Just a small update of news from our camp for whoever is interested. We have just recorded three new tracks for a forthcoming EP to be released by Serpent's Lair records. The new, lengthy compositions are called 'The pains of sleep' and 'Pavor Nocturnus' and they have been recorded at The Lodge in Northampton. We have also re-recorded our cover of Katatonia's 'For funerals to come', to be also included in the EP. The track has been recorded at Priory Studios and engineered by Greg Chandler. Furthermore, our full '1000 years' demo shall be remastered and included as bonus on the EP. The new material clocks at 29 minutes, so all together you'll get 62 minutes of funereal music. More updates and hopefully a sample will follow soon at the Pantheist site and forum.
There are also some line-up changes in the band. We welcome Sterghios on drums (ex Monsterworks) who has already recorded with us on the new tracks. Unfortunately, we will also have to say goodbye to our guitar player and co-founding member Nicolas, who is moving to the States for family reasons. We wish him all the best and thank him for his invaluable contribution to the band.
With that it becomes clear that we are in search for a guitar player right now, so applications are welcome. The ideal candidate should live not too far from the London area, have his own equipment and be able to attend rehearsals regularly. Ability to perform both as lead and rhythm guitarist are essential, as well as an open-minded, creative approach to music. Anyone interested, contact us at Pan@doom-metal.com"
A live recording of a new ARCTURUS track, entitled "Demon Painter", has been posted online at ' (8.5 MB).
"Demon Painter" is expected to appear on the band's upcoming album, "Sideshow Symphonies" tentatively due in September via Season Of Mist.
ARCTURUS, whose current lineup includes DIMMU BORGIR bassist Simen Hestnaes (a.k.a. ICS Vortex, ex-BORKNAGAR, LAMENTED SOULS) on lead vocals, are planning to film a live DVD at their September 24, 2005 concert at Rockefeller in Oslo, Norway.
Hestnaes' first appearance back with ARCTURUS took place at the Inferno Festival kick-off event at the Underworld in London on January 27.
Hestnaes had previously performed vocals on three tracks and written the lyrics for one song on ARCTURUS' 1997 album, "La Masquerade Infernale".
ARCTURUS announced in January that vocalist Øyvind Hægeland (SPIRAL ARCHITECT) had left the group. No reason was given for his departure.
FEAR FACTORY's new album, "Transgression", will be made available in Europe as a limited-edition pack with a bonus DVD. The DVD is expected to include studio/rehearsal footage, three music videos ("Moment of Impact", "Transgression" and "Spinal Compression") and the whole album audio in digital sound.
"Transgression" is scheduled for release on August 23 (one day earlier internationally) via Calvin Records, an imprint of Liquid 8 Records. A 45-second audio sample of first single "Supernova", which features a guest appearance by former FAITH NO MORE bassist Billy Gould, is available at ' (Real Media).
FEAR FACTORY entered Track Record Studios in North Hollywood, California on May 5 with producer Toby Wright (ALICE IN CHAINS, KORN, SOULFLY) to begin recording the follow-up to last year's "Archetype". Included on "Transgression" is "New Promise", which was co-written with Mark Morton of LAMB OF GOD.
OBITUARY's video for the track "Insane" has been posted online at ' (Windows Media).
"Insane" (' ) comes off the group's new album, "Frozen In Time", which comes out today (July 19) via Roadrunner Records.
The group's first collection of new songs since 1997's "Back from the Dead", "Frozen In Time" was self-produced by the band, with Mark Prator and Scott Burns engineering, and was mastered by Tom Morris at Morrisound.
ATROCITY/LEAVES' EYES singer/producer Alexander Krull was named "Producer of the Year" by the American magazine True Alternatives, according to a posting on the LEAVES' EYES web site. Krull received the award for his work on the following projects: "Atlantis" (ATROCITY), "Lovelorn" and "Vinland Saga" (both LEAVES' EYES), "Dark Clouds in a Perfect Sky" (ELIS), "Where Twilight Dwells" (MIDNATTSOL) and "Goatreich-Fleshcult" (BELPHEGOR).
A number of high-quality photos taken at this past weekend's Tuska Open Air Metal Festival have been posted online at Mesta.net.
Tuska Open Air Metal Festival was held July 15-17 at Kaisaniemi Park in Helsinki, Finland. Bands that performed at the festival included MONSTER MAGNET, APOCALYPTICA, FINNTROLL, PRIMAL FEAR, DESTRUCTION, DIMMU BORGIR, TESTAMENT, GAMMA RAY, ACCEPT, SENTENCED, CHILDREN OF BODOM and EVERGREY.
German epic metallers BLIND GUARDIAN have announced a replacement for drummer Thomen Stauch, who left the band in April after 20 years.
The new man behind the kit is fellow German Frederik Ehmke, who is said to be "fairly unknown in the world of metal."
"A few weeks ago an unknown guy who introduced himself as Frederik Ehmke applied for the job as a drummer in a fairly firm manner. His vital, expressive and skillful performances of some BLIND GUARDIAN classics ('Journey Through The Dark', 'Time Stands Still' and 'And Then There Was Silence') blew us away completely. Pretending not to be convinced, we invited him to do a shootout recording session under real production terms to check out if the creative chemistry would also work out fine. After finishing these recordings it was obvious to us: Frederik is going to be our new drummer!
"It was essential for us to find a musician, who on one side would be able to integrate old GUARDIAN trademarks in his playing, but on the other side would also be confident enough to bring in his own vision of the BLIND GUARDIAN drums in a tasteful and, for the music, suitable way. Frederik is a calm and handsome fellow, who's aware of his abilities and who also knows what he wants. For us he is the lucky draw.
"We are convinced you will be as impressed by his drum performance as we are. Now we are looking forward to starting the next album production. There is a good amount of work ahead of us but we are absolutely ready to go. You can expect a very interesting album with strong songs. We will keep you informed."
The production of BLIND GUARDIAN's debut album for Nuclear Blast Records will start soon with the help of producer Charlie Bauerfeind. No album title has been set as of yet, but it looks like the CD will contain a total of ten songs. Working songtitles include "Carry The Blessed Home", "The Edge", "In Search For The Lionheart", "Market Square", "Another Stranger Me", and "Otherland". The release of the first single is planned for February 2006, with the album to follow in April. A European tour will kick off in September 2006.
15 people were arrested for public drunkenness and disorderly conduct following DEICIDE's live debut in Chile, which took place Friday (July 15) at Gimnasio Nataniel in Santiago.
More than 3,000 fans attended the concert, which went ahead despite objections from local church officials, who had asked the authorities to prevent the group from playing in country out of respect for an Italian Catholic priest who was murdered by a DEICIDE fan almost a year ago. Photos of DEICIDE hanging out with their Chilean fans are available at ' .
CHILDREN OF BODOM have recorded a cover version of BRITNEY SPEARS' "Oops I Did It Again" for their upcoming single, "In Your Face". The single, which is scheduled for release in Finland on August 17 via Spinefarm, will contain the following track listing:
01. In Your Face 02. Oops I Did It Again 03. In Your Face (censored version)
A total of two cover songs were recorded during the recording sessions for the group's new album, "Are You Dead Yet?". The second cover song will be used as bonus track for the Japanese version of the album.
MOSS will release their debut album 'Chtonic Rites' on ComaWorx in october 2005. The album will initially be issued as a gatefold vinyl, limited to 666 copies on 180 grams vinyl with insert. The cd will follow later on with different artwork. The album is produced by Jus Oborn (ELECTRIC WIZARD) at Chuckalumba studio and mastered by Greg Chandler (ESOTERIC). It will feature two monolithic tracks of horrid nihilistic doom of approx. 20 minutes each
PLACE OF SKULLS enter the studio on August 1st for the recording of their 3rd full length cd to be released by Exile On Mainstream Records.
There is no album title available at this time but the recording will take place at Lakeside Studios with Travis Wyrick and Mike Dearing at the controls.
The album will feature the standard line-up of Dennis Cornelius, Tim Tomaselli, & Victor Griffin while long-time friend and original PLACE OF SKULLS/DEATH ROW bassist Lee Abney will also make a guest appearance.
The Swedish doomsters Beneath The Frozen Soil have finally released their 4-track EP 'The First Wreath'. It contains a prelude and 3 songs of slow, melancholic, beautiful doom with a touch of death and a blackish feel to it.
The first print of the EP is limited to a hand-numbered edition of 123 copies. This edition is available from the band's homepage, where a full track is also available for download.
More details have been revealed about the upcoming IMMORTAL tribute album, "Epimythion - Tribute to Immortal", tentatively due this fall via Greece's Townsend Avalanche Music. The complete track listing for the CD is as follows:
TRAGEDY BEGINS - "The Sun No Longer Rises" BEYOND DAWN - "Storming Through Red Clouds And Holocaust Winds" ENDWARFMENT - "Unsilent Storms in the North Abyss" KEEP OF KALESSIN – "Throned by Blackstorms" SUNN O))) – "Cursed Realms of the Winterdemons" OCD+BRAINCONTROLLER - "Pure Holocaust" ZWEIZZ - "Blacker than Darkness" VREID - "As the Eternity Opens" FUNERAL PROCESSION – "Mountains of Might" SETH - "Battles in the North" ENTHRONED - "Eternal Years on the Path to the Cemetary Gates" HAUNTED GATES – "One by One" WRATHAGE – "Through the Halls of Eternity" THE ASHES – "Withstand the Fall of Time"
Swiss brutal death metallers TODESBLEI have finished the songwriting process for their second full-length album, tenatively titled "Todsunden". The band entered Helvete Studios, based in Dornbirn, Austria, last Saturday (July 9) to begin recording the CD for a fall 2005 release.
French symphonic black metal act ANOREXIA NERVOSA are putting the finishing touches on a new mini-CD, "The September", containing cover songs from FORBIDDEN SITE and DARKTHRONE, live tracks recorded during the band's "Redemption Process" French tour, and two songs that were previously only available in Japan. In addition, the band have remixed their live favorite "Sister September" for the occasion. "The September" is scheduled for release this fall, in time for the band's European tour with VADER.
Montreal's extreme metal champions CRYPTOPSY have finished recording their as-yet-untitled new album for an October release through Century Media Records. Guitar player Alex Auburn checked in with the following wrap-up: "We have finished the fifth full-length CRYPTOPSY album. We started recording the album on May 16 at Vortex Studio in St-Constant, about 20 minutes south of Montreal. It was really fun and quiet recording there, as not a lot goes on in a small city like that, so we really focused on recording. Eleven tracks totaling about 50 minutes, this is a concept album where every song has its own identity, and we made sure to have a lot of flavors and different rhythms and tempos throughout the whole process. The variations in the tracks may surprise some of you. The goal this time around was to focus on writing excellent songs, which we did. Producer Sebastien Marsan did a phenomenal job, and we are glad he took the time to work with us. Finally, this album will be out soon, and we can't wait to see you all when we hit the road with this new material."
Drummer Rikard Wermen of the reactivated Swedish death metallers DERANGED has issued the following update:
"Yes, the rumor is true… We have started to work on a new full-length! We're planning to record it sometime in January next year. No titles whatsoever yet... Either song titles or name of the actual album. It'll come... We've got six new tracks so far. The plan right now is to have 10 songs on the new disc. We'll soon record some kind of demo of the new songs... We always do that, record a rough demo whenever we have a bunch of new songs. Just to have something when we're working on lyrics and vocal patters. Unless you've been living a cave and never ever read an interview with a band that will soon have or have most recently released a new disc, you haven't heard the following before... Anyway, it's been said a million of times before but... Most of the times it's fucking wannabee and rock-star bullshit but this time around it's true though... The new material is indeed some of the best musical work I have ever been part of and I can't wait to have it all properly recorded and nicely commercially packed. It's fucking DERANGED we're talking about and we have not gone soft and all commercially sloppy. Why should we? Haven't done so yet and can't see any sense in doing it now either... DERANGED have never been about faking shit... The new shit (!) is extremely fast, mean and brutal as a New Year's Day hangover. If you have been into what we've done under the name DERANGED earlier you'll fucking get a hard-on and shit your pants... Further on, we'll do a bunch of gigs the autumn..."
Swedish grindcore merchants NASUM have uploaded a previously unreleased video for the track "Scoop", directed Mitch Harris of NAPALM DEATH, on their official web site. Check it out at ' .
According to a posting on the site, "Mitch made this video from pictures he shot during the soundcheck and concert in Tokyo, Japan January 12, 2004. Shane Embury [NAPALM DEATH bassist] played with us during two songs (not 'Scoop', though) and he's in the video for a little while. In the end you can also see Ritual Records boss Jumbo."
As reported here on July 3, Finnish melodic metallers STRATOVARIUS have now officially confirmed that they have enlisted bassist Lauri Porra (SINERGY, KOTIPELTO, TUNNELVISION, WARMEN) as the replacement for longtime member Jari Kainulainen, who left the group a few weeks ago. STRATOVARIUS have issued the following statement regarding the lineup change:
"Longtime bass player Jari Kainulainen has left STRATOVARIUS. There is no drama or bad blood. Jari just doesn't have it in his heart to tour this heavily anymore.
"Jari is not dropping out of the scene, he will continue to play metal.
"The new bass player is Lauri Porra. He is 27 years old and a native of Helsinki, Finland. He has previously played with SINERGY, WARMEN and KOTIPELTO."
Commented Lauri: "I'm very honored to be invited to play with STRATOVARIUS and follow in the steps of such a great bass player as Jari. I'm really looking forward to going on the road with STRATOVARIUS, to meet some old friends, and to hopefully make lot of new ones."
Check out pictures of the new STRATOVARIUS lineup at ' .
STRATOVARIUS' new self-titled album is scheduled for release on September 5 via Sanctuary Records. A video for the album's first single, "Maniac Dance", was shot on April 15 in Helsinki by director and guitarist Timo Tolkki's old schoolmate Antti Jokinen (BEYONCÉ, WYCLEF JEAN, KORN, MISSY ELLIOT, NIGHTWISH, SHANIA TWAIN, CELINE DION).
Swedish black metallers MARDUK have posted the following message on their official web site: "The South American tour will take place during November. We are just waiting for confirmation for the final dates then they will be posted. "The first rehearsals since drummer Emil broke his arm has been done. Can assure you all that MARDUK sounds more intense and brutal than ever before."
MARDUK were forced to cancel their European tour earlier in the year after drummer Emil Dragutinovic's arm was broken in a fight back in February.
The band recently put the finishing touches on the videos for the songs "Throne of Rats" and "The Hangman of Prague".
MARDUK's ninth full-length album, "Plague Angel", was released in the U.S. in March. The album came out in Europe last November via Blooddawn/Regain Records.
GAMMA RAY drummer Daniel Zimmermann has launched his official web site' . Zimmermann will be conducting a drum clinic at the Swedish Metal Expo at Fryshuset in Stockholm on August 27. More information is available at www.swedishmetalexpo.se. GAMMA RAY's new album, "Majestic" is scheduled for release on September 26 via Sanctuary Records.
Swedish power metallers NOCTURNAL RITES have commenced the mixing process for their new album for a late 2005 release via Century Media Records. The new CD was recorded at a studio in the group's hometown of Umeå with producer Shep. In addition, the band have already shot a video for the album's projected lead single/video, "Fools Never Die", which is being described by bassist Nils Eriksson as "a nice mid-tempo song that definitely will get you all going."
NOCTURNAL RITES' sixth studio album, "New World Messiah", was released last year through Century Media. The follow-up to 2002's "Shadowland" was recorded in Umeå and was mixed and mastered at Finnvox Studio in Helsinki, Finland by T.T. Oksala (TIAMAT, APOCALYPTICA) and Minerva Pappi.
Polish death/black metallers BEHEMOTH have just completed work on a new design of their official web site, '
The new web site was is the result of a collaboration between BEHEMOTH's graphic designer, Graal, BEHEMOTH's webmaster, Manticore, and the band's vocalist and guitarist Nergal, who was in charge of the site's artistic direction.
Commented Nergal: "Hello f(r)iends!. Finally, after months of intense work we can proudly announce that BEHEMOTH has a revamped and fully redesigned website. Our graphic designer Graal (Tomasz Danilowicz) and webmaster Manticore (Maciek Gruszka) have completed a monumental effort on this. For each album, we want the graphics on our website to perfectly correspond with the current cover artwork. We really think we did a great job and are truly satisfied with the way it turned out. Although I have to say that we are really sorry for being delayed, as we had planned and promised ourselves and fans that it would have been ready for the album release date. Anyway, we can assure you all that this refreshed website will motivate us to work even harder on any updates, reports etc. in the future. Thank U all for endless support and hope you will visit us often and enjoy the brand new virtual world of BEHEMOTH!"
Swedish metallers HYPOCRISY have uploaded the cover artwork for their upcoming album, "Virus", at this location.
"Virus" is scheduled for release on September 19 via Nuclear Blast Records. A video for the song "Scrutinized" was shot last month and will begin airing soon.
"Virus" track listing:
01. Intro (not named yet) 02. Warpath 03. Scrutinized 04. Fearless 05. Craving for Another Killing 06. Let the Knife Do the Talking 07. A Thousand Lies 08. Incised Before I've Ceased 09. Blooddrenched 10. Compulsive Psychosis 11. Living to Die
HYPOCRISY's most recent album, "The Arrival", was released in February 2004 through Nuclear Blast Records. The follow-up to 2002's "Catch-22" was recorded at frontman Peter T?gtgren's Abyss studios.
FLOWING TEARS' latest album, "Razorbliss", will receive its long-overdue U.S. release on July 12 via Magick Records (a division of Cleopatra Records). "We're just about to start some promotional work to support the release and can't wait to get your reactions on the album," the German band write on their web site.
"Apart from that we're still busy with the songwriting process for the upcoming album. We're very exited about the visions we've developed so far and we're even more exited about the stuff we still will have to write — and when the time has come we'll tell you more about the monster we're creating..."
"Razorbliss" was released in Europe in March 2004 through Century Media Records. The follow-up to 2002's "Serpentine" was recorded at Woodhouse Studios in Hagen, Germany with producer Waldemar Sorychta (THE GATHERING, LACUNA COIL, SENTENCED, MOONSPELL) and was the band's first to feature vocalist Helen Vogt, who replaced Stefanie Duch?ne in 2003.
Norway's legendary eccentric artist MORTIIS has just completed a remix of the GIRLS UNDER GLASS song "Touch Me", now re-titled "Touch Me (Cleanse & Corrupt Mix)", for their upcoming download single, "Touch Me". More information is available at www.girlsunderglass.de. Mortiis has also just completed a remix for Italian band DOPE STARS INC.'s song "Self Destructive Corp.", now re-titled "Self Destructive Corp (Midnight Mass Mix)". More information can be found at www.dopestarsinc.com. Mortiis also laid down vocals for the Norwegian/American project SCUM, featuring Samoth (ZYKLON, ex-EMPEROR), Faust (ex-EMPEROR), Happy Tom (TURBONEGRO), Casey Chaos (AMEN) and Cosmocrator (MINDGRINDER). He contributed backing vocals to the song "Backstabbers Go to Heaven" for SCUM's upcoming debut album, "Gospels for the Sick" (due September 5 via Dogjob Records, a division of Tuba) and lead vocals and lyrics to a song called "Speaking in Tongues", which will be released on an EP.
AEROSMITH have reportedly set "Rockin' the Joint" as the title of their upcoming live album, tentatively due in October. The CD is believed to have been recorded at The Joint at The Hard Rock in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 11, 2002.
In a recent interview with MTV.com, AEROSMITH guitarist Joe Perry said that AEROSMITH will likely start rehearsing at the end of August for a fall tour in support of the upcoming live CD and accompanying DVD.
"We don't have that much live stuff out, and one of the things fans have been requesting is a straight live DVD that's a whole concert rather than something cut up with backstage footage," Perry said. "So we're looking at a few shows, some of which are from the last tour, and that's something we'd really like to do."
At this point, AEROSMITH plan to finish the tour, then return to the studio in 2006 to work on the follow-up to last year's blues album, "Honkin' on Bobo". Perry expects the new AEROSMITH record to sound like a hybrid of the loose, freewheeling "Bobo" and 2001's more technical "Just Push Play".
"We have 30 years of playing live together, and that's a real asset," Perry said. "And that's what we drew from on 'Bobo'. We didn't have time to do a full studio record, but we wanted to press the reset button and do something that was less layered and precise. I hope some of that rubs off on our next recording experience so there's still some of that live edge."
Finnish gothic rockers ENTWINE wlll be releasing a new EP, "Silver", in Europe on August 10. The CD will consist of two new songs, one cover and two live songs. The complete track listing for the EP is as follows:
01. Break Me 02. Carry On Dancing 03. Still Waiting 04. Still Remains (live) 05. The Pit (live)
BLACK LABEL SOCIETY's video for the "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott tribute track "In This River" has been posted online at ' . In the video, which was shot with Eric Zimmerman (MEGADETH, NAPALM DEATH), mainman Zakk Wylde's seen seated at a grand piano set in the middle of a flowing river. Once the song reaches the guitar solo, Wylde smashes his guitar and sets the piano ablaze.
"In This River" comes off BLACK LABEL SOCIETY's latest album, "Mafia", which has sold 141,520 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Long-running Swedish death metallers DISMEMBER will enter Sami Studio in Stockholm on August 15 to begin recording their seventh album. The recording sessions will end in September, with a planned mid-January 2006 release date through Regain Records. Drummer Fred Estby will once again produce the follow-up to 2004's "Where Ironcrosses Grow". New songtitles include "The God That Never Was", "Feel the Darkness" and "Through the Unbroken Black".
Regain Records recently reissued a major part of the band's back catalogue, including "Pieces", "Indecent & Obscene", "Massive Killing Capacity", "Death Metal", "Hate Campaign" and "Complete Demos".
Message from the band:
German epic metallers BLIND GUARDIAN have announced a replacement for drummer Thomen Stauch, who left the band in April after 20 years.
15 people were arrested for public drunkenness and disorderly conduct following DEICIDE's live debut in Chile, which took place Friday (July 15) at Gimnasio Nataniel in Santiago. 
CHILDREN OF BODOM have recorded a cover version of BRITNEY SPEARS' "Oops I Did It Again" for their upcoming single, "In Your Face". The single, which is scheduled for release in Finland on August 17 via Spinefarm, will contain the following track listing:
French symphonic black metal act ANOREXIA NERVOSA are putting the finishing touches on a new mini-CD, "The September", containing cover songs from FORBIDDEN SITE and DARKTHRONE, live tracks recorded during the band's "Redemption Process" French tour, and two songs that were previously only available in Japan. In addition, the band have remixed their live favorite "Sister September" for the occasion. "The September" is scheduled for release this fall, in time for the band's European tour with VADER.
As reported here on July 3, Finnish melodic metallers STRATOVARIUS have now officially confirmed that they have enlisted bassist Lauri Porra (SINERGY, KOTIPELTO, TUNNELVISION, WARMEN) as the replacement for longtime member Jari Kainulainen, who left the group a few weeks ago. STRATOVARIUS have issued the following statement regarding the lineup change:
Polish death/black metallers BEHEMOTH have just completed work on a new design of their official web site, ' 
Swedish metallers HYPOCRISY have uploaded the cover artwork for their upcoming album, "Virus", at this location.
Norway's legendary eccentric artist MORTIIS has just completed a remix of the GIRLS UNDER GLASS song "Touch Me", now re-titled "Touch Me (Cleanse & Corrupt Mix)", for their upcoming download single, "Touch Me". More information is available at www.girlsunderglass.de. Mortiis has also just completed a remix for Italian band DOPE STARS INC.'s song "Self Destructive Corp.", now re-titled "Self Destructive Corp (Midnight Mass Mix)". More information can be found at www.dopestarsinc.com. Mortiis also laid down vocals for the Norwegian/American project SCUM, featuring Samoth (ZYKLON, ex-EMPEROR), Faust (ex-EMPEROR), Happy Tom (TURBONEGRO), Casey Chaos (AMEN) and Cosmocrator (MINDGRINDER). He contributed backing vocals to the song "Backstabbers Go to Heaven" for SCUM's upcoming debut album, "Gospels for the Sick" (due September 5 via Dogjob Records, a division of Tuba) and lead vocals and lyrics to a song called "Speaking in Tongues", which will be released on an EP.