We were recently sent a copy of the new CANS release- Beyond the Gates... worthy of mention due to the metal super star line up of Jocquim Cans (Hammerfall lead singer), Metal Mike Chlaschiak (Halford, PainmuseuM, Testament), Mat Sinner ( Primal Fear, Sinner) & the CD has a heavier feel and is more diverse than most Hammerfall CD's- some very heavy songs, catchy ballads and a few tracks with a little bit of a glam 80's vibe. Hammerfall fans won't be disappointed and classic metal fans looking for a little heavier edge will not be disappointed- we need more new metal like the new CANS!

Gene Simmons' Asshole release party-
NYC... thanks to some friends at Sanctuary Records we were able to attend a private Gene Simmons release party at the trendy Ruby Falls in Chelsea, NYC... the release party was complete with a private VIP backroom (mostly media), a general area for fans lucky enough to get an invite and complete with a center private table for Gene and over 12 hot stripper chics. Gene made his grand entrance around 9 PM, circled the room & was mobbed by fans who thought they were seeing the Pope for the first time... then of course, Gene ended up at the center table surrounded by the hot chicks- the new video from Asshole (complete with more babes) was showing on the video screens- and the new CD was playing throughout the place.. a little over done & cheesy for me, it was still a cool experience and Gene proved again why he is a rock legend- plus the CD isn't bad, with a collection of very diverse songs- from typical Kiss like heavy tunes, strange ballads, a cover and a Beach Boy sounding tracks... not totally for me, but not bad.

Iced Earth Show- Starland Ballroom-
Had the opportunity to check out Iced Earth & even better got to hang out back stage after the show... Tim sounded great, the set had great energy & power and the guys seemed totally on their game. Plus Bobby Jarzombek (Halford, PainmuseM) filling in on drums while former drummer Richard Christie was auditioning for Howard Stern, sounded fantastic- Bobby proved once again while he is one of the premier metal drummers of our day... afterwards, I was fortunate enough to hang out back stage with Eddie Trunk from Friday night rocks, Mike Piazza from the Mets (who happens to be a huge metal fan) and the guys from the band. While most of the conversation was talking about general BS, I over heard Eddie T. asking Jon Schaffer about the addition of tracks such as the Reckoning (Iced Earth's recent video), as well as his Demons and Wizards project- Jon said as soon as Bobby can pick up and learn a few more tracks, they would add the Reckoning to the set list and said no immediate plans for Demons and Wizards... all in all it was a great night hanging out with one of the best metal bands out on the road today!

Priest Box Set- Metalogy
We picked up the new Priest box set- while Priest are one of my favorite bands of all time and I would never want to put them down, but I would say the box set is pretty disappointing- aside from the cool liner notes and photos, almost all of the tracks have been released before in some shape or form (except for an early demo of Heart on a Lion which was recorded on Halfords live insurrection)-a few other tracks are also rare releases, but most fans have the songs live somehow, someway...Unfortunatly, this has been my personal problem with Priest- they seem to keep repackaging the same previously recorded songs and video's for their best of's... the Re-masters were OK with unreleased tracks added for sure, but the live tracks seem to have always been released... how great would it be if they released a DVD for example of the Defenders of the Faith tour, instead of the Screaming for Vengeance tour which had been out on video before and shown numerous times on MTV- of course, any die hard Priest fan will still have to go out and buy the box set- simply to add to the collection and for the cool metal studded box it comes in!

PainmuseuM MP3's posted
Metal Mike has posted two MP3's at his official website www.painmuseum.com of two tracks, Hossana Hossana, and PainmuseuM. PainmuseuM features Bobby Jarzombek (Halford and Iced Earth) on Drums, Metal Mike on guitars and Tim Clairborne on vocals. The CD was mixed by Roy Z who also had a lot of input on the bands overall sound and direction. Roy Z produced Bruce Dickinson, Rob Halford, and is now working on the new Judas Priest -not a bad metal line up!

Indie band- Skullgrinder-
We got sent a new CD called Skullgrinder from local NYC native Michael Knight... while I didn't give it a great listen, nor has anyone else affiliated with the site checked it out yet, Michael can certainly play guitar and can write good metal music. To check them out yourself, check out www.kmrecords.com <http://www.kmrecords.com>