Here are a couple metal-themed Christmas videos that are almost as entertaining as the above …And Justice For All-era photo of Metallica dressed up as Santa’s elves.

The first clip’s a pretty funny cartoon and the second one’s a stop-action thing that’s kind of cool, but sort of cute. If cute’s not your thing then skip the video and take another look at Shawn Crahan’s photo of a dead deer. Click “more” to watch. (more…)

“We’ve got to change our wasteful ways or there won’t be any more holidays,” sing Enviro Vixens members Jen and Heather in a, perhaps, unintentionally hysterical Idealbite.com advertisement for environmental awareness. In a mock music video for a song that seems to be called “Turn out the Lights,” the gals and a robot who looks like he was timewarped from the 1970s, encourage viewers to, well, turn off the lights.

The video’s especially funny if you look at Jen and Heather as they attempt to imitate people who actually know how to play. Jen’s hardly moves her frethand on the guitar and strums the same pattern regardless of what the rhythm of the song is actually doing and Heather strikes the cymbal on the wrong beat and often hits a tom when she should be bashing the snare.

But, as the Enviro Vixens remind us on their Web site, what’s important is the message, not the fact that these gals lip-sync worse than Ashlee Simpson. It seems that’s all we’ve got to do to prevent the polar icecaps from melting, stop global warming, reduce domestic crime, prevent terrorism, curb animal poaching and prevent popcorn from burning in the microwave is turn out the lights. Remember, it’s up to you. Click “more” to watch and laugh. (more…)

For this lovely Christmas Eve — which happens to be the fourth night of Chanukkah — Slipknot percussionist Shawn Crahan (a.k.a. Clown) provides us with a heartwarming holiday image — a dead deer by the side of the road. Could it be Rudolph got a little too snockered on eggnog and drove Santa’s sleigh into the side of a barn? If so, where are Blitzen, Donner, Wagner and all their brothers. And did someone hide Santa’s mangled body? Sounds like it’s time to call in the “CSI Des Moines” team.

But enough of our hypothesizing at the dead deer’s expense. And by no means are we attempting to trivialize Crahan’s photo, which captures the ugly death of a beautiful animal with dignity and artistry. Click “more” to see for yourself and read Clown’s comments. (more…)

On January 26, 2009, Brighton, England spazz-hardcore/metal outfit, Architects, will release their third album Hollow Crown. Look for lots of buzzsaw grind, jittery start-stop guitars, harrowing, soul-cleansing vocals and epileptic beats, along with a stray hook or two

To grease the wheels for the album, Architects have posted a video for “Early Grave,” which was directed by Adam Powell, who has worked with the band in the past on clips for “Always” and “Burial at Sea.”

“We chose to do the video for ‘Early Grave’ because it’s just about the hardest-hitting song we’ve ever written,” said guitarist Tom Searle in a statement. “It’s one of our collective favorite songs on Hollow Crown so it seemed an obvious choice.”

The band shot the clip in an aircraft hangar in Surrey that happens to be the shoot location for the program “Top Gear,” and while the treatment about a man who wears different masks wasn’t created specifically for the song’s lyrics, Searle insists it’s relevant to the band. “It relates to a lot of the lyrical content of the record, rather than specifically this song,” he said.

Click “more” to read the lyrics and watch the video. (more…)

Long considered one of the top three German thrash metal bands — along with Destruction and Sodom — Kreator are likely to hop to the top of the tier (if they weren’t there already) with their new album Hordes of Chaos. Click more to listen to samples of all 10 tracks. (more…)