The quartet, whose sixth album ‘AM’ just topped the UK charts and landed on the shortlist for the 2013 Mercury Prize – losing out to the unexpected victory of James Blake’s ‘Overgrown’ – are the first act announced for the Scottish music festival, set to take place July 11-13 next year.

Geoff Ellis, Festival Director for T in the Park, exclaimed:

‘We’re thrilled to announce Arctic Monkeys as our first headliners for T In The Park 2014. After this year’s fantastic 20th year celebrations, we asked our audience who they’d like to see at next year’s festival and Arctic Monkeys came top of the poll, so we’re really pleased to be able to confirm them for T In The Park’.

Arctic Monkeys are one of the UK’s most sought after festival performers – having headlined Glastonbury this summer, as well as playing top slots at V Festival, Reading and Leeds. This will be their third headline set at T in the Park, having closed the main stage in 2007 and 2011.

T in the Park celebrated its 20^th anniversary this July, with over 80, 000 punters gathering for a bill topped by The Killers, Rihanna and Mumford and Sons.

Industrial figurehead Nine Inch Nails is set to tour the United Kingdom in May next year.

 Trent Reznor’s legendary industrial rock project returned from an extended hiatus in X with a new album, ‘Hesitation Marks’ , a collaborative video for the track, ‘Came Back Haunted’, with directing virtuoso David Lynch, and a series of shows, including sub-headlining at Reading and Leeds Festivals in August.

The UK leg of the tour will consist of just six dates, at various arenas in England, Scotland and Wales, concluding in Manchester on the 25^th before the band departs for Italy, where the tour will conclude, having travelled across Australia, New Zealand and Latin America.

Support will come in the form of Cold Cave, which, like NIN, is the moniker of a single musician, Philadelphian noise artist Wesley Eisold, whose work collages darkwave and synthpop.

Nine Inch Nails will play the following UK dates in 2014:

May 18^th – Birmingham LG Arena

May 20^th – Glasgow Hydro Arena

May 21^st – Cardiff Motorpoint Arena

May 23^rd – London O2 Arena

May 24^th – Nottingham Capital FM Arena

May 25^th – Manchester Phones4u Arena

‘Hesitation Marks’ is out now.

Check out the Lynch-directed video for ‘Came Back Haunted’ below:

The film, due for DVD and Blu-Ray release on 29^th November, covers the bands August 3^rd performance at Wacken Open Air, alongside a two hour documentary entitled, ‘Please Learn the Setlist in 48 Hours’.

The show concluded the 104 date, ‘Imaginaerium World Tour’, during which the role of vocalist was taken on by Dutch singer Floor Jansen, following the departure of former frontwoman, Annette Olzon.  Jansen has since been confirmed as the new permanent vocalist.

Keyboardist and spokesman Tuomas Holopainen stated, ‘Our darling flying Dutchwoman, Floor Jansen, has been nothing but incredible during her time in NIGHTWISH on this tour, so this is a perfect opportunity to immortalize the current vibe of the band on film!”

1. 01.   Dark Chest Of Wonders
2. 02.   Wish I Had An Angel
3. 03.   She Is My Sin
4. 04.   Ghost River
5. 05.   Ever Dream
6. 06.   Storytime
7. 07.   I Want My Tears Back
8. 08.   Nemo
9. 09.   Last Of The Wilds
10. 10.   Bless The Child
11. 11.   Romanticide
12. 12.   Amaranth
13. 13.   Ghost Love Score
14. 14.   Song Of Myself
15. 15.   Last Ride Of The Day
16. 16.   Outro (Imaginaerum)

‘Showtime, Storytime’ will be released on November 29^th.

Check out the sample clips below.

Renowned British guitarist and founding Black Sabbath member Tony Iommi will be among a selection of individuals receiving honorary degrees at Coventry University next week.

The musician, 65, will be given the distinction along with fellow honourees, including artist George Shaw and Her Royal Highness Princess Rym Ali of Jordan, as well as the 7,000 graduands of Coventry University.

Iommi’s contributions to the British musical world are without question. In founding Black Sabbath in Birmingham in 1968 with fellow members Bill Ward and Ozzy Osbourne, he helped to create a band generally recognised as history’s first heavy metal act. Iommi himself is widely recognised as one of metal’s most innovative and influential guitarists, ranked at no.25 in Rolling Stone’s list of greatest guitarists for his concise and dextrous riff development.

Outside of his work with Black Sabbath, Iommi has also played with Jethro Tull and Heaven and Hell, as well as releasing three albums as a solo artist.

Iommi re-united with his Black Sabbath bandmates in 2012, releasing their first album in 18 years, entitled, ‘13’, earlier this year. Despite being diagnosed with lymphoma in early 2012, Iommi’s musical commitment has not wavered, continuing to tour around the world and returning to the UK periodically for treatment.

The vice-chancellor of Coventry University stated, ‘It’s a pleasure to be welcoming these exemplary individuals to our graduation ceremonies to receive their awards alongside our graduating students. Each of them has excelled in their field in such a way as to be worthy of recognition, and I hope our own students will be inspired by the drive and commitment they have shown throughout their careers.”

The title of the album has not yet been released, but vocalist Andreas ‘Whiplasher Bernadotte’ Bergh has discussed the process as:

‘Its an adventure for us. It’s as if it is a phenomenon of its own, and our forum for destruction, glitter and darkness.

“We are very excited about the new material and every time we hit the studio, we never know what the outcome will be. I mean, we have a general idea, but we’re never a 100 percent sure how the final result will be until we’re done and can sit back and listen to it’.

The album will be celebrated with an extensive European tour entitled, ‘Claws Through Europe’, commencing in their Swedish homeland in mid-March, and concluding in Russia on 6^th April.

The album will also be their first as a four-piece, following the departure of guitarist Eric ‘Cat Casino’ Backman.

Deathstars will play the following UK dates next March:

Mon 25^th March – The Garage, London

Wed 26^th March – Academy 3, Manchester

Thu 27^th March – Slade Rooms, Wolverhampton

No tracks from the new album have been made available yet. Check out an early hit, ‘Cyanide’ below:

The singer issued the following official statement:

“After careful consideration, I’ve decided to stay at home where I am needed most right now, with my family and newborn son, and not support Avenged Sevenfold with Device on their current November-December run. I want to thank my brothers in Avenged Sevenfold for the opportunity, for their friendship, and their understanding, and I look forward to seeing all of you again sometime in the future.”

Draiman, well known for fronting Disturbed has been playing with industrial side-project Device since Disturbed went on hiatus in 2011. Device’s debut, self-titled album was released earlier this year.  Draiman married Lena Yada, a former model and WWE wrestler, in 2011, and the couple welcomed their first child, Samuel Bear Isamu, on September 12^th.

The tour will begin in Finland on November 6^th, and conclude in the UK in early December. It has not yet been confirmed who will replace Device.

In addition to his work with Device and Disturbed, Draiman has also spent this year producing Trivium’s sixth album, ‘Vengeance Falls’, which is out now.

Check out Device’s single, ‘Vilify’, below:

Blake was announced the winner at tonights ceremony at the Roundhouse in London, having been voted by a panel of music industry professionals. His win comes as something of a surprise, beating bookies favourite Laura Mvula, who was the pick to win for her debut, ‘Sing to the Moon’. Rudimental and Foals were also considered more likely bets than Blake.

The electronic musician from London had already seen one nomination for the prestigious award, when his self-titled debut was shortlisted in 2011, losing to PJ Harvey’s, ‘Let England Shake’.

Opening his acceptance speech with, ‘Well, I lost a bet’, Blake kept the speech short and sweet, thanking his parents and three friends, before leaving the stage without his award, necessitating an awkward return to the platform.

The ceremony, featuring performances from several of the nominated acts, saw a brief hitch at the beginning when the televised broadcast was interrupted for several minutes.

A reminder of the nominees:

• Arctic Monkeys – ‘AM’
• James Blake – ‘Overgrown’
• David Bowie – ‘The Next Day’
• Disclosure – ‘Settle’
• Jake Bugg – ‘Jake Bugg’
• Foals – ‘Holy Fire’
• Jon Hopkins – ‘Immunity’
• Laura Marling – ‘Once I Was An Eagle’
• Laura Mvula – ‘Shout to the Moon’
• Rudimental – ‘Home’
• Savages – ‘Silence Yourself’
• Villagers – ‘(Awayland)’

Check out a sample from James Blake’s Mercury Prize winning album, the track, ‘Retrograde’ below:

Reed had been unwell for several months following a liver transplant in April, though his physician stated he had been ‘fighting right up until the end’.

With a career spanning nearly five decades, few can claim a musical legacy as important as Mr. Reed’s.  Beginning as a radio DJ and in-house songwriter in the early 1960’s, Reed eventually founded a little band with his roommate that would change music history.

While The Velvet Underground may have become eclipsed by their own iconography in the eyes of younger music fans – the famous Banana image is as prevalent to alternative culture as the visage of Che Guevera – their influence is undeniable, and their debut,  ‘The Velvet Underground & Nico’, while commercially unsuccessful at the time, has gone on to earn recognition as one of the most influential rock albums of all time   ‘Only 10,000 people bought the album.’ Brian Eno famously mused years later, ‘but everyone who bought it went out and formed a band.’

Lou Reed departed The Velvet Underground and after a brief career break, turned to solo work, releasing two albums, ‘Lou Reed’ and ‘Transformer’ in 1972. The latter, in a case of history repeating itself, met mixed reviews at the time, but has since gained enormous critical accolade, recognised as among the best albums of the era, and launching the renowned tracks, ‘Perfect Day’ and ‘Walk on the Wild Side’.

Several successful albums followed, though Reed did not always take kindly to commercial success, evidenced by his fifth album, ‘Metal Machine Music’, an unlistenable hour-long piece consisting entirely of distorted feedback, generally viewed as a middle finger to his record company.

Reed released twenty-five albums in total as a solo artist, and twelve with The Velvet Underground, reuniting with them at various points in the 80’s and 90’s.

Reed continued to perform into his elder years, collaborating with Gorillaz, Metric, and Metallica, as well as supporting numerous political and social causes.

In tribute to his stellar career, below is but a small sample, his 1972 hit, ‘Walk on the Wild Side’.

The Columbian Coke Zero website indicated via a poster that the metal titans were set to play the Earth’s southernmost continent in a Coca-Cola funded event. This coincides with a statement from drummer Lars Ulrich in an interview last month in which he cryptically claimed that ‘there’s a very interesting thing coming our way in December’, and that Metallica were heading for ‘another frontier’.

Though nothing seems to have been confirmed, a gig in Antarctica would certainly live up to Ulrich’s claim. This gig would make Metallica one of the only bands to have played the area, and allow them the rare boast of having performed on every continent.

Who the potential crowd would consist of is unclear – though the image of a horde of penguins headbanging to ‘Master of Puppets’ would be a joy to behold. Antarctica has no permanent residents, though at any given time between 1000-4000 research scientists – often biologists, oceanographers and glaceologists – are based there. Coca-Cola, who appear to be sponsoring the event, have funded independent expeditions to the continent in the past.

Metallica’s feature film, ‘Metallica: Through the Never’ was released in the UK at the beginning of the month. A new album is expected at some point next year.

The track was written specifically for the upcoming film, ‘Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom’, starring ‘Luther’ actor Idris Elba as former political prisoner and South African president Nelson Mandela, and features in the films theatrical trailer.

Bono and his crew released their most recent album, ‘No Line on the Horizon’, in 2009. An upcoming thirteenth studio album is currently in the works, on which ‘Ordinary Love’ will presumably feature. Two non-album singles have been released in the meantime, including ‘I Will Follow’ a track from their headlining set at the 2011 Glastonbury Festival, but there have been no new releases since 2011.

‘Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom’, directed by Justin Chadwick, premiered at the 38^th Toronto Film Festival in September, and has been touted as a contender for the upcoming Academy Awards. If successful, ‘Ordinary Love’ could become a contender for the Best Original Song category. U2 have been nominated once before, for their song, ‘The Hands That Built America’, written for the 2002 film ‘Gangs of New York’, but lost to Eminem’s, ‘Lose Yourself’, for his film, ‘8 Mile’. The band have also written for the films, ‘Batman Forever’, ‘In America’ and ‘Brothers’.

‘Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom’ will be released in the United Kingdom on the 3^rd of January next year.

‘Ordinary Love’ is available through the bands website.

Check out the trailer, featuring the song, below: