The Soundgarden reunion has been greeted with extreme positivity from the band’s fan base. 2012 sees the release of the first Soundgarden album in a decade and a half, and this summer the band return to the UK for gigs at Hard Rock Calling and the Download Festival.

Can’t wait until the new album appears? You can have new music right now!
The first track released since the reformation, you can download Soundgarden’s new song ‘Live To Rise’ absolutely free from iTunes by clicking here!

The track comes from the soundtrack of the ‘Avengers Assemble’ movie, which also features other great rock tracks from Scott Weiland, Shinedown, Black Veil Brides, Five Finger Death Punch and Rise Against. It’s probably better than the movie…

Last month, WatchMojo.com conducted a short interview with legendary drummer Vinny Appice, which you can now view below.

Appice is a drummer known for lending his talents to many musical projects including the Dio-fronted Black Sabbath, Heaven and Hell and, perhaps most importantly, various recordings by the Dio band. In 1983, Vinny Appice played drums on Dio’s hard rock classic ‘Holy Diver‘.

In May, Kill Devil Hill – a new project featuring Appice alongside Rex Brown (Pantera, Down), Mark Zavon (Ratt, W.A.S.P.) and Jason “Dewey” Bragg (Pissing Razors) – will release their debut album.

The dates have been officially announced for the next North American leg of Dream Theater’s ‘A Dramatic Turn of Events’ tour.

Beginning in New York, this leg of the tour takes in twenty-four dates:

June 15 – Rochester, NY – Main Street Armory
June 16 – Montebello, QC – D-TOX Rockfest
June 17 – Lewiston, NY – Artpark
June 19 – Columbus, OH – The LC Pavilion
June 21 – Cleveland, OH – Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica
June 22 – Detroit, MI – The Fillmore
June 24 – Cincinnati, OH – Taft Theater
June 26 – Minneapolis, MN – State Theater
June 27 – Chicago, IL – Chicago Theatre
June 28 – Kansas City, MO – Starlight Theater
July 01 – San Francisco, CA – Warfield Theatre
July 02 – Los Angeles, CA – Gibson Amphitheater
July 03 – Anaheim, CA – The Grove of Anaheim
July 05 – El Paso, TX – Abraham Chavez Theatre
July 06 – San Antonio, TX – Majestic Theater
July 07 – Austin, TX – ACL Live
July 09 – Grand Prairie, TX – Verizon Theatre
July 12 – Richmond, VA – The National
July 13 – Washington, DC – Warner Theatre
July 14 – Holmdel, NJ – PNC Bank Arts Center
July 16 – Boston, MA – Bank of America Pavilion
July 18 – Huntington, NY – Paramount Theater
July 19 – Huntington, NY – Paramount Theater
July 21 – Chester, PA – Harrah’s Chester Downs

‘A Dramatic Turn of Events’ – the first Dream Theater release to be recorded without founder member/drummer Mike Portnoy was very well received, peaking at #8 on the US Billboard 200 chart, #17 in the UK and scoring the band a #1 album in Finland.

With only a few weeks to go until the big event, it has been announced that Ghost will be added to this years Download Festival bill.

Joining Ghost to complete this year’s line up, the following band’s have also been confirmed: Blues rock outfit The Union (featuring Peter Shoulder and ex-Thunder guitarist Luke Morley, Shadows Fall, Saint Jude, Dogs D’Amour frontman Tyla, Lawnmower Deth, Voodoo Johnson, My Passion, The Dirty Youth, Sanguine, Feed The Rhino, Six Hour Sundown, La Dispute, Royal Cartel, Yashin, With One Last Breath, No Americana and Silent Descent.

This year’s Download takes place at Donington Park between 8th-10th June and is to be headlined by The Prodigy, Metallica and Black Sabbath.

In May 2011, Pantera will release a deluxe 20th anniversary edition of their much loved ‘Vulgar Display of Power’.

While working on the new remaster, a recording of a previously unreleased track was discovered. That track – entitled ‘Piss’ – represents the only bonus audio included the anniversary edition of the album. Unlike the previous anniversary release, the three disc edition of ‘Cowboys From Hell’ – which was loaded with demos – it appears the ‘Vulgar’ sessions were rather light on unused takes.

Prior to the release of that anniversary edition of ‘Vulgar Display’, Pantera have issued an official video for ‘Piss’, which you can now watch below.

Although the track is previously unreleased in this complete form, fans may spot a couple of riffs which were remodelled for use on later Pantera works.

The deluxe edition of ‘Vulgar Display of Power’ is released in the UK on 14th May. In addition to the original album + ‘Piss’, the package also includes a bonus DVD featuring the original promo clips for ‘Mouth For War’, ‘Walk’ and This Love’, plus five clips filmed at the Italian Monsters of Rock Festival in 1992. The new promo clip for ‘Piss’ is not included.

Video is NSFW.