Releases…
Guns N’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy is finally here. Was it worth the wait and all the hype? Although reviews are generally positive, they’re not exactly glowing… AC/DC’s Black Ice has been certified platinum… Laaz Rockit’s Left For Dead is now available through Blistering Records, as are Starbreaker’s Love’s Dying Wish, From The Inside’s Visions, Exciter’s questionable Thrash Speed Burn and Eclipse’s fantastic Are You Ready To Rock... Saxon’s utterly magnificent Into The Labyrinth comes out via SPV on Jan. 13, as does Grave Digger’s Ballads Of A Hangman. Kreator’s Hordes Of Chaos is due for release on Jan. 13… Slayer is in the studio working on the follow up to Christ Illusion… Lita Ford is supposedly working on a new album, as is Primal Fear…
Queensryche’s twelfth studio album will be titled American Soldier. The effort, due this spring from Rhino/Atco, finds the band once again tackling pretty heavy subject matter. It focuses on telling the story of war from a firsthand perspective. Singer and chief songwriter Geoff Tate has spent the last few years conducting extensive interviews with veterans and has crafted their thoughts into the tale… Unless an offer they can’t refuse is forthcoming — “and it doesn’t appear to be,” Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott observes dryly — next year Def Leppard will join the exodus of established acts leaving big labels. They would be exchanging their home of thirty years, Universal Music, for independent status, a lucrative touring agreement and online sales.

R.I.P…
Drummer Munetaka Higuchi (of legendary Japanese metal band Loudness) passed away Sunday, Nov. 30 at a hospital in Osaka, Japan. He was 49 years old. Higuchi was diagnosed with liver cancer (Hepatocellular Carcinoma) in April 2008. He had reportedly undergone two rounds of chemotherapy treatment and an operation to remove part of his liver.

Digital sales surpass CD’s at Atlantic Records…
Atlantic Records, a unit of Warner Music Group, says it has reached a milestone that no other major record label has hit — more than half of its music sales in the United States are now from digital products, like downloads on iTunes and ring tones for cell phones. Digital sales accounted for about 51 percent of its revenue for fiscal year 2008.
With the milestone comes a sobering reality already familiar to newspapers and television producers. While digital delivery is becoming a bigger slice of the pie, the overall pie is shrinking fast. Analysts at Forrester Research estimate that music sales in the United States will decline to $9.2 billion in 2013, from $10.1 billion this year, and $14.6 billion in 1999, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.
What does this mean? In the future, actual CD’s will be much harder to come by and fans will have buy music exclusively in MP3 format, as labels may no longer be pressing CD’s.

Bravewords.com reviews…
The following new releases were recently reviewed by our friends at www.bravewords.com.
Guns N’ Roses – Chinese Democracy (Geffen) Rating: 6.5… Twisted Sister – Live At The Astoria CD/DVD (Global Music): 8.5…Stuck Mojo – The Great Revival (Napalm): 9… Martin Popoff – All Access: The Art And History Of The Backstage Pass (Cleopatra Books): 8… Candlemass – Lucifer Rising EP (Nuclear Blast): 8… Behemoth – Ezkaton (Metal Blade): 7.5… Bison – Quiet Earth (Metal Blade): 7.5… The Cotton Soeterboek Band – Twisted (CAF Fine Records): 6… Enslaved – Vertebrae (Nuclear Blast): 9… Rose Tattoo – Bloodbrothers (SPV/Wacken): 8… Cynic – Traced In Air (Season Of Mist): 8… Ross The Boss – New Metal Leader (AFM): 7.5… AC/DC – Black Ice (Sony): 9… Evergrey – Torn (SPV): 8.5… Spread Eagle – Spread Eagle (Lovember Records – reissue): 7.5… Falconer – Among Beggars And Thieves (Metal Blade): 8.