Münster, Germany-based melodic death metallers MOURNING CARESS have inked a deal with MDD Records for the release of their third album,. Tentatively due in early November, the CD was mastered by Ulf Horbelt at DMS in Marl, Germany and features cover art by Björn Goosses of Killustrations.

"Deep Wounds, Bright Scars" contains nine tracks plus a cover of the SCORPIONS classic "Blackout" as a bonus track. According to the band, "Some tunes are the heaviest and fastest in the history of MOURNING CARESS, some groove like shit and all of them will enchant you with beautiful melodies. The vocals still sound frustrated, fragile and full of despair. This well-known combination will surely please all fans of [previous MOURNING CARESS albums] 'Imbalance' and 'Inner Exile'."

A new MOURNING CARESS track entitled "Panic" can be streamed in the YouTube clip below.

Another news song, "Wastelands Within", will be made available in September. The band says, "It's a very special one for us, since it features guest vocals by the mighty Mikael Stanne from DARK TRANQUILLITY."

MOURNING CARESS is:

Gerrit Mohr - Vocals
Dominik Schlüter - Drums
Florian Albers - Guitar
Wolfgang Sander - Guitar
Daniel Busche - Bass

Atlanta progressive metallers MASTODON will release their new album, "The Hunter", on September 27. The follow-up to 2009's "Crack The Skye" will be MASTODON's third studio CD to be made available on Reprise Records in the U.S. and Canada and the band's first to be issued through Roadrunner Records outside of North America.

Beginning today, MASTODON will launch a pre-order at MastodonRocks.com for "The Hunter" limited-edition package, which includes a CD/DVD housed in a digipack with an exclusive alternative artwork cover, a 20" x 30" lenticular poster featuring the album cover of the standard CD, an Augmented Reality Experience by Total Immersion (more on that later) that will contain exclusive content only available to this package, plus an instant download of the band's first new album track, "Black Tongue", also available for sale through all participating digital music retailers starting today.

The visual companion to the song "Black Tongue", featuring contemporary American folk artist A.J. Fosik, creator of "The Hunter" cover art piece, can be seen below.

Want more MASTODON? Fans who purchase the limited-edition package will also receive a download of "Curl Of The Burl", the first official single from "The Hunter" before it becomes widely available for sale at all digital retails stores.

This limited package is a one-time-only edition. Once these exclusives sell out, no more will be created.

WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM will release its fourth full-length album, "Celestial Lineage", on September 13 via Southern Lord Records. The CD's cover art was created by photographic artist Alison Scarpulla, and the package was designed by Aaron Turner (ISIS, TWILIGHT, Hydra Head Records). The beautiful, organic layout puts the album conceptually right in line with the band's previous "Two Hunters" and "Black Cascade" releases, and fittingly completes this triad of releases from the band. Three songs on the album feature Jessika Kenney's liturgical choir and solo voice, as heard on "Two Hunters" as well as 2009's "Malevolent Grain" EP, the album also including orations from Aaron Turner (ISIS).

"Celestial Lineage" track listing:

01. Thuja Magus Imperium
02. Permanent Changes in Consciousness
03. Subterranean Initiation
04. Rainbow Illness
05. Woodland Cathedral
06. Astral Blood
07. Prayer of Transformation

ECHOTERRA — the female-fronted symphonic rock/metal band featuring vocalist Melissa Ferlaak (VISIONS OF ATLANTIS), keyboardist Jonah Weingarten (PYRAMAZE), guitarist Yan Leviathan (AVIAN), bassist Brian Hollenbeck and drummer Adam Sagan (INTO ETERNITY) — will release its new album, "Land Of The Midnight Sun", on October 17 via Blinding Force Recordings. The effort will be available for sale in digital and physical formats. The physical copies will have a 16-page booklet filled with spectacular artwork, band pictures and lyrics.

A concept video for the single "All The Lies" will be shot in August and will be released in October.

Drummer Mike Portnoy (DREAM THEATER, AVENGED SEVENFOLD, ADRENALINE MOB) has joined forces with guitarist/vocalist John Sykes (WHITESNAKE, BLUE MURDER, THIN LIZZY) and an as-yet-undisclosed bassist in a brand new power trio. The project is currently recording material at a Los Angeles studio, with Portnoy describing one song as "copping the [LED] ZEPPELIN/[BLACK] SABBATH vibe" and another as "[PINK] FLOYD meets [DEEP] PURPLE!!! Some serious old-school classic rock."

FAKE FIGURES, the Orange County, California-based band featuring former members of ATREYU, HOTWIRE, SCARS OF TOMORROW, NIGHTFALL and THE IRON MAIDENS, is preparing to release its debut EP, "Hail The Sycophants".

According to a press release, "FAKE FIGURES has come, and approaches at full tilt with a sonically diverse platter for those to choose from. Having the good fortune of each member being associated with their individual acts has led to an immense arsenal of song writing capabilities and comfort during live performances.

"FAKE FIGURES are preparing to give a complete spectrum of their inception and where they are now by also furnishing a full-length documentary chronicling the bands beginning stages (demoing, rehearsals, photo shoot, new member addition, first show, etc.), filmed by bass player Bob Bradley and singer Rus Martin; who also filmed and edited the band's first video for the track 'Something Deadly'."

After accomplishing these freshman steps they are currently primed for the future by reading themselves with social media promotions, merchandise plans, additional shows, and a PR strike which will, conceivably, boost them into the arms of their peers.

Italy's OPERA IX has inked a deal with Agonia Records for the release of the band's new album, "Strix Maledictae In Aeternum". Due in November, the CD — which is described in a press release as "a great opera dedicated to the dark ages of medieval witchcraft" — was recorded at the Occultum studios, owned by the OPERA IX guitarist Ossian, and was mastered at the Necromorbus Studio in Alvik, Sweden.. The artwork was created by Kris Verwimp.

FAITH NO MORE singer Mike Patton confirmed to RollingStone.com that the reactivated influential '90s alt-metal act will play on the final day of this year's edition of the SWU Music and Arts Festival in Paulínia, São Paulo, Brazil, the band's first show since a successful reunion tour last year. "Other than that, we don't have plans for a new recording or anything like that, we're just taking it slow as it comes," Patton said.

"Reunions can be done very distastefully I think, and we were all very worried about that," he added. "But I think we were all very surprised with how good it felt. It's a tired old script: band splits up, gets hard up for cash, goes on tour and records a shitty record. We don't want to be part of that kind of history."

FAITH NO MORE played the final show of its reunion tour last December at Estadio Bicentenario de La Florida in Santiago.

In an October 2010 interview with Consequence Of Sound, bassist Billy Gould spoke about the possibility of the reunited act playing more shows after the Santiago concert. "I personally can't see us not doing any more shows again, I just don't see it," he said. "There's no point in not to do it. Why quit now? I think it's just this tour… We did this tour and that's what we decided to do. And we did it. We accomplished this goal, it worked out for all of us, and then we look at each other and say, 'Hey what do you want to do now?' And I think that's how it's got to be."

Regarding how the reunion tour had gone up until that point, Gould said, "I was probably the guy who dragged his feet the most in doing this, and I've got to say it exceeded my expectations 100 percent. It was much better than my best-case scenario, and my worst case didn't even come into play."

FAITH NO MORE made a comeback in June 2009 with a headlining performance at the Brixton Academy in London, England and played sporadic shows for the next 18 months.

FAITH NO MORE's last LP, "Album Of The Year", came out in 1997.

Legendary BLACK SABBATH/HEAVEN & HELL bassist Geezer Butler has issued a statement mourning the passing of his "all-time favorite musicians" Amy Winehouse.

The 27-year-old singer was found dead in her London apartment on Saturday, July 23. There's no word on the exact cause of death, but Winehouse had been struggling with drug addiction for many years.

"It would be disrespectful of me if I didn’t mention the passing of one of my all-time favorite musicians, Amy Winehouse," Butler said. "To me , she was and is up there with Billie, Bessie, Sarah, Dinah, Ella, and I was so looking forward to her new stuff, but will always love the old stuff. A tremendous talent taken from us. Her voice will live on longer than all the crap written about her."

Butler also commented on the two-act tragedy which rocked Norway — first a downtown Oslo explosion, then a shooting at a youth camp — resulting in more than 90 deaths.

"On yet another sad note, my thoughts go out to the people of Norway after such a terrible tragedy there," he said. "So shocking in such a peaceful, beautiful country."

Jarkko Ahola of the Finnish metal groups TERÄSBETONI and NORTHERN KINGS has launched a new "vital rock act" called AHOLA. According to a press release, the group "has a suitable mix of past and present — which is always an essential part of rock music. The band's musical core consists of hit tunes, feeling and of course the skill to write and play true and powerful rock music, wherein the authenticity and emotion are relevant, leaving the vain posing to others."

Commented Ahola: "AHOLA is something I've been working on for a long time.

"From the beginning I've written rock songs in English, but since being a musician, you find yourself doing something you did never expect like singing and playing in a huge act called TERÄSBETONI or participating a cool project called NORTHERN KINGS. I guess that's part of the fascination!

"Anyway, still riff-based rock being the heart of my musical world, I wanted to add some spice to the soup and do something that I wasn't so familiar with: super tightness, speed… a flavor of punk rock, you might say.

"Oh, don't get scared, there's only a glimpse of it, giving the right edge to the songs. THAT is the territory none of us really handle well which brings this odd 'hanging on the edge' magic to our performance."

He continued, "The way I want to see AHOLA's music is: songs are, I dare say, approachable with catchy choruses but when giving the songs a deeper thought, loaded with layers you can dig into. You can hear echoes from classic rock of the '70s, alternative rock and metal of the '90s and last decade, pop music in general, that punk rock I mentioned and… well, listen to yourselves."

Washington D.C.-based metallers DARKEST HOUR have released an entirely instrumental version of their latest album, "The Human Romance", via iTunes.

Commented guitarist Mike Schleibaum: "Attention geeks, shredders, stem junkies and karaoke fanatics. We're very stoked to offer you the instrumental version of 'The Human Romance'. Feel free to download away and enjoy.

"If you haven't had a chance to pick up the record, then by all means start with the version that has our very own John Henry singing on it. After all, it ain't the DH without the JH.

"These instrumentals will take you on one hell of an epic sonic journey so pick 'em both up, learn these words and scream your ass off with us at the shows!"

After more than three decades of delivering heavy metal to the masses, Colorado power metallers JAG PANZER have decided to call it quits.

"We are proud of every album we released and the support we've received from the heavy metal community," states guitarist and founder Mark Briody. " We've played so many places around the world and enjoyed every minute of it but the time has come where we just cannot move forward as a band.".

Guitarist Christian Lasegue left the band last month to pursue his degree full time.

"Christian did an amazing job on 'The Scourge Of The Light' and it was a pleasure working with him," continues Briody. "We wished Christian well but kept this quiet until we found a replacement."

Drummer Rikard Stjernquist says, "Several guitar players applied for the job. It was a pleasant surprise to see so many young guitarists with advanced chops. One player, 19-year-old Jake Dreyer, submitted videos of him nailing solos from both Chris Broderick and Christian Lasegue. We were ready to welcome Jake into the band, but, unfortunately, that will not happen. There is no doubt in any of our minds that Jake will go on to be a household name in his own right."

Bassist John Tetley adds a final statement:" In closing, we’d like to send out a huge heartfelt THANK YOU to metal fans throughout the world. You all rule!"

"An Eye For An Eye", the first song from THE RESISTANCE, the new Sweden-based metal band featuring former members of IN FLAMES, THE HAUNTED and GRAVE, can be streamed in the YouTube clip below. The track will be made available on the sampler CD that will only be distributed to the subscribers of Sweden's Close-Up Magazine in the August 2011 issue. In addition to the THE RESISTANCE track, the sampler CD will include contributions from all the other bands that are booked for the magazine's Close-Up Båten cruise that leaves Stockholm, Sweden on September 8 and returns one day later.

As previously reported, THE RESISTANCE has also been confirmed for the new Sonic Rock Circus festival, set to take place on September 30 at Klubben in Stockholm, Sweden.

"Black Tongue", a brand new song from Atlanta progressive metallers MASTODON has been "leaked" and can now be streamed using the SoundCloud player below. The track comes off the band's new album, "The Hunter", which is tentatively due this fall via Reprise Records. The CD's cover artwork was created by AJ Fosik, a wood carver who is also responsible for the backdrop the band uses live. This marks the first time MASTODON has not used acclaimed artist Paul Romano, who was responsible for all of the group's previous artwork.

„Reckless 'Till The End“, das brandneue Album der aufstrebenden italienischen Modern-Metal-Jungspunde TASTERSwird am 16. September 2011 via Nuclear Blast Records veröffentlicht. Wenn Ihr auf Bands wie BRING ME THE HORIZON, ASKING ALEXANDRIA oder WE CAME AS ROMANS steht, ist das hier der RICHTIG HEISSE SCH&%SS!!!

„Reckless 'Till The End“ Trackliste:

01. Katherine's Got A Secret 4:04
02. Please Destroy This World 3:58
03. Thanks For This Precious Gift 4:24
04. Sleeping With Spirits 4:10
05. Dead Roses 3:15
06. Falling Away With A Last Remembrance 3:27
07. How Easy To Die (Smile If You Can) 3:48
08. Shadows 4:56
09. Fight If Your Heart Is Broken 3:50
10. Lonely 2:22
11. First Time 1:50