Candlelight Records has set a September 27 European release date for "In The Absence Of Light", the second full-length album from black metallers ABIGAIL WILLIAMS. Recorded at Conquistador Studios in Cleveland, Ohio, the CD was mixed by Peter Tägtgren (DIMMU BORGIR, IMMORTAL, CELTIC FROST) and features artwork by Farron Kerzner (NACHTMYSTIUM, LIGHTNING SWORDS OF DEATH).

"In The Absence Of Light" is true to the rules of black metal. The vocals are harsh and shrill, sounding like the product of a lacerated larynx. Guitars buzz, rip and roar alongside articulate, rapid licks and blazing solos. Drums slam and crash like exploding mortar shells, whether battering with blast beats, double-bass rolls or syncopated snare hits. And there is just the right amount of haunting keyboard washes, a noted difference to the band's previous album, "In The Shadow Of A Thousand Suns".

Commented vocalist/guitarist Sorceron, "There is a lot less keyboards on the new songs. I like keyboards, but before we started this record we decided to get rid of a lot of them because we wanted to do something different."

The album presents new bandmembers, guitarist Ian Jekelis and drummer Ken Bedene. Joining Sorceron after ABIGAIL WILLIAMS' final tour in support of "In The Shadow Of A Thousand Suns" last fall, the trio quickly got to work writing material that would become "In The Absence Of Light". The album's eight songs contain far more urgency then the band's previous material; songs written exclusively by Sorceron.

"We let ourselves have much more room with writing this album, kind of a more open, free environment than any we have employed before," reveals Sorceron. "We literally constructed the songs as we went. Ken would be in the drum room and Ian and I would be in the control room and we just played for hours. We would listen back and pick out what we thought was good and we put songs together. We recorded everything with much more ease and I think it has helped in capturing a very honest vibe."

"In The Absence Of Light" track listing:

01. Hope The Great Betrayal
02. Final Destiny Of The Gods
03. The Mysteries That Bind the Flesh
04. Infernal Divide
05. In Death Comes The Great Silence
06. What Hells Await Me
07. An Echo In Our Legends
08. Malediction

"The album will be out on CD and digital format on September 13th in Norway and October 4th in Europe. The eight-track album will be the follow up to the band’s 2007 debut full-length album The Dystopia Journals. Recorded at Conclave & Earshot Studios by Bjørnar Nilsen, the band’s frontman, the album was mastered by Brian Gardner (ISIS, NIN, DAVID BOWIE) and features a guest appearance by ENSLAVED’s Herbrand Larsen on Hammond organ. 'The Bolted Door', a track from The Malefactor’s Bloody Register is now streaming on the band’s MySpace page here.

The tracklisting for The Malefactor’s Bloody Register is as follows:

'Crooks & Sinners'
'Race For The Gallows'
'The Hangman’s Hatch'
'The Bolted Door'
'This Cursed Flesh'
'I Hung My Heart On Harrow Square'
'Crowning The Cycle'
'Of Branded Blood'

The Malefactor’s Bloody Register explores the theme of crime and punishment from the perspective of both the criminal and the hangman, and once again Vulture Industries has been able to persuade Helge Jordal, one of Norway’s most renowned character actors, to appear on the cover of the album. Jordal had agreed to be featured in the artwork for The Dystopia Journals after listening to the album, and his collaboration with the band continues with The Malefactor’s Bloody Register, for which he takes on the role of the Hangman, and is photographed in brandishing a law-book and clutching a noose.

The line up of Bergen-based Vulture Industries is a veritable who’s who of black and extreme metal musicians. Aside from Nilsen himself on vocals, synths and programming, band members include guitarists Øyvind Madsen (SULPHUR, ex-ENSLAVED, sessions guitars for DEATHCON) and Eivind Huse (SULPHUR, ex-SYRACH), Kyrre Teigen on bass and Tor Helge Gjengedal (ex-MALICE IN WONDERLAND, ex-SULPHUR, ex-TAAKE) on drums.

EMI Music and QUEEN continue with the re-release of the entire Queen studio album catalogue on long playing heavy-weight vinyl albums with the next set out on August 30th.

The album packaging will include every detail of the original releases in their original 12” format. Bonus posters, extra pictures, and all the unique content of the original albums will be faithfully reproduced.

This group of releases will consist of three classic Queen albums: The Game (1980), Hot Space (1982) and Queen’s very last studio album featuring Freddie Mercury, Made in Heaven (1995).

In a deliberate move, the albums have not been re-released chronologically but instead sequenced over the twenty-two year period of release allowing buyers wider choice with each new batch of releases.

The first set of releases were the classic Queen albums Queen II, Sheer Heart Attack, A Night At The Opera and A Day At the Races.

The second set were, the very first album Queen, along with News Of The World, Flash Gordon, A Kind of Magic and Innuendo.

The final set – Jazz, The Works and The Miracle – will be released later in the year.

Germany's WDR network recently featured RAGE with the LINGUA MORTIS ORCHESTRA on their long running Rockpalast program. Go to this location to check out the footage, which was shot at the 2010 edition of the Rock Hard festival in Gelsenkirchen.

Tracks featured include:

'Empty Hollow'
'Morituri Te Salutant'
'Prelude Of Souls'
'Innocent'
'Depression'
'No Regrets'
'Higher Than The Sky'

PINK FLOYD bassist, singer and songwriter Roger Waters has given a Canadian band permission to re-record his former band’s hit, 'Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2' with different lyrics, according to the Associated Press.

The Toronto-based group, BLURRED VISION, is intending their cover to be an anthem for young Iranians. They’ve changed the famous “Hey, teacher…” line to “Hey, Ayatollah, leave those kids alone!” Blurred Vision is fronted by two brothers – named Sepp and Sohl – who are Iranian exiles. They keep their last names a secret because of fear of retaliation against family members who still live in their home country. It is illegal to play rock music in Iran.

In a statement, Waters said he supports any fight against oppression. He feels that Blurred Vision is a big part of “the resistance to a regime that is both repressive and brutal.” He added, “I applauded and supported the resistance of schoolchildren in South Africa to that repressive and brutal regime.”

According to the DEEP PURPLE Appreciation Society, there is an authorized photo book on RONNIE JAMES DIO (BLACK SABBATH, HEAVEN & HELL, RAINBOW, ELF) due out in the fall. Approved by Wendy Dio, a donation from each copy sold will go to the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up And Shout Cancer Fund. There will be two editions - more details will be revealed soon.

You can now donate to the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up And Shout Cancer Fund by going to Ronniejamesdio.com. Donations will go to cancer research, can screenings and various cancer programs and help families that have loved ones suffering from this disease.

After many years of gentle prodding by music fans and industry aficionados, Randy Bachman and Fred Turner, two giants of rock n' roll, are finally back together as BACHMAN & TURNER, and will release their new self-tiled album on September 7th through E1 Music in Canada and RBE Music/Fontana in the US.

The album is stocked with anthemic new rock tracks - all penned by Randy Bachman and Fred Turner. Bachman & Turner (artwork at left, click image to enlarge) will include the following tracklisting:

'Rollin' Along'
'That's What It Is'
'Find Some Love'
'Moonlight Rider'
'Slave To The Rhythm'
'Waiting Game'
'I've Seen The Light'
'Can't Go Back To Memphis'
'Rock And Roll Is The Only Way Out'
'Neutral Zone'
'Traffic Jam'
'Repo Man'

US nationally syndicated radio show Rockline, with host Bob Coburn, will feature Bachman & Turner on Wednesday, August 25th. The program airs at 8:30 PM (PT) / 11:30 PM (ET). Fans are encouraged to speak with the former BACHMAN TURNER OVERDRIVE men by calling 1-800-344-ROCK (7625).

Polish metallers COMA will release their new album, "Excess", on October 11 via Mystic Production.

According to a press release, "Excess" was recorded in the spring of 2010 and will feature the following 12 songs:

01. Excess
02. Transfusion
03. Poisonous Plants
04. Confusion
05. T.B.T.R.
06. Struggle
07. Afternoons In The Colour Of Lemon
08. Witnesses Of The Decline Of The Eternal Boys Land
09. Silence And Fire
10. Eckhart

Bonus tracks:

11. F.T.P.
12. F.T.M.O.

Fan-filmed video footage of OZZY OSBOURNE's August 14, 2010 performance at the Ozzfest 2010 kick-off concert at the San Manuel Amphitheater in Devore, California can be viewed below.

Ozzy's setlist was as follows:

01. Bark at the Moon
02. Let Me Hear You Scream
03. Mr. Crowley
04. Fairies Wear Boots (BLACK SABBATH cover)
05. Suicide Solution
06. Road To Nowhere
07. Shot In The Dark
08. Guitar/bass/drum solos & jam
09. Iron Man (BLACK SABBATH cover)
10. Killer Of Giants
11. Fire In The Sky
12. I Don't Want To Change The World
13. I Don't Know
14. Paranoid (BLACK SABBATH cover)

Encore:

15. Crazy Train (feat. 10-year-old guitar prodigy Yuto Miyazawa)

Swedish meatallers INMORIA - featuring Christer Andersson (TAD MOROSE) on guitars, Tommi Karppanen on bass, Dan Eriksson (ex-Tad Morose) on keyboards, and Peter Moren (Tad Morose, STEEL ATTACK) on drums - recently parted ways with vocalist Charles Rytkönen (MORGANA LEFAY) for "personal reasons.

The band have now issued the following update:

"Inmoria are very proud to announce that the new lead singer is Danish vocalist Soren Nico Adamsen (ARTILLERY). Inmoria will finish the recordings of the new album between the 13th and 17th of September!!

More information is coming up..."

Maldives-based death/black metallers NOTHNEGAL have issued the following update:

"So we are back in studio after a much needed break and as you may already know, have been writing the material for this album for over a year now and the whole album has actually been rewritten four times! We have been working hard on the overall sound and the material that's gonna end up on the album turned out to be completely different from what we started out with. Due to the writing process, we had to postpone the originally planned recording schedule. But its all good now, we have eight songs all done and ready to record. And if you are wondering what they sound like, it does have some melodic elements from the Antidote EP and they are mixed with some heavy/thrashy guitars, everything is slower compared to what we have doing before. Kevin has already tracked the drums for all of the songs which were awesome as expected! So what's left now is the guitars, bass, vocals and keys; everything except the drums..

German power metallers LANFEAR have issued the following update:

"Recordings for our new, yet untiltled album will start on September 10th. The album will contain nine songs plus intro and we want to fit the popular cliché and affirm hereby, that it will be the heaviest Lanfear album to date.

Of course we know that every band tells the same on their new material. Since we never did so, it seems as if you can really trust us. We'd never lie to you..."

Massachusetts metallers ALL THAT REMAINS will release their new album, For We Are Many, on October 12th via Prosthetic Records/Razor & Tie.

The band's follow-up to their 2008 release Overcome was produced by KILLSWITCH ENGAGE guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz, and features the following tracklisting:

'Now Let Them Tremble'
'For We Are Many'
'The Last Time'
'Some Of The People, All Of The Time'
'Won't Go Quietly'
'Aggressive Opposition'
'From The Outside'
'Dead Wrong'
'Faithless'
'Hold On'
'Keepers of Fellow Man'
'The Waiting One'

All That Remains fontman Phil Labonte recently stated in an interview: "Fans of Overcome won't be disappointed, but the disc will also offer new twists and turns."

Moribund Records reports:

Lebanon's infamous AYAT - whose 2008 Moribun-released album, Six Years Of Dormant Hatred, strictly polarized critics as either "genius" or "garbage" but forcing an opinion out of everyone - reveal that they're currently recording their follow-up Moribund album, tentatively titled Carry On Carrion.

As vocalist Filthy Fuck explains, "So I walked. And the 67 viral winds of the East whistled in my hollow bones, particles of disease sticking on the edges. And William died on me, too. A fever runs through my blood like rivers to the sea. Six years of dormant hatred lay in pieces behind me and thousands of dead motherfuckers are walking around the thousand-times-dead fucking mother-city. And the dead exceed the living and will look after them in their own special way. And there was but one phrase on my tongue like a snake rolled on a shaft - 'Carry on, carrion... Carry on...'."

The track listing to Carry On Carrion has already been decided by the band, but AYAT wish it to remain secret until release. Additionally, they promise that the new album shall be longer than 60 minutes and should be finished next month, with a late winter or early spring release through Moribund likely.

When pressed for further details, Filthy Fuck simply shrugged and said, "Nothing but the fact that it will be longer, more insane, more vicious, and will shy Six Years... to a battered pulp. Not only by force, mind you, but also by sheer acidic caustic erosion. And we're Lebanese. In case some guy missed it."

Further updates to follow.

Dark Essence Records has set a September 27 release date for "Head Up High", the sophomore album from Norwegian metallers THE BATALLION. The follow-up to 2008's "Stronghold Of Men" was recorded at the Conclave and Earshot Studio, the central Bergen studio owned by VULTURE INDUSTRIES' Bjørnar E. Nilsen and ENSLAVED's Herbrand Larssen and Arve Isdal, and was once again produced by Bart Schlagermeister (Bjørnar E. Nilsen).

"Head Up High" track listing:

01. Mind My Step
02. Head Up High
03. When Death Becomes Dangerous
04. Within the Frame of the Graveyard
05. Thick Skinned and Weatherbitten
06. Each Man For Himself
07. Undertakers
08. Paces
09. Where There Is Smoke There Is Fire
10. The Roaring Grandfather
11. Bring Out Your Dead

Legendary Polish extreme metal band MAGNUS will release its new album, "Acceptance Of Death", on September 15 via Witching Hour Productions. The CD was recorded in three different studios: Tower, DSP and ATK. Mixing and mastering duties were handled by Marcin Bors at Fonoplastykon Studio.

"Acceptance Of Death" will be made available as a 10-panel exclusive digipack and 12-inch picture LP (hand-numbered and limited to 500 copies)

MAGNUS recently inked a deal with Witching Hour Productions covering the release of two new studio albums and reissues of all recordings from the '90s.

01. False God
02. Appear
03. Spirits
04. Essence
05. Worm
06. To Understand Death
07. Private Religion
08. Nothing More
09. When You Rest 6 Feet Under
10. They'll Bury
11. Mournful Song
12. Just Like Life
13. There's No Use Lamenting

Abbath spoke the aforementioned quote onstage at the German festival's final night (August 7th). Is there a bigger black metal band on the planet right now? While some might reference DIMMU or BEHEMOTH, even upstarts WATAIN, all tremendously popular with the younger set, but only the damned (in black) Bergen trio garner large portions of the non-blackened metallic fanbase, including "old school" veterans. Fronting a sea of humanity previously unseen at Wacken, IMMORTAL celebrated the release of their DVD (filmed on the same stage, in '07) by running through highlights of the back catalog, as well as a couple off All Shall Fall, peppered with smoke, flames and the oft humour comments of the corpse-painted singer/guitarist.

Immortal's Wacken Open Air 2010 setlist:

'All Shall Fall'
'Sons Of Northern Darkness'
'The Rise Of Darkness'
'Damned In Black'
'Hordes To War'
'Norden On Fire'
'Withstand The Fall Of Time'
'Beyond The North Waves'
'One By One'

"Crusader", a brand new song from RIOTGOD — the band featuring MONSTER MAGNET's Bob Pantella and Jim Baglino alongside guitarist Garrett Sweeny and vocalist Sunshine — can be streamed using the audio player below (courtesy of AOL's Noisecreep).

"Riotgod" track listing:

01. Light Of The Sun
02. Crusader
03. The Time Is Now
04. Horizon
05. 9th Life
06. Omega
07. Collapsing Stars
08. Pinata
09. Drone Station
10. Love It Or Leave It
11. Rift
12. Sweet Kaos
13. High Time
14. Grand Design
15. Fangasm*
16. Minds Eye*

* Bonus tracks on digipak only.

Finnish progressive metal outfit ANTHRIEL will release its debut album, "The Pathway", on September 17 via Lion Music. The CD was produced by Timo Niemistö and was mixed by Jussi Kulomaa at MSTR Studio. The mastering duties were handled by Henkka Niemistö at Chartmakers. The album cover art and layout was created by Jan Yrlund at Darkgrove.

"The Pathway" track listing:

01. Devil's Lullaby
02. Mirror Games
03. Guardian
04. Repression
05. Haven of Grace
06. Dark Divided Minds
07. The Deliverance
08. Controversial Euphoria
09. Light Divine
10. Scent of Dawn
11. Promised Land
12. Chains of the Past

British thrashers ONSLAUGHT have set "Sounds Of Violence" as the title of their fifth album, tentatively due before the end of the year via Germany's AFM Records. The follow-up to 2007's "Killing Peace" will be recorded and mixed at Hansen Studio in Ribe, Denmark with acclaimed Danish producer Jacob Hansen (RAUNCHY, MERCENARY, VOLBEAT, HEAVEN SHALL BURN) starting on August 16.

Commented ONSLAUGHT guitarist Nige Rockett: "'Sounds of Violence' is a very fitting title for the new recording.

"Musically and lyrically, this is definately the most brutal and intense ONSLAUGHT album to date. It's full of machine-gun riffs, ferocious drum patterns and some pretty fucked up lyrical content.

"This album was never meant to be pretty. It's not a concept album by any measure but there's a definite theme to the whole package, right through from the sleeve design to the music and onto the words;, it's violence all the way.

"There's a lot of hate in 'Sounds of Violence' and a whole lot of reality in there, too, much of it straight from the heart."

Legendary guitarist Slash (VELVET REVOLVER, GUNS N' ROSES) will perform during a pre-game tailgate concert at the New York Jets' home opener on September 13 against the Baltimore Ravens. Slash will be joined by Myles Kennedy, Nicole Scherzinger of the PUSSYCAT DOLLS and Jason Bonham, son of the legendary LED ZEPPELIN drummer John Bonham and currently of BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION. Scherzinger will also sing the national anthem.

"Hunting The Human", the new video from Israeli extreme metallers WINTERHORDE, can be viewed below. The clip was filmed in Tel Aviv-Jaffo with director Sergey Maydin and it features an appearance by renowned Israeli "underground" actress and model Angel Ogasta.

"Hunting The Human" comes off WINTERHORDE's new album, "Underwatermoon", which was released on July 30 in Europe via Twilight-Vertrieb. A conceptual effort based on a story written by WINTERHORDE's bass player and co-founder Celestial, the follow-up to 2008's "Nebula" was produced , mixed and mastered by V.Santura (TRYPTIKON, DARK FORTRESS, OBSCURA). The artwork was created by Gustavo Sazes of Abstrata Studio (ARCH ENEMY, OLD MAN'S CHILD, KRISIUN).

Billboard.com has issued the following report from Gary Graff:

Jason Bonham knows better than to promise a LED ZEPPELIN reunion as part of his Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience show that goes on tour this fall. But he's certainly not opposed to the idea.

"I'm not going to hide it from them," Bonham, who filled his late father John "Bonzo" Bonham's spot and played with Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones at the 2007 Zep reunion concert at London's O2 arena, tells Billboard.com.

"I will invite them to every show I can, because my goal and dream is, 'Wouldn't it be cool if I did something that they thought was cool and they would get up and play with me?' That's what I'm doing [this] for. I'd love it."

Norwegian black/folk metal band FAANEFJELL has just set the release date for their upcoming debut album, Trollmarsj, on September 18th.

The band will release their album through Mayhem Music - the new record label from Audun Grønnestad (IMPERIA) - who have set a worldwide distribution deal with Indie Distribution.

Trollmarsj is recorded, produced and mixed by Audun Grønnestad (Imperia, ANGEL) during the fall/winter 2009 at Mayhem Music in Kristiansand, Norway. The mastering took place in Finnvox by Mika Jussila and all artwork is delivered by Jan Yrlund from Darkgrove Designs (TÝR, KORPIKLAANI, STRATOVARIUS, SVARYSOT, IMPERIA, SIRENIA)

Trollmarsj is an concept album with clear references to traditional Norwegian black metal such as WINDIR. The main Trolls of the band, Kim Arly Karlsen (CUTTHROAT, ex-RULES OF ENGAGEMENT, ex-EON) and Danish black metal growler, Benjamin Isar Jørgensen (Grívf) teamed up early 2009 to write music for their first joint release.

Faanefjell is a Norwegian mountain, and as the story goes, the trolls there were driven away by the humans building their houses and churches. There was an ever ongoing battle between the two on who should have the right, not only to the Faanefjell mountain, but to every Norwegian mountain. Trollmarsj is the story of the mountain, humans, priests, fights and the march of the two trolls, Grimtroll and Sørtroll.

The music could be referenced to as symphonic black/folk metal, and also features guest appearances by Cato Arghamon (TRAIL OF TEARS, DIMENSION F3H, Cutthroat, LUCID FEAR), Ronny Thorsen (Trail of Tears), Frank Ørland (ex-SCARIOT, ex-HARM), Daniel Sandén-Varg (ODD NORDSTOGA) and Audun Grønnestad (Imperia, Angel). The booklet includes the story of the Faanefjell trolls, with lyrics for each song taken from the story. It is written in old Norwegian/Danish language, and translations will be available soon on the bands website.

Trollmarsj tracklisting :

'Der Var Engang et Fjell'
'Faanetrollets Vise'
'Trollmarsj'
'Tre Tinner Bakom Bruen'
'Soknardalr'
'Drikkegilde i Jotunheimen'
'Slaatt'
'Hedningens Time'
'Til Kamp'
'Her Hersker kun Troll og Mörkemænn'