Swiss hard rockers GOTTHARD will film a video for their new single, "The Call", this week in Germany. The track comes off the group's new album, "Domino Effect", which is scheduled for release on April 27. Check out the cover artwork at this location. According to singer Leo Leoni, "it is the best GOTTHARD album ever to be released".

01. Master of Illusion
02. Gone Too Far
03. Domino Effect
04. Falling
05. The Call
06. The Oscar Goes to You
07. The Cruiser (Judgement Day)
08. Heal Me
09. Letter to a Friend
10. Tomorrow's Just Begun
11. Come Alive
12. Bad to the Bone
13. Now
14. Where Is Love When It's Gone

Powerhouse heavy metal vocalist ROB ROCK (ex-IMPELLITTERI, DRIVER, JOSHUA) has set "Garden of Chaos" as the title of his new album, due later this year via AFM Records (Europe) and JVC/Victor Entertainment (Asia). The CD, which is currently being mixed in Denmark with producer Jacob Hansen (RAUNCHY, INVOCATOR), once again features songwriting collaborations between Rob and Roy Z. (HALFORD, BRUCE DICKINSON, JUDAS PRIEST).

JVC/Victor Entertainment Japan released ROB ROCK's latest CD, "Holy Hell", with four bonus tracks on September 22, 2005: "Ride the Wind", featuring a Gus G. (FIREWIND) guitar solo; "Lost in a World", originally recorded and mixed during the "Rage of Creation" (2000) sessions; "I’m a Warrior" (alternate mix) and "First Winds of the End of Time" (alternate mix) (alternate mixes by Roy Z).

German metallers IRON SAVIOR will release their new album, "Megatropolis", on June 4 via Dockyard 1. The track listing for the effort is as follows:

01. Running Riot
02. The Omega Man
03. Flesh
04. Megatropolis
05. Cybernetic Queen
06. Cyber Hero
07. A Tale From Down Below
08. Still I Believe
09. Farewell And Good Bye

The limited-edition digipack version of the album will include the bonus track "Hammerdown".

IRON SAVIOR has scheduled a joint CD-release party with ABANDONED on June 1 at the Ballroom in Hamburg, Germany.

Austrian symphonic metal band EDENBRIDGE will issue a rarities/"best of" compilation, entitled "The Chronicles of Eden", as a double-CD and limited double-digipack on May 25. Disc One will contain three new, previously unreleased songs, all Japanese and European bonus tracks and songs that were included on all out-of-print singles. Disc Two will include a "best of" selection out of the five released studio albums. The track listing is as follows:

CD 1 (New Songs, Bonus Tracks, Rarities):

01. Thin Red Line
02. The Silent Wake
03. Images In The Sand
04. For Your Eyes Only
05. Evermore
06. Empire Of The Sun
07. Shine (Single Version)
08. On Sacred Ground
09. Anthem
10. On The Verge Of Infinity
11. The Whispering Gallery
12. The Whisper Of The Ages
13. Velvet Eyes Of Dawn

CD 2 ("Best Of" as voted by the fans):

01. Sunrise In Eden
02. Cheyenne Spirit
03. Arcana
04. The Palace
05. The Undiscovered Land
06. Red Ball In Blue Sky
07. Wild Chase
08. The Canterville Prophecy
09. The Canterville Ghost
10. The Grand Design
11. Terra Nova

EDENBRIDGE last month parted ways with drummer Roland Navratil due to "personal, musical and financial differences." A replacement drummer has yet to be announced.

Reactivated Swedish hard rockers EUROPE have issued the following update:

"On Valentine's Day, the 14th of February, 2007, we were invited to perform 'live' in the famous Studio 2 in Abbey Road Studios in London. It was a great honour to play where so many of our favourite artists had recorded some of their best work. We had a blast and we have made three songs available for you from the 19th of March. Check out our mp3 shop."

ARCH ENEMY frontwoman Angela Gossow has commented on guitarist Christopher Amott's decision to return to the band almost two years after he left the group at the end of the "Doomsday Machine" recording sessions in 2005.

"Yessssss, I can finally blurt it out: HE IS BACK!" she writes on her MySpace page. "Our brother Chris has returned to his rightful place, that is being a guitar hero in ARCH ENEMY! It was hard to sit on the news for all these weeks. 'Cuz really all I wanted to do was running up and down the streets and cry it out loud. It felt so wrong without him, although Fredrik [Åkesson] is a wonderful guy and a great talent. But Chris [Amott] and Michael started this band together and they are ARCH ENEMY for me. Their signature guitar work is what got me into this band in the first place. Plus, we missed Chris dearly as a person, as a great friend. He is out of school and back into rock 'n' roll!"

ARCH ENEMY has spent the last weeks locked in intense rehearsals at its homebase in Halmstad, Sweden, putting the final touches to the new material and integrating Christopher on the new songs for the forthcoming studio album. More news on this will follow in the next few days.

Long-running Swedish metallers ENTOMBED will release their new album, "Serpent Saints – The Ten Amendments", in Germany on July 13 through Threeman Recordings via a special arrangement with Candlelight Records. The 10-song effort will mark the group's first release with drummer Olle Dahlstedt (ALPHA SAFARI, ex-MISERY LOVES CO.), who replaced Peter Stjärnvind in 2006. The band has also scheduled a special showcase gig on May 3 at the Ballroom in Hamburg, Germany. Songtitles set to appear on the new CD include "In the Blood" and "The Dead, The Dying and rhe Dying to be Dead". Mastering duties will take place at the end of the month with Soren Elofsson at Cosmos Mastering in Stockholm, Sweden.

With regards to the musical direction of the new album, the band previously said, "'Serpents Saints' goes wider and deeper than the 'When In Sodom' EP but it's a pretty good indicator. It's no concept album but an ambitious attempt at creating a solid album with some recurring themes. Almost like the soundtrack to the film with the same name."

ENTOMBED's "When In Sodom" EP was released last year.

Brand New Album "AVIATOR" coming SOON
Little over a year since Funker Vogt's last release ( "Navigator" ), they are back in the cockpit with their follow-up full length album "Aviator". Again conceptualising their war-obsessed themes ( throughout the cover artwork, booklet and band photos ) "Aviator" follows the new direction began with "Navigator" with 12 Brand New tracks set to pulvarise and bombard the dance-floor.

Undertaking to diversify sound structures overall "Aviator" still relies on the fast beat-driven rhythms and sequences Funker Vogt are renown for but these are further enhanced with more emphasis given to well placed sounds and samples making "Aviator" a much more pronounced album. "Aviator’s" club tracks ( "City Of Darkness" , "Paralyzed", "Thanatophobia", "One" and "My Fortune" ) come across as fresher and more aggressive than ever cementing Funker Vogt's updated Electro sound for 2007.

Funker Vogt will do various specials around the release of the new album ' 'Aviator''. They have put a fan edit of ''City of Darkness'' online as mp3. This is a special item for their old and new fans, released in cooperation with Germany's Zillo music magazine and SPV-Recoreds: "City Of Darkness" (special fan edit) Funker Vogt - "City Of Darkness" mp3 (the site is in German, simply click "Download") .

Download

Alexi is back in business. His shoulder should be ok, not perfect
never again, but so that it shouldn't affect his playing anyway. So
he is very very very relieved!

And we have have started to put some tunes together now...And we have something already done...

It's exciting to do something new again after a couple of years
touring! Recording will happen somewhere, after summer! So we will do those festivals in between songwriting sessions!

What else is new...

...we will put some footage somewhere later on from our rehearsals, so we will keep u updated!

That's all for now,

Later

Henkka

ICED EARTH mainman Jon Schaffer has sent the following update to BLABBERMOUTH.NET:

"I just wanted to give you an update of what's happening in ICED EARTH world.

"We just finished mixing and mastering the [new] single, which will be titled 'Overture of the Wicked' and should be released in late May or early June. The four songs that will be featured on this are as follows:

01. Ten Thousand Strong
02. Prophecy
03. Birth of the Wicked
04. The Coming Curse

"'Ten Thousand Strong' will be the song that we will be filming a video for in the following months, most likely in June right around the Sweden Rock festival.

"I'm very happy with the results of our efforts. We've been really working hard on delivering something special to you guys and this single is just a hint of things to come, and it's freakin' awesome.

"We will be finishing the rest of production for Part 1 over the course of the next few weeks, with plans to mix in the early part of May. The title of the full release is 'Framing Armageddon (Something Wicked Part 1)' and should be out in the late August/September time frame. The 'Framing Armageddon' tracklist will appear as follows:

01. Overture
02. Something Wicked (Part 1)
03. Invasion
04. Man's Motivation
05. The Setian Massacre
06. A Charge to Keep
07. Reflections
08. Ten Thousand Strong
09. Execution
10. Order of the Rose
11. The Clouding
12. Infiltrate and Assimilate
13. Retribution Through the Ages
14. Something Wicked (Part 2)
15. The Domino Decree
16. Framing Armageddon
17. When Stars Collide (Born is He)
18. The Awakening

"The working title of Part 2 is 'Revelation Abomination Something Wicked (Part 2)' and the tracklist is as follows:

01. The Sacred Flames
02. Behold the Wicked Child
03. Minions of the Watch
04. A Gift or a Curse
05. I Walk Among You
06. Harbinger of Fate
07. Ancient Rage of the High Priest
08. A Gathering Threat / Time Marches On
09. Sacrificial Kingdoms
10. Something Wicked (Part 3)
11. Divide Devour
12. Conspiracy / Pilgrimage In Guile
13. Come What May

"The final tracking and mixing for Part 2 will take place between the festivals and world tour and will have a targeted release in February/March of 2008.

"Due to family health issues, Bo Wallace will not be able to be involved with ICED EARTH. I played the bass guitar parts on the single and we will be bringing Dennis Hayes, who worked with Tim [Owens, vocals] on his BEYOND FEAR side project, in to play on parts of the remainder of the recording. He will be doing the live shows as well."

BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE started recording its new album in January at Sonic Ranch studios in Tornillo, Texas with producer Colin Richardson (MACHINE HEAD, FEAR FACTORY, NAPALM DEATH). Richardson has issued the following update on the project:

"I've had a lot of messages from people asking for more details as to what the new BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE album is sounding like. Can't really give out much info just yet, such as song titles (up to the band to announce when they are ready), but just know that everyone is going to love this album. Some examples of vibe: one song is sort of old-school metal, like JUDAS PRIEST 'Painkiller' style, with a seriously catchy heavy vocal chorus. Another track is again pounding old-school metal with a lot of twists and turns and a great singing chorus. I could go on and on! It's going to be an awesome album and I am looking forward to getting back in the studio with guys after the break."

BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE frontman Matt Tuck recently told Revolver magazine that he is writing meaner, less syrupy melodies for the group's upcoming CD. He is also avoiding lyrics about relationships.

"We want to be more metal all across the board," Tuck told Revolver. "On their second album, a lot of bands try to please their record company by doing something more commercial. We didn't want to fall into that trap."

BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE has written 14 songs for the as-yet-untitled CD, which they hope to have out by the fall. Songtitles set to appear on the album include "Scream, Aim and Fire", which is about going to war, and "Waking the Demon", a cut that's definitely not suitable for KROQ or MTV. "It's about getting revenge on a bully at school by slicing pieces off him," Tuck told Revolver. "There's some really sick shit in there, so I'm happy."

GAMMA RAY guitarist/vocalist Kai Hansen has posted the following message on the groiup's official web site:

"Dear friends, it's been a while since you've had some news from the band and since there's been a lot of questions asked by many, we thought the time is right to give you an update from the GAMMA RAY camp.

"About the DVD [tentatively titled 'Hell Yeah! The Awesome Foursome (And The Finnish Keyboarder Who Didn't Want To Wear His Donald Duck Costume) Live in Montreal' and featuring a multi-camera recording of the band's May 6, 2006 show at Medley in Montreal, Quebec]: The current status is that everything is ready so far, except for the 'Home Video' part of the 'Bonus' section. We have made our way through quite a bit of tapes, CDs, DVDs etc filmed by ourselves, friends, fans, crew and so on, and there's a lot of material that had to be converted, cut and edited. Yesterday I spoke to the video company and they told me that it was laid on ice for two weeks because they had two other shootings to do, but we should get a viewing copy by the end of the week.... Let's see. This thing seems to be turning into a never-ending story... Sh*t, we just want to say 'done' now and announce a release date... which hopefully is going to be before summer.

"About the new album: Good stuff growing there! We already have composed many tracks by me, Henjo [Richter, guitar], Dan [Daniel Zimmermann, drums] and even Dirk [Schlächter, bass] came up with something. The current status is 14 [songs], from simple rockers to complex anthems, all with great melodies and heaviness. All songs have a very powerful positive energy without being too clean and polished. The good old Hamburg jaws are shining through all the way. There might be even more to come and maybe we're put into the situation where we have to make a choice of what's gonna be on the album. We are constantly rehearsing and working on the demos to get the songs to our (and your) total satisfaction. It might be a nice idea to organize a fan club meeting at that time, play you the demos and get some feedback... Hmmm, what do you think? When we think we're ready, we'll start the production. We have pulled Tommy Newton aboard the ship to record the drums, bass and rhythm guitars, dubs, solos etc. we'll do ourselves, vocals I normally prefer to do just on my own firstly and then go over it again with someone else to make adjustments or decide between alternatives. The mix will be done by Tommy. He did a great job on the mix for the DVD and we totally trust him. The good thing is that this allows us to be just musicians and not worry about engineering, haha! Anyhow, we plan to release the album in autumn, which leads us to…

"The next tour: Yes, there are negotiations about a tour with HELLOWEEN, but we can't give out too much now. It would start in November, take us through all countries, including Europe, Japan, USA, Canada and South America. We would play before HELLOWEEN with approximately 75 minutes (even in places where we had more people on the last tour than they had; switching is not practical), and there will be one or two support bands, in some places maybe even more, as a kind of festival thing. We all like the idea of united powers here, and, of course, the opportunity for some worldwide jams, but still this might as well not happen, as I said... we're negotiating.

"About [the project featuring former HELLOWEEN singer Michael] Kiske, Hansen [and ex-HELLOWEEN/current MASTERPLAN guitarist Roland] Grapow: Another 'yes' with a 'but.' We have met and want to do something together, so Roland and me will have to find time to write some good songs that are not too agressive for Michi (....you all know about his metal phobia). Musically it should be a bit out of the ordinary, which is good; I wouldn't want to write songs for this which I'd rather have for GAMMA RAY. The 'when' is still open and of course we can only get into detail when we have the first tracks and are sure it's gonna be a great thing, or some project that ends up in eternal discussions about musical direction.

"For now, there is only GAMMA RAY on my 'to do' list (okay, okay, except for a week of skiing I will allow myself... Of course, only to fill my lungs with fresh mountain air to sing even better).

"It's nine-thirty in the morning, a nice sunny day in Hamburg and I'm off to the studio now to work on the end of a long track called 'Insurrection' (who says musicians are lazy bastards that sleep until afternoon...)."

Austrian symphonic metal band EDENBRIDGE has parted ways with drummer Roland Navratil due to "personal, musical and financial differences." A replacement drummer has yet to be announced.

EDENBRIDGE will issue a rarities/"best of" compilation, entitled "The Chronicles of Eden", as a double-CD and limited double-digipack on May 25. Disc One will contain three new, previously unreleased songs, all Japanese and European bonus tracks and songs that were included on all out-of-print singles. Disc Two will include a "best of" selection out of the five released studio albums.

CIVILIZATION ONE, an international musical entity which features in its ranks vocalist Chity Somapala (ex-FIREWIND, AVALON), guitarist Aldo Lanobile (SECRET SPHERE), drummer Luca Cartasegna (ex-SECRET SPHERE), and bassist Pierre-Emmanuel Pélisson (MALADAPTIVE; ex-HEAVENLY), has signed a deal with Metal Heaven Records (RIOT, WINTERS BANE, BLOODBOUND, CLOUDSCAPE, CHRIS CAFFERY, ALTARIA, etc.). The group's debut album, "Revolution Rising", will be released in June.

CIVILIZATION ONE produced itself and recorded "Revolution Rising" at studios in France, Italy, and Germany, with mixing and mastering by Markus Teske (VANDEN PLAS, DOMINICI, SYMPHONY X) at Bazement Studios in Germany. The CD will feature 10 songs, including "Life of Agony", "Legends of the Past (Carry On)", and "Time Will Tell".

Audio samples of three songs from the forthcoming SCORPIONS album, "Humanity - Hour 1", are now available. Due at the end of May, the CD was produced by James Michael and co-produced by songwriter/producer Desmond Child, who has worked with such high-profile pop/rock artists as AEROSMITH, BON JOVI, ALICE COOPER, KISS, RICKY MARTIN, CHER, MICHAEL BOLTON and BONNIE TYLER. The "Humanity - Hour 1" artwork has been posted online at this location.

"Humanity - Hour 1" track listing:

01. Hour I
02. The Game Of Life
03. We Were Born To Fly
04. The Future Never Dies
05. You're Lovin' Me To Death
06. 321
07. Love Will Keep Us Alive
08. Your Last Song
09. Love Is War
10. Rise Again
11. The Cross
12. Humanity

FEAR FACTORY is currently working on another remix album, tentatively due later in the year. A first taste of the upcoming CD — a remixed version of the song "Supernova" (which appeared in its original form on the 2005 CD "Transgression") — can be heard on the band's MySpace Page.

FEAR FACTORY frontman frontman Burton C. Bell confirmed to the Edmonton Sun in December that the band has parted ways with Liquid 8 Records, the label that issued the group's last two albums — 2004's "Archetype" and 2005's "Transgression".

"Right now we're a completely independent band. We're free of labels and free of all sorts of things, so it's all about the music right now," said Bell.

Released in August 2005, "Transgression" was produced by Toby Wright (ALICE IN CHAINS, KORN, METALLICA).

Former ANGRA/SHAAMAN frontman André Matos is putting the finishing touches on his debut solo album, due later in the year. The CD was produced by Roy Z (BRUCE DICKINSON, HALFORD, JUDAS PRIEST) and Sascha Paeth (KAMELOT, EDGUY, RHAPSODY, FREEDOM CALL) between November 2006 and February 2007 at Ultra Sonica and Brainless Brothers Studios in São Paulo, Brazil and at Gate Studio in Wolfsburg, Germany.

German guitar hero AXEL RUDI PELL has set "Diamonds Unlocked" as the title of his upcoming "covers" album, due in September/October via SPV Records. Recording sessions for the effort will begin on April 2.

Commented Pell: "We will record 11 songs, ten cover versions and one self-written intro. I saw a few song suggestions from the fans here in the guestbook. But this will be a record containing songs which haven't been covered much. Also it is not my intention to record songs from other 'real' metal bands (with one or two exceptions), because the songs are already 'metal.' We wanna show how songs from other music genres could sound when a hard rock or classic rock band is covering 'em. That doesn't mean that the record will be strange sounding....no way! It will be typically AXEL RUDI PELL-ish and you'll not be disappointed, believe me!"

U.D.O., the band led by former ACCEPT frontman Udo Dirkschneider, has finalized the track listing for its new album, "Mastercutor", due on May 18 via AFM Records. It is as follows:

01. Mastercutor
02. The Wrong Side Of Midnight
03. The Instigator
04. One Lone Voice
05. We Do - For You
06. Walker Of The Dark
07. Master Of Disaster
08. Tears Of A Clown
09. Vendetta
10. The Devil Walks Alone
11. Dead Man's Eyes
12. Crash Bang Crash

A specially edited version of MORTIIS' "The Grudge" video has been uploaded at YouTube. The edit by Charlie Deaux is backed by a soundtrack of the David Wallace remix of "The Grudge", which will appear on the forthcoming remix album "Some Kind of Heroin", released on April 16.

Commenting on the video, Mortiis explained, "Actually that video came as a surprise, I think Charlie wanted to showcase his creative ideas with this version of the video, really go all the way with it, and it caught me totally by surprise but I love it, as a matter of fact I love the unchained intensity of it, the fact that it's really frantic and fast really works with the remix Dave did, which also caught me by surprise. Dave really made that song sound like an 'old-school' Nineties industrial song, which I have always used as a big inspiration for a lot of the music I write, at least in the last couple of years."

MORTIIS will undertake a European tour in support of DEATHSTARS beginning early April.

Swedish/German extreme metallers ARCH ENEMY have announced that original guitarist Christopher Amott is rejoining the band with immediate effect. The group, having finished an intense 18-month touring cycle all over the world promoting the "Doomsday Machine" album and "Live Apocalypse" DVD, is currently busy working on songs for their new studio album.

Christopher surprised many by departing ARCH ENEMY at the end of the "Doomsday Machine" recording sessions in 2005, having been in the band for 10 years (starting with ARCH ENEMY at age 18). Christopher followed his urge to see the outside world and find what else is out there apart from music. Having done that, the time is right for him to return to the fold with a newly injected bite and focus and to resume his career.

Commenting on the re-grouping announcement he states: "This is very exciting for me, returning to ARCH ENEMY as a full-time member! Right now we are working on our forthcoming album and I'm very pleased about the way it's turning out. The new songs are fast and furious with lots of melody! To all the people who sent me kind messages while I was out of the band, thank you for your support, it helped me a lot. After this (much needed) two-year break, I'm looking forward to getting back on the road. I hope to see you all later this year!"

ARCH ENEMY mastermind Michael Amott complements his younger brother Christopher perfectly in style and chemistry and together they have become one of the most infamous and ripping guitar teams in extreme metal.

Comments Michael: "So, we are back with my brother Christopher on guitar — it's a huge rush to have him back playing in his signature style! He's jumped in at the end of the songwriting process for the new album and added some of his unique spice! I feel Christopher's playing has matured and is more precise and even faster than before! Guitar fans are going to freak on the stuff we are getting up to on the new album!"

The last two years have been the busiest and most successful touring campaign of ARCH ENEMY's entire career, so the many fans both old and especially new can now look forward to witnessing Christopher's return to the stages of the world.

In regards to Fredrik Åkesson, the Swedish guitar-wizard who has been touring with ARCH ENEMY for 18 months and who can be seen on the band's latest video clip for the song "My Apocalypse", Michael states: "I want to add that we are eternally grateful to Fredrik Åkesson, who did an outstanding job with ARCH ENEMY over the past 18 months while we dragged the 'Doomsday Machine' around the world a couple of times — YOU ARE FUCKING AWESOME!”

ARCH ENEMY has spent the last weeks locked in intense rehearsals at its homebase in Halmstad, Sweden, putting the final touches to the new material and integrating Christopher on the new songs for the forthcoming studio album. More news on this will follow in the next few days.

British gothic metal founding fathers PARADISE LOST have posted two songs from their upcoming single, "The Enemy" (due on April 13), at the band's MySpace. You can listen to a medley consisting of the single's title track, "The Enemy", as well as "Beneath Black Skies". Apart from these two tracks, PARADISE LOST's new single also contains the exclusive non-album track "Godless" plus a trailer for the band's upcoming documentary "Over The Madness", which was directed by Diran Noubar and is about to be premiered at the film festival in Cannes in May. The new single "The Enemy" will only be released in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy.

PARADISE LOST's much-anticipated Century Media Records debut "In Requiem", was produced by Rhys Fulber (who also produced the last two PARADISE LOST albums as well as releases by FEAR FACTORY, FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY, etc.) and mixed by Mike Fraser (AC/DC, AEROSMITH, METALLICA, etc.).

"In Requiem" will be released in Europe on May 21 (June 5 in North America).

Veteran German hard rockers SCORPIONS will perform one new song from their upcoming album "Humanity - Hour 1" and their classic "Still Loving You" at a special concert to celebrate the 50th anniversary of signing the Roman treaty, which became the basis for foundation of the European Union.

The three-hour concert will take place on March 24 in Brussels, Belgium to the Northeast of the Heisel exhibition complex at the esplanade in front of the famous Atomium installation.

The site for the concert was carefully selected: the Brussels Atomium, a 102-meter high installation, weighing 2400 tons, shaped as the molecule of iron magnified 165 billion times, is the most well-known symbol of Belgium. It was erected in 1958, a year after the signing the Roman treaty, to coincide with the World Exhibition in Brussels.

The "Humanity - Hour 1" artwork has been posted online at this location. The CD, which is due at the end of May, was produced with songwriter/producer Desmond Child, who has worked with such high-profile pop/rock artists as AEROSMITH, BON JOVI, ALICE COOPER, KISS, RICKY MARTIN, CHER, MICHAEL BOLTON and BONNIE TYLER.

SCORPIONS' last album, "Unbreakable", was released in the U.S. in June 2004 through Sanctuary Records. The CD was recorded at Peppermint Park Studio in Hannover, Germany and was mixed at Wisseloord studios in Hilversum, Holland.

METALLICA started recording its ninth studio LP in Los Angeles this week. According to the band's site, this is the first time METALLICA has recorded outside of the Bay Area since they spent "an eternity" at One on One Studios recording their 1991 self-titled release, popularly known as The Black Album.

In the latest issue of the METALLICA Club (the group's official fan club) members-only magazine "So What!", guitarist Kirk Hammett was asked if there are any common musical themes running through the 14 songs the band is recording for its new effort. "There is a really unusual theme that's working its way into the music," he replied. "I'm not really sure how to react to it. Maybe it's someone else trying to tell us that we should react to it, but a lot of the music has an eastern harmonic flair to it, a harmonic minor flair to it, and when I say harmonic minor, that could be construed as like eastern sounding or Middle Eastern sounding or maybe Arabic? I don't know if it's just the zeitgeist, a sign of the times, or maybe because like, you know, Middle Eastern culture is so prevalent, or maybe the negative things about Middle Eastern culture. Maybe artists are conscious, just want to shine light on the positive aspects of Middle Eastern culture, i.e. the music. But there's passages that sound, that use harmonic minor and dominant, and those sounds are distinctly Arabic sounding or Middle Eastern sounding, and you hear them in all the songs. At the less likely times, all of a sudden they'll turn a corner and there we are, smack, right dab there in Syria or Iraq, as far as culture is concerned. We're playing notes that were played, have been played for thousands of years, that aren't born in western culture, and it's just a trip to see. And maybe I'm the first to really vocalize it, but it's just there."

Unlike the troubled, turbulent sessions for the band's last album, 2003's "St. Anger", drummer Lars Ulrich told Launch that pre-production for the new effort had a whole different vibe. "It's frighteningly tame (laughs)," he said. "The four of us show up and we hang out and we have a great time, and there are no psychiatrists in sweaters, there are no film crews, it's very much like it used to be. It's pretty mellow around here. All that 'St. Anger' stuff seems like a movie (laughs)."

The group plans to work in the studio until early June, take a break for its European tour, then finish recording in August. As for whether METALLICA will release the new album in 2007, Ulrich said, "I'd like to try and get it out this year, I hope we can get it out this year. If it doesn't come out this year, then it will be out at the very beginning of next year."