The new album "Volturna" is the natural evolution of the sound of the Italians MANDRAGORA SCREAM, which began with the debut album and its predecessor, "Madhouse" ended. This was also reflected in the increasing acceptance among press and fans and the success of single "Dark Lantern," one of the meistangeklickten videos on the web. With "Volturna" SCREAM MANDRAGORA add new elements to their sound, to deny a strong industrial influence and melody lines of Terry Horn without the characteristic sound of the Gothic vampire band.

Also, new instrumentation and a varied vocal performance of singer Morgan added. The album contains 16 songs, 13 new tracks, 2 cover versions and an intro. The two covers are "Bang Bang" written by Sonny Bono for his wife, Cher, and "Fade to Gray", a classic of the eighties by Visage. Heart Bound Eve "was created with the assistance of the Spaniard Julio Alves Olivares Merino. The first single Auskopllung of Volturna is "Breaking Down" was produced to which a video that will run to the rock album release in several European TV shows.

In January 2010, the band then go with Christian Death and 69 Eyes on Europe tour and will present 30 shows at the new album "Volturna. "Volturna" is an album with great melodies and lyrics. A perfect album for all the world's gothic which will disappoint no fan of this sounds! And now you can you here the new video for the single "Watch Blindness."

VAN CANTO's third album is complete in the box. The part is "Tribe of Force" hot and includes 13 songs. A glimpse of the heroic front cover you can now dare.

Pub is "Tribe of Force" as follows:

24.02.10 - Finland, Spain
26.02.10 - Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Benelux, France, Italy, Sweden
01.03.10 - Rest of Europe
09.03.10 - USA / Canada

VAN CANTO Dats Tour 2010:

26.03.2010 Duesseldorf, Pitcher / Steelworks
27.03.2010 tba
28.03.2010 Bruchsal Factory
29.03.2010 Pirmasens, Quasimodo
31/03/2010 Munich, Metropolis
03.04.2010 Lübeck, Tower Rock Festival
09.04.2010 Hameln, Limnanthes
10.04.2010 Essen, Zeche Carl

I wanna take the opportunity to thank you all for your great support. 2009 was a great year for me, with Edguy we've played a successful world tour, some amazing festivals and in between I have managed to write and compose and produce another chapter in the history of Avantasia, perhaps the most substantial and extensive one, but also the most labor intensive, a big piece of work. But it makes me happy, so it is absolutely the right thing to do. And I hope it will make you happy! Because without you this all would be really, really boring! I wish you health, luck, success, all the very best! Thank you all and Merry Christmas!!! - Tobi

The German power metal band GAMMA RAY working on your next studio album "To The Metal". In the trade, the new album comes in four versions, 29 January 2010 through earMUSIC / Edel. The band has recorded a total of twelve songs in their studio in Hamburg, ten songs for the regular album and two bonus songs!

Now it became known that Michael Kiske appears as guest vocalist on the new album is only in the choir on backing vocals. Today was also the "To The Metal" cover artwork revealed.

"To The Metal" album versions:

Regular CD Jewel Case
Limited edition with an additional DVD (including the making-of video)
Red vinyl in gatefold packaging
Collectors' Edition with CD and 7 "vinyl with two previously unreleased songs, song, Hand-Signed

Now the track list and details on the Limited Edition has been unveiled.

"To The Metal 'Track List:

01. Rise
02. Deadlands
03. Mother Angel
04. No Need To Cry
05. Empathy
06. To The Metal
07. All You Need To Know
08. Time To Live
09. Shine Forever
10. Breaking Away

Bonus DVD:

60 minutes documentary film shot in HD, with interviews, album Making Of, Gamma Ray live classic songs, video studio, behind the scenes, suction work in progress.

Bonus material:
3 video clips (including "To the Metal")
Full raw interview with Kai Hansen)
(total length 80 minutes approx.)

GAMMA RAY will go along with FREEDOM CALL and SECRET SPHERE from February 2010 an extensive European tour, as might be expected to make this package will NOT stop in Austria. Advance but is still FREEDOM CALL ( "Legend Of The Shadow King" on SPV on January 25, 2010) make a new album on the market.

The new album "The Death of the Artists of the Italian progressive power metal band HIGH LORD was on 5 December 2009 via Scarlet Records. On the band MySpace page, the three songs, "The Scream," "The Death of the Artists" and "Dance In A Flame" with online probehören made.

"The Death of the Artists" Track List:

01. Simple Man
02. Every Thrash Of Me
03. Canticle Of The Flesh
04. It Takes Some Passion
05. The Death Of The Artists
06. Dance In A Flame
07. The Scream
08. Slave to Darkness
09. A Queen In My Pocket
10. Rebel Yell (BILLY IDOL cover) (bonus track)
11. Zankokuna Tenshi No Te-ze (Bonus Track)

The Swedish melodic metal masters DREAM EVIL will your new album "In The Night" on 22 January 2010 release via Century Media. And now, the new song " 'Bang Your Head" here on the band's MySpace page with online probehören made.

"In The Night" Track List:

01. Immortal
02. In The Night
03. Bang Your Head
04. See The Light
05. Electric
06. Frostbite
07. On The Wind
08. The Ballad
09. In The Fires Of The Sun
10. Mean Machine
11. Kill, Burn, Be Evil
12. The Unchosen One

Finnish modern thrash/death-influenced metal band DEAD SHAPE FIGURE has finished recording the drums and guitars at D-Studio in Nurmijärvi, Finland for its second album, "The Disease Of St. Vitus", for a spring 2010 release via Dynamic Arts Records. The group says, "We are gonna record the bass next week and the vocals will be recorded during the first week of the year 2010."

DEAD SHAPE FIGURE's debut album, "The Grand Karoshi", was released in 2008 via Season Of Mist. The CD's lyrical content was recently translated by Kallio into Finnish as a book of poetry, entitled "Loppusäkeet".

Norwegian "ompa-party-trollish" metallers TROLLFEST, featuring members of PANTHEON I and SARKOM, have posted behind-the-scenes footage from their recent trip to Moscow, Russia to perform at the "Oktobierfest 2009". Watch the clip below.

TROLLFEST released a new mini-CD, "Uraltes Elemente", on July 17 via Twilight-Vertrieb.

The track listing for the effort was as follows:

01. Uraltes Elemente
02. Byttedyr
03. Grublegjoken
04. Prost der Welt
05. Ich Libe Zug (Zug Über Alles)
06. Bassen til Tor

TROLLFEST's third album, "Villanden", came out on

Belgian black metallers GORATH have parted ways with drummer K. De Leener and have replaced him with B. Vanderheyden (ILL FARES THE LAND, STORM UPON THE MASSES).

The band's current lineup is as follows:

F. Dupont (guitar, vocals)
B. Put (guitar)
D. Grondelaers (bass)
B. Vanderheyden (drums)

GORATH recently inked a multi-album deal with Germany's Twilight Vertrieb. The band's fourth CD, "MXCII", is due in early 2010. According to the group, the effort is "a concept album all about local history, facts and religious items — all seen through the eyes of the heretic."

"MXCII" was mixed at Shumcot Studio by Renier Schenk and was mastered by Dan Swanö at Unisound.

"MXCII" track listing:

01. Tombeveld
02. Thiedenbecke
03. Doed over't Galgeveld
04. Do ut Des
05. Godsgerecht Geschiedde
07. Heidewake
08. Gesta Sancti Servatii

"Freak", the new video from the Norwegian goth/industrial metal band GOTHMINISTER, can be viewed below. The clip was directed by Daniel William Bones, who has previously worked with SUSPERIA and WHERE ANGELS FALL.

"Freak" comes off GOTHMINISTER's third album, "Happiness In Darkness", which was released on November 14, 2008 via e-Wave Records, a division of Drakkar Entertainment GmbH.

GOTHMINISTER is:

Gothminister (Bjørn Alexander Brem) - Vocals
Halfface (Tom Kalstad) - Keyboards
Chris Dead (Christian Svendsen) - Drums
Icarus (Glenn Nilsen) - Guitar
Machine (Bjorn Aadland) - Guitar

Veteran death metallers IMMOLATION will release their eighth album, "Majesty And Decay", on March 9, 2010 in North America via Nuclear Blast Records. The CD was recorded Millbrook Sound Studios in New York with longtime producer Paul Orofino. Mixing duties were handled by Zack Ohren, who has previously worked with DECREPIT BIRTH, SUFFOCATION and ALL SHALL PERISH, among others.

IMMOLATION's new album contains "10 songs [plus two intros] of the strongest material we have ever written," the band said in a statement. "The new material is more violent and aggressive, with fast sections that take us to a new level of speed and intensity, while complementing the dark and sullen heavier moments. There are plenty of miserable and militant movements to please the diehard and new IMMOLATION fans alike."

"Majesty And Decay" track listing:

01. Intro
02. The Purge
03. A Token Of Malice
04. Majesty And Decay
05. Divine Code
06. In Human Form
07. A Glorious Epoch
08. Intro
09. A Thunderous Consequence
10. The Rapture of Ghosts
11. Power And Shame
12. The Comfort of Cowards

"Wonder", the new video from ANNEKE VAN GIERSBERGEN & AGUA DE ANNIQUE — the Dutch band led by ex-THE GATHERING vocalist Anneke van Giersbergen — can be viewed below. The clip was directed by Erwin Arkema of IQ-Media.

"Wonder" comes off ANNEKE VAN GIERSBERGEN & AGUA DE ANNIQUE's third album, "In Your Room", which was released on October 30. The 12-song effort was written entirely by Anneke except for two tracks: "Just Fine" was co-written with Devin Townsend and "Adore" was composed by AGUA DE ANNIQUE bassist Jacques de Haard and Cyril Crutz.

The "Hey Okay!" single was made available on October 6.

According to Russia-InfoCentre, German hard rock veterans SCORPIONS will present their new album, "Sting In The Tail", for the first time in Moscow, Russia on March 18, 2010 at the sports palace Megasport on Khodynskoe Field.

"At the Moscow concert lots of songs will be performed for the first time — it will be a trial of the band's new 'sting' on the already tested audience," guitarist Rudolf Schenker is quoted as aying.

In 1991, SCORPIONS became the first western band invited by the USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev to a meeting and a concert in the Kremlin.

"Sting In The Tail" is being recorded at a studio in Hannover, Germany with Swedish producers Mikael "Nord" Andersson and Martin Hansen (the team behind THE RASMUS' "Dead Letters" CD).

Commented Rudolf: "After 'Humanity - Hour 1', which was more in the concept-album [vein], talking about the problems in the world, we said, 'OK, we talked about all these things which [were] happening and now we don't wanna talk again about problems, now we wanna party. We're going back to the roots of the band.

"We have great rock songs — fantastic rock songs — we have great ballads... The mixture if 10 percent ballads and the rest is up-tempo and mid-tempo [material]. And I think we have a great team of people working for us, producer team from Sweden — they're great people — and we're doing this recording in Stockholm and in Hannover, where my studio is.

"It looks great. We have a fantastic sound, because my studio is very good for guitars, and this time we're looking very much also to bring the guitars up, and, of course, with the great voice of Klaus, with the right melodies, giving the right vibe — the typical SCORPIONS sound."

Added Klaus: "We recorded the last album in the U.S. This has a more European kind of feel, I think, working in Germany and in Sweden. And we're looking very much forward to releasing this in the spring and we can't wait to play the songs live on stage.

"We tried to find this spontaneous moment — not to overproduce things and to keep things really fresh.

"There are a lot of great songs on this record. And we always had our fans in mind [when putting the material together], especially the tour next year, because we hope many [of the new] songs we can [perform live] on the road."

Although SCORPIONS' new CD is tentatively due in Europe in March, a U.S. release date has yet to be pinned down.

SCORPIONS recently extended their record deal with Ariola, which is part of the international media conglomerate Sony BMG Music Entertainment.

Instigated by the overwhelming fan reaction to the multilingual presentation of "Father", featured on the recent MANOWAR CD, "Thunder In The Sky", the self-proclaimed "kings of metal" have recorded two more versions of the song, one in Russian and one in Swedish. These two new translations make numbers 17 and 18, respectively.

Now MANOWAR is calling on you, the true metal fans in Sweden and Russia — and all other countries where MANOWAR have not been playing for way too long — make some noise and demand your local promoters to bring MANOWAR to your home country! It's long overdue!

As Christmas present to all their fans worldwide, the new "Father" recordings can be downloaded FOR FREE.

To get your free download, click here.

BURZUM mastermind Varg Vikernes (aka Count Grishnackh) has issued the following update:

"Too many of you write me about "the Burzum logo".

In 1991 having a "cool" logo was one of the most important things to the metal bands in Norway. IMMORTAL got one, MAYHEM already had one, DARKTHRONE had one, and so forth. They were full of inverted crosses and other "satanic" and "cool" symbols, and some of them were even rather hard to read - or rather "interpret". Initially, when I left OLD FUNERAL and rekindled my own project, and changed name from URUK-HAI to Burzum, I wanted a logo myself, and a female friend volunteered to draw me one. She did and everything was fine, until I realised that I am following a trend. Why would I do that, when everything I did was supposed to be a revolt against trends? So instead I decided to have no logo, and just use a nice font instead.

In late 1991 I had no easy access to fonts of any type other than the ones found on my typewriter. This was before the time of mainstream Internet. I had to purchase some type of sticker-fonts, and I could only afford a few sets, and then use them to "build" words, letter by letter. For some reason, either because I ran out of the right stickers-letters, or because I did it on purpose - I really cannot remember which it is - I wrote the Burzum name with capital letters and I used the only non-ordinary font they had in the book store; Gothic.

When I released the début album I instructed the record company, DSP, to use this font for not only the band title, but also for all other text on the album. The Burzum name was in other words not really a logo, but just the band name written in Gothic letters together with other Gothic text. After a while I stopped thinking about logos, and for some reason I didn't change the type of font used on the albums. Thus many started to think of the Burzum name in Gothic font as "the Burzum logo". It never was. The name was the point; the font was and still is irrelevant."

Mumbai, India-based metallers DEMONIC RESURRECTION have revealed the cover artwork for their new album, "The Return To Darkness", in the YouTube clip below. The artwork was created by Xaay, who has previously worked with NILE, KARL SANDERS, NECROPHAGIST and BEHEMOTH.

"The Return To Darkness" track listing:

01. Between Infinity And Oblivion
02. Where Dreams And Darkness Unite
03. The Warriors Return
04. A Tragedy Befallen
05. The Unrelenting Surge Of Vengeance
06. Bound By Blood, Fire And Stone
07. Lord Of Pestilence
08. Dismembering The Fallen
09. The Final Stand
10. Omega, I

London, U.K.-based progressive extreme metal band DE PROFUNDIS will release its second album, "A Bleak Reflection", on February 1, 2010 via
Kolony Records. The CD was recorded in June/July 2009 with producer Fernando Pereira Lopes (MISANTHROPE, ORAKLE) and was mastered by Tim Turan (EMPEROR, OPETH, MOTÖRHEAD).

"A Bleak Reflection" will come with a 12-page booklet, created by artist Darryll Jones, that hints at the concept behind the album's lyrics. DE PROFUNDIS guitarist Roman Subbotin commented, "[The new album] represents a significant moment for our musical evolution. We've all worked really hard and, in my humble opinion, achieved rather spectacular results."

"A Bleak Reflection" track listing:

01. The Ephemeral Burden
02. Ablaze In Autumn's Fire
03. Nocturnal Splendour
04. Cease To Be
05. Crimson Black Bleeding
06. Cold Is The Grave
07. Longing
08. The Mourner

TARJA TURUNEN (ex-NIGHTWISH) has issued the following blog entry:

My Xmas tour is happily over. The concert in Seinäjoki was a great success and it was just wonderful to sing in the famous church of Lakeuden risti, which is designed by Alvar Aalto. The acoustics in that church is amazing. I felt like singing in a huge cathedral.

People seemed to be happy to receive us there and we saw that many music lovers attended the event. It was sad though to end the successful tour with Kalevi, Marzi and Markku, but I am sure we will be working together pretty soon again. I wish them all best of luck for their new challenges. I also want to thank for the great collaboration once again. It was fantastic opportunity to sing with you guys!

I had two days of rehearsals with the orchestra Globalis and conductor Anton Shaburov.

It was great to see how enthusiastic the players were to play my songs. I was truly surprised by their attitude and talent.

The venue was not exactly what I had in my mind for an Xmas concert with an orchestra, but the local promoters wanted to make the show there. I discovered that not many people were aware that I was going to perform an Xmas concert program!!

I still hope people were happily surprised by my concert.

The night itself was an amazing experience for me personally, since is always beautiful to sing in front of an orchestra and the audience was just overwhelmingly warm to us. So many smiles and happy faces!

Thank you once again Russia for a great support and love. As I promised, I will be back very soon with my new album and band.

Thanks Tommi for the gorgeous lights and Pete for the crystal clear sound! Here we stopped at the Kremlin after the concert and few glasses of red wine.

Now there is no time to waste; even a day, since I am going to be working hard with the new songs for What Lies Beneath. Next time I’ll write about how things are going with the album pre-production. Exciting times ahead of us!

I wish you all happy Christmas and a great ending for this year. Thank you for being there for me."

Check out more photos at this location.

Los Angeles, California hard rockers TAKARA have issued the following update:

"We wanted to wish everyone a very happy Holiday season, and even better New Year!

Takara is currently working on new material for our next album. We hope to be ready to record, and release in 2010.

Thanks for all the support for the last album. This next album will be something special."

A star-studded cast of renowned hard rock and heavy metal musicians performed on Sunday at the 013 in Tilburg, Netherlands at the second Christmas Metal Symphony show, opening with THRESHOLD's Damian Wilson performing 'This Is Your Life' backed by a full band and 30 piece orchestra.

The show also included appearances by Charlotte Wessels (DELAIN), Cristina Scabbia (LACUNA COIL), Joakim Brodén (SABATON), Jorn Lande (MASTERPLAN), Mats Levén (ex-THERION), Simone Simons (EPICA) and Udo Dirkschneider (U.D.O., ex-ACCEPT).

The complete setlist was as follows:

(Intro) 'CiR Anthem' - Magnus Opus Rockestra
'This is Your Life' (THRESHOLD) feat. Damian Wilson
'The Trooper' (IRON MAIDEN) feat. Damian Wilson
'Into the Black' Hole (AYREON) feat. Damian Wilson, Charlotte Wessels
'Nothing Left (DELAIN) feat. Charlotte Wessels
'Rising Force' (YNGWIE MALMSTEEN) feat. Mats Levén
'Painkiller' (JUDAS PRIEST) feat. Mats Levén
'Thunderstruck' (AC/DC) feat. Mats Levén
'Primo Victoria' (SABATON) feat. Joakim Brodén
'Master Of Puppets' (METALLICA) feat. Joakim Brodén
'Feuer Frei' (RAMMSTEIN) feat. Joakim Brodén
'Fast As A Shark' (ACCEPT) feat. Udo Dirkschneider
'Animal House' (U.D.O.) feat. Udo Dirkschneider
'Balls To The Wall' (ACCEPT) feat. Udo Dirkschneider
'Cry For The Moon' (EPICA) feat. Simone Simons & Mark Jansen
'Crystal Mountain' (DEATH) feat. Simone Simons & Mark Jansen
'Strange Machines' (THE GATHERING) feat. Simone Simons
'War Of The World' (JORN) feat. Jorn Lande
'Stormbringer' (DEEP PURPLE) feat. Jorn Lande
'Rock 'n Roll Children' (DIO) feat. Jorn Lande
'Angel Of Death' (SLAYER) feat. Ariën van Weesenbeek
'Our Truth' (LACUNA COIL) feat. Cristina Scabbia & Mats Levén
'Nothing Else Matters' (METALLICA) feat. Cristina Scabbia
'Heaven's A Lie' (LACUNA COIL) feat. Cristina Scabbia & Simone Simons

Los Angeles’ female-fronted progressive metal band ECHOES OF ETERNITY are now streaming the songs 'Descent Of A Blackened Soul' and 'Funeral In The Sky' on their official MySpace page, found here. Both tracks are taken from their new album As Shadows Burn.

The band recently commented on their upcoming tour dates with labelmates HAMMERFALL:

“We're really excited to get on the road with the legendary Hammerfall. It's been over a year since we've hit the stage, and we can't wait to play As Shadows Burn live! We're going to be playing the West Coast leg of this tour, but we do have some things in the works to do a full tour that includes Canada and the East Coast. Looking forward to seeing all our friends and fans!”

Hamilton, Scotland-based metal quintet BLEED FROM WITHIN is currently mixing its sophomore album at Outhouse Studios in Reading for an early 2010 release via Rising Records. The band says, "[The people at Outhouse] have worked with bands such as ARCHITECTS, THE ARUSHA ACCORD, YOU ME AT SIX and ENTER SHIKARI, [and] we are confident that they will provide the sound we are aiming to capture on this record! We will also be shooting a new music video in January for one of the new songs on the record which we are looking forward to!

"If you've made it along to any of these shows we've just played then you would have had a sneak preview of what's to come as we have been playing a new song 'The Novelist'."

BLEED FROM WITHIN entered the studio for the first time in November 2005 to record the self-released five-track EP "In The Eyes of the Forgotten" which was then followed by 2007's "Welcome to the Plague Year", released through Bath-based independent record label Four Aces.

The band's full-length debut, "Humanity", came out on August 10, 2009.

FEJD, the Swedish folk rock/metal band featuring members of NOSTRADAMEUS and PATHOS, has issued the following update:

"We decided to give you something to listen to when Christmas draws near. The song is called 'Farväl' which means farewell and it was a DEMO that we recorded for the Swedish part of the European Song Contest. This song is not representative for the coming album but it will most lightly be on it. As we needed female vocals on this one, we talked to our favourite girl to do the honour and Elina Tervonen gave the song the spirit we wanted with her fantastic voice. Until we have the new album out we really hope that you can and will enjoy 'Farväl'."

You can listen to the track at this location.

To mark their 20th anniversary, Swedish metallers TIAMAT will be performing their legendary Wildhoney in it's entirety at next year's edition of the Wacken Open Air festival, scheduled for August 5th - 7th, 2010 in Wacken, Germany.

Organizers comment: "15 years after the release of Wildhoney, the crowd can expect an amazingly spherical light show as much as the original versions of classics like 'Pocket Size Sun' and 'Gaia'. The band is very excited to play such a unique show and can’t wait for it to happen! This event is gonna be a must for everyone who is into atmospheric sounds. Don’t miss it!"