Another new DISMEMBER track, entitled "Death Conquers All", has been posted on a special DISMEMBER MySpace page launched by Regain Records. The song comes off the Swedish death metallers' forthcoming self-titled album, due in Europe on February 18 via Regain. The CD was recorded at B.A.S. studios with producer Nico Elgstrand (MURDER SQUAD, KRUX, MERCILESS, ENTOMBED).
"Dismember" (' ) track listing:
01. Death Conquers All 02. Europa Burns 03. Under A Bloodred Sky 04. The Hills Have Eyes 05. Legion 06. Tide Of Blood 07. Combat Fatigue 08. No Honor In Death 09. To End It All 10. Dark Depths 11. Black Sun
Swedish progressive death metallers SKYFIRE have entered Powernest Studios to begin recording its as-yet-untitled follow-up to 2004's "Spectral", due later in the year via Florida's Pivotal Rockordings. Mixing and mastering will be handled by Jonas Kjellgren (SCAR SYMMETRY) at Black Lounge Studios (SONIC SYNDICATE, SCAR SYMMETRY, THE ABSENCE, ZONARIA).
Commented the band: "Drums, rhythm guitars, keys, and something we can't yet reveal to you are done for two songs. Two more songs will probably be finished by the end of this week! Unfortunately at this point it is too early to tell how many songs will be on the album because we have a lot of material written and we are even doing some last-minute writing in the studio."
SKYFIRE bassist and founding member Martin Hanner previously stated about the upcoming CD, "Expect the traditional SKYFIRE sound, but also expect some new elements that we have never experimented with before. We also cannot wait to work with Jonas Kjellgren, who will be mixing and mastering the new record. He is one of the most talented up and coming producers in metal right now, and we are certain that he will take SKYFIRE's sound to the next level!"
PAIN/HYPOCRISY mainman Peter Tägtgren has issued the following update:
"We wanna thank everybody that voted for PAIN on the Swedish Metal Awards and made our album the 'Best Metal Album Of The Year' 2007.
"I'm working on the new [PAIN CD] and it will see the light in September 2008, with a lot of bonus from the shows we did in 2007.
"Michael Bohlin [PAIN guitarist] will sit out the NIGHTWISH tour because of work, but he will be back for the festivals. Niclas [Engelin] from ENGEL will help us out on this one."
PAIN will support NIGHTWISH on their European tour beginning on February 17 in Vilnius, Lithuania.
AFM Records has set a March 7, 2008 release date for AVANTASIA's "The Metal Opera - Gold Edition", a two-CD set containing the first two AVANTASIA albums, "The Metal Opera" (2001) and "The Metal Opera Pt. 2" (2002). The package will come in a luxury digibook with golden CDs, 40-sided booklet, liner notes, previously unpublished photos and bonus material.
Drummer Hans Rutten of Holland's THE GATHERING has issued the following update:
"Century Media is about to release 'Sand and Mercury', a 10-CD [!] box with all our Century Media releases gathered in a nice box for a fair price (around 30/35 euros). I wrote liner notes for every album. The box set is limited to 3,000 copies.
"This year it's 10 years ago we released 'How To Measure A Planet?', so you figure out what will be Century Media's next special release.
"Another special release: Vic Records will re-release 'Downfall - The Early Years' this spring. It contains the 'Downfall' CD as well as an interesting six-track demo we did for 'Almost A Dance' with former vocalist Bart Smits. Recorded at the beginning of 1992, this demo was the last recording we did with Bart. Very interesting material.
"The owner of Vic Records, Roel, is an old school mate of me and Bart and kindly asked us to do a re-release, as the original 'Downfall' CD isn't available anymore.
"This release is a true revival of the old-school demo tape days. More info at www.vicrecords.com.
"And back into the present: We were asked by ProductieHuis & MusicLab Brabant to write music for a dance ensemble. This cross-over combination of music and dance will be called 'Arr. 2'.
"And yes, we are working on new material. Trust us and don't worry. You will hear new GATHERING songs in 2008."
JON OLIVA'S PAIN, the band led by SAVATAGE mastermind Jon Oliva, has revealed the cover artwork for its upcoming album, "Global Warning", due in Europe on March 21 via AFM Records (Locomotive Records in the U.S.).
"Global Warning" features a guest appearance by guitarist Ralph Santolla (OBITUARY, ex-DEICIDE, DEATH, ICED EARTH) on two songs: "Adding the Cost" and "You'll Never Know".
Finnish metallers CHILDREN OF BODOM have revealed the track listing for the new album, "Blooddrunk", due in Europe on April 7, 2008 via Spinefarm Records (two days later in Finland).
"Blooddrunk" was recorded and produced by Mikko Karmila at Petrax and Finnvox studios in Finland during October, November and December 2007, except vocals, which were recorded by Peter Tägtren, and keyboards, which were recorded by Janne Wirman at Petrax studios, Finland, during October, November and December 2007. The CD was mixed at Finnvox by Mikko Karmila in November 2007 and it was mastered at Finnvox by Mika Jussila in December 2007.
"Blooddrunk" track listing: 01. Hellhounds On My Trail 02. Blooddrunk 03. LoBodomy 04. One Day You Will Cry 05. Smile Pretty For The Devil 06. Tie My Rope 07. Done With Everything, Die For Nothing 08. Banned From Heaven 09. Roadkill Morning
CHILDREN OF BODOM will release a new single, "Blooddrunk", in Finland on February 27, 2008 (March 3 in the rest of Europe).
The band recently traveled to Germany to film two videos, both of which were produced by Katapult Filmproduktion.
Speaking to Revolver magazine, CHILDREN OF BODOM frontman Alexi Laiho stated about the songwriting process for "Blooddrunk", "This time we wanted to make things more difficult. So I've been including some progressive sounds. Not in an annoying way, though; if we do progressive music, we want people to actually listen to it. We won't become a DEPECHE MODE cover band. If we ever get tired of playing metal. That's the end of CHILDREN OF BODOM."
According to Revolver magazine, two PANTERA fans — Houston's Joey Riordan and Toronto's Mangra — are trying to get a commemorative "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott statue erected in his hometown in Dallas. As inspiration, they cite existing monuments to Jimi Hendrix (in Seattle), Elvis Presley (in Memphis), and THIN LIZZY frontman Phil Lynott (Dublin, Ireland). "Getting Dimebag Darrell a statue in Dallas matters," Riordan tells Revolver. "That was, his memory will live on."
According to Kerrang! magazine, former 3 COLOURS RED / THERAPY? / SKYCLAD drummer Keith Baxter has passed away.
Baxter, who shot to fame with 3 COLOURS RED in the '90s, died of liver failure in hospital on January 4, 2008, surrounded by family and friends. He was 36 years old.
Baxter was born in Lancaster, Lancashire, UK. As a teenager he became a founding member of SKYCLAD, recording five albums with them before leaving in 1995 to join 3 COLOURS RED, with whom he recorded two UK top 40 albums ("Pure" and "Revolt") which included six Top 40 singles.
Following 3 COLOURS RED's split in 1999, he formed ELEVATION with former 3 COLOURS RED bandmate Pete Vuckovic. The group signed with Sony but was dropped a year later. He briefly played with the Northern Irish band THERAPY? in 2002.
3 COLOURS RED reunited to record a third album ("The Union of Souls") in 2004, but split up again the following year.
Another new DISMEMBER track, entitled "Death Conquers All", has been posted on a special DISMEMBER MySpace page launched by Regain Records. The song comes off the Swedish death metallers' forthcoming self-titled album, due in Europe on February 18 via Regain. The CD was recorded at B.A.S. studios with producer Nico Elgstrand (MURDER SQUAD, KRUX, MERCILESS, ENTOMBED).
Swedish progressive death metallers SKYFIRE have entered Powernest Studios to begin recording its as-yet-untitled follow-up to 2004's "Spectral", due later in the year via Florida's Pivotal Rockordings. Mixing and mastering will be handled by Jonas Kjellgren (SCAR SYMMETRY) at Black Lounge Studios (SONIC SYNDICATE, SCAR SYMMETRY, THE ABSENCE, ZONARIA).
PAIN/HYPOCRISY mainman Peter Tägtgren has issued the following update:
AFM Records has set a March 7, 2008 release date for AVANTASIA's "The Metal Opera - Gold Edition", a two-CD set containing the first two AVANTASIA albums, "The Metal Opera" (2001) and "The Metal Opera Pt. 2" (2002). The package will come in a luxury digibook with golden CDs, 40-sided booklet, liner notes, previously unpublished photos and bonus material.
"Century Media is about to release 'Sand and Mercury', a 10-CD [!] box with all our Century Media releases gathered in a nice box for a fair price (around 30/35 euros). I wrote liner notes for every album. The box set is limited to 3,000 copies. 
JON OLIVA'S PAIN, the band led by SAVATAGE mastermind Jon Oliva, has revealed the cover artwork for its upcoming album, "Global Warning", due in Europe on March 21 via AFM Records (Locomotive Records in the U.S.).
Finnish metallers CHILDREN OF BODOM have revealed the track listing for the new album, "Blooddrunk", due in Europe on April 7, 2008 via Spinefarm Records (two days later in Finland).
According to Revolver magazine, two PANTERA fans — Houston's Joey Riordan and Toronto's Mangra — are trying to get a commemorative "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott statue erected in his hometown in Dallas. As inspiration, they cite existing monuments to Jimi Hendrix (in Seattle), Elvis Presley (in Memphis), and THIN LIZZY frontman Phil Lynott (Dublin, Ireland). "Getting Dimebag Darrell a statue in Dallas matters," Riordan tells Revolver. "That was, his memory will live on."