Pantera Members Reunite- Ozzfest Attack Settled- Metal Star Dies- MGMT No 2- Alice In Chains, Deftones and Mastodon Tour?- Megadeth Radio RIP- Zakk Wylde & more

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Disturbed Heading To The Asylum

Disturbed are in the studio putting the finishing touches on a new album, entitled Asylum. The release is the follow-up to their 2008 platinum album Indestructible, which spawned the Active Rock smash single "Inside the Fire." Asylum will be released by Reprise Records in late summer.

As with Indestructible, Disturbed are self-producing Asylum, which they began writing in September 2009 and recording in February of this year. Front man David Draiman describes it as "still identifiably Disturbed, but showing more maturation. We feel this is one of the strongest bodies of work we've ever put together. It definitely goes in familiar areas, but with new levels of precision and skill."

Lyrically, Draiman says, the themes "range from very personal and introspective, to the political and provocative. What would you expect? No songs about puppy dogs or rainbows here." - more on this story

Metallica Face Tour Bus Fear

(Rock Radio) Metallica faced down their fear of tour buses to beat the Iceland volcano chaos and realized they still have vivid memories of the 1986 crash that killed bassist Cliff Burton. He died in September that year when their band bus overturned in Sweden, and the band, who carried on with new member Jason Newsted who was eventually replaced by Robert Trujillo, had not used a tour bus since that tour.

But the grounding of all flights over Europe as a result of last week's Eyjafjallajokull eruption forced them back on board to travel from Oslo in Norway to Riga in Latvia, a 28-hour journey which would have taken just four by air.

"When we boarded a bus again this week and had to travel overnight, I realised those memories are still here. We haven't used this means of transportation for more than two decades since the tragedy," Guitarist Kirk Hammett tells Associated Press. "I still haven't overcome the fear of buses. But the show must go on. - more on this story

Jackson Browne, Vince Gill, Billy Joel, Willie Nelson, Mark Knopfler, Michael McDonald, Lucinda Williams and more Guest on Jimmy Webb's New Album

Just Across The River, the new album from Jimmy Webb, is set for release June 29 on E1 Music. The album features interpretations of the classic songs that made him a vital cultural icon including "By The Time I Get To Phoenix," "Wichita Lineman," "Galveston," "The Highwayman," "Oklahoma Nights" and more.

The album features guest appearances from Webb's friends, fans and recording partners including Jackson Browne, Glen Campbell, Vince Gill, Billy Joel, Mark Knopfler, Michael McDonald, Willie Nelson, Linda Ronstadt, J.D. Souther and Lucinda Williams.

Just Across The River came together at the behest of producer and longtime Webb collaborator Fred Mollin, who wished to honor Webb's storied career and his celebrated contributions to the Americana roots tradition (Webb is a native son of Oklahoma). Says Mollin of the album, "This record is a homecoming for Jimmy. His songs are true classics and they could provide the soundtrack to your life." - more on this story

As I Lay Dying, Underoath, Between The Buried And Me And More To Launch Cool Tour

2010 witnesses the inaugural year of Cool Tour which features As I Lay Dying, Underoath, Between The Buried And Me, Blessthefall, The Acacia Strain, Architects, Cancer Bats, and War Of Ages.

Cool Tour 2010 Begins On July 12th In Orlando, FL, And Comes To A Halt In San Francisco, CA On August 1st. A Ticket Pre-Sale Is Available Beginning Tuesday, April 27th, And Tickets Go On Sale To The Public Friday, April 30th -Sunday, May 2nd.

Many of Cool Tour's notable artists had a few words to say about this exciting new festival! "After taking last summer off to focus on writing new material, we'll be back out this year in support of our latest album, The Powerless Rise," states As I Lay Dying guitarist Phil Sgrosso. "We've got a killer line up of bands that share the same passion for heavy music and putting on a great show every night for the fans. You don't want to miss a tour as good as this." - more on this story

Fear Factory Hitting The Road With Prong and Thy Will Be Done

Fear Factory are set to kick off the second leg of their American Fear Campaign tour on May 14 at The Rialto Theater in Tucson, Arizona. The tour, also featuring Prong and Thy Will Be Done, will visit 20 cities before it concludes at The Trocadero Theater in Philadelphia.

Continuing to tour in support of their latest release, Mechanize, the tour introduces the album's third single, the controversial album closer "Final Exit."

Fear Factory recently flew to Oslo, Norway for an eight-date run of shows with Metallica. The band, like many others, are resorting to travel by land and sea with more than 20,000 flights canceled on the European continent last week due to the volcanic activity happening in Iceland. Guitarist Dino Cazares notes, "it took us over 24 hours to get from Oslo to Riga in Latvia with Metallica and their crew of 50-plus people on a charter bus and ferry. All flights were canceled because of the volcanic ash in the air." Vocalist Burton C. Bell adds, "we took a ferry from Oslo to get to Latvia. It was the Metallica party boat; good times. We are basically taking buses and trains everywhere so if you can catch us, catch us." - more on this story

Courtney Love To Assault America

Courtney Love has confirmed that she will perform her first headlining North American tour this summer in support of Nobody's Daughter, the new album by Hole on Mercury Records, set for release next week on April 27th.

The tour kicks-off in June, with the first wave of ticket pre-sales beginning this Wednesday, April 21st, with general on-sale set for April 24th. (Please see tour dates below.)

In advance of the official tour - and in celebration Of Nobody's Daughter hitting the racks - the new line-up of Hole will perform two shows at the Henry Fonda Theater in Los Angeles (April 22nd & 23rd, sold-out in advance) and the Terminal 5 in New York City (April 27th & 28th, also sold-out in advance). Those dates will dovetail with guest spots on CBS's The Late Show with David Letterman (April 27th), The View (April 28th) and ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live (April 29th). Hole also recently performed acoustic tracks from "Nobody's Daughter" for AOL Sessions.
- initial dates

David Lee Roth Was Far From The First Choice As Howard Stern Replacement

(Rock Radio) Celebrated shock-jock Howard Stern says he knew the moment he met David Lee Roth that the Van Halen frontman wouldn't be able to take over his radio slot.

And the executive who hired him says he was "seventy-eighth choice" to take over when Stern moved from terrestrial to satellite radio in 2006. Former CBS boss Rob Barnett explains as a guest on Stern's show that the only reason he chose Roth was because his ego was big enough to believe he could do it.

Barnett says: "Replacing Howard was a ridiculous impossibility. The only name that advertisers would hear and think, 'maybe we'll but one-twentieth of Howard's dollars on that' was TV presenter Jon Stewart. But Jon was not going to host a radio show." The exec explains: "David was seventy-eighth choice – all the money in the world couldn't get those other guys to do five hours of live radio. They're already rich." - more on this story

Lacuna Coil Playing Radio Fests With Bands Like Seether, Five Finger Death Punch, Hellyeah

Lacuna Coil will make their return to North America on May 4th as they embark on a slew of major commercial radio sponsored festivals alongside such major acts as Seether, Five Finger Death Punch and Hellyeah.

They will also be performing at Rocklahoma on May 30th and are also going to fill in the gaps between these fests with some headlining club appearances. This will lead them directly into their first trek to South America.

A very special Shallow Life (Deluxe Edition) is also now available. This double disc, specially priced set features the standard CD with an additional disc full of rare and previously unreleased material (acoustic renditions, live tracks and studio outtakes) and an extended, alternative artwork booklet. - more on this story

Cypress Hill and Slightly Stoopid Team Up For Tour

Cypress Hill celebrated yesterday's release of new album Rise Up with a special performance in front of a packed-house crowd at The Warfield in San Francisco.

Those that couldn't make it in shouldn't worry; the legendary hip hop group has announced a summer tour with Slightly Stoopid that begins July 16 at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine, CA and will take them nationwide. They'll play a string of North American dates before that, then head overseas for a tour of Europe.

On Monday night, Cypress Hill (emcees B-Real and Sen Dog, DJ Julio G and percussionist Eric Bobo) were joined by Rage Against The Machine/Street Sweeper Social Club/The Nightwatchman guitarist TOM MORELLO, System Of A Down drummer John Dolmayan and Deftones bassist Sergio Vega for a special performance on the outdoor stage of the ABC-TV show "Jimmy Kimmel Live." - more on this story

Batusis (New York Dolls / Dead Boys / Rocket From The Tombs) Cancel Tour

Batusis, the new rock band formed by Sylvain Sylvain (New York Dolls) and Cheetah Chrome (Dead Boys, Rocket From The Tombs), who were planning on touring the UK in May, have been forced to postpone their dates due to the Icelandic volcanic ash situation.

Frank Mauceri, the MD of Smog Veil Records, who will be releasing the Batusis debut 4-track self-titled EP in the UK on May 4th, said today - "The volcanic ash in Europe has created havoc for live concert touring, especially in the UK. Sylvain and Cheetah were really looking forward to the UK dates; however, flight cancellations have made it impossible to get the band into the UK." - more on this story

Liars Add New String of Dates and Get A Kick Out of Beck Record Club Experience

Liars announce a 2nd string of tour dates to commence July 2010. This tour sees Liars hitting the middle states and is marked by their special appearance at the Pitchtodorks Festival July 16th, 2010.

Liars recently joined Beck, Annie Clark and Daniel Hart from St Vincent, Sergio Dias from legendary Brazilian band Os Mutantes and Brian Lebarton for Beck's Record Club 4, covering the 1987 album, Kick by INXS.

Beck's Record Club is an "informal meeting of various musicians to record an album in a day". The results are posted, track by track at http://www.beck.com/recordclub/, the first track Guns In The Sky is online now. Angus, talking about Beck's Record Club said, "it is a rare opportunity for completely selfless collaboration and an extremely interesting and unique project that was an absolute pleasure to participate in." - more on this story

Iron Maiden Added To Ottawa Bluesfest

After an 18 year absence, Iron Maiden are delighted to be returning to Canada's capital city on July 6th to play at the world-famous Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest.

The last time Maiden played in Ottawa was during the Fear Of The Dark Tour in 1992 so are well overdue a return visit! The prestigious Bluesfest is ranked by Billboard Magazine as one of the top-10 Festivals in the world, so what better way to kickstart proceedings than by having Iron Maiden headline the opening night!

Beginning on Tuesday July 6 through Sunday July 11 and recommencing Tuesday July 13 running through to Sunday July 18, Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest will be presenting a wide and varied programme of more than 2,000 of the best Blues, R&B, Soul, Gospel, Pop, World and Rock musicians in the world. The Festival takes place at LeBreton Flats Park in the heart of downtown Ottawa at a beautifully spacious riverside location. -

Early Down Demo Posted Online

The Metal Den have posted a reportedly rare demo recording by metal supergroup Down (Pantera/Corrosion of Conformity).

The demo – which TMD says is believed to be the earliest ever by the band – is for the track "Bury Me In Smoke" off Down's groundbreaking debut released on September 19, 1995. It is said this demo was recorded at some point in 1993.

As the story goes, Pantera vocalist Philip H. Anselmo started a new musical project with guitarist Pepper Keenan of Corrosion Of Conformity fame in 1991. They soon produced a three-track demo that would specifically be used for 'underground trading'. - more on this story

RPWL Get Retrospective

The year 2000, was a year of great events: the millennium had not turned out to be the end of the world as many had predicted, the Expo in Hamburg opened its gates and one of the most successful bands of the German progressive rock scene, RPWL was formed.

Ten turbulent years have passed by the Freising-based art rock band that developed from a Pink Floyd cover-band to the progressive rock powerhouse that they are today. Now the time has come for retrospection: and RPWL are doing this with the release of The Gentle Art of Music on June 22nd in the United States.

10 years of RPWL marks the perfect occasion to celebrate the band's anniversary extensively with all of their friends and fans with many concerts all across Europe. But apart from indulging in memories and partying, RPWL are proud to present their brand new Double CD featuring all of their hits from the last ten years as well as new interpretations of classic RPWL tracks with all new acoustic arrangements. - more on this story

The Crash Test Dummies Return With New Album and Tour

The Crash Test Dummies are set to release Oooh la la!, their first record in six years, May 11 on Deep Fried Records. Best known for 1993's platinum-selling, Grammy-nominated God Shuffled His Feet and the ubiquitous hit "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm," frontman and driving creative force Brad Roberts teams up with co-writer and producer Stewart Lerman (Antony & the Johnsons, The Roches) to write and record 11 tracks conceptualized using `70s-era analog musical toys.

The seeds for Oooh la la! were first planted when Roberts and Lerman became infatuated with vintage analog musical toys, particularly one manufactured by the Mattel company called the Optigan (an acronym for "optical organ"). Using celluloid discs, the Optigan projects the sounds of other instruments with different sets of keys triggering chords and individual notes. The discs, with names like "Nashville," "Swing It!" and "Guitar Boogie," rotate to produce different arrays of sounds. The process is eerily similar to the digital sampling that is so common today, but the antiquated analog system produces quite a different effect. "Because we wrote using these discs, we were inspired to do things that we wouldn't have done," Roberts points out. "I don't write big band style, but all of a sudden I had this big band [on disc], so I'm writing in a genre that I normally wouldn't be writing in. I can't say enough about how great it is to write on these toys."

In addition to ending a six-year hiatus from recording, the band is planning their first tour since 2004 in support of the new album. Rather than try to recreate music that was written with some rather cranky toy instruments never meant for the rigors of a tour, the Crash Test Dummies will perform as a stripped-down acoustic three piece band. The first leg of the band's U.S. tour has been confirmed, please see below for a list of dates. West coast dates will be announced shortly. - more on this story

The Whigs Fallon, Hold Steady, Kings of Leon And Free Download

In support of their critically acclaimed new album, In The Dark, Athens, GA trio The Whigs will appear on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon next Tuesday, April 27th and premiere song "Hundred/Million."

On the road since the beginning of the year, with artists like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Band of Skulls, the band is excited to join The Hold Steady for a run of dates beginning July 2nd in Hayward, WI.

In addition, the band has been invited to join the Kings of Leon for their Hyde Park (London, UK) headlining gig on June 30th. Other artists on the bill include The Black Keys, The Drums and The Features.

Fans can download the song full of driving guitars and crushing drums - here

Lamb Of God Hit The Wall

Lamb Of God is pleased to announce the inclusion of their unreleased track, "Hit the Wall", in the brand new Iron Man 2 video game and trailer!

The official trailer for the game goes live next week, and TV and in-theater ads will be viewable in two weeks in the United States. Iron Man 2 hits stores on May 4th, 2010 (just days before the movie hits theaters), and will be available on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS.

The track is exclusive to the game. View a special behind-the-scenes video chronicling the making of "Hit the Wall", featuring interviews and recording bits, at Sega's - YouTube page

Mantric Post New Song Online

Mantric is pleased to unveil another track, 'The Invasion,' from the band's debut album, "The Descent," which will be released across Europe on Monday and North America on Tuesday of next week, on Prosthetic Records.

Mantric, who rose from the ashes of Extol, have already been gathering widespread critical acclaim for 'The Descent' across Europe and America and will celebrate with a special album release show at the John Dee in Oslo on Monday 26th April.

Full European and North American touring plans are in the works and we're looking forward to announcing more shortly. Check out the new track - here

Warbeast Release Scorched Earth Policy Video

Retro-thrash masters Warbeast are eagerly awaiting the release of their new Housecore Records album, Krush the Enemy, landing in stores on April 27th! Warbeast have debuted the new music video for the track 'Scorched Earth Policy', featured on the new record. The video was produced by Michael Huebner and 12 Pound Productions, and can be viewed on the 12 Pound Productions YouTube page!

"Waiting for this Warbeast album to be unleashed on the world is the most exhilarating experience of my life," explains vocalist Bruce Corbitt. "It's like knowing the exact date and time that a volcano is going to erupt. The 'Scorched Earth Policy' video defines what WARBEAST is all about. It is an in-your-face heart-pumping rush-of-adrenaline from start to finish!"

Philip H. Anselmo, the man behind Housecore Records, also produced the record. Corbitt asserts, "Warbeast is proud to be signed with Housecore Records. I like the fact that their expectations are high for what they want out of a band. They also have a way of creating this family vibe between the band and the label, while making it obvious that they believe in us. That is all the motivation we need to want to kick some ass for their label at all times." Corbitt is honored to have Anselmo on as part of the project. "We wanted Philip to be our producer and to be involved in the creation of this album. Overall, Philip made it a very beneficial, but also a fun and memorable experience. Philip made this album even better, and that is what a producer is supposed to do." - Watch the video here

Clinging To The Trees Of A Forest Fire Album Info

Clinging To The Trees Of A Forest Fire have announced the track listing of their Prosthetic Records' debut, "Songs of Ill Hope and Desperation," due out on June 8, 2010.

The album was recorded by Dave Otero at Flatline Audio (Cephalic Carnage, Catheter, Cobalt) and the band promises their "most dynamic, bleakest, and dirtiest material to date."

The track listing is as follows: 1. Teeth & Hair 2. Cloven 3. I Walked Away >From the Human Race 4. Shat Out My Bones 5. Gold Frankincense and Myrrh 6. Recession 7. Piss 8. Bouquet of Self Pity 9. Leather Hands 10. Made of Coal 11. They Smeared Shit On Their Skin So They Could Blend In At Night 12. Empty 13. Remove the Light

Clinging To The Trees Of A Forest Fire will tour this summer with Burials. - more on this story

Nico Vega Announce Dates With Semi Precious Weapons and Chevelle

Nico Vega is like the little live gift that keeps on giving and the months of April and May are no exception.

Hitting the road again with good friends and former tour mates Semi Precious Weapons as well as additional dates with Chevelle round out the rest of the band's Spring Tour.

Kicking off with a hometown gig on April 21st with Semi Precious Weapons at the Roxy in Los Angeles and criss-crossing the U.S. till they wrap up on June 4th in Milwaukee for the Verge Festival, the band will hopefully be coming to a city near you! - more on this story

Singled Out: Kottonmouth Kings' Kill the Pain

Welcome to Singled Out! where we ask artists to tell us the inside story of their latest single. The Kottonmouth Kings return with their brand new album "Long Live the Kings" which hits stores this week. To celebrate two members of the group have picked their favorite songs from the effort and will tell us a little bit about each one. Today we hear from The Dirtball who tells us about the song "Kill the Pain":

The song "Kill the Pain", off of our upcoming record, Long Live the Kings, is my choice, due to the fact that it is an example of writers coming together and their unifying experiences to create a track that takes on a life of its own.

A fabulous producer, Jim Perkins, came to the studio and created the bed of the track with us, which became such an organic and mellow vibe. We all took the song's name, marinated on its meanings to us, and laid our verses. Each individual has their own take on what this song means, but combined, it made for a real heartfelt masterpiece. Can the white rappers sing? Why yes they can!

Time will definitely kill any pain in this life, and this track will allow the listener the chance to reflect on their own experiences within it. Not only a great concept, but an awesome addition to the arsenal of bangers surrounding it on the record. Long Live the Kings!!!

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself and learn more about the album - right here!