Eric R. Danton | Sound Check

Linkin Park announces 2008 Projekt Revolution tour

Rap-metal band Linkin Park has announced the lineup for this year's Projekt Revolution tour, which includes a stop July 20 in Hartford.

In addition to headliner Linkin Park, the bill includes former Soundgarden and Audioslave singer Chris Cornell, The Bravery (which performs April 15 at the Webster Theatre in Hartford), Ashes Divide, Hawthorne Heights, Armor for Sleep and Street Drum Corps.

It's not quite generosity on the scale of last year's Ozzfest, which was free, but it's still a good deal: Linkin Park will also pick up the tab for service fees imposed on fan-club presale tickets for the tour, which starts July 16 in Mansfield, Mass. The presale begins today, April 4.

Black metal: the new indie rock?

Turns out that even extreme metal isn't immune to the predations of scene-chasing hype, The Washington Post reports today.

"After two decades of existing mostly in the underground -- primarily through low-fi recordings surreptitiously sent around and the rare live show -- extreme metal is having a heyday," Michelle Boorstein writes.

This doesn't sit well with longtime fans like Ronnie Bittinger, a 23-year-old auto technician from Fredricksburg, Va., who says he has an IQ of 143.

"Now it's quote-unquote cult," Bittinger tells the Post. "MySpace ruined black metal, that's my thought. Now you've got idiots who sit there on their computers downloading nonstop. Now everyone has access to the music, and it wasn't meant for everyone."

That's a familiar refrain, actually. Despite their conviction that they're different from (and, in a way, superior to) people who don't get extreme metal, the genre's fans have pretty much the same complaint as indie-rock fans who moan when their favorite bands start seeping into the popular consciousness. Ultimately, it seems, the faithful in any scene want it to stay self-contained.

Review: Killswitch Engage, Dillinger Escape Plan at the Webster

Although heavy metal band Killswitch Engage has Connecticut connections, the group’s performances here are rare enough to make them special occasions for headbangers.

Small wonder, then, that the Webster Theatre was packed to overflowing Tuesday night when Killswitch rolled through for its first local show in nearly three years – and the last show on the band’s latest tour.

Only singer Howard Jones still lives nearby (drummer Justin Foley, with whom Jones first played in Meriden metalcore band Blood Has Been Shed, grew up in Simsbury but has since moved), but Killswitch Engage’s show had all the intensity of a hometown gig.

The Manson reunion

It's the musical reunion we've all been waiting for. No, not the Kinks. Marilyn Manson has re-teamed with guitarist Twiggy Ramirez!

What, you weren't waiting for Manson and Ramirez to reconcile? Then you won't want to catch them in concert on the disarmingly titled "Rape of the World" tour, starting Jan. 19 in Florida and continuing through March 2 in Texas. Sorry, local Manson fans: No Connecticut dates. The closest shows are Boston Jan. 26 and New York Jan. 29-30.

CD Review: '"V" Is For Vagina' by Puscifer

Maynard James Keenan is an odd lad: His main band, Tool, casually defies the strictures of heavy metal with dense, proggy soundscapes, while his side gig, A Perfect Circle, gives voice to artier impulses too eclectic even for Tool.

Puscifer, his latest project, is a catch basin of sorts for everything else swirling around in his head — “The space where my Id, Ego and Anima all come together to exchange cookie recipes,” as Keenan puts it on the band’s MySpace page.

Ozzy's coming; just watch out for the cops

Ozzy Osbourne and Rob Zombie co-headline Mohegan Sun Jan. 12, 2008, with tickets going on sale Friday, Nov. 9, for $90.25 and $80.25.

The announcement comes on the heels of Ozzy's displeasure with North Dakota police, who staged a pre-concert sting by inviting 500 people with outstanding arrest warrants to a fake party in Fargo before Osbourne and Zombie played there last week. More than 30 showed up and were arrested, but Ozzy was irate that the cops used his name for the bust.

"Sheriff [Paul D.] Laney should be apologizing to me for using my name in connection with these arrests," Osbourne said in a statement issued over the weekend. "It's insulting to me and to my audience and it shows how lazy this particular sheriff is when it comes to doing his job.

"Sheriff Laney went out of his way to tarnish my reputation by implying that I somehow attract a criminal element, which is certainly not true. My audiences are good, hard-working people who have been hugely supportive of my music for nearly four decades. They have also been very supportive of my wife Sharon's colon cancer charity by raising over a million dollars (partly through VIP ticket sales) at my shows."

Too much burger for one hand

Heavy metal doesn't often intersect with food, except at Kuma's Corner.

The Chicago bar is home to what (some) locals call Metal Burgers: Huge beef patties loaded up with various fixings and served on a pretzel roll, for a decadent high-calorie gorging experience like no other.

The burgers are named for heavy metal bands, including Black Sabbath, Metallica, Motorhead, Iron Maiden, Mastodon and Led Zeppelin. The best menu description belongs to the Slayer burger: "Pile of fries topped with a 1/2-lb Black Angus burger, chili, cherry peppers, andouille, onions, Jack cheese and anger." (See the full menu here.)

Tempting though the Slayer burger was, I opted instead for the Neurosis (pictured): cheddar, swiss, sauteed mushrooms, caramelized onions and horseradish mayo. It was delicious. And I wasn't hungry again for about a day and a half.

The owners are big fans of localism, devoting menu space to preaching in favor of local beers (and against Budweiser in particular, for some reason) and name-dropping Chicago-area metal bands, including my new favorite, Lair of the Minotaur.

Tommy Lee quits Motley Crue

It's been a bad week for Tommy Lee: Not only did Kid Rock put the smack down on Lee at the VMAs, the drummer has "resigned" from Motley Crue, NME.com reports.

The rest of the band recently sued Lee's manager, claiming the drummer's other commitments, including reality TV gigs, had hindered Crue's ability to rake in piles of cash on tour.

"It is unfortunate that others believe that they all could have made more money had Mr Lee exclusively participated in the band that he co-founded in 1980," read a statement from Lee.

All this really does, of course, is set the stage for (another) comeback tour after Lee and the others patch up their differences. Maybe Kid Rock can co-headline.

UPDATE: Now Lee has apparently decided he wants to work things out: "I have tried to meet with my band-mates repeatedly without success but have informed them that I'm not walking away from my band of 25 years," he said in another statement.

Nikki Sixx pities self in 'Heroin Diaries'

Motley Crue is well known for its decadence, especially during the band's '80s heyday, but Nikki Sixx takes much of the shine off the good-times image in his forthcoming book, "The Heroin Diaries." (A soundtrack by Sixx's other band, Sixx A.M., accompanies the book.)

Based on a diaries he kept starting Christmas Day 1986, an excerpt of Sixx's book paints him as a self-pitying wastoid throwing his life away. The first entry starts:

Merry Christmas.
Well, that's what people say at Christmas, right? Except normally they have somebody to say it to. They have their friends and family all round them. They haven't been crouched naked under a Christmas tree with a needle in their arm like an insane person in a mansion in Van Nuys.

He makes continual ironic references to his "rock star paradise" and his life as a "rock-star junkie." It's tough to feel much sympathy for him, though, considering that he started using heroin for the worst reason ever: "Because my heroes did it ... because I idolize my heroes because they didn't care; and I really don't care about anything."

His heroes include Johnny Thunders and Sid Vicious. Both died before they turned 40. Good role models to emulate, there, Nikki.

Drugs clearly filled some hole in Nikki Sixx's life, and publishing his crackhead journals (yep, he freebased cocaine, too) is a brave, if self-serving, thing to do. But in reading his woe-is-me drivel, you can't help but think: What a jerk.

Save your money for "Gods and Gangsters," next year's tell-all memoir by music-biz insider Tony Defries, who worked with the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Lou Reed and Iggy Pop, among many others.

Killswitch Engage covers 'Holy Diver'

Metal bands these days aren't known for having much sense of humor, but this is excellent: Springfield thrash band Killswitch Engage has recorded a cover of Ronnie James Dio's "Holy Diver," complete with a campy medieval-themed video featuring be-costumed band members. (Yep, that's Simsbury native/drummer Justin Foley gnawing on the turkey drumstick in the role of His Royal Highness.)

It's heavy, it's theatrical and though Killswitch is serious about its music, the band's not taking itself too seriously. In other words, it's metal as it should be: Awesome.

Killswitch's version of "Holy Diver" is included on a new special edition of the band's latest, "As Daylight Dies," out Aug. 28 on Roadrunner.

Holy Diver