Demarco Pretenders Vivian Green BG The Twilight Saga Brian McKnight Hatebreed DJ Khaled DJ Kayslay

A dangerous new machine has come to life. Combine one of metal's hungriest young singers, Jon Howard from Threat Signal, with gold-selling Fear Factory architects, guitarist/bassist Christian Olde Wolbers and drummer Raymond Herrera, and you get ARKAEA, a new band that's volatile, violent and vicious. On cuts like the bludgeoning "My Redemption" and "Awakening," mechanized thrash riffs and pummeling percussion forge a musical foundation for all-out metallic brutality. Wolbers' guitars snake through a haze of feedback, while Herrera engages in drum warfare. The grooves hit hard with a piercing precision, and the vocals remain infectious, as each song proves a battle-cry for these musicians. "Gone Too Far" builds with a polyrhythmic, math metal strike, while "Blackened Sky" is a thrashy icepick of a track. Ultimately, this is more than a new machine; it's a metal revolution. Howard describes ARKAEA's familiar, yet innovative sound: "Chris and Ray have been writing together for many years, so the music does have a lot of Fear Factory elements. However, we've been open to trying different things. It basically fuses what I have been doing vocally in Threat Signal with driving Fear Factory rhythms, along with some of our own experimentation. The idea behind the project is to be heavy, but maintain melody at the same time. We have crazy riffs, but some grooving choruses as well. It's a great mix." Tracks like "Break the Silence" will no doubt captivate metal fans everywhere, with hard-hitting guitars and huge arena-y choruses.

One of the pioneers of Southern rap, 8Ball - MJG emerged from Memphis, TN, in the early '90s and, aligned with the Houston, TX-based independent label Suave Records, quickly garnered a tremendous regional following while proving highly influential to a generation of aspiring, independent-minded rap artists and entrepreneurs. The pioneering duo enjoyed increasing recognition as the years passed, releasing a couple albums, namely Comin' Out Hard (1994) and In Our Lifetime, Vol. 1 (1999), that would become Southern rap milestones, along with classic singles like "Space Age Pimpin'."

Aaron LaCrate, of Milkcrate Athletics & Milkcrate Records fame, was born and bred on the streets of Baltimore, and this upbringing continues at the core of every creative endeavor he undertakes today. Starting at the young age of 10, LaCrate grew up djing parties in Baltimore clubs, lofts, and back yards, and has been running wild writing on walls and t-shirts, producing records, and documenting the Baltimore streets with his photographs. Since the days of his youth, Aaron LaCrate has been consistently original and has grown into a talented entrepreneur, garnering world-wide recognition for his trademark brand and sound, as well as his cultural influence on music and fashion, where his projects often masterfully blend the lines ofboth. From touring the world with Gutter Music, remixing artists as diverse as Madonna, Souljah Boy, and Young Mc to holding down the turntables as the official DJ alongside pals Mark Ronson, Dizzee Rascal, Lily Allen and Rakim; to Aaron's collaborations with Vans, Paris style emporium colette, Ed Banger Records + Justice + So-Me, and designing custom cashmere for Lucien Pellat-finet, Aaron LaCrate has constantly set trends and raised the bar for everything he touches, and especially Dj culture. To his credit, very few are able to cross genres and design mediums as seamlessly as Aaron LaCrate cuts a record or drops a new classic Milkcrate Athletics collection. Milkcrate Records' now classic B-more Gutter Music mix cd introduced Baltimore Club music to the world gaining critical acclaim and major media attention from Mtv, NME, Much Music, BBC, i-D, Dazed and Confused, New York Times, Village Voice, HHC, Fader, Urb, The Observer, The Standard, Uncut, GQ, making Gutter Music the future sound of Baltimore, and a permanent fixture on the music scene.