Manos Spanos

AMON AMARTH: Audio Samples Of Entire ‘Deceiver Of The Gods’ Album

Audio samples of all the tracks that are set to appear on "Deceiver Of The Gods", the ninth studio album from Swedish melodic death metallersAMON AMARTH, can be streamed in the YouTube clip below. Recorded at Backstage Studios in Derbyshire, United Kingdom, and produced, mixed and mastered by Andy Sneap (OPETH, MEGADETH,EXODUS, ARCH ENEMY, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE), the follow-up to the band's critically acclaimed 2011 "Surtur Rising" full-length delivers ten fiery battle hymns made of buzzsaw riffs and epic harmonies all driven by vocalist Johan Hegg's commanding Viking roar and absorbing accounts of Norse crusades and treachery. "Deceiver Of The Gods" comes adorned with another outstanding Tom Thiel-created cover portraying a mythical battle between the Norse GodsLoki and Thor. As an added bonus, Messiah Marcolin (CANDLEMASS) makes an appearance as guest vocalist on eighth track, "Hel". "Deceiver Of The Gods" will be released in North America via Metal Blade Records on June 25, in Europe June 24 and Japan on June 26.

ROB ZOMBIE’s ‘Great American Nightmare’ To Terrorize Los Angeles This Fall

Groundbreaking musician and filmmaker Rob Zombie will unleash his"Great American Nightmare" on Los Angeles this Halloween season. This bone-chilling experience will combine the most advanced haunted house attractions with a not-to-be-missed music festival from top artists in hard rock, alternative, EDM, and more, every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from October 10 through November 2, 2013 at the Fairplex FEARplex in Pomona, California, just outside Los Angeles. A creative collaboration between masters of the macabre Rob Zombieand preeminent haunted house producer Steve Kopelman, the fully immersive haunted house experience will feature three attractions based on Zombie's own horror films: "Lords Of Salem Total Black Out", "The Haunted World Of El Superbeasto 3D" and "Haunt Of 1,000 Corpses". The shocking — and sometimes disturbing — fright attractions will offer a three-dimensional experience with animatronics and effects, a maze that is the ultimate definition of claustrophobia and fear, sudden chills and startling thrills, and salacioushumor that will make one scream with fright and laughter.

MANOWAR To Release ‘The Lord Of Steel Live’ EP

MANOWAR will release highlights of its "The Lord Of Steel World Tour"on a live EP, featuring performances from the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Italy, Russia and Sweden. "From the first show in Zaragoza/Spain to the last show in Yekaterinburg/Russia, 'The Lord Of Steel' world tour was a terrific experience," said MANOWAR bassist Joey DeMaio. "Performing new songs for the first time in front of your audience is the ultimate test of the power of the songs to connect to the only people that matter. Our fans were totally brutalized and went wild as you will hear on this new EP. 'The Lord Of Steel Live' is a thank you to our amazing fans; it will forever immortalize this tour and those who attended it." The album will be mixed and mastered at MANOWAR's own studios Hell and Haus Wahnfried by Joey DeMaio personally with longtimeMANOWAR engineer Dirk Kloiber. "The Lord Of Steel Live" will be released digitally as an iTunes exclusive worldwide on July 9, and on CD in retail and throughTheKingdomOfSteel.com on August 16

OLIVA: ‘Raise The Curtain’ Trailer Available

The official trailer for "Raise The Curtain", the first-ever solo album from JON OLIVA'S PAIN and SAVATAGE mastermind Jon Oliva, can be seen below. Having released albums with SAVATAGE first and JON OLIVA'S PAINlater, this first Oliva solo album was about to become different: "Raise The Curtain" combines Jon's early music influences of '70s prog rock with the sound he cultivated with SAVATAGE and JON OLIVA'S PAIN. The result is a high-class, thrilling musical journey, something all lovers from rock to metal shouldn't miss. The road to "Raise The Curtain": Oliva: "After the passing of my dear friend Matt LaPorte, I felt very confused about the future of JON OLIVA'S PAIN. A week or so afterMatt's service, I was speaking to my friend Dan Fasciano about what I wanted to do. He suggested that I come by his home where he has a full studio and we just hang out and record whatever I had that I wanted to demo. Unknown to me at the time, Dan also had tons of unfinished music that he wanted to do something with. It was very strange because he had tons of stuff and so did I. I don't remember how we actually started writing together but it just happened."

DAVID COVERDALE Wants To Apologize To ROBERT PLANT

According to Classic Rock magazine, WHITESNAKE frontman David Coverdale wants to personally apologize to Robert Plant for the "ugly things" he said about the LED ZEPPELIN singer nearly two decades ago. Plant and Coverdale famously traded verbal jabs after the former DEEP PURPLE vocalist teamed up with LED ZEPPELIN guitarist Jimmy Page for the short-lived 1993 COVERDALE-PAGE album and tour, In interviews at the time, Plant openly expressed his disdain for theWHITESNAKE singer, referring to him as "David Cover-version."Coverdale was equally vitriolic in his response, saying about the LED ZEPPELIN frontman, "There's certainly no love lost between myself andRobert… I wouldn't send him cat food if he was starving." During an interview set to be broadcast next Wednesday (June 19) onTeamRock Radio's "Classic Rock Magazine Show", Coverdale offered an olive branch to Plant. "My last words to Jimmy in London were: 'I'd love to buy Robert a drink,'"Coverdale told "Classic Rock Magazine Show" host Nicky Horne. "I said, 'When you speak to him, offer my sincere regrets for any negative things I've ever said, which were mostly defensive.'"

MEGADETH Bassist’s Autobiography Due In October

The autobiography of David Ellefson, co-founder and bassist of 11-time Grammy-nominated heavy metal titans MEGADETH, will be made available on October 29 via Howard Books. Ellefson's memoir, "My Life With Deth", chronicles the story of Ellefson's fall into addiction during the band's early years, followed by his subsequent recovery and the return to faith which championed the band's rise to fame over the past several decades. The book was written with Joel McIver, the bestselling author of 21 books on rock music, and features a foreword by Alice Cooper. World rights to "My Life With Deth" were sold to Philis Boultinghouse atHoward Books by agent Lisa Gallagher at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. Since 1983, the celebrated metal band MEGADETH has sold more than 20 million albums, received eleven Grammy nominations, and built a fan base of millions. Still going strong, they recently toured the world withMETALLICA, ANTHRAX and SLAYER. Now, in "My Life With Deth",Ellefson tells the whole behind-the-scenes story of the band and his personal journey from suffering to salvation.

KING DIAMOND Slams Danish Journalist Over ‘Most Inaccurate Interview I Have Ever Seen’

Legendary Danish heavy metal singer King Diamond (real name: Kim Bendix Petersen; KING DIAMOND, MERCYFUL FATE) has posted the following message on his Facebook page: "A few days ago, I did [a Danish-language] interview with one of the biggest Danish newspapers, and when I got the chance to read it yesterday, I couldn't believe my eyes. It was the most inaccurate interview I have ever seen. So absolutely wrong, that it's almost funny sometimes. There are passages which have been completely made up, lots of things I would never ever have said, plus the journalist even went so far as to invent titles for songs I have never written. "For those of you who have already read it, you know what I'm talking about. "For those of you who have not yet had the chance to read it, be aware, you're in for one hell of a ride if you come across it. This guy has made me sound like a complete paranoid lunatic. "One thing that might have contributed to this 'interview' turning out to be so horrible is that the journalist did not record the interview, but merely now and then wrote down words onto his notepad.

SLIPKNOT’s CLOWN: ‘All I Care About Is Playing With My Brothers’

The Kerrang! podcast conducted an interview with SLIPKNOT mastermind/percussionist M. Shawn "Clown" Crahan at this year's Download festival, which is taking place June 14-16 at Donington Park in Leicestershire, United Kingdom. You can now watch the chat below. Asked what it feels like to headline Download festival for the first time since the death of SLIPKNOT bassist Paul Gray, Crahan said: "We take tonight as seriously as we did as the Astoria [in London] the first time we came over [to the U.K.]. It's always been our way, it always will be our way." He continued: "I don't give a fuck about playing for the fans, I don't give a fuck about playing for myself, I don’t give a fuck about the stage — any of it. All I care about is playing with my brothers. I hear the fucking guitar, I hear the drums fills, I hear the vocals, and I'm fucking happy. This is what I signed up for. This is what I started. This is my dream. And it's not just me; it's my bros and me playing what we were born to do — little kids up on a fucking basement stage. "Now, if the kids are happy, I'm happy. Is everybody happy with the stage? That's all cool. But I don

TANKARD: German-Language Biography Coming Soon

Michael "Schumi" Schumacher, a musicologist at the University Of Cologne and longtime TANKARD fan, has penned the German alcoholic thrashers' first official biography called "Life In Beermuda", featuring many photos and commentary from musicians from all over the world. Says TANKARD: "Our biography/book will be only published in German. If the demand for an English version is big enough, there might be a chance for an English version too, though." The 208-page "Life In Beermuda" book will be published in the fall byNicole Schmenk Publishing. TANKARD's 30th-anniversary album, "A Girl Called Cerveza", was released in July 2012 via the band's new label home, Nuclear Blast Records. The CD was recorded at Studio 23 in Frankfurt with producerMichael Mainx (ONKELZ, DER W, DISBELIEF, D-A-D).

DARKEST HOUR Signs With SUMERIAN RECORDS

Washington, D.C. metallers DARKEST HOUR have inked a worldwide deal with Sumerian Records. The band's new full-length album will be released in 2014. Comments the band: "To say that Sumerian Records and label ownerAsh Avildsen are big supporters of this band would be a huge understatement. We have been proud to call Ash our friend since our early years and this friendship has flourished greatly since then via our relationship with his sister company, The Pantheon Booking Agency. "When you start a band, you dream that one day you can do what you love with great friends and family around you. Now it all seems to have come full circle. With the good people at Outerloop Management,Sumerian Records and the Pantheon Agency, we finally feel right at home. Every aspect of the group is being handled by long-time trusted friends and is in reliable hands. This safe haven has given us the shelter we need to put together a life-changing new album. "Before we could see it coming, we've been thrust out of Oceanic Studios(where we've been working with producer Taylor Larson) and back out on the road.

Manos Spanos

Manos Spanos (Metalpaths' co-editor-in-chief), eight years in this site but still can't be characterised as a metalhead.