Kivimetsän Druidi recently finished recording their new album Betrayal, Justice, Revenge, which will be released via Century Media Records in late April 2010. There's currently a new song streaming online coming off said album. The track is entitled "Seawitch and the Sorcerer" and can be heard over at this location. More album details to be found here.

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Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Kivimetsän Druidi

Nightwish vocalist Anette Olzon is having a baby. Here's what she wrote on her blog today:

"I have held a little secret for you all for some time now, but today I feel I want to share it with you all. As you all know, I am very private and don't want to share to much about my personal life, but due to some speculations and since I am so happy I have decided to tell my secret:

Last autumn in the middle of my demo recordings of my solo album, I started to feel very, very tired and also nauseated. I took a pregnancy test and guess if me and my bf was really surprised to see that I had gotten pregnant. Since I had decided to not have any more children than my son, it was totally not planned, but after the very first shock, it felt really, really good.

Now I have almost done half the pregnancy and I am feeling extremely good, but its due to this I decided to not do the solo this year. I am sure you all can understand this decision better now and I do promise to release the songs at another time."

Read some interview extracts in which Anette is talking about her pregnancy here.


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Source:	anette-olzon.blogspot.com
Band profile:	Nightwish

At the beginning of the week Stryper frontman Michael Sweet announced his band is about to start recording a new album of cover songs from bands that influenced Stryper musically growing up.

Now, the Stryper vocalist/guitarist also announced he decided to periodically release the specific songs the band will be recording via his personal twitter account. You can join him on twitter and be the first to know the songs Stryper will be covering for this upcoming album. This will be the only place the band'll be releasing this information.

Confirmed cover songs so far include "Breaking The Law" by Judas Priest, "The Trooper" by Iron Maiden and "Blackout" by Scorpions.

According to the February 15 message, the band "wanted to step outside the box and record a record that shows you, the fans, where we come from - our historical, musical roots so to speak. It's a side to Stryper that no one has really seen or heard before, or at least quite like this. We grew up listening to many different styles of music and there is a list of bands that influenced us throughout our musical education. Bands like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Scorpions, Van Halen, UFO, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Kansas and many others, helped to shape our sound and make us who we are today, musically speaking." You can find the full message here.

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Source:	stryper.com
Band profile:	Stryper

American heavy metal outfit Trivium have posted their cover of Sepultura's "Slave New World" online. You can check it out below. The song was recorded recently along with an original track entitled, "Shattering The Skies Above," which will feature on the soundtrack to the forthcoming video game, God Of War III. "Slave New World" originally appeared on Sepultura's Chaos A.D. album which was released in 1993.


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Source:	metalunderground.com
Band profile:	Trivium

The following update has appeared on In Flames's official website:

"Jesper Strömblad, guitarist in In Flames has decided to leave the band permanently.

He had this to say - 'I have decided it is best for me to leave In Flames and to quit the band permanently. The last 17 years have been a blast, and I am proud to have been part of this great journey, with the most talented and amazing people anyone can wish to have the privilege to work with. I'm also the luckiest guy in the world, to have the BEST fans in the world, who have been supporting me during my difficult times. It means the world to me, and I'm determined to fight and defeat my demons once and for all.... and by the help from you guys, I'm on my way. I'm far from done with music, metal, or whatever my direction is taking me, so be sure to hear from me in the future.

...May the Force be with you!'

Anders, Peter, Daniel & Björn commented 'We are losing a great guitar player and musician, but in order to keep a very dear friend this is probably for the best.

If this feels right for Jesper we are behind him 100% on his decision.

It is way too early to speculate about the future and possible replacements and things like that. However, we can assure you that In Flames will continue as a band, release albums and tour the world.

The door to In Flames is always open to Jesper. We are, and will always be behind Jesper 100% on his way to recovery.'"

Source:	inflames.com
Band profile:	In Flames

Official press release

Since today Skyforger have a new label, which is Metal Blade Records!

We are currently mixing our new album Kurbads which will be released on Metal Blade worldwide.

Album is set for release the 23th/26th of April 2010 in Europe, 11th of May in North America. More details on the recording process and the album details will be announced shortly as well as a brand new song will be posted soon!

Stay tuned!

A short album video trailer (with new music!) can be seen on YouTube and Vimeo!

Furthermore, this saturday You can catch Skyforger live on Winterfire Festival!


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Source:	skyforger.lv
Band profile:	Skyforger

Swiss folk metallers Eluveitie just posted another new song off their highly anticipated new album Everything Remains (As It Never Was). Check out "Kingdom Come Undone" at the band's MySpace.

Commented bandleader Chrigel Glanzmann: "Here comes the second song off our upcoming album we'd like to present you: "Kingdom come undone". One of our harsher tracks, where juggernautish riffs meet with onrushing folkmelodies. And exactly the same furious character also lies in the lyrics. The song deals with Vercingetorix, a gaulish freedom fighter who lived in the time of the gaulish war. His endeavour was to unite the gaulish clans. The song presents you a passionate speech, like he probably could have held it in front of assembled gaulish chieftains. In that sense: This is V... for Vercingetorix! "

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Source:	nuclearblast.de
Band profile:	Eluveitie

Aussie rockers AC/DC could have to cancel a sold-out concert because their big sound poses a danger to rare birds.

Animal rights campaigners are threatening legal action if the veteran band goes ahead with a gig planned for Wels airport in Austria in May. Hans Uhl of BirdLife said birds nesting in the area at the time would be threatened by anthems such as "Highway To Hell" and "You Shook Me All Night Long". "The second biggest colony of curlews in Upper Austria and various other ground-nesting birds must not become endangered," Mr Uhl said.

The event's 80,000 tickets were sold out within hours.

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Source:	dailytelegraph.com.au
Band profile:	AC/DC
Event:	AC/DC: Black Ice World Tour Returns To Europe

Kiss have posted a brand new song from their upcoming album "Sonic Boom" online. The song is called "Modern Day Delilah" and can be found at this location. It's their first new material in 11 years.

More detail about the new album at this location.

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Source:	kissonline.com
Band profile:	KISS

As posted by Black Sabbath's webmaster on the band's official website:

"A few years back, Tony Iommi had to have surgery for carpel tunnel syndrome. When I talked with him backstage after a 2007 concert, I asked him how he was doing with that, and said it was fine, didn't seem to be an issue. A little while ago, I had heard on the grapevine that Tony needed hand surgery, but since I couldn't get confirmation, I didn't want to post it here. There's enough rumour out there without me inventing more. So this morning, I saw an interview with Tony linked to from Blabbermouth, and it confirms the hand surgery issue. Whether or not it's a re-occurrence of the carpel tunnel or something else I don't know. I've attempted to find out from Tony's manager, but as of yet haven't gotten any details.

There's also that concert on the current tour where Tony had such severe back pain where he had to be taken out on a stretcher, and Ronnie, Vinny, & Geezer came out and apologized for canceling at the last second.

So hopefully Tony can get the surgery he needs, and that it's successful. That issue aside, the interview linked to is quite good. Talks about more than Tony's health problems. What Tony thinks of the new album a few months down the road, what it's like with different singers, and more details on his hand issue."

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Source:	black-sabbath.com
Band profile:	Black Sabbath

Rock legends KISS have revealed the details for their forthcoming new studio album, "Sonic Boom". The album was produced by Paul Stanley and co-produced by Greg Collins. "Sonic Boom" will be the bands first album of original material since 1998's, "Psycho Circus" album, and is expected to hit the shelves on October 6th. The record contains eleven songs. The US & Canadian release comes with two bonus discs, one of completely re-recorded greatest songs, as well as a live DVD shot in Buenos Aires, Argentina during the band's 2009 South American tour. The discs are packaged in a DigiPak along with a 20-page booklet.

"Sonic Boom" cover art] tracklist:

01. Modern Day Delilah
02. Russian Roulette
03. Never Enough
04. Yes I Know (Nobody's Perfect)
05. Stand
06. Hot And Cold
07. All For The Glory
08. Danger Us
09. I'm An Animal
10. When Lightning Strikes
11. Say Yeah

"Kiss Klassics" :

01. Deuce
02. Detroit Rock City
03. Shout It Out Loud
04. Hotter Than Hell
05. Calling Dr. Love
06. Love Gun
07. I Was Made For Lovin' You
08. Heaven's On Fire
09. Lick It up
10. I Love It Loud
11. Forever
12. Christine Sixteen
13. Do You Love Me
14. Black Diamond
15. Rock And Roll All Nite

Live DVD: Live at Buenos Aires, 2009 :

01. Deuce
02. Hotter Than Hell
03. C'mon And Love Me
04. Watchin' You
05. 100,000 Years
06. Rock & Roll All Nite

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Source:	kissonline.com
Band profile:	KISS

Edguy have just revealed the album cover for their forthcoming new studio album "Tinnitus Sanctus" which will be released worldwide on November 14th.
Last Saturday the record company invited the press to the studio where the album was played to several European journalists who were all really impressed with the fresh and heavy sound. More than one journalist came up with the memorable remark that the album will underline Edguy's status of having become Germany's leading Hard'n'Heavy band, setting off to new horizons, featuring typical trademarks without repeating themselves. This album is a statement of innovation and credibility and as Tobias has put it, "A vitamin shot in the arm of a boring and predictable genre!"

The "Tinnitus Sanctus" cover can be viewed here

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Source:	edguy.net
Band profile:	Edguy

Guitarist/vocalist Mille Petrozza of German thrashers Kreator has sent in the following massage:

"A high-quality updated version of our VHS classics 'Live In East Berlin' and 'Hallucinative Comas' will be released on DVD for the first time ever! We're really excited to hear your reactions on this! We've put a lot of hard work, sweat and energy into this monster!"

"Other than that, we're spending most of our time in the rehearsal room these days to prepare the new album! We have a five-track demo and two more songs written. The writing really smooth, the new songs are made for a live situation and they all kill! No compromise but sheer thrash metal brutality! So be prepared ? January 2009 will see the release of the next album, followed by an extensive world tour!"

The full message can be found at this location.

In other news, MTV's Headbanger's Blog has posted a clip of Kreator's "Pleasure To Kill" - taken from their new DVD 'At The Pulse Of Kapitulation - Live in East Berlin 1990' - in-stores now via SPV. The video can be seen here.

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Source:	kreator-terrorzone.de
Band profile:	Kreator

The new Kamelot video for the song "Rule The World" is now online at kamelot.com and the band's official MySpace site. According to a posting on the official Kamelot website, the video is getting amazing reviews from the journalists and specialists.

Also the double CD reissue "Ghost Opera - The Second Coming" is now in stores with lots of extras, bringing you a new experience into the Kamelot's universe. More info at this link.

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Source:	metalunderground.com
Band profile:	Kamelot

Nightwish has been nominated in five different categories for the Finnish "Emma" award.

The categories are:

- Band Of The Year
- Best Metal Album (Dark Passion Play)
- Best Album (Dark Passion Play)
- Song Of The Year (Amaranth)
- Best Finnish Artist

The Emma-gala takes place on 8th of March in Kulttuuritalo, Helsinki.

Additionally, Nightwish has been nominated for the German "ECHO" award in the Rock/Alternative (international) category.

The ECHO award ceremony will take place on February 15th in Berlin.

Emma-gaala Homepage (Finnish)
ECHO Homepage (German)

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Source:	nightwish.com
Band profile:	Nightwish