Former CHILDREN OF BODOM guitarist/vocalist Alexi Laiho has passed away. The musician died in his home in Helsinki, Finland, last week. The 41-year-old musician had suffered from long-term health issues during his last years.

Laiho and drummer Jaska Raatikainen founded CHILDREN OF BODOM in 1993, and the band was one of the most internationally acclaimed metal acts in Finland up until their very last farewell concert in December of 2019. Last year, Alexi put together BODOM AFTER MIDNIGHT, who recorded three songs and shot one music video, which will be released later on posthumously.

Besides CHILDREN OF BODOM, Laiho was known for acts such as WARMEN, SINERGY, KYLÄHULLUT ...

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BLUE ÖYSTER CULT will return with a mammoth new studio album, "The Symbol Remains", on October 9 via Frontiers Music Srl. Coming nearly two decades after the release of the band's last studio LP, "Curse Of The Hidden Mirror", the effort showcases a band which hasn't been slowed by the time passed but is simply unfazed by it. "The Symbol Remains" is said to be one of BLUE ÖYSTER CULT's most spirited, diverse and inspired releases to date.

"The Symbol Remains" track listing:

01. That Was Me
02. Box In My Head
03. Tainted Blood
04. Nightmare Epiphany
05. Edge Of The World
06. The Machine
07. Train True (Lennie's Song)
08. The Return Of ...

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U.K. grindcore pioneers NAPALM DEATH will release their new studio album, "Throes Of Joy In The Jaws Of Defeatism", on September 18 via Century Media Records. The follow-up to 2015's "Apex Predator - Easy Meat" was again recorded with longtime producer Russ Russell and features artwork by Frode Sylthe.

NAPALM DEATH vocalist Mark "Barney" Greenway stated about the upcoming album and its theme: "The phrase sticking in my mind when I started thinking about the lyrical direction for this album was 'the other.' You could recognize at the time that there was a rapidly growing fear and paranoia being generated about everybody, from migrating people to people with fluid sexuality and this ...

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Norwegian metal avant-gardists ENSLAVED will release their new album, "Utgard", in the fall via Nuclear Blast. The disc was tracked in Bergen in Duper Studio and next door at drummer Iver Sandøy's Solslottet Studio before it was mixed at Fascination Street in Örebro, Sweden with Jens Bogren.

The first single and video from "Utgard" will be made available on May 22.

ENSLAVED unveiled the "Utgard" album cover in a social media post earlier today. The band stated: "This is the 9th consecutive album cover artwork done by Truls Espedal — and like the album itself it is definitely on the wavelength of the long-distance pulse from the ENSLAVED generator. It is a piece of a ...

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Richmond, Virginia-based metallers LAMB OF GOD will release their new, self-titled album on May 8 via Epic Records in the U.S. and Nuclear Blast Records in Europe. The follow-up to "VII: Sturm Und Drang" will mark LAMB OF GOD's first recordings with Art Cruz, who joined the band last July as the replacement for the group's founding drummer, Chris Adler. The disc's first single, "Checkmate", will make its online debut tomorrow (Thursday, February 6).

"Lamb Of God" track listing:

01. Memento Mori
02. Checkmate
03. Gears
04. Reality Bath
05. New Colossal Hate
06. Resurrection Man
07. Poison Dream
08. Routes
09. Bloodshot Eyes
10 ...

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KATATONIA, the Swedish purveyors of dark progressive rock/metal, will release their new album, "City Burials", on April 24 via Peaceville Records. The disc's first single, "Lacquer", can be streamed below.

Guitarist Anders Nyström commented: "In days and nights of black and silver, the dead-end king will come. From pieces of broken mirrors there will be a crown bestowed upon his head. In reflections of shattered glass not only the seasons will turn, but also the change disguised by the lapse of time. His mind will have to come to bear the weight of everything that was left behind and forgotten. Archiving the inaccessible. Celebrating the abandoned and mourning the destroyed. The ...

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Sean Reinert, longtime drummer for progressive/technical metal pioneers CYNIC, has died. He was apparently found unresponsive at his California home Friday night (January 24). No cause of death has yet been revealed. He was only 48 years old.

Reinert was a founding member of CYNIC, along with guitarist/vocalist Paul Masvidal, and he remained in the group until September 2015.

In 1991, Reinert and Masvidal joined the legendary Florida band DEATH to record the "Human" album. After touring with DEATH, they returned to CYNIC.

1993 saw the release of CYNIC's debut album, "Focus", which is regarded as a landmark LP in the field of technical/progressive metal. After ...

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After a highly successful year of international touring and continued work on a new studio album, U.K. grindcore pioneers NAPALM DEATH have announced a new seven-inch / digital EP to be released via Century Media Records on February 7. The release will kick off the start of the band's "Campaign For Musical Destruction" headline European tour alongside EYEHATEGOD, MISERY INDEX, ROTTEN SOUND and BAT.

The EP titled "Logic Ravaged By Brute Force" includes the brand-new title-track as well as a freshly recorded cover version of "White Kross", originally performed by SONIC YOUTH. This double-A-side EP is yet another NAPALM DEATH collectible item and is also meant as first teaser for the ...

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Finnish/British/Dutch symphonic metallers NIGHTWISH will release their ninth studio album, "Human. :II: Nature." , on April 10 via Nuclear Blast. The long-awaited follow-up to 2015's "Endless Forms Most Beautiful" will be a double album containing nine tracks on the main CD and one long track, divided into eight chapters on CD 2.

"Human. :II: Nature." was recorded from August to October 2019 at Röskö campsite, Petrax Studios and Troykington castle, as well as Finnvox Studios, by Tero Kinnunen, Mikko Karmila and Troy Donockley. The mixing was done by Mikko Karmila at Finnvox, with Tuomas Holopainen and Tero Kinnunen. Mastering was done by Mika Jussila at Finnvox.

The t ...

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Neil Peart, the drummer and lyricist for Rush, died Tuesday, January 7th, in Santa Monica, California at age 67, according to Elliot Mintz, a family spokesperson. The cause was brain cancer, which he had been quietly battling for three-and-a-half years. A representative for the band confirmed the news to Rolling Stone.

Peart was one of rock’s greatest drummers, with a flamboyant yet utterly precise style that paid homage to his hero, the Who’s Keith Moon, while going well beyond that example. He joined singer-bassist Geddy Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson in Rush in 1974, and his virtuosic playing and literate, wildly imaginative lyrics – which drew on Ayn Rand and science fi ...

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