5 Questions With... is your chance to get to know a new or up-and-coming metal band. Eternal Rest are a death metal group from Australia, who just released their full-length debut Prophetic. Guitarist Jake Kaiser introduces us to his band.

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Every Friday I turn the blog over to Dan Marsicano for his Retro Recommendation, giving you a chance to learn about underrated and overlooked gems from metal's past. This week, Dr. Mastermind are in the spotlight. The Portland, Oregon speed metal band has been around since the mid '80s, but have only released two albums. Their 1986 self-titled debut is this week's Retro Recommendation.

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Circle is the latest effort from the legendary Finnish melodic death metal band Amorphis. I caught up with guitarist Tomi Koivusaari for a conversation about the new album, working with producer Peter Tagtgren, upcoming tours, his take on the decline of the music, the band's new bourbon sauce and other topics.

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In addition to our usual full-length reviews, once a week we also collect a plethora of short reviews in one location for your reading pleasure. This week we give you the lowdown on the latest releases from Ace Augustine, Across Tundras, Amarok, Cold Blue Mountain, D-A-D, ID: Dawn Of Ashes, Exorcist, Hell, Lair Of The Minotaur, Lark's Tongue, Laurasia Awaits Us, Nahar, Nicumo, Red Eleven, Snowfall, Teardown, Ugly Kid Joe, Woe and XIII.

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Here are the new heavy metal CD releases for this week.   For the most detailed and up-to-date schedule, check out our complete Heavy Metal CD Release Date calendar.

April 23, 2013
Ace Augustine - The Sick And Suffering (Red Cord)
Across Tundras/Lark's Tongue - Split (Cavity)
Amorak/Hell - Split (Vulture Print)
Beastwars - Blood Becomes Fire (Destroy)
Cold Blue Mountain - Cold Blue Mountain (Vulture Print)
Cult Of The Fox - Angelsbane (Rock It Up)
D-A-D - Dic.Nii.Lan.Daft.Erd.Ark (AFM)
Empyrios - Zion (Scarlet)
Gates of Hell - Critical Obsession (Rastilho)
ID: Exorcist - Paths To Exile (Inverse)
Kaledon - Altor: The King's Blacksmith (Scarlet)
Lair Of The Minotaur - Godslayer EP (The Grindhouse)
Laurasia Awaits Us - Apathy Remains Victorious (Domestic Genocide)
Nahar - The Strange Inconvenience (Avantgarde)
Nicumo - The End Of Silence (Inverse)
Nocturne - Ave Noctem (Do Or Die)
Red Eleven - Idiot Factory (Secret)
Roots Of Pain - Countdown To Armageddon (Memorial)
Snowfall - Cold Silence (Escape)
Teardown - Inner Distortions (Inverse)
Thaw - Thaw (Avantgarde)
War & Peace - The Flesh and Blood Sessions Re-Release (Cleopatra)
Whitesnake - Made In Japan DVD/CD (Frontiers)
Woe - Withdrawal (Candlelight)
XIII - Helltongue (Inverse)
Rob Zombie - Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor (Zodiac Swan)

The Death To All tour is going on now, paying tribute to the influential band and its late founder Chuck Schuldiner. The tour lineup includes guitarist Paul Masvidal, bassist Steve Di Giorgio, and drummer Sean Reinert, plus guest vocalist/guitarist Max Phelps of Cynic/Exist.  In their nearly 15 year existence, Death released a string of great albums. Here are our choices for their top five.

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After a horrific bus accident in England last August that caused serious injuries to band and crew members, Baroness returns with their first North American tour supporting last year's Yellow & Green. Drummer Allen Blickle and bassist Matt Maggioni have left the band. Their replacements are Nick Jost (bass) and Sebastian Thomson (drums).

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5 Questions With... is your chance to get to know a new or up-and-coming metal band. Tombstone Highway are a band from Italy whose full-length debut is Ruralizer. Vocalist/guitarist H.M. Outlaw introduces us to his band.

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Every Friday I turn the blog over to Dan Marsicano for his Retro Recommendation, giving you a chance to learn about underrated and overlooked gems from metal's past. This week, Starkweather are in the spotlight. The Philadelphia band, who are still around, were one of the pioneers of metalcore. Their 1992 debut Crossbearer is this week's Retro Recommendation.

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At About.com Heavy Metal we are big supporters of underground and unsigned bands. Check out our inaugural monthly column Drago's Dungeon, featuring great albums from unsigned metal bands. Dan Drago is himself a member of an unsigned band and knows the struggles and challenges unsigned bands face. If you're in an unsigned metal band anywhere in the world, or know someone who is, there's information in the column on submitting material for future columns.

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It's a busy week for new metal releases, and we have you covered with 30 new short reviews, collected in one convenient location. Check out our takes on the latest from Ade, Anciients, Among Gods, As We Draw, Beissert, Bovine, Cerekloth, Cough, Cultes Des Ghoules, Destroyed In Seconds, Divided Multitude, Echtra, Eibon, Eyeconoclast, Flotsam and Jetsam, Impious Baptism, Kill With Hate, Magister Dixit, Memory Garden, The Moth Gatherer, October Tide, Omega Centauri, Pyrithion, Reign Of The Architect, Revel In Flesh, Senseless Beauty, Skid Row, Smohalla, This Misery Garden, Todtgelichter, Tombstone Highway and Windhand.

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Here are the new heavy metal CD releases for this week.   For the most detailed and up-to-date schedule, check out our complete Heavy Metal CD Release Date calendar.

April 16,2013
Ade - Spartacus (Blast Head)
Among Gods - Among Gods (PRC)
Anciients - Heart Of Oak (Season Of Mist)
Aosoth - IV: Arrow In Heart (Agonia)
Asofy - Percezione (Avant Garde)
As We Draw - Lines Breaking Circles (Throatruiner)
Beatallica - Abbey Load (Oglio)
Beissert - Darkness:Devil:Death (Agonia)
Bovine - The Sun Never Sets On The British Empire (FDA Rekotz)
The Bunny The Bear - Stories (Victory)
Cerekloth - In The Midst Of Life We Are In Death (Hells Headbangers)
Ceremonial Oath - The Book Of Truth Re-Release (Century Media)
Cough/Windhand - Reflection Of The Negative Split (Relapse)
Cultes Des Ghoules - Henbane (Hells Headbangers)
Dark Quarterer - Dark Quarterer Re-Release (Shadow Kingdom)
Destroyed In Seconds - Becoming Wrath (PRC)
Divided Multitude - Feed On Your Misery (Nightmare)
Dust - Dust/Hard Attack Re-Release (Legacy)
Echtra - Sky Burial (Temple Of Tortuous)
Eibon - II (Throatruiner)
Eternal Rest - Prophetic (Deepsend)
Eyeconoclast - Drones of the Awakening (Prosthetic)
Flotsam and Jetsam - Ugly Noise (Metal Blade)
Ghost B.C. (formerly Ghost) - Infestissumam (Loma Vista)
Iced Earth - Live In Ancient Kourion (Century Media)
Impious Baptism - Wrath Of The Apex Predator (Hells Headbangers)
Inter Arma - Destroyer EP Re-Release (Gilead)
Jeff Loomis - Plains Of Oblivion Tour Edition (Century Media)
Kill With Hate - Voices Of Obliteration (PRC)
Magister Dixit - Maze Of Thousand Ways (PRC)
Manilla Road - Spiral Castle Re-Release (Shadow Kingdom)
Memory Garden - Doomain (Metal Blade)
The Moth Gatherer - A Bright Celestial Light (Agonia)
Neige Eternelle - Neige Eternelle (Sepulchral)
October Tide - Tunnel Of No Light (Pulverised)
Progenie Terrestre Pura - U.M.A. (Avant Garde)
Pyrithion - The Burden Of Sorrow EP (Metal Blade)
Reign Of The Architect - Rise (Pitch Black)
Revel In Flesh - Manifested Darkness (FDA Rekotz)
Senseless Beauty - The Belonging Endeavor (Standby)
Snow White's Poison Bite - Featuring: Dr. Gruesome And The Gruesome Gory Horror Show (Victory)
Skid Row - United World Rebellion: Chapter One EP (MRI)
Smohalla/Omega Centauri - Tellur Epitome Split (Duplicate)
Spiritual Beggars - Earth Blues (Inside Out)
This Misery Garden - Cornerstone (Season Of Mist)
Todtgelichter - Apnoe (Code666)
Tombstone Highway - Ruralizer (Agonia)
Total Negation - Zur Späten Stunde/Zeiträume (Temple Of Tortuous)
VHOL - VHOL (Profound Lore)
Wandersword - Waiting For War (Blasphemour)
Whitechapel - The Somatic Defilement Re-Release (Metal Blade)

Current Kill Devil Hill bassist Rex Brown, who was formerly in Pantera and Down, has written his autobiography. Official Truth, 101 Proof covers all his musical endeavors, but the ...

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Iron Maiden has been releasing studio albums every three or four years for the past decade or so, but have been churning out other material at a much quicker pace. Numerous live albums, DVDs and compilations have been made available the past few years. The latest is Maiden England '88, available for the first time on DVD after being released on VHS in the late '80s. In addition to a concert from the Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son tour, there's some great bonus material including the latest installment in the History Of Iron Maiden that covers 1986 to 1988. There's also the documentary 12 Wasted Years, originally released in 1987.

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Kylesa will launch a headlining tour in May. Their latest album Ultraviolet will be released on May 28th. Opening bands on the trek include Blood Ceremony, White Hills and Lazer/Wulf.

"It's been a while since we've done a headlining tour in the US or Canada," explained singer/guitar player Laura Pleasants. "We are looking forward to doing a proper tour supporting Ultraviolet. It will be good to see friends and fans (old and new) and hit these once familiar landscapes again. "

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5 Questions With... is your chance to get to know a new or up-and-coming metal band. Ara are a death metal band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin who recently released their debut EP The Blessed Sleep. Guitarist Jerry Hauppa introduces us to his band.

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Every Friday I turn the blog over to Dan Marsicano for his Retro Recommendation, giving you a chance to learn about underrated and overlooked gems from metal's past. This week, Dust are in the spotlight. The proto-metal band, whose drummer was Marky Ramone, released two albums before disbanding. Those two records have been remastered on a single CD and reissued. 1971's Dust and 1972's Hard Attack are this week's Retro Recommendation.

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After the exit of longtime vocalist Howard Jones, the path of Killswitch Engage seemed unclear. They went back to their roots, bringing back Jesse Leach, who left the band a decade ago. His return has seemed to energize the band, which is evident on their latest album Disarm The Descent. I chatted with Leach about how the reunion came about, the recording of the new album, his thoughts on singing Jones' songs, the future of Times Of Grace and other topics.

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In addition to our regular reviews, once a week we collect a bunch of short reviews of the latest metal albums in one convenient location. This week check out our takes on new releases from Apparitions, Arkona, Birth A.D., Blaak Heat Sujaa, Code Of Silence, Deathchain, Devil To Pay, Enabler, Gloryhammer, Krzak Experience, No Omega, The Omega Experiment, Osada Vida, Russkaja, Serenity, Supuration, Trinakrius, Visons Of Atlantis and Warbeast.

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Here are the new heavy metal CD releases for this week.   For the most detailed and up-to-date schedule, check out our complete Heavy Metal CD Release Date calendar.

April 9, 2013
Antropofago - Beyond Phobia Re-Release (Kaotoxin)
Apparitions - Kiss Me Sleeping (Indianola)
Arkona - Decade Of Glory Live (Napalm)
Birth AD - I Blame You (Unspeakable Axe)
Blaak Heat Shujaa - The Edge Of An Era (Tee Pee)
Blowsight - Life & Death (Eclipse)
Code Of Silence - Dark Skies Over Babylon (Mausoleum)
Dawn Of Ashes - Anathema (Metropolis)
Deathchain - Ritual Death Metal (Svart)
Device - Device (Warner Brothers)
Devil To Pay - Fate Is Your Muse (Ripple)
Encorion - Our Pagan Hearts Reborn (Sleaszy Rider)
Enabler - Shift Of Redemption EP (Think Fast)
Facedown - The Long Lost Future (Autoproduction)
Gloryhammer - Tales From The Kingdom Of Fife (Napalm)
Greeley Estates - Devil Son EP (Self)
Krzak Experience - Krzak Experience (Metal Mind)
No Omega - Shame (Throatruiner)
The Omega Experiment - The Omega Experiment (Listenable)
Osada Vida - Particle (Metal Mind)
Pasadena Napalm Division - Pasadena Napalm Division (Minus Head)
Russkaja - Energia! (Napalm)
Serenity - War Of Ages (Napalm)
Supuration - Cube 3 (Listenable)
Terror - Live By The Code (Victory)
Thy Symphony - A New Beginning (Sleaszy Rider)
Trinakrius - Seven Songs of Seven Sins (End of the Light)
U.D.O. - Best Of Anniversary Edition (AFM)
U.D.O. - Live From Russia Re-Release (AFM)
Visions Of Atlantis - Ethera (Napalm)
Volbeat - Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies (Republic)