TWISTED SISTER's version of "White Christmas" (written by Irving Berlin and famously performed by Bing Crosby) has been posted online at the band's official MySpace page. Also available at the same location is the group's rendition of "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" (written by Thomas Connor; first recorded by Jimmy Boyd in 1952). Both songs will be included on TWISTED SISTER recently completed "final" disc, "A Twisted Christmas", featuring metal versions of holiday classics, including "Deck the Halls" and "Oh Come All Ye Faithful".

In a rec ...

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Indianapolis-based death/thrash metal band DEMIRICOUS has announced the addition of drummer Dustin Boltjes to the group's ranks. "Boltjes is the former drummer of THE DREAM IS DEAD, and is a longtime friend of DEMIRICOUS," reads a posting on the group's web site. "Upon completing a string of dates with the guys on a recent HIMSA tour, they made their final decision and are back to being a four member band. Without wasting any time at all, the band has already begun writing new material for their second album release with Metal Blade Records."

DEMIRICOUS is tentatively scheduled to enter the studio February 15, 2007 to begin reco ...

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"A Twist in the Myth", the latest album from the German power metallers BLIND GUARDIAN, has moved up to position No. 2 on the Greek national chart after debuting at No. 3 last week.

"A Twist in the Myth" first-week chart positions:

Greece: #3
Germany: #4
Italy: #9 (Media Market Chart)
Sweden: #10 (#2 in the Rock Chart)
Spain: #15
Austria: #19
USA: #21 (Billboard Independent Chart)
Japan: #21 (#11 International Artist Album Chart)
France: #21
Switzerland: #27
Finland: #30
U.K.: #33 - UK (Indie Albums Chart)
Norway: #38

A 12-minute audio interview with BLIND GUARDIAN frontman Hansi Kürsch, conducted recently by Andrew Haug of Triple J's "Full Metal Racket" (based in Australia), can be downloaded at this location (4.61 MB).

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Tonight at 10pm (replay at 2am) on the Discovery channel will be a one-hour documentary called Death Metal Music.

"This film investigates the possible links between Death Metal and a series of gruesome crimes from California to Italy. With exclusive access the film tells the inside story of a violent satanic cult in Milan."

Check your local listings for details.

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Justin Donnelly of Australia's The Metal Forge recently conducted an interview with DARK TRANQUILLITY frontman Mikael Stanne. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

On the songwriting sessions for the group's new album:

"We've actually been home for the summer, which means we've been home for the last four months. In that time, we've been focussing on writing the new album. So far it's been fantastic! It's just been a lot of rehearsing and writing, and it's been really chilled out. We're finishing it up right now. We have a few more days work left to do before we leave on tour on Tuesday, but w ...

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Devin Townsend will release The Hummer in time for Christmas. The Hummer is the third release in a series of experimental/ambient albums following the Project EKO EP (released in 2003 with the limited edition of Accelerated Evoltution) and Devlab (released in 2004).

On his official forum, Devin writes:

It's almost done, should be ready for Christmas, it's a well needed break for me to work on it right now.

It's the second in the 'Ambient series'...but it's much more user friendly than the Devlab...still; some people are going to think it's just buzzing and humming noises, so again...it's not for everybody. ...

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WINTERSUN, the band led by former ENSIFERUM singer Jari Mäenpää, will have its self-titled debut album, which originally came out in 2004, reissued in a "Special Tour Edition" on September 22 via Nuclear Blast Records. In addition to the regular album, the package will include a live DVD containing footage from the band's performance the Summer Breeze festival in Germany. More information is available at this location.

WINTERSUN recently spent time in a recording studio laying down tracks for its follow-up effort, ...

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Black Mark has set an October 2, 2006 release date for EDGE OF SANITY's double CD collection, "When All Is Said - The Best of Edge of Sanity". According to EDGE OF SANITY mastermind/multi-instrumentalist Dan Swanö, "one disc will feature the highlights of the more 'normal' studio albums and the mini-album 'Until Eternity Ends' [1994]," while "the second disc will be packed with 'Crimson' [1996] and 'Crimson II' [2003] in slightly edited versions. All songs [have been] remastered."

"When All Is Said - The Best of Edge of Sanity" will contain more than two and a half hours of music and will come with a 20-page booklet. The ...

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BLOODBOUND, the new Swedish metal band featuring Fredrik Bergh (STREET TALK; bass, keyboards and backing vocals) and Tomas Olsson (lead and rhythm guitars), has posted the following message on its official web site:

"We're proud to announce that one of Sweden's finest metal vocalists, Kristian Andrén, has joined the band. He is previously known from MEMENTO MORI (featuring members from KING DIAMOND, MERCYFUL FATE and DREAM EVIL) where he replaced CANDLEMASS singer Messiah. He was also the original voice in WUTHERING HEIGHTS and TAD MOROSE. Kristian is an extraordinary singer and frontman ...

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Long-defunct Florida-based band CYNIC, whose 1993 album "Focus" is regarded as a landmark release in the field of technical/progressive metal, is rumored to be planning a reunion tour in the spring/summer of 2007, beginning with possible U.S. warm-up performances and culminating in a number of festival appearances across Europe. Although there has been no official announcement regarding the matter, informed sources have told BLABBERMOUTH.NET that CYNIC's planned reunion lineup will include Paul Masvidal (vocals, guitar) and Sean Reinert (drums, keys) alongside Tony Teegarden (vocals, keyboards), Chris Kringel (bass) and Santiago Dobl ...

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