A Kelly Johnson tribute page has been opened at this location, where the following message has been left:

"It is with extreme sadness to tell you that Kelly Johnson, original member of Girlschool and our best friend has passed away on Sunday the 15th of July after fighting a 6 year battle with cancer of the spine"

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Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Girlschool

Tour dates for the tour that will bring Helloween and Gamma Ray together on the road for the first time together have been posted on the band's offical website and are as follows:

16. Nov 2007 - HU - Budapest - Petröfi Hall
17. Nov 2007 - SER - Belgrad - Hala Sportova
18. Nov 2007 - BUL - Sofia - Festivalna Hall
19. Nov 2007 - ROM - Bukarest - Agronomia Sport Hall
21. Nov 2007 - TR - Istanbul - t.b.a.
23. Nov 2007 - GR - Thesaloniki - Principal
24. Nov 2007 - GR - Athens - Olympic Properties Arena
27. Nov 2007 - I - Rome - Tendastrisce *
28. Nov 2007 - I - Milano - Alcatraz *
29. Nov 2007 - CH - Dietikon - Stadthalle *
01. Dec 2007 - D - Lichtenfels - Stadthalle *
02. Dec 2007 - D - Bremen - Aladin *
04. Dec 2007 - SWE - Göteborg - Liseberghallen *
05. Dec 2007 - NOR - Oslo - Rockefeller *
07. Dec 2007 - SWE - Lund - Mejeriet *
08. Dec 2007 - SWE - Stockholm - Arenan *
10. Dec 2007 - FIN - Tampere - Pakkahuone *
11. Dec 2007 - FIN - Helsinki - Kaapelitehdas *
14. Dec 2007 - CZ - Plzen - Hala Lokomotiva
15. Dec 2007 - CZ - Zlin - Hala Novesta
16. Dec 2007 - CZ - Pardubice - CEZ Arena
18. Dec 2007 - SK - Kosice - Cassosport Sport Hall
19. Dec 2007 - SK - Bratislava - PKO
21. Dec 2007 - D - Langen - Stadthalle *
22. Dec 2007 - D - Kaufbeuren - All Karthalle *
06. Jan 2008 - F - Paris - Elysee Montmatre *
07. Jan 2008 - NL - Tilburg - 013 *
08. Jan 2008 - UK - London - The Forum *
10. Jan 2008 - B - Antwerp - Hof ter Lo *
11. Jan 2008 - D - Tuttlingen - Alte Festhalle *
12. Jan 2008 - D - Karlsruhe - Europahalle * - Knock Out Festival
13. Jan 2008 - D - Oberhausen - Turbinenhalle *

* Axxis as guest

Spain will be announced soon (15.-20. Jan 08)

Source:	treasurechest.de
Band profile:	Helloween
Event:	Helloween + Gamma Ray: Hellish Rock Tour

The new cover album "Diamonds Unlocked" is to be released on October the 1st (September the 28th in Germany) and the artwork and tracklist has been revealed on Axel Rudi Pell's official site.

Tracklist:

The Diamond Overture (Intro - Axel Rudi Pell)
Warrior (Riot)
Beautiful Day (U2)
Stone (Chris Rea/The Law)
Love Gun (Kiss)
Fools Game (Michael Bolton)
Heartbreaker (Free)
Rock The Nation (Montrose)
In The Air Tonight (Phil Collins)
Like A Child Again (The Mission )
Won´t Get Fooled Again (The Who)

The album cover can be found at this location.

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Source:	axel-rudi-pell.de
Band profile:	Axel Rudi Pell

The following message has been posted on the official Helloween website:

"Dani Löble has re-entered Andi Deris' Mi Sueno Studios on Tenerife to start the second part of his recordings for the forthcoming studio album. The working title of the band's 12th studio record is "Gambling With The Devil" which release is once again scheduled on Halloween the 31st of October. The world tour will start mid of November in Europe, to be followed by South East Asia, North and South America in the first half of 2008 - first dates will be released soon!!"

Also mentioned in another message:

"The band will reissue of the band's historical T-shirts. Shortly the T-shirts with the classical "Mini LP"-, "Walls Of Jericho"- and "Keeper Of The Seven Keys - Part I" -motives will be available again. Coming up - in a chronological order - more historical T-shirts will be reissued. More details on the shop section soon!"

Source:	helloween.org
Band profile:	Helloween

The following has been posted on the band's official website:

"For all of you who don't know what to do on the upcoming wekend: Go to the Plato in Helmond (Holland) on Saturday and the next day, Sunday, to the Rock Hard Festival in Gelsenkirchen and see Axel and band in Concert! The Festival show will be filmed for an upcoming LIVE - DVD, which will be out sometime at the beginning of next year with some other goodies included!"

Source:	axel-rudi-pell.de
Band profile:	Axel Rudi Pell

The following statement has been posted on the band's offical website:

"Yes, after a long discussion about the future of Primal Fear, we've decided to bring Henny Wolter back to the band. After a four year break, Henny takes over the guitar duties together with Stefan Leibing, who played most of the guitars on the new album "New Religion".

We decided us against a brandnew face, because Henny is back ready & smoking. Henny's departure 4 years ago was in a very friendly way and the guys stayed in contact during his abscence. Henny did a fantastic job on the new Primal Fear recordings and the following Sinner tour. We are proud to have the riff master from Hannover back in our ranks! Henny will make his comeback with the band on the next show on June 30th in Germany. Welcome Back, Henny!"

Source:	primalfear.de
Band profile:	Primal Fear

Germany's leading metal band Helloween today (Friday 11th May) entered Andi Deris' Mi Sueno Studios on Tenerife to start the recordings for the yet untitled follow up to the highly acclaimed and successful "Keeper Of The Seven Keys - The Legacy" studio album, the Live-double-CD "Live in Sao Paulo" and the Live-double-DVD "Live On 3 Continents". Once more, the band teamed up with long time producer Charlie Bauerfeind (Blind Guardian, Saxon).

The planned release date again is scheduled for Halloween-day, October 31st. The world tour will start mid of November in Europe, to be followed by South East Asia, North and South America in the first half of 2008.

Source:	helloween.org
Band profile:	Helloween

It has been reported that Devin Townsend has announced during a Ziltoid the Omniscient press conference that he has put an end to Strapping Young Lad and The Devin Townsend Band, and that he shall do no more tours in the future. He will though apparently continue to release solo music.

"Yesterday InsideOut Music and the Tora! Company held an exclusive media showcase for the new Devin Townsend solo album Ziltoid The Omniscient, including an appearance and Q&A session with the man himself. This turned out to not in fact include a musical performance from Devin, but a hilarious puppet show using Devin's superb hand-made rubber Ziltoid puppet he uses in the videos on the Ziltoid MySpace page, and held a press conference from a booth on the stage of the Underworld in Camden, London.

Ziltoid took questions from the audience and during his answers he mentioned Devin would be moving into the mountains, never to be seen from again.

The audience thought it was part of the Ziltoid act, but after a while a tired looking Townsend emerged and confirmed that he is, indeed, quitting and moving to a remote town in Northern Canada.

He plans to continue to make "a ton of music", some of which will be heavy, some ambient, like his other new CD The Hummer, and everything in between. He's going to build a new studio at his new house, and will be keeping his studio in Vancouver where he produces other bands. So every now and again a Devin Townsend album will emerge, possibly on the internet, but he won't tour and won't be doing any other kind of public appearances, like interviews etc.

Eight months ago he and his wife had their first child, Reyner Liam Johnstan Townsend, and his arrival has accelerated Devin's decision to back away from the limelight, but is not the sole reason for it. He said these are feelings he's had for some time, and is just so tired of touring and doing interviews and being the focus of things. He also said he's tired of Strapping Young Lad. The last tour was a real struggle for him to muster any enthusiasm, mostly because SYL was initially created to vent all his frustrations, which no longer exist. He's not the angry early-twenties nutter anymore. He's a mellow mid-thirties nutter, and doesn't feel the need to be screaming at everyone.

So, Strapping Young Lad is over for good. So is the Devin Townsend Band. Devin's music will be made solo from now on, and he will continue to produce other peoples' music, but will not tour."

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Source:	jukebo.cx
Band profile:	Devin Townsend

Guitarist Alex Auburn of the Canadian death metallers Cryptopsy has confirmed that the band has once again parted ways with singer Lord Worm (a.k.a. Dan Greening). No reason was given for Lord Worm's departure, but according to Auburn, this time the vocalist was "kicked out" of the band and didn't leave of his own accord.

Cryptopsy is currently looking to audition candidates to fill the positions of singer/frontman and keyboardist/samplist. Vocalists must be able to sing in clean voice, on pitch, and also be able to scream/growl. If you are motivated and would like to try out, e-mail the band at crymusic@hotmail.com. If you have a criminal record, don't bother auditioning, as this means you can't tour.

Source:	blabbermouth.net
Band profile:	Cryptopsy

The title for the upcoming Cover album will be "Diamonds Unlocked" and will be released by SPV Sept./Oct. this year. The band will be in the studio starting next week on April 2nd.

Also today, Axel Rudi Pell has posted the following message on his official web site:

"We will record 11 songs, 10 cover versions and 1 self written Intro. I saw a few song suggestions from the fans here in the guestbook... but, hey... this will be a record containing songs which hadn't been covered much. Also it is not my intention to record songs from other "real" Metal bands (with 1 or 2 exceptions), because the songs ARE already "metal". We wanna show how songs from other music genres could sound when a Hardrock or Classicrock Band is covering em. That doesn't mean that the record will be strange sounding....no way !!! It will be typically ARPish and you´ll not be disappointed, believe me !!!!"

Source:	axel-rudi-pell.de
Band profile:	Axel Rudi Pell

Today the band have posted the following message on their official website:

"We are now gearing up to hit the studio this weekend to start recording the followup to '05 Unique Leader release "Bleeding The False". 12 new songs of pure hatred is about to be put on tape and it fells fucking great. We will be pushing that red button in Empire Studio for about one month and when that's done, the tracks will be sent down to the legendary 'Unisound Studio' for some insane mixing and mastering by Dan Swanö. Needless to say we're very excited make this album!

The album will be released by Metal Blade Records.

So let the madness begin?"

Source:	aeon666.com
Band profile:	Aeon

Axel Rudi Pell has updated on his official website that he "Just would like to let you know that my health is getting better."
And also "we´ll be in the studio in April to record a new album which will be a cover album! Yes, that´s right... but all NEW recorded material, no songs from earlier releases, just 10 songs which I picked personally out of some really great tunes! And... surprise...there will be NO cover version of either a Deep Purple or a Rainbow song! Expect all the songs sounding typically in the style of Axel Rudi Pell ! I´ll promise you'll really be satisfied ! The record will be released by SPV after the summer."

Source:	axel-rudi-pell.de
Band profile:	Axel Rudi Pell

There will be another work released in 2007.
Almost 100% of the music is written and now it is time to start writing the lyrics.
This time it won't be a conceptual album. Music is more fresh and up-to-date, less epic but more solid and powerfull. I've been in contact with a couple of musicians for the vocals and drums and I hope to start recording in spring so the album may be ready at the end of spring or summer.
There won't be so many singers as in the first album because I'd like to have fix members so Soulitude can became also a live band and not only studio project.
Cover artwork is going to be done again by Xabier Amezaga, that is also the webmaster of this site.

Source:

soulitude-web.com

This notice has been posted on the band's official website:

"Dear friends and fans,

Because Biff has a throat infection and bad case of flu of we have to reschedule the British and Irish dates."

"Thanks a lot for your understanding in advance.

Thomas Jensen"

The rescheduled dates can be found here.

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Source:	saxon747.com
Band profile:	Saxon

"Dear fans!

Due to contractual obligations, promotional deadlines and manufacturing delays, we have been forced to move the release of "Victory Songs" to the 20th of April 2007!

This is very unfortunate, and we're very sorry about the delay, but there's not much that we or our record companies can do to make this album hit the stores any earlier. If we could, we certainly would because we know that all of you are eager to get a listen to the new songs!

Despite this time-taking trouble, it's going to be one killer of an album and we hope that you will have the patience to wait just a little longer!

Wishing you all the best,
Ensiferum"

Source:	ensiferum.com
Band profile:	Ensiferum