Metal News.

On Sat 8 Sep, there'll be an 18+ show at the Lizard Lounge featuring locals Skintilla, Devonera, Octanic and iSAW, the last three bands all making only their first or second live appearances. Doors open at 8pm.

On Thurs 13 Sep, locals The FAK will be appearing in the Channel 10 Cafe at the Royal Adelaide Show to do three 20 minute sets, at 1pm, 1.40pm and 4pm. In other news relating to the band (whose six members are all still in their teens), they've been powering up the Triple J Unearthed charts (both Metal and Overall), and will hopefully soon be releasing their debut six-track EP.

In another bit of news for the "People Who Give Metal A Good Name" category, the bass player of a Tennessee metal outfit called Malignant Christ has been charged with attempted murder after repeatedly stabbing the group's manager. The assault took place after a battle of the bands competition the group had been involved in, with the guilty party, a Zebulon D. Rouse, attacking his victim with a knife the group had used as a stage prop. An argument that got out of control was apparently the cause of the stabbing.

Rowr! In the continuing feud between Sharon Osbourne and Queens Of The Stone Age's Josh Homme, the latter individual has fired his latest broadside at Osbourne by calling her a musical nobody. The fight between the two started when the Osbournes made this year's Ozzfest a free event by not paying any of the bands who performed at it. Homme complained that Sharon and husband Ozzy were treating bands like "shit"; Sharon Osbourne retaliated by telling Homme she hoped he died of syphilis.

The future of Green Carnation, a Norwegian band headed by Emperor's Tchort, looks uncertain after a disastrous tour the band did of the US last year. The band lay much of the blame for the failure of the tour on their label, who they claim not only forced them to pay most of the tour expenses themselves, but also deprived them of income and other revenue while they were in the US: accusations the label denies. The group's most recent lineup was dissolved in August; while Tchort claims he may continue writing music under the name Green Carnation, he also says he'll probably never play live with the band again.

Austria's Pungent Stench have undergone what appears to be an acrimonious split, with band frontman Martin Schirenc (aka Don Cochino) and drummer Alex Wank (aka Rector Stench) having had a major falling out. While the group has cancelled all upcoming shows, they still hope to release their new, as-yet-untitled album, which will be the follow-up to 2004's 'Ampeauty'.

A certain Tsonko Tsonev, mayor of the Bulgarian city of Kavarna, has become known as his country's "metal mayor" as a result of his well-known love of hard rock and heavy metal. The popular Tsonev, who looks set to be re-elected in upcoming local elections, has helped raise the visibility of his city, which lies on the Black Sea coast, by bringing well-known metal bands there, many of them coming to perform at an annual festival called the Kaliakra Rock Fest.

The promoters for a concert Motorhead will be doing in the New Zealand city of New Plymouth have found themselves having to contend with an unusual problem: fans of the band keep stealing posters for their show. The posters, which feature the group's distinctive "warpig" logo, have been stolen by the hundreds from walls and billboards all around the city; as a result, the people putting them up have had to resort to putting them up higher and using extra glue.

Are metalheads in the US spoilt absolutely fucking rotten or what?! As well as being treated to a seemingly endless number of massive tours, they also get to indulge in such luxuries as Vince Neil's 'Motley Cruise'. That's right: for four days next January, a bunch of lucky, lucky bastards will get to join the Motley Crue frontman on a cruise going from Miami to a part of Mexico known as the "Mayan Riviera". Onboard entertainment will include a poker tournament, charity auction, swimsuit contest, and of course lots of metal, with performances by, among others, Ratt, Skid Row, Slaughter and Neil himself planned. Unfortunately, tickets for next year's cruise have sold out; if you think 2009's cruise would be worth travelling to the other side of the world for, go to www.motleycruise.org, or contact the organisers care of info@motleycruise.org.

For this fortnight's band plug, I've elected to look at a couple of groups from another unlikely place: Syria. The first of these bands is a death metal outfit called Absentation, who hail from the capital Damascus. They have a few songs posted up at www.myspace.com/absentation, all taken from their recent debut full-length 'Mental Battle Resurrection'. The second group, Slumpark Correctional, come from a city on the Mediterranean called Lattakia, and play a style of music that combines thrash and hardcore. They have some tracks posted up at www.myspace.com/slumparkcorrectional, which are also taken from their most recent release - in their case, an EP entitled 'Fuck The United Nations'.

James Brazel (jbr09171@bigpond.net.au)