It's sadly ironic that Pantera and Damageplan's Dimebag Darrell Abbott was once considered a fiercely negative role model by the establishment and now, three years after his death, the guitar hero is being honored for his contributions to the healthy growth and development of children. Read more...

We're weren't sure if anyone from Saviours was into hard drugs, and we were guessing the title of their song "Narcotic Sea" was more metaphoric than dope-depraved even before drummer Scott Batiste gave us his analysis of the video.

"The 'Narcotic Sea' video is basically about being in a self-induced haze during the Earth's final days," he explained. "We wanted to capture 'a little bit of Oakland' in our first video so, part of the video features us jamming out in a West Oakland warehouse. The rest is us on a quest for killer times in spite of all the decay and depression that surrounds us each day. We took a trip up Highway 1 (north of San Francisco) and hit up some killer rock formations and beaches and just partied, basically. Dante Della Maggiore, who directed the video, then took all of the footage and tripped it out as hard as possible.'"

Even without the revealing description, it's pretty easy to tell where these dudes are coming from. This Oakland-based band plays heavy clouds of stoner-metal, paying homage to the herb-saturated riffage of Black Sabbath, Cathedral and High on Fire along the way. Click on the "read more" tag to check out the video for "Narcotic Sea." The track comes from their new album Into Abaddon, which came out in January. Read more...

Even though they didn't walk away from this year's Grammy Awards with a gold trophy, as they probably should have, Machine Head have no real reason to feel disappointed. After all, it's been a hell of a year. Since the release of their sixth album The Blackening in March 2007, Machine Head have been showered with praise and toured the U.S. and abroad with many of today's brightest metal bands, including Shadows Fall, Arch Enemy, Trivium, Dragonforce and Throwdown.

Machine Head are currently on the road with Hellyeah, Nonpoint and Ankla, and on July 9 in Seattle they'll headline one of the two second stages at the Mayhem Festival, which also features Slipknot, Disturbed, Sevendust, 36 Crazyfists and others. Of course, there have been some major setbacks along with the success. In August 2007, bassist Adam Duce broke his leg in a dirt bike accident, in December, guitarist Phil Demmel's father died and he had to leave the Black Tyranny Tour and last week, drummer Dave McClain's mother passed away, forcing the band to cancel one show and use fill-in drummers for another.

But such adversity only makes Machine Head work harder. They plan to remain on the road for most of 2008, blowing away the faithful and converting those seeking something louder and more dynamic than the fashion-oriented emo and radio-ready pabulum they've been spoon-fed over the past few years. And why not? In addition to performing amazing concerts, Machine Head release creative and artistic videos, pen thought-provoking lyrics and record lengthy, multifaceted songs that flow like short, fist-clenched anthems.

In our Headbangers Ball Blog podcast interview with Machine Head's Robert Flynn, the sarcastic, fun-loving frontman talks about losing this year's metal Grammy to Slayer, the tragedies that have marred the band's triumphant tours, the rewards of shooting a good video, trying to match Hellyeah's Vinnie Paul shot for shot and what he'd pay to see Arch Enemy singer Angela Gossow in an adult diaper.

Click here for an MP3 download of the Headbangers Ball Blog podcast interview with Flynn.
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Mental Demise may play music that sounds like aggressive Florida death metal, but the band is actually from the Ukraine. The group was formed in 1995 by guitarist Alexander (Fester) Andreychev and currently features singer Andrey "Sadist" Burovenko, guitarist Pinky, bassist Bolt and drummer Silver (Brilliant Coldness, Sacrament). Mental Demise released their first demo Utopia of Existence in 1997. Their second studio demo, Psycho Penetration, came out on cassette a year later.

The recording was later released on two separate split-CDs, one with Mentality, and the other with Odurmanization. While Mental Demise toured to support the record, they didn't enter the studio again until 2000, when they tracked the three-song EP Credo Quia Absurdum..?, which later came out as a split CD with another Ukrainian band, Entrails Putrefaction.

Various tours followed, including a run with Pungent Stench. Then, in 2005, Mental Demise recorded Disgraceful Sores, their first disc to receive U.S. distribution. That spring, they toured Poland with Parricide and Mincing Fury and later played several European festivals including the Ludwigshafen Death Fest and the Slovak Death Fest.

In 2007, Mental Demise returned to the studio to record Final Step to the Future Madness, which, according to their Web site, is complete, but the band are currently shopping around for a new label to release the disc.

Still interested? Here's a bit of shaky live footage:
Mental Demise

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Yeah, Megadeth always put on a good show, but for our money, the highlight of this year's Gigantour will likely be Swedish veteran melodic death metal band, In Flames -- though Finnish band Children of Bodom come in a close second. Since we don't have a new Children of Bodom video to flaunt yet we'll keep talking about In Flames.

Swedish production company, Popcore (Norma Jean, Underoath), shot the band's new video for "The Mirror's Truth" last month at an abandoned factory site in Skellefteå, Sweden. The track comes from the band's upcoming album, A Sense Of Purpose, which comes out April 1 on Koch Records. In Flames' run on Gigantour -- with Megadeth, Children of Bodom, Job For a Cowboy and High on Fire -- launches April 12 in Denver, Colorado and goes through May 22 in Phoenix, Arizona. Click "read more" to watch the video for "The Mirror's Truth." Read more...

When we were kids, we used to make snowflake cutouts and glue them onto black sheets of construction paper. No matter how careful we were with the safety-scissors or how precise we were with the glue stick, our snowflakes always wound up resembling the logo by this obscure death metal band. See if you can read between the snow crystals and figure this one out.

Prong have never been the most decisive band in the world. So, when we asked them for a Bang of the Week they couldn't decide who to plug or even who should plug it. Finally, they decided to send us two, one from frontman Tommy Victor and another from drummer Aaron Rossi. Since we've got no real space limitations, we'll give 'em both to you. Read more...

Two weeks ago, Otep Shamaya wrote a blog that was so offensive and disturbing that after we posted it, the Federal Commission on Proper Ethics and Acceptable Citizenship (FCPEAC) called our corporate headquarters, forced us to pull the story and insisted on publishing their own piece criticizing the Otep frontwoman. In response, we put her and her "Might Makes Write" guest blog on probation for a week while she considered the consequences of her actions.

Apparently it worked, because we received piles of comments from irate readers spouting venom because they believed that MTV had censored Otep and prevented her from freely expressing herself. Nothing could be further from the truth. We simply played into her whole FCPEAC abuse of power idea by writing the headline, "Otep Censored For Your Own Good." And that's what threw people. Last week, Otep didn't submit a blog, but not because she was being punished. She was, in fact, suffering from the flu and could barely breathe, let alone type. But now she's back and as feisty and provocative as ever. However, we think she hit the cold syrup pretty hard before writing the following:
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Here is the final batch of interview snippets from our Radio Rebellion Roundtable. The forum, which featured Behemoth frontman Adam "Nergal" Darski, Job For A Cowboy singer Jonny Davy and guitarist Bobby Thompson and Gojira frontman Joseph Duplantier, encompassed a variety of topics that concern extreme metal bands and their fans. In today's clips, our panelists address what inspires them to write, the advent of music technology such as Pro-Tools, the strangest things they've seen fans do, and personality traits that might surprise people who don't know them. Click on the "read more" button to watch the remaining three videos. Read more...

Is this a scene from the upcoming film "Mushroom Men From Outer Space" or a shot from the new In Flames video "The Mirror's Truth?" We'll give you a hint. If you check back Friday when the Headbangers Ball Blog presents the world premiere of the video, you'll have the answer. Read more...