Brooklyn's "filthy black metal" band MUTILATION RITES has completed recording its debut album in Baltimore, Maryland with Kevin Bernsten (TRIAC) for a spring release via Prosthetic Records. The band has also announced a string of dates in March which will see them playing several shows at Austin's annual South By Southwest (SXSW) music conference.

MUTILATION RITES was conceived by Michael Dimmitt and Justin Ennis in January 2009 and after various incarnations, solidified with the addition of George Paul and Iain Deaderick. Members have done time in acts such as TOMBS, HEURISTIC and CURENDERA. They draw influences from such acts as DARKTHRONE, DISCHARGE, DISSECTION and WEAKLING.

SOULFLY's video for the song "World Scum" can be seen below. The clip was conceptualized by SOULFLY mianman Max Cavalera and director Thomas Mignone (MUDVAYNE, SLIPKNOT, AVENGED SEVENFOLD, MORBID ANGEL) and produced through Mignone's production company Doom Incorporated. Mignone filmed the video in and around Los Angeles. Various scenes depicting humanity's perspectives of some of the world's significant historical — such as the attack on the Russian Czar by nihilists, the mass production of Zyklon B poisons, the Gulag prisons, the assassination of the president, and a final showdown between Jesus and the Anti-christ — are seen and reflected in the song's lyrics. The cinematography is by Peter Leininger; the special EFX makeup is by Maggie Hunter, the production design is by Hanna Dryland, and digital compositing and post-production is by editor/visual EFX artist Christopher Neil.

"World Scum" lyrics:

Bloody century is upon thee
Revolution, war and disease
Earthquake, the cities falling
Catastrophe will kill the east
There will be fire
There will be famine, drought and plague
We will succumb in the arena
Thumbs down to seal our fate

World scum
Bloody century eclipses the sun
Blood scum
The generation of sin returns…

Down at the gates, the gates of hell, open and fell
JFK shot in the head – conspiracy
Auschwitz – they breathe Zyklon B
Gas chamber they all marched in…
Many shall come, many shall go, many shall learn
Many shall live, many shall die, many shall burn
One thing is certain, we all share the guilt
We'll die alone in the house religion built

World scum
Bloody century eclipses the sun
Blood scum
The generation of sin returns…

Procreation of the wicked
Mass slaughter of the weak
Mustafa and his children
Knife down and kill the living

Eternal devastation
Eternal devastation

The brutal human instinct
The spirit of inhumanity
Scum of a species failing
Holy war – death knell tolling

eternal devastation
Eternal devastation

Assassination of the czar
No more kings – no more czars
Damnation on the rise
Baptized by fire

A warning i see in these eyes
You cannot put a price on life
Holy purge will crack the sky
Terror screaming in the dark

H-Bomb – dropped out on the front
Hiroshima – Nagasaki – brutality
Armageddon draws a meggido
The final war – antichrist and Jesus
Arise descendents of Babylon
Judgement day has come and gone
Words of hate, words of filth and on and on
Influence for generations beyond…

The final war – antichrist and Jesus
The final war – antichrist and Jesus
The final war – antichrist and Jesus (End of lyrics.)

"World Scum" is the first video from SOULFLY's eighth album, "Enslaved", which is due on March 13 via Roadrunner Records. The CD was recorded at TallCat Studios in Phoenix, Arizona and was produced by Chris "Zeuss" Harris, the seasoned knob twiddler behind some of the most notable bands in metal today, such as SHADOWS FALL, HATEBREED, THE RED CHORD and more.

"Enslaved" standard CD features the following 11 tracks:

01. Resistance
02. World Scum
03. Intervention
04. Gladiator
05. Legions
06. American Steel
07. Redemption of Man By God
08. Treachery
09. Plata O Plomo
10. Chains
11. Revengeance

The digital-only edition includes the following three bonus tracks:

12. Slave
13. Bastard
14. Soulfly VIII

SOULFLY's current lineup features Max and guitar dynamo Marc Rizzo, with STATIC-X's Tony Campos taking up the bass. The lineup is rounded out by drummer David Kinkade (BORKNAGAR, ARSIS, MALEVOLENT CREATION), a new-school, extreme skinsman whose brutality behind the kit brings a new flavor to the band.

Slash — the iconic, Grammy-winning rock guitarist and songwriter — is currently in a Los Angeles studio putting the finishing touches on his second solo album. Entitled "Apocalyptic Love", the disc is due out May 22 on Slash's own label Dik Hayd International distributed through EMI and will follow his 2010 debut album, "Slash", and his November 2011 first-ever live solo album, the two-CD/DVD set "Made In Stoke 24/7/11". Notably, the "Slash" album debuted on The Billboard 200 chart at #3 (#1 on the Rock chart, #1 on the Independent chart, and #1 on the Hard Music chart). Digitally, the album also became the #1 overall digital album and hit #1 on iTunes in 13 countries. Internationally, the disc achieved Top 5 chart positions in over a dozen major territories, hitting #1 in both Japan and New Zealand.

In the U.K., the album will be released on May 21 in exclusive Classic Rock Fan Pack form — providing a unique collectable package containing the studio album with bonus tracks alongside a specially created magazine with unseen behind-the-scenes content put together by Classic Rock. The Fan Pack format will also come with free gifts, including a pin badge and artwork poster and will be available to buy via more than 2000 retail outlets on newsstands nationally as well as the traditional high street and online music retailers. Roadrunner Records will simultaneously release the record digitally. The standard physical release of the Slash album will follow through Roadrunner Records on June 18.

For the new album, Slash — along with and his bandmates Myles Kennedy (vocals), Brent Fitz (drums) and Todd Kerns (bass) — teamed with producer Eric Valentine, who also produced the "Slash" disc. All the songs were written together by Slash and Kennedy, and cameras have been rolling throughout the entire making of the album. Check out exclusive behind-the-scenes footage airing weekly beginning today.

A question-and-answer session with Slash about the new album follows below.

Q: Looking at all your Twitter updates, you sound really pumped about the new disc. This time around, you and Myles wrote all the songs and he sings lead on all the tracks. What inspired this scenario since your debut solo album featured multiple vocalists (including Myles on two songs)?

Slash: Well, having Myles sing on the first record inspired me to take him on the road, then taking him on the road inspired me to have him sing on the whole record. So yeah, the tour last year definitely inspired the decision for him to sing on the new record. He has a really broad range. He is just very musical as far as his melodic style is concerned and he's also very lyrical and just a really powerful singer. There's a lot of positives about the way he sings.

Q: Perhaps you want to talk a bit here about your other bandmates and what they each bring to the sound?

Slash: There's Brent who is probably one of the best drummers I've ever played with — he has a great way of playing very powerful rock n roll while still being able to keep it behind the beat and sexy. And then Todd has got to be one of the most overall talented musicians I've worked with, just a really great bass player. Todd's very quick in the studio, a quick learner and creative as a writer; on top of that, he's also a great singer.

Q: Beyond you and Myles writing all the songs and Myles singing all the leads, in what other ways is the new album perhaps different from your debut solo album?

Slash: Myles and I basically collaborated on the new material. The main thing is we wrote these songs together which is a big difference from the last album where I wrote each song with all of the different collaborators. The whole creative nucleus is between Myles and me. On top of this, the whole rhythm section of Brent and Todd brings something to the table and changes the dynamic completely from the last record — it's much more cohesive.

Q: With your record company Dik Hayd Records, you remain an independent artist and work with major companies for distribution. Can you talk about how you as an artist benefit by this scenario in these interesting times for the music industry?

Slash: It puts me more in the driver's seat of how I want to market the record, but even more importantly than that, I'm not giving half of everything that comes in on the album to the record company.

Q: Eric Valentine returns as producer for the new disc. What do you feel he brings as a producer to these songs and the overall approach?

Slash: The first thing we always talk about with Eric is he's an extremely gifted musician, but he is basically as talented an engineer, so it makes for a great combination as a producer. As a person he's easy to work with — he's very patient and he lives and breathes what he does. That's a lot like how I am, we're similar; I can call him at any moment and ask him a question or share an idea I have with him. He's always in his element and it's something that I can appreciate.

Q: You toured the world seven times with the last album. What are your tour plans for the new album?

Slash: Right now we're starting off with radio shows in the states and then we'll do as much of Europe as possible. We'll also tour in Asia and Australia, and try to hit South Africa this year as well as India and a couple other spots. Trying to just broaden our horizons a bit.

Slash earlier in the week unveiled the details of a headlining U.S. tour that will kick off on May 3 in Baltimore. The road trip will also includes stops at major festivals like Rock On The Range and Rocklahoma.

This Saturday (February 18), Slash will join Stevie Wonder, Chris Cornell, Lenny Kravitz, LL Cool J, Common, Snoop Dogg, former President Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, Anthony Hopkins and more at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas for a 70th birthday celebration to honor boxing legend Muhammad Ali.

Proceeds from the event will go toward awareness and prevention of numerous neurological disorders, including multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's, Huntington's and Parkinson's diseases, with funds also going to the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health and the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Kentucky.

Studio webisode #3:

The first look at the packaging for "Out To Die", the fifth full-length studio album from Norway's blackened thrashers AURA NOIR, is available below. The CD is scheduled for release on March 23 in Europe and March 27 in North America via Indie Recordings.

Speaking to Terrorizer magazine shortly after a recent listening session in Oslo, AURA NOIR guitarist/vocalist Aggressor stated about the band's new CD, "It feels right. That's all I can say really. I'm not sitting here digging it; it's more like I'm content with having the finished product there, and now we can go play live. Because I think our music comes into its element when we're playing live. For me, a new album is like, 'Okay, we have more songs to play live now.'"

"Out To Die" marks the return of guitarist Rune Eriksen (a.k.a. ex-MAYHEM guitarist/songwriter Blasphemer), who now resides in Portugal and leads his own band AVA INFERI. Eriksen made several trips back to Norway to work on the new AURA NOIR songs with Aggressor and Apollyon (guitar, bass, vocals, drums; also bassist in IMMORTAL).

"I wish we were all living in the same apartment and rehearsing every day, all three of us together, but obviously that's not possible because we have our private lives and everything," Aggressor told Terrorizer. "But it brought about some new ways of working, and it actually worked out okay in the end."

"Out To Die" track listing:

01. Trenches
02. Fed To The Flames
03. Abbadon
04. The Grin From The Gallows
05. Withheld
06. Priest's Hellish Fiend
07. Deathwish
08. Out To Die

Following the massively successful "Final Frontier World Tour 2010-11", IRON MAIDEN are back on the road this summer with a series of arena, amphitheatre and festival shows in the USA and Canada, opening in Charlotte, North Carolina on June 21 and finishing in Houston, Texas on Aug 18 (dates listed below), to be followed by further dates around the world in 2013. The "Maiden England World Tour" will closely mirror, in terms of production and content, the original 1988 concert video of the same name, shot on the "Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son Tour". This opening section of the world tour is the band's most extensive visit to North America for many years and includes a number of cities the band have not played in a very long time, such as Charlotte, Atlanta, Buffalo, Indianapolis and Salt Lake City.

In most venues, tickets will go on sale on March 2 and March 3 but watch the band's official site or check local venue information for fuller details. Fan-club members should check out ironmaiden.com for exclusive first day ticket presales and contest to be "First To The Barrier."

"Maiden England" marks the third chapter in the history of IRON MAIDEN, a journey which began in 2004 with "The Early Days" DVD and subsequent 2005 "Early Days Tour". Part two followed in 2008 with the "Live After Death" DVD — the seminal 1984 concert recorded at Long Beach Arena in California during the "World Slavery Tour" — and the band embarking on their groundbreaking "Somewhere Back In Time World Tour 2008/9", which saw them play to over two million fans in almost 40 countries.

Comments vocalist Bruce Dickinson: "We have great fun playing the history of MAIDEN tours because it gives us an opportunity between new albums to go out and play songs from our earlier catalogue. It's always fantastic seeing the crowd reaction from a new generation of fans who have never experienced some of these tracks performed live before, and of course we know our longstanding fans will enjoy seeing the original 'Seventh Son Tour' revisited — with many other surprises! Our intention is to play about two thirds of the original track list of 'Maiden England', including some songs we have not played live in a very,very long time, plus other favourites we just know the fans are going to want to hear! We always try to give our fans a great show musically, but we have always tried to make it as entertaining and memorable an experience as we can visually. And we all feel this show is going to do that splendidly! We can't wait to get started in Charlotte."

IRON MAIDEN are delighted to announce that the extraordinary and legendary ALICE COOPER will be their very special guest on all shows up to July 21. After that date, special guest will be COHEED AND CAMBRIA, the inspiring, cutting-edge band from New York.

IRON MAIDEN continue to be actively dedicated to ensuring their fans always have full access to the best possible tickets in the fairest possible way. Manager Rod Smallwood comments: "We are trying to ensure that our fans get the tickets they want in the prime positions without paying over the odds to ticket scalpers. MAIDEN get infuriated with the way fans sometimes have to pay more than the ticket price to get good positions at our shows. So we will, wherever possible (festivals excluded), with the assistance of the promoters, arrange a paperless ticketing system at least for the front sections to try to eliminate as much of the ticket scalping and exchanges as we can. We put this into practice on our North American tour in 2010; it worked well and we received many positive comments back from our fans, so we intend to increase this where feasible. With paperless ticketing, only those who actually pay initially for the tickets will get into the show so scalping is generally avoided. We are also doing everything we can to avoid any drain of prime tickets going to the secondary ticketing sites which we feel make unfair profits from music fans.

"As we consider all our fans to be VIPs, no tickets will be held specifically for VIP use. At some venues, the promoter may provide the option for fans to pay extra for 'VIP parking,' early access, access to 'VIP bar' etc. But these will be purely optional for ticket holders only and will not be tied to ticket locations — the ability to get the best tickets should be the same for everybody outside of the usual presales.

"Finally, we are, of course, once again arranging exclusive ticket pre-sales for our fan club members so they can be quick off the mark for great tickets and will also continue to run the contest in appropriate venues for fan club members so they can be 'First To The Barrier' prior to the show. We hope that these measures will help our fans as much as possible and ask that they keep checking for details on our web site."

Ticketmaster comments: "Where possible the North American IRON MAIDEN shows will operate a paperless ticket policy. Select tickets will be sold via Ticketmaster's Paperless Ticket delivery, which means fans will not receive a physical concert ticket for their entry into the event. Buying paperless helps ensure fans have secure and convenient access to event tickets at the intended original sale price. On the day of show, concert goers just need to bring the credit card they used for the ticket purchase and a government-issued photo ID to the concert. All members of the ticket purchaser's party must be present at the same time to enter the venue. The venue's ticket usher will swipe their credit card upon entry and present each person in their party with seat locator slips for quick access into the show. To purchase paperless tickets or for more information, fans should visit www.ticketmaster.com/paperless or call the Ticketmaster charge-by-phone number at 1-800-745-3000."

"Maiden England" 1988 longform video VHS track listing:

* Moonchild
* The Evil That Men Do
* The Prisoner
* Still Life
* Die With Your Boots On
* Infinite Dreams
* Killers
* Can I Play With Madness
* Heaven Can Wait
* Wasted Years
* The Clairvoyant
* Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
* The Number Of The Beast
* Hallowed Be Thy Name
* Iron Maiden

"Maiden England" 2012 tour dates:

Jun. 21 - Charlotte, NC - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
Jun. 23 - Atlanta, GA - Aarons Amphitheatre
Jun. 26 - Boston, MA - Comcast Center
Jun. 27 - Wantagh, NY - Jones Beach
Jun. 29 - Philadelphia, PI - Susquehanna Bank Center
Jun. 30 - Washington, DC - Jiffy Lube Live
Jul. 02 - Newark, NJ - Prudential Center
Jul. 05 - Chicago, IL - First Midwest Bank
Jul. 08 - Quebec, QC - Colisee Pepsi Arena
Jul. 11 - Montreal, QC - Bell Center
Jul. 13 - Toronto, ON - Molson Amphitheatre
Jul. 14 - Sarnia, ON - Bayfest
Jul. 16 - Buffalo, NY - Darien Lake Performing Arts Center
Jul. 18 - Detroit, MI - DTE Music Theatre
Jul. 19 - Indianapolis, IN - Klipsch Music Centre
Jul. 24 - Winnipeg, MB - MTS Center
Jul. 26 - Calgary, AB - Scotiabank Saddledome
Jul. 27 - Edmonton, AB - Rexall Place
Jul. 29 - Vancouver, BC - Pacific Coliseum
Jul. 30 - Auburn, WA - White River Amphitheatre
Aug. 01 - Salt Lake City, UT - USANA Amphitheatre
Aug. 03 - San Francisco, CA - Shoreline Amphitheatre
Aug. 06 - Phoenix, AZ - Ashley Furniture HomeStore Pavilion
Aug. 09 - Irvine, CA - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
Aug. 12 - Albuquerque, NM - Hard Rock Pavilion
Aug. 13 - Denver, CO - Comfort Dental Amphitheatre
Aug. 15 - San Antonio, TX - AT&T Center
Aug. 17 - Dallas, TX - Gexa Energy Pavilion
Aug. 18 - Houston, TX - The Woodlands

GRAVEYARD was honored with the "Best Hard Rock/Metal" award at the Swedish "Grammis" gala, which was held last night (Tuesday, February 14) at Kungliga Operan in Stockholm.

The nominees in the "Best Hard Rock/Metal" category were as follows:

* GRAVEYARD - "Hisingen Blues"
* HAMMERFALL - "Infected"
* IN FLAMES - "Sounds Of A Playground Fading"
* OPETH - "Heritage"
* THE HAUNTED - "Unseen"

The bands were all nominated for their most recent releases, all of which came out during 2011.

Last year's Grammis award in the "Best Hard Rock" category went to WATAIN for the band's "Lawless Darkness" album.

GRAVEYARD's second full-length album, "Hisingen Blues", sold 1,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD landed at position No. 48 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.

"Hisingen Blues" entered the official chart in Sweden at position No. 1. The CD, which was released in North America on April 19, 2011 via Nuclear Blast Records, was produced, recorded, and mixed in 100 percent analog by Don Alsterberg (JOSÉ GONZALES, JUNIP, SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES, THE INTERNATIONAL NOISE CONSPIRACY) at Don Pierre Studios in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Florida-based melodic metallers KAMELOT have posted a four-and-a-half-minute recap of their appearance on this year's 70000 Tons Of Metal cruise — which set sail on January 23 aboard the Royal Caribbean Majesty Of The Seas from Miami, Florida to George Town, Cayman Islands and returned four days later. You can now watch the footage below.

KAMELOT has announced its highly anticipated return to Europe on the heels of their new album. The trek kicks off in Eindhoven, The Netherlands on November 2, taking the band's spectacular show to over 20 top venues and cities in Europe.

KAMELOT has a flair for the theatrical, as well as their innovative and creative spirit. The tour promises to push the limits of the live concert experience, bringing fans a spectacle each and every night.

"This new tour is yet another step for us and the fans, it's more theatrical and we will be bringing the usual 'in-your-face' attitude our fans deserve," guitarist Thomas Youngblood said in a January interview. "It's an enigmatic theme, a new stage design and even more surprises for the KAMELOT fans!"

KAMELOT's recently completed North American, South American and European tours featured guest singer Fabio Lione of RHAPSODY OF FIRE following the departure of KAMELOT's longtime frontman, Roy Khan. A permanent replacement for Khan has not yet been announced.

KAMELOT returned to Gate Studio in Wolfsburg, Germany last month with Sascha Paeth producing, to begin recording its new album. The production is expected to be several months long and will include special guests, orchestra arrangements and much more.

MAGENTA HARVEST, the Finnish death metal band featuring current and former members of FINNTROLL, CHTHONIAN, MYGRAIN and ...AND OCEANS, has made its second demo, "Apparition Of Ending", available for streaming on MySpace. According to a press release, the new effort sees the group widening its soundscape with the help of Aleksi Virta of FINNTROLL, who "create[d] some epic keyboard stuff" to go along with the material.

"Apparition Of Ending" track listing:

* Apparition Of Ending
* The Unavailing Surpasser
* Carrion Of Men
* One Walks Down

"Apparition Of Ending" will be made available as a physical CD "in a month or two," according to the band.

MAGENTA HARVEST released its debut EP, "A Familiar Room", in February 2011. The four tracks — "Spawn Of Neglect", "Sermon", "Killing Sign" and "A Familiar Room" — can also be streamed on MySpace.

MAGENTA HARVEST was formed in 2005 as a two-man project featuring Timo Kontio (HAVOC UNIT, ...AND OCEANS) on guitar and Janne Manninen (MYGRAIN, ...AND OCEANS) on drums. In 2009, second guitarist Timo Hanhikangas (TOTAL VOMIT EXPERIENCE) and bassist Jonas Frilund (CHTHONIAN) joined the band. Another year went by before Mathias Lillmåns (FINNTROLL, CHTHONIAN) agreed to front the group.

MAGENTA HARVEST states: "[Lillmåns' addition to the band] was easy because we had discussed about this with Mathias already a few years earlier, but the decision wasn't that clear at first because Mathias were quite busy with his other musical activities and we thought also that there was no need for any singer before we had the rest of band in order and also some stuff ready to work with.

"When Mathias joined the band he actually came directly to the studio. Of course he didn't have any lyrics ready then, but luckily we got help from Jan (ex-FINNTROLL). "

MAGENTA HARVEST is:

* Timo Hanhikangas (TOTAL VOMIT EXPERIENCE) - Guitar
* Jonas Frilund (CHTHONIAN) - Bass
* Timo Kontio (HAVOC UNIT, ...AND OCEANS) - Guitar
* Mathias Lillmåns (FINNTROLL, CHTHONIAN) - Vocals
* Janne Manninen (MYGRAIN, ...AND OCEANS) - Drums

Avant-garde black metal act FORMLOFF will release its new album, "Spyhorelandet", in North America on March 12 via Eisenwald. The follow-up to 2006's "Adjø Silo" finds the eclectic Norwegian duo — Bernt Karsten Sannerud and Marius Sjøli – exploring the darker, more atmospheric realms of their past. Several session musicians were recruited to complete the nine-track recording, including two bass players, a drummer and a saxophonist.

Where most black metal revels in stories of fictional deities, benign and malignant, "Spyhorelandet" wallows in everyday themes. Much like the cover art, the music contained within bears the stark truth: When you peel back the skin, no matter how beautiful, what is left is the ugly personal histories each of us carries. Throughout "Spyhorelandet", naked inhabitants of our world are quoted directly. For many, defeat is their best and sometimes only asset.

In celebration of the record's upcoming release, Decibel magazine is currently streaming the title cut, "Spyhorelandet", noting "the track definitely sounds refreshing, as if gulping down fresh glacial streams after a half-decade of parched post-whatever, atavistic too-true-for-school black, or the floating-on-toilet bowl-water bullshit employed by the high-lo mind/musically daft of Liturgy, et al."

"Spyhorelandet" track listing:

01. Det Dritet Som Renner Ut I Ua
02. Harde Ord På Kammerset
03. Spyhorelandet
04. Faen!
05. Mig Og Drit
06. Skævven
07. Kon-Tiki Museet Brenner
08. Den Gamle Jorda
09. Drokkne I Ei Flo Ta Åske

"Spyhorelandet" audio stream:

"The Beginning And The End", a brand new song from the U.K. atmospheric rock band ANATHEMA, is available for free download at this location (e-mail sign-up required). The track comes off the group's new album, "Weather Systems", which will be released on April 24 via The End Records. The follow-up to 2010's "We're Here Because We're Here" was recorded in Liverpool, North Wales and Oslo, each place significant to ANATHEMA past, present and future. The record was produced and mastered by Christer-André Cederberg (ANIMAL ALPHA, IN THE WOODS..., DRAWN), whom ANATHEMA's Daniel Cavanagh has described as "a revelation. His calmness and brilliance has helped to bring about the greatest inter-band chemistry that ANATHEMA have experienced together in their career."

The bar for "Weather Systems" has been set pretty high, but Daniel Cavanagh is certain that the album will exceed these lofty expectations, stating, "it feels like we are at a creative peak right now, and this album reflects that. Everything from the production to the writing to the performances are a step up from our last album."

He continues, "This is not background music for parties. The music is written to deeply move the listener, to uplift or take the listener to the coldest depths of the soul."

The intertwining melodic structures of these profoundly beautiful songs are intensely powerful, yet simple. These are songs that will transport the listener closer to the heart of life, that is to say, to the heart of themselves.

It is also an album of polarity. The play of opposites; light and shade, birth and death, love and fear. The simple truths of life and loss, hope and strength and darker internal themes are all explored here.

ANATHEMA's career stretches back to 1990 when the band formed in Liverpool. Since then the band has embarked on a remarkable musical journey, initially emerging as pioneers of melodic heavy music and continually evolving over the ensuing years, always remaining true to their original goal of creating forward thinking, meaningful, passionate and honest music.

"Weather Systems" will please fans who call for more of Lee Douglas' vocals, as her role within ANATHEMA's brand of alternative, melodic rock has matured to become an integral energy. In this way and more, "Weather Systems" is the sound of a band finding their voice and growing in stature, moving further along their artistic path with a truly stunning musical vision.

Their best ever work? "Not yet," says Daniel, but he does believe that with "Weather Systems" they have surpassed previous glories. "We are pleased and proud of the record and we feel that, alongside the best moments of 'We're Here Because We're Here', this record contains our very best work so far in what is becoming a long career."

"Weather Systems" track listing:

01. Untouchable, Part 1
02. Untouchable, Part 2
03. The Gathering Of The Clouds
04. Lightning Song
05. Sunlight
06. The Storm Before The Calm
07. The Beginning And The End
08. The Lost Child
09. Internal Landscapes

"Carolus Rex", the new album from Swedish metallers SABATON, will be released in Europe on May 25 via Nuclear Blast Records. The lyrics for the CD deal with the Swedish Empire (referring to the Kingdom of Sweden between 1561 and 1721) and are sung entirely in Swedish.

Commented the band: "For the first time ever we have had an expert to help us out with the theme, the well-known Swedish historian Bengt Liljegren. We have also added some extra time in the studio to find the absolute right sound on 'Carolus Rex', and our producer, Peter Tägtgren, says that this album will mark a brand new standard for how a heavy metal album should sound like!"

Liljegren's previously published works include acclaimed biographies of Adolf Hitler and Karl XII. He also appeared in the popular Swedish TV series "Boston Tea Party".

"Carolus Rex" track listing:

01. Dominium Maris Baltici
02. Lejonet Från Norden
03. Gott Mit Uns
04. En Livstid I Krig
05. 1 6 4 8
06. Karolinens Bön
07. Carolus Rex
08. Ett Slag Färgat Rött
09. Poltava
10. Konungens Likfärd
11. Ruina Imperii

The "Carolus Rex" cover artwork can be seen below.

The album's release will be followed by a two-year world tour.

SABATON will embark on a North American headlining tour in the spring. The "Swedish Empire Tour 2012" will kick off on April 10 in Tampa, Florida.

SABATON bassist Pär Sundström was forced to sit out several shows on the Canadian leg of the band's most recent North American tour due to a knee injury.

"World War Live: Battle Of The Baltic Sea", the first-ever live album from SABATON, was released on August 5, 2011 via Nuclear Blast Records.

According to SwedenAbroad.com, Swedish progressive metallers OPETH performed live in Singapore on February 9 at Fort Gate, Fort Canning.

In celebration of OPETH's nomination to the Swedish Music Export Prize and the Swedish Grammis award (Swedish Grammy equivalent), Ingemar Dolfe, who serves as Ambassador of Sweden to Singapore, hosted a reception at the Swedish residence where the band members had the opportunity to meet representatives from the local music industry and music bloggers.

In his welcome speech, Dolfe highlighted Sweden as one of the top five music exporters in the world and applauded the success OPETH had achieved on the world stage. He emphasized that the music industry is important for people's image of Sweden abroad and that the talented musicians and songwriters have helped to put Sweden on the world map.

Check out photos of the concert at this location. Fan-filmed video footage can be seen below.

The third in a series of four clips in which vocalist Mark "Barney" Greenway of British/American grindcore pioneers NAPALM DEATH explains the lyrics and meaning behind each and every song on the band's new album, "Utilitarian", can be seen below. The eight-minute video covers the tracks "Orders of Magnitude", "Think Tank Trials", "Blank Look About Face" and "Leper Colony".

NAPALM DEATH will release its 14th studio album (excluding the cover album "Leaders Not Followers"), "Utilitarian", on February 27 in Europe and February 28 in North America via the band's longtime partner, Century Media Records. The cover artwork (see below) perfectly fits the album's theme and was created by the Danish artist Frode Sylthe, who is also responsible for THE HAUNTED's "rEVOLVEr" artwork.

In anticipation of this release, the band has now launched an "Occupy Napalm" Facebook tab to show their support for the Occupy movement and to provide fans with the latest news about their politically-charged "Utilitarian". With downloadable Occupy-themed stencils and screensavers, plus a special video teaser for "Utilitarian" created by Mitch Harris (guitar, vocals), this Facebook tab is the place to go for everything NAPALM DEATH!

"Utilitarian" track listing

01. Circumspect
02. Errors In The Signals
03. Everyday Pox
04. Protection Racket
05. The Wolf I Feed
06. Quarantined
07. Fall On Their Swords
08. Collision Course
09. Orders Of Magnitude
10. Think Tank Trials
11. Blank Look About Face
12. Leper Colony
13. Nom De Guerre
14. Analysis Paralysis
15. Opposite Repellent
16. A Gag Reflex
17. Aim Without An Aim (bonus track)
18. Everything In Mono (bonus track)

Upon "Utilitarian"'s release, NAPALM DEATH's limited-edition "Analysis Paralysis" seen-inch EP will also be available for purchase at CM Distro in black and clear vinyl. Its B-side includes the exclusive track "Youth Offender", making this a very collectable piece for any diehard NAPALM DEATH fan.

Greenway explains the album title and concept: "After some deliberation, we have decided on 'Utilitarian' as the album title. We generally try to avoid generic titles, and this seemed to have a lot of scope to it. I won't explain the full meaning of utilitarianism here because it's an ethical theory, and as ethical theories go, the depth and debate around it is quite heavy at times. It has a certain 'morality' aspect to it and that isn't something that drives me, so I also certainly have issues with it."

"So, rather than just nail that straight to the mast, of course we wanted to put our own spin on it by suggesting that those (i.e. the utilitarian in us, perhaps) who try to challenge everything, or fight against conventions, well, we go through periods of real self-doubt where we wonder if we're really making a difference. I suppose the conclusion is that, for the sake of all our freedoms, you should never stop, as even the feeling of resistance is at least a signal to those who would like to entirely control and dominate us — meaning everything from our instinctive behavior to our human entitlement to walk the earth unprovoked.

"Regarding the album overall, the final creases should be ironed out fairly soon, and immediately after that, we thought it would be good to top it off with a few U.K. dates. We've been playing one new song ('Quarantined') out on a tour of Canada and it's been well received, so we hope to perhaps throw in another one for now. Either way, we'll be bouncing off the walls again near you very soon."

Fan-filmed video footage of NAPALM DEATH performing two new songs — "Analysis Paralysis" and "Quarantined" — on January 27 at the Vortex club in Siegen, Germany can be seen below.

"Utilitarian" track-by-track - part 3:

"All Tomorrow's Funerals", the new video from the legendary San Francisco Bay Area gore grind act AUTOPSY, can be seen below. The song is the title cut of the band's new collection, which will be released on February 28 via Peaceville Records. This monstrous 22-track effort contains all of AUTOPSY's EPs remastered by the bandmembers themselves, as well as new cuts. Everything from "Retribution For The Dead" to the now-sold-out "The Tomb Within" will be presented on CD and DLP with all original artworks, liner notes from the band and new cover art from renowned artist Matt Cavotta.

"All Tomorrow's Funerals" track listing:

01. All Tomorrow’s Funerals (new track)
02. Broken People (new track)
03. Mauled To Death (new track)
04. Maggot Holes (new track)
05. The Tomb Within
06. My Corpse Shall Rise
07. Seven Skulls
08. Human Genocide
09. Mutant Village
10. Horrific Obsession
11. Feast of the Graveworm
12. Funereality
13. Fiend For Blood
14. Keeper Of Decay
15. Squeal Like A Pig
16. Ravenous Freaks
17. A Different Kind of Mindfuck
18. Dead Hole
19. Retribution For The Dead
20. Destined To Fester
21. In The Grip of Winter
22. Sign of the Corpse

Commented the band: "[The] few new tracks for 'All Tomorrow's Funerals' came out brutal and heavy as hell. Along with the newly written songs, we did a revamped version of 'Mauled To Death', which is the very last of the old songs that needed a proper album quality recording. This album will also contain all four EPs, all of which are out of print, as well as a compilation track from 1991, so the grand total is 22 tracks. It's something we've wanted to do for quite awhile, getting all the loose chunks together in one place rather than having them split up and added on as bonus tracks here and there. Everything has been painstakingly remastered with the band's guidance and sounds better and more crushing than ever. And don't worry, we didn't get carried away and ruin anything! Combine all that with killer new cover art from Matt Cavotta and we've got one hell of release."

AUTOPSY is currently working on all new material for its next album, due out late 2012/early 2013. The band states, "We can definitely promise more of what you would expect from AUTOPSY. There will be no compromise and no holding back. If you want 100% pure death metal brutality, you will certainly get it."

"Macabre Eternal", the first full-length album from AUTOPSY since 1995's "Shitfun", sold around 600 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD landed at position No. 67 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.

"Macabre Eternal" was recorded at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California and includes AUTOPSY's first 10-plus minute song "Sadistic Gratification".

AUTOPSY had previously decided to make an official comeback after working together on two songs for the special 20th-anniversary edition of debut album, "Severed Survival", in late 2008; the band having originally split before the release of its fourth album, "Shitfun", in 1995. A five-song EP, "The Tomb Within", came out last September and saw the original trio of Chris Reifert, Danny Coralles and Eric Cutler joined on bass by Joe Trevisano (ex-ABSCESS).

"Fukushima", a new song from Regina, Saskatchewan-based Canadian extreme progressive metallers INTO ETERNITY, can be streamed below. The track was written about the Fukushima Daiichi, Japan nuclear disaster, a series of equipment failures, nuclear meltdowns, and releases of radioactive materials at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant following the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. The song talks about the struggles involved, and the amazing ability of the Japanese people to overcome such a tragedy.

"Fukushima", which features guest death vocals by Rob Doherty, was engineered, mixed and mastered by Justin Bender at Touchwood Studios in Regina. The artwork for the single was created by Mattias Norén.

INTO ETERNITY recently tapped Amanda Kiernan of the Edmonton, Alberta-based metal band THE ORDER OF CHAOS as their new touring vocalist. Kiernan takes over from Stu Block, who was hired away last year by American metallers ICED EARTH, leaving INTO ETERNITY without a full-time singer.

INTO ETERNITY founder and guitarist Tim Roth told the Regina Leader-Post that he invited Kiernan to Regina to try out for the band after hearing a tape of her performing his songs.

"I had all these guys who told me they could do the songs and hit the notes Stu could. So I had them try out and it was like, 'No way.' Nobody could do it," Roth said. "But Amanda's got this great voice … none of the dudes could hit the notes Stu could, so maybe it makes sense that only a chick can do it. Besides, she already fits in like she's one of the guys."

Kiernan, who said she's been an INTO ETERNITY fan since she was in high school, told the Regina Leader-Post about her audition, "At first, I was pretty intimidated. These guys are rock stars to me. There were times when I was sitting around with the guys, and then all of a sudden I'd get this little burst of energy because I reminded myself that I was sitting with INTO ETERNITY."

INTO ETERNITY's signature sound has often been described as a hybrid of latter-day DEATH and CONTROL DENIED, combined with the technical stylings of DREAM THEATER.

INTO ETERNITY is among the confirmed bands for the 11th edition of the Manitoba Metalfest, set to take place February 24-25 at The Zoo in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

INTO ETERNITY last year released its first new material since 2008 in the form of a new song called "Sandstorm". The track, which is available on iTunes and Bandcamp, features guest death vocals by Rob Doherty and marks the recording debut of Newbury, who was previously known in the western Canadian metal scene as a member of Edmonton, Alberta-based group DEATH TOLL RISING.

"Sandstorm" was written the day the USA took out Osama Bin Laden, and is inspired by the events that transpired.

INTO ETERNITY's last album, "The Incurable Tragedy", came out in 2008 via Century Media.

"To Smoulder", the new video from Hungarian extreme metallers EKTOMORF, can be seen below. The song comes off the band's very special "acoustic" album, "The Acoustic", which will be released on February 17 via AFM Records.

"The Acoustic" contains cover versions (LYNYRD SKYNYRD's "Simple Man" and "Folsom Prison Blues" by JOHNNY CASH), re-recorded EKTOMORF classics ("I Know Them", "Redemption", "Who Can I Trust", "Stigmatized" and "I'm In Hate"), plus five brand new tracks, written specially for this release. All artwork for the CD was created by Tim Eckhorst, who previously did illustrations for the Wacken Open Air festival and various other bands.

"The Acoustic" track listing:

01. I Know Them
02. I'm In Hate
03. Be Free
04. Redemption
05. Simple Man
06. To Smoulder
07. Folsom Prison Blues
08. Again
09. Through Your Eyes
10. Fate
11. Stigmatized
12. Who Can I Trust

EKTOMORF's last album, "Redemption", was released on December 17, 2010 via AFM Records. The CD was recorded at Antfarm studios in Århus, Denmark with producer Tue Madsen, who has previously worked with DARK TRANQUILLITY, THE HAUNTED and HEAVEN SHALL BURN, among others.

"Birds Of Sulphur", a brand new song from French progressive technical death metallers GOROD, can be streamed in the YouTube clip below. The song comes off the band's fourth full-length album, "A Perfect Absolution", will be released in the U.S. on May 8 via Unique Leader Records (March in Europe through Listenable Records). The CD was mixed by producer Frédéric "Elmobo" Motte, who oversaw the recording of the drums, bass and vocals, while all guitars were tracked by GOROD's mastermind Matthieu Pascal at his Bud Records Studio. The mix and the mastering were done at Elmobo's Conkrete Studio by Pascal and Elmobo.

The lyrical concept of "A Perfect Absolution" is based on the history of Kievan Rus during the 10th century.

In the year 945, Igor, King of Kiev, was killed while collecting a "tribute" when he visited a neighbor pagan tribe (the Derevlians) who lives in the forest. He left a widow, Olga, who avenged him in an extremely harsh manner before converting to Orthodox Christianity.

"A Perfect Absolution" features guest guitar solos by Christian Muenzner (OBSCURA) and Mike Keene (THE FACELESS).

"A Perfect Absolution" track listing:

01. Birds Of Sulphur
02. Sailing Into The Earth
03. Elements And Spirit
04. The Axe Of God
05. 5000 At The Funeral
06. Carved In The Wind
07. Varangian Paradise
08. Tribute Of Blood

GOROD will join OBSCURA for the "Omnivium Europe 2012" tour in March/April. Also appearing on the bill are SPAWN OF POSSESSION and EXIVIOUS.

GOROD's last full-length album, "Process Of A New Decline", came out in 2009 via Listenable Records. The follow-up to 2006's "Leading Vision" marked the recording debut of GOROD's new drummer, Samuel Santiago.

GOROD's "Transcendence" EP came out last spring. The disc included a 15-minute-long new song, one acoustic track, a CYNIC cover and two re-recorded songs from the band's first two albums.

Chicago's DIRGE WITHIN will release its sophomore full-length album, "There Will Be Blood", on April 10 via Rocket Science Ventures/THC: Music. The CD was recorded at Mercenary Studios in Zion, Illinois with engineer Scott Creekmore and producer Ari Mihalopoulos and was mixed at Inner Light Studios with Ari and DIRGE WITHIN guitarist Shaun Glass.

A four-and-a-half-minute YouTube clip containing audio samples of the "There Will Be Blood" album songs "For My Enemies", "There Will Be Blood", "Vultures", "Without You", "As We Prey", "Memories" and "Apathy" can be found below.

Guitarist Matt Szlachta recently left DIRGE WITHIN to continue to focus on his passion for teaching guitar to his students and for other personal reasons. He has since been replaced by Chuck Wepfer.

"There's no bad blood at all, man," said vocalist Jeremy "Jerms" Genske. "We're all still good buds and very close. His head and heart just weren't in it anymore, and he wanted to go back to teaching. He really loves it, and that's where he felt he had to be."

DIRGE WITHIN's forthcoming album will be the band's first to feature drummer Frankie Harchut and bassist Jeff Paulick (bassist/vocalist of LAZARUS A.D.), who has been filling on bass duties on tour with DIRGE WITHIN.

"I am very excited about the new songs we've written for this new album, and that people will be able to check out my style of playing a little more," stated Harchut. "We worked our asses off writing these new songs, a lot of long nights, and I'm personally stoked to have our fans hear 'em. I really think they're gonna be into it." Jeremy added, "The songs are heavier, smarter, and more melodic in parts. Some are even a little slower! There were no rules when we were writing at all. No holds barred. Whatever came out, came out. And I think it's gonna make a really good, well-rounded metal album."

DIRGE WITHIN's "Absolution" EP was made available on August 16, 2011. The three-song effort gives fans a taste of what's to come from the band's forthcoming sophomore album.

DIRGE WITHIN's debut album, "Force Fed Lies", came out on September 1, 2009 via E1 Music.

Queens, New York-based deathcore act EMMURE will release its fifth full-length album, "Slave To The Game", on April 10 via Victory Records. The CD was recorded with producer Joey Sturgis (ASKING ALEXANDRIA, THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA), who previously worked with the band on last year's "Speaker Of The Dead".

Commented EMMURE vocalist Frankie Palmeri: "Victory Records is the big reason why EMMURE’s been able to continuously connect to our fans, and our fans are the number one reason why we’re still here today and continue to do what we do."

"Slave To The Game" will mark the recording debut of EMMURE's new drummer, Mark Costillo, who has previously played with BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME and BURY YOUR DEAD.

Commented EMMURE guitarist Jesse Ketive: "Mark Costillo has been a good friend for a few years now.

"Mark approached us as he heard through the grapevine that EMMURE needed a helping hand, so at that point I chatted with him about possibly recording our new CD and playing some shows. After jamming the set a few times, we all decided that Mark was the perfect fit for us and undoubtedly should be our new drummer. He is the utmost professional and his work on the new effort in going to really help us bring everything to another level. Everyone better watch out."

A teaser video for "Slave To The Game" can be seen below. Also available is the CD artwork.

EMMURE will support "Slave To The Game" with a full North American tour this spring, hitting 31 cities with WE CAME AS ROMANS and more beginning in March. The band was recently added to this year's Bamboozle lineup for the May 19 date.

EMMURE is:

Frankie Palmeri - Vocals
Jesse Ketive - Guitar
Mike Mulholland - Guitar
Mark Davis - Bass
Mark Costillo - Drums

"Speaker Of The Dead" sold around 10,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 68 on The Billboard 200 chart. The group's previous CD, 2009's "Felony", opened with 7,800 units to land at No. 68.

A PALE HORSE NAMED DEATH, the new band featuring Brooklyn, New York native Sal Abruscato — who played drums on three TYPE O NEGATIVE albums ("Slow, Deep & Hard", "Origin Of The Feces", "Bloody Kisses"), as well as four LIFE OF AGONY releases ("River Runs Red", "Ugly", "River Runs Again", "Broken Valley") — on guitar and vocals, played a headlining show on February 10 at Progresja in Warsaw, Poland . The concert can now be seen in its entirety below.

A PALE HORSE NAMED DEATH recently parted ways with guitarist Bobby Hambel due to scheduling conflicts with his main band, BIOHAZARD, and replaced him with Eddie Heedles.

A PALE HORSE NAMED DEATH last year inked a worldwide recording deal with Steamhammer/SPV for the release of the group's debut album, "And Hell Will Follow Me".

A PALE HORSE NAMED DEATH made its live debut on February 20, 2011 at the Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, New Jersey as the support act for MONSTER MAGNET and SEVENTH VOID.

Abruscato previously stated about A PALE HORSE NAMED DEATH's debut CD, "This is my first album where I composed and play all instruments, including vocals. Along with co-producer/guitarist Matt Brown (SEVENTH VOID), we have accomplished a very fresh sound and it includes guest appearances by Bobby Hambel, Keith Caputo (LIFE OF AGONY) and Ulrich Krieger (LOU REED).

"It is the darkest music I have ever written and recorded in my life, back to my sinister roots and I believe the fans will learn a completely different side of me."

For more information, visit www.apalehorsenameddeath.com.

French brutal djent metal mongers OUTCAST are giving away an exclusive free digital EP entitled "Circles Of Motion" via the French webzine Violent Solutions.

"Circles Of Motion" features two brand new tracks from OUTCAST's forthcoming third album, "Awaken The Reason"; "Allegiance", from the band's second CD, "Self-Injected Reality" (featuring a guest appearance by Jochem Jacobs of TEXTURES), a a cover of the GOJIRA song "Remembrance", recorded live in 2005; and a studio instrumental, "David Winkle's Terrible Adventure". According to a press release, "the latter track is pushing the idea of an instrumental Wagnerian-like composition to its limits as no musical idea is repeated twice, yet building up a story with a standard beginning, its developing stage and an ending. It's going against the usual and common song structure." The band states, "It's a track that you have to accept as it plays by, without much thought. It tells about David's growth , often mentioned as 'Commander Winky', into a sort of 'Jackass' hero (could also be a character in 'The X Files' series). This track was written with Frank Zappa's trademark songwriting in mind, yet obviously displaying more violent and progressive sounds."

"Circles Of Motion" track listing:

01. Abysmal (from upcoming LP, "Awaken The Reason")
02. Remembrance (exclusive EP track – live 2005 GOJIRA cover)
03. Elements (from upcoming LP, "Awaken The Reason")
04. David Winkle's Terrible Adventure (exclusive EP track)
05. Allegiance (from "Self-Injected Reality" – feat. Jochem Jacobs of TEXTURES)

"Awaken The Reason" will be released in Europe on February 20 via Listenable Records. According to a press release, the CD will be the group's "strongest and most solid recording so far," which "genuinely capture[s] the band's musical madness." It features "a modern-sounding-yet-organic production spiced up by some frenzy extreme guitar and drums assaults."

Commmented OUTCAST: "'Awaken The Reason' was recorded between January and September 2010 at The Artist The Office Studio. It was mixed at Split Second Sound Studio by Jochem Jacobs (TEXTURES) in October/November 2010 and then mastered at West West Side Music by Alan Douches (MASTODON, THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN). The album was composed between 2006 and 2009, mixing various influences, [including] Steve Vai, GOJIRA, DREAM THEATER, DEVIN TOWNSEND, TEXTURES and SIKTH. Our main goal was to stay away from traditional death music and produce a progressive album with personnal signature. Eighty percent of the album was composed by Nicolas [Soulat, guitar] but everyone was at work to improve melodies and songwriting. That's why the album sounds like a concept album even if it's not. This way of thinking music mixed with several aproaches of riffing and soloing constitute, in our opinion, the main guideline and would confer strong marks to the listener. So our minds were opened and focused on originality using old and new references in the whole metal industry."

Regarding how the new album compares to OUTCAST's earlier efforts, the band said, "The more obvious difference between 'Awaken The Reason' and 'Self Injected Reality', our previous album, is the production, which gives more space and organic feelings to the composition. The composition and songs themselves are more colored and progressive, more subtle in the ambiences are not just full-rooted in death metal."

OUTCAST's second album, "Self Injected Reality", was released in September 2008 via Thundering Records. The follow-up to 2005's "First Call / Last Warning" was recorded at Unmuted Studio with producer Aurélien Mauro (SKELETON CREW) and features guest appearances by Jeff Waters (ANNIHILATOR), Jochem Jacobs (TEXTURES) and Filip Leo (CORPORATION 187).

OUTCAST is:

Mathieu Santin: Drums
Clément Mauro: Bass
Wilfried Fagnon: Vocals
Nicolas Soulat: Guitar
Jean-François Di Rienzo: Guitar

Canadian musician/producer Devin Townsend (STRAPPING YOUNG LAD, STEVE VAI, LAMB OF GOD, DARKEST HOUR, GWAR) played four shows in London in November 2011 dedicated to his tetralogy album concept — a great journey through Devin's different states of musical moods — which he started in 2009 with the albums "Addicted" (2009) and "Ki" (2009) and finished with last year's "Deconstruction" and "Ghost". The concerts were professionally recorded and filmed for a unique four-disc DVD release, which he has decided to call "By A Thread". Devin writes on Twitter, "Reviewing the first real cuts of the London show DVDs... Surprisingly awesome!"

DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT released "Contain Us", a special tribute box set for its epic quadrology ("Ki", "Addicted", "Deconstruction" and "Ghost") on November 29, 2011 in North America. "Contain Us" was designed and created by Man Alive's Tom Bejgrowicz (who also conceived the classic and must-have MISFITS "Coffin" box-set) and is the ultimate collection for every diehard Devin fan. The standard box-set is priced at $80.00 while the hand-numbered box with the 10" and a lithograph drawn and autographed by Devin is $100.

Devin previously stated, "I love being able to make huge projects. In this age, it's essential."

Reunited '80s/'90s metallers HADES have digitally released their first 45 rpm single from 1982. "Deliver Us From Evil" featured HADES members Dan Lorenzo (guitar), Tom Coombs (drums), Paul Smith (vocals) and Joe Casilli (guitar). Lorenzo and Casilli split bass duties on the songs "Girls Will Be Girls" and "Social Disease".

Stated Lorenzo, "I wrote the music to these songs while I was in the 11th grade. Paul Smith wrote the lyrics to 'Girls Will Be Girls' a year or two later. The songs sound pretty funny now, but at the time I thought they sounded like AC/DC and IRON MAIDEN.

"HADES printed up 1,000 singles in 1982 of 'Deliver Us From Evil'. There are bootleg copies in Germany that feature our autographs on the cover."

The songs will be on iTunes in a few days. For now, they are available exclusively at CDbaby.

MASSACRE, the resurrected 1990s Florida-based death metal band featuring Terry Butler (DEATH, MASSACRE, SIX FEET UNDER, DENIAL FIEND, OBITUARY) and Frederick "Rick Rozz" DeLillo (MANTAS, DEATH, MASSACRE, M INC.), will enter CGM Studios in Altamonte Springs, Florida on February 17 with Tim Vazquez at the helm to record two brand new songs: "Succumb To Rapture" and "Back From Beyond".

MASSACRE played "Succumb To Rapture" for the first time during the group's January 14 headlining concert at The Brass Mug in Tampa, Florida. Video footage of the performance can be seen below (courtesy of Brutal Broadcast).

The Brass Mug show marked the first-ever appearance by MASSACRE's new lineup, which consists of Butler and DeLillo alongside the band's latest additions, Mike Mazzonetto (drums; M INC., PAIN PRINCIPLE) and Ed Webb (vocals; DIABOLIC, GENERICHRIST, DESTINED TO RUIN).

MASSACRE recently canceled its European tour in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the band's classic "From Beyond" album. Dubbed "Army Of Darkness", the trek was slated to take place in January/February 2012 and was supposed to feature additional performances from MACABRE and MASTER.

"From Beyond" was recently reissued as a limited-edition digipak CD via Earache Records.The long-out-of-print album was made available on CD with four bonus EP tracks and comes housed in a digipak with extended artwork and a fold-out poster.

MASSACRE will perform at this year's edition of the Wacken Open Air festival, set to take place August 2-4 in Wacken, Germany.

MASSACRE's current touring lineup is as follows:

* Mike Mazzonetto (M INC., PAIN PRINCIPLE) - Drums
* Ed Webb (DIABOLIC, GENERICHRIST, DESTINED TO RUIN) - Vocals
* Frederick "Rick Rozz" DeLillo – Guitar
* Terry Butler - Bass

A different version of MASSACRE — consisting of DENIAL FIEND members Sam Williams (guitar), Curt Beeson (drums; NASTY SAVAGE), along with Terry Butler, Steve Swanson (guitar) and Kam Lee (vocals; MASSACRE, DEATH, MANTAS) — completed a European tour in late 2007.

Welsh metallers BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE have entered a Thailand studio to begin recording their fourth album. The band's guitarist/vocalist Matt Tuck tweeted earlier today (Wednesday, February 15), "Moose [drummer Michael Thomas] [is] tracking the first song right now!! Sounds incredible!!"

BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE released a deluxe CD/DVD edition of its third full-length album, "Fever", titled "Fever Tour Edition", in February 2011. The set featured three new songs recorded live at Xfm radio in the U.K. ("Fever", "The Last Fight" and "Bittersweet Memories") and a DVD of "Your Betrayal", "Fever" and "Waking the Demon", recorded live from Graspop Metal Meeting 2010 in Dessel, Belgium. The DVD also included videos for "Your Betrayal", "The Last Fight" and "The Making of The Last Fight" as well as a BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE track-by-track commentary of "Fever".

"Fever" sold 71,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 3 on The Billboard 200 chart. "Fever" also landed in the Top Five in Australia, the U.K., Japan, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

In a September 2011 interview with Lithium Magazine, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE guitarist Michael "Padge" Paget stated about "Fever", "As opposed to the other albums, this is right up there. This is definitely where we wanted to go as a band and it's definitely the right record when it comes to maturing. It's the third album; it's definitely where we wanted to go and has taken us where we want to be. It's ticking all the boxes so far and hopefully the next record does the same thing . . . We strive to write great songs and I think 'Fever' comes across as a great album, not just songs, and a complete album. You can sit down and listen to the whole thing as opposed to 'Scream, Aim, Fire'. We tried to take it back to the roots to the 'Poison' sort of thing on the new album, if you know what I mean."

Norwegian hard rockers WIG WAM will release a new single, "Wall Street", on February 24 via Frontiers Records. The track is taken from the band's forthcoming album with the same title, to be made available this spring.

"Wall Street" is the story of a musician who trades his guitar for a company brand to make his fortune in the stock market. According to a press release, "It's got the recipe of a great WIG WAM 'smash hit' and is everything you expect from these guys!"

WIG WAM's third studio album, "Non Stop Rock 'N' Roll", came out in 2010 and was the band's first LP to be released simultaneously in Europe and Japan. The effort was certified gold in Norway, and saw WIG WAM touring in support of it all around the world, including in USA, Japan and Europe.

Reformed heavy metal legends ACCEPT will release their new album, "Stalingrad", on April 6 via Nuclear Blast Records. The CD was once again helmed by British producer Andy Sneap (MEGADETH, EXODUS, NEVERMORE, ARCH ENEMY), who worked on the band's critically acclaimed comeback effort, "Blood Of The Nations".

"Stalingrad"will be made available in the following formats:

* Limited CD+DVD
* CD
* 2LP (red) in gatefold
* 2LP (white/red) in gatefold - exclusive Nuclear Blast mailorder edition

"Stalingrad" track listing:

01. Hung, Drawn And Quartered
02. Stalingrad
03. Hellfire
04. Flash To Bang Time
05. Shadow Soldiers
06. Revolution
07. Against The World
08. Twist Of Fate
09. The Quick And The Dead
10. Never Forget (bonus track)
11. The Galley

DVD contents:

Official Bootleg

Live at Bang Your Head!!! 2011

01. Princess Of The Dawn
02. Pandemic
03. No Shelter

Live at Masters Of Rock 2010

04. Teutonic Terror
05. The Abyss

Video clips

06. Teutonic Terror
07. Pandemic

Commented ACCEPT guitarist Wolf Hoffman: "ACCEPT and Andy Sneap have the perfect synergy. This was so clear with 'Blood Of The Nations' and we are excited to continue on that path. Andy is not only an amazing and prolific producer but also a very good friend who has long become a member of the ACCEPT family."

Regarding the musical direction of ACCEPT's next album, Hoffmann told The Rock Pit last year, "We're just gonna have the same attitude, the approach; we're just gonna do more of the same, you know, without it being the same. More similar-style stuff, hopefully fresh new ideas. And I mean, we're not gonna… The intention is not to change it right now. I mean, why would we? . . . But I have to say, it's always easier said than done. It's incredibly difficult to write songs that are sort of reminiscent of the past but they're not, you know, rip-offs of your own music. That sounds incredibly very simple, but it's really not, especially if you have a sort of history of 15 albums or whatever we have. Then there are always similarities that you have to avoid. It can't be too close, but it can't be too far away from it. So it's a pretty fine line that you have to walk sometimes, but, you know, hopefully we'll manage again."

ACCEPT's July 15, 2011 performance at last year's edition of the Bang Your Head!!! festival in Balingen, Germany marked the band's return to a five-piece format after the group spent a couple of months touring as a quartet due to the fact that guitarist Herman Frank suffered broken ribs and a punctured lung in a stage fall on May 6, 2011 in San Antonio.

"Blood Of The Nations" was released in North America on September 14, 2010 via Nuclear Blast Records. Recorded at Sneap's Backstage Studio in Derbyshire, England, the CD marked the debut of the band's latest addition, vocalist Mark Tornillo (ex-TT QUICK).

ACCEPT 2012 is:

Wolf Hoffmann: Guitar
Peter Baltes: Bass
Herman Frank: Guitar
Mark Tornillo: Vocals
Stefan Schwarzmann: Drums

Radio Metal recently conducted an interview with singer Simone Simons of Dutch symphonic metallers EPICA. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Radio Metal: Nowadays, financial crisis is so frightening that even musicians talk about it in their music. Do you think it's one of the most important crisis we have faced?

Simone: As a musician, you feel it, because a lot of people don't buy records anymore, they just download them. The government is also investing less money in cultural events. So we do feel it. In certain countries, we have to think about how much to charge for a ticket. Yesterday, I talked to somebody from Greece, and he asked me if we were going to lower the price of our tickets, because people can't pay for them anymore. It's a sad thing to think that money is so important and can destroy so much. Hopefully it won't, but it could mean the end of the European Union. Countries like Germany, for example, are investing a lot of money in Greece to get them back on track, but it's a complicated mess!

Radio Metal: What do you think about the news regarding the end of [file-sharing web site] Megaupload?

Simone: I think it's a good thing. But I'm on Twitter, and I read some retweets. Somebody wrote that a child molester will get seven years in jail, and somebody who uploaded music or movies will have to go to jail for fifteen years. It shouldn't be the case. I know that the uploading and downloading thing is a huge world, which is affecting a lot of people. But it's still not ethically wrong as molesting a child, for example. That has an impact on a smaller number of people, of course, but it's something you'll live with for the rest of your life. Piracy is only about economics. It's about missing out on money because people are downloading stuff, but it's not as serious as molesting a child. That should be punished by a hundred years in jail. Piracy should be punished in a different way.

Radio Metal: A lot of people, including musicians, say that this web site was a good thing, because if people could download music for free, the artists would see more people at their shows. In a way, it helped the band to gain notoriety in the world.

Simone: In certain countries, a lot of people just can't afford to buy the record, but they do come to the shows. In Mexico, for example, there's a huge illegal market. When I was walking through the city, I saw a copy of an EPICA album right between the biggest pop singers in the world. I thought it was funny, I even took a photo of it. You can try and fight against it, but in those countries, the illegal market is huge. But then, the people come to the shows. You can tour there and have amazing shows. In the end, it's not like people won't come to the shows because they have the record at home! Those people like to go to concerts and those concerts are always pretty amazing.

Radio Metal: So in a way, it can be a good thing?

Simone: In these countries, it's not a bad thing. But economically successful countries in Europe — not all of them, but the majority — should not download. I don't want to say downloading is ever a good thing. It's just a problem we try to fight. I have to admit I've downloaded a couple of songs myself, to see if I liked the music, but then I bought the record. Nowadays, everybody's got an iPhone or an iPod, and you can just download the music online for a lower price. Everyone wants to have the music on their mp3 players anyway, but the collectors want to have the real deal, the CD and the booklet and stuff. I download a lot of music on iTunes. You pay something like seven euros less, which I think it's cool. And it's legal.

Radio Metal: The other side of the coin regarding the closing of Megaupload is that people are complaining about the attempt against their freedom. Do you think that people are like children? They're given too much and now they're used to listening to music for free, without paying the artist?

Simone: I think because everybody's on the Internet, and the music is also on the Internet, it doesn't feel like you're actually stealing. People don't see it the same way as going to a store, putting a CD up their sleeve and leaving the shop. But it is basically the same. Hopefully people will buy the record and come to the shows. I hope people will finally see it as stealing. Even some family members or friends of mine, they're downloading, and I tell them it's wrong. They say, "Yeah, but it's on the Internet, it doesn't have a price tag on it." Not everybody understands, and teenagers are really stubborn anyway! They do whatever they want and are very selfish. It's not only about how teenagers act, it's about how parents deal with it as well. For me, as a musician, it's very important for people to know that downloading is illegal and it's affecting the musicians in the end. Everybody thinks, "It's just me," but it's not. The whole downloading issue is like a plague.

Read the entire interview from Radio Metal.

"Storm The Sorrow" performance footage:

SLAYER drummer Dave Lombardo has revealed via his Facebook page that he and the band's guitarist, Kerry King, "have seven kick-ass songs" written for the group's next studio album. He adds, "You're going to soil your pants!!"

In a recent interview with Artisan News, King stated about the progress of the songwriting sessions for SLAYER's next album, "We go back out [on the road] May 25 in Europe, then we'll be back in the States, of course. Hopefully we'll get in the studio to record [the new CD] before then, 'cause it's time-consuming. We're looking to get in March and April, so hopefully be done [recording] by the time [we have to go back out on tour]."

Speaking to U.K.'s Metal Hammer magazine, Kerry described the new material as "really refreshing and energetic." He added, "One thing I can tell you is that the songs are shaping up in the classic SLAYER style. You won't be hearing us doing acoustic stuff. [laughs]"

Kerry is hoping that Greg Fidelman, who co-produced 2009's "World Painted Blood" with Rick Rubin, will be at the helm for the new album. "That's the idea, anyway," Kerry told Metal Hammer. "But it all depends on his availability. . . I don't think we'll spend long in the studio this time, either. We're gonna do it old-school style and get things done fast. In fact, we are already ahead of schedule. The album will be ready for a summer release. But whether it's put out at that time is down to the record label [American]. They might have other plans. But we want it with the fans during the summer."

King also spoke about Hanneman's current state of health. Jeff in January 2011 contracted necrotizing fasciitis, likely caused by a spider bite, and has been undergoing surgeries, skin grafts and intense rehab since. Not only did this effectively put him out of action for the whole year, it came close to killing him. Thankfully, he's making a good recovery.

"Yeah, we could go onstage right now with him and do 'Mandatory Suicide'," Kerry said. "If that was the only song in our set, Jeff would be fine. But he's slowly getting back to full fitness and by the time we're ready to tour, he'll be right back onstage with us."

He added, "We always said we'd never entertain the idea of doing an album without [Jeff]. But there he is, getting those riffs ready!"

SLAYER will perform its classic 1986 album "Reign In Blood" in its entirety at All Tomorrow's Parties' second U.K. "I'll Be Your Mirror" event, which is scheduled to take place n the weekend of May 25-27 at Alexandra Palace, London, England. A strange move, considering they've done this several times before.

"The organizers asked us to do it! If it were left up to me, then I'd have turned it down, simply because it's been done, so why repeat it?" King said. "But it's such a classic album that people always ask us to do it."

SLAYER's latest album, "World Painted Blood", sold 41,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 12 on The Billboard 200 chart.