The ex-singer for Soundgarden and Audioslave, Chris Cornell has seriously jumped the shark on his new album Scream -- so much so that even gossip-wary Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor can't keep from commenting. Click "more" to read what Reznor had to say about the disc and watch Cornell's video for "Scream." Read more...

Our friends at Rhapsody.com recently contacted a bunch of metal dudes to get their take on Sunday's big game. Here's what Gwar frontman Oderus Urungus had to say:

"The fact that the Cardinals are in the Super Bowl shows how crazy the league has become. On any given Sunday anybody -- except Detroit -- is capable of beating anybody in the league, and in any single game careers can be lost and seasons ruined. I'd root for the Cards if Warner would quit doing shout-outs to God. God doesn't give a sh*t about football. In fact, God is dead ..."

Click here to for comments from Chimaira, Five Finger Death Punch, Trivium and others.

We found an online interview with Bring Me the Horizon which says the band members are all between 21 and 23 years old, but from the pictures on their MySpace we find that hard to believe. Seriously, that smiley dude on the left of the aobve photo has gotta be 12 and the guy next to him can't even be old enough for acne. The other three dudes could maybe pass for 15, but if they weren't carrying instruments and laminates into a reputable club, there's no way they should be able to get in without the doorman laughing his ass off and sending them back to their hotels with a six-pack of Capri Suns.

And yet this metalcore band from Sheffield, England has been around since 2004 and already have released three albums, including their 2008 offering Suicide Season. And, apparently, they've made quite a name for themselves touring with Killswitch Engage, The Haunted, Lostprophets and loads of others. If you're still not convinced, these UK superstars will be back on this year's Taste of Chaos tour playing with Thursday, Cancer Bats, Four Year Strong and Pierce the Veil.

One reason Bring Me the Horizon have created such a buzz is because, onstage, they have the energy 11 year olds with sugar highs and incredibly loud instruments in their hands. We also kinda like 'em because their last album cover of a blood-spattered girl-next-door holding a handful of bright red intestines is one of the coolest pieces of metal art work we saw in 2008. Give 'em five years and they'll be: a) old enough to drink, b) the next Avenged Sevenfold or c) working at Sainsburys cutting deli meat. Chime in with your thoughts and click "more" to watch the band's video for "Chelsea Smile." Read more...

By now you've seen all those top ten rock and metal lists featuring Metallica, Guns N' Roses, AC/DC, Gojira, Nachtmystium, Enslaved, Opeth, Amon Amarth, All That Remains, Trivium, Meshuggah et al. So here's a list of ten slightly more indie acts that might not be on your radar yet, but which you owe it to yourself to check out:

10. Arsis - We Are the Nightmare (Nuclear Blast)
Technical death metal is rarely this inspiring. A breathtaking blend of speedy unconventional guitar work, abrupt rhythm shifts, double-bass drum thunder and real honest to goodness hooks.

9. These Arms Are Snakes - Tail Swallower and Dove (Suicide Squeeze)
Post-hardcore insanity merges with strong songwriting on this Seattle band's third full album. Direct and uncompromising, TS&D blasts through challenging math rock progressions, battering ram rhythms and bizarre grooves that'll remind you equally of Fugazi and Blood Brothers. But what else would you expect from former members of Botch and Kill Sadie?

8. Abigail Williams - In The Shadow of a Thousand Suns (Candlelight)
Honestly, we're not sure why this modern black metal album didn't crack more critics' year-end lists. The band even has a super-cute chick on piano/orchestration -- and the girl knows how to compose better than a lot of classical musicians. In The Shadow of a Thousand Suns is epic, brutal and shudders with horrific beauty -- like a haunting blend of Cradle of Filth and Immortal. (Click "more" to see our seven other choices.) Read more...

Okay, let's veer away from the pulverizing world of metal for a few minutes and address something way more damaging. Anyone who reads Otep Shamaya's semi-regular posts on this site, or who doesn't live with a blaring iPod on 24-7, knows that the U.S. is speeding towards a critical juncture, and that the 2008 November presidential election may be the most important political contest this country has faced since the days of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, there's no denying that the U.S. is in a state of crisis. We're ensnared in a war that's taking the lives of thousands of Americans and there seems to be no end in sight; we're facing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression; we've become the most despised superpower in the world and we're destroying the environment at such a rapid rate we could face the threat of extinction if we can't undo the damage we've done.

Clearly, the country has taken some major f--kin' hits over the last eight years financially, politically and socially. Unemployment is skyrocketing, our banks are collapsing and more and more U.S. interests are being gobbled up by international corporations. Who would have thought six months ago that U.S. institutions like Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and AIG would be either gone or in a state of governmental bailout just two months before the 2008? And things aren't getting better, they're getting worse. Would Barack Obama be able to improve the country? Who the hell knows. But one thing's certain. A vote for John McCain is pretty much a thumbs up to stay the course, and right now we're on a devastating collision course.

The most important thing HeadbangersBlog.com readers can do is get to the polls and vote in November. Okay, enough ranting from us. Click "more" to hear some way more intelligent and entertaining ranting from documentary filmmaker Michael Moore, who has just posted his entire new film "Slacker Uprising" for free to anyone who signs up for a copy. We've included the link to stream or download the flick, which was shot after Moore's sobering 2004 film "Fahrenheit 911" during the run-up to the 2004 election. Read more...

Overkill's ex-guitarist Bobby Gustafson

Something we wrote in yesterday's Dragonforce post got us thinking. While free-associating about the title of the band's new record, we mentioned Overkill's former guitarist Bobby Gustafson, who we feel was one of the band's greatest strengths between 1984 and 1989, when he left the band. Read more...

In his autobiography White Line Fever (written with journalist Janiss Garza), Motorhead kingpin Lemmy Kilmister writes about his fondness for Ozzy Osbourne's late guitarist Randy Rhoads and how terrible he was at the videogame Asteroids. Lemmy also brings up the idea that death deified Rhoads, turning him into something greater than he once was.

"I have to say, he wasn't the guitar player he became after his death," Kilmister writes. "As with [performance artist] Bob Calvert, [who opened for Motorhead in the early days], a guy who was more or less ignored during his lifetime suddenly becomes a huge genius. Randy was a good guitar player, to be sure, but he wasn't the great innovator he was later made out to be. When you die, you become more briliant by about 58 percent. You sell more records and you become absolutely wonderful." Read more...

Al Atkins with his new band Holy Rage

One of the most cringe-worthy news stories to flash across our computer screen this week was on original Judas Priest singer Al Atkins, who for some reason felt the need to pen an autobiography about his the stardom he never enjoyed: "Dawn of the Metal Gods: My Life in Judas Priest and Heavy Metal," which is coming out by the end of the year on Iron Pages.

Seriously, does anyone want to read about some dude who sang in Judas Priest before Rob Halford and way before the band became remotely successful? We'd rather enjoy a book about Halford's temporary replacement Tim "Ripper" Owens -- providing it was half as good as the astonishing biopic "Rock Star" (detect heavy dose of sarcasm here), which was based on an article in the New York Times about Ripper's story. Read more...

We recently talked with Napalm Death singer Mark "Barney Greenway" about Napalm, politics and metal for a future Headbangers Ball Blog podcast. While we were on the line, we mentioned how there aren't that many bands that have stuck it out for as long or longer than Napalm Death and still maintained their integrity, and how most great bands record their best albums in the first 10 years of their careers.

To illustrate our argument, we addressed how Slayer's 2006 album Christ Illusion is solid, for sure, but doesn't hold a black candle to their classic 1986 record, Reign in Blood. Greenway disagreed -- not that Reign in Blood is classic -- that Christ Illusion was solid.

"For me, Reign in Blood was the one," he began. "I think South of Heaven was a good album and maybe the one after that, but I haven't been inspired by anything they've done since then. I've tried and tried and tried, and I couldn't get to grips with it. They probably need some new ideas. I'm not directly comparing them with Napalm, but what we've tried to do is put some new stuff in while not losing sight of the core stuff that we did and to refresh it a little bit. I think they could stand to do that because I think on the new Slayer album, some of it sounds really tired. And I did actually read some comments from [singer and bassist] Tom Araya and some other members that sounded like they'd kind of had enough -- and it sounds like it on the last album. I'd be surprised if Slayer were around this time next year -- put it like that."

Clearly, Greenway is a wise, and possibly clairvoyant man, but we're sure there are other crystal ball readers out there who have their own take on the matter. So, you tell us: Was Christ Illusion the last tired gasp from a dying beast or was it an inspired blast of blowtorch-in-face metal that deserved to win the Grammy it garnered? And who else out there thinks Slayer won't live to see 2009?

Read what Slayer singer Tom Araya has to say about the band's latest Grammy nomination and more in our Slayer podcast.

Now watch Napalm Death's video for "When All is Said and Done":

We've gotta say we were a bit surprised when a tiny comment we made about Dream Theater last week was perceived as an act of character assassination and prompted a slew of nasty comments from irate fans. One thing's for sure, those Dream Theater followers sure take their role as defenders of the Dream seriously.

But actually, their sabres were drawn pretty abruptly. We didn't really insult Dream Theater. All we said was that we were surprised Headbangers Ball viewers voted the band's video for "Constant Motion" the second best metal video of the year. We were even more shocked that the number one pick was Mushroomhead's "12 Hundred," but that's another argument entirely.

In our post, we pointed out that we "begged to differ" with the viewer's decision, then we premiered Dream Theater's new video for "Forsaken" on the blog because we believed strongly that the band's sizable fanbase wanted to see the clip. Two days later, we debuted the video on Heabangers Ball on MTV2. Pardon our hubris, but we don't see Fuse, VH1 or BET giving such love to Dream Theater.

Of course, there are two sides to every coin. Dream Theater are obviously ambitious, musically gifted and versed in a variety of styles. They're tighter than Barbie's ass and adventurous enough to improvise instead of always following their songs note for note. But that doesn't mean the "Constant Motion" video was more visually breathtaking than offerings by Mastodon, Machine Head or Down. There's a clear difference between sight and sound and sometimes the best songs are accompanied by some pretty crappy videos.

Now on to more inflammatory matters. While Dream Theater's legions obviously covet their favorite band above their own families, there are others who feel the group's endless soloing is self-indulgent, and that its complex arrangements don't hold together as well as simple, well-crafted songs. Also, while Dream Theater's songs obviously contain melodies, some argue that the emphasis on musicianship detracts from the tunefulness of the material. Even some fans of progressive metal groups such as Opeth, Mars Volta, Protest the Hero and System of a Down will argue that there's a big difference between experimentation and narcissistic showmanship, and that true musical revelation comes from an emphasis on art, not virtuosity.

That said, we'll continue to support Dream Theater as a valid force in hard rock/metal, however there are certainly plenty of other artists that are just as viable and to disregard bands such as Slayer, Killswitch Engage or Behemoth simply because they may lack Dream Theater's chops is as narrowminded as writing off Dream Theater as smarty-pants show-offs.

We await your invective.