Gelap Pekat

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: