Sweden's DARK TRANQUILLITY have posted the following message on their official web site:

"Some good news for those of you having problems getting hold of our earlier releases:

"Both 'The Gallery' (1995) and 'The Mind's I' (1997) will be re-released in special remastered deluxe editions, featuring brand new booklet layouts as well as a massive dose of hard-to-find bonus material.

"During the years, we've been all too aware of the lack of availability of our earlier material in the US, and we've heard from a lot of people about how hard and frustrating it is to have to track down expensive import versions of the older albums in order to get the D.T. collections complete.

"We got so much positive response from old and new fans when Century Media licensed the 'Skydancer' (1993) album for the US territory a couple of years ago, so it feels great to finally have 'The Gallery' and 'The Mind's I' enjoying proper stateside distribution as well.

"The European versions of the deluxe editions will be released by Osmose Productions. More details regarding the exact contents of the CD's and their release dates will be posted in the near future."

Band profile:

Dark Tranquillity

A brand-new interview with STRATOVARIUS members Timo Tolkki (guitars), Jari Kainulainen (bass), and the group's latest addition, vocalist "Miss K" (a.k.a. Katriina Wiiala), has been posted online at the band's official web site. The following are a few select excerpts from that interview:

Question: The new line up was announced on Thursday (Jan 15). It's all over the media and quite surprising for many people it seems. How do you feel about the reaction?

Timo Tolkki: "It is quite surprising. I have received about 20 emails, where my life has been threatened directly. Be them real or not, it surely doesn't feel nice. I am sure the amount of hatred doesn't feel nice for Miss K neither, who has just joined STRATOVARIUS."

Miss K: "Well, I don't care about those. It's my career that I am thinking about here. I see this whole thing from an entertainer's point of view. I am an entertainer.

"I was asked by Timo Tolkki to join this band after we had met many times, talked about life, music and all. We have made lots of demos together and the new songs sound really really promising. It was me who contacted him however, when I heard that Timo Kotipelto left the band. I saw my chance and I took it and here I am!! To stay, like it or not!!"

Timo Tolkki: "What makes me wonder is the amount of hate that this line-up change has generated among the fans. It seems I will be crucified, no matter what I do. I personally feel that I have given STRATOVARIUS fans a lot of music along the years, organized lots of tours and done thousands of interviews. I think I have given them a lot! And still they say I don't respect them and that I should respect them more? I say that respect is a mutual thing. All the outbursts from my side have only been reactions to very violent and arrogant reactions from people who call themselves 'STRATOVARIUS fans'. And now when people see a bit of blood (it's real blood by the way), they freak out."

Q: How are the new STRATOVARIUS songs?

Miss K: "We have been singing some old songs that Tolkki has selected carefully. I can sing all the songs though, with my range it is no problem for me to sing 'Father Time' and songs like that. The new songs I haven't tried so much, because Tolkki has this new psychological producing style where he doesn't really tell the band in advance how the songs are. We just get some guitar riffs and that's all. I guess they are doing some recordings already."

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Band profile:

Stratovarius

The notorious Black Metallers OLD MAN'S CHILD with their album "In Defiance Of Existence" are amongst the nominees for this year's Metal-Grammy "Spellemansprisen" (http://www.spellemann.no) in Norway. As they are one of the veterans of the Norwegian Melodic Black Metal scene with now five influential albums plus a MCD under their belts, the band around Mastermind Galder (guitar/vocals) surely deserves this honor.
Along with their fellow evildoers of Dimmu Borgir and Enslaved, OLD MAN'S CHILD are now eagerly awaiting the official ceremony, which takes place on February 28th 2004 in the "Chateau Neuf"/Oslo.

Band profile:

Old Man's Child

Swedish black metallers MARDUK have announced the complete track listing for their much-anticipated DVD, "Funeral Marches And Warsongs", due on January 19.

The long-delayed disc includes, among other features, a live show recorded in Paris on the European leg of the "World Funeral" tour as well as footage of the band's reunion with former vocalist Joakim Göthberg during their appearance at the Party.San Open Air festival in Germany in August 2003.

"Funeral Marches And Warsongs" track listing:

Live at La Loco in Paris, France, Paris - April 9, 2003:

01. Blackcrowned
02. With Satan and Victorious Weapons
03. Azrael
04. Wolves
05. World Funeral
06. Hearse
07. Bleached Bones
08. Of Hells Fire
09. Darkness It Shall Be
10. Fistfucking Gods Planet

Live in Katowice, Poland - April 5, 2003:

01. Blackcrowned
02. With Satan and Victorious Weapons
03. Azrael
04. Wolves
05. World Funeral
06. Hearse
07. Bleached Bones
08. Of Hells Fire
09. Darkness It Shall Be
10. Fistfucking Gods Planet

Live at Party.San Open Air festival in Bad Berka, Germany - August 7, 2003:

01. Jesus Christ Sodomized
02. Baptism by Fire
03. The Black
04. Still Fucking Dead

Video clips:

01. Hearse (recorded April 2003)
02. World Funeral (recorded April 2003)

Band profile:

Marduk

Ananova (www.ananova.com) has issued the following update in the case of former JUDAS PRIEST drummer Dave Holland, who has been accused of sexually abusing a 17-year-old youth with special needs who visited his home for lessons.

The article at Ananova states: An ex-drummer with Judas Priest sexually assaulted a teenage boy while the special needs youngster was visiting his house for drum lessons, a court was told.

David Holland faces one charge of attempted rape and five counts of indecent assault on the teenager, who had special needs.

All of the alleged offences are said to have taken place between June and December 2002.

Holland's co-accused, Spiros Laouitaris, 22, faces four separate indecent assault charges on the same teenager. Holland, 55, of The Green, Stoke Bruerne, Northants, and Laouitaris, of Bourne Crescent, Kings Heath, Northampton, deny all the charges.

Opening the prosecution case at Northampton Crown Court, Maria Savvides told the jury the accusations came to light in December 2002 when the teenager, who is now 18 but cannot be named for legal reasons, told his parents in a letter of his abuse while staying at Holland's house for drum lessons.

Miss Savvides said the boy's parents had encouraged the drum lessons in order to improve their son's self-esteem. Because of the growing relationship between teacher and pupil, they had allowed their son to stay over at his home on a number of occasions.

The teenager gave a video statement to police in which he outlined the assaults and the attempted rape during the seven months he visited Holland's house. He also alleged that Laouitaris joined in assaults and forced him to perform assaults during the same period.

The trial, before Judge Charles Wide QC, heard the teenager had suffered problems at school from an early age and took part in a number of activities to improve his learning difficulties.

Miss Savvides said: "The complainant is a young lad who from an early age had experienced problems and learning difficulties. His parents were at great pains to find activities that would help him with his own self esteem. Drum lessons was something he could do and that he was happy with."

Holland joined Judas Priest in 1979 and played with them for the next 10 years in their heyday.

Band profile:

Judas Priest

BBC News (news.bbc.co.uk) reports that former JUDAS PRIEST drummer David Holland sexually abused a 17-year-old youth with special needs who visited his home for lessons, a court was told.

David Holland, 55, who played with the heavy metal band in the 70s and 80s, faces one charge of attempted rape and five counts of indecently assaulting the teenager.

Spiros Laouitaris, 22, who also stayed at the musician's cottage, is charged with four counts of indecently assaulting the same teenager.

Mr. Holland, of The Green, Stoke Bruerne, Northamptonshire, and Mr. Laouitaris, of Bourne Crescent, Kings Heath, Northampton, deny all the charges.

Band profile:

Judas Priest

We are very proud to announce that we've licensed the upcoming My Dying Album from Peaceville for Vinyl. It will be released in Gatefold and Limited to 1,000 copies. Release date for the Vinyl is March, 29th.

"Songs Of Darkness, Words Of Light" is the eighth studio album for the band and has been described as a work of epically dark proportions. Majestic and downright heavy, the songs are bonded with a strong central gloom that runs throughout.
The artwork was designed by Andy Green (who also designed the cover for Like Gods of the Sun), and the album was recorded and mixed with Mags, at Academy Studio in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.

Infinite Vinyl Series is a The End Records imprint, specializing in releasing out-of-print and new releases on vinyl.

Band profile:

My Dying Bride

Tonight on MetalInjection.net TV will be the airing of a full bootleg DYING FETUS concert in it's entirety, playing all of their classics. The show starts at 3 am (around 3 hours from now) and can be seen on BCAT channel 67 (Cablevision) and 34 (Time Warner) if you live in Brooklyn, NY. For the rest of us, which is most, it can be viewed and streamed online at www.metalinjection.net/tv.

Band profile:

Dying Fetus

Candlelight Records confirms today the official signings of five new bands, CADAVER(formerly CADAVER INC.), KHOLD, MITHRAS, BLUT AUS NORD and NIYA.

Norways CADAVER will release their new album, 'Necrosis', on April 20th, while KHOLD is currently completing their label debut, with release expected in May.

Legendary Florida death metallers OBITUARY are in the process of reforming with a view towards releasing a new CD in late 2004 or early 2005. " Donald , Allen and I have been working on some new stuff and are thinking about a new album," singer John Tardy told BLABBERMOUTH.NET. "We are just getting started and I know has talked to Trevor about it, too. Right now we have no timeline or record deal set up, but we are writing songs. If all goes well, would be with all 'original' members ."

Although the reformed OBITUARY would likely perform select live shows before and after the recording of a new studio album, there is no truth to the reports that the band will make an appearance at the Sun N' Steel festival in Tampa in early March. "I don't know anything about a Sun N' Steel show...never heard of it," John said.

Formed in 1984 as EXECUTIONER (later shortened to XECUTIONER), OBITUARY are widely considered to be one of the most influential and groundbreaking bands in the death metal genre. After releasing several successful albums in the late Eighties/early Nineties (including the classic 1989 debut "Slowly We Rot" and its equally punishing 1990 follow-up, "Cause of Death"), the band announced their breakup, with John Tardy's disinterest in touring apparently a major factor, according to the Internet heavy metal encyclopedia BNR Metal Pages. Trevor Peres has since started CATASTROPHIC, while Donald Tardy joined Andrew W.K.'s band some time ago.

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Band profile:

Obituary

Finland's SINERGY will enter the studio in the spring to begin recording their fourth full-length album, tentatively due in late 2004 through Nuclear Blast Records.

"We actually have the majority of written now, but we haven't actually been able to rehearse most of the songs yet with the whole line-up due to everyone's different schedules," singer Kimberly Goss said in an online posting. "I can tell you as of now myself, Alexi , and Roope have written about 3 songs each. Some of them still have to be worked on, so perhaps the end result will be that more riffs are contributed from and/or changed by other members, therefore not making the song 100% mine, or Alexi's, or Roope's. This is the way we've always written. If you look at the songwriting credits on our previous albums, you'll see many songs that were written by more than one band member, and others that were written solely by just one of us. I just got off the phone with all the guys and we'll be starting some hardcore rehearsal sessions this week and continue until all the song arrangements are completed. The album will be recorded in the spring. Exact dates are not confirmed, but we should know very soon."

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Band profile:

Sinergy

Former MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine has posted the following message on the group's official web site:

"My Arm Injury:

"In December of 2001 I was at the La Hacienda Rehabilitation Center in Hunt, Texas. This happened because after the towers were hit, (besides all the other stuff going on at the time internally with MEGADETH) I numbed out, like most of us did. After five years of being sober, I started using pain medication. I lost control and went out to Texas to get cleaned up. While I was sobering up in Texas, on January 7th, 2002, I was sitting up in a chair at the hospital, and I fell asleep with my arm over the back of a chair I was in.

"This cut off the circulation to the radial ulnar nerve, around the humerus, on the inside of my left bicep, compressing it. This is called Saturday Night Palsy (see the link provided http://www.ncemi.org/cse/cse0919.htm ). Many claim that I hurt my arm 'shooting up'. People do not inject drugs in the inside of their arm above the elbow, into the bicep, so the shooting up bit is false.

"The Doctor in Texas said that I was probably not going to be able to use my arm any more than 80%, 'if I was lucky'. And he also said I 'would probably not play again'.

"This was not acceptable to me. So I went back from Texas to Scottsdale, Arizona, because I wanted to go to see my doctor, Raj Singh, about my arm. After I got evaluated I returned to Texas to finish my treatment and started off on what took four months of grueling physical therapy at the Spire Institute in Scottsdale with Nathan Koch, acupuncture with Doctor Vance Inouye, chiropractic adjustments from Doctor William Tikey ? the founder of Spire Institute, weight training for over a year, and loads of prayers.

"Dr. Singh pronounced that I had completely recovered and that my arm was 100% healed after that time. Following this good news I started playing again and located a guitar teacher to help my re-learn my craft named Ric Flauding.

"If there could possibly be any better news than this, it was that prior to injuring my arm, I had started to develop damage to my left hand from playing every night for two hours anyway, specifically in the little finger. The nerve injury, the time off from playing, the rehab (both La Ha and the physical therapy), and learning to play again has made me play much better.

"I hope to have something for you to listen to soon, so that you can judge for yourself."

Band profile:

Megadeth

On February 2nd Threshold will release there first ever Live-Double Album and Live-DVD. The Double CD featuring the 2 hour gig, which was recorded on the 6th of June in Holland. The DVD includes the complete concert, additional 24 minutes from ProgPower USA 2002, a 12 minute tour documentary, audio commentary from Karl Groom and Richard West and a stereo and 5.1 surround mix. 'Critical Energy' will be also available as Limited Deluxe DVD-Pak.

Band profile:

Threshold

Austrias former ABIGOR and current DARKWELL & SHADOWCAST Drummer Moritz Neuner will support the famous Italian Gothic/Black Metal-Act GRAVEWORM on drums during the upcoming year 2004 instead of Martin Innerbichler who will concentrate the whole year in growing static buildings! After the very successful X-MAS-Festival-Tour 2003 GRAVEWORM just writes new material for their follow up to 2003's "Engraved in Black" CD via NUCLEAR BLAST! Several Festival-dates round the world are booked.

Source:	Nuclear Blast Records
Band profile:	Graveworm

The Canadian Hyper Blasters KATAKLYSM kick off the new year 2004 by releasing the song 'The Ambassador Of Pain' from their upcoming album "Serenity In Fire" (Release: 22rd March 2004) as MP3 for free downloading on their official website.

Source:	Nuclear Blast Records
Band profile:	Kataklysm