With Gigantour 2008, Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine tapped into the independent market a little bit and cobbled together a fierce, bill that featured Megadeth, In Flames, Children of Bodom, Job For a Cowboy and High on Fire. It seemed like a good move -- one that verified Megadeth's importance in the lineage of heavy metal and made Mustaine look pretty savvy. Read more...

photo by Jon Wiederhorn

From now on, you gotta register as a part of MTV's Community to submit comments to HeadbangersBlog.com. And that means, if you wanna help choose what artist from the last "Headbangers Ball" returns for Saturday's show, you need to scroll to the bottom of the screen and sign up. It's easy and all submitted information is confidential. No one's gonna rob you of your identity or sell your email address to a third party. And, in addition to being able to comment on HeadbangersBlog.com posts (anonymous posts are no longer accepted), being part of the MTV Community will allow you to explore previously unexplored corners of the MTV.com community. That means you'll receive access to music and video premieres we can't offer on the Blog. One thing about the sign-up sheet, though. People are getting a little tripped up by the box asking for the users "Profile URL." So, here's what to do.

Under "Profile URL" just type something to identify you -- preferably some word that includes a couple numbers. That will then be attached to a long URL address that will be your private address for the site. Also, be sure to fill in all the required information on the form, and check the box verifying your interest in belonging to the MTV Community. Sounds corporate and all, but it's a good way to build a real metal community and minimize spam.

Okay, now on to this week's "Your Vote Counts." On Saturday's show we had premieres by Hatebreed and Cancer Bats. Choose one of them or someone else from the list below. Obviously, the act with the most votes will win a return slot on the next episode of "Headbangers Ball." As always, past winners are not eligible and neither are videos from old albums. In other words, only pick from our list.

Also, only ONE vote is allowed per IP address. It doesn’t matter if you use a different screen name. If you vote twice from the same computer, you will be disqualified. Voting runs between now and 2 p.m. on Wednesday. Click "more" to see the complete list. Read more...

In early June, Bleeding Through submitted a guest blog to us lamenting the situation they were in at the time with their label Trustkill Records. According to the bandmembers, their new album Declaration could only be recorded with money lent from singer Brandan Schieppati's dad and a loan from their manager since Trustkill coughed up less than 25 percent of the budget they had promised for the record. Contracts were breached repeatedly, and while the label eventually ponied up cash owed and set a release date of September 30 for Declaration, they're still not providing tour support, leaving the band scrambling to pick up the tab for tickets to fly to Europe for a tour with Bullet For My Valentine.

Clearly, the years of bitterness with their label and the industry in general have left a deep imprint on Declaration, and album so fueled by rage, so ignited by distrust and contempt that it's hard to listen to without wanting to send a mailbomb to sombody you despise. While the band's past records have combined hardcore aggressive with the precision of thrash and ominous keyboards, here Bleeding Through ramp up the brutality, infusing many of the songs with black metal blast beats, orchestral buzzsaw guitar and swooping keys reminiscent of Dimmu Borgir or Emperor. And while there are still some melodic vocal parts, they're substantially scaled down from those on The Truth. And instead of railing about painful relationships, Schieppati, who is now happily married, have substituted circumstantial and existential aggression for romantic dysfunction.

During an off day on the band's tour with Bullet For My Valentine, we sat down with Schieppati and discussed the quagmire with Trustkill, how it rubbed off on the new songs, how the singer was convinced he wad dying from cancer, the misconception that Bleeding Through would pull an Atreyu for this disc and get all commercial, and the band's determination to forge ahead and fight to persevere in the face of a record industry that seems to be collapsing like a deck of cards.

Click "more" to stream of download the podcast: Read more...

Professionally shot snippets of Judas Priest playing "Nostradamus" at last weekend's Download Festival has been posted on the festival's official Web site as part of a video montage that also features Kiss, Bullet For My Valentine and Madina Lake. (click "more" to see Rob's blinding costume). Read more...

According to the band's publicity at Prosthetic Records, All That Remains has been confirmed as direct support to Bullet For My Valentine Stateside in May. The band will return to Europe this Summer for their debut at Wacken: Open Air 2007 Germany.
Check out this quote from Kerrang:
"All That Remains have worked their balls off for years, touring the world playing second fiddle to a variety of like-minded bands and rustling up a decent following in the process. What they've also done is sharpen up their skills to the point where The Fall of Ideals bears all the hallmarks of a classic." KKKKK — Kerrang

Now watch "The Air That I Breathe":