WARDRUNA — the Norwegian folk project featuring Einar "Kvitrafn" Selvik (GORGOROTH, JOTUNSPOR, DEAD TO THIS WORLD) and Kristian "Gaahl" Espedal (GORGOROTH, TRELLDOM) — will play a special concert on August 27 in Bergen during the Hole In The Sky festival. They will perform at Logen Teater and it will be no ordinary concert: WARDRUNA will play with an expanded lineup; thirteen musicians will make WARDRUNA's already powerful and magical musical expression even more massive.

As previously reported, WARDRUNA recently released its very first self-made music video. Since the inception of WARDRUNA, the band's vision was that videos and other visual elements would be an important part of the project. This is merely the first step in that plan and WARDRUNA intends to continue developing this aspect of the project towards their next album.

As far as the progress of the recording sessions for the next WARDRUNA LP goes, Kvitrafn states: "The recurring question of when the next album will be finished is not easy to answer. I am well underway with the recordings and there is good progress in the work. Having said that, I must add that because of the demanding concepts behind these albums, I cannot rush this process. I hope to be finished with the recordings next summer, but I can obviously not give any promises now. The only thing that matters now is to make music that I am satisfied with, no matter how long it will take."

WARDRUNA's debut album, "Runaljod - Gap Var Ginnunga", was released on January 19, 2009 via Indie Recordings.

Nearly six years in the making, WARDRUNA's debut album is the first part of the planned "Runaljod" trilogy which will musically interpret the runes of the elder futhark. This highly visual music is hard to place into any specific genre, and there isn't really much to compare it to. The style can perhaps be described as a curious blend of folk, world and ambient music, but without being limited by the sometimes restricted scope of these genres.

"Runaljod - Gap Var Ginnunga" has a very profound and unique sound that consists of a wide array of instruments, some of which are rarely used. A few examples: deer hide frame drums, mouth harp, goat horns, lur, Hardanger fiddle and tagelharpe ("viking fiddle"). Sounds of more unorthodox ‘instruments’ like trees, stones and fire are also incorporated into the music, and it's all topped off with powerful vocal performances from no less than three vocalists.

The album was produced and engineered by Kvitrafn himself in his own Fimbulljóð studio. Many of the recording sessions were executed outdoors at carefully selected locations with instruments or natural sounds that are relevant to the different runes.

Finnish/Swedish symphonic metallers NIGHTWISH recently spent time not only putting finishing touches to their new album, "Imaginarium", but also planning a movie of the same name. If all goes well, the CD will be released in early 2012, to be followed by the movie at some point further down the line. The first single off the album as well as the trailer for the film should arrive well before the end of 2011.

A new video teaser for "Imaginarium" can be seen below.

Swedish death masters VOLTURYON have officially announced Alexander Högbom as the band's new vocalist. Replacing Olle Ekman, Högbom is in for a baptism by fire as Volturyon performs with DEMONICAL on the Eastern Death Infernal Tour.

Says Volturyon guitarist Andreas Olander about the new addition: "We've known Alexander for a while through his band SPASMODIC and his occasional guest appearances with us. His vocals impressed us from day one. It's with great anticipation we look into the future."

"I first made contact with Volturyon when they mailed me their promo-CD, Blood Cure," says Högbom. I was running a rock club in Ludvika by the name Cavum back then, and they wanted me to book a gig for them at the club. I listened to their promo and was really impressed, so I arranged a gig for them in August of 2008 in Ludvika. Ever since I have been a fan of Volturyon. After a few years with no further contact I received a text message from [drummer] Christian Netzell, wondering if I wanted to join the band and do the east-Europe/Baltic tour with them, and I said yes. It is quite an honor to have been chosen to do the vocals in Volturyon and to play with such skilled musicians."

A warehouse containing stock for more than 150 record labels — including Nuclear Blast, Victory and Vagrant — was burned to the ground in north London, England during the riots last night. The stock, which was to be distributed by the [PIAS] Group, was being held at a three-story, 20,000 square-meter building in Enfield, owned by Sony DADC.

[PIAS], the U.K.'s largest distributor of indie music, said in a statement, "There was a fire last night at the Sony DADC warehouse which services the physical distribution for PIAS in the U.K. and Ireland. PIAS is working closely with Sony DADC, who are implementing their emergency plans. PIAS's U.K. offices in London and all other areas of our business are unaffected. More information will be communicated shortly to all our labels and partners."

A complete list of labels affected by the fire can be found at this location

EVIL UNITED, the Austin/San Antonio, Texas-based band featuring Jason McMaster (WATCHTOWER, DANGEROUS TOYS, BROKEN TEETH) on vocals, a double guitar assault of T.C. Connally (PB/DC, CULT TO FOLLOW) and John Valenzuela (PB/DC, URIAL) as well as the brutal rhythm section of Don Van Stavern (RIOT, S.A. SLAYER) on bass and "Shakes" West (MURDERDOLLS, NEUROTICA, SEBASTIAN BACH) on drums, will release its self-titled debut album on September 13 via MVD Distribution.

Commented McMaster: "I think there are a lot of bands playing this type of metal right now, but I believe that EVIL UNITED has something different about it. There is a wide range of influence, lots of peaks and valleys to explore, without losing any of the extreme.

"It's a pleasure to work with Texas metal alumni such as these guys; they shred but they are paying attention to the thrash and power as well as the melody."

"Evil United" track listing:

01. Blasphemer
02. Dawn Of Armageddon
03. Speak
04. Rise And Fall Of Earth And Man
05. Wargod
06. Dark Serenade
07. Fifty Year Storm
08. Spoonfed
09. Lost Dream
10. Taking Over The Grandmaster
11. Walking To Sodom
12. Hexorcism

According to KSAT.com, AEROSMITH bassist Tom Hamilton recently underwent a radical medical procedure after his tongue-base cancer came back and extended into his voice box.

Five years ago, Hamilton underwent chemotherapy and radiation for the cancer, and agreed to be the first person treated by Dr. Steven Zeitels with the green-light KTP laser. The risk, however, was that it could leave his voice and breathing passage permanently damaged.

"I was just terrified," Hamilton said. "I really thought, 'Oh, I am looking at not being able to talk.'"

"The second I had a tiny bit of consciousness, the first thing I did was make a sound, and it felt normal, and it sounded normal," the bassist added.

Former DEEP PURPLE keyboardist Jon Lord has released the following statement via his official web site, JonLord.org:

"I would like all my friends, followers, fans and fellow travelers to know that I am fighting cancer and will therefore be taking a break from performing while getting the treatment and cure.

"I shall, of course, be continuing to write music — in my world it just has to be part of the therapy — and I fully expect to be back in good shape next year.

"God bless and see you soon."

Bob Larson, an American radio and television evangelist and one of the leading practitioners of modern, Christian exorcisms, will conduct an exorcism next week on Jørn Stubberud, best known as the bassist in the legendary Norwegian black metal band MAYHEM (where he performs under the stage name Necrobutcher). The entire event will be filmed by NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation), the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company and the largest media organization in Norway, for a special program which will be aired in Norway in October.

Speaking to the German edition of the Metal Hammer magazine at this past weekend's Wacken Open Air festival in Wacken, Germany, Stubberud said, "NRK is sending me over to Phoenix, Arizona next week. There's this famous preacher. I'm not a believer, so I think he's a quack. A very religious guy. He's an excorcist; that's what he does. I'm just there for the fun of it. He's gonna perform an exorcism on me on national TV. So it's gonna be wild as fuck and, of course, I don't expect to suddenly be free from some demons or whatever. I'm just there for the fun of it and for the hell of it."

He added, "All religious people, when they talk about [how] they talked to God or God talked to them, stuff like that, I know it's a lie. Because they look at all the people, they speak in tongue, it's a mass, they get into that stuff, they think, 'If I behave like that guy, all the people will think that I truly have an open connection straight to God' or whatever. But for us, enlightened people, we know that it's all bullshit, that they're full of fucking lies and shit. And that's why I'm there — to give a little punch and a kick in the ass to this little quack and people saying that they have direct contact with God and shit like that."

By the late 1980s, in what would come to define his later ministry, Larson was often heard performing exorcisms of callers on the air, including Glen Benton of the death metal band DEICIDE, who became a regular caller.

MAYHEM vocalist Per "Dead" Ohlin committed suicide in 1991, and guitarist Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth was murdered in 1993.

Oulu, Finland-based act MORS SUBITA have inked a deal with Violent Journey Records. The band's debut, titled Human Waste Compression, is scheduled to be released on September 21st. The album was recorded and produced by the band, mixed by Jori Haukio at Ansa Studios and mastered by Jaakko Viitalähde at Virtalähde Mastering.

Mors Subita includes some well established metal musicians such as Mika Lammassaari, the bands composer and lead guitarist (ETERNAL TEARS OF SORROW – lead guitar 2009), Tero Piltonen (DARK FLOOD – Growls 2010) and Antti ”Hape” Haapsamo who performed much of the vocal work on CATAMENIA's 2006 album, Location: Cold.

On July 25th, LG and JANE'S ADDICTION invited lucky fans to Terminal 5 in New York to take part in the World's First User Generated 3D Concert Film shot entirely on the LG Thrill 4G super phone. Over 100 fans captured the band from all angles using the glasses-free 3D LG Thrill 4G as the band played fan favorites including 'Ocean Size' and 'Mountain Song' as well as their new single, 'Irresistible Force', from their upcoming album, The Great Escape Artist, due out September 27th. A special acoustic performance of 'Jane Says' provides the perfect ending to an unforgettable evening.

Finnish/Swedish symphonic metallers NIGHTWISH recently spent time not only putting finishing touches to their new album, "Imaginarium", but also planning a movie of the same name. If all goes well, the CD will be released in early 2012, to be followed by the movie at some point further down the line. The first single off the album as well as the trailer for the film should arrive well before the end of 2011.

"Imaginarium" is one of the projects which recently received grants from the Finnish government institution called the Finnish Film Foundation. The movie, directed by Stobe Harju, about an old man on his deathbed who glimpses a childhood dream in which he refuses to grow old, and fights aging with his imagination, will get $575,000 toward its $3.7 million budget.

The Finnish Film Foundation grants support for professional Finnish film production. The Foundation's goal is to promote high-quality, versatile and unique Finnish film. The support can be granted for feature-length, short and episodic fiction, documentary, animation and children's films.

The production support is granted for the writing of a film script, development of a film project, the actual production of a film and for the marketing and distribution of the film in Finland. The Foundation also grants post-release support on the basis of a film's total attendance.

In a brand new update on the band's official web site, NIGHTWISH states, "Secretly we all hoped that at some point we would be able to say this aloud: The dream is about to become reality! It's been a hard battle beyond all measures, as it is in all projects this size, but finally creativity and heart took over the evil called money.

"'Imaginarium' will be shot in September in a location we still need to keep as a secret but it will be quite far from our homely Finland and Sweden.

"The casting of the characters is now done. The cast is chosen not only because of their talent but because of the personal passion of everyone involved.

"The actors and their representatives have been overly enthusiastic about the auditions after reading the script. We believe many of you will be very surprised once you see the final result and the story behind it.

"This long journey began more than three years ago, and neither NIGHTWISH or Stobe had a clear idea of where the path would lead. The script is now fantastic. It's about life, and the little spark of light you see during the darkest and most hopeless times. The same spark we've had to find over and over again during the process of making this film happen.

"The production crew is a group of professionals with one aim only: To realize the original vision of 'Imaginarium' that Tuomas [Holopainen, NIGHTWISH keyboardist/main songwriter] and Stobe had. All the pieces of the puzzle are now on the tables, and the building of the props, costume design, schedule planning, special FX production, dialogue and band performance rehearsals, etc. has begun.

"It's easy to shed some tears while writing this, since we now know the story will have an ending after all.

"'She spins around elegantly, softly. The chords are now found and something that was broken never needed to be fixed.'"

On the topic of the movie score, it was previously revealed that Holopainen was working on variations with Petri Alanko, renowned for his prize-winning music for the "Alan Wake" video game. The score will be based on the songs on the album and their main themes in a way that — like many other things with the "Imaginarium" movie — is a first in the history of motion pictures.

NIGHTWISH will kick off the "Imaginarium" world tour in Los Angeles. The very first show of the trek will take place at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California on Saturday, January 21. This will be the biggest NIGHTWISH show production ever on North American soil and strictly a one-off — there will be no U.S. tour until later in 2012.

Vocalist Jens Broman has decided to leave Swedish thrashers DARKANE. His replacement is Lawrence Mackrory, who sang on the band's debut album, "Rusted Angel" (1999), and made a guest appearance on the song "Chaos vs. Order" on DARKANE's 2002 effort "Expanding Senses" (2002).

Lawrence will make his live comeback with DARKANE on September 20 in Strasbourg, France at the opening show of the group European headlining tour, with support from DESTINITY and DEVASTATING ENEMY.

Commented Broman: "[My leaving DARKANE] has to do with personal issues. At the moment my life is in a phase where I’m unable to find inspiration for new adventures with DARKANE and therefore it’s best for me to pass on the mic. I will miss you all, the tours, all you dedicated fans and most of all my band mates. But know that DARKANE have found a superb replacement in Lawrence Mackrory. Good luck and stay metal!"

Added Mackrory: "It is with great pleasure I can finally announce my return to DARKANE. I have been waiting for this opportunity to appear and finally the time was right for me to continue what we started 13 years ago. Both Andreas and Jens have done a tremendous job with the band, which will keep me on my toes while performing live, for sure.

"The first time I met Peter, Christofer, Klas and Jörgen was when they arrived at the studio in my hometown in Uppsala to record the debut album, 'Rusted Angel'. We had only spoken on the phone before and yet there I was, ready to record an album with them. After my departure, we remained good friends but didn’t really see much of each other since we lived in different parts of the country. Now the chemistry between the five of us is more vibrant than ever and I can’t wait to go on tour and perform songs from all five albums.

"The new DARKANE album is already in the works and I can guarantee that all fans, both old and new, will enjoy this record. So far the demos sound awesome, let’s just leave it at that.

I’m looking forward to finally meeting all DARKANE fans on the road."

Commented DARKANE: "We are all very excited about the future, and are also working hard on the new album. We recently finished building the studio that we’ve been working on over the last 18 months, and we are very satisfied."

Mackrory's new gig with DARKANE with not affect his position in F.K.Ü. and he will remain an active member of both bands.

New rehearsal footage of DARKANE with Mackrory on vocals can be seen below.

ADRENALINE MOB — the new band featuring drummer Mike Portnoy (DREAM THEATER, AVENGED SEVENFOLD), SYMPHONY X frontman Russell Allen, guitar virtuoso Mike Orlando (SONIC STOMP), bassist Paul DiLeo and STUCK MOJO/FOZZY axeman Rich Ward — will release its debut EP on August 9. The self-titled effort will available via iTunes as well as sold in physical form at the group's upcoming shows and online store. Self-produced by the band, "Adrenaline Mob" features four original tracks as well as a blistering cover of the Ronnie James Dio-era BLACK SABBATH classic "The Mob Rules". From the opening riff of "Psychosane" through the over-six-minute epic-sounding "Hit The Wall", it is clear that ADRENALINE MOB are in class all their own as musicians.

American power metallers ICED EARTH played their final show with singer Matt Barlow at this year's edition of the Wacken Open Air festival on August 6 in Wacken, Germany. Professionally filmed video footage of the entire performance can be seen below.

The band's setlist was as follows:

01. Burning Times
02. Declaration Day
03. Vengeance Is Mine
04. Violate
05. Last December
06. I Died for You
07. Jack
08. The Hunter
09. Prophecy
10. Birth of the Wicked
11. The Coming Curse

Encore:

12. Iced Earth

Matt Barlow has announced his de

New Brunswick, New Jersey's melodic, thrash-metal warriors GOD FORBID have inked a merchandising, publishing and recording deal with Victory Records.

Commented GOD FORBID drummer Corey Pierce: "We are so excited to be a part of the Victory family. We are very proud to bring our music too all the maniacs out there who are fans of the band as well as this label. We look forward to starting a powerful partnership which will bring a new energy to the metal world."

Indiana-based Christian metalcore band HASTE THE DAY will release a live album, "Haste The Day Vs. Haste The Day", on September 13 via Solid State Records. The LP, which features members both past and present, spans the band's catalogue of six releases and nearly 10 years.

"Haste The Day Vs. Haste The Day" was recorded live at the all-ages music venue Rhino's in Bloomington, Indiana on June 29, 2010, also serving as the album release show for "Attack Of The Wolf King", the band's final studio LP. The live CD was engineered and mixed by Brian Thorburn of Threshold Studios, also credited with producing, engineering and mixing HASTE THE DAY's cover of THE BLACK EYED PEAS hit song "Meet Me Halfway".

"Haste The Day Vs. Haste The Day" will be accompanied by a DVD, which was also shot at the June 2010 event. The camera shoot was coordinated and produced by long-time manager Mark LaFay and later edited by David Brodsky of MyGoodEye. The DVD will give fans old and new a chance to see all previous and current members of HASTE THE DAY perform songs from all eras of the band's career.

CD track listing:

01. 68
02. Pressure The Hinges
03. Blue 42
04. Fallen
05. Minor Prophets
06. Autumn
07. The Closest Thing To Closure
08. Walk On
09. White Collar
10. Needles
11. Travesty
12. Dog Like Vultures
13. American Love
14. Substance
15. When Everything Falls

DVD track listing:

01. 68
02. Pressure The Hinges
03. Blue 42
04. Fallen
05. The Minor Prophets
06. Mad Man
07. Autumn
08. The Closest Thing To Closure
09. Walk On
10. White Collar
11. Needles
12. Travesty
13. Dog Like Vultures
14. Wake Up The Sun
15. American Love
16. Substance
17. When Everything Falls