Heavy Metal News Updates!

-Multi-crazy-selling worldwide artists Godsmack have decided to build anticipation for their upcoming release with a series of videos more or less counting down the weeks until release. "The Oracle" drops May 4th, and is expected to be accompanied by a full North American Tour.

-Puddle of Mudd is slated to play the reincarnated Leno show Thursday, March 25th, and then Rockline at another point in the near future. Tune in if that's up your alley. Their full tour kicks off April 1st, and no, I don't think there's any irony there.

-New Dio song! Seems dramatic, even for Dio, but it's nice to see him still keeping the image out there even while battling stomach cancer. Godspeed, Dio. We're all pulling for you.

-Been keeping up with the Deftones? Honestly, I'm not sure there's been a ton of reason to. But if you're interested, they've been taking a page from the Godsmack playbook, and using a series of videos to unveil the cover art for their upcoming album. More info on their website.

-Manowar to headline Ukraine's Global East Rock Festival. Someday, people are going to realize that Manowar just plain isn't.....ah, what's the use? Nevermind.

-Led Zeppelin has been approached to headline this year's Download Festival. I wouldn't hold my breath for that one, as even the organizer admits it's a long shot.

-For the six people who watch "Sober House With Doctor Drew," you already saw former Alice in Chains bassist Mike Starr attack a cameraman. For the rest of you who didn't see it...well, you just don't care that much.

A brief anecdote. I have my car radio dial set to the local alternative rock/metal station. It's the typical fare: an absolutely horrendously obnoxious morning show, alt rock out the wazoo, pop metal and generic filth like Nickelback, Theory of a Deadman, etc. But I keep them on there because every now and again you can catch them rocking "Symphony of Destruction," or "Pretty Noose," or something that the other stations in my mid-size market just won't play. So, before I throw a CD into the player and jet off for work, I always pause to see what they're doing and stick around for a minute if it's worthwhile. The other morning, I had them on in the car for a few minutes on the way to work. By the time I got back in my car to go home, just eight and a half hours later, they were a country station. Plain old country. Just like the seven other country stations identical to it in this market.

Metal fans, we cannot ignore this any longer. I know a lot of radio metal isn't up all of our alley, but we must band together and create a unified front that demands better treatment on mainstream radio. We will continue to be marginalized until such time as we make our voices heard. In 1982, some small army of DJ's somewhere had the guts to play "You Got Another Thing Coming," because they knew there was an audience for it. It put metal on the mainstream map and changed the way rock radio was considered for more than a decade. What DJ, what station, what broadcast entity or company would take that chance now? As metal fans, what will our next revolution be? Stand up and be counted, my friends.

Live Loud.