One of the UK’s biggest metal festivals will be taking place between 13-15 June at Donington Park near Derby. Download has been running for the last 11 years – it took over from the annual Monsters of Rock event – and this year there will be more than 100 bands playing across five stages with more acts being announced in the run-up to the big weekender.

The latest X-Men movie will be hitting the big screen on 22 May. X-Men: Days Of Future Past takes characters from the original action trilogy and weaves them into a time-travelling story with a star-studded cast that includes Hugh Jackman, Jennifer Lawrence, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. The new film revisits the past when the mutant superheroes join forces with their younger selves to save their species from the threat of extinction.

When we heard that monsters were loose in Rome, we despatched our most experienced monster-hunter, in the intrepid shape of Gavin Baddeley, to investigate post haste. He returned with the following report…

Have you ever been dared to do something by your friends? Have you ever done it just to show them that you are brave? Were you scared when you did it? Were you proud of yourself afterwards? Whatever you may think, daring to do something does not always make you brave. In fact it might be one of the stupidest things you’ve ever done. And I have the a story to prove that to you.

Even after his mysterious death in 1849, the poet and author Edgar Allan Poe remained controversial. Not just for the twisted tone of his chilling tales of terror, or the dark melancholy that haunted his romantic verse, but also for the turbulent life that informed them. During his lifetime, and just after his death, the many enemies Edgar provoked with his waspish tongue, responded by condemning him as a deviant and drunk, even a lunatic and drug addict. In the subsequent century, respected literary critics continued the cacophony of calumny, loftily dismissing his work as immature, clumsy, or even simply irrelevant.

The Crow was one of the biggest cult movies of the 1990s. Starring Brandon Lee and based on James O’Barr’s graphic novel series of the same name, it inspired late 20th century gothic fashions and introduced a new generation to some great tunes thanks to its alternative soundtrack. And now, it’s one of the latest films to get a modern reboot.

I have avoided the answering the dreaded WIG question for some time, mainly because in truth there is no one answer and certainly none anyone will agree on. Like religion and politics this question has dominated countless chats and discussion boards to the point where Godwin’s Law is the only resolution.

Strigoi? Yes, I spelled that right. It’s a Romanian word. What is a strigoi? Well, you could say it’s a zombie/ghost like creature that…actually I’m not here to explain the term to you, get the freakin’ Google search for that. I’m here to tell you a true story.

Have you ever thought about becoming an Alchemy dealer? Whether you currently run a shop or webstore, or you are simply thinking of an extra or alternative income stream, Alchemy’s vast range of products and global popularity could be just what you are looking for!

Alchemy’s old friends, the Italian Gothic Metal legends Lacuna Coil have been revealing a little more about their much-anticipated, forthcoming album. Entitled Broken Crown Halo, it’s scheduled for an April release, and a concept album. In conversation with TeamRock Radio, they explained that the record was heavily influenced by the classic, vintage horror films being made in their homeland decades back. Particularly gory cult 70s masterpieces such as Deep Red and Suspiria, directed by Italy’s maestro of the macabre, Dario Argento.

Rob Zombie is perhaps the only performer to successfully master both shock rock and the kindred parallel universe of horror cinema. But while he’s enjoyed fair commercial success in Hollywood, Zombie took a lot of fan flack while in the director’s chair – both for being too gratuitously brutal in films like The Devil’s Rejects, and for being too corporate by agreeing to helm two Halloween remakes. In the wake of the very mixed response to his most recent horror movie – last year’s bold and bizarre Lords of Salem – Rob very publicly announced he was done with directing horror for the foreseeable future. Until now…

One of this year’s big fantasy-adventure movies has been inspired by well-known gothic novel. ‘I, Frankenstein’ is written by actor and comic book writer Kevin Grevioux – it’s based on his graphic novel, which was inspired by Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’. Fans of the vampire movie Underworld might remember Grevioux playing the werewolf Raze – he also came up with the concept behind the film and co-wrote the original screenplay.

The exciting new Spring collection from Alchemy is soon to be launched at the upcoming LondonEdge trade show, staged at London Olympia from Sunday 2nd – Tuesday 4th February, it really is an event not to be missed for all in the industry.

Did you make any new year’s resolutions? According to a survey, losing weight, saving money and giving up bad habits are among the most popular promises we make to ourselves but studies suggest that many of us will abandon our good intentions before the end of January.

With the number of skulls, bats and fangs we incorporate into our designs, it should come as no surprise that a number of us are keen horror fiends here at Alchemy. Veteran fans of the brand with good memories might even remember that we had a dedicated horror range many years back.