Sweden Rock TV conducted an interview with members of STEELHEART at this year's edition of the Sweden Rock Festival, which was held June 8-11, 2011 in Sölvesborg in southern Sweden. You can now watch the chat below.

When asked if fans can expect to hear some brand new material from STEELHERT in the not-too-distant future, vocalist Miljenko "Mili" Matijevic replied, "We just [released a cover version of the LED ZEPPELIN classic] 'Black Dog'. It's on Steelheart.com; just go download it for free. And we’re gonna do another song; we're gonna release it as a single again. We're gonna do it to the full-length album for February. So February, we have a brand new album coming out, world tour, the whole thing. We're back, baby!"

Finnish metallers GHOST BRIGADE will release their third album, "Until Fear No Longer Defines Us", on August 19 in Europe and August 23 in North America via Season Of Mist.

The track listing for the CD is as follows:

01. In The Woods
02. Clawmaster
03. Chamber
04. Traces Of Liberty
05. Divine Act Of Lunacy
06. Grain
07. Breakwater
08. Cult Of Decay
09. Torn
10. Soulcarvers

"Until Fear No Longer Defines Us" will be released as a CD digipak limited to the first pressing, a double gatefold coloured vinyl with digital download card, and a collector's box with CD digipak, regular or unisex t-shirt, leather bracelet, postcard hand-signed by all band members and metal button badges. All of the above is available for pre-order from Season of Mist's e-shop.

GUNS N' ROSES guitarist Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal is preparing to release the sixth in a series of singles being made available digitally this year, an original song entitled "Cat Fight". The track, which will arrive on Thursday, June 23, features a guest appearance by one of Thal's "all-time favorite vocalists," Mark Tornillo of ACCEPT.

Commented Ron: "This was a fun song to make!! Very happy Dennis [Leeflang; drums] and I had the music done and invited Mark to sing on it. I've always been a huge fan of his, from his band TT QUICK I'd follow as a teenager to now as singer of ACCEPT. While touring, he sent me ideas for lyrics, came to the studio while home for a few days between legs of the tour, hung out and blasted out killer vocals. Then, the song art... had an idea for a vintage movie poster vibe, and put a message on Facebook and Twitter inviting people to take photos for the song art. Photos started comin' in, and the winning pic jumped out."

A PERFECT CIRCLE guitarist Billy Howerdel says that the band is close to finishing up a new song which it will play on the band's upcoming summer North American tour. As for whether the yet-to-be-titled track will lead to a full album's worth of material, Howerdel told The Pulse Of Radio that he doesn't see a full-length record happening. "I like records," he said. "I still like records. I have great memories of having anticipation of hearing a whole album and ingesting it slowly and drinking it all in. To me, I have desires of making a record, but it just doesn't seem like people are interested. It just seems that everyone likes to digest things much quicker and have less patience."

A PERFECT CIRCLE will tour North America for the first time in six years this summer. The tour kicks off next Wednesday (June 29) in Portland, Oregon.

DUFF MCKAGAN'S LOADED — the band led by VELVET REVOLVER /ex-GUNS N' ROSES bassist Duff McKagan — performed at this year's Hellfest on June 19, 2011 in Clisson, France.

The group's setlist was as follows:

01. Executioner's Song
02. We Win
03. Dead Skin
04. Dark Days
05. Seattlehead
06. Sick
07. Follow Me to Hell
08. Your Name
09. Lords of Abbadon
10. Attitude (MISFITS cover)
11. It's So Easy (GUNS N' ROSES cover)

Swedish black metallers DARK FUNERAL have been rejoined by drummer Nils Fjallstrom (a.k.a. Dominator) i

Commented Nils: "After a short break of focusing on other aspects of my life, it's a great privilege for me to announce my return to DARK FUNERAL. The time off has fueled my inspiration and urge to get back behind the kit and annihilate. It's an honor to play alongside my fellow brothers again. May DARK FUNERAL rise to Dominate once more."

Added guitarist Lord Ahriman: "It feels absolutely killer to be working with Dominator again. He's not only an amazing drummer, but also a very good friend. And I'm glad he's back in the band. A massive welcome back brother! Now, let's together set the world ablaze and conquer the universe once and for all!"

Stated guitarist Chaq Mol: "Finally, a missing brother is back from his walkabout. And the search for a drummer is officially over. Once again we have the honor to play with the best drummer ever. Welcome back, Dominator, my brother!"

Fan-filmed video footage of JUDAS PRIEST's June 20, 2011 performance at Le Zénith in Paris, France can be seen below.

The band's setlist was as follows:

01. Rapid Fire
02. Metal Gods
03. Heading Out to the Highway
04. Judas Rising
05. Starbreaker
06. Victim of Changes
07. Never Satisfied
08. Diamonds & Rust (JOAN BAEZ cover) (first half acoustic)
09. Dawn of Creation
10. Prophecy
11. Night Crawler
12. Turbo Lover
13. Beyond the Realms of Death
14. The Sentinel
15. Blood Red Skies
16. The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Pronged Crown) (FLEETWOOD MAC cover)
17. Breaking the Law
18. Painkiller

Encore:

19. The Hellion (taped intro) / Electric Eye

Encore 2:

20. Hell Bent for Leather
21. You've Got Another Thing Comin' (with Richie Faulkner guitar solo)

Encore 3:

22. Living After Midnight

Fan-filmed video footage of CINDERELLA's June 20, 2011 performance at Klubben/Fryshuset in Stockholm, Sweden can be viewed below.

The band's setlist was as follows:

01. Once Around the Ride
02. Shake Me
03. Heartbreak Station
04. Somebody Save Me
05. Night Songs
06. The More Things Change
07. Coming Home
08. Second Wind
09. Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)
10. Nobody's Fool
11. Gypsy Road

Encore:

12. Long Cold Winter
13. Shelter Me

PRESTO BALLET, the progressive rock band featuring former METAL CHURCH members Kurdt Vanderhoof (guitar) and Ronny Munroe (vocals), will release a new EP, "Love What You've Done With The Place", on Saturday, July 2. It will be available for download on iTunes and other major online sites, but if you want a CD that includes a bonus track, it will only be available on the group's official web site.

"Love What You've Done With The Place" track listing:

01. King Of The Stars
02. The Clock
03. A Distant Heart
04. Deep Dark Blue
05. Looking Glass
06. The Faith Healer (THE SENSATIONAL ALEX HARVEY BAND cover) (bonus track; only available on CD)

In other news, PRESTO BALLET has parted ways with drummer Jeffrey McCormack. Bassist Bobby Ferkovich says, "[Jeffrey] is unfortunately going through some rough times right now and felt couldn't commit enough of his time and effort to us. Although he was only with us a short time, Jeffrey is one of my dearest friends and I'm sad to see him go."

According to Kerrang! magazine, RISE TO REMAIN — the up-and-coming London, England metalcore outfit featuring singer Austin Dickinson, the son of IRON MAIDEN frontman Bruce Dickinson — will release its debut album, "City Of Vultures", on September 5 via EMI. The 12-track effort was recorded last year at Tree House Studios in Chesterfield with producers Carl Bown (FIGHTSTAR, TRIVIUM) and Colin Richardson (SLIPKNOT, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE, MACHINE HEAD).

"We're ecstatic now the album is complete," says Dickinson. "That's the only way to describe it; this album has been our focus for so long. I want this album to take the band to major new levels."

DARK FOREST has inked a deal with Cruz del Sur Music for the release of the band's second full-length album, "Dawn Of Infinity". The group entered the studio on June 18 to begin recording the CD, which will be made available in the fall.

A young band based out of Birmingham, England, DARK FOREST has been knocking skulls around for a few years now, after the release of its self-titled debut album on Eyes Like Snow Records in January 2009. Their traditional take on heavy metal is as British-sounding as some of the best NWOBHM bands, reinterpreted with a modern production's punch able to make them stand out alone.

If your heart has a soft spot for IRON MAIDEN, ANGEL WITCH, ISEN TORR or early DEEP PURPLE, DARK FOREST boasts the kind of fist-pumping old-school classic metal to make your day.

Mike Bax of Lithium Magazine recently conducted an interview with guitarist/vocalist Mikael Åkerfeldt of Swedish progressive metallers OPETH. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Lithium Magazine: "Heritage" will be your tenth album, and your third album on Roadrunner Records. Did you have anything different in mind that you really wanted to accomplish on this tenth album?

Mikael: I just wanted it to be different. I had a pretty strong urge to do it differently and not be stuck in a rut, so to speak. I'd like to think that every album we've done has been an album that reflects what we really wanted to do at the time. This time around, when I started writing, I was a bit disillusioned with what I wanted to do and what we should do as a band. I didn't want us to get stuck with a sound. I get restless and when that happens it's just time to move on and try something different, and that's what we did with this album. We just wrote eleven or twelve songs that sounded like stuff that I would want to listen to now, rather than writing stuff that sounds like things we've already done before. We have always tried to do records that we want to hear. There's no exception to that rule with "Heritage", but it's a different-sounding album than our previous ones.

Lithium Magazine: If I'm reading my Internet bits correctly, "The Devil's Orchard" is set to be your first single, correct? Are you going to pop that online to give fans a taste of the new material?

Mikael: We don't know yet. The album is coming in September sometime. I'm assuming there will be a preview around that time. If I could choose, we wouldn't put anything out until the album release date. That's one thing that we want to rebel against. Maybe me more than the others in OPETH, but I want to rebel against the whole Internet-based thing with music. Updates from the bands in the studio, Twitter pictures of recording sessions, and pre-released singles all seem to be the norm on the Internet. I don't want our music to be first heard like that, you know? I'm a YouTube consumer, too… but I don't want our stuff to get an advance release and sound bad. I understand the business model for music has changed, and that is just how it works these days, but I'm really not into the whole Internet hype for new albums.

Lithium Magazine: Would you do anything for your fans on your website - something exclusive for fans who pre-order "Heritage"? Limited artwork, or autographed versions?

Mikael: I'm not sure about that. That's more up to the label. I don't think in terms of promotion when it comes to music. For me, once the album is done, my work is pretty much done. I don't think in terms of how to sell it once it's done. There's guys in bands that do that and they are entrepreneurs in a way, which is good for them. I'm just a rocking dude, you know? The work feels like it's done once I have produced an album. Then we will go out on tour which is also my type of work, you know? Everything surrounding a release and promotion and interviews and bundles and packages for selling albums, that's the record labels and management's job. I'm kind of shooting my load all over the making of the record. I don't really have much else to offer after that.

Lithium Magazine: At what point during your discography do you feel OPETH really hit its stride, Mikael? Do you feel that this album is the one fans enjoy the most as well?

Mikael: I think we were pretty well prepared on our first album. We'd been around for a while before we recorded our first album. I think we were pretty much done by the time we did our first album. I can't say that we've been working our way to up to certain albums or anything. I think at the time, when the first album came out, that is what we wanted to do. It was a collection of songs that we had been playing for a couple of years, and we did that album well. It's not like we were learning much at the recording of that album. I think we were pretty much done establishing our sound at that point. But obviously, things happened in the late nineties and early in the new millennium with "Blackwater Park". That album catapulted us into a different level, and all of a sudden we were a professional band on a global scale, touring more than we ever had. That's when we became professional musicians, I guess. Musically, I don't particularly think "Blackwater Park" is better than any of our other albums, you know? It just seemed to be more appealing to our audience, I guess.

NIRVANA, the trio comprised of Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, and Dave Grohl, hailed originally from a coastal fishing town in Washington and rose to become one of the most influential rock bands in history with irreverence, intense honesty and an overriding passion. The cultural shift NIRVANA's "Nevermind" initiated was felt instantly on release — and the profundity and depth of that shift becomes even more apparent when seen through the prism of the two decades of art and music created in its wake.

Released in September of 1991, NIRVANA's "Nevermind" garnered near-unanimous praise and rose within a few months to the No. 1 slot on Billboard's U.S. sales chart. "Nevermind" was propelled to No. 1 across the globe by their young fans worldwide that identified with the band and embraced their anthem "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and its landmark music video. Since then, it has sold more than 30 million albums.

NIRVANA changed the course of popular music forever and remains an inspiration to those who have followed.

Today, Universal Music Enterprises is pleased to announce the 4-CD/1-DVD Super Deluxe Edition of NIRVANA's "Nevermind" available September 19, 2011, in the U.K. and September 20, 2011, in North America. The CDs will include previously unreleased recordings, rarities, B-sides, BBC radio appearances, alternative mixes, rare live recordings and an unreleased concert in its entirety on DVD.

The 20th anniversary of NIRVANA will be marked throughout the year, with various events and releases.