Roadrunner Records, along with two of its stellar, standout metal bands, OPETH and MACHINE HEAD, will be participating in some cool Record Store Day Initiatives this April 16. 

** OPETH – “The Throat of Winter” seven-inch vinyl

Exclusive for Record Store Day 2011, OPETH will release seven-inch vinyl of “The Throat of Winter”. The track, which was originally featured on the “God Of War: Blood & Metal” digital EP, will see its first and only physical incarnation with this special release. Side B of the seven-inch is etched with the band’s logo and jacket artwork was created by longtime OPETH collaborator Travis Smith, with direction from Mikael Åkerfeldt.

** MACHINE HEAD – “The Black Procession” 10-inch vinyl

Exclusive for Record Store Day 2011, MACHINE HEAD will release 10-inch vinyl, aptly titled “The Black Procession”. The set includes three previously unreleased live tracks that were recorded along 2010’s Black Procession Tour, in support of the band’s last studio effort, “The Blackening”.

Side A:

* Beautiful Mourning (live)
* Bite The Bullet (live)

Side B:

* Halo (live)

About Record Store Day: Record Store Day is managed by the Music Monitor Network and is organized in partnership with the Alliance of Independent Media Stores (AIMS), the Coalition of Independent Music Stores (CIMS) and celebrates the culture of independent record stores by playing host to in-store events/performances, signings and special product releases on a global scale.

Record Store Day takes place annually on the third Saturday of April.

For more information on exclusive Record Store Day events, products and participants, visit www.recordstoreday.com.

God Bless Ozzy Osbourne, will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. Directed by Mike Fleiss and Mike Piscitelli and produced by Jack Osbourne, Marc Weingarten, and Jordan Tappis. (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary.

For four decades, the name has been synonymous not just with a singular brand of blistering heavy metal, but also with a life lived to the extreme. Made for fans and the uninitiated alike, this definitive portrait of a troubled icon—told in part through the eyes of his family—relives Ozzy’s artistic triumphs while chronicling his arduous journey to sobriety and peace.

The Tribeca Film Festival helps filmmakers reach the broadest possible audience, enabling the international film community and general public to experience the power of cinema and promote New York City as a major filmmaking center. It is well known for being a diverse international film festival that supports emerging and established directors.

Founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff in 2001 following the attacks on the World Trade Center, to spur the economic and cultural revitalization of the lower Manhattan district through an annual celebration of film, music and culture, the Festival brings the industry and community together around storytelling.

The Tribeca Film Festival has screened more than 1,100 films from more than 80 countries since its first edition in 2002. Since inception, it has attracted an international audience of more than 3 million attendees and has generated an estimated $600 million in economic activity for New York City.

Video footage of New Jersey progressive metal masters SYMPHONY X performing two brand new songs, “End Of Innocence” and “Dehumanized”, on March 1, 2011 at Le Phare in Tournefeuille, France can be viewed below. 

The band’s setlist was as follows:

01. Of Sins And Shadows
02. Domination
03. Serpent’s Kiss
04. End Of Innocence (new song)
05. Paradise Lost
06. Inferno (Unleash The Fire)
07. Evolution (The Grand Design)
08. Dehumanized (new song)
09. Set the World On Fire (The Lie Of Lies)

Encore:

10. Smoke And Mirrors

During a January 29, 2011 interview with DJ JC Green of Metal Messiah Radio‘s “Heavy Metal Thunder” show, SYMPHONY X vocalist Russell Allen was asked what stage of the recording/mixing process the new band’s album, “Iconoclast”, is in. “We are in post-production, so the album is pretty much almost done,” Allen replied. “At this point, mixes are being wrapped up and finalized and it’s off to mastering and should be ready for release in a few months — definitely first quarter of 2011. We’ve got the artworks all done, we’re taking pictures next week… all that good stuff. So everything’s on track for release pretty soon.”

Regarding the sound of “Iconoclast” and how it compares to that of 2007’s “Paradise Lost”, Russell said, “Sonically, it’s in the realm of that one in a way, in terms of the sound of things; the guitar sound is a little different. Basically, the album is pretty intense — probably the most intense record we’ve ever done; it’s chock-full of riffs — tons of great riffs. It’s heavy, the music, but the singing is very melodic in terms of its… the choruses are real strong, the verses are real strong, but I’m singing aggressively — a lot of that going on — ’cause the topic is, again, very dark; you know, that’s what we do. So the album’s very powerful. And, of course, we do have one song that’s like a little mini-epic, so to speak, and it’s the lightest — a light, light, light song. So there is a contrast on the record of that one song that has that sort of ‘Paradise Lost’ feel to it; it’s a ballad, I guess, if you wanna call it that.”

He continued, “This album will contain a good body of work that harkens back to a lot of early metal — some early metal — and a lot of SYMPHONY X standards that you guys know already, and a little bit of a newer sound, too, here and there — just a newer direction. Some of the singing parts, I tried some more rhythmic things that I was hearing that sounded pretty cool, and some different things that I’m doing with my voice now that are a little more looking to the future of what we hear the music going. It’s just the next progression for us, where we are as writers and stuff, but it’s pretty intense — it’s way more intense than ‘Paradise Lost’, if you can believe that.”

When asked about the “Iconoclast” lyrical concept, Russell said, “It is basically just the idea of machines taking over everything and all this technology we put our society into pretty much being our demise. It’s a story we were all familiar with, but we put our own spin on it. It’s not a linear story in terms of… This is just the theme of the record, so all the songs are in that theme, but they’re not connected in any sort of story way — there’s no characters of any of that stuff — it’s just a theme. Like [PINK FLOYD‘s] ‘The Dark Side Of The Moon’, it’s really just a theme of the dark side of the moon — one song deals with death, the other one deals with time… You know what I mean?! So it’s the same kind of thing. I’m not comparing the two albums by any means — don’t misunderstand me — but in terms of the idea of a concept, so to speak, the concept is there, but it’s not a story record — not like [2002’s] ‘The Odyssey’, where the song ‘The Odyssey’ is that story.”

SYMPHONY X will embark on a North American headlining tour in April/May. Support on the trek will come from Seattle’s NEVERMORE, Sweden’s SOILWORK, Boston’s POWERGLOVE and Montreal’s BLACKGUARD. The trek will launch on April 21 in Philadelphia and wrap on May 22 in West Springfield, Virginia.

SYMPHONY X‘s last album, 2007’s “Paradise Lost”, has sold over 60,000 copies in North America.

Formed in 1994 in New Jersey, SYMPHONY X has seven studio albums and one live album to its credit.