A few years ago -- before major labels stepped into the picture -- Avenged Sevenfold and Atreyu were the two "most likely to" groups to emerge from the Orange County metalcore scene, and in no time a bitter rivalry erupted, one that was eagerly fueled by metal mags looking for a good beef.

First, Avenged told Britain's Kerrrang magazine that Atreyu had stolen one of their songs, lacked creativity. etc., etc. Then, Atreyu lashed back and accused Avenged of being two-faced and opportunistic. The war was on.

So, when the two bands announced in December that they would both be taking part in this year's Taste of Chaos tour, those who follow such trivial things as rock rivalries raised an eyebrow. In the spirit of attempting to drive a new wedge between A7X and Atreyu, we decided to pit them against one another in our latest Who Rocks Harder campaign. Even if you think neither rock, it's a tough call.

Certainly, Avenged are more popular, but Atreyu have the louder screamer. On another fornt, both have strayed from their metalcore roots. Avenged did so first and achieved platinum success with their Metallica/Guns N' Roses hybrid. But then, Atreyu left the roost with the critically acclaimed Lead Sails Paper Anchor, and are currently flying high with the single "Becoming the Bull" (see below).

Both bands have strong songwriting chops and blazing lead guitarists and both have totally rad imagery -- if you're 16 and like to hang out in Hot Topic. So we ask you, who rocks harder, Avenged Sevenfold or Atreyu? Leave you comments in the box below. And if you think we're totally lame-ass posers for even posing such a question, let us know that as well. We welcome your abuse.

Here's some news that should be equally appealing to tone-deaf rockers and musicians who bang their instruments around so much they're constantly going out of tune. This spring, Gibson Guitars will unveil a line of axes equipped with their PowerTune System, which allows players to tune all six strings "within seconds."

Rather than using standard magnetic pickups, the guitars will feature piezoelectric pickups, which include a processor to sense the pitch being played, then transmit signals to the tuning pegs at the top of the guitar's neck. The digital technology uses all sorts of complex algorithms that we couldn't begin to understand, but all you gotta do is lift the master control knob to tune the instrument, and that we can handle.

And, for Korn and Meshuggah fans, the system includes several preprogrammed alternate tunings -- though we're not sure what seven and eight-string guitar owners will be able to do about those extra strings.

The only real drawback seems to be the price -- a whopping $899 -- which is kinda hard to wrangle up when filesharers have robbed you of your royalties and your per diem barely covers your gas money. But for musicians in sucky bands that sell millions of records, it's a dream come true.

Cephalic Carnage are one of the most forward-thinking, modern extreme bands, drawing from styles as diverse as avant-jazz, technical thrash and grindcore. But before they discovered the power of Napalm Death, John Zorn's Naked City and Captain Beefheart, the members of Cephalic Carnage explored the rudiments of metal, just like all the rest of us. And that's why vocalist Lenzig Leal has chosen "The Mob Rules" as his Bang of the Week. The song, of course, was originally performed by Black Sabbath on the 1981 album Mob Rules, Sabbath's second disc to feature Ronnie James Dio, the singer who replaced Ozzy Osbourne.

"If it were not for this for combination of musicians, I might have been a jazz singer or country bass player," Leal says.

Since Sharon Osbourne's legal team prevented the Dio-fronted band from using the words Black Sabbath, it called itself Heaven and Hell for its highly successful reunion last tour year, which Leal caught and calls "one of my favorite concerts of 2007."

And while he continues to delve into the outermost reaches of fringe music, Leal still holds a special place for Mob Rules, which he regards as "one of my all time favorite albums."

Now, check out the video for "The Mob Rules," or as Leal says, "Bang 'til your teeth bleed."

In July, death-rap dude, Necro, was forced to leave the Sounds of the Underground tour because of the hostility he was receiving from heavy metal audiences. But that's only made him work harder to stress how metal he is.

He recently toured on the Stillborn Festival along with Hatebreed, Agnostic Front, God Forbid, At All Cost and Thy Will Be Done and his latest album, Death Rap, features guest appearances by Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian, Shadows Fall singer Brian Fair, Lamb of God guitarist Mark Morton, ex-Megadeth bassist Dave Ellefson and more.

Here, Necro drops some metal science on MTV Norway:

Fear Factory fans hoping for a new album probably shouldn't hold their breath.

The band's guitarist, Christian Olde Wolbers, is currently focusing on producing other bands and is also working on a new project with Fear Factory drummer, Raymond Herrera, and Threat Signal singer, Jon Howard. And, singer Burton C. Bell is wrapped up with his new band, Ascension of the Watchers, which signals a departure from the type of industrial metal clamor of Fear Factory.

With roots in spirituality and surreal dreams, Ascension of the Watchers (Bell, keyboardist John Bechdel and guitarist Edu Mussi) write songs that are are melancholy and atmospheric, resembling '80s and '90s goth-rock bands such as the Mission UK, Swans, Fields of the Nephilim and Pornography-era Cure. The band's debut full-length, Numinosum, which comes out February 19, isn't really metal but it's still heavy -- at least in atmosphere.

"I've never really considered myself a metal guy," Bell told MTVnews.com's Metal File. "Yeah, I've been in a metal-industrial band, but the music I've always listened to has been much different, which is maybe why the vocals I did with Fear Factory were different than those of other metal singers. But I definitely wanted to do something much different this time. The music is completely personal, and it lets me try techniques I haven't previously had the chance to explore. We used to always say we were expanding the boundaries in Fear Factory. Well, now I'm really stepping out of the boundaries."

Still, Bell isn't ready to sign Fear Factory's death certificate just yet. "As far as I know, it's not over," he said. "I just wanted to work on some other stuff. I've been part of Fear Factory since its inception, and 17 years later I need to do something else for a while. And Fear Factory doesn't have a record deal, so there's no contractual obligation to move forward with that, so right now it's all about the Watchers."

For the complete interview with Bell and more metal news than you could digest with an iron stomach, check out this week's Metal File.

And for those lamenting Fear Factory's hiatus, take solace in the video for "Bite The Hand That Bleeds"

When indie metal mag, Decibel, ranked Pig Destroyer's Phantom Limb as the best disc of 2007 -- above records by Dillinger Escape Plan, Down and Machine Head -- it seemed like a bold move. But it wasn't as audacious as the publication's decision to emphasize its choice with a year-end cover story interview.

Most bands would sell their sisters' souls to achieve such an endorsement, however Pig Destroyer are too concerned with staying true to themselves to worry about what other people think of them. While he was flattered by the attention, singer J.R. Hayes told us he hasn't even taken the magazine out of the shrink-wrap, and can't understand why the band is drawing praise from everyone from fanzines to major monthlies.

In truth, as Hayes explains in our Headbangers Ball Blog Pig Destroyer podcast, Pig Destroyer would rather remain an underground entity than ever become popular. And, that's why they're so damn cool.

They don't give a crap what other bands are doing, and would never cater to the demands of their label, management or even their loyal fans. Rather than tour for months on end, they play shows here and there, relying on their day jobs for the bulk of their income. In turn, they can be even more discriminating about the music they make. If their albums suck or don't sell, it doesn't matter. At least they pleased themselves and can still put food on the table.

Pig Destroyer may never release a gold record, but they're even less likely to ever put out something that sucks. Their songs are raw, bludgeoning, heartfelt and artful, ranging from pummeling grindcore to experimental drone metal. And they've gotten better and better over time.

In our conversation with Hayes, the cynical recluse discusses why he likes to be called a misogynist (even though he isn't one), his struggle with depression and anxiety, why he hates shooting videos, how Pig Destroyer will never tour more than a few days at a time and the bitterness and hate that makes Phantom Limb so powerful.

Click here for a direct MP3 download of the Headbangers Ball Blog Podcast interview with Pig Destoryer's J.R. Hayes.
Click here to subscribe to the Headbangers Ball Blog Podcast Series. (iTunes)
Click here to subscribe to the Headbangers Ball Blog Podcast Series. (RSS)

Okay, this one was pretty much a gimme, but we had a soft spot for the logo so we went with it. For those of you with vision-impairment the band is Christ Incest. Now, here's some background.

The self-proclaimed "blasphemic Satanic black metal" band was formed in 1998 in Salzburg, Austria by singer Lord Incest, guitarist Destroyer and drummer Zorn. Vocalist Blood later replaced Incest.

"The trigger of the foundation was fighting the commerce and synthesized black metal as well as the hypocritical Christianity and the abstract penetrating faith in the bastard Jesus Christ and the pseudo moral Pope and his Christian horde," reads a statement on the band's MySpace page.
Christ Incest self-released their first demo CD, Against Christianity in 1999, then reentered the studio in 2001 to record their follow-up, Dismembered Divinity, which came out in January 2002. again without a label.

The band took almost two years off because of personal problems and financial difficulties, then in 2004 they hired second guitarist Herodes and started working on some new material. But additional problems arose when they lost their rehearsal room and they were unable to continue as a band until July 2007.

By the time they had secured a new rehearsal space, they had grown disenchanted with the songs they had previously written, so they scrapped them and began writing anew. They remain unsigned.

In the first of a series of guest columns from Otep frontwoman Otep Shamaya, the singer and poet discusses how music and poetry allow her to confront her demons and evolve as a person and performer.

"Music is the wine that fills the cup of silence." - Robert Fripp

We stand on the edge of a luminous new year, armed with hope and lengthy dreams, and the desire to leave the mistakes of the past far, far behind us. Some wake to a blessed plague of amnesia hoping never to recover the damage that was done. Some keep marching forward feeling the heavy ache of everything they wish to change about themselves dragging behind
them like a long, prolonged shadow. And still others shine above the sun, sparkling like raging cosmonauts, propelled by the strength and power of their pathological optimism.

I tend to slingshot between all three of these distinct planets with unruly fortitude. This is where art comes in. It helps me deal with my compulsive randomness, and allows me to abate life's repressions while exploring all possibilities of transformation and growth.

For this I am eternally grateful.

When I first began thinking of putting a band together, it was out of sheer panic. I was almost homeless, jobless, a sadistic scribbler, my life had no direction. And to top it off, the energies that had fed my hungry soul through illustration and poetry had all but dried up. I knew that without the magic of creativity, I would surely be lost. And then I rediscovered a band, The Velvet Underground, and was transformed. They were painting pictures on silence. They were writing poetry with sound. Then it hit me. Whatever I could create in prose, whatever I could lay down on paper in the form of a sketch or rambling tirade would come alive if shaped and remodeled into something hallowed... into song.

I am one of those insatiable heretics that believe art is sacred. For me, making music is not recreational. It is a powerful spiritual experience that permeates every atom of my being. Each note that we write, every syllable that slips from my lips, every riff change, bridge, intro, outro, chorus and interlude is as important to me as transcribing sacred verses was to the scribes of old. Through song, I am attempting to speak with forgotten gods and heroes, to uncover the great mysteries of existence, to seduce a lover, slay a tyrant, right a wrong, or unravel the hidden places of my being. In doing so, I can explore all of the spiritual, philosophical, sexual, and intellectual freedom that I secretly hunger for. Read more...

Todd McFarlane probably has nothing to worry about, but Mike Patton's is expected to issue the first of 12 Ipecac Records artist figurines this month.

The dolls were created by boutique toy company UNKL for acts as wide ranging as Isis, Melvins, Peeping Tom, Unsane, Tomahawk and Qui. The toys will come out once a month in limited editions of 500, and can be purchased at the following stores:

* Synthetic Compound in Phoenix, Arizona: www.myspace.com/syntheticcompound
* Monkey See, Monkey Do! in Austin, Texas: www.monkeyseeonline.com
* LUNA Music in Indianapolis, Indiana: www.lunamusic.com
* My Plastic Heart in New York City: www.myplasticheart.com

For those who want to guarantee they get all 12, the dollies can be purchased directly  from UNKL via subscription at  http://www.unklbrand.com/blog/news/ipecac-subscriptions-yo/. In addition to receiving one figurine a month, subscribers will be mailed a limited-edition “show poster” with each doll.

Surely the Earache grindcore line of dolls is just around the corner.

Even if you can't read this insidious logo, the inverted cross and pentagram in the middle of the thing makes it pretty clear that this is the work of an evil black metal band. Actually, there seem to be several upside-down crosses and lots of dripping blood -- or maybe that's some sort of demonic slime.

Whatever, this thing looks pretty cool, and, glanced from afar, kind of resembles a crown. Or maybe it's a wall of flame... or an untrimmed thorn bush. As always, submit your guesses in the comment box below. Hail Satan.