Reunited U.K. rockers WOLFSBANE — featuring former IRON MAIDEN frontman Blaze Bayley — have set "Wolfsbane Save The World" as the title of their new album. Guitarist Jase Edwards states, "It's a suitably modest title... self-effacing, not too ambitious!!!! But the world does need saving and we are gonna start doing it with the help of our fantastic Howling Mad Shitheads. So spread the word and let's get this record out there to the people who NEED to hear it! They dont know they need to hear it, but they do!! So we can infect and affect the unknowing masses with our Howlingmad optimism and who gives a fuckery!!"

The "Wolfsbane Save The World" cover artwork can be seen below.

QUEEN, one of the most dynamic and influential rock bands of all time, will be honored with the Global Icon Award at the "2011 MTV EMA", MTV announced today. The legendary rock band will also take the stage for a special performance. This year marks the 40th anniversary of QUEEN's formation in 1971; since then, these Rock And Roll Hall Of Famers have garnered a long list of accomplishments and accolades, including career sales of more than 300 million albums, 16 No. 1 albums, 18 No. 1 singles and the U.K.'s top-selling album of all time (their "Greatest Hits" compilation has sold a staggering 5.7 million copies).

Hosted by Selena Gomez, the "2011 MTV EMA" will take place Sunday, November 6 at 9 p.m. CET from Belfast, Northern Ireland. In the U.S., the show will premiere on Tr3s: MTV, Musica y Mas on Sunday, November 6 at 6:00 p.m. ET/PT, and on mtvU on Monday, November 7 at 12:00 p.m. ET/PT.

"We are honored to be designated a Global Icon. We will do our best to be worthy!" said QUEEN's Brian May.

"Over the past four decades, QUEEN has made an indelible impact on the pop music landscape. They are passionately revered by generations of fans and musicians across the globe," said Bruce Gillmer, Executive Vice President of Talent and Music Programming / Events for Viacom International Media Networks. "We are absolutely thrilled that they will be joining us at this year's MTV EMA, and we look forward to a very special performance."

According to the Colorado Springs Gazette, the lead guitarist of the Colorado Springs-based rock band ALEISTER WILD remained in a coma Wednesday after getting knocked unconscious by the band's bass player.

The incident happened early Saturday morning outside Union Station, a Colorado Springs tavern on North Union Blvd. where the band had just finished performing.

The bassist, Michael Sorden, got angry at lead singer Ernest Munoz for refusing to help him load his equipment and punched Munoz in the face.

"I told him 'Forget you' and he came at me, but I thought he was just going to yell in my face," he said. "And he just swung and punched me so hard that I fell to the ground."

Terry Span then stepped in and tried to calm Sorden down.

"The next thing I know, I see Mike hitting him and Terry falls down like dead weight," Munoz said. "Blood spattered on my arms and I knew there was something really serious about this."

Span was rushed to Memorial Hospital where doctors say he has little chance of waking up from the coma, the Gazette reports.

Sorden faces a possible charge of second degree assault and was being held without bond at the El Paso County Jail.

Span started ALEISTER WILD in his hometown of Canton, Ohio, in the 1990s before moving to Colorado Springs, where he met Sorden.

An earlier version of ALEISTER WILD featured bassist Kelly Garni, who was one of the founding members of QUIET RIOT, and keyboardist Kelle Rhoads, brother of late OZZY OSBOURNE/QUIET RIOT guitarist Randy Rhoads.

Read more from the Colorado Springs Gazette.

METALLICA lead guitarist Kirk Hammett revealed to Mojo that he and frontman James Hetfield were both brought to tears during the sessions for the band's upcoming collaborative album with Lou Reed, titled "Lulu". Hammett explained that the outbursts occurred while they were recording a song called "Junior Dad", saying, "I had just lost my father literally three or four weeks previous. I had to run out of the control room, and I found myself standing in the kitchen, sobbing away. James came into the kitchen in the same condition — he was sobbing, too. It was insane."

The lyrics that apparently got to the two metal men were "Say hello to junior dad/The greatest disappointment/Age withered and changed him."

Hammett added, "[Reed] managed to take out both guitar players in METALLICA in one fell swoop, with his amazing poetic lyrics."

James Hetfield's father abandoned his family when James was just 13, an experience that the singer/guitarist has spoken about at length in a new documentary called "Absent".

"Junior Dad" lyrics:

Would you come to me
If I was half drowning
An arm above the last wave

Would you come to me
Would you pull me up
Would the effort really hurt you
Is it unfair to ask you
To help pull me up

The window broke the silence of the matches
The smoke effortlessly floating

Pull me up
Would you be my lord and savior
Pull me up by my hair
Now would you kiss me, on my lips

Burning fever burning on my forehead
The brain that once was listening now
Shoots out its tiresome message

Won't you pull me up
Scalding, my dead father
Has the motor and he's driving towards
An island of lost souls

Sunny, a monkey then to monkey
I will teach you meanness, fear and blindness
No social redeeming kindness
Or – oh, state of grace

Would you pull me up
Would you drop the mental bullet
Would you pull me by the arm up
Would you still kiss my lips
Hiccup, the dream is over
Get the coffee, turn the lights on
Say hello to junior dad
The greatest disappointment
Age withered him and changed him
Into junior dad
Psychic savagery

The greatest disappointment
The greatest disappointment
Age withered him and changed him
Into junior dad [End of lyrics]

Due on November 1 in North America via Warner Bros. Records and one day earlier (October 31) in the rest of the world through Universal Music, "Lulu" was secretly recorded in May at METALLICA's studio in the Bay Area. The album is based around music Reed originally wrote for a theatrical production of "The Lulu Plays". The CD was co-produced by Reed, METALLICA, Hal Willner — who has produced albums for Reed, Marianne Faithfull, and Laurie Anderson, among others — and Greg Fidelman. Fidelman also mixed the record.

"Lulu" final track listing:

01. Brandenburg Gate (4:19)
02. The View (5:17)
03. Pumping Blood (7:24)
04. Mistress Dread (6:52)
05. Iced Honey (4:36)
06. Cheat On Me (11:26)
07. Frustration (8:33)
08. Little Dog (8:01)
09. Dragon (11:08)
10. Junior Dad (19:28)

"Brandenburg Gate" lyrics:

I would cut my legs and tits off
When I think of Boris Karloff and Kinski
In the dark of the moon

It made me dream of Nosferatu
Trapped on the isle of Doctor Moreau
Oh wouldn't it be lovely

I was thinking Peter Lorre
When things got pretty gory as I
Crossed to the Brandenburg Gate

I was feeling snappy perhaps I'd been napping
And I'd just ate
A following heart can tear you apart
On a midnight to 8 shift

A graveyard romance can only give one chance
As the tombstones weave and breathe

Feeling happy when my heart got beating
On a Sunday afternoon

I dreamt of breezes going through the treeses
And stars were still illumed
I have three hearts that I keep apart
Trying to relate
To normal feelings and the nightime reelings
And some absynthe drunk so late

The cook got drunk and all the whores they shrunk
Onto the size of dessert plates
But me I'm happy cause I got my little nappy
And some opium to set me straight
I'm just a small town girl who wants to give it a whirl
While my looks still hold me straight

Straight up to illusion and fantasy's fusion
Of reality mixed with drink
I'm just a small town girl who's gonna give life a whirl
Looking at the Brandenburg Gate [End of lyrics]

Following the tremendous response to their 2010 self-titled EP, the San Francisco Bay-Area bad boys of rock 'n' roll MIDNIGHT CHASER return with a full-length album, "Rough And Tough". A raw and rough romp through nine tracks of adrenaline-fueled hard rock and heavy metal with influences ranging from '70s JUDAS PRIEST, MOTÖRHEAD and DEEP PURPLE to the harder edge of ZZ TOP and even the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal.

"Rough And Tough" track listing:

01. Awesome Party
02. Out on Your Shield
03. Rough and Tough
04. Swords for Hire
05. Cougar'd
06. Hotshot
07. Dynamite
08. Earthquake
09. Who Dares Wins

"Rough And Tough" is available for streaming in its entirety at this location.

John Jeffrey of RockMusicStar recently conducted an interview with RATT drummer Bobby Blotzer. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

RockMusicStar: Is the same lineup still together which recorded the last record, "Infestation"?

Bobby: Yes. And that record turned out amazing. It was critically acclaimed around the world. And on the charts here in America, it made it to No. 30. We also got a couple Grammy nods. So we were very excited and weren't expecting that to happen. So right now we're in writing mode and looking at a spring release and summer tour. That's generally what everybody does. Hopefully we'll wind up touring longer than last time, and at least do six months.

RockMusicStar: It's good to hear there will be another new RATT CD, as fans really loved "Infestation". Unlike so many other bands who've done "comeback" or "reunion records," "Infestation" delivered the goods, and really sounds like the band that people remember.

Bobby: We weren't even writing that record, trying to cop that vibe. We were just individually writing and collectively taking each other's songs, and then putting our own individuality into our own songs. And they just came out sounding like a record that would have fit in between "Out Of The Cellar" and "Invasion Of Your Privacy". It was a trip to see how everyone gravitated towards that record.

RockMusicStar: Another record that I'm a fan of is the SAINTS OF THE UNDERGROUND CD you did with Jani Lane. Which I believe is the last official CD that he released before his passing.

Bobby: Yeah. That was one of my favorite records that I ever played on. I happened to see Jani one EXACT week before he passed away. I hadn't seen him in a couple years, and it was great to see him and catch up. I am still just lopsided over that (Jani's death). Even though a lot of us knew that this day might come to fruition, it didn't matter that we thought that it might. It's just so sad. It's a waste of a life, and a father, and a talent.

QUIET RIOT drummer Frankie Banali has joined forces with vocalist/guitarist Paul Sabu (ONLY CHILD), guitarist Linkan Andersson and bassist Martin Karlsson (EUCHARIST) in a new band called ACID FOR BLOOD. The group's debut album, "Out For Blood", will be released in 2012. The drum tracks for the CD were laid down over a 10-hour period in early May with Grammy Award-winning engineer Neil Citron.

"Out For Blood" track listing:

01. Rock The Nation
02. Cracked The Sky
03. Out For Blood
04. Thanks For Nothin'
05. Turn Up The Music
06. Red White And Blues
07. Desolation
08. Kill Shot
09. Rocket UP
10. The Fear Is Gone

Audio samples of four new songs from Finnish gothic metallers UNSHINE can be streamed in the YouTube clip below.

Feartured tracks:

* The Oath To Wilderness Of Unredeemed Nature
* Idyl
* Defender Of His Faith
* Ikuinen Taistelu

All four cuts will appear on UNSHINE's third album, tentatively due in early 2012 via an as-yet-undetermined record label.

Over the years, legendary singer Ronnie James Dio fronted some of the most popular/enduring hard rock/heavy metal bands of all time, including RAINBOW, BLACK SABBATH/HEAVEN & HELL, and DIO. But before all of these bands, there was ELF. Described as a "rock/honky tonk/blues band," ELF's forthcoming release, "And Before Elf… There Were Elves", will prove that Ronnie could easily handle other rock-related styles.

Due on October 25 via the Niji Entertainment Group, "And Before Elf" will feature twelve previously unreleased tracks (all from 1971), comprised of both live in the studio and live on stage tracks. The album will feature a striking lenticular/3D/hologram cover on which, when you turn it, you will see two alternating images — Ronnie from the first ELF LP as well as a vintage group shot from 1971. And although these recordings are 40 years old, the sonic quality still passes the test, as longtime DIO engineer Wyn Davis remastered the original tapes.

Formed in 1967 in Cortland, New York, THE ELVES also featured other members that would carve a niche for themselves in the hard rock world! Guitarist David "Rock" Feinstein (Dio's cousin) would go on to front THE RODS. ELF would last for a trio of albums, before Ronnie exited the group in 1975, to co-form RAINBOW with ex-DEEP PURPLE guitarist Ritchie Blackmore.

Ronnie James Dio always had the golden touch as a masterful singer and frontman. And upon hearing "And Before Elf… There Were Elves", you'll discover he possessed his one-of-a-kind voice from the very beginning of his career.

"And Before Elf… There Were Elves" track listing:

01. You Shook Me
02. Stay With Me
03. Four Day Creep
04. Buckingham Blues
05. Wakeup Sunshine
06. Driftin'
07. Smile For Me Lady
08. You Felt The Same Way
09. Simple Man
10. Drown Me In The River
11. Cold Ramona
12. Little Queenie

A 30-second commercial for "And Before Elf… There Were Elves" that will run on VH1 Classic can be seen below.

German thrashers EXUMER have completed work on their first album in 24 years. Producer Waldemar Sorychta (GRIP INC., MOONSPELL, THERION), and his production team worked with EXUMER on the final mix for nearly three months to ensure best results and elevate the recorded material to the next level.

Commented EXUMER vocalist Mem Von Stein: "This was by far the longest recording and mixing process EXUMER has ever been involved with. However, the results are stunning and we could not be happier with the final product. I believe that this album will perfectly bridge the spirit of the 1980s thrash metal records with today's production techniques. We tried to stay true our style and what it represents in the greater scheme of guitar-driven music, without compremising on using the tools available to make the album sound as powerful as it can be."

EXUMER is currently negotiating with several labels to release the upcoming CD and will announce the album's title once a record deal has been secured. The effort will feature artwork by Baptiste Treton, a French-born artist who resides in Vietnam.

According to TheNews.pl, Poland's public TV broadcaster TVP has announced that BEHEMOTH frontman Adam "Nergal" Darski will not return as a judge on the second season of the hit singing competition "The Voice Of Poland" after another alleged incident of insulting religious sentiment in Poland.

"Adam Darski will not be given his own program on TVP, nor will he be a juror in a second series of 'The Voice Of Poland', even if the network decides to commission one [a second series]," said spokesperson for TVP, Joanna Stempien-Rogalinska.

Earlier this month, footage emerged of Nergal pretending to be a priest and performing a mock miracle during an October 1 concert at a Warsaw club by the Polish rock band TIMES NEW ROMAN.

Footage published across the Polish media showed members of TIMES NEW ROMAN on stage in wheelchairs. The musicians were attended by nurses and dressed in pajamas. Following an announcement that the men could not play, Darski appeared dressed as a priest. After blessing the musicians, the men rose from their wheelchairs and proceeded with the concert.

The footage prompted a swift response from the chairman of TVP. In a statement, Chairman Juliusz Braun described the incident as "provocative behavior, showing a lack of respect not only for religious beliefs, but also for illnesses and the disabled."

Braun has also asked Darski and the producer of "The Voice Of Poland" to explain themselves

The last episode of the current season of "The Voice Of Poland" will air in the first week of December.

Italian death metallers HOUR OF PENANCE will enter 16th Cellar Studio in Rome later this month with producer Stefano Morabito (FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE), to begin recording their fifth album for an early 2012 release via Prosthetic Records.

Commented HOUR OF PENANCE guitarist Giulio Moschini: "Following the tradition of releasing an album every two years, the time has come now and we're ready to hit the studio and record our fifth album.

"You've probably read the same words million of times on the band's press releases so I will not tell you how much better this album sounds and how much faster and more technical it is compared to the last one we did, BUT we're fucking proud of this upcoming beast and we're sure you guys will love it!

"We know how much our fans are expecting from the new album so we worked as hard as we can to not disappoint any of them. Moreover, as some of you know, this will be the first album with a new lineup, and as you can imagine, having a new singer and a new drummer helped us to renew and improve our sound, once again. This will be like the rebirth of HOUR OF PENANCE, in a better shape, of course!"