photo by Jon Wiederhorn

Last night, we dreamed that Hellyeah drummer Vinnie Paul was a guest on a TV talk show, and was showing the audience how to projectile vomit at will. He'd kind of cough and spit, and a fountain of puke would spew onto the floor. Then everyone would cheer and a group of scantily dressed women who looked like cheerleaders would clean up the vomit with bar towels.

We're not sure if the dream was inspired by the prescription Tylenol with codeine we took or if it had more to do with Paul's comment to DallasObserver.com that Hellyeah will return to the studio on May 15 to record their second album. Read more...

The second season of "That Metal Show" launched last Saturday at 11 p.m. on VH1 Classic. Once again, the program was hosted by radio veteran Eddie Trunk and featured his cohorts Jim Florentine and Don Jamieson. The special guest for the evening was ex-Pantera and current Hellyeah! drummer Vinnie Paul. Click "more" to watch the full interview with Paul as well as a clip from next Saturday's episode, which features Anthrax. Click here to listen to our audio podcast with Vinnie Paul. And click here to check out our recent podcast with Anthrax. Read more...

When we got Trivium guitarist Corey Beaulieu's Random Shuffle we expected to see at least one or two Pantera songs on there. After all, this is a dude who learned to play by jamming along with records like Cowboys From Hell and Vulgar Display of Power. Then it dawned on us. Beaulieu probably knows those so cold he can listen to them note for note in his head and never needs to place the actual discs in a player again -- kind of the way a lot of people are with Led Zeppelin. Does anyone really need to hear "Stairway to Heaven" again before they die? We've yet to see it on anyone's Random Shuffle and it certainly isn't on Beaulieu's list. Read more...

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...

It was on this day, December 8, four years ago that guitar legend Dimebag Darrell was shot and killed onstage performing for fans at a club in Columbus, Ohio. If you feel like remembering a real metal champion, check out the new photo book "Dimebag Darrell: He Came to Rock!" and its accompany DVD "Dimevision," both of which celebrate the funloving spirit and superhuman guitar exploits of one of metal's most colorful characters.

If you haven't already heard it, click "more" to check out the podcast we posted Friday with Dime's brother Vinnie Paul, as well as some other links from sites paying tribute to the fallen hero.
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A year before ex-Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott (Hellyeah, ex-Damageplan) was emotionally ready to put together a book about the life of his slain brother, guitar hero "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, his dad, country & western songwriter and producer, Jerry Abbott, was collecting hundreds of photos from Dime's life.

Then, in late November 2007, Vinnie decided enough time had passed since the December 8, 2004 Damageplan show in which Dime was shot and killed onstage that he could pitch in to a Dimebag book with his dad and rejoice at the great memories instead of sinking in depression.

"Dimebag Darrell: He Came to Rock!" is a 188 page book stuffed with pictures from Dime's childhood, adolescence and every phase of his professional career, (including the hair metal era!). While there's some text, mostly it tells the story of his life through vivid, colorful and sometimes amusing photos and snapshots.

The book is packaged with an updated version of the DVD "DimeVision Vol 1: That's the Fun I Have," which originally came out in 2006. Vinnie is currently on a press campaign to promote "Dimebag Darrell: He Came to Rock!" but by no means is he stuck in the past. When Mudvayne are finished touring their new album The New Game, Vinnie will rejoin their guitarist Greg Tribbett and singer Chad Gray, as well as Nothingface guitarist Tom Maxwell and ex-Damageplan bassist Bob Zilla, to write and record the second album by groove metal band Hellyeah. Vinnie will also be releasing the debut album by Seventh Void, which features Type O Negative guitarist Kenny Hickey and drummer Johnny Kelly, on his label Big Vin, and he'll be working with writer and ex-Grim Reaper guitarist Nick Bowcott on the first authorized biography of Dime.

In our podcast interview, Vinnie talked about how he assembled "Dimebag Darrell: He Came to Rock!" the legacy of Pantera, how label reps used to try to convince the bandmembers and producer, Terry Date, to integrate alternative and industrial styles within their songs and how Damageplan were misunderstood for most of their short career. He also recalled the time Dime met Eddie Van Halen, and he broke the news about the Nick Bowcott book and announced plans to broadcast his cover band Gasoline's 2009 New Years show over the Internet.

Click "more" to stream or download the podcast. Read more...

The Red Chord frontman Guy Kozowyk has a big mouth, and it's one of his greatest attributes. Here's a dude who speaks his mind and just doesn't give a shit, insulting friends, bands he's on tour with and crowd members who could be wearing his band's t-shirts instead of those by Suicide Silence and Job For a Cowboy. During an interview with MetalInjection.net that went down at this year's Rockstar Energy Mayhem Fest show in Long Island, Kozowyk was in rare form, bantering about diehard Machine Head and Pantera followers, teenage Underoath fans who somehow found their way into his audience and scratchy logo deathcore bands influenced by Korn. In one of the highpoints, Kozowyk busts on the followers of Mayhem bands: "Slipknot has maggots, Five Finger Death Punch has knuckleheads, Suicide Silence has wiggers and we decided that our fans are gonna be called Chordians and that quickly changed to Chodians."

It's way funnier when you see it yourself. Click "more" to check it out. Read more...

Avant-garde vocalist Jarboe has recruited Down singer Philip Anselmo, Mayhem growler Attila Csihar and others to contribute to her new album MahaKali, which comes out October 14. Click "more" to hear an audio stream of the full record. Read more...

In part two of our exclusive new interview with Avenged Sevenfold about their new DVD and CD set, "Live in the LBC & Diamonds in the Rough" (out today!), we talk to the boys about touring with Iron Maiden, their cover of Pantera's "Walk," the b-side "Tension" and the tours they'll embark upon when singer M. Shadows' voice is fully healed. As widely reported, Avenged Sevenfold were recently forced to cancel a co-headlining tour with Buckcherry because Shadows was suffering vocal fatigue. Click "more" to watch the interview clips: Read more...

Pantera in their prime

About a year ago, we posted a few riotous metal video parodies by a British dude who went by the name Cheeky Dave. The guy wrote down alternate interpretations of hard to decipher song lines by Slayer, Machine Head and Pantera and created computer-enhanced video to illustrate the line-by-line spoofs. Sadly, the guy seemed to tire of his craft and his work seems to have disappeared. For those who missed it the first time or just want a second look, click more for a look at one of his classics, a hysterical video for Pantera's "Five Minutes Alone." Read more...