Marco Hietala in Tarja Turunen bosta ponovno stala skupaj na odru, in sicer bosta 8. julija v sklopu festivala Z7 Summer Nights v švicarskem mestu Pratteln nastopila kot duet s posebnimi gosti. Svoj nastop oglašujeta kot »symphonic metal dreams«. Ali je to morebitni začetek novega projekta, pa je zaenkrat vprašanje, zavito v tančico skrivnosti.

Hellwitch bodo 2. junija pri založbi Listenable Records izdali tretji studijski album. Annihilational Intercention prinaša naslednje komade:

Sollipsistic Immortality
Delegated Disruption
Megalopalypytic Confine
Sorcerous Imminence
Hellwitch
Epochal Cessation
Anthropophagi
At Rest
Torture Chamber
Sweet Home Alabama

Švedski melodični death metalci Dark Reflection predstavljajo video za prvi single House of Black, ki se bo nahajal na njihovem prihajajočem albumu Everlasting Night, ki izide 8. septembra pri Grind to Death Records.

Po tem, ko so pred kratkim turnejo odpovedali White Ward, je ista usoda doletela blackened death metalce 1914 iz Ukrajine. Upamo, da se stvari umirijo in nas bo zasedba lahko obiskala letos poleti na festivalu Črna Loka. Sledi bandova izjava za medije:

»Many of you could have been noticing a recent wave of European tours cancellations by UA bands. Unfortunately, 1914 is not an exception here. With heavy hearts we must inform you that we cannot play for our fans this April and have to cancel our upcoming tour.

Just to make it clear, it is still a 'wartime' on the territory of our land, and this specific time makes it impossible to leave the borders by the men of a conscript age. How could we travel last year? It was possible to get a special permission from the state authorities for the artists to leave the country and do shows and other activities in order to aid the country and spead the truth about unprovoked and brutal war started by russia. There were some irresponsible people who used such permissions to leave the country and never come back, and after it became public and went through a media - the state authorities stopped granting the special permissions for the artists by artificially overcomplicating the process of getting all the necessary documents, by enlarging the list of the documents and making it impossible for bands to obtain what is needed. This affected a lot of different bands in UA.

Last couple of weeks for us were in a constant fight with that new stupid system trying to show that we had a positive experience of returning back home after foreign tours, trying to display the value of such tours for our country benefit, but no matter how hard we tried - we couldn't break that system and it made impossible for us to go and play this time. We want to apologize to our fans, other bands, promoters, but currently we are powerless here. We will work hard to be able to get to our other shows this year, maybe the ice will melt and we will see some easement in the future, but currently we just did everything we could.

Міністерство культури та інформаційної політики України - Thank you for nothing!«

Blaze Bayley, nekdanji vokalist zasedbe Iron Maiden, je prejšnjo soboto doživel srčni infarkt in bil zaradi tega hospitaliziran. Njegovo stanje je že stabilno, žal pa je zaradi tega moral odpovedati turnejo. Več lahko preberete v uradni izjavi:

»We sincerely regret to announce that Blaze had a heart attack at home yesterday evening & is now in hospital in a stable condition, awaiting news of further surgery/treatment. He is in good spirits in the circumstances but utterly disappointed to have to postpone our imminent shows due in March & April. Ticket refunds will be available at source but we truly hope you will keep your tickets & make it to the new dates which we will be announcing as soon as they are scheduled.

Regarding shows already booked for June-November this year, we understandably have to wait a short while to see how quick Blaze’s recovery will be, so please stay tuned & meanwhile most importantly we're sure you will join us in wishing him a complete & speedy recovery.

Blaze misses you, cannot wait to regain full health & see you all again.

Every Storm Ends… ‘your heart will heal’

Thank you so much everyone for your understanding & support.

Mark Appleton & Christopher Appleton (management / bookings)«

Nemški black metalci Groza objavljajo nov live video za komad Homewards. Video je nastal januarja med bandovim nastopom v Erfurtu, komad pa lahko v izvirni različici najdete na zadnji izdaji The Redemptive End.

Slovaški moderni power/heavy metalci Eufory so posneli besedilni video za Afterglow, tretji single s svojega prihajajočega tretjega albuma Fifth Dimension. Tracklista:

Nile
Fifth Dimension
Afterglow
Waiting for the Rain
Never Stay at Home
The Scent in the Room
Promise of Tomorrow
Falling into Nowhere
Forever Too Late
Day for Night

Primitive Man in Full of Hell bodo 3. marca pri založbi Closed Casket Activities skupaj izdali album Suffocating Hallucination z naslednjo tracklisto:

Stran A
Trepanation for Future Joys
Rubble Home
Bludgeon

Stran B
Dwindling Will
Tunnels to God

Sludge metal/crust trojica The Human Race Is Filth napoveduje svoj četrti EP Cognitive Dissonance. Ta bo izšel 10. marca in bo vseboval devet komadov:

Life Of Tyrants
Apes With Christ
Electronic Caterpillars
Bastardized
Cloaked In Shame
Hopes Wavered
Propagating Technology
Vomiting Strings Of Human Decay
Tribal Injections Of Division

Ameriški heavy metalci Icarus Witch bodo prihodnje leto pri založbi Cleopatra Records izdali album z naslovom No Devil Lived On, s katerega že lahko slišite single 10,000 Light Years From Home.

Pred slabim mesecem dni so Heidevolk napovedali svoj sedmi studijski album Wederkeer, včeraj pa so vse poslušalce razveselili z novim singlom in videospotom Drink met de Goden (Walhalla).

Norveški hard rockerji/heavy metalci Stargazer bodo 3. marca pri založbi Mighty Music izdali album z naslovom Life Will Never Be the Same, ki prinaša naslednje komade:

Can You Conceive It
Live My Dream
Rock The Sky
Live Today
Don’t Kill
Will I Come To Heaven
Heartbroken
Turn Off The Light
Beyond The Moon
Take Me Home
Push Me

Finci Amorphis so nova pridobitev festivala Inferno 2023. Festival se bo odvijal med 6. in 9. aprilom, Amorphis pa lahko v živo ujamete že naslednji teden na Dunaju.

Švedski black/folk metalci Änterbila so razkrili komad Torparens Dotter s samonaslovljenega prihajajočega prvenca. Tracklista:

Vallåt från Gnarp (Herding Call from Gnarp)
Hemlängtan (Homesickness)
1704
Torparens Dotter (The Crofter’s Daughter)
Södermanland
Vita Piskan (The White Whip)
Äntergast (Boarder)
Nattens Gåvolott (The Gift of the Night)

Avstrijca Harakiri For The Sky sta objavila na novo posneti komad Homecoming: Denied!, ki ga boste našli na ponovni izdaji albuma Aokigahara MMXXII, ki bo izšel 9. decembra.