Dimmu Borgir Release Live DVD; Plus Led Zeppelin, Brujeria, & More News That Rules, In Metal File

'It shows the intense live side of the band, as opposed to the perfection and the cleanness of how we sound on our albums,' guitarist says.
By Chris Harris


Dimmu Borgir's Silenoz
Photo: Nuclear Blast

On October 14, Dimmu Borgir — who just happen to be Demi Lovato's favorite black-metal band — will release a a three-disc DVD/CD set called "The Invaluable Darkness," the band's first visual offering since 2002's "World Misanthropy." Boasting live footage shot last year, during gigs in Norway, Germany and England, "The Invaluable Darkness" demonstrates the unbridled furor of seeing Dimmu live, guitarist Silenoz said.

"It shows the honest rawness and atmospheric darkness of our concerts," the Norwegian told Metal File last week, after dismissing recent online rumors that his band's next LP would be coming out through Roadrunner Records. "Basically, it shows the intense live side of the band, as opposed to the perfection and the cleanness of how we sound on our albums. It's just a different side to the band, basically."

Dimmu Borgir began thinking about "The Invaluable Darkness" two years ago, but didn't start capturing footage until last summer, Silenoz explained, adding that the band will use its current stint on the Blackest of the Black Tour — which got underway Thursday night in Miami Beach, Florida, and also features the tour's founder, Danzig, along with Moonspell, Winds of Plague and Skeletonwitch — to promote the DVD. Dimmu Borgir will not, however, use the tour to write material for their next LP.

"It's our first time on Blackest, but Glenn [Danzig] had wanted to bring us out before [on the tour], but we weren't available until now," Silenoz said. "We've done Ozzfest before, but we're looking forward to this tour more. We did the main stage on Ozzfest, playing in f--_ing broad daylight. This tour will let us play in bigger places, but at the same time showcase more of what the band's about, visually. We are going to concentrate on the tour for now. Some years ago, we tried putting [material] together on the road, but once we got home, we listened back to it, and were like, 'What the f--- is this?' So, we just scrapped it all. We find it's so much better to totally focus on one thing at a time, and then, when that's over, you move on to the next [thing]. We don't really feel like we need to rush things, anyway, so we'll just take our time, and it's going to be what it's going to be."

Dimmu Borgir hope to reconvene in late December to begin writing the follow-up to 2007's diabolically titled In Sorte Diaboli. "We have some ideas floating around already, but we haven't arranged any material yet," he said. "We'll start doing that once the touring for this DVD is over." The band's frontman, Shagrath, is also due to marry soon — he's engaged to actor Nicolas Cage's ex-girlfriend, Christina Fulton, so that may have an effect on when Dimmu finish their next album, which Silenoz said could be out this coming spring.

"I'm sure [Shagrath] won't let anything get in the way [of] the band — I think, I hope," the guitarist said. "We don't need a Yoko [Ono] situation."

While Dimmu have been at it going on 15 years now, Silenoz said he doesn't think their forthcoming material will be much of a departure from their previous black-metal offerings.

"And we have always been about more than just that term, 'black metal,' " he said. "Luckily for us, the older you get, the less concerned you get with the categorization and putting labels on your music. Things start getting more and more limitless with us, and we know that we operate within certain frames. But we try not to analyze things too much, because it's just going to be working against you in the end. When we write new stuff, we don't think about what we should write — we just get together, and put material together, and if we like it, we keep it. That's the formula, if we even have a formula."

Dimmu Borgir are definitely getting older — guitarist Galder will be missing Blackest because of a recent addition to his family, and Susperia's Cyrus will be filling in for him; while former Vader drummer Dariusz Brzozowski takes over for Hellhammer, who had to leave the band in 2007 after sustaining a neck injury that's now limited the use of his right arm. As Dimmu has gotten on in years, Silenoz admits they have failed to keep pace with some of the more extreme black-metal acts that have followed in their wake.

"We helped open doors for the more extreme bands out there," Silenoz said. "I'm sure we helped open doors for bands like Watain, [insomuch as] people that had maybe started listening to us first then went on to the more extreme stuff. Let's face it — we're not as extreme as Watain and other bands like that, but we're fine with that."

The Blackest of the Black Tour continues through November 10 in San Francisco.

The rest of the week's metal news:

Dimmu's tourmates on Blackest, Winds of Plague, have announced ex-Azusa drummer Art Cruz has joined their ranks — he replaced Jeff Tenney. According to the band's blog, "Art has already added a new spark to the band and has provided us with a solid backbone that will allow us to continue our rampage stronger than ever." ...

What the world really needs is another Led Zeppelin box set, so, on November 4, Rhino Records will issue the Led Zeppelin Definitive Collection Mini LP Replica CD box set. For just $200, you'll get 1969's Led Zeppelin, 1969's Led Zeppelin II, 1970's Led Zeppelin III, 1971's Led Zeppelin IV, 1973's Houses of the Holy, 1975's Physical Graffiti, 1976's Presence, 1976's The Song Remains the Same, 1979's In Through the Out Door and 1982's Coda, as mini-LP replicas, with artwork from the original U.K. LP sleeves. Now, you know what you can get your dad for Christmas. ...

Former Killswitch Engage frontman Jesse Leach and current Killswitch Engage guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz have teamed up for a new project they're calling Times of Grace, and they've already started working on material for their debut album. According to Leach, "We have two songs to go and we will be finished with all of the vocals. Adam has taken lead vocals in three songs as of yet and he is doing a great job. We also worked on a track yesterday that is so epic — we trade vocals and do two different melodies at the same time. This album went from a melodic metal album to an epic mix of metal/rock/pop/shoegaze and punk. So all of your metal expectations will be incorrect — we are pushing genre boundaries." To quote "Meet the Parents," we'll look forward to that, Greg. ...

The Funeral Pyre and Early Graves will be hitting the road together next month, starting November 7 in South Lake Tahoe, California. Dates are booked through November 21 in Hollywood. ...

The latest incarnation of Brujeria, which features Carcass frontman Jeff Walker and Napalm Death's Shane Embury, have lined up several U.S. dates for this winter. The band will begin its brief trek November 28 in Denver, and wrap things up in Dallas on December 7. ... Demiricous will be touring with the Gates of Slumber starting November 9 in Denver, for a jaunt that's scheduled to run through December 6 in Indianapolis. ...

Nearly three years after Roadrunner Records' Roadrunner United concert, which took over the Nokia Theater in New York's Times Square, the label is now releasing footage from that special night as "Roadrunner United: The Concert." The DVD, which hits stores December 9, will boast two discs and 24 live tracks, including Life of Agony's "River Runs Red," King Diamond's "Abigail," Killswitch's "My Last Serenade," Type O Negative's "Black No. 1" and Sepultura's "Refuse/Resist." ...

According to Blabbermouth, Verrot, bassist for Swedish black-metal outfit Elimi, committed suicide on October 3. In a statement, the band said, "Verrot was a very good friend, brother, an excellent bass player/musician and an important part of Elimi; we respect his decision and hope he'll find his way with the dark gods of Chaos. Let your black flame be a part of what brings forth the day of wrath."

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1596756/20081009/borgir_dimmu.jhtml

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Send hilarious, personalized Santa messages with Google Voice

Send a call from Santa
Ho ho ho! I remember, when I was 8, Santa called my father's mobile phone. He had a message for me, and it blew my mind. A few years later, my dad told me it was his best friend, and he had bought a new SIM card just so I couldn't trace the number! Ah, the lengths adults go to preserve the magic of Santa Claus.

Today, things just got a whole lot easier. If you want to create a personalized message for a (younger) special someone, there's the Google Voice-powered Send A Personalized Call From Santa. There are hundreds of options to choose from -- more than enough to convince the recipient that it's a message just for them -- and most of them are hilarious. Once you're done, you can send it as a phone call (in the US only, alas), by email, or simply grab a URL.

Check out my message from Santa if you want to hear a sample of what this piece of awesomeness can produce. I love how it correctly synthesizes my name.

If you don't have someone to send a Santa message to, please give the link to any friends and family that do have children. This is the kind of thing that makes the festive season truly memorable.

Send hilarious, personalized Santa messages with Google Voice originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 09 Dec 2010 06:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/09/send-hilarious-personalized-santa-messages-with-google-voice/

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Adam Lambert's 'Whole Lotta Love': The Story Behind The Cover

Glam rocker tackled the legendary 1970 Led Zeppelin song for 'American Idol' rock night.
By Gil Kaufman


Adam Lambert performs "Whole Lotta Love" on "American Idol" on Tuesday
Photo: R. Mickshaw/Getty Images/ Fox

Imagine a freight train speeding toward you at midnight. Or a rockslide barreling down a hill as you try to outrace it. That's the feeling of the ominous, chugging Jimmy Page riff that kicks off Led Zeppelin's 1970 Stonehenge of rock, "Whole Lotta Love." And that's before singer Robert Plant leans into one of the nastiest, ecstatic rock screams this side of the Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again."

That's the song Adam Lambert chose to sing on "American Idol" rock night Tuesday (May 5), and, needless to say, it was a challenge that the eyeliner-loving Los Angeles stage veteran was more than up for, hitting a series of high notes and rock screams that would have made Plant proud. It was a risky maneuver that paid off for Lambert, who chose a tune that came in at #75 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004.

The legendary British rock act recorded the tribute to Chicago blues icon Willie Dixon during their second U.S. tour after working it out in their live show, including it on their 1969 classic album Led Zeppelin II. Like many of the songs Zeppelin performed early in their career, "Love" was a blues standard turned on its head with a heavy dose of crunching psychedelic guitar and thundering drums, courtesy of late drummer John Bonham. The song was based on a 1962 tune by another blues forefather, Muddy Waters, called "You Need Love," which was penned by Dixon.

For Zeppelin's version, Plant customized the lyrics by adding some lyrical quotes from a few other songs Dixon wrote for Howlin' Wolf, "Back Door Man" and "Shake For Me," nailing the tricky vocal in a single take. It was also inspired by 1966's "You Need Loving" from the British rock group the Small Faces, for whom Zeppelin had great affection, but they also did not credit Dixon for his part in writing the original lyrics. The song became Zeppelin's first U.S. single and their only U.S. top 10 hit. Though their manager would not let them release singles in the U.K. because he thought it cannibalized album sales, the song was finally released as the band's only British single in 1997.

Dixon sued Zeppelin over the song in 1985, claiming it borrowed too heavily from his "You Need Love," and Zeppelin reached an agreement with him, with Dixon using the money he received to set up a program that provided musical instruments for schools. A cornerstone of heavy rock, the tune -- which was the theme song for the long-running British countdown show "Top of the Pops" in the 1970s and '80s -- has been covered by dozens of artists over the years, from Tina Turner and Ben Harper to Prince, Slash, Leona Lewis, Train's Pat Monahan, the London Symphony Orchestra and Jane's Addiction.

Get your "Idol" fix on MTV News' "American Idol" page, where you'll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1610709/20090505/led_zeppelin.jhtml

AUTODESK Alicia Witt BHARTI AIRTEL Brody Dalle Britney Spears

Daily Crunch: A Series of Sneaks Edition

Review: Onaroo Personal Baby Assistant Help Identify A Guy Who Stole Game Consoles From A Children?s Cancer Ward Physical Avatars For MP3s May Be The Vinyl Of The Future Video: Constructing A Working NES Coffee Table Latest Kinect Hack Takes Your Air Guitar Fantasy To A Whole New Level

Source: http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/12/11/daily-crunch-series-of-sneaks/

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Mozilla's P2PU 'School of Webcraft' gearing up for another semester of nerdy teaching

p2pu
It turns out Barney isn't the only dinosaur interested in education -- Mozilla (with its own Dinosaur) is ramping up the course count in its online education program, delivered via P2PU. 'The School of Webcraft' is basically a free online learning community with structured courses about a range of Web-related subjects, from HTML5, through JavaScript, all the way to social media management and SEO. Each class is between six to ten weeks long, with the Mozilla-supported program offering 15 classes last term. This coming semester, they're upping their efforts and running a full 30 courses.

Each class is led by an actual human being, and participation is required -- it's not just a bunch of videos you have to watch. There's a limited number of places available per class, and you have to actually do homework. Not all classes are for beginners either; some are for advanced coders, too. But registration isn't available just yet - it begins Jan 8, and there's a mailing list you can join to be alerted when registration opens.

If you're serious about your Web-related education, we suggest you sign up for the mailing list -- these courses tend to fill up quite quickly. Head on over to the School of Webcraft site for more information.

Mozilla's P2PU 'School of Webcraft' gearing up for another semester of nerdy teaching originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 20 Dec 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/20/mozillas-p2pu-school-of-webcraft-gearing-up-for-another-semes/

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Season's Warnings helps you avoid being scammed online during the holidays

It's a bit more intense reading than Google's Teach Parents Tech series, but Season's Warnings from Trend Micro is definitely something your less-techy friends and family members should read. Trend's guide covers several important topics, like phishing, giveaway scams, and wireless security. While it's only a dozen pages long, there's still plenty of good information inside that will help your loved ones avoid scammy emails, websites which try to steal their login credentials, and misleading search engine results.

Season's Warnings also reminds you to carefully look over your bank statements. If you've been doing a lot of online purchasing and may have registered yourself for a free iPad or two, it's good idea to double-check your records to make sure everything appears as it should.

The Flash-powered pamphlet is bit awkward, however -- so it might be a good idea to print a copy (either on paper or to a PDF printer) to make it easier to read.

Season's Warnings helps you avoid being scammed online during the holidays originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 14 Dec 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/14/seasons-warnings-helps-you-avoid-being-scammed-online-during-th/

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Brazilian Startup DeskMetrics Raises Seed Round For Desktop Software Analytics

Brazilian startup DeskMetrics, which offers tools and analytics services to help developers track how their customers are using native desktop applications, has closed a $200,000 seed round from a group of regional angel investors (the startup isn't disclosing the names of the investors involved). DeskMetrics launched in October, offering developers a set of native components they could integrate into their desktop software to perform advanced analytics tracking. It's a lot like a web analytics service for the desktop ? with these components integrated, developers can tell when users have installed or uninstalled an app, and even which buttons they're clicking within an application.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/wcmC131-_OE/

APPLE COMPUTER April Scott Charli Baltimore COMPAL ELECTRONICS Christina Applegate

IBM supercomputer 'Watson' to compete against humans in $1,000,000 Jeopardy! showdown

Watson, an artificial intelligence powered by IBM's latest, disgustingly-powerful POWER7 processors and the DeepQA natural language parser, will play Jeopardy against flesh-and-blood humans in February, for a $1,000,000 grand prize.

Accurate, computerized natural language processing is a killer technology, and perhaps the last cornerstone in the creation of a Skynet-like entity. Search engines such as Google have made great strides, but their emphasis has always been on finding the right results, rather than understanding your query perfectly. DeepQA's sole purpose is to create a system that understands spoken natural language perfectly; from your literal, spoken or written words, down to the exact meaning of those words. To do this, it needs to understand sarcasm, irony, and a world of other linguistic constructs and inflections. Check the IBM FAQ for tons more information about Watson and DeepQA.

Needless to say, once a computer understands the meaning of our utterances, a wealth of possibilities are opened up. We will finally see Star Trekesque computers! Computer, plot a course to the office. We will be able to dim the lights, or turn the music up, just by talking.

The human vs. computer Jeopardy showdown will air in 2011, February 14-16, with the two all-time most successful contestants being pitted against IBM Watson to win $1,000,000. Watson has already beat former Jeopardy winners in internal testing, so it could be a very close battle indeed. Also worth noting is that PBS will air a documentary about the creation of Watson on February 9, just a few days before the game show.

I for one welcome our new computer overlords...

IBM supercomputer 'Watson' to compete against humans in $1,000,000 Jeopardy! showdown originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 16 Dec 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/16/ibm-supercomputer-watson-to-compete-against-humans-in-jeopardy/

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Domize offers fast, powerful, find-as-you-type domain name search

domize

Coming up with a good domain name these days is akin to finding a parking spot in New-York. Accordingly, tools for finding free domain names abound, and most of them offer some sort of a "brainstorming interface". The idea is to help you come up with a domain name nobody (including yourself) considered before.

Domize is one of the nicer attempts at this sort of thing. At its simplest form, it's a very fast find-as-you-type service for free domain names. As you type each new letter in the name of your domain, Domize quickly checks whether or not that domain name is free for .com, .net, .org, .co, .us and .biz.

But as I said, that's just scratching the surface of what Domize can do. Click Options and you can change the TLDs (top-level-domains, such as .at, .me and others), toggle the find-as-you-type functionality, and change the domain registrar used.

Once you're done tweaking the options, click Advanced to find out what neat syntax directives Domize supports. It actually has its own expression language: You can type something such as [like:cool] to search for synonyms of the word "cool" (coolheaded.net is up for grabs, by the way).

When you finally find a domain you like, hovering over the TLD shows a pop-up with price quotes from several different registrars, usually with significant differences in price. This is a beautiful tool.

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Domize offers fast, powerful, find-as-you-type domain name search originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 27 Nov 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/11/27/domize-offers-fast-powerful-find-as-you-type-domain-name-searc/

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