A pugilistic dementia reaction of habit
with a system in slow motion.
Done by thirty-three
and bitter about it.
What could have been!
Not a single promise kept

Just what is Down (ex-Pantera) frontman Philip Anselmo referring to in the first six lines of his new poem? He could be writing about a doped up "pugilistic" rocker "in slow motion." Or he might be referencing a minor 33 year old celebrity who was promised the world but squeezed like an orange, then left out to rot in the hot sun. Or maybe he's going on about some psychotic stripper who's past her prime.

But no, Phil's actually going on -- as he often does -- about his favorite sport, boxing, and the heroism, triumph and tragedy of the fighters who make it so exciting. The poem's called "The Retired Journeyman" and it was published by BoxingInsider.com. Anselmo's obsession with boxing is comparable, perhaps, to Ernest Hemmingway's love for bull fighting -- except that boxers don't brandish spears and swords and stuff... yet.

Click "more" to read the complete poem and watch Anselmo training aspiring boxer "The Anvil" and talking on camera to "Headbangers Ball" about the poetry of the ring. Read more...

Recently, a growing number of metal bands are choosing to release animated videos instead of the normal performance or vaguely concept-oriented clips. The latest to cross over to the art side is Gojira, who hired Spanish artist Jossie Malis to render abstract and psychedelic images for their "All the Tears" video.

Late last year, Metallica released the animated "All Nightmare Long," which was created by Roboshobo (a.k.a. Robert Schober), who also directed Mastodon's excellent "Sleeping Giant." And Japanese eccentrics Dir En Grey have become well known for combining weird animation, surreal, unsettling live footage and performance shots, as they did on the new, trippy "Dozing Green," which was created with their longtime director Hiroyuki Kondo. Read more...

Pergamum, an Australian band that features two brothers, Michael (guitar) and Jason Alexander (drums), have created a pretty rippin' video of heavy metal renditions of famous classical music pieces.

In the clip, the dudes cover segments of Bach's "Toccada in D Minor," Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata #5" and "Symphony #5" and Vivaldi's The Four Seasons." The video quality is very good, the sound is excellent and the arrangements are skillful and clever enough so each piece flows into the next. Click "more" to view. Read more...

Firebrand Super Rock superhot vocalist Laura Donnelly, who's surely stolen some hearts, photo by Wasted UK, courtesy of Flickr.com

To celebrate the announcement of this year's Bloodstock Festival, which takes place in Derby, England October 14 to 16, Britain's Metal Hammer magazine have posted interview snippets on their Web site in which they ask numerous musicians, "What's the worst thing you've ever stolen" and "What's the worst lie you've ever told."

Almost as interesting as the answers themselves are the numerous names of the bands interviewed that seem to be huge in England but remain unknown in the U.S. For example, how many of you out there know who Ted Maul, The Defiled, Firebrand Super Rock (hot blond chick, though, and love that Scottish accent), Devil's Gift and Praying Mantis and Alestorm (ugly dude, nice band name) are?

Fortunately, Metal Hammer also got some good soundbites from members of Opeth, Akercocke, Soulfly, Overkill, Dimmu Borgir, Evile, Soilwork, As I Lay Dying and Napalm Death. Click "more" to roll tape. Read more...

VH1Classic.com has posted streaming video of Rush frontman Geddy Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson's appearance on "That Metal Show," which is hosted by metal guru Eddie Trunk. The interview was filmed last October and aired on December 27.

Click "more" to see the broadcast. Read more...

Florida death metal veterans, Cannibal Corpse, are getting ready to drop their new album Evisceration Plague, which will no doubt feature an abundance of technically complex riffs and beats, inhumanly growled vocals and lyrics that make Clive Barker look like children's book author Eric Carle.

The record comes out February 3 and features track titles like "Skewered From Ear to Eye," "Beheading and Burning," "Shatter Their Bones" and "Carrion Sculpted Entity." We don't have any new music to offer you quite yet, but our friends at Revolver have posted a preview of the bonus documentary DVD that will come with the CD. Click "more" to watch. Read more...

As Washington D.C.-based metalcore/melodic death metal band Darkest Hour prepared for their annual hometown show, D.C. Blog DC-ist were there to capture all the excitement and lack thereof. Don't miss the members talking about how they've played D.C. shows for 13 years and how they painstakingly obsess over their set lists. Witness Mike "Lonestar" Carrigan get a call on his cell phone from his mom, watch the dudes send files back and forth to each other on computer and try to relearn songs they haven't played in ages. Click "more" to watch the footage. Read more...

Here are a couple metal-themed Christmas videos that are almost as entertaining as the above ...And Justice For All-era photo of Metallica dressed up as Santa's elves.

The first clip's a pretty funny cartoon and the second one's a stop-action thing that's kind of cool, but sort of cute. If cute's not your thing then skip the video and take another look at Shawn Crahan's photo of a dead deer. Click "more" to watch. Read more...

"We've got to change our wasteful ways or there won't be any more holidays," sing Enviro Vixens members Jen and Heather in a, perhaps, unintentionally hysterical Idealbite.com advertisement for environmental awareness. In a mock music video for a song that seems to be called "Turn out the Lights," the gals and a robot who looks like he was timewarped from the 1970s, encourage viewers to, well, turn off the lights.

The video's especially funny if you look at Jen and Heather as they attempt to imitate people who actually know how to play. Jen's hardly moves her frethand on the guitar and strums the same pattern regardless of what the rhythm of the song is actually doing and Heather strikes the cymbal on the wrong beat and often hits a tom when she should be bashing the snare.

But, as the Enviro Vixens remind us on their Web site, what's important is the message, not the fact that these gals lip-sync worse than Ashlee Simpson. It seems that's all we've got to do to prevent the polar icecaps from melting, stop global warming, reduce domestic crime, prevent terrorism, curb animal poaching and prevent popcorn from burning in the microwave is turn out the lights. Remember, it's up to you. Click "more" to watch and laugh. Read more...

On January 26, 2009, Brighton, England spazz-hardcore/metal outfit, Architects, will release their third album Hollow Crown. Look for lots of buzzsaw grind, jittery start-stop guitars, harrowing, soul-cleansing vocals and epileptic beats, along with a stray hook or two

To grease the wheels for the album, Architects have posted a video for "Early Grave," which was directed by Adam Powell, who has worked with the band in the past on clips for "Always" and "Burial at Sea."

"We chose to do the video for 'Early Grave' because it's just about the hardest-hitting song we've ever written," said guitarist Tom Searle in a statement. "It's one of our collective favorite songs on Hollow Crown so it seemed an obvious choice."

The band shot the clip in an aircraft hangar in Surrey that happens to be the shoot location for the program "Top Gear," and while the treatment about a man who wears different masks wasn't created specifically for the song's lyrics, Searle insists it's relevant to the band. "It relates to a lot of the lyrical content of the record, rather than specifically this song," he said.

Click "more" to read the lyrics and watch the video. Read more...