Brian Giffin of Australia's Loud magazine recently conducted an interview with guitarist Fredrik Åkesson of Swedish progressive metallers OPETH. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Loud: The reaction to "Heritage" was very mixed. I quite enjoyed it, but I know a lot of people didn't. What are your own thoughts about the album now?

Fredrik: I'm proud of the album. I think it's a very good album. I understand the controversy about it, but it was something the band needed to do — something different to break out of the box, or however you want to put it. And also the album is called "Heritage". It's about the musical heritage of the band. It's a bit of a flirt with old hard rock themes, [like the] Ronnie James Dio tribute track, for instance or, you know, there's a bit of RUSH in there or some Swedish folk.

Loud: What direction is OPETH likely to go in this time?

Fredrik: Um... well, I would have to say, in a somewhat different direction to "Heritage". [laughs] It won't be a step back, but it will be different. Maybe more intense in a way. You'll have to wait and see. I was in the studio today and put down my solos and I was very happy about it. The song I heard that Mikael [Åkerfeldt, guitar/vocals] wrote today sounds very cool. I think that's all I can say at this point! I'm sorry. [laughs]

Loud: Are you working with Steven Wilson again this time?

Fredrik: It's too early to say. Right now we're in the writing process. Maybe later on, I would say.

Loud: You're actually working on new stuff at the moment. How long is it going to be before we see a new OPETH album?

Fredrik: The plan is to try and record at the end of September, when we're done with all the touring. This is the longest break we've had between albums. I think the longest break we had before this was before "Watershed". It's not gonna happen this year, most likely the year after.

Read the entire interview from Loud magazine.

The Age Of Metal conducted an interview with guitarist Gary Holt of San Francisco thrash metal veterans EXODUS prior to their March 24 concert in Tempe, Arizona during the "Metal Alliance Tour" with ANTHRAX, HIGH ON FIRE, MUNICIPAL WASTE and HOLY GRAIL. You can now watch the chat below.

On EXODUS' next studio album:

Holt: "It's gonna be brutal. They all are, though, but we try to do something a little bit different each time out while maintaining our identity, and this one will be no different. I'm certainly writing really angry stuff."

On why EXODUS was forced to miss a couple of shows on the "Metal Alliance Tour" — at the the House of Blues venues in Lake Buena Vista, Florida and Anaheim, California, both properties owned by the Disney corporation — while headliners ANTHRAX were still allowed to play:

Holt: "Well, ANTHRAX… Probably, it could be lyrically, because they're more about politics, we're more about killing people, Satan and shit. I think it has to do with our audience, though, 'cause ANTHRAX's and the other bands' audiences are rowdy, too, but some of our fans get a little bit overboard. I mean, we've been banned from the Whisky [A Go Go] for a number of years — since the last time we played there. I mean, we sold the place out, they madea million dollars and they still won't have us back — 'cause the crowd was too off the hook; they were afraid they'd smash the place into pieces. It could have something to do with that. It could just have to do with our relationship with Satan and the Dark One… I don't know. It's a good question, because until their tour got canceled, they had no problem booking CRADLE OF FILTH, but not EXODUS. So I think it might be they're afraid of the audience — the 'wall of death' and all that shit. They don't want someone getting hurt. I don't want anyone getting hurt."

On playing with SLAYER for the past couple of years as the temporary replacement for Jeff Hanneman, who is still recovering from necrotising fasciitis, a flesh-eating disease which he is believed to have gotten from a spider bite:

Holt: "I'm playing with a lot of old friends — I've been best friends with those guys forever — so it wasn't, like, 'Oh, you're going in and playing with SLAYER'; I never viewed it like that. I'm just doing something different and it's kind of cool and I get to go out and play some songs I've always loved. It's fun and we have a good time."

On whether there is a chance that he will participate in the recording process for the next SLAYER album:

Holt: "I have no idea. We're just all hoping Jeff gets better. I'm just keeping his seat warm until he's ready come back and bring the pain."

After two years of absence from touring, THE WAY OF PURITY will be back on the road in Europe with CRYPTOPSY, CATTLE DECAPITATION and DECREPIT BIRTH and will also perform a UK headline tour. The combo will present the new album Equate live during April and May with a new and intense live set and performance.

Bass player "without name" stated: "After the last tour with GORGOROTH we have been struggling to find a new balance in our project as we changed our singer and our sound developed in a more complex entity with computer / synths / effects / spoken parts / intros ... Everything needed to be tested really hard to make sure that we will be able to blow the audience away at this time ... The set will be continuous, non-stop with real high picks of emotion, I promise. We are ready now."
Furthermore The Way Of Purity announced important cooperations for the new album.

Singer Marja Panic stated: "We started writing our new album with our russian friend Stielas Storhett and our producer Jonathan Mazzeo ... After this quite big work we felt that we wanted to give the final emotional touch with massive and continuous orchestrations so we asked Marianna Alfieri, known for being guitar player on Kirlian Camera, to work with us at that stage. She made such intense, passionate and incredibly tragical compositions to enhance our ideas. Now we are ready to fly to Romania to produce the vocals with Ageru Pamantului, former singer in NEGURA BUNGET. After this last process we will enter Realsound and Mathlab Studios in Italy to record the whole project. We still have to ask Christian Donaldson if he wants to mix this album but we have time during the tour, I am quite sure that we will be able to work with him again."

For more details and tour dates visit The Way Of Purity on Facebook.

Sabian Cymbals have issued the following statement on the passing of the company founder, Robert "RZ" Zildjian, who died on March 28th. He was 89 years old.
"It is with deep, deep sorrow that we announce the passing of Robert "RZ" Zildjian, our beloved founder and leader. A tireless and dynamic force, he inspired each one of us in the Sabian family to work harder, to reach farther, to make a difference - and he led us by example. We mourn his passing, and we will miss him for a long time to come. But we are better people for having known RZ, and we are richer for having worked alongside him. We draw comfort from the knowledge that his spirit will live on in the music made by artists the world over.

Rest in peace, RZ."

Go to the Sabian Facebook page here to read and post condolences.

Eddie Van Halen is featured on two songs on hip hop legend LL Cool J's upcoming album, "Authentic", due out on April 30.

The guitarist can be heard on the tracks "We're The Greatest" and "Not Leaving You Tonight".

In a recent interview with CBS Local, LL Cool J said: "I just really wanted to work with the best, work with people that I respect, people that I look up to, people that impress me, people that I believe are truly super talented. I feel like Eddie falls in that category."

He added: "I am in no way trying to put myself on the level of VAN HALEN or say that … I don't want VAN HALEN fans to get the wrong impression like I don’t respect their legacy or who they are. I do. I just wanted to do something with Eddie that I think is cool. And I think we accomplished something great. I hope they dig it."

A 90-second audio sample of "We're The Greatest" can be streamed in the YouTube clip below.

"Authentic" is LL's 13th studio album and first in five years.

Among other guests appearing on the CD is RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE guitarist Tom Morello, who can be heard on the song "Whaddup".

Eddie Van Halen famously made a guest appeance on Michael Jackson's masterpiece album, "Thriller". He was a surprise guest on "Beat It", the LP's third single. According to CNN, his blazing guitar solo lasted all of 20 seconds and took half an hour to record. He did it for free, as a favor to producer Quincy Jones, while the rest of his VAN HALEN bandmates were out of town.

"I said to myself, 'Who is going to know that I played on this kid's record, right? Nobody's going to find out.' Wrong!" Eddie recalled in a 2012 interview with CNN. "Big-time wrong. It ended up being Record Of The Year."

VAN HALEN will close out the annual Rock USA festival, scheduled for July 17 through July 20 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE guitarist Tom Morello recently joined the lineup of BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND THE E STREET BAND for a series of shows in Australia while veteran E STREET BAND member Steven Van Zandt was filming a new TV show.

Australian radio station Triple M spoke with Morello as he stepped off soundcheck with Springsteen and asked him if there is a new RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE album in the works.

"No, there's no plans for anything right now. No plans," he told Triple M.

"I wish I could give you some big scoop but," he laughed, "It's like asking 'have you seen a unicorn today?' Well, I still haven't seen a unicorn today!"

According to The Pulse Of Radio, Morello spoke with Rolling Stone after his fourth show on the Springsteen tour, saying, "It's been great. It's been really an honor being onstage with one of my favorite bands — one of the greatest live bands of all time. I've been to a lot of Bruce Springsteen shows, but I've never been to four consecutive ones. And every show isn't just a different show — a completely different experience."

Morello has been jumping onstage at Springsteen shows for a few years, usually to perform "The Ghost Of Tom Joad". He told The Pulse Of Radio a while back how playing with the Boss changed his own style of performance. "It really made me realize I can keep the integrity of the solo performance intact, and still shred my ass off," he said. "And bring the thing which I do best, which is, you know, play wild, electric guitar, and have that all be in one evening."

Even though Morello himself has been playing live for over 20 years with RAGE, AUDIOSLAVE and as a solo artist, he said that adjusting to the E STREET BAND's ever-changing set list was a challenge. He explained, "Every night, 90 minutes til soundcheck, Bruce will text me with seven or eight songs we've never played before. And then during the show, he'll call up songs we've never even discussed — some I've never even heard! Every night, there's six to eight songs I have literally about a nanosecond to prepare for. But it's fun."

Morello has four more shows left with Springsteen on this tour, which ends Sunday (March 31). Van Zandt will rejoin the E STREET BAND at the end of April for the start of a European trek.

Australian heavy metal band, METAL, will release their debut full-length album, Proving Our Mettle, on Friday, April 19 through iTunes and selected music stores. The album features 11 tracks, including the foot stomping anthem 'Heavy Metal', the crushing riff monster 'Fighting For Metal' and the rollicking, rum-soaked sea shanty, 'The Buccaneer’s Revenge'.
For the uninitiated, Metal is a band straight out of the old school of traditional balls to the wall heavy metal. Think back to those heady glory days of Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Motorhead and Manowar, “when men were men and songs were forged with blood, sweat and steel,” says bassist and lead singer, Rayzor Ray.

“Proving Our Mettle is a bare-chested scream of defiance, and a rallying call to the true,” continues Rayzor. “It is our banner planted firmly in the ground and from here we stand and fight. Fighting for Metal is not just a song: it’s a mission statement.”

And it’s a fight they’ve taken to the streets, with the lads having made a name for themselves on the local scene as an act with more hair, denim, guitar solos and high-pitched metallic screams than you can wield a flaming sword at.

“We’ve played at just about every premium venue in New South Wales, from the Sandringham Stadium to the Tempe Thunderdome,” says Rayzor.

The album, out in a matter of weeks, will be the band’s latest weapon and will be debuted live when Metal take the stage alongside Dutch band EPICA at Metro Theatre on April 19th.

Proving Our Mettle was recorded at the renowned Studios 301 in Sydney by Tim Carr and mixed at Adversary Studios, Sydney by Aaron Worboys. The cover art has been painstakingly created by All Things Rotten (1349, CHILDREN OF BODOM, HIRAX).
So prepare yourselves for the launch of the clarion call this April, as Metal begin their latest assault on the pretenders and the false (if you can’t name at least three Maiden albums, you could be in trouble). Brisbanites will be the first to be on their guard, when Metal play the Crowbar on April 6th. Following the launch, the lads will announce more tour dates including three shows in Japan in July... because, like all metal bands, they’re big in Japan.

Proving Our Mettle is available for download on iTunes and selected music stores from April 19th and pre-order at this location.


Metal lineup:

Razor 'Sting' Ray (BANE OF ISILDUR, MALICE, BURGHERS CALAIS) - bass/vocals
Danny 'Diamond' Crusher (BATTALION, BARATHEON) - guitar
Chinch 'The Boss' Chinchella (Battalion, RAMPAGE, Burghers Of Calais) - guitar
Aaron (Bane Of Isildur, Malice, SORATHIAN DAWN, ILL OMEN) - drums

More on Metal at this location.

On March 23rd, LILLIAN AXE guitarist Steve Blaze was awarded a blue belt in Shaolin Kung Fu. "It was a grueling six hour test. I am still feeling the repercussions," he says. "It takes about three years per belt due to the fact that this form, called Infinity, encompasses Tai Chi, PaQua and weapons as well. The nine years I have been studying this art have really helped me to cope with the unpredictable world we live in. Eric Morris is also a student of Kung Fu, but, no, we don't spar on the road." He is now beginning study for the green belt.
In other news, The Louisiana WPI ghost hunting team is preparing the casting call for the potential reality show featuring Steve Blaze, president of this chapter. "We have over 120 applicants so far from all walks of life. This should be very interesting as we start to put together my team to assist me in this endeavor."

Blaze and the band are in the process of editing and mixing the enormously successful acoustic concert from last month (at Sound Landing Studios, in Covington, LA). "It really was a magical night in a spiritual way. It may go down as the most unique and special show I have ever done. The band was amazing, only to be matched by the audience. We hope to have this ready for summer."

Mordgrimm has announced the new release from European black metal project, LYCHGATE.

Although founded by a single individual, Lychgate was forged through the collaboration of G. A. Chandler (ESOTERIC), Aran (LUNAR AURORA), and T. J. F. Vallely (OMEGA CENTAURI), finding its lineup filled with musicians possessing proven skill at the top of their craft, according to a press release. On their self-titled album, Lychgate blend the mood of experimental doom with the execution of soundscape and melody-driven black metal.
Lychgate is a stand-alone entity for its own cause; schismatic and disunified. Black metal is taken here and made atmospheric, avant-garde and expressive. Evidence of the collaboration of Esoteric in the sound is valid, along with similarities to the outlook of hordes EMPEROR and ABIGOR. Separate and independent from the conventions of metal, striving to create their own aural realm.

This self-titled debut full-length was recorded at Eidola Studios and Priory Studios between April and August 2012. It was mixed and mastered by Greg Chandler at Priory Studios and the release features incredible cover art by Manuel Tinnemans. Lychgate contains no programming, and all instrumentation was performed and recorded without edits.
Lychgate will be released on CD by UK label Mordgrimm and on LP by US label Gilead Media.

French dark metallers THE OLD DEAD TREE are reuniting this year to mark the 10th anniversary of their iconic debut full-length, The Nameless Disease. To celebrate, the band will perform the album in its entirety at Hellfest this June and is currently booking a French tour.
But there’s more. Sold-out for a couple years and now hard to find on CD, The Nameless Disease has been made available again digitally, in a special 10th Anniversary Edition with brand new cover artwork and no less than seven bonus demo tracks. You can purchase it from iTunes or from your usual digital store. Watch the video for 'It Can’t Be' below:
Still want more? To really please their fans and make sure their whole catalogue is available, The Old Dead Tree unearthed a long-lost gem.

Frontman Manuel Munoz explains: “We finally accepted to dive deep through the roots of The Old Dead Tree and dig out our very first EP, The Blossom. Only 1,400 copies were made back in 1999, so in order not to seriously annoy the lucky owners of the original CD version, we and Season of Mist decided to re-release it as an exclusive digital edition. The Blossom is 4 songs composed and recorded by 4 friends just before one of them decided to give up with life. A bittersweet memory."
The Blossom is available on iTunes and on all digital platforms, and includes the following tracks:

'It's The Same For Everyone'
'The Dark Missionary'
'Chained To Life'
'Last Sigh'

More on The Old Dead Tree at this location.

Vocalist ANDRÉ MATOS (ex-ANGRA, ex-SYMFONIA) is featured in an extensive new interview with Dr. Metal at Metal Meltdown. Part 1 of the audio can be found here, a portion of the transcript is available below:
On learning how to sing: "Of course I wanted to sing like Bruce Dickinson. I wanted to sing like Eric Adams from MANOWAR. I wanted to sing like Geoff Tate. Not like Dio, because the voice was way too different, but anyway. Those clearer singers, I was really after them and trying to copy them and imitate them. I was going crazy when I was younger, because I was wondering to myself, 'How come those guys can sing so clear and when they go up there they can shout like hell? How does it work?' And I tried, and I never got it, I never made it. Until one day, I don't know what the heck happened, but I did it. It's like a key that clicks like this. It's like learning how to ride the bicycle. You're a child, you cannot stay up, and suddenly one day you stay up and you never lose that again. You never forget that again, even if you stay years without practicing."

Part 2 of the interview will be available soon.

Two versions of Matos' new album, The Turn Of The Lights, are now available. Version 1 contains the regular songs plus a bonus track (a cover of Angra’s 'Wings of Reality'.

The tracklisting:

'Liberty'
'Course Of Life'
'The Turn Of The Lights'
'Gaza'
'Stop!'
'On Your Own'
'Unreplaceable'
'Oversoul'
'White Summit'
'Light-Years'
'Sometimes'
'Wings Of Reality' (Angra Cover)

Version 2 comes with the regular songs plus four bonus tracks (but without 'Wings Of Reality').

The tracklisting:

Disc 1:
'Liberty'
'Course Of Life'
'The Turn Of The Lights'
'Gaza'
'Stop!'
'On Your Own'
'Unreplaceable'
'Oversoul'
'White Summit'
'Light-Years'
'Sometimes'

Disc 2:
'At Least A Chance (VIPER cover)
'I Don’T Believe In Love (QUEENSRŸCHE cover)
'Fake Plastic Trees (RADIOHEAD cover)
(Japanese ENKA cover)

For more details visit Andrematos.net.

Miami-based ORBWEAVER, fronted by ex-HATE ETERNAL/GIGAN guitarist/vocalist Randy Piro, have introduced their newest addition: Scott Spasiano who has taken over drum and percussion duties after Mike Pena left the band to pursue his chosen career path.

Randy Piro commented: “Scott has the perfect blend of raw talent, and unmatched creativity. He quickly learned all of our material, and I really look forward to writing the new songs with him.”
The new line up’s first appearance will be a special on air performance April 18th on Radio 305 in anticipation of the B420 Fest the next day at Churchill’s Pub, Miami, FL. They will also be discussing their upcoming EP Strange Transmissions From The Neuralnomicon, due out later this year. Recording took place at Miami's Pinecrust Studios with Torche’s Jonathan Nunez at the controls. Mixing and mastering was handled by Brian Elliot at Mana Recording Studios in St. Petersburg, FL.

For more details visit Orbweaverband.com.

Gigantour — the critically acclaimed package festival founded in 2005 by MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine — will be back for another installment later this year.

"[I] finalized the bands for Gigantour 2013 and have to admit, I am hella impressed," Mustaine says in an online posting. "Details coming soon."

In a January 2013 interview with VintageRock.com, Mustaine stated about the upcoming 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.

After months and months working on their new opus, Spanish industrial metallers KILLUS have revealed the first details from their new album, Feel The Monster, due out May 31st in Spain and June throughout the world via Art Gates Records. The artwork has been entirely designed by Damien Worm, reflecting the gloomy and dark vision of the band.
Feel The Monster tracklist:

'We're Alone In This World' (Intro)
'Feel The Monster'
'Bastards'
'I Can'T Feel It'
'Forever And Ever'
'Crush Our Minds'
'Fuck'N'Roll'
'The Night Of The Knife'
'The Darkness Of The Crypt'
'Holy Bible'
'I'm Dead Tonight
'Satanic Verse'
(Bonus Track)

The album has been completely produced and recorded by Killus and mastered by Daniel Cardoso from Portugal (NOCTEM, ANGELUS APATRIDA, ANATHEMA, ANNEKE VAN GIERSBERGEN, SWITCHTENSE).

According to a press release, "Feel the Monster will be characterized by a more devastating, direct and metal based sound than the previous albums of the band, which will be reflected the anger of the band on stage."

The official lyric video for the song "I Bleed" from SÁIVU — the collaboration between GUNS N' ROSES guitarist Richard Fortus and Norwegian musician Lásse Kvernmo — can be seen below. The track comes off the project's debut album, "Endings", which will be released later in the year.

It all started in 2008 when Kvernmo, who was studying in the U.S. at the time, sent Fortus some demo recordings via the GUNS N' ROSES homepage. It didn't take long for him to get an answer.

"I fell for his songs," says Fortus. "Right then and there I decided that I wanted to be a part of this. He's got some really unique and amazing rock songs."

The American guitarist, who has been a member of GUNS N' ROSES since 2002, took a break from his main gig to visit Tromsø, northern Norway, where he and Kvernmo spent the days writing new material.

Last October, the first single from SÁIVU, "Goodbye", was released as a preview of what's to come on the project's debut album. The recordings were done in Los Angeles with producer Ben Grosse (MARILYN MANSON, DEPECHE MODE, MADONNA). Drummer Will Hunt (EVANESCENCE, BLACK LABEL SOCIETY) and guitarist Geno Lenardo (FILTER, CHEVELLE) also appear on the CD.

"Sáivu" is a word from Sami mythology. Sáivu is considered to be a place where the dead forefathers reside — a place where everything is bigger, more beautiful and better than the world of the living.

Despite Kvernmo's Sami roots, SÁIVU's songs are sung entirely in English.

"In order to reach a larger audience, I couldn't sing in my native language," explained Kvernmo. "Had I done that, only 30,000 people would have understood what I had to say."

Kvernmo and Fortus have already performed some of their material live in July 2010 at the Midnattsrocken festival in Norway.

For more information, visit www.saivumusic.com.

Video footage of MASSACRE's entire March 29 performance at the Florida Metal Bash at The Brass Mug in Tampa, Florida can be seen below.

MASSACRE was forced to cancel the Brazilian leg of its South American tour, which kicked off on November 9, 2012 in Bogota, Colombia.

An official statement regarding the cancelation can be found at this location.

MASSACRE released a seven-inch single, "Condemned To The Shadows", on July 30, 2012. The single, which is available as a regular black-wax version, a transparent wax limited edition and a yellow-wax limited edition, contains two brand new songs — "Succumb To Rapture" and "Back From Beyond" — that were recorded in February 2012 at CGM Studios in Altamonte Springs, Florida with Tim Vazquez at the helm.

MASSACRE is hard at work on material for a new album, to be released laer in the year via Century Media Records.

The band's new lineup consists of bassist Terry Butler and guitarist Frederick "Rick Rozz" DeLillo alongside MASSACRE's latest additions, Mike Mazzonetto (drums; M INC., PAIN PRINCIPLE) and Ed Webb (vocals; DIABOLIC, GENERICHRIST, DESTINED TO RUIN).

United Guttural has announced the release date for Greek grind act HEAD CLEANER‘s upcoming album entitled Of Worms And Men. The CD will be available on April 22 and the band third full length album features 14 tracks and clocks in at nearly 28 minutes.
Of Worms And Men tracklisting:

'Long Time Dead'
'One More Nail In The Coffin Of Peace'
'When The Clock Strikes 9:00'
'What Normality Means?'
'Thoughts During The Fall'
'It’S Now Safe To Turn Off Your Mind'
'The Monsters In Disguise'
'Nothing To Worry About'
'Game Rules'
'The Domino Principle'
'Vanity Has A Price'
'War Is A Product Of Imperialism'
'Before You Take A Step Further'
'A Man Who Crawls Like A Worm'

Check out a fan-made video of the song 'One More Nail in the Coffin of Peace' below:
Head Cleaner play intensely pissed off grindcore with elements of death metal and crust ala NAPALM DEATH, TERRORIZER, WORMROT and NASUM. Their lyrics are highly reflective of the recent situation in Greece; anti-establishment, anti-corporatism, anti-imperialism, and anti-oligarchical themes frequently reoccur throughout Head Cleaner's body of work.
Examples of Head Cleaner's work and some concept videos can be found on their YouTube page here.

Professionally filmed video footage of QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE performing a brand new song, "My God Is the Sun", during the band's appearance at Lollapalooza Brazil on March 30 can be seen below. The gig marked the group's first live performance since a string of dates in 2011 to support the re-release of their 1998 self-titled debut album.

QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE's current touring lineup includes THE MARS VOLTA drummer Jon Theodore.

QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE will release its sixth studio album, "…Like Clockwork", this June on Matador Recorda, which is part of Beggars Group, the largest independent label group in the world. Described by QUEENS principal Joshua Homme as "an audio documentary of a manic year," "…Like Clockwork" is the band's first full-length collection of all-new material since 2007's "Era Vulgaris", as well as the group's debut release on new label partner Matador. The group was previously signed to Interscope.

"…Like Clockwork" was produced by Joshua Homme and QOTSA and recorded by Mark Rankin at Pink Duck Studios in Burbank, California. The CD includes drums by Dave Grohl (FOO FIGHTERS, NIRVANA), Joey Castillo and Jon Theodore, and guest appearances by Sir Elton John, Trent Reznor (NINE INCH NAILS), Mark Lanegan (SCREAMING TREES), ex-QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE bassist/vocalist Nick Oliveri, Jake Shears (THE SCISSOR SISTERS), James Lavelle and Alex Turner.

The official QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE web site has been updated to include the new artwork below and a series of sound snippets that are presumably taken from the forthcoming CD.

To hear the audio samples, visit the QOTSA site, click the image, hit refresh and repeat.

Grohl played drums on the QUEENS' 2002 album, "Songs For The Deaf", and did go on a short club tour with the group before returning to active duty with the FOOS — who took QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE out as support.

Grohl stepped in for the recording sessions after the group parted ways with longtime drummer Joey Castillo.

"Era Vulgaris" came out in June 2007 and entered the Billboard chart at No. 14.

IN-GRAVED the new band led by Victor Griffin (ex-PENTAGRAM, PLACE OF SKULLS) has another new song available for streaming below:
'Thorn In The Flesh' comes off the band's debut self-titled album which was released this month via Svart Records in Europe and Veritas Vinyl in North America. The CD was recorded at Lakeside Studios in Knoxville, Tennessee with producers Travis Wyrick (Place of Skulls) and Griffin. Engineers are Wyrick and Mike Dearing (Place of Skulls) with cover art created by Richard Schouten (Place of Skulls, MASSACRE).
As previously reported, In-Graved will embark on a UK and European tour this April to include a show at the Roadburn Festival (as well as Griffin and Olson teaching the debut Master Class at Roadburn) and an appearance at the Days Of The Doomed Festival in Milwaukee, WI this summer.

Confirmed dates are as follows:

April
18 - Osnabrück, Germany - Bastard Club
20 - Tilburg, Netherlands - O13, Roadburn Festival
22 - Nürnberg, Germany - K4
24 - Vienna, Austria - Viper Room
25 - Berlin, Germany - Astra Kulturhaus, Desertfest
26 - Göppingen, Germany - Chappel, Doom Shall Rise Festival
27 - Terneuzen, Netherlands - De Pit
28 - London, U.K. - Electric Ballroom, Desertfest

June
22 - Milwaukee, WI - The Blue Pig - Days Of The Doom Festival
In-Graved touring lineup:

- Victor Griffin (DEATH ROW, PENTAGRAM, PLACE OF SKULLS) - guitar/vocals
- Pete Campbell (60 WATT SHAMAN, PLACE OF SKULLS) - drums
- Guy Pinhas (THE OBSESSED, ACID KING, GOATSNAKE) - bass
- Jeff "Oly" Olson (TROUBLE, RETRO GRAVE) - keys

More on In-Graved at this location.

Finnish black metal band BEHEXEN will have their debut album, Rituale Satanum, originally released in 2000, reissued by Debemur Morti Productions on June 7th in Europe and June 25th in North America. This new edition of Rituale Satanum will be released as a noble digipack CD presented with sumptuous enhanced artwork, based on the original cover, made by ingenious artist Helgorth (ARCKANUM, ENSIFERUM, PRIMORDIAL) from Babalon Graphics.

The band's latest album Nightside Emanations, released in September 2012, is currently streaming on Bandcamp.

GOD OF ATHEISTS - Asgeir Mickelson's (ex-BORKNAGAR) extreme metal project with Trym (ex-EMPEROR) on drums, ICS Vortex (ex-DIMMU BORGIR, Borknagar) on vocals, Ihsahn (ex-Emperor) on keyboards and Carl A. Tidemann (ex-ARCTURUS, WINDS) on solos - continue to work on their debut which is expected to be released later this year.

Mickelson has just contacted BraveWords with the following preview: "Here's a clip from the provisional studio where Sareeta recorded violins for the God Of Atheists project. It shows the start of the song 'Fountain Of Emptiness". No bass, no vocals... Not finished... And it's the only really mellow part on the album."
"I can promise is that God Of Atheists is no commercial soft shit," Mickelson described recently.

Some tentative song titles are ‘The Sapient's Error’, ‘Cataclysm’, ‘I Am God’ and the previously-mentioned ‘Fountain of Emptiness’.
For more details visit Facebook.

France's Metalchroniques spoke with HYPOCRISY legend Peter Tägtgren recently about a number of topics including their new album, End Of Disclosure, and the fact that he is not BLOODBATH's new singer. Check out the chat below:

hypocrisy by metalchroniques

End Of Disclosure, was released on March 22nd in Europe, and will be out on April 2nd in North America via Nuclear Blast Records. The artwork was done this time by Wes Benscoter (SLAYER, KREATOR, NILE, VADER) and can be viewed below:
End Of Disclosure tracklisting:

'End Of Disclosure'
'Tales Of Thy Spineless'
'The Eye'
'United We Fall'
'44 Double Zero'
'Hell Is Where I Stay'
'Soldier Of Fortune'
'When Death Calls'
'The Return'

The official video for the album opener and title track, 'End Of Disclosure', can be viewed below:
Three album trailers can be seen below:

Canada’s blackened death metal group THE UNCONSCIOUS MIND is now streaming their new album, Where Philosophers Fall, on Bandcamp. The band features DERELICT guitarist Simon Cléroux and the band combines the black metal sonorities of OLD MAN'S CHILD, DIMMU BORGIR and IMMORTAL with the modern death metal of MESHUGGAH and DECAPITATED.
The album is also available on iTunes and more with physical distribution through CDN Records coming in June 2013. Where Philosophers Fall will be supported by a string of live dates in Quebec, beginning with a Montreal CD launch set for June 21st, 2013 will more details forthcoming.

Where Philosophers Fall tracklisting:

‘After Illusion’
‘My Deadly Sin’
‘The Mirror Of My Punishment’
‘Tale Of Creation’
‘Another Dying World’
‘The Demon Inside Me’
‘Beyond The Black Star’
‘Dream Jailed’
‘All End…
‘Where Philosophers Fall’

For more info visit Facebook.

Los Angeles-based female-fronted metal band EDGE OF PARADISE have debuted a lyric video for their new single, 'Break Away' below. The track is off their upcoming EP, Perfect Shade Of Black, which was recorded with Bob Kulick (KISS) and mixed by legendary Michael Wagener (METALLICA, OZZY OSBOURNE, DOKKEN, ACCEPT, SKID ROW, ALICE COOPER).

View the lyric-video below:
Says singer Margarita Monet: "Our sound has grown since the debut CD Mask, our writing has solidified, we have followed the direction where our sound has been evolving and we feel like we've captured something special."
Find out more about Edge Of Paradise and upcoming tour dates on their Facebook page here.

Tampere-based folk metallers HEXVESSEL have revealed the tracklisting and artwork for their forthcoming EP, Iron Marsh, due out May 10th via Svart Records.

The cover artwork below was created by Ossi Pirkonen:
Iron Marsh tracklisting:

'Masks Of The Universe'
'Superstitious Currents'
'The Tunnel At The End Of The Light (Redux)'
'Woman Of Salem (Yoko Ono cover Feat. Rosie from Purson)'
'Don’t Break The Curse (Feat. Alia from Blood Ceremony)'

Monterrey, Mexico-based melodic, progressive metal outfit THE ADVENT EQUATION have just released a video for the song ‘A Violent Motion’, taken off their 2012 full-length, self-released debut album, Limitless Life Reflections. Check out the clip below:
Limitless Life Reflections was mixed and produced by Alberto "Charles" Leal at Psicofonia Productions with studio mastering by Jens Bogren (AMON AMARTH, DEVIN TOWNSEND) at Fascination Street Studios, Örebro, Sweden. The striking artwork was created by Colin Marks (NEVERMORE, SCAR SYMMETRY). The album is a 60-minute juggernaut of power and beauty, that's sure to appeal to fans of heavyweights like OPETH and KATATONIA.

Limitless Life Reflections tracklisting:

'Glimpse Of What May Be'
'On Darkness'
'Purification Lapse'
'A Descent Into The Unreal'
'Visions Of Pain'
'Afterlife Evolutionary'
'Hopeless'
'A Violent Motion'

For more info visit Facebook.