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!

Sad news out of Savannah, GA, as Jonathan Athon, bassist/singer for sludge metal band Black Tusk passed away yesterday, November 9, 2014. He was 32.

Athon was involved in a traffic accident Friday night when his motorcycle collided with an SUV. Athon was then put into a medically induced coma, but he had suffered irreparable brain damage and was then taken off life support.

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.

Actress Marilyn Burns, best known to horror fans as the heroine of the original 1974 horror classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, has been found dead at her home in Houston, TX, according to TMZ. She was 65 years old.

The cause of death has yet to be determined, but it has been reported that Burns was found by a family member.

One of the original scream queens, Burns’ gutsy performance as Sally Hardesty in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of the film’s unsung virtues. The actress managed to convey genuine terror in its most harrowing scenes (though the squalid, brutal filming conditions probably played a big hand in that) and her lungs got the kind of workout that few horror heroines could match at their best moments. Chainsaw‘s shocking impact and box office success failed to catapult Burns to film stardom, but she still find roles regularly throughout the four decades that followed.

Sad news to report this morning: Multiple sources are reporting that legendary Texas blues guitarist Johnny Winter passed away yesterday in Zurich, Switzerland. The news was broken by Jenda Derringer, wife of former Winter band mate Rick Derringer, via her Facebook account.

Winter was born John Dawson Winter III in Beaumont, Texas on February 23, 1944. Both he and his brother Edgar Winter, who would also go on to rock-stardom, suffered from albinism. Winter started playing guitar at a very young age and was recording by the time he was 15. In December of 1968, the guitarist gained widespread fame after friend Mike Bloomfield invited him to jam onstage at the Fillmore East. Johnny brought down the house and, as a result, Columbia Records signed him to what was at the time the largest advance ever paid to an artist ($600,000).