The inaugural outing of the Carnival Of Madness tour begins next month in Jacksonville, FL on July 16th but the festivities are already well underway.   All fans attending the Carnival Of Madness this summer are in for an experience like no other.  Two major contests surrounding the event are underway:   PRS Six String Contest Fans choose a song from one of the bands on this year’s Carnival Of Madness tour and record themselves showing off their best guitar or air guitar performance.  Winners will receive tickets, VIP passes and a custom guitar presented ON STAGE and a personal guitar lesson from one of the acts.  This contest is for every show on the tour!  Details and how to enter can be found here:   http://www.carnivalofmadness.com/getlucky_sixstrings.php   Sony... 

  Metal Mind Productions presents the complete discography of one of the best and most influential prog-metal bands of the 80’s – Crimson Glory.    

Avenged Sevenfold have just launched an iTunes pre-order for their new album, Nightmare, which is available everywhere July 27th. The pre-order includes the full Nightmare album, “Lost It All” non-album bonus track, exclusive photos, and a lot more. Avenged Sevenfold will be hitting the road later this Summer with Disturbed on the Rockstar Energy UPROAR Festival.  

The release of DANZIG’s brand new album, Deth Red Sabaoth returns the legendary artist to the Billboard Charts this week.   Deth Red Sabaoth was released on June 22 on Evilive/The End Records and is Danzig’s ninth studio album and first in over six years. The album debuts this week on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart at #35 and at #3 on the Top Independent Album Chart. It marks Danzig’s highest-charting album since the release of Danzig 4 in 1994.  

Naughty Bear Review by Mike Fairservice When you first hear the name Naughty Bear, you think of something on Teletoon or Treehouse, this couldn’t be farther from the truth. Naughty Bear does start off like a typical children’s story: “Oh Naughty Bear, you sure look different than the other bears.  Your stuffing is loose, stitched are wrong, part of your ear is missing and you look dirty and are all stained. What’s that Naughty Bear?  You made a gift for someone’s birthday?  That was  very nice of you.  Now why don’t you go to the birthday party and give it to the birthday bear?” So then off he goes to take the gift to the birthday party and make some friends.  But as you probably already know, teddy... 

All this week, we’ll not only be checking in with writers and artists about their contributions to SUPERMAN #700 and their thoughts on the character, but we’re also getting sneak peeks into the upcoming events unfolding in the pages of ACTION COMICS, SUPERGIRL, SUPERMAN and SUPERBOY. First up, we have writer Paul Cornell – who, in a bit of news we’re happy to announce here, just signed an exclusive contract with DC Comics – talking about his first arc on ACTION COMICS, which pairs him with artist Pete Woods. The focus? Someone we’re all familiar with – the evil mastermind known as Lex Luthor.  

Gruntruck was one of the bands who defined the early Seattle grunge scene. The group recorded two spectacular albums – “Inside Yours” and “Push” –  but afterwards faded into obscurity, overshadowed by the bigger and more successful grunge acts. This exclusive double reissue brings back both classic CDs in one package – an ultimate taste of the Sound of Seattle…  

  Multi-Platinum hard rock band Disturbed have scored their highest chart entry position at Active Rock radio to date with the No. 5 bow of “Another Way To Die,” the electrifying new single from their upcoming album Asylum.  

    The new edition of the festival will take place on 27th August in Spodek Hall, Katowice (Poland) and will be headlined by the revolutionary multi-platinum, Grammy award-winning rockers – KoRn!!! Other bands confirmed are: Opeth, Pain Of Salvation, Katatonia, Riverside and Votum!! One more band is yet to be announced…  

Gavin Baddeley and Dani Filth wrote the “The Gospel of Filth: A Bible of Decadence and Darkness”, the definitive book on the themes dominant in heavy metal through an analysis of Cradle of Filth’s discography and career.  

    Austin, TX’s metal luminaries The Sword are kicking it into high gear as the release of their highly anticipated third full-length Warp Riders (August 24th; Kemado Records) rapidly approaches.  The band has finally revealed the album’s artwork and will be releasing additional visual companions in the form of an upcoming picture disc and an epic video trilogy.  

Metal Mind Productions presents a re-release of the only studio album by the American death/doom metal band Sorrow.   Sorrow’s history is a by-the-book example of a band who had genuine talent, but just weren’t lucky enough to survive the avalanche of metal releases in the early 90’s. Today, the group’s debut album “Hatred and Disgust” (1992), along with the preceding EP “Forgotten Sunrise” (1991), are considered as true metal classics, hunted by music collectors all around the world. This exclusive double reissue brings back these classics in all of their brutal, devastating glory…