From James LaBrie, the Dream Theater front man:

"I thought it would be of interest to know a little more of how it was possible to finally record the TSR project.

Dirk Ulrich (Mastermind and Producer) and I spoke almost 6 years ago about the possibility of doing such a project and at the time it was supposed to be 3 rock tenors. By the way the acronym TSR is: True Symphonic Rockestra. Anyway to really see this thing through meant first and foremost finding and deciding on the singers and 3 that would blend well. Secondly, a label that shared our vision and enthusiasm.

I am extremely stoked about this recording and cannot wait for everyone to finally hear it. Dirk will begin the mix at MarinSound Studios in Krasnodar, Russia June 24th. We will keep you posted and let you know when the official TSR site is up."

Source:	dreamtheater.net
Band profile:	James LaBrie

Municipal Waste Unveil U.S. And Selected International Tour Dates

Earache's own reigning thrash masters, Municipal Waste have announced several US summer tour dates, as well as a string of UK and Australian dates. Municipal Waste embody the spirit of a good 'ol time and are eager to bring the waste to the masses! Municipal Waste are touring in support of their first Earache release, "Hazardous Mutation" and are sure to embrace the summer spirit of beer, boogie boards, an musical, thrashy fun! Municipal Waste will be playing alongside a variety of bands, including Murphy's Law, Deadfall, Caustic Christ, Annihilation Time and many more. Don't miss this chance to see Municipal Waste bring their playful debauchery to your neighborhood! Municipal Waste will also be available for interviews after each show and will be available to answer any tour an album question!

For updated tour details check out: www.myspace.com/municipalwaste

2006 U.S. Summer Tour Dates:

6/ 25 - 6:00 PM @ Peppermint Club - Virginia Beach, VA
7/ 8 - 7:00 PM @ Oakland Cafe - Pittsburgh , PA
7/9 - 8:00PM @ Mohawk Place - Buffalo, NY
7/10 - 8:00PM @ Wescott Community Center - Syracuse, NY
7/11 - 8:00PM @ Elks Lodge - Boston, MA
7/12 - 8:00 PM @ T.B.A - Providence, RI
7/13 - 8:00PM @ Wallingford American Legion - Wallingford, CT
7/14 - 8:00PM @ North Six - Brooklyn, NY
7/15 - 8:00PM @ First Unitarian Church - Philadelphia, PA
7/16 - 3:00PM @ Asbury Lanes - Asbury Park, NJ
7/17 - 1:00PM @ Sounds of the Underground Tour *- Columbia , MD
7/22 - 7:00PM @ Town Hall (Vera) - Seattle, WA
7/23 - 8:00PM @ Sabala's - Portland , OR
7/24 - 7:00PM @ FOODHOLE - Portland, OR
7/25 - 7:00PM @ Burnt Ramen! - Richmond, CA
7/26 - 6:00PM @ Info Shop - Fresno, CA
7/27 - 7:00PM @ Zen Sushi - West Hollywood, CA
7/28 - 8:00PM @ TBA - Anaheim, CA
7/29 - 8:00PM @ Static Lounge 18 - San Deigo, CA
7/30 - 6:00PM @ Que Sera - Long Beach, CA

* Guest slot on Sounds of the Underground Tour, for more info check out:
http://www.soundsoftheundergroundtour.com/

2006 Summer Australian Dates:
8/4 - 8:00PM @ The Basement - Brisbane, Australia
8/5 - 8:00PM @ Annadale - Sydney, Australia
8/6 - 8:00PM @ Cambridge - New Castle, Australia
8/9 - 8:00PM @ Rosemount - Perth, Australia
8/11 - 8:00PM @ Enigma - Adelaide, Australia
8/12 - 8:00PM @ Arthouse - Melbourne, Australia

2006 Summer U.K. Dates:
8/25 - 1:00PM @ Reading Festival - Reading, UK
8/26 - 8:00PM @ Leeds Festival - Leeds, UK

Source:	earache.com
Band profile:	Municipal Waste

American doom metallers November's Doom have begun recording the upcoming CD entitled "The Novella Reservoir", the album will include eight tracks that are recording with the producer Chris Djuricic and mixing with the multi-instrumentalist Dan Swanö and mastering with James Murphy. As it previously reported on their homepage,the drums have been tracked; studio photos and video commentary are currently available.

"Here are the details for our 6th full length recording...

'The Novella Reservoir'

1. Rain
2. The Novella Reservoir
3. They Were Left to Die
4. Our Twilight Innocence
5. Drown the Inland Mere
6. The Voice of Failure
7. Dominate the Human Strain
8. Leaving This"

For more details visit November's Doom official website.

Source:	novembersdoom.com
Band profile:	Novembers Doom

Veteran Power Metallers Blind Guardian have been invited, and have accepted to be this year's special guest appearance at Earthshaker Fest 2006. Earthershaker will be on 21st and 22nd of July this year. It will be held at Kreuth, Rieden in Germany. They will be playing some new songs from their upcoming album 'A Twist In The Myth' and will be holding a one hour autograph session on the first day of the festival. For more information about the actual festival, visit the Earthshaker link below.

Source:	earthshaker-fest.com
Band profile:	Blind Guardian

Thrash Metallers Megadeth will be releasing their new untitled album on Halloween this year (October 31st). Frontman Dave Mustaine and co-producer Jeff Balding have recently returned to SARM Studios in London to work further on the album, and then guitarist Glen Drover will be to traveling to Los Angeles, USA to complete the recording and do the solos for the album.

Here is a comment by Glen from Megadeth's official website:

"As I write this, I am doing my last minute preparations for my trip to sunny California this afternoon to begin my guitar solos for the new Megadeth record. I have had the basic tracks for a week or two here at home, so I am well prepared to go on this. This is going to be fun stuff. I don't like to be overprepared though, as I like to let some of the solos be spontaneous; I think both ways work well with me. So much cool stuff coming up soon. It's going to be great!!"

So far no title or song names have been announced.

Here is a comment by Dave:
"...as for song titles or album, you know me, these song titles change everyday! And I won't know the record title until I've committed to the damn artwork."

Sources: www.megadeth.com, www.metal-temple.com

Source:	metal-temple.com
Band profile:	Megadeth

Death Metallers Entombed have now parted with drummer Peter Stjärnvind. A representative from the band's record label Threeman Recordings has confirmed this information. Peter has spoken with the band's guitarist Alex Hellid about his departure, and the news is now official.

Peter decided to leave Entombed so that he could concertrate full time on his other band 'Nifelheim'.

Session drummer Olle Dahlstedt will perform with Entombed on their upcoming live shows.

More information will be posted when available.

Source:	metal-temple.com
Band profile:	Entombed

Masters of Death tour 2006

In November, Europe will face the most brutal bill that has ever shared the same stage': Grave, Dismember, Entombed, Unleashed will team up to bring a night of the best metal Sweden has ever had to offer. The package is an idea that all four bands has planned and prepared in the past months and finally they are doing it. Dates and more info will be announced shortly.

Source:	grave.se
Band profile:	Grave

Catamenia + Winterhorde + support

More dates will be announced when they are confirmed.

14/10/2006 Maribor, Slovenia
13/10/2006 Zagreb, Croatia
12/10/2006 Osijek, Croatia
11/10/2006 Sofia, Bulgaria
10/10/2006 Bucharest, Romania - Bucharest Metal Night
09/10/2006 Galati, Romania - Hellraiser Metal Meeting # 3
07/10/2006 Cluj-Napoca, Romania - Maximum Rock Festival

Source:	catamenia.net
Band profile:	Catamenia

Hammerfall recently entered the studio to begin recording the follow-up to 2005's "Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken". The album will be released on October 20 through Nuclear Blast Records, with a single release of the track "Natural High" available on September 22. Other songtitles set to appear on the CD include "Carved In Stone", "Titan", "Dark Wings, Dark Words", "Shadow Empire", "Rebel Inside", "Threshold", "Howlin' With The Pac" and "The Fire Burns Forever".

Guitar player and main songwriter Oscar Dronjak comments: "Our goal was to get as heavy and energetic a production as we had on the previous albums, but to improve it and the performance even more. Musically, we built on the foundation of our previous work and developed the sound, and perhaps brought back some of the speed. Without losing the heaviness and the groove, of course. Hammerfall is, and always will be, a heavy metal band."

Everyone who will visit this year's Earthshaker Fest, set to take place July 21-22 in Kreuth, Germany, will get the chance to listen to one of those new tracks live. Says Oscar: "We will do 'The Fire Burns Forever', the song we recorded a video together with the Swedish athletics a couple of weeks back. As far as I know, it will be available for download during August only, so it will be in promotion for that. We're also going to bust out a few songs we haven't done in a while, just for fun."

Source:	roadrunnerrecords.com
Band profile:	HammerFall

Iron Maiden have recently posted the new tracklist and title of their new album on their official page. The Album title is 'A Matter of Life and Death' and the tracklist is as follows:

1. Different Worlds (Smith/Harris) 4.17
2. These Colours Don't Run (Smith/Harris/Dickinson) 6.52
3. Brighter Than a Thousand Suns (Smith/Harris/Dickinson) 8.44
4. The Pilgrim (Gers/Harris) 5.07
5. The Longest Day (Smith/Harris/Dickinson) 7.48
6. Out Of the Shadows (Dickinson/Harris) 5.36
7. The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg (Murray/Harris) 7.21
8. For The Greater Good of God (Harris) 9.24
9. Lord Of Light (Smith/Harris/Dickinson) 7.23
10. The Legacy (Gers/Harris) 9.20

No release dates have been announced as of yet, but the album is expected to be released sometime around early Autumn.

Source:	ironmaiden.com
Band profile:	Iron Maiden

Orphaned Land published 3 dates (1 in Israel and 2 in Turkey) for the special decade shows of their second album ''El Norra Alila''. Orphaned Land will play two hours sets, during which the whole ''El Norra Alila'' album will be performed chronologically.

The dates for these special shows are:

29/7/2006 Tel Aviv Theatre Club
14/9/2006 Istanbul Yeni Melek
16/9/2006 Ankara Saklikent

Source:	orphaned-land.com
Band profile:	Orphaned Land
Event:	Orphaned Land: "El Norra Alila" Decade Show

"Soldier of fortune", the Deep Purple cover recorded at the BBC and set up as a bonus track for the upcoming special edition of "Ghost reveries" will be re-recorded at the famed Atlantis studios in Stockholm. This is due to unforeseen legal problems with the BBC in the UK. Therefore the BBC recording won't be available other than through downloads.

Source:	opeth.com
Band profile:	Opeth

Katatonia has announced the cancellation of the MAMF festival in their official website:
"Since the promoter couldn't live up to what was signed and agreed for, our appearance at the MAMF festival in Hungary has been cancelled. However, we're already looking at the possibilities of returning to Hungary in the autumn for a club gig with additional dates in countries such as Romania, Serbia and maybe even Croatia - all previously unvisited by Katatonia."

Source:	katatonia.com
Band profile:	Katatonia

Ex-Bolt Thrower vocalist Dave Ingram who is still a good friend of the band has put together three videos that he made from footage he filmed when his new band Downlord supported Bolt Thrower earlier this year. You can view the videos here:

At First Light: http://homepage.mac.com/lapdog1/iMovieTheater26.html
When Cannons Fade: http://homepage.mac.com/lapdog1/iMovieTheater27.html
Salvo: http://homepage.mac.com/lapdog1/iMovieTheater29.html

Source:	boltthrower.com
Band profile:	Bolt Thrower

Blood Mountain is the upcoming third full length studio album by metal band Mastodon. The recording of the album finished in April 2006 and it is scheduled for release in August 2006.

"It's about climbing up a mountain and the different things that can happen to you when you're stranded on a mountain, in the woods, and you're lost," explained Dailor. "You're starving, hallucinating, running into strange creatures. You're being hunted. It's about that whole struggle."

Guest contributors to Blood Mountain include Scott Kelly of Neurosis and Mars Volta keyboardist Ikey Owens and frontman Cedric Bixler Zavala, who sings on "The Siberian Divide."

Tracklist:
* "Circle of Cysquatch"
* "Hunters of the Sky"
* "The Sleeping Giant"
* "Bladecatcher"
* "The Colony of Birchmen"
* "Pendulous Skin"
* "The Siberian Divide" (featuring Cedric Bixler-Zavala)
* "Capillarian Crest"
* "Hand of Stone"
* "Crystal Skull"
* "The Wolf Is Loose"
* "This Mortal Soil"

Read more ››

Source:	chartattack.com
Band profile:	Mastodon