New Zealand doom duo BLACK BONED ANGEL are set to release their final album, entitled The End.

The brainchild of experimental icon Campbell Kneale, Black Boned Angel has long been one of the darkest and most fascinating drone artists out there, and now, after years of creativity and many lauded releases on respected labels, the project is being laid to rest. Extreme, mesmerizing, apocalyptic, desolate, alien, soothing, soul-destroying - the music of Black Boned Angel has been given many descriptors, but is something that can only be understood upon exposure.

Previous releases have come courtesy of 20 Buck Spin, Conspiracy Records, Riot Season, Battlecruiser, and Celebrate Psi Phenomenon (including the acclaimed collaboration with NADJA entitled Christ Send Light) but this final nail in the coffin, entitled, simply, The End, will be hand assembled and released on CD by Handmade Birds on February 19th.
Tracklisting:

'Part I' (20:36)
'Part II' (24:17)
'Part III' (16:23)

Montreal's ENDAST Have released a new video for the track 'Martyr' off their 2011 album Black Cloud.

According to a press release: “The video was shot while Endast was stuck in their hotel room in Kamloops with a broken van and after having three guitars stolen midway on their coast-to-coast Canadian The Elimination Tour. While stranded they managed to come out of the situation on top and eventually had all three guitars returned.”

Vocalist Big James Arsenian commented: "When we got stranded in Kamloops on tour, we knew immediately that we had to be productive or the morale of the tour would suffer greatly. Endast is a band that isn't content unless we are working. The decision was made quickly to shoot a video, as we had the camera on hand already for tour vlogging. When the good people at Jagermeister refilled our booze supply while there, it just made sense to film the equivalent of an Endast staff party. The result is a fair representation of how we turn lemons into lemonade...and by lemonade; I mean a drunken night of debauchery in a hotel room."

Watch the video below:

According to an update from ADRENALINE MOB - featuring drummer Mike Portnoy (ex-DREAM THEATER), vocalist Russell Allen (SYMPHONY X), guitarist Mike Orlando, and bassist John Moyer (DISTURBED) - the band has completed work on cover songs slated to appear on the Special Edition release of the Omertá album, due later this year. Recording began on December 3rd, 2012 and Orlando finished mixing the tracks over the Christmas holidays.

More details will be revealed soon.
With "best of" categories in pop, r&b, and rock, iTunes (UK) has recognized Omertá as their metal album of 2012. Singer Russell Allen commented: "We are extremely honored to be voted Metal Album Of The Year by iTunes UK and we can't wait to cross the pond and rock out with all the awesome UK metal heads!"

Pro-shot footage of Adrenaline Mob performing at the Graspop Metal Meeting 2012 in Dessel, Belgium on June 23rd can be seen below:
More on Adrenaline Mob at this location.

Illinois-based progressive instrumental metal band WATER ON MERCURY have announced they will release their new album Amphigory on January 8th via their Bandcamp page as a name-your-price download with no minimum price.

The release was recorded start to finish in vocalist Tim Gavin’s personal studio. As a bonus, the download also includes a track from Tim's electronic music period, ‘Fear And Love’.
Tracklisting is as follows:

‘My Amphigory’
‘A Stationary Storm’
‘Another Blink’
‘Paralyzed’
‘Suddenly Exposed To The Day’
‘Irresolute And Searching’
‘Fear And Love’ (2003 bonus)

The previously released video for the track 'My Amphigory' can be seen below:

DEF LEPPARD last year joined the long list of rockers who have re-recorded their biggest hits in note-perfect renditions. The "2012" versions of "Pour Some Sugar On Me" and "Rock Of Ages" are now available at various digital retailers and last month the band cut five acoustic songs performed during their "Rock Of Ages" tour for a medley released to iTunes.

DEF LEPPARD frontman Joe Elliott tells Classic Rock magazine: "We're trying to wrestle back our career and ownership of these songs. They [Universal] own the originals; we're at loggerheads with them over the digital rights. And as long as they're playing silly buggers, we'll just keep recording them again."

The singer continued: "Until we can come to some kind of humane conclusion to this ridiculous stand-off, we're going to say, 'Fuck you!' We were offered a great deal two years ago and shook hands on it. And then some other twat at the label put a stop to it. It's our life and our music and we're not going to let them exploit us to the extent that they're trying to."

Elliott tells Classic Rock that Universal wouldn't be the major player it is today without the help of LEPPARD's multi-million-selling releases.

"Between us and BON JOVI, we fucking built that company," he insisted. "We built their penthouse sushi bar, wherever it may be, and they just treated us like shit. We can either roll over like little dandelions or we can stand up and punch them in the bollocks. And that's exactly what we're doing."

Elliott previously told The Hollywood Reporter that DEF LEPPARD is in a unique position because they are one of few bands to have veto power. He said, "[Universal] can't release our back catalog, we're not going to let them put a song on a compilation unless we want it there, and they'll never be able to license. They won't be able to do anything without our permission because that's in our contract."

Asked to explain the crux of the band's argument, Elliott said, "We want to get the same rate for digital as we do when we sell CDs, and they're trying to give us a rate that doesn't even come close. They illegally put up our songs for a while, paying us the rate they chose without even negotiating with us, so we had our lawyer take them down.

He added, "When you do your own recordings, you're making about 85 percent and 15 percent goes to iTunes or whichever particular digital domain you put them up. Something along those lines would be fair. But they were offering us the opposite — a quarter of what we get paid on our CDs. So we thought if we can't get them to pay us a decent rate on the digital, then we're going to go in, re-record them and pay ourselves decently. Because we're not fighting against our own back catalog. If we put rerecords up against the originals, nobody would buy the re-records. So what we're trying to create is what they know by making as close as we can, forgeries of what we did in '83, '81, '87…"

Danish metallers ILLDISPOSED are set to release their new digital compilation The Best Of Illdisposed 2004-2012 next Friday, on January 18th via Massacre Records.
The compilation will feature the following songs:
'Eyes Popping Out'
'Sense The Darkness'
'Throw Your Bolts' (Live)
'Your Own Best Companion'
'Heaven Forbid'
'Rape'
'I Believe In Me'
'Dark'
'Still Sane'
'For The Record'
'To Those Who Walk Behind Me'
'Case Of The Late Pig'
'Throw Your Bolts'

Snippets are available at this location.

Illdisposed have just released the official video clip for the song 'Eyes Popping Out' below:

Gothic rock/dark wave act MANDRAGORA SCREAM have released the video for the track ‘Medusa’, off the band’s most recent album Luciferland. Check it out below:
Luciferland was released in December via Lunatic Asylum Records.
Tracklisting is as follows:

‘The Chant of Furies’
‘Hekate - En Erebos Phos’
‘Persephone’
‘Anubis’
‘The Illusionist’
‘Medusa’
‘The Veil of Neith’
‘Six Grains Of Pomegranate’
‘Night's Master (Azhrarn & Sivesh)’
‘Lamia’
‘Love For Endymion’
‘Lucifer's Ballade’
‘Titan - Extraterrestrial Suicide’
‘Lucifer’s Lullaby’

Portuguese thrash metallers SWITCHTENSE have released an official lyric video for the song 'The Right Track'. The track is one of the four unreleased songs that will be featured on the upcoming live release, Switchtense – 10 Unbreakable Years, which celebrates their tenth anniversary and will be available on February 15 on DVD/CD via Rastilho Records.

Check the track below:
The DVD includes live footage from their entire performance at Moita Metal Fest on March 30th, 2012 and features the following tracks:

'Concrete Walls'
'Face Off'
'Into The Words Of Chaos' (Feat. Fuck)
'Unbreakable'
'I Will Stand Stronger' (Feat. Congas)
'Blood Of Victory'
'State Of Resignation'
'The Legacy Of Hate' (Feat. Pika)
'Let Them Die Alone'
'Infected Blood'
'This Is Only The Beginning'

The extra CD features three new songs and one re-recorded track from their 2006 EP Brainwash Show. The complete track listing is as follows:

'Ghosts Of Past'
'We Will Always Be The Same'
'The Right Track'
'Blood Of Victory'
More on Switchtense here.

Deathrash/groove metal outfit COMMON DEAD recently finished principal recording on the next album, Allegorize. The nine-track effort is set for a spring 2013 release, although no exact release date has been announced yet.
The new album cover premieres (see above) alongside a lengthy Album Showcase video in which listeners can hear the songs and quickly skip around them in any order by using the YouTube Annotations feature. Check out the video below.

Allegorize follows last year's rawly produced Diatribe and expands on the technical yet groove-based style which had been influenced by likeminded metal alum such as GOJIRA, MACHINE HEAD, LAMB OF GOD, FEAR FACTORY and PANTERA.

For more details visit Commondead.com.

Vaxjo, Sweden-based metallers WITCHGRAVE will release their new, self-titled album, on February 22nd via High Roller Records.
Formed in 2008, founding members Joakim Norberg (Bass, Guitars, Vocals) and Sven Nilsson (Drums) recorded the first four songs in 2009 which formed the band's first proper release - their mini album The Devil's Night came out on High Roller Records in 2010 and quickly sold out, surely due to the enthusiastic reviews it received in the leading underground press. Sven is also active in ANTICHRIST, who released their outstanding debut on High Roller Records in 2012.

The lyrics on The Devil's Night deal with the occult, black magic and other dreadful things - just the right stuff to go with the outfit's music, which is very much in line with the pioneers of the occult path of New Wave Of British Heavy Metal - think of VENOM, MERCYFUL FATE, BULLDOZER and add a dash of DARKTHRONE-ish brutishness and a great deal of '60s/'70s horror movie aesthetics. Now grown into a proper four-piece band, Witchgrave are about to release their first full-length on High Roller Records. The self-titled album will contain eight songs of repulsive metal music, including mouth-watering titles like 'The Virgin Must Die' and 'Motorcycle Killer', with a sound that comes straight from the eighties.
Tracklisting:

'Raising Hell'
'The Virgin Must Die'
'Rites Of The Dead'
'The Apparition'
'Seduced By The Dark'
'The Last Supper'
'Motorcycle Killer'
'Shun The Light'

More on Witchgrave at this location.

Multinational melodic metaller’s EDEN'S CURSE have issued the following brief new album update;

"We have completed the writing phase on our new album. Picking the final 14 from 21 tunes and then Mr. Newdeck starts recording drums on January 14th - excited? You bet!"

This past week Eden's Curse released the first episode from their fourth album studio video diaries.
Featuring guitarist Thorsten Koehne, drummer Pete Newdeck and bassist Paul Logue, it focuses primarily on the song writing sessions and in particular a new track called 'Evil & Devine'.

The eight-minute video can be viewed below:
The new Eden’s Curse album, the follow-up to 2011's Trinity record, is scheduled for worldwide release via AFM Records towards the end of summer 2013.
For more news visit Edenscurse.com.

The organizers of the forthcoming tribute album dedicated to WOODS OF YPRES frontman David Gold, entitled A Heart Of Gold: Tribute To Woods Of Ypres, have posted three tracks from the album: 'The Sun Was In My Eyes by ANEMIC, 'Lightning And Snow' by EARTHEN, and 'Finality' by NOVEMBERS DOOM's Paul Kuhr (with his daughter) and GODDAMN ZOMBIES' Will Bozarth. Check them out below:
Steph LeDrew, the heartbeat of the project, recently issued the following statement:

"On December 21st, 2011 the world lost Woods Of Ypres founder/frontman David Gold. Not only was the entire local metal community but the international metal family mourned the loss of such a brilliant soul. As a thank you and farewell to Woods of Ypres, I reached out to those who were influenced by Woods and David, so join me in creating a musical salute to one of the greatest doom metal bands to unleash onto the underground metal scene."

Arists and songs featured on the album are as follows:

NOVEMBERS DOOM - 'Wet Leather'
GYPSY CHIEF GOLIATH - 'Suicide Cargoload'
ECLIPSE ETERNAL - 'Crossing The 45th Parallel'
EMPYREAN PLAGUE - 'Shedding The Deadwood'
PANZERFAUST - 'A Meeting Place And Time'
PAGAN RITUAL - 'The Shams Of Optimism'
AMARANTH - 'Allure Of The Earth'
ALBIREON - 'Retrosleep In The Morning Calm'
ANEMIC - 'The Sun Was In My Eyes: Part Doom'
BEGOTTEN - 'The Sea Of Immeasureable Loss'
RELIQUIS - 'Career Suicide'
JOEL VIOLETTE and RAE AMITAY - 'Silver'
CANOPY - 'Falling Apart'
UNBOWED - 'Your Ontario Town Is A Burial Ground'
DEATHMARCH - 'Northern Cold'
KUHRZARTH - 'Finality'
THE GOV' AND FRIENDS - 'Intro: The Looming Of Dust In The Dark'
CATUVOLCUS - 'Thrill Of The Struggle'
THE BEAR HUNTERS - 'Kiss My Ashes Goodbye: Part 2'
SVARTE KRAKE - 'You Were The Light'
JUSTIN BENDER (INTO ETERNITY) - 'Trillium: The 3rd Of Three Winters'

Release details will be available soon. Go to the tribute album's official Facebook page here for updates.

Greek power metallers SECRET ILLUSION have announced the digital release of their new EP Point Of No Return.

The EP contains a new piano/orchestral version of the song ‘Silent Voices’, featuring vocals by Iliana Tsakiraki (MEDEN AGAN) who performed on the band’s previously released EP.
Tracklisting is as follows:
‘Point Of No Return’
‘Point Of No Return’ (demo version)
‘Turn Back Time ‘
‘Silent Voices’ (piano version)

The title track off the EP can be heard below:
The band will release a full length album in the coming months.

'90s-styled death metallers REVEL IN FLESH are currently in the studio working on material for their brand new, second album and have released the following studio update:

“Dan Swanö (ex-EDGE OF SANITY, BLOODBATH, NIGHTINGALE) finished the mix and mastering of the second Revel In Flesh album at his Unisound Studios. Thanks again for the killer job! The album title will be revealed within the next days! Stay tuned!”



The band released the video for the track 'Culpa et Inferna' in June 2012. Check it out below:

Wagnerian opera metal project LYRAKA have announced a pre-order for their upcoming EP, Sonata Sirena.
Composer/guitarist Andy DiGelsomina made the following statement: "First and most important, to all the much loved fans of Lyraka, we must offer our heartelt thanks. We are humbly grateful to you, our worldwide friends, Lyraka is nothing without you, sincerely. The album, Sonata Sirena, will be out on June 3rd, 2013, and features some of my strongest compositions and musical associations, including a Graham Bonnet (RAINBOW, MSG, ALCATRAZZ) vocal performance that is of down to earth quality.... really. Also featured are the stunning vocal talents of Mark Boals (YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, ULI JON ROTH), Al Atkins (HOLY RAGE, JUDAS PRIEST), Liz Vandall (Uli Jon Roth, SAHARA), and Robert Lowe (CANDLEMASS, SOLITUDE AETERNUS). Four new songs and one from 2006, 'The Chromatic Fantasy'. Once again, we bow to your support."

The Sonata Sirena EP is available for pre-order here.

More on Lyraka at this location.

ANTHRAX has announced that it will not hold auditions for guitarist Rob Caggiano's replacement.

Following an overwhelming numberof enquiries from fans aspiring to become the veteran metal band's new lead axeman, ANTHRAX released the following statement via its official Facebook page: "We love you all, and are confident you shred like Yngwie Malmsteen after a case of Red Bull, but to answer all 57,000 messages at once, WE ARE NOT DOING AUDITIONS for lead guitarist. \m/"

Caggiano announced his departure from ANTHRAX on January 4 to focus on his other passion: producing records. The remaining members of ANTHRAX said in a statement: "Rob has been an integral part of ANTHRAX for so many years, as our lead guitarist, in a production capacity, but most of all, as our close friend. His contributions to the band have been enormous. While we are sad that he is leaving, we wish him nothing but great success going forward, and hope to share the stage with him again sometime down the road."

Caggiano — whose two stints with ANTHRAX ran from 2001-2005 and 2007 to now — stated about his decision to leave the band: "We accomplished so many great things together over the years and I shared some of the best times of my life with these guys. As a band, we also weathered quite a few storms along the way. It's been a wild ride (to say the least) from Day One and I wouldn't change one single thing about the last 12 years."

Caggiano added that, "This is an extremely difficult and emotional decision for me to make, but my heart is just steering me in a different direction right now. I've always been one to follow my heart in everything that I do and while this might be one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make, it feels like the right one for me at this time. Scott [Ian, guitar], Charlie [Benante, drums], Joey [Belladonna, vocals], Frankie [Bello, bass] (and [former ANTHRAX singer] John Bush) will always be part of my family and this decision doesn't change the way I feel about that in the slightest. I would also like to say thanks to all the amazing fans I've met and hung out with worldwide over the years. You guys always were and always will be the reason why I make music!"

Meanwhile, former ANTHRAX guitarist Dan Spitz, who took part in the reunion of ANTHRAX's classic lineup in 2005 and 2006 but left the band after ANTHRAX's last split with singer Joey Belladonna, has been retweeting fan requests for him to rejoin the group. He also released the following statement on January 4, the day Caggiano announced his exit from ANTHRAX: "Thank you ALL for your outpouring of LOVE today regarding my musical direction and the events that have transpired in the metal world. I feel so blessed to call all of you my family. I am truly touched down deep into my repaired heart. At a time when I needed LOVE so badly, HE delivered. As usual in HIS time.

"Please know my guitar, my soul and the art I've been given to give to all of you will prevail, and hopefully touch many on my road to help children in the autism community as well.

"Keeping up the fight. . . . Feel free to pray for my family as well.

"I love you all."

The official lyric video for the song "Vermicular, Obscene, Obese" from Belgian death metalers ABORTED can be seen below.

Commented the band's vocalist, Sven "Svencho" de Caluwé: "Eating carbs is bad, mmmkay? So yeah, we have this new lyric video up for 'Vermicular, Obscene, Obese'... which isn't really about carbs, unless you count corpses as carbs, or grannies, or trannies, or something... It's also absolutely not about mass consumerism and other social points of view, since we are as brain dead as our music, so go check out the funky stuff from the funky bunch, and enjoy!"

"Vermicular, Obscene, Obese" comes off ABORTED's seventh studio album, "Global Flatline", which sold around 1,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD landed at position No. 27 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.

"Global Flatline" was released in January 2012 via Century Media Records. The CD was recorded, mixed, and mastered by the Jacob Hansen (VOLBEAT, PESTILENCE, HATESPHERE) at Hansen Studios in Ribe, Denmark. The artwork was once again created by Justin Osbourn from Slasher Design.

"Global Flatline" track listing:

01. Omega Mortis
02. Global Flatline
03. The Origin Of Disease
04. Coronary Reconstruction
05. Fecal Forgery
06. Of Scabs And Boils
07. Vermicular, Obscene, Obese
08. Expurgation Euphoria
09. From A Tepid Whiff
10. The Kallinger Theory
11. Our Father, Who Art Of Feces
12. Grime
13. Endstille

The regular jewel-case edition of "Global Flatline" includes 12 tracks while the limited-edition digipack has 14 tracks.

"Global Flatline" features several guest vocalists, such as Trevor Strnad (THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER), Julien Truchan (BENIGHTED), Jason Netherton (MISERY INDEX), and Keiijo Niinima (ROTTEN SOUND).

As previously reported, ABORTED will celebrate the tenth anniversary of their 2003 CD, "Goremageddon: The Saw And The Carnage Done", this spring by performing "the entire album front to back" at "a few exclusive shows" in April.

Clas-Oliver Richter (ARD Stockholm) accompanied fans, bands and crew for 48 hours on the most recent Sweden Rock Cruise, which took place last fall. RAGE and 14 other bands took part in "the heavy metal cruise" aboard the ship Tallink Silja Galaxy, which departed from Stockholm, Sweden on October 4 and made a round trip to Turku, Finland to returned to Stockholm two days later.

Richter's half-hour report, which was broadcast on the German TV channel NDR, can be seen below.

RAGE's 21st studio album, "21", was released on February 24, 2012 via Nuclear Blast Records. The CD was recorded at Twilight Hall Studio in Grefrath, Germany with Charlie Bauerfeind, who has previously worked with SAXON, BLIND GUARDIAN, HAMMERFALL and HELLOWEEN, among others.

If 2012 was a year to remember for ASIA, with the release of the acclaimed studio album, "XXX", marking the band's 30th anniversary, then 2013 is set to be another. John Wetton, Geoff Downes and Carl Palmer are delighted to announce that not only do they have an incredible talent in place to step into guitarist Steve Howe's shoes, but also that their first international show with newcomer Sam Coulson will be a high-profile performance at Sweden Rock Festival. Sam is a wonderful player, world renowned among guitar virtuosos. Additionally, a new studio album, to be entitled "Valkyrie", will be recorded for Frontiers Records during 2013 continuing the band's relationship with the label.

John Wetton said: "ASIA is ready to take its next steps along this remarkable road. We cannot wait to perform again for the fans and also to unveil some of the new material, of which we are very proud."

Geoff Downes said,: "We look forward to writing another chapter in ASIA's history."

Carl Palmer commented: "We're all looking forward to the next decade of great ASIA music."

ASIA formed as a supergroup of stunning pedigrees, bringing together songwriter, lead vocalist and bassist John Wetton (KING CRIMSON), keyboardist Geoff Downes (YES, THE BUGGLES), drummer extraordinaire Carl Palmer (ELP) and Steve Howe (YES) Their self-titled debut album was the biggest-selling album in the world in 1982 and monopolized the #1 slot in the Billboard chart for nine weeks. The album is still in the top three Geffen sales of all time, with GUNS N' ROSES and WHITESNAKE! With tracks like mega-hit "Heat Of The Moment", ASIA helped to create the MTV phenomenon. The band's work perfected the use of videos that encompassed stories and messages, examples being the work for "Wildest Dreams", "Only Time Will Tell", "The Smile Has Left Your Eyes" and "Don't Cry". "Heat Of The Moment" is still a radio fixture and has been in top TV and films including "40 Year Old Virgin", "South Park", "Cold Case", "The Matador" and countless others.

In 2006 the original band reunited for a tour of the U.S., which was followed by four world tours and several continental tours. The reunited band has played over 300 shows and released three new studio albums, three DVDs and a number of live albums. The track "An Extraordinary Life", from 2008's album "Phoenix", was chosen as the theme music for "America's Got Talent". This is a band with plenty more to say.

With a new guitarist in place, Sweden Rock confirmed and more high-profile live dates to come, plus a new album slated for release, the ASIA trajectory continues: onward and upwards!

U.K. melodic metallers POWER QUEST will be calling it quits in 2013.

Keyboardist and founding member Steve Williams commented as follows: "I've decided that now is the time to say that the QUEST is over. From a business perspective, it is getting harder and harder for us to break even. None of us make any money from POWER QUEST (we all work day jobs) but I have been losing significant amounts of money when on the road for the past few years. No matter how much you love something, there comes a point where you have to look at the facts, not the dream.

"I love nothing more than touring and making records, but if there isn't sufficient demand for the product then there comes a time when reality has to bite, unfortunately.

"I'd like to thank everyone who has supported me and POWER QUEST over the past 12 years.... It is very much appreciated and it is what has kept me going through the years. It's been a great ride and I've had the pleasure of having some great musicians in this band who I am proud to call my friends. Steve, Alessio, Andrea, Francesco, Rich, Paul, Andy, Gav, Colin, Chitty, Adam, Andre, Bill, Oliver, Gav Ward, ZP, Sam Totman, Pete and Ben... you guys have played such a huge role in making POWER QUEST what it has become and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

"My dream as a youngster was to make one album. It was not about being a rock star or making lots of money, although that would have been nice :-) It always has and always will be about the music first and foremost, so to have released five albums is way beyond anything I could have dreamt of, to be honest.

"Huge thanks to those who have done so much behind the scenes over the years as well, without whom it would have been immensely difficult for me. Step forward Manuela Fröhlich, Anna Walker, Simon Burrell and Sprocket.

"But it is you, the fans, who have joined the QUEST and supported the band through all the ups and downs over the years that I save my final words of thanks for. You guys have been inspirational to me! I've always said that POWER QUEST fans are the best in the world... and that is as true today as it has ever been. I hope you will understand my reasons for this decision and I hope to see as many of you as possible in the months and years to come.

"We will be looking to do a couple of farewell shows in 2013 and hopefully make them a fitting way for us to take our leave.

"It's never an easy thing to know when the time is right to move on to pastures new, but I believe that time is now.

"Through the wind and the rain we'll meet again..."

POWER QUEST's latest album, "Blood Alliance", was released last year via Napalm Records. Eleven songs were laid down at Foel Studios (PAUL RODGERS, NAPALM DEATH, THE WILDHEARTS) in Wales for the follow-up to 2008's "Master Of Illusion", including one bonus track. The CD cover artwork was once again designed by Felipe Machado (BLIND GUARDIAN, SILENT FORCE).

Three Days Grace has announced that Matt Walst, lead singer of My Darkest Days, will be joining the band as the lead singer for their North American co-headlining tour with Shinedown, starting in Moline, IL on February 1st.

Former lead singer, Adam Gontier, has left the group effective immediately due to a health issue.

In response, Brad Walst stated: "We were surprised and distressed by Adam's sudden departure. We are however very excited for this upcoming tour, and to have my brother Matt stepping in as lead singer."

Listen to Matt in rehearsal with Three Days Grace performing "The High Road," "Chalk Outline" and "Riot" here

Swedish melodic death metallers DARK TRANQUILLITY have set "Construct" as the title of their tenth studio album, due on May 27 via Century Media Records. The band will enter the studio soon to record the CD, which will be mixed by Jens Bogren (PARADISE LOST, OPETH, KATATONIA) at his Fascination Street studios in Örebro, Sweden.

Commented the band: "After having played over 200 shows in every corner of the world in support of the 'We Are The Void' album, it's time to focus inwards and lock ourselves up in the studio. Months and months of hard songwriting work has paid off, and the recording sessions will start early this year."

DARK TRANQUILLITY's next live appearance is scheduled for April in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Some European summer festivals are already announced and the band is also working on a North American tour for September.

DARK TRANQUILLITY digitally released the "Zero Distance" EP on October 22, 2012 in North America. Taken from the European tour edition of "We Are The Void" (2010), the five tracks on the EP are a must-have for any diehard DARK TRANQUILLITY fan.

DARK TRANQUILLITY's ninth CD, "We Are The Void", sold around 2,100 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The effort landed at position No. 15 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.

"Hollow", the new video from ALICE IN CHAINS, can be seen below. Shot by award-winning director Roboshobo (a.k.a. Robert Schober; METALLICA, MASTODON), the hypnotically mind-trippy clip captures a man closed off and losing himself in an empty repetition of daily tasks until his last thread with reality is completely severed. Also available is a lyric video for the song, which was created by fans and comprised of images submitted through Instagram.

ALICE IN CHAINS guitarist Jerry Cantrell recently confirmed to Guitar World that the band has finished recording its fifth studio album and second without original vocalist Layne Staley. The new disc was once again produced by Nick Raskulinecz (FOO FIGHTERS, DEFTONES) and is scheduled for release in the spring.

"I don't think you'll be surprised by anything you hear," Cantrell told Revolver about the new CD's musical direction. "It's us. But it's also really unique. It's got all the elements of any record we've put out, but it's unlike any record we've put out. Basically, it's the next chapter in the ALICE IN CHAINS book, and it's going to be a big one."

The new disc will follow up 2009's "Black Gives Way To Blue", which ended a 14-year gap between studio efforts for the group and featured singer/guitarist William DuVall.

"In my opinion, that record stood up to anything else we've put out in our career. Hopefully, the new album will connect with people in the same way," Cantrell told Guitar World.

DuVall told The Pulse Of Radio while the band was touring behind that album that he was seeing a new generation of ALICE fans at the shows. "There's a lot of young people showing up, so that this thing has become a generational band now," he said. "So you've got people, 15, 16, 17 years old, that are coming of their own volition. I mean, they're not being brought there by their parents or anything. They're coming on their own. They're bringing their friends. So that's one thing that's a real sign that perhaps you're onto something."

ALICE IN CHAINS began working on new material in 2011, but the sessions for the album were delayed when Cantrell had to undergo shoulder surgery.

"Hollow" official video:

York, England-based metallers WITH ONE LAST BREATH have parted ways with vocalist Spencer Costello.

Commented the band: "We have had some of the best times of our entire lives with [Spencer], and we are so grateful to have shared the stage with him.

"The decision was not made over any falling out or personal issues within the band, but was made based on the fact that a band needs 100% focus from every member at all times. We felt that Spencer's priorities may now or at some point in the near future lie elsewhere. It's totally understandable yet from the band's point of view... It is best to strengthen before you have even begun and that is what we have done. He is a fantastic vocalist, anyone who saw us in 2012 will surely know that, and if he chooses to play in a band again later on in life, then he will take them a long way. We love him, we will miss him and just for the record... he is still our best friend.

"At the end of the day, being in a band involves spending most of your time away from home and putting all your time, effort and money into it... most definitely a band as new as ours anyway. Although Spencer's passion and heart was in it... If a year from now Spencer hadn't spent any time at home with his baby girl and decided that touring was no longer for him... It would leave the rest of us stuck and that is a risk a band just cannot take.

"Spencer is a brand new father to a beautiful little girl called Summer. From the bottom of our hearts, we wish Spencer and his family the best of luck for the future and a happy life."

WITH ONE LAST BREATH's Sam Graves, who was previously handling guitar as well as vocals, has now stepped up as the band's new "singer/screamer." The group has also recruited a new guitarist, Alex Scott.

WITH ONE LAST BREATH will release a new EP, "Wake The Dead", on February 25 via Small Town Records. The CD is described in a press release as "something of a reworking of familiar songs."

Commented the band: "We've been working really hard all of 2012, getting the tours that we wanted and making sure that we get ourselves in the right position and playing to the right people. We finished the full-length album but whilst all this was happening, we had to make a few changes. We realized that we were going out on tour and playing songs that people had never had the chance to hear, not even online. We had the original EP online and that was the only available product, yet because of the progression in sound and style that the band had gone through, we didn't want to play the old stuff live. Because we want to tour as much as possible next year, and because we owe it to all of our fans, we decided to come up with a compromise. We make the EP a little more suited to us, then we can play it live! We want to get it out before the full-length album because this new EP is going to get people to grips with the new WITH ONE LAST BREATH before we reveal the full-length album. It's going to hit hard so we want people to be prepared!"

"Wake The Dead" track listing:

01. Down The Darkest Road
02. I'm Taking Over
03. Burn Out The Flame
04. I Taste The Poison
05. Wake The Dead
06. Until The End

A lyric video for the song "I'm Taking Over" can be seen below.

"Slave To The Empire", the new video from T&N (formerly TOOTH AND NAIL), the new project featuring current and former members of DOKKEN, can be seen below. The song is the title track of the band's debut album, which contains seven new original songs and five re-recorded classic DOKKEN songs that feature sensational vocal performances by Tim "Ripper" Owens (YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, JUDAS PRIEST, ICED EARTH, DIO DISCIPLES), Doug Pinnick (KING'S X), Sebastian Bach (SKID ROW) and Robert Mason (WARRANT, LYNCH MOB). The drum tracks on the new, original compositions were laid down by Brian Tichy (WHITESNAKE, FOREIGNER).

"Slave To The Empire" track listing:

01. Slave To The Empire
02. Sweet Unknown
03. Tooth And Nail (feat. Doug Pinnick)
04. It's Not Love (feat. Robert Mason)
05. Rhythm Of The Soul
06. When Eagles Die
07. Into The Fire (Jeff Pilson)
08. Alone Again (feat. Sebastian Bach)
09. Mind Control
10. Kiss Of Death (feat. Tim "Ripper" Owens)
11. Jesus Train
12. Access Denied

Last year, T&N was forced to shorten its name from TOOTH AND NAIL for legal reasons. The band stated, "We cannot keep [the name] as TOOTH AND NAIL as there is a label that has it trademarked. [Fans] can still call us TO$%H AND NA$L... We can't."

Regarding how T&N came together, Pilson said in an August 2011 interview, "The DOKKEN [original lineup] reunion has been scrapped, and I take a lot of the initial responsibility for that because of my schedule and commitment to FOREIGNER. . . Then George asked me about working with him on the next LYNCH MOB record — and I jumped at the chance. He and I started writing, got into a groove and wrote an album's worth of stuff, all with the intention of Oni [Logan, LYNCH MOB singer] writing lyrics and it being their next record. Brian Tichy laid down some incredible drums at his studio (and co-wrote some music on one track) and we had an incredibly strong start. Then Oni just wasn't feeling the music as being LYNCH MOB, so it was shelved. We figured it'd be the start of another LYNCH/PILSON record some day. Then, actually, it was Brian who had the idea that Mick, George and I should do a band, similar to what HEAVEN & HELL was to BLACK SABBATH, and call it TOOTH AND NAIL. Because of everything else we have going, it'll be just a recording project at first, but sure sounds fun. We'd record the classics keeping true to the originals but make them fresh and organic. Then the idea of doing new songs came up, and it grew from there."

He added, "I have absolute belief that the music George and I make together (along with Brian Tichy in this case) is real and inspired, and that's what it's really all about. So out of a mess of a reunion attempt, I think we'll end up with a really fabulous record, and what could be better than that?"

When asked if T&N is basically DOKKEN without Don, Pilson said, "Don is, and will always be, the singer of DOKKEN and an invaluable part of the DOKKEN chemistry. No one ever wants to take that away or dispute it one iota. But the three of us do have time tested amazing chemistry, and because we were writers on these songs, I feel we have a lot to express. If anything I think this will be a show of respect for Don, not some kind of competition. I only hope people enjoy it in the spirit for which it's intended . . . Don't think of this as DOKKEN without Don... that's misleading. Think of it as a band with great chemistry coming up with new music that excites them, and also paying tribute to DOKKEN — music which the members all are heavily invested in emotionally."

IRON MAIDEN bassist Steve Harris will take his new solo/side project BRITISH LION out on the road next month, visiting fourteen countries and twenty-four cities across Europe, starting in Portugal on February 21. For the first time ever, and as a major surprise to many, MAIDEN's bass player, founding member and leader will take temporary leave from his MAIDEN activities and heading out on a full European club tour.

Steve comments: "I love touring and live shows and I'm very excited about touring with BRITISH LION. It's fantastic to get out there and once again experience the sheer vibrancy of small clubs with the fans right up front and in your face. I think the fans will enjoy that too. It's exciting, going back to the roots, and it's going to be fantastic. We are taking this to clubs all round Europe — a full club tour, with club shows at club prices, hot, sweaty and loud. We have no idea how many people will turn out to see us, as it's obviously very recent and very new, so we have kept the venues small with tickets priced accordingly as low as we reasonably could.

"I've known all the guys in the band for ages and, besides being great musicians, they are also good friends, which is lucky because this has been an ongoing project for many years! They've had to be very patient with me as, of course, I'm so involved with MAIDEN I don't really get a lot of free time to work on other stuff. So it's great to finally have the opportunity to get out and do all these shows. The reaction to the album has been really good and I think it will sound great live. We're all planning to have a lot of fun on this tour!"

The dates are as follows:

Feb. 21 - Portugal - Porto Hard Club
Feb. 23 - Spain - Madrid La Riviera
Feb. 24 - Spain - Barcelona Salamandra
Feb. 26 - Switzerland Zurich Komplex
Feb. 27 - Italy - Milan Live Club
Feb. 28 - Italy - Rome Orion
Mar. 02 - Germany - Nuremburg Rockfabrik
Mar. 03 - Germany - Munich Backstage Halle
Mar. 05 - Germany - Stuttgart Lka
Mar. 07 - Austria - Vienna Arena
Mar. 09 - Germany - Cologne Live Music Hall
Mar. 10 - Germany - Berlin Columbia Club
Mar. 12 - Sweden - Malmo KB
Mar. 13 - Sweden - Gothenburg Brewhouse
Mar. 14 - Norway - Oslo Rockerfeller
Mar. 16 - Sweden - Stockholm Klubben
Mar. 18 - Finland - Helsinki Cirkus
Mar. 22 - Holland - Amsterdam Melkweg
Mar. 23 - Belgium - Vosselaar Biebob
Mar. 24 - France - Paris La Trabendo
Mar. 26 - England - O2 Academy, Islington London
Mar. 27 - England - O2 Academy 2, Birmingham
Mar. 29 – Scotland - Glasgow Garage
Mar. 30 - England - Manchester Club Academy

"Us Against The World", the latest video from Steve Harris's BRITISH LION, can be seen below. The song comes off his first-ever solo release, "British Lion", which sold around 3,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD landed at position No. 3 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.

"British Lion" was released in the U.S. on September 25, 2012 via Universal Music Enterprises (UMe). Mixed by Kevin Shirley — whose credits include IRON MAIDEN as well as Led ZEPPELIN, JOURNEY and RUSH, among many others — the CD, which features Harris alongside vocalist Richard Taylor, guitarists Graham Leslie and David Hawkins and drummer Simon Dawson, presents a different side of the bassist's musical visions.

"British Lion" comprises ten songs that Steve and his collaborators have been working on between IRON MAIDEN tours and releases and is described by Harris as "'70s-influenced, British-sounding hard rock." "I'd say it's more mainstream rock than metal... and quite commercial… but good commercial," he said. "There's all kinds of stuff going on, with nods to THE WHO and UFO and some classic British rock bands, but it's not the progressive rock album some might be expecting."

"British Lion" track listing:

01. This Is My God
02. Lost Worlds
03. Karma Killer
04. Us Against The World
05. The Chosen Ones
06. A World Without Heaven
07. Judas
08. Eyes Of The Young
09. These Are The Hands
10. The Lesson