Heavy Metal's Replacement For Pope Benedict XVI Has Been Unleashed In Rome!

As Pope Benedict XVI steps down because he is not Metal enough. For real, what a quitter! We smell some conspiracy lined up by the Catholic church, but lets not even go there. Rome, Italy, is ready to welcome the NEW Pope. While Ian Fraser "Lemmy" Kilmister from Motörhead would be a great candidate, Lemmy is god so he wasn't considered for the Vatican's unholiest position. Then we got Robert John Arthur "Rob" Halford from Judas Priest, but Halford is the Metal God. And while John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne would make the Vatican go "fucking crazy", Ozzy is the Prince Of Darkness and that might be too controversial for the super sacred Catholic church (note our sarcasm).
So after many hours of deliberating a group of Metallic Cardinals that wear leather and spikes instead of some wacked uniform, have announced that the NEW Pope is:

Kim Bendix Petersen, also known as our holiness King Diamond! Born in Copenhagen, Denmark on June 14, 1956, he is at the perfect age to become the 267th Pope and with his heart fixed he is ready to reign in blood for many years (not like the quitter dude who just retired). Please welcome Kim Bendix I to the Vatican. His first order of business as the NEW leader of the Catholic Church is to headline a massive live concert at the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran at the ecclesiastical Province of Rome! His special guests: Motörhead, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath WITH Bill Ward, Slayer, and Testament. Oh, and we can't forget Metal Church. Now get off your knees and start headbanging!

He has also announced that from now on priests and nuns can have as much sex as they want and the NEW testament will be rewritten by Kim Bendix I! About bloody time! Get it?

As previously reported, KING DIAMOND, BOLT THROWER, TESTAMENT and CHILDREN OF BODOM have all been confirmed for this year's Tuska festival! Finland's Heavy Metal fest will take place between June 28-30 in Suvilahti, Helsinki, Finland. It has also been announced that "The King" will be Friday night's closing performance at Bloodstock Open Air 2013! This memorable event marks not only their first-ever U.K. festival appearance, but their first U.K. show of any kind in many years and will be their only U.K. date in 2013!

Related links:
Official Site of King Diamond
King Diamond on Facebook

SYSTEM OF A DOWN Confirm Concert In Italy With LACUNA COIL!

SYSTEM OF A DOWN have confirmed via Twitter, that they will be back in Italy to re-embrace their fans with a show that will be held on August 27 at the Fiera Milano Rho Live. The concert will be re living the history that made famous the band guided by the charismatic Serj Tankian
Special guest: LACUNA COIL and another band that we will reveal soon. Mark this event , you can't miss it!


For info and tickets: http://www.livenation.it/event/385008/system-of-a-down-tickets?c=FB_WP_systemofadown_150113

What about some NEW music? Last year, Musik Universe chatted with SYSTEM OF A DOWN's front man Serj Tankian about the bands future plans

About writing NEW music:

The band has made it clear in recent interviews that no plans have yet been made for the group to begin work on a NEW studio album.

Future releases:

"I think we have about four or five unreleased tracks that we finished before. We need to talk about what to do with them, etc. But I would be very open to releasing, like, a greatest-hits record with a few [previously] unreleased tracks. However, we haven't really discussed it, so I don't wanna make a promise."

Solo project vs SYSTEM OF A DOWN:

"It's an interesting dynamic, I think, writing by yourself and writing with people. When you have a very focused idea, a very concrete kind of understanding of what you wanna present and have the skills and the ability to completely present it the exact way that you want to, it's much more conducive to do it yourself. If you have ideas that require other people's input to kind of make it something else than what you have, then a collaboration — whether it's with SYSTEM or anyone else for that matter — would be much smarter."


Related links:
SYSTEM OF A DOWN's Official Site

Members Of DOWN Wrestle While On Stage During A Concert In Italy - Video Available!

NOLA super group DOWN, performed in Milan, Italy on Monday October 29 concert. And instead of ending the show with their famous jam session, they ended the show by staging a playful wrestling match between singer Philip Anselmo and some of his bandmates. Here is some footage of the bands outro in Milan.



HERE is an extensive gallery of DOWN's recent concert in New York City!

Recently, DOWN premiered a music video for their NEW song "Witchtripper". Watch it HERE!

Where to order DOWN IV online:

Down IV Part I the Purple Ep on cd available at amazon.com. Click here.

Down IV Part I the Purple Ep on cd available at bestbuy.com. Click here.

Down IV Part I the Purple Ep and bundles on sale at down-nola.com. Click here.

Starting Sept 18, the full album and individual songs in mp3 format will be available from Amazon.com for download. Click here.

Down IV Part I the Purple Ep is available for pre-order from iTunes. Click here.

Related links:
DOWN

Hospitalization Of GREEN DAY's Billy Joe Causes Show Cancellation In Italy; Band Might Not Be Able To Appear At The VMA's!

According to Artisan News, GREEN DAY's Billie Joe Armstrong has been hospitalized with an illness, origin unkonwn at press time, that cause the band's postponement of a concert in Bologna, Italy, and while Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool apologized via a video statement it's unknown whether Billie Joe will be healthy in time for Thursday's MTV Video Music Awards. Here is what Billie's bandmates Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool had to say about this unfortunate situation:

"We sincerely apologize to our fans, but unfortunately due to illness Billie Joe has been hospitalized, and we regretfully must cancel our performance in Bologna, Italy. We are beyond devastated and will make it up to you when we come back next summer.

"We're beyond upset," said drummer Tre Cool in a video posted belos. "We're as sad as you guys are. Billie is extremely upset about it."

Armstrong, 40, was "rushed to the hospital ... due to illness" on Saturday night, said bassist Mike Dirnt in the video.

The nature of the illness wasn't disclosed, but Dirnt said the "doctors didn't think it's a good idea" for Armstrong to play Sunday at a concert in Bologna. GREEN DAY's next scheduled show is Sept. 21 in Las Vegas. 

Related links:
GREEN DAY's Official Site

Serj Tankian: Italian press conference available for your viewing pleasure now!

Serj Tankian from SYSTEM OF A DOWN never lets his musical creativity rest. His latest musical project 'Harakiri' (his third solo album) was released on July 10th via Reprise Records/Serjical Strike. "Harakiri", sold nearly 12,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 29 on The Billboard 200 chart.

Tankian recently took part in a press conference in Italy. Watch it right now!



Don't forget to catch Tankian on the upcoming SYSTEM OF A DOWN tour with DEFTONES. Here are the tour dates:

August 2, 2012: Susquehanna Bank Center – Philadelphia, PA*
August 4, 2012: PNC Center – Holmdel Township, NJ**
August 5, 2012: Nikon at Jones Beach – Wantagh, NY**
August 7, 2012: Verizon Center - Washington, DC*
August 9, 2012: Comcast Center – Boston, MA*
August 11, 2012: Heavy MTL Festival -  Montreal, QC***
August 12, 2012: Heavy TO Festival – Toronto, ON***
August 14, 2012: DTE Energy Amphitheater – Detroit, MI*
August 15, 2012: Allstate Arena – Chicago, IL**

*Tickets go on sale at 10 AM May 4th.
**Tickets go on sale at 10 AM May 5th.
***Tickets now on sale.

Related links:
Serj Tankian's Official Site
SYSTEM OF A DOWN's Official Site
DEFTONES' Official Site