Is Thomas Lang's supposed fractured foot, actually been confirmed? He hasn't posted anything about it in any of he's websites, and he tweets just about everything and hasn't mentioned anything about this. And there is nothing about the cancellation of the Seattle Drum Boot Camp, on the official site, I would think that if it was actually cancelled they WOULD post something about it.
About Mangini... He sure is an awesome drummer, has a world record of being the fastest (though I could care less, about such claims as speed for the sake of speed does nothing for me) but I think I would be a bit dissapointed if he were the chosen one simply because, I have not heard anything from him that has impressed me, not even he's solos, I just don't see in him the creativity that someone like Lang or Minnemann would surely bring.
I guess other factors would come to play like personality, friendships etc, because if we were talking about technique and creativity alone, both Lang and Minnemann surpass Mangini by a lot.
About Aquiles Priester, he is a great drummer and if you guys have not heard he's work in Angra you are missing some great music and drumming, he wouldn't have any problems playing what Mike did on DT,however I don't think he even auditioned, I totally agree about the language barrier. Hey, maybe he is great at speaking english, but have any of you guys heard him speak it? here is some of Aquiles Priester's work:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4J5rM--cws https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDcdVfcPDaI&feature=related PS. here he DOES look and sound like a Terminator! LOL