DYING FETUS have announced the addition of session drummer John Longstreth (ORIGIN, SKINLESS, EXHUMED) to the group's ranks. Longstreth will be filling in for regular drummer Erik Sayenga, who "is unable to join us" on the road with GWAR, the band write on their web site. "We will certainly miss having Erik with us these two months, but we must say that John has done a great job of learning our set list for these shows with barely two weeks of daily rehearsals!"

As previously reported, DYING FETUS recently parted ways with vocalist Vince Matthews and are currently carrying on as a four-piece. A complete list of currently confirmed tour dates with GWAR and ALL THAT REMAINS can be found at this location.

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Swedish power metallers LOST HORIZON have posted the following message on their official web site:

"As many have surely heard, the label Music For Nations no longer exists. This is an effect of the merger between Zomba, who owned MFN, and BMG. Consequently LOST HORIZON has been released from their contract, and they are now free to negotiate with other labels.

"In relation to this, vocalist Daniel Heiman and guitarist Fredrik Olsson announce their leave from LOST HORIZON in order to pursue other projects. Since they have been pulling in a different direction than the rest of the band for some time, all six agr ...

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MEGADETH kicked off their "Blackmail the Universe" headlining tour of North America Saturday night (Oct. 23) at the Reno Hilton in Reno, Nevada. The group's compelte set list for the opening-night performance was as follows:

01. Skin O' My Teeth
02. Wake Up Dead
03. In My Darkest Hour
04. Something I'm Not
05. Reckoning Day
06. Killing Road
07. Train of Consequences
08. Die Dead Enough
09. Angry Again
10. Kick the Chair
11. A Tout Le Monde
12. Hangar 18
13. Tornado of Souls
14. Trust
15. Symphony of Destruction
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16. Sweating Bullets
17. Peace Sells…But Who's Buying?!
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18. Holy Wars

EARSHOT were the opening act for the Reno show. EXODUS will join the tour on Monday (Oct. 25) at The Grove in Anaheim, CA.

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LILITU To Open For CRADLE OF FILTH/ARCH ENEMY; New Members Announced [Life in Black - 04.10.22 07:43:48]

With the recent release of their new album, The Delores Lesion (on The End Records), Atlanta dark metal wonder LILITU, have issued BW&BK with their latest update.

"Hi all! We know it's been a while since the last update, so here we go. Things are moving along rather well in the Lilitu camp. The new album, The Delores Lesion, has been getting great reviews from all over, and we are excited to see that it's being received so well. We have a new show confirmed for November 13th, 2004: The band is opening the Headbangers Ball Tour in Atlanta with CRADLE OF FILTH ...

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RUNNING WILD guitarist Bernd Aufermann has posted the following message on his web site:

"It's been a long time since you heard from me. During the last months I went through heavy seas with my family. My dad (you are the greatest) was found having a brain tumor. Out of nothing, out of the best life you can imagine. Things are not the same anymore so I got to have the time off to catch my breath and keep coming back to my life again. I was shocked and could not work since dad & me are tight and I still gotta cope this terrible situation.

"But now, slightly coming back to live, I have some news for ya:

"ANGEL DUST: Yup, we are back together again. Lin ...

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Former PESTILENCE bassist Jeroen Paul Thesseling is currently preparing a flamenco-oriented studio project dubbed PROJEKT TABUN. The recording sessions are planned for December 2004, according to a posting on Thesseling's official web site.

Jeroen, who played on PESTILENCE's fourth album, "Spheres" (1993), joined the flamenco ensemble of the Dutch virtuoso guitarist Peter Kalb, EL PERIQUIN, in 2003. "The live performances with this group allowed him to show his impressive strengths by playing beautiful fretless chords, harmonic overtone slides and very advanced solo parts," reads a posting on Jeroen's web site.

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Singer Doogie White (CORNERSTONE, ex-RAINBOW) has just finished recording the vocals for the next YNGWIE MALMSTEEN solo album at Yngwie's Studio 308 in Miami, Florida. The album is scheduled for a late 2004/early 2005 release in Japan on Universal Music. No further information is currently available.

MALMSTEEN's 2002 effort, "Attack!!", received its long-overdue U.S. release in January via Red Ink/Epic.

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In a brand-new interview with The Times-Picayune, former GUNS N' ROSES and current VELVET REVOLVER bassist Duff McKagan explained that despite perceptions to the contrary, mercurial frontman Axl Rose was not the sole creative force behind GUNS N' ROSES.

"Axl made it an Axl thing, but it really wasn't," McKagan said. "He never wrote any of the music. That was part of the reason it broke up, because we'd play shows and he'd say, 'Here's a song I wrote about . . .' and it would be a song he ...

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In a recent interview with The News Tribune, ALICE COOPER recounted three of his concert performances that went really wrong.

On a show at House of Blues in Los Angeles during his Rock 'n' Roll Circus Tour when the boa constrictor he was holding decided to let it all go.

"In 30 years, I've never had a snake defecate on stage, and this one decided that was gonna be the night. And let me tell you something: There is nothing on this planet more foul…

"The audience was laughing at all the wrong times, so I knew there was something wrong. I didn't realize it at first. Then all ...

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Sweden's DARK TRANQUILLITY have set "Character" as the title of their new full-length album, due on January 24 in Europe and January 25 in North America. An EP, entitled "Lost To Apathy", will precede the album on November 15. Both releases will surface through Century Media Records, who recently signed the band to a brand-new three-album deal.

Commented Leif Jensen of Century Media's European A&R department: "DARK TRANQUILLITY are the originators and innovators of the melodic death metal style and a total favourite band for Century Media's staff, so we are all extremely proud about the professional and very successful c ...

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