Germany's Legacy magazine in December included an exclusive four-track compilation of "The Big Teutonic 4". This unique CD in a slipcase presented the Teutonic thrash legends KREATOR, TANKARD, DESTRUCTION and SODOM performing cover versions of four metal classics. Now this terrific tribute is being released in the form of a 10-inch mini LP. It will be available in black as well as in red and yellow (the latter two exclusive to the Nuclear Blast mailorder) and will contain a different song by SODOM as compared to the compilation CD ("Ace Of Spades" instead of "Iron Fist").

"The Big Teutonic 4" 10-inch mini LP track listing:

Side A:

01. KREATOR - "The Number Of The Beast" (by IRON MAIDEN)
02. SODOM - "Ace Of Spades" (by MOTÖRHEAD)

Side B:

01. DESTRUCTION - "The Hammer" (by MOTÖRHEAD)
02. TANKARD - "The Prisoner" (by IRON MAIDEN)

You can purchase a copy of the 10-inch mini LP at the Nuclear Blast web shop.

At the inaugural installment of the Beastival festival — set to take place from May 30 to June 1 in Geiselwind, Germany — "The Big Teutonic 4", the legendary quartet of German thrash metal bands that shaped the European heavy metal scene like no other since the '80s and established "thrash made in Germany" as a quality seal all around the world, will share the same stage on the same evening! Be there when KREATOR, SODOM, DESTRUCTION and TANKARD tear down the venue and thrash you into the ground!

The Beastival 2013 billing also includes such acts SABATON, WINTERSUN, KATAKLYSM, SATYRICON, U.D.O. and DIE APOKALYPTISCHEN REITER.

For more information, visit www.beastival.com.

In a recent interview with Greece's Metal Kaoz, KREATOR frontman Mille Petrozza stated about the possibility of a full-fledged tour with SODOM and DESTRUCTION: "We have been talking about this all the time. We have been having this discussion since the last time we were in Greece along with SODOM and DESTRUCTION about getting that tour in the U.S. But this never happened and you wanna know why? … There are certain people who don't want to tour. [DESTRUCTION bassist/vocalist] Schmier wants to tour, we want to tour but Tom [Angelripper] from SODOM does not. And, as you can understand, we can only do this tour with the three bands onboard because otherwise it would not be the same. So, without SODOM, this will never happen and I am really sorry to say this."

Fan-filmed video footage of FIREWIND's February 3 performance at The Masquerade in Atlanta, Georgia as the support act for TURISAS can be seen below.

Vocalist Apollo Papathanasio left FIREWIND and left last month and being temporarily replaced by American singer Kelly Sundown Carpenter (BEYOND TWILIGHT, OUTWORLD, DARKOLOGY, ADAGIO).

In a recent interview with Blastzone Online, FIREWIND guitarist Gus G. (real name: Kostas Karamitroudis) stated about Kelly Sundown Carpenter: "Kelly is an amazing singer. We jammed with Kelly recently and he did a great job on our songs. Looking forward to playing some gigs with him and we'll see what happens."

Asked how the FIREWIND fans have reacted to Carpenter's addition to the band, Gus said: "I expected it to be a lot worse. Apparently, there are lots of fans out there who are looking forward to the change for various reasons. There's some that took it really bad, which was expected, but to be honest, even with Apollo in the band, we had to recruit replacement singers for our tours. In 2007, Apollo missed the whole second leg of the "Allegiance" tour and that was a whole around-the-world run! Also, in 2011, he missed our European headline tour, which was also important, 'cause it was FIREWIND's first tour since 2009 when I joined Ozzy. So, changing singers is not a new thing for us! But it's amazing, 'cause I can't think of any other band that would be able to get away with shit like this. I think we do, because our fans come to the shows to listen to the songs, they connect with the music first and foremost and that's a very strong thing. And that means a lot to the rest of us in the band."

German symphonic metallers XANDRIA have recruited Steven Wussow (DOMAIN, SHYLOCK, ILLECTRONIC ROCK) as their new bassist.

Wussow (pictured below), 32, will make his live debut with XANDRIA in April and May when the band is scheduled to perform in Russia, Belarus, Argentina and Brazil.

Comments the bassist: "On stage I feel at home and it's the streets where my heart is. Having passed a few lights and crossroads in my search, I am happy to finally have found my partners in crime I was looking for."

Says XANDRIA: "We are thrilled to have found THE candidate we had been chasing for over the past months and we are excited to start our upcoming live and recording endeavors with Steven."

XANDRIA will hit the studio later this year to record the follow-up album to last year's critically acclaimed "Neverworld's End".

"Neverworld's End" was released in North America on March 6, 2012 via Napalm Records.

The band in December 2010 announced the addition of singer Manuela Kraller to the group's ranks.

Eric Blair of "The Blairing Out With Eric Blair Show" conducted an interview with MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson at this year's NAMM (National Association Of Music Merchants) show, a massive music-products convention that took place January 24-27 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. You can now watch the chat below.

On the recording sessions for MEGADETH's new studio album:

Ellefson: "It's really coming well. In fact, right before I cam here, I was just down [in the studio] playing some bass. We have ten tracks done as of now, at least the bass and drum tracks, and you can really hear the songs coming together now at this point. And boy, there's some great stuff. I mean, it really takes me back to some of the real origins of the MEGADETH sound from back in the very beginning, which I'm thrilled about."

"It's too early to [talk about individual songs], unfortunately, But all I can say is there's a pretty wide range [of music], as I think our best MEGADETH records have — we've got a very wide span of our musical history. But we are our best when we just get in a room and just start crushing and throwing it down, and that's where we're at right now. 'Cause when you go in the studio, you go, 'I've got this idea,' 'I've got this idea,' you kind of throw them out, and sometimes it's a process of elimination. And all of sudden, you find in the middle there's the heart and soul of it. And that's really where we're at right now. And I tell you, these last few days I've been playing bass on it, and it's a workout and it's just freakin' ripping. I hope my passion tells you the story. Yeah, I am excited; it's great."

On how MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine being a born-again Christian has changed MEGADETH's life on the road:

Ellefson: "I think it's been great. I mean, look, our story is out there. We've been a very open book about our lives, about the history of the band. I think it's the thing our fans appreciate about us — whether you like it or not, we speak it. And so to be open about that with our lives, 'cause our personal lives really are our professional lives by and large. Because being in MEGADETH, it's who we are — it's not just a band, it's who we are as people. For Dave, obviously, that was a great conversion for him and a great thing for his life. And I've done kind of a similar thing myself years ago. By the time I was 25, the drugs and the booze kicked me, and I was done. But the funny thing is that was right before we recorded 'Rust In Peace', and then from then on, I've had the best years of my bass-playing career and certainly of the MEGADETH career. So, for me, keeping my nose clean — for the real desire and not because I have to and not white-knuckling it, 'cause I have a real desire to… I'm a bass player first and foremost and a bandmember, and there's a lot of things that come along with that. My craft, being a bass player in MEGADETH, has been its best when I've kept my nose clean."

On whether the lifestyle of hard partying and excessive drug use gets old after a while:

Ellefson: "I couldn't even imagine, having done this now — 30 years of MEGADETH this year, actually, so to think back, at this point, to have lived a life like I used to back in the day, I don't know that we'd still be here having this conversation. So, for me, really, I had to really get back to just the real passion of why I even am here doing any of this, which is, I just love being a bass player in a killer metal band — that was my goal from age 11. When I picked the thing up, that's what I wanted to do. And I guess maybe if there's any inspiration from that, when you lock on to something you really like, man, just go for it — whether you're playing bass or whatever line of work it is — just really go for it and give it your all. I never had a back-up plan, and that seemed to work out pretty good."

On whether being sober has allowed him to connect with the MEGADETH audience better:

Ellefson: "Oh, sure, without a doubt. I mean, to actually look people in the eyes and see the whites of their eyes and see that front-row passion. Obviously, in the back of the arena, it's kind of the abyss and you don't have that personal contact. But, yeah, to be present and be in the moment. The fans pay a lot of money for a ticket, it's a special moment in their lives to be there to see us perform, so the least I can do is be present for them."

San Francisco Bay Area metallers MACHINE HEAD held their first jam session a few days ago in hopes of sparking material for their next album. Writing in the latest installment of his "The General Journals: Diary Of A Frontman... And Other Ramblings", MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn stated: "Dave [McClain, drums], Phil [Demmel, guitar] and I practiced the other day and it was a really productive first jam session. McClain had about five rockin' riffs, Demmel brought in the skeleton of what feels like a great song and I had a few riffs that we rocked on, no full songs, but solid riffs. It felt good, good to be moving on from [2011's 'Unto The Locust']. Super proud of that record, but it's time to move on, and we're ready to move on. Bring on the future with an open embrace."

Flynn last month played five acoustic solo shows around his appearance at this year's NAMM (National Association Of Music Merchants) show, which was held January 25-27 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. Regarding the performances, he said: "The shows were awesome — really, really, REALLY awesome! I needed this so bad.

"To everyone who came out to these shows and made them such a special and intense event, thank you. They got heavy, really heavy and I had no idea how heavy these would get. Therapeutic. I didn't know what to expect or what they would be like. I made no setlist except the opening and closing song. Chose songs we probably won't play live again or at least haven't played live in a reeeeeeeally long time, and cover songs we would never cover.

"To my surprise, I ended up telling a lot of stories before each song. Every time I thought I'd been going on too long with a story ('Am I talking too much?') people would ask for more. In Fullerton, I got a 'sto-ry, sto-ry, sto-ry' chant. It was hilarious.

"It was surprising how fun these shows were. Hell, I'm playing a bunch of acoustic songs, not party metal! But it was a party here and there, and more than anything for our small group of 100 to 200 each night, it was a release. A massive communal release. I was choked up more than a few times, sing-a-longs were life-affirming and in San Diego I got an encore!! San Diego was amazing."

"Machine Fucking Head Live", the new live album from MACHINE HEAD, sold 3,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release. It's the band's second live effort; "Hellalive" came out in 2003.

MACHINE HEAD's most recent studio album, "Unto The Locust", sold more than 17,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 22 on The Billboard 200 chart — putting MACHINE HEAD in the Top 25 for the first time in the band's 17-year history.

"Machine Fucking Head Live" was recorded at various tour stops across the globe last year. It features songs from throughout the band's expansive catalog, including crowd favorites like "Imperium", "Aesthetics of Hate", "Locust", "Ten Ton Hammer", "This is the End" and "Halo".

"Machine Fucking Head Live" was mixed and mastered at Trident Studios in Pacheco, California by Juan Urteaga and Robb Flynn.

MACHINE HEAD is currently seeking a new label home following the expiration of the band's contract with longtime record company Roadrunner Records.

"Cherry Bomb", the new video from Australian rockers DE LA CRUZ, can be seen below. The song comes off the band's debut full-length album, "Street Level", which will be released on March 22 in Europe and March 26 in North America via Frontiers Records.

Hailing from the Gold Coast, Australia, DE LA CRUZ is easily one of the most promising hard rock acts to come out of underground scene. They came to the attention of the fans when Geoff Barton of Classic Rock magazine described their sound as "a pomptastic, hyper-active [DEF] LEPPARD!" in his review of the band’s self-financed EP.

DE LA CRUZ was formed after a meeting between guitarist Casey Jones and Auckland-born singer Roxxi Catalano. With Catalano's air-raid siren vocals, street-level attitude and Jones' fretboard-melting riffs and string-searing shred, the pair instantly clicked musically and through a shared passion for '80s arena-style rock and musical respect, the dream was started. Jones and Catalano went on to record several demos via the Internet over the next few years until they put together the right lineup, adding Rory Joy on guitar, Grant Daniell on bass and Lacey Lane on drums.

"This album talks about our highs, the lows, the parties and all of the crazy times we've had!" says Jones. "We aimed for a killer album to introduce DE LA CRUZ to the world and this is the height of our musical existence thus far and we cannot wait for everyone to have the CD in their hands. This is DE LA CRUZ!"

DE LA CRUZ has kept the musical coordinates of its debut EP and developed into something new and exciting.

"DE LA CRUZ means anthemic rock!" continues Casey, "We make hard-hitting, yell-it-out-loud arena rock with a blast from the past and a twist of something new!"

"Street Level" track listing:

01. Street Level
02. Girls Go Wild
03. Turn It Up
04. Legions Of Love
05. Gimme Love
06. Cherry Bomb
07. Dreaming
08. Invincible
09. Worlds Collide
10. S.E.X.
11. Set The Night
12. Shine

The digital release of the first single, "Cherry Bomb", is scheduled for February 4.

DE LA CRUZ is:

Roxxi Catalano - Lead Vocals
Casey Jones - Guitar
Rory Joy - Guitar
Grant Daniell - Bass
Lacey Lane - Drums

The eagerly awaited new ROB ZOMBIE album, "Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor", will be released on April 23 on Zodiac Swan/T-Boy/Ume. The CD was produced by Bob Marlette, who has previously worked with everyone from BLACK SABBATH and ALICE COOPER to WILSON PHILLIPS and LYNYRD SKYNYRD.

"I think for the first time this new album perfectly merges the old days of WHITE ZOMBIE with the future of what I am doing now," says Rob. "I think fans of both will agree that this is the perfect combo of both worlds."

A rock icon and auteur filmmaker with insight and unlimited vision, Rob Zombie has continuously challenged audiences as he stretches the boundaries of music, film, and publishing. Now, the seven-time Grammy-nominated recording artist releases his fifth solo album, "Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor", which includes the first single, "Dead City Radio And The New Gods Of Super Town", along with such tracks as "Ging Gang Gong De Do Gong De Laga Raga", "Lucifer Rising", "Behold! The Pretty Filthy Creatures" and a heavy-duty cover of GRAND FUNK RAILROAD's "We're an American Band".

"Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor" is the first release on Rob's new label, Zodiac Swan, through T-Boy Records/UMe.

Zombie told The Pulse Of Radio what goals he set for himself in making the new album. "I wanted someone to hear it and go, 'Wow, I haven't heard that before,'" he said. "I wanted it to be just different. We really went out of our way with the sounds, so every song has a very different sound, a very different guitar sound, drum sound, just everything, where the sound, the actual sound becomes very important. You know, after all these years you want to still try to feel that you can break through new, creative areas in your own mind, and that's really what we're just trying to do, you know."

T-Boy Records is veteran rock manager Andy Gould's new partnership with Universal Music Enterprises (UMe) which will serve as an umbrella label releasing new music and albums from established iconic hard-rock bands with major followings.

Gould, who currently heads his own Spectacle Entertainment Group, has managed Rob Zombie since his days in WHITE ZOMBIE. Gould's track record includes sales exceeding fifteen million worldwide and seven Grammy nominations with Zombie, including securing deals for Zombie to become one of only a handful of people to have unprecedented success for six feature films as the writer and director.

"We have had a great deal of success in the past with Rob Zombie," explains Gould about his decision to take the new venture to UMe. "We want to sign rock bands with brand names that do good business on the road, and have been underserved by the major label system. The idea I had arose out of discussions with the other managers of major hard-rock acts who all felt their artists could benefit from an improved label experience. We're looking to super-serve this niche audience, which is tremendously loyal, and is often even larger internationally than here in the States."

As a musician, Rob Zombie has sold over fifteen million albums worldwide to date. His last studio album was "Hellbilly Deluxe 2". The CD came a decade after its predecessor, "Hellbilly Deluxe", the album that established Zombie as a solo artist after the breakup of multi-platinum group WHITE ZOMBIE. That triple-platinum album also yielded a string of successful radio singles, namely "Dragula", "Superbeast" and "Living Dead Girl", which dominated the airwaves.

The rocker-turned-film director is the only artist to experience unprecedented success in both music and film as the writer/director of five feature films, with a worldwide gross totaling more than $100 million dollars. The week of his album release, Zombie will premiere his sixth motion picture, "The Lords Of Salem", that he wrote, directed and produced in tandem with the producers of the "Paranormal Activity" franchise, on April 26, with Anchor Bay Films.

Last year, in addition to working on his film, Zombie also dominated the touring world in 2012, blowing away audiences on the road with MEGADETH, then with MARILYN MANSON for the "Twins Of Evil Tour". Zombie and his band of maniacs — John 5 on guitar, Piggy D on bass and Ginger Fish on drums — brought their elaborate, multi-media production, complete with hair-raising theatrics, animatronic robots, oversized LED screens, a non-stop collage of psychotronic monster film clips, a spectacular light show, a gigantic robot with flames shooting out of its body, pyrotechnics, insane guitar riffs and vicious beats to audiences and festivals around the world.

Video footage of legendary guitarist Uli Jon Roth's (ex-SCORPIONS) February 2 performance at the Pirates Cove in Cleveland, Ohio can be seen below.

Uli is currently on the road in North America as part of a tour commemorating the 40th anniversary of his joining the SCORPIONS.

In a recent interview with Patrick Prince of Powerline, Roth stated about the SCORPIONS songs that he is performing on the current tour: "It is mostly the stuff that I've written or my favorites from then. I was involved in virtually every track back then, even if there's not a writer's credit. Very often I would contribute quite a lot of things to it — the guitar leads or whatever. We're playing a track like "In Trance", for instance, which was written by Rudolf (Schenker) and Klaus (Meine), but then again, the way I wrote the guitar parts for many of Rudolf's songs they somehow feel like a composition within a composition and those parts came from me. These songs wouldn't have the same feel without them. Back then I could have had co-writer's credits for these, but it didn't seem important. I'm playing long sets anyway. We're doing other stuff as well but in every show we'll include several pieces from every SCORPIONS album that I've played on. And that's quite a few, so … yes, it will amount to an entire SCORPIONS set. You'll definitely get at least an hour's worth, maybe even more, of just that old stuff."

He added: "I take this tour very seriously — also because we're recording it and we're going to be doing a live double album. So I want to come up with something that's at least kind of, like, from my point of view, the definitive version of these tracks for what I can do now. And that means, yes, we have rewritten certain sections and I've even rewritten certain pieces of lyrics a little bit. Expand certain songs, edited down others, to get the best out of them in the live environment. And some of them have really revealed a lot of new life that I never knew existed. And so I started looking at them in a different way. I enjoy playing them live and I have to say that wasn't always the case. I found a new way into that."

The band lineup for Uli's 40th-anniversary U.S. tour is:

* Uli Jon Roth: guitars, vocals
* Henning Basse: lead vocals
* Ali Clinton: guitars, vocals
* Niklas Turmann: guitars, lead vocals
* Ule W. Ritgen, Elliott Rubinson: - bass
* Jamie Little, Peter Holmes: drums
* Paul Rahme, Corvin Bahn: keyboards, vocals

Superskum conducted an interview with guitarist Lord Ahriman of Swedish/German black metallers DARK FUNERAL prior to the band's October 7 concert at Gothic Theatre in Englewood, Colorado during the band's North American tour with MORBID ANGEL and GRAVE. You can now watch the chat below. Also available is performance footage of the Englewood show.

DARK FUNERAL will celebrate its 20th anniversary this year by offering up "several surprises," including "new and special 20th-anniversary releases." More information will be made available soon

DARK FUNERAL recently inked a three-album deal with Century Media Records.

The new lineup of DARK FUNERAL — featuring the group's latest additions, vocalist Nachtgarm (NEGATOR) and bassist Zornheym — made its live debut on last year's Sweden Rock Cruise.

DARK FUNERAL in 2011 parted ways with Regain Records. Lord Ahriman stated at the time, "Time went by and we didn't see any future whatsoever to continue to work with them."

DARK FUNERAL 2012 is:

Nachtgarm - Vocals
Lord Ahriman - Guitar
Chaq Mol - Guitar
Zornheym- Bass
Dominator - Drums

Interview:

Belgium-based metallers THURISAZ have announced the addition of bassist Bjorn "Bud" Vandewalle to the group's ranks.

Comments the band: "Bjorn is a great bass player, with a warm personality and a very enthusiastic attitude, just the way we like it! He also plays in the band OMERTA from Bruges and played in several music projects in the past!

"Bjorn's first live performances will be on March 1st in Wuustwezel and March 16th in Menen, his hometown!"

THURISAZ's third album, "The Cimmerian Years", was released in May 2011 via Greece's Sleaszy Rider Records. The CD was recorded and mixed at CCR Studio in Zulte, Belgium with producer Kris Belean. The artwork was created by the Dutch artist Geert van Mook.

THURISAZ in 2009 parted ways with bassist Lars Vereecke and replaced him with Hannes Leroy.

The band had its 2004 debut album, "Scent of a Dream", reissued in April 2008 through Shiver Records. The LP was remastered and contains an acoustic live version of "Years of Silence" as the bonus track.

THURISAZ' second full-length album, "Circadian Rhythm", was released in 2007 via Shiver.

Finnish melodic death metallers INSOMNIUM have announced their live activites for 2013.

Says the band: “We're happy to announce that Insomnium will embark for one more European tour to promote the One For Sorrow album. This time we'll join our forces with mighty MOONSPELL and visit many countries that were left out 2011- 2012, including France and Spain (see full routing below). We're excited and honored to share the stage with Moonspell, which is one of the pioneer bands of darkened gothic metal. Book your tickets in time to be sure to witness Insomnium live this year before we enter studio to record follow up for One For Sorrow.”

Insomnium and Century Media Records also just released a couple of live recordings. In order to celebrate the label’s 25th anniversary Century Media released 25 selected classic albums as special editions for a low price during their annual Metal For The Masses (MFTM) campaign. Each album is wrapped in a special o-card with a flap cover that holds an extra CD containing rare live material. Insomnium's 2011 album, One For Sorrow, is one of the few ‘modern’ classics among heavy weights like TIAMAT's immortal Wildhoney or STRAPPING YOUNG LAD’s groundbreaking City album.
The Insomnium One For Sorrow (limited MFTM 2013 edition) bonus CD features five previously unreleased live tracks recorded at Wacken 2012. Check your local dealer or order them at the following links:

Europe
North America
Live dates:

April
19 - Rennes, France - Antipode
20 - Limoges, France - CC John Lennon
21 - Paris, France - Divan du Monde
23 - London, England - Underworld
24 - Essen, Germany - Turock
25 - Almelo, Netherlands - Naxtstage
26 - Ingolstadt, Germany - Eventhalle
27 - Lausanne, Switzerland - Docks
28 - Montpellier, France - Secret Place
29 - Toulon, France - Vox
30 - Cognac, France - Les Anciens Abattoirs

May
1 - Toulouse, France - Bikini
2 - Bilbao, Spain - Rock Star
3 - Barcelona, Spain - Razzmatazz 2
4 - Madrid, Spain - Sala Arena

More on Insomnium at this location.

On the heels of their debut album, Resurgence Of Rock, BLANCAWHITE has announced the release of two new singles and an EP that are dedicated to one thing: “This year Spring Break is going to ROCK!”
The single and title track, 'Spring Break' is a total beach party, southern fried, boogie boarding, hard drinking, girls-in-bikinis rocker about spring breaks remembered and those yet to come. 'Uno Mas!' is a rock anthem to those times when you need just one more: One more drink ... One more score ... One more party! The two singles headline BlancaWhite’s new EP, Spring Break, which also includes four great party rock songs originally released on the Resurgence Of Rock album. The EP is on sale now for $3.99 on iTunes.

“The new EP is the ultimate rocking soundtrack for spring break,” says BlancaWhite’s Ken Savage. “This is vintage BlancaWhite: hard partying, fun-loving rock with no other purpose than to have a good time!”

Following the model used on the Resurgence Of Rock album, songwriters Savage and Austin Schell enlisted the talents of renowned veteran rock vocalist Jeff Paris (CINDERELLA, VIXEN, SLASH, and KEB MO) and Paul Shortino (QUIET RIOT, ROUGH CUTT and KING KOBRA) to sing lead vocals on the new singles. Paris brings his trademark energy and humor to Spring Break. Shortino and his distinctively hard rock pipes absolutely rock it out on 'Uno Mas!'.

BlancaWhite is named after the world-famous bar in Matamoros, Mexico, just across from the Texas border where Savage and Schell grew up. The band’s signature style is 70’s and 80’s “classic” rock, sung by legendary performers from that era, with lyrics and themes for the modern day.

With 'Spring Break' and 'Uno Mas!', BlancaWhite delivers two of its greatest songs yet, destined to appeal to the younger crowd heading out for Spring Break 2013.

“This is what BlancaWhite is all about,” says Savage. “Making music that resonates today using the style and talent from rock’s greatest era.”

Mixed at Yellow Dog Studios (GREEN DAY, CHARLIE SEXTON, MEAT PUPPETS) in Austin, Texas and mastered by Dave Collins (BLACK SABBATH, QUIET RIOT, LINKIN PARK) in Los Angeles, BlancaWhite’s two new singles and EP were released on January 22nd as digital downloads only on iTunes, Amazon MP3 and other digital outlets worldwide.
Spring Break EP tracklisting:

'Spring Break'
'Uno Mas!'
'Livin' It Up! (In a Mexican Bar)'
'One for the Ages'
'Your Boyfriend Is Lame'
'Resurgence of Rock'

Check out lyric videos for two tracks below:

'Spring Break':
'Uno Mas!':

STRYPER performed a headline show at House Of Blues show in Anaheim, CA on January 26th. During their set the band was joined by vocalists Tony Harnell (ex-TNT) and Jeff Scott Soto (TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA); fan-filmed video is available below. Harnell performs the UFO classic 'Lights Out' and Soto does QUEEN's 'Tie Your Mother Down'.

Previously posted footage of singer Todd La Torre (QUEENSRŸCHE, CRIMSON GLORY) performing Stryper's 'Surrender' and the IRON MAIDEN classic 'The Trooper' is also available:
Frontiers Records has signed Stryper to a multi-album deal. The first release due out will be a new re-recorded collection; Second Coming will hit streets on March 22nd in Europe and March 26th in North America.

The album features sixteen tracks, including new recordings of fourteen songs from the band’s early years as well as two brand new songs recorded especially for Second Coming, and is produced by Stryper frontman Michael Sweet.

Second Coming tracklisting:

'Loud N’ Clear'
'Loving You'
'Soldiers Under Command'
'Makes Me Wanna Sing'
'First Love'
'The Rock That Makes Me Roll'
'Reach Out'
'Surrender'
'To Hell With The Devil'
'Calling On You'
'Free'
'The Way'
'Sing Along Song'
'More Than A Man'
Bleeding From Inside Out' (new song)
'Blackened' (new song)
Sweet commented, “We're really excited about this record. The re-recorded songs are sounding awesome… better than the originals in many ways! One word to describe the record? Heavier. We've hooked up with some great people - we've got new management, a great album, a great label. We just feel like everything is coming together, and hopefully some big things are to follow."

Stryper is one of the top Christian rock bands of all time. Comprised of the original line-up of Michael Sweet (vocals/guitar), Oz Fox (guitar), Tim Gaines (bass), and Robert Sweet (drums), Stryper has been rocking since 1984, and is responsible for such '80s metal classic albums as Soldiers Under Command, To Hell With The Devil, In God We Trust and such MTV hit singles/videos as 'Calling On You', 'Free', and 'Honestly'.
After a sabbatical for much of the 1990's, Stryper returned strong in the early 21st century. To date, the band has sold upwards of 8 million records worldwide and is a Dove Award-winner and Grammy nominee. Stryper is the first band to have two songs in MTV’s Top 10 simultaneously.

Kenosha, Wisconsin-based four-piece death metal act JUNGLE ROT has announced that their eighth studio album will be titled Terror Regime, and will be released on March 19th via Victory Records.

Recording took place at Bell City Recording in Racine, Wisconsin with longtime friend and engineer Chris Djuricic.

"Terror Regime has lots of speed, groove and hate coming your way", warns frontman Dave Matrise.

The artwork was once again completed by Gyula Havancsák (DESTRUCTION, ANNIHILATOR, GRAVE DIGGER). Check it out below:
Pre-order packages are now available through the Victory Records web store for as low $19.98; additional items can be added at a discounted price. Order now.

Switzerland's intense black metal outfit VUYVR will release its debut album, Eiskalt, on 180 gram 12-inch vinyl on February 28th via Throatruiner Records and Blastbeat Mailmurder. The album is currently available for free download and preorder at this location.

The artwork was created by UK-based illustrator Richey Beckett and can be seen below:
Tracklisting is as follows:

‘Hoch’
‘Betrayers Of The North’
‘War Of 100 000 Centuries’
‘Disfigured By Hatred’
‘Idolatry’
‘Slaves’
‘Dead Trees Are Wandering At Night’
‘Weapons Made For Grace’
‘The Wyvern'

"Hopeless * Godless", the second full-length album by PRISTINA, is set for a February 26 release on The Path Less Traveled Records.

From Connecticut, PRISTINA grabbed the underground's ear in 2010 with the release of their debut full-length, "The Drought (Ov Salt And Sorrow)", released on French label Trendkill. A review by Cosmo Lee in Decibel magazine stated: "They are as if TODAY IS THE DAY were more overtly hardcore and metallic... The fluency and power on display is almost brazen. It's like beating a first-person shooter game using bare hands... For all its supposed edginess, heavy music rarely dares touch 'the long, dark night of the soul'. This record dives headfirst into it."

Revolver magazine described the band's sound as "a chaotic surge of hardcore intimidation, atonal riff bombardment, and sound collage psych ops" and Exclaim! magazine depicted it as "explosive, original, and downright gargantuan". PRISTINA backed up the critical praise by showing themselves to be one of the most powerful live bands in the Northeast scene, flattening crowds at Precious Metal in New York City and elswhere. And then as suddenly as they appeared, they went into hiding.

2013: PRISTINA re-emerge after a year off the grid, a year which vocalist/bassist Brendan K Duff calls "the darkest period of my life". Whatever demons Duff fought during this time, they have been immortalized in the form of a new album: "Hopeless * Godless". Rhythmically punishing, soaked in absolute despair, "Hopeless * Godless" is an immersion in darkness. The closest musical reference points can be found in metallic hardcore greats like BLOODLET, STARKWEATHER and CONVERGE, but "Hopeless * Godless" is such a personal account of pain, it is wholly its own thing. Says Duff: "'Hopeless * Godless' was a very difficult record to make, emotionally. The album is about the darkest period of my life. It is a very deliberate departure from our last album. 'The Drought (Ov Salt And Sorrow)' was fairly 'epic'. This one is raw and straight ahead."

PRISTINA consists of Duff, guitarist Mike Rabtoy, and drummer Mike Banfield.

"Hopeless * Godless" was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Duff and Rabtoy at Stu Stu Studio in Meriden, Connecticut. Comprised of six songs, clocking in at 35 minutes, the CD features the following track listing:

01. The Motherfucker
02. The Black Syph
03. The Immoralist
04. Darker (Omega)
05. Hopeless Godless
06. Malarial

Blast Head Records has announced the signing of ADE for the spring release of the ancient Roman death metal band's sophomore album, "Spartacus". The follow-up to 2009's "Prooemivm Sangvine" features a guest appearance by extreme metal drummer George Kollias (NILE).

True masters of music, ADE, formed in 2007, with the purpose of blending death metal with the traditional instruments of ancient Rome and Greece.

"When I first listened to 'Spartacus', I was instantly intrigued by the amazing song structures, production and most importantly the musicianship of ADE," comments Paul Shaw, owner of Blast Head Records. "From start to finish, 'Spartacus' grips you with musical hooks and their use of traditional Roman instruments allows you hear something new with every listen. The album is very powerful, memorable, and in all honesty, is a major contender for album of the year! I am beyond proud to have ADE on Blast Head Records to showcase their talents to the world!"

"Spartacus" track listing:

01. Betrayer FromThrace
02. Sanguine Pluit in Arena
03. The Endless Runaway
04. Crixius Flags Of Dishonor
05. Duelling The Shadow Of Spartacus
06. Mars Unpredictable Favour
07. Decimate The Coward
08. Six Thousands Crosses
09. Divinitus Victor
10. For Everything To Be The Same...

The artwork was created by Phlegeton Art Studio and can be seen below. Also available is a stream of the first single, "Duelling The Shadow Of Spartacus".

Comments Kollias: "'Spartacus' is a masterpiece… that simple! I feel blessed and honored recording the drums for this album. ADE can play great and write some of the best songs in the genre; the combination of writing, feel and musicianship is in this album outstanding; they worked very hard on each song and that shows very well. 'Spartacus' has some really unique elements and ideas that ADE combines with the best — and fresh — way possible...this is why I can’t wait to see people's reaction with this AMAZING album!!!"

ONE MACHINE is the brainchild of critically acclaimed guitarist/songwriter Steve Smyth (NEVERMORE, FORBIDDEN, DRAGONLORD, VICIOUS RUMORS). An international metal band with classic and modern influences, it features members carefully selected by Smyth: Mikkel Sandager (MERCENARY) on vocals, Jamie Hunt (BIOMECHANICAL) on guitar, Tomas "O'Beast" Koefoed (MNEMIC) on bass and Raphael Saini (CHAOSWAVE) on drums.

Smyth had often given thought to leading his own band throughout his distinguished career as a member of such bands as TESTAMENT, NEVERMORE and FORBIDDEN. He had written a number of songs for the project, but the challenge of finding the right members to bring them to life remained. After he found a more-than-capable shredding second guitarist in Jamie Hunt, the two began collaborating on the material Smyth had.

"Jamie's playing complements mine extremely well, and we hit it off perfectly when we got together to work on the songs," says Smyth.

A vocalist was found in the form of original MERCENARY singer Mikkel Sandager. His ability to sing in different ways and his readiness to be pushed into new musical territories was a perfect fit for Smyth's new band.

"When our former bands toured together, I got to witness night after night exactly what Mikkel could do; deliver a solid performance with an incredible range, as well as multiple characters in his voice," says Steve. "He's perfect for this band!"

Drummer Raphael Saini, formerly of Italian progressive metallers CHAOSWAVE, whose band Smyth had previously provided guest solos for, was next to join. During the recording process, Saini lived up to Modern Drummer's assessment of him as "a drum assassin; cold blooded, precise, and brutal." Smyth says: "Raph surprised me with his ability in delivering these tracks. He totally killed it!"

In 2012, Koefoed came on board, adding his distinctive sound to the tracks.

"Tomas is, without a doubt, one of the most solid bassists I've encountered in some time!" says Smyth. "He literally added an entirely new dimension to these songs that would not have been possible to be achieved without him."

With the lineup complete, a debut album was recorded and will be mixed shortly. The band has already been offered European festival dates, and expects to make its live debut during the summer.

SLIPKNOT fan site OpiumOfThePeople.net recently commissioned Seb from S7figures to make a completely "new and improved" figurine of late SLIPKNOT bassist Paul Gray.

A video clip of the new figurine can be seen below. Photos are available at OpiumOfThePeople.net.

A posting on the site reads: "This handmade #2 Paul Gray SLIPKNOT 'All Hope Is Gone' figure is just an amazing piece of art! It's 10 inches tall (26 cm), made from different materials, including polymer clay, Citadel modelling putty, resin. The bass guitar is made from real wood and it includes real guitar strings. The figure is based on the infamous orange/red jumpsuit photo shoot back from 2008. The detail is fucking awesome! And hey, wanna know what the best thing is? The best thing is that it looks much much better in real life. I mean, it's just totally insane! But the video and photos are still badass."

"I wasn't sure how this Paul Gray figure would look like in the orange jumpsuit, because, after all, SLIPKNOT has never performed in those during the 'All Hope Is Gone' tour, but man, when I first saw it in front of me, I just knew that it was the shit!"

Gray was found dead at the age of 38 in a hotel room outside Des Moines, surrounded by drug paraphernalia. His death was ruled an accidental overdose of morphine and fentanyl, with his autopsy showing that Gray also suffered from significant heart disease.

Gray's widow, Brenna, revealed in an April 2011 interview with Revolver that her husband had agreed to get help for his drug problem just one day before he died on May 24, 2010.

After a lengthy hiatus, SLIPKNOT resumed touring in 2011, with Donnie Steele playing bass live. The band intends to enter a recording studio sometime in 2014 to begin work on its first album without Gray.

During a recent interview with Alternative Addiction, SEVENDUST frontman Lajon Witherspoon spoke about his upcoming solo project, which he plans to begin work on after the band has completed the touring cycle in support of its ninth studio album, "Black Out The Sun".

"Once this album has taken its course and SEVENDUST slows down again, I'll start working on my solo stuff," he said.

"I feel that life and music is like a chess game, and so I'm waiting to make my next move."

Regarding what fans should expect from his solo material, Witherspoon said: "I think it will always have that SEVENDUST sound to it.

"When I sing and people hear my voice, I have to believe they'll compare it to SEVENDUST, which I don't mind, because that's where my roots are. But I think my stuff will definitely have rock and a lot more soul. SEVENDUST has a groove, but I think I'll be a little bit different. And I plan on not shutting the door to anyone who would want to work with me.

"I'm a lover of music and it doesn't have to just be one way for everything."

CALL ME NO ONE — the new project featuring SEVENDUST guitarist Clint Lowery and drummer Morgan Rose — released its debut album, "Last Parade", on June 5, 2012. The CD's first single, "Biggest Fan", was made available to purchase on iTunes on April 24, 2012.

SEVENDUST guitarist John Connolly and bassist Vince Hornsby also launched a new project, joining forces with CREED/ALTER BRIDGE drummer Scott Phillips in a new outfit called PROJECTED.

PROJECTED's debut disc, "Human", was released on September 18, 2012 via Connolly's own Yaya Papu LLC label.

Swiss old-school thrash metal veterans 2BLACK have signed a deal with Wormholedeath/Aural Music Group. The band's debut album, "Mind Infect", will be released in the spring through Aural Music Group. The CD was recorded and mixed at Mathlab Recording Studio in Italy with producer Jonathan Mazzeo (MECHANICAL GOD CREATION, THE WAY OF PURITY) and was mastered by Christian Donaldson of CRYPTOPSY.

Commented the band: "2BLACK is very proud to announce the worldwide deal with Wormholdeath Records Italy!! A dream come true! After a lot of gigging and searching for a good company, finally 2BLACK found the correct partner in crime to go on! After the band's release of the self-produced EP, 'No Time To Die', in 2010, the appetite grow for a lot more! The cooperation with Wormholedeath and Mathlab Studio stilled the hunger for a moment. 2BLACK serve with the new album 'Mind Infect' a varied menu from melodic mid to brute uptempo old school thrash metal songs! Now the band is ready to take over!"

Added Wormholedeath A&R representative "Worm": "I know that signing old-school thrash bands has become quite a big trend between the labels, but I can assure that we haven't signed 2BLACK for the trend... We really liked their 'in-your-face' attitude, and being myself a big fan of the '80s thrash scene, I wanted to start producing a little group of releases that are related to the old thrash tradition. 2BLACK's 'Mind Infect' is the first of these really cool relesaes as their album sounds just like a group of pirates assoulting a ship, just give them a try, they will force you to headbang so hard that you'll have to go to the hospital."

The reunited METAL CHURCH — Ronny Munroe on vocals, Kurdt Vanderhoof and Jay Reynolds on guitars, Steve Unger on bass, and Jeff Plate on drums — celebrated its official reunion on board 70000 Tons Of Metal, the world's biggest heavy metal cruise.

For one of their two shows on board, they played their debut album, "Metal Church", in its entirety. The other show was a "greatest-hits" set.

Fan-filmed video footage of their performance can be seen below.

METAL CHURCH called it quits after performing at the Rocklahoma festival in July 2009 in Pryor, Oklahoma.

"This Present Wasteland", the latest album from METAL CHURCH, sold 920 copies in the United States in its first week of release, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The CD artwork was submitted by a fan via a MySpace contest.

METAL CHURCH's previous album, "A Light in the Dark", came out in June 2006 via SPV. The LP included a new version of the classic "Watch The Children Pray" as a tribute to vocalist David Wayne, who passed away in May 2005.

KREATOR's Mille Petrozza and Doro Pesch are among the musicians who took part in an all-star jam aboard 70000 Tons Of Metal — the world's biggest heavy metal cruise — which sailed Monday, January 28 aboard the Royal Caribbean Majesty Of The Seas from Miami, Florida to Cockburn Town on Grand Turk Island, and returned to the real world last Friday, February 1. Video footage of Petrozza and Pesch performing a cover version of the JUDAS PRIEST classic "Breaking The Law" with a backing band that included ANNIHILATOR's Jeff Waters on guitar, HELLOWEEN's Markus Grosskopf on bass, André Hilgers (RAGE) on drums and Victor Smolski (RAGE) on guitar can be viewed below.

Polish death metallers LOST SOUL will release their long-awaited new double album, "Genesis XX Years Of Chaoz", on February 22. The effort, which encompasses the band's 20-year career, will include 32 songs plus two covers: METALLICA's "For Whom The Bell Tolls" and PRODIGY's "Spitfire". It will be released as a double digipak CD with a 16-page booklet. A limited version with a t-shirt will also be made available.

The recordings of "Genesis XX Years Of Chaoz" took place at Hellsound Studio in Wroclaw. The CD was mixed by Arkadiusz "Malta" Malczewski (BEHEMOTH) and was mastered by Wieslawscy Bros. at Hertz Studio. The cover artwork was created Michal "Xaay" Loranc (NILE, KAMELOT), whle the rest of the layout was designed by Piotr "Szafa" Szafraniec and Endorfina Studio.

Comments LOST SOUL guitarist/vocalist Jacek Grecki: "'Genesis...' includes our older songs; that's why we decided to give those recordings an 'olds-chool' sound. The final outcome exceeded my expectations. Everything sounds perfect — you can smell hellish tar, sulphur and satan here. The idea to focus on the sound from our first demo and use recent technologies to achieve it proved ideal. The album sounds potent and spatial. Those original songs from early '90s, after the intervention of Wieslawscy Bros., sound devilish! Everything came out 769 times better than I expected. I'm sure that this double CD monster with become cult release pretty soon."

"Genesis XX Years Of Chaoz" track listing:

CD 1: "Genesis"

01. Eternal Darkness
02. Necrophil
03. Morbid Blooddrinker
04. Sacrifice Of Destiny
05. If The Dead Can Speak
06. On The Edge Of Oblivion
07. In The Moment Of Death
08. Black Forerunner
09. For Whom The Bell Tolls *
10. We Want God
11. Divine Satisfaction
12. Tabernaculum Miser
13. Spitfire **
14. Soulhunger
15. Beast Rising
16. To The New Light

* METALLICA cover
** PRODIGY cover

Running time: 65 minutes

CD 2: "Lords Of Endeavours"

01. Intro
02. Eternal Darkness
03. Necrophil
04. Morbid Blooddrinker
05. Sacrifice Of Destiny
06. The Book
07. In The Moment Of Death
08. Ill Imaginations
09. Moira
10. Lost Dreams
11. Black Forerunner
12. My Kingdom
13. Malediction
14. Entrance To Nothingness
15. Nameless
16. An Eternal Sleep
17. Lords Of Endeavours
18. Adoration Of Violet
19. The One You Seek

Running time: 70 minutes

The new song "Black Forerunner" can be streamed using the SoundCloud player below.

In other news, LOST SOUL recently enlisted two new members: Marek Golas (guitar) and Jonathan Garofoli (drums). Grecki comments: "Current lineup equals mentally with the old one, including Adam and Piotrek. We had to wait a bit for such atmosphere within the band. I don't want to be too optimistic — life teaches you carefulness — but I hope for the best!"

Rock band SIXX: A.M. — which consists of bassist Nikki Sixx, guitarist DJ Ashba and vocalist James Michael — is continuing work on material for its third album. Speaking to Loudwire, Sixx stated about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the next CD: "We've got six [songs] done, so we'll probably knock another 10 around and then we'll figure out which 10 we put on a record and then we'll figure out when we're gonna release it."

He continued: "The biggest problem for SIXX: A.M. is that I'm in MÖTLEY CRÜE. It's a great thing because people know of SIXX: A.M. because if they like me in MÖTLEY CRÜE, then they're willing to give it a listen. But, MÖTLEY CRÜE is a big machine and it's busy and it takes up a lot of time. So there's very little amount of time for me to take [SIXX: A.M.] out and tour. I think I would like to go out in 2013 and do some shows, maybe a month's worth of shows, just to kind of feel what it feels like. I think at some point I would like for SIXX: A.M. to be a bigger priority as far as a live act than it is now."

Regarding how the new material is sounding, Sixx said: "This time we really want to fly on our own. We started out the songwriting process by having conversations about how far we can push ourselves musically … Our conversations were, 'Let's go as far to the left as we can, musically,' and once we finish up a handful of songs that are pretty out there … I don't even want to use any kind of references because it'll throw people and they won't really understand what I'm talking about. But we're just taking a lot of chances musically and at this point nothing sounds at all like SIXX: A.M. that you would know, because we're taking such huge leaps of faith that we're going to land on our feet. But once we finish what we have now, we're going to start backtracking into who we are as a band that we know at least. I think you're going to end up with some songs on the album that are sort of surprising and bands that always did that for me were like QUEEN. There would be songs on QUEEN's albums that would be like, 'I can't even believe that came out of a rock band,' and that's what we want to do. We want to take those leaps of faith and in the end, we are a rock band so we'll go back to that at some point."

SIXX: A.M., made a rare appearance — its first in four years — on April 11, 2012 at Revolver Golden Gods Awards at Club Nokia in Los Angeles.

As each band member has been kept busy with their other careers — Sixx is also the bassist for MÖTLEY CRÜE and a syndicated radio host; Ashba is currently touring with GUNS N' ROSES; James Michael is a famed rock producer who is currently working on new records for PAPA ROACH, HALESTORM and others — this marked the band's first chance to perform in support of their current album, "This Is Gonna Hurt", which supplied the #1 rock anthem "Lies Of The Beautiful People".

"7", the latest EP from SIXX: A.M., came out in December 2011 and sold around 2,700 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The effort contained acoustic versions of songs from the group's first two albums — 2007's "The Heroin Diaries" soundtrack and 2011's "This Is Gonna Hurt".

Released on May 3, 2011, SIXX: A.M.'s sophomore album, "This Is Gonna Hurt" is a companion piece to Sixx's "This Is Gonna Hurt: Music, Photography And Life Through The Distorted Lens Of Nikki Sixx" book, a follow-up to his New York Times bestseller, "The Heroin Diaries".

French symphonic/gothic metallers WHYZDOM have parted ways with singer Elvyne Lorient for "professional" reasons and have replaced her with Marie Rouyer.

An eight-minute YouTube clip containing "a quick recording" of Marie's voice on four songs ("Atlantis", "The Road To Babylon", "Daughter Of The Night" and "Cathedral Of The Damned") from the band's two albums is available below.

Rouyer will make her live debut with WHYZDOM on March 8 at the Night Of The Beauties festival in Herdorf (near Siegen), Germany.

WHYZDOM's sophomore album, "Blind?", was released on October 30, 2012 via Scarlet Records. The CD was produced by Vynce Leff, recorded and mixed in Paris at Powermania Studio and mastered by Mathieu Gillon and Vynce Leff at 120dB Studio. The stunning artwork is a collaboration between X-Nihilo Design, Les Créations Vultus and Florent Cuaz.

WHYZDOM's debut album, "From The Brink Of Infinity", came out in September 2009 via Ascendance Records.

Norwegian-Spanish gothic metal band SIRENIA last fall entered the studio to record the follow-up to 2011's "The Enigma Of Life" for an early 2013 release via Nuclear Blast Records.

Commented the group: "We've been in the studio again this weekend, recording some more vocals. Now we are half way with the vocals to be finished."

SIRENIA previously stated about the group's upcoming CD: "We feel confident that the sixth SIRENIA album will have some nice surprises up its sleeve, as we‘ve been determined to make this record somewhat different from the previous two albums."

SIRENIA's latest album, "The Enigma Of Life", was released on January 21, 2011 via Nuclear Blast Records.

The band's "The End Of It All" video was once again directed by Patric Ullaeus of Revolver Film Company, who has previously worked with DIMMU BORGIR, LACUNA COIL, IN FLAMES, SONIC SYNDICATE and KAMELOT, among many others.

SIRENIA recruited singer Ailyn (born: Pilar Giménez García) as the replacement for Monika Pedersen, who left the group in 2007 after only one album due to "musical differences."

Ailyn is best known as a former contestant on the Spanish version of "The X Factor", the biggest television talent competition in Europe.

German heavy rockers THE NEW BLACK will release their third album, "III: Cut Loose", on March 15 via AFM Records. The effort will be made available in different configurations, including a "big, fat digipak" with loads of bonus tracks. According to a press release, "There's also talk of guest singers, free downloads and video clips with nasty spiders and middlefingers."

"III: Cut Loose" was once again recorded and produced by the bandmembers themselves. Mixing duties were handled by Jacob Hansen (VOLBEAT, PRETTY MAIDS) who commented: "These guys completely floored me with their stylish mix of both modern metal and vintage rock 'n' roll. This is a band that could get big if things are done the right way!" The CD finds the band finetuning their signature style while keeping heaviness and catchiness fully intact.

THE NEW BLACK's music has been described in the past in the following way: "This is our kind of party: BLACK LABEL SOCIETY bring the booze, PANTERA spice it up, THIN LIZZY add some taste, and ALTER BRIDGE smooth it over before METALLICA turn it black. And you can be there, too!"

In April, THE NEW BLACK will embark on the "Rock'n'Roll Overdose" tour alongside PSYCHOPUNCH, MOTORJESUS, '77 and SUPERCHARGER.

THE NEW BLACK's sophomore CD, "II: Better In Black", came out in January 2011 in Europe via AFM.

THE NEW BLACK is:

Fludid (Vocals)
Christof "Leimsen" Leim (Guitar)
Fabian "Fabs" Schwarz (Guitar)
Günt (Bass)
Chris Weiß (Drums)

The official BLACK STAR RIDERS logo, designed by "the extremely talented" Paul Tippett at Vitamin P Design in the U.K., can be seen below.

BLACK STAR RIDERS is the new band formed by THIN LIZZY alumni Ricky Warwick (vocals), Scott Gorham (guitar), Damon Johnson (guitar), Marco Mendoza (bass) with new addition Jimmy DeGrasso (ALICE COOPER, MEGADETH, DAVID LEE ROTH, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES) on drums. The group entered a studio in Thousand Oaks, near Los Angeles, on January 7 with producer Kevin Shirley (LED ZEPPELIN, IRON MAIDEN, AEROSMITH, RUSH) to begin recording its debut album for a May release via Nuclear Blast. Songtitles set to appear on the CD include "All Hell Breaks Loose", "Someday Salvation", "Bound For Glory", "Kingdom Of The Lost" and "Hoodoo Voodoo".

In October 2012, THIN LIZZY announced that they would not be recording new material under the THIN LIZZY monicker. The last incarnation of the band — Gorham, Brian Downey, Wharton, Warwick, Johnson and Mendoza — would be looking to form a new project.

According to a press release, Brian Downey decided to not become involved with BLACK STAR RIDERS because he didn't want to commit to the touring cycle a new album would entail and Darren Wharton wanted to concentrate on DARE and other music and film projects.

"Brian and Darren just don't want to be on the road 150 days a year. anti that's completely understandable," Warwick tells Classic Rock magazine. "But we do. We work very well together, and there's no better man than Jimmy to gel it together. This is a kick-ass band."

The BLACK STAR RIDERS album will feature material the band wrote while touring as THIN LIZZY and the sound retains that classic feel but is very much its own as well. The BLACK STAR RIDERS record is the next step in the evolution of the THIN LIZZY story.

"There's no way it could sound like THIN LIZZY with [late THIN LIZZY frontman] Phil [Lynott]," Gorham tells Classic Rock. But Johnson disagreees. "I think Scott is too dose to it," he says. "Ricky or I would bring in a song idea, and as soon as Scott starts playing on it, it sounds like THIN LIZZY, whether Scott realizes it or not. Everybody who's heard the new music says it has that dassic THIN LIZZY vibe. No, it can't sound like the original band. But that classic LIZZY vibe is absolutely there."

"I'm not gonna pull any punches here," says Warwick. "It sounds like classic THIN LIZZY brought up to date. l've been singing Phil's songs every night for two years, and although it sounds a bit crass because the man's not here, I feel like I've had these lessons from getting so deep into his work. Phil's songwriting, his lyrics, his phrasing, his pitching, his delivery — it's genius. And that's really helped me as a writer."

It was Warwick who named the new band BLACK STAR RIDERS, after an outlaw gang in the 1993 western movie "Tombstone". As Johnson tells Classic Rock: "Scott said from the very beginning that we did not want a name that was specifically related to THIN LIZZY, because this band has to stand on its own."