Nevermore guitarist Steve Smyth has posted the following update at his official website, after having a successful kidney transplant operation:

"The time has finally come to share a very important piece of news, directly related to my health. On December 12th, 2006, I had a successful kidney transplant! After 6 straight months on dialysis, changes to my lifestyle and diet, and a very thorough search for a suitable donor, by early August 2006, we had a preliminary match. Several rounds of blood and tissue typing tests had to be subsequently performed to ensure we were a perfect match for transplant; the main reason for my hesitance in saying anything publicly during those months.

The donor shall remain nameless, but my gratitude to him for his selfless act of kindness and friendship will endure forever! Thank you so much, you have no idea how much this means to me!

I am now on the road to recovery, as they say. This is mainly requiring a lot of adjustment to medications I will be on for the rest of my life, a small price to pay to be free from dialysis, and the restrictions it places on a person, both mentally and physically. I had no idea how much freedom I took for granted before all of this hit. 2006 was a big revelation of the frailty of human life for me, something I will not take for granted again.

Where does all this lead to next? I've been advised by my doctors that I will not be able to travel in any capacity for the next 6 months, as I have to adjust to immunosuppressant drugs to fight any possible form of rejection of the kidney, and my body needs time to recover from this operation, as well as dietary and lifestyle changes. All things that only make one stronger!

Obviously, my health must come first, but of huge importance to me is my loyalty to the rest of Nevermore, and as soon as I am deemed fit and ready to hit the road again, I will. I've already written 4-5 songs in various stages for the next Nevermore record, when the time comes to do one."

Source:	stevesmyth.com
Band profile:	Nevermore

Death Metallers Bolt Thrower have been confirmed for Summer Breeze Festival '07. The show will be the only time the band will visit Germany for 2007. The Summer Breeze Open Air Festival will take place in Dinkelsbühl, Germany on the 16-18th of August this year and Bolt Thrower will be performing on the 17th. You can visit the Summer Breeze website here.

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Source:	boltthrower.com
Band profile:	Bolt Thrower
Event:	Summer Breeze Open Air

Australian Power/Progressive band Vanishing Point have announced the replacement for just recently departed bass player Steve Cox. The new bassist will be Adrian Alimic who has played with Manic Opera and Here I Die. Alimic will play bass on the upcoming Vanishing Point album, and he's already completed the bass parts for it.

Vanishing Point have also posted more news about the upcoming album. Some album titles have been thrown up in the air, but nothing has been ultimately decided on. In a couple of months the band say they will post all the album information online. The music parts have been completed and vocallist Silvio Massaro will be doing the vocals in the first week of January. The band says that the album will be finished in about April next year.

Here is a comment about what the album will be like: "...the album musically is a little heavier than usual, but for VP fans it is a step up and musically it is melodic, bombastic, dynamic, quicker and suprise suprise...shorter than Embrace The Silence."

Source:	vanishing-point.com.au
Band profile:	Vanishing Point

Symphony X's webmaster has posted another studio update online. The band are still working on their upcoming album 'Paradise Lost' which is supposed to be released some time in the first half of 2007.

Here is the posting, taken from symphonyx.com:

"Spoke to MJR for a while this afternoon, and here's what he had to say...

They had planned to start the mix on the CD this week, but were delayed a bit overall by the holiday earlier this week, so mixing has been rescheduled for January. Russ has 3 songs to finish (and was on his way to The Dungeon as Mike & I spoke) & hopes to be done with his recording by the weekend, and MJR has a couple more solos that he wants to record, as well as getting some loose ends tied up and polishing things up overall. They are still aiming for a Spring '07 release, & Mike had some pretty exciting things to say about the material, saying that it has something for old fans and new fans alike, so I'm confident more than ever in saying that the CD will be well worth the wait.

So there IS light at the end of the tunnel, & the band appreciates your patience greatly; stay tuned for more info soon!"

Source:	symphonyx.com
Band profile:	Symphony X

'Vedic' Metal band Rudra have severed ties with record label Demonzed Records. Copyright of the Demonzed Records released latest album and the re-release of their self-titled first album have now fallen to Rudra. The band is now looking for a replacement record company and is looking forward to working with their next label.

Source:	rudraonline.org
Band profile:	Rudra

Destruction's record label Candlelight Records USA have posted a new remake version of Destruction song 'Mad Butcher' online. This new version of the song will appear on the upcoming Destruction compilation album 'Thrash Anthems' which will be released on the 22nd January next year.

The song can be heard at Candlelight Records USA's myspace page.

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Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Destruction

Rehearsals have begun and some songs have been written for the next Arch Enemy album. The band has announced that they will be entering the studio in March/April next year to start recordings.

Here is a posting by guitarist Michael Amott taken from the band's official website: "We will be continuing to rehearse through the next few weeks, working on the new songs. We have already written some 7-8 life changing and ridiculously huge metal hymns, this is all in my own (not so) humble opinion of course! You'll see... :-) This stuff is SADISTIC!

Totally looking forward to 2007 and all that it will bring, some things are planned like the South American tour (which is going to be so much fun I'm sure!) and the studio time we have booked for March/April. I'm aching to get in the studio and lay these tunes down..."

More updates and news will be posted soon.

Source:	archenemy.net
Band profile:	Arch Enemy

After a pleasing Australian tour earlier this year, Lamb Of God have decided to return to the southern country for some shows in April and May next year. Tickets for the tour will go on sale from 9am on the 22nd December.

Here are the dates:

27th April - The Palace, Melbourne
28th April - The Arena, Brisbane
29th April - UNSW Roundhouse, Sydney
30th April - HQ, Adelaide
1st May - The Metropolis, Fremantle

As well as that, Lamb Of God will do a North American Sacrament tour next year. The supports will be Machine Head, Gojira and Trivium. The tour will kick off on the 16th February in Dallas, USA. More dates for this tour will be announced soon.

Source:	lamb-of-god.com
Band profile:	Lamb Of God

Hatesphere have had to pull out of the USA tour with Unleashed, Krisiun and Belphegor that is taking place in February 2007. The tour will still take place, but with just the remaining bands. The band have said though that they will do what they can to get to the US later on for some shows to "...spread the euro-thrash all over the place".

Here is a comment by the band: "It was a very hard decision for us to make, and we apologize to everybody who worked their asses off to get this up and running, but unforeseen stuff got in our way, and caused us to cancel".

Source:	hatesphere.com
Band profile:	Hatesphere
Event:	Unleashed: Midvinterblot Tour

Power Metal band Black Majesty have been added to the Masters Of Rock Open Air Festival 2007 billing. Other bands that have already been confirmed include: Motorhead, Rage, Stratovarius, Die Happy, After Forever, Epica and Silent Stream of Godless Elegy. The festival is set to take place on the 13th-15th July 2007, in the Czech Republic.

Source:	blackmajesty.com
Band profile:	Black Majesty
Event:	Masters Of Rock Festival

Australian Black/Thrash Metallers Gospel Of The Horns have posted a sample from their upcoming new album online. The album will be called 'Realm Of The Damned' and is due to be released in January 2007. The album preview can be streamed from the band's offical myspace page.

Also, Australian fans can pre-order a limited edition version of the new album, which will come with a free patch and a pin. Click here for more information.

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Source:

myspace.com

Australian Power/Progressive Metal band Vanishing Point have regretfully annouced the parting with drummer Jack Lukic. Lukic and his wife are soon to be expecting twins, so the drummer's priorities are now more about family than music. This Saturday night on the 9th December will be the band's show with Gamma Ray. It will be Lukic's last performance with Vanishing Point.

Here is a posting by Lukic:

"Hi everyone this is Jack here, drummer from Vanishing Point. I wish to inform you all that after 16 great years with Vanishing Point, it has now come to the time for me to call it the day. All my goals I believe have been fulfilled as a musician, recording three albums, European tours and film clips to name a few. After just getting married and my wife now expecting twins, my focus is now more on family rather than music. I will still remain to be close to the band and will help them when in need. I have also recorded the drums to the follow up album "Embrace the Silence" which the title is yet to be named. We all still remain close friends and I wish all the success they thoroughly deserve in the upcoming future. Please be assured that Vanishing Point still are as strong as ever before which will be proven with the release of the new album sometime next year.

I wish Tommy, Silvio, Chris and Steve all the best with the release of the new album and the future.
To all the fans of Vanishing Point, I thank you all for your support throughout the years and I hope I have not disappointed you in anyway.Now it's time to move on to the next chapter in my life, teaching my children to become the next generation of headbangers.
Thank you all,
Jack Lukic"

Source:	vanishing-point.com.au
Band profile:	Vanishing Point

Record label Nuclear Blast have posted the cover artwork for Sirenia's upcoming album 'Nine Destinies And A Downfall' online. You can see the artwork here.

Nine Destinies And A Downfall will be released on the 26th February next year.

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Source:	nuclearblast.de
Band profile:	Sirenia

Frontman Buddy Lackey of Progressive Metal band Deadsoul Tribe has announced that there is a new album on the way and the production stage is in full swing. The album will be called 'A Lullaby For The Devil'. It will be 60 minutes long and it will be released around April 2007. The album was originally going to be a double disc album, but the band decided not to have it this way, and they've just picked all the strongest songs for a single disc.

Here is a posting by the frontman: "The album will sound quite a bit different than the previous Deadsoul albums, in that the songs are generally much faster paced, and quite a bit more, progressive, quite a bit more aggressive, and quite a bit more Metal.

There are also some songs which would have been on the 'calmer' disc, which have a smokey, more experimental ambience. There is also a particularly noteworthy instrumental composed for lead flute."

Source:	deadsoultribe.com
Band profile:	Deadsoul Tribe

Evergrey have just entered their rehearsal studio to prepare their next album. Recording for the new album is scheduled to start in February next year, and continue through until March. A tentative release date of May 2007 has been set.

Here is a comment by vocallist/guitarist Tom S. Englund: "So far the material sounds about the heaviest and darkest we have released to date".

Source:	evergrey.net
Band profile:	Evergrey