Pure Metal News: May 2006 Part 2

May 2006 News: Part 1 To quickly find what you're looking for use the box below. BLIND GUARDIAN - Tracklisting & Video   Legendary German metal heroes BLIND GUARDIAN have confirmed "A Twist in the Myth" as the title of their much-anticipated new album. View the amazing cover artwork by Anthony Clarkson (also EXODUS, KATAKLYSM, RAGE amm.) for "A Twist in the Myth" here. The final track listing reads as follows: 01. This Will Never End (5:07) 02. Otherland (5:14) 03. Turn the Page (4:16) 04. Fly (5:43) 05. Carry the Blessed Home (4:03) 06. Another Stranger Me (4:36) 07. Straight through the Mirror (5:48) 08. Lionheart (4:15) 09. Skalds and Shadows (3:13) 10. The Edge (4:27) 11. The New Order (4:49) BLIND GUARDIAN will also be shooting a video later this month for the track 'Another Stranger Me'. The clip will be the first with drummer Frederik Ehmke, who replaced Thomen Stauch in 2005. ***   DEATHSTARS - Gates of Metal   Today Gates of Metal presented two new acts to this year’s festival and the line-up is soon complete. The new bands are Swedish Deathstars and Steel Attack. Gates of Metal is promoted for the fourth time, the festival is held in Hultsfred, Sweden the 4-5 of August. Sixteen of the planned seventeen acts are confirmed and the festival has presented a number of strong names, among others Hammerfall, Ministry and Helloween.   ***   COMMUNIC - Waves over Germany!   Norwegian progressive power metallers COMMUNIC have hit the equivalent of a grand-slam home run. “Waves Of Visual Decay“, the band's second album, ranked #1 in the "Soundcheck" category in Germany's top four metal magazines: Rock Hard, Metal Hammer, Metal Heart, and Heavy. This makes Waves Of Visual Decay the #1 Soundcheck album in Germany and a MUST HAVE!. Congratulations!   ***   HAMMERFALL - Recording update   "What a change of pace! Charlie's [Bauerfeind, producer] meticulousness has led to the work being a bit slower than usual but the result much better. Today [Sunday, May 14], Anders [Johansson, drums] must have had his magic shoes on or something because he finished two songs before three o'clock in the afternoon! The ballad of the album is a bit different from the past three records in that it isn't a broken hearted-type of song. Actually, 'Dark Wings, Dark Words' isn't so much a ballad as a slow song with acoustic guitars patched in here and there. Anyway, Anders nailed this one in the first take. Even the improvised ritardando (gradually delaying the tempo) ending was perfect! If this is what happens when you let him play the way he wants, we should consider having him do that more often. Nah, that would never work! Or would it...? "Next up was 'Genocide', another triplet song and also Stefan's [Elmgren, guitar] first contribution to the record. Apart from the intro he's composed all of the music, and it's really cool with fast triplets going through the entire four minutes and forty-three seconds. Pretty tough to play the bass drums on this one, so Anders had to warm up for a while before he was ready to record. But when he was, it didn’t take him very long to lay down the general drums. We worked on the patterns for a while, and then took a quick break for lunch. The new energy helped a lot, and you could tell from the way Anders was playing. "We set out to finish the third song today and the ninth one overall, 'Howlin' With The 'Pac'. In a lot of ways a classic HAMMERFALL song, a driving, mid-tempo beat, very riffy and with a sing-along chorus. Going here, Anders and Charlie had never heard the song. I finished it the day before we were supposed to begin, and e-mailed it out to everyone. The wonders of modern technique! "There were some drum pattern question marks that needed straightening out, so since it was getting late Anders decided to just go through the song from start to finish and let the patterns sink in over night. He did the same with Stefan's instrumental, so he should breeze through them tomorrow."   ***   MESHUGGAH - Top metal drummer!   Nuclear Blast artist Tomas Haake of MESHUGGAH has been named the #4 drummer in the "Metal" category in Modern Drummer magazine's 2006 Readers' Poll. Results will appear in the July 2006 issue of the magazine, which hits newsstands in early June. The top five metal drummers as ranked by Modern Drummer magazine 2006 Readers' Poll are as follows: 1. Jason Bittner (SHADOWS FALL) 2. Joey Jordison (SLIPKNOT) 3. Chris Adler (LAMB OF GOD) 4. Tomas Haake (MESHUGGAH) 5. Lars Ulrich (METALLICA) ***   DARKANE - Christofer signs in   Sweden's DARKANE have just returned from being on tour in Europe with Sadus and Glory Blister. Here's the official update from DARKANE guitarist, Christofer Malmström: "We had a great time and the audiences were fantastic! After returning home to our hometown Helsingborg, we played a show here and filmed it with 9 cameras for a possible DVD. We are gonna listen to/watch the results within the upcoming days and see if it´s worth working on (mixing the sound and editing the video). If it´s good we might release it later this year together with extra material from our career. We've always brought a video camera on tours and studio recordings, so it might be a lot of fun to watch."   ***   EXODUS - “I´m not surprised…”   Having recently been confirmed for the Lorca Rock festival on June 17th in Murcia, Spain, EXODUS are currently on tour through North America in support of their late 2005 release, "Shovel Headed Kill Machine" with Full Blown Chaos and Subzero. If you're looking for a night of pummeling pit action, then bite the bullet and get yourself out to a show!! If you get hurt in the pit, word from the road is that riff machine Gary Holt also specializes in medical evaluations... When Full Blown Chaos vocalist Ray Mazzola woke up with a knee the size of the cantaloupe in Florida, he asked road veteran Gary Holt to take a look at it. Gary instantly told him he was bit by a black widow. At the hospital, they verified that he had indeed been bitten by a Southern Black Widow. How that for having a trade to fall back on? Besides using his time on the tour bus to work on riffs for the next album (and he SWEARS there will be no delays on this one!), Gary recently spoke to Nashua Telegraph correspondent Shawn Macomber about the current state of the thrash metal genre: "If I was doing this for some quick buck - and let's be clear, there aren't a whole lot of 'em involved in this, I make a living at it but I'm certainly not rich - it would show. People would see right through it. They would listen to our records and hear the sound of someone past their prime doing it just to make a dollar. You have to love it for it to be honest. I still do." "It seems like timing [for a comeback] is good right now, but, you know, I never really concerned myself with what everyone else was doing. Of course, that doesn't mean I don't think it's great that after the death of this whole nu-metal atrocity young bands are embracing the kind of music we pioneered and actually doing their own version of it. I couldn't be happier, and some of these great new bands - Shadows Fall, Lamb of God, Hypocrisy, The Haunted have become very good friends of mine. But I'd be doing my thing either way." "I'm not surprised [to see the resurgence in thrash metal] because I always saw nu-metal as a really, really bad trend that would have no staying power whatsoever," Holt continued. "The most popular bands from that era are long dead and forgotten. Fred Durst's 15 minutes of fame are way up. I bet Paris Hilton won't even return his calls anymore." To read the entire interview, visit this location!   ***   GRAVEWORM - Popular Italian metal export   "GRAVEWORM may not be a major player quite yet, but with 2005’s (N)utopia, Lacuna Coil may have to start sharing the spotlight when it comes to popular Italian metal exports." - OUTBURN Magazine With a musical landscape as varied as the range of their band member's occupations (which includes a psychologist, an electrician, a youth center worker, and a graphic designer), Italian sextet GRAVEWORM will be bringing their brand of melodic goth/black metal to North American shores for the first time during the Metal Maniacs and Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles-sponsored North American Metal Crusaders Tour. A compact version of a travelling United Nations, Italy's GRAVEWORM is joining forces with Vader (Poland), Kataklysm (Canada), Destruction (Germany), Speed\Kill/Hate (New York), and The Absence (Tampa). The first show of this truly international line-up is set to take place on May 26th in Montreal, Québec. Checking in from his home in Italy, trilingual architect student and GRAVEWORM vocalist Stefano Fiori shares his thoughts on his maiden trip to North America in support of (N)utopia: "We are looking forward to playing in every city on this tour. We're thinking of bringing empty suitcases for all the things we want to buy that we can't get here at home... haha. This will be a new experience for us and we are all curious about the response we will get over there. Maurizio from KATAKLYSM told us there are a lot of GRAVEWORM fans in Montreal, and that the people there generally go crazy at shows. We're also looking forward to visiting Las Vegas. We've heard a lot about it, but to be there would be a very different thing."   ***   THERION - "Pre-production of the new album is going well Guitarist Christofer Johnsson reports that "pre-production of the new album is going well" and offered the following information about his time in the studio: "Work = all the time; Sleep = never. THERION never give out any info like titles of songs on future releases before it's 100% finished. None [of the tracks] in particular feel difficult and they're all extremely enjoyable. The one with the working title 'Egypt' is one of the most enjoyable ones, but of course you won't know what song that is [until] the album finally goes public. A new electronic device I've picked up recently: a D.W. Fearn microphone amplifier." When asked about obtaining the Limited Edition George Lucas Stormtrooper action figure, Johnsson responded, "I think I can survive without that one." In other news, the first CONFIRMED dates for THERION's World Tour for 2007 have been announced and include: January 17th - Essen, Germany January 19th - Lichtenfels, Germany January 20th - Antwerpen, Belgium January 21st - London, England January 25th - Barcelona, Spain January 26th - Madrid, Spain January 27th - Bilbao, Spain January 31st - Lubjana, Slovenia February 1st - Zagreb, Croatia February 2nd - Saltzburg, Austria February 3rd - Vienna, Austria February 4th - Budapest, Hungary Febuary 5th - Belgrad, Serbia February 8th - Langen, Germany February 9th - Pratteln, Switzerland February 10th - Glauchau, Germany February 11th - Munich, Germany February 16th - Tilburg, Holland February 17th - Groningen, Holland February 18th - Hamburg, Germany Additional shows will be announced via the band's website once they're confirmed.   ***   THUNDERSTONE - Update from Titus   The band's next live performance set for June 10th at the Bomber Festival in Finland, but bassist and backing vocalist Titus Hjelm brings us up to speed on why upcoming shows have been sparse: "We've been having a 'creative break' (whatever that is...), so there hasn't been much to tell lately. We've started writing and rehearsing new songs for our upcoming fourth album. So far we've made demos of three of the songs and the stuff sounds really promising. Heavier than ever, but still with the familiar THUNDERSTONE sound and groove. We'll have a couple more demo sessions before starting the actual recordings in the beginning of September. In other news, because of the tight writing schedule, we are not going to do many live shows this summer, but we are eagerly looking forward to the ProgPower festival and our first U.S. show!   ***   CALLENISH CIRCLE at Graspop Metal Meeting!   Dutch melodic x-treme metal formation Callenish Circle is confirmed for Graspop Metal Meeting 2006. The festival takes place between 23/06 and 25/06 in Dessel, Belgium. Callenish Circle will play on Friday 23/06 in the Metal Dome between 18.20 and 19.00. So make sure all you thrashing maniacs are present to witness our deadly cocktail of intense and groovy Death/Thrash on LSD.For more info & tickets: www.graspop.com / www.callenish-circle.com  ***  CATARACT - vote online for their set of covers at the release show!  Please surf to www.cataract.cc to vote for the cover songs CATARACT should play at their release show on the 24th of May at the Abart club in Zürich!  ***  CATTLE DECAPITATION part of San Diego art show!   "HUMANURE" the art show. 20 local San Diego artists will be displaying artworks that have been inspired by the lyrics and the song "Humanure" by the band Cattle Decapitation in an online art show! A generous portion of the proceeds from the sale of the art will be donated to the artists’ choice of F.O.C.A.S. (Friends of County Animal Shelters) or the Helen Woodward Center, organisations based on finding homes for animals in shelters awaiting death. The online art show is to be released June 1st in a 3-5 minute 3-D animated video with the song "Humanure" by Cattle Decapitation used in the background. The HUMANURE Art Show is available for viewing beginning June 1st at www.darkvomit.com as well as www.SanDiegoArtist.com and www.myspace.com/darkvomit. For more info, visit: The art:www.darkvomit.com www.myspace.com/darkvomit The music: www.cattledecapitation.com www.myspace.com/cattledecapitation www.purevolume.com/cattledecapitation  ***  NEAERA Full CD Listening Party @ AOL Music! Neaera's second Metal Blade record "Let the Tempest Come" will soon be available to stream in it's entirety at AOL's "Full CD Listening Party" page. From May 15th to May 21st you can stream the album HERE. http://www.aolmusic.com  ***  METAL BLADE Europe presents the "Ancient Spirit Festival IV"  27.05.2006 - Universal D.O.G., 77933 Lahr (Freiburg area), Germany feat. TANKARD - CATARACT - MY DARKEST HATE - FEAR MY THOUGHTS - FRAGMENTS OF UNBECOMING - DEADBORN - CLUSTER BOMB UNIT - (DEADLY) SILENCE - ABRASIVE - LIES BEHIND THE SMILE www.ancientspirit.de/festival  ***  SHADOWS FALL Unveil Fallout From The War Cover art, Release Date and Track l   On June 12th 2006, metal titans SHADOWS FALL return with their much-anticipated new release, "Fallout From The War". The record’s sessions were again produced and mixed by long-time friend, Zeuss (Hatebreed, God Forbid), at Planet Z Studios in the band’s home state of Massachusetts. "Fallout From The War" is a must-have for the band’s dedicated following as each of the album’s eleven tracks is either a brand-new, original SHADOWS FALL track, an exclusive brand-new cover song, or a newly re-recorded version of rare material from over the years.  Official "Fallout From The War" Track listing: 01. In Effigy 02. Will To Rebuild 03. Haunting Me Endlessly 04. Seize The Calm 05. Carpal Tunnel 06. Going, Going, Gone. 07. Deadworld 08. This Is My Own 09. December (Only Living Witness) 10. Mark Of The Squealer (Leeway) 11. Teasn', Pleasn' (Dangerous Toys)  Brian Fair (vocals) spells out the details on the tracks from the new album: "Hello everyone! All of us in SHADOWS FALL are very excited to announce the release of "Fallout From The War" on Century Media. This album is meant to be a companion piece to our last full-length, "The War Within", and it contains six originals songs written during the sessions for that very album. We returned home from an amazing summer on Ozzfest 2005 and decided to get together to record these songs as a perfect way to close out "The War Within" album cycle and give our fans a chance to hear some killer new material. The recording sessions themselves went incredibly well. We were able to realize the full potential of these songs and with the Zeuss’ help we were able craft an amazing disc with a wide variety of styles and emotions.  These songs cover everything you have come to expect from us and it was also a chance to re-record a few tracks that had previously only been available as bonus tracks in Japan and Europe, including a new version of ‘Deadworld’ - a song that’s one of the first-ever Shad tunes (dating back almost 10 years!). This version is also the first one featuring Jason on drums allowing him to add his signature sound to the track. We also re-worked ‘This Is My Own,’ a track from The Art Of Balance sessions, with some new vocal harmonies and a few twists and turns. For the cover songs, we decided to dip back into our own history to shine some light on bands that were huge influences on us but never seemed to get the attention they deserved. For one, Only Living Witness was an amazing and highly underrated rock band from the Boston area and we covered their tune ‘December’ - and had a blast doing it! Next, we banged out a version of ‘Mark Of The Squealer’ by NYHC legends, Leeway. To me, Leeway was the ultimate metal/hardcore crossover band with sick thrash riffs and hard-as-nails lyrics. And finally, we recorded an updated version of Dangerous Toys' party anthem ‘Teasn', Pleasn'’ that features original D.   Toys’ vocalist Jason McMaster singing along with myself. We went through a few thirty packs to make sure we got this one right! Good times indeed. This will be our last release for Century Media, who as a label have helped us to grow into the band we are and allowed us to achieve things we never thought possible. We see this as the perfect finale to our Century Media legacy and we hope you enjoy it."  In 2005 SHADOWS FALL played a very successful European festival tour alongside their buddies from Slipknot. The band kicked major a** at Rock am Ring (D), Rock im Park (D), Flippaut (I), Download Festival (UK) followed by club shows with Slipknot across the UK and Ireland. They once more convinced their dedicated European fanatics with a truly intense mixture of great songs, musical skills and last but not least the most important thing of all: METAL!  "Fallout From The War" follows the group’s most acclaimed disc to date, "The War Within", which originally debut at #20 on the Billboard Top 200 chart, has gone on to sell over 250,000 units in the U.S. alone, and features the Active Rock hit and Grammy-nominated track, "What Drives The Weak".  ***  ARCH ENEMY - New Video Posted Online & more!  To further support their most successful album "Doomsday Machine" Swedish metal titans ARCH ENEMY have recently completed a new video for the track "My Apocalypse" with director Roger Johansson (In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, Hammerfall). Please click here to view the clip. Currently on a massive tour through the US together with Chimaira, God Forbid and Hate Eternal. Their European fans will be pleased to hear that ARCH ENEMY is already confirmed to unleash its metallic fury in flesh and blood on a huge number of European festivals, so be prepared for an apocalyptic summer time!  ARCH ENEMY @ EUROPEAN FESTIVALS 2006, more to be added soon!  June 8-10, 2006 - Sweden Rock Festival (Sölvesborg, Sweden) - http://www.swedenrock.com June 10, 2006 - Download (Donington Park, Derbyshire, England) - http://www.downloadfestival.co.uk June 23-25, 2006 - Graspop (Belgium) - http://www.graspop.be June 23-25, 2006 - Hellfest (Clisson, France) - http://www.hellfest.fr June 30-July 2 - 2006, Tuska Metal Festival (Helsinki, Finland) - http://www.tuska-festival.fi June 30 - July 2 - 2006, With Full Force (Germany) - http://www.withfullforce.de July 13 -15, 2006 - Arvika Festivalen (Sweden) - http://www.arvikafestivalen.se/ July 21-22, 2006 - Earthshaker Fest (Germany) - http://www.earthshaker-fest.com/ July 21-23, 2006 - Metalcamp Festival (Tolmin, Slovenia) - http://www.metalcamp.com/ July 28-30, 2006 - MetalWay Festival (Gernika. SPAIN) - http://www.metalwayfestival.com/ August 3-5, 2006 - Wacken Open Air Festival (Germany) - http://www.wacken.com August 8, 2006 - Gothenburg City Fest (Sweden) - http://www.goteborg.com/  Watch out for ARCH ENEMY’s first-ever DVD entitled "Live Apocalypse" and tentatively set for a summer release. It will deliver the band’s onstage intensity and rage straight into your home cinema!  http://www.archenemy.net http://www.centurymedia.com ***  STRAPPING YOUNG LAD - "The New Black" over Europe! Canada’s first class Extreme Metal act STRAPPING YOUNG LAD are confirming the final tourdates for this summer. First time in their career they will play the huge German events Rock Im Park / Rock Am Ring (Metallica, Tool, Lacuna Coil, etc.), UK’s high profile Donington’s Download, Bologna’s Flame Fest, Sweden’s finest Hultsfred Festival and Finland’s Provinssirock. Extreme in any way, they will start the tour with two shows at the same day. The exclusive support band for the European club shows is MAROON who just released their fantastic Century Media debut "When Worlds Collide" on April 17th 2006. The dates: 03.06.2006 Germany Nuerburgring Rock Am Ring 03.06.2006 France Jarny Du Chateau De Moncel 04.06.2006 Germany Nuernberg Rock Im Park 05.06.2006 Italy Bologna Flame Fest * 06.06.2006 France Lyon Le Transbordeur * 07.06.2006 France Paris L'elysée Montmartre * 08:06:2006 England Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms 09.06.2006 England Castle Donington Download Fest 10.06.2006 France St. Malo Omnibus * 11.06.2006 Belgium Vosselaar Biebob * 12.06.2006 Holland Amsterdam Melkweg * 13.06.2006 Holland Tilburg 013 * 14.06.2006 Denmark Copenhagen Lille Vega 15.06.2006 Sweden Hultsfred Festivalen 17.06.2006 Finland Seinajoki Provinssirock with MAROON (http://www.maroonhate.com)  Shortly after the tour STRAPPING YOUNG LAD will release their new studio album "The New Black" in Europe on July 17th, 2006. More details about the release very soon. Do not miss the "Heavy As A Really Heavy Thing" re-issue plus bonus tracks to be released on June 12th, 2006. http://www.strappingyounglad.com  ***  NEVERMORE - Guitarist diagnosed with kidney disease  Unfortunately we have to report that NEVERMORE guitarist Steve Smyth has been recently diagnosed with end stage kidney failure, the result of a congenital birth defect.  Smyth comments: "I have been diagnosed with chronic kidney disease, and have been advised to preserve my health as much as possible at this time, as I am facing ‘complete renal failure’ within six months, and ultimately, a transplant. Due to my recently diagnosed condition, I have decided not to join the band on the In Flames US tour. I want to be fair to the fans, and be able to give them a show I know I can deliver night after night. I will, however, join Nevermore on all four of the European festivals on our itinerary in early June: Gods of Metal, Rock Hard, Rott Fest, and Sweden Rock, after which, the doctors should have some news about the next step in my treatment. I will say this: I will fight this, and I will be back!"  Jag Panzer guitarist Chris Broderick will fill in for Smyth on the upcoming US tour, after which Smyth will rejoin the band for the aforementioned European festival dates. For more from Smyth about his health situation and future career plans, please visit www.stevesmyth.com  All at Century Media Records wish him a fast recovery!  As for some good news from the NEVERMORE camp we can present you the band’s updated European touring activities throughout the upcoming festival season as well as the dates for the tour together with US rock/metal outfit Disturbed.  NEVERMORE @ European festivals 01.06.2006 - Milano, Italy @ Gods Of Metal Festival 03.06.2006 - Gelsenkirchen, Germany @ Rock Hard Festival 08.06.2006 - Soelvesborg, Sweden @ Sweden Rock Festival 21.07.2006 - Tolmin, Slovenia @ Metal Camp Festival 22.07.2006 - Kreuth, Germany @ Earthshaker Festival 04.08.2006 - Wacken, Germany @ Wacken Open Air 05.08.2006 - Kavarna, Bulgaria @ Monsters Of Rock 18.08.2006 - Oslo, Norway @ Ragnarock Festival  NEVERMORE supporting Disturbed 14.09.2006 - Muenchen, Germany @ Zenith 15.09.2006 - Fuerth, Germany @ Stadthalle 16.09.2006 - Leipzig, Germany @ Parkbuehne Open Air 17.09.2006 - Berlin, Germany @ Huxleys 18.09.2006 - Copenhagen, Denmark @ Amager Bio 19.09.2006 - Gothenburg, Sweden @ Musikenshus 20.09.2006 - Hamburg, Germany @ Grosse Freiheit 21.09.2006 - Bremen, Germany @ Aladin 22.09.2006 - Vosselaar, Belgium @ Biebob 23.09.2006 - Tilburg, Netherlands @ Club 013 24.09.2006 - Dortmund, Germany @ Westfalenhalle 2 25.09.2006 - Frankfurt. Germany @ Batschkapp 26.09.2006 - Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Paradiso 27.09.2006 - Koeln, Germany @ Palladium 29.09.2006 - Newcastle, UK @ Academy 30.09.2006 - Glasgow, UK @ Barrowland 02.10.2006 - Manchester, UK @ Academy 04.10.2006 - Nottingham, UK @ Rock City 06.10.2006 - Birmingham, UK @ Academy 07.10.2006 - Liverpool, UK @ Academy 09.10.2006 - London, UK @ Astoria 10.10.2006 - London, UK @ Astoria www.nevermore.tv www.centurymedia.com  ***  GRAVE - Complete their new album "As Rapture Comes" - Century Media Records  Death metal legions of the world rejoice! A new, massive masterpiece by Sweden’s death metal cult-act GRAVE is coming your way. Entitled "As Rapture Comes" the new recording shall enrapture anyone who digs uncompromisingly extreme, heavy, groovy and gloomy death metal.  Vocalist/guitarist Ola Lindgren comments the completion of the recording as follows: "The new album is finally completed. 9 tracks which can only be described as the most aggressive, evil and brutal stuff we have ever created both sound and song-wise. The album was recorded by ourselves at Studio Soulless and the final mix was made in the Abyss Studio with Peter Tägtgren. This one takes GRAVE into a new dimension while still staying true to our legacy of brutal, heavy death metal."  "As Rapture Comes", which was completed following GRAVE’s successful European tour with label mates Cryptopsy and Aborted in February, will hit stores in Europe on July 24th, 2006 and July 25, 2006 in the US. Be ready for another GRAVE-styled Swedish death metal masterpiece, showcasing the band’s dynamic groove, more aggressive feel than ever before and it also contains a heavy remake of the Alice In Chains classic "Them Bones". The displayed cover artwork for "As Rapture Comes" was designed by the Polish artist Jacek Wisnieswki, who hasn’t only worked with GRAVE on the previous "Back From The Grave" and "Fiendish Regression" albums, but who also created great images for releases by bands such as Krisiun, Vader, Decapitated and many more.  Here is the full track-listing information for the coming release:  GRAVE - "As Rapture Comes" CD 1. Intro - Day Of Reckoning (0:49) 2. Burn (6:24) 3. Through Eternity (3:45) 4. By Demons Bred (4:16) 5. Living The Dead Behind (6:26) 6. Unholy Terror (3:44) 7. Battle Of Eden (3:38) 8. Epic Obliteration (4:02) 9. Them Bones (2:32) 10. As Rapture Comes (5:34)  Furthermore GRAVE have confirmed a string of shows with partners in crime Entombed in Scandinavia for June, as well as a North American tour with Dismember and Vital Remains for Autumn. Here are all the upcoming, already confirmed shows for GRAVE in Europe:  GRAVE live 2006: 27.05. Karlstad / Sweden - Arena + Entombed 02.06. Oslo / Norway - John Dee + Entombed 03.06. Arvika / Sweden - Vikholmsfestivalen + Entombed 05.06. Gävle / Sweden - Slick City + Entombed 08.06. Sölvesborg / Sweden - Sweden Rock Festival 21.07. Geiselwind / Germany - Battle Of Metal Festival www.grave.se www.centurymedia.com  ***  Conquer Records news May 2006  Dear all media, partners, customers and friends. 1-     We would like to say thank you to all bands ( In Slaughter Natives, Ordo Rosarious Equilibrio, Brighter Death Now, Raison D'être, Deutsch Nepal, The Protagonist ) who played on our Cold Meat Industry Festival at KOKO club in London, UK. All bands' live shows were recorded and will be released soon on special edition DVD. Please check out our website www.CONQUERREC.com for more information as to when this DVD will be available!  2-     Polish death metalers PRELUDIUM joined forces with Conquer Conquer from UK to release their new album which will be available very soon. More information at www.CONQUERREC.com . PRELUDIUM will play in London very soon and will do a European tour after the summer, so check out our web side for updates!  3-     Conquer Records from UK is not working any more with company who have similar name as our colled Conquer Records SP ZOO from POLAND - please look the name! They still saying that they represetitive our company but they ARE NOT and they RIP us OFF. We still want to resolve the problems but they don’t want to pay us for over 1200 CD’s which is on market price over 18,000 GBP !!! So don’t trust them!!!  4-     Any bands who played black and death metal, industrial or ambient and want to join Conquer Records UK please send your music to our PO BOX 33904, LONDON NW9 8BL, UK.  5-     For more information or promotion pack please contact Mag at Conquer Records news@conquerrec.com or by post CONQUER RECORDS, PO BOX 33904, LONDON NW9 8BL, UK   ***  Season of Mist news - The Old Dead Tree - Furia   THE OLD DEAD TREE LOSES A BRANCH Season of Mist and THE OLD DEAD TREE are sad to announce that guitarist Nicolas Chevrollier is to leave the band soon. A founding member of the band, Nicolas has decided to focus on his family duties, as he will soon become a father. He went through a hard time making this decision, due to the strong friendship binding the members of the band.   Here are Nicolas' words: "My long term adventures with THE OLD DEAD TREE are coming to an end. I have made the hardest decision in leaving the band, since my family life is about to change with the soon birth of my son Adrien, due next July. This great event thus induced me in making that choice, after having made up those last nearly ten years in THE OLD DEAD TREE, my other family. There were so many changes since February 1997, when Manuel and I made the decision to create the band and act for our passion, building up our dream. We went through really hard times, especially with the demise of Fredric, whom I'm thinking about now, but we also shared many moments of joy, happiness and emotion. I'm also very proud to have contributed to make THE OLD DEAD TREE be recognized and respected for all those years, and to have led it where it is now. The band is now ready for its international big break, and I sincerely hope it will make it, because it deserves it.  I also wanted to thank all our fans, old and new, all of those who follow and support us. Our music touching you is, for us musicians, the most beautiful reward. Thanks also to those who have been part of the band's life and history - you know who you are! And, of course, my last thoughts go to my three brothers in arms, music and riffs: my Manu, my Vincent and my Foued. This unique human adventure will be part of my life forever. Nicolas Chevrollier"  Nicolas will play on gigs scheduled until late June. A session guitarist will then replace him until his successor has been found.  ***  Sneak into the recording room of AMON AMARTH and watch them working on the new album!  There´s a studio diary online, including lots of info, photos and video clips. Check it out at: http://www.amonamarth.com/news.html ““We have not been able to update this report for the last couple of days since our site been down, however we have not been unproductive. Today Olavi and Johan S. finished the rhythm guitars on all songs and nothing has been left out in our pursuit of perfection for this record. We can also announce that the new album is going to contain nine powerful metal songs and it's no exaggeration saying that we have outdone ourselves! This will give us another good reason to have some extra beers tonight. Tomorrow we start to search for the ultimate bass sound for Ted, so he can start putting down the bass lines. We still have the Gods on our side!”  ***  MACHINEMADE GOD live-update  25.05. D Saarlouis, Stoneage 17.06. D Fullforce Warmup 2006 @ Reithalle, Dresden + hatebreed, narziss, alithia 19.06. UK London - Underworld (United Kingdom) + Evergreen Terrace 20.06. UK Peterborough - Peterborough (United Kingdom) + Evergreen Terrace 21.06. UK Manchester - Jilys Rockworld (United Kingdom) + Evergreen Terrace 22.06. UK Bradford - Rio (United Kingdom) + Evergreen Terrace 23.06. UK Swindon - Furnace (United Kingdom) + Evergreen Terrace 26.06. D Schweinfurt - Alter Stadtbahnhof (Germany) + THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER + Evergreen Terrace + BLIND SIGHT 28.06. I Days OF The Dead Fest @ Chico Bum Festival Turin (Italy)+ Obituary, Madball, Caliban, Black Dahlia Murder, Evergreen Terrace, Agnostic Front 29.06. D Frankfurt - O25 (Germany) + Evergreen Terrace 01.07. D Rauderfehn, JuKz 03.07. D Köln - MTC ( Germany) + Evergreen Terrace 05.07. D Augsburg - Kantine + AGNOSTIC FRONT + FIRST BLOOD + Evergreen Terrace 06.07. D Berlin - Kato (Germany) + Evergreen Terrace 07.07. D Bielefeld - Falkendom (Germany) + Evergreen Terrace + Shelter 08.07. A Unterrohr (Festhalle) - Burning Season Festival (Austria) + MAROON + THE SETUP + Evergreen Terrace + WITH HONOR+ IGNITE + NARZISS 20.08. D Übach-Palenberg - Rockfabrik + Maroon, Deadsoil 09.09. D Remchingen, Metal Festival + Maroon  booking: www.mad-tourbooking.de http://www.machinemadegod.com  ***  WARNING - New album out soon & tour  WARNING are currently mid way through the studio session for their brand new full length album "WATCHING FROM A DISTANCE" and by all accounts the results so far are supremely heavy. Order your copy from http://www.miskatonic.cc/ WARNING will also be playing a few select shows in early summer and the fall in the UK and Germany.  ***  DESTRUCTOR: Exclusive vinyl release of EP  The Miskatonic Foundation (http://www.miskatonic.cc/) have just agreed an exclusive release with US Thrash metal legends DESTRUCTOR for a brand new vinyl only 10" EP that will smash ALL your skulls with power, everyone who calls himself a real metalhead should own the bands "MAXIMUM DESTRUCTION" LP. Over 20 years of terrifying and brutalising audiences in the US and Europe means this is NOT trendy retro thrash crap but the REAL THING played by psychopathic beer drinking criminals!! ALL HAIL DESTRUCTOR!!!!!  ***  THE GATES OF SLUMBER/RATHBLADE to appear on Hail Britannia Volume Two  HAIL BRITANNIA VOLUME TWO will feature none other than US Doom overlords THE GATES OF SLUMBER going head to head with Greek warriors RATHBLADE (Featuring members of killer bands like ARPYIAN HORDE, LITANY and RAGING STORM). Both bands have yet to finalise which NWOBHM classic they will cover, but prepare to be surprised. Order your copy from http://www.miskatonic.cc/  ***  DESOLATION ANGELS: Boxset due out soon  The Miskatonic Foundation had this to say: "The long awaited DESOLATION ANGELS boxset is nearing completion finally and just about ready to go to the pressing plant, while we appreciate everyone’s patience the band are still working on the artwork and we are happy to let them do so as we all know only the best must be presented, in the meantime, thanks to everyone who bought one of the limited edition DESOLATION ANGELS and HELL shirts from the KIT Festival last week" Orders should be made via http://www.miskatonic.cc/   ***  BLIND GUARDIAN - Hansi signs in!   BLIND GUARDIAN frontman Hansi Kürsch has posted the following message on the official BG web site: "Time to break the silence, time to say hello. As you all most probably know, we have finished the album some days ago and started doing some first shows already. It has been a blast to be back on stage again and do these small shows in Rijssen and Vosseljaar. We appreciate the kindness and the support of the people there and enjoyed the club atmosphere a lot. Istanbul was a great experience and 'The Bard's Song' sung by more than 2,000 Turkish fans was nothing but spectacular. Even though the secret is revealed already, I would like to point out one more time the album is entitled A Twist in the Myth, and that's just because I unfortunately could not find allies for my most favorite album title suggestion, A Day At The Races. : ) With this album, I think, we have widened the range of the BLIND GUARDIAN universe more than we have ever done before. In terms of quality, we had a very good feeling during the whole recording session. But I nevertheless have to admit that the songs did make a gigantic step during the last days of recording and mixing. 'The Edge' and 'In Search Of The Lionheart' certainly will achieve absolute cult status within a very short amount of time. 'Skalds and Shadows' will prove its longevity in numerous live concerts. We are most excited about what your reaction to 'Another Stranger Me' — an aggressive and powerful heavy rocker — will be. The song has great potential. Marcus and I composed a number called 'All the King's Horses,' which will be released on the Japanese version of A Twist in the Myth and on a single we are going to release in the beginning of 2007. It is a great song which will set emotions free, I am sure. Some of the new songs will be presented on the road when we will start touring in September. We will use the summer break to check out which songs will fit in best to the program. Everything and everyone is in pretty good shape. All preparations for the fall tour are on schedule and the interest in tickets for the tour is really high. It pretty much looks like there are even more fans willing to see us than in 2002 which was the most successful tour we have done up to now. One more time we would like to thank you for your patience and can't wait to hear and see your reaction to the new songs. As soon as there are some download samples, we will let you know. Your endurance will be rewarded." BLIND GUARDIAN will be shooting a video later this month for the track "Another Stranger Me." The upcoming video will be be the first to feature new drummer Frederik Ehmke, who replaced Thomen Stauch in 2005. The track listing for A Twist in the Myth - due out in North America in September 2006 - is as follows: 01. This Will Never End (5:07) 02. Otherland (5:14) 03. Turn the Page (4:16) 04. Fly (5:43) 05. Carry the Blessed Home (4:03) 06. Another Stranger Me (4:36) 07. Straight through the Mirror (5:48) 08. Lionheart (4:15) 09. Skalds and Shadows (3:13) 10. The Edge (4:27) 11. The New Order (4:49) View album artwork at this location! BLIND GUARDIAN's "Fly" single was released on April 18th and contained two exclusive tracks: an acoustic version of "Skalds and Shadows" and a cover of the Iron Butterfly classic "In A Gadda Da Vida."  ***  Studio update GOD DETHRONED - straight from the keyboard of Isaac Delahaye (guitars) Back with some great news: the recording of our new album is almost finished! Bass, clean guitars, overdubs, melodies & solos were added since the last update, and all the pieces start to fit the puzzle. I really can't wait to hear the Serpent King terrorising the songs with grunts and screams. My job is basically done in the studio, so it's hard to be patient now... The wall of rhythm guitars blew us all away, so we spent quite some time to search for the perfect bass sound to match it and to make the overall sound even thicker. But the mission is accomplished! Being in the studio with TWO drummers (producer Jorg Uken also comes from that planet) was definitely a plus. "Play on the kicks!!" Recording extra layers of melodies, clean stuff, etc. went pretty fast, but let me tell you: coming up with good solo stuff took me AGES this time!! The last couple of months I had been practising new techniques/licks at home, in order to use them while improvising solo's in the studio. I'm not a real fan of worked-out-solo's; I always try to create something "on the spot". But this time some songs asked for a certain solo/atmosphere, so I just had to work on it before getting it on tape. But I'm VERY happy about the result! I hope I'll make my mom & dad proud ;-) We'll be back with an update soon! Cheers, Isaac  ***  VOMITORY to headline the Stonehenge festival!  VOMITORY will headline the Stonehenge festival in the Netherlands on July 29th. This will probably be the bands only live performance this summer. The boys are currently busy writing new material for the follow-up to "Primal Massacre" (2004) and about one third/half of the songs are finished. Newcomer Peter Östlund (guitar) has contributed with two songs so far, one is in the typical Vomitory-vein and the other a bit heavier than the usual Vomitory song. Tobias Gustafsson (drums) has written three songs so far but has like four more in the works at the moment. Erik Rundqvist (bass & vocals) is solely focusing on writing the lyrics.  ***  THE OCEAN live-update  Presented by Metal Hammer Germany, In-Your-Face, Waste of Mind) 04.08. Fredericia (DK) Fredericia Hardcore Fest 05.08. Chemnitz Welcome Goodbye Summer Open Air w/Maroon a.o. 09.08. Gladhouse Cottbus 10.08. Svojsice u Prelouce (CZ) Brutal Assault Festival w/Napalm Death/Morbid Angel/Fear Factory a.v.a. 12.08. Barcelona (E) Saint Feliu Festival 13.08. Wellin (B) Sortie 23 Festival w/Hatesphere/DeathByStereo a.o. 18.08. Dinkelsbühl Summerbrezze Festival 26.08. Gent (B) Ieper Fest www.theoceancollective.com Booking: www.hotellounge.de  ***  SOILWORK - Employing Darkane drummer  SOILWORK vocalist Björn "Speed" Strid had the following to say recently via the band's official web site: "Just a little update on the festivals for this summer. Some of the festivals got confirmed pretty late and we had big trouble finding flight tickets for a reasonable price for [drummer] Dirk [Verbeuren] (Dirk currently lives in L.A.). Therefore Peter Wildoer (DARKANE) will fill in for Dirk on three shows (Festimad, Piteå and Malmö). We really appreciate Peter's help and being able to step in with such short notice! Anyways, we've never played this many festivals and it's covering up most of Europe, so whatever you do, don't miss us!!! "We're really psyched about playing in Spain at the big Festimad festival next weekend. It's been a while since we gave our Spanish fans a fix, so it will be exciting for sure. It's of course also a great honor to be one of the headliners together with ALICE IN CHAINS... can't wait to see them live." Upcoming SOILWORK festival appearances: 28.05.06 MADRID - Festimad festival (E) 03.06.06 GELSENKIRCHEN - Rock Hard Festival (D) 09.06.06 TAMPERE - Sauna Festival (FIN) 11.06.06 DONINGTON - Download Festival (GB) 15.06.06 HULTSFRED - Hultsfred Festival (S) 07.07.06 GOTHENBURG - Metal Town Festival (S) 08.07.06 BORLäNGE - Peace & Love Festival (S) 09.07.06 RUISSALON KANSANPUISTOSSA - Ruisrock (FIN) 15.07.06 KRISTIANSTAD - Tivolirock (S) 22.07.06 KREUTH - Earthshaker Fest 2006 (D) 03.08.06 WACKEN - Wacken Open Air (D) 25.08.06 MALMö - Malmö Festivalen (S)  ***   CANDLEMASS - continue work on new album   CANDLEMASS have posted the following message on their official web site: "Hello doomlovers!! Not everything is clouded in the C-MASS camp.The band is currently recording the new album with full force, again in Stockholm's Polar Studios — the new place. Ten killer doom metal tracks are being put on tape (actually computer) right now. Leif [Edling, bassist/main songwriter] has just finished his bass overdubs and now it is Lars [Johansson, guitar] turn to add his magic to the growing CANDLEMASS pallet of doom. Rhythm guitars, solos, harmony guitars — maybe three days in total. By Sunday the basic tracks shall be finished. Then — in a smaller (and cheaper) studio — some keyboards, rough mixes, maybe more guitar overdubs, to make the eighth CANDLEMASS studio recording as good as possible. And folks, it's a concept album. It is about the road to ruin in the modern society. Death, destruction and suicide = pure doom!!! If Messiah [Marcolin] will sing on the album? The band certainly hope so!" CANDLEMASS, won a Swedish "Grammy" award in February in the "Best Hard Rock" category, beating out the likes of HAMMERFALL, HARDCORE SUPERSTAR, MESHUGGAH and OPETH.  ***  AMON AMARTH studio update  2006-05-23 ”Around noon today Ted finished all bass lines and added another level of heaviness to the production and, just to show his appearance, Thor brought on a little thunderstorm yesterday. It changed our bbq plans for the evening a bit, but we don't mind. Next up is Johan adding his powerful grunts. We have divided the vocals recording into two sessions so we will start with two or three days first. After that we take five days to lay down lead guitars and will continue with the vocals after that. This to make it easier for Johan's voice to last, since screaming 8-10 hours straight per day is not the easiest task!” There´s a studio diary online, including lots of info, photos and video clips. Check it out at: http://www.amonamarth.com/news.html  ***  BORN FROM PAIN update - SUMMER TERROR...  Alright our schedule for summer is complete. Only thing that will be added are the definite dates on the Six Feet Under tour in August. Everything else is as it is right now. There might be 1 date added here or there, but this is the schedule up to our studio time starting August 13th. Make sure you come and support us especially at Hellfest, Wacken and With Full Force! We are also happy that we added some Dutch festival dates like Herrie Fest, Waterpop and Huntenpop. Oh by the way, Metalliga in Austria has been cancelled due to the fest going bankrupt.  NEW HATE... We have been busy writing stuff for our new cd over the past 3 months. We've come up with 5 songs until now that have stood the test of countless practice sessions. Expect a mix of "Sands of Time" era songs with the massive "In Love with the End" groove, with a pinch more individuality. Definitely expect more critical attitude on the message- side of things... We can't wait to go to Antfarm and record this sh*t!  STUFF FOR FREE... We will be launching some give-away actions on our websites soon for the summer fests, so make sure you keep on checking back. Cool stuff to be won there! www.bornfrompain.com www.myspace.com/bornfrompain  ***  GORDEON MUSIC & DARKEST PATH in league with I HATE! I Hate Records have announced that a co-operation with German promoters GORDEON MUSIC is in the works. GORDEON will begin their work by pushing CENTURIONS GHOST - “A Sign of Things to Come” in Germany during the spring and summer of 06 while our brother Zuelle of Darkest Path will exclusively distribute this masterpiece as well as the rest of I Hate’s releases. Hopefully this campaign will result in an increased interest for all of I Hate's artists in the No 1 Metal country of the world. In short, we look forward to a new era in the history of I Hate!  http://www.ihate.se/ www.gordeonmusic.de www.darkest-path.de   ***  ABYSMAL GRIEF - Mors Eleison MLP I Hate Records are extremely happy to announce that they have received the master for the Mors Eleison MLP and that it kicks a**! This just might be one of the most eerie pieces of music ever recorded! Expect a late summer/autumn release of this dark Italian masterpiece!  http://www.ihate.se/ www.abysmalgrief.com  ***  GREAT COVEN - Viaticum IHR CD 016 I Hate proudly present Viaticum by Spain's GREAT COVEN, a monumental true Doom Metal release that will sterilize those with insufficient balls! Down tuned and utterly heavy with a mystical, sad aura surrounding the 11 tracks Viaticum makes us hallucinate of CANDLEMASS/NEMESIS and CELTIC FROST in an unholy union. Vocals are clean and delivered in a bleak and gloomy way - no hope here! The guitar riffs are huge and crushing, just like the drums and the lyrics, dealing with such morbid themes as the crimes of religion amongst other things. Originally Viaticum was released in 2004 on CD-R in a typical D.I.Y. manner; however such a grand release as this really deserves a proper packaging with new artwork and wider distribution, hence this release on CD. Sadly GREAT COVEN is no more, instead the band can be said to have re-incarnated into the sludgy/doomy EIGHT HANDS OF KALI with a new singer. I Hate strongly recommend all fans of really heavy music to check out EIGHT HANDS OF KALI’s - Mount Meru MCD-R, released through Pariah Child (pariahchild@yahoo.co.uk). I Hate send out a big thanx to Danny Angus of Pariah Child for all the help with the Viaticum release. ***  ISOLE - The Beyond 7” Vinyl & new album out soon ISOLE has just finished the recording of two new tracks in their own, newly set up, Apocalypse studio. The songs for the 7” vinyl are called The Beyond and Beyond The Black II, and displays the two extremes of ISOLE. The Beyond is a relatively up-tempo scorcher of a song while Beyond The Black II is a really slow piece of mournful Epic Doom. Despite borrowing its title from the debut album track Beyond The Black II doesn’t have much in common with its name sake, being much slower and with only some parts recognisable from it’s name predecessor. ISOLE will be recording their second album in their own studio as well and are currently recording rehearsal versions of album songs. Expect a summer release of this album masterpiece! Buy your copy from http://www.ihate.se/ www.forevermore.se   ***  PROTECTOR - Echoes from the past re-released in digi pack CD Due to popular demand I Hate and Protector have decided to re-release the Echoes from the past IHR CD 004 featuring Protector's classic -86 two track demo, -87 Misanthropy MLP and -88 Golem LP on one CD. The new edition will come in a digipak limited to 666 copies with virtually unchanged layout and exactly the same track list as on the first pressing.  http://www.ihate.se/ www.listen.to/protector   ***  EIDOMANTUM - Fear the Master/Black Aura 7” vinyl imminent! Swedish cult old school BM maniacs EIDOMANTUM will unleash two brand new tracks that shows a new side of the band in that they are decidedly more Heavy Metal in their approach than earlier material. Imagine a mixture between MASTER'S HAMMER around “Ritual”, ARIA and add a whiff of MERCYFUL FATE and you are halfway there. Compared to the earlier all out onslaught in the NIFELHEIM-school "Fear the Master" and "Black Aura" have a more epic sound, while still being just as pitch Black as their latest 2003 demo "Old Blood". The vinyl edition will be brutally limited to 502 copies.  http://www.ihate.se/   ***  BURNING SAVIOURS Sweden’s premier vintage Rockers BURNING SAVIOURS have recorded new material for a 7" vinyl to be released on Lee Dorrian’s (CATHEDRAL) Rise Above Records. Preparations are also being made for the recording of their second album “Hundus” due for June 23 release on I Hate Records. The new material, which will be recorded during two weeks at end of March/beginning of April, is much more worked through than the debut and will not disappoint any fan of the debut. T-shirts and even girlies with a fresh, new motive displaying the bands new logo + band photo in two colors on black cloth are available from: www.burningsaviours.com http://www.ihate.se/ http://www.riseaboverecords.com   ***  THE GATES OF SLUMBER - Status for Suffer No Guilt - Out June 23 TGOS will be recording their second full length entitled Suffer No Guilt during the close of February until the dawn of March with the final mixing taking place at the end of March. The recording will take place at the same studio that was used for the "Like A Plague Upon The Land" MCD (out on Hellride Music), Prana Recordings and Multimedia and will be mastered by none other than Steve Austin (TODAY IS THE DAY)! Ken Kelly, famous fantasy illustrator/painter that also have cover artworks for giants such as RAINBOW, MANOWAR and KISS on his list of merits is the artist behind the cover artwork, adding further to the extremely high profile of Suffer No Guilt. His general imagery expresses the visual aspects of TGOS music perfectly.   www.thegatesofslumber.com www.kenkellyart.com http://www.ihate.se/   ***  PAGAN ALTAR - The Time Lord MLP re-released!!!  Due to massive popular demand I Hate Records and ORACLE have agreed to re-press this cult item in a second edition of 500 copies on vinyl. The second edition will be nearly identical to the first one, the only difference being the display of our new logo and a short text telling that this is the second edition. Thus there's no need for those who already have bought the first edition to torment their wallets. However we urge all other who missed out the first time to act fast, cause judging by the response I Hate have received to this news the MLP will sell out quickly... Also be sure to pay a visit to PAGAN ALTAR's new and official fan-forum PAGAN ALTAR TEMPLARS where you can interact with the legend's themselves, discuss your favourite band and gather arcane PAGAN ALTAR knowledge... www.paganaltar.com www.paganaltartemplars.com http://www.ihate.se/   ***  NIFELHEIM/VULCANO split 7” vinyl - VULCANO's track's ready Sweden’s biggest cult act in recent days, NIFELHEIM, have agreed (fangs frothing) to share a 7” vinyl with Brazil’s legendary VULCANO under the proud banner of I Hate Records. The pressing will be in a limited edition of 1000 copies, 100 die-hard ones with yet to be determined special features and 900 regular copies. Both bands will be sporting new material for this release, no old re-hash! VULCANO's two tracks are called The Evil Always Return and Suffered souls while NIFELHEIM's track name is still unknown to us. A release date has been consistently hard to nail, due to various circumstances, but expect this cult item to haunt you in the first half of 2006. www.geocities.com/fulo_ragatasson http://www.ihate.se/   ***  FALL OF THE IDOLS debut album recording soon finished. Finnish true Doomsters FALL OF THE IDOLS are about to finish the recording of their debut album due out on I Hate in late spring/early summer. The album will consist of some re-recorded songs taken from the bands earlier demos as well as some brand new material exclusive to the album. The artwork will be crafted by none other than Magister Albert of REVEREND BIZARRE. Expect a cold and tortured masterpiece of true Finnish Doom! www.falloftheidols.com  http://www.ihate.se/   ***  CENTURIONS GHOST - change of vocalist + The Great Work + touring Vocalist James Begley is now out of CENTURIONS GHOST and is replaced by Mark Scurr. Mark toured with the band in Europe last October and did a very impressive job.   Says the band regarding “The Great Work” - the follow up to “A Sign Of Things To Come”: "We are well underway with the writing of our second album, 4 songs are completed and in the live set and another 5 or 6 are currently being worked on. So far things are sounding awesome, current song titles include: In Defiance, The End, Only The Strong Can Survive, Walking Through Walls, Let Sleeping Corpses Die, When It Reigns and Bedbound In The House Of Doom. The album will be entitled ‘THE GREAT WORK’ and before you ask no this is not a statement as to the material on the album! It is in fact an occult term given to the alchemists secret studies of immortality, but read into it what you will! The artwork for the album will be handled by the legendary Naked Intruder (Witchcraft, Pig Destroyer, Send More Paramedics, Circulus, etc) who I am sure you will all agree did a fantastic job of ‘A Sign Of Things To Come’ artwork. For a progress report on ‘The Great Work’ check out our forum where we will be regularly posting updates with studio reports, photos, and other interesting facts and funnies!" www.centurionsghost.com  http://www.ihate.se/   ***  CATHEDRAL - Nominated!   Cathedral have been nominated ‘Best Underground Band’ for this years Metal Hammer Golden Gods awards. You can vote for them by following this link; Metal Hammer! The band will also make their debut appearance at this years Donnington Download festival. They play on the Third stage early evening on Friday 9th of June. The Cathedral website will hopefully be restored shortly, in the meantime there is a new official forum at the new Rise Above Records site. This will be linked directly from www.cathedralcoven.com shortly. In the meantime you can leave messages on the forum.  ***  CHROME DIVISION - To film video for "Serial Killer"   "Doomsday Rock `n` Roll over Sweden! Nuclear Blast`s recent signing CHROME DIVISION (featuring DIMMU BORGIR-vocalist Shagrath on guitar) will put the pedal to the metal and head over from Oslo to Gothenburg June 3rd and 4th. There, visual wizard Patric Ullaeus (IN FLAMES, SOILWORK) will shoot the video clip for the track "Serial Killer". Expect nothing less than the full treatment consisting of booze, broads and Beelzebub! CHROME DIVISION´S hellish debut album "Doomsday Rock`n`Roll" will be released on July 27th."   ***  NILE - Just signed!  Nuclear Blast is extremely proud to announce the signing of one of the most innovative Metal bands nowadays: NILE! Mixing Egyptian tunes with technical Death Metal elements and thus creating a very unique style, NILE rank among the elite of the brutal riff league, as masterpieces like "In Their Darkened Shrines" or last year's "Annihilation Of The Wicked" impressively show. This is what Karl Sanders (who you can see on the attached photo, signing the contract) himself has to say about the new cooperation: "NILE is pleased to announce the recent signing of its new record deal with Nuclear Blast. We are excited about the possibilities and potential of this new partnership with the wonderful people at Nuclear Blast. We are most certainly eagerly looking forward to working on the next NILE album and to fearlessly continue bringing NILE's unique brand of Ithyphallic Brutal Death Metal to our fans. We also would like to thank Matt and Gordon and all the team at Relapse for many years of happiness working with them, we count them as our friends and comrades still and wish them all the best." A new album of NILE is set to show up in 2007.   ***   MNEMIC - Collaborate with Judas Priest producer   MNEMIC have recently employed the writing talents of guitarist/producer Roy Z. for one song that will surface on MNEMIC's upcoming album, due out in early 2007. The talented and heralded guitarist and songwriter for TRIBE OF GYPSIES, as well as producer of such recent metal classics as BRUCE DICKINSON's "Chemical Wedding", HALFORD's "Resurrection" and JUDAS PRIEST's "Angel of Retribution", Z. collaborated on guitar recently with MNEMIC as the band prepare to start recording their untitled third album. Commented the band: "The track has turned out really good. You can hear the heavy mixture of Roy's along with the MNEMIC style. We've been a fan of Roy's work since first hearing his production on the DICKINSON and HALFORD albums, he always comes out when we are playing in L.A. and is a good friend of the band. We've actually never collaborated with other musicians before when it came to composing songs, so we thought we could combine some of his heavy grove with some of our polyrhythmics and make a song." MNEMIC are in the final stages of selecting a new vocalist. The band "pretty much decided who it's going to be, but we need to concentrate on getting the recording going for this next album before announcing anything," explains the band. "The song with Roy should be a great addition to the songs that we've had ready to go for a while now, we can't wait to get busy!"   ***   ALL SHALL PERISH - Check out new song  Oakland's ALL SHALL PERISH have unveiled a new song entitled “Wage Slaves” from their upcoming album The Price of Existence at www.myspace.com/allshallperish. The band’s second album is set to be released on July 28th in Europe and August 8th in the USA. The band comments: "This track is one of the more straight-forward brutal songs on the record and is sort of an ode to old school Pantera, but the whole album is packed with all kinds of songs from black metal to thrash to beat-down and even an instrumental! It's truly an epic album." ***   DIMMU BORGIR - To cancel Gods of Metal  The kings of melodic Black Metal, mighty DIMMU BORGIR from Norway, were forced to cancel their appearance at Italy`s GODS OF METAL festival that takes place from June 1st to 4th. Guitarist Silenoz had the following to say in a statement on the band`s official website, www.dimmu-borgir.com: “We apologize to everyone it may concern, we were very much looking forward to play this great festival, but due to a serious situation regarding one of our members’ health condition we have no other choice as it is beyond our control. We owe it to our business partners, fans and friends and perhaps mostly ourselves, to do a great gig, but this will not be possible under the given circumstances, unfortunately. Health will always have first priority.” ***   AMON AMARTH studio update 2006-05-28  Only Saturday off this weekend, so we're back in the studio already today. We've been shifting between vocals and leads for the last couple of days and about 60% of the guitar harmonies and melodies are done. Johan have put vocals on about five songs so far. Jens is being relentless about pushing us to do our absolute best, but the extra hard work is totally worth it! This afternoon we also got visit from Kenneth and Ian "Mathew" Bomber from WHIPLASH TATTOO at G-punkten in Varberg who started on some new ink on Fredrik.  ***  Download PHOENIX MOURNING'S song 'Etched' at Fuse.tv! Starting on May 29th you can download Phoenix Mourning's track 'Etched' off their highly praised debut release “When Excuses Become Antiques” exclusively through Fuse TV and FYE. The track will be available for free download May 29th through June 4th so make sure ya stop by and get the track before it's too late! You can download Etched at the following locations: http://www.fuse.tv/uranium.php & http://www.fuse.tv/downloads   ***   PSYOPUS announces title of new album & massive summer tour!   Its crunch time in the Psyopus camp with a month left till we go into the studio to record our second album called Our Puzzling Encounters Considered. Deadlines suck but the material seems up to par thus far. It's fast and crazy. As soon as we finish up in the studio we will be hitting the road with The Tony Danza Tap Dance Extravaganza and Home Pharmacy! http://www.psyopus.com  ***  COMMUNIC - to chart on # 66!   COMMUNIC's new album "Waves Of Visual Decay" has entered the German Media Control Charts on # 66!!! For comparison: "Conspiracy In Mind", COMMUNIC's highly acclaimed 2005 debut didn't even make it to the German top 100. Thus a great success for our Norwegian friends!

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