"Cut Throat", the new video from the Canadian all-girl metal band KITTIE, can be viewed below. (Note: Video stream may not be available to some non-U.S. residents.). The clip will make its small-screen debut this Saturday night (September 5) on MTV2's "Headbanger's Ball".

Commented guitarist/vocalist Morgan Lander: "'Cut Throat' is about the harsh nature of humanity and how we can sometimes be so mean and unsympathetic to one another. It's about not realizing that our selfish actions not only can hurt others, but it ends up coming back around on us if we are not careful.

"There are no true winners in this game we call life. This existence is one where only the strong survive and we of all people have seemingly become experts on the subject.

"Regardless of the heavy nature of the song, we actually had an amazing and fairly relaxed time filming this video.

"The video was directed by David Brodsky [SUICIDE SILENCE, GWAR, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER] in an old abandoned department store in Brooklyn. No Lights. No air conditioning and no water — just a kick-ass live performance from the band! The atmosphere made for a really intense, gritty, nasty vibe for the video, one that perfectly captures what this band is all about. The make-up artist didn't really appreciate the fact that our make-up was sliding down our faces from the first note, but this isn't pretty or nice or dainty. This is metal and the 'Cut Throat' video perfectly embodies that."

A rough-mix version of the song "Hold On" from LAVETT — the new Swedish five-piece consisting of musicians who have spent the last ten years making albums and touring with such acts as LOST HORIZON, BESEECH, NIGHTRAGE, TWDSO (THOSE WE DON'T SPEAK OF) and SUNDOWN/CEMETARY — is available for streaming on the group's MySpace page.

"Hold On" will appear on LAVETT's debut album, which is currently being recorded at Studiomega in Varberg, Sweden for an early 2010 release via an as-yet-undetermined record label.

LAVETT recently parted ways with bassist Michael Niklasson (ex-DARK TRANQULLITY) and replaced him with Henric Carlsson (ex-NIGHTRAGE, DEAD BY APRIL).

According to a press release, LAVETT's sound is "a perfect blend of their musical ideals. Taking the listener from beautiful landscapes of melodies to a raw, unpolished and powerful rock nirvana. Even though you may know the LAVETT members from before. You'll have had no way to prepare yourself for what they're bringing to your speakers this time around."

LAVETT is:

Daniel Heiman (LOST HORIZON, HEED) - Vocals
Henric Carlsson (NIGHTRAGE, DEAD BY APRIL) - Bass
Robert Vintervind (BESEECH) - Gutar
Manne Engtröm (BESEECH, FATAL EMBRACE) - Guitar
Christian Silver (SUNDOWN, CEMETARY) - Drums

Swedish metallers ASTRAL DOORS have issued the following update:

"The upcoming ASTRAL DOORS album will be called 'Requiem Of Time' and it'll be released in Europe January 15 and in North America February 16 through the brand new German bandpool/label Metalville, created by some of the best people in the metal business.

"'Requiem Of Time' is a mixture of classic hard rock, like on the debut, 'Of The Son And The Father', and more modern metal like on the previous disc, 'New Revelation'. Call it what you want; it contains the best songs the band has ever written.

"Release date for Japan will be announced soon.

"Another headline story is that Mika Itaranta has left the band due to personal reasons. We wanna thank Mika for all the fun we've had. Cheers mate and good luck with everything.

"We also wanna introduce you to our new bass maniac, Ulf Lagerström. Ulf is a close friend to the band and was our first choice; a great bass player and a damn good songwriter. He has been in bands like LUNATIC PARADE (with Patrik [Johansson, vocals]) and BARFLY (with Johan [Lindstedt, drums] and Patrik)."

The readers of the Greek edition of Metal Hammer magazine were recently invited to vote for the "100 Greatest Metal Albums Of All Time." The resulting list includes full-length recordings from 54 different bands from seven different countries, with IRON MAIDEN appearing on less than seven times on the list.

The "100 Greatest Metal Albums Of All Time," according to the readers of Metal Hammer Greece:

01. METALLICA - "Master of Puppets"
02. IRON MAIDEN - "The Number of the Beast"
03. JUDAS PRIEST - "Painkiller"
04. AC/DC - "Back in Black"
05. METALLICA - "Metallica" (a.k.a. Black Album)
06. QUEENSRŸCHE - "Operation: Mindcrime"
07. SLAYER - "Reign in Blood"
08. BLACK SABBATH - "Heaven and Hell"
09. BLACK SABBATH - "Paranoid"
10. IRON MAIDEN - "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son"
11. MOTÖRHEAD - "Ace of Spades"
12. IRON MAIDEN - "Powerslave"
13. BLACK SABBATH - "Black Sabbath"
14. LED ZEPPELIN - "[Untitled] (a.k.a. "Led Zeppelin IV")
15. GUNS N' ROSES - "Appetite for Destruction"
16. MEGADETH - "Rust in Peace"
17. DIO - "Holy Diver"
18. METALLICA - "Ride the Lightning"
19. HELLOWEEN - "Keeper of the Seven Keys Part I"
20. METALLICA - "Kill 'em All"
21. AC/DC - "Highway to Hell"
22. DEEP PURPLE - "Machine Head"
23. PARADISE LOST - "Draconian Times"
24. JUDAS PRIEST - "British Steel"
25. METALLICA - "...And Justice for All"
26. MANOWAR - "Hail to England"
27. OZZY OSBOURNE - "Blizzard of Ozz"
28. IRON MAIDEN - "Piece of Mind"
29. IRON MAIDEN - "Somewhere in Time"
30. RAINBOW - "Rising"
31. IRON MAIDEN - "Iron Maiden"
32. HELLOWEEN - "Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II"
33. DREAM THEATER - "Images and Words"
34. DEEP PURPLE - "In Rock"
35. EXODUS - "Bonded by Blood"
36. SYSTEM OF A DOWN - "Toxicity"
37. SAVATAGE - "Gutter Ballet"
38. OPETH - "Blackwater Park"
39. SEPULTURA - "Arise"
40. JUDAS PRIEST - "Sad Wings of Destiny"
41. JUDAS PRIEST - "Defenders of the Faith"
42. CANDLEMASS - "Epicus Doomicus Metallicus"
43. SLAYER - "Seasons in the Abyss"
44. OZZY OSBOURNE - "Diary of a Madman"
45. PANTERA - "Cowboys From Hell"
46. ACCEPT - "Restless and Wild"
47. NEVERMORE - "Dead Heart in a Dead World"
48. ANATHEMA - "Alternative 4"
49. WHITESNAKE - "1987"
50. PARADISE LOST - "Icon"
51. TOOL - "Lateralus"
52. GAMMA RAY - "Land of the Free"
53. MACHINE HEAD - "The Blackening"
54. CANDLEMASS - "Nightfall"
55. DREAM THEATER - "Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory"
56. PANTERA - "Vulgar Display of Power"
57. IRON MAIDEN - "Fear of the Dark"
58. NEVERMORE - "Dreaming Neon Black"
59. CRIMSON GLORY - "Transcendence"
60. LED ZEPPELIN - "Led Zeppelin II"
61. BLACK SABBATH - "Master of Reality"
62. MANOWAR - "Into Glory Ride"
63. BRUCE DICKINSON - "Accident of Birth"
64. KREATOR - "Extreme Aggression"
65. ACCEPT - "Balls to the Wall"
66. MÖTLEY CRÜE - "Shout at the Devil"
67. SEPULTURA - "Beneath the Remains"
68. DEATH - "Symbolic"
69. SAVATAGE - "Hall of the Mountain King"
70. AT THE GATES - "Slaughter of the Soul"
71. GUNS N' ROSES - "Use Your Illusion II"
72. W.A.S.P. - "W.A.S.P."
73. SLAYER - "South of Heaven"
74. ALICE COOPER - "Trash"
75. DEF LEPPARD - "Hysteria"
76. BLACK SABBATH - "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath"
77. BLIND GUARDIAN - "Nightfall in Middle-Earth"
78. TWISTED SISTER - "Stay Hungry"
79. SEPULTURA - "Chaos A.D."
80. SLIPKNOT - "Slipknot"
81. PINK FLOYD - "The Dark Side Of The Moon"
82. W.A.S.P. - "The Crimson Idol"
83. BLIND GUARDIAN - "Imaginations from the Other Side"
84. MASTODON - "Blood Mountain"
85. TOOL - "Aenima"
86. MEGADETH - "Peace Sells, But Who's Buying?"
87. SLIPKNOT - "Iowa"
88. SCORPIONS - "Taken by Force"
89. QUEENSRŸCHE - "Rage for Order"
90. FATES WARNING - "Parallels"
91. VAN HALEN - "Van Halen"
92. MOTORHEAD - "Overkill"
93. SLAYER - "Show no Mercy"
94. NIRVANA - "Nevermind"
95. DEATH - "Spiritual Healing"
96. SODOM - "Agent Orange"
97. SAXON - "Denim and Leather"
98. ROTTING CHRIST - "Theogonia"
99. DEATH - "Leprosy"
100. MANOWAR - "Sign of the Hammer"

Swedish death/thrashers IMPIOUS will release their new album, "Death Domination", in North America on November 24 via Metal Blade Records (November 6 in Europe). The CD's cover artwork, which the band describes as "one of the most sinister and malignant-looking album covers ever," was created by Marcello Vasco and can be viewed below.

"Death Domination" track listing:

01. Abomination Glorified
02. The Demand
03. I Am The King
04. And The Empire Shall Fall
05. Dead Awakening
06. Hate Killing Project
07. Rostov Ripper
08. Legions
09. As Death Lives In Me
10. Irreligious State Of War

The track "Abomination Glorified" is available for streaming on the band's MySpace page.

Swedish "Viking metal" act MÅNEGARM has unveiled finalized the track listing for its new album, "Nattväsen" (English translation: "Night Creatures"), due on October 22 via Regain Records. It is as follows:

01. Mina Fäders Hall
02. Nattsjäl, Drömsjäl
03. Bergagasten
04. I Den Svartaste Jord
05. Hraesvelg
06. Vetrarmegin
07. Draugen
08. Nattväsen
09. Delling

Short descriptions of all the songs can be found below.

A release party for "Nattväsen" will be held on November 7 at Clustret in Stockholm, with THYRFING (Sweden) and SKYFORGER (Latvia) as special guests.

Regarding the CD's lyrical and musical concept, the band previously stated, "Since the dawn of time, mankind has had a curious and strange relation to the night and its darkness. A fear and respect for this dim and abstract world.

"To understand and handle these fears, we have always tried to find some reasonable explanations for the things which we don't fully understand. Sometimes all things don't need to be explained and instead we should explore them and take part of the great wisdom they carry, in a way to understand their great importance.

"As we all know, these primeval forces have been personified with names and shapes, perpetuated in our lore and tales for centuries.

"If we look a bit further into the core of all tales and beliefs, you will see that these forces are fragments and threads of the ancient wisdom which lies hidden in everything. It's hidden in the mountains, in the stones and leaves, in depths of the sea, in the black soil, on the ravens wing, in the starlit sky and in the shadows of the night. The ancient wisdom fills everything and is a part of the cosmic web which is weaved by the norns of fate.

"The paths to enlightenment are many and if we listen and seek what lies beneath, we might have the possibility to take part of more than we could ever imagine. A short glimpse could be enough to change your views of your own inherent primeval forces… Sometimes to the better, sometimes to the worse.

"This album is our way to give you all a little guidance through the abstract and dim world of shadows and it might be a journey to the dark side of your mind and also give you fragments to the greatness that lies within…the night."

MÅNEGARM's last CD, "Vargstenen" ("The Wolfstone"), entered the Swedish chart at position No. 59 back in May 2007. The LP was recorded at Studio Underground with producer Pelle Saether and was released through Black Lodge Records after a ten-year collaboration with Displeased Records.

"New Love In Town", the new video from Swedish hard rockers EUROPE, can be viewed here. The clip was directed by Patric Ullaeus (DIMMU BORGIR, LACUNA COIL) of Revolver Film Company, who previously worked with EUROPE on the "Last Look At Eden" video.

EUROPE will be IRON MAIDEN frontman Bruce Dickinson's guests on Friday, September 11 during Bruce's weekly BBC 6 Music radio program, dubbed "The Bruce Dickinson Friday Rock Show". Listen to the broadcast live via the Internet between 9:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m. (midnight) U.K. time at BBC.co.uk.

"Last Look At Eden", the new album from EUROPE, will be released in Germany on September 18 via earMUSIC/Edel Germany GmbH. The CD will be issued in the U.K. on September 14.

"Last Look At Eden" track listing:

01. Prelude
02. Last Look at Eden
03. Gonna Get Ready
04. Catch that Plane
05. New Love in Town
06. The Beast
07. Mojito Girl
08. No Stone Unturned
09. Only Young Twice
10. U Devil U
11. Run With the Angels
12. In My Time

From the epic title track to the melodic ballad "New Love in Town", this album is on another level, less extreme than previous offering, 2006's "Secret Society", and with matured sound, "Last Look at Eden" is a mix of all the elements that have made EUROPE famous the world over.

Commented singer Joey Tempest: "This time we're taking a new direction with our songs, and we're exploring different styles. There is a definite classic rock vibe on several tracks on this album — a tip of the hat to groovin', funkin' '70s rock songs, with a modern twist."

He added: "We've got a couple of great ballads, plus some thundering rock tracks that will put you flat on your ass! We've taken the best bits from our recent albums and taken it to a new level 'Last Look at Eden' is more of a EUROPE album than 'Secret Society' or 'Start From The Dark'. We had to make those albums in order to do this."

"Thank You, Pain", the new video from Montreal, Quebec, Canada's THE AGONIST, can be viewed here. The clip was directed by David Brodsky, who has previously worked with ALL THAT REMAINS, KITTIE and THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, among many others.

Commented vocalist Alissa White-Gluz: "We are very happy to finally be finished with our summer touring, and look forward to lots more in the fall. We really appreciate the awesome fans we have met throughout the USA and cannot wait to meet everyone in South America and Mexico!

"The video for 'Thank You, Pain' is a long time coming. [It was] once again created by the great David Brodsky and MyGoodEye and we tried to really represent the lyrical presence of the song without distracting from the music itself.

"Since the song is dominated by two speakers (represented by my dual vocals), we needed a strong yet subtle way to let the lyrics carry the narrative and emotion of the song, and we accomplished this with different locations within the beautiful old courthouse in New Jersey.

"'Thank You, Pain' was an instant favorite for many THE AGONIST fans, new and old, so we hope they will appreciate the new visuals accompanying the song.

"I am also very honored to have PETA2 exclusively premiere our video. Since PETA fights for a lot of the same things I do in my songs, it's great to be able to partner up again. I look forward to working with them on future campaigns as well. They are perceived as a daring organization that pushes the boundaries in order to expose what people normally turn a blind eye to.

"We have noticed that a lot of our fans are extremely intelligent, interesting people so we think they will be excited about this video debut as well."

"Thank You, Pain" comes off "Lullabies For A Dormant Mind", the sophomore album from THE AGONIST, which debuted at No. 105 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.

"Vigilance", the sophomore album from Canadian metallers THREAT SIGNAL, is available for streaming in its entirety on the band's MySpace page. Due on September 8 in North America and September 11 in Europe via Nuclear Blast Records, the CD was produced by vocalist Jon Howard and mixed by Greg Reely (FEAR FACTORY, FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY).

"Vigilance" track listing:

01. Afterlife
02. Through My Eyes
03. The Beginning Of The End
04. United We Stand
05. Beyond Recognition
06. Another Source Of Light
07. Hate Machine
08. Severed
09. Lost
10. Revision
11. In Repair
12. Escape From Reality
13. To Remember

Chicago's purveyors of psychedelic blackened metal NACHTMYSTIUM are currently working on material for "Black Meddle Part II" (working title) and will soon embark on the "U.S. Plague Tour" featuring Swedish black metal legends MARDUK alongside MANTIC RITUAL, MERRIMAC and BLACK ANVIL. The trek kicks off on November 20 and runs through December 16.

Commented NACHTMYSTIUM mastermind Blake Judd: "We're honored to announce our upcoming tour supporting Swedish black metal legends MARDUK. It's an honor to be going out with this band we've all been listening to for years and to be getting back on the road after a rocky year between canceled tours and festivals due to injuries and other unfortunate circumstances.

"We're currently working on material for 'Black Meddle Part II' (official title to be announced) and will be doing a demoing pre-production session with Sanford Parker in October.

"The new material is reminiscent of 'Assassins' with more of a rock and roll edge over all. Our love for post-rock and industrial (ala MINISTRY, KILLING JOKE, etc) is even more present this time around.

"We're hoping to make a record that will continue to push extreme music into uncharted territories.

"Recording for the new record will begin in early January and we project to have the record out in March or April."

NACHTMYSTIUM's latest full-length album, "Assassins: Black Meddle Part I", was released on June 10, 2008 via Century Media Records in North America and June 23, 2008 through Candlelight Records in Europe.

Japanese extreme metal band SIGH has completed work on its eighth studio album, "Scenes From Hell", for an early 2010 release via The End Records.

SIGH's Mirai Kawashima has posted the final in-studio blog for MetalSucks, which over the past several months has documented the recording process for "Scenes From Hell". An excerpt follows below.

"The album has finally been mixed and mastered. We were supposed to finish mixing it by the end of June, but it was not easy at all. Of course I knew it'd be tough to mix all those orchestral instruments properly, but it was much harder than expected. The brass section sounds very powerful by itself. Guitar, bass and drums sound powerful enough by themselves. However, once all are mixed, they could often kill each other's powerfulness! After having gone through numerous trials and errors, we finally succeeded in getting the proper result. And the album has been mastered by Maor Appelbaum, who also mastered our tribute to VENOM. He has worked with such artists as Yngwie Malmsteen and Rob Halford, so he knows how to master the metal stuff! 'Scenes from Hell' definitely sounds powerful, symphonic and relentless. This is the musical description of hell!"

"Scenes From Hell" final track listing:

01. Prelude to the Oracle
02. L'art de Mourir
03. The Soul Grave
Musica in Tempora Belli
04. The Red Funeral
05. The Summer Funeral
06. Musica in Tempora Belli
07. Vanitas
08. Scenes from Hell

The cover artwork for the album was created by Eliran Kantor (TESTAMENT, AGHORA, TO-MERA, GWAR, SICKENING HORROR) and will be revealed soon.

Swedish death metal band ABLAZE MY SORROW will release a new EP, "The Suicide Note", on September 9 via Pronode Records.

The band split up in August 2006 has no plans to reunite with this release.

"The Suicide Note" track listing:

01. The Illusion
02. By My Own Hands

ABLAZE MY SORROW is:

Kristian Lönnsjö - Vocals
Magnus Carlsson - Guitar
Dennie Lindén - Guitar
Anders Brorsson - Bass
Alex Bengtsson - Drums

A trailer for "The Suicide Note" can be viewed here.

ABLAZE MY SORROW's third full-length album, "Anger, Hate And Fury", came out in 2002.

Jorn Lande (MASTERPLAN), Damian Wilson (THRESHOLD), Udo Dirkschneider (U.D.O., ACCEPT), Mats Levén (THERION, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN) and Charlotte Wessels (DELAIN) are among the guest vocalists who will participate in the second "Christmas Metal Symphony" show, set to take place on Sunday, December 20, 2009 at 013, Tilburg, Holland. As was the case with last year's event, the singers will be backed by a six-piece band and a 30-piece classical orchestra as they perform some of the finest heavy metal and hard rock songs of all time. This unique show will contain songs from all metal genres — from prog-metal to rock, from death to speed and from industrial to symphonic.

Swedish death metallers NOMINON have issued the following update:

"Today (Wednesday, September 2) it is two weeks until we'll enter the gates of Necromorbus Studio in Stockholm with producer Tore Stjerna to start the recordings of what will become the fourth NOMINON album.

"The songwriting process has been very interesting and intense this time around and we're all amazed on how diverse and extreme the material really ended up. Altogether we've ten new songs and since we feel like it, we'll also re-record an old song as well that will be included on the mini-CD that is set to be released as soon as possible after the recordings are done via Deathgasm Records (most probably early November).

"The MCD will feature 3-4 songs and the album will have 9 songs; that's the plan as of now. We've no title set for the new album, or the MCD for that matter, but it'll all be sorted out in time."

Viva Hate Records has set an October 9 release date for a massive wooden box from Norwegian progressive metallers ENSLAVED. The 3kg-package contains six long-out-of-print and sold-out albums with alternate layout:

* "Frost" LP
* "Eld" 2xLP
* "Blodhemn" LP
* "Mardraum" LP
* "Monumension" LP
* "Below The Lights" LP
* A total amount of eight records which have been sold out for AGES!!!
* All albums on thick 180g vinyl!!!

Plus:

* A reissued version of the original demo, "Yggdrassill"
* An exclusive one-sided record with rough instrumental recording of "Hal Valr" (recorded in 1992!), never before released
* An exclusive ENSLAVED belt buckle
* An exclusive ENSLAVED military cap with embroidered the logo on it

"From Afar", the new video from Finnish folk metallers ENSIFERUM, can be viewed below. The song is the title cut of the band's fourth album, which will be released on September 9 via Spinefarm Records. The CD was produced by Tero Kinnunen (NIGHTWISH, AMORPHIS) and Janne Joutsenniemi ('Victory Songs' producer) and was mixed by Hiili Hiilesmaa (HIM, SENTENCED, AMORPHIS).

The track listing for the album is as follows:

01. By The Dividing Stream
02. From Afar
03. Twilight Tavern
04. Heathen Throne
05. Elusive Reaches
06. Stone Cold Metal
07. Smoking Ruins
08. Tumman Virran Taa
09. The Longest Journey (Heathen Throne Part II)
10. Vandraren (limited-edition bonus track; NORDMAN cover)

SOULGRIND, the Finnish band featuring former LULLACRY frontwoman Tanja "Whisper Lilith" Kemppainen (a.k.a. Tanya), will enter the studio on September 14 to begin recording the group's ninth album, "The Tuoni Pathway", for an early 2010 release via U.K.'s Femme Metal Records.

The track listing for the CD is as follows:

01. The Call Of Dancing Waters
02. The Song Of Tomorrow
03. My Sweet Thought Of Death
04. Vuoret Ja Metsänmaa
05. Tulikannel
06. Among The Graves
07. March Butterfly
08. Pilgrim Of The Shadows
09. Farewell To Misery
10. The Tuoni Pathway

Los Angeles female-fronted progressive metallers ECHOES OF ETERNITY are streaming a new song, "Twilight Fires", on their MySpace page.

Commented guitarist/songwriter Brandon S. Patton: "When we wrote this song, we asked ourselves, 'What would it sound like if Francine [Boucher, vocalist] was singing for MORBID ANGEL or DISSECTION?' This is what we came up with. It has a definite black metal/death metal feel to it. I don't think anyone's ever heard this type of female vocal with blast beats and double bass drumming in a context quite like this. It's dark, seductive and powerful! The way Francine belts it out on this song blows my fucking mind and everyone in the band loves the middle section of the song, where there is a slower 'gallop-picked’ riff that is mean as fuck."