Monday MAY 18TH sees CKY release their eagerly anticipated new album CARVER CITY, and you can check it out NOW, in it’s entirety over at AOL, where they are streaming it in a worldwide exclusive.

Just head TO THIS LOCATION to check it out.

You can pre-order your copy of the album RIGHT HERE and don’t forget that the band will be here to play some shows this coming July. Dates are as follows and tickets are on sale now:

Thu 9th July – Colchester Arts Centre
Fri 10th July – London Electric Ballroom
Sat 11th July – Nass Festival, Bath & West Showground, Shepton Mallet, Somerset

Black Stone Cherry will be playing a special acoustic set for Planet Rock Radio winners at Gibson Studios in London on May 27th.

For your chance to win tickets for this intimate show AND a Les Paul Studio guitar, head down to the Planet Rock website.

Black Stone Cherry are supporting Nickelback this month, full dates below:

DREAM THEATER have revealed the first video from upcoming album BLACK CLOUDS & SLIVER LININGS.

The video, which is for the track A RITE OF PASSAGE, can be viewed in the player below.

Black Clouds & Silver Linings will be released in the UK on June 22nd. You can pre-order this album NOW at THIS LOCATION

SLIPKNOT’S Joey Jordison has a new endorsement deal with PROMARK and has even given his own BLOOD for the production of his new signature drum sticks (full story HERE).

We have a set of these sticks to give away. Head to the COMPETITIONS PAGE to see how you can win a set!!

MADINA LAKE released their new album ATTICS TO EDEN this week and in this video interview Matthew and Dan tell us all about it- where the title comes from , what the album is about and how it continues the Adalia story and all about the writing and recording of the record.

You can pick up the album in stores NOW and if you pick it up from PLAY.COM. Simply head to THIS LOCATION and add the 7.99 album to your basket, and proceed to checkout. Click through until you see the ‘I have a voucher message’ on the right side of the page. Then simply enter the code ML2GBP to receive

DREAM THEATER release their new album BLACK CLOUDS AND SILVER LININGS on JUNE 22 and until 4am on Thursday 7th May we are giving you the opportunity to download for FREE the first track to be released from the album: A RITE OF PASSAGE.

Reload the homepage and click to download on the splash page.

You can then not only listen to the MP3 but also use it to put you in the running for some amazing prizes.

Once you have your MP3, place a pin on the Dream Theater Map, you will be in the running to win a plethora of Roadrunner goodies. Pass the MP3 on to your friends and get them to plonk a pin into the map and as the number of pins increases, the number of prizes up for grabs increases! So get listening and get passing on the MP3 and the map!

The map will launch later this week, so prepare your mailing list, get downloading the track and then you can try and get your mits on anything from 5 RR CD’s to 30 RR Cds, DVDs and goodie bags of signed gubbins!!

Also launching this week will be the video for the track. We will premier A RITE OF PASSAGE on this very site Friday at 4pm May 8th.

Meet Donnie and Jerry. They have worked with NICKELBACK setting up their stages for years and this year, in the Dark Horse Tour, they have their biggest challenge yet- but they couldn’t be happier and the stage couldn’t be more impressive…

Nickelback hit the UK for a run of arena shows with label mates BLACK STONE CHERRY in support. Dates are as follows and tickets are on sale now:

Fri 22nd May – Manchester Evening News Arena
Sat 23rd May – Glasgow SECC
Mon 25th May – Newcastle Metro Radio Arena Tue 26th May – Birmingham NIA
Thu 28th May – London O2 Arena
Fri 29th May – Sheffield Arena

The band tour in support of current album DARK HORSE, which you can pick up online AT THIS LOCATION.

Des Moines’ finest, SLIPKNOT are set to unleash their new single, ‘Sulfur’ on 15th June. Taken from their US No.1/UK No.2 album, ‘All Hope Is Gone’ album, the release coincides with the Iowan band’s headline appearance at the Download Festival on Saturday 13th June. The accompanying video, featuring the band in a huge water tank can be checked out on all good music TV channels.

In other ‘hot off the press’ Slipknot news, drummer Joey Jordison has given blood for his new endorsement deal with Pro-Mark drum sticks. Joey comments, “The first wood stick I ever played was a Pro-Mark, so I am thrilled to be joining the family! To show everyone just how serious I am about my new signature 515s, I’ve even gone as far as putting my own blood in the ink for them. It’s not just my signature on these sticks, it’s me.” The TX515W model is named after the Des Moines, Iowa area code of 515 and the signature sticks will go on sale in all good music stores not before 5.15pm on 15th May (5/15, in US date form). UK fans can pre-order their collectable sticks at www.rosetti.co.uk/dealers/promark or at www.drumshop.co.uk. Online purchases will be dispatched on the launch date. You can view a video of Joey at the Pro-Mark factory, giving blood and the mixing process by pointing your mouse at www.promark.com/joey.

Plans are also afoot for a very special 10th Anniversary version of Slipknot’s platinum eponymous debut album, which will be released later this Autumn. Stay tuned for more news soon.

Progressive metal legends DREAM THEATER have announced their tenth studio album Black Clouds & Silver Linings (due out June 22) will be made available in multiple formats, including a collector’s edition deluxe box set.

In addition to the standard CD which is over 70 minutes of new music, the album will also be available as a three-disc Special Edition that will include the full album, a CD of instrumental mixes of the album, and a CD of six cover songs, as well as expanded artwork and packaging. Five of the six songs covered will be made available digitally one per week from May 18 – and fans will only learn which songs were covered on each day of release! The remaining cover will only be available in the Special Edition package. Dream Theater are also excited to reveal an extraordinary Collector’s Edition Deluxe Box Set. A very limited run will be made of a silver lined black velvet box, with the Dream Theater logo embossed in silver foil on the front.

The box will contain three CDs + one DVD in mini jackets with their own artwork designed by legendary artist Hugh Syme (Rush, Iron Maiden), as well as additional items detailed below:

CD 1 (the standard album):
1. A Nightmare to Remember
2. A Rite of Passage
3. Wither
4. The Shattered Fortress
5. The Best of Times
6. The Count of Tuscany

CD 2: 6 cover songs – titles to be revealed, one per week from May 18

CD 3: Instrumental versions of the 6 album tracks

DVD: Producer’s Edition DVD of stem mixes of the album allowing you to do your own mixes of the songs – i.e. some stems will be drums, backing vocals, guitars etc… you mix these like a mixer would, so if you want to hear the mix with the bass extra loud and without solos, you can do that or if you just want to hear the guitars to learn how to play the songs, you can do that too.

Additional items:
Dream Theater mouse mat, exclusively available with box set
Limited edition numbered lithograph of cover art by Hugh Syme (100 lucky fans will find a litho personally signed by the Artist)
Limited edition Audiophile 180-Gram Double LP set with exclusive artwork from Hugh Syme
Plus… find a silver ticket and win a meet & greet with the band!

Pre-order the collecters edition box set at the following stores:
PLAY.COM
AMAZON.CO.UK
HMV.CO/UK

DREAM THEATER will play the Main Stage on Sunday June 14 at the Download Festival. The band also perform two warm-up shows at Leeds Academy (June 12) and Southampton Guildhall (June 13).

Following on from their hit track ‘Hate My Life’, THEORY OF A DEADMAN are giving you their killer track BAD GIRLFRIEND for FREE as another sample of their upcoming album SCARS & SOUVENIRS, which sees it’s UK release on MAY 11th.

CLICK HERE to start downloading the track!