According to Finland's MTV3, the new NIGHTWISH single "Eva" is currently under investigation by Teosto, the Finnish RIAA equivalent whose task it is to promote the rights of composers, lyricists, arrangers and music publishers, and to strengthen the diversity of Finnish composition. The chorus of the song is allegedly very similar to a track called "Whirlpool" by Jukka Reinivuo, a relatively unknown Finnish artist. In fact, the similarities are so great that allegations of plagiarism have already been thrown around.

NIGHTWISH keyboardist and com ...

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Baz Anderson of MetalStorm.ee recently conducted an interview with MASTERPLAN/ex-HELLOWEEN guitarist Roland Grapow. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

MetalStorm.ee: So how well do you think the album "MK II" has come across?

Roland: I think pretty good, honestly, because I think people, you know, lost a bit of faith in this band and when we released the album of course many people checked it out to see "how bad we are" — but people were surprised that nothing really changed so much, I mean the music is still the same kind of style and yeah, it's good. We did our b ...

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Chad Bowar of About Heavy Metal recently conducted an interview with CELTIC FROST mainman Tom Gabriel Fischer. An excerpt from the chat follows:

About Heavy Metal: You've been on the road with TYPE O NEGATIVE for about a month. How has it been going?

Tom Gabriel Fischer: It's fantastic. Both bands are mutual fans of each other. We have a very good relationship with them. The only thing that's difficult sometimes is that since we are not playing huge places a lot of times, the stage size is really small. Sometimes we have to make do with very l ...

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Finnish symphonic metallers NIGHTWISH have recruited 35-year-old Swedish singer Anette Blyckert (a.k.a. Anette Olzon) to replace Tarja Turunen. A photo of the new vocalist can be found here. A short video "greeting" from Anette is available for download at this location (MPEG, 5 MB).

Regarding her musical background, Anette said, "I was raised in a musical family and I've been singing since childhood. My mom also forced me to play the oboe for 8 years! I toured constantly with my mom and he ...

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Florida-based death metallers DEICIDE have parted ways with guitarist Ralph Santolla. A replacement axeman has not yet been announced.

Santolla (ex-DEATH, ICED EARTH) told BLABBERMOUTH.NET last month that he was looking to join a new band "in any genre of metal." "I like to keep busy writing, recording and touring," Santolla said. "Down time drives me nuts. Anyone looking for a guitarist can contact me at ralphsantolla@hotmail.com."

Santolla appears on DEICIDE's latest CD, "The Stench of Redemption", which was released in August via Earache Records. The follow-up to 2004's "Scars of the Crucifix" ...

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GORGOROTH's video for the song "Carving a Giant" has been posted online at this location.

The "Carving a Giant" clip made its debut on MTV Norway's "Headbanger's Ball" last Sunday, May 20. The track comes off GORGOROTH's latest CD, "Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam", which was released last year via Sweden's Regain Records.

An in-depth report on the "Carving a Giant" video shoot is available at

Polish extreme metallers BEHEMOTH have revelaed the track listing and artwork for their new album, "The Apostasy", due on July 17 via Century Media Records. The group's most ambitious and epic offering yet, it was recorded in the band's hometown of Gdansk with the group's mainman Nergal and longtime sound engineer Malta in the producers' chairs. The effort was mixed with the acclaimed Daniel Bergstrand (IN FLAMES, MESHUGGAH, STRAPPING YOUNG LAD) at Dug-Out Studios in Sweden and mastered by Bjorn Engelmann (RAMMSTEIN, SAMAEL).

"The Apostasy" (view artwork at

An action figure of MOTÖRHEAD's Lemmy Kilmister is tentatively due in November via a company called Locoape. The six-inch figure comes with what appears to be one of four random backgrounds and one of three random guitars. Check out a picture of the action figure at Action-Figure.com.

A nine-minute audio interview with Lemmy Kilmister, conducted on May 13, 2007 at Peabody's in Cleveland, Ohio by Ken of Metal Fanzine, has been posted online at

Peter Lindgren has stepped down from his guitar-wielding duties in OPETH after 16 years. His official statement on the matter reads as follows:

"It is with sadness I announce that OPETH and I are going separate ways after almost 16 years. The decision has been the toughest I've ever made but it is the right one to make at this point in my life.

"The reason behind this is that I feel that I simply have lost some of the enthusiasm and inspiration needed to participate in a band that has grown from a few guys playing the music we love to a worldwide industry. The love of music has always been, and still is, our motive, but I personally have lost something alo ...

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ICED EARTH guitarist/leader Jon Schaffer has posted the following message on the band's web site:

"Our new guitar player's name is Troy Seele. Troy did a few solos on the new record and will be touring with us. He's been a friend of mine for about 10 years and is from the Indianapolis (Indy) area. He's by far the best guitar player in Indy and will be bringing some cool vibes to the table."

A 30-second audio sample of the ICED EARTH song "Ten Thousand Strong" has been posted online at this location (Real Media). The track comes off the group's u ...

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