So we're back... after a long, unintended hibernation. But, spring has sprung and so we have re-emerged, just in time for our 16th Anniversary.

John Wetton guests on the new Renaissance album Grandine il Vento, which is/was due out this month. A sample of the track "Blood Silver Like Moonlight" can be heard here: www.renaissancetouring.com.

dUg Pinnick, frontman for legendary hard rock trio King's X, releases his latest solo album, Naked, on May 7, 2013, through RockArmy Records with worldwide distribution through MVD.

Naked is a deeply personal release that represents Pinnick - who wrote, played, recorded, and produced the album alone at his own dUgtone Studio - at his most primal. Each of Naked's 11 guitar-heavy tracks are overflowing with Pinnick's unmistakable tone, groove, and heart-wrenching vocals, including the singles "What You Gonna Do?" - which took YouTube by storm with a self-shot video that Pinnick created and unleashed in late 2012 - and "That Great Big Thing."

It's been quiet in the Ayreon camp for the past couple of months, but Arjen Lucassen has broken his silence to reveal that the title of the eagerly anticipated forthcoming new album will be The Theory Of Everything, and that it will be a double album! Aiming for a tentative release at the end of this year, Arjen had this to say about the album's progress:

Upcoming Release Out June 11
New Album Marks First For Band On New Label, Century Media, And First With Vocalist Todd La Torre

Legendary Seattle rockers Queensrÿche return with new music from their upcoming soon-to-be-titled release slated for June 11th. The band debuted the full version of the song "Redemption" on SiriusXM Satellite Radio on Monday, March 25th on Ozzy's Boneyard and Eddie Trunk Live/Trunk Nation simultaneously. The song is posted on the label's YouTube page and can be viewed here

The Last Embrace To Humanity, the second album from the Italian prog masters Odd Dimenson is out now through Scarlet Records. The follow-up to their critically acclaimed debut release Symmetrical (2011) sets new standards for the band, elevating their sound to a more mature level and recalling atmospheres by the classic Rock masters without losing the impact of their trademark Progressive approach.

Chris McMahon writes: "Haze - The Last Battle, our first studio CD in over 20 years, is released today [Mar 25]! Available from Amazon and www.gabadon.co.uk

"Veteran rockers Haze have recorded their first studio CD of new original songs in over 20 years. The Last Battle features 14 new recordings by the 'classic' Haze line-up of the McMahon brothers and Paul Chisnell, with sisters Cat & Ceri Ashton adding strings & woodwind.

In late March, it was announced: Some Kind Of Poetic Destruction, Factory of Dreams' 4th album, has just been released.

It's a conceptual scifi album that follows the adventures of Kyra, a unique and mysterious character who holds the key to our fate. Something is closing in on the Earth. What is it? What is its purpose? What will happen to Earth? Discover the storyline, full of surprises and mysteries, as we follow Kyra on an epic journey to find her purpose, faith and destiny throughout the album.

Israel's very own Orphaned Land is in the final stages of recording their long awaited 6th full length album. The name of the new album will be All Is One, and it will see the light of day on June 24th in Europe and June 25th in North America via Century Media Records.

Vocalist Kobi Farhi comments about the new album and the progressive evolution of the band's music since their last full length, The Never Ending Way Of ORwarriOR:

Believe, one of the most interesting and original bands on the Polish art/prog-rock scene, return with a brand new album. Their fifth studio album, entitled The Warmest Sun In Winter, is set to be released on April 22nd in Europe and June 4th in USA (via MVD).

And you can listen to the first track taken from The Warmest Sun In Winter, "Unborn/Turn Around," which is available on Metal Mind Productions' channel on YouTube at this location.

British hard rock legends Deep Purple will release their 19th studio album on April 26, 2013 via earMUSIC, the Hamburg, Germany-based international rock label which is part of Edel Group.

After various songwriting sessions in Europe, the band recorded and mixed the album in Nashville, Tennessee with producer Bob Ezrin (Kiss, Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, Alice Cooper, Kansas). The CD is expected to contain 13 tracks, including "Out Of Hand," "Hell To Pay," "Weirdistan," "Uncommon Man" and "Above And Beyond." The latter song references the band's late keyboard player, Jon Lord, in the lyric "Souls having touched are forever entwined."