Last Monday night, July 3, Gary Meskil, the frontman and bassist of New York crossover thrash outfit Pro-Pain, was the victim of a robbery and near-fatal group assault while on tour with the band in Brussels, Belgium. According to an account of the incident posted to the Pro-Pain Facebook page, Meskil's assailants robbed the musician of his cash, credit card and passport before assaulting him, striking his head with an ice-pick. He is currently in a Belgian hospital recovering from his injuries, which include severe head trauma, multiple fractures to the face and jaw and significant blood loss. Brussels police have identified several suspects in the attack and have confiscated at least one weapon, according to local reports.

One week later, Meskil's condition has stabilized, his loved ones say. While he's currently "resting comfortably," the bandleader will require surgery for his wounds. Meskil offered his account of the attack to Het Nieuwsblad's Tom De Smet, subsequently published by Blabbermouth:

"Last Monday, I went out with Adam [Phillips, Pro-Pain guitarist] in Brussels. Adam returned to the hotel in the Stalingradlaan in the center of Brussels, and I went for a beer in a bar nearby, around midnight. At the table next to me, there were some young guys and we started talking. It was all very friendly. Just a nice chat. After a while, I went to the bartender to pay my bill. When I returned, two of the guys I had talked to bumped into me. Then I realized that they took my wallet. I confronted them and they start hitting me. They got help from four others. They used an ice pick to hit me on the head. They kept on kicking me after I had fallen to the ground. They robbed me of a lot of money: the fees of several shows. I lost eighty percent of my blood. The doctors said that I was lucky to make it. They even had to remove glass from my eyes, because they kicked the glasses I was wearing. My jaw is broken, and I will need multiple surgeries. I don't know when I will be able to sing again. It can take weeks, possibly even months."

In the wake of last week's attack, two members of Meskil's family have set up a GoFundMe drive to cover $20,000 in medical and dental expenses not covered by the musician's insurance. Those who contribute to the fund, which has raised over $11,000 as of today, will be listed in the credits for Pro-Pain's next album. "We appreciate your kindness and generosity at this difficult time," Lisa and Gary Jr. said in the campaign description. Click here to pitch in.

Best wishes for a successful, speedy recovery, Gary!

French sludge/doom outfit Monarch have a new full-length on the way. Never Forever, the follow-up to 2014's Sabbracadaver LP (and 2015's covers EP Sacrifice Your Parents, Satan Wants You To), arrives September 22 via Profound Lore. As evidenced by the haunting first single "Song to the Void," the band's latest album finds them tempering an already infernal racket with churning, turgid dream pop. Bandleader Emilie Bresson's eerie vocals remain foreboding and shadow-steeped, and they possess an ethereal, delicate quality heretofore unexplored in Monarch's broader body of work, more reminiscent of Chelsea Wolfe than Noothgrush.

The same can be said for the song's surrealistic, stop-motion video, which doubles as an album trailer. The black-and-white visual mixes the cheery with the morbid, juxtaposing images of fields and butterflies with dark rituals and creepy ruins. To further illustrate the schism, Bresson starts off the video clutching a balloon, and ends up holding a noose. Check it out below.

"It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" fans are undoubtedly familiar with the Dayman, a hero born from the deranged, spray-paint clouded mind of one Charlie Kelly. Legend has it that the Dayman (who may or may not be Kelly himself) developed some strange and remarkable powers, as a result of a strange (and very problematic) encounter with the Nightman, his archnemesis. One day, Kelly decided to turn the story into a song; Together with his drinking buddy Dennis Reynolds, the two formed a band called Electric Dream Machine and took the legend to the big stage.

The audience at Paddy's Pub came away from the performance relatively unmoved – there was a fair bit of heckling, due in no small part to the duo's ridiculous outfits – but YouTuber and "Always Sunny" fan Brian Nichols walked away with knowledge of "Dayman"'s true power: with its good-versus-evil storyline and über-dramatic arrangement, the song's as cvlt as it gets. Naturally, then, he's adapted Electric Dream Machine's classic into a Trivium-esque banger. Check out the "Dayman" metal cover below. Charlie would be proud.

Here's the original performance, in all its glory:

As this summer's concert tours go, you won't find one more deliciously dark, devastating and demonic than the triple bill of Slayer, Lamb of God and Behemoth, which makes landfall July 12th at the Sanford Center in Bemidji, Minnesota, and will spend the next six weeks laying waste to arenas and amphitheaters across North America.

Slayer, still the thrashiest of the original "Big Four" American thrash bands that minted the genre back in the 1980s, have already logged over 150 live dates since the release of their most recent album, Repentless, in September 2015. But guitarist and co-founder Kerry King tells Revolver that he can't wait to get out and do it again this summer with their comrades in metal from Virginia and Poland. When we caught up with him at home, a week before the tour, King gave us the lowdown about what we can expect from Slayer's set lists this time out, as well as how he prepares for the shows and what he listens to during his downtime.

REVOLVER Slayer, Lamb of God and Behemoth on the same tour — that's a pretty sick bill, isn't it?
KERRY KING Yeah, I'm excited. We haven't played with Lamb of God since at least 2006, though I may have my year wrong. It's hard to put a good metal tour together; it's hard for everybody to get their time freed up at the same time. So I'm glad this worked out. I can't wait for it to happen — if I was a metal fan, I'd be stoked. I mean, I am a metal fan, but you know what I'm saying! [Laughs]

Will the Slayer set lists for this tour be pretty similar to the shows you guys were recently doing in Europe?
Um, I haven't done much homework on it, yet. I just looked at the set list from the last time we played Vegas, which was roughly a year and a half ago. I want to go back and look at the rest of them, because I know on that particular tour our set list morphed a bit. I just like to make sure we're playing some things that we haven't played the last couple times through; you know, there's a ton of things we have to play every time we come through, so it gets harder to fill the random void, I guess you'd say. I know we're playing a new song off the new record that we haven't played before. That's one cool thing, but there will be some other stuff, some historical stuff that we haven't done in five, six years. Like I said, I'm still researching it.

Is that pretty typical for you before a tour — you'll look at what you played on previous dates in the same region, and construct the new set lists accordingly?
Yeah, and I'll take random cities, too — because sometimes you'll hit 'em on an A tour run, or sometimes you'll hit 'em on a B tour run, so… I put a little effort into it, and hopefully the fans appreciate that. I try to make it as good an experience as they can have.

You guys pulled out "Necrophiliac" [from 1985's Hell Awaits] when you played in Milan, Italy in June…
Did we? We hadn't played that one in a while! [Laughs]

Yeah, and you played "Die by the Sword" [from 1983's Show No Mercy] a handful of times on the European tour. How do you decide to throw something like that into the set? Is it a spur-of-the-moment thing?
It's funny — if you were sitting next to me, you'd see that I've still got my travel bag with me, and it's got thirteen or fourteen papers in there, all my European set list homework. It's a mess, for sure, with all the scribblings, all the set lists I actually wrote down and compared. I probably knew going into Italy that we were going to try "Necrophiliac," and at soundcheck we probably ran through it before we threw it in the set somewhere. It's preconceived, for sure.

What's the unplayed song from Repentless that you'll be doing on this tour?
We should have "Cast the First Stone" in there, which we've rehearsed a number of times. I think Tom's finally prepared to do it live — and we've got a rehearsal day the day before the first show, so I'm pretty sure that'll be in there from day one.

"Repentless," "When the Stillness Comes" and "You Against You" are the Repentless songs you've been playing most often. Do they just feel the best to play live, or are those the ones from the album that have gotten the best crowd response?
"Stillness" is an outstanding live song. The only time we've taken it out of the European set lists was if it was a daytime show, because then the vibe ain't the same. [Laughs] And "You Against You" — those two songs really work well together, because you've got the moodiest song on the record followed by the punkiest song on the record. I might have to separate them, though, because we've been doing it that way for quite a while now. But I'd like to have those songs still in the set; we'll see what happens. We're just trying to make the best set list — not for us. I mean, of course there are songs that I like to play, but fortunately most of the fans seem to like those songs too, so it's not like I'm constructing set lists just for my benefit.

What are some of your absolute favorite songs to play these days?
Absolute favorites to play? You know, I like to play "Raining Blood," I like to play "Hate Worldwide," I like to play "Disciple." [Laughs] I play in a band I would definitely be a fan of!

Does how you prepare for a show differ at all now from the way you'd prepare for one ten, twenty or thirty years ago?
Nah, I probably just stretch more. I've always played guitar for roughly an hour before going onstage. But I make sure my back and my neck are stretched out, because to throw that out at this point in the game would not be good! [Laughs]

What music do you listen to during your downtime on tour?
Basically, there are two times I listen to music on tour. One is in the gym, because when you're doing cardio you've gotta listen to something, or you'll just bore yourself to tears with whatever shit is on TV. In that case, it'll be something that I've known for a long, long time — I've got two Priest go-tos, which are Stained Class and Defenders [of the Faith]. I mean, I might play other ones, but with those, everything on the entire album is good. Could be Long Live Rock 'n' Roll by Rainbow; could be any of the old Sabbath stuff, even the old Sabbath stuff with Dio — that's great stuff. Sometimes I'll throw in Doomsday Machine by Arch Enemy; I love that album.

If we've been out drinking, and I don't want to get caught up in a Netflix series that I've been paying attention to — because if I've been out drinking, I'm not going to remember it — at that point in the night, I go to YouTube and just have rock and roll party night. I pick out videos that I love, or I haven't seen, and check it out.

Are there any plans in place to begin working on a follow-up to Repentless?
Funny thing is, Repentless isn't even two years old yet, though it seems like it is. But from that session, there are six or eight songs that are recorded — some with vocals, some with leads, but all with keeper guitar, drums and bass. So when those songs get finished lyrically, if the lyrics don't change the songs, they'll be ready to be on the next record. So we already have more than half a record complete, if those songs make it. This is actually the most prepared we've ever been for the next record in our history; there's no reason to not do more work, because it's already more than halfway done. Just write four or five new songs, and give the others some attention, and we'll be good to go. If we get a down period of time, which I know is coming at the end of this year, maybe we'll focus on that and get to it.

So it's conceivable that we could see a new Slayer record next year?
It's conceivable — but I'm certainly not gonna promise it, because every time I do, I make a liar of myself! [Laughs]

River Black are a new band helmed by four old masters from the East Coast. Vocalist Mike Olender, guitarist John Adubato and drummer Dave Witte previously played in Burnt By The Sun, a critically-acclaimed, sorely-missed metalcore outfit from New Jersey who shared stages with the likes of Mastodon and Dillinger Escape Plan before parting ways 2009. They're joined by Brett Bamberger, best known as the bassist for Boston crossover-thrash outfit Revocation. River Black (whose name pays homage to Burnt by the Sun's final record Heart of Darkness, and by extension, Joseph Conrad's novel of the same name) are set to release their eponymous debut album tomorrow, July 7, via Southern Lord. No need to wait until then to listen to it, though: Today, the band are streaming the 12-track effort in its entirety. Check out River Black below, and pre-order it here.

In an interview with Revolver last month, Witte cast aside any lingering characterizations of River Black as his former band with a new name: "We didn't want it to be Burnt by the Sun," he insisted – and characterized the self-titled's sonics as "a little darker, a little heavier, with less emphasis on speed and more on grooves, impact, and heaviness." In addition to old-school barnstormers like "Boat" and "Sink", River Black includes "Haunt," a collaboration with Mastodon drummer Brann Dailor (the band's longtime friend, as well as one of their biggest admirers).

Surprisingly for a band with an album on the way, River Black have no current plans to tour behind the album. "The days of going out, hopping in a cargo van, and grinding it out show to show are pretty much over," Olender told Revolver, adding, "We have the ability to choose what we want to do, because none of us need to do this band. We're doing it because we want to do it." 

Before they signed to Prosthetic, won a Metal Hammer Golden God award or played Download Festival, Venom Prison were just five friends from South Wales laying waste to their local hardcore scene. Three years after their 2014 formation, the five-piece have amassed a reputation as some of death metal's most promising upstarts, due in no small part to last year's excellent debut LP, Animus. 

Nevertheless, Venom Prison remain staunch DIY disciples, as evidenced by their action-packed "Perpetrator Emasculation" video. The band's latest visual, which collects Ashley Bea Photography's footage of a secret show the band held in their hometown, doubles as Venom Prison's show of solidarity with underground music communities worldwide. Watch below.

"Venom Prison grew from a grassroots hardcore scene, and have no intention of forgetting where we have come from," vocalist Larissa Stupar says of her band's new clip, adding, "Living in a time where music venues close down or just aren't affordable for underground promoters and bands, supporting your local scene is very important, as it helps expanding musical boundaries and help to evolve the bands involved in it. Hopefully this footage from 'Perpetrator Emasculation' spreads word that shows like this are going on all over the world in DIY spaces."

Venom Prison are set to hit the road with Australian death-metal outfit Aversions Crown for a European tour in early August. Their upcoming itinerary also includes a series of dates opening for Gorguts, plus appearances at Belgium's Ieper Festival and Germany's Void Fest.

Aug. 05 – London, UK – Boston Music Room *
Aug. 06 – Birmingham, UK – The Flapper *
Aug. 07 – Glasgow, UK – Audio *
Aug. 08 – Manchester, UK – Satan's Hollow *
Aug. 09 – Exeter, UK – Cavern Club *
Aug. 10 – Bournemouth, UK – The Anvil
Aug. 11 – Ieper, Belgium – Ieper Festival
Aug. 12 – Hamburg, DE – Menschenzoo ^
Aug. 13 – Potsdam, DE – Archiv ^
Aug. 14 – Wiesbaden, DE – Schlachthof $
Aug. 15 – Leipzig, DE – Naummanns $
Aug. 16 – Rotterdam, NL – Baroeg $
Aug. 17 – Oberhausen, DE – Kulttempel $
Aug. 18 – Zinzendorf, DE – Void Fest 2017

* w/ Aversions Crown
^ w/ Without Human Trait
$ w/ Gorguts, Revocation, Fallujah, Havok

Decapitated's new album Anticult is out tomorrow (July 7) via Nuclear Blast. The Polish oufit have offered two previews of the upcoming record so far: lead scorcher "Never," as well as the thunderous "Earth Scar" (which just got an occult-inspired music video). With the LP's release imminent, the band is letting go of another new track. This one's called "One Eyed Nation," and you can stream it below.

Speaking with Alternative Press today, Decapitated guitarist Wacław "Vogg" Kiełtyka described "One Eyed Nation" as a song inspired by his lifelong love of grooves from across the musical spectrum. "I'm a big fan of Lauryn Hill; it's not metal, of course, it's more soul music, but the groove the musicians have on their albums is unbelievable," he said, "but if I talk about my inspiration for making groovy riffs, I would say that Pantera was the band — they were the most heavy, groovy band on the planet for me, always." 

As previously reported, Decapitated will tour behind Anticult this fall. That North American trek, which begins August 20 in Pittsburgh, features support from Thy Art Is Murder, Fallujah and Ghost Bath.

Aug. 20 – Pittsburgh, PA – Rex Theater
Aug. 21 – Richmond, VA – Canal Club
Aug. 22 – Greensboro, NC – Blind Tiger
Aug. 23 – Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade
Aug. 24 – New Orleans, LA – Southport Hall
Aug. 25 – Houston, TX – Scout Bar
Aug. 26 – Austin, TX – Come And Take It Live
Aug. 27 – Dallas, TX – Gas Monkey Live
Aug. 29 – Denver, CO – The Summit Music Hall
Aug. 30 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Complex
Aug. 31 – Spokane, WA – The Pin
Sep. 01 – Portland. OR – Hawthorne Theater
Sep. 02 – Vancouver, BC – Rickshaw Theatre
Sep. 03 – Seattle, WA – Studio Seven
Sep. 05 – Reno, NV – Jub Jub's
Sep. 06 – San Francisco, CA – DNA Lounge
Sep. 07 – Hollywood, CA – The Roxy Theatre
Sep. 08 – Santa Ana, CA – The Observatory
Sep. 09 – Mesa, AZ – Club Red
Sep. 10 – El Paso, TX – Tricky Falls
Sep. 11 – Albuquerque, NM – Sunshine Theater
Sep. 13 – Lawrence, KS – Granada Theater
Sep. 14 – Joliet, IL – The Forge
Sep. 15 – Grand Rapids, MI – The Intersection
Sep. 16 – Toronto, ON – The Opera House
Sep. 17 – Montreal, QC – Corona Theatre
Sep. 18 – Ottawa, ON – Brass Monkey
Sep. 19 – Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall
Sep. 20 – Syracuse, NY – The Lost Horizon
Sep. 21 – New York, NY – Gramercy Theatre
Sep. 22 – Philadelphia, PA – Theatre Of Living Arts
Sep. 23 – Baltimore, MD – Baltimore Soundstage
Sep. 24 – Columbus, OH – Park Street

Boris are gearing up to release their new album Dear next Friday (July 14) via Sargent House. Today, the Japanese trio are streaming the LP in full. The ten-track effort features the previously-shared singles "Absolutego" and "Memento Mori," plus "Dystopia (Vanishing Point)", an atmospheric prog-metal jam that clocks in at nearly 12 minutes. "We don't feel comfortable calling Dear a return to our slow and heavy style," says Boris of their latest, "We've been heavy since day one." Listen below via NPR, and pre-order the album here.

Dear arrives just as Boris celebrate a quarter-century of melting faces; They originally conceived the record as a curtain call, but ultimately turned it into a victory lap. "At the very first moment, this album began as some kind of potential farewell note of Boris," the band explains. "However, it became a sincere letter to fans and listeners–you know, like 'Dear so-and-so, this is the new album from Boris' or something like that."

This fall, Boris will continue their 25th anniversary celebrations with an extensive North American tour, including stop-offs at the Sound on Sound, Desert Daze, and Days of Darkness festivals. They'll be supported by a rotating cast of openers: Torche, Sumac, Thou, Mutoid Man, Helms Alee, Subrosa, and Endon.

Oct. 03 – Fresno, CA – Strummers *
Oct. 04 – Sacramento, CA – Harlow's *
Oct. 06 – Eugene, OR – WOW Hall ^
Oct. 07 – Seattle, WA – Neumo's ^
Oct. 08 – Vancouver, BC – Rickshaw Theatre ^
Oct. 09 – Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge ^
Oct. 11 – San Francisco, CA – The Independent ^
Oct. 12-14 – Joshua Tree, CA – Institute of Mentalphysics (Desert Daze Fest)
Oct. 14 – Tucson, AZ – 191 Toole %
Oct. 16 – Salt Lake City, UT – Metro Music Hall %
Oct. 17 – Denver, CO – Bluebird Theater %
Oct. 19 – Lawrence, KS – Granada Theatre %
Oct. 20 – Omaha, NE – The Waiting Room %
Oct. 21 – Minneapolis, MN – Triple Rock Social Club +
Oct. 22 – Milwaukee, WI – Turner Hall +
Oct. 23 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall +
Oct. 25 – Detroit, MI – El Club +
Oct. 26 – Cleveland, OH – Grog Shop +
Oct. 27 – Millvale, PA – Mr Smalls +
Oct. 28 – Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer +
Oct. 29 – Baltimore, MD – Rams Head Live! (Days of Darkness)
Oct. 31 – Allston, MA – Brighton Music Hall =
Nov. 01 – Brooklyn, NY – Warsaw =
Nov. 04 – Durham, NC – Motorco =
Nov. 05 – Knoxville, TN – The Concourse =
Nov. 07 – Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade, Hell Stage =
Nov. 08 – Nashville, TN – Exit / In =
Nov. 09 – Birmingham, AL – Saturn $
Nov. 10 – New Orleans, LA – One Eyed Jacks $
Nov. 10-12 – McDade, TX – Sound on Sound Fest
Nov. 14 – Albuquerque, NM – Sister +
Nov. 15 – Phoenix, AZ – Crescent Ballroom #
Nov. 17 – San Diego, CA – Casbah #
 
* w/ Endon
^ w/ Sumac, Endon
% w/ Subrosa, Endon
+ w/ Helms Alee, Endon
= w/ Mutoid Man, Endon
$ w/ Thou, Endon
# w/ Torche, Endon