Veteran hard rockers Mötley Crüe have announced their intentions to tour Australia this September. The band will perform three shows while down under and are set to be supported by Bret Michaels and Doc Neeson. Tickets go on sale at 9am 21st June (or 14th of June for fan club presale tickets). Get the dates below.

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Source:	motley.com
Band profile:	Mötley Crüe
Event:	Mötley Crüe - Australian Tour 2011

Iced Earth have set Dystopia as the title of their forthcoming new studio album, tentatively due before the end of the year through Century Media Records.

Iced Earth mainman Jon Schaffer checked in with the following message: "Just a quick update for you from the road. We had a great weekend playing at Sweden Rock Friday and the Rock Hard festival in Germany on Saturday. The band's having a lot of fun, and today we begin rehearsing the new songs for the forthcoming CD, titled Dystopia. We begin master tracking in Florida in 2 weeks and will be traveling between Europe and the US this summer to play festivals and finish the new album. I can honestly say that I haven't had this many songs give me goose bumps since we recorded Something Wicked This Way Comes, way back in 1998, so this is also very exciting.

As you can imagine, it's a very busy time for us. I think we're all having emotional ups and downs as we're coming to the end of an era with Matt's retirement, and we're also very excited about the future with Stu coming onboard, so it's a little bit of a roller coaster ride for us. However, we are having a killer time, and Matt is performing at his absolute best and going out with pure class and style, which is always the way he rolls."

Matt Barlow will retire from the band after the summer festival shows. Afterwards Into Eternity vocalist Stu Block will become the new lead singer for Iced Earth. Dystopia will mark the studio debut of Block together with the band.

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Source:	icedearth.com
Band profile:	Iced Earth

More good news from the Korn camp. After their collaboration single with hotter-than-hot Los Angeles dubstep DJ Skrillex, Korn are planning to release a dubstep studio album, expected to dominate the charts later this year.

Speaking to NME this weekend, Korn bassist Fieldy said the band was almost finished with the follow-up to 2010's Korn III: Remember Who You Are: "We've collaborated with six, maybe seven dubstep producers on the new record. I've done my parts, I think Jonathan Davis has a couple of vocal takes still to do, but it's almost done."

These dubstep producers/DJ includes such names as Kill The Noise, Excision, Skillets and 12th Planet.

Fieldy also said Jonathan Davis is responsible for inspiring the band's new dubstep direction. "Jonathan loved it," he said, "and he just got us into it." He added that the band felt it "was important to stay current and keep on top of what's going on."

In the meantime, check out Korn's collaboration single "Get Up" featuring Skrillex below.


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Source:	nme.com
Band profile:	Korn

Noisecreep is reporting that Mastodon guitarist Brent Hinds is working on an as-yet-unnamed new project with The Dillinger Escape Plan guitarist Ben Weinman, former The Mars Volta drummer Thomas Pridgen and ex-Jane's Addiction bassist Eric Avery.

Since the members of the project live on opposite sides of the country, progress been a bit slow. "We tried to get together and do an album, but there's been no time," Hinds recently told Noisecreep. "We want to record crazy stuff and Ben is working on that, but it's been hard to get together."

Even though the project is officially nameless, Hinds wants to call it Giraffe Tongue "because they look sick."

Hinds is also hard at work promoting his Fiend Without a Face and West End Motel projects, as well as recording a new Mastodon album, called The Hunter.

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Source:	noisecreep.com
Band profile:	Mastodon

Previously unreleased 1990 rehearsal footage of Death's "Together As One" has been made available for streaming exclusively at Bravewords.

Another remixed and remastered track, called "Lack Of Comprehension", is still available for streaming over here.

The track comes off the Deluxe 20th Anniversary Edition of Human, which will be released on June 21th in North America (June 27th internationally) through Relapse Records. The album was entirely remixed and remastered by longtime Death producer Jim Morris and remastered by Alan Douches (Mastodon, Converge).

The repackaged version of Human, originally released in the fall of 1991, now features more than an hour of newly unearthed and previously unreleased early demo tracks.

Human (Deluxe 20th Anniversary Edition) tracklist:

Disc 1:

01. Flattening Of Emotions
02. Suicide Machine
03. Together as One
04. Secret Face
05. Lack Of Comprehension
06. See Through Dreams
07. Cosmic Sea
08. Vacant Planets
09. God Of Thunder

Disc 2:

01. Flattening Of Emotions (Basic Instrumental Studio Tracks)
02. Suicide Machine (Basic Instrumental Studio Tracks)
03. Together As One (Basic Instrumental Studio Tracks)
04. Secret Face (Basic Instrumental Studio Tracks)
05. Secret Face - Part 2 (Basic Instrumental Studio Tracks)
06. Lack Of Comprehension (Basic Instrumental Studio Tracks)
07. "Felt Good" - Studio Snippet
08. See Through Dreams (Basic Instrumental Studio Tracks)
09. See Through Dreams - Part 2 (Basic Instrumental Studio Tracks)
10. Vacant Planets (Basic Instrumental Studio Tracks)
11. Cosmic Sea (Basic Instrumental Studio Tracks)
12. Cosmic Sea Part 2 (Basic Instrumental Studio Tracks)
13. God Of Thunder (Basic Instrumental Studio Tracks)
14. Flattening Of Emotions ("Human" Demos)
15. Lack Of Comprehension ("Human" Demos)
16. Suicide Machine ("Human" Demos)
17. Together As One ("Human" Demos)
18. See Through Dreams ("Human" Demos)
19. Secret Face (Instrumental - "Human" Demos)
20. Vacant Planets (Instrumental - "Human" Demos)

Disc 3:

01. See Through Dreams (w/ Paul and Sean) (Rehearsal January, 1991)
02. See Through Dreams (Take 2) (w/ Paul and Sean) (Rehearsal January, 1991)
03. Secret Face (w/o Paul - 1/2 song) (Rehearsal January, 1991)
04. Secret Face (Take 2) (w/o Paul) (Rehearsal January, 1991)
05. Secret Face - Riffs (Rehearsal January, 1991)
06. Flattening Of Emotions (Riffs) (Rehearsal January, 1991)
07. Lack Of Comprehension (Riffs) (Rehearsal January, 1991)

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Source:	bravewords.com
Band profile:	Death

Long-running Australian thrashers Mortal Sin are in the final stages of preparation for their forthcoming album, Psychology Of Death.

The album is currently being mixed with producer/engineer Darren "jENK" Jenkins and marks the recording debut of guitarist Ryan Huthnance, who replaced Mick Sultana.

Check out a seven-minute album teaser below.

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Source:	mortalsin.com.au
Band profile:	Mortal Sin

"Set In Stone", the new video from Australian heavy/power metallers Lord can now be watched below.

The clip was directed and filmed by Dusk Music Video Production and includes additional SFX footage from the movie Alien Armageddon directed by Neil Johnson.

"Set In Stone" is the title track off the band's latest album, which was released back in September 2009 already through Dominus/Riot! Entertainment.

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Source:	youtube.com
Band profile:	Lord

Korn has been asked to record a theme song for the upcoming new Silent Hill game Silent Hill: Downpour. The eighth installment in the Silent Hill series will be published by Konami Digital Entertainment and developed by Vatra Games. Wiki tells me the game is scheduled to be released for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 in late 2011.

For some people this is apparently a huge deal. Some Silent Hill fans started an online petition, cleverly titled "Kornami", practically begging both companies to cancel the deal.

A Silent Hill: Downpour trailer for the game can be streamed below, while the petition can be signed over at this location.


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Source:	bloody-disgusting.com
Band profile:	Korn

Vancouver, Canada-based sludge metal act Bison B.C. have parted ways with drummer Brad Mackinnon and have replaced him with former 3 Inches Of Blood drummer Matt Wood.

The band released the following cool story: "So here it is - a couple months back Brad told me he had made the difficult decision to leave the band. We lived and breathed music together for almost five years and it was a fucking honor to share the stage and create music with him, not to mention doing all kinds of fucked up shit that was fucking way fun. It was a hard decision for him, and we wish him all the best, and hey, we still go and get wasted together.

We spent months scouring the city looking for a drummer, which in these here parts is a daunting task. We end up in Chiliwack one night at our favorite sports bar, "Shakerz". Local blues rock band Stone House takes the stage and half way through their set, including a smokin' cover of "Life is a Highway", we notice some drunk dude in the corner dancing on tables, spitting on the band and basically ruining the night for everyone. After the bar lets out we find ourselves at the Greyhound station on our way back to town. We notice the table dancing dude is spare changing to try and get back to town as well, though he is now covered in his own puke. We get to talking and Masa realizes it is his old friend Matt, although through coughing fits and dry heaving he insists his name is Watty Moods, ex-drummer for Stone House.

Masa and Matt used to play in a band called Goatsblood back in '79, so we invite him to come jam with us, purely out of pity. Turns out he's pretty good for a drunk just shy of fifty. So, on behalf of Bison B.C. Inc., we would like to welcome to the band, our new drummer Mr. Matt Wood."

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Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Bison B.C.

"Burial Ground", a brand-new track from Pakistani death doom metal band Dionysus, has been made available for streaming over at Facebook or in the YouTube clip below.

"Burial Ground" was produced by the band's bassist Syed Waleed Ahmed. More info about the band on Reverbnation.

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Source:

metalunderground.com

US groove metallers DevilDriver are working on a cover of Metallica's "Holier Than Thou" for a special tribute to Metallica's self-titled classic album.

Last week the band updated their Facebook wall as follows: "DevilDriver is recording Metallica's "Holier Than Thou" for a 20th anniversary Black Album tribute! Drums were done yesterday (Tuesday, June 7th) and guitars start today (Wednesday, June 8th)!"

Some studio footage of the undertaking can be watched over at Blabbermouth.

More details regarding this anniversary release to follow.

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Source:	facebook.com
Band profile:	DevilDriver

Ballads 'N' Bullets, the debut album from German "piano metallers" In Legend, is now available for streaming in its entirety over at TheNewReview.net (who describe In Legend as "Tori Amos on cocaine"... sounds like a go for me).

Ballads 'N' Bullets will be released in North America on June 14th through SPV/Oblivion-Steamhammer. The album was already released in Europe in late May.

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Source:

thenewreview.net

Therion mainman Christofer Johnsson has announced the addition of vocalist Linnéa Vikström - the hot blond daughter of vocalist Thomas Vikström. She'll be replacing tour vocalist Katarina Lilja, who left the band back in March in order "to sit at home with the boyfriend and just have a regular job."

Johnsson wrote the following: "We are hereby proud to announce the person who will be filling the infernal shoes of Kat (the Evil One) for the upcoming Therion tour activities. It will be no less than Linnéa Vikström, the daughter of Thomas. She sang on Sitra Ahra and enchanted many listeners with her charming and diverse presence. From being the cute little spawn of Thomas, she has now been growing to a woman and she is ready to help us carry the flag of Therion around the world.



However, as Linnéa is unable to do the first 3 festivals in June, Thomas asked a good friend of several members in the band to help out for these shows. She is mostly known under the moniker Thess. In these days, she's more known for being an upcoming Swedish comedian/actress, with a unique almost raw humor as specialty. But she originally comes from the musical scene which she will revive the memories of for a few days doing these festivals. She will ensure the transition from your worship of Kat to the New Breed of Divine Vikströmian offspring will go smooth and give those fortunate to be there an inner collectors item memory."

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Source:	megatherion.com
Band profile:	Therion

Canadian thrashers Titans Eve are teaming up with Metal Storm to give away 3 combo prize packs, including a copy of the band's debut full-length The Divine Equal CD and a Titans Eve t-shirt.

All you have to do is answer the following question: what concept is The Divine Equal based upon?

Follow the link to the official contest page to participate! The contest closes on Friday, June 17th. Good luck!

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Source:

metalstorm.net

"'The Embodiment Of Paradox And Chaos", a brand new song from UK metallers Lock Up, is currently streaming on band's Facebook page.

"'The Embodiment Of Paradox And Chaos" comes off the band's forthcoming album, entitled Necropolis Transparent, which will be released on July 1st in Europe, and July 12th in North America via Nuclear Blast Records as a regular CD, black vinyl and transparent vinyl. More details about Necropolis Transparent were previously reported over here.

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Source:	facebook.com
Band profile:	Lock Up