Gelap Pekat

The first track-by-track review of "The Final Frontier", the new album from British heavy metal legends IRON MAIDEN, has been posted on the Radio Metal web site.

IRON MAIDEN's 15th studio LP, "The Final Frontier", will be released in North America on August 17 (one day earlier internationally) via Universal Music Enterprises (UMe).

The band reunited with long-time MAIDEN producer Kevin "Caveman" Shirley in early 2010 at Compass Point Studios, Nassau to record the album and then moved to The Cave Studios in Malibu, California to finish the recording and do the mixing. Compass Point Studio is very familiar to the band, it was where they recorded the "Piece Of Mind" (1983), "Powerslave" (1984) and "Somewhere In Time" (1986) albums.

"The Final Frontier" features artwork illustrated by Melvyn Grant.

The track listing for the CD is as follows (total running time 76:35):

01. Satellite 15....The Final Frontier (Smith/Harris) (8:40)
02. El Dorado (Smith/Harris/Dickinson) (6:49)
03. Mother Of Mercy (Smith/Harris) (5:20)
04. Coming Home (Smith/Harris/Dickinson) (5:52)
05. The Alchemist (Gers/Harris/Dickinson) (4:29)
06. Isle Of Avalon (Smith/Harris) (9:06)
07. Starblind (Smith/Harris/Dickinson) (7:48)
08. The Talisman (Gers/Harris) (9:03)
09. The Man Who Would Be King (Murray/Harris) (8:28)
10. When The Wild Wind Blows (Harris) (10:59)

IRON MAIDEN guitarist Dave Murray recently told Billboard.com about "The Final Frontier", "We breezed through the album, really. We actually finished it in six weeks. We were getting down a track a day — all playing together as a band, Bruce (Dickinson) singing, all in the same room, so there's a very live-in-the-studio feel to it. Once we finished a track we'd jump straight into doing some extra guitar bits. It was very quick for us."

Murray said the 10-track set mixes "straight-ahead, uptempo rock songs with good grooves with some other tracks that are kind of longer and more complex." The album closer, "When the Wild Wind Blows", is an 11-minute track that's one of the longest songs IRON MAIDEN has ever recorded. "The rhythm's a little bit different from what we've done before, and there's lots of melodies," Murray said. "It's a big song. We learned it in sections just because it was such a complex arrangement, but it sounds quite natural (on the record)."

Bassist Uriah Duffy has released the following statement regarding his departure from the legendary rock band WHITESNAKE:

"My time with WHITESNAKE was awesome. David [Coverdale; WHITESNAKE frontman] and I have a great relationship; there are no hard feelings. It was simply time for us to go our separate ways."

Duffy spent five years with WHITESNAKE during which time he recorded an award-winning studio album, "Good To Be Bad", and played on the live release "Live In The Shadow Of The Blues". He also performed over 200 live shows on three world tours, including headlining appearances at major music festivals, among them the 2009 edition of the Download festival in the U.K. (to an audience of 80,000).

A member of WHITESNAKE since 2005, Duffy continued to work on outside projects. Officially parting ways with the band allows Dufy to give focus to a range of projects, including new acts THE MEMORIALS (with Thomas Pridgen of THE MARS VOLTA), BLACKGATES (also featuring former ANTHRAX vocalist Dan Nelson, drummer Paul Bostaph [TESTAMENT, ex-EXODUS, SLAYER, FORBIDDEN] and guitarist Jeremy Epp [THE VENTING MACHINE]), ongoing work with renowned rapper Lyrics Born, The Jazz Ma a, and his upcoming solo album for his own project, THE URIAH DUFFY BAND.

At this time WHITESNAKE is still exploring its options for the position of the band's new bassist.

WHITESNAKE is currently in the studio writing and recording the follow-up to 2008's "Good To Be Bad" for a spring 2011 release via Frontiers Records.

The cover artwork for "Under A New Sun", the forthcoming fourth full-length album from Melbourne, Australia's dark rockers THE ETERNAL, can be found below. The band states, "The cover and several images in the booklet are based on photography by fantastic Romanian photographer Felicia Simion. Her photography really touched us and we hope you enjoy it as much as we do."

"Under A New Sun" was recorded at 301 Studios in Byron Bay with acclaimed producer and multi-platinum recording artist Jeff Martin (THE ARMADA, THE TEA PARTY). Songtitles set to appear on the follow-up to 2008's "Kartika" include "The Sleeper", "Control", "Under A New Sun", "A Thousand Shades of You", "Collapse" and "Cast In Stone".

"Under A New Sun" was co-engineered by Paul Pilsneniks who has worked with such artists as THE LIVING END, THE MARS VOLTA, SILVERCHAIR, GRINSPOON and ALANIS MORISSETTE. THE ETERNAL has also enlisted acclaimed Finnish keyboard player Maria Ilmoniemi (TARJA, HUSKY RESCUE) to contribute.

Video footage of THE ETERNAL singer/guitarist Mark Kelson performing an acoustic version of the new song "The Sleeper" off "Under A New Sun" with Jeff Martin (who produced the album and contributed vocals to this track on the CD version) and Jeff's bass player Jay Cortez on May 14, 2010 at The Corner Hotel in Melbourne, Australia can be viewed below.

THE ETERNAL has scheduled its first hometown show in a year at Ruby's Lounge in Belgrave on Friday, July 23 with local rockers TREAD. THE ETERNAL states, "We will be playing loads of new material from 'Under A New Sun' so come and check it out."

THE ETERNAL recently made a new DVD, "Kartika World Tour 2009", available exclusively via the band's web site. The disc contains the "Kartika World Tour" and "The Making Of Kartika" documentaries as well at two promotional videos and plenty of photos.

Fan-filmed video footage of CHARRED WALLS OF THE DAMNED — the new project led by acclaimed metal drummer Richard Christy (ICED EARTH, DEATH, LEASH LAW, CONTROL DENIED, BURNING INSIDE) — performing on July 8, 2010 at the Gramercy Theatre in New York City can be viewed below (courtesy of "Pantera42057" and "hornsuprocks").

Fans finally got a chance to watch Christy and vocalist Tim "Ripper" Owens (JUDAS PRIEST, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, ICED EARTH) perform the songs from CHARRED WALLS OF THE DAMNED's debut album. They toured from Chicago through Canada and up to Worcester, Massachusetts for a massive show with DREAM THEATER. The trek also featured comedian Don Jamieson from VH1 Classic's "That Metal Show".

CHARRED WALLS OF THE DAMNED's touring lineup made its live debut on July 1 in Chicago, Illinois. Stepping in for concerts were Cleveland guitarists John Comprix and Matt Sorg. Comprix is Owens' bandmate in several projects, and Sorg plays with Comprix in RINGWORM.

The self-titled debut album from CHARRED WALLS OF THE DAMNED sold around 2,200 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD landed at No. 6 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.

CHARRED WALLS OF THE DAMNED's album contains nine tracks, a bonus DVD ("The Making of Charred Walls of the Damned"), and comes in a digipack.

The recording sessions for the CHARRED WALLS OF THE DAMNED CD took place at Audiohammer Studios in Sanford, Florida with producer Jason Suecof, who has previously worked with TRIVIUM, ALL THAT REMAINS, BURY YOUR DEAD, AUGUST BURNS RED, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, DAATH, CHIMAIRA, DEVILDRIVER and GOD FORBID, among others.

CHARRED WALLS OF THE DAMNED's recording lineup:

* Richard Christy - Drums
* Jason Suecof - Guitar, Producer
* Tim "Ripper" Owens (JUDAS PRIEST, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, ICED EARTH) - Vocals
* Steve DiGiorgio (SADUS, TESTAMENT) - Bass

For more information, visit www.myspace.com/charredwallsofthedamned.

On July 19, Candlelight Records will release a box set from the now-defunct Norwegian extreme metal act ZYKLON, entitled "The Storm Manifesto", featuring all three of the group's full-length albums plus bonus material.

Founded in 1998, it was evident from the start that ZYKLON was to be more than just a "side project" for the then-EMPEROR guitarist and drummer. Teaming with Destructhor (also of MYRKSKOG), the trio's rehearsals ignited a spark that would put them on the fast track. Enter England's Candlelight Records. Already home to EMPEROR, Candlelight was the best and obvious first choice for the band and its recording future.

"The Storm Manifesto" track listing:

Disc 1 - "World ov Worms":

01. Hammer Revelation
02. Deduced To Overkill
03. Chaos Deathcult
04. Storm Detonation
05. Zycloned
06. Terrordome
07. Worm World
08. Transcendental War - The Battle Between Gods
09. Dominate (bonus)
10. Worm World (video)
11. Transcendal War - Battle Between Gods (video)

Disc 2 - "Aeon":

01. Psyklon Aeon
02. Core Solution
03. Two Thousand Years
04. No Names Above The Names
05. The Prophetic Method
06. Specimen Eruption
07. Electric Current
08. An Eclectic Manner
09. Pull the Plug (bonus)
10. Core Solution (video)
11. Psyklon Aeon (video)

Disc 3 - "Disintegrate":

01. In Hindsight
02. Disintegrate
03. Ways of the World
04. Subversive Faith
05. A Cold Grave
06. Vile Ritual
07. Underdog
08. Wrenched
09. Vulture
10. Skinned and Endangered
11. Wrenched (video)
12. Underdog (video)

Check out an e-card for "The Storm Manifesto" at this location.

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 in the studio working on the debut album for his new project, THE WRETCHED END. Fellow axeman Destructhor is still touring with MORBID ANGEL, and is still planning to complete a new MYRKSKOG album with bassist/vocalist Secthdamon. Drummer Trym is mainly working in his tattoo shop, but is scheduled to appear in a new music project soon.

ZYKLON's third album, "Disintegrate", was released in 2006 via Candlelight Records. The CD was recorded at Akkerhaugen Lydstudio in Norway and was mixed at Studio Fredman in Gothenburg, Sweden.

ZYKLON's DVD, titled "Storm Detonation Live", came out in March 2006 via Candlelight. Recorded at Germany's 2004 Party.San Open Air festival, the DVD contained the band's live show plus exclusive on-the-road/backstage footage, an exclusive look into reheasals for "Disintegrate" and both the "Psyklon Aeon" and "Core Solution" videos.

"Cadence", the new studio album from the reunited melodic hard rock band BANGALORE CHOIR, will be released on September 24 via Metal Heaven Records.

It has been 18 years since BANGALORE CHOIR's only release, "On Target", on Giant Records in 1992, which came out on the same day as NIRVANA's "Nevermind". Shortly after, BANGALORE CHOIR disbanded after being released from the label.

After several years under the radar on a ranch in Montana, lead vocalist David Reece (ex-ACCEPT, DAREFORCE) was contacted by Escape Records in 2007 to see what the chances would be for him to go to Sweden to sing on Swedish band GYPSY ROSE's next release. Soon after that David found himself in the studio for the next year recording and writing for the new GYPSY ROSE CD, "Another World", which was released in June 2008.

While touring and doing the Sweden Rock Festival in June 2007 and opening for AEROSMITH in Europe, Reece regained his passion for music, deciding he wanted to put BANGALORE CHOIR back together. Reece reached out to guitarist Curt Mitchell and bassist Danny Greenberg and asked them if they would like to make a new record. Both of them eagerly accepted the challenge. Joining them on the new album are Hans in't Zandt on drums and guitarist Andy Susemihl of U.D.O. fame, who contributed to the songwriting process and did a masterful job on the CD's production.

Commented Reece: "We knew if we were to make a new record that in order for it to be viable we had to keep some of the old formula that worked so well in the past which we have done!

"The new record by BANGALORE CHOIR is called 'Cadence' — continuing with blistering guitars pounding rhythms and big, hooky choruses."

"Cadent" (new song) audio sample:

On July 14, Aniruddh "Andrew" Bansal of Metal Assault conducted an interview with vocalist Tony Harnell (TNT, WESTWORLD, STARBREAKER) about his latest project, TONY HARNELL & THE MERCURY TRAIN. You can now listen to the chat in two parts below.

"Northern Lights", the debut video from TONY HARNELL & THE MERCURY TRAIN, can be viewed below. The track comes off the group's debut album, "Round Trip", which was released in Europe on July 2 and will be made available in the USA on July 27 via Frontiers Records.

"Round Trip" is a very special record: a stripped down, reinvented retrospective of Tony Harnell's past classics originally recorded with his previous bands TNT, WESTWORLD and STARBREAKER, with one brand new song, "Anywhere But Here", recorded exclusively for this release.

The idea of re-recording some repertoire classics came about after Tony performed some low-key shows in New York in late 2008, with some talented and accomplished musicians that were not part of the metal/hard rock scene. The desire was to breathe new life into the songs with new arrangements, key changes and added parts; it's like listening to songs you know in a whole new way. Frontiers Records president Serafino Perugino liked the concept, and in Harnell's own words, "The idea was originally based on it being the usual cliché 'acoustic' album. Well, for us hard rockers that usually means simply playing the songs pretty much as they were but with acoustic guitars. That's not exactly what I had in mind. If I was going to do this, I was going to have some fun. I wanted to strip things down and see what would happen when musicians outside the hard rock community played my songs. That intrigued me. So I gave all the guys the original album versions and then pretty much gave them carte blanche to reinterpret the songs. That meant key changes ('cause you can't sing like a banshee when you strip things down, sounds silly), chord changes and even arrangement changes if the mood hit. I also wanted a semi-live vibe. What we ended up with is an album that honors the original songs with a little added spice, color, and above all… fun."

At the end of 2008 Tony and the other musicians entered the studio for a marathon two-day recording session that was supposed to lead into a whirlwind mixing session and an immediate release. But immediately after the session Tony hit some rather intense personal bumps in the road and production stopped. Months later the album was quickly completed.

"Recording this album was an extremely cathartic experience, allowing me to gently close the door to the past with love and gratitude and regain the pride I rightly deserve to have for these songs and for the years of my life I gave to the various periods when they were written," states Tony. "This is in no way meant to erase, dismiss or compete with the incredible original recordings of these songs. This is just a little fun reinvention, a way to leave the past behind on my own terms. These are your songs as much as they are mine, some of you, like me, have all kinds of memories attached to them. My lyrics were, are and always will be filled with my experiences, struggles, hopes and dreams and my observations of the world around me. Hopefully you'll listen to these songs in a new way and hear them with new ears. I know I have."

"Round Trip" track listing:

01. Somebody Told You
02. Intuition
03. Month Of Sundays
04. Lonely Nights
05. Shame
06. Northern Lights
07. Down To The River To Pray
08. Satellite
09. 10K Lovers
10. Uninvited
11. Ready To Fly
12. When I'm Away *
13. Song For Dianne
14. Anywhere But Here

* Bonus track

"Intuition" audio sample:

Finnish extreme metallers IMPALED NAZARENE have issued the following update:

"First things first: After 18 years, [Jarno] Anttila (guitar) has stepped aside from IMPALED NAZARENE.

"There is no drama or bullshit involved. Jarno is simply too busy with his work and family.

"Cheers and beers to Jarno for sticking with us that long!!!!

"Jarno's departure does not affect our plans. We will continue as a four-piece.

"As we previously reported, we will enter Hellhole studio [in Helsinki] this month with our very own soundman Tero Kostermaa to record our 11th full-length album.

"Writing has has been going very well. We have 12 finished songs so far.

"We will record also a song made by Jarno for us as it is a kick-ass tune and he gave us permission to use it.

"'Road To The Octagon' is the album title. We can reveal some songs titles:

* Under Attack
* Tentacles Of The Octagon
* Silent, Violent Type
* Execute Tapeworm Extermination
* Gag Reflex
* Tremble, Man Of God

"'Road To The Octagon' will be released by Osmose Productions in the beginning of November 2010. Album shall be mastered by Mika Jussila and artwork is handled by Darkgrove Design. We can also confirm that we have been booked to play Maryland Deathfest 28th of May 2011. This will be exclusive show for USA in 2011!"

Video footage of IMPALED NAZARENE performing the song "Ghettoblaster" on April 10, 2010 at the "Black Curse Over Hellsinki II" festival at Gloria in Helsinki, Finland can be viewed below (courtesy of Filmokratik).

IMPALED NAZARENE's 20th anniversary show at Henry's Pub club in Kuopio, Finland on November 20, 2010 will be filmed for a forthcoming concert DVD.

Commented the band: "We chose Kuopio and Henry's Pub simply because Kuopio has the best audience in Finland and Henry's Pub is the best club in Finland. Yes, it is small, but perfect for live DVD recording."

IMPALED NAZARENE's latest album, "Manifest", was released in October 2007. The CD was recorded and mixed at Sonic Pump studio by Tapio Pennanen, and was mastered at Finnvox studio by Mika Jussila. The cover artwork and layout was handlded by Ritual.

On March 13, 2010, Jason Saulnier of the "Good Time Metal Oldies" radio show conducted an interview with original JUDAS PRIEST and current HOLY RAGE vocalist Al Atkins. You can now listen to the chat in two parts below.

"Good Time Metal Oldies" airs Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. EST on CIFA 104.1 FM in Nova Scotia and Tuesday nights at 7:00 p.m. EST on Pure Rock Radio.

Interview Part 1:

According to Forbes, Australian hard rock legends AC/DC made an estimated $114 million between June 2009 and June 2010, landing at position No. 2 on the magazine's list of Top-Earning Musicians of 2010.

Says the magazine: "This Australian heavy metal group has been shaking audiences all night long since 1973 and shows few signs of stopping. Second only to U2 in band tour earnings, AC/DC grossed a staggering $226 million on a worldwide tour that included 99 dates and brought in more than $2 million a night."

Forbes magazine's list of Top-Earning Musicians of 2010:

01. U2 ($130 million)
02. AC/DC ($114 million)
03. BEYONCE ($87 million)
04. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN ($70 million)
05. BRITNEY SPEARS ($64 million)
06. JAY-Z ($63 million)
07. LADY GAGA ($62 million)
08. MADONNA ($58 million)
09. KENNY CHESNEY ($50 million)
10. BLACK EYED PEAS, TOBY KEITH and COLDPLAY (tied at $48 million)

Finnish rock band NEGATIVE was interviewed on the teen TV show "Summeri" (which airs on the YLE TV2 channel) in June, a couple of days after the release of the group's fifth album, "Neon". Watch the chat below. (Note: The interview was conducted in Finnish, but the clip includes English subtitles.)

"Neon" was released on June 2. The CD was recorded at the Broken Wave studios in Los Angeles with Warren Riker as the engineer/assistant producer and Jimmy Westerlund as the producer.

According to a press release, "Neon" is "a milestone in NEGATIVE's career. A lot has been invested in the production — the material has been polished to perfection before entering the studios under the supervision of Jeff Blue. Singer Jonne Aaron's vocal scale stretches wider than ever and the band's playing comes together brilliantly on this album. Aaron has composed an album filled to the brim with emotional stadium rock."

"Neon" was the first NEGATIVE album to be released in Europe and Asia simultaneously via Warner Music and JVC Music, respectively. The CD's first single, "End Of The Line", was distributed to radio stations March 1.
Jonne Aaron described "Neon" as "melody rich and comprehensive string of pearls with a twist."

"Neon" track listing:

01. No One Can Save Me Tonight
02. End Of The Line
03. Love That I Lost
04. Blood On Blood
05. Believe
06. Celestial Summer
07. Jealous Sky
08. Days I'm Living For
09. Since You've Been Gone
10. Kiss Of Hope
11. Fucking Worthless
12. Neon Rain

"End Of The Line", the new video from NEGATIVE, can be viewed below.

Interview:

Fan-filmed video footage of former NIGHTWISH singer Tarja Turunen performing two new songs, "Falling Awake" and "We Are", for the first time on June 25, 2010 at this year's Graspop Metal Meeting in Dessel, Belgium can be viewed below.

In other news, Tarja was interviewed by Czech Republic's CT1 on July 13, 2010 prior to her appearance two days later at the at the Masters Of Rock festival in Vizovice, Czech Republic. Watch the chat in two parts below.

Turunen will release the "Falling Awake" single in the U.K. on July 19 exclusively as a 10-inch vinyl via Spinefarm Records. This highly collectible format will be limited to 1,000 copies, all of them pressed onto "marbled" vinyl and numbered by hand, and will be available exclusively from online retailer What Records.

"Falling Awake" is the first track to be released from the forthcoming Tarja outing, "What Lies Beneath" — her second full album to be made available under the Tarja banner and the follow-up to 2007's "My Winter Storm". This version of the track differs from the one that will appear on "What Lies Beneath" in that if features a special guest appearance from FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH guitarist Jason Hook. Mixing was handled, as with much of the new album, by renowned U.K. producer Colin Richardson, whose track record includes work with such artists as SLIPKNOT, MACHINE HEAD and BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE.

The B-side of the "Falling Awake" 10-inch single is "The Good Die Young" — a specially mixed version of the song from the new SCORPIONS album, "Sting In The Tail", with Tarja's vocals now more prominent overall.

"What Lies Beneath" is scheduled for release on September 3 via Spinefarm Records, preceded by follow-up single/video, "Until My Last Breath", on August 16.

With production handled by Tarja herself and selected tracks mixed by U.K. producer Colin Richardson, the follow-up to 2007's "My Winter Storm" "looks set to take Tarja's unique musical mix of drama 'n' decibels to a whole new level of success," according to a press release.

"We worked on 33 songs this time around from which I decided to record 17," Tarja explained. "It has been great to have the freedom to produce my own record for the first time; these sessions have been such a gift, a real learning process and a true joy. In many ways, it feels like the first time…"

ALL THAT REMAINS singer Phil Labonte has contributed guest vocals to "What Lies Beneath". Labonte appears in the track "Dark Star", which Turunen described as a "duet." Tarja stated, "I haven't been really working with such impressive vocals before. With [Phil's vocal contributions], the song reached another dimension."

"Falling Awake" performance from Graspop Metal Meeting: