Keyboardist Derek Sherinian (DREAM THEATER, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, BILLY IDOL) is featured on the self-titled debut album from the all-instrumental prog-rock project RELOCATOR. Influenced by both modern and classic artists like UK, PLANET X, RUSH and ALLAN HOLDSWORTH, RELOCATOR has developed its own style and worked hard on making their first CD a memorable debut for all fans of instrumental progressive rock worldwide. Derek Sherinian plays all keyboard solos on the album and his experience with the self-proclaimed "sickest instrumental band in the world" PLANET X makes his style a perfect fit for the music. Unlike many other guest appearances, his involvement here is not limited to just one track — in fact, there is more of his soloing on the RELOCATOR CD than on the last PLANET X album "Quantum". The opportunity to stretch out on extended solo sections resulted in some of his finest playing on record. All fans of Derek's style are in for a real treat!

The RELOCATOR CD will be available directly from the band on July 4 with other distribution channels to be announced soon.

German modern melodic death hopefuls FEAR MY THOUGHTS are scheduled to release their new album on July 21 via Century Media Records. The follow-up to last year's acclaimed "Vulcanus" CD will include such songtitles as "Death Chamber", "Pitch Black" and "Deaf Dumb And Blinded".

A brand new German-language interview conducted by Metal Hammer magazine can be viewed at this location.

The band previously stated about the new material, "It is pretty hard to describe how the new songs sound. While listening to the rough mixes, I'm trying to find possible comparisons...sometimes it feels like SLAYER, sometimes like PINK FLOYD. You can definitely hear a strong progressive rock vibe in the vein of PORCUPINE TREE or TOOL, on the other side it's straight-forward rock and metal more than ever before! The new record is definitely shaping up well, but probably in a way you would not have expected!"

FEAR MY THOUGHTS' Century Media Records debut, "Vulcanus", was released in Europe in January 2007. Helmed by acclaimed Danish producer Jacob Hansen (RAUNCHY, COMMUNIC, MAROON, HATESPHERE, MERCENARY), the CD contains 12 new tracks covering a wide variety of styles, incorporating influences from death and thrash metal to Seventies hard and progressive rock. A personal highlight for the band was the guest appearance on "Accelerate Or Die" by DESTRUCTION frontman Marcel "Schmier" Schirmer and guitarist Mike Sifringer.

FEAR MY THOUGHTS' "Blankness" video (taken from "Vulcanus"):

Metal Mind Productions will reissue two remastered albums by Polish death metal pioneers DRAGON — "Fallen Angel" from 1990 and "Scream Of Death" from 1991 — on May 19 in Europe (July 8 in the USA via MVD). Originally released by the UK label Music For Nations, each limited-edition digipack title (limited to 2,000 copies) will contain bonus tracks and will be made available on golden disc, digitally remastered using 24-bit technology.

"Fallen Angel" bonus tracks:

01. Upadly Aniol
02. Pluje Ci W Twarz
03. Lzy Szatana
04. Posród Czerni
05. Placzaca Kobieta

"Scream Of Death" bonus tracks:

Live – Jarocin Festival '92:

01. Memory
02. Looking For Death
03. Scream Of Death
04. Tears Of Satan
05. Return

Reformed Dutch death metal outfit ASPHYX — Martin van Drunen (vocals), Wannes Gubbels (bass/vocals), Paul Baayens (guitar) and Bob Bagchus (drums) — will release a new seven-inch EP, "Death the Brutal Way", via Iron Pegasus Records. The single will include the brand new title track plus a cover of CELTIC FROST's "Os Abysmi Vel Daath" from the Swiss legends' "Monotheist" album. Both cuts were recorded in January 2008 at the Harrow studios.

You can listen to "Death the Brutal Way" on the group's MySpace page.

SEPULTURA is currently in the studio working on its new album, which is based on the Anthony Burgess novel "A Clockwork Orange" (later turned into the classic film by Stanley Kubrick). A fall release via SPV is expected.

SEPULTURA guitarist Andreas Kisser recently completed work on his solo debut, entitled "Hubris I & II". A two-disc set, it is tentatively scheduled for release later in the year via Holland's Mascot Records. The CD was recorded in part at A Voz do Brasil studio in São Paulo, Brazil.

Kisser previously stated about his upcoming solo album, "I'm very pleased with the result so far and I'm excited to hear it all done. It was a long process, a learning process and a great experience. It's a musical journey trough the influences I had for last 15 years of my life and at the same time it's very different from everything I did so far."

The cover artwork for SOULFLY's new album, "Conquer", can be viewed at this location (artwork by Android).

"Conquer" is scheduled for release on July 29 via Roadrunner Records.

SOULFLY members Max Cavalera (guitar/vocals), Joe Nunez (drums), Marc Rizzo (guitar), and Bobby Burns (bass) entered Porch Studio in Florida on September 12, 2007 to begin recording the band's sixth studio LP.

SOULFLY's upcoming CD will feature guest appearances by MORBID ANGEL frontman David Vincent and THROWDOWN singer Dave Peters.

"Conquer" track listing:

01. Blood Fire War Hate
02. Unleash
03. Paranoia
04. Warmageddon
05. War Ghost
06. Rough
07. Fall Of Sycophants
08. Doom
09. Rot
10. Touching The Void
11. Soulfly VI

In a recent interview with PyroMusic.net, Max Cavalera stated about the new SOULFLY CD, "Well, the next SOULFLY album is being mixed in England with Andy Sneap, and it's very heavy in its own way. In a SOULFLY way. It's still got craziness... I recorded a lot in Egypt this time. I spent some time in Cairo working with some Egyptian musicians and we came up with some really wicked interludes and passages. It sounds nothing like anything I ever done. Very very amazing Egyptian instruments. There is a song that is a colloboration with MORBID ANGEL's singer David Vincent which is one of my favourite songs forever in my whole life that I wrote. It's called 'Blood Fire War Hate' and that should be the opening of the album. It's very energizing, verrrry powerful, man. I can't wait for fans to hear it. It's the shit. That one is gonna definitely create some chaos in the moshpit."

Watch professionally filmed video footage of SOULFLY's August 16, 2007 performance at the Pukkelpop festival in Belgium:

German power metallers PRIMAL FEAR have set "16.6" as the working title of the follow-up to last year's "New Religion" album. The CD will be recorded in November/December 2008 for a tentative early 2009 release via Frontiers Records.

"New Religion" last year landed on the Swedish chart at No. 67. It also entered the German chart at No. 60.

The CD was released in the U.S. on January 29 via Locomotive/Ryko. Guest musicians on the album include Kai Hansen (GAMMA RAY, ex-HELLOWEEN) and Simone Simons (EPICA).

Upcoming PRIMAL FEAR shows:
Sep. 20 - St. Petersburg, Russia - Orlandino
Sep. 21 - Moscow, Russia - Tochka Club

Long-runnning Seattle metallers METAL CHURCH are currently in the studio recording their new album, which will be entitled "This Present Wasteland". The CD's artwork, which was submitted by a fan via a MySpace contest, can be viewed at this location.

Commented the band: "Kurdt [Vanderhoof, guitar] is putting the final touches on our new release. We can't wait for you guys to hear it. 'This Present Wasteland' rocks and we are all very proud of this work.

"Our new guitar, player Rick Van Zandt, came in and did a bang up job on his leads (they're killer) and we even have a couple guest guitar solos from some well-known shredders! You are all in for a treat."

METAL CHURCH's latest album, "A Light in the Dark", was released in June 2006 via SPV. The CD includes a new version of the classic "Watch the Children Pray" as a tribute to vocalist David Wayne, who passed away in May 2005.

Poland's Metal Mind Productions will release the first DVD from reactivated Danish thrashers ARTILLERY, entitled "One Foot in the Grave, The Other One in the Trash", on June 16 in Europe and August 5 in the USA (via MVD). According to a press release, the DVD features "a fantastic gig the thrash veterans gave at Metalmania Festival 2008. The outstanding guitar play of brothers Stützer, charismatic Carsten Nielsen's powerful drums and the uncompromising thrash energy of Søren Adamsen's voice ruthlessly hammered their way into the hearts of the headbangers assambled on that occasion. ARTILLERY launched a veritable blitz, bombarding their fans with a skull-breaking selection of some of the best songs from their entire discography, including great thrash metal masterpieces like 'By Inheritence' and 'Khomaniac'!" The DVD will also include many great bonus features, such as extra video material: "Allergic to Knowledge" (video clip), "Terror Squad" (video clip), "The Almighty" (bootlegged at The Rock, Copenhagen, 2008), MISSING LINK – "Lobotomized" (video clip), plus interview with Michael Stützer, interview with Morten Stützer and Carsten Nielsen and more. The release will also be available in a limited edition — including a CD with songs recorded at the Metalmania Festival.

"One Foot in the Grave, The Other One in the Trash" track listing:

DVD:

01. Deeds of Darkness
02. Into the Universe
03. The Almighty
04. Cybermind
05. The Challenge
06. By Inheritance
07. The Eternal War
08. Beneath the Clay (R.I.P.)
09. Time Has Come
10. At War with Science
11. Out of the Sky
12. Khomaniac
13. Terror Squad

CD (limited edition DVD+CD only):

01. Deeds of Darkness
02. Into the Universe
03. The Almighty
04. Cybermind
05. The Challenge
06. By Inheritance
07. The Eternal War
08. Beneath the Clay (R.I.P.)
09. Time Has Come
10. At War with Science
11. Out of the Sky
12. Khomaniac
13. Terror Squad

The cover artwork was designed by Graal, who has previously worked with VITAL REMANS, SINISTER, SOLITUDE AETURNUS and BULLDOZER, among others. Graal was also responsible for the cover artwork of ARTILLERY's "Through The Years" box set.

Fan-filmed video footage of ARTILLERY performing at the Metalmania Festival 2008 can be viewed below.

European death metal butchers ABORTED, whose members hail from Belgium, France and UK, have refined and re-defined the tools of their trade on their sixth full-length album, "Strychnine.213", to murder the listener with unimaginably gruesome, shockingly diverse brutality.

In addition to unveiling the album's macabre cover artwork by Colin Marks / Rain Song, ABORTED is currently streaming two songs from its stunning follow-up to 2007's "Slaughter & Apparatus: A Methodical Overture" at the band's revamped MySpace page.

"I35" demonstrates how ABORTED have successfully increased the modern, darker and surprisingly dynamic and melodic elements of their sound, whereas "Pestiferous Subterfuge" is another brutal groove monster, heavy to the max!

Combining the band's undeniable live energy with a powerhouse production from Eric Rachel (THE RED CHORD, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, GOD FORBID) and a "fuck you rock 'n' roll" approach to the overly edited, sterile sounding death metal records of today, ABORTED succeed in retaining their vicious roots while evolving in terms of melody, musical virtuosity and vigor.

LACUNA COIL singer Cristina Scabbia has posted the following message on her MySpace page:

"We had a band meeting this afternoon. It's been so weird... While we were discussing about music and stuff, it happened I found myself staring at each one of the boys: Maus [Biazzi; guitar], Marco [Coti Zelati; bass], Criz [Migliore; guitar], Andi [Ferro; vocals] and Criz [Mozzati; drums]... They probably didn't even notice that. And I just thought it's so awesome we're still together after all these years. We've been through tours, recordings, trips all around the world, we created music together, we suffered together, we laughed together. We are still here, together. We are putting together the best album of our career. The songs are so awesomely great; you can totally feel the energy of a band who's still.... a REAL band. United we rock. And hell yeah, I'm happy. Can't wait for you guys to hear the new shit!"

Georgia-based, forward-thinking metal band DAATH, who spent the summer of 2007 kicking up dirt on Ozzfest's side stage, entered the studio on March 1 to record its new album, "The Concealers", with producer Jason Suecof (TRIVIUM, CHIMAIRA) and Mark Lewis of Florida's AudioHammer studios manning the boards.

The group has since issued the following update:

"We've been very infrequent with our updates because we have been putting every possible ounce of our energy, sweat, blood, and soul into our new record. We are almost done. We hope you will love and feel this record as much as we do. The wait to play it live for you guys is almost unbearable! See you fuckers soon!"

DAATH recently announced the addition of vocalist Sean Z. to the group's ranks.

The band, who parted ways with Sean Faber after Ozzfest, spent the autumn season holding open auditions for the position, with the unwavering goal of finding a diverse singer with enough range and power to match the band's progressive style of metal. Fellow Atlantan Sean Z., who filled in on vocals during the band's late fall tour with DARK FUNERAL, fit the bill.

Long-running UK extreme metallers BENEDICTION recently completed work on their new album, "Killing Music", due before the end of the year via Nuclear Blast Records.

Commented the band: "We had Karl Willetts from BOLT THROWER come into Mick Kenney's Necrodeath Studio to lay down some vocals on the AMEBIX cover 'Largactyl' that we recorded. With payment to Karl of cans of Stella Artois and Benson And Hedges cigarettes he roared out as only Karl can and made this version of the track a brutal little affair! Helping out on the chorus lines was The Fog from FROST. All this was captured on film and we are sure this will see the light of day when the album is released. More friends putting in an appearance over the next week or so.The mixing is close to finishing so it's time for us to lighten up and have a bit of fun doing the cover songs with our friends."

"Killing Music" tentative track listing:

01. Hells Gate
02. Cold, Deathless, Unrepentant
03. Killing Music
04. Dripping With Disgust
05. Dissembler
06. Rats In The Mask (Controlopolis)
07. Betrayer
08. Immaculate Facade
09. They Bleed
10. Frozen Heart
11. The Grey Man
12. As Her Skin Weeps
13. They Must Die Screaming
14. Seeing Through My Eyes (BROKEN BONES cover)
15. Largactyl (AMEBIX cover)

In anticipation of the Progressive Nation 2008 tour, Roadrunner Records brought together the leaders of the two acts topping the bill — DREAM THEATER's Mike Portnoy and OPETH's Mikael Åkerfeldt sat for a series of interviews to be posted over the next four weeks leading up to the Progressive Nation kick-off in Los Angeles on May 2. These two self-proclaimed music fanatics talked about everything from their appreciation of each other's bands to ABBA to the upcoming tour.

Watch part seven in a series of seven at this location.

DREAM THEATER's first-ever best-of collection, "Greatest Hit (…& 21 Other Pretty Songs)", was released through Rhino on April 1 at all physical retail outlets and www.rhino.com for a suggested retail price of $19.98 and at all digital retail outlets for a suggested retail price of $12.99. The collection contains three newly remixed versions of tracks from DREAM THEATER's breakout 1992 album, "Images And Words": "Pull Me Under" as well as "Take The Time" and "Another Day". The collection's 22 songs are split evenly between two discs, which are divided into "The Dark Side" (the metallic) and "The Light Side" (the melodic).

OPETH's new album, "Watershed", is scheduled for release on June 3 via Roadrunner Records (one day earlier internationally). The CD, recorded in the band's native Sweden and produced by frontman/guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt and Jens Bogren, is a masterwork that follows the time-honored OPETH tradition; its modern yet timeless, progressive yet paying homage to the sounds of classic rock.

For more information on the Progressive Nation 2008 tour, visit www.progressivenation2008.com.

ZYKLON/EMPEROR guitarist Samoth (real name: Tomas Haugen) and his Canadian wife Erin welcomed their first child on April 23. Erin says, "Her name is Lily and she was 10 lbs (!!!), with tons of cute dark hair, and is officially the cutest baby on the planet (not that I'm biased or anything)."

Samoth and Erin were married on February 15, 2005 in a small ceremony in Norway.

Samoth released a statement last October announcing that ZYKLON was taking a break from all touring and recording activities. "What the future will bring I cannot say at this point," he wrote at the time. "All I know is that we're all active musicians and have no intentions whatsoever to stop our mission of METAL!!!"

The group's third album, "Disintegrate", was released in May 2006 via Candlelight Records. The CD was recorded at Akkerhaugen Lydstudio in Norway and was mixed at Studio Fredman in Gothenburg, Sweden.

DEFTONES last month entered a Sacramento, California studio with producer Terry Date (SOUNDGARDEN, PANTERA) and engineer Scott Olson (DEFTONES, UNEARTH) to begin recording the band's sixth studio album, "Eros", tentatively due before the end of the year.

Commented the group's turntablist/keyboardist Frank Delgado: "[We're] well into our first week of recording for the new record. Very exciting times, indeed. A lot of love, blood, sweat and tears has gone into our studio, which has been home for the last eight or so months. Along with the writing, major revamping has gone into The Spot, and from the sounds of it, it's definitely paying off. All of this work has allowed us to do what we've wanted for the longest time — record a record at our place, on our time, on our dime.

"Feels so good to be back with Terry and Scotty. Spirits are high (and so is Stef [DEFTONES guitarist Stephen Carpenter).

"We're on our way to making the best DEFTONES record yet!"

DEFTONES singer Chino Moreno recently told UK magazine Kerrang! that the songwriting for the new CD was coming along much faster than it has in the past. Moreno said, "We've certainly taken our time on the last few records but this one has happened very quickly. We got off tour and took a month off. Then we went into the studio and wrote a lot of music very quickly...The most important thing we had to do was to break our habits and change the way we've done things for the last few years."

Moreno explained that the band took much longer to come up with material in the past because "everyone was working separately. We would record our parts and then email them out without actually seeing each other...This time, we were all together and that really helped."

The band's last CD, "Saturday Night Wrist", came out in October 2006 and its creation nearly resulted in the band's demise. But Moreno said, "Our working relationship is better than it's ever been before. As a result, everything has improved -- our friendships and our lives. We're all really happy now."

The revered punk band BAD RELIGION is set to reissue last year's acclaimed "New Maps of Hell" with expanded features and bonus material on July 8. Lifelong dissenters and noted critics of the current administration (2004's "The Empire Strikes First" was a direct critique of Bush's pre-emptive policy), the band's 15th release ironically, but coincidentally, comes out just days after the 4th of July.

The deluxe version of "New Maps of Hell" includes the original 16-song CD, along with seven new acoustic tracks recorded by principal songwriters Greg Graffin (vocals) and Brett Gurewitz (guitars). Three of the acoustic songs are new, written specifically for this release; the other four tracks are new acoustic versions of BR classics such as 2004's hit song "Sorrow" and the perennial favorite "Skyscraper". Graffin and Gurewitz formed the idea of recording the EP to illustrate how they write songs: generally writing a song on just an acoustic guitar or piano, and then crafting it into the electrified scorchers they ultimately become later with the band.

Additionally, the release includes a DVD with an hour-long live performance that has never been seen before, along with music videos for "New Maps of Hell"'s two singles "Honest Goodbye" and "New Dark Ages", behind-the-scenes footage of Brett and Greg during the recording of the acoustic EP and more.

The all-new packaging pays homage to the band's hometown of Los Angeles, but unmasks the city with a gritty reality not usually associated with Tinseltown. Shot in the striking format of high dynamic range photography by local fine arts photographer Dave Bollock, the deluxe release also features a booklet of Bollock's work entitled "New Maps of Hell - City of Angels" and classic BAD RELIGION posters.

Voted THE "Old School Band who Still Rock" by Alternative Press readers, BAD RELIGION are giving back to the fans who have supported them in their over two-decade long career with "New Maps of Hell" deluxe edition.

"New Maps of Hell" (Deluxe Edition) - Disc 1 (CD):

01. 52 Seconds - 0:58
02. Heroes & Martyrs - 1:26
03. Germs of Perfection - 1:28
04. New Dark Ages - 2:48
05. Requiem for Dissent - 2:08
06. Before You Die - 2:35
07. Honest Goodbye - 2:52
08. Dearly Beloved - 2:20
09. Grains of Wrath - 3:01
10. Murder - 1:19
11. Scrutiny - 2:37
12. Prodigal Son - 3:08
13. The Grand Delusion - 2:11
14. Lost Pilgrim - 2:28
15. Submission Complete - 3:41
16. Fields of Mars - 3:38

Acoustic Tracks

17. Won't Somebody - 3:08
18. Adam's Atoms - 2:37
19. Sorrow - 3:12
20. God Song - 2:40
21. Dearly Beloved - 2:37
22. Chronophobia - 1:55
23. Skyscraper - 3:00

"New Maps of Hell" (Deluxe Edition) - Disc 2 (DVD):

* The Making of The Acoustic EP
* Myspace and The List Present Bad Religion Live In Las Vegas
* "New Dark Ages" Music Video
* "Honest Goodbye" Music Video
* The Making of "New Maps of Hell" EPK

Magna Carta Records will release LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT's self-titled debut album on double LP gatefold 180-gram vinyl on June 10. There will only be 1,000 copies of this album released worldwide.

The details are as follows:

* Limited edition of 1,000
* Double vinyl pressing (first disc on green vinyl; second disc on purple vinyl)
* 180 gram colored vinyl
* Gatefold package with never-before-seen artwork and photos

LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT is the instrumental progressive rock/metal project featuring DREAM THEATER members Mike Portnoy (drums), John Petrucci (guitar) and Jordan Rudess (keyboards) alongside progressive rock icon Tony Levin (bass) of KING CRIMSON and PETER GABRIEL fame.

NINE INCH NAILS has made its new ten-song, 44-minute minute album entitled "The Slip" available for free download at www.nin.com (free signup required). The new set includes the songs "Echoplex" and "Discipline" which were both posted online during the last couple of weeks ahead of the new album release.

The music is available in a variety of formats, including high-quality MP3, FLAC or M4A lossless at CD quality and even higher-than-CD quality 24/96 WAVE (licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial ShareAlike license). All downloads include a PDF with artwork and credits.

For those of you interested in physical products, the band plans to make a version of this release available on CD and vinyl in July.

"The Slip" track listing:

01. 999,999
02. 1,000,000
03. Letting You
04. Discipline
05. Echoplex
06. Head Down
07. Lights In The Sky
08. Corona Radiata
09. The Four Of Us Are Dying
10. Demon Seed

All songs were performed by Trent Reznor, Josh Freese, Robin Finck and Allesandro Cortini.

"Phantoms", the new video from Danish modern metallers RAUNCHY, can be viewed below. The clip was filmed at the group's sold-out show on December 2, 2007 at Store Vega in Copenhagen Denmark.

"Phantoms" comes off RAUNCHY's last album, "Death Pop Romance", which was released in 2006 through Lifeforce Records.

RAUNCHY will release its new CD, "Wasteland Discotheque", on June 16 in Denmark, June 30 in the rest of Europe and July 7 in the U.S. via Lifeforce Records.

The cover artwork for "Wasteland Discotheque", can be viewed at this location.

The album will feature the following track listing:

01. This Blackout is Your Apocalypse (intro)
02. Somewhere Along the Road
03. The Bash
04. Warriors
05. Straight to Hell
06. Welcome the Storm
07. Wasteland Discotheque
08. Somebody's Watching Me
09. A Heavy Burden
10. To the Lighthouse
11. Showdown Recovery
12. The Comfort in Leaving

Vocalist Kasper Thomsen previously described the new material as "dirty, melodic, thrashy, epic, melancholic and... drum roll... heavy. We are experimenting a lot this time around, with vocals, arrangements and musical expression, but we're not gonna change radically — don't worry! But as a wise man once said: there's no point in writing the same record twice, right?"

RIOT mainman/guitarist Mark Reale has issued the following update:

"I'm in the process of working with all the members from the original 1988 lineup (Reale, singer Tony Moore, bassist Don Van Staven and drummer Bobby Jarzombek) and have begun writing material for a new record with them. Although some members do have prior commitments, hopefully the new record will be released in the late fall of 2008."

RIOT's latest CD, "Army of One", was released in in Japan on July 17, 2006 via the Toshiba-EMI label. The CD came out in Europe in October 2006 via Metal Heaven.

Audio samples of all 10 tracks that appear on "Karma Killer", the forthcoming fourth album from Finnish hard/glam rockers NEGATIVE, can be found at this location.

"Karma Killer" is scheduled for release in Finland on May 7. Release dates for other territories will be announced soon.

The track listing for the album is as follows:

01. A Devil On My Shoulder
02. Sealed
03. Won't Let Go
04. Motherfucker (Just Like You)
05. Giving Up!
06. An Ornament
07. Dead As We
08. Anna Simona
09. Lust N'Needs
10. Gravity of Love

"Won't Let Go", the new video from NEGATIVE, can be viewed below.

"Ghost Opera - The Second Coming", the reissue of KAMELOT's "Ghost Opera" album enhanced with lots of interesting features, has entered the Greek chart at position No. 38. The double-CD limited-edition slipcase design includes the CD featuring all the songs from the regular album, plus ten additional live tracks recorded live in Belgrade Serbia during the band's 2007 world tour, the bonus tracks "Seasons End", "Pendulous Fall", "Epilogue" and the remix of "Rule The World". The two videos for "Human Stain" and "Memento Mori" (live) are included, and on top of that, the package features new artwork and a comprehensive booklet.

For more details, go to this location.

Fan-filmed video footage of KAMELOT performing the song "Karma" on April 9, 2008 at Hof Ter Lo in Antwerp, Belgium can be viewed below (courtesy of "dtgerald").

DISTURBED's official web site is currently hosting the video for the band's new single, "Inside the Fire". Watch the clip below.

DISTURBED singer David Draiman recently told The Pulse of Radio that "Inside the Fire" is one of the darkest songs he's ever written. "It is based on a true story of my own where, when I was about 16 or so, I had a girlfriend of mine commit suicide," he said. "It was an unbelievably horrific and painful experience, and it was cathartic to make the song, and it really took me having a certain mindset to do it, and I had to wait 'til I was ready."

As previously reported, Draiman has expressed the band's frustration at not being able to preview new songs from the band's forthcoming album, "Indestructible", due to contractual obligations. He told Rolling Stone's "Rock & Roll Daily" blog, "Isn't that horrible, how things have become? It would be really nice to see how a crowd reacts to the new songs early on, but there's too much dependency on that first week sales number and you can't sacrifice any of the impact of that."

With leaked tracks becoming commonplace, the band's label has nixed all but a few of the songs from the June 3 release for live consumption. The band is currently performing "Perfect Insanity", "Inside the Fire", a new-to-live-audiences b-side called "Hell", and the live debut of "This Moment", their "Transformers" soundtrack tune.

The tour, which kicked off on Saturday (April 26) in Little Rock, Arkansas, hits smaller venues and markets. "It's going to be very intimate. We're going to try to make it special," Draiman said, adding, "It also enables us to get back to grassroots. This is who we are. We started as a small club band. It's a different type of energy."

The band will join SLIPKNOT, MASTODON, MACHINE HEAD and others on the Rockstar Mayhem Energy Tour, which begins on July 9 at Seattle, Washington's White River Amphitheatre and wraps in Buffalo, New York at the Darien Lake Performing Arts Center.

Finnish metallers OMNIUM GATHERUM recently began recording their fourth album at Sound Supreme Studios in Hämeenlinna, Finland with Janne Saksa and SouthEastSounds studio to Karhula with Teemu Aalto.

Commented the band: "All the recordings of the new album are now done and the stuff are in the hands of Dan Swanö at Unisound Studio in [Örebro] Sweden at the moment as he will tweak the living daylight of the stuff and come up with the most powerful sound ever to grace a metal band! The rough mix already sounded a classic, so we'll be sure that we are delivering the goods here with this album!"

OMNIUM GATHERUM last year parted ways with bassist Janne Markkanen and replaced him with Eerik Purdon (CRYSTAL BLAZE, AMORAL).

The band's latest CD, "Stuck Here on Snakes Way", entered the Finnish chart at position No. 31. The album, which was released on April 2, 2007 via Candlelight Records (one day later in North America), was recorded during November-December 2006 at Southeast Studios in Karhula, Finland with producer Teemu Aalto.

"Stuck Here on Snakes Way" marked the band's first release with vocalist Jukka Pelkonen, who joined the group in May 2006.

Finnish melodic metallers HELION have made the new song "Dreamcatcher" available for free download from the "Media" section of the band's official web site. The track comes off the group's brand album, "Bad Dreams and Broken Shadows", which was released in Finland on May 2.

"Bad Dreams and Broken Shadows" track listing:

01. Dreamcatcher
02. Liquid Veil
03. Blood of Phoenix (with Markku Kivistö of PAIN CONFESSOR)
04. Tell No Tales
05. Broken Mirror

Check out the cover artwork at this location.

HELION's current lineup:

Simo Autio - Vocals and Guitar
Jaakko Kunnas - Vocals and Guitar
Lauri Heikkinen - Keyboards
Ville Kankaanpää - Bass
Leo Kunnas - Drums

ALL ENDS — the Swedish hard rock band featuring Emma Gelotte (sister of IN FLAMES guitarist Björn Gelotte) and Tinna Karlsdotter on vocals, Fredrik Johansson (DIMENSION ZERO, IN FLAMES' "The Jester Race" album) and Peter Mårdklint (EMBRACED, TENEBRE) on guitar, along with Josef Skanås on drums — is scheduled to enter the studio again this weekend to record "some additional tracks," according to a posting on the group's MySpace page. No further details are currently available.