It's already almost mid-December and that means time is running out to vote for your favorite metal videos from 2007. We've already highlighted some of our favorites, and today we'll bring up another, but as you've pointed out on multiple occasions, we don't know sh--. So, show us how much smarter than us you are by concocting the definitive list of the most bangin' videos of the year.

Considering how much attention was focused on Down this year -- and deservedly so -- we've gotta select "On March the Saints" as one of the top clips of 2007.

The stark, contrasty vid, shot in black & white and directed by Rio Hackford, is for a song from the band's third album Over the Under. The disc was Down's first recording since 2002's Down II and one that reestablished them as contenders for the heavy metal throne. If the music sounds like a snakepit of venom, infected wounds and skeletal remains, keep in mind the circumstances in which it was created. Not long after the band got together to start working, Hurricane Katrina devastated their home town of New Orleans and left them incommunicado for several months. Tack on Anselmo's agonizing back pain and subsequent surgery and the psychic scars caused by the murder of Dimebag Darrell, and you've got the ingredients for a lethal, devastatingly beautiful slab of metal.

Vote for "On March the Saints" and all of your other favorite videos on the official MTV2 Headbangers Ball Web site. And remember, if you don't vote it'll be your fault who wins.

I always thought having a stalker would be fun. I was right.

This guy showed up at my shop one summer afternoon and was clearly not entirely sane. I had been away for almost a week, and when I arrived home my crew informed me that this guy had been sleeping under the front window of the shop for most of the week, just waiting to meet me. He kind of creeped everyone out, so no one would let him into the shop unless I was there.

Well, we finally brought him inside and when he met me he seemed shocked by my appearance. Apparently, when he had met me in an alternate dimension, I somehow looked different. I think my head tattoo was on the wrong side or something. Some of the background info we got from him was that he escaped a mental institution on the West Coast and hitchhiked across the States because he had "things" to tell me. He told me I shouldn't feel paranoid because there actually is a microchip embedded in the back of my skull. Also, he said the special crystal skull I was given years before was manufactured by the government and would make you crazy if you touched it. The funny thing is, I actually was given a crystal skull and I really have felt crazy ever since.

Anyway, the dude claimed that there are 16 alternate dimensions that I exist in, and that he had met me in all of them, except this one. Of course, I couldn't resist the opportunity, so I asked my manager at the time, Frank, to interview him on camera. The stalker begged me to tattoo him, so that he would know when he was actually in this dimension. I obliged because I figured that if this guy needed to kill me he would have done so already. Who knows, maybe we'll meet again... maybe even in a parallel universe.

Texas thrash-lovers The Destro have picked a melodic death metal band fronted by a grand progenitor of metalcore and industrial metal as their Bang of the Week. We're talking none other than Divine Heresy and their divine leader Dino Cazares, whose former group, Fear Factory, was one of the first groups to integrate cookie monster growls with tuneful crooning and blend keyboard samples and sound effects into a framework of scorching thrash. Here's what The Destro's singe Eric Daughtry had to say:

"It’s been a while since a band has come out and kicked my ass as hard as these guys do. And being a big fan of Dino’s amazing talents I have to go with Divine Heresy's 'Failed Creation' 100 percent."

Here for your viewing and listening pleasure is a bunch of footage from Led Zeppelin's reunion concert last night at London's 02 Arena. The first clip of "Black Dog" was professional shot by the BBC for telecast. The rest of the videos are the work of, uh, less profesional videographers.

Pretty much every artist we talk to for the Blog works with a record label, whether it's a major or an independent. And when you sign with a label, chances are they own your masters and have at least some say in what your album sounds like, what your singles are, when and where you tour and how you promote yourself. The way to avoid all of this, as Neurosis singer and guitarist Scott Kelly explains, is to start your own record company. In the following guest blog, Kelly talks about why Neurosis never signed to a major, why they started Neurot Records and how they deal with the artists on their label.

Neurosis aren't currently on tour, but the band has a show scheduled for New Years Eve in San Francisco at the Great American Music Hall. And two previously unannounced concerts have been scheduled for January 24 and 25 at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple in Brooklyn, New York. Tickets are onsale now and Neurosis will announce a special guest for the New York show in the days ahead. And now, here's Scott's guest blog:

We had always intended to leave our label and be independent, but had never reached a point where we could really focus on that because of our constant touring. As great as it was go be onstage, touring had become this kind of a pit where we just f---in’ threw money. When we decided to stop touring all the time, it became priority number one for us to take care of ourselves and create our own label.

Thankfully, we had never signed to a major label. We never had an opportunity that was perfect. There was a lot of sniffing around, and we had offers during the Nirvana craze. But we never got what we were asking for, which was: We’ll do whatever the f-- we want and you give us a ton of money up front. Our terms were such that it would never happen, and it never did. They were probably right not to sign us because we would have put out 10 minute songs that they never would’ve been able to sell and it wouldn’t have worked out for them. Read more...

On Thursday, we'll post the world premiere of the new Nile video for the ridiculously titled but face-shredding song "Papyrus Containing the Spell to Preserve its Possessor From Attacks Against he Who is in the Water.” But right now, we have another exclusive for y'all -- a Nile "Making the Video" clip shot specifically for the Headbangers Ball Blog.

Before you watch it, read what frontman Karl Sanders told Revolver about the song: "When I saw this in an obscure chapter of The Book of the Dead, I was like, 'Jesus Christ, that’s a cool song title.' The original title was twice as long. It’s an ancient Egyptian spell for protection against crocodiles when they attack the boat. I laughed because I pictured this crocodile attacking, and this poor guy has to rifle through his stuff, find the right chapter in his papyrus and start saying the spell. No way! He’d be croc bait by then."

Now here's "The Making of "Papyrus Containing the Spell to Preserve its Possessor From Attacks Against he Who is in the Water."

After having released three "Pirates" movies packed with duplicitous characters, hideous monsters, endless fighting and some lurid death scenes (okay, not too lurid), it wouldn't be surprising to see Walt Disney dive headlong into torture porn. After all, this may be the weirdest, most violent and most confusing trilogy Disney has ever released.

"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" (Walt Disney) definitely isn't for children; adults may even have a hard time keeping track of who is double-crossing who and what armies are coming from where. While there are certainly moments of levity, on the whole "At World's End" is dark and apocalyptic, packed with a convoluted story that repeatedly blurs the lines between good and evil. Johnny Depp is once again brilliant as the suave, yet bumbling Jack Sparrow and the screen action between he and Geoffrey Rush's Captain Barbosa, Keira Knightley's sexy, swashbuckling Elizabeth Swan (where'd she learn to fight like that?), Orlando Bloom's romantic and vengeful Will Turner and Bill Nighy's creepy and sinister Davy Jones is strange and memorable. Also, the introductions of Chow Yun-Fat (Captain Sao Feng) and Keith Richards (Captain Teague) add new dimension to the already dizzyingly complex and unconventional tale of treachery on the high seas.

The story starts off with Sparrow's crew sailing to the Underworld to rescue their former captain, each for his or her own sneaky and unbrotherly reasons. At the time, Depp's character is suffering delusions that he is captain of a crew manned entirely by disobedient Jack Sparrows. In one of the best and most surreal scenes of the lengthy flick, Sparrow throws an oval shaped stone onto a beach filled with similar rocks, and one by one they transform into thousands of scrambling crabs. Then, the devious hero sails an empty, possibly imaginary ship on across an ocean of surging sand.

Once Sparrow is freed from Davy Jones' locker, everyone wants a piece of him and the secrets he keeps, and the screen becomes a battlefield where Pirates, denizens of the Underworld and the British Navy fight to the death as they strive to settle old scores and discover the secret of immortality. Read more...

Clearly singer/guitarist Josh Homme and bassist/screamer Nick Oliveri were big metalheads growing up. Then, they discovered punk, Krautrock, alternative music and recreational pharmaceuticals, all of which they blended into their stomping, psychedelic cocktail of sound.

The first recordings from their first band, Kyuss, came in 1991, and between then and 1995 they recorded four albums full of lumbering beats, sludgy rhythms and ripping guitars, which laid the foundation for the emerging stoner metal movement.

After Kyuss broke up, Homme, Oliveri and drummer Alfredo Hernandez persevered with Queens of the Stone Age, which released their self-titled debut in 1998. The disc wasn't as metallic as anything by Kyuss, substituting laid back, melodic melody for enraged snarl, but it was trippy as a mushroom party and still heavy as hell. From there, Queens began experimenting more with texture and atmosphere, and by the time they issued 2000's Rated R, it was questionable how metal they still were. The band continued in this vein for 2002's excellent Songs For the Deaf, then Oliveri was kicked out and Queens became, arguably, even less metal.

So, we ask you, were Kyuss ever really metal to begin with and if so, how metal were Homme and Oliveri when they surfaced with Queens of the Stone Age? Also, if Queens were ever metal, when did they lose their metalocity and are they still worth the price of a concert ticket? Leave your opinions and abuse in the comments box below.

While readers expressed much love and respect for veteran San Francisco thrash band Testament, they agreed that, when it comes to rockin' New Jersey veteran thrash band Overkill would give the SF boys one hell of a knockin' should they ever rated against one another for anything important.

Longevity and productivity was the main point in Overkill's favor. While Testament haven't issued a studio album of new material in almost nine years, Overkill have recorded five studio discs, a live album a covers record in the same period of time.

To celebrate the mighty Overkill, here are some vids from the vaults (click "read More" for four more piledriving Overkill videos:

Read more...

We got a lot of good guesses about this week's indecipherable logo, ranging from Ignore (not so close) to Dogsore (almost had it). But a reader who calls himself Sharangir actually guessed that the band's name is Jigsore.

The Spanish gore/death metal trio (not to be confused with the German group of the same name) features musicians from Barcelona and Torello who seem to lack anything approximating a good stage name: singer and guitarist Jurassik, bassist Rough and drummer Maiden. Past members include guitarist Chicokiller and bassist Scary Dani.

The band formed in 1995, but didn't release anything until 2002. That offering, Simetric, was a split-album with Nemesis Aeterna. Jigsore followed-up the release later that year with the EP Stench of Human Butchery. Their next album with another split, Embalming Theatre/Jigsore/Dysmorfic/Kadaverficker, which came out in 2004. Jigsore haven't put anything out since then, but are still together.