Releases
Great White’s Rising is out now, as are UFO’s The Visitor and Tim “Ripper” Owens’ Play My Game… Stratovarius’ Polaris is available… The Babys’ Head First, Union Jacks and On The Edge have all been reissued… Michael Schenker and Gary Barden have released an acoustic album titled Gipsy Lady under the Schenker / Barden moniker… Cage’s next album is Science Of Annihilation… Chris Caffery’s next is House Of Insanity… Dream Theater’s will be Black Clouds & Silver Linings… Firebird’s Grand Union will be released on June 23… Judas Priest’s A Touch Of Evil – Live comes out July 14… Mushroomhead has begun work on their seventh album —due this summer or fall via Megaforce / Sony Music… Porcupine Tree has signed to Roadrunner Records… On June 30, Rhino Records will reissue Twisted Sister’s Stay Hungry with a bonus disc of unreleased studio recordings, plus a new track by the original lineup to celebrate the album’s 25th anniversary.

Green Day vs. Wal-Mart…
Green Day’s 21st Century Breakdown is the most popular CD in the country, but you won’t be able to find it at your local Wal-Mart. The band says the giant superstore chain refused to stock its latest CD because they wanted the album edited for language and content, and the band refused. “Wal-Mart’s become the biggest retail outlet in the country, but they won’t carry our record because they wanted us to censor it!” Frontman Billie Joe Armstrong said in a recent interview.

Projects, injuries and such…
Judas Priest singer Rob Halford has launched a new record label called Metal God Records. Go to www.metalgodrecords.com for more info… Children Of Bodom was forced to cancel the remaining live dates as part of the No Fear Energy Tour with Lamb of God, due to injuries sustained by guitarist and frontman Alexi Laiho. He broke his shoulder when he was ejected from his tour bus bunk after the vehicle took an irregular sharp turn. It probably didn’t help that Laiho and the rest of the band played a few more shows (including Dallas) after the injury.

A close call…
Long-standing German label SPV submitted an application to commence insolvency proceedings on May 25 — roughly equivalent to a U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. “Normal business will continue even after the application for insolvency,” said SPV managing partner Manfred Schütz. The company is considered to be one of the leading international heavy metal labels and includes groups such as Type O Negative, Sepultura, Saxon, Helloween, Gamma Ray, Moonspell, Kreator, Iced Earth, UFO, Rim “Ripper” Owens and Motorhead as well as non-metal acts such as John Lee Hooker.

See ya next month!