Vokalist zasedbe Dragonforce Marc Hudson bo izdal svoj prvi solo album. Hudson je podpisal mednarodno pogodbo z Napalm Records, pri kateri bo 25. avgusta izdal prvenec Starbound Stories. Vokalist je že razkril naslovnico, naslove komadov, prvi single Astalive ter postavo, ki je album posnela:

Marc Hudson – vokali, kitara, back vokali
Shaz D – klaviature
Frederic Leclerq – bass, kitara
Rich Smith – bobni

Seznam komadov je naslednji:

As The Twilight Met The Sea
Freedom Heart
Dracula X!
Stars
The Siren
Astralive
Swansong
Call Of The Martyrs
Starbound Stories
One More Sight Of The Sun With You

Italijanski power metalci Frozen Crown, ki so marca letos izdali šesti dolgometražec Call Of The North, sporočajo, da so podpisali z založbo Napalm Records. 

»We're happy and honored to join the Napalm Records family and we're ready for our next big step together! Since we founded this band in 2018 we worked hard incessantly, day after day, not only trying to put our best in our studio albums and live, but also managing the band all by ourselves, conquering every single little accomplishment with our DIY attitude, always keeping loyal to our (extremely) small entourage. Thanks to the support of our lovely fans, Frozen Crown eventually grew bigger, and got to a point where we were not able to handle it all by ourselves anymore. At the same time, we knew we needed more firepower to push the band further and bring it to the next level. And speaking of firepower, Napalm Records was just the best record label to start this new chapter with!!! We're excited beyond words to be part of the best metal label in the world, and we can't wait to start working together on our new album, joining forces with this huge team of professionals!«

Založba Peaceville Records bo danes izdala koncertni album japonske avantgardne black metal zasedbe Sigh z naslovom Live: The Eastern Force of Evil 2022, zato je predvčerajšnjim za pokušino razkrila še koncertni posnetek skladbe A Victory of Dakini.

Konec lanskega leta smo poročali, da Warmen pripravljajo material za nov album. Zdaj so na dan pricurljale sveže informacije. Najnovejši album bo nosil naslov Here For None in bo 18. avgusta izšel pri založbi Reaper Entertainment, obsegal pa bo naslednje komade:

Warmen Are Here For None
The Driving Force
A World Of Pain
Too Much, Too Late
Night Terrors
Hell On Four Wheels
The End Of The Line
Death's On Its Way
The Cold Unknown
Dancing With Tears In My Eyes

Nemške thrash legende Destruction sporočajo, da se ob 40. obletnici delovanja oktobra odpravljajo na evropsko turnejo. Pridružili se jim bodo kanadski thrasherji Razor, švedski metalci stare šole Enforcer in španski manijaki Crisix. Zaenkrat je potrjenih le nekaj datumov, a kot obljublja zasedba, seznam še ni dokončen!

Ameriški black metalci Uada sporočajo, da so se razšli s kitaristom Jamesom Sloanom. Več lahko preberete v uradni izjavi banda:

»Uada has officially parted ways with guitarist James Sloan. After receiving consecutive accounts and admittance of misconduct, we have decided to let James go. It is of utmost importance that we protect ourselves, the band, and most of all, the fans. After recently learning about years of manipulation, lies, deceit, abuse, and sexual harassment towards many different people, we feel that we have made the absolute best decision in moving forward without him.

Our thanks and appreciation go out to everyone who has come forward and provided proof about this situation. Please know that UADA will never stand for this type of behavior and that our only agenda here is music and the spirit of its creation. Unfortunately, due to these circumstances, we are now forced to cancel our appearances in Tasmania and Australia next month, but we hope to make it up to the fans down under as soon as we possibly can.

Thank you for your understanding and our deepest apologies to anyone who may have been hurt because of these actions.

Sincerely,
Jake, Nate, and Josh.«

Japonska avantgardna black metal zasedba Sigh predstavlja koncertni posnetek skladbe Mayonaka no Kaii s prihajajočega koncertnega albuma Live: The Eastern Force of Evil 2022, ki bo 16. junija izšel pri Peaceville Records.

Organizatorji legendarnega festivala Bang Your Head sporočajo, da se je ta za vedno poslovil. Več podrobnosti lahko preberete v izjavi organizatorja:

THAT WAS IT! Hello friends, it is with a heavy heart that we are writing these lines. But there is no other way. We really gave and did everything we could to finally catch up with celebrating the big BANG YOU HEAD!!! anniversary in 2023, and eagerly anticipated this summer like no other. But: We alone, unfortunately, did not have control over creating the circumstances needed to set up an event of this caliber with the requirement to quality connected to the name BANG YOUR HEAD!!! and actually make it happen. A lot changed in the past three years and not a lot of it was and is good. All in all, it can and must be said: The whole scene changed, and the preconditions for organizing an open-air event in Balingen are completely different in 2023 than they were in 2019 – also from an economic perspective. All in all, we thus come to the conclusion, even if it is incredibly sad, that there are too many factors and forces working against us, and pushing through to organize an event at any cost would cause more losses for us and others involved than putting an end to it now. And this is how it is now: The BANG YOUR HEAD!!! 2023 can and will NOT take place. Due to the abovementioned reasons which we can’t describe in further detail due to reasons that are hopefully understandable, there is no viable path that we can take responsibility for aside from calling off the big anniversary party in Balingen. We hope for your understanding and thank everybody from the bottom of our hearts that supported us, believed in us, and kept their tickets or even bought new ones. Especially for you we tried everything to finally raise the BANG YOUR HEAD!!! flag again over the Swabian Alb, but it seems like it was not meant to be. And to make sure to avoid any potential misunderstandings: There will be no more BANG YOUR HEAD!!! festivals in the future. This was it. Because we know that many of you waited for the BYH!!! this year with immense anticipation, we intensely tried to come up with a way to marginally make up for the cancellation of the event. So, we had an idea for a ticket exchange to the ROCK OF AGES festival 2023 which you can read up on in the detailed statement on www.bang-your-head.de. Of course, we will also reimburse the purchasing price to everybody who would like to return their tickets – irrespective of which of the past years the tickets for 2023 were purchased. We will inform you about the detailed process shortly through our channels. We want to thank you once again for your support at all 24 festivals and we would be thrilled to greet you as part of the LOYAL ONES in Seebronn on 28th June! Stay heavy! Horst and the BANG YOUR HEAD!!!-Team

Švedski heavy/speed metalci Enforcer so posneli videospot za skladbo Metal Supremacia z aktualnega albuma Nostalgia, ki je v petek izšel pri založbi Nuclear Blast.

Thrash metalci Enforced, ki so 28. aprila izdali nov album War Remains, predstavljajo še video za naslovni komad.

Organizatorji festivala MetalDays 2023 so najavili 12 neuveljavljenih zasedb oziroma »New Forces Bands«. To so: Corpus, Entoria, Fatal Error, Maskeratt, Offscore, Peace is Just a Break, Pennhurts, Schrodinger, Taste of Plague, Tol Morwen, Versatile in Zenoth.

Naslednji paket bandov naj bi bil najavljen že naslednji teden, medtem ko organizator poleg tega sporoča, da sta svoj nastop odpovedala zasedbi The Agonist iz Kanade in Here Comes The Kraken iz Mehike. Odpovedi obeh zasedb sta povezani z odpovedjo njune celotne evropske turneje.

Thrash metalci Enforced predstavljajo nov single Starve s prihajajočega albuma War Remains. Album izide 28. aprila pri založbi Century Media Records, spodaj pa si lahko ogledate video za omenjeni komad.

Heavy metalci Enforcer imajo nov single. Gre za naslovni komad prihajajočega albuma Nostalgia, ki bo izšel 5. maja pri založbi Nuclear Blast. Seveda so za komad posneli tudi video, ki ga najdete spodaj.

Ameriški thrasherji Enforced so objavili videospot za drugi single Hanged By My Hand z njihovega tretjega studijskega albuma War Remains, ki izide 28. aprila pri Century Media Records.

Italijanski black metal band Thysia predstavlja naslovnico prihajajočega prvenca Islands in Cosmic Darkness, ki bo 7. aprila izšel pri mehiški založbi Chaos Records. Gre za projekt članov, ki sicer med drugim delujejo tudi v zasedbah Nox Interitus, Messa, Assumption: Nefasto (kitara in vokal), Mistyr (bobni), Fenrir (vokal) in Nihil (bas), ki je tudi avtor naslovnice. Prvenec obsega naslednje naslove:

Nexus of Cataclysmic Forces
Scorched Bronze Earth
Phrenes
Psallo
Communicating Halls of the Netherworld
Moira Krataià
Spiritual Desert
Islands in Cosmic Darkness