German power metallers BLIND GUARDIAN have finished writing eight new songs for the band's forthcoming album. Vocalist Hansi Kürsch states: "What can I say about these songs? They rule, of course. You want a more precise description? Impossible. All I can say is that each and every song is 100% BLIND GUARDIAN, which, naturally ,means there is a wild bunch of different things going on from time to time (always?). According to atmospheres: we have everything from the more 'Nightfall'-ish 'Curse My Name', to the 'Script'-ish 'Wheel Of Time'. In comparison to 'A Twist In The Myth', the lyrical direction will be more on the fantasy side as you most probably can figure out by these titles. The so ...

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Norway's TRAIL OF TEARS will release its sixth album, "Bloodstained Endurance", this spring via Napalm Records. The CD was recorded and mixed over a six-week period at Sound Suite Studio in Marseille, France with producer Terje Refsnes. Mastering duties were handled by Mika Jussila at Finnvox Studios in Finland.

"Bloodstained Endurance" release dates:

May 27 - Finland, Spain
May 29 - Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Benelux, France, Italy, Sweden
Jun. 01 - Rest of Europe
Jun. 02 - USA, Canada

The cover artwork for the album, which was designed by acclaimed artist Travis Smith (AMORPHIS, OPETH, NEVERMORE) can be viewed below.

Commented ...

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DORNENREICH/AGALLOCH (+Mely):
20.03.'09 D - Würzburg / Posthalle
21.03.'09 AT - Henndorf bei Salzburg / Wallerseehalle (Spring Metal-Festival)
22.03.'09 IT - Brescia / Covo Antico
23.03.'09 CZ - Prague / Exit Chmelnice
24.03.'09 D - Berlin / K17
25.03.'09 FR - Paris / Glazart
26.03.'09 GB - London / Underworld
27.03.'09 BE - Vosselaar / Biebob
28.03.'09 D - Hamm / Alfred-Fischer-Halle (Tomahawk festival)
29.03.'09 NL - Den Bosch / W2 (afternoon show)

DORNENREICH:
17.-18.04.'09 D - Lichtenfels / Stadthalle (Ragnarök festival)
29.04.'09 PO - Barrosselas / SWR warm up (acoustic gig)
30.04.'09 PO - Barrosselas / SWR MetalFest XII (metal gig)

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Taken from the official SEASON OF MIST newsletter:

Season of Mist is immensely proud to announce that ATHEIST and GNOSTIC just inked a deal with our label! After CYNIC, that's two more technical US death metal legends we are welcoming to our roster. Here's drummer Steve Flynn's comment:

"We're absolutely thrilled that, as of today, both GNOSTIC and ATHEIST are officially signed to SEASON OF MIST! GNOSTIC's debut CD "Engineering the Rule" will be released before the summer and ATHEIST's yet untitled CD, will be released later in the year. Season really stepped up to the plate to get this done, for this is also a highly unique situation for technical death metal. Three me ...

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DREAM THEATER drummer Mike Portnoy played a one-minute "teaser" for the band's forthcoming album on this past Friday's (February 27) edition of Eddie Trunk's "Friday Night Rocks" radio show on New York's Q104.3 FM. The clip is now available for streaming below.

DREAM THEATER is wrapping up work on its tenth studio album, due early summer via Roadrunner Records. The band commenced work on the as-yet untitled CD last October. Mike Portnoy and guitarist John Petrucci are once again producing the LP, while engineer Paul Northfield will mix the record beginning this coming week.

Portnoy previously stated about the upcoming CD, "Imagine a DREAM THEATER album with 'A Change Of ...

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Guitarist Kirk Windstein (CROWBAR, DOWN, KINGDOM OF SORROW) has posted a short video message (see below) reassuring CROWBAR fans that there will "definitely" be a new record out this year.

Windstein was forced to miss much of KINGDOM OF SORROW's tour dates with GWAR late last year due to commitments with DOWN and a need to "tackle some serious issues and personal demons."

Metal Mind Productions re-released three CROWBAR albums — "Crowbar" (1993), "Time Heals Nothing" (1995) and "Live+1" EP (1995) — in Europe in April 2008. Each limited-edition digipack title (limited to 2,000 copies) was made available on golden disc, digitally remastered using 24-bit technology. Th ...

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"No Sacrifice, No Victory", the new album from Swedish melodic metallers HAMMERFALL, entered the German Media Control chart at position No. 7 — the band's highest German chart entry ever! In Sweden, the CD opened at No. 2 and in Austria, it landed at No. 25 in its first week of release.

In other news, HAMMERFALL has scheduled the following signing sessions:

March 6 - Madrid @ Tipo Shop (Calla Montera) - 17.00 to 18.00 CET
March 10 - Milano @ Mariposa Duomo (Galleria S. Radegonda Duomo) - 17.00 to 18.00 CET
March 16 - Stuttgart @ Saturn (Königsbau Passagen) - 17.00 to 18.00 CET
March 17 - Cologne @ Saturn (Kaisserstrasse/Kaufhof) - 17.00 to 18.00 CET

"Uranium", which is exclusively available on Fuse On Demand, sat down with members of MESHUGGAH to talk about the band's latest album "obZen", the symbolism of its artwork and the songwriting process. The full interview is available all March long only on Fuse on Demand.

Watch a clip below.

Fuse on Demand is available on Cablevision, Comcast, Cox, Direct TV, Insight, Knology, WAVE, Metrocast, Hometown, Midcontinent and a whole bunch of other places across the U.S.

Released in March 2008, MESHUGGAH's "obZen" album debuted at No. 59 on The Billboard 200 chart and at No. 14 on the iTunes Top Rock Albums chart. "obZen" has sold more than 50,000 copies in the Unit ...

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RUSH guitarist took part in the annual Andy Kim Christmas show on December 10, 2008 at Toronto, Ontario, Canada's Mod Club. ChartAttack.com interviewed Alex at the concert about his involvement with the event, RUSH's "Snakes & Arrows" tour, his favorite RUSH songs, and RUSH's plans for their next album. Watch the four-minute clip below.

In addition to Lifeson, the event featured appearances by Ron Sexsmith, Lawrence Gowan, Dru, THE KINGS, Emm Gryner, BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE's Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning.

All of the proceeds from the show were donated to The Sanfilippo Children's Research Foundation. Children with sanfilippo syndrome are missing an essential enzyme that b ...

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In a statement made on Friday, February 27, 2009:

"NACHTMYSTIUM has sad news today with a once-again recurring issue surfacing from the wake of our past. We've been forced, at the request of the promoters and the folks at Scion / Toyota, to pull out of the Scion Rock Fest, scheduled for Saturday, February 28. This news came to us just this past Tuesday and was very disheartening to say the least. A troubling, and unjustly-applied notion that we are, or ever have been, in any way, a 'Nazi' band or a political band on any level, is completely absurd and we are disgusted that there is someone out there who really believes we are of this ilk. It made it as far as the sponsors of ...

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