Total Rock last month conducted an interview with an interview with Duff McKagan (DUFF MCKAGAN'S LOADED, VELVET REVOLVER, GUNS N' ROSES) shortly after his appearance at the Birmingham Guitar Show, which took place February 26-27 at the New Bingley Hall in Birmingham, England. You can now watch the chat below.

When asked if he is "sick" of the persistent rumors that SLIPKNOT/STONE SOUR's Corey Taylor will be the new singer of VELVET REVOLVER, Duff said, "I don't ever hear unless I am going out and doing press. Because I don't go on Blabbermouth or [do] any of the other things [that would expose me to such rumors]."

Duff added, "[Corey's] the brightest and best singer of a generation and I think he's killer. But I don't think VELVET REVOLVER is… There's not much urgency there to do much of anything right now, so… one day, hopefully. And I think [VELVET REVOLVER guitarist] Slash is probably gonna go make another [solo] record [next], so that's cool. That's what it is."

When asked by The Charlotte Observer where VELVET REVOLVER stands on finding a new singer, Slash said, "There was truth to the rumor that we were looking at Corey Taylor, but then I left for tour. So there's nothing being done at the moment. No decision."

McKagan added fuel to the Corey Taylor rumors in a chat he did on February 9 at ESPN.com. Asked by a fan what the most important attribute is that a lead singer should have besides a great voice, McKagan responded, "Any good artist has to have . . . the ability to tap the dark stuff and have it be real. Great lead singers have the ability to tap that. No inhibitions helps as well. Axl (Rose) and Scott (Weiland) are two of the best front men ever. Corey Taylor is one of those guys as well. He can tap it."

When asked about the rumors that Taylor was going to join VELVET REVOLVER, McKagan wrote, "I can neither confirm nor deny . . . He is a bad dude though. I like him as a human being and a singer. He's the voice of a whole new generation."

Taylor himself "neither confirmed nor denied" the rumors in an interview with Billboard.com in January, merely laughing and saying, "To be continued!" when asked about it.

VELVET REVOLVER has been without a singer since firing Scott Weiland in April 2008. McKagan, guitarist Slash and drummer Matt Sorum have all hinted in recent months that the band was finally close to settling on a new frontman.

"'78", the new video from Michael Monroe, iconic rock 'n' roll frontman and founding member of hugely influential Finnish outfit HANOI ROCKS, can be viewed at Iltalehti.fi. The song is the first single from Monroe's new solo album, "Sensory Overdrive", which was released on March 14 via Universal Music subsidiary Spinefarm Records. The CD features guest appearances by MOTÖRHEAD's Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister and three-time Grammy-winning country/folk singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams.

Legendary gore metal pioneers NECROPHAGIA will release their new album, "Deathtrip 69", on May 17 (one day earlier internationally) via Season Of Mist. The band's fifth official full-length CD, which features guest appearances by Maniac (SKITLIV, ex-MAYHEM) and Casey Chaos (AMEN), was recorded at Last House On The Left Studios in Ohio with vocalist Killjoy and guitarist Boris Randall handling production duties. The cover concept and title track are based on the "Manson family" ordeal of the late 1960s.

"Deathtrip 69" track listing:

01. Naturan Demonto
02. Beast With Feral Claws
03. Tomb With A View
04. Suffering Comes in Sixes
05. A Funeral For Solange
06. Kyra
07. Bleeding Eyes Of The Eternally Damned
08. Trick R' Treat (The Last Halloween)
09. Deathtrip 69
10. Death Valley 69

Swedish heavy metallers PORTRAIT will release their second full-length album, "Crimen Laesae Majestatis Divinae", on May 10 (one day earlier internationally) via Metal Blade Records. The CD was recorded at Necromorbus Studio (WATAIN, UNANIMATED, DESTRÖYER 666) in Alvik, Sweden. The album features cover artwork by Tobias Forge of REPUGNANT/SUBVISION fame and a guest appearance by Kimmo Kuusniemi from the Finnish cult act SARCOFAGUS.

"Crimen Laesae Majestatis Divinae" track listing:

01. Beast of Fire
02. Infinite Descension
03. The Wilderness Beyond
04. Bloodbath
05. Darkness Forever
06. The Nightcomers
07. The Passion
08. Der Todesking

Season Of Mist has announced the signing of the innovative Egyptian-born artist Nader Sadek. Known as the designer responsible for the stage imagery on MAYHEM's 2009 U.S. tour, innovative Egyptian-born artist Nader Sadek decided to delve deeper into the metal world by forming his own project. He thus teamed up with guitarist Rune Eriksen (AVA INFERI, AURA NOIR, ex-MAYHEM), bassist Steve Tucker (ex-MORBID ANGEL) and drummer Flo Mounier (CRYPTOPSY) to create a death metal project under his own name. Due on May 16 (one day later in the U.S.) via Season Of Mist, NADER SADEK's debut is entitled "In The Flesh" and features compositions and performances by all four artists.

"In The Flesh" track listing:

01. Awakening
02. Petrophilia
03. Of this Flesh (Novus Deus)
04. Exhaust Capacitor
05. Soulless
06. Rusted Skin
07. Mechanic Idolatry
08. Sulffer
09. Nigredo in Necromance

A six-minute preview video for the ALEX SKOLNICK TRIO's fourth album, "Veritas", can be viewed below. Due on March 29, "Veritas" (Latin for"Truth") is AST's first release on innovative jazz label Palmetto Records. The 11-track album contains nine original compositions, a cover of METALLICA's "Fade To Black" and a bonus remix of the song "Bollywood Jam" by Jay Sustain and Nik Chinboukas. The record was produced by Alex Skolnick and recorded at Spin Recording Studios in Long Island City, New York.

Norwegian Viking metallers HELHEIM will debut a track from their upcoming album, "Heiðindómr Ok Mótgangr", on the Friday, March 18 edition of Derek Rice's "Raise The Dead" show on the community radio station KDVS 90.3 FM, based in Davis, California. In addition, the program will feature an interview with HELHEIM vocalist/bassist V'gandr (TAAKE, AETERNUS).

"Raise The Dead" will air on Friday, March18 at midnight PT and can be streamed live at this location.

Following its airing on the "Raise The Dead" show, the "Viten Og Mot (Stolthet)" track will be available for streaming on the band's MySpace page.

"Heiðindómr Ok Mótgangr" will be HELHEIM's seventh full-length album, and it follows on last November's release of the "Åsgards Fall" mini-CD, which served as an introduction to the new album. Recorded at Conclave And Earshot Studio in Bergen with producer Bjørnar Nilsen (VULTURE INDUSTRIES, BLACK HOLE GENERATOR) at the helm and mastered by Herbrand Larsen (ENSLAVED), the nine-track album includes guest appearances from TAAKE's Hoest, Gunnar Emmerhoff (EMMERHOFF & THE MELANCHONY BABIES), PV Staff and Trine Mjanger. The first edition of "Heiðindómr Ok Mótgangr" will include a bonus-DVD containing concerts from the 2009 With Full Force and Inferno festivals, as well as the videos for "Dualitet Og Ulver", "Stones To The Burden" and "Jernskogen".

Due for release in Norway on April 1 and the rest of the world on May 23, "Heiðindómr Ok Mótgangr" will be the band's first release to be sung entirely in Norwegian since "Blod Og Ild" in 2000.

GUNS N' ROSES guitarist DJ Ashba tells Spinner.com that he wasn't really sure what lay ahead when he joined got the call to join the band in March 2009 following the departure of Robin Finck — especially when it came to his new bandmates

"I didn't know what to expect, really," said Ashba of GN'R singer Axl Rose. "All I heard was different things from different people, and I met him like 10 years ago when Sharon Osbourne introduced me to him. They were in doing 'Chinese [Democracy]' and I was doing the BEAUTIFUL CREATURES album right next door. He was the nicest guy. [But] you hear all the rumors, you see what you see."

According to Ashba, all the drama surrounding Axl Rose that is depicted in the media isn't in line with what the guitarist has personally experienced dealing with the reclusive vocalist.

"I was shocked, mostly because he is quite the opposite of what you hear," Ashba said. "He is one of the best friends I've ever had, we talk every single day. And he is the funniest guy; the guy is funny as shit and always cracking jokes. He's quite the opposite of what people, I think, want him to be, that asshole."

Swedish have rockers GRAND MAGUS have been forced to cancel their previously announced European with German power metallers GRAVE DIGGER.

Commented GRAND MAGUS in a statement: "It is with deep sadness we deliver the news that GRAND MAGUS drummer Sebastian [Sippola] has been afflicted with deep vein thrombosis — blood clots in the deep veins of the legs. The immediate effect of this is that he can't play at all because of the pain and swelling. However, this is a serious condition that must be treated immediately to avoid that the clots travels to the lungs. He's in hospital at the moment and will initially be treated via injections and pills with anti-coagulation medicine. For the duration of the treatment he'll have to be checked daily at the hospital. Anti-coagulation medicine also has dangerous side effects, most obvious that bleeding or blows to the body must be avoided at all costs, since the blood won't stop flowing. In the case of internal bleeding it could be lethal.

"GRAND MAGUS wish to extend their deepest apologies to all who were looking forward to bang their heads to MAGUS during this European tour, and also to GRAVE DIGGER. This is a terrible situation, but really a case of Force Majeure and not something that can be solved in any other way due to the circumstances."

Danish death metallers CROCELL have inked a deal with Ultimhate Records. The band's second album, "The Wretched Eidola", will be released on April 26 in Denmark and April 29 in the rest of the world.

CROCELL has spent the last few months negotiating with several different labels, causing the delay in the release of the follow-up to 2008's "The God We Drowned".

Commented CROCELL guitarist Smukke Ken: "Ultimhate Records is a fairly small and new label but after a personal meeting with the A&R boss we had a great impression and they are very eager to release 'The Wretched Eidola'. They are dedicated and willing to put a lot of effort into presenting this new album to as many people as possible — and now we are just looking forward to finally releasing it as well as getting out there on stage and present the new songs live!"

GALLHAMMER — the Japanese extreme metal group that draws on black metal, doom metal, and crust punk — has completed work on its third studio album, "The End", for an April 25 release via Peaceville Records. ??

According to a press release, "The End" "evolves further from the foundations of GALLHAMMER's previous effort, 'Ill Innocence', and its debut, 'Gloomy Lights', with an album of disturbing and dark drone music, consisting of a hypnotic bass and drum combination mixed with the band's raw black metal and punk origins."

Founding member Vivian Slaughter (bass/vocals) describes the overall album direction as "strange and psychedelic experimental sounds of doom."

The CD was recorded at Void)))Lab in Tokyo in October 2010 and was mastered in Oslo, Norway in February 2011 by Vivian and Maniac (SKITLIV, ex-MAYHEM).

"The End" track listing:

01. The End
02. Rubbish CG202
03. Aberration
04. Sober
05. Entropy G35
06. Wander
07. 108=7/T-NA

The release of "Ill Innocence" in 2007 brought GALLHAMMER to the attention of the metal world with its uncompromising and raw blackened doom sounds. The band followed the release with multiple European tours, culminating in cover stories with the U.K.'s Terrorizer and Zero Tolerance magazines.

Kai Hansen (GAMMA RAY, ex-HELLOWEEN) has joined UNISONIC, the new band featuring former HELLOWEEN vocalist Michael Kiske alongside Dennis Ward (bass) and Kosta Zafiriou (drums) of Germany's PINK CREAM 69 and Swiss guitarist Mandy Meyer (who has previously played with ASIA, GOTTHARD and KROKUS)

Commented Kiske: "After so many years of abstinence, I had a lot of fun doing my first live shows with UNISONIC in summer 2010, so I agreed to do the short world tour with AVANTASIA. It was a great experience to be on stage with all those great artists, but with Kai it was something different: We instantly felt the magic again and had a lot of fun together on and off stage. We both realized that we want to be together in band again. He was interested in the open musical concept of UNISONIC and finally asked me if he can join the band. I talked to my bandmates and they all felt great about it. His talent as a guitarist and songwriter is an enrichment for the band and we are looking forward to his contribution for the music of UNISONIC."

Kai Hansen will remain a member of GAMMA RAY and play all of the band's currently scheduled shows. He is presently writing songs with the rest of the UNISONIC members for the group's long-awaited debut album, tentatively due at the end of 2011.

UNISONIC is:

Michael Kiske (vocals)
Mandy Meyer (guitar)
Kai Hansen (guitar)
Dennis Ward (bass)
Kosta Zafiriou (drums)

Florida-based extreme metal veterans HATE ETERNAL will release their new album, "Phoenix Amongst The Ashes", on May 10 via Metal Blade Records. The CD was recorded HATE ETERNAL mainman Erik Rutan's Mana Recording Studios in St. Petersburg, Florida and contains the following track listing:

01. Rebirth
02. The Eternal Ruler
03. Thorns of Acacia
04. Haunting Abound
05. The Art of Redemption
06. Phoenix Amongst the Ashes
07. Deathveil
08. Hatesworn
09. Lake Ablaze
10. The Fire of Resurrection

Check out the cover artwork below.

"I, Monarch", the third full-length album from HATE ETERNAL, was reissued in January 2009 as part of the "Earache Records Classic Series."

The "Earache Classic Series" recognizes some of the most important, influential and groundbreaking albums to be released by Earache, with each reissued album including a bonus DVD full of extra content.

"I, Monarch" is the monolithic 2005 album from HATE ETERNAL, the brainchild of acclaimed producer and ex-MORBID ANGEL guitarist Erik Rutan. The "Classic Series" edition comes coupled with the awesome "The Perilous Fight" DVD, which includes an entire live show filmed on four cameras at The Garage in London, U.K. in 2006, three promo music videos, an interview with the band and an exclusive behind-the-scenes documentary from the recording of the album.

HATE ETERNAL's last album, "Fury & Flames", sold 2,300 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The follow-up to 2005's "I, Monarch" is said to be the band's most diverse and emotionally fuelled record to date, due mainly in part to the passing of bassist and good friend Jared Anderson.

French extreme/progressive metallers GOJIRA have issued the following update:

"We are currently working on a live DVD with important bonus section: 'The Way Of All Flesh From The Inside', the Sea Shepherd EP (a non-profit operation with a lot of people involved is a bit complicated to wrap, but we're getting there and we promise to release these songs soon). We're also composing a new album! We've written pretty much half of it, and we are very excited by this new material. It's a big step for us. These songs are original and a good reflection of what we are today. We are so focused on these things that sometimes we forget to communicate with [the fans], but we'll try to post more updates from now on."

Gore-metal originators EXHUMED have completed work on their brand new full-length album, "All Guts, No Glory". The follow-up to 2003's "Anatomy Is Destiny" was recorded at Arcane Digital Recordings in Arizona with engineer Ryan Butler (MISERY INDEX) and at Trench Studios with John Haddad (ABYSMAL DAWN, INTRONAUT). It was mixed and mastered at Mana Recording Studios by Brian Elliott (GRAVES OF VALOR). A July 5 North American release via Relapse Records is expected.

"All Guts, No Glory" track listing:

01. All Guts, No Glory
02. As Hammer To Anvil
03. Your Funeral, My Feast
04. Through Cadaver Eyes
05. Death Knell
06. Distorted And Twisted To Form
07. I Rot Within
08. Dis-assembly Line
09. Necrotized
10. Funereality
11. So Let it Be Rotten…So Let it Be Done

The album will also be available on deluxe, saw-blade shaped vinyl and as a limited-edition two-disc set. Additional release information will be posted shortly.

EXHUMED will join technical metal pioneers ATHEIST for a run of European tour dates this spring. The tour, EXHUMED's first in support of "All Guts, No Glory", will kick off on April 22 with a performance at the Inferno festival in Oslo, Norway and also includes a stop at the Neurotic Deathfest in Tilburg on April 29.

Polish death metal veterans VADER have entered Hertz Studio in Bialystok, Poland to begin recording their new album, "Welcome To The Morbid Reich". The band is laying down a total of 12 or 13 songs for the CD, which will be mixed and mastered in May for a tentative late 2011 release. Working songtitles set to appear on the effort include "Lords of Thorns", "I Am Who Feast Upon Your Souls", "Only Hell Knows", "Return to the Morbid Reich" and "I Had A Dream".

Commented the group: "We started new recordings in Hertz Studios in Bialystok. We spent the whole afternoon being setting up drum kit, testing new skins and cymbals. There was also time to familiarize with new architecture of lately much rebuilded studio.

"We plan to record nine-ten fresh songs and three bonus pieces: redux of one old VADER classic (which is gonna be added to the refreshed live set for summer) and two cover songs (those will be kinda surprise for many for sure). Spider [Marek Pajak; guitar] also prepared few songs for the record and this will be his debut in VADER as a composer.

"There will be several studio reports available soon. The first episode should be ready by the end of March."

VADER will debut one or two tracks from "Welcome To The Morbid Reich" during the band's summer festival appearances.

PARADISE LOST's April 1, 2011 concert at The Forum in London, England during the band's "Draconian Times" tour will be filmed for a brand new DVD.

PARADISE LOST has launched a new interactive mini-site featuring exclusive information about the "Draconian Times" tour. In addition to previously unannounced special details about the strictly limited VIP packages that can be purchased for the upcoming shows, the site also features information about the re-release of the "Draconian Times" album in an all-new 5.1 Dolby Surround mix. There is also a competition with a huge collection of some big prizes for one lucky winner. This competition is open to all.

Sony Music will reissue PARADISE LOST's seminal 1995 album "Draconian Times" through the "Legacy" series; which will feature the entire digitally re-mastered album including a 5.1 Dolby Surround mix in a brand-new collector's edition digipak box set, so fans can hear the album like never before. Along with this release, the band will perform "Draconian Times" live at a series of seven exclusive gigs in the following select cities around Europe: Utrecht, Bochum, London, Paris, Athens, and Thessaloniki.

Commented PARADISE LOST frontman Nick Holmes: "It's going to be amazing to play the 'Draconian Times' shows again.

"'Draconian Times' was a huge success for the band; it seemed to be exactly the right album to do at the right time, and to a certain degree was definitely the end of a chapter for the band. We always considered the album to be a 'better' version of its predecessor, 'Icon', and using [producer] Simon Effemy again for the third time, I think we were all on the same hymn sheet and knew exactly what we wanted and what the album should sound like.

"We had done a pretty extensive touring schedule for the 'Icon' album before it, and there was already a decent buzz around about the band.

"In the 1990s without the Internet you could only really gauge how things were going once you walked onto the stage and saw how the crowd responded to songs! But after the 'Draconian Times' album was released, the response was phenomenal.

"Knowing that 'Draconian Times' is still considered by many as being among their favorite albums of all time fills me with great pride, and I'm very grateful to have been part of it all and now having the chance to be here again playing it in its entirety is phenomenal. We are all very excited and can't wait to do the shows live, I really hope we see you all there and you have as much fun as us!"

The tour dates for "Draconian Times" are as follows:

Mar. 18 - Fuzz - Athens, Greece
Mar. 19 - Fuzz - Athens, Greece
Mar. 20 - Principal - Thessaloniki, Greece *
Mar. 29 - Tivoli - Utrecht, Holland
Mar. 30 - Bataclan - Paris, France
Mar. 31 - Zeche - Bochum, Germany
Apr. 01 - The Forum - London, UK

Video footage of PARADISE LOST's performance at the first installment of this year's Close-Up Båten cruise, which left the Stockholm, Sweden port on February 10 for Åbo, Finland, and returned the following day, can be viewed below (courtesy of Mary Raven's blog).

DANKO JONES's video for "I Think Bad Thoughts", the third and final installment of the "Below The Belt" video trilogy, can be viewed below (courtesy of Billboard.com). The video marks the return of an all-star cast that had been previously featured in both of the band's epic "Full of Regret" and "Had Enough" videos. "I Think Bad Thoughts" stars actors Elijah Wood ("Lord Of The Rings" trilogy, "The Hobbit") and Ralph Macchio ("The Karate Kid", ABC television's "Dancing With The Stars") reprising their roles from previous videos in the trilogy, actress Jena Malone ("Into The Wild", "The Messenger", "Sucker Punch"), Mike Watt (MINUTEMEN, FIREHOSE, THE STOOGES), Frank Drank (Capitol One "Viking"), and Art Hsu ("Crank: High Voltage", "The FP").

Swedish symphonic power metallers DRAGONLAND will enter Hansen Studios in Ribe, Denmark on March 31 to begin recording their fifth album for an August release via Germany's AFM Records. Several different studios will be used to track this utterly ambitious album, with Jacob Hansen set to add his magic touch to the mix. Twelve songs will be recorded during the sessions, and the music itself is based on a deep and emotional story, picking up where the band's second album, "Holy War", left off nine years ago.

Commented DRAGONLAND guitarist Olof Mörck: "After five years of doing concepts, writing lyrics and composing, we are seeing the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel!

"After 'Astronomy', we knew we needed to explore our music further not to risk becoming a band that releases music every year cast in the same mold, so the idea from the beginning was: what would it be like with a metal album based in fantasy that respects the literary genre, that actually tries to be mature and that enriches said fantasy world with inspiration from millenias of human mythology?

"To make a neoclassical album filled with overly bombastic clichés of steel clad warriors was out of the question — instead we explored the themes and sounds around various fantasy movies, new and old, and also countless computer RPG soundtracks to infuse the musical aspect with a genuine fantasy feel, and as previously stated, heaps and stacks of tomes on every mythological tale from Gilgamesh to the Aeneid provided a genuine and credible backdrop to the story.

"The album is genuinely a concept album in every aspect, and we will collaborate with some truly gifted artists who are experts in this genre to bring our world to life visually — more on that soon.

"Prepare yourself to be engulfed in a world of enchanting phantasy and songs of swirling magic later this year!"

SPV/Steamhammer will re-release VIRGIN STEELE's third album, "Noble Savage", on April 18 in Europe and May 17 in North America. This re-release comes with 19 bonus tracks, 12 of them previously unreleased. And since 1986, it will be available for the first time again on vinyl.

Commented VIRGIN STEELE frontman David DeFeis, "'Noble Savage' is an extremely important album in the history of VIRGIN STEELE. It was a major accomplishment for us at the time that it was recorded, and an immensely satisfying recording that I feel still holds up quite well today. It was the most focused, most well recorded, written and performed album we had done up to that point in our career. For me it is really our first album."

This is also the first album where the current musical style of the band can be said to be found fully manifested, containing grandiose compositions with a multilayered keyboard sound and more sophisticated arrangements than heard before on previous albums.

"Noble Savage" has become one of the most popular VIRGIN STEELE albums and it includes the songs "We Rule the Night" and "Noble Savage", which the band still plays in concert.

"Noble Savage" track listing:

Double digipak, including new booklet with rare photos and new liner notes by David DeFeis

CD 1

01. We Rule The Night
02. I'm On Fire
03. Thy Kingdom Come
04. Image Of A Faun At Twilight (instrumental)
05. Noble Savage
06. Fight Tooth And Nail
07. The Evil In her Eyes
08. Rock Me
09. Don't Close Your Eyes
10. The Angel Of Light
11. Obession (It Burns For You) (bonus track)
12. Love And Death (bonus track)
13. Where Are You Running To (bonus track)
14. Come On And Love Me (bonus track)
15. The Spirit Of Steele (bonus track)
16. The Pyre of Kings (instrumental) (bonus track)

CD 2 - Extra Noble Ingredients

01. To The Devil A Daughter (previously unreleased)
02. God Of Violence Kill (previously unreleased)
03. Viking (previously unreleased)
04. Ase's Death (instrumental) (previously unreleased)
05. Bitches From Hell (previously unreleased)
06. Fight Tooth And Nail (Roman Sword Re-Mix) (bonus track)
07. Tales From The Hammer (previously unreleased)
08. We Rule The Night (live pre-production rehearsal) (previously unreleased)
09. I'm On Fire (live pre-production rehearsal) (previously unreleased)
10. Fight Tooth And Nail (live pre-production rehearsal) (previously unreleased)
11. Rock Me (live pre-production rehearsal) (previously unreleased)
12. We Rule The Night (Bigger gongs&Bombs early rough mix version) (previously unreleased)
13. Noble Savage (Flanging To Eternity early rough mix version) (previously unreleased)

Double Gatefold LP in yellow vinyl

Side A

01. We Rule The Night
02. I'm On Fire
03. Thy Kingdom Come
04. Image Of A Faun At Twilight (instrumental)
05. Noble Savage

Side B

01. Fight Tooth And Nail
02. The Evil In her Eyes
03. Rock Me
04. Don't Close Your Eyes
05. The Angel Of Light

Side C

01. Obession (It Burns For You) (bonus track)
02. Love And Death (bonus track)
03. Where Are You Running To (bonus track)
04. Come On And Love Me (bonus track)
05. The Spirit Of Steele (bonus track)
06. The Pyre of Kings (instrumental) (bonus track)

Side D

01. To The Devil A Daughter (previously unreleased)
02. God Of Violence Kill (previously unreleased)
03. Viking (previously unreleased)
04. Ase's Death (instrumental) (previously unreleased)
05. Bitches From Hell (previously unreleased)

Roadrunner Records, along with two of its stellar, standout metal bands, OPETH and MACHINE HEAD, will be participating in some cool Record Store Day Initiatives this April 16.

** OPETH - "The Throat of Winter" seven-inch vinyl

Exclusive for Record Store Day 2011, OPETH will release seven-inch vinyl of "The Throat of Winter". The track, which was originally featured on the "God Of War: Blood & Metal" digital EP, will see its first and only physical incarnation with this special release. Side B of the seven-inch is etched with the band's logo and jacket artwork was created by longtime OPETH collaborator Travis Smith, with direction from Mikael Åkerfeldt.

** MACHINE HEAD - "The Black Procession" 10-inch vinyl

Exclusive for Record Store Day 2011, MACHINE HEAD will release 10-inch vinyl, aptly titled "The Black Procession". The set includes three previously unreleased live tracks that were recorded along 2010's Black Procession Tour, in support of the band's last studio effort, "The Blackening".

Side A:

* Beautiful Mourning (live)
* Bite The Bullet (live)

Side B:

* Halo (live)

About Record Store Day: Record Store Day is managed by the Music Monitor Network and is organized in partnership with the Alliance of Independent Media Stores (AIMS), the Coalition of Independent Music Stores (CIMS) and celebrates the culture of independent record stores by playing host to in-store events/performances, signings and special product releases on a global scale.

Record Store Day takes place annually on the third Saturday of April.

According to NYmag.com, HBO has cast METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich in "Hemingway And Gellhorn", starring Nicole Kidman and Clive Owen.

The Philip Kaufman-directed work is described as "a drama centered on the romance between Ernest Hemingway and WWII correspondent Martha Gellhorn, Hemingway's inspiration for 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' and the only woman who ever asked for a divorce from the writer."

Ulrich will play Dutch documentarian Joris Ivens in the TV movie, which will follow the couple's relationship from the time they met in 1936 through the time they spent together in the Spanish Civil War.

Ulrich previously made a cameo appearance playing himself in "Get Him To The Greek", an American comedy film, directed by Nicholas Stoller and starring Russell Brand and Jonah Hill. The movie, which was also written by Stoller, was released last June.

When asked about acting in "Get Him to the Greek", Lars said in a 2010 interview, "It was so much fun. I mean, they sent the script and I learned my lines. And when I showed up on the set, none of it mattered — they just took the script and threw it away. We were just improvising and having fun and insulting each other, and it was a great time. Russell, obviously, is a stand-up comedian, first and foremost, or at least he started as a stand-up comedian, so it's all just improvising."

Regarding whether he lent any real-life rock-star pointers to the "Get Him to the Greek" filmmakers, Ulrich said, "They kept asking me if I could give them pointers about what it's really like, and I tried to tell them, but in my world, most of what goes on in this world is so difficult to actually make anybody believe that it actually happened, so I think most of it just went over their heads."

Clip of Ulrich's appearance in "Get Him To The Gre

Guitarist/songwriter Aort of the British/Norwegian black metal project CODE has issued the following update:

"With regret, I would like to announce that [vocalist] Kvohst [a.k.a. British singer Mathew McNerney] has left CODE in order to concentrate on his own music with HEXVESSEL and vocals with DØDHEIMSGARD.

"I, of course, wish him all the best for the future and extend my thanks for 10 years of pleasurable and productive work together.

"This is not the end, but hopefully a shift in course to fresh destinations.

"I have been working with a great new musical lineup over the last half a year or so to really hone where the new album will be heading. I have been working on this new album for the last two years and we all believe very strongly in it's potential as a dynamic follow-up to 'Resplendent Grotesque'.

"How this will be realised vocally is not clear at the moment. There are many questions that remain unanswered... but there are irons in fires. The one certainty is that I am as determined as I have ever been and I will put the same unflinching soul and dedication into the future as I have with both of our albums to date.

"I also have new projects afoot which will up the ante in terms of brutality and darkness so please keep your eyes peeled for more information.

"Thanks, as ever, to all those who find a home within CODE's musical endeavours… Your continued support is always massively appreciated."

"Resplendent Grotesque", the second album from CODE, was released on June 1, 2009. According to the band, the follow-up to 2005's "Nouveau Gloaming" contains "songs of necrospiritual dust and desertion, crafted by bony hands in blackbird gloves." Aort previously stated about the CD, "Adrian completely devastated the drums for this recording and Vicotnik has manageed to really outdo himself with his most inspired bass work yet. I think we have all raised the bar with this recording and we are itching to get these morbid hymns out to you."

For more information, visit the band's MySpace page.

CODE live in Lithuania - July 2009:

German black metallers ENDSTILLE will release their seventh album, "Infektion 1813", on May 17 (one day earlier internationally) via Season Of Mist. The first pressing of the CD will be a limited-edition digipak.

"Infektion 1813" track listing:

01. Anomie
02. Trenchgoat
03. Bloody H (The Hurt-Gene)
04. The Deepest Place in Earth
05. When Kathaaria Falls
06. Satanarchie
07. World Aflame
08. Wrecked
09. Endstille (Völkerschlächter)

EMI has announced the release of "From Fear To Eternity: The Best Of 1990-2010". A double-CD set spanning twenty years this follows the huge success of 2010's studio album "The Final Frontier" which hit the number one spot in 28 countries around the world. It also became the band's highest-charting album in the USA where IRON MAIDEN have just been awarded their first Grammy for "Best Metal Performance", for the song "El Dorado", taken from "The Final Frontier" album, and which is included in this selection.

IRON MAIDEN's current phenomenal global success has seen the band not only scale new-found heights aided by their unique method of touring, using a customized Boeing 757 — named Ed Force One by their fans — to transport band, crew and all their equipment round the world to many new places, but has meant their ever-expanding fanbase now encompasses a brand new generation of metal lovers. "From Fear To Eternity" is a chance for these new fans of the band to explore IRON MAIDEN's rich history, with the highlights of their last eight studio albums distilled into this handy collection, which follows 2009's compilation of their earlier work, the 1980-1990 "Somewhere Back In Time" album.

Perennial favourites to be found on this album include songs also featured in MAIDEN's current "The Final Frontier World Tour" set list; tracks such as "Fear Of The Dark", "The Wicker Man", "Blood Brothers" and "Dance Of Death" sit alongside recent classics "El Dorado" and the hauntingly evocative "When The Wild Wind Blows". It also include singles like "Holy Smoke" and "Be Quick Or Be Dead" together with more progressive thought-provoking album tracks like "Afraid To Shoot Strangers" and "For The Greater Good Of God". This new collection charts the musical development of Britain's most successful metal band as they have evolved their sound, producing longer, more complex songs, gaining huge critical acclaim in the process. Featuring many of the epics for which the band has become renowned, it is accordingly released as a double CD, but will retail for the price of a single album.

The full track listing for the CD is as follows:

Disc 1

01. The Wicker Man
02. Holy Smoke
03. El Dorado
04. Paschendale
05. Different World
06. Man On The Edge (live)
07. The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg
08. Blood Brothers
09. Rainmaker
10. Sign Of The Cross (live)
11. Brave New World
12. Fear Of The Dark (live)

Disc 2

01. Be Quick Or Be Dead
02. Tailgunner
03. No More Lies
04. Coming Home
05. The Clansman (live)
06. For The Greater Good Of God
07. These Colours Don't Run
08. Bring Your Daughter... To The Slaughter
09. Afraid To Shoot Strangers
10. Dance Of Death
11. When The Wild Wind Blows

Swedish industrial metal outfit PAIN, the solo project of musician and producer Peter Tägtgren, will release its seventh album, "You Only Live Twice", on June 3 via Nuclear Blast Records.

Commented Tägtgren: "[The title] has nothing to do with James Bond. I am sure i will hear this for the rest of my life! The title song is mainly about people struggling.

"Don't you wish you had another chance? Don't you wanna live twice? Like you're always jealous of other people. How good their life is or they won on lotto or anything. It's about jealousy in general towards other people that surrounds you. About not being satisfied with what you have. Trying to create this fantasy world that you can live twice kind of…"

Kaaos TV conducted an interview with Tägtgren on February 18 at Sonic Pump Studios in Helsinki, Finland. When asked how "You Only Live Twice" compares to the group's previous releases, Peter said, "It's definitely got more variety, and it's heavier and darker... I just wanted to pull it a little bit heavier. I don't know why. When you do things sometimes, you don't have a reason; it just feels like it. It's really hard to explain."

The follow-up to 2008's "Cynic Paradise", "You Only Live Twice" was recently described by NIGHTWISH singer Anette Olzon — who also happens to be the girlfriend of PAIN bassist Johan Husgafvel — as "more aggressive" and "faster" than the band's previous work, with "new elements they haven't used before." She also called the CD "darker" in terms of Peter's lyrical and vocal approach before adding, "One song is more like HYPOCRISY, so if you like that you'll have that one as a favorite."

She continued, "When I first heard the songs I thought it was quite different from the last album and it is. The more I listen to the songs the more I like them and I think it will be a great one! I can see them do their famous headspins live to this album, too."

"You Only Live Twice" tentative track listing:

01. Let Me Out
02. The Dark
03. The Great Pretender
04. You Only Live Twice
05. Dirty Woman
06. We Want More
07. Leave Me Alone
08. Feed The Monster
09. Sleeping With The Dead

The Music Farm, one of the world's largest Internet musical equipment retailers, will soon start selling the official Kerry King (SLAYER) bobblehead.

A short video presentation of the Kerry King bobblehead can be seen below.

A bobblehead doll, also known as a bobbing head doll, nodder, or wobbler, is a type of collectible toy. Its head is often oversized compared to its body. Instead of a solid connection, its head is connected to the body by a spring in such a way that a light tap will cause the head to bobble, hence the name.

Central Florida-based metal band CATALEPSY will release its second album, "Bleed", on May 10 via Eulogy Recordings. The CD was produced by Matt Johnson (THE AUTUMN OFFERING) and contains the track "Goliath", which features guest vocals by Matt Bruso (BURY YOUR DEAD).

Formed in 2004, CATALEPSY has been a giant in the Florida music scene for years. Signed to Jamey Jasta from HATEBREED's label, Stillborn Records, in 2007, CATALEPSY recorded an EP and full-length album. The "Godless" EP was releaseed in October 2007 and sold out of all available copies quickly. "Iniquity", the group's crushing debut full-length, was then released in May 2008 and is in stores nationwide.

CATALEPSY has toured the U.S. with HATEBREED, EMMURE, AGNOSTIC FRONT, WAKING THE CADAVER, TOO PURE TO DIE, OCEANO, AFTER THE BURIAL, GOD FORBID and even NECRO.

CATALEPSY is:

Rick Norman - Vocals
Rob Walden - Guitar
Matt Sutton - Guitar
Sean Murphy - Bass
Ben Sutton - Drums