The self-titled debut by Rammstein guitarist and songwriter, Richard Kruspe's side band, Emigrate, is metallic and industrial, but it's also moody and melancholy, displaying a new set of influences, including The Cure and New Order. It also expresses the loneliness, despair and rage the German rocker felt after coming to America.

"I moved here in 2001 because I needed a change in my life," Kruspe told MTVnews.com's Metal File. "I had been living in Berlin for 18 years, and I was bored and wanted a new challenge. I felt I had to create something new, and one of the things you have to do as an artist is go the unsafe way, because this brings you into the suffering world, and if you're suffering, you can write good music. When I came to New York, I dealt with a lot of rejection and depression in the process of entering the new world and saying goodbye to the old one, and that was definitely inspirational." Read more...

Hate Eternal frontman Erik Rutan was hoping bassist Jared Anderson, who had played with Rutan in Morbid Angel and on the first two Hate Eternal records, would rejoin the band for its upcoming disc. But on October 14, Anderson died in his sleep of undetermined causes. Unable to find a suitable replacement, longtime friend and Cannibal Corpse bassist Alex Webster stepped in to record. But while the musical gap was filled, Anderson's death left a scar in his heart.

"Jared was one of my best friends, and his passing away really affected me and influenced this record a lot," Rutan told MTVnews.com's Metal File. "It's a very dark and heavy record — not just heavy as in 'heavy metal,' but heavy-hearted as well."

Partially in reaction to Anderson's death, Rutan decided to throw caution to the wind and write in an almost stream-of-consciousness style, without concern for rules or traditions.

"I just did whatever I wanted and didn't pay attention to whether one riff is faster than another or whether one section is better than the next," Rutan said. "It's the first album [on which] I wasn't concerned about outside influences or sources. It was more just coming from the soul and it created a lot of diversity in terms of dynamics."

But while certain elements of songs like "Hell and Venom" and "Parabellum" will explore new sonic themes, the trademark anger and intensity will be as present as ever. "Hate Eternal has always been based around rage and fury," he said. "For me, this band is all about expressing negative emotions and turning them into something positive. That will never change."

There are no real surprises on Soilwork's new album Sworn to a Great Divide. Anyone familiar with the Swedish melodic death metal band's juxtaposition of dissonance and euphony will see it as a natural progression, and those who favor metalcore's blend of vicious growling and tuneful singing will also feel at home .

While it might seem like the band consciously followed a winning formula, singer Björn "Speed" Strid's says that's not the case. "Our music, it comes out in a natural way," he tells MTVnews.com's Metal File. We want to top ourselves every time, and we learn from the previous recording and try to take it to the next level. I definitely think we have developed our own sound, which is kind of hard nowadays."

Strid says the band takes pride in being one of the pioneers of the Scandinavian sound, following on the heels of the originators, At the Gates, In Flames and Dark Tranquillity.

"We've developed that [sound] through the years," he explains. "In the beginning, it was mostly the guitars that took care of the melodies. Now, it's in a different shade — it's more like the vocals take care of some of that stuff." Read more...

Former Anthrax singers Joey Belladonna and John Bush won't be contributing to the band's new album, and Slipknot/Stone Sour frontman Corey Taylor wanted to help out but has been forbidden from tracking vocals. So, what the hell is up with the thrash metal pioneers?

Well, guitarist Scott Ian, drummer Charlie Benante and bassist Frank Bello have spent the last eight months writing and fine-tuning a batch of new songs, which Ian said are a natural progression from the band's under-appreciated 2003 album, We've Come for You All. But there's only so much they can do without a singer.

It's not a situation they ever expected to be faced with. After all, towards the end of 2006, following a successful reunion tour with Belladonna, it looked like nothing was gonna stop Anthrax from making a comeback with the singer who brought them into the public eye.

"We tried," Ian told MTVnews.com's Metal File. "Halfway through the tour, everything had totally gelled, and we started talking about doing a new record. [Guitarist] Danny [Spitz] was gung-ho about it and Joey seemed to be as well. I thought that nothing would have made him happier. But when the tour ended, we started having conversations about making a record and moving forward, and we spent three or four months where we just couldn't get an answer from Joey to the simple question, 'Do you want to make a record, yes or no?' Not that he wouldn't call back, but he wouldn't answer the question. Our question was always answered with a million other questions. For some reason, Joey thought things were weird on the reunion tour financially. He had his own guy look at the books. Everything was good. But after three or four months of asking this guy and feeling like we were starting to become a doormat, we gave him an ultimatum, and we still didn't get an answer. So we concluded we're not making a record. It's impossible because there's no communication." Read more...

When asked to compare their new album to their last disc, nine our of 10 bands will cough up the stock reply: "The heavy parts are heavier and the softer bits are even more melodic." But in the case of Arch Enemy, whose new album, Rise of the Tyrant, came out last week, the description applies. In fact, the disc is the band's most focused, intelligently assembled record since 2001's Wages of Sin. And it's clearly the one the members are most excited about.

"It's just got the whole spectrum of our influences in there," guitarist Michael Amott told MTVnews.com's Metal File. "It's got the speed, it's got the heaviness, and it's also got tons of melody — lots of guitar melodies. We just decided to put everything into it and hold nothing back. It's very-action packed, with more intricate arrangements than on our previous couple of albums. It's a little bit faster, a little bit more uptempo. It's extreme, down-tuned metal with lots of guitar solos, fast drumming and a German woman [lead singer Angela Gossow] screaming all over it." Read more...

"We didn't want our record to sound like everybody else's," Suicide Silence frontman Mitch Lucker tells MTVnews.com's Metal File.

It's a common claim, but something few extreme metal band actually achieve. That's why, when choosing a producer for The Cleansing, Suicide Silence reached out to John Travis (Wu-Tang Clan, Static-X), someone unfamiliar with the usual tricks of the trade.

"He'd never really done a record with a metal band before," Lucker says. "That's what we wanted. We wanted a different feel, a different sound, a different mood to it. But we still wanted to keep it savage and violent — that's the way it should be." Read more...

We can reiterate ad infinitum that hack actor Tony Danza is not a member of the Tony Danza Tapdance Extravganza, but it won't make a damn bit of difference. Anyone that cares about the experimental grindcore band already knows this, and the seniors, well, they're so excited about seeing Danza tapdance, they've not about to listen to reason.

"Old ladies sometimes do show up at our shows waiting for Tony Danza to come out onstage," guitarist Layne Meylain told MTVnews.com's Metal File. "I'm serious, because a lot of times, they'll put on the marquee 'Tony Danza' instead of our full name. So it'll be, like, 'Tony Danza and the Red Chord.' So these old ladies always show up looking for Tony. It's pretty funny. Apparently, old ladies love Danza."

Clearly, most old ladies don't love Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza, whose new album, Danza II: The Electric Boogaloo, drops October 16. And, some extreme metal fans have turned a deaf ear as well. "A lot of people seem to have a problem with the name, because it's not a normal name for a band like us," Meylain said. "We don't want close-minded people listening to our music." Read more...

The video for Divine Heresy's "Failed Creation" probably won't make you throw up -- even if you really, really hate it -- but while it was being made, practically everyone involved in the shoot lost their lunches.

Footage of drummer Tim Yeung (ex-Hate Eternal, Vital Remains) and bassist Joe Payne (ex-Nile) even had to be cut because they both suffered bouts of tummy trouble. "At one point, you see Joe walking off-camera, and the camera follows him, and he just starts throwing up," guitarist Dino Cazares (ex-Fear Factory) tells MTVnews.com's Metal File. "And then Tim, he's playing, and you see him stand up from the drum kit, and he starts throwing up." Read more...

There are plenty of rib-sticking riffs and even a few breakdowns in the new At All Cost record, Circle of Demons, but there are also lots of other less metallic elements that have invoked more than a few puzzled expressions from listeners. More than a few songs feature poppy electronic melodies, soaring vocal hooks and vocoder vocals.

"We kind of all revel in the fact that we're standing outside the box," guitarist Trey Ramirez told MTVnews.com's Metal File. "You either get 100 percent positive attention from people or 100 percent negative. And negative people are easily persuaded. Most naysayers that have come to see our shows have actually come up to us and told us, 'I was totally wrong about you guys.'" Read more...

Alex Varkatzas has always been a pretty nervous dude. Since he was young, Atreyu's lead singer has suffered from severe anxiety and depression. In the past, he's dealt with his condition alternately by drinking himself into oblivion and taking prescription anti-anxiety medication including Lexapro and Klonopin. These days, however, Varkatzas is attacking his demons with a clear mind.

While writing and recording Atreyu's new album, Lead Sails Paper Anchor, the singer stopped taking his meds and let his growing frustration and anxiety guide his creativity. As a result, the album features some of Atreyu's most powerful, impassioned vocal performances to date, but lacking a medicinal crutch certainly had its drawbacks.

"I lose my mind a couple times a day now," he told MTVnews.com's Metal File. "But I try to deal with my emotions instead of hiding behind them, and that's something that's new for me. I'm learning to cope with reality." Read more...