Titled ‘Twilight Dementia’ and produced by longstanding DF collaborator Karl Groom along with band guitarists Herman Li & Sam Totman, this double live set is now confirmed for a September 13th 2010 release on Spinefarm Records and Roadrunner Records (US, Canada).

Featuring 13 tracks, including such pivotal numbers as ‘Fury Of The Storm’, ‘Operation Ground And Pound’, ‘My Spirit Will Go On’, ‘Valley Of The Damned’, ‘Heroes Of Our Time’ & ‘Through The Fire And Flames’, this exercise in soaring vocals & advanced guitar pyrotechnics was recorded across 19 UK shows, with the very best takes lovingly compiled and mixed by Groom, Totman & Li.

Says Herman:

“For years, fans have been asking us to record a live album, but honestly, we never really had the time due to our worldwide touring commitments and studio album recording. However, due to the overwhelmingly positive feedback from fans on the ‘Ultra Beatdown World Tour’, we decided to finally put some real thought into it…The idea was to record every single show from the last leg of the tour, so we could pick the best take of each song without needing to do any overdubs in the studio; keeping the whole thing ‘LIVE’ like all the classic live metal albums. These recordings really capture the raw sonic energy of a Dragonforce show in fine detail. It is so real that you can hear the noise of the crowd and experience the show as it was that night – you can even hear the guitar pedals being stepped on!”

FORMED IN 1999, Dragonforce – a multi-national amalgam of players at the very top of their game – have spent the past decade proving that virtuoso musicianship and strong songwriting values can appeal to rock fans right across the board; it’s a journey that has seen the band playing sold-out headline shows around the world, including in markets as far afield as China, Hawaii, New Zealand, Russia & Columbia, forging a telling relationship with the ‘Guitar Hero’ franchise, and tucking four strong studio albums under their collective belt, with sales currently topping the two million mark worldwide.

And now, whilst seeking a replacement for recently departed singer ZP Theart, the band have delivered a set of recordings that successfully highlight the non-stop energy and entertainment-or-bust ethos of the Dragonforce musicians in full live flow.

Twilight Dementia – Track List

Disc 1
Heroes of Our Time
Operation Ground and Pound
Reasons to Live
Fury of the Storm
Fields of Despair
Starfire
Soldiers of the Wasteland

Disc 2
My Spirit Will Go On
Where Dragons Rule
The Last Journey Home
Valley of the Damned
Strike of the Ninja
Through the Fire and Flames

Source: www.dragonforce.com

Whitesnake wish Uriah & Chris every success in pursuing their individual musical careers & express their sincere gratitude for the exceptional contribution they both made to the legacy of the band.

Whitesnake are proud to welcome drummer/vocalist extraordinaire, Briian Tichy… (www.briantichy.com)

Whitesnake are currently in the studio writing & recording the follow up to their award winning ‘GOOD TO BE BAD’ album, which is expected to be released throughout the world on the FRONTIERS label in Spring 2011 to coincide with their return to touring.

At this time Whitesnake are still exploring their options for the position of new Bass Player/Singer…

“One never enters into a relationship expecting it to end, but, as in other avenues of life, these things happen…Often it is not necessarily any one persons fault, it just unfolds that the relationship has naturally run it’s course…I really wish Chris & Uriah well in everything they do…they are great guys & exceptional musicians…”

“As we bid a fond farewell to the guys, it is with great pleasure we welcome Briian Tichy to the band…I’ve personally been a fan of his work since I first heard him destroy a drum kit years ago with Ozzy & thro’ his amazing career with Pride & Glory, Billy Idol & Foreigner…I have no doubt he will help take the Snake to new & dizzying heights with his personality & powerhouse playing…& I believe he will inspire me to boldly go where no singer has gone before…”

David Coverdale

Source: www.whitesnake.com

Hey People,

We are in the final steps of the pre-production for our new album and can’t wait to record the new stuff! At the moment we work hard on the last fine tuning of the songs but be sure that the yet unborn child will rock your ears off!

Due date for the baby will be in early 2011. If you are as DL-addicted as we are, kill your time with our cover version of Running Wild’s “When Time Runs Out” on our MySpace player.

Please check back regularly for the latest information.
We’ll keep you updated.

Now & Forever DEAD to-the LOCK !

Source: blogs.myspace.com

Source: www.season-of-mist.com

Apollo Stage:

Metallica 21:30 – 23:30
Slayer 18:30 – 19:30
Stone Sour 16:00 – 17:00

Saturn Stage:

Megadeth 20:00 – 21:00
Anthrax 17:00 – 18:00
Bullet For My Valentine 14:00 – 15:00
Local Act 12:15 – 13:15

Anthrax will be playing at 17:00 on Saturn Stage, instead of 13:00 on Apollo Stage as it was perviously announced.

Source: gr.sonispherefestivals.com

Singer Bruce Dickinson explains ‘El Dorado is a preview of the forthcoming studio album. As we will be including it in the set of our Final Frontier World Tour (which opens in Dallas On 9th June – full dates below) we thought it would be great to thank all our fans and get them into The Final Frontier mood by giving them this song up front of the tour and album release’

The band reunited with long-time Maiden producer Kevin “Caveman” Shirley in early 2010 at Compass Point Studios, Nassau to record the album and then moved to LA to finish the recording and do the mixing. Compass Point Studio is very familiar to the band, it was where they recorded the Piece Of Mind (’83), Powerslave (’84) and Somewhere In Time (’86) albums.

Bruce comments “The studio had the same vibe and  it was EXACTLY as it had been in 1983, NOTHING had changed! Even down to the broken shutter in the corner…same carpet….everything… It was really quite spooky.  But we felt very relaxed in such a familiar and well-trodden environment and I think this shows in the playing and the atmosphere of the album”

Thirty years on from their eponymous debut album in April 1980, The Final Frontier will be Maiden’s 15th studio album, making a remarkable average of a new album every two years for 30 years and totalling over 80 million album sales during this period.

The full tracklisting for the album (total running time 76:35) is:

THE FINAL FRONTIER
1. Satellite 15….The Final Frontier     8:40
2. El Dorado      6:49
3. Mother Of Mercy     5:20
4. Coming Home     5:52
5. The Alchemist      4:29
6. Isle Of Avalon     9:06
7. Starblind     7:48
8. The Talisman     9:03
9. The Man Who Would Be King     8:28
10. When The Wild Wind Blows     10:59

The Final Frontier World Tour begins in Dallas on June 9th with 25 shows in major cities across the USA and Canada, playing to an expected 350,000 fans or more. Following this the tour will ship over to Europe starting in Dublin on July 30 and playing a few selected major festivals and stadiums , finishing in Valencia, Spain, on Aug 21 and including a concert in Transylvania.

Says bass player and founder member Steve Harris “We’re hugely excited about this tour. I think the fans will really like the brand new stage production and lights and we will also be debuting one of the new album tracks , El Dorado. Our Texan fans will be the very first people anywhere to hear it live, so it will be interesting to see their reaction and how it goes down with the crowd on the night! Eddie has changed a bit  for this tour but is possibly the most outrageous one to date… I can’t say too much about him as don’t want to spoil the surprise but I guarantee he will scare the hell out of you!”

Source: www.ironmaiden.com

A new EP, entitled The Tomb Within, with artwork from renowned horror/fantasy artist Matt Cavotta, will be released on Peaceville Records in August 2010. Furthermore, a new studio album (the band’s fifth) will be released early 2011, to be called ‘Macabre Eternal’.

It can also be announced that Autopsy will be infesting European shores in August with 2 very special & exclusive headlining shows, at Party.San Open Air festival & Norway’s Hole in the Sky festival.

BAND STATEMENT:
“As many of you know, for years it has been repeatedly stated that Autopsy was over with and done for good. While that was indeed true for a long span of time, it is no longer the case. Autopsy has come to the solid realization that the time is now right to resume their mission of gore soaked death metal brutality and to fulfill this mission with maximum intensity. Make no mistake about it, Autopsy is not about reliving the past, basking in nostalgia or riding on efforts from years long gone. The band is hungry to devour fresh minds and souls and has been amassing an arsenal of new and deathly material to unleash upon those who also hunger for such brutality.

The surgical instruments are being sharpened and a pure death metal assault of the most horrific order is underway as you read these very words.

On behalf of the band, thanks goes out to all who relented and simply would not allow this beast to remain in the grave. Your persistence will be met with unspeakable and unapologetic sonic atrocities. Let the blood flow….”

The band also offered the following update regarding the long-running act Abscess, featuring Autopsy members, & having recently released their latest & greatest work, Dawn of Inhumanity.

“Greetings, sickos. We need to inform you that Abscess has officially broken up. The reason for this is that Clint Bower has left the band for personal reasons and out of respect to him and to all who have supported us for these 16 years, we have decided to call it a day. Without Clint Bower, there can be no Abscess so we won’t even try to cheat anyone with something that is not the real thing. “Dawn of Inhumanity” has become our final statement and we feel that it is the perfect way to close the Abscess chapter since we must do so. Thanks to all of you who were and still are proud to call yourselves Abscess Freaks!

With the line up of Eric Cutler and Danny Coralles on guitars, Chris Reifert on drums/vocals and Joe Trevisano (formerly Allen) on bass, Autopsy is now the full time focus. Longtime friend and bass destroyer Dan Lilker has performed with Autopsy at Maryland Death Fest VIII and will also do so at the upcoming Party San and Hole in the Sky festivals in August of this year before Joe Trevisano takes over full time on bass. A new Autopsy E.P. and full length album are in the works and will be released on Peaceville Records, along with an upcoming documentary DVD. Any other Autopsy sites or pages out there are fan sites and not run by the band.

Again, thanks to all. All we can do is offer more brutality…..”

Source: www.peaceville.com/autopsy

Michael Amott comments: “This will be a surprise to most of you, but it’s been mutually decided for some time now that JB would step down from his role as the singer in SPIRITUAL BEGGARS to focus on his own band. We had a fantastic time working with JB. We remain great friends and we wish him the best of luck!

“We decided to make a new SPIRITUAL BEGGARS record and to find a new voice – and we found a killer singer that lives in our hometown. Some of you will already be familiar with him as a singer in the Greek metal band FIREWIND.

“We’ve had a blast in the studio and it’s been highly satisfying on a creative level. We have already confirmed some shows in Japan later in the year and we are in the process of  booking more concerts around the world. We are looking forward to getting the new music out to the fans and playing LIVE again”

A short sample of new song featuring Apollo Papathanasio on vocals is available now at the SPIRITUAL BEGGARS official Myspace.

SPIRITUAL BEGGARS, the Swedish band featuring ARCH ENEMY guitarist Michael Amott and bassist Sharlee D’Angelo, is currently mixing its first new studio album in five years for a late summer/early fall 2010 release. The CD was recorded at Sweetspot Studio with producer Rickard Bengtsson.

The band previously stated about the new effort, “We used a lot of vintage equipment in this process and we got some really amazing tones.

“To describe the music itself, we feel the songs are strong and melodic with a lot of ’70s and early ’80s hard rock atmosphere…

“If you are a fan of our albums ‘On Fire’ and ‘Demons’, we are pretty sure you will also enjoy this next chapter…”

SPIRITUAL BEGGARS has been confirmed for the Loud Park 10 festival, set to take place October 16-17 at Saitama Super Arena, a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Saitama City, Japan.

SPIRITUAL BEGGARS 2010:

Michael Amott (ARCH ENEMY, CARCASS) – Guitars
Ludwig Witt (FIREBIRD) – Drums
Per Wiberg (OPETH) – Keyboards
Sharlee D’Angelo (ARCH ENEMY, MERCYFUL FATE) – Bass
Apollo Papathanasio (FIREWIND) – Vocals

Source: blogs.myspace.com/spiritualbeggars

“As I write this a little storm is coming in over Holland. It has been some amazing summer days here, and now it seems like Thor (or Tor as we say) is riding across the sky with his hammer smashing clouds. We are having a BBQ so fingers crossed he is off for some sleep or go for some mjød soon!

Saturday we played in Roermond for the first time. The nice people behind Rockschool Open Air put up this festival for the first time and had no one less than their major and people from the local government attending. All festivals needs some time to establish, and there are always a few hiccups here and there. This year someone – I think he has a Norse origin – were a bit too enthusiastic behind his drum kit kicking through the bass-drum skin (how metal is that!). It took some time to get a new one, so the sets of the bands later had to be cut a bit short. We had a nice time there though, and especially for me meeting up with the Bergeners of Batallion. If you have ever met anyone from Norway, you know the Viking way of drinking. There were no exceptions Saturday…

This gig was our last before the summer kicks in. The plan is now to fully focus on making a new album. We already have around 7 songs we are working on and we are all super enthusiastic about them! We are in a very creative place at the moment, ideas are flowing! We found a new place we will do preproduction of the new songs. Very cool and relaxing place. It is really fun for me this time to be part of this song making process from the beginning. A few days ago Frank and me sat down with a brand new song we ended up really happy about. Today I am off to work in the studio with René on some other new songs. I can’t tell you much about the direction of the songs, but I can say it is going really well! And one more thing: the Gathering never stops surprising

I had a little photo session for a project here earlier this week with the multi talented and lovely Gema. She is working her portfolio and asked me to do a few for The Gathering. If you want to have a little look you can check her gallery here

Enjoy the summer/winter where ever you are on the globe and we will keep you posted with any news coming

Lots of love

Silje and The Gathering”

Source: www.gathering.nl

Also available is a six-minute report from the memorial service produced, directed and edited by Sean Carnage for SeanCarnage.com.

More than 1,200 fans attended the public memorial service for Dio, who died of stomach cancer at the age of 67 two weeks earlier. The service, held at the Hall Of Liberty at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles, featured performances by QUEENSRŸCHE singer Geoff Tate, former DEEP PURPLE bassist Glenn Hughes, ANTHRAX vocalist Joey Belladonna and others. There were also personal tributes from Ronnie’s family members, bandmates and business associates, including his wife and manager Wendy and his son Dan Padovona, who warned everyone to take care of themselves and get screened early for cancer, saying, “(Don’t) make the same mistake my dad made.”

According to the Associated Press, hundreds more gathered in the scorching heat outside the auditorium to watch the memorial on monitors.

Dio, regarded as one of metal’s finest and most influential voices, sang with BLACK SABBATH, RAINBOW and his own self-named band.

Dio’s cousin David “Rock” Feinstein, who played with him in the band ELF, told the attendees, “I know that Ronnie truly loved all of you. He had a great appreciation for your loyalty. I’m talking about all you out there, all the fans.”

A planned protest at the Dio memorial by the fringe Christian congregation of Kansas’ Westboro Baptist Church was, according to one eyewitness, “cordoned off outside of Forest Lawn grounds proper and were small in number with an at least equal number of counter-protesters.”

Meanwhile, two major tribute concerts are in the works to celebrate Dio’s life and music. The gigs, called the Ronnie James Dio “Stand Up And Shout” Memorial Concerts, will take place in London and Los Angeles this fall. A list of performers has yet to be determined.

There are also plans to hold annual events in the years to follow to honor Dio’s memory and to raise money for cancer awareness and support.

You can watch videos here and here.

Source: www.blabbermouth.net