“Pretty,” affirms Deftones singer and guitarist Chino Moreno when discussing their new full-length studio album, Diamond Eyes. “We’re not afraid to be pretty.” It’s an adjective most riff-heavy groups might avoid, but then, Deftones have never been your average hard rock band.

As kids, the Sacramento fivesome cut its teeth on Anthrax and The Smiths, Pantera and The Cure, skateboarding and “The Smurfs.” As a band out of high school, Deftones mixed trip hop with thrash, melodic vocals with crushing reverb, and yes, pretty with ugly. As chart-toppers and headliners, they’ve crossed over genres, defied categorization and confused the hell out of your iPod (“Heavy Metal?” “Hard Rock?” “Alternative?”) Above all, Deftones have stuck together throughout their often-turbulent tenure, and now, deliver one of the most compelling records of their career.

Thirty Seconds To Mars Postpone Handful Of U.S. Tour Dates:

August 31, 2010- A handful of US dates along the Thirty Seconds To Mars ‘Into The Wild Tour’ will be deferred until early next year due to scheduling conflicts. All tickets for the postponed 2010 dates will be valid at the rescheduled 2011 dates to be announced shortly.

The band notes “Our fans are the most important thing to us but unfortunately due to scheduling conflicts we will have to re-schedule a few dates, be assured that we’ll be back as soon as we possibly can!”

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Thirty Seconds to Mars’ newest album title – This Is War – is more than a just a reference to the band’s personal battles, a commentary on global crises and economic turmoil and homage to their now infamous $30,000,000 lawsuit with Virgin Records. This Is War also represents the result of an 18-month creative battle, fought ferociously, but privately, inside a studio built into the side of a house tucked away in the Hollywood Hills. The result: a triumphant, sonically epic game-changer that builds on the vision laid out in their 2002 self-titled debut and 2005’s multi-platinum A Beautiful Lie.

This Is War is a major leap forward for Thirty Seconds to Mars, one that cements the trio (lead singer and guitarist Jared Leto, drummer Shannon Leto and guitarist Tomo Milicevic) as a world-class arena-crushing rock band. The L.A. Times calls This Is War “combative…sinister…the most confident-sounding thing the band has done.” Alternative Press echoes the sentiment, giving it four stars and hailing the album as “an artistic triumph for Thirty Seconds To Mars” and Kerrang! Magazine agrees, calling it the band’s “strongest and most accomplished work to date.”

Powered by the machine gun attack of his motor-mouth, Dirtball injects the group with a new found firepower that takes the group’s sound into uncharted territories. Previously a solo artist who recorded for Suburban Noize Records, Dirtball’s ability to snap off raps with jaw dropping results has forced critics to think twice about the capabilities of white rappers. PopMatters Magazine proclaimed Dirtball’s “rapid-fire rhymes and an ear for catchy choruses distinguish the rapper’s style, which at times sounds something like a sharper-edged Big Boi.”

Insane Clown Posse is a cartoonish metal/rap band with a vaunted live show that features open fires, chain saws, liters of soda dousing the audience (Faygo being the group's favorite brand), and more emphasis on performance art than the performance of music. In the world of the late '90s, that was more than enough to get them a recording contract with a major label, though the release of their 1997 album The Great Milenko came with a bit of controversy. Now just a duo, ICP was originally formed in 1989 as a hardcore Detroit rap group called Inner City Posse. After combusting in 1991, the only members left, Violent J (born Joseph Bruce) and Shaggy 2 Dope (born Joseph Utsler), slightly altered the name to reflect the fact that they had been visited by the Carnival Spirit, which ordered them to carry word of the impending apocalypse by touring the nation and releasing six "Joker Cards" (popularly known as LPs) with successive revelations of the final judgment. The first, Carnival of Carnage, appeared in 1992 on their own Psychopathic Records label. The group became notorious in Detroit's underground scene, but several tours around the region failed to ignite much more than the rage of area leaders.

Never Shout Never is a one-man band featuring Christofer Drew, a Missouri native whose songs straddle the border between emo and acoustic singer/songwriter fare. A product of the digital age,

Drew originally built a fan base by posting his bright, soul-baring music to the Internet. After averaging over 15,000 online plays a day, he made Never Shout Never legitimate in 2008 by releasing his first recording, the Yippee EP. The Hot Topic clothing chain featured Yippee in its stores, and an appearance on MTV's TRL helped promote it. Several months later, Drew entered the recording studio with veteran producer Butch Walker to record a full album, What Is Love?, which cracked the Top 40 upon its release in early 2010.