Job for a Cowboy ran into a fine spot of trouble over the weekend in Europe. Vocalist Jonny Davy came down with a crippling throat infection that forced him to miss a gig at the prestigious Tuska Festival in Helsinki, Finland. Rather than pack up and head for home with their tails tucked between their legs, the mighty metal warriors sucked it up and performed their first-ever instrumental set. HEAR! The heavy licks of Job for a Cowboy. SEE! An unmanned mic stand. FEEL! The raw emotion of the crowd. Ladies and gentleman, Job for a Cowboy (almost) unplugged.

Jamey Jasta - metal's version of the Energizer bunny - just won't quit. The Hatebreed frontman's sludgy side-project with Crowbar's Kirk Windstein, Kingdown of Sorrow, have scheduled some brand-new dates in support of their debut album, which was released in February. They will first hop on the Rockstar Mayhem tour in the northeast, before headlining two shows with Scum of the Earth in the midwest. After adding their name to Ozzfest in Dallas, they will close the mini-tour with a headlining appearance in Windstein's home base of New Orleans featuring Soilent Green in support. Check out venue info...

Twilight of the Thunder Gods. Yea, I like it too. The Swedish Viking-influenced melodic death-metallers - who will be touring with The Absence this fall - will thrust their sixth full-length album upon the world on... well, we don't know when yet. But it will almost certainly be sometime before the end of the year, as the band is done recording, and currently working on mixing the album. In fact, you should check out these studio diaries documenting the recording process - they're not bad as far as studio diaries go.

In what should be a fascinating display, the members of Slipknot are going to be unveiling their new masks at one minute past midnight on Tuesday, July 1. The donning of new facial attire prior to the release of an album has always been a tradition for the Iowa nine-piece. Sure, it might be a little played out - after all, everyone knows what they look like by now - but bless their hearts for trying. What will their hideous and SHOCKING new creations look like. Anyone's guess is as good as mine - I'll go with John McCain. Thanks to stroggdor93 for this video documenting Slipknot's mask evolution:

Mikael Åkerfeldt, frontman of Swedish progressive death-metallers Opeth - who recently released Watershed, their ninth studio album - has fallen ill. Due to an acute case of varicella, Åkerfeldt and co. have been forced to cancel all of their scheduled performances this weekend. The following dates have been cancelled: