Come one, come all, the director SWEARS you will ALL be involved in the Slipknot video shoot if you do. Slipknot will be shooting a video for the track “Duality” off their upcoming Vol. 3:(The Subliminal Verses) CD in Des Moines (or thereabout) on Saturday, March 27th. We don’t have exact shoot address or time just yet, but that is the date. And we need you to show up. Consider this an open invite to make your way to Des Moines for a day…should be a crazy time, and from the sounds of the video, if you show it will be like watching the band perform live in your house. More details to follow. hear new Slipknot starting March 30th at www.slipknot1.com

A quick note for y’all out there – today the first Thornley single got its first official modern rock add to US radio. The station, WMFS in Memphis. Memphis is on “So Far So Good.” For those of you currently checking out Nickelback dates up north in the US, make note, Thornley is the band opening the show. debut Thornley CD coming May 17th

At this year’s Download Festival in Glasgow, you can catch the mighty Machine Head playing on June 3rd. Tickets are on sale now.

The amazing new 36 Crazyfists album ‘A Snow-Capped Romance’ is released on March 15th and is available for around 퉌£11.99 from HMV, Virgin (look out for the 퉌£2 off voucher in Kerrang, issue 13/3), MVC, Music Zone plus your local official ‘Roadrage’ store. And speaking of Kerrang!, do read the below awesome album review… “Now that nu-metal has toddled off ino the sunset never to be seen again (fingers crossed), and post-hardcore and all things heart-wrenching have moved out of dark bedrooms and onto MTV, the hybrid machine has really started picking up momentum. A couple of years ago Glassjaw confused everyone, then Lostprophets got massive, and before anyone knew where they were, Funeral For A Friend were off on tour with Iron Maiden and Thrice had rooms full of hardcore kids air-guitaring. 36 Crazyfists have been around for a decade but only released their debut full length two years ago. This, their second album, was produced by James Wisner, previously responsible for recording Dashboard Confessional, but was mixed by Andy Sneap who’s worked with Arch Enemy and Earth Crisis. Therefore, this could’ve ended up sounding contrived, unnatural and frankly all over the shop. It’s true that ‘A Snow-Capped Romance’ has all the sheen and glossy production of a big metal record, and this was never going to be the grittiest album ever, but its also true that the band have recorded 11 huge-sounding tracks that will appeal to rock fans across the board. Let’s start with opener ‘At The End Of August’ – an urgent hardcore onslaught with emotive, melodious choruses and throat-scraping vocals. The comes ‘The Heart And The SHape’ – a song that gives Lostprophets a run for their money in the catchy hook department. On ‘Bloodwork’, frontman Brock Lindow gives the screaming a rest and lets his vocals stretch fully, sounding like a combination of Glassjaw’s Daryl Palumbo and Alien Ant Farm’s Dryden Mitchell. Then there’s stark spoken-word ‘Song For A Fisherman’ – a tribute to family, friends and 36 Crazyfists’ hometown of Anchorage (‘Those are the things I will definitely die with’ sighs Lindow wistfully), before a final return to the weighty riffing and angst-driven drama. There is a risk here that hardcore fans will find this too ‘rock’ and metal fans will think it’s too ’emo’. But this has plenty of both attributes that will appeal to both audiences equally. 36 Crazyfists might just be your new favourite band.” Rae Alexandra, Kerrang! KKKK.

We’ve told you how great the new Dirty Americans record ‘Strange Generation’ is. More than once. And come Monday you can find out for yourself, as the record is officially released. Meanwhile, don’t just take our word for it… here is an awesome KKKK review from this week’s Kerrang! magazine… Kerrang! KKKK “Time may have made them little more than a footnote in rock history, but The Workhorse Movement were a pretty good band that promised to become great. So the emergence of Dirty Americans – effectively the same band, minus one rapper and with an exceptional new drummer – should have plenty of people slavering in anticipation. They won’t be disappointed. It’s obvious from the pendulous bounce of ‘No Rest’ onwards that this is music built to be blasted from the stereo of a convertible as you hurtle down the freeway on a hot summer’s day. Dirty Americans go straight for the jugular with straightforward riffs, melodies and honest, sunny stoner vibes rock music at its uplifting, unpretentious best, in love with itself and devoted to easing the rest of us into the same groove with breezy, psychedelic harmonies, feelgood choruses and lashings of ass-shaking soul. From the Hendrix strut of ‘Car Crash’ to the shimmering ‘We Were Young’, this is the work of a supremely confident band who have nailed their sound first time out. ‘Strange Generation’ sounds like one of 2004’s essential purchases.” The Dirty Americans stunning debut album ‘Strange Generation’ is released on March 15th and is available for around 퉌£11.99 from HMV, Virgin (look out for the 퉌£2 off voucher in Kerrang, issue 13/3), MVC, Music Zone plus your local official ‘Roadrage’ store.

The second single to be taken from Nickelback’s hit album ‘The Long Road’ is released on Monday March 15th. ‘Feelin Way Too Damn Good’ will retail for only 퉌£1.99 from HMV, Virgin, Woolworths, ASDA, Tescos plus your local official ‘Roadrage’ store.

Checking in with Cradle Of Filth’s Dave Pybus, in week 3 of the recording of the new album. “I guess this report is turning into a weekly affair as things here in the studio are moving at a great pace. It’s all top drama, for sure. Things go good, things go bad. Pretty stressful being here in the middle of it all. That’s the name of the game though. If you can’t stand the heat… erm… go to the pub! If you can’t go to the pub… go to the toystore! Me, Martin and engineer Steve Carter took a quick break and drove to the Modellers Loft toystore which saw me spending near 퉌£300 on ‘War Criminals of the 20th Century’ Dolls. Amazing. I could have spent ten grand, easy!!! Anyways, I’m sure you’re not reading this for my personal interests, although the band this week has taken a turn in Paul and Martin revealing their innerselves by finally adding their members chambers to the Cradle Of Filth website. They assured me to finish them by adding photos this week and watch for Dani’s to be updated soon. Maybe I can get James to add his too. As for the album… lots going on with us recording the last few drum tracks for the songs on the album, plus a few extras, including the rumoured SAMHAIN cover ‘Halloween II’ (from their 1987 album ‘November-Coming-Fire’). Funny how my bass amp blew on recording the first four bars, delaying recording for a few hours. Jinx or what! Guitar tracks are sounding great on top of the previously recorded drum and bass tracks we did in the first 2 weeks. Can’t wait to start adding keyboards and samples (spooky noises especially) to give the songs their true feel. Anyone out there who’s wondering how ‘electronic’ it’s gonna sound should be aware it’s not fucking ‘Dance’ music we are doing. We are an EXTREME METAL band utilising different elements to produce a certain atmosphere in the vein of early John Carpenter soundtracks. Like, say, you could cite the Hellraiser movie soundtracks as influence on the orchestra on ‘Damnation’, keyboards are just as effective in creating a horror feel. Maybe some sad people out there should get off certain unhealthy message boards and go and educate themselves in different kinds of music before slagging us few who are actually doing this for the love of horror music and trying to push the envelope a little. Next week we are gonna start the competition to win exclusive items from the studio. Watch this space for details.” Dave

Come end of the month, DevilDriver will be back in Santa Barbara, California at Velvet Jones to film a video for the track “Nothing’s Wrong?”.

In probably the most anticipated (and eagerly awaited) reunion in death metal history, Obituary returned to the stage in the shithole where it all began: Tampa, Florida. Forget every band that played the weekend’s Sun N’ Steel Festival. This was the one. Obituary. The band that authored some of the genre’s finest and most unforgettable records: Slowly We Rot, Cause of Death, The End Complete…a heaving, belching nauseously heavy sound that some have tried to duplicate and none have or ever will replicate. Cut to March 7, 2004. The Obituary banner is hanging – the old Michael Whelan scrims from the Cause of Death era flank the stage and the anticipation is as thick as the Florida night air. When the band takes the stage, breaking into (appropriate enough) “Back From The Dead,” it’s like they’ve never left. In fact, with the exception of guitarist Allen West’s shaved head, the entire band looks exactly as they did a decade before. Most noticeably, monster-throated belcher John Tardy, replete with the same length blonde mane is charging around, ferociously overjoyed to be back. Now hirsute, Donald Tardy, fresh from providing the party beats for partymeister supreme, Andrew WK, isn’t missing a hit. Frank Watkins is still beating the crap out of his bass while West churns out searing lead after lead. And of course, Trevor Peres is a mass of hair surrounding his near-skeletal visage. Showing no signs of tire from an earlier set that evening with his other band, Catastrophic, Peres is still Obituary’s sickening riff-master general. Simply put, the boys are back to pulp, pulverize and probably do awful things to your intestines. Yes, Obituary are back, with more shows planned (including a set at New Jersey’s Metal Meltdown this coming weekend) and a new album in the works. Seven years later, songs like “Chopped In Half,” “Dying,” or the show’s closer “Slowly We Rot” sound as vital as ever. Apparently, there’s a handful of new Obie-tunage in the works that the band plans to record in the coming months. Yep, Obituary are back. As countless also-rans and newbies step to the plate, it’s clear who the masters of the genre still remain. Let’s face it, death metal needs Obituary now more than ever.

Here is something you won’t know… All of those in the San Francisco Bay area tonight, surely are going to the Exodus show at the SNA Lounge. A certain Mr Phil Demmel of Machine Head is also attending tonight’s Exodus show, for he will be making a special one-off appearance with support band Hail Satan, a Mercyful Fate tribute band to do one number! Now that’s gotta be worth getting there early for.