News

Officer Downe, the original graphic novel created by Joe Casey (Man of Action) and artist Chris Burnham, is getting the feature-film treatment with Slipknot's Shawn "Clown" Crahan set to direct the Casey-penned script.

The Man of Action/Image Comics title Officer Downe details the story of a brutal supercop who continually dies in the line of duty, only to be resurrected by his superiors and sent back onto the streets every time. Skip Williamson (producer, Underworld, Crank) and Mark Neveldine (director, Crank, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance) will produce the feature along with Casey. Slipknot manager Cory Brennan executive produces.

Crahan, co-founder of Slipknot, directs many of the band's music videos and makes his feature directorial debut with Officer Downe. Those videos have garnered 100 million views, and Slipknot have sold 20 million albums/DVD's worldwide while headlining this summer's biggest music fests from Ozzfest to Roskilde to Download.

Casey is a founding partner in Man of Action Studios, the entertainment company that created Ben 10, the megahit 3 billion dollar boys' action empire and the biggest superhero launch of the past decade. Founded by comic book creators and acclaimed comic writers, many Man of Action titles are being turned into features, including The Great Unknown, and television series, including Casey's Disco Destroyer.

"I make comics because I love them, not to be back-door movie pitches" Casey says, "but this turned out to be a unique opportunity to go deeper and explore the characters in ways our printed page count prevented."

Confirming the film adaptation requires "more over-the-top set pieces to illustrate how incredibly chewed up and broken Officer Downe gets on the job, this makes someone with Crahan's eye the perfect, twisted match for this material," says Casey. "We feel like the team of Clown, Joe, Skip and myself will really have a great opportunity to make a low budget, visceral, exciting franchise that we can bring to all markets and platforms," Neveldine says. "This kind of insanity has worldwide appeal and social media will be a big part in how we attack it."

Revolver Electronic Cigarettes is on the road with the Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival all summer long, brining you a behind-the-scenes look at all the action. Check out their second of six videos, Kicking Some Ash: On The Road With Mayhem and Revolver E-Cigarettes, Week #2, featuring Carla Harvey and Heidi Shepherd of The Butcher Babies.

Revolver Electronic Cigarettes is a company of Revolver Electronic LLC. Their goal is to provide a better alternative to tobacco cigarettes while upholding a level of customer service that is committed to the highest level of excellence.

Learn more at revolvercig.com, and stay tuned for more videos from the road!

Arguably the first ever goblin metal band ever, Nekrogoblikon have announced the upcoming release of their brand new record, Power, hitting stores on August 27. Power is produced by Nekrogoblikon, and is mixed by Matt Hyde (Deftones, Children of Bodom).

For a taste of what Nekrogoblikon is about, check out their recently released music video for the track "No One Survives" (featuring Jon Lajoie of Comedy Central's The League and adult entertainment star Kayden Kross), which went viral shortly after posting and already has two-million-plus views.

The video is directed by Brandon Dermer, who has since shot a Major Lazer video, as well as the new Wavves video. Dermer had the chance to catch Nekrogoblikon performing in front of a small crowd of people at The Cobalt in Canoga Park, California, immediately fell in love with the band. The rest is history.

For more info on the band, visit Facebook.com/Nekrogoblikon.

Canadian progressive metal pioneers Voivod have released a new music video for the title track from their 2013 album, Target Earth.

The video, which was created by Italian filmmaker and multimedia artist, Nicola Piovesan, was made with 3D Motion Graphics using the visions and artwork of Voivod drummer Away (Michel Langevin).

"I met Nicola Piovesan at the Voivod/Unkind show in Helsinki on October 31, 2012," Away said." We had a discussion about my 3D graphics for the album Negatron, and Nicola mentioned the possibility of him doing a 3D motion video for our new album. After viewing his fantastic video for "The Core" by On|Off|Man, we knew he was the right person to capture the cyber world of Voivod. To us, the result is simply spectacular!"

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

Asking Alexandria will release their new album, From Death To Destiny, on August 6. In anticipation, the band has unleashed a new song from the record, "Killing You." Check it out below and let us know what you think in the comments.

Rob Zombie, who is currently out on the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival, has released a lyric video for his cover of Grand Funk Railroad's "We're An American Band," the latest single from his latest album, Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor, out now. Check it out below and let us know what you think in the comments.

According to Tool drummer Danny Carey, fans can expect a new studio album from the band in early 2014.

The as-yet-untitled album, which will be the band's fifth full-length studio release, will be the followup to 2006's 10,000 Days.

"Right now, since we haven't started tracking stuff at this point, it'll be hard," Carey told Loud Wire. "We could have the record finished by the end of the year [2013] — that's a possibility, but the logistics of getting it manufactured and getting the record company in line and all this stuff, I doubt we'll be able to get it out before Christmas. We'll see how it goes. Most likely, it'll be early 2014."

Carey added that he, Adam Jones and Justin Chancellor (but not Maynard James Keenan yet) are working on new material.

"It's still the three of us right now and four of us it will be soon, you know, just working on all our parts and working on our compositions together," Carey said, adding, "We're working every day on it, and it's going really well, so I'm hoping we'll get into the studio by the end of the year.

"Stylistically, we're trying to push things in different ways, but it always comes out sounding like Tool no matter what we're trying to do."

The Stone Temple Pilots will be heading out on a North American tour this fall with their new lineup, which includes Linkin Park's Chester Bennington as vocalist.

The band has been busy working on new music for an upcoming EP to be released later this year, as well. This lineup of Stone Temple Pilots released a single, "Out of Time," with Bennington back in May.

Filter will be the supporting act and you can check out the dates below.

Sept 4 Bethlehem, PA @ Sands Bethlehem Events Center
Sept 6 Sayreville @  Starland Ballroom
Sept 7 Atlantic City, NJ @ House of Blues
Sept 9 Boston, MA @ House of Blues
Sept 10 Huntington, NY @ Paramount
Sept 13 Oklahoma City, OK @ Downtown Airpark (w/ Motley Crue)
Sept 14 Newkirk, OK @ First Council Casino*
Sept 17 Sunrise, FL @ BB & T Center (FLA Panthers Event)
Sept 18 Orlando, FL @ House of Blues
Sept 20 Columbia, SC @ Township Auditorium
Sept 21 Ft Myers, FL Rockwave Festival – Jet Blue Park
Sept 24 Midland, TX @ La Hacienda Event Center
Sept 26 Tempe, AZ @ Marquee
Sept 27 Las Vegas, NV @ Freemont Street Experience*
Nov 1 Biloxi, MS @ Hard Rock Live*
* Filter will not be appearing on this show

EuroNews is reporting that Varg Vikernes (pictured left), the man behind Norwegian black-metal pioneers Burzum, has been arrested in France for suspicion of planning a "massacre."

Investigators searched his home for weapons and explosives, saying he might stage a large "terrorist act." Vikernes was arrested with his French wife Marie Chachet after she legally purchased four rifles.

Officials are saying the investigation started after Vikernes was one of just a few hundred individuals to receive a copy of the manifesto of Anders Behring Breivik, the terrorist responsible for the July 2011 Oslo bombing and Utoeya Massacre which left 77 dead. Breivik was sentenced to 21 years in jail the next year.

Vikernes discusses Breivik's manifesto in a blog post on his website.

Interior Minister Manuel Valls said, "Having received the manifesto before [Breivik] committed his crimes and having been sentenced in Norway in the past for murder, this individual, who was close to a neo-Nazi movement, was likely to prepare a large terrorist act."

Vikernes previously spent 21 years in prison for the murder of Øystein Aarseth, known as Euronymous, the guitar player and founder of Mayhem. He's also been convicted of arson attacks on four churches. Upon leaving prison, he moved to France with his wife and three children.

While you may know Evan Brewer (pictured above) as the bass player for progressive death-metal band The Faceless, he also has been making a name as a solo artist. His first solo album, 2011's Alone, featured Brewer's technical bass work on every track and fused metal, jazz, and progressive rock together. Now for his second album, Your Itinerary, the eponymous project has developed into a full band effort that includes ex-Animals As Leaders Navene Koperweis on drums. This summer he will also be touring with Last Chance to Reason.

Because of Brewer's solo instrumental experimentation, Revolver asked Brewer to list his five favorite instrumental albums. "This seemed like it would be easy for me because I listen to a ton of instrumental music," says Brewer. "When I began looking through my music, I realized that narrowing down a list to only five albums was going to be incredibly hard, so I just jumped on a few that came to mind."

1. Charles Mingus, Let My Children Hear Music
"Charles Mingus is a legendary jazz bassist and composer. I love this album because he took all the things I love about jazz and went beyond the standard jazz formats. This is an incredible work from a composition standpoint, and he cited this as his best work."

2. John Coltrane, Giant Steps
"John Coltrane has always been a huge inspiration to me and not just because we share the same birthday. Tales of Coltrane's non-stop practicing and work ethic taught me that you have to strive for greatness to achieve greatness. This album helped blast jazz theory into the future while capturing a vibe that will move most any listener, musician or not."

3. Bohren & der Club of Gore, Black Earth
"These guys have made some of the darkest, most horrifyingly grim music I've ever heard. That being said I also find great beauty in this stuff. The sounds are very deliberate and subtle. This in an incredible album to put on in headphones when you are in a quiet environment. If they had not released this on the Ipecac record label, I doubt I would have ever heard of them."

4. Amon Tobin, Bricolage
"For an electronic artist to make a record that has this much jazz influence and such an organic feel is just odd to me. I feel like he made this album specifically for me to listen to. It fuses together so many elements of what I like. I really enjoy all his stuff but this is the one that really keeps me coming back for more after all these years."

5.Thelonious Monk, Thelonious Alone in San Francisco
"Monk was an early jazz pioneer. He did a lot to push the boundaries of jazz. I have really always loved his playing and his songs. This is a live performance from 1959, and as the title would indicate it's only him and a piano. The early jazz recordings aren't the best, so it's a real treat to be able to hear him loud and clear and really get a feel for the power of his playing. This album sort of helped inspire the title of my first solo album Alone."