Swedish/German metallers ARCH ENEMY have posted the following message on their official web site:

"It's been a bad day today — in the early hours of Tuesday morning (July 19) as the band were heading back to New Jersey from a successful off-day show in Burlington, VT, the bus broke down with transmission trouble. This had to get fixed properly which took some hours. Meantime, all efforts to get the band to the site on time to play their 2nd stage slot failed as there was just no way the distance could be covered in time, not even by plane.

"At the time of writing this the band are heading to the site to try and complete their signing and promotion commitments and hopefully they will at least be able to meet some of the fans who missed seeing them play today.

"Sincere apologies to all the fans at Camden, NJ who turned up today hoping to see ARCH ENEMY."

ARCH ENEMY's new album, "Doomsday Machine", is scheduled for release in the U.S. on July 26 (August 22 in Europe) via Century Media Records. Check out the cover artwork by acclaimed artist Joachim Luetke (DIMMU BORGIR, DESTRUCTION) at this location.

"Doomsday Machine" was co-produced by the band and Rickard Bengtsson at Slaughterhouse Studio in Sweden and was mixed by Andy Sneap at Backstage Studios in Derbyshire, U.K.

German epic metallers BLIND GUARDIAN have announced a replacement for drummer Thomen Stauch, who left the band in April after 20 years.

The new man behind the kit is fellow German Frederik Ehmke, who is said to be "fairly unknown in the world of metal." A photo of the group's new lineup can be found at this location.

The band have released the following statement regarding Ehmke's addition to the group: "The seemingly endless time of waiting for a new drummer and speculations who could possibly be the new one has finally come to an end. We have found what we have been searching for…

"A few weeks ago an unknown guy who introduced himself as Frederik Ehmke applied for the job as a drummer in a fairly firm manner. His vital, expressive and skillful performances of some BLIND GUARDIAN classics ('Journey Through The Dark', 'Time Stands Still' and 'And Then There Was Silence') blew us away completely. Pretending not to be convinced, we invited him to do a shootout recording session under real production terms to check out if the creative chemistry would also work out fine. After finishing these recordings it was obvious to us: Frederik is going to be our new drummer!

"It was essential for us to find a musician, who on one side would be able to integrate old GUARDIAN trademarks in his playing, but on the other side would also be confident enough to bring in his own vision of the BLIND GUARDIAN drums in a tasteful and, for the music, suitable way. Frederik is a calm and handsome fellow, who's aware of his abilities and who also knows what he wants. For us he is the lucky draw.

"We are convinced you will be as impressed by his drum performance as we are. Now we are looking forward to starting the next album production. There is a good amount of work ahead of us but we are absolutely ready to go. You can expect a very interesting album with strong songs. We will keep you informed."

The production of BLIND GUARDIAN's debut album for Nuclear Blast Records will start soon with the help of producer Charlie Bauerfeind. No album title has been set as of yet, but it looks like the CD will contain a total of ten songs. Working songtitles include "Carry The Blessed Home", "The Edge", "In Search For The Lionheart", "Market Square", "Another Stranger Me", and "Otherland". The release of the first single is planned for February 2006, with the album to follow in April. A European tour will kick off in September 2006.

CELTIC FROST frontman Tom Gabriel Fischer has posted the following message on his official blog:

"As we approach the final, very intense stretch on the path to completion of this album, there are the CELTIC FROST-typical numerous and very vocal ponderings which center around assessments of music and progress, procedure, ideology, song selection, and so on. In many ways, this is as typical and important to the existence of this group as the music itself. And it is crucial in maintaining a fundamental bond to our history.

As we finalize the infrastructure around the album with regard to a variety of industry partners, our management requested that we provide further production demos to facilitate final negotiations and showcase what this project will sound like. But before sending the 20-plus CDs to Berlin, we took time out last night to consecrate every single copy by physically putting them in contact with the original cover of HELLHAMMER's 'Triumph of Death' demo, which Martin [Ain, bass] preserves at our rehearsal studio.

"For this is no less momentous to us all than the release of that demo was almost exactly 22 years ago."

CELTIC FROST have selected HYPOCRISY/PAIN mainman Peter Tägtgren to co-produce their long-awaited comeback effort, tentatively titled "Dark Matter Manifest". The band willl enter Horus Sound Studio in Hannover, Germany on August 1 to begin recording their first collection of new material since 1990's "Vanity/Nemesis". Songtitles set to appear on the CD include "Obscured", "Incantation against You", "Ain Elohim" and "Temple of Depression".

CELTIC FROST, who have been mixing new demo material at Oakland Recording in Winterthur, Switzerland, have yet to secure a record deal for their upcoming CD.

HATEFRAME, the new Finnish thrash metal band featuring drummer Tonmi Lillman (ex-TO/DIE/FOR, SINERGY), guitarist Joonas Koto (MALPRACTICE, ex-TO/DIE/FOR) and bassist Make Kanki (ex-TO/DIE/FOR), will enter the studio in August to begin recording their sophomore album, tentatively due in early 2006 via Rising Realm Records.

HATEFRAME's debut album, "Sign of Demise", was issued in March. The group, whose sound is being described as "old-school thrash" in the vein of SLAYER, KREATOR and THE HAUNTED, have posted several audio samples from the CD at this location.

Great honor for Alexander Krull: The singer and producer of e.g. Leaves’ Eyes and Atrocity was awarded as Producer of the Year 2005 by American magazine "True Alternatives". He was awarded, so "True Alternatives", for his excellent work on the following productions: „Atlantis" (Atrocity), „Lovelorn" and „Vinland Saga" (both Leaves’ Eyes), „Dark Clouds in a Perfect Sky" (Elis), „Where Twilight Dwells" (Midnattsol) as well as „Goatreich-Fleshcult" (Belphegor). Congratulations!

CHIMAIRA are looking for 100 fans to take part in the filming of their new music video, scheduled for this Thursday, July 21 at 6:00 p.m. in Los Angeles.

To attend the video shoot, send your name, e-mail info, and phone number to the following e-mail address: chimairavideo@yahoo.com. A Roadrunner Records representative will immediately respond with the location address and other instructions.

A CHIMAIRA e-card, containing three tracks from the group's upcoming self-titled effort ("Nothing Remains", "Save Ourselves" and "Inside the Horror") can be accessed at this location.

The follow-up to 2003's "The Impossibility of Reason", "Chimaira" was recorded at Spider Studios in Ohio with producer Ben Schigel, who has described the new material as having "more of an epic kind of vibe. The songs are a lot longer, but we found a way to make them long without being boring. Now that it's coming together, it sounds way more brutal." Mixing duties were handled by Colin Richardson (MACHINE HEAD, FEAR FACTORY, NAPALM DEATH). An August 9 release via Roadrunner Records is expected.

CHIMAIRA will be teaming up with SIX FEET UNDER, ALL THAT REMAINS and 3 INCHES OF BLOOD for a U.S. tour following the Sounds of the Underground trek. The tour will run from August through September and will be hitting a lot of areas CHIMAIRA have not played in a while or at all.

TERROR 2000, the Swedish thrash metal band featuring Björn "Speed" Strid (SOILWORK), Klas Ideberg (DARKANE), Nick Sword (EL MAGO), Erik Thyselius (CONSTRUCDEAD) and Dan Svensson (HATELIGHT), have finalized the track listing for their new album, "Terror for Sale", tentatively due in October via Scarlet Records.

Commented Strid: "We decided to take thrash metal to where it never has been before and have no boundaries of what a thrash metal album should or shouldn't contain. So, it's all in there folks: This album is gonna be the most hilarious, intense, brainless, aggressive, silly, fast, immature and nerve-racking album you ever heard! An example: a thrash metal blues in 285 bpm called 'Bloody Blues Blaster'... Stay tuned."

"Terror for Sale" trakc listing:

01. Five Star Prison
02. Metal Mosh Massacre
03. Cheap Thrills
04. King Kong Song
05. Wrath of the Cookie Monster
06. Satans Barbecue
07. Flesh Fever Fiesta
08. Liquor Saved Me from Sports
09. Fed Up Anthem
10. Mummy Metal for the Masses
11. Stattena T(h)rash
12. Bloody Blues Blaster

TERROR 2000 released their first-ever live album, entitled "Slaughter In Japan - Live 2003", in December 2003. The 10-song CD was recorded during the band's first-ever Japanese tour in support of DESTRUCTION. The tour, dubbed "Thrash Disaster", consisted of two shows at Shibuya Club Quattro in Tokyo. The band's latest studio album, "Faster Disaster", was issued in 2002.

In a recent interview, STRATOVARIUS vocalist Timo Kotipelto defended the band's decision to tone down their trademark high speed, high-end vocal sound on their forthcoming album, simply titled Stratovarius.

“To be honest, the feedback is more postive than I expected it to be," says Kotipelto. "We’ve heard only good things about this album. But, I’m prepared for people not to like it because it’s different. It was a good thing for me especially that Timo (Tolkki/guitars) composed these songs, because if he would have suggested in December doing songs that were the same shit like on Elements Part 1 and 2 I would have told him ‘Fuck you, I don’t need this.’ I wanted to do something different.”

"Some fans are going to be pissed off, sure,” he concedes, “but we’ve done this power epic whatever-you-want-to-call-it metal for 10 albums and we’ve taken it as far as we can. There was no way. The next thing would have been Elements Part 3 with a 1,000 piece orchestra, extremely fast songs and dog-whistle vocals, so what would be the point of that? We’re not 20 year old kids anymore, so we don’t have to prove anything.”

The new album comes in the wake of a year long feud between Kotipelto and Tolkki following the singer's dismissal in 2003. Differences were patched up following Tolkki being diagnosed as a manic depressive. Watch for the full story in BW&BK.

The brand new Skylark album, 'Fairytales', is finally ready and scheduled for October 2005 under the same labels as 'Wings' and the compilation 'In The Heart Of The Princess': Scarlet Records in Europe/America and Soundholic in Japan. According to Eddy's presentation, this CD is composed by two different sections: one which reminds us the powerful rhythm and sounds of 'Gate Of Hell', especially showing the heaviest guitars never played before, and one connected to the complex orchestral metal of "Dragon's Secrets" whose core is the long suite (more than 18 minutes) 'Little Red Riding Hood'. The band is very proud of this record, conceived, as usual, on the most natural feelings coming straight from the heart.

EDGUY's upcoming EP "Superheroes" due on September 5 will feature a special guest appearance by former HELLOWEEN frontman Michael Kiske.

Commented EDGUY singer Tobias Sammet: "One of the tracks is a bombastic uptempo epic that's reminiscent of a mixture of heavy QUEEN, RICHARD WAGNER and AVANTASIA. So it was a MUST to ask Michael Kiske to do some guest vocals.To me, music is about goose bumps, and I had a lot when listening to Michi! To make it fair, we have decided that the CD shall be out in stores for the price of a CD single only! So make sure you persuade your friends that they buy it and don't copy it, maybe quality and value for money could be a promising kind of 'copy-protection!'"

The "Superheroes" DVD — also due on September 5 — will contain the brand new video clip 'Superheroes', a couple of songs filmed live in Brazil, plenty of "behind-the-scenes" footage, a slide show, an extensive studio report with interviews and a chance to follow EDGUY backstage. "Our fans will love the fun part of it and I'm sure to them it's a classic," states Sammet. "And I am sure EDGUY haters will hate us even more and will think we are a bunch of wanna-be-funny-gay-idiots."

The DVD will have a running time of approximately 80 minutes and will be available for the price of a DVD-single as well.

THE GATHERING and Century Media are opening their archives to present a luxurious double CD set full of rare and unreleased material. "Accessories - Rarities And B-Sides" will be released in Europe on August 22, 2005. CD1 offers "the b-sides" from all of their out-of-print CD-singles, including rarities like "Adrenaline" and "Theme From The Cyclist", as well as cover versions from TALK TALK, DEAD CAN DANCE and SLOWDIVE. CD 2 is full of unreleased demo recordings.

At the end of 1996, THE GATHERING recorded demos for their "Nighttime Birds" album with German rocker Eroc (GROBSCHNITT, etc.). For the first time ever, you can hear all of the alternate versions as well as two instrumentals that were not used on "Nighttime Birds".

Commented drummer Hans Rutten: "We love the sound of this demo Eroc mixed — crystal clear and with a lot of dynamics. Eroc had some great, crazy ideas, a pity we didn't work together on the album."

Added Eroc: "Quite often demos and pre-productions end up having a lot more of that 'special something' as compared with the corresponding final results — where endless weeks of trying to 'get things perfect' have a tendency to squeeze out every last drop of spontaneity from the music."

The other lost pearl from the band's archive are the so-called "Texel Tapes", with pre-production recordings for "How To Measure A Planet?", including great alternate versions. "Accessories - Rarities And B-Sides" also features detailed liner notes by the band, rare photos and a special packaging.

Starting as a raw, death metal-influenced band, and creating what later should be called gothic metal, THE GATHERING have been an extraordinary group since the early '90s. From their rough metal roots, to the atmospheric tunes "Mandylion" had to offer, to dreamy, profound songs on "Nighttime Birds" or "How To Measure A Planet?" to their latest adventures within the progressive/triprock field, the Dutch crew always remained true to themselves while building up a continuously increasing fan base.

"Accessories - Rarities And B-Sides" track listing:

CD One - The B-Sides:

01. In Motion #1 (live)
Taken from "Strange Machines" CD-Single
02. Leaves (live)
Taken from "Strange Machines" CD-Single
03. Adrenaline
Taken from "Adrenaline/Leaves" CD-Single
04. Third Chance
Taken from "Adrenaline/Leaves" CD-Single
05. Strange Machines (live w/Orchestra)
Taken from "The May Song" CD-Single
06. In Power We Trust The Love Advocated (DEAD CAN DANCE cover version)
Taken from "Kevin's Telescope" CD-Single
07. When The Sun Hits (SLOWDIVE cover version)
Taken from "Adrenaline/Leaves" CD-Single
08. Confusion (demo/ Eroc session)
Taken from "Adrenaline/Leaves" CD-Single
09. Shrink
Taken from "Liberty Bell" CD-Single
10. Frail (live)
Taken from "Liberty Bell" CD-Single
11. Theme From "The Cyclist"
Taken from "Rollercoaster" CD-Single
12. Leaves (live w/Orchestra)
Taken from "Rollercoaster" CD-Single
13. Life Is What You Make It (Talk Talk cover version)
Taken from "Amity" CD-Single
14. Amity (live at Isabelle)
Taken from "Amity" CD-Single

CD Two - The Rarities:

01. New Moon, Different Day *
02. Kevin's Telescope (instrumental) *
03. Shrink *
04. The Earth Is My Witness *
05. Diamond Box (previously unreleased instrumental) *
06. Nighttime Birds *
07. On Most Surfaces *
08. Hjelmar's (previously unreleased instrumental) *
09. My Electricity **
10. Probably Built In The Fifties **
11. Illuminating **
12. Red Is A Slow Colour **
13. Travel **

* Demo session for "Nighttime Birds", recorded at Woodhouse Studios, Germany. Mixed by Eroc November 1996.
** Demo session for "How To Measure A Planet?", recorded at Texel, the Netherlands, February 1998.

IRON MAIDEN frontman Bruce Dickinson spoke to The Morning Call about the group's participation in this year's Ozzfest, which kicked off Friday (July 15) in Mansfield, MA. Several excerpts from the interview follow:

''This is probably the first and last chance that anybody will ever have to see IRON MAIDEN in America doing these songs, because there will be another IRON MAIDEN album out next year. We'll be doing some new stuff after that. There will be more tours subsequently, but we'll probably never again get a chance to play so many songs from the first four albums, and in particular from the first two."

On the group's decision to play Ozzfest:

"We didn't want to do a headlining tour to the same older audiences that show up every time we go into the sheds [the nickname for outdoor amphitheaters]. We wanted to get an audience that was going to be … basically 15-year-old kids with attitudes who are really into metal and keeping the music alive, as opposed to an audience who had been like that, but have now grown up, gotten respectable, and just remembered the band from the early days.

"In Europe we play mainly to audiences who are all under the age of 25. In America, I'd say the average age of the audience is 30-plus. That's not great for us. And it's also not great for young kids who come to see the band in sheds because they end up sandwiched between a bunch of fat old men drinking beer and eating hot dogs, and the kids are like 'Shouldn't we be really rocking?' So what we want is the Ozzfest vibe, which I think is much closer to the audiences we play to in Europe. That's the audience we want to impress, really."

On his new solo album, "Tyranny of Souls":

"I thought we could have a bit more confidence, that we could branch out a little bit on this album [and] still sound very heavy. That was the key. I had to wait until I felt confident about saying, 'Yup, this is what we're going to do on this new record,' rather than, 'Oh my God, I don't know what we're going to do on this record to cope with the legacy of 'Chemical Wedding'."

15 people were arrested for public drunkenness and disorderly conduct following DEICIDE's live debut in Chile, which took place Friday (July 15) at Gimnasio Nataniel in Santiago.

More than 3,000 fans attended the concert, which went ahead despite objections from local church officials, who had asked the authorities to prevent the group from playing in country out of respect for an Italian Catholic priest who was murdered by a DEICIDE fan almost a year ago. A Chilean TV report on DEICIDE's visit to the country, including live video footage from last night's concert, can be found at Terra.cl (Real Media).

Rodrigo Orias, 26 slit Father Faustino Gazziero's throat, smeared his face with the victim's blood and then stabbed himself several times in the chest and neck with the same knife at the conclusion of a Mass at Santiago's Metropolitan Cathedral on July 24, 2004 while hundreds of churchgoers watched in horror, according to published reports.

FEAR FACTORY have reportedly selected "Supernova" as the first single from their upcoming album, "Transgression", due on August 23 via Calvin Records, an imprint of Liquid 8 Records. A 45-second audio sample of "Supernova", which features a guest appearance by former FAITH NO MORE bassist Billy Gould, is available at this location (Real Media).

FEAR FACTORY entered Track Record Studios in North Hollywood, California on May 5 with producer Toby Wright (ALICE IN CHAINS, KORN, SOULFLY) to begin recording the follow-up to last year's "Archetype". Included on "Transgression" is "New Promise", which was co-written with Mark Morton of LAMB OF GOD.

"Transgression" track listing:

01. 540,000 Degrees Fahrenheit
02. Transgression
03. Spinal Compression
04. Contagion
05. Empty Vision
06. Echo Of My Scream
07. Supernova
08. New Promise
09. I Will Follow
10. Millennium (KILLING JOKE cover)
11. Moment of Impact
12. Empire (bonus track for Best Buy only)

Danish death/thrash metallers URKRAFT will enter Antfarm studios this Saturday, July 16 with renowned producer Tue Madsen to begin the two-week recording session for their hotly anticipated Earache Records debut, "The Inhuman Aberration".

Commented frontman Thomas Pedersen: "We have reached the point where we can't get much more ready for the studio as a band. As individuals we might do some more practicing at home though. During the last few days we have been working with the small details on all tracks, been doing some last-minute changes and I think this has given the final touch some of the tracks needed."

Regarding how the new material compares to the group's debut, Pedersen said, "We are really exited about releasing the next album. URKRAFT were expected to do deep death metal on our debut, but obviously surprised some people by putting in more thrash than earlier. We still play a combination, but this release will be both a new side of URKRAFT as well as moving a little back to the old days. It will be more noisy and chaotic, a lot faster, more brutal and with that overall dark feeling to it that the 'Eternal Cosmic Slaughter' album had. Especially the keyboard will have a more conspicuous role. It is not just used as a lay over, but will also be a part of the chaos and help support the attacks in the music."

On the subject of the lyrical themes for the new songs, Pedersen said, "With the lyrics for the title track, 'The Inhuman Aberration', the subjective human perspective on things is questioned. The voice in the song might belong to a sick megalomaniac mind, but at the same time a mind that can comprehend and dare to face the primordial horrors that exist underneath human made ideas of reason and logic. 'The Inhuman Aberration' is not a concept album as such. Different voices speak and contradicting views exist within the lyrics. Overall the lyrics attempt to describe what man cannot control: The subconscious powers within and the subversive grinding of the cosmos."

After reaching successful positions with LEAVES' EYES in the German Charts LIV KRISTINE is already busy with producing her second solo album. The well-expected follower to "Deus ex Machina" will be called "Enter my Religion" and will be released on Roadrunner Records. LIV KRISTINE: "The recordings are going very well. We have produced so many new songs that it will be hard to make a desicion concerning the final album tracks.The songs are very diverse - you will hear soft ballads, cadanced pop songs and also rocking tracks. It's all so ineteresting for me as we are working with some very exotic instruments. This is a new challenge for me as an artist because I can realize so many new ideas I've been dreaming of for a long time." Once more, LIV KRISTINE will proof her unique talent and enchant with the different facettes of her voice.

Sweden's LORD BELIAL have completed work on their sixth full-length album, "Nocturnal Beast", at Andy La Rocque's (KING DIAMOND) Los Angered Recording studios in Gothenburg, Sweden. "The result is 11 songs including intro and outro and the playing time is about 43 minutes," the band write on their web site.

"We are very satisfied with the sound and we would like to thank Mr. Andy LaRoque for a splendid work once again! Right now we are just waiting for the album cover and the layout to be completed."

"Nocturnal Beast" is tentatively scheduled for release this fall via Regain Records.

Relapse Records has set release dates for the reissues of the three full-length albums (1989's "Piece of Time", 1992's "Unquestionable Presence", and 1993's "Elements") by seminal technical metal pioneers ATHEIST.

"Elements" and "Unquestionable Presence" will be released officially on August 30 (North America) and September 5 (Europe). "Piece of Time" will follow with a September 13 release (North America) and September 19 (Europe).

Guitarist/vocalist Kelly Shaefer comments on the impending CD reissues; "We could not be more proud of the job done on these reissues by the folks at Relapse. When this ATHEIST re-issue project started unfolding, I wanted them to be treated with the same care as if they were new releases."

Shaefer continues, "Now that they are done I can say 110% that this is the quintessential ATHEIST collection! It includes all the original classics plus tons of bonus tracks, incredible liner notes, and photos even the band has never seen until now. The art is expanded and more vibrant than ever and the sound has been remastered to pristine metal standards! The attention to detail in these reissues is outstanding and even if you had owned the records in their original pressings, you MUST have this in your collection as they are the definitive versions of the ATHEIST records."

Additionally, "Unquestionable Presence" will be featured in the October issue of Decibel magazine as part of its ongoing Hall of Fame feature. The Hall of Fame feature highlights influential and pivotal releases in metal history, and "Unquestionable Presence" will join of ranks of previously profiled classics such as SLAYER's "Reign In Blood", SEPULTURA's "Roots", and AT THE GATES' "Slaughter of the Soul", among others.

Finnish goth-metallers H.I.M. are set to release their fifth album, "Dark Light", on September 27. The album is the first the band have recorded for their new label, Sire, and is described by frontman Ville Valo as sounding "like a gothed-up BON JOVI." Speaking to the U.K.'s Rock Sound magazine, he said, "Last time, on 'Love Metal', we wanted it to be our BLACK SABBATH album. This time we're still soppy bastards, but there's a bit more experimenting. We wanted it to be like a U2 album with lots of textures. 'Achtung Baby' is one of my favorite albums of all time. So there's a lots of ear candy, but it's pretty '80s in that there are big hooks on the choruses and they're all sing-along."

"Dark Light" was recorded during February and March of this year with producer Tim Palmer (PEARL JAM, OZZY OSBOURNE, U2) at Paramour Studios in Silverlake, California. Previous uses for the location include the filming of parts of "Halloween 2" and, while Ville was recording his backing vocals, a feature-length Playboy film. Ville says the location itself proved to be inspiring, but for entirely different reasons.

"We just wanted to get away from the pressures of everyday life, so you don't have to do the dishes or pay the bills," he said. "We did end up being at [legendary rock hangout] The Rainbow every other night, but the studio itself was in a residential spot, on top of a hill in a big mansion. I was still finishing a lot of the lyrics there and once the sun went down over downtown L.A., it allowed me to reflect. It was very peaceful and it meant we could concentrate on what we did best. So the band sound pretty relaxed on this album. It was really good to get the brothers together again, without families or girls."

Ville explained that the album moniker follows H.I.M.'s tradition of "using contradictions in titles," but also has another, coincidental meaning. "What makes it funny is that my last name means 'light' in Finnish. Then you translate 'dark' straight into Finnish, it means that you're a bit crazy in the head, so I thought, 'Great! It's crazy old me again.' Because it's our fifth album, we're also going to use the Roman numeral 'V', so it's all very autobiographical."

Lyrically, themes still revolve around "girls and boys and the politics of the heart," but Ville revealed that his own love life has influenced him, too. He said, "I've been hanging out with the same girl for awhile, so it's very, very inspiring. I'm like her evil twin. It's good for the head".

BATTLELORE's video for the track "Storm of the Blades" has been posted online at this location (Windows Media).

"Storm of the Blades" comes off the Finnish "fantasy metal" band's new album, "Third Age of the Sun", due in Europe on July 25 via Napalm Records (late August in North America). Audio samples of four tracks from "Third Age of the Sun" have been posted online at the group's official web site. Check out the songs "Storm of the Blades", "Ghân of the Woods", "Trollshaws", and "Elessar's Call" at Battlelore.net.

The follow-up to 2003's "Sword's Song", "Third Age of the Sun" was recorded at SoundSuite Studio in Marseille, France with producer Terje Refsnes (TRISTANIA, MORGUL, TURISAS). Mastering duties were handled at Finnvox studios in Helsinki.

BATTLELORE recently announced the departure of bassist/founding member Miika Kokkola due to "personal reasons." Replacing him in the group's lineup is Timo Honkanen, who has already toured with the group as Kokkola's temporary replacement on their "Atlantis Lovelorn" tour with ATROCITY and LEAVES' EYES late last year. In addition, the band have announced that vocalist Tomi Mykkänen, who also performed with the group on the aforementioned tour, has been named a full-time member of BATTLELORE and has contributed vocals to their third album.

CHILDREN OF BODOM have recorded a cover version of BRITNEY SPEARS' "Oops I Did It Again" for their upcoming single, "In Your Face". The cover artwork for the single has been posted online at Spinefarm.fi. The single, which is scheduled for release in Finland on August 17 via Spinefarm, will contain the following track listing:

01. In Your Face
02. Oops I Did It Again
03. In Your Face (censored version)

In other news, a live DVD of the Wacken festival in 2004 will be released next Monday. CHILDREN OF BODOM will be featured on it with a live version of their song "Sixpounder", which was already shown on German TV in 2004.

CHILDREN OF BODOM mastered "Are You Dead Yet?" on June 6 at Finnvox studios in Helsinki following a six-week recording/mixing session with producer Mikko Karmila. The complete track listing for the CD is as follows:

01. Living Dead Beat
02. Are You Dead Yet?
03. If You Want Peace... Prepare for War
04. Punch Me I Bleed
05. In Your Face
06. Next in Line
07. Bastards of Bodom
08. Trashed, Lost & Strungout
09. We're Not Gonna Fall

"Are You Dead Yet?" is scheduled for release on September 14 in Finland and September 19 in the rest of the world.

CHILDREN OF BODOM mainman Alexi Laiho recently told Finland's Soundi magazine that "Are You Dead Yet?" will feature some completely new influences. The follow-up to 2003's "Hate Crew Deathroll" will apparently be even more straight-forward than its predecessor and will contain some industrial elements while retaining COB's trademark sound, including the super-fast guitar and keyboard solos.

MARILYN MANSON recently told RollingStone.com that he will be releasing a set of four short films, entitled "Fantasma Gloria", through his web site. "It's the visions of Lewis Caroll — in fact I'm playing Carroll," he said. In Installment One, Manson explores the origin of "Alice in Wonderland"'s Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. "I might add that the girls playing Tweedle Dee and Dum are twins who get to have real, genuine sex with each other. I like to make dreams come true."

Manson has come to a crossroads in his career. "I no longer want to make art that other people — particularly record companies — are turning into a product," he said. "I just want to make art." And he's invented a new genre for his new breed of art: "horripilation." "It's horrifying, and it's depilatory," he explained. "It will horrify the hair off of your legs."

Manson's also got 18 songs in the can. "It's not like I'm going to stop making music and start knitting," he says. "I just don't think the world is worth putting the music into right now. First we're gonna fix the world with horripilation."

According to a posting on MAYHEM's web site, the Norwegian black metallers will most likely release a CD consisting of a few covers and re-recordings before the new studio album is out. "The covers will be SODOM, BLACK SABBATH as well as two more bands," the posting adds. "The re-recordings will be from 'Wolfs Lair Abyss' [1997]. It will also contain a track from the forthcoming album. The CD may also contain some sort of live CD-ROM track."

Regarding the new material, guitarist Blasphemer (a.k.a. Rune Erickson) said, "The new songs are tending towards a more aggressive and straight, in-your-face kinda expression. Expect 8-10 vicious and disharmonic songs of the purest of black metal. More info on when the band enters studio and which etc. later, but the album will most likely be recorded early 2006 for a late spring/early summer release. The album is still untitled."

MAYHEM's next live appearance wll take place on November 3 at the Elm St. Rock Café in Oslo, Norway. Following this show, MAYHEM will head over to Australia, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore. Exact cities and dates will be announced soon.

Sweden's KATATONIA have entered Fascination Street studio, located in the outskirts of Örebro, Sweden, to begin recording their new album, tentatively due before the end of the year via Peaceville Records. The band have posted the following recording update on their official web site:

"After a misty cold gig in Estonia and a melting hot gig in Greece, we're now back in the studio again to put down the last rhythm guitars. This weekend Mattias will come down and start recording bass and after that we'll continue with additional clean and lead guitars and also start the vocal session. Fascination Street has two studios, so we can work simultaneously at both while being at different stages of the recording process all thanks to that clever thing they call 'clicktrack.' The material is sounding very heavy already."

Check out pictures from the recording sessions at
this location.

KATATONIA's last album, "Viva Emptiness", was released in 2003.

As previously reported, The End Records recently licensed through their sub-label Infinite Vinyl series KATATONIA's "Saw You Drown" — a mini album from 1998 that collectors regard as maybe the rarest and most-wanted item in KATATONIA's discography. The vinyl version is limited to 1,000 copies, all hand-numbered. It also features an unreleased band photo, lyrics to all songs, plus personal liner notes from the band.