MUSIC

Verizon Wireless Theater  presents Adult Swim Presents: Metalocalypse’s Dethklok, Mastodon, Converge, and High on Fire.

This fall, two of the most popular bands in metal will co-headline a 34-city North American tour as the Grammy® Award-winning Mastodon hits the road with Dethklok, the world’s most brutal animated death metal band from Adult Swim’s Metalocalypse. In one of the most highly-anticipated tours of the year, the Adult Swim Presents Dethklok and Mastodon tour will kick off on October 2 in Portland, Ore. and bring mayhem and destruction to local venues throughout the nation. Adding even more layers to this fall’s top metal tour, Oakland’s High On Fire and Converge will open each show.

As sponsor for the entire tour, Adult Swim will feature ”Brütal Legend” gaming stations for fans to experience the videogame first-hand, while a two-minute animated content piece, created by Titmouse, will air during each show. Print ads, AdultSwim.com and on-site materials will also feature the videogame as the tour’s key sponsor. “Brütal Legend” is an epic action game from visionary developer Tim Schafer. Jack Black stars as Eddie Riggs, a legendary roadie summoned to a world of Heavy Metal where mountains are made of amplifiers, killer spiders spin guitar strings and Rock Legends roam the landscape. As Eddie, crush skulls with a battle axe, ravage the road in a super-charged Hot Rod and unleash the power of Rock to reign down fire from the sky – all to save humanity and become a Brütal Legend.

Nathan Explosion, William Murderface, Skwisgaar Swigelf, Toki Wartooth and Pickles – better known as Dethklok – will take to the road in support of the band’s latest CD release from Williams Street Records, Dethklok: The Dethalbum II, which will be released as both a standard and deluxe edition on September 29 from Williams Street Records. A limited-edition vinyl of the album will also be released at local record shops starting November 24. Bringing the animated band to life on stage each night will be series co-creator and composer Brendon Small along with an all-star band including the legendary Gene Hoglan, Bryan Beller and Mike Keneally. These real life-musicians will perform live while dark-lit and playing underneath a giant projection screen featuring all-new animation and music videos from Dethklok to create a truly unique concert experience.

Sharing the bill with Dethklok on this seven-week tour is Grammy® Award-winning hard icons Mastodon, who are currently touring Europe and the UK with Metallica. The band’s groundbreaking new album Crack The Skye was released on March 24, debuting on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart at #11 to overwhelming international critical praise. Rolling Stone Magazine applauded Mastodon by declaring them as: “The greatest metal band of their generation – no one comes close.” Need more proof? Go to: www.mastodonrocks.com  or www.cracktheskye.com.

Universally recognized as one of the most potent acts in music today, High On Fire creates “bad-ass” modern metal that merges primal fury and aggression, skyscraping riff explosions and hesher bombast with a monolithic heaviness. Described as “a supersonic exercise in conquest by volume and sheer heaviness,” High On Fire has burned the hard rock rulebook since its formation in 1998, forging a style and sound that is both unique and absolutely crushing. The group features vocalist and cult guitar hero Matt Pike, a founding member of the famed underground band SLEEP and one of heavy music’s most charismatic figures. Pike was named by Rolling Stone Magazine as one of its “New Guitar Gods.”
 

Considered one of the most intense, important, and influential metal/hardcore bands ever, Converge will release their anticipated new album Axe To Fall on Epitaph on October 20th. The release is the follow up to their highly-acclaimed No Heroes album, released on Epitaph in 2006. Though Converge has remained tight lipped about all aspects of Axe To Fall, the buzz surrounding the upcoming release already has the rumblings of potential aggressive album of the year.

"Seeing this lineup makes me jealous for the audience,” said Metalocalypse’s Small. “Both myself and my band that doesn't exist are incredibly excited and honored to be a part of it. Furthermore, I see this tour jump-starting the economy and completely reversing the recession. I've said this a thousand times: There is no recession for metal."