NIGHTRAGE members Jimmie Strimell (vocals), Henric Carlsson (bass) and Alex Sveningsson (drums) have launched a "pop/metal" band called DEAD BY APRIL.

According to the group's official bio, "DEAD BY APRIL is a collaboration between some free-spirited, likeminded musicians. It has evolved from just being a project to a fulltime band, in a very short amount of time.

"Jimmie has for a long time been wanting to write music with longtime, good friend Pontus Hjelm, but it has never really happened. It wasn't until recently Pontus gave in and said, let's give this a try and see where it takes us."

Check out the songs "Falling Behind", "Losing You", "My Saviour" and "Unhatable" on the band's MySpace Page.

DEAD BY APRIL is:

Jimmie Strimell: Screams and clean vocals
Pontus Hjelm: Guitar/Keyboards
Alex Sveningsson: Drums
Henric Carlsson: Bass
Johan Eskilsson: Guitar

DEAD BY APRIL is currently unsigned.

Veteran San Francisco Bay Area metallers EXODUS entered Sharkbite Studios in Oakland, California on June 10 with producer Andy Sneap (MEGADETH, MACHINE HEAD, NEVERMORE, ARCH ENEMY) to begin recording their new album for a late 2007 release via Nuclear Blast Records. According to guitarist Lee Altus (also of HEATHEN), "Things are going really well! And we're almost done. All that's left to do are my solos and then we're on to mixing. As far as release date, I think that the label [Nuclear Blast] is shooting for late September early October."

EXODUS guitarist Gary Holt previously stated about the group's new material, "Everyone always talks about how their next record is the next this or that, all I'm going to say is this next record is a crushing landmark in EXODUS history. I am stoked. Truly. Man, this new shit is aggressive with a capital A! Thrash metal at its hardest."

AVENGED SEVENFOLD will release its long-awaited new DVD, "All Excess", on July 17 via Warner Bros. The project is expected to feature live clips of the tracks "Walk" (PANTERA cover), "Beast and the Harlot", "Trashed and Scattered", "Seize the Day" and "Bat Country", plus videos for the latter tune, "Beast and the Harlot", "Seize the Day" and "Unholy Confessions". A documentary, three "making of the video" features and a pull-out poster round out the "All Excess" package.

AVENGED SEVENFOLD frontman M. Shadows commented: "This DVD has been eight years in the making. We didn't want to cheat the fans by putting out a standard live DVD. Instead we wanted to focus on giving back to our fans by showing them what makes five best friends from Huntington Beach eat, sleep and breathe the AVENGED SEVENFOLD lifestyle. This DVD shows everything from life backstage on the bus to some of the first shows in our hometown. We didn't leave anything off that fans have been asking about for all these years. Unlike cookie-cutter concert DVDs this is a documentary you can watch again and again for years to come."

AVENGED SEVENFOLD has been keeping a low profile while working on its new album, and M. Shadows told Launch that the band is not concerned about what kind of response its next effort will get. "We have a really good, you know, recipe for success for us, and that's just to be best friends and write the music that we wanna write, and then at that point, you know, it's up to everyone else to decide how big AVENGED SEVENFOLD's gonna be," he said. "Like, we just do our thing, we tour, we love being on the road with each other, we love seeing different parts of the world and to us, it's just all about going out there and playing live music, and, you know, writing records every year. We just wanna keep doing what we do."

AVENGED SEVENFOLD is tentatively planning to release its next record this fall.

The new CD will follow up 2005's gold-selling "City of Evil".

The band has one confirmed live show coming up, at Japan's Summer Sonic Festival on August 11 and August 12.

Legendary British/American heavy metal trio RAVEN will return to the studio on July 9 to resume recording material for its new album, tentatively due late 2007/early July 2008. The band last year recorded four new tracks — "Against The Grain", "Running Around In Circles", "Breaking You Down" and "Necessary Evil" — at Assembly Line Studios with Kevin 131 (PROJECT: FAILING FLESH, DECEASED, DYSRYTHMIA, GARDEN OF SHADOWS) engineering and mixing.

When asked by a fan on the band's message board if the songs laid down during the Assembly Line session will be re-recorded for the upcoming CD, frontman John Gallagher said, "They are more than good enough to go on the album. We may tweak the mix a little but it's not really needed — they sound THAT good. Actually, I had half of 'Against the Grain' when we did the last album and finished it up a lot later. The production is clear — uncluttered and powerful. Very straightforward... kinda [like] 'Life's a Bitch' with better drum sounds maybe."

RAVEN's last studio album, "One for All", was released in 1999 via Massacre Records.

RAVEN has been confirmed for The Monsters Ball, set to take place Friday, October 12 at The Rock Room of the Sterling hotel in Allentown, Pennsylvania and Saturday, October 13 at Dingbatz in Clifton, New Jersey. Also scheduled to appear are HALLOWS EVE, SEVENTH CALLING and fellow British metallers OVERDRIVE (performing their first U.S. shows ever). RAVEN will also perform at the Beachhead Ballroom in Cleveland, Ohio on September 15.

Prosthetic Records recording artists ALL THAT REMAINS have reached a major milestone — their third album "The Fall of Ideals" has surpassed the 100,000 mark in U.S. sales.

"Just shy of a year ago we put out a record called 'The Fall of Ideals' and ever since that first week we have been amazed at the reaction people have had," ALL THAT REMAINS frontman Phil Labonte says. "This week we hit a milestone in ATR's career with 100,000 copies sold! We have been working towards this goal for a long time. I think HATEBREED was the first band that I was actually friends with that broke that number with 'Satisfaction...' I remember thinking how huge it seemed and it still seems enormous, especially in today's musical climate.

"Thank you to everyone who picked up the disc, who told their friends, who sent us love on MySpace, who posts on our message board, who started fan sites, and everyone who came out to shows to hang out and support ATR. We are gonna hit a few new places this year and lots of places we've been before. So come out, say what's up, and get into it!"

ALL THAT REMAINS will soon experience another first: the release of a live concert DVD in October. The DVD will feature live performances from the band's recent show at Theater of the Living Arts in Philadelphia, as well as from their upcoming show in Baltimore at The Recher Theatre on July 12. ATR fans will also be treated to tons of bonus goodies on the new DVD, including behind-the-scenes footage, band and fan interviews, a live photo slideshow and all of the band's videos.

In other ALL THAT REMAINS news, July will find the hard-working band filming a video for the third single from "The Fall of Ideals", "Not Alone", in between tour dates. Director Soren will handle the shoot, having already produced videos for UNEARTH and LIGHT THIS CITY. After a handful of domestic tour dates (including a special appearance on the Sounds of the Underground tour), the band heads to Mexico and then Europe through August, where they will pay several major festivals including the Wacken Open Air festival in Germany.

BEYOND FEAR members John Comprix (guitar) and Eric Elkins (drummer) have formed a new band called LAW OF DESTRUCTION. The group, which "steers more toward the brutal side of things," according to Comprix, has uploaded three songs to its MySpace Page. A full-length album will be recorded later in the year.

LAW OF DESTRUCTION's existence should not affect BEYOND FEAR, which is "alive and well," according to Comprix. "We will be working on this band while Tim [BEYOND FEAR vocalist Tim 'Ripper' Owens] and Dennis [Hayes, bass] are doing ICED EARTH."

Regarding their decision to form LAW OF DESTRUCTION, Comprix says, "we [John and Eric] have always loved brutal music so [we] have a chance to write an album and get some aggression out!"

LAW OF DESTRUCTION is:

Scott Bryant: Vocals
John Comprix: Lead/Rhythm Guitar
Kyle Kniceley: Rhythm Guitar
Justin Endres: Bass
Eric Elkins: Drums

TWISTED SISTER guitarist Eddie Ojeda will take part in Steve Steinman's "Vampires Rock" tour in Europe during September-December 2007.

Commented Ojeda: "It's a great show for me to be a part of and three months of touring with them will be great!"

"Vampires Rock" is a musical stage show which premiered in 2004. It is performed by the group headed by Steve Steinman, who had appeared on "Stars in Their Eyes" as Meat Loaf. The group has toured for several years with "The Meat Loaf Story".

Set in the year 2030 in New York populated by The Undead, Baron Von Rockula, owner of the Live and Let Die club, is in search of a bride, and must eventually convince her to agree to eternal immortality.

The show features a number of notable rock anthems, including songs from MEAT LOAF, RAINBOW, AC/DC, ALICE COOPER, THE ROLLING STONES, BON JOVI, QUEEN, WHITESNAKE, BONNIE TYLER and CHER.

The concept is based on "Tanz der Vampire".

Chris Harris and Jon Wiederhorn of MTV.com report: AS I LAY DYING, along with KILLSWITCH ENGAGE and UNEARTH, have been at the forefront of metalcore for the last five years. But according to frontman Tim Lambesis, the band's forthcoming LP, "An Ocean Between Us", was largely influenced by what he perceives is the deterioration of the genre.

Before they began writing material for the disc late last year, the San Diego metallers "spent some time listening to our last album [2005's 'Shadows Are Security'] and, just from being on tour, we became a little bit jaded by how the genre — as a whole — has sort of copied itself over and over again," he explained. "We decided we wanted to be more diverse, even down to the point where we sort of felt like we should really focus on writing songs in different categories, and then pick the best songs from those categories and use them for the record."

Produced by KILLSWITCH guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz (EVERY TIME I DIE, ALL THAT REMAINS), the album — which hits stores August 21 and features backing vocals from members of DESTROY THE RUNNER — will include a dozen tracks, including "Separation", "Within Destruction" and the likely first single, "Nothing Left". Lambesis said listeners will find that each song differs from the next, with some cuts bordering on chaotic and foreboding, others more driven by melody, and a couple that are just straight-up, balls-to-the-wall thrashy.

"On the tempo side of things, we wanted the record to be pretty fast as a whole, so we wrote some real thrash-influenced songs," he said. "We even wrote songs that have a more emotional depth to them — songs that aren't just pound-your-face-in all the time."

Austrian extreme metallers BELPHEGOR have issued the following update:

"Drummer search continues! ...again! The last session drummers didn't work out when it came to worldwide touring. The group is still seeking a talented, experienced Europe-based drummer. A buddy with a professional attitude and focus to be in the band for real. BELPHEGOR have an album to finish writing and many tours to go on. If you think you have a shot, send us a detailed message and hit us up at: belphegor@aon.at.

"First off, please realize that it will have no effect at all on our activities, touring and otherwise. The core is solid and ready to kick some serious ass. Of course it's irritating to always have new drummers, but that allowed us to surpass ourselves every time, through the hiring of better musicians..."

Austrian symphonic metal band EDENBRIDGE has issued the following update:

"EDENBRIDGE like to welcome Robert Schoenleitner and Sebastian Lanser as their two new members! Robert Schoenleitner already played guitar on EDENBRIDGE's last tour through England and Asia. Robert studied guitar at VGI institute Munich. Sebastian Lanser, who studied drums at the Bruckner University in Linz, will replace Roland Navratil on drums. Sebastian is a longtime friend of Robert. EDENBRIDGE therefore is officially a five-piece again after more than five years."

EDENBRIDGE's rarities/"best of" compilation, entitled "The Chronicles of Eden", was released on June 1. The set was released as a double-CD and limited double-digipack. Disc One contains three new, previously unreleased songs, all Japanese and European bonus tracks and songs that were included on all out-of-print singles. Disc Two includes a "best of" selection out of the five released studio albums.

EDENBRIDGE recently signed a worldwide deal with Napalm Records. The band's first effort for Napalm will be released in the spring of 2008. Production on the CD is tentatively scheduled to begin next fall. Four songs have already been written and EDENBRIDGE will work with a renowned Czech orchestra for the first time in its career.

EDENBRIDGE's fifth album, "The Grand Design", was released in the U.S. on January 30 via Napalm Records. The follow-up to 2004's "Shine" was recorded at The Farpoint Station studio in Austria and the Thin Ice facility in England with THRESHOLD mastermind Karl Groom.

Former CRADLE OF FILTH/AT THE GATES drummer Adrian Erlandsson, who is currently performing with BRUJERIA and NEMHAIN, has issued the following update:

"I am proud to announce that I have just completed the drums for the upcoming SAMSAS TRAUM record, 'Heiliges Herz', and I will be joining them accompanying tours. I really like the music — these guys got a strange kind of humour. I agreed to the cooperation shortly after I listened to the first demo tracks.

"Some of the new songs will already be presented live in September — along with old smash hits being performed for the first time every with real drums and a new lineup. I can't wait to play the tracks live — SAMSAS TRAUM are eager to kill.

"Meanwhile, the drum recordings for 'Heiliges Herz' were finished in a studio in London — skillfully supervised by Dan Turner."

Commented SAMSAS TRAUM leader Alexander Kaschte: "The result even impresses me. I can't believe that what's blasting out of the speakers is my own music. I'm getting closer to the record I always wanted to make."

Launch Radio Networks reports: Ozzy Osbourne has listed his five favorite hard rock bands for Spinner.com. The list includes LED ZEPPELIN, MOTÖRHEAD, NIRVANA, GREEN DAY and, of course, his own group, BLACK SABBATH. Osbourne said about his No. 1 choice, LED ZEPPELIN, "I can remember walking through Birmingham with Geezer Butler, the bass player from SABBATH, and he knew (ZEP singer) Robert Plant. Plant was walking through the subway and I'd heard his voice. And Geezer says to him, 'What are you up to?' Plant says, 'Well, they asked me to join a band called the NEW YARDBIRDS (which became ZEPPELIN).' And that was it...The first two albums had such an impact on my voice, and on my life, similar to THE BEATLES when I first heard them."

About BLACK SABBATH, Osbourne said, "One of the things with SABBATH: We had full control over what we were doing and how we wanted it laid out. People would come in the studio and give us a suggestion and we'd go, 'Would you f***ing get out of here right now?'We had full artistic control."

On NIRVANA: "Apparently, I met (late NIRVANA frontman Kurt Cobain), 'cause I was talking to Dave Grohl and he said, 'You probably don't remember this, but when you were in Devonshire Studios in the (San Fernando) Valley, me and Kurt were in the room where they had a pool table. When you walked in we were like, 'F***ing hell.'"

Osbourne called GREEN DAY's "American Idiot" album "f***ing brilliant."

Osbourne's new album, "Black Rain", debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard album chart last month. The CD's first single, "I Don't Wanna Stop", is currently No. 1 at rock radio.

The singer will headline this summer's free Ozzfest, which begins on July 12 in Seattle.

Long-running Dutch thrashers DEAD HEAD have issued the following update:

"No news = good news. DEAD HEAD are still alive. Still writing songs, collecting ever more gear and working our day jobs.

"Eggfest [on June 9 in Eibergen] was a cool show. Thanks to all who showed up and the crazy fuckers who stood on stage during the encore."

DEAD HEAD's fifth album is tentatively due next year. Songtitles set to appear on the CD include "The Swing", "Less Than Zero" and "Dissolved in Purity".

Formed in 1989, DEAD HEAD recorded the "Haatland" (2005) album at Hansen studios in Ribe, Denmark with producer Jacob Hansen (RAUNCHY, INVOCATOR). A 10-inch vinyl EP, "Dog God", featuring two songs from "Haatland", the IRON MAIDEN cover "Total Eclipse" and a re-recording of an older track, was released in 2004 via Fadeless Records.

Dutch death metal brutalizers SEVERE TORTURE are due to enter Hertz studios in Poland tomorrow to start the mix of their forthcoming album, "Sworn Vengeance". The follow-up to 2005's "Fall of the Despised" is due for release by Earache on September 10 and is set to be mixed by Hertz in-house producers Wojtek and Slawek Wieslawski.

The Wieslawski brothers have earned their reputation for high-quality death metal productions with releases by DECAPITATED and VADER, among others.

To see a preview of the artwork for the album and for all upcoming news relating to the release, head over to This location

Video footage of Marilyn Manson and Alice Cooper performing THE EURYTHMICS classic "Sweet Dreams" together Sunday night (July 1) at B'Estival in Bucharest, Romania has been posted at YouTube. Manson headlined the festival, which marked the first time Cooper and Manson have ever shared the stage.

With regards to his rumored rivalry with Manson, Alice Cooper told Romania's Hotnews.ro, "We invented the shock on stage. Manson re-invented it for another generation. Despite all similarities, our music doesn't have that much in common: he's more industrial, we're [rooted] in classic hard rock."

Deepsend Records has announced the signing of Denmark's death metal masters DAWN OF DEMISE. The band is currently putting the finishing touches on its debut album, "Hate Takes Its Form", to be released this fall. The CD, which was mixed and mastered by Jacob Hansen (ABORTED, MERCENARY, NIGHTRAGE), "combines the renowned New York death metal sound of early SUFFOCATION with the massive technical chaos of present-day ABORTED, a perfect blend of technicality and heaviness," according to a press release.

Deepsend Records is distributed exclusively in the U.S. by CM Distro and Canada by Sonic Unyon.

Swedish metallers THE DUSKFALL have finalized the track listing for their fourth CD, "The Dying Wonders of the World", due later in the year via Nuclear Blast Records. The band entered the studio on April 1 to begin recording the follow-up to "Lifetime Supply of Guilt". You can read the group's studio diary on their official web site. The CD was mastered by Achim Köhler at Indiscreet Audio in Germany.

"The Dying Wonders of the World" track listing:

01. Paradises into Deserts
02. The Wheel and the Blacklight
03. Deep in Your World
04. Some More Sin on My Burden
05. Shadows and Cancer
06. Bring Us Your Infected
07. The Option and The Poison
08. Sealed with a Fist
09. I've Only Got Knives for You

A five-minute "teaser soundclip" containing parts of four different songs from "The Dying Wonders of the World" has been posted online at this location

Finnish metallers OLYMPOS MONS have posted the title track of their upcoming album, "Medievil", on their MySpace page. Due on July 16 via Scarlet Records, the CD was mixed by Janne Saksa at Sound Supreme Studios in Hämeenlinna and mastered at Finnvox Studios in Helsinki. According to a press release, the album is "a big step forward compared to its predecessor, both technically and musically, as people can expect from a group of talented and experienced musicians as OLYMPOS MONS certainly are, with a particular mention for the extraordinary singer Ian E. Highhill."

"Medievil" track listing:

01. One Word
02. Frozen
03. The Emperors Return
04. The Price
05. Wolves
06. A Race Between Two Hearts
07. Fire and Ice
08. Medievil
09. Kingdom of Winter
10. Locked in Chains
11. Dreamer

Relapse will issue "Legacy of the Catacombs", a CD and DVD collection highlighting the career of NILE in North America next Tuesday, July 10 (July 16 internationally).

The "Legacy of the Catacombs" CD features 12 stand-out tracks from NILE's illustrious musical catalog — "Amongst The Catacombs of Nephren-Ka" (1998), "Black Seeds of Vengeance" (2000), "In Their Darkened Shrines" (2002), and "Annihilation of the Wicked" (2005). The DVD portion includes all of the band's studio videos and is packaged with the CD in deluxe digipak housing.

"Legacy of the Catacombs" track listing:

01. Cast Down Te Heretic
02. Sacrifice Unto Sebek
03. Lashed To The Slave Stick
04. Execration Text
05. Sarcophagus
06. Unas Slayer Of The Gods
07. Masturbating The War God
08. Chapter For Transforming Into A Snake
09. Black Seeds Of Vengeance
10. Howling Of The Jinn
11. Barra Edinazzu
12. Smashing The Antiu

Swedish death metallers INSISION will release their third album, "Ikon" (originally due late April), on September 26 via Dental Records. The CD was recorded at Black Lounge studios (SCAR SYMMETRY, CENTINEX) in Avesta, Sweden. Mick Usher, who worked on INSISION's last album, "Revealed & Worshipped", designed the cover.

"Ikon" track listing:

01. A Ravenous Discharge
02. Unbind My Hands
03. By Habit
04. Depleting The Non-Being
05. Into The Cold
06. Breathing The Black Dust
07. Doubt Denied
08. Entangled In Thorns *
09. The Magnet Soul

* A remake of the song from the "Promo 2000" demo

Check out the song "Doubt Denied" on the Dental Records MySpace Page.

INSISION last year parted ways with Earache/Wicked World Records. "Just like ENTOMBED and MORBID ANGEL before us, it [is] now time for INSISION to leave Earache in order to go ahead," the band said at the time of the split.

SPV has set the following release dates for ICED EARTH's new studio album, "Framing Armageddon - Something Wicked Part I":

Germany: September 7
Rest of Europe: September 10
North America: September 11

"Framing Armageddon - Something Wicked Part 1" (cover artwork) expands the "Something Wicked" storyline first introduced in the trilogy of the same name appearing on the 1998 release, "Something Wicked This way Comes". "Framing Armageddon" will be followed in February/March 2008 by the band's ninth full-length studio release, tentatively titled "Revelation Abomination - Something Wicked Part 2" , continuing where "Framing Armageddon" leaves off.

"Framing Armageddon - Something Wicked Part 1" projected track listing:

01. Overture
02. Something Wicked (Part 1)
03. Invasion
04. Man's Motivation
05. The Setian Massacre
06. A Charge to Keep
07. Reflections
08. Ten Thousand Strong
09. Execution
10. Order of the Rose
11. The Clouding
12. Infiltrate and Assimilate
13. Retribution Through the Ages
14. Something Wicked (Part 2)
15. The Domino Decree
16. Framing Armageddon
17. When Stars Collide (Born is He)
18. The Awakening

"Revelation Abomination - Something Wicked Part 2" projected track listing:

01. The Sacred Flames
02. Behold the Wicked Child
03. Minions of the Watch
04. A Gift or a Curse
05. I Walk Among You
06. Harbinger of Fate
07. Ancient Rage of the High Priest
08. A Gathering Threat / Time Marches On
09. Sacrificial Kingdoms
10. Something Wicked (Part 3)
11. Divide Devour
12. Conspiracy / Pilgrimage In Guile
13. Come What May

ICED EARTH will support HEAVEN AND HELL on their U.K. tour in November.

STREAM OF PASSION members Johan van Stratum (bass), Davy Mickers (drums) and Marcela Bovio (vocals, lyrics, violin) have announced the addition of guitarist Stephan Schultz to the group's ranks. More information on Stephan is available at this location.

STREAM OF PASSION parted ways with founding members Arjen Lucassen (guitar), Lori Linstruth (guitar) and Alejandro Millán (piano), back in March. The band recently added keyboardist Jeffrey Revet and guitarist Eric Hazebroek.

STREAM OF PASSION's debut album, "Embrace the Storm", was released in Holland in October 2005 via Sony/BMG Benelux. The CD was issued in the rest of Europe and the U.S./Canada via InsideOut Music.

Danish symphonic black metallers ILLNATH have posted two more audio samples from their forthcoming third album, entitled "Three Nights in the Sewers of Sodom". Check them out on the band's MySpace.

"Three Nights in the Sewers of Sodom" was recorded at Borsing Studios. Cover artwork will be handled by Wilhelm Steiner.

"Three Nights in the Sewers of Sodom" is expected to be released via ILLNATH's own label following the band's split with Worldchaos Production (which was supposed to put out the band's long-completed second full-length offering, "Second Skin of Harlequin". "The new material will reflect the new situation we're in — new drummer and new bass player, plus almost three years since the last album was recorded," the group previously said.

Robert Plant has shot down reports that LED ZEPPELIN will reunite for a one-off memorial concert in honor of their late record company boss.

A report was published earlier in the week suggesting that Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones will re-group alongside John Bonham's son Jason for a special concert in memory of Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun in London.

A source was quoted as saying, "Page, Plant and Jones spoke and agreed to do the memorial concert. They are waiting for a definite date.

"And no one can quite believe it, but during discussions about the concert they all gave the green light to a tour if it all does well and they don't all fall out.

"It has been hoped for and denied for years. But this is the closest they have ever come to a reunion tour. The feeling is that this is going to happen next year."

Speaking at a press conference for the upcoming Rockwave festival — which is scheduled to be held June 29, June 1 and June 3 in Athens, Greece — Plant insisted that he hadn't heard anything about the rumored ZEPPELIN reunion and jokingly added, "If there was one, then there wouldn't be enough doctors to support it!"

Ertegun died in December 2006 after seven weeks in a coma following a fall at a ROLLING STONES concert.