Behemoth Confirms Evangelion Release Date, Track Listing

Behemoth has confirmed the tracklisting and August 11 release date for Evangelion.

Did Madonna Try to Axe NYC Opeth Concert?

From the Metal Insider gossip files: an anonymous source close to the project tells us Madonna nearly ruined over a thousand metalheads’ day this past Tuesday, when Opeth was scheduled to play New York’s Grand Ballroom at The Manhattan.

The 1,200 capacity venue rests on the top floor of the Manhattan Center and its main room, the 3,700-cap Hammerstein Ballroom. Apparently Madonna was rehearsing and storing gear and production at Hammerstein, and wanted the complex to herself. Opeth allegedly turned down a few generous buy-out offers from Madge, opting not to let their fans down and proceeded to destroy a 2-hour set filled with everything from obscure and old cuts to songs from their latest, 2008′s Watershed.

Want to share any awesome metal gossip and rumors? E-mail us at tips [at] metalinsider [dot] com.

Ticketmaster Facing Class Action Lawsuits, Self-Scalping Allegations

Ticketmaster, always known for its sparkling public image, is facing two major class action lawsuits in New Jersey and Massachusetts along with some serious allegations.

Pollstar reports the suits address how TM conducts business with its subsidiary ticket-resale site TicketsNow. The New Jersey suit, filed May 11 over a purchase made for The Dead tickets (oh boy), claims Ticketmaster and TicketsNow is pushing second-hand tickets on potential customers at an inflated price while not overtly disclosing the original ticket value.

There, Kelly was charged nearly $830 for four tickets. The complaint alleges Kelly was not informed of the tickets’ face value ($99) until he received them in the mail.

Just days later, John O’Hurley of Massachusetts filed another proposed class-action complaint. O’Hurley apparently had a similar experience to Kelly when he attempted to purchase two tickets to a Phish concert Jan. 31 and was “redirected” to TicketsNow.

The subtext here is that it’s curious how large chunks of tickets wind up on TicketsNow within seconds of Ticketmaster’s public on-sales. Since TicketNow’s launch, public suspicion has grown that Ticketmaster is allegedly holding aside quantities of tickets with the intent of posting on TicketsNow at inflated prices. Such practices are at best legally questionable and likely fall under bait-and-switch regulations, but remain nothing more than allegations. We’ll keep you up to date as this story unfolds.

Also, since when are the people causing trouble hippies who just wanna see Phish and The Dead?

UPDATE: While these suits are new, a similar controversy was settled with a New Jersey Springsteen show in January, and Ticketmaster agreed to stop some tactics that tried to push traffic towards TicketsNow. It didn’t solve all of the complaints, obviously, and anyone who purchased tickets to the Springsteen show is excluded from any possible settlement from the new class action suits.

New Zune To Embrace HD Radio

Pity poor HD Radio. Despite a huge marketing push from the National Association of Broadcasters, the format, a supposed satellite radio-killer, has had yet to catch on in the mainstream. The format, which gives terrestrial radio channels digital 5.1 surround sound and a readout of songs played (as well as “side channels” with alternate programming), has existed for a few years now, but has failed to catch on. However, HD Radio supporters got a boost today when it was just announced that the next-generation Microsoft Zune HD, due this fall, will come with HD Radio built in.

On the one hand, that’s amazing. For all of the technological advantages that HD Radio has over regular radio, terrestrial radio is just not cool to tech geeks. Once they get a chance to listen, there may be some early adapter gadgetheads that are turned onto the not-so-new technology. It will also be the first really portable variation of HD Radio. And once you have a radio with HD built in, it’s free and you don’t have to worry about subscription fees.

However, some of the reasons that have kept people from buying into the technology until now are still present. It still costs at least $100 to buy an HD Radio, unless it comes built-in with a new car. Anyone that reads the news knows that not too many people are buying cars these days. And the new Zune will likely cost upwards of $250. Plus, the last Zune only had a fraction of the iPod-dominated portable MP3 player market, so even if the new one is wildly successful, it’s still going to have a sliver of the market, at least at first. And until terrestrial radio addresses some of the same reasons that younger people have been tuning out in droves, HD Radio probably won’t catch on. Don’t get us wrong – as people that grew up loving radio and still believe in it, we want it to.

Goodnight, New York! Don’t Forget to Cleanse Your Palates!

Desperate to see your favorite band, Tool, live and in person but can’t afford the tickets? Or perhaps you’d just prefer to listen to some light jazz and munch on organic rice chips while just looking at someone in Tool. Well you’re in luck! Maynard James Keenan is taking his grape-stomping show on the road, signing bottles from his Caduceus line of wines. While you’re hanging out with metal royalty, do me a favor and pick up some peach mango salsa and blue corn chips, thanks.

Seriously though, check out the Caduceus site. It has to by far be the most awesome/creepy liquor-related site ever. It gave me flashbacks of sitting in front of a computer in my mom’s basement playing The Journeyman Project 2: Buried in Time… last week. Hit the jump for Maynard’s wine tour dates.

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Dillinger Escape Plan Signs with Season of Mist

Dillinger Escape Plan has signed with Season Of Mist Records. They will work in collaboration with the band’s label, Phonogetic Records.

Metal By Numbers 5/27: A Five Year Relapse – CkY Not?

Metal By Numbers is a weekly column in which we look at the top metal sellers and debuts of the week as well as what’s getting played at Metal radio courtesy of radio trade magazine FMQB, whose metal panel consists of about 80 college and commercial stations that have metal shows, as well as SiriusXM, Music Choice, and more.

This week, the biggest selling record by far is Relapse! No, not anything from one of our favorite metal labels, but the latest Eminem album, his first in five years. Speaking of first album in five years, is CkY a metal band? It’s arguable, but a) they’re signed to Roadrunner, b) they’re tight with metal bands, having toured with Clutch and others and c) the Bam Margera connection gives them metal cred as well, since you probably never had Slayer play in your backyard, Mr. Anonymous Internet Hater. Their damn fine album Carver City sold almost 11,000 copies to be the biggest metal debut of the week. Dream Theater and Chimaira top FMQB’s Most Added and Most Spun, respectively, while iwrestledabearonce enters the metal radio top ten.

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Fun With Wacky Zune Math

On the heels of Microsoft’s Zune HD announcement (which we’ll discuss a little later on today), we came across this silly promotional video touting the supposed massive savings of Microsoft’s “Zune Pass” subscription service over outright purchasing your downloads.

In the video, “Certified Financial Planner” Wes Moss fast-talks his way through some 30-second math, informing the viewer it will cost an unfathomable thirty-thousand dollars to fill an iPod (presumably at $0.99 a song), while Zune’s unlimited subscription is only $14.99 a month.

Let’s skip over the fact that the $15 a month until the day you decide to stop listening to music adds up to infinity dollars, or that you already paid for at least half the music you’ll ever listen to for the rest of your life. He’s dressed so sharply yet business casual, how can I not trust him?

New Darkest Hour Track Streaming on Myspace

A track from Darkest Hour’s new album, The Eternal Return, is available now on the band’s MySpace.

Dillinger Escape Plan No Longer with Relapse Records

Dillinger Escape Plan guitarist Ben Weinman has confirmed that the group is no longer with Relapse Records.