"Heavy Metal" and "Fun Time" are two phrases that don’t normally go together for the majority of the population.  Fortunately now you can inflict your musical tastes on others with the "Heavy Metal Fun Time Activity Book," a sort of children’s book parody with a metal theme.  It features numerous different types of puzzles containing material related to bands like Venom, Sepultura, Black Sabbath, Slayer, Pantera, Mayhem, and several others.  Most of the puzzles are pointlessly easy, but some of the scrambles in particular are actually somewhat tough (see this article in Seattle’s The Stranger for an example).

The book is available from Amazon and from local bookstores everywhere.  Definitely a great way to get out of having to buy presents for your friends’ kids ever again. 

Two metal documentaries I posted about a few months ago, "Until The Light Takes Us" and "Global Metal," are both nearing release.  A couple more documentaries are also in the works: "Light In Darkness - Nemesis Divina" about the Norwegian Christian black metal scene, and "Working Class Rock Star," which follows the careers of 3 metal bands. 

"Until The Light Takes Us," a feature-length documentary chronicling the Norwegian black metal scene, has completed filming and is now undergoing post-production.  The release date is not yet finalized, but the plan is to release the film at a handful of film festivals before a wider theatrical release later this year, according to director/producer Audrey Ewell.  Check the film’s MySpace page for film clips and the latest updates.

The situation is similar for "Global Metal," a documentary by Sam Dunn and Scott McFadyen about metal music’s impact across the world.  A theatrical release is planned for this Spring, and the film has already screened at several film festivals internationally.  A trailer is available at the Global Metal website, and the latest release information is available at Global Metal’s MySpace page. 

A new documentary titled "Light In Darkness - Nemesis Divina" focuses on the seemingly paradoxical Christian black metal scene, and particularly the Norwegian bands Crimson Moonlight, Admonish, and Frosthardr.  The film is produced by Stefan Rydehed, who also recently completed work on a documentary titled "Pure Fucking Mayhem" about black metal band Mayhem.  A trailer for "Light In Darkness - Nemesis Divina" is now available on YouTube, as are clips from "Pure Fucking Mayhem."

Finally, "Working Class Rock Star" follows the lives and careers of extreme acts Tub Ring, Bloodshoteye and 3 Mile Scream, offering an inside look at what it takes to succeed in the world of underground music.  The film’s runs 98 minutes and features interviews with members of several other underground acts, including Unearth, Lamb Of God, Dog Fashion Disco, Finntroll, Kataklysm, The Haunted, Himsa, Arch Enemy, Strapping Young Lad, and Bleeding Through.  The film will be premiering later this Spring in Toronto, ON, with a wider release to hopefully follow.  Check the Working Class Rock Star website for a trailer and release date info.

It doesn’t actually mention anything related to Justin’s drumming ability or Killswitch Engage’s music, but it’s damn entertaining anyway - MetalSucks recently interviewed Killswitch drummer Justin Foley on the subject of his beard.  Topics of discussion include how long it took him to grow it (a surprising 1.5 years), beard maintenance, whether it’s harder to eat with the beard (that’s a yes), and what he plans to do with it.  After having covered SF Weekly’s the Top 10 beards list, I felt I couldn’t let this one pass.  Definitely worth a read.

Swedish tech-metal band Meshuggah and death metal legends Deicide have recently decided to put modern technology to good use in promoting their new albums.  Meshuggah drummer Tomas Haake has announced a video drum competition, while Deicide is putting the creative burden of music video direction into the hands of their most talented fans with a music video competition.

The Meshuggah contest lets aspiring drummers record themselves drumming along to the track ‘Bleed‘ from the "obZen" album, which was released earlier this year.  Haake has stated that ‘Bleed’ is by far the most complex on the album, and even he had to spent a good deal of time practicing it, so fans should have their hands full replicating the performance.  Promising entries will be uploaded Meshuggah’s MySpace blog, which also contains some very intimidating drum tabs for the song.  The winner will be announced April 6th, with prizes including a signed copy of the album, a huge signed poster, and a congratulatory phone call from Haake himself.

Deicide, meanwhile, have announced an intriguing competition to create the best music video for the track ‘In The Eyes Of God’ off their upcoming release "Till Death Do Us Part."  Awhile ago I posted about the unfortunate lack of creativity among many metal videos, so I’m quite eager to see what the metal community comes up with.  Visit the competition page to download an mp3 of the song, video clips, logos, lyrics, and anything else to get the creative spark going.  The winning video director will receive an Ibanez bass signed by the band, bragging rights, and presumably the chance to create more metal videos in the future.   

I’ve always wished that metal music would find its way into more Hollywood films (Cannibal Corpse in Ace Ventura anyone?) but uh, this isn’t quite what I had in mind - a recent post by Seattle’s The Stranger brought to my attention the work of Matthew Barney, an experimental artist and filmmaker.  Barney is the boyfriend of Icelandic singer Björk, so you know he’s probably kind of strange. 

Barney is most famous for The Cremaster Cycle, a series of five surrealist films exploring the process of creation, linked through the concept of the male cremaster muscle and the theme of sexual differentiation.  Metal fans will be most interested in Cremaster 2, which includes Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo drumming while accompanied by… a swarm of bees.  As weird as it sounds, the end result is actually pretty cool, almost making you wish that more bands used controlled bee noises as a primary instrument.  Morbid Angel vocalist Steve Tucker provides some growls to go along with the insects and drums, and he was also a good enough sport to allow himself to be coated with bees while singing.  You can check out a clip of Lombardo’s performance in the movie on YouTube.

Speaking of Dave Lombardo, check out this month’s Decibel issue for an interesting article about Lombardo’s initial clash with the rest of the members of Slayer, and their subsequent reunion.  It really gives you an appreciation for Lombardo’s talent, and provides a glimpse into the various strong personalities of the band members in the early days of their career.

Like France’s genre-bending Alcest, the U.K.’s one-man band Caïna blends elements of black metal with elements of post-rock and shoegaze, creating a style that is completely his own.  While Alcest’s music has an enveloping, dream-like quality, Caïna’s style is more deliberate and contemplative, with long melancholic acoustic passages giving way to sections of anguished ambient blackness.

Caïna’s lone member, .A., is quite forthcoming about his musical interests and influences.  He maintains a blog detailing his listening habits and musical history, although it now appears he prefers to post on the Caïna MySpace page, where you can check out his Top 20 albums of 2007, among other things.

Both of Caïna’s releases last year, the "Mourner" album and the "I, Mountain" 3" on God Is Myth, are now sold out.  Amazon.com still appears to have a few copies of "Mourner" in stock though, and you may be able to find some other Caïna releases over at Aquarius Records.

Caïna has quite a bit of new music planned for 2008.  A new full-length titled "Temporary Antennae" will be released in the fall on Profound Lore, and two splits, a 7" with Krieg and a 10" with Process of Guilt, are both slated for late Spring/early Fall.  Caïna’s MySpace page currently has a sample up from the "Temporary Antennae" album.

Head over to CallistoChaos.com to view a cool animation by Finnish animator/graphic designer Teemu Erämaa, featuring Callisto’s song ‘The Fugitive.’  It’s titled "The Light at the End of the World", and is almost like an animated short film, except way more dark and twisted.  The whole thing is about 7 and a half minutes long, with Callisto kicking in at about the 3:30 mark. 

The track comes from Callisto’s 2006 album "Noir," which is apparently pretty hard to find outside of Canada and various European countries.  You can get your hands on a copy through Fullsteam Records, or you can head to Callisto’s MySpace page if you’re content to just stream the track. 

The SF Weekly recently paid tribute to one of music’s enduring icons: the beard.  The article counts down the top 10 beards in today’s music scene (with pictures of course), covering everything from reggae and hip-hop to indie rock and metal.  Mastodon were the first act that came to mind upon seeing the headline, and sure enough Troy Saunders and Brett Hinds’ formidable facial hair made its way to #7 on the list.  And what list of beards would be complete without Kerry King’s notorious bald, tattoed head and evil-dwarf-style beard?  King makes Slayer the highest ranking metal artist on the list, coming in at #4.

The article makes no honorable mentions, so I’ll add my own:

Om’s Chris Hakius is certainly a worthy candidate.  Hakius announced this week that he is leaving the band, so maybe that disqualifies him.

It’s also hard to argue with Decrepit Birth vocalist Bill Robinson’s scraggly and dissheveled facial hair.  This guy is the real deal - when not growling and moshing at shows, he supposedly lives in a self-made dwelling in the woods surrounding Santa Cruz. 

I’ve already spent some time writing about former Sleep members Al Cisneros and Chris Hakius’ band Om, their 2007 album "Pilgrimage," and the fact that they’ve been touring recently to promote the album.  Well, former Sleep guitarist Matt Pike has a pretty kick-ass band of his own, and they too are currently on tour in support of an excellent 2007 release. 

Pike’s band is of course High on Fire, and the album is "Death Is This Communion."  While Om’s style of stoner metal is doomy, hypnotic and somewhat reminiscent of Sleep’s sound, High on Fire takes a much louder, in your face approach, blending some rock and progressive influence with general metallic heaviness.  They’re on tour this winter, supported by the likes of Car Bomb, Intronaut, A Life Once Lost, Saviours, and Rwake, depending on location. 

The Tuscon Weekly recently covered High on Fire in a great article titled "Thinking While Headbanging."  Author Gene Armstrong interviews Pike, who discusses various lineup changes the band has gone through, and offers insight into what inspires some of High on Fire’s lyrics.  This turns out to include UFO literature, conspiracy theories, classical myths, and science fiction among other things.  Check out High on Fire’s MySpace Page for the current tour dates (unless you’re in Washington state; we’re out of luck, apparently).

It’s always awesome when members of your favorite bands have their own blogs: you get to see what music they listen to, get the inside scoop on upcoming releases, and generally learn what makes them tick.  For example, Aaron Turner of ISIS has been digging Deadwood on DVD and the Bioshock video game lately, and Fear Falls Burning has been listening to Sunn O))) and Miles Davis.  It’s great when an artist’s playlist not only gives you greater insight into their musical inspiration, but also encourages you to check out some musicians you never would have otherwise.

Kayo Dot violinist Mia Matsumiya’s LiveJournal is whole different animal - sure, it’s got info on Kayo Dot and Mia’s other projects, such as Tartar Lamb, Gregor Samsa, and Ghastly City Sleep, but mostly you’ll learn that Mia has some very strange and interesting ways of keeping herself entertained.  Topics range from her experiences as a medical experiment test subject to her fear of ventriloquist dummies.  Definitely one of the more interesting personalities in the world of metal, at least that I’ve come across.  Mia’s MySpace page is also worth checking, and perhaps updated more frequently..

Mia and Kayo Dot’s Toby Driver recently released "sixty metonymies" under the name Tartar Lamb, with Mia on violin and Toby on guitar and vocals.  From the press release:

This full-length CD package features the title piece, a modern electroacoustic quartet exquisitely recorded by Randall Dunn (Sunn0))), Earth, Kinski, etc) and beautiful hand-painted artwork by Toby.

Head over to the Tartar Lamb MySpace page for samples and information on how to get a copy.

Kayo Dot is also putting the finishing touches on their new album, "Blue Lambency Downard," which should be released in mid-March on Hydra Head Records.  Kayo Dot’s MySpace page has all the latest info.