Bay Area thrash legends Testament are taking the stage once again for their first US headlining tour in support of the award-winning "The Formation of Damnation". The band's first new studio album in nine years won "Album of the Year" at the 2008 Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards (and "The best Thrash Metal album of 2008" at the Metal Storm Awards).

The tour will feature the classic lineup of vocalist Chuck Billy, guitarists Eric Peterson and Alex Skolnick, bassist Greg Christian, and drummer Paul Bostaph. Testament will be bringing along metalcore "heroes" Unearth and neo-thrashers Lazarus A.D.

Singer Chuck Billy commented on the upcoming US headlining tour: "It was really exciting last summer touring with Judas Priest, Heaven And Hell, and Motörhead, playing in front of all the old-school as well as new-school metalheads. Now we look forward to CRUSHING on our first headline tour on the Damnation Vacation US run. Heavy metal forever!"

The dates are as follows:

May 02 - Seattle, WA - El Corazon
May 03 - Spokane, WA - Knitting Factory
May 04 - Vancouver, BC - Commodore
May 06 - Calgary, AB - MacEwan Ballroom
May 07 - Edmonton, AB - Edmonton Events Centre
May 09 - Winnipeg, MB - The Garrick Centre
May 10 - Maplewood, MN - The Rock
May 12 - Milwaukee, WI - Eagles Theater
May 13 - Sauget, IL - Pop's
May 15 - Chicago, IL - House of Blues
May 16 - Detroit, MI - Harpos
May 17 - Cleveland, OH - House of Blues
May 18 - Cincinnati, OH - Bogart's
May 20 - Toronto, ON - Sound Academy
May 21 - Montreal, QC - Metropolis
May 22 - Sayreville, NJ - Starland Ballroom
May 23 - Hartford, CT - Webster Theater
May 24 - Worcester, MA - The Palladium
May 26 - Baltimore, MD - Ram's Head Live
May 27 - Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero
May 28 - Norfolk, VA - Norva
May 29 - Raleigh, NC - Lincoln Theater
May 30 - Atlanta, GA - Masquerade
May 31 - New Orleans, LA - House of Blues
Jun. 02 - Houston, TX - Scout Bar
Jun. 03 - San Antonio - Scout Bar
Jun. 04 - Ft. Worth, TX - Ridglea Theater
Jun. 06 - Kansas City, MO - The Beaumont
Jun. 07 - Denver, CO - Cervantes
Jun. 09 - Las Vegas, NV - House of Blues
Jun. 10 - San Diego, CA - House of Blues
Jun. 11 - Los Angeles, CA - House of Blues
Jun. 12 - San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore

All info about the tour at this location.

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Source:	blogs.myspace.com
Band profile:	Testament
Event:	Testament

Original news, posted on 09.03.2009

The brand new Impellitteri music video for the song "Wicked Maiden" is avaliable online over at the band's MySpace page.

The music video of "Wicked Maiden" was directed by John Logsdon who directed Def Leppard and other MTV icons.

UPDATE (thanks to Andrew Silwood)

Impellitteri's second music video for the song "Last of A Dying Breed" can be watched at the band's MySpace page.

The band is currently in rehearsals for their world tour and look forward to seeing everyone on their Wicked Maiden tour.

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Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Impellitteri

Original news posted on 15.01.2009

Graveworm have issued the following short update:

"We are currently working on songs for our upcoming album. We will enter the studio at the beginning of February and the new new one will be released at the end of May. We will present the new stuff at three festivals in May ? the Legacy festival in Germany, the Summer Nights festival in Austria and the Pratteln Z7 Metaldayz in Switzerland."

UPDATE (thanks to Raiden)

The new album has now been given the title "Diabolical Figures". It will contain 10 tracks and features a guest appearance by Karsten "Jagger" Jäger from Disbelief.

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Source:	blogs.myspace.com
Band profile:	Graveworm

Guitarist "Maxx" from Black/Thrash Metal band Necrodeath has decided to leave the band for "personal reasons". Rather than recruit a new guitarist Necrodeath has decided to continue on as a four-piece band.

In other news the band have started the recording of a new album. Videos of the recording have been posted on the band's official website.

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Source:	necrodeath.net
Band profile:	Necrodeath

With the Metal Storm Awards 2008, you, the metalhead, were given your say in which albums were the best of their respective genres in 2008.

We, the staff of Metal Storm, also had our own internal polling done to determine our selections for "best in show" of each genre. Just like you, we spent the month of February reviewing our final nominees for each category and voted for who we thought represented their respective genres best during the last calendar year.

As with some of the general MS awards (see Sludge, nearly a three way tie that was decided with, literally, Two Minutes to Midnight on the final day of voting), we had some close calls of our own to hash out. After much deliberation, much alcohol consumption, even more metal consumption, some heated words, a few fist fights, and one kick to the junk (sorry, Lucas, hope your "boys" are feeling better!), we've compiled our list of who we, as the staff, would hand out our awards to.

Now that you've had nearly two weeks to digest your results, and the initial furor over how "Band X should have won their genre, Band Y is complete bollocks and they should never have won, and Band Z should have been in a different genre" has died down, we figure the time is right to unveil our selections and let the bitching resume anew.

You may direct your comments, concerns, or outrage here.

Alternative Metal - Textures - Silhouettes
Atmospheric/Symphonic Metal - Haggard - Tales Of Ithiria
Avantgarde Metal - Transcending Bizarre? - The Serpent's Manifolds
Black Metal - Darkspace - III
Death Metal - Hail Of Bullets - ...Of Frost And War
Doom Metal - Mar De Grises - Draining The Waterheart
Extreme Doom Metal - Esoteric - The Maniacal Vale
Gothic Metal - The Eternal - Kartika
Grindcore - Misery Index - Traitors
Hard Rock - AC/DC - Black Ice
Heavy Metal - Enforcer - Into The Night
Melodeath/Gothenburg Metal - Hollenthon - Opus Magnum
Metalcore - Heaven Shall Burn - Iconoclast
Pagan/Viking/Folk Metal - Thyrfing - Hels Vite
Post-Metal - Cult Of Luna - Eternal Kingdom
Power Metal - Helstar - The King Of Hell
Progressive Metal - Enslaved - Vertebrae
Sludge/Stoner Metal - Ufomammut - Idolum
Thrash Metal - Hexen - State Of Insurgency

Best Cover - Heaven Shall Burn - Black Tears
Best Debut - Hail Of Bullets - ...Of Frost And War
Best Video - Dark Suns - The Chameleon Conflict

- The Metal Storm Staff

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Source:

metalstorm.ee

Ricardo Bocci, the lead vocal of brazilian metallers Viper, is preparing the single of his solo project. The song is called "My Way" and will be available for free downloading in the internet. A preview of the song is available on Ricardo Bocci's Myspace page. The song will be mixed by Roy Z (Bruce Dickinson, Judas Priest, Helloween, Yngwie Malmsteen).

Ricardo Bocci's solo project line up looks as follows:

Ricardo Bocci (Viper) - vocals
Yuichi Nagoshi - drums
Demian Tiguez - guitar
Ian "Bemolator" - guitar
Fernando Giovannetti (Aquaria)- bass

(thanks to bonavantti for the news)

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Source:

blogs.myspace.com

Having recently completed their debut album with producer Dean Baltulonis (Sick Of It All, Madball, This is Hell, Most Precious Blood) Long Island's Burning The Memory will be releasing their debut effort entitled "So Long The Dreamer" cover artwork] through Spare Change Records on April 7. A CD release show has been scheduled for Saturday April 11th at the Vibe Lounge in Rockville Centre, NY. Music, as well as other upcoming local gigs can be found here.

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Source:

myspace.com

The "Point Of No Return" EP is Izegrim's wake-up call to the world, introducing the new line-up with 3 brand new songs and a re-recorded version of "Angel Of Demise" (taken from their sold out album "Guidelines For Genocide"). And once again, Izegrim is on the move.

From March 14th until March 31st you have the change to download all 4 tracks for free at the Rusty Cage downloadsection or at the Izegrim Myspace page. The record was released this March.

"Point Of No Return" cover art]:

01. Point Of No Return
02. No Place Like Home
03. End Of Time
04. Angel Of Demise

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Source:	rustycagerecords.com
Band profile:	Izegrim

Symbolic Records issued the following statement: "We are more than happy to tell, that Rujo is now a newborn in the Symbolic Records-family. The upcoming album "Full Drop to Concrete" is ready and just waiting for YOU to get your hands on it. You need to hold your horses for a little while since the scheduled release date for the "Full Drop to Concrete" is in the middle of april 2009.

Rujo has been playing it's energetic and aggressive metal since 1998, gathering a remarkable group of fans on it's journey. Rhythm, positive aggression, chemistry and hard pressing sounds are probably the best and only words to describe what Rujo is about.

Listen to the samples of the "Full Drop to Concrete" from Rujo MySpace and visit the official website of Rujo for live videos and more.

The band commented as follows: "After over ten years of demoing and and shredding it live we have signed a record deal with Symbolic Records. Teppo at Symbolic decided to take a leap of faith - of which we are truly grateful. We have a full-length album ready and waiting to be published in April. This is the stuff we believe in and want to get a chance to convince you also.

The deal will definitely boost our actions and we do have a number of gigs & promotions lined up for the spring & summer already. First chance to catch us is at Winterfest in Forssa on 27th of March. Stay tuned for the upcoming release and a big release party & gig, everyone's invited!"

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Source:

symbolic.fi

Swedish death metal band Demonical have posted the following update:

"Finally we are done with the recording, mixing and mastering of "Hellsworn". It sure took ages and caused some frustration but I assure you, it was worth it. We are utterly satisfied with the final result, this old-school death metal slab in nine acts turned out exactly the way we wanted. Here are the cover art and blasphemies:

01. Baptized In Fire
02. World Serpent
03. Infernal Void
04. Bloodridden
05. Götter Des Nordens
06. Children Of Sin
07. Death Metal Darkness
08. Bow To The Monolith
09. Hellsworn

The release date is set to May 15th, in other words the same day as the "Northern Death Blow" crusade starts. Samples from the album will be online within the nearest days."

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Source:	blogs.myspace.com
Band profile:	Demonical

Slipknot are lining up for the the following N. American dates:

April 28 - Pavillion de La Jeunesse, Quebec City (Canada) (with Trivium, 3 Inches Of Blood)
April 29 - Bell Centre, Montreal (Canada) (with Trivium, 3 Inches Of Blood)
May 01 - Ricoh Coliseum, Toronto (Canada) (with Trivium, 3 Inches Of Blood)
May 02 - John Labatt Centre, London (Canada) (with Trivium, 3 Inches Of Blood)
May 03 - Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, MI (with Devildriver, 3 Inches Of Blood)
May 05 - Prairie Capital Convention Center, Springfield, IL (with Devildriver, 3 Inches Of Blood)
May 06 - Scottrade Center, St. Louis, MO (with Devildriver, 3 Inches Of Blood)
May 08 - Zoo Amphitheatre, Oklahoma City, OK (with Korn, The Used, All That Remains, Dirtfeed)
May 09 - North Shore River Walk Park East, North Little Rock, AR (with Stained, Chevelle, Drowning Pool, All That Remains, Dirtfeed)
May 10 - Hartman Arena, Park City, KS
May 12 - Canaries Stadium, Sioux Falls, SD (with Korn, The Used, Clutch, All That Remains, Dirtfeed)
May 13 - Alltell Center, Mankato, MN
May 14 - US Cellular Center, Cedar Rapids, IA
May 16 - Rock On The Range, Columbus, OH

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Source:	slipknot1.com
Band profile:	Slipknot

Here it is, the official cover and tracklisting of "The Classical Conspiracy" live album. It contains a full live show recorded in Miskolc, Hungary, with a 40-piece orchestra and a 30-piece choir. More than 2 hours of Epica songs and adaptations of classical masterpieces and movie scores! The album is set for a release via Nuclear Blast on May 8th.

Disc I :

01. Palladium
02. O Fortuna
03. Dies Irae
04. Ombra Mai Fu
05. 1st part, New World
06. Spiderman
07. Summer 3
08. Montagues & Capulets
09. Imperial March
10. Stabat Mater
11. Unholy Trinity
12. In The Hall Of The Mountain King
13. Pirates Of The Caribbean

Disc II :

01. Indigo / The Last Crusade
02. Sensorium
03. Quietus
04. Chasing The Dragon
05. Feint
06. Never Enough
07. Beyond Belief
08. Cry For The Moon
09. Safeguard To Paradise
10. Blank Infinity
11. Living A Lie
12. The Phantom Agony
13. Sancta Terra
14. Illusive Consensus
15. Consign To Oblivion

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Source:	nuclearblast.de
Band profile:	Epica

Swiss folk metal band Eluveitie has been forced to pull out of the Paganfest America tour, scheduled to kick off on 28th April in Toronto, Canada featuring Korpiklaani, Primordial, Moonsorrow, Blackguard (formerly known as Profugus Mortis) and Swashbuckle. Eluveitie emphasize that this was "in no way the decision of the band and that were looking forward to do this tour a lot."

Commented the tour organizers Rock The Nation:

"Hello to all Pagan folks out there!

We're almost here for the second edition of PaganFest America and are very excited for this years tour. With the anticipation continuing to mount, this will be THE tour to attend this year, we promise!
On a related note, there have been some changes to the tour line up. Unfortunately, Swiss folk band Eluveitie will no longer be able to make it on this edition and we've decided that it would be wiser to wait for the band to return in the fall since they've already played during PaganFest America 2008's touring cycle. On the bright side, Eluveitie will return on a new tour we are currently working on (yes... we're working on something very cool for this Fall) where Eluveitie will play an acoustic and a full metal set and it will be worth the wait. Stay tuned for more info to come!

With this being said, we have increased the playing times of all the bands on PaganFest America and whether you come for your favorite or for all of the bands, you will get the set time you and the bands deserve!"

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Source:	eluveitie.ch
Band profile:	Eluveitie
Event:	Paganfest N. America Tour

Spanish metallers Nahemah have issued the following update:

"Hello everybody!

Nahemah has finished recording their new album, the second one for Lifeforce Records, following the internationally acclaimed "The Second Philosophy". The band is at present in the final stages of editing and masterizing the new material, which will be titled "A New Constellation". In this new work, we have discovered a more experimental and spiritual outcome, one that gives Nahemah's characteristic and emotional sound a new twist.

"A New Constellation" will officially be out in Europe in May, with a limited first digipack edition with a bonus track, and the American edition will be out in July.

Starting May, the band will be commencing a series of shows and tours taking them first through Spain and Portugal and later on around all of Europe and possibly the US. We shall be releasing the first dates shortly, our complete schedule from May onwards still provisional, so anyone interested is welcome to get in touch regarding dates and details.

Best wishes and thank you for your attention."

Source:	blogs.myspace.com
Band profile:	Nahemah

US metallers Brutal Truth have posted online a new song, entitled "Sugar Daddy", on their MySpace page.

"Sugar Daddy" comes off the band's forthcoming album, entitled "Evolution Through Revolution", which is scheduled for an April 14 North American release (April 20 internationally) via Relapse Records.

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Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Brutal Truth