So as some of you astute MSers might have noticed I've (temporarily) abandoned the desert of southern Arizona to go into hiding in the lush jungles of Paraguay. Thrown in to a land where virtually no one speaks English, the beer is watery lager, and there is no hot sauce? (WTF?!) Though the peeps are swell and the meat is PLENTIFUL, I've grown a tad homesick for the scorching, oven-like dry heat of the Southwest.

And suddenly I get an email in my inbox... lo! behold! A reminder of home. Well, at least close to home. A work in progress documentary on the California Desert Rock phenomenon. Kyuss! Queens Of The Stone Age! Fu Manchu! Eagles Of Death Metal! Deaths Of Eagle Metal Queens Of The Kyuss Manchu!

If you like any of those bands, check it out. Watch the vid below. Hell, give 'em the support if so inclined.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014 - The origins of bands like Queens of the Stone Age, Eagles of Death Metal, Kyuss and Fu Manchu are just a few names in a seemingly infinite list of "Desert" bands that a new documentary on the subject seeks to explore. "Desert Age" attempts to decipher the rich and often complex musical history of a very specific type of music genre known as desert or stoner rock which the filmmakers trace back to the late 1970s. To date, no feature film has ever documented this history until now.

For over eight months, Director Jason Pine has been accumulating interviews and archival materials relevant to what many desert rock fans have been wanting for years, an in-depth, exciting, honest and historically relevant documentary about the origins of their favorite bands. Using never before seen interviews and music, "Desert Age" exposes the interesting characters and places that formed a music genre akin to the punk scene in New York or the grunge scene in Seattle.

The filmmakers are raising funds via IndieGoGo to complete the post-production for the film later this year and is slated to be released Summer 2015. A fiscal partnership with the UK based label Dissension, who represents Jesse "Boots Electric" Hughes of Eagles of Death Metal fame, has boosted the campaign effort and profile of the film significantly. Director Jason Pine will be co-hosting a desert rock themed radio show on "A Pint of Cacophany" via the LA based Skidrow Studios next Monday, July 28th in an effort to promote the film and pledge campaign. The show will feature an exclusive interview with desert legend and Eagles of Death Metal guitarist, Dave Catching.

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Source:	desertagefilm.com
Band profile:	Kyuss

As has been mentioned, 2014 marks the 10th Anniversary of the Metal Storm Awards. A decade of us - staff and users alike - crowning kings for their efforts. Over 10 years we've had the privilege and pleasure of checking out a LOT of awesome albums.

As part of our celebration we decided to acknowledge the best albums we've heard in the past decade.

Much blood was shed as staff put on the foil and went to battle with one another to represent, pimp, and promote their personal favorites.
Now we need your help in voting for what you consider the landmark albums. The best of the best. The Legends.

So check out our nominees and cast your ballot. (link removed since the prank is done)

Metal Storm Staff

So this, the 10th Annual Metal Storm Awards, have come to pass.

The awards have continued to grow, with numerous categories surpassing 1000 votes cast, despite a lack of big name clout. For point of comparison, Therion was the biggest vote getter in our first ever awards, racking up 191 for Lemuria. In 2014 they barely would have cracked the Top 25. And that is only if Kvelertak doesn't score two more votes as I type this during the waning hours of the month. That is some growth.

While in general this lack of big names in many genres lead to some closer contests, as with each of the prior 9 editions, we also had the typical big name beat downs. Carcass racked up nearly 600 votes, nearly half cast in the Death Metal field. Tesseract also pulled nearly half the votes in Djent, thumping their competitors. Ever popular Amorphis exorcised Ghost B.C. by over 200 votes, and garnering a third of the vote in a busy Heavy/Melodic metal.

Conversely Orphaned Land won a relatively tight 20 vote victory over Finntroll in a strong Folk / Pagan / Viking cast, and Amaranthe for eeking out a "count the difference on your fingers" victory over Shining in Industrial/Cyber Metal. Congrats and hails to Gloryhammer for winning Best Debut.

Best Clandestine Cut was the newest, bestest, tightest race ever. How tight? Try a tie. Our first tie ever. Deception was winning by a paltry two votes over Pin-Up Went Down as I wrote this up with about an hour before voting closed and went down to the wire as a tie with 20 minutes to go. This has left me furiously typing and updating this piece so it's accurate. Maybe we can find the brick who voted for My Dying Bride to break the tie?

Earlier this year your humble narrator didn't have great things to say about the latest Megadeth? Looks like the Metal Storm masses found it equally limp, Burn!ing it with Biggest Letdown, with more than double the write-ins of second place "winner" Turisas.

And much to my surprise, Carcass Black Sabbath took Biggest Surprise for making an album that wasn't even remotely surprising. Not sure what y'all were expecting from them? Grind Zydeco? Death Doom Himalayan Throat Singing?

Check out all our winners here.

So 10 up, 10 down. Congratulations to our winners. But more importantly, congratulations to those fans who found new bands, and those bands who found new fans.

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The 10th Annual Metal Storm Awards are now open for voting. Polling will last through the end of February, so take your time and check out our nominees.

Feel free to tell us how awesome our picks are/how much we blow goats because we don't like your favorite band below.

Enjoy.

Or don't.

Team MS.

\m/

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Last year Narrow House released their initial offering, A Key To Panngrieb, a strong enough release to make the cut as a nominee in the extreme doom field. The band are hard at work in the studio composing the follow up, Thanathonaut. Yegor "Bewitched" Ostapenko recently emailed yours truly as the band is posting tidbits of the recording process up on youtube.

Chapter I: Prologue

Chapter II: The Backbone Of Sound

The band is shifting from Funeral Doom into Tradition (and Stoner) Doom. So if it's the kind of thing that floats your boat, check 'em out

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Band profile:

Narrow House

Time for a Monday Feel Bad... long time MS favorites, Mar De Grises announced via Facebook that they have come to an end. They had a bit to say on the matter, which is good, as I'm pretty speechless right now.

Dear friends and fans,

It is with deep emotion that we must announce that Mar de Grises has come to an ending.

Several reasons have led us to make this decision. Our spirits have changed and we collectively chose to end this beautiful cycle. Our musical paths have parted. You will know about our new projects soon.

Being part of this project during all these years has been amazing and magical, and sharing our feelings through music with great friends for so long has filled us with joy and satisfaction.

Mar de Grises allowed us to reach places we never thought we would; to share stage with people we admire and, above all, with good friends; to contribute to the musical history of Chile, and to reach the hearts of fans all over the world.

We feel more than rewarded with all your love and feedback.

We would like to give our sincere thanks to all our technical staff, friends and families, past members of the band, labels, promoters, media, agencies, and to all those who believed and were sincerely involved in all our undertakings.

Above all, we wish to thank all our fans who have given us unconditional support during these 13 years.

To give this story the end it deserves, we are working on the details of a final show which will be announced soon.

Now the Jewel of the Andes, as we were once called, will rest in our hearts and will continue to live in you and your memories.

Farewell.

Farewell indeed... only three albums, but three wonderful ones at that. Thanks for the great tunes, and thanks for taking the time to interact with your fans at Metalstorm.

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Source:	facebook.com
Band profile:	Mar De Grises

So February has come and gone, as did, undoubtedly, several of our voters.

Alt Metal, Death, Folk/Pagan, Gothic, Melodeath, Melodic Black, Power, Prog, and Thrash all exceeded 1,000 votes.

We had our share of the usual Big Band Beat Downs where the winner was a foregone conclusion about six minutes into voting? Saturnus, Be'lakor, and Enslaved pummeled the opposition, Meshuggah received almost 60% of the vote in Djent with over 500 while no one else came close to cracking the century mark, and Gojira racked up almost as many votes as the entire Stoner/Sludge field?

We also had perhaps our tightest race yet, with Neurosis and Atoma changing pole position repeatedly, and only a two vote gap between 'em as I started typing this a couple hours before votes close.

Wintersun almost pulled the dubious double, winning "Biggest Surprise" (most likely because the album was actually released? certainly not what the album sounded like), and were spared another win in the "Biggest Letdown" category only because the unsung heroes of Ensiferum managed to disappoint more of their fans.

Congrats to Atoma and Immensity, best debut and best Clandestine Cut, respectively, for leading a promising pack of bands. Metal's future is bright indeed.

All the results can now be viewed on the Awards Main Page.

We also had a wide variety of responses from bands upon being notified of their nomination.

Evoken

If you have a moment, the staff over at Metal Storm have included Evoken- "Atra Mors" among the albums for best extreme doom album of 2012. All one has to do is vote. Don't believe it's there for album of 2012, but for extreme doom, which is an honor either way. So, have a vote if you wish, if not that's fine too. At least it's not worst album of 2012.

(Not even close to worst of 2012, guys!)

Aura Noir:

Hi man. It's very nice to be nominated but it stops there for us. We don't feel good about bitching people with"please vote for us!!!" two times a day..haha..But cheers!

(Respect the lack of spam.)

Lurk

LURK's s/t is nominated for the Best Sludge / Stoner Album of 2012 on Metalstorm.net and also in competition for the Best Debut. If you hate the world, you will give us your vote.

(Guess that argument makes casting your vote a no-brainer!)

To the extremely humble:

Verwüstung

You can vote for my dumb album here or one of the many better releases on this list.

Carach Angren even used social media to encourage their fans to write them in in the open "Best Video" category.

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ZomgzomgZOMGwtfbbq!?!?11!

It's February 1st, which means it's the moment you've all been waiting for? The 9th Annual Metal Storm Awards are upon us. We've done a lot of work in setting this whole thing up and now it's your turn to bust your voting nut 30 seconds in to the month then spend the next 28 days whining because we didn't include your favorite album or put it under the wrong genre.

Seriously though, take your time and check out our nominees. We've got LOTS of first timers that made the cut and are worth taking a listen to before casting your vote. And for any questions regarding what category a band belongs in please ask HERE.

Enjoy.

\m/

Team MS.

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Looks like the biggest reason to go the 2012 Rockstar Energy Drink and Tooth Paste Mayhem Fest had to bail out... From an official press release posted up on their Facebook page:

Oakland, CA metal band HIGH ON FIRE has announced that it will be forced to miss this summer's Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival as front man and guitarist Matt Pike enters treatment for alcohol rehabilitation. The award winning power trio (also featuring drummer Des Kensel and bassist Jeff Matz) will put its scheduled touring plans on hold indefinitely as Pike takes the necessary steps towards regaining his health.

High On Fire would like to thank everyone involved with the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival for the opportunity to be a part of this year's tour," said the band in a statement. "We regretfully will have to bow out as our friend and bandmate begins his recovery, but very much appreciate having been asked to be a part of this summer's festival run."

Hopefully Pike can master the 12 steps like he has the 12 strings... or however many he has on his custom First Act.

And if you do have a ticket at least you can still see Slayer and Motörhead at the fest.

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Source:	facebook.com
Band profile:	High On Fire

Holy fuck balls! We know Slayer's Jeff Hanneman went through some serious shit when a spider bit him last year and he had to battle through the Slayer song-title sounding Necrotizing Fasciitis. Seems it was far worse than the band let on.

From Slayer.net:

Slayer fans everywhere - it's time to let you know what is going on with our brother Jeff Hanneman.

As you know, Jeff was bitten by a spider more than a year ago, but what you may not have known was that for a couple of days after he went to the ER, things were touch-and-go. There was talk that he might have to have his arm amputated, and we didn't know if he was going to pull through at all. He was in a medically-induced coma for a few days and had several operations to remove the dead and dying tissue from his arm. So, understand, he was in really, really bad shape. It's been about a year since he got out of the hospital, and since then, he had to learn to walk again, he's had several painful skin grafts, he's been in rehab doing exercises to regain the strength in his arm; but best of all, he's been playing guitar. We were all excited when he joined us onstage for the encore a year ago at The Big Four show at Coachella. Since then, we've given him all the time and support he's needed to continue his rehab so he can come back to the band fully recovered and able to deliver the kind of shows we all want him to. While Jeff's been doing some writing and has been coming to rehearsal over the past several weeks, he has decided he needs to take more time to continue his rehab. While we want him back onstage with the band, all of us support his decision. So, we're very grateful that Gary Holt will continue to fill in for Jeff, and will tour with us until Jeff completes his rehab and is ready to return. How long will that be? The best and most honest answer we can give you is 'as long as it takes.' We also wanted you to know that we've been doing some writing and recording for the next Slayer album - we've tracked a few songs, and will finish the album when we're off the road later this year. Gary will join us on tour in Europe and the UK in May and June, and then we'll all see you on this Summer's Mayhem Festival.

Thanks to Gary "Exodus" Holt for filling in, and best of luck to Jeff with his continued recovery. Take your time and get strong.

\m/

p.s. - Fuck spiders. And bugs in general.

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Source:	slayer.net
Band profile:	Slayer

So February, Leap Day and all, has come and gone. Your votes have been tallied and your winners have been announced. You can find the results here.

Feel free to discuss the results below.

Metal Storm Staff

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Hello everyone!

We interrupt our silence these last months to let you know that today we are back Europe! On track from 9th to 18th of December 2011 for our 4th trip to Europe, this time on a mini tour including some festivals such as Madrid is the Dark in Spain, Bracara Extreme Fest in Portugal, Eindhoven Metal meeting in The Netherlands and an exclusive show in Moscow, Russia.

We are glad to announce that we will have the participation of our former vocalist Marcelo Rodriguez for these shows and would like to thank our fans over the world, the Chilean Government and Ministerio de la Cultura and all partners/companies for their recognition and endless support.

For further information and details stay tuned.

Cheers!

Dates of the tour are as follows:,

09.12 Sala Cats / Madrid is the Dark Fest / Spain
10.12 Centro Cultural Braga Viva / Bracara Extreme Fest / Portugal
14.12 Little Devil / Tilburg / The Netherlands
16.12 Effenaar / Eindhoven Metal Meeting / the Netherlands
17.12 XO / Moscow / Russia

For more info and details: www.mardegrises.com

For good measure, and a bonus holiday treat, enjoy this video of "Sleep Just One Dawn"...


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Source:	mardegrises.com
Band profile:	Mar De Grises

Solitude Productions proudly presents the legendary Norwegian band Funeral's album To Mourn Is A Virtue. This release is the missing link between the classic albums Tragedies (1995) and In Fields Of Pestilent Grief (2002). This album is based on unreleased demo-recordings, and contains nine previously unreleased tracks that were recorded between 1996 and 2004, sent into orbit in the International Space Station, later jettisoned and crashed in the middle of the Indian Ocean, recovered, and, finally, remastered in 2010, almost 15 years (and several hundred orbits of Earth) after they were initially recorded.

The CD comes in an awesome looking digibook package limited to 999 copies.

To Mourn Is A Virtue tracklist:

01. Hunger
02. God?
03. Your Pain Is Mine
04. The Rest?
05. Dancing In A Liquid Veil
06. How Death May Linger
07. Father
08. Blood From The Soil
09. Wrapped All In Woe

(The masters may or may not have been launched into orbit... most likely not. But they were recorded many, many years ago. People believe some or all of the tracks in Ulver's Nattens Madrigal were recorded in the middle of a forest... yeah. They plugged their gear into fir trees for power? So who knows, maybe 10 years from now people will claim this was recorded on the International Space Station.)

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Source:	solitude-prod.com
Band profile:	Funeral

For those of us Metalstormers who love the truly awesome, amazing, crushing wall of sound which is Minsk, it is time for a Saturday Feel Bad. The band is now on indefinite hiatus. Woe is us. From their facebook page:

Dysfunction, Sad News, Indefinite Hiatus...
by Minsk on Saturday, April 9, 2011 at 9:56am

We regret to have to say that for the immediate and indefinite future, Minsk will be on a continued hiatus. In the recent months, it's been increasingly difficult to answer the question "what is up with Minsk?" Truthfully, I don't think anyone has a definitive answer. It doesn't feel like we've done everything that we intended to do or exhausted the creative space that Minsk occupied. But times and people change.

We had been slowly working toward a new album, which we all spent a week recording this past December. And we introduced two new individuals into the family with the additions of Jeff Hyde and Aaron Austin, two long time friends and generous collaborators. But the way forward seems insurmountable at this point. Nothing about this band has ever been clear cut, or easy, or predictable. And we're unable to see the future once again. There desire to create and explore new approaches still exists at the same time we have to let go of what has been.

We would certainly like to extend the greatest thanks to all the friends and allies we've made over the years, all the fans and kindred spirits that have urged us on during the best and worst of times, and to our friends and family without whose continued love and support none of this would have been possible. Once again we find ourselves soul searching and reflecting. And more certainly needs to be said at some point.

In the coming days and weeks, we will continue to use this space to remember what Minsk has been and has accomplished these past eight years and to highlight the whole host of Minsk-related projects currently in motion. Thanks again for all the love and support.

But before you ponder seppuku at this news, the band is named after a city which has shown historical resilience too invasions and razings. So who knows, maybe they, too, like their namesake, will return and rebuild. Or at least finish that album they mentioned working on and go out with a (sonic) boom.

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Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Minsk

We're excited to debut the the first recording specifically done under Metal Storm Music. Other bands had music done, but this is the first track recorded in house in the basement vault/studio of Metal Storm Towers.

Enjoy the extremely rough, un-mixed, un-mastered majesty of BitchTroll's "The Siren"

Click and brace to be rocked!

\m/

UPDATE!!!!!

The Bitches and the Troll just got done layin' down another smokin' track. Again, it's just a demo, but it is so hot I'm typing with oven mitts!

More Pnwership.

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Source:

metalstorm.net