ROCK REPORT! January 2012 Vocalist/guitarist Michael Sweet of Christian hard rockers STRYPER will perform his faith-based "storytellers" solo acoustic show in churches around the world this year. The performances are a combination of STRYPER classics, new solo material, and notable praise and worship songs. If you are interested in Michael Sweet performing at your church, please have your church leaders contact Dave Rose at Dave [at] DeepSouthEntertainment.com. View the promotional video below. Sweet entered the studio last month to begin recording his new solo album. He is also writing his first "book/autobiography," which he promises "will outline my life and give you a page-by-page layout of the early years, the ups and downs of being in a Christian rock band, behind-the-scenes stories of what really goes on 'behind the scenes' of a successful Christian rock band (good and bad), getting through the toughest battle of all, joining the legendary classic rock band BOSTON, and much much more." Sweet's last solo album, "Touched", was released on December 3, 2007 exclusively through Michael's official web site, MichaelSweet.com. The CD, which included reworked versions of four STRYPER songs, was not made available in stores. STRYPER recently released short audio clips of "Bleeding From Inside Out" and "Blackened", the two new tracks which will be included on a collection of re-recorded versions of the band's classic songs, to be released in the summer of 2012. The CD will contain a total of 16 cuts — two from "The Yellow And Black Attack", six from "Soldiers Under Command", six from "To Hell With The Devil", as well as the two aforementioned new tracks.   Progressive atmospheric death metallers 7 HORNS 7 EYES will release their debut full-length album, "Throes Of Absolution", in North America on April 24 via Century Media Records. The CD, which features a guest appearance by guitarist Jeff Loomis (ex-NEVERMORE), has been many months in the making. Commented 7 HORNS 7 EYES guitarist Aaron Smith: "7 HORNS 7 EYES has been on quite a journey since we embarked on recording this album, full of some big ups and downs — not the least of which being signed to Century Media/Basick Records, enduring a frontman change, re-recording all the album vocals, and sharing the stage with some great bands... and let me tell you — it feels amazing for us to know that we finally get to release this thing out into the world. Many of our fans have waited patiently for years for this record to drop, likely wondering at times if it ever even will, and we can't thank them enough for sticking by us. Here's to our fans and to 2012 being a great new year for 7 HORNS 7 EYES! See you on the road!" The track listing for the CD is as follows: 01. Divine Amnesty 02. Phumis: The Falsehood of Affliction 03. The Hill Difficulty 04. Cycle of Self 05. Delusions 06. A Finite Grasp of Infinite Disillusion 07. Vindicator 08. The Winnowing 09. Regeneration 7 HORNS 7 EYES previously released a digital single, entitled "Convalescence", which can be purchased on iTunes. In addition to the title track, the single also features two tracks from "Throes Of Absolution" ("Vindicator", "The Winnowing").   According to a post on BRING ME THE HORIZON's Facebook page, the British metalcore act will commence the songwriting sessions for its next studio album in late February. BRING ME THE HORIZON's third full-length CD, "There Is A Hell, Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is A Heaven, Let's Keep It A Secret", sold 20,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 17 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD also entered the official chart in the U.K. at position No. 13. The team at Studio Fredman in Gothenburg, Sweden (where BRING ME THE HORIZON recorded 2008's "Suicide Season") was again at the helm of the recording, this time bringing in electronic and programming authority KC Blitz to assist with the instrumental aspects of the album. The CD also includes appearances from various special guests, including Josh Franceschi of YOU ME AT SIX (on "Fuck"). Also featured on the album are Josh Scogin of THE CHARIOT (on "The Fox And The Wolf"), Sonny Moore (a.k.a. Skrillex) with electronica contributions and Canadian electro-pop starlet Lights (on "Crucify Me" and "Don't Go").   Swedish dark rockers KATATONIA have issued the following update: "It's been a busy time lately and the hard work has finally paid off. We have now thirteen songs in the bag, and hey, that means the recording of our new album can and shall begin. We're starting with the drums on Monday and we'll be once again work together with David Castillo (who engineered and mixed 'Night Is The New Day'), so even though we always strive to improve our productions, it should sound sweet that it's the same team putting this one together, just throw in some new gear, gadgets and toys with that! The recordings as well as the mix will be divided between Ghostward and our own HQ over the next month and we'll keep you posted on the progress. "So, what does the material sound like? Well, you got the lush textures, the moody melodies, the heavy parts, the progressive touches, the mellow bits and so on... Is it metal? Is it rock? Is it alternative? Is it singer/songwriter? Actually at times it feels like we're exploring territories where KATATONIA would be an orphan in the land of 'genres.' We can't tell where and to whom we belong and the goal is that it doesn't even matter, because before and above any genre there's first an acceptance level of music being good, or being bad. KATATONIA might be bad people, but we create good music. Amen. "We also hooked up again with keyboard maestro extraordinaire Frank Default and regardless of the internet speculations, he's not to 'blame' for the increased use of electronics since the last album. That part has been called for as we simply feel that it has grown to fill a hole in our sound inside, or alongside, the classic formation of instruments. In our world, we allow mellotrones, Hammonds, rhodes and strings to integrate with loops, distortion and filters to manifest in the katatonic maelstrom. It's our time to marry contemporary with vintage. Here's our ninth album to be delivered!"   According to a posting on RATT singer Stephen Pearcy's Facebook page, the band is continuing to write material for its new album, tentatively due this summer. Before then, "there could be a few surprise shows," he says. "Infestation", the first studio record in 11 years from RATT, sold around 14,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 30 on the Billboard 200 chart. The CD was released on April 20, 2010 via Loud & Proud. "Infestation" was produced by Michael "Elvis" Baskette (CHEVELLE, ALTER BRIDGE) at his Virginia studio, marking the first time the band has recorded outside of Los Angeles. The album is full of attitude and of reflection, cycling through a range of emotions. There are party anthems that RATT are known for alongside more contemplative, thoughtful tunes.   In August 2011, RHAPSODY OF FIRE guitarist Luca Turilli and keyboardist Alex Staropoli announced their decision to go their separate ways. Due to legal reasons, Staropoli will continue under the RHAPSODY OF FIRE name. Turilli, on the other hand, will make his future efforts available under the RHAPSODY moniker (RHAPSODY OF FIRE's original name), in which he will be joined by guitarist Dominique Leurquin, bassist Patrice Guers, and drummer Alex Holzwarth. A singer for the group has yet to be announced. LUCA TURILLI'S RHAPSODY will release a new album entitled "Ascending To Infinity" on June 29 via Nuclear Blast. The track listing for the CD is as follows: 01. Quantum X 02. Ascending To Infinity 03. Dante’s Inferno 04. Excalibur 05. Tormento E Passione 06. Dark Fate Of Atlantis 07. Fantasia Gotica 08. Clash Of The Titans 09. Of Michael The Archangel And Lucifer's Fall I. Alma Mundi II. Fatum Mortalis III. Ignis Divinus The album will have a running time of around 65 minutes. The limited-edition version of "Ascending To Infinity" will include two bonus tracks for 75 minutes of music, plus "many exclusive gifts," to be revealed very soon. LUCA TURILLI'S RHAPSODY will embark on the "Ascending To Infinity" headlining tour in the fall.   Former NEVERMORE guitarist Jeff Loomis has set "Plains Of Oblivion" as the title of his sophomore solo album, to be released on April 10 in North America (one day earlier in Europe) via Century Media Records. The CD was produced by Aaron Smith (7 HORNS 7 EYES) and features cover artwork by Colin Marks of Rain Song Design, who has previously worked with ALL SHALL PERISH, THE END and XERATH. "Plains Of Oblivion" track listing: 01. Mercurial (feat. Marty Friedman) 02. The Ultimatum (feat. Tony MacAlpine) 03. Escape Velocity 04. Tragedy And Harmony (feat. Christine Rhoades) 05. Requiem For The Living (feat. Attila Voros) 06. Continuum Drift (feat. Chris Poland) 07. Surrender (feat. Ihsahn) 08. Chosen Time (feat. Christine Rhoades) 09. Rapture 10. Sibylline Origin   After Jeff's departure from NEVERMORE and the release of his solo debut — 2008's "Zero Order Phase" — fans have been craving a new album. With a number of influential musicians appearing on the upcoming release, Loomis is more than ready to deliver.       7/31/11 San Francisco Bay Area metallers MACHINE HEAD will release their new album, "Unto The Locust", on September 27 via longtime label Roadrunner Records. The CD was recorded at JingleTown Studios in Oakland, with frontman Robb Flynn producing. The mixing duties were handled by Flynn and Juan Urteaga (EXODUS, SADUS, TESTAMENT, NIGHT RANGER, VICIOUS RUMORS, HEATHEN, VILE, CATTLE DECAPITATION). (Note: Due the recent passing of his ex-wife and manager, Colin Richardson [BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE, SLIPKNOT, FEAR FACTORY, TRIVIUM] was unable to oversee the mix.) "Unto The Locust" standard CD track listing: 01. I Am Hell (Sonata In C#) I) Sangre Sani II) I Am Hell III) Ashes To The Sky 02. Be Still And Know 03. Locust 04. This Is The End 05. Darkness Within 06. Pearls Before The Swine 07. Who We Are "Unto The Locust" special-edition CD track listing: 01. I Am Hell (Sonata in C#) I) Sangre Sani II) I Am Hell III) Ashes To The Sky 02. Be Still And Know 03. Locust 04. This Is The End 05. Darkness Within 06. Pearls Before The Swine 07. Who We Are 08. The Sentinel (JUDAS PRIEST cover) * 09. Witch Hunt (RUSH cover) * 10. Darkness Within (Acoustic) *   Nuclear Blast Records has set a March 9, 2012 European release date for the next studio album from Dutch symphonic metallers EPICA. The band has just entered Gate Studio in Wolfsburg, Germany under the watchful eye of Sascha Paeth to begin pre-production for the CD. EPICA's latest album, "Design Your Universe", landed at position No. 12 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. "This Is The Time", the latest single from EPICA, was released digitally on October 15, 2010. A video for the song, which was written for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), was filmed in March 2010 was in Hilversum, The Netherlands.   IRON MAIDEN frontman Bruce Dickinson received an honorary doctorate in music from Queen Mary university in London, England on Tuesday, July 19. He was presented by Professor David Baker of the Centre For Neuroscience And Trauma in honor of Dr. Dickinson's contribution to the music industry. Dickinson, 52, actually received a degree in history from the same college in 1979. His parents wanted him in the army, but he told them that he wanted to get a degree first. "That was what they wanted to hear so that was my cover story," he later said. "When I got down there, I started immediately finding and playing in bands." Multi-talented Dr. Dickinson is not only a musician and song-writer, author, film script writer and TV broadcaster, also a champion fencer, entrepreneur and commercial airline pilot. In 2006, Dr. Dickinson flew 200 U.K. citizens home from Lebanon during the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in his converted Boeing 757. Queen Mary is one of the U.K.'s leading research-focused universities, offering a broad range of degrees in humanities and social sciences; medicine and dentistry and science and engineering, with over 14,000 undergraduates, 2,000 postgraduate students and 3,000 staff.   Over the years, legendary singer Ronnie James Dio fronted some of the most popular/enduring hard rock/heavy metal bands of all time, including RAINBOW, BLACK SABBATH/HEAVEN & HELL, and DIO. But before all of these bands, there was ELF. Described as a "rock/honky tonk/blues band," ELF's forthcoming release, "And Before Elf… There Were Elves", will prove that Ronnie could easily handle other rock-related styles. Released on October 11 via the Niji Entertainment Group, "And Before Elf" will feature twelve previously unreleased tracks (all from 1971), comprised of both live in the studio and live on stage tracks. The album will feature a striking lenticular/3D/hologram cover on which, when you turn it, you will see two alternating images — Ronnie from the first ELF LP as well as a vintage group shot from 1971. And although these recordings are 40 years old, the sonic quality still passes the test, as longtime DIO engineer Wyn Davis remastered the original tapes. Formed in 1967 in Cortland, New York, THE ELVES also featured other members that would carve a niche for themselves in the hard rock world! Guitarist David "Rock" Feinstein (Dio's cousin) would go on to front THE RODS. ELF would last for a trio of albums, before Ronnie exited the group in 1975, to co-form RAINBOW with ex-DEEP PURPLE guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. Ronnie James Dio always had the golden touch as a masterful singer and frontman. And upon hearing "And Before Elf… There Were Elves", you'll discover he possessed his one-of-a-kind voice from the very beginning of his career.   "And Before Elf… There Were Elves" track listing: 07. Smile For Me Lady 08. You Felt The Same Way 09. Simple Man 10. Drown Me In The River 11. Cold Ramona 12. Little Queenie     "Temple Of Rock", the new album from legendary guitarist Michael Schenker, will be released on September 7 in Japan. The CD will arrive in the U.K, on September 26 The CD will reportedly feature guest appearances by the following musicians: * Rudolf Schenker (SCORPIONS) - Guitar * Pete Way (UFO) - Bass * Neil Murray (BLACK SABBATH, WHITESNAKE) - Bass * Chris Glen (MSG) - Bass * Simon Phillips (TOTO, THE WHO, JUDAS PRIEST) - Drums * Carmine Appice (KING KOBRA, VANILLA FUDGE, ROD STEWART, JEFF BECK, OZZY OSBOURNE, BLUE MURDER) - Drums * Chris Slade (AC/DC) - Drums * Don Airey (DEEP PURPLE, RAINBOW) - Keyboards * Michael Voss - Vocals * Myles Kennedy (ALTER BRIDGE, SLASH) - Vocals   "Temple Of Rock" track listing: 01. Intro 02. How Long 03. The End Of An Era 04. Saturday Night 05. Fallen Angel 06. Hangin' On 07. With You 08. Miss Claustrophobia 09. Scene Of Crime 10. Lovers Sinfony-Speed 11. Stormin' In 12. Speed 13. Before The Devil Knows You're Dead 14. How Long (guitar battle version) 15. Remember (bonus track for Japan)   Progressive metal giants DREAM THEATER will embark on a U.S. headlining tour in September with support from their Roadrunner Records labelmates TRIVIUM. Exact cities and dates will be announced soon. "On The Backs Of Angels", a brand new song from DREAM THEATER, is available for streaming at the Roadrunner Records YouTube channel. The track comes off the band's new album, "A Dramatic Turn Of Events", which is scheduled for release on September 13 via Roadrunner Records. The CD was mixed by Andy Wallace, who has previously worked with AVENGED SEVENFOLD, WHITE ZOMBIE, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, SEPULTURA, SLAYER and NIRVANA, among many others. TRIVIUM's new album, "In Waves", will be released on August 9 via Roadrunner Records. The follow-up to 2008's "Shogun" was recorded primarily at Paint It Black Studios in Orlando, Florida (with only the drums having been tracked at Audiohammer Studios in Sanford, Florida) with the production/mixing team of Colin Richardson (MACHINE HEAD, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE, SLIPKNOT, FEAR FACTORY) and Martin "Ginge" Ford, along with engineer Carl Bown.   Reunited '80s cult metal outfit SANCTUARY, which features in its ranks current NEVERMORE frontman Warrel Dane and bassist Jim Sheppard, has tapped Shannon Sharp, one of the moderators at Metalguitarist.org, to play second guitar for the band. Sharp will make his live debut with SANCTUARY at ProgPower USA XII, the annual progressive and power metal festival, which will be held September 14-17, 2011 at Center Stage in Atlanta, Georgia. In a recent interview, Dane stated about how SANCTUARY's reformation came about, "[SANCTUARY guitarist Lenny Rutledge and I] always talked to each other, but never really been friends again. And when the whole thing came about, that we were actually friends again, that's when we started talking more about doing it. And it definitely wasn't because NEVERMORE was imploding... which it was, at that point . . . We all just started talking with each other again. That was kind of the groundwork for it. And then we started saying, 'Well, gosh, let's make music again.' And my god! Lenny is writing some stuff that is so friggin great! Obviously, he's been bottling this up for years, because he really hasn't been doing anything... Well, he's had bands here and there. But he's really writing some great stuff that's really inspiring me, and making me fall in love with music again, with the creative process... everything that revolves around that. Really inspiring me to write really evil lyrics." Regarding the sound of SANCTUARY's upcoming studio album, tentatively titled "The Year The Sun Died", Dane said, "This record is not going to sound like the other two. It might sound very similar to the second one ('Into The Mirror Black'). It's definitely not going to sound like the first one, because we're all a little bit older and I can't come up with a c-clamp for a scrotum and a helium tank . . . It's not going to sound like the old ones... it's 2011. It's still gonna be that good, I think, and there's gonna be high-pitched screaming. I'm making sure of that. With NEVERMORE, high-pitched screaming was never really called for. You know, with SANCTUARY... of course it is." SANCTUARY played its first U.S. show in more than 20 years on January 21 at El Corazon in Seattle, Washington.   Los Angeles traditional heavy metal act WHITE WIZZARD will release its new album, "Flying Tigers", on September 19 via Earache Records. The CD features twelve new tracks and expands on the band's traditional heavy metal blueprint, with songs ranging from fist-pumping NWOBHM-style anthems, through the arena rock power of "Starchild", to a six-track epic concept piece featuring science-fiction and philosophical elements tied together with a progressive vibe. "Flying Tigers" features the core WHITE WIZZARD lineup of bassist, songwriter and founding member Jon Leon, drummer Giovanni Durst and studio vocalist Wyatt Anderson, who featured on the band's debut album, "Over The Top". The album was once again recorded with producer Ralph Patlan in Phoenix, Arizona. "Flying Tigers" track listing: 01. Fight To The Death 02. West L.A. Nights 03. Starchild 04. Flying Tigers 05. Night Train to Tokyo 06. Night Stalker 07. Fall of Atlantis 08. Blood on the Pyramids 09. Demons and Diamonds 10. Dark Alien Overture 11. War of the Worlds 12. Starman's Son   Swedish guitar legend and classical metal master Yngwie Malmsteen will make his triumphant return to North American stages with a fall headlining tour. In support of Malmsteen's latest release, "Relentless", the trek will kick off on Thursday, October 13 at New York City's Irving Plaza. Of the upcoming dates, Malmsteen commented, "I am very much looking forward to playing new pieces from 'Relentless', as well as Malmsteen classics. Fans can expect the unexpected...I raise the bar with every performance I do and this tour will be no different." The dates are as follows: Oct. 13 - New York, NY - Irving Plaza Oct. 15 - Silver Lake, MD - Fillmore Oct. 18 - Montreal, QC - Club Soda Oct. 19 - Toronto, ON - Phoenix Oct. 21 - Chicago, IL - House Of Blues Oct. 23 - Denver, CO - Bluebird Theatre Oct. 26 - San Francisco, CA - Fillmore Oct. 28 - Anaheim, CA - House Of Blues Oct. 29 - Los Angeles, CA - Club Nokia Nov. 01 - Houston, TX - House Of Blues Nov. 02 - Dallas, TX - House Of Blues Nov. 05 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Revolution In other Malmsteen news, baseball fans will soon get a treat as the guitar legend is scheduled to not only perform his explosive version of the national anthem, but he will also throw out the first pitch at the Florida Marlins home game against the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday, August 6. Malmsteen's new album, "Relentless", sold around 1,600 copies in the United States in its first week of release. Yngwie's previous CD, "Perpetual Flame", opened with around 2,000 units back in October 2008, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Released on November 22, 2010 via Malmsteen's own Rising Force Records, "Relentless" contains more than 60 minutes of brand new material and showcases the guitar great at his best with the signature virtuosity and mind-blowing technical speed for which he has come to be known. "Relentless" also features striking vocals from Tim "Ripper" Owens (JUDAS PRIEST, ICED EARTH), who first collaborated with Malmsteen on "Perpetual Flame" (Malmsteen's first album for the Rising Force Records label). Of the new album, Malmsteen commented, "The album title really says it all. The drive to surpass my own accomplishments can best be described with one word — relentless. After all these years of composing and playing music, I still am passionate about pushing myself to the limit — to the highest, most demanding level of playing possible."   Guitarist Christian Lasegue has left Colorado power metallers JAG PANZER in order to focus on "college studies." Lasegue, who says that the decision to exit the group "was not an easy one”, can be heard on JAG PANZER's "Chain Of Command" (2004) and "Scourge Of The Light" (2011) albums. JAG PANZER bassist John Tetley previously stated about Lasegue's contributions to "Scourge Of The Light", "There can be no question that [former JAG PANZER member] Chris Broderick is an amazing guitarist, and we were really happy for him that he got this chance with MEGADETH. But we feel that thanks to Christian Lasegue, JAG PANZER's classic, clearly more melodic power metal style has returned and that the fans will definitely be happy about this." Issued on February 28 in Europe and on March 8 in the U.S. via SPV/Steamhammer Records, "Scourge Of The Light" sold around 500 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD landed at position No. 117 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. "The Scourge Of The Light" was mixed by Jim Morris at Morrisound Studios in Florida and was mastered at New York's renowned Sterling Sound.   Massachusetts rockers STAIND will release their self-titled seventh album on September 13 via Atlantic Records. Produced by Johnny K – known for his work with 3 DOORS DOWN, DISTURBED, and SEVENDUST, not to mention his Grammy Award-nominated collaboration with STAIND, 2008's "The Illusion Of Progress" — and mixed by the legendary Chris Lord-Alge, the CD stands as STAIND's most intense and powerful work to date. The album is heralded by the new song, "Eyes Wide Open", as well as "Not Again", the first official single from "Staind". Singer/songwriter/guitarist Aaron Lewis recently described "Staind" as "the heaviest thing we have recorded in a long time. It's definitely one of the heaviest collections of songs that we have put together." "It's completely different than the last record," agreed guitarist Mike Mushok. "It's more of a throwback to where we came from. I definitely think it's fresh. It's a modern-sounding version of a heavy STAIND record. It's pretty cool." "Staind" has already earned advance acclaim from ARTISTdirect, which hailed the album as a "timeless masterpiece," praising Lewis' vocals for "reach(ing) heights that only legends can touch." "Staind" track listing: 01. Not Again 02. Eyes Wide Open 03. Failing 04. Wannabe 05. Throw It All Away 06. Now 07. The Bottom 08. Take a Breath 09. Paper Wings 10. Something To Remind You   "On Fire", a brand new song from Christian rockers P.O.D., is available for free download from the band's official web site. The track is expected to appear on the group's next album, tentatively due in the spring of 2012. The CD is currently being recorded with longtime producer Howard Benson, who has previously worked with THEORY OF A DEADMAN, DAUGHTRY and THREE DAYS GRACE, among many others. This summer music fans will see P.O.D. live on both the cross-country Rock Allegiance tour and at the annual Epicenter festival. P.O.D. earlier in the year filed a lawsuit against the band's record label, Tennessee-based INO Records, claiming that the company breached its contract by refusing to pay the group a $400,000 advance for its next album. According to the lawsuit, which was filed in Nashville, the group informed the label in November that it was ready to start recording the follow-up to 2008's "When Angels & Serpents Dance". The band claims INO refused to pay the option, explaining that P.O.D. had “‘abandoned’ its obligations (to INO) under the agreement." "When Angels & Serpents Dance" sold 34,000 in the United States in its first week of release in April 2008 to debut at position No. 9 on The Billboard 200 chart. The band's previous CD, "Testify", registered a first-week tally of just over 54,000 back in February 2006 to land at No. 9. "When Angels & Serpents Dance" featured guest appearances from the MARLEY SISTERS, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES singer Mike Muir and HELMET guitarist Page Hamilton.               7/15/11 Deutsche Welle is producing a 90-minute documentary called "Big City Nights - The Scorpions Story" for a 2013 release. The SCORPIONS are by far the most successful German rock band and one of the most successful international acts of all time. After more than 40 years and 2,000 concerts in 60 countries, they will make their final curtain call and step away from what has defined them for decades — their fans, their tours and their way of life. And along the way, the band will show once more what they do best: playing live. They will be performing more than 200 concerts in their final three-year tour and using the time to record a farewell CD with original and covered songs. The final farewell is still in the distant future – but all involved realize more and more that the last concert is on the horizon. "Big City Nights - The Scorpions Story" will accompany the SCORPIONS on their journey — from Thailand to Russia, Germany and Belgium to Brazil — and will highlight the true emotions of the fans, the crew and the band. The film will also take a look the band's beginnings with archive material from the most important moments in SCORPIONS' history — the happiness, sadness, setbacks and despair. Companions and friends like Jon Bon Jovi and Paolo Coelho describe the SCORPIONS "phenomena." In addition, the filmmakers will accompany them in the recording studio in Hannover and take a look at their private lives. "Big City Nights - The Scorpions Story" will be directed by the internationally renowned documentary and filmmaker Katja von Garnier. The documentary film will be premiered in early 2013 and be broadcast on DW-TV and Arte (Association Relative à la Télévision Européenne), a Franco-German TV network). A DVD will also be produced and made available.   Vocalist Fernando Ribeiro of Portuguese metallers MOONSPELL has issued the following update: "The new album proceeds and we will do a second pre-production with Benny Ricther in late July and Mike [Miguel Gaspar] will record drums for these songs, most likely in Germany. The rest of the album will be tracked by us and Tue Madsen during the month of August. Once the music is done, we will be able to give a better insight into this new concept and way of making things. Until then we count the days until we are able to match our big words with one of the most exciting collection of songs we ever worked in as composers." Ribeiro previously revealed that the new MOONSPELL album's initials are "A.N." and that it will tentatively surface in early 2012 through an as-yet-undetermined record label. MOONSPELL completed the "Sombra" (English translation: Shadow) tour of Portugal in November-December. The band performed acoustic and semi-acoustic versions of its best-known songs while backed by the Crystal Mountain Singers female choir and the Opus Diabolicum quintet composed of four cellists and a percussionist. MOONSPELL released a DVD, "Lusitanian Metal", in December 2008 in Europe via Century Media Records. The band's latest album, "Night Eternal", entered the national chart in Portugal at No. 3 and in Germany at No. 62. The follow-up to 2006's "Memorial" was recorded at Antfarm studios in Denmark with producer Tue Madsen (THE HAUNTED, DARK TRANQUILLITY, HALFORD).   Former NEVERMORE guitarist Jeff Loomis will enter the studio on August 23 to begin recording his second solo album. Dirk Verbeuren of SOILWORK will play drums on the follow-up to 2008's "Zero Order Phase", which will feature three or four tracks with vocals. Christine Rhoades, who previously collaborated with NEVERMORE on the "Dreaming Neon Black" CD, will sing on selected tracks. Special guest guitarists will be announced in a future update. The entire recording process will be videotaped. Shortly after wrapping up in the studio, Jeff will embark on a three-week tour of special Schecter guitar clinics in China, scheduled for October. Jeff was the lead guitar player and main songwriter of NEVERMORE, a band that has certainly made its mark on modern music by forging a unique sound that fuses different forms of metal that has given birth to an authentic and very influential style. His solo CD, "Zero Order Phase", took the #4 spot in a April 2009 Guitar World magazine's readers' poll in the "Best Shred Album Of The Year" category — a notable accomplishment when you consider the top three vote-getters, Paul Gilbert, Yngwie Malmsteen and Joe Satriani. Jeff has become one of his generation's most recognizable guitarists and the source of many of the last decade's best riffs. Jeff's complex shredding has been a central part of the progressive power guitar scene since 1992 and is responsible for some of the most awe-inspiring riffs modern metal has ever heard. Nearly every aspiring musician who has been listening to metal for the past 10 years or so has undoubtedly had the pleasure of hearing Jeff Loomis' progressive and technically superior playing. "Jeff epitomizes the very essence of modern guitar playing; there is a huge fan base that has waited a long time for this type of product from him," stated Joe Palombo, Executive Director of Rock House.   Swedish melodic metallers HAMMERFALL have been confirmed for next year's edition of the 70000 Tons Of Metal cruise, which will set sail from Miami, Florida to Cayman Islands on January 23, 2012 and return four days later. A total of 40 acts will perform on the cruise. The festival billing is shaping up as follows: AMORPHIS CORONER DARK FUNERAL ELUVEITIE GRAVE DIGGER HAMMERFALL IN EXTREMO MOONSORROW MY DYING BRIDE NIGHTWISH PESTILENCE SAMAEL STRATOVARIUS THERION TRISTANIA Ticket prices start at $666 plus $289 taxes and fees per person and include all onboard entertainment, non-alcoholic and non-carbonated beverages, all meals at the dining rooms, most on-board restaurants and even 24-hour room service.   LAMB OF GOD's Chris Adler has been named the #1 drummer in the "Metal" category in Modern Drummer magazine's 2011 Readers' Poll. The Readers' Poll results appear in the July 2011 issue of the magazine, available on newsstands now. 2011 Modern Drummer magazine readers' poll results in the "Metal" category: 01. Chris Adler (LAMB OF GOD) 02. Joey Jordison (SLIPKNOT) 03. Morgan Rose (SEVENDUST) 04. Gene Hoglan (FEAR FACTORY, TESTAMENT, DETHKLOK) 05. Brann Dailor (MASTODON)   Frontiers Records has set an August 23 North American release date (three days later in Europe) for Norwegian powerhouse vocalist Jorn Lande's (MASTERPLAN, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, ARK, THE SNAKES) "Live In Black" a 2-CD/DVD set. The concert was recorded on June 10, 2010 at the Sweden Rock Festival in front of more than 25,000 people. 2010 was a significant year in Jorn's career. Besides releasing a tribute album to his hero Ronnie James Dio, Jorn was invited to perform, alongside Glenn Hughes, with HEAVEN & HELL at their final concert, which was held in July 2010 at the High Voltage festival in Victoria Park, London, England. Just a few weeks earlier, Jorn appeared at the Sweden Rock Festival, in Sölvesborg and blew the crowd of more than 25,000 fans away. "The special thing with 'Live In Black' is that it captures a very rough, uncut and spontaneous moment in the band's history," says Jorn Lande. "It was a hectic day, with many interviews and several TV appearances and I also had to do a short speech and statement regarding the great Ronnie James Dio's untimely passing a few weeks earlier. The whole festival became in the spirit of Ronnie, and it was very moving to see everyone there, including the artists honoring his memory." A new original Jorn album is already in the works and scheduled for an early 2012 release. "Live In Black" will be exclusively released in a special luxury digipak 2-CD/DVD set. CD 1: 01. Road Of The Cross 02. Shadow People 03. Below 04. We Brought The Angels Down 05. Stormcrow 06. Spirit Black 07. The Inner Road 08. Man Of The Dark   CD 2: 01. Blacksong 02. Guitar Solo (Tore Moren) 03. Tungur Knivur 04. Guitar Solo (Tor Erik Myhre) 05. Rock And Roll Angel 06. Drum Solo 07. Soul Of The Wind 08. Are You Ready 09. War Of The World   DVD Contents: 01. Road Of The Cross 02. Shadow People 03. Below 04. We Brought The Angels Down 05. Stormcrow 06. Spirit Black 07. The Inner Road 08. Man Of The Dark 09. Blacksong 10. Guitar Solo (Tore Moren) 11. Tungur Knivur 12. Guitar Solo (Tor Erik Myhre) 13. Rock And Roll Angel 14. Drum Solo 15. Soul Of The Wind 16. Are You Ready 17. War Of The World   Bonus Material: * Song For Ronnie James (video clip) * Man Of The Dark (video clip)     Singer Simone Simons of Dutch symphonic metallers EPICA will join KAMELOT on their upcoming North American tour, which kicks off on August 26 and wraps on September 23. Simone — the longtime girlfriend of KAMELOT keyboardist Oliver Palotai — previously appeared on the song "The Haunting", which was included on KAMELOT's 2005 album "The Black Halo", and on the band's newest ballad, "House On A Hill", as well the title track of KAMELOT's latest album, 2010's "Poetry For The Poisoned". She has also made a number of live appearances with the group, including on KAMELOT's recent South American and European tours. Commented Simone, "I hope you come and pay a visit and have a great time." She adds, "I'll be singing 'The Haunting', a familiar song, and [I'm] just looking forward to having a good time with the KAMELOT family." KAMELOT's recently completed South American and European tours featured guest singer Fabio Lione of RHAPSODY OF FIRE following the departure of KAMELOT's longtime frontman, Roy Khan.     7/1/11 A new TRIVIUM song called "Dusk Dismantled" has been made available for streaming via the band's official YouTube channel. The track comes off the group's new album, "In Waves", which will be released on August 9 via Roadrunner Records. The follow-up to 2008's "Shogun" was recorded primarily at Paint It Black Studios in Orlando, Florida (with only the drums having been tracked at Audiohammer Studios in Sanford, Florida) with the production/mixing team of Colin Richardson (MACHINE HEAD, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE, SLIPKNOT, FEAR FACTORY) and Martin "Ginge" Ford, along with engineer Carl Bown. "In Waves" track listing: 01. Capsizing The Sea 02. In Waves 03. Inception Of The End 04. Watch The World Burn 05. Dusk Dismantled 06. Black 07. Built To Fall 08. Caustic Are the Ties That Bind 09. A Skyline's Severance 10. Forsake Not the Dream 11. Chaos Reigns 12. Of All These Yesterdays 13. Leaving This World Behind   "On The Backs Of Angels", a brand new song from progressive metal giants DREAM THEATER, has been made available for streaming via Roadrunner Records YouTube channel. The track comes off the band's new album, "A Dramatic Turn Of Events", which is scheduled for release on September 13 via Roadrunner Records. The CD was mixed by Andy Wallace, who has previously worked with AVENGED SEVENFOLD, WHITE ZOMBIE, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, SEPULTURA, SLAYER and NIRVANA, among many others. "I'm incredibly psyched with the way this album came out and can't wait to share it with everybody," guitarist John Petrucci, who also serves as the producer for "A Dramatic Turn Of Events", said. "We have poured our hearts and minds into the creation of this album," keyboardist Jordan Rudess offered. "All the life-changing events that surrounded us before, as well as during the whole process, fueled our desire to dig deep within ourselves and create the best music we possibly could." Vocalist James LaBrie said, "In the grand scheme of DREAM THEATER's career, the last several months have been such an incredibly positive, fulfilling and rewarding experience. The new songs and sound has never been so spirited or rejuvenating. I cannot wait for every one of our fans to sink their audio senses into this batch of tunes." "A Dramatic Turn Of Events" track listing: 01. On The Backs Of Angels 02. Build Me Up, Break Me Down 03. Lost Not Forgotten 04. This Is The Life 05. The Shaman's Trance 06. Outcry 07. Far From Heaven 08. Breaking All Illusions 09. Beneath The Surface   Canadian extreme metallers KATAKLYSM are nearly done with their highly successful world tour that has taken the band to the four corners of the world. The "Heaven's Venom" mania will continue this summer with the band's appearance at the Wacken Open Air festival this August. The band will headline the Brutal Assault festival in Czech Republic, perform at Metal Mean in Belgium, and play at the 20th anniversary of the Summer Breeze Open Air in Germany to an already sold-out audience of 30,000 metal fans! In other news, KATAKLYSM recorded the single "The Iron Will" last week in Montreal, Canada with guitarist/producer Jean-Francois Dagenais. It will be mixed this fall by Tue Madsen (THE HAUNTED, BEHEMOTH, MNEMIC) in Denmark and will be released with a video clip on iTunes one month before the release of the documentary DVD "The Iron Will: 20 Years Determined", which depicts the ups and downs of the band's long, turbulent career... one that made KATAKLYSM one of today's top names in extreme music. "The Iron Will" DVD will be released in the spring of 2012 and will include this year's live performance from the Summer Breeze festival. "Iconoclast", the ninth studio album from North America's progressive metal masterminds SYMPHONY X, sold more than 7,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 76 on The Billboard 200 chart. SYMPHONY X's previous CD, "Paradise Lost", opened with around 6,500 copies back in July 2007. "Iconoclast" was released in Europe on June 17 and in North America on June 21 via Nuclear Blast Records. Illustrator and film concept artist Warren Flanagan ("Watchmen", "The Incredible Hulk", "2012") is the talent behind the album artwork. He states, "The idea was to create imagery that was a little darker in tone to previous SYMPHONY X albums and to represent the overall theme of 'Iconoclast' into the artwork. The whole concept came from [SYMPHONY X guitarist] Mike [Romeo], who had a strong idea of what the cover should represent based off the music. I just ran with it. When the album's title was decided on, I focused the image based on the meaning of it. I also wanted to use the band's signature 'masks' but present them in a way that connected to the new album." SYMPHONY X founder and lead guitarist Michael Romeo has the following to say about Flanagan's art: "We worked with Warren on the last CD, 'Paradise Lost', and have a good relationship with him. When I talk to Warren about artwork ideas, a lot of times we end up making comparisons to films and movies. With the new CD, 'Iconoclast', the music and lyrics have a darker mechanical/technological theme, and I remember us talking about scenes from films like 'The Matrix' and 'Terminator'. From there, we sent him some songtitles and lyrics (songs like 'Dehumanized', 'Bastards Of The Machine', 'Electric Messiah') and just let Warren run with the ball. He has a great imagination and style, and he totally gets what we are trying to convey with the music." The track listing for the jewel-cased version of "Iconoclast" is: 01. Iconoclast 02. The End Of Innocence 03. Dehumanized 04. Bastards Of The Machine 05. Heretic 06. Children Of A Faceless God 07. Electric Messiah 08. Prometheus (I Am Alive) 09. When All Is Lost   "Sounds Of A Playground Fading", the tenth album from Swedish metallers IN FLAMES, sold around 14,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 27 on The Billboard 200 chart. IN FLAMES' previous CD, "A Sense of Purpose" (Koch) opened with 20,000 units to land at No. 28. This was slightly less than the opening tally of "Come Clarity" (Ferret), which shifted just under 24,000 copies in February 2006 to enter the chart at position No. 58. "Sounds Of A Playground Fading" has registered the following first-week chart positions so far: Germany: #1 Sweden: #2 Austria: #6 Norway: #10 Denmark: #25 USA: #27 France: #34 Belgium: #55 "Sounds Of A Playground Fading" was made available in the following formats in Europe: * CD Jewelcase * Special-edition CD+DVD (eight-panel digipak with pop-up feature + recording "Sounds Of A Playground Fading" DVD) * Limited deluxe box set CD+DVD (eight-panel pop-up digipak and 32-page deluxe booklet + recording "Sounds Of A Playground Fading" DVD, black textile belt with white print and silver buckle with black IN FLAMES logo, set of 3 buttons, 1 jigsaw puzzle, 6 postcards) * 2-LP gatefold, 180gr vinyl * Digital download 13 songs were laid down for the CD, which was recorded at the band's IF Studios in Gothenburg with engineer Roberto Laghi (HARDCORE SUPERSTAR, LOK, SONIC SYNDICATE).   SOULFLY has tapped metal veteran Tony Campos (STATIC-X, PRONG, ASESINO, MINISTRY, POSSESSED) as the group's new permanent bassist following the departure of Bobby Burns. Campos will make his live debut with SOULFLY on July 31 at the Lokerse festival in Lokeren, Belgium. In a November 18, 2010 interview with MetalSickness.com, Max stated about SOULFLY's split with Burns, "Well, we're still friends. It was really a friendly split." He continued, "SOULFLY is a very demanding band that demands of you to really... You've gotta be some kind of soldier to be in SOULFLY and it's really not an easy band to be in, and I'll be the first one to say that. We go to places a lot of people don't go, and we play places a lot of people don't play. But on the other side of the coin, we get to see the world and get to travel the world and meet many people and it's great life for a musician. It was my dream from the beginning to do this. And when somebody is not feeling the same way as us... "I always said from the beginning: If you're not 100 percent here with us, then you should not be here at all. And Bobby wasn't like that anymore; he was, really... It was a situation where nobody was even talking to him in the end, and he was not talking to anybody. It was really strange. I never had that in a band before like that. It was really kind of, like, 'What's going on with this guy?' And it got to the point where he started to drink a lot, too, and that was another problem. He started missing a lot of notes and not playing the bass so good live. "That's another thing that cannot happen; we have to make sure that we play good at night — a lot of people want to see us, so we've gotta be... If there's 10 people at the show or 10,000, I want SOULFLY to perform the same; I always that to the other guys. Even though it's hard sometimes — if there's less people there, if there's no vibe, or the vibe sucks, you still [get into] it. Those people there are your hardcore fans because they came here. Maybe there's only 100 of them, [but] they are 100 of your most hardcore fans that came to see you, so it's very special that you play the same. And Bobby was not feeling like that anymore, so it was better for us to say to him, 'We think it's better for you to go and we'll get somebody there that's gonna be hungry again to be in the band,' and that's what we're looking for right now."   Atlantic recording group STAIND has announced details of its hugely anticipated new album. "Staind" — which marks the iconic hard rock band's seventh studio album and first full-length release in three years — arrives in stores and at all digital retailers on September 13. Produced by Johnny K – known for his work with 3 DOORS DOWN, DISTURBED, and SEVENDUST, not to mention his Grammy Award-nominated collaboration with STAIND, 2008's "The Illusion Of Progress" — and mixed by the legendary Chris Lord-Alge, "Staind" stands as STAIND's most intense and powerful work to date. The album is heralded by the new song, "Eyes Wide Open", which can be heard below. "Not Again", the first official single from "Staind", will then impact multi-format rock radio outlets nationwide in mid-July. Singer/songwriter/guitarist Aaron Lewis recent described "Staind" as "the heaviest thing we have recorded in a long time. It's definitely one of the heaviest collections of songs that we have put together." "It's completely different than the last record," agrees guitarist Mike Mushok. "It's more of a throwback to where we came from. I definitely think it's fresh. It's a modern-sounding version of a heavy STAIND record. It's pretty cool." "Staind" has already earned advance acclaim from ARTIST direct, which hailed the album as a "timeless masterpiece," praising Lewis' vocals for "reach(ing) heights that only legends can touch." In other news, STAIND will perform at KROQ's annual rock festival, Epicenter 2011, slated for September 24 at Irvine, California's Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre. "Staind" track listing: 01. Not Again 02. Eyes Wide Open 03. Failing 04. Wannabe 05. Throw It All Away 06. Now 07. The Bottom 08. Take a Breath 09. Paper Wings 10. Something To Remind You   Finnish/Swedish symphonic metallers NIGHTWISH have been confirmed for next year's edition of the 70000 Tons Of Metal cruise, which will set sail from Miami, Florida to Cayman Islands on January 23, 2012 and return four days later. A total of 40 acts will perform on the cruise. The festival billing is shaping up as follows: AMORPHIS CORONER ELUVEITIE GRAVE DIGGER IN EXTREMO MOONSORROW MY DYING BRIDE NIGHTWISH PESTILENCE SAMAEL STRATOVARIUS THERION TRISTANIA Ticket prices start at $666 plus $289 taxes and fees per person and include all onboard entertainment, non-alcoholic and non-carbonated beverages, all meals at the dining rooms, most on-board restaurants and even 24-hour room service. For more information, visit www.70000tons.com.   George Lynch, the former lead guitarist for DOKKEN and leader of his own rock bands LYNCH MOB and SOULS OF WE, will release his eleventh solo album in nearly twenty years, "Kill All Control", on July 19 via Rocket Science, Inc. What began as a follow-up to the SOULS OF WE debut, "Let The Truth Be Known", George quickly realized the project was taking on a new direction with the addition of POWERMAN 5000 drummer Adrian Ost. While writing with SOULS OF WE singer London LeGrand (BRIDES OF DESTRUCTION), George noted, "The creative juices flowed and we wrote most of the CD in 10 days." "Kill All Control" combines many of Lynch's varied styles and histories, including a reflection back to earlier days which spawned a follow-up to the instrumental DOKKEN track "Mr. Scary", called "Son Of Scary", featuring Fred Coury of CINDERELLA on drums. Additional guests on the album include a variety of known singers. Will Marten (EARSHOT), Marq Torien (BULLETBOYS), and Keith St. John (MONTROSE) all joined in on the new album in which George hopes he was able "to create an eclectic listening experience for my fans." "Kill All Control" track listing: 01. Kill All Control 02. Brank New Day 03. Done 04. Flys Wall 05. Wicked Witch 06. Man on Fire 07. Voices In My Head 08. Resurrect 09. Here Comes The Sun 10. My Enemy 11. Son Of Scary In 2009, George reformed LYNCH MOB and released "Smoke And Mirrors", which resulted in an extended tour and the reuniting of the original LYNCH MOB lineup, to the delight of many fans. LYNCH MOB is currently also working on a new album, due out later this year. Lynch came to fame in the 1980s through his work as the lead guitarist in the band DOKKEN. DOKKEN had a string of successful platinum albums, including "Under Lock And Key" and "Back For The Attack", both of which featured Lynch's inventive and intricate guitar work.   San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal veterans TESTAMENT last week entered the studio with British producer Andy Sneap (MEGADETH, ARCH ENEMY, NEVERMORE, MACHINE HEAD) to begin pre-production on their new album for a late 2011 release. Due to a "serious injury," drummer Paul Bostaph is unable to take part in the new CD recordings but will rejoin TESTAMENT for future touring activities. Playing drums on the follow-up to 2008's "The Formation Of Damnation" will be Gene "The Atomic Clock" Hoglan (ex-DARK ANGEL, ex-STRAPPING YOUNG LAD, FEAR FACTORY, DETHKLOK), with LAMB OF GOD's Chris Adler set to make a special guest appearance on a couple of bonus tracks. In a new online posting, TESTAMENT bassist Greg Christian states, "Eric [Peterson, guitar], Gene, Andy and I have been in the studio jammin' on the new songs since last week and today is the last day of pre-production. Gene starts recording the drum tracks tomorrow. It's coming to be, and it's heavy as shit." Hoglan previously played drums on TESTAMENT's 1997 album, "Demonic", but didn't stick around long enough to do any touring with the band. Regarding the musical direction of the new TESTAMENT material, the band's vocalist, Chuck Billy, stated in a 2010 interview, "The new album will most likely be a culmination of 'The Gathering' [1999] and 'The Formation of Damnation', but we're definitely not going to forget who we are or our roots. I think we've found a comfortable spot in our writing style." Back On Black, which specializes in vinyl editions of classic metal albums and is dedicated to providing top-quality releases for record collectors and metal fans worldwide, will re-release TESTAMENT's first four albums — "The Legacy", "The New Order", "Practice What You Preach" and "Souls Of Black" — on June 27 on deluxe limited-edition180-gram vinyl: * "The Legacy" (originally released in 1987) (purple vinyl) * "The New Order" (originally released in 1988) (clear vinyl) * "Practice What You Preach" (originally released in 1989) (white vinyl) * "Souls Of Black" (originally released in 1990) (blue vinyl)   Dayton, Ohio Christian metalcore band THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA has set "Dead Throne"; as the title of its new album, due in the U.S. on September 13 via Ferret Music and one day earlier internationally through Roadrunner Records. The follow-up to 2009's critically acclaimed "With Roots Above and Branches Below" was recorded at Zing Studios in Massachusetts with producer Adam Dutkiewicz (KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, TIMES OF GRACE). Additional synth/key production was handled by Joey Sturgis (who has worked on all of the THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA records so far) with further assistance on the vocal production by Jeremy McKinnon (A DAY TO REMEMBER). A new webisode featuring behind-the-scenes footage from the "Dead Throne"; recording process can be viewed below. Also available is a stream of the new THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA song entitled "Born to Lose" (courtesy of AltPress.com). Commented THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA vocalist Mike Hranica: "The new record contains the heavy aspects of the 'Zombie' EP meshed with the melody of the full-lengths. 'Born to Lose' captures some of those elements and serves as a comprehensive preview to the album. By all means, I'd call it our most emotional, well-written album to date." The band will head out on the road this summer on the Vans Warped Tour, performing on the festival's Teggart Main Stage. THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA's most recent release, last summer's five-track conceptual "Zombie" EP, sold around 25,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 10 on The Billboard 200 chart.   SYSTEMATIC, the Bay Area hard rockers and former protégés of METALLICA's Lars Ulrich, will play a one-off headlining show on August 20 at Slim's in San Francisco. The concert will celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the "Somewhere In Between" album and will feature the band's original lineup of Tim Narducci, Adam Ruppel, Nick St Denis and Phillip Bailey. "Somewhere In Between" was produced/engineered by the team of Peter Collins (QUEENSRŸCHE, BON JOVI) and Paul Northfield (RUSH, MARILYN MANSON) in Nashville during the summer and fall of 2000. The sessions married Narducci and Ruppel's well-crafted songs and guitar work with Bailey and St Denis' punching rhythms, resulting in an album that yielded a Top 20 radio hit with "Beginning Of The End" and which remains high among the list of favorites of many rock and metal fans. "So much time has passed, and we've all stayed in touch," Narducci says. "When the four of us got into a room again to play, the vibe really felt right and we were all excited about doing this." The third signing to Lars Ulrich's imprint label and the only band on the roster to share any similarity in sound to his own group, SYSTEMATIC was elevated out of San Francisco and on to the national stage, supporting rock and metal stalwarts like METALLICA, SLAYER, STONE TEMPLE PILOTS, STAIND, DISTURBED and GODSMACK, among others. SYSTEMATIC disbanded in 2004 after supporting the release of "Pleasure To Burn".   Orion Books has announced that the photographic documentary compiled by official IRON MAIDEN photographer John McMurtrie entitled "On Board Flight 666" will be published in the U.K. on October 20. John's unrestricted access has allowed him to capture exclusive images and moments both onstage and off, in over 300 photographs accompanied by his personal insights and anecdotes in more than 250 glossy pages of photographs "On Board Flight 666" charts the extraordinary journey of IRON MAIDEN in their specially customized Boeing 757, piloted by lead singer and airline captain Bruce Dickinson. Travelling across five continents, twice around the globe to undertake two world tours, John's pictorial odyssey maps their progress from Ed Force One's historic take-off in January 2008 on the groundbreaking "Somewhere Back In Time Tour" through to 2010/11's "The Final Frontier" world tour in support of the band's fifteenth studio album to date, "The Final Frontier" (August 2010), which reached No. 1 in at least 28 countries. With a personal foreword by Bruce Dickinson, "Onboard Flight 666" takes you up close with IRON MAIDEN as they circumnavigate the planet to play to their loyal legion of fans giving an inside look into what makes this band so special and so adventurous in their unique touring plans. The hard back version of "On Board Flight 666" is available now to pre-order on Amazon. Details of overseas editions will be announced when known.   SOULMOTOR bassist Brian Wheat, along with lead vocalist, songwriter and video director Darin Wood have documented a drug deal gone bad "Down In Mexico" by being in the "Wrong Place …At The Right Time". The fictitious drug deal and more are stories set to song are all part of SOULMOTOR's upcoming CD, "Wrong Place At The Right Time!", available on iTunes this coming Monday, June 28. Wheat and Wood have created a cast of characters, including the more-than-shady Reefer-Man Sam who appears on both "Down In Mexico" and the title track. This low-life has double-crossed the FBI, double-crossed the mob and has even double-crossed his mom. A knife fight results in murder and Sam heads south of the border with a suitcase full of cash, a .45 in the glove box and a few tabs of mescaline playing pinball in his brain. Along the way, Sam picks up more bad news in a tight dress by the name of Lola De La Mota and by the time he reaches Mexico, he's seduced by The Chick With No Name, ambushed by the cops and gets his own music video directed by none other than SOULMOTOR lead singer Darin Wood. Wheat produced and engineered "Wrong Place …At The Right Time!" at his J Street Recorders that turned out to be the very last production ever done within the walls of the studio. A fire in September of 2010 destroyed J Street. Wheat is in the process of building a new studio, tentatively called The Trax. SOULMOTOR's release is on Wheat's newly formed custom label, Good Seed Music, with partner Brian Clausman, a career-long marketing pro with a history of success stories with some of the leading brands in the U.S. Many years prior, Clausman's dad owned a management company that signed three artists including … TESLA. In addition to SOULMOTOR, Good Seed's roster currently includes the pop/rock band BUILT BY STEREO and legendary photographer and published photojournalist Ross Halfin. The controversial NC-17 rated version of the video for "Down in Mexico" is available now for viewing on SoulMotor.com. An R-rated version will be available shortly for purchase on iTunes. Wood created the SOULMOTOR CD package, accompanying series of artwork and cast of characters related to the SOULMOTOR project. Some of the characters have already been introduced to SOULMOTOR's followers on the band's Facebook page, with more to be rolled out in the coming weeks. Wood has over 15 years experience writing, directing, producing and editing film and video projects, as well as experience in exhibition. His background includes cartooning and graphic design, and for your horror film fanatics, Darin is a writer, director and producer of horror films and writes all of the stage shows for the Trash Film Orgy Film Festival. While many are familiar with Wheat and his TESLA roots, SOULMOTOR is a departure, with one journalist describing SOULMOTOR as "pounding riff-rock" along with a "crushing rhythm section." SOULMOTOR was born under a full autumn moon in the city of Sacramento, California, home of Wheat, Wood and the former home of Arnold Schwarzenegger.   "Sandstorm", a brand new song from Regina, Saskatchewan-based Canadian extreme progressive metallers INTO ETERNITY, will be released in July via iTunes. INTO ETERNITY in March announced the addition of drummer Brian Newbury from Edmonton, Alberta. Newbury is known in the western Canadian metal scene as a member of Edmonton-based DEATH TOLL RISING. INTO ETERNITY has been writing new material as a follow-up to the well-received 2008 Century Media release "The Incurable Tragedy". Guitarist Tim Roth commented back in March about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the new CD, "This will be our sixth album, so we have to make sure all the songs are perfect. I have over 60 minutes of music demoed now on my iPod, so things are slowly getting done. The music is all there now, so the rough arrangement of the songs has started."   6/25/11 Former SKID ROW singer Sebastian Bach will release his new solo album, "Kicking & Screaming", on September 27 via Frontiers Records. The CD was produced by Bob Marlette (BLACK SABBATH, SHINEDOWN, ATREYU, FILTER) and features young virtuosic guitarist Nick Sterling and drum pro Bobby Jarzombek (HALFORD, RIOT, ICED EARTH). The follow-up to 2007's "Angel Down" was mastered at Precision Mastering in Los Angeles with Tom Baker. In a brand new posting on Facebook, Bach writes, "Wow, I am SO BLOWN AWAY by the amazing artwork of Richard Villa! I have just approved the album cover of 'Kicking & Screaming' and I am happy to say I have seen the wildest album cover this year... and it's ours, haha!! "I am so proud of the music on this CD and now I can say I'm equally proud of the cover art. "So many covers these days are just a headshot and a logo, zzzzzz. The album cover is a lost art and I am so glad Richard Villa knows how to create art that is as heavy as rock 'n' roll can be!! Can't wait for all of you to see it!" Sebastian previously stated that the "Kicking & Screaming" cover would feature "the hottest model in the land" — presumably referring to his new girlfriend, 25-year-old model Minnie Gupta — "and reflect the lyrics as well as the brutality of the music. It's gonna be rock 'n' roll to the 9th degree — very heavy, cool, trippy and nightmare-ish." Bach stated about his new solo material, "This CD will follow along the lines of 'Skid Row', 'Slave To The Grind', 'Subhuman Race' and 'Angel Down'. If you like rockin' guitar riffs, high-energy songs and performances, deadly drums of doom, and ear-shattering screams, we got your rock right here!" He also described the songs as "heavy, interesting, classic sounding, modern sounding, completely rock 'n' roll — just how we like it!" Bach and his crew have been keeping busy playing selected tour dates nationwide, including recent appearances at major festivals M3 and Rocklahoma, and will continue to tour throughout the summer. Fans can expect Bach classics, as well as a sneak preview of material from the forthcoming album.             A PERFECT CIRCLE guitarist Billy Howerdel says that the band is close to finishing up a new song which it will play on the band's upcoming summer North American tour. As for whether the yet-to-be-titled track will lead to a full album's worth of material, Howerdel told The Pulse Of Radio that he doesn't see a full-length record happening. "I like records," he said. "I still like records. I have great memories of having anticipation of hearing a whole album and ingesting it slowly and drinking it all in. To me, I have desires of making a record, but it just doesn't seem like people are interested. It just seems that everyone likes to digest things much quicker and have less patience." A PERFECT CIRCLE will tour North America for the first time in six years this summer. The tour kicks off next Wednesday (June 29) in Portland, Oregon. These will be the band's first live dates since a mini-tour they did last fall, in which they played each of their three studio albums over the course of three nights in five cities. The 2010-2011 lineup of A PERFECT CIRCLE includes singer Maynard James Keenan, Howerdel, drummer Josh Freese, former SMASHING PUMPKINS guitarist James Iha and bassist Matt McJunkins. Freese announced last month that he will not be performing with the band on its summer tour. Freese issued a statement at his official web site in which he said his decision was "maybe the hardest . . . I've ever had to make professionally and it hasn't been easy on me. I've been looking forward to APC reforming for years now and the timing just couldn't have been worse. I'd already committed the time to WEEZER and I am a man of my word. As much as I hate to have to miss the APC tour there wasn't a whole lot I could do about it." Jeff Friedl of ASHES DIVIDE and PUSCIFER will fill in on drums for A PERFECT CIRCLE until Freese returns. A PERFECT CIRCLE currently does not have a record deal.   KILL DEVIL HILL — the new band featuring Vinny Appice (HEAVEN & HELL, BLACK SABBATH, DIO) on drums, Rex Brown (DOWN, PANTERA) on bass, Mark Zavon (RATT, W.A.S.P., 40 CYCLE HUM) on guitar and Jason "Dewey" Bragg (PISSING RAZORS) on vocals — has scheduled the following dates: Aug. 08 - Las Vegas @ The Crown Theater (Rio Casino) Aug. 10 - Hollywood @ Whisky A Go Go KILL DEVIL HILL made its live debut on April 29 at the Key Club in Hollywood, California. The group played a 30-minute set which was previously described as "an introduction to what's to come!" A video interview with Brown and Appice conducted by Metal Assault at the Key Club can be viewed below. KILL DEVIL HILL recently finished demoed around 10 songs, which, according to Appice, sound "like a cross between BLACK SABBATH, ALICE IN CHAINS and a little bit of LED ZEPPELIN thrown in. It's heavy, but with a lot of cool hooks and melodic overtones, too." The members of KILL DEVIL HILL previously stated about their songwriting and recording approach, "We are going old school meets new; no sample drums here!!"   Richmond, Virginia metallers LAMB OF GOD have entered the studio with producer Josh Wilbur to begin recording their new album for a tentative late 2011 release. In a recent online posting, drummer Chris Adler stated about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the new album, "We have been busting our butts full-time for months writing the new record. It's fantastic so far, to say the very least." Speaking to the Artisan News Service earlier in the year, Adler revealed that "because of the amount of time we've spent on the road and the [rest of the] guys spending time alone in hotel rooms, there's a lot more material coming into the process than we've had in the past. Normally, we would tour, then get together and write. But the guitar players, with the technology changing and improving, have been able to do a lot on their own coming in, so there's a lot more ideas than we've ever had, which is great. Normally, it takes... We weed through all the stuff and it takes a really long time to get to what everybody agrees on. Now we've got a plethora of material, so I think it's gonna be... It's always an interesting process, but I think we're coming a little more armed this time." When asked if 2009's "Wrath" — which was also produced by Wilbur — set the standard for what fans can expect to hear on LAMB OF GOD's next album, Adler said, "In the past, my perspective has always been very reactive to what the immediate previous album was, as in 'Wrath' was more aggressive than [2006's] 'Sacrament' and 'Sacrament' was more produced than [2004's] 'Ashes Of The Wake', and those were choices that we made. But this time I feel that with all the records we've covered the bases and creatively gotten a lot of stuff out, grown as a band, evolved, made interesting choices along the way, and I think, this time, there's no real... I can't speak for [the rest of] the band, but myself, I'm not really particularly reactive to 'Wrath' in that I was very happy with the way 'Wrath' came out. So I feel a little more free coming into this album to not be so driven in one particular direction. I think we might be a little more wide open this time." "Wrath" landed at position No. 2 on The Billboard 200 chart back in February 2009 with first-week sales of over 67,000 copies. LAMB OF GOD performed at the sixth edition of D-TOX Rockfest on June 17 in Montebello, Quebec, Canada. This marked the group's first and only 2011 appearance.   Sweden's KATATONIA has issued the following update: "Some of you might have missed that there is a KATATONIA dedicated iPhone/iPad app to grab. All features that Katatonia.com have can now also be found in the app and there's also a smooth integration between Facebook and Twitter accounts. Furthermore, this free app will be expanded on the following areas: songs (full songs to be on rotation), videos (hooked up directly to our YouTube account), photos (hooked up directly to our Flickr account), tour dates (all upcoming shows with ticket links) and maybe most important of all — the very latest news of the band delivered to you as they happen. So, if you haven't grabbed it already, go ahead! Remember it's free to keep up with all the latest updates in the world of KATATONIA directly in your iPhone." KATATONIA's May 6, 2011 concert at Koko in London, England was professionally filmed/recorded for a future DVD release. The show, which was part of the 20th-anniversary "Last Fair Day Gone Night Tour 2011", saw the band perform two sets. The first set consisted of a performance of the entire "Last Fair Deal Gone Down" album front to back. The second set was a mixture of carefully picked songs from the band's extensive catalogue. KATATONIA released special editions of the critically acclaimed albums "Last Fair Deal Gone Down" and "Night Is The New Day" on April 25. The 10th-anniversary edition "Last Fair Deal Gone Down" was presented in deluxe mediabook packaging, as a two-disc edition containing tracks from the now hard-to-find singles "Teargas" and "Tonight's Music". The reissue of 2009's "Night Is The New Day" includes bonus tracks from the "The Longest Year" EP. Both titles were presented with newly updated cover artwork courtesy of original artist Travis Smith.     6/21/11 FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH has recruited Chris Kael as the band's new bassist following the recent departure of Matt Snell. Originally from Kentucky, Kael moved to FIVE FINGER's home base of Las Vegas to pursue playing music full-time. Regarding his new gig, Kael said, "Never give up on your dreams — I'm living proof that with hard work and a little bit of luck, they can come true. FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH is putting the finishing touches on its third album, which is expected to include 14 songs. The CD is being recorded with producer Kevin Churko, who helmed Ozzy Osbourne's 2010 effort "Scream". FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH guitarist Zoltan Bathory told Harddrive Radio in a recent interview that Snell was fired as far back as December.  He also stressed that Matt "wasn't a writing member" so his absence from the new album recording sessions would not affect the band's sound in any way. FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH is working on the set in Las Vegas, which four of its five current members call home, and Zoltan Bathory told The Pulse Of Radio living and working in Sin City can be distracting. "Writing a record is not like a nine-to-five job," he said. "It's a 24/7 job, you know. Once you're done with the studio, you have to go home and we still, you know, keep writing.  So that's how it gets distracting because, you know, you kind of — you worked already whole day, you want to relax, but in the second you want to relax for a second, Las Vegas will get you.  You know, there's always something going on and you have to force yourself to not be distracted." The band tentatively plans to release the disc in the first week of September. The new CD will follow up 2009's "War Is The Answer", which has sold 519,000 copies since its release. "War Is The Answer" included the singles "Walk Away", "Bad Company" and "No One Gets Left Behind".   California rockers TESLA will release "Twisted Wires And The Acoustic Sessions" on July 12. The album will feature six songs that were recorded back in 2005 at bassist Brian Wheat's J Street Recorders studio — which also serve as the last recordings with original member Tommy Skeoch — and six newly recorded tracks, including acoustic remakes of songs from TESLA's entire catalog and two brand new songs, "Second Street" and "Better Off Without You". TESLA released a live album, "Alive In Europe!", in Europe on April 23, 2010 via Frontiers Records. TESLA's latest studio album, "Forever More", sold more than 16,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 33 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD was released on October 7, 2008 on Tesla Electric Company Recordings. The European version of the album, which was made available on November 7 via Frontiers Records, contains two bonus tracks not found on the American version. For "Forever More", TESLA reunited with producer Terry Thomas, who was behind the boards for the band's 1994 gold-certified "Bust A Nut" album, and engineered by Michael Rosen who worked with TESLA on "Into The Now".             ORPHANED LAND's December 9 and December 10, 2010 concerts at Reading 3 in Tel Aviv, Israel were professionally filmed and recorded for an upcoming DVD release. The Israeli progressive folk metal masters were joined at both shows by Steven Wilson of PORCUPINE TREE. Also appearing on December 9 was PARADISE LOST guitarist Greg Mackintosh; famous Israeli singer Yehuda Poliker performed with ORPHANED LAND on December 10. Poliker reportedly inspired the band to choose the name ORPHANED LAND from the lyrics of one of his songs. ORPHANED LAND's latest album, "The Never Ending Way Of ORwarriOR", sold around 600 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD landed at No. 80 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. "The Never Ending Way Of ORwarriOR" was released in Europe on January 25, 2010. Mixed by Steven Wilson, who is also responsible for several keyboard parts on the new CD, the effort — which was made available in the U.S. on February 9 via Century Media Records — is a sophisticated concept album which takes ORPHANED LAND's unique brand of exotic, heavy music to soaring new heights in terms of complexity and catchiness. The CD's artwork was created by Zen Two and Native.   JUDAS PRIEST will embark on a North American tour in the fall with support from THIN LIZZY and BLACK LABEL SOCIETY. The trek — which was announced last month during a press conference at the Renaissance Hotel at Highland and Hollywood in Los Angeles, California — will kick off on October 12 in San Antonio, Texas and conclude in early December. Newly added JUDAS PRIEST North American tour dates: Oct. 27 - Sleep Train Pavilion, Concord, CA Nov. 08 - US Bank Arena, Cincinnati, OH Nov. 09 - Prairie Capital Convention Center, Springfield, IL Nov. 10 - The Family Arena, St. Louis, MO Nov. 15 - Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH Nov. 16 - The Armory, Rochester, NY Nov. 22 - Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON Nov. 23 - Colisee Pepsi Arena, Quebec City, QC Nov. 24 - Bell Centre, Montreal, QC Nov. 26 - Sovereign Center, Reading, PA Nov. 30 - 1-800-ASK-GARY Amphitheatre, Tampa Dec. 01 - Bayfront Park Amphitheatre, Miami Dec. 03 - Hard Rock Biloxi Hotel & Casino, Biloxi 6/20/11 San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal veterans TESTAMENT have just entered the studio with British producer Andy Sneap (MEGADETH, ARCH ENEMY, NEVERMORE, MACHINE HEAD) to begin recording their new album for a late 2011 release. Due to a "serious injury," drummer Paul Bostaph is unable to take part in the new CD recordings but will rejoin TESTAMENT for future touring activities. Playing drums on the follow-up to 2008's "The Formation Of Damnation" will be Gene "The Atomic Clock" Hoglan (ex-DARK ANGEL, ex-STRAPPING YOUNG LAD, FEAR FACTORY, DETHKLOK), with LAMB OF GOD's Chris Adler set to make a special guest appearance on a couple of bonus tracks. Hoglan previously played drums on TESTAMENT's 1997 album, "Demonic", but didn't stick around long enough to do any touring with the band. Regarding the musical direction of the new TESTAMENT material, the band's vocalist, Chuck Billy, stated in a 2010 interview, "The new album will most likely be a culmination of 'The Gathering' [1999] and 'The Formation of Damnation', but we're definitely not going to forget who we are or our roots. I think we've found a comfortable spot in our writing style." Back On Black, which specializes in vinyl editions of classic metal albums and is dedicated to providing top-quality releases for record collectors and metal fans worldwide, will re-release TESTAMENT's first four albums — "The Legacy", "The New Order", "Practice What You Preach" and "Souls Of Black" — on June 27 on deluxe limited-edition180-gram vinyl: * "The Legacy" (originally released in 1987) (purple vinyl) * "The New Order" (originally released in 1988) (clear vinyl) * "Practice What You Preach" (originally released in 1989) (white vinyl) * "Souls Of Black" (originally released in 1990) (blue vinyl) TESTAMENT's last album, 2008's "The Formation Of Damnation", was reissued on February 23, 2010 in a deluxe tour edition. The two-disc edition includes the band's comeback album plus bonus footage of classic tracks and more.   Finnish melodic death metallers INSOMNIUM have set "One For Sorrow" as the title of their new album, due in October via Century Media Records. The CD was recorded in Gothenburg, Sweden with sound engineer Daniel Antonsson (also bassist in DARK TRANQUILLITY and guitarist in DIMENSION ZERO) and at Fantom studios in Tempere, Finland, where the album is also currently being mixed by Samu Oittisen. INSOMNIUM's latest CD, "Across The Dark", entered the official chart in the band's home country at position No. 5. The album was also recorded at Fantom studio (where the group previously recorded its 2006 LP, "Above the Weeping World").   CHICKENFOOT, the rock supergroup featuring former VAN HALEN singer Sammy Hagar and bassist Michael Anthony, guitarist Joe Satriani and RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS drummer Chad Smith, has finished mixing its sophomore album, which is expected to arrive before the end of the year. Anthony states about the CD via his Facebook page, "It's a lot heavier than the first record and I can't wait to get it out there! The first single should hit the airwaves sometime this summer with the full enchilada to follow in the fall." The new CHICKENFOOT CD's initial recording sessions were overseen by Mike Fraser, a Canadian producer, engineer and mixer who has previously worked with AC/DC, METALLICA and AEROSMITH. Song titles set to appear on the album include "No Change", "Who's Next", "Astral Years" and "I Ain't Got You, I Got The Two By Blues". Hagar revealed in March that CHICKENFOOT's second album will be titled Chickenfoot IV" (Four). He said, "It's the working title but I guarantee it'll stick." He added, "We were all like, 'What are we going to call the second record? Well, 'Chickenfoot II' (Two). And we're going, 'We can't call it 'Chickenfoot II', that's too obvious.' And pretty soon [drummer] Chad Smith, I'm sure was the guy, he's going, 'Let's call it 'Chickenfoot IV'. And we all cracked up and said, 'Right on, that's it.' And we haven't talked about it since." CHICKENFOOT drummer Chad Smith recently confirmed that he won't tour with CHICKENFOOT this year in support of the band's second album due to scheduling conflicts with his main group, the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS. CHICKENFOOT's self-titled debut disc came out in June 2009 and was certified gold for sales of more than 500,000 copies.   LEAVES' EYES' latest album, "Meredead", entered the German Media Control chart at position No. 32. Released on April 22 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland via Napalm Records, the effort was made available exclusively as limited-edition mediabook CD, including bonus track and bonus DVD "Live At The Metal Female Voices Fest", strictly limited-edition deluxe box set and regular jewel case. The deluxe box set (pictured below) is limited to 1,000 copies and includes the mediabook CD including bonus track and bonus DVD, "Live At The Metal Female Voices Fest", plus pendant (Celtic cross with LEAVES' EYES branding). Producer/co-vocalist Alexander Krull mixed "Meredead" at Mastersound Studio. The album's artwork was created by Stefan Heilemann and can be viewed below. LEAVES' EYES recently spent time in Gothenburg, Sweden filming a video for its cover of the MIKE OLDFIELD classic "To France" with director Patric Ullaeus of Revolver Film Company, who has previously worked with DIMMU BORGIR, LACUNA COIL, IN FLAMES, SONIC SYNDICATE and KAMELOT, among others.   LAMB OF GOD are currently writing material for the follow-up to 2009's "Wrath", tentatively due in late 2011 or early 2012. In a recent online posting, drummer Chris Adler stated about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the new CD, "We have been busting our butts full-time for months writing the new record. It's fantastic so far, to say the very least." Speaking to the Artisan News Service earlier in the year, Adler revealed that "because of the amount of time we've spent on the road and the [rest of the] guys spending time alone in hotel rooms, there's a lot more material coming into the process than we've had in the past. Normally, we would tour, then get together and write. But the guitar players, with the technology changing and improving, have been able to do a lot on their own coming in, so there's a lot more ideas than we've ever had, which is great. Normally, it takes... We weed through all the stuff and it takes a really long time to get to what everybody agrees on. Now we've got a plethora of material, so I think it's gonna be... It's always an interesting process, but I think we're coming a little more armed this time." When asked if "Wrath" set the standard for what fans can expect to hear on LAMB OF GOD's next album, Adler said, "In the past, my perspective has always been very reactive to what the immediate previous album was, as in 'Wrath' was more aggressive than [2006's] 'Sacrament' and 'Sacrament' was more produced than [2004's] 'Ashes Of The Wake', and those were choices that we made. But this time I feel that with all the records we've covered the bases and creatively gotten a lot of stuff out, grown as a band, evolved, made interesting choices along the way, and I think, this time, there's no real... I can't speak for [the rest of] the band, but myself, I'm not really particularly reactive to 'Wrath' in that I was very happy with the way 'Wrath' came out. So I feel a little more free coming into this album to not be so driven in one particular direction. I think we might be a little more wide open this time." "Wrath" landed at position No. 2 on The Billboard 200 chart back in February 2009 with first-week sales of over 67,000 copies.    6/18/11   UNEARTH has tapped drummer Justin Foley (KILLSWITCH ENGAGE) for the band's upcoming slot on this summer's Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival and subsequent European headlining tour (dubbed "Hell On Earth"). Foley, who also performed on UNEARTH's upcoming "Darkness In The Light" album, takes the place of former drummer Derek Kerswill, who parted ways with the band last year due to creative differences. "Darkness In The Light" will be released on July 5 via Metal Blade Records. The CD was recorded at Zing Studios in Westfield, Massachusetts with producer (and KILLSWITCH ENGAGE guitarist) Adam Dutkiewicz. Sitting in on drums during the sessions was Justin Foley of KILLSWITCH ENGAGE/BLOOD HAS BEEN SHED. The effort was mixed by Mark Lewis (THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, WHITECHAPEL, DEVILDRIVER, TRIVIUM) from Audiohammer Studios in Sanford, Florida. "Darkness In The Light" track listing: 01. Watch It Burn (4:06) 02. Ruination Of The Lost (3:35) 03. Shadows Of The Light (3:45) 04. Eyes Of Black (3:53) 05. Last Wish (3:06) 06. Arise The War Cry (3:55) 07. Equinox (2:58) 08. Coming Of The Dark (3:07) 09. The Fallen (3:35) 10. Overcome (3:11) 11. Disillusion (3:37) The first single, the instantly pummeling "Eyes Of Black", is currently streaming in the YouTube clip below. Phipps said of the track, "We chose 'Eyes Of Black' to be the first song heard out of the gate as we feel it represents the 'UNEARTH sound' and style perfectly and it's simply a hard-hitting, catchy-as-hell song. The lyrics are also in line with many of the albums darker lyrical themes. I'm not speaking for all of the band, but this is my personal favorite on the album and I can't wait to get out there and play it live!" Several pre-order deals for "Darkness In The Light" are available. Packages include: * CD: $9.99 * CD + T-Shirt: $19.99 * CD + Unearth Beer Bong: $20.99 * CD + T-Shirt + Unearth Beer Bong: $29.99 * CD + T-Shirt + Unearth Beer Bong: $29.99 For more information, visit www.darknessinthelightalbum.com.   MEGADETH has once again tapped artist John Lorenzi to create the artwork for the band's forthcoming album, tentatively due this fall via Roadrunner Records. The CD is being recorded at MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine's Vic's Garage studio in San Marcos, California with producer Johnny K (full name: John Karkazis), who has previously worked with DISTURBED, SEVENDUST, MACHINE HEAD and STAIND, among others. Lorenzi was responsible for the artwork on the last two MEGADETH studio albums, 2007's "United Abominations" and 2009's "Endgame", as well as the band's 2007 box set, "Warchest". A summer 2010 interview with Lorenzi about his work on the "United Abominations" cover can be found at the RockPop Gallery. Mustaine was asked in a recent interview with Pure Grain Audio how the new MEGADETH album is sonically different to its predecessor, 2009's "Endgame". "[It's] different, a hundred percent different, unlike anything we've ever done before because the guitar sounds are different; it sounds really super-modern," he said, before adding, "If I was going to say it sounds like a particular band, I would say it sounds like really old classic [BLACK] SABBATH and with a little bit of a modern edge of QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE kind of thing. But then again, with the twists and turns of music that MEGADETH has been famous for over the years, you never know how it'll turn out." Although British producer Andy Sneap — who helmed "Endgame" — was initially supposed to re-team with the band for the forthcoming album, has was forced to pull out of the project due to scheduling conflicts. He explained in a recent interview with Ultimate-Guitar.com, "I'm doing another project that I also play guitar in called HELL and we're doing some summer festivals this year so it kind of cut into the whole schedule that was planned with MEGADETH." When asked about what fans can expect from MEGADETH's next album, bassist David Ellefson told UGO, "We are working on it now so it's a bit early to encapsulate what the final will ultimately sound like. I think we know the punch and impact we want it to have but also not be afraid to let new ideas develop, too. Just know it will be heavy, hooky, and have the trademarks you'd come to expect from us." MEGADETH's platinum-certified 1986 masterpiece, "Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?", has been digitally remastered for the first time and expanded for a special 25th-anniversary release in multiple configurations. It will be released July 12 by Capitol/EMI. All of the versions, including a 2CD lift-top box, digital album and a deluxe 5Disc+3LP box set, contain a previously unreleased 1987 concert from the band's first world tour and new liner notes written by Mustaine and METALLICA's Lars Ulrich.   USAopoly has announced a tentative August release date for the AC/DC Collector's Edition Monopoly board game. The AC/DC Collector's Edition Monopoly is the first and only game that combines the risk taking, deal making Monopoly game play with one of the most legendary and enduring rock and roll bands of all time, allowing fans to vie for control of AC/DC's most iconic albums and international locations. Game Play: Players will buy, sell and trade AC/DC albums and international locations. Players improve their properties with gold and platinum records. 6 Tokens: Cannon ("For Those About To Rock"), Bundle of Dynamite ("T.N.T."), Bell on Fire ("Hells Bells"), Lightning Bolt ("Thunder Struck"), Angus's School Boy Hat ("School Days"), Stacks of Cash ("Money Talks"). As previously reported, one of the world's most popular board games, Monopoly, has also been customized to celebrate the history and music of heavy metal giants METALLICA. The game is now available from the band's official webstore. AC/DC and METALLICA follow KISS, THE BEATLES, ELVIS PRESLEY and THE GRATEFUL DEAD, among other artists, who have their own Monopoly games.   JUDAS PRIEST will launch the U.S. leg of its farewell world tour on October 12 in San Antonio and the band promises that it will go out with a bang. Singer Rob Halford said, "We're pulling out all the stops. We've built a brand new stage set, we've got all the effects that people love us for — the lasers, the fire, the bombs, the smoke, new costumes, and the bike. It's just a full-on metal extravaganza." Tipton added that the group will play something from each of its albums, including a few numbers that have never been performed live before. "Obviously it's the farewell world tour, so we've really gotta put a lot of the old favorites in there," he said. "We got a lot of feedback from our web page, we requested what people really wanted to hear, so we put a set together based on that. Plus we're playing at least one song from every album and we're doing stuff that we haven't played before, such as 'Never Satisfied', 'Blood Red Skies' and 'Starbreaker'. So there's a real mixed bag. Our mission, really, was to play at least one song off each album each year and we tried to pick the songs that everybody wanted to hear. Obviously they'll always want 'Painkiller', they'll always want 'Hell bent For Leather'. We've got so many songs, it's really difficult to choose, and somebody is always disappointed. [But] I think we've covered most of them." As for whether this is really the end of JUDAS PRIEST's touring days, Tipton added, "We don't plan on retiring. We've said that this is our last world tour. It takes a chunk out of your life — 18 months. We won't be doing any more world tours as such and in many parts of the world, it will be the last time people will get a chance to see us. But we're not gonna stop. We've got an album in the can now, we will start to write with Richie, there will be more albums, and who knows?! There might be a string of dates that we can manage to do. We're just not gonna do another major world tour. We've been doing it for 40 years and it's time to let the younger bands have the chance."   SLIPKNOT's first show since the passing of bassist Paul Gray took place earlier today (Friday, June 17) in front of 25,000 fans on the Apollo Stage at the Greek installment of the Sonisphere festival at Terravibe Park in Athens. According to a review that was posted at SonisphereFestivals.com, Gray's red jumpsuit, his mask and his bass guitar, stood symbolically at the back of the stage alongside his bandmates, who also "turned the clock back to don matching red jump suits and old school style masks." Playing bass at the concert was Donnie Steele, a former SLIPKNOT guitarist from the group's early days, although he was apparently hidden from the audience's view. Frontman Taylor took a moment to mark the enormity and significance of the occasion, stating, "It's been a long time. Hello Athens, how are you? As you know, tonight is very emotional show for us but it is not, NOT, a negative day. It is a positive day. A day for celebration. This is our first show — with you. Are you having a good time and will you celebrate with us today?" Later in the show, he added, "This is very hard for us but he would have wanted us to come out with you all and celebrate his life. So will you all help me sing a song for my brother? Can you do that, Athens? Sing so loud so he can hear us because he is here with us tonight. Can you feel it?" According to the review, SLIPKNOT closed out its set with a triple dose of metal medicine in "Spit It Out", "People = Shit" and "Surfacing", before Taylor humbly thanked the crowd for playing their part in a night neither the band nor the Athens fans will ever forget, saying, "Thank you all for spending this night with us. You'll never know how much this means, Athens."   The band's setlist was as follows:   01. (sic) 02. Eyeless 03. Wait And Bleed 04. The Blister Exists 05. Liberate 06. Before I Forget 07. Pulse Of The Maggots 08. Disasterpiece 09. Psychosocial 10. The Heretic Anthem 11. Duality 12. Spit It Out 13. People = Shit 14. Surfacing   Gray passed away in May 2010 from an accidental overdose of drugs, leaving behind his wife Brenna and daughter October, who was born the following August. Taylor told The Pulse Of Radio recently that he is still dealing with different emotions about his late bandmate. "I don't get mad at him as much as I'm sad for him, because obviously I'm watching October get bigger and she's lovely and she is her father's daughter — very much so. I haven't really had a chance to kind of deal with the anger yet." Taylor has expressed doubts about making another SLIPKNOT record without Gray, although other band members have expressed their desire to record again.   British heavy metal legends IRON MAIDEN have landed at position No. 2 on this week's Billboard.com "Hot Tours" rankings with more than $10.5 million in box office grosses reported from tour legs in both South America and Europe. The band played two concerts in Brazil (April 3 in Recife and April 5 in Curitiba) and a stadium event in Argentina on April 8 at Estadio Vélez Sársfield in Buenos Aires. The concert with the best attendance was in Chile at the 47,000-seat Estadio Nacional in Santiago, the largest stadium in the country. With 43,780 fans in attendance, the performance on April 10 grossed 1.2 billion pesos ($2.6 million US$). At a concert on June 3, Berlin's 17,000-seat arena, O2 World, drew a crowd of 12,817, the top attendance reported from the six German arenas in this week's tally. * Artist/Event: IRON MAIDEN * Total Gross: $10,499,308 * Show Dates: April 3-June 7 * Show Venue/City: - Parque de exposições do Cordeiro, Recife, Brazil - Arena Expotrade, Curitiba, Brazil - Estadio Vélez Sársfield, Buenos Aires - Estadio Nacional, Santiago - Festhalle, Frankfurt, Germany - König-Pilsener Arena, Oberhausen, Germany - Olympiahalle, Munich - O2 World, Hamburg - O2 World, Berlin - Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle, Stuttgart, Germany * Total Attendance: 163,680 * Capacity: 186,404 As previously reported, IRON MAIDEN's April 8 and April 10 concerts in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Santiago, Chile, respectively, were professionally filmed and recorded for a future DVD release. IRON MAIDEN was honored with a Grammy in the "Best Metal Performance" category in the pre-telecast ceremony at the 53rd annual Grammy Awards, which was held on February 13 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. IRON MAIDEN was nominated for the track "El Dorado", from the band's 2010 album "The Final Frontier". "The Final Frontier" sold 63,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to enter The Billboard 200 chart at position No. 4. "The Final Frontier" was IRON MAIDEN's fourth U.K. No. 1 album. The band previously topped the chart in 1982 with "The Number of the Beast", in 1988 with "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" and in 1992 with "Fear of the Dark". BLACK LABEL SOCIETY's June 15 concert at Paard in The Hague, The Netherlands and June 16 show at Den Atelier in Luxembourg were canceled because the band's frontman, Zakk Wylde, is suffering from inflamed vocal cords and is currently seeking medical attention. It is not presently clear if any more dates on the group's European tour will be affected. BLACK LABEL SOCIETY's "The Song Remains Not The Same" sold around 12,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 41 on The Billboard 200 chart. Released on May 10 via Entertainment One Music, the offering features unplugged versions of material from BLACK LABEL SOCIETY's latest album, "Order Of The Black", as well as additional material recorded during the "Order Of The Black" sessions. "The Song Remains Not The Same" was conceived, created and compiled by BLS mainman Zakk Wylde himself and the title is, of course, a nod to one of Wylde's favorite bands, LED ZEPPELIN. "Order Of The Black" was released in North America in August 2010 via E1 Music. The CD featured four unique covers designed by Zakk Wylde himself — one for each territory: North America, Europe, Asia and Australia/New Zealand.   The reissues of OZZY OSBOURNE's classic first two solo albums, 1980's "Blizzard Of Ozz" and 1981's "Diary Of A Madman", sold around 6,000 copies each in the United States in their first week of release, according to Nielsen SoundScan. They arrived on May 31 in definitive editions that restore and remaster the original recordings. Both were made available separately or as part of a deluxe box set that features both albums on CD and vinyl, a 100-page coffee table book, a documentary on DVD and a "full-size detailed replica of Ozzy's iconic cross." Both albums come with previously unreleased bonus tracks and have been restored and remastered from the original analog recordings. The albums restore the bass and drum tracks played respectively by Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake, which were controversially removed for a 2002 reissue by Ozzy's wife and manager Sharon over a royalties dispute. The "Blizzard Of Ozz" reissue comes with three bonus studio tracks, including an alternate version of "Goodbye To Romance" and a song never released in the U.S. called "You Looking At Me, Looking At You". The "Diary" reissue comes with a bonus CD of live performances captured on Ozzy's "Blizzard Of Ozz" tour. The documentary, "30 Years After The Blizzard", chronicles Ozzy's early solo years and features previously unseen footage of him and Rhoads filmed in 1981 and 1982, along with rare archival photos and films, new interviews, and more than 70 minutes of additional live performances and interviews.   Gary Holt of EXODUS is once again filling in for SLAYER founding guitarist Jeff Hanneman who in January contracted necrotizing fasciitis, likely caused by a spider bite, and has been undergoing surgeries, skin grafts and intense rehab since. SLAYER bassist/vocalist Tom Araya told Billboard.com that the band will not return to the studio until Hanneman has fully recovered. "There's no way we'd go into a studio without him," Araya said. "As a band we're not going to do something without him. He's an integral part of the band. We require his musical skills, his writing skills. He's an integral part of the band. So we're going to hold off until he's at 100 percent and can join that process and be part of it." Hanneman stepped onstage with SLAYER at the April 23 "Big Four" concert in Indio, California, marking the first time he has played with the band since last October. Hanneman surprised the crowd of 50,000 when he walked out onto the stage, unannounced, and played the two-song encore, "South Of Heaven" and "Angel Of Death". "It was a big deal for him to play — for us it was, too," Araya told Billboard.com. "We thought that would be a nice surprise for everybody and also make everybody aware that he's still there. It's pretty severe what he's going through. He's had skin grafts, and he's got to rehabilitate his arm and get it back in shape again. It's going to require a lot of time."   German industrial metallers RAMMSTEIN have assembled a retrospective of their most significant songs, to be released in the fall in conjunction with the band's new European headlining tour. Entitled "Made In Germany 1995 - 2011", the set will include 20 of RAMMSTEIN's best tracks, one new song, as well as the entire video catalogue for the first time on CD/DVD. RAMMSTEIN's European headlining tour will kick off November 6 and will feature a completely new show. "Made In Germany 1995 - 2011" tour dates: Nov. 06 - SK - Bratislava Zimny Stadion Ondreja Nepelu Nov. 10 - HU - Budapest Sportarena Nov. 12 - CZ - Prague O2 Arena Nov. 14 - PL - Gdanks/Sopot Ergo Arena Nov. 17 - D - Leipzig Arena Nov. 20 - D - Munich Olympiahalle Nov. 21 - D - Friedrichshafen Rothaus Halle Nov. 23 - A - Vienna Stadthalle Nov. 25 - D - Berlin O2 World Nov. 28 - D - Hamburg O2 World Nov. 29 - D - Bremen Arena Dec. 01 - F - Strasbourg Zénith Dec. 02 - LUX - Luxembourg Rockhal Dec. 04 - D - Düsseldorf ISS Dome Dec. 08 - D - Frankfurt a. M. Festhalle Dec. 10 - D - Stuttgart Schleyer-Halle Dec. 12 - CH - Zurich Hallenstadion RAMMSTEIN performed the song "Du Hast" on the May 19 episode of ABC-TV's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!". 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.   "Back Through Time", the third album from the Scottish folk/power metal band ALESTORM, has entered the German Media Control chart at position No. 42. "Back Through Time" was produced by Lasse Lammert at LSD Studios in Lübeck, Germany. The effort was made available as a jewelcase, mediabook, LP, and special-edition boxset "featuring bonus tracks and other mad shite!" "Back Through Time" track listing: 01. Back Through Time 02. Shipwrecked 03. The Sunk'n Norwegian 04. Midget Saw 05. Buckfast Powersmash 06. Scraping The Barrel 07. Rum 08. Swashbuckled 09. Rumpelkombo 10. Barrett's Privateers 11. Death Throes Of The Terrorsquid 12. I Am A Cider Drinker (bonus track) The "Shipwrecked" video can be viewed below. The clip was filmed in Belgrade, Serbia with director Ivan Colic, who has previously worked with EPICA, KAMELOT and KATAKLYSM. Commented ALESTORM frontman/keyboardist Christopher Bowes: "No expense was spared in the making of [the 'Shipwrecked' video], and I can confidently say that it's . . . the best damn music video ever. 'But how can you be so sure?' I hear you ask. Here's why: violin playing midgets! Hot medieval babes! Ridiculous CGI! Rampant alcohol abuse! All this and much, much more!" According to a press release, ALESTORM "plays Scottish 'pirate metal,' by their own definition, and musically resembles the great battle metal bands such as KORPIKLAANI or TURISAS, albeit with a unique touch and Scottish instrumentation."   "Swedish gothic/doom metaller's DRACONIAN, are set to release their new album, "A Rose For The Apocalypse", on June 24 via Napalm Records. The cover artwork was created by Seth Siron Anton (PARADISE LOST, KAMELOT, ROTTING CHRIST, MOONSPELL) A limited digipack version of the CD with one bonus song will also be made available. "The Last Hour Of Ancient Sunlight" is featured on Napalm Records' free sampler "Nothing Burns Like Napalm", which also includes music from ALESTORM, LEAVES' EYES, KAMPFAR, STREAM OF PASSION and TÝR, among others. "A Rose For The Apocalypse" track listing: 01. The Drowning Age (7:18) 02. The Last Hour Of Ancient Sunlight (5:26) 03. End Of The Rope (6:34) 04. Elysian Night (7:52) 05. Deadlight (6:32) 06. Dead World Assembly (5:52) 07. A Phantom Dissonance (5:39) 08. The Quiet Storm (6:37) 09. The Death Of Hours (7:48) 10. Wall Of Sighs (5:14) DRACONIAN vocalist Anders Jacobsson previously stated about "A Rose For The Apocalypse", "Jens Bogren of Fascination Street [studios in Örebro, Sweden] sprinkled his magic over the songs during the production and mixing process and each and every song found its way. We are grateful to have such a committed producer and we can only feel blessed by the experience to once again have made another album reality at Fascination Street. "The new album is called 'A Rose For The Apocalypse' and deals with a vast dilemma we're all facing as one species; the horrors and contradictions we've created in our 'nature-divorced' system. The title refers to the collapse of this structure, built by mindless human opinion. It also refers to the necessity of its demise. We are trying to capture the gloom of its realization. I don't know if we'd want to call this a conceptual album, but most songs certainly deal with the same topic in one way or the other. I've reached a point in my life when my eyes remain open. "To most of you, 'A Rose For The Apocalypse' might appear a darker, more threatening album compared to the previous [album], 'Turning Season Within'. And yes, it is different in several ways, but DRACONIAN remains the same. "I have often said that our new work resembles a mix between the old and the new DRACONIAN and will unite fans of both preferences. While listening to this album, I feel a lot of history comes together in one place, at least sound-wise. "Our old friend Olof Göthlin contributes with some of his excellent violin skills on the album. Cover and layout is created by the amazing Seth Siron Anton. "We sincerely hope we've created an album that will make impact on our beloved fans. Thank you for keeping up, sticking by us and maintained your faith in DRACONIAN." DRACONIAN's previous album, "Turning Season Within", in 2008 entered the album chart in Sweden at position No. 68. The CD was recorded at Fascination Street studio during September 2007 and features a guest appearance by NOVEMBERS DOOM vocalist Paul Kuhr. "Under The Sign Of Hell 2011", the re-recording of GORGOROTH's third album, will be released by Regain Records has had it release date pushed back to August 29 from the previously announced June 20 due to "manufacturing problems." On the LP, Pest and Infernus repeat their roles as vocalist and guitarist/bassist, respectively, from the original 1996 recording, while Tomas Asklund handles the drums. The track listing is as follows: 01. Revelation of Doom 02. Krig 03. Funeral Procession 04. Profetens åpenbaring 05. Ødeleggelse og undergang 06. Blood Stains the Circle 07. The Rite of Infernal Invocation 08. The Devil Is Calling GORGOROTH is continuing work on its new album of original material and is planning to enter the studio later this year. GORGOROTH's ninth album, "Quantos Possunt ad Satanitatem Trahunt", was released on October 21, 2009 in Europe via Regain Records. The CD, which was made available in the U.S. on November 11, 2009, was recorded at Monolith Studio and featured Infernus on guitar, OBITUARY's Frank Watkins (a.k.a. Bøddel) on bass, Pest on vocals and Asklund on drums. "Quantos Possunt ad Satanitatem Trahunt" was produced by Infernus and co-produced/engineered by Tomas Asklund. It was mastered at the Cutting Room in Stockholm.   Finnish melodic death metallers OMNIUM GATHERUM have announced the addition of guitarist Joonas "Jope" Koto (MALPRACTICE, ex-TO/DIE/FOR, ex-HATEFRAME) to the group's ranks. Commented the band: "OMNIUM GATHERUM is a twin-guitar squad again and what's even better is that now we have Jackson guitar tour de force on both sides of the stage! "[Joonas] has been playing already a big bunch of gigs with OMNIUM GATHERUM as session live member as the previous guitarist Harri Pikka left the band over a year ago, and Jope was even filling up Harri in some gigs even before we separated ways. "Jope has been [OMNIUM GATHERUM guitarist] Markus' [Vanhala] partner in crime in a progressive metal band MALPRACTICE for many years by now, so he was the first, the most natural and the only candidate for the job for us and gladly we got him on board! He has been playing and recording previously in TO/DIE/FOR and HATEFRAME too, so he is a hardcore professional dude." Added Joonas in a statement: "After two years as a session guitarist, the guys finally asked me to join OMNIUM GATHERUM and I didn't hesitate one second! From the get-go I have felt like part of a family. The guys are very great as persons and professional as musicians. I'm very happy and proud to be a part of such a great band of brothers." OMNIUM GATHERUM officially announced Joonas' addition to the band during their performance at last week's Sauna Open Air festival in Tampere, Finland. OMNIUM GATHERUM will mark on a Finnish club tour in September and the "Neckbreakers Ball" European tour in October/November. "New World Shadows", the fifth album from OMNIUM GATHERUM, entered the official chart in Finland at position No. 5. This marked the highest chart entry in the group's history, having previously landed at No. 24 with 2008's "The Redshift" and No. 31 with 2007's "Stuck Here On Snakes Way". "New World Shadows" was released in Europe in February via Lifeforce Records and was made available in North America on March 1. The CD was recorded at Astia Studio 2 in Lappeenranta and OmG Studio in Karhula, Finland with Teemu Aalto, and was mixed and mastered at Unisound Studio in Örebro, Sweden by Dan Swanö (EDGE OF SANITY, HAIL OF BULLETS, NOVEMBERS DOOM). Swanö also contributed clean vocals to two songs while Niilo Sevänen from INSOMNIUM added "a few guest growls. On Track News Archive