Lamb of God have to be one of the best live metal bands I’ve seen. There’s nothing like Redneck or Black Label being blasted from 5 sweaty dudes as strobe lights cast their shadows on the violent souls of the circle pit.

Headbanger’s Ball, that show that was once the coolest program on TV, is releasing clips from Lamb of God’s new DVD set via their blogsite. The double disk, Walk With Me in Hell, follows the band around as they tour in support of Sacrament. The 2nd disk captures the making of Sacrament as well as the entire 2007 Download Festival performance to a crowd of 72,000 people.

Although Headbanger’s Ball kinda has the rights to the stream, due to the fact that the show sucks way more than it did back in the old days, I give you Synthesis Presents: Lamb of God.

Me and my esteemed colleague Daniel James Taylor have been singing the praises of Prong’s metal masterpiece “Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck” from their all around boss album Cleansing all day. So I looked up this video and instantly got reminded of the badd assery that Prong brought to the table almost FIFTEEN years ago. This was back when some of the best heavy shit was hot; Pantera, Sepultura, Helmet, Danzig etc. All of those bands still get regular rotation on my itunes, something I can’t say about a lot of the metal that is coming out today. I can’t say that I will be rocking the As I Lay Dying album that came out recently fifteen years from now.

Listen to the molten scooped solid state tone on the crunches and enjoy.

With great pride and the promise of blood letting to come, Synthesis is happy to announce that we have 666 pages of Award Winning* blogs.

To commemorate this auspicious occasion we present to you our correspondent Grant Noblin’s review of Desaster’s new album, "666: Satan’s Soldiers Syndicate" on Metalblade Records.

*exaggeration

In what is interesting news to some, Ozzfest, which was once a lucrative touring festival, and later a “free”, half- assed touring festival, has now been downsized to a one day metalfest of sorts. My guess is bands finally realized that paying upwards of $80,000 to play for free on a nationwide tour is not worth it anymore. On the positive side, the lineup for one day show (held in Dallas, Texas at Pizza Hut Park) will feature performances from some pretty impressive bands; Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica, Serj Tankian, Hellyeah, Jonathan Davis and others. Kids that love outdated music and washed up, used-to-be-in-a-big-band-but-have-to-play-less-important-solo-music are stoked.

As announced last Friday, the world’s most irresponsibly deadly animated metal band, Dethklok, will be hitting the road starting June 2nd to annihilate the masses in real time. This is of course exciting in and of itself. But in addition, the barbaric five piece has been busy sharpening their guitar headstocks and Flying V tail fins for decapitations/impalings on the continuation of their second season on [adult swim], which will premier Sunday, May 18th at the only time imaginable (midnight). This follows up a wildly successful start:

In fall 2007, a real-life version of Dethklok, led by co-creator Brendon Small, embarked on a national tour, playing at college campuses around the United States. The college tour heralded the release of the hugely successful album The Dethalbum. The album features songs written and performed by Small from the first season of Metalocalypse, and it debuted at #21 on the Billboard Top 200 as the highest-charting death metal album of all time. Dethklok will embark on its second nationwide tour this summer when Adult Swim Presents Metalocalype’s Dethklok kicks-off on June 2 and travels to 28 cities.

Usually my entries into the hallowed halls of the Synthesis Band You’ve Never Heard Of…OF THE DAY!!111 archive have some sort of clever plot device or other thematic tie together. But today’s selection, the Simi Valley based Fire On the Plains is just an honest to God badass band that I you more than likely have never heard of. The band recently completed a West Coast tour, stopping through Chico this past weekend. And though I had heard the songs streaming on their Myspace, which featured the typically pissed vocals and skronking guitars found in most modern thrashy metal bands, the recordings do no justice to the band live. The vocals were heavier, the drums were unflinchingly on point, and the band’s seasoned stage presence belied their youthful exuberance. The band currently has a self-released EP available, and will be playing around Southern California over the next couple of months, including a show with metal upstarts Carnifex. LEARN ABOUT IT!