The following update has been issued by Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess:

“I'm presently finishing up the keyboard tracks for [my new solo album] now. After that's all done, I will get the drums recorded followed by the guitar and vocals. Of course the bulk of the sounds will be generated by yours truly!

“As far as the content of the music goes, this is the story: I'm actually doing covers! I'm going back to some of my very favorite progressive rock songs and doing my own versions. In addition, I will throw in a very progressive new tune.

“Here are some highlights for ya:

ELP – 'Tarkus'
GENESIS – 'Dance On a Volcano'
GENTLE GIANT – 'Just the Same'
YES – 'Sound Chaser'

“That's not all of it, but a lot of it! Also gonna record my Steinway here at home and cover some other classics.

“If you saw me open for BLACKFIELD, you might have an idea of the flavor that I am talking about.

“As far as the guests go, I am not ready to announce them. Looks like things are lining up nicely though. I will let you know when it is all set.

“For the album cover, the great news is that it looks like David Mattingly (who did the cover of 'Feeding the Wheel') is lined up again.

“The album will be released on Magna Carta Records. I don't have a release date for you yet. Soon I will announce the title…”

The artwork for the forthcoming Dream Theater album ‘Systematic Chaos’ is available at this location.

SOURCE: BLABBERMOUTH

Stone Sour drummer Roy Mayorga, has recently given an interview with ‘The Bearman and Keith’ show, and you can listen to it online here.

The latest Stone Sour single is ‘Sillyworld’ and you can view the video for the track at YouTube.com.

Madina Lake have been selected as contestants in the current round of AOL Breakers, which means that the boys need YOU to vote them to victory in the 'Don't Call Us Emo' category!

Visit AOL Music now to check out all of the Breakers categories and cast your votes for the your favorite competing bands.

Madina Lake's new album, From Them, Through Us, To You, is finally in stores this week – go pick up your copy and join the legions of music lovers converted by the incredible music of these up-and-coming Chicago rockers.

www.madinalake.com

www.wheresadalia.com

Killswitch Engage and Chimaira appeared on the first-ever joint-interview on Thrash Talk with Mistress Juliya. Watch it now. Killswitch Engage is wrapping up the No Fear Music Tour in a couple of days, after which guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz will return to the band after recovering from emergency back surgery to headline the Warped Tour. Read more here.

This week only, get a FREE MP3 of “This is Absolution.”

www.killswitchengage.com

A few excerpts below are from an interview by Midwest Excess

Machine Head frontman Robert Flynn gives the update below:

“The world loves that 'Bay Area Crunch'…GODDAMN!!!!

“I mean, fuckin' WOW!!!

“HOW 'BOUT IT?!?! The HEAD are the first Bay Area 'metal' band in the top ANYTHING in probably the last 10 friggin' years, let alone the top 12, 20, 30, 50 of the music charts across the world?!?! Howa-bout-it… The Bay is back on the map!

“#54 on the U.S. Billboard charts…?! That's the highest U.S. charting we've ever had by a long shot, and about 30% more sales than almost every other MACHINE HEAD record released in the U.S., including 'Burn My Eyes', 'The More Things Change', 'Supercharger' and 'Through the Ashes of Empires'. Everywhere else in the world, 'The Blackening' was hands-down our biggest first-week seller EVER… in the HISTORY of the band!! And to have the biggest first-week sales / highest chartings in the history of the friggin' band… in every country throughout the world… with no video being aired… no 'single' at radio… on our sixth friggin' album… which opens with a friggin' 10-1/2 minute song?!?! Well, dear HEAD-cases, life is pretty fuckin' sweet! And supposedly the record industry is in a slump?! Shiiiiit, all things considered, things in MACHINE HEAD-land are goin' pretty fuckin' good man. HEAD-cases, you motherfuckers went out there and made a HUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE statement to the world… seriously… I'm not gonna get too brainiac on it, whatever it is…WHAT – EVER it is…YOU – KICK – FUCKING – ASS!!! And don't stop now!! Keep spreading the word!!

“On a different note, for the 'collectors' out there, I was recently made aware of a couple of misprints on the first pressing of 'The Blackening'. On the U.S., international, and 'bonus' versions there is a small glitch on the cover, where somehow the two 'squiggles' on either side of the album title 'gained' a white patch under the bottom 'lip' of each squiggle… apparently a fuck-up by the film separator. All other art (stickers, shirts, posters, ads) have the correct art (if you wanna compare) and all future editions will have the correct cover art. In addition, but limited to just the U.S. version, a mastering credit didn't appear because of timing issues / art deadlines before that final mastering happened (done by the king Eddy Schreyer). All other international formats were able to include the correct mastering credit, however, so this will only need to be corrected for future pressings of the U.S. disc. All little shit no doubt, but cool stuff in case any of you are interested in that kinda stuff. As a collector dork myself, I can relate.

“'Aesthetics of Hate' video shoot turned out sweet, very 'community' heavy in theme, just a real raw, rugged, street video, very stoked to see the final edit.

“LAMB OF GOD tour is over… fuckin' crazy… tour went by SO fast, I can't believe it's been eight weeks!!! It was amazing, we couldn't have asked to have been on a better tour to set up what will no doubt be an incredible run for us. A loud ass 'Cheers, fuckers!' to the LAMB OF GOD camp and crew, the TRIVIUM's and GOJIRA's for making this one of the best tours we've EVER been a part of.”

SOURCE: BLABBERMOUTH

See below for a few excerpts of a recent interview by FMBQ, with Shadows Fall frontman Brian Fair:

FMQB: The new album still sounds like SHADOWS FALL, but there's an obvious evolution as well. How have you grown as songwriters since the last record?

Brian Fair: With each record we definitely want to step forward in all three major categories of an album: songwriting, performance and production. We never want to repeat anything. It would have been pretty easy to write “The War Within Part II” and not really try and push the envelope, but we would have been totally unsatisfied. We wanted to balance all of our influences and let a little more of the old-school metal and rock shine through, and we didn't want to sound like anything else out there either. We just wanted to put out a great metal record that takes what we do to another level.

FMQB: How did working with producer Nick Raskulinecz (FOO FIGHTERS, RUSH) help you expand your horizons?

Brian Fair: With Nick, we had a really good relationship going into it. He'd been in touch with us for a few years about working together, so we knew we had someone who is a real fan of the band. When we finally got to hang out, we knew he was the perfect guy to get us to think outside of our comfort zone. Working with [producer] Zeuss through the years has been amazing, but he could almost guess what we're going to do, and we can guess what he's going to say, so it was time to stir it up a little bit. We still wanted Zeuss involved, so we had him mix the record because he understands our sound better than anyone. We had the best of both worlds. We had a new set of ears in the studio, and then someone who knew us very well to finish it off. Nick and Zeuss were in contact throughout the whole process too, discussing how things were working. It was really a whole team effort.

FMQB: Since you made the jump to a major label after being an underground band for so long, did that make you feel any added pressure to deliver on this record?

Brian Fair: No, the only pressure we feel is from ourselves to top what we did. We're never a band that's satisfied with where we're at – we always want to push it further. As far as expectations, we've exceeded every expectation we've ever had! We never expected to be at this point. So we see this as a new opportunity, and every record to us is a new starting point. All the album sales and all that shit — we'll let management and labels worry about that. They are really cool about letting us focus on the music. In fact, the main reason we ended up with Atlantic is because we approached them with a deal that we wanted that was more about artistic control and using the money specifically for certain things, whether it was for the actual recording process or for the promotion. We could have signed other deals for more up-front cash, but we wanted to know that we could do whatever we wanted to do musically. And they were really stoked. They were like, “We don't want to screw up what you do, we just want to help take it to another level.” They really didn't hear a note until it was time to hit the studio. We were like, “Here you go! This is what you're getting, and it's pretty metal.” They said, “We'd be a lot more worried if it wasn't. Then we wouldn't know what the hell to do with you guys.” They just let us write a Metal record with really no pressure.

FMQB: When you look at some of the bands on the Active Rock charts lately — MASTODON, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE — why do you think it's such a good time for Metal bands to break through on commercial radio?

Brian Fair: I think it's more about mainstream radio finally realizing that there are thousands of kids out there who are listening to this stuff. I think they had to realize that with all the availability of music, kids have more choices. Before, if it wasn't on MTV or on the radio, you didn't know about it. Whereas now there are all these other outlets that are opening a lot of doors for bands that didn't have these forums before. Now radio is realizing, “These kids are listening to this more extreme and complex music, and if we don't start giving them this outlet we're going to get burned.” I think it's just a matter of the demand causing radio stations to accept this music.

You can read the entire interview at this location.

SOURCE: BLABBERMOUTH

Get this in your diaries!! Megadeth are to guest on Bruce Dickinson’s (Iron Maiden) BBC 6 Music radio show, ‘Rock Show’, on Saturday 5th May. You can listen to the show live via the internet between 9:00 p.m. and 12:00am at BBC.co.uk

‘United Abominations’ is the new album from Megadeth and is due to be released on 15th May. You can listen to a few tracks from the album online, see the links below:

‘A Tout Le Monde’ Windows Media – Audio Download

‘Sleepwalker’ – Audio Stream

‘Washington Is Next’ – Video

‘Gears Of War’ – Rough mix audio

SOURCE: BLABBERMOUTH

STONE SOUR/SLIPKNOT frontman Corey Taylor was interviewed by 89.5 FM WSOU Seton Hall's Pirate Radio last Friday (April 6) before STONE SOUR's show in New York. A lucky contest winner was also on hand to ask some questions. During the interview, Taylor apparently stated that SLIPKNOT will release at least one more album and that they should begin recording before the end of the year.

The interview will air this Friday (April 13) between 8:30am and 9am (EST).

The very nice people over at Homechoice's V:MX The Pit are giving you, all adoring Trivium fans, a FANTASTIC opportunity to win a VIP tickets and Backstage Passes for the band's upcoming UK tour!

Check out all the dates and grab your tickets for this immense tour on out Tour Page!