The first-ever official Slipknot fan club – Outside The Nine – is here. Get official numbered Outside The Nine Slipknot patch, access to ticket presales and meet & greets, access to audio, photos, and video never-before heard or seen…even a Slipknot1.com email address, and more. Go to www.outsidethenine.com for more info and to sign-up.

A Life Once Lost – Vulture Check out this awesome preview of A LIfe Once Lost – Vulture. Although this video is only a taster the full thing will be up very, very soon. CLICK HERE to watch the preview The track is taken from the bands forthcoming album HUNTER – OUT 27th JUNE

SOULFLY have cancelled their dates in the Russian Far East cities of Vladivostok and Khabarovsk after an incident involving a Russian politician. A posting at Mosnews.com reads: The thrash metal group was boarding a plane from Moscow to Vladivostok on April 29 when Valery Kan, a local MP in the city of Ussuriisk, reportedly attempted to take Cavalera’s stepdaughter Roxanne to the business class section of the plane, SOULFLY’s Russian promoters, FeeLee Management, were quoted by a Vladivostok television company as saying. He approached Cavalera’s wife [manager Gloria Cavalera] and stepdaughter with two bodyguards. Cavalera was already sitting in his seat on the plane with the other musicians. The group’s backstage personnel was boarding together with his wife and daughter and tried to intervene but Kan started to threaten them. When the police arrived, Kan showed them his indentity papers, mentioning his immunity as a deputy. The policemen then told the musicians that they were unable to intervene. SOULFLY decided to cancel its concerts in Vladivostok on April 29 and in Khabarovsk on May 3. Initial reports suggested that Kan was drunk. When Cavalera’s wife attempted to stand up for her daughter, Kan reportedly pushed her away shouting obscenities. Later, Kan was quoted by a journalist of the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper as saying he did not harass Roxanne and accused the group members of offending him. He said he did not shout obscenities or push Cavalera’s wife. Kan said he was in the airport with a children’s taekwondo team that came home from the championship in Italy, and just wanted to have a conversation with the musicians, but they told him to go away. However, he did not want the journalist to mention his deputy status. The Mosnews site

Although Most Precious Blood had intended to follow up the recording of the new album with a six-week festival tour across Europe with NAPALM DEATH and DIECAST. Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond their control, they have announced on their official website that this has been cancelled. The band’s statement reads: í¢ä‰åñUnfortunately we’ve got some bad news… for the first time in our lives we’ve been given absolutely no choice but to cancel our upcoming European summer tour supporting Napalm Death. This all happened quite suddenly. To put it as diplomatically as possible, some promises that were made to us were not being kept and now there is no way we can afford to do a 7 week tour in Europe. We will most definitely be back in Europe before the end of 2005 and that’s a promise we will keep. We don’t go back on our word… I just wish we could speak for everyone when saying so. The good news is the new album is just about finished and I think it’s the best thing any of us have ever done. We can’t wait for you to hear it. We’ll post some samples and a track listing soon. Thanks for the support!í¢ä‰åŒ

So what do you get when you cross a locked venue, a storm, a mad 3 Inches of Blood bassist and a free t-shirt?! Answer? A METAL NINJA!!!!! If you cast your mind back to the second day of the Roadrage tour, in Liverpool, we told you how Brian took to entertaining us all in by customizing a t-shirt, and we promised you the photographic evidence. Well HERE and HERE it is!

New York hardcore legends MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD are in the studio recording what will be their third full-length release on Trustkill/Roadrunner Records. The album’s tentative title, “Merciless”, encompasses both the lyrical themes and music found on this new release. “The songs are a culmination of years and years of life experience: Betrayal, loss, grief, abandonment but forever trudging on in the face of immortal adversity. Life is merciless as are all the new songs,” says guitarist Justin Brannan. Though it promises to be the most punishing MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD release yet, the band has also expanded their musical repertoire to include orchestral and electronic sounds with production co-handled by themselves and Dean Balutonis. The band had intended to follow up the recording of the new album with a six-week festival tour across Europe with NAPALM DEATH and DIECAST but unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond their control, announced this morning on their official website that this had been cancelled. The band’s statement reads: í¢ä‰åñUnfortunately we’ve got some bad news… for the first time in our lives we’ve been given absolutely no choice but to cancel our upcoming European summer tour supporting Napalm Death. This all happened quite suddenly. To put it as diplomatically as possible, some promises that were made to us were not being kept and now there is no way we can afford to do a 7 week tour in Europe. We will most definitely be back in Europe before the end of 2005 and that’s a promise we will keep. We don’t go back on our word… I just wish we could speak for everyone when saying so. The good news is the new album is just about finished and I think it’s the best thing any of us have ever done. We can’t wait for you to hear it. We’ll post some samples and a track listing soon. Thanks for the support!í¢ä‰åŒ MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD’s mix of aggressive riffs and scathing social commentary have been an integral part of the hardcore scene, particularly New York hardcore, following in the footsteps of forbears like AGNOSTIC FRONT and SICK OF IT ALL, who they have toured and are good friends with. The band has always been adamant about bringing the message with hardcore. Working with PETA and the ASPCA, distributing literature, speaking out and generally living by the hardcore philosophy, the members of MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD remain true to their roots and have not been afraid to court controversy for their beliefs. The cover of their last album, “Our Lady of Annihilation”, was released to furor from retailers everywhere who refused to stock the album which featured the Lady Madonna with a bomb strapped to her chest. “The ferocity of the songs on this album will cause the controversy this time,” Brannan says. “We’ve never been afraid to try new things and we’re not going to stop now, but we know what’s what and this will be a bonafide MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD hardcore album í¢ä‰åäó more pissed off than ever before and 100 percent justified.” The band is made up of guitarists Justin Brannan and Rachel Rosen, bassist Matty Miller, vocalist Rob Fusco and drummer Colin (the twelfth in a rotating cast which still draws “Spinal Tap” comparisons) and formed in the summer of 2000 after the breakup of notable hardcore band INDECISION, of which Rachel and Justin were members. The relentlessness of their guitars and the fury of their words have landed MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD on MTV2’s “Headbanger’s Ball” as well as on the pages of acclaimed music publications Kerrang!, Metal Hammer, Alternative Press and Revolver magazine and have seen them tour with BLEEDING THROUGH, RISE AGAINST, THE EXPLOSION and REMEMBERING NEVER.

As many of you are aware OPEN HAND are playing a set og dates around their Download Festival appearance on June 11th. So if you missed their atmospheric rock n’ roll stylings before, now’s your chance! Friday 3 June – Wolverhampton Little Civic Saturday 4 June – London Underworld Sunday 5 June – Stoke Sugarmill Monday 6 June – Manchester Roadhouse Tuesday 7 June – Glasgow Cathouse Wednesday 8 June – Nottingham Rock City Thursday 9 June – Leeds Cockpit