Set in a club deep within the underbelly of Paris, The Profane Exhibit explores the inner workings of a secret, wicked society. At first it resembles an ordinary fetish or Goth nightclub, but hidden within the cavernous building are many rooms, one of which is known as “The Room of Souls,” a private gathering place of the world’s richest and most evil people. Their host is the elegant, yet frightening, Madame Sabatier. As the film unfolds, each member takes a turn and spins a true tale of their depravity for the amusement of the group.

Horror icons from around the world have been assembled to create this truly unique film experience. From the minds that created Cannibal Holocaust, At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul, Philosophy of a Knife, Tokyo Gore Police, Hardware, Wax Mask, Cemetery Man, Theater Bizarre, The ABCs of Death, August Underground’s Mordem, Cannibal, Time Crimes, and Dread, comes a collection of stories that serve as a mirror for looking deep inside our current world and inside ourselves.

HHFF cofounder and Lead Programmer Corey Mitchell says, “having the U.S. premiere of The Profane Exhibit at the Housecore Horror Film Festival makes perfect sense. TPE is the most extreme horror film to come down the pike in years and HHFF is the epitome of the extreme horror film festival. We are about expanding the boundaries of what a horror film festival can be and TPE does the same thing for horror anthologies.”

Mitchell also stated that The Profane Exhibit will receive the Blood Red Carpet treatment and that directors Coffin Joe and Ryan Nicholson, producers David Bond and Manda Manuel, and composer Maurizio Guarini of Goblin will all be in attendance. Former Austin Chronicle movie reviewer and horror fanatic Marc Savlov will also conduct a Q&A after the screening.

“We are amazed at how much talent we are able to bring in to support this amazing film, in this, our first year of existence,” declared Mitchell. “It is our commitment to the real fans of horror to expose them to new voices in the genre as well as the classic creators.”

The Profane Exhibit’s producers David Bond and Manda Manuel explained why they decided to hold the U.S. premiere of
his film at the inaugural Housecore Horror Film Festival. “We chose this event because we have always been a fan of Philip’s. We felt since this is his first time doing this festival, that it’s perfect for a film of this caliber to start his history of amazing films shown there first.”

The U.S. premiere of  The Profane Exhibit joins an already heavy list of festival performances, screenings and special events that have been announced to date, including the North American premiere of Italian maestros of horror
Goblin live-scoring Dario Argento’s horror masterpiece, Suspiria; concerts from Down, Crowbar, Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals, EyeHateGod, and Warbeast; special guest appearances by noted and notorious filmmakers Coffin Joe, Jörg Buttgereit, and Jim VanBebber; and Void ov Voices–another one-time-only, metal-meets-horror event with extreme metal vocalist Attila Csihar (best known from iconic black-metal band Mayhem) using sonic manipulations to create a live soundtrack for The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

Many more bands, special guests, films, and special events to be announced over the next few months.

Chris Krovatin is the author of three young adult novels,

OK, here’s what I’m thinking: I want the band name, you know, Meatball Grinder, only I want “Meatball” to be done as, like, splatters of human intestines against a brick wall on a hot day, right? But then “Grinder” should be made of big jagged pieces of riveted metal with kind of a chrome look. But here’s where it gets important: I want the intestines in the “M” to be pulled into kind of a chute, right, and then have the “R” have a spout that’s spitting out this furious barrage of ground meat, just a repulsive spray of chunky remains. And can we put an inverted cross in there? What if the “T” in “Meatball” is an inverted cross? No one’s done that, right?

Creating a truly cool band logo is hard, especially in metal where everything is done to death. But if you nail it, then damn, you’ve done good. Sometimes, your band says enough that you don’t need a logo, just a font (Motörhead, Pantera). Sometimes, your band is down to change their shit up album to album, the awesome band name doing most of the graphic designer’s job (Black Sabbath, Electric Wizard). And sometimes, you decide to have your band logo look like a Vidalia onion (Naglfar). But for the elite few, that logo remains as perfect symbol for that band’s awesome sound and atmosphere. Likewise, if your band logo sucks, I will never 100 percent dig you. Nothing personal, but it matters. So, dear readers, here is my list of the Six Coolest and Lamest Metal Band Logos.

The Six Coolest Metal Band Logos:

1. Slayer HELL yes. No other logo even touches the Slayer logo. It has a sharp old-school thrash-metal vibe to it (and, let’s all quietly admit, a slightly fascistic quality with that “S”), but remains edgy and modern. Perfect for tattoos, graffiti, yarmulkes, socks, shot glasses, rolling papers, and whatever else you can think of. Put it on everything.

2. Iron Maiden With its classic red block lettering, this is easily one of the most identifiable band logos in metal. It immediately invokes the traditional concept of the genre—long hair, pumping fists, black sleeveless shirts, war. Predictable, perhaps, but undeniable in its eternal power. Hail.

3. Metallica Yeah, we gotta do it. Say what you want about them as a band, Metallica has one of the cooler logos in music. What makes it so awesome is its simplicity—just make the ends of the word sharp, like fangs. Every time a death-metal band designs a wholly unreadable logo, they should stop and consider this one. Damn near perfect.

4. Napalm Death All too often, death-metal bands err on the side of spiky logos (Death, Morbid Angel) or dripping gory logos (Cryptopsy, Autopsy, all the “-topsies” really). Napalm Death found a perfect medium, their shredded, scrawled skeleton of a logo standing as a symbol of all things insane, repulsive, and enraged. Rock this on a shirt while stomping a Nazi’s face in.

5. Mayhem The Emperor logo’s more regal and the Darkthrone logo’s more cult, but the Mayhem logo has it all—spikes, crosses, bat wings, and “the true” written atop it. This is the standard that every black-metal band wanted to follow, a mutated outgrowth of overdriven evil. God, just LOOK at it.

6. Nine Inch Nails White box. “N,” “I,” backward “N.” Simple, elegant, hardcore, solid, undeniable, awesome.

Honorable mentions: Opeth, Carcass, Emperor, Venom, Death, Morbid Angel, Anthrax, Nile, Twisted Sister, Wolves in the Throne Room, and that Sepultura “S” made out of bones.

The Six Lamest Metal Band Logos:

1. Killswitch Engage Though I’m not a diehard Killswitch fan or anything, I don’t hate these guys, but–yikes! There’s just so many bad things going on here—the pouty half-skull, the weird semi-wings over it, the crown, the ultra-distressed type. This logo is confused more than anything else. A confluence of bad metalcore imagery.

2. hed PE As far as nu-metal bands go, I actually really like these guys. “Waiting To Die” is awesome, and their cover of “Sabra Cadabra” on Nativity In Black II is a solid revision of a classic tune. But man, those parentheses are infuriating, and that upside-down lower-case “E” just puts the killing rage in me. At least the backwards “R” in the Korn logo has a childish thing to it—no one writes an upside-down “E.”

3. Saxon Is the “S” supposed to be a battle-axe? Is that what’s going on here? Because otherwise, this logo is an odd mix of a 1970s rock font and a weird 1980s prog-metal  script. And honestly, even if it is an axe, it’s not very good. Sorry, guys, but I got no love for this.

4. Morbid As much as I love Per “Dead” Ohlin and early black metal, I’m sad to report that this logo eats the thick veiny one. The weird little cutsey-goth bat shape, the lower-case “D” at the end… It all looks clumsy and unnatural. Obviously, it was redeemed by the Mayhem logo, but still, look at it. Blech.

5. HIM The heartagram sucks. Period. End of story. It is grade-A lame. Even when I listened to this band a lot—that’s right, they have some silky gothic grooves, man—I never rocked that heartagram logo. It’s Satanism filed down. It’s the beast with Mickey Mouse ears. Fuck this logo.

6. Megadeth Huh…look at how the first and last letters have those spiked corners. It reminds me of another, more successful band logo, but I forget which… Oh.

Hosted by Jose Mangin of Sirius XM Liquid Metal, the cruise will feature 90-minute set from Lamb of God, Machine Head, Anthrax, Suicide Silence, Hatebreed, and Kingdom Of Sorrow—as well as additional showcase sets from Century Media, Metal Blade Records, Roadrunner Records, and Sumerian Records artists including Gojira, Periphery, Born Of Osiris, Battlecross, Otherwise, Girl On Fire, Anti Mortem, and Gyspyhawk. Mayhem veterans JDevil (Jonathan Davis of Korn) and DJ Starscream (Sid Wilson of Slipknot) will also perform full DJ sets each night.

Additionally, Clown of Slipknot will curate his own art show on the cruise, as well as host Fangoria’s Video Nasties Film Festival, and Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival’s comedian Big Jay Oakerson and The Legions of Skank, featuring Luis J. Gomez and Dave Smith, are set to perform two raunchy and raucous stand-up shows each night. Neo-Burlesque dance troupe Iron Fist Velvet Glove Carnal Review will also provide evening entertainment. Plus, the cruise experience will feature daily artist panels with stories from the road and music industry tips, with speakers like Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival co-creators John Reese and Kevin Lyman, amongst other musical icons.

Other entertainment on board will include:

• Beacher’s Madhouse
• A full casino featuring a three-night poker tournament with artists and fans side by side
• Meet & Greets, signings, and photo-ops throughout the ship

For more information and to book your cabin, visit MayhemCruise.com.

For more general information on the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival, as well as the first annual Mayhem Festival cruise, visit rockstarmayhemfest.com and mayhemcruise.com.

Let’s also take this moment to recognize the photographers, credited below each photo, who risk life and lens to go in the pit and capture the mayhem as it happens. For those about to shoot, we salute you!

As we bid farewell to a year full of tragedy, the new issue of Revolver magazine—available on newsstands everywhere on December 21—remembers many of hard rock and metal’s most dearly departed. The cover features a stunning painting by legendary comic-book artist J.G. Jones, acclaimed for his work on Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, as well as for co-creating the series Wanted, which was adapted into a 2008 movie starring Angelina Jolie. Jones depicts Ronnie James Dio, Slipknot’s Paul Gray, Avenged Sevenfold’s the Rev, Type O Negative’s Peter Steele, Pantera’s Dimebag Darrell, Metallica’s Cliff Burton, Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, Ozzy Osbourne’s Randy Rhoads, Queen’s Freddie Mercury, and Alice in Chains’ Layne Staley rocking together in heaven. The cover painting also appears as a free poster with the issue.

Inside the issue, Revolver remembers the cover artists and many of hard rock and metal’s other fallen heroes via exclusive interviews, including the first with Slipknot’s Corey Taylor, Shawn “Clown” Crahan, Chris Fehn, and Joey Jordison—and Paul Gray’s wife, Brenna—since Paul’s death, and the first with the surviving members of Type O Negative since Peter Steele’s passing. Also interviewed are Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica’s Lars Ulrich, Avenged Sevenfold’s M. Shadows, Judas Priest’s Rob Halford, Alice in Chains’ Mike Inez, Black Label Society’s Zakk Wylde, Ramones’ Marky Ramone, Melvins’ Buzz Osborne, rapper Ice-T, and more.

As a tie-in to the issue and a special tribute to Pantera’s Dimebag Darrell, Revolver has produced a highly limited-edition commemorative coin in his honor. The coin comes free with the magazine when purchased at Barnes & Noble. Otherwise, it is available with the issue and an antiqued metal coin holder at: www.revolvermag.com/store, where a portion of the sale proceeds will go to the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund. To donate, go to www.ronniejamesdio.com.

The issue also features Revolver’s Top 20 Albums of the Year list and stories on Escape the Fate, the Damned Things, Volbeat, Social Distortion, A Day to Remember, and more!