U.D.O. is touring North America in April. U.D.O has recruited Russian guitarist Andrey Smirnov of EVERLOST to replace Stefan Kaufman.

SATAN will play at the Wings Of Metal Festival, taking place August 30 and 31st at Katacombes in Montreal, Canada. This show will be SATAN's first appearance in North America.

Drummer Hati Refaeli of EQUILIBRIUM has joined the Italian metal band KRAMPUS.

Metal On Metal Records has announced the signing of power metal band ATTACKER. The band's next album, Giants Of Canaan, will be released on February 2nd at the Metal Assault festival.

ALMAH has recruited bassist Raphael Dafras.

DESTINY has recruited keyboardist Carl Dahlberg.

The Geoff Tate-fronted version of QUEENSRŸCHE has signed a worldwide deal with Cleopatra Records. The band features Rudy and Robert Sarzo on guitar and bass.

Norway's IN VAIN will release new record, Ænigma, on March 8th through Indie Recordings.

Inspired by KEEL? The vintage '80s line-up of the Swedish metal band TORCH has reunited for a March 30th show at the Very 'Eavy Festival in Stadskanaal, The Netherlands. The band had issued the Dark Sinner compilation in 2009 through Heart Of Steel Records.

DAMNATION ANGELS has signed a deal with Massacre Records. The band's debut album, Bringer Of Light, was mixed by Scott Atkins at the Grindstone Studio in Ipswich, U.K. and will be released on February 22nd.

ANTHEM had had to postpone its Japanese tour after bassist Naoto Shibata was diagnosed with stomach cancer. The band's next show is now Ozzfest Japan on May 11 and May 12th at the Makuhari Messe Arena, near Tokyo. ANTHEM's latest studio album, Burning Oath, was issued in the autumn.

LORDI will release its new album, To Beast Or Not To Beast, on March 8th through AFM Records. The album is out on March 19th through The End Records.

URIAH HEEP will be one of the headliners of the 2013 edition of the METALITALIA.com FESTIVAL. The first confirmed bands are ARTILLERY and SCHIZO, the influential Italian thrash-death metal act who's now at work with Tommy Vetterli (CORONER) on a new album. Joining the festivities are also Irish thrashers GAMA BOMB, Brazilian long running death-thrasher TORTURE SQUAD and Italian epic metal band ICY STEEL.

AXEL RUDI PELL will issue Live On Fire in March. A studio album is due this autumn.

AMORPHIS has picked Circle as the title for its next album, which is due on April 19th through Nuclear Blast Records. The concept album was recorded by HYPOCRISY and PAIN man Peter Tägtgren.

U.K. band DARK FOREST has lost guitarist James Lees and replaced him with Patrick Jenkins. The band is working on a new album.

UK band POWER QUEST has thrown in the towel citing bankruptcy.

EINHERJER is touring Canada this March.

U.K. band MALEFICE will release its fifth album, Five, on April 28th through Transcend Music.

GUNS N' ROSES, ZZ TOP and ROSE TATTOO are touring Australia in March.

L.A. GUNS will release a DVD, called Live In Concert, on February 12th through Cleopatra Records. The video features footage of the band's M3 Rock Festival performance from May 12th, 2012 at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. L.A. GUNS has already parted ways with new guitarist Frankie Wilsey (SEA HAGS, ARCADE, etc.), and replaced him with Michael Grant from ENDEVERAFTER.

GREAT WHITE — now with vocalist Terry Ilous — will release a live album, 0 Years - Live From The Sunset Strip on February 22nd through Frontiers Records.

SUMMONING will release a new album, Old Mornings Dawn, later this year through Napalm Records.

BALROG’s new album Miserable Frame will be released on April 22nd, 2013 through My Graveyard Productions.

Swedish band ENFORCER has issued a single called Mesmerized By Fire. ENFORCER will release an album, Death By Fire, on February 1st through Nuclear Blast Records.

Singer Apollo Papathanasio has left FIREWIND and been temporarily replaced by American singer Kelly Sundown Carpenter.

ANTI TANK NUN, a band created by Tomek ‘Titus’ Pukacki, the vocalist and bass guitarist of ACID DRINKERS, and 15-year old guitarist Igor ‘Iggy’ Gwadera, is currently working on the material for its second studio album entitled Fire Follow Me.

OPETH and KATATONIA have a North American tour scheduled for this spring.

MOURNING BELOVETH is back with a new album, called Formless, on February 22nd through Grau Music. The band is playing at the Roadburn festival this year.

Ironic? Rick Cimato, the drummer for NYC stoner metal outfit THINNING THE HERD and previously of LOCKED IN A VACANCY, was killed over the Christmas holidays in a car crash. Cimato was on his way home from visiting relatives in Maine, when the head-on collision took place in Connecticut.

Logic(il)logic Records has issued an album by progressive metal band HYPNOTHETICALL. It is called A Farewell To Gravity.

As The Interpreter, the debut studio full-length from UK progressive metal band MY SOLILOQUY is out through Sensory Records.

Frontiers Records will release Motherland by PRETTY MAIDS on March 22nd.

Inferno Records has issued AXECUTER’s Metal Is Invincible album. The band hails from Brazil.

ARENA’s Rapture live DVD will be released by Metal Mind Productions on March, 25th.

More super-secret reasons: AXEMASTER has parted ways with vocalist Tony Webster “for personal reasons” and replaced him with Geoff McGraw.

To celebrate Sweden Rock Magazine's 100th issue, Swedish band CANDLEMASS and ENTOMBED have recorded cover versions of each other's songs for a CD single sent exclusively to the magazine's subscribers with issue #100. CANDLEMASS has recorded a heavy version of ENTOMBED's song To Ride, Shoot Straight And Speak The Truth. ENTOMBED covered CANDLEMASS' song Black Dwarf.

SCORPIONS is working on a band documentary. More than two years ago the band announced its imminent retirement, but that decision is apparently shelved.

British band BEHOLDER will release its new album, The Order Of Chaos, in February. It was produced by frontman Simon Hall.

Hamburg, Germany-based band A MILLION MILES has signed a deal with Abandon Records for the release of its album, What's Left Behind. It is scheduled for April 5th. It was recorded at Hammer Studios (GAMMY RAY) in Hamburg with producer Eike Freese of DARK AGE.

ETERNAL TEARS OF SORROW's new album, Saivon Lapsi, will be released on February 22nd through Massacre Records. The album was recorded by Ahti Kortelainen and Janne Tolsa, mixed by Mikko Karmila and mastered by Mika Jussila. The cover artwork comes courtesy of Travis Smith.

CINDERELLA singer Tom Keifer will conduct a solo tour in February. The 14-city US tour will have the singer playing songs from his solo debut album, "The Way Life Goes, in addition to CINDERELLA songs.

WARREN APPLEBY has a new demo CD called Face It. Warren currently has a musical side project called RIVER EDEN. River Eden features Warren's daughter, Madeline, on vocals.

ORANGE GOBLIN will release a live CD/DVD package called A Eulogy For The Fans - Orange Goblin Live 2012 on March 11th through Candlelight Records.

Former JUDAS PRIEST guitarist K.K. Downing has begun promoting rock concerts using the name The Future Of Heavy Metal. The first show will be at The Slade Rooms in Wolverhampton, England on May 16th, followed by a show at The Asylum in Birmingham the following day. The shows will be with HOSTILE and MORAY FIRTH. HOSTILE features bassist Alex Hill, son of JUDAS PRIEST's Ian Hill.

ANUBIS GATE has lost drummer Morten Sørensen and replaced him with Morten Gade Sørensen (PYRAMAZE and WUTHERING HEIGHTS).

A Traveler's Guide To Space And Time, a limited-edition BLIND GUARDIAN box set with 15 CDs in 13 digipacks, released as 8,000 copies worldwide, will be released on February 4th.

Following Sensory Records’ recent signing of KINGCROW, the band has issued a single prior to its fifth studio full-length, In Crescendo.

BLACK SABBATH has picked 13 as the title for its first record with Ozzy Osbourne since 1978. It will be issued in June through Vertigo. The drums were recorded by RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE’s Brad Wilk since original drummer Bill Ward's contractual disputes with the group.

Drummer Sebastian Natas has left Romanian band MAGICA for poppier realms.

DIAMOND HEAD will tour North America twice this year. The first will be in April with the band hitting East Coast and Midwest USA and Canada. The band will be back in October.

HAIDUK – SPELLBOOK
Talk about a wasted potential, a misnomer and an exaggerated biography description all rolled into one! First off, Haiduk is a mostly instrumental band whose multi-instrumentalist Luke Milojica hails from Calgary, Canada and handles the guitars, bass and drum machine. Ah, yes, the drum machine. It ruins the whole affair and terribly so. The man is a wizard of speed and fury on guitar and bass, but a machine posing as music defiles the music of the gods. It will never be credible, but shouldn’t someone hiss down the stupid drum computer, cut back on the reverb and attempt to give the dumb thing’s high sounds a modicum of realism? The disc contains ten tracks, most of which contain no vocals. Several tracks, Black Wind, Maelstrom and Vortex do feature a limited amount of vocals, and oddly, these demonstrate potential and growling power. As for the misnomer calling an instrumental demo Spellbook is surely an ironic choice. In the same sense, terming a lyricless disc ‘death metal simply adds to the irony. The biography adds mysticism by terming Alberta – the man’s province of residence – “cold forests…” but frankly most would think of oil pollution and sickening ultra-capitalism when they think of Alberta.
All that said, Haiduk is a credible piece of shredding guitar work. The speed and heaviness are incessant. A stunning song like Forcefield bears repeat listens and, along with the rest of this professional looking and sounding record prove one thing: Luka needs a band or a band needs Luka. Get cranking!www.haiduk.ca or contact@haiduk.ca. - Ali “The Metallian”

CLAIRVOYANT - CURSE OF THE GOLDEN SKULL
Despite not being an original demo of music, this was an enjoyable listen. Clairvoyant could easily be termed Poland's answer to Running Wild. The band wouldn't object either given how obvious the comparison is, but that is not the whole story. There are moments reminiscent of Manowar and soloing akin to Iron Maiden as well. What is optimal is how the band incorporates the best moments of each of the aforementioned influences. Curse Of The Golden Skull contains four songs that take one back to '80s Maiden, Manowar and Running Wild. There is a movie dub where one is reminded of Manowar's "Father..." However, the band should really have refrained from singing about 'bullets' and sounding so Running Wild-ish. Muskets or swords would have been more suitable. This heavy metal band, whose disc even sports a heavy metal Jolly Roger on its cover, has more information either through www.clairvoyantwroc.pl or judas@clairvoyant.pl. - Ali "The Metallian"

ENDALL – Same
This is a demo disc with two songs. The Metallian himself handed me this disc a while ago and life got in the way of a speedy review. Sorry, guys. I am not sure what the band sounds like. They sure cannot be pinned down. I am sure the band likes that, but some of us (like this girl) love pure rock and hard rock. Endall is probably described best as harbouring elements of Life Of Agony and Danzig. There is some groove and some soloing especially on the second song For You that definitely sounds like the leads off Iron Maiden’s verye early days. The rest of the music is just there. There are few bad or good moments. The rhythm section pounds away. Endall just keeps going with its own sound. Since the band has etched two songs on the disc one assumes these are the group’s best. If so, there is nothing special here. The group has indeed played Giants Stadium in the USA and assuming that is a big place or a popularity contest then there is some achievement there, but for my money this gang needs to get some more action playing. One of the guys has a longish hair (cool), but the rest of these guys have that cheap Biohazard look with short hair. Should you want to contact them find them at www.myspace.com/endallnj or e-mail endallnj@yahoo.com. - Sheila Wes Det

SUBZTAIN – CONFLICT SOLUTION
It is probably because of that ‘Z’ in the band’s name and the omnipresent skull on the front and back cover that this girl thought Subztain would be a death metal band. Well, this four-piece is Swedish and plays a melodic hard rock that restrains itself. The band is almost on cruise control making sure it never goes up-tempo a whole, or even half a, track. The promotional photograph is well shot, but then again it shows four shorthaired guys rocking out. No manly long hair, you say? Yes, so how is that music then? The modern rock elements are not sparse unfortunately, but there is real hard rock here too. The band doesn’t speed up often and the second half really piles on the slow songs. Pull The Trigger has mighty melodies, When Can I leave is strong and inviting, and Take The Lead much harder than average. The number of slow songs or slow parts in otherwise mid-pace songs should really have been cut, but at least the disc works in thirteen songs and fifty minutes of music. Clearly is clearly a weak point. The gang actually begins to rap, yes, rap. One other thing to remark on is how songs like No Regrets or Lock You Up or Come Back Into Her Life open up the lyrical cache with a wide swath of subjects while the band strums slowly and romantically along. It is just a little out of the ordinary hearing an acoustic deep moment be overlaid with lyrics about debt or a ten-year old girl. The band is bent on its own thing so give them a chance by visiting www.subztain.com. They can be reached at media@subztain.com. - Sheila Wes Det

FURNAZE – NONE MORE BLACK
Some time ago there was an interview with Scorpions where guitarist Rudolf Schenker recalled how the ‘80s was all about guitars, guitars and more guitars. Furnaze won’t rock you like a hurricane, but this band will certainly thrash you like a hurricane and there are guitars, guitars and more guitars everywhere. This disc is jam-packed with c rushing thrash metal replete with rhythm, harmony and lead guitars everywhere, desperate vocals and a solid rhythm section. Of special note is the heavy drum sound, devoid of the rat-tat-tat of light snares, with pounding bass drums. Furnaze has outdone itself and song after song delivers the power and the goods. The title and cover are not terribly exciting, but as much as the band misses having a recording contract – apparently the group had one before seeing it fall apart – record labels miss having Furnaze. For added joy the band has a song called 2012, tells us that Fresse is an animalistic devourer and an asshole while Unbound And Underground share theme and lyrics with Halford’s Made In Hell. Get Hold of Furnaze by visiting www.furnaze.com. – Ali “The Metallian”

K’ANNIBAL WOMAN – Same
I kept thinking what this band is all about and what the sound and genre is until the biography explained it all. “A mixture of grunge and native American music” is what they claim to be. The group hails from Washington State and, via the information sheet, tells us hat the members are part Native American and part Swedish.
Quite frankly, the music is a mess.
At first. One thinks that the whole cacophony is not even serious. The name doesn’t help either. Let’s try to explain. The first song is a clutter of sounds. The singer yells and the music sows discord. It isn’t metal and it isn’t punk, but it is noisy. Fever follows and could be the B-52s on acid. It is as if the B-52s went anarcho-punk. Sweet Love has the slow sound and female lead vocals, but alas it sounds like that song Spinal Tap were crooning after they wimped out and the guy’s girlfriend became their manager and climbed the stage to accompany the band. If one wants to be cheeky then it would be easy to say Ghost People’s end hints at the band’s audience, but that would not be fair or accurate. The disc is available through CD Universe. Guy Madison can be reached at gmm6107@mac.com. - Anna Tergel