Finnish power metallers CELESTY have released the following statement:

"We are sorry to announce that CELESTY will go to indefinite hiatus. During the time when fifth-album songs have been in progress, there has been mixed feelings in the air for a longer period of time now. Situation in the band has come to the point where only solution is to take a break. Will that break be a year or ten, we don't know, but this is the only way to take the time that we need. This decision is mutual by all members of the band."

"Vendetta", the fourth full-length album from CELESTY, was released in March 2009 via Spinefarm Records. The CD, which contained eleven tracks and over sixty minutes of music, featured guest appearances by Stephan Lill (VANDEN PLAS) and Elias Viljanen (SONATA ARCTICA). Suvi-Tuuli Dietrich (ESCAPE) contributed female vocals to the album.

Drummer Mike Portnoy (DREAM THEATER, AVENGED SEVENFOLD), bassist Billy Sheehan (STEVE VAI, DAVID LEE ROTH), guitarist Tony MacAlpine (neo classical-metal style, STEVE VAI) and keyboardist Derek Sherinian (DREAM THEATER, PLANET X, BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION) performed yesterday (Saturday, January 14) at the twenty-third annual Guitar Center's Drum-Off, the nationwide search for the next great undiscovered drummer, at Club Nokia in Los Angeles, California. You can now watch video footage of their performance below.

In addition to all the incredible performances, the night featured the Drum Legend induction of drumming greats Peter Criss (KISS) and Terry Bozzio (FRANK ZAPPA, MISSING PERSONS). The Drum Legend induction honors icons in the drum world that have paved the way for today's drummers. The award is given to those that have made significant contributions to the craft and have hugely influenced players by their style and illustrious musical career. Past inductees include John Bonham, Billy Cobham, Nicko McBrain, Steve Smith, Dave Garibaldi, Alan White, and Greg Errico.

The Drum-Off champion won the grand prize package, valued at nearly $50,000, which includes: $25,000 cash, a feature in Modern Drummer magazine, 2012 NAMM VIP Experience, recording time at the Converse Rubber Track Studios and thousands of dollars in gear and endorsement deals from the drum world's top manufacturers.

Original KISS drummer Peter Criss was inducted last night (Saturday, January 14) as part of the latest Drum Legend class during the grand finals of Guitar Center's annual Drum-Off at Club Nokia in Los Angeles, California.

The Drum Legend induction honors icons in the drum world that have paved the way for today's drummers. The award is given to those that have made significant contributions to the craft and have hugely influenced players by their style and illustrious musical career. Past inductees include John Bonham, Billy Cobham, Nicko McBrain, Steve Smith, Dave Garibaldi, Alan White, and Greg Errico.

Video footage of Peter's induction can be seen below.

Born Peter George Criscoula on December 20, 1945, in Brooklyn, New York, Criss got his start drumming after discovering legendary jazz drummer Gene Krupa and such '60s rockers as THE ROLLING STONES.

"Finally, when I got into rock 'n' roll drumming, I liked Charlie Watts [of THE ROLLING STONES]," said Criss in a 1997 interview. He also cited CREAM's Ginger Baker, THE WHO's Keith Moon and LED ZEPPELIN's John Bonham as big influences on his playing.

QUEENSRŸCHE drummer Scott Rockenfield was personally invited to visit Alan Menken and his team for an entire week during a recent recording session on a new film that Alan was hired to compose the orchestral music for. Alan has composed the music for such blockbusters as "Beauty And The Beast", "Aladdin", "Hercules", "Tangled", and many many more. He has won more Academy Awards than any living composer in history.

Scott spent the entire five days sitting directly beside Alan and his crew while listening and watching as his team of professional orchestrators and engineers captured this most incredible sounding music score.

"I had an amazing time and thoroughly enjoyed his talents and personality," Scott said. "He was most gracious and treated everyone with respect and kindness and has a great sense of humor. I was honored for the opportunity to get to know him and see how much he thoroughly enjoys his work."

Australian black/death metallers DENOUNCEMENT PYRE are preparing to enter the studio to record their second full-length album, to be titled "Almighty Arcanum". The effort will feature seven new tracks and will be released later in the year on both CD and vinyl formats by Hells Headbangers Records.

DENOUNCEMENT PYRE will return to the stage in June to perform live for the first time in half a decade as part of the Evil Invaders festival in Sydney, Australia. More shows will be announced soon.

DENOUNCEMENT PYRE's full-length debut, "World Cremation", came out in 2010 via Hells Headbangers.

German deathcore band SCIENCE OF SLEEP has inked a deal with Bastardized Recordings. The band's first EP, "Affliction" — which was originally made available last September — will be re-released later this year with a bonus track, to be followed by SCIENCE OF SLEEP's full-length debut.

Formed two years ago in the German city of Braunschweig, SCIENCE OF SLEEP "clearly break out of line and deliver a new era of brutality, blast beats and blood-freezing vocals," according to the band's official bio. "The passion the five guys carry through every moment of their bandlife and over 100 live shows in the first two years show everybody the strong will to reach a higher level."

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/SOSMETAL.

The Live Nation store is taking pre-orders for vinyl tour collector's edition of VAN HALEN's new album, "A Different Kind Of Truth". The double gatefold vinyl album includes all 13 songs on two LPs plus custom artwork. This edition also comes with the Deluxe MP3 Edition of the album which will be delivered on the release date for pre-order customers. The deluxe MP3 also includes "The Downtown Sessions", four acoustic video performances on Quicktime .mov files — "Panama", "You And Your Blues (intro)", "You And Your Blues" and "Beautiful Girls".

The exclusive vinyl album is only available in the U.S. and Canada and will ship on or around February 24, depending on the manufacturing schedule.

VAN HALEN released "Tattoo", the first single and video from its upcoming CD, on Tuesday (January 10). The song itself said to be is a rewrite of a very old VAN HALEN track "Down In Flames", which the band used to play in its late Seventies club days but never recorded for any of its albums. The new version has a slightly different arrangement and fresh lyrics from singer David Lee Roth.

According to The Pulse Of Radio, at least two other songs on the new record, "She's The Woman" and "Bullethead", date back to the band's early days as well. "She's The Woman" appeared on a 1976 VAN HALEN demo produced by KISS bassist Gene Simmons, and was performed by the group last week during its show at the tiny Cafe Wha? in New York City.

Guitarist Eddie Van Halen has said in numerous interviews over the years that he has "10 albums" worth of unreleased material in his archives from throughout the band's career.

Ironically, it was former singer Sammy Hagar who hinted that VAN HALEN might be digging into the vaults on the new album. Hagar recently told Rolling Stone, "I heard this record is old outtakes from the old days. I mean, stuff from before I even joined the band . . . Because from what I heard, they aren't working with new material. Ed and Dave didn't actually write new songs."

VAN HALEN will kick off a North American tour on February 18 in Louisville, Kentucky. KOOL AND THE GANG will open for VAN HALEN on selected tour stops.

"A Different Kind Of Truth", will arrive on February 7 via Interscope.

Greek melodic metallers FIREWIND, who are led by current OZZY OSBOURNE guitarist Gus G., performed two brand new songs — "Wall Of Sound" and "Losing My Mind" — during their headlining performance last night (Saturday, January 14) at the Fuzz Club in Athens, Greece. Fan-filmed video footage of the concert can be seen below.

FIREWIND recently signed a new worldwide deal (excluding North America) with their longtime partners Century Media Records. The band is currently in the studio in its hometown of Thessaloniki recording a new studio album, to be titled "Few Against Many", for a late spring release.

Commented Gus: "We're currently completing work on our upcoming FIREWIND studio album, which is coming out killer! I think this album will turn a lot of heads and I can't wait for you to hear it!

"Whether I've been working with Century Media on FIREWIND since 2005 or earlier projects since 2002, we've always had a winning team. Together we've achieved fantastic things in the band's career and the proof is the ever growing fanbase and popularity of FIREWIND.

"When I explained them my vision and ideas for the new album, they convinced me they're the right partner to take this to a new level!"

Added Antje Lange, Century Media's European label manager: "We feel very honoured to work with Gus G. further on and play our part in the fast development of this outstanding Greek talent.

"FIREWIND is one of the few fast-growing bands in their genre. They have the ability to write excellent songs, Gus G. is a true magician on guitars and their live performance is breath-taking. Anyone out there asking for more?"

In a 2011 interview with Oregon Music News, Gus stated about the relative lack of promotion in North America for FIREWIND's latest studio album, "Days Of Defiance", "If were up to me, I would have released the album after I would be available to tour behind it. This was the label's idea who wanted to the album out. Our current label, Century Media, wanted it released. They said, 'We paid you to record the album and we want the masters.' I said, 'Okay, here you go.' I didn't feel good about it. This is the politics of the music business, I tried to make the label see that sure we'd get some press due to my involvement in Ozzy's band, but we would not be able to tour. Waiting 10 months to tour behind an album isn't a good business."

When asked if there were any plans for FIREWIND to re-release "Days Of Defiance" as an "expanded" edition to coincide with the band's recent North American headlining tour, Gus said, "We have thought about it but it goes back to the politics with our label. This was our last album for Century Media [under the previous deal] and unless you're signed for a long-term contract, they aren't going to do much for you. So for FIREWIND, this time around, there wasn't any creative marketing behind the album. It's sad, because I do feel that it's our best album to date and the fans absolutely love it. Unfortunately, there could have better promotion and Century Media should have waited a few months to release it, but that's record label politics for you."

"Days Of Defiance" landed at position No. 53 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. The CD was released in North America on October 26, 2010 (one day earlier internationally) via Century Media.

Greek metallers NIGHTFALL have commenced work on a new album for a late 2012 release. The follow-up to 2010's "Astron Black And The Thirty Tyrants" will contain 11 tracks.

NIGHTFALL's video for the song "Astron Black" can be seen below. The song comes off "Astron Black And The Thirty Tyrants", which was released on August 31, 2010 (one day earlier internationally) via Metal Blade Records. The cover artwork was created by Travis Smith (OPETH, DEATH, NEVERMORE, KATATONIA).

"Astron Black And The Thirty Tyrants" was recorded at various places, including Soundlodge in Germany, where the bulk of the sessions took place. It was produced by mainman Efthimis Karadimas and drummer Jörg Uken (who has previously worked with GOD DETHRONED, DEW-SCENTED and SINISTER). According to a press release, Jörg's "experience behind the recording desk and his soul in recording both as the new drummer of the band is a great plus for the whole production and for everybody truly into metal drumming the… old classic metal way!"

NIGHTFALL last year announced the addition of guitarist Constantine and bassist Stathis Ridis to the group's ranks.

PHARAOH, the American heavy metal band featuring vocalist Tim Aymar (CONTROL DENIED), has inked a deal with Cruz Del Sur Music for the release of three albums. The first effort, "Bury The Light", will contain 10 new songs for a total running time of 48 minutes, and will be made available on February 24 in Europe and March 6 in the U.S. The CD will feature guest appearances by Mike Wead (KING DIAMOND) and Jim Dofka (DOFKA).

When asked how PHARAOH has evolved on the new album, guitarist Matt Johnsen said, "We tried to add more textural elements to our songs while continuing to cut as much extraneous material as possible. The songs on this album are dense, but hopefully they never overstay their welcome. The basic template is the same as on 'Be Gone', but the album is less dark overall, and perhaps a little faster."

He added, "I think anyone who stuck it out with us after we shed the remainders of our obvious IRON MAIDEN worship after 'The Longest Night' will be happy with our progression on this album. It's still crammed full of traditional elements, of course, but we're not trying to be retro or old fashioned. We want to move melodic metal forward."

"Bury The Light" track listing:

01. Leave Me Here To Dream
02. The Wolves
03. Castles in the Sky
04. The Year of the Blizzard
05. The Spider’s Thread
06. Cry
07. Graveyard of Empires
08. Burn With Me
09. In Your Hands

JON OLIVA'S PAIN, the Florida-based band led by SAVATAGE mastermind Jon Oliva, will play SAVATAGE's classic 1987 album, "Hall Of The Mountain King", in its entirety at the Graspop Metal Meeting in Dessel, Belgium in June as well as at the warm-up party for this year's Bang Your Head!!! festival the following month. Joining JON OLIVA'S PAIN for the "Hall" 25th-anniversary performance will be Oliva's SAVATAGE bandmate Chris Caffery. Caffery and JON OLIVA'S PAIN are also expected to play several songs from DOCTOR BUTCHER, the early 1990s project created by Oliva and Caffery at a time when they were not active members of SAVATAGE.

JON OLIVA'S PAIN lineup for the performances will consist of Jon Oliva (vocals and keyboards), Christopher Kinder (drums), Jerry Outlaw (guitar) and Jason Jennings (bass).

Confirmed "Hall Of The Mountain King" 25th-anniversary performances:

June 22-24 - Dessel, Belgium @ Graspop Metal Meeting
July 13-14 - Balingen, Germany @ Bang Your Head!!!

A Florida date will kick off this tour in June.

"Hall Of The Mountain King" was the first SAVATAGE album to be produced by Paul O'Neill and it showed the beginning of the band's progressive tendencies as they explored new forms of expression in their music. Many fans consider this LP a turning point in SAVATAGE's musical identity. As the group's first concept effort, it had a constant tone and was more complex than their previous albums, with two entirely instrumental tracks that go beyond simple guitar riffs and solos, namely "Prelude To Madness" and "Last Dawn".

As previously reported, Caffery will join CIRCLE II CIRCLE — the band led by former SAVATAGE frontman Zak Stevens — for a performance of the classic 1997 SAVATAGE album "The Wake Of Magellan" (which featured both Stevens and Caffery) in its entirety at this year's edition of the Wacken Open Air festival, set to take place August 2-4, 2012 in Wacken, Germany.

"For The Love of Satan", a new song from Colorado Satanic metal masters SATAN'S HOST, can be streamed in the YouTube clip below. The track comes off "Celebration For The Love Of Satan", which was released on November 22, 2011 via Moribund Records. The disc is a collection of re-recorded versions of songs spanning the band's entire career, exclusing the material that was released on this year's "By The Hands Of The Devil" album, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the release of SATAN'S HOST's classic debut LP, "Metal From Hell". The new disc, which also includes two new songs, was once again recorded with producer Dave Otero at Flatline Audio in Denver, Colorado and has exclusive artwork by world-renowned artists Chris Moyen and Joe Petagno, with photography by Brent Boutte of Mirrorlife Productions.

Jenna Williams (a.k.a. "The Scream Queen") of TheScreamQueen.com recently conducted an interview with vocalist Chris Barnes of Florida-based death metal veterans SIX FEET UNDER. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

TheScreamQueen.com: I read that [SIX FEET UNDER is] working on a new album...

Chris: Yes.

TheScreamQueen.com: What is going on with that?

Chris: (laughs) It's the best album I've written in a long time. So, I'm really excited about it. Yeah, Rob Arnold [SIX FEET UNDER guitarist] is writing some songs, got Ben [Savage] from WHITECHAPEL writing some songs. I've got Jari [Laine] from TORTURE KILLER writing some songs and Steve [Swanson, SIX FEET UNDER lead guitarist]. So we're really happy with it. It's really good stuff.

TheScreamQueen.com: How do you feel you're connecting to it more so than you did with "Death Rituals" so far?

Chris: Hmm... Good question. I think that each album's a different journey for me, you know? The music speaks to me, so I kind of write from what it tells me and this album's been such a pleasure to be involved with because it's so interesting and it's given me more options to do different things or do things I haven't done in a while, so it's a lot of fun on that level...

TheScreamQueen.com: Music itself is a journey, every time you make an album or go on tour. What have been some of the best parts of the journey you've taken thus far?

Chris: Just the exploration of the music and finding how it speaks to me. I think that to me, when I write and stuff, and I listen to the music first to get my lyrics from; just that is so exciting to me. It's a puzzle, you know? It's like a puzzle to me. Like a fourth dimensional puzzle; and it comes from nowhere but it ends up somewhere. And that to me is like pulling something that didn't exist before and then all of a sudden it's beautiful, you know? To me it is...It's a weird-beautiful.

TheScreamQueen.com: You just said you find how the music speaks to you.... How do you let it speak to you?

Chris: Well, I'll go into a "meditational" type of trance smoking a lot of weed and that helps me to focus on that — whatever this plane is or something that I'm hearing, it's very spiritual to me... So, I think that it's not really me that writes those things, it's something else out there that kind of goes through [me].

TheScreamQueen.com: When you're writing songs, like even for this new album, and for your past ones, how have you brought your songs to life?

Chris: They just tell me what to do when I hear the riff, I just concentrate on them. I hear something in the music, it keeps repeating to me and I just have to keep listening to it over and over again until I hear it. So, like, I keep going back and hearing the thirty-second part of the song, and I just keep replaying it, and eventually it tells me what it should be, what I need to write. So, now that I've written so many songs and stuff, I've kind of like let myself go and let that happen. So, when I try to force something, I just put it down and just wait, and come back to it. Certain songs, like on this album, I just couldn't write at one time, but they just kind of want to be written.

TheScreamQueen.com: How would you say you take the visions of what you see while you're writing and translate them into words?

Chris: Again, it's really how that song speaks to me and I think it just kind of… Sometimes I'll have an idea, like a song title or maybe one word, like maybe I'll have it written down on a piece of paper somewhere, and I'll come back to it, and I'll be listening to the music, and I'll look through stuff, and something catches my eye, and from that moment, it… Or I'll write; I'll be writing and nothing's really clicking, I don't know where it's going. It just comes together by itself. It's very strange now. I used to have a really clear idea of things, but now I kind of let it all flow through me...

TheScreamQueen.com: When you're recording, how do you try to take that feeling of the energy you get while you're on stage and translate it into an album while in the studio?

Chris: Well, a studio is different, it's a whole other animal, you know? You have lots and lots of takes to do to make things perfect and stuff, you know, you piece things together and make things interesting and more dynamic and a little more tight. I just really want, when I'm in the studio, I really concentrate on that, I worry on the live situation later. (laughs) If I can write it, I can perform it. (laughs) You know, it's pretty simple. I guess it's hard to see from the outside how it all comes together, but it's really, it is a little magical sometimes...

Read the entire interview from TheScreamQueen.com.

Hungarian extreme metallers EKTOMORF will release a very special "acoustic" album, "The Acoustic", on February 17 via AFM Records. 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 latest 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.

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.), debuted its new lineup last night (Saturday, January 14) at The Brass Mug in Tampa, Florida.

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

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.

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

"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.

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.

Norwegian stoner / grunge / alternative rockers TRIPOD have just released their second album, "Four Coins", via Trøndercore Records.

The track listing for the CD is as follows:

01. Go Away
02. Migraine
03. Down
04. Waiting
05. Shiny Happy Junkies
06. Stripes
07. Jack And Blood
08. Unwind
09. Parasite
10. Whatever
11. All The Time

A music video for the song "Go Away" will be released shortly.

Since the release of TRIPOD's debut album, "Nevermind This Black Album", in 2008, the band has been busy on the road, delivering its massive sound to the masses. They have also managed to record two music videos in between shows, "Tomorrow" and "Another Monday".

TRIPOD is:

Knut Arne Lillestøl - vocals
Stein-Inge Øien - guitars/backing vocals
Espen Bjørnholt - bass
Åge Solheim - drums

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/tripodofficial.

French power metallers NIGHTMARE have entered Peek studios in the south of France with producer Patrick Liotard to begin recording their new album, "Mercury Rain", for a May 18 release through AFM Records.

Commented NIGHTMARE singer Jo Amore: "We entered the studio on Friday the 13th, which is surely a sign for such an album that will be the most accomplished of our whole career.

"Everything is going great so far.

"We will surprise many people, I can confirm...

"We will be in the studio until end of February with Patrick, our producer and friend...

"We are really excited about what we did so far and we can already say that this new album will be a total blast!"

"One Night Of Insurrection", the first-ever live DVD/CD from NIGHTMARE, was released in February 2011 via AFM Records. The set was filmed/recorded in Grenoble, France and contains NIGHTMARE's special 30th-anniversary show, including guest appearances by the band's former members. Also included us footage of NIGHTMARE's performance at Summerblast in Israel.

"Insurrection", the seventh album from NIGHTMARE, was released on September 11, 2009 via Germany's AFM Records. The CD was recorded at Peek studio in France with Patrick Liotard and at U3multimedia and Indiscreet Studios in Stuttgart, Germany with Achim Köhler (PRIMAL FEAR, EDGUY, MASTERPLAN). The follow-up to 2007's "Genetic Disorder" contains nine tracks, including a two-part concept song.

The "Insurrection" cover art was created by Swedish artist Pär Olofsson who previously worked on "Genetic Disorder". Special guest vocalist on the album is Fabrice Emmanuelsson from ELLIPSIS.

NIGHTMARE is:

Jo Amore - Vocals
Franck Milleliri - Guitar
Yves Campion - Bass
David Amore - Drums

Los Angeles-based drummer Jason Sutter has joined MARILYN MANSON's touring lineup, beginning with the band's appearances at Australia's Soundwave Festival in February.

The accomplished musician has recorded and performed with a vast array of artists throughout his career, including tenures with FOREIGNER and NEW YORK DOLLS and a three-year stint behind the drumkit for SOUNDGARDEN/AUDIOSLAVE frontman Chris Cornell. He has also played with AMERICAN HI-FI, THE REMBRANDTS, PINK, SMASH MOUTH, JASON FALKNER, VERTICAL HORIZON and JULIANA HATFIELD and is highly sought-after as a session/touring musician.

Born in Potsdam, New York, Jason began playing drums at the age of nine and played his first professional gig at the age of ten with his band PARAGON! Playing his first "bar gig" at thirteen, Jason continued to play clubs two to three times a week throughout his high school years. Upon graduation Jason attended the esteemed University of North Texas where he graduated with a Bachelors degree in music education and later attended the University of Miami. While pursuing his Masters degree in orchestral percussion, Jason taught, performed and recorded with the top ensembles at the University, including its famous "Concert Jazz Band" (CJB) as well as performing professionally throughout Miami. While still in Graduate school, Jason landed his first tour with Atlantic recording artist JULIANA HATFIELD. After Miami, Jason relocated to Boston where he recorded, performed and toured with such artists as LETTERS TO CLEO, JACK DRAG and BEN LEE, among many others.

In 2005 Jason completed an extensive U.K., U.S. and Japanese tour with AMERICAN HI-FI and the following year went on to record and play with multi platinum artists SMASH MOUTH. Following three years of international touring and recording with SOUNDGARDEN/AUDIOSLAVE front-man Chris Cornell, Jason recorded and toured for VERTICAL HORIZON's "Burning The Days" album, sharing drum duties with legendary RUSH drummer Neil Peart during the making of the record. In 2010 Jason completed the "Can't Slow Down" world tour with American rock legends FOREIGNER and then headed straight into touring with punk rock icons the NEW YORK DOLLS across the U.S. (with MÖTLEY CRÜE and POISON) and the U.K. (supporting ALICE COOPER).

The forthcoming MARILYN MANSON world tour marks the next chapter in Jason's impressive and eclectic career. In addition to headline shows the tour will also include major festivals around the world, beginning with Australia's Soundwave Festival in February and a run of European festivals throughout the summer.

Norway's blackened thrashers AURA NOIR will release their fifth full-length studio ablum, "Out To Die", on March 23 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

Ben Kuzay (MONSTROSITY, WYKKED WYTCH) just released his third solo album, "Beyond Black Mirrors". His previous LP, "Perpetual Reign", featured guest appearances by several acclaimed musicians, including David Harbour (ex-KING DIAMOND). This new CD features Kuzay playing all of the bass guitar, keyboards and guitar, with Allen Sklar on drums. The disc was produced by Kuzay and engineered, mixed, and mastered by Joel Wanasek at JTW Studios (ROSALINE, SERIANNA, MECHANICAL KIDS), as were his first two offerings. "Beyond Black Mirrors" had additional engineering done by Barry Kuzay at The Wolf Tower.

While Kuzay is best known for his work in the metal genre, having played alongside such illuminaries as Richard Christy, David Harbour, and Joel Wanasek, and having worked with engineers such as Jason Suecof (Audiohammer Studio), this new offering is a work of ambient rock, with forays into classical.

"Beyond Black Mirrors" is an all-instrumental effort that features fourteen tracks with a running time of 56 minutes.

For more information, visit BenKuzay.net.

ZERO1, the hard rock project featuring actor/comedian Hal Sparks, has signed a worldwide recording deal with Rocket Science Ventures/RED. The band's self-titled album, which was produced by KING'S X's Doug Pinnick, will be re-released in March.

Best known for his roles in the hit Showtime series "Queer As Folk", as the host of E!'s "Talk Soup" and as a commentator on VH1 fare, including "I Love The '70s", "'80s", "'90s", "Greatest Hard Rock Songs", and many more, Sparks is also an accomplished film actor, with appearances in "Dude, Where's My Car?", "Spider-Man 2", "Dickie Roberts: Child Star", and the 2009 Mike Judge vehicle "Extract", as well as his own recent Showtime stand-up special, "Charmageddon".

Sparks is an outspoken activist and a strong political voice, as a regular guest host on the syndicated "The Stephanie Miller Show", and host of his own weekly talk program on Chicago's Progressive Talk network. Hal is also a regular guest on CNN, "The View", "The Joy Behar Show", "The Tonight Show", and more, and is co-headliner of 2011's "Sexy Liberals Tour", with Stephanie Miller, grossing over a million dollars in ticket sales.

But despite his achievements as an actor and a comedian, ZERO1 is far from a celebrity "vanity" project; it is a serious, ass-kicking, rock and roll band, with no shortage of chops. Produced by Pinnick (who also appears on several tracks), "Zero1" is 13 cuts of "progressive, catchy-as-fuck, balls to the wall, blue-collar hard rock," according to a press release. "Call it metal, call it rock, call it post-grunge, call it whatever the hell you want, the bottom line is ZERO1 will kick your ass, and they won't stop once you hit the ground."

On tracks like "Mad Season", written about late ALICE IN CHAINS vocalist Layne Staley, and "Helsinki", vocalist/guitarist Sparks belts out powerful, thought-provoking lyrics with the conviction of a seasoned pro (as anyone who saw him trading verses with Dennis De Young and Sebastian Bach on "Celebrity Duets" will attest), destroying any preconceived notions you may have about actor/musicians. Sparks is a consummate frontman, musician, and songwriter, hell-bent on destroying your speakers.

Along with the rest of ZERO1 — Brian Crow (guitar/vocals), Bumper Renga (bass/vocals), and Lance Tamanaha (drums/vocals) — Sparks will hit the road in May for a month-long U.S. jaunt with THC/Rocket Science labelmates OEDIPUS, before a trek across the pond for a handful of major summer festivals.

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/zero1nation.

OATH OF INSANITY, the Milford, Connecticut-based old-school thrash band featuring 16-year-old drummer Joey DiBiase (son of former FATES WARNING bassist Joe DiBiase), has completed work on a five-song EP with producer (and drummer for TOXIC HOLOCAUST, KINGDOM OF SORROW and JASTA) Nick Bellmore at Dexters Lab Recording in Milford. The effort contains four original songs as well as a cover version of the EXODUS classic "Metal Command". Since the EP was recorded, OATH OF INSANITY has written four more songs, which "show great progress in [the band's] songwriting prowess," according to a press release.

OATH OF INSANITY's lineup includes 21-year-old guitar prodigy Joey Concepcion, who has previously recorded with Mike Vescera, former lead singer for LOUDNESS, OBSESSION, and YNGWIE MALMSTEEN. The band is rounded out by Dan McVerry on vocals and bass guitar, and newcomer Andrew O'Conner on guitar.

OATH OF INSANITY is:

Dan McVerry - Bass/Lead Vocals
Joey Concepcion - Guitar/Vocals
Joey "Chief" DiBiase - Drums/Vocals
Andrew O'Connor - Guitar

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/OathofInsanity.

"Waste Of My Rage", the new video from the London, England-based, female-fronted metal band MORTAD, can be seen below. The clip was sponsored by the Alchemy apparel clothing brand and produced by the Manchester-based video production company Video Ink. More than a dozen actors were cast for the video, including Collette Von Tora, who agreed to have her head shaved for this video shoot.

MORTAD's forthcoming full-length debut album, "The Myth Of Purity", was recorded last October with producer Russ Russell (NAPALM DEATH, DIMMU BORGIR, EVILE) and is scheduled for an early 2012 release.

MORTAD was formed in 2009 by Iranian vocalist Somi Arian , whose lyrics take aim at the hypocrisy of religion and the government as well as seeking inner truth and strength in the face of such oppression.

MORTAD released a music video and an EP, entitled "Pandemic Paranoia", in early 2011. This effort brought the band immense attention on the social media sites, placing the group as the No. 1 metal band on ReverbNation London metal chart, and attracting over 40,000 Facebook fans.

Nick Azinas of Peek From The Pit conducted an interview with Somi Arian on November 26, 2011 at the Intrepid Fox in London. You can now watch the chat below.

"Waste Of My Rage" video:

STONE MOUNTAIN FREEWAY, the Atlanta, Georgia-based band featuring former ARTIMUS PYLEDRIVER/RED RIVER REVIVAL vocalist Dave Slocum, has made three new songs available for streaming using the ReverbNation TuneWidget below. The tracks "Sun Don't Shine", "Kings"and "Dark Days" were recorded at Ledbelly Studios (MASTODON, ARTIMUS PYLEDRIVER) in Atlanta and Ocean Industries Studio (owned by Eric Bass from SHINEDOWN) in Charleston, South Carolina.

STONE MOUNTAIN FREEWAY's debut EP, "Home In Hell", will be released in mid-March at a special CD-release party and will be available for mail order thereafter.

STONE MOUNTAIN FREEWAY is:

Dave Slocum - Vocals
Brad Kemp - Guitar
Joey Robertson - Drums
Ryan "Zilla" Ashhurst - Bass

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/stonemountainfreeway.