If you’re a dyed-in-the-wool metal fan like me, you need no introduction to independent label Relapse Records. For the last quarter of a century the Philadelphia record label has been home to some of the most revered acts in the metal world. Their roster reads like a who’s who of influential and beloved artists: High On Fire, Mastodon, Pig Destroyer, A.C., Death, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Dying Fetus, Obituary, Nile, Suffocation, Neurosis, Voivod, Revocation, and many, many more have called the label home at one point or another.

So, imagine my excitement when I heard that, in celebrating their 25th anniversary, Relapse has posted a 184-song sampler to their bandcamp page and it is a 100% FREE download. Yeah, you read that right — 184 tracks for free!

Wayne Static, the former guitar player singer of the industrial/nu metal band Static X passed away Saturday, November 1st at the age of 48, according to his publicist. No cause of death has been stated at this time, but several of Static’s friends and associates are indicating that drugs were a factor.

Watch the official video for Static X’s song “Push It” from their 1999 debut album Wisconsin Death Trip.

Right now, the upcoming reissue of Death‘s album Leprosy is streaming online for free.

Listen to the entire album here below! You can also listen to one of the live tracks that will be available only on the Digital Deluxe version, and watch a video of the unboxing of the deluxe set.

The Leprosy reissue from Relapse Records will be released in the United States on April 29, 2014 on Deluxe 2-CD set, Vinyl, as well as digital MP3. You can pre-order it now.

Deluxe 2-CD edition contains 50 minutes of previously unheard and unreleased Leprosy demos and rehearsal material housed in an embossed o-card package with a 24-page booklet featuring unseen pictures of the band as well as brand new liner notes from Ian Christe (Sirius/XM) and Jeremy Wagner (Broken Hope).

If you’re a death metal fan, then chances are you know Florida’s Massacre and their 1991 debut album From Beyond. Although the band itself has been mostly absent from the scene since the mid-1990s with its members involved in other projects, Massacre is poised to make a triumphant return with their new album, Back from Beyond, which will be released in the United States by Century Media on April 1, 2014.

Our metal brethren over at Century Media, knowing that we here at Geeks of Doom are true metal people, have asked us to exclusively premiere the video for the title track in advance of the album’s release. Check out the video here below of Massacre’s “Back From Beyond”!

Author Clive Barker, whose books launched the Hellraiser and Candyman film franchises, is also an accomplished artist. His artwork has accompanied several of his books, like Thief Of Always and the Abarat series.

Today, Barker posted a photo of a painting he did called “Death of the Endless” based on the character Death from Neil Gaiman‘s popular comic book series, The Sandman. A black and white version of this painting was the frontispiece for the 1996 short-story anthology novel, The Sandman: Book of Dreams.

Check out the full-color version of the painting here below.

J. Scott Campbell is one of my favorite artists who’s worked on one of my favorite comic books, Danger Girl. But, my favorite comic book series of all time (which you have heard and will continue to hear me say) is Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman.

One of the characters introduced in The Sandman is Death, sister to the Sandman himself, Morpheus. Campbell recently tweeted to Gaiman a link to his DeviantArt page of his rendition of Death, and it’s a real beauty. Check it out here above.

Actress Elizabeth Taylor was one of the most respected and most recognized names to grace the Silver Screen. Lately she’s been in the news often as her rapidly declining health became apparent to the public eye, and early Wednesday morning the iconic actress passed away at the age of 79. Taylor’s cause of death was congestive heart failure, which she was first diagnosed with in 2004, and she was surrounded by her family at the time of her passing.

She started out young in the business, nabbing her first role at ten years of age in 1942’s There’s One Born Every Minute, and made her first big wave in 1944’s National Velvet. She went on to appearances in Little Women (1949), Father of the Bride (1950), Giant (1956), and her first three Oscar nominations in Raintree County (1957), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959).

By Jedi of Doom

Comic book fans will be surprised this October with the release of Action Comics #894.

The issue will have a guest appearance by the character Death from Neil Gaiman‘s beloved Vertigo comic book series Sandman.

According to DC Comics, Action Comics writer Paul Cornell thought of the idea himself to bring Death into the issue and then got approval by Gaiman, who he said has been supportive of bringing Death and Lex Luthor face to face. This big move is part of a huge story arc for Action Comics where Lex Luthor will not only go against people he is used to, but other characters he has never met before.

DC had very limited information about the storyline, but they did reassure that way they use Death “will be true to the spirit of what has gone before.”

There’s been talk of a Sandman movie for over a decade, and that’s about how long a big-screen adaptation of the popular Neil Gaiman comic book series has been in development hell.

More recently, Kick-Ass director Matthew Vaughn expressed interest several times in adapting the Vertigo Comics series, which had a 75-issue run from 1989 through 1996.

Now, Vaughn said he thinks Sandman would be better off an an HBO series than as a theatrical film.

Vaughn said he spoke to Gaiman about the prospect of doing a Sandman series, but didn’t mention what the author’s reaction was to his idea.

The director already brought one of Gaiman’s creations to the big screen with 2007’s Stardust, which he co-wrote and directed.