METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich and former VELVET UNDERGROUND frontman Lou Reed last month spoke to GQ magazine about METALLICA and Reed's musical collaboration "Lulu", which is due on November 1 in North America via Warner Bros. Records and one day earlier (October 31) in the rest of the world through Universal Music. The CD was co-produced by Reed, METALLICA, Hal Willner — who has produced albums for Reed, Marianne Faithfull, and Laurie Anderson, among others — and Greg Fidelman. Fidelman also mixed the record. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

GQ: What is it like jumping from a situation where you're able to fix every little detail on the computer to something like this?

Lars Ulrich: It's incredibly liberating and also inspiring for the future to know that these kinds of possibilities are out there. Lou walked in with these ten great sets of lyrics. With James Hetfield [METALLICA frontman], the lyrics — and I mean this in the most positive of ways — are usually an afterthought. It's like, the last few lyrics are being written while the album is being mastered in New York. To have Lou walk in with the lyrics and to give METALLICA a chance to be inspired from lyrics was a gift and such an absolute and total mindfuck. We're only thirty years into this, so we're just getting started; for the next four or five decades there's now other ways of doing it.

Lou Reed: I had this dream of the kind of songs you could do with rock, if you looked at it from the point of view of William Burroughs, or Hubert Selby, or Tennessee Williams, for that matter: "The kindness of strangers." If you could put together lyrics like that, and have a melody with it, what would happen if you didn't make it verse/chorus, but you stick METALLICA in there and turn them loose? And that's exactly what happened: They were turned loose. The sky's the limit with this shit. I've waited forever for somebody to do this. Nobody's done it.

GQ: Lars said that METALLICA would take a more spontaneous approach to record-making away from this project. Lou, what do you think you'll bring from this project into your other work?

Lou Reed: After METALLICA, sixty miles an hour won't do anymore. It's 110 or nothing. To me, all this stuff's about feeling. Imagine if it has that power, and you have a line like, "It was the kindness of strangers" or "It was you, Charley." Imagine if you could do that. I sent it to Lars and the guys and said, "Are you game to do this?" No one knows this from anything — it's never been recorded. And he got back and said, "I'm really jazzed to try this. We've got to try this."

GQ: Lars, we've been talking about how previous METALLICA records have been very polished and controlled. How do you feel in advance of releasing something like this? Is there a fear of what the reception will be?

Lou Reed: A fear, are you kidding?

Lars Ulrich: No, I sense only joy and elation and the excitement of sharing this. I think it's the most obvious collaboration on this planet ever. It puts a smile on my face every time I read somebody saying, "That's the oddest collaboration." Can you think of people that are more suited for each other than METALLICA and Lou Reed?

Lou Reed: It seems so obvious!

Lars Ulrich: That's what I'm saying. We've carved the same path: Lou's lived in his own bubble for four decades; we've lived in our bubble for three decades. We don't play to the tune of anybody else. We're autonomous. We live in our own self-contained musical universe. And we don't have to cater to any fucker. I can't think of anybody that's more suited to each other than these two musical entities.

Lou Reed: We were made to do this together. And it was just obvious when we played "Sweet Jane" together. I had people coming up to me for months and months saying, "You've got to record with those guys. Why don't you ask them?" I said, "I did!"

Lars Ulrich: METALLICA just had to go around the world three times first.

Lou Reed: We just had to find the door.

Lars Ulrich: He said it as we were fucking leaving the bowels of Madison Square Garden. Whenever it was — October of '09. This is a true story: We were walking out of the elevator. I was going to my car, and he was going to his car. He looked over his shoulder and said, "Let's make a record together." I said, "Lou, of course we're gonna make a record together." We had to get our "Death Magnetic" commitments out of the way and then cleanse our bodies and our minds for a couple of months. But a few months later, it all came to fruition.

Die norwegische Gothic Metal-Combo SIRENIA, unter der Führung des Gitarristen und Komponisten Morten Veland, präsentiert einen neuen Leadgitarristen! Bandkopf Morten kommentiert:

“Wir freuen uns sehr, SIRENIAs neuen Gitarristen vorstellen zu können. Jan Erik Soltvedt ist der Band beigetreten und wird die Position des Leadgitarristen übernehmen. Einige von euch kennen Jan Erik vielleicht schon von den Shows auf dem Wacken:Open:Air und GSM Fest. Wir heißen ihn herzlich an Bord Willkommen und freuen uns auf das weitere Touren mit ihm. Als erstes steht die Südamerika-Tour an, daher bitten wir all unsere Südamerikanischen Fans, Jan Erik einen warmen Empfang zu bereiten!“

Norway's THE WAY OF PURITY have unveiled the artwork and final tracklisting for their upcoming album, Equate. Check out the artwork below:

The final tracklist is as follows:

'Artwork Of Nature'
'Death Abound Everywhere'
'Eleven (Featuring Giulia of Ravenscry)'
'Eternal Damnation To René Descartes'
'For All Who Thrive Unheard'
'Keep Dreaming'
'Liti Kjersti'
'The Last Darkest Night'
'The Mighty Fall' (Featuring Stielas Storhett)
'A Time To Be So Small'

Unverhofft kommt oft- und das in geballter Ladung! FREI.WILD starten die Motoren, laden Whisky, Equipment, Bierflaschen, und jede Menge guter Laune und fahren …zu EUCH!

Ihr ruft uns…. und wir werden kommen!
Nach den Händemeer- DVD- Releasepartys in Brixen und Trockau rollt der Frei.Wild- Convoy noch weiter über deutsche Strassen und bringt Live Alarm, Lärm und Chaos in eure Stadt.

Wir machen den Anfang und erhöhen die Spannung:
Erstmals und noch nie da gewesen verzichten wir bis kurz vor Partybeginn auf sämtliche Auskünfte zu Ort, Art, Zeit und Location der Session. Einzig ihr haltet das Siegel der Macht in der Hand, wo wir schlussendlich rocken und mit Euch feiern werden! Aber wie kommen Frei.Wild zu Euch??? Facebook macht es möglich!
Mobilisiert jeden von euch, packt Omas und Geschwister ein, zerrt die Nachbarn mit, schreit den Plan in die Welt hinaus, haut in die Tasten und teilt den Link zur Abstimmung!

Folgende Städte stehen zur Auswahl:

Ludwigsburg, Hamburg, Leipzig, Essen, Berlin, Frankfurt, Osnabrück, Kassel und Lindau!

>>>> HIER GEHTS ZUR FACEBOOK ABSTIMMUNG <<<<

Die Stadt, mit den meisten "Klicks" macht das Rennen !!!!

Also, wo sitzen die meisten FREI.WILD Fans??? Ihr alleine entscheidet und wir folgen Eurem Ruf !

Die exakten Auskünfte zu Ort und Zeit bleiben bis 3,5 Stunden vor Showbeginn ungewiss.Dennoch gibt es ab Sonntag morgen 9.00 stündlich Infos über alle Plattformen (Facebook, Twitter…) zum jeweiligen Aufenthaltsort.
Achtung, der Spontantrip wird nicht offiziell angemeldet und findet somit irgendwo auf einem Platz/ Tankstelle/ Tattoostudio/ Einkaufszentrum/ Halle / what ever…statt.

Ja, wir sind verrückt und unberechenbar... aber ihr seid noch verrückter! Wenn auch dieser Trip ins Händemeer führt, versprechen wir euch neben Unplugged Session und einer ausgiebigen Autogrammstunde einen tollen Frei.Wild Familienabend!
Egal ob einer oder tausend Leute kommen, wir werden das Ding durchziehen. Lasst uns also die Ersten sein und gemeinsam ein Zeichen setzen!

Die Band, die noch keiner kennt!

Kostenloser LIVE Video/MP3 Download Song von der HÄNDEMEER DVD:
Nachdem Ihr nun in zahlreichen Trailern bereits Interview und Songauschnitte der HÄNDEMEER DVD erhalten habt, haben wir Euch hier einen kompletten Livesong in DVD-Qualität hochgeladen! Ihr könnt Euch zum einen eine Image Datei saugen, die Ihr 1:1 und in voller Qualität auf nen DVD Rohling brennen könnt und zum anderen ein MP3 Track des Songs. So kann sich jeder mal diese Sequenz am heimischen TV oder im Autoradio reinziehn und hoffentlich dadurch die Vorfreude auf den Freitag etwas steigern

ReleaseParty`s & DVD/CD Vorstellung:
Los geht es am Dienstag Abend ab 20:00 Uhr mit DER_B vom AgF-Radio, der Euch mit jeder Menge Hintergrundinfos rund um die DVD versorgt ! Reinhören wird sich auf jeden Fall lohnen. Das AgF wird das einzigste Webradio sein, bei dem es eine Vorstellung in dieser Art geben wird, also nicht verpassen!
Im Rahmen der Sendung werden auch ein paar FETTE HÄNDEMEER Pakete verlost !!!

Und weiter geht es dann natürlich am 28.10. in Brixen und 29.10. in Trockau.

Kommt, hört und schaut uns zu! Wir stürzen uns mit euch zusammen ins "Händemeer" !!!

Anlässlich der DVD- VÖ am 28.10 11 stellen wir uns in die Wellen und feiern 2 Feste, . Den Freitag macht Südtirol und der Samstag führt uns samt Truck nach Trockau in Franken! Stoßt mit uns an, quatscht mit uns ganz ungezwungen im Brixner "Club Max" und dem Live-Club MCT2´in Trockau. Lasst die Frei.Bier Deckel zischen, erfreut euch einer kurzen aber dennoch sehr amüsanten Live- Unplugget Session, rockt zu Punkrock/ Metal und ähnlichen Klängen aus der Dose. Für jeden, der sich vor Ort eines der "Händemeer Formate" unter seinen Nagel reist, winkt ein Frei.Wild-Shirt für umsonst!

Der Eintritt beläuft sich auf schmale 5,00 €! Die Kapazitäten sind sehr begrenzt, also nicht lange Warten, VVK wird es nämlich keinen geben und so verschlägt es uns zurück in die Anfangszeiten: back to the roots, wer zu erst kommt- trinkt zu erst!!!

Bis denn also!!! Die sich freuende Band!!!

BLACK SABBATH's Classic Album Selection - 1970-1973 is a new five-CD box set featuring the legendary band's first five albums in miniature sleeves with original artwork and liner notes. The discs include: Black Sabbath (1970), Paranoid (1970), Master Of Reality (1971), Black Sabbath Vol.4 (1972) and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973). The set will be available on November 28th in Japan and the 30th in Europe.

Kscope has set a November 28 release date for "Live In Concert: The Norwegian National Opera" DVD and Blu-ray from ULVER.

Early pioneer of Norwegian black metal, ULVER has continually evolved throughout its career and now inhabits a place entirely its own, blending rock, pop, electronica, symphonic and classical traditions along with progressive and/or avant-garde forms to create ground-breaking material. Until recently, however, the band had remained exclusively within the studio. This changed in May 2009 when the band accepted an invitation to appear at the Norwegian Festival of Literature. The success of this gig lead to them embarking on a string of other gigs in 2009 and 2010, selling out prestigious venues such as the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, Volksbühne in Berlin and La Cigale in Paris before they returned to their homeland for a landmark gig at The Norwegian Opera House.

The two-hour concert marries tracks from throughout the band's catalogue to stunning visuals to create a spectacle fitting for such a grand venue. The evening was captured on six HD cameras and the audio has been mixed for this release in the band's own Crystal Canyon Studios. It is packaged in a limited-edition 32-page rigid digibook two-disc set (Blu-ray and DVD)

"Live In Concert: The Norwegian National Opera" track listing:

01. Moon Piece
02. Eos
03. Let The Children Go
04. Little Blue Bird
05. Rock Massif Part 2
06. For The Love Of God
07. Operator
08. In The Red
09. England
10. Funebre
11. Hallways Of Always
12. Theme From Silence Teaches You How To Sing
13. A Cold Kiss (Porn Piece Part 2)
14. A Memorable Fancy (The Marriage Of Heaven And Hell, Plates 16-17)
15. Like Music
16. Not Saved
17. Legs Piece

You read it well. The major labels plan to abandon the CD-format by the end of 2012 (or even earlier) and replace it with download/stream only releases via iTunes and related music services. The only CD-formats that will be left over will be the limited edition ones, which will of course not be available for every artist. The distribution model for these remaining CD releases would be primarily Amazon which is already the biggest CD retailer worldwide anyhow.

3 weeks ago we heard it for the first time and since then we have tried getting some feedback from EMI, Universal and Sony. All declined to comment.

The news doesn't come as a surprise to those who have been working in the business. In a piece that was published in a q&a with the Alfa Matrix people back in June 2011 in the 1st issue of "Matrix Revelations", our chief editor Bernard Van Isacker said the following when asked if a CD would still exist in 5 years: "Yes, but in a different format. Normal CDs will no longer be available because they don't offer enough value, limited editions on the other hand will remain available and in demand for quite a few more years. I for one buy only limited editions because of the added value they offer: a nice design, extra bonus gadgets, etc. The album as we know it now however will be dead within 5 years, if it isn't even sooner. I predict that downloads will have replaced the CD album within the next 2 years. I don't see that as something negative, it just has run its course, let's leave the space to limited editions (including vinyl runs for bigger acts) and downloads instead."

It's a move that makes completely sense. CD's cost money, even when they don't sell because there is stock storage to be paid; a label also pays money to distributors when CDs get returned to the labels when not sold and so on. In short, abandoning the CD-format will make it possible to just focus on the release and the marketing of it and no longer focus on the distribution (since aggregators will do the work as far as dispatching the releases to services worldwide) and - expensive - stock maintenance. In the long run it will most surely mean the end for many music shops worldwide that only stock and sell CD releases. In the UK for instance HMV has problems paying the labels already and more will follow. It makes the distribution of CDs no longer worth it.

Also Amazon will benefit from this as it will surely become the one and only player when it comes to distribution of the remaining CD productions from labels. Packaged next to regular album downloads via its own Amazon MP3 service it will offer a complimentary service.

The next monument to fall? That will be printed magazines as people will want to consume their information online where they also read most of the news.

What are your feelings? is it a move that you like or not?

SOULS ON 11 — the project featuring former MEGADETH guitarist Jeff Young and 24-year-old Swedish singer Guernica Mancini — had its October 21 performance at Genghis Cohen Restaurant, Bar & Music Room filmed for DVD release. According to Young, the disc will be made available on November 11. Joining Young and Mancini during the concert were James Lomenzo (bass; MEGADETH, BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, WHITE LION) and Debby Holiday (vocals).

BLACK SABBATH guitarist Tony Iommi was interviewed on the U.K. digital radio station Planet Rock to promote his upcoming memoir, "Iron Man: My Journey Through Heaven And Hell With Black Sabbath". You can now listen to the entire 16-minute chat using the audio player below.

When asked by Planet Rock DJ Darren Redick about the rumors that the four original members of BLACK SABBATH are planning a reunion, Iommi said, "At the moment we're in talks [about] it. But what's gonna happen with it, I don't know. There's no definite decision on anything at the moment, but at least it's going… We're talking… we're all talking to each other. We've met up, had a play [rehearsal], and it was great. But you never like to say… We haven't announced anything yet, because nothing's definite. We're taking it steady, because these things have a tendency to backfire. 'Oh, you said you were getting back together, but you haven't.' So I don't know. We'll have to see. It would be nice to think we could, and I think we would all like to do it, but it's a bit more involved than that."

The story of the reunion of SABBATH's original lineup first appeared on a specialist music web site and was expanded by the Birmingham Mail for an article that was published on August 16.

Iommi's manager said the guitarist's comments made to the Birmingham Mail in June during a wide-ranging interview that included the charity single he had recorded with DEEP PURPLE's Ian Gillan, his contract to write music for a series of horror films and his contribution to Birmingham's Home Of Metal exhibition, were taken out of context.

"That's sort of what started it," Iommi told Planet Rock. "Somebody said on the Internet that they saw Geezer [Butler, BLACK SABBATH bassist] and Bill [Ward, BLACK SABBATH drummer] together, which is absolutely impossible. And then the Birmingham Mail got hold of that and made a complete story out of that. 'Cause I'd spoken to the Birmingham Mail in confidence. And everybody asks, 'Oh, do you think you'll ever get back together?' And you go, 'It's possible. We may do.' 'When was the last time you talked to Ozzy?' 'I talk to Ozzy a lot.' And they put two and two together. I mean, we always talked to each other; we all stay in touch. Geezer doesn't talk very much; I always talk to him by e-mail, 'cause he hates the phone. And Bill, I'm frightened to talk to him, 'cause I'm on for three hours. He talks… But yeah, we've all been in touch with each other. But it's not written in stone [that there will be a reunion], so we'll have to see what happens."

According to Deadline.com, METALLICA is planning to self-finance a 3D feature film. The band has hired producer Charlotte Huggins ("Journey To The Center Of The Earth" and "Journey 2: The Mysterious Island") to work on the project, for which a director is still being sought. No further details are currently available.

METALLICA's critically acclaimed 2004 documentary "Some Kind Of Monster", directed by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky ("Brother's Keeper", "Paradise Lost"), offered a revealing behind-the-scenes look at METALLICA as they confronted personal demons and their relationships with each other during the making of the band's 2003 album "St. Anger".

In a 2010 interview with Australia's Herald Sun, METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich stated about "Some Kind Of Monster", "Every time I see Noel Gallagher [OASIS], he quotes lines from that movie back to me. That thing has taken on a life of its own. I had to live that shit for three fucking years! The whole thing was a mindfuck. I am aware a lot of other musicians seem to have lived a lot of those moments. They weren't necessarily stupid enough to film them like we were and share them with the rest of the world."

Fan-filmed video footage of MACHINE HEAD's October 19 concert at Teatro Caupolicán in Santiago, Chile and October 21, 2011 performance at El Teatro Flores in Buenos Aires, Argentina can be viewed below. The two shows were part of the band's short South American co-headlining tour with SEPULTURA.

MACHINE HEAD's setlist for both concerts was as follows:

01. Imperium
02. Beautiful Mourning
03. The Blood, the Sweat, the Tears
04. Locust
05. I Am Hell (Sonata in C#)
06. Aesthetics of Hate
07. Old
08. Darkness Within
09. Bulldozer
10. Ten Ton Hammer

Encore:

11. Halo
12. Davidian

Finnish death 'n' rollers GHOUL PATROL have inked a deal with Spinefarm Records. The band's self-titled debut album will be released on October 26. According to a press release, the CD contains "45 minutes of swampy American-styled death 'n roll!"

"Ghoul Patrol" track listing:

01. Louisiana Pit
02. Harvest
03. Six Feet Under
04. Gut Rotting Riot
05. Ignore This Message
06. I Am The Wolf
07. Ghoul Patrol
08. At The Gates
09. Parasite City
10. Staring At The Abyss

GHOUL PATROL was formed in 2005 by guitarist Jani "Boogie" Rapo (ALABAMA HELLRAISERS) and vocalist Henri Harberg (STILLBURNED).

The band's current lineup is as follows:

Pekka "Oku" Okuloff - Vocals
Jani "Boogie" Rapo - Guitar
Petri Mäkipää - Drums
Albert Orma - Guitar
David Forder – Bass