On July 13, 2013, IRON MAIDEN's "Maiden England" tour will hit Sweden, where the band will play at the magnificent national stadium in Stockholm — Friends Arena! This is the first rock show ever to be announced at this brand new 50,000-capacity venue. Tickets will go on sale on Tuesday, October 2 at 9:00 a.m, with an exclusive first ticket pre-sale for IRON MAIDEN fan-club members which will run from 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, September 29 through to 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 30 (local times). Fan-club members will also be eligible in the draw to be "First To The Barrier."

Commented MAIDEN singer Bruce Dickinson: "It is a great honor to be the first rock band to be announced to play the new national stadium, especially as we have always had a very close connection with your country and have massively enjoyed every visit."

"We were completely overwhelmed by the reaction from our North American fans to the 'Maiden England' tour, which was our most extensive tour there for many years. We had a lot of fun playing the older songs and the fans seemed to love the set list and Eddie's various incarnations! The band can't wait to bring this show to our Swedish fans."

Added MAIDEN bassist Steve Harris: "'The Final Frontier' show in Ullevi last year was magic, along with the very warm reception we recieved from our friends in Sweden. It's terrific to return next year, especially playing in the new national stadium for the first time. This time round we will be playing the older songs and think our fans will enjoy this just as much!"

He added, "We know how popular the 'History Of Maiden' tours are with fans of all ages and we will be taking with us the full production we had in North America. We had a huge amount of fun with the set list as we got to play songs we had not played in a very long time like 'Seventh Son', 'The Prisoner' and 'Afraid To Shoot Strangers', as well as fan favorites like 'The Trooper', 'Aces High', 'The Number Of The Beast', 'Wasted Years' and 'Run To The Hills'. The opening leg of the tour was so enjoyable for the whole band, we’re really looking forward to taking it to our fans around Europe and, as always, greatly looking forward to the Swedish show."

Italian power metallers SECRET SPHERE will release their seventh album, "Portrait Of A Dying Heart", before the end of the year through Warner Music (Japan) and Scarlet Records (rest of the world). The CD will feature a 40-page booklet, including the novel "She Complies With The Night" on which the album is based.

"Portrait Of A Dying Heart" track listing:

01. Portrait Of A Dying Heart
02. X
03. Wish & Steadiness
04. Union
05. The Fall
06. Healing
07. Lie To Me
08. Secrets Fear
09. The Rising Of Love
10. Eternity

The song "The Fall" can be streamed using the SoundCloud player below.

SECRET SPHERE earlier in the year announced the addition of former VISION DIVINE and THAUROROD vocalist Michele Luppi to the group's ranks.

Said Luppi in a statement: "'Portrait Of A Dying Heart' is by far one of the best album I've done."

He added, "I wanna thank [the other members of SECRET SPHERE] for their trust and belief, and I'm willing to share all my experience and passion in order to write and perform our music the best way we can... For us and, most of all, for you."

After 12 years, six albums, and tours around the world, Roberto "Ramon" Messina decided to leave SECRET SPHERE due to musical differences.

SECRET SPHERE's sixth album, "Archetype", was released in Europe in September 2010 via Scarlet Records.

On September 14, Superskum.com conducted an interview with Devin Townsend, Canadian multi-instrumentalist and ex-STRAPPING YOUNG LAD mastermind, prior to his concert at Summit Music Hall in Denver, Colorado as part of the "Epic Kings & Idols Tour" with KATATONIA and PARADISE LOST. You can now watch the chat below. Also available is high-quality, two-camera performance footage from the Denver concert.

"Epicloud", the latest album from Devin Townsend to be released under the DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT banner, was issued on September 18 in North America and September 24 in Europe via InsideOut Music. The CD features a guest appearance by former THE GATHERING frontwoman and previous Devin collaborator Anneke Van Giersbergen.

"Epicloud" is available in the following formats: standard CD jewel case; limited-edition digipack with bonus CD; double vinyl gatefold with an exclusive bonus track; and digital download on iTunes with two exclusive bonus tracks, "Cry Forever" (demo) and "Take My Ego" (demo).

The idea for "Epicloud" came about while Devin was attempting to write material for the follow-up to his 2007 "Ziltoid The Omniscient" concept album about a fictional extraterrestrial being named Ziltoid from the planet Ziltoidia 9.

Regarding the musical direction of "Epicloud", Devin told Noisecreep, "Over the course of the full record, there's sort of new agey stuff, jazzy stuff, really heavy stuff. We basically cover the gamut. 'Epicloud' is the first record that I felt confident enough to include all those things on one record so it goes between melodic hard rock to schizophrenic heavy metal to country to really ambient stuff and it's all in one place. I'm using a gospel choir, a string section and a horn section for this one as well. On [the DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT album] 'Deconstruction', I got to use the Prague Philharmonic [orchestra] and really go far into making an absurd album as over the top as possible and on 'Epicloud' I'm trying to take the same advantages to make some things musically very pleasing, as opposed to just claustrophobic."

Interview:

Guitarist/vocalist Adam "Nergal" Darski of Polish extreme metallers BEHEMOTH will release his autobiography, "Sacrum Profanum", in Poland on October 17. The book, whicih was previously described by Nergal as "a really long in-depth interview," will initially only be made available in Polish, but "depending on interest, we might be translating this into English," he said.

The "Sacrum Profanum" cover photo was taken by Ivo Ledwozyw, with post-production by Seth Siro Anton (PARADISE LOST, KAMELOT, MOONSPELL, SOILWORK, EXODUS, JOB FOR A COWBOY, DECAPITATED, VADER).

Several promotional clips for "Sacrum Profanum" were recently directed by Dariusz Szermanowicz of Polish producers Grupa 13, with whom Nergal previously collaborated on the BEHEMOTH videos "At The Left Hand Ov God" and "Ov Fire And The Void".

The trailers were scripted by Nergal and are "little portraits of certain chapters of the book," according to the BEHEMOTH frontman. The clips show Nergal reading excerpts from the autobiography as well as acting out parts of stories that he describes as "some funny, some sad, some evil — some related to the band, some not." The series of trailers are in the Polish language with English subtitles.

The third trailer can now be seen below.

An excerpt from the book (in Polish) can be downloaded at this location.

In December 2010, Darski underwent a bone marrow transplant procedure after being diagnosed with a life-threatening form of leukemia.

Trailer #3:

CONVERGE will release its highly anticipated new studio album, "All We Love We Leave Behind", on October 9. The effort will be made available in a deluxe package that includes a 48-page, full-color hardcover, clothbound book with original art created by singer Jacob Bannon via Epitaph (vinyl on Deathwish). Accompanying the track "Aimless Arrow" is a new video directed by talented filmmaker Max Moore (WHIPS/CHAINS, CODE ORANGE KIDS) that visually expands on the heavy emotional lyrical content that the song carries.

A new CONVERGE songer, "Shame In The Way", taken from the forthcoming CD can be streamed at Pitchfork.com.

Considered one of the most intense, important, and influential metal/hardcore bands of all time, CONVERGE's latest album is the most integral album to date in a catalog that's celebrated to an almost religious degree by countless fans of punk, metal and hardcore.

For the first time in years, "All We Love We Leave Behind" is an album that contains no special guests or outside collaborators and every aspect of the music, production and aesthetics of the album was handled by CONVERGE in order to give listeners an unfiltered glimpse into the creative vision of these Boston-based innovators.

Recorded and mixed by guitarist Kurt Ballou at his renowned Godcity Studios in Salem, Massachusetts, "All We Love We Leave Behind" is a no-frills CONVERGE album that sees the band — which also features bassist Nate Newton and drummer Ben Koller — eschewing fancy production techniques in order to create seventeen songs that work as a cohesive whole yet can also stand on their own. "There's no artificial distortion, triggers, or Auto-Tune on this album." Ballou explains, "It's all organic, it's real sounds that capture the way the band performs live."

"I think we really stepped up our game on this record. The most important thing to this band is that with every album we want to create something that excites us and moves us in some way," explains Bannon. "There are a lot of subtle nuances on this record are really special to us and we definitely hit those individually on this record."

From the classic rock-inflected, guitar tapping madness of "Sadness Comes Home" to the technical acrobatics of "Aimless Arrow" and relentless assault of "Shame In The Way", "All We Love We Leave Behind" is an extremely varied album that has enough sonic shifts to captivate each listener's attention. "It's always been important for us to have a lot of dynamics in our music because no one wants to listen to a million miles an hour all the time," Bannon responds when asked about the melodic mid-tempo groove of a song like "Coral Blue".

Credited with giving rise to a genre and influencing countless bands all over the world, CONVERGE have always been the type of band that never fit into one subculture, creating a sound that is entirely their own. The band attribute that to the fact that since their 2001 landmark album "Jane Doe", they haven't had any member changes and maintain the unwavering individualism and uncompromising artistic vision they had when they formed over 21 years ago.

"All We Love We Leave Behind" deluxe track listing:

01. Aimless Arrow
02. Trespasses
03. Tender Abuse
04. Sadness Comes Home
05. Empty On The Inside
06. Sparrow's Fall
07. Glacial Pace
08. No Light Escapes (bonus)
09. Vicious Muse
10. Veins And Veils
11. Coral Blue
12. Shame In The Way
13. On My Shield (bonus)
14. Precipice
15. All We Love We Leave Behind
16. Runaway (bonus)
17. Predatory Glow

"Aimless Arrow" audio stream:

The official lyric video for the song "For Your Vulgar Delectation" from British extreme metallers CRADLE OF FILTH can be seen below. The track comes off the band's tenth studio album, "The Manticore And Other Horrors", which will be released in North America on October 30 via Nuclear Blast Records.

The track listing for the CD is as follows:

01. The Unveiling Of O
02. The Abhorrent
03. For Your Vulgar Delectation
04. Illicitus
05. Manticore
06. Frost On Her Pillow
07. Huge Onyx Wings Behind Despair
08. Pallid Reflection
09. Siding With The Titans
10. Succumb To This
11. Nightmares Of An Ether Drinker
12. Death, The Great Adventure (deluxe edition digipak)
13. Sinfonia (deluxe edition digipak)

A mini-site for "The Manticore And Other Horrors" has been launched, featuring album audio, information, gallery, desktop downloads, plus a chance to download the track "For Your Vulgar Delectation" for free.

Recorded in eight weeks at both Springvale and Grindstone studios (where it was also mixed by Scott Atkins), Suffolk, "The Manticore And Other Horrors" is a testament to the longevity of the 'FILTH, as not only does it reek of CRADLE's (feared or revered) brand of delicious metal vamperotica, but this thoroughly modern album places the band firmly in fresh killing fields anew.

"The Manticore And Other Horrors" itself possesses an altogether new atmosphere for the band, incorporating a heavier, faster NWOBBM punk vibe that is both current and cruel, blended with ornate orchestration and the quirky immediateness of 2000's "Midian" opus.

The album's title can be likened to a bestiary, a collection of stories on monsters - personal demons, Chimeras, literary fiends and world-enslaving entities to blame but a few. "Manticore", the ravening title track, is a song about a beautiful mythological horror that comes to be feared as the disfigurehead of foreign occupation in the Indian provinces.

The songs "Illicitus" and "Pallid Reflection" bear the sweet ingredients of vampirism and lycanthropy; the wicked "For Your Vulgar Delectation" and "Frost On Her Pillow" are woven perversely into grim fairy tales, whilst classic, monumental tracks like "The Abhorrent And Siding With The Titans" both extol tentacular Lovecraftian values.

Speaking to Metal-Trails.com at this year's Wacken Open Air festival, which took place August 2-4 in Wacken, Germany, CRADLE OF FILTH frontman Dani "Filth" Davey stated about the musical direction of the band's new album, "It's a slightly different direction for CRADLE OF FILTH. It's very fresh for people who appreciate our other works. It's a slightly shorter album, but we've concentrated on melody and different techniques that have been slightly missing from our music — it's a bit punkier, a bit more structured, a bit more singalong, but it's still extreme and it's still CRADLE OF FILTH."

He continued, "It's very hard to speak about it, because it's only been two years since our last record, so if it was so familiar, trying to explain what that record was like and what this record is like… Because there's so much going on in our music — there's symphonic parts and then there's really fast parts and slow, romantic interludes and, like I said, punk and New Wave Of British Heavy Metal in there. But it's all kind of wrapped up in theology and cinematic kind of soundscape. So it's hard to break it down and say, 'Well, this is what we're doing this time that's a bit different from the last time.' But it's good. We're really proud of what we're doing. I think people are gonna be very surprised when they hear it and go, 'Wow, that's CRADLE OF FILTH for 2012.'"

CRADLE OF FILTH is:

Dani Filth - Vocals
Paul Allender - Guitar
James McIlroy - Guitar
David Pybus - Bass
Martin Skaroupka - Drums

"The Veil Of Isis", a brand new song from Austin, Texas metal luminaries THE SWORD, can be streamed at RollingStone.com. The track comes off the band's fourth album, "Apocryphon", which is scheduled for release on October 22 via Razor & Tie. The CD was produced and engineered by J. Robbins (CLUTCH, JAWBOX) at Magpie Cage Studios and features cover art by famed comic book artist J.H. Williams III (Batwoman, Promethea).

According to THE SWORD frontman J.D. Cronise, "The Veil Of Isis" is the most "SWORD-ish" song of the album musically, yet notes that lyrically, "it's a little more metaphysical than a lot of our previous stuff. It talks a lot about cycles of nature and life and death and birth and transformation and death and rebirth.

"In essence, the song is about change," Cronise tells RollingStone.com. "[It's about] moving from one phase of the natural cycle to the next and the recognition of the knowledge revealed when such transitions occur. The lyrics make reference to Isis, the goddess of nature and magic, and her brother/husband Osiris, the god of the dead and the afterlife, as agents of those changes and keepers of sacred knowledge. The 'veil' is that which hides from us the true nature of the universe that, during our earthly existence, is largely hidden from us."

"Apocryphon" track listing:

01. The Veil Of Isis
02. Cloak Of Feathers
03. Arcane Montane
04. The Hidden Masters
05. Dying Earth
06. Execrator
07. Seven Sisters
08. Hawks And Serpents
09. Eyes Of The Stormwitch
10. Apocryphon

Bonus tracks:

01. Arrows In The Dark (live at Emo's)
02. Barael's Blade (live at Emo's)
03. Chronomancer II: Nemesis (live at Stubb's)
04. Ebethron (live at Stubb's)
05. Cheap Sunglasses

THE SWORD is now offering a limited-time-offer bundle including:

* Autographed limited-edition glow-in-the-dark 12-inch vinyl
* "Apocryphon" deluxe version digipak CD
* Three hand-numbered triptych 11 x 17 lithograph black light reactive posters
* Exclusive limited-offer "Apocryphon" T-shirt
* "Apocryphon" slipmat
* Includes digital download code

Asked about the band's decision to work with J. Robbins on "Apocryphon" after self-producing two records and then working with Matt Bayles, THE SWORD guitarist Kyle Shutt told AltPress.com, "We're all huge CLUTCH fans, and we know those guys real well. [James] did two of their last three records, and those sound great, so we figured it was a no-brainer. We called him up and he was into it. He saw our live show at a club in Baltimore on the tour before we came here so he could get a feel of the kind of show we put on because we wanted to make an album that sounds like we do live in a club. And it was great. It was a real speedy process."

On the topic of the musical direction of the new album, Shutt said, "It is a reflection of everything that we [have gone] through and the lessons we learned. We then deal with these situations metaphorically in our lyrics. This record is just 10 banging hard rockers. There's no real 'stick-out' thrash song, or, like, this one is the ballad. I don't think there's going to be any instrumental songs on this record, either, so that'll be a first for us. It's just 10 kick-ass rock songs."

Regarding the subject matter covered in the new songs' lyrics, Shutt said, "There are lyrical themes that weave in and out of the songs, but there's no story or anything like that. With 'Warp Riders', J.D. [guitarist/vocalist John Cronise] had already written [the story] and now he [doesn't] have the time to sit down and write another book. We had the idea to make a comic book for 'Warp Riders', but we had some really poor management at the time, so nothing really came together with that and it was going to cost so much money that it never saw the light of day. It was just a nice thing we did. Now we're moving on to other things."

DEVILDRIVER and COAL CHAMBER frontman Dez Fafara has released a benefit song for his sister Kerri, who has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Entitled "Dark Meadowlark", the track was produced by Greg Weiss (DEVILDRIVER) and was mixed by Logan Mader (SOULFLY, GOJIRA, DEVILDRIVER).

Says Dez: "['Dark Meadowlark'] is about my sister who is a ray of sunshine, but has a dark sense of humor much like myself, thus the [track title]."

He added, "The song was mixed by Logan Mader and produced by Greg Weiss, who played bass and balalaika, along with Dan Yob on guitar, and Zac Morris on drums. I would also like to thank Winson and Doug at Third Encore for letting us use their amazing facilities, and Doug from Rack Attack Rentals for providing us with some great gear to record with."

Even with insurance, Kerri's family can't cover the costs of her surgery, chemotherapy and radiation for the upcoming year. "We have two daughters still at home, we've relocated from Boise to Irvine (really close to UCLA/UCI treatment center — what good fortune!), but the cost of two years of what's called 'out of pocket maximum costs' are definitely a burden," she says.

To help Kerri with the costs associated with her breast cancer treatment and follow-up care, you can make a donation via the online fundraising web site Microgiving at this location.

In observance of the anniversary of PSA Flight 182, Los Angeles thrashers VIKING have released a rough, pre-release mix of the song "9:02 on Flight 182" from their the long-awaited comeback album, "No Child Left Behind". Other songtitles set to appear on the CD include "An Ideal Opportunity", "Debt To Me", "Helen Behind The Door", "A Thousand Reasons I Hate You" and "Wretched Old Mildred".

Founded in the spring of 1986 in Los Angeles, VIKING released two full-length albums on the Metal Blade label, 1987's "Do Or Die" and 1989's "Man Of Straw".

Long hailed as one of the most rare and hard to find speed/thrash metal albums by collectors, "Man Of Straw" was re-released in 2006 via Lost And Found Records. This fully licensed CD release was remastered and contained rare and never-before-heard bonus tracks.

In early 2011, Ron Daniel (guitar, vocals) and Matt Jordan (drums) resurrected VIKING after a 20-year hiatus.

Ron recruited former DARK ANGEL members Gene Hoglan and Michael Gonzalez to record VIKING's first release in over 20 years.

"No Child Left Behind" is due to be released late fall 2012.

Video footage of Hoglan in the studio with VIKING can be seen below.

San Francisco Bay Area metal veterans VICIOUS RUMORS will release a new live album, "Live You To Death", on November 27 (one day earlier internationally) through SPV/Steamhammer. The CD was recorded by Pontus Norgren of HAMMERFALL, mixed by Juan Urteaga and produced by VICIOUS RUMORS guitarist Geoff Thorpe.

2011 was the year VICIOUS RUMORS stormed European stages with their highly acclaimed studio album, "Razorback Killers", playing 92 shows in 12 months.

"Live You To Death" was recorded last December on the band's European tour as the support act for Swedish metallers HAMMERFALL. It features 11 songs, including two very special studio recordings: cover versions of "Sign Of The Southern Cross" by BLACK SABBATH and "Running Wild" by JUDAS PRIEST.

"We wanted to do a few covers of our metal gods SABBATH and PRIEST as a tribute to where it all started," Thorpe said.

"Live You To Death" track listing:

01. Replicant / Digital Dictator
02. Minute To Kill
03. Murderball
04. Lady Took A Chance ( intro ) / Down To The Temple
05. Abandoned
06. Let The Garden Burn
07. Hellraiser
08. Soldiers Of The Night
09. Don't Wait For Me
10. Sign Of The Southern Cross (BLACK SABBATH cover) (studio recording)
11. Running Wild (JUDAS PRIEST cover) (studio recording)

Running time: approximately 56 minutes

"Razorback Killers" was released in Europe in March 2011 and in the U.S. in April 2011 via SPV/Steamhammer. The CD was recorded at Trident Studios in Pacheco, California with producers Juan Urteaga and Geoff Thorpe.

VICIOUS RUMORS current touring lineup:

Larry Howe - Drums
Brian Allen (LAST EMPIRE, MALICE, WILD DOGS) - Vocals
Bob Capka - Guitar
Stephen Goodwin - Bass
Geoff Thorpe - Guitar

Video footage of VICIOUS RUMORS performing the song "Don't Wait For Me" on August 3 at Garage in Munich, Germany can be seen below.

Legendary progressive rock veterans FOCUS are set to release their new studio album, Focus X, on November 5th via Eastworld Recordings.

With their unique progressive rock, Focus manifested themselves at the start of the 70s as the most successful and the most appreciated of all the Dutch pop-rock exports. The band is fronted by founder and musical genius Thijs van Leer. Their hits include the instrumentals, 'Hocus Pocus', 'House Of The King', and 'Sylvia', and their timeless albums include Moving Waves, Focus 3 and Hamburger Concerto.

A new Focus era has arrived. There is a rejuvenated passion in the new compositions that adorn the new album Focus X, which features a full scale Roger Dean painting on the cover.
Thijs van Leer commented: “It’s a thrill to have finally completed Focus X; we are all ecstatic and looking forward to playing the new material on the forthcoming Focus X Tour.”

This album - and the following gigs - will surprise the loyal fans. They will hear once again all the classic Focus tunes and they will be surprised at the strength and depth of the new material.

"Our music is evolution, not revolution", Thijs van Leer once said about the music of Focus.
After a comeback which resulted in the well received albums Focus 8 and Focus 9, the band is now back on the frontline, with a fantastic lineup. Also back on the drums is Pierre van der Linden, who is internationally renowned for his rhythmic skills, and is still a defining factor in the Focus sound. Bassist Bobby Jacobs, who stems from a well-acclaimed Dutch musical family and guitarist Menno Gootjes, who participated in Focus at an earlier stage, completes the band's current lineup.

Focus X is released on November 5th via Eastworld Recordings.

Focus tour dates:

November
8 - Buxton, UK - Opera House
9 - Hessle, UK - Town Hall
10 - Glasgow, UK - The Ferry
11 Hebden, UK - Bridge Trades Club
13 - Wolverhampton, UK - Robin 2
14 - Runcorn, UK - The Brindley
15 - Barnsley, UK - Birdwell
16 - Fletching, UK - Trading Boundaries
17 - Tavistock, UK - The Wharf
18 - Sutton, UK - Boom Boom Club
19 - Milton Keynes, UK - The Stables
20 - Chislehurst, UK - Beaverwood Club

More on Focus at this location.

Black Market Activities presents the long-awaited return of BEHOLD THE ARCTOPUS, pioneers in the field of extreme, progressive music. Marking the start of a new era for the band, Behold The Arctopus’ second full-length, Horrorscension, is set for an October 23rd release.
In the five years since their last album, Skullgrid, much has transpired in the Behold The Arctopus camp. 12-string Warr guitarist Colin Marston expanded his musical outlets, founding avant-black metal band Krallice and joining progressive death metal legends GORGUTS. In addition to his playing, Marston increased his output as a recording engineer, helping create albums for such artists as KAYO DOT, ORTHRELM, JARBOE, and ALTAR OF PLAGUES. Original drummer Charlie Zeleny departed, to be replaced by the prolific Weasel Walter, renowned for his long-running band THE FLYING LUTTENBACHERS and his widespread collaborations in the free jazz, noise, and metal genres.

Horrorscension is the inaugural release of the new Behold The Arctopus lineup - Marston, Walter, and unholy shredder Mike Lerner on guitar. (In the spirit of defining Horrorscension as the beginning of a new era for the band, the ellipsis [“...”] has been officially removed from the band name.)

In crafting Horrorscension, Behold The Arctopus employed their signature method of composing the music in written form before ever playing it. Marston elaborates: “Since our music is written down and then learned, like classical music, we're never actually building songs based on our playing ability. It’s very different from jamming out a bunch of riffs.”

Horrorscension showcases Behold The Arctopus’ jaw-dropping, complex music, delivered with a raw, visceral attack - something closer to punk than to the antiseptic sound of music school perfectionism that is all too common amongst young technical bands. Widely regarded as a band of virtuosos, Marston, Walter, and Lerner are quick to separate themselves from the showboaters.

Says Marston: “I accept that the music is not for a general audience and that musicians are more likely to relate to it due to the density, but I see a huge difference between this band and say, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN or DREAM THEATER or anyone who really wants you to notice how proficient they are. I would love it if, when people hear Horrorscension, they think ‘Whoa, what the hell is going on?’ rather than ‘Wow, they can play their instruments well.’ I want the focus to be on the content, not the performance.”

Horrorscension was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Marston at his The Thousand Caves studio in Queens, NY. The cover art is once again by longtime Behold The Arctopus collaborator Terry Grow.
Tracklisting:

'Disintegore'
'Monolithic Destractions'
'Horrorsentience'
'Deluge Of Sores'
'Putrefucktion'
'Annihilvore'

The track, 'Disintegore', is streaming below:
Pre-order various Horrorscension packages at this location.

More on Behold The Arctopus at this location.

Phoenix metal duo PSYCHOBLISS, consisting of Dan Stollings as the main songwriter, and Kyla Pavelski as the band's frontwoman, first formed in Chicago in 2008 and released a short demo shortly after, but has since drastically changed their overall sound and style.
PsychoBliss is now deep in the process of recording their debut EP. Dan Stollings has this to say about the EP: "It's going to be dark, ethereal, atmospheric, and some of it will hopefully make you want to kill yourself. The contrast between the vocals and the music is amazing, and we're doing our best to make sure every track will deeply impact the listener."

The dark metal band's upcoming EP is currently unnamed, but it has been slated for a release on December 21st (the date of the mythological apocalypse).

You can listen to two of PsychoBliss' pre-mixed and unmastered tracks at the band's this location page.

Frontiers Records is excited to announce the release of JIMI JAMISON’s new solo album Never Too Late on November 2nd in Europe and November 6th in North America.

Jimi Jamison has been the singer with TARGET, COBRA and finally SURVIVOR – who rejoined in late 2011 - for more than a decade, apart from being an accomplished solo artist on his own.

Jimi performed back up vocals on recordings by ZZ TOP, JOE WALSH and numerous other recording artists. Among Jamison’s best known performances are 'Burning Heart', from the Rocky IV movie which hit #2 on the Billboard Charts, 'High On You' (#8), and 'The Search Is Over' (#4).
His solo career started in 1991 with the release of When Love Comes Down followed in 1999 by Empires, the album which included the theme, 'I'm Always Here' for Baywatch. In 2008 Jamison teamed up with the other former Survivor bandmate, Jim Peterik who wrote and produced for him the acclaimed album Crossroads Moment. On the heels of this superb release, Jimi toured Europe a few times and culminated with an appearance at the popular Firefest in the UK in 2011.

In the meanwhile Jamison started to work together with Swedish songwriter and producer Erik Mårtensson (W.E.T., Eclipse etc), who had met “virtually” while working on the successful Kimball Jamison duet album to which Mårtensson had contributed with some songwriting. They started laying down the foundations for a new solo album.

“The songs on this cd are truly some of the strongest of my career” says Jamison. “It’s a great pleasure to have songs with such power and ballads with such truth and feeling. It makes it easy to realize the emotion in each vocal. This is my favorite cd to date and 'The Air I Breathe' is the most magic song for me. A track like this only comes along once in a while. Erik really hit the mark here. Brilliant writing.”
Never Too Late tracklisting includes:
'Everybody's Got A Broken Heart'
'The Great Unknown'
'Never Too Late'
'I Can't Turn Back'
'Street Survivor'
'The Air I Breathe'
'Not Tonight'
'Calling The Game'
'Bullet In The Gun'
'Heaven Call Your Name'
'Walk On (Wildest Dreams)'.

The first single off the album – the title track 'Never Too Late' - can be streamed in full on the Frontiers webradio.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Rock Star has released Lullaby Versions Of DREAM THEATER via iTunes "featuring lush instrumental versions of 12 progressive metal classics. Listen as TTLRS faithfully honors their musical proficiency in a soothing lullaby style for shredders young and old alike."
Tracks available include:

'A Nightmare To Remember'
'Build Me Up, Break Me Down'
'Wither'
'Pull Me Under'
'As I Am'
'These Walls'
'On The Backs Of Angels'
'The Dark Eternal Night'
'Metropolis Part 1 The Miracle And The Sleeper'
'Under A Glass Moon'
'Forsaken'
'Panic Attack'

Go to this location to check out audio samples and to purchase.

Almost two years to the day since their last show, Ashland, Kentucky female-fronted hard rockers HYDROGYN will come back to the live stage at Callihan's Pub & Grill in their hometown for a special event on November 3. The one-off "storyteller night" will mark the first time the band has ever done this type of show and will include songs spanning HYDROGYN's entire career. The concert will be professionally filmed and recorded for a DVD and CD release.

Tickets go on sale this Friday, September 28 at 11 a.m. EST and are $10 each.

To get your tickets, call 606-585-0586.

HYDROGYN's fourth album, "Private Sessions", was released in Europe on April 20 through Music Buy Mail. 13 songs were recorded for the CD at guitarist Jeff Westlake's Ridgeline Studio in Ashland, Kentucky and Patrick Liotard's Peek Studio in Boisseron, France.

Japanese metal legends LOUDNESS will release their 25th offcial studio album, 2012, via Tokuma Communications in Japan on August 22nd. Some full length audio samples from the record are available below.
'The Stronger'
'End Of The Age'
'Break New Ground'
'Driving Force'
'Behind The Scene'
'Bang 'Em Dead'
'The Voice Of Metal'
'Who The Hell Cares'
'Spirit From The East'
'Memento Mori'
'Out Of The Space'
'Deep-Six The Law'

Click here to order the album via CDJapan.

Boston area punk-metal crossover mainstay MONGREL has unveiled their new music video for the song 'Bored To Death' from their upcoming full length album Reclamation, which is set for release on September 25th via THC-X, the digital imprint of THC-Music.

Directing and producing the band’s first proper music video, which can be seen below, was Jim Foster at Red 13 Media (GODSMACK).



Mongrel recently announced the addition of new drummer Mike Hogan, as well as a series of album release parties winding up with a mainstage appearance at this year’s Rock & Shock festival in Worcester, MA where they will share the stage with THE MISFITS, SHADOWS FALL, GOD FORBID, and VISION OF DISORDER.

Catch Mongrel live:

September
28 – Trash Bar - Brooklyn, NY
29 - Silver Lake Park - Athol, MA (Rise Above Festival)
30 - Tammany Hall - Worcester, MA

October
5 - Mad Bob’s - Manchester, NH
12 – The Palladium - Worcester, MA (Rock & Shock Festival)