I may be the metal guy, but sometimes what I need is a major dose of reality. Where do I get it? Every summer at the Sound and Fury Festival, an annual three-day hardcore punk extravaganza in Central California. This year's festival - which will be held July 25-27 at the Earl Warren Showgrounds in Santa Barbara, CA - is absolutely stacked with great bands from top-to-bottom. Here is a complete list of who is performing in alphabetical order:

David Vincent, reinserted frontman of the pioneering death-metallers Morbid Angel, has confirmed that the band will be playing some brand-new material from their forthcoming as-of-yet untitled album during their upcoming festival tour. The news came during an interview on "Tinitus," a Norwegian radio show.

Further updates to the Ozzfest announcement made last week have been posted on the official Ozzfest Web site. Lars has made his opinions on playing Ozzfest known, two bands have been added to the bill and the on sale date for tickets has been announced. Click on in and get the 411...

Metallica made only their third live appearance of 2008 on Saturday at SoCal radio station KROQ's 16th-annual Weenie Roast festival. The world-famous thrashers mixed it up a little, playing quite a few songs that they didn't play during their performance at the Wiltern LG in Los Angeles on Wednesday. The band's set almost ran the gauntlet of their entire career, featuring songs from 1983's Kill 'Em All album all the way up to 1997's ReLoad. Quite unfortunately, the performance did not include any material from 2003's classic St. Anger album. Sarcasm duly noted. Fans of the band's so-called "Glory Era" will be completely satisfied by Metallica's choice of songs. Click on in and check out this fantastic pro-shot footage of their performance courtesy of Finck310:

"The Ecstasy of Gold" and "Creeping Death":

In a clear case of stroking the hand that feeds, Ozzfest main-stagers In This Moment have taken a shot at fans who are upset that Ozzfest has abandoned its typical touring structure in favor of a one-day festival in Dallas. Read on to see what they said ...