EDGUY frontman Tobias Sammet has decided that the forthcoming chapter from his AVANTASIA project will be spread over two albums. He explained: "I have always given my very best, but this new chapter in AVANTASIA's history is too much and too ambitious to be just a regular album. I have worked on it for years now, and it has become even more than two albums!

"I don't know if I will release one first, or both simultaneously, or maybe even both in one special package. It's all up to whatever label is going to release it; we'll see.

"The production is so massive and I have so many guests this time.

"It's the continuation of the 'Scarecrow' story.

" ...

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Still riding high on the success of latest NAPALM album By the Light of the Northern Star, TYR will be touring alongside former labelmates KORPIKLAANI as well as WHITE WIZZARD and SWASHBUCKLE. Here are the CONFIRMED dates/venues thus far:

Jan 8 Worcester, MA @ Palladium

Jan 9 Montreal, QC @ Club Soda

Jan 10 Toronto, ON @ Opera House

Jan 11 Detroit, MI @ Blondie's

Jan 12 Chicago, IL @ Jaguar Club

Jan 13 Cleveland, OH @ Peabody's

Jan 14 New York, NY @ Gramercy Theater

Jan 15 Allentown, PA @ The Sterling Hotel

Jan 16 Springfield, VA @ Jaxx

Jan 17 Raleigh, NC @ Volume 11

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Just a few days into the band's European tour with AMON AMARTH, bassist Mike Alexander of British thrashers EVILE was suddenly taken ill and rushed to hospital, but tragically passed away in Luleå, Sweden [on Monday, October 5]. He was 32 years old.

EVILE members Matt Drake, Ol Drake and Ben Carter have released the following statement:

"This is so hard to find the words to express fully how we feel. We can't believe or accept what's happened. One minute we're talking to our buddy, Mike, the next minute we can never speak to him again.

"There's so many things rushing through our heads that we want to say, do and feel. We half expect him to come round the cor ...

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NEGURA BUNGET — the Romanian band that incorporates elements of black metal, progressive metal, folk metal and dark ambient — has set "Vîrstele Pamîntului" (English translation: The Ages of the Land/Earth) as the title of its new album, tentatively due in early 2010. The group states in a press release, "'Vîrstele Pamîntului' is an album about embracing your destiny, about choosing and consciously assuming a way of life. The earth is where we came from and where go back into, the one from above and beyond us. Understanding and respecting it is understanding yourself, your purpose and destiny.

"'Vîrstele Pamîntului' is an album about places of the earth and places of the ...

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Swedish "art rockers" CULT OF LUNA have issued the following update:

"CULT OF LUNA will gather soon for a shorter recording session. One weekend in the middle of October in Umeå. It is not a recording related to an album, though; it is for something else. We'll definitely try to put this project into words for you during this particular weekend."

CULT OF LUNA's DVD, "Fire Was Born", was released on April 27 via Earache Records). Along with an epic live show recorded on July 1, 2008 at Scala in London, England, the disc — which was mixed, edited and designed by the band — features footage of Johannes Persson and Anders Teglund (keyboards) answering questions from ...

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Margaret Priebe, the 85-year-old METALLICA fan who became a viral sensation after her story appeared in Thursday's St. Petersburg Times, was invited backstage for a meet-and-greet prior to the band's show last night (Saturday, October 3) at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Florida. Each member of METALLICA spent a little time with her, sharing stories of her favorite album, "S&M". Guitarist Kirk Hammett also mentioned that his mother now has some competition! In addition, guitarist/vocalist James Hetfield dedicated the song "Nothing Else Matters" to Margaret at the sold-out concert, which was attended by more than 18,000 people.

"The number one METALLICA fan!" drummer Lars Ulric ...

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British extreme metal veterans AKERCOCKE will play a headline set at London's Camden Underworld on Friday, October 16, supported by a stellar lineup of underground metal talent that includes HADES LAB, INGESTED, DIMINISHED FIFTH and HIDEOUS MISCREATION. This will be AKERCOCKE's only autumn appearance as the London four-piece is currently ensconced in its own Goat Of Mendes Studios, preparing its sixth, as-yet-untitled album. The London gig may feature new material from the sessions, which have yielded music described by frontman Jason Mendonça as "cortex-shredding slabs of sonic malevolence."

"London is in for a shock on October 16," Mendonça told BLABBERMOUTH.NET. "The new mate ...

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RAMMSTEIN, the Berlin, Germany-based industrial metal sextet well known for its controversial and fiery live performances, has set "Liebe Ist Für Alle Da" as the title of its new album, due in the U.S. on October 20 via Vagrant Records (October 16 in Germany). The CD artwork can be viewed below. The band's first new album in four years contains 11 songs which were once again mixed and mastered by Jacob Hellner in Stockholm, Sweden. Pre-production for the new release was done at Castle Beerenstedt in eastern Germany's Halle/Saale while the bulk of the recording was done in late 2008 at Northern California's Sonoma Mountain Studio.

"Liebe Ist Für Alle Da" track listing:

...

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Japanese extreme metal band SIGH has completed work on its eighth studio album, "Scenes From Hell", for an early 2010 release via The End Records.

SIGH's Mirai Kawashima has posted the final in-studio blog for MetalSucks, which over the past several months has documented the recording process for "Scenes From Hell". An excerpt follows below.

"The album has finally been mixed and mastered. We were supposed to finish mixing it by the end of June, but it was not easy at all. Of course I knew it'd be tough to mix all those orchestral instruments properly, but it was much harder than expected. The brass section sounds very powerful by itself. Guitar, bass and drums sound pow ...

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Chicago's purveyors of psychedelic blackened metal NACHTMYSTIUM are currently working on material for "Black Meddle Part II" (working title) and will soon embark on the "U.S. Plague Tour" featuring Swedish black metal legends MARDUK alongside MANTIC RITUAL, MERRIMAC and BLACK ANVIL. The trek kicks off on November 20 and runs through December 16.

Commented NACHTMYSTIUM mastermind Blake Judd: "We're honored to announce our upcoming tour supporting Swedish black metal legends MARDUK. It's an honor to be going out with this band we've all been listening to for years and to be getting back on the road after a rocky year between canceled tours and festivals due to injuries and other un ...

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