Margaret Priebe, the 85-year-old METALLICA fan who became a viral sensation after her story appeared in Thursday's St. Petersburg Times, was invited backstage for a meet-and-greet prior to the band's show last night (Saturday, October 3) at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Florida. Each member of METALLICA spent a little time with her, sharing stories of her favorite album, "S&M". Guitarist Kirk Hammett also mentioned that his mother now has some competition! In addition, guitarist/vocalist James Hetfield dedicated the song "Nothing Else Matters" to Margaret at the sold-out concert, which was attended by more than 18,000 people.

"The number one METALLICA fan!" drummer Lars Ulric ...

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British extreme metal veterans AKERCOCKE will play a headline set at London's Camden Underworld on Friday, October 16, supported by a stellar lineup of underground metal talent that includes HADES LAB, INGESTED, DIMINISHED FIFTH and HIDEOUS MISCREATION. This will be AKERCOCKE's only autumn appearance as the London four-piece is currently ensconced in its own Goat Of Mendes Studios, preparing its sixth, as-yet-untitled album. The London gig may feature new material from the sessions, which have yielded music described by frontman Jason Mendonça as "cortex-shredding slabs of sonic malevolence."

"London is in for a shock on October 16," Mendonça told BLABBERMOUTH.NET. "The new mate ...

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RAMMSTEIN, the Berlin, Germany-based industrial metal sextet well known for its controversial and fiery live performances, has set "Liebe Ist Für Alle Da" as the title of its new album, due in the U.S. on October 20 via Vagrant Records (October 16 in Germany). The CD artwork can be viewed below. The band's first new album in four years contains 11 songs which were once again mixed and mastered by Jacob Hellner in Stockholm, Sweden. Pre-production for the new release was done at Castle Beerenstedt in eastern Germany's Halle/Saale while the bulk of the recording was done in late 2008 at Northern California's Sonoma Mountain Studio.

"Liebe Ist Für Alle Da" track listing:

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Japanese extreme metal band SIGH has completed work on its eighth studio album, "Scenes From Hell", for an early 2010 release via The End Records.

SIGH's Mirai Kawashima has posted the final in-studio blog for MetalSucks, which over the past several months has documented the recording process for "Scenes From Hell". An excerpt follows below.

"The album has finally been mixed and mastered. We were supposed to finish mixing it by the end of June, but it was not easy at all. Of course I knew it'd be tough to mix all those orchestral instruments properly, but it was much harder than expected. The brass section sounds very powerful by itself. Guitar, bass and drums sound pow ...

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Chicago's purveyors of psychedelic blackened metal NACHTMYSTIUM are currently working on material for "Black Meddle Part II" (working title) and will soon embark on the "U.S. Plague Tour" featuring Swedish black metal legends MARDUK alongside MANTIC RITUAL, MERRIMAC and BLACK ANVIL. The trek kicks off on November 20 and runs through December 16.

Commented NACHTMYSTIUM mastermind Blake Judd: "We're honored to announce our upcoming tour supporting Swedish black metal legends MARDUK. It's an honor to be going out with this band we've all been listening to for years and to be getting back on the road after a rocky year between canceled tours and festivals due to injuries and other un ...

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THE 11TH HOUR, the doom metal collaboration between Ed Warby (drums, guitar, bass, vocals, programming; GOREFEST, DEMIURG, HAIL OF BULLETS) and Rogga Johansson (vocals, additional guitar; RIBSPREADER, PAGANIZER, DEMIURG), will release its debut album, "Burden Of Grief", via Napalm Records on the following dates:

Oct. 28 – Finland, Spain
Oct. 30 – Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Benelux, France, Italy
Nov. 02 – Rest of Europe
Nov. 03 – USA, Canada

Check out the cover artwork below.

THE 11TH HOUR last year uploaded two tracks from its promotional recording, "The Origins Of Mourning", to MySpace. Check out the songs "One Last Smoke" ...

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Moscow, Russia-based "Slavic pagan metal" band ARKONA will release its new album, "Goi, Rode, Goi!", via Napalm Records on the following dates:

Oct. 28 - Finland, Spain
Oct. 30 - GAS, Benelux, France, Italy, Sweden
Nov. 02 - Rest of Europe
Nov. 03 - USA, Canada

The CD was recorded at CDM Records studio between October 2008 and May 2009 except the drums, which were recorded at Gigant studio, and the guitars, which were recorded at Astia studio.

"Goi, Rode, Goi!" contains a 15-minute song called "Na Moey Zemle" ("In My Land"), which is being described as "a kind of pagan metal opera about the travelling of Slav around countries of Europe." The ...

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The cover artwork for "Memorial Roots", the new album from German melodic metallers BRAINSTORM, can be viewed below. Due on October 16 via the band's new label, AFM Records, the CD was mixed at the Gate Studio in Wolfsburg, Germany under the watchful eye of Sascha Paeth and Miro as producers. 15 songs were recorded for the album, including "Forsake What I Believed", which frontman Andy B. Franck calls "a headcrusher."

"Memorial Roots" tentative track listing:

01. Shiver
02. Nailed Down Dreams
03. Greed Of Gain
04. Cross The Line
05. Forsake What I Believe
06. Honesty
07. The Final Stages Of Decay
08. Seems To Be Perfect
09. Victim ...

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A new MEGADETH track entitled "1,320'" is available for streaming at the U.K. Roadrunner Records web site. It can also be heard in the YouTube clip below.

Commented MEGADETH drummer Shawn Drover: "I remember hearing the riffs for this tune from Dave's [Mustaine] 'Pandora's box of metal riffs,' KNOWING that this song had to be on the record. I really like the overall punk vibe the song has (I was a huge hardcore punk fan back in the day — D.R.I., CRYPTIC SLAUGHTER and the lot; I still am to this day) and I knew that a big sector of our fanbase would dig this song. Like I have said previously, 'E ...

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Vocalist Alan "Nemtheanga" Averill of Irish dark metal masters PRIMORDIAL has issued the following update:

"We are in a period of purgatory. The kind we are well used to, where that time is upon us to start thinking about a new album. The gigs and festivals offers still come in, but what everyone is waiting for is news of some new PRIMORDIAL songs.

"I won't lie, it's been hard as we now live far away from each other and we had always been against sending sound files and writing outside of the rehearsal room, but necessity might become the mother of invention.

"There were some bare bones exhumed at the last rehearsal and we all know they must become our prio ...

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