The Bad Penny (beta)

Mastodon are kings of the mountain right now. If their clip for “Divinations” were a trailer for some “Thing”-like gritty Arctic-meets-outer-space sci-fi flick, I’d have already bought my ticket. That the bandmembers stepped into their acting shoes for the video is fitting, as everybody in the group has a “voice” – all the guys are contributing vocals. …

While that video might be reason alone to pray for “Headbangers Ball” to survive, the reality is late March’s two-hour episode had at best a half-dozen worthy videos (including Mastodon’s “Divinations,” Lamb of God‘s “Set to Fail,” Cannibal Corpse‘s “Evisceration Plague,” Exodus‘ “Riot Act” and Cattle Decapitation‘s “Regret & the Grave”).

So let’s do the math: That adds up to about 20 minutes of good viewing time over the course of two hours. The rest of the time is devoted to giving life support to bad informercials and bands like Hed P.E. (vanity spellings deliberately omitted ’cause they suck) and Dope and Lizzy Borden and …