The other members of SLIPKNOT have been mostly ambivalent about the band's future in the wake of bassist Paul Gray's passing, but percussionist Shawn "Clown" Crahan told The Pulse of Radio that he's confident the band will be back. "SLIPKNOT just needs time, and everybody needs to be allowed to do what they're doing because they need to do what they need to do," he said. "And then there'll be a time that we'll get together and we'll sort out what's going on. But we'll be back. It's not a band, it's a culture, and you can't just wipe a culture off the face of the earth. People won't have it."

SLIPKNOT singer Corey Taylor and guitarist Jim Root have been touring with their band STONE SOUR this year, while drummer Joey Jordison has been on the road with ROB ZOMBIE. Other SLIPKNOT members have also been involved in various projects.

SLIPKNOT posted a message on its web site earlier in the week asking for the return of items taken from the gravesite of Paul Gray, who died last May. The message reads, "In a very upsetting turn of events we have learned that some gifts left for Paul at his grave site have been stolen. There were statues of a gargoyle as well as a Buddha that were placed at Paul's grave by his friends and family that were taken. We ask that whoever did this please return the items no questions asked. If anyone has any information about the stolen items please let us know by posting in the comments. Thank you for your continued support in this trying time."

Gray was found dead in a hotel room in Urbandale, Iowa on May 24.

An autopsy determined that his death was caused by an accidental overdose of morphine and fentanyl. Gray was also found to be suffering from significant heart disease.

SLIPKNOT dedicated its new DVD, "(sic)nesses", to Paul Gray. The disc came out in late September and chronicles the band's June 2009 performance at England's Download festival, one of the last major performances by Gray.

"The Metal Den has obtained what is reportedly an extremely rare live 1975 recording of VAN HALEN covering LED ZEPPELIN's classic song entitled 'Trampled Under Foot', which came off Zeppelin's 1975 album Physical Graffiti.

Before they were selling out arenas, David, Eddie, Alex and Michael were killing it in the Hollywood club scene, most notably at Gazzarri's… which was ultimately demolished and became Billboard Live in 1996. In 1998, the legendary location became The Key Club. The listener will be treated to a time when rock was fun and not some strenuous popularity game, like it is today. - Check it out below."

The release date of STONE TEMPLE PILOTS frontman Scott Weiland's Christmas album, tentatively titled "Most Wonderful Time Of The Year", has been pushed back to next Christmas, according to Weiland's business partner and touring guitarist Doug Grean. The CD will be "very traditional," Weiland told ExploreMusic host Alan Cross in Toronto at the end of August. "You know, strings, upright bass, jazz horns, piano, and guitar." While he was unsure about the exact track listing for the CD, he revealed that he is recording a reggae version of "The Little Drummer Boy". "I'm sort of picking various versions of these songs, because they've been covered so many times, but my favorite versions — with a little twist," he said.

The upcoming album isn't Weiland's first foray into holiday music. Last December he released his cover version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" — made famous by Judy Garland in "Meet Me in St. Louis" — as a single. He also performed the song on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" back in 2006.

Weiland's rendition of the song is available for purchase via iTunes.

STONE TEMPLE PILOTS drummer Eric Kretz told the Ventura County Star that the band has already started working on a new album less than a year after the release of its self-titled sixth studio effort. Kretz said to the newspaper, "We took quite a long hiatus (from the studio) and then we started touring for about nine months straight. It was just a natural progression to say, 'Let's jump back in and go back in the studio and continue the writing thing.'" Kretz added that fans can expect the record "very soon" but did not offer any specific release plans.

Kretz also said that having enough songs for an album is not a problem, explaining, "There is never a shortage of material. It's just a matter of sifting through it and working with everyone's schedule."

STP released its sixth album earlier this year after a nine-year break from the studio. The band's last effort before that, "Shangri-La-Dee-Da", came out in 2001.

The quartet reunited in 2008 for a successful world tour following a six-year hiatus.

Kretz said that the group hopes to get its new album out sometime next year and is also "looking at . . . trying new ideas of how to present music, especially for downloading."

German power metallers LANFEAR have issued the following update:

"Been hard-working in the last two weeks. The production has advanced far already. We recorded all rhythm guitars and the bass guitar and nearly all keyboards. Musically we're almost done except for some acoustic guitars and one or two leads.
It required enormous effort to really find our sound but it finally payed off. Everything sounds very natural and clear but nevertheless more aggressive than anything we did until now. We now look forward to the vocal recordings next month."

Lanfear are working on the follow-up to 2008's X To The Power Of Ten.

WHITE LION singer Mike Tramp's official website has issued the following message:

"This person is NOT Mike Tramp. We have tried to stop this person's fake profile on Facebook, but so far without any luck.

On November 10th he/she send out an email from the fake Facebook site (see mail here). This mail is FAKE and has nothing to do with Mike Tramp. So DON'T donate any money to THIS person. If you're "friends" with this person on Facebook, PLEASE delete him/her from your friends and notify Facebook that this is a fake person who pretends to be Mike Tramp. Thank you for your help."

A reissue of Swedish metallers LIFELOVER's infamous third album, Konkurs, will be the band's first release on Prophecy Productions.

Originally released in 2008, Konkurs paints a bleak, dystopian vision of modern urban despair with fractured fragments of black metal, indie-pop, post-punk, and shoegaze. Truly a love-it-or-hate-it experience, Lifelover's proudly defiant Konkurs will forever alter your perceptions of what can be done to black metal or even extreme metal in general.

On November 29th, Konkurs will be available in two different editions: as a standard jewelcase and as a digipak 2 CD set, featuring the sought-after Promo 2005, the very first Lifelover material ever recorded.

Stereogum is now streaming 'Invoke The Desolate One', the third track off of LIGHTNING SWORDS OF DEATH's latest album, The Extra Dimensional Wound, released earlier this year. Check it out here.

In other news, Lightning Swords Of Death will play a pre-holiday one-off show in Los Angeles, CA at The Blvd on December 17th. More dates to be announced in the coming weeks.

The Extra Dimensional Wound was recorded in Corona, CA at Trench Studios with Roska from the band producing and John Haddad handling engineering duties, and was mixed and mastered by Sverker "Necro" Widgren at Necromorbus Studios in Stockholm, Sweden.

The Extra Dimensional Wound tracklisting:

'The Extra Dimensional Wound'
'Nihilistic Stench'
'Invoke The Desolate One'
'Zwartgallig'
'Damnation Pentastrike'
'Venter Of The Black Beast'
'Vortricating Into Scars'
'Paths To Chaos'

It began seven years ago when a pact was made within a dilapidated house hidden in Southern California. It was here that Autarch, Roskva and Menno found themselves in agreement that should the occult sciences be applied to music, the results would prove extremely dangerous to their sanity, yet yield spectacular results. Lightning Swords Of Death, as they would name it, would be in itself a meticulously designed hyper-sigil constructed to direct and antagonize the limitless dark energy that lurks within the less navigable chasms of the human mind and the space between spaces.

Enter 2009; Lightning Swords Of Death signed a worldwide deal with Metal Blade Records and continued to push their brand of brazen black metal through their DYI attitude, getting multiple tracks on the PSP game Undead Knights as well as a track featured on the soundtrack for the horror/thriller movie Stepfather (October 2009). Lightning Swords Of Death budding reputation as a relentless and must see black metal act also earned the band a coveted spot on the Evangelia Amerika Tour, headlined by BEHEMOTH and joined by SEPRIC FLESH of Greece, which kicked off in January 2010.

In anticipation of the release of the band's debut Metal Blade album, The Extra Dimensional Wound, the band toured the western and southern US during March 2010 with none other than KREATOR, KATAKLYSM, EVILE and LAZARUS A.D. Lightning Swords Of Death even landed a highly sought after spot opening up the Los Angeles show for legendary black metalers IMMORTAL!

MEMORAIN - the "super-group" formed in 1999 and founded by guitarist Ilias Papadakis. The band's current line-up includes Gene Hoglan (FEAR FACTORY, ex-DARK ANGEL, STRAPPING YOUNG LAD), Steve Digiorgio (SADUS, ex-DEATH, TESTAMENT), Ralph Santolla (OBITUARY, ex-DEICIDE, ICED EARTH, etc) and Chris Valagao (ZIMMERS HOLE, MECHANISM) - have revealed the artwork and tracklisting for Evolution, the upcoming full-length album scheduled for a 2011 release.

Evolution tracklisting:

'Nations On Fire'
'Where Hate Lies'
'The Break'
'Rules Of Engagement'
'Destiny Found'
'A New Era'
'Methods Of The Past'
'Death Shop'
'Circle'
'Power Out'
'Scratching The Surface'
'Misery'


Also to be featured on Memorain's latest album are a few more star-studded guest musicians such as David Ellefson (MEGADETH), Tim "Ripper" Owens (HAIL!, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, BEYOND FEAR, ex-JUDAS PRIEST, ICED EARTH), Jeff Waters (ANNIHILATOR), Christian Wentz (FUTURES END), Marc Pattison (Futures End), Laura Christine (DREAMING DEAD) and Carlos E. Perez (ex-C:REAL).

David Ellefson recorded two songs 'A New Era' and 'Rules Of Engagement', as well as co-wrote 'Rules Of Engagement' with Memorain guitar player Ilias Papadakis and Tim "Ripper" Owens. On top of that, Tim "Ripper" Owens recorded vocals on 'Rules Of Engagement' and Laura Christine also contributed a solo on the song 'Destiny Found'.

Jeff Waters recorded the main guitar solo on 'A New Era', while Carlos E. Perez laid down guitar solo for 'Methods Of The Past' and with both Christian Wentz and Marc Pattison contributing guitar solos on 'Scratching The Surface'.

Melodic hard rockers TAKARA performed their first live show last night (October 30th) at Paladinos Club in Los Angeles, California. Check out fan-filmed footage of the song 'Miles Away' off their album Perception Of Reality, below.

Takara's line-up featured:

Neal Grusky - guitar
Carl Demarco - bass
Gene McEwen - drums
Jaime Kelli - vocals

German metallers WOLFCHANT have issued the following update:

"Michael “Nortwin” Seifert (REBELLION) will join Wolfchant as a full member for the clean vocals. He already rocked the stage with us for some shows. We are glad to unleash Call Of The Black Winds together. Attached you can take a look at the cover art."

A previous update from Wolfchant states: "After five years, Derrmorh leaves the band for the time being. He’s heading straight to the USA to spend one semester there for his studies. We say thank you for the great time we had together and we wish him all the best as well as success for his future. As a consequence, we would like to introduce Ragnar as our new guitarist .

Furthermore, we are working very hard on our new album which is going to be called Call Of The Black Winds. We will enter Markus Stock’s Klangschmiede E (EMPYRIUM, THE VISION BLEAK, ELUVEITIE) in November to record our new songs."

HELRUNAR werden am 31.12.2010 ihr neues Album "Sól" in drei Versionen veröffentlichen, zu denen Prophecy Productions folgende Infos mitteilt:


1. "Sól I – Der Dorn im Nebel" [Digipak-CD]; der erste Teil des Konzeptalbums enthält klassischen und direkt gehaltenen Pagan Black Metal, während textlich der Kampf des Individuums gegen und um sich selbst zum Thema erklärt wird.



2. "Sól II – Zweige der Erinnerung" [Digipak-CD]; der zweite Teil des Konzeptalbums. Begleitet von experimentellen und atmosphärisch vielschichtigeren Pagan-Black-Metal-Klängen, gerät hier der Kampf des Individuums gegen die Gesellschaft in den Fokus.



3. Sól [2CD-Artbook-Edition]: Die als Hauptwerk zu begreifende Artbook-Edition von "Sól" versammelt beide Werke und enthält auf ca. 50 großformatigen Buchseiten die um die Dimension eines klassischen Dramas erweiterten Liedtexte, exklusive Illustrationen sowie ein Geleitwort Skald Draugirs.

Die reaktivierten US-Brutal/Gore-Deather GORGASM werden Ende März 2011 ihre neue Scheibe, "Orgy Of Murder", über Brutal Bands veröffentlichen. Anbei die Trackliste:

01. Bloodlust
02. Dirty Cunt Beatdown
03. Axe To Mouth
04. Infection Induced Erection
05. Decapitation Sodomy
06. Exhibit Of Repugnance
07. Cum Inside The Carcass
08. Third Degree Taste
09. Erotic Dislimbing
10. Scourge Of The Christians
11. Silence Follows Dismemberment

Canadian death metal plague bearers MITOCHONDRION have completed work on their new album, Parasignosis.

Making quite an impression and becoming a force within the death metal underground with their self-released now out of print Archaeaeon debut from 2008 where the band introduced the death metal underground with their brand of time-stretching vitriolic complex brutal ambient death metal. The band would inevitably gain the reputation as one of Canada’s most devastating and creative death metal bands today.

Meticulously planned, initiated, and constructed in the most obsessive of manners over the last several years, Parasignosis is epic death metal chaos manifested.

To be released January of 2011 through Profound Lore Records, tracklisting for Parasignosis goes as follows:

'Plague Evockation (Pestilentiam Intus Vocamus, Voluntatem Absolvimus Part I)
'Lex Ego Exitium (Pestilentiam Intus Vocamus, Voluntatem Absolvimus Part II)
'Tetravirulence (Pestilentiam Intus Vocamus, Voluntatem Absolvimus Part III)
'Trials
'Rift/Apex
'Parasignosis
'Banishment (Undecaphosphoric)
'Kathenotheism
'–'
'–'
'Ambient Outro'

'Trials'

Dutch death metallers SINISTER will release their 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). The band states, "Expect the most brutal and fast SINISTER album ever."

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

The limited-edition digipack will include four exclusive bonus tracks.

British black metallers THE MEADS OF ASPHODEL will release their new opus, The Murder Of Jesus The Jew, through Candlelight Records on November 15th.

A new e-card supporting the release can be found at this location.

The tracklisting:

'Boiled In Hell Broth And Grave Dust' (Intro)
'My Psychotic Sand Deity'
'Apocalypse Of Lazarus'
'Addicted To God'
'Stiller Of Tempests'
'Man From Kerioth'
'Dark Gethsemane'
'Jew Killer'
'Genesis Of Death'
'From Eagle To Cross'
'Apostle Of The Uncircumcised'
'A Canticle For The Lost Amputees Of Aelia Capitolina Who Have Been Trampled Under The Lion Shod Hooves Of Salivating Hell Rams And Impaled On The Shimmering Tusks Of Salvation Within The Abandoned Tabernacle Of A Bronze Age Myth'

NEUROSIS have confirmed more live actions for the weeks crossing over into the new year, in addition to the several other live appearances announced previously. It kicks off on December 3rd, as Neurosis take part in the Nightmare Before Christmas Festival in Minehead, England, an event curated by Godspeed You! Black Emperor, followed by the band's first London show in years on December 6th.

Newly confirmed stateside Neurosis performances on the West Coast have been confirmed later in December, rounding out the year with two shows in Seattle on December 30th and 31st, with support from WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM and BLACK BREATH on the 30th, and LUDICRA, YOB and BROTHERS OF THE SONIC CLOTH on the 31st.

Two weeks later they've staged a two-day assault in San Francisco, prepared to pound their original hometown area with two dates at the incredible Great American Music Hall January 15th and 16th, with opening support from labelmates U.S. CHRISTMAS; main support on the 15th will be from YOB, and on the 16th from SAVIOURS.

Neurosis are also already scheduled to headline 2011's annual Maryland Deathfest in Baltimore at the end of May, alongside CORONER, CORROSION OF CONFORMITY, DEATH BREATH, DOOM, EXHORDER, GOATSNAKE, IMPALED NAZARENE, LOCK UP, MARDUK, NUCLEAR ASSAULT, VOIVOD and countless others.

Confirmed Neurosis 2010/2011 live shows:

December
3 - 5 - Nightmare Before Christmas Festival - Minehead, UK
6 - Koko - London, UK
30 - Neumo's - Seattle, WA (with Wolves In The Throne Room, Black Breath)
31 - Neumo's - Seattle, WA (with Ludicra, YOB, Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth)

January
15 - Great American Music Hall - San Francisco, CA (with YOB, U.S. Christmas)
16 - Great American Music Hall - San Francisco, CA (with Saviours, U.S. Christmas)

May
27 - 29 - Maryland Deathfest 2011 - Baltimore, MD

In addition to this outburst of live appearances on two continents, Neurosis will continue to reignite contemporary audiences re-exposing the band's roots with another classic album reissue. Following the reissue of their Enemy Of The Sun album - re-released alongside their Live At Roadburn 2007 album this past August - the band will re-unleash another one of their seminal, early releases... the almighty, incredibly freaky 1993 Souls At Zero LP, again through their own Neurot Recordings. The reissue will land sometime in the first quarter of 2011, with a final release date and more info to be announced shortly.