LEAVES' EYES have issued the following statement:

"Some members of the band visited the Summer Breeze festival in Germany this weekend. We met up with our friends from the Nuclear Blast merchandise stand on the festival grounds and got some rather unpleasant news on which we'd like to set the record straight.

We heard the police showed up and confiscated Leaves' Eyes shirts with a Celtic Cross on it. Apparently the police thought the design had something to do with right-wing symphathies.

We also heard some fans were forced to take their shirt off with the same design and had to give it to the police as well.

Later the police apologised for the mistake and brought back the shirts to the Nuclear Blast stand, after harrasing the merch people 5 times! We as a band want to state that we are shocked and disgusted by all what has taken place.

Also, we are amazed by the ignorance of the police in these matters as clearly Leaves' Eyes have nothing to do with such symphaties, nor does the design of the t-shirt. Clearly they need to do their homework a lot better!! We think it is a shame that things like this had to happen at one of the best metal festivals we know and also the merch guys and girls @Nuclear Blast, and last but least to our fans!!!!!!!"

Leaves' Eyes are due to play the Metal Female Voices Fest IX, which runs from October 21st - 23rd at Oktoberhallen in Wieze, Belgium. The band has issued a short video trailer for the festival, check it out below:

The outrageous and popular '80s-style "hair" band STEEL PANTHER will release its new album, "Balls Out", on October 18. The CD's first U.K. single will be "If You Really, Really Love Me", an audio sample of which can be heard in the YouTube clip below. (Note: The first single in the U.S. will be "17 Girls In A Row".)

"Balls Out" track listing:

01. In The Future
02. Supersonic Sex Machine
03. Just Like Tiger Woods
04. 17 Girls In A Row
05. If You Really, Really Love Me
06. It Won't Suck Itself
07. Tomorrow Night
08. Why Can't You Trust Me
09. That's What Girls Are For
10. Gold-Digging Whore
11. I Like Drugs
12. Critter
13. Let Me Cum In
14. Weenie Ride

COLDWORKER — the Örebro, Sweden-based "blasting" death metal band consisting of current and former/current members of such acts as NASUM, RELENTLESS, RUIN and PHOBOS — has inked a deal with Listenable Records. The group's third album, "The Doomsayer's Call", will be released this winter. The CD was recorded in part at Soundlab Studios in the group's hometown and will feature 13 songs. Mixing took place at Unisound studios with Dan Swanö (OPETH, KATATONIA, DISSECTION).

"The Doomsayer's Call" track listing:

01. A New Era
02. The Reprobate
03. The Glass Envelope
04. Flesh World
05. Murderous
06. Pessimist
07. Monochrome Existence
08. Vacuum Fields
09. Living is Suffering
10. The Walls Of Eryx
11. Violent Society
12. Becoming The Stench
13. The Phantom Carriage

Commented COLDWORKER drummer Anders Jackobson: "There's often talk about 'the difficult second album.' Well, history has told me time and again that the third album is usually the most memorable in a band's discography.

"We have all put more than 100% each into this album, writing songs that will stand out on their own as well as have a natural place on the album, spending many hours in three different recording studios just to get the best out of ourselves and so on.

"The album is definitively 'the next step' for COLDWORKER, with developed songwriting and performances that are the best we can muster. It's really a band effort as all five members of the band have written songs, and likewise all five of us have opinions about what the final album should be."

DANZIG bassist and former member of SAMHAIN, SON OF SAM and MOURNING NOISE, Steve Zing, has released the debut album from his project MARRA'S DRUG.

Influenced by everything from heavy punk rock to metal to progressive rock – even '50s music! — MARRA'S DRUG's first release is heavy, yet at the same time listener-friendly.

"MARRA'S DRUG's music is indescribable," Zing explains. "It's very intense — it's not pop punk, and we're not whining."

Perhaps New Jersey-based MARRA'S DRUG music is diverse because all four bandmembers (Zing, guitarist Steve Falco, drummer John Caton drums, and bassist Danno) did not cut their teeth on the same musical fare. "We didn't all grow up on punk rock," Zing reveals. "I grew up on punk and '50s music, like early Elvis, Bill Hailey and Buddy Holly. Falco and Caton dig hardcore metal, Danno is into progressive rock… Our music has each of our signatures, and we put our own spins into it."

MARRA'S DRUG's tunes are aggressive, in-your-face and honest. Of course there's anger in there, which is at the core of any good heavy rock music. Yet there is also a very subtle underlying melancholy, if you listen closely enough.

"We don't try to write songs," Zing says. "We do what is best for the song, whatever it takes to make the best tune possible."

Veteran progressive metallers ELDRITCH will release their eighth studio album, "Gaia's Legacy", on September 25 via Scarlet Records. A concept effort dealing with global warming based on Al Gore's documentary "An Inconvenient Truth", the CD sees ELDRITCH going back to its technical progressive roots, with lots of influences raging from thrash to AOR and a modern approach still in the band's distinctive style. Frontman Terence Holler wrote all the lyrics after a deep search of information on every kind of source for the last three years.

"Gaia's Legacy" track listing:

01. Gaia's Anger
02. Deviation
03. Our Land
04. Vortex Of Disaster
05. Mother Earth
06. Everything's Burning
07. Tonight Out
08. Like A Child
09. Signs
10. Thoughts Of Grey
11. Thirst In Our Hands (Gaia's Lament)
12. Through Different Eyes

"Gaia's Legacy" was produced by Marco Ribecai and Eugenio Simone at Syncropain Products Studio in Pisa, Italy, and mastered by Göran Finnberg (OPETH, IN FLAMES, EVERGREY, DARK TRANQUILLITY) in Sweden. FIREWIND's Bob Katsionis, a longtime fan of the band, is credited as special guest keyboardist on the song "Like A Child".

Irish rockers GLYDER have completed work on their fourth studio album, "Backroads To Byzantium", for an October release via SPV/Steamhammer Records. According to a press release, the CD "takes the listener on a road trip that has a hint of Americana and progresses to the re-emerging troubles on the streets of Northern Ireland to being homeless on the streets of London. Other themes on the album concern the evils of the tabloid press and global warming. The album ends off in a reflective mood about mortality and how it's not the end."

"Backroads To Byzantium" track listing:

01. Chronicled Deceit
02. Long Gone
03. Fade To Dust
04. Even If I Don't Know Where I'mgone Go
05. Don't Make Their Mistake
06. Down & Out
07. Something She Knows
08. Two Wrongs
09. End Of The Line
10. Motions On Time

The song "Something She Knows" is available for free download using the ReverbNation TuneWidget below.

According to The Pulse Of Radio, 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".

"Lulu" is due out on November 1 and 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".

Greece's Rock Your Liferecently conducted an interview with keyboardist Jordan Rudess of progressive metal giants DREAM THEATER. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Rock Your Life: With your new album ["A Dramatic Turn of Events"], do you feel more creatively free as musicians and as a band now that Mike [Portnoy, drums] has left the band?

Rudess: Mike Portnoy was a very good friend of mine. He is a very open-minded guy and we had many great years doing many things together. However, one of the things we did with this new approach in the new album was that we thought how we could maximize who we are and make our roles even more vital. I should say that I loved that approach. In some of the music in the past, I thought that the keyboards could have been stronger. Sometimes, the approach in the past when we had a heavy riff was to just double it on the keyboards. We took away that kind of fear and went for more harmonic ideas. John Petrucci [guitar] and I decided to compose something cool. I am a composer and I love using this ability. Our new approach is more open to my keyboards than in the past.

Rock Your Life: In the last years, in every record you have a more "commercial" song that turns to be a single or a video like "Forsaken", "Wither" and "These Walls". Now, I think you did it with "Build Me Up, Break Me Down". Do you have this in mind when you enter the studio?

Rudess: We are aware that the record companies like these songs. We have it on our minds but we do not "have" to write a radio song. In addition, we do not have this concern because we just like that kind of songs. So we write that kind of songs anyway.

Rock Your Life: I understand that in the past Mike Portnoy and John Petrucci were handling the production of your albums. This time although you had the chance to hire a producer you did not. Why?

Rudess: Well, John came to us and said, "Guys, I really want to produce this album. I think I can do a good job." The rest of us thought, "Why not, let him do it," and he did such a great job. John Petrucci has a very solid and strong personality. He is very clear and knows exactly what he wants plus he is very capable. So, what he ended up doing was to bring out the best of everybody. I felt, for example, that my energy was being used in the group. He did that with the others. He worked beautifully with [new drummer] Mike Mangini and John Myung [bass] who had a new spirit about this. With Mike Portnoy leaving, John became, like, free. The fact that Mike Portnoy left did not make us suffer. John Petrucci and I, we are the core composers of DREAM THEATER, and it has been that way since I joined the group. So, even though Mike was extremely talented, there were certain limitations of what he could do in terms of the production. So when we moved on, we looked at each other and said, "We can produce this album. We do not need somebody else telling us what is good or not," and we enjoyed that challenge. The biggest difference in writing music to this album was that we decided to write this music choosing what is best for us without Mike Portnoy being the DREAM THEATER police telling us "yes" or "no." I think that it took us a little more time to craft our music before putting our stamp of approval on it.

On August 26th EDGUY will release their new album AGE OF THE JOKER ("The Metal highlight of the year" - Rock Hard, France).

On Saturday 27th, 11:00 PM and Sunday 28th 11:00 PM the German TV-channel iMusic1 will broadcast an Edguy special on the show "iMusic1 ROCKS" (http://www.im1.tv/live).

You can also watch the show 48 hours later at imusic1rocks.com!

For all the gamblers and players among you, we have also created an online card game – check it out at THIS location!

Get the joker!

According to a posting on the RUSH fan site RushIsABand.com, Left Field Media will release a CD of the WMMS radio broadcast of RUSH's August 26, 1974 concert at the Cleveland Agora under the title "Rush ABC 1974". Due in the U.K. on October 24, this broadcast has been available as a bootleg for many years, but this seems to be the first legal release. This was RUSH's first recorded performance in the U.S. to feature Neil Peart on drums. Donna Halper, a former music director at Cleveland's WMMS-FM who was among the first to champion the enduring band's 1974 self-titled debut album, introduced the band.

After spending a few months in the studio, Montreal, Quebec, Canada-based female-fronted melodic death metallers THE AGONIST are ready to hit the road in North America as part of a package tour with KAMELOT, ALESTORM, and BLACKGUARD. Unfortunately, THE AGONIST lead guitarist Danny Marino will be unable to join the band on this trek, and will be replaced by ex-THE CATALYST guitarist Justin Deguire on rhythm guitar while Pascal "Paco" Jobin takes over lead guitar duties.

For fans that have been patiently waiting for new material from THE AGONIST, this tour will be the first opportunity to get their hands on the band's latest release. "The Escape" EP — featuring two songs from THE AGONIST's upcoming full-length album ("Lonely Solipsist" and "The Escape") — will be sold exclusively on the road and online at CM Distro for the duration of the tour. The only way to get your hands on a physical copy of this limited-edition EP is to catch the band on its run with KAMELOT or to order via CM Distro. The EP will also be available in a digital format after the tour.

Mixed by Tue Madsen (THE HAUNTED, DARK TRANQUILLITY, SUICIDE SILENCE), THE AGONIST's new full-length album is slated for an early 2012 release via Century Media Records.

Swedish progressive metal band ANDROMEDA has inked a deal with Inner Wound Recordings. The group's new album is tentatively due before the end of the year.

ANDROMEDA's fourth CD, "The Immunity Zone", came out in North America in September 2008 via Nightmare Records.

The band's live DVD, "Playing off the Board", was released in Europe in April 2007 via Metal Mind Productions. The disc was filmed on October 31, 2006 at the Wyspianski Theater in Katowice, Poland.

ANDROMEDA's third album, "Chimera", was issued in June 2006 via Massacre Records.

Legendary guitarist Michael Schenker will release his new album, "Temple Of Rock", in Japan on September 7, in Europe on September 23 and in North America on October 11.

"The Temple of Rock is within me," says Michael, "where I create since I was introduced to the amazing invention of the distorted guitar which is for me the most enjoyable and the best possible way to express myself. The rock guitar sound that I fell in love with, mostly expressed as lead breaks, is what I have nurtured and treasured all of my life. Combined with the infinite spring from within and the amazing musicians around me I keep expressing an ongoing development of my art (being)."

He adds, "With 'Temple of Rock' I am entering a new stage of my life, a new level of existence enjoying life more than ever, reaping the joy of all sorts of developments from the past. These days I just want to go out there, play and have fun. Also, it seems to me that collectively, with true expressive makers of rock music, we have been building the external 'Temple Of Rock' for many years and have now come to the point of putting on the roofing and celebrating the almost completion of the Temple. All generations of this period are meeting all over the world on one stage it seems celebrating an era of 'hand make rock,' which will never be the same again due to invention of new technology but of course New Temples and New Wonders will arise to enjoy expressions in new ways."

Recording lineup:

* Michael Schenker - Guitar
* Michael Voss - Vocals
* Herman Rarebell - Drums
* Pete Way - Bass
* Wayne Findlay - Keyboards

Other featured musicians:

* Rudolf Schenker (SCORPIONS)
* William Shatner (Captain Kirk from "Star Trek")
* Leslie West (MOUNTAIN)
* Michael Amott (ARCH ENEMY)
* Doogie White (ex-RITCHIE BLACKMORE, ex-YNGWIE MALMSTEEN)
* Robin McAuley (SURVIVOR, ex-MSG)
* Don Airey (DEEP PURPLE)
* Paul Raymond (UFO)
* Simon Phillips (TOTO, THE WHO, JUDAS PRIEST)
* Carmine Appice (KING KOBRA, VANILLA FUDGE, ROD STEWART, JEFF BECK, OZZY OSBOURNE, BLUE MURDER)
* Chris Slade (MSG, ex-AC/DC)
* Chris Glenn (MSG, ex-ALEX HARVEY)
* Neil Murray (MSG, ex-WHITESNAKE, ex-GARY MOORE)
* Brian Tichy (WHITESNAKE)
* Elliott "Dean" Rubinson (Owner of Dean Guitars)

"Temple Of Rock" track listing:

01. Intro
02. How Long
03. The End Of An Era
04. Saturday Night
05. Fallen Angel
06. Hangin' On
07. With You
08. Miss Claustrophobia
09. Scene Of Crime
10. Lovers Sinfony-Speed
11. Stormin' In
12. Speed
13. Before The Devil Knows You're Dead
14. How Long (guitar battle version)
15. Remember (bonus track for Japan)

American beer masters New Belgium Brewing Company have teamed up with Maryland based veteran songwriters and touring icons CLUTCH to brew, bottle and distribute the brand new Clutch beer! The 9% alcohol by volume dark sour ale joins NBB's Lips of Faith Series, adding to a beer family which already includes the highly popular Fat Tire Ale, which is now sold in over 32 of the 48 continental United States. The beer is available in 22 oz. bottles and a limited amount of kegs. New Belgium and Clutch (the band) will officially unleash the ale at a very special kickoff event at the Red Palace in Washington DC on Monday night August 29th, at which members of Clutch and their label Weathermaker Music will be present. Admission will be limited.

Prior to this cross-marketing match made in heaven, Clutch had just completed a highly successful North American headlining tour. The band's schedule for the final few months of 2011 continues with a three week European tour beginning in Frankfurt, Germany on Halloween as direct support to Danish rockers VOLBEAT, which will see the band play large scale venues in historic European cities like Milan, Paris, Brussels, Munich, Vienna, etc. Following the dates with Volbeat Clutch will be embarking on a headlining Scandinavian run that will bring them all the way to Helsinki, Finland. After the Scandinavian dates Clutch will be back stateside for their traditional Northeast Holiday Headline run. It doesn't stop there though, directly following the Holiday shows, Clutch will gear up for a three week run of the UK, as direct support for classic Irish rockers THIN LIZZY!

Munster, Indiana's Three Floyds Brewing Company has produced the AMON AMARTH Ragnarök beer.

A description of the Imperial/Strong Porter brew reads as follows: "A beer for the end of ages brewed with our friends in the band AMON AMARTH. This Aesir Porter is a robust and hearty beer brewed with local honey and a small portion of smoked malt. When Heimdall sounds the Giallar-horn this is the beer to be hoisted by the gods in anticipation of the coming battle."

A photo of AMON AMARTH members enjoying their new Ragnarök beer can be seen below.

For more information, go to this location.

UK-based experimental progressive metal troupe XERATH have unveiled their latest music video, for 'Reform Part III'. The song comes off the band's II full-length, released in North America via Candlelight Records this past May. The video was shot in two locations - Terminal Studios in London near Tower Bridge, and a stone masons warehouse in Hampshire - and was directed by David Kenny of Shash Medi.

Commented drummer Mike Pitman of the video: "This song was chosen because musically, we knew it would have first impression maximum impact for those who might not be familiar with us. We also knew we could pull off some balls-out visuals to compliment such a song.

Weirdly enough some of the ideas for the storyline actually came from an old Radiohead video for 'Just.' It had that notorious 'subtitled man laid out on a pavement' interpretive concept that was such a novel idea. We wanted to borrow ideas from that and add a lot more fatalities and blood. The actual plot of our video was created by [vocalist] Rich [Thomason] and director David Kenny putting our heads together and looking for something that would have a climactic feel with a killer ending loosely based around a kind of mercenary, hired goons kind of character set. The dark visuals, abstracts and general mood of the video is more a trademark of Kenny and two of his awesome colleagues -- Mike Grimes (cameras) and Sammm Agnew (makeup and gore) -- and yes, that's Sammm with three 'm's!

We shot the video in two locations. The band shots where we have instruments in hand were shot at the Terminal Studios in London near Tower Bridge. We basically took one of their large studios and blackened it out almost entirely as we really wanted a super minimal slick feel to the band shots and the guys at Terminal were instrumental in this happening as planned. The second location was a stone masons warehouse down in Hampshire. It had plenty of surrounding areas and interior toys we could exploit for the story part of the video. It also had what appeared to be a thirty-foot deep pit that we really wanted to throw the victim of our story (Jenny Waterhouse) in to. But no such luck thanks to health and safety and all that bollocks."

The musical collaboration between Lou Reed and METALLICA, "Lulu", will be released on November 1 in North America and one day earlier (October 31) in the rest of the world.

Songtitles set to appear on the CD:

* Junior Dad
* Little Dog
* Mistress Dread
* Pumping Blood