More than 25 years after co-founding Death Angel with his brother Gus Pepa (guitar) and cousins Mark Osegueda (vocals), Rob Cavestany and drummer Andy Galeon, bassist Dennis Pepa has left the band.

"I've been with Death Angel since its inception in the '80s and believe it is time for me to move on," he said in a statement to Blabbermouth.net. "Throughout my career with the band, I've brought a punk-influenced edge to the Death Angel sound, and as an open-minded musician in need of change, I'd like to diversify and explore other opportunities within and beyond the genre of metal." Read more...

In the new-school thrash metal sweepstakes, Toxic Holocaust take the crown for averting that lightweight Metallica/Megadeth/Exodus crap and going straight for the messy, jugular-slashing sound mined by more extreme bands like Venom, Sodom and early Bathory. The band recently released its debut album, An Overdose of Death, which was produced by Jack Endino (Nirvana, High on Fire) at Soundhouse Recording in Seattle.

To promote the album, Toxic Holocaust shot a video for the track "Wild Dogs," which will debut on Saturday's "Headbangers Ball." The clip was shot in Seattle and directed by Ryan Short and the King of Hearts production crew. Click "more" to hear from frontman Joel Grind about the shoot, watch the video and stream six songs from An Overdose of Death. Read more...

We're about to find out just how close to a million copies Metallica's new album Death Magnetic sold in its first week. In an effort to provide the band support and, perhaps, some sort of psychic sales energy during the past seven days, a number of groups have been celebrating at the altar of the thrash legends, including underground metalheads F--k the Facts and Psyopus which have covered a different 'Tallica song every Friday on their Grinding to Cataclysm tour. Our friends at MetalInjection.net have been there with cameras rolling and have captured some pretty entertaining footage. Click "more" to watch their covers of "Creeping Death" and "Master of Puppets," warts and all: Read more...

British thrash band Evile's debut album, Enter the Grave, is one of our favorite new old-school thrash releases. On October 13, the band will reissue the disc with bonus tracks and a two-hour plus DVD. The DVD will feature in studio scenes, rehearsal clips and behind the scenes tour footage. The re-release will also include an Enter the Grave woven patch and an Evile guitar pick.

Until then, click "more" to watch an interview with Evile and footage of them jamming along to their Rock Band XBox 360/PS3 track "Thrasher." Read more...

Many of the lyrics on Bleeding Through's new album Declaration -- such as "Every broken promise just another dollar well spent/ Kissing ass, sucking up your arrogance makes me ill/ And now I'll defend to the death this dream you're trying to kill" ("Seller's Market") -- are are at least partially directed at the band's label Trustkill, which ran into such severe financial problems they couldn't pay the band let alone producer Devin Townsend (see band's guest blog describing situation).

So, it's sort of ironic that Trustkill is relying on Declaration to stay afloat. The label has posted chunks of every song from the scathing album on their Web site. Click "more" to listen:  Read more...

During Saturday's Ozzfest performance in Dallas, Metallica performed the new song "Cyanide," (which can view below). The track is from the group's upcoming album Death Magnetic; the disc's first single and video, "The Day That Never Comes," will be out later this month.

Perhaps even more exciting for old-school metal fans in the crowd was Metallica's Mercyful Fate medley performed with the band's singer King Diamond (which can also be seen by clicking "more"). The ten-plus minute segment included healthy chunks of "Satan's Fall" "The Curse of the Pharaohs," "A Corpse Without a Soul," "Into the Coven," and "Evil." Read more...

In 1984, before the onslaught of Florida bands such as Death, Obituary and Morbid Angel, San Francisco quartet Possessed coined the term "death metal" with their debut demo of the same name. Influenced primarily by the speed and sinister lyrics of Slayer and Venom, Possessed took thrash to a new level of brutality and planted the seed for the emerging wave of death to come. The band's main lineup featured singer and bassist Jeff Beccera, guitarists Larry Lalonde (Primus) and Mike Torrao and drummer Mike Sus, and the four musicians played together with a ferocity and precision that was unparalleled at the time. As influential as they were, Possessed's career was short-lived.

After releasing the groundbreaking 1985 album Seven Churches, the slightly more commercial Beyond the Gates in 1986 and The Eyes of Horror EP a year later, Possessed parted ways. Then Beccera's life really took a turn for the worse.

In 1989, during a mugging outside a liquor store, the musician was shot and paralyzed from the waist down. Torrao briefly reformed Possessed in 1993 with new members, but the band didn't last the year. It seemed like Possessed were destined to remain broken up and largely unsung, then last year Beccera announced that he was reforming the group with members of Sadistic Intent. Since then, Possessed have played numerous festivals in Europe and select shows in the U.S., and Beccera has sung from a wheelchair.

Guitar World Manging Editor Jeff Kitts recently tracked down the reclusive frontman and talked to him in depth about his musical background, the history of Possessed, his battle with drugs and booze, the shooting incident that almost took his life, and his comeback from the depths of hell. The story appears in the mag's October issue, which is currently on newsstands. However Guitar World provided HeadbangersBlog.com with interview outtakes that reveal additional details about the cult legend. Click "more" to read the exclusive content. Read more...

Man, I hate the f---ing DMV. It is a bastion of bureaucracy designed to torture your mind and soul with inane procedures, obscenely long waits and cheerless workers devoid of any desire to assist or explain. It doesn't matter why you came to the DMV -- it could be a simple license renewal -- it always puts you instantly on the defensive, fearful that at any instant someone is going to impound your car.

This is my third time through the line today. The estimated waiting time on the ticket is a cruel joke. It says five minutes. Nothing in this building has ever taken five minutes. Even a bag of microwave popcorn takes an hour and a half in the break room. It is now 2:45. This death march through red tape hell began at 8:30 a.m. on this beautiful Monday. Read more...

photo by Jon Wiederhorn

Here's our second clip from Lamb of God's new five-plus hour DVD package "Walk With Me in Hell," which comes out July 1. In this vid, the band discusses their experience bungie jumping off a bridge in Aukland, New Zealand. Click "more" to see who survived the ordeal: Read more...

MetalInjection.net recently tracked down Los Angeles neo-thrash band Warbringer before they went onstage and talked to them about their origins, how they got signed, the current metal scene and touring with Suffocation, Exodus and Overkill.

Warbringer launch a new North American tour with folk-metal band Fintroll on August 22 in Springfield, Virginia. Dates run through September 12 in San Marcos, California. Click "more" to watch the interview. Read more...