SLAYER's estranged drummer Dave Lombardo has commented on the passing of the band's guitarist Jeff Hanneman, who died at about 11 a.m. yesterday (Thursday, May 2) near his Southern California home. He was 49. Hanneman was in an area hospital when he suffered liver failure.

Said Lombardo via Twitter: "I'm deeply saddened, shocked and speechless. It's difficult for me to write my feelings at this moment. My heart goes out to Kathy Hanneman."

Lombardo sat out SLAYER's recent Australian tour due to a contract dispute with the other members of the group. Filling in for him was Jon Dette (TESTAMENT, ANTHRAX).

Asked if he will be sitting behind the kit for SLAYER when they return to Europe this summer, Lombardo told Greece's Rock Overdose: "I don't know yet. I hope to be there, but at this point, I don't know if I'm returning or not." He added. "I love my fans so much and they've been so supportive through the years; they've always been there. And their concern and sadness for what happened in Australia is more than I could have ever imagined fans to react. It's unbelievable. I just love my fans and I hope to continue playing for them. This is all I do. This is my life. I don't do anything else. I don't have a snakefarm, I don't have a farm with cows… I'm not like that. Music is my passion and my life, and this is all I do. So for the fans to be this nice and kind and concerned, I just love them."

Hanneman had been on hiatus from SLAYER since early 2011, when he contracted necrotizing fasciitis, a flesh-eating disease that doctors believed might have been caused by a spider bite. Hanneman almost lost his arm, and was briefly placed in a medically induced coma. After a series of skin grafts, he had been working on his physical rehabilitation. He is survived by his wife Kathy, his sister Kathy and his brothers Michael and Larry.

Guitarist Gary Holt of San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal veterans EXODUS has commented on the passing of SLAYER axeman Jeff Hanneman, who died at about 11 a.m. yesterday (Thursday, May 2) near his Southern California home. He was 49. Hanneman was in an area hospital when he suffered liver failure.

Holt has spent the last two years filling in for Hanneman who had been on hiatus from SLAYER since early 2011, when he contracted necrotizing fasciitis, a flesh-eating disease that doctors believed might have been caused by a spider bite. Hanneman almost lost his arm, and was briefly placed in a medically induced coma. After a series of skin grafts, he had been working on his physical rehabilitation.

Said Holt: "I'm at a loss for words. The news yesterday of Jeff's passing hit me like a ton of bricks. Totally devastating sadness is all I have right now. 'In shock' are the best words I can come up with to describe how I'm feeling.

"Jeff, it's been an honor, my brother, to TRY my best to honor your songs best I could.

"There is only one Jeff Hanneman. All I ever could HOPE to do was play those songs you wrote with the conviction with which you played and wrote them, 'cause there is only one of you; that mold was broken long ago.

"My old friend, we had some amazing times on the greatest shows and tours I've ever done (VENOM, SLAYER, EXODUS, anyone?), young and hungry thrashers out to lay waste to everything, and had the best time ever while doing it. Exactly why we all started playing in the first place.

"Much love and respect, and my deepest condolences to the Hanneman family and the whole SLAYER family. Gone but NEVER forgotten and always missed. R.I.P."

SLAYER guitarist Kerry King led the crowd in a "moment of noise" followed by a toast in honor of the band's late axeman Jeff Hanneman at the Revolver Golden Gods on Thursday night (May 2) in Los Angeles. Video footage of King's tribute can be seen below.

Hanneman died at about 11 a.m. yesterday (Thursday, May 2) near his Southern California home. He was 49. Hanneman was in an area hospital when he suffered liver failure.

Hanneman had been on hiatus from SLAYER since early 2011, when he contracted necrotizing fasciitis, a flesh-eating disease that doctors believed might have been caused by a spider bite. Hanneman almost lost his arm, and was briefly placed in a medically induced coma. After a series of skin grafts, he had been working on his physical rehabilitation. He is survived by his wife Kathy, his sister Kathy and his brothers Michael and Larry.

In a March 1, 2013 interview with MetalObsession.net's Nick Tevelis, King stated about Jeff Hanneman's health status: "I don't have an update. I haven't seen Jeff in forever. He's always been a recluse, and he's even been more of a recluse since he's not going on tour with us. But our manager talks to him from time to time and sees him in L.A. just randomly. But I'm far from L.A., so I'm not in that loop. But I guess he's just getting better. It's just one of those things where he can do anything in life. He could be hanging here having a good time with us. He can probably play 'South Of Heaven', but he's not gonna be playing 'Jihad', you know what I mean?! So it's just a muscle memory kind of thing, I guess, at this point."

Asked whether Jeff had been involved in the songwriting process for the new SLAYER album, Kerry said: "It's just all my stuff for now. But I did that just in case, 'cause I don't know what Jeff's intentions are. So I wanted to have SLAYER covered in case he doesn't come to the party. If he comes to the party, then we've got tons of songs."

Regarding whether contingencies had been made in case Jeff doesn't make it back to SLAYER in the near future, Kerry said: "I think Gary [Holt, EXODUS guitarist who has been filling in for Jeff for the past couple of years] is in for the long haul. I haven't really discussed it with him. But he keeps his schedule free when he knows we're on tour. And I'm pretty sure, if Jeff all of a sudden came back in June, we would probably pay Gary for freeing up his time. I don't wanna treat somebody that's bailed us out for two years badly. But if Gary played with us forever? I'm OK with that. But if Jeff got better and said, 'Hey, man, I'm ready to play,' and he came to rehearsal and showed us he was good enough, that's his show."

Guitarist/vocalist Robb Flynn of San Francisco Bay Area metallers MACHINE HEAD (pictured below) has comented on the passing of SLAYER guitarist Jeff Hanneman, who died at about 11 a.m. yesterday (Thursday, May 2) near his Southern California home. He was 49. Hanneman was in an area hospital when he suffered liver failure.

In the latest installment of his online blog, "The General Journals: Diary Of A Frontman... And Other Ramblings - Life Affirming", Flynn wrote: "Still can't believe the Jeff Hanneman from SLAYER is dead. Things like that just don't happen. Thrashers don't die??!! WTF!!??

"I'm not going to sit here and say how him and I were best buds or something; we definitely weren't, I'd barely call us acquaintances, I did 8 tours and over 120 shows with the dude and honestly, I never really got to 'know him.' I was always closer with Kerry [King]. Jeff was super quiet, really kept to himself, would get rowdy when he was drunk, but was a bit aloof, and seemed annoyed at the people partying around him despite the fact that he himself would be getting hammered.

"I can remember some good hangs with him, though. The first was in Basel, Switzerland back in November, 1994 when MACHINE HEAD was main support to SLAYER on the 'Divine Intervention' tour. It was one of those shows were something so random happens, it just never leaves you, in this case, the show was sponsored by Chesterfield cigarettes and every kid entering the show got 2 free packs of smokes. I've never seen so much smoke in a venue in my life. I remember walking onstage and yelling at our roadie / everything-guy Mike Scum, 'DUDE, turn off the fuckin' smoke machine,' he said 'YOOOOO, it's not the smoke machine, bro, it's the cigarettes!' It was damn near impossible to breathe onstage.

"After the show, we were hanging backstage and Jeff walked back, we started bitching about the crazy cigarette show, and he invited me back to the dressing room to grab a beer. We sat down and chatted for a while, and then I went all SLAYER-nerd on him and started grilling him on what songs he wrote.

Me: 'Who wrote 'Angel Of Death'?'
Jeff: 'I did'
Me: 'Lyrics too?'
Jeff: 'Yep'
Me: 'Raining Blood'?'
Jeff: 'Me'
Me: 'Dead Skin Mask'?'
Jeff: 'Yep'
Me: 'South Of Heaven'?'
Jeff: 'Me'
Me: 'Black Magic'?'
Jeff: 'You know it'
Me: 'Hell Awaits'?'
Jeff: 'Yep'

"On and on it went, that man wrote both the music and lyrics to a large goddamn portion of my favorite SLAYER songs. He was a huge influence on my songwriting growing up in particular with arrangements and the bold use of key changes. The one thing SLAYER band always had over so many other bands is they were all over the guitar neck when it came to key changes. Leads would be in some of the most random keys ever, but somehow it made it all that much more frantic, and when the chorus kicked back in, BOOM! CRUSHING! Set up perfectly. He was one of the few metal heads I met who never really got into PANTERA, he told me he 'liked some stuff,' but thought they were 'too bluesy at times,' and that he 'liked more evil notes or sad riffs.'

"Another good memory was sharing a tour bus on the August 2001 Korean / Japan / Australia tour, it was all 'fly' dates and hotels, we were sharing crew, tour manager and manager, so we all rode on the bus together to and from the airport to the hotel every day. Sometimes the rides were an hour or two, so you'd just all BS and hang. One time a kid in Australia bum-rushed the bus while we were all sitting in it, hammered after partying one night. He was desperate for autographs and came on the bus screaming (what else?) 'SLAAAAAAAAAYYYYYEEEEERRRR!!!' He then saw me and went all, 'Oh shit, Robb Flynn, mate I fuckin' LOVE MACHINE HEAD, but it's fuckin' SLAAAAAAAYYYYYYYEEEERRRRR.' I looked the fucker right in the eye and slurred, "Oh just FUCK RIGHT OFF!!" Hanneman fell out dying, he laughed for 10 minutes straight, cracked him up, that slightly feminine high-pitched giggle that he always did.

"Dude backed me when Kerry King and I were beefin all that time long ago, he would come up to me at festivals and would talk, just be normal. He even backed me in Decibel magazine when they asked him about the beef, saying 'Robb is a good dude,' and that 'Kerry was like the girlfriend of the band, always beefin' with someone.' I got a good laugh outta that.

"The last memory I'll share is from the American leg of the 'Divine Intervention' tour in March 1995. It was SLAYER band, BIOHAZARD supporting, and MACHINE HEAD opening. We were playing the International Ballroom in Atlanta, Georgia. He had been sitting out some of the new songs from 'Divine', which was odd to me. We were hanging out in their dressing room before the show, just him and I, and I mustered up the nerve to ask him what the deal with it was. At first he joked that he just 'didn't feel like learning them, didn't like 'em, Kerry wrote them.' He was chuckling, and then he stopped. He looked down and got serious. He said he'd been having a lot of pain in his wrists, his hands and wrists were going numb all the time, and would go numb during those songs because they were really fast, then he started to cry. It was a startling confession. I offered some awkward feel-good comment, but he just continued to cry, and I decided to sit there in the silence with him for a minute. He gave me a hug, and said 'Whoa!' and laughed, walked out toward the stage, turned back and said, 'Thanks, dude.'

"It was an intense moment, one of those rare, intense moments you have with someone, let alone with someone from another band.

"It made me really respect the dude.

"That's the Jeff I'm gonna remember.

"To Kerry, Tom, Dave, Paul, Rick Sales Mgmt and Jeff's family, my sincere condolences.

"R.I.P brother."

Metal Kaoz recently conducted an interview with former NIGHTWISH singer Tarja Turunen. You can now listen to the chat using the audio player below.

Asked if she has been approached to rejoin NIGHTWISH following the departure of singer Anette Olzon last September, Tarja said: "I don't think it will ever happen. I doubt it very seriously — deeply, deeply I doubt it will happen, because so many things changed. I'm in a very good place at the moment. I'm happy, I'm healthy, I am not looking backwards — I'm only heading towards some kind of dreams of mine and living my dreams. So I think it's better this way."

She added: "I completely understand [fans who always ask that question], and I do feel for these people. But life sucks sometimes — it sucks big time — people change also. But, you know… It's difficult."

Turunen, who currently resides in Buenos Aires, Argentina with her husband and manager Marcelo Cabuli, was in NIGHTWISH from 1996 until 2005.

Marcelo Cabuli and his business partners in 2011 demanded nearly 100,000 euros (approximately $135,000) in defamation damages from the parties behind "Once Upon a Nightwish: The Official Biography 1996-2006". Named in the lawsuit were the publishing house Like Kustannus Oy and the author of the book, Marko "Mape" Ollila. Cabuli and his Brazilian business partners argued that the book includes false accusations and insinuations that have caused them suffering and financial problems.

The book, which was published in Finnish in 2006 and in English three years later, blames Cabuli for the events leading up to Turunen's dramatic expulsion from the band in late 2005.

The court ruled that the book — which criticizes Cabuli on only a few of its 380 pages — did not detrimentally affect his work or reputation in South America. In addition, the court determined that Ollila did not maliciously portray Cabuli in a negative light.

Turunen was fired from NIGHTWISH a year before the book was published.

Interview (audio):

Last night (Thursday, May 2) on the "black carpet" at the fifth annual Revolver Golden Gods award show presented by Epiphone at Club Nokia in Los Angeles, California, Philip Anselmo (DOWN, PANTERA), Lemmy Kilmister (MOTÖRHEAD), Rob Zombie, Corey Taylor (STONE SOUR, SLIPKNOT), Sebastian Bach (SKID ROW), Alexi Laiho (CHILDREN OF BODOM), Chris Jericho (FOZZY) and Evan Seinfeld (BIOHAZARD) celebrated the life of SLAYER guitarist Jeff Hanneman, who passed away yesterday at the age of 49. Check out two separate video reports from Fuse and Horns Up Rocks!

Hanneman died at about 11 a.m. yesterday (Thursday, May 2) near his Southern California home. He was in an area hospital when he suffered liver failure.

Hanneman had been on hiatus from SLAYER since early 2011, when he contracted necrotizing fasciitis, a flesh-eating disease that doctors believed might have been caused by a spider bite. Hanneman almost lost his arm, and was briefly placed in a medically induced coma. After a series of skin grafts, he had been working on his physical rehabilitation. He is survived by his wife Kathy, his sister Kathy and his brothers Michael and Larry.

Guitarist Dino Cazares (pictured below) of Los Angeles cyber metallers FEAR FACTORY has released the following statement regarding the passing of SLAYER axeman Jeff Hanneman:

"I'm extremely shocked and sad to hear about Jeff Hanneman. He was a huge influence on my playing when I was growing up. He wrote some of the best riffs and lyrics ever!!! Fucking 'Reign In Blood'!!!

"My condolences go out to his family.

"We lost a true legend."

Jeff Hanneman died at about 11 a.m. yesterday (Thursday, May 2) near his Southern California home. He was 49. Hanneman was in an area hospital when he suffered liver failure. He is survived by his wife Kathy, his sister Kathy and his brothers Michael and Larry.

Las Vegas metallers FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH introduced the first single from their upcoming album, called "Lift Me Up", via a live performance at the Revolver Golden Gods on Thursday night (May 2) in Los Angeles. The performance featured a special surprise guest — Rob Halford of JUDAS PRIEST — who also appears on the studio version of the track.

Video footage of the "Lift Me Up" live premiere — featuring Halford — can be seen below.

The studio version of the song will premiere on U.S. radio stations on May 13 and will be available for purchase online May 14.

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's fourth studio effort will be a double album that the band will release in two installments, according to a press released issued by the group on Wednesday (May 1). The first volume of the yet-to-be-titled album will arrive on July 23, with the second half to surface sometime later this fall. Guitarist Zoltan Bathory said, "We came off the road after a couple of great years of touring and were really amped up to write the fourth record . . . (we) found ourselves 12-13 songs deep fairly quick but were still coming up with better and better material so we looked at each other and said, 'OK, why stop there? Let's keep going.' Once we passed the 24th song, we knew we're going to have to do a double album."

Bathory added, "We had this massive amount of music that's very dear to us, possibly the best material this band has ever created. At that point there was no way to decide which songs to leave off the album. So we made the decision to release them all."

The guitarist told The Pulse Of Radio a while back that everyone in FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH is capable of coming up with music. "You know, it's important to write songs," he said. "There was a time when people couldn't be in a band if they couldn't write songs or they couldn't play their instruments. In this band, that's how this band was kind of assembled, like everybody's a top shelf musician. Everybody can really kick ass, and we have a singer who can sing. And then we write songs."

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH will co-headline the 2013 Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival this summer alongside ROB ZOMBIE, with the tour kicking off in San Bernardino, California on June 29.

The new double disc follows up 2011's "American Capitalist", the group's third studio album and its third consecutive release to reach gold status for sales of half a million copies or more.

Southern California heavy music act THROWDOWN will enter the studio next week to begin recording its new full-length album. The as-yet-untitled follow-up to 2009's "Deathless" will be mixed by Chris "Zeuss" Harris for a late 2013 release via eOne Music.

Commented THROWDOWN vocalist Dave Peters: "It's really exciting, if not a little nerve-wracking, to be recording again.

"It has been almost four years since 'Deathless' came out, which is about twice as long as the time between albums before it. While that has probably been annoying for fans that have been waiting and expecting a new record, it has also been the best thing for the writing process for the new album.

"I'm really meticulous when writing and arranging even the simplest riffs and songs, so I like to take my time. It has been strange and nice having the freedom to come back to a song or part several weeks later with a different perspective after hitting a wall with it.

"We're taking a very minimalist approach with these songs, more like 'Vendetta' and (the first half of) 'Haymaker'. I avoid putting the cart before the horse, but I see the songs on the record coming out stripped down and yet still refined. A two-minute song can arrive at the same place as one that fucks around for six, and while it's more challenging to get there in less time, it is a lot cooler when you do. I've been going back to that when I find myself maybe adding parts or lines that are at risk of being superfluous.

"I'm very proud of 'Deathless' and all the work that went into it, but it wasn't a record that THROWDOWN fans expected. It was really polarizing on account of that. I'm simply not looking to continue down that stylistic road with these songs. This is going to be a hard record. I look forward to making it as much for myself as for longtime fans of the band."

Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church has tweeted about the passing of Jeff Hanneman, claiming that the SLAYER guitarist was just the latest in a line of musicians who were killed by "God."

"Which of your idols will God kill next? Yesterday Chris Kelly #kriskross. Today Jeff Hanneman #Slayer." Westboro Baptist Church wrote Thursday afternoon (May 2). It was followed by the hashtag #picketfunerals and accompanied by the picture below.

The Westboro Baptist Church is described by the Wall Street Journal as a "tiny Kansas church… [that] … preaches that U.S. deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq are punishment for American's tolerance of homosexuality and abortion." As Examiner.com noted of the church, "their flamboyant demonstrations at the funerals of non-gay service members, using the events to highlight their belief that military deaths overseas are justified punishment for U-S tolerance of homosexuality. ('You're Going to Hell,' 'Thank God for Dead Soldiers,' and 'God Hates You' are popular Westboro slogans.)."

In a June 2010 appearance on the nationally syndicated radio show "Rockline", BLACK SABBATH singer Ozzy Osbourne blasted the Westboro Baptist Church's protest of Ronnie James Dio's funeral. "I thought it was in such bad taste that those people had those banners about Ronnie James Dio. That's disgusting. They say that we're the anti-christ. Well, what makes them any better?"

Jeff Hanneman died at about 11 a.m. yesterday (Thursday, May 2) near his Southern California home. He was 49. Hanneman was in an area hospital when he suffered liver failure. He is survived by his wife Kathy, his sister Kathy and his brothers Michael and Larry.

"Metal Machine", the new video from U.D.O. — the German metal band led by former ACCEPT frontman Udo Dirkschneider — can be seen below. The song comes off U.D.O.'s new album, "Steelhammer", which will be released on May 24 via AFM Records. The CD was produced by Dirkschneider and Fitty Wienhold.

"Steelhammer" track listings:

Standard CD

01. Steelhammer
02. A Cry Of A Nation
03. Metal Machine
04. Basta Ya
05. Heavy Rain
06. Devil's Bite
07. Death Ride
08. King Of Mean
09. Time Keeper
10. Never Cross My Way
11. Take My Medicine
12. Stay True
13. When Love Becomes A Lie
14. Book Of Faith

Digipack

01. Steelhammer
02. A Cry Of A Nation
03. Metal Machine
04. Basta Ya
05. Heavy Rain
06. Devil's Bite
07. Death Ride
08. King Of Mean
09. Time Keeper
10. Never Cross My Way
11. Take My Medicine
12. Shadows Come Alive (bonus track)
13. Stay True Stay You
14. When Love Becomes A Lie
15. Book Of Faith

Japanese version

01. Steelhammer
02. A Cry Of A Nation
03. Metal Machine
04. Basta Ya
05. Heavy Rain
06. Devil's Bite
07. Death Ride
08. King Of Mean
09. Time Keeper
10. Never Cross My Way
11. Take My Medicine
12. Stay True Stay You
13. When Love Becomes A Lie
14. Book Of Faith
15. Dust And Rust (bonus track)

Guitarist Igor Gianola recently left U.D.O. and was replaced by Finnish axeman Kasperi Heikkinen.

U.D.O. last year announced the addition of guitarist Andrey Smirnov to the group's ranks. He replaced Stefan Kaufmann, who left the group for health reasons.

Stefan will continue to work with U.D.O. behind the scenes and produce other bands at his Roxx studio.

Kaufmann was the drummer for ACCEPT on nine albums but was forced to give up drumming towards the end of the band's initial run due to health problems.

Stefan joined U.D.O. as a guitar player in 1996, following ACCEPT's second breakup, and has recorded nine albums with them.

"Live In Sofia", the new DVD+CD and Blu-ray+CD from U.D.O., entered the Music DVD chart in Finland at position No. 1 and in Germany at No. 4.

"Live In Sofia" contains footage of U.D.O.'s November 16, 2011 concert at Hristo Botev Hall in Sofia, Bulgaria.

U.D.O. 's latest album, "Rev-Raptor", was released on May 20, 2011 via AFM Records.

The official lyric video for the song "Transference" from Finnish metallers CHILDREN OF BODOM can be seen below. The track comes off the band's eighth album, "Halo Of Blood", which will be released on June 11 in North America via Nuclear Blast Records. The cover art was created by Sami Saramäki, who was responsible for the artwork on previous CHILDREN OF BODOM albums "Follow The Reaper", "Are You Dead Yet?" and "Hate Crew Deathroll".

Pre-order the CD (including the bonus track and digital booklet) now and get the single "Transference" instantly.

Comments CHILDREN OF BODOM guitarist/vocalist Alexi Laiho: "'Transference' is a straight-up CHILDREN OF BODOM to-the-core-type song and therefore was a good pick for a video and obviously is one of our favorite tracks. It always had an evil vibe to it, which I wish I knew how to explain because it still gives me chills… Enjoy!"

CHILDREN OF BODOM's new CD was recorded at Danger Johnny Studios in Helsinki. For the recording of the LP, CHILDREN OF BODOM has teamed up with recording engineer Mikko Karmila, who worked with the band on their fan-favorite albums "Hatebreeder", "Follow The Reaper" and "Hate Crew Deathroll", as well as Swedish producer Peter Tägtgren (MARDUK, AMON AMARTH), who oversaw production of both vocals and keyboards on the record. The album was mixed at Finnvox Studios in Helsinki.

Commented Laiho: "'Halo Of Blood' is the eighth studio album from CHILDREN OF BODOM, and believe it or not, but we still managed to keep it fresh and new while still maintaining the elements that make COB sound recognizable. It's got the fastest and the slowest song we ever made and lyrics wise there are themes we had never had before. It's 10 new songs of pure Nordic metal and whether you enjoy it with a beer or a glass of water, I'm sure you will have a good time."

"Halo Of Blood" track listing:

01. Waste Of Skin
02. Halo Of Blood
03. Scream For Silence
04. Transference
05. Bodom Blue Moon (The Second Coming)
06. The Days Are Numbered
07. Dead Man's Hand On You
08. Damage Beyond Repair
09. All Twisted
10. One Bottle And A Knee Deep

According to The Pulse Of Radio, PEARL JAM guitarist Stone Gossard has revealed in a new interview that the 10th studio album from the band is nearing completion. Speaking with GuerillaCandy.com, Gossard said, "It's almost done and as far as what it sounds like, it sounds like PEARL JAM. You're going to hear some rock songs and you're going to hear some quiet songs and you'll hear some song in between. That's all I can really say about it because we aren't talking about it yet, so it doesn't make much sense for me to say anything."

Gossard did not give any hint of when the record, the first from the band since 2009's "Backspacer", would come out.

Guitarist Mike McCready discussed the disc recently, saying some of the songs were "pretty amazing." He added that drummer Matt Cameron had written "a really cool one that's kind of ethereal meets U2-ness, I wrote kind of a punk rock one and a PINK FLOYD thing, so there's all these kinds of things going on . . . We'll put all of those things in the PEARL JAM thing, and hit mix, and mix it up."

The new album will reportedly come out in late 2013 or early 2014.

Meanwhile, Gossard will release a new solo album called "Moonlander" on June 25, his second solo effort and first since 2001's "Bayleaf".

PEARL JAM will play in London, Ontario on July 16, Chicago's Wrigley Field on July 19, and at the Voodoo Music Experience in New Orleans in early November.

Two years after their current release "Juggernaut Of Justice", Canadian metal legends ANVIL are back with their latest studio album. "Hope In Hell", an impressive metal recording featuring 13 haunting songs, is for release on May 27 in Europe and May 24 in Germany on SPV/Steamhammer and will be available in four different formats: as a limited-edition digipak including two bonus tracks, as a jewel case CD, double gatefold colored vinyl LP and as a digital download. These are the first cuts featuring ANVIL's new bassist Sal Italiano, who joined the band a year ago.

The "Hope In Hell" title track can now be streamed in the YouTube clip below.

"We're really happy with Sal. His style is powerful and amazingly imaginative," says ANVIL guitarist/vocalist Steve "Lips" Kudlow, who composed the entire album along with drummer Robb Reiner. "It's a little as if we'd enlisted Steve Harris."

"Hope In Hell" was written and recorded following an 18-month world tour which took ANVIL around the globe. "We hadn't expected this kind of extensive tour when we brought out 'Juggernaut Of Justice'," Kudlow confesses. "Time just flew by. I could hardly believe it when I found myself in the studio again after the tour, ready to work on the next album. The reactions to 'Juggernaut Of Justice' and the shows had been so positive that we had plenty of ideas and inspiration for new material."

Kudlow is referring to typical ANVIL tracks such as "Hope In Hell", which the ANVIL guitarist considers a logical continuation of legendary numbers like "Forged In Fire", "Metal On Metal" and "Plenty Of Power". He also mentions "Eat Your Words", according to Kudlow a "hybrid between 'Jackhammer' and '666', in other words pure ANVIL, like in our early days." Pretty much the same applies to haunting new tracks like "The Fight Is Never Won" and "Call Of Duty", which present ANVIL true to form. But there are also a number of real surprises on "Hope In Hell": "A song like 'Badass Rock'n'Roll' with its rock'n'roll groove surprised even me," Kudlow admits. "It shows our great respect for bands like AC/DC and MOTÖRHEAD. I'm sure that all ANVIL fans will love this song because it's the best we've done in this direction." "Mankind Machine" sees Kudlow & Co. break new ground: never before has this band sounded so mechanical (like the title suggests). And never before has it sounded as oriented to the classic rock feel of the seventies as in "Time Shows No Mercy".

So ANVIL are proud to present the kind of album that ANVIL fans will love: no concessions to short-lived trends, no modern frills but traditional metal with lots of classic rock music elements.

"What we do is totally timeless," says ANVIL's frontman. "We've never tried to change our sound or experiment with trends and fashions. We live in our own world and have maintained our individuality and own identity."

Like "Juggernaut Of Justice", "Hope In Hell" was produced by Bob Marlette (BLACK SABBATH, AIRBOURNE, ALICE COOPER) at the NRG Recording studios in North Hollywood, California and mastered by Maor Appelbaum (YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, SEPULTURA).

"The album's flair reminds me of the beginnings of classic heavy metal in the most positive sense of the term," says Kudlow. "I grew up in the Seventies, and I still like what I listened to back then.

"You can always rely on ANVIL. We don't write our music for the radio and we don't want to break any records. Some media criticize our uncompromising attitude, but we're proud of never having betrayed our ideals and having remained faithful to our roots.

"We're really proud and already love the new album just as much as our early releases from the beginning of the Eighties, because 'Hope In Hell' sounds like ANVIL live on stage: natural, honest, unvarnished, never over-produced and straight from the heart."

"Hope In Hell" track listing:

01. Hope In Hell
02. Eat Your Words
03. Through With You
04. The Fight Is Never Won
05. Pay The Toll
06. Flying
07. Call Of Duty
08. Badass Rock N Roll
09. Time Shows No Mercy
10. Mankind Machine
11. Shut The Fuck Up
12. Hard Wired (bonus track)
13. Fire At Will (bonus track)

"Hope In Hell" (song) audio stream:

DISTURBED and DEVICE singer David Draiman joined HALESTORM on stage last night (Thursday, May 2) at the fifth annual Revolver Golden Gods award show presented by Epiphone at Club Nokia in Los Angeles, California to perform the LED ZEPPELIN classic "Whole Lotta Love". Video footage of his appearance can be seen below.

HALESTORM singer Lzzy Hale is one of many guests appearing on the self-titled debut album from DEVICE, the new industrial rock act led by David Draiman. Hale, who duets with Draiman on a cover of the Ozzy Osbourne/Lita Ford song "Close My Eyes Forever", told Artisan News: "David Draiman has been such an amazing mentor over the years. I've always felt like a little sister in heavy metal to him. And we had talked about doing that song for years, and we just never had any time to do it. And so I kind of thought that he had forgotten all about it. And then I got a call one day and he was, like, 'I know you're on tour, but can we make this happen?' So I literally flew to New York and got into this tiny, little studio and we did it."

She added: "[David is] an amazing man. Talk about a hard-working band. DISTURBED has been around for so long and really got us into new metal."

Draiman stated about his collaboration with Hale on "Close My Eyes Forever": "It's a song I've wanted to cover for many years, and I'm glad we were able to do it with this project, because it definitely took on its own unique identity and its own unique reformation of the song. Having Lzzy Hale be the guest female vocalist on the track is about as true to form as it could have been. There's nobody better in the music field to be the modern day embodiment of Lita Ford. She has got riot girl in her and she is, in my opinion, one of the best voices, if not the best female voice, in modern rock. And I was very very honored to have her sing. I can only hope that Ozzy and Sharon are as happy with it and proud of it as I am. It's definitely part of an homage to the greatness of who I consider to be one of, if not the, most seminal frontmen of all time, the godfather of heavy metal, and a guy I look up to so much, and to a family that's done so much for me and for DISTURBED over the years. I can only hope that it makes them proud."

He added: "I actually gave [Lzzy] even more to sing than the original version. Initially in the original arrangement they each had their own specific choruses instead of trading off. I gave Lzzy a lot more because I love her voice. I think she's amazing and I just thought it would be a cooler dynamic for my version of the song to incorporate more of the female voice in this version of the cover. I'm really glad it ended up happening the way that it did with the DEVICE project as opposed to with DISTURBED, because it enabled me to go to that place with my voice that really wouldn't have been appropriate on a DISTURBED record.

"I loved doing it, it's that classical delivery and technique and that part of me that harkens back to the early cantorial days. I had tracked all of these songs completely beforehand and I had tracked Lzzy's parts ahead of the time and brought them with me to New York when I tracked her so I had given her a guide the whole way through the song. We did everything very efficiently, very effectively to the extent where one of her label guys came in to take a peek at what was going on and he said, 'Oh, man, you're a real taskmaster, you're making her go take after take.' I'm not pushing her beyond her limits — it's only because she knows where she needs to go and there's no experimentation, it's very easy.

"It was great and Lzzy did make a bunch of the parts her own, different emphasis and slight changes of cadence — and she's very talented. She's bulletproof. I've never seen her have a bad night."

DEFTONES frontman Chino Moreno joined THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN on stage last night (Thursday, May 2) at the fifth annual Revolver Golden Gods award show presented by Epiphone at Club Nokia in Los Angeles, California to perform a rocked out version of DEPECHE MODE's "Behind The Wheel". Video footage of the band's appearance can be seen below.

THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN's fifth full-length album, "One Of Us Is The Killer", will be released on May 14 through the band's own Party Smasher Inc., in partnership with Sumerian Records in North America. Party Smasher's partnership with BMG covers the rest of the world, including licensing deals with Grind House for Japan and Remote Control in Australia.

"One Of Us Is The Killer" was recorded in Southern California with longtime producer Steve Evetts (GLASSJAW, THE CURE, SUICIDE SILENCE), with additional production at guitarist/co-founder Ben Weinman's studio. Mastering will be handled by Tom Baker (DEFTONES, NINE INCH NAILS, BEASTIE BOYS).

Joe Satriani, the incomparable guitar aficionado, will release his 14th studio album, "Unstoppable Momentum", on May 7 through Epic Records. You can now listen to the entire CDD before it is released, exclusively at MSN Music's Listening Booth, at this location.

Produced by Satriani and Mike Fraser (AC/DC), "Unstoppable Momentum" features an amazing array of talented players, including Vinnie Colauita (STING, JEFF BECK) on drums, Chris Chaney (JANE'S ADDICTION) on bass and on keyboards, Mike Keneally (DETHKLOK). All band members and Satriani are featured in various stages of the sessions.

Fans are encouraged to pre-order "Unstoppable Momentum" via Sony Music and Satriani's own website store. When pre-ordering through the Epic Records store, fans will be given the chance to bundle new signed copies of the album with exclusive t-shirts and guitar straps. At Satriani.com, fans will receive an exclusive, never-before-seen art book featuring years of drawings, doodles and sketches that Satriani has done over the years.

"Some of my drawings have made their way on to guitars, straps and picks, LP and CD booklets, t-shirts, hats, keychains, etc…and even my live stage productions," explains Satriani. "This book represents my first effort to finally compile my oddly drawn friends into one place, a wildly colorful portfolio of sorts. A collection of drawings meant to inspire and entertain."

After returning from the South American G3 tour last October, Satriani got down to writing new music over the next two months. As he recalls, "A very prolific and cathartic two months followed resulting in a bundle of new music I was very excited to get recorded!"

Eleven songs were selected to record, all "heading in different directions and touching on a variety of musical influences." With that in mind, Satriani decided to assemble a new studio band. "The idea was to crank up the energy level of the sessions, and allow for more individual expression of the material from each player. The chemistry with Mike, Chris and Vinnie was fantastic and we blazed through all of the tracks with everyone laying down amazing performances."

For two decades, Satriani has traveled the world, playing to sold-out crowds as both a headliner and as founder of the all-star "G3" guitar extravaganza. His studio and live recordings have sold more than 10 million copies worldwide to date and of his many solo albums, two have gone platinum and four others went gold, with 15 Grammy nominations between them. His side project, CHICKENFOOT, featuring former VAN HALEN frontman Sammy Hagar, former VAN HALEN bassist Michael Anthony, and RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS' drummer Chad Smith saw their debut album certified gold and their second studio album debuted at No. 9. In late 2010, music sensation Nicki Minaj sampled the classic Satriani track "Always With Me Always With You" in her song "Right Through Me" from her multi-platinum debut album. In 2011, Satriani recreated his national anthem performance for the opening day of the Oakland A's historic 2002 season in the Brad Pitt movie "Moneyball".

"Unstoppable Momentum" track listing:

01. Unstoppable Momentum
02. Can't Go Back
03. Lies And Truths
04. Three Sheets To The Wind
05. I'll Put A Stone On Your Cairn
06. A Door Into Summer
07. Shine On American Dreamer
08. Jumpin' In
09. Jumpin' Out
10. The Weight Of The World
11. A Celebration

The "A Door Into Summer" video, conceived as a musical journey of sorts, was actually shot as Satriani and his band made their way to the legendary Skywalker Sound studio, on the famed Skywalker Ranch in the Bay Area. The clip features a behind-the-scenes look at the band arriving, setting up and starting the album recording process intercut with a collage of stills from the album cover photo shoot.

JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford joined METALLICA on stage last night (Thursday, May 2) at the fifth annual Revolver Golden Gods award show presented by Epiphone at Club Nokia in Los Angeles, California to perform the PRIEST classic "Rapid Fire". Video footage of his appearance can be seen below.

METALLICA played a four-song set at Revolver Golden Gods: "Disposable Heroes", "For Whom the Bell Tolls", "Rapid Fire" and "Seek And Destroy".

Halford previously performed "Rapid Fire" with METALLICA at one of the band's four intimate shows in December 2011 at the Fillmore in San Francisco as part of the week-long celebration of METALLICA's 30th anniversary as a band for fan club members only.

This Friday (May 3) has been declared Metallica Night at AT&T Park in San Francisco, home of baseball's San Francisco Giants. According to a press release issued by the team, members of METALLICA will participate in pre-game festivities which will include throwing out the ceremonial first pitch and guitarists James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett performing the National Anthem. The custom Giants-themed guitars that will be played by the pair will be signed immediately following the National Anthem and auctioned off at the Giants Community Clubhouse, with proceeds being shared by the Giants Community Fund and the Bill Graham Memorial Foundation.

METALLICA is also gearing up to headline its second annual Orion Music + More festival, scheduled for June 8-9 in Detroit.

Former PANTERA members Philip Anselmo (vocals) and Rex Brown (bass) joined ANTHRAX on stage last night (Thursday, May 2) at the fifth annual Revolver Golden Gods award show presented by Epiphone at Club Nokia in Los Angeles, California to perform the PANTERA classic "This Love". Video footage of their appearance, which was dedicated by Anselmo to late SLAYER guitarist Jeff Hanneman, can be seen below.

Asked by France's Radio Metal in a recent interview if he is fed up having to answer questions about the possibility of a PANTERA reunion with Zakk Wylde (BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, OZZY OSBOURNE) filling in for the late "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott on guitar, Anselmo said: "I'm not fed up with it. I understand the…. I understand. I'm a music fan myself. I love music. I love bands, I love collecting music. And for your average fan out there, if you're a PANTERA fan, of course, you want to see it. And, really, if you think about it, our career was pretty short. And here we are in 2013 and we're still talking about PANTERA. Obviously there's a great strength there, obviously there's a great memory there. But as far as us reforming or anything like that, the only thing… Look, I've said it in the past… It's not a very hopeful thing to think about, because I would guess Vinnie Paul [Abbott, former PANTERA drummer and Dimebag's brother] and I would have to sit down and talk, and right now, I don't think he wants to talk about that at all. And he definitely, sure as hell, doesn't wanna talk to me. Put it this way: my door is open always; his door is closed and locked. And until we can sort the situation out — if we can ever sort the situation out — then I would pretty much forget about a PANTERA reunion."

"Death Vision", the new video from CADAVERIA — the Italian band featuring former OPERA IX vocalist Cadaveria and ex-OPERA IX drummer/NECRODEATH vocalist Marçelo Santos (a.k.a. Flegias) — can be seen below. The song comes off CADAVERIA's fourth album, "Horror Metal", which was released on January 31, 2012 via Bakerteam Records, a division of Scarlet Records.

"Horror Metal" track listing:

01. Flowers In Fire
02. The Night's Theatre
03. Death Vision
04. Whispers Of Sin
05. Assassin
06. The Days Of The After And Behind
07. Apocalypse
08. The Oracle (Of The Fog)
09. Requiem
10. This Is Not The Silence
11. Hypnotic Psychosis

The "Flowers In Fire" video was filmed in September 2012 in three different locations in Piedmont, North Italy, by director Alberto Maria Gotti of Morbid Vision.

The group's long-awaited follow-up 2007's "In Your Blood" (released on French extreme metal label Season Of Mist) has been described by Cadaveria as "the most obscure, raw and horror-filled work ever produced by the group."

Horror Pain Gore Death Productions has signed the female-fronted sludge trio SERPENT CROWN. The band's new self-titled album will be released on CD format on May 28.

Hailing from San Francisco, SERPENT CROWN plays aggressive, ultra-heavy, riff-driven metal. Skilled guitarist and spectral vocalist Dara Santhai leads the charge on this self-titled debut album, which features drummer Will Carroll of thrash metal veterans DEATH ANGEL blasting behind the kit. Undertones of '80s thrash metal, hardcore and heavy atmospheric rock are prevalent and compliment the rocking yet haunting aural landscape.

"Serpent Crown" is an unearthly journey to the dark side with songs of the apocalypse, ruminations of death and destruction.

The track listing for the CD is as follows:

01. No Beacon Of Light
02. Prelude To The Netherworld
03. To Leave This Land
04. The Trickster
05. Doomsayer
06. Children Of The Night

Finnish metallers KALMAH will release their new studio album, "Seventh Swamphony", on June 17 via Spinefarm Records. The follow-up to 2010's "12 Gauge" was recorded at Tico-Tico Studios in Kemi, Finland, and was mixed and mastered at Fascination Street studios in Örebro, Sweden by Jens Bogren (OPETH, SOILWORK, PARADISE LOST). The new CD will feature cover artwork by Juha Vuorma, who worked on the first three KALMAH albums as well as releases from USURPER, METUJA, DEATHMARCHED and ALTARS OF DESTRUCTION. The CD's first single, "Seventh Swamphony", is scheduled for digital release on May 6.

After 15 years together, with six full-length albums under their collective belt, 2013 sees the Finnish musicians delivering album No. 7 — an eight-track release showcasing this Oulu outfit's trademark frantic, yet melodic death metal style, tempered here by a newfound "epic mournfulness."

Commented KALMAH lead guitarist Antti Kokko: "This album marks a milestone in our careers. We have a new keyboard player, which has given a fresh edge to the music, and we are, of course, very satisfied with the new material. That is why we wanted to give the songs the best possible chance without compromise; we feel very lucky and privileged to have worked with Jens Bogren."

"Seventh Swamphony" track listing:

01. Seventh Swamphony
02. Deadfall
03. Pikemaster
04. Hollo
05. Windlake Tale
06. Wolves on the Throne
07. Black Marten´s Trace
08. The Trapper

The official video for the title track, "Seventh Swamphony", can be seen below. The clip was directed by Jukka Vidgren.

Keyboardist Marco Sneck left KALMAH in 2011 after seven years and three albums with the band.

KALMAH's sixth album, "12 Gauge", entered the official chart in the Finland at position No. 15.

Jeb Wright at Classic Rock Revisited recently caught up with former FOREIGNER frontman Lou Gramm to dicuss the singer's new book, Juke Box Hero. An excerpt from the interview is available below:
Jeb: Tell me why you decided to write the book, Juke Box Hero, at this time in your life.

Lou: "Plenty of time had gone by and I’ve had a full career. I still want to stay active in a number of ways, but in-between all of the history of the band, my solo albums and all of the exciting truck crashes and things like that; I thought I had enough material to do a book. I contacted a fellow named Scott Pitoniak, who is also from Rochester, New York. He does sports biographies, so this is a little left of center of him. I enjoy his style of writing and I thought we could collaborate, so I contacted him and it has been nothing but good."

Jeb: There are a lot of rock and roll biographies coming out at this time. Your story is unique, as you have the story of coming up and joining Foreigner, your health and drug addiction.

Lou: "It was interesting when it happened. Some parts were very emotional to talk about and some were very cathartic. Some parts really pumped me up and some made me angry. It was really a cross section of emotions to talk about it all."

Jeb: Talk about breaking up with Foreigner.

Lou: "I left the band three times and the third time was the final time. The first two times were because I wasn’t given much artistic freedom within the band when it came to my ability to co-write. Every time I came up with an idea it had to be critiqued by Mick (Jones) before he would decide whether he was going to use it or not. It was like I was raising my hand to tell the teacher something. It really did a lot of damage to my self-confidence. When the opportunity came to do my own album, I jumped at it. I did it to show him that I was certainly capable of doing this, but mostly, I did it for myself and to show myself I had what it took."

Jeb: Do you ever see a day where you and Mick could be back in Foreigner together?

Lou: "His management and my management are tossing around the idea of a farewell tour. I would really like to do that. It would be really great to do that instead of leaving it with such a bitter and unfinished ending."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

"Come Back Life", the new video from German psychedelic hard rockers KADAVAR, can be seen below. The clip was directed, filmed and edited by Nathini van der Meer and Annikki Heinemann of Oddisee Films.

"Come Back Life" comes off KADAVAR's second full-length album, "Abra Kadavar", which entered the German Media Control chart at position No. 42. The CD was released in Europe on April 12 via Nuclear Blast Records.

Comments the band: "It almost appears a little inappropriate to us that we've entered the charts with music like ours in this day and age. However, we're absolutely delighted, of course — especially since we've worked so hard on the album. In particular, our gratitude goes out to all the people who are interested in our music and thus support us. Thank you!"

"Abra Kadavar" was made available as a limited digi version, including a bonus track, as well on different vinyl versions.

The track listing for the CD is as follows:

01. Come Back Life
02. Doomsday Machine
03. Eye Of The Storm
04. Black Snake
05. Dust
06. Fire
07. Liquid Dream
08. Rhythm For Endless Minds
09. Abra Kadabra

Bonus track:

10. The Man I Shot

The photo for the cover artwork, which was taken by photographer and ex-STEREOLAB drummer Joe Dilworth, can be seen below.

Comments KADAVAR frontman Lupus Lindemann: "Joe had already worked with us for our debut album. He's one of the best photographers I know and always understood our ideas, which is why we wanted to cooperate with him again. He proudly brought an old camera from the '60s and a color film that had been expired for ten years to the shooting — hard to get and highly coveted, because it causes unpredictable deviants as far as color and contrast are concerned. As one can see: We’ve used this very film!"

As far as the album recordings are concerned, KADAVAR drummer Tiger explains: "After last year's final show had been played in mid-December, we started writing new songs. We've already had a couple of finished tracks in May 2012, but those were eventually released on a split LP with AQUA NEBULA OSCILLATOR in November 2012, which is why we started at square one again. As we knew that there was no procrastination and no going back for us, we sat down for two weeks straight to finish composing with total commitment. We're perfectly happy with the outcome — I'd even say that 'Abra Kadavar' comprises the best compositions we've created to date. The songs are more diversified, the ideas feel more spontaneous. Moreover, we've tried to capture much more of our live energy, which is why we've recorded almost everything all together in one room, with the amps turned up to the max — solely the vocals and a handful of guitar solos were added afterwards."

It was already with 2012's eponymous debut album that the three-piece from Berlin casted a spell on all fans of solid riff-driven-yet-doom-like '70s hard rock à la BLACK SABBATH and PENTAGRAM. Marrying this with the spacy psychedelic approach of early HAWKWIND and mixing in a distinct own touch while preserving their icons' warm vintage charm can doubtlessly be considered the trio's key to success. Astoundingly high vinyl sales and support slots with such bands as SLEEP, SAINT VITUS, PENTAGRAM and ELECTRIC WIZARD as well as festival appearances at Stoned From The Underground, Yellowstock and Fusion, among others, underline KADAVAR's status as one of the scene's most exciting acts to watch in 2013.

KADAVAR is:

Lupus Lindemann - vocals, guitar
Mammut - bass
Tiger - drums

A number of rock and heavy metal musicians have reacted to the news of the passing of SLAYER guitarist Jeff Hanneman, who died at about 11 a.m. today (Thursday, May 2) near his Southern California home. He was 49. Hanneman was in an area hospital when he suffered liver failure.

Neil Portnow (President/CEO, The Recording Academy): "Two-time Grammy winner Jeff Hanneman was an intense and powerful guitarist and a force to be reckoned with on stage. A founding member of the legendary metal band SLAYER, he was a key architect in their ferocious and uncompromising sound, which earned the band legions of loyal followers, tremendous respect among their peers, and a lasting impact on the genre. The music industry has lost a true trailblazer, and our deepest sympathies go out to his family, his bandmates and fans around the world who mourn his untimely passing."

Slash: "Tragic & shocking news about Jeff Hanneman. He is going to missed by so many. What a sad day for metal. RIP man."

David Draiman (DISTURBED, DEVICE): "RIP to a titan of metal."

PAPA ROACH: "We're saddened by the death of SLAYER guitarist, Jeff Hanneman. Our prayers and best wishes to SLAYER and Jeff's family."

TESTAMENT: "R.I.P. Jeff Hanneman, brother in thrash."

METALLICA: "R.I.P. Jeff Hanneman"

HATEBREED: "We are extremely saddened by the news of Jeff Hanneman's passing. Our deepest condolences to his family, friends, fans and the entire SLAYER camp and their road crew. We would not be the band we are today without him and SLAYER. Rest in peace, Jeff!"

Dan Spitz (ex-ANTHRAX): "Changing the world through music isn't easy... Mission accomplished. Glad to be a part of all we did together through the years. RIP Jeff Hanneman."

DOWN: "Our brother Jeff Hanneman, may he rest in peace (1964 - 2013)"

ANVIL: "ANVIL send their condolences to the SLAYER and the Jeff Hanneman family. R.I.P."

SUFFOCATION: "Rest in peace, Jeff Hanneman. You will surely be missed."

Former NASHVILLE PUSSY bassist Karen Cuda: "Jeff Hanneman — I'm at a loss for words. Thanks for always laughing at my dumb jokes, thanks for your generosity in donating a bunch of signed SLAYER stuff to help me with my neck surgery costs, thanks for making my bandmate so happy. I'm so sad to hear you're gone! RIP buddy. (And for anyone inclined please stop by the NASHVILLE PUSSY page and send Ruyter some love. Her heart is no doubt broken to pieces.)"

David Ellefson (MEGADETH): "My condolences to SLAYER and the Jeff Hanneman family today."

HELLYEAH: "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Hanneman family and SLAYER. R.I.P. our friend"

IN FLAMES: "We are so devasted to hear about the passing of Jeff Hanneman. One of the greatest have passed on and please, stop for a moment and pay your respect to this fantastic man. This is a tragedy."

Todd Kerns (SLASH):"Sad news about Jeff Hanneman. He was a good man."

A PALE HORSE NAMED DEATH: "Our thoughts are with the Hanneman family! #Slayer #GodSpeed"

Ted Kirkpatrick of Christian metallers TOURNIQUET has paid tribute to SLAYER guitarist Jeff Hanneman, who died at about 11 a.m. today (Thursday, May 2) near his Southern California home. He was 49. Hanneman was in an area hospital when he suffered liver failure.

Says Kirkpatrick: "I was very sorry to hear that SLAYER guitarist Jeff Hanneman passed away today. He wrote and performed some killer tunes for sure — and for my brief interaction with him — he was really cool."

"Soon after I moved to L.A. in 1986, I got a phone call from [producer] Rick Rubin. He asked if I was interested in auditioning for SLAYER. Their excellent drummer Dave Lombardo was out of the band and they needed a drummer. I had dropped off a drumming demo video at Metal Blade and a cool guy named Bill (not Bill Metoyer, but he's cool too) who used to work there gave my video to Rick. The SLAYER guys checked it out and I guess they liked it OK. So Rick gave me the songs to learn — 'Criminally Insane', 'Raining Blood', 'Postmortem', 'Epidemic', 'At Dawn They Sleep', and, of course, 'Angel Of Death'. So I got to work learning the tunes and went to SIR studios in West Hollywood for the audition. When I walked into the huge rehearsal room — I was a little surprised to see them... playing basketball. So we shot a few hoops together. They were all very nice and I remember Jeff was quite polite.

"I got on the stage and saw Dave's drums still set up there. I had, of course, brought (my own). Tom [Araya, SLAYER bassist/vocalist] said I could just play on Dave's kit. I told them I had one problem — I'm left-handed. So they said just switch everything around however I wanted, which I did. They asked what song I wanted to start with. I said, 'How about 'Criminally Insane'?' So away we went — and man, was it loud. They were super tight and it sounded like a 1000 times louder version of listening to the record on my stereo. When we finished 'At Dawn They Sleep', they said I was the only one who got it right. It does have a few trippy time signature parts.

"The next week I got a call to return for a second audition. We did the same tunes — but this time when we finished playing 'Angel Of Death', Tom said, 'Hey, Ted, do you think you can play it again? I said Ah... OK. You drummers know this song is a little exhausting. So we played it twice — it ruled.

"Anyways, later on they worked things out with Dave Lombardo so he returned to the band.

"Well, this is just my little tribute to one of the thrash metal greats.

"RIP Jeff."

Having previously released the first song, 'Bull Of The Woods', off their upcoming album Graveyard Dead, Charlottetown, PEI-based metallers DEATH VALLEY DRIVER have now posted the album art and tracklisting for their sophomore album, which will be released on Diminished Fifth Records later this year.

The album artwork was created by local tattoo artist John Dohe, who also did the art for the bands previous album. Choke The River.

"Once again John Dohe has totally brought our lyrics to life with his amazing artwork", commented the band's vocalist Dan Hodgson. "We wanted a real 1950s style comic/sci-fi feel and he delivered. John has always been like the unofficial sixth member of this band."
Graveyard Dead tracklisting:

'Black Vein'
'Bloodfeud'
'Ice Serpents'
'Crimson Mask'
'Graveyard Dead'
'Smoke Whip'
'Iron Jaw'
'Bull Of The Woods'

Stream/download 'Bull Of The Woods' below:

Bull of the Woods by Death Valley Driver
Graveyard Dead was recorded at Lukas Raine Recordings by Dave Skinner and mixed and mastered by Billy Anderson (SLEEP, HIGH ON FIRE, NEUROSIS).
Death Valley Driver lineup:

Dan Hodgson - Vocals
Ryan P. Gallant - Drums
Nick Doucette - Guitar
Ray Blacquire - Guitar
Adam Praught - Bass

More on Death Valley Driver at this location.

Former SKID ROW singer Sebastian Bach is preparing to enter the studio to begin recording his next solo album for a late 2013/early 2014 release via Frontiers Records.

Says Bach in a new online posting: "Yesterday was a gigantic step forward in the process of completing the next studio record! We had a meeting with producer Bob Marlette (BLACK SABBATH, ALICE COOPER), who did 'Kicking & Screaming', and [guitarists] Jeff George and Steve Stevens (BILLY IDOL).

"We are all ready to tackle this project right now! We have tons of musical ideas and we are starting with Bob on the new studio record this week, I am happy to say!! There are lots of killer riffs and grooves that are ready for me to scream over and Bob is leading the way as far as helping us get this done right!

"So get ready for studio updates and a front row seat to the mayhem, because here it comes!"

Asked of he feels his latest album, "Kicking & Screaing", got enough credit from the rock community and the fans, Bach told "The Classic Metal Show" in a recent interview: "Yeah. To be on the Billboard chart again is enough credit for me. I like being on the chart. It's cool that I can put out an album that competes on the charts in this day and age.

He added: "I'm not trying to remind anybody of the past; that's the opposite of what I'm trying to do. I never was doing that.

"I don't understand the nostalgia factor of rock and roll fans at all. When SKID ROW came out in 1989, we weren't singing songs that were 20 years old, we were singing songs that we just wrote. That's what I'm doing today; that's what I was doing then. So I don't get that whole idea at all."

Bach's brand new CD/DVD package, "ABachalypse Now", was released in North America on March 26 via Frontiers Records. The "ABachalypse Now" Ultimate CD/DVD Edition includes never-before-seen footage from last year's Graspop Metal Meeting festival in Dessel, Belgium, the full never-before-seen Hellfest set from France and the fully-remixed and remastered Nokia show from Los Angeles (originally broadcast on AXS TV), as well as bonus music videos. The DVD contains a running time of nearly 160 minutes. "ABachalypse Now" was made available in two configurations: the Ultimate CD/DVD Edition (2 CDs + DVD) and a standalone DVD.

BLACK LABEL SOCIETY has been confirmed for this year's edition of Gigantour, the critically acclaimed package festival founded in 2005 by MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine. Also scheduled to appear on the bill are headliners MEGADETH, along with DEVICE, the new band fronted by DISTURBED singer David Draiman; HELLYEAH, featuring Vinnie Paul Abbott (PANTERA, DAMAGEPLAN), Chad Gray and Greg Tribbett (MUDVAYNE), Tom Maxwell (NOTHINGFACE) and Bob "Zilla" Kakaha (DAMAGEPLAN); NEWSTED, the new band led by former METALLICA, VOIVOD and FLOTSAM AND JETSAM bassist Jason Newsted; and DEATH DIVISION, the heavy, technically aggressive and melodic band founded by bassist Jerry Montano (HELLYEAH, DANZIG, NOTHINGFACE), drummer Tim Yeung (MORBID ANGEL, DIVINE HERESY, HATE ETERNAL, NILE), vocalist/guitarist Sean De La Tour and lead guitarist Rick Di Marco.

Gigantour billing:

MEGADETH
BLACK LABEL SOCIETY
DEVICE
HELLYEAH
NEWSTED
DEATH DIVISION

Gigantour dates:

Jul. 03 - Gilford, NH - Meadowbrook
Jul. 05 Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun Arena
Jul. 06 - Canandaigua, NY - Marvin Sands PAC
Jul. 08 - Clarkston, MI - DTE Energy Music Theatre
Jul. 09 - Chicago, IL - Allstate Arena
Jul. 10 - Youngstown, OH - Covelli Center
Jul. 12 - Dallas, TX - [to be announced]
Jul. 13 - Lubbock, TX - Lonestar Amphitheatre
Jul. 14 - Corpus Christi, TX - Concrete Street Amphitheatre
Jul. 16 - Oklahoma City, OK - Zoo Amphitheatre
Jul. 18 - Bloomington, IL - US Cellular Coliseum
Jul. 19 - Milwaukee, WI - Eagles Ballroom
Jul. 20 - Cadott, WI - Chippewa Valley Music Festival
Jul. 22 - Winnipeg, MB - MTS Center
Jul. 23 - Calgary, AB - Stampede Corral
Jul. 26 - Edmonton, AB - Rexall Place
Jul. 27 - Dawson Creek, BC - EnCana Events Centre
Jul. 29 - Abbotsford, BC - Abbotsford Entertainment Center
Jul. 30 - Everett, WA - Comcast Arena
Aug. 01 - West Valley City, UT - Maverik Center
Aug. 02 - Denver, CO - 1st Bank Center
Aug. 04 - Fargo, ND - Scheels Arena
Aug. 07 - New York, NY - [to be announced]
Aug. 09 - Camden, NJ - Susquehanna Bank Center
Aug. 10 - Montreal, QC - Heavy MTL
Aug. 11 - Toronto, ON - Molson Canadian Amphitheatre

Speaking to "Saturday Night Scream" earlier this month, Dave Mustaine stated about the rest of the lineup for this year's Gigantour: "I think [fans] are gonna be pretty stoked, because each one of the other bands on there, they're new bands comprised of a person who was a major celebrity from a really large band that went on to do something new — [which is] another really good clue for you and your listeners."

In a January 2013 interview with VintageRock.com, Mustaine said about his plans for Gigantour: "We've got some stuff lined up at the end of the year with Gigantour — not only in here in the States, but also down in South America. We've got some really interesting lineups for that. Most people would look at the lineup and they would think, like, 'Dave's not gonna tolerate your crap at all.' Because there's a couple of people that we have that are on the lineup — and we're hoping for the best — but they're notorious bad boys. But when people grow up, they kind of grow up; they don't just grow old. And we're hoping that the music is gonna be the most important thing so that the fans will get what they want. Because it's undoubtedly… The people that we have, so far, as far as we know, for Gigantour, they've got great music. We're really looking forward to that."

Gigantour made its return last year for the first time since 2008. The multi-artist bill — with metal heavyweights MOTÖRHEAD, VOLBEAT and LACUNA COIL all personally picked by Mustaine — kicked off on January 26, 2012 in Camden, New Jersey and wrapped on March 3, 2012 in Austin.