According to a posting on the Facebook page of Tim Butcher, MOTÖRHEAD leader Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister's longtime bass tech and "right-hand man," former MOTÖRHEAD guitarist Michael "Würzel" Burston died earlier today (Saturday, July 9). He was 61 years old.

Before joining MOTÖRHEAD in 1984, Burston had been a corporal in the Army, serving in Germany and Ireland with the 1st Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment, and had played in the bands BASTARD and WARFARE. Joining another relatively unknown guitarist, Phil Campbell, they played together at a MOTÖRHEAD audition, and both were taken on.

Burston acquired the nickname Würzel while in the Army, being compared to the character Worzel Gummidge due to his scarecrow-style hair and bumpkin-like manner. Lemmy reportedly demanded that Würzel add an umlaut to the "U" in his name, for "heavy metal effect."

Würzel can be heard on the following MOTÖRHEAD albums:

* No Remorse (1984)
* Orgasmatron (1986)
* Rock 'n' Roll (1987)
* Nö Sleep at All (1988)
* The Birthday Party (1990)
* 1916 (1991)
* March ör Die (1992)
* Bastards (1993)
* Sacrifice (1995)

Würzel left MOTÖRHEAD in 1995.

For the past couple of years, Burston has played with a new band called LEADER OF DOWN, which last month headlined the main stage at the U.K. fundraising music festival "Never Mind The Bullocks" in aid of Midlands Air Ambulance.

Würzel joined MOTÖRHEAD on stage on November 28, 2009 at the Hammersmith Apollo to perform the band's classic song "Ace Of Spades". Video footage of his appearance can be seen below.

SEPULTURA's Andreas Kisser is filling in for ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian at 11 shows in July while Ian spends time with his family following the birth of his first child.

Kisser made his live debut with ANTHRAX on Saturday, July 2 at Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany as part of a "Big Four" show with METALLICA, SLAYER and MEGADETH.

Speaking to RockAAA earlier today (Friday, July 8) at the U.K. installment of the Sonisphere festival, Andreas stated about what it was like to receive the call asking him to fill in for Ian, "It was amazing. ANTHRAX… I mean, all the four bands here [METALLICA, SLAYER, MEGADETH and ANTHRAX] are the DNA of my guitar playing. I started listening to them, the heavier music, and I wanted to play the same. They were my teachers. And to be here, it's just… I don't think even a dream. I [couldn't have] dreamt something like that to happen. And the good thing is it's a very positive situation. Scott is not sick, [he doesn't have a] a broken arm or something like that. It's very, very positive. It couldn't be better. So I'm very honored to be here, by these guys, and jam. We're having fun."

Added ANTHRAX bassist Frank Bello: "Andreas locks in with the band like he was always here. So there's not a thought to playing; we don't have to worry. It's nice to go on stage and not have to worry. That's the last thing we wanted to do. And he's good, he's so locked in, even with the cues, the vocals — everything. Boom! It's ANTHRAX."

REDEMPTION, the U.S. progressive metal band featuring in its ranks legendary FATES WARNING vocalist Ray Alder and guitarist/songwriter Nick van Dyk, has completed work on its new album, "This Mortal Coil", with producer Neil Kernon, who has previously worked with such acts as NEVERMORE, NILE, QUEENSRŸCHE and DEICIDE. The CD will feature the following working songtitles, among others: "Noonday Devil", "No Tickets To The Funeral", "Rain In My Soul", "Focus", "Dreams From The Pit", "Path Of The Tornado", "Blink Of An Eye", "Perfect" and "Departure Of The Pale Horse".

Commented Nick: "I'm pleased to announce that after what can only be described as a very challenging production experience that threw every possible curveball at us, we have finished the record. Fortunately, Neil kept a steady hand at the tiller through rough waters but it really tested us all: computer failures, Internet failures, missing files, strange 'ghost-in-the-machine' type elements, scheduling challenges, lightning strikes (I'm not kidding), etc. At any rate, the masters are in the hands of the label. Now we just wait for it to be released! Hope you all enjoy it."

Aftonbladet journalist Mattias Kling conducted an interview with guitarist/vocalist Mille Petrozza of German thrashers KREATOR at this year's edition of the Getaway Rock festival, which is being held July 7-9, 2011 in Gävle, Sweden. You can now watch the chat below.

When asked about when fans can expect to hear some new material from KREATOR, Petrozza said, "We will come to [Fascination Street studio in Örebro] Sweden in January to work on a new album with Jens Bogren. Jens Bogren is a producer from here who worked with OPETH and AMON AMARTH, and he's really good; I like him. I like the sounds that he gets. And I think the combination — Jens Bogren and KREATOR — it will be pretty heavy."

Regarding how the new material is different from KREATOR's previous output, Mille said, "We have five done and two skeleton-type sketches for songs. I don't know how explain… It's always a little hard for me to talk about music has been written but is not released yet. It will definitely have all the KREATOR trademarks. The lyrics will talk about nowadays stuff, as usual, so it will be like a photography of the year 2012. Also the lyrics will deal a lot of things that are actually happening at this point in time. It will be like reading a newspaper or something [laughs], with all the stuff happening. And, of course, the music will be typical KREATOR, and we also wanna expand the sound and progress as musicians. I mean, this lineup has been the strongest lineup KREATOR ever had since ten years, and now I think we're ready to come out with an album that blows everyone away."

The "Big Four" bands of 1980s thrash metal — METALLICA, MEGADETH, SLAYER and ANTHRAX — played the fourth show of their European tour earlier tonight (Friday, July 8) at the U.K. installment of the Sonisphere festival at Knebworth House.

The highly anticipated onstage performance of the "Big Four" bands at the same time happened near the end of METALLICA's set, between "Enter Sandman" and "Battery". Members of ANTHRAX, SLAYER and MEGADETH joined METALLICA on stage for a cover of DIAMOND HEAD's "Am I Evil?" before METALLICA ended the night with "Creeping Death". Also taking part in the jam were members of the legendary NWOBHM (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal) band DIAMOND HEAD, who played on the same stage earlier in the night.

METALLICA frontman James Hetfield asked the audience, "Is there another band playing or something? What's all this extra gear? It's 'The Big Four Band', does that sound like a good idea? Celebrating 30 years of METALLICA, we invite SLAYER, ANTHRAX, MEGADETH and hopefully someone from DIAMOND HEAD to put the cherry on top."

"You see that guy, if it wasn't for Brian Tatler, there's a pretty good chance none of us would be here tonight," METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich added while pointing at the DIAMOND HEAD guitarist, before the musicians launched into a version of "Am I Evil?"

METALLICA's setlist was as follows:

01. Hit the Lights
02. Master of Puppets
03. The Shortest Straw
04. Seek & Destroy
05. Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
06. Ride the Lightning
07. The Memory Remains
08. All Nightmare Long
09. Sad But True
10. The Call of Ktulu
11. One
12. For Whom the Bell Tolls
13. Blackened
14. Fade to Black
15. Enter Sandman

Encore:

16. Am I Evil? (with DIAMOND HEAD, SLAYER, MEGADETH and ANTHRAX)
17. Battery
18. Creeping Death

The lyric video for the song "A God Among The Waste" from WORLD UNDER BLOOD — the melodic death metal side project featuring CKY guitarist/vocalist Deron Miller alongside Tim Yeung (MORBID ANGEL, DIVINE HERESY, VITAL REMAINS, HATE ETERNAL) on drums, Risha Eryavec (DECREPIT BIRTH) on bass, and Luke Jaeger on guitar — can be seen below. The track comes off the band's long-awaited debut album, "Tactical", which will be released on July 26 in North America and July 29 in Europe via Nuclear Blast Records.

"We Drink Your Blood", the new video from multinational metallers POWERWOLF, can be seen below (courtesy of Metal Hammer magazine). The clip was filmed in an ancient monastery church.

Commented POWERWOLF organist Falk Maria Schlegel: "Shooting the video in such a special and atmospheric place was incredible. The combination of the sacral interior of the church, including altar, confessional box and a church organ with a lot of fire, fog and metal insanity was the perfect set for a POWERWOLF video."

The title "We Drink Your Blood" is an allusion to the congregation in the Christian liturgy: "Take this, all of you, and drink from it: this is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant." In the very own style, the members of POWERWOLF have adapted this to a typical suggestive horror story.

Arguably the four most influential thrash metal bands of all time are set to share the stage at the Sonisphere festival in Knebworth, United Kingdom today (Friday, July 8). The Sonisphere web site asked a bunch of the artists performing over the weekend which of METALLICA, SLAYER, MEGADETH or ANTHRAX means the most to them musically and why.

IN FLAMES bassist Peter Iwers: "Oh, that's a hard question. If I have to pick one… oh, that's a toughie. I really like them all. I like the early ANTHRAX, all of MEGADETH, the early SLAYER, the early METALLICA. I like it all. Just to name one I would pick ANTHRAX, but only because you made me choose. I saw ANTHRAX opening up for IRON MAIDEN around the 'Persistance Of Time' record and it was amazing, the energy and the moshing. And they still have it, even though they're way older than I am, and they still have the energy and they still rock on stage."

ARCH ENEMY guitarist Michael Amott: "I grew listening to all four of these bands and I enjoyed all their early albums a lot and they helped shape me into the musician I am today. However, SLAYER is the band that has consistently been playing extreme metal and have kept the spirit of thrash alive! Enter to the realm of Satan!"

FOZZY frontman Chris Jericho: "METALLICA are my favorite band of all time, but I'm really excited to see ANTHRAX, too. They've always been one of my favorites, but haven't really done as much as they could have in the last 10 years. I think these shows are really lighting a fire under their collective asses and they've been playing some great concerts. They're the hometown heroes for me, apart from METALLICA, who are just above and beyond everybody else you'll ever see in your life. I never would have guessed when I was 14 years old in the basement playing 'Seek And Destroy' that some day I would be playing the same festival as METALLICA."

CAVALERA CONSPIRACY/SOULFLY frontman Max Cavalera: "Mine's probably SLAYER. SLAYER's just violent, man. The old shit. We grew up with that man. I love those fucking records. It's brutal."

Boston power/thrash veterans MELIAH RAGE will release their seventh full-length studio album (or eighth, if you also count the "Unfinished Business" CD), "Dead To The World", on July 28 via Italy's Metal On Metal Records. The CD's cover artwork was created by Jowita Kaminska, who previously worked with EXODUS ("Tempo Of The Damned"), WITCHBURNER ("Final Detonation", "Blood Of Witches", "Demons"), MANILLA ROAD ("Gates Of Fire"), ATTACKER ("The Unknown"), FORSAKEN ("Dominaeon", "After The Fall"), DANTESCO ("De La Mano De La Muerte", "Pagano"), METAL INQUISITOR ("Doomsday For The Heretic"), PARAGON ("Screenslaves") and DECEASED ("As The Weird Travel On"), among others.

"Dead To The World" track listing:

01. Up In Flames
02. Valley Of The Shadowless Souls
03. Skin And Bones
04. Absolute Obedience
05. Where Nothing Ever Grows
06. Never From Me
07. Cold Cruel Fate
08. Time Won't Let Me Breathe
09. Awaken Sorrow

German power metallers PRIMAL FEAR have set "Unbreakable" as the title of their new album, due on January 20, 2012 via Frontiers Records. The band will enter House Of Music studios in Winterbach, Germany on Sunday, July 10 to begin recording the CD, which will be produced by PRIMAL FEAR bassist Mat Sinner and engineered by Achim Köhler (EDGUY, MASTERPLAN). Songtitles set to appear on the effort include "Give 'Em Hell", "And There Was Silence", "Where Angels Die", "Born Again" and "Strike".

Commented PRIMAL FEAR, "We've survived earthquakes and tornados. This is the story of all who tried to destroy us, are still trying or gave up."

X17 Online has uploaded new photos of legendary legendary heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne driving around his new Calabasas, California home in a Ferrari. You can also some of the images in the TMZ.com YouTube clip below.

Ozzy rear-ended another car on December 13, 2010 while driving around Los Angeles. Law enforcement sources said Ozzy's Ferrari hit a Mercedes from behind right before entering an L.A. highway. Both parties reportedly waited for police to arrive and then traded information before departing without incident. There were no injuries and damage was minor.

Commenting on the incident on her U.S. talk show "The Talk", Ozzy's wife/manager Sharon Osbourne said, "Ozzy just recently passed his driving test and you know, every guy's dream from being a kid to 62, they've wanted to have a Ferrari. So he goes and gets himself one. It had 20 miles on the clock, he goes, 'I'm going driving.' He goes out, gets lost, doesn't know where he is and he hits another car. But the guy he hits is a lawyer. So then Ozzy has a wicked panic on, he says sorry, he gets out the car and the guy goes, 'I'm calling the police.' Ozzy goes, 'You don't have to, it's only a minor thing.' The guy goes, 'I'm a lawyer.' And Ozzy says, 'Jeez, it's just my luck, I hit Perry Mason.' It's like, of all the people in the world! This guy was being really lawyer-like, asking questions, being really strict. He was like, 'Don't you leave!' Ozzy was like, 'I'm not going anywhere.'"

Ozzy revealed in a 2010 interview that it took him 19 attempts to obtain his driver's license because he was always "drunk or something." He admitted that he was so nervous during one of the tests that he asked his doctor to prescribe tranquilizers. "So when I had to turn the car, I was simply asleep," he said. "When I woke up, the examiner had simply disappeared, but left a message on a paper on the dashboard: 'Unfortunately, Mr. Osbourne has not passed the exam and would suggest that he never again try to drive this car.'" Ozzy also said that instructors and testers have told him, "I'm not even fucking getting in the car with you."

"Witness The Addiction", a brand new song from California deathcore masters SUICIDE SILENCE, can be streamed below. The track, which features a guest appearance by KORN frontman Jonathan Davis, comes off the band's new album, "The Black Crown", due on July 12 via Century Media Records. The CD was recorded with heavyweight producer Steve Evetts (THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN, EVERY TIME I DIE, HATEBREED) and features guest appearances by KORN singer Jonathan Davis and SUFFOCATION frontman Frank Mullen.

"The Black Crown" track listing:

"Addicted", a brand new song from the seminal grindcore/extreme metal outfit BRUTAL TRUTH, can be streamed below (courtesy of AOL's Noisecreep). The track comes off the band's new full-length album, "End Time", which will be released on September 27 in North America via Relapse Records. The CD was recorded with Doug White at Watchmen Studios in Lockport, New York and was mixed by Jason P.C. at Goatsound Studios. Mastering duties were handled by Scott Hull at Visceral Sound.

Finnish doom/death metallers SHAPE OF DESPAIR have issued the following update:

"Just before this year, SHAPE OF DESPAIR and [ex-AMORPHIS/current AJATTARA singer] Pasi Koskinen parted ways. We got very few close persons in mind who could fit inside the band's chemistry and share the same passion for our music.

"Welcome our newest member, Henri Koivula.

"Henri is known from his other band THROES OF DAWN which released magnificent 'The Great Fleet Of Echoes' album last year."

Femme Metal Records has set a September 26 release date for its fourth compilation CD entitled "Melody And Malice".

All proceeds from sales will be donated to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), a United Kingdom charity campaigning and working in child protection.

"Melody And Malice" track listing:

Disc One

01. DEADLOCK - "Virus Jones"
02. EXOTERIK - "Revive"
03. REGARDLESS OF ME - "Until I Die"
04. KITTIE - "Cut Throat"
05. IN THIS MOMENT - "A Star Crossed Wasteland"
06. MONGREL - "Zombies Of War"
07. HAND - "Fate Sewn On"
08. DECADENCE - "Vulture"
09. UNSUN - "Whispers"
10. KATRA - "One Wish Away"
11. CRYSTAL VIPER - "Blood Of The Heroes"
12. WINTER STORM - "The Embrace"
13. THE AGONIST - "And Their Eulogies Sang Me To Sleep"
14. ALERION - "Turn Of Fate"
15. SARAH JEZEBEL DEVA - "The Corruption of Mercy"
16. JAGGEDY ANN - "Skin Of Your Teeth"

Disc Two

01. MAGICA - "Wait For Me"
02. WITCHBURN - "Bleed The Stone"
03. EDENBRIDGE - "Higher"
04. THE MARIANA HOLLOW - "Your Halo"
05. LUNA MORTIS - "Ash"
06. BENEATH THE STARES - "Guilty Bystander"
07. ACHILLA - "Mirrors"
08. AMBERIAN DAWN - "Talisman"
09. LACUNA COIL - "Spellbound"
10. TRIOSPHERE - "The Anger And The Silent Remorse"
11. SOLSIKK - "Relish In Nervous Delights"
12. NOCTIS NOTUS - "Scarlet Storm"
13. ARCH ENEMY - "I Will Live Again"
14. FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH - "Drifter"
15. EVIL'S DESIRE - "Touched By Insanity"
16. RISING DREAM - "Religion For The Weak"

Former SKID ROW singer Sebastian Bach will release his new solo album, "Kicking & Screaming", on September 27 via Frontiers Records. The CD was produced by Bob Marlette (BLACK SABBATH, SHINEDOWN, ATREYU, FILTER) and features young virtuosic guitarist Nick Sterling and drum pro Bobby Jarzombek (HALFORD, RIOT, ICED EARTH). The follow-up to 2007's "Angel Down" was mastered at Precision Mastering in Los Angeles with Tom Baker.

"Kicking & Screaming" track listing:

01. Kicking & Screaming
02. My Own Worst Enemy
03. TunnelVision (featuring John 5)
04. Dance On Your Grave
05. Caught In A Dream
06. As Long As I Got The Music
07. I'm Alive
08. Dirty Power
09. Live The Life
10. Dream Forever
11. One Good Reason
12. Lost In The Light
13. Wishin'

Bonus tracks:

14. Jumpin' Off The Wagon (on physical CD/DVD editions only)
15. Ain't There Yet (iTunes exclusive)

SLIPKNOT has announced a special real-time webcast of the band's Knebworth, United Kingdom performance via the group's website, Slipknot1.com, to take place during SLIPKNOT's headline set at 9 p.m. GMT on Sunday, July 10.

The webcasting of SLIPKNOT's historic Sunday night headline set live across the world from Knebworth will go out live on Slipknot1.com as well as SonisphereFestivals.com. Set to be an epic and emotional occasion, this highly anticipated show will mark the band’s first appearance in the U.K. in over two years and their first British performance without founding member Paul Gray, who tragically passed away last year.

The band said of the upcoming performance: "England has always been a special place for this band from the very beginning. We can't think of a better way to culminate our celebration of Paul's life than to share it with the 'maggots; at Knebworth and the millions more watching around the world. This is not to be missed."

Added festival producer Stuart Galbraith: "This is the first time Sonisphere festival has been transmitted live across the web and represents yet another major stride in its commitment to harnessing the power of the internet to engage with the rock audience at large across the planet. Given that this is going to be such an important event for SLIPKNOT fans the world over, we felt it only right to allow them all to share in what is set to be a historic experience, wherever they are."

The Sonisphere show on July 10 will be the last on this current tour for SLIPKNOT, which is performing for the first time without Gray. The band's future beyond this run of shows is unclear.

Reformed U.K. crossover metallers ONE MINUTE SILENCE will record and film a series of their classic tracks live in the studio for their first release in over seven years and are teaming up with Pledge Music to invite their fans to the recording. The CD, to be titled "Live In The Studio", and accompanying DVD documentary filmed by PINK PUNK visual collaborator David Betteridge, will be released November 18 and all fans who pre-order with Pledge Music will be entered into a draw for invitations to the recording.

A new video interview with ONE MINUTE SILENCE guitarist Massimo "Massy" Fiocco in which he talks about the upcoming live album can be seen below.

Explained vocalist Brian "Yap" Barry: "Initially, I wasn't sure if the energy and punch that we had would still be there, but when we got in the rehearsal room together, there was no denying it — in fact it's stronger than it ever was."

Added Massy: "Pledge Music has allowed our fans to put us back in the studio to make a live recording and it feels so right that it's the fans that are making this happen — then if this works for us, we'll be ready to do smash some live shows in 2012."

Stated bassist Glen Diani: "We wanted to make these recordings on our own terms, for us and for the fans with no other labels involved and we also wanted to invite some of the fans to the recording — so every purchase made on Pledge Music enters your email into a lottery and we'll pick 50 people randomly and ask them to join us in the studio for the recording."

The Danish folk metal band SVARTSOT are ready to release there third album, Maledictus Eris, describing musically 14th century Denmark ravished by the plague. The album will be released on the following dates:

July 27th - Spain, Finland, Sweden
July 29th - Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Benelux, Italy
August 1st - rest of Europe




Maledictus Eris tracklisting:
'Staden…'
'Gud Giv Det Varer Ved!'
'Dødedansen'
'Farsoten Kom'
'Holdt Ned Af En Tjørn'
'Den Forgængelige Tro'
'Om Jeg Lever Kveg'
'Kunsten At Dø'
'Den Nidske Gud'
'Spigrene'
'Og Landet Ligger Så Øde Hen'

SPV/Steamhammer has lined up six killer vinyl releases for October 11 in North America. They include AXEL RUDI PELL's classic albums "Mystica" and "Tales of the Crown"; MAGNUM's "Brand New Morning" and "Princess Alice & The Broken Arrow"; and FREEDOM CALL's "Eternity" and "Crystal Empire". All six albums will be released as double gatefold LPs with colored vinyl.

* AXEL RUDI PELL "Mystica" - Blue Vinyl
* AXEL RUDI PELL "Tales Of The Crown" - Orange Vinyl
* MAGNUM "Brand New Morning" - Blue Vinyl
* MAGNUM "Princess Alice And The Broken Arrow" - Yellow Vinyl
* FREEDOM CALL "Crystal Empire" - Red Vinyl
* FREEDOM CALL "Eternity" - Green Vinyl

Legendary guitarist Slash (GUNS N' ROSES, VELVET REVOLVER) recently wrote and performed a song for what his calls his "guilty pleasure," Disney Channel's original movie "Phineas And Ferb The Movie: Across The 2nd Dimension", which is scheduled to premiere on Friday, August 5 (8:00 p.m., ET/PT) on Disney Channel and Saturday, August 13 (8:00 p.m., ET/PT) on Disney XD. Slash will also appear in the animated video to launch the movie, which he describes as "very rock and roll, even for a cartoon."

"Phineas And Ferb The Movie: Across The 2nd Dimension" features Disney Channel's dynamic animated duo, Phineas Flynn and his stepbrother Ferb Fletcher, as they go on their biggest adventure yet. When the boys discover that their pet platypus Perry is in fact a secret agent who battles the forces of evil daily, they join him on a grand adventure that blasts them to another dimension where a truly evil Dr. Doofenshmirtz has taken over an alternate Tri-state Area. This larger than life, action-packed adventure will have the entire family laughing out loud!

"Phineas And Ferb The Movie: Across The 2nd Dimension" was co-created and executive produced by Emmy Award winner Dan Povenmire (director for TV's "Family Guy"; director/writer for "SpongeBob SquarePants") and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh (writer/director for TV's "Rocko's Modern Life"; artist for "The Simpsons" and "King Of The Hill").

"Phineas And Ferb The Movie: Across The 2nd Dimension" will be released as a two-disc DVD set on August 23.