Raleigh, NC traditional metallers WIDOW will release their new album, Life's Blood, on November 11th via Pure Steel Records.

On the twelve actual tracks you’ll get a great mixture of fresh heaviness and enthralling melodies. The inclined listener will hit more than a smell of NWOBHM, of course together with some well-known US bands, but never forgetting the European origins, which makes the band outstanding in the US sector. Sometimes the guys pound through sublime midtempo-areas ('Embrace It' and 'Behind The Light'), a bit faster they get by twin-guitar-orgies such as 'Take Hold Of The Night', 'The Burning Ones' or the last song 'The One I Know'. Of course they also offer some calm parts, for example at the beginning of 'Another Fallen Angel' and 'In Dreams'. The production has got a very powerful strength, but is also made traditional. So you can expect a bold sound, but don’t have to get feared of a faceless sterile-production. The clear, very outstanding vocals, which are sometimes a bit emotional too, fits perfect to the majestic twin-guitar-leads, so no follower of this genre will be disappointed! In short: US metal deluxe.

San Francisco Bay Area thrashers FORBIDDEN have announced the addition of drummer Sasha Horn (ex-NOVEMBER'S DOOM, AVA INFERI) from Chicago to the group's ranks.

Commented FORBIDDEN guitarist Craig Locicero: "There were so many great players throwing themselves out there and we were always encouraged by the prospects.

"We had nine different drummers out of the dozens of submissions make the trek to Oakland to give it their best shot. Those drummers included Eli Lucas (Petaluma, California), Duane Timlin (Houston, Texas), Jimmy Schultz (Los Angeles, California), Pat Magrath (Los Angeles), Gee Anzalone (Italy), Todd Hansen (Australia), Henry Moreno (Florida), and Burton Ortega (San Francisco). We can't say enough about these guys and how much heart and guts it took to take the chance for the gig. Much love and respect to them! At the very least, we have some new friends and we know where some great new talent is.

"All of these guys kicked ass or they would have never made it through the door, but at the end of the day, it was a two-horse race between Eli Lucas and Sasha.

"We can say with certainty that if Sasha didn't slay the way he did, Eli would have gotten the gig. Both are incredible drummers with HUGE upsides. Eli will go far in this business! Sasha, however, lifted us to another level. When he started playing 'Infinite', everyone in the band immediately looked at each other and our eyes got bigger. It was something that Russ [Anderson, vocals] and I have not felt since Paul Bostaph first played with us back in 1986, when we were kids. Simply put, great chemistry! A sense of invincibility was in the room. Then we played 'Forsaken At The Gates' and it was over. No need to keep playing — we were stunned. In fact, some of our hands were shaking! That's saying something. It was like gasoline thrown on an inferno!

"Now that we have our band back intact, we can start writing the next FORBIDDEN record with the confidence that we have something special once again. Like Bostaph, Jacobs, Hernandez and Hoglan, Sasha Horn will earn his praise and respect from our fans. He's FORBIDDEN's next great drummer and we are very proud to tell the world! We are truly inspired to out-do ourselves."

Added Horn: "This was an amazing opportunity from the get-go, to be able to throw my name in on auditions for a band that I've been an avid fan of since I was 12 years old.

"How does it feel to now get the chance to slay alongside them? Otherworldly. Truly out of this world.

"To just be considered along with the other amazing drummers from across the globe was a humbling experience in itself. And it's because FORBIDDEN is a band that wants to constantly take leaps and bounds up to that next level that I know this is the perfect union.

"When we got into that room and played together for the first time, the chemistry just went right off of the charts. That's a good feeling to start off with."

Gary Graff of Billboard.com recently conducted an interview with MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Billboard.com: Did you have any particular vision or creative mission for ["TH1RT3EN"]?

Mustaine: Well, we had such a limited time to do this record. When we came home from touring, we had two months off and my manager [Mark Adelman] basically laid it out that it was in my best interests to consider doing a record in that two-month period, even though it was almost impossible. But what made it a little bit easier was [Roadrunner] was working with us on this. "Sudden Death" was a song we did for "Guitar Hero" that they allowed to be on the record. Then we got an offer to do [the title song for the videogame] "NeverDead". So we went from needing 13 to having to come up with 11 new songs, which took some pressure off even though we still had to do it in about seven weeks.

Billboard.com: What impact did [producer] Johnny K have?

Mustaine: Andy Sneap wasn't available, and David Ellefson had recommended him. I didn't know if he was going to work. I like the bands he's produced, but they're not necessarily my genre, not thrash metal. So I didn't know if he was going to pull it off. But when we first started the record, he said, "I know we're under a time crunch. If you need my help with anything, just let me know." We ended up working together great, even on the songwriting. I came out with a really great friend in Johnny.

Billboard.com: This is your last album for Roadrunner, and you've been critical of the label in the past. But it sounds like it was better for you this time around.

Mustaine: We have had kind of an up and down time with Roadrunner, but right now everything is good. This album signified the era of, hopefully, a new regime. They were very helpful, and we helped things by putting down some firm boundaries and standing our ground and saying "we can't do that" when we had to. So I'm very excited, very optimistic about the future.

After "serious technical difficulties" led to the cancelation of Friday's (October 28) planned performance in Gurgaon (a suburb of Delhi), METALLICA gave its first-ever live performance in India last night (Sunday, October 30), kicking off the show at around 8:30 p.m. local time with "Creeping Death", "For Whom The Bell Tolls" and "Fuel".

Around 30,000 fans attended the concert, which featured three support acts two — INNER SPECTRUM from Bangalore and GUILLOTINE from New Delhi, along with BIFFY CLYRO from Scotland.

Heavy rains caused a slight delay in the concert, with BIFFY CLYRO completing its performance at around 7:45 p.m. and fans waiting for approximately 45 minutes for their heroes to take the stage.

One die-hard METALLICA fan who spoke to DNA said, "We waited for years for METALLICA to come to India, so what's a 45-minute delay, knowing that they will play at the end of it?"

After the concert in Delhi was canceled, over 4,000 fans flew down from the capital to see METALLICA, not wanting to miss a chance of seeing the legendary band perform.

"The venue was packed to capacity and people were still gathering outside. We were prepared for only 25,000 people, which is the capacity of the venue, but there were over 29,000 fans there," a police official told Mid-Day.com.

"We do not mind paying anything to watch METALLICA, but we have not received a refund for our Delhi tickets yet. We had a tough time getting last minute air tickets to Bangalore, but somehow took connecting flights and reach in record time," said Shahil Kumar, a fan from Delhi.

The organizers of the Vladivar Rock 'N India took caution to ensure that the concert passed off without any glitch. More than 1,000 police personnel were deployed on security duty, according to IBN Live.

METALLICA's setlist was as follows:

01. Creeping Death
02. For Whom the Bell Tolls
03. Fuel
04. Ride the Lightning
05. Fade to Black
06. Cyanide
07. The Memory Remains
08. Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
09. Sad But True
10. All Nightmare Long
11. One
12. Master of Puppets
13. Blackened
14. Nothing Else Matters
15. Enter Sandman

Encore:

16. Am I Evil?
17. Battery
18. Seek & Destroy

The show in Gurgaon was canceled two hours before METALLICA was supposed to perform, resulting in a sharp increase in online booking for tickets to the Bangalore concert.

Four officials from the event management company, DNA Entertainment Network, which organized the METALLICA performances in India, were sent to six days of police custody on early Saturday on charges of cheating and breach of trust.

According to WIVB-TV, Tony Lorenzo, guitarist and founding member of Buffalo death metal band SONS OF AZRAEL, was shot by an armed robber while walking in Buffalo's Elmwood Village Wednesday night. The 25-year-old musician is paralyzed from the waist down, with a bullet lodged in his spinal column.

Tony's friend, Alex Artemas, said, "Him and I were just walking to a friend's house, and it was just a complete random hit, came from behind, never saw it coming."

"The kid asked me, he said, 'Give me what you got.' And before I could even get my wallet out, he just shot me," said Tony.

Initial reports were that the victim may have known his attacker.

Tony's mom, Caroline Bronckers, said, "He absolutely did not know his attacker, and I want that cleared."

Tony added, "I'm not a gang banger. I'm not someone who owes anyone money. I don't start beefs. I'm just a normal guy, you know? I work at Pano's Restaurant."

Doctors have to wait for the swelling to go down before they can remove the bullet.

A PayPal account (helpingtony@gmail.com) has been set up to help pay for Lorenzo's medical expenses.

German metalcore band CALIBAN will release its new album, "I Am Nemesis", in Europe on February 6 via Century Media Records. The CD will feature guest appearances by Marcus Bischoff (HEAVEN SHALL BURN) and Mitch Lucker (SUICIDE SILENCE). A European tour with ALL SHALL PERISH, WE BUTTER THE BREAD WITH BUTTER, EYES SET TO KILL and ATTILA will kick off on February 2 in Karlsruhe, Germany.

Commented CALIBAN: "Now that we finally completed the production process, we absolutely can't wait to take the new stuff on tour and play it in front of all of you. Additionally, we are really looking forward to go on tour with our friends from ALL SHALL PERISH and WE BUTTER THE BREAD WITH BUTTER again and we are happy to have awesome bands like EYES SET TO KILL and ATTILA on the road with us as well!

"The official release show of our new record will take place in Hamburg on February, 3rd, the very day our album will be available to you in stores! U.K. dates are still in the planning stage and will be announced soon."

CALIBAN's "Coverfield" EP was released this past spring. The effort contains a variety of cover songs from bands which have been an influence to CALIBAN or are among their personal favorites.

CALIBAN's seventh album, "Say Hello To Tragedy", landed at No. 97 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which featuring the best-selling albums by new and developing artists (defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200)

Ex-JOURNEY singer Steve Perry tells The Associated Press that a reunion with his former bandmates is probably not going to happen.

"It's like any emotional, committed relationship. At some point, they seem to all have a shelf life and bands are no exception," he said. "Life has moved us all on in different places in our lives. They're doing what they're doing — they have been since '98. And I've been doing what I'm doing, which is living my life and having a personal life."

Perry said that he is stunned that JOURNEY's smash hit "Don't Stop Believin'" — which he wrote with JOURNEY keyboardist Jonathan Cain and guitarist Neil Schon — continues to resonate with so many people.

"It's very shocking because now I'm getting it for 7-, 8-, 9-, 10-year-olds coming up to me, and they love that song and they've made it their song," said Perry, 62. "It's just amazing to me."

MÖTLEY CRÜE will re-release a limited quantity of its catalog in the U.K. via Eleven Seven Music, having regained the rights to all its songs after a long absence in the marketplace.

The following albums will be re-released on November 14 as vinyl-replica CDs with a 16-page booklet, a CD with a five-page booklet and on 180-gram vinyl in a four-color gatefold sleeve:

* Too Fast For Love
* Shout At The Devil
* Theatre of Pain
* Girls Girls Girls
* Dr. Feelgood

Also on that date, the rest of their catalogue — "Mötley Crüe", "Generation Swine", "New Tattoo" and "Live: Entertainment Or Death" — will be re-released in standard CD format only. This will be followed by "Mötley Crüe's Greatest Hits" in CD, deluxe CD, 180-gram vinyl and DVD formats on December 5.

A preview of the forthcoming DVD from Swedish multi-instrumentalist Snowy Shaw is available in the YouTube clip below. The footage was professionally filmed at Snowy's concert on May 27, 2011 at the Brew House in Gothenburg, Sweden. The one-off event saw Shaw performing "all his favorite songs" from "all his former bands" — including KING DIAMOND, NOTRE DAME, DREAM EVIL, MERCYFUL FATE, THERION, MEMENTO MORI, ILLWILL, XXX and DIMMU BORGIR — and featured guest appearances by the following musicians:

* Andy La Rocque (KING DIAMOND, ILLWILL)
* Mike Wead (BIBLEBLACK, KING DIAMOND, MERCYFUL FATE)
* Hal Patino (KING DIAMOND)
* Mats Levén (THERION, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, TREAT, KRUX)
* Thomas Vikström (CANDLEMASS)
* Kee Marcello (EUROPE)
* Jackie Patino (a.k.a. Maryann Cotton)

Snowy's backing band consisted of the following players:

* Kristian Niemann (ex-THERION) - Lead Guitar
* Mannequin De Sade (ex-NOTRE DAME, ENGEL) - Drums
* Elvira - Bass

German metallers RAGE entered Twilight Hall Studio in Grefrath, Germany earlier in the month to begin recording their 21st studio album for a March 2012 release via Nuclear Blast Records. The recordings are once again being helmed by Charlie Bauerfeind, who has previously worked with SAXON, BLIND GUARDIAN, HAMMERFALL and HELLOWEEN, among others. Songtitles set to appear on the 10-track CD include "Twenty One" and "Serial Killer".

Commented RAGE bassist/vocalist Peter "Peavy" Wagner: "We [are] also thinking about taking '21' as the album title.

"Probably you've heard that our new album will be pretty heavy. We've sparkled in creativity and it was great fun to work out these songs; it was real teamwork.

"It's so great to work together with such fantastic musicians like Victor [Smolski, guitar] and André [Hilgers, drums]."

Check out a studio report at Rage-On.de.

As a direct consequence of RAGE's decision to release orchestral compositions under the LINGUA MORTIS ORCHESTER banner in the future (with the first album due in 2012), the bandmembers will fully concentrate on producing their "hardest" album to date.

RAGE's latest CD, "Strings To A Web", was released in February 2010 via Nuclear Blast Records.

DISTURBED's first-ever collection of B-sides and rarities, "The Lost Children", will be released on November 8. The set includes a previously unreleased track, "Mine", and "3", which was as a benefit track for the West Memphis Three. Other tracks on this B-side collection include "God Of The Mind" and "A Welcome Burden". which appeared on the 2010 reissue of the band’s 2000 debut album, "The Sickness"; "Monster", "Two Worlds" and "Sickened", which were included as bonus tracks on the U.K. tour edition of "Ten Thousand Fists"; "Run", which was featured on a limited-edition version of 2008’s "Indestructible"; and "Parasite", which appeared on the Japanese edition of "Indestructible".

Richmond, Virginia metallers LAMB OF GOD will release their new album, "Resolution", in North America on January 24, 2012 via Epic Records (one day earlier internationally through Roadrunner Records). The CD was recorded at various studios in Virginia and New York with producer Josh Wilbur, who worked on the band's last effort, 2009's "Wrath".

"Resolution" will feature 14 songs and will come in a digipack with artwork by longtime art director Ken Adams.

Pre-orders for the new album will begin today at www.lamb-of-god.com/resolution and will feature multiple premium bundles.

There will be a special U.K.-only pre-order for a limited-edition album bundle, containing a bonus 12-track live album, titled "Wrath - Tour 2009/2010", together with the "Resolution" digipack. Orders for the U.K.-only limited-edition package will be taken online only, strictly until December 25, from Play, Amazon and HMV.

"Resolution" track listing:

01. Straight For The Sun
02. Desolation
03. Ghost Walking
04. Guilty
05. The Undertow
06. The Number Six
07. Barbarosa
08. Invictus
09. Cheated
10. Insurrection
11. Terminally Unique
12. To The End
13. Visitation
14. King Me

**U.K.-only** limited-edition pre-order bonus live album "Wrath - Tour 2009/2010" track listing: (Note: This item is **NOT** available in the U.S.)

01. The Passing
02. In Your Words
03. Set to Fail
04. Walk With Me In Hell
05. Hourglass
06. Now You've Got Something to Die For
07. Ruin
08. As The Palaces Burn
09. Blacken the Cursed Sun
10. Laid to Rest
11. Redneck
12. Black Label

The "Resolution" cover artwork can be seen below.

Singer Randy Blythe previously described "Resolution" as "WAAAAY better than 'Wrath' overall."

During its 2012 world tour, LAMB OF GOD, in connection with Epic Records and 914 Films, will shoot a feature film documenting fans and their personal stories of how they use the band's music to cope with their everyday lives.

With Halloween here again (Monday, October 31), Musician Photo Journal asked a few of its favorite rockers to share some of their thoughts on this mysterious and scary holiday. Members of TRIVIUM, OTEP, ALL THAT REMAINS, SKID ROW, HELLYEAH, ADRENALINE MOB and SHADOWS FALL have offered their personal stories of spooky scary tales — including ghost stories, scariest moments and most memorable Halloweens. Check out the footage below.

TOOL and PUSCIFER frontman Maynard James Keenan told The Pulse Of Radio a couple of years ago that he enjoys Halloween because it's more than just costumes and trick or treating. "It's an interesting season to me, having done a little research on it," he said. "It's an interesting holiday. I recommend that people really kind of dive into some more of the origins of, you know, why the jack-o-lantern on the porch and why the trick or treat — why the door to door. What is that all about? It really is an interesting story."

METALLICA's James Hetfield shared an embarrassing childhood memory about a costume he once had to wear: "I wanted to be Batman, but my mom made me a suit. You know, she was good at sewing, and she made me this thing, and I was like a giant tiger with the ears and everything. (laughs) Oh my God! There's a picture of me at school in the, you know, the school picture, and I got this goofy outfit on with the little whiskers and everyone else is like cowboys and stuff, and I'm sittin' there in my tiger outfit, and I don't think it was what I wanted to be. But that's what happened. (laughs)"

Rob Zombie, of course, is an expert on all things Halloween — after all, he's even made two movies named after the holiday — but he also happens to know his Halloween candy as well. He revealed his favorite on a recent conference call with reporters. "Candy corn is my favorite and I usually get very excited when I see it on the shelves, which they usually start laying out the Halloween stuff first week of August," he said. "So pretty much by the second week of August, I never want to see candy corn again, so . . . usually by the time I buy it, I open the bag in the car in the parking lot, on the way home, and by the time I get home I'm disgusted with myself for eating it. The days of gorging on Halloween candy are long gone."