Check out the new uncensored video for Lair of the Minotaur’s “War Metal Battle Master,” replete with blood-soaked, topless necro chicks!

Go HERE to view this carnage.

On January 24 and 25, 2008, Mastodon converged on Brooklyn’s Masonic Temple to play two nights in support of experimental doom legends, Neurosis. Because this was the first time Neurosis played New York in over four years—and we’re always down for a good Masto adventure—we had to tag along.

In our four-part documentary, we not only captured some killer live footage of rarely played Mastodon songs, we also cornered the four Mastodudes—guitarist Brent Hinds, drummer Brann Dailor, guitarist Bill Kelliher and bassist/singer Troy Sanders—in the depths of this historic building to see what they’ve been doing since dropping 2006’s Blood Mountain, and to discuss their plans for their as-yet-untitled follow-up.

Check out Episode 3, in which the guys rip through “Hand of Stone”—a song they rarely play live—from their 2006 album Blood Mountain. (more…)

This past January, MetalKult had the opportunity to catch up with Children of Bodom singer/guitarist Alexi Laiho at the winter NAMM convention in Anaheim, California.

Check out the following interview, in which Laiho describes his latest injuries, the inspiration behind Blooddrunk and how he planned to destroy George Lynch at the NAMM ESP shred-off. (more…)

San Francisco Bay Area metal veterans, DEATH ANGEL, are pleased to announce their first full US tour since their initial split 18 years ago! The band will embark on a co-headlining tour this May/June with GOD FORBID that will include SOILENT GREEN and LIGHT THIS CITY. Dubbed the “In Thrash We Trust” tour, this will mark the bands first tour in support of their critically acclaimed “Killing Season” record. A visibly excited founding guitarist, Rob Cavestany, eagerly offered a few words about the event:

“DEATH ANGEL is teaming up with GOD FORBID to hit the road and we couldn’t be more stoked! ‘In Thrash We Trust’ will be the first full blown tour of the states that DEATH ANGEL has done since the ‘ACT III tour’ in 1990 and we are gonna bring it! Also on the bill are SOILENT GREEN and LIGHT THIS CITY so you better prepare to get thrashed all night long! Can’t wait to see you all very soon! ‘Killing Season’ has begun!!!”

Confirmed Dates:

5/01-Flint, MI @ The Machine Shop w/ TESTAMENT

5/02-Cleveland, OH @ Peabody’s w/ TESTAMENT

5/03-Allentown, PA @ Crocodile Rock

5/04-Long Island, NY @ Crazy Donkey

5/07-Baltimore, MD @ Sonar

5/08-Springfield, VA @ Jaxx

5/09-Raleigh, NC @ Volume 11

5/10-Virginia Beach, VA @ Steppin Out

5/13-Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade

5/14-Seminole, FL @ Boomerz

5/16-Houston, TX @ TBA

5/17-Ft. Worth, TX @ Ridglea Theatre

5/18-San Antonio, TX @ Rock Bottom

5/19-El Paso, TX @ Chic’s

5/21-Farmington, NM @ Gator’s

5/23-Las Vegas, NV @ Jillian’s

5/24-Los Angeles, CA @ House of Blues

5/25-San Francisco, CA @ Slim’s

5/26-Bakersfield, CA @ The Dome

5/27-Modesto, CA @ Fat Cats

5/28-Sacramento, CA @ The Boardwalk

5/30-Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre

5/31-Seattle, WA @ Studio Seven

6/02-Denver, CO @ Marquis Theatre

6/05-Columbus, OH @ Alrosa Villa

6/06-Mokena (Chicago), IL @ The Pearl Room

6/07-Detroit, MI @ Harpo’s

6/08-Toronto, ON @ Opera House

6/11-New York, NY @ BB Kings

DEATH ANGEL recently filmed a video for the track “Dethroned” with director Robert Sexton (THE DWARVES, AMEN, MONDO GENERATOR) in Santa Paula, California. Check out photos from the video shoot at this location.

Released on February 26, 2008 via Nuclear Blast Records, “Killing Season” sold approximately 2,300 copies in the United States in its first week of release according to Nielsen SoundScan. The album was recorded at Studio 606 in Northridge, California with producer Nick Raskulinecz, who has previously worked with FOO FIGHTERS, RUSH, VELVET REVOLVER, SHADOWS FALL and STONE SOUR, among other acts.

Photo by Thomas Mellenthin

Swiss dark metal band Samael have announced their first US tour in nearly five years in support of their latest Solar Soul release. The band will be making the trek with headliners/labelmates Amorphis as well as Leaves Eyes and Virgin Black. Co-founder, Xy, had this to say about Samael’s return to US shores:

“We haven’t played in the US since our last tour for Eternal back in 2003. It has been far too long and the wait is over! We are happy to announce we’ll be back in September to present material from not one but two albums, namely Reign Of Light and Solar Soul, as well as songs off our other records. We’re excited about this tour and are looking forward to connecting with our American audience once again!”

The complete schedule is as follows: (more…)

Denver avant-grinders Cephalic Carnage has announced a number of upcoming festival appearances as well as a Spring European tour.

Cephalic Carnage will first take part in the Dawn of Destruction Festival this weekend in Calgary, AB alongside Watain, Averse Sefira, Divinity, and more. Following, Cephalic Carnage will perform an exclusive ‘doom’ set as part of the annual Roadburn Festival in Tilburg, Netherlands on April 17th.

Cephalic Carnage will then embark on a month-long European tour in May with Hate Eternal and Skeletonwitch. A complete listing of Cephalic Carnage tour dates can be found below with more to be announced soon.

Cephalic Carnage Tour Dates: (more…)

Dendura, the Egyptian-inspired, female-fronted progressive band, will join co-headliners Unexpect (Canada) and Shadowside (Brazil) for the second-annual Flight of the Valkyries festival at Station 4 in St. Paul, MN, on Saturday, June 28. Flight of the Valkyries is the only festival in the USA to feature a complete lineup of female-fronted metal bands.

“I am really pumped about the festival,” says Dendura drummer Justin Lee Dixon. “Exposing your sound and style to a whole new group of people is always exciting and, being that all the bands are female-fronted, we are all happy to be a part of an event that is bringing together this ever-growing genre of music. But what I anticipate the most is sharing the stage with many talented musicians.”

Belly dancer Abida Blaze, who is known for her exotic, mysterious (more…)

Legendary Florida Death Metallers Deicide have announced a unique and exciting competition for fans to create and upload their own video clip for a new Deicide track called “In The Eyes Of God” taken from their upcoming album Till Death Do Us Part, which will be released on May 13 in the U.S.

Using the track “In The Eyes Of God,” fans are invited to make their own video for the song, using whatever means at their disposal. The clip can be filmed, animated, drawn or compiled from already existing images or footage. Anything goes so get as creative as you like.

The winner will be judged the clip with the most views on YouTube by the closing date of April 28, 2008, and will win the Grand Prize: an Ibanez bass guitar fully signed by the band.

Fans can download “In the Eyes of God” and get full details on how to enter the competition at earache.com/deicidevideo.

All submissions must feature the song in its entirety, and must be uploaded via YouTube stating ‘DEICIDE IN THE EYES OF GOD COMPETITION’ in the title and description.

Please submit the YouTube video URL link of your entry to deicidevideo@earache.com

Deicide release ‘Till Death Do Us Part’ on April 28 in Europe and May 13 in the US.

Texas-based mythological occult metal outfit ABSU has announced the addition of guitarist/keyboardist Zawicizuz (ex-Rape, Pillage & Burn/Infernal Oak) to the group’s ranks. He replaces Vastator who recently quit the band due to musical and personal differences. Drummer/vocalist Proscriptor says of the replacement, “We are very proud to welcome Zawicizuz as the newest musician of ABSU! He is one of the best-kept secrets in the extreme Texas music environment and we are delighted to convey our next chapter of mythological occult metal with him.”

ABSU will enter Nomad Recording Studio in April 2008 to begin recording the self-titled CD for a tentative autumn release on Candlelight Records. The album will be engineered/produced by none other than Sterling Winfield (King Diamond, Mercyful Fate, Solitude Aeternus, Usurper, Blood of the Sun, Etc.) and mastered by Proscriptor at his studio Tarot Productions.

“Absu” projected track listing: (in no particular order) (more…)

Candlelight Records today confirms May 27 as the American release date for angL, the second solo album from former Emperor vocalist/guitarist Ihsahn. The album features nine new songs all written and performed by the highly respected musician. The album features guest performances by drummer Asgeir Mickelson, bassist Lars Koppang Norberg (both of the band Spiral Architect) and Mikael Akerfeldt (Opeth).

Recorded and mixed by Ihsahn at Symphonique Studios in Notodden, Norway (the studio owned by Ihsahn and partner Heidi Tveitan), additional work was completed by Jens Bogren (Opeth, Katatonia, Amon Amarth) at Fascination Street Studios and Borge Finnstad (Mayhem, Borknagar) at Toproom Studios. Commenting about the record’s musical collaborations, “Asgeir (Mickelson) did such a great job on my last album (The Adversary, Candlelight 2006), that while in preproduction for angL I programmed a much more generic drum track to leave more creative license for him. It was on Asgeir’s recommendation that Lars (Koppang Norberg) contribute to the album. They both recorded at Asgeir’s studio (Multimono Studios) and it came together nicely.”

Working with Mikael (Akerfeldt), “Mikael and I go back as friends since the early nineties. We met up when Emperor headlined Wacken in 2006 and had a great time watching bands together. We talked then about doing something together at some point and in spite of busy schedules on both sides this luckily came to happen. Rough mixes of “Unhealer” with lyrics were sent to Mikael with the idea for both clean and growl vocals. He worked on it during his off-time recording the new Opeth album. I could not be any happier with the results.”

Writing for angL began early in 2007 and picked up momentum after the Emperor US performances early last summer. “I knew to a greater extent where I wanted to go with this album, though I feel all albums are a kind of struggle to overcome. Regardless of how many you make, it never gets any easier.” An aggressive schedule to complete the album, in addition to recording projects for Hardingrock (in which Ihsahn also contributes) and Starofash (released February 26), Ihsahn completed album tracking in early December. With mixing and mastering completed early this year, the musician is already starting promotion with for the album; efforts that will take up much of his time over the coming months leading up to album release.

Track listing for angL (not in running order) is: “Alchemist,” “Elevator,” “Malediction,” “Misanthrope,” “Monolith,” “Morningstar,” “Scarab,” “Threnody” and “Unhealer.”

Spellemann (Norwegian Grammy) Award Nominee Ihsahn (born Vegard Tveitan) began playing music at a very early age. As a teenager, his friendship with Tomas Haugen (a.k.a. Samoth) would trigger the start of his music career – one that to date includes over fifty individual recordings, five high-profile Emperor European tours (the band reaching US shores on only 3 occasions) and the respect of fans and peers worldwide.

Photo by Tru Lux.