According to JonLord.org, former DEEP PURPLE keyboardist Jon Lord's Concerto For Group And Orchestra, re-recorded by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and a selection of invited guests, is set to be released by Edel Records in September (ABC Records in Australia).

After more than 100 performances worldwide and numerous revisions, the new recording represents Jon's definitive version of the masterpiece, which in 1969 pointed his career in a new direction and laid the foundation for an astounding musical reputation and career.

Guests and soloists on the new recording include IRON MAIDEN's Bruce Dickinson, BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION's Joe Bonamassa and DEEP PURPLE's Steve Morse along with Jon's "house singers" Steve Balsamo and Kasia Laska. It was recorded at Liverpool's Philharmonic Hall by Abbey Road Studio's crew. The recording was conducted by Paul Mann, whose in-depth experience with the piece includes conducting its 30th-anniversary resurrection at London's Royal Albert Hall in 1999 and the ensuing world tour with DEEP PURPLE.

The new release will be accompanied by a specially filmed documentary.

STONE SOUR and SLIPKNOT frontman Corey Taylor played an acoustic version of a brand new STONE SOUR song, "Taciturn", at this past weekend's Nova Rock festival on the Pannonia Fields in Burgenland, the easternmost federal state of Austria (near Nickelsdorf and the Hungarian and Slovak borders) and at the Download festival on June 9 at Donington Park in Leicestershire, United Kingdom . Fan-filmed video footage of both performances can be seen below.

STONE SOUR has set "House Of Gold And Bones" as the title of its fourth album, a two-part double concept effort which is being recorded at Sound Farm Studios, just outside STONE SOUR's home base of Des Moines, Iowa, with producer David Bottrill (TOOL, MUSE, STAIND). According to Taylor, part 1 will contain 12 songs and will be released in October via Roadrunner Records, with the second 12-track part to follow next year. Each disc will include one half of the story, the lyrics for which fans will have to visit the band's official web site. Taylor says, "Once I lock in the company who will help me put it together, there will be a comic book as well." Other songtitles set to appear on the album include "Absolute Zero", "RU486" and "A Rumor Of Skin".

When asked about the progress of the recording sessions for the fourth STONE SOUR album, Taylor told Kerrang! magazine at this past weekend's Download festival in England, "It's nearly done. We have about a week left of recording. I have a handful of vocals that I need to finish up. And then it's just going in and finishing up some guitars, some ear candy here and there. But it's fantastic. It's so immense. It's probably the biggest thing that I've tried to do. There's a lot of multimedia involved. There's a whole story that's gonna go along with the albums. And it's all under wraps right now. There's gonna be a bunch of big announcements next week that I'm gonna unleash on Twitter, and I'm just gonna start giving people more information, including the titles. But we're actually working on getting a comic together for DC Comics. We're trying to figure out how we can do it. And they've never done anything like this before, so it's gonna take some time. But hopefully… We're definitely gonna have a digital version up online and then probably a couple of months later the hard-copy version. So as a comic fan, I'm kind of losing my shit right now."

As previously reported, SKID ROW's Rachel Bolan laid down the bass tracks for the new STONE SOUR CD. He has described the material on the record as "fucking fierce."

Taylor recently told Revolver magazine about STONE SOUR's forthcoming CD, "Picture [PINK FLOYD's] 'The Wall' crossed with ALICE IN CHAINS' 'Dirt' with some good heavy blasts in there," Corey said. "The heaviest song is a total ass-kicker that sounds as if SLAYER and ANTHRAX had a baby. Then, there's a darker bluesy dirge that has the vibe of LED ZEPPELIN's 'In My Time Of Dying'. There's even a little industrial vibe. It's definitely going to blow people's fucking minds.

Taylor added that he came up with a very ambitious concept for the disc.

"The album is a morality play about a man who's standing at the crossroads of his life trying to figure out what to do next," he said. "He's going, 'Do I move foward and evolve? Do I become more responsible or do I run backwards and pilfer the basket of youth?' Sometimes it's romantic to live in the mistakes that you made when you were 20, and condemn yourself to perpetual adolescence."

Guitarist Josh Rand recently said that the CD will be "another progression for the band," adding. "Musically, we have always challenged one another to push things to our limits, and this record is no exception."

STONE SOUR parted ways with bassist Shawn Economaki earlier in the year. The band's guitarist Jim Root stated about the split, "A lot has happened in the past year… We need to move forward and [there will] be more detail when the time is right. He's still a great friend and we're in touch."

Economaki left STONE SOUR in April 2011 in the middle of the "Avalanche Tour" to deal with "personal issues." He was temporarily replaced by Jason Christopher, who has since joined Sebastian Bach's touring band.

A performance clip of the song "Black Diamond", taken from the forthcoming STRATOVARIUS DVD and Blu-ray, "Under Flaming Winter Skies - Live In Tampere", can be seen below.

The news of drummer Jörg Michael's departure from the Finnish melodic metallers STRATOVARIUS in September 2011 was a shock for all of the band's fans.

To say goodbye to a friend, hero and member who characterized STRATOVARIUS' sound for over a decade, the group embarked on a five-show farewell tour of Finland in November of last year.

"The rest of us just has to accept Jörg's decision with a lot of sadness and wish him all the best for the future. But we can also assure that the band will still go on", says STRATOVARIUS singer Timo Kotipelto.

Before coming back with a brand new studio album in 2013, STRATOVARIUS will release a two-hour DVD filmed and recorded in Tampere, Finland on November 19, 2011. This is one of the very last shows the band played with Michael.

Due on June 29 via earMUSIC, "Under Flaming Winter Skies - Live In Tampere" marks the end of an era as well as a new beginning. Hits and classics like "Under Flaming Skies", "Speed Of Light" and "Hunting High And Low" as well as exclusive bonus material (30-minute documentary about the band's history, exclusive interviews with each member as well as a special comment from Jörg Michael about the reasons to leave the band) makes it a must-have for every fan and a real collector's item not to be missed.

"Under Flaming Winter Skies - Live In Tampere" track listing:

CD 1

01. Under Flaming Skies
02. I Walk To My Own Song
03. Speed Of Light
04. Kiss Of Judas
05. Deep Unknown
06. Guitar Solo
07. Eagleheart
08. Paradise
09. Visions
10. Bass Solo
11. Coming Home

CD 2

01. Legions Of The Twilight
02. Darkest Hours
03. Burn
04. Behind Blue Eyes
05. Winter Skies
06. Keyboard Solo
07. Black Diamond
08. Father Time
09. Hunting High And Low

DVD / Blu-ray track listing:

01. Intro
02. Under Flaming Skies
03. I Walk To My Own Song
04. Speed Of Light
05. Kiss Of Judas
06. Deep Unknown
07. Guitar Solo
08. Eagleheart
09. Paradise
10. Visions
11. Bass Solo
12. Coming Home
13. Legions Of The Twillight
14. Darkest Hours
15. Jörg Speech
16. Burn
17. Behind Blue Eyes
18. Winter Skies
19. Keyboard Solo
20. Black Diamond
21. Father Time
22. Hunting High And Low

Bonus:

* Documentary: Rewinding from the past to 2012
* 5.1 mix of "Elysium" (taken from the album "Elysium") — only on Blu-ray

"Black Diamond" performance:

Quebec, Canada-based metallers AETERNAM recently entered Badass Studios with engineer Jean-François "Jef" Fortin to begin recording their new album, "Moongod", for a late 2012 release via Galy Records.

The cover artwork for the CD can be seen below.

Commented the band, "The album will contain nine songs plus a short and wicked intro. As far as it goes, there's still a lot of blast beats and brutal stuff, but the music is way more epic and melodic, really more groovy and let's say... dangerous? Lyrics deal a lot with religions (again), but the focus is more on pre-Islamic rites and actual stuff that is going on right now in the Middle East. Nevertheless, there's still some new ideas and concepts; we do even have a song that talks about Mayan culture! Crazy stuff!"

"Moongod" track listing:

01. Moongod
02. Invading Jerusalem
03. Cosmogony
04. Iram Of The Pillars
05. Rise Of Arabia
06. Xibalba
07. Descent Of Gods
08. Idol Of The Sun
09. Hubal, Profaner Of Light

The song "Invading Jerusalem" can be streamed in the YouTube clip below.

Video footage of AETERNAM performing the new song "Descent Of Gods" live for the first time in January 2011 at Impérial in Quebec City can be seen below.

In other news, AETERNAM has announced the departure of bassist Jean-François Boudreault.

"Invading Jerusalem" audio stream:

Polish extreme metal veterans DECAPITATED are seeking a new bassist. Interested parties can contact the band at decapitatedband@gmail.com.

DECAPITATED's latest album, "Carnival Is Forever", sold around 2,100 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD landed at position No. 11 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.

"Carnival Is Forever" was released in North America on July 12, 2011 via Nuclear Blast Records. The CD's cover art was created by Lukasz Jaszak and can be seen below. The follow-up to 2006's "Organic Hallucinosis" was recorded at Radio Gdansk Studio in Poland with producer Wacek Kieltyka and engineer Arkadiusz "Malta" Malczewski. Drums were tracked with Daniel Bergstrand (BEHEMOTH, MESHUGGAH, DIMMU BORGIR, KEEP OF KALESSIN, DEFLESHED), who also handled mixing duties.

DECAPITATED's lineup includes Waclaw "Vogg" Kieltyka on guitar, Kerim "Krimh" Lechner (THORNS OF IVY, TONE INTIMACY) on drums, and Rafal Piotrowski (KETHA, FORGOTTEN SOULS) on lead vocals.

DECAPITATED's latest video, "Homo Sum", can be seen below.

Commented Vogg: "Our new video for 'Homo Sum' is totally different than the previous one and really simple, but with the same energy! Check this out!"

Added vocalist Rafal "Rasta" Piotrowski: "It was great to record this video in Kraków with our good friends. Great atmosphere + good mood + hours of moshing equals COOL VIDEO CLIP! I really like the song. It's a straight-punch-to-the-face, that’s why it works in black and white. There are no colorful stories inside, no bullshit — just mosh!!!"

"Homo Sum" video:

Former DIO and current DEF LEPPARD guitarist Vivian Campbell revealed in April that he is planning to join forces with three other original DIO members to play "some gigs" that will see the musicians performing material from the early DIO records that Campbell appeared on. Dubbed LAST IN LINE, Campbell, Vinny Appice (drums), Jimmy Bain (bass) and Claude Schnell (keyboards) will be accompanied by singer Andrew Freeman, who has previously fronted HURRICANE and LYNCH MOB.

In a new Facebook posting, Campbell writes, "I played with the DIO guys again [Thursday] night and we managed to get through about 12 songs, but oh, so loud! In my entire career I've never before managed to wind-up a Marshall head to 10 until last night — and I STILL couldn't hear myself! Those guys have some pent-up frustration to let out. Gonna be big fun when we take this on the road, but I'm gonna need more horsepower."

In a recent interview with the MusicLegends.ca web site, Schnell stated about Andrew's performance at the first LAST IN LINE rehearsal, "He did an outstanding job, and if he didn't, I don't believe that he'd be the one that we'd be pursuing the project with. But he did a very, very good job. His online comments about 'preparing to be the world's most hated singer notwithstanding,' I think he's going to do a very credible and very impressive job of covering this material."

On the topic of LAST IN LINE's setlist, Schnell said, "Well, it's largely gonna be material from the first three albums — 'Holy Diver', 'The Last In Line' and 'Sacred Heart' — the albums on which Viv played. I don't think we're gonna be doing any material from the albums on which Craig [Goldy, Vivian's replacement in DIO] played and the later incarnations of the band. But, fortunately, there is no shortage of material and hits on those first few records, so you can count on 'Rainbow In The Dark' and 'Holy Diver' and 'Rock And Roll Children', and so forth and so on. The list goes on and on, on and on."

Regarding LAST IN LINE's touring plans, Schnell said, "We've been putting out some feelers and getting some kind of feedback about… Actually, [there is] a very strong international interest in seeing this back on the road. Again, this is all kind of very ironic and surprising, because quite honestly, initially, the only interest in doing this is a bunch of friends getting together to have a play and socialize a little bit and kind of catch up. But, like I said, it just seemed so organic once we started playing that the notion of doing it more than once seemed inevitable. And, of course, with that being considered, then it was an obvious conclusion that, 'Well, let's see if anybody would be interested in hearing this.' Needless to say, the ears that were listening within the rehearsal hall were on fire. There was an awful lot of, 'Hey, that sounds like that band from way back when.'"

Campbell and Ronnie James Dio worked together on the first three DIO albums 1983's "Holy Diver", 1984's "The Last in Line" and 1985's "Sacred Heart" — before Irishman Campbell left to join WHITESNAKE in 1987. Their subsequent relationship was strained, to say the least.

Original DIO lineup performing live in 1984:

Legendary Swedish doom metallers CANDLEMASS played their first show with stand-in singer Mats Levén last Tuesday, June 5 at Debaser Slussen in Stockholm, Sweden.

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

Levén is a former member of YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, THERION and TREAT, who also plays with CANDLEMASS bassist/mainman Leif Edling in KRUX.

In a statement to BLABBERMOUTH.NET, Mats said, "I'm helping my friends in CANDLEMASS with the shows booked so far. Looking forward to that, for sure. [However], the only band I'm a permanent member of is KRUX."

Also joining the group for the current live performances is keyboard player Per Wiberg (OPETH, SPIRITUAL BEGGARS).

CANDLEMASS earlier in the month parted ways singer Robert Lowe. According to the band, this was "a very difficult decision" to make and "has mainly to do with the quality of the live performances."

Lowe — who is still a member of SOLITUDE AETERNUS — joined CANDLEMASS in January 2007 and sang on the band's last three studio albums: "King Of The Grey Islands" (2007), "Death Magic Doom" (2009) and "Psalms For The Dead" (2012).

CANDLEMASS released its 11th and final album, "Psalms For The Dead", on June 8 via Napalm Records. A limited-edition seven-inch vinyl single contaning two album tracks —"Dancing In The Temple Of The Mad Queen Bee" and "The Killing Of The Sun" — preceded the full-length effort on April 13.

In a recent interview with About Heavy Metal, CANDLEMASS bassist and main songwriter Leif Edling stated about the band's decision to make "Psalms For The Dead" its final studio album, "[It's] better to do one last album and make it official than just fade away as a band. We can't just keep on making album on album on album. This is a good way to do it, and I'm sure we'll be around for some years to come anyway."

When asked if that changed the vibe in the studio as CANDLEMASS recorded the new CD, Edling replied, "No, not really. It was generally a good vibe in the studio during the recording and we worked as usual. It's lot of hard work to make a CANDLEMASS album, and this was no exception. But the atmosphere in the studio was great and we enjoyed working together as we always do."

Regarding CANDLEMASS' plans to release any other material (live albums, DVDs, reissues, rarities, compilations, etc.) in the future, Edling said, "We will release the 'Epicus' ['Doomicus Metallicus'] gig from [Holland's] Roadburn [festival] last year on DVD and vinyl sometime in the future, and also make a new DVD from one of the 'Psalms' shows. With a bit of luck, we will also release a 'Doomology 2' box set with DVDs from the history of the band. Don't know when that can be, maybe on the 30th anniversary."

A six-minute trailer for "Ascending To Infinity", the new album from the Italian "cinematic" metal band LUCA TURILLI'S RHAPSODY, is available below.

LUCA TURILLI'S RHAPSODY has made its new single, "Dark Fate Of Atlantis", available for free download in its original album version of six minutes and 29 seconds at this location. This complete version of the song features a longer intro, a longer guitar solo and an additional keyboard solo performed by Luca Turilli. The cover artwork of the single was created once again by Felipe Machado Franco.

The "Dark Fate Of Atlantis" video was filmed in Stockholm, Sweden by Swedish director Owe Lingvall of Dreamday Media (THE RASMUS, KAMELOT's "The Great Pandemonium"). The song comes off LUCA TURILLI'S RHAPSODY's new album, "Ascending To Infinity", which will be released on June 22 via Nuclear Blast. The song was edited and made shorter for the video while on the CD it will appear in its original version of 6 minutes and 29 seconds.

Commented LUCA TURILLI'S RHAPSODY: "This video represents just the first step of the collaboration between RHAPSODY and Dreamday Media, the company of our friend Owe. He was just the right choice for a band willing to sound and look cinematic like ours. We share with him the passion for the cinema. We are amazed by his ability of turning our cinematic visions into reality and at the same time he loves the cinematic impact of our music. This means Owe is, and will be, our artistic partner at all effects, now and in the future. The first results of this unique collaboration will be announced very soon. Therefore please expect great visual surprises in the months to come, headliner tour included!"

RTN Touring and All Access, in association with Nuclear Blast and Owe Lingvall's Dreamday Media, are working right now on the "Ascending To Infinity Cinematic World Tour 2012/2013" which will bring the cinematic metal of RHAPSODY on the stages of the entire world.

In August 2011, RHAPSODY OF FIRE guitarist Luca Turilli and keyboardist Alex Staropoli announced their decision to go their separate ways.

Due to legal reasons, Staropoli will continue under the RHAPSODY OF FIRE name. Turilli, on the other hand, will make his future efforts available under the RHAPSODY moniker (RHAPSODY OF FIRE's original name), in which he will be joined by guitarist Dominique Leurquin, bassist Patrice Guers, singer Alessandro Conti (TRICK OR TREAT) and drummer Alex Landenburg (AT VANCE, ANNIHILATOR, MEKONG DELTA, STRATOVARIUS).

"Ascending To Infinity" track listing:

01. Quantum X
02. Ascending To Infinity
03. Dante's Inferno
04. Excalibur
05. Tormento E Passione
06. Dark Fate Of Atlantis
07. Fantasia Gotica
08. Clash Of The Titans
09. Of Michael The Archangel And Lucifer's Fall
I. Alma Mundi
II. Fatum Mortalis
III. Ignis Divinus

You can check out the "Ascending To Infinity" cover artwork below.

The album will have a running time of around 65 minutes.

In a recent interview, Turilli stated about "Ascending To Infinity", "Honestly, this album is very important for me, and personally, it is the one I always dreamed to record. The basic composition process lasted around five months. In this period of time I worked at the rhythm of 12-14 hours per day and, while very hard because very demanding mentally and spiritually, this was one of the most rewarding sessions of composition of my whole life. It rarely happened I had so much fun playing the guitar, the keyboards or my beloved piano and creating original classical parts, cinematic interludes, orchestrations and all the rest. As you know, I don't hire external people to orchestrate the music, but I do all by myself writing the music for each section of the orchestra, the choirs etc. and this sometimes can be a very long and hard process stealing a lot of time and energy. I cannot deny that this is a very ambitious album, because of the investment, artistic vision etc., and all the people working on it, Nuclear Blast included, are thinking the same."

Regarding the change in the production team for the LUCA TURILLI'S RHAPSODY album, Luca said, "After many years of work in Wolfsburg at the court of our friend Sascha Paeth, I decided to start this new artistic adventure with a different team of people. Sascha and the other friends of the Gate Studio (Miro, Olaf, Robert, Simon, etc.) are a winning team and their help in the past was really important for RHAPSODY. But it's since many years already that Alex and I took the productions in our hands, becoming producers of our own albums, despite Sascha remaining always fundamental as engineer and mixer man. His mixes will remain legendary and our list of thanks will be never long enough for all the professional contribution he gave. All the years of work, fun and sufferance in the Gate studios of Wolfsburg will surely remain unforgettable and are carved in our heart. For LUCA TURILLI'S RHAPSODY and the new band adventure, I decided to change the studio and the main man behind the console. We [recorded] the new album at the Backyard Studio of Kempten, Germany. Our new engineer and main mixer man is the same owner of the studio and his name is Sebastian Roeder, the person who worked for RHAPSODY OF FIRE in the last worldwide tour making real miracles while mixing our music live. Apart from being a talented engineer, he is a great person and he shares with us the love for this style of music."

"Innocence", the new video from BEGGARS & THIEVES, can be seen below. The song comes off the band's latest album, "We Are the Brokenhearted", which came out last November via Frontiers Records.

BEGGARS & THIEVES debuted on Atlantic Records in 1990 with their self-titled album, a record that was critically acclaimed with the first single appearing in the top 40 Billboard magazine album rock chart and being added to rotation on over 100 Parallel One AOR radio stations. The change of musical climate, and the advent of grunge, halted the band's rise to the stardom when their new label Epic Records decided not to release BEGGARS & THIEVES' second studio album, "Look What You Create", written and produced in collaboration with Jim Vallance (AEROSMITH, BRYAN ADAMS, SCORPIONS, HEART).

In the late '90s, BEGGARS & THIEVES finally independently released "Look What You Create" followed by "The Grey Album" in 1999, before going into hibernation until 2004 when the founding members — singer Louie Merlino and guitarist Ronnie Mancuso — started to play again with guitarist Brent Muscat (FASTER PUSSYCAT) and drummer Lez Warner (THE CULT), opening shows for TESLA, VINCE NEIL, RATT, SLAUGHTER and SKID ROW. "That and the amazing internet support from the European melodic rock community pretty much set the stage for reforming BEGGARS," recalls Ronnie.

Indeed one of the highlights during the last five years was BEGGARS & THIEVES participation at Firefest 2010 in Nottingham, England. "I don't think we realized that our music meant so much to so many people. The first time we played Firefest and everybody was singing the lyrics, it just blew Louie and me away," continues Mancuso. "Right from the start we had offers to do another album, but it wasn't until I partnered up with producer/engineer Kevin Churko while he was producing Ozzy, that I knew by combining our studios and his engineering and mixing skills, we could make an album that competed on the level of anything being released at the time."

The resulting new album, "We Are The Brokenhearted", promises to firmly position the band on the map for all hard rock fans worldwide. In Merlino's words: "We wanted to make a PINK FLOYD 'Dark Side Of The Moon' or a U2 'Joshua Tree' and that is a huge commitment. I'm not saying we achieved it. But that was the level of passion and effort that was put into making 'We Are The Brokenhearted'. I think the new songs show our potential to be a truly classic band and we both feel strongly that this is the best work we have ever done. We just hope people get the chance and take the time to really listen and absorb this as an album: This is an album designed to be listened to as a whole entity, not in shuffle mode on an iPod." Merlino continues: "This isn't just some guys trying to have a little fun reliving the past. We got a good ten years left, we aren't messing around, we are deadly serious. We want to compete with the big boys."

"Dark Prophets, Black Hearts", the new video from Norwegian progressive metallers IN VAIN, can be seen below. The song comes off the band's sophomore album, "Mantra", which came out in January 2010 via Indie Recordings.

"Mantra" track listing:

01. Captivating Solitude
02. Mannefall
03. Ain't No Lovin'
04. On The Banks Of The Mississippi
05. Circle Of Agony
06. Wayakin (The Guardian Spirit Of The Nez Perce)
07. Dark Prophets, Black Hearts
08. Sombre Fall, Burdened Winter

"Mantra" also includes a bonus disc with a "The Making Of..." documentary, one bonus track, screensavers, desktop images and more.

IN VAIN released its full-length debut, "The Latter Rain", in 2007 via Indie Recordings. The CD was recorded at DUB Studio (GREEN CARNATION, BLOOD RED THRONE, CHAIN COLLECTOR) in the summer/fall of 2006 and involved close to 20 guest musicians and several guest vocalists, such as Jan K. Transeth (IN THE WOODS...) and Kjetil Nordhus (GREEN CARNATION, TRAIL OF TEARS).

VINTERSORG, the Swedish folk metal led by BORKNAGAR frontman Andreas Hedlund (a.k.a. Vintersorg), will release its ninth album, "Orkan", on June 29 via Napalm Records.

According to a press release, "Orkan" "combines the best of two worlds. Namely, [Hedlund's] folk-tinged roots and the progressive songwriting of his latest works. The eight tracks provide the listener with rousing and hymn-like refrains, extreme diversified vocal parts, superb riffs and brilliant melodies. Above all the compositions tower VINTERSORG's highly unique vocals which show a wide range of new facets. The new opus is therefore a highly interesting and recommendable album, comprised of all periods of the Swede's creative musical life, thus achieving a whole new level of songwriting."

In a recent interview with Global Metal Apocalypse, Hedlund stated about "Orkan", "VINTERSORG has always been a band that has evolved with every new album and that's a very strong foundation in our art. To feel free to evolve and discover new grounds to embrace, just follow where the inspiration takes you and not calculate how that will affect the band commercially, that's what real art is about from where I'm standing. The album is a continuation from the last one, 'Jordpuls', but with some fresh angles and a more perfected production, I would say. Some songs have a bit darker atmosphere, but I'm all from the inside… so it'll be interesting to see what people from the outside will think. . . It's an album where all the songs need to be there to have the total atmosphere of what we wanted to achieve this time around, but songs like 'Istid', 'Polarnatten' and 'Myren' is some that will dwell your mind for a while, I guess."

"Orkan" track listing:

01. Istid
02. Ur Stjärnstoft Är Vi Komna
03. Polarnatten
04. Myren
05. Orkan
06. Havets Nåd
07. Norrskenssyner
08. Urvädersfången

Legendary British heavy metal band BLACK SABBATH closed this year's edition of the Download festival earlier tonight (Sunday, June 10) at Donington Park in Leicestershire, United Kingdom.

The band's setlist was as follows:

01. Black Sabbath
02. The Wizard
03. Behind The Wall Of Sleep
04. N.I.B.
05. Into The Void
06. Under The Sun
07. Snowblind
08. War Pigs
09. Sweet Leaf
10. Drum Solo
11. Iron Man
12. Fairies Wear Boots
13. Tomorrow's Dream
14. Dirty Women
15. Children Of The Grave

Encore:

16. Paranoid

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

Original BLACK SABBATH guitarist Tony Iommi, singer Ozzy Osbourne and bassist Geezer Butler performed live together for the first time in seven years on May 19, playing an intimate show at the 3,800-person O2 Academy in SABBATH's hometown of Birmingham, England. The show, which served as a warm-up for the group's appearance at the Download festival, was laced with emotion and drama: it was the first live appearance for Iommi since being diagnosed with cancer, and it was the first with stand-in drummer Tommy Clufetos, making the split official between founding drummer Bill Ward and the rest of SABBATH.

Iommi, Osbourne and Butler discussed their new album in a video interview posted at NME.com. The three musicians are working with producer Rick Rubin on their first recording project together in 34 years, with Osbourne saying, "We've written about 15 songs so far. Whether they all get on the album, I don't know. We just keep on writing." Osbourne also dropped a clue about the set's title, hinting, "Next year, 2013, is a good clue to what we're going to call the album."

As for how Rubin influenced the band's approach to writing together again, Butler explained, "He sat us down, put the first album on and said 'listen to this', imagine it's 1969, you've just done that, what would you do next?"

Iommi added, "It's taken on the flavor of the old stuff in the way we put things together, but with a different look on it."

The project suffered another blow earlier this year when Iommi was diagnosed with cancer, although he said that playing the warm-up show in Birmingham, was a boost to his spirits. "It was great," he said. "Going through what I've gone through over the past year has been like living in a different world — being onstage and to get that (reaction from the fans) is just fantastic, it really boosts you up."

SABBATH has curtailed almost all its planned touring activities for 2012 while Iommi undergoes treatment. The band is still scheduled to headline Chicago's Lollapalooza event in early August.

Professionally filmed video footage of legendary rocker Alice Cooper and his band performing a cover version of Lady Gaga's empowerment anthem "Born This Way" this past Saturday (June 9) at the 2012 Bonnaroo Music And Arts Festival on a 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee, 60 miles south of Nashville, can be seen below.

In a September 2011 interview, Cooper said that Lady Gaga reminded him of himself. "[She] is the female Alice Cooper," he said. 'She totally gets it. She created a character named Lady Gaga and wrote songs for Lady Gaga, just as I write songs for Alice. But when you meet her offstage, she's nothing like that person… and neither am I."

Cooper previously praised the 25-year-old singer — who is said to be a fan of heavy metal and hard rock — saying: "She can sing, write and play piano — she's not just a costume queen ... you can be as outrageous as you want as long as you back it up with the music."

Cooper was photographed backstage at Lady Gaga's show on March 25, 2011 in Phoenix. The pop singer marked the occasion by smearing fake blood over her chest and posting on her Twitter profile, "I just died and went to hell" after the meeting.

HALESTORM singer Lzzy Hale joined SLIPKNOT and STONE SOUR frontman Corey Taylor on stage at this year's edition of the Download festival on June 9 at Donington Park in Leicestershire, United Kingdom to peform an acoustic cover version of the AC/DC classic "You Shook Me All Night Long". Fan-filmed video footage of the performance can be seen below.

Hale last year admitted to having a "crush" on Taylor. She told Loudwire, "I'm gonna totally ruin his hard-ass reputation right now, but, you know, there's something that I've always liked about the scary-looking guy that will, you know, in the morning call me 'darling' . . . I don't think that anyone has really ever given him the recognition for what an incredibly handsome smile he has. He never gets recognized for that."

Hale added that she thinks SLIPKNOT's "Gehanna" is the sexiest metal song around, saying, "Every time that song comes on, I still get chills, you know? I guess it's the combination of the performance of Corey and just, you know, the words actually speak to me more so than anything else . . . It's definitely a sexy song."

Quality video footage of MARDUK's June 7 performance at Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio can be seen below.

MARDUK is currently touring North America with support from 1349, WITHERED and WEAPON.

MARDUK's 12th studio album, "Serpent Sermon", was released last month via Blooddawn Productions/Century Media Records. The effort was made available as standard CD, vinyl and limited-edition media book with an exclusive bonus track entitled "Coram Satanae".

"Serpent Sermon" track listing:

01. Serpent Sermon
02. Messianic Pestilence
03. Souls For Belial
04. Into Second Death
05. Temple Of Decay
06. Damnation's Gold
07. Hail Mary (Piss-Soaked Genuflexion)
08. M.A.M.M.O.N.
09. Gospel Of The Worm
10. World Of Blades

Fan-filmed video footage of MÖTLEY CRÜE's June 9 performance at this year's edition of the Sweden Rock Festival, which took place June 7-9 in Sölvesborg, Sweden, can be seen below.

The band's setlist was as follows:

01. Wild Side
02. Live Wire
03. Too Fast For Love
04. Saints Of Los Angeles
05. Shout At The Devil
06. Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)
07. Same Ol' Situation (S.O.S.)
08. Looks That Kill
09. Piece Of Your Action
10. Primal Scream
11. Smokin' In The Boys' Room
12. Drum Solo
13. Dr. Feelgood
14. Girls, Girls, Girls
15. Home Sweet Home
16. Kickstart My Heart

MÖTLEY CRÜE earlier in the year entered drummer Tommy Lee's studio called The Atrium in Calabasas, California to begin recording a new song that will be released to coincide with the band's upcoming summer co-headlining tour with KISS.

Speaking to VH1 Radio Network's Dave Basner following the March 20 press conference at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, California to officially announce details of the tour, Sixx stated about the band's new track, "We're gonna play it on tour. We just wrote it and recorded it. It's called 'Sex' and it sounds very much like it's off of the first record [1981's 'Too Fast For Love']. And that was definitely on purpose. I've been writing very simple riffs for the last year and focusing on how these riffs would work for Vince [Neil, vocals], basically, and took it in the studio with Tommy and Mick [Mars, guitar] and the thing just came alive."

Quality fan-filmed video footage of TRILLIUM — the metal project launched by American singer/songwriter Amanda Somerville — performing on May 9 at Biebob in Vosselaar, Belgium as the support act for DELAIN can be seen below.

TRILLIUM released its debut album, "Alloy", on November 1, 2011 in North America (three days later in Europe) via Frontiers Records.

"Alloy" is a collection of songs that's charged with emotion and exploration and a very personal statement from Amanda.

"Since I'm an eclectic and diverse person and musician, that certainly comes out in this album," the singer states in a press release. "I think that the diversity is what is going to set this album apart from other stuff that's out there right now. It's got big choruses and epic symphonic hits, guitar solos you could imagine being played on a mountain top with an aerial camera view, but it's also got a lot of soul added to the raise-your-fists-in-the-air-and-make-a-mean-face vibe".

Musically, TRILLIUM melts rock and metal in a new, interesting and different way from anything Amanda has worked on so far. "Alloy" is also graced with the talents of several musicians with whom Amanda had the honor of working in the past. Sander Gommans (AFTER FOREVER, HDK) and Sascha Paeth (KAMELOT, AVANTASIA, EPICA, AFTER FOREVER) were the main songwriters along with the American singer on this album. They have brought a lot to the project and have certainly allowed the sound to be a lot richer and stronger.

"Sander is all around an awesome songwriter and guitar player, and he's especially good at coming up with riffs and movements of a song, while Sascha is a fantastic producer who can play any instrument there is — and play the hell out of it — and his sense of songwriting is really strong!" says Amanda.

Other contributing musicians include Miro Rodenberg, who handled all of the orchestral and keyboard arrangements, Robert Hunecke on drums, Olaf Reitmeier on acoustic guitar, Simon Oberender on keyboards (and mastering). But there are more surprises are on the record.

"Working with Mat Sinner on KISKE-SOMERVILLE established a solid professional relationship and I also found a good friend in him," says Amanda. "We co-wrote 'Love Is An Illusion' together for this album and it was a pleasure working with him once again!"

And last, but in no way least, Jorn Lande has lent his epic voice to the song "Scream It". Somerville tells the story: "I actually wrote that song with Jorn in mind not for his status in the scene, but because I absolutely love his voice, he's a wonderful friend of mine through working together on AVANTASIA and he was the perfect 'actor' to play the character in the song. And he nailed it!"

"Alloy" was released in a lavish digipack CD edition and includes the following songs:

01. Machine Gun
02. Coward
03. Purge
04. Utter Descension
05. Bow To The Ego
06. Mistaken
07. Scream It
08. Justifiable Casualty
09. Path Of Least Resistance
10. Into The Dissonance
11. Slow It Down
12. Love Is An Illusion *

* bonus track

"Alloy" recording lineup:

* Amanda Somerville - Lead and backing Vocals, Keyboards
* Sascha Paeth - Guitar, Bass, Keyboards, Drums
* Sander Gommans - Guitar
* Miro - Arrangements and Keyboards
* Olaf Reitmeier - Acoustic Guitar
* Robert Hunecke - Drums
* Simon Oberender - Keyboards
* Jorn Lande - Guest Lead Vocals on "Scream It"

Video footage of GOTTHARD's press conference and performance at this year's edition of the Sweden Rock Festival, which took place June 7-9 in Sölvesborg, Sweden, can be seen below.

GOTTHARD's new album, "Firebirth", was released on June 1 via Nuclear Blast/Warner Music. The CD was produced at the band's own Yellow House Studios in Lugano, Switzerland, with guitarist/songwriter Leo Leoni and Paul Lani (who has previously worked with GOTTHARD on several of their earlier albums, including "G-Spot" and "Homerun") at the helm.

"Firebirth" marks GOTTHARD's first release with new singer Nic Maeder, who was born in Lausanne, Switzerland, lived in Melbourne, Australia and grew up between Switzerland and "Down Under."

GOTTHARD vocalist Steve Lee was killed on October 5, 2010 in what has been described as a freak road accident in Nevada.

The "Firebirth" album cover depicts the firebird Phoenix, which symbolically rises "from the ashes to the sky" — this line expresses what each GOTTHARD fan feels and underlines the turbulent time that GOTTHARD has gone through in the past months.

GOTTHARD's "Starlight" video was filmed in an old animal food factory near Berlin, Germany where scenes from the Quentin Tarantino film "Inglorious Basterds" were previously shot.

Video footage of SACRED REICH's June 9 performance at the Sweden Rock Festival in Sölvesborg, Sweden can be seen below.

The remastered edition of SACRED REICH's classic 1992 album "Independent" was released as a digipack and jewelbox on March 15, 2010 via Displeased Records. The first 2,500 copies contain a free SACRED REICH patch.

Bonus tracks:

* "A Question" (from "A Question" EP)
* "Let's Have A War" (FEAR cover from "A Question" EP)
* "Who's To Blame" (from "A Question" EP)
* "The Big Picture" (MDC cover from "Open Book" EP)
* "Crawling" [radio edit] (from "Crawling" EP)

Displeased Records' reissue of SACRED REICH's classic album "The American Way" came out in February 2009. With upgraded layout, to-the-point remastering plus unreleased pre-production demo bonus tracks and a video clip, this new and improved CD reissue is an essential addition to every thrash metal collection.

"The American Way" was made available in a limited digipak version and standard jewel case version. The first 2,500 copies came with a free logo patch.

RISING WEST, the new band featuring Michael Wilton, Eddie Jackson, Scott Rockenfield and Parker Lundgren of QUEENSRŸCHE, along with powerhouse vocalist Todd La Torre of CRIMSON GLORY, played its first two shows ever this past Friday (June 8) and Saturday, June 9 at the Hard Rock Café in Seattle, Washington. The band performed rare and classic hits from the first five QUEENSRŸCHE albums — from the 1983 EP through 1990's "Empire" — as well as a cover version of the IRON MAIDEN staple "Wrathchild".

Commented Wilton: "To all our friends and fans — thank you for the support this weekend for the debut RISING WEST invasion!! Of our two shows, both were SOLD OUT!! We injected the metal everyone has been longing for and served it in slab size proportions! Thank you to our hard working crew, the Hard Rock Café Seattle, and our friends WINDOWPANE for making this a historical and FUN event!!!"

RISING WEST's setlist for both shows was as follows:

01. Queen Of The Reich
02. Speak
03. Walk In The Shadows
04. En Force
05. Child Of Fire
06. The Whisper
07. Warning
08. The Needle Lies
09. Take Hold Of The Flame
10. Prophecy
11. My Empty Room
12. Eyes Of A Stranger

Encore:

13. Wrathchild (IRON MAIDEN cover)
14. Roads To Madness

Fan-filmed video footage of RISING WEST's June 9 concert at Seattle's Hard Rock Café can be seen below.

Speaking to "The Men's Room" radio show, which airs on the Seattle station KISW 99.9 FM, Wilton stated about the formation of RISING WEST and the status of QUEENSRŸCHE, "We have some time off this year, so we put a project and this kind of turned into this monumental, epic band. And we're doing that as kind of a side thing away from QUEENSRŸCHE." He added, "We still very much are QUEENSRŸCHE, and QUEENSRŸCHE will be continuing on. We want to just have some fun, play some old 'RŸCHE, bring back some memories and just kick it."

Regarding his involvement with RISING WEST, Todd said, "For me to be able to come in and be asked to perform these songs is an honor. It's a lot of fun. I have personal attachment to some of these songs. When my grandmother passed away, I remember riding in my car and listening to the [QUEENSRŸCHE] song 'Roads To Madness'. I mean, these songs resonate with me in a different way. So when I sing it, it comes from my heart."

He added, "We're playing all the old [QUEENSRŸCHE] classics and I can belt it out just like the record."

Legendary Danish/American/Swedish heavy metal band KING DIAMOND made its return to the live stage last night (Saturday, June 9) at the Sweden Rock Festival in Sölvesborg, Sweden.

The setlist was as follows:

01. The Candle
02. Welcome Home
03. Voodoo
04. At The Graves
05. Up From The Grave
06. Let It Be Done
07. Dreams
08. Sleepless Nights
09. Andy La Rocque / Mike Wead Guitar Solo
10. Shapes Of Black
11. Come To The Sabbath (with MERCYFUL FATE's Hank Shermann and VOLBEAT's Michael Poulsen)
12. Eye Of The Witch

Encore:

13. The Family Ghost
14. Halloween (with MERCYFUL FATE's Michael Denner and MOTÖRHEAD's Mikkey Dee)
15. Black Horsemen

KING DIAMOND will play only one more show in Europe this summer: June 15 at Hellfest in Clisson, France.

Legendary Danish heavy metal singer King Diamond (KING DIAMOND, MERCYFUL FATE) (real name: Kim Bendix Petersen), 55, underwent open-heart triple-bypass surgery in November 2010. He has since completed his cardiac rehabilitation program and has stopped smoking entirely, changed his diet and is getting regular exercise, according to his wife Livia Zita.

King Diamond made his long-anticipated return to the stage with his MERCYFUL FATE bandmates Hank Shermann, Timi Hansen and Michael Denner on December 7, 2011 at the second of four intimate shows at the Fillmore in San Francisco as part of METALLICA's week-long celebration of its 30th anniversary as a band for fan club members only.

King Diamond played a surprise three-song set on January 27 at Tree's in Dallas, Texas during the "5th Annual Nomad Recording Studio Throwdown". King, who appeared without his trademark makeup, was joined for the performance by Michael Harris on guitar, Neil Brincks on bass, J.T. Longoria on guitar and Matt Thompson (KING DIAMOND, SHAOLIN DEATH SQUAD) on drums. King also presented awards at the event, which featured additional performances by BORN & RAISED, SHAOLIN DEATH SQUAD, LOVE STRICKEN DEMISE and RIVETHEAD.

Fan-filmed video footage of legendary rocker Alice Cooper and his band performing a cover version of Lady Gaga's empowerment anthem "Born This Way" this past Friday (June 8) at at Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi can be seen below.

In a September 2011 interview, Cooper said that Lady Gaga reminded him of himself. "[She] is the female Alice Cooper," he said. 'She totally gets it. She created a character named Lady Gaga and wrote songs for Lady Gaga, just as I write songs for Alice. But when you meet her offstage, she's nothing like that person… and neither am I."

Cooper previously praised the 25-year-old singer — who is said to be a fan of heavy metal and hard rock — saying: "She can sing, write and play piano — she's not just a costume queen ... you can be as outrageous as you want as long as you back it up with the music."

Cooper was photographed backstage at Lady Gaga's show on March 25, 2011 in Phoenix. The pop singer marked the occasion by smearing fake blood over her chest and posting on her Twitter profile, "I just died and went to hell" after the meeting.

Quality fan-filmed video footage of SOUNDGARDEN's June 7 performance at the Sweden Rock Festival in Sölvesborg, Sweden can be seen below.

"Live To Rise", the first SOUNDGARDEN song in almost 16 years, was made available as a free download on iTunes beginning April 17 as part of the promotion of "Marvel's The Avengers". The seven-day promotion included an exclusive clip, "The Face Off", from the superhero team-up movie, which came out on May 4.

"Live To Rise" was written specifically for "Marvel's The Avengers" after SOUNDGARDEN was approached about contributing a song to the film.

"The hard part of writing a song for a film is it has to act as a SOUNDGARDEN song, first and foremost, then obviously, it has to coexist with the film," Cornell told Billboard.com.

Cornell told Seattle radio station KISW that fans should not think of "Live To Rise" as an indication of what the rest of the group's new record will sound like. Chris explained, "Some of the songs on our new album are pretty far left of center, and sort of zero in on more of a hardcore SOUNDGARDEN fan and not necessarily a family that goes to see a film like that. Although ['Live To Rise' is] not really what I think of as a necessarily family-friendly song, but it's as close as we've ever come."

The singer added that the tune wasn't specifically based on the movie, saying, "I think a film like this appeals to little kids all the way to old people because it's an action film, it's comic book characters, but it's also pretty witty dialog and accomplished actors doing it. So it had to be somewhat open to all of that. But also first and foremost it has to be a SOUNDGARDEN song."

SOUNDGARDEN officially reunited in early 2010 after disbanding in 1997. Since then, the group has played one full-length North American tour, a batch of festival and club gigs, and some overseas shows.

The group also released a career retrospective called "Telephantasm" as well as a concert album titled "Live On I5", which was recorded on its last tour before breaking up.

A release date and title for the new SOUNDGARDEN album have yet to be announced.

Reunited hard rockers UGLY KID JOE performed this past Friday (June 8) at the Sweden Rock Festival in Sölvesborg, Sweden. Fan-filmed video footage of the concert can be seen below. Also available is an interview with UGLY KID JOE singer Whitfield Crane conducted at this year's Download festival, which is being held June 8-10 at Donington Park in Leicestershire, United Kingdom.

UGLY KID JOE released a new six-song EP, "Stairway To Hell", digitally on June 5 and will make it available physically on July 9.

"Stairway To Hell" heralds UGLY KID JOE's return, containing songs spanning the full repertoire of influences which made UGLY KID JOE one of the prime soundtracks for young snowboarders, surfers, keggers and characters worldwide. Whether it's "Devil’s Paradise", with it's hypnotic riffery and hook line, grooving and grinding its hips seductively, the melodic power-fueled darkness of "No One Survives" or the irrepressibly memorable chug-and-chorus of "I'm Alright" it's clear that UGLY KID JOE have everything they started with plus fatter chops and a (frankly) superior curve on songwriting.

"Stairway To Hell" track listing:

01. Devil's Paradise
02. You Make Me Sick
03. No One Survives
04. I'm Alright
05. Love Ain't True! (feat. Angelo Moore and Dirty Walt of FISHBONE)
06. Another Beer

All six tracks can now be streamed using the widget below. Also available is the video for "Devil's Paradise", which was filmed in early April in Lake Tahoe, Nevada with Mike and Dave Hatchett of Standard Films.

UGLY KID JOE released three full-length albums and toured extensively throughout the 1990s before disbanding in 1997.

UGLY KID JOE 2012 is:

Whitfield Crane - Vocals
Klaus Eichstadt - Guitar
Dave Fortman - Guitar
Cordell Crockett - Bass
Shannon Larkin - Drums

Performance footage ( Sweden Rock Festival):

Quality fan-filmed video footage of former SKID ROW singer Sebastian Bach performing the SKID ROW classic "Slave To The Grind" this past Thursday (June 7) at the Sweden Rock Festival in Sölvesborg, Sweden can be seen below.

Bach last week released a video for the song "I'm Alive". The clip is one of three videos (alongside "Kicking & Screaming" and "TunnelVision") that the singer filmed on June 28, 2011 in Hollywood, California with director Devin DeHaven of Fortress Entertainment (PAPA ROACH, WHITESNAKE, METHOD MAN, TALIB KWELI).

"I'm Alive" comes off Bach's new album, "Kicking & Screaming", which sold 6,600 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 73 on The Billboard 200 chart. The singer's previous CD, "Angel Down", opened with 6,400 units back in November 2007 to debut at No. 190.

Fan-filmed video footage of SEPULTURA's June 7 performance at the Sweden Rock Festival in Sölvesborg, Sweden can be seen below.

SEPULTURA played its first show with new drummer Eloy Casagrande (GLÓRIA, ANDRÉ MATOS) on November 25, 2011 in Lichtenfels, Germany.

Casagrande joined SEPULTURA as the replacement for Jean Dolabella, who left the band because he could no longer handle being away from home for long periods of time.

Eloy is a 21-year-old drum prodigy from São Paulo, Brazil who won the Modern Drummer "Undiscovered Drummer" contest as a teenager in 2006.

Dolabella left SEPULTURA after a five-year run of relentless touring and two studio albums. He joined SEPULTURA in 2006 following the departure of the band's original drummer, Igor Cavalera.

SEPULTURA is touring in support of its 12th studio album, and Nuclear Blast Records debut, "Kairos", which hit stores in July 2011.

FOZZY, the band featuring WWE wrestling superstar Chris Jericho and STUCK MOJO mastermind Rich "The Duke" Ward, has set "Sin And Bones" as the title of the follow-up to 2010's "Chasing The Grail", due on August 14 (one day earlier internationally) via the group's new label, Century Media Records.

Speaking to Sophie K of Total Rock at this year's Download festival, which is being held June 8-10 at Donington Park in Leicestershire, United Kingdom, Jericho said about FOZZY's new CD, "Every artist says this, but it's definitely the best thing we've ever done. It kind of takes the FOZZY concept of what we do best, which is very heavy with very melodic choruses and a lot of harmonies. We're just super-proud of it. We worked on it for the last eight months."

He added, "We said we wanna make this like our 'black' album where all the songs kind of fit the same vibe. They're kind of darker lyrically, darker songs, but still catchy and hooky. So I'm really proud of the lyrics that I wrote for this. When I write lyrics, I give them to Rich Ward, and he takes them and writes riffs and songs based around what he feels the tone of the songs are. And I guess the lyrics I wrote are very dark, because it's a very dark record."

When asked if the "darker" vibe of the new album is reflection of personal things that might have gone on in his life, Jericho said, "I don't think so. I've just always been more attuned to that. Like, I write by songtitles. I read somewhere something about somebody woke up with a spider in their mouth. And I was like, 'Spider In My Mouth'. That's like the best title I could ever think of. So I wrote a bunch of lyrics that kind of fit that vibe. So a songtitle will lead… The first single is called 'Sandpaper'. And it's not about a piece of paper that you rub on your face that chafes you, it's just about an abrasive type of a feeling that you might have toward somebody. So it's just stuff like that. But we still sing it with a smile on our faces."

Speaking about some of the individual songs that make up the new FOZZY album, Jericho said, "We've been playing 'Sandpaper' live, and right off the bat people are bobbing their heads. So people can get into it right away, which is cool. I mean, there are so many great songs. There's another song called 'She's My Addiction', which is kind of a more [THE ROLLING] STONES-y, GUNS N' ROSES-type thing, but also very dark. Phil Campbell played a solo for it, from MOTÖRHEAD; he's been a very good friend of the band. There's a song called 'Inside My Head'. There's an 11-minute song about D-Day called 'Storm The Beaches'. 'Blood Happens'… that's a heavy one."

Elaborating further on how the "Spider In My Mouth" songtitle came about, Jericho said, "I read it in a Stephen King book. It said, 'He couldn't have been more disgusted if he woke up with a spider in his mouth. And I was like, 'Ahhh… Dude, how heavy is that?' And I wrote it down in my little songtitles book and about a year or two later, I went back and I looked through and it was like, 'Boom, I could do something with that.' So…"

Ward previously stated about the forthcoming CD, "Although every band says 'this is the best thing we've ever done,' I can honestly say that this new album is going to blow everyone away. It's the epitome of who FOZZY is as a band and will expand upon the ultra-heavy yet super melodic and hooky territory that we've refined for the last 12 years. I have a strong feeling that this will be known as our definitive masterpiece for years to come."

FOZZY last year parted ways with bassist Sean Delson and replaced him with Paul DiLeo (ADRENALINE MOB).

FOZZY released the "Remains Alive & Chasing The Grail" two-CD set on July 18, 2011 via Edel's international rock label earMUSIC.

FOZZY was already on the map as the band with the pro wrestler singer, but "Chasing The Grail" broke them as a proper band. It hit #6 on the U.S. Heatseekers charts and the single "Martyr No More" was a theme song for the WWE Royal Rumble. "Remains Alive" is a 2005 live album (recorded in Australia) that was previously available in digital format only.

"Chasing The Grail" sold around 2,200 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD landed at position No. 6 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.

DUST BOLT ist eine Thrash Metal-Band, die im Jahre 2006 in Landsberg am Lech, Bayern gegründet wurde. Im Mai 2012 hat Band einen Plattenvertrag beim Label NAPALM RECORDS unterschrieben. DUST BOLT werden ihr neues Album mit dem Titel "Violent Abolition" am 27. Juli 2012 auf CD und Vinyl veröffentlichen.

"Violent Abolition" Track List:

1. Opulence Contaminated
2. Violent Abolition
3. March thru Pain
4. Shattered by Reality
5. Toxic Attack
6. Into Madness
7. When thy Shall Come - Oblivion
8. Pleasure on Illusion
9. Deviance (ft. Derrick Green - Sepultura)