The rigid jackhammer drumming by Paul Bostaph was one of the highlights of Exodus' 2005 album Shovel Headed Kill Machine. But now Bostaph -- who has played with Slayer, Testament and Systematic since 2001 -- will have to pack up his gear and look for another gig. On March 13, Exodus issued a statement that original drummer Tom Hunting was rejoining the band.

"It was always understood that when and if Tom was ever ready to resume his drumming duties for the band, his seat would be waiting," guitarist Gary Holt says. "Paul always knew this, and was the first to say it upon joining the band. We cannot thank Paul enough for his services on Shovel Headed Kill Machine and all the subsequent tours he did to support that album. We had a great time and kicked many asses along the way."

Hunting was hospitalized twice in 2003 for an undisclosed health ailment that forced Exodus to delay their plans to enter the studio before the making of Shovel Headed Kill Machine. When it was clear that he was in no shape to continue with the band, Exodus hired Bostaph.

"We are so excited to have Tom back in the band he co-founded," Holt continues. "He, other than the time spent out of the band, is the only drummer I've ever played with, and he and I have an unspoken language of metal that I am stoked to continue."

Holt added that Exodus are currently working with Hunting on new material and plan to enter the studio with producer Andy Sneap in mid-May.

"We are hard at work on the new songs, and this shit is the best and heaviest music we've ever written," boasts Holt. "This album will redefine thrash metal as we know it."

And now, here's Paul Bostaph drumming with Exodus on "Now Thy Death Day Come"

Photo: Rudy DeDoncker

It's hard to say what the greatest Japanese export of all time would be -- slugger Hideki Matsui, the real Godzilla, Pocky or the warhorses of Pacific Rim Metal Loudness. This time around we'll say Loudness.

If we've learned anything in the last week or so, it's that Dir En Grey fans may be justalittle over-enthusiastic about their favorite band. That's not a bad thing (enthusiasm that is, we'll let YOU decide about Dir En Grey), but we figured it would be a good idea to channel all that passion into one place.

Every Wednesday we'll post HBB Talkback, your chance to discuss whatever's on your mind regarding music and the scene, new bands you like, bands you want to hear etc.

Bang on!

We're not sure if metal warriors Venom, titled their song "Manitou" after this low budget 1978 William Girdler film (which comes out tomorrow), but even if they didn't, the campiness and weirdness of "The Manitou" isn't that far removed from Venom's own aesthetic.

The movie stars Susan Strasberg as Karen Tandy, a patient who discovers a growth in her neck, which turns out to be a developing fetus. When a surgeon is unable to operate, she turns to an Indian Shaman played by Michael Ansara, who tells her she is being possessed by the reincarnation of a 400 year old Native American demon. After Tandy gives birth to the beast -- played by none other than Felix Silla, who was Cousin Itt in the "Addams Family" - her ex-boyfriend (Tony Curtis) searches for a way to destroy the monster. Can love really conquer all or is it curtains for Karen and all mankind?

"The Manitou" was based on a best-selling novel by Graham Masterton, and wasn't exactly a blockbuster, but over the years it has become somewhat of a cult film. Here's a preview of the
Flick.

The logo that's no doubt been haunting you for the past three days is by none other than Hobart, Tasmanian black metal band Striborg (answer "A" for those of you playing at home). The group is really one-man show made up of Sin Nanna, whose fascination with the darkness is only surpassed by his ability to make primitive, droning, sometimes pedestrian low-fi metal sound positively magical. Striborg's new album, Nefaria, comes out tomorrow, but his first disc, 2006's, Embittered Darkness/Isles de Morts, is equally enthralling, combining the best of Darkthrone and early Bathory with something that can only be found in a land down under - and we're not talking about Tasmania. Evil awaits.

Metallica are wrapping up pre-production for their upcoming album, and plan to begin recording with Rick Rubin next week, drummer Lars Ulrich told New York's "Friday Night Rocks" radio show. The band plans to track 14 songs for the disc, which is tentatively scheduled for release in late 2007 or early 2008. And, for those still dubious of metal's thrash founders, Ulrich insists the album won't be tinny and improvisational like 2003's ill-fated St. Anger. "That was kind of like an isolated experiment about trying to write and record and do all that in the studio," Ulrich said. "[We did it] in the moment, not bringing in ideas and kind of getting away from everything we had done for the previous 20 years."

By contrast, the new disc will be composed of the kind of structured, fist-tight songs Metallica have written for most of their career. "[We have been] getting together, going through ideas, writing songs together, doing demos, doing pre-production. Rick's big thing is to kind of have all these songs completely embedded in our bodies and just go in and execute them. So you leave the creative element of the process out of the recording, and just record a bunch of songs that you know inside out and upside down and you don't have to spend too much of your energy in the recording studio creating and thinking and analyzing and doing all that stuff."

The Dio version of Black Sabbath (aka Heaven and Hell) have announced U.S. tour dates. The band, which features Black Sabbath core members guitarist Tony Iommi and bassist Geezer Butler performing with on-again, off-again member Ronnie James Dio and drummer Vinny Appice, will launch the dates on April 22 in Phoenix, Arizona and will make 19 additional stops, ending in Holmdel, New Jersey on May 19.

The bill will also feature Megadeth, which will preview material from its upcoming album United Abominations, which hits May 8, and Machine Head, who release the epic, plundering The Blackening on March 27.

Here's the complete tour schedule: Read more...

The latest young Christian metal band swooping down to smite the infidels is San Diego's Destroy the Runner, whose new video, "Saints," makes its TV debut on Headbangers Ball this weekend. The group's first album, Saints, seesaws between atmospheric melody and pummeling dissonance, and has been compared to Underoath, Norma Jean and As I Lay Dying.

Incidentally, Destroy the Runner are managed by As I Lay Dying's singer, Tim Lambesis, so a copycat lawsuit is probably not forthcoming. Originally, Destroy the Runner were called Die Like Me, but they changed their name before entering the studio. But as some obscure English dude once wrote, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Actually, this stuff isn't really sweet, it's kinda sweet and sour -- like Chinese soup touched by the hand of God.

Anyway, here's a live video of Destroy the Runner playing "My Darkness". And while you're here, get a sneak peek at "Saints".

Eye-pleasing In This Moment singer Maria Brink didn't look so hot at a recent video shoot for the band's single "Prayers." During filming, she was headbanging and collided with the camera dolly, splitting open the bridge of her nose.

"There was blood all over the place," she told MTV News.com's Metal File. "We just iced it and glued it shut, My hair's in my face for much of the video, to cover up the cut."

In This moment are currently on tour with Kittie, Walls of Jericho, Dead to Fall and 36 Crazyfists. Dates run through March 24 in Warren, Michigan. Then, they'll head out with Lacuna Coil and Stolen Babies, starting May 7 in Louisville, Kentucky. The band's debut full-length, Beautiful Tragedy comes out March 20.

For a complete interview with the band and more metal news than you can carry in a studded wheelbarrow, check out this week's Metal File on MTVnews.com.

photo by Robin Perine

Norway's infamous ex-church burners, Mayhem, have announced that their new disc, Ordo Ab Chao (Latin for order out of chaos), will be released on April 23. Check out this label-sanctioned MP3 of the album track "Anti."

Other song titles include "A Wise Birthgiver," "Wall of Water," "Psychic Horns" and "Illuminate Eliminate."

"The sound is raw and powerful, and listening to it, it reminds me of the Wolf's Lair Abyss-era, only more varied and more philosophical," says guitarist Blasphemer, according to Blabbermouth. "The album also contains the most aggressive songs in the Mayhem history as well as the most wicked and darkest."

The disc is the follow-up to Mayhem's 2004 album Chimera, and will mark the return of vocalist Attila Csihar, who joined in 1992 after ex-singer Dead committed suicide, but left after the recording of 1993's De Mysteriis Sathanas. Csihar replaces the band's original singer Maniac, who performed on their 1987 debut Deathcrush and returned 10 years later in time for Wolf's Lair Abyss. Confused? Then nevermind all that crap about ex-frontman Euronymous being murdered in 1993 by the band's temporary bassist Varg Vikernes.