White Noise: News on Metallica, Bleeding Through, Obituary, Katatonia and More

Welcome to Monday, folks. Is it just us, or do the weekends just fly by like Bruce Dickinson? We're just going to blast Inquisition all morning until we feel better. Anyways, it was a gorgeous weekend here in New York City, and its looking like the week may be just as beautiful. And over the weekend, a lot went down in the metal world. We've got tour announcements and band lineup shifts. It's White Noise... keeping you in the know.

+ Former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash has taken to his MySpace page, to update fans on his forthcoming solo album, which he's been recording with hired gun drummer Josh Freese and ex-Jane's Addiction bassist Chris Chaney. "We're almost done with vocals - two more songs left and a couple of odds and ends," Slash writes. "Then, I can stand back and see what we've got. It is a f-king awesome ensemble, that much I do know, with brilliant performances from each and every singer. I do hope to have a release date soon, but I can assure you, as I said before, it won't be this year."

+ Metallica were handed the "Ballsiest Band" award at the third annual Spike Guys' Choice Awards, which taped over the weekend and airs June 21. Kitman Lars Ulrich and bassist Robert Trujillo were on hand to accept the honor from the members of Anvil.

+ Bleeding Through has added guitarist Dave Nassie to the fold, as the replacement for Jona Weinhofen. He informed the band during its recent North American tour "that he would be leaving the band. As he put it, while he enjoyed his time with us, he missed Australia and of course our well-documented financial struggles last year due to Trustkill Records' lack of timely commitment to their contractual obligations (which continue; they are 90 days late on royalties) all led to his decision." Meanwhile, Weinhofen has already joined Bring Me The Horizon, according to reports.

+ Obituary is streaming a new track, 'List Of Dead,' from their forthcoming LP "Darkest Day," which hits stores June 30.

+ Swedish black metal masters Vandöd plan to hit the studio this month to begin recording their second full-length album, 'Dö.' The album follows 2007's 'As,' and is due in stores this fall. Drummer Daniel Wikforss says the album "is going to surprise quite a few people. We're not prepared to go into too much detail yet, but let me reassure fans that we have no intention of becoming a technical band."

+ Katatonia guitarist Anders Nyström says the band has been hard at work on their eighth studio disc, writing fresh material for the disc, which they play to record this summer. "We can already confirm that initially 13 tracks will be recorded and a selection of 11 to 12 songs will make it onto the album. We got a few big surprises to reveal and we're confident this material is our most varied, diverse and possibly strongest sh-t all together on one and the same album." The as-yet-untitled album will be in stores this October.

+ Monstrosity, Thornafire, and Torn The F-ck Apart will be teaming up next month for a quick U.S. run. The tour kicks off in Stuart, Florida, on July 1, and runs through July 25 in New Port Richey, Florida.