FATES WARNING/OSI guitarist Jim Matheos and former FATES WARNING singer John Arch are currently working together on a new full-length album, "Sympathetic Resonance", that will be released in North America on September 13 via Metal Blade Records. The band, called ARCH/MATHEOS, began tracking the drums on January 12 and continued to record through mid-February with both John Arch and Jim Matheos producing the album.

ARCH/MATHEOS features an all-star lineup, including the talents of Joey Vera (ARMORED SAINT, ANTHRAX, FATES WARNING, SEVEN WITCHES) on bass, Bobby Jarzombek (HALFORD, FATES WARNING, SEBASTIAN BACH, RIOT) on drums, and Frank Aresti (FATES WARNING) on additional lead guitar.

Comments Matheos: "I think John and I work really well together. There's a lot of mutual respect and trust in what we do. But we're also both very critical of ourselves, and each other. This can make for a long and sometimes tedious process. But ultimately it's one I enjoy because I think it brings out the best in both of us."

Adds Arch: "When I first heard some of the arrangements Jim had written and recorded, it took quite some time before I could wrap my mind around the odd time signatures and guitar work going on here. There are some long compositions, so putting anxiety and apprehension on the back burner it was time to dissect these numbers into digestible bits. After the lengthy process of lyrics and melodies, listening to the songs now, I can't imagine them any other way."

In terms of the lyrical content on "Sympathetic Resonance", John Arch notes that "the lyrics this time around are more in line with [Arch's 2003 solo EP] 'A Twist Of Fate' and not of the mystical nature of some past albums."

ARCH/MATHEOS recording lineup:

* John Arch (FATES WARNING) - Vocals
* Jim Matheos (FATES WARNING, OSI) - Guitar
* Joey Vera (ARMORED SAINT, ANTHRAX, FATES WARNING, SEVEN WITCHES) - Bass
* Bobby Jarzombek (HALFORD, FATES WARNING, SEBASTIAN BACH, RIOT) - Drums
* Frank Aresti (FATES WARNING) - Additional Lead Guitar

EVANESCENCE is currently recording its third album at a Nashville studio with producer Nick Raskulinecz (RUSH, FOO FIGHTERS, VELVET REVOLVER, DEATH ANGEL, TRIVIUM) for a tentative October 4 release via Wind-up Records.

"The process has been much more of a collaboration between the whole band," singer Amy Lee tells Billboard.com. "Usually it's me and one main co-writer...This time everybody had something to do with it from the ground up." Consequently, the music has "a lot more about a live feeling about the band. The way everyone is playing strong, it's like we've been playing the songs on tour for a year."

Lee began recording an album last year with producer Steve Lillywhite (DAVE MATTHEWS BAND, U2) that leaned heavily in the direction of electronic and dance music, but her label reportedly rejected that project and made her start from scratch on a more traditional EVANESCENCE offering.

"I've come to realize now I was making like a solo record, and if it was going to be an EVANESCENCE record, we needed to come together and make it like a band," Lee tells Billboard.com. "That was a hard time for me. I thought I knew what I wanted and it sort of didn't happen like I wanted it to...But I have to say I feel so strong about what we're doing now...We still have some of the same songs from those sessions but we've made them about the band."

Producer Rick Rubin, who is also co-chairman of Columbia Records, tells Billboard.com in a new interview that METALLICA is "about to start writing" material for the follow-up to 2008's "Death Magnetic" album, Rubin's first collaboration with the group. "I had a meeting with [METALLICA drummer] Lars [Ulrich] in San Francisco... to explore what the focus was going to be this time around," Rick says. "I'm still sort of thinking about what that is going to be. I'll ask a lot of questions and we'll probably listen to some of the riffs that they've been writing. Usually I'll hear something that will sort of indicate the direction and then we'll talk about it from there."

METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo told Palm Springs, California radio station KCLB-FM in April about the band's decision to once again utilize Rubin's services, "Yeah. I love working with Rick. Rick, to me, he's sort of a Zen guru spirit that METALLICA needs right now . . . The first album with Rick was also the first album for me, so in a lot of ways, you're kind of testing the water. Now that we're comfortable with Rick and his incredible engineer, Greg Fidelman . . . it's a great team. And it's only gonna better; I really believe that."

METALLICA decided to work with Rubin on "Death Magnetic" after making five albums over 15 years with producer Bob Rock. Drummer Lars Ulrich told The Pulse Of Radio at the time why the band switched to the Grammy-winning Rubin. "Rick, you know, between the [RED HOT] CHILI PEPPERS and AUDIOSLAVE and SYSTEM [OF A DOWN] and SLIPKNOT and what else, I mean, it's sort of like, okay, I mean, he's the obvious guy. He comes up with some great ideas and has a whole different way of looking at METALLICA than Bob, which is not anything about Bob obviously, but it comes from a very different place and it's really revitalized some different things in us."

Meanwhile, Trujillo also said that METALLICA is "really excited to write some new music. There's no shortage of riffage in METALLICA world right now . . . I know that we've got another couple [of records] in us. And I think there's a demand."

San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal veterans TESTAMENT have just entered the studio with British producer Andy Sneap (MEGADETH, ARCH ENEMY, NEVERMORE, MACHINE HEAD) to begin recording their new album for a late 2011 release.

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. Playing drums on the follow-up to 2008's "The Formation Of Damnation" will be Gene "The Atomic Clock" Hoglan (ex-DARK ANGEL, ex-STRAPPING YOUNG LAD, FEAR FACTORY, DETHKLOK), with LAMB OF GOD's Chris Adler set to make a special guest appearance on a couple of bonus tracks.

Hoglan previously played drums on TESTAMENT's 1997 album, "Demonic", but didn't stick around long enough to do any touring with the band.

Regarding the musical direction of the new TESTAMENT material, the band's vocalist, Chuck Billy, stated in a 2010 interview, "The new album will most likely be a culmination of 'The Gathering' [1999] and 'The Formation of Damnation', but we're definitely not going to forget who we are or our roots. I think we've found a comfortable spot in our writing style."

German melodic metal band POWERWORLD, the brainchild of former FREEDOM CALL and MOON'DOC bassist Ilker Ersin, has parted ways with singer Andrew "Mac"McDermott (SARGANT FURY, THRESHOLD) and has replaced him with Michael Bormann (pictured below).

Commented POWERWORLD in a statement: "The band played on the last tour with AXEL RUDI PELL with Michael Bormann on vocals due to singer Mac's serious health problems. Michael had only six days to prepare himself and because the tour was imminent, he had no opportunity to rehearse with the band. The tour went extremely well, and Michael did one good job after another. Every evening he sang Mac's vocals as though they were his own, and rescued the first tour for POWERWORLD. Subsequently, we put all activities on hold to give Mac the time that he needed to make a good recovery. Ilker and Barish [Kepic, guitar] played on the tour with MICHAEL BORMANN BAND during this time. Unfortunately, Mac did not recover from his illness, and has left the band by his own request. Now that we know that Michael is one of the best singers in Germany and have also gained a new friend, it was logical to ask him whether he could imagine a future with POWERWORLD."

T. Cole Rachel of Stereogum recently spoke to guitarist Kim Thayil of reunited grunge legends SOUNDGARDEN about the progress of the recording sessions for the band's first studio album since 1996's "Down On The Upside".

"We're recording," Thayil said. "We're kind of doing it in stages. We have about 14 songs in various stages of completion. Previously, we'd just block out a bunch of time and go and track everything at once, but we can't really do that right now. Matt [Cameron, drums] has commitments to PEARL JAM, Chris [Cornell, vocals] has a solo tour happening and SOUNDGARDEN is touring in July. So we do the studio thing around those other engagements, which actually is turning out to be a lot better for us. It takes the pressure off in some ways. It's not like, OK you've got three weeks and everything needs to get done in those three weeks. We can work at our own pace right night and take things one step at a time. We're really enjoying it. We don't have a record company or management pressuring us to hurry up, so we can really savor the process this time."

Regarding the musical direction of SOUNDGARDEN's new material, Thayil said, "The vibe of the songs is definitely very heavy. We've always tried to explore how to make this really heavy, aggressive music without sounding like a bunch of knuckle-dragging meatheads. I think these songs are kind of exploring that idea. Ways of emoting aggression and anger and hostility in ways that feel new. You know, we never were really chipper guys. We were never the party band, or even a particularly social band. We were always really just hard workers and a kind of musician's band. That's what we wanted to be that. We wanted to play for an audience that reminded us of ourselves back when we were young, I always liked the idea that our fans were that guy or girl who collected records and wanted to start a band of their own and play good music. I always imagined we were the band that made the party end. Like, ok guys it's time to leave now, someone just put on 'Superunknown'! I always felt like we made music that was good for driving, good for listening to really loud. Wait, does that answer your question at all? The new songs sound really heavy. I'll just say that."

Norway's GORGOROTH and Poland's VADER will join forces for "The Sign Of Hell Tour 2011". The European trek, which will include over 45 shows, will kick off at the end of October and conclude right before Christmas.

According to a statement posted on the web site of Polish concert promoter and management company Massive Music, "such a long and immense tour hasn't been seen in Europe so far — all fans of GORGOROTH and VADER should start preparing for a magnificent feast! It is a completely one-off occasion as both bands will promote their newest albums and they've already announced new concert sets. GORGOROTH will play some of their material from 'Under The Sign Of Hell' released by Regain Records and VADER will present the new songs from 'Welcome To The Morbid Reich' released by Nuclear Blast. The tour will be joined by additional two or three bands. More information on this event soon!"

Fan-filmed video footage of ARCH ENEMY's June 18, 2011 performance at this year's Metaltown festival in Gothenburg, Sweden can be viewed below. Also available is a short video interview with the band's guitarist Michael Amott and vocalist Angela Gossow conducted by Aftonbladet journalist Mattias Kling).

ARCH ENEMY's setlist was as follows:

01. Yesterday Is Dead And Gone
02. Revolution Begins
03. Ravenous
04. Bloodstained Cross
05. My Apocalypse
06. No Gods, No Masters
07. We Will Rise
08. Nemesis
09. Fields Of Desolation

Fan-filmed video footage of CAVALERA CONSPIRACY's June 17, 2011 performance at this year's Metaltown festival in Gothenburg, Sweden can be viewed below. Also available is a short video interview with the band's guitarist/vocalist Max Cavalera conducted by Aftonbladet journalist Mattias Kling).

CAVALERA CONSPIRACY's setlist was as follows:

01. Warlord
02. Inflikted
03. Sanctuary
04. Terrorize
05. Refuse/Resist (SEPULTURA cover)
06. Territory (SEPULTURA cover)
07. The Doom Of All Fires
08. Killing Inside
09. Blunt Force Trauma
10. Ultra-Violent
11. Black Ark
12. Cockroaches (NAILBOMB cover)
13. Roots Bloody Roots (SEPULTURA cover)

Fan-filmed video footage of Florida metallers TRIVIUM performing a brand new song, "Black", on June 19, 2011 at the Asylum in Birmingham, England can be viewed below. The track comes off the band's new album, "In Waves", which will be released on August 9 via Roadrunner Records. The follow-up to 2008's "Shogun" was recorded primarily at Paint It Black Studios in Orlando, Florida (with only the drums having been tracked at Audiohammer Studios in Sanford, Florida) with the production/mixing team of Colin Richardson (MACHINE HEAD, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE, SLIPKNOT, FEAR FACTORY) and Martin "Ginge" Ford, along with engineer Carl Bown.

On June 28, Eagle Rock Entertainment will release DEEP PURPLE's "Phoenix Rising" – a two-hour-plus revelatory documentary including 30 minutes of never-before-seen (not even on bootleg) onstage footage from Japan. "Phoenix Rising" will be released on DVD, Blu-ray, and in a special two-disc DVD/CD package.

The release is cause for celebration amongst PURPLE fans due to the rarity of material. Extensive interviews with keyboardist Jon Lord and bassist Glenn Hughes tell the tale of a band caught by circumstance into one of its most controversial, extreme and exciting eras of its long career. Ian Gillan and Roger Glover were gone. A young unknown singer by the name of David Coverdale was recruited as was bassist Hughes. The results were the albums "Burn" and "Stormbringer" (both released in 1974). But then Ritchie Blackmore left the band. Against all odds, they rocked on, recruiting Tommy Bolin (from ZEPHYR and THE JAMES GANG). The album "Come Taste The Band" (1975) documents the short-lived Bolin era, an era that all came crashing down when the band announced in July of 1976 that it was breaking up. By December, Bolin would be dead due to a heroin overdose. Nine years of silence would ensue.

The never-before-seen 30 minutes, "Rises Over Japan", has the Coverdale/Lord/Bolin/Hughes/Paice lineup delivering the goods in 1976 on eight songs: "Burn", "Getting Tighter", "Love Child", "Smoke On The Water", "Lazy", "Homeward Strut", "You Keep On Moving" and "Stormbringer". (The double-disc package contains these eight songs on CD.) This segment is some of the only video footage that showcases Tommy Bolin performing in DEEP PURPLE.

The 90-minute documentary portion, "Getting Tighter", recounts the trials and tribulations of a band in turmoil, riding the rock 'n' roll roller coaster to total excess. With its live images, backstage footage, never-before-told stories and original video material carefully culled from years of research, it's a veritable bonanza for PURPLE fans and fans of rock history. No stone is left unturned…and sometimes it's not pretty. Gritty, truthful, wild, this is the story of an era in the 1970s that is simply unforgettable.

British heavy metal legends IRON MAIDEN have landed at position No. 2 on this week's Billboard.com "Hot Tours" rankings with more than $10.5 million in box office grosses reported from tour legs in both South America and Europe. The band played two concerts in Brazil (April 3 in Recife and April 5 in Curitiba) and a stadium event in Argentina on April 8 at Estadio Vélez Sársfield in Buenos Aires. The concert with the best attendance was in Chile at the 47,000-seat Estadio Nacional in Santiago, the largest stadium in the country. With 43,780 fans in attendance, the performance on April 10 grossed 1.2 billion pesos ($2.6 million US$). At a concert on June 3, Berlin's 17,000-seat arena, O2 World, drew a crowd of 12,817, the top attendance reported from the six German arenas in this week's tally.

* Artist/Event: IRON MAIDEN
* Total Gross: $10,499,308
* Show Dates: April 3-June 7
* Show Venue/City:
- Parque de exposições do Cordeiro, Recife, Brazil
- Arena Expotrade, Curitiba, Brazil
- Estadio Vélez Sársfield, Buenos Aires
- Estadio Nacional, Santiago
- Festhalle, Frankfurt, Germany
- König-Pilsener Arena, Oberhausen, Germany
- Olympiahalle, Munich
- O2 World, Hamburg
- O2 World, Berlin
- Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle, Stuttgart, Germany
* Total Attendance: 163,680
* Capacity: 186,404

Anglo-Australian hard rockers AC/DC have made Forbes magazine's new list of the 25 highest-paid musicians. According to Forbes, the numbers encompass all pretax income earned from May 2010 to May 2011, before subtracting agent and manager fees. The totals were compiled with the help of data from Pollstar, RIAA and others, as well as interviews with industry insiders including lawyers, managers, concert promoters, agents and, in some cases, the musicians themselves.

Forbes' list of the world's 25 highest-paid musicians:

01. U2 ($195 million)
02. BON JOVI ($125 million)
03. Elton John ($100 million)
04. Lady Gaga ($90 million)
05. Michael Buble ($70 million)
06. Paul McCartney ($67 million)
07. BLACK EYED PEAS ($61 million)
08. EAGLES ($60 million)
09. Justin Bieber ($53 million)
10. Dave Matthews Band ($51 million)
11. Toby Keith ($50 million)
12. Usher ($46 million)
13. Taylor Swift ($45 million)
14. Katy Perry ($44 million)
15. Brad Paisley ($40 million)
16. Tom Petty & the Heartbreaks ($38 million)
17. Jay-Z ($38 million)
18. AC/DC ($35 million)
18. Sean "Diddy" Combs ($35 million)
18. Beyonce ($35 million)
18. Tim McGraw ($35 million)
18. MUSE ($35 million)
23. Rascal Flatts ($34 million)
24. Kenny Chesney ($30 million)
25. Rihanna ($29 million)

AC/DC earned AUD 131.4 million (approximately USD $127 million) in 2009-10 (up from AUD $105 million [approximately USD $102 million] the previous year) to land at the second place on a list of Australia's richest entertainers, according to Business Review Weekly magazine.

AC/DC was honored in the "Top Boxscore" category at the Billboard Touring Awards, which were handed out at a special reception in New York on November 4, 2010. The awards are primarily based on global box office numbers reported to Billboard Boxscore from October 1, 2009, through September 30, 2010.

The "Top Boxscore" award recognizes the highest-grossing single engagement for the time period. Two of the Boxscore finalists were from AC/DC: a three-night, sold-out stand at ANZ Stadium in Sydney and three more sellouts at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne; both were in February. The third finalist for Top Boxscore was the Download festival in the U.K.

Pollstar magazine, which tracks the concert business, revealed that AC/DC's "Black Ice" trek was the No. 1 tour for the first nine months of 2010, with ticket sales of 1,820,962.

Atlanta progressive metallers MASTODON have revealed more songtitles that will appear on their new album, "The Hunter", tentatively due in October. The CD is expected to include the following tracks, among others:

* Blasteroids
* The Octopus Has No Friends
* Stargasm
* Curl Of The Burl
* All The Heavy Lifting
* The Sparrow
* The Ruiner

When asked about the sound of MASTODON's forthcoming album, drummer Brann Dailor told the German edition of Metal Hammer magazine, "When you listen to the songs, they don't sound as 'fun' as we perceive them to be, I guess; it's still pretty extremely heavy material." He added, "We had a few songs that were kind of, not left over from 'Crack The Skye', but just stuff that we wanted to be on that album, but that album kind of took on a whole different thing of its own and there were a few stragglers that were super-heavy and crazy that didn't make it, and we finally got to put them on this record. And then we wrote a whole bunch of brand new stuff. There's, like, 14 songs that we recorded. And it's sort all over the place — a lot of different sounds. Some straight-up classic-rock-sounding songs, straight-up death metal-sounding songs and some completely bizarre, weirdo rock songs that we're not really sure what they are, but we love them."