Monday 21st March sees the release of ADEMA’s lead-off single ‘Tornado’ from their hotly anticipated new album ‘Planets’. Available for one week only, on CD Single and 7" Vinyl, both limited editions contain exclusive non album B-side tracks including a cover of Metallica's 'The Thing That should Not Be'. In other news, hot on the heels of Henry Rollins, 50 Cent, The Vandals and comedian Robin Williams, rockers ADEMA have been invited by the USO to fly out to the Persian Gulf to do a series of shows for the troops stationed in the area. For ADEMA’s new vocalist Luke Caraccioli, this is even more poignant as Luke, up until the summer last year was in the Marines, is going to play shows where his former unit are based. They will be in the Middle East on the day their new album ‘Planets’ is released in the U.S.
Norwegian Goth Rockers MORTIIS are due to release their second single from the critically acclaimed album ‘The Grudge’. The new single will be ‘Decadent & Desperate” and is due to be released in the UK on 25th April, and comes with 4 newly recorded tracks, exclusive to this release.
LINEA 77 have begun recording their new album in the famed Ameraycan Studio, Los Angeles with Dave Dominguez. This will be the follow up to ‘Numb’ - the album that brought them a European MTV Award Nomination.
Finnish noisecore act CALLISTO are set to release their debut for Earache - ‘True Nature Unfolds’ on Monday 28th March and have confirmed a Uk tour with High On Fire & Winnebego Deal
As the release of HATE ETERNAL’s new album ‘I, Monarch’ gets closer, the band have announced details of a US tour in support of the album.
Polish death metallers LOST SOUL have announced a huge European tour starting in April. This includes their first ever trip to the UK with giants VADER.
Thrash-core maniacs MUNICIPAL WASTE are in the process of finishing their debut full length album for Earache and are then planning a series of shows across the US.
The Dutch metallers NOX are gearing up to enter Excess Studios in Holland in June, to record their debut album for Wicked World ‘Ixaxaar’
There’s no rest for the wicked! After completing a near 2 month long tour of the UK & Europe, The Swedish noisecore crew are preparing to head out to the US for their first ever tour Stateside with giants Mastodon.
Debauched rockers SOCIETY 1’ brand new album ‘The Sound That Ends Creation’ is now available worldwide
Earache has now become affiliated with cult US label Willowtip, to release their artists within Europe. Willowtip is home to the likes of CEPHALIC CARNAGE, MISERY INDEX, CIRCLE OF DEAD CHILDREN to name a few.
New Releases out now:
WOLVERINE - ‘The Window Purpose’ SOCIETY 1 - ‘The Sound That Ends Creation’
New Releases – coming soon
21/03 – ADEMA - ‘Tornado” - SINGLE in UK ONLY 28/03 - CALLISTO - ‘True Nature Unfolds’ 28/03 - WITH PASSION - ‘In The Midst Of Bloodied Soil’ 11/04 - ADEMA - ‘Planets’ 25/04 – MORTIIS - ‘Decadent & Desperate’ - SINGLE 02/05 – CROWPATH – ‘Red On Chrome’ (Willowtip) 02/05 – CAPHARNAUM - ‘Fractured’ (Willowtip) 02/05 – MISERY INDEX/COMMIT SUICIDE – Split CD (Willowtip) 02/05 – WATCHMAKER - ‘Kill.Fucking.Everyone’ (Willowtip) 09/05 – CANDIRIA - ‘What Doesn’t Kill You ..’ 16/05 – BEECHER - ‘Breaking The Fourth Wall’ (includes 6 bonus tracks) 23/05 – SHORTIE - ‘Without A Promise’ 06/06 – CARNIVAL IN COAL - ‘Collection Prestige’ (Elitist) 06/06 – BIOMECHANICAL - ‘Empires Of The Worlds’
GUNS N' ROSES manager Merck Mercuriadis has dismissed as fake a newly circulated MP3 file which was previously rumored to be the new GN'R song "Twat". Sp1at spoke with Mercuriadis regarding the "leaked" recording and were assured that the song was "not GN'R." Merck also told Sp1at that if they were to host the track, he would not ask them to take it down. GN'R drummer Bryan "Brain" Mantia also told Sp1at that the track was fake, going as far as to say that it was "not even close" to the real version of "Twat".
SIRENIA, the Norwegian gothic metal band featuring former TRISTANIA guitarist/vocalist Morten Veland, have inked a deal with Nuclear Blast Records.
"SIRENIA are proud to have teamed up with Nuclear Blast. Together we will keep up the flame, and bring out the best music we could possibly offer for many years to come!" Veland said in a statement. "The last couple of months have been spent on creating new songs alongside our touring activity," the band write. "We have tons of ideas to pick from and will most likely spend the next few months on perfecting the best of this material. All the songs are meant for our next full-lenght album that most likely will be out in the beginning of next year."
Veteran San Francisco Bay Area thrashers EXODUS are selling a two-disc DVD document of their "Tempo of the Damned" record-release show, which took place March 2004 at the DNA Lounge in San Francisco. Entitled "Live at the DNA", the set contains the following track listing:
DVD One:
01. Intro / Scarred Spangled Banner 02. Deliver Us to Evil 03. Blacklist 04. Piranha 05. Til Death Do Us Part 06. Fabulous Disaster 07. Shroud of Urine 08. Parasite 09. Only Death Decides 10. Forward March 11. Chemi-Kill
DVD Two:
01. And Then There Were None 02. Culling the Herd 03. Sealed With A Fist 04. Throwing Down 05. Lesson In Violence 06. War Is My Sheppard 07. Tempo of the Damned Encore: 08. Impaler 09. Toxic Waltz 10. Bonded by Blood 11. Strike of the Beast
The first demo of DEATH HEAVEN, titled "Techno Decomposition World", is out now. It contains seven tracks of technical and aggressive death metal plus an instrumental intro. For info visit the official DEATH HEAVEN ' .
Magic Circle Music has signed an exclusive worldwide distribution deal for MANOWAR with SPV.
Magic Circle Music spokesman and MANOWAR management team member revealed that "With their professional attitude and international structure SPV won out over all the other major and independent record companies in negotiations that lasted more than a year.
MANOWAR bassist Joey DeMaio was quoted as saying " We are proud that our past with Nuclear Blast was a success that ultimately brought them their first gold record in their home territory of Germany, however since the formation of our own label, we have the very same level of responsibility to our artists and their fans as we do for MANOWAR and the MANOWAR fans, so it was absolutely necessary to find a company that could interface with our structure and would commit 100 percent of their support to us as well as to all Magic Circle bands".
MANOWAR are set to release their new single as well as their new DVD "Hell On Earth Part IV" in July of this year. The new MANOWAR album will then follow early 2006. MANOWAR will also perform live with several other Magic Circle Music bands at the Earthshaker Fest 2005 in Geiselwind/Germany on July 23, 2005.
SPV president commented, "my first working experience with MANOWAR began in 1985. SPV was the exclusive distribution partner for Roadrunner Records in Germany and as such was responsible for MANOWAR's album "Hail To England" and therefore marketed it successfully 20 years ago. I believe that signing MANOWAR will be the beginning of a longterm and fruitful pairing with the Kings Heavy Metal. This has been a true wish for two decades to continue this early collaboration on a higher level. Now with this current deal structure I am sure all of SPV's hopes and visions for a band like MANOWAR with their own label environment will come true.
The importance of MANOWAR for the whole scene, not only in Germany but in the other major-markets around the world is reason enough for me to be personally involved in all aspects of this great collaboration as it has been proven right in all of our past negotiations.
The most recent of which is the collaboration between Magic Circle Music and SPV with the outstanding success of Italian melodic-rockers RHAPSODY with Christopher Lee.
With two experienced teams working together this can only bring success!
To date MANOWAR have sold over 8 Million records Their latest album "Warriors Of The World" was released in 2002 achieving Top 5 chart positions worldwide (e.g. # 2 in Germany's Media Control Top 100 Charts) and has been certified gold.
Finnish power metallers STRATOVARIUS have posted the following message on their official web site:
"After a lot of listening and editing, the basic structure of our 11th album is getting together slowly but surely. After the turbulence of the last year, none of us has known what to expect when going into the studio.
"We have used the drums Jörg [Michael] recorded alone at Soundtrack studio about a year ago. There was about 70 gigabytes of drums, so that took a while to listen to. And bit of tough decisions, and editing, cutting and pasting. New lyrics and vocal melodies have been written, and also some new songs.
"Says Timo Tolkki (guitar): 'I recorded all my rhythm guitars during one evening. God, my fingers still hurt!! There is a construction project going on under my studio. They are building a parking hall and are exploding huge bombs twice a day. Also there is lots of drilling. I am sure that this is the first time in the history of metal that an album has been recorded under circumstances like these.'
"It has indeed been very hard to record vocals and acoustic instruments. But we are finally getting there, slowly but surely. It's flowing and the feeling is really good. The vocals will for sure be finished before [singer] Timo Kotipelto's solo tour embarks. Then of course, the mixing... the mixing... the mixing.
"STRATOVARIUS has never made a compromise when it comes to the sound and this time with [Timo Tolkki] in his own studio.. my God, anything under two months of mixing and we'll be lucky. Anyway we would like to thank you, the fans, for your patience and hope that you enjoy this progress report and some new pictures."
A brand new promotional photo of STRATOVARIUS can be viewed at '
SOILWORK vocalist Björn "Speed" Strid and BLIND GUARDIAN drummer Thomen Stauch are currently seeking a name for their new project. The collaboration, which originally went under the COLDSEED moniker, is described by Strid as "a mixture between RAMMSTEIN and ALICE IN CHAINS." A full-length album is currently being recorded and is due later in the year.
To suggest a name for the new band, visit SOILWORK's official web site at '
There is an information within LACRIMOSA's official site.
"There are only a few weeks left until May 2nd, when "Lichtgestalt" (luminous figure), our new and nineth studioalbum will be released! The aware LACRIMOSA-listener might have several associations by reading this title, which are thoroughly wanted, as this album "Lichtgestalt" takes to the point, what some previous lyrics and compositions indicated and prepared."
Norway's TURBONEGRO will release their new album, "Party Animals", throughout Europe on May 9. "Party Animals" is the follow-up to 2003's "Scandinavian Leather", and is produced by Steve McDonald, known for his work with THE WHITE STRIPES, BECK and REDD KROSS.
Songs to appear on the album include "City of Satan", "Wasted Again" and "Blow Me (Like the Wind)".
Danish hard rockers ROYAL HUNT have set "Paper Blood" as the title of their new album, tentatively due late spring/early summer through Frontiers Records.
The follow-up to 2003's "Eyewitness" was recorded at North Point studio in Copenhagen and will be mixed beginning on March 21 at EMI/Medley Studio in Copenhagen with André Andersen (keyboards) and Lars Overgaard behind the board.
"Paper Blood" track listing:
01. Break Your Chains 02. Not My Kind 03. Memory Lane 04. Never Give Up 05. Seven Days 06. SK 983 07. Kiss Of Faith 08. Paper Blood 09. Season’s Change 10. Twice Around The World
Israel's "Mesopotamian black metal" band ARALLU are currently in the studio recording their third album, "The Demon from the Ancient World", tentatively due late spring/early summer.
The upcoming CD will feature guest appearances in the track "Kill Kill Kill" by the vocalists by fellow Israeli acts SALEM (Zeev Tananboim), MOONSKIN (Yishai Swearts), BARTHOLOMEUS NIGHT (Refahim) and SHWORCHTSECHAYE (Yehi Zaken).
"The Demon from the Ancient World" track listing:
01. Dingir Xul 02. War Spirit 03. The Devil's Massacre 04. Sierra Nevada 05. Battle Ground 06. The Dead Will Rise Again 07. Sumerian Words 08. Kill Kill Kill 09. The 7 Chosen Genii 10. Tzvaot Arallu
SCARS, the power of Brazilian Thrash Metal - One of the icons of Brazilian Thrash Metal during the eighties recently came back to their activities. The band with new strength recorded at Lumen Studio the EP The Nether Hell that has as lyrical concept the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, the track list has six tracks following a furious Thrash Metal and some Death Metal influence. The first thousand copies of The Nether Hell will be totally distributed freely to the band's fans.
SCARS recently was the open act for two ANTHRAX concerts and praised by the crowd. SCARS, a big promess from Brazil. Know three music making dowload:
SUBLIMINAL CRUSHER are currently in the recording studio to begin working on their yet unnamed first full length record, tentatively due on late spring. The track list counts 11 tracks, and some of the track names are "Unfertile Suggestions", "A Poetry", "Slavery", "Fuck-simile". A cover version of a TESTAMENT classic will also be recorded, to be included as a bonus track at the end of the album.
Andrew Matte of the Regina Leader-Postt is reporting that GODSIZE, a tribute band from Winnipeg that plays the music of American metal band PANTERA, found themselves reluctantly buoyed by the success of their show after the murder of PANTERA guitarist Darrell "Dimebag" Abbott.
Any remaining pessimism among GODSIZE members was erased after their Winnipeg show was sold out, and also raised money for a charity in the slain guitarist's name.
"That crowd went crazy, they sang along to the songs, it was great," GODSIZE vocalist Paul Skelly says.
Their Regina show is the first GODSIZE "tour" date. They've never performed outside of Manitoba's capital, but Skelly is eager to perform wherever clubs and fans will have them.
GODSIZE benefits, like other PANTERA tribute acts, because Abbott's death generates new interest in PANTERA's music, Skelly admits, but it also means his band's tribute means that much more.
"It's sad that something like that happened to draw attention to the band," he says, "but playing this music feels so natural, it's almost a kiddy school kid kind of thing for us."
METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich and his girlfriend, Danish actress Connie Nielsen, attended the 2005 Vanity Fair Oscar Party at Mortons in Los Angeles, California on February 27. Check out pictures from '
As previously reported, longtime San Francisco-area resident Ulrich recently moved to New York City to live with Nielsen, according to the New York Daily News. The Danish-born Ulrich has been dating Connie since separating from his wife, Skylar, last year. Now Ulrich is spending a good chunk of his time in the Big Apple with Nielsen and her 15-year-old son, Sebastian.
Nielsen is best known for her roles in "Gladiator", "One Hour Photo" and "The Devil's Advocate".
"Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal & Grindcore" author Albert Mudrian will sign copies of his book at the Neal's Yard location of Rough Trade in the Covent Garden section of London on Wednesday, March 16 at 6 p.m. Former CARCASS frontman Jeff Walker, former CARCASS drummer Ken Owen, former NAPALM DEATH frontman and current CATHEDRAL vocalist Lee Dorrian, NAPALM DEATH bassist Shane Embury, AKERCOCKE frontman Jason Mendonca and AKERCOCKE drummer David Gray will all join the author in signing copies of "Choosing Death". The book, published by Feral House, revisits critical moments in the history of the grindcore and death metal genres. For more information, go to www.roughtrade.com or www.choosingdeath.com.
Swedish/German extreme metal act ARCH ENEMY have commenced the recording sessions for the follow-up to 2003's "Anthems of Rebellion". "We spent the last month in rehearsals and pre-production… It was pretty intense, but hard work pays off — and I believe we have come up with an amazing collection of songs," drummer Daniel Erlandsson writes on the group's web site. The first studio photos can be found at ,' .
Long-awated album of MENTAL DEMISE, the leaders of Ukrainian brutal death/grind underground and Metal Heads' Mission open air festival organisers, is out now. New effort is entitled as "Disgraceful Sores" and is available through Belarus-based Moral Insanity productions (for C.I.S.) and US-based Sevared records (for USA and the rest of world).
You can download 2 samples from the new album: ' '
BLOOD RED THRONE's video for the track "Smite" has been posted online at ' .
"Smite" comes off the group's new album, "Altered Genesis", available now in Europe on Earache Records. A U.S. release is expected on March 22.
"Altered Genesis" was recorded at DUB studio in Norway and was engineered by Endre Kirkesola. Mixing duties were handled by Valle Adzic at Studio Mega in Sweden. An MP3 of the album track "Mephitication" can be downloaded at ' .
NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) legends DIAMOND HEAD have made their new album, "All Will Be Revealed".
"All Will Be Revealed" was produced by Brian Tatler and Karl Wilcox and is available in a limited tour edition. The track listing is as follows:
01. Mine All Mine 02. Give It To Me 03. Nightmare 04. Fallen Angel 05. Alimony 06. Lost At Sea 07. Broken Pieces 08. All Will Be Revealed 09. Dead Or Living 10. Drinkin Again 11. Come Alive 12. Muddy Waters
A tribute album to German power metallers RAGE consisting of contributions from 28 Austrian metal bands will be released on June 3. Entitled "Back In Time - A Tribute To Rage", the double CD will contain the following tracks:
01. ASPHYXIA - "All I Want" 02. CEEJAY & SEQUOIA DENDRON - "Turn the Page" 03. DRUNKEN ANGELS - "Incomplete" 04. ELEFTHERIA - "Riders on the Moonlight" 05. EVENTIDE - "The Crawling Chaos" 06. EYE OF BETRAYER - "Fading Hours/Take Me to the Water Medley" 07. EYETOLEGY - "Raw Caress" 08. FATE - "Soundchaser" 09. FIRESTORM - "Solitary Man" 10. LORDS OF DECADENCE - "Paint the Devil on the Wall" 11. LOST DREAMS - "Defenders of the Ancient Life" 12. MADOG - "The Crawling Chaos" 13. MIDGARD - "From The Cradle to the Grave" 14. MIDGARD UPGRADED - "The Missing Link" 15. NEBUCHADNEZZAR - "Down" 16. SCARECROW - "Don't Fear the Winter" 17. SAVIOUR - "Take Me to the Water" 18. SCREAM - "The Mirror In Your Eyes" 19. SEQUOIA DENDRON - "War of Worlds" 20. SERENITY - "Set the World on Fire" 21. SINDUSTRY - "The Price of War" 22. SOLE - "No Lies" 23. STERNENSTAUB - "From the Cradle to the Grave" 24. STYGMA IV - "Back In Time" (acoustic) 25. SUGAR FOR LUCY - "My Rage" 26. SUICIDE - "Baby I'm Your Nightmare" 27. VALSANS - "Sent by the Devil" 28. VIVIAN - "Back in Time"
To celebrate the album's release, a CD-release party will take place on June 3 at the Planet Music in Vienna. The event will feature the band SEQUIOA DENDRON, supported by special appearances by many Austrian guest musicians, performing most of the songs from the tribute album live. Additionally, there will be a pyro show during the live set and a video show featuring original RAGE videos and a video presentation specially put together for this occasion.
Wave Gothic Treffen's Organization Center have published recently the following statement:
"Preparations for the year 2005 already started and we hope to offer an unique and prestigious program again this year.
The WGT 2005 will be from the 2005-05-13 until 2005-05-16 in Leipzig, Germany Currently there are 92 artists confirmed.
Aeternitas (D) Ah Cama-Sotz (B) And Also The Trees (UK) Angel Theory (AUS) Angels & Agony (NL) Anne Clark (UK) *acoustic* Apoptygma Berzerk (N) ASP (D) Astrovamps (USA) European premiere Atargatis (D) Beseech (S) Bloody, Dead & Sexy (D) Chamber (D) Coinside (D) Collection D ´Arnell Andrea (F) Darkseed (D) Darkwell (A) Darkwood (D) Das Ich (D) Die Krupps (D) Dive (B) Down Below (D) Elane (D) Eva O. (USA) FAQ (CH) Faun (D) Fictional (D) Fiddlers Green (D) Flowing Tears (D) Frank The Baptist (USA) Girls Under Glass (D) Golden Apes (D) Greyhound (D) Human Disease (I) I, Synthesist (USA) Ikon (AUS) In My Rosary (D) Iris (USA) Kiew (D) Love Is Colder Than Death (D) Massiv In Mensch (D) Mechanical Moth (D) Melotron (D) Merlons Lichter (D) Midnattsol (N/D) Mona Mur (D) Mono Inc. (D) Mono No Aware (D) Mordorn (D) Morthem Vlade Art (F) Mortiis (N) MS Gentur (D) Mystigma (D) Nebelhexe (N) Neuroticfish (D) Nik Page & The Sacrified Army (D) Novakill (AUS) On The Floor (D) Patty Moon (D) Paul Roland (UK) Penumbra (P) Potentia Animi (D) Psyche (D) Ravenous (D) Regicide (D) Scream Silence (D) SHNARPH (D) Silent Pain (D) Sleeping Children (F) Sonne Hagal (D) Steril (D) premiere on stage Stoa (D) Subway To Sally (D) Tanzwut (D) The Beautiful Disease (D) The Groupies (D) The Human League (UK) exclusive gig The Invincible Sex (D) The Last Days Of Jesus (SK) The Skeletal Family (UK) The Wounded (NL) Tiamat (S) Transit Poetry (D) Umbra Et Imago (D) Underwater Pilots (D) Visage (UK) Visions Of Atlantis (A) Welle:Erdball (D) Xotox (D) Xylonite Ivy (D) Zeraphine (D) Zeromancer (N)
If you read this text, means to you development of a underground on our stage is not indifferent.
The city of Rechitsa was always glorified by amateurs metal music, not only in the country, but also behind her limits. In this connection group APOCRYPHAL as organizers have decided once again it to prove.
In July Byelorussia celebrates “Day of Independence”. We as have decided to take part in this action, and to organize Open Air Metal Fest “ NEZALEŽNASĆ -2005 ”.
Dear groups and single singers! We invite you to take part in Belarussian festival of extrim music! We are interested in sponsors and information support. So, welcome!
Mikael Akerfeldt has been confirmed as the vocalist for the first and last BLOODBATH gig. This will take place at Germany's famous Wacken open air festival on the 4th of August. The band will perform songs from all three albums including the non-Akerfeldt death-bomb "Nightmares Made Flesh" that featured Peter Tagtgren on vocals. The all star line-up will consist of: Anders Nystrom (KATATONIA), Jonas Renkse (KATATONIA), Dan Swano (legendary multi musician), Martin Axenrot (NIFELHEIM, WITCHERY etc) and Mikael Akerfeldt.
OPETH will be entering Fashination street studios on March 15 to record their 8th yet untitled opus. The band are currently in rehearsal mode, which is a rare occasion having recorded the last 4 records without rehearsing. The recording will be overseen by the uprising recording mogul Jens Bogren. As of today no names for production duties have surfaced and it looks like the next record will be a band produced effort. Nothing has been decided regarding who's taking care of the mix either so we'll have to keep you wondering.
Britain's MY DYING BRIDE are putting the finishing touches on their second DVD, "Sinamorata", tentatively due in April.
The disc will reportedly include live footage (12 songs) shot on November 2, 2003 in Antwerpen, Belgium, as well as backstage extras, the "The Blue Lotus" video (exclusive to this DVD) directed and conceived by David Palzer, the "Prize of Beauty" promotional clip, two videos made by MY DYING BRIDE fans ("Hope the Destroyer" and "My Wine In Silence") and a photo gallery featuring fan-created artwork inspired by the band's music.
Former LOST HORIZON mebers Daniel Heiman (vocals) and Fredrik Olsson (guitar) have joined forces in a brand new new project called HEED. The group, whose current lineup is completed by drummer Mats Karlsson (stand-in drummer for LOST HORIZON's Spanish tour), recently completed work on a two-song recording at Bohus studio with producers Tobias Lindell and Dragan Tanaskovic of Bohus Entertainment. Download audio samples from the group's official web site: "Tears of Prodigy" (' ) and "Moments" (' ).
Monday 21st March sees the release of ADEMA’s lead-off single ‘Tornado’ from their hotly anticipated new album ‘Planets’. Available for one week only, on CD Single and 7" Vinyl, both limited editions contain exclusive non album B-side tracks including a cover of Metallica's 'The Thing That should Not Be'.
Finnish power metallers STRATOVARIUS have posted the following message on their official web site:
SOILWORK vocalist Björn "Speed" Strid and BLIND GUARDIAN drummer Thomen Stauch are currently seeking a name for their new project. The collaboration, which originally went under the COLDSEED moniker, is described by Strid as "a mixture between RAMMSTEIN and ALICE IN CHAINS." A full-length album is currently being recorded and is due later in the year.
BESEECH news:
Long-awated album of MENTAL DEMISE, the leaders of Ukrainian brutal death/grind underground and Metal Heads' Mission open air festival organisers, is out now. New effort is entitled as "Disgraceful Sores" and is available through Belarus-based Moral Insanity productions (for C.I.S.) and US-based Sevared records (for USA and the rest of world).
If you read this text, means to you development of a underground on our stage is not indifferent.
Sometimes they are back!!!
Britain's MY DYING BRIDE are putting the finishing touches on their second DVD, "Sinamorata", tentatively due in April.