The date of December 12th is the International Day Of Heavy Metal.
Every year, millions of heavy metal fans around the world will celebrate this day by playing the best and greatest heavy metal albums ever released. At home, at work, even in your car, play it loud and raise the horns high in recognition of the best music genre, ever !
Metalshock Finland fully supports this initiative!
For more information, please visit: http://www.heavymetalday.co.uk. 
According to Starpulse.com, POISON singer Bret Michaels is set to stage an intimate show in Chicago, Illinois next month to raise money for a local performing arts charity.
On March 13th Michaels will take to the stage at the Metropolis Performing Arts Center in Arlington Heights as part of a fundraiser for the venue’s Metropolis School of the Performing Arts, which provides classes and performance opportunities for local youngsters.
Proceeds from the Rock for Kids concert will go to help the organization and organizers will also auction off meet-and-greet sessions with the star.
A statement posted on the venue’s website reads, “He’s had chart-topping hit songs, won Celebrity Apprentice, starred in Rock of Love, and now he comes to Metropolis! Bret Michaels is set to rock our intimate venue for one night only.”
“Plus, we’ll be auctioning off an exclusive pre-show meet and greet… Proceeds from the auction and this inaugural Rock for Kids concert will benefit Metropolis School of the Performing Arts.”
Source : Bravewords.com
Said vocalist/guitarist Matt Harvey of the latest edition to their relentless 2012 tour cycle: “The hits just keep on coming for us this year. We are fully chuffed to be a part of the illustrious Summer Slaughter package. It’s going to be awesome to get done playing early so we can concentrate on our true passion — drinking! This hulking monstrosity of a traveling freakshow should be a mandatory thing for all the boils and ghouls out there, so we’ll see you on the seemingly never-ending campaign for musical – and just general – destruction that we’ve been waging all over the planet since last April. Cheers!”
Exhumed today kick off the 16-date Grind Over Europe Tour with ROTTEN SOUND and MAGRUDERGRIND. They’ll later join ANAAL NATHRAKH for a short run of UK dates before returning to the states for a handful of headlining shows and a near month-long trek with Cannibal Corpse. Joined by labelmates ABYSMAL DAWN and ARKAIK, the live rituals will commence on April 5 in Jacksonville, Florida and include an appearance at the The Cincinnati Metal Fest on April 14 as well as a special show on April 28 where the brutal caravan will merge with BEHEMOTH, WATAIN, THE DEVIL’S BLOOD and IN SOLITUDE.
Exhumed continue to sever souls with the 11-track All Guts, No Glory full-length, issued last year via Relapse Records.
Ultimate-Guitar.com recently caught up with NAPALM DEATH frontman Mark “Barney” Greenway to discuss his career with the outfit and the band’s new album, Utilitarian. An excerpt is available below:
UG: Can you talk about what drew you to death metal and grindcore?
Barney: “My heavy metal days were sort of fading away into the distance at that point. We were looking for the faster, heavier kind of things and so we sort of veered towards the more punkier end of the scene because that’s really where the chaotic, off-the-rails stuff was coming from. Me and Shane (Embury) the bass player were quite similar in that respect. We were looking for the fast stuff, the more crazier thing all the time. I mean at one point obviously bands like SLAYER were kind of really the ones that were doing the ultimate thing. But then there were other bands after that where to us kind of left Slayer in the dust a little bit. There was always that consistent search for faster, crazier music. I wanted bands that kind of spoke to me I guess in an ethical kind of way.”
UG: Does it make you crazy when you hear all the things people say about the band?
Barney: “I’m so thick-skinned at this point. I do respect people’s opinions of course even if they were to really rag on the band. I do certainly respect people’s opinions but I don’t lose sleep if people get overly negative about stuff. Because maybe not in the mid-‘90s but now I’m pretty certain that what I’m doing people like. I’m confident enough in myself to sort of know we’re doing what’s right for us as a band. People that follow the band, we totally respect their opinions and we’re always open to criticism.”
UG: At the end of the day if you want to bring in an operatic singer, then that’s what you have to do.
Barney: “You also have a certain responsibility to yourself to put your neck on the line and do what you have to do and what is the right thing at the right time. If for whatever reason that then brings the ceiling down on you then so be it—you live and die by your own decisions. It took me a while to think in that direction. In the mid-‘90s I definitely wasn’t that confident but now I’m pretty confident about that really.”
Go to this location for the complete in-depth interview.
As previously reported, Century Media Distro Europe is now streaming Napalm Death’s new album, Utilitarian. Head over to this location, where you can hear the album and get 10% off the entire Napalm Death catalogue until February 28th.
Utilitarian tracklisting:
‘Circumspect’
‘Errors In The Signals’
‘Everyday Pox’
‘Protection Racket’
‘The Wolf I Feed’
‘Quarantined’
‘Fall On Their Swords’
‘Collision Course’
‘Orders Of Magnitude’
‘Think Tank Trials’
‘Blank Look About Face’
‘Leper Colony’
‘Nom De Guerre’
‘Analysis Paralysis’
‘Opposite Repellent’
‘A Gag Reflex’
‘Aim Without An Aim’ (Bonus track)
‘Everything In Mono’ (Bonus track)
In anticipation of the release of their 14th studio album, Utilitarian, on February 27th in Europe and February 28th in North America, Mark “Barney” Greenway guides you through the final four songs on the album in the fourth and final track-by-track video.
The songs in this episode are ‘Nom De Guerre’, ‘Analysis Paralysis’, ‘Opposites Repellent’ and ‘A Gag Reflex’.
Check out all four track-by-track videos below:
Upon Utilitarian’s release, Napalm Death’s limited-edition ‘Analysis Paralysis’ 7″ single is also be available for purchase at CM Distro in black and clear vinyl. Its B-Side includes the exclusive track ‘Youth Offender’, making this 7″ a very collectable piece for any diehard Napalm Death fan.
Source : Bravewords.com
Remastered reissues of the first three albums from THEATRE OF TRAGEDY — the Norwegian band which once featured in its ranks current LEAVES’ EYES vocalist Liv Kristine — will be made available later in the year. The group’s self-titled debut (1995), “Velvet Darkness They Fear” (1996) and “Aegis” (1998) will feature rare bonus material, new liner notes and will be released in digipack and double vinyl LP formats.
THEATRE OF TRAGEDY released the “Last Curtain Call” concert DVD last May via AFM Records. The disc contains 18 tracks spanning the band’s entire career with a running time of 94 minutes. In addition, there was a half-hour “on-the-road” movie from the band’s last tour, footage from the group’s final rehearsal October 1, 2010 (with fans attending) as well as in-depth interviews with all band members shot in January 2011. The concert film features both stereo and 5.1 Surround Sound. Audio was mixed by Alex Møklebust and mastered by Chris Sansom at Propeller Mastering. In addition, there was a live CD included with the bands pick of their live favorites.
THEATRE OF TRAGEDY announced in March 2010 that it was calling it quits, stating, “This has not been an easy decision to make and we have thought about this for a long long time. We finally agreed to this during the production of our latest album, ‘Forever Is The World’.
“Over the years all of us have strived to combine the THEATRE with everyday life but in the end it has proven more and more difficult.
“We have come to appreciate our family lives and jobs, which makes it very hard to continue this life of rock ‘n’ roll on the road.”
THEATRE OF TRAGEDY released a a limited-edition tour version of its seventh album, “Forever Is The World”, in March 2010 to coincide with the band’s European shows. The set included a new EP called “Addenda” and featured 10 tracks of b-sides, rarities, remakes and remixes.
“Forever Is The World” was released in September 2009 via AFM Records. The follow-up to 2006’s “Storm” was recorded at Room 13 studios in Oslo with producer Alexander Møklebust, who has previously worked with ZEROMANCER, SEIGMEN, GÅTE, MONOMEN and DELAWARE, among others. The mastering was handled by Bjørn Engelmann at the Cutting Room in Sweden.
“Forever Is The World” was made available in three different versions: a limited digipack with one bonus song, a very limited double vinyl version with two bonus tracks (one exclusive to the vinyl edition!) and a regular jewelcase. Source: Blabbermouth.net
Liechtenstein-based gothic metallers ELIS have called it quits following the departure of their singer of the past eight months, Simone Christinat (LEGENDA AUREA, FELONY) from Schaffhausen, Switzerland.
ELIS‘ original frontwoman, Sabine Dünser, suffered a cerebral hemorrhage on July 7, 2006 during rehearsal and passed away the following day in hospital. A replacement vocalist, Sandra Schleret (ex-EYES OF EDEN), was recruited in 2006 and remained with the group until 2011, during which time the band recorded only one full-length album, “Catharsis” (released in November 2009 via Napalm Records).
ELIS released the following statement earlier today (Friday, February 24):
“We have to inform you that ELIS has passed into history.
“Simone told us a couple of days ago, that she will leave ELIS immediately due to too much stress.
“We have decided now to quit the band. Too much things happened during all these years to continue once again. But on the other side, there were a lot of good and lucky moments in this almost ten years of ELIS. Therefore we want to say thank you for your support, your dedication and your friendship through all these years!
“But this will not be the end of our musical careers; some projects are already in the pipeline. You will find more information about these things very soon on [the official ELIS web site].”
Source : Blabbermouth.net
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Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 