unpaid actors and logic holes the size of the Grand Canyon, anyone can tell he had a blast bringing these shot on video movies to life. Given a good script and a decent budget, you get the impression that he might just have the stuff for a few gross, enjoyable creature features.

It's not like he hasn't improved along his slippery organ-laden trail. While the brainless "Zombie Bloodbath" is practically unwatchable, its sequel is far better, and includes some flinch-inducing scenes of crotch-shooting and glass-in-mouth brutality that eclipse the zombie campiness. And the third movie even attempts to evoke empathy from the viewer, introducing elements of "The Breakfast Club" into a sci-fi slaughterfest that involves government-manufactured zombie soldiers that enter a timewarp and wind up in a space shuttle under a high school. Sounds like fun? Well, only if you're seriously jazzed by low quality gore, but Sheets clearly has his moments. Some of his shot sequences are moody and effectively cartoonish and a few of the effects aren't quite cringe-worthy. Also, judging from the bonus interview footage, he seems like a good guy and we wish him nothing but good fortune on his future ventures, including his higher budget remake of "Zombie Bloodbath." Now that's something truly scary.

Paul Booth's Last Rites Volume 1 (PaulBooth Films) The first film by twisted genius Paul Booth is more than a historical documentary, it's an expose on a burgeoning counter-culture and a glimpse into the lifestyle, philosophy and motivation of heavy metal's greatest tattoo artist.

In addition to depicting Booth inking members of Slayer, Chimaira and Cradle of Filth, there's footage of Booth on tour living like a rock star; clips of him and ex-Pantera frontman Phil Anselmo (Down, Superjoint Ritual) talking about horror films for an ill-fated TV show; shots of his co-workers tearing down the old location of his shop Last Rites and setting up his new place; and footage of his mom tattooing a heart on his lower leg.

And between the abundant footage of Booth and his clan are grainy clips of car accidents, assassinations, death row inmates shuffling to their demise and a kid piercing his bleeding face 15 times with a spike, which sustain a horrific tone and offer additional perspective of Booth's dark world.

In the last snippet from our boat cruise with Dave Mustaine, Megadeth's frontman talks about his perception of the American way. As our rented yacht puttered around Ellis Island, we had a stunning view of the Statue of Liberty, which inspired the singer and guitarist to comment on the song "Amerikhastan" from Megadeth's latest album, United Abominations.

Here's the latest from MTVnews.com's esteemed Metal File:

Antarctica space warriors Gwar just can't get enough killing, so they're planning to continue painting the ground blood-red this summer at numerous Sounds of the Underground off dates. First the group will play warm-up shows July 2 in Memphis; July 3 in Tulsa, Oklahoma; and July 4-5 in Dallas, where the Sounds tour begins July 6. Then, there will be five Gwar concerts between scheduled festival shows (July 9 in Mobile, Alabama; July 17 in Johnson City, New York; July 25 in Fargo, North Dakota; August 2 in Reno, Nevada; and August 9 in Kansas City, Missouri). Finally, after Sounds ends August 11 in Louisville, Kentucky, Gwar will play four more gut-spilling gigs, starting August 12 in Millvale, Pennsylvania, and ending August 15 in Richmond, Virginia. ...

Machine Head took top honors in two categories at the Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards, which took place last week in London. The band won Album of the Year and frontman Robb Flynn was named Golden God. Other winners included:Lamb of God(Best Live Band); Killswitch Engage (Best International Band); Heaven and Hell (Best Comeback); Job for a Cowboy (Best Underground Band); Slayer (Icon); Bullet for My Valentine (Best UK Band); Avenged Sevenfold(Best Video - "Seize the Day"); Slash (Riff Lord); Mastodon's Bill Kelliher and Brent Hinds (Shredder); and Napalm Death (Spirit of Hammer). Needless to say, gallons of mead were consumed and trophies were presented by Beelzebub himself. ...

Heaven and Hell (a.k.a. Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio) will return to the U.S. for a fall tour starting September 5 in Binghamton, New York. Dates are scheduled through October 2 in Fresno, California, and Alice Cooper and Queensrÿche will open all shows. ... Thrash-metal documentary "Get Thrashed: The Story of Thrash Metal" won Grand Prize at the San Antonio Underground Film Festival. The Festival will present its top award to director Rick Ernst on Saturday at the movie's screening at the city's Aztec Theater. "I am proud, honored and could not be more excited to win the award and to screen the film in front of San Antonio's legions of metalheads," Ernst said in a statement. ...

If you're gonna be in Denver tomorrow, you might wanna drop in at Independent Records for a late lunch sometime between 2 and 4 p.m. That's when Cephalic Carnage will be fire-roasting a whole goat to feed to the hungry masses. And we thought really evil bands were supposed to praise the goat, not cook it. After the feasting, Cephalic Carnage will play the Summer Slaughter Tour, which also features Decapitated, Cattle Decapitation, Arsis, As Blood Runs Black, the Faceless, Ion Dissonance and Beneath the Massacre. Dates are scheduled through July 10 in Philadelphia.

The new Through the Eyes of the Dead album, Malice, will be released August 21. The disc was recorded with Erik Rutan (Cannibal Corpse, Goatwhore) and is the band's first to feature singer Nate Johnson, who replaces Anthony Gunnels. ... The debut album from Montreal band the Agonist, Once Only Imagined, will come out August 14. Director David Brodsky recently shot a video for the album track "Business Suits and Combat Boots."

Check out the rest of this week's MTVnews.com Metal File, including a new interview with Behemoth.

By now, Megadeth master Dave Mustaine has given up any ideas of sightseeing or playing bumper cars with our rented yacht, and has settled into an insightful conversation about the music business.

Here, he explains how artists and labels used to be part of one unified party, but that the industry has gradually changed to the point where many labels now view musicians, not as artists, but as dispensable pawns in a giant chess game in which the winner makes as much money as possible, and shares little of the bounty with the soldiers that did the fighting.

But, as the metal veteran explains, with the advent of the Internet and other modern technology, bands have more power now than ever and, in the days ahead, there could be a major abandonment of labels by artists that find it's just as productive and profitable to oversee their own career and distribute their own music. Now, listen to Dave say it. It sounds a lot more official coming out of his mouth.

In this Moment with DevilDriver at the Metal Hammer Awards in London, England

Yesterday, we ran the first part of In This Moment guitarist Chris Howarth's European tour diary, in which he discussed traveling in a bus and on a ferry, meeting other musicians, playing for audiences both receptive and jaded, and taking in some of the culture of foreign lands. We, at Headbangersblog.com were thrilled to receive such an in-depth report, which is why we broke it up into a two-day post and are running part 2 today. Then, last night we discovered that the bastard is still writing, and has submitted part 3 of his glorious exploits. All that partying and he's still able to put pen to paper? Dude, there are a lot of gorgeous girls in Europe. What are you doing spending so much time writing to us? Not that we mind. But Europe's got great beers and doesn't your bus have Nintendo? Anyway, we surely appreciate any more pearls of insight that Howarth or anyone else cares to drop our way (we're pretty lonely around here). So, here's a report about the second week of In This Moment's European tour and expect more soon.

IN THIS MOMENT TOUR DIARY (PART II)

Day 8: Donnington, England -- Download Festival
I am now sitting in the tour managers office at The Download festival in Donnington, England. This fest is even bigger and badder than the Rock am Ring in Germany. It's just huge! Over 80,000 people attend this thing. We dropped DevilDriver off at Heathrow airport at 6 a.m. (they are flying to Madrid to open for Slayer) so we have the whole bus to ourselves.

Today, we came to Download to just hang out and watch bands. We play on Sunday. We will leave tonight to pick up the DD guys, and then do the same thing on Saturday as well -- just hang out and eat, play video games, get free tattoos ([our drummer] Jeff is getting blasted as we speak), free massages, free haircuts. They do it right at these fests. There isn’t any band I care about today, really, but tomorrow I will watch Hellyeah, As I Lay Dying, Shadows Fall, and Motley Crue. Then, after play on Sunday, Ill check out Iron Maiden, Dream Theater and Within Temptation on Sunday. Oh yeah, they have this big room of phones here and its free to call anywhere. Too bad all my friends are still asleep.

Day 9: Download Fest
Today was another day off, we had to drive to Heathrow airport and pick up our tour mates, Devildriver, who didn't even know we picked them up 'cause we were all still sleeping. We got back to the fest at around 1 p.m. and had nothing to do. Since it wasn't our day to play and the area was extremely overcrowded, we were banned from the "artist area" (we had the hookup on Friday because our agent scored us passes and meal tickets), but we had access to everything else. We basically wandered around all day (the food sucks ass here). [Our bassist] Jesse and [singer] Maria watched Manson, and I think everybody watched Motley Crue. I wanted to get plenty of rest for our show the next day and I was burnt out from walking around and stuff, so I took a shower and watched movies on the bus. I guess Maria and Jeff hung out with AILD and Shadows Fall all night. Whatever... I was tired.

Day 10: Our Performance at Download
Show day today. Woke up at 9 a.m. to Jenny (our tour manager) cracking the whip. Our stage time was 12:30 so we dug our gear out of the trailer and headed over to our dressing room at the third stage. We got our sweat-stained stage clothes on and got ready to play (on tour you wear the same clothes on stage every day, and they get pretty ripe before the tour ends). We played to about 1,000 people (it was pretty early and people were still waking up). The show was great, kids defiantly got into it. It was weird playing that early in the day but we gotta get used to it. After the show we ate really fast (bad food) and then had about two hours of press stuff to deal with. Maria and I did several interviews together ("Rockworld TV" and Metal Hammer), and then the band did a couple of interviews. [Guitarist] Blake and I even did our own interview for Total Guitar (UK Guitar World-type magazine). Then, we all signed this huge Download Festival poster that every band playing signs, and did a Download photo shoot. Press is over and I am ready to crash, Jesse went off to have beers with Mastodon, Maria is getting a tattoo and Jeff is… who the hell knows! Blake is off seeing Evanescence or something, and Jenny is sitting here with me on the computers. All I know is Iron Maiden are playing in a while, I wanna go see that, as do 60,000 other people. I am gonna go make a few calls first. Tomorrow we are in London for the Metal Hammer Awards…we get a hotel room to shower and get ready in, a real bed and shower sounds nice!

Day 11: London -- Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards
This was so weird. It's like the Grammys for metal (ha, ha), just a bit more ghetto. They even had bands playing; the line up was Turisas, Dimmu Borgir, Lamb of God and Machine Head. once we arrived, we went inside and did some press photos and interviews, then just found a table and hung out. Everyone you can think of was at this thing. Jamie Jasta was the host and they gave out lots of awards for all kinds of stuff (Best New Band, Best Shredder, Metal Icon, etc., etc... We sat right next to Slayer and Heaven and Hell (dude, f---ing Dio!) It was pretty insane. We also got to hang out with our friends in AILD again and our manager Blasko was there too!

Day 12: Wolverhampton, England
I'm sitting in the production office in Wolverhampton England at the Little Civic. This place is really nice. We have our own dressing room with a shower, and our rider is completely filled with beer, soda, water, fruit, sandwich stuff, candy and full catering for dinner. We had a very rough night with little rest. There were six of us in one hotel room. The bus picked us up at 9:30 a.m. and everyone hit the bunks and crashed out hard. We woke up at the venue and stumbled off the bus. We were met by a group of fans with CDs and pictures that they wanted signed (that feels so good). They have laundry facilities here so no more stinky clothes!!!! I am getting a cold, which really sucks when you're on tour, especially in Europe. I need to get plenty of rest. We have a long drive tomorrow to the Netherlands, and we cross the channel again. Bye England!! See ya next time.

Day 13: Helendoorne, Holland
We played an off-date with DevilDriver and Lamb of God. The show was amazing. It was at this little village in the middle of nowhere and it was packed with kids going nuts. We arrived in the afternoon and the venue had a large spread of food. We ate and watched LOG soundcheck, then got our gear onstage. The vibe was great, the fans in Holland are very energetic and made this an awesome show. After the show we drove to Amsterdam.

Day 14: Amsterdam
We woke up in Amsterdam. The bus was parked in this lot right by a canal in the heart of the city. We spent all day roaming around the city, eating, drinking and having fun. The prostitutes in the windows in the Red Light District were very pretty. It's so weird that so many attractive women prostitute themselves for only 50 Euros (that’s about 75 bucks). I mean these girls are really pretty. That’s not my thing, but if it's your thing then Amsterdam is the place to be! My final meal before bed was McDonald's. It's funny, but it reminds me of home and after all the weird food in England McDonald's is the s--t! I went to bed at around 1 a.m.

Day 15: Burgenland, Austria -- Nova Rock Festival
Jenny wakes us up at 5 a.m. and before we know it we are at the Amsterdam airport flying to Vienna. We play at 12:30 today (brutal). DevilDriver calls it a throw and go. We just threw our s--t in a bag and went (ha, ha). We were late due to plane delays, and got to the fest about 20 minutes before we played, but the show was unbelievable. There were thousands of kids going apes--t! We have the best pictures of this show and I cant wait to get them on the computer. After the show, we did a signing at the Metal Hammer tent and there were actually about 60 kids there. It felt pretty good. We'll stay in a hotel tonight, then fly to Amsterdam at 5 a.m. and drive to the Fields of Rock Fest, where we'll play at about 1:30 p.m. Here we go again. Throw and go!!

Day 16: Biddinghuizen, Holland -- Fields of Rock Festival
This is the second “throw and go” show. We woke at 4:30 a.m. and got picked up buy a sprinter van that drove us to the Vienna airport. Our flight departed at 7:30 and we arrived in Holland at around 10 a.m. The bus picked us up and we all immediately crashed in our bunks. We arrived at Fields of Rock at 11:30 a.m., and had to get our gear ready and immediately head over to the stage. This is a huge tent with a huge stage and once our intro started rolling the place filled up completely. There were at least 3,000 people, and they were amazing! We played "Circles" today for the first time and it went over really well. It was a great show that we will never forget. Jenny, our tour manager, ran our sound for us at Nova Rock and this show and did such a great job she is now going to be tour managing and running sound on the entire Ozzfest. Congrats Jenny! Once the show was over, we got cleaned up and just took it easy all day, watched bands and hung out. I watched Iron Maiden again.

Day 17: Fields of Rock Festival
We don’t play today, but our tour mates DevilDriver do, so we are hanging out all day again. Our friends in Walls of Jericho played, and we were very excited to see them. Both bands put on an amazing show. It was great catching up with Walls, and Ozzy is playing tonight, too, so our manager is here with us again. I can't wait to see Ozzy. Tilburg, Netherlands tomorrow.

(Stay tuned for Part 3 of In This Moment's Report From Europe)

They're not affiliated with American Idol, but Austria's Starmania is pretty much the same show with a different name --- and, apparently, a more lenient audition policy.

Here, the judges prove that they're not quite ready for a corpse-painted black metal contestant. Maybe he would have fared better if he'd slashed his face with a razor blade or drank lamb's blood from a golden chalice.
Starmania Audition...A Bit Disturbing

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Everyone knows Megadeth founder Dave Mustaine used to be in Metallica before he was booted and replaced by ex-Exodus guitarist Kirk Hammett, and that the band then recorded thrash metal's first classic, Kill 'Em All. But not everyone is aware that the solos bursting from that album were written by Mustaine. In other words, Dave Mustaine is pretty much the forefather of the thrash metal guitar solo.

So it's no surprise that he continued to emphasize guitar solos throughout Megadeth's career. Whether the band played speedy thrash, technical metal or a more mainstream style of headbanging, there was always space for some six string acrobatics. Pretty much all of today's thrash lovers -- from Trivium to Shadows Fall -- owe a debt to and reserve a fondness for Mustaine's handiwork. As for the other modern metal bands who don't take solos -- well, our guitar hero doesn't really have time for them.

Here, in part three of our "5 Days With Mustaine" series, Dave expresses his relief that new bands are playing leads again and his contempt for what he calls the "ProTools generation of cutting and pasting."