Today, RevolverMag.com presents the premiere of Five Finger Death Punch’s new lyric video for “Lift Me Up” (featuring Rob Halford of Judas Priest). Be sure to tell us what you think in the comments!

“Lift Me Up” (featuring Rob Halford of Judas Priest) is currently the No. 1 rock single at iTunes USA and Canada. You can download it at iTunes right here.

5FDP’s Ivan Moody says: “First and foremost, just to work alongside an icon like Rob Halford, THE Metal God, was absolutely surreal. The song itself was originally written about overcoming everyday obstacles and less than perfect situations. Most of us weren’t born with a silver spoon in our mouth, but if life dealt you all the wrong cards, you still have to play. The song’s intent is to inspire; if you play that hand right you might just come out on top anyway.”

Five Finger Death Punch will release their fourth and fifth studio albums in two installments, with The Wrong Side of Heaven and The Righteous Side of Hell, Volume 1 hitting stores July 23 and Volume 2 scheduled for release in the fall.

For more about Five Finger Death Punch, visit their official website and Facebook page.

Click HERE to watch Metallica performing Judas Priest’s “Rapid Fire” with Rob Halford at the 2013 Revolver Golden Gods Awards!

To watch all the 2013 performances and awards, click here or go to GoldenGodsAwards.com.

Judas Priest will celebrate their 40th year as recording artists May 28 with the release of Epitath, a new live DVD and Blu-ray. The release, which precedes a new studio album by the band (The guys are reportedly hard at work at the moment), will be issued through Legacy Recordings.

The Epitath track listing revisits the closing date of the 50-week Epitaph World Tour, which was captured live at London’s HMV Hammersmith Apollo on May 26, 2012. The 23 tracks include at least one song from every one of the band’s 14 studio albums, from 1974’s Rocka Rolla (“Never Satisfied”) to 2008’s Nostradamus (“Prophecy”).

Judas Priest’s current lineup is lead singer Rob Halford, lead guitarists Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner, bassist Ian Hill and drummer Scott Travis.

Check out the new Epitath trailer video below, and tell us what you think in the comments!

The former Dream Theater drummer — and current skinsman for Adrenaline Mob — has always been drawn to covers. He’s such a fan, in fact, that Adrenaline Mob will be releasing Coverta, an EP packed with eight covers of songs ranging from Dio to The Doors.

“I’m a huge fan of covers,” Portnoy says. “Doing covers is a chance to pay tribute to a favorite band, bring new life to an obscure gem, or perhaps help make a new generation of listeners aware of your influences. In any case, whether you play it safe and remain faithful to the original or completely rework and reinterpret the song, it’s always fun!”

Revolver asked Portnoy to list his favorite covers:

1. Metallica, “Mercyful Fate Medley” “I was always a huge Mercyful Fate fan and Metallica did the ultimate tribute with this amazing medley of riffs from the classic Melissa and Don’t Break the Oath albums. Tackling King Diamond’s vocals could’ve been impossible, but James did some great reinterpretations.”

2. Iron Maiden, “Cross Eyed Mary” “In the early days of Maiden, they would always record covers and extra B-sides for their 12-inch singles. This Jethro Tull cover was the B-side to “The Trooper” and tipped off Steve Harris’ appreciation of classic prog.”

3. Tool, “No Quarter” “Not many bands can cover Led Zeppelin and equal the original’s greatness, but I think Tool came damn close with this amazing version of Zeppelin’s moody and haunting classic.”

4. Anthrax, “Bring the Noise” “Anthrax have always done so many great covers through the years, ranging from the expected (Kiss and Sabbath) to the not so expected (Radiohead, Journey and Boston). Here’s an example of taking a cover that completely crosses over genres. Anthrax took this Public Enemy classic, gave it some serious balls and energy and kickstarted a metal and rap revolution that would reverberate for years. Forget about Run DMC doing “Walk This Way” … this is where metal and rap really crossed over!”

5. Judas Priest, “Diamonds and Rust” and “The Green Manalishi” “Two great examples of covering songs and making them your own. How many of you out there didn’t even realize these weren’t written by Priest? That’s right, these Judas Priest classics are actually covers of Joan Baez and Fleetwood Mac!”

Hell Bent for Runkle

When Robbie Mac—the openly gay actor, played by Johann Urb, whom Runkle falsely came out to in the season’s first episode to convince him to hire him—makes his entrance in the Hollywood pitch room, he’s dressed like an alternate for Rob Halford at Judas Priest’s 1983 US Festival showstopper. From top to bottom, he’s wearing a leather biker hat, a studded leather jacket, no shirt, fingerless gloves, assless leather chaps, jeans (surprisingly), and boots. He’s carrying a riding crop and a boombox that’s blaring Priest’s “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’” (which the band played at the US Festival, after Halford rode out on a motorcycle).

Now this is “metal” not just because Priest pioneered the metal biker look that defined how ’80s metal bands dressed, from Slayer to Metallica, but because the daring crossover it has with gay culture. Since he came out in 1998, he’s become an inspiration to gay metalheads everywhere (something I touched on in an article I wrote for Out, where God Seed frontman Gaahl says, “The best metal singer in metal history is gay.”) And while there is some gay-confusion humor and the Runkle character is steadfastly hetero, not that he tells Mac, he and the rest of the characters never seem homophobic—even when Mac outs and molests him in front of his other client and Hollywood bigshots. It’s a loud-and-proud gay-metal moment that’s hard to achieve, and best commemorated with a gif of Moody giving Runkle the horns:

Waxing Ecstatic

While Marcy, Runkle’s ex, waxes her feminist writer friend’s nether regions, she says, “I’ve seen a lot of vajay in my day, but yours is simply stunning. I mean it took me a while to hack through all this brush, but once I got there, wow. Honestly it’s like it’s glowing.” The owner of said reproductive parts, the character Ophelia Robbins, is played by Maggie Wheeler, who played the woman with the annoying laugh on Friends, Janice. I’m just calling this out because not once during the waxing did she make that nasal snort.

Introducing “British Steel”

When Runkle and Moody go to the gay bar Mac suggested to celebrate the remake of Cruising, the writer remarks, “I feel like Indiana Jones in the Temple of the Greased Fist.” (Spoilers ahead.) Not only does Moody seduce and subsequently—and consensually—”hate-fuck” the Hollywood producer who fired him from the adaptation of his novel God Hates Us All, after using the pickup line, “I don’t know if it’s all the gay-sex talk, but you’re looking pretty good to me,” but Runkle has an awkward sexual encounter with Mac. When the actor undoes his pants to reveal his manhood, he says, “Here, take a look. That’s ‘British steel.’” (Yes, he named his penis after the Judas Priest album.) And later, when a topless woman with whom Runkle had been trysting outs him as straight to Mac, the actor won’t buy it. So he looks at the agent, asks for some oral confirmation, and references the title of Poison’s 1988 album, Open Up and Say…Ahh! Of course Runkle’s not up for the challenge, so he tells Mac he’s “not totally straight, because in prison I would probably be a total slut.” That’s not good enough, though, and he and Moody are immediately fired from the Cruising remake. But that opens up the season to let Moody work on a story inspired by his daughter, the newly interested-in-writing Becca. He justifies his creative change of heart by telling his ex, Karen, that he’s “relatively clean and soberish.” Next week we’ll see if that state of mind is permanentish.

All production stills by Jordan Althaus/SHOWTIME

A Day to Remember
TITLE: Common Courtesy
RELEASE DATE: Spring
When A Day to Remember released their new song, “Violence (Enough Is Enough)” late last year, frontman Jeremy McKinnon granted Revolver the exclusive interview on the track and the band’s forthcoming album. While the song is one of the group’s heaviest ever and, according to McKinnon, the new record will have “more heavier songs than on the past two records together”–which is fine by us, of course–he also adds that the album represents ADTR’s ongoing mission to be “your favorite band. Period. We’re trying to play all of your favorite styles of music and not have to switch CDs because I want to hear a pop-punk song or a hardcore song or an acoustic rock ballad.” Which also sounds find by us.

Alice in Chains
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: Spring
With 2009′s Black Gives Way to Blue, Alice in Chains pretty much pulled off the impossible: Create a new album 14 years after their last release and seven years after the death of iconic lead singer Layne Staley. As such, Black Gives Way to Blue was named Album of the Year by the Revolver staff and was voted on by the fans to win the same honors at the 2010 Revolver Golden Gods. Singer-guitarist Jerry Cantrell says of the new album, “It’s got all the elements of any record we’ve put out, but it’s unlike any record we’ve put out.” He added, “Basically, it’s the next chapter in the Alice in Chains book.” That chapter was introduced late last year with the release of a new song, “Hollow”–listen to it right here.

Philip Anselmo and the Illegals
TITLE: Walk Through Exits Only
RELEASE DATE: Spring/summer
Preceded by two sampler tracks featured on a split 10″ with Warbeast, titled War of the Gargantuas, which is due out on January 8, Phil Anselmo’s highly anticipated solo album will finally see the light of day this year. Backing him on the record is Houston-based guitarist Mazi Montazeri, of whom Anselmo says, “If Ozzy Osbourne had his Tony Iommi and then found his Randy Rhoads when he went to do his solo stuff, I have found my Randy Rhoads.” The singer promises a “fucking very aggressive record”; we’ve heard the unmastered tracks and they easily outdo the two songs on War of the Gargantuas, delivering a dense, intense mix of extreme music styles–think Deathspell Omega with a hardcore edge and some Pantera groove.

Asking Alexandria
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: Spring
It has been a few monster-sized years for Asking Alexandria: The band rocked the Revolver Golden Gods in 2011, relocated to LA, opened for Guns N’ Roses, headlined the Monster Energy Outbreak Tour 2012, and pretty much claimed their spot as one of the top young metal outfits on the planet. And it will continue in 2013 as the band will release its third studio album this spring after gracing the cover of Revolver‘s January issue. According to frontman Danny Worsnop, their next album will be “a musical baby of Mötley Crüe and Slipknot.”

Avenged Sevenfold
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: Spring/summer
Even though they didn’t put out a new record last year, Avenged Sevenfold had a very busy 2012. They won the “Best Live Band” and “Most Dedicated Fans” awards at the Revolver Golden Gods, they played at Metallica’s Orion Music + More festival, and released the song “Carry On” on Call of Duty: Black Ops II and appeared as characters in the game–you check out their appearance and the song right here. In an exclusive interview in late 2012, vocalist M. Shadows told Revolver that the band has about six solid new songs written and they have a Black Sabbath-esque, classic metal feel to them. Consider us fucking stoked.

Bad Religion
TITLE: True North
RELEASE DATE: January 22
Having influenced everyone from AFI, The Offspring, and Parkway Drive, melodic punk-rock pioneers Bad Religion are set to release their, count ‘em, 16th album in late January. We’ve heard it and it’s their fastest, most aggressive record since the ’90s. If you miss the days of Recipe for Hate, True North is for you.

Behemoth
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: Fall
Polish extremists Behemoth are hard at work on their 10th full-length, which will be their first since 2009′s Evangelion and the first since frontman Nergal successfully battled leukemia. As of December, Nergal said that his band already had 30-40 minutes worth of new material and was, at the time, demoing it in a rehearsal studio. “I’m really thinking about my record,” he told SkullsNBones.com. “I’m dreaming my record, I’m eating my record, I’m shitting my record… I mean, everything just comes to the same thing: this artistic release that’s gonna take place in the fall next year.”

Black Sabbath
TITLE: 13
RELEASE DATE: June
Over three decades since they released their last album, the original lineup of Black Sabbath—vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler, and drummer Bill Ward—revealed in 2011 that they are working on an LP of new songs with producer Rick Rubin (Metallica, Slayer, Slipknot). Since then, Ward acrimoniously split with the band (his recording replacement? Brad Wilk of Rage Against the Machine), and it was revealed that Iommi is battling lymphoma but is forging ahead with the writing process nonetheless. Iron Men, indeed.

Bullet for My Valentine
TITLE: Temper Temper
RELEASE DATE: February 12
Vocalist Matt Tuck spent a portion of 2012 making a record and touring with his side project AxeWound (which also features Liam Cormier of the Cancer Bats). However, in the fall, things seemed to shift in the Bullet for My Valentine direction when the band released a new single, “Temper Temper”–listen to it right here. The group announced that would also be the name of its fourth record, due out early next year.

Carcass
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
After months of rumors, it’s officially official: English grind masters Carcass are recording their first new album in 17 years. Original members Jeff Walker (vocals, bass) and Bill Steer (guitar, vocals) are being joined in the studio by Trigger The Bloodshed drummer Dan Wilding and metal super-producer Colin Richardson, who helmed Carcass’ last four albums. The band is financing the recording themselves and then shopping it to labels. “Fans can expect to be shocked,” Walker tells Revolver. “If it wasn’t good, me and Bill wouldn’t have bothered and we certainly wouldn’t be wasting our time or all the money we’ve put into this. I think we have enough good ideas to justify releasing a new album—we’re certainly not doing it because some label has offered us a huge wad of cash!”

Children of Bodom
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
Children of Bodom are a band that’s not afraid to have fun–like when they did an entire album of covers by pretty much every artist you could  imagine, metal, punk, pop, and otherwise; more impressively, they did it well. Having renewed a partnership with label Nuclear Blast Records, who worked with the band early on, the next thing on the Finnish group’s to-do list is a follow-up to 2011′s Relentless Reckless Forever.

Device
TITLE: Device
RELEASE DATE: April
This new industrial-rock project is led by Disturbed vocalist David Draiman, who, while on hiatus from his main band, has joined forces with former Filter guitarist Geno Lenardo. The group, which is, according to Draiman, in the vein of Ministry or KMFDM, plans to release a single, “Villify,” in February, followed by a full-length in April. Oh yeah, and did we mention that Geezer Butler, Serj Tankian, Tom Morello, M. Shadows, Glenn Hughs, and Lzzy Hale will all be making guest appearances? This one is gonna be huge.

Dillinger Escape Plan
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: Spring
These spazz-metal maniacs’ last album, 2010′s Option Paralysis, was their first on their own label, Party Smasher Inc., and it earned them the “Best Underground Band” award at the 2010 Revolver Golden Gods. Since then, they’ve toured with Deftones and Mastodon and, later in 2012, the band started seriously working on studio album No. 5. Vocalist Greg Puciato says that the new record represents the band’s “biggest jump since Calculating Infinity to Miss Machine in terms of really getting far, far out into Crazyville.”

Dream Theater
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
Dream Theater guitarist John Petrucci said that writing for the prog-metal leaders’ 12th studio album would start following the end of the A Dramatic Turn of Events tour. The band reportedly tested out some new song ideas during soundchecks on that trek, and they plan to reconvene for more serious songwriting work early this year.

Eyes Set to Kill
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: Spring
Eyes Set to Kill toured in 2012 behind their record from the year prior, White Lotus, which they self-released. The band from Tempe, Arizona, is led by sisters Alexia and Anissa Rodriguez, featured in Revolver‘s Hottest Chicks in Hard Rock issue. The band’s untitled fifth full-length is expected to be released around spring and will be its first on new label Century Media.

Five Finger Death Punch
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
As of last fall, Five Finger Death Punch had six to eight new songs in various stages of preparation, according to guitarist Jason Hook. The band was working on material using a new portable studio setup that the group put together in 2011. “The idea behind that is just to keep the creative muscle worked out,” Hook says. “It’s kind of like going to the gym–if you stop for a year, you lose all your strength, and we just want to keep that muscle tight. We’re in the business of making music. Touring is great, but we should always be prepared and always be exercising the creative muscle.”

Ghost
TITLE: Infestissumam
RELEASE DATE: April 9
James Hetfield, Phil Anselmo, and Duff McKagan are all fans of these Swedish cult metal favorites, so get with the program. Ghost recently debuted a new song, “Secular Haze” off their highly anticipated sophomore album–listen to it right here–which adds a new carnivalesque, Danny Elfmanish flair to their already patented Mercyful Fate-meets-Blue Öyster Cult sound. We can’t wait to hear the other nine tracks.

Godflesh
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
When British industrial-metal groundbreakers Godflesh reunited to play shows in 2010, it was great news—more than a few extreme-music fans, including a couple editors at Revolver, were crushed when the band canceled its 2001 U.S. tour and then broke up the following year. (Godflesh played their first American gig in forever at Maryland Death Fest 2012.) But news that main man Justin Broadrick & Co. are working on a new album, 10 years after the release of their swansong, Hymns, well, that’s a whole other level of mind-blowing.

Hatebreed
TITLE: The Divinity of Purpose
RELEASE DATE: January 29
Despite CNN mistakenly labeling them a racist band in the aftermath a white supremacist musician shooting up a Wisconsin Sikh temple, it was otherwise a good year for Hatebreed. The hardcore band spent the year finishing its sixth record, which is titled The Divinity of Purpose. In late fall, the group debuted a new single called “Put It to the Torch.”–listen to it right here.

HIM
TITLE: Tears on Tape
RELEASE DATE: Spring
Last year Finnish band HIM released a compilation, XX: Two Decades of Love Metal, while drummer Gas Lipstick recovered from a repetitive-strain injury. Vocalist Ville Valo told Revolver the band is ready to get back on the road with new material and said, “It’s exciting in a good way, like, the butterflies in my stomach are the size of fucking giant bats! So that’s a good sign. It means we really care about what we’re doing.”

Judas Priest
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
The Metal Gods may have announced their departure from the stage, which they commemorated with 2011′s triumphant Epitaph Tour, but the members of Judas Priest swear we haven’t heard the last of them. With the addition of new guitarist Richie Faulkner, who replaced K.K. Downing when he retired and made his debut with the band supporting James Durbin on American Idol, the band is currently working on a reported 12 to 14 new songs that they hope to release in 2013.

Killswitch Engage
TITLE: Disarm the Descent
RELEASE DATE: April 9
Early last year, the metalcore pioneers announced that vocalist Howard Jones had left the band citing personal reasons as the cause. Original lead singer Jesse Leach was shortly thereafter re-enlisted as his replacement. KSE then hit the road on their Alive or Just Breathing 10th Anniversary Tour and start playing a new song, titled “No End in Sight,” live last summer.

Korn
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
It may have seemed like the band members’ side projects were ringing in the end of Korn, with vocalist Jonathan Davis spending a lot of time on his electronic work and guitarist James “Munky” Shaffer focusing on Fear and the Nervous System. However, when Revolver spoke with Munky last year, he said Korn had 15 new songs already and was looking for a producer, adding, “We have a big 2013 planned for our fans, for ourselves, and our families.”

Mastodon
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
In December, singer-guitarist Brent Hinds revealed that he was writing new Mastodon music. He said, “I’m playing a lot of slide guitar and just getting really Jimmy Page-y on the place and getting really eerie and Radioheadish and very spooky sounding.” The band hopes to record its sixth studio full-length early this year–it will be follow-up to 2011′s Hunter.

Megadeth
TITLE: Super Collider
RELEASE DATE: June
Regardless of what you think of frontman Dave Mustaine’s politics, there is no question that, musically, he and his bandmates in thrash titans Megadeth have been on a roll lately. The group are neck-deep into album No. 14 and the follow-up to 2011′s acclaimed TH1RT3EN. Dubbed Super Collider, it will be the first Megadeth record to be released through Dave Mustaine’s own label, Tradecraft, which is distributed by Universal.

Motörhead
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: Summer
The loudest band in the world plans on continuing to be just that. The group spent last year touring heavily–including on the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival–and releasing two volumes of The Wörld Is Ours—Everywhere Further Than Everyplace Else that included live tracks and live footage. Vocalist-bassist Lemmy Kilmister said the band would enter the studio shortly and plans on a release in the summer.

Nine Inch Nails
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
Industrial kingpins Nine Inch Nails may have played their “farewell” tour in 2009, but there appears to be new life in Camp NIN. This past year frontman Trent Reznor has stayed busy by scoring movies (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Social Network), writing music for video games (Call off Duty: Black Ops II), and recording with How to Destroy Angels, but when Rolling Stone asked Reznor if new Nine Inch Nails material was a possibility, he said, “All signs point to yes. There are some things in the works.”

Opeth
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
Last August, vocalist-guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt announced that he had begun writing new material for the forthcoming 11th Opeth album. It will be the follow-up to 2011′s Heritage, which debuted at No. 19 on the Billboard 200 chart. Over the past year, the band hit the road with Mastodon and Ghost, and Åkerfeldt said, “I’m gonna start writing more for real once we finish the tour.”

Palms
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: June 25
The recently formed LA supergroup features three former member of late, great post-metal outfit Isis–Aaron Harris, Clifford Meyer and Jeff Caxide–along with Deftones’ Chino Moreno on vocals. Harris told Guitar World, “Chino joined shortly after [futureusgallerythe three of us started the band] and our sound took shape from there. We’ve worked really hard on this first release and are excited for people to hear it. It’s nice to be back behind the drum kit, and with this lineup.”

Queens of the Stone Age
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: Spring
The latest offering from Queens of the Stone Age is going to be an all-star affair. For it, the band welcomes back Dave Grohl on drums–Grohl previously played on the group’s Songs for the Deaf–as well as former bassist, and frontman Josh Homme’s bandmate in Kyuss, Nick Oliveri. Oh yeah, and then there’s a guy named Trent Reznor, who will be making an appearance on the album. “The record sound like running in a dream inside a codeine cabaret,” the group recently told MOJO. “I hope you understand what that means, cause we don’t. Sounds like a load of pretentious shit! What? Gotta go, the therapist says our time is up…”

Scars on Broadway
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: Spring
Vocalist Daron Malakian (also of System of a Down fame) went from a full band to just his lonesome with this side project and recorded this forthcoming new album singing and playing all the instruments himself. Malakian told Revolver, “I was ready to do another Scars on Broadway record. I’ve just been going with the flow, and the flow’s taken me here.” Expect a more System of a Down-esque sound than on Scars’ debut, courtesy of songs like “Fuck N Kill.”

Shai Hulud
TITLE: Reach Beyond the Sun
RELEASE DATE: February 19
The metalcore stalwarts have changed their vocalists many times over the years, but Shai Hulud have decided to stick with vocalist Chad Gilbert (also from New Found Glory fame) this time out. Recently, the band has been participating in large festivals but also plans to play smaller venues as well. Amid all that, the fourth studio album, Reach Beyond the Sun, will release in February.

Soilwork
TITLE: The Living Infinite
RELEASE DATE: March 5
“The inspiration is flowing!” vocalist Björn “Speed” Strid said while working on this latest album. And indeed it has been, considering that the Swedish melodic death-metal vets have emerged with not one but two discs of new music. Soilwork began recording last August with producer Jens Bogren (Opeth, Amon Amarth), After guitarist Peter Wichers left the band for the second time. Strid added, “People can expect a continuation of the intensity and presence of The Panic Broadcast, only taken to a higher level.”

Slayer
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
Thrash metal’s Angels of Death had a triumphant 2011 in spite of a few setbacks. After guitarist Jeff Hanneman was sidelined due to contracting a flesh-eating bacteria from a spider bite, the group toured throughout most of the year with Exodus axman Gary Holt and Cannibal Corpse fret-burner Pat O’Brien filling in for shows with their peers in the Big Four—Metallica, Megadeth, and Anthrax. Kerry King revealed two song titles for the upcoming album, “Chasing Death” and “Implode,” with a full-length due out this year.

Stone Sour
TITLE: House of Gold & Bones Part 2
RELEASE DATE: April
Vocalist Corey Taylor set his goals high with House of Gold & Bones, devising it as a double concept album about the journey of life and the choices you make. Part 1 was released in the fall to critical acclaim, which only sets the bar even higher for part 2. Aside from the albums, the project is also being turned into a comic book.

Suffocation
TITLE: The Pinnacle of Bedlam
RELEASE DATE: February 15
These Long Island, New York, death-metal fixtures are set to release their seventh studio album. While vocalist Frank Mullen said he will sit out a few future tour dates–for which the band will be joined by a replacement vocalist–he hasn’t left the group, and Suffocation will drop the follow-up to 2009′s Blood Oath, which will also feature a bonus DVD.

Tomahawk
TITLE: Oddfellows
RELEASE DATE: January 29
When Anonymous was released in 2007, the makers of the album were a little less than anonymous. After all, those who follow heralded Faith No More vocalist Mike Patton know all of his projects and follow them closely. The 2013 release on Patton’s Ipecac Records will feature new members bassist Trevor Dunn and drummer John Stanier joining the singer and Jesus Lizard guitarist Duane Denison. Until Oddfellows hits on January 29, Tomahawk have lead single “Stone Letter” to tide you over–listen to it right here.

Tool
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
The rumor mill had Tool’s fifth album coming out last year. Clearly that did not come to pass. And while frontman Maynard James Keenan has been seemingly preoccupied putting out Puscifer records, reuniting with A Perfect Circle, and squashing grapes, recent posts by Tool’s webmaster suggest that significant songwriting progress is being made. So we’re holding out hope that they will finally put out a new album this year—and until they do, we’re prepared to be teased, tortured, and titillated by more rumors and misinformation, much of it doubtlessly spread by Tool themselves.

Toxic Holocaust
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
In 2012, Portland thrashers Toxic Holocaust managed to release a split with Municipal Waste and get a song featured in the television show Sons of Anarchy. Their last album, Conjure and Command, was the first record to feature a full band rather than mastermind Joel Grind doing everything.

Volbeat
TITLE: Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies
RELEASE DATE: April 9
It’s been a monster few years for Danish “Elvis metal” outfit Volbeat: They went from virtual unknowns in the U.S. to opening for Metallica, playing the Revolver Golden Gods (in 2011), and scoring No. 1 rock radio hits in the states. The group is promising to top it all off with a new album this year, the follow-up to 2010′s Beyond Hell/Above Heaven, which is being produced by former Anthrax guitarist Rob Caggiano, alongside longtime Volbeat collaborator Jacob Hansen.

Watain
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: August
These Swedish black metallers are pretty fucking extreme, just see their live shows–all flaming tridents and dead animal parts–as evidence. Now Watain are set on taking their lawless darkness to the next level, have recently signed a deal with Century Media Records for their fifth album.

Rob Zombie
TITLE: Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor
RELEASE DATE: April 23
Rob Zombie is a man with many endeavors. In 2012 he finished his new horror film, Lords of Salem,  which is due in theaters this Spring, and released a remix album, Mondo Sex Head. Last fall he toured with Marilyn Manson on the Twins of Evil tour, graced the cover of Revolver‘s special issue Rock! Shock! and Horror!, and he started recording his fifth solo album earlier in June. Zombie says the album will be “dark, heavy, and weird.” We would expect nothing less.

Today marks eight years since Pantera and Damageplan guitarist Dimebag Darrell was killed onstage. Here, Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford talks candidly about meeting Dimebag, working with him, and how he took the news when he heard about the shooting. A portion of the interview ran in

REVOLVER When did you first meet Dimebag Darrell?
ROB HALFORD Priest was in Canada rehearsing for the Painkiller tour. I was doing an interview from the hotel room and I turned the telly on to

And I told Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing specifically after that, “I’ve seen this band. They’re absolutely fucking amazing and they are going to be huge. They are going to be huge!” And I said, “We should try to get him on the tour.” So, to cut a long story short, we brought them with us on the Priest Painkiller tour of Europe and nobody had a clue who they were. They had no distribution as far as I understood in Europe. So they went out blind, in front of Germans and French and whatever. I used to watch every show, and the first reaction fans gave them was, Who the hell is this? And it was like, Oh my fucking God, what’s going on in front of my eyes? They would just win an audience over in 30, 40 minutes. From playing fresh, new music that nobody had heard before. The communication was instant with that band. So there it was. So by the time we’d done the European tour, and they went back to the States, Cowboys was shooting up the charts. And that was it, they were off and running. They were just launched into the stratosphere on that first release.

You mentioned his British Steel shirt. He used to wear a razorblade necklace in honor of your album. Did he ever tell you about that?
Yeah, and he had it tattooed on his leg as well. He loved that record. It meant everything to him. It was one that he said was very inspiring to him as a guitar player and as a musician in general. That’s great, isn’t it?

Shortly after you toured with them, you worked with him on the song “Light Comes Out of Black,” for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer soundtrack. How did that come together?
I was away from Priest. Sony were working on the soundtrack. They wanted Sony artists and asked me to write a song. I hadn’t written as a solo writer for years and years and years. But it’s one of those things where you don’t know what you can do until you put your nose to the grindstone. So I wrote “Light Comes Out of Black,” and I was stuck. And I got Dime’s number, and I called him up and I said, “Here’s the deal.” And he goes, “Let’s do it. Just get in the plane and come down to Dallas.” So that’s what I did the next day, went to the studio, laid the track down in a very short space of time. Phil wandered by, said “Oh, how’s it going, ‘metal god’?” So I told him and he said, “You got a spot for me?” I said, “Pfft, here’s the mic.” So Phil joins me on the back end of the song. And it turned out really god. It’s amazing to think that that’s a Pantera song really. It is Pantera with me on lead vocals, and Phil obviously doing the outro sections. But it’s a Pantera song really.

Did you play guitar on a demo and send it to him originally?
Yeah, I put my very primitive…I just don’t have the mental capacity to do what guitar players do.

What was exceptional about working with Dime?
His interpretation of the song. His phrasing, the feel was unique. Let’s face it. You look at rock and roll. You’ve got Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, you’ve got Eddie Van Halen. I’m just going through a list off the top of my head, you obviously got Dimebag. Obviously, Glenn , Adrian Smith and Dave Murray, all of these significant lead heavy-metal, hard-rock guitar players. And Dimebag…I’m mentioning them now because they’re very influential. All of those guitar players have been very influential to not only music but specifically to other guitar players around the world. And there’s no doubt that Dimebag’s impression was just monumental. If you took Dimebag out of the equation, metal would sound totally different right now, without a doubt it would, definitely.

What was the last time you talked to Dime?
I’m pretty certain it was Aladdin in Las Vegas on the Halford Resurrection tour with Iron Maiden. It might have happened maybe once, twice after that.

Where were you when you heard Dime had died?
I was in my house in Phoenix. I think somebody texted me or somebody called me, and my legs went from underneath me. I just hit the deck. This can’t be real. I put the TV on, and it was actually on CNN. I just sat there in disbelief. And then I balled like a baby, like you should do. I just cried my eyes out. And you just don’t know what to do. You’re full of confusion, you’re full of anger, you want to fucking smash things to pieces. You want to play the music; you want to call Phil. All of these things are going on in your head. And obviously, Pat was singing for Damageplan at the time. I wanted to call Pat. Do you call, do you not call? What the fuck’s going on? Just a bazillion things are going around your head at the same time. But it was just terrible. It’s just seems inconceivable. I don’t think, now, that’s never happened to anybody else, has it? I mean, we lost people through self-induced things, like booze and drugs. We’ve lost people like Ronnie with the kinds of illnesses. But to be fucking brutally murdered is just insane. Absolutely insane. John Lennon is the only other person, isn’t it? They’re both in good company, as far as what they mean and how they’ve lived on in our lives. How Dimebag will always live on. That’s the only bit of solace you’ve got. It’s that the work that they made will live forever. That’s the blessing.

Dimebag photos by Lorinda Sullivan

Speaking to The Quietus, Halford commented, “Well, it’s very naughty of [futureusgalleryGAP]. They shouldn’t have done that and we’re investigating that right now because that’s intellectual-property rights. We were never asked, neither was our label. Having said that, pushing the legal side of it to one side, it’s brilliant, isn’t it? To think that something 30-odd years later is still striking enough to be a fashion moment.”

Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society, Ozzy Osbourne): “Big BL get well wishes out to Lord Iommi!!!”

Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Black Country Communion): “Prayers please for my brother Tony Iommi… We all pray for a full, speedy recover from cancer…. Much love…”

David Draiman (Disturbed): “Everyone please send their prayers/good vibes/best wishes to Tony Iommi for a speedy recovery; he has been diagnosed [futureusgallerywith] lymphoma.”

Anthrax:: “This really does suck. GET WELL SOON TONY!”

Randy Blythe (LAMB OF GOD): “I absolutely insist that every single follower of mine, religious or not, send a prayer up for Tony Iommi. He has been diagnosed with lyphoma. It’s in its early stages—Sabbath is writing a new record, and they are continuing to. Iommi is the reason heavy metal exists. Pray for him. You pray to Crom, Odin, yourself—don’t care who. Just send up some positive vibes for Tony Iommi.

“This is terrible news for metal. I’ve toured with Iommi a coupla times. He is a gentleman and a living legend. Hopefully since it’s in early stages they can beat it pretty easily. But Iommi’s not a young man, so think good thoughts! It is no secret that I have donated both my time, energy, facial hair, and a fair amount of my money to cancer research. I’ve walked the walk (literally) as well as talked the talk. However, there’s nothing wrong with positive vibes.”

Sebastian Bach (Skid Row): “All hail the mighty Tony Iommi. & FUCK YOU, Cancer.”

Gus G. (Ozzy Osbourne, Firewind): “I’m in shock to hear the news about Tony Iommi. Get well soon ‘Iron Man’!! Your biggest fan.”

Slash: “Best wishes for a full recovery to Tony Iommi.”

Frank Bello (Anthrax): “Get well soon Tony!!”

Chris Jericho (Fozzy): “Best wishes and prayers to Tony Iommi in these tough times. The MASTER of the riff will crush his cancer with the power of metal (and God)!!

Mikael Akerfeldt (Opeth): “Just read the news, and it’s perplexing and shocking to say the least. On behalf of the band and, I’m confident to say, the whole population of rock music lovers in the world, we all wish for a swift recovery for Tony. Get well!”

Richie Faulkner (Judas Priest): “My thoughts go out to Tony Iommi and I wish him a fast and full recovery.”

Michael Amott (Arch Enemy, Carcass): “Here’s hoping for a solid and speedy recovery for my guitar hero Tony Iommi!”

Shawn Drover (Megadeth): “Tony Iommi – Please get well soon!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Aerosmith
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
Between frontman Steven Tyler’s day job on American Idol and his onstage shoving matches with his Toxic Twin, guitarist Joe Perry, last year, if someone had asked us whether the biggest-selling American rock band of all time was about to get back in the saddle again and record a new album, we probably would have answered, “Dream on.” But by all accounts Aerosmith are going to drop their 15th studio record later this year—according to Tyler last September, maybe even as soon as “March—hopefully.”

Alice in Chains
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
With 2009′s Black Gives Way to Blue, Alice in Chains pretty much pulled off the impossible: Create a completely authentic new album 14 years after their previous, self-titled record and seven years after the death of iconic lead singer Layne Staley. As such, Black Gives Way to Blue was named Album of the Year by the Revolver staff and later was voted on by the fans to win the same honors at the 2010 Revolver Golden Gods. Needless to say, we’re very excited to see what they do for a follow-up, which we know they’re working on, and which we’re hoping will be ready for release this year.

Phil Anselmo
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
As if Phil Anselmo, of Pantera, Down, Arson Anthem, Superjoint Ritual, and Christ Inversion, et al, didn’t have enough projects to his name, the dude is about to drop his first-ever solo album later this year. Backing him is Houston-based guitarist Mazi Montazeri, of whom Anselmo says, “If Ozzy Osbourne had his Tony Iommi and then found his Randy Rhoads when he went to do his solo stuff, I have found my Randy Rhoads.” The singer promises a “fucking very aggressive record”—and this is coming from the guy who sang “Fucking Hostile.” Consider us fucking stoked.

As I Lay Dying
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: Fall
Last year these metalcore stalwarts celebrated 10 years together, releasing the anniversary EP Decas, which featured covers of Judas Priest and Slayer. If those are the influences these guys are carrying into their second decade, album No. 6 should be a doozy.

As-yet-unnamed Project Featuring Soulfly’s Max Cavalera and Dillinger Escape Plan’s Greg Puciato
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: Late 2012
Dillinger Escape Plan frontman Greg Puciato hit it off so well with former Sepultura main man Max Cavalera when his band toured with Cavalera Conspiracy—the Brazilian metal legend’s current project with his brother, Iggor—that the two joined forces to record an album together. From what Puciato tells us, it follows in the vein of Cavalera’s mid-’90s industrial-thrash side project, Nailbomb, with Fudge Tunnel’s Alex Newport. Nailbomb ruled, so we’re really hoping this lives up to the hype.

Asking Alexandria
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: September
2011 was a monster year for Asking Alexandria: The band rocked the Revolver Golden Gods, became bosom buds with one of their heroes Sebastian Bach, relocated to LA, opened for Guns N’ Roses and Avenged Sevenfold, got schooled by the Ultimate Warrior, and pretty much claimed their spot as one of the top young metal outfits on the planet. According to frontman Danny Worsnop, their next album will be “a musical baby of Mötley Crüe and Slipknot.”

Baroness
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: May
They released Revolver‘s 2007 Record of the Year, Red Album, and have since toured with Metallica and been taken on by Metallica’s management, QPrime. So to say that Savannah’s Baroness are groomed for something big would be an understatement. Word on the street is that “something big” is just what the band is going to deliver: a double-disc prog opus that recalls Boston as much as it suggests Mastodon.

Biohazard
TITLE: Reborn In Defiance
RELEASE DATE: January 20
Rap-metal pioneers Biohazard split with founding frontman-cum-porn star Evan Seinfeld last year, but not before recording their final record with him. We’ve heard it and it’s just the sort of Brooklyn hardcore beatdown fans would want from the band that made ’90s classics like Urban Discipline and State of the World Address. Look for the album later this month to be released stateside via unconventional channels.

Black Sabbath
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: Fall
Over three decades since they released their last album, the original lineup of Black Sabbath—vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler, and drummer Bill Ward—announced late last year that they are working on an LP of new songs with producer Rick Rubin (Metallica, Slayer, Slipknot). When the news broke, a mini-riot of jubilation broke out in the Revolver office, such that we had to name this the Story of the Year. Since then, it was announced that Iommi is battling lymphoma but is forging ahead with the writing process nonetheless. Iron Man, indeed.

Cannibal Corpse
TITLE: Torture
RELEASE DATE: March 13
Grisly death-metal stalwarts Cannibal Corpse have been on an winning streak over their past few records—their last release, Evisceration Plague, even landed a spot on Revolver‘s Top 20 Albums of 2009—so this next disc has a lot to live up to. Thankfully, we know they’ve been practicing—especially guitarist Pat O’Brien who stood in for ailing Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman on a few of the thrash legends’ tour dates last year.

Converge
TITLE: All We Love We Leave Behind
RELEASE DATE: Late spring/early summer
Over a decade after the eardrum-battering Massachusetts-based band turned hardcore and metal fans on their collective ears with the genre-defining metalcore classic Jane Doe, Converge hasn’t let up in extremity since. Following up 2009′s stellar Axe to Fall, the group is recording All We Love We Leave Behind this month.

Crosses
TITLE: EP ††
RELEASE DATE: January 24
The free digital debut EP from Crosses—A.K.A. Chino Moreno of Deftones and Shaun Lopez of Far—was one of the best musical surprises of last year. (The duo also released the stellar track “The Years” on the Batman: Arkham City soundtrack). Though not metal and barely rock, the group’s lush, atmospheric dream-pop got plenty of play around Revolver HQ. EP No. 2 will likely get put on repeat play, as well, as soon as it comes out.

Dillinger Escape Plan
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
These spazz-metal maniacs’ last album, 2010′s Option Paralysis, was their first on their own label, Party Smasher Inc., and it earned them the Best Underground Band award at the 2010 Revolver Golden Gods. Since then, they’ve toured with Deftones and Mastodon and, late last year, started seriously working on studio album No. 5. As guitarist Ben Weinman commented in December: “Billy and I have been locked up in the Dillinger compound and things are starting to boil… The neighbors are definitely getting pissed, but we couldn’t be more excited.” Ditto.

Down
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: Late winter
The last Down record, 2007′s Over the Under, was a beast. Since then, the southern stoner-metal supergroup—featuring the aforementioned Phil Anselmo, Corrosion of Conformity’s Pepper Keenan, Crowbar and Kingdom of Sorrow’s Kirk Windstein, and Eyehategod’s Jimmy Bower—have split amicably with bassist Rex Brown (now of his own supergroup, Kill Devil Hill, with erstwhile Black Sabbath drummer Vinny Appice), brought on Pat Bruders (Goatwhore, Crowbar, Outlaw Order), and announced plans to release a series of EPs. The first of these will be a six-song mini-album of what Anselmo describes as “pretty pure doom.”

The Faceless
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: Spring
In May last year, tech-death outfit the Faceless—led by guitarist Michael Keene—posted a debut of a new song, “The Eidolon Reality,” on YouTube, promising their third full-length in the fall. Autumn came and went. No album. But now, with a new lead vocalist, Geoff Ficco, and a new bassist, Evan Brewer of Animosity, the band is set to finally drop the follow-up to 2008′s acclaimed Planetary Duality this spring. Watch your head.

Goatwhore
TITLE: Blood for the Master
RELEASE DATE: February 14
This NOLA gauntleted brigade—led by Soilent Green’s Ben Falgoust and Acid Bath’s Sammy Duet—never fails to deliver when it comes to blistering, satanic blackened thrash. Their forthcoming fifth album should be perfect music for sacrificing goats, whores, virgins, or just your own neck to a few days of aching whiplash.

Godflesh
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
When British industrial-metal groundbreakers Godflesh reunited to play shows in 2010, it was great news—more than a few extreme-music fans, including a couple editors at Revolver, were crushed when the band canceled its 2001 U.S. tour and then broke up the following year. (Godflesh play their first American gig in forever at this year’s Maryland Death Fest.) But news that main man Justin Broadrick & Co. are working on a new album, 10 years after the release of their swansong, Hymns, well, that’s a whole other level of mind-blowing.

Gojira
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: Spring
It’s no secret that we love environmentally minded prog-death outfit Gojira over here at Revolver. We’ve been championing the French “green metal” crushers ever since we heard the behemoth opening track of their 2005 opus, From Mars to Sirius. Their first record on new label Roadrunner, Album No. 5 should hit like a force of nature.

Halestorm
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
Led by one of our favorite rocker babes—and advice columnists, for that matter—singer-guitarist Lzzy Hale, this Pennsylvania-bred breakout band promise a more personal album for their follow-up to their smash 2009 self-titled debut. But don’t expect them to get all sappy on us. There should still be more than enough of the band’s now signature raucous attitude and righteous riffs for any headbanger to get off. And if Hale ever assembles the all-girl supergroup featuring Alice Cooper guitarist Orianthi, Sick Puppies bassist Emma Anzai, and Skillet keyboardist Korey Cooper and drummer Jen Ledger that she has said could be in the works, our heads might just literally explode.

Hellyeah
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: Spring
After two albums that saw the hard-partying supergroup—featuring Pantera’s Vinnie Paul, Mudvayne’s Chad Gray and Greg Tribbett, and Nothingface’s Tom Maxwell—dabbling in southern rock, blues, and even country music, the band is making what Paul calls “a balls-out metal record” for their third offering. “It was fun and enlightening thing to open up and cover these other styles of music,” Paul says. “But when we finished this last tour, we said, ‘All right, with this next record, let’s just go fucking balls out and see what happens.’ It’s very heavy. It’s very abrasive. I think it’s maybe going to be what people envisioned this band being like from the start.”

High on Fire
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: Spring
Since the release of their last album, 2010′s Snakes for the Divine, stoner-thrash titans High on Fire have survived not one but two earthquakes—the February 22, 2010 6.3 magnitude earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, and the quake and resulting tsunami in Japan on March 11. Whether this influenced the sure-to-be cataclysmic sound on their forthcoming record is unclear, but the band, led by Sleep guitarist Matt Pike, do promise a new album that is “direct, eye-opening, and powerfully supernatural.”

Judas Priest
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
The Metal Gods may have announced their departure from the stage, which they commemorated with 2011′s triumphant Epitaph Tour, but the members of Judas Priest swear we haven’t heard the last of them. With the addition of new guitarist Richie Faulkner, who replaced K.K. Downing when he retired last year and made his debut with the band supporting James Durbin on American Idol, the band is currently working on a reported 12 to 14 new songs that they hope to release in 2012.

Killswitch Engage
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
In mid-December, Killswitch Engage guitarist Mike D’Antonio posted on his Facebook page that the metalcore band was convening around Christmastime to write a new record. He added, “Even Howard is coming,” referring to frontman Howard Jones, who had missed some of the group’s 2010 shows, supposedly due to back pain. Then, on January 5, the band announced Jones had left the band citing personal reasons as the cause. Their statement said, “He has left big shoes to fill, so we certainly have our work cut out for us to find the next singer of Killswitch, something we plan on making priority #1 going forward.” So we’re still holding onto our hopes that there will be a new Killswitch record in 2012.

Kiss
TITLE: Monster
RELEASE DATE: TBA
For the second release on the makeup-slathered hard-rock legends’ own Kiss Records, vocalist-bassist-Demon Gene Simmons promises a “meat and potatoes” kind of record, a Kiss record you can depend on. Next year will be the group’s 40th anniversary, and with Monster, they want to prove they can still rock and roll all night and party every day in style. Also, be on the lookout this year for an official book about the band that will be four feet tall!

Lacuna Coil
TITLE: Dark Adrenaline
RELEASE DATE: January 24
Frontwoman Cristina Scabbia promised a heavier new direction with the sixth album from her Italian goth-metal outfit, and judging from lead single, “Trip the Darkness,” she wasn’t kidding. Lacuna Coil hit the U.S. in support with this winter’s Gigantour, alongside Megadeth, Motörhead, and Volbeat.

Lamb of God
TITLE: Resolution
RELEASE DATE: January 24
Every album from these Virginia leaders of the New Wave of American Metal is an event. But this latest is particularly momentous: It sees the band expanding their signature thrashy sound in surprising directions and doing it well, from the Eyehategod-ian slow-mo sludge of opener “Straight for the Sun” to the Dimmu Borgir-esque orchestral strings and operatic female backing vocals of closer “King Me.” Still, Resolution never really sounds like anyone other than Lamb of God.

Marilyn Manson
TITLE: Born Villain
RELEASE DATE: TBA
Released seemingly out of nowhere last year, the disturbing music video for this album’s title track (and it was disturbing not just because it was directed by Transformers star Shia LaBeouf) raised more questions than it answered. But if it proved anything, it reconfirmed that Mr. Antichrist Superstar is anything but boring, so we look forward to the answers—and the album, the first on Manson’s own label—when they come.

Meshuggah
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: March 27
In 2011, a strange, barely pronounceable onomatopoeia, “djent,” became the hot new buzzword in underground metal, a catch-all term to describe a breed of young bands who, essentially, share one major characteristic: They sound like Meshuggah. Having inspired a whole nerdy little subgenre, the Swedish tech-death overlords return in 2012 to show Generation Djent just how it’s done, and we’re guessing that they not only pick up where they left off with 2008′s obZen, but that they take their existing sound and destroy, erase, and improve it.

Metallica
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
On the heels of a triumphant run headlining the Big Four festivals in 2011 as well as an experimental album with Lou Reed, the metal giants are working on the follow-up to 2008′s Revolver Album of the Year, Death Magnetic. From what guitarist Kirk Hammett has said about the record, it will be like “a heavier ‘Black Album.’” Read more about it in the article here.

Ministry
TITLE: Relapse
RELEASE DATE: March 30
Ministry’s breakup never seemed particularly set in stone. After all, their “final” album, 2007′s The Last Sucker, was followed by not one record of covers and remixes but two—not to mention a 2009 live album. Still, it was hard for any fan of the seminal industrial-metal band not to be excited when main man Al Jourgensen announced in August that the group would not only be touring in 2012 but releasing a new, original studio album, fittingly called Relapse. Politically charged lead single “99 Percenters,” which hit iTunes on just before Christmas, bodes nicely.

Napalm Death
TITLE: Utilitarian
RELEASE DATE: February 28
The death-metal and grindcore greats titled their last record Time Waits for No Slave, and that appears to be the motto for the band whose members have hardly rested on their laurels since the album’s release in 2009. Frontman Barney Greenway has lent his powerful vocals to music by Volbeat, bassist Shane Embury re-joined the supergroup Lock Up, and the band released a new song in the memory of Extreme Noise Terror vocalist who once fronted Napalm Death. All things considered, they have a lot to work from for this new record, which will be anything but utilitarian.

Neurosis
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
The members of psych-metal firebrands Neurosis have been busy in the years since they released their last record, 2007′s return-to-heavy-form, Given to the Rising, putting out solo albums and collaborations. Perhaps those tangents have bled into the main band because vocalist-guitarist Steve Von Till has been saying their forthcoming record will be unlike anything they’ve done in the past.

Periphery
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: May
While the originators of “djent,” Meshuggah, will drop their new symphony of destruction in March, the band responsible for the proliferation of the term, Maryland-based prog metallers Periphery, will follow with their latest in May. According to guitarist Misha Mansoor, it will be the first of two albums the band is working on, which will have completely different sounds and approaches. Sounds nerdy—and awesome.

Pig Destroyer
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
Virginian speed demons Pig Destroyer—featuring guitarist Scott Hull, also of Agoraphobic Nosebleed, and new drummer, Misery Index’s Adam Jarvis (not pictured), who joined in 2011—rarely play live and record sporadically, but when they do drop a record, it’s pretty much always the grindcore album of its year. Expect sick, surreal lyrics and even sicker riffs.

Rush
TITLE: Clockwork Angels
RELEASE DATE: TBA
In the time since Canada’s best progressive hard-rock power trio released their last disc, 2007′s Snakes and Arrows, they’ve celebrated their 40th anniversary and seen their story told in the documentary Beyond the Lighted Stage. For their 19th(!) LP, they’ve worked with producer Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Evanescence, Alice in Chains) and written songs—two titles of which have been released, “Caravan” and “BU2B”—which guitarist Alex Lifeson describes as “very dynamic.”

Saint Vitus
TITLE: Lillie: F-65
RELEASE DATE: March 27
In 2008, doom-metal heroes Saint Vitus re-formed three quarters of their classic ’80s lineup—vocalist Scott “Wino” Weinrich, guitarist Dave Chandler, and bassist Mark Adams, currently joined by drummer Henry Vasquez—and now they’re putting out their first album of new material since 1995′s Die Healing. Rumored to contain seven songs, Lillie: F-65, is named after a downer drug that was popular in the ’80s. Is this a sign of good things to come?

Shinedown
TITLE: Amaryllis
RELEASE DATE: March 27
The last album from these southern hard rockers, 2008′s platinum-selling The Sounds of Madness, made history with each of its six singles hitting No. 1 in the radio airplay ratings. The lead single, “Bully,” from this follow-up should keep that streak going. Of the other tracks, frontman Brent Smith promises a mix of “bone-crushing” numbers like “Adrenaline” and more contemplative ballads such as “Through the Ghost,” a song about the strains of constantly being on the road and away from home.

Slash
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
Feeling reinvigorated after touring with Alter Bridge vocalist Myles Kennedy in support of his self-titled solo album—a disc that featured different singers ranging from Ozzy to Fergie singing songs—Velvet Revolver and former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash set to work on an LP that features just Kennedy and his impressive range. Considering the guitarist was still recording the disc in December, around the time Guns N’ Roses’ induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was announced, we can only imagine the adrenaline that will be surging through the album.

Slayer
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
Thrash metal’s Angels of Death had a triumphant 2011 in spite of a few setbacks. After guitarist Jeff Hanneman was sidelined due to contracting a flesh-eating bacteria, the group toured throughout most of the year with Exodus axman Gary Holt and Cannibal Corpse fret-burner Pat O’Brien filling in for shows with their peers in the Big Four—Metallica, Megadeth, and Anthrax. The word is that Hanneman is recovering and writing new songs for the album due out this year.

Soulfly
TITLE: Enslaved
RELEASE DATE: March 13
Between Soulfly, Cavalera Conspiracy, and his aforementioned new band with Dillinger Escape Plan’s Greg Puciato, former Sepultura frontman Max Cavalera apparently does not sleep. Which is fine by us considering the consistent ferocity of his output. This eighth Soulfly album comes out as the band celebrated its 15th anniversary and features guest turns by Dez Fafara of DevilDriver/Coal Chamber and Travis Ryan of Cattle Decapitation. Sounds like it should be too much brutal goodness for us to refuse or resist.

Soundgarden
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
One of the heaviest bands to emerge from Seattle’s grunge scene, Soundgarden came together again in 2010 to tour. Now, 16 years after releasing their last record, Down on the Upside, the band—whose frontman, Chris Cornell, played with Audioslave and put out solo albums, and whose drummer, Matt Cameron, joined Pearl Jam in their years away from Soundgarden—are working on an album Cornell has described as the band’s next logical step, musically.

Testament
TITLE: The Dark Roots of the Earth
RELEASE DATE: TBA
Although thrash titans Testament never really broke up, their 2008 album The Formation of Damnation—their first with a mostly original lineup, including guitarist Alex Skolnick, since the early ’90s—seemed like a triumphant comeback record. In recent months, the band has been working with producer Andy Sneap on the follow-up, The Dark Roots of the Earth, which Skolnick has said will have more variety than previous albums and his fellow guitarist Eric Peterson has called darker than usual. We just hope they practice what they preach.

Tool
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
The rumor mill had Tool’s fifth album coming out last year. Clearly that did not come to pass. And while frontman Maynard James Keenan has been seemingly preoccupied reuniting with A Perfect Circle, putting out Puscifer records, and squashing grapes, the prog-metal prestidigitators’ U.S. tour this winter proves that there is, indeed, movement in Camp Tool. So we’re holding out hope that they will finally put out a new album this year—and until they do, we’re prepared to be teased, tortured, and titillated by more rumors and misinformation, much of it doubtlessly spread by Tool themselves.

Van Halen
TITLE: A Different Kind of Truth
RELEASE DATE: February 7
Realigned with their original frontman, David Lee Roth, in 2006, hard-rock gargantuans Van Halen played a number of successful reunion shows in the years since. Now the group—which also features guitarist Eddie Van Halen, his brother, Alex, on drums, and his son, Wolfgang, on bass—is putting out their first new album in 14 years and their first with Roth in almost three decades. Judging from “She’s the Woman,” a song they rejiggered from their 1977 demo sessions that they played at an intimate New York City show earlier this month (see photos from the night here), it sounds like they haven’t missed a step…or a high kick.