Coverfield, the new cover EP from German metalcore band Caliban, will be released in May through Century Media Records.

Comments the band: "We finished recording the songs for our Cover EP Coverfield, and the results literally blew us away! We really hope you will be overwhelmed with our song collection (see the tracklist below) and how we interpreted those originals in our very own way."

Cover artwork by Mark Kraemer for Twenty-dirt.com.

Coverfield EP tracklist:

01. My Girlfriend's Girlfriend Type O Negative cover]
02. Sonne Rammstein cover]
03. Blinded By Fear At The Gates cover]
04. Helter Skelter The Beatles cover]

In other news, Caliban will embark on the Cover Europe With...! Tour in May with support from As Blood Runs Black, Adept and For Today.

May 04 - Frankfurt, Batschkapp (GER)
May 05 - Stuttgart, LKA-Longhorn (GER)
May 06 - Duisburg, Pulp (GER)
May 08 - Prague, Exit Chmelnice (CZ)
May 09 - Nürnberg, Hirsch (GER)
May 10 - Budapest, Dürer Kert (HUN)
May 11 - Salzburg, Rockhouse (A)
May 12 - Graz, PPC (A)
May 13 - Rome, Blackout Club (I)
May 14 - Brescia, Latte (I)
May 15 - Lindau, Club Vaudeville (GER)
May 16 - Straßbourg, La Laiterie (F)
May 17 - Lyon, Marche Gare (F)
May 18 - Barcelona, Sala Mephisto (E)
May 19 - Vigo, Sala Mondo (E)
May 20 - Villalba (Pamplona), Sala Totem (E)
May 22 - Knokke-Heist, Ravelingen (B)

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Source:	facebook.com
Band profile:	Caliban

Sodom are forced to cancel their appearance at the Silesian Massacre Festival in Katowice, Poland this weekend, after guitarist, Bernd "Bernemann" Kost, was rushed to the hospital today.

Sodom's booking agency, Fleisch, issued the following statement: "A few minutes ago I received an upsetting phone call from Tom and Makka as Bernemann has been rushed to hospital. We do not know what exactly has happened as I write this e-mail, he is currently under medical observation in the emergency section to discover exactly what the problem is.

We feel very sorry, but unfortunately and obviously because of the situation as it stands at the moment the band cannot travel to Katowice on Saturday. I know it is not the best time and it is short notice, but the situation as it is with Bernemann leaves the band no choice. I hope for your understanding and I regret that this situation has come about, the band were looking forward to playing at your festival."

More news on Bernemann's condition as we get it.

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Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Sodom
Event:	Silesian Massacre Festival Vol. 3

Thin Lizzy guitarist Scott Gorham told Billboard.com that it may be time to bring his band back into the studio again.

Thin Lizzy hasn't released a new album since 1983's Thunder and Lightning and certainly have not thought about it since iconic frontman Phil Lynott's death in 1986. But according to the Billboard interview, guitarist Gorham - who was with the group from 1974-83 and has led various configurations of reconstituted Thin Lizzys since 1996 - thinks that the current line-up may just be good enough to try to add some music to the Lizzy legacy.

Said Gorham: "That's the No. 1 question we're getting from people ? are we gonna record some new material? The fans seem to trust this line-up, and I don't blame them. We've kind of jumped this emotional hurdle together. Ricky's writing some fucking killer lyrics, and with the kind of talent that's in Thin Lizzy now I think we can pull off a really cool set of tunes. At least it's something that we can think about now, where before it wasn't on the table."

You can read the full interview here.

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Source:	billboard.com
Band profile:	Thin Lizzy

Original news, published on 30.03.2011

British heavy metal vocalist Blaze Bayley has issued the following message:

"Due to financial and medical reasons I've been forced to part ways with the band. I will give a full statement in the next few days about my future plans. I hope that all my fans will keep on supporting me in my further projects. The English dates will be postponed to December but the festivals in Germany, Sweden, Lithuania and the show in Istanbul will definitely proceed!"

UPDATE

Blaze Bayley has released the following lengthy statement explaining his decision of going solo:

"First of all thanks again for all the wonderful messages of support I have received in the last few days. The mental, financial and emotional strain of keeping the Blaze Bayley Band together has proven to be too much for me and has taken a terrible toll on my mental health. As a result of that, I have had to split with the Blaze Bayley Band, now I am just Blaze Bayley, a soloartist and also the lead singer of Wolfsbane. Since Anna and Larry left the Blaze Bayley Band, we've tried to do everything ourselves and for me it has been too much. Without a proper manager coordinating concerts, touring, festivals, promotion, record releases and all the finances, it's too much to cope with.

Now I've finally taken this incredibly difficult decision, I feel I can breathe again. It has been an upsetting, frustrating and sad time because the Blaze Bayley Band will not be going on any more, but it is also for me a huge relief and a time to look forward. I wish David, Nico and Jay every succes with their future projects and like to thank them for their loyalty, commitment and sharing their musical talent on The Man Who Would Not Die and Promise and Terror. They are arguably two of the best metal albums I have ever made. We have made a live album and a DVD and I am immensly proud of all of those things as well as the incredible concerts we have played to fans all over the world.

I apologize to my UK fans for postponing the upcoming tour. We are still in the process of rearranging all the dates that we can to happen in December. The shows I have booked with Wolfsbane will all go ahead. Also, all the festivals I have booked will go ahead with different musicians.

I have a lot of plans that I am very excited about for the future and on top of that I am expecting my first child to be born in September.
Look out for me popping up in different places all over Europe in the summer, because I am still available and being booked for festivals and guest appearances. The first two weeks of September is my unplugged acoustic UK tour with Jase Edwards from Wolfsbane, called the Blaze and Jase: The Incredible Tour. The full dates will be announced in the next few weeks. After that there will be a week of European full metal shows.

Read more ››

Source:	blazebayley.net
Band profile:	Blaze Bayley

Morbid Angel revealed the cover artwork of their newest opus Illud Divinum Insanus :

It was designed by Gustavo Sazes, who commented on it:

"To create this cover we worked from several references, ideas, elements, and I would say a ''world'' of options and paths. After a long brainstorming period and some ideas left behind we came up with the concept of this organic surreal insane being; a fallen God or a weird mirror image of our own madness. It is a different Morbid Angel cover for sure, but I think that's how Morbid Angel is...Deviant and different on each new release. They never repeat themselves. They are always pushing the boundaries and setting new standards. I'm really proud of the final results and hope the fans appreciate my work, while listening to the new album!"

Also was revealed the cover artwork of their single Nevermore, designed by French artists Valnoir and Fursy Teyssier for Metastazis:


Read more ››

Source:	season-of-mist.com
Band profile:	Morbid Angel

Disfear bass player and long-time member Henrik Frykman has passed away last Friday after a long battle with cancer.

The surviving band members released the following statement: "It is with heavy hearts we inform you that on Friday the 25th of March, Henrik Frykman passed away in his home after a long battle with cancer. Henrik will be greatly missed by family and friends."

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Source:

puregrainaudio.com

Devildriver bassist Jonathan Miller has departed from the band.

Miller released the following statement: "I just wanted to thank all of the DevilDriver fans around the world for their die-hard love and support for the past 9 years. Yesterday, I decided to leave DevilDriver. It was the most difficult decision of my life but it is something that I needed to do for myself. I had the best times of my life hanging out with all of you guys but it is time for me to move on."

According to Blabbermouth Miller announced at the end of last year that "the drugs and alcohol" "finally caught up" with him after spending the bulk of the last decade on the road with Devildriver. He added that "the damage catching up with mentally and physically" and that he was going to enter "an intense rehabilitation program" in January "in order for to reclaim health and the person who once was." He also stressed that he needed "to make a change so that save own life and keep the friends that still left."

Filling in for Miller on the road with Devildriver for the past few months has been the band's tour manager, Aaron Patrick aka Bubble, formerly from Bury Your Dead.

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Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	DevilDriver

A one-minute snippet of "Leatherhead", the brand-new single from German heavy metal band U.D.O., has been made available for streaming over at this location.

"Leatherhead" comes off the band's upcoming new album Rev-Raptor, which will be released on May 20th through AFM Records. More album details can be found at this location.

Leatherhead (single) tracklist:

01. Leatherhead
02. Rock n Roll Soldiers
03. Free Or Rebellion
04. Run!
05. Leatherhead
06. Jingle Balls

966 for the tip!]

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Source:	afm-records.de
Band profile:	U.D.O.

Condate Records are set to release the aptly named Split Roast on May 23rd bringing together 5 of the UK's grimmest bands.

Featuring brand new tracks from Northern black-meets-death assassins Colonel Blast, Leeds-based extreme tech metallers Diascorium, Leeds-based grind manksters Magpyes, Edinburgh death merchants Cancerous Womb and finally Manchester's most brutal death/tech/grind warriors Dyscaphia.

With 20 punishing tracks clocking in at over 60 minutes for only £5, Split Roast is a pocket friendly introduction to the sounds of the current underground metal scene within the UK. The split will be available in digital format from all the major digital outlets, in physical format from the Condate webstore and from the bands themselves at gigs.

Each of the bands plan to release a preview track across their social media sites and have made an introductory video for the occasion to unleash upon an unsuspecting public, containing only behaviour which Charlie Sheen himself would endorse.

Condate Records Director Ben Whitfield comments: "The underground scene thrives on the community between bands. It survives year after year because people do it for the passion and for little reward. Split EP's are the norm throughout metal and punk bands. You hit up several fan bases at once and split costs allowing you to achieve better results than you might trying to do it alone. You also give the people who support underground music a bargain in the process, 5 bands, 20 tracks, over 50 minutes of extreme music. Hopefully people will be as excited about it as we have been. Being the kind of label that we are, DIY and trying to do anything we can to tell people about the music we love, it was always an obvious choice to do a split. Having 5 bands on it was just the icing on the fucking cake. And it's a big hairy cake packed full of grim!"

Split Roast tracklist:

Colonel Blast:
01. Power by Proxy
02. The Crime is Passion

Cancerous Womb:
03. Torn from Gunt to Cunt
04. Tepid Decrepit
05. Austrian Basement (Live)

Magpyes:
06. Lord Ov Swords
07. Warning
08. The Creeping Hand
09. Willem Fucking Defoe
10. Sir, You Forget Yourself
11. Wolf Bukkake
12. North West Smash Test

Dyscaphia:
13. Impious Conflagration
14. Altars to the Wretched
15. Enshrined in Pestilence

Diascorium:
16. My Own Exegesis
17. The Mechanics of Serenity
18. Interjection...
19. Reduction to the Absurd
20. Self Modifying Game (Incandescence Remix)

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Source:

condaterecords.greedbag.com

Swedish metalcore act Worth A King's Ransom are set to release their upcoming EP, The Kraken Awaits. The new EP will be released through Spotify and iTunes any time soon. A short teaser of the upcoming effort is available below.

More info on the band on MySpace.

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Source:

facebook.com

Three new cancelations for Hellfest 2011!

Here is the official statement of the festival with replacement.

"Unfortunately, Unleashed, BlackRain and Masters Of Reality are canceled?

These three bands will be respectively replaced by Primordial, Headcharger and The Damned Things.

The 3 day passes and daily tickets are still available in all of our usual stores and are still at a special price with Digitick through our website www.hellfest.fr

We remind you that bus+ticket packs are still available with buses leaving from cities from all around Europe. Please visit our "Bus-Trip" section!

Stay tuned on www.hellfest.fr to get more news soon including the running-order and map of the festival 2011!"

Source:	hellfest.fr
Event:	Hellfest Open Air 2011

After 6 years and three albums, Finnish rock band HIM and Sire/Warner Music have decided to part ways.

Seymour Stein, founder of Sire Records says: "It was a pleasure working with HIM, and we're very proud to have been their partners for the last six years. Ville is a rare talent, and my relationship with their manager Seppo dates back to the days when he pioneered rock music in Finland looking after the career of Hanoi Rocks. HIM are particularly important because they are the first and only band from Finland to reach Gold status in America. I, along with the entire Sire/Warner Bros. family, wish them continued success in the future."

HIM's discography on Sire includes the 2005 album Dark Light, which reached gold in the US. Follow-up albums Venus Doom (2007) and Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice (2010) charted both in the US and Europe.

"We're ever so grateful for having had Seymour and Co as the generous hosts on our extended first stay in the New Country. It's been a Blast Royale but now it's time to clean up the rubble and start anew", comments Ville Valo of HIM.

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Source:	heartagram.com
Band profile:	HIM

An audio teaser for Circle Regenerated, the upcoming new album of Finnish extreme power metal band Norther, plus a full track called "Break Myself Away", are now available for streaming over at Facebook.

More album details were previously reported over here. Specific release dates for Circle Regenerated are as follows:

13.4.2011: Finland
15.4.2011: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Norway
18.4.2011: UK, Benelux, France, Greece, Denmark, Portugal, Rest of Europe
19.4.2011: Spain, Italy
20.4.2011: Sweden, Hungary
22.4.2011: Australia, New Zealand
19.4.2011: USA

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Source:	facebook.com
Band profile:	Norther

Borknagar has inked a three-album deal with Century Media Records. The band is currently working on material for its new CD, tentatively due in early 2012.

Commented Borknagar mainman Øystein G. Brun: "Well, sometimes life takes slightly unexpected yet great turns! Due to internal business affairs, the deal with Indie recordings was mutually terminated by both parties in January 2011. Since then we have been negotiating a possible re-signing with Century Media Records.

While you are reading this, Jens F. Ryland and I are at the headquarters of Century Media Records in Dortmund to ink a new deal with our old partners in crime. It feels very good to be back in the fold of the mighty Century family; there is simply no team, no label alike. Thanks to Jens Preuter (head of A&R), we have worked out and landed a deal that we are 110 percent sure will serve the future endeavors of Borknagar in the best possible and most potent way. We share so much history with Century Media Records and we are now preparing to create more musical history for the future to come ? together with our friends at the Century family!"

Added Preuter: "We are very proud to welcome back such a great and highly influential band. Whether you want to call it black, progressive, Viking, folk or whatever metal, Borknagar always managed to be just themselves on a unique and high level. I already heard some pre-production demos from the upcoming album and I can tell you it will be not just another masterpiece, but probably the best material they've done so far."

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Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Borknagar

"C'est La Vie", the new video from Protest The Hero, can now be watched over at MetalSucks.

"C'est La Vie" comes off the band's latest album Scurrilous, which was released earlier this month through Vagrant Records/Underground Operations. More album details were previously reported over here.

Read more ››

Source:	protestthehero.com
Band profile:	Protest The Hero