Ex-IMMORTAL frontman Abbath (real name: Olve Eikemo) — who is in the studio recording the debut album from his new project I — has told Germany's Rock Hard magazine that a reunion of his former band is currently in the works. Speaking to Volkmar Weber in the magazine's May 2006 issue, Abbath said, "We will come back, stronger than ever. I [recently] met with Horgh [ex-IMMORTAL drummer, curently in HYPOCRISY] for the first time in over a year. He's built his new house here [in Norway], right around the corner. In the next few days we will begin to rehearse our old 'Blizzard Beasts' [1997] classics. I'm already really [excited about] the idea."

Responding to a question about possible accusations that IMMORTAL would only be reuniting to cash in on their former glories, Abbath said, "To clear that up: we're not coming back for the money. If we had been only interested in the cash, we wouldn't have allowed IMMORTAL to split in the first place."

As to when fans can expect the reunited IMMORTAL to grace the stages once again, Abbath said, "IMMORTAL are like timeless frost. One year more or less doesn't make a difference. We have all the time in the world."

In addition to Abbath, I's current lineup includes original IMMORTAL drummer Armagedda, ENSLAVED guitarist Arve Isdal and GORGOROTH bassist King ov Hell. The band's debut album, which will feature lyrics written primarily by former IMMORTAL guitarist Demonaz (real name: Harald Nævdal), is scheduled for release in September via Nuclear Blast Records.

Germany's DIE APOKALYPTISCHEN REITER have posted their brand-new song and video, "Friede Sei Mit Dir", at www.myspace.com/reitermania. The track comes off the group's upcoming album, "Riders on the Storm", due on August 25 via Nuclear Blast Records. The limited digipack version will include two bonus tracks.

DIE APOKALYPTISCHEN REITER will be teaming up with the pagan band TÝR from Faeroer Island for a co-headlining tour in September. A second tour (England, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal) will take place in November/December 2006. Exact cities and dates will be announced soon.

METALLICA premiered a brand new song during their headlining appearance Tuesday (June 6) at Waldbuhne in Berlin, Germany. According to several fans that attended the gig, the as-yet-untitled track is about eight minutes long with a "killer main riff" and "lots of double-bass parts."

An excellent-quality audience recording of METALLICA performing an as-yet-untitled new song has been posted online: Location#1, Location#2, Location#3 (password: www.metallica-world.de) (NOTE: With James Hetfield's introduction, the file clocks in at 9:37).

As on the first two dates on the band's current "Escape From The Studio '06" tour, METALLICA played their entire 1986 album, "Master of Puppets", at the show, including rarely performed tracks such as "Orion" and "Disposable Heroes". The concert's second encore also featured a rendition of the RAMONES classic "Commando", with members of support band AVENGED SEVENFOLD joining in on vocals.

FIREWIND have completed work on the video for their new single, "Falling to Pieces", with acclaimed Swedish director Patric Ullaeus (LACUNA COIL, WITHIN TEMPTATION, IN FLAMES, DIMMU BORGIR). The clip was shot at the Revolver Ranch in Sweden and on the streets of New York City.

"Falling to Pieces" will be released as a single on June 13 in Greece. It will include an edited version of the title track, the non-album track "Demon Nights" and the BLACKFOOT cover "Teenage Idol" (previously unreleased).

As previously reported, Century Media Records has set a July 24 European release date for the new FIREWIND album, entitled "Allegiance" (July 10 in Greece). "Allegiance" marks FIREWIND's first release with new members Apollo Papathanasio (vocals; ex-MAJESTIC, TIME REQUIEM) and Mark Cross (drums; ex-HELLOWEEN, METALIUM).

"Allegiance" track listing:

01. Allegiance (4:41)
02. Insanity (4:29)
03. Falling To Pieces (4:03)
04. Ready To Strike (4:35)
05. Breaking The Silence [feat. Tara] (4:03)
06. Deliverance (6:07)
07. Till The End of Time (4:36)
08. Dreamchaser (4:07)
09. Before The Storm (3:42)
10. The Essence (4:19)
11. Where Do We Go From Here? (3:57)

Swedish producer/multi-instrumentalist Dan Swanö has published the following message:

"I just wanted to clear up a few things. I am not really a part of the ANOTHER LIFE project [which is headed by Andreas Karlsson; ex-PAGANIZER, RIBSPREADER]. I recorded the drums (performed by Peter Damin), played the keyboards and mixed the album, but I was in not involved in writing any of the music. The record is really good and you should check it out. But… ANOTHER LIFE is NOT a new Swanö project.

"My 'currently alive' projects these days are NIGHTINGALE and SECOND SKY. All of the material for the new NIGHTINGALE album, 'White Darkness', is written by NIGHTINGALE guitarist/keyboardplayer Tom Nouga [a.k.a. Dan Swanö's brother Dag]. He was on a real writing spree earlier this year and presented a bunch of tracks sharp enough to cut thru diamonds, so I thought, 'Why compete with this??' My job on this album is to write lyrics (together with bassist Erik Oskarsson), sing my soul out and make sure each song is optimised in both arrangement and performance. The tracks with a title thus far are 'The Fields of Life', 'Trial & Error' and 'Healing the Wounds of My Soul'.

Dutch death metallers GOD DETHRONED recently entered Soundlodge Studios in Germany to begin recording their new album, tentatively due before the end of the year. The band's frontman Henri Sattler has posted the following studio update on the band's official web site:

"Tomorrow producer Jörg Uken will start on the mix of our new album called, 'The Toxic Touch'. These will be the songtitles: 'Typhoid Mary', 'On Wings of Pestilence', 'Falling Down', 'Away From Emptiness', 'Hating Life', 'Bleeding Mirrors', 'Fail to Exist', 'Macabre World' and '2014'. The artwork is being made as we speak by Jacek Wisniewski who also did the cover for our 'Lair of the White Worm' album. We've seen the first concepts of the artwork and it looks very promising. Mix and mastering should be finished before the end of June and the release is scheduled for October through Metal Blade Records."

GOD DETHRONED's most recent album, "The Lair of the White Worm", was released in November 2004 via Metal Blade Records.

German "dark Satanic metal" band MYSTIC CIRCLE have announced the addition of drummer Astaroth to the group's ranks. "After a long time search, MYSTIC CIRCLE found the right one behind the drumset," the band write on their web site. "Astaroth gives the MYSTIC CIRCLE material a much more brutal feeling then the old drummer."

MYSTIC CIRCLE's seventh full-length album, entitled "The Bloody Path of God", was released in February via Dockyard 1. The CD was recorded at State of the Arts studio in Ludwigshafen, Germany with producer Alex Koch and contains 13 songs, including a bonus cover version of CELTIC FROST's "Circle of the Tyrants".

Long-running Arlington, Texas-based doom metallers SOLITUDE AETURNUS entered Nomad Recording studio (MERCYFUL FATE, KING DIAMOND, ABSU, USURPER) in Carrolton, TX on June 1 to begin recording their new album for Massacre Records.

Entitled "Alone", the CD will be the first to feature the band's new line-up, which includes founder/guitarist John Perez, vocalist Robert Lowe, guitarist Steve Moseley and new members Steve Nichols on drums and James Martin on bass. Engineering and co-producing the album is Sterling Winfield, best known for his work with PANTERA and more recently the REBEL MEETS REBEL release. Massacre Records will release the album in late September/early October. According to guitarist John Perez, the album will be "a fist in the face to all trend metal" and will stay true to the band's original vision of heaviness and melody with a willingness to push the boundaries of heavy metal music without losing its sense of tradition.

Songtitles set to appear on the band's first album since 1998's "Adagio" include "Sightless" (mp3), "Waiting for the Light", "Scent of Death", "Essence of Black", and "In Hell I Burn". A North American release is also planned, but no label has been named as of yet.

PRIMAL FEAR basist Mat Sinner has published the following statement:

"Aside of all other information on the net, PRIMAL FEAR have re-signed with Nuclear Blast Records, for a 16 track 'best-of' compilation 'Metal Is Forever' that will also include a special bonus CD of 'classic metal tracks.' A release for September 29th is planned by Nuclear Blast. JVC will release the 'best of' album in Asia/Japan. Nuclear Blast and PRIMAL FEAR will carry on their successful work to make this album a success and a worthy release, with special packaging, photos, story etc. — more information and a songlist with be follow soon!"

Mat is putting the finishing touches on long overdue album from GODDESS SHIVA (his first group, originally going under the moniker SHIVA). Mat Sinner, guitarist Armin Sabol and drummer Martin Schmidt have recorded 50% new material and 50% of their classic songs for this album release. The album was recorded by Armin Sabol and mastered by Achim Koehler. A release is planned for October 6th on MTM Music/SPV. In addition, Mat Sinner is writing and producing a new SINNER disc with recordings planned for September at Leon Studios, with engineer Achim Koehler.

Mat comments: "I haven't been able to do anything with SINNER since Wacken 2003 and now it’s the right time to bring this band back to life. We have a great new line-up and a bunch of great retro songs, that bring back the spirit and the memories of the late Eighties, combined with SINNER of the new century!" The new SINNER album, 'Mask Of Sanity', will be released on January 19th, 2007 on MTM Music.

"PRIMAL FEAR will start writing and pre-production in the autumn for the follow-up of their most respected album so far, 'Seven Seals'. Later this week, PRIMAL FEAR will announce their brand new multi-album recording deal and new partner for their future!

METALLICA performed their classic 1986 album, "Master of Puppets", in its entirety Saturday night (June 3) at the Rock am Ring festival in Nürburgring, Germany — the opening show of the band's "Escape from the Studio '06" tour. The group's setlist was as follows:

01. Creeping Death
02. Fuel
03. Wherever I May Roam
04. For Whom the Bell Tolls
05. Fade to Black
06. Battery
07. Master of Puppets
08. The Thing That Should Not Be
09. Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
10. Disposable Heroes
11. Leper Messiah
12. Orion
13. Damage Inc.
14. Sad But True
15. Nothing Else Matters
16. One
17. Enter Sandman
18. Last Caress
19. Seek and Destroy

A video clip of METALLICA playing their rarely performed classic track "Orion" at the Rock am Ring festival has been posted at YouTube.com.

METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett recently told the Artisan News Service that the band have "about fifteen songs" written for the follow-up to 2003's "St. Anger", which they hope to release in early 2007. "It's pretty early in the process," Hammett told the Artisan News Service. "We have about fifteen songs or so and we're just going to keep on writing songs until we feel we have the best dozen songs and get those into the studio. That's when I think Rick (Rubin) comes in and does his thing. But it's really really early still, we're just writing the music and that's going along really well. Sometimes we're writing two or three songs per week, which is great. It's just us four in the studio, which is really different now."

Britain's darkest gothic trip-hop duo DRUNK WITH JOY ( www.drunkwithjoy.com) will be releasing the first single ‘The Beginning’ of their debut album ‘Sound Living’ (A Maze Records) on Monday 19th June 2006.

Drunk With Joy was born in 2002 after Kris Jager and Mila Oshin accidentally overhear each others solo recordings in a studio in Primrose Hill, North London, and decided to get in touch.

18 Months down the line, February 2004, the duo released its first single/mini-album I Say Goodbye. Promoted solely on the internet, the single takes independent radio stations across Europe by storm. Drunk With Joy receives worldwide critical acclaim for “dragging the concept of the protest song into the 21st century in one fell electronic swoop” with their “magnificently moody concoction of teutonic beats, twisted guitar and cello symphonies, haunting vocals and brutally honest lyrics”.

Oshin had been involved in several lo-fi/folk ensembles as a singer and songwriter and worked as a performance poet, dancer and clown in addition to writing music for contemporary dance and theatre productions before meeting Jager. Jager had been working as a songwriter, musician and programmer on numerous projects in London, from a twisted glam-rock outfit to a duo supplying dark electronic soundtracks for the legendary Halloween Society currently housed at London's ICA.

Frontiers Records has announced that the recording sessions of the new LUNATICA album, "The Edge of Infinity", have been completed.

The symphonic masters from Switzerland, fronted by the fascinating singer Andrea Datwyler, have been busy writing and recording the follow up to the highly acclaimed "Fables And Dreams" during the entire winter 2006. "This time we worked a lot in order to improve our approach to the music and sound," says Andrea. "We did the pre-production by ourselves and then we sent the tapes up to Sascha Paeth and Miro (the same team responsible for the production of our previous album 'Fables and Dreams' and of KAMELOT, RHAPSODY, ANGRA and many more great metal bands). Then they took their time to help us with the arrangements of the songs and with the production."

Not yet content with this, LUNATICA also managed to include some amazing guest stars to take part to the recording. The legendary Dieter Meier of YELLO has contributed with his narration to the album's introduction, while extraordinary singers such as John Payne (ASIA, ONE) and Oliver Hartmann appear singing duets with Andrea.

Andrea comments: "John Payne was interested from the very beginning, but after he heard the song he definitely wanted to be part of it," explains Andrea, while "working with Oliver Hartmann was great. He is one of the best singers around and one of the most reliable persons that we know. We asked him to take also care of some of the choirs for some other songs on the new album, apart from the duet on 'EmOcean'."

"The Edge of Infinity" track listing:

01. Introduction (feat. Dieter Meier)
02. The Edge Of Infinity
03. Sons Of The Wind
04. Who You Are
05. Out!
06. Song For You (feat. John Payne)
07. Together
08. The Power Of Love
09. Words Unleashed
10. EmOcean
11. EmOcean (feat. Oliver Hartmann – bonus track)

"The Edge of Infinity" is scheduled for release on August 25.

AVENGED SEVENFOLD's cover of PANTERA's "Walk", which was released on a special CD accompanying Kerrang!'s 25th anniversary issue, has been posted online at the band's MySpace profile. Entitled "High Voltage", the 15-track disc — which hit the newsstands in the U.K. this past Wednesday (May 31) — is made up of classic rock and metal songs covered by contemporary bands, with 10 of the tracks recorded exclusively for the CD. More information is available at this location.

AVENGED SEVENFOLD have secured a main-stage slot at this year's Ozzfest, which kicks off June 29 in Seattle, Washington. The band recently completed a co-headlining U.S. tour with COHEED AND CAMBRIA and are currently in Europe for several festival appearances.

AVENGED SEVENFOLD are supporting their 2005 album, "City of Evil", which has sold 615,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Sweden's SHOT INJECTION have set "Eleven Triple Manifest" as the title of their upcoming CD, due later in the year. M.A.N/ex-MNEMIC frontman Tony Jelencovich will record a guest appearance on the song "Follow My Chaos", to be included on the new effort. The band will enter Division One Studios in Gothenburg, Sweden on June 12 to begin recording the CD.

"Eleven Triple Manifest" projected track listing:

01. Follow My Chaos
02. Suicide Scenario
03. Eleven

As previously reported, SHOT INJECTION recently announced the addition of bassist Filip Svensson (ex-ROACH) to the group's ranks.

SHOT INJECTION's most recent effort, "Fear Comes Full Circle", was mixed and engineered by Arnold Lindberg (EVERGREY, DIMMU BORGIR, IN FLAMES) and co-produced by Tom S Englund (EVERGREY). The three-song release can be downloaded at www.shotinjection.com.

Norwegian metallers ARCH NEMESIS have posted the following message on their official web site:

"Almost a year since the last update. Seems like yesterday to me though. A small update to bring you up to date.

"We have a new rehearsal place. A pretty large place where we have spent much time constructing a large scene so we can arrange concerts etc. Tomorrow (Sunday, the 4th of June) we will play a little gig along side with our friends in LOUD N PROUD. If you are in the area you are most welcome. The party will end when the last man drop.

"If you play in a band and want a gig (no payment) please contact us. We plan for regular evenings with live music and other arrangements.

"Back to ARCH NEMESIS: We have a few new songs that we hope to record after this summer. There [is] a little change in the lineup. When things are straightened out we will let you know.

"Most of us are going to the Sweden Rock Festival next week. Maybe we'll see you there.

"We have a gig in Oslo at Mandatory Festival, September the 8th at Subscene. Other bands confirmed are WITCHAMMER and WHERE ANGELS FALL. More bands are [to be announced]..."

ARCH NEMESIS released their sophomore album, "Of Mind and Fantasy", in April 2005 via FaceFront Records. An MP3 of the track "I Dream (Therefore I Am)", taken from the CD, can be downloaded by clicking here (6.1 MB).

ASESINO, the death metal/grindcore project featuring ex-FEAR FACTORY/BRUJERIA guitarist Dino Cazares and STATIC-X bassist Tony Campos (on bass/vocals), have posted the cover artwork for their new album, "Cristo Satanico" ("Satanic Christ"), on their MySpace profile, www.myspace.com/asesino. The follow-up to 2002's "Coridos De Muerte" was recorded at Undercity Studios in Los Angeles and contains "15 songs of filthy perversion, satanism, molestation, rape, sodomy, murder, death, oh, and of course, love," according to a press release. The first single (which can be heard on the band's MySpace profile) is entitled "Regresando Odio" ("Returning the Hate") and features HATEBREED's Jamey Jasta as El Odio on backing vocals and Andreas Kisser (SEPULTURA) on lead guitar. A July 18 release via Hawino Records is expected.

ASESINO is:

• Dino Cazares (ex-FEAR FACTORY, BRUJERIA) – Lead/Rhythm Guitar
  
• Tony Campos (STATIC-X) – Vocals/Bass
  
• Emlio Marquez (SADISTIC INTENT) – Drums
  

Nuclear Blast Records are scheduled to release a "Deluxe Edition" of SINERGY's debut album, "Beware The Heavens", on July 14. The CD, which originally came out in 1999, will feature three bonus tracks, all of which have been previously released on assorted tribute albums: "Rock You Like A Hurricane" (SCORPIONS cover), "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (The Man After Midnight)" (ABBA) and "The Number Of The Beast" (IRON MAIDEN).

SINERGY's long-awaited new album, "Sins Of The Past", is tentatively due later this year, although Nuclear Blast Records has yet to announce a release date for the effort.

SINERGY is the acclaimed Finnish-American metal band featuring singer Kimberly Goss and CHILDREN OF BODOM members Alexi Laiho (guitar) and Roope Latvala (guitar). The band's last album, "Suicide by my Side", was released in 2002.

A brand new KOLDBRANN track, entitled "Alt er Befengt", has been made available for download at this location. The song comes off the Norwegian black metallers' new album, "Moribund", which is available now in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The release date for the rest of Europe is June 23 via Twilight-Vertrieb.

"Moribund" was recorded and mixed at JAKs Hell studios in Preetz, Germany. Mastering was done at Strype Audio by Tom Kvålsvoll. The follow-up to 2003's "Nekrotisk Inkvisition" contains 11 tracks, and features artwork by Kim Sølve. Iblis from ENDSTILLE has recorded a guest appearance on vocals on one song.

As previously reported, KOLDBRANN have scheduled a CD-release party for their new album, "Moribund", on Sunday, June 25 at Rock In in Oslo. Support at the show will come from VIDSYN.

A short audio sample of the new SLAYER song "Cult" has been posted online at this location (click the button below "Posluchaj" to launch audio). As previously reported, a video clip of SLAYER in the studio recording "Cult" has been posted online. Check it out in the following formats:

• Windows Media 220K
  
• Windows Media 300K
  
• Windows Media 450K
  
• Windows Media 700K
  
  
• Quicktime, 220 Кб
  
• Quicktime 450K
  
• Quicktime 700K
  

Warner Music Germany has uploaded the cover artwork for the new SLAYER album, due on July 25 via American Recordings/Warner Bros. Records. Check it out at this location.

SLAYER's still-untitled follow-up to "God Hates Us All", which was released on Sept. 11, 2001, is the group's first new album with their four original members since 1990's "Seasons in the Abyss". In a recent interview with MTV, SLAYER frontman Tom Araya said about the new album, "It's fast — maybe faster than anything we've done before. No one's going to be disappointed. It's going to be brutal."

SLAYER will preview their first album in five years with a five-song EP, "Eternal Pyre", exclusively available at Hot Topic stores. The CD will include "Cult", the lone new song the band plans to play live on the upcoming Unholy Alliance Tour. "Cult" will also be available on iTunes on June 6. The track can be previewed on Slayer.net beginning that day at 6:06 a.m. PST.

Despite a previous announcement to the contrary, Amazon.com ***WILL NOT*** be selling a limited-editon (5,000 copies) SLAYER "Cult" single. A SLAYER management representative has told BLABBERMOUTH.NET that the single will ONLY be sold through Hot Topic stores. All Amazon.com pre-orders have apparently been cancelled and the money will be refunded.

Araya's two-hour May 5 minor gall-bladder surgery forced SLAYER to suspend the June 6 launch of this summer's Unholy Alliance Tour, which also features LAMB OF GOD, MASTODON, CHILDREN OF BODOM and THINE EYES BLEED. The trek will instead kick off June 15 in Camden, New Jersey, and run through July 26 in Denver.

Belgian death metallers ABORTED have posted the following message on their official web site:

"So, as a lot of you knew by now (sorry for the lack of updates, busy busy!) we've recorded our upcoming live DVD, 'The Auricular Chronicles' [on May 28 at La Locomotive] in Paris. Thanks to all those who attended the show and made it a party even at such late hour on a Sunday! We shot this with OneoOne on 13 cams and the recordings are off to Herr Tue Madsen himself for the mix. Expect this baby to be out end of October!

"Speaking of which, October is still recording time [for the new ABORTED studio album]. Right now we're just finishing the booked shows we already have and are very busy writing the follow-up to 'The Archaic Abattoir'. Expect the title to be revealed soon and all that shizzle."

ABORTED's upcoming DVD is also expected to contain live footage from this year's Face Your Underground festival in Antwerp, as well as shows in Montreal and Rouyn Noranda (from the band's tour with SUFFOCATION). It will also contain all of the band's promotional videos as well as interviews and backstage shenanigans. ABORTED's new CD will be recorded at Antfarm studios in Denmark with producer Tue Madsen for a tentative early 2007 release.

Norwegian extreme metallers ENSLAVED have posted the video for their track "Path to Vanir" at this location. The song comes off the band's latest CD, "Ruun", which was released in the U.S. on May 2 via Candlelight Records. "Ruun" was recorded at Amper Studios in Olso and mastered at the Cutting Room in Sweden. The album entered the official U.K. Indie chart at No. 38 last week.

Candlelight will release a limited edition two-LP version of "Ruun" on June 27. Limited to 500 copies for direct U.S. distribution, it is sure to be a highly collectable piece for fans. The label recently issued "Return to Yggdrasil-Live In Bergen", the band's latest DVD release.

MINISTRY's video for the song "Lies Lies Lies" has been posted online at Yahoo! Music. The clip was directed by Zach Passero at the 13th Planet Studios and The Pershing Theatre in El Paso, Texas and features the following lineup:

• Tommy Victor (PRONG) - Guitar
  
• Al Jourgensen - Vocals, Guitar
  
• John Bechdel (FEAR FACTORY, KILLING JOKE) - Keyboards
  
• Mike Scaccia (RIGOR MORTIS) – Guitar
  
• Joey Jordison (SLIPKNOT) - Drums
  
• Paul Raven (KILLING JOKE) – Bass
  

The video is expected to debut on various outlets mid-June.

"Lies Lies Lies" comes off the group's latest CD, "Rio Grande Blood", which was released in early May. The CD sold just under 7,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at No. 134 on The Billboard 200 chart. The follow-up to 2004's "Houses Of The Molé" was produced by MINISTRY mainman Al Jourgensen at 13th Planet Studios in El Paso, TX, mixed at The Saltmine in Mesa, AZ, and mastered at DNA Mastering in Studio City, CA. The album features guitarist Victor, Raven and drummer Mark Baker, with guest appearances by Jello Biafra (ex-DEAD KENNEDYS) and Sgt. Major.

German melodic black/death metallers SUIDAKRA have posted the following message on their official web site:

"The writing process for [the new SUIDAKRA album] 'Caledonia' is now complete! Currently, the band are rehearsing, rehearsing and in between that, rehearsing, to perfect their technical skills so that they can give 100% in July, when the recording starts. As regular readers of Suidakra.com will know, 'Caledonia' adopts the lyrical concept of ancient Scottish history, which explains song titles such as 'Highland Hills', 'Forth-Clyde' and 'The IXth Legion'. The complete tracklist will be announced later, just to keep you all wondering. In the meantime, you can check out an up-to-date interview with Arkadius [guitar, vocals], where he discusses the new album amongst other things, at MusicXtra.net."

SUIDAKRA will record the new CD at Gernhart Records studio in Siegburg, Germany. Kris Verwimp will, once again, be in charge of the cover artwork, as the band are certain that he is the best person to visualize the lyrical concept of "Caledonia". The album photography will be handled by Axel Jusseit, who had previously worked with the group on 2003's "Signs for the Fallen". An October release is expected.

American/Norwegian melodic metallers KAMELOT will be traveling to Wolfsburg, Germany this summer to lay down the tracks for the follow-up to 2005's "The Black Halo" with co-producers Sascha Paeth and Miro. Nine songs have already been compelted, according to guitarist Thomas Youngblood. "I am just returning from Norway and we were more productive than ever on this writing session," he said. "I am more pleased than ever with the progress of the new songs". An early 2007 release is expected.

KAMELOT recently completed work on their first DVD, "One Cold Winter's Night", which was shot in Oslo this past February. "We have 18 cameras on this shoot and the concert was nearly two hours long," stated vocalist Khan. The disc was edited by Patric Ulleaus (DIMMU BORGIR, LACUNA COIL, IN FLAMES) and will include special guest appearances by Simone Simons (EPICA), Sascha Paeth and Snowy Shaw (ex-KING DIAMOND, DREAM EVIL), plus many others.

Also on the KAMELOT-related front, the first-ever KAMELOT anthology, "Lunar Sanctum", will be released by Sanctuary Records. It will feature some classics as well as unreleased live cuts from the band's last concerts in Tokyo.

DIMMU BORGIR guitarist Silenoz has posted the following message on the band's official forum:

"For those of you who can't still read and at the same time believe in rumors, I just want to make things clear [regarding the band's current lineup]:

Shagrath - Vocals
Silenoz - Guitars
Galder - Guitars
Vortex - Bass
Mustis - Keys
Hellhammer - Drums

"[Hellhammer] is a hired hitman and will be playing festivals for us this year and on the upcoming album, and hopefully the world touring that will follow the new album."

DIMMU BORGIR recently became the first band on the Nuclear Blast USA roster to sell more than 100,000 copies of a full-length album with their "Death Cult Armageddon" (2003) release, according to sales figures provided by Nielsen SoundScan.

DIMMU BORGIR are currently writing material for their next studio, tentatively due in early 2007. The CD, which will feature a guest appearance by MAYHEM's Hellhammer on drums, will be "a full story/concept album," according to a posting on the group's web site.

Denver, Colorado's CEPHALIC CARNAGE have issued a lengthy update via their official web site. A couple of excerpts from the posting follow:

"It's been a minute since we've updated, but we've been busy keeping the wheels of CEPHALIC running, writing new tunes, playing shows and dealing with the Jawsh situation [referring to the departure of bassist Jawsh Mullen]. We miss him as he was a true brother and road warrior indeed, but we have a new cat named Nick who has been filling in quite well. He plays in a local Denver band called AINMATTER.

"Our goal is to continue to bring forth our brand of Rocky Mountain hydro grind! And push beyond what you've come to expect from CEPHALIC.

"We will continue writing new songs for our new Relapse CD, to be recorded in November and December to be released in May of 2007."

CEPHALIC CARNAGE's most recent album, "Anomalies", was released in March 2005 via Relapse Records.

After 25 years of existence, the legendary German heavy metal band GRAVE DIGGER has signed a long-term deal with the Spanish record label Locomotive Records.

Commented Goyo Esteban, President of Locomotive Records: "We are very proud that a heavy metal legend like GRAVE DIGGER puts that much trust in us. After the presentation of the first demo songs of the new album it was clear that something really BIG will come up for us, and it was obvious that we will release this new milestone of classic metal on Locomotive Records."

On September 22, 2006, Locomotive Records will release a new GRAVE DIGGER single, "Yesterday". The single will be accompanied by a bonus DVD of the band's performance on Rock Machina Festival in 2001. The new GRAVE DIGGER album will follow on January 12, 2007, with a subsequent GRAVE DIGGER/THERION European co-headlining tour to take place between January 18 and February 17. More information will be made available soon.

Heavy Metal superstar Rob Halford has purchased his groundbreaking, critically acclaimed HALFORD catalog from Sanctuary Records U.K. The three albums under the band name HALFORD include "Resurrection" (2000), the two-CD concert recording "Live Insurrection" (2001) and "Crucible" (2002).

The HALFORD titles were acquired January 2006, and they will be the first music releases to possess The Metal God's new corporate imprint: Metal God Entertainment (MGE) an entity which will act as exclusive production company and label for Rob's future solo music and film releases. Under new licenses, much of Rob's existing and new titles will release through global-label partners whom have worked previously with The Metal God. Additional details available late summer 2006.

The anticipated HALFORD studio album "Halford IV" is being rescheduled as Rob is in studio with JUDAS PRIEST collaborating on their 2007 release and subsequent tour. Additional "Halford IV" details will be available summer 2006.