US metallers White Wizzard have issued the following update on their MySpace blog:

"We had a great time at Download 2010 as singer Michael Gremio filled in for us after Wyatt left the band when we needed someone quick. Unfortunately, Mike has many commitments in Nebraska and cannot move to LA to become a permanent member of the band. He has a family, children and other aspirations. We wish Mike the best. We are already close to naming the new singer in the band. All things are moving forward and we cannot wait for the European tour.

The next full length album has been written and we hope to record it with the new line up at years end. The boys have been rehearsing and the new material is sounding amazing. Lewis Stephans is on his way to becoming a rock GOD on guitar and just getting better and better everyday. We are very thrilled with his progress and the band has never felt better. There is a certain magic in the room that should just grow in time. Giovanni and Jon are locking in tightness and heaviness. The band is on fire!

When we are ready we will update you on the new singer in the next couple weeks and we will see you in Europe and beyond!
Metal forever!"

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Source:	blogs.myspace.com
Band profile:	White Wizzard

Brazilian metallers Dreadnox have issued the following brief statement about inking a deal with Diehard Records for the release of the Dance Of Ignorance album: "Dance Of Ignorance album coming out September. Dreadnox signs a partnership with Diehard Records to release in Brazil. Worldwide sales (Paypal) and digital music coming soon!"

Also, several tracks from Dance Of Ignorance are available for streaming at band's MySpace page.


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Source:

blogs.myspace.com

"Submit To The Suffering", the new video from Skeletonwitch, can be viewed at this location. The clip was directed by Don Tyler (Mastodon, Ringworm)

"Submit To The Suffering" comes off the band's latest album, Breathing the Fire, which was released on October 2009 via Prosthetic Records.


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Source:	prostheticrecords.com
Band profile:	Skeletonwitch

Original news, published on 17.08.2010

The new Disturbed music video for the song "Asylum" is now available for viewing online. The clip can be found over at this location.

The track comes off the band's upcoming studio effort Asylum scheduled for release at the end of this month.

Asylum cover art] tracklist:

01. Remnants
02. Asylum
03. The Infection
04. Warrior
05. Another Way to Die
06. Never Again
07. The Animal
08. Crucified
09. Serpentine
10. My Child
11. Sacrifice
12. Innocence

UPDATE (thanks to BudDa)

"Never Again" another new song from Asylum, the forthcoming album from US metallers Disturbed, is now available for download at this location. The album is scheduled for release on August 31 via Warner Bros.

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Source:	blogs.myspace.com
Band profile:	Disturbed

Throes cover art], the forthcoming album from US metallers Hero Destroyed, is available for streaming in its entirety at this location.

Throes is set for an August 31st North American release date, September 6th internationally, and is available for pre-order now on Relapse Records.

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Source:

blogs.myspace.com

"Sacra", the new video from Apocalyptica, can be viewed at this location.

"Sacra" comes off the band's latest album, 7th Symphony, which was released on August 24 this year. More details about 7th Symphony were previously reported over here.


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Source:	youtube.com
Band profile:	Apocalyptica

Belgian metallers Magic Kingdom have issued the short following update on their MySpace blog:

"Magic Kingdom's Symphony of War will be unleash on 15th October on our label Limb music! After 5 years of hard work and setbacks, we are more than happy about that release! A great double album for the 12th year aniversary of Magic Kingdom! This is our most majestic ,epic and symphonic album!"

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Source:	blogs.myspace.com
Band profile:	Magic Kingdom

Austrian metallers Serenity have issued the following update on their official website:

"In Serenity's history, this is the first truly sad message we have to publish. Simon Holzknecht - bass guitars - quits Serenity due to personal reasons.

Within the last couple of years Simon was a constant and important part within the band and his bass playing completed our releases (Words Untold & Dreams Unlived, Fallen Sanctuary) as well as our live performances. We have a lot of great memories to share from our weeks and weeks on tour, in studio, rehearsing or simply having fun with each other. We know hoch much effort and idealism is needed for a band such as Serenity and so we fully understand and back up his decision. Of course we wish him the best for his future career - no matter in which direction it may lead. Simon stated that he will not join another band immediately - what the future holds... we will see (or better hear).

Be assured that this will have absolutely no effect on our upcoming release or our live gigs! Bass guitars for our upcoming release Death & Legacy were already recorded by Tom Buchberger (guitars, songwriting).

And here are the good news! Fabio D'Amore (Pathosray, Fairyland) will join Serenity for all future live performances starting with our ProgPower Europe (NL) gig on the 1st of October 2010. Fabio plays in several bands and runs his own studio in Pordenone (IT). The fact that his other bands only perform some single shows a year made it quite easy to get him on board our battleship cruiser. He is fully addicted to music and we are looking forward to a whole lot of new touring experiences as well as gorgeous "Austrian-English-Italian-translations" (this will be pain in the ass)! If Fabio will become a full Serenity member is a decision to be made by all of us in the future to come...

By the way... The new album is in the mixing process!"

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Source:	serenity-band.com
Band profile:	Serenity

Roadrunner press release

Four-time Grammy nominees Queensrÿche have signed a multi-album, worldwide deal with Roadrunner/Loud & Proud Records. The band's label debut -their twelfth studio album overall- is tentatively scheduled for a Spring 2011 release. Singer and founder Geoff Tate remains the creative nucleus of the band, which continues to make relevant, against-the-grain hard rock that entices fans, both new and diehard.

Queensrÿche have been - and unquestionably remain- one of the most respected and innovative names in forward-thinking hard rock throughout the course of their nearly 30-year history. Since their inception over 25 years ago, Queensrÿche have sold over 20 million albums worldwide and have performed in over 22 countries.

"We are very happy to be signing with Roadrunner/Loud and Proud. This is the rock label and a place where they are as excited about our music as we and our fans are," Tate said.

"We are excited to welcome Queensrÿche to the label" stated Loud & Proud President Tom Lipsky. "They have earned global acclaim for their distinctive approach to music and we are confident of a successful partnership with them."

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Source:	roadrunnerrecords.com
Band profile:	Queensrÿche

Audio samples for all tracks featured on Megadeth's Rust In Peace Live collection are now available online at this location.

The final night of Megadeth's historic month-long Rust In Peace 20th anniversary tour was captured for the upcoming Rust In Peace Live Blu-ray, DVD and CD, due out September 7th on Shout! Factory.

Rust In Peace Live cover art] tracklist:

01. Holy Wars...The Punishment Due
02. Hangar 18
03. Take No Prisoners
04. Five Magics
05. Poison Was The Cure
06. Lucretia
07. Tornado Of Souls
08. Dawn Patrol
09. Rust In Peace...Polaris

Bonus Content:
10. Skin O' My Teeth
11. In My Darkest Hour
12. She-Wolf
13. Trust
14. Symphony Of Destruction
15. Peace Sells
16. Holy Wars - Reprise

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Source:	amazon.co.uk
Band profile:	Megadeth

Original news, published on 08.07.2010

Therion touring/session vocalist Snowy Shaw (his birth certificate reads Tommie Helgesson) has quit the band after four years, two studio albums, live DVD's and numerous tours around the world.

In a message to Blabbermouth.net, Snowy Shaw states: "I've had a terrific and great time touring and working with Therion and I do wish them nothing but the best in the future, but I've felt for some time that it's time for me to move on. I also wanna take the opportunity to show my gratitude and thank all the loyal fans for their support, love and understanding."

Shaw ? who has previously toured and/or recorded with Dream Evil, King Diamond, Mercyful Fate and Memento Mori, among other acts ? was forced to sit out this weekend's show with Therion at the Rock Harz Festival in Germany due to sickness. This would have been Snowy's last appearance with the band.

Snowy has written and co-written songs for the forthcoming Therion album, Sitra Ahra, which is scheduled for release in September through Nuclear Blast Records.

Shaw's departure from Therion will not affect the group's upcoming live appearances, as singer Thomas Vikström will handle Snowy's parts at the Rock Harz Festival and on the upcoming tours in South/Central America, Mexico and Europe.

UPDATE (thanks to Zmaj Ognjeni Vuk)

Swedish metallers Therion have announced that Snowy Shaw has rejoined the band and will perform on their upcoming tour.

Christofer Johnsson (guitar) stated: "We are very happy to announce that Snowy has rejoined Therion. We welcomed him back with open arms, and we will now be making a mix between the new show we had planned, and the last one which involved Snowy. We think the merger between the two concepts will be incredible, and we look forward to taking the band's live performance to the next level."

Therion will release their forthcoming album, Sitra Ahra, on September in Europe via Nuclear Blast Records.

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Source:	megatherion.com
Band profile:	Therion

Original news, published on 26.06.2010

Official press release

With the recent changes in the band, Borknagar is now able to hit the road and meet the fans face to face. We are very pleased to announce that Borknagar is now gearing up to head to South America, a continent never visited by the band before.

"The Universal Course Tour" flyer] is scheduled to kick off in September 2010 visiting the following cities (venues to be announced):

Sept. 16 - Caracas, Venezuela
Sept. 17 - Bogota, Colombia
Sept. 18 - Quito, Ecuador
Sept. 19 - Lima, Peru
Sept. 22 - La Paz, Bolivia
Sept. 23 - Santiago, Chile
Sept. 24 - Buenos Aires, Argentina
Sept. 25 - São Paulo, Brasil

Guitarist Øystein Garnes Brun comments: "Damn, I am really looking forward to this! Borknagar is all about explorations and breaching limits, so heading for South America to do these dates is just what I am ready for now. I am sure this will be a very special event for me, the band and our South American fans! See you soon!"

Guitarist Jens Rylan adds: "I never thought this would happen, but I'm going on another tour with my brother ICS Vortex and best of all, I'm going to explore a continent I've always wanted to visit together with a few of my favorite people. I'm very proud to again be able to say: See you on tour folks!"

UPDATE (thanks to Dominus)

Official press release

Borknagar deeply regret to inform that the previously announced South American tour in September has been cancelled.

Øystein G. Brun commented: "Sometimes reality bites and it is with a graven heart we have to inform you all that we are forced to pull the plug on the South American tour in September. At this point, too many of the concerts have been canceled by the local promoters (due to local issues beyond our control) and in spite of a desperate attempt to find new venues, we have not been able to get the puzzle together without losing shit loads of money. Parallel to this, our agent for this tour in South America has not provided us with the necessary visas, not even the plane tickets. So there is nothing more we can do at this point and we are forced to pull the plug now, in order to avoid further and major expenses that leads to nothing. On our end, we have done all we can to make this happened. David has come over from US for rehearsals, we have worked out and started rehearsing the set, equipment has been shipped from our endorsement partners, prepared tour-shirt design and so on- we have even gotten the necessary vaccines for us going to South America. We had such high hopes for this tour, it would indeed have been a very special event for us, our fans and friends in South America. I can assure you that we have never before fought this hard to get a tour happening, this time we lost the fight and we are sorry!"

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Source:	blogs.myspace.com
Band profile:	Borknagar
Event:	Borknagar: Universal Course Tour [CANCELLED]

Official press release

Chicago based multinational extreme-metal act Against The Plagues have begun working on new songs for their as-yet-untitled second album.

Drummer and band co-founder Varyen Chylinski commented: "I am very excited to announce that we are currently working with the songs for new album! We have 6 songs almost finished and another 2 in progress. Next month we will start recording them as a pre-production material and as soon as we have them ready we will expose some of them on our website. We are working with new music in our practice room in Chicago and as I see after several rehearsals, new songs are much more faster and extreme than the previous album Decoding The Mainframe. New Against The Plagues material has a lot of absolutely amazing riffs and "inhuman" blast beats which is completely new chapter for the band. All of our hard dying fans who were waiting for new music from our camp so long - will be delighted, I guarantee that! Also we decided to invite few special guests to make this material even more unique. It will be big surprise for all of you!

We will give you more updates very soon. I would like to thank you all for great support and fantastic feedback we received after releasing our last album. I can promise - it's going to be the best material we ever done!"

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Source:	blogs.myspace.com
Band profile:	Against The Plagues

Original news, published on 11.08.2010

Polish female fronted traditional Heavy Metal act Crystal Viper, will release their brand new studio album titled Legends via AFM Records on October 22, 2010.

As the title suggest, all the lyrics will be based on the original Polish legends from the middle-ages. The album was recorded and mixed at the MP Studio in Poland, with engineer Mariusz Pietka and producer Bart Gabriel. The album will feature several very special guests: Rhino (the famous ex-Manowar drummer), Stefan Kaufmann (U.D.O., ex-Accept), Mat Sinner (Primal Fear, Sinner) and Sven D'Anna & Dano Boland (Wizard).

Earlier this year Crystal Viper released their first live album titled Defenders Of The Magic Circle - Live In Germany. The CD includes the band's entire live set recorded in 2009 at the Magic Circle Festival in Germany along with a bunch of studio cuts. More info on that release at this location.

UPDATE (thanks to Bad English)

Polish female fronted Traditional Heavy Metal act Crystal Viper, revealed front cover artwork of their forthcoming studio album Legends, which will hit the streets on October 22, 2010 (through AFM Records in Europe and States / Spiritual Beast Records in Japan), was painted by the legendary French artist Chris Moyen, who is known from cooperation with such legendary acts as Slayer, Trivium, Beherit or Blasphemy.


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Source:	blogs.myspace.com
Band profile:	Crystal Viper

Official press release

The Ocean are currently in the process of mixing their upcoming album Anthropocentric at Studio Mecanique in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, the same place where Heliocentric was recorded and mixed. The album will be mastered on August 25th by Svante Forsbäck in Helsinki.

Musically, the album feels somehow heavier than Heliocentric. "The sound is more dense and maybe a tad more raw, which suits the songs perfectly", comments guitar player Jonathan Nido. The album covers a similar sonic and dynamic range as Heliocentric, also including a number of calm, acoustic moments - but these are for the most part orchestrated with guitars, and not so much with piano and string section. The focus is on the heavy songs: "The album is a pretty big production, and still has a very earthy, organic feel to it", comments guitarist Robin Staps. "We have spent a great deal of time on the basic sound this time around, drums, bass, guitars and vocals... and at this stage I am pretty confident that this will pay off in the end!"

As far as the concepts behind Anthropocentric are concerned, the focus is on man and his place in the universe: at the center, as many fundamental Christians still claim today, or more likely a dust particle in its periphery? All lyrics are circling around this question. Anthropocentric will continue the critique of christianity, inspired by the questions that Dostoyevsky asked and some of the answers that Friedrich Nietzsche and Richard Dawkins gave", comments Staps. At the base of the album are three songs with the titles "The Grand Inquisitor I, II and III". These songs have been inspired by the chapter of the same title in Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel The Brothers Karamasov: a conversation between the brothers Ivan, an atheist, and Alyoscha, a monk. Ivan tells Alyoscha the story of a Second Coming of Christ in 16th century Sevilla. According to this parable, Jesus is arrested by the Catholic inquisition. The grand inquisitor who interrogates Jesus casts a new light on the legend of the temptation of Christ: he reproaches Jesus with having betrayed humanity and having deprived man of salvation by offering him freedom. The conversation between Ivan and Alyoscha mirrors, to some degree, the conversation between the grand inquisitor and Christ and raises more questions than it answers. "This long dialogue, which for the most part is rather a monologue of Ivan, is so complex and recondite that one could easily find inspiration for 10 concept albums about Christianity in it", comments Staps.

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Source:	blogs.myspace.com
Band profile:	The Ocean
Event:	The Dillinger Escape Plan: European Tour