Rest in Peace to a black metal legend.

"PK 1975 - 2024 immortal in his legacy - blood (family), soil (home) and monuments of Black Metal art. walked through the gate by his own hand, through his own will. (photo below May 1995 during the recording of Nachthymnen. more following during the next days. keep your respectful distance to the bereaved for now!)"

---

American death metal icons NILE return in 2024 with their highly-anticipated tenth onslaught, "The Underworld Awaits Us All", due out August 23 via Napalm Records. Boasting airtight technicality and unrelenting brutality, the new album pushes each member of NILE — founding mastermind/guitarist Karl Sanders, longtime drum master George Kollias, vocalist/guitarists Brian Kingsland and Zach Jeter, and bassist Dan Vadim Von — to their furthest extremes both in artistry and performance.

Once again produced and recorded at Sanders's own Serpent Headed Studios in Greenville, South Carolina, the band returned to "Vile Nilotic Rites" engineer Mark Lewis (CANNIBAL CORPSE, DYING FETUS, W ...

---

Grammy-winning progressive music titans DREAM THEATER have announced the return of drummer Mike Portnoy to the group. Portnoy will reunite with guitarist John Petrucci and bassist John Myung — the trio formed the band at the Berklee College Of Music in 1985 — along with longtime members, vocalist James LaBrie and keyboardist Jordan Rudess. DREAM THEATER will be going into the studio to begin working on their 16th studio album and the first with Portnoy since 2009's "Black Clouds & Silver Linings".

"I understand DREAM THEATER's decision to get Mike Portnoy back at this time," states Mike Mangini, who joined the band in 2010. "As was said from Day 1, my place was not to fill all ...

---

Renowned around the world as one of the greatest and most distinctive heavy metal vocalists of all time, IRON MAIDEN's Bruce Dickinson will release a brand new solo album in early 2024 on BMG. Titled "The Mandrake Project", it sees him reunited with long-time musical collaborator and producer Roy Z.

"The Mandrake Project" will be Dickinson's seventh solo album and his first since "Tyranny Of Souls" in 2005.

Dickinson explains: "This album has been a very personal journey for me and I am extremely proud of it. Roy Z and I have been planning, writing and recording it for years, and I am very excited for people to finally hear it. I'm even more excited at the prospect of g ...

---

Florida death metal veterans OBITUARY will release a new studio album, "Dying Of Everything", on January 13 via Relapse Records.

The official music video for the LP's first single, "The Wrong Time", directed by Odd Life Studios, can be seen below.

OBITUARY comments: "We couldn't be more excited to FINALLY get this new album out and into the hands of the fans!

"We chose 'The Wrong Time' for the first single as it is a true depiction of the sound, style and feel we went for in the studio and is a great taste of what you can expect from 'Dying of Everything'."

"Dying Of Everything" destroys in the time-honored tradition of early OBITUARY classics "Slo ...

---

Swedish occult rockers GHOST will release their fifth album, "Impera", on March 11 via Loma Vista/Concord. The official music video for the LP's latest single, "Call Me Little Sunshine", can be seen below.

"Impera track listing:

01. Imperium
02. Kaisarion
03. Spillways
04. Call Me Little Sunshine
05. Hunter's Moon
06. Watcher In The Sky
07. Dominion
08. Twenties
09. Darkness At The Heart Of My Love
10. Griftwood
11. Bite Of Passage
12. Respite On The Spital Fields

"Hunter's Moon", which was originally released in September, is also featured in the latest blockbuster installment of the legendary film fran ...

---

Canadian progressive sci-fi metal innovators VOIVOD will release their new studio album, "Synchro Anarchy", on February 11, 2022 via Century Media Records. The follow-up to 2018's "The Wake" was produced by Francis Perron at RadicArt Studio and features cover artwork created by VOIVOD drummer Michel "Away" Langevin.

Langevin comments: "We are eager to present our latest work, a real collaborative effort. The new album represents countless hours of writing, demoing, recording, mixing and so on. The band and Francis Perron at RadicArt Studio gave their very best to make it happen under unusual circumstances, which led us to call it 'Synchro Anarchy'. We feel that the sound and music ...

---

Swedish metallers HAMMERFALL will release their twelfth studio album, "Hammer Of Dawn", on February 25, 2022 via Napalm Records. The official music video for the LP's first single and title track, "Hammer Of Dawn", filmed at Liseberg amusement park in Gothenburg with director Patric Ullaeus, can be seen below.

HAMMERFALL guitarist Oscar Dronjak comments: "The song itself was initially conceived in Germany during the 'World Dominion' tour, with the rest of the work being done at home. I immediately knew this had the potential to be something important, and when Joacim [Cans] added his vocal melodies, we both felt it would be the perfect single. One with substance and power but also ...

---

Karl Sanders, the driving force behind South Carolina's Egyptian-themed death metal titans NILE, has signed with Napalm Records for the release of the new album from his solo project.

Following the first two "Saurian" project albums — "Saurian Meditation" (2004) and "Saurian Exorcisms" (2009) — Karl is ready to unleash more musical musings from inside his eclectically influenced mind. To date, each "Saurian" release has explored unique, original compositions of haunting, primarily Middle Eastern inspired music in a cinematic, ambient and mostly instrumental format — similar to the quiet, exotic interludes found on NILE albums. Providing a diverse escape for both fans of NILE ...

---

Two-time Grammy-nominated progressive music titans DREAM THEATER will release their 15th studio album, "A View From The Top Of The World", on October 22. "A View From The Top OF The World" is DREAM THEATER at its musical finest expanding on the sound they helped create while maintaining the elements that have garnered them devoted fans around the globe. The seven-song album also marks the second studio album with InsideOut Music/Sony Music. The artwork was created by longtime cover collaborator Hugh Syme (RUSH, IRON MAIDEN, STONE SOUR). "A View From The Top Of The World" was produced by John Petrucci, engineered and additional production by James "Jimmy T" Meslin and mixed/mastered by Andy S ...

---