Enigmatic UK-based blackened death trio ABYSSAL will release the CD reissue of their debut full-length, Denouement, on April 2nd via Poland's Hellthrasher Productions, with the vinyl edition coming in the fall.
The album was primarily self-released by the band in January, 2012 on hand-assembled CDs and digitally, getting great reception with its refreshing manifestation of dark, twisted death metal, reminiscent of PORTAL and MITOCHONDRION, yet unique in its own way.

The entire album is available for streaming below:

Denouement by Abyssal

Denouement (limited to 1,000 copies) can be pre-ordered here.

Denver, CO thrash metal group HAVOK have premiered their latest video, 'From The Cradle To The Grave', from their 2012 EP, The Point Of No Return. The video, directed by Roy Warner Creative Photo and Videography, was filmed on location in Detroit.
The song’s lyrical inspiration, vocalist/guitarist Dave Sanchez says, “‘From The Cradle To The Grave’ is about America's first serial killer, H.H. Holmes. In the late 1800s, in Chicago, Holmes built a hotel specifically with murder in mind. It included doors that opened up to brick walls, staircases that lead to nowhere, and one-way rooms that once you entered, you never came out. He was a religious man and firmly believed that since he was born, the Devil was at his side. That being said, bang your head.

We will hit the road next week, teaming with GOATWHORE and THE CASUALTIES. The dates will feature new bassist Michael Joseph Leon. As many people have already heard, we recently parted ways with bassist Jesse De Los Santos. It was a mutual split and we wish Jesse all the best. I’d like to thank Jesse for the four years of killing it in studio and on stage. With that being said, we’d like to introduce our new four-string monster, Mike Leon. Mike is a fantastic bassist and a veteran of the road from his years of touring with THE ABSENCE Absence. We are very happy to have him on board.”

Leon comments: “I'm completely honored to be a part of such a well-oiled machine and to have the opportunity to play with these dudes is a dream come true! Not only is HAVOK one of my favorite new heavy metal bands out in the scene, but the guys in the band are a few of the best dudes I know! You can definitely look forward to us kickin' lots of ass together this year, and for many years to come.”

Havok will complete all work on their new record in the coming weeks. Album information and special pre-order details will be announced shortly.

Havok dates with Goatwhore and The Casualties:

April
1 - Albuquerque, NM -2H Launchpad
2 - Tempe, AZ - Rocky Point
3 - Santa Ana, CA - Observatory
4 - W. Hollywood, CA - House Of Blues
6 - Oakland, CA - Oakland Metro
7 - Reno, NV - The Alley
8 - Portland, OR - Branx
9 - Seattle, WA - Studio Seven

Swedish experimental/progressive band THE MOTH GATHERER's debut album entitled A Bright Celestial Light will be released on April 16th in Europe and April 30th in North America via Agonia Records.

The band have unveiled a video clip for 'A Falling Deity' song, the album closing track. Directed and produced by Tommy Pedersen, the video can be customised up 1080p HD format at You Tube.

Commented the band: "It's kinda David Lynch-like. Very slow, very haunting. We want to create a feeling, something that makes the viewer think. Death is not entertainment, death hurts."

The clip can be seen below:
A Bright Celestial Light was mastered by Karl Daniel Liden (SWITCHBLADE) and will feature a guest appearance by THE KONSORTIUM’s Member 001.

Co-founder Alex Stjernfeldt commented: "We just want our music to be an emotional explosion. A lot of the songs are about death, missing people you loved who have passed away and losing hope in mankind. We want the music to make you feel like you can move mountains with it. I wish for that when people hear our music, they start to dream away."
Tracklisting is as follows:

‘The Water That We All Come To Need’
‘Intervention’
‘A Road Of Gravel And Skulls’
‘The Womb, The Woe, The Woman’
‘A Falling Deity’

Check out ‘A Road Of Gravel And Skulls’ below:
A short album preview can be seen below:

Progressive instrumentalists SCALE THE SUMMIT have released a second behind-the-scenes video update from the recent recording sessions for their new album, The Migration, which will be released in North America on June 11th.

The new installment features a sneak peek into the guitar tracking process. Watch both clips below:
The Migration was recorded in January at North Carolina's Basement Studios with producer Jamie King (BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME, HE IS LEGEND, FOR TODAY), and is the follow-up to their 2011 release, The Collective. The group, who spent much of 2011 and 2012 on tour with the likes of PERIPHERY, FAIR TO MIDLAND, CYNIC, THE CONTORTIONIST, THE HUMAN ABSTRACT, PROTEST THE HERO and TRIOSCAPES, will soon announce their first tour of 2013.
Additionally, bassist Mark Michell has released a bass instructional book titled Guide to Right-Hand Technique for Bass, via the band's official web store here. This instructional guide focuses around all of the various “plucking-hand” techniques and includes 16 chapters (143 pages), over 120 unique exercises, photos, descriptive “how-to” captions and a variety of diverse exercises targeting essentially every skill level. A full-gloss front cover and spiral-bounding for easier reading also included.
More on Scale The Summit at this location.

Tampa, Florida-based gothic metallers MENA BRINNO have revealed more details for their upcoming new album, Princess Of The Night. The album was mixed by Jens Bogren and David Castillo of Fascination Street in Sweden, and Mark Prator of Red Room Recorders in Tampa, FL.
Princess Of The Night tracklisting:

'Princess Of The Night'
'Blackmail'
'Sonorous Dream'
'Serpentine Lullaby'
'Captive Soul'
'Sacrifice'
'Drown Within'
'Cross To Bear'

Mena Brinno lineup:
Katy Decker - Vocals, Synths
Marius Kozlowski - Guitars, Synths
Doug Sellers - Guitars, Synths, Bass
Sean Currie - Drums

For more info on Mena Brinno visit this location.

A funeral service for former IRON MAIDEN drummer Clive Burr was held on Monday, March 25 at the City Of London Crematorium in London, England.

PRAYING MANTIS guitarist Tino Troy, who attended the funeral stated: "It was an honour to be one of the pallbearers and good to see so many old faces there. It was a moving service but a beautiful celebration of his life too. Like them skins... ya hit us hard, mate! RIP and thank you bro!"

Clive Burr died on March 12 in his sleep at his home at the age of 56 after suffering from multiple sclerosis for many years.

Clive joined MAIDEN in 1979 and performed on the first three albums — "Iron Maiden" (1980), "Killers" (1981) and "The Number Of The Beast" (1982). Prior to that, he was a member of SAMSON, the band Bruce Dickinson fronted before he, too, joined MAIDEN.

As a founding member of both MANOWAR and the DICTATORS, guitarist Ross "The Boss" Friedman needs no introduction. But it's been a while since the metal masses heard from Ross, leading some to wonder if or when he would return. The wait is now over, as his newly formed outfit, DEATH DEALER, is ready to rock and take the world by storm, with their debut album, "War Master".

The cover artwork for "War Master" can be seen below. Also available is a full-length stream of the track "Death Dealer".

"The DEATH DEALER sound is a mighty combination of five very talented, seasoned musicians," explained Ross. "It's classic power metal with the brutal edge of thrash, speed, and precision." And when he says the band is comprised of talented and seasoned musicians, he's not kidding, as DEATH DEALER also includes vocalist Sean Peck (CAGE), guitarist Stu Marshall (producer and guitarist for such voices as Udo Dirkschneider and Steve Grimmett), bassist Mike Davis (HALFORD, LIZZY BORDEN), and drummer Kenny "Rhino" Earl (MANOWAR).

Formed last year via correspondence over the Internet, as soon as work commenced on the material, Ross knew he had met his metallic match. "Well, after they sent the first tune over, I was blown away, then Stu and Sean tell me they want me to join this band, called DEATH DEALER. I say, 'Who else is in the band? They say, 'Rhino on drums.' I'm in! Stu goes, 'It was either you or we would have asked KK Downing to be on guitar.' Wow!"

As evidenced by such tunes as "Death Dealer", "Never to Kneel" and "The Devil's Mile", for fans of authentic, no-holds-barred, manly heavy metal, "War Master" is an absolute godsend. And soon, DEATH DEALER will be converting metalheads worldwide to their cause. "Our future plans? Obviously to put DEATH DEALER on the worldwide metal map, and to engage large crowds and render them shocked and satisfied," said Ross.

For more information, visit www.deathdealer.co.

Ex-EXODUS guitarist Rick Hunolt rejoined his former bandmates on stage last night (Thursday, March 28) at the Regency Ballroom in San Francisco, California to perform the group's classic song "Strike Of The Beast". Video footage of his appearance can be seen below (courtesy of CapitalChaosTV.com).

With Gary Holt still handling guitar duties for Jeff Hanneman on SLAYER's North American and European tours, EXODUS invited none other than Hunolt to fill in for the band's shows in 2012 and beyond.

Longtime EXODUS fans will recall that Hunolt — the other half of the famed EXODUS "H-Team" who is on every studio recording from 1985 through 2004 and co-wrote some of the band's best-known songs such as "A Lesson In Violence" and "Deliver Us To Evil" — left EXODUS after the band's highly-acclaimed 2004 reunion album, "Tempo Of The Damned". "Murder In The Front Row", the photo book documenting the pinnacle of the Bay Area thrash scene, aptly documents Hunolt's tenure in the band.

Following his departure, Hunolt was replaced by HEATHEN guitarist Lee Altus.

Hunolt first rejoined his former bandmates at a special concert in celebration of Holt and Lisa Perticone's wedding on September 24, 2011 at Avalon in Santa Clara, California. He also performed with them at "Bonded By Baloff: A Decade Of Remembrance", a special concert which marked the 10-year anniversary of former EXODUS singer Paul Baloff's passing. The event took place February 4, 2012 at the Oakland Metro Operahouse in Oakland, California.

Fan-filmed video footage of SAXON's performance on the Monsters Of Rock cruise, which embarked on its second voyage March 16 and returned four days later, can be seen below.

SAXON's new album, "Sacrifice", was released on March 1 in Europe (except in the U.K., where it was made available on March 4) and March 26 in North America through UDR. Taking a sharper, reinvigorated approach to the production, on this, their 20th album, SAXON have produced 10 of their strongest, heaviest and most inspired songs for many-a-year, and a more than worthy successor to their last album "A Call To Arms". The album was recorded at LS Studios in Yorkshire and was produced by Byford, with Andy Sneap mixing and engineering by Jacky Lehmann. It fairly bristles with muscular metallic intent, Paul Quinn's and Doug Scarratt's guitar work the best it's ever been, while Biff's vocals sound fresher and livelier. The songwriting too harks back to a classic era in SAXON's history, with the likes of "Warriors Of The Road", "Wheels Of Terror" and "Stand Up And Fight" evoking the halcyon days of yore with a contemporary twist, the classic SAXON sound absorbing the snarl, ferocity and attitude of contemporary bands (and fans) such as MEGADETH, as evidenced by the crunching title cut, "Sacrifice".

The "Sacrifice" cover artwork was created by longtime SAXON artist Paul Raymond Gregory and can be seen below.

"Sacrifice" track listing:

01. Procession
02. Sacrifice
03. Made In Belfast
04. Warriors Of The Road
05. Guardians Of The Tomb
06. Stand Up And Fight
07. Walking The Steel
08. Night Of The Wolf
09. Wheels Of Terror
10. Standing In A Queue

Bonus track:

* Luck Of The Draw (on iTunes only)

01. Crusader (orchestrated version)
02. Just Let Me Rock (re-recorded version)
03. Requiem (acoustic version)
04. Frozen Rainbow (acoustic version)
05. Forever Free (re-recorded version)

Iranian one-man metal project FROM THE VASTLAND performed at the Inferno festival in Oslo, Norway this past Wednesday (March 27) by opening the Indie Recordings label night in support of MAN THE MACHETES, BLOOD TSUNAMI and ALTAAR. FROM THE VASTLAND mastermind Sina was backed up by none other than Thor Anders Myhren (MORBID ANGEL, MYRKSKOG, ZYKLON) on guitar, André Kvebek (PANTHEON I) on bass and Vegard Larsen (KEEP OF KALESSIN) on drums.

Video footage of FROM THE VASTLAND's performance can be seen below.

Indie Recordings has launched a new foundation aimed at giving recognition to bands that have defied oppression and governmental pressure to spread their music across the globe. The campaign's first point of call will be to help out Sina by selling FROM THE VASTLAND's new album via Indie at Inferno.

A Norwegian-language video report can be seen at Aftenposten.no.

Simon Füllemann of Indie Recordings said in a statement: "After being approached by the makers of the upcoming black metal documentary 'Blackhearts', we decided to help out and try to make Sina's dream of playing at the Inferno festival in Oslo come true. We also decided to take it a step further and release his CD on Indie Recordings.

"It's important to make a point and support artists like Sina. Therefore we founded the Freedom of Speech - Music Builds Bridges foundation where this project is the first we support. All profit from Freedom of Speech - Music Builds Bridges foundation will go to support Sina's art!"

Performance:

Fan-filmed video footage of JANETSHAREROXYGINA's (a.k.a. JSRG) performance on the Monsters Of Rock cruise, which embarked on its second voyage March 16 and returned four days later, can be seen below.

JANETSHAREROXYGINA is the newly formed group featuring three former members of the platinum-selling all-female '80s band VIXEN — singer Janet Gardner, drummer Roxy Petrucci and bassist Share Ross, along with guitarist Gina Stile, who was the guitarist on VIXEN's "Tangerine" album.

Gardner previously stated about the new project: "It feels so good to be reunited with Roxy and Share. And when we started jammin' some old VIXEN songs with Gina, we knew this was right."

Share Ross added: "With hits like 'Edge Of A Broken Heart', 'Cryin'', 'How Much Love', 'Not a Minute Too Soon', 'Love is a Killer' and 'Rev It Up' emblazoned upon our souls, we knew it was time to resurrect our sound. We want to give the fans what they want."

In 1987, "Edge Of A Broken Heart" climbed the Billboard chart to the Top Ten and VIXEN had hit after hit. EMI suddenly had the only platinum-selling all-female rock band of its time on their roster.

Dubbed "MTV Darlings", the hits kept coming with "Cryin'", "How Much Love", "Love Is A Killer" and "Not a Minute Too Soon". The band earned credibility as they opened up for superstars, including OZZY OSBOURNE, DEEP PURPLE, SCORPIONS and BON JOVI, to name a few. A live performance on the "Arsenio Hall" television show sealed their credibility with the fact that these girls could play.

JSRG performs all the VIXEN hits along with new songs from their as-yet-unreleased EP.

JSRG is not to be confused with the current version of VIXEN, which consists of founding member Jan Kuehnemund (guitar) alongside Jenna Sanz-Agero (vocals), Lynn Louise Lowrey (bass), and Kat Kraft (drums).

VIXEN's original members Gardner, Kuehnemund, Pedersen and Petrucci appeared together on VH1's "Bands Reunited" in October 2004 to reminisce about their start on L.A.'s Sunset Strip and their rise to fame in the late 1980s, before the onset of grunge in the early 1990s displaced metal at the top of the charts. They also took part in a short performance for the program.

The official lyric video for the song "Shades Of Gray" from Finnish melancholic dark metal forerunners AMORPHIS can be seen below. The track 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)

The official lyric video for the song "Hopeless Days" can be seen below.

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.

The collaboration between Within Temptation and Q-Music gets a new episode: after the successful broadcast of several covers, which Within Temptation arranged and performed for the radio station by the end of 2012, the band will now release a selection of these covers on an album titled ‘The Q-Music Sessions’ on the 19th of April in the Netherlands and Belgium.

In the run up to the 15th anniversary of Within Temptation in the sold-out Sportpaleis in Antwerp, the band was asked by Q-Music to choose and perform an existing track in a ‘Within Temptation-fashion’ on a weekly basis. The band accepted this challenge enthusiastically that resulted in reworks of hits by David Guetta, Passenger, Lana Del Rey and Bruno Mars amongst others. The feedback on these covers by the fans and listeners of Q-Music was extremely positive, which made the band decide to release a selection of the covers on an album.

Front-lady Sharon Den Adel: “Our approach was to really make the cover a new Within Temptation song. So not going the easy way by using only a piano or an acoustic guitar for example, but really trying to put all the elements of a Within Temptation track in this new version. It was quite a challenge because we had only one week to get it right, while recording an original Within Temptation song can sometimes takes up half a year! But this pressure also gave us an creative boost and it was very rewarding to get it done in time each week. Also, we learned a lot from the in-depth analysis we needed to make on these hits, written by others, in combination with implementing our own sound and style in each new cover. We are glad that we’ve taken up this challenge and are very proud of the result.’’

At this moment, Within Temptation is working on their upcoming studio album that is due in the last quarter of 2013. In January 2014, the band will embark on a worldwide tour, with tickets for shows in the United Kingdom, France and Germany already on sale.

More information on The Q-Music Sessions, the tour as well as the upcoming album: www.within-temptation.com



Album: The Q-music Sessions
Artiest: Within Temptation

1. GRENADE (Originally by Bruno Mars)
2. TITANIUM (Originally by David Guetta ft. Sia)
3. LET HER GO (Originally by Passenger)
4. SUMMERTIME SADNESS (Originally by Lana Del Rey)
5. RADIOACTIVE (Originally by Imagine Dragons’
6. CRAZY (ORIGINALLY BY GNARLS BARKLEY)
7. DIRTY DANCER (Originally by Enrique Iglesias)
8. DON’T YOU WORRY CHILD (Originally by Swedish House Maffia)
9. BEHIND BLUE EYES (Originally by The Who)
10. THE POWER OF LOVE (Originally by Frankie Goes To Hollywood)
11. APOLOGIZE (Originally by One Republic)

The new lineup of reactivated British extreme metal legends CARCASS just completed a three-night residency at the Underworld in London, dubbed "Undertaking The Underworld". Fan-filmed video footage of last night's concert can be seen below. Joining guitarist Bill Steer and bassist/vocalist Jeff Walker at the gigs were new drummer Dan Wilding (ABORTED, TRIGGER THE BLOODSHED) and guitarist Ben Ash (PIG IRON, DESOLATION, LIQUEFIED SKELETON).

CARCASS recently recruited Andy Sneap (MEGADETH, ACCEPT, EXODUS, ARCH ENEMY) to mix their comeback album, "Surgical Steel", after the CD's producer, Colin Richardson (FEAR FACTORY, MACHINE HEAD, NAPALM DEATH, SLIPKNOT, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE), quit the project two weeks into the mixing process. During this past Monday's night's concert, Walker claimed that Richardson walked away from the mix in order to work on the new TRIVIUM album.

CARCASS' first studio LP in 17 years, "Surgical Steel" is currently being mixed by Andy Sneap (MEGADETH, EXODUS, TESTAMENT, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE) for a late 2013 release via an as-yet-undetermined record label. The band's first studio outing since 1996's "Swansong" will feature guest vocals from original sticksman Ken Owen.

In a brand new interview with Chile's Radio Futuro, Walker stated about the new CARCASS CD: "We think we've made a good album, so it's gonna be very interesting when people get to hear the record. We can't wait to see what people think."

He continued: "It sounds like CARCASS. Even the drumming sounds like CARCASS. Everything about it… I think it's gonna shock people, how good it is. I think it's got all the elements that people like, yet it still sounds fresh. So that's all I can say, really, 'cause we don't really sound like any other band, and the fact that after 17 years, we wrote music and it still sounds like CARCASS, I think it's good."

Regarding how the material for the new CARCASS album came together, the band's guitarist, Bill Steer, told U.K.'s Terrorizer magazine: "I found myself playing riffs that sounded like CARCASS. This was after the band had finished the whole reunion cycle of shows and festivals. So, officially, I would have been playing with other bands and stuff, but for some reason whenever I picked up a guitar at home I was coming up with riffs that sounded like CARCASS. I got on the phone to Jeff and said, 'We could have a crack at writing a couple of tunes and seeing if they're strong enough and take it from there.' We also agreed if it didn't sound like carcass or have that kind of vibe to it, we would just drop it. So that was the thing, we got together and started working on some stuff and just immediately got the excitement back very quickly."

Added Bill: "It definitely sounds like CARCASS. I think we just generally by accident captured the flavor of past music that we have done and you can't help but push it forward. We have really been creative and when you are looking at things like guitar harmonies, it's way more adventurous on this record. It's not just parallel harmony like we did in the past, things branch off in different directions.

"A lot of what is happening now is based on rhythms rather than actual riffs. We were discussing this a lot during record sessions about how the riff is almost dying or dead already. People spend a lot of time chugging on the bottom string [but] that's a rhythm, it's not a riff. We can't write a song, never mind an album, without it being chock-full of riffs."

Stated Jeff Walker: "I'd like to feel like we are giving CARCASS fans what they want again. I'm a realist and I think Bill has realized and Dan know what people like about CARCASS. We're definitely delivering."

Guitarist Michael Amott and drummer Daniel Erlandsson, who have been touring with CARCASS since the band's reunion was announced in 2007, are no longer involved with the group due to scheduling conflicts with their main band, ARCH ENEMY.

European female-fronted metallers FACE OFF are streaming the new track 'War Against War' from their debut album The Colour Of Rain, which was released on February 14th worldwide, via the Canadian Label Maple Metal Records.
'War Against War' is streaming online below:

Another song, the title track from ‘The Colour of Rain’ is streaming below:

Face Off will be touring Europe, and making European Festival appearances this Summer and Fall in support of their new album.

Current Face Off lineup:
Marija Kovacevic - vocals
Stefan Vitasovic - guitars
Aleksandar Djordjic - guitars
Stanislav Stanojevic - bass
Zoltan Simon - drums

More on the band at this location.

METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett joined ANTHRAX on stage last night (Thursday, March 28) at the Regency Ballroom in San Francisco, California to perform a cover version of the AC/DC classic "TNT". Fan-filmed video footage of his appearance can be seen below.

Speaking to Music Radar, ANTHRAX drummer Charlie Benante stated about the band's decision to cover "TNT" on its newly released "Anthems" EP: "This was Joey's [Belladonna, vocals] track. We already had 'Whole Lotta Rosie' recorded, but he wanted 'TNT'. I can see why: his voice totally lends itself to this track.

"AC/DC is probably one of the greatest bands ever. The came in with a certain sound, and they'll end with that same exact sound. They never altered it; they just stayed true to what they were. To me, that's an honest-to-goodness rock 'n' roll band.

"It would have been obvious to pick something off of 'Highway To Hell' or 'Back In Black', and so we didn't. [laughs] I studied every Phil Rudd lick, and I did not go overboard with anything. I played exactly what he played on 'TNT'. You can't do a fast drum fill on the song — it'll stand out as being out of place. I laid it down, pulled it back, and that was that."

Slash joined ANTHRAX on stage Wednesday night in Hollywood, California for the TNT" cover. And then, later in the show, Chuck D came out for "Bring The Noise", the song ANTHRAX and PUBLIC ENEMY recorded together in 1991.

Also in the House Wednesday night were SLAYER's Kerry King, John Tempesta from THE CULT, Justin Chandellor from TOOL, DETHKLOK/"Metalocalpyse"'s Brendon Small and actor/musician Brian Posehn.

The "Metal Alliance Tour", which also features EXODUS, HIGH ON FIRE, MUNICIPAL WASTE and HOLY GRAIL, will stay on the road through late April.

"Anthems", ANTHRAX's long-awaited, eight-track EP that pays tribute to the classic songs by some of the band's favorite acts from the 1970s, sold around 8,500 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 52 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD was released in North America on March 19 (MRI/Megaforce), and on March 22 in Europe (Nuclear Blast).

ANTHRAX's latest full-length album, "Worship Music", sold 28,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at No. 12. The band's previous studio CD, 2003's "We've Come For You All", opened with just under 10,000 units to debut at No. 122.

STONE SOUR has also debuted the official trailer for the "House Of Gold & Bones" comic book series, adapted from the same short story that singer Corey Taylor used as the basis for the group's double concept album of the same name. The first record was released last fall, while "House Of Gold & Bones - Part 2" comes out April 9 — just eight days before the comic book's debut issue arrives on April 17.

The official synopsis for the comic book reads: "Trapped in an alternate reality, the Human must make his way to the House of Gold & Bones as he is chased by a crazed mob and taunted by mysterious ally Allen. What the Human discovers on his journey will be his salvation . . . or his destruction."

Asked whether his story ends happily for his hero, the Human, Taylor told The Pulse Of Radio: "That's up to the person. The way I wrote the short story is that, you know, the Human makes his decision, what is yours? That's kind of why I wrote that character as ambiguous as I did, is because, you know, it's essentially, it's the mirror. It's us. It's every one of us, you know. You've got to figure it out for yourself. He's made its decision — do you have the strength to make yours?"

The second issue of the comic will arrive on May 22, with the publication dates of the third and fourth yet to be determined.

The first single from "House Of Gold & Bones - Part 2", called "Do Me A Favor", was released last month. It follows up the chart-topping single from Part 1, "Absolute Zero". A new track from "House Of Gold & Bones - Part 2", "Gravesend", can be streamed below.

STONE SOUR will head out next month with IN THIS MOMENT on the first-ever "Road To The Golden Gods" tour, which will lead up the fifth annual Revolver Golden Gods Awards on May 2 in Los Angeles. The trek kicks off on April 2 in Portland, Maine, wrapping up in Nashville three weeks later.

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

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

DEVICE's version of "Close My Eyes Forever" can be streamed in the YouTube clip below.

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

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

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

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

In addition to Hale, the lineup of guests on the DEVICE disc includes AVENGED SEVENFOLD singer M. Shadows, SYSTEM OF A DOWN vocalist Serj Tankian, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE guitarist Tom Morello, BLACK SABBATH bassist Geezer Butler and ex-DEEP PURPLE bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes.

The set is due out on April 9, with a first single called "Vilify" arrived at radio stations last month.

Lenardo will not be part of the DEVICE touring band due to previous commitments.

Other members of the live lineup include EVANESCENCE drummer Will Hunt and DOPE guitarist Virus.

The new MILKING THE GOATMACHINE album, Stallzeit, will be released on March 29th via NoiseArt Records. A new video, for the album track 'Only Goat Can Judge Me', can be seen below:
The goatginders from Goateborg previously released a preview clip for the album track, 'Goatpainter'. According to the band, this song is dedicated to a friendly artist, who granted the band and their skin some goatastic hours. Check it out below:
The band previously stated: "The album will be, like all other MTG albums, a concept album. The topics are the experiences that we`ve made on your planet and how we narrate everything to our Goatlord on planet GoatEborg... it's effectively a goat diary! The song 'When A Goat Loves A Woman' for example describes the difficulty when you receive a phone number from an earth-doe and you try to dial the number with hooves on your touchscreen smart phone... Musically we stayed true to ourselves and we grind down everything that we are up against.“
Stallzeit tracklisting:

'Only Goat Can Judge Me'
'Goatriders In The Sky'
'Stallzeit'
'3 Room Shed'
'Goatpainter'
'The Day I Lost My Bell'
'Salt Lick City'
'Milk ´Em All'
'Hornbreaker'
'Whoola Hoove Groove'
'Strawless'
'Look @ These'
'When A Goat Loves A Woman'
'Udder Infection'
'In 10 Years We Are Old School'
'Ace Of Spades' (MOTÖRHEAD cover)

Upcoming tour dates include:

April
5 - Magdeburg, Germany - Factory
6 - Weimar, Germany - Schützengasse
20 - Sulzbach an der Murr, Germany - Belinda
27 - Harderwijk, Netherlands - Estrado

May
11 - Malters, Switzerland - Nothing But Metal Festival
23 - Hünxe, Germany - Extremefest
30-June 6 - Geiselwind, Germany - Beastival

June
29 - Gallio, Vicenza, Italy - Sun Valley Metal Festival

July
27 - Bertingen, Germany - Rock unter den Eichen

August
30-31 - Crispendorf, Germany - Wolfszeit Festival

Eden, MD’s THE GABRIEL CONSTRUCT have posted a stream of their entire debut album, Interior City, which is available below:
Drummer Travis Orbin recently posted videos of his tracking session for Interior City. Check out the two clips below:
The Gabriel Construct is the rock solo project of Maryland composer Gabriel Riccio. Inferior City was recorded and edited by Garrett Davis (TRAIN, SHINEDOWN, THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA) and was mixed and mastered by Taylor Larson (SKY EATS AIRPLANE, LIFE ON REPEAT, PERIPHERY). The album features Travis Orbin on drums as well as Tom Murphy (ex-PERIPHERY) on bass.
The album will be released in digital form on April 5th. It can be pre-ordered at this location, and will also be available on iTunes, Amazon MP3, CD Baby, Spotify, and more on the release day.

Physical copies will follow shortly through CD Baby, Amazon.com, Super D Independent record stores, and more.

The band recently released the tracks ‘Retreat Underground’ and ‘Subway Dwellers’ for streaming. Check them out below:

Bulgaria-based modern thrash/melodeath/power metal band WARTIME have released their new video, for the track 'Palette Of Grey', featured on the band's new album, Solar Messiah. Directed and edited by Denitza Kirilova, Silvia Shuleva and Nikola Koparov, the clip can be seen below:
Solar Messiah tracklisting:

'Dreams Of Pale'
'The Deepest Fear'
'Sanity' (Introduction)
'For One Moment In Time'
'Memories'
'Inner Sight'
'Endless Horizon'
'God's Sun Hours'
'Solar Messiah'
'The Day Of No Return'
'Palette Of Grey'
The video for the album track 'For One Moment In Time' can be seen below:
More on Wartime at this location.

Ottawa-based melodic death thrashers CHARIOTS OF THE GODS have posted video from their recent Quebec/ Ontario tour in promotion of their new album, Tides Of War. The footage can be seen below:
Chariots Of The Gods released Tides Of War on January 29th. The band also released a music video for the title track. Check it out below.
Tides Of War was produced by award winning producer/engineer/mixer Glen Robinson (THE RAMONES, AC/DC, GWAR, ANNIHILATOR, VOIVOD).

‘Tides Of War’ and the previously released single ‘Unbound’ are now available for free streaming at this location.
Tides Of War tracklisting:

'Overture'
'Seventh Weapon'
'Blind Assassin'
'Ambrosian Wings'
'Tides of War'
'Revillusion (1905)'
'Snow Falls On The White River (1914)'
'Severing The Bloodline (1917)'
'Collapse of An Empire'
'Red Skies'
'Nebula'
'Starborn'
'Unbound' (feat. Aleksi Sihvonen)
'Annihilation of The Gods'

More on the band at this location.

Following on from their 2010 sophomore album “Til Alle Heimsens Endar” Norwegian Black-Folk Metallers GALAR have signed with DARK ESSENCE RECORDS for the release of a further two albums. Like its predecessor, the band’s third studio album, which will be titled “De Gjenlevende” (The Bereaved), will be concept album written entirely in Norwegian, and will include notes explaining both the overall concept as well as each individual lyric.

“De Gjenlevende” will consist of six songs, one of which will be an instrumental, which promise to be even longer, and more epic, than GALAR’s previous material. As well as the band’s two core members of M. Kristiansen on screams, guitars and bass and A. B. Lauritzen on clean vocals, bassoon and grand piano, the line up on the album will once again include Phobos (GRAVDAL, AETERNUS, MALSAIN) on drums, and will feature a series of session musicians that include both a string quintet and a horn quartet in keeping with the epic material. Plans are in place to enter the Conclave and Earshot studios in the autumn with producer Bjørnar E. Nilsen (VULTURE INDUSTRIES, BLACK HOLE GENERATOR) at the helm.

Jorge Scholz, the band’s lyricist, explains the idea behind the album: “De Gjenlevende” will be, once again, a thoroughly crafted concept album. Its five contemplative texts tell of the utter dreadfulness that haunts both the human mind and body when the season of winter holds every living thing in its grasp. Winter is the time of utter gloom, enfeeblement and inescapable death, which challenges mankind, beasts and plants equally. Yet, as long as there is life, there is hope and eventually a new era of the Sun will bring to an end the seemingly eternal darkness of winter. With the arrival of spring hope and life will flourish once more. In its portrayal of this cyclical process of transformation, which is as old as the history of mankind itself, “De Gjenlevende” draws its ideas and inspiration from Pan-European folklore, ontology, and elegies”.

More information about GALAR can be found on the band’s website at http://www.galar.no/

Fan-filmed footage of GALAR performing the track “Ingen Siger Vart Vunnin” at the Phantoms of Pilsen Festival in 2012 can be seen below or at http://youtu.be/sETwf9PwNlc

IRON MAIDEN's Maiden England ‘88 is out this week as a CD, DVD and Double Picture LP. An excerpt from The History Of Iron Maiden Part 3, featured on Disc 2 of the DVD, can now be seen at this location (restricted in some territories).
Check out a 12-minute album sampler below:
Now available for the very first time on DVD, this live show was filmed across two sold-out nights at Birmingham N.E.C Arena, UK in November 1988 during the band’s Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son World Tour. Disc one contains the concert which has been specially upgraded and extended from the existing 1989 longform VHS release and now includes three previously unreleased encores: 'Running Free', 'Run To The Hills' and 'Sanctuary' thereby completing the full concert with a total running time of 110 minutes.
Maiden’s own Film Producer and Director Andy Matthews went back to the 1988 edit and painstakingly remastered each shot digitally; colour correcting and grading to give the image the best possible look from that time. As well as the VHS stereo sound track by Martin Birch, the band’s producer between 1981 and 1993, the DVD also includes a brand new 5.1 audio surround mix by Maiden’s current producer Kevin Shirley. The concert was meticulously directed and edited by bass player and founder member Steve Harris, so as to capture the performance from a fans-eye view of the stage, focusing fully on the music, the elaborate stage production and the lighting. Add into the mix an electrifying set list and of course Eddie, and Maiden England now offers a snapshot of a bygone era in which the band, as they continue to do today, devote their all in delivering the ultimate live experience for their fans.
Disc two is an extensive bonus disc featuring an exclusive documentary charting Part 3 in the History of Iron Maiden. This 40-minute film comprises recent interviews with the five band members and manager, Rod Smallwood. Picking up the story in the aftermath of the ‘84/85 World Slavery tour, this interesting and insightful documentary sees the band speak candidly about their memories of an exciting and occasionally turbulent period from which would emerge the albums Somewhere In Time and Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son. As the eighties began to draw to a close, so did another chapter in Maiden’s compelling history.

Other special extras on the bonus disc include Twelve Wasted Years. First released as a longform VHS in 1987 and available for the first time on DVD, this documentary runs for 90 minutes and includes archive interviews and dynamic live footage from the band’s beginnings in the now legendary Ruskin Arms pub, via London’s Marquee club and three World Tours. Five promo videos for the singles from the aforementioned albums are also featured and have been carefully restored and improved upon from the original films using the very latest software with the audio remastered in digital stereo.

Manager Rod Smallwood comments “We've been busy upgrading this concert footage for a long time, with our in-house Film Producer and Director Andy Matthews working tirelessly to weave his magic yet again!. The 1989 VHS video has been largely unavailable for many years and we know how eagerly our fans have been awaiting the new version so we wanted to give it the best possible treatment. The current Maiden England World Tour which continues later this year revisits much of the set list and production from the initial 1989 VHS release so it will be interesting to compare just how much has changed in terms of our 2013 live show production, especially with all the advances in modern technology and the improvements we've been able to make to the set.”
The Maiden England ‘88 concert soundtrack is also available on 2CD album, Limited Edition double vinyl picture disc and Digital Download formats. The audio had previously only ever been available before on CD as part of EMI’s 1994 Sound And Vision Series packaged alongside the VHS, but with two tracks fewer than the video contained. 'Can I Play With Madness' and 'Hallowed Be Thy Name' were not featured as there was no space on the 1CD disc. Now with the three encores also included the double disc offers a total of five tracks previously unavailable on CD making this the first full and complete audio recording release of this historic tour.

Check out the Maiden England '88 trailer below:
Maiden England Disc One:

'Moonchild'
'The Evil That Men Do'
'The Prisoner'
'Still Life'
'Die with Your Boots On'
'Infinite Dreams'
'Killers'
'Can I Play with Madness'
'Heaven Can Wait'
'Wasted Years'
'The Clairvoyant'
'Seventh Son of a Seventh Son'
'The Number of the Beast'
'Hallowed Be Thy Name'
'Iron Maiden'
'Run To The Hills'*
'Running Free'*
'Sanctuary'*

* Previously unreleased

Disc Two: The History Of Iron Maiden Part 3:

The History Of Iron Maiden - Part 3
12 Wasted Years
'Wasted Years' Promo Video
'Stranger In A Strange Land' Promo Video
'Can I Play With Madness' Promo Video
'The Evil That Men Do' Promo Video
'The Clairvoyant' Promo Video

Iron Maiden have uploaded an exclusive Maiden England '88 playlist to Spotify, featuring the following tracks recorded live at Birmingham NEC on November 27th and 28th, 1988:

'Moonchild'
'Infinite Dreams'
'Can I Play With Madness'
'The Clairvoyant'
'Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son'
Check it out at this location.

Peaceville's Burning Shed store is reissuing DARKTHRONE's 2006 album, The Cult is Alive, on black 180gm vinyl on April 15th. After their early foray into the world consciousness with Soulside Journey they delivered the unholy trinity of A Blaze In The Northern Sky, Under A Funeral Moon and Transilvanian Hunger. Censorship and heavy handed political correctness forced the band from Peaceville and they made a succession of albums for the fledgling Moonfog label. Something was always missing from this equation though, and soon the band members yearned to go home and made it clear. The only thing that stood between us was a contract, written in Norwegian and signed in blood. As soon as the band became free they re-signed with Peaceville.
The Cult is Alive tracklisting:

Side A
'The Cult Of Goliath'
'Too Old Too Cold'
'Atomic Coming'
'Graveyard Slut'
'Underdogs and Overlords'

Side B
'Whiskey Funeral'
'De Underjordiske'
'Tyster Pa Gud'
'Shut Up'
'Forebyggende Krig'

For more details visit Burningshed.com.

Phoenix, AZ-based dark metal band PSYCHOBLISS has been hard at work recording a new 7-minute track, titled 'The Escape Of The Dead'. The track is lyrically influenced by the 1917 Edgar Rice Burroughs novel, A Princess Of Mars. It also serves as an introduction to Kevin Sheely, their new lead guitarist.
'The Escape Of The Dead' will be officially released in May on the yet-to-be-named upcoming black metal compilation album put together by Tridroid Records. Tridroid Records is an independent metal label based in St. Paul, Minnesota, and also released a limited cassette run of PsychoBliss' debut EP, Dreams Of Dystopia, last December.

A still-video to accompany the new song can be seen below:
PsychoBliss lineup:

Dan Stollings - Guitars, Secondary Vocals
Kyla Pavelski- Lead Vocals
Kevin Sheely - Lead Guitars

More on the band at this location.

Danish thrash metal band ESSENCE has posted a trailer for their new album, Last Night Of Solace, out tomorrow (March 29th) via NoiseArt Records.
The album was recorded at Abyss Studio with legendary Swedish producer and multi-instrumentalist Peter Tägtgren, and will be available as a limited CD in slipcase including bonus track. Watch the album trailer below:
Essence European dates with HYPOCRISY and HATE include:

March
28 - Essen, Germany - Turock
29 - Namur, Belgium - Cinex
30 - Leeuwarden, Netherlands - Romein
31 - Eindhoven, Netherlands - Effenaar

April
1 - Paris, France - Trabendo
2 - Saint Etienne, France - Le Fil
3 - Geneve, Switzerland - L'Usine
4 - Winterthur, Switzerland - Salzhaus
5 - Stuttgart, Germany - LKA
6 - Leipzig, Germany - Hellraiser
7 - Hamburg, Germany - Markthalle
8 - Berlin, Germany - K17
10 - Krakau, Poland - Kwadrat
11 - Prague, Czech Republic - Nova Chmelnice
12 - Dettelbach, Germany - Metal Franconia Festival
13 - München, Germany - Backstage
14 - Wien, Austria - Szene