"Ashes To Ashes", the new video from Swiss hard rockers SHAKRA, can be viewed below. The song comes off the band's new album, "Everest", which was released on April 17 via AFM Records. In addition to the regular CD, a limited digipack with bonus material was made available.

"Everest" track listing:

01. Ashes To Ashes (3:51)
02. Love & Pain (3:19)
03. Let Me Lie My Life To You (3:38)
04. The Illusion Of Reality (4:38)
05. Why (3:45)
06. The Journey (7:54)
07. Regressive Evolution (3:51)
08. Anybody Out There (3:24)
09. Right Between The Eyes (5:15)
10. Dirty Money (3:24)
11. Insanity (4:48)
12. Hopeless (3:45)

"Beg For It", the new album from Swedish sleaze rockers HARDCORE SUPERSTAR, is available for streaming in its entirety on the band's MySpace page.

Due on June 5 via Nuclear Blast Records, "Beg For It" features the following track listing:

01. This Worm's For Ennio
02. Beg For It
03. Into Debauchery
04. Shades Of Grey
05. Nervous Breakdown
06. Hope For A Normal Life
07. Bad Behaviour
08. Remove My Brain
09. Spit It Out
10. Illegal Fun
11. Take Them All Out
12. Innocent Boy

Metal Mind Productions has set a July 6 European release date (August 11 in North America via MVD) for the reissues of three albums from German metallers SINNER — "Judgement Day" (1997), "The Nature of Evil" (1998) and "There Will Be Execution" (2003). The reisues will be digitally remastered using 24-bit technology and released on golden discs. Each digipack title is limited to 1,000 copies.

"Judgement Day" bonus tracks:

01. The River Runs Dry
02. Had Enough

"The Nature of Evil" bonus tracks:

01. Calm Before The Storm
02. Searching For Your Love
03. Twisted Mind

"There Will Be Execution" bonus tracks:

01. Wherever I May Roam
02. Balls To The Wall
03. The Truth Is Out There

Video footage of SINNER's November 20, 2008 concert in Munich, Germany can be viewed below (courtesy of "eblinternational").

"MegaSlowFade", a brand new song from New Orleans-based rockers LILLIAN AXE, is available for streaming at this location. The entire track autoplays on the home page of the web site.

Audio samples of the other songs that appear on LILLIAN AXE's forthcoming album, "Sad Day On Planet Earth", are available on MelodicRock.com.

"Sad Day On Planet Earth" will be released on June 30 via the Swedish label Blistering Records. The CD is described in a press release as "by far [the band's] strongest album, musically speaking. There are so many different-sounding songs that all forms of radio: Active Rock, Mainstream Rock and Metal radio will embrace this album."

"Sad Day On Planet Earth" will contain 14 songs written by guitarist Steve Blaze.

The track listing is as follows:

01. MegaSlowFade
02. Ignite
03. Divine
04. Down Below The Ocean
05. Jesus Wept
06. Within Your Reach
07. Sad Day On Planet Earth
08. Fire Blood The Earth & Sea
09. The Grand Scale Of Finality
10. Cold Day In Hell
11. Blood Raining Down On Her Wings
12. Hibernate
13. Kill Me Again
14. Nocturnal Symphony

All the album artwork (see here) was created by Peter Tsakiris, who is a major force in the industry, having designed album art for DIO, TWISTED SISTER, DEEP PURPLE, TED NUGENT, OVERKILL, JACKYL and WARRIOR SOUL, to name a few.

LILLIAN AXE will play its first European show since 2004 on November 21, 2009 at JB's in Dudley, United Kingdom. According to the band, more dates will be announced soon "as we will are looking into playing the U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Germany and Norway."

On February 24, EMI Music reissued as download-only releases the previously out-of-print LILLIAN AXE albums "Poetic Justice" (1992) and "Psychoschizophrenia" (1993) on iTunes and Amazon. Originally released on Grand Slamm/IRS Records, these LPs were LILLIAN AXE's best-selling releases. "Poetic Justice" featured the hit single "True Believer" and the video for LILLIAN AXE's version of BADFINGER's "No Matter What". "Psychoschizophrenia" featured the explosive single "Crucified" and the AOR-friendly "Moonlight In Your Blood".

LILLIAN AXE is:

Derrick Lefevre - Vocals
Steve Blaze - Guitar/Vocals
Sam Poitevent - Guitar/Vocals
Eric Morris - Bass
Ken Koudelka - Drums

British thrashers ONSLAUGHT recorded their performance at the Damnation Festival on November 22, 2008 in Leeds, U.K. for a live CD, "Live Damnation", to be released on July 20 through Candlelight Records.

Check out the cover artwork here.

Fan-filmed video footage of ONSLAUGHT performing the song "Let There Be Death" at last year's Damnation Festival can be viewed below (clip uploaded by Dave Ingham a.k.a. YouTube user "triptykon").

ONSLAUGHT's latest album, "Killing Peace", was released in March 2007 via Candlelight Records. The CD was recorded at Backstage studio in Derbyshire, England with producer Andy Sneap (MEGADETH, MACHINE HEAD, ARCH ENEMY, NEVERMORE).

A representative for METALLICA's management company, QPrime, has informed BLABBERMOUTH.NET that the DVD shoot of the band's July 7, 2009 concert in Nimes, France at Arènes de Nîmes will go ahead as previously announced. The resulting DVD, which will be available in France only, is tentatively due in October. According to the representative, it is still not 100 percent confirmed that METALLICA's three headlining concerts in Mexico City, Mexico — which are scheduled for June 4, June 6 and June 7 at Foro Sol — will be filmed or that there will even be a DVD release based on that footage.

German death metallers GRIND INC. have issued the following update:

"The band [has] decided to part their way with Thomas Strater on second vocals due to musical differences and circumstances of life. It was a long-[time-coming] decision and we want to thank Thomas for the last years of musical partnership.

"The band will continue as a four-head combo so there won't be any replacement in the camp of GRIND INC.

"We're still working on new material for the next album which can be expected in late 2009."

As members of Southern California's IN THIS MOMENT prepare themselves to spend their entire summer as part of this year's Warped Tour lineup, the group returns with a new offering, "The Dream (Ultra-Violet Edition)", which features their cover of the BLONDIE classic "Call Me" (hear audio below). This stunning track will begin streaming on the band's newly revamped MySpace page on June 1.

Due on June 30, "The Dream (Ultra-Violet Edition)" includes a bonus disc which features "Dying Star" and "Sailing Away", which are two unreleased studio tracks from "The Dream" recording session. It is rounded out by the "Forever" radio edit and "Call Me" instrumental version, alongside a slew of bonus video material.

"Forest Of Equilibrium", the classic debut album from British doom metal
legends CATHEDRAL, has been reissued on DualDisc and is out now in Europe.

"Forest Of Equilibrium" shocked the scene with its tortured sound upon its release in 1991. The reissue comes on a DualDisc, featuring the album — which has been remastered specially for this release — on one side, and a DVD on the other side.

The DVD side features a brand new 40-minute documentary titled "Return To The Forest", with key early band members, including longstanding core duo Lee Dorrian and Garry Jennings, discussing the formation of the band and the recording of the album, plus an interview with famed cover artist Dave Patchett. The album also includes four bonus songs from the long-deleted "Soul Sacrifice" EP, and all comes housed in a deluxe digipak with amazing artwork.

"Forest Of Equilibrium" track listing:

01. Picture Of Beauty And Innocence (Intro) - Commiserating The Celebration
02. Ebony Tears
03. Serpent Eve
04. Soul Sacrifice
05. A Funeral Request
06. Equilibrium
07. Reaching Happiness Touching Pain
08. Soul Sacrifice *
09. Golden Blood (Flooding) *
10. Autumn Twilight *
11. Frozen Rapture *

* bonus tracks

According to Undercover News, 2.3% of Australia's population bought an AC/DC ticket yesterday (Monday, May 25). There are 21 million people in Australia and half a million will see the Anglo-Australian rockers perform in the country next year.

Ticketing agency Ticketek reported that the sales made history. In the 30 years that the company has been around, that was the most ticket sales in one day for one act ever.

In Sydney, you could not get a ticket for the first show after 12 minutes.

At the peak of demand and capacity, 3,400 tickets were being sold per minute.

Metal Mind Productions has set a July 6 European release date (August 11 in North America via MVD) for the reissues of teh fist two albums from Norwegian metallers SUSPERIA — "Predominance" (2001) and "Vindication" (2002). The two-CD digipack edition includes five bonus tracks and is limited to 1,000 copies. It will be digitally remastered using 24-bit technology and released on golden discs.

"Predominance / Vindication" (remastered + bonus tracks) track listing:

CD 1 - "Predominance":

01. I Am Pain
02. Vainglory
03. Illusions Of Evil
04. Specimen
05. Journey Into Black
06. Of Hate We Breed
07. Objects Of Desire
08. The Hellchild
09. Blood On My Hands
10. The Coming Of A Darker Time

Bonus Tracks:

11. Behind Consecrated Walls
12. Of Hate We Breed (Live)
13. Vainglory (Live)

CD 2 - "Vindication":

01. Cage Of Remembrance
02. The Bitter Man
03. Anguished Scream (For Vengeance)
04. Petrified
05. The Bounty Hunter
06. Completion
07. Warmaster
08. Dead Man’s World
09. Cast Life Into Fire
10. Bleed Yourself

Bonus Tracks:

11. Anguished Scream (Live)
12. Petrified (Live)

Washington D.C.-based metallers DARKEST HOUR will release their fifth full-length record, "The Eternal Return", on June 23 via Victory Records. The CD was produced by Brian McTernan (SENSES FAIL, THRICE, FROM AUTUMN TO ASHES) at his Baltimore, Maryland studio, Salad Days.

"The Eternal Return" track listing:

01. Devolution Of The Flesh
02. Death Worship
03. The Tides
04. No God
05. Bitter
06. Blessed Infection
07. Transcendence
08. A Distorted Utopia
09. Black Sun
10. Into The Grey

The OPETH three-CD box set called "The Candlelight Years", featuring the the band's first three albums, will be released in Europe on July 13 via Candlelight Records. The set, which originally came out in Japan in June 2008, features the following track listing:

"Orchid" (1995):

01. In Mist She Was Standing
02. Under the Weeping Moon
03. Silhouette
04. Forest of October
05. The Twilight Is My Robe
06. Requiem
07. The Apostle in Triumph
08. Into The Frost of Winter

"Morningrise" (1996):

01. Advent
02. The Night and the Silent Water
03. Nectar
04. Black Rose Immortal
05. To Bid You Farewell
06. Eternal Soul Torture

"My Arms, Your Hearse" (1998):

01. Prologue
02. April Ethereal
03. When
04. Madrigal
05. The Amen Corner
06. Demon of the Fall
07. Credence
08. Karma
09. Epilogue
10. Circle of The Tyrant
11. Remember Tomorrow

Gary Graff of Billboard.com reports: JUDAS PRIEST has chosen 10 songs not previously released in live album form for its next concert set — "A Touch of Evil: Live", which is due out July 14, in the midst of the band's U.S. summer tour.

"A Touch of Evil" includes live renderings of longtime fan favorites such as "Painkiller", "Dissident Aggressor", "Riding on the Wind", "Between the Hammer & the Anvil" and "Eat Me Alive", as well as "Hellrider" from "Angel of Retribution", the group's 2004 reunion album with frontman Rob Halford, and two tracks — "Death" and "Prophecy" — from last year's rock opera "Nostradamus".

"I love those songs," Halford tells Billboard.com. "All of those songs just crush. Because they've never been recorded live in this way, it's just something fresh to put out. And when you listen to it and think this band has been around for three decades, with a combined age of 250-something years...I mean, how cool is that? It's a very fierce record and just captures the band's attitude and feeling in a very strong, determined way."

Chad Bowar of About.com recently conducted an interview with singer Simone Simons of Dutch symphonic metallers EPICA. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

About.com: How did you decide to record a live album that included classical songs?

Simone Simons: We got the offer to do an opera festival in Hungary with orchestra and choir. In addition to the EPICA set, we could also play classical songs and soundtrack songs of our choice. Since that has always been on our wish list, we said yes immediately. We wanted to make a DVD or live CD to have something to remember such a great event. Since we had so much time invested in rearranging the EPICA songs and the classical songs, we didn't have time to make a DVD out of it. That's why it's a live CD. We're all big classical music and soundtrack fans, so it was bound to happen one day.

About.com: How much time did you have to get everything together before the performance?

Simone Simons: It was half a year. In December 2007 we agreed to the show and put together a setlist we wanted to play. We rearranged the classical songs to fit into the EPICA style, and my boyfriend (Oliver Palotai from KAMELOT) rearranged the EPICA songs for the orchestra. He worked on it for two or three months, then came rehearsal of the band, choir and orchestra separately. A week before the show we went to Hungary and rehearsed for four or five hours a day. It was really a lot of work, and the show went by so fast. I think it's really cool that we have the CD to have a memory of it. We worked so long for the preparations of a great live show, and even though it was a two and a half hour show it went by really fast. We got to meet so many nice new people. The orchestra and choir were amazing. I love Hungary, because my boyfriend has Hungarian roots.

About.com: How did you decide on Isaac (formerly of GOD DEHTRONED) as your new guitarist?

Simone Simons: When Ad (Sluijter) told us the last European tour was his last, we were very sad. He's an excellent guitar player. All of us thought of one person, and that is Isaac. We played once before with him when Ad couldn't make an EPICA show a few years back. We were amazed by his talent as a guitarist and also his live performance. He's an animal on stage. We wanted to have him on the team. He said yes, and we had our first show with him as a member at a festival in Holland. He's also a guitar teacher. He even wrote some guitar lines for our new album, so you'll be hearing his influence on it. He's a young, enthusiastic and good-looking guitarist.

About.com: How did you get started in music?

Simone Simons: When I was 14 I started listening to metal music, then slowly I got into female-fronted metal music like NIGHTWISH, AFTER FOREVER and TRISTANIA. I really loved the first two NIGHTWISH albums. I really like Tarja's voice. It inspired me to take classical singing lessons. I already had singing lessons that were in the pop/jazz style, but I wanted to try and see if my voice could reach a nice sound in classical singing. I got in contact with Mark (Jansen, the band's guitarist) who was still in AFTER FOREVER. We met one day and I sang for him over the phone. He immediately liked my voice. We had a relationship of 4 ½ years, but haven't been together for 3 ½ years. That's basically how it started.

About.com: When your romantic relationship ended, was it awkward at first still being in the band together?

Simone Simons: It was a little bit difficult because we had to live together for a while. EPICA meant a lot to us, and therefore it was always EPICA. At a certain point it was suffocating where we couldn't draw a line between EPICA and ourselves as a couple. I got in a relationship with Oliver pretty fast. Mark searched a little while longer, and now has a really great girlfriend. Things are really cool. In the end it wasn't meant to be, and we are thankful we held onto the band. It would have been such a waste if we would have lost that. We are both working hard to keep it that way. We have the same goal in front of us, and that's EPICA, but not us as a couple. We're just friends, and having fun together as colleagues.

Read the entire interview at About.com

Former AFTER FOREVER bassist Luuk van Gerven has joined the Dutch progressive metal band XYSTUS.

XYSTUS' third album, "Equilibrio", was released in North America last September via Sensory Records. This rock opera was recorded with a 60-piece orchestra and a 30-member choir, and includes guest performances from Simone Simons of EPICA and George Osthoek of ORPHANAGE.

XYSTUS is a Dutch progressive metal band formed in 1999 by drummer Ivo Van Dijk and guitarist/vocalist Bas Dolmans. They enlisted bassist Mark Brekelmans and second guitarist Bob Witsma. Through the course of releasing two albums — 2004's "Receiving Tomorrow" and 2006's "Surreal" — the band built up a buzz and fanbase in The Netherlands. The band supported KAMELOT and made numerous festival appearances. In December 2005, XYSTUS went on a European tour in support of EPICA. The band had even greater ambitions and in 2006 they contacted the Utrechtsch Studenten Concert — the oldest symphony orchestra in The Netherlands. The resulting two-year collaboration resulted in the rock opera "Equilibrio". Conceived as both an actual stage production and studio recording, "Equilibrio" was performed to four sold-out audiences in July 2008 — over 4,000 people witnessed the opera.

Sensory released the studio recording of "Equilibrio", which features key scenes from the opera. In addition to the 60-piece US Concert orchestra and 30-member choir, XYSTUS enlisted vocal performances from Simone Simons (EPICA), George Osthoek (ORPHANAGE, DELAIN) and Dutch theater veterans Michelle Splietelhof and John Vooijs.

Swedish black/death metal band GRIEF OF EMERALD has made three of its albums — "Nightspawn" (1998), "Malformed Seed" (2000) and "Christian Termination" (2002) — available for free download on the group's official web site. The band says, "Many fans have asked for the albums. And a re-release of the records has not been possible. We have also tried with Spotify and iTunes, but it has also been a problem."

GRIEF OF EMERALD recently posted two new demo songs — "Holocaust" and "Zyklons Of Fire" — on the group's MySpace page. Both tracks are expected to appear on GRIEF OF EMERALD's forthcoming album — the group's first release since 2002's "Christian Termination" — which is tentatively due later in the year. Some of the material recorded during the recent sessions may also end up on a proposed split EP with Italian black metallers NEFARIUM.

Commented the band: "This is a selection how we sound nowadays — faster then 'Christian Termination', heavier than 'Malformeed Seed' and melodic like 'Nightspawn'.

"We are very satisfied with the songs so far, and we have six other songs that [are] really killer songs.

"We really want this album to be beyond great. We have worked on this material since 2002.

"The booklet, cover and most of the graphics are ready for printing.

"We are focusing on search for a suitable label for our upcoming album. Our second priority is searching for clubs festivals and live gigs."

AHAB, the German funeral doom metal band featuring MIDNATTSOL guitarist Daniel Droste on guitar/vocals and ex-MIDNATTSOL guitarist Christian Hector, will release its sophomore album, "The Divinity Of Oceans", via Napalm Records on the following dates:

July 22 - Finland, Spain
July 24 - Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy, Sweden
July 27 - Rest of Europe
July 28 - Canada, U.S.

The follow-up to 2006's "The Call of the Wretched Sea" contains seven songs and is based on the wreckage of the Essex.

The track listing is as follows:

01. Yet Another Raft of The Medusa (Pollard's Weakness)
02. The Divinity Of Oceans
03. O Father Sea
04. Redemption Lost
05. Tombstone Carousal
06. Gnawing Bones (Coffin's Lot)
07. Nickerson's Theme

The CD cover, which is a painting by Théodore Géricault called "Le Radeau De La Méduse", can be viewed below.

Polish extreme metallers BEHEMOTH will release their ninth full-length studio album, "Evangelion", on August 7 in Europe via Nuclear Blast Records and August 11 in North America through Metal Blade. The CD was mixed at Miloco Studios in London, England by Colin Richardson, who has previously worked with MACHINE HEAD, SLIPKNOT, NAPALM DEATH and BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE, among many others.

"Evangelion" track listing:

01. Daimonos
02. Shemaforash
03. Ov Fire And The Void
04. Transmigrating Beyond Realms Ov Amenti
05. He Who Breeds Pestilence
06. The Seed Ov I
07. Alas, Lord Is Upon Me
08. Defiling Morality Ov Black God
09. Lucifer

The digipack edition will include a bonus DVD with behind-the-scenes footage and expanded artwork.

According to the Associated Press, a coroner's investigator says the 15-year-old student at Larose-Cut Off Middle School in Louisiana who shot himself in the head on school grounds last week, moments after firing at a teacher who refused his order to praise Marilyn Manson, has died.

Mark Goldman, the chief investigator for the Lafourche Parish Coroner's office, says Justin Doucet died Saturday morning at Terrebonne General Medical Center in Houma.

Doucet left a suicide note in which he explained that he planned to kill others before taking his own life with a gun belonging to his father. Doucet walked into a seventh-grade English class shortly before 9:00 a.m., telling the teacher to say "Hail Marilyn Manson" before attempting to shoot her.

The items found by the authorities include the lyrics to the SLAYER song "Raining Blood" and a picture Doucet drew of himself. Dressed with camouflage pants and shoes and an AC/DC "Highway to Hell" shirt in the drawing, he gave himself a title: "The LCO Gunman."

"The writings suggest a very troubled person who is dealing with some anger issues who has a fascination with the antichrist, the end of the world, Nazism, Marliyn Manson, those sorts of things," said Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre. "And this desire to carry out a Columbine-like event."

The cover artwork for "Calculated", the new album from Australian/American tech-metallers DEVOLVED, can be viewed here. Due on August 25 via Unique Leader Records, the CD was mixed by famed producer/engineer Neil Kernon (CANNIBAL CORPSE, NILE, NEVERMORE, DEICIDE, JUDAS PRIEST) and was mastered by Alan Douches (SEPULTURA, UNEARTH, SHADOWS FALL, HATEBREED, GOD FORBID). The album will contain bonus tracks, including a cover of METALLICA's "Battery", and is the first release to feature vocalist Kyle Zemanek.

DEVOLVED drummer John Sankey was a member of an early version of DIVINE HERESY and co-wrote some of the material on the band's "Bleed The Fifth" album before being forced to leave the project and go back to Australia due to visa issues.

DEVOLVED's latest album, "Technologies", was supposed to be made available in the U.S. last year via KillZone Records, but the release was apparently scrapped.

Originally from Australia, the band conquered its homeland in almost next to no time after forming in Queensland in 1997. Since DEVOLVED's first release, a four-track demo called "Truth", the band gained exposure and captured the imagination of fans in their home country that would take many top level bands years to work at.

Hupogrammos (guitars, vocals, bass, keyboards, archaic instruments) and Sol Faur (guitar), who recently announced their departures from NEGURA BUNGET, the Romanian band that incorporates elements of black metal, progressive metal, folk metal and dark ambient, have released the following statement:

"Our aim is to shed light on the recent developments in relation to NEGURA BUNGET. We also want to prevent further abuse of the name NEGURA BUNGET and our past activities. Our decision should be well understood and fans and media have a right to be correctly informed of the current development. We owe this to the public and NEGURA BUNGET itself. There is no intention to turn this into a personal issue between us and our former drummer Negru. We do not wish to create a public scandal, but a line has been crossed and it is time now to stand up and fight for what we believe in.

"With the last 'official' NEGURA BUNGET statement, things went too far. The selfish and greedy acts of a single person are doing too much harm. We cannot accept how our issues were presented to the world. In truth our gesture to step aside from the band was generated by the selfish behavior of our drummer Negru and by his lack of ability to connect, to work in a team as well as by his lack of honesty.

"We initially intended to remain silent on the reasons of our split. We all agreed to end our joined work and to release a simple and unspectacular statement to the press in order to prevent our personal animosity to become part of the story. It was agreed by all that none of the members would use the name 'NEGURA BUNGET' ever again in the future since the band as an entity was comprised by all three of its members. Negru's act of making a public statement that is completely different from what has been agreed upon proves once more a total lack of respect for the other members of our and his own band. It proves his honor to be questionable as his acts are serving only his personal interest.

"Our own statement, which we had sent to Negru for approval and adjustment, looked like this:

"'After fifteen years of experience in the metal scene, NEGURA BUNGET decided to end its activity. Negru will continue with his own project called DIN BRAD, while Hupogrammos and Sol Faur will continue the direction of the band under a different name that will be announced at a later date. The band would like to thank everybody, who supported and believed in NEGURA BUNGET and invites you to follow our further musical activities.'

"Unfortunately, we did not have the chance to see his final statement before it was sent. We were unable to change or to prevent it from becoming public in that form. Being in charge of all the logistic part of our work (i.e. all our contacts, our MySpace page, our official website, our newsletter and activities of Negura Music), Negru was entitled to send our statement to the media and to the public. However, he didn't consult us before posting a statement that did not care about our opinion, even though his statement makes believe this was a mutual decision.

"We think that it would have been much more natural, peaceful and wise decision, if he would have simply continued his musical activities under a new name or under the name 'DIN BRAD.' In this regard, we would like to express our deepest regret and disappointment that two of our guest musicians, whom we collaborated with during the last years, accepted to join his sham. Nevertheless, we consider it to be very inappropriate for them to continue performing songs that were composed by those members leaving the band.

"It is truly sad to see that the band is now becoming a personal business for our former drummer. He never was and he will never be NEGURA BUNGET by himself. If this is the spiritual endeavor which he is talking about, then this is a serious insult to the very name of NEGURA BUNGET and an unforgivable contradiction to the cultural and spiritual concepts that NEGURA BUNGET was standing for during all these years. It means an injury to us, the past members that dedicated 15 years of their lives to support and sustain an elevated path. It means an injury to anybody, who believed in what we were doing and maybe most of all it is a wounding of Spirit and Transcendence, the path that NEGURA BUNGET was honored to dedicate its very existence to.

"We, Sol Faur and Hupogrammos, who have composed nearly all music and written the lyrics of and for NEGURA BUNGET herewith, declare that this band is dead. Any continuation of it just means a sham and a fake in our eyes."

Negru's "new" version of NEGURA BUNGET consists of the following musicians:

Corb - Guitar/Vocals
Spin - Guitar
Gadinet - Bass
Inia Dinia - Keyboards
Ageru Pamanatului - Vocals/Pipes/Percussions/Xylophone
Negru - Drums/Percussions

Danish hard rock veterans PRETTY MAIDS have issued the following update:

"PRETTY MAIDS are currently negotiating new recording deals for Europe and Asia. The band intend to start recording new material in the autumn and a new album is set for release early spring 2010. We will continue to update you on the process as soon as there's anything new.

"On Friday, May 29, PRETTY MAIDS will make their first appearance in a string of summer dates on the Jelling Festival (Denmark). The keyboards for these dates will be handled by John Brandt who is standing in for Morten Sandager, who can not take part in the summer gigs for various reasons. However, Morten Sandager will return to the fold later this year."

PRETTY MAIDS' "comeback" album, entitled "Wake Up To The Real World", was released in November 2006 via Frontiers Records. Singer Ronnie Atkins stated about the CD, "The new record has all the trademarks a good PRETTY MAIDS album should have, and that's the overall combination of good melodies and strong guitar riffs. But the key word, as far as I'm concerned, is it's gotta be melodic: whether it's the heavier and faster tracks or the more ballad/AOR-oriented kind of stuff; in other words 'good songs', and I think the album has got that!"

PRETTY MAIDS is a legendary hard rock/heavy metal combo from Denmark founded in early 1982 by Atkins and guitarist Ken Hammer.

After 10 studio albums, two EPs, one "best of" collection and two live albums, the band in 2002 celebrated its 20th anniversary with the release of the album "Planet Panic", followed by a successful European tour. But at the end of the same year they decided to take a long break from recording and touring.