New INTO ETERNITY Singer On Her Audition: 'At First, I Was Pretty Intimidated'

Regina, Saskatchewan-based Canadian extreme progressive metallers INTO ETERNITY recently tapped Amanda Kiernan of the Edmonton, Alberta-based metal band THE ORDER OF CHAOS as their new touring vocalist. Kiernan takes over from Stu Block, who was hired away last year by American metallers ICED EARTH, leaving INTO ETERNITY without a full-time singer.

INTO ETERNITY founder and guitarist Tim Roth told the Regina Leader-Post that he invited Kiernan to Regina to try out for the band after hearing a tape of her performing his songs.

"I had all these guys who told me they could do the songs and hit the notes Stu could. So I had them try out and it was like, 'No way.' Nobody could do it," Roth said. "But Amanda's got this great voice … none of the dudes could hit the notes Stu could, so maybe it makes sense that only a chick can do it. Besides, she
already fits in like she's one of the guys."

Kiernan, who said she's been an INTO ETERNITY fan since she was in high school, told the Regina Leader-Post about her audition, "At first, I was pretty intimidated. These guys are rock stars to me. There were times when I was sitting around with the
guys, and then all of a sudden I'd get this little burst of energy
because I reminded myself that I was sitting with INTO ETERNITY."

RUSH: 'Time Machine 2011: Live In Cleveland' Nominated For JUNO Award

"Time Machine 2011: Live In Cleveland", the latest DVD from the legendary rock band RUSH, has been nominated in the "Music DVD Of The Year" category at this year's Juno Awards (the Canadian equivalent of the Grammy Awards), set to be held in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada March 26 - April 1.

Captured in April at Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena during the renowned trio's extensive "Time Machine" world tour, "Time Machine 2011: Live In Cleveland" marks the band's first live effort recorded at a U.S show, a deliberate nod of gratitude to the first city to support RUSH on its radio airwaves. The wildly popular tour featured a set filled with classic hits, fan favorites, and a glimpse into RUSH's forthcoming 20th studio album, "Clockwork Angels". As a centerpiece for the concerts, the band performed their landmark album "Moving Pictures" in its entirety — a first in the band's long and illustrious career. Rave reviews of the tour included The Hollywood Reporter's declaration that "the 'Time Machine' jaunt is nothing less than a must see… for nearly three hours, with intermission, RUSH proved why it remains among rock's elite live acts."

Directed by Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn of Banger Films, "Time Machine 2011: Live In Cleveland" features the following track listing:

Set One

* The 'Real' History of Rush Episode No. 2 "Don't Be Rash"
* The Spirit of Radio
* Time Stand Still
* Presto
* Stick It Out
* Workin' Them Angels
* Leave That Thing Alone
* Faithless
* BU2B
* Free Will
* Marathon
* Subdivisions

Set Two

The 'Real'' History of Rush Episode No. 17 "...and Rock and Roll is my name."

* Tom Sawyer
* Red Barchetta
* YYZ
* Limelight
* The Camera Eye
* Witch Hunt
* Vital Signs
* Caravan
* Moto Perpetuo (featuring Love For Sale)
* O'Malley's Break
* Closer To The Heart
* 2112 Overture/The Temples of Syrinx
* Far Cry

Encore

* La Villa Strangiato
* Working Man

Bonus Material

* Outtakes from "History of Rush, Episode 2 & 17"
* "Tom Sawyer" featuring the cast of "History of Rush, Episode 17"
* "Need Some Love" Live from Laura Secord Secondary School
* "Anthem" Live from Passaic New Jersey

STORM CORROSION Officially Signs With ROADRUNNER RECORDS

Roadrunner Records has announced the signing of STORM CORROSION.

STORM CORROSION is the long-discussed and highly anticipated collaboration between two
of the modern progressive rock scene's most innovative and
multi-talented artists: Mikael Åkerfeldt of OPETH and PORCUPINE TREE's Steven Wilson. The pair will release "Storm Corrosion" on April 24.

A little background information on the genesis of this project: Åkerfeldt and Wilson have been friends since the late '90s, when Wilson co-produced OPETH's revered "Blackwater Park" album. Over the years, they'd often spoken of working on a project
together, but it wasn't until recently that they managed to make
something happen, when Mikael flew over to visit Steven in the U.K. and they ended up in Wilson's home studio throwing ideas around. That visit was the nascence of a
whole self-titled album, written and produced by the pair, and mixed by Wilson.

The sound of STORM CORROSION can best be described as enchanting, orchestral, ambient, epic (half
the album's tracks clock in around the 10-minute mark) and nothing short of surprising to the new ear. However, the musicians' respective
fanbases will be primed to appreciate the new output, with Wilson's recent solo album, "Grace For Drowning", and OPETH's "Heritage" having brought them to a logical place to understand STORM CORROSION. This eponymous collection is almost viewed as one side of a musical triangle.

Says Wilson, "If you'd asked me three months ago about the music, I would have said, 'Expect the last thing you would expect.' But actually, now that 'Heritage' and 'Grace For Drowning' have come out, I don't think it's going to be that much of a shock to
people, because it's almost like a third part of the trilogy, in a way. If anything, it's even more orchestral, even more stripped down, even
more dark, twisted and melancholic… but it certainly feels like it comes from the same place as 'Heritage' and 'Grace For Drowning', which indeed it does because it was written during the same period.”

"Some of the music on this record I think is the most beautiful music I have participated on ever," adds Åkerfeldt. "There's some magical sections on there. Musically, I think we've
created something earthy, a bit frightening, exhausting, profound and
rather intense. All at the same time. I can safely say I don't know
any other band or artist that sounds anything like STORM CORROSION. I guess that was also one of our goals, so to speak."

Roadrunner Senior VP of A&R, Monte Conner, welcomed STORM CORROSION to the Roadrunner family, commenting, "I am honored to have the Roadrunner logo on the STORM CORROSION album. Steven Wilson and Mikael Åkerfeldt have demonstrated time and time again that they are two of the truest
and most important artists working today, and it is not often that I get to work with musicians of this caliber. This album is a beautiful
piece of work that will appeal to fans of Steven and Mikael's past records, while at the same time exploring new avenues for both artists."

SPIRITUAL BEGGARS Working On New Material

SPIRITUAL BEGGARS — the Swedish band featuring ARCH ENEMY guitarist Michael Amott and bassist Sharlee D'Angelo, along with vocalist Apollo Papathanasio (FIREWIND) — is busy in the studio all this week, writing "new riffs" and coming up with "new songs," according to Amott.

SPIRITUAL BEGGARS last year released a live CD entitled "Return To Live: Loud Park 2010" in Japan via Trooper Entertainment. The disc features eight songs, capturing the bands high-energy performance at Loud Park 10 at Saitama Super Arena, Japan on October 17, 2010. The live recording was mixed in Sweden by Staffan Karlsson and Rickard Bengtsson at Studio Landgren 5.3 and The Sweet Spot Studio in December 2010. The artwork and design was handled by Hippograffix.

The new lineup of SPIRITUAL BEGGARS made its live debut on October 1, 2010 at Kyttaro club in Athens, Greece.

SPIRITUAL BEGGARS's seventh studio album, "Return To Zero", was released in Japan on August 25, 2010 via Trooper Entertainment Inc. — the label founded by legendary Japanese heavy metal music industry guru Tetsu Miyamoto. The Japanese special edition comes in a glossy paper box with a poster
and a sticker of the CD front cover. The Japanese edition also features a bonus track, a thunderous cover of URIAH HEEP's "Time To Live" off the legendary U.K. band's 1971 "Salisbury" record.

"Return To Zero" was released in North America on October 12, 2010 via InsideOut Music. The follow-up to 2005's "Demons" was recorded at Sweetspot Studio with producer Rickard Bengtsson.

SPIRITUAL BEGGARS 2012 is:

Michael Amott (ARCH ENEMY, CARCASS) - Guitar
Ludwig Witt (FIREBIRD) - Drums
Per Wiberg (OPETH) - Keyboards
Sharlee D'Angelo (ARCH ENEMY, MERCYFUL FATE) - Bass
Apollo Papathanasio (FIREWIND) – Vocals

Tonight's OPETH Concert In Maldives Canceled

Swedish progressive metallers OPETH have issued the following update:

"Due to reasons beyond our control, tonight's [Tuesday, February 7] OPETH show in Maldives has been cancelled. We are hopeful that the show will be able to go ahead tomorrow, [February] 8th, and the band are already in the country and ready to play for their fans. We'll keep you updated
of any further developments as they happen."

WatchMojo.com recently conducted an interview with vocalist/guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt of Swedish progressive metallers OPETH. You can now watch the chat below.

OPETH will team up with MASTODON for a spring North American co-headlining tour. The trek kicks off on
April 4 in Portland, Maine, and visits more than 30 cities in the U.S.
and Canada before wrapping up at Atlanta's Masquerade Music Park on May
12.

OPETH's new album, "Heritage", sold 19,000
copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at
position No. 19 on The Billboard 200 chart. The band's previous studio
CD, 2008's "Watershed", opened with more than 19,000 units to land at No. 23.

"Watershed" was the follow-up to the band's acclaimed "Ghost Reveries" CD, which debuted at No. 64 on the Billboard chart back in September 2005 with first-week sales of just under 15,000.

OPETH's 2003 album, "Damnation", premiered with a little over 5,000 copies.

FATES WARNING Taps Drummer MIKE PORTNOY For Brazil Show

U.S. progressive metal icons FATES WARNING have tapped Mike Portnoy (ADRENALINE MOB, TRANSATLANTIC, DREAM THEATER, AVENGED SEVENFOLD) to play drums for the band for their first-ever visit to South America as special guests for QUEENSRŸCHE in São Paulo, Brazil on April 14.

Commented FATES WARNING: "We're pleased and excited to announce that Mike Portnoy will be our special guest drummer for our April 14th show in São Paulo, Brazil. We had a great time playing with Mike back in 2005 at the Headway festival in Holland and we're happy that he's able to help us out again. We'd also like to make it clear that Bobby Jarzombek is still the drummer for FATES and will be with us for our European shows in March as well as on the new record we're currently working on. Unfortunately, Bobby committed to another gig on the same day (ironically, in the same city) before this show was planned."

The "Parallels" lineup of FATES WARNING played a number of shows in 2010 in support of the released special edition of the album, which was made available through Metal Blade Records. In addition to remastered audio, there is a second audio disc of live
and demo material. The package also includes a DVD with nearly three
hours of material, including a complete live show from the 1992 "Parallels" tour and a documentary on the making of "Parallels" which includes live, studio, and current day interview footage with all the band members, Terry Brown (producer) and Brian Slagel (CEO of Metal Blade Records).

InsideOut Music in 2005 released a FATES WARNING DVD entitled "Live In Athens". The DVD shot was on February 20, 2005 at Gagarin in Athens, Greece and was mixed by Bill Metoyer (SLAYER, FLOTSAM AND JETSAM).

FATES WARNING's latest CD, "X", was released in 2004 on Metal Blade Records. The follow-up to 2000's "Disconnected" was recorded at Carriage House studios in Stamford, Connecticut and features cover artwork by renowned record-cover artist Ioannis (DREAM THEATER, SEPULTURA, DEEP PURPLE, BLUE ÖYSTER CULT, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, KING CRIMSON, BIOHAZARD, VOIVOD, UFO, OVERKILL).

ÅKERFELDT/WILSON Collaboration Features 'Hardly Any Drums And No Distorted Guitars'

During a recent online question-and-answer session with fans, PORCUPINE TREE's Steven Wilson was asked to clarify his previous statement that the musical output of STORM CORROSION, his much-anticipated collaboration project with OPETH's Mikael Åkerfeldt will be "the opposite of metal."

"It's very hard to describe this music as it is so different from most things around right now (at least as far as I know)," Wilson explained. "I said it was the 'opposite of metal' because I think a lot of people might have assumed from the two people involved that this
would be some kind of progressive/metal thing, but in fact it's quite a
minimal album with a lot of space and beauty, orchestral and organic,
hardly any drums and no distorted guitars — 'twisted beautiful' is the
best way I can describe it."

STORM CORROSION last year completed work on its self-titled debut album for a tentative April release through Roadrunner Records. Apart from Mikael and Steven, the CD includes guest appearances by Gavin Harrison (PORCUPINE TREE) on drums/percussion, Ben Castle on woodwinds and Dave Stewart on string arrangements.

In an interview with Metal Injection conducted on November 11, 2011 at the Best Buy Theater in New York City, Wilson was asked how STORM CORROSION is different from his previous collaborations with Åkerfeldt. "Well, the only stuff I've collaborated with Mikael on in the past has been working on his records," Wilson replied. "This is obviously a collaboration, so it's a different
approach. We sat in a room together and we wrote music together, rather
than taking his music that he'd already written and working it into a
record. We actually started from the very basics — composition and
arranging."

He continued, "If you'd asked me three months ago
about the music, I would have said, 'Expect the last thing you would
expect.' But actually, now that [OPETH's new record] 'Heritage' has come out and [Steven Wilson's solo album] 'Grace Of Drowning' has come out, I don't think it's going to be that much of a shock to
people, because it's almost like a third part of the trilogy, in a way.
If anything, it's even more orchestral, even more stripped down, even
more dark, twisted and melancholic… but it certainly feels like it comes from the same place as 'Heritage' and 'Grace For Drowning', which indeed it does because it was written during the same period — it was written during a period that he was playing the tracks that he'd
written for 'Heritage' and I was playing the tracks that I had written for 'Grace Of Drowning'. So we were kind of, in a way, egging each other on, encouraging each
other to do those particular records, but also at the same time coming
up with this music that is now gonna be on STORM CORROSION. So
it's a very orchestral record, it's very — as you'd expect — epic, the
songs are quite long and they develop in quite unusual ways."

He
concluded, "I'm realistic that half the people are gonna hate it and
half the people probably will fall in love with it. I'd be happy with
that anyway."

Although former DREAM THEATER drummer Mike Portnoy was initially supposed to be part of the STORM CORROSION project, he did not take part in the recording sessions for the CD. "To be honest, there's just no room for drums on what we've done," Åkerfeldt told Classic Rock magazine last year. "I called Mike up, and he was cool about it. He's got so much going on anyway, and I'm sure we will work together in the future."