This week, Sanford, Florida police officer Andrew Ricks was fired from the department for hopping onstage in uniform and singing along with the death metal band Vital Remains as they performed their song “Let the Killing Begin.” Hey, at least it wasn’t Vital Remains’ other big hit, “Born to Rape the World.”

On Wednesday, the Japanese heavy metal/teen-pop hybrid band Babymetal played a nearly sold-out show at New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom. I didn't go, and after watching a few of their videos this morning, I'm really, really regretting it.

As I Lay Dying is super hardcore Christian. Sure, they never came out and said "Jesus" or "God" in their songs, but they talked a lot about being Christian rockers and got themselves a following. Who knew that it was all a ploy by godless capitalist screamo dudes just to sell records?

"Fenriz, the drummer of Norway's Darkthrone, a group known for sounding like they are recording in a garage with one microphone, says bands that overuse computers are 'losers.'" The Wall Street Journal takes a look at metal's BPM arms race.

Metallica, three music businessmen and one headbanging scab, just announced they will do something no men who shop at Armani and "accidentally" kick children have done before: They will have a sugarless, low-calorie soda beverage send them to perform on the icy, cool, refreshing land of Antarctica.

The ludicrous petition to have gore-metal cretins GWAR perform at the 2015 Super Bowl Halftime Show now has 44,000-plus signatures. Only worth endorsing if the MVP is fake-murdered on a giant wheel of knives.

As part of our ongoing project to catalog the 2012 presidential election from a metal point of view, we've been soliciting presidential endorsements from noteworthy American metal musicians. Today: Chrome Waves.

As part of our ongoing project to catalog the 2012 presidential election from a metal point of view, we've been soliciting presidential endorsements from noteworthy American metal musicians. Today: Magrudergrund.

As part of our ongoing project to catalog the 2012 presidential election from a metal point of view, we've been soliciting presidential endorsements from noteworthy American metal musicians. Today: Cormorant.

As part of our ongoing project to catalog the 2012 presidential election from a metal point of view, we've been soliciting presidential endorsements from noteworthy American metal musicians. Today: UZALA.

As part of our ongoing project to catalog the 2012 presidential election from a metal point of view, we've been soliciting presidential endorsements from noteworthy American metal musicians. Today: In Defence.

As part of our ongoing project to catalog the 2012 presidential election from a metal point of view, we've been soliciting presidential endorsements from noteworthy American metal musicians. Today: Vattnet Viskar.

As part of our ongoing project to catalog the 2012 presidential election from a metal point of view, we've been soliciting presidential endorsements from noteworthy American metal musicians. Today: Sutekh Hexen.

As part of our ongoing project to catalog the 2012 presidential election from a metal point of view, we've been soliciting presidential endorsements from noteworthy American metal musicians. Today: Exhumed.

As part of our ongoing project to catalog the 2012 presidential election from a metal point of view, we've been soliciting presidential endorsements from noteworthy American metal musicians. Today: Omen.

As part of our ongoing project to catalog the 2012 presidential election from a metal point of view, we've been soliciting presidential endorsements from noteworthy American metal musicians. Today: Agalloch.

As part of our ongoing project to catalog the 2012 presidential election from a metal point of view, we've been soliciting presidential endorsements from noteworthy American metal musicians. Today: GWAR.

As part of our ongoing project to catalog the 2012 presidential election from a metal point of view, we've been soliciting presidential endorsements from noteworthy American metal musicians. Today: Testament's Alex Skolnick and Lamb of God's Randy Blythe.

With the coming of Diddy's Labor Day White Party, the ancient druidic event that marks the end of the summer season, so too comes another ancient tradition: The Fall Music Preview. What delightful sounds can we expect to be emanating from stereos over the next few months?

The local tourism board of Britain's Suffolk County, in seeking to attract visitors, asked residents to vote for the county's greatest icon. The plan backfired when the singer of the metal band Cradle of Filth won by a landslide.