The band has decided to pull out of this Winter's scheduled tour with Marduk and suspend touring activities in North America indefinitely because of their distaste for the way touring is handled in the US.

The band has parted ways with Sven Karlsson (Soilwork) presumably due to dissatisfaction with his dedication to the band - the keyboardist has been replaced by Chris Rehn.

The next album to be called 'Space Metal' will feature the following vocalists: Damian Wilson, Floor Jansen, Russell Allen and Dan Swanö - all four vocalists will sing on all of the songs, and each of them will play a certain character from the space films they're based on.

Brian Fair, Shadows Fall's singer, provides the following update: "We just played a benefit this Saturday at the Worcester Palladium for the Red Cross. We opened with a new tune titled 'A Fire In Babylon' that we had never played and that I had never even sang before. It was killer. The tune is a total thrash fest!!!! Lots of killer lead lines and even an acoustic break. We have written a total of about six tunes. Three are totally down with lyrics and vocals. The others need a little fine-tuning and some words. So the tunes done are 'Stepping Outside The Circle', 'Mystery of One Spirit' and 'A Fire In Babylon'. The t ...

With good reason, there's a lot of buzz about the upcoming Moonspell/Lacuna Coil North American tour. In addition to their desire to return to America and play in front of all their American friends and fans, Moonspell will be touring in support of their new record, Darkness And Hope - an album that is receiving rave reviews from fans of Moonspell's more recent albums as well as their early material.

Moonspell vocalist Fernando Ribeiro's book, How To Dig An Abyss, was just published recently by Circulo do Abuso. So far, the book is only available in Portuguese, though there have been talks of translating the book into English.

Tiamat´s new album, Judas Christ, will most likely be released in North America in March of 2002. Prior to the release of the album, a single and video-clip will be released - stay tuned for more details.

Tiamat are currently finishing the new album at Pukstudio, Denmark, where plenty of famous artists (Judas Priest, Gary Moore, Depeche Mode, The Sisters Of Mercy, Helloween, Elton John, George Michael) have recorded before. The Danish producer Lars Nissen, a highly-worshipped producer who has helped a lot of domestic acts to achieve gold and platinum records, is producing the record.

The Swedish Heavy Metal Superstars Hammerfall went up for gold in Sweden. They received their first Gold Record for more than 40 000 sold copies of their latest chart breaking album "Renegade". This is the first gold record for a Swedish Heavy Metal band in Sweden since "Prisoners in Paradise" from Europe back in 1992. It's the first Gold Record for Hammerfall and the second in history of Nuclear Blast Records.

The band wants to thank all their fans and followers for their support and their believe in Heavy Metal. You are the real Templars Of Steel!!!

The three-guitar act from Bedford, MA has signed to Metal Blade Records - 'Against All Elements' is expected in Spring 2002.

Blabbermouth reports that the rap/metal act will reunite on stage for the first time in over year for a New Year's Eve show in their hometown of Atlanta - the band will be joined by new bassist/vocalist Keith Watson (Obey Bizar).

Drummer Brian Craig (Destiny's End) has joined the band - the new album 'Xiled To Infinity And One' will be produced by Joey Vera (Armored Saint, Fates Warning) - John Oliva (Savatage) will write and sing two songs for the album.