GRAND MAGUS release their fifth studio album (and their first for Roadrunner) Hammer Of The North this coming Monday (June 21st) and so we sat down with main man JB recently to chat about what people can expect from the record. You can check this out in the player below.

If that intrigued you, those lovely folks over at METAL HAMMER are giving you the opportunity to hear the album in full- NOW!

CLICK HERE TO HEAR THE ALBUM NOW!!

You can will be able to pick up the album in full at iTunes and in all good stores Monday morning. Alternatively, how about you pre-order online? You can do so right HERE.

DOMMIN have just returned home after two weeks spent in mainland Europe and the UK on the festival circuit and in part 1 of a 2-part tour blog posted on the bands Official Website, frontman Kristofer Dommin explains the “crazy time with a lot of ups and some downs” that the band whilst over on our side of the pond.

“The days of leisure went by pretty fast and before we knew it, the weekend was upon us and we were making our way to the Rock Am Ring festival. This is said to be the biggest German festival. It would be our first experience with European style festivals. All we knew is what we played of The Warped Tour and Bamboozle. This was entirely different. The first sign that we were close is the cluster of tents. Several small tent cities pop up in the name of rock ‘n’ roll on the grounds surrounding the festival. The festival is impressive and very well-organized. We are directed by knowledgeable people to dressing rooms, which we didn’t expect at a festival. We are scheduled to play one of the smaller stages around 5PM. As we hadn’t even tried out the new equipment, I spend most of the time between arrival and performance turning nobs and getting the sound right on the amp I’ve yet to use. I was also very excited to unveil the new backdrop we bought. It’s large enough to be seen at the largest of festivals but small enough to be used at mid-sized venues as well. As I was waiting at the side of the stage to go out, it put the biggest smile on my face to see the bright, detailed and very large “Rose-Skull” hanging behind the stage.”

…The next day we play three hours away at Rock Im Park. It’s essentially the same festival as Rock Am Ring just different bands on different days. The one thing we find as we arrive on location is that this stage is indoors. I immediately feel much more excited to play when I find this out. Since I didn’t have to spend my time adjusting nobs on my amp head, I spent a lot more time loitering. I started to really take in the environment in which I was surrounded. For example, while I was picking at the catering, I noticed that at the table adjacent to mine, the entire band of Alice In Chains was digging into their dinner. It was really nice that the guys in We Are The Fallen came around our stage to check out our set. It was good to see them again.”

Read the full blog HERE and watch out for part 2 coming soon.

Dommin are touring in support of their debut album LOVE IS GONE which is in stores now. Pick it up online at THIS location.

KIDS IN GLASS HOUSES have this week released their new single Undercover Lover (feat. Frankie Sandford) and so front-man Aled took some time with PUNKTASTIC’S Paul Savage to have a chat about the track, the last tour and what the band have been up to since. Aled gushed when asked about the headline run back in May:

I was genuinely moved at some point every night. It felt like a noticeable shift had taken place and like we were taken as a more serious prospect than before. I can’t thank everyone who came to those shows enough. It was the best tour we’ve ever done and one of the fondest band memories I have. Usually a tour has low points and bad shows, but that tour was brilliant, night in and night out. Selling out Rock City, 3 months after supporting lostprophets there, was such a flattering achievement and it bowled me over. It seemed like everyone came there wanting to have a good time and its nice not to have to coax people into letting loose a bit. I’m so stoked that people are into the record and that its translated so well. It comes alive at the shows and takes on a whole new life.

Read the full interview HERE.

Monday June 21st will see the band announce further tour dates. Watch this space for more details…

The single is available digitally at all the usual outlets now, including ITUNES.

The track is taken from the album DIRT which is also in all good record stores now. Pick it up online HERE.

TAKING DAWN have been in Europe a loooong time- supporting Airbourne and

In the player below, we go behind the scenes of the shoot for the first video from KO퐌¿N’S forthcoming album Ko퐌¿n III- Remember Who You Are which is released in the UK on July 12th.

The video is for the track ‘Oildale’, the name of which comes from the place of the same name just north of down-town Bakersfield, CA where the band hail from. In the clip, we are not only walked through the concept of the song but we learn more about where the guys come from; their roots and how they have never forgotten who they are.

METAL HAMMER have begun loading their reviews of the past weekends activities at the Download Festival so we thought we would bring you a summary of what the guys there have been posting.

First off, the site reviews the main stage performances of 36 CRAZYFISTS KILLSWITCH ENGAGE on the Friday, proclaiming 36 Crazyfists a band who “…like Macine Head before them are no-nonsense metal band whose day will come not because of haircuts or pretty boys, but because of undeniable excellence in heavy fucking metal: a world beating live show…and some of the best music in the game.” Killswitch Engage are hailed as “…one of the biggest, best and most loved bands to emerge in the last ten years play to tens of thousands of people who know all the words to their songs and need no goading to dance, cheer or throw their fists in the air.” Read the full review HERE

ATREYU are next up with a review of Saturday’s main stage set and according to Metal Hammer, “…each member seems to have become superhuman versions of themselves…Atreyu have so many massive tunes to choose from that the set never loses pace; nor the attention of the crowd. An absolutely storming show from a band who play all too little in the UK. Come back, I think I love you…!” Their full review can be read HERE

Sunday see’s the Metal Hammer treatment reserved for SLASH, with compliments a-plenty for both the man himself and his front-man of choice Myles Kennedy, declaring the set one of the “…highlights of the weekend. Tracks from the Slash album were perfect with Kennedy who conjured up perfectly the haunting melodies of ‘Ghost’ (sung on the album by Ian Astbury), and Myles’ own collaborations were simply glorious – a clearly massive proportion of the audience au fait with the recent release…As well as Slash future classics, the band gifted Download with covers (are they technically covers if Slash wrote them?) of Guns N’ Roses classics, including the lesser-played ‘Rocket Queen’. Myles is no Axl, and thank fuck. With a smile the size of an actual cat, he stalks the stage, points, grins and wails. Even Axl’s signature ‘Sweet Child O Mine’ doesn’t miss him, the song dripping with guitar work so distinctly Slash.” Click HERE for the full review.

In addition to the reviews already posted, Metal Hammer also documented the moment STONE SOUR frontman Corey Taylor dedicated the track ‘Bother’ to the recently departed Paul Gray, looking to the sky before dedicating the song simply to ‘my friend’… HERE.

Here is YOUR chance to hear new music from MURDERDOLLS!

Click HERE to hear the first track from forthcoming album ‘Women And Children Last’- this is ‘My Dark Place Alone’!!

The track will be made available on JUNE 22nd RIGHT HERE at www.roadrunnerrecords.co.uk as a FREE MP3 download, for a limited time of 48 hours, so dont forget to head back!!

(*If you live outside the UK & Ireland, you can listen in

Members of the OFFICIAL AIRBOURNE WEBSITE are currently enjoying a behind the scenes peak of the AIRBOURNE’S latest video- the rather hot n steamy ‘Blonde, Bad & Beautiful’. If you’re not already signed up to the site, do so now (it’s free!) to see the guys chat about the shoot, meet some of the actors and check out all the action on the set- which includes numerous hot, blonde women (including the 2010 pole dancing champion!) and lots of beer and champagne. On a plane. Nice!

See the finished video in the player below. CLICK HERE to sign up/log on and get a little more of that action…

Bad, Blonde & Beautiful is the second single from their current album No Guts. No Glory, which is in stores now. Pick it up online HERE.

In yet more Download Festival goodness, we have collated all of the coverage from the guys over at ROCK SOUND for you to peruse.

The fellas over at the site decided to move away from the typical interviews this year, preferring to focus on some crackin’ live shots and getting the bands to question each other!

KILLSWITCH ENGAGE are first up and if you CLICK HERE you can see a gallery of stunning shots from their main-stage set. They follow this up with Adam D posing a question to Devil Sold His Soul and then Adam D answering a question from 36 Crazyfists. Adam also chats to Rock Sound about one of his passions- BEER! We like to call this clip

Currently set for an August release, check out the first 3 minutes 37 seconds of new music made available from BLACK LABEL SOCIETY’S forthcoming ‘Order Of The Black’ album!

We think you will agree that ‘Parade Of The Dead’ is a bit of a belter! Crank up the volume and click on the player below!

The album, ‘Order Of The Black’ will feature four different CD covers — one for each territory: North America, Europe, Australia, and South America/Asia. Check out the European version to your left.

Fronted by the unmistakable former Ozzy guitarist Zakk Wylde, who on Monday night collected the highest accolade awarded at Metal Hammer’s Golden Gods – the Golden God itself – Black Label Society will be performing at the High Voltage festival in London on July 24th. Black Label Society are also headlining the second stage on the US Ozzfest tour this summer.