VAN HALEN played its first concert of 2013 as one of the headliners of the Stone Music Festival on Saturday, April 20 at the ANZ Stadium in Sydney, Australia.

The group's setlist was as follows:

01. Unchained
02. Runnin' with the Devil
03. She's The Woman
04. Romeo Delight
05. Tattoo
06. Everybody Wants Some!!
07. Somebody Get Me A Doctor
08. China Town
09. (Oh) Pretty Woman
10. Drum Solo
11. You Really Got Me
12. Dance the Night Away
13. I'll Wait
14. Hot For Teacher
15. Beautiful Girls
16. Ice Cream Man
17. Panama
18. Guitar Solo
19. Aint' Talkin' 'Bout Love
20. Jump

Fan-filmed video footage of the concert can be seen below.

The Stone Music Festival was inspired by a cult '70s biker film named "Stone". Released in 1974, the exploitation movie starred Ken Shorter as an undercover cop assigned to discover who is murdering members of an outlaw biker gang named the Gravediggers.

VAN HALEN had not been seen on a stage since last spring, but along with a handful of Japanese dates and the Australian gig, the band recently confirmed its first U.S. show of 2013. The Van Halen clan and David Lee Roth will close out the annual Rock USA festival, scheduled for July 17 through July 20 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

VAN HALEN backed out of 31 North American dates last summer, citing exhaustion, and then Eddie Van Halen was sidelined for four-to-six months after undergoing surgery for the inflammatory intestinal affliction diverticulitis.

Roth recently gave an interview to Rolling Stone in which he expressed his desire to work on fresh material with Eddie Van Halen and tour outside the U.S., saying, "We have an audience and we have a potential future in many, many places . . . I don't know where the VAN HALEN future lies aside from the States."

Canadian rock legends RUSH were honored in the "Rock Album Of The Year" category at this year's Juno Awards (the Canadian equivalent of the Grammy Awards), for their latest studio CD, "Clockwork Angels". RUSH is also up for the "Group Of The Year" award, the winner of which will be announced during the main televised ceremony tonight (Sunday, April 21) at the Brandt Centre in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.

RUSH's first new collection of original material in over five years and their first studio release via Anthem/Roadrunner Records, "Clockwork Angels", sold 103,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 2 on The Billboard chart.

The recording of "Clockwork Angels" began in April 2010 with Grammy Award-winning producer Nick Raskulinecz (FOO FIGHTERS, DEFTONES) — who also collaborated with the band on their last studio album, 2007's "Snakes & Arrows".

Lyrically, "Clockwork Angels" chronicles a young man's quest across a lavish and colorful world of steampunk and alchemy as he attempts to follow his dreams. The story features lost cities, pirates, anarchists, an exotic carnival, and a rigid Watchmaker who imposes precision on every aspect of daily life. The novelization of "Clockwork Angels" was written by science fiction writer Kevin J. Anderson in collaboration with RUSH drummer and lyricist Neil Peart.

WOODS OF YPRES was honored in the "Metal/Hard Music Album Of The Year" category at this year's Juno Awards (the Canadian equivalent of the Grammy Awards), which is being held in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.

WOODS OF YPRES mainman David Gold was killed in December 2011 in a car accident near Barrie, Ontario.

His mom accepted the award on his behalf with tears in her eyes.

"I'm speaking to you as a mother with a broken heart," she said. "Everything that we think, say, feel and do runs parallel with our sorrow.... He was a beautiful man (and) I miss him dearly."

The "Metal/Hard Music Album Of The Year" category is an award to honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the Canadian recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position. Eligible albums include metal, metalcore, hardcore, heavy rock, thrash metal, death metal and their respective sub-genres including (but not limited to) nu-metal, power metal, grindcore, extreme metal, industrial metal, viking metal, folk metal, doom metal, gothic metal, speed metal, and sludge metal.

This year's "Metal/Hard Music Album Of The Year" nominees were as follows:

* CANCER BATS - "Dead Set On Living" (Distort/Universal)
* CASTLE - "Blacklands (Prosthetic/Sony)
* DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT - "Epicloud" (HevyDevy/eOne)
* EX DEO - "Caligvla" (Napalm/Fontana North)
* WOODS OF YPRES - "Woods 5: Grey Skies & Electric Light" (Earache/eOne)

"Woods 5: Grey Skies & Electric Light" was recorded with producer Siegfried Meier (KITTIE) at Beach Road Studios in Ontario, Canada, and was mixed by John Fryer (NINE INCH NAILS, PARADISE LOST).

Formed in 2002, WOODS OF YPRES earned critical acclaim for its ever-evolving, envelope-pushing mix of blackened doom metal. Most often compared to bands such as AGALLOCH and TYPE O NEGATIVE, WOODS OF YPRES toed a thin line between the catchy, the artistic and the extreme to create an unmistakable signature sound.

On March 30, Superskum.com conducted an interview with with the Swedish all-girl hard rock quartet CRUCIFIED BARBARA when the band opened for CRASHDÏET at Jammin Joe's in Arvada, Colorado. You can now watch the chat below. Also available is quality performance footage of the Arvada concert.

CRUCIFIED BARBARA's latest album, "The Midnight Chase", was released in May 2012 in Europe and in July 2012 in North America via Nuclear Blast. The CD was recorded at Music-A-Matic Vintage Recording Studio in Gothenberg, Sweden with sound engineer Henryk Lipp and producer Chips Kiesby.

"It feels like a beginning," guitarist/vocalist Mia Coldheart told Metalholic.com about the new album. "It was a really special experience to record it. It was a lot of stress but it was so much more fun than the previous [albums]. We worked really hard, and I think we've become better song writers. I'm really proud of it, and it's so much fun to play the songs. It feels more natural. I think we found our way to write songs, and working together, it was much easier. I think we learn something from every time we enter the studio."

Added guitarist Klara Force: "Recording this album it felt like sound-wise, song-wise, like we were finding a home. We're mature enough to know exactly what we're doing. It turned out the way we wanted, and it's sort of like we found the key on how to do it — and we did it. I think we were a little bit more daring with this album as well."

Formed in Stockholm in 1998 by bassist Ida Evileye (now-wife of MESHUGGAH drummer Tomas Haake) and Force, CRUCIFIED BARBARA plays a fiery brand of rock 'n' roll tinged with metal and lashings of punk, pop, thrash, and whatever else dares to cross their path. Ida Evileye dominates her trusty Sandberg bass, Force rocks steady on her '76 Gibson Explorer, Coldheart belts out her unapologetic vocals while riffing all over her Gibson Gothic Flying V, and Nicki Wicked pounds on her hot pink sparkle Yamaha Maple drum kit until you're splayed across the floor with a bull's-eye knock-out punch that'll make you spit your teeth out. Now you know what happens when MOTÖRHEAD mates with THE RUNAWAYS.

Interview:

BLACK SABBATH singer Ozzy Osbourne spoke to BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe yesterday (Thursday, April 18) about the making of the band's new album, "13" — the first in 35 years to feature bassist Geeezer Butler, guitarist Tony Iommi and Ozzy. You can now listen to the chat for the next six days at BBC.co.uk (skip to 44-minute mark). A couple of excerpts follow below (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On the making of "13":

Ozzy: "It's pretty nerve racking, after so long, to go into a studio… I haven't been in the studio with [the other members of BLACK SABBATH] in 35 years.

"When we first started writing the stuff, it came together relatively easy. Without trying, it just flowed out of us. In actual fact, we wrote and recorded 16 songs, so there's another eight songs left over [to be used as] bonuses and things. We could have done a double album. And they're all good songs; they all stand up, you know.

"Rick Rubin did a great job producing it… He wanted to go right back to the basics, when we did our first album. He was asking us questions about, 'When you did this track, did you have this and that?'

"With today's technology, you can sound like anybody. But what Rick Rubin did was he didn't overdub everything, he didn't make everything over the top, he just kept it like it was a live album. We were in the studio and we all recorded live. We would do a track a day and he knew when he had [a good take]. He wouldn't tell us. He would say, 'Try again. Try again' Just in case we'd get one better than the one he thought he had. And I was singing along with it.

"You'll notice on the album that I'm not singing in a range that I can't sing live. Like in the old days, I used [studio] trickery — I'd do a verse and then I'd take a break, then do a chorus — and when it was all mixed together, I couldn't do it live. And I could do every one of these tracks live on stage. [But Rubin] had me sing it in a range that was comfortable to sing.

"When I was doing my vocals, I was, some days, singing for four or five hours without a break, and it was great fun. People say, 'So what? You're a singer. But you go to your football or soccer game and you scream for five hours, anybody would be hoarse by the end of it. But I was fine with it, you know."

On why now was the right time for BLACK SABBATH to record a new album:

Ozzy: "People, over the years, have been saying to me, 'Will SABBATH do another album?' I mean, we tried before, without any joy. Eventually, we got it together, you know. It's really exciting.

"We tried it, like, ten years ago, but for some reason, it didn't quite work. We tried going to the same places where we used to go and write in the old days. But it wasn't the place; it was just that our heads weren't in the same place, in the right place to write stuff. But this time, it was as if we all thought, 'Well, it's either now or ever. We're have a real good go at doing it.' We knew we haven't got another ten years to wait, 'cause we're all in our 60s now, and if we wait another ten years, we [may not] be around. Not only that; Tony Iommi was battling cancer — he had lymphoma — and I thought when that came around, 'Here we go. Typical BLACK SABBATH.' He was a hero. He just came every day. Not only was he in treatment for lymphoma, he was writing great stuff as well. It was unbelievable. We were all shocked that he could do it. We all thought, 'That's it. He's gone.' But he marched through it.

"It was a lot of fun. I'm really excited to see what people think about it. The people that have heard the album are really raving about it. Which is really interesting, because… It's just that… we finally did it, you know.

On the album's first single, "God Is Dead?":

Ozzy: "How I got that title, I was at somebody's office and there was a magazine on the table and it just said the words 'God Is Dead.' And I suddenly thought, with 9/11 and all these terrorist things in the name of religion and how many people have died [because of] religion, when you think about the tragedy that's happened throughout time, it just came in me head. You would think by now their God would stop people [from] dying in the name of. So I just thought, people must think there ain't no God, God is dead. And it just hit me. And I just started singing 'God is dead' [when I was laying down] rough vocals [in the studio] and Geezer gave me the lyrics about it. Geezer is the lyricist in BLACK SABBATH; I wrote a few sets of lyrics, but he's the main lyricist. I come up with the ideas and he fills the blanks in. At the end of the [song], there's still a bit of hope, because at the end, I sing, 'I don't believe that God is dead.' It's just a question of when you see something dreadful like people killing each other with bombs and blowing tube trains or the World Trade Center, you think people must go, 'There is no God.' [But] it's a load of B.S., you know."

On BLACK SABBATH's U.K. fans:

Ozzy: "I hope the British fans like it as much as everyone else. I'm sure they will. The tickets went on sale for our English tour, and they sold out in no time, so I'm really excited to come back. You know, England is my home and it's great to have people in England still interested in us. They're our No. 1 fans, really."

Reunited Swedish heavy rockers TRANSPORT LEAGUE will release their new album, "Boogie From Hell", digitally on May 20 via frontman Tony Jelencovich's (DEATHDESTRUCTION, B-THONG, MASSIVE AUDIO NERVE, MNEMIC, ICON IN ME) Hoffa Entertainment. A physical CD will also be printed for release through the Bengans record store.

"Boogie From Hell" was tracked over a 17-month period and is currently being mixed by Svein Jensen at Grand Recordings in Gothenburg, Sweden.

A CD-release party is scheduled for Friday, May 24 at Sticky Fingers Bar & Grill in Gothenburg and an appearance at the Tuska festival afterparty in Helsinki, Finland is also scheduled for June 29.

"Boogie From Hell" will feature the following songs:

* Swing Satanic Swing
* Electric Wolf
* Hi-Octane Slave
* Demon Apparatus
* Barabbas Venomous
* A Pork Named Jack
* Blood Inn
* Doctor Demon
* Holy Mother Fucker
* Speedhead
* Bitter Sand
* King Of Doom
* Fight Back
* Snake Infested Swamp

A seven-minute audio file containing snippets of five songs that will appear on "Boogie From Hell" can be streamed using the SoundCloud widget below.

The CD's sound is described in a press release as "groovy, shaky-boogie-rock 'n' roll metal … for the fans of CLUTCH, CATHEDRAL, CORROSION OF CONFORMITY, MUSTASCH and even VOLBEAT."

TRANSPORT LEAGUE played its first reunion show on May 15, 2009 on the Terass stage at Henriksberg in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Commented the group: "TRANSPORT LEAGUE was the band who invented the phrase 'boogie from hell,' well known and well heard on the two first albums, 'Stallion Showcase' (1995) and 'Superevil' (1997). Just listen to tracks such as 'Cosmical Satanical' and 'Lost In The Desert Of Habib' and you will understand what we are talking about.

"TRANSPORT LEAGUE no doubt paved the way for such artists as VOLBEAT and MUSTASCH, drawing from many sources to create a new format for heavy guitar-driven groovy rock."

TRANSPORT LEAGUE's fourth full-length album, "Multiple Organ Harvest", was released in November 2003 through Holland's Seamview Records.

TRANSPORT LEAGUE 2013 is:

Tony Julien Jelencovich - Vocals, Guitar
Lars Häglund - Bass
Matt Starander - Drums
Pete Hunyadi - Lead Guitar

Video footage of FEAR FACTORY frontman Burton C. Bell singing a cover version of the METALLICA classic "Enter Sandman" on April 11 as part of the "Rock-A-Holic" live rock metal karaoke night at Skinny's Lounge in North Hollywood, California can be seen below.

"Enter Sandman" was featured as the opening track and lead single from METALLICA's eponymous 1991 album. The song was produced by Bob Rock, and the music was written by Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich, and James Hetfield. Vocalist and guitarist Hetfield wrote the lyrics, which deal with the simplest concept of a child's nightmares.

FEAR FACTORY will perform its classic 1995 sophomore album, "Demanufacture", in its entirety aboard the 2014 edition of the world's biggest heavy metal cruise — 70000 Tons Of Metal — which will sail January 27-31.

Dutch extreme metallers THE MONOLITH DEATHCULT will release their fourth full-length album, "Tetragrammaton", on May 14 (one day earlier internationally) via Season Of Mist.

The track listing for the CD is as follows:

01. Gods Amongst Insects
02. H.W.A. (Human Wave Attack)
03. Drugs, Thugs & Machetes
04. Todesnacht Von Stammheim
05. S.A.D.M. (Svpreme Avantgarde Death Metal)
06. Qasr Al-Nihaya
07. Aslimu!!! - All Slain Those Who Bring Down Our Highly Respected Symbols To The Lower Status Of The Barren Earth

The lyric video for the song "Todesnacht von Stammheim" can be seen below.

Says the band: "This vile assault on the fundamental canons of human decency, progress and civilization will take no fewer than 59 minutes and 40 seconds of the precious life you have left on this wretched clump of rock."

According to THE MONOLITH DEATHCULT, the CD's overall lyrical theme will be roughly the same as on "Trivmvirate" and "The White Crematorium" (2005). "But then again," said guitarist/vocalist Michiel Dekker, "who cares about lyrical themes in death metal?"

As on "Trivmvirate", producing duties and Pro Tools wizardry was done by Pascal Altena. Mixing duties were handled by Guido Aalbers.

DEEP PURPLE singer Ian Gillan and drummer Ian Paice took part in a press conference yesterday (Thursday, April 18) in Paris, France. You can now watch video footage of the entire question-and-answer session below.

"Now What?!", the 19th studio album from DEEP PURPLE, will be released via earMUSIC, the Hamburg, Germany-based international rock label which is part of Edel Group, on the following dates:

* Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Finland, Spain: April 26
* UK, France, Benelux, Poland, Czech Republic, Norway, Denmark: April 29
* North America, Italy: April 30
* Sweden: May 1

The track listing for the effort is as follows:

01. A Simple Song
02. Weirdistan
03. Out Of Hand
04. Hell To Pay
05. Body Line
06. Above And Beyond
07. Blood From A Stone
08. Uncommon Man
09. Après Vous
10. All The Time In The World
11. Vincent Price

"Now What?!" will also be released in a limited quantity with a bonus track and a bonus DVD featuring DEEP PURPLE in conversation plus additional audio material. This edition will be available in a digipak with a cut out front cover. "Now What?!" will also be released as double vinyl LP containing a bonus track, as in the limited-edition CD.

After various songwriting sessions in Europe, the band recorded and mixed the album in Nashville, Tennessee with producer Bob Ezrin (KISS, PINK FLOYD, PETER GABRIEL, ALICE COOPER, KANSAS). The CD contain 11 tracks, including "Out Of Hand", "Weirdistan", "Uncommon Man" and "Above And Beyond". The latter song references the band's late keyboard player, Jon Lord, in the lyric "Souls having touched are forever entwined."

According to a press release, "Now What?!" was recorded with no musical rules… and it shows a modern and fresh production… to the point that DEEP PURPLE have never sounded so close to the spirit of the '70s in the last 20 years as they do now. The CD has the excellence and elegance of "Perfect Strangers" and the wild freedom of "Made In Japan".

Singer Rachel Aspe made her live debut with the Marseille, France-based metalcore band ETHS on April 10 at Le Ninkasi Kao in Lyon, France. Fan-filmed video footage of the concert can be seen below.

"I am very proud to be a part of ETHS," Rachel said in a statement upcoming joining the band. "I have been a fan of the group for years and it is a real honor for me to find myself singing the songs that have I listened to for so long."

ETHS last year recruited Virginie Goncalves (KELLS) and Nelly Wood-Hasselhoff to handle lead vocals at the group's shows following the departure of Candice Clot.

"We are delighted to welcome Rachel to the group," said ETHS. "She is a great girl with an amazing voice!

"Thank you, Virginie and Nelly, for helping us out on stage in recent months.

"A new chapter in the career of ETHS is about to be written."

Aspe made headlines in France last November when she performed the SYBREED song "Emma-0" on an episode of "La France À Un Incroyable Talent", the French reality television series which is part of the global British "Got Talent" franchise. Her death metal vocal styling stunned the judges and crowd before going viral and being seen by millions of people. A member of the melodic death metal band DIVIDEAD, she also made a guest appearance on the latest KERÍON CD entitled "Cloudriders" on the track "Fireblast".

Clot played her final show as a member of ETHS on October 13, 2012 at L'Arcade in Notre-Dame-de-Gravenchon, France.

ETHS' third album, "III", was released on April 6, 2012 via Season Of Mist. The CD was recorded at Studio Fredman in Gothenburg, Sweden with producer Fredrik Nordström, who has previously worked with AT THE GATES, IN FLAMES, DARK TRANQUILLITY, ARCH ENEMY, SOILWORK and BRING ME THE HORIZON, among others.

BLACK SABBATH kicked off its world tour earlier today (Saturday, April 20) at The Vector Arena in Auckland, New Zealand. Joining singer Ozzy Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi and bassist Geezer Butler on stage was Ozzy's touring drummer Tommy Clufetos, who also previously sat behind the kit for SABBATH's three shows last year: a warm-up gig in Birmingham, England, a headlining spot at the U.K.'s Download festival in June, and a second headlining set at Chicago's Lollapalooza in August.

BLACK SABBATH's setlist for the Auckland show:

01. War Pigs
02. Into The Void
03. Under The Sun
04. Snowblind
05. Electric Funeral
06. Black Sabbath
07. Behind The Wall Of Sleep
08. N.I.B.
09. End Of The Beginning
10. Fairies Wear Boots
11. Symptom Of The Universe (intro only)
12. Drum Solo
13. Iron Man
14. God is Dead?
15. Dirty Women
16. Children Of The Grave

Encore:

17. Paranoid

Fan-filmed video footage of the concert can be seen below.

BLACK SABBATH's new album, "13" — the first in 35 years to feature Butler, Iommi and Osbourne — will be released on June 11 via Vertigo/Universal Republic in the U.S. and Vertigo in all other territories. The drum tracks on the group's first LP with Osbourne since 1978 were laid down by RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE sticksman Brad Wilk following original drummer Bill Ward's decision to bow out of the reunion.

Osbourne, Iommi and Butler recorded the album primarily in Los Angeles with producer Rick Rubin.

SABBATH, with Ward initially on board, announced its current reunion in November 2011, six years after they had last played together.

However, plans for extensive touring were curtailed by the January 2012 revelation that Iommi had been diagnosed with an early stage of cancer.

He received treatment throughout the year, with the band initially beginning its recording sessions in London so that the guitarist could be near his doctors.

Jason Price of Icon Vs. Icon recently conducted an interview with CINDERELLA frontman Tom Keifer. A few excerpts from the chat follow below.

Icon Vs. Icon: With so many years under your belt in the music industry, to what do your longevity?

Keifer: I don't know. It is hard to say. Who knows?! I think for every musician or band out there, there is probably just something about them that clicks with their fans and could be different for everybody. It is hard to say. I think if we could all put our finger on that, we could bottle and sell it, right?! [laughs] I will say that I have honestly, 120%, put my heart into the music and tried to make the best music I can make and give the best performance live. It has always been my motivation. Maybe that is it, I don't know.

Icon Vs. Icon: There was a period of time where you thought you might never sing again. Can you take us through that period and the process of overcoming that tremendous obstacle?

Keifer: It was a long period of time, actually. It started in the early '90s. We were on the "Heartbreak Station" tour, which was our third record. We were almost to the end of the tour and literally overnight my voice started cracking and breaking. Every time I went to hit a note, it would just fall apart. I liken it to the little kid on the "Lil' Rascals", Alfalfa, who when he sang it would break and crack, ya know! [laughs] It just freaked me out. Obviously! Even my speaking voice got weaker and it would also crack and break up if I tried to raise it. Long story short, this was about 1991, I immediately started going to throat doctors. I had never really gone to one before because I never had any trouble with my voice. I had always heard that singers, particularly rock singers, over the years would develop these things called nodes. They are calluses that grow on your vocal cords from screaming or intense singing. Although it is not anything that anyone ever wants to get, it can be dealt with by having them lasered off. You have a little recovery period, but most people are fine, ya know?! I figured that is what I had and the first doctor I went to I told him I had been on tour for years and I may have nodes. He looked down with the scope and said, "No. There is nothing on your vocal cords at all." I asked him, "Why is my voice doing this?" and he said "I don't know." That started a series of going to other doctors and specialists for probably another year and a half or two years. Everyone kept telling me the same thing, "There is nothing wrong with your vocal cords." Finally, a doctor that I went to ran a different kind of test, a neurological test and told me that one of my vocal cords was partially paralyzed. That is not something that is easily spotted on the scope that the other doctors were looking at. If you know you are looking for it, you might spot it but they vibrate so fast, the reduction on them is not as obvious visually. He had to uncover it with a neurological test and that was the diagnosis. The doctor said, "You know, you are probably never going to sing again." This was in about 1992 or 1993. There is no surgery or medicine that can fix this condition. The only chance you have to sing again is to try and retrain your voice, which is not an exact science. I started working with speech pathologists. Then when I started to learn how to hold pitches again, I started working with vocal coaches. It has been an ongoing learning process. I get to points where I just learned enough to go out and tour. We made the "Still Climbin'" record, but I recorded those vocals very differently than I was used to. I used to just go in and sing the song. On "Still Climbin'" I was singing a line at a time. There was a lot of comping and studio magic. We toured for a couple of months on that one. There was an up and down ride with it because you would think you are getting better and then it would get worse. Over the years, I have learned more and more and I have kept working with more people and coaches and learning new things. It has been a cumulative process of taking in all that knowledge, trial and error, experimentation, therapy and doing vocal exercises everyday that has allowed me to get it to a place where it is pretty consistent. I have been touring a lot in recent years and it is pretty strong! In some ways, it is stronger, you know? Certain areas of my voice are stronger because I have had so much training. One of the things that was difficult throughout this time, if that wasn't difficult enough, was that you keep trying to sing with this condition and since it is a hard condition to sing with, it puts a lot more stress on your voice. I have sustained a lot of collateral damage along the way that required surgical intervention to fix. I have had quite a few hemorrhages and done damages to the cords themselves. I have had six surgeries to repair damage from straining. Like I said, it is a long story. It has been years or struggling with this up and down. The good news is over the years, I have been able to put together enough pieces of the puzzle together and figure out what I need to do to keep it consistent and keep on track.

Icon Vs. Icon: You put the ["The Way Life Goes" solo] album together over the course of several years. Can you tell us about that process and what made now the time to release it?

Keifer: It was almost ten years in the making. We started cutting tracks in 2003. The idea of a solo record was something I started thinking of in the mid-'90s. I started writing then for it and it kept getting put on the back burner. I had tons of songs piling up and finally in 2003 started cutting tracks for a record. It was cut independently of a label because I had just come out of a bad record deal with CINDERELLA a few years before that. I didn't want to deal with a label, lawyers and people telling me what to do. I just wanted to make some music! That is how the record started. I produced it with Savannah, my wife, and a friend of ours here named Chuck Turner. He is a really talented producer and engineer. We just kinda worked on it until it felt right. To answer your question about "Why now?," it is as simple as this. About a year ago, I woke up and pressed play and though it was done! [laughs] Then we started the process of finding a label. That was always the idea all the way along, once the music was done and created, we would go and find a label because I don't know about marketing a record in this day and age. [laughs] We shopped it around from there. I actually completed the music about a year to even a year and a half; I can't remember. We finally found a great place at Merovee Records. It feels like home and the first meeting with them, like "Bam!", and here we are!

Icon Vs. Icon: Looking back on your career, how do you feel you have evolved as an artist since starting out?

Keifer: I don't know. It is hard to be objective about yourself! [laughs] What I have tried to do is become a better songwriter, performer and singer. Obviously, the singing thing has been a challenge because of the condition I have. I do think, in a lot of ways, because of all the training I have had, I do think in a lot of ways my voice is better than it was. It is still a challenge and I don't know what it will do from day to day. It stills borders being inconsistent. On the good days it is better in a lot of ways than it used to be. I think I have grown a lot in that area. I think as a songwriter, moving to Nashville was a really great move because the way that I write, which is lyrics from life situations, is what all the writers do here. That is the process here. I learned a lot from moving here and inspired by the amazing writers that call Nashville home. That is what it is all about to me — always trying to write a bette song.

Icon Vs. Icon: With that said, is there any interest on your part in creating new music for CINDERELLA?

Keifer: We would love to, but for as much as we would like to, we haven't really had the right opportunity or deal presented to us. We had the one deal, which I mentioned, that really went south about ten years ago. We worked really, really hard on that and that is when I really started my solo record because we were in a legal battle in the courts over this record deal. The other guys kinda did the same thing to. Everybody went out and started doing their own things. We continued to tour as a band and that has been great for us. We have done some really, really great tours and it is our favorite part of the business anyway. We haven't been in any hurry to jump back into a record deal after we got burnt so bad. That isn't to say that we wouldn't. To answer your question, we never say never. It is not for a lack of desire on our part, it just has to be the right situation.

Read the entire interview from Icon Vs. Icon.

Legendary San Francisco Bay Area gore grind act AUTOPSY will release its sixth studio opus of horror and all-out madness, "The Headless Ritual", on July 2 via Peaceville Records. The cover art for the CD was painted by none other than the legendary Joe Petagno (MOTÖRHEAD, MARDUK), and it's safe to say he has outdone himself with this gruesome slice of horror.

Featuring the returning quartet of Chris Reifert, Eric Cutler, Danny Coralles and Joe Trevisano, "The Headless Ritual" is a relentless monster of violent and brutal death metal mastery delivered in the unmistakable AUTOPSY style of chaotic riffing, insane solos and doom-filled interludes, all served with the band's unhinged brand of vocal sickness. The CD was recorded and mixed in April at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California with Adam Munoz.

"The Headless Ritual" track listing:

01. Slaughter At Beast House
02. Mangled Far Below
03. She Is A Funeral
04. Coffin Crawlers
05. When Hammer Meets Bone
06. Thorns And Ashes
07. Arch Cadaver
08. Flesh Turns To Dust
09. Running From The Goathead
10. The Headless Ritual

Said AUTOPSY drummer/vocalist Chris Reifert: "Expect nothing less than the monstrous brutality that AUTOPSY has been known to offer. Laurels will not be rested upon, trends will not be followed and mercy will not be shown. Mark your calendars for July and pick out a coffin to lie down and die in. Darkness and death await..."

AUTOPSY released a DVD, "Born Undead", in June 2012 in the U.S. via Peaceville Records. The set charts AUTOPSY's birth, death and rebirth with an extensive documentary conducted with the bandmembers themselves, as they describe how the beast came to be, and the impact their music has had on the metal world over a span of more than 20 years. The film also documents the band's long-awaited return to the studio and stage, and includes rehearsal footage of both new tracks and old classics for their live comeback assault.

"Macabre Eternal", the first full-length album from AUTOPSY since 1995's "Shitfun", sold around 600 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD landed at position No. 67 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.

AUTOPSY had previously decided to make an official comeback after working together on two songs for the special 20th-anniversary edition of debut album, "Severed Survival", in late 2008; the band having originally split before the release of its fourth album, "Shitfun", in 1995.

AUTOPSY is:

Chris Reifert - Drums/Vocals
Danny Coralles - Guitar
Eric Cutler - Guitar
Joe Trevisano - Bass

Video footage of BLACKGATES playing instrumental versions of a couple of new songs during rehearsal can be seen below.

Guitarist Melissa Evila joined BLACKGATES in February. The band's drummer, Paul Bostaph (ex-TESTAMENT, EXODUS, SLAYER, FORBIDDEN), stated at the time: "Melissa came out to our first show and afterwards suggested that we get a second guitar player. Eventually, we listened to her home demos and we quickly realized that she and Jeremy [Von Epp, guitar] write very alike. Her material is heavier than hell and she has an amazing amount of energy. She's a true metalhead and a kick-ass guitar player!"

Added Jeremy Von Epp: "Melissa is a fantastic metal guitar player and songwriter. Her contribution to writing and even her producing skills will prove to be a great asset to the band. Watch out, this dudette can shred!! Stay tuned for some new music with this new collaboration very soon."

Former ANTHRAX singer Dan Nelson recently left BLACKGATES to concentrate full time on being a father to his newborn son along with focusing on his own musical endeavors.

BLACKGATES is actively seeking a new permanent lead vocalist. The band states: "We're looking for a full-on metalhead who can sing with some serious melodic power and edge, with a bit of gravel on the top."

Vocalist submissions in the form of demos, links and videos can be sent to Blackgatesvox@yahoo.com, subject: "VOX SEARCH."

BLACKGATES made its live debut on May 5, 2012 at Rooster's Roadhouse in Alameda, California as part of the Cinco De Mayo Metal Throwdown with guests MUDFACE, FALLING TO PIECES and ANOTHER VOID.

BLACKGATES last year parted ways with bassist Uriah Duffy (ex-WHITESNAKE) and replaced him with Luis Barillas (THE VENTING MACHINE).

BLACKGATES's first demo was recorded in the San Francisco Bay Area with producer Tim Narducci (SYSTEMATIC, SPIRALARMS).

Savannah, Georgia's BLACK TUSK has completed recording its new EP, "Tend No Wounds", for a late spring release via Relapse Records. The effort was tracked with producer Phillip Cope (KYLESA, BARONESS) at the Jam Room in Columbia, South Carolina. More information, including artwork and track listing, will be made available in the coming weeks.

"Tend No Wounds" will serve as a gateway between 2011's "Set The Dial" and BLACK TUSK's next full-length effort.

BLACK TUSK will be on the road with KVELERTAK and CANCER BATS from April 22 in Detroit, Michigan through May 25 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Before the trek begins, BLACK TUSK will play two headline gigs April 19 and April 20.

Reformed Chicago death metallers BROKEN HOPE have set "Omen Of Disease" as the title of their sixth album, due late summer via Century Media Records. The drums for the CD were laid down at Belle City Sound in Racine, Wisconsin with engineer Chris Wisco (LAZARUS A.D., JUNGLE ROT, ORIGIN, GORGASM), while the remaining instruments were tracked at Mercenary Digital Studios in Zion, Illinois with engineer Scott Creekmore (BROKEN HOPE, DIRGE WITHIN, PUTRID PILE, LIVIDITY).

"Omen Of Disease" — a title conceived by chief lyricist and guitarist Jeremy Wagner — is also a song on the new album, marking the first BROKEN HOPE "title track" since their 1991 debut LP, "Swamped In Gore". Other songtitles set to appear on the CD include "The Flesh Mechanic" and "Give Me The Bottom Half".

Comments Wagner: "Some time ago, a festering death metal prophecy indicated something sick and brutal was coming back from the dead. The malignant signs became evident when BROKEN HOPE first resurrected from the grave and then went on tour. A more sinister foreboding followed when BROKEN HOPE wrote a new death metal album for the world to hear. Today, I'm a harbinger, here to alert everyone of a 'death metal omen' that is upon us...I speak of the new BROKEN HOPE album, 'Omen Of Disease'. The album title itself reeks of a musical offering that is nothing short of gruesome. 'Omen Of Disease' will be released to infect everyone worldwide this summer. I promise: this death metal album is a most savage, feral, pestilential, and lethal creation. You've been warned..."

BROKEN HOPE was formed in 1988 by Wagner, while he was in high school. Shortly after formation, they recorded two demo tapes and signed with indie label, Grind-Core Records. Then in 1991, they released their debut album, "Swamped In Gore", launching the band out of the underground and into the mainstream. From there, the band signed to Metal Blade Records and released three more albums, all stellar examples of BROKEN HOPE's fury, which etched their place in death-metal history.

After BROKEN HOPE's last album (1999's "Grotesque Blessings") and world tours, Wagner cleaned house and put BROKEN HOPE into "metal hibernation" in 2000. On January 20, 2010, original BROKEN HOPE vocalist Joe Ptacek tragically committed suicide. He was only 37 years old. Before his death, Ptacek met with Wagner and Glass and discussed the resurrection of BROKEN HOPE. With Ptacek's death, Wagner and Glass took time off to reconsider their next moves.

In 2012, BROKEN HOPE signed with Hard Impact Management and vowed to make BROKEN HOPE a full-time monster. Wagner and Glass recruited longtime friend and GORGASM vocalist Damian Leski as their new frontman and shortly after marked their return on the highly successful Carnival Of Death tour. BROKEN HOPE's high-intensity concerts received top praise, and confirmed the band was back and more rabid than ever.

BROKEN HOPE 2013 is:

Damian Leski - Vocals
Jeremy Wagner - Guitars
Shaun Glass - Bass
Chuck Wepfer - Lead Guitars
Mike Miczek - Drums

Performance:

British heavy metal legends JUDAS PRIEST have announced the big-screen release of the electrifying "Epitaph" live concert as part of their 40th anniversary celebrations.

From May 14, a series of exclusive screenings will take place in selected cinemas in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Austria, Spain, Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Mexico, Argentina and Brazil — with more countries being added — which promise to be a full-on concert film experience. Fans will have a limited opportunity to re-live the excitement of the final show of the band's last-ever world tour, which was filmed at the Hammersmith Apollo London in May 2012.

Cinema locations and ticket purchasing information will be available at JudasPriest.com on Tuesday, April 23.

A unique live career retrospective, "Epitaph" will be made available on Blu-ray and separate DVD on May 28 through Legacy Recordings, a division of Sony Music Entertainment. This release precedes a new studio album by JUDAS PRIEST which the band are working on now.

JUDAS PRIEST's current lineup comprises lead singer Rob Halford, lead guitarists Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner, bassist Ian Hill, and drummer Scott Travis.

Heavy metal historians will regard "Epitaph" as the most far-reaching live concert recording in the band's career. The set revisits the climactic closing date of the 50-week "Epitaph" world tour, captured live at London's HMV Hammersmith Apollo on May 26, 2012. Adding to the drama is the fact that this was JUDAS PRIEST's final large-scale world tour ever.

"Epitaph"'s 23 tracks represent at least one song from every one of the band's 14 studio albums, from 1974's "Rocka Rolla" ("Never Satisfied") to 2008's "Nostradamus" ("Prophecy"). In the special case of "British Steel", four songs are featured: "Rapid Fire", "Metal Gods", "Breaking The Law" and perennial set closer "Living After Midnight". Others exempted from the one-song-quota are the LPs which appeared before and after "British Steel". The first of these is 1979's "Hell Bent For Leather" (U.K. title: "Killing Machine") which lends the title song as well as "The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Pronged Crown)". The other LP is 1982's "Screaming For Vengeance", source of "The Hellion", "Electric Eye" and "You've Got Another Thing Coming".

"They have epitomized the genre with their Harley riding frontman, rapid-fire guitar assaults, and spectacular stage shows," wrote journalist Bryan Reesman in his liner notes for 2004's leather-bound, metal-spiked "Metalogy" box set. "Influential, innovative, and exuberant in expression," he wrote, "they are the true Metal Gods who have been as unwavering in their desire to expand the boundaries of their music as they have been in crossing international borders to deliver it to their disciples.

"Unabashedly committed to their cause, and unrepentant in proclaiming themselves a true heavy metal band even when others have shied away from the term, Judas Priest have forever been defenders of the faith."

"Epitaph" track listing

01. Battle Hymn (L)
02. Rapid Fire (F)
03. Metal Gods (F)
04. Heading Out To The Highway (G)
05. Judas Rising (M)
06. Starbreaker (C)
07. Victim Of Changes (B)
08. Never Satisfied (A)
09. Diamonds And Rust (C)
10. Prophecy (N)
11. Night Crawler (L)
12. Turbo Lover (J)
13. Beyond The Realms Of Death (D)
14. The Sentinel (I)
15. Blood Red Skies (K)
16. The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Pronged Crown) (E)
17. Breaking The Law (F)
18. Painkiller (L)
19. The Hellion (H)
20. Electric Eye (H)
21. Hell Bent For Leather (E)
22. You've Got Another Thing Coming (H)
23. Living After Midnight (F)

Album index:

A - from "Rocka Rolla (originally issued 1974, on Gull Records)
B - from "Sad Wings Of Destiny (originally issued 1976, on Gull Records)
C - from "Sin After Sin (originally issued 1977, on Columbia Records)
D - from "Stained Class (originally issued 1978, on Columbia)
E - from "Hell Bent For Leather (originally issued 1979, on Columbia; aka Killing Machine in UK)
F - from "British Steel (originally issued 1980, on Columbia)
G - from "Point Of Entry (originally issued 1981, on Columbia)
H - from "Screaming For Vengeance (originally issued 1982, on Columbia)
I - from "Defenders Of the Faith (originally issued 1984, on Columbia)
J - from "Turbo (originally issued 1986, on Columbia)
K - from "Ram It Down (originally issued 1988, on Columbia)
L - from "Painkiller (originally issued 1990, on Columbia)
M - from "Angel Of Retribution (originally issued 2005, on Epic Records)
N - from "Nostradamus (originally issued 2008, on Epic)

PRIEST's forthcoming album will mark the recording and songwriting debut of the band's new guitarist, Richie Faulkner, who replaced co-founder K.K. Downing in 2011.

Asked what fans can fans expect from the group's next CD, JUDAS PRIEST lead singer Rob Halford said in an August 2012 interview, "We've already got a strong cross-section of ideas, some of them complete, some of them in bits and pieces. It's shaping up to be quite intense, in terms of the riffage and the strength of certain tracks. Much like every time you try and talk about music, it's practically impossible to capture it. You can only point it in the direction of where things are shaping up, and it's just glorious. If I try to pinpoint it, there are elements of 'British Steel' and there elements of 'Painkiller' in terms of the vibe. We've got a really solid record coming together slowly in a strong metal way that will make all of our PRIEST fans around the world very happy and content. At least I hope it does."

Regarding a possible release date for the new PRIEST album, Halford said, "I'm not really sure. It'll be ready when it's ready. We're not under the same clock as we used to be. I remember in the '80s we were banging out a record almost every year, and that was on top of putting in a world tour. We have the luxury now, if you want to call it that, of taking our time. And that's just because that's the way it is. We're just as eager to get this done as ever, but we do it at a slower pace. It's that British thing, you know? [laughs] It's that monarchy thing. Let's look forward to that moment for another PRIEST record for everyone to bang their heads to."

In a November 2011 interview with Ultimate Classic Rock, Halford stated about PRIEST's plans for the upcoming CD, "Glenn and I started to write in the early part of January [of 2011]. We just went to it from the heart really, there was no specific agenda or idea, as opposed to what we had to do with 'Nostradamus', which was very focused and a real anchor of a project. This one has just been some straight-forward, classic British heavy metal. Some of it feels a bit like 'Painkiller', some of it feels like 'Sad Wings Of Destiny', some like 'British Steel'. We didn't do much research, we didn't bother checking some of our previous releases, we didn't do any homework, we just sat down and played, you know? Glenn came up with riffs and I came up with vocal melodies. There was no outside influence or interference in the writing sessions. We just started the day, plugged in some amps, got the mic up and made the metal that way. It's a very pure record, in that respect."

In 2010, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and über-energetic frontman and all-round rock 'n' roll legend Michael Monroe unveiled his new side project in grand style via an exclusive press conference. Flash forward six months to a full U.K. tour with MOTÖRHEAD, and another few months to the release of "Another Night In The Sun", a globally anticipated live album that teased fans clamoring for a final, polished taste of the new project. Finally, roughly a year after Michael Monroe's original public reveal, the band released their first critically-acclaimed full-length release, "Sensory Overdrive", produced by Jack Douglas (AEROSMITH, JOHN LENNON). The album went on to win Classic Rock magazine's "Album Of The Year" award and landed at #1 on the charts in Monroe's home country of Finland.

In 2012, after touring throughout the U.K. in support of "Sensory Overdrive", Monroe announced that he would go back into seclusion to prepare for the band's next offering. Monroe's touring and recording outfit, comprised of bassist Sami Yaffa (HANOI ROCKS, NEW YORK DOLLS), guitarist Steve Conte (NEW YORK DOLLS, COMPANY OF WOLVES), guitarist Dregen (BACKYARD BABIES, HELLACOPTERS) and drummer Karl "Rockfist" Rosqvist (CHELSEA SMILES, DANZIG), worked tirelessly in the studio, providing creative support for a frontman whose reputation is genuinely global and whose influence continues to be felt, with musicians of all ages (from Dave Grohl to the original GUNS N' ROSES members) citing Michael's groundbreaking career as a source of inspiration.

Now after several months, the wait is over. Michael Monroe can finally reveal that the band's upcoming studio album, "Horns And Halos", will hit stores everywhere on August 27, 2013 via Spinefarm Records. The band offers a taste of the new album in the form of a new single and video for the track "Ballad Of The Lower East Side", which can be watched now below. The track includes a nod to Michael's early days in New York, a city he moved to for a decade following the mid-'80s break up of glam punk pioneers HANOI ROCKS. The clip — directed by celebrated videographer/photographer Ville Juurikkala, who has photographed Michael for the past 10 years as well as working with LINKIN PARK, GOOD CHARLOTTE and HIM, among others — features archive footage and photos of Michael in prime Big Apple mode, interlaced with current live and backstage scenes.

"The song 'Ballad Of The Lower East Side' is about New York and especially the Lower East Side — what it was way back in the days when I lived there, how times have changed and how it is nowadays," states Monroe. "New York has always been an important city to me since I lived there for 10 years. Two members of our band still live there. It's the City of all Cities."

DEEP PURPLE singer Ian Gillan and drummer Ian Paice took part in a press conference yesterday (Thursday, April 18) in Paris, France. You can now watch video footage of the question-and-answer session below.

"Now What?!", the 19th studio album from DEEP PURPLE, will be released via earMUSIC, the Hamburg, Germany-based international rock label which is part of Edel Group, on the following dates:

* Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Finland, Spain: April 26
* UK, France, Benelux, Poland, Czech Republic, Norway, Denmark: April 29
* North America, Italy: April 30
* Sweden: May 1

The track listing for the effort is as follows:

01. A Simple Song
02. Weirdistan
03. Out Of Hand
04. Hell To Pay
05. Body Line
06. Above And Beyond
07. Blood From A Stone
08. Uncommon Man
09. Après Vous
10. All The Time In The World
11. Vincent Price

"Now What?!" will also be released in a limited quantity with a bonus track and a bonus DVD featuring DEEP PURPLE in conversation plus additional audio material. This edition will be available in a digipak with a cut out front cover. "Now What?!" will also be released as double vinyl LP containing a bonus track, as in the limited-edition CD.

After various songwriting sessions in Europe, the band recorded and mixed the album in Nashville, Tennessee with producer Bob Ezrin (KISS, PINK FLOYD, PETER GABRIEL, ALICE COOPER, KANSAS). The CD contain 11 tracks, including "Out Of Hand", "Weirdistan", "Uncommon Man" and "Above And Beyond". The latter song references the band's late keyboard player, Jon Lord, in the lyric "Souls having touched are forever entwined."

According to a press release, "Now What?!" was recorded with no musical rules… and it shows a modern and fresh production… to the point that DEEP PURPLE have never sounded so close to the spirit of the '70s in the last 20 years as they do now. The CD has the excellence and elegance of "Perfect Strangers" and the wild freedom of "Made In Japan".

An acoustic performance of the song "Sense The Fire" by singer Mikael Sehlin of Swedish metallers ENGEL can be seen below.

Sehlin made his live debut with ENGEL on January 4 at the Gothenburg Sound Festival at Trädgårn in Gothenburg, Sweden.

ENGEL parted ways with singer Magnus "Mangan" Klavborn in November and recruited Lenne (ex-TWELVESTEP) as his temporary replacement. In a statement announcing his departure from the group, Klavborn said: "I'm not going to rant about the who's and why's, just say goodbye." He added: "I have had a lot of good times and I am sad to leave it behind, but that's how it goes sometimes. It's not a farewell forever; I'm not going to quit music."

ENGEL's latest album, "Blood Of Saints", entered the official chart in Sweden at position No. 60. Released on May 18, 2012 via Season Of Mist, the CD was recorded at Antfarm studios in Aabyhøj, Denmark. According to the group, the album is "a good mixture between both [previous ENGEL efforts] 'Threnody' [2010] and 'Absolute Design' [2007], but with some new angles as well!"

Renowned drummer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Brian Tichy (pictured below), known for his tours of duty with BILLY IDOL, FOREIGNER, OZZY OSBOURNE and WHITESNAKE, will fill in for Simon Wright (AC/DC, DIO, RHINO BUCKET) in the Geoff Tate-fronted version of QUEENSRŸCHE for all of the band's tour dates in June.

Although a lineup for Tate's QUEENSRŸCHE was originally announced in the fall of 2012, things have changed. The band now features Tate along with bassist Rudy Sarzo (OZZY OSBOURNE, DIO, WHITESNAKE, QUIET RIOT), guitarist Kelly Gray (QUEENSRŸCHE 1998-2001), keyboardist Randy Gane and new additions, guitarist Robert Sarzo (QUIET RIOT, HURRICANE) and Wright.

Deadline Music/Cleopatra Records will release "Frequency Unknown", the new album from the Geoff Tate-fronted version of QUEENSRŸCHE, on April 23. The CD was produced by Jason Slater at a studio in Northern California.

Deadline Music/Cleopatra Records recently released "Cold", the new single from the Geoff Tate-fronted version of QUEENSRŸCHE, via iTunes. The track, which was mixed by Anthony Focx (NEWSTED, AEROSMITH, NIGHT RANGER, TED NUGENT), will also be released as a special limited-edition seven-inch vinyl single with a newly recorded version of the QUEENSRŸCHE classic "Silent Lucidity" — mixed by Jürgen Engler (DORO, DIE KRUPPS) — on the B-side.

Asked about the decision to remix "Frequency Unknown" shortly before the album's release, Tate told "The Continental Breakfast With James & Raina": "We were a little rushed on the mixing end of it, so after listening to it back, we're having some of the songs remixed now before the album comes out. But that's typical with records — you have to have them in on time. So sometimes you compromise in areas. Luckily, with this situation, we get to go back and correct some areas in the sound where we thought it was kind of lacking. So that's fine. I've done that on… gosh… probably three quarters of the records I've ever made. It's no new thing, but it's a luxury when you get to fix it."

"Frequency Unknown" is packaged with bonus tracks — four QUEENSRŸCHE classics, newly recorded, including the smash hit single "Silent Lucidity". Guest musicians on the CD include K.K. Downing (JUDAS PRIEST), Chris Poland (MEGADETH), Ty Tabor (KING'S X), Paul Bostaph (SLAYER, TESTAMENT, EXODUS), Lita Ford, Brad Gillis (NIGHT RANGER), Dave Meniketti (Y&T) and Craig Locicero (FORBIDDEN).

"Frequency Unknown" track listing:

01. When Lightning Strikes
02. Running Backwards
03. Fallen
04. Life Without You
05. In The Hands Of God
06. Cold
07. The Weight Of The World
08. Slave
09. Dare
10. Everything

Bonus tracks: (2013 versions)

11. Silent Lucidity
12. Empire
13. Jet City Woman
14. I Don t Believe In Love

Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins of FOO FIGHTERS inducted RUSH at the 28th annual Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony, which was held last night (Thursday, April 18) at the Nokia Theater L.A. Live. Grohl said in his induction speech, "From day one, the band built its following the right way. No hype, no (baloney), they did it from the ground up without any help from the mainstream press… Their influence is undeniable and their devoted fan base is only rivaled by the GRATEFUL DEAD. Look at you people, all of you people, right here! And their legacy is that of a band that stayed true to themselves no matter how uncool they may have seemed to anyone."

According to The Pulse Of Radio, RUSH drummer Neil Peart, normally the most reclusive member of the band, gave the first and most eloquent of the three members' speeches, followed by bassist/singer Geddy Lee. But it was guitarist Alex Lifeson who brought down the house with a speech consisting entirely of "blah blah blahs," changing the tone of his voice to exhibit a range of emotions — with everyone understanding what he meant, especially when he "described" getting the call that the band was being inducted.

Lee was asked on the red carpet if he thought the acclaimed documentary on the band, "Beyond The Lighted Stage", played a role in the groundswell of support for the band's induction into the Hall Of Fame. "Oh, I think it probably did have an effect to a certain degree because of the way the filmmakers put that story together," he said. "I think it really showed what a vast and diverse audience that we do have and what the effect of our music has been on young players. And one of the criteria of the Hall Of Fame is influence, so I think it's easy to see that in that film."

Peart said that the band's fans had a personal stake in seeing the band inducted. "The thing is, with our fans, is that we grew up together," he said. "We always say 'the soundtrack of your life' is a phrase that I love, but it has been that case and we have evolved naturally in our music and our lyrics and our songs and all that, of our experiences from our past and our present as grown-ups, and we've expressed all that through our songs. So a lot of them have grown up with that in a very real, true way, so they share it and they feel like they're part of the team, and our team should win."

Lee thanked "the most passionate, incredible fan base around the globe …for not only supporting and encouraging our musical progress over the years, but for the insistence of their voices, which has most certainly led us to this evening."

The ceremony will be broadcast on May 18 on HBO at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

The deluxe version of BLACK SABBATH's new album, "13" — the first in 35 years to feature bassist Geeezer Butler, guitarist Tony Iommi and singer Ozzy Osbourne — will include three bonus tracks: "Methademic" (said to be about the scourge of methamphetamine addiction), "Peace Of Mind" and "Pariah".

"13" is now available for pre-order on iTunes. If you order either the standard or deluxe editions, you will be able to download the first single, "God Is Dead?" immediately.

"13" track listing:

01. End Of The Beginning (8:05)
02. God Is Dead? (8:52)
03. Loner (4:59)
04. Zeitgeist (4:37)
05. Age Of Reason (7:01)
06. Live Forever (4:46)
07. Damaged Soul (7:51)
08. Dear Father (7:20)

Deluxe-edition bonus tracks:

09. Methademic (5:57)
10. Peace Of Mind (3:40)
11. Pariah (5:34)

Total running time (with bonus tracks): 68 minutes, 42 seconds

"13" is due out June 11 on Vertigo/Republic. This marks BLACK SABBATH's return to Vertigo, their original label, and the group's first studio album together since 1978's "Never Say Die!"

The drum tracks on the album were laid down by RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE sticksman Brad Wilk following original drummer Bill Ward's decision to bow out of the reunion.

Ozzy told an Australian radio station that "13" is "mind-blowing," adding, "It's better than my wildest dreams; it's so good."

BLACK SABBATH will make a rare television appearance when the band performs a new song on the season finale of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation". The episode is set to air on Wednesday, May 15 at 10:00 p.m. ET on CBS-TV. The band will world premiere a song called "End Of The Beginning" from "13". The episode's plot follows the "CSI" team as they investigate a series of murder that resemble the sins in "Dante's Inferno", with the trail leading the detectives played by Ted Danson and Marc Vann to attend a SABBATH concert.

"God Is Dead?" audio stream:

Joe Satriani, the incomparable guitar aficionado, is readying for the release of his 14th studio album, "Unstoppable Momentum", on May 7 through Epic Records, by releasing the first single, "A Door Into Summer", at radio this week. The 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.

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

New York death metal veterans IMMOLATION will release their ninth full-length album, "Kingdom Of Conspiracy", on May 14 in North America, both digitally and physically, via Nuclear Blast Records. The follow-up to 2010's "Majesty And Decay" was recorded at Sound Studios in Millbrook, New York with longtime producer Paul Orofino, and mixed and mastered once again by Zack Ohren (ALL SHALL PERISH, DECREPIT BIRTH, SUFFOCATION).

The second trailer for the album can be seen below.

The "Kingdom Of Conspiracy" cover imagery was brought to life this time by Pär Olofsson, who has previously worked with IMMORTAL, THE FACELESS and ABYSMAL DAWN, among others.

"The figures in the artwork have all been bound and chained and have their eyes and mouths sewn shut symbolically, showing the chilling of speech and the intentional blinding of the masses," explains IMMOLATION guitarist Robert Vigna. "They all make up the huge ominous structure behind them, which is symbolic of the growing security state as well as our failing structures today, and how they are slowly and methodically consuming and controlling us all. It has a very Orwellian feel to it, which is what we were going for since the album is very dark in a slightly different way."

In regards to "Kingdom Of Conspiracy"'s lyrical content, Vigna says: "The album deals with the world today and the slow unraveling and breakdown of our societies and the systems and structures behind them. It speaks of the human side to all this and how we have all lost our way and have fed into these very systems that are slowly coming apart. This is the common thread running throughout the album and the cover paints a very dark picture of the future, where these systems have completely absorbed our world, and our freedoms and we have become a part of the very fabric of these structures that we have created. Each song is a symptom of this mass sickness that has brought the world to the point it is at now, and we paint a very bleak picture of this slow and gradual breakdown and the human failures that sped this process along. This is the 'Kingdom Of Conspiracy'."

"Kingdom Of Conspiracy" track listing:

01. Echoes Of Despair
02. Keep The Silence
03. Kingdom Of Conspiracy
04. Serving Divinity
05. The Great Sleep
06. Indoctrinate
07. A Spectacle of Lies
08. God Complex
09. Bound To Order
10. All That Awaits

For photos of the band in the studio, click here.

Catch the band on the Decibel Magazine Tour this spring with CANNIBAL CORPSE and NAPALM DEATH.

"Majesty And Decay", was released in March 2010 via Nuclear Blast Records. The CD sold around 1,400 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 29 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.

"Hopeless Days", the new video from Finnish melancholic dark metal forerunners AMORPHIS, can be seen below. The song comes off the band's eleventh album, "Circle", which will be released on April 19 via Nuclear Blast Records. Production and mixing duties for the follow-up to 2011's "The Beginning Of Times" were handled by HYPOCRISY and PAIN mastermind Peter Tägtgren, who has previously worked with such bands as CHILDREN OF BODOM, CELTIC FROST, IMMORTAL and DIMMU BORGIR. The recordings took place at Petrax Studio (NIGHTWISH, CHILDREN OF BODOM, KORPIKLAANI) in Hollola and 5K Studios in Helsinki. The cover artwork was created by Tom Bates (BLEED FROM WITHIN, DEVIL SOLD HIS SOUL) and can be seen below.

Commented AMORPHIS vocalist Tomi Joutsen: "The mystic, androgynous person on the cover represents a spiritual guide. This character was sent from another time and place to help the album's protagonist find a new path for his life."

"Circle" track listing:

01. Shades Of Gray
02. Mission
03. The Wanderer
04. Narrow Path
05. Hopeless Days
06. Nightbird's Song
07. Into The Abyss
08. Enchanted By The Moon
09. A New Day
10. Dead Man's Dream (bonus track)

The album's limited digibook version will come with a bonus DVD containing the following:

* The Making Of "Circle"
* Nightbird's Song (video clip)

Apart from the CD+DVD digibook version, "Circle" will be available on CD (without the bonus track), black 2LP in gatefold, brown 2LP in gatefold and as a bulging limited box, including three bonus tracks and a wristband — exclusively via the Nuclear Blast mail order.

A short summary about the album's concept/story that spreads throught out the lyrics by Pekka Kainulainen, who wrote the lyrics for most recent AMORPHIS albums: "The protagonist has been dealt a bad hand at birth. He’s always felt himself an outsider with strong potential to become marginalized. Through an accident, after a crisis, he finds a connection with his inner powers. A guide is sent to him, from some other time and place. He gets a chance to take hold of his own life and change his destiny. From the past of Carelian Finland he finds his own spiritual tribe and the power to turn the course of his doomed life. This is a story of survival."

Joutsen added about the album title: "'Circle' represents integrity. Back in the days, when there was something special to talk about, wise men used to sit in circle. Not everyone was invited to join them. But in this story, the protagonist was invited among the wise men's circle."

Regarding the direction of the new AMORPHIS material, the band's guitarist and founding member Esa Holopainen said: "While promoting 'The Beginning Of Times', we started to feel that we were giving the same explanations over and over again when people asked about the studio process and how the songs came about. Even though the music was very strong, the making process didn't offer any surprises and appeared to be quite secured. Now the addition of a new dimension to the developing process has inspired us to focus on our material even more. The songs are extremely strong, bombastic and skull-pummelling."

"The Beginning Of Times" entered the German Media Control chart at position No. 16 — the best chart position ever scored by an AMORPHIS album in that country. The CD also landed at position No. 1 on the Finnish chart.

According to the Daily Mail, Chris Beardshaw, the award-winning U.K. gardener who is perhaps best known for his work on the BBC's long-running television series "Gardeners' World", claims that exposing a greenhouse full of plants to a constant diet of BLACK SABBATH worked wonders in creating larger flowers in a horticultural experiment. Blasting the music of Sir Cliff Richard, on the other hand, proved a total disaster and killed every plant.

The study came about because one of Beardshaw's horticultural students wanted to write a dissertation based on the effects of music on plants.

"We set up four glasshouses with different sorts of music in to see what happened to the plants," said Beardshaw.

"We had one that was silent — that was a control house — and we had one that was played classical music, we had one that was played Cliff Richard and we had one that was played BLACK SABBATH.

"It was alstroemerias we were growing and we bombarded these glasshouses with sound for the life of the plant.

"We were measuring incidence of pest and disease, we were measuring inter-nodal distance, we were measuring the floriferous nature of them and that sort of thing and so the one that was grown as a control house grew really well as you'd expect.

"The one that was grown with classical music — a soft, almost a caressing of the plant when it is hit with that sort of soundwave — those grew slightly shorter because of the soundwaves bombarding them and were slightly more floriferous and there was slightly less pest and disease.

"And the ones with BLACK SABBATH — great big, thumping noise, rowdy music — they were the shortest, but they had the best flowers and the best resistance to pest and disease.

"The alstroemerias in the Cliff Richard house all died. Sabotage was suspected, but we couldn't prove it."