From the NYT (thanks Pawan!):

HELSINKI, Finland — They have eight-foot retractable latex Satan wings, sing hits like “Chainsaw Buffet” and blow up slabs of smoking meat on stage. So members of the band Lordi expected a reaction when they beat a crooner of love ballads to represent Finland at the Eurovision song contest in Athens, the competition that was the springboard for Abba and Celine Dion.

…The lead singer, Lordi — a former film student who goes by his real name, Tomi Putaansuu, when not wielding a blood-spurting electric chain saw — is philosophical about the uproar.

The affair, Mr. Putaansuu says, has exposed the insecurity of a young country whose peculiar language is spoken by only six million people worldwide and whose sense of identity has been dented by being part of the Swedish kingdom and the Russian empire until gaining independence in 1917. Most Finns, he adds, would rather be known for Santa Claus than heavily made-up monster mutants…

…Dragging on a cigarette, Mr. Putaansuu added, “Finns nearly choked on their cereal when they realized we were the face Finland would be showing to the world.”…

…”Even if we lose the contest, we have already won,” Mr. Putaansuu said. “Many Finns would rather have sent someone boring and acceptable than to be represented by freaks like us.”

Fantastic! I hope they win!

Update: It looks like the original article was published here.

Update: THEY WON!!

And it’s on YouTube!

Update 2: Follow-up

From Century Media:

Century Media recording artists Angela Gossow (Arch Enemy) and Barney Greenway (Napalm Death) have been nominated for PETA2’s (People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals) sexiest vegetarian of 2006, vote here.

Interviewed in 2005 for the PETA2 website (here), vocalist Barney Greenway and Napalm Death will be the first band to lend their image to PETA2’s new anti-vivisection campaign, “Save #99,” more info here. Calling vivisection, “the ultimate act of disrespect”

From PETA2.com:

Get those index fingers ready, gang, because it’s time for peta2’s second annual “World’s Sexiest Vegetarian” poll. We’re not sure if it’s all the antioxidant-filled veggie burgers or the tofu that gives vegetarians that certain glow, but whatever it is, it’s workin’ in their favor, because there are some mighty tasty meat-free folks out there.

We gotta warn you: Picking a winner from this year’s crop of sexy vegetarian nominees is gonna be tough. More of your favorite actors, musicians, athletes, and general celeb types are cutting meat out of their diets every day—in fact, new veggies are popping up so quickly that we can barely keep up! So check out the list, click away, and get your friends in on the act too.

Not sure exactly what to make of this… Do we have any vegetarian readers? Speak up!

Check out the teaser!

Brendon Small has posted some updates on his site:

Hey guys just a quick update on the DETHKLOK front:

First of all DETHKLOK premieres August 6th. Stay alive until then please. thank you.

Production is going really well. The show’s look has totally exceeded mine and Tommy’s expectations. We are working with the best artisist I’ve met (or haven’t met)- not that I haven’t met the Dethklok artists I have. and they’re awesome. Awesome at art.

And I’m REALLY excited about this: Last Friday we recorded Michael Amott (amazing guitarist) and man behind the kick ass band ARCH ENEMY. If you haven’t checked out Arch Enemy. do so. Michael was hilarious. And played a couple characters.

Afterwards we were joined with Jeff Loomis, Warrel Dane, and Steve Smythe of Seattle band NEVERMORE. Dudes. They were, again, great. Such a pleasure for me to hang out with these guys, huge huge respect and admiration. Check out NEVERMORE if you haven’t. and pay attention to how awesome Steve and Jeff’s guitar playing is. Jeff’s economy picking makes me curse my fat little sweaty fingers and weep. Hugely inspirational.

We have more metal dudes that we’re actively tracking down and putting on the show. I’m very happy that I have a job where I can contact my heroes and force them to work with me at the expense of lingering showbusiness awkwardness. If that isn’t metal I don’t know what is. Metal.

He also mentions that James Hetfield and Kirk Hammet did some voices, which is disappointing, but I think having Mike Amott, Jeff Loomis, Warrel Dane, and Steve Smythe contributing makes up for it.

If you still can’t get enough Dethklok news, search the iTunes music store for “adult swim” and you’ll find two video podcasts of Brendon talking about the show.

From the Canadian National Newspaper:

Heavy metal fashion is the style of dress, body modification, make-up, hairstyle, and so on, affected by many fans of heavy metal, or, as they are often called, metalheads. To those with informed heavy metal fashion sensibilities, and with particular reference to those people within the metal subculture, relatively subtle differences in clothing can speak volumes about a persons tastes and, more critically, show whether or not they are a “poseur”

Read the full article!

So that’s how Hot Topic stays in business…

From the official Nightwish site:

Hello there! The hassle with the media seems to have died. We´ve been off tour for some months and we´ve had a nice and long vacation. It´s time to get back in business:

Nightwish is currently and actively looking for a new singer/front woman for the band. We need the obvious things: Looks , charisma, courage and, of course, a big voice. Good grasp of the English language is also very helpful. We don´t necessarily need a classically trained vocalist like Tarja Turunen (the former vocalist). We welcome all kinds of styles and voices, natural and trained, from rock and pop to classical, and all that you can find in between. You should however be prepared to sing with a lot of dynamics and versatility. From loud and high to very sensitive stuff. You should preferably send us a cd containing 2-3 songs, that you consider to be your best work. If you send an album, would you mark out 2-3 most important songs, please? If you record and send Nightwish songs, then the most important thing is your PERSONAL TOUCH. Photographs are needed as well.

We will look into different applications and all candidates, but doing it this way would save us some time and energy. If you think you have it, just send your stuff to our management, and we´ll be happy to take you onboard.

Here´s the address. Good luck!

KING FOO ENTERTAINMENT LTD OY / EWO
Fredrikinkatu 61 A 7.krs/floor
FIN-00100 Helsinki
Finland

Who would you like to see get the spot?

I think Eilera would be perfect.

So with the whole Ozzfest / Sharon Ozbourne / Iron Maiden egging debacle that went on last summer, what looks to be a seriously shitty lineup for this year, and hell, even Ozzy himself is calling it quits, it all begs the question:

Do we need Ozzfest anymore?

Some might argue that Ozzfest was never really that great. It’s way too overpriced, bands’ sets are too short, and the lineups haven’t always represented the best of what metal has to offer. Granted, in recent years, the Ozzfest lineup looked to be heightening (Slayer, The Haunted, Dimmu Borgir, etc.), but this year I imagine Ozzfest is going to drop off the radar for most of the metal community (Disturbed?! Ugh).

So who cares if Ozzfest sucks now? In past years, Ozzfest was it as far as a big metal tour in the U.S. But now we have THREE fucking incredible tours coming our way!

Sounds of the Underground - As I Lay Dying, In Flames, Trivium, Cannibal Corpse, Terror, Black Dahlia Murder, Behemoth, The Chariot and Through The Eyes Of The Dead, GWAR

Unholy Alliance Tour - Slayer, Lamb of God, Children of Bodom, Mastodon, Thine Eyes Bleed

Gigantour - Megadeth, Overkill, Anthrax (maybe), and lots more I’m sure

There are a lot of metalheads in the states who aren’t fortunate to live close enough to attend one of the big festivals, so tours like these are often the only big shows that they get to see all year.

I, for one, am totally psyched that the metal world has grown to the point where it can sustain all of these kick ass tours. But at this point I think we could do without Ozzfest.

Your thoughts?

Everyone’s favorite internet only METAL TV show has entered its fourth season!! Episode 1 includes…

Interview and live footage of HORSE The Band, videos from Aborted, August Burns Red, Sonta Artica, Soulfy and much more.

Loved this episode, can’t wait to see what comes next!

Enjoy!

So I was watching episode 4 of The IT Crowd (British sitcom about IT guys), and I was amused to see a few references to Cradle of Filth.

I won’t waste time attempting to describe what goes on, just watch the show and see for yourself.

But since when is CoF considered goth?

So you thought the Megadeth Duck Dogers episode was cool? Pfft, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!

Brendon Small, who created the (now cancelled) show Home Movies on [adult swim], has been working on a new metal cartoon called Dethklok!!

Here is a quick overview:

“The show is basically about a (half-American/half Norwegian) metal band that is about a million times bigger than the Beatles. But a million times more dangerous and a millions times more stupid. This show promises violent murder. Violent violent murder. And metal.”

Currently in pre-production for 20 episodes, they’re currently shooting for a late-Spring launch – but that’s still in flux. As Brendon put it, “We don’t want to rush anything. We just want it to be f***ing funny and f***ing metal.”

Taken from this article.

Check out this interview with Brendon from The Sound of Young America where he talks about Dethklok.

You can listen to the show’s theme song here, and another interesting clip is here.

Could this be every Carbonado fan’s wet dream?

Now this is fucking cool!

PS: I ran some searches, and I don’t think any of the metal news sites have picked up on this yet, SO SPREAD THE WORD!!

If you have a digg account please digg this story!!

Dave Mustaine appears on Duck Dogers!

‘Nuff said, watch it!

Thanks Trundle!