BRUTALISM

STONE TEMPLE PILOTS frontman Scott Weiland has released the following statement via his Facebook page: "A letter to my fans, "Like everybody else out there, I read about my band, STONE TEMPLE PILOTS, and their recent performance this past weekend with a new singer.

JANE'S ADDICTION guitarist Dave Navarro has slammed the band's former bassist, Eric Avery, for recently exiting NINE INCH NAILS after Avery was named one of Trent Reznor's new bandmates earlier this year.

According to TMZ.com, STONE TEMPLE PILOTS members Robert DeLeo (bass), Dean DeLeo (guitar) and Eric Kretz (drums) have filed a lawsuit against their former lead singer Scott Weiland claiming that he sabotaged their 20th anniversary tour by being chronically late for performances and missing promotional gigs.

Drummer Darren Minter of San Francisco Bay Area metallers HEATHEN has released the following statement to BLABBERMOUTH.NET: "It is with great regret to announce that, after 25 years of drumming for HEATHEN, I have left the band due to unforeseen circumstances and will not be joining them on the European tour that starts in several weeks (a replacement will be named in the next few days).

Former and current members of JUDAS PRIEST, ALICE COOPER, OZZY OSBOURNE and SCORPIONS are currently taking part in a week-long tour of Russia where they are playing classic songs from their respective bands under the banner ROCKSTAR.

Video impressions from the first-ever Full Metal Cruise, which took place May 5-12, travelling from Hamburg (Germany) via Southampton (London), Le Havre (Paris) and Amsterdam back to Hamburg, can be seen below.

Fan-filmed video footage of ANTHRAX's May 15 concert at HSBC Brasil in São Paulo, Brazil can be seen below.

MY RUIN — the Los Angeles-based band featuring the husband-and-wife rock duo of vocalist Tairrie B.

100.3 The X Rocks conducted an interview with Björn Gelotte of Swedish metallers IN FLAMES backstage at this year's Rock On The Range festival, which took place May 17-19 at Columbus Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.

Metal Mark of SkullsNBones.com conducted an interview with former METALLICA, VOIVOD and FLOTSAM AND JETSAM bassist and current NEWSTED frontman Jason Newsted before NEWSTED's May 21 concert in New York City.

According to The Pulse Of Radio, DISTURBED and DEVICE frontman David Draiman has reassured fans that the former band will eventually return from its current hiatus.

Keyboardist Emmi Silvennoinen of Finnish folk metallers ENSIFERUM will be forced to sit out the band's South American tour — which is scheduled to kick off on May 28 in Bogota, Colombia — due to personal reasons.

British rock veterans STATUS QUO have announced the addition of drummer Leo Cave to the group's ranks.

Welsh metallers BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE will release their brand new single, "P.O.W.", on June 17.

Reunited METAL CHURCH — Ronny Munroe on vocals, Kurdt Vanderhoof and Rick Van Zandt on guitars, Steve Unger on bass, and Jeff Plate on drums — recently entered Vanderhoof's English Channel studio in Washingtion to begin work on its comeback album for a late 2013 release via Kurdt's label Body Of Work Recordings.

Eternal-Terror.com recently conducted an interview with singer Yngve "Bolt" Christiansen of Norwegian death metallers BLOOD RED THRONE.

Guitarist Bernie Marsden rejoined his WHITESNAKE bandmates on stage last night (Thursday, May 23) at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England to perform two songs: "Fool For Your Loving" and "Here We Go Again".

Vlad Busca conducted an interview with MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine prior to the band's May 22 concert at Arenele Romane in Bucharest, Romania.

On April 13, Heavy Metal Artwork conducted an interview with SKID ROW at the O2 Academy Islington in London, England.

Terry "Beez" Bezer of Scuzz recently conducted an interview with DEFTONES frontman Chino Moreno and drummer Abe Cunningham.