Further to the recent statement from vocalist Niklas Kvarforth of Swedish black metallers SHINING regarding the delay in the release of the band's seventh album, "VII / Född Förlorare", the group's founder and frontman has issued the following update:

"We have spoken to our producer regarding 'Shining VII' and have come to realize that he is also not to blame for the delay in finishing the album, but rather that it has been caused by a lack of communication between all the parties concerned — these being the label, the producer and ourselves.

"We are happy with the outcome of our discussions, and expect that the album will be fully mixed and mastered by the second week in January, after which time we will hopefully be able to get more information regarding a release date. In the meantime, we would like to thank all the fans for their patience and for all the messages we have been receiving over the past months."

"(Un)bearable Certainty", a reworked version of a song from Portuguese avant-garde maniacs THANATOSCHIZO, is available for free download at this location. The track comes off the band's fifth album, "Origami", which will be released in January via Major Label Industries. The CD was produced by Guilhermino Martins (THANATOSCHIZO guitarist) and was mastered by Mike Jussila (RAM-ZET, NIGHTWISH) at Finnvox Studios in Helsinki, Finland.

"Origami" was recorded at Teatro de Vila Real (in the band's hometown, Vila Real) and the group's own Blind & Lost Studios in Santa Marta de Penaguião, Portugal. The record features guest appearances by FADOMORSE (a Portuguese group that mixes national folk music with Frank Zappa's delirious moments), BANDA DE MÚSICA DE MATEUS (a local brass and woodwind ensemble) and Ricardo Frade, a young promising percussionist. According to a press release, the CD contains "songs from previous records but with a different touch, approach and edge to them. The more harsh and heavy melodies are going to give place to a more acoustic, experimental and ethnic side of the band's enterprise."

"Origami" track listing:

01. Inexistence
02. (Un)Bearable Certainty
03. Nightmares Within
04. Pervasive Healing
05. Rawoid
06. Sublime Loss
07. Dance Of The Tender Leaves
08. Sweet Suicidal Serenade
09. The Journey's Shiver
10. Hereafter Path
11. Last Of The Few
12. Pale Blue Perishes

"(Un)bearable Certainty" audio stream:

Scottish folk/power metal band ALESTORM has issued the following update:

"It is my very great pleasure to announce that on January 10th ALESTORM will be heading to the studio to record our third album, which we're gonna call 'Back Through Time'. It's gonna be an epic adventure through piratical badassery in 11 tracks, with more drunken singalong anthems than you can shake a stick at. There will be songs about midgets. There will be songs about Wisconsin. There will be songs about travelling through time to kill Vikings. And, of course, loads of songs about pirates doing what they do best; kicking your ass and stealing your wenches!

"Lasse Lammert will once again be at the helm of the production, at his LSD Studios in Lubeck, Germany. We'll be there for about a month (one week of recording, three weeks of alcohol abuse), and we're hopefully looking at a release in early summer, in time for us to kick your asses with these songs at all the festivals.

"In no particular order, here's the songtitles that we've got penned for the album:

* The Sunk'n Norwegian
* Shipwrecked (Pure Dead Banjaxed)
* Buckfast Powersmash
* Rum
* Back Through Time
* Swashbuckled
* Death Throes Of The Terrorsquid
* Midget Saw
* Scraping The Barrel
* Rumpelkombo
* Barrett's Privateers

"Of course these are all possibly subject to change, if we go crazy in the studio. There will inevitably also be a silly digipak version with a bunch of daft covers as bonus tracks as well, the exact details of which we'll announce at a later date."

ALESTORM's latest album, "Black Sails At Midnight", landed at position No. 87 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart. The Heatskeers chart lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.

ALESTORM released its debut album, "Captain Morgan's Revenge", in January 2008 through Napalm.

According to a press release, the quartet "plays Scottish 'pirate metal,' by their own definition, and musically resembles the great battle metal bands such as KORPIKLAANI or TURISAS, albeit with a unique touch and Scottish instrumentation."

A number of high-quality photos from this year's edition of the Eindhoven Metal Meeeting festival, which was held December 17-18, 2010 in Eindhoven, Holland have been posted online at Metal-Experience.com.

Included are pictures of the following bands (in alphabetical order):

Friday, December 17 (photos):

ALCEST
ENDSTILLE
HELSTAR
MAEL MORDHA
MAYHEM
MOONSPELL
MORTAL FORM
PESTILENCE
REPUGNANT
ST.VITUS
THE 11TH HOUR
VARG
VICTIMIZER

Saturday, December 18 (photos):

CARACH ANGREN
CHIRAW
DEATH ANGEL
EXODUS
FINNTROLL
IMMORTAL
IZEGRIM
KREATOR
NOTHNEGAL
ROTTING CHRIST
SAMAEL
SUICIDAL ANGELS
THE MENTORS
TRIDENT

Frontiers Records has a February 18, 2011 European release date (February 15 in North America) for PRIMAL FEAR singer Ralf Scheepers' solo debut album, entitled "Scheepers".

Scheepers has built himself quite a reputation for being one of the finest German heavy metal singers. With a career spanning three decades (he debuted with TYRAN PACE's "Eye to Eye" album in 1983), Scheepers sung on true power metal manifesto releases such as GAMMA RAY's first three albums before starting PRIMAL FEAR in 1997 with Mat Sinner. His voice is high-pitched and tenor-esque and his abilities were often compared to some of the finest hard rock and heavy metal singers ever (from Rob Halford to Ronnie James Dio and Ian Gillan). In addition, oth HELLOWEEN and JUDAS PRIEST considered him for the singer position in their respective bands.

Over the years Ralf wrote and collected a few tracks that did not fit exactly in the PRIMAL FEAR concept. As often happens, he was just waiting for the right chance to present itself and that happened when he, his buddy Mat Sinner and Frontiers Records president Serafino Perugino sat together and discussed plans for the future in… 2007! Over three years later and the results are finally here and in Scheepers' words "I'm really proud of the result!"

Scheepers' artistic intention was to please the existing PRIMAL FEAR fan base, but he also wanted to add some surprises and include as much variation as he could in the recording. So he went ahead and covered one of his own favorite — albeit atypical — JUDAS PRIEST songs, "Before the Dawn", and for the first time, Ralf played all instruments on a track, except the fantastic guitar solos added by Victor Smolski (RAGE). "Compassion" is another special track with a very positive vibe, recorded only with acoustic instruments. Two of the songs were composed with former PRIMAL FEAR guitarist Stefan Leibing, while GAMMA RAY's Kai Hansen added guitar on "The Pain Of The Accused". HALFORD's "Metal" Mike Chlasciak played lead guitar on the album opener "Locked In The Dungeon". One more highlight is the vocal duet with Tim "Ripper" Owens (YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, JUDAS PRIEST, ICED EARTH) on "Remission Of Sin". Additional guest appearances include Sander Gommans (AFTER FOREVER), Snowy Shaw (KING DIAMOND, THERION, DREAM EVIL) and Scheepers' PRIMAL FEAR bandmates Magnus Karlsson, Alex Beyrodt and Mat Sinner. The album was mixed and mastered by Achim Köhler and produced by Mat Sinner.

"Scheepers" track listing:

01. Locked In The Dungeon
02. Remission Of Sin
03. Cyberfreak
04. The Fall
05. Doomsday
06. Saints Of The Rock
07. Before The Dawn
08. Back On The Track
09. Dynasty
10. The Pain Of The Accused
11. Play With The Fire
12. Compassion

"Temple Of Kings", a brand new song from NICK HELLFORT, the solo project of TOKYO BLADE/DOMAIN singer Nicolaj Ruhnow, can be streamed at this location. The track comes off the band's new album, "The Mask Within", which is tentatively due in early 2011. The CD was recorded at High Gain Studios in Hamburg, Germany with producer Arne Lakenmacher.

Songtitles set to appear on the CD include:

* Lifeline (From The Devil's View)
* Fame Is Just A Whore
* Stepwise & Silently
* Crusaders
* Temple Of Kings
* The Antichrist Wore Black (Daily Phrases)
* The Messenger
* For All Time
* Perception 3.0
* Journey Throu' A Cup Of Tea

Dutch death metallers SINISTER have announced the addition of bassist Joost van der Graaf (CYPHER, CREEPMIME) to the group's ranks. The band states, "We practiced now a couple of times together and it's going fucking amazing... The band is really happy with him and we cannot wait to show this to you by one of our live gigs."

SINISTER released its new album, "Legacy of Ashes", on December 17 via Massacre Records. The CD was recorded at Soundlodge studios in Rhauderfehn, Germany with producer Jörg Uken (GOD DETHRONED, OBSCENITY).

"Legacy of Ashes" track listing:

01. Herd Of Damnation (intro)
02. Into The Blind World '
03. The Enemy Of My Enemy
04. Anatomie Of A Catastrophe
05. The Sin Of Sodomy
06. Legacy Of Ashes
07. The Hornet's Nest
08. Righteous Indignations
09. The Living Sacrifice

Swedish death/black metallers APOSTASY have announced the addition of guitarist Peter Huss to the group's ranks. The band states, "Peter Huss has done tons of session/live works and can play any type of music. He will be a great addition to APOSTASY on our upcoming songwriting/recording/live/drinking sessions.

"We're excited to have this amazing guitarist onboard. And the best thing beside his chops is that he's a really nice and easygoing dude with a great sense of humor and great passion for music.

"Peter also plays guitar in the legendary Swedish band SHINING. He has toured with SINERGY in 1999 as a session guitarist, replacing Alexi Laiho.

"Some of the bands/albums Peter has participated on lately are Swedish death metal band RUINED SOUL, Dutch/Belgian death metal band UNLOCKED, Norwegian metal band PANTHEON I, and he did all guitars on the ISSA 'Sign Of Angels' album with monster drummer Uli Kusch, among others."

Due to "personal and private issues," former MANOWAR drummer Kenny "Rhino" Earl has left BLACK REIGN, the band featuring vocalist Wade Black (LEATHERWOLF, CRIMSON GLORY, SEVEN WITCHES), guitarist Rick Renstrom (ROB ROCK, LEASH LAW, TIWANAKU) and bassist Rich Marks.

Commented Renstrom: "Albeit short lived, its unfortunate that Rhino has had to leave. Call it what you want, but we can only respect him and wish him all the best. He was only a piece in this puzzle and I am confident we will have some better news very soon."

As a result of Rhino's departure, BLACK REIGN has canceled its previously announced New Year's Eve (December 31) concert at The Cabana Inn in Sarasota, Florida.

In other news, BLACK REIGN has uploaded two new song samples, "Aftermath" and "Creation", to its MySpace page.

BLACK REIGN is working on material for its debut album, "Conflict In Creation", which will feature "12 brand new tracks that tie into an exciting story using historic and fictional themes," according to a press release.

Previous incarnations of BLACK REIGN have included such musicians as Pete Blakk, guitarist for the classic KING DIAMOND lineup that recorded the legendary albums "Them", "Conspiracy" and "The Eye"; and Jesse Martillo (CRIMSON GLORY) on drums.

Three years after the release of the band's highly acclaimed fifth album, "Wreath of Thevetat", Finnish black metallers ALGHAZANTH have arisen from the depths and are preparing to unleash their brand new full-length offering titled "Vinum Intus". The album contains 54 minutes of majestic black metal full of grim beauty and burning passion for the "Master." This piece of black art will be unveiled to the world by Woodcut Records on January 1, 2011 as a digipak CD and in February as a gatefold double LP.

"Vinum Intus" track listing:

01. A Living Grave
02. With A Thorn In Our Hearts
03. Only The Reflection Bleeds
04. Under The Arrow Star
05. Our Ascent Of The Tower
06. Wine Within
07. For Thirteen Moons
08. Triunity
09. The Way Of The Scales

Italy's horror-metal merchants STIGMA return with "The Undertaker" EP, which features three blistering new songs and the fan-favorite track "The Undertaker", taken from the group's sophomore effort, "Concerto For The Undead". Due in January through Pivotal Rockordings, the effort will only be available digitally through iTunes, Amazon MP3 among many other MP3 stores.

"The Undertaker" was engineered by Italian producer Simone Mularoni and mixed/mastered by the Bombs of Death Productions duo of BLEEDING THROUGH singer Brandan Schieppati and ANAAL NATHRAKH mainman Mick Kenney; with the exception of the title track, "The Undertaker", which was produced at Fear Studio by ex-BLEEDING THROUGH and current BRING ME THE HORIZON guitarist Jona Weinhofen and mixed/mastered by Scott Atkins (BEHEMOTH, CRADLE OF FILTH, SYLOSIS). Artwork for the EP was created by Daniel McBride (BORN OF OSIRIS, VEIL OF MAYA, VIATROPHY).

"The Undertaker" track listing:

01. 1,2,3, 4 Dead!
02. We Are the Deceased
03. It's Bullet Time! (feat. Brandan Schieppati)
04. The Undertaker

The track "1,2,3, 4 Dead!" is available for streaming at this location.

Legendary Swedish doomsters CANDLEMASS celebrated their 25-year anniversary by performing an extra-long, two-and-a-half-hour set at Debaser Medis in Stockholm this past Saturday, December 18. The band's classic debut album, "Epicus Doomicus Metalicus", was played in its entirety for the first time with the original singer Johan Längqvist.

Fan-filmed video footage of the concert can be viewed below.

A five-CD "Doomology" box was made available at teh Debaser Media show featuring the following:

CD 1: First-ever concert in Jönköping (1987)
CD 2: Buckley Tivoli (1988)
CD 3: Demos for the white album (2003 - 2004)
CD 4: "King Of The Grey Islands" demos with Mats Levén (THERION, KRUX, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN) on vocals
CD : Miscellaneous demos (Johan Längqvist vocal audition for "Chapter VI") and other rarities.

U.K-based metallers POWER QUEST have completed work on their new album, "Blood Alliance", at Foel Studios (PAUL RODGERS, NAPALM DEATH, THE WILDHEARTS) in Wales next for a late March European release via Napalm Records (early April in the U.S. and January 19 in Japan through Marquee/Avalon). Eleven songs were laid down for the follow-up to 2008's "Master Of Illusion", including one bonus track.

Commented keyboardist Steve Williams: "Well, it has been a long time coming but finally the fifth POWER QUEST album is done and I don't think I have ever been so excited about releasing an album. All the guys have given 110% to this record and I'm proud of them all. It's without doubt the heaviest POWER QUEST album yet but without sacrificing the POWER QUEST melodic tradition. I just can't wait for you all to hear it!"

"Blood Alliance" track listing:

01. Battle Stations
02. Rising Anew
03. Glorious
04. Sacrifice
05. Survive
06. Better Days
07. Crunching The Numbers
08. Only In My Dreams
09. Blood Alliance
10. City Of Lies
11. Time To Burn (Japanese bonus track)

POWER QUEST is confirmed to play HardRock Hell Ibiza in June 2011 and will announced more U.K. festival appearances shortly.

POWER QUEST in May announced the addition of vocalist Chitral "Chity" Somapala and guitarist Gavin Owen (of Welsh metallers TRIAXIS) to the group's ranks. The band stated at the time, "Chity is well known and highly regarded worldwide in the rock and metal scene and has recorded, toured and made guest appearances with the likes of AVALON, FARO, FIREWIND and RED CIRCUIT, as well as fronting his own band CIVILIZATION ONE. His unmistakable style has been compared favorably with Ronnie James Dio, Klaus Meine and Johnny Gioeli."

POWER QUEST in March parted ways with singer Pete Morten and guitarist Ben Randall due to "musical differences."

POWER QUEST's last album, "Master of Illusion", was released in 2008 via Napalm Records/Avalon Marquee (Japan). Guest musicians on the CD include keyboardist Richard West from the U.K. progressive metal band THRESHOLD, Jorn Viggo Lofstad from the Norwegian power metal act PAGAN'S MIND and FOURWAYKILL singer Chris Neighbour.

POWER QUEST is:

Chity Somapala - Vocals
Steve Williams - Keyboards
Andy Midgley - Guitars
Gavin Owen - Guitars
Paul Finnie - Bass
Rich Smith - Drums

British heavy metal vocalist Steve Grimmett (GRIM REAPER, ONSLAUGHT, LIONSHEART) played two shows in Brazil last month (November 13 at Carioca Club in São Paulo, SP and November 14 at Rio Rock Blues Club in Rio de Janeiro, RJ), both of which were reportedly professionally recorded for an upcoming live album release to celebrate GRIM REAPER's 30th anniversary.

Check out fan-filmed video footage of the concert below.

Grimmett last year told Classic Rock magazine that he nearly joined not one, not two… but three legendary bands. Grimmett, who made his name with GRIM REAPER, ONSLAUGHT and LIONSHEART, said, "When Bruce Dickinson left IRON MAIDEN, I sent them a demo. But never heard anything back from them, and then heard that Blaze Bayley had the job. But a while afterwards, their manager Rod Smallwood told me that I'd made the top five on their short list."

The singer also went for the JUDAS PRIEST gig as the replacement for Rob Halford. "I did get a letter back, thanking me for my interest, but they didn't feel I was quite right for them."

Finally, he was actually being lined up by BLACK SABBATH.

"Drummer Bobby Rondinelli called and asked if I'd like to join the band. I was committed to doing the second LIONSHEART album ('Pride In Tact'), but told him that, if they could wait, then I'd love to do it. But by the time I was ready, the original lineup was back together, so that was out of the window."

Grimmett was interviewed on the October 23, 2010 edition of "The Five Count" radio show. You can now listen to the chat using the audio player below. (Note: The interview begins around the 13-minute mark.)

Los Angeles, California and the Downtown Independent Cinema have been selected as the hosts for the first annual Heavy Metal Film Festival, set to take place March 31 - April 3, 2011.

This inaugural event is the brainchild of Samuel Douek, a metalhead since the age of six and director of the Hola México Film Festival. He says, "After the success of films like 'Metal: A Headbanger's Journey', 'Heavy Metal In Baghdad', 'Anvil: The Story Of Anvil', 'Lemmy', 'Until The Light Takes Us', and many others in recent years, the idea is to bring the best films in metal together and give them one home. The primary objective is to bring the metal community together to watch our music on the big screen. There's a bright future for metal films, and I want to have a platform to launch them, promote them, and support them. I also want to have some great [question-and-answer] sessions with directors and maybe even some surprise guests."

There is still an open call for submissions, which can include full-length features, documentaries, shorts, "making-of"s and live concerts. The only required theme is that the footage focus on heavy metal music. Deadline for submissions is Friday, February 4, 2011.

The program for the Heavy Metal Film Festival will be finalized on Friday, February 18, 2011.

For more information about submitting to the film festival or volunteering for the event, please write in to heavymetalfilmfestival@gmail.com. You can also visit the festival's official Facebook page.

German goth metallers XANDRIA have announced the addition of 29-year-old female singer Manuela Kraller to the group's ranks.

Kraller will make her live debut with XANDRIA at the "Classic Meets Pop" event on January 7, 2011 at the Seidensticker Halle in Bielefeld, Germany. The band states, "As the main act of the show, XANDRIA will play one of their songs with the Bielefeld Philharmonic Orchestra (XANDRIA will represent the metal genre there!)."

Commented Manuela: "My musical life started very late, at the age of 23. In a choir in Finland I discovered singing for me and since then it became my passion. I began to take classical singing lessons, sang in church and gospel choirs and soon I was asked to be a solo singer in choirs, at churchly and also at private occasions. But as I have grown up with metal and rock music I soon wanted to combine it with my classical background. So I started singing rock and metal songs with a friend and also wrote own songs for the first time. Soon after that I joined a metal band called NAGOR MAR (Switzerland) and I also became a singer in the German band HAGGARD, where I had great experiences on stage and on tour. And now a 'new age' has begun for me and I am very pleased to be the new singer of XANDRIA!"

XANDRIA performed several concerts this past spring with the band's former frontwoman, Lisa Middelhauve, filling in.

Los Angeles thrashers ANGER AS ART have commenced the songwriting process for their fourth full-length album, tentatively titled "Hubris, Inc." According to guitarist/vocalist Steve Gaines, the subject matter will once again "about rising against." He adds, "At this point, I cannot say anything more than it sounds like ANGER, the logical next step after 'Disfigure'. Songtitles set to appear on "Hubris, Inc." include:

* Lead You To Betray
* Divided We Fall
* Speed Kills
* Time Devours Life
* This is Why I Hate
* Head Of The Snake
* The Evil You Create

ANGER AS ART's concert DVD, "Live Dissent", was released this past spring. The disc features footage from the February 21, 2010 concert at the Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana, California, clips of the band on tour in Europe and in the USA, and a segment of the recording process for the "Disfigure" album. It was made available for the first time on Saturday, May 8 at the fifth annual Thrasho de Mayo show in Los Angeles.

ANGER AS ART's third album, "Disfigure", was released in November 2009 via Old School Metal Records. The bulk of the tracking was done at Trench Studio in Corona, California with John Haddad, while the vocals and "extra stuff" was overseen by Chris Trent at CT Audio.

ANGER AS ART's current lineup:

Steve Gaines - vocals, guitar
Angelo Espino - bass guitar
Rob Alaniz - drums
Daniel Oliverio - guitar, vocals

Canadian hard rock veterans HELIX recently inked a a licensing deal with EMI in Canada for the release of their new acoustic album, "Smash Hits Unplugged". Two songs from the effort will be released to radio: "That Day is Gonna Come" (rock radio) and "Dream On" to Hot AC (hot adult contemporary).

Due on January 18, "Smash Hits Unplugged" was recorded at A Studios in London, Ontario with co-producer Aaron Murray and is comprised of "all our hits plus the JAMES LEROY song 'A Touch of Magic' which I've always wanted to record," states singer Brian Vollmer. The artwork for the CD was executed by Matt Brooks of Babyjack Design, who also designed the cover for the last HELIX"Vagabond Bones".

"Smash Hits Unplugged" track listing:

* Rock You
* Heavy Metal Love
* Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'
* Make Me Do (Anything You Want)
* Wild In The Streets/No Rest For The Wicked
* Deep Cuts The Knife
* The Kids Are All Shakin'
* Dream On
* That Day Is Gonna Come
* Good To The Last Drop
* A Touch of Magic (JAMES LEROY cover)

As previously reported, HELIX is putting together a compilation album consisting of songs that were released between 2000 and 2010, including three tracks that originally appeared on singer Brian Vollmer's solo album.

The track listing for this CD is tentatively as follows:

* I'm A Live Frankenstein
* X-Ray Eyes
* King Of The Hill
* Get Up!
* Fill Your Head With Rock
* Cyberspace Girl
* The Animal Inside
* Make 'Em Dance
* Hung Over (But Still Hanging In)

Bonus tracks:

* The William Tell Overture
* It's a Long Way To The Top If You Wanna Rock N' Roll (AC/DC cover)

Swedish hard rockers THE POODLES have completed work on their fourth album, "Performocracy", for an April 15, 2011 release via Frontiers Records. The CD was produced by Mats Valentin and was mixed by Tobias Lindell (EUROPE, MUSTASCH).

"Performocracy" track listing:

01. I Want It All
02. Until Our Kingdom Falls
03. Father To A Son
04. I Believe In You
05. Cuts Like A Knife
06. As Time Is Passing By
07. Love Is All
08. Your Time Is Now
09. Action!
10. Bring Back The Night
11. Vampire's Call
12. Into The Quiet Night

The first single from album is planned for release in late January 2011.

POWERHOUSE, the new Swedish "supergroup" featuring current/former members of KING DIAMOND, HAMMERFALL and YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, has posted its cover version of the MICHAEL JACKSON classic "Thriller" at this location.




POWERHOUSE is:

* Magnus Rosén (ex-HAMMERFALL) - Bass
* Andy La Rocque (KING DIAMOND) - Guitar
* Anders Johansson (HAMMERFALL, ex-YNGWIE MALMSTEEN) - Drums
* Mats Olausson (ex-YNGWIE MALMSTEEN) - Keyboards
* Mikael Ågren (ex-NOSTRADAMEUS) - Vocals, Guitar

Video footage of powerhouse American vocalist Tim "Ripper" Owens (YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, BEYOND FEAR, JUDAS PRIEST, ICED EARTH) performing acoustic versions of classic songs from METALLICA, NINE INCH NAILS, ALICE IN CHAINS, DIO, RAINBOW, JUDAS PRIEST and LYNYRD SKYNYRD on November 27, 2010 at Ripper Owens Tap House in Akron, Ohio can be viewed below.

Owens joined forces with restaurateur Randy Arehart to re-launch the Tap House on Waterloo Road in Akron, Ohio on October 16 to become a "rockin' sports eatery" named Ripper Owens Tap House. Guests such as Wendy Dio, Simon Wright and Don Jamieson from VH1 Classic's "That Metal Show" were in the house that evening and it was a special event for both Owens and Arehart.

"Play My Game", the first solo album from Owens, landed at position No. 66 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200. The CD was released via SPV/Steamhammer. The offering consists of around a dozen brand-new tracks that Owens composed himself or together with renowned friends, such as Bob Kulick, Chris Caffery (SAVATAGE, TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA), Mike Callahan (ex-EARSHOT) and John Comprix (BEYOND FEAR, RINGWORM).