In a time of endless sub-genre classifications, ACT OF DEFIANCE‘s highly anticipated debut offering simply delivers 100% in-your-face, uncompromising heavy metal. The scathing debut, Birth and The Burial, is set for an Aug. 21st release via Metal Blade Records and pre-order bundle packages are now available at metalblade.com/actofdefiance. The group’s first official introduction to the masses is via the album’s ripping lead-off track “Throwback“, which is a face-melting all out thrash assault. The new music video for it, shot by renowned director Corey Soria (Danzig) can be viewed now at metalblade.com/actofdefiance. With a hefty resumé that chronicles time spent riffing and shredding... 

Philip H. Anselmo‘s third annual horror-themed film and metal festival will commence in San Antonio, Texas this year at the Aztec Theater on November 13th -15th, 2015.  

THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER have returned with the much-anticipated, new full-length album Abysmal, which is officially set for a September 18th release. This vicious slab of unrelenting aggression showcases TBDM at their very finest with a meticulous, pin-point precise rhythmic assault mixed with ferocious speed and dynamic hooks. The band also re-enlisted the services of renowned producer Mark Lewis (Cannibal Corpse, Whitechapel) and former bass player Ryan Williams, who also helped produce Everblack, with the sole intent to get away from the overt sonic sterility affecting far too many contemporary metal albums.  

Barbarous hellhound, Cradle of Filth, will release its forthcoming album, Hammer of the Witches, on July 10 via Nuclear Blast. Today, the band has teamed up with Revolver to release a new song and lyric video, “Deflowering the Maidenhead, Displeasuring the Goddess,” at: http://smarturl.it/DefloweringTrack.  

Philadelphia’s hard-hitting power trio ON TOP have debuted a new track from upcoming EP, Topless. Streamit below the break!  

SUNN O))) announces that their live, cathartic reverberations have been documented and can now be accessed via their live BandCamp page. Compiled of taper and fan recordings, spanning from their 2002 show at the Blackbird in Portland up to their recent headlining show at Temples Festival 2015, these documents are presented in their raw and unedited beauty.  

In Vaults, the dynamic third studio album from Chicago’s progressive/alternative rock outfit, DISTRICT 97, is out today through Laser’s Edge, and in conjunction with its release the record is now streaming in its entirety.  

The Used is set to perform at Taste of Chaos this fall! The festival, which will be taking place for the first time in five years, will be held at the San Manuel Amphitheater in San Bernardino, CA on October 3rd. The Used will be performing alongside bands such Jimmy Eat World, Dashboard Confessional, Thrice, The All-American Rejects, glassjaw, Saves The Day, and more. Tickets are available now here: http://www.tasteofchaos.com/. Since forming in Orem, Utah in 2001, The Used have released 6 albums and 2 EPs – The Used (2002), In Love and Death (2004), Lies for the Liars (2007), Shallow Believer EP (2008), Artwork (2009), Vulnerable (2012), The Ocean of the Sky EP (2013), and Imaginary Enemy (2013). The band’s... 

Primitive Race, the industrial super group founded by album producer Chris Kniker (Lords of Acid, RevCo), and including players Graham Crabb (Pop Will Eat Itself), Erie Loch (Luxt, Dream In Red), Tommy Victor (Prong, Danzig) and Dave “Rave” Ogilvie (Skinny Puppy, Jackalope), release their self-titled debut album on Aug. 7 via Metropolis Records.  

Everyone knows the joke bands such as Psychostick (personal favorite of this sexy author), but what about the bands who form themselves around the joke, becoming the thing they are lampooning? Then one becomes Meta, reaching so many levels they can rent rooms for a highrise. One such band is the relatively new Nekrogoblikon, with their newest, Heavy Meta.  

Def Leppard’s inaugural fan cruise, “Hysteria on the High Seas,” a unique, four-day, four-night voyage out of Miami next January 21-25, 2016 aboard the MSC Divina, goes on sale today (6/18).  

The Devil Wears Prada’s first official release since 2013, the conceptual “Space” EP, will be in-stores on August 21 (Rise Records), the band announced today. Pre-orders can be placed at http://tdwp.merchnow.com