'Tis a time of celebration and mourning for fans of industrial metal. We celebrate because on September 18 Ministry will release their ferocious, scathing new record The Last Sucker. Yet we mourn because it will be the band's last full-length studio album.

"I'm really on the top of my game right now, so I just decided it would be nice to end on a high note instead of keep releasing sh--ty albums well into my 60s," frontman Al Jourgensen told MTVnews.com's Metal File.

Fortunately, Jourgensen's not about to let Ministry go out with anything less than the impact of a neutron bomb on the White House lawn. Like Ministry's past two records, 2004's Houses of the Mole and 2006's Rio Grande Blood, The Last Sucker is thrashy, metallic and packed with anti-Bush sentiment that echoes through both the distorted vocals and the manipulated political speech snippets. "Obviously, my muse for the past six years has been George W., and he's going to be riding off into the sunset soon, so I figured I'd just go out with him," joked Jourgensen.

In addition to perpetuating the lyrical vibe of the last two Ministry albums, the new disc taps into various sonic elements from throughout Ministry's career, including the mechanized precision of 1988's The Land of Rape and Honey, the blowtorch fury of 1992's Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed & the Way to Suck Eggs, and the hazy, lumbering rage of 1995's Filth Pig. But while The Last Sucker is a fitting summation of all things Ministry, Jourgensen said he was just doing what comes naturally.

"Me, [Prong guitarist] Tommy Victor and [Killing Joke bassist] Raven just went in and jammed, and the only idea that we had going in was that we didn't have any ideas," Jourgensen said. "This is definitely a fitting end to it all, but that's just the way it came out."

Ministry started writing The Last Sucker in February and were done by June -- not bad coming from a guy that used to spent months at a time working on single song. "The old Ministry records took a long time partially because of drug-induced lethargy, but also because I was still learning my craft and experimenting with a lot of things," Jourgensen said. "But now we're a bunch of old grumps and we know what we want, we know what we sound like and we're pretty comfortable in our skins. So we can have a good time and still knock out a record really quickly that everyone's 100 percent happy with."

And just because Ministry can now knock out a killer album in just a few months doesn't mean Jourgensen is spending a lot of time sitting on his ass. In fact, he's working harder than ever. As soon as he finished The Last Sucker, he started putting together songs for an upcoming disc of Ministry covers - some new, some old - called Cover Up. The album will feature various guests, including: Wayne Static from Static-X singing "I Want You" by The Beatles, Robin Zander from Cheap Trick on Golden Earring's "Radar Love," Burton Bell from Fear Factory on The Rolling Stones' "Under My Thumb" and Victor on Mountain's "Mississippi Queen" (Mountain guitarist Leslie West plays guitar on the track). Cover Up will also include previously released covers of Black Sabbath's "Supernaut," Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay" The Doors' "Roadhouse Blues (which is on The Last Sucker and Magazine's "The Light That Pours out of Me."

For the full interview with Jourgensen, which also contains details about the upcoming Ministry tour as well as what's going on with Revolting Cocks and Ascension of the Watchers (which features Fear Factory members Burton Bell and John Bechdel), check out this week's Metal File.

And now, feast your peepers on Ministry's video for "No W":

This week, Headbangers Ball will pay tribute to one of the wildest and most charismatic characters in the history of metal. No, not Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington, we're talking none other than ex-heroin addict, ex-husband of "Baywatch" babe Donna D'Errico and bassist for Mötley Crüe and Sixx A.M., Nikki Sixx.

The show will be entirely composed of videos that feature Sixx. Mötley Crüe will receive top billing, of course, but Brides of Destruction's video for "Shut the F--- Up" will also be aired, as will the video for "Life is Beautiful" by Sixx's new band Sixx A.M.

The Sixx-shooter spectacular was scheduled the celebrate Sixx's upcoming book, "The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star," which comes out September 18, and the soundtrack for the book, which comes out on Tuesday. The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack can be heard in its entirety this week as the feature album on VH1's "The Leak."

And speaking of Bennington (see first paragraph), a videotaped conversation between Linkin Park's singer and Sixx is the current feature of MySpace's Artist on Artist. The site also features past interviews between Danny Devito and ex-Faith No More frontman Mike Patton; Tenacious D and Foo Fighters founder Dave Grohl; Michael Moore and Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello; Danny Elfman and Marilyn Manson; and actor Jason Schwartzman and Incubus guitarist Mike Einzinger.

As anyone who attended any of the shows will agree, the best reunion tour of the past year, hands down, was Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio (a.k.a. Heaven and Hell).

The seeds of the tour were planted in 2006 when Dio got together with his former Sabbath bandmates for the first time in 13 years to work on some new material to be tacked onto the album Black Sabbath the Dio Years. The sessions yielded the cool new songs "The Devil Cried," "Shadow of the Wind" and "Ear in the Wall." More significantly, the musicians had a great time and decided to embark on a world tour.

The band started with a handful of concerts in Canada. Then, the first U.S. show, March 30 at Radio City Music Hall was filmed for the DVD Live From Radio City Music Hall, which comes out August 28, as does a double CD of the same set.

On September 5 Heaven and Hell will launch their final North American tour in Binghamton, New York with Queensrÿche and Alice Cooper in tow. Dates run through October 6 in Irvine, California, after which the band members will again go their separate ways for a spell. Guitarist Tony Iommi and bassist Geezer Butler are expected to get back together with Ozzy Osbourne to work on a new Black Sabbath studio album and Dio plans to write and record a new record with his band Dio. However, after those projects are complete, anything's possible, and while no one in Heaven and Hell has committed to recording or touring together again, none of the players have ruled it out.

Now that we're bored you with that, here's what you've been waiting for -- the exclusive world premiere of Heaven and Hell's video for "Shadow of the Wind":

System of a Down's Daron Malakian (guitars, vocals, songwriter) and John Dolmayan (drums) have joined forces in the new band, Scars on Broadway, the group's publicist announced today.

"Accompanied by some great musicians, we are preparing to go into the studio really soon to record our debut album," wrote Malakian. "John and I are really excited about this new project and can't wait to get on stage and perform live for you guys."

Scars on Broadway will not feature ex-Amen singer Casey Chaos, as some news outlets had reported.

System of a Down went on indefinite hiatus in August 2006 after finishing Ozzfest. Since then, singer Serj Tankian has recorded the solo album, Elect the Dead, which comes out October 23. Bassist Shavo Odadjian, meanwhile, recently directed a video for Bad Brains and is currently working with his new Web site www.ursession.com, which aims to help artists get signed by providing them a location on the Internet to upload audio and video content. The bassist also has been worked with Wu-Tang Clan rapper RZA on a new project called Achozen.

Now, remember Malakian and Dolmayan as they were when we last saw them with System in the video for "Lonely Day":

Man, it's already Thursday and that means just one day until Friday. It also means it's time for this week's indecipherable logo. Now, some snippy readers have written nasty comments about how we posted past logos with the band's moniker in the file name, which meant scrolling over the image revaled the name of the band, spoiling the challenge and fun. Well, no more my demonic cheaters. This week you're gonna have to figure out the band's name by yourself. And it won't be easy since these guys aren't even together anymore and never put out a full album. And we're not gonna give you any more hints either, so there. Here are your choices:

a) Logo61407 b) Totale Vernichtung c) Tomas Vengance d) Venom e) Zomfe Ventuary

They say music calms the savage beast, but if the savage beast is already in the music, who is the music going to calm? This may seem like one of those "If a tree falls in the woods" questions, but keep it in mind after watching this bizarre video, which features a metalhead dad who has learned an interesting trick for getting his cranky infant daughter to shut up. We can't help but wonder if Arch Enemy singer Angela Gossow or Kittie growler Morgan Lander started out this way.

preslee reece loves the metal!

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Metallic New Orleans sludge factory, Down, will release their third album, Down III - Over the Under on September 25. The disc is the follow-up to 2002's Down II: A Bustle in Your Hedgerow, and a lot has happened in the past five years that have directly impacted Down.

First, in 2003 Pantera -- the band Down singer Philip Anselmo became famous in -- officially broke up, and more recently Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell was killed, Hurricane Katrina devastated Down's hometown and Anselmo underwent life-threatening back surgery. All of these experiences factor strongly into the 12 tracks on Down III, including "Mourn," "In the Thrall of it All" and "On March the Saints."

Down III is actually the band's first record that wasn't recorded as a side project. Guitarist Pepper Keenan's other band Corrosion of Conformity is currently on extended hiatus, and while Anselmo is always working on various projects and drummer Jimmy Bower remains in Eyehategod and guitarist Kirk Windstein in Crowbar, Down (which also features ex-Pantera bassist Rex Brown) is now everyone's main priority.

The band got together in the months before Hurricane Katrina to start working on the new material, but when the Hurricane hit, the members were displaced and separated for many months. But when Down finally reconvened, the member discovered a new bond through the common tragedies they had endured separately and collectively. In the summer of 2006, Down launched a six week European headline tour with no opening band, no product, and strictly through word of mouth they sold out 21 shows. Inspired and invigorated by the response, Down reconnected in New Orleans to begin work on the new album and recruited Warren Riker, who had worked on Down II, to produce.

The band demoed 18 songs with engineer David "Puma" Troia at Nodferatu's Lair, Anselmo's studio in the swamps of Folsom, Louisiana. Then in February 2007, Down headed Los Angeles to record. The sessions ran from February to July, with a Canadian tour with Black Sabbath in between. In the end, 15 songs were recorded. The remaining three will surely show up in one place or another.

The full tracklist for Down III -- Over the Under:
1. 3 Suns And 1 Star
2. The Path
3. N.O.D
4. I Scream
5. On March The Saints
6. Never Try
7. Mourn
8. Beneath The Tides
9. His Majesty The Desert
10. Pillamyd
11. In The Thrall Of It All
12. Nothing In Return (Walk Away)

From Down II: A Bustle in Your Hedgerow, here's "Ghost Along the Mississippi":

The first Asian band to play Ozzfest, ChthoniC are an exciting change of pace for Western audiences. But the band's blend melodic death metal and Eastern theatricality coupled with their use of a two-stringed violin-like instrument called a hena requires some open mindedness. So do lyrics for songs like "Unlimited Taiwan," which lash out against the Chinese government that refuses to recognize Taiwan as an autonomous nation. However, the adjustment is nothing compared to the acclimation the band members have had to undergo to understand Western protocol. Frontman Freddy explains:

We've been in America touring for over a month now, and we are slowly getting used to the differences in performance culture between America and Taiwan.

In Taiwan, in a bid to save set change time, the organizer restricts the band to using what they provide, and discourages or even forbids a band from bringing its own drums, guitars, bass and any kind of backline that's too big, heavy or time consuming to set up. Therefore, bands are put in a situation where they have to use equipment they're not familiar with, and all kinds of crazy sound problems tend to arise. At the same time, this mandate saves musicians a lot of time and energy. The drummer only needs to bring his drumsticks, the guitarist only has to bring his effects, and everyone's set to rock and roll.

But in America, not only does the organizer or the venue not provide the backline, you have to get everything ready yourself. This includes setting up the entire drum kit, the amplifiers for the guitars and bass, and the racks. As a result, loading in and out the equipment is much more complex than in Taiwan. But at least on stage, you're much more able to control the kind of sound and what is happening, and it feels like you're more fully in touch with the fans.

At the same time, the set changes times are actually way shorter in America than Taiwan. Ozzfest only allows five minutes and most other places only offer up to ten minutes. At first, we didn't believe anyone could humanly manage such a complex set change in so short a time. Then we saw other bands like Nile and In This Moment, handle it with minimum fuss, like a daily chose that's got to be done. So we decided to just grit our teeth and do it as well.

For the first few shows we felt like we were really in over our heads, and in Seattle's Studio Seven, we actually had quite a severe delay before the show started -- in part because many of the cables were attached wrong. Our performance that night was quite off, and we still feel sorry for the fans. But thankfully we caught on after about five shows, and now that we've completed almost 30 sets, the entire process is not only natural, it's starting to feel mechanical.

Besides setting up, even the tactic of trying to squeeze all the equipment into the trailer has become an art. When we first got to America, we placed the equipment neatly into the trailer, but when we reached our destination and opened our doors to unload, it looked like a bomb had exploded inside and all the equipment had been flung all over the place. After quietly observing other bands pack their trailers, we started to figure out what to do. The trick is to pack the equipment together tightly and make sure it can't move.

That was an exciting discovery, but what has delighted us even more is the intensity of the American fans. In Asia, most fans are still somewhat conservative and polite. The really wild ones will headbang, but most audience members stand there and glare at the musicians on stage in a bid to analyze each musician's style or technique. In America, if you let out a cheer to the fans, they'll immediately roar back. And in the mosh pit, you will find all kinds of international fighting techniques on display -- tae-kwon-do, karate, kung fu, thai kick boxing, wrestling, boxing, sumo wrestling. It's all on display there, and let's not forget the lovely, enthusiastic female fans who take the time to flash you.

The intense devotion of the fans makes us work harder on stage. We just want to rock harder, raise more hell and get even bigger responses. With fans like these, the tough life of touring on the road seems like nothing at all!

Now that you're part of the Chthonic youth, check out the video for "Indigenous Laceration":
Indigenous Laceration

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In a horror movie, whenever someone's car shuts off and it fails to restart even though the gas tank is full and everything under the hood looks fine, you know the driver and passengers are in for a long night. It's here that "The Traveler" (Brain Damage) begins. A husband and wife are driving through the country uncertain about where they're going when their vehicle breaks down next to an old abandoned building. So, they seek refuge inside and find five other people in the so-called "death house," where all past occupants there -- including a serial killer who kept his victims in the basement, met with an unpleasant and fiendish fate.

Okay, lame and predictable opening for sure, but from here the movie takes off. While the guests are busy freaking themselves out, a British middle-aged balding fellow, The Traveler, walks in and explains to everyone that they're all going to play a game. In each round everyone will vote for one person to be tortured and murdered, then after the heinous act is committed, the Traveler will leave for a spell while the survivors try to figure out what to do next. Escape is out of the question since a forcefield of flames surrounds all exits. The game is to continue until there are only two survivors, at which point The Traveler will decide who wins. And there's no arguing with the beast.

Turns out the Limey has supernatural powers, and is able to pin everyone else to the wall while he does away with the loser of each round in a grisly, stomach-churning manner. In an effort to survive, the hostages find ways to attack the traveler and even manage to blow his head off, but the cursed thing grows right back as if the dude was a planarian, and the game continues.

If "The Traveler" had a higher budget, a big name director and an accomplished Hollywood cast, the movie could have been more shocking and pulse-pounding than "Hostel 2." As it is -- low budget and shot on video -- it's still astonishingly effective. The gore effects, though not first rate, are certainly flinch-inducing and there's no shortage of crimson showers. Director Jonathan Skocik does an impressive job of keeping the viewer riveted despite the poor acting, and the unflinching yet cavalier brutality of the killings carries the plot from one segment to the next.

As the movie nears its conclusion it remains unclear how it will climax, and any instead of offering a heavy-handed morality lesson, it leaves the following message branded in our gray matter: Sometimes bad things do, indeed, happen to good people. An excellent directorial debut for Skocik.

Dawn of the Living Dead (Hannover House) -- Unlike "The Traveler," which was shot on video, "Dawn of the Living Dead" was executed on film with a much higher -- but still miniscule by Hollywood standards -- budget. Of course, more isn't always better. First off, let's clarify something; the flick has no direct connection to either of George Romero's classics, 1968's "Night of the Living Dead" and 1978's "Dawn of the Dead." In fact, "Dawn of the Living Dead" was originally called "Curse of the Maya" until someone in marketing co-opted a more ear-catching title.

Now that we've got that cleared up, here's the plot: A doctor husband and mentally unbalanced wife move into a country home near the Mexican border unaware that the property used to be a safehouse for illegal aliens. But then someone killed all the occupants and sold the building. Problem is, one of the murdered families practiced Mayan witchcraft, and since they didn't receive a proper burial they return as pissed off revenge-seeking zombies. Despite some cool disembowelment scenes (and some laughable CGI), the movie drags and ultimately fails due to its absurd plot, poor acting and inconsistent pacing. Apparently, watching movies by Romero, Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci didn't help director David Heavener create anything original, and, in the end even a bizarre cameo bot "Different Strokes" cast member Todd Bridges can't save this ship from tanking.

Little Erin Merryweather (Indican) --This isn't as much of a family story as the tale that inspired it, "Little Red Riding Hood," but "Little Erin Merryweather" probably won't keep you awake at night either. The family-friendly horror story is about a female serial killer on a college campus who murders males that have dirty hands. Then the troubled chick slashes their bellies, removes their organs and replaces them with stones in a manner similar to what Little Red Riding Hood apparently did to the wolf in some twisted version of the story we've certainly never read. As for gore, there's very little -- a splash of red on the snow here, a bloody knife there. But the acting is good, and the depiction of a red-caped, face-painted blond as mass murderer is novel and somewhat unsettling.

Mustang Sally's Horror House (MTI) -- Since "Little Erin Merryweather" left us cupping our crotches with fear, we thought we'd bring up another indie horror film with woman as the aggressors and men as their victims. "In Mustang Sally's Horror House," six horny dudes are hanging out in a diner when they overhear some bikers mention a local whore house that caters in some of the region's finest. So they drive to Sally's, where they are each matched up with a different girl. Though it first seems like harmless fun, it turns out that each of the babes is a sadistic killer that's not about to put out. Directed, co-produced and co-scored by Iren Koster, "Mustang Sally's Horror House" is an entertaining mix of eye-candy, bloodletting and humor that's violent, but never that graphic and sexy, but not at all explicit. Overall, a well-told, if not revelatory tale.

More Slash For Your Cash
Decrepit Crypt of Nightmares (Mill Creek) $29.98
Obviously, there's a difference between great movies and good movies. But there's also a difference between bad, but entertaining movies and just plain bad films. The 50-movie budget package "Decrepit Crypt of Nightmares" features some genuinely good fright flicks, a bunch that are bad, but entertaining, and a whole lotta junk. In fact, a good one-third of the movies here are pretty much a waste of time. What's left, however, is well worth the price of the package for low budget gore hounds. The secret is to be able to separate the fresh meat from the rotten.

This might help. Anyone who's a fan of underground cult splatter director Todd Sheets ("Zombie Bloodbath 1,2 and 3," "Catacombs") will piss blood for the six pre-1993 Sheets films scattered through this collection: "Goblin," "Edgar Allan Poe's Madhouse," "Dominion," "Prehistoric Bimbos in Armageddon City," "Nightmare Asylum" and "Zombie Rampage." Each features cool digital camera work, lots of over the top gore, a heavy metal soundtrack, horrific acting and a plot that's secondary to the slaughter.

Similarly, the box contains three of director Ryan Cavalline's low-budget gems -- the grisly, twisted "Dead Body Man," the stark, harrowing "Serial Killer" and the bizarre, cartoonish "Demon Slaughter." Elsewhere, "Hell's Highway" delivers some hot babes and unexpected chills, "Blood Sucking Babes From Burbank" is campy, but cool and features impressive gore effects. "Hellbound: Book of the Dead" offers creative camera work and a nice '70s B-film vibe. "Tales of Terror" is an EC Comics-style anthology with a couple fun stories and a couple stinkers. And "The Shunned House" is an atmospheric Italian piece that contains adaptations of three stories by horror master H.P. Lovecraft, "The Shunned House," "The Music of Erich Zann" and "Dreams in the Witch House."

Careful carving of the 50 movies in "Decrepit Crypt of Nightmares" should satisfy the appetite of all lovers of low-budget horror. Remember, just because these movies lack adequate funding doesn't mean they all lack imagination, artistry and thrills.

Thunderous metal warriors High on Fire are currently in Los Angeles working on a music video for "Rumors of War," the band's first single from their upcoming album Death Is This Communion. The video is being directed by Soren (Unearth, Cephalic Carnage) and is expected to hit before the album comes out on September 18. High on Fire recently released "Rumors of War" on I-Tunes as the first digital single from the new album. The song is also available for streaming on the band's MySpace page.

High on Fire entered the studio in late May with producer Jack Endino (Nirvana, Bruce Dickinson) to record Death is This Communion. A three-part studio diary of their adventures has been posted on MetalKult.com.

Now get your thumb out of your ass and watch the video for "Devolution" (Or keep it there; we don't care):