Pentagram

"Somewhere between Black Sabbath and Judas Priest lives a band you never heard of." This is the tagline for the trailer of the upcoming documentary film 'Last Rites: The Fall and Rise of Bobby Liebling'. The band in question is of course Pentagram, founded and fronted by Bobby Liebling...

EXHUMED: A rare demo from true Norwegian black metallers Urgehal will be seeing a rerelease courtesy of Folter Records. The 'Rise of the Monument' album was originally released in 1995 on tape and then as a limited 2006 picture disc, but will now be seeing the light of day in CD format and feature a bonus 45-minute live set from the Under the Black Sun Festival in 2008...

"Welcome to the black T-shirt festival," Aaron Deal, the drummer of Salome very fittingly laughed out to the crowd after the band's first song. Throw in wizard beards and pot tits on guys, and you have defined the crowd of Planet Caravan Festival in an accurate, yet wonderful way...

Planet Caravan Festival has come and gone. A rare festival to take place in the U.S. -- let alone in the quiet Asheville, N.C. -- for the sheer fact that the lineup itself was a pure celebration of all children and grandchildren born from the forefather of stoner rock, and boasting such acts as Pentagram, Yob and Wino...

Victory Records is reissuing previous Darkest Hour releases 'So Sedated, So Secure' and 'Hidden Hands of Sadist Nation.' It's a common record label tactic, which either delights fans with collector mentalities, or infuriates those who feel snookered when they have to buy the same album twice for the extra odds and sods and bells and whistles...

The madmen behind America's biggest heavy metal party, Maryland Deathfest, have recently announced that the reunited Gorguts have confirmed an appearance at this year's festival. In addition, the following bands have recently been confirmed for MDF 2010, including Possessed, Asphyx (Netherlands), Necrophobic (Sweden), Sadistic Intent and the Chasm...

Something was different about Batillus Aug. 21, when they transformed Brooklyn's Union Pool back bar into a swampy house of doom. I had seen them before. They were one of the openers at a Show No Mercy doom showcase, which included Ocean and Salome...

So, we were at a show last week, and noticed something strange. See, we realize it's uncouth to wear a band shirt to that same band's concert. It's like wearing an 'I Love New York' shirt in Times Square. We see dudes all the time when we go to shows wearing shirts with the logos of bands on the bill, and it almost always inspires a smart-ass remark...

Yesterday, more than a billion sets of eyes watched as a packed Staples Center bid a final farewell to the King of Pop. Let's hope that, starting today, the world begins to move on from Jackson's premature passing, because the truth is, people die everyday...