I was recently reading the January 2008 issue of Terrorizer magazine. It was the first time in quite a while that I had read any metal media outside of the internet as i like to read all of my stories and news online. However, whilst reading a section on upcoming band news for 2008, they deemed Arch Enemy as “Ozzfest-bothering sell-outs” which pissed me off more than I would have liked.

Aside from the fact that I don’t think I’ve called anyone a sell-out since 1999 (because I kind of think the term died in the ass), at the end of the day we’re most probably all sell-outs. As one man famously put it, “I sold out before you ever knew my name.”

So selling out is swapping to a bigger label to put dinner on the table. Or playing at Ozzfest to spread the word of the band outside of your home country to earn a decent buck in an industry that is only soldiering on by the support of it’s fans. Sure, it fucking sucks when bands change their sound completely to be more commercial under advice of their newer shinier record label. But they were never truly metal in the first place and therefore, not worth worrying about.

To be honest, I think that magazines like Terrorizer have to lead by example. Sure, people are going to make their own decisions at the end of the day but it doesn’t mean that they have to join the minority of dickheads who slag off other bands just for trying to earn a living in the metal industry. Perhaps they describe certain bands as sell outs because they feel that it’s only just - and to appear in tune with their fellow metal heads. But I believe that calling fellow metallers sell-outs is NOT endorsing the attitude of being truly metal and therefore they should keep their juvenille “sell-out” thoughts to themselves.

If you can get your hands on this doco, watch it.

Why Democracy?: Taxi to the Dark Side
Over one hundred prisoners have died in suspicious circumstances in U.S. custody during the war on terror. An Afghan taxi driver called Dilawar who was considered an honest and kind man by the people of his rustic village. So when he was detained by the U.S military one afternoon, after picking up three passengers, denizens wondered why this man was randomly chosen to be held in prison, and, especially, without trial? Five days after his arrest Dilawar died in his Bagram prison cell. His death came within a week of another death of a detainee at Bagram. The documentary, by award-winning producer Alex Gibney, carefully develops the last weeks of Dilawar’s life and shows how decisions taken at the pinnacle of power in the Bush Administration led directly to Dilawar’s brutal death.