Montreal, Canada’s DEMISE OF THE CROWN has a debut self-titled demo out on March 4th. The album was produced by Kevin Jardine (guitarist for SLAVES ON DOPE).

VAN HALST is an Edmonton-based band with a demo called World Of Make Believe.

Aural Music has announced 15th of April 2016 for the release of Spacepirates as the new album for Italian hard rock veterans RAIN. It features nine tracks.

Prosthetic Records will release several of WATCHTOWER's recent digital tracks on LP and CD. There will be four digital tracks and a new song out as the Concepts Of Math: Book One EP.

The USA heavy metal band CHRONOLOGICAL INJUSTICE has a new demo called A Collection Of Atrocities.

RAGE will release a new studio album called The Devil Strikes Again on June 10th through Nuclear Blast. It was recorded last autumn.

UK’s STAND ALONE’s debut EP Nothing Is Forgotten was released through Broken Road Records on 20th November 2015. The band is influenced by GUNS N’ ROSES and IRON MAIDEN.

Morrison Hotel Gallery in Los Angeles, California is exhibiting a KISS photograph collection called The Legacy Of Kiss.

Chris Fehn of SLIPKNOT has recorded drums for former MOTÖRHEAD guitarist Phil Campbell's solo album. Other guests are JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford and UGLY KID JOE singer Whitfield Crane.

YNGWIE MALMSTEEN has completed work on a new album, which was to be called World On Fire before the title was retracted. A release date or label has not been announced. The Swede played all the instruments, except the drums, and sang for the record.

Former ACCEPT singer Udo Dirkschneider is touring Europe only using the ‘Farewell to Accept’ monicker playing ACCEPT songs one last time before ceases performing those songs.

Adam "Nergal" Darski of BEHEMOTH is working on a blues and country music project.

CANDLEMASS bassist Leif Edling is taking a break from his main band and launched another solo metal project called THE DOOMSDAY KINGDOM. According to the man, the project ame together during a period where the man was not allowed to read or watch television and would not venture outside. CANDLEMASS itself will release a 30th-anniversary 3CD/2DVD package called Behind The Wall Of Doom on April 29th through Peaceville. It comes with an extensive booklet and demo material. Finally, the band will also release a 30th-anniversary EP titled Death Thy Lover on June 3rd through Napalm.

Sweden’s TWILIGHT FORCE has signed a deal with Nuclear Blast. TWILIGHT FORCE’s dawn came in 2011.

FLOTSAM AND JETSAM will release a self-titled album in April.

French band ETHS will release a new album Ankaa on April 22nd through Season Of Mist.

FEAR FACTORY will conduct a U.S tour this month. Support will come from SOILWORK. FEAR FACTORY will perform its Demanufacture album in its entirety.

GLENN HUGHES has rescheduled his U.S.A. tour. The tour was scheduled to begin on March 2nd in San Jose, California, but will now kick off on August 9th in Annapolis, Maryland. The man underwent dual knee-replacement in January and healing is taking longer than expected.

Test Your Metal Records next release is Hickory, NC-based RAPHEUMETS WELL and the album The Exile, which is set for release on March 18th.

Finnish metal band VOLYMIAN has signed a deal with Canadian label Maple Metal Records to release its debut album, Maze Of Madness, worldwide on April 15. The band was formed in 2008.

Following singer Joe Elliott’s illness it was determined that singing could permanently damage his voice and the band has rescheduled the US dates for its tour which partly feature STYX and TESLA.

BLACK WIZARD’s New Waste new full-length is out through Listenable. The Vancouver-based heavy metal/stoner rock band was formed in 2009.

Clutch has just announced new North American tour dates as guest to LAMB OF GOD. The tour starts May 3rd in New Orleans at the Orpheum and will also feature CORROSION OF CONFORMITY on all dates. CLUTCH’S latest release Psychic Warfare landed at #6 on the Billboard charts.

The partially reformed GUNS N' ROSES has added Mexico in April to the list of shows it is playing.

TYGERS OF PAN TANG have signed with Mighty Music and working at Newcastle's Blast Studio on a new and self-titled album due for an August release. The NWOBHM act intends to tour.

Inspired by KEEL? Swedish industrial rock band MISERY LOVES CO. has reformed and will deliver new music and shows this year.

Ghostlights, the latest album from AVANTASIA, has entered the German chart at position No. 2.

Former SEPULTURA members Max Cavalera (vocals and guitar) and his brother Igor Cavalera (drums) will celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the band's album Roots by performing the record in its entirety on an American tour this year.

Trollhättan's Hjortmosseskolan and Udevalla's Västerskolan youth choirs in Sweden performed with MANOWAR on the Gods And Kings tour stop at the Nova Arena in that city on February 5th.

KILLERS LODGE, heavy metal band lead by John KillerBob (ex CADAVERIA and NECRODEATH) is going to release its release Alma Cachonda. The official release date was February 27th through Diamonds Prod.

The Current Sea, the new recording by ‘Best Metal/Hard Rock Metal’ winners at the 2013 Artist In Music Award, HASTER is out now through Musicarchy Media.

Montreal, Canada’s DEMISE OF THE CROWN has a self-titled demo out this spring.

Italian progressive rock/metal band HERETIC'S DREAM has a forthcoming album called Floating State Of Mind out on February 12nd through Sliptrick Records.

Seattle’s prog metal band RHINE has a demo called An Outsider out as of February 5th.

Canadian power metal band STRIKER has a new demo called Stand In The Fire as of February 5th through its own imprint Breaking Records.

NEVERWORLD has an album called Dreamsnatcher through Dream Demon Recordings. The band has a keyboardist.

Detroit-based quartet TILES has its sixth album Pretending 2 Run out on April 15th worldwide through Laser’s Edge.

Symphonic pomp band DARKEND has signed a deal with Non Serviam Records for the upcoming “opera” The Canticle Of Shadows. The album, guesting a few international musicians, will be published in early spring.

Agoge Records has opened an office in Berlin, Germany which will deal with pre and post-production, distribution, promotion and booking for the bands on the roster.

The horror metal band MADNESS OF SORROW has signed a deal with Atomic Stuff to promote its 2015 release III: The Beast, which was published digitally by W1tch R3cords. The band features former DEATH SS members.

Norwegian metal act KNOW YOUR NEMESIS has signed a worldwide deal with Wormholedeath for the release of the album Break The Chain.

Boston-based doom metal band MAGIC CIRCLE - formed by members of DOOMRIDERS, MIND ERASER, INNUMERABLE FORMS, STONE DAGGER, BATTLE RUIN and others - is booking a series of Northeastern US tour dates for the winter and spring months in support of its 20 Buck Spin-released Journey Blind sophomore LP.

Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be - The Story Of Bon Scott is a play that ran last month at The National Theatre in Melbourne, Australia. The stage show narrated the story of Bon Scott's life. Scott was the singer of AC/DC.

Former CELTIC FROST and SUBSONIC guitarist Ron Marks will release a comedy album entitled Sour Pup for DSN Music, the label of SUBSONIC. None of the material is connected to CELTIC FROST’s pop or glam era.

Frontiers Music will release THE DEFIANTS' self-titled and debut album on April 15th. THE DEFIANTS features Paul Laine, Bruno Ravel and Rob Marcello of DANGER DANGER.

Hair I Go Again, a documentary about the determination and failures of a former hair band chasing its dreams, will commence a U.S. film tour on Tuesday, March 8th in Dallas, Texas followed by the film’s presentation on Thursday March 10th in Austin. Members of TESLA, KEEL, QUIET RIOT and others appear in the film.

After twenty years CREMATORY has lost bassist Harald Heine and replaced him with Jason Matthias.

According to bassist Jeff Pilson DOKKEN’s classic line-up is again in negotiations to reassemble for a tour.

Finnish band MOONSORROW will release its next album, Jumalten Aika (‘The Age Of Gods’) through Century Media in April. The band is in Chinas this March.

DREAM THEATER has a The Astonishing computer game this April, which is based on the band's concept album of the same name.

KINGKEPORKAK - DETACHMENT
These guys might look like, be categorized akin to and kowtow to the same influences, but Czech Republic’s Kingkeporkak is several cuts above the band’s genre-mates.
Detachment from this disc will not come easily to those who crave tortured riffs, distorted bass and agonized vocals.
Constructed to last under two minutes opener Bowl thrashes to particularly good effect except it does not represent the majority of the material stylistically well‎. What it does do well is set the tone for a full-length demo of crushingly above-par music. The music is an Asphyxiated sludge attack that aims more to crush the listener under its hefty weight than sweep him off the ground. The next song is also clocking in at around two minutes although the average length of the songs grow as the album progresses.
The gnarling sound that kicks off the album appears again to start Anxiety. The miracle of KK is that even the band's clean vocals do not sound homoerotic (here or on Detachment) the way they do on a Poser Factory album say. That said, thankfully they are kept to a minimum regardless.
The Good Things has even more desperate vocals than the other tracks. This is called ‘sludge,’ but is nothing less than solid metal riffs and thickly distorted sound backed by leisurely deathly toms. Liar however wins the prize for the best attacking riff on the disc. Past that description this is the band at its bread and crushingly dense butter‎. The Gates closes (the album) needlessly with a loungy slow dang dang dang before getting back to business, which true to this group’s form draw out aggression from grinding riffs and deathly vocals.
Here is the bottom-line boys: Asphyx, Bolt Thrower or sludge in the underground? You need to hail Kingkeporkak. Find them at http://bandzone.cz/kingkeporkak. – Ali “The Metallian”

RHINE - AN OUTSIDER
The band's bio claims that Rhine play metal "occasionally tinged with classical folk and other styles". There is nothing occasional about the so called other styles in this 70 minutes plus sophomore release. The Seattle duo (quartet when live) led by Gabe Tachell have produced An Outsider, an album with two songs above 10 minutes each and another five above six minutes. The opener Dreaming Of Death sets the stage with a haunting intro and when the vocals kick in and the first impression is of progressive hard rock. The ensuing screams and chaotic section make it heavier and perhaps reminiscent of Between The Buried And Me. The near 12 minutes are a lot of things packed into one too long song. The song gains an experimental feel with a mish mash that spans various styles and includes synthesizers, solos, breaks, clean vocals, percussion and 'ambient metal'. There is nothing resembling a clear direction here. The start of The Spell Of Dark Water can even draw Pink Floyd comparisons but then of course it doesn't stay that way. It moves into everything from technical heavy metal to jazz. The songs keep on surprising - or perhaps not really - by how the band can simply switch gears from one second to the next. Something akin to black metal and then to acoustic easy listening on the title track for example. It may speak highly of the musicianship and Tachell's song writing skills but it is too great a variation for a listener and for one album. As if to press the point P.R.E.Y. takes this further sounding folkish to start before taking on the European metal sound. Shipwrecked In Stasis is an odd black metal-ish song and is only three minutes long. As if to even further emphasis the point An Outsider closes with Fragments and 8 minutes of ambient sounds. Check the band at www.rhineofficial.com. – Anna Tergel

LIKE ANIMALS - FERAL
Feral is these Canadians' fifth release in all and the second EP. The band claims to stay true to its monicker and be spastic and chaotic while tackling anxiety and depression in their lyrics. The opening of the five-song EP is laid back and anything but chaotic but seems to try to become so. However, the song only manages to have moody moments with screams in midst of something more quiet. The Lion's Share is less up and down and otherwise a fairly standard rock song. Lounge Lizard is slightly catchier and retains both the more laid back and the louder screams and guitar riffs. Caterwaul is bluesy and does better musically but could do with a better vocal performance that doesn't step on the instruments. Jungle Book Of Love promises to up the tempo and relative to the songs before it delivers but Like Animals remain a rock band first and foremost. Check the band at www.facebook.com/likeanimals. – Anna Tergel