Long time no hear… a message from Theory of A Deadman! “Hello Theory fans, It’s Tyler reporting to you from Los Angeles where we are recording the new record. Pre Production starts next week with a producer we are all very excited to work with, Howard Benson (P.O.D., Hoobastank, Cold) We have brought our old friend Robin Diaz back to do the drums on the new record. We have been busy the last six months writing and rehearsing material and should be done tracking at the end of August. I’m glad to see all of our fans so excited about our new material and we are just as excited to have you hear it. We look forward to going back on tour and seeing you all again. We miss playing live. Thanks for your support once again.!” Tyler

You remember the new Murderdolls official site is located at www.Murderdolls1.com right? Don’t forget that ‘1’. The band have just launched a series of competitions on the site to win free Murderdolls t-shirts! Cool, right? Head on over there and check out the comps ecard, watch the video and see if you can get the question right! Good luck!

Did you know Killswitch Engage are lined up for a new photo shoot in the immediate future, following on from the recent video shoot? True. Mike D’Antonio recently posted the following update on the band’s official site: “KsE was given the honor of having the song “The End Of Heartache” used as the lead single on the Resident Evil 2 soundtrack. It is a known fact: Nothing in the world makes KsE happier than flesh eating zombies, so we were delighted to lend the track to the motion picture. As with most movie singles, there is usually a video involved, and this was no exception. KsE spent the earlier part of last week in LA shooting the video for “The End Of Heartache” with director Tony Petrossian. Essentially the video relies on the band performing in a pitch black room that seems to go on forever. Members are accented by a diffused ceiling light, which gives a cool silo effect, and provides unique creepy feel. All in all, the video shows what the band does best, rocking out and having fun … who knows though, could maggoty ass zombies may make an appearance? We shall see what unfolds… But most of all, KsE would like to thank all the fans that have bought our new record “The End Of Heartache”. It is mind blowing to us have such an incredible response to “our little baby: TEOH”. We thank everyone from the bottom of our hearts – THANK YOU ALL.” In previous KSE news, did you see Mike’s message at the end of the tour? If not, it went a little something like this… “Finally! We have returned home after a series of tours which have left us tired and full of wounds…but it was still a good time. To everyone who came out in the UK and Europe, you get a big thank you for making it so good. Thanks to GF, Shadows Fall and Chimaira for hanging out with us. High points were definitely London (both the Astoria and Barfly), Manchester, Dublin, Pressure Fest in Nerne Germany, Grasspop in Belgium, and Glasgow…all the shows were great but those were some of the standout shows. Thanks again for making it a great time for all of us. Looks like we have a little time off so we are going to relax, eat some fine american cuisine and shoot another video (as soon as Howard’s mouth is healed…he had a wisdom tooth pulled and it got infected and he looks like a squirrel holding nuts in his mouth). It will be for “The End of Heartache” so keep an eye out for that soon. We will be back on the road in August for a quick tour of the states with our friends From Autumn to Ashes, 18 Visions and 36 Crazyfists. We will hit some of the cities we havent seen in awhile, so come on out and have some fun with us. That will be happening from middle of august into September…we get another break and then we are hitting the the road with the kings…FULL US TOUR WITH SLAYER. Thats all for now, more details to come…remember, picking too much is how nosebleeds occur. See ya soon!”

A new Slipknot single is coming. Mark the date of October 4th on your calendar. Know that it is called ‘Vermilion’. Know also that the single will be released in a 7″ picture disc vinyl format, as well as CD. More info will come…

Open Hand have completed work on their full length debut album. Titled “You And Me”, it is set for a February 2005 release. You’ll be able to hear a new track called “Tough Guy” on the forthcoming New Shit 10 FREE sampler CD, keep your eyes open for that. More news to follow.

Sorry to announce that Terror has cancelled their Canadian dates this week due to an injury. After the band played the Aggressive Music Festival on Sunday, the band were on their way to Syracuse when Scott Vogel’s neck was in so much pain the band had to bring him to a nearby hospital. Scott suffered a few slipped discs a year back or so and reinjured himself at the festival. He is resting right now so as to be able to play Hellfest this weekend and pick up on the ‘Sick Of It All’ tour. Wish him well, send emails to terror@trustkill.com.

Over at the official Hopesfall website, the band have posted the following message: “Hey everyone, so our friends at Atticus are doing a sweet giveaway at our London show on Aug 9th. They’ll be giving away some goodie bags filled with Atticus gear. We hope you’ll all come on down to hear some great music and get a chance to win Atticus clothes! Make sure you visit their website at www.atticusclothing.com. Rocksound is also sponsoring our whole UK portion of the tour – make sure you pick up the new copy of Rocksound this month – we’re in it!!!” In other Hopesfall news, the band are about done mixing the new album!

Did you know? Caliban dropped by the old RR UK office just before our move to say hi, as they were in the country for a couple of days enroute from Germany to the USA. While they were at the Roadrunner office in Germany, we hear staff had them answer a few questions about themselves, so one translation later… here is the piece on bassist Boris. Name: Boris Pracht Age: 26 Instrument: Bass All time favourite record? Slayer – Reign in Blood Greatest experience on tour? To see how Denis, our second guitar player, fall totally drunken out of bed, hahaha! Most horrible experience on tour? Knock on wood, there is no horrible story to tell so far… Most embarrassing moment that ever happened to you on stage? Nothing embarrassing has happened to me yet… Until now, haha… Do you have any sort of ritual before going on stage? Besides warming up just the usual, like putting new strings on, tune the guitar etc. With which band would you love to tour with? Hatebreed If I couldn’t be a musician, I would work as… Office-slave in an advertising agency Best advice you ever heard? Never say never! With which famous person (alive or dead) would you love to spend some time and why? LEAH REMINI AKA CARRIE HEFFERNAN (King of Queens) because this woman makes the sun rise!!) What’s one thing you would like to achieve in life? To get a date with Leah! ) Last Words: Thanks to all the people that support/supported us endlessly! Without you we are nothing! THANKS!

Roadrunner Records is raising hell again with the August 30th release of MUSIC FROM & INSPIRED BY THE MOTION PICTURE, RESIDENT EVIL: APOCALYPSE. The soundtrack, which highlights the best of today’s darker leaning heavy rock, features Slipknot, Nightwish, A Perfect Circle, The Cure, The Used, Rob Zombie and more. The first single from the leaders of The New Wave Of American Heavy Metal, Killswitch Engage’s “The End Of Heartache” will impact US radio on August 9th and is already starting a strong buzz with early adds at WZZN in Chicago and WAAF in Boston. The band’s latest album, The End of Heartache was released in mid May and has already surpassed the 100,000 album sales mark in the US! TRACK LISTING 1. Slipknot – Vermilion 2. The Used – Just A Little 3. The Cure – Us Or Them 4. A Perfect Circle – The Outsider (Renholder Mix)* 5. Lacuna Coil – Swamped 6. Killswitch Engage – The End Of Heartache 7. Rammstein – Mein Teil* 8. DevilDriver – Digging Up The Corpses* 9. Cradle Of Filth – Nymphetamine* 10. CKY – Escape From Hellview 11. Deftones – The Chauffeur 12. H.I.M. – Join Me In Death 13. Nightwish – Nemo 14. Thrice – Under A Killing Moon 15. 36 Crazyfists – Bloodwork 16. Cold – End Of The World (acoustic)* 17. Rob Zombie – Girl On Fire (Resident Renholder Mix)* 18. Massive Attack – Future Proof * Denotes previously unreleased Did you know? The US release of this album will not have the Nightwish track, but instead a song by Demon Hunter.

How many of y’all out there read the Orlando Weekly? Not many we’ll bet. Well, in their “Best of Orlando 2004 Edition,” this publication features “Best of 2004” ranging from Sports & Recreation, Local Color (we are in the US here), Goods & Services, Food & Drink and Arts & Entertainment around Florida. That being said, someone today stumbled upon the following piece on new RR act Trivium, rated BEST METAL ACT in this “Best Of 2004” piece. What was written about Trivium? Read below: “They released a great record – Ember to Inferno – late last year on a German label, and then, within the space of a few months, found themselves booked on tours with the likes of Iced Earth and Chimaira and ended up signed to Roadrunner Records. Like, that’s a big deal. And, unlike some of Orlando’s other nationally known “heavy” bands, the gut-punching power metal that Trivium delivers is something to be proud of, as their combination of metal’s heavy history and abundant technical proficiency results in something truly forward-looking and strong. Goes to show what happens when a band sets out to be “good” rather than “famous.””