So, from time to time we post up a note on birthdays, when we hear about ’em. Well there ain’t no little birdies round this RR office, but a little rock chick just told us today is the birthday of Mark Hunter from Chimaira. Mark, that big 3-0 is approachng fast eh buddy? Hope you have a great day from all here at RR UK.

Chimaira recently managed to find the time to shot a new video for ‘Power Trip’, in San Francisco. Filmed in a warehouse, Lex Halaby was directing. In other news, the title of Chimaira’s upcoming DVD is “The Dehumanizing Process” – currently scheduled for a late fall/early winter release. What will it contain? The band elaborates… “The DVD will contain pretty much anything and everything you ever wanted to know and see regarding Chimaira! From early recording sessions, to live performances, videos, and of course all the backstage antics you could possibly ask for. Besides all of the fun stuff, you will see things most bands won’t let you. The truth about what it is like to be in a signed band. The DVD will also contain a remastered (Not re-recorded) EP titled “This Present Darkness”. For those of you new to Chimaira. This is the EP that has been out of print for 3 years and is Chimaira’s first release. The tracklisting for “This Present Darkness” is as follows: This Present Darkness Painting The White To Grey Divination Sphere Lend A Hand Empty Silence Gag* Refuse To See* *=not on original release. Recorded around same time frame.”

From MusicOMH.com: “Slipknot + My Ruin @ Astoria, London, 24 May 2004 A while ago I saw Limp Bizkit at Brixton Academy, and supporting were a band called The Tarantinos. Their set consisted of cover versions from the Tarantino films – good for pubs, exceedingly bad for a gig of that nature. It was the perfect example of wrong band, wrong time: boos, missiles and the band retreating from the front of the stage, all ensued. In contrast, My Ruin fitted the “support act” bill perfectly tonight. Tairrie B’s hermaphrodite vocals roaring over chunky bass and guitars were just what the crowd needed. Although the initial enthusiastic mosh pit died down rapidly, people were left well warmed up for the main feature… …The crowd had to wait for over an hour before Slipknot squeezed onto the stage (bit too fashionably late guys). Nevertheless, this was an intense affair – the physical pounding of the music was relentless, but oh so welcome. Four from the new album – The Blister Exists, Three Nil, Duality and Pulse Of The Maggots were aired. They were all strong, but with the exception of Duality, a non-knowledgeable crowd was left listening rather than joining in. Some older songs interspersed (Sic, Disaster Piece, Left Behind) kept the attention. This was most definitely a hot one. The pits were working well at the back, with a large crush at the front creating near Death Valley temperatures. However, the floor was like an ice rink: please Astoria, put some grippier floor down, 퀌æ la Brixton Academy – you owe it to the kiddies, they need to learn to mosh without falling over… The second half of the gig consisted purely of favourites, but then Slipknot…know exactly which songs please the crowd. Hence, My Plague, Wait And Bleed, The Heretic Anthem, Spit It Out (including the neat trick of getting most of the Astoria to sit down before the crescendo), People = S**t, and the eternal, favourite finale of Surfacing. The sound throughout did tend to drown some of the guitars’ grinding and lead riffs, and the band’s stage presence seemed overly “managed”, although with brief talks to the crowd, Corey Taylor did repeat his enthusiasm for London and this size of gig (a much better way to see them than big outdoor festivals). Sheer exhaustion of keeping up with the consistent aural battering somewhat muted the crowd in terms of response but hey, this is Slipknot, not Katie Melua – everyone knew what they wanted, Slipknot delivered, and left the punters well sated. – Ian Robinson” You can see pics of the gig HERE.

“The temperature, I could swear, toward the end of the show reached – Fahrenheit 524! It ain’t as hot as the ‘F-9/11’ but it is way past the degree of book burning. [F-451 is the temperature when paper ignites – physics lesson over.] But, getting onstage took Slipknot a whole song’s playback and an industrial intro whilst ovations commenced the moment the backdrop logo was switched on! Arriving individually in their newly refashioned look, all black attire, the Des Moines nonet appear more menacing than usual. [A SWAT of brutality?] The de-masked vacation over, Clown is back to his climbing the percussions, ‘mike-wanking’ and head banging that would put many a lesser man into a neck brace. The ‘Nose’ gets upturned, DJ is as mad as a hatter, guitarists at ready for ‘Iowa Guitar-saw Massacre’í¢ä‰åŒ_ Masks have gotten more apocalyptic, as to express the members’ maturing as much as the state of the world’s mind. New insignia is on the ‘uniforms” sleeves and backs, that is also displayed on the drum kit and a couple of stage panels [hiding amps], encircled in nonagons. Stylistic exhibition of the album ‘Vol.3: (The Subliminal Verses]’ is re-tuned to the habitual bombardment of senses. The ‘maggots’ are well up for it and readily lapping it up: they not only sing the favourites but are also word-perfect on the current single, ‘Duality’. Most of the new songs, ‘The Blister Exists’, ‘Pulse of The Maggots’ and the humongous ‘Three Nil’, are cheered on but there are few exceptions – such as ‘The Nameless’ – where its intricate arrangement finds fans a tad baffled. It is the only a moment when band and its hardcore support appear not to mental the same metal plateau. It also becomes even more apparent live, the fact that Rick Ruben incorporated different individual influences to broaden the band’s metallurgist vocabulary. Thus, ‘Circle’ [and ‘Prelude 3.0’ to an extent], sound like a heavier version of Alice In Chains, one of singer Corey Taylor’s fave outfits. This thrice of relative respite is only an interlude to more moshing, power, volume, chaos, melody, action! Returning to this club – the place of their London debut in 1999 – on the day of the third album’s release, Slipknot brought their arena sound to an intimate level. It practically re- proved that this lot is not a ‘comedy-rock’ act [a cross between Kiss and Spinal Tap?] but a veritable metal engine that can destroy at will. All the speculation [among the ‘Numbers’ as well] of ‘Vol.3’ being the band’s final album should cease now because we’d loose true metal giants! And we all know how few there are leftí¢ä‰åŒ_ Slipknot detonated another sonic barrage last night! Rilla-thrilla-killa, thought the dehydrated critic, queuing for another after-show party beer. [No drink-driving, we hope – Ed. Chief. Nope – tubing reporter.] The good news is that this brilliant show was taped for a future DVD release, so no despair required. SashaS” Taken from www.deo2.com Click HERE for photos…

And the reviews keep rolling in… This time, Sasha from Deo2.com gives his two cents on Slipknot’s latest offering… “Slipknot: sonic expended sound, great album, new masks! There really was a serious doubt for a while that this album, the Slipknot’s third, might never get recorded. Solo projects and few other issues among the members appeared to be heading no place in particular. Then, the report started coming out that nothing was being recorded and it took the band a good month to get going. Well, the nine men crew have resolved whatever issues there might have been and made an album that is certainly – not only their best but probably – one of the finest metal albums you’ll hear this year. Recorded with Rick Ruben, it is a huge leap forward for the band and a real attempt to push the genre into new and interesting directions. Now, nine new masks are ready for Slipknot to unleash their biggest, baddest and best album yet: ‘Vol.3 (The Subliminal Verses)’. There are immense tracks here that can tear your world apart, there are also darker moments that will surprise you, and one comes wrapped in a Gothic-cloak, ‘Circle’ [that has a twisted ending], whilst the other one is more industrial ‘The Virus of Life’. Long before that, the opening ‘Prelude 3.0’ roars in on a haunting, sombre and restrained note that powerfully shocks and delights in equal dosage. There is more familiar territory being visited on ‘The Blister Exists’, ‘Duality’, ‘Opium Of The People’, ‘Before I Forget’ but even these sound cleaner, punchier and more brutal. There is savagery on ‘Pulse Of The Magotts’, chaos reigns on ‘Three Nil’, ‘The Nameless’ is the band’s finest moment to date with its startling dynamicsí¢ä‰åŒ_ Almost an hour of storm trooping highlights ends with a doom-laden minimalism of ‘Danger – Keep Away’. The whole album sounds sharper [than before], more focused and ready to take over the world. ‘Vol.3: (The Subliminal Verses)’ will please fans and force doubters to revise their fixed views of this mighty machine. Slipknot have always been a great band but have now made an album to back it up. Masterpiece? Near enough. 9/10 [The Limited Edition CD contains an online access key that unlocks an unreleased studio track, downloads, mixing console, exclusive video footage, access to the band, competitions and more from the band’s website.] * Slipknot play ONE-OFF show tonight, 24 May 2004, at Astoria, London SashaS 24-5-2004″

If you’d have ventured out to Oxford Street, London last night you would have been greeted by over 2000 maggots, hungry to meet their idols Slipknot. Last night, at the stroke of Midnight, Virgin opened it’s doors to start selling Vol 3: (The Subliminal Verses) as the day turned from the 23rd to the 24th of May, and Slipknot themselves were in attendance to sign copies (of which over 1,000 were sold in under 3 hours) for their fans. Many maggots slept on the streets in order to guarantee meeting their idols (with some getting there as early as Friday night) and as you walked down the queue, many a mask and boiler suit could be seen. Tonight, Slipknot play the London Astoria in what is being billed as the gig of the year! To see pics of last nights festivities, go HERE

Slipknot’s ‘Vol 3: (The Subliminal Verses) hits a record store near you today, and following on from Metal Hammer’s 8/10 and Kerrang!’s 5K reviews (which you can read HERE), NME have joined the chorus of approval, also awarding the album a gushing 8/10 review. Read on… í¢ä‰åñThis is the year when hope fails you, when the test subjects run the experiment and the bastard you know is the hero you hateí¢ä‰åŒ, barks Slipknot’s sergeant major singer Corey Taylor as if addressing an imaginary army of fans on the anthemic ‘Pulse Of The Maggots’. As air raid sirens wail and jackboots fall into step before him, the company credo continues: í¢ä‰åñCohesion is possible if we try- There’s no reason, no lesson, no time like the present. Tell me right now: what have you got to lose? Except your soul.í¢ä‰åŒ Then comes the battle cry: í¢ä‰åñWHO’S WITH US?í¢ä‰åŒ If your taste of the heavy doesn’t extend much beyond Linkin park then the chances are it won’t be you. Despite first crawling out from their godforsaken hole at the peak of nu-metal’s popularity, Slipknot are, in essence, as old school as a faded Slayer shirt- and, in the current climate, just as unfashionable. Look beneath the Hammer House Of Horror haberdashery and you’ll find nine misfit malcontents who grew up overdosing on death metal and gore-soaked slasher flicks. They may count a resident DJ amongst their number but the only ‘rap’ Slipknot have been associated with is the criminal charge of bassist Paul Gray for possession of drug paraphernalia last year. And yet Slipknot have managed to make an impression on the mainstream. Their self-titled debut sold two million copies worldwide, while their caustic second, ‘Iowa’, entered the UK charts at Number One- almost certainly the most extreme record to do so. By distilling Marilyn Manson’s anti-authoritarian aesthetic and then adding fast drum fills and razor-edged riffs nicked from Megadeth records, Slipknot appealed not only to the disaffected, but also the disenfranchised metal kids put out by the sudden popularity of ‘their’ music. As such, the decision to start experimenting with their sound on ‘Vol 3’ is a bold one. At least two thirds of it’s still comprised of head spinning speed metal, but there are signs of genuine progression-not to mention progressive rock- from the off. Opener ‘Prelude 3.0’ is three minutes of ambient and half whispered vocals, whereas the album’s centerpiece, a historic two-part gothic love story entitled ‘Vermillion’ features an unexpectedly poignant unplugged reprise that’s part Black Sabbath’s ‘Planet Caravan’, part Pink Floyd’s ‘The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn’. Rick Ruben produced this record in the same reputedly haunted house that he recorded the Mars Volta’s debut, which suggests that it might well be the ghost of Sid Barrett’s fragile sanity rattling the radiators at night. More surprising still, given that this band were criticized for including a catchy chorus on their last album, is the introduction of acoustic guitars, piano parts and-whisper it- string sections. ‘The Nameless’ intercuts thrash riffs with softly-strummed interludes while the off-kilter coda ‘Danger, Keep Away’ goes as far as to steal it’s unsettlingly simple synth motif from ‘Everything In It’s Right Place’, which perhaps explains Corey Taylor’s recent claim that ‘Vol3’ occupies the middle ground between ‘Reign In Blood’ and Radiohead. And, as if to counterbalance the more off-message moments, elsewhere Slipknot sound more ferocious, more frenetic and more generally fucked off with the world than they have done before and the Ministry-meets-Manson mash-up of ‘Pulse Of The Maggots’ is an exemplary exercise in modern metal and as exhilarating a song as you’ll hear all year. There’s so much going on throughout ‘Vol 3’, so many ideas, so much to hear, that it takes more than one listen to fully take it in. On the first listen it feels fractured and unfocused on the second it sounds like the metal album of the year. One thing that is certain is that Slipknot have made an ambitious attempt to move things forward. So, who’s coming with them? After all, what have you got to lose? 8/10 Dan Silver”

One week deep into the recording of their Roadrunner debut, 3 Inches Of Blood is struck by lightning. Well, the studio anyway. Around 10pm last Thursday (20/05/2004), the studio the band is recording at in Chicago was literally struck by lightning. The board at the studio got wrecked (technically speaking, of course), but no tracks were lost. All in all, everyone is all right, and the band should be back recording once again as soon as tonight.

For those of you who are lucky enough to have nabbed yourselves tickets for tomorrow nights (24/05/04) Slipknot gig at the Astoria, here’s some useful info re collecting your tickets. If your ticket has been purchased using someone elses card (e.g. parents or partners card) you should take with you a letter signed by the card holder stating they give you permision to collect the tickets. The letter should also refer to the card number. And, to make it all even easier for you, the Astoria box office will be opening it’s doors at 10am for ya’ll to pick up your tix, so if you make it down nice and early, there shouldn’t be too much of a mad rush! And don’t forget, the guys will be at the Virgin Megastore, Oxford Street, London TONIGHT from midnight, signing copies of their new album ‘Vol 3: (The Subliminal Verses)’ which hits stores TOMORROW.

Please welcome the latest signing to Roadrunner Records, The Agony Scene. The Agony Scene is best known for the dark imagery and sonics of 2003’s Solid State Records self-titled release, produced by none other than Killswitch Engage’s Adam Dutkiewicz. Over the course of tours with Demon Hunter, As I Lay Dying and Beloved, as well the Van’s Off The Wall Tour with Avenged Sevenfold and the Suicide Machines, The Agony Scene developed a ferocious live rep. Did You Know? The Agony Scene were slated to be main support on a Killswitch Engage tour last year. True. However, KsE had to forego the tour in favor of writing The End Of Heartache. The Agony Scene is a perfect fit here. Dark, pure-metal riffs, fiendish energy, and whisper-to-scream-to-shriek vocals. Look for The Agony Scene to hit the studio this Fall for an early 2005 release. To The Agony Scene, welcome aboard!