Headline News

Ripper Owens: 'I Would Never Rejoin Judas Priest'

Former JUDAS PRIEST/current ICED EARTH singer Tim Owens spoke to FoundryMusic.com Friday (January 16) about his departure from PRIEST, the "drinking incident" with ICED EARTH guitarist Jon Schaffer that was spotlighted in the current issue of Revolver magazine, and his plans for a solo project. Asked if he would ever consider rejoining JUDAS PRIEST for a six-month tour that would feature the band playing only the classics (nothing off the "Jugulator" and "Demolition" albums that Owens sang on), Tim said, "Depends on how much money [they would offer me]...(laughs). I would never rejoin JUDAS PRIEST, ever. . . You know, that's a different scenario though. If they would ever call me, and say, 'You wanna do a tour?' but they would HAVE to play 'Jugulator' and 'Demolition'...There's no way they'd do it WITH me without doing them. I mean, it all depends on what I was doing. I would never quit ICED EARTH, and I never would rejoin JUDAS PRIEST. But if they did say, 'Listen, we're gonna do a couple of month tour, and you wanna do a tour with us, just being the guest Ripper here,' then I'd probably do that if it fit in my schedule. But I would never rejoin them [permanently]."

Regarding Owens' interview in Revolver magazine where he mentioned going on a press tour in Europe and noticing Schaffer's drinking habits one night," Tim said, "Yeah, that... You know...that thing has become a pain in the ass. That Revolver article, to me, on my end, was crap. They messed up everything I said. Never had that happen, but even some stuff I said about PRIEST was like, 'No, that's not even...' What happened was, we had an interview, and they spread whatever I said out wherever it fit into the article. After Jon would say something, they'd fit my thing in there. Read the rest of the interview here. FoundryMusic's entire 31-minute conversation with Tim Owens can be downloaded here (MP3 format, 22 MB).

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Ex-Priest Drummer Calls Charges 'Ridiculous'

Former JUDAS PRIEST drummer Dave Holland, who is accused of attempting to rape a special needs youngster while giving drum lessons at his rural home, denied the accusations Monday (January 19), saying the charges were "ridiculous," according to Scotsman.com. More...

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Annihilator Bassist Quits

Bassist Russell "The Woodsman" Bergquist has left Canadian thrashers ANNIHILATOR due to "personal" reasons. "I would like to wish the rest of the guys the best of luck with new album and thank everyone for the support over the five years I was in the band," Russell said in an official statement. Added ANNIHILATOR mainman Jeff Waters: "We will all miss [Russell] and hope that we will hook up with him again, both musically and personally, down the road! Best of luck Woodsman and you kicked everyone's butt!!!!"

As previously reported, Bergquist is believed to be working on his first solo album, tentatively due later in the year through an as-yet-undisclosed label. Among the guests musicians set to appear on the CD is THE DEVIN TOWNSEND BAND drummer Ryan Van Poederooyen.

ANNIHILATOR's new album, "All For You", is tentatively due this spring through Germany's AFM Records. The forthcoming CD marks the recording debut with the group of new singer Dave Padden, who replaced previous vocalist Joe Comeau last June. The album also features a return appearance by drummer Mike Mangini (EXTREME, STEVE VAI) following the departure of Randy Black (PRIMAL FEAR) in early October.

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Deicide DVD Preview Online

Earache Records has posted a preview of the upcoming DEICIDE DVD, "Behind the Scars - Under The Skin Of Deicide", to be released with the special edition of the group's new album, "Scars Of The Crucifix". Check it out here in Quicktime format.

"Scars Of The Crucifix" was recorded at Morrisound Studios in Tampa, Florida with producer Neil Kernon (CANNIBAL CORPSE, NEVERMORE) and was mixed at Sonic Ranch studios in Tornillo, Texas. A February 24, 2004 release through Earache Records is expected.

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H.I.M.'s 'Funeral Of Hearts' #15 In UK Singles

The official HIM site reports that "The Funeral Of Hearts" entered on its first week at number 15 in The Official UK Singles Chart. "The Funeral Of Hearts" is a third UK single release from the latest HIM album Love Metal. In other news, the band's show at London’s Astoria Club on February 23rd is sold out. This is the third sold out night at Astoria for the band in less than a year.

Here are all of HIM's confirmed upcoming European dates: More...

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Atrocity Finishes Video For 'Cold Black Days'

After a three day video shoot, ATROCITY have finished their work on the new video for "Cold Black Days", which will also be the new single off the band's latest album (in stores March 15th). The story behind the video is based on the new concept Atrocity's new album, "Atlantis". In the coming days the cut of the music video will be done at MVP studios. ORKUS Magazine and METAL HEART will have special features of the making of the the "Cold Black Days" video.

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Summary/Misc

Daily Reviews

Metal Reviews has a dozen new reviews and an editorial entitled "The Spirit of Live". Here are the reviews:

• Attacker - Soul Taker
  
• Deicide - Scars Of The Crucifix
  
• Eidolon - Apostles Of Defiance
  
• God Forbid - Better Days (EP)
  
• Hypocrisy - The Arrival
  
• Loudness - Terror Hakuri
  
• Requiem - Mask Of Damnation
  
• Ritual Day - Sky Lake
  
• Slayer - Decade of Aggression: Live
  
• Symphorce - Twice Second
  
• Vhäldemar - I Made My Own Hell
  
• Windir - Likferd

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Reflections Signs Malkovich

Reflections has signed MALKOVICH for their upcoming full-length. After their highly succesfull debut MCD on Coalition Records, the band played some amazing shows with Give Up The Ghost on their last European tour. Malkovich will be playing tons of shows the upcoming months before they're going to record their new album at the end of April. Check out an MP3 for the song "016" of their Coalition release "The Foundation Rocks".

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