The photo you're looking at right now shows a handful of New Jersey high schoolers hanging out with the members of Anti-Flag backstage at Philadelphia's Trocadero on Feb. 3. The band answered the plea of Rebecka Kelly (the brunette on the right with her arm around drummer Chris Head) to dedicate a few songs during the show to one of their biggest fans, Rob Tallon, who had recently passed away at the age of 17 in a tragic car accident.

The politicized punk rockers in Anti-Flag are known for their scathing condemnations of government policy, anti-war rhetoric and spiky street punk roots, but don't let that fool you. Even the most hard-edged class warriors soften up sometimes, as this long-running band of bruisers proved during their Philadelphia show.

To celebrate the release of their new album 'Ironbound,' New Jersey thrash metal titans Overkill present the album's first video 'Bring Me the Night.'

The performance video was shot in Brooklyn, N.Y. on Jan. 9, and directed by Kevin Custer (Hatebreed, Testament). The clip features closeups of hands sawing at guitars, pedals slamming bass drums, wide-mouthed vocal screams and splashes from spotlights that pan across vocalist Bobby 'Blitz' Ellsworth, bassist D.D. Verni, guitarists Dave Linsk and Derek 'The Skull' Tailer and drummer Ron Lipnicki.

"The song is about misleading people who aren't telling the truth about our society," Born of Osiris guitarist Lee McKinney tells Noisecreep of 'Now Arise.' The song is off the 2009 release 'A Higher Place.'

"After watching documentaries like 'The Esoteric Agenda' and 'Kymatica,' these lyrics were put together displaying [vocalist Ronnie Canizaro's] personal thoughts and opinions on such heavy topics," he said.

It's a monster track, filled with epic moments -- Claudio Sanchez's imposing noodling and former Dillinger Escape Plan percussionist Chris Pennie's punishing drum work. It's 'The Broken,' and last night at midnight, prog rockers Coheed and Cambria debuted the first song from their forthcoming album on their Web site.

'The Broken' is the first single off of 'Year of the Black Rainbow,' Coheed and Cambria's fifth album and the prequel to 'The Amory Wars' storyline. Recording of the effort began last summer and finished in November. The album will be out April 13.

With Jan. 26 being heavy on metal releases, fans responsed by picking up nearly 9,000 copies of Alesana's 'The Emptiness,' which was enough to propel the album to secondd on the hard rock sales charts for the week. Living Sacrifice's 'The Infinite Order' also shifted nearly 3,000 units its first week on shelves, while newbies Taking Dawn sold nearly 1,400 copies of their debut, too.

Annotations of an Autopsy, 'II: Reign of Darkness' (Nuclear Blast America): These Brits have chosen an apt name. 'II: Reign of Darkness' is as visceral and 'br00tal' as a corpse on a coroner's table. This is 100 percent trend-free death-grind, sans any 'core.' No singing, no melodic vocals. Just all death metal, all Cookie Monster vox, all blast beats, all super fast riffs, all of the time. 'In Snakes I Bathe' and 'Born Dead' are my recommendations.

During a recent conversation with Down bassist Rex Brown -- also known for his time with the legendary Pantera -- Noisecreep asked what he thought about the tragedy in Haiti, and how the government's handling of the situation has differed from the actions in the aftermath of Katrina.

The Texas native may not have grown up in the shadow of the Big Easy, but his brothers and bandmates down New Orleans way were hit hard -- and are still healing from the blow that crippled their city. It's not entirely accurate or fair to compare the events that befell New Orleans with the fresh wounds of Port-Au-Prince, but as Brown drew parallels between the two, it became clear that he has come to see the U.S. government in a very negative light, indeed.

One of the first shows A Storm of Light played after forming a couple of years back was in Brooklyn, N.Y., opening for San Franciscan post-metal giants Neurosis and a then less-well-known Georgia band called Mastodon. "That was kind of intimidating," singer and guitarist Josh Graham told Noisecreep. It wasn't so much that he was playing on the same bill as two lauded peers -- one of which, Neurosis, employs him to do live visuals. He just wasn't confident in his singing abilities. "It was the first show I had done in any band where I was singing since I was like 20."

Graham admitted he doesn't think he's a natural singer, saying "No, I'm not, but I'm getting better with every record, and all the touring we're doing is helping me be a better singer. I'm actually thinking of taking some lessons pretty soon."