In one week, Dream Theater will launch the maiden voyage of their Progressive Nation festival in Los Angeles. The tour, organized by drummer Mike Portnoy, features the prog-metal veterans along with opening bands Opeth, 3 and Between the Buried and Me.

Progressive Nation marks the first large-scale national tour to focus exclusively on an eclectic range of progressive bands, from straight ahead rock to psychedelic doom and death metal. In a year when Gigantour has removed the focus a bit from the technical proficiency of its acts, Portnoy's traveling progfest could become the go-to destination for fans of complex metal and superlative musicianship.

We recently talked to Portnoy about the birth of Progressive Nation, his background in prog metal, the genre's history, Dream Theater's recently released compilation Greatest Hit (...and 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs) and how the band almost broke up after their only top 10 radio hit "Pull Me Under." Portnoy was also candid about being a control freak and how alcohol and drug abuse almost ruined his life. Click "more" to hear the Headbangers Ball Blog podcast interview.

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Here's what Arch Enemy frontwoman Angela Gossow has to say to you in sign language if you don't like her band's new video for "I Will Live Again."

The clip was shot in December with director Patric Ullaeus and if it looks like Angela's burning with rage, it might have something to do with the burns she sustained when she bumped into the stage lights during filming. Click "more" to watch the video. Read more...

How much more black could this be? And the answer's none -- none more black. -- Nigel Tufnel, "This is Spinal Tap"

It wasn't enough for these guys to make their logo virtually unreadable. They also had to print it in dark gray on a black background. If you stare at it for about five minutes, you can kinda see there's also a dark brown inverted cross in there. We're guessing the band members didn't think they were being black enough with just the unreadable script and dark lettering. No, they wanted to be even more evil. And what are those Latin words lurking in the corners? Okay, that's enough for us. We're getting cross-eyed. Time to go burn a church or something. Leave your guesses in the comment box where they belong.

You could just scroll to the end of the page and click "more" to check out the new video from Gwen Stacy for the song "The Fear in Your Eyes," or you could check out drummer T.J. Sego's guest blog first and learn a little something about ants and homelessness. Read on, dear reader, read on:

I'd like to write a little about compassion. Today, I was in Dallas a homeless man asked me for change. Of course, I snubbed him.

I gave him the usual remark about not having money that I actually have. My lack of generosity is not the thing that's been bothering me, it's the attitude I had before I even spoke to him. The man has no home, therefore I am entitled to speak to him in any way I deem fit, because I, who live in a van rather than on the street, am superior to him. Something is horribly wrong with this world when one person bases another's significance on such ignorance.

I'm not pushing to go give money to the poor. This includes more than just the homeless. Christians would rather argue convictions than love their neighbor. Kids are beating on each other at shows. People constantly are victims to predetermined opinions based on their appearance -- as if anyone on Earth has a clue about anything on Earth. The truth is, we're all just ants.

What could an ant know about the world around it? And what significance does one insect have over another? There is no single human being that keeps the world rotating, so there is no human life that is more valuable than another. We are all born with a heart and brain and soul, and yet people live as if this weren't the case -- as if the man without a home somehow became less of a man because he sank below the poverty line.

I am less of a man for entertaining such ignorance. Have we reached such a level of pride and selfishness that we are justified in holding others to our own standards? God help us if we cannot see past ourselves enough to value another life as it is. I believe that until you see yourself as nothing, you cannot see others as something.

Click "more" to watch the video for "The Fear in Your Eyes," which will make its TV debut on Saturday's Headbangers Ball. Read more...

Play games with Behemoth frontman Adam "Nergal" Darski and you might just find yourself without a conscience or a soul. The Polish prince of black and metal is charming and friendly, but his heart pulses with a hatred for religion and contempt for the mainstream. And his music mirrors his beliefs (or lack thereof), echoing with infernal song structures and cries of absolute torment. Behemoth's videos aren't much cheerier, as demonstrated by their latest offering, "At the Left Hand Ov God."

It's our most epic song so far," Nergal says. "We decided to go with something more sophisticated and demanding this time. It’s not very often that bands pick up five minute long songs for their videos. In opposition to current tendencies, we decided to build something more complex and intriguing."

Also unlike many other extreme bands, Behemoth based the video around a concrete story.
"'At the Left Hand Ov Hod' has a very provocative yet symbolic and multi-dimensional massage, so we took a lot of time to write a decent script, so it's not just a band performance," Nergal says. "We wanted to expose the theatrical side of the band, but the point was to still keep it disturbing and dangerous. There's definitely too many gimmicks and clichés in metal these days. I believe that our new video represents serious attitude. With 'At the Left Hand Ov God,' we are bringing evil back. You have been forewarned."

The video was directed by Polish TV and Film production company Grupa13. "They have a lot of experience, but it was first time they worked with metal band," Nergal says. "They did an amazing job. I'm still blown away by how much effort they put into this video. I hope together we accomplished not only the most impressive of all Behemoth's videos but one of the most memorable and outstanding metal videos in the genre."

Click "more" to watch Behemoth's "At the Left Hand Ov God" video. Then see it on the big screen on Saturday's Headbangers Ball. Read more...

By now, everyone who reads this blog or -- any other media vehicle that has interviewed Demon Hunter -- knows that siblings Ryan (singer) and Don (guitarist) Clark are mean graphic designers who own a company called Invisible Creature. Here is one of their latest along with a write-up from Ryan:

In our last two blogs, we showed you some of our past design work and gave some insight into what we do when we're not on the road or in the studio with Demon Hunter. This time we'd like to show you something we've been working on recently. Something that was... JUST finished. Something that hasn't seen the light of day until... right now.

Jimmy Ryan, former vocalist for metalcore giants, Haste The Day, has been busy writing and recording with his new band, Trenches. We are very excited to have been given the opportunity to create the artwork for this band's debut album. The music itself is very unique, and really allowed us to think outside the box. The band was very open to whatever we wanted to do (a major plus) and we couldn't help but explore a concept that we've been holding onto for a while now -- waiting for just the right project to come along so that we could go for it (click "more" to see the Trenches art). Read more...

The first minute or so of the title track of Judas Priest's new album Nostradamus sounds like something from Andrew Lloyd Webbers' Evita, but then the song kicks into overdrive and the metal starts to flow: ripping guitars, double-bass drumming, glorious keyboards Halford's commanding vocals. Melody and might intertwine in an epic amalgam, and the stage is set for an enthralling and innovative release that drops June 3. Here the song here.

A short while back, we interviewed Halford about a load of projects he was working on, including a Fight movie and some Halford stuff. We also talked to him a whole bunch about Nostradamus. Unfortunately, the Fight stuff kinda overshadowed the Priest content, which sucks because Halford offered a ton of insight into why Judas Priest decided to do a concept album, the life of the most infamous prophet of all time, the unique challenges of delving into such an ambitious project, the sounds the band was after in the studio and the upcoming tour to support the record. (Click "more" to hear the interview). Read more...

photo by Strefa Klimatyczna, courtesy of strefa.rockmetal.art.pl

This weekend, Arch Enemy's new video for "I Will Live Again" will debut on Headbangers Ball on MTV2 -- but we've got it first! Check out the clip right here of Friday morning. To whet your appetite for the production, here's singer Angela Gossow discussing the song and the video: Read more...

Thursday morning, the gates of Hell will open up a little early so we can bring you the premiere of the new Behemoth video for the song "At the Left Hand Ov God." The TV premiere will follow on Saturday's Headbangers Ball on MTV2.

On Thursday, along with the video, we'll bring you exclusive commentary from Behemoth frontman Nergal. For now, though, we'll give you an idea of what the video looks like by offering up these seven exclusive video stills (click "more" to see the pix). Read more...

On Thursday, Headbangers Ball Blog will debut the new video by experimental Indianapolis hardcore band Gwen Stacy for the song "The Fear in Your Eyes." The track is from the Christian group's new album The Life I Know, which came out February 5. Read more...