GHOST SHIP OCTAVIUS' vocals are performed by 17-year-old Adon Fanion, whose style, character and lyrics are said to "extend far beyond his years."

GHOST SHIP OCTAVIUS is seeking a suitable record company to release the band's debut album, for which 13 songs have already been written, including "Released", "Alive", "Successor", "Find The Light" and "Caged Love".

Amott, who currently resides in the U.S., after marrying an American woman, previously said about the upcoming ARMAGEDDON album: "This one's gonna be 100% metal with loads of shred-guitar and intricate compositions."

Christopher Amott played a solo concert at the Loud Park festival on October 27 at Saitama Super Arena, a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Saitama City, Japan. Backing him at the gig were Wicklund and Williams.

Amott's latest solo album, "Impulses", can be purchased directly from his music store.

Amott in March 2012 issued a statement explaining that he left ARCH ENEMY to pursue his solo career. He said, "I'm gonna continue to be very active in music, working with all kinds of styles — this does not rule out metal."

ARCH ENEMY recruited American guitarist Nick Cordle (ARSIS) to replace Christopher.

Christopher Amott started his career in music in 1995 as a founding creative force and guitarist in ARCH ENEMY. In this context, he is known for his tastefully technical guitar work and memorably emotive playing style.

After garnering his early success, Christopher had the desire to express himself on a personal level in the same genre. At this time he began writing albums under the name ARMAGEDDON. Christopher wrote and recorded three albums over the next few years as ARCH ENEMY grew into an internationally recognized act, with his compositions featuring his own vocal stylings on the last album. This would be Christopher's first foray into singing and a spark of inspiration for his later musical ventures.

EVIL UNITED instantly delivers what fans expect and demand from the Lone Star state: intricate, heavy, pounding rhythms, screeching guitar solos and over-the-top power-screaming vocals. The band was described by Lior "Steinmetal" Stein of Metal-Temple.com as "fresh with an old-school orientation."

EVIL UNITED's self-titled debut album was released in September 2011 via MVD Entertainment Group.

McMaster previously stated about EVIL UNITED: "I think there are a lot of bands playing this type of metal right now, but I believe that EVIL UNITED has something different about it. There is a wide range of influence, lots of peaks and valleys to explore, without losing any of the extreme.

"It's a pleasure to work with Texas metal alumni such as these guys; they shred but they are paying attention to the thrash and power as well as the melody."

Says LEAVES' EYES: "We couldn't be more proud of the final result.

"Expect this album to be the heaviest and most epic LEAVES' EYES experience to date: it will haunt you, even in your dreams.

"We're also proud to unveil the cover of 'Symphonies Of The Night', designed by our longtime friend Heile [Stefan Heilemann].

"Be aware of more information concerning the album, release date and upcoming tours soon!"

Liv previously stated about the upcoming LEAVES' EYES CD : "We have taken a great inspirational step since the production of 'Meredead', both sound-wise and vocal-wise.

"It has been such a pleasure evolving in my singing techniques and knowledge and I thank my band members for giving me an inspirational kick when I needed to gain momentum behind the microphone.

"'Symphonies Of The Night' is hauntingly dream-like and heavy to the core!"

LEAVES' EYES released a digital-only EP, "Melusine", on December 16, 2011 in Europe and December 20, 2011 in the U.S. via Napalm Records. The five-track EP effort included no less than four previously unreleased songs.

"Sometimes you grow together, sometimes you grow apart, sometimes you don't grow anywhere but you still keep on going anyway for lack of better options because it's all you know how to do!

"Anyway, the simple truth here and now is that CLAWFINGER are calling it a day, throwing in the towel, going fishing, quitting and moving on to pursue other goals in life!

"After 20 years, 7 albums, more than a thousand gigs and 10 million beers consumed together, it's simply time to put the band to rest and do other things! Nothing is, of course, ever carved in stone, but please don't hold your breath; that is, if anybody out there is stupid enough to even consider doing so!

"It's been one hell of a ride, no doubt about it. Bumpy, yes; long and winding, yes; full of dead ends and wrong turns; but all the same one hell of a fucking ride, an experience to remember and treasure for life!

"All our love, repsect and admiration goes out to the people who have supported us along the way, the fans, most of all, because you've always been the fuel on our fire, but hell, even the record companies deserve a little thanking at a time like this.

"There are too many people to thank, but you know who you are, and if you've been there for us, respect to you all for the love, patience and understanding you've shown us through the years. Your dedication has been priceless and maybe we'll see you out there again for the 30th anniversary if we decide to try and cash in on past achievements with the old classic reunion trick; only time will tell!

"Thank you for everything, respect and one love to you all!"

In an August 2009 interview with Bulgaria's Tangra Mega Rock, CLAWFINGER frontman Zak Tell stated about the band's status, "We're just trying to survive like all the other bands out there. The business is very different from what it was 15 years ago. You can't survive only by being in a band these days, so we're working and doing what we have to do to pay the rent and trying to find time for CLAWFINGER. The only plan we have for a release at the moment is a remake of 'Deaf Dumb Blind' for the 20th anniversary . The plan is to re-record all the songs from that album and bring in guests. We've been talking to some of the guys from RAMMSTEIN and Peter Tägtgren from PAIN and HYPOCRISY. We've made some friends through the years and hopefully we can get them to add their own flavorings and colorings to those old tracks."

Speaking to Mike of PsychoBabbleTV.com at a recent tour stop in Chicago (see video below), Lita explained how the collaboration came about. "My old drummer called me, Rodger Carter, and he says: 'Lita, let's record a Christmas song,'" she began. "He's got his own studio; it's called the Doghouse. It's in Encino, California… Reseda. And it's a really nice studio. He said, 'Come over and let's record a Christmas single.' So I thought, 'OK. What do you wanna do? 'Jingle Bells'?' And he said, 'No. Let's write something new.' And I thought, 'OK.' So I got out a pen and paper, and I thought, 'Let's rock this Christmas down.' So we started writing this song called 'Rock This Christmas Down'. And this year, I got in touch with Cherie Currie, who I haven't spoke to in quite a long, long time, who was the lead singer for THE RUNAWAYS. And so it just so happened to be that she was on the phone just shortly after we had finished talking about recording this song. I said, 'Cherie, why don't you sing it with me?' So she flew in from this area, which she just played, and came straight from the airport to the studio, cut the vocal track, and we have a Christmas single with me and Cherie singing lead vocals."

In 2010, the movie "The Runaways" was released starring Kristen Stewart of "Twilight" fame as singer Joan Jett. The band formed in 1975, with Ford on lead guitar. She was 16 at the time.

"The Runaways" was directed by Floria Sigismondi, who is best known for directing music videos by such artists as David Bowie, Marilyn Manson and Sheryl Crow.

In a 2012 interview with Metalshrine, Lita stated about the possibility of a RUNAWAYS reunion: "Cherie's all ready to do a RUNAWAYS reunion and I would love it and I think we should start writing songs and I think it would be great. I'm not sure what Joan [Jett] is doing right now. I don't know if she's in the studio or if she's touring, I'm not sure. I was in contact with her for a while and then all of a sudden she just disappeared. She's probably on tour, but I don't know and it really needs to come from Joan. I talk to Cherie all the time. I talk to Vicki [Blue; now known as Victory Tischler-Blue] all the time and I'm still good friends with Jackie [Fox], but we can't do it without Joan, you know. She's got to be a part of it and she's gotta want to be a part of it."

She added in a separate interview in December 2012: "I can't get a yes or no out of Joan, so I've kind of thrown in the towel. It's now or never. I would love it, but for some reason — I don't know why — it's Joan's camp [that's holding it up]. The ball is in her camp. It's up to them."

Lita last year filmed a video for the song "Mother" in Joshua Tree, California. Directing the clip was Ford's former THE RUNAWAYS bandmate Victory Tischler-Blue, whose film "Edgeplay" was based on her tenure in the 1970s all-girl teenage rock act.

Lita Ford will release a new live album, "The Bitch Is Back... Live", on October 28 via SPV/Steamhammer.

"The writing process is complete," he said. "Now it's the painstaking work of making sure that you get every single note, every single nuance of the vocal, every tiny aspect...right. We're still tracking (instruments). It's just a very laborious but enjoyable part of making the record."

Regarding the sound of the new PRIEST material, Halford said, "[It's] hard. It's heavy. It's something we think our PRIEST fans will be thrilled with. We know we have a reputation to maintain, and we know we have to deliver something really strong and solid. The album is going to be full of all the great things you love about JUDAS PRIEST — I don't think I can say anything more than that without being hung, drawn and quartered."

In an interview with VH1 Radio Network's Dave Basner, Halford spoke about what fans can expect from JUDAS PRIEST's next release: "We felt it was very important to follow up 'Nostradamus', the last release, and that was a concept experiment and it was a real success for us and the fans loved it, but I think our fans and ourselves as a band, we want to get back to the side of PRIEST that we haven't heard for a few years and reemphasize and remake those big, heavy metal statements again." ]

Philip Lawvere, the artist behind such classic album covers as KREATOR's "Pleasure To Kill" and CELTIC FROST's "Emperor's Return", has designed the "Immortal Legacy" cover. Lawvere had done stunning illustrations for numerous albums and is best known for a slew of thrash metal offerings released on Noise Records.

Added Katon: "We couldn't be happier to have Philip Lawvere illustrating the cover of our new album; after getting Bill Metoyer to produce it, this is truly the icing on the thrash metal cake!"

"Immortal Legacy" track listing:

01. Hellion Rising- The Conquests- Thunder Roar02. La Boca De La Bestia - Mouth Of The Beast03. Mass Hysteria04. Tied To The Gallows Pole05. Atlantis - Journey To Atlantis (instrumental)06. Victims Of The Dead07. Black Smoke08. Sign Of The Wolf09. Immortal Legacy10. Violence Of Action11. Deceiver12. Mephistopheles13. Earthshaker (instrumental) 14. The World Will Burn (Suffer The World)

In a recent interview with the Oakland Press, CRÜE singer Vince Neil said that Mars' ongoing battle with Ankylosing spondylitis, a painful form of chronic arthritis that causes vertebrae in the spine to fuse together, as well as the band's desire to "go out on top" were the primary reasons for CRÜE's revelation that they will call it quits after 2015. "It's just time," Neil said. "Mick's health is not that good, and touring is tough on him. I'm sure in five, 10 years' time, we'll probably do something together again, but it's not gonna be like a KISS farewell to the farewell to the farewell tour. We're not gonna be like that."

He added: "We want to go out on top. We don't want to be one of those bands that people are like, 'Oh, they're playing a little club now.' We still sell out arenas and do stadium shows and stuff like that, and that’s how we want to be remembered."

However, in a posting on his Twitter account, Mars painted a different picture, claiming that his medical condition had never affected his playing. "Any rumors regarding a farewell tour due to 'my poor health' are BS," he said. "I am doing fine, my AS has never kept me from touring and never will."

A track from the CD, entitled "Another Fallen Brother", can be streamed using the SoundCloud widget below.

Fans can now view a small glimpse of the creative process behind "Valkyrja" while the band was at Hansen Studios in Ribe, Denmark with producer Jacob Hansen. The video features some of George Kollias' drum tracking, as well as vocal tracking, and can be viewed below.

TÝR has announced that Amon Ellingsgaard will be drumming for the band on their European tour with FINNTROLL. Amon is currently drummer for TÝR frontman Heri Joensen's side project HELJAREYGA. Many fans may already be familiar with Amon, who is also the nephew of former drummer Kari Streymoy, as he has filled in for TÝR before on the first Paganfest in 2008.

"Valkyrja" is a concept album with a story line based loosely around an anonymous Viking age warrior who leaves his woman and goes off to impress the Valkyrie on the battlefield so that she may bring him to Valhalla, or to Fólkvangr, the home of Freyja — the goddess associated with love, sexuality, beauty, fertility, gold, sorcery, war, and death. One can say the album is also indirectly about women and how they affect men and what men will do to impress and obtain women. Joensen goes on to explain: "The woman that the warrior leaves may represent the earthly women. Freyja, The Lady Of The Slain, may represent the perfection of Women, and the Valkyrie is the link between the two, taking men from earthly to godly women."

Guitarist Andreas Kisser commented on how he discovered the work of Alexandre Wagner. "It was through Silvio Bibika, who was my roadie for a long time," he said. "He always shows me things in general that SEPULTURA might need. Alexandre, who is from Belo Horizonte, Silvio showed me a year ago. So before we went to the United States, to record the album, I was at his house to talk about the cover, tell him the album title, talk about the concept of the film 'Metropolis', so he could do something original. But when I saw the picture with the drawing, I thought it was all about what we wanted and we did not need something new. I asked him to do a tribal S in the style of the cover. The S made by Alexandre will be on the back cover."

Said Alexandre: "I did this series of charcoal drawing work when I still lived in Belo Horizonte. They were all made there. They were quick drawings without much reference, almost an experimentation that may have came from a desire to use the most basic of basic materials — coal, paper and wood. The cover design was already done, Andreas saw it and liked it. We talked a little more and I also sent some other pictures for the booklet. I was pleased with the choice of the theme of the album, I like Fritz Lang very much, and not only 'Metropolis'. 'Dr. Mabuse der Spieler' is a fucking great movie."

As a Mineiro, from Belo Horizonte like SEPULTURA, Alexandre was glad to be part of the band’s history. "It's impossible to be from Belo Horizonte and not know the band," he said. "Some of their albums followed me for a long time, especially 'Chaos A.D.' I remember seeing 'Refuse/Resist' on TV and thinking it was wonderful. It’s really cool to work with the guys, being part of something together. It is somehow a shared history."

"The Mediator Between Head And Hands Must Be The Heart" track listing:

01. Trauma Of War02. The Vatican03. Impending Doom04. Manipulation Of Tragedy05. Tsunami06. The Bliss of Ignorants07. Grief08. The Age Of The Atheist09. Obsessed10. Da Lama ao Caos (CHICO SCIENCE & NAÇÃO ZUMBI cover)

Although it was inspired by Fritz Lang's classic 1927 movie "Metropolis", the CD, "The Mediator Between Head And Hands Must Be The Heart" is not a concept album or a soundtrack like its precedessors "Dante XXI" (based on "The Divine Comedy") and "A-Lex" (based on "A Clockwork Orange").

"The Mediator Between The Head And Hands Must Be The Heart" was tracked over a 40-day period at producer Ross Robinson's (KORN, LIMP BIZKIT, SLIPKNOT) studio in Venice, California and is being mixed and mastered by co-producer Steve Evetts, who previously worked with SEPULTURA on the "Nation" (2001), "Revolusongs" (2002) and "Roorback" (2003) albums, in addition to having collaborated with Ross on a number of other projects in the past.

SEPULTURA recorded a total of 14 songs for the follow-up to 2011's "Kairos", including a cover version of DEATH's "Zombie Ritual". The CD will also feature a guest appearance by former SLAYER drummer Dave Lombardo. In a recent interview with JacksonGuitars.com, Kisser stated about the direction of the new SEPULTURA album: "I write stuff all the time — riffs or ideas on an acoustic guitar. But we really started working on this album in February of this year, so it was pretty quick. We have Eloy Casagrande as our drummer, and he's 22 years old. The guy's a beast. One of the best drummers I've seen on the planet Earth. He has this metal blood that has so much energy and brings so many possibilities for riffs and stuff like that. It is a SEPULTURA album, but like every SEPULTURA album, there is something different. I think the main difference now is the drummer. It's the first time we've worked in the studio with him. It's been almost two years [since the last album], and it's very exciting."

Asked about SEPULTURA's decision to include a bonus track covering DEATH's "Zombie Ritual", Kisser said: "Without DEATH, there wouldn't be a SEPULTURA — especially in the beginning. The very early albums — like 'Morbid Visions' and 'Schizophrenia' — there's a lot of influence from Chuck Schuldiner and his riffs. You can hear that very clearly in our early music. And we never really had the opportunity or idea to play that. We really play our idols, like BLACK SABBATH or MOTÖRHEAD and some Brazilian stuff, but because we covered so many different bands, I think it was time for this tribute to this great band."

SEPULTURA's upcoming CD will mark the first time the band will have recorded an album outside Brazil since "Against".

The reunion between SEPULTURA and Robinson was first suggested by Monte Conner, the former Roadrunner Records A&R chief who is now the head of Nuclear Blast Entertainment, a U.S. partnership with Nuclear Blast owner Markus Staiger.

Robinson produced SEPULTURA's classic "Roots" album in 1995. Released in February 1996 by Roadrunner, it was the band's last studio album to feature founding member and vocalist Max Cavalera.

"Being that we have a tour, I'm really happy that we have a good song that will serve as our calling card when we hit various cities," JANE'S ADDICTION frontman Perry Farrell told RollingStone,com. "JANE'S is kind of known for long songs; being this is a one-song single, I thought it'd be interesting to try and write a BEATLES-esque short song that would be fast and furious and it would just be fun, dig it and move on, short attention span."

In addition to JANE'S ADDICTION, Rockstar Energy Uproar Festival features ALICE IN CHAINS, COHEED AND CAMBRIA, WALKING PAPERS and DANKO JONES, among others.

Farrell talked to RollingStone.com about some of the other bands on the bill. "I've met the COHEED AND CAMBRIA kids; I like them a lot," he said. "I like how creative they are with their comic-book stuff; it's amazing that they're so into making comics and superheroes and things like that. It reminds me a little bit of the TOOL guys when I first met them and they were really into doing interesting and bizarre things with video. The ALICE [IN CHAINS] guys I've known forever; I knew them in their heyday and I've continued to stay in touch with Jerry Cantrell."

JANE'S ADDICTION released a concert document called "Live In NYC" on June 25. The set was issued on DVD/CD, Blu-ray and double LP vinyl, as well as standalone DVD and CD. The show was filmed and recorded at New York City's Terminal 5 on July 25, 2011, while the band was touring in support of its first studio album in eight years, "The Great Escape Artist".

"Another Soulmate" performance: