Holland's AFTER FOREVER and Finland's THUNDERSTONE have been officially confirmed for the 2004 edition of Wacken Open Air festival, set to take place August 5-8, 2004 in Wacken, Germany. According to an official newsletter from the festival's organizers, next year's event will be a celebration of the festival's 15th anniversary with special performances by "new ...
Posted in: News
Florida death metallers DEICIDE have been officially confirmed for the 2004 edition of Wacken Open Air festival, set to take place August 5-8, 2004 in Wacken, Germany. According to an official newsletter from the festival's organizers, next year's event will be a celebration of the festival's 15th anniversary with special performances by "new hits, old ...
Posted in: News
MSG (MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP) have been confirmed for the Piorno Rock Festival 2004, which is set to take place on Saturday, February 28 in Pinos Puentes (Granada), Spain. Other bands scheduled to appear at the event so far are AMON AMARTH, AXXIS, BATTLELORE, CALLENISH CIRCLE, CAGE, CONTRA, DARK FUNERAL, DESTRUCTION, ENSLAVED, EPICA, EVERGREY, FINTROLL, IRON ...
Posted in: News
A trailer for DORO's first-ever DVD, "Für Immer", has been posted online at this location. Released on December 1, the two-disc set (view cover here) contains a complete show recorded in October 2002 in Balve, Germany and loads of extra special highlights and bonus material: backstage footage, a 35-minute documentary, bootleg ...
Posted in: News
The songwriting process for the new DIO record is coming along nicely, and if all goes as planned, the band should be ready to start recording sometime in January 2004, according to a post on the group's web site. In other news, DIO have been officially confirmed for the 2004 edition of Wacken Open Air ...
Posted in: News
ANTHRAX, BAL-SAGOTH, CATHEDRAL, CHILDREN OF BODOM, CANNIBAL CORPSE, DESTRUCTION, EKTOMORF, HYPOCRISY, MAYHEM, SCHANDMAUL and ZODIAC MINDWARP are the latest bands confirmed for the 2004 edition of Wacken Open Air festival, set to take place August 5-8, 2004 in Wacken, Germany According to an official newsletter from the festival's organizers, next year's event will be a ...
Posted in: News
Former CIRCLE II CIRCLE members — John Zahner (keyboards), Christopher Kinder (drums), Matt La Porte (guitars), Kevin Rothney (bass) and Shane French (guitars) — have issued the following statement regarding their departure from the group: "As we approached the upcoming [European] tour with SAXON and DORO, there were many financial and logistical issues that needed ...
Posted in: News
CIRCLE II CIRCLE have issued the following statement via their official web site: "Due to some recent changes in the CIRCLE II CIRCLE camp we would like to assure everyone of our fans and business partners that Zak Stevens / CIRCLE II CIRCLE will be touring with SAXON and DORO in December for ...
Posted in: News
DIONYSUS, the Swedish/German melodic power metal act featuring the voice behind guitarist Luca Turilli's solo work, Olaf Hayer, and ex-SINERGY drummer Ronny Milianowicz, have posted the following message on their web site: "Hello dear fans! "It's time for a new DIONYSUS album, and the release date is finally set to January 19! Right now we're ...
Posted in: News
CIRCLE II CIRCLE, the new band fronted by former SAVATAGE singer Zachary Stevens, appears to have disintegrated over irreconcilable business-related differences, with Stevens currently standing as the sole remaining member of the group. The rest of the band — John Zahner (keyboards), Christopher Kinder (drums), Matt La Porte (guitars), Kevin Rothney (bass) and Shane French ...
Posted in: News
German axe hero AXEL RUDI PELL is in the middle of recording his new album, titled "Kings & Queens", for a late February release through SPV Records. The new CD is being produced by Axel and co-produced, mixed and engineered by Charlie Bauerfeind (HELLOWEEN, MOTÖRHEAD, SAXON, BLIND GUARDIAN, RAGE). Johnny Gioeli is presently laying down ...
Posted in: News
DIONYSUS, the Swedish/German melodic power metal act featuring the voice behind guitarist Luca Turilli's solo work, Olaf Hayer, and ex-SINERGY drummer Ronny Milianowicz, have been added to the upcoming SAXON/DORO/CIRCLE II CIRCLE European tour. Confirmed dates are as follows: Nov. 29 - Murcia, SPA - Sala Gamma (w/out CIRCLE II CIRCLE) Nov. 30 - Bergara, ...
Posted in: News
DORO's (full name: Doro Pesch) first-ever DVD, entitled "Für Immer", is scheduled for release on December 1. A two-disc set, "Für Immer" (view cover here) contains a complete show recorded in October 2002 in Balve, Germany and loads of extra special highlights and bonus material: backstage footage, a 35-minute documentary, bootleg stuff and ...
Posted in: News
Original SAXON members Graham Oliver and Steve Dawson, who have spent the past few years battling with Biff Byford and Paul Quinn over the group's name, have commented on the settlement recently reached between the members of the original band SAXON over the usage of the name and logos belonging to the original partnership. OLIVER/DAWSON ...
Posted in: News
SAXON frontman Biff Byford has posted the following update to the band's official web site: "Well its about time I filled you in on what's happening SAXON wise. So the DVD finally came out and it seems everybody loves it, it took some time to locate somebody to make the booklet and put it all ...
Posted in: News
England's FOREFATHER have signed a worldwide deal with Holland's Karmageddon Media (formerly Hammerheart Records). The group are currently recording their fourth album, "Ours Is The Kingdom", for an early 2004 release. The FOREFATHER project was born in September 1997 in Surrey, England by founding members and brothers Athelstan (guitar, bass & keyboard) and Wulfstan (guitar, ...
Posted in: News
MOTÖRHEAD's Lemmy, SAVATAGE's Jon Oliva, and Blaze Bayley (ex-IRON MAIDEN/WOLFSBANE) are among the special guests confirmed to appear with Doro Pesch at the veteran German metal singer's 20-year anniversary show on December 13 in Düsseldorf, Germany. Pesch is expected to perform material spanning her entire career, including a couple of early WARLOCK numbers featuring a ...
Posted in: News
SAXON, DORO and CIRCLE II CIRCLE will be teaming up for a 16-date European tour in December. Confirmed dates so far are as follows: Dec. 06 - Thessaloniki, GRE @ Ydrogios Dec. 07 - Athens, GRE @ Gagarin 205 Dec. 12 - Hardenberg, NETH @ Podium Dec. 13 - Düsseldorf, GER @ Phillipshalle Dec. 14 ...
Posted in: News
German melodic metallers EDGUY have replaced HAMMERFALL on the bill of this year's Bloodstock Festival, a two-day event set to take place Aug. 29-30, 2003 at the Assembly Rooms in Derby, U.K. As previously reported, HAMMERFALL were forced to cancel their appearance at the festival after guitarist Oscar Dronjak sustained a multiple fracture in his ...
Posted in: News
HAMMERFALL guitarist Oscar Dronjak has posted the following message to the band's official web site: "We've just returned from one of Europe's (most likely the world's) better metal festivals, namely Metal Mania in Spain. Headlined by SLAYER, IRON MAIDEN and STRATOVARIUS, and with a supporting cast of bands like BLIND GUARDIAN, MOTÖRHEAD, MASTERPLAN, PRIMAL FEAR, ...
Posted in: News
On July 28, SPV/Steamhammer will be releasing a special DVD, entitled "Wacken Metal Overdrive", featuring interviews and live footage of various artists performing at the annual Wacken Open Air Festival, widely considered to be the biggest and best "pure metal" festival in the world. The complete track listing for "Wacken Metal Overdrive" (view cover
Posted in: News
HAMMERFALL guitarist Oscar Dronjak has posted the following update to the band's official web site: "Summer is upon us now, and we are in the midst of the festival season. A couple of shows are already behind us, among others Bang Your Head, Masters Of Metal and two Swedish folkfests. I must say that, so ...
Posted in: News
German hard rock singer Doro Pesch (ex-WARLOCK) has been named "sexiest woman of the year" by the prominent Czech rock magazine Spark. The award was presented to the vocalist during her concert in the Czech Republic on June 27. Upcoming DORO tour dates: Jul. 06 – Leipzig, GER - With Full Force Jul. 12 – ...
Posted in: News
Several photos taken during CIRCLE II CIRCLE's appearance at this month's Rock Hard Festival have been posted online at this location. The two-day event, which took place June 7-8 at Amphitheater in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, featured additional performances from such acts as SAXON, IN FLAMES, ARCH ENEMY, BLIND GUARDIAN, CANDLEMASS, NEVERMORE, KREATOR and ANTHRAX, ...
Posted in: News
NEVERMORE have posted several photos taken during their appearance at last weekend's Rock Hard Festival at this location. The two-day event, which took place June 7-8 at Amphitheater in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, featured additional performances from such acts as SAXON, IN FLAMES, ARCH ENEMY, BLIND GUARDIAN, CANDLEMASS, KREATOR and ANTHRAX, among others. NEVERMORE's new ...
Posted in: News
SARACEN lead the final batch of British bands gearing up for this year's Bloodstock festival, a two-day event set to take place Aug. 29-30, 2003 at the Assembly Rooms in Derby, U.K. Little is known about SARACEN other than they released two albums in the early '80s as part of the NWOBHM (New Wave Of ...
Posted in: News
OLIVER/DAWSON SAXON, featuring the original founding songwriters of SAXON, guitarist Graham Oliver and bassist Steve Dawson, alongside ex-SAXON drummer Nigel Durham, guitarist Haydn Conway, and vocalist Wardi, have been forced to postpone their previously announced "Second Wave" tour due to the delays in the recording of the album of the same name. The tour, which ...
Posted in: News
British death metal veterans BOLT THROWER have pulled out of this weekend's Rock Hard festival in order to allow vocalist Dave Ingram to be present for the impending birth of his first child (his wife's original due date was said to have been ten days ago). The organizers of the event — set to take ...
Posted in: News
Sweden's DARK TRANQUILLITY have replaced SPINESHANK on the bill of this year's Gods Of Metal festival, set to take place June 7-8 at the Mazda Palace in Milan, Italy. The sextet will take the stage at 1:45 p.m. on Saturday, June 7. "Three years ago at the festival, we had one of the most memorable ...
Posted in: News
