British black metal pioneers VENOM have decided to re-record some of the already completed tracks for their upcoming album and push back the CD's projected release date to early 2008. Drummer Antony "Antton" Lant (brother of VENOM frontman Conrad "Cronos" Lant) explains: "During the Scandinavian tour [which took place in May 2007] we played through some of the new tracks in the soundchecks. There's something about the energy you deliver when playing on a stage that differs greatly from recording in a studio. All fired up, we tore the tracks to shreds. We tried to organize a mobile studio to get to the next shows, but it was way too late notice, so on our return ...

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OPETH's "The Roundhouse Tapes" will be released as a high-definition-filmed DVD in early 2008. This will also feature lots of fan interviews, band interviews, soundcheck footage and live photos, along with exclusive menu music written by mainman Mikael Åkerfeldt and keyboardist Per Wiberg.

The cover artwork for OPETH's upcoming "The Roundhouse Tapes" double CD has been posted at

Backed by the impetus of their successful "Keeper Of The Seven Keys – The Legacy" world tour which saw the band perform 93 shows in 34 countries around the globe — impressively documented on the double live DVD "Live On 3 Continents" — German metallers HELLOWEEN are about to release their twelfth studio album, "Gambling With The Devil". The new offering is scheduled to arrive at the stores on October 23, 2007 (USA), October 26, 2007 (Germany) and October 29, 2007 (rest of Europe) and will see the five musicians — Andi Deris (vocals), Michael Weikath (guitar), Sascha Gerstner (guitar), Markus Großkopf (bass) and Dani Löbl ...

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Clubplanet.com recently conducted an interview with MÖTLEY CRÜE drummer Tommy Lee. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Clubplanet.com: Tommy, was there a moment where you first fell in love with electronic music, and is there a split between rock and dance fans who come to see you DJ?

Tommy Lee: At our L.A. Forum gig, there were 6,000 people, and everyone was dancing their asses off! I've always loved

The title track of vocalist ROB ROCK's (ex-IMPELLITTERI, DRIVER, JOSHUA) new solo album, "Garden of Chaos", has been posted on his MySpace page.

Due in Japan on August 22 via Victor Entertainment/JVC

SAVAGE CIRCUS members Jens Karlsson (vocals), Emil Norberg (lead guitar) and Piet Sielck (guitar, bass, backing vocals) has issued the following statement:

"After the recent events at the Rengsdorf Rock & Blues Festival and the Rock Am Schloss Festival the band sees no perspective any more to go on with our drummer Thomen Stauch [ex-BLIND GUARDIAN]. Therefore we immediately release him from all duties.

"Even though we are aware of his personal situation we cannot ignore the fact anymore that he is still not able to carry out his duties for SAVAGE CIRCUS.

"Already in summer 2005 Thomen started to ...

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Last year, METALLICA performed two new tracks live in concert that have become known as "The New Song" and "The Other New Song". Earlier this year, bassist Robert Trujillo said in an interview that neither of those cuts was going to be included on the next studio album, but that parts of one of them might be reworked into other songs. Then METALLICA surprised the audience at their show in Bilbao, Sp ...

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DARKANE vocalist Andreas Sydow has officially quit the band. His statement on the matter reads as follows:

"The time has come, my friends for me to step down from my position as vocalist of the greatest band in the world!

"I feel I've reached a stand still in the creative process with DARKANE and together we came to the decision to let fresh blood into the band for the upcoming fifth album. DARKANE is constantly evolving and I'm sure that this ignition will be great for the band.

"We certainly part ways as very good friends and we're in fact still working together on finishing the long-awaited

ICED EARTH's video for the song "Ten Thousand Strong" has been released. Watch the clip below. The track comes off the group's new album, "Framing Armageddon - ...

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DOWN — the acclaimed New Orleans band featuring CORROSION OF CONFORMITY guitarist/vocalist Pepper Keenan, drummer Jimmy Bower (EYEHATEGOD, SUPERJOINT RITUAL guitarist), bassist Rex Brown (ex-PANTERA), guitarist Kirk Windstein (CROWBAR), and vocalist Philip Anselmo (SUPERJOINT RITUAL, ex-PANTERA) — has officially set "III - Over the Under" as the title of its third album, the group's publicist has confirmed to BLABBERMOUTH.NET. The CD is scheduled for release on September 25 through the Independent Label Group (ILG), which is composed of Warner