Daily Headbang for January 2nd: Yesterday Is Dead and Gone

One of the top songs of 2011, Arch Enemy's "Yesterday Is Dead and Gone" is your daily headbang for today. Is fast, heavy and powered by heavy riffs and Angela Gossow's screaming vocals. You can headbang to this one for hours on end.

Season's Beatings!

Happy holidays and welcome back to The Daily Headbang, one of your top heavy metal news sources! From here on out you'll be able to find up-to-date info on all your favorite bands.

Here's your first daily headbang! As it's the first day of the year and the first day of a new era for our site, it has to be one of the great songs in metal history, something that's heavy, but melodic with solid vocals. I'm going to turn to one of my all-time favorite bands, Lamb of God and their song "In Your Words" from their 2009 release, Wrath. Check it out!

Returning Soon!

After a long hiatus, The Daily Headbang will return January 1st, heavier than ever. Get ready...

Music As A Weapon Tour V

Disturbed! Back again for another round of Music As a Weapon Tour, this time bringing Mayhem Fest headliners Korn along with Sevendust and rising stars In This Moment. It appears that there will be two legs to the tour, with cities for the first being released, currently without dates. More cities and dates will be announced soon so be sure to keep a lookout. To add incentive, the first 1000 tickets to every show will be discounted five dollars, so if you plan on going, get your tix early! Check to see if there's a show near you. This is a class act. Don't miss it!

MOTIONLESS IN WHITE: LIVE

Finally, after weeks, months of waiting, Motionless in White came to OKC. It was awesome! They stole the show from Black Veil Brides and William Control, playing a thunderous thirty minute set. They made their way through some new songs and some old stuff including Billy In 4C Never Saw It Coming, Ghost in the Mirror, Immaculate Misconception, Abigail, Cobwebs, and Creatures. Their sound was pretty good for a young band, not quite as clear as the following acts, but easily distinguishable.

As for William Control, I have to say he was a little boring and gave off a strange stage persona. His songs were pretty weak, his best performance being his only hit I'm Only Human Sometimes.

Black Veil Brides was entertaining, but not quite as strong in showmanship as MIW. They gave me a KISS vibe more than a metal vibe with some screamed vocals being the only real change.

Motionless In White is on the road with A Skylit Drive right now so check them out if their going to a city near you!

MOTIONLESS IN WHITE: CREATURES

This Tuesday brought us the debut full-length album from the post-hardcore band Motionless In White, who has appeared in several articles over the past few months. This was one of my most highly anticipated albums of the year and didn't disappoint in the slightest. Creatures is exciting, heavy and a big breath of fresh air in the metal scene. Though I'm sure it will take a couple more tours and albums for most people, this band has dethroned Bring Me the Horizon and the Devil Wears Prada as the kings of post-hardcore (screamo).

This album starts out strongly with the song Immaculate Misconception, which hits you in the face right away with a chugging guitar riff and the screaming vocals of Chris Motionless. Of course, as is their custom, we're treated to the typical emo vocals mixed perfectly with the unclean. Very similar to their EP When Love Met Destruction, Creatures keeps a consistent sound without boring the listener. There's always something different and always something exciting about every song.

You can pick it up at most places for between 8 and 10 dollars. This one is worth checking out, as I definitely think Motionless In White have put themselves in the running for Album of the Year when the first annual Headbang awards are handed out in January.

Releases This Week

Hey guys, sorry for the lack of posts. School's been kicking my butt and I've been really busy. I'll try to get on it as much as possible.

This week saw new albums from Abigail Williams, Mushroomhead, and Halford, along with a new DVD by Slipknot titled, (Sic)nesses. Also releasing material this week was Avian, James LaBrie, October Tide, Powerglove, Unearthly Trance, Angra, Iron Fire, and Place of Skulls with a DVD put on the shelves by August Burns Red. Check it out!

TOUR: Motionless in White

These guys are touring maniacs! After exploring the states with In This Moment last winter, they played some spring shows, recorded an album, then got right back out there on the final legs of Warped Tour before heading off on Thrash and Burn Tour. Now, they've jumped on 2 (yes, 2) straight tours that end and begin only 3 days apart. They'll be kicking off the mayhem opening up for relatively new bands Black Veil Brides and William Control, then they're hitting the road supporting A Skylit Drive and bringing along For All Those Sleeping, Woe Is Me, and Scarlett O'Hara.

This sextet is absolutely awesome! I saw them back in December and have listened to their EP When Love Met Destruction almost every day since then and it doesn't get old. If you're into some Screamo and feel like doing some major headbanging, go check these guys out. It'll be worth it. You can pick up their debut full-length album, Creatures, on October 12th.

Release Tuesday

Today we saw the release of Stone Sour's third studio album, Audio Secrecy, their follow up to Come What(ever) May and the seventh installment in Helmet's career, Seeing Eye Dog.

Coming out this Friday will be Swashbuckle's Crime Always Pays... and Kamelot's Poetry for the Poisoned.

DISTURBED: ASYLUM

This is it! One of the most highly anticipated albums of the year is here! Disturbed has released their fifth studio album titled, Asylum. I'm sure you've all heard the song Another Way to Die, which has gotten significant radio play this summer. Now it's time for the real thing. I haven't had a chance to listen to album and actually won't be able to get a copy until Monday, so look for a review around then.

The Murderdolls also released an album yesterday, their first in eight years as they reunited for an album and a couple tours. The CD is titled Women and Children Last, and you can catch them on tour with Rob Zombie and Alice Cooper this October.

Also releasing material was 10 Years, putting out their fourth studio album, Feeding the Wolves. The Autumn Offering produced their fifth album, which is self titled. Cephalic Carnage and For Today released the albums Misled By Certainty and Breaker, respectively.

It was a busy day for heavy metal! Check it out!

Release Tuesday

This is a big week for releases as several major bands are putting new material on the shelves. Yesterday, we Apocalyptica's 7th Symphony and Ion Dissonance's Cursed, the seventh and fourth studio albums for each of the bands, respectively.

Today was an even bigger day as The Devil Wears Prada put their EP Zombie and Shadows Fall released Madness in Manila, a live DVD.

New releases from The Sword and The Showdown hit shelves today and later this week we will see new stuff from Tristania, Sonic Syndicate, and Liv Kristine. Check it out!

OT3P = AWESOME

Beautiful. Ot3p laid down another impressive performance at Ridglea Theater this Tuesday, showing us all she may be the toughest woman in metal. This time around she changed up her setlist a bit, but played all the big favorites, plus a couple of my personal faves that she missed last time around, so it was basically my dream Ot3p show as she went through Battle Ready, TRIC, Sacrilege, My Confession, Ghostflowers, Blood Pigs, Smash the Control Machine, Confrontation, Rise Rebel Resist, and Breed. As always, her band sounded flawless and the facial expressions of Evil J kept everyone entertained as is custom.

In support of Ot3p was The Agonist, a band I had never listened to prior to Tuesday night. They may have stolen the show. A good mixture of black metal and metalcore with some gothic elements, the female fronted band kicked some ass. Lead singer Alissa-White Gluz, one of Revolver's hottest chicks of rock, alternated between beautiful singing vocals and guttural death grunts. This band was impressive, so much so I bought their latest album following the show. They're definitely worth checking out if you're into bands like Kittie and In This Moment. If you're not, give them a listen anyway because they've got some good stuff!

Mayhem was Mayhem

Ok, so I've been to metal festivals before, I've been going to metal shows since I was fifteen, more than four years. My Mayhem Fest experience was awesome, but horrible. Something like this has never happened to me and really, I was shocked. Some of you may disagree, but I don't find body-surfing at all necessary, especially when it's me on top of the crowd. Just a few minutes before the close of Hatebreed's set, I found someone's head between my legs and felt myself being hoisted onto the crowd. I surfed along, praying to get back on the ground, and I did. HARD. I was dropped on people not paying attention and I landed on the concrete straight on my rear right hip bone. It hurt so bad I had to get out of the pit and sit down because everything was spinning and I felt like I was about to vomit. This effectively ruined my day. I literally sat through Five Finger Death Punch and Lamb of God, hoping to at least make it until Rob Zombie's appearance and duck out before Korn, but there was no way. I got too sick and had to back out. On the way home I threw up out the car window, my body obviously suffering from major shock and unable to recover due to the heat and surrounding cigarette smoke.

Before the incident, I was in metal heaven! The stages were set up side-by-side so that one stage would have a band playing while the other performed its set change. I was able to see a great show from Shadows Fall then an even better performance from In This Moment who really lit it up playing Just Drive, Blazin', The Promise, Beautiful Tragedy, Gunshow and Daddy's Falling Angel.

After In This Moment, I went back to the Jagermeister stage for Chimaira who put on a good show, much better than the annoying screechfest from Atreyu on the Mayhem Stage. Next up was Hatebreed who showed off why they were headlining the Jager Stage. Drawing a huge crowd, they managed to hit every album playing Last Breath, Empty Promises, Smash You Enemies, Proven, I Will Be Heard, Doomsayer, Live For This, To the Threshold, As Diehard As They Come, In Ashes They Shall Reap, and Everyone Bleeds Now. It was epic, and awesome.

I saw half the mainstage and definitely enjoyed what I saw. Being not very familiar with 5FDP I didn't know what to expect and was pleasantly surprised. They were very good, solid metal, but I have to say that I don't think they were Main Stage quality. Lamb of God, on the other hand, was great! They sounded good, they performed well, and they put it all out there. I've seen them twice before this and was impressed but this show easily surpassed the others.

Though I missed Zombie, I'm sure he did well. I've seen him three times before and he never disappoints. If you have a chance to catch him on the Halloween Hootenanny Tour this fall, make sure you do.

My experience may have been shorter and more painful than expected, but it did nothing to deter me! I have every intention of attending Mayhem Fest next year, though maybe from a slightly farther distance for the hardcore bands (sorry Jasta), it was far too awesome to miss!

MAYHEM IS HERE!!

Dallas/Fort Worth and Oklahoma City, this is it! It's time for Mayhem weekend. Tomorrow at Superpages.com Center in Dallas and Saturday at the Zoo Amphitheater in Oklahoma City. Get ready for some all day headbanging. Just to refresh, the main stage is Korn, Rob Zombie, Lamb of God and Five Finger Death Punch. The Mayhem stage includes Atreyu, Norma Jean, In This Moment, and 3 Inches of Blood. The Jagermeister Stage is headlined by Hatebreed who will be supported by Chimaira, Shadows Fall, and Winds of Plague. See you there!

Release Tuesday: Black Label Society

A pretty big release today is Black Label Society's Order of the Black. Zakk Wylde's band has now churned out eight albums and should be excited about this next installment after their last album Shot to Hell reached 21st on U.S. charts.

Also released today is The Binary Code's EP Priest and Bonded By Blood's Exiled to Earth.

Featured Artist: RAMMSTEIN

Rammstein. One of the world's most popular and most controversial metal bands. In my mind, music just doesn't get much better than the German sextet.

Started by guitarist Richard Z. Kruspe, he quickly found singer Till Lindemann who was playing drums in the band First Arsch. At the time, Kruspe was living with bassist Oliver Riedel and drummer Christoph "Doom" Schneider. In 1994, the group entered a contest to win a 4 track demo recorded in a professional studio. After winning, they grabbed the attention of guitarist Paul Landers who really wanted to join the band. To complete their sound, they asked Christian "Flake" Lorenz to play keyboard, as he previously played in the band Feeling B with Landers.

In September of 1995, the band released their first album, Herzeleid, which went platinum in Germany. To support the album, the band toured through most of Europe, including a short headlining tour in Germany.

Their second album, Sehnsucht, is what prompted the band's success in the United States. Sehnsucht reached platinum is several countries, including the U.S., and even double platinum in Switzerland. The band continued to tour steadily and produced their first live DVD, Live Aus Berlin. The success of Sehnsucht was further solidified by their nomination of Du Hast for Best Metal Performance at the Grammy Awards.

In mid 2000, Rammstein recorded their third studio album, Mutter, which was released on September 21, 2001. The album found even more success as the previous, going double platinum in Germany. For the film xXx, starring Vin Diesel, they performed the song Feuer Frei! live; the song was released as the first single from the xXx soundtrack.

September of 2004 brought the band's fourth album, Reise, Reise, which had slightly less success than Mutter, after the previous album was found disappointing by some of the bands fans. Still, like their previous two albums, Reise, Reise reached number 1 on German charts. Rammstein received their second Grammy Nomination for Mein Teil, the first single from the album.

Barely more than a year later, the album Rosenrot was released, the band saying they had many great songs written for Reise, Reise, but couldn't fit them all on the album. Rosenrot reached number one on German charts and Rammstein rode its popularity straight into the release of their second live DVD titled Volkerball.

Taking some time off in 2006, the band returned in 2007 as strong as ever, writing and recording in preparation for their sixth album, Liebe ist Fur Alle Da, which was released in October of 2009. Possibly their best album to date, Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da was extremely successful worldwide, once again reaching number one on German charts. The band has been touring in support of the album for more than a year and recently added shows in South American in late November/early December, with North American dates expected in November...

The band, described as Neue Deutsche Harte because of their mixing of heavy metal with dance and electronic sounds, is known for their wild performances and controversial lyrics. Unfortunately, their last U.S. show was before I was old enough to go to most metal shows so I have never been able to see them live, but if you have the chance to catch them, don't miss it, because you'll be in for something special! Rammstein is one of the world's staples of industrial metal and will be forever engraved in Metal's history as one the greatest bands of all time.

Upcoming Show: OT3P @ Ridglea Theater

For all you Fort Worth/Dallas metalheads, get ready for Otep at Ridglea Theater in Fort Worth! Tuesday night the 10th, doors open at 5:30pm. Supporting will be The Agonist, With These Words, Eighth Circuit, and Diotrephes. This will be Otep's fourth time to shake the walls of Ridglea in the last 27 months, and it's going to be awesome! I have been fortunate enough to witness the previous two shows and they were masterpieces. Be there!

Featured Song: Whatever You Do Don't Push the Red Button

This coming Monday I'll be heading to the House of Blues in Dallas to see Thrash and Burn Tour, which should be worthwhile for every Screamo/Metalcore fan out there.

One band I'm really looking forward to is actually one of the first bands on the schedule, Motionless in White. I saw them play the last twenty minutes of their set this past winter when touring with In This Moment and I loved them! They have an awesome, heavy sound, mixed with the vocal harmonies of an emo band.

To prep you guys for Thrash and Burn, the featured song is Whatever You Do Don't Push the Red Button, my favorite song by the band. The lyrics are dark and morbid, but that doesn't at all take away from the song which is heavy throughout. Lead singer Chris's alternating screaming and singing is brilliant and their chugging guitar rivals many hardcore bands out there. Listen to it and check out upcoming Thrash and Burn dates!

Releases This Week

This week was pretty calm in terms of album releases. There are only four new albums to report.

36 Crazyfists and Avenged Sevenfold both turned out their fifth albums, Collisions and Castaways, and Nightmare, respectively. Also being released was Decrepit Birth's Polarity and Blind Guardian's At the Edge of Time. Check them out!

Live Show: NEKROMANTIX

Last week I went to go see the Nekromantix at Trees, a little bar in Dallas. I saw them once before when they supported Rob Zombie this past fall. They were good then, but they were AMAZING last week. Seeing them up close in a small venue was great. The sound was surprisingly good and they really knew how to perform. Playing their fast, relatively quick songs, they went through at least twenty songs in their 75 minute performance.

As for their supporting acts, I can't quite say the same. The Howlers definitely had some talent, but you could see why they weren't the headlining act. The Mutilators were a waste of time. They didn't quite have the musical ability of the bands and the singer needed some underwear, to say the least.

The Nekromantix are touring through September, so if they're coming to your city, they're worth checking out. On my long list of bands seen, I think they rank in the top 15, maybe even the top 10.