Tristania has returned from 9 weeks in the TopRoom studio and report great confidence in the new-recorded material. Only minor elements remain before everything is completed. The final title has not yet been decided, but the planned release date is 18th of October. The band is anxious to release this album and show their fans what they have been up to these last few years. They are also looking forward to get back on tour and present the new material live.

Furthermore, Tristania is about to sign with SPV. The band is very happy with the contract, which is being finalized now. They are satisfied with SPV as ...

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Canadian death metallers KATAKLYSM have been added to the upcoming CANNIBAL CORPSE North American tour, which is set to begin in late October. Also set to appear on the bill are NAPALM DEATH, VADER and GOATWHORE.

Commented KATAKLYSM vocalist Maurizio Iacono: "This tour will be massive, everyone on it is killer!! [It] feels wierd to be one of the youngest band on it and we are 13 years old!!

"NAPALM DEATH have been a big influence on KATAKLYSM and it's gonna be amazing to share the stage with them and our old friends in VADER and the legendary CANNIBAL CORPSE.

"We will be switching positions every night with GOATWHORE so we strongly urge everyone to come early!!!

"We are ready and we come prepared... see you soon!"

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MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine has posted the following message on the band's official web site:

"Here is what I have been saying in the interviews, what happened chronologically that caused the demise of the band, why [drummer] Nick [Menza] was fired, [guitarist] Marty [Friedman] quitting, records turning out the way they did, and finally me walking away.

"When 'Countdown To Extinction' came out, the band and I were ecstatic to have a number 2 record. But if you could believe this, also during that time there were a lot of the 'movie-type intervention group therapy meetings' with me in the middle of a session of what rapidly was ...

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With mainstream metal becoming more and more corporate, where can a real metal fan turn? Try pet metal. HATEBEAK is an extreme metal act with ear-crushing guitars and head-pounding drums. The difference is the "singer" is a parrot called Waldo. Sadly, HATEBEAK (photo) won't be playing Ozzfest next year: Waldo is scared of loud noises. He even has to record his vocals separately from the rest of the band. But you can look forward to his duet with death metallers CANINUS (

Sweden Rock magazine (web site) will publish the last-ever interview with METALLICA bassist Cliff Burton in their July 20 issue.

It is commonly believed that the last interview with Cliff was conducted by Garry Sharpe-Young when METALLICA visited the Birmingham Odeon on September 20, 1986, one week before his death (Garry sheds some light on that interview in a new book by Joel McIver called "And Justice for All: The Truth About Metallica" but has never published it despite getting several offers from both publishers and record companies).< ...

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Video footage of DANZIG frontman Glenn Danzig engaging in a physical confrontation with NORTH SIDE KINGS singer and frequent SOULFLY collaborator Danny Marianinho following DANZIG's performance in Tuba City, Arizona Saturday night (July 3) has been posted online at AZPunk.com. Also available from: Location#2,

PARADISE LOST are scheduled to finish recording the as-yet-untitled follow-up to 2002's "Symbol of Life" on July 8 at Chapel Studios in Lincolnshire, England. Mixing will take place in Los Angeles with vocalist Nick Holmes and producer Rhys Fulber and is expected to last two weeks. Commented Nick: "Recording has gone really well. [New drummer] Jeff [Singer, ex-BLAZE] has done great job and it is definitely going to be the heaviest album we have done in the last ten years."

As previously reported, Singer joined the group in May as a replacement for Lee Morris, who left the band in March due to "personal and musical differences." "Symbol Of Life", PARADISE LOST's ninth studio album, was produced by Fulber and was released in the U.S. through Koch Entertainment.

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MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine has hit out at his former bandmates in METALLICA in a recent interview with journalist and author Joel McIver in Record Collector magazine. Read the full article in the U.K. magazine's September issue, out on August 5. A few excerpts from the interview follow (as obtained by BLABBERMOUTH.NET):

Record Collector: Rumor has it you aren't happy with the way you come across in the forthcoming METALLICA movie, "Some Kind Of Monster"?

Dave Mustaine: "No I wasn't. They edited out a lot more stuff than was there and they sent it to me for my approval. I said, I don't want you to use it. ...

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The mother of legendary THIN LIZZY rocker Phil Lynott has hit back at a notorious white supremacist group that has launched an Internet race-hate campaign against her son, vowing to deface a statue being built in his honor, according to the Evening Herald.

Members of Stormfront, a U.S.-based racist group with an active Irish membership, have promised to destroy the seven-feet tall bronze statue that is being built in Dublin, Ireland.

Lynott's mother Philomena, 73, called those who posted the web abuse "cowards." She said: "They are faceless people who write anonymous letters. I hate such people with racism in their blood. No wonder ther ...

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Guitarist Ralph Santolla has officially left ICED EARTH and joined SEBASTIAN BACH's solo band. "There are several reasons for this decision, and for the moment I will keep them to myself," Santolla writes in a statement sent to BLABBERMOUTH.NET. "The other guys [in ICED EARTH] know my reasons, and hopefully this won't turn into a public pissing match. On the other hand, if it does, at least execution by musketry has gone out of style. I made some great friends, played some great, albeit difficult (!) metal tunes, and learned a lot from the experience. Whatever anyone else says about [ICED EARTH mainman] Jon [Schaffer], he IS a ph ...

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