This is what happens when there is only one major touring festival in the summer. All the other bands team up for "mega tours". First there is Summer Slaughter, and now the promoters of that tour are branching out to a second nation wide tour, the Thrash and Burn Tour.

Headlined by DARKEST HOUR, the tour begins on July 29. Support on the trek will come from PARKWAY DRIVE, MISERY SIGNALS, WINDS OF PLAGUE, STICK TO YOUR GUNS, ARSIS, LIGHT THIS CITY, ARSONISTS GET ALL THE GIRLS and AFTER THE BURIAL. Special guests scheduled to appear on select dates include SUICIDE SILENCE, AS BLOOD RUNS BLACK, EMMURE, VEIL OF MAYA, BROTHER VON DOOM and others to be announced later.

The current itinerary for the tour is as follows:

Jul. 29 - Albuquerque, NM - Sunshine Theatre
Jul. 30 - Oklahoma City, OK - Diamond Theatre
Jul. 31 - Kansas City, KS - Beaumont
Aug. 01 - Dayton, OH - The Attic
Aug. 02 - Detroit, MI - Dirtfest
Aug. 03 - Milwaukee, WI - Robot Moshfest
Aug. 04 - Mokena, IL - The Pearl Room
Aug. 05 - Louisville, KY - Headliners
Aug. 06 - Cleveland, OH - Peabody's
Aug. 07 - Rochester, NY - Penny Arcade
Aug. 08 - Albany, NY - Northern Lights
Aug. 10 - New York, NY - Irving Plaza
Aug. 15 - Worcester, MA - The Palladium
Aug. 16 - Baltimore, MD - Sonar
Aug. 17 - Virginia Beach, VA - The Norva
Aug. 18 - Raleigh, NC - Lincoln Theatre
Aug. 19 - Atlanta, GA - The Masquerade
Aug. 20 - St. Petersburg, FL - State Theatre
Aug. 22 - San Antonio, TX - White Rabbit
Aug. 23 - Houston, TX - Java Jazz Outdoors
Aug. 24 - Dallas, TX - House of Blues
Aug. 25 - El Paso, TX - Club 101
Aug. 26 - Phoenix, AZ - Marquee Theatre
Aug. 27 - Los Angeles, CA - House of Blues
Aug. 28 - San Diego, CA - Soma
Aug. 29 - Bakersfield, CA - The Dom
Sep. 03 - Seattle, WA - Studio Seven

I have a new-found respect for AS I LAY DYING vocalist Tim Lambesis . In between being in a highly successful band, he had enough time to take something that everybody jokes about (Ahhhnuld quotes) and turn it into a full-on side project dubbed the AUSTRALIAN DEATH MACHINE. The first album, titled Total Brutal was produced by and performed by Tim himself, everything except for the vocals, which of course were done by Ahhnuld. The tracks have yet to be released but a short teaser has been posted on the band's Myspace page. A tracklisting has also been released, and its quite great:

1. Hello California
2. Get to the Choppa
3. Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers
4. All of the Songs Sound the Same
5. I am a Cybernetic Organism, Living Tissue Over (Metal) Endoskeleton
6. Come With Me if You Want to Live
7. What it’s like to be a Singer at Band Practice
8. Who is Your Daddy, and What Does He Do?
9. You Have Just Been Erased
10. Broo-Tall Song Idea
11. Here is Subzero, Now Plain Zero
12. So Far, So Good, So Let’s Talk About It
13. Screw You (Benny)
14. Why?
15. If It Bleeds, We Can Kill It
16. It’s Not A Tumor
17. Not So Hidden Track

The album is available everywhere July 22.

DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN keep it surreal in this new clip for their latest single "Black Bubblegum", one of the mellower tunes on their latest release Ire Works. The clip was directed by Ilan Sharone for Pneumatic Pictures.

If you haven't checked it out yet, a few months back we posted a fantastic interview with vocalist Greg Pucatio, where he tells some awesome stories regarding the recording process for the new record and tells a rad story about shrooming in the Grand Canyon. Check out all of our DEP videos here.

TESTAMENT just put out The Formation of Damnation and MTV is recognizing, featuring the band on its 52/52 series where the band will be played all week on the network in bite size 30 second clips making way for a ton of internet bonus footage. Headbangers Blog also has a bunch of cool clips of the band being interviewed and some live clips.

Oh snap! Ever since we launched the new site , videos have just been pouring in like wildfire! In case you missed our updates the last few days or are too lazy to look over to the right where our featured videos are listed, here are some of the latest videos posted to our site:

> We have begun posting our interviews from this year's New England Metal and Hardcore Festival . Check out the NEMHF channel where we have already posted ANIMOSITY 's Leo Miller interviewing SOILENT GREEN , an awesome interview with the dudes in SKELETONWITCH and an interview with new MEGADETH guitarist Chris Broderick . We have plenty more awesomeness coming all week long from the New England Metal and Hardcore Fest so stay tuned!

> Our buddy Metal Nick has been posting some gems from his home base in Maryland. He recently posted a video of a new unreleased GOD FORBID song , a shredtastic live ORIGIN track off their new album, Anthethesis , new DYING FETUS live footage , new A LIFE ONCE LOST live footage and more. Check all his updates in the Metal Nick Injection channel .

> As part of our ongoing Bootleg Series , we have posted 2 new live clips featuring Rocky Mountain Hydrogrind specialists CEPHALIC CARNAGE : Counting the Days and Observer To The Obliteration Of Planet Earth (featuring an awesome King of the Hill intro).

> In our Exclusives channel we have posted a hilarious pre-production video diary from ALL SHALL PERISH , a new interview with FIREWIND , an interview with MESHUGGAH drummer Tomas Haake , as well as a new World Tour video diary from HORSE THE BAND .

> And, finally, if you haven't checked it out yet, head over to our Maryland Deathfest channel , where we have posted a ton of Rewind clips from last year's show of a bunch of awesome bands including MISERY INDEX, GOROD, ODIOUS MORTEM, MALEVOLENT CREATION, ZYKLON and many more.

We hope you are enjoying the new site. We are constantly adding new videos and adding new little features to the site. Please take a moment to register for the site , its absolutely free, and let us know what you think about the new layout in our forums.

It’s hard to be tr00. Every week, the editors of MetalSucks.net , Axl Rosenberg and Vince Neilstein, will dissect the week’s stories and decide which stories are deemed worthy of the title “tr00″and admonish all posers who are false and upset the metal gods. Here are this week’s entries:

tr00:

Dillinger Escape Plan vs. Disturbed
Remarks about stage performance led to some highly amusing backtalk and a subsequent media tornado. We live for this kind of shit.

Deicide
Air an amazingly low budget TV advertisement .

Metallica
Released a spurt of new video clips featuring rehearsal footage and clips of new tunes. Good? Too soon to tell, but who isn’t interested?

False:

Madonna
Unknowingly covers Pantera at a live show. Lame.

Scars on Broadway
Daron Malakian and John Dolmayan of System of a Down’s side project, Scars on Broadway, signed with the big boys at Interscope . Why bother with a major these days, especially if you’re already of such high stature? Just pull a Trent Reznor and DIY.

Scott Weiland / The fucked up U.S. legal system
Weiland served 13 minutes of an 8-day jail sentence resulting from a DUI conviction. What the fuck?? Most people get locked up for a year for a second offense. Money rules all.

We have begun posting our exclusive coverage of this year's New England Metal and Hardcore Festival . To kick things off, ANIMOSITY vocalist Leo Miller steps in and interviews one of his favorite bands, New Orleans' SOILENT GREEN . The band talks about the hard times they recently went through, how their local scene has rebounded since Hurricane Katrina, what's next for the band, as well as tour stories with Miller. This was truly an awesome interview, as Leo really stepped up and hit a homerun with this bad boy. Big ups, Leo! We will be posting a new interview with ANIMOSITY later in the week, as well as new interviews with SKELETONWITCH, MEGADETH, ARSIS, THROUGH THE EYES OF THE DEAD, HATE ETERNAL and more. All this week on Metal Injection!

Hello again to all those who need advice. I've been gone for awhile but I'm back to irritate you once more with "Ask Me I'm Right". I'm also back to promote Traben basses who were kind enough to give me my own signature series bass . For more info go to Trabenbass.com . Enjoy. Don’t hesitate to popup your mail program of choice and send me a question to askmeimright@metalinjection.net and I’ll be sure to respond with some life-changing advice.

Hey Man,
I had to ask you…because you're right! Haha. Anyway, hi my name is Austin Beck, I've been playing metal/metalcore (damn i hate labels) for about 3 years now, not long at all, but I've been playing hard rock since I was 13. even in my early years I tried to do metal screams. Well, I've only just now got a hold of it, and I'm doing much better, I don't hurt my vocal chords, and people on YouTube seem to like my screams. But it seems, there aren't any good teachers for metal screaming…I've done my best at trying to teach screaming onYouTube, and I have gotten some awesome feedback, but I know there MUST be someone better suited to teach this. Do you have any advice?

I already bought both Zen of Screaming DVDs, and even though Melissa Cross has some great ideas for vocal warmups and helping you understand from an anatomical view…her scream has no power??? And no one in her DVDs screams like her…if you don't know which scream I'm talking about, it's that THING that sounds like Marge Simpson…I definitely respect Melissa Cross, but no one on stage uses that kind of scream unless they're doing super low growls.
But, if you do know any good metal scream teachers I'd love to know! Thank you so much for reading all this crap! lol.
-austin beck

Greg's response:
Austin,
Although the youtube community are enjoying your screams I think you need to venture out into the world of rock and talk to real people about your problem. Are there any bands in your area that have screamers? If their singer isn't a douche bag, good luck with that, then sit him down and ask him how he does it. I personally don't know any "screamers" but I do know some "moaners". I don't think they can help with your situation but I'll get you there numbers anyway.
-Greg

Hi,
There is a bully at school, and he KEEPS eating MY lunch! What should I do?

p.s. Are 7 string guitars metal?

Greg's response:
My good friend Gunface once had a co-worker who had his lunches stolen. He put ground up glass in his sandwich. His food was never stolen again. To answer your other question, did Jimmy Page play a seven string?
-Greg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpS071OfaWw

Do you think this is cool - i mean apart from the crappy playing - i made it :p

Greg's response:
Thank you. I think it rules! We are also sorry for the crappy playing.
-Greg

Whatsup Greg,

First off i must say that you are one kickass funny dude. Second, I'm digging the epic beard. I must say though that I think I have you beat on that. Not only do I sport a badass epic beard myself, but I also happen to have one eye. Yep…one eye. I'll show it to you when i catch your next show. Do you think this will impress other awesome band members such as yourself?

P.S. I do NOT wear an eye patch.

-Andrew from Miami, FL

Greg's response:
Weird,
This is the second "one eyed" question I've received. Ummm… I'm excited about your beard and I'll be impressed only if you show up to our show dressed as a "one-eyed jack" and you play cards with me.
-Greg

Hi, my name is Mark and I would first like to say I am a rather big fan of your music. I have yet to see you live but I plan to the next time you hit up Iowa! *cough cough* Cedar Falls the Reverb *cough cough*. But anyways, I have to questions for you today. 1. Me and my friends have started a sludgegrind band and are looking at practice PA's and a bass amp *obv. for our bassist* and was wonderin if u had any suggestions for us. 2. We have been playing for about 2 months and our guitarist are "kind of" understanding eachother on how to write, but each of them still wants to play something the other dosent know and dosent blend at all. What would you say could help us with these problems?

thank you kinda sir
-Mark

Greg's response:
Kinda sir? I thought my doctor was the only one who knew that I was a hermie. You can find a cheap PA and Bass rig in your area I'm sure. Look through the want ads or Craig's list and steer clear of shifty music stores. The one good thing about your situation is that great bands like Television and Guns and Roses had guitar players that were doing completely different things at the same time. Try to use it to your advantage.
-Greg

About to do something regrettable but need that extra push? You can get advice from Greg Weeks. Just email askmeimright@metalinjection.net

BLABBERMOUTH has just been on top of any and all METALLICA updates. The band just played the KROQ Weenie Roast, the annual radio festival held in Irving, CA last night and all the pro-shot, pro-soundboard footage has already been posted. Yay, technology! The band's set consisted of old school classics such as Creeping Death, Master of Puppets, Seek and Destroy and Battery as well as later material such as Fuel, The Memory Remains and of course Enter Sandman. The band (wisely, perhaps?) didn't pull anything from their last abominationalbum, St. Anger making me think that maybe they've learned their lesson. Watch the full set after the jump: (more…)

Our good friend, Jon Wiederhorn has just posted a brand new audio podcast interview with one of Metal Injection's favorite front men, Nergal from BEHEMOTH. It's an awesome interview where Nergal talks about past tours, new albums, live DVDs, and their controversial recent Bible tearing in Poland. You can listen to the interview right now at this location or check it out on iTunes.

Who knew Michael J. Fox had it in him? The song is Serenity In Fire by Kataklysm.

Testament's The Formation of Damnation has been hotly anticipated for two reasons.  First, it marks the return of lead guitarist Alex Skolnick.  This resets the lineup to its original members but for drummer Paul Bostaph.  Second, it's taken quite a while.  Since 1999's The Gathering, the band members have been busy elsewhere.  Rhythm guitarist Eric Peterson has his black metal band Dragonlord, Skolnick has his jazz trio, and the drummer's throne is a perpetually revolving door.  Add in reunion touring and record labels folding like cheap lawn chairs, and the result has been a brand in search of a soul.

That soul is back on Formation.  It's a Testament record, no more and no less.  Despite Skolnick's return, it's in line with Testament's output after his departure in the '90s.  Thus, thrash riffs bulge with death metal heft, but leavened by the band's trademark melodic sense.  Skolnick's fluid shredding is welcome and familiar, but it sometimes feels airdropped into material mostly written by Peterson.  Still, this division of labor works best.  Skolnick joins the songwriting credits for "Dangers of the Faithless," and adds the unnecessary complexity that bogged down The Ritual, which he dominated.  Peterson is quite capable of running the show himself.  His "The Persecuted Won't Forget" is some of Testament's most dynamic work in years; when Skolnick swoops in with a jaw-dropping solo, it's merely an added bonus.

The biggest bonus is Chuck Billy, who is seemingly ageless.  His vocals are just as ferocious as they were on Low, when the band dropped its balls to try out death metal.  As always, his lyrics are slightly awkward (e.g., "Election day spitting bullshit to the enslaved / Make them believe compromised insanity").  This time, though, they're at least directed, protesting the war in Iraq.  Anyway, Billy's vocals have always been about their sound.  For having a limited range, he's quite expressive.  When he howls "Fear is only what you feel" in "F.E.A.R.," one can't help but fear him a little.

Formation bursts with energy, yet it's muzzled by overly hot production and mastering that renders it uniformly loud.  The record is one long peak, which makes it a tiring listen.  Andy Sneap contributes his usual clear, heavy mix, but the mastering destroys all separation and smears everything together.  Drums smack futilely against digital zero, and songs never come up for air.  The material is good, the sound is bad, and this comeback leaves the listener wanting more.

7/10

Testament on MySpace
Nuclear Blast Records

Somebody over at the Destructiod blogs managed to scan in the first image of the new Guitar Hero drums expected in the fourth iteration of the game. As we've previously reported, GH IV will not only have drums, but bass and microphone as well. After seeing this photo, its safe to say that your Rock Band drums will not be compatible with the Guitar Hero series (which is pretty lame). Also revealed recently, were the first bands to be featured in the game which are VAN HALEN, THE EAGLES, LINKIN PARK and SUBLIME.

There is nothing I love more than a humorous band rider. Of course, the undisputed holy grail of concert riders belongs to Iggy Pop and the Stooges, but on their latest tour, the FOO FIGHTERS try and give Iggy a run for his money. I have posted some morsels below, and check out the full rider here.

Awesome! That's the only way I can describe MESHUGGAH's new video for 'Bleed'. Directed by Ian McFarland & Mike Pecci, the video clearly takes inspiration from the album art, which Tomas Haake discussed in a recent interview with Metal Injection to be about the innate evil in man. Long live MESHHUGGAAAHHH!