Discussing literature isn't something bands are known for doing in their down time -- and that's fine with Fanfarlo. "There's not a lot of beer-can smashing with us," says Simon Balthazar, 27, lead singer and main songwriter for the London chamber-poppers. "Our favorite activity is to read a novel and talk about it. We're intellectuals.

It's been three years since fire-breathing quartet Priestess released their last album, 2006's Hello Master. Now they're back, and if new track "Ladykiller" is any indication, the Montrealers want blood.

Savannah, Georgia's Baroness melted a great many minds last month when the quartet released its second full-length, the beautiful and savage Blue Record. The stunning, deeply psychedelic record was the band's first effort to chart on the Billboard Top 200 and has drawn praise as one of the year's best metal albums.

Steve Bays of Vancouver indie-dance act Hot Hot Heat is sorry and wants to make it up to you. "I would like to offer our most sincere apologies for taking so long to finish our most recent recording," he recently wrote on the band's website.

Manson goes on the record:

"Some people think I'm one of the rock stars who had surgery so I could suck my own dick. Quite honestly, I WOULD NOT WANT TO SUCK MY DICK.

Slayer guitarist Kerry King is a badass.