The first review of the new Trivium is in… and it’s a whopping 9 out of 10! The below review is from Planet Loud… “Having been around for over four years and having shared stages with metal heavyweights like Danzig, Iced Earth and Machine Head, you’d except the Roadrunner debut from Florida metallers to be something of a cracker. And, fuck me, it is just that. Blasting you with both barrels, it would seem that this New Wave Of American Heavy Metal scene has found itself a new star. With solos that come from listening to the early Metallica albums waaay too many times, Ascendancy sets its stall out early on with the relentless Rain. Pounding kick drums and a groove the size of a mountain, you can sum everything that is great about this album up in the first five minutes. However, that’s not to say that the thrashers shoot their wad that early on. Far from it. Instead, they maintain the fury for the duration of the album – through the grinding battery of Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr and onwards until the ferocious Declaration brings this metal masterpiece to a close. Sure you can pick up the influences of bands like Killswitch Engage, Fear Factory and Unearth albums but there is something about Trivium that makes the experience of listening to their rage, all that more satisfying. Vocalist Matt Heafy, at the wise old age of 18, gives most metal vocalists a run for their money with some of the most corrosive vocals you’ll hear on a metal album while also managing to switch to a cleaner more melodic style when the music calls for it. A breathtaking perfomance from a kid who is almost a decade younger than most of his peers but, like his band, ten times better! So metal they shit early Metallica albums!”

To raise money for the childen affected by the Asian tsunami, lots of UK radio stations have got together for a special all day show today as well as running some amazing auctions on eBay for cool donated prizes. Included in the auctions is a special Nickelback package – bidding currently at 퉌£255 and counting… You can bid for: 1 x Fully Signed – Chromolin Master Poster Artwork – for the current album ‘The Long Road’. Original UK poster artwork, A1 size, the only one in existence. Fully Signed Back Catalogue – 3 albums – (each album is signed by the band): 1 x signed copy of ‘The Long Road’ album 1 x signed copy of ‘Silver Side Up’ album 1 x signed copy of ‘The State’ album You will also get a Nickelback T-Shirt, 5 UK Nickelback Stickers, 1 old ‘Aftershow’ pass from the bands last tour, as well as a Nickelback guitar plectrum (from Ryan Peake). To check out this auction (and more), click HERE.

THROWDOWN are about to enter the studio with producer Zeuss (HATEBREED, SHADOWS FALL) to begin work on their new album, “Vendetta”, and the band, as always, are on a mission. “We want to remind the hardcore and metal world what this music is and isn’t about, because some people seem to have forgotten,” proclaims singer Dave Peters, matter-of-factly. “We wrote these songs to crush all the trendy bullshit out there, and we’re going to do just that.” “Vendetta” follows the band’s landmark album “Haymaker”, a to-the-point tour de force slab of bludgeoning self-motivational venom that redefined the beautifully uncomplicated side of the metallic-hardcore genre when it was released in 2003. The album spawned the “Headbanger’s Ball” staple “Forever”, a new anthem to rally behind for a generation hungry for their own EARTH CRISIS or BLACK FLAG. And it opened doors for THROWDOWN to show up on the Ozzfest second stage and to hit the road with LAMB OF GOD, HATEBREED, FEAR FACTORY, NORMA JEAN and more. “Haymaker” drew favorable comparisons in the press to SEPULTURA and PANTERA while rightly aligning the band with the burgeoning Orange County hardcore scene and the so-called New Wave of American Heavy Metal embodied by bands like KILLSWITCH ENGAGE and SHADOWS FALL. “We make it a point to make each record twice as brutal as the one that preceded it and we were worried that we couldn’t do that after ‘Haymaker’. But two weeks into the writing process for ‘Vendetta’, we just had to laugh,” says Peters. “These songs destroy that album.” A few of the songs THROWDOWN will carry in their new arsenal when they enter Planet Z Studios next month include “Shut You Down”, “Burn”, “I’d Give My Life”, “This Discipline”, and the undoubtedly crowd-motivating sing-along ready “And We Rise”. Guitarist Matt Mentley, bassist Dom Macaluso, drummer Ben Dussault and Peters have spent the new year fine-tuning material they wrote over the past year, some of it on the tour bus and in the van. “We’re making the heaviest record of 2005, unless MESHUGGAH goes into the studio,” Dave says, laughing. “Then we’ll be making the second heaviest record of the year.” While people will have to wait until July to get their hands on “Vendetta”, there will be no break in the chances to see the band live. THROWDOWN will headline a two-week U.S. tour in early March with support coming from THE CHARIOT and IT DIES TODAY. And following that, they’ll be all over the U.S. and Canada with their friends in AS I LAY DYING. “Everyone has that one or two special records that makes them want to punish everyone that ever wronged them. We want to make that record for today’s hardcore and metal kids,” Dave says. “An album that does what PANTERA’s ‘Vulgar Display Of Power’ and SEPULTURA’s ‘Chaos A.D.’ did for us. We won’t be satisfied until we’ve made that album.” blabbermouth.net

Buffalo’s finest Every Time I Die have issued a tentative title for their next studio album. The record will be called ‘Gutter Phenomenon’. The band have also posted a clip of a new track entitled ‘Guitared And Feathered’ online. Log on to www.myspace.com/ferretmusic to check it out.

Prepare yourself for a hefty shot of ‘Nymphetamine’í¢ä‰åŒ_ The notorious and enthralling CRADLE OF FILTH will slink back into town in April for a clutch of headline dates. The first UK shows since last year’s Download festival appearance, the ‘Filth will be weaving their melodious plot at the following locations: April 13 – Portsmouth Pyramid 14 – Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall 15 – Manchester Academy 16 – London Forum Tickets will be on sale shortly from box offices and all usual online agents, priced 퉌£14 regionally and 퉌£16 in London. Support is to be confirmed. Roadrunner Records will be releasing a special limited edition package of the critically acclaimed Cradle Of Filth album ‘Nymphetamine’ on February 21st. The deluxe new package will feature new artwork, including a beautiful gold foil embossed digipak fold-out cover and an additional disc containing 6 extra tracks. These include 2 brand new tracks (‘Prey’ and ‘Soft White Throat’), a new version of the album’s title track (the ‘Deva-Fix version’) featuring the band’s backing vocalist Sarah Jezebel Deva, plus covers of Ozzy’s ‘Mr Crowley’, Bathory’s ‘Bestial Lust’, and Cliff Richard’s 1976 hit, ‘Devil Woman’. ‘Devil Woman’ also features guest vocals by the inimitable King Diamond. Also included on the disc is the promo video for ‘Nymphetamine’ as an enhanced element. An embalmed darkness awaitsí¢ä‰åŒ_

A note from Terror… “Hey everyone. First off, Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a good time. Sorry to everyone in San Diego. We couldn’t make the show due to circumstances out of our control. Next Wednesday we leave to go to Australia, And New Zealand for our second time. I cannot wait to get over there. Australia is definitely my favorite place in the world. The shows are amazing. The people are amazing. I’m siked! After Australia and New Zealand, we come home for a few days and then we are off to Brazil to play the Liberation fest. We are extremely excited to go there. This will be a first time for us. if you want more information on the site go here. Then we are off to Europe for 6 weeks with Agnostic Front and Diecast. Should be an awesome tour! In April we will be touring the US again. Keep checking our site for new announcements. We have some cool shit that we are gonna announce within the next couple weeks! Take care everyone.” -Doug

DevilDriver’s sophomore release is taking shape – the album is titled, song names are known, in fact Dez is heading back to Texas today to complete laying down the vocals. That being said, we have the following press release below to share from our esteemed press department here at Roadrunner (and don’t forget to check out DevilDriver.com for the 2nd round of answers of your questions): Extreme American Metal will get a kick in the ass when DevilDriver release their sophomore album The Fury of Our Maker’s Hand on Roadrunner Records this coming Spring. The follow up to DevilDriver’s 2002 critically-acclaimed self-titled debut album, The Fury of Our Maker’s Hand will be a much more brutal, metal release for the Santa Barbara-based quintet that features lead vocalist Dez Fafara. Commenting from the mixing board at Sonic Ranch Studios in El Paso, TX Fafara says, ” We all stepped it up for this album. It is way heavier and much faster. Expect brutality.” Produced by Colin Richardson (Machine Head, Fear Factory, Napalm Death) The Fury of Our Maker’s Hand will feature such mind-expanding songs as “Grinfucked,” “Pale Horse,” and “End of the Line.” “The new DevilDriver material is a huge step up from the last record in every way imaginable, especially in terms of the guitar playing and the riffs,” says Roadrunner Records VP of A&R Monte Connor. “Mark my words, it will go down as both a benchmark metal release and the album that DevilDriver will be measured against for the rest of their career. I can’t wait for people to hear it.” Having already toured on the 2004 Ozzfest as well as with Superjoint Ritual, Morbid Angel, Opeth, In Flames, Caliban and more, DevilDriver will definitely have an extremely active tour schedule in 2005. In 2001, through the ashes of Fafara’s former group Coal Chamber, rose DevilDriver. Assemblying a group of hungry musicians who were bonded over their love of BBQing and extreme music they set out to awaken the dormant, extreme music scene with the release of their debut album. Since forming, they’ve toured with Superjoint Ritual, Morbid Angel, Opeth, In Flames, Caliban and more, including 2003’s Ozzfest (Fafara’s 6th time on the tour). DevilDriver is Dez Fafara (vocals), Jon Miller (bass), John Boecklin (drums) and Jeff Kendrick and Mike Spreitzer on guitar.

Bolt your doors, seal off your windows, and turn off your radio – it’s a scary world out there, full of mindless zombies and equally mindless rockstars, self-righteously preaching and self-indulgently whining to the herd. But help is on the way… The first step in saving yourself, read the new Wednesday 13 bio, now playing in Wednesday’s BIO section.

It’s in motion…last night at a packed CBGBs on the Bowery in NYC, Trivium played the first date of a week-long run with All That Remains (check out the band’s PHOTO GALLERY for pics from the show). For those of you at the show, you heard a good number of tunes from Trivium’s debut Roadrunner release, Ascendancy. And now, whether you were at the show or not, we kindly ask you to check out our MUSIC section to download an MP3 from the upcoming release, a song titled “Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr.” Enjoy. Trivium Ascendancy coming March 14th

If you haven’t got your tickets yet for the Killswitch Engage & Twelve Tribes tour, you better hurry up! Glasgow is SOLD OUT, and there are only about 50 tickets remaining for the shows in Newcastle, Manchester, & London! Few more tickets available for Wolverhampton… Tour starts Jan 19th.