The new Black Widow project includes many members from the past. Included are Clive Jones, Geoff Griffith, Romeo Challenger and Kay Garret. Paolo Apollo Negri (known of his work for an Italian progressive hard rock band Wicked Minds) has agreed to play keyboards on this project.

Right now at least two bands are recording their versions of Black Widow's classic song "Come To The Sabbat" - the latest additions are The Divine Baze Orchestra (Sweden) and Cannabis (Sri Lanka). The interest towards Black Widow has been growing all the time and because of that the band hopes to do some live dates also.

Best wishes,
Pasi Koivu (Finland) from BLACK WIDOW news/info
http://www.myspace.com/blackwidowisback
Clive Jones can be contacted via his email address smackmanagement@aol.com for more details

San Francisco, L.A., Boulder, Milwaukee, Cleveland, New York, Bethlehem, Philly, D.C., New Haven, Boston…not typical stops on the bus if you're Fish. Then again, 2008 is not a typical year for the The Big Man from the land of dark ale, bagpipes, & kilts. Fish's stop in N.Y.C., on his way from Cleveland to Nearfest, was his first in The Big City since his 2000 visit to Irving Plaza, in support of Raingods With Zippos. I remember that night clearly--it was January and about 8 degrees out of doors. Fish in N.Y.C--indeed, in the U.S--always a monumental occurrence.

Read on for Steve Fleck's full concert review!

'Reborn' is initially only available from the band's official website www.curvedair.com or at Curved Air's concerts.

Hot on the heels of the cult-favorite reissue "HEX," Los Angeles' BIGELF prepares to release their brand new album Cheat the Gallows, an epic foray into classic, psychedelic-glam rock & roll!

Led by frontman Damon Fox's dual-mellotron / organ-drenched assault, BIGELF's Cheat the Gallows is complete with fat & juicy guitar riffs, booming bass, soaring melodies and bold compositions. Recalling the spirit of the late 60s / early 70s with echoes of The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple and Queen, BIGELF's accurate re-creation of this time in music is both genuine and refreshing, and is a cutting edge musical experience unlike anything else out there today.

DOWNLOAD BIGELF's "Money, It's Pure Evil" HERE! http://www.action-pr.com/uploads/audio/1066/Moneyitspureevil.mp3

BIGELF online: http://www.myspace.com/bigelf

Apart from Orphaned Land, Israel is not a very known country when it comes to progressive metal. Amaseffer is arguably the first big act to emerge from Israel and to sign for Inside Out. With an ambitious conceptual theme, the amazing Mats Leven on lead vocals, and varied instrumentation, they are bound to leave their mark in the genre. Sea of Tranquility Staff Writer Murat Batmaz talked to all three Amaseffer members, guitarists Yuval Kramer and Hanan Avramovich as well as drummer Erez Yohanan, about the band, their debut album, and plans for the future.

Read on for the full interview.

Neverland is a collaboration between Greek female singer Iris Mavraki and Turkish melodic metal band Dreamtone. The band mixes a multitude of influences, from real orchestral parts to progressive arrangements to ethnic instrumentation. Soaring guest vocals are contributed by members of Evergrey, Blind Guardian and Shadow Gallery, and the final work certainly warrants your attention. Sea of Tranquility Staff Writer Murat Batmaz had the chance to talk to Dreamtone leader Oganalp Canatan about their new project, the guests, their label, and their plans for the future…

Read on for the full interview...

Finnish symphonic metal legends Nightwish made a surprising stop at Poughkeepsie, New York's The Chance on their Spring 2008 US tour, along with opener Sonic Syndicate, the promising young band from Sweden. In recent times Nightwish has regularly played much larger venues here than The Chance, but in a way it was nice to see them in such an intimate setting. Though the club was not quite filled to capacity, the 400-500 or so that made it out on this Wednesday night were treated to a solid night of metal that featured the return of one of the most beloved acts in the genre. Sea of Tranquility Publisher Pete Pardo was on hand....

Labeled as 'The Scum of the Earth Tour', hardcore/crossover legends Throwdown, along with Swedish metal sensations Soilwork, and War of Ages (Through the Eyes of the Dead cancelled at this particular show) made their way to New York City at the Blender Theater for a night of mosh friendly mayhem. Sea of Tranquility's Hayley Brooke brings us her coverage of the night's events.

Saturday April 5th at the Nokia Theatre in New York City's Times Square on paper looked to be a great triple bill of progressive metal. On one hand, seeing as Symphony X were slated to headline at the largest venue yet in the New York area was probably reason enough to head into the Big Apple, but add in the fact that symphonic metal veterans Epica as well as Canadian technical extreme metallers Into Eternity were along for the ride just added the icing on the cake. SoT's Pete Pardo and Ken Pierce were in attendance for this great night of metal.

If you thought that Queensryche would sit back and rest on their laurels after their blockbuster tour for the "Operation: Mindcrime" saga, the release of the double DVD and CD set "Mindcrime At The Moore" that captured it all on film and appearances on tour supporting Heaven And Hell then you would surely be mistaken. One could easily view the band Queensryche as one of the true energizer bunnies of Progressive Hard Rock and Metal with their whole "keeps on going" attitude and that's fine by me since like many others out there I have been a fan for a very long time. The consistent touring appearances would lead one to wonder just what would lie ahead on this tour as "Mindcrime" had been done, and the tour with HAH found them on the release of their compilation "Greatest Hits". When they announced their new covers release "Take Cover" it became clear that the Ryche would return to present us with a number of standards and a healthy compliment of the renditions delivered on this new album. The appearance tonight would be at Nokia Theater in Times Square and this is a perfect place to catch the band and joining them would be Don Dokken of the great eighties Metal band that bears the same name. Here is a little about how the evening progressed.

Historically speaking, Exodus is one of the founding fathers that's often respectfully referred to when one opens the chronicles and looks back at the dawning of the Thrash Metal movement. The band was originally formed by guitarist Gary Holt, drummer Tom Hunting and guitarist Kirk Hammett in 1980, and while Hammett would go on to join Metallica, both Holt and Hunting and what seemed to be a rotation of players would continue on for the forces of Metal world wide . For those who are old enough to have experienced it firsthand the band holds a very special place in their hearts to this very day no matter how much of lifes daily trials and tribulations are put upon us. The Metal scene was quite profound during this genres formative years and its power has not ebbed at all it would seem. The younger fans only remember the bands formation from reading about it or watching videos on YouTube.com but have made sure to keep up by following their later years through purchasing albums and hitting the shows. Tonight at B.B. King Blues Club in New York we would find an incredible mix of a wide variety of musical talent and there wasn't anyone in the room who would argue with you. The show found Exodus bringing along Goatwhore as direct support and also the super technical talents of Arsis and youthful exuberance of Warbringer. The Metal youth of Warbringer would come up first and here is how the night went down.

Grave Digger is one of those Metal bands who've been at the game for almost thirty years now and yet despite this there are regions of the globe that they just don't get to as often as they would like for performances and to meet with their fans. Musically, they have a very pure Old School Power Metal feel to them and their style would appeal the demographic that leans primarily in that direction. For instance if you like old Accept and vintage Judas Priest, you would definitely be someone who got into the sounds and tunes of the guys in Grave Digger. When the band announced their first-ever New York show I went in expecting quite a bit of a crowd based on this being a rather historic appearance. To my knowledge they had never even been to the States in a true touring fashion and had only appeared at an event that was held by the folks over at BWBK magazine several years ago. The guys would present their wares at B.B. King Blues Club and Grill, a venue that some Metal fans know very well based on the amount of such shows they present, and they would bring with them some of the local boys in the as yet unsigned Arctic Flame. I would miss the opener tonight but I had seen them perform on a number of other opening slots and for tonight I was primarily interested in checking out Grave Digger for the very first time. I had to admit that while owning a few releases from their catalog, they remain a bit of a mystery to me in terms of total absorption of their stuff.

Presenting the "Lucifer Over America" tour and what a befitting title it would be for an event that brought together two different continents worth of some of the heaviest and most interesting bands that currently are trampling over the fans of the Black Metal scene. The show was to be headlined by Athens's Greece underground Metal icons Rotting Christ with direct support from New York's own Immolation and kicking the whole affair off would be Belphegor and Averse Sefira. The amount of talent on this one made the room attendance be at a considerably high amount very early on so no one would miss the crushing levels of darkness that would be hitting them. I went into this one with very limited background on Rotting Christ outside of knowing they are somewhat legendary in the underground scene and are perhaps the first such a band to come out of their region of the world. It was only through samples that I had heard their songs and while listed as a Black Metal act felt they were something far different. Averse Sefira would be the first band up and here is what happened in case you missed it.

In my opinion nothing proves the staying power of a Rock & Roll band more than a sold out show on a Friday night at one of the hottest venues in New York City. Such would be the case when the one and only Zebra returned to the Big Apple for another appearance. We caught them back in June of 2007 at this very same spot and I am happy to report that it was also a sold out affair. It's been about twenty five years since Zebra released their self-titled debut on Atlantic Records and many of those who caught on to what the band was all about in the beginning have remained loyal fans throughout the years. Back in the day, the band was transplanted Louisiana natives who set up shop on Long Island at the suggestion of Pepe Marchello from the Good Rats and as a result became one of the area's most cherished attractions. The Island residents welcomed this band and essentially made them their own with little hesitation and the move found the band performing to packed houses in the biggest rock clubs that the time had available. To many music fans those were the days and they are fond memories in today's time. Tonight's show would be to my knowledge the bands second appearance at the venerated B.B. King Clues Club and with their Long Island network of followers in attendance would sell out well in advance and leave hundreds of disappointed fans unable to come in for the show. That was a shame because tonight would not be only the wonderful Zebra set of originals, but also a completely loaded set of Led Zeppelin material that harkened back to the time when the group played mostly covers. Zebra is one of the few acts that could and did do Led Zeppelin material justice as a cover band and every so often they would pull out a classic Zep number during their regular set. As you can imagine, finding the night set to present a complete set of such material made this all the more reason for snaring a ticket early. Here is some of how the night went down.

In the heyday of the big eighties Kip Winger always managed to have some catchy material and the singing bassist was a staple on the MTV network with songs like "Headed For A Heartbreak", "Miles Away", Madalaine" and of course his blockbuster number "17". I liked the music he did back then but was never more than the casual fan so when a show was announced at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill, I was determined to get myself down there to bring the Hard Rock community the inside scoop.

Not content to rest on his laurels as the 'former' lead singer of Dream Theater, Charlie Dominici put together a killer band a few years back, titled it Dominici, and cranked out two sizzling prog-metal concept pieces titled O3-A Trilogy Parts 2 & 3, which were a continuation of a storyline begun in Part 1 that was actually an all acoustic release. If you haven't checked out these two monstrous epics, you are missing out on some serious progressive metal that is bound to be talked about for many years to come. Recently, Sea of Tranquility Publisher Pete Pardo got in touch with Charlie Dominici to talk about the history of the band, the new CD, touring, and his relationship with his former band.

With a new album out on Moribund Records called Omega, Finnish black metal veterans Azaghal are set to really make a serious impact on the ever growing extreme metal scene. Longtime guitarist Narqath recently had a chance to chat with Sea of Tranquility Publisher Pete Pardo about the new CD, the history of the band, and the state of black metal in Finland.