Damn. We lost our frickin' bet. We wagered that Marilyn Manson would leave the Slayer tour before metal-loving' horror rapper Necro bailed on Sounds of the Underground, but Necro bowed out first. He's not the only one. Mondo Generator, the band' featuring ex-Queens of the Stone Age bassist and singer Nick Oliveri, has bailed on Ozzfest and the band has also canceled its dates with Circus Diablo.

In a press statement, Oliveri said Mondo's departure was due to "matters out of my control" and that he "tried everything to make things work so that we could remain on tour."

The psychedelic punk-inspired metal band was out of place with the rest of the the second stage lineup -- which features mostly extreme metal -- and had not been received well by many festival-goers (new bet: Who will be next to go, Circus Diablo or The Showdown?)

"We're very sorry to all the fans that will not be able to see us on these remaining dates and promise that we will be back soon," Oliversi said. "We would like to thank Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, as well as the entire Ozzfest crew for giving us the chance to play Ozzfest 2007. We'd also like to thank the fans that came out to show their support at the shows."

As for horror rapper Necro, judging by his press statement is seems like he battled a little harder to stay on Sounds of the Underground, but that his fighting spirit was endangering those around him.

"I was facing hostile, disrespectful crowds and was returning the same energy back ten-fold by being more aggressive than them," Necro said. "It was making a lot of people in the tour crew nervous and there was concern someone might get hurt."

Necro claims he was asked to tone down his show in order to "not antagonize the already antagonistic crowd," but he decided to leave instead. "I couldn’t roll with that as it’s not my style," he said. " I was holding back enough as it is but there is a line. All the bands on the tour loved us and everyone behind the scenes knew we displayed major heart and never once got phased by the hostility. We finished every show with middle fingers up and a big fuck you to the crowd."

While he admits the crowds were unappreciative, Necro claims he was never booed off the stage. "A ton of emo kids booed us at every show, but we had a twenty-five minute set every night and we stayed on stage for every minute of it, and we represented," he said. "Every show had at least 100 to 200 Necro fans in the pit tearing it up, and our meet and greets were incredible. It’s just a shame these little kids are so close-minded.The majority of the hate was coming from mop top emo sixteen-year olds who have no clue who the originators of metal are, and didn’t respect my rest in peace chant to metal legends (Dime, Cliff, Chuck, Piggy, SOB)."

Kylesa guitarist Laura Pleasants has this to say about the band's new video for "Hollow Server," which will make its Headbangers Ball debut this week: "The depiction of the narration is abstracted and literal with the use of simple claymation and an overall raw energy."

Sounds more like the analytical musings of a film student than the Neanderthal grunts of an underground metal guitarist. In any case, it's a wacky, wild clip that you won't wanna miss. The video was directed by David Brodsky (Goatwhore, The Acacia Strain) and shot earlier this year.

The new DevilDriver video for "Not All Who Wander Are Lost" will debut on this week's Headbangers Ball. The video was directed by Nathan Cox (Marilyn Manson, System of a Down) and shot in Los Angeles.

The band's third disc, The Last Kind Words, comes out July 31. MTVnews.com's Metal File recently ran a revealing interview with frontman Dez Fafara.

Now that you've gotten through that, here's your reward, the video for DevilDriver's "Hold Back the Day":

All that Dungeons & Dragons talk made us hungry for some hyperspeed power metal, and when it comes to epic whiplash-inducing metal, no one shines out swords like the mighty Dragonforce.

This scorching 38-minute live set is from the 2006 Grasspop Festival in Belgium:

There's nothing geekier than Dungeons & Dragons, right? Wrong, says 3 Inches of Blood screamer Cam Pipes, who gets together with friends on a weekly basis to drink, roll multi-sided dice and imagine he's in another world where steel clashes with steel, arrows sink into scaly monster flesh and scantily clad maidens are ripe for the picking. Call Pipes a wuss and he'll decapitate you with a single swing of his battleaxe -- or at least he'll fantasize about doing so. We asked Pipes to pipe up about his favorite pastime and here's what he said:

I only play one fantasy role playing game - Dungeons & Dragons. I've only played it for a few years, but it is a weekly event that I, and a regular group of nerds, cherish. Our campaigns are epically-woven tapestries of sword and sorcery.

We do not play in a pleasant fantasy world where unicorns frolic with faeries and kindly old wizards help rescue maiden princesses. It is a grim and gritty setting where naked steel rules the day, barbarians and nobles ravage and pillage the people and land. Slavery is common, people hate each other for no reason at all, virgins are sacrificed to demons on a monthly basis, the good guys rarely win and nobody ever lives happily ever after.

This world is filled with the supernatural, drugs, sorcery, demons, decadence, depravity, horror and villains without boundaries. Life for the average inhabitant is poor, nasty, brutish and short. In the wilderness, villages have to contend with wandering monsters and the raids of nomads, brigands and evil humanoids. Disease is common within both walled cities and the wilderness; so is infant mortality.

In other words, Dungeons & Dragons is so much better than reality.

Thanks Cam. Now watch 3 Inches of Blood's "Deadly Sinners" and see what else Cam is good at:

In an era of anime, computer generated effects and blockbusters like "Cars" and the "Shrek" franchise, rarely is a modern animated film a true work of art. Then there's "Renaissance" (Mirimax), a French animated movie crafted with vision, artistry and abundant creativity.

The sci-fi action flick was created in constrasty black & white with 40 actors, lots of CG animation and a groundbreaking film technique. The cast performed against a blue screen and were suited with black outfits with sensors that recorded their limb, face and eye movement. After a scene was shot, it was converted into stark, convincing looking 3D animation. Of course, such high-tech gizmodgery would be of little value if the plot wasn't solid; fortunately, "Renaissance" delivers on both ends.

The story takes place in 21st Century Paris in a society that's part "Blade Runner," part "Minority Report." At the outset, a genetic scientist working for a the Avalon Corporation -- a company that specializes in everlasting youth and beauty which has grown Microsoft-like in power -- is kidnapped. A supercop voiced by Daniel Craig ("Casino Royale") is assigned to track her down, but every turn seems like a dead end that brings with it a substantial body count. However, with the help of the scientist's sister, the policeman begins to discover clues leading to the kidnapper as well as the notion that if he doesn't succeed, the future of mankind could be in jeopardy.

Since all of the action in "Renaissance" is generated by live actors, the movie rarely feels like a cartoon. And the castmembers, which include the talents of Craig, Ramola Garai ("Nicholas Nickelby"), Jonathan Pryce ("Pirates of the Caribbean" trilogy) and Ian Holm ("Lord of the Rings" trilogy) are in peak form throughout, keeping the movie exciting and believable. "Renaissance" is nothing short of a breathtaking breakthrough in movie magic.

The Hills Have Eyes (Fox) -- First the good news. The Hills Have Eyes 2 has absolutely nothing in common with Wes Craven’s astonishingly bad 1985 movie “The Hills Have Eyes Part II,” which was a loose follow-up to the original 1977 flick “The Hills Have Eyes.” Now the other news. It doesn’t live up to the horror and suspense of its 2006 predecessor. Not that it’s as bad as some critics would have you believe. There are several choice gory moments (anyone for brain-digging?) and some pretty cool tunnel sequences, but overall it’s a fairly uninspired cat-and-mouse chase – sort of an “Aliens” in the New Mexico desert. In the film, a rebellious group of National Guard rookies are assigned to bring supplies to a scientific team in the Hills, and, of course, unbeknownst to all the victims, the region is swarming with nuclear mutants who pick nearly everyone off one-by-one. But the bad guys aren’t just killing machines, they’re killing machines with a purpose – to repopulate their society, and to do this they need fertile women. That’s where the only real terror in the movie comes from, and while seeing female officers raped and dumped in a breeding pit is pretty horrific, it’s not enough to make the rest of "The Hills Have Eyes 2" anything more than an average, but entertaining kill-or-be-killed flick with some pretty cool effects.

Perfect Creature (Fox) – A clever spin on the tired vampire yarn, “Perfect Creature” depicts an alternate universe in which vampires are all members of the Brotherhood, a church whose members abide by a strict code of ethics and conduct. They're actually the good guys who protect normal people from deadly outbreaks of influenza. Nonetheless, the police and citizens live in fear of the fanged creatures, one of whom grows to despise the ungrateful common folk. And when the resentful vampire is stricken with influenza and becomes mentally unhinged, the powerful beast runs amuck and inflicts humans with his fatal disease. The rest of the brethren stage an organized manhunt, and, with the help of the local authorities, eventually catch up to the monster. But even when they do, it’s never clear whether they are powerful enough to cage the vampire’s hatred. Stylish, imaginative and thought provoking, “Perfect Creatures” injects the old vamp legend with some much needed fresh blood.

Crazy Legs Conti: Zen and the Art of Competitive Eating (Blue Underground) – He starts out adoring the bizarre world of competitive eating from afar, but Crazy Legs Conti’s hunger for the “sport” is to powerful for him to resist. So, he competes in an oyster eating contest in New Orleans and wins. From there, the oddball window washer, nude model, and sperm donor decides to become a professional competitive eater. However making it to the top of the sport is a lot harder than slurping down shellfish in the Big Easy. He’s got to train to achieve a Zen-like focus in order to stand up to champions like Eric 'Badlands' Booker and Ray 'the Bison' Meduna, let alone the legendary Takeru Kobayashi, who has inhaled 50 hot dogs with buns at the July 4 Nathan’s Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Contest. Fortunately, Conti is no master salesman or media whore and his commentary throughout the documentary is self-deprecating and kind of endearing.

Tales From The Crypt: The Complete Sixth Season (Warner Bros) -- The campy horror anthology “Tales From the Crypt” ran on HBO from 1989 to 1986. The seven-season run featured short stories pulled from the pages of 1950’s EC comics, with name actors in the lead roles and a ghoulish corpse named The Cryptkeeper as narrator. The stories on “Tales From the Crypt The Sixth Season” aren’t as creative or grisly as those from the first three seasons, but they’re still far better than those from most any other made-for-TV horror anthology. This triple-DVD features 15 sometimes spine-tingling episodes. Highlights include: “Doctor of Horror,” which stars Hank Azaria and Travis Tritt as security guards in cahoots with a demented doctor who believes he has discovered the secret to harvesting the soul; "Comes the Dawn" in which Michael Ironside and Bruce Payne play poachers in Alaska who confront vampires; and the standout “You, Murderer,” which was directed Robert Zemeckis and includes a computerized recreation of Humphrey Bogart playing a rogue criminal who, in order to flee his past, has a plastic surgeon turn him into a Bogart impersonator. The episode also features guest appearances by John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini. Other episodes feature Benicio Del Toro, Rita Rudner, Catherine O’Hara, Shelley Hack, Isaac Hayes, and Richard Lewis.

There's a scene in Avenged Sevenfold's "All Excess" DVD where producer Mudrock talks about reports that frontman M. Shadows decided to sing on the group's last album City of Evil because years of screaming had injured his vocal chords, rendering him unable to howl. While the origins of the tale came from Shadows himself, Mudrock claims it's just not true.

Before Avenged entered the studio with him to record their second album, 2003's Waking the Fallen, Shadows told Mudrock he was tired of screaming, but that he wanted the Waking record to be half screamed, half sung. Then, for the follow-up, he wanted only to sing. So, claims Mudrock, Shadows knew what direction he wanted to take Avenged two years before the band started working on 2005's City of Evil.

That's pretty much how Avenged Sevenfold roll. They may act like drunk, retarded juvenile delinquents who were lucky to ever land a gig let alone a record deal, but behind the scenes, Avenged are meticulous forward-thinking and extremely serious about their music. From the look of "All Excess," it looks like the band also knew exactly what it wanted to present on its DVD two years before it came together.

The disc features an hour-long documentary packed with behind-the-scenes footage that's pretty forthright about the drunken revelry, the tomfoolery and the sometimes mean-spirited nature of the band and their crew. At one point, the members talk about picking on bassist Johnny Christ when he first joined and beating him up for the hell of it.

In another scene, someone makes a sandwich out of bread and human excremement and puts it on the restaurant table of the opening band. But the DVD also documents the group's professionalism with revealing interviews, and reveals their rigid work ethic both on and off the road. Still, fans of Pantera's "Vulgar Videos," won't be disappointed because when the work day is done, Avenged like to throw down and whenever drummer the Rev throws a beer in his own face, frontman M. Shadows chugs Jagermeister or Christ pretends to mount his bandmates, they make sure there's a video camera to document the stupidity.

Aside from the documentary, "All Excess" includes four of the band's videos and a four-song live set as well as outtakes that exhibit even more shenanigans. The only real oversight is that there's not nearly enough live footage, so we did some digging and found this ripping 35-minute set from the 2006 Grasspop Festival in Belgium. Enjoy.

Established Egyptian multimedia artist Nader Sadek will collaborate with several black, death and thrash metal musicians for the upcoming installation, "The Faceless," which will premiere September 6 at Michael Steinberg Fine Art in New York City's Chelsea district, reports Blabbermouth.net.

Ex-Morbid Angel bassist and vocalist Steve Tucker, Emperor and Zyklon drummer Trym, Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick and Obituary, ex-Deicide and ex-Death guitarist Ralph Santolla have joined Sadek for the project, as have Middle Eastern musician Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Weird Al Yankovic bassist Miles Jay, Raquy and the Cavemen drummer Liron Peled and percussionist Raqay Danziger.

The "Faceless" project will feature a soundtrack that alternates between death metal and Arabic music alongside Sadek's "uniquely installed drawings which juxtapose the iconographies of death metal and Middle Eastern fundamentalism, which outsiders often associate with darkness, moon worship, and anti-Christian fervor." According to the report, the installation "startles the audience into rethinking connections between these two frequently misunderstood and vilified cultures."

"For a while now, I've been interested in exploring what different cultures perceive of as extreme," Sadek said. "'The Faceless' grows out of years of walking the crowded streets of Downtown Cairo dressed as a full-on death metal fan. Then, in a sort of twisted reversal, I decided to walk the streets of New York's Times Square in the black garb of a fully veiled woman. The intense reactions I got in each case confirmed for me the potential of this project. Those experiences inspired me to channel the popular paranoid fantasy in which the fully veiled woman is wrought from a dark death metal world, full of serpents, skulls, demons and dark mountains. I hope that by reflecting back to the audience their paranoid fantasies, which totally oversimplify the reality of Middle Eastern and death metal culture, that my work will get them to question their own prejudices and sense of the extreme."

Sounds cool, but why Egypt-loving death metal blasters Nile weren't included is beyond us. Let's give 'em some love.

The upcoming album by Florida death metal pioneers Obituary, Xecutioner's Return, marks a return to the triumphant riffage and unabated aggression of the band's glory years. But there's one major difference between the new record and most everything else in the group's catalog. Guitarist Allen West is nowhere to be heard.

The band's founding lead guitarist has had problems with alcohol abuse over the years and even quit for a time in August 2005 because he was unable to remain sober enough to play shows. Although Obituary originally hoped West would sober up enough to work on Xecutioner's Return, the guitarist couldn't pull it off, and on May 16 he was arrested and imprisoned after his fifth DUI offense. West is expected to remain behind bars until February 2008.

"He's been a handful over the years," said frontman John Tardy in an interview with writer Dom Lawson. "The last couple of years have been particularly hard. You know, you sit there and you beg and plead with someone who's a grown man, and you have to beg somebody and explain how important this whole thing is right now. And then again he's just falling on his face drunk onstage and showing up to practice and he can't even play because he's so wrecked and it's 11 o'clock in the morning. It wasn't fun at all."

West's battle with the bottle wasn't just waged on the road and in rehearsal. "He has just as many problems when we're at home, and that's reflected in the trouble that he now finds himself in," Tardy said. "We kept quiet about it for a while because we were anticipating him getting out of jail, but then when he finally went in front of a judge, the judge laid down a hard sentence and he was sent to prison, so he's going to be in there until next year sometime, and we have a lot lined up right now. It's so hard for me to talk about. I don't know what prison's going to do to him. It may straighten him up, but he might come out and not have much will to do anything. I haven't even talked to him because of where he's at, so we'll have to see what happens."

When Obituary discovered West was going to be unable to work on the new songs, they recruited Ralph Santolla, who has previously played with Deicide, Death and Iced Earth among others. "We're just so excited to have Ralph and we get along great," Tardy said. "He lives a few miles from here and he comes over nearly every day and we're just messing around and writing all kinds of stuff."

Not only has Santolla been able to acclimate to Obituary's style of death metal, he has actually brought new musical dimension into the band. "He was so patient with us and he's more melodic, [and his playing has more of a] Kill 'Em All kind of feel to it. His leads just seem to fit and flow with the music so good. It's really cool to have such good leads on one of our records."

Obituary still list West as an active band member and Santolla is thusfar being considered a hired gun. However, he's going to accompany the band on its upcoming tour with Alabama Thunderpussy, Full Blown Chaos and Hemlock, which begins September 8 in Miami and runs through October 6 in New Orleans.

"We have a lot lined up and a lot planned," Tardy told Lawson. ""So Ralph has a lot of work to do with us, and we'll see what the future holds as far as what happens with lead guitar players."

Xecutioner's Return is scheduled for release August 28.

Before then, watch Obituary's video for "Insane":

Leaving your comfy home to join an established rock group is a major commitment. There's usually some sort of culture shock, there's frequently a period of awkwardness while you and your new bandmates adjust to one another, there's no guarantee you're gonna fit in and there's a chance the fans will blame you for replacing the dude who left. It's hard enough when you and your bandmates are from the same state. It's way more difficult when you're from another country. But Bleeding Through's new lead axeman Jona Weinhofen (ex-I Killed the Prom Queen) has been adjusting nicely -- especially for a bloke that rode in on a kangaroo.

Have you ever moved to the other side of the world to join a band?

My name is Jona Weinhofen, and that's exactly what I've done. I'm Bleeding Through's new lead guitar player. I'm Australian. And yes, Bleeding Through is based in Southern California. And that's -- you know -- sorta far away.

I offered to join Bleeding Through earlier this year when my band at the time, I Killed The Prom Queen, was supporting them in Europe. Despite releasing a well received album on Metal Blade Records that we are quite proud of, I Killed The Prom Queen had suffered through some lineup changes and other setbacks, and the writing was on the wall, I suppose, that the band was nearing it's untimely end. I got along really well with Bleeding Through and I've always been a fan, so I offered my services.

After I was given the official invitation to join, I got onboard a plane to Los Angeles. I had been to the U.S. several times before on tour, but it felt different knowing that I was now going to be spending a lot more time there. It's quite a surreal feeling and was sometimes overwhelming to think about on the long flight over.

Right now, I'm living with Ryan Wombacher, the band's bass player, and his housemates. They've taken me to reptile parks and Muay Thai kickboxing training sessions (my fellow guitarist Brian Leppke and singer Brandan Schieppati have been doing this for a while), and they are all awesome dudes. We've also gone to practice shooting guns and after a day with the shotguns, I had a huge bruise on my shoulder. I guess I'm just more used to throwing boomerangs and chasing kangaroos and stuff, right?

As I said, I had visited the States in the past, so, for the most part, I knew what to expect. But there are a few things that will be difficult to get used to, if I ever get used to them at all. For example, the food definitely tastes different here. It's like there's sugar in everything! Like many people in Southern California, I've been on a steady diet of bean burritos, although I'm vegan, so no cheese or sour cream on mine.

After a number of rehearsals in Irvine, California (including writing sessions for the followup to The Truth), my live initiation took place at a hometown show at Chain Reaction in Anaheim, which Brandan has called the "Orange County's CBGBs." Thankfully, the fans -- including several proud members of the band's fan club, The Dearly Demented -- took to me, and I, of course, took to them. It was an excellent introduction.

Next was a short tour of Canada with the Cancer Bats. We hit major cities as well as several small towns and hard to reach places where bands rarely go, and where Bleeding Through had never been. It was a perfect sized tour to warm up with. The venues were intimate and the fans were able to get up close and personal.

So, what's next? A mammoth tour with Marilyn Manson and Slayer that starts in a couple of days. Um, I'm pretty sure the crowds will be a little bigger. You know, like maybe 100 times bigger! It will be a much bigger deal than what I'm used to, and I'm obviously quite psyched to be part of such a high-profile tour.

Needless to say, it's awesome to have the opportunity to join a well established band, but more importantly, Bleeding Through is a band I have been a fan of for years and a band that was one of the pioneers of this uniquely dark blend of heavy metal, hardcore and punk rock. The dudes (and girl) in Bleeding Through are great people and I'm very, very proud to be working with such awesome, professional and all-around good mates.

And thanks to Bleeding Through, I will get to enjoy several other things that make me very stoked about the United States, as well: Wal-Mart, Guitar Center, Big Gulps, cars that are so big it's ridiculous, thong bikinis... We gave you AC/DC, Paul Hogan and Vegemite, but the thong bikini and Big Gulps? God Bless America! Let freedom ring my friends, and thanks for having me.