Here goes All That Remains, further alienating fans of their early stuff with their infections breed of radio-ready heavy pop rock. The track, Hold On, off their forthcoming record, For We Are Many, rings in at just under three minuets of vocal heavy, Bullet For My Valentine-esque mediocrity.  I only post this to remove all doubt, if any one still has any, that All That Remains has indeed stripped themselves of the title; “Crappy Band With Some Semblance of Respectability” to become simply; “Crappy Band”.

I case you care, For We Are Many is scheduled to drop October 12 on Prosthetic Records -- but I know you don’t so... yeah, just disregard this post entirely. 

Korn, Korn, Korn. That’s just about all you see these days if your a metal fan ferreting around the interwebs. Publicity stunt here, press release there, and so on until you teeter on the edge of sanity. For our part, Metal Call-Out has tried to go easy on the Korn, opting instead for peas. (Did you see what I did there?) But I don’t think we’ll let their new video for Let The Guilt Go pass without an honorable mention.  

Korn’s been blowing up the charts since they released Korn III- Remember Who You Are, which reached number two on the Billboard 200 chart and sold 63,000 copies in the United States in its first week. To put that in perspective, Blind Guardian, heavy metal legends and probably the greatest power metal band to walk this green earth sold only 4,400 copies of their latest record in the US. Now I have to ask; does that seem right to you?

I’ve had iTunes on ‘shuffle’ for the majority of the day today, and for whatever reason my computer seems to wants me to listen to old metal. Today tracks from classic Metallica to Priest have popped up and kept my fist pumping and head banging with their infectious groove. Most recently, and what prompted me to put my head thrashing on hold and sit down to type, was a track from Sacrilege’s 1996 album Lost in the Beauty You Slay.

Sacrilege was, or I suppose still is, a melodic death metal band formed in Sweden way back in 1993. Throughout their career they released two demos followed up by two full-lengths, the first of which is Lost in the Beauty You Slay the second titled; The Fifth Season.  After loosing members to the ranks of in Flames, Dream Evil, and Night Shade they broke up but later reformed as Sacrilege GBG, re-recruiting some of their lost players. Back in 2006 the newly re-formed band announced a come-back album titled A Matter Of Dark, but so far nothing save a few audio clips have come to fruition. 

It’s hard to say if Sacrilege will ever be restored to their previous glory or not but a man can dream. In the mean time I thought I‘d post the track Fettered Shackles of Light off Lost in the Beauty You Slay for everybody’s enjoyment. You can also listen to a few tracks off A Matter of Dark on the bands Myspace page and while you’re there, leave them a comment reminding them there are still some folks wanting an album. 

For all you Dimmu Borgir fans you need to get over to their MySpace page.  They have released streaming online their new track entitled "Gateways."  This song will be on their upcoming album "Abrahadabra", that releases on October 12, 2010.  

Grave Digger’s new album The Clans Will Rise Again will be released October 1st in Europe and for some reason feels no closer now than it did a few weeks ago when we first announced it. Still, I have little reason to complain given the band was gracious enough to release that little video you see above featuring the third track off said album, Hammer of the Scots.   

The track is really just alright for me. I’ll need a few more listens to make my mind up. It’s defiantly the Grave Digger I have come to know and love -- I just hope it’s not the ‘best’ song on the record, you know?  Whatever the case may be, it’s done very little to stave off my excitement. The Clans Will Rise Again!

For a limited time if you sign up for Opeth’s mailing list they’ll send you a free MP3 of the band performing Dirge for November, taken off their forthcoming live DVD/CD. Go here to get the track now.

This also seems like the perfect time to remind you about the giveaway we are holding right now where two lucky readers will each receive a copy of Opeth’s In Live Concert At The Royal Albert Hall. To enter simply click here and leave us a comment under that post. 

In Live Concert... is set to be released September 21 in a variety of special editions and packages through Roadrunner Records. Click here to see all pre-order options or try your luck in our giveaway!

If you’re in the mood for some unrelenting brutality this morning, look no further than Cephalic Carnage’s MySpace page, where the band is streaming their entire new album Mislead By Certainty.  While you’re there, have a look at the plethora of awesome packages the band is offering as part of the release and maybe even think about ordering one if you like what you hear. 

Mislead By Certainty will be released August 31 on Relapse Records. 

Nashville’s southern-style heavy metal outfit, The Showdown, released their fourth studio album, Blood In The Gears, today on Solid State Records. But before you rush out and pick up a copy, why don’t you have a listen over at AOL (see?), where they are streaming it in it’s entirety for a limited time. 

I’m guilty of only listening to the first track, not being all that interested, and moving on in this instance but I imagine at least a few of our readers dig the southern metal thing and may find The Showdown to their liking. Me, I’ll take my metal a little less Kentucky-fried...

Slow news day today, so here’s a little something to keep you occupied whilst waiting with bated breath for our next post. 

My Dying Bride is actually one of my top twenty or so favorite bands and perhaps a little bit of a guilty pleasure.  Their latest album, For The Lies I Sire, is no Songs of Darkness, Words of Light but I find myself loving it more and more with each listen.  Vocalist, Aaron Stainthorpe describes the album as “quite possibly the we’ve created to date”, and I’ll have to agree.  In this album the band sought out the accompaniment of a violinist again for the first time since 1996’s Like Gods of the Sun, which adds a layer of despair to the already lugubrious vocals and instrumentation present on the record.  My one qualm is, sadly, this album is almost completely void of Stainthorpe’s legendary death metal grunts leaving a small something to be desired.  We won’t hold it against them though, this album was the next natural chapter in the story of My Dying Bride.

My favorite track on For The Lies I Sire, and the one you can hear above, is My Body, A Funeral -- the first song on the album.  It’s good ‘staring out the window’ (something I find my self doing a lot of lately) music -- slow, poetic and mournful yet ever heavy and never boring.  If you haven’t had the chance to check out My Dying Bride before, here it is.  If you like what you hear, I would highly recommend looking into their album Songs of Darkness, Words of Light, though it should be known; I celebrate their entire catalogue. 

When and why has AOL suddenly become the mecca of streaming yet-to-be released metal albums? In the past month I think I’ve linked to them over a dozen times regarding full album streams. The latest being Apocalyptica’s brand new album and aptly titled seventh album, 7th Symphony. For a limited time you can listen to the entire thing right here -- No sign-ups, registration, or free check-out stand CD-roms required. 

I’m listening to it right now and with the usual exception of most of what they do with guest vocalists, it’s pretty good. It’s certainly worth a few moments of your time and perhaps your hard earned cash if you really like what you hear. 

7th Symphony will hit stores tomorrow so look for it on Mercury Records.