PINK CREAM 69 will film its twentieth anniversary concert at the Festhalle in Karlsruhe-Durlach, Germany for a forthcoming double-DVD package, which currently bears the title The Past & The Present. The DVD will contain the entire Size It Up! - Live In Japan 1992 concert (with former singer Andi Deris, which was previously only available on VHS), all of the band's promotional videos, backstage footage, as well as the concert and more bonus tracks.

UFO guitarist Vinnie Moore has picked To The Core as the title for his new solo album, due in early 2009 through Mascot Records.

Femme Metal Records has signed Montreal’s ARAPACIS for the release of its second album. The CD is expected to be released sometime next spring.

REVOLUTION RENAISSANCE, featuring STRATOVARIUS’ Timo Tolkki, has signed a worldwide deal with Scarlet Records. The band’s next album, Age Of Aquarius is out in 2009.

PRO-PAIN has recruited drummer Rick Halverson. The new man has been in bands like NARCOTIC SELF, STEPHEN PEARCY and CELLADOR.

DREAMSCAPE has asked singer Mischa Mang to leave the band and concentrate on IVANHOE instead. The band is asking candidates for the job to apply by emailing singer@silverwolf-productions.de. The band is still hitting the road with LANFEAR.

Another one comes back! Former ACCEPT and VICTORY guitarist Herman Frank is back and will release a solo record, entitled Loyal To None, on February 27th through Metal Heaven Records. The self-produced album features singer Jiotis Parachidis (HUMAN FORTRESS and VICTORY), bassist Peter Pichl (RUNNING WILD) and drummer Stefan Schwarzmann (HELLOWEEN, UDO, ACCEPT and KROKUS).

DORO’s Fear No Evil is out on January 23rd through AFM Records. The unsurprisingly German-titled Herzblut single is out now.

CYNIC and MESHUGGAH will tour North America together next month.

Drummer Petri Sankala has left ETERNAL TEARS OF SORROW citing chronic back pain. His replacement is former IMPISH and CATAMENIA man Juho Raappana.

LOUDNESS drummer Munetaka Higuchi died on November 30th after suffering from liver cancer. He was 49. LOUDNESS singer Minoru Niihara has busied himself with pop band NISHIDERA MINORU, while guitarist Akira Takasaki is also busy with his solo venture.

New York’s CIRCUS OF POWER will have its 1988 debut self-titled debut album, originally issued through RCA, re-released through Rock Candy Records.

Former CANCER drummer Carl Stokes has joined goth band NO LOVE LOST. The British band has an EP called Submission & Seabound.

APRIL WINE recently cancelled a Halifax show when singer Myles Goodwin was forced to enter the hospital after injuring his head in Montreal.

Zoltán Pál, trombone player for the Hungarian band, SEAR BLISS will appear as a guest musician on SIGH's next album. The Japanese band’s eighth album - entitled Scenes From Hell - will be released in 2009 through The End Records.

Bassist Simon Andersson has left PAIN OF SALVATION after only two years due to personal matters and a day job.

See you in 2010? Candlelight Records has announced the completion of the final recording (for now anyway) of EMPEROR. Titled Live Inferno, the release features material recorded during the band’s sold out 2005-2007 reunion performances. Several formats will be available including a 2xCD/slipcase with 16-page booklet, a limited edition box featuring 2 CDs & DVD with an enhanced 24 page booklet, a single DVD, and two limited edition double-vinyl gatefold sets. April 16th is set as the European release date for the series with April 21 set as the North American release date.

TROUBLE has released an album called Live In L.A., which was recorded during the band's last West Coast tour of the USA. It is available independently at www.newtrouble.com.

Ray Phillips, a founding member of BUDGIE, is working on his first solo album which is due in 2009.

BURNING POINT will release its fourth album, Empyre, in February through Metal Heaven. The album features 17 tracks of which 11 are new originals.

Inspired by KEEL? TT QUICK has reappeared after eight years of inactivity. The former Megaforce Records band is playing shows in the New York area.

Why does a metal guitarist listen to pop in the first place? Guitarist JOE SATRIANI is suing COLDPLAY, accusing the latter band of plagiarizing one of his songs. The complaint was filed in Los Angeles federal court and claims that COLDPLAY’s song Viva La Vida incorporates substantial portions of his 2004 instrumental If I Could Fly.

The original VICIOUS RUMORS singer Gary St. Pierre, who sang on the group's 1985 debut Soldiers Of The Night, will rejoin the band for its show at the Headbangers Open Air festival, on July 23-25, 2009 in Brande-Hörnerkirchen, Germany.

HIGH ON FIRE has signed a deal with Koch Records. The band's next album is expected in late 2009. The band’s former label, Relapse Records, will release a live album entitled Live From The Relapse Contamination Festival on January 6th.

Metal fans won’t feel a thing! Female singer Karen Gilligan has left the Irish folk rock band CRUACHAN.

The world keeps marching backwards: certain UK ISPs blocked and censored Scorpions’ Wikipedia page last month due to the presence of a picture depicting the original cover artwork of the band’s 1976 album, Virgin Killer. The album features a nubile girl in the nude. The decision was reversed later following much protest and the threat of a lawsuit by Wikipedia itself. No word if images of war and British troops murdering around the world were also banned.

LAKE OF TEARS is scheduled to play a concert in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon on January 9th.

Tracii Guns version of the band LA GUNS is shopping a band reality show to different television distributors. The band’s name will be undergoing a change because of obvious legal reasons.

Following its Canadian distributor Fusion 3, Germany SPV is reportedly on the brink of bankruptcy.

IMPELLITTERI will release a new album, entitled Wicked Maiden, this month featuring singer Rob Rock through Japan’s Victor Entertainment. The CD was originally dubbed Good and Evil.

Still Dangerous, a reference to the Live & Dangerous album of the band, is the name for a new THIN LIZZY live album that will be issued in March. The live recording stems from 1977 and features raw material from its sister album. It is being issued by Thin Lizzy Productions.

CELESTY will release a new full-length album in March called Vendetta through Spinefarm Records. The band is no longer on Dockyard 1.

ILLNATH and keyboardist Tyr have gone separate ways. The band is looking for replacements. Contact the Danes through email@illnath.dk. The band’s Three Nights In The Sewers Of Sodom album was recorded at Borsing Studios and was last reported due to be released through Deathlight Records.

Former ICED EARTH guitarist Tim Mills has joined CIVILIZATION ONE, which features former FIREWIND singer Chitral "Chity" Somapala. Other former and soon-to-be future members are also present.

DEMON is playing a 30th-anniversary show at the Keep It True XIII festival, scheduled for April 2010 in Germany.

Spain’s DARK MOOR has signed to Scarlet Records and will issue an album called Autumnal this month. It was produced by producer Luigi Stefanini (LABYRINTH, VISION DIVINE, DOMINE and others). The band has lost bassist Daniel Fernández due to a lack of interest and his main band INNTRANCE.

Steve Isham, the founding member of AUTOGRAPH, died last month of cancer.

A tale of Finnish loyalty: According to CHARON’s website, guitarist Lauri Tuohimaa has been admitted to hospital due to a blood clot. Tuohimaa did not join the band's New Year's Eve show at Club Relax in Moscow, Russia. The group, therefore, stated that "luckily we were able to find in a very short time a Russian guitarist who will [stand in for] Lauri at this special occasion."

RUSTY EYE – STENDHAL SYNDROME
The first thing that catches one’s eye is that the band’s logo resembles graphics used by Arch Enemy. Pull the CD from its case and insert it into the audio player and boom, while a metal band obviously, Rusty Eye is a strange little duck with quirks, idiosyncrasies and offbeat sounds all its own. Much becomes clear when after multiple listens one reads the biographies and learns of the band’s thirteen-year history as well as influences ranging from Celtic Frost to The Misfits. In fact, with all the original peculiarities included Rusty Eye sounded like a mix of Venom and Iron Maiden listen after listen. Sure there are unrefined male-then-female-then-male vocals, acoustic strums, Spanish voice-mail dubs, unrefined arrangements and singing, thrashing and odd lyrics, but the sounds of a raw Venom and the melodies of an Iron maiden song or instrumental can be heard again and again. Quirky band these Mexican-born, California-living three.
These guys call themselves Mr. Rüst (bass and vocals), Miss Randall (drums and vocals) and Slaytanic (I want to pay Slayer royalty) and can be reached by emailing band@rustyeye.com. Go guess the band’s website address on your own. – Ali “The Metallian”

GILLMORE – RIGOR MORTIS OF SOULS
Wouldn’t you agree that Rigor Mortis Of Souls points at a death metal band? Well, so does the compact disc’s cover artwork. Thankfully, Gillmore is no such thing. The band is a young one from Finland. They sure lack the metal looks, hair and charisma of a metal band, but the music is hardly the most extreme material one can think of nowadays. In fact, the straightforward singing, backing organs and simple arrangements has a ring of commercialism to them. Big riffs, present melodies and hummable tunes are what make Gillmore. Sea Of Brutality (again, not what it sounds like) even begins with the melody of a pop song. The occasional gruff singing and thrashing riff paint a metal veneer for Gillmore. For information write to gillmoreband@gmail.com and visit www.gillmore.com. - Sheila Wes Det

FAMOUS-X – DEMO-CD 2007
Famous-X is the band of guitarist Stef of Highlord, who here goes by the name Sted. Also present is Highlord singer Andrea Marchisio so the music and delivery is not exactly amateurish or novice-sounding. The question is can Stef handle all the writing and instrumentation and how would it sound? In contrast to the more lofty metal of Highlord, famous-X is more meat and potatoes hard rock and heavy metal and quite good at that. The vocals have that nasal twang, while the music is solid and tight. The demo only contains three tracks and a short time span, but what we have here is interesting enough with some cool soloing and drum rolls. Write to afamousx@yahoo.it for information. – Anna Tergel

SYN:DROM – PROMO CD-2008/10
This promo CD is a two-song sampler and the Swedish quintet admit that they have sent this out ‘only’ to get reviews and articles on their music at a time when they have no label or distribution. The songs are The Marked One and Smashing The Face Of Belief. Both are brutal with typical demo production but the sound quality doesn’t really mitigate the all-out, non-stop chaos. The latter is in the Grave, think Soulless, mold but perhaps more so in the vocal department, nevertheless and therefore it is even more recommended than the former. In fact this sampler is an excellent seven-minute alternative to the bigger names. Contact the band at www.syndromweb.net and listen to the songs on the band’s myspace page by following the same link. – Anna Tergel