Influenced by everything from Tool to Black Sabbath and The Beatles and everything in between, The Reptilians have not let anything get in their way since they stormed the almost non existent Southeast Idaho music scene about ten years ago. Members Joey “The Hulk” Labato, Steve “Jesus” McMichael, Viktor “Bob Wilt and Chance “The 305” Smith recently released The Mentalist, an album mutantcolors at StonerRock.com says is “Not easy listening, but it is cleverly disguised as easy-to-listen-to.”

After Deftones bass player Chi Cheng was seriously injured in a car accident on November 4th, 2008, many fans were left wondering what would become of one of their favorite bands. The Deftones’ answer to that question for many may come in the form of their up and coming album, Diamond Eyes. Their seventh album will feature the title track of the same name.

There are few bands I will drive four hours to see live. In the past I have made the sacrifice for Metallica and 36 Crayfists. But having heard that Alice in Chains, one of my favorite rock bands of all time, and arguably one of the best rock bands of the 90s, was performing in Boise, there was never even a question of whether or not I would be there.

He has been called the “Bob Marley” of metal, and his name is synonymous with legendary bands Sepultura and Soulfly. These days, Max Cavalera is dividing his time between the still active Soulfly and his new band, Cavalera Conspiracy, which he formed with his brother, Igor. Recently I was fortunate to talk to Max about how he got into metal, who he would love to collaborate with…

The conservative state of Utah may not be known for raising talented and ambitious metal bands, but one Ogden (near Salt Lake City) based group is working to change that. Now that they have been declared “The Next Big Thing from Utah,” that change seems to be well on its way. Fire in the Skies rose from the ashes of another band with members Brad (vocals), Mark (bass) and Nic (guitar).

Some bands are known by the masses for how many radio singles they can produce in a year, how many awards they can rack up or how many music videos they put out. Other bands are simply known for the kick ass music they continue to release while managing to stay out of the radar just enough to become commercialized. Machine Head is definitely the latter.

Metal band Chimaira has seen its share of ups and downs throughout their eleven years together, including the resignation, and return of drummer Andols Herrick. And yet they have managed to not fall apart and actually grow as a group, even releasing their fifth studio album, The Infection earlier this year. I recently interviewed Chimaira vocalist Mark Hunter…

Italian goth rock/metal band Lacuna Coil recently released their fifth studio album, Shallow Life and have started to see success with “Spellbound,” the first single from the album. Shallow Life has proven thus far to be their most successful record in the States to date, reaching number 16 on the Billboard 200 chart. I recently had the chance to speak…