DEAD BRAIN CELLS (D.B.C.), SOOTHSAYER and OBLIVEON are among the bands that will reunite for "1982 – 2007: 25 ans Métal Québécois", a three-day festival celebrating 25 years of Quebec metal, set to take place August 31 - September 2, 2007 at Club Soda in Montreal. A total of 12 bands will perform, with eight of the 12 groups reuniting specifically for the festival. The billing is shaping up as follows:

Friday, August 31 (artists from 1990s):

OBLIVEON
NECROTIC MUTATION
DÉMENCE
AGONY

Saturday, September 1 (artists from 1980s):

DEAD BRAIN CELLS (D.B.C. )
SOOTHSAYER
DAMNATION
THE AFFECT ...

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DEVILDRIVER's third album, "The Last Kind Words", has had its release date pushed back to June 19 in Europe and July 31 in the U.S. The American version will include a bonus track and a poster. The CD was recorded at Sonic Ranch studios outside El Paso, Texas. Jason Suecof, known for his great work with TRIVIUM, CHIMAIRA, GOD FORBID, and BURY YOUR DEAD, produced the album, with engineer Mark Lewis helping out as well. Mixing duties are currently being handled by Andy Sneap, who has previously worked with MEGADETH, MACHINE HEAD, NEVERMORE and ARCH ENEMY, among many others. Songtitles set to appea ...

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After filling in for the band's shows for the last two months, 21-year-old Mika Horiuchi has been officially named CELLADOR's new bass player.

Comments guitarist Chris Petersen: "After holding auditions for three months we realized Mika was the best person for the band. He showed the most devotion and commitment, having learned all our songs in less than a week, and dropped all his personal commitments at the time to come on tour with us during the month of February. The dude is an insane bass shredder, but also knows how to carry a song well rather than wanking all over the place. It's the perfect combination we were looking for, and the perfect fit for u ...

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According to the official RATT MySpace page, the group's current lineup is as follows: Stephen Pearcy - Vocals John Corabi - Guitar Warren DeMartini - Guitar Bobby Blotzer - Drums Robbie Crane - Bass RATT and POISON will join forces for a summer trek starting June 13 at the Bi Lo Center in Greenville, S.C., and wrapping Aug. 19 at the Coors Amphitheatre in Denver. The tour, which brings RATT and POISON onstage together for the first time since 1999, will visit amphitheaters, festivals and fairs in such cities as Boston, Detroit, New York, New Jersey and Los Angeles, said Troy Blakely, who books POISON with the Agency for the Performing Arts. "Generally we're going to play 50- ...

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MP3.com has posted a report from the Inferno Festival which took place over Easter week in Oslo, Norway. There are photos and several short video interviews, including one with Demonaz (IMMORTAL, I) where he talks about his new project PERFECT VISIONS.

"We're working on a new IMMORTAL album," Demonaz revealed. "I have a solo project which I am working on, and I will do an album this year, so we have a lot of things to do. [PERFECT VISIONS] will be me, Ice Dale [ENSLAVED, AUDREY HORNE], and Armagedda [ex-IMMORTAL] on drums, and I do all the music and the lyrics and Abbath [IMMORT ...

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David Priest of OnTrackMagazine.com recently conducted an interview with STRATOVARIUS mainman Timo Tolkki. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

OnTrackMagazine.com: How are you feeling these days?

Timo: Pretty okay. I mean I went through some really black depression after the last tour again, 'cause I get this.

OnTrackMagazine.com: Really?

Timo: Yeah, yeah. It can be, like, six or seven months; really, really black, where I don't even go out. Maybe I went four times, it was from February into the summer and at that time I was supposed to write the new son ...

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Danish hard rockers ROYAL HUNT have completed the songwriting process for the band's new album, which will become a sequel to their critically acclaimed concept opus "Paradox" (1997). According to a posting on the group's web site, the "lyrical/musical continuation of the story will be spread over 10 tracks and the actual recording of it will start in May 2007 at NorthPoint Productions while the mixing has been scheduled for September at the EMI/Medley Studios in Copenhagen, Denmark." Also in the works is a reissue of the band's live releases "1996" and "Closing the Chapter" (originally released in 1998). More details will be made available s ...

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Michael Kammeyer:

I'm very happy to finally announce our new singer. Matthew Barlow (former vocalist of the American metal band Iced Earth) will be taking over the job as Pyramaze vocalist. I've been in dialogue with Matt about his comeback for a few months now, and after we've been getting to know each other better and doing a few test demos where Matt has re-recorded a couple of our old songs, we've come to the conclusion that we are a perfect match. I've always regarded Matt as one of the very best voices in metal, and I was (as any other fan of his incredible voice) saddened by his departure from the metal scene a few years ago. Therefore I'm proud to say that Matt is b ...

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Former Iced Earth vocalist Matt Barlow is the newly announced singer for Danish metal sensation Pyramaze. The news was revealed in the latest German edition of Rock Hard magazine. A rough translation can be found through the link below.

Pyramaze parted ways with their original singer Lance King in November 2006 due to personal and professional reasons. Lance wishes the band the best of luck with Matt as he works on material with Progressive Metallers Krucible. Information on the forthcoming Pyramaze album with Matt (the first recorded music since his sabbatical from metal in 2003) will follow...

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IRON STEEL, the new project featuring Frederic Leclercq from DRAGONFORCE and vocalist Fran Strine, has posted a song called "Attack" on its MySpace page. The track was recorded in one take April 7, 2007 at the House of Blues in Chicago, Illinois and features guest appearances by members of CHIMAIRA, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE and DRAGONFORCE.

Commented recent KILLSWITCH touring guitarist Patrick Lachman (ex-DAMAGEPLAN, HALFORD), who guests on the song, "I have jammed with one of greatest vocalist of all time when I was in HALFORD, but when I heard the vocal power of Fran Strine I almost fainted, and the musical wizardness of Frederic Leclercq is spell-binding."

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