TAROT — the Finnish group led by NIGHTWISH/ex-SINERGY bassist Marco Hietala — will release its ninth studio album, "Gravity Of Light", on April 23 via Nuclear Blast Records (excluding Finland). A tour will follow, including a stop in Moscow, Russia as well as a number of summer festival appearances.

Check out the "Gravity Of Light" artwork below.

TAROT has been confirmed for this year's ProgPower USA XI festival, set to take place September 8-11 in Atlanta, Georgia.

An e-card for "Undead Indeed", the latest DVD from TAROT, can be accessed at this location.

"Undead Ind ...

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According to The Pulse of Radio, TOOL guitarist Adam Jones met with KING CRIMSON founder and guitar player Robert Fripp last month in London to discuss reactivating a collaborative album the pair began working on several years ago. Fripp revealed the news about the meeting in a post at his online diary, writing, "A fabbo lunch with Adam covering a wide range of common interests & experiencing, among which: the possibilities of continuing our album, begun in Los Angeles some 5-6 years ago; and go out speaking together."

The possibility of Jones and Fripp working together leads to the question of what — if anything — is going on with TOOL itself. Frontman Maynard James Keenan is ...

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William Goodman of SPIN.com recently conducted an interview with DEFTONES frontman Chino Moreno. An excerpt from the chat follows below.

SPIN.com: What can fans expect from the new album?

Moreno: The dynamics DEFTONES are known for — aggressive overtones and lush openness. They're on opposite sides of the spectrum, but we meld them together without sounding contrived. There are a few heavy songs, too, like our first couple records, and there are also experimental tunes -- but there's not a minute on this record that feels like it doesn't need to be there. Each sound complements the other. I'll straight-up say it: it's definitely one of our best albums.

SPIN ...

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A new BLEEDING THROUGH track entitled "Anti-Hero" is available for streaming at the band's MySpace page. The song will appear on the Orange County, California group's forthcoming self-titled album, which is scheduled for release on April 13 via the Portland, Oregon-based independent record label Rise Records. The CD was recorded at Planet Z Studios in Hadley, Massachusetts with producer Chris "Zeuss" Harris, who has previously worked with MUNICIPAL WASTE, AGNOSTIC FRONT and HATEBREED, among others.

"Bleeding Through" track listing:

01. A Resurrection
02. Anti-Hero
03. Your Abandonment
04. F ...

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GODFLESH, the industrial metal band from Birmingham, England which formed in 1988 by Justin K. Broadrick (guitar, vocals, and programming) and G.C. Green (bass) and disbanded in 2002, will perform at this year's installment of the Hellfest, set to take place June 18-20, 2010 in Clisson, France. This will mark the reunited group's only appearance in Europe.

According to Justin, the band's lineup for the Hellfest performance will consist of Broadrick and Green, accompanied by various "machines and projections."

Justin explained to U.K.'s Terrorizer magazine the reasons behind the band's return to the live stage.

"It wasn't remotely planned," he said. "Whenever ...

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"Eparistera Daimones", the forthcoming debut album by TRIPTYKON, the group founded by former HELLHAMMER/CELTIC FROST singer and guitarist Tom Gabriel Warrior, is not only musically a leviathan. Remarkably, the album will also feature the epic artwork by renowned Swiss artist H.R. Giger and New York-based surrealist Vincent Castiglia.

In an exceptionally rare gesture, H.R. Giger has granted TRIPTYKON the use of his dramatic painting "Vlad Tepes" (work no. 412, 200 x 140 cm, acrylic on paper on wood, 1978). It is the artist's first authorized appearance on an album cover in 17 years, and the second time he collaborates with Warrior (following CELTIC FROST's "To Mega Therion" album ...

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Reactivated late '80s/early '90s technical-thrash metallers BELIEVER have uploaded video footage of their October 30, 2009 concert at The Note in West Chester, Pennsylvania, Watch the clips below.

BELIEVER is currently composing material for a new studio album, which the band hopes to begin recording later this year. The group stated in an online post earlier this month, "We've been in writing mode for a couple months and now it's getting to the point where we are starting to piece together some very early 'pre-pre-production recordings.' These are very basic guitar-only tracks recorded to a click, for the purpose of helping Joey [Daub] to finish writing his drum parts and for all ...

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Irish pagan masters PRIMORDIAL will release their first-ever DVD, "All Empires Fall" in Europe on March 1 via Metal Blade.

Disc 1 of the two-disc set is the centrepiece of the DVD and features a full PRIMORDIAL headline show recorded live on January 24, 2009 in the band's hometown of Dublin, Ireland. The concert was filmed with five cameras and has an exceptional vintage look due to the hard work in post-production. A truly impressive and powerful live gig, exciting from start to finish in front of die-hard PRIMORDIAL audience and a perfect soundtrack that is available in stereo and 5.1!

Disc 2 features live clips from the band's appearances at Ragnarök Festival (Germa ...

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After taking an offical break over two years ago, it has now become reality that Norwegian extreme metal act ZYKLON is no longer a functional band, and thus the decision was made to formaly split up the group instead of just letting it decend into nothingness.

As a final release from the band, Candlelight Records will later this year put out a ZYKLON box set, entitled "The Storm Manifesto", featuring all three of the group's full-length albums plus bonus material.

ZYKLON played its final show in Tokyo, Japan on September 28, 2007.

All members of ZYKLON are still active on various fronts. Guitarist Samoth is currently in the studio working on the debut album ...

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Candlelight Records has announced the signing of the Irish experimental black metal band ALTAR OF PLAGUES.

Commented the group: "ALTAR OF PLAGUES are very glad to announce we have signed with Candlelight Records in Europe. We are proud to sit on a roster alongside many bands that we have long admired and that have been a constant source of inspiration for what we do, particularly the likes of EMPEROR, ENSLAVED and BLUT AUS NORD. We feel Candlelight's aesthetic compliments what we do perfectly and we're looking forward to working alongside them in 2010 and beyond."

ALTAR OF PLAGUES was formed in 2006. Terms that are most frequently used to describe the group's style incl ...

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