Late bassist Cliff Burton's resurrected pre-METALLICA band TRAUMAhas inked a worldwide deal with Pure Steel Records. The group's recently completed new 10-song album will be released later in the year.

Current TRAUMA lineup:

* Donny Hillier (ex-BLACK SUNDAY DREAM) - Vocals * Kurt Fry (ex-HEIST, ex-MECHANIZM) - Guitar * Kris Gustofson (ex-ST. ELMOS FIRE, ex-MECHANIZM, ex-MOON DOG MANE, ex-DUNMORE, ex-THREAT) - Drums * Marcel Eaton (ex-SERPENT & SARRAH) - Bass

TRAUMA was founded in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1980 as one of the first of the New Wave Of Bay Area metal bands. The group's original lineup included Michael Overton on guitar, George Lady on guitar, Dennis Shafer on drums, Cliff Burton (METALLICA) on bass, and Donny Hillier on vocals.

TRAUMA quickly became well known throughout the California Bay Area and beyond, playing legendary venues like The Stone, Bill Graham's Wolfgang's, Whisky A Go Go, and The Troubadour. The first track TRAUMA ever recorded, "Such a Shame", was included on Metal Blade Records' "Metal Massacre II" compilation in 1982.

After Burton's departure to join METALLICA, the band changed personnel and musicians Kris Gustofson (drums), Ross Alexander Merson (guitar) and Lucas Advincula (bass) joined Michael Overton and Donny Hillier in their new lineup. In 1984, TRAUMA recorded the "Scratch And Scream" album for Shrapnel Records. The LP received many excellent reviews from primarily American and European heavy metal magazines such as Kerrang!, Circus and Metal Forces, to name a few.

The "Scratch And Scream" album, unavailable before on a legitimate CD issue, has long been considered a hard-to-obtain, classic heavy metal record.

Released on October 22, 2013, the "Scratch And Scream" reissue was remastered from the original master tapes and includes bonus tracks that feature the gone-but-never-forgotten bassist.

After a lengthy hiatus, TRAUMA reformed. Donny Hillier, Kris Gustofson and Lucas Advincula have been joined by guitarist Kurt Fry, a veteran songwriter and recording/touring artist.

A special event for Burton was held on February 10, 2013 — on what would have been Cliff's 51st birthday — at the Brick & Mortar Music Hall in San Francisco, California. For the first time in decades, TRAUMA actually performed never-heard-before songs written by Cliff himself. Also appearing on the bill were HELLFIRE and DAMAGE INC.

TRAUMA's music was comparable to that of IRON MAIDEN and MONTROSE with faster tempos, which can be heard in the tracks "The Day All Hell Broke Loose" and "Lay Low" from their debut album.

TRAUMA drummer Kris Gustofson went on to play in numerous other bands, most notably ST. ELMO'S FIRE.

TRAUMA guitarist Michael Overton was interviewed for the 2009 book "To Live Is To Die: The Life And Death Of Metallica's Cliff Burton", written by U.K.-based author Joel McIver and published by Jawbone Press.

Burton, best known as a heavy metal bass player who made use of distortion and special effects, was killed in an accident on September 27, 1986 at the age of 24, four years after joining METALLICA. It was Burton's early influence that helped create METALLICA's unique musical style for which the band has become famous.

TRAUMA was recently interviewed on "In The Vault With Shanda Golden". You can now watch the chat below.

TESLA's video for the song "So Divine…" can be seen below. The track is taken form the band's new studio album, "Simplicity", which is likely to sell between 8,000 and 10,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release, according to industry web site Hits Daily Double. The estimate was based on one-day sales reports compiled after the record arrived in stores on June 10 via Tesla Electric Company Recording's arrangement with Entertainment One Music and distribution. The chart will be unveiled on Wednesday, June 18.

The Sacramento rockers are back with 14 new songs offering a ride of energy that doesn't come easy for a band of rookies much less a band whose been doing this for over 20 years. "Simplicity" is TESLA's seventh all-original studio album which follows a six-year creative break from the release of the previous album, "Forever More".

After a string of shows in the USA in 2013, the band went back into the studio in early 2014 and came out with a new album, which goes straight back to the TESLA roots. The bandmembers produced it themselves, as they did with "Into The Now", their successful comeback effort from 2004. Helped by the legendary Tom Zutaut, who was the man behind the best TESLA albums, this new CD rocks from start to finish, showing a variety of emotions where each song has its own twist — not sounding like another.

In a recent interview with NI Rocks, TESLA singer Jeff Keith stated about the band's approach while writing and recording the new album: "We wanted to keep it simple. With so much of today's technology, Pro Tools and all that stuff, it's very easy to overdo it and oversaturate the record, because there is an endless amount of tracks you can do and there are so many ways you can cheat and stuff. We like to make records that we can keep simple and reproduce live you know." He continued: "'Simplicity', we thought, was a great name for the record because we wanted to keep it simple and we're a simple blue-collar rock 'n' roll band. We always like to make records, like I said, that we can play live."

"Simplicity" track listing:

01. MP302. Ricochet03. Rise And Fall04. So Divine...05. Cross My Heart06. Honestly07. Flip Side!08. Other Than Me09. Break Of Dawn10. Burnout To Fade11. Life Is A River12. Sympathy13. Time Bomb14. 'Til That Day15. Burnout To Fade (writing demo version) *

"Simplicity" was mixed by legendary producer Michael Wagener (SKID ROW, OZZY OSBOURNE, METALLICA, DOKKEN, ACCEPT, MÖTLEY CRÜE, WHITE LION, EXTREME, POISON, MEGADETH, OVERKILL, TESTAMENT).

* Bonus track

TESLA is:

Jeff Keith: Lead VocalsFrank Hannon: Guitars, Vocals, Piano, BassBrian Wheat: Bass, Vocals, PianoTroy Luccketta: Drums and PercussionDave Rude: Guitars, Vocals, Bass

Swiss folk metallers ELUVEITIE will release their new album, "Origins", on August 5 via Nuclear Blast Records. The cover artwork for the CD was created by ELUVEITIE frontman Chrigel Glanzmann and can be seen below. The effort was once again recorded at New Sound Studio in Pfäffikon, a municipality in the canton of Zurich in Switzerland, with producer Tommy Vetterli (a.k.a. Tommy T. Baron; CORONER/ex-KREATOR guitarist).

The first trailer for "Origins" can be seen below.

"Origins" track listing:

01. Origins02. The Nameless03. From Darkness04. Celtos05. Virunus06. Nothing07. The Call Of The Mountains08. Sucellos09. Inception10. Vianna11. The Silver Sister12. King13. The Day Of Strife14. Ogmios15. Carry The Torch16. Eternity

Says Chrigel: "'Origins' deals in depth with Celtic mythology, or, to be more precise, with aetiological tales from Gaul in particular. Hence we're facing strongly mythical as well as spiritual subjects on this album, topics which we have approached very scientifically and in cooperation with several scientists and diverse universities.

"Many aspects of Gaulish mythology and spirituality remain in the dark nonetheless, while others run through the theme like a golden thread — like this eminent, yet innominate god, for instance, of which the Gauls claimed to be direct descendants and which was compared to the Roman chtonic deity Dis Pater.

"Today we cannot say which Gaulish god this was exactly. But according to all we know, it's likely that we're dealing with Sucellos here. Throughout space and time he appears over and over again — from very old spiritual customs of ancient Gaulish tribes in today's northern Spain all the way to later statues in today's Switzerland, France and elsewhere.Perhaps he is this mysterious nameless one.

"The album cover of 'Origins' is designed after the hammer/club-shaped 'halo' of Sucellos, as seen on a statue, that was found in a shrine of a gallo-roman household in today's France. It was created under the scientific supervision of experts from the university of Zürich." ELUVEITIE recently announced the addition of violinist Nicole Ansperger to the group's ranks.

ELUVEITIE's last album, "Helvetios", sold 4,200 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 143 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD landed at position No. 3 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.

"Good Thing", the new video from VANDENBERG'S MOONKINGS, the Dutch rock band led by former VANDENBERG and WHITESNAKE guitarist Adrian Vandenberg, can be seen below.

VANDENBERG'S MOONKINGS' self-titled debut album was released on February 24 via Mascot Label Group.

"Vandenberg's Moonkings" is a sensational mix of blistering rock songs and powerful ballads from the Dutch guitar hero Adrian Vandenberg, and includes a newly recorded version of Vandenberg's ex-band WHITESNAKE's classic "Sailing Ships". Special guest David Coverdale adds his unique vocals to the equation, to complement Vandenberg's powerful riffs for a welcome moment of nostalgia.

Asked how Coverdale's guest appearance on "Vandenberg's Moonkings" came about, Adrian told Myglobalmind: "Well, David has been pushing me a lot over the last ten years to record a record. Finally, when I told him that I was working on one, David said that 'it would be an honor for me if I could sing a song on your album.' I replied that the honor would be completely mutual. David was then on the road for the whole year, so we didn't have the time to write a new song.

"I always wanted to do another version of [WHITESNAKE's] 'Sailing Ships', because I wrote the song and the music for it actually for my mom. She was always saying for me to write another acoustic song for the album. I originally intended it to be a little more understated than it ended up on the 'Slip Of The Tongue' album. I really thought that I could add something to it by making it a little bit more melancholic and more reflective. Bringing in real violins, which I had always pictured with it, so I made it a little slower. I thought it would be great to do a different version and also what I like about how it ends up on the album is that it is like a symbolic nod to my years with WHITESNAKE. I thought that it worked great, because if I had put like a new track somewhere in the middle of the album it would have been strange. David in the middle with a similar song." Multi-talented Adrian Vandenberg — who has designed all of his album sleeves since his very first record with TEASER at the age of 22 — took care of the artwork for this record. VANDENBERG'S MOONKINGS is:

Adrian Vandenberg (guitar)Jan Hoving (vocals)Sem Christoffel (bass)Mart Nijen Es (drums)

For more information, visit www.moonkingsband.com.

Video footage of the Finnish band STEVE 'N' SEAGULLS performing a dueling banjo-standup-bass-washboard-and-more take on the IRON MAIDEN classic "The Trooper" can be seen below.

"The Trooper", IRON MAIDEN's ninth single and the second from their 1983 album "Piece of Mind", was released on June 20, 1983. The song is about the Battle of Balaclava in 1854 during the Crimean War, and is at least partially based upon Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade", taking the viewpoint of one of the slain troopers, who, in the cover art, is perceived as a bald Eddie.

Back in 2009, Austrian DJ/remixer DJ Schmolli released a hilarious mash-up of IRON MAIDEN's "The Trooper" and THE MONKEES' "I'm A Believer". Check it out at this location.

"The Calling", the new video from American death metal extremists MISERY INDEX, can be seen below. The song is taken from the band's fifth studio album, "The Killing Gods", which was released on May 23 via Season Of Mist.

"The Killing Gods" was recorded at Wright Way Studios in Baltimore, Maryland and was engineered by Steve Carr (DYING FETUS, SLIPKNOT, SOILWORK). The drum parts were tracked with Scott Hull (PIG DESTROYER, AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED, BLACK TUSK, BRUTAL TRUTH) at Visceral Sound in Bethesda, Maryland.

Comments MISERY INDEX bassist/vocalist Jason Netherton: "'The Killing Gods' is the longest, most diverse and most complete album we have ever created, and it represents the blood, sweat and beers of four dudes trying to make the best songs they can. We think we have succeeded and we hope you do as well."

Having cemented a reputation as one of the most formidable live bands in the death metal scene, MISERY INDEX has toured the world over numerous times on the backs of four critically acclaimed albums. The Baltimore-based quartet has leveled venues in over 40 countries over 1000-plus live shows. With albums showcasing a disgust for everyday life and the ills of modern society, MISERY INDEX continues to push its crushing take on pummeling death metal with the release of "The Killing Gods".

"The Killing Gods" track listing:

01. Urfaust02. The Calling03. The Oath04. Conjuring The Cull05. The Harrowing06. The Killing Gods07. Cross To Bear08. Gallows Humor09. The Weakener10. Sentinels11. Colony Collapse (feat. John Gallagher)12. Heretics13. Thieves Of The New World Order (MINISTRY cover; bonus track)

MISERY INDEX is:

Jason Netherton: Bass, VocalsMark Kloeppel: Guitar, VocalsAdam Jarvis: DrumsDarin Morris: Guitar

Photo credit: Josh Sisk

"From Parts Unknown", the new album from hardcore heroes EVERY TIME I DIE, can be streamed in its entirety below. The CD will be released on July 1 via Epitaph.

It could have been easy for EVERY TIME I DIE to go on autopilot. After sixteen years as a band they know what works and could go on doing the same thing — but that would be "boring and baseless," according to vocalist Keith Buckley. "Instead of making something that the kids can all sing along to, we wanted to make music that scares them," he says.

So EVERY TIME I DIE brought out the big guns and spent a month recording with legendary producer and CONVERGE co-founder Kurt Ballou at his GodCity Studio in Salem, Massachusetts.

"Working with Kurt was stressful in the best way, like when your dad comes to watch you play baseball for the first time and you just want to make him proud," says Buckley. Ballou challenged the band to dig deeper, work quickly, and create heavy but catchy tracks. Vocals transverse from dark and light by swerving from scream to howl to like a fired-up war cry. Guitarists Jordan Buckley and Andy Williams, and drummer Ryan Leger cement their massive riffs, frantic rhythms, and brutal vocal work into a dozen of the most awesomely devastating songs the band’s created so far. Ballou has produced countless classic hardcore records for over 15 years, with recent releases including NAILS' "Abandon All Life", SKELETONWITCH's "Serpents Unleashed" and MODERN LIFE IS WAR's "Fever Hunting".

The "From Parts Unknown" title was initially inspired by a term used by wrestlers to increase their mystique, It ultimately references the more hopeful mood that creeped into the album's lyrics during songwriting.

"I didn't even realize I had that more positive outlook in me," notes Buckley. The positive outlook is especially impressive considering that a bout of laryngitis left Buckley laid up for much of the recording and forced him to tear through most of the vocal tracking in a single day. Adding to the already impressive state of this album, Brian Fallon of GASLIGHT ANTHEM and Sean Ingram of COALESCE lend their vocals to a few tracks as well.

"From Parts Unknown" track listing:

01. The Great Secret02. Pelican Of The Desert03. Decayin' With The Boys04. Overstayer05. If There Is Room To Move, Things Move06. Moor07. Exometrium08. Thirst09. Old Light10. All Structures Are Unstable11. El Dorado12. Idiot


"Decayin' With The Boys" video:


"Thirst" video:

Iconic PANTERA and DOWN vocalist Phlip Anselmo joined KILL DEVIL HILL, the band featuring his former PANTERA and DOWN bandmate Rex Brown on bass, on stage at the Download festival yesterday (Sunday, June 15) at Donington Park in Leicestershire, United Kingdom to perform the PANTERA classic "Mouth For War". Fan-filmed video footage of the performance can be seen below.

As previously reported, Brown joined Anselmo later in the day at Download for a renditoion of PANTERA's "A New Level".

Late PANTERA guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott's longtime girlfriend Rita Haney in 2011 called on ex-PANTERA drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott and Philip Anselmo to settle their differences in honor of Dimebag, who was shot and killed by a crazed gunman while performing with DAMAGEPLAN at a Columbus, Ohio rock club in December 2004.

Vinnie, who is Dimebag's brother, and Anselmo have not spoken since PANTERA split in 2003. But the relationship got even more acrimonious when Vinnie indirectly blamed Philip for Dimebag's death, suggesting that some remarks the vocalist had made about Dimebag in print just weeks earlier might have incited Dimebag's killer.

Haney told the producers of "Behind The Music Remastered: Pantera" that she forgave the singer after they found themselves unexpectedly face to face at a concert in California.

In Brown's memoir, "Official Truth, 101 Proof: The Inside Story Of Pantera", Haney said: "My line has softened over the years since Darrell's death, probably because I feel an element of forgiveness and a desire for everybody to get along. No matter what ever happened, nobody did this to Darrell. I mean, they — Rex and Philip — didn't. The person who did it did it, and no matter what reason the killer — if he was still alive today — could give to justify that, it wouldn't change anything. But when you go through something like this, you want to lay blame somewhere. Obviously I had resentment to Rex and Philip because I had to watch Darrell trying to save his band. I wanted to fix it for him. As far as Philip is concerned, we are at least communicating, albeit on a fairly surface level. We haven't talked about any deep things like resentments because I've told him that I still harbor some resentment for how he handled band issues and how that impacted Darrell and I've made that very clear to him. And it's hard for me to trust him. But we'll see. It's a start and in time we'll probably sit down face to face."

She continued: "Despite all the issues I'll say this: going out selling the merchandise for Darrell every summer has given me a whole different perspective. When you are with all the people that PANTERA's music touched and you hear the stories they have about how a certain song got them through, even if they never got to see them, it makes you realize that you're being selfish and that your issues are petty and false. I'm not the big picture. They are. I'm so grateful for all the things I learned from Darrell and I want to try to be that kind of person you know. Better."

She added: "I wish Vince was more like his brother when it comes to welcoming new people into his world, instead of feeling strapped up or that it's a problem or an inconvenience. Of course it can be overwhelming, I used to watch Darrell every day and marveled at how amazing he was at handling it, but I wish there was more of that in Vinnie. I know he has never really dealt with the death of his brother head on, and instead he's chosen to shut it away and hope that he'll never have to discuss it. If he was open to sharing some of his stories with people, he might just find peace, and if he let people in, he might also just see the big picture I'm talking about."

Phlip Anselmo and KILL DEVIL HILL performing "Mouth For War":


Rex Brown and Philip Anselmo performing "A New Level":

The long-awaited reunion show from TALISMAN — the Swedish-American melodic hard rock band featuring singer Jeff Scott Soto (YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, JOURNEY) and bassist Marcel Jacob (ex-YNGWIE MALMSTEEN) — took place on June 6 at the Sweden Rock Festival. Fan-filmed video footage of the concert can be seen below.

Sadly, guitarist Fredrik Åkesson was not able to make the gig due to his demanding schedule with OPETH, but TALISMAN was happy to bring back Pontus Norgren on guitar, who was in the band for the "Truth" album and who mixed, as well as played on, the group's final outing, "7".

TALISMAN also introduced Johan Niemann (EVERGREY, ex-THERION) on bass as the replacement for Marcel Jacob, who committed suicide on July 21, 2009 after many years of personal and health issues he was battling.

Marcel Jacob was a Swedish musician, best known as the bassist in the hard rock bands TALISMAN and LAST AUTUMN'S DREAM.

In 1978, he formed the band RISING FORCE together with guitarist Yngwie J. Malmsteen. Four years later, Jacob joined the band FORCE, which later changed its name to EUROPE, replacing John Levén, who took Jacob's place in RISING FORCE. During his time in FORCE, Jacob wrote the song "Black Journey for My Soul" together with vocalist Joey Tempest. The song was eventually included on EUROPE's second album, "Wings of Tomorrow", re-titled "Scream of Anger". After spending three months in FORCE, Jacob traded places with John Levén again, who apparently had issues with Malmsteen.

In 1987, Jacob played on the album "Total Control", the first solo LP released by EUROPE guitarist John Norum. Jacob also co-wrote several of the songs included on that album.

Two years later he formed the band TALISMAN together with vocalist Jeff Scott Soto. Throughout the years TALISMAN was Jacob's major project and the band released several studio and live albums until 2007.

Ron Fauth Rockography has uploaded video footage of QUIET RIOT's May 24 performance at Count's Vamp'd in Las Vegas, Nevada. Check it out below.

QUIET RIOT's new lineup — featuring vocalist Jizzy Pearl (LOVE/HATE, L.A. GUNS, ADLER'S APPETITE, RATT) — made its live debut on New Year's Eve (December 31, 2013) at Twin Arrows Navajo Casino Resort in Flagstaff, Arizona.

"I knew that resurrecting QUIET RIOT [after the 2007 death of QUIET RIOT singer Kevin DuBrow] was going to be a major challenge and undertaking," QUIET RIOT drummer Frankie Banali told the Cleveland Scene. "You simply don't replace a singer and personality like Kevin DuBrow because he was the complete package, the real deal and my best friend. I never set out to replace Kevin, I set out to continue the band in his memory. We tried to work with Mark Huff on vocals and he just wasn't right for the band. We tried it with Scott Vokoun on vocals and in the end he also just wasn't a fit, and we parted company amicably. It's not just about singing, performing, work ethic, priorities, perception and personality, it is about all of those things and so much more. If I am guilty of anything, I am guilty of trying to get it right for QUIET RIOT."

Regarding Pearl's addition to the band, Banali said: "We've all known Jizzy for many years and toured together but in separate bands. Kevin was quite fond of Jizzy and thought he was a good singer and very intelligent. Jizzy made sense because he has the range and timbre to handle the QUIET RIOT material while still bringing his own sound and style to QUIET RIOT, which I welcome with open arms. He's also a pro, which makes it easy to work with; he knows the drill of being in and working in a band."

Banali also spoke about QUIET RIOT's upcoming album, which will contain six new studio tracks with Jizzy Pearl on vocals and four live tracks from 2007 with Kevin DuBrow, which are from the last professionally recorded live shows DuBrow and QUIET RIOT played.

"One of the things that Kevin and I always strived for was to continue to create new QUIET RIOT music even when rock music had ceased to be popular because of the change in music and tastes in the '90s and then with the decline of the industry itself with all the piracy and illegal downloads," Banali said. "That is still my mindset."

He continued: "The new QUIET RIOT CD is made up of six new studio recorded compositions and four live tracks from the last recorded performance with the late great Kevin DuBrow. The studio tracks include new vocalist Jizzy Pearl, Alex Grossi on guitar and Chuck Wright, who plays bass on two of the six tracks. I invited my longtime friend and QUIET RIOT alumni Rudy Sarzo to play bass on two tracks and bassist and friend Tony Franklin who played bass on the 2006 QUIET RIOT release 'Rehab'."

IRON MAIDEN, AVENGED SEVENFOLD and KILLSWITCH ENGAGE are among the artists who were honored at this year's Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards.

The gala event was held earlier tonight (Monday, June 16) in London, England and featured performances by STEEL PANTHER, BLACK STONE CHERRY, THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN, WHILE SHE SLEEPS and BEHEMOTH. The indigo2 ceremony came after a traditional voyage up the Thames aboard Vans HMS Hammer, where ORANGE GOBLIN, KILL DEVIL HILL, DYING FETUS, THY ART IS MURDER and HOUNDS played for 200 competition-winning guests and VIPs.

Metal Hammer editor in chief Alexander Milas said: "Heavy metal has been around for over 40 years, and as this year's winners prove, it remains as vibrant as ever.

"From prog metal visionaries OPETH, genuine guitar hero Michael Schenker, absolute legends HANOI ROCKS — who first married the words 'glam' and 'metal' and inspired a movement — to ORPHANED LAND, whose integrity as artists and spokespeople for the power of metal to unite people genuinely blew us all away tonight, this was a night for the history books.

"Add to that a screen legend like David Prowse, and you might even say the Force was strong with this one."

Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards 2014 winners:

* Best New Band: DEVIL YOU KNOW* Dimebag Darrell Shredder: Misha Mansoor of PERIPHERY* Breakthrough Artist: OF MICE & MEN* Best Underground Band: WARDRUNA* Best UK Band: IRON MAIDEN* Best Live Band: KILLSWITCH ENGAGE* Best International Band: AVENGED SEVENFOLD* Global Metal Act: ORPHANED LAND and KHALAS* Riff Lord: Mark Tremonti (ALTER BRIDGE)* King Of The Internet: Devin Townsend* Inspiration: HANOI ROCKS* Album Of The Year: BEHEMOTH's "The Satanist"* Icon: Michael Schenker* Spirit Of Hammer: David Prowse (the actor who played Darth Vader)* The Golden God: Mikael Åkerfeldt (OPETH)* Game Of The Year: Grand Theft Auto V* Video Of The Year: STEEL PANTHER's "Party Like It's The End Of The World"

Swedish metallers WOLF will release their seventh studio album, "Devil Seed", on August 25 in Europe and on September 2 in North America via Century Media.

This time around, the wolves teamed up with Jens Bogren (KREATOR, PARADISE LOST, OPETH) at Fascination Street Studios in Örebro, Sweden to deliver not only a heavy-sounding release but also one chock-full of clarity and complexity. With cover artwork created once again by legendary designer Thomas Holm (MERCYFUL FATE, KING DIAMOND), all the elements are aligned for this fierce slab of pure heavy metal mayhem.

Comments WOLF guitarist Simon Johansson: "WOLF is back and once again we have worked with the amazing Thomas Holm for the album art. Thomas has a way of catching the feeling of an album and to put colors to our music. This time Niklas Stålvind also contributed to some drawings found in the booklet and the collaboration between the two of them turned out great.

"'Devil Seed' starts as an embryo and when you least aspect it you find yourself dancing with the Devil."

"Devil Seed" track listing:

01. Overture in C Shark02. Shark Attack 03. Skeleton Woman 04. Surgeons Of Lobotomy 05. My Demon 06. I Am Pain 07. Back From The Grave 08. The Dark Passenger 09. River Everlost 10. Frozen 11. Killing Floor

The lyric video for the song "My Demon" can be seen below.

Comments WOLF founding member Niklas Stalvind: "Please enjoy 'My Demon', the first taste of the 'Devil Seed'. Spread it, share it and play it loud! Watch out for the whole album in August."

Fans will be pleased to hear that WOLF is not only still true to its musical ideal, but delivers a fresh and unique take on the sound that is their unmistakable trademark.

"I haven't been this pleased with the songs on a WOLF album since the release of 'Black Wings'," says Niklas Stalvind. "I really think we have taking our songwriting to the next level on this one and I hope that the metal fans will love it as much as we do."

A short time after the new album's release, WOLF will take to the streets with a tour of the U.K., with further European dates to be announced soon.

WOLF in 2011 parted ways with guitarist Johannes "Axeman" Losbäck and replaced him with Simon Johansson (ABSTRAKT ALGEBRA, BIBLEBLACK, MEMORY GARDEN). Simon previously played with WOLF in 2009 when they supported W.A.S.P. for four shows.

WOLF's sixth album, "Legions Of Bastards", was released in April 2011 via Century Media Records. The follow-up to 2009's "Ravenous" was produced by Pelle Saether at Studio Underground in Vasterås, Sweden. The cover artwork was once again created by Thomas Holm (the man who was responsible for the legendary MERCYFUL FATE "Melissa" and "Don't Break The Oath" covers).

It was a little over a year ago that former WHITE LION singer Mike Tramp released the semi-acoustic "Cobblestone Street" album — a collection of songs that showed Tramp from a more singer-songwriter and roots-based angle than his earlier work. Now Tramp is back with a new solo album titled "Museum". Due on August 18 via Target, the CD was produced by Soren Andersen and was recorded and mixed at Medley Studios in Copenhagen. Since the release of "Cobblestone Street", Tramp has been on an ongoing tour all over the world, performing more than 130 shows from Australia to Europe to the States, where he played 40 shows this year alone.

"Museum" track listing:

01. Trust In Yourself02. New World Coming 03. Down South04. Better 05. Freedom06. Commitment07. And You Were Gone08. Slave09. Mother10. Time For Me To Go

A video for the first single, "Trust In Yourself", can be seen below. The clip was directed by Mike's son Dylan Tramp.

Heavily influenced by fellow Danish artists with acoustic guitars and international stars like Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen, Tramp says that all of his songs through 35 years on the music stage, have always come from sitting with the old faithful acoustic guitar playing and singing. That WHITE LION songs like "When the Children Cry", "Broken Heart" and "Wait", and FREAK OF NATURE's "Rescue Me" later have ended up as epic rock classics is just a question of arranging them in that way with the band in the rehearsal room, but all songs have always been fit to play around the campfire or in the back of a shady bar.

MINISTRY, the legendary, six-time Grammy-nominated, explosive and highly unpredictable band that brought industrial dance-metal music to the mainstream, will release "Last Tangle In Paris", a CD/DVD package that documents the band's 2012 "DeFiBriLaTour", featuring live performances, in-studio, rehearsal and backstage footage, and one-on-one interviews.

"Last Tangle In Paris", an artistic collaboration between UDR Music and 13th Planet Records, Inc., is set for a July 8 North American release and will be available in 2-CD and DVD digipak, Blu-ray and 2-CD Amaray, 2 x vinyl gatefold 160-gram configurations, digital audio and video, and as a simple CD package.

A video trailer and the EPK can be seen below.

"Last Tangle In Paris" was filmed on July 28, 2012 at Paris' La Cigale, and features Al Jourgensen (lead vocal, guitar), Michael Scaccia and Sin Qurin (guitars), John Bechdel (keyboards and samplers), Aaron Rossi (drums), and Casey Orr (bass). Content includes MINISTRY classics such as "Psalm 69", "N.W.O." and "Just One Fix". As a special bonus, the digipak version comprises a MINISTRY tour retrospective double audio album with live performances dating back to 2006. The package was executive-produced by Angelina Lukacin Jourgensen and directed by Zach Passero; all artwork was created by Sam "Mister-Sam" Shearon.

The full track listing for "Last Tangle In Paris" is as follows:

DVD/Blu-ray and audio CD track listing:

01. Ghouldiggers02. No "W"03. Senor Peligro04. Lieslieslies05. 99%Ers06. Life Is Good07. Relapse08. The Last Sucker09. Psalm 6910. New World Order11. Just One Fix12. Thieves

CD1 / Retrospective track listing:

01. Ghouldiggers02. No "W"03. Senor Peligro04. Rio Grande Blood05. 99%ers06. Life Is Good07. Relapse08. The Last Sucker

CD2 / Retrospective track listing:

01. Psalm 6902. New World Order03. Just One Fix04. Thieves05. Khyber Pass06. Fear Is Big Business07. Let's Go08. Watch Yourself09. So What

The official lyric video for "World On Fire", the title track of the new album from Slash (GUNS N' ROSES, VELVET REVOLVER) and his backing band, MYLES KENNEDY & THE CONSPIRATORS, can eb seen below. The song arrived at radio on June 13 and was released digitally on June 16.

"World On Fire", the third album to be made available under the Slash solo banner, will be released on September 15 via Slash's own label Dik Hayd International distributed through Roadrunner Records (Europe, Middle East, Africa and Latin America). A total of 17 songs, including one instrumental, were laid down for the follow-up to 2012's "Apocalyptic Love" with producer Michael "Elvis" Baskette (ALTER BRIDGE, FALLING IN REVERSE, INCUBUS).

"World On Fire" track listing:

01. World On Fire02. Shadow Life03. Automatic Overdrive04. Wicked Stone05. 30 Years To Life06. Bent To Fly07. Stone Blind08. Too Far Gone09. Beneath The Savage Sun10. Withered Delilah11. Battleground12. Dirty Girl13. Iris Of The Storm14. Avalon15. The Dissident16. Safari Inn17. The Unholy

The cover artwork for the "World On Fire" album was designed by American contemporary artist Ron English and can be seen below.

"World On Fire" will be made available four weeks in advance of the U.K. general release as a Classic Rock Fanpack, which consists of:

* The full album* 116-page magazine featuring exclusive interviews with Slash, the band, producer Michael Baskette and cover artist Ron English. A Slash and Myles track-by-track breakdown. Exclusive pictures from the recording sessions as well as a brand new shoot, competition and much more.* Giant double-sided A1 poster* Metal pin badge

Slash told Music Radar about the new CD, "I wrote the majority of the music when I was on the 'Apocalyptic Love' tour. You know, just sitting around in dressing rooms and hotel rooms for a year, I accumulated all these ideas. Then in September [2013] I sat down and went through everything I'd recorded on my voice memo on my phone and picked out about 20 different ideas then we went into pre-production in October and just started jamming. We were there for a couple of months, holed up in Mates rehearsal studio in Los Angeles. There was the whole writing process then once we had all the songs down we rehearsed the shit out of it, and then we brought the producer, Mike Baskette, in. And so we went through another phase of fine tooth-combing everything and getting the arrangements together. Myles came down and started working on his vocal parts… and by the time we were done with all that we were ready to go in and just bang the stuff out. It was a very quick process in the studio."

He continued: "The one thing about this record is that it was almost like it wrote itself, it was very effortless. And that happens very rarely, when there's a certain energy that carries the creative process and it's almost like you're not in control of it and you just ride that wave. That's how this record was. I can't think of any outside influence other than just going with this creative flow."

Slash also spoke about the musical chemistry between him and his bandmates, telling Music Radar: "I think basically everyone's a great rock 'n' roll player. They're real rock musicians at heart — deep down. So when we get together, we've built up a certain chemistry. We started out with a certain kind of chemistry and we're just evolving from there. At this point, everybody feels very comfortable just being themselves and doing what it is that they do best. It's just an unsaid, natural synergy that happens. For example, this is probably one of Brent's [Fitz, drummer] best records as a player, being able to do all the things he wanted to do. And the same with Todd [Kerns, bass] and the same for me. But having such a great rhythm section means I have to really fuckin' put together some great guitar bits on top of it. The other thing that's cool is Mike Baskette was great. One of the reasons why I really wanted to work with him was he just loves guitars and it's rare to get anyone who brings any ideas other than the ones you bring to the table as far as sounds and tones or anything like that. And that's a limitation: you can only do as much as you know how to do in the studio and sometimes you really need to work with an engineer who knows something in the recording studio that you don't know. That's what Mike brought into it. He was so enthusiastic about getting guitar sounds. He would put as much time into that as I could possibly put it in — sometimes more so. It was really inspiring. I haven't had that in a long, long time."

Slash released his first self-titled solo effort in 2010.

The legendary guitarist employed a different vocalist on each track of his first album, before settling on ALTER BRIDGE member Kennedy for both touring and eventually recording.

"Apocalyptic Love" earned Slash his two first-ever No. 1 U.S. rock radio hits with "You're A Lie" and "Standing In The Sun". The record's third single, "Anastasia", cracked the Top 10 at both Modern and Active Rock.

Slash and AEROSMITH will team up for a U.S. tour this summer.

"World On Fire" lyric video:


"World On Fire" single artwork:



"World On Fire" album artwork:

Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer and legendary drummer of GUNS N' ROSES, VELVET REVOLVER and THE CULT, Matt Sorum released his new album, "Stratosphere", under the moniker MATT SORUM'S FIERCE JOY on March 11 on Rok Dok Recordings via Kobalt Label Services.

"Stratosphere" is major departure from the hard-hitting rock Sorum is best known for. His intense passion for animal and human rights, and need to give back heavily influenced the narrative and acoustic orchestration of the album.

"Over the years, I've been influenced by my surroundings and sometimes that hasn't always been for the better," says Sorum. "But after years of soul searching, I organically fell into a different state of mind.

"With many lessons learned along the way, it seemed like the perfect time to do a record in my own voice, if you will. It's as real and exposed as anything I've ever offered my in my career."

Besides stepping behind the mic for lead vocals, Sorum wrote the entire album, and plays acoustic guitar and piano.

"I've always played acoustic, so I wanted to use that as the feel of the record," Matt says.

"I chose the musicians I wanted by records they had played on, and diverse instruments such as mellotron, slide guitar and ethnic percussion.

"I always wanted orchestration, so this album was the canvas for that as well."

MATT SORUM'S FIERCE JOY - "Stratosphere" track listing:

01. Intro - Stratosphere Part 102. The Sea03. What Ziggy Says04. For The Wild Ones05. Goodbye To You06. Gone07. Lady of the Stone08. Ode to Nick Drake09. Blue10. Josephine11. Land of the Pure12. Killers N Lovers13. The Lonely Teardrop14. Outro - Stratosphere Part 2

The official video for the song "For The Wild Ones" can be seen below.

Comments Sorum: "I wrote this song as a voice for wildlife and animals worldwide.

"My love of animals has always been there but now I am using my voice to try and protect the endangered and abused."

Speaking to The Street, Sorum stated about his inspiration for the "Stratosphere" CD: "I'm known as a rock guy, but I've always loved so many diverse artists. I was a huge Joni Mitchell fan; I remember listening to a lot of her records back to back. Neil Young, Tom Petty, THE BEATLES, of course, and I was a huge Bowie fan. I was also into progressive stuff, like early GENESIS, Peter Gabriel era. You can hear that influence on the new album; there are a couple of songs that have some interesting time changes.

"I've always dabbled on the acoustic guitar, and I wrote a couple songs for VELVET REVOLVER. In GUNS N' ROSES, Axl [Rose] and Slash looked to me for arrangements. I wasn't the predominant songwriter, but I've always been involved in the process.

"When I put 'Stratosphere' together, I actually had a lot of it on cassette. I'd been writing the songs over the years, and I wanted to do an album that was just coming from me, regardless of anyone's expectations."

Asked if MATT SORUM'S FIERCE JOY will go out on tour, Sorum said: "We're going to tour, but it isn't going to be a typical rock show. If I'm going to front a band, I can't see myself, at my age, jumping up and playing rock and roll the way Dave Grohl does. Dave pulls it off, running around the stage with an electric guitar. But would that feel right for me? How can I make this feel natural, a natural progression, growing into the man that I finally feel that I am, and saying what I want to say now?"


"The Sea" video:


"Stratosphere" trailer:


Making of "Stratosphere" webisode 5:


Making of "Stratosphere" webisode 4:


Making of "Stratosphere" webisode 3:


Making of "Stratosphere" webisode 2:


Making of "Stratosphere" webisode 1:

The official video for the song "Pray" from METAL CHURCH frontman Ronny Munroe can be seen below. The track is taken from Munroe's third solo album, "Electric Wake", which will be released on June 24 via Rat Pak Records. Guest musicians on the CD include George Lynch (KXM, LYNCH MOB, ex-DOKKEN), Dave Rude (TESLA), Pamela Moore (QUEENSRŸCHE's "Sister Mary") and Paul Kleff (ex-FIREWOLFE).

Produced by Bruce Bouillet and mixed by Jon Wyman, "Electric Wake" "truly captures all the magic of the classic metal genre," according to a press release. "I wanted to create something that was totally new, but at the same time allow all my influences to shine through," states Ronny. "I put two years into the writing process of this album, but when it came time to start recording, I threw everything out the window and just went with my gut and it worked out better than I could have imagined."

The cover artwork for "Electric Wake" was created by Rainer Kalwitz and can be seen below.

"Electric Wake" track listing:

01. Burning Time02. Ghosts 03. Electric Wake04. Turn To Stone05. My Shadow06. Not You Not Me07. Pray08. Ritual Damage09. Sleepless Mountain10. The Others11. United

Bonus tracks

12. Tainted Nation13. Total Eclipse (IRON MAIDEN cover)

Speaking to the Auburn Reporter last year, Munroe stated about his musical upbringing: "I wanted to be a rock star from a very, very young age. I just had a love for music in general from a young age, as a baby."

Munroe said he decided to become a singer after being exposed to legendary metal frontman Ronnie James Dio's vocals on the RAINBOW song "Man On The Silver Mountain". "I heard it on KISW and took off my headphones, ran downstairs and called the station asking, 'Who is that singing?'" he said.

Ronny also spoke about how he landed the METAL CHURCH gig, telling the Auburn Reporter. "I originally tried out for Kurdt's [Vanderhoof, guitar] solo band, VANDERHOOF," he said. "But of course, my being a huge METAL CHURCH fan like everyone else, I was like 'Dude, how about METAL CHURCH? Why don't we do METAL CHURCH?' A couple of weeks later, Kurdt called me and said, 'OK, you want to do METAL CHURCH, let's do it.'"

"I thought that it was going to just be handed to me, but it took many years until I made it in 2003 when I got the gig in METAL CHURCH," he said. "I truly believe everything does happen for a reason, and it took me awhile to get where I wanted to be."

Although METAL CHURCH called it quits after "This Present Wasteland", the band reformed in 2012, this time with Munroe, Vanderhoof, Steve Unger on bass, drummer Jeff Plate and second guitarist Rick Van Zandt.

"METAL CHURCH is my main focus and will be for years to come, and my solo project," Munroe said. "So those are my main focuses. Will I do other projects? Yes, because I need to do that to survive. But I'm not searching any longer to be in a big name band. I'm home."

"Every time that I go up there, even now that we're back together, I do my job," he said. "I put my own stamp on the songs, but I also pay as much respect to [previous METAL CHURCH singers] Dave [Wayne, who died in 2004] and Mike [Howe] and the way they sang the original songs. There are always signature parts that the fans want to hear. So I do that, but I also put a little bit of me in there."

"I'm lucky to be doing what I'm doing and lucky there are people out there that like what I'm doing," he said. "There are people who don't. I'll never live down the David or Mike thing, but that's just how it is. Anybody coming into an established band and replacing somebody, you're never going to get rid of that. That's part of the band's history. So I really don't want that to go away. I'm a fan of the band and the first record too. And then I ended up becoming the singer."