GuitarWorld.com has just published its picks for the "Top 20 Hottest Women Guitarists."

As if this idea wasn't ridiculous enough, Guitar World's panel of experts decided to disregard musical skill and technique entirely in lieu of judging these players strictly on their aesthetic merits.

The gallery of winners includes photos of such players as DRAIN STH's Flavia Canel, Courtney Love, Lita Ford, KITTIE's Suzi Gardner, NASHVILLE PUSSY's Ruyter Suys and more.

Night Of The Vinyl Dead has released SAXON's "Unleash The Beast" album on limited-edition clear vinyl. Previously released on CD only through SPV Records in 1997, the LP comes with a bonus "shield" slipmat and is limited to 333 hand numbered copies.

The track listing is as follows:

Side A:

01. Gothic Dreams
02. Unleash The Beast
03. Terminal Velocity
04. Circle Of Light
05. The Thin Red Light
06. Ministry Of Fools

Side B:

01. The Preacher
02. Bloodletter
03. Cut Out The Disease
04. Absent Friends
05. All Hell Breaking Loose

SLIPKNOT/STONE SOUR singer Corey Taylor's "goofy cover band" THE DÜMFÜX is scheduled to perform at the Val Air Ballroom in West Des Moines, Iowa on December 31, 2008. Also scheduled to appear are DIRTY LITTLE RABBITS (feat. SISTER SOLEIL vocalist Stella Katsoudas and SLIPKNOT percussionist Shawn Crahan), JUNK POET and CALOUS. Tickets are $15 in advance/$20 at the door and are available from Ticketmaster.

Taylor previously told the Des Moines Register about THE DÜMFÜX, "It's a cover thing, all about fun. Seventies punk and '80s hair metal. Just good songs, just have-fun songs with attitude."

THE THE DÜMFÜX 11:00 p.m.-1:00 a.m.
DIRTY LITTLE RABBITS 10:00 p.m.-10:45 p.m.
JUNK POET 9:00 p.m.-9:45 p.m.
CALOUS (CD release) 8:00 p.m.-8:45 p.m.

RollingStone.com recently conducted an interview with MÖTLEY CRÜE singer Vince Neil. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

RollingStone.com: If you could go back and see MÖTLEY from the early days, how do you think you'd react to them as a new band?

Vince: I'd probably go, "What the fuck are these guys thinking about, man!" Bands don't do what we used to do. Bands don't have the theatrics. We were lighting ourselves on fire. I had a chainsaw and cut a nun's head off. You don't see that shit at all anymore, which is kind of sad.

RollingStone.com: MÖTLEY CRÜE is an active band now, but you've gone through periods where you've stopped, split up, done different things.

Vince: Yeah, there was a breakup a long time ago, but give us a break. You can't put out a record and tour every single year. People like to talk about us, and the press makes more of what happens with MÖTLEY than it really is. Me and Tommy [Lee] have been friends for 30 years. How many people can really say they still have a friend from 30 years ago? Not very many. And if they did, I'll bet you fought with the guy. I'll bet you had an argument.

RollingStone.com: Any more solo projects in the works?

Vince: I'll be recording my record in April, when MÖTLEY's off, before Crüe Fest 2 starts. Then I'll probably release it in early November, when MÖTLEY's finishing this tour.

RollingStone.com: Are you in the same state of mind with the solo projects?

Vince: No, it's a different set of guys, a different style of music. It's a little more aggressive than MÖTLEY, more like an AC/DC vein. Obviously, we play smaller places, which is cool with me. I get the best of both worlds. I love playing in theaters, and I don't mind opening for somebody else. It's very humbling but it's cool.

MÖTLEY CRÜE performing live at the newly renovated Hollywood Palladium on Friday, November 14, 2008:

MEGADETH is in the early stages of the songwriting process for the band's new album, which is tentatively expected sometime next year via Roadrunner Records. The CD is once again being helmed by acclaimed British producer Andy "Undie" Sneap, who produced MEGADETH's last album, "United Abominations" (May 2007, Roadrunner Records).

MEGADETH's forthcoming LP will be the group's first with guitarist Chris Broderick, who replaced Glen Drover at the end of last year.

MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine has issued a lengthy update via the "Forums" section of the band's official web site. A couple of excerpts from his message follow below.

"As the sun creeps around this morning, I am thinking of the four songs that we started and are kinda up to so far. The good thing is that James [Lomenzo, bass] and Shawn [Drover, drums] put down two songs that I had ideas for, which was really gratifying to come back to, and it almost sounded as good as if I played it myself, since Shawn is convinced he is the fastest guitar player in the world.

"It was really awesome to hear James lay down some new bass lines, and the kewl thing was that, like I mentioned, they did these two ideas while I was gone with Andy's help, and I was pleasantly surprised when hearing it back. We have a long way to go, and eight more songs to write. I do have a plethora of lyrics so that part will not take long.

"My new partner, Chris Broderick, was at the studio yesterday too. I like when he makes the commute from L.A. down to San Diego, because he is so talented and has a vast wealth of knowledge, and I get happy when we can work on songs together.

"I was noticing again yesterday all of the hard work put in by Andy, Shawn, and James. Of course, there was a huge cast of players that have helped in the actual making of Vic's Garage [MEGADETH's newly built studio]. I imagine after time, it will just be called Vic's or something shorter, but for now, it is what it is."

Bam of NewsOK.com recently conducted an interview with METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett. A few excerpts from the chat follow below.

NewsOK.com: One of the things I obviously noticed about this album ["Death Magnetic"] is all those super-fast thrash solos that we haven't heard in a few albums: Was that fun to do and was it a conscious choice or just how the album developed?

Hammett: It was totally conscious, you know, I kind of looked back at what I used to do in the past, and took cues from that same sort of approach, that same sort of attitude, and how it could fit in with the music we're doing now. You know, in retrospect, when I kind of like glance over all the guitar solos … over the course of the album, I kind of realized, that I just really, like I said, I went for the jugular. I mean, there's absolutely no subtlety whatsoever. (laughs) I pretty much went in there with the attitude of just doing the fastest, most aggressive, loud, raunchy-sounding solos that I could possibly dream up for the material, and yeah, you know, it really suits the songs well I think. There's a level of energy that guitar solos have that really just kind of like amplify what the music is doing at that point in time. You know, a lot of the albums that we made in the '90s, a lot of guitar solos were much more melodic, and much more blues-based, and much more laid back, which is fine, but for this album, that approach really didn't work so well. So, like I said, just kind of went for it and let it rip.

NewsOK.com: Was there more pressure coming back after such a long period? It had been five years since you'd had album, so was there that pressure to really hit one out of the park, so to speak?

Hammett: You know, we kind of feel that a little bit. You know, whenever we go into the studio to make an album, there's always a little pressure to just come up with what we do best, which is write the best songs that we can possibly write at that point and just try to make the best album that we possibly can. And we follow through with that. You know, a lot of the times, the concepts are just different. Like for "Load" and "Reload", the concept was to kind of like play more laidback, more groove-oriented, kind of blues-based sort of heavy rock, heavy metal. For me, I mean, "Load" and "Reload" are kind of like subconscious tributes to the classic hard rock we kind of grew up on when we were all teenagers. And you know, with this album, the concept was just again to make a really heavy album with progressive flavors here and there, a lot like the stuff we did in the '80s. And to make the best album we possibly can. I guess to answer your question, there's pressure to do the best we can, under whatever circumstances and to follow through with whatever we're thinking conceptually.

NewsOK.com: You guys are on the short list for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Is that gratifying? Is that exciting? Is it kind weird that so much time has passed so fast?

Hammett: You know, it is pretty cool to be nominated and to be acknowledged by the industry. It kind of vindicates all the blood, sweat and tears and sacrifice and long hours, all the traveling, and all the ups and down that you've experienced over the course of 25 years or so. And it kind of makes me feel that wow, you know, it's been a great, great journey, and now the industry's actually recognizing it and considering us for the Hall Of Fame. And that's a great feeling. I mean, it really is exciting, and I really hope we win, obviously. (laughs) In fact, you know, I was just thinking today, "Oh my God, I gotta start working on my acceptance speech 'cause I want it to be perfect." (laugh)

NewsOK.com: Is it really gratifying to be cited as an influence, because a lot of hard rock, metal and thrash bands cite you as an influence. Is that pretty thrilled? Is it something you never considered when you started this?

Hammett: When we started doing this, we just wanted to make music that we wanted to hear. We wanted to play music that was fun to listen to and fun to play and exciting for us and that was the intention. … And you know, it's … inspired a lot of bands and continues to inspire bands, generations of bands now, and it's super, super flattering. And you know, again, it's very gratifying to know that you've helped other musicians to kind of like help set them on their paths and set them in a direction that you kind of forged. And it's great to know, I mean, because to be known as a band that's had an impact on musical culture, I mean, that's great to me. Because I know what sort of influence a band like LED ZEPPELIN had on my life — just to like name one band among many — and to know that we mean that same sort of thing to a bunch of people out there of all ages, denominations, whatever, you know, again, it's very, very gratifying. It's very cool to know. …

NewsOK.com: It has been 25 years now, are you really just glad and grateful that the band came knocking on your door? Have you looked back with the recent success and Rock Hall nomination? Are you happy with where you are?

Hammett: Oh, yeah, absolutely. I'm absolutely thrilled that 25 years into it we're still able to like put out an album that's relevant and that mends people and that we're able to go out on tour, especially at a time like this when the economy's all shot to hell and there's just a lot of things wrong in the world. You know, it just feels good to be able to go on tour and that people are spending their hard-earned money to buy tickets to see us, to have a good time. I have no regrets whatsoever. You know, we've done some pretty dodgy things in the past careerwise, but I don't regret any of it because it's been an amazing learning experience and a lot of great music has come out of it. You know, that's what I pretty much think about that.

Read the entire interview at NewsOK.com.

The front woman Amy Lee arranged and recorded the Danny Elfman song “Sally’s Song” for the “Nightmare Revisited”soundtrack. Recently thegauntlet.com published an interview, where we point out 2 answers:


"The Gauntlet: Would that be a solo project or with Evanescence?

Amy: I don’t know what is happening. I am at a point where I don’t know what is next: a solo project or a film. I am really interested in film scoring. I always have been. I have just known that I needed to ride the Evanescence thing while that was going. I loved the Open Door and that was a big thing for me. I have always had a true love for writing music for film. I have my foot in the door enough and can meet people now. I just need to find the right project for me and one that I am passionate about. It could take a while. I am hoping for that and some people who have some faith in me and to write the music for it. Other than that, I am still writing songs. I don’t know what they are going to be for though."


"The Gauntlet: Was "Sally’s Song" being credited to Amy Lee and not Evanescence a way for you to come out and launch a solo career?

Amy: It wasn’t that. I don’t know if I am going to do that. It is a possibility in my life that it might go that way. It is kind of natural with the way everything has gone with the band. It wasn’t to make a statement though. It was all me. It is hard to say what Evanescence is per se. It is Terry and Tim now but the other guys have changed so recently. They knew it was a gig on the road and they knew they had to get another gig when it was over. Terry is having a blast playing in a band with the bass player from Limp Bizkit. In a lot of ways, it is the same as the last time. Between Fallen and The Open Door everybody went their separate ways. Then Terry and I wrote the record, pulled the band back together and made the record and toured. It isn’t like we all live in a house together and write all the time and play video games. This song came to me and it was something I was passionate about. I did the arrangement and the instruments and it wasn’t in anyway an Evanescence collaboration. I didn’t want it to be false. I didn’t want to call it Evanescence and capitalize on that because everyone knows that name."

Swiss metallers SAMAEL will embark on the "Solar Soul Balkans Tour 2009" in January/February. The trek will consist of 14 shows and will include support from Norway's KEEP OF KALESSIN and Slovenia's NOCTIFERIA.

The dates are as follows:

Jan. 24 - Lodz, Poland - Dekompresja
Jan. 25 - Kraków, Poland - Loch Ness
Jan. 26 - Budapest, Hungary - Diesel
Jan. 27 - Cluj Napoca, Romania - Irish & Music
Jan. 28 - Bucarest, Romania - Preoteasa Hall
Jan. 29 - Burgas, Bulgaria - Sport Hall Izgrev
Jan. 30 - Istanbul, Turkey - [to be announced]
Jan. 31 - Sofia, Bulgaria - Blue Box
Feb. 01 - Thessaloniki, Greece - Mylos
Feb. 02 - Athens, Greece - Texas Necropolis
Feb. 04 - Belgrade, Serbia - SKC
Feb. 05 - Zagreb, Croatia - Boogaloo
Feb. 06 - Nova Gorica, Slovakia - Mostovna
Feb. 07 - Prato n/Firenze, Italy - Siddharta