[Classic_Rock_Forever] Hard Rock and Heavy Metal news

 

"Band of Joy", the new album from Robert Plant and BAND OF JOY — a new version of his pre-LED ZEPPELIN group which also featured the late John Bonham — sold 49,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 5 on The Billboard 200 chart.

Plant's first release since recording the six-time Grammy-winning bluegrass album "Raising Sand" with collaborator Alison Krauss in 2007, the "Band of Joy" CD enlists the help of an array of U.S. musicians, all of whom are performing with Plant on tour.

Plant previewed the album at a low-key gig in New York earlier in the summer, and amongst the 12 tracks are covers of a rare TOWNES VAN ZANDT track "Harm's Swift Way", as well as two tracks — "Silver Rider" and "Monkey" — from indie band LOW, both from their 2005 album "The Great Destroyer".

Plant says on his web site of "Band of Joy" that "It's been a blast working on these new songs ... and I'm enjoying such creativity and vitality. It's been a remarkable change of direction for all of us and as a group we all seem to have developed a new groove."

The new lineup of BAND OF JOY includes: Patty Griffin on vocals; Darrell Scott on multiple instruments and vocals; Byron House on bass and vocals; Marco Giovino on drums, percussion and vocals; and co-producer Buddy Miller on guitar and vocals.

"Band of Joy" track listing:

01. Angel Dance
02. House Of Cards
03. Central Two-O-Nine
04. Silver Rider
05. You Can't Buy My Love
06. Falling In Love Again
07. The Only Sound That Matters
08. Monkey
09. Cindy, I'll Marry You Someday
10. Harm's Swift Way
11. Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down
12. Even This Shall Pass Away
According to Billboard.com, "Band of Joy", the new album from Robert Plant and BAND OF JOY — a new version of his pre-LED ZEPPELIN group which also featured the late John Bonham — landed at position No. 5 on Billboard's European Albums chart. The CD sold 35,000 copies in the U.K. to debut at No. 3, and the set is in at No. 3 in Norway, No. 6 in Flanders, No. 8 in Ireland and up 22-10 in Wallony.

"Band of Joy" sold 49,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 5 on The Billboard 200 chart.

Plant's first release since recording the six-time Grammy-winning bluegrass album "Raising Sand" with collaborator Alison Krauss in 2007, the "Band of Joy" CD enlists the help of an array of U.S. musicians, all of whom are performing with Plant on tour.

Plant previewed the album at a low-key gig in New York earlier in the summer, and amongst the 12 tracks are covers of a rare TOWNES VAN ZANDT track "Harm's Swift Way", as well as two tracks — "Silver Rider" and "Monkey" — from indie band LOW, both from their 2005 album "The Great Destroyer".

Plant says on his web site of "Band of Joy" that "It's been a blast working on these new songs ... and I'm enjoying such creativity and vitality. It's been a remarkable change of direction for all of us and as a group we all seem to have developed a new groove."

The new lineup of BAND OF JOY includes: Patty Griffin on vocals; Darrell Scott on multiple instruments and vocals; Byron House on bass and vocals; Marco Giovino on drums, percussion and vocals; and co-producer Buddy Miller on guitar and vocals.

"Band of Joy" track listing:

01. Angel Dance
02. House Of Cards
03. Central Two-O-Nine
04. Silver Rider
05. You Can't Buy My Love
06. Falling In Love Again
07. The Only Sound That Matters
08. Monkey
09. Cindy, I'll Marry You Someday
10. Harm's Swift Way
11. Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down
12. Even This Shall Pass Away
The name Bonham has been synonymous with powerful heavy rock drumming for over four decades. Ever since John Bonham burst onto the scene when Led Zeppelin exploded with the release of their debut album in early 1969, the mold was cast. That of an explosive thunderous drummer who when needed, sounded like cannons being fired, yet still was capable of subtlety and grace when the occasion called for it.

It was that power which helped propel the British rock legends to massive fame and fortune,and into legend in the 1970's. That amazing talent led to him being generally recognized as one of, if not the best heavy rock drummer in history decades after his tragic passing at the age of 32 in 1980.

Born in 1966, the world at large got its first glimpse of a young Jason Bonham with the release of the Led Zeppelin film 'The Song Remains The Same' in 1976. Appearing alongside his father, drumming on a scaled-down kit, it was a foreshadowing of things to come.

By age 17 he joined his first band Airrace, and in 1985, he joined Virginia Wolf, recording two albums and touring the U.S. supporting The Firm. In 1988 the Bonham legacy came calling twice, as first he joined guitarist Jimmy Page for his 'Outrider' album and tour, then in May he took over the drum spot as the remaining three members of Led Zeppelin reunited for the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary concert in New York City.

The next year saw him forming his next band Bonham, whose Zeppelin-inflected debut release 'The Disregard of Timekeeping' spawned the hit single "Wait For You", its attendant video being a mainstay on MTV during the period. Despite such success however, the band's next album 'Mad Hatter', released in 1992, failed to meet expectations, leading to their disbanding shortly thereafter.

The 90's also saw him hook up with legendary British blues rock belter Paul Rodgers, drumming on all tracks of the Grammy nominated 'Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters', leading to an appearance at 1994's Woodstock II with Rodgers and guitarist Slash. Two other solo projects transpired, 1997's 'In The Name Of My Father -The Zepset' and 'While You See The Sun', both of which having connections to his late father. The first featuring the songs of Led Zeppelin, the latter seeing Bonham once again appearing alongside his dad via sampling on several tracks.

In 1999 Bonham joined Indianapolis based blues rockers Healing Sixes, recording the Kevin Shirley (Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Joe Bonamassa) produced 'Enormosound' which was released to critical acclaim in 2002. Leaving the band in 2003, he soon found himself invited to join English hard rock legends UFO. During his tenure with the band they released a studio album 'You Are Here' and a live DVD 'Showtime', both of which were very well received. During this time, from 2004 to 2007 and part of 2007 to 2008 he also found himself playing live as part of a reconfigured Foreigner.

In December 2007 his profile was heightened immensely when he once again filled in for his father at the historic Led Zeppelin reunion show at London's O2. Demonstrating that he is the only rightful heir to the drummer's stool, if and when that band might choose to reunite again, it was an affirmation of his ability to rise to the occasion and do justice to his father's legacy.

Recently we had the wonderful opportunity to catch up with Jason to discuss the powerful new album he has recorded with vocalist Glenn Hughes, blues guitar god Joe Bonamassa and keyboardist Derek Sherinian, collectively known as Black Country Communion. In a band filled with masters of their craft, his drumming on the record stands out as a robust example of classic British rock power, and is a performance which would surely make his dad proud.
The British rock group's concert on Oct. 7 at The Joint inside the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Catoosa, Okla., near Tulsa, will be its last U.S. date on its 2010 reunion tour, and the show could be the band's swan song to American fans, said lead singer and co-founder Paul Rodgers.

"After this Tulsa show, there will be no further plans for Bad Company beyond dates in Japan," said the 60-year-old Rodgers during a recent telephone interview. "I'm working on new solo material in the studio, and I've got a solo U.K. tour planned later, so I'm just seeing how it goes."
Although he's scribbling lyrics and cutting demos for new solo material, Rodgers said he's giving 150 percent at Bad Company concerts, which feature fellow original members Mick Ralphs (guitar) and Simon Kirke (drums).
"Mick and I formed the band at the end of 1973 and into 1974, and what I like with these guys is the simplicity of what we do," Rodgers said of Bad Company's straightforward arrangements. "Mick is a very unique guitar player with a simple approach, but it's very musical. His guitar solo structures are perfect for me."
Bad Company also features bassist Lynn Sorensen and former Heart guitarist Howard Leese; both are subbing for Bad Company's original bassist, Boz Burrell, who lost his battle with cancer in 2006 while living in Spain.
"With Lynn and Howard from my solo band with us, the chemistry is very exciting," Rodgers said. "The band sounds very hot-to-trot, so to speak."
Rodgers said there's no doubt that Burrell, if alive, would still be in the band. Bad Company frequently dedicates Burrell's "Gone Gone Gone" to its late co-founder.
"Absolutely, yes, Boz would be involved in this," Rodgers said.
In the 1970s, Bad Company scored FM gold with songs like "Feel Like Makin' Love," "Bad Company," "Shooting Star," "Can't Get Enough," "Run with the Pack," "Good Lovin' Gone Bad," "Rock Steady," "Rock 'N Roll Fantasy," "Movin' On" and "Burnin' Sky," as well as a successful cover of Ralphs' "Ready for Love" from his Mott the Hoople days.
Despite Bad Company's success, Rodgers left the band in 1982 to work as a solo artist and with Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page in The Firm. Bad Company carried on without Rodgers until a reunion in 1998 saw all four original members recording and touring together. Those shows were the last time the original lineup performed together, although Rodgers and Kirke played under the Bad Company banner with bassist Jaz Lochrie and guitarist Dave "Bucket" Colwell in 2002.
When asked what instigated Rodgers' reunion with Kirke and Ralphs in 2008, Rodgers laughed.
"I just called Mick and asked, `What are you up to?'" he said. "We put the band together to play the Hard Rock (in Hollywood, Fla.), and they said we should record it to DVD. We did, and it was so nice to be back together. It was fresh - we will have another DVD from our show at Wembley Arena coming out as well - so we decided to expand to more dates."
Bad Company's less-is-more view on playing hit home during a recent conversation between Rodgers and Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford.
"Brad said, `I love the simplicity of your band,'" Rodgers said. "Aerosmith is a different kettle of fish - Aerosmith is a brilliant band - but we have simple chord structures so there's plenty of space and room to maneuver between the changes."
Rodgers, who has sung with Queen in recent years, admitted he was asked by Aerosmith's Joe Perry to replace Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler during the recent Perry-Tyler feud.
"I love Joe Perry; he's a great guitar player up there with the Jimmy Pages and Jeff Becks of the world," Rodgers said. "And I love Steven, too. He's a fantastic frontman, and stepping into that slot would be a difficult scenario.
"Those five guys together is just fantastic," he added.
Rodgers also sounded open to working with Fleetwood Mac's rhythm section, drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie.
"We had a jam session in Maui, and there were all kinds of musical possibilities," Rodgers said.
Most likely, Ralphs and Kirke won't continue Bad Company without Rodgers, according to the singer.
"We aren't saying never - we never want to say never," Rodgers said. "We aren't putting Bad Company to bed, as they say, but the band definitely is something that will be placed onto the back burner."
In Concert
Bad Company
When: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 7
Where: The Joint inside the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, 777 W. Cherokee St. in Catoosa, Okla., near Tulsa
The band features original members Paul Rodgers, Mick Ralphs and Simon Kirke. Tickets are $60 and can be purchased by calling (918) 384-7625 and at tickets.hardrockcasinotulsa.com. Those attending must be 21 or older.
For information, visit www.badcompany.com and www.paulrodgers.com.
Jamie Woods froze with shock as rock gods Metallica dedicated a track, Broken, Beat and Scarred, to him in front of thousands on Tuesday night.
"I was hurled off the ground because a couple of people recognised me. I was the only one up in the air.
"James [Hetfield, the lead singer of Metallica] pulled the horns at me. I had a big grin staring up at the stage."
The Blenheim man was one of many hard-working fans who campaigned to bring Metallica to Christchurch, although his contribution was more substantial than most. He organised a petition which was distributed around the South Island in May, and gathered 11,285 signatures in one day.
His hard work appeared to be all for nothing when he missed out on getting tickets when they went on sale on July 15. But in the end he was given tickets and the chance to meet Metallica by Q Prime, the company that manages the American super group.
Mr Woods, who is recovering from drug and alcohol addiction, said meeting his heroes had been a life-changing experience.
He said lead singer James Hetfield was also in recovery and it was humbling to meet someone so famous with a similar story. The concert was undoubtedly the best he would ever go to and their CDs didn't do justice to their live performance, Mr Woods said.
"The liveliness, the way they are on stage – it's something I've never seen before and something I've never heard."
He paid tribute to all the other fans who worked to bring the group to Christchurch. Metallica performed a second concert at the CBS Canterbury Arena last night.

Guitarist/vocalist Dave Mustaine is a heavy metal icon. Revered as the bulwark behind thrash metal progenitors Megadeth and its indelible impact on the world of music, the past 30 years of Mustaine's life have been an onslaught of music's most appealingly depraved aspects: sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. From a heavy hand in establishing the formative ― and some would argue best ― roster/songs of fellow luminaries Metallica through creating his own definitive albums, stepping into elongated war of words with other bold personalities and a debaucherous personal lifestyle that would give members of infamous party outfit Mötley Crüe some serious heebie-jeebies, Mustaine has been around a block or two.

When one amasses Mustaine's list of accomplishments, embarrassments, feuds, fornication, addictions and amazing albums, it's one hell of a tale. Such is exactly the point behind his latest endeavour: putting pen to paper in an effort to recount the good, bad and ugly. The resulting affair dubbed Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir (It Books) is an engaging, honest and occasionally surprising look at three decades in the platinized spotlight. Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir documents every aspect of Mustaine's life with sincerity and realism, severity and sarcasm. Discussing the motivation behind an autobiographical tome, Mustaine further enlightens Exclaim! on the realities of committing one's life to the written word, the state of modern music, media's responsibility in propelling the infamous Megadeth/Metallica feud and his own future post-novel.

What inspired writing your memoirs at this point?
Just having an interesting life, I guess.

How heavy of an undertaking is it to hunker down as a prose writer when you're revered as a musician first and foremost?
To go from writing music to books is different. It's a lot easier to get away with saying, "baby, baby" in a song than it is putting together an eloquent paragraph. It's very difficult, so there was lot of painstaking editing once the whole story was down so that everything was accurate first off, and read right second. There were a lot of other things legally we had to look at because there were a lot of people in my life that, if I tell the story, they're going to jail.

Or getting pissed off?
It's not about getting pissed off. They're going to jail. Nowadays when you tell a story... say there was a dude I had an encounter with [but] we don't know each other anymore. I [relate] the story and all of a sudden, someone goes sniffing into that person's life. It's an invasion of privacy so there's that and there's the fact that there are ambulance chasers everywhere. We live in a very litigious system in America. It's terrible and it's even worse in the UK. That's why the UK book is even different from the American book. It's the same but just a little bit different as to how things are worded.

Just wanting to talk about your own life, you end up opening all these cans of worms. You really had to be careful to dot each i and cross every t, huh?
Yeah. It's very bizarre ― for lack of a better word ― trying to figure out how to tell a story two different ways and keep it the same story. When you see somebody who's an attorney working somebody in the witness chair, they need to ask the right questions to get the right information out. That's basically what happened. We had to word it in a way that the information got out but still told the same story. Legally, the same thing being said one way is totally malicious another way. That's something I had to learn.

I can appreciate that. Misquoting can breed some pretty nasty feedback.
More journalists should be more responsible for what they do. Going back to writing's lowest common denominator, they would give scribes information to document or hypothecate about fantasy and stuff like that. There really never was somebody who just disseminated filth and lies when real journalism was at is most romantic. Now, you can go anywhere and read anything that's just as disgusting and offensive as you can possibly imagine but people get away with saying it. When you go into character assassination with people, well, I was just over in Europe with Lars [Ulrich, Metallica], Kerry [King, Slayer] and Scott [Ian, Anthrax] doing a roundtable at the Big Four [concerts]. Lars said, "It's your guys' fault this feud keeps going on because there's the relationship we have and the relationship you guys think we have and tell everybody we have... but we don't have." We haven't fought for years, haven't argued for years and have been friends since we first met. You can be friends with people and still have disagreements or arguments. I think the exclamation point behind the sentence, "There is no fucking feud!" came from when we played the Big Four dates overseas.

So it was journalists feeding the sensationalism of the Megadeth/Metallica war?
Yes but it's ok. I'm forgiving. I can forgive and it's cool but it's time for it to stop. It's been resolved for a long time.

Getting back to the book, you were very honest even when it shone a bad light on yourself. How was that experience?
Telling the truth is hard for anybody. The only uncomfortable thing about this was putting the stuff in there that made me look bad, but I had to in order for it to be the truth. I could have written a book that was all about, "Oh, I love me. I'm so beautiful and wonderful," but that wouldn't be true. I don't think I'm that great and the beauty of the book is that I am fallible. Who would laugh at comedy if it didn't have people making mistakes? The root of comedy is people doing stupid stuff. Some people laugh at different stuff though. I remember reading the book and at the part where the girl is tossed into the grass and all the vodka bottles are pitched around her head. I laughed at that 'cause I remember the day. She was so wasted and we had to leave so we drove her to her apartment and hoofed her on the lawn. She was like a lawn troll out there.

Ah, funny shit is funny shit.
Yeah, you can't be too hard on yourself.

You've always been a straight shooter, though. It's kind of expected that your book should be the same way.
That's a good thing. If I had to do some sort of tell-all book, I don't know if I'd have enjoyed it versus what it is. I remember going to England way back in the '80s, I was just talking the way I normally do about what I was doing. People were losing their minds because you weren't supposed to say that kind of stuff in this polite, proper colonial area. There are some teensy similarities between Canada and England that someone from the States picks up on. I was like, "What do you mean you don't say this stuff?" If you're talking about who you really are... but they wanted mystique and hiding things from everyone. I'd just say, "Fuck this, fuck that, I like this, I don't like that." It rocked their world. Nowadays it's hard to get a good interview out of someone, 'cause the stuff they talk about, what does it matter? What does it mean? I was just talking to a friend about how much things have changed from when we started to now. A band starting these days is basically giving an album away for free. When we made records, they were records. The good thing about downloading and the music company getting this terrible thing happening, it's basically going back to like in the '50s. A band puts out a single and tours; Elvis would put out a single and tour for two weeks. In a very homogenized way, it's almost gone back to music in its purest form. I feel good for some new bands but there are no new ones that really rock my world. I remember hearing ― and I was new on the scene when it came out ― Guns 'N' Roses' Appetite For Destruction record. I thought, "Wow, this is gonna be really big." When's the last time you heard a record and thought that? A long time ago, huh?

Yep. I always think young bands have to treat their new albums like business cards: Throw 'em around to get people interested.
Exactly. It's a calling card.

Like you say though, that rudimentary state of selling people on a single is the new way. Then they can make a collection out of the singles.
"Record collection?" Not anymore.

Again, back to the book: What did you learn from the process of writing a memoir before you're 50?
It was really cathartic. When you're putting your life down into a book, you wonder what you're gonna leave behind you. I want to leave a legacy of achievement but one that says you can overcome anything. I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I had to work my ass off to get what I have and I love what I have. I'm very grateful for it and I don't take it lightly. My friends are a part of my family. It's funny being an elder statesman of the scene. Things seem to be coming full-circle and people are interested in what I'm doing and how I do it but not in the, "God, did you hear what he said?" way. That gets so old and people don't even tell the stories properly. I went to elementary school. I know the telephone game when you tell somebody something and it goes around until it gets back to you and it's nothing like what you said. When Shawn [Drover, drummer] joined the band, I was pretty much going out as myself with a support group to do this last record and then go on into a solo career. But Megadeth was me going solo from Metallica. If I went solo from Megadeth, what would it sound like? Would it be heavier? More melodic? Megadeth is about as heavy as I can get. If I did something solo, it would probably a cross between Killing Is My Business... to Risk, 'cause that's how I write. I'd have to see. It's funny about music these days because people detune their guitars so much, you can't tell there's a melody with the riff. It's just super-detuned, affected stuff. You hear a rhythm but there's not a melody there. Basically, you could have 30 or 40 metal bands playing the same song. Withhold the lyrics and nobody knows what it is. The songs have no melody anymore, is what I'm saying.

Yep. Carcass has more melody than a lot of current bands.
You know who I saw the other day in Finland? Cannibal Corpse. I was really blown away with how heavy those guys were. They were really great. I never thought I'd like a death metal band 'cause I thought the singing was... it's still not my style but the music that band had was so intense, man. I really enjoyed watching that.

What do you think your own future spells at this point?
I don't know how much longer my career's gonna be. I've got the same thing going on as Tom [Araya, Slayer] and a couple of other people in the metal scene to a different extent. We have the same injury. So, looking at how much longer my career's gonna be, is it gonna be one more record? Well at least one 'cause I owe that to Roadrunner. After that, I'm gonna be 50. Do I wanna keep doing this? I don't know. I've got some great opportunities with management and so on. I've always thought that if I'm not playing in a band, I'd like to stay in the music industry somehow. That's why I created Gigantour, which we'll do next year. Otherwise though, would I be an attorney? Ah, I don't know. I'm not really good at being a liar. Being a manager? That seems like fun. Having a label? I talked to Lars about that when we were overseas and he said he hated it. I listened and thought there's some wisdom there so I scratched it off my bucket list.

Will you need to amend the book then since it ended and there are already some changes in your/the Megadeth saga?
With the way the book ended, it didn't have [original bassist] Dave Ellefson coming back or the Big Four thing and many other things. When the paperback comes out, I hope to add some stuff in the end. At this point now, I love who we are and it's amazing to be still playing music almost 30 years after I started. It's an accomplishment and looking back, there are some things I'd change. I honestly never wanted to hurt anyone's feelings but it happened and that's probably the only thing I'd change: some of the pain I caused other people. As far as the pain I caused myself, I wouldn't change it. It's all part of making me who I am. I certainly would have spent more time with loved ones. With Gar [Samuelson, original Megadeth drummer] passing away, I miss him. I wish I'd have spent more time with him. Sometimes you take things for granted. That's probably the only thing I regret: not spending more time with people we know and love that have passed away, especially with so many people passing in the past few years. So, I'm hanging onto my life and really enjoying being who I am. I don't see anything stopping me right now.

EXCLUSIVE: Rob Zombie has committed to make The Lords of Salem his next directorial outing. The film has been put together by Haunted Films, the company run by the Paranormal Activity team of Jason Blum, Steven Schneider and Oren Peli. The pic is a co-production between Haunted Films and Alliance Films, marking their third film together. The first, the James Wan-directed haunted house thriller Insidious, was acquired by Sony Pictures Worldwide right after its midnight premiere at the Toronto Film Festival last week. Barry Levinson is currently shooting the second, The Bay, in South Carolina. Octane, the genre arm of IM Global, will handle international sales of Salem.
The thriller is set in contemporary Salem, where the inhabitants receive a demonic visit from a 300-year old coven of witches. Zombie will write the script while on his upcoming concert tour circuit, and will shoot next year. Zombie tells me he originally hatched the Salem premise several years ago, but started stirring the cauldron again when he changed his plan to direct a remake of The Blob. He made the deal with Haunted Films because he liked the autonomy. "What excited me most was Jason saying, you can have total control over the script, casting and final cut," Zombie told me. "I said I'm in."
Zombie came to filmmaking after a long career in music, where the sounds in his head went right onto the album. Movies are more collaborative, and draining. "I've had differing levels of control, with the best experience being Lionsgate on The Devil's Rejects, when I made the movie and they said, `great.' The two Halloween movies were more give and take, and I had enough bloody battles to get my way that by the time I got it, I didn't care anymore."
He has always kept his budgets down, but his indulgence will be making a movie that's allowed to unfold. "It's so hard to make a patient movie, and if a classic like The Shining was being made now, you know some studio executive would say to cut 70 minutes out of it," Zombie said. "People who've seen the director's cut of Halloween on DVD like it better, and these theatrical releases are being cut to little more than the length of a TV show." Zombie estimates he lost 15 minutes of his picture during its theatrical run.
Zombie changed his plans to bring back The Blob because after directing two movies inspired by the 1978 John Carpenter fright classic Halloween, he couldn't bear playing the comparison game again.
"I wanted to break away from anything related to preexisting material," he said. "The remake train is getting pretty tired now and when I made Halloween, everybody complained, either that it was too much like the original or too different. I like that people either love or hate what I do because it's better than being in the middle, which means forgettable. But when you do an original premise, they take it on face value and after three years of not being able to win on Halloween, I just couldn't go through that again."
Zombie and his producing partner Andy Gould will produce with the Haunted Movies trio, and Brian-Kavanaugh-Jones, who left CAA to head up Automatik for IM Global's Stuart Ford, will be executive producer.
The headbanging legends in Slayer have had a rollercoaster of a 2010. Hell, one doesn't even headbang anymore. After releasing World Painted Blood last year, the band had planned an epic tour this year, which they sidelined due to vocalist-bassist Tom Araya needing surgery for chronic back pain. The frontman was back onstage by mid-summer—even if he wasn't headbanging—and, with that, the group began hitting high after high.

First, it rekindled its relationship with fellow thrashers Megadeth—guitarist Kerry King has credited Revolver's "Book of Slayer" as the impetus—and toured with the group in the U.S. Then, Slayer joined Megadeth, Anthrax, and Metallica for a string of European festivals showcasing the Big Four of Thrash. (All of the bands played a rendition of Diamond Head and Metallica staple "Am I Evil?" in Sofia, Bulgaria, for a live broadcast, but drummer Dave Lombardo was the only Slayer member to participate. Warner Bros. is releasing a DVD of the shows on November 2.) They then headlined the massive Wacken Fest in front of 10s of thousands of metalheads, and now they're heading back out with Megadeth and Anthrax on the Jägermeister Musictour, which kicks off today.

If that wasn't enough career highs, next year marks the 30th anniversary of Slayer. In celebration, the band is putting out a couple of retrospective box sets this year: the Slayer Live DVD 3-Pack, out now, contains 1995's Live Intrusion, 2003's War at the Warfield, and 2004's Still Reigning, and the band's label, American Recordings, is reissuing all of the band's albums from Reign in Blood through World Painted Blood on high-quality vinyl as the box set The Vinyl Conflict. Revolver recently caught up with King, who spends his spare time (when he has spare time) raising snakes in Los Angeles, to look back on what's made Slayer so great.

REVOLVER What has the highlight of the year been for you so far?
KERRY KING Probably the Big Four shows, because going in, I didn't think it was as special as it ended up being. I thought it was gonna be really cool for the fans and kind of cool for me, but I had the time of my life. It was fun. Being a part of it made me realize how important that tour was.

Why didn't you play in the Big Four jam on "Am I Evil" at the end?
There's a damn good reason. It isn't too long an explanation. [Dave] Mustaine came to me that day and James [Hetfield] came to me that day saying, "Hey, it would be really cool if you played." I knew Jeff [Hanneman, Slayer guitarist] wouldn't do it, and I knew Tom wouldn't do it. And I also knew after we played that neither one of them would edit our video that was going to cinemas in a couple hours, so I told James and Mustaine both, "Listen, man. I've gotta edit our video before I can even think about playing with you guys." So the entire time of the set change between Slayer and Metallica, I was editing that video. I came running to the tuning room after I got done picking the songs, and they were already onstage.

And to make it an even better story, I found out at 1 a.m. the night prior, so I really had no chance to work on that stuff or anything. So I wanted to; it just couldn't happen. I've got a lot of flack for that but yeah, that's the story.

Next year is Slayer's 30th anniversary. What do you consider Slayer's biggest accomplishment to be?
Ha. Staying together for 30 years. [Laughs] That seems to be the thing that at the end of most bands: people think one's better than the other. Or, I can't get along with this guy today so fuck him, I'm leaving. At the end of the day, we've got this gig doing what we do and if I don't like somebody one day, hey, the next day, it's all new.

What is it about you four people, who have played together since high school, that keeps it going?
I think when you get older, realizing the fact that you don't have to be best friends. You don't have to hang out all the time. Usually we get home, and we scatter like cockroaches, and that's my best advice to anybody. [Laughs] Just going home and being you.

What do you consider to be your greatest accomplishment outside of Slayer?
Keeping Slayer together for 30 years. [Laughs] Fuck, I don't know. That's been my life since I was a teenager, so there's not a whole lot going on. I've got a pretty decent reputation in the snake world. So I would say, just last season I produced the third of [one breed's] kind in the world.

What specific kind?
It's a morph of a jungle carpet python. It's called a super zebra. I still have the only one outside of Germany. So there's this one, and now the guy in Germany has produced two or three more. So I think there's six or seven [in the world]. But this is still the only one on this continent. So that's kind of an accomplishment.

They started out with what a jungle carpet python looks like, the zebra is a morph, and you've gotta breed a zebra to another to get what is called a super zebra. In the wild, that never would have happened. The odds of it happening are very slim.

What are you going to do with it?
Since that's the only one here, I could sell it for a ton of money. But I'm gonna keep it and grow it up and breed it with some other stuff.

Going back to Slayer. Since we're talking about your history, what was your first taste of success?
Maybe the first time somebody asked for an autograph. When you're not expecting it, that hits you off the wall.

And now you've probably signed millions.
Oh, I was out for two and a half hours running errands today and I signed a couple, took some pictures. [Laughs]

What's been your favorite rumor about Slayer over the years?
The beauty and fucking horror of the internet is information right away. If people see you doing anything, they just assume that's what you do. I've seen some site where people say what kind of car I have. Somebody might have seen me borrow somebody's truck and that's what they think I own. [Laughs] It's funny how people see something and they just put it on like it's the gospel. It's amazing. The internet's a great thing and it's also a fucking cancer.

What about the pre-internet era?
How do I put it? We're Nazi, fascist, satanist, and I'm sure there's a couple lines I'm forgetting.

Obviously you guys have debunked that over the years.
Oh, absolutely. But once people get an idea in their head, the hardest thing is talking them out of that idea.

Was playing "Angel of Death" ever a problem in Germany?
I don't think so. Maybe in the early days there might have been a little… I can't even remember, that's why I'm not commenting on it. People over there like the song because it's a cool song. For the longest time in the early days, they were more concerned with the "S" in Slayer, because it looked like a Nazi S. A couple times over there, we altered it a little bit in the beginning. It's morphed over the years to different ways we write it anyway. There's still the original one, but then there was that scratchy one that was less Nazi. That's not why we did it; we just thought it looked cool for that particular album. I think that was on the God Hates Us All album. The scratchy logo.

Well, was the original "S" in Slayer based on the SS?
I don't think so. I can't even remember who came up with it. I think it was our manager friend at the time. I don't even know if it was him and Lombardo working on it or how that came together. We ended up on that and I can't remember how.

I was looking at some early video and pictures of Slayer. You used to wear those big nail gauntlets. Did you ever have any problems with those?
Very early. It wasn't even an accident. When I used to have a cable, instead of being wireless, I got pulled into the crowd, when we used to get too close to the crowd anyway. I kind of went down—I didn't go down, I kind of landed on a knee. And I still had my guitar on, and I just kind of swung my arm to get people away from me, and they scattered like ants. [Laughs] I wasn't looking to hurt anybody, I just wanted to make sure I didn't get hurt.

Why did you want to reissue three of Slayer's DVDs recently?
I don't know. I don't understand that at all. [Laughs] I don't work with the record company. The one I was talking about for years and years and years was Live Intrusion. I couldn't understand why that wasn't a DVD. Me suggesting that seven, eight years ago, whenever that was, it morphed into all three in one pack. I'm sure it's just record-company positioning, saying, "Here, get all three at once, and here's this cool pack."

Did you rewatch any of them?
No, they came out since I've been on tour. I wanna see Live Intrusion, because I haven't seen it in years.

What were some of the moments over the years where you felt you were doing something special?
Probably the first time we played what was Download, what was Donnington [in the U.K.]. I think the first time we played it, it still was Donnington. Being a kid, growing up with the European mags, you just have an idea of what it might be. You have no idea what it really was, because nothing here is anything like it. So I think we did that in '94. I think Metallica was on the show, too. But it was our first time. I think it was [drummer Paul] Bostaph's second or third performance, of all things, and it was just awesome. We performed really well. It was one of those ones you just look back and say, "Man, I'm glad that was a good one."

The Big Four thing, that was really cool, like we touched on. The downpoint, probably this year, was waiting for Tom to get done with his surgery, because we had six, seven months off. We're usually used to touring. And I had this great idea of writing half a record during those six, seven months, but it just turned into a party. There was no guitar to be played.

How is Tom doing now?
Tom's good. He's not headbanging, but he's doing his gig really awesome and sounds great, so that's all you can ask of him.

You've mentioned the Big Four a few times, what is your relationship with Metallica like these days?
It's better than it's ever been. Not that we had any beefs with each other. Oddly enough we just completely ran in different circles. I went into this tour not really thinking Metallica were my friends. I've known Trujillo since Suicidal, and I speak to Lars off and on, historically, but leaving this tour I feel like they're all my friends. I feel bad I didn't get to play "Am I Evil?" but I had a good time. When time allowed, I would go into Lars' World—you know, the little section right behind where he plays—and me and Dave would be back there watching the show. I got to see it there three nights out of the six or seven, and it was just fun.

Have you talked about the possibility of doing it in the U.S.?
Every chance I get. [Laughs]

Were Metallica originally supposed to be on the upcoming shows with Megadeth and Anthrax?
When Anthrax got brought up for the second leg, I'm like, "I'm into it." I said, "I just don't want it to have any adverse effects on the Big Four coming here." I was assured it wouldn't, so we'll see how that goes.

You're playing Seasons in the Abyss on the Jägermeister tour, and last time you did that tour, you played Reign in Blood. Why won't you be playing South of Heaven in your classic album tours?
Well, that's definitely my least favorite of the three. One of those songs on there, "Cleanse the Soul," I hate that fuckin' song. There's a Priest song on there ["Dissident Agressor"], which I love, but I don't think that condones redoing a record, because you have a cover, for one, and a song that I, for one, hate and I think Hanneman hates as well. I think that was one that just slipped through the fuckin' sifter. Like, whoops, shouldn't have recorded that one. [Laughs]

What is your favorite Slayer record looking back?
Historically Reign in Blood, without a doubt. And I think the new one is the most complete since the late '80s. I like everything we've done this decade, definitely, but I think each one has gotten a little better.

Speaking of, you also have that vinyl box set coming out. How involved in that were you?
More so. We had some artwork to pick from. They had some stupid name for it in the beginning, like—this may not be it but it was equally as dumb—The Vinyl Collection: American Recordings, or something retarded like that. I'm like, "Man, this ain't the fuckin' Eagles. We've gotta have something cool." They kept busting my balls on tour, and I said, "Give me a second. Let me hang out at the bar one night and think about it and I'll come up with something great." And that's what happened. Two days later, I wrote back, The Vinyl Conflict, and everybody loved it. Definitely gives it a Slayer vibe, you know?

Obviously "vinyl" is a play on "final." Do you see an end in sight for Slayer?
I don't know. Not for myself. I feel great. I wouldn't know what else to do. There's four people involved, so everybody's got their own opinion about what the future holds. I don't wanna give false information and say, "Hey, we're gonna play 'til we're 50 years in the business." [Laughs] But I'm gonna be around for a while, regardless of what I do. And if you ever speak to the other dudes, maybe find out. [Laughs]

The 20th-anniversary reissue of PANTERA's classic "Cowboys From Hell" album sold around 4,200 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 117 on The Billboard 200 chart.

PANTERA found its growl and groove on "Cowboys From Hell", a landmark album whose bone-powdering intensity, razor-sharp riffing and pummeling rhythmic assault represented a turning point in modern metal when it was released in 1990. More than just PANTERA's major label debut, many consider this album to be the official debut of the PANTERA lineup with singer Philip Anselmo, guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, his brother, drummer Vinnie Paul and bassist Rex Brown.

To celebrate the 20-year anniversary of "Cowboys From Hell", Rhino rounds up a three-disc "Ultimate Edition," a three-disc "Deluxe Edition," and a two-disc "Expanded Edition." All three editions include a newly remastered version of the original album along with unreleased and rare live performances from the "Cowboys From Hell" tour. The "Ultimate" and "Deluxe" editions also feature a disc of unreleased demos for nearly every album track, plus, "The Will To Survive", a previously unreleased song recorded during the album's sessions.

"'The Will To Survive' is a great track. With so many killer songs, it was hard to pick and choose the ones that should make our major label debut," says Vinnie Paul. "After hearing it for the first time in about 20 years, it's a pretty stellar performance and I am definitely proud that it will see the light of day for all the die-hard PANTERA fans around the world! It shows the true musical diversity of the band at that time!"

The "Deluxe" and "Expanded" editions of "Cowboys From Hell" were released September 14 at all retail outlets, including www.pantera.com and www.rhino.com . The "Deluxe Edition" is available for a suggested list price of $29.98 (physical) and $17.99 (digital) and the "Expanded Edition" for $19.98 (physical) and $12.99 (digital).

The "Ultimate Edition" will feature all three discs included in the "Deluxe Edition" and will be housed in an intricate box including several replica memorabilia pieces from the "Cowboys" era. The "Ultimate Edition" will be available on November 23 and final pre-order details, as well as the contents, will be unveiled soon on PANTERA's Facebook page.

Along with the remastered version of "Cowboys From Hell", all three sets include a disc of live music recorded during the tour for the album. It begins with seven unreleased performances from PANTERA's September 15, 1990 appearance at the Foundations Forum metal convention in California, a show recorded for radio broadcast but never released commercially. The remainder of the disc contains the five-song EP "Alive And Hostile", a collection of performances recorded in 1991 at the Monsters of Rock festival in Moscow that was previously available only in Australia as part of a 1994 boxed set.

The "Ultimate" and "Deluxe" editions of "Cowboys From Hell" include a third disc that contains the previously unreleased "The Will To Survive", along with demos for 10 of the album's 12 songs, including early versions of the title track "Psycho Holiday", "The Art Of Shredding" and "Cemetery Gates".

After being turned down "twenty-eight times by every major label on the face of the earth," ATCO Records A&R rep Mark Ross saw the band when Hurricane Hugo stranded him in Texas. The rest, as they say, is history, including another seven years and over a million miles of touring for "Cowboys" to be certified platinum (one million album sales) by the RIAA.

The album's liner notes include essays by each of the band's surviving members, producer Terry Date, and the aforementioned Ross. Recalling the first time he saw PANTERA, Ross writes, "By the end of the first song, my jaw was on the floor. The sonic power of it all — the attitude and the musicianship — blew me away. Basically, you had to be an idiot to not think they're amazing. I mean, how could you see these guys and not think, Holy shit!?"

"Cowboys From Hell" 20th-anniversary reissue track listing:

Disc One - Ultimate, Deluxe, and Expanded Editions

01. Cowboys From Hell
02. Primal Concrete Sledge
03. Psycho Holiday
04. Heresy
05. Cemetery Gates
06. Domination
07. Shattered
08. Clash With Reality
09. Medicine Man
10. Message In Blood
11. The Sleep
12. The Art Of Shredding

Disc Two - Ultimate, Deluxe, and Expanded Editions

01. Domination (live) *
02. Psycho Holiday (live) *
03. The Art Of Shredding (live) *
04. Cowboys From Hell (live) *
05. Cemetery Gates (live) *
06. Primal Concrete Sledge (live) *
07. Heresy (live) *
08. Domination (live, "Alive And Hostile" EP) †
09. Primal Concrete Sledge (live, "Alive And Hostile" EP) †
10. Cowboys From Hell (live, "Alive And Hostile" EP) †
11. Heresy (live, "Alive And Hostile" EP) †
12. Psycho Holiday (live, "Alive And Hostile" EP) †

Disc Three - Ultimate and Deluxe Editions Only

01. The Will To Survive *
02. Shattered (demo) *
03. Cowboys From Hell (demo) *
04. Heresy (demo) *
05. Cemetery Gates (demo) *
06. Psycho Holiday (demo) *
07. Medicine Man (demo) *
08. Message In Blood (demo) *
09. Domination (demo) *
10. The Sleep (demo) *
11. The Art Of Shredding (demo) *

* Previously unreleased
† Unreleased in the U.S.

Greg Olma of 69 Faces Of Rock recently conducted an interview with Gil Moore, drummer for Canadian hard rock legends TRIUMPH. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

69 Faces Of Rock: Why did decide to put out a "Greatest Hits Remixed" CD now?

Gil Moore: Well, we've been listening to the fans make suggestions and kind of push us to come up with some new material, or any kind of material. "Just give us something from TRIUMPH" for quite a while. We set about to do this a number of years ago. We really wanted to do a package record companies would never release. You've seen all the ones that come in a brown paper bag; kind of the cheapest of everything. No extra features and so on. We went the opposite route. We tried to add bonus features galore or content galore. The audio CD, we remixed the entire CD; we didn't just remaster it. The DVD, we wide-screened all the videos so they look great on HD. We just did a lot of extra work on it. It took us a long time but we just wanted to say thanks to the best fans in the world, our fans, who stuck with us all these years and that's what it's all about.

69 Faces Of Rock: Is there still anything you want to achieve with TRIUMPH? I know you did the reunion shows but is there still anything going forward that you want to do with TRIUMPH?

Gil Moore: Really, Greg, all I wanted to do was get my friend back. Last night we were doing a whole bunch of press for this record and we were hanging together and every time we're together, we have a great time. That's how the band started. It started with three guys that were having a great time. We really enjoy each other's company. We had "Rockline" last night and it's had to stay serious because [we] just start going off on tangents. It's a lot of fun. That's really the glue that holds TRIUMPH together; the humor. We had our "Spinal Tap" moments from the day we started, like in the rehearsal stage before we played one show. We just kept it going and other than one brief period at the end when the record label was getting kind of intrusive; trying to direct us too much; that was the only time they succeeded in making the band miserable. So, really, the objective was just to get back with Rik, reunite, play a couple of big shows, and give people a chance in Europe and over here to come out. We're really grateful to the people who flew in because tons of them did. We heard the stories after the fact, in some cases we met them in the hotel or they were side show or whatever. We know that a lot of people traveled a long way to see us so beyond those objectives, I don't know. I'd like to improve the website. I know our website is not the greatest but we are going to put a new one up there this year and the website will have a pile of more content. We'll do what we did with the "Greatest Hits" DVD with our website. We'll try to give our fans what they've been asking for and get all this stuff out of the vaults and put it up there. I don't know about any future plans, we'll just have to see how it goes other than our future plan is to hang out together. [I'm] not sure about the band. That is up in the air.

69 Faces Of Rock: Did you enjoy those shows that you did and what did it feel like getting back on stage after so many years?

Gil Moore: I enjoyed the heck out of being with the guys and the shows but the most phenomenal part for me was actually getting close to the fans. I don't know why but when you realize how much the people have stuck with you, it means a lot. In the press conferences, some of the folks in the media I found they were the same way; really sticking with us. I really enjoyed that as well as hanging with the guys. As far as playing, the rehearsals were, I think, more fun than the actual concerts because there was more fooling around in the rehearsals and so on. I had to concentrate pretty hard on what I was doing. If I didn't drum and sing at the same time, it would be a lot easier. For me. personally, it's hard. You need to get back in the groove. I needed to have played a week's worth of shows to feel comfortable. Just playing for the first time and going out on a big show with thousands of people is fairly taxing. I'm glad we did it. It was a great experience. We have those two shows videoed as well so that may come out at some point.

69 Faces Of Rock: What is your favorite TRIUMPH album?

Gil Moore: I don't know if I have a favorite TRIUMPH album but if I was forced to pick one, I might pick "Allied Forces". We talked about it on "Rockline" last night. Rik remembered a couple of things. It was the first album we recorded at Metalworks. It was a feeling of "we had our own studio" and Rik was saying we felt like we hit our stride in the studio. I don't disagree with that and of the tracks that came out of that session which was "Allied Forces" itself was written about TRIUMPH fans. That's one reason it's on the "Greatest Hits". I always thought that kind of summarized two things because it's got this paramilitary theme to it and we were kind of like that as a band. We went around, we were almost stealth like in the way we went in planning our tours and went bang, bang, bang, and we didn't end up in some of the crazy situations that some of our counterparts did with the boozing and carrying on with guys ending up jumping out of balconies. [Like] some of the stuff we were talking about last night. It did happen to some of the bands that were on the road at the time. We were kind of like this football team or army or something where we went around and there was a real concerted effort to it and a direction to it. The fans were well described in that lyric "Allied Forces". Maybe that album would be my favorite.

The Dalles Chronicle recently conducted an interview with Mark Huff, the San Diego, California-based vocalist who has signed on as lead singer for QUIET RIOT, succeeding Kevin DuBrow, who died in 2007.

"The first thing that strikes me, is that I know it's going to be an uphill deal with the fans," Huff said.

"I knew this was going to be an emotional thing on a lot of levels," he added. "Music is an emotional thing anyway. I've dreamt of an opportunity like this since I was a teen in The Dalles."

A longtime fan of heavy metal, singer Mark Huff came to QUIET RIOT drummer Frankie Banali's attention while fronting a California-based VAN HALEN tribute band (that focused on the "Sammy Hagar era"). A true Cinderella story, Huff auditioned via a cattle call audition, promptly blew Banali away, and got the gig. After getting the blessing from DuBrow's mother to carry on with QUIET RIOT (and to celebrate her son's music), the group was ready to rock once more.

"I've been a voice impressionist of sorts," Huff told The Dalles Chronicle. "Now I'm going to get a chance to put my stamp on things. I'm excited about that."

QUIET RIOT recently re-recorded some its classic songs with Huff on vocals, including "Cum on Feel the Noize" and "Metal Health". Huff laid down his tracks at a studio in Woodland Hills, California using one of the last microphones Kevin DuBrow used before his death.

Charlie Doherty of Blogcritics.org recently conducted an interview with singer/rhythm guitarist Neil Fallon of Maryland rockers CLUTCH. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Blogcritics.org: I wanted to ask you just a general question about the songwriting process. How has it evolved over the years between the four of you guys from the time you started until [latest record] "Strange Cousins From The West"? Do you guys do anything different as far as how you come into a jam session or a studio environment?

Fallon: No, it's pretty much the same as it was back when we first started jamming together in high school bands back in '88/'89. The only thing that's changed really is the location and the technology. We just get together in [drummer] Jean-Paul's basement where the drums are and kick around some riffs. Then those guys patiently wait for me to write lyrics. I'm terribly slow at doing it. You know one thing we've learned is it's always best to give a song its litmus test on stage, because sometimes things sound great in the studio that doesn't feel so good later on that you kind of say, [sic] shoulda coulda woulda. But that's just part of the learning process.

Blogcritics.org: You guys have your own label now [Weathermaker Music]. Does that give you more creative control when it comes to recording a studio album like "Strange Cousins", or at least more so than you would have had you stuck with DRT or another label?

Fallon: Well, I think one of the reasons that we were always kind of habitually dropped by labels is because we never let them dictate what we were doing. So I don't feel so much that we have more creative control because I think we always have that complete control. But what is different is we can dictate the sequence of events, cater it to our liking, whereas record labels, they believe religiously in something called an album cycle, which I think is a bunch of horse shit. So instead of sitting around two years between records, we can pump 'em out as quickly as we want. It's really not that hard, it's just that the less people involved, the better it seems to go.

Blogcritics.org: You got with Weathermaker now the rights to [CLUTCH albums] "Blast Tyrant", "From Beale Street To Oblivion" and "Robot Hive/Exodus" and they're all being reissued this year, with "Beale St." already having been reissued. Did you guys have to put up a big fight with DRT to get those records back or was it a smooth transition?

Fallon: Nah, it was pretty gnarly there for about a year and a half. We had already completed our record contract, but the thing was, DRT stopped paying us our royalties because they were a terrible business. So we sued 'em. They couldn't pay us what they owed us, so long story short, the judge awarded the rights to those masters back to us in lieu of the money that they owed us that we would never have seen anyway. So as much as I'd like to have been paid what's owed us, I think maybe it's a bit of a blessing in disguise, because those records haven't been in stores for years.

Blogcritics.org: Seeing that you guys are almost always writing and recording, are there any new brand songs or maybe leftovers from "Strange Cousins" that you are going to be debuting on the upcoming tour?

Fallon: Well, we've been writing, but what happened is that we have been kind of playing some acoustic-style songs because of the acoustic set we did at Bonnaroo this summer. And we decided to record it. It's not purely acoustic because I played electric, a semi-hollow body guitar. So those might get busted out on this tour. It's hard to say, but as soon as we're done with this tour, (corrects himself) probably on this tour, we're really gonna start writing new material.

Blogcritics.org: One of the things I love about "Blast Tyrant" is the acoustics on the record. Do you guys see yourselves in the future doing maybe an all-acoustic tour or record?

Fallon: It's a nice thought, but it's something [that] we wrestle with as far as, if you go on acoustic and then you play electric bass on it, well then does that open up the possibility to other electric stuff. And I think for us it's maybe more just a malleable philosophy. I think this EP will be that [an acoustic-based release]. We've recorded nine songs. I don't think all will make it, but who knows, maybe it's the beginning of a new record and we just don't know it yet.

"Beyond Hell/Above Heaven", the fourth album from Danish metal rock 'n' rollers VOLBEAT, has registered the following first-week chart positions:

Denmark: #1
Finland: #1
Sweden: #1
Austria #2
Germany: #3
Switzerland: #7
Holland: #8
Norway: #8

"Beyond Hell/Above Heaven" was released in Germany on September 10 and in most parts of Europe on September 13 via Vertigo/Universal. The CD was once again recorded at Hansen Studios in Ribe, Denmark with producer Jacob Hansen. The cover artwork was created by illustrator Karsten Wrysand and can be viewed below.

"Beyond Hell/Above Heaven" track listing:

01. The Mirror And The Ripper
02. Heaven Nor Hell
03. Who They Are
04. Fallen
05. A Better Believer
06. 7 Shots
07. A New Day
08. 16 Dollars
09. A Warrior's Call
10. Magic Zone
11. Evelyn
12. Being 1
13. Thanks

"Beyond Hell/Above Heaven" features guest appearances by MERCYFUL FATE guitarist Michael Denner, NAPALM DEATH's Mark "Barney" Greenway and KREATOR's Mille Petrozza. Additionally, Jacob Oelund of the Copenhagen rockabilly outfit TAGGY TONES and songwriter Hanrik Hall swung by the studio to lay down some seriously swinging double bass and harmonica.

"Guitar Gangsters & Cadillac Blood", the third studio album from VOLBEAT, received a U.S. release in March 2009 via Mascot Records.

NEVERMORE and the pre-NEVERMORE cult band SANCTUARY have been confirmed for the 70000 Tons Of Metal cruise, which is set to sail from Miami, Florida to Cozumel, Mexico on January 24, 2011 and return four days later. A total of 40 acts will appear at the event.

The festival billing is shaping up as follows:

AGENT STEEL
AMON AMARTH
CRIPPER
DEATH ANGEL
ENSIFERUM
EPICA
EXODUS
FEAR FACTORY
FINNTROLL
FORBIDDEN
GAMMA RAY
ICED EARTH
KORPIKLAANI
MARDUK
MOONSPELL
NEVERMORE
OBITUARY
RAGE
RAVEN
SANCTUARY
SAXON
SODOM
SONATA ARCTICA
SWASHBUCKLE
TESTAMENT
TROUBLE
TÝR
ULI JON ROTH
UNLEASHED
WITCHBURNER

SAXON will play two unique shows. One night they will perform the "Wheels Of Steel" LP in its entirety and on a different night, for the second show, they will play "Strong Arm Of The Law" from start to finish.

70000 Tons Of Metal will sail Monday, January 24, 2011 aboard the Royal Caribbean "Majesty of the Seas" from Miami, Florida to Cozumel, Mexico and will not return you to the real world for four days until Friday, January 28, 2011.

Make no mistake, 70000 Tons Of Metal is not your grandma's cruise. It's also not one of the cruises that share the ship with normal cruise guests. This is an all-ship heavy metal cruise! Can you imagine that? A whole luxury cruise ship full of metalheads? And since there is no backstage area you will have the opportunity to mingle side-by-side with the artists in this incredibly fan-friendly scenario that has no comparison. It's like everyone has a backstage pass and you might even need a vacation from this vacation when all is said and done!

Ticket prices start at US$666 plus US$249 taxes and fees per person and include all on-board entertainment, all meals and non-alcoholic and non-carbonated drinks at the on-board restaurants and 24-hour room service!

For more information, go to www.70000tons.com.

"Poetry For The Poisoned", the ninth studio album from American/Norwegian melodic metallers KAMELOT, has registered the following first-week chart positions:

Norway: #7
Finland: #21
Sweden: #23
Germany: #32
Netherlands: #43
Switzerland: #48
Austria: #57
Belgium: #64
USA: #74

"Poetry For The Poisoned" sold around 6,100 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD was released in North America on September 14 via the group's own label, Kamelot Media Group (KMG Recordings), and in Europe on September 10 through earMUSIC/Edel. Marquee/Avalon Records made the CD available in Japan.

Recordings took place in the familiar Gate Studios in Wolfsburg, Germany with producers Sascha Paeth and Miro. Additional tracking also took place in Tampa, Florida as well as various studios in Sweden, Greece and the U.S.

"Poetry for the Poisoned" features guest appearances by Simone Simons (EPICA), Gus G. (OZZY OSBOURNE, FIREWIND), Björn "Speed" Strid (SOILWORK) and Jon Oliva (SAVATAGE, JON OLIVA'S PAIN). The artwork was created by many great artists, including Seth Siro Anton, Natalie Shau and Michal Loranc.

"Poetry For The Poisoned" is available in three versions:

* Regular CD edition
* Digipak CD with bonus DVD
* Two-LP gatefold vinyl edition

DVD bonus material:

* "The Great Pandemonium" video
* Exclusive and in-depth interviews with each KAMELOT member
* "Pick and Play" for the song "The Great Pandemonium"
* "Poetry For The Poisoned" background images
* Exclusive video footage from Norway Rock festival 2010
* Bonus song "House On A Hill" (uncut version)

KAMELOT recently tapped Swedish director Owe Lingvall of Village Road Films for the video shoot and production of the song "The Great Pandemonium".

KAMELOT was forced to cancel its previously announced North American tour after the band's vocalist, Roy Khan (full name: Roy Sætre Khantatat, was taken ill. The trek was scheduled to kick off on September 8 at the House Of Blues in Lake Buena Vista, Florida with support from LEAVES' EYES and BLACKGUARD.

KAMELOT is:

Roy Khan - Vocals
Thomas Youngblood - Guitar
Casey Grillo - Drums
Oliver Palotai - Keyboards
Sean Tibbets – Bass

KAKTUS PROJECT, the brainchild of Sylvain Rouvière, has inked a deal with Metalodic Records. The band's debut album, "Supersition", which is "based on the melodic metal music of STRATOVARIUS, EDGUY, sprinkled with HELLOWEEN," according to a press release, is tentatively due before the end of the year.

Commented Rouvière: "I have now been wanting, for a very long time, to make and release a metal album featuring many different guest artists. Unfortunately, a lack of funding and experience made this project a long-lasting dream. In May 2008, however, I managed to finish building my home studio and finally kickstarted my dream project. I met Belette (David Rousseau) who liked my demos and decided to be a part of it. In July 2008, we recorded the drums for the first five tracks. His drums takes were very solid. It was a fantastic start to the project, very encouraging indeed. I gave me hope that I could actually achieve what I had set out to do. Today, over 20 musicians are involved in the making of that album. Not all of them are already known in the music business but they do all share the same passion for their music and an undeniable talent too."

"Superstition" track listing:

01. Alone In The Dark (3:44)
02. Farewell (4:55)
03. I'm Living My Death (4:45)
04. My Reality (4:30)
05. Possession (3:20)
06. Superstition (3:35)
07. Tonight (5:20)
08. My Tears (3:50)
09. Above The Flames (4:00)
10. Cold In The Night (3:25)
11. Dark Room (4:48)
12. The Sadness (4:08)
13. Resurection (4:20)
14. Future World (3:40)

Singers:

* Amanda Somerville (AVANTASIA)
* Mike Dimeo (MASTERPLAN, RIOT, THE LIZARDS)
* Sylvain Rouviere
* Henning Basse (METALIUM, SONS OF SEASON )
* Oliver Hartmann (AT VANCE, HARTMANN)
* Nico
* Severine (KRESTENTA)

Guitarists:

* Sylvain Rouviere
* Manu Livertout
* Patrick Manouguian
* Axel Bonneau
* Alesk (NO WAY, CHATTAHOOCHEE)
* Vincent Morla (LARRY CROCKETT BAND, TESTE OF HELL)
* Charley Corbiaux (HEAVENLY)
* Olvier Lapauze (HEAVENLY)
* Didier Chesneau (HEADLINE)

Bassists

* Christophe Babin (Headline, Virus IV..)
* Matthieu G. Plana (HEAVENLY)
* Fanfan (CRY FREEDOM FAMILY)
* Igor Lalai

Keyboardists:

* Manu Martin (PATRICK RONDAT)
* Oliver Palotai (KAMELOT, SONS OF SEASON)

Drummers:

* David Rousseau (NO WAY, SAINTE OMBRE)
* Benoit Vedrenne (EDGAR ALLAN)

For more information, visit www.myspace.com/kaktus project.

German industrial metallers RAMMSTEIN have scheduled what appears to be a one-off show in the U.S. — the band's first in 10 years — on December 11 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

In a recent interview with Seattle Gay News, RAMMSTEIN guitarist Richard Kruspe was asked when fans could expect to see the band perform in America. "Good question," he replied. "Actually, we talked about it today, a lot. What we plan to do right now is a lot of things — we're not 20 anymore, so things have changed for us. At the moment, it looks like America is the only market where we cannot provide the same show as we play in the rest of the world. So we have to be balanced, like, what makes financial sense? One of my dreams is Madison Square Garden — just to play one show and to feel out, like if there is a need for us, are people waiting for us, what can we do, what would be the next step? It can change, nothing is set in stone, nothing is confirmed, but we've talked about what's the best thing, so the fans are happy and the band is happy. But I'm a big supporter of the American market."

RAMMSTEIN's latest album, "Liebe Ist Für Alle Da", sold 22,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 13 on The Billboard 200 chart. Previously, the group's best rank came with its 1998 chart debut, "Sehnsucht", which peaked at No. 45 off the strength of its only U.S. radio chart hit, "Du Hast".

"Liebe Ist Für Alle Da" arrived in stores on October 20, 2009 through a marketing and distribution deal with Vagrant Records and Universal Music Germany. The album was produced by Jacob Hellner and RAMMSTEIN, with recording done at Northern California's Sonoma Mountain Studio. The first single from the 11-track release was "Pussy", which was released as a digital single on September 22, 2009 and accompanied by one of the year's most viral videos.

RAMMSTEIN is:

Till Lindemann - Vocals
Paul Landers - Guitar
Richard Z. Kruspe - Guitar
Oliver Riedel - Bass
Christoph Schneider - Drums
Flake Lorenz - Keyboards

Los Angeles-based progressive metal band REDEMPTION, which features in its ranks vocalist Ray Alder of FATES WARNING, is "in the early pre-production stage" of writing material for its new album for a 2011 release. Guitarist/songwriter Nicolas van Dyk states, "It's too early to say too much, but I can share that the arrangements vary from short (for us!) hard-hitting songs to at least one and possibly two more sprawling ideas, and that a few of the working titles at this point are 'Noonday Devil', 'Dreams From The Pit' and 'Rain In My Soul'."

In November 2008, Nicolas van Dyk was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a disease that he described at the time as "a particularly bad form of blood cancer which is generally considered incurable and which has a five-year survival rate of 34%." He now says, "I remain in complete remission with no trace of the disease that I announced publicly about a year ago. I remain on three powerful medications to ensure that the cancer does not return. Of the five original active lesions in my bones, none are active for cancer and one of them has resolved (i.e. been completely repaired with new bone). The other four are in the process of being repaired and that is the next big milestone.

"Patience is required but I believe they will get there. If that happens, it is a good sign that I am well down the road to being cured (according to the very aggressive doctor to whom I entrust my care). However I must remain on these medicines for two more years. They have many unpleasant side effects but I am resolved to stick with the program and beat 'incurable' blood cancer."

On February 4, REDEMPTION was interviewed for an episode of "Hard" on the AUX music channel out of Canada. The six-minute segment, which includes performance footage, can be viewed below.

REDEMPTION released its fourth CD, "Snowfall on Judgment Day", on October 6, 2009 through Inside Out Music. The album was mixed and mastered by Tommy Newton, who produced the group's last two CDs, at Area 51 Studios in Celle, Germany. The artwork was once again created by Travis Smith.

REDEMPTION is:

Ray Alder - Vocals
Nick van Dyk - Guitar, Keyboards
Bernie Versailles - Guitar
Sean Andrews - Bass
Chris Quirarte - Drums
Greg Hosharian - Keyboards

REDEMPTION released a concert DVD, "Frozen in the Moment: Live in Atlanta", in late February/early March 2009. The disc contains a five-camera, high-definition shoot of the band's ProgPower USA VIII festival appearance in Atlanta, Georgia in October 2007. In addition, there is a 12-minute video and photo tour diary set to the band's previously unreleased instrumental from the DREAM THEATER songwriting contest that REDEMPTION wrote back in 2003.

Concord, California-based progressive metallers THE ELEMENT, who feature in their ranks bassist Mitch Stewart (CIRCLE II CIRCLE) and drummer Henry Moreno (IMAGIKA, TAUNTED), have tapped legendary producer Beau Hill (RATT, WARRANT, WINGER, ALICE COOPER, BOB DYLAN, ERIC CLAPTON, GARY MOORE, EUROPE) to mixing/master their upcoming, as yet-untitled album.

Commented the group: "Beau Hill showed interest in working with the band a couple months ago after hearing the pre-production of the upcoming album. We were ecstatic, considering what an honor it would be to work with such an amazing producer like Beau."

Stated Beau Hill: "THE ELEMENT caught my attention with their excellent material, an unusual focus on arrangement details, and progressive-melodic hooks...sounds like the recipe for a hit to me..."

The first three songs for the upcoming CD were finished in August and the new single, "She's Made From Sand", is now available for streaming on THE ELEMENT's MySpace page.

Added THE ELEMENT: "The band has been working on this project for some time and the chemistry between Rafael Macedo [vocals, guitar], Mitch Stewart, Jeremy Villucci [keyboards], and Henry Moreno has given way to some amazing material and it is definitely our best work to date."

The publicist for Richmond, Virginia metallers LAMB OF GOD has released the following statement:

"Due to circumstances outside of the band's control, LAMB OF GOD will not be able to perform in Monterrey on October 6, 2010. While the band was anxiously looking forward to play for their fans in Monterrey, the promoter did not fulfill their obligations in regards to the band's fee, travel, or production logistics. Therefore, the band did not feel the show would be presented in a professional way for the band's performance or for their fans. The band apologizes to all of the people that purchased tickets to the show and promises to return in the future to play. The show in Mexico City on October 5 will go on as scheduled."

LAMB OF GOD recently released the "Hourglass" collection, a career-retrospective set that is available in seven different configurations.

LAMB OF GOD received a second Grammy Award nomination in the "Best Metal Performance" category — for the track "Set to Fail" from its latest album, "Wrath", which came out last year on Epic Records.

The band was previously nominated in the "Best Metal Performance" category for the song "Redneck" from LAMB OF GOD's 2006 album "Sacrament".

"Wrath" landed at position No. 2 on The Billboard 200 chart back in February 2009 with first-week sales of over 67,000 copies.

SEVENTH VOID — the new band featuring TYPE O NEGATIVE guitarist Kenny Hickey and drummer Johnny Kelly — has inked a deal with Napalm Records. The group's debut album, "Heaven Is Gone", will be made available in Europe at the end of November.

Commented Johnny Kelly: "It's been a long time coming! I'm thrilled that we are finally getting 'Heaven Is Gone' released everywhere! I'm looking forward to working with Napalm on this as well as the next SEVENTH VOID release in 2011! I'm even more stoked about the band finally doing a European tour! I'm really looking forward to the upcoming run with MONSTER MAGNET. It's gonna be a blast!"

"Heaven Is Gone" was released in the United States on April 21, 2009 via Vinnie Paul's (PANTERA, HELLYEAH) Big Vin Records. The CD sold around 1,800 copies in the United States in its first week of release. It debuted at No. 21 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.

"We sent [Vinnie] one song," Hickey told DallasObserver.com, "and he really liked it. So we never really took it anywhere else. We wanted someone who believed in it. And Vinnie does."

"From the moment I first heard them, I full-on loved it," Vinnie said. "It's a new band, but when other people hear it, they'll know too. It's just an old-school sound with a new attitude. Something different than all the LINKIN PARKs and HOLLYWOOD UNDEADs out there right now."

Rounded out by bassist Hank Hell (INHUMAN) and guitarist Matt Brown (ex-SUPERMASSIV), SEVENTH VOID continues TYPE O's tradition of slow, heavy riffs and existential lyrics, but with a slightly sludgier, "stonier" flavor.

"Last Walk In The Light", the latest video from SEVENTH VOID, can be viewed below.

For more information, visit the band's MySpace page.

Corey Glover, lead singer of the two-time Grammy Award-winning band LIVING COLOUR, will be lending his talents to New Jersey hard rock/metal up-and-comers SEKOND SKYN for two shows — Friday, September 24 at the Saint in Asbury Park, New Jersey and Saturday, September 25 at Dingbatz in Clifton, New Jersey.

SEKOND SKYN and Glover met during LIVING COLOUR's "Chair in the Doorway" tour where SEKOND SKYN was the support act. While the Jersey natives had long been fans of LIVING COLOUR's work, SEKOND SKYN left lasting impressions on the members of LIVING COLOUR. This past spring, when SEKOND SKYN lost its singer, the idea came up to see if Corey would be willing to come out and play some shows just for fun. "It sounded really good!" Glover said of the union. "We're going to have a good time."

Glover is no stranger to moonlighting: he has a full-time side/solo project called VICE, he played the role of Judas in the touring company of "Jesus Christ Superstar" and acts regularly in independent films and stage productions.

LIVING COLOUR hits the road again as part of the fall 2010 Experience Hendrix Tour — playing along with Steve Vai, Kenny Wayne Sheppard and many more — beginning October 26.

As for SEKOND SKYN's permanent singer situation, the band is tight-lipped. However, they admit to having interest from a well-known singer and when the time is right, there will be a formal announcement. "This is just something that's really cool — getting to jam with Corey. And this just gives us a chance to go out and play, and that's what we love to do," says drummer, Tommy Spano.

SEKOND SKYN is currently demoing new material and is looking forward to being back on the road by the spring in support of its next release.

For more information, visit www.myspace.com/2ndskinnet.

Former COAL CHAMBER bassist Nadja Peulen has joined VERA MESMER, the band featuring former REVEILLE guitarist Chris Turner.

VERA MESMER's five-track debut EP, "The Gypsy Magician" (which doesn't feature Peulen), came out in 2007.

For more information, visit www.veramesmer.com.

COAL CHAMBER rose to prominence with a gold-certified debut album in 1997 that established the group as one of the most promising bands on the then-emerging, so-called "nu metal" scene.

Nadja Peulen replaced COAL CHAMBER bassist Rayna Foss Rose in 1999 during Rose's pregnancy for almost 12 months while the band was on the road supporting its second album, "Chamber Music". Rayna came back to the band after her pregnancy leave and recorded COAL CHAMBER's third album, "Dark Days". Shortly after recording "Dark Days", Rayna quit the band and Nadja was recruited for the touring cycle that followed the CD's release. The band broke up during the "Dark Days" tour in 2002.

Former COAL CHAMBER singer Dez Fafara is currently fronting DEVILDRIVER, which will issue its fifth album in early 2011 via Roadrunner Records.

Ex-COAL CHAMBER members Miguel "Meegs" Rascon (guitar) and Mikey Cox (drums) have rejoined forces in a brand new Los Angeles, California-based "post-punk" project called WE ARE THE RIOT. The group's current lineup is rounded out by Andy Cole, Jonny Sculls Flanagan and Cheyne Fritts.

ALEXISONFIRE and RECKLESS LOVE have been confirmed for the Loud Park 10 festival, set to take place October 16-17, 2010 at Saitama Super Arena, a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Saitama City, Japan.

The festival billing is shaping up as follows:

Saturday October 16:

KORN
HALFORD
STONE SOUR
ACCEPT
RATT
HELLYEAH
DIR EN GREY
EDGUY
AMON AMARTH
CHTHONIC
ENGEL
HOLY GRAIL

Sunday, October 17:

OZZY OSBOURNE
MOTÖRHEAD
AVENGED SEVENFOLD
ANGRA
SPIRITUAL BEGGARS
FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH
KUNI
ALEXISONFIRE
RECKLESS LOVE
HALESTORM
TURISAS
TRASH TALK
3 INCHES OF BLOOD

For more information, visit www.loudpark.com.

The European Relapse Records office and warehouse was destroyed earlier this week by a fierce fire.

The blaze broke out around 5 a.m. on Wednesday morning (September 22) and reduced to ashes the Relapse warehouse and office in Sevenum, Netherlands, along with several other business complexes and houses in the area.

No one was injured in the incident.

The cause of the fire is not yet known and is under investigation by local authorities.

Label operations will continue, and further updates will follow.

Relapse's current label roster includes such acts as BRUTAL TRUTH, CEPHALIC CARNAGE, DYING FETUS, KINGDOM OF SORROW, MISERY INDEX and TOXIC HOLOCAUST.

Virginia's epic doom metal unit WHILE HEAVEN WEPT has completed work on its live album, "Triumph:Tragedy:Transcendence - Live At The Hammer Of Doom Festival", for a November 8 release via Cruz Del Sur Music. The release is a stunning 24-track audio capture of WHILE HEAVEN WEPT's performance at the Posthalle in Würzburg, Germany on February 6, 2010.

"Triumph:Tragedy:Transcendence - Live At The Hammer Of Doom Festival" will be made available as a CD/DVD two-disc set in a quantity of 3,000 copies. The DVD program will be region free, so it can be played anywhere without incident. In addition to the CD/DVD set, there will be a limited-edition 2xLP set released through a joint collaboration between Cruz Del Sur Music, High Roller Records, and Iron Kodex Records in a quantity of 1,000 copies. This set will be pressed on heavy vinyl, and will be housed in an equally heavy, gorgeous gatefold sleeve filled to the brim with photos from the band's weekend in Germany, including some never-before-seen shots by Hans-Martin Issler. A stunning poster and full-color insert will also be included in the package. 250 copies will be on colored vinyl, and you can expect this to be released on October 23, 2010 at the Hammer Of Doom 4 festival in Würzburg, Germany.

The set will contain the following material:

CD:

01. Vast Oceans Lachrymose
02. The Furthest Shore (Parts 1-3)
03. Soulsadness
04. The Drowning Years
05. Of Empires Forlorn
06. Vessel
07. Thus With A Kiss I Die

DVD:

01. Vast Oceans Lachrymose
02. The Furthest Shore (Parts 1-3)
03. Soulsadness
04. The Drowning Years
05. Of Empires Forlorn
06. Vessel
07. Thus With A Kiss I Die
08. To Wander The Void (encore)

DVD Bonus Features:

01. 20-Minute Interview with Streetclip TV
02. Backstage Rehearsal Clip 1
03. Backstage Rehearsal Clip 2
04. The Furthest Shore (Parts 1-3) - Pittsburgh Jan. 8 2010
05. Soulsadness - Pittsburg Jan. 8 2010
06. Thus With A Kiss I Die - Pittsburgh Jan. 8 2010

The track listing for the LP edition is as follows:

01. Vast Oceans Lachrymose
02. The Furthest Shore (Parts 1-3)
03. Soulsadness
04. The Drowning Years
05. Of Empires Forlorn
06. Vessel
07. Thus With A Kiss I Die

The song "Of Empires Forlorn" is available for streaming on the WHILE HEAVEN WEPT MySpace page.

In other news, WHILE HEAVEN WEPT has announced the addition of keyboardist Jason Lingle (ALTURA) to the group's ranks.

HELHEIM, one of Norway's oldest Viking metal bands, recently shot a video for the song "Dualitet Og Ulver" ("Duality And Wolves") in the mountains surrounding the band's hometown of Bergen. The track is said to have been written about Hati and Skoll, the two wolves of Norsk legend who attempt to swallow both the sun and the moon.

A series of newly released stills from the video shoot can be found on the band's web site. A couple of the pictures are available below.

"Dualitet Og Ulver" comes off HELHEIM's new mini-CD, "Åsgards Fall", which is scheduled for release on November 1 via Dark Essence Records. The six-track effort also contains two epic new tracks, written especially for this release, as well as a new recording of the HELHEIM classic "Jernskogen" , originally found on the "Blod & Ild" album. "Dualitet Og Ulver" itself is the video mix of the track that will appear on the band's forthcoming full-length release, "Heiðinðómr Ok Mótgangr", due out at the beginning of 2011.

Recorded at the Conclave and Earshot studios in Bergen, "Åsgards Fall" was produced by HELHEIM and Bjornar Nilsen (VULTURE INDUSTRIES, BLACK HOLE GENERATOR), and was mastered by Herbrand Larsen (ENSLAVED, AUDREY HORNE). The mini-CD also features guest appearances by Hoest (TAAKE), Gunnar Emmerhoff (EMMERHOF AND THE MELANCHOLY BABIES) and PV on vocals, and Trine Mjanger on French horn.

"Åsgards Fall" track listing:

01. Åsgards Fall Part 1
02. Åsgards Fall Interlude
03. Åsgards Fall Part 2
04. Helheim Part 7
05. Dualitet Og Ulver
06. Jernskogen (re-recording)

HELHEIM will join fellow labelmates TAAKE, VULTURE INDUSTRIES and SULPHUR on the Dark Essence Records 2010 Tour in October/November.

GLORIOR BELLI (France), HORNED ALMIGHTY (Denmark), THE ONE (Greece) and ABSENTIA LUNAE (Italy) will team up for the "In Gloria Solis Atri" European tour in February/March 2011.

The tentative routing for the trek is as follows:

Feb. 25 - Holland
Feb. 26 - Belgium
Feb. 27 - France
Feb. 28 - France/Switzerland/Southwest Germany
Mar. 01 - Italy/Switzerland
Mar. 02 - Italy/Slovenia
Mar. 03 - Austria/Southeast Germany
Mar. 04 - Gemany/Czech Republic
Mar. 05 - Germany
Mar. 06 - Germany

GLORIOR BELLI will release its new album, "The Full Intrepid Experience Of Light", in October.

The track listing for the CD is as follows:

01. The Full Intrepid Experience Of Light
02. Agitation In The Glorious Theme
03. The Night Scalp Challenger *
04. Reckless Beacons Attraction
05. Verses From Which To Whirl

*Featuring SHINING's Niklas "Kvarforth" Olsson on guest vocals.

GLORIOR BELLI recruited G. (FROSTMOON ECLIPSE, DEATHROW, MACABRE OMEN) to lay down the drum tracks on "The Full Intrepid Experience of Light".

GLORIOR BELLI's third full-length album, "Meet Us Of The Southern Sign", was released in North America on June 2, 2009 via Candlelight Records.

ENSLAVED, ANACRUSIS and IN SOLITUDE have been confirmed for next year's installment of the Rock Hard festival, set to take place June 10-12, 2011 at the Amphitheater in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.

The festival billing is shaping up as follows (in alphabetical order):

AGENT STEEL
ANACRUSIS
ENFORCER
ENSLAVED
IN SOLITUDE
TRIPTYKON

For more information, visit www.rockhardfestival.de.

Florida-based, female-fronted power metallers SEVEN KINGDOMS have amicably parted ways with bassist Miles Neff and have replaced him with Aaron Sluss.

"I've been good friends with the members of SEVEN KINGDOMS for some time now, as well as a fan of the music," Aaron says, "so when Camden [Cruz, guitar] asked me to come on board as their new bassist, I didn't hesitate.

"There is a lot of musical talent in this band and I'm very much looking forward working with them on the upcoming BLIND GUARDIAN tour and in the time beyond."

SEVEN KINGDOMS's sophomore album was released on July 13 via Nightmare Records.

According to a press release, Nightmare Records owner and prog-power vocalist Lance King "was impressed with the band's vocal siren, Sabrina Valentine. Her unique, warm and melancholic melodic sense combined with this speedy power metal band should please fans that are into the sound of BLIND GUARDIAN, EVANESCENCE, NIGHTWISH, ICED EARTH, WITHIN TEMPTATION, EPICA."

Formed in Deland, Florida in 2007 by Camden Cruz and Bryan Edwards, SEVEN KINGDOMS entered Morrisound Recording in Tampa in August 2007 to record its debut self-financed independent release, "Brothers of the Night", which was lyrically inspired by the literary works of George R. Martin.

After playing shows throughout the Southeastern region of the United States with such bands as SONATA ARCTICA, THE AGONIST, STEPHEN PEARCY and CIRCLE II CIRCLE, SEVEN KINGDOMS returned to Morrisound in 2009 to begin work on its self-titled sophomore effort.

SEVEN KINGDOMS is:

Sabrina Valentine – Vocals
Camden Cruz – Guitar
Kevin Byrd – Guitar
Aaron Sluss – Bass
Keith Byrd – Drums

Scott Reeder (KYUSS) and Attila Voros (NEVERMORE) have recorded guest appearances on the new three-song EP from Hungarian experimental/grunge metallers ANGERTEA. The CD, which is being produced by Neil Kernon (NILE, NEVERMORE, CANNIBAL CORPSE), is tentatively due in November/December via an as-yet-undetermined record label. A video for the song "Streams" is also in the works.

ANGERTEA is:

Mihály Gergely - Vocals/Guitar
Peralta Miguel - Bass
Bárkai László - Drums

ANGERTEA has released three full-length albums so far: "Lélekvágy" (2001), "Rushing Towards the Hateline" (2006) and "Twenty-Eight Ways to Bleed" (2009).

For more information, visit www.myspace.com/angertea.

According to a posting on KATATONIA's Facebook page, the two guitars that were stolen while the Swedish band was performing on September 18, 2010 at Station 4 in St. Paul, Minnesota have been turned in to the police. The group states, "We won't get into the murky ugly details right now as the priority was and is that we get them back on the road for our shows and then on to the competition winners, so let's celebrate that for now while the police continue to do their job."

Pictures of the Mayones guitars that were stolen can be seen in the giveaway competition ad below.

KATATONIA kicked off its North American tour — dubbed "Night Over North America" — on September 8 in Baltimore, Maryland. To coincide with the 26-date U.S. and Canadian trek, Peaceville Records released a special edition of the band's acclaimed 2009 studio album, "Night Is The New Day", in a hardback mediabook, featuring a 20-page booklet and bonus track, "Ashen".

The special edition of "Night Is The New Day" was made available on August 24.

"Night Is The New Day" special edition track listing:

01. Forsaker
02. The Longest Year
03. Idle Blood
04. Onward Into Battle
05. Liberation
06. The Promise Of Deceit
07. Nephilim
08. New Night
09. Inheritance
10. Day and Then The Shade
11. Ashen (exclusive bonus track)
12. Departer

Support on KATATONIA's North American tour is coming from Finland's SWALLOW THE SUN and Israel's ORPHANED LAND.

KATATONIA released a new EP, "The Longest Year", on March 15 via Peaceville Records.

Due to "touring conflicts," BLACKGUARD has cancelled its previously announced appearance at the Trois-Rivières Metalfest X festival, set to take place October 15-16 in Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada. Replacing them on the bill is AUGURY.

The festival billing is now as follows:

Friday, October 15:

DESPISED ICON
MONONC' SERGER & ANONYMUS
MISERY INDEX
BLINDWITNESS
DIVINITY
STRIGAMPIRE
UNFALLEN

Saturday, October 16:

CANNIBAL CORPSE
MARTYR
NEURAXIS
AUGURY
REVOCATION
HORFIXION
SUPERIOR ENLIGHTENMENT

For more information, visit www.troisrivieresmetal.com.

"Enemy Unbound", the longthird album from Tampa, Florida melodic thrashers THE ABSENCE, sold around 800 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD landed at position No. 55 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.

"Enemy Unbound" was released on September 14 via Metal Blade Records. The CD was once again recorded at the Erik Rutan-owned Mana Recording Studios in St. Petersburg, Florida in November 2009, with Brian Elliott engineering and Peter Joseph and Patrick Pintavalle producing. Going along with the saying "If it's not broke, don't fix it," the band tapped Jonas Kjellgren (SCAR SYMMETRY, CARNAL FORGE) of Black Lounge Studios in Sweden to handle both mixing and mastering on "Enemy Unbound". Guest musicians on the CD include Tom Englund of EVERGREY and Andy Wood.

"Enemy Unbound" track listing:

01. Vertigo
02. Erased
03. Deepest Wound
04. Maelstrom
05. Enemy Unbound
06. Solace
07. The Bridge
08. Wartorn
09. Hidden In White
10. Vengeance And Victory
11. Triumph

As previously reported, original drummer and one of the founding members of THE ABSENCE, Jeramie Kling, has rejoined the band. Jeramie and THE ABSENCE parted ways after a completing a heavy touring schedule for the band's first CD, "From Your Grave".

Commented guitarist Patrick Pintavalle: "We're so glad to have Jeramie back in the band. It feels right again." Vocalist Jamie Stewart added: "In spite of everything that's been said and done, I'm glad to have my brother back. I look forward to having our collective magic restored."

Jeramie had this to say about once again stepping behind the kit for THE ABSENCE: "It's great to be back, I missed all my old friends. I can't wait to play the new songs on tour; they are going to blow the roof off. I missed the road and I can't wait to see all our fans out on tour. I am so pumped; it's just great to back."

THE ABSENCE is:

Jamie Stewart - Vocals
Peter Joseph - Guitar
Patrick Pintavalle - Guitar
Jeramie Kling - Drums
Mike Leon - Bass

Blistering.com recently conducted an interview with rhythm guitarist/songwriter Ivar Bjørnson of the progressive/psychedelic Norwegian black metallers ENSLAVED. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Blistering.com: "Vertebrae" was so well received, so how did you not only adapt to its success, but prepare for the next one?

Ivar Bjørnson: It was a little surprising, I guess, not because I didn't think it was a good album, I just don't have much expectations when we release an album. Music and especially the stuff we're working on, is such a personal thing. Also, I'm quite content when I finish an album. I knew he had done the best we could with that album, but I was a little taken aback as to how dignified the positive responses were. We went in a mellow direction with "Vertebrae" and a lot of times that can be a red flag for part of the extreme metal scene, but we seem to get away with it. Now I'm curious about how it's going to work when we go the other way, when get a little harder again with the new album.

Blistering.com: "Axioma Ethica Odini"'s harder and more aggressive, so did you use the same process where you secluded yourself for months at a time in order to compose the album?

Bjørnson: Yes. Even more so this time. I'd started to get ideas in the first half of 2009 while we were touring and doing festivals. The pressure started building up inside of my head for these ideas for riffs and the whole album, so at some point in August or September of last year I had to go to an empty house and get it all out on paper and onto my computer. It was an eruption, so to speak...it was really cool. It's like food — if you have a main course of something and you get fulfilled, you want to go onto something else. So with "Vertebrae", it was melodic and mellow, that's when we asked if we were really ready for something else, so that's when we decided to go in this harder direction.

Blistering.com: As for the album, you're going to get this a lot, but almost instantly, the first thing that sticks out is how much clean vocals are here.

Bjørnson: It's a pretty interesting dynamic going on there. The more discussion between the two of them [singer/bassist Grutle Kjellson, keyboardist Herbrand Larson] just proved how ego-less they both were in terms of which vocals go where. A lot of times, it's evident, like this riff needs some screaming vocals. The moment there's any doubt when one of them doesn't know what to do, we all just analyze and when they can't agree, that's when they ask me about it. The only thing that is not entirely possible is to do a whole album with neither [type] vocals. It wouldn't be only the black metal vocals and we won't do one with only the clean vocals. They're genuine about their interests, but they want what's best for the song.

Blistering.com: As for North America, you're taking on a more aggressive approach. With your direction being what it is, how do you think ENSLAVED fits in?

Bjørnson: I can't really say we had enough presence before "Isa". Having a French label [Osmose Records] and the trouble they had in setting up operations in the U.S. made it hard. We've been getting an immense response. The metal fans are more similar to the ones in Scandinavia, not like the more conservative approach they take in some parts of Europe. In U.S., it's more of an advantage to be floating in and out of the box, it makes a band interesting. In Europe, you still have to convince people, but you're not clearly defined.

Blistering.com: You're coming up on 20 years as a band next year. Anything big planned?

Bjørnson: Yeah, we've thought about it and we're working on some things. Actually, I'm trying not to think about it, because the project is totally over the top. I know the band, and we're going to pull it off. Even thinking about some of the crazy stuff we're going to pull off...it's going to be great. Once we hit the end of the North America tour, we're going to announce the "program" for next year. It's going to be weird turning 20 in 2011, but the atmosphere; it's pretty much the same in the band. We're older, but have the same feelings and enthusiasm as we've always had.

British death metal band IGNOMINIOUS INCARCERATION has decided to change its name to THE SOULLESS. The group, which hails from Bath, England, has just finished writing its sophomore album, the follow-up to 2009's "Of Winter Born".

Commented the group: "The band started in the pits of hell that was Sam's basement. We were just playing heavy music and having fun.

"When we decided on the name IGNOMINIOUS INCARCERATION, we never anticipated the level we would get to. Had we known, I'm sure we would have chosen a simpler name.

"The band started to get gigs and we started to take the band way more seriously as we discovered how much fun we could have.

"We did our first tour with TRIGGER THE BLOODSHED and this was when we were first approached by Earache Records. This was a real turning point for the band and we realised we could make something of it. We debated changing the name whilst recording 'Of Winter Born', but chose to stick with it. We don't regret doing this as it is what represented the band at the time.

"Over the last couple of years since 'Of Winter Born', we have matured as people as well as a band. When we came to write the second album, we decided we wanted to do something different from the last one. Not a huge alteration in style, but more a progression of what we enjoy most and feel we can write the best. This then led to the discussion of our name. Obviously the name is very long and hard to pronounce. As a band, you're trying to promote yourselves and get your music to the people. We wanted a new name which was easy to remember and say, and to get ourselves out there. With the change in music, we thought it was a perfect opportunity to change our name as well. This almost 're-launching' of the band has given us new life and we are so motivated towards the new project.

"As for the name-choosing itself, this was no easy task! As we were changing the name, we had to be 100% happy with it this time. We found it really hard to find a name bang-on-the-money. In the end, we wrote down thousands of names and set ourselves a deadline to pick the best one. We all liked 'THE SOULLESS,' which was in fact a working title for a new song.

"We feel the name has a dark, edgy feel to it, but is not instantly recognisable as metal and it's easy to say! We feel this represents us a lot better, as well as our new music.

"We have a lot of plans for THE SOULLESS; the new album is written and we will be going into the studio very soon. Everything we do in the next few months will be filmed so we can keep you updated. We did a pre-production demo track, which we are going to put online soon to show you a glimpse of the new material we have been talking about. When we finish in the studio, we will be recording our first official video. We are really excited to get back on the road again as the newly evolved band, THE SOULLESS."

Virginia-based melodic tech death metal masters ARSIS will embark on a headlining tour in December! Support on "A Tour for the Sick" will come from POWERGLOVE and CONDUCTING FROM THE GRAVE.

Commented ARSIS vocalist/guitarist Jim Malone: "What does a band that is notorious for canceling tours, videogame-induced tendinitis, and a Noah Martin look-a-like all have in common?

"If you have spent the better part of your existence trying to play 16th triplet arpeggios at 250 bpm you will probably be overcome with joy (or something) to hear that we (meaning ARSIS dudes), POWERGLOVE, and CONDUCTING FROM THE GRAVE are teaming up for a U.S. tour this December.

"We are beyond stoked for our first headlining tour in support of 'Starve For The Devil' and hope to see you at one (or more) of the tour dates. We promise to 'turn up the hell' on this one and make your weekend (or week night) one that is 'rock hard' and metalificated."

ARSIS, POWERGLOVE, CONDUCTING FROM THE GRAVE tour dates:

Dec. 01 - Championship Bar & Grill - Trenton, NJ
Dec. 02 - Evening Star Music Hall - Niagara Falls, NY
Dec. 03 - Pirates Cove - Cleveland, OH
Dec. 04 - Harpo's - Detroit, MI
Dec. 05 - Reggie's Rock Club - Chicago, IL
Dec. 07 - Black Sheep - Colorado Springs, CO
Dec. 08 - In The Venue - Salt Lake City, UT
Dec. 09 - The Venue - Boise, ID
Dec. 10 - Studio 7 - Seattle, WA
Dec. 11 - Branx (Loveland) - Portland, OR
Dec. 12 - Thee Parkside - San Francisco, CA
Dec. 13 - The Whisky - Hollywood, CA
Dec. 14 - The Clubhouse - Tempe, AZ
Dec. 15 - Club Khaos - Amarillo, TX
Dec. 16 - The Marquee Theatre - Tulsa, OK
Dec. 18 - Jaxx - W. Springfield, VA

ARSIS' new album, "Starve For The Devil", sold 1,800 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD landed at No. 13 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.

"Starve For The Devil" was released in North America on February 9 via Nuclear Blast Records. The album was recorded at Planet Z Studios in Hadley, Massachusetts with producer Chris "Zeuss" Harris, who has previously worked with MUNICIPAL WASTE, AGNOSTIC FRONT and HATEBREED, among others.

Dutch death metallers ROTTEN — who feature in their ranks members of RADICAL NERVE DISTORTION, REBORN and HACKSAW — have announced the addition of guitarist John to the group's ranks. The band states, " It only took one session to find out that John was the man for ROTTEN. Both John and ROTTEN feel confindent about the future and so ROTTEN is whole again."

ROTTEN has resumed work on its debut album, "Quality Killings", which was originally due in the summer of 2010, but will now be made available in the winter. Recording of the new songs will start in October. Mixing will be done by drummer Marco and the mastering will be handled by Swedish multi-instrumentalist/producer Dan Swanö.

"I think we've hit the bullseye with this one," says ROTTEN guitarist Martijn. "We've had a great session and John has already memorized most of the current songs. The next few weeks we'll make him familiar with the new material."

"Quality Killings" tentative track listing:

* Headchopper
* Slaughtered at the Station
* Shovel Slayer
* Assassinated and Buried
* Butchering of a Body
* Fragrance of Death
* Razorblade Mutilation
* Dead's War
* The Morgue
* Human Insanity
* Bonus track (to be announced)

ROTTEN recently recorded a cover version of GAMMA RAY's "Leaving Hell" for an upcoming tribute album to HELLOWEEN and GAMMA RAY. The CD, entitled "HelloRay - A Tribute To Helloween & Gamma Ray", will be made available via Epicus Records.

For more information, visit ROTTEN's MySpace page.

Swedish melodic death metal band WITHIN Y has entered Gain Studios in Gothenburg, Sweden to begin recording its fourth album for an early 2011 release. Check out photos from the studio below.

WITHIN Y's third album, "The Cult", entered the Swedish national chart at position No. 24 back in March 2008. The CD artwork was created by Niklas Sundin of DARK TRANQUILLITY and Cabin Fever Media.

WITHIN Y's "Facing Reality" video can be viewed below. The clip was shot on July 2, 2008 at Sticky Fingers in Gothenburg, Sweden.

WITHIN Y in April 2007 recruited Erik Hagström as the replacement for Thim Blom (ex-GARDENIAN).

Blom left the group in December 2006, claiming that "pain in [his wrists]" made it impossible for him to "perform at the top of [his] abillity and to do what it takes to play at this level."

WITHIN Y's sophomore album, "Portraying Dead Dreams", was released in Sweden in the spring of 2006 via Gain.

Swedish technical death metallers SPAWN OF POSSESSION have parted ways with vocalist Matthew Chalk (PSYCROPTIC) and have been rejoined by Dennis Röndum.

Commented the band: "Yes, Dennis is back in the band, where he belongs.

"We would like to thank Chalky for the time he was a part of the band, He helped us bring SPAWN OF POSSESSION back to life for a moment and without him we could not have done the Australian tour. So we are thankful for everything he did for us and wish him the best of luck."

Added Dennis: "I've been quite disconnected from the band for a long time now so when [Jonas] Bryssling [guitar] got in touch with me, it felt kind of surreal. But nonetheless amazing when he started to describe his visions for the next SPAWN OF POSSESSION record and that he wanted me to handle the vocals for it. Now, mind you, it's been over four years of silence between us and we parted on a somewhat bad note, but that's in the past. The focus is now on the new material, which Bryssling has invited me to get involved with and after listening to the temp tracks, all I can say is that I'm in for a serious ride.

"Although my presence has been lacking in the scene I've been busy writing and recording with my new band. It's still all under wraps but hopefully I'll be able to share it with you in a not-too-distant future. With that said, I'm really excited to be back in the SPAWN OF POSSESSION camp and I can't wait to join the others to complete what I believe will be a masterpiece of unparalleled proportions."

SPAWN OF POSSESSION's current lineup:

* Dennis Röndum - Vocals
* Erlend Caspersen (VILE, BLOOD RED THRONE, DECREPIT BIRTH) - Bass
* Richard Schill - Drums
* Christian Münzner (OBSCURA, NECROPHAGIST) - Guitar
* Jonas Bryssling - Guitar

Regarding the progress of the songwriting sessions for SPAWN OF POSSESSION's next album, Bryssling states, "We have too many songs, and some of them are a tad bit long, 7-10 minutes each. So we have decided to cut down the amount of tracks from twelve songs to ten. We are now finishing up the last songs, polishing the arrangements and practicing the material."

SPAWN OF POSSESSION's sophomore album, "Noctambulant", was released in 2006 via Neurotic Records. The CD was recorded at Pama Studios in Kristianopel, Sweden with producer Magnus Sedenberg.

SPAWN OF POSSESSION is in the process of signing a new record deal, the details of which will be announced soon.

__._,_.___

Reply to sender | Reply to group | Reply via web post | Start a New Topic

Messages in this topic (1)

Recent Activity:

• New Members 2
• New Photos 1
• New Polls 1

Visit Your Group

MARKETPLACE

Stay on top of your group activity without leaving the page you're on - Get the Yahoo! Toolbar now.

---

Hobbies & Activities Zone: Find others who share your passions! Explore new interests.

---

Get great advice about dogs and cats. Visit the Dog & Cat Answers Center.

Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use

.

__,_._,___