Last week was a huge one for metal, because last Tuesday (April 21), three huge metal records hit stores: Chimaira's The Infection, Daath's The Concealers, and Lacuna Coil's Shallow Life. This week, we find out how the album's faired on the Billboard albums sales chart. Plus, we've got Hatebreed and Guns N' Roses tour news, a Cave In EP update, and a curious story out of Nevada that involves crickets. Your morning metal fix starts...now.



+ Italy's Lacuna Coil, who are out on the road with Disturbed and Killswitch Engage, blend metal riffage with beautiful vocal harmonies, creating a rather unique sound. They're one of Century Media's biggest artists, and now, they've got sales figures to back up such claims. The band's album 'Shallow Life' opened at #16 on Billboard's Top 200 sales chart, selling 21,000 copies. According to a Century Media spokesperson, that's the highest chart debut for any album in the label's history.

Meanwhile, Chimaira's 'The Infection' scanned 15,000 copies to open at #30, and Daath's 'The Concealers' sold close to 1,300, which wasn't enough for the band to crack the Top 200, but pretty impressive nonetheless.

+ Guns N' Roses guitarist Richard Fortus claimed during a chat with St. Louis, Missouri-based radio station KDHX 88.1 FM on Monday that the band has been "in rehearsals," and that "we, hopefully, will be announcing dates soon, I hope. I don't know of any dates in the U.S. yet; I haven't heard any talk. I'm sure that we will...Right now that's not where the focus is; I know that we're gonna be probably be announcing other dates first." To hear the entire conversation, just click this link. And let's all cross our fingers, and hope Axl Rose comes out of hiding for a run of shows soon.

+ Hatebreed's Jamey Jasta has revealed dates for the band's first U.S. tour in more than a year. Chimaira will serve as direct support for the trek, that kicks off on July 31 in Rochester, New York. Lambgoat's got a complete list of those dates, which run through September 2 in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

+ Leave it to Blabbermouth to unearth news tidbits like this. Discover magazine has issued a report, claiming that the denizens of Tuscarora, Nevada, have been using the music of Led Zeppelin to ward off mormon crickets, which invade the area each year at about this time. The destructive insects allegedly don't like vibration, as a woman learned during the 1930s with a Chinese gong. Now, some in the small town are using Houses of the Holy instead, blasting Led Zeppelin from sunrise to sunset. Apparently, it works.

+ And now it's time for this week's reason to move to Canada (beyond the free health insurance): The Number Twelve Looks Like You, The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza, and Stray From The Path will be playing a handful of dates up north, starting May 21 in Windsor, Ontario.

+ Yesterday, we told you about Cave In's reunion gig. Today, we're thrilled to be bringing you word from the Boston Phoenix, that Cave In recently regrouped to record a new vinyl-only EP. Called Planets of Old, it will be out in July.

+ Birds of Prey issued their third studio LP, 'The Hellpreacher,' on Tuesday. Wanna hear it before you buy it? Head on over to the TheHellpreacher.info to hear the whole thing right now.

+ Dutch black thrash outfit Onheil have titled their forthcoming album 'Razor.' The disc is scheduled for release May 15, and features 11 tracks, including "Out Of The Darkness It Comes," "The Fallen Kingdom," and "Penetration Of Innocence." Two of the album's cuts are streaming over at the band's MySpace page.

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