Hopefully, NYC company Ballet Deviare has a new piece planned for 2008. The modern dance troupe has stayed under the radar this year, resurfacing for company auditions this past June and announcing a short run of classes last month. Is a larger-scale piece in the works from the company that inspired Arsis to write A Diamond for Disease and once opened for Opeth? Andrew Bonazelli’s excellent profile of company founders Laura Kowalewski and Andrew Carpenter from 2005 dug into the intersection of pointe work and death metal. Further proliferation of death metal soundtracks for modern dance clearly hinges on whatever exemplar Ballet Deviare comes forward with next, but the company’s influence seems to be rubbing off a little. Check out Entombed’s performance of “Chief Rebel Angel” at the 2006 Swedish Grammy show, accompanied by members of the Stockholm Royal Ballet. Brings new meaning to the term “left hand path” for sure.

I think Techno Animal’s Brotherhood of the Bomb is the finest thing that Justin Broadrick has put his hands on since Godflesh disbanded; I’m in that rare subset of JB fans who wishes he’d stop releasing a new Jesu EP twice a year and filling the rest of his datebook with soundalike remixes for metal bands just to carve out a little time to reconnect with Kevin Martin. That partnership was pretty spectacular: aside from Techno Animal and Curse of the Golden Vampire (the pair’s two-time collaboration, once as a trio with Atari Teenage Riot’s Alec Empire), you’ve got God, Ice, The Sidewinder and Zonal to explore to get a complete picture of what was going on in Broadrick’s head throughout much of the 1990s. Your take on any of these projects depends on your willingness to see Broadrick outside of the Godflesh-Jesu context and which side you fall on the great drum-’n'-bass debate. Brodrick and Martin’s industrial output is (in my mind) on par with the best of Tricky, Goldie and Roni Size. I’m not sure whether any of it outlasted its natural expiration date, but as this short film — inspired by Curse of the Golden Vampire’s “Ultrasonic Meltdown” — reveals, JB and The Bug’s sweet noise still has a home at the stripper pole:

By Mark and Jay, Metal Haven

Skeletonwitch, Beyond the Permafrost
My favorite new album of the year and one of my favorite bands live. Check them out if you get the chance: razor sharp guitars, double axe attack and speed like from the old days of Exodus, Forbidden and Nuclear Assault. You can even hear guitar harmonies reminiscent of Mercryful Fate and Thin Lizzy. The singing is fantastic, changing from high scream wails to guttural belches. Quick and furious songs throughout; no time to catch your breath. This album scorches from start to finish and doesn’t let up. (Mark)

Marduk, Rom 5:12
Crisp, raging installment from the gut. A mammoth record with moving change, forcing acceptance. An album that rises up to expectations. (Jay)

Dekapitator, The Storm Before the Calm
Best thrash album since King’s Evil! Non-stop thrashing holocaust from the get go. Total old-school Bay Area sound with modern day production, a shred fest with ripping guitars and great old school sounding vocals. “Deathstrike Command” is an instant classic and you have to love the sound of a bomb hatch opening…now thats METAL. This is a must-have. (Mark)

West Wall , Blitzkrieg Symphony # 1
War on all fronts is declared with this exceptional DM release. Dark musical assissinations by guitar and doom. Commanding cult brilliance from beginning to end. (Jay)

Obituary, Xecutioner’s Return
Great title, especially since they were known as “Xecutioner” when they started in ‘85. Too bad this wasn’t the Obituary comeback album instead of Frozen in Time, because this new album blows that one away. Maybe it’s new guitarist Ralph Santolla, adding that extra little crunch on guitar, but John Tardy sounds as good as ever on vocals. This album shows that the old school brothers can still bang it out with the kids. If you miss the classic Florida DM sound, definitely give this album a shot. (Mark)

Go bother Mark and Jay with questions about death metal and Enuff Z’Nuff at Metal Haven’s new retail location at 2003 W. Montrose Ave., Chicago, IL 60618.

There are tough-guy hardcore bands that I absolutely will not make fun of, no matter how much they deserve it, because I’m afraid of them. I don’t just mean in print or online, I mean out loud if I’m at a show or record store or outside somewhere. Obviously I can’t say who they are, because their reps are that fearsome. Let’s just say I grew up in New Jersey. Shit, even that may be too much.

Good news: Crimescene is not one of those bands. Mostly because I’m not totally convinced that they aren’t an elaborate joke. If they are, it’s brilliant. For example:

That can’t be real, can it? The really fake synchronized spin kicks? The drive-bys? The fat drummer? (I told you I wasn’t afraid of them.) The all-performance video (”without all the guns and murder”) may be even funnier:

I desperately want this to be a Crucial Youth for 2007. Sadly, this brief “documentary” clip doesn’t illuminate anything. Dig the gratuitous N-bomb!

* Per Born Against, not that other band.

Capcom, a leading worldwide developer and publisher of video games, today confirmed a return for one of its classic franchises with the announcement that Bionic Commando is in development for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, Sony Computer Entertainment’s PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3) and PC platforms.

Taking its inspiration from its 8-bit namesake released on the Nintendo Entertainment System back in 1988, Bionic Commando features Nathan Spencer (voiced by former lead singer of Faith No More, Mike Patton), a government operative who represents the ultimate fusion of man and machine. After distinguishing himself in a fierce conflict against the Imperials, Spencer is betrayed and falsely imprisoned by the very people he unquestioningly served.

Three years later, on the day he is due to be executed for his supposed crimes, an experimental weapon detonates in Ascension City, unleashing an immensely powerful earthquake coupled with a radiation shockwave that leaves the city in ruins, wiping out its populace. Military intelligence suggests that a large terrorist search force has moved in and occupied Ascension City, but as yet their motives remain unclear. With the terrain in ruins and the terrorists in control of Ascension City’s air defences the FSA has only one option open to them – the reactivation of Nathan Spencer.

Bionic Commando harnesses the power of the latest generation of hardware to fully exploit the swing mechanic that made the original title so unique. The ruins of Ascension City and its surroundings provide an engaging environment of towering buildings, suspended roadways and monorails, deep canyons and sheer rock faces that allow gamers to traverse each area via multiple routes using swinging, rappeling, climbing and wall-walking techniques.

An expertly trained operative, Spencer is able to target and take out enemies while hanging upside down, climbing a building or even in mid-swing. At close quarters, the bionic arm packs a mean punch, while from a distance, objects such as boulders and cars can be grabbed and launched at enemies.

I don’t even really care who does the voice, I’m just psyched because this was by far my favorite NES game ever.

The liberal Norwegian Venstre party has proposed that all file sharing should be decriminalized. Enslaved members Grutle Kjellson and Ivar Bjørnson responded by visiting the party leader’s home/amateur sheep farm and “downloading” one of his sheep.

Back in August, I put out the call for screenshots of Jonathan Taylor Thomas wearing a Neurosis shirt on Home Improvement and Missy Elliott wearing a Code-13 shirt. At the vague promise of some free stuff,
Sean Graves of Tacoma, WA went above and beyond the call of duty and tracked down both. Sean wrote, “I happened to see the episode the other day, and I have digital cable so I can see info about the show, including the episode name. So I went to Wikipedia’s list of Home Improvement episodes, found out what season it was in, earched for a torrent and downloaded just that episode. The episode is called ‘Room at the Top,’ episode 3 of season 7.”

Episode summaries only list the main plot of the episode (”Jill wants Tim to build her an office in the attic and then changes her mind at the last minute; Tim makes a big deal about it.”) so I don’t remember why Randy was wearing a Neurosis shirt—it had something to do with him expressing himself and trying out a new “dark” identity. But he’s very clearly wearing an Enemy of the Sun shirt, so at least he’s smarter than this kid.

“As for the Missy Elliott video caps,” Sean said, “it took a little detective work. I found an article that the owner of Havoc Records wrote for Maximumrocknroll, and it mentioned getting emails from people about seeing the shirt in her video. It also mentioned that the 9/11 attacks had just happened, so I figured the video had to have come out in 2001. I found out what videos she made in 2001, watched them on YouTube, and found the one where she was wearing the shirt.” Turns out it was in the video for “One Minute Man,” not an awards ceremony like the VMAs, as I originally believed. It’s a little clearer in the video, but Sean went out of his way to take screencaps, too.

By Stephen Mattos, Athletic Automaton

This list consists of music which is scientifically proven to be bad for a individual’s health and well-being. Warning: being subjected to any of these genres for too long will cause permanent brain damage.

5. Pop-Punk: I always felt that this was an oxymoron, since punk was supposed to be an anti- establishment, anti-mainstream form of music. It is amazing how many degrees of seperation can occur over time.

4. Funk Metal: I am having a hard time right now thinking of examples, but there were a few egregious offenders in the late ’80s and early ’90s. You know, like the Red Hot Chili Peppers…but even worse. These are two great tastes that DON’T taste great together!

3. “New” Country: Honestly, there is a reason that a lot of people don’t like country music: Garth Brooks. Also, that terrible Trace Adkins song “Honkey Tonk Badonkadonk” is guilty by association. Man, I miss Hank Williams Sr (not Junior).

2. Emo: Never liked it, never will. And dare I say that it has gotten worse! I didn’t think that it could. I’ve played too many gigs opening up for bands like this over the years. That’s it. I am done. My Chemical Romance can disappear forever and I would be happy. Oh wait: that’s the sub-genre “Goth Emo.” That sucks, too!

1. Moose Rock: This consists of bands with singers that have that deep “yo” type of voice, like Creed, Nickelback, Stone Temple Pilots, Hootie and the Blowfish, etc. More often the music is generic hard rock, like Creed, not generic soft rock like Hootie, but it’s all about the voice.  This a convenient way of lumping all of the bands you love to hate under one genre, no?