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Philadelphia, PA hard rock powerhouse A Life Once Lost (ALOL) has posted another brand new song online. The heavy-handed track "Worship" has been uploaded to the band's MySpace page and can be heard HERE. "Worship" will appear on ALOL's new album Iron Gag, which is set to drop on September 18 via Ferret Music.

The final track listing for Iron Gag is as follows:
1.) Firewater Joyride
2.) Detest
3.) THE WANDERER
4.) Worship
5.) All Teeth
6.) Meth Mouth
7.) Masks
8.) Pigeonholed
9.) Others Die
10.) Silence
11.) Ill Will

ALOL (A LIFE ONCE LOST) tour dates:
Aug 22 Memphis, TN The Complex (w/ Job For A Cowboy)
Aug 23 Little Rock, AR Vino's (w/ Job For A Cowboy)
Aug 25 Oklahoma City, OK The Conservatory (w/ Job For A Cowboy)
Aug 27 El Paso, TX Chic's (w/ Job For A Cowboy)
Aug 28 Albuquerque, NM Launchpad (w/ Job For A Cowboy)
Sep 7 Portland, ME The Station
Sep 8 Worchester, MA The Palladium (upstairs)
Sep 9 South Hackensack, NJ School of Rock
Sep 10 Philadelphia, PA First Unitarian Church
Sep 11 Wilmington, NC The Soapbox Laundrolounge
Sep 12 Charleston, SC The Music Farm
Sep 13 Harrisonburg, VA Guzmans
Sep 14 Wilmington, DE The Harmony Grange
Sep 15 Lemoyne, PA Championship
Sep 16 Poughkeepsie, NY The Loft @ The Chance

On June 16, 2007, Total Fucking Destruction opened the Car Bomb, Genghis Tron and Pig Destroyer show at Club Europa in Brooklyn, NY, with one of their characteristically explosive sets. MetalKult was on hand to witness the frenzied Philadelphia band's most excellent assault.

Curious about the philosophy of Total Fucking Destruction, we cornered drummer/vocalist Rich Hoak backstage. The result is captured in the following clip, in which Hoak delivers a concise outline of the Total Fucking Destruction mission, including his band's connection to the slow motion apocalypse, playing grindcore and "partying, indubitably."

Photo by Eldon Baldwin.

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Dizzying! Cephalic Carnage's latest record Xenosapien (Relapse) contains such advanced levels of math-metal deathgrinding stoner madness that it's a wonder the Colorado five-piece didn't set the studio ablaze while tracking it.

Definitely a more sophisticated (if the term can even be applied to Cephalic) successor to their previous 2005 pot-fueled masterpiece, Anomalies, Xenosapien finds guitarists Zac Joe and Steve Goldberg playing more mind-bendingly complex riffs, unexpected changes and floor-punching breakdowns than you can shake a Thai stick at.

And in fine grind style, on top of Cephalic's metallic geek frenzies you get plenty of samples and inhumanly gargled vox. These guys like to mix it up, and it shows in the album's scope—Xenosapien jumps from Dillinger/Cryptopsy craziness to doom sludge to hardcore breakdowns to epic moody jazz weirdness.

With Xenosapien, Cephalic Carnage not only deliver just about everything your stoned metal mind could possibly handle, but also what may prove to be the best grind record of 2007. – Jimmy Hubbard

Check below for Episode 1 of Cephalic Carnage's two-part Making of Xenosapien video:

England's Throbbing Gristle—the originators of the most metal of subgenres, industrial music—have released their first studio album in almost 25 years: Part Two - The Endless Not (Mute Records). And whereas many bands might be content to reheat their old material when reuniting after so many years, TG buck that impulse and continue to evolve.

Which is no small feat for a band that made their mark on mid-Seventies subculture through relentlessly creative experimentation that included tape cutup collages, analog dissonance, electro-erotica beats and psycho-horror songs. Part Two is a subtle, if not somewhat subdued, return to form for TG. Take a song like, "Maggot Death" [from 1977's The Second Annual Report], for example, which has been updated on Part Two as "This Worm Waits Its Turn for You." It's still Throbbing Gristle, but in a reclined state of mind.

Part Two opens with a "Vow of Silence," which sounds like a Xerox machine rumbling at the bottom of an icy lake with singer Genesis P-Orridge running around lakeshore yipping and howling, his voice fragmenting into digital snippets as it floats

into the cold blue sky.

There's also a backup singer, perhaps Genesis himself, who sounds like a Gyuto Monk with a tracheotomy chanting through his throat hole. To listen to a sample of "Vow of Silence," click HERE.

The second track, "Rabbit Snare," surprises with its late-night, smoke-filled, jazz club improv vibe, replete with piano sprinklings, snare brush rolls and muted trumpet whining. You would hardly know it was TG…except for the demented layers of digital chatter and a child yowling as Genesis sings like a doped-up Nina Simone, "Why are you scared?"

But the jewel of The Endless Not is the melancholic, ephemeral "Almost a Kiss." Whereas earlier TG songs at times sounded like slasher soundtrack music, ala "Hamburger Lady" from their '78 D.o.A. release, "Almost a Kiss" comes off like a dreamy Tim Burton-esque ghost story score.

So while The Endless Not isn't going to kick you in the teeth like early TG work did, its decaying electronic beauty just might cause a subtle, corrosive thought to bloom in your mind: in The Endless Not we're just food for the worms and ashes for the sky. – Ian Caskey

New Orleans' Down—consisting of Philip Anselmo, Rex Brown, Pepper Keenan, Kirk Windstein and Jimmy Bower—are set to release Down III-Over the Under on Sept. 25th through ILG/Warner Music Group. After releasing two records mainly as a side project, the band got together in the months before Hurricane Katrina to start working on new material. After the tragedy of the Hurricane in which the members were displaced and separated for many months, the band reconvened.

It was obvious at the onset that this was no longer a side project.

After a successful European tour in summer of 2006, the band reconnected in New Orleans to begin work on Over the Under. Having already tapped Warren Riker, who produced Down's second release, Down II-A Bustle in Your Hedgerow, the band demoed some 18 songs in Nodferatu's Lair, Philip Anselmo's studio in the swamps of Folsom, LA, with engineer David "Puma" Troia. In February of 2007, the band commenced recording, which resulted in the 12 tracks that appear on Over the Under.

For more information check out

down-nola.com and myspace.com/downnola

Down III-Over the Under
Full Track Listing:
1. 3 Suns And 1 Star
2. The Path
3. N.O.D
4. I Scream
5. On March The Saints
6. Never Try
7. Mourn
8. Beneath The Tides
9. His Majesty The Desert
10. Pillamyd
11. In The Thrall Of It All
12. Nothing In Return (Walk Away)

For more info on Down: www.down-nola.com and www.myspace.com/downnola

On April 29, 2007, Job For A Cowboy played a sizzling set at Irving Plaza in New York City. MetalKult was there and captured these young death metal upstarts in all their brutal glory.

Below is a live video from that show of "Embedded", the single from their Metal Blade debut, Genesis.

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Where Today Is the Day's last album, 2004's Kiss the Pig, was a sprawling, sometimes flawed masterpiece of moody, metallic experimentation, Axis of Eden—the trio's latest record and its first on vocalist/guitarist Steve Austin's own SuperNova Records—is a more concentrated and focused dose of blasting, misanthropic ugliness, an album that is as extreme emotionally as it is musically.

15 years into their career, TITD continue to innovate, and Axis of Eden confirms this without a doubt. As is expected from TITD, Axis is dissonant and mathy, but the addition of ex–Hate Eternal drummer Derek Roddy gives the record a faster, fiercer bite. Ready yourself for another sonic beating from this artsy, aggro, noise-metal outfit. – Jimmy Hubbard

On October 23, 1988, at the Trocadero Theatre in Philadelphia, Combat Records brought together five of their premier acts—Raven, Dark Angel, Death, Faith or Fear and Forbidden—to film the follow-up to their now-classic Ultimate Revenge home video, which featured Venom, Slayer and Exodus.

Led by the late Chuck Schuldiner on vocals and lead guitar, Death were the third band on the Ultimate Revenge 2 bill that evening, and burned through three cuts from their 1988 album, Leprosy—"Left to Die," "Pull the Plug" and "Forgotten Past"—as well as "Denial of Life," from their 1987 debut, Scream Bloody Gore.

Below, check out this rare footage of death metal's genre-defining band in action.

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Oakland, CA outfit Saviours have inked a deal with NYC label Kemado Records. The self-described "piss-angry metal band" will enter Los Angeles' A&M/Henson Studios in late August with producer Joe Barresi (Melvins, Kyuss, Tool) to record its sophomore album.

On the topic of the forthcoming album and the band's new label home, Saviours drummer Scott Batiste comments, "We signed to Kemado because they understand what we're trying to do more than any other label. We each share a vision of how a Saviours record should be released. And it helps that Keith and company know how to party."

Saviours' cut "Circle of Servants Bodies" appeared on Kemado's compilation of rare and unreleased heaviness, 2006's Invaders. The release also featured The Sword, Big Business, High on Fire, Wolfmother and Torche. "Circle of Servants Bodies" can be heard

HERE.

Saviours tour dates:

8/8 Lawrence, KS @ Replay Lounge w/ Black Cobra
8/9 Chicago, IL @ The Note w/ Black Cobra
8/10 Alma, AR @ D'Amico's Music Hall
8/11 Denton, TX @ Rubber Gloves (w/ THE SWORD)
8/12 Austin, TX @ Emo's (w/ THE SWORD)
8/14 Phoenix, AZ @ Modified (w/ Landmine Marathon)
8/17 Tijuana, Mexico (venue TBA)
8/18 Los Angeles, CA @ Warehouse

Boris return to the states this fall in support of their latest release: Rainbow. Boris will be playing a collaborative set with Kurihara and supported by Damon & Naomi.

Boris and Damon & Naomi with Kurihara Tour Dates:

09/30 Empty Bottle - Chicago, IL
10/02 First Unitarian Church - Philadelphia, PA
10/03 Music Hall of Williamsburg - Brooklyn, NY
10/04 Kelly-Strayhorn Theater - Pittsburgh, PA
10/05 Wexner Center For The Arts - Columbus, OH
10/06 Mad Planet - Milwaukee, WI
10/07 Triple Rock - Minneapolis, MN
10/08 TBA
10/09 TBA
10/10 Nightlight Lounge - Bellingham, WA
10/11 Chop Suey - Seattle, WA
10/12 TBA - Portland, OR
10/13 TBA
10/14 The Independent - San Francisco, CA
10/15 Echoplex - Los Angeles, CA
10/16 TBA - Phoenix, AZ
10/17 TBA
10/18 The Ballroom - Marfa, TX
10/19 Scoot's Inn - Austin, TX
10/20 The Spanish Moon - Baton Rouge, LA
10/21 Bottletree - Birmingham, AL
10/22 The Earl - Atlanta, GA
10/23 40 Watt Club - Athens GA
10/24 The Cat's Cradle - Carrboro, NC
10/25 Satellite Ballroom - Charlottesville, VA
10/26 Black Cat - Washington, DC
10/27 Bard College Chapel - Annandale-On-Hudson, NY
10/28 Bowery Ballroom - New York, NY
10/29 Middle East Downstaris - Cambridge, MA

Photo by: greenfacedegg