The new MANOWAR album, "Gods of War", will hit stores on the following dates:

February 23, 2007 (Germany)
February 26, 2007 (Rest of Europe, excluding France, U.K.)
March 5, 2007 (France, U.K.)
April 3, 2007 (USA, Canada)

More details will be released soon, including the cover artwork.

As previously reported, an audio interview with MANOWAR vocalist Eric Adams, conducted recently by Judyth Piazza of "The American Perspective", has been posted online at this location (MP3, 14 MB). In the interview, Adams talks about his new "Wild Life and Wild Times" DVD and his philosophies on hunting. An e-card for the new MANOWAR double DVD, "The Day The Earth Shook - The Absolute Power", can be accessed at this location.

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From Journey's official website.

JOURNEY NAMES JEFF SCOTT SOTO OFFICIAL NEW LEAD SINGER

December 19, 2006 -- Jeff Scott Soto has been officially named the new lead singer of Journey. He had been filling in for Steve Augeri, who had to leave the U.S. tour with Def Leppard shortly after it began on June 23 due to illness.

“We are so grateful to Steve for all the years he dedicated to Journey,” says Journey in a joint statement. “We thank Steve for all his hard work and we wish him only the best in his future endeavors. Over the past few months, we've come to realize that Jeff has proven himself above and ...

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An audio sample of a new MASTERPLAN song, entitled "Lost and Gone", has been posted online at this location (audio player in upper right-hand corner). The track is the title cut of the German/American band's new EP, due on January 26 via AFM Records. The CD is the group's first release to feature its new lineup of Mike DiMeo (vocals; RIOT), Roland Grapow (guitar; ex-HELLOWEEN), Mike Terrana (drums; ex-RAGE), Jan S. Eckert (bass) and Axel Mackenrott (keyboards).

MASTERPLAN's third album is tentatively due in February ...

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Rebellion have posted a video for "Miklagard," the first single for their upcoming fourth album, Miklagard: The History of the Vikings - Vol. II. You can download the video at this location. The download is free and available in following formats: Quicktime, Windows Media Player, and IPod Video.

Miklagard is the second installment of the History of the Vikings trilogy, and marks the debut of female guitarist Simone Wenzel, who replaces Björn Eilen. A single for "Miklagard" (cover) will be released today, December 15. The full album will see a worldwide release on February 23, 2007, through Massacre Records.

More information can be found here.

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Steamhammer/SPV has announced the details of two separate HELLOWEEN releases — a CD and a DVD — both recorded live during the band's "Keeper Of The Seven Keys - The Legacy World Tour 2005/2006". The track listing is as follows:

"Keeper Of The Seven Keys - The Legacy World Tour 2005/2006 - Live On 3 Continents" DVD (view cover here):

DVD 1:

01. Intro (Sao Paulo)
02. The King For A 1000 Years (Sao Paulo)
03. Eagle Fly Free (Sao Paulo)
04. Hell Was Made In Heaven (Sao Paulo)
05. Keeper Of The Seven Keys ( ...

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An audio sample of the new BATTLELORE track "House of Heroes" has been posted online at this location. The song comes off the Finnish "fantasy metal" band's fourth album, "Evernight", due in February 2007 via Napalm Records. The follow-up to 2005's "Third Age of the Sun" was recorded at MusicBros Studio and was produced by Miitri Aaltonen, who previously worked with the group on their first two CDs, "...Where The Shadows Lie" (2002) and "Sword's Song" (2003). The mastering duties were handled at Finnvox Studios.

"Evernight" (view cover < ...

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German power metallers RAGE have parted ways with drummer Mike Terrana.

Commented vocalist/bassist Peter "Peavy" Wagner and guitarist Victor Smolski: "From now on, we won't continue our collaboration with Mike because of personal and musical differences that have been existing for a while now and became unbearable. This cut is definitely not easy for us — but to avoid damage to RAGE we have no other choice. Unfortunately, there's not much left from our former unity. A while ago comunication between Mike and us broke down completely, so we have to pull the emergency brake. We decided to work with a new drummer in the future because we ...

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Lana Lane and husband/producer Erik Norlander have just released their bi-annual “specialty albums.” Lane’s album comes in the form of Gemini, a covers album that follows a theme of “two.” Lane recorded two songs each by the classic rock artists Cream, Pink Floyd, The Moody Blues, Heart, Jefferson Airplane and Foreigner. Of particular note is Lana's “Pink Moon Suite” that combines the song “Johnny Moon”—originally recorded by Heart—with songs from most of “side one” of Pink Floyd's landmark Dark Side Of The Moon.

Not be outdone, Norlander released Homage Symphonique< ...

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Frontman Buddy Lackey (a.k.a. Devon Graves; ex-PSYCHOTIC WALTZ) of DEADSOUL TRIBE has issued the following update:

"I changed my mind about making a double [DEADSOUL TRIBE] album. To me, it was an ambitious thought but probably a senseless business move. With all of today's downloading, it is becoming increasingly difficult for independent bands to keep running, selling enough to keep the bands in some sort of recording deal. Therefore it seems a bit risky to put out an album that is even more expensive, like a double disc set would inevitably have to be. Instead, I have taken what I consider the very best of the best between the two discs, and just ...

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Dan McNew, the organizer of the Ride for Dime bike rally in honor of late PANTERA/DAMAGEPLAN guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, has posted the following message on the RideForDime.com web site:

"We all know Dimebag's musical roots were in country western music, and we all know what a great sense of humor he had. And last but not least, Dime supported the local music scene in Dallas and would sometimes record with local musicians. I ran into one of those musicians, 'Throbbin Donnie Rodd' tonight [Saturday, Dec. 2, 2006] in a club who told me the story of how Dimebag ...

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