According to Roger Friedman of Showbiz411.com, METALLICA will take part in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 25th anniversary event this fall at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The two-day extravaganza will be held on October 29-30, with Bruce Springsteen, Simon & Garfunkel, Paul Simon as a solo act, Stevie Wonder, and the whole posse that includes Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young performing on Thursday. Then on Friday: Aretha Franklin headlines, with U2, METALLICA, and Eric Clapton.

METALLICA played "Master Of Puppets" and "Enter Sandman" at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony on April 4, 2009, with the band's former bassist Jason Newsted and his replacement, Robert Trujillo, both taking part in the performance (the group played as a five-piece). They also led a "surprise jam" at the end of the night consisting of "Train Kept A Rollin'", with RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS' Flea, LED ZEPPELIN's Jimmy Page, AEROSMITH's Joe Perry and Jeff Beck.

LIMP BIZKIT frontman Fred Durst announced via Twitter yesterday (Friday, July 17) that he married his girlfriend Esther Nazarov (see photo at this location).

Durst, 38, announced his engagement via Twitter in April. "I've never known true love until now," he Tweeted at the time. "So grateful."

The newlyweds are now reportedly vacationing in Las Vegas.

According to Usmagazine.com, Durst has two children — a teen girl, Adriana, from his first marriage, and a 7-year-old boy, Dallas, from a previous relationship.

The reunited original lineup of LIMP BIZKIT will play its first Stateside show in eight years tonight (Saturday, July 18) at the Pearl Concert Theater at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. This will be a FREE concert and admission will be on a first-come first-served basis.

"Dead Girls Are Easy", the new video from Finnish gothic metallers THE 69 EYES, can be viewed at Playboy.com. Directed by MTV's gross-out auteur Bam Margera, the clip is a vampiric road trip rife with lustful ladies and unwitting male victims.

Aimed at those sleazy online chicks with the looks that kill, "Dead Girls Are Easy" is a tongue-in-cheek power anthem that just begged for a video to complement it. The clip follows a coven of tight black leather-clad vampire vixens luring and converting the men with whom they come into contact. "It's almost like vampires are taking over the world," muses singer Jyrki 69.
"Dead Girls Are Easy" comes off THE 69 EYES' ninth album, "Back In Blood", which is scheduled for release in Europe (excluding Finland) on August 28 via Nuclear Blast Records (September 15 in the U.S. through The End Records). The CD, which was tracked with the Grammy-winning producer Matt Hyde (SLAYER, MONSTER MAGNET, FU MANCHU), features a guest appearance by MONSTER MAGNET's Ed Mundell. The recording process took place both in Helsinki and Los Angeles.

"Back In Blood" track listing:

01. Back In Blood
02. We Own The Night
03. Dead N' Gone
04. The Good, The Bad & The Undead
05. Kiss Me Undead
06. Lips Of Blood
07. Dead Girls Are Easy
08. Night Watch
09. Some Kind Of Magick
10. Hunger
11. Suspiria Snow White
12. Eternal

Austrian blackened death metal outfit BELPHEGOR has completed work on its eighth full-length studio album, "Walpurgis Rites - Hexenwahn", on October 9 in Europe and October 20 in North American via Nuclear Blast Records. The follow-up to 2008's "Bondage Goat Zombie" was recorded at Andy Classen's (LEGION OF THE DAMNED, DEW-SCENTED, NEAERA, ASPHYX) Stage One Studios in Kassel, Germany.

"Walpurgis Rites Hexenwahn" track listing:

01. Walpurgis Rites
02. Veneratio Diaboli - I Am Sin
03. Hail The New Flesh
04. Reichswehr In Blood
05. The Crosses Made Of Bone
06. Der Geistertreiber
07. Destroyer Hekate
08. Enthralled Toxic Sabbath
09. Hexenwahn - Totenkult

The digipack version will include the video for the track "Der Geistertreiber" as well as making-of material.

Commented frontman Helmuth: "With these nine compositions/arrangements, we continue to piss on the damn mainstream. It's BELPHEGOR to the highest; the hymns are extremely varied, more intense and epic than ever, [and] there are new elements and structures added. Also, we used some haunting samples here and there, to give the album a cold and ritualistic feel."

He continued, "On 'Walpurgis Rites - Hexenwahn', you will hear my most fucked up vocals to date; also the lyrical content is offensive and insane. The witch/devil concept is amazing to work with and we used alot of original chants/ incantations from archaic scripts."

BELPHEGOR has tapped Brazilian artist Marcelo Hvc to handle the graphics for the new album.

Added Serpenth: "The idea is to capture the okkultic orgiastic processions from the Broken Mountain, the Walpurgis night in the images."

"Sarah (Bury Her)", the new video from U.K. gothic power metallers PYTHIA, can be viewed below. The song comes off the band's debut album, "Beneath The Veiled Embrace", which is scheduled for release in October 2009 on Golden Axe Records. The CD features 10 original tracks by PYTHIA and 10 images by Hayley Madden. It also includes a guest appearance by "the living legend" Brian Blessed. The "Sarah (Bury Her)" single will precede the full-length CD on August 10. It will include the title cut plus two bonus tracks — a cover of GARY MOORE's "Thunder Rising" (mixed and mastered by Jacob Hansen) and an acoustic version of the song "Tristan" (both cuts featuring Bev Lee Harling [MEDIAEVAL BAEBES] on violin).

"Beneath The Veiled Embrace" was mixed and mastered by Danish producer Jacob Hansen, who has previously worked with MERCENARY, VOLBEAT, RAUNCHY and INVOCATOR, among many others.

PYTHIA features the classically trained soprano Emily Alice Ovenden (MEDIEVAL BAEBES, CELTIC LEGEND) alongside current and/or former members of U.K. death thrash band DESCENT, southern-fried metallers HEAD-ON and black metallers ABGOTT.

Canadian all-girl metal band KITTIE will release its new album, "In The Black", on September 15 through E1 Music (formerly KOCH Records).

The track listing for the CD is as follows:

01. Kingdom Come
02. My Plague
03. Cut Throat
04. Die My Darling
05. Sorrow I Know
06. Forgive And Forget
07. Now Or Never
08. Falling Down
09. Sleepwalking
10. Whiskey Love Song
11. Ready Aim Riot
12. The Truth

Tom Cardy of The Dominion Post reports that all tickets to AC/DC's concert at Westpac Stadium in Wellington, New Zealand on January 28, 2010 will cost $159.90 NZD (approximately $104 USD).

Wellington is the first date of the band's Australasian tour and tickets go on sale on July 28. The band will also perform at Auckland's Western Springs on February 4.

It is the first rock concert at the stadium not to vary ticket prices. Even THE ROLLING STONES in 2006 seen by a crowd of 40,000 had ticket prices from $55 NZD ($36 USD) to $350 NZD ($227 USD). When AC/DC last played New Zealand in 1996, tickets cost $59 NZD (the equivalent of $77 NZD today).

A brand new DYING FETUS track entitled "Your Treachery Will Die With You" is available for streaming using the ReverbNation TuneWidget below (click on "Songs" tab). The song comes off the Baltimore death metal act's seventh album, "Descend Into Depravity", which is scheduled for release on September 15 via Relapse Records. The follow-up to 2007's "War Of Attrition" was recorded at Wright Way Studios in the group's hometown with producer Steve Wright.

"Descend Into Depravity" track listing:

01. Your Treachery Will Die With You
02. Shepherd's Commandment
03. Hopeless Insurrection
04. Conceived Into Enslavement
05. Atrocious By Nature
06. Descend Into Depravity
07. At What Expense
08. Ethos Of Coercion

Two first albums from singer Anette Olzon's pre-NIGHTWISH band, the Swedish AOR act ALYSON AVENUE, have been re-released via Yesterrock Records.

Commented the group: "Fans all over the world has asked us where they could buy the two first ALYSON AVENUE albums, 'Presence of Mind' and 'Omega'. The original print of these two albums has been sold out for quite some time now but we are now extremely happy to announce that ALYSON AVENUE has teamed up with Yesterrock to re-release ALYSON AVENUE's two first albums!

"The re-release 'Presence Of Mind' compilation is a copy of the initial album released in 2000. The new 'Omega' compilation is a totally reworked album where a lot of tracks has been re-recorded to better be in line with how the band wants the album to sound like compared to the original 2004 release of 'Omega'. The new 'Omega' compilation also has added material in the form of five demo songs that did not make it in to the original release for different reasons."

"Serpent's Wrath", the new album from U.K.-based dark/doom metal outfit DAMNATION'S HAMMER, can be streamed in its entirety from the band's MySpace page. The CD was mixed and mastered at Hellfire Studios in Birmingham by Ajeet Gill.

"Serpent's Wrath" track listing:

01. Throne of Fire
02. The Moon and the Waters of Death
03. Nailed to the Tree of Woe
04. The Hex
05. Desolation's Watchtower
06. Serpent's Wrath

DAMNATION'S HAMMER is currently seeking a label to release "Serpent's Wrath". Interested parties can contact the band at damnationshammer@hotmail.co.uk

Formed in 2008 by ex-DEARLY BEHEADED member Tim Preston, DAMNATION'S HAMMER plays "dark, doom-laden riff-based metal," described as "early CELTIC FROST meets CANDLEMASS."

DAMNATION'S HAMMER is:

Preston - Vocals & Guitar
Gill - Lead Guitar
Whitehead - Bass
Hardman - Drums

ALICE IN CHAINS has tapped Alex Courtes (U2, KAISER CHIEFS, SNOW PATROL) to direct the video for the band's new single, "Check My Brain".

Courtes studied graphic art at one of the best European schools, Penninghen. Very soon, he started to become noticed by the various bands within the "French touch" scene in Paris and has worked with CASSIUS, DAFT PUNK and AIR. This in turn opened the door to the international market, where he has worked with some of the biggest rock and pop artists in the world — U2, THE WHITE STRIPES, KYLIE MINOGUE, JAMIROQUAI and FRANZ FERDINAND — and has landed all the most prestigious awards in the music video industry, in the U.S. as well as in the U.K. and France.

For a list of videos Courtes has worked on, go to this location.

German music web site Laut.de reports that a brand new RAMMSTEIN song entitled "Liebe Ist Für Alle Da" has been leaked onto the Internet. Although the German industrial metal band's representatives, Pilgrim Management, have not publicly confirmed the track's authenticity, the fact that Pilgrim is being listed as the registered owner of the www.liebeistfueralleda.de web domain seems to suggest that the song is, in fact, the genuine article.

According to Laut.de, RAMMSTEIN's management has threatened legal action against any web sites that post links to the copyright-infringing material. As a result, Europe's largest RAMMSTEIN fan site Rammstein-Austria.com is currently directing all of its traffic to its forum. Other RAMMSTEIN fan sites have also reportedly been told to refrain from posting links to the song, which is expected to appear on the band's new studio album.

In 2004, RAMMSTEIN's management reportedly sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Berlin-based RAMMSTEIN fan site RammsteinFan.de demanding the removal of several copyrighted images and ringtones.

KATATONIA's Anders Nystrom has issued the following updates:

Third Part of Studio Diary

"After the midsummer weekend, it was time to get back to biz. The recording facalities down in Varberg were changed to David's own Ghost Ward studio (off the record referred to as "the rathole") which is located in a suburb north of Stockholm. This week's schedule was rhythm guitars, so I stepped into the picture together with Jonas and David to find a heavy distortion sound to fit Daniel's great drum production.

We recently entered a brand new collaboration with with Laboga amplifiers from Poland and we endorse both their Mr Hector and Aligator models. Obivously, the entire Monday was spent fooling around with different configurations of mics, speakers and knob settings. In the past, this procedure could very likely end up taking more than one day, but this time we found the "sweet spot" pretty much right away.

Laboga deliver fantastic quality and I believe we nailed the optimal setup for this record. We're talking low bottom heaviness, a mid crunch register which we like to refer to as "the drill", all perfectly pushed through the active EMG pickups of my wicked Mayones axes. The coloring and balance between the amps different equalizers and different distortion levels shows also in the clear high end resonance. Even full 6-string chords ring out beautifully seperated without turning to noise. It sounds expensive and pro.

When we came back on tuesday to start tracking we were disturbed by a foul smell. To enter the studio, you head into this kind of sketchy house located in a industrial area, take a couple of stairs down to the basement and enter a steel door that leads to a corridor where the studio is located like a rathole in the wall. But on the outside of the steeldoor there's this kinda elevator room with a sliding door, sometimes open, sometimes shut. The smell couldn't have come from anywhere else but there. We've had our suspicions before and they turned out to be true. None of us ever investigated what's behind the door, until now. A flashlight and a camera revealed that this tiny room is being a residence for bums and junkies and their grotesque needs. What was reeking as we passed by turned out to be piles of excrements and urine on the floor... Yay! We learned that in the upper building is a couple of floors with apartments used as "temporary solutions for temporary people"... Put two and two together. We're recording in a rathole, in hell!

The following days were just all out busy and pretty much looked the same. Get up at 8 am. Wait for David to pick us up in his Opel and then a quick stop at Coop forum (huge grocery store chain) for some breakfast. Walk down the rathole and pass by the stench of bums which is a wake-up call if your're still snooze mode. Track guitars. Lunch at Maestro. Track more guitars. Leave at 10 pm and go home to check emails (no internet in the rathole) and try to have a life for 2-3 hours. Get some sleep. Repeat.

Today's saturday and all rhythm guitars are done. The album has twisted into form and we're only hours behind schedule. Sunday is a day off and on monday we'll start with all the semi-dirty and clean guitar sounds. It's all coming alive!"

Fourth Part of Studio Diary

"It has been play time down the rathole! Like kids in a toy store we lined up a wide arsenal of analogue and digital pedals for any needs. We brought out all kinds of different effects to color both clean and dirty guitar parts as well as fx leads and anything in the twilight zone between guitar and synth sounds. Sometimes we've been wanting to go for a old broken 70's sound, maybe spiced with old analoge pedals such as Sovtek's Small Stone pedal that was built in the shell of an old landmine. Multieffect pedals such as the flagship in TC Electronics G-System, just as the Boss GT-3, my old companion for the last 10 years has been up and running to provide some of my custom settings maybe for the last time... From Guyatone, Seymour Duncan and Electro-harmonix we used various tube pedals such as a couple of overdrives, reverbs, stereo delays and tremolos and compressors. No need to put your trust in plug-ins, if you can have the real deal in hardware.

On the amplification side we explored the clean channels of both the Alligator and Mr. Hector amps and the good ol' rectifer together with Celestion equipped speaker cabs from Laboga. Great thick, full clean tone.

Instrument wise, the active emg's has done it's work and for the clean guitar parts we have been through various passive single coils, split humbuckers or a combination of both on a bunch of different top of the line guitars.

The tuning is an absolute crucial aspect to get a professional end result and since we detune to C (with further alternations),yet do not play neither 7 strings or baritones all our guitars have gone under a modification process called "plek" at a place called Guitar Labs. This is undoubtedly the most accurate and precise work you can apply to a guitar for the optimal intonation. Highly recommended.

Basically all guitars on the last album were played by me, but this time Jonas is playing a lot more of the clean and lead guitars himself, simply because he's been a very active composer for this record. It's a proven fact that often it's better to let the one who wrote the part also go ahead and lay it down since a certain feeling can get lost in the interpretation by another person when you have a lot of bending and vibrato, it's all in your fingers.

The summer has really swept big time over Sweden and the air down the rathole sucks. We have to keep the door open and have two fans on full effect to create some kind of circulation. Sitting down here it's hard to avoid thoughts of having outdoor barbecues, having an ice-cold beer down town, go swimming, eating your own reaped strawberrys with ice cream at your balcony, taking off on spontaneous bicycle rides without obligations and a goal, yeah that kind of shit i like to do in summer... but the fact is that we're down here in the rathole making the best album in our career, so that's gotta mean some kind of sacrifice right? We have a few days of edits and keys now and after that it's time to get Mattias "Kryptan" Norrman down for a session of bass guitar and glue the cracks of the tracks together".

Photos available at this location.

British thrashers EVILE have posted a brand new track, "Infected Nation", on their MySpace page. The song comes off the band's sophomore album, "Infected Nations", due on September 21 in Europe and September 22 in the U.S. via Earache Records. A DRM-free copy of the track is available for download at this location.

Commented EVILE lead guitarist Ol Drake: "Finally, we can show you a track off the upcoming album, 'Infected Nations', funnily enough the first track being 'Infected Nation'. It's been very hard to pick out just ONE track to initially show the world, as there is such diversity on this album and I wanted to showcase the different direction we're going in. I think 'Infected Nation' is a good place to start in showing you, as it still has the pure thrash feel to it but with an injection of our new path musically."

The cover art for "Infected Nations" was created by Michael Whelan, famous for his sci-fi artworks along with classic album covers from such bands as SEPULTURA and OBITUARY.

"Infected Nations" track listing:

01. Infected Nation
02. Now Demolition
03. Nosophoros
04. Genocide
05. Plague To End All Plagues
06. Devoid Of Thought
07. Time No More
08. Metamorphosis
09. Hundred Wrathful Deities

IRON LAMB, the new Stockholm, Sweden-based band formed by underground metal veterans Johan Wallin (GENERAL SURGERY, SCURVY, BOMBSTRIKE, ex-REPUGNANT), Grga Lindström (ex-REPUGNANT), Thomas Daun (DISMEMBER, ex-REPUGNANT, ex-INSISION) and Daniel Ekeroth (TYRANT, ex-INSISION, ex-DELLAMORTE, author of "Swedish Death Metal" book), has posted three demo tracks on the group's MySpace page.

A press release states: "Tired of lame-ass '80s metal revival, weak MTV-whoring 'punk rock' and image-concerned rock 'n' roll, they have joined forces to threaten the scene with some lethal rock 'n' roll/punk, hailing the spirit of TRUE rock 'n' roll and punk rock, taking shape as a bastard son of early MOTÖRHEAD and G.G. ALLIN . . . This is the real deal, born and raised in the gutter and we're here to bring danger back into rock 'n' roll!"

Finnish doom metallers SWALLOW THE SUN will release their fifth album, entitled "New Moon", on November 10 via Spinefarm Records. The CD is being recorded at Fascination Street studios in Örebro, Sweden with Jens Bogren, who has previously worked with such acts as KATATONIA, OPETH, PARADISE LOST and AMON AMARTH. Kai Hahto (WINTERSUN, ex-ROTTEN SOUND) has been recruited to play drums on the album following the recent departure of longtime skinsman Pasi Pasanen.

"New Moon" tentative track listing.

01. These Woods Breathe Evil
02. Falling World
03. Sleepless Swans
04. And Heavens Cried Blood
05. New Moon
06. Lights on the Lake (Horror Pt. III)
07. Servant of Sorrow
08. Weight of the Dead

Norwegian black metallers KOLDBRANN have recruited drummer Folkedal (SARKOM session musicians) and guitarist Voidar (HJARNIDAUDI) for their upcoming festival appearances.

KOLDBRANN now consists of:

Kvass - Guitar
Mannevond - Vocals
S.G.J. - Bass
Folkedal - Drums (live)
Voidar - Guitar (live)

Croatian female-fronted gothic metal band OMEGA LITHIUM will release its debut album, "Dreams In Formaline", on September 18 via Drakkar Records.

The track listing for the CD is as follows:

01. Infest [02:53]
02. Stigmata [03:48]
03. My Haunted Self [03:32]
04. Dreams In Formaline [03:20]
05. Andromeda [03:29]
06. Nebula [03:58]
07. Snow Red [03:38]
08. Hollow March [03:22]
09. Factor:Misery [03:31]
10. Angel's Holocaust [03:20]
11. Point Blank [03:57]
12. Stigmata (Videoclip) [03:48]

"And God's Ocean", the new video from German gothic rockers LACRIMAS PROFUNDERE, can be viewed below. According to the group, the clip "presents the viewer with the band's hard work from last three months. With this [video], the band supports Die Sandmänner — an initiative that fights against child poverty in Germany. LACRIMAS PROFUNDERE want to give each and every euro made from this single available to Die Sandmänner."

"And God's Ocean" comes off LACRIMAS PROFUNDERE's latest album, "Songs for the Last View", which entered the German Media Control chart a year ago at position No. 73.

Finnish metallers SAATTUE will release their second album, "Vuoroveri", on September 9 via Spikefarm Records. The CD will include "eight works of heavy, dark and multi-dimensional saatto metal," according to a press release.

"Vuoroveri" was recorded at D-Studio in Klaukkala, Finland with producer Jarno Hänninen and was mastered at Finnvox Studio by Mika Jussila.

"Vuoroveri" track listing:

01. Vapahtaja
02. Luopio
03. Evoluution kruunu
04. Itsensä herra
05. Synnistä syntynyt
06. Taakka
07. Verenperimä
08. Häpeän linnut

The album features special guest appearances by Alexi Laiho (CHILDREN OF BODOM), Pasi "Ruoja" Koskinen (AJATTARA) and Ines Lukkanen (EMBASSY OF SILENCE).

SAATTUE writes its lyrics in Finnish and calls its music "saatto metal."

"Saatto," as well as "saattue," means "procession" in Finnish.

LAETHORA, the Swedish death/grind band featuring DARK TRANQUILLITY guitarist Niklas Sundin, recently finished mixing its second album, "The Light In Which We All Burn", for a late 2009 release. The group states, "This is one release you really shouldn't miss out on. The album is incredibly strong and having had some time off since the recordings, we can clearly state in retrospect that it is indeed a splendid collection of songs. Peter in de Betou has done an excellent job with the mastering and we're so looking forward to unleashing the wrath of hell unto the world. The first photo shoot for press release was successful and we're all in mint condition, looking more handsome than ever, so don't stare for too long unless you welcome the feeling of inferiority."

"The Light In Which We All Burn" track listing:

01. Ekpyrosis
02. I as Infernal
03. A.S.K.E
04. World Deluge
05. A New Day
06. Humanae
07. The Sightless
08. Saevio
09. Uproar
10. Cast to Ruin
11. To the Point
12. Damnable Doctrine
13. Alogia