Weekend time. Let’s do this.

• Leading off with some sad news from Manilla Road: founder Mark “The Shark” Shelton passed away unexpectedly at age 60. No further details are available, but…this really sucks. A GoFundMe has been set up to help cover the associated expenses, and we encourage you to donate if you can.
• Next up, Crowhurst has signed with Prophecy Productions. They (he?) will also be playing Prophecy Fest in Brooklyn this November. So, good stuff if you’re into Crowhurst.
• Not sure if y’all heard, but Pestilence — or more to the point, mastermind Patrick Mameli — has had himself a bad coupl’a days on the internets. As a result of his, erm…activities…the band’s North American tour has been cancelled. It’s unclear whether this will affect their participation at next year’s assorted Deathfests, but at least he has those Dexter Holland-Offspring dreads going for him? (/kills self)
• This one’s from Sunday, but seeing as this is the first Canto post of the week…Bloodbath has apparently finished recording their next album. Want more information? Well, you’re S.O.L. That’s literally all they’ve told us.
• Interesting little Metallica tidbit here: in Spotify’s latest earnings call, CEO Daniel Ek revealed that the band uses listener data to tailor its live setlists on a city-by-city basis. That’s…honestly, just a really neat and forward-thinking thing! Good on ’em. Unfortunately, there’s probably about a thousand basement chuds who are gonna protest it BECAUSE VIOLATION OF ARR FREEDOMS or something.
• And finally, let’s close it out with a couple of cool humans doing a cool thing. Psalm Zero‘s Charlie Looker arranged a cover of Pyrrhon‘s “Empty Tenement Spirit” for a 17-piece orchestra, and then Pyrrhon frontman Doug Moore sang along during the live performance.  Check it out:

Goddamn, that was one of the neatest things I’ve seen in quite a while. Anyway, that’ll do it for now. Have a good weekend — especially if you’re at Migration Fest — and check back soon for more updates!

Keep it heavy,
Dan