Zombie said, "Joey is an absolutely crushing drummer and I am thrilled to have him as part of the Zombie family. His amazing skills promise to take the live show to a whole new level of insanity." Jordison also commented, saying, "I am honored, proud and excited to announce that I have joined the ranks as the new touring drummer for Rob Zombie. I’ve been a fan of Zombie’s since the beginning. I’ve toured with them and have always wanted to play for them. When John 5 called me up to ask if I knew any drummers I could recommend, I said, only half-jokingly, ‘Yeah, me!"

Jordison is universally recognized as not only one of the best drummers in hard rock, but as one of the most talented skinsmen in music, period. He will be sitting behind the kit for several appearances and tours throughout the year, namely the"Gruesome Twosome" tour, which features Zombie along with his longtime pal, Alice Cooper, which begins April 26 in Canada and runs through May 5 in Wyoming. Following that historic tour, Jordison will tour alongside Zombie as part of the 2010 Rock Star Energy Drink Mayhem Festival, which Zombie is co-headlining with Korn. That tour kicks off July 10 in Southern California and runs through August 14 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

"This show and set-list is mind blowing, and what better way to kick off than with the ‘Gruesome Twosome’ tour with horror-rock legend Alice Cooper," Jordison said. "I want to thank all the Slipknot fans for their support and the Rob Zombie fans for welcoming me in. The Demonoid Phenomenon is on its way!"

Jordison will make his debut with Zombie at the 2010 Revolver Golden Gods Awards, held on April 8, at Club Nokia in Los Angeles. Zombie will be closing out the evening’s awards ceremony with what is sure to be a "must see" performance.

Prog rock/metal icons Dream Theater will spend their summer supporting Iron Maiden on the band’s month-long tour of major US and Canadian markets. The tour launches on June 9 and runs through July 20, and includes a stop at the storied Madison Square Garden in NYC, marking the first time in a lengthy and respected career that Dream Theater will have played the world’s most famous arena. This tour will mark another milestone in Dream Theater’s history, which continues to expand and evolve, twenty-five years deep.

Of touring with Iron Maiden in North America, drummer Mike Portnoy said, "It is a bit of a dream come true for us. After 25 years together, at this stage in our career, there's honestly only three bands Dream Theater would consider opening for and Maiden is one of them. It is an absolute honor. Through the years, we've done many one-off shows with Maiden and they've almost all been overseas. It is very exciting to finally be doing a full tour with them and on our side of the pond, no less. These are gonna be amazing shows that the fans won't want to miss. Up the f***ing irons!"

Playing MSG for the first time is also a huge accomplishment for the band and they are thrilled about the prospect. "Dream Theater has achieved so many dreams through the years, from playing the Budokan in Tokyo to Wembley Arena in London to Radio City Music Hall in NYC," Portnoy recalled. "But the one remaining dream that has eluded us through all of these years was to play at Madison Square Garden. Well, on July 12, along with Iron Maiden, that dream will finally be fulfilled."

Guitarist John Petrucci was equally stoked about the MSG play, saying, "I am unbelievably excited to be finally playing Madison Square Garden, and with the almighty Maiden to boot! They have been heroes to the band since the beginning and are iconic in our eyes. There is nothing like achieving success and recognition in your own country, in your own city. It's going to be an incredible night for sure."

Portnoy has proof of this career-long dream, saying, "About a month ago, my family and I were watching a video of my first band Intruder from back in 1983, and in the video before the show, I was interviewed and asked what my dream goal was. I responded ‘To play the Garden.’ It took almost 30 years, but it’s surreal that I will now be able to check it off the list."

Dream Theater’s Black Clouds & Silver Linings was released in 2009 and debuted at #6 on the Billboard Top 200 Sales chart.

Tour dates for the Iron Maiden/Dream Theater run are as follows:

June 9 – Superpages.com Center – Dallas, TX

June 11 -The Woodlands - Houston, TX

June 12 - AT&T Center - San Antonio, TX

June 14 – Fiddler’s Green – Denver, CO

June 16 – The Pavilion (formerly Journal Pavilion) - Albuquerque, NM

June 17 – Cricket Wireless Pavilion – Phoenix, AZ

June 19 - San Manuel Amphitheatre – San Bernardino, CA

June 20 – Sleep Train Pavilion – Concord, CA

June 22 – White River Amphitheatre – Auburn, WA

June 24 – General Motors Place – Vancouver, BC

June 26 – Rexall Place – Edmonton, AB

June 29 – Credit Union Centre – Saskatoon, SK

July 3 – Molson Amphitheatre – Toronto, ON

July 7 – Bell Centre – Montreal, QC

July 9 – International Summer Festival – Quebec City, QUE

July 11 – PNC Bank Arts Center – Holmdel, NJ

July 12 – Madison Square Garden – New York, NY

July 14 – Post Gazette Pavilion – Pittsburg, PA

July 15 – Blossom Music Center – Cleveland, OH

July 17 – DTE Energy Music Theatre – Detroit, MI

July 18 – First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre – Chicago, IL

July 20 – Jiffy Lube Live – Washington, DC

Mudvayne’s New Video for Strange and Beautiful

BANNED FOR EXPLICIT IMAGERY

Hailed for their musical prowess, hardcore riffs, and dominating stage show; Mudvayne continues to push the envelope with the video for their second single “Beautiful and Strange” off their self-titled album Mudvayne.  “Beautiful and Strange” is directed by Frankie Nasso (All That Remains, Hatebreed, Emmure) and is the latest installment of three conceptually linked videos that were filmed to promote the band's self-titled album. “Scream With Me”, the first single off the album saw great success becoming #2 on the Hot Mainstream Rock Chart.

With the release of the video for “Beautiful and Strange” came the unwillingness of networks, and media sources to play the video due to its disturbing and thought provoking imagery that is meant for mature audiences.  The video contains sexually explicit acts that take place in a graveyard and some scenes that involve acts of sadism that is part of a storyline that is linked to the other two videos.   The exact definition of the video is left to interpretation and flows beautifully with the other two videos that complete the concept. It has been banned from every outlet except for one; the only place where this video can be seen is on the Metal site MetalVideo.com

Mudvayne has been praised for changing the landscape of metal music through their songwriting and now they continue to broaden that landscape with their provocative new video for “Beautiful and Strange”.  The song is extremely dynamic and is an example of the bands technical abilities as musicians.  The release of the third and final video “Heard It All Before” is set to premiere next month.

Formed in 1996, the Illinois-based band has been a staple in the music industry and the metal world for close to 15 years. With their willingness to constantly push the envelope, and with their ability to change other people’s perspectives on what metal should be, Mudvayne continues to amaze everyone in the world of music.  The band is made up of Chad Grey (vocals), Greg Tribbet (guitar), Ryan Martinie (bass), and Matthew McDonough (drums)

To view the video for “Beautiful and Strange” please visit http://www.metalvideo.com/musicvideo.php?vid=0948659cc

MUDVAYNE

Chad Gray (vocals)
Greg Tribbett (guitars)
Ryan Martinie (bass)
Matt McDonough (drums)

The waters of the Rio Grande are awash with dreams of hope transformed into nightmares of horror and despair, aliens from across the border viewing the zigzagging river as a mythical portal to a life of new possibilities. Some make it to America, others do not. Some never make it out alive.

There couldn’t be a more appropriate backdrop for the recording of Mudvayne’s latest album, a sonic assemblage of razor-sharp guitar riffs, pounding blast beats and brooding, pissed-off and manic vocals. The album reminds us exactly why they are one of the most dynamic, charismatic and successful bands on the American metal scene, and their track record backs up the claim – Mudvayne and Slipknot are the only two metal acts to have three new albums be certified gold this decade, and Mudvayne are the unrivaled metal kings of rock radio, with no fewer than six Top 10 hits, including the No. 1 singles “Happy?” and “Do What You Do.”

Hailed for broadening metal boundaries with their technical prowess and explosive live shows, frontman Chad Grey, guitarist Greg Tribbett, bassist Ryan Martinie and drummer Matt McDonough are upping the ante once again with their self-titled new release on Epic Records, which has been the band’s home since their debut in 2000.

All physical copies of Mudvayne will have the album’s artwork printed with special black light link that will be invisible to the naked eye. “You’ll be able to hold it up to the sun, tilt is sideways, do anything you want to it, and you’re not going to be able to see a thing, but put it under a black light and it’s going to pop!” raves Gray of the innovative release, which will also be available in special-edition bundles that include black lights.

Not only are Mudvayne the first band to ever fully-utilize black light technology on their albums, they’ve also made certain that the product lives up to the hype, commissioning legendary tattoo artist Paul Booth for the artwork. “After having the idea of doing the black light art, I was concerned about the content not being as compelling and artistic as the concept,” continues the singer, “but when the name Paul Booth was brought to me - it's insane that I didn't think of it myself, having a piece of his work on my arm – I knew that this was going to be dark as hell and amazing! When you open that mind up to a project like this, you never know what you’re going to get, but you can rest assured that the content is going to eclipse the concept.”

Beyond the album’s design and packaging, Mudvayne have again outdone themselves musically, no doubt due, in part, to their unique approach to recording. For the fifth time in five albums, they recorded in an entirely new setting – El Paso, TX, on the desolate banks of the Rio Grande River.

“We’ve always written in isolation mode,” Gray says of the writing and recording process. “Where you’re at in your own head always comes into play when you’re writing and recording, and that is definitely affected by your surroundings.”

Mudvayne couldn’t have scripted a better locale than Sonic Studios, literally a stone’s throw from the Mexican border. With the American side of the Rio Grande representing new life and a fresh start for countless masses that illegally cross the symbolic waters, the southwestern American landscape and jarring realities of the evening news painted a unsettling and different picture for Mudvayne.

Unsettling, different, and inspiring - while Gray is consciously keeping his lyrical sanctum more guarded than he has with recent releases, he does admit that while there was “a whole headspace to writing this record, not every song particularly follows that headspace.”

In other words, the lyrical blasts and emotional releases are as manic and dissident as the musical foundation from which they explode. “I don’t really want to say what holds them all together for me, but there are definitely hints throughout,” says Gray. “Sometimes I just need some me time, you know?”

Gray gets his “me time” on Mudvayne, as does every member of the band. The album opens with an incendiary flurry from drummer Matt McDonough that sets the tone for the music to come, tenacious and acute, with adept attention paid to detail and dynamics. If last year’s The New Game was an exercise in the band’s progressive development, this 11-track canon pays due diligence to their heightened musicianship, while harkening back to the band’s earlier mayhem.

“I’m not going to say that this record is L.D. 50, because it’s not,” says Gray, “but do I think that some of the things on this record are more retro-fitted to early Mudvayne. There are little things throughout the album that throw me back to where we were then, both musically and in terms of song structure. ‘Out to Pasture’ reminds me a lot of ‘Skrying,’ or something off The End of All Things to Come, very brooding, pushing, pissed off and manic...”

‘Brooding, pushing, pissed off and manic’ are words that epitomize Mudvayne, whether within the more melodic constraints of lead single “Scream with Me,” or amidst any of the band’s more aggressive overtures. “Heard it all Before” rides on the back of Greg Tribbett’s guitars, starting dense and paranoid before galloping into a metallic grind that would make Dimebag Darrell proud, and Ryan Martinie’s bass boils over on “Closer,” creating an infectious groove within the frenzied proceedings. Then, on the mellow side of the Mudvayne spectrum, Gray and Tribbett strip down to nothing more than a stark acoustic guitar and raw, hopeless vocals on the album’s closing track, “Dead Inside.”

“We don’t want to be the cart behind whatever the horse is today,” says Gray of Mudvayne’s musical focus. “All that’s important to us is making sure that we’re Mudvayne – we write the music that we’re supposed to be writing, and when we feel good about it, we walk away from it. There’s no second guessing. Music is an art, and artists need to paint with their own brush and choose their own colors.”

Which is exactly what Mudvayne have done, and precisely why they’ve decided to keep their new album self-titled. They’ve sold more than three million records in America alone, have performed for more than one million fans on every continent, are Grammy-nominated, and were the first metal band to ever receive an MTV Video Music Award.

The name Mudvayne says all there is that needs to be said.

--Paul Gargano 11/09

Watch Mudvayne Videos Here

Cannibal Corpse to hit the road this April with guests 1349, Skeletonwitch, & Lecherous Nocturne

AGOURA HILLS, Calif. - February 15, 2010 - Tampa, FL death metalers CANNIBAL CORPSE are gearing up to hit the road in the band's first headline run since the band headlined the Hot Topic stage on 2009s Rockstar Mayhem Festival. Joining CANNIBAL CORPSE on The Evisceration Plague Tour is Skeletonwitch, Lecherous Nocturne, and 1349 on select dates. Decibel & Metal Sucks Present: The Evisceration Plague Tour kicks off on Tuesday, April 20th in Orlando, FL and finishes up in Tampa, FL Saturday May 15th.

Bassist Alex Webster comments; "We are very excited to announce our tour with 1349, Skeletonwitch, and Lecherous Nocturne. This is a killer lineup of bands that we're sure our fans will love. Prepare for an evening of pure sonic brutality!

Pre sale tickets and VIP Premium Packages will be available through Artist Arena starting on Wed. Feb. 17th at 3PM local time, while supplies last: http://tixx1.artistarena.com/cannibalcorpse/

Decibel & Metal Sucks Present in association with BC Rich Guitars & Iron Fist Clothing

The Evisceration Plague Tour

Featuring CANNIBAL CORPSE, with 1349, Skeletonwitch and Lecherous Nocturne

Tue/Apr-20 Orlando, FL Club @ Firestone
Wed/Apr-21 Atlanta, GA Masquerade
Thu/Apr-22 Raleigh, NC Volume 11 Tavern
Fri/Apr-23 Springfield, VA JAXX
Sat/Apr-24 Worcester, MA Palladium (Metal Fest)
Sun/Apr-25 Long Island, NY Crazy Donkey
Tue/Apr-27 Montreal, QC Club Soda
Wed/Apr-28 Toronto, ON Opera House
Thu/Apr-29 Chicago, IL House of Blues
Fri/Apr-30 Milwaukee, WI Eagles Club
Sat/May-01 St. Paul, MN Station 4
Sun/May-02 Lawrence, KS Granada Theater
Mon/May-03 Denver, CO Gothic
Wed/May-05 San Francisco, CA Slim's
Thu/May-06 Los Angeles, CA House Of Blues
Fri/May-07 Tucson, AZ The Rock no 1349
Sat/May-08 Albuquerque, NM Sunshine Theater no 1349
Mon/May-10 Corpus Christi, TX House of Rock no 1349
Tue/May-11 Austin, TX Emo's no 1349
Wed/May-12 Houston, TX Wired Live no 1349
Thu/May-13 New Orleans, LA House of Blues no 1349
Fri/May-14 Jacksonville, FL Freebird Live no 1349
Sat/May-15 Tampa, FL tate Theater no 1349