This May, UK-based John Blake Publishing will release Iron Maiden: In The Studio by music biographer Jake Brown (Motörhead, Heart, Rick Rubin, Tracii Guns).

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Spanning the band's entire 30 year catalog, the writing and recording of such classic albums as Number Of The Beast, Piece Of Mind, Brave New World and The Final Frontier, and hits as "2 Minutes to Midnight", "Wasted Years", "Can I Play with Madnesss", "Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter", "The Wicker Man", "The Trooper", "Run To The Hills", "Powerslave" and "Hallowed Be Thy Name" among countless others is chronicled.

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Source:	bravewords.com
Band profile:	Iron Maiden

Last night, Iron Maiden were honored with a Grammy Award for "Best Metal Performance".

The band was nominated for the track "El Dorado", from the band's latest album The Final Frontier. The ceremony of the 53rd annual Grammy Awards was held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Iron Maiden were not there to accept the Award as they just kicked off their Final Frontier World Tour.

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This marks the first Grammy win for Iron Maiden. The band was previously nominated for "Fear of the Dark" (at the 1994 Grammys) and "The Wicker Man" (at the 2001 Grammys).

Other nominees in this year's "Metal" category were as follows:

• Iron Maiden - "El Dorado" (from The Final Frontier)
  
• Korn - "Let The Guilt Go" (from Korn III: Remember Who You Are)
  
• Lamb Of God - "In Your Words" (from Wrath)
  
• Megadeth - "Sudden Death" (from Guitar Hero: Warriors Of Rock)
  
• Slayer - "World Painted Blood" (from World Painted Blood)

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Them Crooked Vultures - the rock supergroup featuring Josh Homme, John Paul Jones and Dave Grohl - picked up a Grammy Award in the "Best Hard Rock Performance" for the track "New Fang".

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Source:	grammy.com
Band profile:	Iron Maiden

Symfonia - the melodic metal super group featuring members of Stratovarius, Angra, Helloween and Sonata Arctica - will release their debut album, In Paradisum, on April 1st.

The band recently signed a worldwide distribution deal (excluding Asia) with Edel Germany GmbH, in cooperation with Hamburg based international marketing office IAM - International Artist Marketing.

Recorded and mixed in Sweden, Finland and Italy, the album In Paradisum carries the legacy of this incredible group of musicians who have written some of the most successful and exciting pages of the last 15 years of heavy metal.

For all the fans who can´t wait for the release of the album on April 1st, Symfonia will reveal their music in their music player commencing February 25th with snippets of various songs from the forthcoming album being made available every Friday.

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Timo Tolkki, guitar player, and producer of the album says: "I am extremely happy about the signing with Edel Germany and IAM and taking the next step in my career. I believe we have now gathered a team that enables Symfonia to bring its music to a wider range of audience around the globe. We have worked very hard for six months for this album and we think it is a positive and powerful and yet has a fresh and melodic approach. Last time I felt like this was when I signed the first international record deal with Stratovarius back in 1991. A lot has happened ever since but the ship sails on to a new horizon with new and positive energy and we cannot wait to get In Paradisum released and take it on the road."

Symfonia will make its world premiere on February 18th, 2011 at the Finnish Metal Expo, where they will take the stage at 11pm in the evening.

More info about the band can be found over here.

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Source:	symfonia.fi
Band profile:	Symfonia

Back in November, the news came out that drummer Jörg Michael (ex-Rage, ex-Running Wild, ex-Saxon, ex-Mekong Delta) was diagnosed with cancer. The current Stratovarius drummer now checked in with the following message:

"Dear All, this is Jörg speaking, finally.

I hope this message finds everybody well and everybody is in an easy-peasy Christmas mood already. The first leg of the European tour with Helloween is over - time to have a few words with you.

First of all, let's not forget the brilliant emergency rescue action and playing of Alex Landenburg (Axxis, Mekong Delta, At Vance), thanx again for all what you did for the fans, the band and also for me.

Surely I hate the idea of somebdy is sitting on "my chair" but this special action needed some special treatment and I am proud and happy that it was you, Alex. Thanx again, we'll get together for a real drink, not like these other Scandinavian pussies in the band

I was overwhelmed by all the wishes, tons of emails and text messages I received from all over the world wishing me a speedy recovery. Thank you so much for supporting me, and it made me feel very strong when fighting these bastards inside of me.

I have some good news to tell you and believe me - I really enjoy to tell the world:

The surgery was done about 6 weeks ago and the first therapy is done as well. All looks good so far and as Jens told me before: "Do not worry Jörg, nothing survives in your body after all what you did to it!"

Finally he was right, there are only small bits and bobs left - I will fight those with another therapy in about 4 months time.

I think I have been very lucky that it was discovered by one of my friends in a very early state. Very good that my friend decided to become a doctor, he was very lousy when he tried playing the guitar.

Besides preparing myself for Christmas, I am currently practicing the drums to be ready and kickin' again when the tour continues in the new year. I will be back, thanx again for everything and let's get alive and kicking once again, see you in Paris and everywhere else..."

Source:	forum.stratovarius.com
Band profile:	Stratovarius

As posted on the Avantasia website:

Rumors keep circulating about a forthcoming Avantasia Live-DVD and now we can confirm they are true! Early next year a double-DVD and 2-CD set will be out on Nuclear Blast Records (in Japan and East-Asia on Avalon-Marquee). The DVD is a documentary of the legendary 2008 world tour of Avantasia, when the band hit the road for the first time to write a new chapter in Metal history; traveling around the world with a giant all-star ensemble to bring The Metal Opera on stage and play on three continents within a few days, crossing the dateline and eventually playing to a total of 400,000 people within only a few weeks.

The first DVD contains a live concert with a running time of almost two hours featuring footage filmed at the headlining shows of Wacken Open Air (Germany) and Masters Of Rock (Czech Republic). On the second DVD there will be a movie "Around the world in 20 days" that gives fans the opportunity to join Avantasia backstage and take a look at the surroundings and the thrill behind the scenes that go along with an extensive undertaking such as this. The DVD-set will portray Avantasia 2008 when it all started.

Tobias comments: "I am so proud of this DVD package and the featured footage, even though it took a little longer to finally complete it. It gives people an idea of what an impact the first appearance of Avantasia on stage had, and you will get an idea of how everything went beyond our expectations and what the roots and the seeds for the current Avantasia tour are. It portrays one year in Avantasia's history, maybe the most important year in the project's history because that is when a studio-project became a traveling institution. There are many Metal Operas, but we made it something real, something to take hold of. Something alive..."

The finishing touches are being put on the mastering right now, so the DVD will be out in February. It will be available as a double 2-DVD, a double live CD, and a boxset featuring both. Stay tuned for more information.

[Also thanks to [user_id]32160[/user_id] for the news!]

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Source:	tobiassammet.com
Band profile:	Avantasia

Symfonia is the name of a new melodic metal project featuring former members of Helloween, Stratovarius, Angra and Sonata Arctica. The band is set to enter the Studio Mega in Varberg, Sweden later this month to begin recording its debut album, scheduled for a spring 2011 release.

The Symfonia line-up looks as follows:

Timo Tolkki (Stratovarius, Revolution Renaissance) - guitar

André Matos (Angra, Shaman, Viper) - vocals

Jari Kainulainen (Stratovarius, Evergrey) - bass

Mikko Härkin (Sonata Arctica, Kotipelto) - keyboards

Uli Kusch (Masterplan, Helloween) - drums

The very humble press release reads as follows: "None of these musicians need an introduction. They are all legends among the melodic metal community. By sheer coincidence, they all found themselves living on the same continent, in Scandinavia. They decided to join forces and express their talents in the form of a new melodic metal project: Symfonia.

Honoring the heritage of their previous bands Stratovarius, Helloween, Angra and Sonata Arctica, Symfonia continues their superb melodic metal tradition with an incredible musicianship that is a match made in heaven. This is a force that no serious melodic metal fan will be able to ignore.

Symfonia will make its world premiere on February 18 at the Finnish Metal Expo, an International Metal Meeting, where they will take the stage at 11PM in the evening."

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Source:	symfonia.fi
Band profile:	Symfonia

Rhapsody Of Fire are going to release an epic monument called: The Cold Embrace Of Fear - A Dark Romantic Symphony.

Guitarist Luca Turilli comments: "For this special CD we composed a unique song of around 35 minutes divided in 7 "acts". Looking at the title you can easily imagine that such long and epic song will show the most cinematic and orchestral side of our band, all our passion for the world of cinema we love so much and that always represented our main influence while composing the Rhapsody's music.

Essentially it is a long huge song, sounding very symphonic, full of orchestral sections very soundtrack oriented, narrations and spoken parts. More than in other cases we tried to create a real movie atmosphere with very dynamic musical results, also thanks to the help of the English actors that gave voice to different charachters. You will just need to close your eyes and explore those new emotional dimensions we wrote the music for."

The lyrics of this monumental, epic symphony are based on the "dark secret saga" and represents a new chapter, directly connected with The Frozen Tears Of Angels.

Luca explains: "After the long journey to the icy frozen northlands at the borders of the known world, while facing concrete natural obstacles and the inner demons lying in the depths of their conscience, the five main charachters reach the ancient gothic fortress of Har-Kuun, a real monument of evil trapped between ice and snow, the mystic place where the Erian's book could be finally found. The Cold Embrace Of Fear tells about the entrance of those bravehearts in the ancestral world of Har-Kuun and the dramatic search for the holy book of the angels, only possible way to understand something more about the dark secret threatening the whole known world. Also in this case I liked to create particular "bridges" connecting the new chapter of the saga with our modern life on the basis of symbolism, ancient wisdom and spiritual evolution. To someone who knows something about modern psychology and the study of the different "self", the hidden geometries and gothic labyrinths of Har-Kuun will reveal themselves very clearly."

Once again Christopher Lee was chosen for the spoken parts as a main narrator. Says the band: "We couldn't imagine to release something like this without his fundamental partecipation. Sir Lee is one member of the Rhapsody Of Fire's family since a lot of time and we love him not only as an actor but also as man. Because of his great and majestic personality he has surely the aura of a king of the ancient times."

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Source:	blogs.myspace.com
Band profile:	Rhapsody

Angra has finally announced the official title of its seventh full length. Aqua will be the first material released in the last four years and after the return of the drummer Ricardo Confessori (Shaman) to the band. Below is the official press release:

Aqua is a Latin word and means "water" in English. It represents the unique style that presented Angra to the world. Its incredible ability in mixing various music genres, transcending from Classical to Metal, Folklore to Modern, Pop to Experimental, has an unquestionable relevance nowadays and it is described in each detail of the new work.

The whole composition of the album was directly inspired by "The Tempest" - the last play written by William Shakespeare and shown here through an epic vision compared to its dark side.

"We really dedicated ourselves to the last work of Shakespeare to create Aqua. Besides all the qualities of the text, we founded out that the element "water" is one of the main characters of the history. It transforms itself during the cycles and changes the things around. It represents the rage of high tides and tempests, and then the forgiveness and wisdom in calm. Everything happens after a violent storm that occurs in the sea, in an island hill. While the wild waters come from up and down, a ship and the entire crew are fighting for surviving. As from this point, we developed one very interesting narrative that will get the attention of the listeners", said the guitarist Rafael Bittencourt.

Aqua was produced by a new team that confirms the actual renovation purpose of the band. The album was entirely arranged by the musicians, co-produced and mixed by Brendan Duffey and Adriano Daga, from Norcal Studios, and mastered by Maor Appelbaum at Maor Appelbaum Mastering Studios, in California (EUA).

The art concept was created by the renowned Brazilian artist Gustavo Sazes supervised by Rafael Bittencourt and Kiko Loureiro.

Aqua will be released in Japan on July 31st by JVC/Victor and will be distributed in Europe by SPV/Steamhammer afterwards. In Brazil it will be self-financed and released on August 17th. "We need to have a support for the international market and the SPV and JVC have always been done an excellent work related to the promotion of our last records. But in Brazil we will make it different this time. It will be self-financed so that we can control everything referred to the CD", said vocalist Edu Falaschi.

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Source:	msmetalpress.com
Band profile:	Angra

Spanish metallers Dark Moor have issued the following update on their official website:

"Hi dudes!

It is a pleasure to inform you good news.

We are currently working on the songwriting of what will be our eighth studio album, which we get to burn in the summer.

In August we will depart for Italy to carry it out with the help of our long time friend and producer Luigi Stefanini from New Sin Studios, and we hope the new work sees the light at the end of this year.

Just tell you that there will be some surprises that we are sure you will like. We are very excited about how things are going out and we believe that is a very important step on our career.

Stay tuned, soon we will forward some other things.

A big hug from the whole band for everyone!

Alfred"

Source:	dark-moor.com
Band profile:	Dark Moor

Timo Tolkki's Revolution Renaissance has set Trinity as the title of its forthcoming third album, tentatively due in the fall via Napalm Records. The album, engineered by Santtu Lehtiniemi, follows a more "power metal" direction than its predecessor Age Of Aquarius. The vocals and the drums ? which are being handled by Revolution Renaissance's Brazilian contingent, consisting of Gus Monsanto and Bruno Agra, respectively ? were recorded in Brazil. According to Tolkki, the new CD will sound "very organic and natural, but also very modern."

In other news, Revolution Renaissance has tapped Firewind's Bob Katsionis (ex-Nightfall) as its new keyboardist.

In October 2009 the band parted ways with bassist Justin Biggs and keyboardist Michael Khalilov because it "became evident to everybody that Revolution Renaissance was not the right band for the guys," Timo Tolkki said in a statement. "Justin is more of a thrash guy and Mike expected the music to be something totally different. Out of these reasons the decision has been made that it is better to go separate ways." Magnus Rosén (ex-HammerFall, ex-Jorn) joined the band a few weeks afterwards.

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Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Revolution Renaissance

Helloween recently entered Andi Deris' Mi Sueno Studios on Tenerife to start working on the yet untitled 13th full length studio album. The band wrote more than 20 songs and is currently selecting the best ideas with long time producer Charlie Bauerfeind.

Bass player Markus Grosskopf comments the direction of the album as follows: "For all those out there who found our special best-of Unarmed to be too smooth and calm, I have a great news: The new album will hit you right in the face! It´s gonna be very heavy and contain all Helloween trademarks! Some songs are very powerful and hymnic, others contain the fastest bass drum patterns our drummer Dani ever played, and this means a lot! I am really excited about the material we brought together and can´t wait to put my bass tracks on those kick ass metal songs!"

A short movie from the studio can be watched here. The release of the album is scheduled for Halloween, October 31st, followed by a world tour starting in Europe the end of the year.

[Also thanks to Snbn]

Source:	helloween.org
Band profile:	Helloween

Official press release

Italian metal "heroes" Rhapsody Of Fire return with a fantastic new album that will be released on March 5th, 2010 by their new label Nuclear Blast, which is known for acts like Nightwish, Edguy or Blind Guardian.

"We are finally proud to announce to the world that Rhapsody Of Fire are stronger than ever and finally ready for their glorious come-back! We just signed a worldwide-level agreement with the legendary label 'Nuclear Blast', at this time the greatest choice we could have ever done. Wonderful people, a great business vision and the best organization possible, for a relationship that can be anything else but successful for the years to come.

In the last months we worked very hard and now all we can say is that a great new album, a real masterpiece of power/speed/symphonic metal, is finally ready!

It's title is The Frozen Tears Of Angels, it is produced by Luca Turilli and Alex Staropoli and it was mixed and mastered by our valorous friend Sascha Paeth at the Gate Studio in Wolfsburg (Avantasia, Epica and others).

This is not just a new album for us, but pure emotion carved in music.

Lyrically it's based on the 3rd chapter of "The Dark Secret Sage" and the long journey of five bravehearts to the frozen northern lands at the unexplored borders of the known world in order to find a way to stop the demonknight's prophecy. This album and its music will underline the feelings, hopes and fear of the main characters in this new epic adventure.

All the drama of this new part of the saga will be as always enchanted by the soundtrack oriented orchestral arrangements and the majesty of opera choirs, real trademark of Rhapsody of Fire's music, but surely this album will sound more powerful, speed and guitar oriented than in the recent past, in order to underline the dark and romantic rage of the lyrics too.

Every song will have its own character, as you will be able to fly with the angels of the crystal realms through the cold skies of the north on the notes of hit-songs like "Sea Of Fate" (song written for the first time together by Luca Turilli, Alex Staropoli and Fabio Lione), "Raging Starfire" or "The Frozen Tears Of Angels", and at the same time you will have a taste of the angels' holy rage listening to "Reign Of Terror", real gem of this new production.

The energy of more extreme metal applied to positive lyrics hymning to the victory of hope, truth and respect over the inner demons lying in the depths of our conscience for a unique contrast never heard before and that made us really excited while composing this song.

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Source:	rhapsodyoffire.com
Band profile:	Rhapsody

A few days ago, Blind Guardian's Hansi Kürsch posted the following update on the band's official webpage:

"To keep this one a short but essential one: we finally have started the production of Blind Guardian studio album number nine. Frederik is literally rushing through the songs already. Who knows, this time we may deliver the finished master prior to the ultimate deadline (set by an about-to-get-insane record company after thousands of broken promises to finally deliver the new record within the next days). Well Frederik isn't Marcus, who isn't André, who most certainly is not Hansi. So there still lies trouble (i.e. delays) ahead.

Back to Frederik, back to the production: We started sometime last week and Frederik accomplished drums for some seriously tricky tracks. If I am correct he has two more tracks to go and should be finished during the next days. Altogether there are 11 songs to work on. As mentioned last time, we do have a strong amount of heavy Guardian hymns, which come along with such a harsh intensity that I am sometimes surprised myself. There is a fine balance of extremely fast songs and ultimate epic stuff. "Wheel of Time" would be one example for the last mentioned. The song contains many surprises - I am deadly honest about that, so mark my words here. Lyrically I am of course tempted to deal with Robert Jordan's great "Wheel of Time" story, one of the best fantasy series ever. If you asked me with which song the number could be compared I most probably would say "The Script for my Requiem" or "And then there was Silence". This tune does really have the potential to mess with these two songs.

As you most probably figure I am really excited about the new stuff and I cannot await to hear the final result somewhere in April 2010, when we will have finished mixing. We are targeting a late summer, early fall release, which means you still have to wait a little bit. To make the long waiting more comfortable we are at least intending to constantly provide you with information about the album's progress and supply you with small samples of noise from time to time. Right at the moment we are working on an accurate set up to make that possible. Expect something before Christmas. As it looks now I will start first vocals next Monday. Therefore I need to do some more research for proper lyrics. G.R.R. Martin, Robert Jordan, Michael Moorcock and so on they all knew how to write a good story or two..."

Source:	blind-guardian.com
Band profile:	Blind Guardian

On July 11th Magic Circle Festival IV will take place at Metalcamp 2010 in Tolmin, Slovenia. Located in the heart of Europe, only 95km from Ljubljana (Slovenia), 97km from Udine (Italy), 105km from Villach (Austria) and 240km from Zagreb (Croatia), this partnership with Metalcamp celebrates the first Magic Circle Festival outside German territory.

The show coincides with the final game of the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, which will be broadcast LIVE at the event on a gigantic screen. Immediately following the game, Manowar hits the stage! The World Cup/concert combination promises to make "Magic Circle Festival at Metalcamp 2010" the greatest football-meets-metal party ever for those in attendance! In addition to Manowar, special guests include Magic Circle Music recording artists HolyHell and Metalforce. Other acts and program details to be announced soon.

Whether you are already planning to attend Metalcamp 2010 or not, make sure to join in this very special event and witness the first-ever Manowar concert in Slovenia! The Death To Infidels World Tour 2010 is Manowar's first full-length world tour in over a decade and "Magic Circle Festival at Metalcamp 2010" is a must-see event. As the Kings of Metal descend upon Slovenia, they will be conquering new territory in their ongoing pursuit of world domination!

Please note:
- Tickets for "Metalcamp 2010" (July 5 - 10) cannot be used for "Magic Circle Festival at Metalcamp 2010" (July 11).
- Tickets for "Magic Circle Festival at Metalcamp 2010" (July 11) cannot be used for "Metalcamp 2010" (July 5-10).

Tickets for "Magic Circle Festival at Metalcamp 2010" are on sale now. Click here to buy! Parking and camping are free.

Ultimate Fan Packages, a must-have for die-hard Manowar fans, will be available soon!

Source:	manowar.com
Band profile:	Manowar
Event:	Magic Circle Festival @ Metalcamp 2010

US metallers Manowar have issued the following update on their official website:

"The long awaited sequel of the "Hell On Earth" series is finally coming out on November 27, 2009.

"Hell On Earth V" will cover Manowar's recent world tours including Germany, Norway, Spain, Finland, Russia, Romania, Turkey, USA and Canada. It will feature live performances of old and new classics such as "Gloves Of Metal", "The Crown And The Ring", "Hand Of Doom", "Hymn Of The Immortal Warrior", "Father", "God Or Man" and many others.

Director Neil Johnson adds: "Picking up where the Earthshaker left off... "Hell On Earth V" covers the amazing "Demons Dragons & Warriors Tour" complete with onstage Vikings and all the craziness that happens behind the scenes of a Manowar show. I have done my best to show new and classic songs never captured on camera before, including the much-requested "Mountains" and songs from the new EP, "Thunder In The Sky". It will be a step above "Hell On Earth IV" in quality and spectacle."

The DVD will be available for pre-sale exclusively through Manowar's official merchandise shop: The Kingdom Of Steel.

More information and ordering details coming soon!"

Source:	manowar.com
Band profile:	Manowar