The 21st edition of Metalmania Festival - the biggest metal fest in Central-Eastern Europe - will take place on 24th March 2007 in Spodek Hall in Katowice, Poland. As usual there will be two stages where around 25 bands will perform for thousands of metal freaks!!!!

Testament is the first band to be confirmed to perform on the main stage during Metalmania Festival 2007.

The American band was meant to perform already at Metalmania festival in 2006, however, owing to the unclear politics of the band's concert agency Maximus Entertainment, it did not come to pass, for which the agency apologized. But the band themselves did not forget about their Polish fans and accepted with pleasure the invitation to the 2007 edition of the festival. Let us remind you that Testament is a thrash metal legend which has been active since 1983 and which enjoys an almost maniac adoration by their fans. Not only did those Americans from San Francisco create the foundations of the thrash metal genre, but they also developed their own distinctive sound which won them a stable position in the metal Pantheon, next to such bands as Metallica, Slayer and Megadeth. At the Metalmania Festival the band will perform in their classic line-up: Chuck Billy (vocals), Alex Skolnick (guitar), Eric Peterson (guitar), Greg Christian (bass) plus a guest musician from Cradle of Filth: Nicholas Baker (drums). It is with pride and joy to invite to such a gig, which is going to be one of the most important musical events in 2007!

The complete list of the Artists to perform at Metalmania Festival to be announced very soon.

Bands who are interested in performing on the small stage of the Festival can still send their application to the following e-mail address:

METALMANIA FESTIVAL 2007
24.03.2007
Spodek Hall, Katowice, Poland

DOORS OPEN: 9 a.m.
SMALL STAGE: 9.30 a.m.
MAIN STAGE: 10.30 a.m.

Ticket prices:
floor and red sections: 35 / 38 Euros (on the day of the show)
sections H and J 45 / 48 Euros (on the day of the show)
VIP section 58 / 60 Euros (on the day of the show)

*** SPECIAL OFFER ***
Until 31st December 2006 tickets for the floor section are available for 25 Euros each (offer limited to first 500 tickets)!

For more info about tickets please call: +48 32 205 25 00 (ext. 101), e-mail: or visit: www.metalopolis.pl.
To buy tickets please call +48 32 205 25 00 (ext. 187), + 48 32 253 77 60, e-mail: or visit: www.metalopolis.pl

Threshold have now finished recording their new album. The CD will be called 'Dead Reckoning' and is due for release through Nuclear Blast Records on 23 March 2007.

'Dead Reckoning' was produced by Karl Groom and Richard West. The track list is as follows:
1. Slipstream
2. This Is Your Life
3. Elusive
4. Hollow
5. Pilot In The Sky Of Dreams
6. Fighting For Breath
7. Disappear
8. Safe To Fly
9. One Degree Down

Richard West checked in with this message:
"It's great to finally be finished, it felt like we could keep working forever, but Nuclear Blast gave us a Christmas deadline and that helped us focus on finishing. We started writing over the summer with the intention of modernising our approach with a darker heavier sound. But once the writing starts the songs sometimes take over, so alongside the heavier tracks like 'Slipstream' and 'Hollow' there's a 10 minute progressive epic called 'Pilot In The Sky Of Dreams', a huge Pink Floydesque ending to One Degree Down, and the last song we wrote is a power ballad called 'Safe To Fly' which proved to be the missing piece of the puzzle."

"While Karl was busy tracking drums and guitars at Thin Ice Studios, I was recording vocals and keyboards at Bray Studios. It was a nice place to work, everyone from Iron Maiden to Cliff Richard were there rehearsing for tours, and I had a steady stream of musicians and crew popping in for coffee. I'd like to think it was to see me, but it was most likely the coffee, I get it freshly roasted to order from www.justcoffee.co.uk and it's probably the best coffee in the country - I strongly recommend the Guatemalan! At one stage we were going to call the album 'Pilot In The Sky Of Dreams', but in the end it was more suitable as a song title, it didn't sound solid or powerful enough to represent the overall sound of the album. Our fans were great, they started posting their own artwork for the 'Pilot' title on our forum, based on everything from the Hammerfall artwork (their new album is called Threshold) to Dastardly and Mutley (cartoon characters). Our cover artist for the last few years has been Thomas Ewerhard and he did a great design for 'Pilot', but with the new album title 'Dead Reckoning' came a new artist called Davide Nadalin who has done a wonderful cover for us, which we'll reveal in the new year. Thomas's artwork won't be wasted though, we hope to use that for something next year. We've started announcing our live shows for 2007. Originally we were going to tour before the summer, but now it looks like we'll start the summer with some festivals and tour after that. Keep watching our website for the latest tour dates, and hopefully we'll get to see you all next year. Have a great Christmas! - Rich"

Sieges Even are the next to join the ProgPower 2007 festival. Here is the official announcement.

"It is no news to everyone anymore because it was already announced on the internet and on the band's homepage, but German progmetal band SIEGES EVEN will play ProgPower Europe 2007. We are very proud that we have booked one of the best progmetal acts from Germany, last year they could not make it for several reasons, but this year they will travel to Baarlo. At that time the new album will be released, the band already looks forward to ProgPower very much and they have promised us an excellent show. We can't wait!"

Jorn Lande is the next to join the MetalMania festival. Here is the official announcement.

"We are very happy to announce that Jorn Lande has confirmed his appearance at a main stage during Metalmania Festival 2007. The 21st edition of the biggest metal fest in Central-Eastern Europe - will take place on 24th March 2007 in Spodek Hall in Katowice, Poland. As usual there will be two stages where around 25 bands will perform for thousands of metal freaks!!!!

The highly rated vocalist Jorn Lande has a vocal capability that is world class, distinctive, rich and spanning a large range. He is considered to be one of the world's best classic rock singers!

After many years of developing as a singer and songwriter, touring with different bands and appearing as special guest on various albums, his first official recording was with Vagabond in 1993. During the past decade he has delivered more than twenty albums with different bands and projects and worked with great artists like Ronni Le Tekro, Yngwie Malmsteen, Micky Moody and Bernie Mardsen (Whitesnake), Joe Lynn Turner, Don Airey (Ozzy, Rainbow and Deep Purple), Uli Jon Roth (Scorpions). His most famous effort is his role as front man in German metal act Masterplan which has achieved great success around the world. During the last years he has established himself with his own band under the name "JORN". In 2006 he released his second album in classic hard rock style called "The Duke" and two more are scheduled for 2007 - "Unlocking The Past" - an album with covers and "The Gathering" - a compilation of his early works."