A frankly Dir, Duff announcement...

See what I did there? Duff McKagan's Loaded and Dir En Grey have confirmed Download, dumbass.

It's been a relatively quiet week on the music announcement front - Five Finger Death Punch and Dir En Grey are a pretty exciting addition to an already arse-stretchingly awesome Download 2009. 5FDP (as the cool kids call them) have a pretty solid metalcore sound but there's some groove in there and I'm interested to find out more. Dir En Grey are a bit of an oddity. Hailing from Japan, these guys have been retardtastically classed as anywhere between Rammstein, HIM, Slipknot, Pantera, just about every fuckin' band in the world. I personally think they're a mix of STEPS and Mortician. Jokes. Essentially, there's a dark atmosphere surrounding their tunes that stinks of Nine Inch Nails but being sung completely in Japanese, the ambiance is a touch more intense. Plus, the fact that lead singer Kyo is clearly a few wanks short of a teenage boy's weekend alone helps - his penchant for fish hooking his mouth until the blood runs down his face and scratching his chest and face bloody and raw during the set has caused many to take note. Style over substance? Wait and see, my pretty monkeys.

A welcome addition is Lawnmower Deth; spasticated death metal from Nottinghamshire at it's finest. Their cover of "Kids In America" is now legendary, and with band members that include Qualcast "Koffee Perkulator" Mutilator on vocals and Explodin' Dr Jaggers Flymo behind the skins, you can kinda tell it's going to be a shitbox giggle.

Coming soon; I'm going to see Flight 666 and you're probably not, plus Sisters Of Mercy with bro dude.

Stay tuned.