Besides dudes like Lamb of God and The Sword, Killswitch is pretty much destroying the metal scene right now. Their last release, As Daylight Dies, is still on constant rotation on my iPod and they’ve been touring like motherfuckers for what seems like the last decade. Not only do the guys in the band shred at all of their instruments, guitarist Adam D. has produced… *ehem*…
* The Acacia Strain - … And Life is Very Long, 3750, The Dead Walk
* Aftershock, - Through the Looking Glass
* The Agony Scene - The Agony Scene
* All That Remains - Behind Silence and Solitude,This Darkened Heart, The Fall of Ideals
* A Day To Remember - Homesick
* Arma Angelus - Where Sleeplessness is Rest From Nightmares
* As I Lay Dying - An Ocean Between Us
* August Burns Red - Thrill Seeker
* Austrian Death Machine - Total Brutal
* Burn Your Wishes - Burn Your Wishes Split w/ The Awards
* Caliban - The Awakening
* Cannae - Horror
* A Day to Remember - Homesick
* Every Time I Die - Last Night In Town
* From Autumn to Ashes - Too Bad You’re Beautiful
* He Is Legend - I Am Hollywood
* Johnny Truant - In The Library Of Horrific Events
* Killswitch Engage - Killswitch Engage, Alive or Just Breathing, The End of Heartache, As Daylight Dies
* Mychildren Mybride - Unbreakable
* Norma Jean - Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child
* Parkway Drive - Killing with a Smile, Horizons
* Shadows Fall - Somber Eyes to the Sky
* Underoath - Define the Great Line, Lost in the Sound of Separation
* Unearth - The Stings of Conscience, Endless, The Oncoming Storm, The March.

Yea, he kicks ass. The audio quality is poor and the filming was probably done on a shitty Cannon camera, but I promise that it’s 100x better than anything playing on your iTunes right now.

Oasis is going to be releasing a new EP exclusively on itunes tomorrow, December 9th. The EP “I’m Outta Time” has all kinds of previously unreleased goodies including a remix version of “The Shock of the Lightning”

You may even be lucky enough to check them out on tour if you happen to live near one of these places:

Dec. 8 – Denver, CO – Broomfield Events Center
Dec. 10 – Minneapolis, MN – Target Center
Dec. 12 – Chicago, IL – Allstate Arena
Dec. 13 – Detroit, MI – Palace of Auburn Hills
Dec. 17 – New York, NY – Madison Sq. Garden
Dec. 19 – Camden, NJ – Susquehanna Center
Dec. 20 – Washington, DC – Patriot Center

Admittedly, I was a little bit  concerned over the state of the music industry when Radiohead released In Rainbows last year as a pay-what-you-want downloadable album, but as it turns out, the stock market took a major tumble while the music industry just quietly gave itself an ulcer, and the Radiohead won on their  gamble.

Here are some cool Radiohead Stats from their Press Agents:

Little more than a year since Radiohead’s October 10, 2007 pay-what-you-like self-release  of its seventh album, In Rainbows, some conclusive statistics were made available at the recent “You Are In Control” conference in Reykjavik, Iceland.

For those who missed coverage of the conference while engrossed in something as trivial as the Presidential Debates or the world economic collapse, the following is a summation of key answers to FAQs:

* In Rainbows has sold three million copies thus far, a figure that includes downloads from Radiohead.com, physical CDs, a deluxe 2-CD/vinyl box set, as well as sales via iTunes and other digital retailers.

* The In Rainbows deluxe edition sold 100,000 copies via Radiohead fan service W.A.S.T.E.

* Radiohead made more money prior to In Rainbows’ January 2008 physical release than its total take on 2003’s Hail To the Thief.

* The physical release of In Rainbows entered both the US and UK charts at #1 in January, despite having been freely available since October 2007.

* In Rainbows was the first Radiohead album available on iTunes, where it went in at #1 in January, selling 30,000 in its first week.

In Rainbows also owns the singular distinction of being the first record widely regarded as album of the year in advance of its actual physical release: By the time TBD/ATO released In Rainbows to retail on January 1, 2008, the digital version had already topped the 2007 year-end lists at NEW YORK, THE NEW YORK TIMES, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, NPR, TIME, PEOPLE, ROLLING STONE, BLENDER, SPIN, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES and  many more.

Radiohead recently concluded a world tour in Japan, one that sold over 1.2 million tickets.

By the end of September the MySpace music store will be up and running. It will allow users to download and stream millions of songs from major labels. New music and back catalog will be available.

MySpace Music will be competing with Apple iTunes but they are planning on offering more music sharing and an overall better program. The downloads will be powered through Amazon. Fans can share music through personal MySpace pages, build communal playlists and use the store to buy tickets or artist merchandise.

MySpace Music will focus on sharing music and gathering new tracks from friends. You can check out what others are listening to also. So quit your complaining about the new Facebook and start using MySpace again. At least it will have handy applications like this.

It’ll look something like this so you can buy tracks/albums right off the artist page:

Music lovers in China have been banned from accessing and using Apple’s iTunes store because 46 Olympic athletes downloaded a Tibet protest album. The government is said to be behind the blocking of the site. Athletes from Beijing, North America and Europe used iTunes to download “Songs For Tibet” which was offered for free from the United States-based International Campaign for Tibet.

The album was produced by a band, The Art of Peace Foundation, and is about the rights of Tibetans. Artists on the album include Sting, Moby, Damien Rice plus others. It launched a few days before the opening ceremonies.

China is known for blocking “politically sensitive content” and Apple won’t explain but did acknowledge the block. Plenty of Chinese are offended by the album and are planning protests. What else could they possibly ban next?

The wait is over, the highly anticipated Avalon from Circa Survive vocalist Anthony Green is available today. The disk sports a whopping 20 tracks, although over half are demos, re-recordings and remixes from past work. Check out the press release…

Anthony Greens new album “Avalon” is now available everywhere. Avalon can now be purchased at Itunes, Target, Hot Topic, Best Buy, the Photo Finish Records webstore and plenty of great indie retailers. Along with the 13 newly recorded unreleased tracks, Avalon also includes 4 tracks from the High & Driving EP, 5 unreleased demos/remixes and 2 bonus videos. Check out the complete tracklist below…

AVALON CD

She Loves Me So

Dear Child (I’ve Been Trying To Reach You)

Drugdealer

Stonehearted Man

Babygirl

Miracle Sun

Califone

Springtime out the van window

Slowing Down (Long Time Coming)

The First Day of Work at The Microscope Store

Devils Song (This Feels Like a Nightmare)

High & Driving EP

Babygirl

The First Day of Work at The Microscope Store

The Fisherman Will Be Bewildered

Plays Ugly for Daddy

Demos

She Loves Me So

Stonehearted Man

Slowing Down

Devils Song

Dear Child (I’ve Been Dying To Reach You) (good old war version)

Bonus enhanced video content
Making of the Video - 3 minute long behind the scenes look at making Dear Child
Avalon - Making of the Album - 10 minute long documentary

I’m pretty bummed that the ‘Making of the Album’ is only 10 minutes long, but everything else seems really cool.