Ex-PANTERA/current SUPERJOINT RITUAL singer Philip Anselmo has slammed his former bandmates over their suggestion that his ongoing substance abuse and alcohol problem have affected his performance to such a degree that he is now "much less than subpar at what he does" than he used to be during PANTERA's heyday.

Speaking to Revolver magazine for its February 2004 issue, ex-PANTERA/current DAMAGEPLAN drummer Vinnie Paul said of Anselmo, " he was very private about . I don't know if he was using the whole time or what, but it got to the point where I didn't know which Phil was gonna show up to the gig. One night he would walk in and be a fucking animal. The next night, I'd walk backstage and he'd be lying in the corner and he'd say he was tired. I will never take anything away from that dude from when he was at the top of his game, but where he's at right now, I think he's much less than subpar at what he does. I have a hard time watching him when I see him on MTV talking about SUPERDOPE RITUAL, or whatever they're called, and he can't keep his fucking eyes open."

Asked by SMNnews.com to comment on Vinnie Paul's statement, Philip said, "I just hear a big and sad yellowbelly crybaby fuckin' knowing that his meal ticket is in a different fuckin' band, and? You would have to know those fellows to really understand where I was coming from ? they're scared of their own fuckin' shadow. And, all that said, I wish them the best of fuckin' luck. I still love 'em.

"For Vinnie Paul's information and anybody else who would like to know, I've been fuckin' stone-cold sober for fuckin' two years ? I feel like a fuckin' boy scout, for God's sake," he continued. "And fuckin', you know? I can have a couple of beers, let's get it straight.

"There was another thing brought up in that interview where Vinnie Paul said that he knows how to stop drinking, you know, and they can control themselves. And magically Diamond Darrell didn't answer a fuckin' thing. You know why that is? Because his fuckin' friends have to carry him fuckin' home every goddamn night ? every night on tour, he gets carried to the fuckin' bus. Now, you tell me ? me fucking up one time in my life compared to his fuckin' three thousand and seven. Give me a fuckin' break, man!"

From Blabbermouth.net

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Pantera

STRATOVARIUS guitarist Timo Tolkki has issued the following update regarding the group's search for a new singer and drummer:

Dear Friends,

"Since the rumours are wildly speculating about the new STRATOVARIUS singer and drummer I have decided to tell you how things are going at the moment. First of all I have not been in contact with Michael Kiske about being the replacement for Timo Kotipelto. I know Michael well enough not to suggest anything like that to him and I have enormous amount of respect to him and his musical career. He knows what he wants and I am sure it is very different from what I want.

"I have received lot of interest from lots of different singers and drummers, some of them have been quite surprising and some of them are even singing/playing in quite big groups at this writing. Thank you for your interest.

"Also 3 female vocalists have sent me their tapes and I must say that 1 of them sounds unbelievably talented and she has the looks that kill as well. I hope I can give you some news about the replacements as soon as possible.

"I am still writing new songs and it is going very smoothly. New songs seem to have completely different direction compared to those 10 songs that I wrote first. Even I am very surprised about the songs and how different they sound compared to the previous STRATOVARIUS songs. It seems that I am more positive now, since we found the solution that we all can live with. It's not about FUCKING money by the way.

"I have quit the anti depressives and therapy at the moment and I am feeling really good. I was drinking with Jari last weekend and we had a really good time together. We did pass out from drinking too much, but hey, YOU LIVE ONLY ONCE!!!

"The old line-up will play a Spanish Festival on 28.2.2004. I hope we can act civilized there, although the situation is a pain in the ASS. Nevertheless we will try our best to give a good STRATOVARIUS show to the Spanish fans. SEE YOU ALL THERE!!"

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Stratovarius

THE CROWN have issued the following band update via their official website (www.thecrownonline.com):

"We´re back home again! The European tour went well. We had a blast. Considering that the posters for this tour (mysteriously?) never turned up, the shows were good anyway. I was glad to see how many people follow the tour dates on the website, thanx!!!.

One bad thing that happened on this tour was that we needed to cancel the Paris show. Well, WE didn´t cancel it, it was the local promoters decision, so it was totally beyond our control. Definitely a shame, we were looking forward to Paris and spend our day off there. But then again, TWO days off in Amsterdam was all good.

Next on the schedule is starting the mix of the new Crowned In Terror album, we´ll start mixing the 2nd of January 2004. I´ll keep you posted on news about that. But at this point we haven´t set any release date for it.

And we are working on new live dates as well. As always, as soon as the dates are confirmed you´ll see it on the LIVE page. The Party-San Festival got confirmed a few days ago, so one festival
confirmed so far.

Oh, one more thing. the shop will be up VERY soon. Both new and old designs. Take it easy folks!"

Band profile:

The Crown

From the Official Homepage:

Hello Evil friends ! For some time we have been working on new songs... And on december 15:th we will enter Studio Fredman to record our third album.
More info about this recordning will appear in this news section as it comes..

Stay very Evil !
Dream Evil

Band profile:

Dream Evil

Lake of Tears is going to play at the Summer Breeze festival.
The festival will take place between 19-21 August in Abtsgmünd, Germany.

Band profile:

Lake Of Tears

STRATOVARIUS guitarist Timo Tolkki has spoken to the Finnish daily newspaper Ilta-Sanomat about the circumstances behind the group's recently announced split with vocalist Timo Kotipelto and drummer Jörg Michael.

According to Tolkki, he and Kotipelto got into a physical altercation three weeks ago. Originally, Tolkki had stepped in to break up a fight between drummer Michael and Kotipelto, but after the latest episode, both he and Kotipelto realized that they would not be able to carry on working together. Tolkki says that the fight was due to Kotipelto wanting to have more involvement in the songwriting process as well as more say in the band's business affairs.

The members of the most recent STRATOVARIUS lineup will be forced to work together one more time as they prepare to play all of the previously announced summer festivals in order to avoid paying out huge cancellation fees. Tolkki has admitted that he doesn't know if they will be able to get along with each other long enough to do the upcoming shows and had made it clear that he would prefer to call off the dates altogether.

Band profile:

Stratovarius

Keyboardist Kevin Moore (ex-DREAM THEATER, CHROMA KEY) has recorded the soundtrack to a Turkish horror-comedy movie, "Okul" ("The School"). The film was produced by the famous Turkish producer Sinan Cetin and was directed by popular Turkish directors the Taylan Brothers. "Okul" was written by a DREAM THEATER and Kevin Moore fan, Dogu Yucel.

When the directors and the writer were searching for a musician to score their movie, they learned that Kevin Moore was in Istanbul, Turkey. Moore liked the story so much that he decided to postpone the recording of the third CHROMA KEY CD and begin work on the soundtrack for this low-budget Turkish movie. By coincidence, the film was based on a book called "Hayalet Kitap" ("Ghost Book"), which contained a reference to Kevin Moore's song "Space Dye-Vest".

According to Yucel, a brief outline of the movie's plot is as follows: "A young boy is in love with the most beautiful girl in the school but he doesn't win her heart. So he starts to write stories for her. One day he commits suicide. One year later strange things started to happen around the girl and her friends. Soon it is discovered that there is a ghost in the school."

"Okul" will receive a Turkish release on January 9, 2004. It is planned that the movie will be shown in some foreign countries at later date. Kevin Moore's soundtrack is tentatively set to be released through Inside Out Records. You may download the teaser from the official site, www.okul-film.com. Further details can be obtained through the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com)

Band profile:

Dream Theater

Three members of the Australian progressive metal band VANISHING POINT ? guitarist Chris Porcianko, vocalist Silvio Massaro and fill-in keyboardist Leonard Kopilas (MANIC OPERA) ? will be performing an acoustic set live on PBS FM on Tuesday, December 16 during "Screaming Symphony" (www.screamingsymphony.com). The exact time will be somewhere between 10:00 p.m. and midnight (GMT +10:00, Melbourne Time Zone). If you don't live in Melbourne and cannot pick up PBS on 106.7 FM, you can always connect to their live audio stream and listen with your computer.

VANISHING POINT have spent much of the past year recording their third album, "A Life Less", at Palm Studios in Melbourne with producer Endel Rivers. A tentative early 2004 release is expected.

Band profile:

Vanishing Point

Former STRATOVARIUS vocalist Timo Kotipelto has posted the following message on his web site regarding his departure from the group:

"Maybe you have seen in it on the STRATOVARIUS homepage (or read it somewhere else), that Jörg and I are no longer members of the band. That is unfortunately true.

"I (might) give my comment about it later. At the moment I don't have enough energy for that.

"I want to sincerely thank all the people who bought those STRATOVARIUS albums (and my own 'Waiting for the Dawn') that I am on.

"Also a big THANK YOU for the excellent and memorable live experiences I've had a chance to share with you! I will never forget those. A hello to all those cool people I have met during these years!

"At the moment I am concentrating only on my new album. I thank everybody for those posts on my guestbook. I am sorry but I don't have enough time to reply them all. But I DO read them all!

"Thank you for your support!

"Rock on!

"Timo Kotipelto"

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Stratovarius

This announcement was posted on the Official homepage by the founding member Antti Karihtala in the beginning of December:

One chapter has ended in the story of Charon, and it is time to move on. As one of the founding members of the band I feel entitled, if not obligated, to explain and update Charon's present situation publicly from my own point of view.

I have always been glad and proud about the fact that Charon is one of the longest bands playing with the original line-up in the heavier rock
genre both in and outside Finland. Over 11 years of work with the same members is an achievement for any band.

This period of time has given the band both it's present day face and it's unrelenting character.

Now, however, the time has come to make some difficult choices in order to keep the group going.

When I started the band with Teemu Hautamäki and Pasi Sipilä in spring 1992, I didn't even consider the possibility of parting ways with someone. There was a healthy fear of and respect for the band activities, which meant you either go all out for the band or you don't go at all. This attitude has not changed?

Playing in a band is not a given; you have to invest in it 200%, at least in Charon. People, however, change as life goes on, and so do the members' values. Personally, I've had to make some very difficult choices and have given up a lot for the good of the band, but I've also learnt to arrange things in a way that won't hurt the band. In a way,
this has been easy, because playing in the band with your best friends sets the priorities for other things as well. This attitude has also been visible in the rest of the band.

But, as Jasse said in his announcement, he has 'lost all interest in the band'. This has been clear in his attitude for some time now, and we felt that it could not possibly go on. His general lack of motivation and interest was visible in the spring and all through summer, and it was clearly starting to affect the rest of us, and so we had only one
alternative. No sports team will field an out-of-shape player; he will be replaced with someone who has the right attitude.

If personal chemistry doesn't work, it shows in concerts, on the albums, in the tour bus, rehearsals etc. It's just a shame this time of troubles coincides with the recording of a new album, which is, after all, the most creative time in a band's life. Also, the prospect of finding a session guitarist on such a short notice and in the middle of a tour, didn't seem very appealing. But, as they say, a rock band works best with a gun to their head? And it's true!

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Band profile:

Charon

Posted on the Official Homepage for awhile ago:

We will once again hit Studio Underground for the recording of our 5th album (no title yet).
The recording will start at February 3 and we will record about 12-13 songs??? Release is planned late spring.

To give everyone a small hint of what to expect I can say that we picked up from where "The more you suffer" ended. The new songs is a little bit more aggressive but all of you that liked "the more you suffer" and all our other albums wont get dissapointed.

Yesterday we all went up to Jonas Black Lounge studio in Avesta to record a "hit and run demo". 10 songs in one day.... just to check 'em out and to get them down on fysical materia.

We have also had some problems with the web site but that will soon be fixed. The competition is not working but we will let you know when it's running again cause we have som nice signed stuff for you just waiting around....

A studio diary will be posted as soon we hit the studio again.

Hope to see you all on tour in a near future.

Cheers
Carnal Forge

Band profile:

Carnal Forge

Now the english translation of the reason why Jasse von Hast left Charon:

Time to move on

After long consideration and prioritizing, I have come to a point where it is time for me to put a phase in my life behind me. I feel that Charon has nothing more to give me, musically or otherwise, and my interest in the band has faded completely.

During the last year, I have simply had enough of all that.

At the moment, I'm concentrating on my day job.

I will continue with music in the future, and I'm constantly writing new material. In which context it will be used remains to be seen.

I want to thank all our fans and supporters for great years with the band.

Jasse Von Hast
in Oulu, 24.11.2003

Band profile:

Charon

Post on the official homepage:

The song titles for Death Unlimited will be the following in no particular order.

- A Fallen Star
- Deep Inside
- Chasm
- Nothing
- Death Unlimited
- The Cure
- Going Nowhere
- Vain
- Day of Redemption
- Hollow

Band profile:

Norther

Darkane will be featured on the swedish TV channel SVT1 on wednesday Dec 10th. The show Musikbyrån will send a report from this years Sweden Rock Festival where Darkane was filmed during their live set and interviewed. Other bands featured on the show will be Motörhead and Anthrax. For more information go to Musikbyråns homepage. The show starts 10:30 pm.

Band profile:

Darkane

This was posted on the official homepage:

The European release of "The Burning" has been advanced by a week! The new release date is January 12th 2004. Stay tuned for updates in release dates for other countries.

Thunderstone is confirmed to play Wacken 2004! More info on showtime etc. coming up later!

German speakers (and those handy with a dictionary...) check out the next issue of Rock Hard: A major interview with Nino coming up!

Stay tuned for more news on gigs, interviews etc. as the release date of "The Burning" draws nearer...

Band profile:

Thunderstone