As I Lay Dying vocalist Tim Lambesis appeared in San Diego, CA’s North County Superior Courthouse today, May 17th, to attend his newly-granted bail review hearing. The hearing was held in a bid to get Lambesis‘ bail of $3 million USD lowered. His defense was successful in some regards, getting the bail amount dropped to $2 million USD—an amount his attorney has stated his client still can’t afford.

According to CBS8 correspondent Shannon Handy, the defense have alleged that the murder for hire plot was a result of Lambesis‘ steroid usage. It was also stated in initial reports that Lambesis is having steroid withdrawals while in custody.

Lambesis has remained in custody since his arrest last Tuesday (May 07th) as part of a police sting in regards to a murder-for-hire plot he allegedly hatched against his estranged wife, Meggan Lambesis—who filed for divorce from him this past September.

Last week Tim pled not guilty to the charge of Solicitation To Commit Murder. During his arraignment the prosecution stated that they have audio of Lambesis soliciting an undercover agent to kill his ex-wife, along with various other evidence.

Update – May 17th 5:58pm:

According to utsandiego.com, Lambesis‘ lawyer, Thomas Warwick, stated that Lambesis‘ “thought processes were devastatingly affected by his steroid use.” It was also said that Lambesis began taking steroids after getting heavily into body building in recent years. Furthermore, it was revealed that the defense had originally hoped to get the bail down to $250,000 USD today.

Prosecutor Claudia Grasso also put forth some new information, chiefly that the undercover informant—who was described as actually being an undercover detective—told Lambesis that the hit on his wife Meggan would cost $20,000. Grasso said that Lambesis “was very willing to pay” that amount. He later handed the undercover detective an envelope containing $1000 cash—apparently as a down payment—along with Meggan‘s address and security codes.

Update #2 – May 17th 9:44pm:

A report on today’s bail review hearing filed at nbcsandiego.com offered up even more details on today’s events. An excerpt from it reads:

“[Tom] Warwick said Lambesis’ troubles began when he got into bodybuilding and “gym culture.”

The frontman started taking supplements, then steroids, that led to what Warwick referred to as “changes in his physiological and mental status.”

He went from 170 to 220-pounds and in his attorney’s words, “Was not the same person. He was irritable and lost God.” A forensic psychiatrist who consulted with the defense said Lambesis got “roid rage” after using steroids.

His attorney said Lambesis is now off steroids, going through withdrawal, and in total isolation in jail for protection from other inmates. He’s also getting personal counseling from a jail chaplain.

“It has been a terrible tragedy,” Warwick said in court while arguing for lower bail. “He was a very caring, gentle man [before taking steroids] and we need to get him back.”

Five Finger Death Punch and Device will be supporting Avenged Sevenfold on their November/December run through Europe and the UK. Initial dates for that tour include:

11/08 Stockholm, SWE – Hovet
11/09 Oslo, NOR – Spektrum
11/10 Copenhagen, DEN – Falconer
11/12 Hamburg, GER – Sporthalle
11/14 Munich, GER – Zenith
11/15 Frankfurt, GER – Jahrunderhalle
11/30 Manchester, UK – Manchester Arena
12/01 London, UK – Wembley Arena
12/05 Birmingham, UK – LG Arena

Periphery guitarist Misha Mansoor has turned in the below cover of Meshuggah‘s “Elastic‘. He said of his rendition:

“Why? Because I love this album and I love this song, and sometimes it’s fun to do stuff like this!

Also a good excuse to use the Attack setting on my Protone Signature Overdrive Pedal in front of the Axefx II.
Guitar is my Daemoness 7, Bass is Trillian, Drums are Toontrack Metal Machine.

Work in progress, I am going to try to figure out that damn solo if at all possible haha.”

click here for the stream…

After some delays, Blackguard have returned to the studio. The group are tackling the recording sessions for their new album “Storm” at Silver Wings Studios in Montreal, QC. Initial sessions for the album were thought to have taken place back in September. No word yet on a release date.

The Devil Wears Prada have released a second batch of studio footage from the sessions for their upcoming album online at Altpress.com. The band have been working with producer Matt Goldman (Underoath, The Chariot) on the opus; while Killswitch Engage guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz is executive producing. A fall release through Roadrunner Records is being mapped out.

Ice Nine Kills have been announced as a late addition to this years ‘All Stars Tour‘. The band will appear on the bill from July 19th to July 26th and will then rejoin the bill on August 08th playing through till the tours conclusion on August 17th. The 2013 ‘All Stars Tour‘ features:

Every Time I Die
Chelsea Grin
Veil Of Maya
Terror
Stray From The Path
Capture The Crown
Iwrestledabearonce
For All Those Sleeping
Dayshell

Volumes will appear on dates ranging from July 26th-August 11th. Meanwhile, Struc/tures will appear July 19th-25th and August 12th-17th.

2013 ‘The All Stars Tour‘ dates:

07/19 Long Island, NY – The Paramount
07/20 Worcester, MA – The Palladium (no Stray From The Path)
07/21 Albany, NY – Upstate Concert Hall (no Stray From The Path)
07/22 Buffalo, NY – Town Ballroom
07/23 Toledo, OH – Rocket Bar
07/24 Chicago, IL – Toyota Park
07/25 Minneapolis, MN – Cabooze
07/26 Lawrence, KS – Granada
07/27 Denver, CO – Summit
07/28 Salt Lake City, UT – In The Venue (no Terror)
07/30 Seattle, WA – El Corazon
08/01 San Francisco, CA – The Regency
08/02 Los Angeles, CA – House of Blues
08/03 Santa Ana, CA – The Observatory
08/04 San Diego, CA – Soma
08/05 Phoenix, AZ – Nile Theatre
08/08 Dallas, TX – The Door
08/09 San Antonio, TX – Backstage Live
08/10 Houston, TX – House of Blues
08/12 Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade
08/13 Raleigh, NC – Lincoln Theatre
08/14 Silver Spring, MD – The Fillmore
08/15 New York City, NY – Irving Plaza
08/16 Reading, PA – The Reverb
08/17 Hartford, CT – The Webster

Oh, Sleeper have officially surpassed their crowdfunding goal of $30,000 USD for their new EP and touring vehicle expenses. As of this posting the band have raised $34,068 USD with eight days left to go on the campaign. As a result of the funding, the band expect to have a new EP out this summer, likely during their stint on this years ‘Vans Warped Tour‘.

In addition to their previously booked UK run, letlive. will return to mainland Europe this fall for the below headlining run in support of their forthcoming album:

09/18 Amsterdam, NET – Melkweg
09/19 Antwerp, BEL – Trix
09/20 Stuttgart, GER – Juha West
09/21 Schweinfurt, GER – Stadbahnhof
09/22 Munich, GER – Backstage Club
09/23 Vienna, AUT – Arena 3 Raum Bar
09/25 Prague, CZE – 007
09/26 Wiesbaden, GER – Raucherkammer
09/27 Leipzig, GER – Conne Island
09/28 Berlin, GER – Crystal
09/30 Hamburg, GER – Headcrash
10/01 Paris, FRA – La Maroquinerie
10/02 Cologne, GER – Underground
10/03 Bristol, UK – Fleece
10/04 Southampton, UK – Talking Heads
10/05 Birmingham, UK – Asylum
10/06 Leeds, UK – Cockpit
10/07 Newcastle, UK – Warehouse 34
10/09 Manchester, UK – Nq Live
10/10 Belfast, IRE – Limelight
10/11 Dublin, IRE – Fibber Magees
10/12 Glasgow, UK – King Tuts
10/14 Nottingham, UK – Rescue Rooms
10/15 Cardiff, UK – Clwb Ifor Bach
10/17 London, UK – Underworld

Within The Ruins and Abiotic will close out June as part of the ‘This Is Revenge Tour‘. Dates for that short trek include:

06/21 Henderson, NV – Eagle Aerie Hall
06/22 Mesa, AZ – The Nile Theatre
06/23 Amarillo, TX – The Wreckroom
06/24 Abilene, TX- The Backroom (feat. Impending Doom)
06/25 Houston, TX – Walters
06/26 Tupelo, MS – Good Time Charlies
06/29 Allentown, PA – Pennsylvania Deathbed Festival

Huntress have premiered a new song titled “I Want To Fuck You To Death“. The track was co-written by Motörhead frontman/bassist Lemmy Kilmister. Huntress frontwoman Jill Jannus said of the track:

“I met Lemmy through my former band Chelsea Girls. We’d play hard rock and metal covers featuring guest celebrities. Lemmy was already friends with the girls, so he played “Ace of Spades” with us and it blew my mind. We stayed in touch and would meet up at The Rainbow for drinks. So I asked him a few months back over Jack & Cokes if he’d write lyrics for a Huntress song and he said ‘Sure’. A few weeks later, I met him at the studio during Motorhead recording sessions. Lemmy handed me two two pieces of notebook paper with the lyrics for ‘I Want to Fuck You to Death‘. I am beyond honored. To me, this is a love song. It is the most romantic song I’ve ever heard.”

Kilmister meanwhile offered:

“The first time I heard Jill‘s voice with Chelsea Girls, it was phenomenal. I wrote these lyrics from her point of view, the Huntress. ‘I Want to Fuck You to Death‘ was inspired by her, written for her. I’ve always had a soft spot for her. And a hard spot too…”

You can stream the track now over at Huntress‘ Facebook (‘like’ required.) It will appear on the groups new album “Starbound Beast“, out July 02nd on Napalm Records.

August Burns Red are in the Philadelphia, PA area filming a new music video today, May 17th. Ex-Underoath drummer Daniel Davison is directing the clip for the as-yet unspecified track. A photo from the shoot is available here. The bands new album “Rescue & Restore” is due out June 25th on Solid State.

Queens Of The Stone Age‘s deluge of animated videos for new material from their coming album “…Like Clockwork” continues. The latest Boneface-illustrated clip to emerge is for the bands track “My God Is The Sun” and you can check it out below (via likeclockwork.tv.) Matador Records will have “…Like Clockwork” in stores on June 04th.
click here for the video…

Nine Inch Nails aren’t letting the recent departure of Eric Avery (ex-Jane’s Addiction) from their latest incarnation slow them down. Returning to the band is Robin Finck with Trent Reznor himself breaking the news. His return was later confirmed by the bands official Twitter.

The groups newest lineup will see Trent Reznor joined by Adrian Belew, Robin Finck, Josh Eustis, Alessandro Cortini and Ilan Rubin. Current dates for the outfit include:

07/26 Naeba, JAP – Fuji Rock Festival
07/28 Ansan, SKR – Ansan Valley Festival
08/02-04 Chicago, IL – Lollapalooza
08/09-11 San Francisco, CA – Outside Lands Festival
08/15 Hasselt, BEL – Pukkelpop Festival
08/16 Biddinghuizen, NET – Lowlands Festival
08/18 Hockenheim, GER – Rock’n'Heim Festival
08/23 West Yorkshire, UK – Leeds Festival
08/24 Paris, FRA – Rock En Seine Festival
08/25 Reading, UK – Reading Festival
08/28 Milan, ITA – Mediolanum Forum (feat. Tomahawk)
08/31-09/01 Philadelphia, PA – Made In America Festival
10/25-27 Asheville, NC – Mountain Oasis Electronic Music Summit
11/01-03 New Orleans, LA – Voodoo Festival

Some new footage of The ‘Metallica Pro Pinball‘ table in action has been made available online below. Also available is footage of competitive pinball player Lyman Sheats trying his hand at the table. The featured table is one of the four variants of Metallica-branded pinball tables released by Stern Pinball.
click here for the footage…

A report on Sandiegoreader.com has word that As I Lay Dying frontman Tim Lambesis has been granted a new bail review hearing and will be in court tomorrow, May 17th at 1:30pm. Lambesis‘ attorney Anthony Salerno aims to have his clients current bail amount of $3 million reduced at the hearing; with Deputy District Attorney Claudia Grasso expected to argue against such a reduction.

Salerno is quoted in the article as saying: “Tim never had the intention to harm his wife, absolutely not. This whole thing was a set-up by a scumbag snitch, and then law enforcement ran with it.” He also added “Tim will have his day in court, and when he does he will be exonerated because a jury will see that in his heart Tim is a good, decent and Christian human being”

Lambesis was arrested last Tuesday (May 07th) and has been in custody since after being the target of police sting in regards to a murder-for-hire plot he allegedly hatched against his estranged wife, Meggan Lambesis—who filed for divorce from him this past September.

Tim pled not guilty to the charge of Solicitation To Commit Murder at his arraignment last week. The prosecution stated during those proceedings that they have audio of Lambesis soliciting an undercover agent to kill his ex-wife, along with various other evidence.