Displeased Records will release a new DVD from recently reunited progressive thrashers TOXIK in December. Entitled "Dynamo Open Air 1988", the set will include the group's performance at the Dynamo Open Air festival in Eindhoven, Holland on May 23, 1988 as well as the band's concert at the Dynamo club in Eindhoven that took place two days earlier. A DVD+CD combo will also be made available in a limited run of 2,000 copies.

"Dynamo Open Air 1988" DVD track listing:

Dynamo Open Air festival in Eindhoven, Holland - May 23, 1988

01. Heart Attack
02. Social Overload
03. Symptom of the Universe (BLACK SABBATH cover)
04. Voices
05. Door to Hell
06. World Circus
07. 47 Seconds of Sanity / Count Your Blessings
08. False Prophets
09. Haunted Earth
10. Victims

Dynamo club in Eindhoven, Holland – May 21, 1988:

01. Heart Attack
02. Social Overload
03. Symptom of the Universe (BLACK SABBATH cover)
04. Voices
05. Door to Hell
06. World Circus
07. 47 Seconds of Sanity / Count Your Blessings
08. False Prophets
09. Haunted Earth
10. Victim of Changes
11. Victims
12. Evil Woman
13. Spontaneous

According to Gigwise.com, LED ZEPPELIN's "Stairway To Heaven" is expected to make its debut in the UK singles charts this Sunday.

The song — which originally appeared on the band's untitled forth album 36 years ago — features on the group's digitally remastered greatest hits compilation, "Mothership", which was released in the UK on Monday, November 12.

The song, which despite its popularity never received a release as a single, currently stands at No. 56 on the midweek singles charts and is expected to climb higher before the weeks end.

A number of the band’s songs are expected to feature on this week's singles countdown since a change to the chart’s rules allowed downloads to become chart eligible.

Interest in the band has continued to grow since they announced their one-off show at the O2 Arena in London on December 10.

Finnish metallers TWILIGHT GUARDIANS have released the video for the song "The Game", taken from their fourth album, "Ghost Reborn". Watch the clip below.

"Ghost Reborn" was released on November 7 release via Spinefarm Records. According to a press release, the CD "incorporates neo-classical musicianship to powerful anthems. Their trade may be overcrowded, but they hold out their own. Amongst these more traditional songs, the album holds a real treat. The passionate fans of the band will probably already what is going on, but to many a other this will be a really surprising twist."

Former IRON MAIDEN/WOLFSBANE singer Blaze Bayley's web site has been updated with the following message:

"The new [BLAZE BAYLEY] album will be available in spring 2008. We are thinking of doing a limited addition of 1,000 units. If you are interested in pre-ordering a limited addition or would like more information on what will be contained on the limited addition, then please email bblimitedadditioninfo@rock.com. This is research only at this point. Thank you."

DISFEAR, the Swedish "crust rock" outfit featuring former AT THE GATES/THE CROWN vocalist Tomas Lindberg and ex-ENTOMBED guitarist Ulf "Uffe" Cederlund, has unveiled details of its new album, entitled "Live The Storm".

The follow-up to 2003's "Misanthropic Generation", "Live The Storm" was recorded with CONVERGE guitarist Kurt Ballou at his Godcity Studios in Salem, MA and includes 10 all new songs from the band. The complete track listing is as follows:

01. Get It Off
02. Fiery Father
03. Deadweight
04. The Cage
05. The Furnace
06. Live The Storm
07. Testament
08. In Exodus
09. Maps of War
10. Phantom

"Live The Storm" will be released on January 22 in North America (January 28 internationally) via Relapse Records.

Bassist Peter Iwers of the Swedish metallers IN FLAMES has posted the following message on the band's web site:

"Hey there, sorry for not updating for a loooong time, have been kind of busy in the studio, making movies, and oh yeah recording bass. The [new IN FLAMES] album is almost done, everything's pretty much recorded except for some final details. We've had a blast doing this and it marks the first time since 'Reroute to Remain' [2002] that we're all recording under the same roof . This time at our very own studio, which is cool."

NORTHERN KINGS, the new Finnish band consisting of four well-known metal musicians — J. Ahola (TERÄSBETONI), Marco Hietala (TAROT, NIGHTWISH), Tony Kakko (SONATA ARCTICA), J-P Leppäluoto (CHARON) — has released the video for its cover of TINA TURNER's "We Don't Need Another Hero". Watch the clip below.

"We Don't Need Another Hero" comes off NORTHERN KINGS' special covers album, "Reborn", which was released on October 31 via Warner Music Finland. The CD contains metal arrangements of '80s hits, including "We Don't Need Another Hero", CUTTING CREW's "I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight", PHIL COLLINS' "In The Air Tonight", DIRE STRAITS' "Brothers In Arms", PETER GABRIEL's "Sledgehammer" and DAVID BOWIE's "Ashes To Ashes".

"Reborn" (cover artwork) track listing:

01. We Don't Need Another Hero
02. Don't Bring Me Down
03. Sledge Hammer
04. I Just Died In your Arms Tonight
05. Hello
06. Ashes To Ashes
07. Broken Wings
08. Brothers In Arms
09. Rebel Yell
10. Creep
11. In The Air Tonight
12. Don't Stop Believing
13. Falling On Hard Times

SINPHONIA, the Danish dark melodic metal band featuring ex-SIRENIA singer Monika Pedersen, HATESPHERE drummer Dennis Buhl, CHAOSWAVE guitarist Henrik "Guf" Rangstrup, and newly added bassist Leif N (JANUARY JAUNT), has commenced work on new material. The group — which has released two full-length albums so far (2000's "When the Tide Breaks" and 2001's "The Divine Disharmony") through Lucretia Records — is searching for a new label home for its upcoming third CD. The as-yet-untitled new effort is scheduled for release late next year.

According to a press release, SINPHONIA's new material will not be far removed from that on the 2005 "Silence" EP, although it will include "a darker yet more melodic touch."

The three songs from the "Silence" EP can be heard on the band's MySpace page.

On November 30, and December 7, AFM Records will release two compilations which will include several AFM highlights.

The first compilation, a DVD/CD box set titled "All For Metal" (due November 30), contains many video clips of the AFM artists as well as some rare live video material. The CD will include lots of highlights of the latest AFM releases as well as brand new unreleased songs of DEZPERADOZ, PARADOX and PRESIDENT EVIL. The second compilation, "Heart Breakers" (due December 7), will include 18 metal ballads of bands like SHAKRA, KROKUS, MASTERPLAN, EDGUY and U.D.O.

"All For Metal" track listing:

DVD:

01. U.D.O. - The Wrong Side Of Midnight
02. DESTRUCTION - The Alliance Of Hellhoundz
03. MASTERPLAN - Lost And Gone
04. THE POODLES - Seven Seas
05. ELVENKING - The Divided Heart
06. MAGICA - All Waters Have The Colour Of Drowning
07. ABSOLUTE - Sebastian
08. DORO - Warrior Soul
09. KOTIPELTO - Sleep Well
10. EVIDENCE ONE - The Sky Is The Limit
11. SHAKRA - Chains Of Temptation
12. LION'S SHARE - The Edge Of The Razor
13. HEAVENLY - Spill Blood On Fire
14. NOSTRADAMEUS - Not Only Woman Bleed
15. TANKARD - The Beauty And The Beast
16. JORN - Living With Wolves
17. EDGUY - All The Clowns
18. DEBAUCHERY - Lords Of Battle
19. EISBRECHER - Vergissmeinnicht
20. THEATRE OF TRAGEDY - Storm
21. PERZONAL WAR - For The Last Time
22. THE TRACEELORDS - My Evil Girlfriend
23. ANNIHILATOR - All For You
24. TARANTULA - Face The Mirror

Bonus live clips:

25. KROKUS - Hellraiser (Live)
26. CIRCLE II CIRCLE - Revelations (Live)
27. SILENT FORCE - Infatuator (Live)
28. ROSS THE BOSS - Kill With Power (Live)
29. DIONYSUS - Time Will Tell (Live)
30. SHAMAN - Fairy Tale (Live)

CD:

01. MADE OF HATE - Bullet In Your Head
02. X-WORLD/5 - Cyber Christ
03. AXXIS - Doom Of Destiny (Arabia)
04. PARADOX - Infected
05. JON OLIVA'S PAIN - Through The Eyes Of The King
06. EDEN'S CURSE - Fly Away
07. AT VANCE - Cold As Ice
08. ROB ROCK - Garden Of Chaos
09. CRYSTAL BALL - Minor Key
10. HELSTAR - The King Is Dead
11. HEADHUNTER - Parody Of Life
12. MEKONG DELTA - Purification
13. PRESIDENT EVIL - Hell In A Box
14. ALMAH - Children Of Lies
15. BEAUTIFUL SIN - Lost
16. DEZPERADOZ - Rawhide
17. MICHELLE DARKNESS - My Sweet
18. BLACK MESSIAH - Moskau

"Heart Breakers" track listing:

01. KROKUS - Angel Of My Dreams
02. EDEN'S CURSE - The Voice Inside
03. SHAKRA - Love Will Find A Way
04. THE POODLES - Crying
05. EDGUY - Land Of The Miracle
06. ANNIHILATOR - The One
07. JON OLIVA'S PAIN - Still I Pray For You Now
08. AT VANCE - Lost In Your Love
09. KOTIPELTO - After The Rain
10. AXXIS - The Fire Still Burns
11. ROB ROCK - Unconditional
12. CRYSTAL BALL - Dreaming Of You
13. NOSTRADAMEUS - Not Only Women Bleed
14. DORO - Warrior Soul
15. MASTERPLAN - Dying Just To Live
16. BEAUTIFUL SIN - Closer To My Heart
17. AVANTASIA - Into The Unknown
18. U.D.O. - Tears Of A Clown

German death metallers GRIND INC. have announced the tentative track listing for their third album, "Sudden State of Hate", tentatively due in early 2008 via Twilight Vertrieb. The follow-up to 2006's "Inhale the Violence" was recorded at Ezy Soundz Studio in Krefeld with producer Carsten "Cazy" Schmidt and features artwork by Björn Goosses of Killustrations.com.

"Sudden State of Hate" track listing (in no particular order):

01. Human Time Bomb
02. Certifiably Insane
03. Hole in the Ground
04. Pact with Agony
05. To Descendants
06. Lack of Credibility
07. Collateral Body Count
08. Killustrating Your Demise
09. Petrified Parasites
10. Voice of Premonition
11. Sudden State of Hate

Veteran San Francisco Bay Area metallers TESTAMENT have set "The Formation of Damnation" as the title of their new album, tentatively due in early 2008 via Nuclear Blast Records. the band is currently recording the drums tracks with producer Andy Sneap (MACHINE HEAD, EXODUS, ARCH ENEMY, NEVERMORE) at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California.

TESTAMENT recently recruited Paul Bostaph (SLAYER, EXODUS, FORBIDDEN, SYSTEMATIC) to play the drums on new CD. The group was previously rehearsing and writing new material with British drummer Nick Barker (CRADLE OF FILTH, DIMMU BORGIR), but Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and international work visa issues have prevented Barker from continuing to be involved in the project.

Bostaph, who was a member of TESTAMENT for a brief period starting around February 2004, had previously played several live dates with the group in 1992 and appeared on the band's 1993 live EP, "Return to the Apocalyptic City". He also toured with TESTAMENT in 2006.

TESTAMENT's current lineup is rounded out by Chuck Billy on vocals, Eric Peterson on rhythm guitar, Alex Skolnick on lead guitar and Greg Christian on bass.

A new photo of the current TESTAMENT formation can be found at this location.

TESTAMENT parted ways with Spitfire Records earlier in the year (the Spitfire Records catalog was acquired last summer by Redux Records, the company formerly known as Sheridan Square Entertainment).

Spitfire released a TESTAMENT compilation, "The Spitfire Collection", in February. Consisting of tracks from such Spitfire titles as "The Gathering", "Demonic", "Live at the Fillmore", "First Strike Still Deadly" and "Live in London", the 14-track set chronicles an era that ultimately saw the original TESTAMENT reunite for a successful 2005 tour.

Swedish metallers STEEL ATTACK will release their as-yet-untitled new album on February 22, 2008 via Massacre Records. The drums for the CD were recorded at KING DIAMOND guitarist Andy La Rocque's Sonic Train studio and the guitar tracks are currently being laid down at Solnasound.

STEEL ATTACK earlier in the year parted ways with Anden Andersson (bass), Tony Elfving (drums) and Johan Jalonen Penn (guitar) and replaced them with Johan Löfgren (LACK OF FAITH), Peter Morén (TAD MOROSE) and Simon Johansson (MEMORY GARDEN, ABSTRAKT ALGEBRA), respectively.

AYREON, the brainchild of Dutch guitarist/composer Arjen Lucassen, will make its new rock opera, entitled "01011001", available in three editions:

* a regular two-CD edition with a 28 page booklet.
* a Special Edition: a box containing the regular 2CD edition and a bonus DVD.
* a Deluxe Limited Edition, a DVD size fold-out case with embossed silver lettering on the slipcase. This edition contains the 2 CDs and a bonus DVD* plus a 36 page booklet with additional artwork.

The bonus DVD contains:

* Behind the Scenes - Making of 01011001
* Beneath the Waves - CGI Movie (5.1/2.0)
* Guide Demos (audio) - feat. Arjen on vocals
* Ed Warby's Session - Recording drums
* Bloopers (audio)

"01011001" (cover artwork) is scheduled for release in Europe on January 28, 2008 (one day later in the U.S.).

Swedish epic/melodic metallers NARNIA have issued the following update:

"Due to current personal situations within in the band, we are not, as planned originally, doing any concerts at the moment. We plan to be back in the spring of 2008. In the meantime, we focus on writing songs for our new album which is to be released in 2008."

NARNIA recently posted a newly recorded song, "In His Majesty's Service" on their MySpace page. The track was originally written and recorded by the Swedish band JERUSALEM back in 1985. NARNIA's version of the song is featured on the group's 10th-anniversary "best of" album, "Decade of Confession", which was released this past summer via Massacre Records.

NARNIA's most recent collection of all-new material, "Enter the Gate", was released in April 2006 via Massacre. The CD, which was released in Japan on March 23, 2006 via Attic Arcade/Gencross, was described by the band as "the most well-sounding and well-performed NARNIA album to date." The follow-up to 2003's "The Great Fall" features backing vocals by Mats Leven (THERION, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, AT VANCE) and contains "the most melodic and catchy songs since 'Long Live the King' from the late '90s but in a brand new sound and approach," according to the band.

According to ThisIsNottingham.co.uk, IRON MAIDEN frontman Bruce Dickinson is preparing to embark on a marathon non-stop "cyber flight" around the world in seven days with a group of flight simulator enthusiasts.

Dickinson, who holds an airline pilot's licence, will be part of a 17-strong British flight team on a virtual round-the-globe adventure called Simfest.

Departing from a virtual Sydney International Airport in Australia on Sunday November 4, the journey will take the team seven days and seven nights.

Simfest is part of World-Flight, an annual event in which teams from around the world use home-built flight simulators to fly around the world and raise money for a chosen charity.

This year the British cyber pilot team is supporting Cancer Research UK.

Gary Oliver and Mark Hastings custom-built their own Boeing 777 flight simulator in Gary's garage, and are masterminding the British effort, and hope to raise £5,000 for the charity.

The pilots will fly under as many real-world rules and regulations as possible and will be guided by teams of virtual air traffic controllers using VATSIM, the free global virtual air traffic controller network.

Supporters of the mission can follow the flights on web cams and online tracking.

FEAR FACTORY drummer Raymond Herrera is collaborating with the Los Angeles-based metal band TINHORN on the latter group's new CD, due sometime next year.

Commented TINHORN bassist Pascual Romero: "We're in a very comfortable situation with Raymond. He's been a longtime personal friend and it was only a matter of time before I was working with the right band to bring to the table."

The details of the partnership are unknown at this time but according to Romero, it will include recording and the potential for touring and distribution. It also alludes to the prospect of a future record deal with an established metal label.

"I'm really happy that we have the opportunity to work with such an icon and I'm very excited for what 2008 holds for us," said Romero in.

This year marks the second year of TINHORN's existence and it has been less than a year with its current lineup.

Italian "extreme epic metal" act STORMLORD has issued the following update:

"The songwriting for our fourth album is almost done. Right now we're taking care of the last details and then all the songs will be complete. What we hold in our hands is the most epic sounding stuff since our debut, 'Supreme Art of War', even if the references to our most recent albums will not be missed. We guess you can label it extreme epic metal at its best.

"In a few months we'll begin recording the successor of 'The Gorgon Cult', we just can't wait for you to hear it! But the best is yet to come: in the next days we'll sign a new deal that will grant a huge availability all around the world to the new CD.

"It's been a long time filled with hard and silent work, but now we're ready to strike again!"

Scarlet Records released STORMLORD's first official DVD, "The Battle of Quebec City: Live in Canada", in July in Europe. A trailer for the DVD can be viewed below.

Drummer Stefan Schwarzmann (KROKUS, ACCEPT, ex-HELLOWEEN) has moved from his native Germany to Switzerland in order to be more closely involved in KROKUS' current songwriting/recording activities.

Last month Stefan traveled to Hannover and took part in studio recordings by two different projects: MOON'DOC (also featuring Herman Frank of ACCEPT/VICTORY fame) and Rene Thomson's RUTHLESS, which is set to feature lots of guest musicians.

KROKUS' latest album, "Hellraiser", which was recorded with producer Dennis Ward (PINK CREAM 69), entered the Swiss album chart at position No. 2.

The KROKUS single "Angel of My Dreams" has been made available for download at this location.

KROKUS's current lineup consists of Marc Storace (vocals), Stefan Schwarzmann (drums), Tony Castell (bass), Mandy Meyer (guitar) and Dominique Fave (guitar).

Long-running Stockholm, Sweden-based death metal masters DISMEMBER will release their self-titled new album in March 2008 via Regain Records. The CD was recorded at B.A.S. studios with producer Nico Elgstrand (MURDER SQUAD, KRUX, MERCILESS, ENTOMBED). The track listing for the effort is as follows:

01. Death Conquers All
02. Europa Burns
03. Under A Bloodred Sky
04. The Hills Have Eyes
05. Legion
06. Tide Of Blood
07. Combat Fatigue
08. No Honor In Death
09. To End It All
10. Dark Depths
11. Black Sun

DISMEMBER in May tapped drummer Thomas Daun (ex-REPUGNANT, INSISION, SUBVISION) to replace longtime skinsman Fred Estby, who left the band in April. "My decision to put my family in first hand makes it impossible to keep on touring and commit to the band full-time," Estby said in a statement. "I want to thank all the fans, friends, bands and all the other cool people I've met through the years and I wish DISMEMBER all the best in the future."

DISMEMBER's latest album, "The God That Never Was", was released in February 2006 via Regain Records. The follow-up to 2004's "Where Ironcrosses Grow" was once again produced by Estby at Sami Studio in Stockholm. The group's current lineup includes Matti Kärki (vocals), David Blomqvist (guitar), Martin Persson (guitar) and newcomer Tobias Christiansson on bass.

Polish death metallers DECAPITATED have inked a deal with Nuclear Blast Records.

Commented the label: "This exceptional band has so far recorded four albums, and we're looking forward to the upcoming mix of technical superiority, brutal riffs and blastbeats on album number five.

"The joy over these awesome news are of course overshadowed by the tragic death of DECAPITATED drummer Witold 'Vitek' Kieltyka.

"Vitek passed away on November 3rd in a Russian hospital due to severe head injuries resulting from a heavy car crash involving the band's tour bus and a truck while touring Russia. The highly respected and acclaimed blastbeat maestro was only 23 years old. Rest in peace, Vitek!"

DECAPITATED singer Covan (real name: Adrian Kowanek) was also hurt in the accident, which involved the band's tour bus and a truck carrying wood in Gomel, on the Russia/Belarus border. The frontman reportedly also sustained a head injury in the collision, which is believed to have been the fault of the band's driver (although this has not yet been officially confirmed). Covan has since been moved to a hospital in Kraków, Poland. Doctors describe his condition as stable and he is showing signs of improvement every day.

PHARAOH, the American heavy metal band featuring vocalist Tim Aymar (CONTROL DENIED), has entered the studio to begin recording its third album, "Be Gone", to be released shortly before the group's first European appearance (and first show ever!!!) at Germany's Keep It True festival on April 5 2008 at the Tauberfrankenhalle in Lauda-Königshofen.

Commented Aymar: We're going to be finishing my tracks next week, and we'll be going back to the first couple tracks we did and adding a few artistic touches. These have been the most productive PHARAOH sessions to date, and the results are also the best ever. I've had a much easier time with these tunes, and even found it strange at times that there were not any major obstacles or technical problems. Oddly enough, no beers were involved in the vocal recordings. Coffee, lots of water, Matt's special throat tea, and black licorice were my choice of weapons. After a couple sessions, we did have a few beers though.

"This record has been the most productive yet for me with PHARAOH . . . There's a lot more singing going on with this one, more musical substance without superfluous repetition. One song, which at first seems like it might qualify as epic is 'Cover Your Eyes and Pray', which lands at only about four and a half minutes."

Despite the widespread fan and critical acclaim surrounding its two albums, PHARAOH has yet to perform live. "We haven't had the right opportunity," drummer Chris Black previously stated. "All of us want to do it, but only under the right conditions. Tim is living in Florida now, I'm in Michigan, and the other guys are in Pennsylvania, so we're not exactly in a position to perform on stage unless the conditions and timing are 100%. And we always give priority to studio work, since that is what makes us PHARAOH. We are songwriters above all else, and that will never change."

Finnish metallers CHILDREN OF BODOM recently entered Petrax Studio in Hollola, Finland with producer Mikko Karmila to begin recording their new album for an April 7, 2008 European release via Spinefarm Records. The CD, which will feature a guest appearance by Peter Tägtgren of HYPOCRISY and PAIN fame, will be preceded by a single on March 3, 2008. Songtitles set to appear on the album include "Pray for the Devil", "Good Morning Roadkill" and "Tie My Rope".

CHILDREN OF BODOM bassist Henkka T. Blacksmith has checked in with the following studio update:

"Last week in studio. Alexi [Laiho, guitar/vocals] has been doing vocals with Peter Tägtgren this week. Janne [Wirman, keyboards] will finish his stuff now also, and by the end of the week everything should be fine. We will start mixing and mastering right away.

"We did nine tracks, including a new version of 'Tie My Rope', plus four cover songs. We will post the different formats as soon as these are confirmed with the different release dates. The actual album itself will contain nine CHILDREN OF BODOM tracks.

"The album will be called 'Blooddrunk'."

CHILDREN OF BODOM frontman Alexi Laiho has told Revolver magazine that he plunged into an alcohol stupor that lasted several months following the completion of the band's two-year tour in support of 2005's "Are You Dead Yet?" "I was so tired of everything and everybody," he said. "I was just like, 'Fuck this, I'm going to get drunk."

"I was in a really aggressive mood, so I think the songs are thrashier and faster than the ones on 'Are You Dead Yet?'" Laiho added. "It's a faster album, but some of it is more progressive. You'll just have to hear it."

Alexi Laiho made a guest appearance the new album from the Finnish band GODSPLAGUE. He played a solo in the song "Don't Come Back" and he sings backing vocals on the CD, entitled "H8", which came out on September 5.

Two songs from CHILDREN OF BODOM — "Angels Don't Kill" and "In Your Face" — are featured on the "Unholy Alliance Tour" DVD, which was released on October 30 via American Recordings. The set features the the "Unholy Alliance Tour: Preaching to the Perverted" lineup — SLAYER, LAMB OF GOD, MASTODON, CHILDREN OF BODOM and THINE EYES BLEED. The DVD has an approximate running time of 90 minutes.

The "Unholy Alliance Tour" DVD was shot at Vancouver's General Motors Place on July 13, 2006, was directed by Adam Rothlein (Speedway Films), and boasts performance footage plus bonus material to include backstage, behind-the-scenes and one-on-one interviews, many of which were conducted by the Unholy Alliance artists themselves.

THE HAUNTED frontman Peter Dolving has issued the following update:

"It's on!

"We are doing it, again.

"We've decided to start making a new album and we're finally into workmode. The twins [guitarist Anders Björler and bassist Jonas Björler] and Per [M. Jensen, drums] are couped up in the rehearsal space, and me in my little cabin in the back yard of my house. [Patrik] Jensen [guitar] has been comin down for a couple of weeks and him and the boys have been going through his batch of riffs.

"What it's gonna become we don't know, like always. But right now we feel like the intention is to write a balls-out metal album. You know 10 songs start to finish bonecrushed, neck-breakin' fuckin' metal. But being who we are means anything might happen. We got about six months before we hit the studio and more ideas for songs than any record so far.

"It feels sweet to have this sense of band/gang/crew/family going again. Having gotten the opportunity to over and over again get up, get together and put music together knowing you people are out there. It's not something you take for granted. When we all started out, that was never the case. It was always a battle against yourself, and facing new crowds, and I have to give us that; We've had some fucking guts over the years, sticking our heads out there in a shitstorm, and as people having had the integrity to do what we've felt the right thing to do.

"For all you out there: Fucking thank you! I'm proud to be a member of this band, and one of the people who dig this music."

Christofer Johnsson of the Swedish metallers THERION has issued the following update:

"Ferdy Doernberg (ULI JON ROTH, AXEL RUDI PELL, ROUGH SILK) will be joining the entire [European] tour to play keyboards. The songs will be re-arraged for keyboards especially for this tour."

Johnsson previously announced that:

* Piotr Wawrzeniuk will join THERION in Glachau and play all dates with the band until Krakow.
* Messiah Marcolin (ex-CANDLEMASS, MOMENTO MORI) will join THERION in Budapest and will play all dates with the group until London. He will also fly down later and join the band for the finale in Paris.
* Mats Levén will join the band for the finale in Paris.
* THERION will have the amazing belly dancer Arien as a special guest starting in Glachau and ending in London. She will also be present for the finale in Paris.

Finnish dark metal band THROES OF DAWN recently issued the following update:

"THROES OF DAWN is making great progress with the recordings [of the band's fifth album] with more than half of the material already done! Drums, bass and lead guitars are 'in the can,' next in line are the vocals and last but not least, synths, acoustic and additional guitars. We're expecting for the record to be out spring 2008, so just wait!

"In April 2008 THROES OF DAWN will perform a show in Germany. More info will be added to the pages later.

"Avantgarde Records has finally made a jewel-cased re-release of 'Binding of the Spirit' [1999]! After years of having this album out of the market, the album is back due to public demand."

OPETH mainman Mikael Åkerfeldt has issued the following update:

"Mission: Impossible = Possible?

"That's the way I always feel facing a recording, but yes, we're doing just fine.

"Axe [Martin 'Axe' Axenrot] nailed the drums [for the new OPETH album] in seven days which is just beyond me! The guy is amazing! He went up at 8 am every morning and started pounding the drums until 6-7 pm. Then he started practicing again after dinner, we had to tell him to stop playing. He's truly outdone himself.

"Listening to the drum tracks alone makes me wanna bang my fucking head, but my stale old-man's neck prevents me.

"We're recording a total of 11 songs — three of them are covers that we're doing since we had some extra time, the rest are originals out of which I think we'll leave one off the album. Anyways, it's already my favourite OPETH record, but I'm a boasting cunt so...who cares?

"The band is in terrific shape (musically that is...). We've gone out for long walks which sounds like fucking senior behaviour, but it's really nice clearing your mind for a while and talk about everyday stuff. We all cook for each other, I do the dishes as usual. Gots to keep it sparkling clean! It's just a nice vibe down there...

"We've been drunk only once so far! Had some wine, a few beers and a metal music quiz.

"Jens is doing fine, him and the two drum techs (Peter and Urban) has fixed us a nice drum sound. Axe is endorsed by DW drums and they must be the greatest? I don't know but to me they sound just fucking fantastic!

"Tomorrow we'll start setting the rhythm guitar sound and it will be exciting! Or something like that, maybe not that exciting after all....

"I've also recorded som vox for a friend of mine who's doing a solo album. I'm not sure if I can say who it is yet, but I guess it might interest some of you guys.

"We've had great help from David Castillo as well, working with us after hours. Before our first break we worked from Thursday morning at 8 am until Friday morning at 5 am so our work ethic ís intact."

Swedish experimental extreme metallers MESHUGGAH have set "obZen" as the title of their new album, tentatively due in early 2008 via Nuclear Blast Records. The follow-up to 2005's "Catch Thirty Three" will contain nine songs and will have a running time of around 55 minutes.

Commented drummer Tomas Haake: "We've finished the recording a couple weeks back! It sounds really good and we're super-excited about the new stuff!"

Haake told Revolver magazine at the end of last year that MESHUGGAH would be returning on its next album to the pummeling double bass drums and angular riffage that defined their early material to sculpt what they say will be their most savage, eclectic offering yet. "We've got some fast, intense songs and hectic, heavy stuff that draws from all the things we've done in the past," Haake said at the time. "It's so great to actually be playing drums again."

NEVERMORE frontman Warrel Dane has tapped James Murphy (ex-TESTAMENT, DEATH, OBITUARY) and Jeff Loomis (NEVERMORE) to play guest solos on his upcoming solo album, which is tentatively due in early 2008. Dane has written about eight tracks with former SOILWORK guitarist-turned-producer Peter Wichers and has also collaborated with ex-HIMSA guitarist Matt Wicklund on a few songs. Songtitles set to appear on the CD include "August", "Obey" (described by Dane as "one of my favorite songs that Peter has penned — very heavy and Dirk's [SOILWORK's Dirk Verbeuren] drumming is amazing on this track") and "Messenger". Also included will be a "very metalized cover" of an old SISTERS OF MERCY song.