Dutch thrashers NUESTROS DERECHOS are currently recording their first full-length album at Bunt's Studios in Utrecht, The Netherlands. The band has already completed laying down the drums for all 12 tracks and is now recording guitars, bass and vocals. Mixing will be done in August.

As was the case with NUESTROS DERECHOS' previous release, the 2008 EP "Struggling With The Dark", Menno Bakker (DONOR, BORN FROM PAIN, INSULT, NO TURNING BACK, SIN DIOS, NRA) is at the helm as studio engineer and producer. Mastering duties will be handled by Alan Douches (KVELERTAK, WHITECHAPEL, MALEVOLENT CREATION, SHADOWS FALL, THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN) at West West Side Music in New Windsor, New York. A late 2011 release is expected.

Brendan Crabb of Australia's Loud recently conducted an interview with vocalist Geoff Tate of Seattle progressive rockers QUEENSRŸCHE. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Loud: Many bands write and record a new album and don't want to see the inside of a studio again for a lengthy period of time, yet I understand QUEENSRŸCHE are already working on new material.

Tate: Yeah, we began the writing sessions for the next record about a month ago. We kind of go from one project to the next fairly rapidly. In today's world, you kind of have to keep coming up with new stuff, so we like that. It's hard to keep us out of the studio actually. (laughs)

Loud: The new album has just been released and the title seems indicative of the band's desire to change things up. Was that the intention from the beginning?

Tate: Yeah, usually before a record we sit down and kind of map out what we want to try to achieve. Most of the time we're pretty successful at planning it out and figuring out the sketching of what we're going to try and go for. With this record, I wanted to take a break from working with concepts and themes, and just really focus on writing a collection of songs that were indicative of where the band's at, at this moment.

Loud: The Internet is such a valuable promotional tool, but on the flipside of that there are the substantial effects of things such as illegal downloading. What's your take on that?

Tate: Oh yeah, the illegal downloading has pretty much gutted the music industry and it's working pretty well to gut the movie industry and books as well. It's pretty much an attack on intellectual property, and all the ways we have that set up and the system that was in place is completely wiped out now. So, on one hand I guess you could get real bitter about it and pine for the old days, but it ain't going away; it is what is and you have to kind of focus on what you can do. How are you going to navigate in this new frontier? I think that's really what musicians are kind of grappling with now, is how do we stay alive? How do we stay afloat economically now? So it's challenging, definitely. It's a big puzzle that we're all working on. (laughs)

Loud: Is there still a part of you that bemoans the fact that a heavier rock band like QUEENSRŸCHE can't really sell millions of records and match some of those earlier career achievements anymore though?

Tate: Well, a lot of things have changed since that time. One, rock music is not the pop music of the times anymore. People have moved on and that kind of music has really gone underground. The only people that are selling millions of records, and it's very few, are pop artists that are more attuned into I guess what they call urban music or dance music, that kind of thing. I guess there's a lot of ways you could describe it, but definitely rock music is back underground, kind of where it started originally. Two, you of course have the Internet and the downloading, so that just takes away all the outlets for selling music. Even the places where people bought music have changed. I know in the United States, I don't know how it is in Australia, but in the U.S. all the record stores have mostly shut down now. Businesses aren't stocking the physical product anymore. In fact, it's not just records, it's retail in general. People are moving towards purchasing goods on the Internet now, rather than going to a retail shops to buy it there. So it's kind of an economic indicator that things are really changing radically.

Loud: Also, perhaps after two concept albums in quick succession (2006's "Operation: Mindcrime II" and 2009's "American Soldier") perhaps there was there a real sense of wanting to strip things back somewhat.

Tate: Well, let's see what the past couple of records were. "American Soldier" was a pretty serious record really, emotionally serious. We interviewed different soldiers from different conflicts from World War II all the way up to the present to get their stories of what it was like to be a soldier in battle. Because none of us had had that experience, we felt the best way to go about writing something like this was to kind of take it from the people who have actually experienced it. So hearing all those stories was really an emotional rollercoaster, but the album turned out really good, I like it a lot. The album before that was the sequel to "Operation: Mindcrime", the finishing of the story, which is a group of songs and a story that we had been kicking around for a long time. In fact, we originally had planned to put "Operation: Mindcrime II" out after the "Empire" album, sometime around 1991 or '92 or something like that. But it didn't work out at the time, so we continued on writing from some other perspectives.

LAMB OF GOD's Chris Adler will make a special guest appearance on a couple of bonus tracks on the forthcoming album from San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal veterans TESTAMENT. The rest of the drums tracks on the CD are being laid down by Gene "The Atomic Clock" Hoglan (ex-DARK ANGEL, ex-STRAPPING YOUNG LAD, FEAR FACTORY, DETHKLOK), who previously played on TESTAMENT's 1997 album, "Demonic".

Due to a "serious injury," drummer Paul Bostaph is unable to take part in the new CD recordings but will rejoin TESTAMENT for future touring activities.

Regarding his collaboration with TESTAMENT, Chris told Gun Shy Assassin, "They just sent me the first song, so we're going to do that while we're set up [at a studio in New York City recording the new LAMB OF GOD album]. I haven't had time to sit down and learn the tune, but they have programmed drums on it. I guess Gene is doing the rest of the record, which is amazing. When I first started talking to Eric [Peterson, TESTAMENT guitarist], they had me going out there, sitting with them, and figuring out the whole thing. They said they might do it with Gene, and I was like, 'If you can get Gene, don't bother with me. He's the king.'"

When asked what he thought of the tune he's been sent, he said, "It's great. It sounds a lot like the stuff on [TESTAMENT's 1988 album] 'The New Order'. I still have that vinyl. Definitely my favorite TESTAMENT record. This one . . . sounds like old TESTAMENT. It's super old school, and real thrashy. It's definitely very heavy. It's different than what we're doing. They're sticking to their guns: San Francisco thrash. To me, it's a different kind of challenge. I wanted to do the whole record, but at least I get to do two."

The new TESTAMENT album is being helmed by British producer Andy Sneap, who has previously worked with MEGADETH, ARCH ENEMY, NEVERMORE, MACHINE HEAD and EXODUS, among many others.

egendary Canuck rockers HELIX have issued the following update on the band’s in-the-works compilation album:

“This week we began recording our 15th studio CD at A Studios with Aaron Murray. Aaron was the protégé of Danny Broadbeck (who won a Juno last year for Engineer or the Year for his work with Delores O’Reardon of the CRANBERRIES) who was the protégé of Jack Richardson, famous for his work with THE GUESS WHO and ALICE COOPER. So it’s a good lineage…I also had my young nephew Michael Costa in the studio with us. Michael went through sound engineering school in Australia and is just starting into the business. We had him cleaning up some of the drum tracks. It’s a tough business with slow advancement, but I have faith he’ll make it through. Anyway, he got to work with Uncle Brian for the day…

As in past CDs, the songs are growing every step of the way. I wrote these four songs with Sean Kelly. One (‘Angelina’) was also a co-write with Moe Berg. Sean has been my partner on the last couple of Helix discs-Vagabond Bones and Smash Hits Unplugged, as well as being a large part of the acoustic show. These four songs (‘Champagne Communist’, ‘Angelina’, ‘Skin In The Game’, and ‘The Bitch Is A Bullet’) are really just a continuation of the Vagabond Bones CD. We wrote them very shortly after that CD was finished and they’ve been sitting in the can for a year. That’s why we’re thinking of putting out an extended version of Vagabond Bones overseas with these four songs as bonus tracks to coincide with our dates in Sweden and Finland in October. In North America we’re thinking of putting together a Best of Helix CD from the years 2000-2010 and calling it Running Wild In The 21st Century. Unlike the extended Vagabond Bones European release, this particular disc would also include an acoustic version of ‘Running Wild in the 21st Century’ and Brent’s version of ‘The William Tell Overture’ with Daryl’s ‘The Calm’ thrown in at the end plus songs from not only Vagabond Bones but other discs ie. When Pigs Fly, Rockin’ In My Outer Space, and The Power of Rock and Roll.

For a band that was supposed to be “over” a decade ago, we sure have a shitload of music and film sitting around. As everyone knows, we’re shopping a pilot for a reality show as well as a rockumentary on the band. We have over 40 hours worth of film at this point and have been getting good interest from distributors and also financial backers. It’s a slow process however; one I liken to “…watching paint dry…”

Since we put the first acoustic show onstage in May we’ve been putting together a commercial for that show. We’ll be using this to help advertise the show to fans (so they know what the show is about) and also to give to the booking agents and clubs in the hopes of getting more engagements. Realistically this is a show that we could continue on with forever… our biggest obstacle is to educate fans on what the show is all about-that it’s multi-media, 35 years of rock and roll adventures told personally by the guys who have “…been there, done it, and have the t-shirt…”, all the Helix hits done acoustically-like you’ve never heard them before. As well, we use a variety of different instruments in the acoustic show-mandolin, piano, mouth harp, and violin plus guest appearances by Wendy Williams and Cheryl Lescom. Lastly, we take questions directly from the audience at the end of the show and give away a free Yamaha guitar to some lucky ticket holder. I’m going to be setting up a new Facebook page dedicated to the acoustic show which will feature videos of the different shows, band members talking about the show, etc.

Not only does the filming of the acoustic show have its benefits as an advertising tool, it also can be included on future releases as an added incentive to buy whatever CD we’re pushing at the time. For instance, when we release the Running Wild in the 21st Century video we could include a 30 minute live acoustic DVD. That’s just one example. Expect both of these discs to be available in the fall.”

Grand Central Publishing has set an October 11 release date for "Trust Me, I'm Dr. Ozzy: Advice From Rock's Ultimate Survivor" (formerly "Ask Dr. Ozzy"), written by legendary heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne and Chris Ayres.

The official book description reads as follows: "Wondering if science could explain how he survived his 40-year avalanche of drugs and alcohol, Ozzy Osbourne became one of a handful of people in the world to have his entire DNA mapped in 2010. It was a highly complex, $65,000 process, but the results were conclusive: Ozzy is a genetic anomaly. The 'Full Ozzy Genome' contained variants that scientists had never before encountered and the findings were presented at the prestigious TEDMED conference in San Diego-making headlines around the world. The procedure was in part sponsored by The Sunday Times of London, which had already caused an international fururoe by appointing Ozzy Osbourne its star health advice columnist. The newpaper argued that Ozzy's mutliple near-death experiences, 40-year history of drug abuse, and extreme hypocondria qualified him more than any other for the job. The column was an overnight hit, being quickly picked up by Rolling Stone to give it a global audience of millions. In 'Trust Me, I'm Dr. Ozzy', Ozzy answers reader's questions with his outrageous wit and surprising wisdom, digging deep into his past to tell the memoir-style survival stories never published before-and offer guidance that no sane human being should follow. Part humor, part memoir, and part bad advice, 'Trust Me, I'm Dr. Ozzy' will include some of the best material from his published columns, answers to celebrities' medical questions, charts, sidebars, and more."

Ozzy last year said that his column in the Times is not meant to be taken seriously. "It's not a serious thing," he said. "I mean, I'm the last person to ask advice about health. It's just, it's not fit to be taken seriously. I mean — and I'm not doing it, I'm not writing the column personally, I've got a guy coming around, the guy who did my book, Chris Ayres, is doing the column. He brings me the column things and I just joke about it, you know. 'Cause if you believe me, you'll end up in the lunatic asylum."

Ozzy said in his first column for the Times, "If people can learn from my stupid mistakes without having to repeat any of them, or if they can take some comfort from the crazy things my family has been through over the years . . . that's more than enough for me."

Ozzy added in the column, "By all accounts, I'm a medical miracle. When I die, I should donate my body to the Natural History Museum."

In response to a Rolling Stone reader by the name of Hugh from New Mexico who asked if he should go to one of those "rub 'n' tug" massage parlors given that his girlfriend will never know, Ozzy replied, "A hand job is a very personal thing, and after a lifetime of practice, most blokes get a pretty specific preference for the kind of technique they like. So unless you're acting as a co-pilot and barking out instructions to your dodgy masseuse every two seconds, it might end up feeling more like she's skinning a dead rabbit than driving you wild with forbidden pleasure. In fact, it sounds to me like you've already built this up in your head to the point where it's gonna be an expensive disappointment. You also ain't factored in guilt. It's all very well you telling Dr. Ozzy that 'it doesn't seem wrong' to hire an extra pair of hands to help out in the monkey-spanking department, but I'm afraid to say that if you're anything like me, your conscience won't agree."

Former HANOI ROCKS singer Michael Monroe has tapped Dregen (pictured below; real name: Andreas Tyrone Svensson) of Swedish sleaze rockers BACKYARD BABIES as the guitarist of his solo band following the recent departure of Ginger (THE WILDHEARTS).

Ginger played his last gig as the guitarist for Monroe's group on June 17 at the Provinssirock festival in Finland. Video footage of the performance can be seen at YLE.fi.

Commenting on Dregen's addition to Monroe's band, Ginger said, "It's the right thing that he joined. Michael deserves the best around him. I can do other things apart from [SUPERSHIT 666; which also featured Dregen] but Michael has only [Michael Monroe] band. I'd rather Dregen help Michael."

Dregen will make his live debut with Monroe on June 26 at Kalasatama in Helsinki as the support act for the FOO FIGHTERS.

In a series of online postings, Ginger stated about his departure from Monroe's band, "I left for a lot of reasons, mainly the management.

"I didn't agree with the management of the band, but didn't have enough of a position in the band to change anything.

"It was basically me or the manager, and Michael chose the manager.

"When it came to decision-making, I was never as much of a chief member as Michael and Sami [Yaffa, bass]. This is understandable as they formed the band. I was aware of my position from the beginning, but coming from a position as band leader (with THE WILDHEARTS) this was an increasingly difficult situation for me.

"Sensory Overdrive", the new solo album from Michael Monroe, entered the official chart in his home country at position No. 1.

"Sensory Overdrive" was released on March 14 via Universal Music subsidiary Spinefarm Records. The CD features guest appearances by MOTÖRHEAD's Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister and three-time Grammy-winning country/folk singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams.

"Sensory Overdrive" was recorded in Los Angeles with legendary producer Jack Douglas, who has previously worked with AEROSMITH, JOHN LENNON, CLUTCH, SLASH'S SNAKEPIT and NEW YORK DOLLS, among many others.

San Diego's PATHOLOGY has entered Lambesis Studios (owned by AS I LAY DYING vocalist Tim Lambesis) in the band's hometown with producer Daniel Castleman (IMPENDING DOOM, AS I LAY DYING, WINDS OF PLAGUE) to begin recording its new album for a fall release. This will be PATHOPLOGY's first CD to feature the group's new lineup, including vocalist Jonathan Huber and second guitarist Kevin Schwartz, who have spent time on the road with their new bandmates during recent U.S. and European tours with DEICIDE and OBITUARY.

"I'm very excited to be back in the studio," states drummer Dave Astor. "Producer Daniel Castleman has done some of the best and heavy recordings out there. This will be the tightest and heaviest recording we have ever done. The new material we wrote is more thought out and way more brutal then anything that we have ever written. We're doing the same brutal music as we have always done. We just made the breakdowns heavier, the fast parts faster, and the slow parts slower."

Vocalist Fernando Ribeiro of Portuguese metallers MOONSPELL has issued the following update:

"I know we are being a bitch with nothing giving any solid news regarding [our new album] but we do have the feeling that most of the bands give it all in the Net, spoiling any possible romance, seduction game which is essential for a MOONSPELL record. So it's not that we don't want to be generous to our fans, it's just that we don't want to lose any impact on this one as we believe it to be one of the finest jewels we ever wrote.

"Nevertheless, there's some stuff I can say about the album. Its initials are 'A.N.' and we refer to it as such while working on it.

"Revealing the [full] title now would be premature. The record is coming out on 2012 (first trimester) but through which label we still do not know, as we are now an unsigned band, financing from our own pocket our new album and all that it involves.

"We will produce the album ourselves but we are working with two producers and friends that are helping out the final shape of the album. One is Benny Richter, who works with bands such as CALIBAN but whose musical vision and classical training and fresh ideas (he is quite younger than us, a first time for us, hehe) are bringing a great added atmosphere and freshness into the record. We are working with Benny for two and a half years now and in July we will have a final round at the ludus for the more atmospheric songs of the album. The other person is already well-known for us, he is Tue Madsen, who worked with us in 'Under Satanae' and 'Night Eternal'.

"The drums for 'A.N.' are already recorded at the Antfarm studios in Aarhus, Denmark and Tue is coming to Portugal to setup the rest of the instruments and he will be our choice to mix the album which will only happen in September.

"The record is tentatively divided in two parts ('A.N.'/'O.W.') and drums' second session will happen very soon in Berlin, Germany. The rest of the record will be done in Portugal, at our own revamped Inferno Studios, and the mixes will be Antfarm as stated.

"We will keep you informed about this one trying not to lose any of its original secrecy, mysticism and strength. This is a very important card for MOONSPELL and all our fans and we will not give hand and spoil the mood."

Radiohead have today posted a new track on their Dead Air Space website. 'Staircase' is taken from their forthcoming From The Basement sessions, which feature the band playing in a darkened subterranean space. Must be said that on first lesson 'Staircase' is a rather interesting piece, a sense of melancholia that doesn't weigh the song down, and an interesting rhythm played by two drummers: Phil Selway and Clive Deamer, who plays with Portishead. It seems to be Radiohead's interest in Burial & co eloquently explored in a band format for the first time. You can listen below. And by the way, we hear from the band's management that they're well on the way to resolving the King Of Limbs newspaper LP delivery issues that Ian Rankin wrote about a few weeks back.

Czech heavy metal act SEVEN has inked a deal with Nuclear Blast Records. The band's new album, "Freedom Call", will be released on September 2.

"We are very delighted to announce that the new record is being released under the Nuclear Blast label, which is one of the biggest and most professional labels on the whole world," says SEVEN guitar player and founding member Honza Kirk Behunek. "We are very proud of it and looking forward to the new fans."

In the Czech Republic, SEVEN is already an established name. The band has thus far released several instrumental records, some of which have featured guest appearances by such vocalists as Doro Pesch and Blaze Bayley.

SEVEN recently supported RAGE on the German band's European tour. In addition, RAGE guitarist Victor Smoski produced "Freedom Call", performed as a guest musician and wrote some of the lyrics on the CD.

"Victor isn't only a great musician, but also an amazing and modest person," says Honza. "I would even consider him as a part of SEVEN, even though he doesn't play with us."

"Freedom Call" is the first SEVEN album to feature vocalist Lukas Pisarik. Honza says, "Lukas is a young and talented singer. He's also a great person and everything is only ahead of him. He came to our audition and I knew from the very first moment that he is the one we're looking for."

Fan-filmed HD video footage of SLIPKNOT's June 24, 2011 performance at the Sonisphere festival in Basel, Switzerland can be seen below.

The band's setlist was as follows:

01. (sic)
02. Eyeless
03. Wait and Bleed
04. The Blister Exists
05. Liberate
06. Before I Forget
07. Pulse Of The Maggots
08. Disasterpiece
09. Psychosocial
10. The Heretic Anthem
11. Duality
12. Spit It Out
13. People = Shit
14. Surfacing

HAAVAT, the new Finnish band featuring Lauri Tuohimaa (CHARON, ex-EMBRAZE, FOR MY PAIN) alongside two other former members of EMBRAZE, has made its four-song demo EP available for free download at this location.

The track listing for the effort is as follows:

01. Kaikki Katoa
02. Vie Pois
03. Kahleet
04. Ajasta Ja Uskosta

HAAVAT is:

* Lauri Tuohimaa (CHARON, ex-EMBRAZE, FOR MY PAIN) - Vocals
* Janne Regelin (ex-EMBRAZE) - Guitar
* Tuomas Päkkilä - Guitar
* Olli-Pekka Karvonen (ex-EMBRAZE) - Bass
* Seppo "Sidi" Vainio (ex-SHADOWPLAY, ex-BRIARD, PÄÄT) - Drums