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!"

Audio samples of all the tracks that will appear on "Lulu", the musical collaboration between Lou Reed and METALLICA, can be streamed in the YouTube clip below (courtesy of Amazon.de.

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, 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)

Belgian death metalers ABORTED will release their seventh studio album, "Global Flatline", on January 24, 2012 (one day earlier internationally) via Century Media Records. The CD was recorded, mixed, and mastered by the Jacob Hansen (VOLBEAT, PESTILENCE, HATESPHERE) at Hansen Studios in Ribe, Denmark. The artwork was once again created by Justin Osbourn from Slasher Design.

"Global Flatline" track listing:

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

A trailer for "Global Flatline" can be seen below.

Weed-grinding death metallers CANNABIS CORPSE are currently on the road in support of their raging new album, "Beneath Grow Lights Thou Shalt Rise" (out now on Tankcrimes), and have been criss-crossing the U.S. of A alongside longtime pals THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER and ALL SHALL PERISH.

On Saturday, October 8, CANNABIS CORPSE's van broke down and they missed their slot on the "Ritual Tour" that night with THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER and ALL SHALL PERISH in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Through the band's Facebook page, they were able to put out the word that the band wouldn't make it and asked if anyone could help out with a DIY late night gig in the area. Rich "Bebo" Abraham of Richolow Films, a Lancaster-based metal music video company, got in touch the band and coordinated a show for CANNABIS CORPSE right down the street from the THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER concert to start at midnight. The guys made it to the venue in time to watch THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER and after the show marched with 100 local thrashers to a small venue up the street. A complete rager commenced. Richolow Films caught it all, and now Metal Injection has posted the video for all you maniacs to enjoy (see below).

On "Beneath Grow Lights Thou Shalt Rise", CANNABIS CORPSE has ventured even further down the left-hand path to pay homage to those other masters of death, MORBID ANGEL and DEICIDE. Tongue-in-cotton-mouthed-cheek titles like "Lunatic of Pot's Creation" and "Immortal Pipes" keep the party rolling, but don't be fooled: CANNABIS CORPSE is not a joke band. Sure, they'll fire up a bowl and chug a beer, but then they'll rip your face off with a brutal old-school death metal assault, the likes of which haven't been seen since the seeds of the genre first began to grow.

Mixed by Erik Rutan at Mana Studios and mastered by Alan Douches at West Side Music, "Beneath Grow Lights Thou Shalt Rise" was recorded by the band's own Phil "Landphil" Hall, and reeks of DIY putrefaction.

Metro.co.uk recently conducted an interview with legendary BLACK SABBATH guitarist Tony Iommi. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Metro.co.uk: Did you learn anything about yourself from writing the book ["Iron Man: My Journey Through Heaven And Hell With Black Sabbath"]?

Iommi: I shocked myself with the amount of things I've done and the things I forgot about doing. I look back and it all seems a bit confusing.

Metro.co.uk: How has the music industry changed since you started?

Iommi: When we started you had people who followed you for a long time, we still do, but it turns over fast now. In the old days you'd get a five-album record deal, now it's one album and if it doesn't sell a million, you're gone. Its sad record stores have gone. It was great to go into them and look at album covers and have a look around. It's all online now, which is more convenient I suppose.

Metro.co.uk: What's your relationship with Ozzy Osbourne like now?

Iommi: It's good. We've had our ups and downs in the past but it's been blown out of proportion to the point where, from the outside it looks really bitter, but we've never really fallen out.

Metro.co.uk: He sued you over who owns the name of the band though.

Iommi: Yes, but we've sorted that out now. These things crop up. You sort them out and then they go away.

Metro.co.uk: Will you record with him again?

Iommi: Who knows? It's like when we had Ronnie James Dio with us, we broke up, got back together, did another album and tour. You can never tell. We got back together with Ozzy in 1997 and toured so you never know what's around the corner.

Metro.co.uk: What have you got left to achieve in your career?

Iommi: I'm doing the soundtrack to three horror films, which I'm looking forward to. I've got a lot of ideas but won't know where to start until I see the films.

The musical collaboration between Lou Reed and METALLICA, "Lulu", will be released 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. 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.

The idea for these two giants of modern music to work together was born after the 25th anniversary Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame concerts in New York City in October 2009. METALLICA — singer/guitarist James Hetfield, drummer Lars Ulrich, guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo — played with Reed on VELVET UNDERGROUND classics "Sweet Jane" and "White Light/White Heat".

"[Lou] has a reputation for being a grouchy kind of guy," Hammett tells Revolver magazine. "Once we started rehearsing [for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame concerts], though, Lou was just like, 'Oh my God. This is great! This is what I've wanted to hear all my life.' And that's what led to, 'Oh, we should make an album.' And we all kind of unanimously agreed."

After that triumphant performance, Reed suggested they all make a record together. At first they planned to record an album of Reedfraven's older material, what Ulrich describes as "some of Lou's lost jewels — songs that he felt he'd like to give a second spin, and we could do whatever it is we do to some of those songs." That idea "hung in the air for a couple of months." Then, a week or two before that session was to begin, "Lou called up and said, 'Listen, I have this other idea.'"

That idea was to record a series of songs Reed had written for American avant-garde theater director Robert Wilson and German theater group the Berliner Ensemble's production of the "Lulu Plays", which premiered in April at the Theatre am Schiffbauerdamm in Berlin, founded by Bertolt Brecht. The songs are inspired by German expressionist Frank Wedekind's early 20th century plays "Earth Spirit" and "Pandora's Box", and were a rewrite of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven", which emerged as a graphic novel on Fantagraphics Press.

"I think it's one of the best things we've ever done," Hammett tells Revolver. "It showed me that we could still be truly spontaneous and in the moment. We haven't been spontaneous like that for years and years and years, probably since the '80s."

He adds, "We were all out of our comfort zone, and because of that, we came up with stuff we wouldn't normally come up with. It's largely an artistic endeavor for ourselves. And we're just inviting everyone else along for the party. This is something that most people won't be expecting from us. All I have to say is don't judge it by heavy-metal standards and maybe you'll understand it better."

French comic artist Fabrice Gagos has integrated a tribute to MELECHESH members Ashmedi and Moloch into his weekly updated web comic through inscribing one of the main characters named Sayid to the two. The artist states, "'Ghouls Of Nineveh' is an ongoing web-comic featuring a pack of super-cool metalheads fighting bloodthirsty Mesopotamian zombies for their lives after they’ve been awakened by mistake by a bunch of ultra-conservative Christians praying in their church. All of the above based upon some Mesopotamian legends, including goddess Ereshkigal and her long lost beloved, Nergal, god of plague...

"Mesopotamia, ghouls, metal-heads and mysticism — I couldn't help but find that particular MELECHESH's title fitted perfectly. Most of all, I don't want to spoil you the fun, but I can tell you that Sayid, guitar player and PhD in archeology owner (character tribute to Moloch and Ashmedi), will take part in the rescuing of his friends. Metal, friendship and fun to save the world — with a bit of gore!"

Commented Ashmedi: "Seeing how our music, songtitles, lyrics, concepts, no matter how loosely related, inspire different artistic endeavours such as on this comic is satisfying and flattering to say the least! Plus I found it to be very entertaining and well done."

* English version of the comic
* French version of the comic

The first-ever Kiss Kruise launched in style Thursday afternoon from Miami, Florida with a non-makeup unplugged KISS sail-away concert. Over 2,500 Kiss Army members became inaugural members of the Kiss Navy.

According to Kiss Asylum, the live and unplugged non-makeup set aboard the Kiss Kruise featured a mix of KISS classics, songs that haven't been dusted off in a few years, and attempts at extreme rarities:

01. Hotter Than Hell
02. Calling Dr. Love
03. Sure Know Something
04. Christine Sixteen
05. Do You Love Me?
06. Shandi
07. I Love It Loud
08. Forever
09. See You Tonite
10. Black Diamond
11. Hard Luck Woman (Paul Stanley lead vocals)
12. Beth (Eric Singer lead vocals)
13. Every Time I Look At You
14. Just A Boy / I / Mr. Blackwell (partial songs performed as an Elder medley)
15. Anything For My Baby / Two Timer (songs attempted, then aborted)
16. C'Mon And Love Me

A brand new "time-lapse" trailer for "Live In Finland", the upcoming concert DVD from Finnish melodic metallers SONATA ARCTICA, can be viewed below. Due in Europe on November 11 a nd in North America on November 15 via Nuclear Blast, the set will include the band's entire April 15, 2011 performance at Club Teatria in Oulu, Finland as well as a bonus disc containing four songs that were filmed at the band's own festival on August 8, 2009 in Kemi, Finland. Also featured on the DVD will be SONTA ARCTICA's promotional videos for the songs "Don't Say A Word", "Paid In Full" and "Flag In The Ground" as well as a photo gallery and behind-the-scenes footage from the making of the DVD. There will also be a bonus CD containing eight songs that were recorded at the Kemi festival concert.

METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich contributed a column called "My Favorite Mistake" to Newsweek magazine in which he recounted the time he failed to get back to Quentin Tarantino when the famed film director asked Ulrich to provide a soundtrack for "Kill Bill: Vol. 1". An excerpt from the column follows below.

"[Reading the script] page by page, I realized that most of this was written in a language that was outside of my realm of understanding. I had never encountered a narrative like this, set in, to me, a very foreign culture of martial arts and Asian myths. I just couldn't wrap my thick Danish head around it. I championed [Quentin's] movies, loved him as a person, but at the end of the 180 pages, I sat there somewhat bewildered and felt very uncool for not getting it. I wasn't capable of appreciating its brilliance. Then I started overthinking it. 'Do it, do it,' my gut screamed, but my head was confused. Cautious. I experienced a rare inability to pull the trigger.

"Over the next few weeks the whole thing fizzled out as I continued not trusting my instincts. In the end, I never got back to him. Probably the single biggest mistake I've made in the creative department. Of course 'Kill Bill' turned out to be above and beyond brilliant, as have [Tarantino's] subsequent movies, which have all been a significant part of my life in the 2000s."

In celebration of their 25 year anniversary, New York hardcore legends SICK OF IT ALL will release "Nonstop", an album of re-recorded classics, on October 31 in Europe and November 1 in the U.S. via Century Media Records.

"Nonstop" track listing:

01. Clobberin' Time
02. Injustice System!
03. Sanctuary
04. Scratch The Surface
05. Us Vs. Them
06. The Deal
07. Just Look Around
08. Ratpack
09. World Full Of Hate
10. Pushed Too Far
11. GI Joe Headstomp
12. Never Measure Up
13. Chip Away
14. Busted
15. Locomotive
16. My Life
17. Friends Like You
18. Relentless
19. No Labels
20. Built To Last

The song "Us Vs. Them" can now be heard on the band's Facebook page.

A brand-new trailer for the CD can be seen below.

VENOM, the hugely influential U.K. outfit now celebrating a full 30 years since the release of its "Welcome To Hell" debut, will have a brand new studio album released on November 28 via Spinefarm Records/Universal. Titled "Fallen Angels" and featuring 13 fresh recordings produced by mainman/bassist Conrad "Cronos" Lant, this is the follow-up to 2008's "Hell" release, and sees the trio (completed by guitarist Rage and drummer Dante) adopting a style highly redolent of classic early VENOM with modern studio technology employed only to increase the general level of nastiness.

The first limited edition pressing of "Fallen Angels" will come with two bonus tracks, "Annunaki Legacy" and "Blackened Blues".
Prior to the album's release, on October 31, a double-A side single, "Hammerhead" / "Hail Satanas", will be made available on 12-inch vinyl and digital download, also through Spinefarm/Universal.

Says Cronos: "When we make an album, it usually takes a few tracks to get into the vibe, although this album's vibe was very much present during the ideas stage… everything came together so naturally.

"We all started throwing ideas together on the South American tour, and then again during the live shows of 2010, and so we knew from the start that we had some amazing new songs to make a great album.

"With any new album, you look for a few songs to put into the live set, although that is going to be very difficult with this record, as we can nail the entire album live if we want!

"'Fallen Angels' is the result of a band that has spent nearly two years touring and growing as a unit, and as the band grows tighter, so the songs get better and heavier, and we instinctively know what each other is thinking, and the ideas flow easier.

"This album is only the very start for this lineup; there will be many more albums and live shows to come for VENOM.

"It has taken a long time and a lot of changes to finally deliver a VENOM that can attack black metal the way it should be — fast, furious, tight and terrifying. All hell breaks loose… hell fucking yeah!!!!!"

"Fallen Angels" will feature the following songs:

01. Hammerhead
02. Nemesis
03. Pedal To The Metal
04. Lap Of The Gods
05. Damnation Of Souls
06. Beggarman
07. Hail Satanas
08. Sin
09. Punk's Not Dead
10. Death Be Thy Name
11. Lest We Forget
12. Valley Of The Kings
13. Fallen Angels

Bonus tracks:

14. Annunaki Legacy
15. Blackened Blues

"Punk's Not Dead" is now available for streaming using the SoundCloud player below (courtesy of Metal Hammer magazine).

Regarding what fans can expect to hear from the next VENOM studio LP, Cronos told The Quietus, "The new tracks are tremendous. Basically, if you think of the way [former VENOM drummer] Antton [Antony Lant, who is also Cronos' brother] was playing, especially on the last album 'Hell', he is a nu-metal drummer and comes from that kind of background. He's hung 'round VENOM most of his life and it was just good to introduce him to the whole VENOM concept of playing like the way [original VENOM drummer] Abaddon used to play. Basically Abaddon came from a rock background and then basically developed a black metal, speed metal, thrash metal style. The nu-metal drumming is very different and it was a steep learning curve for him. At the end of the day he's got his own style and he wants to be known for what he's done and not be in my shadow, which is totally understandable. Some of the guys we had coming to the rehearsals were not ex-CRADLE OF FILTH but they were still, 'I've been in this band, I've been in that band,' but they were all far too young, you know. We were looking for someone in their thirties upwards who understood rock music."