If you're a fan of The Autumn Offering (or if you glanced at the photo accompanying this post) you surely know that Headbangers Ball will premiere the band's new video for "Silence and Goodbye" on Saturday Night on MTV2. But if you can't wait until then, or if you're boss is in a meeting and you've got about five minutes to kill, click "more" to watch the online premiere of the video. Read more...

Forever in Terror on video set with director Frankie Nasso

If you wanna know a little bit about Forever in Terror, read the bio below. If you don't care about the band's history and you just wanna watch their new video for "The Chosen One," scroll through all the promotional nonsense and click on "more".

The following Forever in Terror press bio does not necessarily reflect the views of Headbangers Ball Blog, MTV2 or the entire population of Streetsboro, Ohio:

Forever in Terror, whose sound is a mix of modern day metal, black metal and thrash, began just a little over four years ago with five fifteen year olds in Streetsboro, Ohio about 30 miles outside of Cleveland. The band was formed by drummer Nick Borukhovsky and between 2003 and 2006 the band went through both name and member changes to finalize its current lineup of Nate Marti (rhythm guitar), Josh Owen (bass) and Nick Borukhovsky (drums), Chris Bianchi (vocalist) and Glenn Moore (lead guitar). Upon finishing their demo "Forever In Terror," the band had their manager Neil Sheehan from HM Management shop the demo to several record labels.

In October of 2005, the members of Forever in Terror learned that Metal Blade Records was putting an offer in on the band. In January 2006, on the verge of turning eighteen, the band accepted the offer from Metal Blade. On June 12,2007 The bands first full length, Restless In The Tides, was released worldwide.

So there you have it. Now click "more" to see the band's video for "The Chosen One." And watch the video on the big screen Saturday night on Headbangers Ball on MTV2: Read more...

"Active Evil is better than Passive Good." -- William Blake

I write this in a quiet, dilapidated hotel room. It is empty, dark, and void of furniture or the usual accoutrements. I share this space with a clandestine group of self-proclaimed freedom fighters and social liberators. I have made camp in the large walk-in closet so that I can use my laptop without the light of the screen alerting anyone to our presence. The hotel overlooks a large city park that is home to all forms of visitor, tourist, nomad and creature of the counter culture.

The basketball courts surge with pick-up games and the booming rhetoric of competition. Couples nest on blankets, in the sun, on the subtle slopes of the great green of the manicured grounds. Drug freaks huddle in groups, keeping close to the public restrooms, hungry for a score. Skaters congregate in the parking lot and challenge themselves (and each other) in casually sublime jumps, spins, tricks, and falls. A small group of goths smoke cigarettes and sit quietly in the shade of a great oak tree, near the old stone fountain. Opposite them is a massing of shirtless jocks and squares, listening to "cock-rock" on car stereos, laughing and quaffing down cheap beer. Indeed, all across the great garden of this reserve are fabulous physical specimens of all shapes, sizes, races, gender and status. Read more...

The second annual Saints & Sinners festival took place last November 3 and 4 in Asbury Park, New Jersey, and was headlined by Against Me! the first day and Glassjaw the second day. Other not-so-metal bands including Saosin, Silverstein and Saves the Day also played. But between the emo and the emoer groups, a bunch of muscular metal bands also took the stage, saving both days from being completely abominable weep-fests.

Our friends at Metal Injection were there to capture some of the heavier moments. click "more" to watch live video from Suicide Silence, Norma Jean and Animosity: Read more...

If you Crossed Dillinger Escape Plan with John Zorn's Naked City, you might begin to approximate the sound of Colorado sonic terrorists Cephalic Carnage. Since their music is so frickin' wild we decided to ask them some pretty bizarre questions and possibly get some insight into their warped corkscrews of noise. But in the end it was hard to tell who was the bigger smart-ass, us or singer Lenzig Van Strokingoff. We'd like to say it was a draw, but...

HeadbangersBlog: We had to look up the word "Cephalic" to find out in means, "the ratio of the maximum width of the head to its maximum length, multiplied by 100." How in hell does that pertain to your band?
Lenzig van Strokingoff: There a few meanings for thy word "cephalic." the one I used was from an old 1950's-1960's medical dictionary and it said "to pertain to the head or brain,"; in your definantion it could mean "thought provoking."

Did you have to look up words like “Heptarchy” and “Megacosm,” and if not, how did you cultivate such an amazing vocabulary.
Watching "CSI" and "Law & Order." I think those shows are like college for poor folk. Read more...

Matt McChesney, the singer for The Autumn Offering, has this to say about the band's video for "Silence and Goodbye," which premieres tomorrow on Headbangersblog.com:

"This single is a little different than a lot of the other cuts from our new record and we're all still really stoked on it. The video was directed by our friend Noah Shulman in New York City. Noah, being the respectable, reliable young lad that he is, had only two requests for us while shooting: 1) arrive well rested, 2) don't drink.

"Of course, us being the unreliable, s--ty metal dudes that we are, disobeyed. We arrived at the shoot on time, but only after about two hours of sleep. We had the hair and makeup girls sneak in a couple of bottles of whiskey for us to pull from in between takes. Shhh… don’t tell Noah, ‘cause we think that we all look good." Read more...

They may not look like combatants on "American Gladiators" (is that show even still on?), but Streetsboro, Ohio quintet, Forever in Terror, sure know how to dish out some dangerous and infectious sounding metal. Combining the ferocity of hardcore, the punch of thrash and the finesse of the new wave of British heavy metal (especially, Iron Maiden), these dude concocted a ferocious brew on their 2007 debut Restless in the Tides.

Their video for "The Chosen One," which premieres on the Headbangers Ball Blog tomorrow, was directed by Frankie Nasso (Hatebreed, Hellyeah, Bury Your Dead) and shot at Battery Potter, an old naval fort on the coast of upper New Jersey.
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If you've always kinda liked Weird Al Yankovic but wished he was more metal, check this out. Andre Verchura, an accordion-toting Frenchie (who cops Metallica's lightning bolt logo) has posted a video spoof of a metal covers album called Le Roi Du Bal Metal (Someone please translate that for us... we're ignorant Yanks).

The parody is all in French, but it's easy to understand what Verchura is poking fun at. During the video, he plays accordion versions of songs by Iron Maiden, Metallica, Scorpions, AC/DC and Van Halen and provides accompanying photos and illustrations that lampoon album art by those bands and more. Our inductive reasoning (and the onscreen URL at the end of the clip) leads us to believe that Verchura may be an alias for DJ Tofel, a wacky DJ who also seems to be in a band called Black Darons.
André Verchura - le roi du bal metal

Over the past few years, musicianship has definitely come back into metal, and Symphony X and Dragonforce are two bands that place playing ability near the top of their priority lists.

Symphony X have actually been around way longer. They formed in 1994 in New Jersey compared to Dragonforce, which first got together in 1999 in London.

But Dragonforce are way more popular, thanks in equal parts to Ozzfest and Guitar Hero. Symphony X have actually released eight studio albums compared to Dragonforce's three, but they've never been on a major summer package tour. They've also never bounded across the stage on trampolines as Dragonforce have been prone to do.

It's also worth noting that Symphony X seem to love dragons and wizards and such, while Dragonforce's songs sound like heavy metal symphonies played on vinyl at 78 rpm. So see, the two bands really aren't that different. But the question is, which one is better? Place your vote in the comment box below.

All photos by Sarah Hamilton, Le Beast Photography

This is what we do to celestials. The guy Nathan is kicking in the balls is named Party Boy. He was the most awesome Japanese dude we met. He was always wearing traditional Japanese dress and had a samurai haircut. This was at a gas station. (Click "more" for six more photos)
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