When you're a metal thrashin' madman, family gatherings can be a little awkward. Unearth guitarist Ken Susi seemed to have nipped that problem in the bud by breaking out his guitar and helping his sister's kid, Alison, record the stompin' video "I Want Candy." Take that, Laurie Berkner. Click "more" to watch Read more...

According to their record label bio, the motto of Kenosha, Wisconsin band Lazarus A.D. is "thrash or die." So, the dude's must be totally stoked that they're about to hit the road with thrash legends Testament and post-thrash demigods Unearth. The tour launches in Seattle on May 2 and runs through June 15 in San Luis Obispo, California. Lazarus A.D. are currently in the middle of a tour with Amon Amarth, Goatwhore and Skeletonwitch. Those dates run through April 29 in Raleigh, North Carolina.

To celebrate the band's road success and give props to their ripping debut The Onslaught, we're happy to premiere the band's video for "Thou Shall Not Fear." The clip was shot in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at the haunted venue Eagle's Ballroom and was directed by Jason Meudt and Emmet Austin. Click "more" to watch the vid and catch it again on this week's "Headbangers Ball," which runs from 2 to 3 a.m. on MTV2. Read more...

Recently, our European relatives at MTV Norway shot a cool feature profile on Unearth. During the interview, the dudes in the band discussed their latest album The March, their hatred for the term metalcore and the making of the video for "My Will Be Done." Click "more" to watch the interview, which was produced by Ann Christin “Anki” Rihm for MTV Norway and Denmark and edited by Elisabeth Sjöberg. Read more...

Metal isn't the only thing lurking on Unearth vocalist Trevor Phipps' iPod, but judging from this random sample, if he's gonna listen to thrash, it's gotta be old-school: Hence Slayer's "Black Magic," Entombed's "Hollowman" and Anthrax's "N.F.B." Phipps is also into more cutting-edge stuff like Protest the Hero and Scissorfight, not to mention quirky alternative music including Portishead, Bjork and Flaming Lips. Plus, there's some cool punk, country, crooner music and classic rock. The only embarrassment we see is Dave Matthews' "Trouble." We hope we're reading that wrong and it's really a song by Trouble called "Dave Matthews," but that seems really unlikely. Bonus points for George Carlin's "Familiar Expressions," which kinda evens out the Dave Matthews thing. On a scale of 100, we give Phipps' Random Shuffle a 90 for openminded metal fans and a 70 for metalcore purists. Click "more" to see the list and watch a video by one of the artists -- not Dave Matthews! Read more...

photo by Jon Wiederhorn

Saturday's edition of "Headbangers Ball" was a special commemorative show to celebrate 20 years of headbanging madness. Because of this, the program featured mostly classic metal videos from the past two decades. So, this week's "Your Vote Counts" will draw from the other new videos and video premieres we aired last week, including Slipknot's "Dead Memories," Bleeding Through's "Death Anxiety" and "Down's "N.O.D. (Live)" from the bonus DVD on the new deluxe edition of Over the Under, plus a few other new videos we've debuted recently.

Click "more" to see the full list. The video with the most votes will return for next week's "Headbangers Ball." Voters chosing videos that aren't from the list below will be disqualified, as will voters who chose more than one entry. Remember, only one vote per IP address. Please include a comment with your selection, which may be published when we announce the winner. Voting runs through Wednesday at 3 p.m. Now, here's are you choices. Read more...

Yeah, we know Unearth's new album, The March, is coming out October 14 and it's a pretty strong record, but right now we're far more stoked about the new Earthless double disc, Live at Roadburn, an offering that definitively conveys the breathtaking spontaneity and headspinning grandeur of this San Diego droner-metal band.

A stuporgroup composed of guitarist Isaiah Mitchell (Nebula, Drunk Horse), bassist Mike Eginton (Electric Nazarene) and drummer Mario Rubalcaba (ex-Rocket From the Crypt, Hot Snakes, Blackheart Procession), Earthless play transcendent, apocalyptic, riff-rock that flows, bubbles and burns like rivers of magma through dense forestland. Touch points are Blue Cheer, Black Sabbath, Tab-era Monster Magnet, Sleep, Loop, Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin, and unlike many stoner bands, Earthless draw from each of their influences in a way that's easily identifiable, but never derivative.

Chaos and chance are two of their main motivations, which explains the birth of Live at Roadburn. The sonic expedition wasn't meant to be an album, let alone a four-song double disc that seems to last as long, and is nearly as vibrant as a colorful acid trip. Here's what happened. Earthless were invited to play the 200-capacity club the Batcave at the 2008 Roadburn Festival in Tilburg, Holland, but right before they were scheduled to go on, they were asked by festival organizers if they would play the main stage instead. As it turned out, headliners, Isis, had only used part of their two-hour long time slot and fans were clamoring for more. So, Earthless moved themselves and their equipment, then blissed out for 90 minutes before 2,000 awestruck music fans. When they found out that the show had been taped, they listened back to the recordings and decided that the gig captured their improvisational spirit and raw urgency better than any studio recording, they decided to release the entire spellbinding concert.

Click "more" to ingest some of the magic. Read more...

photo by Ivar Nikolaisen, courtesy of flickr.com

Last week you voted for Shai Hulud's "Misanthropy Pure" to return to Headbangers Ball for an encore airing on "Headbangers Ball" (which took place on Saturday). This week, Shai are ineligible, as are our other past winners (Dead Child, Opeth, Pelican, Danava, Behemoth). But there's till lots of stuff to chose from, including Arsis' "We are the Nightmare," which we debuted on last Saturday's show, Children of Bodom's "Hellhounds on My Trail," Machine Head's "Halo" and Unearth's "March of the Mutes."

Click "more" for the complete list. Votes must be placed in the comments section. Selections will be tallied at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, June 11. Readers who vote more than once will be disqualified: Read more...