Scotland-based NWOBHM act MEDUSA TOUCH returns with a single called Asylum, which is taken from an upcoming album called Insaniteyes through Devil’s Clause Records. The single refers to asylum seekers seeking to enter the UK.

Keyboard-laden VICTORIA K has uploaded a song called Tower from its album Kore, which is set for release through Rockshots Records in October.

Italy-based pop/goth/melancholy band SILENTLIE has a full-length called Equilibrium through Rockshots Records. The band is compared to mainstream acts like THE CURE and OZZY OSBOURNE. There is a video for the title track.

GRAVE DIGGER’s Symbol Of Eternity is a concept album based on the knights Templar and considered a sequel to Knights Of The Cross from 1998. The record is out through Rock Of Angels Records.

FATE GEAR’s Killers In The Sky Part 2 EP is out this November. It comes with both a CD and a DVD. It continues the story that was unveiled with Killers In The Sky from April 2022. A video was shot at the Japanese Iruma air base for the song Unbreakable Wings.

NEMOPHILA singer Mayu has announced that she is pregnant and will be taking a break following the Aftershock Festival. The band is playing instrumental gigs as NEMOPHILA QUARTETTE in the meantime.

LACRIMAS PROFUNDERE’s full-length How To Shroud Yourself With Night is out through SPV.

Japan-based folk metal band人間椅子 (NINGEN ISU) will release its 1990s’ albums on vinyl for the first time.

Bassist Ara Ichihiro of CERVETERI was in a severe car accident resulting in surgery. The band cancelled its two planned Tokyo shows for September.

UFO singer Phil Mogg had a heart attack last month. He is 74 years old. The band’s Last Orders farewell tour scheduled for this autumn is cancelled.

Exitus Stratagem Records will issue USA-based AITTALA’s forthcoming album Live To Regret on November 7th. The album was written by Eric Aittala "during a chaotic time in his life."

Norway-based STARGAZER has a single called Live My Dream through Mighty Music. The band is compared to DIO and DEEP PURPLE.

According to his former wife Wendy Dio, A Ronnie James Dio museum is being planned for Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, California, USA.

After leaving the band in 2016, guitarist Tim Chandler has returned to FORGED IN BLACK, which he helped found.

HELLOWEEN guitarist Kai Hansen’s son, Tim Hansen, joined the band on stage at the end of the group’s European tour. HELLOWEEN is touring South America currently and moving to North America with HAMMERFALL in May 2023.

MANOWAR has recruited former NITRO and current solo guitarist Michael Angelo Batio to replace Evandro "EV" Martel who has departed for personal reasons. The new man will take part in the 2023 Crushing The Enemies Of Metal tour, which features music from the band’s earlier albums. The band announced its farewell tour in 2016.

Former GREAT WHITE singers Jack Russell and Terry Ilous will share a stage for an acoustic storytelling show at Rockefellas bar in Corona, California on Saturday, October 29th. The two will narrate stories about their careers and discuss fan favourite songs. All proceeds from this event will benefit the Warrior Built Foundation, which serves American soldiers.

Universal Music will re-release GUNS N' ROSES' 1991 albums Use Your Illusion I and II in November as "super deluxe" editions. The remastered re-release includes separate re-releases, joint set and different editions with vinyl or video. The video features the band’s 1991 performance entitled Live In New York immortalized at the Ritz Theatre on May 16, 1991.

VOIVOD will release a new EP, called Ultraman, through Century Media on 04.11.2022. The release features eight tribute tracks to the Ultraman TV serial.

Finland-based pomp rock band EVERFROST has a single called Gotta Catch 'Em All featuring Mikael Salo (THY ROW) from its forthcoming EP of anime cover songs entitled Frostbites. It is out through Rockshots Records in November. The song is a cover version taken from the Pokémon franchise.

Finland-based heavy metal band THY ROW will commemorate the anniversary of its Unchained album with the release of a limited edition vinyl along with a digital single entitled Blue Blood, which is a cover version of an X JAPAN song.

MERCYFUL FATE, KREATOR and MIDNIGHT will tour North America this October and November. The headliners have not played large venues on tour in North America for two decades. MERCYFUL FATE bassist Joey Vera, who is touring with ARMORED SAINT, one of his many other acts, is replaced by Becky Baldwin of FURY.

Michael Monroe, the singer for HANOI ROCKS, celebrated his sixtieth birthday at the Helsinki Ice Hall on September 23. The original line-up of HANOI ROCKS (Andy McCoy, Sami Yaffa, Nasty Suicide, Gyp Casino and Monroe) reunited on stage for the first time since 1982 for the event. Opening the event was Monroe’s own DEMOLITION 23, which last climbed the stage in 1995.

TESLA is returning to Las Vegas for a five-night residency in March. TESLA: The Las Vegas Residency will take place at The House Of Blues.

GREAT WHITE recruited Brett Carlisle of ALL OR NOTHING, which is opening for GREAT WHITE this month, to sing at the Cannery Casino Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA on 24.09.2022. Carlisle was filling in for Andrew Freeman who was unable to make it due to a scheduling conflict with his main act LAST IN LINE.

One-time MYSTIC-FORCE and ICED EARTH bassist Keith Menser died at the age of 55 due to a seizure on September 6th. He also ran Siegen Records.

ONWARD has signed a two-album deal with Moribund Records. The vinyl version of the forthcoming album Of Epoch And Inferno will be issued by Alone Records however. The CD will be released on October 28, while the LP in 2023.

Israel-based synthesizer-heavy solo doom act DEFILED EMBRACE has issued an album called Whispers Of The Forest through Another Side Records. The project was founded in 2021, but the songs were written over the course of eleven years.

KRYUHM has an album called Only In My Mind distributed by Black Widow Records this month. The act has shot a video for the song Danze Macabre Tra I Fuochi.

STRIDER is supporting its Into Glory Stride album by appearing on Finland’s Alfa TV on October 1st and conducting a tour of the Baltics.

Denmark-based hard rock band MERIDIAN has a new album called The 4th Dimension through From The Vaults. It was produced, mixed and mastered by the band’s guitarist Marco Angioni who has done production work with bands like TYGERS OF PAN TANG, STEEL INFERNO and IRON FIRE.

Their brain was doomed long ago? Doom metal band THE OBSESSED cancelled a concert at The Knockout in San Francisco, California, USA due to vaccination requirements last month. Singer Scott "Wino" Weinrich had done his own research (Tiktok?) and determined that the vaccine is useless.

PARADISE LOST has lost drummer Waltteri Väyrynen and replaced him with Guido Montanarini (STRIGOI). Väyrynen jumped ship to join OPETH replacing Sami Karppinen who, in turn, had replaced Martin Axenrot. This last man was also in BLOODBATH with PARADISE LOST singer Nick Holmes. OPETH singer Mikael Akefeldt was in BLOODBATH previously. OPETH and PARADISE LOST are managed by Northern Music Co.

VANILLA FUDGE will release a covers’ album called Vanilla Zeppelin digitally through Golden Robot Records this month.

Dave Sherman, bassist of SPIRIT CARAVAN among others, has died at age 55. A cause of death was not announced.

Home To Roost is the name of a new reality TV series for the BBC documenting the return of reality TV personality Ozzy Osbourne, and his manager-wife Sharon Osbourne, to live in the UK from the USA. OZZY OSBOURNE performed at the NFL kick off game in Los Angeles, California, USA on September 8th. OZZY OSBOURNE released a music video for One Of Those Days featuring a guest guitar solo from Eric Clapton. The song is taken from the band’s Patient Number 9 album. Clapton, formerly of CREAM, is a musician known for racism and conspiracy theories.

Former ACCEPT and recent UDO collaborator bassist Peter Baltes played bass for U.D.O. on the group's current European tour starting in Berlin, Germany on September 9th. The band’s bassist Tilen Hudrap collapsed on stage after suffering hyperventilation and exhaustion and was hospitalized. Hudrap is in multiple bands simultaneously.

AEROSMITH played its first concert since the start of the pandemic in Bangor, Maine, USA on September 4th.

Let’s Get Rocked – A Tribute To Def Leppard is a compilation of 16 songs with tracks from all the periods of the band’s tracks. It is out through FnA Records now. Original DEF LEPPARD drummer Tony Kenning can be heard on two tracks on this album with his band, SHEF LEPPARD.

Several MOTLEY CRUE fans and audience members of the recent The Stadium Tour have filed complaints for nudity with the police after the band’s drummer Tommy Lee exposed his penis to fans and encouraged the audience to join in. The drummer calls these complainants "pussy."

DEEP PURPLE has released Extras: The Now What?! B-Sides And Bonus Songs through earMUSIC. This digital compilation is available on streaming platforms. The band has made its touring guitarist Simon Mcbride permanent.

IAN GILLAN will conduct a Spanish tour in November. The DEEP PURPLE singer will be joined by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and perform cover versions as well DEEP PURPLE songs.

BMG will issue a triple black vinyl album set to commemorate the 40th anniversary of IRON MAIDEN's The Number Of The Beast on 18.11.2022. The set includes the Beast Over Hammersmith live recording stemming from 1982 as well. The song Total Eclipse replaces Gangland in this edition. It comes with expanded artwork taken from Eddie’s Archives box set and liner notes by Steve Harris.

IRON MAIDEN singer Bruce Dickinson and Orquestra Sinfônica Do Estado De São Paul will performance of Jon Lord of DEEP PURPLE’s Concerto For Group And Orchestra on a four-date tour of Brazil in April. Concerto For Group And Orchestra was also performed at the Palais Montcalm in Quebec City, Canada in 2019.

Frontiers Music will release an album by ENUFF Z'NUFF, entitled Finer Than Sin, on November 11. The band just wrapped up USA touring with THE DEAD DAISIES.

Former RAINBOW singer Joe Lynn Turner criticized the most recent reformation line-up of the band prompting the act’s current live singer Ronnie Romero to take exception to the characterization. Romero asks that Tuner moves on after not being in the band for so many years.

Rockshots Records has signed Italy-based RUINTHRONE for the release of its J.R.R. Tolkien-inspired album The Unconscious Mind Of Arda. The band is called power metal, but has keyboards.

SABATON has an EP trilogy entitled Echoes Of The Great War. This trilogy features songs specifically regarding World War I. The trilogy is comprised of Weapons Of The Modern Age, Heroes Of The Great War and Stories From The Western Front. SABATON also has a movie called The War To End All Wars.

Target Group has the following releases planned: MARCO MENDOZA’s New Direction, CAPTAIN BLACK BEARD’s Neon Sunrise, SILVER PHANTOM’s Crimson Cabaret and I'LL BE DAMNED’s Culture.

Legacy Recordings will release THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE’s Los Angeles Forum: April 26, 1969 on 2LP vinyl and CD this November. It roughly coincides with the guitarist’s 80th birthday. This is a complete version of this show that had not been heard before.

Former NIGHT RANGER guitarist Jeff Watson has undergone a couple of brain surgeries to drain blood from the cavities. He is at home recovering.

Internationally-based progressive act SEVENTH STATION has a music video for the song The Heart Of a Nation (Nadia), which is taken from the Heal The Unhealed demo out November 7th. The track’s title refers to Joseph Stalin’s second wife, Nadezhda Sergeyevna Alliluyeva (Nadia).

Ohio, USA-based hard rock group Eric Moore's THE GODZ has announced a new album called machines for this autumn. The record will feature the final recordings of the band's founder, Eric Moore, who died from cancer in 2019. The band has also announced the addition of Charlie Bonnet III on guitar and vocals. The band was signed to Casablanca after formation in 1976 and had two albums.

JUDAS PRIEST, MERCYFUL FATE, BEHEMOTH, PANTERA and STRYPER will perform at the Monterrey Metal Fest at Estadio Mobil Super in Monterrey, Mexico in December. JUDAS PRIEST is touring North America with an emphasis on tracks from Screaming For Vengeance given that it is that album’s 40th anniversary.

CORROSION OF CONFORMITY will conduct a U.S. tour in November. Opening the shows will be SPIRIT ADRIFT and THE NATIVE HOWL.

SOILWORK guitarist David Andersson has died at the age of 47. Andersson was an alcoholic.

IN FLAMES will release its next album, entitled Foregone, through Nuclear Blast on 10.03.2023. The band played the Sweden Rock Festival this summer.

THE HALO EFFECT, featuring former IN FLAMES members, is planning to record a new EP later this year. The EP will follow the group’s debut album, Days Of The Lost, which topped the Swedish charts.

POISON drummer Rikki Rockett has uploaded a video in which he describes how he caught an impersonator conning the band’s fans by pretending to be the drummer.

MECHANIK WAR III has a demo called The Unholy Sin.

Sneakout Records and Burning Minds Music Group have signed hard rock band KRELL for the release of its debut album, Deserts. It is a collaboration between CRYING STEEL singer Luca Bonzagni and Francesco Di Nicola (DANGER ZONE, CRYING STEEL and ANIMS). They never played in CRYING STEEL simultaneously. The music here was written between 2013 and 2018 and previously manifested in God Is A Witness, the debut album of the ANIMS project.

Canada-based VHS’ Deep Gashes And Long Lashess is out through Horror Pain Gore Death. The record is a tribute to the Giallo Films of the 1960s, 1970s, And 1980s.

PILEDRIVER and THE EXALTED PILEDRIVER frontman Gord Kirchin has died due to lung cancer. He was 60 years old.

Conservatives are a racket. They claim to be for the people and the country, but are ripping both apart.

FOGOS – CORPSES AND ASHES
It was just yesterday when a video for a “metal” band on the Internet came across my monitor. The band was wearing a blue uniform, doing some kind of a Finnish – yup, that dump of a country – jig of a dance shaking their behinds in a twerk and the keyboard was so obnoxious and loud once again that several serfs at Metallian Towers were tasked with wiping the stupid smirk off the Finnish wusses’ faces whatever their stupid name was. As a self-respecting individual who listens to metal and not ‘metal’ as imagined by the limp-wristed l’il boys who inhabit the hole called Finland there is no way that video will ever be visited again so it is impossible to tell if the circus act was called Evenflow, Everfrost or Everflow or something retarded like that, but perhaps no one from Metallian Towers needs to be dispatched to put paid to the hairy ballerinas in that, er, band and their deluded fans after all. What does this have to do with Fogos, a young black metal band from Spain? It occurs to us that perhaps sending a CD of Corpses And Ashes to the namby-pamby boys will do the job. Fogos wipes the smirk off the poseurs' faces.
Corpses And Ashes comes out brandishing a club with brutality surely inspired by Marduk that is barely innovative or original and thank Beelzebub for that. The songs on the full-length demo CD are harsh with industrial-strength speed and darkness-oriented riffing all topped off with wailing subterranean vocals.
The song titles recall Greek mythology one after the other and so it is appropriate that Styx and Charon make up the cover. Regarding individual tracks, Acheron is krushing. Keres goes mid-paced and comes back up to create a sinister ambiance that never comes at the cost of power and heaviness. This song has a punky riff a la Front's Venom & Salt. A drummer is listed but my money is on the recording suffering through a drum machine, which is the record's sole weakness other than a lack of solos. The sound is heavy enough but those cymbals come across as fake. Yet, overall a good job is done here with the production. Mortis - whatever happened to that dude? He had the coolest nose in the business - slows down to add some heroic vocals to the otherwise chaos. The unnecessary synthesizers make a cameo, but are soon suppressed to make this a good song still. Khlone has a mid-paced start with a witching voice as an intro only to pick up to considerable speedy effect... like everything on this shiny disc it is no frills and so effective for it. Parenthetically, the demo may be a compendium of Greek mythology and gods, but the lyrics are in English and comprehensible for the rest of us. Dysnomia is harsh and sharp. That riff is so action-packed. Drums aside, it is a thick wall of sound that comes right at the listener extending its claws from the speakers towards the neck before clasping and squeezing. Lesser men would die. There is a Kreator-ish drum roll on Nyx, adventurous riffing and horrific/screaming vocals to boot.
This is released independently, but is 46 minutes in length. It is certainly a matter of time before a couple of anti-underground vultures swoop in for the mandatory label re-issue, but screw that and get this now. This is fully accomplished owing to the band members being experienced elsewhere. Fans of the aforementioned bands like Marduk and Front, as well as Vorga, need this. Someone get me the mailing address for those Finnish hos. It is time to rid the world of their viral infection and this CD is just the ticket. – Ali “The Metallian”

AVA TOTON – CHARM SCHOOL DROPOUT
Charm School Dropout is the new demo CD of California, USA-based singer/guitarist/writer/composer/schoolgirl Ava Toton. As the CD and its cover twirled in my grasp two things went through the mind. Firstly, she is young and what would that mean stylistically. The second thing was how this could be gimmicky and, hence, easily dismissible. The mention of her attending School Of Rock in the biography did not help matters. Call me prejudiced, but canned packages are not my idea of music and art let alone metal.
There are four songs on this disc and, good news, they rock like a mix of The Donnas and Girlschool. Yes, spoiler alert. They do rock.
The title track is off first and the guitar is energetic and hard rocking. The guitar tone is hard, the energy is palpable and it is admirable how the right hand moves constantly. The lyrics rhyme too obviously, but the song is rebellious and age appropriate. Side note: presumed parents are credited as helping with the lyrics. The recording sound is quite good and there is a solo that screams. On top of all of that it is should be noted that the voice is mature for the artist’s age. Aside from the somewhat minor criticism of the lyrical rhymes the presence of a drum machine in lieu of an actual and live drum recording is the obvious miss (although Ava's mother promises this is the real article and not a machine) with Ava and her CD. I Told You So is my favourite of four tracks here. It has heavy riffing and the slower moments serve to affirm Ava's mature vocals. Case closed. One wouldn’t guess how old she is. Listen ten seconds in and a patented At The Gates riff crashes in lasting ten seconds or so. This riffing will make a comeback a little later as well. One wonders if she likes At The Gates! This is an even more likeable track than the opening cut as there is more depth to it. Eva stretches her vocal range and emotions and successfully layers on top of it. Next up is Wake Up The Neighborhood and, given the title, it makes sense that it is a loud one. The song is three minutes long, punchy and contains a good lead. Ava can sing, play rhythm and solo. Take Me With You (Acoustic) is a slow song with a forceful singer, but a let-down and poppy compared to songs that preceded it. There is a previous version of this song floating round obviously. She may be young, but has already had enough and wants to see the earth in the rear-view mirror with her new life in a UFO. Gosh, Ava, the rest of us are right with you. How old is she to already be exhausted?
Ava has the looks, the chops and the CD so go here: www.avatoton.com and oh by the way she is a seventh grader who is thirteen. – Ali “The Metallian”