Along with Devin Townsend, 3 Inches of Blood and Rush, one of Canada’s greatest contributions to the world of metal is Ottawa thrash band Annihilator. For the past 20 years, Annihilator have pumped out killer metal tunes, many of which easily make it on my personal favorites list (Alison Hell!). Check out the video above for some song clips from Annihilator’s upcoming self-titled album. Holy shit, Annihilator mainman Jeff Waters can fucking shred. If these clips are any indication of what this new album has in store, it’s going to be leaps and bounds better than their last effort, ‘Metal’ (which is honestly an alright album, but not all that impressive). Sounds like Jeff really pulled out all the stops for this one and I’m excited as hell to get my hands on this album when it drops May 17th.

Some fan-filmed videos of Jeff playing two of the new album tracks – “The Trend” & “Betrayed” – during a guitar workshop on March 11, 2010 at Italmélodie in Montreal, Quebec, Canada (and from the looks of it, having a hell of a good time doing so) after the jump…

Directed by: Zack Snyder
Starring: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jackie Earle Haley, Billy Crudup, Patrick Wilson, Malin Akerman, Matthew Goode
Released: March 6, 2009

When it comes to comic book royalty, nothing can surpass Alan Moore & David Gibbons’ 1986 masterpiece Watchmen. As the quintessential graphic novel to fans and critics worldwide, it’s been in print for more than 20 years, and is the only comic book to appear on Time Magazine’s list of “the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present”. Watchmen fans are hardcore. The are dedicated, bordering on obsessed. And when they heard that Zack Snyder, the man behind the 2004 ‘Dawn of the Dead’ remake and 2006′s grandiose ’300′, was going to make a film based on their beloved classic, there was an almost equal mix of intense excitement and apprehension. Could Snyder take Moore & Gibbon’s dark, twisted tale of murder, suspense & humanity and translate it to the big screen?

On March 6th, we all found out… continue reading to see my enormously long take on the issue.

Hypocrisy – “Fearless”
From the album: Virus

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Why this song doesn’t suck:
Holy shit, this song rocks. There’s little more that can be said about this track, or nearly anything Sweden’s Hypocrisy manages to crank out. I have to say I’m impressed and pretty partial to almost everything band mainman Peter Tägtgren, who in the case of Hypocrisy’s 2005 album, Virus, also served as producer and mixer, cranks out. I’m a huge fan of Peter’s sideband, Pain (which I’m sure will be featured in this series at some point), though Hypocrisy has always had a more full-on balls-crushing metal quality to them. An excellent example of what draws me to the brutality of this band is the song “Fearless”. It’s heavy as hell while still staying catchy and memorable.

Dark Tranquillity – “Therein”
From the album: Projector

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Why this song doesn’t suck:
When most metal fans hear the term “Gothenberg Metal”, coined after the Swedish city where the subgenre originated, Dark Tranquillity is usually near the top of the list of bands that are brought to mind. Since 1993 and continuing even today, Dark Tranquillity has been leading the pack when it comes to the distinctive Gothenberg sound. From using more melodic guitar riffs and solos to more diverse and varied song structures, the bands of Gothenberg, Sweden laid the groundwork for the melodic death metal genre as it’s known today. Along with At the Gates and In Flames (before their music turned to pure, unfiltered shit once the 21st century hit), Dark Tranquillity are the pioneers of what is probably my favorite genre of all of music, and their 1999 album, Projector, shows just why that is.

Directed by: Marcus Nispel
Starring: Jared Padalecki, Danielle Panabaker, Amanda Righetti, Derek Mears
Released: February 13, 2009

I may not be as huge a Friday the 13th fan as some people I know (yeah I’m looking at you Gerry), but I sure as hell know a good teen slasher film when I see it. With the number of horror remakes hitting the big screen these last few years that have come as a disappointment to the majority of fans of the originals, I’m glad to say that this reimagined adaptation of the classic “Friday the 13th” series is just about everything you’d want in a return weekend excursion to the iconic Crystal Lake.

Holy shit, this is a badass album cover! You simply can’t go wrong with Thor battling a giant sea creature, it’s snaking tongue in hand and Mjolnir glowing, ready to strike with fire and lightning in the distance. Fuck. Yes.

Amon Amarth rarely fail to impress in either the artwork or most importantly, the music of each of their releases. Plus, without fail, they always seem to have the most killer album and track titles. ‘Twighlight of the Thunder God’? Yeah, that’s right… awesome. Just take a look at a small sampling of the song titles from this album and tell me they don’t make you immediatly want to windmill your hair and axe some punk in the back of the skull while chugging a goblet of mead. ‘Where is Your God?’, ‘Tattered Banners and Bloody Flags’, ‘Embrace of the Endless Ocean’, ‘Live for the Kill’. That’s pure viking badassedness right there.

Click the album cover above to bask in it’s embiggened glory, and expect this album to crush your nuts and melt your face September 30th.

More info: amonamarth.com