CANNIBAL CORPSE will kick off 2016 with one of the most bludgeoning death metal tour lineups of the year! The over month-long trek, presented by The Noise, will tear across North America beginning on February 12th and run through March 20th. The band will be joined by fellow Floridian death metal progenitors, Obituary, as direct support, followed by Canada’s Cryptopsy, and Los Angeles’ Abysmal Dawn. Tickets go on sale this Friday, December 11th, at 10:00am local time through all local and national ticket outlets.  

Dark Horse Comics announced today the publication of Angel Catbird, the first graphic novel by Margaret Atwood, the Booker Award–winning author of The Blind Assassin, The Handmaid’s Tale, and The Heart Goes Last. Angel Catbird is a unique and ambitious collaboration between Atwood and artist Johnnie Christmas (Sheltered) that tells the story of an unusual superhero over the course of three all-ages graphic novels, the first of which will be published by Dark Horse Comics in the fall of 2016.  

In the smoldering wake of their III LP’s release through The Compound Recs, and widespread US tour actions, Philly hypergrinders DIE CHOKING are ready to hit the East Coast with two bursts of tour dates in preparation for their first European tour in February.  

    On January 29th, West Virginian dark occult rockers Brimstone Coven will release their first full-length album, Black Magic, via Metal Blade Records! Recorded at Andrew D’Cagna’s Sacred Sound Studios in Ohio, Black Magic was mostly written over a year period against a backdrop of candles, incense, solitude, and a thick air of ganja. The resulting record boasts gritty, groovy riffs (a la Black Sabbath, Pentagram, Led Zeppelin) with Pink Floydian psychedelic movements, and three-part vocal harmonies reminiscent of the Mamas and Papas, Yes, and The Byrds. For a preview of Black Magic, the video for the album’s title track can be viewed at: http://www.metalblade.com/brimstonecoven  

Texas Progressive/Melodic Death Metallers FALL will self-release The Insatiable Weakness on January 26, 2016. Technically accomplished and musically magnificent, the album is a tour de force of dual-guitar firepower and unforgettable melodies. Chemistry is key and The Insatiable Weakness is truly greater than the sum of its parts.  

Agonia Records are proud to announce the worldwide signing of Canadian melodic thrash metal powerhouse, THREAT SIGNAL. The band finished recording their long awaited fourth studio album and follow-up to their 2011 self-titled effort. The new album, “Disconnect”, is scheduled for release in the first half of 2016.  

Writer Kelly Sue DeConnick (PRETTY DEADLY, Captain Marvel) and special guest artist Taki Soma (SINERGY, Rapture) will launch a special stand-alone issue in the ongoing bitingly satirical series BITCH PLANET this January.  

DARK FORTRESS and Century Media Records have announced that their unholy alliance will continue as the band just re-signed with their longtime label. Formed in the Bavarian foothills when the second wave of black metal had grotesquely clawed out of the grave and into the unforgiving light, DARK FORTRESS benefited from the rotten fruits of right place and right time.  

Life. Death. Poison Ivy has power over both. But can she keep her friends and hold down a regular job at the same time? As Dr. Pamela Isley, she joins the prestigious plant sciences department at Gotham Botanical Gardens, but things quickly get complicated when a fellow scientist is murdered and it looks like the work of Ivy!  

Two great tastes that taste great together! Now starring together in their own ongoing series! Today, Marvel is pleased to present your new look inside SPIDER-MAN/DEADPOOL #1 – wallcrawling, wisecracking and bad guy stabbing into your hearts this January! Blockbuster creators and legendary Deadpool creative team of Joe Kelly and Ed McGuinness reunite once more to chronicle the ongoing adventures of Peter Parker and Wade Wilson! Deadpool LOVES Spider-Man. Spider-Man HATES Deadpool. What could go wrong? More importantly – what on Earth could bring these two together for a titanic team-up in the mighty Marvel manner? Find out this January as the World’s Greatest Super Hero and the star of the World’s Greatest... 

Before their military heroism in the Clone Wars, before their tragic battle on Mustafar, and many decades before their confrontation on the Death Star…they were Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Padawan learner, Anakin Skywalker. Today, Lucasfilm Ltd. and Marvel Entertainment are pleased to present your first look inside OBI-WAN AND ANAKIN #1  

So when I heard about the death of Scott Weiland, former lead singer of Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver and currently the singer of the band The Wildabouts, I was really, really sad, but not surprised. Like several of my colleagues in the Metal/Rock sphere, we always thought “It would only be a matter of time” before something like this might happen.