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All the news thats fit to print.

November 16, 2007

Diamond Head will support Thin Lizzy on 14 dates of their UK tour.

The Thin Lizzy tour kicks off in Leicester at the De Montfort Hall on Thursday, November 22, with Diamond Head set to join the bill on November 26 at Nottingham's Royal Concert Hall. The trek will take the band around the UK to play some prestigious venues with the last show being played at the legendary Hammersmith Apollo.

Diamond Head drummer Karl Wilcox commented: "[This is] absolutely fabotastic," adding that the whole group is "stoked to be out with such a legendary band."

Diamond Head supporting Thin Lizzy:

Nov. 26 - Nottingham, UK - Royal Concert Hall
Nov. 27 - Birmingham, UK - Academy
Nov. 28 - Cardiff, UK - St David's Hall
Nov. 30 - Glasgow, Scotland - Academy
Dec. 01 - Aberdeen, Scotland - Music Hall
Dec. 02 - Newcastle, UK - City Hall
Dec. 04 - Sheffield, UK - City Hall
Dec. 05 - Manchester, UK - Apollo
Dec. 06 - Liverpool, UK - University
Dec. 08 - Bristol, UK - Colston Hall
Dec. 09 - Southampton, UK - Guildhall
Dec. 10 - Exeter, UK - University
Dec. 12 - Folkestone, UK - Leas Cliff
Dec. 13 - London, UK - Hammersmith Apollo

German power metallers Pharao have been confirmed as the support act for Saxon on a number of European dates in December. The details are as follows:

Dec. 07 - GER Karlsdorf Altenbürghalle
Dec. 08 - GER Andernach JUZ Live Club
Dec. 09 - AUT Hohenems Eventcenter
Dec. 10 - AUT Salzburg Rockhouse
Dec. 11 - SWI Pratteln Z7
Dec. 12 - BEL Antwerpen Hof Ter Lo
Dec. 14 - F Strasbourg La Laiterie
Dec. 16 - GER Nürnberg Löwensaal
Dec. 17 - CZ Prag Retro Music Hall

October 17, 2007

Saxon have postponed their previously announced Australian tour — which was scheduled to kick off on October 24 in Sydney — to April 2008.

According to a press release issued by KMW Productions, Saxon's "passports were not returned by the Japanese embassy in time for Australian visas to be issued."

Ticket holders for the shows in Sydney and Melbourne on October 24 and October 25 should retain their tickets as they will remain valid for the rescheduled dates, to be announced shortly.

October 12, 2007

Soundhouse Records, the new London-based label started by Cliff Evans, guitarist for the UK bands Tank and Killers, has set an October 15 release date for the new Tank collection entitled "Live and Rare". The CD will include nine tracks from the band's 1981 tour supporting Motorhead, four 1981 studio demos (containing material that was later included on the "Filth Hounds of Hades" album), two songs from Tank's 1984 tour with Metallica, and two live tracks recorded in 1999 in Japan.

September 29, 2007

Metal Mind Productions will release the complete discography of Tank: "The Filth Hounds of Hades - Dogs of War 1981 - 2002" on November 19. The collection, containing Tank's full discography extended with exclusive bonus material, will be available in two editions: as a nine-CD box (8CD+DVD) and a six-LP box.

"The Filth Hounds of Hades - Dogs of War 1981 - 2002" includes the following albums:

* "Filth Hounds Of Hades"
* "Power Of The Hunter"
* "This Means War"
* "Honour & Blood"
* "Tank"
* "Return Of A Filth Hound Live" (only in 9CD box)
* "War Of Attrition Live 1981" (only in 9CD box)
* "Still At War"

Plus a DVD with live material recorded over several years.

Waysted, led by UFO bassist Pete Way (hence the spelling of the group's name), will release its new album, "The Harsh Reality", on October 29 via U.K.'s Livewire Records. The CD will feature the band's "classic" lineup of Pete Way, Fin (vocals), Chris George (guitar) and Paul Haslin (drums).

"The Harsh Reality" tentative track listing:

01. Propaganda
02. Samaritan Man
03. Rockin' the Cliché
04. Keepin' it Sweet
05. Long Time Dead
06. Out of Control
07. It Wasn't Me
08. Song for Steve
09. The Harsh Reality
10. Handbags & Gladrags
11. Can't Live Without Some Pain

September 27, 2007

Rekuiem will support Gotthard at JB's in Dudley, England on Friday November 16. "This is one of only three UK dates for Gotthard on their world tour and Rekuiem are looking forward to the show very much," the group writes on its web site. "Most importantly, Rekuiem will be adding more dates to accompany this throughout November and December and these will be announced shortly. Ticket enquiries for the Dudley show can be made to JB's 01384 253597."

Rekuiem will enter the studio soon to record its new album, "Raise the Dead".

It's a run on Tokyo Blade news! Original Tokyo Blade vocalist Alan Marsh has written the script for a film about the band which currently has a working title of "When the Lights Go Down". He has also recorded new versions of Tokyo Blade classics "Night of the Blade" and "If Heaven Is Hell", and has also written and recorded two new songs for inclusion in the film with former Tokyo Blade members Colin Riggs, Marc Angel and Ian "Attilla" Marshall.

Tygers of Pan Tang have the following update: "The band finished tracks 3 and 4 of the new album. We are on track to hit the timescales for a release date in February/March 2008. We are still undicided on titles for these tracks but [we] will let you know when they are confirmed."

"The 'Back & Beyond' EP is currently being processed and is still due for release in November. The EP will be available to buy on the new website www.tygersofpantang.com with payment through PayPal and cheque. The website will be fully operational in the next two weeks."

Saxon are scheduled to release their new double DVD, "To Hell And Back Again", on November 19 (Germany: November 16; U.S.: November 20) via SPV. "To Hell And Back Again" comes in a top-quality digipak featuring over five hours of playing time and is a perfect example of an excellent price/performance ratio. The double DVD will be released in a 16:9 image format and 2.0 Dolby Digital & 5.1 Audio sound formats. DVD 1 consists of 15 chapters with lots of interesting glimpses of the band's life between two albums, starting with the "Lionheart" studio recordings and continuing with heaps of clips from the subsequent tour (the tour start in Kiel, sequences from the Graspop Metal Meeting and Wacken Open Air 2004 festivals, shows in London, Glasgow, Paris, and Pratteln, among others, plus the grand finale in Prague), and scenes from the video shoots for "Witchfinder General" and "Beyond The Grave". Most of the 15 chapters include at least one live track, the end of DVD 1 featuring full versions of each number. Makes over two hours playing time all in all.

September 25, 2007

Andy Boulton, guitarist of Tokyo Blade, has signed a deal with Razar Ice Records. Andy is currently recording his first solo disc for a tentative spring 2008 release. He has also completed work on a guitar-instruction DVD that will be made available in the fall of 2007. The Tokyo Blade back catalog is also being remixed and remastered by Razar Ice and will be reissued with unreleased bonus and live tracks.

September 6, 2007

Blitzkrieg have been confirmed to perform at the the Music Live event, which is being held November 2-4, 2007 at the NEC in Birmingham, England.

September 5, 2007

Cloven Hoof will play their first London show in 16 years at The Purple Turtle, Camden Town, London on Saturday, October 20. Support will come from fellow NWoBHM band Elixir.

Upcoming Cloven Hoof shows:

Oct. 13 - Stourbridge, UK - Rock Cafe 2000 (supporting Diamond Head)
Oct. 20 - Camden, (London), UK - The Purple Turtle
Feb. 15 - Athens, GRE - AN Club

It's been confirmed that The Handsome Beasts will be giving a Radio Interview for The Rock Show on Milton Keynes Radio on Oct 28th. The boys will be discussing Politics, Global Warming and The Price of Fish! But we may also bring up the subject of Rock & Roll, Alcohol, Tales from the Road and the bring light to the issue that a certain member of the band was seen out in a dress !

It could get silly!

September 2, 2007

Praying Mantis have been confirmed for next year's installment of the Headbangers Open Air festival, which is scheduled to take place July 24-26, 2008 in Brande-Hörnerkirchen, Germany.

Girlschool have been forced to cancel their previously announced German and U.S. dates due to due to problems encountered while trying to obtain the necessary work permits to play the U.S. shows. The group's official statement in the matter reads as follows:

"We are absolutely devastated that we had to cancel these shows due to the incompetence of the powers that be. The people that we had trusted to do their jobs and the bureaucracy of the American embassy really sucks.

"We have spent four days at the embassy this week where we were told that our visas had all been approved and that they would try and hurry them up so we would get our passports returned to us before we were due to leave for Germany on the night of August 30th. We then spent two days on the phone begging for our passports to be returned to us but were told that it takes three-five working days.

"Well, as you can imagine, we couldn't believe it after we had been told that they would courier them back to us [as soon as possible]. We have had to cancel all the shows and are extremely disappointed that we have let our fans down.

"To any bands that are applying for a U.S. visa, make sure that you apply at least six months before you go; that way you can be sure of getting your passports back in time.

"Once again we would like to apologize to the German and American fans — and the concert promoters. Hopefully we will see them soon if we ever get our passports back."

August 31, 2007

Raven has been confirmed as the headliner of the first edition of Mario's Metal Meeting, set to take place November 11, 2007 at 013 in Tilburg, the Netherlands.

August 29, 2007

Diamond Head have updated their web site with the following message:

"After being 'lost' for over 27 years, and much sought after by both the band and fans, Dave Brett has done a sterling job in not only tracking down two songs filmed for 'Look Hear!' in 1980, but he has also sent us copies and uploaded them on to YouTube." You can see the band playing "Helpless" and "Streets Of Gold"

Commented guitarist Brian Tatler: "I have been wishing I could see these two very old very rare videos for almost 27 years. I only saw them once when the program 'Look Hear!' was first broadcast in 1980 and no one had a video recorder then, so thanks to the Diamond Head web site and a lot of perseverance we finally have a copy in our possession. I would like to thank Dave for sending them to us, I was 19 when this was recorded, happy times."

Professionally filmed video footage of Diamond Head performing its new song "This Planet and Me" has been posted at YouTube. The track comes off "What's In Your Head?", which was released in Europe on July 30.

August 21, 2007

After nearly three years, the Tygers of Pan Tang are ready to roar back into action with new material due later this year. Inspired by their reception at the NWoBHM festival at the Pitz club in Milton Keynes, the band have written nine songs that are ready to demo and two which are work in progress.

The new album, which has a working title of 'Animal Instinct', sees the band go back to their early roots, playing hard edged rock in the manner of 'Wildcat' and 'Spellbound'.

A brand new Tygers website is to be launched in September which will be updated weekly and bring the fans closer to the band.

August 8, 2007

Hammerhead will be playing a gig with Elixir on the 7th September 2007 at the Carnegie Arts Centre (Monroes Bar) Finkle Street, Workington, Cumbria. (You guys over there get all the best damn shows. Dammit.)

August 6, 2007

Girlschool and the Rock "N Roll Gypsies (featuring Tracey Lamb ex Rock Goddess and Girlschool) will be playing a tribute concert to Kelly Johnson (ex Girlschool who died recently) on August 20, 2007 at the Sojo Revue Bar in London. For more information visit the Girlschool's Myspace page here.

July 20, 2007

Budgie have issued the following update:

"Sadly, due to circumstances way beyond the control of the band, management and promoters, Budgie shows announced for October in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane [Australia] have now been rescheduled for February 2008. Apologies to our brothers and sisters in Oz for any inconvenience or disappointment this has caused and we hope those of you who had plans to party with us in October will still do so next February."

Rescheduled Budgie Australian tour dates:

Feb. 14 - Enmore Theatre - Sydney
Feb. 16 - The Tivoli - Brisbane
Feb. 21 - The Forum – Melbourne

Blitzkrieg have posted audio samples of two new songs — "Theatre of the Damned" and "The Phantom" — on their Myspace page. Both tracks come off the group's new album, "Theatre of the Damned" due on August 10 via Germany's Armageddon Music. The CD was recorded at Absurd Studio in Hamburg with producer Schrödey and co-producer Biff Byford (Saxon). According to a posting on the Armageddon web site, "Theatre of the Damned" "offers the same authentic heavy metal of the '80s along with a super freshness and total attitude."

July 18, 2007

Jaguar have posted the following message on their web site:

"It is with much sadness that we have been told that Kelly Johnson, the ex-Girlschool guitarist, passed away on Sunday after losing a six-year battle with cancer. Jaguar extends it sincerest condolences and regards to Kelly's family and friends, including the other members of Girlschool. Our hearts and thoughts are with you girls."

Johnson originally left Girlschool in 1984 after recording the band's fourth album, "Play Dirty", and moved to Los Angeles where she lived for the next 10 years. She rejoined Girlschool in 1993 and moved back to the U.K. From 1993 until 2000 Kelly, Kim, Denise and Tracey Lamb toured Europe and the USA and recorded a live album in March 1995. Kelly decided to quit the music business for good in 2000 after recording her final album with Girlschool, "Not That Innocent: 21st Anniversary" (2001).

July 14, 2007

Raven has returned to Assembly Line Studios with engineer/mixer Kevin 131 to resume recording its new album, tentatively titled "Walk through Fire".

Commented Kevin 131: "We have been working round the clock and everyone is fried. Thank goodness I started drinking coffee last year, overpriced Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts have been saving us all.

"The guys all decided to keep the previous four songs that were tracked here the way they are. I imagine we may revisit the mix a bit, but something nice was captured. To be honest, I am not sure what the hell we all did — so it was more of the same this time — set up and go! Don't overthink it... that's how Raven is best, no click track, no over doing it — capture their energy and don't look to make it happen later. If it don't happen on the way down, it ain't there. Of course, I don't really have to do anything- they have it all worked out.

"Seeing John play that 12-string bass with his fingers is insane... then he bends the notes to boot. And Mark's memory is crazy. We'll figure our way through a take, then next time, he pretty much has it.

"From what they tell me, some of these songs are brand new, so they are still sorting parts as we go. No micro-managing parts — the rawness and edge and punch are all there in the tones.

"Once again going for the 'All for One' vibe, but with the teeth of 'Life's a Bitch'. The songs are great and the guys are funny. I wish people could hear the outtakes of solos bass runs, and general stupidity. These guys have their chops, but also good senses of humor. Mark has his strings so high up with (bad) action I am not sure how he plays them... but it makes the tones killer, even if he has to brutalize the guitar — and all hail the 9 thousand dollar Veleno guitar... back to back on tracks with about three 150 dollar basses and guitars, it's all about the tone...

"I like this record, hopefully the people who have loved Raven all along will see it's good old Raven here! Dammit, everyone says it, but as a fan, this record is cool."

July 8, 2007

Well we are back from our week at the beach and got some great news from Denigh in our mailbox. This from Jon of the band, "Just thought I'd let you know that Denigh will be in the studio again, soon. Jon & Phil are back together and will be recording many of the Denigh tracks that have never been available! I hope that interests you? We will also be re-visiting some old favourites and might have some new music, too. Its gonna take a while but I thought that you would be interested to know and share it with 'The Faithful'.

Really excellent news to come home too!

June 23, 2007

The Handsome Beasts have announced that if all goes according to plan the latest album "Rock and a Hard Place" should be out by the end of June. At present the artwork has been completed and the album is off for mastering. This album is going to reflect on Flabbi's legacy and also act as an introduction to Mongo.

Diamond Head will release their long-awaited new album, "What's In Your Head?", on July 30 on Livewire/Cargo records LW020-2. The album features 11 new songs and stunning artwork by Rory Fioritto.. Three audio samples from the CD — "Victim", "This Planet and Me" and "Skin on Skin" — have been posted online on the group's official web site. Cover art and track listing are as follows:

01.Skin on Skin
02.I Feel No Pain
03. This Planet and Me
04. Reign Supreme
05. Killing Me
06. Tonight
07. Pray for Me
08. What's in Your Head
09. Nothing to Lose
10. Calling Out
11. Victim

In other Diamond Head news, the band will support Tesla on July 18 at Shepherds Bush Empire in London, England.

June 15, 2007

Avenger have announced the following tour dates:

6th July The Snooty Fox Wakefield UK
7th July The Ship Great Yarmouth UK
8th July The Ringside Hull Uk
13/14 July Headbangers open air festival Elmshorn Germany ,With Malice, Candlemass, Rage, Sinner and more.

6th August Trillians Newcastle UK
28th August Ringfest Hull UK
22 September Metieval Festival With Skyclad, Heathen Foray, Heat Ray, Sworn Amongst.
9/10 November Hard Rock Hell Maidenhead, With UFO, Saxon, Twisted Sister, Cradle of Filth, Raven and more.

Why the hell cant we get these kinds of shows here in the States. Seesh.

June 12, 2007

Raven will return to the studio in July to resume recording material for its new album, tentatively due late 2007/early July 2008. The band last year recorded four new tracks — "Against The Grain", "Running Around In Circles", "Breaking You Down" and "Necessary Evil" — at Assembly Line Studios with Kevin 131 engineering and mixing.

When asked by a fan on the band's message board if the songs laid down during the Assembly Line session will be re-recorded for the upcoming CD, frontman John Gallagher said, "They are more than good enough to go on the album. We may tweak the mix a little but it's not really needed — they sound THAT good. Actually, I had half of 'Against the Grain' when we did the last album and finished it up a lot later. The production is clear — uncluttered and powerful. Very straightforward... kinda [like] 'Life's a Bitch' with better drum sounds maybe."

Raven has been confirmed for The Monsters Ball, set to take place Friday, October 12 at The Rock Room of the Sterling hotel in Allentown, Pennsylvania and Saturday, October 13 at Dingbatz in Clifton, New Jersey. Also scheduled to appear are Hallows Eve, Seventh Calling and fellow British metallers Overdrive (performing their first U.S. shows ever).

June 10, 2007

New details on the upcoming album from Blitzkrieg called "Theatre of the Damned". Album will be released as a CD Digipack and will contain a slew of bonus material. Track listing as follows:

Theatre of the Damned 4:22
The Phantom 4:43
Devil´s Spawn 4:14
My Life is my Own 5:06
Spirit of the Legend 5:35
The Passing 0.54
Into the Light 6:18
Tortured Souls 4:23
Together we are Strong 4:33
Night Stalker 4:50
Bonus Audio: Armageddon 6:25
Bonus Audio: Blitzkrieg 3:43
Bonus Video: Escape from the Village
Bonus Video: I´m not insane
Bonus Video: iPod - Escape from the Village
Bonus Video: iPod - I´m not insane.

June 8, 2007

Blitzkrieg will release their new album, entitled "Theatre of the Damned" on August 10 via Germany's Armageddon Music. The CD was recorded at Absurd Studio in Hamburg with producer Schroedey and co-producer Biff Byford (Saxon). According to a posting on the Armageddon web site, "Theatre of the Damned" "offers the same authentic heavy metal of the '80s along with a super freshness and total attitude." Below is the cover of the new album.

June 7, 2007

Its videos galore on this edition of the Band News kiddies! Cloven Hoof has got a new video out of their classic song Nova Battlestar and can be seen here.

Also Saxon has been busy with the videos as well. The band has a new one out of their song Let Me Feel Your Power and can be viewed here. Also the band has launched their own YouTube channel which contains a slew of videos, podcasts and other related items. Check that out at this location.

In non video related news, today we just got hooked up with Trans Am / Maineeaxe on their Myspace page. Go check the guys out and see what they are up to now!

June 2, 2007

Some pics from some of the bands that were sent to me recently that i have just been lazy and not gotten up. Well, i gottem now!

Demon 2007 (Thanks Mike Stone)

Pics from Trevor Short of Dealer

2 Pics from Tom Katz of Ground Attack from their 25th anniversary photo shoot

May 23, 2007

Saxon have lined up the following tour dates:

Jun. 02 - SWI Winterthur Spirit Of Rock Festival
Jun. 29 - GER Dischingen Rock am Härtsfeldsee
Aug. 02 - GER Wacken Wacken Open Air
Aug. 11 - GER Balve Rock am Schloß
Sep. 14 - GER Nürnberg Löwensaal
Sep. 15 - F Strasbourg La Laiterie
Sep. 16 - AUT Hohenems Eventcenter
Sep. 18 - AUT Salzburg Rockhouse
Sep. 19 - CZ Praha Retro Music Hall
Sep. 20 - HUN Budapest Petofi Hall
Sep. 21 - SER Beograd SKC
Sep. 22 - CRO Zagreb Boogaloo Club

Predatur has announced their latest album "In Your Garden" is available to purchase from the bands website.

From the Syron Vanes camp, "Syron Vanes regretfully informs the cencellation of all scheduled performances until further notice. We are sorry to annonce that Rimbert has sustained a suvere injury to his right hand and has for a short time being, been halted from playing...

On a brighter note is that his physical therapist was stunned today by the remarkable healing progress in the short two weeks since the accident. Rimbert is in good spirit and determined to make this "a few weeks rest after finishing the album"...

Tony Dolan of Atomkraft / Venom has new videos online! Tony Dolan performing live in Canada, after 20 years , with Way of Life. Check out "Welcome to Hell" (Venom) and "Driven" (WOL) by clicking here.

Blitzkrieg will play the Martohell Horns Up Festival in Martorell , Barcelona on Sat 16th June, 2007.

Pagan Altar are to record a split 7" with U.S.A doomsters Totem for the Swedish Label I HATE in advance of Totem's new album to be released on the same label.

The Pagan Altar track called 'Walking in the Dark' is one of the earliest written by them and dates back to 1975/6 and was last performed live early 1978 by the band that preceded Pagan Altar called 'Hydra'!

May 11, 2007

Cloven Hoof will be rejoined by drummer Lynch Radinsky — who played on the band's "Eye of the Sun" album — for their upcoming appearances in Thessaloniki, Greece and Crewe, England. According to the band, Lynch's "vituoso drum solo will be a highlight of the Cloven Hoof set."

Upcoming Cloven Hoof shows:

May 20 - Thessaloniki, Greece @ Mylos Complex - (with SCANNER)
May 31 - Crewe, UK @ Limelight

May 7, 2007

Two full-length tracks from Diamond Head's upcoming "What's In Your Head?" — "This Planet and Me" and "Skin on Skin" have been posted online on the group's official website.

Commented the band: "Brian and Nick have spent months writing these songs and all you fans will be thrilled with the results. We believe this will be the album Diamond Head have always threatened to make. What 'All Will Be Revealed' promises, 'What's In Your Head?' delivers — and then some!"

May 4, 2007

A video clip of Elixir performing the song "Iron Hawk" at the British Steel 2 Festival on April 28, 2007 at The Pitz in Milton Keynes, U.K. has been posted at You Tube. Other bands who played at the event included Chariot, Tygers Of Pan Tang, Jaguar and Cloven Hoof. A number of photos taken at the festival have been posted online at the website of U.K. metal magazine Noizz Eater.

May 2, 2007

A bit of fun news from the guys in Lyadrive who wrote to give me a bit of info. "Thanks to www.extremeradio.co.uk you've made the british press! The Metro paper (distributed on london underground every day, read by hundreds of thousands) have a section called metrolife, a part of which is dedicated to internet radio (radio.com it's called).Here is a quote from the article 'Another show to catch is the Old School Metal Show, blasting out the original wave of British Heavy Metal from 1979 to 1985'. Big up to a guy called Anthony Gibson, for it is his article. Things are looking up eh! Went to the British Steel Fest last weekend as well. Keep up the good work Grinder me lad!

Wahoo!!

May 1, 2007

Dumpy's Rusty Nuts have announced a tour for their 25th year anniversary. Dates listed so far are as follows:

Sunday 6th May 2007, The Vic Bikers Pub, Coalville, Leicestershire
Thursday May 10th 2007, Cox's Yard, Stratford upon Avon
Saturday 12th May 2007, Stafford Rangers Sports Club, Info 01785 606614
Sunday 13th May 2007, Tom's Bar, Pontypridd, South Wales
Thursday May 17th 2007, The Boardwalk, Sheffield
Friday 18th May 2007, ABRACADABRA'S, 21 Orchard Street, Burton-upon-Trent
Saturday 19th May 2007, Rio's, Leeds
Thursday 31st May 2007, The Fleece, Bristol

For more tour dates, check out their website.

April 27, 2007

Blitzkrieg have have been confirmed for this year's installment of the Wacken Open Air festival, set to take place August 2-4, 2007 in Wacken, Germany.

April 6, 2007

Raven has been confirmed for The Monsters Ball, set to take place Friday, October 12 at The Rock Room of the Sterling hotel in Allentown, Pennsylvania and Saturday, October 13 at Dingbatz in Clifton, New Jersey. Also scheduled to appear are Hallows Eve, Seventh Calling and fellow British metallers Overdrive (performing their first U.S. shows ever). More bands will be announced soon.

March 29, 2007

Rekuiem has posted on their website: "A special edition release of Rekuiem's 'Time Will Tell' album with an extra bonus track, an on-stage two-song DVD disc and new 12-page full colour photo booklet is now rescheduled for release late April throughout the U.K. and Europe. The band are also currently planning to tour the U.K. from September onwards which will coincide with the worldwide release of their second album, to be entitled 'Raise the Dead'

March 28, 2007

Girlschool have lined up the following dates:

May 04 - Rushden, UK @ The Attic
May 10 - London, UK @ Underworld
May 12 - Schotten, GER @ Rock am See
June 22-23 - Balingen, GER @ Bang Your Head!!! Festival
July 06 - Ipswich, UK @ The Railway
July 20 - Lübeck, GER @ Treibsand
July 21 - Jüterborg, GER @ Altes Lager (Motorcycle Jamboree)
Aug. 31 - Hannover, GER @ Joch N Roll Festival
Sep. 08 - Rock of Ages Festival, UK @ Tamworth The Palace

March 23, 2007

Armageddon Music [Germany] have signed Blitzkrieg. The band is just finishing the new album called 'Theatre Of The Damned' in the Absurd Studio in Hamburg, together with producer Schroedey. The album will be co-produced by Biff Byford (Saxon). The band visited with Armageddon label manager Sabina Classen at the Saxon show last Thursday in Hamburg, Markthalle.

Blitzkrieg is a band, which helped to start how we hear metal today and is now back with a contempary classic Blitzkrieg record with songs, which will blow your mind. The new album is with a fresh sound of the year 2007, but maintains the essence of true British metal at it absolute best.

The album will be released on 27th July 2007 and the band will also play live at Wacken Open Air 2007 on Thursday for the 'A Night To Remember' show along with headliner Saxon. More info will follow soon on the Armageddon Music website.

March 22, 2007

Demon has announced the first dates for its "Farewell Tour", which will take place in October. The details are as follows:

Oct. 19 - DE - Hamburg @ Ballroom
Oct. 20 - DE - Hameln @ Kulturzentrum Regenbogen
Oct. 21 - TBA
Oct. 22 - TBA
Oct. 23 – DE - Augsburg @ Spectrum
Oct. 24 - DE - Ludwigsburg @ Rockfabrik
Oct. 25 - DE - Frankfurt @ Nachtleben
Oct. 26 - UK - Nottingham @ Rock City

Venom have confirmed a "Scandinavian 7 Dates Tour" beginning late May.

May 23 - Copenhagen, Denmark @ Pumpehuset
May 24 - Stockholm, Sweden @ Klubben
May 26 - Oulu, Finland @ Teatria
May 27 - Helsinki, Finland @ Nosturi
May 29 - Oslo, Norway @ Betong
May 30 - Goteborg, Sweden @ Karen
May 31 - Malmo, Sweden @ KB

British heavy metal legends Saxon are taking part in a documentary series that U.K.'s Channel 4 will air in April. The idea for the series is for renowned promoter Harvey Goldsmith to return six acts to "big-time showbiz." His task with Saxon is to get the band a hit single in Britain.

Commented the band in a posting on their web site: "We saw the Channel 4 program. It's not too bad. At the beginning they put us down a lot, making the festival we are playing a bit small, but the billing was great — Sodom, Within Temptation, Saxon, Kreator, Megadeth, Blind Guardian and many more. Maybe Harvey and the Channel 4 lot have never heard of these bands. The film ends up as a success.

"Although they filmed the band for six months, there is very little of this in the film. The central character is obviously Harvey Goldsmith, and they must be investing a lot of money into their new boy. We feel that Kim, the director, and Claudine, who filmed most of the show, were making a great effort to capture the character of the band but we think they got too close to us and got pulled out on the editing. But actually Harvey's motives are to make the band sucessful in Britain, so although the band are taken down before being brought back up by Harvey, this is the central theme of the program, which is acceptable. Although the facts are being presented in a simplistic and manipulated way, we feel from being involved with Harvey we have done tons more promotion in Britain and we would like to thank all the people who also helped who are not on the film."

March 13, 2007

Blitzkrieg has cancelled its appearance at the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal Festival I, set to take place October 13 at AN Club in Athens, Greece. No reason was given for the cancellation. Tygers Of Pan Tang has been confirmed to headline the festival in what will mark the group's first appearance in Greece ever.

February 27, 2007

Four legendary NWoBHM bands — Cloven Hoof, Blitzkrieg, Jaguar and Elixir— are confirmed for the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal Festival I, set to take place October 13 at AN Club in Athens, Greece. Tickets will cost 25 euros. Doors open at 18.15, show starts at 19.00.

February 22, 2007

Tank bassist/vocalist Algy Ward is scheduled to lay down vocals on three new songs — "March", "Stalingrad" and "No More War" — sometime this month for the group's long-awaited new album, "Sturmpanzer". The follow-up to 2002's "Still At War" (Zoom Club Records) is tentatively expected later in the year.

Tygers Of Pan Tang have added two more U.K. dates to their current itinerary. Their schedule is now shaping up as follows:

Apr. 24 - British Steel Fesival - Milton Keyes, UK
Sep. 22 - Newcastle Carling Academy 2 - Newcastle, UK
Sep. 23 - The Borough - Sunderland, UK

February 19, 2007

An update from the Diamond Head website: "Well, the new album has now been completed and we at DH HQ are lucky enough to have heard the final version. What can I say?! As a biased and avid DH fan, I knew that I would like it, but this has actually blown me away! DH have really delivered the goods on this album.

"Generally, the songs are stronger than on 'All Will Be Revealed', and Dave 'Shirt' Nicholls has done an astounding job on the recording and production of this album — it really packs a punch from start to finish. In short I don't think DH have sounded better than they do on 'What's In Your Head?' There's plenty of the classic DH riffery, tasteful solos and solid rhythm. All band members shine, and the production and songs give 'What's In Your Head?' a modern contemporary feel.

"Instant favorites are 'This Planet And Me', 'Killing Me', and 'Nothing To Lose'. The band are all also really proud of the results and are looking forward to premiering some of the meterial live at the Robin in Bilston on April 19th. You are all going to love it!"

Tygers Of Pan Tang have been confirmed for The British Steel Festival, set to take place Saturday, April 28 at The Pitz in Milton Keynes, England. Also scheduled to appear are Chariot, Cloven Hoof, Elixir and Jaguar.

February 13, 2007

Tony Dolan (Atomkraft / Venom) will be playing at "The Chubby Pickle" in Ontario, Canada as special guest on February, 16th along with Way Of Life, Flint & Finding Core.

Avenger have been confirmed to play the 2007 H.O.A. festival in Germany.

From the Rekiuem website "After a meeting with our label "Majestic Rock" last week, we can now announce that the release of the second Rekuiem album, provisionally entitled "Raise The Dead" is now set for September 2007. We will keep you posted on the progress of the recording and all the interesting details. In the meantime, the label plan to relaunch "Time Will Tell" in March. This time with a special bonus track, video footage of the band on stage and a special extended booklet with more pics.

February 4, 2007

From the Cloven Hoof website..."After an exhaustive series of auditions Cloven Hoof has the final pieces of its personnel jigsaw in place. Simon Heywood has been recruited on drums and Ben Read on twin lead guitar. They join Russ North (vocals), Lee Payne (bass) and Mick Powell (lead guitar and keyboards) and the 2007 lineup has the most dedicated and professional work ethic in the band's history.

Commented Lee and Russ in a statement: "It is fantastic to finally get the perfect lineup with a bunch of musicians who want to play in the band for the right reasons. The music is the be-all, end-all with these guys; they are driven purely by the love of playing metal to the best of their ability. It will be fantastic to go into the studios in June with them to make the new album. 'Throne of Damnation' will be our best release ever... Just wait and see!"

February 1, 2007

Raven have lined up the following dates in February:

Feb. 17 - Play It Loud Festival - Brescia, Italy
Feb. 28 - Negasonic - Aalst, Belguim

The band is also planning to hit the following places during the next three months: (February) Vienna, Wurzburg, Breda, Paris; (March) U.K., Germany and Czech Republic.

January 25, 2007

Some outstanding news from the Bitches Sin camp. March of this year will see a lot of Bitches Sin music to hit the public. "20 Essential Sins", recently digitally remastered at Sound Recording Technology will contain the following tracks: Intro, Sign Of The Times, Overnight (YPOM), Livin’ On The Highway, What The Hell, Fallen Star, Over The Top, XF2894, Up For Grabs, Hold On To Love, Ridin’ High, Runaway, Hanneke, April Fool, Lady Lies, The Land That Time Forgot, Overnight (NMC EP), Abduhl’s Boogie, Alligator, The Cry, Destroyer.

March 2007 will also see the new release of all the outstanding Bitches Sin material including some previously unreleased tracks that include 4 ‘Live in the Studio’ bonus tracks from Predator. The 4 tracks ‘Hanneke’, ‘April Fool’, ‘Lady Lies’ and ‘The Land That Time Forgot’ are all first take recordings recorded at the end of the session at Moor Green Studios in Easter 1982 and complete the Bitches Sin legacy.

January 16, 2007

SPV has set a January 20 digital/download release date for the new Saxon single, "If I Was You". The group's new full-length album, "The Inner Sanctum", will arrive on March 5 in Europe and April 3 in the U.S.

According to a press release, "The Inner Sanctum" offers "powerful sounds and ambitioned lyrics about Eastern revolutions, British kings and queens and the attitude of great warriors. At the same time, lead vocalist Biff Byford displays an energy that's almost physically perceptible." Byford says: "'The Inner Sanctum' is the most powerful album we've ever recorded." He also notes about their new single, "I wrote the lyrics for our new single based on gun and knife crime having seen so many tragic stories of somebody getting knifed to death for a mobile phone and three quid or some young mother caught in the crossfire between two idiots with guns. 'If I was you and you were me, would you live your life differently?'"

Majestic Rock has just issued the first in an ongoing series of Internet-only archive releases containing a 1982 soundboard recording of Jaguar performing in Hengelo, Holland. Entitled "Holland '82", the CD is strictly limited to 1,000 copies and features sleeve notes from JAGUAR guitarist Garry Pepperd. It is only available from the Majestic Rock web site.

January 14, 2007

Former Samson bassist and founder member Chris Aylmer passed away last week after a long illness. Chris founded the band with Paul Samson, and not only suggested the band name, but was also responsible for young drummer Clive Burr completing the trio. Chris was in Samson from 1977 until 1984, and also played on the 1993 album and tour, and the 1999/2000 shows.

A new Saxon three-disc compilation, entitled "The Very Best Of Saxon: 1979-1988", is scheduled for release in Europe on January 15. SPV/Steamhammer has set a March 5 European release date for the new album from Saxon, entitled "The Inner Sanctum". A single, entitled "If I Was You", will precede the full-length CD.

Guitarist Brian Tatler of Diamond Head has issued the following update: "So here we all are. 2007, what will it bring? Will the alcohol-fuelled promises we made on December 31st, 2006 be kept and followed religiously or are they already a now sober memory? Have your 'I'll never drink again' pledges disappeared with the first hair of the dog medicinal remedy? Hey we're only human, oh and by the Happy New Year to all of you!

The new studio album is tentatively titled "What's In Your Head?". The new CD is shaping up to be "a powerful but varied collection of songs," according to a posting on the group's web site. Songtitles set to appear on the album include "This Planet and Me" (which is said to be "an immediate favorite"), "Nothing to Lose" ("an hypnotic track with great lyrics from [singer] Nick Tart"), and the "Reign Supreme" ("the heaviest track Diamond Head have recorded since 'Am I Evil?'")

"The recording and mixing should be completed by the middle of February. In the meantime, our friends at Banned Produxions have been approached to film some of the final days of recording, which, if all goes well, you will get to see as soon as [possible]. We are now in discussions about a promo (not porno) video for one of the new tracks. More when we have decided what toon to expose to the magic of vision!