Phil Taylor, better known as Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor, former drummer for heavy metal icons Motorhead, died on Wednesday, November 11, 2015. He was 61.

Word of Taylor’s passing comes from his former Motorhead bandmate “Fast” Eddie Clarke, who posted the news today to his official Facebook page, noting that his friend “had been ill for sometime.” There was no mention of the cause of death.

The British-born Taylor was drummer for the popular Motorhead line-up that consisted of Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister on bass and vocals, and Clarke on guitar, and appeared on the band’s most classic albums, Overkill (1979), Bomber (1979), Ace of Spades (1980), and Iron Fist (1982). He was with the group from 1975 till 1984, when he left, but then he returned in 1987 for the album Rock and Roll before leaving again in 1992.

Gothic black metal pioneers Cradle of Filth has just announced that they will be bringing their “Inquisitional Torture” tour to the shores of North America for a 2016 tour swing. Support acts Butcher Babies and Ne Obliviscaris will be along for the ride as well. Be sure to get your tickets early, as they’re sure to go quickly. You can catch the show at the following dates and locations listed down below.

Dani Filth and company are on tour in support of their 2015 album Hammer of the Witches, which fans and critics alike have hailed as the band’s best effort in many years.

Our Black Metal Friday track for this week reaches all the way back to 2001. From the EP Bitter Suites to Succubi, here is the official video for “Scorched Earth Erotica.”

This week’s edition of Black Metal Friday features blackened death metal gods Belphegor. Hailing from Salzburg, Austria, and taking the name of one of the seven princes of Hell, these guys have been spreading their blistering blasphemy since 1991. I’m very ecstatic to say that I will be catching the band live this weekend, along with over 60 other metal bands, at Slipknot’s Knotfest festival. And if that wasn’t enough to make me absolutely giddy, the band has also just released a live rehearsal video of themselves performing a brand new track entitled, “Totenkult – Exegesis Of Deterioration.” I assume this killer new song will be part of an upcoming full-length release. Keep your eyes fixed right here at GoD for any news regarding that and for full coverage of the Knotfest weekend.

Belpegor’s most recent studio album, Conjuring The Dead, was released in 2014 via Nuclear Blast Records, and reached number 13 on the Billboard U.S. Heatseekers chart.

There is a movement afoot that is known as the new wave of old school death metal. It’s the stripping away of all of the super technical elements that have dominated the death metal genre in recent years in favor of the more straight forward elements that defined the early days of the genre. At the very forefront of this movement is an East coast power trio known as Horrendous.

Don’t let the name fool you though; these guys are anything but horrendous! In fact, I recently got my mitts on a copy of the band’s upcoming third full-length album, Anareta (due October 30th on Dark Descent Records), and I’m so blown away that I couldn’t wait to share a bit of it with you guys!

So without further ado, here is the sixth track from Anareta. It’s called “Sum of All Failures” and it is my Massive Metal Monday track for the week. Go get this record when it comes out… you WON’T be sorry.

Sloths are mammals known for moving at a very slow pace. Therefore, it is only fitting that the new one-man stoner/doom/sludge metal project of English musician Blake Caverly should share the same moniker. Even more appropriate is the title of Sloth‘s debut record, Slow As Shit.

This crushingly heavy project could be compared to the likes of genre giants Pallbearer, Bongripper, and Boris; it shares the same sort of down tuned, down tempo aesthetics that mark those iconic band’s sounds. But, lest you think that Sloth is just knocking off that which has come before, you should know that there is also a heaping helping of prog rock leanings afoot here as well. The album is largely instrumental but does feature guest vocals from Mikey ‘Churchburner’ Gascoyne of Valravn on the excellent track “Nothing But Leaves.”