Metal News.

· On Sat 15 Dec, Viva (formerly Night Train) will play host to Metal Holocaust '07, a huge show whose diverse line-up will comprise local metal veterans Blistered Palms and Almost Human (the latter playing their first gig in fourteen years), as well as death/thrash outfit The Harrowed (the band formerly known as Fury), and glam/rock/punk band Diamond Sins, whose "larger-than-life stage show includes sexy dancers, homemade explosions and much more". Doors open at 8 PM.

· Moving onto goings-on in the wider world of metal, the big news for this fortnight is, of course, the untimely death of Quiet Riot vocalist Kevin DuBrow, who passed away in his Las Vegas home not long after celebrating his 52nd birthday - DuBrow is thought to have died nearly a week before his body was found by a neighbour on the 25th of November. Although the cause of death has yet to be determined, it is not being regarded as suspicious at present.

· Another, lesser-known metal musician to die recently in the US was a certain Mario Gutierrez, who played guitar in an LA-based death/thrash band called Engrave, and who died after an argument with his brother-in-law at a family Thanksgiving gathering turned violent. Provoked by a comment the latter individual made about Gutierrez's wife, the argument degenerated into pushing and shoving, and ended with the 37 year-old Gutierrez being fatally shot by his brother-in-law, who turned himself into the police several hours later.

· The outlook continues to look gloomy for Decapitated singer Adrian "Covan" Kowanek, who remains in a Polish hospital after his involvement (over a month ago now) in a horrific road accident that saw bandmate Witold "Vitek" Kieltyka die of serious head injuries. Kowanek suffered similar injuries himself, and is said to be in a "very serious but stable" condition right now.

· On the subject of injuries, Satyricon's Frost recently broke his foot after slipping on icy ground and landing awkwardly. It was apparently not the first time the Satyricon drummer had suffered such an injury; the last time he did so, in 2003, he was actually able to keep playing. This time, however, the complicated nature of the fracture he suffered has necessitated a stay of at least a week in hospital, and forced the band to pull out of a big show they were scheduled to perform at in Holland.

· Brutality were a death metal band from Florida who formed in 1986, and went through a couple of name changes before settling on their final moniker in 1987. After releasing a bunch of demos and singles, they put out their first album 'Screams of Anguish' in 1993, following it up a year later with 'When the Sky Turns Black'. A third album, 'In Mourning', came out in 1996, by which time the band had unfortunately blanded down their sound and (even worse) their memorable logo (which had dragons in it!); a year later, they broke up. They came back together in 2001, only to dissolve again when guitarist, vocalist and co-founder Larry Sapp died in 2004. Another former member, Bryan Hipp, died of unknown causes last year. For those yet to acquaint themselves with the music of this classic (and sadly underrated) band, some songs of theirs have been posted up at www.myspace.com/brutalityflorida.

James Brazel (jbr09171@bigpond.net.au)