Check out some live photos from the October 11 Tokyo show:

Get a rare glimpse into SLIPKNOT's backstage ritual as they transform into metal maniacs in a video clip (see below) at Roadrunner Records' YouTube channel. The teaser clip is part of a feature showing on Music Choice's "Rocktober," a month-long programming and marketing campaign dedicated to rock's hottest established and emerging artists.

The "Rocktober" video programming on Music Choice features SLIPKNOT on "BIG!", the music network's new original series featuring the life and work of artists who are the "Best In the Game."

Check out this "Disasterpiece" video from San Bernardino, CA (Rockstar Mayhem Tour):

UK-based author Joel McIver's twelfth book, "The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists", will be published globally in January 2009 by Jawbone Press, the world's leading publisher of guitar titles. Featuring a foreword by Glen Benton of DEICIDE, the book takes the reader in reverse order from No. 100 to No. 1, the greatest metal guitarist of all time. McIver — a regular contributor to the UK's Total Guitar magazine, the biggest guitar mag in Europe — based his selection on the technical ability and historical significance of each player and adds that all generations of metal are covered in the book, with the oldest guitarist aged 61 and the youngest a mere 26.

McIver told BLABBERMOUTH.NET, "The idea for this book came to me a couple of years ago after I read a list of the supposed 100 best metal guitarists of all time in a popular guitar magazine that should really know better. The list contained all these non-metal guitarists like Neil Young and Kurt Cobain, so I thought, 'Fuck this!' and wrote my own list, which became an 80,000-word book. The 100 guys I've included are pure metal: there's no-one taken from the hard rock world, so as much as I respect Randy Rhoads, Angus Young, Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteen, Ritchie Blackmore and the rest of the rock shredders, they'll have to wait for another book. 'The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists' features musicians from heavy metal, thrash metal, death metal, black metal, power metal, doom metal and grindcore bands and that's it!"

He added: "I'll post a few of the entries to my website before too long, but to make things a bit more interesting, let's see if anybody can correctly predict my Top 5 players. The first 10 people who email me with the correct five guys will get a free signed copy."

The shot of McIver with Kerry King of SLAYER and Mick Thomson of SLIPKNOT, both of whom feature in the book:

Kerry King (Slayer) // Joel McIver // Mick Thomson (Slipknot)

The Loud Park 08 festival, which is scheduled to take place October 18-19 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama City, Japan, is officially sold out.

The festival billing is as follows:

Saturday, October 18:

SLIPKNOT
DOWN
AVENGED SEVENFOLD
CARCASS
SONATA ARCTICA
DRAGONFORCE
MESHUGGAH
OBITUARY
APOCALYPTICA
AIRBOURNE
SECRET&WHISPER
HEAD PHONES PRESIDENT

Sunday, October 19:

MÖTLEY CRÜE
BUCKCHERRY
BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE
MACHINE HEAD
DUFF MCKAGAN'S LOADED
BLACK TIDE
ALL ENDS
BLACK STONE CHERRY

A teaser for SLIPKNOT's "Dead Memories" video can be viewed below. The clip was helmed by director P.R. Brown, who has previously worked with MÖTLEY CRÜE, MARILYN MANSON, CHIMAIRA and AVENGED SEVENFOLD, among others. The full video will be unveiled on October 25.

The cover artwork for SLIPKNOT's new single, "Dead Memories" (due in the UK on December 1), can be viewed below:

Here's the set list from the first show in Japan:

01. Intro
02. Surfacing
03. The Blister Exists
04. Get This
05. Before I Forget
06. Pluse Of The Maggots
07. Disasterpiece
08. Dead Memories
09. Psychosocial
10. The Heretic Anthem
11. Prosthetics
12. Spit It Out
13. Duality
14. Only One
15. People=Shit
16. (sic)