Former NIGHTWISH singer Tarja Turunen performed the song "The Good Die Young" with German hard rock veterans SCORPIONS on the March 27 edition of Germany's talk show "Wetten, Dass..?". The program also featured an interview with Tarja and SCORPIONS members Rudolf Schenker and Klaus Meine.

Commented Tarja: ""The experience on the 'Wetten, Dass..?' show was just amazing.

"It was great to sing with SCORPIONS, of course!

"I have to tell you that these guys from the band are SO kind. They were treating me like a queen and I was very delighted of their support and trust.

"[It] is funny to see the bigger 'names' with humble attitude that allows them to see and understand. Many times better and faster than people around you who you need constantly to convince of what you want and like.

"I had very nice talks especially with Klaus and his family. They seem to be a great team and we share many similar things in our private lives. I also found out that the writer Paulo Coelho, who is a great inspiration to me, is also a friend with Rudolf!

"I wish the SCORPIONS the best for their last album and tours and congratulations for the great chart entries in the world! I am sure we will meet very soon again."

Classic Rock Revisited's Jeb Wright and Jesse Lee recently conducted an interview with WINGER/WHITESNAKE guitarist Reb Beach for the "Decades Of Distortion" show on the Arkansas City, Kansas radio station KACY 102.5 FM.

When asked about the comparisons between his playing and that of METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett, Beach said, "I don't know the guy [Kirk], but I think he's one of the worst guitar players I've ever heard in my life. I've never heard a solo from that guy that was any good. . . This guy is out of tune, and his vibration... what is it? Vibrato. Oh my god. It sounds like a beginner."

He continued, "Back in the '80s, he was always voted best guitar player, and I'm like, 'What?! That guy is terrible.'

"I hate to say that because I might meet him one day.

"What's he play in? MEGADETH? METALLICA? Is he in METALLICA? Oh, then I have no problem doing that because in their biggest video, 'Nothing Else Matters', when they threw darts at a poster of Kip Winger, and then they showed it live — 20,000 people every night laughing at WINGER — I don't mind saying that Kirk Hammett sucks."

Los Angeles-based black metal band THE FUNERAL PYRE will release its new album, "Vultures At Dawn", on June 8 via Prosthetic Records. The follow-up to 2008's "Wounds" was recorded by Adam Campbell at Awkward Studios, mixed by Ryan Butler (LANDMINE MARATHON, MISERY INDEX, PHOBIA) at Arcane Digital and mastered by Dave Shirk (INCANTATION, NILE, TODAY IS THE DAY) of Sonorous Mastering. Artwork for the album is being handled by Justin Barlett, known for his work with bands such as TRAP THEM, INTRONAUT and SUNN0))).

The band commented on the sound of the new record: "On this record we stepped out of our comfort zone and tried to create better songs, never focusing on what style of metal it actually is. Just writing the songs was most important to us."

No strangers to the DIY metal circuit, having multiple U.S. tours under their belt, THE FUNERAL PYRE has a run of dates next week on the West Coast; two with EARLY GRAVES and four with LIGHT THIS CITY on their farewell run. The band also just completed a batch of dates to Texas and back with LANDMINE MARATHON, which included Prosthetic's South By Southwest showcase on March 17 in Austin and a Brooklyn Vegan SXSW day party at Hoek's Death Metal Pizza.

Justin M. Norton of About.com recently conducted an interview with Demonaz of Norwegian black metallers IMMORTAL. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

About.com: "All Shall Fall" kickstarted IMMORTAL's career after a seven-year break. Is the band planning on yet another long break or will a new Immortal album come along quicker this time?

Demonaz: We already have three songs for the next album. We'll be working on the album this year. And we have material for a lot of other songs, so maybe in August we'll be finished with half the album. But we haven't come so far that I can see the end of the album. I think we'll try to work with the songs and make them classic IMMORTAL songs. The next album will be different than "All Shall Fall". I think the songs will come off as one package. Every album is different for us, but we won't try too many new things. We'll stick to the plan and make the music we like. Don't expect something revolutionary. (laughs)

About.com: IMMORTAL is one of the bands in the black metal scene that has stuck with fans despite all the long years. To what to you attribute your longevity?

Demonaz: Work. When I sit down and make arrangements and we have ideas for songs, we are in our world. We don't care how much music sells. The same with concerts. We don't do too much touring — we do the concerts we want to do. We don't want anything to be routine. We don't want to destroy things by touring too much or coming up with album just for it to sell.

About.com: What's the status of your side project DEMONAZ?

Demonaz: I'm working on the fifth song. We have to mix the album. It will be released right after the summer. Think BATHORY, VENOM and MANOWAR. You'll also hear some Immortal, I can't escape that. There's not blastbeats or technical drumming. It sounds very old school. I'm very satisfied with it. It's different than what people heard on MySpace, which is a very old demo from years ago.

About.com: Have you ever seen any of the YouTube video mash ups of some of the earlier IMMORTAL videos, including the one set to Benny Hill's theme music?

Demonaz: We didn't get to be there when (the original video) was edited and it made us look stupid. But I don't care, we laugh when we see it. I think it's funny. If you want to become a big band then you need to accept that kind of stuff. And I really like Benny Hill, he was a genius.

Knoxville, Tennessee death metallers WHITECHAPEL have set "A New Era Of Corruption" as the title of their third album, due on June 8 via Metal Blade Records. A song from the CD will make its online debut on April 12,

"A New Era Of Corruption" was recorded at Audiohammer studios in Sanford, Florida with acclaimed producer Jason Suecof (TRIVIUM, ALL THAT REMAINS, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, CHIMAIRA, DEVILDRIVER).

"The album is finally 100% complete and we couldn't be more excited. I think this record truly represents where we are as musicians at this point in our career," comments guitarist and founding member Alex Wade.

"'A New Era of Corruption' is the heaviest and most aggressive material we have written to date.

"Some of you may notice that the title of the new record, 'A New Era of Corruption', is a line from the song 'Possession' off our last album, 'This Is Exile'.

"We wanted to name the CD this to bring a little flavor from 'This Is Exile' into the new CD, as well as I think the name represents this new age of extreme metal that we are currently rising in.

"The album is not a concept record like 'This Is Exile' was. It just has its own general theme and each song deals with its own topic track by track."

"A New Era of Corruption" track listing:

01. Devolver
02. Breeding Violence
03. The Darkest Day of Man
04. Reprogrammed to Hate
05. End of Flesh
06. Unnerving
07. A Future Corrupt
08. Prayer of Mockery
09. Murder Sermon
10. Nercomechanical
11. Single File to Dehumanization
12. Animus (digital and vinyl bonus track)

Handling artwork for "A New Era Of Corruption" was Brent Elliot White, who previously worked with JOB FOR A COWBOY and CARNIFEX. "Brent absolutely nailed it," states Alex. "The dark and ominous vibe he portrayed with his art fits the mood of the CD perfectly."

"A New Era Of Corruption" features guest vocals from Vincent of THE ACACIA STRAIN on the track "Murder Sermon" and Chino from the DEFTONES on the track "Reprogrammed to Hate". Alex explains: "Vincent has been a longtime friend of the band and we have always talked about him doing guest vocals on one of our records, so, naturally, his style of vocals fits our music perfectly and sounds great.

"We're honored to have DEFTONES vocalist Chino Moreno on our record. All of us are huge DEFTONES fans so it's pretty surreal for us.

"He absolutely killed his part on the album and it's everything I envisioned it would be. Plus it's cool that Chino was so opened-minded to do vocals on something so extreme; I think that it sounds fantastic."

Australian hard rockers TYRANT have uploaded a demo version of another new song, "Fire In The Sky", to their MySpace page. This is the third track to be released from the band's upcoming CD, "Save The Devil", which is currently being recorded at Izaneer Studios in Tasmania under the watchful ears of producer Brett Collidge (who previously worked with TYRANT vocalist Neil Steel on a side project, ROADKILL).

It is now 16 months from Steel's "head-on" car accident that brought the "Save The Devil" recording sessions to a screaming halt. Luckily, Steel escaped any major injuries, having almost fully recovered after knee surgery last year. Recording re-commenced earlier this year with the CD to be finished around July for an October/November release.

Commented Steel: "Take a listen to the new songs and you can hear a more traditional metal flavor that shows a hungry beast, a band that means business with TYRANT sounding like it's got a afterburner up its ass!"

Dave Ingram, former singer of BOLT THROWER and BENEDICTION, and proprietor of Metal Breakfast Radio — along with his co-host Donovan Spenceley — has made a new song available for free download. The track is entitled "We Aren't The World" and the project's name is BANNED AID.

Commented Ingram: "It's a minor parody on the usual rubbish that permeates the entire music scene whenever a natural disaster occurs.

"The idea for this track was spawned at the time of the Global Warming Summit which was held here in Copenhagen on the (then-)coldest day of the year.

"Irony, anyone?

"Bitch about it if you want, but we're giving it away for free, so shut the fuck up."

"We Aren't The World" features a multitude of players, including Matt Ingram (Dave's brother) and Gramie Dee (host of "The Autopsy Report" metal radio show) and was mixed by Morgan Spenceley (brother of Donovan). The song is also featured on the recently released "Killjoy" album by the New York stand-up comedian Mersh (a.k.a. "Spitting Cobra of Comedy") and "Killjoy" is available on iTunes and Tunecore.

The players:

Dave Ingram: Main vocals
Donovan Spenceley: Guitar
Mez Murder: Drums
Morgan Spenceley: Bass Guitar
Gramie Dee: Lead Guitar & Backing Vocals
Matt Ingram: Vocals
Mersh: Self-destruction

The song can be downloaded for free at this location.

Peter Wildoer of Swedish thrashers DARKANE recently recorded the drums for the new solo album from DREAM THEATER vocalist James LaBrie. Other musicians who are expected to appear on the CD include Matt Guillory (keyboards; DALI'S DILEMMA), Marco Sfogli (guitar) and Mike Mangini (drums; EXTREME, ANNIHILATOR).

LaBrie's last solo album, "Elements of Persuasion", was released in 2005 InsideOut Music. The CD featured a special guest appearance by fellow Canadian Kim Mitchell (MAX WEBSTER). Engineering chores were handled by James' old WINTER ROSE bandmate Richard Chycki who has done work for the likes of AEROSMITH, RUSH, and the JEFF HEALEY BAND.

MÖTLEY CRÜE guitarist Mick Mars has recorded a guest appearance on the new MURDERDOLLS album, "Women and Children Last".

In a recent interview with ARTIStdirect.com, Jordison stated about the songwriting process for the new MURDERDOLLS CD, "This is the first time we've actually sat down and written songs. The production is a lot better, and this is the first time we've really collaborated. The first record was a mix of my old band and Wednesday's old band, and we kind of threw it all together. It was just like a demo pretty much. 'Women and Children Last' is like eight years worth of material." Wednesday 13 added, "It wasn't like we got together and said, 'Alright, we're doing this new record. Let's write three weeks' worth of songs.' This is eight years of demos that I've passed back and forth to Joey. With as much stuff as Joey's done with SLIPKNOT and I've done on my own, there was so much material to choose from. I've recorded a lot, and there's stuff that's gotten left behind. Joey digs out all this stuff. I'll say, 'You like that song, really?'"

When asked if "Women and Children Last" preserves that classic Sunset Strip attitude, Wednesday 13 replied, "Kind of…the title more or less exists to piss people off. Even though I'm a hair metal fan, I've become a huge SLAYER fan over the years. With the way the new MURDERDOLLS music sounds, it's everything from that Sunset Strip stuff to SLAYER. It goes everywhere this time — whereas the first record was more punk rock."

"I'm really excited about it," Joey added. "I think it's actually going to reel in a lot of the SLIPKNOT fans because of the heaviness. We're not going to lose any fans; this album is only going to gain fans for us. We weren't like, 'Okay, we're going to crank out some campy songs like we did before.'"

"There are a few songs on the record that are going to appeal to that," Wednesday 13 continued. "However, it's a new sound for us. 'Women and Children Last' is exciting because it sounds different. It's got that element of the old rock 'n' roll we grew up on, but we're down-tuned and it's got a new groove."

British death/grind band TRIGGER THE BLOODSHED has completed work on its third album, "Degenerate", for a May 24 European release via Metal Blade Records (Rising Records in the U.K.). The cover artwork was created by Collin Marks (WHITECHAPEL, ABORTED, SUICIDE SILENCE) and can be viewed below.

Commented the band: "Most of you will know of Collin's work and we feel he has done a great job and captured the image we want for the record.

"We have been working closely with Collin on the whole artwork theme and the whole thing from front to back is a great piece of work."

"Degenerate" track listing is as follows:

01. A Vision Showing Nothing
02. De-Breed
03. Hollow Prophecy
04. Dead Vein
05. Dethrone
06. A Sterile Existence
07. The Soulful Dead
08. Until Kingdom Come

Bonus Track

09. Whited Sepulcher

"Degenerate" will initially be released in a six-panel digipack complete with a re-recorded bonus track of "Whited Sepulcher" and fold-out poster ( only available with digipack release) along with "some sick artwork for you all to enjoy."

"Roadkill (...Or Be Killed)", the new video from the Swedish metal act STEELWING (formerly SCAVENGER), can be viewed below. The clip was shot by Younique Films from Holland. The track comes off STEELWING's debut album, "Lord Of The Wasteland", which is scheduled for release in Europe on April 30, 2010 via Noise Art Records, a division of Rock The Nation. The CD was recorded at Deep Blue Studios with producer Nicko DiMarino.

"Lord Of The Wasteland" track listing:

01. Enter The Wasteland
02. Headhunter
03. Roadkill (...Or Be Killed)
04. Sentinel Hill
05. The Illusion
06. The Nightwatcher
07. Under The Scavenger Sun
08. Point of Singularity
09. Clash of the Two Tribes

STEELWING will support German power metallers BLIND GUARDIAN on their fall 2010 European tour.

"We're very excited about touring with a well-known and respected act like BLIND GUARDIAN," STEELWING said in a statement. "We see this as great opportunity to gain experience and show Europe who we are! We promise that we'll kick 100% ass every night, you can count on that!"

Audio samples of all 11 tracks that will appear on "Fever", the forthcoming third album from Welsh metallers BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE, are available for streaming at Amazon.de.

Due in the U.S. on April 27 (one day earlier internationally) via Jive/Zomba, "Fever" pairs BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE with producer Don Gilmore, best known for his work with LINKIN PARK and GOOD CHARLOTTE.

The band — guitarist/vocalist Matt Tuck, guitarist Michael Paget, bassist Jason James and drummer Michael Thomas — recorded the CD in studios both in its native Wales and Los Angeles.

The track listing for the CD is as follows:

01. Your Betrayal
02. Fever
03. The Last Fight
04. A Place Where You Belong
05. Pleasure and Pain
06. Alone
07. Breaking Out Breaking Down
08. Bittersweet Memories
09. Dignity
10. Begging For Mercy
11. Pretty On The Outside

Former AFTER FOREVER vocalist Floor Jansen's new project called REVAMP will release its self-titled debut album on June 4 via Nuclear Blast Records. The band's debut album is scheduled for release in Europe on June 4.

The track listing for the CD is as follows:

01. Here's My Hell
02. Head Up High
03. Sweet Curse
04. Million
05. In Sickness 'Till Death Do Us Part: All Goodbyes Are Said
06. Break
07. In Sickness 'Till Death Do Us Part: Disdain
08. In Sickness 'Till Death Do Us Part: Disgraced
09. Fast Forward
10. Kill Me With Silence
11. The Trial Of Monsters
12. Under My Skin
13. I Lost Myself

Bonus track:

14. No Honey For The Damned

Resurrected late '80s/early '90s death metallers PESTILENCE have posted a new song called "amgoD" to their MySpace page. According to the band, "It's just a rehearsal [recording] with new drummer Yuma [Van Eekelen]. Just guitars and drums...but it turned out pretty sick and we wanted to share!!"

PESTILENCE is working on material for a new album, tentatively due before the end of the year. Guitarist/vocalist Patrick Mameli states, "The new material will sound, again, way different from the previous albums, and is going to top all previous PESTILENCE material, stated by insiders already.

"The new songs have the rawness of [1989's] 'Consuming Impulse', the theatrical [quality] of 1991's 'Testimony Of The Ancients' and the brutallity of [2009's comeback effort] 'Resurrection Macabre'. But this time we will try to top all our material by using the RG2228-GK [Ibanez guitar].

"Now we have eight strings to maim (y)our ears and brains.

"The RG2228-GK allowes us to come up with the most technical riffing, sick Holdsworth-like chords and mind-boggling solos.

"To complete this new material, we have the mighty Jeroen P. Thesseling with amazing six[-string] fretless mayhem and Yuma with his ultra-brutal and fast, off-beat technical drumming.

"So be prepared for low, chunky and a-tonal morbidity!!!"

BLOOD MORTIZED, the Swedish death metal band featuring former AMON AMARTH guitarist Anders Hansson (who played on AMON AMARTH's first two albums, 1996's "Sorrow Throughout The Nine Worlds" and 1998's "Once Sent From The Golden Hall") and CRYPT OF KERBEROS drummer Mattias Borgh, has parted ways with guitarist Benny Moberg "due to personal matters." The group states, "This has nothing to do with the band, the material or the current members.

"Benny started BLOOD MORTIZED along with [vocalist] Mattias Parkkila back in 2007 and contributed with some heavy riffs on the early demos and debut album.

"BLOOD MORTIZED will replace Benny for the forthcoming brutal release.

"Benny will continue focusing on writing and producing music and is currently working on mixing BIRCH MOUNTAIN's future debut album release. As of now in the planning phase is to reinstate the old beast machine MALFEITOR as a brutal, demo sounding, blood'n violence explosion!"

German death metallers DISBELIEF will release a 20th-anniversary album, "Heal", on May 21 via Massacre Records. The CD will contain eight songs, including three cover versions and a remake of the classic track "Shine". The first album to be recorded and mixed by the DISBELIEF members themselves, "Heal" will also feature four original compositions which "are meant to be a tribute to bands who influenced us a lot over those two decades concerning their music and attitude!!" according to the group.

"Heal" track listing:

Covers

* KILLING JOKE - "A Love Like Blood"
* KING DIAMOND - "Welcome Home"
* CRIMSON GLORY - "Red Sharks"

Originals

* Certainty Of Reality
* The Eyes of Horror
* The Last Force: Attack!
* Isolation
* Shine (title track of 2002 album)

"Heal" will be released with a bonus DVD containing footage of a complete DISBELIEF show from the Walpurgis Metal Days in 2009.

Long-running Italian power metallers SECRET SPHERE have revealed details about their new album, Archetype.

According to a band update, "the album has been produced by Aldo Lonobile (guitar) and Federico Pennazzato (drums) and will feature 10 songs in the typical vein of the band trademark! All the songs has been arranged by Aldo Lonobile and Antonio Agate.

We have special guest in this new album like Trevor from SADIST singing along with Ramon (R. Messina) in the opening track and Alessandro Conti from TRICK OR TREAT and Damnagoras from ELVENKING singing all the choirs with Ramon.

Well we can’t say will be like this or this, for sure will be Secret Sphere, some songs are very close to A Time Nevercome era, some other closed to SBT (Sweet Blood Theory), some is completely new also for us.

But all of the CD has been composed during the greatest year of our career. Some arrangements had been decided on the road during the GAMMA RAY tour! We really think you will enjoy the music!"

Israeli melodic extreme metal band WINTERHORDE has posted two brand new songs, "Tenth Wave" and "The Martyr and Deliverance", on the group's MySpace page. The tracks come off WINTERHORDE's sophomore full-length album, "Underwatermoon", which will be released later this year through an as-yet-undetermined label.

"Underwatermoon", a conceptual album based on the story written by WINTERHORDE's bass player and co-founder Celestial, was recorded partly with German producer V. Santura (DARK FORTRESS, TRYPTIKON, OBSCURA) and Morgenrrot, WINTERHORDE's keyboards player. The CD was mixed and mastered by V. Santura at Woodshed Studio in Germany. The artwork was created by Gustavo Sazes of Abstrata Studio (ARCH ENEMY, OLD MAN'S CHILD, KRISIUN).

Commented Celestial: "'Underwatermoon' represents more-than-an-hour epic extreme metal art, blended with prog rock nostalgia and death-cold touch of North Atlantic Ocean. A must have for every open-minded metalhead who needs hunting journey through emotions in his metal."

"Underwatermoon" track listing:

01. The Shell
02. Wreckages Ghost
03. Underwatermoon
04. Hunting the Human
05. Execution
06. And Flames Wept to Heaven
07. The Curse of Gypsy
08. Delirium
09. Tenth Wave
10. Smoke Figures
11. The Martyr and Deliverance
12. Farewell

The debut WINTERHORDE album, "Nebula", was released in 2006 via Greece's Burning Star Records.

SICK OF IT ALL's first seven-inch single is now back in print with an initial new run of 550 copies on clear vinyl. It will be available only to independent record stores for one month starting on April 17 to celebrate "Record Store Day" and the release of SICK OF IT ALL's new album, "Based On A True Story". As an added bonus, many record stores will have lots of giveaways, including stickers, CDs, buttons and other stuff provided by Revelation, No Sleep, Bridge 9 and a lot of other labels.

"Sick Of It All" seven-inch single track listing:

01. It's Clobberin' Time/Just Lies
02. Pete's Sake
03. Friends Like You
04. Bullshit Justice
05. Pay The Price
06. Pushed Too Far/Give Respect
07. The Deal
08. N.S./My Revenge

"Record Store Day" celebrates the continued existence of independent record stores, mostly through live in-store appearances, performances and special limited-edition releases that will only be sold through participating stores on the day itself, which is April 17 this year.

"Falling To Pieces", a brand new song from ARMS OF THE SUN — the project featuring Rex Brown (PANTERA, DOWN) on bass, John Luke Hebert (KING DIAMOND) drums, Lance Harvill on vocals and guitar, and Ben Bunker (GRYN) on guitar — is available for streaming on the band's MySpace page.

Commented Brown: "It's not what you're expecting, but after a few listens, I think you'll dig it! Keeps me sane!"

ARMS OF THE SUN recently completed work on thirteen tracks that were produced and mixed by Terry Date (DEFTONES, PANTERA, SOUNDGARDEN). The material is set for release through Extreme Music, which provides class-A production music to all major networks and studios, ad agencies and production companies, including FOX, HBO, NBC, BBC, MTV, SKY, ABC, Discovery, Nickelodeon, Turner Entertainment Networks, Universal, Lions Gate, Miramax, Sony Pictures, Touchstone and Disney, to name a few.

ARMS OF THE SUN recorded the music, written by Lance Harvill, late last year at Willie Nelson's Pedernales Recording Studio in Austin. The project is executive-produced by Sir George Martin (THE BEATLES) and Mark Ross for the Grandmaster Series, which celebrates four of the world's top producers spanning from the '60s through the '90s, including Sir George himself, Terry Date, Jack Douglas (AEROSMITH), and Hugh Padgham (THE POLICE).

The new from Finnish progressive thrashers ABYSMALIA called Replenish Entirety - along with their back-catalog - is currently available for free listening at this location.

Replenish Entirety tracklisting:
'The Inception Of Ire'
'Cruelty Inherent'
'Trapped Inside A Coil Of Illusions'
'Coma Receding'
'For The Redemption Of Our Woes'
'The Catharsis Verge'
'[interim] Coda'