Despite published reports to the contrary, there is no truth to the rumors that Simona Bressi, the drummer for the Los Angeles-based BLACK SABBATH cover band MISTRESS OF REALITY, is in line to fill the vacant drummer slot in STRATOVARIUS. The rumor that Bressi might be joining STRATOVARIUS first originated on www.metalmeltdown.com shortly ...
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SENTENCED frontman Ville Laihiala has taken over the lead vocal duties in his side-project POISONBLACK following the departure of CHARON singer Juha-Pekka Leppäluoto. Laihiala's decision to handle the vocals himself comes less than a month after reports surfaced that the group's new singer would be a Canadian vocalist whose name had never been officially revealed. ...
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NIGHTWISH have set a June 7 Finnish release date through Spinefarm Records for their brand-new album, "Once". A single containing the album track "Nemo" is due on April 19. In other news, the "Once" album cut "Creek Mary's Blood" will feature an appearance by Lakota tribe's Indian John Two-Hawks. John (johntwohawks.com), a NAMMY-nominated ...
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Finland's Sonera Plaza has posted several photos of STRATOVARIUS performing at Spain's Piorno Rock festival on Saturday, including pictures of keyboardist Jens Johansson pissing (literally!) on guitarist Timo Tolkki during the opening notes of the song "Forever" (no, we're not kidding). Check them out here. STRATOVARIUS' set list for the Piorno Rock performance: ...
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STRATOVARIUS guitarist Timo Tolkki was assaulted in the center of Granada, Spain on Sunday (Feb. 29) as he was taking a walk, Finland's Sonera Plaza is reporting. According to STRATOVARIUS keyboardist Jens Johansson, who witnessed the attack, the alleged attacker was extremely agitated and had "a Hispanic looking appearance". During the assault, the ...
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MetalYou.com has posted a review and pictures of STRATOVARIUS' performance at the Piorno Rock festival in Spain Saturday night (Feb. 28). "[Singer Timo] Kotipelto was the best yesterday, he sang everything perfectly, reaching all the high notes and, like always and giving everything to the audience," Jose M. Tornay writes. "Kotipelto and [drummer] Jörg [Michael] ...
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Former STRATOVARIUS singer Timo Kotipelto has released a statement via his official web site reassuring his Spanish fans that he will, in fact, be appearing with the group at the Piorno Rock festival this weekend. Since being officially ousted from the group in December, Kotipelto has reportedly been refusing to rehearse with the band for ...
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FINNTROLL have been confirmed for this year's Sauna Open Air festival, set to take place on June 11-12 in Tampere, Finland. FINNTROLL will play at Ratinanniemi (the outdoor concert place) on Friday, June 11 alongside CHILDREN OF BODOM, NIGHTWISH, DIABLO and THUNDERSTONE. Other acts scheduled to perform during the weekend (including the post-festival party) include ...
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DIO, IN FLAMES, BESEECH, CHAOSBREED, TROLLHEIM'S GROTT and CHARON are the latest bands confirmed for Tuska Open Air Metal Festival, set to take place July 16-18 in the Kaisaniemi park in the center of Helsinki, Finland. The previously announced co-headliner KING DIAMOND will NOT be performing at this year's festival (as first reported
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STRATOVARIUS guitarist Timo Tolkki continues to entertain the metal masses with his hilarious online postings. Check out the following masterpiece (dated Feb. 20): "World peace, tolerance to other people's feelings and opinions, systematically refusing to cooperate with EVIL, world without armies, world without hate, love... My eyes have opened finally. These fucking things ...
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Sweden's PSYCHOPUNCH are scheduled to enter Sunlight Studio in Stockholm on March 6 with producer Tomas Skogsberg (THE HELLACOPTERS, ENTOMBED, BACKYARD BABIES) to begin recording their new album, "Smashed On Arrival", tentatively due in June via Germany's Silverdust Records. The band had previously released four albums on the White Jazz label. "Smashed On Arrival" will ...
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STRATOVARIUS webmaster Fred Derf has posted the following message on the band's official web site: "Today I received a phone call from [STRATOVARIUS mainman] Timo Tolkki. "He sounded like being in a very confused state of mind and was talking about red Kabbalah ribbons and how when he was reading Madonna's biography he felt warm ...
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CHILDREN OF BODOM won the "Export Award" during the first annual Femmagaala ceremony held at Helsinki's Nosturi Friday night (Feb. 20). KOTITEOLLISUUS, a Finnish band singing in their native language, won the "Best Hard Rock/Metal Album" award, while HANOI ROCKS guitarist Andy McCoy took home the "Total Media" award. Femmagaala is not to be confused ...
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Speculation is running rampant that STRATOVARIUS leader Timo Tolkki is focusing his attention on Simona Bressi (a.k.a. Jill Ward) from the Los Angeles-based BLACK SABBATH cover band MISTRESS OF REALITY (web site) as a possible replacement for of Jörg Michael in the new STRATOVARIUS lineup. Rumors of Bressi's addition to the group were ...
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STRATOVARIUS guitarist/mainman Timo Tolkki spoke to Metal Meltdown Online Monday (Feb. 16) about the band's current situation and what has happened over the course of the past few months. Among the topics discussed are the recent lineup changes, the forthcoming album, the upcoming festivals, all the Internet-related controversies, and even alcohol. Download the interview in ...
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STRATOVARIUS guitarist Timo Tolkki participated in a very special "hard rock jam session" on Sunday (Feb. 15) at London Pub in Tampere, Finland. Joining Tolkki during the jam were HANOI ROCKS drummer Lacu and BOMFUNK MC'S bassist Ville Mäkinen. The unnamed "band" performed nine cover songs, including KISS' "Lick It Up", IRON MAIDEN's "The Trooper", ...
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Veteran German power metallers HELLOWEEN have been confirmed for this year's Sauna Open Air festival, set to take place on June 11-12 in Tampere, Finland. Also scheduled to perform are NIGHTWISH, CHILDREN OF BODOM, THUNDERSTONE, TAROT and DIABLO, among others. HELLOWEEN will perform on Saturday, June 12 at the Pakkahuone concert hall (capacity 1,500). More ...
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Finland's NIGHTWISH filmed the video for their new single, "Nemo", on Saturday (Feb. 14) at a studio in Helsinki. Check out pictures from Sonera Plaza (all photos by Timo Isoaho) and the band's official web site. As previously reported, the "Nemo" clip is being helmed by renowned director Antti Jokinen, who ...
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NIGHTWISH have announced that they will be supported by DUNCES and TIMO RAUTIAINEN & TRIO NISKALAUKAUS at their special record-release show on May 22 at Kitee Icehall in Finland. According to the band, "NIGHTWISH will spend more money than never before for the lights and pyros [and] there will be plenty of foreign and Finnish ...
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Former STRATOVARIUS singer Timo Kotipelto will release his new single, "Reasons", in mid-March. The single will include the following tracks: 01. Reasons 02. Seeds of Sorrow 03. Vizier (extended version) The first two songs are taken from KOTIPELTO's new album, "Coldness", while "Vizier" comes off the singer's solo debut, "Waiting for the Dawn". This previously ...
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Finland's SENTENCED have announced plans to play a few European festivals during the summer, including Summer Breeze, which is set to take place August 19-21, 2004 in Abtsgmünd, Germany. "We will throw in some brand-new stuff during our show this summer, because we don't want to play a 'best of SENTENCED' kind of set this ...
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NIGHTWISH and KING DIAMOND have been announced as the headliners of the seventh annual Tuska Open Air Metal Festival, set to take place July 16-18 in the Kaisaniemi park in the center of Helsinki, Finland. The complete list of artists currently scheduled to appear at the three-day event is as follows: NIGHTWISH KING DIAMOND SOILWORK ...
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STRATOVARIUS mainman Timo Tolkki has posted the following message on the band's official web site: "The STRATOVARIUS forum has been closed because 2 individuals sent an email to the Finnish police and claimed that STRATOVARIUS supports Nazis. This claim is outright ridiculous and deserves that I tell these 2 idiots: FUCK OFF!!! "The forum was ...
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HAMMERFALL drummer Anders Johansson has issued a statement explaining his brief involvement with Finnish neo-classical metallers STRATOVARIUS as the band's new drummer. The statement reads as follows: "OK, this is what happened regarding the STRATOVARIUS turmoil: After all the member changes in my brother Jens' band STRATOVARIUS, he and Timo Tolkki asked me to help ...
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A brand new CENTINEX track, titled "Arrival Of The Spectrum Obscure", has been posted online in MP3 format at this location. "Arrival Of The Spectrum Obscure" comes off CENTINEX's forthcoming album, "Decadence - Prophecies Of Cosmic Chaos", due on March 9 through Candlelight Records. A limited-edition vinyl version (500 copies) will be issued ...
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Finland's CHILDREN OF BODOM are tentatively scheduled to release a new DVD/DVD-Audio EP in May/June. The set will reportedly include the group's video for "Sixpounder" as well as footage of the band taking the viewers on a tour of Helsinki's "cool and important" places. In addition, two brand-new audio tracks will be included as well ...
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KOTIPELTO, the Finnish band led by former STRATOVARIUS singer Timo Kotipelto, has been confirmed for this year's Wacken Open Air festival, set to take place August 5-8, 2004 in Wacken, Germany. The list of bands currently scheduled to appear at the festival is as follows: AFTER FOREVER AMON AMARTH ANTHRAX BAL-SAGOTH BRAINSTORM BÖHSE ONKELZ CANNIBAL ...
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STRATOVARIUS leader Timo Tolkki has slammed the group's former singer Timo Kotipelto for saying that Tolkki has "really gone over the top" in his handling of the band's affairs, calling the departed vocalist "a first-class actor putting out a great role." In an official statement commenting on his split with STRATOVARIUS, Kotipelto mentioned ...
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Former STRATOVARIUS vocalist Timo Kotipelto has broken his silence regarding his departure from the band. The following is Kotipelto's official statement regarding his split with the group and his future plans: "Dear Friends, "There's been so many rumours out lately that I wanted to sort things out with a short comment from my side. First ...
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NIGHTWISH keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen flew to London, England today (Jan. 29) to oversee the recording of orchestra parts for the group's forthcoming album, tentatively due this summer. The sessions will last a couple of days and will be followed by another trip to London in late February for some additional recording. All the basic tracks ...
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